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 Hezbollah leader's death drags Mideast into uncertainty Xinhua) 08:52, September 30, 2024 Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, on Sept. 28, 2024. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich) Analysts believe that Nasrallah's death could create a power vacuum within Hezbollah, destabilizing Lebanon and adding uncertainty to the broader regional conflict, while altering strategic dynamics in the Middle East. CAIRO, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Israel on Friday evening launched airstrikes on Hezbollah's main headquarters in Beirut's southern suburbs, resulting in the death of Hezbollah's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and several other Hezbollah commanders. The event, which grabbed international headlines, was followed by Israel's largest military operation in Lebanon since 2006, with bombings in Dahieh and regions in southern and eastern Lebanon, leading to more casualties. Analysts believe that Nasrallah's death could create a power vacuum within Hezbollah, destabilizing Lebanon and adding uncertainty to the broader regional conflict, while altering strategic dynamics in the Middle East. BROAD CONDEMNATION According to the Israeli military, Friday's airstrikes killed Nasrallah, alongside other Hezbollah commanders, which was later confirmed by Hezbollah. Lebanon's MTV TV channel reported that the raids had killed at least six people, injured 91 others, flattened several residential buildings, and caused huge infrastructure damage to the neighborhood. Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad said on Saturday that Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon over the past 24 hours had claimed 11 lives and injured 108. Shortly after Hezbollah's confirmation of Nasrallah's death, Hamas condemned the Israeli airstrikes on Dahieh as "a cowardly terrorist act, a massacre and a heinous crime" that proves once again Israel's "bloodiness and brutality." They held Israel fully responsible for destabilizing the region and condemned U.S. support for Israel. Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Israel's "brutal" and "inhumane" attacks, and called for the Islamic world to take "a more decisive stance" against these attacks. This photo taken on Sept. 28, 2024 shows the damage buildings after Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich) Iran, Iraq, Tunisia, Syria, Jordan and Egypt also condemned Israel's "terrorist" attacks on Dahieh and "brutal aggression" against Lebanon. A few Mideast countries announced days of mourning. Also on Saturday, Yemen's Houthi group described Nasrallah's passing as a "huge loss," and "a curse that haunts Israel until it is uprooted." Internationally, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern over the escalating situation in Beirut and urged relevant parties to "re-commit to the full implementation" of Resolution 1701 and "immediately return to a cessation of hostilities." France also condemned the strikes and urged an immediate cessation of Israeli strikes in Lebanon. ENSUING DEVELOPMENTS Hours after the killing of Nasrallah, Israel launched fresh attacks on Dahieh early Saturday, targeting Hezbollah weapons stored under civilian buildings. Senior Hezbollah officials, including Mohammad Ali Ismail, commander of Hezbollah's missile unit, and his deputy, Hussein Ahmad Ismail, were reportedly killed in the strikes. Israeli warplanes also carried out a series of airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, according to Lebanese military sources. Saturday marked the sixth consecutive day of Israel's most extensive military action in Lebanon since 2006, which the Lebanese Health Ministry said has claimed at least 700 lives. UN humanitarians said the Israeli airstrikes have forced more than 90,000 people to flee their homes in Lebanon. This marks the latest escalation of the ongoing clashes that began on Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah started launching rockets at Israel in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, prompting Israel's retaliatory artillery fire and airstrikes in southeastern Lebanon. According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, 1,640 people in Lebanon, including 104 children and 194 women, have been killed and 8,408 more injured in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since October last year. Following Nasrallah's death, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Saturday a ban on gatherings of more than 1,000 people in central Israel. The IDF also said that it successfully intercepted a surface-to-surface missile launched from Yemen toward Israel. Meanwhile, Iran's flag carrier Iran Air cancelled all its flights to Beirut until further notice. INTO THE UNKNOWN Many experts believe that Nasrallah's death has dragged the Middle East into a new phase of uncertainty. Eyal Zisser, vice rector at Tel Aviv University, told Xinhua that Nasrallah's death has not only reshaped the power structure within Lebanon but also impacted the strategic calculations across the region. "In the immediate aftermath, Hezbollah faces a severe setback. Losing its entire top echelon in quick succession is not just a tactical loss but a profound organizational shock that could take considerable time to recover from," Zisser said. "Iran's reliance on proxies is also compromised, given that its network has been significantly impacted by these recent Israeli actions," he said, adding that without the support from Hezbollah, "Hamas might find itself under increased pressure to adapt more flexible approaches in its engagements with Israel." Harel Chorev, a Palestinian affairs expert from Tel Aviv University, told Xinhua that the killing of Nasrallah and other figures further complicated "an already tumultuous situation" and shifted "the balance of power in the Middle East." "It represents a symbolic defeat and a strategic vacuum that Hezbollah will struggle to fill," Chorev said, adding that "the apparent ease with which Israel has been able to neutralize key figures within militant groups sends a stark warning" to other militant leaders and organizations in the region. "The underlying tone from Israeli officials suggests a readiness to exploit these vulnerabilities aggressively to ensure regional dominance," Chorev said. "The assassination is likely to embolden (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu, who now sees the opportunity to impose a new paradigm. It is unlikely that Israel will stop the bombing of Lebanon. It is also unlikely that Hezbollah is totally destroyed," Dania Koleilat Khatib, a specialist on U.S.-Arab relations, wrote on the website of Arab News. "Unless there is someone to steer events, an unbridled Netanyahu will drive the region into more chaos," she wrote. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech during the General Debate of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters in New York, on Sept. 27, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Rui) Through these strikes, Israel conveyed a clear message that it will no longer accept the tit-for-tat attacks on its northern border, but it may not necessarily get its desired impact, Mireille Rebeiz, a Lebanon expert at U.S.-based Dickinson College, told The Conversation on Saturday. "The fresh wave of violence may only reinforce Hezbollah's resolve. Furthermore, it might see more involvement of other Hezbollah-aligned players in the region," she said. Youssef Diab, a political analyst from the Lebanese University, regarded the death of Nasrallah as "a turning point" in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, as it will result in a void at Hezbollah's leadership level. The assassination will also have a significant influence on the conflict between Israel and Iran, a primary backer of Hezbollah, he told Xinhua. "All eyes are directed to Iran and what it will say after this big event," he said. Mehran Kamrava, professor of government at Georgetown University's campus in Qatar, told Reuters Saturday that Iran would not react forcefully to recent events out of its doctrine of "strategic patience." "And I think that doctrine will continue," Kamrava said. "They are reluctant to engage Israel in any direct way." (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan) Does anyone actually have a plan? The building of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, commonly referred to as the Slovak parliament, located in Bratislava. (Source: TASR) Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Share For a government that never ceases to assert its national identity, it is curious how often Slovakias current ruling coalition resorts to English-language phraseology and euphemisms. So it was on 17 September, when Prime Minister Robert Fico who, incidentally, speaks pretty good English declared that consolidation is, as the English say, a must. The Slovak euphemism konsolidacia was quickly revealed to have the same meaning as its English progenitor: spending cuts and tax rises. The most eye-catching move was a drastic hike in the VAT rate, which will rise from 20 to 23 percent. Bait and switch It is a sign of the prime ministers political skills that despite his ostensibly weak position his tax rise for literally everyone, his partys anaemic support (it won less than 23 percent in last years election), and his warring coalitions razor-thin 4-vote majority he still has everyone dancing to his tune. This past week, what should be the second-strongest party in the coalition, Hlas, was lamely pleading with him to resolve a dispute with their other partner, the pro-eagle, anti-bear Slovak National Party (SNS), whose leader has been manoeuvring for months to be given the vanity appointment of speaker of parliament despite the job being assigned to Hlas under the coalition agreement (it was left vacant when the partys former leader, Peter Pellegrini, was elected president in April). Hlas leader Matus Sutaj Estok, we learned, would be very grateful if Mr Fico would please call a meeting of the coalition leaders so that by the end of the year(!) they can "solve all the issues and problems that the coalition has been pushing for some time." Quite why Sutaj Estok cannot call a coalition meeting himself, or force a resolution of the issues without his partys votes the government would, in theory, quickly lose power goes unexplained. The speaker of parliament is, at least in theory, one of Slovakias three most senior constitutional officials. Pellegrini was signalling his presidential run from late last year, so everyone knew the job might need to be filled. But Fico has decided it suits his purposes for now to keep everyone twisting in the wind, and the post will likely remain vacant for months yet. Apparently only grown-ups can call meetings and resolve disputes. The president, despite trying hard to act presidential, still seems to be attached to his erstwhile mentors puppet strings, popping up in New York to take a swipe at the SNS even though he is supposed to be above the political fray. The coalition is bent on inciting quarrels instead of debating why everyones taxes are about to rise. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Share Welcome to your weekly commentary and overview of news from Slovakia. While people worry about the cost of living, coalition MPs decide to spend hours debating stickers on a laptop. The health minister submits (but does not publish) a plan that is supposed to help get her out of hot water. Blanar met the Russians, again. If you have a suggestion on how to make this overview better, let me know at michaela.terenzani@spectator.sk. Big changes, little debate Once the higher taxes and other measures proposed within the 2.7-billion consolidation package kick in as of January, people in Slovakia can expect a negative change in their standard of living. In the one year that has passed since the election that brought Robert Fico back to power, the impending fiscal contraction is among his most consequential legislative changes, along with the much-criticised overhaul of the Criminal Code and the changes to the public-service broadcaster. However, the governments financial package, which includes a 3-percentage-point hike in VAT to 23 percent and a new tax on financial transactions, among other things, is set to be approved by MPs with minimal opportunity for debate. The coalition is accelerating the legislative process in order to be able to count on the new tax rates when proposing the state budget, the first draft of which needs to be unveiled by October 15. Thus, on Thursday the ruling coalitions MPs approved a proposal to use a fast-tracked procedure to pass the measures, and curbed the debate at its first reading to just 12 hours. Parliament is set to vote on the overhaul of the VAT system (which will result in four different VAT rates) as early as this week. How dare you? I earn a 5,000 salary, I am paid to debate things here, was how Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) MP Alojz Hlina summarised the oppositions discontent over the rushed parliamentary debate. You can read all about device management here To continue reading this article on this device/browser, please edit the list of registered devices in your profile settings here: Your active subscription only allows a limited number of browsers to access locked content. The rest of this article is premium content at Spectator.sk Subscribe now for full access I already have subscription - Sign in Attendees ordered to stand facing wall. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Share On the night of Friday to Saturday, the police carried out a raid in the WAX2 club in Bratislava's centre. Five people were arrested. According to police spokesman Michal Szeiff, the raid was a joint action of the financial administration and the police, aimed at checking the e-kasa cash registers, whether receipts were being handed out, as well as the detection of violent and drug-related crime. Plastic bags with a white crystalline substance were seized and sent for examination. After completing procedural steps, the five people were released. A criminal prosecution in the matter of unauthorized possession of a narcotic and psychotropic substance has been initiated. Speaking to the Startitup website, several attendees reported that they were ordered to stand facing a wall for up to two-and-a-half hours. "We were all ordered to put our hands above our heads and go to the wall. We all lined up and there was silence. You couldn't even scratch, turn your head, we were being watched, my hands were hurting, but they had to stay above my head," one of them told Startitup. In August, a similar raid took place at another club in Bratislava's centre, the KC Dunaj venue. According to attendees, the raid was brutal and force was used against them. In the immediate aftermath, the police and the financial administration provided conflicting information. At first they said that the raid was due to drugs, but later insisted that the reason was to check receipts. Taking to social media, Bratislava Mayor Matus Vallo criticised the recent raid. "When I learned about the raid at the WAX2 club, I asked my colleagues to check on this. I will demand an explanation from the authorities, its reason and under what circumstances the motion for the raid was initiated," he wrote in the Facebook post, recalling similar demonstrations of force in 1990s Bratislava. "Please, let's not turn the music clubs in our city into crime site, when the state is failing to simultaneously deal with crime in other places, to which our residents have been drawing attention a long time. It will not help the credibility of any participating police force and will unnecessarily traumatise people who, in good faith and with good intentions are attending clubs to have fun," he added. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240929/israeli-air-force-strikes-within-beirut-for-first-time---eyewitness-1120353173.html Israeli Air Force Strikes Central Beirut, Killing Three PFLP Leaders Israeli Air Force Strikes Central Beirut, Killing Three PFLP Leaders Sputnik International BEIRUT (Sputnik) - Israeli air force has struck a building within the city of Beirut for the first time in the Cola district, an eyewitness told Sputnik on... 29.09.2024, Sputnik International 2024-09-29T22:46+0000 2024-09-29T22:46+0000 2024-09-30T06:58+0000 world israel beirut lebanon israel defense forces (idf) hezbollah middle east newsfeed israel-lebanon tensions israel-lebanon war https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/09/1d/1120347888_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_3bfeddf64bd72ac518b1d968319ae31d.jpg "The air force struck a building near the Cola bridge. The missile exploded in an apartment. Part of a burnt body is visible on the street," the source said.Earlier, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) said that it hit dozens of what it claimed were targets belonging to the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah. At least 105 people were killed in Lebanon on Sunday as a result of Israeli strikes on the country's territory, Reuters reported citing the Lebanese Health Ministry.Later, the IDF said it was striking Hezbollah targets in the Beqaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, about 35 mi (56 km) northeast of Beirut.The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) has reported the death of three of its leaders as a result of an Israeli strike on Beirut. According to the group's statement, Mohammed Abdel Aal, Emad Odeh, and Abdel Rahman Abdel Aal were killed in the attack.Mohammed Abdel Aal was a member of the political bureau of the front and the head of the Military Security Department.Emad Odeh was described as the "military leader" of the Military Department of the Front.Abdel Rahman Abdel Aal's station was not listed in the statement, but was described as a "heroic leader."On Friday, Israel assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an air strike that also flattened several residential buildings. israel beirut lebanon 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 israel, beirut, lebanon, israel defense forces (idf), hezbollah, middle east, newsfeed, israel-lebanon tensions, israel-lebanon war https://sputnikglobe.com/20240929/israeli-army-strikes-dozens-of-alleged-hezbollah-targets-in-lebanon-since-sunday-noon---idf-1120352450.html Israeli Army Strikes Dozens of Alleged Hezbollah Targets in Lebanon Since Sunday Noon - IDF Israeli Army Strikes Dozens of Alleged Hezbollah Targets in Lebanon Since Sunday Noon - IDF Sputnik International The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it hit dozens of what it claimed were Hezbollah targets across Lebanon. 2024-09-29T21:05+0000 2024-09-29T21:05+0000 2024-09-29T21:05+0000 world newsfeed middle east hassan nasrallah israel lebanon beirut israel defense forces (idf) hezbollah https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/09/1d/1120341020_0:202:2925:1847_1920x0_80_0_0_8fd67831148aa056c9b98219161bc51e.jpg "Since noon, IAF [the Israeli air forces] fighter jets struck dozens of terror targets belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization across Lebanon, including launchers aimed toward Israeli territory, buildings in which weapons were stored and terrorist infrastructure sites used by Hezbollah for terror activities against the State of Israel," the IDF said on Telegram. Israel began a massive bombing campaign, codenamed Northern Arrows, in southern and eastern parts of Lebanon on Monday. The Lebanese Health Ministry put the death toll at over 1,500. Hezbollah retaliated by firing dozens of rockets toward northern Israel. On Saturday, Hezbollah confirmed that its leader Hassan Nasrallah had been killed in the Israeli airstrike on Beirut on Friday. The escalation was preceded by a series of explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies that rocked Lebanon from September 17-18, killing about 40 people and injuring nearly 3,500 others. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240929/up-to-1mln-people-internally-displaced-in-lebanon-amid-israeli-attacks---authorities-1120346083.html israel lebanon beirut 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 lebanon-israel war, idf strikes in lebanon, hezbollah-israeli war https://sputnikglobe.com/20240929/uae-accuses-sudanese-army-of-airstrike-on-its-ambassadors-residence-in-khartoum-1120353363.html UAE Accuses Sudanese Army of Airstrike on Its Ambassador's Residence in Khartoum UAE Accuses Sudanese Army of Airstrike on Its Ambassador's Residence in Khartoum Sputnik International The United Arab Emirates accused the Sudanese army of being involved in an airstrike that struck the residence of the head of the UAE diplomatic mission in Khartoum 2024-09-29T23:40+0000 2024-09-29T23:40+0000 2024-09-29T23:40+0000 world newsfeed uae khartoum united arab emirates rapid support forces (rsf) uae foreign ministry sudan https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/103897/77/1038977797_0:377:1025:953_1920x0_80_0_0_9abd1e0b09304a5982c2024354fce8f1.jpg The accusation comes in light of the conflict between the two countries over the UAE's support for the rebels from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the UAE Foreign Ministry said in a statement quoted by the state news agency WAM.At the same time, the ministry indicated that it would send a note of protest to the League of Arab States, the African Union and the United Nations in connection with this attack by the Sudanese armed forces, which is a flagrant violation of the basic principle of ensuring the protection of diplomatic missions. The Sudanese authorities have repeatedly accused the UAE of financially supporting and supplying weapons to the rebels from the RSF opposing them, military operations against whom have been ongoing in the country for almost two and a half years. Due to military actions in the Sudanese capital and its suburbs, foreign states were forced to move their diplomatic missions to Port Sudan in the east of the country, which is under the control of the official authorities. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230728/sudan-conflict-forces-34-million-people-to-flee-to-neighboring-countries---who-1112202449.html uae khartoum united arab emirates sudan 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 uae sudan conflict, uae embassy bombed in sudan https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/even-limited-israeli-ground-operation-against-hezbollah-in-lebanon-would-be-perilous-heres-why-1120361871.html Even Limited Israeli Ground Operation Against Hezbollah in Lebanon Would Be Perilous: Heres Why Even Limited Israeli Ground Operation Against Hezbollah in Lebanon Would Be Perilous: Heres Why Sputnik International International and security affairs expert Mehmet Rakipoglu tells Sputnik why a ground offensive would pose tremendous risks for Israel, and why Benjamin Netanyahu may proceed anyway. 2024-09-30T16:54+0000 2024-09-30T16:54+0000 2024-10-01T08:54+0000 middle east hassan nasrallah benjamin netanyahu israel lebanon tel aviv hezbollah hamas analysis israel-lebanon tensions https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/09/1e/1120362832_0:29:3072:1757_1920x0_80_0_0_0059dfacaa32d46621d9e4584d5f4257.jpg Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant offered the clearest indication yet that IDF is preparing for a ground incursion into Lebanon, telling troops on Monday that "the elimination of [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah is an important step but it is not everything," and touting readiness to activate reserves to ensure that the tens of thousands of Israelis who were evacuated from northern Israel amid nearly a year of cross-border skirmishes with Hezbollah could return to their homes.Also Monday, Hezbollah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem announced that the militia is ready to meet Israeli aggression head-on. "Hezbollah is prepared for Israel's ground incursion and is also prepared for a long war," he said."Despite the losses of commanders, the attacks against civilians throughout Lebanon, and great sacrifices, we will not budge from our position," Qassem assured.Israel has spent months assembling troops near the border with Lebanon amid increasingly heavy back-and-forth clashes with Hezbollah, with the simultaneous detonation of up to 5,000 pagers and other electronic devices September 17-18 targeting Hezbollah fighters and injuring thousands of civilians followed up by heavy airstrikes targeting the militia's commanders, culminating in Hassan Nasrallah's assassination in a massive strike in Beirut last Friday.A ground operation in Lebanon by Israel is likely, given the military buildup near the border. However, such an operation carries significant risks for Tel Aviv, political researcher Dr. Mehmet Rakipoglu told Sputnik.Hezbollah in particular has proven difficult for Israel's regular army to handle, with the IDF forced to withdraw from southern Lebanon in 2000 in an unprecedented defeat after a grinding, 15-year-long guerrilla campaign by the Shia militia. In the 2006 Lebanon War, an Israeli ground incursion was halted in its tracks by heavily outnumbered Hezbollah fighters, who incurred heavy losses on Israeli troops, armor, naval and air assets before a UN-brokered ceasefire was reached.Despite these risks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today cant be described as a rational actor, given his record of aggressive and escalatory policies, and actions which could undermine Israel's own security both in the short and long term. This makes this scenario more challenging to predict, according to Rakipoglu.Israel, facing setbacks in Gaza, is now attempting to gain a psychological advantage by targeting resistance leadership, according to the observer. These attacks, including the assassination of Hezbollahs Nasrallah and senior members of the militias command structure, damages its strategic capabilities. On the other hand, while Israel appears to gain from this, the move may increase global opposition to Israel, especially after violating international law with an attack on sovereign Lebanese territory, Rakipoglu summed up. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240929/hezbollah-has-prepared-hell-for-the-israeli-regime-in-southern-lebanon-mohammad-marandi-1120350755.html israel lebanon tel aviv Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Ilya Tsukanov Ilya Tsukanov 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 Ilya Tsukanov can israel defeat hezbollah, what awaits israel in southern lebanon if it invades, will israel invade lebanon https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/german-authorities-silent-about-impact-of-nord-stream-sabotage-on-ukraine-ties---lawmaker-1120354639.html Germany Silent: Lawmaker Questions Impact of Nord Stream Sabotage on Ukraine Ties Germany Silent: Lawmaker Questions Impact of Nord Stream Sabotage on Ukraine Ties Sputnik International The German authorities are not responding to a request regarding the possibility of close cooperation with Ukraine given the allegations of Kiev's involvement in the explosion of the Nord Stream pipelines, Bundestag member from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party Steffen Kotre told RIA Novosti. 2024-09-30T04:52+0000 2024-09-30T04:52+0000 2024-09-30T07:44+0000 world vladimir putin ukraine russia alternative fuer deutschland (afd) nord stream germany https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/09/1c/1101300397_0:94:1800:1107_1920x0_80_0_0_c57b09b7699abd78e61ecd94a183ef53.jpg On the sidelines of Russian Energy Week, he told Sputnik that he had sent a request to the German federal government about how it was conducting dialogue with Ukraine and whether trusting cooperation was possible given the allegations against Kiev of involvement in an act of state terrorism. Restoring the sabotaged Nord Stream pipelines is generally possible and justified, German industry will suffer greatly without Russian gas, Steffen Kotre said.He also emphasized that the current situation, in which Russian gas was not being supplied, was "one of two, three, four nails driven into the coffin of our industry.""We are experiencing unprecedented deindustrialization. Including because of gas prices, which have now doubled or tripled on the exchange," the lawmaker said, noting that Germany can only get cheap gas from Russia.The explosions on two Russian export gas pipelines to Europe Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 occurred on September 26, 2022. Germany, Denmark and Sweden have not ruled out deliberate sabotage. Nord Stream AG, the operator of Nord Stream, said that the destruction of the gas pipelines was unprecedented, and it was impossible to estimate the repair time. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office initiated a case on an act of international terrorism. Russia has repeatedly requested data on the explosions on Nord Stream, but has never received it, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. If the Alternative for Germany party were to join the country's government, it would lift anti-Russian sanctions and stop aggressive actions against Russia, acting in German interests and not because of some kind of friendship with the Kremlin, Steffen Kotre said.In a conversation on the sidelines of Russian Energy Week, he suggested that following the federal elections in 2025, Alternative for Germany could join the government in a coalition with the Christian Democratic Union, if the latter does not "undemocratically limit" AfD.At the same time, he emphasized that by representing Germany's interests, it would be possible to establish closer cooperation with Russia again.The Russian Energy Week was held in Moscow from September 26 to 28. Sputnik acted as the forum's media partner. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240926/russian-deputy-pm-calls-for-impartial-probe-into-nord-stream-blasts-involving-russia-1120300625.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20240914/russian-foreign-ministry-calls-us-sanctions-against-russian-media-extraordinary-situation-1120147720.html ukraine russia germany Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International nord stream sabotage, member from the alternative for germany (afd) party steffen kotre, german authorities https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/germany-should-bring-charges-for-nord-streams-point-out-us-role---bundestag-member-1120354136.html Germany Should Pursue Charges for Nord Stream Blasts & Point Out US Role - Bundestag MP Germany Should Pursue Charges for Nord Stream Blasts & Point Out US Role - Bundestag MP Sputnik International A member of the German Bundestag said the government should bring immediate charges for the Nord Stream pipeline explosion and point out the US role in the attack. 2024-09-30T02:54+0000 2024-09-30T02:54+0000 2024-09-30T07:44+0000 world germany russia dmitry peskov sweden bundestag ria novosti sputnik nord stream nord stream pipeline https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/08/09/1119695249_0:280:3072:2008_1920x0_80_0_0_0c7edc7a11792bc3620a3394f8818676.jpg In a conversation on the sidelines of Russian Energy Week, he suggested that Washington had probably been involved in the destruction of the gas pipelines. Kotre does not know to what extent Kiev was involved, but, from his point of view, it is difficult to believe that Ukraine could have carried out such an action without outside help. Kotre also believes that the German authorities know who is guilty of what happened, and if not, then the information will certainly be found in the Swedish, Norwegian or US intelligence services. The explosions on two Russian export gas pipelines to Europe Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 occurred on September 26, 2022. Germany, Denmark and Sweden have not ruled out deliberate sabotage. Nord Stream AG, the operator of Nord Stream, said that the destruction of the gas pipelines was unprecedented, and it was impossible to estimate the repair time. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office initiated a case on an act of international terrorism. Russia has repeatedly requested data on the explosions on Nord Stream, but has never received it, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The Russian Energy Week was held in Moscow from September 26 to 28. Sputnik acted as the forum's media partner. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240926/denmark-fears-nord-stream-facts-that-compromise-support-for-kiev--russian-ambassador-1120306608.html germany russia sweden 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 nord stream attack, german lawmaker says us responsible for nord stream https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/hezbollah-denies-media-reports-about-leadership-changes-following-leaders-death-1120356738.html Hezbollah Denies Media Reports About Leadership Changes Following Leader's Death Hezbollah Denies Media Reports About Leadership Changes Following Leader's Death Sputnik International Reports related to appointments and other organizational processes following the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah are not related to official statements from the movement's leadership, Hezbollah's press service said on Monday. 2024-09-30T10:27+0000 2024-09-30T10:27+0000 2024-09-30T10:27+0000 world hassan nasrallah middle east israel lebanon gaza strip hezbollah israeli defense force https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/09/18/1120266191_0:282:3072:2010_1920x0_80_0_0_2a3dfbd3dc78f7e39d683b6f0c29d691.jpg After the confirmation of Nasrallahs death, some media outlets reported that there may be possible changes in Hezbollah leadership. According to sources, it was allegedly planned to appoint Hashem Safieddine as the new movements leader. The situation on the Israeli-Lebanese border aggravated after the start of Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip in October 2023. The Israeli military and Hezbollah fighters exchange fire almost daily in areas along the border. Israel began carrying out massive strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon last Monday. Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi labeled the offensive operation in Lebanon "Northern Arrows." Hezbollah, in turn, fired dozens of rockets toward northern Israel. This escalation was preceded by a series of explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon from September 17-18, which killed over 40 people and injured nearly 3,500 others. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240929/israeli-army-strikes-dozens-of-alleged-hezbollah-targets-in-lebanon-since-sunday-noon---idf-1120352450.html israel lebanon gaza strip Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah, leadership changes https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/iran-vice-president-calls-cooperation-with-russia-one-of-foreign-policy-priorities-1120359277.html Iran Vice President Calls Cooperation With Russia One of Foreign Policy Priorities Iran Vice President Calls Cooperation With Russia One of Foreign Policy Priorities Sputnik International Iran intends to seriously strengthen relations with Russia, and resolve controversial issues in cooperation with each other, Iranian First Vice President of Iran Mohammad Reza Aref said on Monday. 2024-09-30T12:42+0000 2024-09-30T12:42+0000 2024-09-30T12:42+0000 world mohammad reza aref mikhail mishustin iran russia cooperation https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/09/1e/1120359109_0:134:3167:1915_1920x0_80_0_0_23557d0fa4c84f3be91800ec0eb900a4.jpg "I am very pleased with the good pace at which our relations are developing at all levels. I would like to emphasize that the new Iranian government is serious about strengthening our relations," Mohammad Reza Aref said during talks with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. Cooperation with Russia is one of the priorities of Iranian foreign policy, the vice president said. Currently the trade between the two countries amounts to 2.5 million euros ($2.7 million), the Vice President recalled and expressed hope that thanks to joint efforts this figure will rise "to a decent level."Russia is interested in taking cooperation with Iran to a higher level, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/economic-relations-between-russia-iran-developing-in-all-areas-including-trade---kremlin-1120356579.html iran russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International iran vice president, iranian first vice president of iran mohammad reza aref, cooperation with russia https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/iraq-partial-pullout-plans-signal-us-may-have-finally-grown-weary-of-perpetual-bleeding-wound-1120358164.html Iraq Partial Pullout Plans Signal US May Have Finally Grown Weary of Perpetual Bleeding Wound Iraq Partial Pullout Plans Signal US May Have Finally Grown Weary of Perpetual Bleeding Wound Sputnik International The US official announced a "two phase transition plan for operations in Iraq." Sputnik asked a pair of regional affairs experts about the implications of the planned move, and what's behind it. 2024-09-30T15:47+0000 2024-09-30T15:47+0000 2024-09-30T15:47+0000 analysis us iraq israel withdrawal us troop withdrawal plans https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/09/1e/1120358720_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_eeac312d7537aa3d8a89e2bbb5b558df.jpg Anonymous US defense officials told the Wall Street Journal earlier this month that Baghdad and Washington had reached an agreement on ending the presence of US and other foreign troops in Iraq by the end of 2026, not counting a "small contingent" that may be allowed to stay "indefinitely." According to Reuters, "hundreds" of troops from the approximately 2,500 US troop-strong contingent may leave.A senior Biden administration spokesman told reporters on Friday that the US-led coalition mission in Iraq would formally end in September 2025 as part of a two-phase "evolution" of its mission, with the first involving "ending the presence of coalition forces in certain locations in Iraq as mutually determined," and the second reaching "an understanding to allow the coalition to continue to support counter-ISIS* operations in Syria from Iraq...until at least September 2026."The US has actively used the "counter-ISIS operations" catch-all to justify its ongoing presence in Iraq, and occupation and plunder of oil and food-rich northeastern regions of Syria.Iraqi lawmakers, officials and militias have put pressure on the US to end its presence in the country going back to 2020, when a US drone strike killed Qasem Soleimani, a senior Iranian IRGC commander and military advisor to Iraq's anti-terror forces, in Baghdad while he was on a diplomatic mission aimed at normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia. The Trump administration announced plans to fully quit Iraq in November 2020, but the incoming Biden team reversed course, rebranding the US combat mission in the country to an 'advise and assist' presence, and withdrawing few if any troops between 2021 and now.US plas to mostly end its presence in Iraq is an expected step, thought it came too late, Dr. Muhannad Alazzeh, a former Jordanian senator and international rights commissioner, told Sputnik.Pointing to the regularity of attacks and the trickle of casualties US forces have taken to various militias, including the recent stream of attempts to strike US bases with artillery and drones over America's support for Israel in Gaza, Alazzeh said that the years the US has spent in Iraq appear to have finally proven more than sufficient to convince any illegitimate interferer that they have to quit.Ultimately, Dr. Alazzeh is convinced Washingtons plans are tied to the upcoming US elections. The USA invaded Iraq for electoral reasons and theyre leaving for electoral reasons, he said.As for US plans to keep a small number of troops in Iraq even after the bulk of the forces is pulled out, this makes strategic sense from the standpoint of US policymakers, says political analyst Dr. Hossein Askari.At the same time, there are ominous signs of anti-Americanism in the entire region because of Americas total support and assistance to Israel in its ongoing genocide. Because of this, the Iraqi establishment and government are trying to trumpet the message that they are in no way supporting the United States and that its role inside Iraq will be winding down, the observer said.*ISIS (also known as Daesh/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia and many other countries https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/us-and-its-corporate-interests-wont-leave-iraq-anytime-soon---analyst-1120357731.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20240811/syria-to-us-occupation-forces-get-out-1119722468.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/us-likely-had-a-hand-in-israels-operation-to-eliminate-hezbollahs-leader-nasrallah---analyst-1120355182.html iraq israel Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Ilya Tsukanov Ilya Tsukanov 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 Ilya Tsukanov why does us plan to partially pull out of iraq, when will us pull out of iraq, will us ever completely pull out of iraq, will us ever end its occupation of iraq and syria https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/israel-may-launch-ground-offensive-into-lebanon-this-week---reports-1120360996.html Israel May Launch Ground Offensive Into Lebanon This Week - Reports Israel May Launch Ground Offensive Into Lebanon This Week - Reports Sputnik International Israel has been gathering intelligence in preparation for a broader ground invasion into Lebanon that may come as soon as this week, The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported on Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter. 2024-09-30T15:09+0000 2024-09-30T15:09+0000 2024-09-30T15:09+0000 world middle east israel lebanon hezbollah israel-lebanon tensions gaza strip gaza violence palestine-israel conflict https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/09/0d/1120130972_0:198:3072:1926_1920x0_80_0_0_d7504e693dbbc4b33f867a5a7d0fc673.jpg Israeli special forces have been carrying out small, targeted raids into southern Lebanon and entering Hezbollahs tunnels along the border. The preparations have been underway for the past few months. Israel is reportedly under pressure from the United States to avoid a large-scale invasion, so the timing of any ground operation may change. Former Israeli military official Amir Avivi said that called a ground offensive "imminent," adding that raids were part of the preparations. US media reported, citing US senior officials, that Israel was getting ready to launch a limited ground operation in Lebanon. Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces Herzi Halevi confirmed that on Wednesday. israel lebanon gaza strip Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International gaza genocide, is israel committing genocide, whats happening with gaza, israeli genocide against palestinians, will israel be charged with genocide, whos backing israel, un hearing on gaza, current developments in gaza, whats happening to palestinians, us military aid to israel, us arms supplies to israel, us violating international law, what weapons is israel getting from us, israeli strikes, israel strikes gaza, israel kills civilians, operation in rafah, incursion into rafah, palestinian statehood, palestine independence, israeli hostages, jewish hostages, how many people did hamas abduct, how much money does us give israel, military aid to israel, financial aid to israel, hamas leader killed, haniyeh assassination, gaza peace talks, gaza ceasefire talks, israel vs hezbollah, israel lebanon tension, israel lebanon hostilities https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/israeli-air-force-strikes-targets-in-beiruts-southern-suburbs---source-1120365781.html Explosions Sound Off in Beirut as Israeli Air Force Strikes Targets in Southern Suburbs Explosions Sound Off in Beirut as Israeli Air Force Strikes Targets in Southern Suburbs Sputnik International Israeli Air Force aircraft attacked several targets in the southern suburb of Beirut, a Lebanese field source told Sputnik on Monday. 2024-09-30T21:14+0000 2024-09-30T21:14+0000 2024-09-30T22:35+0000 world lebanon israel israel-lebanon tensions middle east beirut https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/09/1c/1120330409_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_80917fe70c4551823f8535648503a921.jpg "Israeli aircraft struck the Laylaki and Borj El Brajneh neighborhoods in the southern suburb of Beirut. There will most likely be another series of strikes," the source said.A Sputnik correspondent has reported three powerful explosions were detected in the Lebanese capital. In turn, Hezbollah officials stated that its fighters had targeted Israeli soldiers in a wooded area along the border.Earlier, unconfirmed footage surfaced showing what appeared to be continued border clashes as on-the-ground media reported that Israeli tanks had been heard in the vicinity.The latest round of explosions erupted while reports detailed that the Israeli security cabinet had approved the next phase of its military actions against neighboring Lebanon, of which observers believe is part of the looming ground offensive.A US government official previously revealed that Israel had informed the US about its ground invasion of Lebanon over the weekend during "extensive" discussion. It was noted then that the operation could begin as early as Monday night and last for several days, instead of weeks. The geographical reach would be limited.The Israeli military reportedly has about five brigades forward-deployed to the border but not all of them are expected to cross into Lebanon, a US official said.The aim of the operation is reportedly to push Hezbollah fighters further away from the northern Israeli border and target the Lebanese movement's infrastructure and weapon stocks.White House insiders relayed to media that the the administration remained concerned during talks about the Israeli incursion escalating into a wider conflict and that US President Joe Biden had continued pushing for a ceasefire.Additional US reports citing sources in-the-know claimed the White House does not believe the looming ground operation would expand to the scale of the 2006 Lebanon War, which carried on for just over a month.The situation on the Israeli-Lebanese border aggravated after the start of Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip in October 2023. Israel began carrying out massive strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon last Monday. Hezbollah retaliated by firing dozens of rockets toward northern Israel.Tensions were kicked up an extra level after the spate of strikes on Friday caused the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who had been holding a meeting underground in Beirut when rocket fire was set. Israel deployed some 85 bunker-buster bombs in the vicinity, killing several and injuring dozens of residents. The latest figures released by the Lebanese Health Ministry have indicated that 95 people have been killed and 172 have sustained injuries in the past 24 hours alone. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/us-developing-joint-defense-plan-with-israel-against-possible-iran-retaliation---reports-1120359848.html lebanon israel beirut 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 tensions in the middle east, israeli-lebanon war, assassination of hassan nasrallah, israeli ground operation into lebanon https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/israeli-operation-in-lebanon-cannot-end-with-hezbollah-chiefs-death--defense-minister-1120359716.html Israeli Operation in Lebanon Cannot End With Hezbollah Chief's Death Defense Minister Israeli Operation in Lebanon Cannot End With Hezbollah Chief's Death Defense Minister Sputnik International The Israeli military campaign in Lebanon will not end with the death of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday. 2024-09-30T13:07+0000 2024-09-30T13:07+0000 2024-09-30T13:07+0000 world hassan nasrallah middle east yoav gallant lebanon beirut israel hezbollah https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/03/1a/1108791464_0:161:3071:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_b5bd24b0d1b09c63c62fcd30612c13ca.jpg "The elimination of Nasrallah is an important step but it is not everything," Gallant was quoted as saying by the Ynet news outlet when talking to the Golani Brigade fighters. The minister said he was ready to deploy Golani Brigade reserves to ensure the return of residents to their homes in northern Israel. On Saturday, Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah confirmed that its chief, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Friday. The situation on the Israeli-Lebanese border aggravated after the start of Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip in October 2023. Israel began carrying out massive strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon last Monday. Hezbollah retaliated by firing dozens of rockets toward northern Israel. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/us-likely-had-a-hand-in-israels-operation-to-eliminate-hezbollahs-leader-nasrallah---analyst-1120355182.html lebanon beirut 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 military campaign in lebano, israeli defense minister yoav gallant, hezbollah secretary general hassan nasrallah https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/reporters-without-borders-attack-on-sputnik-and-rt-highlights-ngos-status-as-media-wing-of-nato-1120363750.html Reporters Without Borders Attack on Sputnik and RT Highlights NGOs Status as Media Wing of NATO' Reporters Without Borders Attack on Sputnik and RT Highlights NGOs Status as Media Wing of NATO' Sputnik International RWB published a report on Russian media's work in the Balkans, accusing Sputnik and RT of spreading "disinformation". Balkan affairs expert Stevan Gajic told Sputnik why such fearmongering doesn't work on Serbs. 2024-09-30T18:49+0000 2024-09-30T18:49+0000 2024-09-30T18:49+0000 stevan gajic europe serbia west balkans nato russia rt sputnik russian media https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/02/13/1116877665_0:80:3263:1915_1920x0_80_0_0_0edac3cd75a77f2829684f2cd0e10142.jpg Reporters Without Borders' (French acronym RSF) new 'Propaganda Monitoring' multimedia minisite promises to "promote reliable journalism" by exposing "the many faces and tactics behind propaganda worldwide, bolstering the public's understanding of the information space and helping them navigate it more safely."Russian media, including Sputnik and RT, have become the self-anointed Paris-headquartered media watchdog's first target, with RSF rolling out a series of articles on Russian media's ability to find evade censorship, custom-tailor content, and in Serbia's case, transmit so-called "Kremlin propaganda in the Balkans despite EU sanctions."RSF wants the European Union and its members to "hold Serbia accountable for hosting Vladimir Putin's factory of lies," spending much of its investigation complaining about Russian media's refusal to answer its loaded questions, whining about its successes captivating local audiences, and crying about Serbia's receptiveness to hosting Russian outlets."Reporters Without Borders cannot be regarded as a reliable source because every line in this report is soaked with biased language," Belgrade-based Balkan affairs expert and Institute of European Studies research associate Stevan Gajic told Sputnik, commenting on RSF's report.Where were Reporters Without Borders when Radio Television of Serbia was bombed in 1999 and when 16 TV staff were murdered in cold blood?" the observer asked, referencing the 78-day NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in the spring of 1999. There is no credibility from people like this who did not act when they should have, the observer recalled.As for RSF claims about RTs spreading of Kremlin narratives in Serbia, Gajic emphasized that pro-Russian sentiment amongst the Serbs has nothing to with the Kremlin, and everything to do with Washington and NATO.RSF's conclusions are patently ridiculous, the observer suggested, highlighting the absurdity of "the presumption...that if it weren't for RT and Sputnik, everybody, I guess in the Balkans and in Serbia and amongst the Serbs especially would be thrilled with the EU and NATO and so forth.""The new wave of the pro-Russian sentiment in Serbia was primarily created by the West. It was created by the West systematically targeting the Serbs for the last 30 years, since the moment of the breakdown of the bipolar global system" in place during the Cold War. Serbs became "the prime target," a "Voodoo doll" for the West to "sting the Serbs in order for the Russians to feel pain," according to Gajic. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240914/us-sanctions-on-russian-media-reveal-fear-insecurity-of-dying-empire--ex-cia-analyst-1120141022.html serbia west balkans Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Ilya Tsukanov Ilya Tsukanov 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 Ilya Tsukanov is reporters without borders biased, whose interests does reporters without borders serve, who are reporters without borders, where is reporters without borders headquartered https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/russian-forces-engaged-in-clashes-in-center-of-ugledar-1120355550.html Russian Forces Engaged in Clashes in Center of Ugledar Russian Forces Engaged in Clashes in Center of Ugledar Sputnik International The Russian troops are engaged in clashes with Ukrainian forces in the center of Ugledar in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Vladimir Rogov, a senior official in the Russia-appointed Zaporozhye regional administration, told Sputnik on Monday. 2024-09-30T06:27+0000 2024-09-30T06:27+0000 2024-09-30T06:27+0000 russia's special operation in ukraine sergei rogov denis pushilin ukraine russia dpr https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/08/10/1119787516_0:30:3362:1921_1920x0_80_0_0_1e26ebe0c3d0464447b45ffc7aed9472.jpg "Our troops have advanced to the city center. Intense fighting continues, with our assault forces already in the central area," Rogov said, adding that the Russian military has their control zone in several parts of the city. Igor Kimakovsky, the adviser to DPR head Denis Pushilin, has said that Ukrainian military were attempting to withdraw their strike groups from Ugledar, which was surrounded by Russian troops, and the rotation of enemy units was nearly impossible. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240926/russian-defense-ministry-reports-liberation-of-lesovka-in-donetsk-peoples-republic-1120306498.html ukraine russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International russian forces, center of ugledar, donetsk people's republic https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/two-killed-in-israeli-bombing-of-northern-gaza-school-1120353624.html Two Killed in Israeli Bombing of Northern Gaza School Two Killed in Israeli Bombing of Northern Gaza School Sputnik International The Israel Defense Forces claimed a bombing on a school in northern Gaza, killing two. 2024-09-30T01:17+0000 2024-09-30T01:17+0000 2024-09-30T01:17+0000 world gaza strip israel defense forces (idf) hamas middle east israel-gaza conflict palestine-israel conflict https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/09/04/1120008283_0:0:3024:1702_1920x0_80_0_0_32ef1c7be7290fc99c865449cddd6226.jpg "A short while ago, with the direction of IDF intelligence, the IAF conducted a precise strike on Hamas terrorists who were operating inside a command and control center in the northern Gaza Strip. The command and control center, which was embedded inside a compound that previously served as the 'Abu Jafar Al Mansour' School, was used by the terrorists to plan and execute terrorist attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel," the Israeli army said on Telegram. Before the strike, the army took necessary steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, "including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence information," it added. "The IDF will continue to operate against Hamas in defense of the citizens of Israel," the IDF concluded.Israel has bombed hundreds of schools in Gaza, frequently claiming that they are used as Hamas headquarters without presenting evidence. According to the Wafa news agency, two people were killed in the attack.The Al-Jaafar school is located in the city of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza. It was being used as shelter for displaced Palestinians.According to the UN Population Fund, nine in ten Gazans have been displaced from their homes at least once since October. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240907/idf-says-attacked-hamas-command-center-located-in-gaza-school-1120065364.html gaza strip Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International abu ja'far al mansour school, abu jaafar school in gaza, israel bombs school in gaza https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/ukraine-loses-over-18900-soldiers-during-operation-in-kursk-region---mod-1120357337.html Ukraine Loses Over 18,900 Soldiers During Operation in Kursk Region - MoD Ukraine Loses Over 18,900 Soldiers During Operation in Kursk Region - MoD Sputnik International The Russian armed forces have eliminated more than 18,900 Ukrainian servicepeople and 133 tanks during military operations in the border areas of the Kursk Region, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday. 2024-09-30T10:49+0000 2024-09-30T10:49+0000 2024-09-30T10:49+0000 russia's special operation in ukraine ukraine kursk russia russian defense ministry kursk https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/08/0b/1119716234_0:0:1920:1080_1920x0_80_0_0_4e918321b3f5c4a8cc596b6e901a2370.jpg "In total, during the fighting in the Kursk region, the enemy lost more than 18,900 military personnel, 133 tanks, 65 infantry fighting vehicles, 98 armored personnel carriers, 856 armored combat vehicles, 562 vehicles," the ministry said. Kiev loses over 350 soldiers in the Kursk Direction over the past 24 hours, the defense ministry said.On August 6, Ukrainian forces launched an offensive in Russia's Kursk Region. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the move a large-scale provocation aimed at civilians and vowed a proper response. Russian forces launched a counteroffensive. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240922/ukraine-lost-over-50-of-equipment-involved-in-attack-on-kursk-region---russian-general-1120249594.html ukraine kursk russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International operation in kursk, russian defense ministry, russian armed forces https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/us-and-its-corporate-interests-wont-leave-iraq-anytime-soon---analyst-1120357731.html US and Its Corporate Interests Wont Leave Iraq Anytime Soon - Analyst US and Its Corporate Interests Wont Leave Iraq Anytime Soon - Analyst Sputnik International Dont expect the US to suddenly leave Iraq while corporate interests steer American foreign policy, Isa Blumi, an associate professor of the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Stockholm University, told Sputnik. 2024-09-30T12:19+0000 2024-09-30T12:19+0000 2024-09-30T12:19+0000 analysis us iraq 2003 invasion of iraq qasem soleimani syria us central command (centcom) daesh isis https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/102589/59/1025895969_0:249:4608:2841_1920x0_80_0_0_cb43dd54101b5eaa0e0f34995550d74a.jpg Dont expect the US to suddenly leave Iraq while corporate interests steer American foreign policy, Isa Blumi, an associate professor at the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Stockholm University, told Sputnik.The US footprint remains omnipresent, hegemonic, willing to use enormous violence, he noted.The military presence will be modified due to the vulnerability of explicit American presence to aerial attacks, which might chip away at the dimming aura of US invincibility, the expert underscored.Since the beginning of the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the bases of the US-led international coalition in Iraq, as well as US troops in Syria, have come under regular attacks, with armed Shiite groups claiming responsibility in Iraq.Domestic politics could also be a motive as part of a campaign message for the American people to be persuaded that the US is not participating in the events that are happening now [in the Middle East].The US is not giving up its firm control over Iraq's oil, which it has been plundering, he emphasized.The CJTF-OIR was established in 2014 by the US Central Command as part of a combat mission against IS* forces. However, observers have noted that the operation was more about expanding the US' footprint and maintaining an illegal presence in the country.The American withdrawal will reduce the tension in Iraq, Ali Mamouri, former strategic communication advisor to the Iraqi prime minister, told Sputnik.The Afghanistan scenario, where the Taliban** swiftly swept to power in the wake of the disastrous US withdrawal, wont be repeated in Iraq, according to Mamouri.After a US drone strike at Baghdad International Airport assassinated Popular Mobilization Forces deputy leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani on January 3, 2020, Iraqs parliament demanded that all US forces in the country be expelled. However, a reluctant Washington reclassified its operations from a "combat mission" to a "train, assist and advise" one.In January, 2024, a US airstrike killed commander Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi, leader of Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, an Iraqi PMF-affiliated militia which helped rout Daesh* across Syria and Iraq between 2013 and 2017. This was followed by an announcement by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani indicating that he would boost dialogue with Washington on the removal of all American forces from the country.It is a commitment that the government will not back down from, and will not neglect anything that would complete national sovereignty over the land, sky, and waters of Iraq, Prime Minister al-Sudani emphasized in a statement.*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia and many other countries**Under UN sanctions for terrorist activities https://sputnikglobe.com/20240927/us-iraq-agree-on-two-phase-transition-plan-to-end-military-ops-in-iraq--senior-official-1120322340.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20240109/us-will-only-be-thrown-out-of-iraq-kicking-and-screaming-heres-why-1116082347.html iraq syria 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 is us leaving iraq completely, when will us forces leave iraq, why are us forces to leave iraq, why does iraq want us troops to leave, are us troops still in iraq https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/us-likely-had-a-hand-in-israels-operation-to-eliminate-hezbollahs-leader-nasrallah---analyst-1120355182.html US Likely 'Had a Hand' in Israels Operation to Eliminate Hezbollahs Leader Nasrallah - Analyst US Likely 'Had a Hand' in Israels Operation to Eliminate Hezbollahs Leader Nasrallah - Analyst Sputnik International The US likely had a hand in Israels operation to eliminate Hezbollahs Hassan Nasrallah, Nikolas Kosmatopoulos, assistant professor of public policy and international affairs at the American University of Beirut, told Sputnik. 2024-09-30T08:12+0000 2024-09-30T08:12+0000 2024-09-30T08:12+0000 analysis israel lebanon beirut hezbollah hassan nasrallah masoud pezeshkian joe biden israel defense forces (idf) https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/09/1e/1120354462_0:161:3071:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_4f353b76fd3965ea5d10dbed8b74843a.jpg It is very likely that the US had a hand in Israels operation in Beirut that killed Hezbollahs Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, Nikolas Kosmatopoulos, assistant professor of public policy and international affairs at the American University of Beirut, told Sputnik.US interest in an operation targeting Nasrallah might have to do with the protection of the role and power that Israel projects in the region, the pundit speculated.Kosmatopoulos pointed out that the military-industrial complexes of the US and Israel are almost organically entwined, are an extension of each other. Both US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris described the Israeli strike that killed Hezbollahs Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on Friday as a measure of justice. Harris added that "Nasrallah was a terrorist with American blood on his hands."Israel notified the US about the IDFs airstrike on Beirut only after the planes were already in the air, a US official told The Times of Israel. A White House National Security Council spokesperson also claimed that the US had no advance knowledge of the operation in Beirut.Iran condemned the Israeli attack, with President Masoud Pezeshkian alleging that the US greenlit the strike and bears partial responsibility for the "war crime.""The international community will not forget that the order for this terrorist attack was issued from New York and the Americans cannot absolve themselves from collaborating with the Zionists, Pezeshkian wrote in a post on X.Irans UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani wrote a letter to the heads of the United Nations and the Security Council on Saturday calling for an emergency meeting over the attack that killed Hezbollah's leader.Israel killed Nasrallah, among others, "using US-supplied thousand-pound bunker busters, he wrote. He warned Israel against attacking any of Iran's diplomatic premises or representatives, adding: Iran will not hesitate to exercise its inherent rights under international law to take every measure in defense of its vital national and security interests.The escalation was preceded by a series of explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies that rocked Lebanon from September 17-18, killing over 40 people and injuring nearly 3,500 others.Biden administration officials are still examining the situation in Lebanon and the next potential steps as it is hard to predict possible retaliatory measures by Iran and Hezbollah following the killing of Nasrallah, US media reported on Sunday, citing White House sources. US officials are continuing to advise Israel against a ground invasion of Lebanon, one senior official was cited as saying. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240929/pentagon-chief-blew-up-as-israel-shortly-notified-us-of-strike-on-nasrallah---reports-1120340403.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20240929/israel-planned-to-kill-nasrallah-in-october-2023-us-asked-to-cancel-attack---reportsa-1120351927.html israel lebanon beirut 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 hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah, killing of nasrallah, was us involved in killing of hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah, did us give the order to kill hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah, us israel, who will lead hezbollah, how did hassan nasrallah die https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/vucic-says-russia-holds-initiative-on-battlefield-skeptical-of-ukraines-prospects-1120355690.html Vucic Says Russia Holds Initiative on Battlefield, Skeptical of Ukraines Prospects Vucic Says Russia Holds Initiative on Battlefield, Skeptical of Ukraines Prospects Sputnik International Russia has the initiative on the battlefield when it comes to the conflict Ukraine, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told US media on Monday. 2024-09-30T07:24+0000 2024-09-30T07:24+0000 2024-09-30T07:24+0000 world russia ukraine serbia sergey lavrov aleksandar vucic nato https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/05/1d/1110780792_0:59:1128:694_1920x0_80_0_0_96610d8003c899a52c027559cd9fde2c.jpg The Russians have the initiative on the battlefield, Vucic said, when asked about Ukraines prospects in the conflict. Earlier this month, the Ukrainian military admitted that they were outnumbered by Russian troops and outgunned as well. Russia believes that arms supplies to Ukraine directly involve NATO countries in the conflict. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that any cargo containing weapons for Ukraine would become a legitimate target for Russia. According to Lavrov, the United States and NATO are directly involved in the conflict, including not only by supplying weapons, but also by training personnel. https://sputnikglobe.com/20231224/serbian-president-vucic-to-hold-meeting-with-russian-ambassador-1115791068.html russia ukraine serbia 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 ukraines prospects, serbian president aleksandar vucic, initiative on battlefield https://sputnikglobe.com/20240930/which-neutral-european-countries-collaborated-with-hitlers-reich-during-world-war-ii-1120350993.html Which Neutral European Countries Collaborated With Hitlers Reich During World War II Which Neutral European Countries Collaborated With Hitlers Reich During World War II Sputnik International Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed surprise at the UNGA on Saturday over Swiss involvement in the China and Brazil-led Friends of Peace Ukraine negotiations initiative given Berns active support for Kiev and hostility toward Moscow. The present conflict has reignited old debates about what it means to be a neutral country. 2024-09-30T10:17+0000 2024-09-30T10:17+0000 2024-09-30T10:17+0000 world adolf hitler neville chamberlain germany switzerland berlin nazi red army nazis soviet union https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/102408/36/1024083619_0:158:2966:1826_1920x0_80_0_0_bdc9951de75e00c4a473711d8822278f.jpg Czechoslovakia, who had treaties of alliance with France and the USSR, was given no say in its destiny, with Pragues French ally allowing Germany to annex the disputed Sudetenland borderlands into the Reich with no pushback to Hitler. The Soviets expressed readiness to send the Red Army to Pragues assistance, in accordance with a 1935 treaty, but were blocked by Poland and Romania, who refused to allow Soviet troops to transit through their territory. Fearing that Moscow would veto any unfair deal, Soviet representatives were barred from the Munich talks together Czechoslovak officials.Returning to London on September 30 boasting about saving Europe from a new great conflict, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain iconically waved a piece of paper with Hitlers assurances, touting his success in assuring peace for our time.But instead of peace, the Munich Betrayal triggered the collapse of the post-WWI European security order. On March 15, 1939, Nazi troops marched into the rump state of Czechoslovakia, set up a protectorate in the Czech provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, and created a Slovak puppet state.Hard ChoicesWhen the Second World War began several months later on September 1, 1939, countries around the world, and especially in Europe, were forced to choose between the German-led Axis powers and the Allies, led by Britain and France, and joined by the USSR and the United States in June and December 1941, respectively.In Europe, only a handful of countries managed to avoid invasion and puppet status to the Third Reich, which required difficult and controversial choices and maneuvering to dodge direct involvement in the devastating conflict. Formally neutral nations including Switzerland, Sweden, Spain and Portugal ended up playing a crucial role in fueling the German war machine, providing key strategic raw materials, as well as other forms of assistance, Oleg Matveev, an expert from Russias National Center for Historical Memory, told Sputnik.Germany had secret treaties with states that declared themselves neutral during Germanys war against the Soviet UnionThe management of the agreement of secret treaties with other states was carried out by Ministry of Foreign Affairs Trade and Political Department director [Emil] Wille. Wille was also in charge of all foreign trade, Bisse told Soviet investigators in his testimony.SwitzerlandFor instance, Operation Tannenbaum, the secret Nazi plan to invade Switzerland, was shelved after the Nazis realized the mountainous nation known for its banking secrecy could prove more useful as a partner than an enemy, according to Matveev.The agreement also had a financial component, Matveev pointed out.Switzerland began to buy gold from the German Reichsbank, ultimately purchasing about $1.7 billion worth (about $29.7 billion in todays dollars). The Swiss loophole allowed Berlin to keep afloat financially and keep trade with third countries going despite increasingly stringent global restrictions on the circulation of the Reichsmark by the Allies as the war wore on. In 1998, an investigative commission revealed that up to a third of the gold sold by the Nazis was still in the coffers of Switzerlands National Bank.SwedenSweden, another formally neutral power during WWII, had secret agreements with Berlin allowing German troops to pass through its territory on their way to occupied Norway or allied Finland, with Stockholm compensated through weapons deliveries and up to 6 million tons of coal annually. Sweden also supplied Germany with ball bearings, according to Bisses testimony, and crucially, high quality iron ore, without which Berlin would find it impossible to manufacture the steel used for its war effort.SpainExhausted by the Civil War of 1936-1939 dubbed by some observers as the dress rehearsal for World War II, Francisco Francos Spain formally sat out the Second World War, rejecting Hitlers proposals for an alliance and sticking to neutrality.Instead, Berlin and Madrid stuck to secret trade agreements, among them a deal for the supply of up to 1,400 tons of tungsten - the strategic material critical for the production of metal alloys for artillery systems, tank rounds, anti-tank weapons and machine tools.Franco sent the 250th Infantry Division, better known as the Blue Division, to fight the Red Army on the Eastern Front, with up to 45,000 troops serving in the volunteer formation.German deliveries to Spain during the war included war materiel, especially anti-aircraft guns, including arms captured by Germany in occupied countries, Bisse testified.PortugalAnnouncing its intention to adhere to a centuries-old treaty of alliance with Britain at the beginning of WWII in 1939, Portugal nevertheless reached a economic understanding with Hitlers Reich, starting in 1941 at the start of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.Under this agreement, Portugal undertook to supply 1,500 tons worth of tungsten to Germany annually, and it fulfilled these deliveries, Bisse revealed during questioning.An estimated 150-200 Portuguese volunteers unofficially served in the Spanish Blue Division. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230106/declassified-doc-reveals-how-uk-france-tried-to-whitewash-responsibility-for-wwii-1106090510.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20240506/nazi-forces-wanted-to-defeat-ussr-in-3-weeks-take-stalin-hostage-in-1941---documents-1118287707.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20240412/unearthed-doc-reveals-french-fascist-forces-collaboration-with-ukrainian-nationalists-during-wwii-1117897830.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20151106/nazi-germany-spanish-soldiers-pensions-1029696161.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20231007/new-findings-confirm-late-dutch-prince-bernhards-nazi-party-membership-1113995195.html germany switzerland berlin soviet union Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2024 Ilya Tsukanov Ilya Tsukanov 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 Ilya Tsukanov which neutral countries collaborated with nazi germany, which european countries were neutral during world war ii, did sweden collaborate with nazi germany, did switzerland collaborate with the nazis Some local plane enthusiasts were recently named to the Virginia Aviation Ambassador Program after visiting each of the states 65 public use airports. Almost 700 people total from across the U.S. have done the same, meeting the main requirement of the ambassador program coordinated by Virginia Department of Aviation. The state agency on Sept. 14 welcomed 33 new members to the club during a ceremony at Williamsburg Jamestown Airport, according to a news release. Newly inducted gold-level members included: Sam Yakulis of Stafford, Michael Penzo of Stafford, Frank Wright of Charlottesville and James C. Andrews of Warrenton. Ambassadors who have reached gold-level receive a customized leather flight jacket that cannot be purchased, only earned, when a participant visits all the airports, four air museums, a fly-in, and a safety seminar. New members came from 22 cities and towns across the Commonwealth as well as residents from Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Virginia Department of Aviation started the program for pilots and non-pilots to see its system of airports, according to the news release. The initiative is also an economic driver, said aviation department director Greg Campbell. When youre visiting these airports, you are also visiting the local sites, eating at restaurants, staying at hotels, and filling up on fuel. Most Virginians are likely no more than a half-hour away from an airport. Culpeper County Regional Airport is in the airpark, along U.S. Route 29 in Elkwood. After visiting their first public-use airport in Virginia, ambassador program participants can pick up a specialized blue passport and get their first stamp. Airports are local gateways to the rest of the world, Campbell said. An 81-year-old South Korean fashion model fell short in her bid to become the oldest Miss Universe contestant. She did, however, take home the "best dresser" award. 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 Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal-fired power station has dominated the central England landscape for nearly 60 years. The UK's last coal-fired power station will officially close its doors on Monday, making Britain the first G7 country to end its reliance on the fossil fuel to produce electricity. The closure of Ratcliffe-on-Soar, a power plant that has dominated the surrounding central England landscape for nearly 60 years, marks a symbolic step in the UK's ambition to decarbonize electricity by 2030, and become carbon neutral by 2050. "The era of coal might be ending, but a new age of good energy jobs for our country is just beginning," Energy Minister Michael Shanks said in a statement. The owner of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar factory, Uniper said the site will be put into a two-year decommissioning period beginning in October. The 350 Uniper employees and contractors that work at the site, will either be redeployed to other roles within the company or leave the business within three redundancy windows before the end of 2026, Uniper told AFP. In its place will be a new developmenta "carbon-free technology and energy hub", the company said. It marks the end of Britain's 140-year dependence on coal as it becomes the first in the G7 of rich nations to do away entirely with coal power electricity. Italy plans to do so by next year, France in 2027, Canada in 2030 and Germany in 2038. Japan and the United States have no set dates. "Britain has set an example the rest of the world must follow", said Doug Parr, policy director at Greenpeace UK. "There are further battles to be had to phase out oil and gas, fulfilling the promise by all countries at COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels," he added. 'In the history books' The polluting fossil fuel played a vital part in British economic history, powering the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries that made the country a global superpower. Even into the 1980s, it still represented 70 percent of the country's electricity mix before its share declined in the 1990s as the government began to implement stricter regulations to tackle pollution. In the last decade the fall has been even sharper, slumping to 38 percent in 2013, 5.0 percent in 2018 then just 1.0 percent last year. "Coal was the backbone of the UK's power generation for over a century, but its place is now in the history books," said Friends of the Earth energy campaigner, Tony Bosworth. "The priority now is to move away from gas as well, by developing as fast as possible the UK's huge homegrown renewable energy potential and delivering the economic boost that will bring," he added. In 2023, a third of electricity production was made up of natural gas while a quarter came from wind power and 13 percent from nuclear power, according to electricity operator National Grid ESO. The new Labour government has plans to further decarbonize the energy mix. It launched its flagship green energy plan after its election win in July, with the creation of a publicly owned body to invest in offshore wind, tidal power and nuclear power. In recent years, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, which had the potential to power two million homes, was only used when big spikes in electricity use were expected, such as during a cold snap in 2022 or the 2023 heat wave. Its last delivery of 1,650 tonnes of coal at the start of this summer barely supplied 500,000 homes for eight hours. The history of Britain's reliance on coal dates back to 1882, when the world's first coal-fired power station was built in central London. 2024 AFP This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The passive cooling device reflects thermal energy back to the sky while collecting water using only gravity and no electricity. Credit: 2024 KAUST. Its abundance of sunlight and heavy investment in solar cell technology has positioned Saudi Arabia well in its transition to becoming a leading exporter of renewable energy. Indeed, solar energy currently makes up more than 80% of the Kingdom's green energy capacity. However, these cells bring a twisted irony, as their operation exposes them to overheating risks. Cooling systems are therefore necessary, but many depend on electricity. An international research team led by KAUST Professor Qiaoqiang Gan has designed a potential solution. Their device needs no electricity, as it extracts water from the air using nothing more than gravity and relies on cheap, readily available materials. Along with keeping the solar cells and other semiconductor technologies cool, the water can be repurposed for irrigation, washing, cooling buildings on which the solar cells are placed, and other applications. Scientists estimate that the atmosphere contains six times more water than all the fresh water in the rivers combined. "This water can be collected by atmospheric water harvesting technologies," says Gan. While these technologies work reasonably well, in arid environments like that of Saudi Arabia they require electricity to harvest practical amounts of water. This demand risks deterring the adoption of solar cells in rural regions of the Kingdom, where electricity infrastructure is costly. One reason for the low efficiency is that the water adheres to the surface of the harvesting device. Professor Dan Daniel and Shakeel Ahmad, a postdoc in Gan's group, found that by adding a lubricant coating that is a mix of a commercial polymer and silicon oil, they could collect more water by relying on only gravity. "A common challenge in atmospheric water harvesting systems is that water droplets tend to remain pinned to the surface [of the device], necessitating active condensate collection. Our coating effectively eliminated pinning, enabling true passive water collection driven by water," says Ahmad. "Since this system operates entirely on passive radiative cooling, it doesn't consume any electricity." The solution is based on previous technology made by Gan, which he describes as "vertical double-sided architecture." That system was originally designed to reflect thermal heat back to the sky to keep the solar cells cool but not to capture the water produced. The new device was tested six times over the span of a year in natural conditions in the town of Thuwal, about 100 km north of Jeddah, and could almost double the rate of water collection compared with alternative atmospheric water harvesting technologies. Along with Gan and Daniel, KAUST Associate Professor Gyorgy Szekely contributed to the study, which was published in Advanced Materials. Along with the efficiency of the water collection, Daniel is equally excited about the economic benefits of adoption. "The system doesn't consume any electricity, leading to energy savings. Moreover, it doesn't rely on any mechanical parts like compressors or fans, reducing the maintenance over traditional systems, leading to further savings," he said. More information: Shakeel Ahmad et al, Lubricated Surface in a Vertical DoubleSided Architecture for Radiative Cooling and Atmospheric Water Harvesting, Advanced Materials (2024). DOI: 10.1002/adma.202404037 Journal information: Advanced Materials 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: Epic Games is the developer behind titles such as 'Fortnite' and spinoff 'Lego Fortnite' "Fortnite"-maker Epic Games is suing tech giants Google and Samsung, it announced Monday, accusing them of illegally colluding to block competition on Samsung devices. CEO Tim Sweeney said his company filed a claim in a federal court in California, the same jurisdiction where the company won a yearslong legal battle with Google in 2023. He said he would also take the fight to authorities in Europe and Asia if necessary, amid his long-running battle to force Apple and Google to open up their smartphones to other app stores. "This is a major global fight, which is ultimately for the right of consumers to get all the benefits of competition and choose freely who they want to do business with," Sweeney told reporters. The latest lawsuit focuses on Samsung's Auto Blocker feature. Epic claims that feature was implemented in coordination with Google to undermine a recent US court decision against Google's app store practices. Following that decision, Epic in August launched its own app store, which allows users to bypass the Google-run store and offer content directly to smartphone users. Epic alleges that Auto Blocker surreptitiously blocks the new app store by making it harder to install apps from sources other than the Google Play Store and Samsung Galaxy Store. Samsung in July changed Auto Blocker from an "opt-in" feature to the default setting, forcing users to navigate a 21-step process to download apps from third-party stores or the web. In a statement, Samsung said that it plans to "vigorously contest" what it called Epic Games's "baseless claims." "The features integrated into our devices are designed in accordance with Samsung's core principles of security, privacy and user control, and we remain fully committed to safeguarding users' personal data," a spokesperson added. 'Meritless' A Google spokesperson said the lawsuit was "meritless," adding that Android device makers such as Samsung "are free to take their own steps to keep their users safe and secure." But Epic argues that Auto Blocker cements Google Play Store's monopoly and violates the jury verdict in Epic's prior court victory against Google. In that case, a jury found Google's app-store practices, including agreements with phone manufacturers, to be illegal. "Allowing this coordinated, illegal, anti-competitive dealing to proceed hurts developers and consumers and undermines both the jury's verdict and regulatory and legislative progress around the world," Epic said. Epic, the company behind the hugely popular "Fortnite" video game, is asking the court to prohibit what it calls anti-competitive conduct and mandate that Samsung remove Auto Blocker as the default setting on its devices. As part of Epic's ongoing battles with major tech companies over app store policies and fees, the company also previously sued Apple, in a case it mostly lost. The new lawsuit comes at a time of increasing scrutiny of big tech companies' market power by regulators and lawmakers worldwide, with new laws passed in Europe, Japan and South Korea limiting the way the giants can do business. 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: Lero researchers Dr. Barry Sheehan, Kevin McDonnell and Professor Finbarr Murphy, University of Limerick, Ireland following the publication of 'Are electric vehicles riskier? A comparative study of driving behavior and insurance claims for internal combustion engine, hybrid and electric vehicles' in Accident Analysis & Prevention. Credit: Brian Arthur. Drivers of electric vehicles (EVs) are more likely to be involved in at-fault road traffic accidents than drivers of petrol and diesel cars, research by Lero, the Research Ireland Center for Software, at University of Limerick and Universitat de Barcelona, reveals. In the analysis of insurance claims and data from onboard sensors, published in the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention, the Lero researchers reveal a number of key findings: Electric and hybrid drivers exhibit different behaviors than drivers of traditional vehicles. Electric vehicles record more at-fault claims than traditional vehicles. Electric vehicles are 6.7% more expensive to repair than traditional vehicles. The research is authored by Kevin McDonnell, Dr. Barry Sheehan, Professor Finbarr Murphy, all from Lero at University of Limerick, and Professor Montserrat Guillen of Universitat de Barcelona. Lero researcher and co-director of the Center of Emerging Risk Studies the Kemmy Business School, Dr. Barry Sheehan, said EV drivers have a higher chance of experiencing an at-fault claim than drivers of cars with internal combustion engines (ICE). "Our research finds that despite their lower average mileage than internal combustion engines, lower road exposure for EV drivers does not reduce their risk of experiencing an at-fault insurance claim. When analyzing at-fault claims, we find a 4 % increase in crashes from EVs and a 6% increase for hybrids (HYBs) compared to internal combustion engines. "However, when tested with statistical models, hybrids do not display any further concerns of increased at-fault claim risk. These results indicate that EVs have a higher risk profile than traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. "Our research shows drivers' driving behavior changes significantly when switching to hybrids or EVs. These results mean EVs are more likely to experience an at-fault claim than internal combustion engines," added Dr. Sheehan, Associate Professor in Risk and Finance at UL. Lero researcher and lead author Kevin McDonnell said their analysis of each fuel type shows that EVs and hybrids have lower average mileages than internal combustion engines. "This suggests that internal combustion engines should have a higher probability of incurring an at-fault claim than alternate energy fuel-type vehicles. However, the claims data contradicts this assumption by providing evidence of increased at-fault claim occurrences in EVs through predictive modeling and risk analysis," he added. Lero's Professor Finbarr Murphy, Executive Dean of the Kemmy Business School at UL and co-author said that, given the increased likelihood of incurring an at-fault insurance claim with less mileage, significant first-party damages, and battery costs, alternative energy vehicles are riskier and have a higher financial burden than petrol and diesel cars. The study used telematic data from 125 million commercial fleet vehicle trips involving 14,642 vehicles recorded from January 2022 to October 2022 in the Netherlands. It also used an insurance claims dataset during the same period. More information: Kevin McDonnell et al, Are electric vehicles riskier? A comparative study of driving behaviour and insurance claims for internal combustion engine, hybrid and electric vehicles, Accident Analysis & Prevention (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2024.107761 Provided by Lero This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain A new study from the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology IEE has analyzed the economic effects on the European energy system of introducing offshore hydrogen production. The study considers the expansion of the German 70 GW buildout target of offshore wind and examines the economic effects by allowing offshore hydrogen production on two energy islands connected with 10 GW offshore wind each, compared to a scenario where all electricity from offshore wind farms is transported to shore and can be used within the German energy market without further restrictions. The study concludes that Germany can achieve annual savings of up to 4.3 billion euros by establishing offshore hydrogen production on two energy islands. The two energy islands have a limited connection to the power grid and are located around +150 kilometers from the shoreline in the German economic zone of the North Sea. The savings are primarily driven by reduced grid buildout costs, especially cables from the coastline to the center of Germany, as well as higher utilization of the HVDC cables. Further, the study concludes that producing hydrogen offshore is more efficient than producing hydrogen onshore. The reason is that hydrogen production closely located to the renewable energy source reduces energy loss and investments in long transportation routes of the electricity. Background of the case study The study commissioned by Copenhagen Energy Islands ApS examined two scenarios up against the 70 GW buildout of offshore wind. The first scenario includes only a hydrogen pipeline connection to the islands with no grid connection. This means that the entire energy produced from the 10 GW of offshore wind connected to each energy island will be used for hydrogen production transported to the mainland via a pipeline connection. The second scenario includes a limited grid connection to the energy islands in addition to the hydrogen pipeline connection. The limited grid connection is an AC connection between the energy islands and offshore converter platforms of other wind farms, allowing for export of electricity from the energy islands to the grid, when there is free capacity in the grid, or import of electricity to the energy islands. There are substantial positive effects of connecting offshore hydrogen production to the grid via a limited grid connection. The solution allows for flexible use of the energy generated by wind farms, either to be used to produce green hydrogen offshore or to be transported to the mainland via HVDC cables. This creates significant efficiency gains for the energy system. In times of low prices and high supply of renewable electricity, the electricity from offshore wind will be fed into hydrogen production, whereas in times when renewable energy supply is low and prices tend to be higher, offshore electricity is used for supplying the electricity demand and hence directly fed into the German electricity grid. This increases flexibility of the overall energy system, creating positive system effects. Provided by Fraunhofer-Institut fur Energiewirtschaft und Energiesystemtechnik IEE 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 Policymakers across the globe are grappling with the vast implications of advances in artificial intelligence technology, including how these tools will be used by international organizations. Aaron Martin, an assistant professor at the University of Virginia's School of Data Science, was recently invited to share his insights on this critical topic during a panel discussion at the International Organizations Workshop on Data Protection, which was held at the World Bank in Washington and co-hosted by the European Data Protection Supervisor. This year's gathering marked the first time the conference took place outside of Europe. Martin, who joined the School of Data Science faculty in 2023 with a joint appointment at UVA's Department of Media Studies, specializes in data governance and how international bodies establish transnational policy, particularly as it relates to technology. At the panel discussion, Martin shared his thoughts on the challenges global institutions face with data protection and why it is vital that they work to address them. He recently chatted about his experience at the conference and his views on some of the many facets of this rapidly evolving global issue. Your panel focused on AI use by international organizations. Broadly speaking, what is your impression of how widely used AI systems are by these agencies? Suffice it to say, international organizationsincluding those that were represented at the workshop in D.C.are very diverse in terms of their missions and mandates. These range from U.N. agencies with development or humanitarian missions to organizations like NATO or Interpol, which facilitate security and law enforcement cooperation internationally. Each of them is exploring the use of AI in different ways, and my impression is that currently, their approach is a cautious one, which is encouraging. A key feature of IOs is that they enjoy what are known as legal immunities and privilegesthese help ensure their independence and effective functioning. What this means in practice is that national laws and regulations for data protection (like the General Data Protection Regulation) and AI (like the EU AI Act) won't apply to IOs as they do for government bodies or commercial firms. This becomes a real governance issuehow do we ensure that IOs are processing data and using new technologies responsibly? Most of these organizations have established policies for privacy and data protection, but AI introduces a new set of challenges that they need to grapple with. The point of this workshop is for the organizations to work together to develop good guidance and practices for data, and increasingly, AI. The discussion in part focused on the risks of these systems. What should international organizations prioritize when it comes to mitigating the risks of AI to the many constituencies affected by their work? Recently, I've been struck by news reports about the challenges AI companies face in terms of their access to new sources of quality data. There's growing anxiety that AI models will become less useful and less reliable if they aren't fed with more and more datathese models are "hungry," as one of my co-panelists described it. There are fears that AI models will begin to collapse if they're trained on too much synthetic (i.e., fake) or AI-generated data, so AI companies are scrambling for new data partners. At the workshop, I focused my intervention on raising awareness about the varied risks of IOs' oversharing data with AI companies. IOs have incredibly rich and diverse data, for example, about development indicators, global conflict, and humanitarian affairs. They also have data from parts of the world that are very underrepresented online, which is where AI companies typically go to scrape data. IOs need to think carefully about how to ensure the confidentiality of this data and to take steps to protect it from misuse and toxic AI-business models. International organizations, as you mentioned, are not a monolith, and the audience for your panel was composed of representatives from diverse groups. To what extent should various types of international organizations think about these issues differently based on their mission? There will be some common challengesevery IO has a human resources department, for example, so enterprise applications exist in IOs just like they do any other organization. And many--if not most--IOs have important budgetary considerations that will shape and possibly limit their use of AI tools, including generative AI. What I'm particularly interested in, including in my research, is how the use of AI by humanitarian IOs may impact the recipients of aidso-called beneficiaries. Should IOs rely exclusively on AI to make decisions about who receives food aid, for example? What are the risks of doing so? These are hard questions that require engagement with a range of stakeholders, including those directly impacted by these decisions. You've done a lot of work looking at technology's impact on historically marginalized communities, particularly refugees. When it comes specifically to humanitarian organizations and AI, what are your biggest concerns? Humanitarian organizations are generally being pretty thoughtful about their approach to AI. "Do no digital harm" is their mantra, which means they're very sensitive to the potential and actual harms that AI might inflict on refugees and others impacted by conflict and crisis. I do worry about what's been referred to as "AI snake oil" in the aid sector, and organizations being sold technology that simply can't deliver on the hype. It's important that we continue engaging with these organizations to help them understand the possibilities and the risks. What were some of your main takeaways from the other speakers for your panel and any others you heard at the conference? Well, it was Chatham House Rule, so I ought to be careful here, but I was quite impressed by the strategic thinking that IOs are undertaking to incorporate AI into their organizations. I've attended other conferences where it feels like folks are mindlessly fishing for AI use cases, and that's usually the wrong approach. Another panelist explained how his organization is using AI to document human rights abuses around the world, which is a fascinating application and speaks to the potential for AI to have a positive impact in the world. 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: Stellantis has struggled to get rid of inventory in the United States. Shares in Jeep-maker Stellantis and Britain's Aston Martin tumbled on Monday after both companies joined European rivals in cutting their profit forecasts. European auto giant Stellantis, whose other top brands include Peugeot, Ram and Fiat, cited efforts to improve its US business as well as competition from Chinese automakers. The company, which also makes Maserati, Dodge and Chrysler cars, said it now expected an adjusted operating income margin of 5.5 to 7.0 percent. It had previously expected double-digit growth. Stellantis shares sank by almost 14.7 percent to close at 12.40 euros ($13.82) on the Paris stock exchange. "While this is a highly anticipated profit warning ... the magnitude surprises," UBS bank analysts said in a note. For analysts at French brokerage Oddo BHF, the alert "raises major questions about the vision and direction for the company... and its credibility among investors". In a statement, the company said efforts to improve its business in North America accounted for about two-thirds of the revision of its financial guidance for the year. Stellantis said it had brought forward to the end of this year plans to reduce its dealer inventory levels to 330,000 units in the United States. Stellantis offered promotional deals as US dealerships have struggled to reduce their inventories. The company, which previously expected a positive cash flow, also said it now forecasts negative cash flow ranging from five billion to 10 billion euros. "Deterioration in the global industry backdrop reflects a lower 2024 market forecast than at the beginning of the period, while competitive dynamics have intensified due to both rising industry supply, as well as increased Chinese competition," it said. European car companies have struggled to keep up with competition from Chinese electric vehicles. German auto giants Volkswagen, Mercedes and BMW have also cut their guidance in recent weeks, all partly due to weakness in China. China effect Aston Martin also cited the Chinese market as it trimmed its financial guidance for 2024, saying its core profit is now expected to be "slightly below" the previous year's. The company's shares plunged 24.5 percent to 1.20 ($1.61) in late morning deals in London. Aston Martin, famous for being James Bond's favorite car, said in a statement that it would cut production by 1,000 units this year "to address disruption in its supply chain and continued macroeconomic weakness in China". Delays in receiving components from suppliers has hit the car maker's output and postponed deliveries. The company, however, said its "fully reinvigorated portfolio of ultra-luxury high performance models" would support future growth. 2024 AFP This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The Verizon logo is seen on a storefront, Friday, Sep. 1, 2023, in Boston. Credit: AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File Some Verizon customers across the U.S. were hit by a service outage Monday. The issue appeared to knock out cellphone service for tens of thousands of Verizon users. Data from outage tracker DownDetector shows that reports topped 100,000 shortly after 11 a.m. ETand while that number dropped significantly, nearly 48,000 were still facing issues closer to 4 p.m. ET. Frustrated users online shared that they didn't have service in many parts of the countryincluding the Southeastern U.S., where residents are still reeling from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. But the outage wasn't isolated to one region. DownDetector's map also showed many reports coming from the West Coast, Midwest and Northeast. A statement from New York-based Verizon confirmed the issue with its network and apologized "for any inconvenience some of our customers experienced today." The company added while service has been restored for many customers, its engineers are continuing to work to fully resolve this issue. The Federal Communications Commission also acknowledged the outage later in the day, but didn't provide further details beyond saying it was looking to determine the cause. Some Verizon iPhone customers saw SOS messages displayed in the status bar on their cellphones. The message indicates that the device is having trouble connecting to their cellular provider's network, but it can make emergency calls through other carrier networks. During cell service outages like this, one alternative is connecting to nearby Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi calling is also a built-in feature on most Android devices and iPhones and can be turned on under the phone's settings. 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Kering SA (OTCMKTS:PPRUY Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 178,700 shares, a decline of 29.7% from the August 31st total of 254,200 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 955,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.2 days. Kering Price Performance Shares of OTCMKTS PPRUY traded up $1.47 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $29.60. The companys stock had a trading volume of 202,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 444,617. Kering has a 12 month low of $24.43 and a 12 month high of $47.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.65. Get Kering alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes A number of brokerages have issued reports on PPRUY. UBS Group downgraded Kering from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating on shares of Kering in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an underweight rating on shares of Kering in a research report on Monday, September 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kering currently has a consensus rating of Hold. Kering Company Profile (Get Free Report) Kering SA manages the development of a series of renowned houses in fashion, leather goods and jewelry in France, the Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, North America, Japan, and internationally. The company offers ready-to-wear products apparel and accessories for men and women. It also offers leather goods and shoes; watches and jewelry; eyewear products; and fragrances and cosmetics. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Kering Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Kering and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,475,500 shares, a growth of 50.3% from the August 31st total of 6,969,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 114,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 91.3 days. National Bank of Canada Stock Down 1.0 % National Bank of Canada stock traded down $0.97 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $93.61. The stock had a trading volume of 79,175 shares, compared to its average volume of 63,561. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $88.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.37. National Bank of Canada has a 12 month low of $60.71 and a 12 month high of $95.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market capitalization of $31.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.11 and a beta of 1.08. Get National Bank of Canada alerts: National Bank of Canada (OTCMKTS:NTIOF Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter. National Bank of Canada had a return on equity of 17.29% and a net margin of 19.10%. The firm had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter. National Bank of Canada Increases Dividend Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.8081 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 3.45%. This is a positive change from National Bank of Canadas previous dividend of $0.81. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. National Bank of Canadas dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.66%. Separately, Cibc World Mkts cut shares of National Bank of Canada from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Read Our Latest Research Report on National Bank of Canada National Bank of Canada Company Profile (Get Free Report) National Bank of Canada provides financial services to individuals, businesses, institutional clients, and governments in Canada and internationally. It operates through four segments: Personal and Commercial, Wealth Management, Financial Markets, and U.S. Specialty Finance and International. The Personal and Commercial segment offers personal banking services, including transaction solutions, mortgage loans and home equity lines of credit, consumer loans, payment solutions, and savings and investment solutions; various insurance products; and commercial banking services, such as credit, and deposit, investment solutions, international trade, foreign exchange transactions, payroll, cash management, insurance, electronic transactions, and complimentary services. See Also Receive News & Ratings for National Bank of Canada Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for National Bank of Canada and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. AngloGold Ashanti plc (NYSE:AU Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,360,000 shares, a growth of 24.9% from the August 31st total of 4,290,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,650,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days. Hedge Funds Weigh In On AngloGold Ashanti Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AU. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL lifted its position in AngloGold Ashanti by 3.1% during the second quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL now owns 14,100 shares of the mining companys stock valued at $354,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of AngloGold Ashanti by 17.3% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,938 shares of the mining companys stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 26.1% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,383 shares of the mining companys stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 493 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in AngloGold Ashanti by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 64,843 shares of the mining companys stock worth $1,630,000 after acquiring an additional 656 shares during the period. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 5.9% during the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 12,279 shares of the mining companys stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 682 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 36.09% of the companys stock. Get AngloGold Ashanti alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several research firms have weighed in on AU. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on AngloGold Ashanti from $28.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of AngloGold Ashanti from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Scotiabank reaffirmed a sector underperform rating and issued a $30.00 target price (up from $27.00) on shares of AngloGold Ashanti in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of AngloGold Ashanti from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $32.00. AngloGold Ashanti Trading Down 5.0 % AU opened at $27.67 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $28.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.80. AngloGold Ashanti has a 1 year low of $14.91 and a 1 year high of $32.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The mining company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.17 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AngloGold Ashanti will post 2.58 EPS for the current fiscal year. AngloGold Ashanti Increases Dividend The company also recently declared a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from AngloGold Ashantis previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.19. This represents a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. AngloGold Ashanti Company Profile (Get Free Report) AngloGold Ashanti plc operates as a gold mining company in Africa, Australia, and the Americas. The company primarily explores for gold, as well as produces silver and sulphuric acid as by-products. Its flagship property is a 100% owned Geita mine located in the Lake Victoria goldfields of the Mwanza region in north-western Tanzania. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for AngloGold Ashanti Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for AngloGold Ashanti and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of Hold from the sixteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $63.53. A number of research firms recently weighed in on EAT. KeyCorp raised Brinker International from a sector weight rating to an overweight rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Brinker International from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Wedbush restated a neutral rating and set a $68.00 price objective on shares of Brinker International in a report on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Brinker International from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Brinker International from a strong-buy rating to an outperform rating and upped their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $82.50 in a report on Monday, July 8th. Get Brinker International alerts: Check Out Our Latest Research Report on EAT Brinker International Price Performance Shares of EAT opened at $75.59 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.36 billion, a PE ratio of 22.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 2.52. Brinker International has a 52-week low of $28.23 and a 52-week high of $79.85. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $69.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 19.96, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.38. Brinker International (NYSE:EAT Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The restaurant operator reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($0.04). Brinker International had a negative return on equity of 274.62% and a net margin of 3.52%. The company had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.39 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Brinker International will post 4.64 EPS for the current year. Institutional Trading of Brinker International Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Brinker International by 1.3% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,357 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $967,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its position in Brinker International by 96.2% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 416 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Brinker International by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 12,382 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $896,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in Brinker International by 33.2% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 986 shares of the restaurant operators stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in Brinker International in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Brinker International Company Profile (Get Free Report Brinker International, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the ownership, development, operation, and franchising of casual dining restaurants in the United States and internationally. It operates and franchises Chili's Grill & Bar and Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant brands. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Brinker International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Brinker International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. European Residential Real Estate Investment Trust (TSE:ERE-UN Get Free Report) Senior Officer Jenny Chou purchased 8,400 shares of European Residential Real Estate Investment Trust stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of C$3.27 per share, for a total transaction of C$27,468.00. European Residential Real Estate Investment Trust Price Performance ERE-UN opened at C$3.25 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of C$2.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$2.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 256.06. The stock has a market cap of C$299 million, a P/E ratio of 17.11 and a beta of 1.25. European Residential Real Estate Investment Trust has a 12 month low of C$2.12 and a 12 month high of C$3.28. Get European Residential Real Estate Investment Trust alerts: About European Residential Real Estate Investment Trust (Get Free Report) Read More ERES is an unincorporated, open-ended real estate investment trust. ERES's REIT Units are listed on the TSX under the symbol ERE.UN. ERES is Canada's only European-focused multi-residential REIT, with a current portfolio of high-quality, multi-residential real estate properties in the Netherlands. Receive News & Ratings for European Residential Real Estate Investment Trust Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for European Residential Real Estate Investment Trust and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 15,010,000 shares, a growth of 17.7% from the August 31st total of 12,750,000 shares. Approximately 3.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 6,470,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LVS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 48.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 882,154 shares of the casino operators stock valued at $43,410,000 after purchasing an additional 288,684 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 28,532 shares of the casino operators stock worth $1,404,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 54.8% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,008 shares of the casino operators stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 122,717 shares of the casino operators stock worth $6,039,000 after purchasing an additional 19,165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 151,429 shares of the casino operators stock worth $7,452,000 after purchasing an additional 957 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 39.16% of the companys stock. Get Las Vegas Sands alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets LVS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $58.00 to $53.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com lowered Las Vegas Sands from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $61.00 to $55.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $59.00 to $51.00 and set a positive rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Argus lowered Las Vegas Sands from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $55.25. Las Vegas Sands Trading Down 1.5 % NYSE LVS traded down $0.78 on Monday, hitting $50.34. The companys stock had a trading volume of 9,393,171 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,743,977. Las Vegas Sands has a 52-week low of $36.62 and a 52-week high of $55.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $40.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.33. The firm has a market cap of $37.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.39, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.11. Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The casino operator reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.01). Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 44.41% and a net margin of 14.08%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. The companys quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year. Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. Las Vegas Sandss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.65%. About Las Vegas Sands (Get Free Report) Las Vegas Sands Corp., together with its subsidiaries, develops, owns, and operates integrated resorts in Macao and Singapore. It owns and operates The Venetian Macao Resort Hotel, the Londoner Macao, The Parisian Macao, The Plaza Macao and Four Seasons Hotel Macao, Cotai Strip, and the Sands Macao in Macao, the Peoples Republic of China; and Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Las Vegas Sands Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Las Vegas Sands and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. RPM International Inc. (NYSE:RPM Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,040,000 shares, a decline of 13.9% from the August 31st total of 2,370,000 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the companys stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 696,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days. Insiders Place Their Bets In other RPM International news, VP Matthew T. Ratajczak sold 1,452 shares of RPM International stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.79, for a total transaction of $171,031.08. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 24,339 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,866,890.81. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Matthew T. Ratajczak sold 1,452 shares of RPM International stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.79, for a total transaction of $171,031.08. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 24,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,866,890.81. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Frank C. Sullivan sold 57,083 shares of RPM International stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.06, for a total value of $6,625,052.98. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,039,040 shares in the company, valued at $120,590,982.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.50% of the companys stock. Get RPM International alerts: Institutional Inflows and Outflows Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of RPM International during the second quarter worth about $71,000. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in RPM International in the second quarter worth approximately $315,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in RPM International by 9,945.2% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,949,479 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $209,920,000 after buying an additional 1,930,072 shares in the last quarter. One Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in RPM International by 25.3% in the second quarter. One Capital Management LLC now owns 101,724 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $10,954,000 after buying an additional 20,556 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in RPM International by 2.5% in the second quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 17,319 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $1,865,000 after buying an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.95% of the companys stock. RPM International Trading Down 0.8 % Shares of RPM opened at $122.93 on Monday. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $117.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $113.54. RPM International has a twelve month low of $88.84 and a twelve month high of $125.35. The stock has a market cap of $15.83 billion, a PE ratio of 28.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. RPM International (NYSE:RPM Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.56. RPM International had a return on equity of 26.80% and a net margin of 8.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.36 earnings per share. The companys revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that RPM International will post 5.51 EPS for the current fiscal year. RPM International Dividend Announcement The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 17th were issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 17th. RPM Internationals payout ratio is 42.40%. Analyst Ratings Changes A number of brokerages recently issued reports on RPM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut RPM International from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $120.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, July 26th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on RPM International from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on RPM International from $136.00 to $134.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Vertical Research upgraded RPM International from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $126.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on RPM International from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, RPM International has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $122.22. View Our Latest Research Report on RPM About RPM International (Get Free Report) RPM International Inc manufactures and sells specialty chemicals for the industrial, specialty, and consumer markets worldwide. It offers waterproofing, coating, and traditional roofing systems; sealants, air barriers, tapes, and foams; residential home weatherization systems; roofing and building maintenance services; sealing and bonding, subfloor preparation, flooring, and glazing solutions; resin flooring systems, polyurethane, MMA waterproof, epoxy floor paint and coatings, concrete repair, and protection products; fire stopping and intumescent steel coating, and manufacturing industry solutions; rolled asphalt roofing materials and chemical admixtures; concrete and masonry admixtures, concrete fibers, curing and sealing compounds, structural grouts and mortars, epoxy adhesives, injection resins, polyurethane foams, floor hardeners and toppings, joint fillers, industrial and architectural coatings, decorative color/stains/stamps, and restoration materials; insulated building cladding materials; and concrete form wall systems. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for RPM International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for RPM International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Whitecap Resources Inc. (OTCMKTS:SPGYF Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 21,815,500 shares, an increase of 19.6% from the August 31st total of 18,243,200 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 282,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 77.4 days. Whitecap Resources Price Performance Shares of OTCMKTS:SPGYF opened at $7.37 on Monday. Whitecap Resources has a one year low of $6.02 and a one year high of $8.73. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $7.49. Get Whitecap Resources alerts: Whitecap Resources Increases Dividend The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.0447 per share. This is an increase from Whitecap Resourcess previous dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a dividend yield of 6.96%. Whitecap Resourcess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.33%. Whitecap Resources Company Profile Whitecap Resources Inc, an oil and gas company, focuses on the acquisition, development, and production of oil and gas assets in Western Canada. The company's primary areas of focus of its development programs are in Northern Alberta and British Columbia, Central Alberta, and Saskatchewan. The company was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Whitecap Resources Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Whitecap Resources and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. The a2 Milk Company Limited (OTCMKTS:ACOPF Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 458,000 shares, a decline of 11.8% from the August 31st total of 519,100 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 458.0 days. a2 Milk Price Performance OTCMKTS ACOPF opened at $4.26 on Monday. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $4.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.13. a2 Milk has a twelve month low of $2.36 and a twelve month high of $4.89. Get a2 Milk alerts: About a2 Milk (Get Free Report) Featured Articles The a2 Milk Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, sells A2 protein type branded milk and related products in Australia, New Zealand, China, other Asian countries, and the United States. The company also engages in the manufacturing and sale of nutritional and commodity products. It offers its products under the a2 Milk and a2 Platinum brands. Receive News & Ratings for a2 Milk Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for a2 Milk and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Valaris Limited (NYSE:VAL Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of Moderate Buy by the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $86.50. A number of equities research analysts have commented on VAL shares. Benchmark reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Valaris in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Valaris from $95.00 to $71.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Susquehanna initiated coverage on Valaris in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a neutral rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Valaris from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Pickering Energy Partners lowered shares of Valaris from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Get Valaris alerts: Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on VAL Valaris Stock Performance Shares of VAL opened at $56.06 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $4.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 1.17. The businesss fifty day simple moving average is $62.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.40. Valaris has a 12 month low of $53.06 and a 12 month high of $84.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Valaris (NYSE:VAL Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $1.07. The company had revenue of $610.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $545.00 million. Valaris had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 49.33%. Research analysts anticipate that Valaris will post 4.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Insider Buying and Selling In other Valaris news, SVP Davor Vukadin sold 15,403 shares of Valaris stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.64, for a total value of $872,425.92. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $755,237.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Gilles Luca sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.86, for a total transaction of $1,705,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 108,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,160,326.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Davor Vukadin sold 15,403 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.64, for a total transaction of $872,425.92. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $755,237.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Valaris Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Valaris by 180.8% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 365 shares of the companys stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Valaris by 88.3% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,747 shares of the companys stock valued at $120,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Valaris in the 1st quarter worth about $149,000. Choreo LLC bought a new stake in Valaris during the 2nd quarter valued at about $204,000. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Valaris in the 2nd quarter valued at about $204,000. 96.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. About Valaris (Get Free Report Valaris Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides offshore contract drilling services Gulf of Mexico, South America, North Sea, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through four segments: Floaters, Jackups, ARO, and Other. It owns an offshore drilling rig fleet, which include drillships, dynamically positioned semisubmersible rigs, moored semisubmersible rig, and jackup rigs. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Valaris Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Valaris and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC Get Free Report) Director Steven A. Raymund sold 5,819 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.56, for a total transaction of $998,307.64. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,004 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,632,806.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. WESCO International Trading Down 0.3 % NYSE:WCC opened at $171.58 on Monday. WESCO International, Inc. has a 52 week low of $122.30 and a 52 week high of $195.43. The stock has a market cap of $8.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.29, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 2.03. The companys 50 day moving average price is $161.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $166.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. Get WESCO International alerts: WESCO International (NYSE:WCC Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $3.48 by ($0.27). WESCO International had a return on equity of 14.44% and a net margin of 3.30%. The business had revenue of $5.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.71 EPS. The firms revenue for the quarter was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that WESCO International, Inc. will post 12.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. WESCO International Dividend Announcement Analysts Set New Price Targets The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.4125 per share. This represents a $1.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. WESCO Internationals payout ratio is presently 13.74%. A number of brokerages recently commented on WCC. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on WESCO International from $195.00 to $172.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Loop Capital upped their target price on WESCO International from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday. StockNews.com cut WESCO International from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. KeyCorp reduced their price target on WESCO International from $205.00 to $195.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Stephens restated an overweight rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of WESCO International in a report on Monday, August 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, WESCO International has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $189.86. View Our Latest Stock Report on WCC Institutional Trading of WESCO International A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its position in WESCO International by 71.1% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 166 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of WESCO International by 65.4% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 253 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in WESCO International in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC raised its stake in WESCO International by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 58,511 shares of the technology companys stock worth $9,275,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in WESCO International by 9.9% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,703 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $634,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. 93.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. WESCO International Company Profile (Get Free Report) WESCO International, Inc provides business-to-business distribution, logistics services, and supply chain solutions in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Electrical & Electronic Solutions (EES), Communications & Security Solutions (CSS), and Utility and Broadband Solutions (UBS). Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for WESCO International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for WESCO International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Petrovietnam seeks LNG cooperation with AES, Cheniere Energy By Tri Duc Mon, September 30, 2024 | 11:22 am GMT+7 State-owned Petrovietnam are seeking further cooperation with American businesses, including AES and Cheniere Energy, in LNG-fired power and LNG supply. Delegations of Petrovietnam had discussions with the American partners on the sidelines of Vietnamese Party chief and State President To Lams recent working trip in the U.S., according to Sunday statements of Petrovietnam. AES Regarding AES and AES-invested Son My power complex (Son My LNG terminal and Son My 2 LNG-to-power plant), Petrovietnam updated that feasibility studies of the two projects have been submitted to the Ministry of Industry and Trade for comments and approvals. Delegations of AES (left) and Petrovietnam meet in New York, September 2024. Photo courtesy of Petrovietnam. At the meeting with Petrovietnam, AES executive vice president Juan Ignacio Rubiolo said AES is committed to making long-term investments in Vietnam and helping the country with energy transition and green economy. AES strives to collaborate with Petrovietnam, Petrovietnam subsidiary PV Gas, and state utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN) in supplying clean energy for industrial projects, he added. In reply, Petrovietnam chairman Le Manh Hung said the Prime Minister has approved a plan to restructure Petrovietnam as a giant in the oil-gas sector, with a bigger focus on clean and renewable energy, such as offshore wind power, hydrogen and low-carbon emission energy. Petrovietnam also seeks collaboration with AES for such a move. The 2,250 MW Son My 2, implemented under the BOT format, is jointly invested by the U.S.s AES and PV Gas, with an investment of $2.1 billion. The investors were approved by the Prime Minister in 2019 and the project received in-principle approval from the trade ministry in 2022. In July 2023, a joint venture between American energy firm AES Corporation and PV Gas was granted in-principle approval for its $1.4 billion Son My LNG Terminal project by Binh Thuan province authorities. The terminal, to be built by Son My LNG Terminal Project Company in the south-central province, will have an installed capacity of 450 TBtu and is expected to begin commercial operations in 2027, AES said. Cheniere Energy Petrovietnam and PV Gas also highlighted the market potential in Vietnam, as the country records pacey economic growth and growing energy demand. LNG is regarded as a key source to ensure energy security with lesser environmental impacts versus other fossil fuels, the delegation added. Delegations of Cheniere Energy (right) and Petrovietnam meet in New York, September 2024. Photo courtesy of Petrovietnam. PV Gas seeking American partners for LNG supply is a strategic move to ensure Vietnam's energy security and green-sustainable growth, according to Petrovietnam. In reply, Cheniere Energy highlighted it is the second-biggest LNG producer and the fourth-biggest LNG supplier in the world, and the business is willing to establish a long-term cooperation with PV Gas for a stable LNG supply with stable prices. California Governor Vetoes AI Regulation Bill In a decision that has reignited debates over artificial intelligence (AI) regulation, California Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed Senate Bill 1047, the proposed legislation aimed at safeguarding against the misuse of the technology. The bill, which had passed both houses of the state legislature with overwhelming support, was intended to be one of the first of its kind in the U.S., setting mandatory safety protocols for AI developers. Newsom's veto has drawn sharp reactions from various stakeholders in the tech industry, academia, and political circles. In his veto message, Newsom expressed concerns over the bill's overly broad approach. "While well-intentioned, SB 1047 does not take into account whether an AI system is deployed in high-risk environments, involves critical decision-making or the use of sensitive data," Newsom wrote. "Instead, the bill applies stringent standards to even the most basic functions so long as a large system deploys it. I do not believe this is the best approach to protecting the public from real threats posed by the technology." Newsom called for a more targeted approach to AI regulation that also supports the potential benefits it could bring. In defending his decision, Newsom also highlighted his ongoing collaboration with AI experts, such as Stanford professor Fei-Fei Li, who is often referred to as the "godmother of AI," to create more science-based, empirical guidelines for regulating AI systems. Newsom stressed the need for a deeper understanding of "frontier models" the most advanced AI systems and their potential risks before enacting sweeping legislation. The Debate Over AI Regulation The veto has brought a range of reactions, underscoring the divisive nature of AI regulation. On one side, companies like Google and OpenAI welcomed Newsom's decision. In a statement, Google praised the governor for ensuring that California remains at the forefront of developing "responsible AI tools," adding that the tech giant looks forward to working with Newsom's administration and the federal government to create appropriate safeguards. OpenAI applauded Newsom's recognition of California's leadership role in AI innovation and his efforts to engage state lawmakers on issues such as deepfakes, child safety, and AI literacy. SB 1047 also faced sharp criticism from some organizations over its potential impact on the open source community. The Mozilla Foundation, the nonprofit behind the Mozilla Firefox browser, had previously called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to veto the bill. "We see parallels between the early internet and today's AI ecosystem, which is becoming increasingly closed and controlled by a few large tech companies," the foundation wrote in an earlier blog post. "We are concerned that SB 1047 would accelerate this trend, harming the open source community and making AI less safe, not more." The veto has disappointed legislators and activists who saw the bill as a necessary first step toward reigning in unchecked AI development. State Senator Scott Wiener, who authored the bill, described the veto as a "missed opportunity" for California to lead on tech regulation, as it had done with data privacy and net neutrality. Wiener stressed that without stringent safeguards, the public remains vulnerable to the potential harms posed by rapidly advancing AI systems. "This veto is a setback for everyone who believes in oversight of massive corporations that are making critical decisions that affect the safety and welfare of the public and the future of the planet," Weiner wrote in a statement. "The companies developing advanced AI systems acknowledge that the risks these models present to the public are real and rapidly increasing. While the large AI labs have made admirable commitments to monitor and mitigate these risks, the truth is that voluntary commitments from industry are not enforceable and rarely work out well for the public. This veto leaves us with the troubling reality that companies aiming to create an extremely powerful technology face no binding restrictions from U.S. policymakers, particularly given Congress's continuing paralysis around regulating the tech industry in any meaningful way." California AI Watermarking Bill Supported by OpenAI OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, is backing a California bill that would require tech companies to label AI-generated content in the form of a digital "watermark." The proposed legislation, known as the "California Digital Content Provenance Standards" (AB 3211), aims to ensure transparency in digital media by identifying content created through artificial intelligence. This requirement would apply to a broad range of AI-generated material, from harmless memes to deepfakes that could be used to spread misinformation about political candidates. Policy & Funding 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," Californias Senate Bill 1047 (SB 1047), because of revisions to the bill the company helped to influence but not without some reservations. Policy & Funding FCC Cybersecurity Pilot Update: Administrative Window Opens Aug. 26 The Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC) has just released information on how to begin making administrative updates to prepare the user permissions necessary for the Federal Communications Commission Schools and Libraries Cybersecurity Pilot Program. Policy & Funding McGraw Hill Introduces 2 Gen AI Tools for K12, Higher Ed Students Global education company McGraw Hill has added two new generative artificial intelligence tools to help personalize learning experiences for both K12 and higher ed students, according to a news release. Artificial Intelligence Cyber Acoustics Unveils Headset for K12 Classrooms Edtech manufacturer Cyber Acoustics recently announced the AC-6014 USB-C Headset, designed for use in K12 and virtual classrooms. The news comes on the heels of three recent USB-C product announcements, including two headsets with a microphone and one without. AV Gear Microsoft Loop Collaboration Platform Gets a Revamp Microsoft Loop, the online collaborative platform in Microsoft 365, is getting an upgrade with new features and an overall redesign. Learning Tools Report: Use of Game Engines Is Expanding Beyond Gaming Game development technology is being utilized beyond its traditional gaming roots, according to the recently released annual "State of Game Development" report from development and DevOps solutions provider Perforce Software. Research Fluency Innovator Grants to Award Free Subscriptions to WordFlight Literacy Intervention Solution The call for applications is now open for Foundations in Learning's Fall 2024 Fluency Innovator Grants program. Teachers and administrators from schools and districts serving grades 3-8 may apply to receive a free subscription to WordFlight, a literacy assessment and intervention solution for students with deficits in reading fluency and comprehension, for the Fall 2024 semester. Funding, Grants and Awards Report Finds Increasing Number of Vulnerabilities in OpenVPN OpenVPN, an open source virtual private network (VPN) system integrated into millions of routers, firmware, PCs, mobile devices and other smart devices, is leaving users open to a growing list of threats, according to a recent report from Microsoft. Cybersecurity California Governor Vetoes AI Regulation Bill California Governor Gavin Newsom has rejected Senate Bill 1047, proposed landmark AI regulation legislation aimed at safeguarding against the misuse of the technology. California Governor Signs Off on AI Content Safeguard Laws California Governor Gavin Newsom has officially signed a series of landmark artificial intelligence bills into law, signaling the states latest efforts to regulate the burgeoning technology, particularly in response to the misuse of sexually explicit deepfakes. The legislation is aimed at mitigating the risks posed by AI-generated content, as concerns grow over the technology's potential to manipulate images, videos, and voices in ways that could cause significant harm. Navigating New E-Rate Rules for WiFi Hotspots Beginning in funding year 2025, WiFi hotspots will be eligible for E-rate Category One discounts. Here's what you need to know about your school's eligibility, funding caps, tracking requirements, and more. SETDA: Cybersecurity Tops Priority List for State Education Leaders Cybersecurity remains the top ed tech priority for state education leaders, according to the 2024 State EdTech Trends report from the State Educational Technology Directors Association. U.S. Department of Commerce Proposes Reporting Requirements for AI, Cloud Providers The United States Department of Commerce is proposing a new reporting requirement for AI developers and cloud providers. This proposed rule from the department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) aims to enhance national security by establishing reporting requirements for the development of advanced AI models and computing clusters. Hurricane Helene knocked down trees and cut off power to thousands of homes in Bamberg, Calhoun and Orangeburg counties last week. We know we have four or five homes that have trees on them. We know we have widespread trees down in the entire county. We got hit pretty hard with trees being down, Orangeburg County Emergency Services Director Billy Staley said Friday. There were also reports of downed trees in Bowman along Two Church Road and Baxley Road, and in Cope and Rowesville. The power outages were widespread throughout Bamberg, Calhoun and Orangeburg counties. The Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities reported 6,483 customers without power on Friday morning. Several traffic lights were out in the Orangeburg area. There were about 5,835 Dominion Energy customers in Orangeburg County, 2,857 Bamberg County customers and 214 Calhoun County customers without power. Early Friday morning there were 2,798 Tri-County Electric Cooperative customers without power in Orangeburg County and 4,567 without power in Calhoun County. There were 166 Coastal Electric Cooperative customers without power in Bamberg. Calhoun County Emergency Management Director David Chojnacki said that during Helene, There were tons of trees down and power outages throughout the county. Calls were coming in like crazy, he said. The county experienced a number of transformer fires from trees falling on power lines. In one instance, a tree fell on a truck and an individual needed to extracted from the vehicle, Chojnacki said. No injuries or fatalities were reported in Bamberg County, although most of the county was without power Friday morning, according to county Public Information Officer Alisha Moore. The Orangeburg Municipal Airport recorded a peak wind gust of 58 mph. Rainfall totals included: 9.23 inches at a station four miles east of Swansea in Calhoun County 8.74 inches at station five miles east of North 7.65 inches at a station two miles north of Denmark 5.99 inches at station seven miles west of St. Matthews 5.04 inches at a station three miles west of Denmark 4.8 inches at station three miles northwest of Orangeburg 2.58 inches at a station three miles east of St. Matthews. 1.93 inches at a station two miles east of Santee The National Weather Service has confirmed at least one tornado hit Orangeburg County and one hit Bamberg County. Its investigating whether more hit Orangeburg and Calhoun counties. The NWS has confirmed an EF1 tornado spawned by Hurricane Helene hit the Cordova area. Its survey of the area isnt complete, so it hasnt confirmed all of the tornados details. The NWS believes the tornado started in the Canaan area near Cannon Bridge Road, according to Lead Meteorologist Emily Carpenter. Large, uprooted trees are near its starting point. The tornado moved northwest and, at one point, crossed U.S. Highway 301. Most of the damage seen so far has been tree damage, she said. Its maximum wind speed is estimated at 95 mph, based on tree damage. Carpenter says surveyors are also investigating other potential tornado tracks in Orangeburg County, including one along U.S. Highway 21 near Rowesville and one near Bowman. Its also looking at a potential tornado track that started in Orangeburg County and ended in Calhoun County. In addition, the National Weather Service has confirmed a tornado started near Ashton in Colleton County and ended near Ehrhardt in Bamberg County. The EF1 tornado had estimated maximum winds of 90 mph. It had a path length of 7.8 miles with a maximum width of 150 yards. It spent an estimated 19 minutes on the ground beginning at 12:52 p.m. Thursday. Get The Times and Democrat app today Local news has never been this personal. Free to download. Subscribers enjoy unlimited access. The tornado snapped trees and knocked down tree branches, but no structural damage was seen, Carpenter said. We will take it from here. That message was affixed to the sign at the Circle Fire Department on Saturday afternoon, as the station paid tribute to volunteer firefighters George Chad Satcher, 53, Landon Cale Bodie, 18, who were killed the previous morning when a tree fell on their fire engine en route to a structure fire near Batesburg-Leesville. Staff at the volunteer-manned fire station in rural Saluda County were present but off duty Saturday, as community members came by to offer support, hugging firefighters at the station through car windows. An engine from the neighboring Lexington County Fire Service was on hand, stepping in to take any calls that came through. Neither the firefighters at the station nor anyone else will be speaking publicly about the tragedy for a few more days, Saluda County Fire Service Coordinator Mark Lybrand told reporters, emphasizing that they are still reeling from the loss. He said Satcher and Bodie were, to his knowledge, the first two firefighters in the history of the department to be lost in the line of duty. We would like to reach out to the community and State for the overwhelming support during this extremely challenging time, the department posted to Facebook. We lost two dedicated members who loved their communities and neighbors enough to make the ultimate sacrifice. The department said funeral arrangements for the fallen firefighters are pending. The Saluda County community is grieving the loss of the firefighters as it, like many places in the state, struggles to recover from the impacts of Hurricane Helene, the storm that felled the tree that took the lives of Satcher and Bodie and two other county residents who died in their homes. Downtown Saluda sat dark and largely vacant Saturday afternoon, with awnings and signs sitting ripped down along the sidewalk on Main Street. As of 3:30 p.m., Dominion Energy reported that out of 6,128 customers in the county, 6,001 were without power. Downed trees still partially blocked rugged Beulah Road, along which the tree fell on Satcher and Bodies fire truck. At the crash site, tree trunks and limbs had been cut and moved off to the side, while glass and small pieces of debris from the engine still sat in the roadway. But folks around the community remained resilient. One woman sitting in the parking lot at the Hopps gas station next door to the Circle Fire Department proudly let people know that the nearby Dollar Tree was giving away free ice. Get The Times and Democrat app today Local news has never been this personal. Free to download. Subscribers enjoy unlimited access. Everybodys pulling together, she said from her truck. Death toll rises from Helene while supplies are rushed to North Carolina and Florida digs out Authorities are struggling to get supplies to isolated areas across the U.S. Southeast in the wake of Hurricane Helene and the death toll from the storm is rising. Massive rains brought on by Helene left many people stranded or homeless around the region. The storm has killed at least 91 people across several states. A North Carolina county that includes the mountain city of Asheville reported 30 people killed. Supplies were being airlifted to the region around the isolated city. A county manager says she'll have food and water into Asheville by Monday. Inside the gas stations dark and powerless store, owner Gunvant Patel told customers he was open less to sell perishable items that would go bad than to be there for people looking for items to get by as the area recovers. He turned quickly thereafter to check out a man who left with his arms full of bottled water. Biden says he hopes to visit Helene-impacted areas this week if it doesn't impact emergency response President Joe Biden says he will visit Hurricane Helene-impacted areas this week as long as it does not disrupt rescue and recovery operations. The White House said Vice President Kamala Harris will visit as well as soon as possible. Biden was briefed again Sunday evening about the impact of the devastating storm on an enormous swath of the Southeast. He planned to speak about the administration's response efforts in remarks from the White House on Monday. The president in a brief exchange with reporters says the administration is giving states everything we have to help with their response to the storm. Patel said firefighters and EMS personnel from the stations that flank the gas station come in frequently and that he talks with many of them. He said Satcher would come by the store often to grab a coffee and chat. He buys diesel from me, and he buys some food, Patel said. He was a real nice guy. They just keep on coming. Its the second half of November and still thousands of refugees arrive in Germany every day, although the news by now is stale and people have almost stopping talking about it. Roughly one million people have come to the country this year, according to many estimates. We can manage this, Angela Merkel says with the same confident tone she used three months ago, when there were half a million fewer asylum seekers. On the day of the attacks in Paris she even added, We have it under control. Ever more German and foreign politicians are starting to have their doubts, however. Whether the Germans truly can manage the present situation can successfully integrate hundreds of thousands of incomers from very different cultures and carry through their concept of a European solution to the crisis are questions that will play out across Europe for years to come. If the German effort were to collapse, it would undermine the stability of the country which for the past five years has been the political steersman and economic engine of the EU. Over the past week, we gathered three very different experiences of Germany today, in a conservative Bavarian village, a cosmopolitan city in the southwest, and a town in the post-communist east. These short trips resulted in snapshots of German society as it begins to tackle a problem which the countrys heads of state and government regard as the hardest since the end of World War II. First stop: Fischen im Allgau The air is pure on the edge of the village as a farmer drives his tractor across a meadow overtopped by the peaks of the Bavarian Alps. Some houses display traditional frescoes on their facades; others are decorated with antlers. Almost every other house offers guest accommodation of some kind. A greater contrast with Kabul or Damascus the departure points for four dozen new residents in this place of 3,000 inhabitants can hardly be imagined. The first Syrians and Afghans came last November. The quota for this district stipulated that the number of refugees in each village should equal 1 percent of its population more than 30 people in our case, Bernward Lingemann of the local administration explains. Training in the apartment of Lothar Jacobi, Fischen im Allgau. Photo: Matej Stransky But with so many refugees arriving in Germany, it wasnt enough. Recently the quota was raised to 2 percent. A month ago we took in another 16 underage Afghans. The adult newcomers are living a typical Alpine dwelling with a brown-varnished wooden balcony and a pretty view of the Catholic churchs slender steeple. Hilbrand is painted on the plastered wall the name of the inn which closed two years ago after its owners death and was then rented to the authorities by its new owner as housing for asylum seekers. The week before last, townspeople met in the community center to draw up a balance sheet for the past year of coexistence between mountaineers and refugees. Thirty of the original 40 received asylum, enabling them to move out of communal housing and start new lives. Ten men left for larger cities where relatives or friends from the old country were already living. The rest are trying to lay down roots here, in the hills. Its not easy to find housing here, though, Lingemann says. Some homeowners dont want refugees. Even so, there is remarkable evidence of two worlds coming together within these picturesque walls. Case in point: Evening in chef Lothar Jacobis apartment. This is a schnapps glass, he says. Shnapst? replies Hamza, an abstainer for religious reasons. Schnapps. Its kind of like cognac, but colorless. The terror attacks in Paris were three days ago, and a newsreader on the television in the living room declares that the war in Syria has come to us, while in the kitchen the debate is about glasses. Jacobi shows three smiling young men from Syria the proper glassware for white wine, red wine, and sparkling wine. They are soon bound for part-time jobs in an Alpine hotel in the nearby resort of Oberstdorf. Jacobi arranged the jobs and is now putting them through basic training. Ill have the spaghetti, Hamza says in German, as he takes forks and spoons from a drawer and lays them before an imaginary guest. Thats right, but dont make such quick movements. Nice and slow. Gracefully. It seems that the local refugee crisis is well under control in Fischen. We also got lucky that such great guys came here, Lingemann, the official, says. We discovered that the most important thing was intensive conversations with the neighbors. Even before the first refugees came, we invited them to a discussion and we took their fears seriously. People were concerned for their daughters, thinking they would be afraid to go out at night. Some near neighbors of the refugee hostel worried tourists would stop coming. Their fears failed to materialize; the police didnt have a single problem to sort out. Our communication with people was so proactive, opponents of the refugees didnt dare speak up, the official says. Friends of Lingemann worked to pre-empt the naysayers. They collected suggestions and complaints from the old-time residents and talked them over at monthly meetings with the asylum seekers. One woman complained of newcomers riding bikes on the sidewalk. Another said their habit of hanging bed linen or underwear in the windows spoiled the view. Regular airing of such grievances helped the newcomers grasp the rules of life in the conservative Bavarian countryside. After a year, some villagers have not lost their fears. Take my wife. She wouldnt visit a refugee, and I know a few others who take me for a fool, says Hans Besler, 76, who along with Lothar Jacobi and some 50 other villagers, retirees for the most part, has volunteered to help the newcomers. It comes of my Christian faith, says Besler, a onetime woodcutter, carpenter and school handyman. Sitting on a bench in the refugee hostel, he points out the window to a broad hill likewise called Besler. Once it belonged to someone in our family. The Beslers came to these parts in the 15th century. This long-established villager had never come in contact with a refugee before, yet last October he started taking them on hikes in the Alps: To show them how we live here. After a year, has he lost his activist spirit? Not at all. The only thing that bothers me is their unpunctuality. We arrange a meeting for eight and they never appear before 8:30. But Ive realized I may be overdoing it on the punctuality. Its also a shame we cant understand each other better. I speak in a strong dialect, so even the better German speakers cant understand me. With some skepticism, Besler tells how only a third of the refugees have learned decent German and says some have hardly tried, scorning the offer of free lessons from locals. Its been a bit frustrating for us. Still, they are like us each one is different. Second stop: Stuttgart The metropolis of Baden-Wurttemberg is a city of economic champions. Here are the head offices of Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Bosch. No less is it a city where since the 1950s migrants from Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia and Turkey have successfully integrated. At that time, the city owned the huge majority of apartments in Stuttgart, a situation the citys visionary mayor in the 70s exploited in order to forestall the birth of the foreigners ghettos that blight many European cities today. In no city-owned apartment building, and they were in the majority before privatizations in the 1990s, was the proportion of immigrants allowed to exceed 30 percent. In this way Stuttgart distributed newcomers from other cultures around every neighborhood. City Hall tried to repurpose this successful recipe to cope with the current refugee crisis. The plan was to house asylum seekers in small hostels spread throughout the city and thus ease their integration into the German way of life. But then we hit a wall, Martha Aykut says. She is a deputy to the citys chief integration official. In May the quota was set at 250 refugees per month. By summer it was 650 per month, and now its roughly 1,200. Its extremely difficult to find accommodation for them, especially since the city was suffering from a housing shortage even before the current crisis. The city lies in a basin where there is no room for more construction. The growing numbers of incomers spoiled the citys plans. One difficulty was the rule preventing more than 250 people living in any one migrant accommodation. Nor was the city permitted to temporarily house them in gyms or in tents. Instead, city authorities erected provisional two-story houses, with a planned lifespan of five years, on several large parking lots and green areas. Meant to provide a modicum of comfort for the migrants, the rules no longer apply: Refugees are housed in four gyms and are moving to an old hospital, where their number will exceed 500. The sheer scale of the influx means that the city for now is simply dealing with an acute situation. There is no scope for implementing any long-term integration policies. The city and all of Germany are keeping the situation under control, but only thanks to the public, explains political scientist Levent Gunes, who combines lecturing on migration at the university in Stuttgart with a job with the city. The neighborhood associations that sprang up in the vicinity of the citys 92 refugee hostels count 3,000 active volunteers one for every two incomers. Melting boiler named Stuttgart. Author: Matej Stransky Stuttgart practices the godfather system, which pairs up residents with asylum seekers in need of advice and help. Gunes is godfather to a family of Yezidis who fled from Islamic State. We dont understand each other that well, and this is quite limiting for our mutual enrichment, says Gunes, the son of Turkish Gastarbeiters who considers himself to be German. Four in 10 residents in this city of 600,000, like Gunes, have an immigrant background; 10 percent are Muslim. Against this backdrop, the 6,000 to 7,000 refugees now living here dont stand out that much. You cant see any change, Gunes says. The change is noticeable only to the officials who have to arrange housing and school places for the refugees. But this is a rich state, no one is unemployed, so people arent bothered by foreigners. Third stop: Halle You definitely do sense change after arriving in Halle, in the east German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Certainly when you hear the local TV news reporting about womens growing interest in self-defense courses and the 700 percent jump in sales of pepper spray. Thats right, in one month I sold more than in all of the last year. Women are afraid of Arabs and blacks, says a woman street vendor in the pedestrian zone on Leipzigerstrasse. Dont exaggerate. Thats just because its getting dark earlier. Pepper spray always sells well in November, a fellow vendor chimes in. Photo by Matej Stransky In Halle, along with most of the former East Germany, the streets do seem different. Before the refugee crisis few people with non-European roots lived here around 5,000 in this city of 200,000. The wave of asylum seekers has seen those numbers roughly double. You can see the changes at a glance. They have it easier in the west, where schools are used to having some Turkish children and the authorities have decades of experience with integration, says Elisabeth Ritter of a counseling center for migrants. Here, were just starting out. At our center we assist migrants who arrived here carrying various kinds of trauma. But the waiting list is a year long! Similar organizations in the west have more staff and money. The nationwide refugee distribution quotas also apply here. This year, Saxony-Anhalt is set to receive 23,000 asylum seekers, who will arrive in a state with just 2.2 million inhabitants and an unemployment rate of 9.5 percent, the highest in Germany. In October, the long-serving mayor of the state capital Magdeburg resigned from the Social Democratic Party. The party leadership argued the quota was unsustainable and demanded a limit on the number of migrants Germany would accept. A large part of the newcomers to Halle live in the citys biggest, once most deluxe, hotel situated in a communist-era concrete panel building at the end of the pedestrian zone. About 700 mostly Syrian refugees are staying there. The government of Saxony-Anhalt took out a three-year lease on the building from a hotel company. The mayor sees this as a good solution: Rather than put migrants on the edge of town, they are in the center, near offices, shops and ordinary people. It seems good to me as well, Elisabeth Ritter says, but a lot of hatred was expressed on the internet and among the public. People said it was too luxurious. The hotel staff were laid off, and the labor office is only now starting to look for new places for them. Two police cars keep the hotel under constant watch. So that no one sprays here or puts up anti-refugee slogans, one officer says. Attacks on refugee hostels are most common in the former East Germany, above all Saxony-Anhalt and neighboring Saxony. More than 600 such incidents have been recorded this year across Germany, and they are increasing. Some university students organized an art class for the migrants, but one female client of our center just said they are afraid to go there after dark. Another told me she was given an apartment in a complex where several of her neighbors have German flags on their doors. She has a bad feeling about it, Ritter says. But on the other hand, whenever the anti-refugee Pegida hold a demonstration, three times as many people join a counter-demonstration. The debate is heating up. Looking for a way ahead Can Germany handle it, as Chancellor Merkel promises? We could take two or three times as many refugees in this area, Im sure of it. But the wider situation, as I see it on television, that scares me a little. Theres no end in sight, the Alpine mountaineer Hans Besler muses. Its obvious that the influx of refugees cant continue forever. There needs to be a European solution, and solutions in the countries undergoing conflicts. If not, I cant imagine how things will develop, says Martha Aykut, the Stuttgart official. Its hard, we arent keeping up, but the country as a whole still has reserves, Elisabeth Ritter says. The ruling coalition, rather quietly, is considering a major change in migration policy. If Turkey succeeds in guarding its border with Greece, the Germans could bring in small numbers of refugees by air. That would give the authorities a clear idea who is coming to the country, take away the traffickers business, and spare the refugees the cost of the difficult land journey across the Balkans. Tomas Lindner is a reporter for the Czech magazine Respekt, where this article originally appeared. Translated by Ky Krauthamer. Benefit, the kingdoms innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has announced joining Fintech Forward 2024 (FF24) as an exhibition partner. Programmed by Economist Impact as part of 2024s Transformation Agenda series and hosted by the Bahrain Economic Development Board, with the support of the Central Bank of Bahrain, The Labour Fund (Tamkeen) and Bahrain FinTech Bay, the flagship installment of Fintech Forward will take place on October 2 and 3 at Bahrain Exhibition World. As a fintech and electronic financial transactions service provider that has pioneered Bahrains digital payment landscape by providing secure and efficient payment solutions, Benefit continues to play a crucial role in the country's digital evolution and development of a thriving financial services sector. During the first half of 2024, Benefits electronic fund transfer transactions (Fawri, Fawri+ and Fawateer) recorded BD16.4 billion ($43.5 billion), a 14.5% increase compared to the first half of 2023. Excellent platform Abdulwahed AlJanahi, Chief Executive at Benefit, said: "Fintech Forward 2024 is an excellent platform for us to showcase our contributions to Bahrains growing fintech ecosystem and engage with other industry leaders. Our involvement underscores our commitment to enhancing digital payment experiences and dedication to staying at the forefront of the fintech revolution, supporting Bahrains vision for a digitally empowered future." Fintech Forward has quickly become a pivotal event for innovative leaders to share experiences, collaborate on insights, and network with peers. This years edition will showcase Bahrain's remarkable advancements in digital transformation, its expanding fintech sector, and the cultivation of a highly skilled talent pool that is essential for sustainable economic growth and differentiation in an increasingly competitive global landscape.--TradeArabia News Service In a move to redefine its position in Egypts commercial banking sector, aiBANK has announced a comprehensive rebranding, unveiling its new brand name and identity as Bank NXT. Motivated by a commitment to continuously adapt to meet the evolving needs of its diverse clientele, Bank NXT is embarking on a transformative journey to provide timely and accessible financial solutions. The bank aspires to continue investing in its human capital and digital infrastructure to cater to its clients needs and fulfil its shareholders ambitions, in addition to boosting its competitive edge by providing optimised, quick, and distinctive services. Through the strategic rebrand, the Bank is committed to streamlining a customised client experience. Dr Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, as well as Chairperson of the National Investment Bank and the Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE), emphasised the significance of recent developments at aiBANK. Key part of vision She remarked: "The progress we are witnessing today underscores the effectiveness of government investments, bolstered by the contributions of both the National Investment Bank and the Sovereign Fund of Egypt. This initiative is a key part of our vision to create opportunities for the private sector while maximising the value and returns from state-owned assets. Ultimately, this approach supports the goals outlined in the State Ownership Policy Document, which aims to enhance economic growth across the nation." Tarek Kabil, Chairman of Bank NXT, said: Bank NXT takes immense pride in our comprehensive and progressive restructuring strategy, which is designed to align our services with the evolving needs of our customers. The rebranding exercise goes beyond changing our name and brand identity; it also symbolises the quality of our offerings, which we tend to launch soon to target new customer segments. Such offerings reflect our innate vision to position ourselves among the top ten banks in Egypt in terms of return on equity and return on assets in the next five years. Kabil also highlighted that the rebranding marks the start of a new chapter for the bank. Over the past three years, we have grown thanks to the support and trust of our shareholders in our new strategy, which has driven growth and increased profitability. The bank is committed to maintaining high governance standards and solid banking practices while addressing all current challenges proactively and improving our digital infrastructure. This helps us secure an improved market share and stay up-to-date with the latest digital solutions in the banking sector. Robust growth strategy Tamer Seif, CEO and Managing Director of Bank NXT, said: In today's fast-paced world, our commitment to long-term goals remains steadfast. Our successful implementation of a robust growth strategymarked by an expansion of our geographical footprint and a commitment to digital transformationdemonstrates our adaptability. The evolution of our new corporate identity, a result of a meticulous two-year collaboration with leading branding experts, not only reflects our dedication to our clients but also embodies our future aspirations. We are committed to being an institution that aligns with the needs of our existing and new customers and embodies their trust in us. This transformation is also a comprehensive overhaul of our services, ensuring speed and precision while translating our vision into reality. As we move forward, we are committed to executing our strategic plans and adapting our business model to thrive amidst local and global economic shifts. Bank NXT is set to bring about changes in the banking industry with a fresh vision and commitment to improvement. The banks rebranding is more than just a new name; it's a complete update of its strategy and values. This change is designed to support growth, digital innovation, and customer-focused solutions that address the needs of individuals, small businesses, and corporate clients, while also encouraging positive economic developments, said Seif. Karim Awad, Group CEO of EFG Holding, commented: Today marks a pivotal moment in our journey as we unveil Bank NXT, a true reflection of our aspirations for a new phase of growth for our commercial banking arm. This transformation is underpinned by our steadfast commitment to flexibility, speed, ease, and operational excellence. Since the significant changes in its shareholder structure in 2021 and the infusion of new capital, Bank NXT has demonstrated its ability to adapt to the evolving landscape of the Egyptian banking sector. By proactively understanding and responding to our customers' needs, we are not just meeting expectationswe are pioneering tailored solutions that align with their aspirations.--TradeArabia News Service The Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) has released request for qualification (RFQ) for the sixth round of renewable energy projects under the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP) which is led and supervised by the Ministry of Energy. The combined capacity of Round 6 projects is approximately 4,500 MW covering the kingdom's Central and Southern provinces, said SPPC, a Saudi government entity which is responsible for the predevelopment, tendering and subsequently offtaking the energy from the projects. The key projects within the Central Province are the 1500MWac Dawadmi Wind IPP, 600MWac Samtah Solar PV IPP and 400MWac Sufun Solar PV IPP, while those in the Southern Province are the 1400MWac Najran Solar IPP and the 600MWac Darab Solar PV IPP. These projects are part of NREP, which aims to achieve the optimal energy mix, displacing liquid fuels in the Kingdoms power sector and supply 50% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030. To date, SPPC has awarded over 19GW of renewable energy capacity under NREP. A strategic initiative under Saudi Vision 2030 and the King Salman Renewable Energy Initiative, the NREP aims to maximise the potential of renewable energy in the kingdom. The programme sets out an organized and specific road map to diversify local energy sources, stimulate economic development and provide sustainable economic stability to the kingdom in light of the goals set for Vision 2030. It includes establishing the renewable energy industry and supporting the advancement of this promising sector while working to fulfill the kingdom's commitments to reducing carbon dioxide emissions.-TradeArabia News Service Bahrain's Deputy Prime Minister, Shaikh Khalid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, yesterday inaugurated a new 220 kV electricity transmission station and a water distribution station at the Al Hidd Housing Project. The stations, which together cost $85 million, are part of the government's efforts to enhance infrastructure and meet the growing demand for essential services in the country, said a report by the Bahrain news agency BNA. The electricity station has a capacity of 360 MVA and is expected to serve nearly 40,000 users in Hidd and surrounding areas by transmitting power from the main electricity grid to the local 66 kV substations. The water distribution station has a storage capacity of 2.34 million gallons and is equipped with advanced monitoring and control systems. The inauguration was attended by several high-ranking officials, including the Speaker of the Council of Representatives, Ahmed bin Salman Al Musallam, and ministers and representatives from the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), led by Sultan bin Abdulrahman Al Marshad, CEO of the fund. Al Marshad highlighted the fund's ongoing support for development projects in Bahrain. The Deputy Prime Minister praised the efforts of the Electricity and Water Authority (EWA), led by Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed, in delivering high-quality services and ensuring the readiness of infrastructure in housing projects. He also acknowledged the SFD's contributions to Bahrains infrastructure projects under the Gulf Development Programme.-TradeArabia News Service. Leading hospitality group Rotana has announced its ambitious expansion plans for the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Turkiye (MENAT), region and beyond at the Future Hospitality Summit World (FHS), which opened today (September 30) in Dubai. Driving Rotanas aggressive pipeline is the development of 43 new properties in 26 cities in Menat region by 2026. Once complete, the new properties will add 9,049 rooms to Rotanas inventory, taking its total keys to 30,225. These will bolster the groups presence in key markets and complement its most recent openings, which include Beach Bay Hotel Mirfa, the first Edge by Rotana property in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and Nova M Hotel Olaya Riyadh, the first Edge by Rotana in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Launched as a new brand in 2022, the latest openings put the number of operational Edge by Rotana properties at seven, with another six hotels in the pipeline across the MENAT region. Looking ahead, Rotana said it plans on opening several more properties in the region, targeting the burgeoning tourism industry in the UAE and KSA, specifically. Planned openings include Bloom Arjaan by Rotana on Abu Dhabis Saadiyat Island and Yasmina Rayhaan by Rotana in Riyadh in 2025, reconfirming the groups ambitious goal to triple the number of rooms it currently runs in the Kingdom to 6,000 over the next three years. In Africa, Rotana looks forward to the expected openings of the 150-key Arjaan Hotel Apartments by Rotana branded property in Dakar, Senegal, in 2026 and the launch of Azure Rotana Thalasso & Spa in the port city of Oran, Algeria. The group is also gearing up for several much-anticipated luxury hotel and resort projects in Cairo and Luxor. Other expansion highlights include Rotanas debut in Pakistan, where the group will develop a new five-star property in Islamabad as part of a franchise agreement with Signature Complex LLP. Slated for opening in 2027, the property will add a total of 522 new keys to Rotanas portfolio once completed. In addition, the hospitality group is excited about the opening of the five-star Pontus Rotana Resort & Spa, Gonio, in 2026, which will add another 600 keys to Rotanas diverse portfolio. On Rotanas robust expansion plans, CEO Philip Barnes, said: The ambitious development plans showcase our commitment to the region and our belief in the future of tourism - one shared by the organisers and participants of the Future Hospitality Summit, which is why we are proud to participate in the event." "Building on Rotanas rich heritage as a homegrown brand, we are excited to introduce more travellers to Rotanas unique blend of world-class standards, genuine hospitality, and treasured times," he stated. Underscoring Rotanas leadership role in the industry, the company will participate in several FHS panels tomorrow (October 1). Barnes will discuss innovative and sustainable leadership approaches during Leading with Purpose: Commitment to People, Planet and Profit, while COO Eddy Tannous will participate in a panel discussion on the importance of company culture when it comes to building successful businesses in Company Culture and Relationships as a Competitive Advantage. Shaikha Al Nowais, Corporate Vice President - Owner Relationship Management at Rotana, will take part in the panel discussion Global Expertise, Local Talent: Hospitality's Balancing Act, sharing insights into the sectors unique employment challenges and opportunities. Rotana currently operates 82 hotels across the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Turkiye, with a robust pipeline of new projects in Turkey and international markets.-TradeArabia News Service Adnoc Drilling Company today (September 30) announced the creation of a new joint venture with global technology group SLB and PattersonUTI as well as the acceleration of its 144 unconventional oil and gas well programme, following the successful and efficient delivery of the first wells in the campaign. The new venture, Turnwell was established as the unconventionals drilling arm of Adnoc Drilling, to execute a $1.7 billion contract, awarded to Adnoc Drilling, to provide drilling and associated services to deliver 144 unconventional oil and gas wells. Following Turnwells efficient and successful start-up and operational delivery, Adnoc has accelerated the campaigns completion timeline. The economic impact of the acceleration will benefit Adnoc Drillings 2025 earnings as well as its long-term growth through the potential acceleration of phase two with thousands of wells. The Abu Dhabi group, through its wholly owned subsidiary ADH RSC, has signed definitive agreements for the creation of the Turnwell joint venture (JV) with SLB and Patterson-UTI. Focused on the UAEs world-class unconventional energy resources, post completion of the JV, Adnoc Drilling through its wholly owned subsidiary, ADH RSC, will hold a 55% majority equity stake, SLB a 30% equity stake and Patterson-UTI the remaining 15% equity stake. On the acceleration of the well program, Adnoc Drilling CEO Abdulrahman Abdulla Al Seiari said: "Today marks a defining moment for Turnwell and our key partners SLB, and Patterson UTI. The acceleration of the well program, is a testament to the innovation, collaboration, and pursuit of excellence that will define our joint venture." "Turnwell will not only unlock the immense potential of the UAE's world-class unconventional energy resources but will also set new benchmarks for the global energy industry. We are proud to lead the way in responsibly shaping the future of energy, both in the UAE and beyond," stated Al Seiari. To achieve this accelerated timeline, Turnwell has adopted batch drilling, a method that improves efficiency and reduces costs. Additionally, Gordon Technologies, a market-leading provider of Measurement While Drilling (MWD) technology and an Enersol company, will support the delivery of these wells. MWD technology reduces drilling time, improves well-bore quality, and increases overall drilling efficiency. The involvement of Enersol companies in this campaign is pivotal. Enersol, a technology-focused investment JV between Adnoc Drilling and Alpha Dhabi Holdings, acquired a 67.2% stake in Gordon Technologies. The use of technology from Enersol companies, by Turnwell, demonstrates the unique opportunities Enersol companies have to penetrate and grow in the Middle East market, while continuing to strengthen their presence in the traditional markets.-TradeArabia News Service AlUla Wellness Festival is returning to the regions leading wellness retreat destination of AlUla from October 17-November 2, 2024, for an expanded schedule of revitalisation activities that promise to boost personal development. Visitors comprising wellness enthusiasts, relaxation seekers, nature lovers and the free-spirited; have been invited to join to learn and experience therapy in harmony with natures offerings that have been revived and being celebrated in this ancient region of northwest Saudi Arabia. AlUla Wellness Festival will feature a series of immersive retreats, unique wellness activities, celebrity-led workshops, and much more. The Five Senses Sanctuary is where guests can revitalise their senses and rejuvenate their core. This mainstay is back to present sensory-based experiences with meditation, yoga, and mindfulness sessions led by world-class experts. Another fan-favourite returning to the AlUla Wellness Festival schedule is the All Day I Dream music concert. Audiences can immerse themselves in a unique experience that brings music, art, and the community together through carefully curated melodic and soulful tunes, enabling attendees to let go of their inhibitions and engage with the music at a deeper level. Additionally, Hegra Sound Bath is returning, offering a holistic sound therapy experience that combines yoga for all levels with soothing tunes the perfect opportunity to recharge under the bright moonlight. For an immersive replenishment, guests can explore a diverse array of healing modalities and embark on a profound journey of self-discovery through mindfulness practices, bodywork, art therapy, and more. Meanwhile, those looking to unwind, recharge, or explore the depths of their own consciousness can also lose themselves in the ethereal soundscapes and bathe in the healing vibrations of nature. As the largest wellness festival of its kind in the Middle East, the AlUla Wellness Festival also offers a stimulating yet blissful escape from urban life, immersing visitors in holistic living, life-changing practices, unparalleled wellness and adventure activities, and a spirit of community. Alongside discovering AlUlas welcoming spirit of hospitality and uncovering its deepest traditions and healing practices, visitors can explore a diverse range of transformative wellness modalities, diving into practices that cultivate harmony and lasting change of the mind, body, and spirit, a statement said. Tickets will go on sale soon. TradeArabia News Service Kuwait International Bank (KIB) announced that its business incubator KIB Mubader Centre has signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation with the National Fund for Small and Medium Enterprise Development (NFSMED). The agreement aims to enhance collaboration and exchange expertise between the two parties to support the entrepreneurship sector in Kuwait. In this regard, Abdulrahman Al-Kandari, Acting Director General of NFSMED, expressed his enthusiasm for the signing of the agreement, emphasising that the partnership with KIB Mubader Centre will open new avenues for fruitful collaboration between both parties. Empowering SMEs He also highlighted that this cooperation will actively contribute to empowering small and medium-sized business owners to achieve success and sustainable progress through support, guidance, and necessary training. In his turn, Abdullah Al-Awadi, KIB's General Manager of Strategy, stated: "The signing of this agreement is part of the Banks broader strategy to enhance its role in supporting the small and medium enterprise sector. This collaboration with the National Fund represents a key strategic step toward realising KIBs vision of building strong partnerships that strengthen national economic development efforts. Through this partnership, we aim to provide innovative and comprehensive solutions that address the needs of entrepreneurs and help them achieve success." Mohammad Al-Huwaidi, Head of KIB Mubader, said: "This agreement will enable both parties to create conducive working environments for entrepreneurs, as well as provide services that meet their growing needs." He also noted that the Kuwaiti market is experiencing significant growth in the entrepreneurship sector, highlighting the need for new programmes and initiatives to support entrepreneurs at all stages of their projects and enhance their sustainability. Supporting entrepreneurs KIB Mubader Centre spares no effort in strengthening its partnerships and initiating collaborations with various entities, organisations, and institutions dedicated to developing national businesses and supporting entrepreneurs and their projects. The Centre views these partnerships as a crucial foundation for progressing toward a more prosperous future. The Bank also recognises the importance of activating such agreements through KIB Mubader Centre, which helps achieve the desired goals and enhances the private sector's contribution to the national economy.--TradeArabia News Service Occupants of commercial and residential buildings are no longer seen as tenants, but more as valued guests. With a growing focus on hotel-like services in real estate, investors, owners and operators are moving from single-use developments to hybrid hospitality and mixed-use projects, said industry experts at the Future Hospitality Summit in Dubai. The hotelisation of traditional assets is a hot topic for the industry and a key focus at the FHS World, the regions largest, most influential hospitality and tourism summit, which kicked off today (September 30) in Dubai. Leading industry leaders are sharing their experience, expertise and advice on the shift from one-use assets to multi-function, all-encompassing developments at the ongoing event. From personalised service to private clubs, theres a growing trend in the Middle East towards hybrid hospitality and mixed-use projects as a way of diversifying revenue streams, enhancing guests experiences and increasing property values. Dubai-based real estate consultancy, Cavendish Maxwell, pointed out that with building occupants now seen as guests rather than simply occupants, theres a demand for more personalised, service-orientated living and working environments. "Dubai is leading the trend towards hybrid and mixed-use projects," remarked Zhann Jochinke, its Director of Market Intelligence and Research. "Investors and developers are increasingly attracted to these projects because they offer diversified revenue streams, enhance the guest experience, increase property values, create synergies, and adapt to changing market conditions," he stated. GJ Properties is switching to hybrid projects to meet demand for higher standards of living. "The mixed-use market currently accounts for a large percentage of activity in Dubais real estate sector," stated its CEO Ali Jaber. "People want hotel life where they live, and are prepared to pay extra for facilities like valet parking, housekeeping, tight security and retail space," he noted. Rove Hotels has successfully tapped into this trend with spaces that blend hospitality with residential experiences, meeting the demands of todays travellers and residents who prioritise community, convenience, and flexibility. Rove Home exemplifies this integration with branded residences that offer lifestyle living with hotel-like services, further enhancing the appeal and profitability of developments. "Investors, owners, and operators are increasingly gravitating towards hybrid hospitality and mixed-use projects. This shift aligns with the growing trend of integrating residential, commercial, and hospitality elements within a single development, offering a more dynamic and versatile environment," remarked its Chief Operating Officer Paul Bridger. "In Dubai and the broader Middle East, this approach is particularly appealing due to the region's rapid urbanisation and diversification of its tourism offerings. Dubai's strategic initiatives, like hosting major global events and creating diverse attractions, have fostered an environment where mixed-use developments can thrive. These projects not only cater to traditional tourists but also attract remote workers, long-term guests, and business travellers, all of whom contribute to a more sustainable and resilient hospitality sector," he added. Echoing this sentiment is The Ascott Limited, which is also seeing a growing shift towards hybrid hospitality and mixed-use developments. "Investors and owners see value in diversifying revenue streams by integrating residential, commercial, and hospitality elements into a single property. Our success with brands like Ascott, Citadines and Somerset reflects the growing demand for flexible living and hotel-like services," stated its Managing Director for Middle East, Africa, Turkey and India, Vincent Miccolis. "These projects offer enhanced convenience and community experiences and attract a broader range of clientele, from short-stay travellers to long-term residents," he added. Anthony Lagrabette, Director - Asset Management, Hotels & Tourism, CBRE Middle East, said that increased demand for flexible real estate or hybrid hospitality goes hand in hand with the evolution of customer needs. "Investors and operators are adapting to trends and the multiplication of new experience driven offerings. Traditional real estate providers are understanding the difference between short and long-term stays, business and leisure stays and what it entails in terms of service offering, meaning a more hotel like expectation. Hotel-like services are no longer exclusive to the hospitality industry, and this trend reflects a broader shift in how properties are marketed," he noted. While real estate hotelisation brings a multitude of opportunities, there are challenges, including navigating regulations, capital investment requirements and seasonal fluctuations, too. Bridger pointed out that opportunities include diversifying revenue streams, enhancing property values and opening up new markets. "However, this trend also comes with challenges," he said. "Integrating hospitality services into traditional real estate requires significant investment in infrastructure and technology to ensure a seamless experience. Maintaining a consistent brand experience across diverse property types can be complex and resource-intensive," he noted. "To take advantage of the growing trend of "hotelisation," developers and operators must adapt and innovate, continuously adjusting to the evolving needs and preferences of consumers while navigating the regulatory environment," added Bridger. Lagrabette believes revenue is the first opportunity that springs to investors minds. "Diversification of revenue streams is essential for growth, and benefits both investors and operators. It is essential to understand what value enhancing services will generate impulse purchases in order to improve guest satisfaction, in turn supporting the bottom-line. The hotel sector is perfectly poised to demonstrate what should or should not be done but is also a living example of how complex it can become to offer consistent service levels every single day," said the CBRE official. Jochinke said: "On the plus side, were looking at increased revenue, enhanced property values, diversification, synergies and job creations. But moving to mixed-use can also mean regulatory hurdles, renovation costs, competition and other challenges which developers should take into account." Jaber said: "Hybrid developments provide the opportunity to increase rent, bringing higher yields. Offering more hotel rooms brings more tourism, in line with government goals on economic growth and tourism targets. One challenge would be the costs associated with maintaining the services involved in providing higher standards of living." Miccolis pointed out that hotelisation core to Ascotts serviced residences model brings opportunities to elevate traditional real estate by offering hotel-grade amenities and services. "By merging hospitality and residential functions, we can enhance resident experiences and boost asset value. However, the challenge lies in maintaining operational excellence and ensuring seamless service delivery across varied guest profiles. Our expertise helps us manage this balance effectively, ensuring both profitability and guest satisfaction," he added.-TradeArabia News Service The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai, located along the Jumeirah Beach Residence, marked its 26th anniversary in style throughout September offering its customers a blend of Arabian heritage and contemporary sophistication. In a defining moment of its illustrious record, the five-star hotel has secured the prestigious Forbes 5-Star Award, standing as the sole representative of The Ritz-Carlton brand in the region to receive this esteemed accolade, featuring the hotel alongside other world-renowned properties on ForbesTravelGuide.com. Since opening its doors in 1998, The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai said it has been an iconic destination offering extraordinary experiences, from its stunning beachfront views and luxurious accommodations to its acclaimed dining and spa services. It has earned a reputation for its diverse culinary offerings, including the renowned London Social Brunch and a variety of restaurants that showcase global gastronomy at its finest. The resorts commitment to wellness has also set it apart, with The Ritz-Carlton Spa continuing to be a haven for relaxation and rejuvenation, offering award-winning treatments that seamlessly blend Eastern and Western healing traditions. Additionally, the property has been the backdrop for numerous weddings, corporate events, and private celebrations, consistently providing personalised service and attention to detail that define the Ritz-Carlton experience. Beyond its luxury offerings, The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to sustainability and community engagement through its Community Footprints programme. The resort has made significant strides in environmental stewardship and continues to contribute meaningfully to local communities, reinforcing its dedication to responsible hospitality. The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai has proudly stood as a beacon of luxury, service, and elegance for 26 years. We are immensely grateful to our guests, partners, and dedicated Ladies and Gentlemen, whose unwavering support and loyalty have made this milestone possible, said Jeroen Elmendorp, General Manager of The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai. As we look ahead, we remain committed to exceeding expectations and continuing our tradition of creating unforgettable memories. TradeArabia News Service Gulf Hotels Group, a leading hospitality management company with over 50 years of industry experience, today (September 30) announced a strategic agreement with Marriott International to integrate its iconic hotel, Gulf Hotel Bahrain, into the Autograph Collection Hotels portfolio. Today, Autograph Collection boasts a global portfolio of over 300 hotels, each distinguished by a unique narrative and personalised service. Through this collaboration, Gulf Hotel is anticipated to benefit from Marriott's global systems and loyalty programme, Marriott Bonvoy, while remaining under the full management of Gulf Hotels Group and retaining its iconic name Gulf Hotel Bahrain, said senior officials at the signing ceremony held during the Future Hospitality Summit in Dubai. Marriott Bonvoy, Marriott Internationals award-winning travel programme and marketplace, gives access to transformative experiences across more than 30 hotel brands and 10,000 global destinations. Under Autograph Collection, the hotel is expected to provide guests enhanced opportunities to experience the hotels distinct perspective on design and hospitality while providing guests with access to Marriott's world-class loyalty programme, the officials said. As part of the agreement, Gulf Hotel Bahrain will undergo a full renovation and brand positioning process over the next three years aimed at delivering best-in-class comfort and standards whilst retaining the unique essence of the hotels great history and heritage. The phased renovation project will involve a complete refurbishment of the hotel's interior including guest rooms, lobby area, entrance, amenities and recreation facilities, they added. Group CEO Ahmed Janahi said: "Gulf Hotel Bahrain is a leading landmark in the hospitality sector in the Kingdom, embodying the highest standards of service and excellence. This signing represents a strategic move that enhances the hotels rich legacy." "Its benefits extend beyond expanding our guest base; it also opens new avenues to attract visitors from diverse markets, while offering the advantages of the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty programme," he stated. "Our ongoing commitment to excellence, combined with our strategic collaboration with Marriott International, marks the beginning of a new and distinguished chapter in the history of Gulf Hotel, reinforcing our position as leaders in the hospitality industry," he added. Ziad AbiRaad, the Senior Director of Lodging Development (Levant, Pakistan, Qatar and Bahrain) at Marriott International said: "Autograph Collection features curated properties that celebrate individuality and we look forward to carrying forward the legacy of Gulf Hotel with the brands distinct perspective on design and hospitality." "We are delighted to be working with Gulf Hotels Group to enhance our portfolio in Bahrain and support the growth of the tourism sector in the country," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Temperatures are rising in a conflict between Wind River Reservation residents and the Northern Arapaho Business Council, with the residents alleging that the council has failed to comply with resolutions passed by the reservations highest authority, the General Council. On the reservation, the General Council is comprised of all registered members of the Arapaho tribe over the age of 18. The council is the supreme authority of the tribe and has authority over entities like the Northern Arapaho Business Council. Resolution power invoked On Sept. 14, the General Council met and had a quorum for the first time in more than two years. During the meeting which isnt open to the public, Nicole Wagon brought forward two resolutions for the removal of individuals from their positions under the General Councils purview. The first resolution, which passed, demands the Northern Arapaho Business Council terminate Clare Johnson as in-house counsel for the tribe immediately. The second resolution, which also passed, recommends the termination of casino general manager Patrick Lekrone. Lekrone remains in his job. And while Johnson has been officially moved to a different position, Wagon and others have been told that she is still serving as the in-house counsel. Wagon and several others protested Thursday because they believe that the Northern Arapaho Business Council is is ignoring the General Council. A main concern of protestors is that the Northern Arapaho Business Council is an elected body that is supposed to work for the people and proceed with their wants and demands. Wagon and other protestors feel that the business council should remove Lekrone based on their recommendation because it came directly from a vote of the people. Casino business The casino is regulated and overseen by the tribe, meaning the business council can remove higher-ups and the gaming agency can have a say in policies. Gloria Willow has worked on and off at the casino since 2006. In her last stint, she served as a manager for about one year. She said that in that position, she was required to be up to date on policies and oversaw every department. Willow said she witnessed firsthand how the casino supported favoritism, refused to be held accountable and allowed for unfair enforcement of policies under Lekrones oversight. The casino currently uses a no fault point system for attendance. If workers receive 15 points, they are supposed to be terminated. Per the policy, workers are supposed to receive disciplinary actions ranging from warnings to write-ups based on the number of points they have acquired. When Willow was terminated, she wasnt even aware that she had gotten even close to the 15 points despite having inquired prior to her termination. According to Willow, only Lekrone and human resources can remove points, and attendance points can only be removed for verified medical leave, one year from the date of the incident or one point for every three months of perfect attendance. Willow said that her absences were mostly due to approved medical leave or bereavement, and that she was under the impression that she would not be penalized for either. She also said that points were not distributed evenly. As the manager on duty, she was required to stay on until her relief clocked in. She said that her relief was consistently late and he was still working when she was fired. Lekrone told her that she would be welcomed back after six months and that he wouldnt fault her for the termination. However, another manager was denied when she requested to have Willow back, and Willow says she was never contacted when she applied after 6 months. While Willow believes that something needs to change at the casino, she does not believe that immediately firing Lekrone is the right move. I also think there are some things that they are doing great. I just know there are a lot of things that need to be fixed, she said. She said that she hopes the resolution acts as a wake-up call to the casino and forces them to fix their issues. Out-of-house counsel Clare Johnson has served as the in-house counsel for the Northern Arapaho Tribe since September 2020, according to her LinkedIn profile. Per the resolution, Johnson should have been immediately removed from the position. However, tribe member Liz Hodge said she has been told that Johnson was moved to a different division, but still sits in on meetings as the in-house counsel. The Business Council was not immediately available for a comment, but posted a response to the protests Friday. While we deeply respect the opinions of the General Council, we cannot follow its recent recommendations for personnel action, read the letter to tribe members. The letter went on to say that the federal Secretarial Procedures does not leave these decisions up to the General Council. The Business Council also said that the decisions were neither wise nor warranted. It is unclear whether Johnson is still the in-house council. The Wyoming State Geological Survey is offering 50 free Earth Science Week toolkits to Wyoming classrooms. The toolkits were provided by the American Geosciences Institute to the state agency to support Earth Science Week, Oct. 13-19. This week highlights the broad influence of geosciences across science, technology, engineering and math fields, and the humanities. Recognizing these connections helps individuals appreciate how geoscience relates to their interests, communities, and future careers. The Wyoming State Geological Survey appreciates AGIs generosity in providing complimentary toolkits for teachers across the state, said Wyoming State Geological Survey Director and Wyoming State Geologist Erin Campbell. This years theme, Earth Science Everywhere, highlights the amazing ways geoscience impacts our daily lives. These toolkits are packed with fun, hands-on materials that will inspire students to explore how earth science shapes the world around them. The toolkits are designed for middle-school students. This years toolkit includes postcards and samples of rocks found throughout the state. This years toolkit includes an activity calendar featuring activities and case studies, activity pages, bookmarks, brochures, flyers, a magnet, a partner resource page, postcards and posters from scientific organizations. Request a toolkit by emailing Bryce Tugwell at bryce.tugwell@wyo.gov. Toolkits may also be ordered from the AGI website. THE topic of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley being replaced as political leader of the Peoples National Movement (PNM) is not an issue currently up for consideration, said Foster Cummings, Member of Parliament (MP) for La Horquetta/Talparo yesterday. There are strong processes in the PNM. There is a leader in office in the PNM. That is the leader that we support and who will take us into the next general election, he said. The continuing decline in tertiary education enrolment is cause for concern, but no reason to panic. According to the 2025 Social Sector Investment Programme (SSIP), student enrolment in 2024 dropped by 5.3%, while in 2023 the decline was 8.3% compared to 2022. In interviews published in yesterdays Sunday Express, chief executive of The UWI Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business, Mariano Browne, and former education minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh identified some common factors that could account for this decline. These included less funding for the Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses (GATE) programme, lower confidence in the countrys economic prospects, and bad policies by tertiary institutions. A Marana police officer has been placed on paid leave while the department probes a claim he was involved in pickup truck break-in at a bar, officials say. The alleged incident took place about 2 a.m. Sunday in the parking lot of Whiskey Roads, 2290 West Ina Road in Marana, according to a news release Monday from the department. Preliminary information shows someone claimed Officer Daniel Bonn, while off-duty, broke into his pickup truck that was parked outside the bar, said Capt. Tim Brunenkant, of the Marana Police Department. The individual claimed damage to the truck and its belongings, Brunenkant said. Bonn, who has been with the department for five years, has not been charged with a crime. Claims a second officer was involved in the incident are incorrect, the news release said. Deputies with the Pima County Sheriffs Department responded to the bar to take over the criminal investigation. The Marana Police Department is conducting a separate internal investigation to ensure department policies were followed, the release said. PHOENIX Ruben Gallego is asking the state Court of Appeals to keep a legal lid on his 2016 divorce papers from ex-wife and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego. Documents filed with the court show that when the then congressman and now candidate for U.S. Senate filed for divorce while his wife was pregnant and he took the case to Yavapai County even though the address he provided to election officials was in Phoenix. He also sought and was granted permission to seal the entire proceedings, not just the filings but even the fact that there was a case on the docket. The divorce itself became public later as Gallego married lobbyist Sydney Barron, who was working for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and now is employed by the National Association of Realtors. But what remains sealed according to legal filings by The Washington Free Beacon is why he filed for divorce while his wife was pregnant as well as the courts findings regarding the reasons for granting the request to dissolve the public act of the appellants marriage. It also wants details of the custody arrangements for their child. The privately owned, for-profit online newspaper behind the fight to unseal the records was founded in 2012 and describes itself as dedicated to uncovering the stories that the powers that be hope will never see the light of day. It is credited with publishing several national stories ranging from a complaint against the former president of Harvard University about accusations of serial plagiarism to releasing documents in 2014, while Hillary Clinton was running for president, about the recollections she shared with a friend about Bill Clintons time in the White House. In this case, attorneys for the publication turned this year to Yavapai County Superior Court Judge John Napper, who did not handle the original case, seeking to open up the records. The former couple, represented by the same Phoenix law firm, responded by proposing to release redacted versions of what was in the file. That, however, did not satisfy the publication. Without even yet having access to what was being redacted, The Free Beacon could see that the proposed redactions led to a docket that looked like a Central Intelligence Agency classified file, with page and pages of black ink designed to make sure no one was going on, attorneys for the publication wrote. Napper, according to the court filings, did not accept what the former couple sought to keep secret, instead ordering release with specific redactions. And the judge, the attorneys for the publication said, ruled that the original order sealing the entire file was improper under court rules. Now the issue is before the Court of Appeals. And the publication wants an order unsealing the record before early voting starts Oct. 9. At stake here is the right of the press to inform the public and voters rights to be informed about a candidate prior to the election, with time to digest and process the information, the lawyers for the Beacon told the court. Its not just Ruben Gallegos bid for the open Senate seat being vacated by Kyrsten Sinema that is before voters. The Democrat is facing off against Republican Kari Lake. But Kate Gallego herself is facing a reelection challenge in the nonpartisan race for Phoenix mayor against Matt Evans. Meeting that deadline sought by the Beacon is not going to happen. While the appellate judges agreed to the request by the publications attorney to expedite the case, they have scheduled the issue for conference for Oct. 10. And whoever loses that argument is virtually certain to seek Arizona Supreme Court review, further delaying a resolution. Whats in those records, the publication argues, is a public record and not just because thats the presumption with all court records. The Free Beacon seeks the release of court documents that reflect the character and behavior of a public figure holding and running for federal office, and one official who currently holds executive authority over one of the nations largest cities, the attorneys are telling the appellate court. Attorneys for the ex-couple, represented by the same law firm, did not respond to a request for comment. Instead, they have filed their own legal arguments with the appellate court against disclosure. What those arguments are, however, remains unknown: Their lawyers have sought and obtained permission from the appellate court to keep those sealed. Hannah Goss, the campaign press aide for Ruben Gallego, declined to make him available. Instead, she issued a prepared statement by the former couple blaming the whole situation on his rival Kari Lake and her allies and those who amplify her cruelty (who) refuse to respect two people who are just trying to raise a beautiful baby boy together. It is true that Lake, in a series of social media posts, already is making an issue of all this. Whats in those divorce papers that he is fighting tooth and nail to keep from voters ahead of the election even though a judge ordered them unsealed? she posted. Goss, however, cited no evidence that the Beacon lawsuit was instigated or influenced by Lake. And the GOP candidate, in her own prepared statement, said she has nothing to do with this lawsuit, saying the litigation to keep the records sealed is just his demand for special treatment. But Rubens reaction to it means that whatever is about to come out about his behavior during the divorce is very bad, she said. What those records at issue are likely to include is Rubens self-admitted efforts to deal with post-traumatic stress syndrome after he returned from Iraq after serving in the Marines from 2002-06. I was drinking a lot, he wrote in this memoir They Called Us Lucky. I couldnt stay in the same place for very long a chair, the house, Ruben Gallego wrote. When I went out to a restaurant, I could only spend a small amount of time there. Stay too long in one place, and youre likely to get mortared. Gallego details how he proposed to Kate Widland at the 2008 Democratic Convention, where both were volunteers for the Obama campaign. They wed two years later, the same year he was first elected to the state House. Four years later he won his bid for Congress. He also writes about the breakup, fueled not only by his PTSD but the anticipated arrival of a son. Eventually we both came to the point where we realized we had grown apart from each other in many ways, Ruben said. We separated when she was still a few months from giving birth. In seeking to open up more of the records, the lawyers for the Beacon say theres no reason to shield them and what is in them from public view. Instead, they referenced what appears to be a claim in the still-sealed filings by the couple that it would somehow affect their safety or that of their child. The Gallegos fail to make any particularized showing about about what information should have been redacted from the case file to protect their safety or documenting any existing and serious threat to their safety, the attorneys for the Beacon told the appellate judges. Whats in the divorce file, they said, is historical conduct and how that might bear on the custody of the yet-to-be-born child. Waving the red flag of safety without any details as to how this information might affect it falls well short of justifying a seal for any part of the docket, much less all of it, the lawyers told the appellate court. It is more likely that appellants are using secrecy and sealing to protect their job safety in the positions of public trust as mayor, congressman, and aspiring U.S. senator. Kate Gallego, who has been Phoenix mayor since 2019, is more than his partner in the legal bid to keep the records sealed. She also is a political supporter. I know first-hand his commitment to building a brighter future for Arizona, she said in a statement last December released by Rubens campaign. We have real challenges facing our state that require a leader who is dedicated to fighting for working families and the most vulnerable, she said. Hell do an excellent job working for all of us as our next senator. Ruben Gallegos ability to avoid talking about the divorce publicly may not last. He is scheduled to face off against Lake in a debate Oct. 9 sponsored by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission. October in Tucson is very special not because it marks the beginning of fall or because we get to celebrate Halloween. October means Tucson Meet Yourself is back. Every year, thousands flock to downtown Tucson to try traditional foods and flavors from all over the world, experiencing art and performances along the way. Theres no doubt youll leave the festival full and with a smile on your face. For three days, over 50 vendors will be serving up savory and sweet treats from various cultures. With 14 new booths this year, choosing what to try will be one of the hardest decisions youll have to make. To help you make the most out of Tucson Eat Yourself, we put together a list that gives you the inside scoop on what you can expect at this year's festival. Tucson Meet Yourself takes place at Jacome Plaza, 101 N. Stone Ave., from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Oct. 4-5 and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6. The weekend will be jam-packed with car shows, pop-up exhibits, demonstrations, folk artists and music in addition to the food. New this year BarDown Fitness & Nutrition This new vendor has everything you need to keep hydrated, putting a pep in your step while you explore the festival. They will be selling protein shakes, fruit smoothies, sugar-free energy drinks, fresh lemonades, fresh limeades and cold brew coffee. They also have vegan and gluten-free options for their drinks. Belicious Waffles The owners behind Belicious Waffles were born and raised in Borgloon, Belgium and moved to Tucson in 2014. Thankfully, they brought their delicious, fluffy waffles with them! At Belicious Waffles booth youll be able to enjoy Belgium waffles topped with sweets like homemade Belgian chocolate, Speculoos biscuits, bacon bits, fruit and whipped cream. Bollywood Pizza Company Saffron Indian Bistro and Empire Pizza have teamed up to fuse together great pizza with classic Indian flavors. Chicken tikka masala, vegan chana masala and vegetarian paneer tikka masala flatbreads are all on the menu. You can also get rice bowls or salads if youre not in the mood for pizza. Davids Outdoor Kitchen BBQ This booth has all your barbecue and soul food cravings covered! Davids Outdoor Kitchen BBQ transformed their fathers front yard into a mini restaurant, making customers feel at home while they chow down on comfort food. For the festival, they will be serving BBQ ribs, brisket, fried catfish, fried shrimp, mac and cheese bites, fried okra and more! Doshirok Korean Try a taste of Korean favorites at this booth! The food truck will be serving bulgogi beef, which is sliced angus beef marinated in bulgogi sauce and served with fried rice, fried mandoo and kimchi. Chicken bulgogi will also be on the menu. El Antojo Poblano This beloved Mexican restaurant is bringing their delicious food from Puebla, Mexico to the festival for the first time. Huaraches (long fried corn tortillas with a layer of beans topped with your choice of meat), tacos ahogados (fried rolled shredded beef tacos in green sauce) and molotes ceilbenos (handmade fried corn masa balls stuffed with chicken in red sauce) will be served here. They will also be selling tepache bebidas, which is a fermented drink made from pineapple peels, rinds and sweetened with piloncillo. El Golden Taco You can never go wrong with tacos! At El Golden Taco you can choose between fried tacos, flautas and quesadillas. You can pair your meal with a fresh agua fresca. Flavors include pina, horchata and mango. Espressoul Cafe Eris Movahedi is the mastermind behind Espressoul cafe, where she makes vegan espresso lattes, matcha lattes and refreshers. Take it from me, itll be worth standing in line to try one of her creative drinks. The blueberry lavender matcha latte is one of my favorite drinks ever! Hungry Kephua Try food from Guam at this booth with a festival menu that includes Chamoru chicken or beef with white rice and finadene (a Chamoru vinegar and soy sauce sauce). You can also order coconut chicken or beef that also comes with white rice, finadene and a coconut sauce. OaxaRico Mole. Thats it that should be all you need to hear. This food truck serves up Oaxacan favorites like mini chimis and flautas, gorditas, sopes and burros. You can also get their homemade mole sauce on the side to add some extra flavor to your meal. They will also be serving their molotes, an empanada-like dish where chorizo and potatoes are stuffed into a dough made from corn. They taste like Mexican comfort food, making you want more even after finishing the three youre given. Purple Devil Donuts Youve never had doughnuts like these before. This classic cake doughnut truck incorporates unique flavors. You start with a vanilla cake doughnut, then you get to choose which handmade topping you want, including honey and green chile cornbread, chocolate and pecan praline, coffee and mesquite streusel, prickly pear and lime yogurt meringue and hibiscus sugar. Purple Tree Truck Its hard to believe its this famous purple trucks first time at Tucson Meet Yourself! Purple Tree specializes in acai bowls and smoothies. Their menu also includes mushroom coffee, Vietnamese coffee, kombucha, ginger shots, milkshakes and ice cream sandwiches. Samurai Sombrero You many have seen Samurai Sombrero at American Eat Co., and now they are bringing their spicy sushi to the festival! This local favorite fuses Japanese and Mexican flavors together to create sushi like you have never had before. They will have specialty rolls for sale as well as vegan sushi. Tucson Eat Yourself Sonoran Hot Dogs This Sonoran hot dog booth helps support the festival. All of the proceeds will go to the production of the festival so it can continue to be free for all. Returning vendors Acai Paradise At Acai Paradise, you will be able to enjoy a nice, refreshing acai bowl topped with fruit. Banana, kiwi, strawberries, mango, pineapple, coconut and Nutella are all toppings you can find here. Boriken Modern Puerto Rican Cuisine Chef Carlos and Jackeline Garcia run Boriken, where they use heirloom recipes to serve up delicious Puerto Rican meals. Youll be able to order Boricua nachos, which are made with plantain chips and roasted pork, or an empanada sampler that comes with three different choices. They will also be serving carne frita con mofongo aka fried pork with garlic mashed plantains. Cafe Francais For the last three years, Cafe Francais has been bringing mouthwatering pastries to the festival and this year is no different! They are known for their authentic French pastries that give themselves a big name on Tucsons east side. Their menu includes mini Kouign-amann, chocolate raspberry tarts, chocolate croissants, brioche cinnamon rolls, chocolate chip crookies and almond croissants. (Trust me, you wont want to miss out on their crookies, which are croissants with chocolate chip cookie dough rolled inside.) Che Cafe Empanadas Argentinas At this booth, you be able to choose from all kinds of empanadas. On their menu this year are beef, chicken, spinach, sweet corn and pizza empanadas. Churros Inzunza Its not a festival without churros. Churros Inzunza serves up vegan and gluten-free churros as well as choco flan, fried plantains, cinnamon rolls, coconut horchata and more! Cocina Oaxaquena Jose Toledo, an El Espinal native, learned about Oaxacan cuisine from his grandmother and mother. In fact, his recipes, including his mole recipe, were passed down from generation to generation in his family. Now he gets to share his love for the food with us! At the Cocina Oaxaquena booth, youll be able to get tamal Oaxaquenos, quesadillas and enchiladas de queso con mole. CPs Wings Classic buffalo wings always hit the spot! This booth will be serving up chicken wings, chicken sandwiches, French fries and veggies. Eatgypt Come to this booth to try Egypts national dish, koshary. For those who may be unfamiliar, koshary is a vegan dish made up of rice, pasta, lentils, crispy fried onions and chickpeas, topped with a vinegary tomato sauce. They will also be serving bamia (an Egyptian stew), baklava and karkade (a drink made with hibiscus, lemon juice and sugar). Empanadas El Dominicano You may have seen this royal-blue food truck on Broadway and Rosemont serving up delicious empanadas. If you havent stopped by yet, heres your chance! The menu includes various empanadas, fried pork chops, fried plantains with salami, and yaroa, which includes fries with ground meat, cheese, ketchup and mayo. I LOVE their ground meat empanadas and plantains. I would also recommend their morir sonando drink, which tastes like a refreshing, creamy lemonade. Ensenada Street Food This woman-owned taco truck is bringing Baja, California to Tucson Meet Yourself! Not only are their street tacos flavorful, but they also have vegan versions so everyone can enjoy! Al pastor, quesabirria and fish are all tacos youll be able to order here. Their al pastor is the perfect combination of sweet and savory. Food 2 Door Catering Food 2 Door Catering specializes in flavorful Persian food and saffron ice cream. Their menu this year includes kashk bademjan (an appetizer made of sauteed eggplants, onion, garlic and dried mint) and chicken kabobs. They will also be selling saffron sharbat, a beverage made of rose water, saffron and chia seeds. It was a fan-favorite last year! Friesy Friesy does not hold back when it comes to loaded fries. They have so many varieties, each topped with meat or chicken cooked to perfection. Their Dynamite Fries were the best thing I ate at the festival last year, with crispy fried chicken and a spicy sauce that added a nice kick to the dish. Hawaiian Shave Ice Whats a better way to beat the heat than with shaved ice? Hawaiian Shave Ice has 26 flavors including two sugar-free options. You can also top off your icy treat with li hing powder, sweetened condensed milk or chamoy. Herculean Chicken Get a taste of Taiwanese street food at Herculean Chicken, known for their Taiwanese-style fried chicken. You can even add ramen crust to your chicken for an extra $2. Js Kettle Corn You cant have a festival without kettle corn! Grab bags of kettle corn and cotton candy at this booth. Kingston Kitchen Kingston Kitchen is serving up all the classic Jamaican dishes like jerk chicken, oxtail, fried plantains, curry chicken and curry goat. Lajkonik Polish Folk Ensemble The Lajkonik Polish Folk Ensemble have been serving up Polish dishes since the festivals second year. Kielbasas, pierogis and potato pancakes are all on the menu. If you are craving something sweet, they will also be selling nalesniki, which is sweet cheese crepes topped with whipped cream. Laos Academic Organization At this booth, you'll find egg rolls, fried rice, papaya salad, chicken sticks, sticky rice and Laos sweet tea. Los Chiquilines Aguas Frescas You can never go wrong with horchata. Los Chiquilines makes refreshing aguas frescas in flavors like jamaica, limonada, sandia, tamarindo, horchata, mango and pina. MAD Filipino Cooking This booth has both sweet and savory Filipino dishes to choose from. Their menu features items like pancit, lumpia, turon, chicken skewers and siomai. If you want something sweet, they will also have white chocolate chip ube cookies and palamig, a traditional sweet and chilled drink. Malta Joes Baked Goods Malta Joe is known for his pastizzis, a Maltese pastry made with phyllo dough and filled with savory filings. At his booth, youll be able to get pastizzis with filings like ricotta cheese, spilt pea and curry, pinchi bean, blueberry cheesecake and Nutella cream. Merhaba Cafe At Merhaba Cafe, youll be able to try Middle Eastern coffee that is brewed with a modern twist. You can order cardamom and saffron coffee, along with pistachio coffee. They also make ice cream with unique flavors like cardamom and rosewater. Morenos Roasted Corn Stop by and try roasted corn at this booth. Natalka Ukrainian Bakery The family behind this booth hand-make over 10,000 dumplings (pierogis) for the festival, starting two months in advance to ensure they make enough. Aside from their pierogis, their menu also includes Ukrainian borscht soup, nalysnyky crepes and uzvar, a traditional drink made out of dried fruits and honey. Oodham Ladies These women make Indian fry bread using a recipe that has been handed down to them from their elders. The best part of their popovers: they can be savory or sweet! Youll be able to get popovers topped with powdered sugar and cinnamon or red chile and beans. Off the Hook Seafood This booth is adding some Southern flare to their seafood. Their menu includes fish, shrimp, boudin balls, soft shell crab and calamari. Order of Ahepa Greek Food This booth has been at Tucson Meet Yourself since 1974, raising money for local charities and to help provide scholarships for students in the Greek community. They will be serving up classic Greek dishes like gyros, spanakopita, dolmades and baklava. Pams Kitchen Pams Kitchen is making the dishes that brought their family together, using their mothers recipes to create delicious food. Curry chicken, jerk chicken, curry goat and oxtail are all on the menu. Patricias Cuban Kitchen Born and raised in Cuba, Patricia Espinosa came to live in Tucson and continued to make Cuban food to bring back memories of her childhood. Now, shes sharing her beloved food with us! Dishes like ropa vieja, empanadas, plantains, ham croquettes, guava pie and polvorones (shortbread cookies) will be on the menu. Pupuseria Rositas Try all kinds of Salvadoran pupusas at this booth! Cheese, pork, bean, spinach and squash are all the different fillings offered. Ricuras de Venezuela This booth specializes in authentic Venezuelan cuisine, using their mothers recipes to create the traditional dishes. They will be serving arepas, cachapa, specialty plates with chicken or shredded beef, and empanadas. Salimas Bakery The family behind Salimas Bakery is bringing rich flavors from Uzbekistan and Republic of Georgia to the festival. Their menu includes hachapuri (a flatbread with cheese and spinach), walnut cookies with caramel, baklava, pilav rice with carrots and beef, and cinnamon rolls. San Xavier Cooperative Farm This Tohono Oodham booth is bringing farm-to-table food, using naturally-grown and ethically-harvested ingredients. They will be serving up food from the Sonoran Desert, Tohono Oodham-style. Sema Foundation Not only is the Sema Foundation a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing local communities together, but they also share Turkish food with us! Their festival menu includes gyros, kofte kabap, chicken shawarma, gozleme, hummus and Turkish coffee. Solid Grindz Solid Grindz is another beloved local restaurant thats making its way to the festival. This year, they will be serving chicken teriyaki, chicken katsu, kalua pork, mochiko chicken, kalbi short ribs and bang shrimp. My favorite is the bang shrimp; they are perfectly crispy and spicy! Sonoran Delights Everyone loves raspados! Sonoran Delights will be selling raspados in flavors like mango, strawberry, pineapple, peach and coconut. They will also have ice cream and pepihuates, and you have the choice to top your treats with chamoy and lime. Syrian Sweets by Nihad Youll be able to try a variety of Syrian sweets at this booth! Stuffed bread with spinach will also be on the menu. Takoyaki Balls Since 2015, these octopus dumplings have been a festival favorite! Along with their famous dumplings, they will also be serving gyozas, Japanese curry rice, katsu curry and onigiri. Tucson Afghan Community At Tucson Afghan Communitys booth, they are hoping to bring smiles to our faces with their traditional cuisine. Rice, chickpeas, chicken curry, chapli kabobs and khajoor (sweet fried cookies) are just some of items on their menu. Tucson Tea Company A variety of caffeinated and caffeine-free teas, in addition to French pastries can be found at this booth. UA Chinese Student Association Have you ever wanted to try diner-style Chinese food? Nows your chance! The CSA will be selling rice rolls, curry fish balls, Hong Kong-style French toast and bubble waffles. They also have a variety of milk tea and boba options. (The French toast is my editor Gloria's favorite every year.) UA Filipino American Student Association For over a decade, FASA has been serving up Filipino treats at Tucson Meet Yourself. This year, they will be offering pork skewers, lumpia, ube bibingka (Filipino rice cakes) and calamansi refreshers. UA Vietnamese Student Association Get fresh, traditional Vietnamese food and drinks at this booth! Chicken or pork skewers, banh mi, egg rolls, chicken or pork bun thit nuong, Vietnamese iced coffee and limeades are all on the menu. Wat Buddhametta This booth has been serving up Thai food at the festival for over 20 years. Their menu includes pad Thai, stir fried rice, egg rolls, fried bananas and Thai iced tea. Felix Clary Tulsa World Indigenous Affairs Reporter Follow Felix Clary Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today The remains of a 15-year-old girl who died at Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, among many Native boarding school students who never made it home, have been returned to her tribes homeland in Oklahoma. Leaders from the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes recently traveled to Pennsylvania to retrieve the remains of Kate Ross, as well as another Wichita child who died at the school, Alfred Charko. We were not removed from here, so we are truly bringing our children back home. Their ancestors blood was in this land. Its monumental, said Tasha R. Mousseau, vice president of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, based in Anadarko. Unfortunately, officials were unable to confirm the remains in Alfreds grave were his, but Kates remains were brought back to Anadarko. We know that the amazing team at Carlisle will continue to look for our relative and return him to our people one day, the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes said in a statement about Alfred. Mousseau said it feels like tribes are living in an Indigenous renaissance. Were getting our land back, our culture back, our languages back, and these, these are our children were getting back. The Wichita and Affiliated Tribes held an all-night wake for Kate on Sept. 20. Mousseau said community members planned to take turns sitting beside her to not leave her alone, as she had to be alone at Carlisle for three years and alone at her grave for nearly 142. The tribe hosted a private burial ceremony and a celebration of life the following day at their community center in Anadarko. Painstaking process to repatriate remains Kate arrived at Carlisle on Oct. 27, 1879. Three years later, her cause of discharge was listed as Died on Jan. 10, 1882. Alfred also died at 15 years old on Dec. 16, 1882, only four months after he arrived at the school. According to Mousseau, confirmed descendants of Kate and Alfred cannot be found among the tribes 4,000 members. A tribe as small as we are, were essentially all related, she said. We can only go to the 1895 censuses; we dont know the descendants that we would need to in that respective time frame. From 1880-1910, the United States operated Native American boarding schools as part of an assimilation initiative. Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania is among the more well-known programs, and it was widely considered to have been one of the most strict in its treatment of students. Neglect and physical abuse were rampant at Native boarding schools and often led to the death of students. When the Interior Department released investigative reports tallying the deaths at Native boarding schools, the reports included recommendations to promote healing for survivors and their descendants. One of the recommendations: to find the students who died at the schools and help get their remains home. Its a painstaking process and takes a lot of time, Mousseau said. There could be something different than expected in the grave as far as gender, age or the remains could be missing. She said it illustrates the probable lack of oversight and care the school took in laying the children to rest. The U.S. Office of Army Cemeteries undertakes an annual process of disinterring, identifying and returning the remains of Carlisle students to their tribes. At least three of the students discovered recently were children belonging to Oklahoma tribes: Kate, Alfred and a Seminole child named Albert Mekko. Albert arrived at Carlisle in 1879 at 17 years old and died in 1881. The Army said plans to return Alberts remains to the Seminole Nation are set for fall of this year. Steve Metzer Tulsa World Capitol Bureau Staff Writer Follow Steve Metzer Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today OKLAHOMA CITY Medicaid recipients in Oklahoma who have diabetes may benefit from a proposed change in the way the state covers costs of automated insulin management systems. On Monday, lawmakers on a Senate committee that oversees insurance policy discussed the feasibility of covering the Omnipod diabetes management system through SoonerCare. While SoonerCare covers other types of insulin pump systems, it currently does not cover Omnipod, described as a tubeless, automated system that constantly monitors a persons blood chemistry and delivers insulin as needed to keep average glucose in a desirable range. A meeting on the topic was arranged by Sen. Carri Hicks, D-Oklahoma City. Several people who spoke included a woman who has had to deal with diabetes for 40 years, the mother of two children with diabetes, a representative from the Oklahoma Health Care Authority and Ryan Bucalo, the director of national accounts for Medicaid at Insulet, the company that developed the Omnipod system. Bucalo said something unique about the system is that, because of the way it works, it might reasonably have been classified for insurance billing purposes as either a pharmacy product or durable medical equipment. In 2018, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services classified it for pharmacy coverage. While most states have covered the Omnipod through their Medicaid pharmacy benefit programs, a few, including Oklahoma, have not. Oklahoma Health Care Authority Chief of Staff Christina Foss said the pharmacy coding issue is just one reason why the Omnipod system hasnt been covered by SoonerCare. Another reason, somewhat trickier to navigate, would involve managing upfront costs that would be associated with providing the coverage. It has been estimated that costs would amount to about $1,800 more per year per recipient over five years, she said. Overall, upfront costs to the system would depend on factors such as how many people who currently use other types of pump systems would transition to the Omnipod. Foss said costs also would be influenced by agreements that would be negotiated with Insulet, including for rebates of perhaps 35% on costs which would be provided by the company. SoonerCare currently pays about $6,000 for other types of pumps over five years. Insulin costs add to the total. Foss said that the states costs related to providing Omnipod coverage would be expected to decline over time. Among other benefits, she said it would be expected that emergency room visits by people with spiking blood sugar levels would be reduced. Others who met with the lawmakers said that would be a huge advantage, along with added quality of life. Amber Clour, who has lived with diabetes for 40 years, said she used to rely on four to eight injections of insulin every day to keep her blood sugar levels within a desirable range. At night, she said she could not control major fluctuations. When she was on Medicaid for a time, Clour said she was repeatedly denied coverage for the Omnipod system. Since then, she has transitioned to private insurance and has been able to better manage her diabetes with the tubeless, automated system. She said her blood sugar levels remain in the desirable range about 88% of the time. My chances of complications are much lower, she said. Trish Winters, who has two sons, both diagnosed with diabetes before the age of three, said the Omnipod has been the only real option for one because it doesnt rely as other systems do on the frequent use of needles. When you have children with Type 1 diabetes, the care is 24 hours a day, she said. I talk to families who have moved here from other states, and the heartbreak when they are no longer able to continue (Omnipod) care is devastating to them. Lawmakers on the Senate committee seemed supportive of the idea of making changes, though Sen. Shane Jett, R-Shawnee, indicated a strong interest at arriving at a bottom line on the upfront costs that the state might assume. Hicks, whose own son was diagnosed with type one diabetes at 17 months, said the Omnipod system has truly transformed how his care has been managed. With the Onmipod weve seen both practical and health-related improvements that make it not only a more effective solution but also a more affordable one, she said. (It) presents a more cost-effective option especially in the long term (with) fewer supplies, fewer hospital visits, fewer costs both for families and the health care system. <&rule> The Tulsa World is where your story lives. Randy Krehbiel Tulsa World Staff Writer Follow Randy Krehbiel Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Mug shots: Within less than two days of publication, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummonds 10 Most Wanted list netted an arrest, his office says. Wenfred Louis Pop Davis, wanted in Cotton County for trafficking fentanyl and possession of methamphetamine and paraphernalia, was picked up in Louisiana. Davis was picked up in Randlett three years ago and has several previous drug arrests as well as domestic abuse and firearms charges. The Federal Bureau of Investigations 10 Most Wanted has been around since the 1930s, but this apparently is the first time the state of Oklahoma has tried it. Among those still on the list is Virginia Alice Hubbard, wanted in Tulsa County on 2023 charges of neglect and financial exploitation by a caregiver. Others on the state list are: Alfonso Mondragon Wanted for the 2004 murder of his girlfriend in Mayes County. Andrew Patrick Johnson Wanted for the Kay County rape of a 15-years-old. Juan Jose Rivera-Pena Wanted for child molestation in Oklahoma County. Jose D. Cuellar-Becerra Wanted in Garfield County for crimes including aggravated domestic assault, kidnapping, arson, drug trafficking and possession of a firearm in commission of a felony. Keith Alan Grimes Wanted for domestic assault and battery by strangulation in Muskogee County. Rodolfo Jaime Gonzalez Wanted for two counts of lewd acts with a minor in Oklahoma County. Jonathan Adrian Baez-Perez Wanted in Garfield County for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm after a former felony conviction and larceny of a vehicle. Melvin Joe Stevenson Wanted in Cotton County for trafficking methamphetamine and larceny of merchandise from a retailer. No word if posters like the FBIs will be going up in state post offices. Fair weather friends: U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin and 3rd District Congressman Frank Lucas announced a $5.5 million grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology to the Oklahoma Aerospace Institute for Research and Education. OAIRE, which operates under the umbrella of The Innovation Foundation at OSU, will research local weather systems in the lower atmosphere for the purpose of enabling the safe integration of small unmanned aerial vehicles and advanced air mobility aircraft into the National Airspace System. Those of us in Oklahoma know firsthand how important accurate weather predictions are to our livelihoods, and the funding made possible by this congressionally directed spending will enable OSU to take great strides in enhancing weather prediction through unmanned aircraft systems, Lucas said in a joint press release. Campaigns and elections: The Democratic National Committee said its giving Oklahomas state party $50,000 to assist with tribal outreach leading up to the Nov. 5 general election. Meetings and events: The Tulsa County Democratic Party is holding a vice presidential debate watch party at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Leftys on Greenwood, 10 N. Greenwood Ave. The Tulsa World is where your story lives China had imported US$21 million worth of tra fish maws from Vietnam as of the end of August, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP). Its purchase of the swim bladders represented 36 percent of Vietnams total tra fish maw exports during the January-August period. The Southeast Asian nation shipped dried tra fish maws worth $58 million to other markets during the eight-month period. China has beefed up the purchase of Vietnam's dried tra fish maws over the past two years as Mexico, one of the formers largest swim bladder suppliers, has tightened control over fish maw exports and some fish species are facing a risk of extinction. Fish maw is not only a delicacy prized in China, but also a symbol of success, prosperity, and wealth in the country, said VASEP. Therefore, the product is often used as a gift at important events in China." The price of dried fish maws ranges from $450 to $1,000 per kilogram, with prices reaching as high as $7,700 per kilogram in Hong Kong, according to industry data. Products from tra fish, particularly dried fish maws, are gaining popularity among international customers, the association reported. In addition to Hong Kong, Vietnams key buyers of tra fish maws include Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. Do Thi Thanh Thuy, sales manager at Nam Viet Corporation, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Monday that the company is selling fresh tra fish maws to several firms. These buyers will dry the swim bladders before exporting them. Fish maw had previously been seen as a by-product, but it is now costly due to complicated processing steps, she said. Fresh fish maws are priced at over VND100,000 ($4.05) per kilogram, Thuy said. Fish maws are selling like hot cakes, sometimes we do not have enough fresh fish maws for buyers, she noted. The potential for Vietnams dried fish maw export remains huge, but the shortage of input materials is a big challenge, according to VASEP. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Singaporean national Jovel Chan moved to Ho Chi Minh City at a rather challenging time. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the globe, her job in F&B marketing for a prominent Malaysian airline came to a halt, forcing her to return to Singapore. Being lock downed in her apartment in Singapore did not make Chan happy. Encouraged by friends to relocate to Vietnam, which was still accepting entries with strict pandemic control measures at that time, Chan decided to open a fitness studio in Ho Chi Minh City, hoping to tap into the countrys growing health market. Chan flew to Ho Chi Minh City in December 2020 where she spent two weeks in quarantine only to find out that the city would soon implement social distancing measures. Though her plan was put on hold, Chan was able to find a silver lining in the situation. I'm so glad I got to really see how [Vietnamese] people are because otherwise, as a foreigner, I would have come and worked in an office in District 1, only seeing the technology and modern aspects [of the country], she said. [Without the social distancing measures] you wouldn't see a lot of the things like the police presence and neighborhoods coming together to help everybody." Chan herself did her best to be a part of the Vietnamese communitys efforts to support each other by volunteering to help deliver food to those quarantined at home due to COVID-19. Jovel Chan (R, 4th) joins others in volunteering to help deliver food to those quarantined at home due to COVID-19 in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo courtesy of Jovel Chan The Singaporean still vividly remembers one day, she and her friends processed a ton of cabbages for distribution. As the saying goes, when one door closes, another opens. Another door, another path While stuck at home, Chan kept up with online discussions about which restaurants in the city remained open and which were closed. She began to compile a list of these restaurants and posted it to a web domain she had already purchased to promote her fitness studio. Her list quickly went viral after she posted it to a series of online forums, chalking up over 10,000 views in just a few days. During the following Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, restaurants and cafes began reaching out to Chan, asking her to update their operating information. From knowing no one in the local F&B industry upon her arrival, Chan quickly built a network of many Vietnamese businesses. Jovel Chan is seen in this photo she provided Tuoi Tre News. Chans blog is a vibrant platform where she continually updates readers on the latest trends and changes in Vietnams food and beverage scene. It would feature lists of newly opened restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City, articles about emerging culinary destinations worth exploring in Vietnam, or guides to new Vietnamese restaurants in the city. In addition to her own writing, some of the content is also produced by her team members. Despite receiving numerous invitations from restaurants, Chan said she does not focus on monetizing her blog, because if a restaurant is not good, she simply will not review it. After nearly four years in Vietnam, the 31-year-old blogger now generates her primary income through marketing and consulting for restaurants, as well as organizing tours, events, and supper clubs through her company, Saigon Social. Thanks to a team which helps handle her operational work, Chan is able to pursue her passion: exploring Vietnamese cuisine. Besides running her blog, which attracts over 20,000 monthly visits, Chan also writes for several English publications in Vietnam and abroad, helping promote the countrys rapidly growing culinary scene. However, she does not write about street food but focuses solely on restaurants. I love Vietnamese street food. I love eating bun rieu [crab noodles] and banh xeo [Vietnamese savory sizzling crepes], but I don't feel that I'm like a local person so I don't know if I should be the best person to write about street food, she explained. There are a lot of other people who can write about street food better than her, she believed. Living in Southeast Asia, we all eat street food. So, I want to explore places that make me go wow like seeing people use Vietnamese herbs in drinks, or blending pho into cocktails, Chan said. Small hidden bars and cafes tucked inside old buildings, filled with surprises and genuinely made drinks, run by young people, truly blow my mind. Chan believed that in the long term, it is more sustainable for Vietnamese cuisine to also enter a finer and more premium dining space. "Tourists and food enthusiasts from abroad can also appreciate Vietnamese ingredients and culinary talents in a different way, she said. If they can only appreciate Vietnamese food on the street, then Vietnamese cuisine will always be VND25,000 and VND20,000. (US$1 = VND24,610) For instance, if I only eat street food, I wouldnt know that people can create cocktails with Vietnamese gin and basil." Chan shared an example of dining on oysters in Nha Trang, a tourist city in south-central Vietnam, where she was amazed by the quality, comparing it to that of Japan. However, she noted that few people would know this unless they visited upscale restaurants. She also recommended that Vietnamese restaurants create English-language websites to make it easier for foreigners to discover them. Jovel Chan is seen in this photo she provided Tuoi Tre News. An exciting time According to Chan, this is an exciting time for Vietnams culinary scene, with international media outlets from the Michelin Guide to The New York Times spotlighting Vietnamese food and many global brands entering the market. I feel that now is the time that we're going to see the restaurant scene really change, and see a lot of Vietnamese chefs doing it, Chan said. In the past, like in every country in Southeast Asia, even Singapore, fine dining was very Western, like French fine dining and Italian fine dining." Chan highlighted the exciting developments happening in Vietnam's food scene, from modern Vietnamese creations to unique fusions with other cuisines, saying, "It can be anything." The Singaporean blogger hopes to remain in Vietnam for another five to ten years to witness the continued evolution of the country's culinary landscape first-hand. I wish I had come so much earlier, Chan said. Chan expressed her desire for larger events featuring international chefs and greater recognition for Vietnamese chefs both locally and regionally. She also hopes to see more collaborations between Vietnamese and foreign culinary experts from across Asia. In the coming months, Chan plans to organize additional food tours focused on modern Vietnamese cuisine and cocktails, along with workshops and tastings where visitors can sample and purchase high-quality gin, rum, sake, and chocolate made in Vietnam. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! BANGKOK -- Thailand's underperforming $77 billion social security fund will invest $11.6 billion in a new foray into global private assets, an executive told Reuters, part of a strategic overhaul to address its poor returns amid rising demand from an ageing population. Thailand's biggest state fund, which supports healthcare, unemployment benefits and pensions for 25 million workers, has seen an average return of under 3 percent over the past 10 years, far below its potential, and seeks to rectify that from next year by diversifying away from its domestic-focused strategy, investment board member Petch Vergara said in an interview. Petch, a former executive director at Goldman Sachs who managed private wealth for ultra high net-worth individuals for almost a decade, said the fund's high concentration of domestic and low-risk investments was unsustainable. "At this rate, the fund could go bankrupt by 2051," said Petch, who joined the Social Security Fund earlier this year. "The current investment portfolio of the fund is overly concentrated in Thai assets," she said, adding "the low-risk investments may look safe in the short term but it damages potential long-term returns." The shift comes as Thailand's population grows older, with one-fifth of its 66 million people aged over 60 at the end of last year, compared to 10 percent two decades ago, according to the Department of Older Persons at the Social Development and Human Security ministry. The over-60 population has doubled from 6.2 million in 2004 to 13 million in December 2023, the data shows. New faces, reformist backing The more aggressive strategy follows a recent change in the composition of the fund's board after some members were elected to their roles for the first time ever in December. Before that, most members were appointed by the generals who seized power in a 2014 coup. Last year, two-thirds of the 21-member board were elected. Many were nominated by labour groups and by the progressive party that won last year's general election on promises of major institutional reforms, but was blocked from forming a government by conservative lawmakers allied with the royalist military. The new board has approved an investment framework starting in 2025 that will lower the fund's weighting of low-risk assets from 70 percent to 60 percent, and increase the concentration of higher-risk investments to 40 percent from the current 30 percent over the next 2-1/2-years, Petch said. The aim was for a 50-50 split by mid-2027, she added. Of the higher-risk investments, 15 percent, or 375 billion baht ($11.56 billion) will be allocated towards investment in global private assets, such as in private equity, private credit and hedge funds, by mid-2027, said Petch. "The idea is to make the portfolio more global to find more returns in the long term," she added. Meagre returns A 2023 study by the non-profit Thinking Ahead Institute on global pension assets across 22 major pension markets showed an average annual return of 7.7 percent over the past five years for pension funds with investment portfolios that consisted of 60 percent global equities and 40 percent global bonds. By comparison, the portfolio of the social security fund in Thailand, Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy, has seen an average return of just 2.7 percent in the past five years. Analysts have long advocated a change in tack to meet swelling demands from the population, but point to trust issues and a lack of public faith due to the fund's history of mismanagement, high operating costs and underperformance. According to Worawan Chandoevwit, an advisor on social security at the Thailand Development Research Institute, 700,000 retired workers are currently eligible for pensions from the fund but that number is set to increase significantly. Based on independent research, there will be more people drawing out money than contributing to the fund and there will be a clear deficit by 2045, she said. "We will soon have more people utilising the pension and they will also live longer," Worawan said, "So the money going in and coming out is a very different amount." "High return is key in the long term to ensure the long-term viability of the fund," she said. "Long-term good governance on the fund's investments is key." ($1 = 32.4500 baht) Vietnamese Party General Secretary and State President To Lam flew from Hanoi on Monday for a week-long overseas trip, wth his itinerary including Mongolia, Ireland, and France. Lam makes these visits at the invitation of Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, Irish President Michael D. Higgins, and French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The top Vietnamese leader is accompanied by Chairman of the Presidential Office Le Khanh Hai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, Head of the Party Central Committees External Relations Commission Le Hoai Trung, Chairwoman of the National Assemblys Social Affairs Committee Nguyen Thuy Anh, and the Ministers of National Defense, Justice, Health, Transport, and Agriculture and Rural Development. Lams assistant and the ambassadors of Mongolia, Ireland, and France are included. The foreign ministry commented that this week-long trip comes amid the fruitful development of Vietnam's relations with all three countries, and once again affirms Vietnams foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralism, diversification of relations, and proactive international integration. The Vietnamese Party and state believe this itinerary reflects the priority of continuing friendship with Mongolia, the multi-faceted cooperation with Ireland, and the strategic partnership with France for mutual interests. The state visit to Mongolia holds special significance as it falls on the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Ulaanbaatar and Hanoi, which have never been stronger. Mongolia is a country that extensively supported Vietnam both materially and spiritually in the Southeast Asian nations movement for national independence and liberation in the past. During his stay in Mongolia, Party General Secretary and State President Lam will meet with the country's top leaders to enhance political trust and beef up cooperation in the areas of each others priorities, especially politics, diplomacy, economics, trade, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges, said Deputy PM Bui Thanh Son. Meanwhile, Lams trip to Ireland marks the first state visit since the two nations established diplomatic relations in 1966. Due to the many similarities in history, patriotic traditions, aspirations for progress, and unique culture, Ireland and Vietnam have ample room to enhance their multifaceted cooperation. During Lam's visit, the two sides' senior leaders will discuss measures to promote extensive cooperation in many areas where Vietnam has demand and Ireland has strengths, such as high-quality investment, science, technology, innovation, digital transformation, energy transition, and education and training. Ireland is currently Vietnam's sixth-largest trading partner in the EU market and prioritizes Vietnam as one of the two Asian countries that receive Dublins development assistance, which focuses on education, gender equality, climate change response, wartime mine clearance, and support for ethnic minority communities and people with disabilities. For Lam's time in France, besides attending the 19th Francophone Summit, he will discuss the countries' steps to bring their partnership to a new level, commensurate with the potential and position of both sides in the region and the world. France and Vietnam have maintained strong political trust and cooperation over 50 years of diplomatic relations, including a decade of strategic partnership. As one of Hanois key European partners in tourism, trade, investment, and official development assistance (ODA), France has contributed to several major projects in Vietnam, such as the Nhon-Hanoi Station metro line and climate change response initiatives in the Mekong Delta. The official also highlighted the fruitful cooperation between Vietnam and the Francophone community, which considers Vietnam a model of socio-economic development and a center of Francophone cooperation activities in the region. The Francophone bloc, consisting of 88 member countries and territories with a combined population of around 1.2 billion people, accounts for 16 percent of global GDP and 20 percent of world trade. This presents significant opportunities for expanding cooperation with Vietnam, especially in areas such as trade, investment, education and training, agriculture, tourism, and science and technology. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A search and rescue team from Lac Duong District in Lam Dong Province saved two tourists who got lost while exploring Langbiang Mountain on Sunday, local police confirmed the same day. The two tourists, T.T.T., 27, and M.M.A., 18, were reported missing on the mountain during their trip to Da Lat City, a popular destination in Lam Dong, located in Vietnams Central Highlands. After being notified at 3:00 pm on Sunday, local police officers and rescuers carried out a search and rescue operation amid heavy rainfall and slippery terrain. They managed to locate the duo, both hailing from Ho Chi Minh City, after a three-hour search in a dense foresed area. The tourists were then escorted back to safety. Authorities mentioned that similar incidents sometimes occur when tourists enter the forest during poor weather conditions without informing the staff at Langbiangs entrance. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! China's space exploration achievements expand humanity's frontiers Xinhua) 08:56, September 30, 2024 This screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on July 3, 2024 shows Shenzhou-18 astronauts Li Cong (above) and Ye Guangfu performing extravehicular activities. (Xinhua/Guo Zhongzheng) BEIJING, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- China launched its first satellite, Dongfanghong-1, on April 24, 1970, ushering in the nation's exploration of the universe and its peaceful use of outer space. Five decades on, China's unremitting space exploration efforts are unlocking a wealth of insights concerning the cosmos. This image taken from video animation at Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) on June 2, 2024 shows the lander-ascender combination of Chang'e-6 probe landing on the far side of the moon. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang) LUNAR EXPLORATION A recent study of the lunar samples returned by the Chang'e-5 probe revealed that the moon might have been geologically active as recently as 120 million years ago, while another fresh research finding indicated that samples obtained via Chang'e-6 exhibit "distinct characteristics" compared to previously obtained lunar samples. This deepening understanding of the moon stems from China's unwavering commitment to its lunar exploration program. "We have been actively developing relevant technologies and cultivating talent for research on lunar samples since 2004," said Li Qiuli, a researcher who led the aforementioned study of the Chang'e-5 lunar samples at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). In December 2020, the Chang'e-5 probe brought back the country's first samples collected from the moon, which marked a successful conclusion to China's three-step lunar exploration program of orbiting, landing and returning samples, which began in 2004. "The samples collected so far mainly come from the lunar surface. We are looking forward to obtaining deeper core samples, ideally reaching the unaltered bedrock beneath the impact-modified layers, allowing us to further explore the history of the moon's transformation," said Li. China is now focusing on the fourth phase of its lunar exploration program, which includes the completed Chang'e-4 and Chang'e-6 missions, and the upcoming Chang'e-7 and Chang'e-8 missions. In 2024, the Chang'e-6 mission achieved a historic first by collecting 1,935.3 grams of lunar samples from the far side of the moon. China is scheduled to launch the Chang'e-7 lunar exploration mission in around 2026 and Chang'e-8 in about 2028. In addition, China in 2023 initiated the lunar landing mission of its manned lunar exploration program, aiming to realize a manned lunar landing by 2030. China is also advancing the construction of an international lunar research station (ILRS), and Chang'e-7 and Chang'e-8 will form part of the basic model of the ILRS. This photo taken on April 25, 2024 shows a backup version of the aquatic ecosystem. A unique task for the taikonauts of Shenzhou-18 is to create an "aquarium" and raise fish in zero gravity. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang) SPACE LABORATORY In the early hours of May 1, 2024, just hours after the Shenzhou-17 crew touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, more than 20 scientists, over a thousand kilometers away in Beijing, eagerly awaited the arrival of experimental samples brought back from space. Weighing approximately 31.5 kilograms, these samples included human osteoblasts, protein crystals, seeds and high-temperature materials. The scientists affectionately referred to these returned samples as "space specialties." China's orbiting Tiangong space station, which serves as a national space laboratory, is T-shaped with the Tianhe core module at the center and the Wentian and Mengtian experiment capsules located on the sides. The Tianhe core module primarily focuses on space medicine, space science experiments and technology testing, while the Wentian lab module is dedicated to research in the field of space life sciences. The Mengtian lab module mainly serves microgravity science research. "The space laboratory provides excellent research conditions, such as long-term microgravity and radiation environments, allowing us to explore the mechanisms behind new phenomena and understand the measures necessary for humanity's long-term survival in space," said Zhang Wei, a researcher at the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization under the CAS. According to a press conference held by the China Manned Space Agency in April 2024, China had conducted over 130 scientific research and application projects in its orbiting space station, while 300 scientific experiment samples had been brought back from space by manned missions in five batches. In addition, more than 500 scientific research institutes worldwide had participated in these projects, achieving significant results in space life science, space medicine, space material science and microgravity fluid physics -- with over 280 papers published in top international journals, the agency said. Researchers conduct an experiment for a satellite named Einstein Probe at the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Shanghai, east China, July 20, 2023. (Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of CAS/Handout via Xinhua) ASTRONOMICAL SATELLITES China's Einstein Probe (EP) astronomical satellite beamed back X-ray images of the moon from space on Sept. 17. These images were captured by the Follow-up X-ray Telescope (FXT) aboard the EP, marking the first time Chinese scientists had obtained a comprehensive X-ray scan of the moon with an independently developed space telescope. Compared to other X-ray satellites currently in operation internationally, the FXT offers a superior X-ray energy resolution and high effective area, enabling it to reveal the distribution of lunar surface elements such as oxygen, iron, magnesium, aluminum and silicon. Thirty years ago, Yuan Weimin, who is now principal investigator of the EP, was thrilled to learn from an academic report by Li Tibei, an academician of the CAS, that China was set to develop its own astronomical satellites. "Before that, I never imagined our generation would have the capability to develop the country's own space science satellites. From that moment on, I heartily anticipated the implementation of the plan," said Yuan, who is also a researcher at the National Astronomical Observatories under the CAS. China now boasts a fleet of space science satellites in the vast expanse of space, including the Dark Matter Particle Explorer, the Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (the world's first quantum satellite), the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT), and the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S). These space science satellites have contributed to a slew of scientific achievements. In 2020, scientists, using the HXMT, discovered the strongest magnetic field ever observed in the universe, located on the surface of a neutron star named GRO J1008-57, while the ASO-S has detected more than 100 solar white-light flares since its launch in 2022, which is of scientific significance for space weather forecasting. "While Europe and the United States have been developing space science for more than half a century, China is still in its initial stages of development. However, we have made remarkable progress over the past 20 years and have entered the international forefront in certain fields," Yuan added. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan) In Vietnam, some passengers treat airports like their own homes, often lying on benches in waiting areas or using them to store luggage, creating discomfort for other travelers, including foreigners. Observed misbehavior includes passengers napping by stretching out on benches, sometimes with their shirts pulled up, exposing their bellies, and ignoring others who are standing and in need of a seat. Some people also pop pimples or pull out others' ingrown hairs. Some foreigners have shrugged and shaken their heads in disbelief at this odd behavior, while others question whether it is unique to Vietnam or common in other parts of the world. It is alarming that these sightings are becoming increasingly popular. At a local airport at 11:00 pm one day, more than half of the benches were treated as beds, forcing many others to stand or sit on the ground. What an awkward situation! At various stations, benches are now adorned with signs that read, "Please do not place your luggage on benches" and "Please do not lie on benches." However, many passengers ignore the notes. Currently, airport authorities have not utilized public address systems to remind passengers not to lie on benches or place luggage on them. Although all airports are equipped with surveillance cameras, authorities are not using the footage to address these behaviors. Even though this may seem like a minor issue, it should be addressed promptly to prevent it from creating a lasting impression of Vietnam's airport culture. At Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia, benches are made concave to bar passengers from lying on them. At Singapore Changi Airport, sockets are installed between seats. Meanwhile, benches at airports in Vietnam are flat, unintentionally encouraging air passengers to have selfish behaviors. * This article was originally written in Vietnamese by Nguyen Van My from Lua Viet Tours. Thanh Ha from Tuoi Tre News translated it into English. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Wearing blue berets and carrying backpacks, Captain Hoang Huu Cong Thanh and his wife, Senior Lieutenant Nguyen Thi Nguyet Ha, along with their colleagues from Engineering Unit No. 3, are embarking on a mission to maintain peace in Abyei, South Sudan. Under the warm autumn sun of September, the peacekeeping soldier's uniforms fill the airport of the 371st Division under the Air and Air Defense Force as they prepare for deployment. This marks the largest troop rotation for Vietnamese peacekeeping forces in 2024, with 184 officers and staff from Engineering Unit No. 3 replacing Engineering Unit No. 2 at the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei. Level 2 Field Hospital No. 6, consisting of 63 members, will take over from Level 2 Field Hospital No. 5 at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan. Captain Hoang Huu Cong Thanh and Senior Lieutenant Nguyen Thi Nguyet Ha are en route to support peacekeeping efforts in Africa. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre Celebrating wedding anniversary in Africa Amid warm farewells and gifts, Thanh and Ha walk hand in hand. Their relationship has developed while serving in the same unit, and Ha credits mutual understanding and respect for strengthening their bond. Both are eager to embark on this journey to Africa for their mission. Thanh said that he served as a military observer in South Sudan from 2022 to 2023. A year after completing that mission, he invited his 'comrade wife' to join him on this new peacekeeping endeavor. During this rotation, Thanh will serve as a civil-military coordination and communication officer, while Ha will handle administrative tasks at Engineering Unit No. 3. "We are the first couple from Engineering Unit No. 3 to go on a mission together," Thanh said. "I am thrilled that through this experience, my wife will gain valuable knowledge and practical skills related to military personnel work." Having been married for nearly a year, they plan to celebrate their wedding anniversary in Africa on Monday. "This will be our most memorable anniversary -- a significant milestone in our life," Thanh said. As part of the Vietnam Peacekeeping Department, Ha witness her fellow soldiers leave for missions each year, which has fueled her desire to embark on her own journey. I really want to gain a deeper understanding of the peacekeeping missions my comrades are involved in," she said. "With the knowledge and practical experience I acquire, I hope it will benefit my work when I return to our unit." Peacekeeping soldiers embark on their mission. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre A special keepsake Captain Bui Anh Dong, an engineering assistant at Engineering Unit No. 3, is also preparing for his second peacekeeping mission, embracing his wife and young son before departure. Dong is bringing a sentimental blue pillow gifted by his son. The support from his wife and child is his greatest motivation as he undertakes this important assignment. "My son is too young to fully grasp the significance of my trip," Dong said. "Hopefully, he imagines it as a special mission. "Dad will be away for a few months but will return to you both." Aware of the challenges ahead in this year-long mission, Captain Dong hopes to continue assisting Abyeis local communities facing numerous hardships. Captain Bui Anh Dong prepares for his work trip away from home surrounded by family. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on X to get the latest news about Vietnam! Ha Long International Cruise Port in Quang Ninh Province, northern Vietnam on Monday welcomed Italian cruise ship Costa Serena with nearly 3,000 passengers and more than 1,000 sailors on board. The Costa Serena has docked at ports in Vietnam several times, but this is its first time in Ha Long City, reported the Vietnam News Agency. This is one of the largest international cruise liners to dock in Ha Long this year. These international tourists were set to tour Ha Long Bay, named by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site twice in 1994 and 2000, as well as other tourist attractions in the province. The ship will leave the port at 6:00 pm the same day. The Costa Serena is scheduled to bring international tourists to the city on October 14 and 18, and November 4 and 8. Ha Long City is expected to receive some 60-70 cruise ships with a total of some 70,000 passengers on board this year, according to the provincial Department of Tourism. Ha Long Bay is bustling with international tourists, especially cruise visitors, as the year draws to a close. Cruise tourism in Ha Long typically peaks between November and April. The 2024 cruise tourism season started with positive signs in the province, with the return of a series of luxury cruise ships owned by big cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean Cruise Line and Azamara, and liner Mein Schiff 5. These cruise ships brought international tourists from the U.S., Canada, England, and Australia to Ha Long from January to April. Notably, U.S.-flagged cruise liner The World transported over 170 tourists who are billionaires and millionaires from the U.S. and Europe to Ha Long in mid-June for a four-day stay. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Members of a team of Swiss experts sent to Vietnam to help typhoon Yagi-hit residents ride out the hardship were impressed by the Vietnamese victims optimistic behaviors and dogged perseverance. Vietnamese people are very friendly, organizational, and willing to support each other. They maintain their positivity despite the tragedy, Beat Herger, the leader of the team said. How wonderful! After typhoon Yagi, the third storm to hit Vietnam this year, made landfall in the northern region in early September, taking a heavy toll on many localities, the Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development announced on September 12 that it would dispatch a team of experts from the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit to Vietnam, and provide the Southeast Asian nation with some US$1.2 million to help affected residents overcome the difficulties. The experts quickly arrived in Yen Bai Province, one of the northern regions most severely impacted by the super typhoon. This is the only international group to have supported the locality in the wake of Yagi. Swiss experts work in Yen Bai Province to help residents overcome the hardship caused by typhoon Yagi. Photo: Embassy of Switzerland in Vietnam Switzerland offers long-term support to Vietnam Herger told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Friday that when they start a mission in a nation ravaged by a disaster, they always feel it is difficult. However, he was surprised by Vietnamese peoples friendliness and resilience. When we arrived in an area in Yen Bai Province, residents initially felt a little bit perturbed as they did not know who we were," he recounted. However, after the Swiss team rolled up our sleeves and helped residents tackle the disarray, they enthusiastically collaborated with us. We have been working to clean wells and restore water resources. Also, we are supporting the local authorities in road clearing so roads to remote areas can be reopened. The traffic will soon be back to normal in the area. Some of the equipment we brought in from Switzerland was not only used for this crisis, but also it might be used at a later time for other disasters. Switzerland is a nation with several hills. With our experience, we are discussing medium- and long-term support for Vietnam." Accordingly, the team will draw a map of dangerous locations and set up a system of warnings against potential storms. Hans-Ruedi Hochuli, an expert of the team, said that many locals had been relocated due to a high risk of landslides. Yen Bai Province has hilly terrain, with multiple houses built near hills, so after landslides, it will take much time, even one year, to clear roads full of rocks to ensure safety for residents to restart their daily life. The Swiss expert team provides well-cleaning equipment to help residents in Yen Bai Province, northern Vietnam have clean water. Photo: Embassy of Switzerland in Vietnam Vietnamese peoples resilience shines in the face of adversity Among team members, Hans-Ruedi and I are the most experienced in post-disaster support, said Herger. We came to many disaster-hit areas, and this time, we are giving support to Vietnam, a faraway nation with differences in culture and language, affected by floods." He shared that apart from identifying necessary things they must do to help victims, the team has cooperated with local authorities to fulfill their mission. During the mission, he was most impressed by residents optimistic faces. My most memorable thing is residents smiles in spite of the hardship and destruction caused by the natural disaster, Herger said. What brought us to the place is Vietnamese people." I watched a woman trying to ride through a road hit by a landslide, Hochuli said. Vietnamese people are courageous and resilient, and they are striving to return to normal life as soon as possible. They quickly pulled themselves together to overcome the hardship, which impressed me a lot. We are pleased to contribute our part to helping them return to normal life." Beat Herger (L) and Hans-Ruedi Hochuli (L, 2nd), members of the Swiss expert team, give support to Yen Bai Province, northern Vietnam. Photo: Embassy of Switzerland in Vietnam Switzerlands aid for Yagi relief efforts The Swiss team, consisting of experts in clean water, environmental sanitation, disaster risk reduction, and livelihoods, has assisted Vietnam in assessing emergency needs and proposed a range of short- and medium-term solutions for post-disaster recovery, according to the Embassy of Switzerland in Vietnam. The team gave Yen Bai Province 16 sets of tools for well cleaning, and hired nine excavators and trucks operating in two weeks to clear roads, as well as help 50,000 people access necessary services. In addition, the team worked with local authorities on donating $142 to each of 621 affected households in the province monthly in the next three months. A map details locations in Yen Bai Province, northern Vietnam getting supplies from Switzerland. Photo: Embassy of Switzerland in Vietnam After the typhoons arrival in Vietnam, Switzerland sent relief supplies to the Southeast Asian country, including 300 family tents, five big multifunctional tents, and two water distribution systems capable of serving 10,000 people. These supplies were handed over to Yen Bai Province on September 17. Ambassador of Switzerland to Vietnam Thomas Gass and the expert team on Friday worked with Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan. Minister Hoan expressed his gratitude to Switzerland for sending these experts to Vietnam to help the nation overcome the hardship. Nguyen The Phuoc, vice-chairman of the Yen Bai Peoples Committee, said that the third storm left 54 people dead and 42 others injured, while destroying over 7,000 hectares of crop cultivation in the province. The disaster also disrupted power and telecom supplies and damaged traffic infrastructure. Thanks to the support from the Vietnamese government, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and organizations, including the Swiss one, Yen Bai Province has been recovering after the typhoon," Phuoc said. "After two weeks of search efforts, we located the final victim of the disaster two days ago. "All residents evacuated due to landslides and floods have been safely relocated. The province plans to build 1,400 houses for the affected households. "We are committed to using and distributing Switzerland's aid effectively to those in need." Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan (R, 4th) presents Vietnamese scarves to Swiss experts. Photo: Danh Khang / Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! New observational series Outback Crystal Hunters premieres tonight on 7mate. The 8 part series is made by WA based Prospero Productions (Outback Truckers, Outback Opal Hunters, Opal Hunters: Red Dirt Road Trip, Junior Doctors Down Under). In the hostile Australian Outback, five courageous crystal hunting teams confront extreme conditions, from scorching deserts to frigid underground mines, in a bid to unearth some of the worlds rarest and breathtaking crystals. Fuelled by celebrity endorsements and a four-trillion-dollar-a-year global wellness industry, the crystal trade is booming, and Australia has some of the most ancient & richest deposits on earth. Outback Crystal Hunters are on a quest to uncover these geological marvels from giant million-dollar Amethyst clusters to magical, colour-changing Zircons. All these impassioned crystal hunters are driven to unearth and showcase these ancient wonders to the world while hungry to secure a life-changing payday. Episode One: In the harsh Western Australia desert, Patrick Gundersen and Kirsty McMullan make the discovery of a lifetime unearthing Australias largest Amethyst cluster. Now they face the daunting challenge of loading the giant 21-tonne million-dollar crystal onto a semi-trailer in over 40 degrees Celsius, without breaking its fragile crystal points. Geologist Pete Willems and crystal miner Kyle Archer hunt for ultra-rare Crocoite crystals in Tasmanias historic Red Lead Mine. Inside a cramped 180-metre-long tunnel, the pair struggle to extract extremely fragile crystal specimens before the arrival of a buyer from the United States. But a chance find could turn their fortunes around. The Rockhounds, Ebriony Rawlins and Frankie Antoni, make an epic-off road trek to the legendary OBriens Creek gem field in tropical Far North Queensland. After leaving their landscaping jobs to hunt crystals, the couple desperately need a haul of lucrative Topaz crystals to pay their bills. 8:30pm Monday on 7mate. Former Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and former Queensland Premier and Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Campbell Newman will join SKY News for upcoming coverage of the Queensland state election. Annastacia Palaszczuk said: I will be bringing my expertise, but also my intuition on what Queenslanders are thinking to the SKY News coverage of the Queensland Election. Some of the biggest issues facing Queensland will be the cost-of-living pressures on families, making sure that our education system is robust, building new hospitals that service our regional communities, and having a plan that both parties stick to and deliver a world class Olympics in 2032. Campbell Newman said: On election night, Ill be taking a very critical view of the Labor Party, the Liberal National Party, the Greens, Katters Australian Party, the whole lot of them, and Ill be calling it, as I see it, without fear or favour. Sky News and its team of award-winning political journalists, expert commentators and anchors will bring viewers live coverage as Premier Steven Miles and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli hit the campaign trail ahead of the October 26 election. For firsthand perspectives throughout the campaign trail, Sky News reporters Harry Clarke, Lauren Forbes, Cameron Reddin and Fiona Willan will hit the road following the leaders as they make their pitch to voters. From Monday October 21 to Friday October 25, Peter Stefanovic will broadcast Sky News weekday breakfast program First Edition from five locations around Queensland. Then, on Tuesday October 22, Premier Steven Miles will face off against Opposition Leader David Crisafulli at the Sky News / Courier Mail Peoples Forum. Hosted by Sky News Australias Chief News Anchor Kieran Gilbert, the Peoples Forum will give 100 undecided voters, as selected by YouGov, the opportunity to put questions directly to the two leaders on their vision for the state. On Wednesday October 23, Paul Murray will hit the streets of Brisbane just days out from the election for a special edition of Paul Murray Live. On Saturday October 26, as Queensland residents head to the polls, Sky News will deliver comprehensive coverage and analysis with Queensland Decides: Election Night Live featuring the best expert election night panel including Sky News Chief News Anchor Kieran Gilbert, Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell, Sky News Anchor Peta Credlin, former Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, former LNP Premier and Lord Mayor of Brisbane Campbell Newman, former Labor Cabinet Minister in the Hawke-Keating Governments Graham Richardson, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister Patrick Gorman, LNP Senator for QLD and former state campaign director James McGrath, and Sky News Chief Election Analyst Tom Connell. Sky News Australias full coverage of Queensland Decides: Election Night Live will be available at SkyNews.com.au, along with exclusive breaking news, commentary and seat-by-seat data as votes are counted on election night. Free TV Australia is proposing to relax classification timezones around M rated content during daytimes. Under a new draft for the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice, Free TV is proposing to expand the daytime hours for M rated content. Currently M rated content can screen from 7:30pm 6am and 12 3pm on school days. But the new proposal will widen the daytime to 10am 3pm regardless of school days or weekends. This means broadcasters will not have to observe the variations in school holiday dates from state to state but it potentially means children could inadvertently witness M rated content during the day where they are not supervised. Amongst the other Code changes proposed: A commercial for a film, DVD or computer game will no longer need to carry the Classification as deemed by the Australian Classification Board. When broadcasting a news or Current Affairs Program, warnings as appropriate must be given before a segment if the content is likely to seriously distress or seriously offend a substantial number of viewers, but this no longer needs to be a spoken warning. There are also changes to the way Complaints may be lodged, with all broadcasters required to link to the Free TV complaints page. Viewers will be able to write to networks for complaints or lodge an eletronic complaint via Free TV Australia. Free TV has not at this stage reviewed the Code provisions with respect to gambling advertising until the Government has finalised its review of gambling advertising and related matters. Free TV Australia is currently seeking public feedback on the updated draft Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice. Free TV CEO Bridget Fair said, The Free TV Code of Practice provides robust safeguards in accordance with community standards in areas such as program classification, accuracy and impartiality in news, placement of commercials and program promotions and advertising time limits. The Code assists viewers in making informed choices about their own television viewing and that of the children in their care, and provides effective mechanisms for receiving and handling viewer feedback and complaints. Free TV has updated the Code in the following key respects: Simplifying our M-zone classification times, to better align with the codes of practice of other television broadcasters Strengthening and increasing timeliness of corrections and clarifications of errors of fact in news and current affairs programs Enhancing the delivery of warnings during high impact news reporting Making it easier to lodge a complaint online Removing outdated references and modernising the language in the Code. These changes will ensure that the Code remains in line with community standards and continues to operate effectively well into the future. Commercial television broadcasters in Australia are some of the most highly-regulated content platforms, and have a strong track record of compliance with the Code provisions, Ms Fair said. The community expects commercial television broadcasters to deliver content that that is safe, entertaining and informative, while also empowering Australians to make choices about what they and their families watch. They also expect accurate and impartial news journalism and current affairs that brings public interest stories to light, while also balancing fairness to individuals. That is exactly what the Code achieves. The public is invited to provide feedback by email, electronic form or post. Public consultation will close on 11 November 2024. For further information, see Free TVs Code Review website. Two reality titles will screen on Hayu in October, same day as the USA. The Real Housewives of New York City S15 2 October The housewives of New York City are back to take another bite out of the Big Apple in the brand new Season 15 of the iconic Housewives franchise. This season will reveal that things can change in a New York minute, when rumours start spreading among the ladies and only time will tell if longstanding loyalties are strong enough to weather the storm as secrets shake things up. Housewives Sai De Silva, Ubah Hassan, Erin Lichy, Jenna Lyons, Jessel Taank and Brynn Whitfield all return this season, along with new housewife, Racquel Chevremont, and Rebecca Minkoff, who joins as a friend. Below Deck Sailing Yacht S5 8 October Captain Glenn and his expert crew set sail on Parsifal III to the luxury party capital of the world, Ibiza, as they navigate blossoming boatmances, competitive co-workers and tense personal dynamics. Mike Sneesby has departed as Nine CEO, finishing last Friday according to The Australian. Before he left, Sneesby sent a farewell email to all staff, thanking them for their commitment to Nine, for the friendships weve built, for the achievements weve accomplished and for the adventures weve shared over the past decade. Notwithstanding the tough advertising market conditions, Nine is in great shape and placed exceptionally well for the future, Sneesby wrote. Sneesby had more than 10 years with the company including 3 and a half years in top role and previously as founder and CEO of Stan. His departure comes ahead of an independent review into workplace culture, due at the end of October. Last week, Sneesby attended one last meeting of the Nine board, headed by chair Catherine West, before bidding adieu. Nine will throw Sneesby a farewell party in a few weeks, once he returns from a family camping trip. Chief Finance and Strategy Officer, Matt Stanton, has been appointed as acting Chief Executive Officer while the Company undertakes a recruitment process. Star ABC presenter Tony Armstrong has recorded voice-overs for NRMA advertisements which appears to be at odds with ABC Editorial Policy. Media Watch last night revealed ABC management was not aware one of its high-profile presenters was behind the ads. ABC Editorial Policy states that any external work by a high profile presenter is considered very high risk. The voiceover was done without the ABCs knowledge, this was due to a misunderstanding with Tonys external representation, ABC told Media Watch. They have been provided a copy of the external work guidelines and reminded all ABC employees are required to meet them. Tony is a high valued employee and has the ABCs full support. Guest host Janine Perrett said, How any ABC reporter can voice a commercial for one of the biggest brands in Australia and not think that is a conflict is beyond us. If this is not a breach of the guidelines on external work, which says you must seek approval from above, we dont know what is. ABC did not answer questions posed around whether any further action will be taken or whether other ABC staff were involved in commercial advertising work outside the ABC. Questions posed by Media Watch: 1. Did the ABC know that Tony Armstrong is the voice of the NRMA ads? 2. Did the ABC give Tony Armstrong approval to do this commercial advertising campaign? 3. If the ABC did give approval, why is it OK for a high-profile TV presenter/journalist to be doing commercial advertising work? 4. If the ABC didnt give approval, what action will be taken now? 5. How much was Tony Armstrong paid for this NRMA gig? 6. Does the ABC believe this kind of commercial advertising work is an appropriate side-hustle for ABC journalists / presenters / employees? 7. Are other ABC presenters / journalists doing commercial advertising work outside the ABC and if they are, can you please provide details of that? 8. Given that Tony Armstrong is now doing commercial advertising work, is the announcement this week that hes leaving ABC News Breakfast an indication that he will be leaving the ABC to pursue a commercial media career? Tony Armstrong did not respond to our request for comment but with his ABC contract up this Friday, maybe its the start of his commercial TV or advertising career, said Perrett. But its a shame this moonlighting at the expense of the ABCs integrity is what were talking about in his final week on the News Breakfast couch. Tony Armstrong wraps on News Breakfast this Friday. SBS has previously brought us documentaries about arranged marriages through documentaries such as Marry Me, Marry My Family and Indian Wedding Race but now it forms the backdrop of a new drama, Four Years Later. Unashamedly, the series positions itself as a Romance. While Streaming seems to embrace them in shows such as Normal People, Heartstopper, Outlander, and Virgin River, its something of a rarity of late in the Free to Air space. Indeed as an SBS drama, I kept waiting for the issue-based plot to rear its head. Refreshingly, while culture is ever-present in Mithila Guptas 8 x 30 min series, it isnt overwhelmed by matters of politics, race or immigration. Rather, the focus is on young couple Sridevi (Shahana Goswami) and Yash (Akshay Ajit Singh), how they meet, how they connect and subsequently disconnect. The narrative traverses several time periods including when they meet in Jaipur via family introduction, then a 4 year reunion in Australia, and the time in between. Despite parental approval, Sri and Yash do not exactly sizzle at first, but Sris quick dismissal of Yash gets the better of his curiosity. Further courting and dates address whether she is playing hard to get, ultimately leading to a traditional wedding. But there has always been pressure on Yash to pursue his medical career for which the family has made great financial sacrifice. When he is accepted into a Sydney hospital its clear the newlyweds will be separated its decided Sri will only serve as a distraction. Charming. Its important for my family that I succeed I really have to succeed. Yash Isnt there so much more to life than just work? For me I want love. Big love. Sri From there the series fast forward to, well, Four Years Later, when a struggling Yash has summoned Sri to join him on the south coast of NSW -but what has changed in the intervening time? There is excitement, fear, doubts, work pressure, isolation and much to explore. With characters as forthright as Sri and Yash this is also a torrid storyline that could pivot in any direction, and thats just where Gupta leads. Added to the human emotions of love, separation and dreams is the cultural clash of Australia and India. The beach backdrop is intoxicating (all the water scenes are beautifully shot) but there is isolation, a different set of values and social behaviour. Can you hold onto your ideals, or are there compromises to be made -and what of leaps into the unknown? Under directors Mohini Herse and Fadia Abboud the series is held delicately together thanks to two very alluring leads all but baring their souls. Shahana Goswami as Sri yearns for family as well as independence, bringing passion, strength and resolve. Akshay Ajit Singh as Yash is full of ambition but there are flaws and flashes of pride and weakness. The series also features Kate Box, Luke Arnold and Roy Joseph as part of the Australian ensemble. While it is dressed in tradition and family expectations, the series challenges conventions with a very modern outlook. There is steamy sex before marriage, swimming in the ocean in underwear, and even a reference to a sl*t drop dance move at an Indian wedding. Marigold Hotel this aint But its also not a Bollywood perspective. Mithila Guptas script feels authentic to the Indian Australian experience whilst injecting premium drama twists and turns. This makes it one of SBS most satisfying dramas in some time. Ultimately Four Years Later could be any of us, torn apart by a four year separation and how we evolve or survive such duress. Four Years Later screens in double episodes 9:20pm Wednesday 2 October (all 8 episodes at SBS on Demand). Discover the philosophy, determination and groundbreaking designs of Expressionist architect Erich Mendelsohn; and meet the complex and fiery sculptor still not satisfied with his body of work, even after creating more than 100 public installations this month on Shelter. Mendelsohns Incessant Visions (71 mins) Israel 2011 October 7 Discover the life and career of Expressionist architect Erich Mendelsohn. From humble beginnings in East Prussia, Mendelsohns fledgling career was launched after meeting his future wife, cellist Luise Maas. Her support and critique of his designs would become a crucial element in the work; she was the only person to ever truly understand his philosophy and vision. Together the couple would become fully immersed in the booming 1920s Weimar Germany art scene, and contemporaries of Albert Einstein, Fritz Lang & Ernest Toller. From building the Einsteinturm that would test Albert Einsteins Theory of Relativity; to pioneering the Art Deco movement Berlin; then becoming Europes most sought-after architect in the 1920s before being driven out of Germany by the Nazis; and finally trying to rebuild a life and culture in exile, Mendelsohns career would be defined by his refusal to be coerced against his philosophy. Mendelsohns Incessant Visions weaves the chronology of Mendelsohns life and career between his original designs and love letters to Luise with contemporary vision of his work, laced with reflections from present day architects and locals. This feature documentary is a testament to the timelessness of Mendelsohns visionary design and determination to bring his visions to life; on his own terms. High Maintenace (66 mins) Israel & Poland 2020 October 21 Trailer: World-renowned Israeli sculptor Dani Karavan has created nearly 100 environmental installations all across the world and has won some of the most prestigious international art awards. Yet he is far from satisfied. His monumental structures are rapidly deteriorating, advanced age is starting to catch up with him, the political climate in Israel is driving him mad; as is the director of the documentary being made about him. As he approaches 90, join Dani Karavan as he embarks on an emotional and political journey reflecting upon his body of work with emotion, a bit of frustration, and flashes of humour. En route, the complex and fascinating character of one of the greatest artists of our time is revealed, along with a serious political and artistic conflict over his latest commission, in High Maintenance. HCM CITY Vietjet will increase the frequency of its direct flights between HCM City and Perth, Australia to eight flights per week from October 27, and is also offering passengers attractive promotions on its Viet Nam-Australia routes. Flights from HCM City will depart every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 11.50pm, arriving in Perth at 7.45am the next day local time. Flights from Perth will leave every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday at 8.50am, landing in HCM City at 2.25pm local time on the same day. Vietjet is also offering passengers a golden promotion week from now until next Saturday, with tickets priced from just zero ong for all routes connecting Ha Noi and HCM City with Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. Flights eligible for the promotion must be from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025. For the HCM City - Perth route, the promotion will last through the month until October 27, and applies for flights from October 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025. Promotional tickets are available on the website www.vietjetair.com and the Vietjet Air mobile app. Perth is the fourth largest city in Australia, known for its stunning natural landscapes and unique cultural experiences. Meanwhile, HCM City, with a population of nearly 10 million, is a bustling hub of economic, cultural and tourism activities, featuring vibrant cultural highlights and convenient connections to destinations across Viet Nam and internationally. VNS Ba Den Mountain National Tourist Area in Tay Ninh Province hosted the Organising Committee and a delegation from the International Council for the Day of Vesak (ICDV) on 28 September to discuss the programme for Vesak 2025. The working session was one of ICDV's key activities in preparation for the world's largest Buddhist event, which will be held in Ho Chi Minh City from 6 to 8 May 2025. The event was honoured by the presence of Most Ven. Prof. Dr. Phra Brahmapundit, President of the ICDV; Most Ven. T. Dhammaratana, Vice President of the ICDV; and members representing France, the US, South Korea, Sri Lanka, the UK, Norway, and Thailand. On behalf of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS), the event was attended by Most Ven. Thich Thanh Nhieu, Ven. Thich Duc Thien, and a delegation of distinguished monks. Leaders from the Ministry of Home Affairs, representatives from Tay Ninh provincial departments, and the management team of Ba Den Mountain National Tourist Area were also present. Early in the morning, nearly 100 delegates arrived at Ba Den Mountain, a sacred site deeply intertwined with the spiritual life of the people of southern Vietnam. The delegation performed a ritual of paying homage to the Sacred Relics of the Buddha Shakyamuni, which were presented to Vietnam by the World Fellowship of Buddhists in Bodh Gaya, India. Their prayers expressed hopes that Vietnamese Buddhism would flourish, prosper, and continue to serve as a beacon of peace for the nation. The delegates visited extensive Buddhist cultural landmarks, including the Tay Bo Da Son Bodhisattva statue, the tallest in Asia, located at the mountain top, and the world's largest sandstone statue of Maitreya Buddha. They also toured the Buddhist exhibition centre, which displays replicas of classic Buddhist artworks from around the world and features a 3D mapping film about the formation of the universe through the lens of Buddhism. At the discussion session, Most Venerable Phra Brahmapundit emphasised that with more than 1,000 delegates participating in Vesak 2025, Ba Den Mountain is the perfect place to experience the vibrant Buddhist culture of Vietnam. Vesak 2025 will feature an important series of programmes at HCM Citys Buddhist Academy, with Ba Den Mountain as a precious gem and a major highlight of the event, the Most Venerable Phra Brahmapundit added. Most Ven. T. Dhammaratana also praised this spiritual destination: Arriving at Ba Den Mountain and riding the cable car through the mist to Sun World Ba Den, we feel as though we have stepped into a serene land full of positive energy. I believe your country, Vietnam, has much to offer and contribute to the world. According to Ven. Thich Duc Thien, Vice President and General Secretary of the VBS Executive Council, Ba Den Mountain was selected as the destination for international delegates and Buddhists to visit and participate in religious and cultural festivals on the final day of Vesak, 8 May 2025. Ba Den Mountain was chosen because it is a sacred site, steeped in history and embedded in the consciousness of the Vietnamese people. It is also a place of spiritual significance, history, and tranquillity, Ven. Thich Duc Thien said. Ba Den Mountain is expected to welcome thousands of international delegates and Buddhists during the Vesak 2025 celebrations. This will be a meaningful and significant event in the 2025 Vesak programme, highlighting the international Buddhist community's appreciation for the traditional values of Vietnamese Buddhism and the importance of Ba Den Mountain as a symbol of religious faith in southern Vietnam. Vesak 2025 marks the fourth time that Vietnam has hosted this important global Buddhist celebration. It coincides with the 50th anniversary of Vietnams reunification and the 80th anniversary of Vietnams National Day. The event will gather 2,000 official delegates, including 1,000 international guests from 80 countries and territories, alongside national leaders, UN officials, Buddhist leaders, scholars, and researchers, as well as 1,000 Vietnamese monks and nuns from the VBS. Despite having operated for less than two years, Chautfifth has already positioned itself among the fastest-growing start-ups in Viet Nam's fashion industry. To date, the brand has sold over 130,000 self-designed products and established a strong presence nationwide. Building on this foundation, Chautfifth confidently aims to achieve 100 per cent sales growth this year compared to 2023. These impressive figures underscore the feasibility of founder Tran Hoang Chau's ambition to expand the brand into the regional market, with the potential to reach this goal even earlier than expected. In addition to strengthening its domestic marketing and sales channels, the brand began venturing into online exports with the 'Shopee International Platform' (SIP) programme in May this year, enabling international customers to shop for Chautfifth products more easily and conveniently. SIP: a promising model for globalising Vietnamese products Participating in the SIP program, Chautfifth has set its sights on key Southeast Asian markets, including Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines. The results have exceeded expectations, with Chautfifth's international sales in August this year increasing by nearly 300 per cent compared to the previous montha remarkable leap after just four months of testing. This online export segment has also contributed to Chautfifth's overall 30 per cent monthly growth on Shopee, both domestically and internationally. Shopee has successfully addressed the issue of reducing shipping costs, one of the main factors influencing customers' shopping behavior abroad, a brand representative said. Previously, Chautfifth handled its own product deliveries to customers, but due to its small scale, it couldnt optimise costs. Shopee has resolved this drawback by arranging to ship a large volume of orders simultaneously to overseas warehouses, resulting in better shipping rates, and customers are also pleased to receive free shipping vouchers from the platform. Within the SIP program, Chautfifth also receives Shopee's support in synchronising storefronts automatically across multiple countries, running marketing campaigns, and handling all legal documentation related to import-export, warehousing and logistics. This allows Chautfifth to focus entirely on developing new products, identifying key products for each market and catering more specifically to its core consumer baseMillennials and Gen Z. During the year-end peak season, the brand aims for a positive growth rate exceeding 30 per cent and believes this figure will continue to rise as Shopee helps foster easy shopping habits in any country. E-commerce - an 'extended arm' for many businesses In reality, not only large enterprises but also small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly expanding their operations regionally and globally, thanks to significant support from e-commerce. Dinh Huu Lam, owner of the Big Size Boutique fashion brand on Shopee, noted that with the emergence of global selling programs like SIP on Shopee, businesses can now reach foreign customers quickly and conveniently, with the e-commerce platform providing support for all legal and operational procedures in cross-border e-commerce. In Thailand alone, Big Size Boutique achieved 167 per cent growth, with order volumes hitting 220 per cent just 30 days after joining SIP. Another case is SK Food, which specialises in Vietnamese cashew nuts and dried fruit products. During the recent 9.9 Double Digit Sale, across all the markets where SK Food is currently present, including Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia, sales on the 9.9 day saw a 270 per cent increase compared to regular days, with the number of orders rising by 200 per cent. Dried fruit was the best-selling product, with a 64 per cent increase over regular days, largely thanks to Shopee's support policies, which included advertising campaigns combined with discounts and free shipping. Evaluating the effectiveness of online exports through e-commerce for Vietnamese businesses, a representative from Shopee Viet Nam noted that there are currently over 350,000 Vietnamese sellers participating in SIP, with thousands more joining each month, promoting more than 15 million products in the Southeast Asian market. On average, the monthly sales of Vietnamese sellers in the programme have also steadily increased by 20 to 30 per cent. As Viet Nam increasingly integrates into the global economy, along with opportunities arising from new-generation free trade agreements, the trend of shifting from traditional business practices to digital platforms is seen as an effective solution for companies to penetrate and expand their export markets. HCM CITY Green growth and sustainable development are now inevitable trends for Vietnamese rubber enterprises to increase exports and competitiveness in export markets. Those markets, especially in Europe and America, now have many requirements related to environmental protection for Viet Nam's rubber export products. In addition to the green growth strategies within rubber processing and exporting enterprises, they also take responsibility for guiding smallholders to also carry out green development. The Viet Nam Rubber Group has launched a green growth strategy, applied from rubber plantations to processing factories, for the group's member enterprises. To secure long-term export contracts, Phuoc Hoa Rubber JSC must plant and process rubber according to specific procedures to maintain product quality, according to general director Nguyen Van Tuoc. In addition, the company prints QR codes on its products to help customers trace the origin and verify the green raw materials of rubber plantations. The company also supports rubber smallholders in implementing green production. Phuoc Hoa Rubber has also set green production criteria for rubber smallholders to develop a sustainable production chain. The company will support funding for smallholders to meet these green criteria. By 2050, the company will aim to complete its green development strategy. Phu Rieng Rubber Co, Ltd in Binh Phuoc Province, has also approached the criteria for sustainable forest development, according to Phu Rieng Rubber chairman Le Van Doanh. As of 2023, ten out of 12 of the company's rubber farms achieved sustainable forest certification while the company continues to implement green production regulations, significantly improving the quality of its rubber products. For companies involved in producing rubber products, sustainable development is the top criterion to expand export markets, particularly to demanding markets such as Europe, the US and the UK. In these export markets, raw materials must ensure traceability and be produced and managed according to international standards. In addition, operating a rubber latex processing factory or a rubber wood processing factory requires a large amount of energy, so the companies are being encouraged to reuse treated water and use solar energy. Nguyen Danh Khuong, deputy general director of ong Phu Technical Rubber JSC, said that in recent years, ong Phu has been producing green products using power from a rooftop solar system. In Nam Tan Uyen and Bac ong Phu industrial parks, processing plants have been invested and managed by rubber companies, with strict implementation of environmental criteria. They are specifically re-using water, so called brown water, after it has being treated, for secondary activities in the factory and workshops. Meanwhile, general director of Thuan An Wood Processing JSC Le Thi Xuyen said that to ensure export, products must meet requirements related to labour safety and the working environment. Every year, European customers require the company to evaluate and report on compliance with standards related to labour safety and working environment. The rubber industry's synchronised development of green growth and sustainable development strategies has brought greater benefits in production and business of this industry, Xuyen said. Investing in modern equipment helps reduce manual work and increase productivity. At the same time, it increases product value and promotes consumption in both domestic market and traditional export markets, she said. VNS ULAN BATOR, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia and Vietnam on Monday released a joint statement on the establishment of a comprehensive partnership, a significant step in strengthening bilateral relations between the two nations. According to the Mongolian presidential press office, Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh and To Lam, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, expressed their belief that enhancing bilateral relations will serve the mutual interests of both nations, while contributing to international and regional peace and sustainable development. "The two leaders agreed to elevate bilateral ties to a comprehensive partnership," said the press office. To Lam arrived in Ulan Bator, capital of Mongolia, on Monday for a two-day state visit. As part of the visit, both nations signed several cooperation agreements, including memorandums of understanding on legal sector cooperation, cybersecurity, and tourism. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between Mongolia and Vietnam. HA NOI The State visit to Mongolia by Party General Secretary and State President To Lam is expected to open up new avenues for businesses in both countries to expand their partnerships and explore investment opportunities. Viet Nam was the first Southeast Asian nation to establish diplomatic relations with Mongolia, on November 17, 1954. Over the past seven decades, their traditional friendship has flourished, achieving notable progress across various sectors. Experts highlighted that Mongolia places importance on Viet Nam's rising role and status. In discussions with Vietnamese leaders, the Mongolian side consistently affirmed Viet Nam is a key partner in its foreign policy within Southeast Asia and a vital gateway to the 700-million-strong ASEAN market. Their first trade agreement was signed in 1958. Viet Nams Ministry of Industry and Trade has since sealed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on economic and trade cooperation with Mongolia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (initially signed in 2008 and renewed in August 2021) as well as a 2023 MoU on sustainable rice trade with Mongolia's Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry. The latter aims to establish a comprehensive cooperation mechanism to ensure food supply and stabilise rice markets in both nations. Yet bilateral trade remains modest, primarily due to Mongolia's small market size and geographical challenges. Viet Nam mainly exports to the market grain products, LCD and LED screens, and rice, while importing tungsten ore and a few other products. Experts noted that Mongolia's vast territory and rich mineral resources present significant potential for stronger collaboration between the sides, especially in mining, rare earth metals, and critical materials for electric vehicle production, green economy initiatives, climate change mitigation and pollution reduction. Viet Nam's strengths are seen in its market of over 100 million people, which is experiencing rapid growth in its middle class. Entering the market, Mongolian businesses have chances to leverage its extensive network of over 17 free trade agreements (FTAs), including new-generation ones like the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the EU-Viet Nam FTA. Vietnamese Ambassador to Mongolia Nguyen Tuan Thanh stressed the growing economic and trade cooperation and noted that bilateral trade exceeded US$130 million last year. While the trade volume remains modest, there is strong potential for growth, particularly in the export of farm produce, food and consumer goods from Viet Nam. Additionally, Viet Nam could serve as a market for Mongolian agricultural products and raw materials. Experts asserted that their trade structures are complementary rather than competitive. So, both sides should continue to promote import-export, ensure mutual market access, and meet each other's standards and needs, toward doubling bilateral trade in the near future. VNS HA NOI The export of South Korean office furniture to Viet Nam via the Incheon internation port since April this year has witnessed initial results, according to the port authority. The Incheon International Port Authority (IPA) has reported that eight TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) have been exported from the Republic of Korea (RoK) to HCM City. The export volume is expected to continue to increase as the high-end office furniture market in Viet Nam expands, it said. Statista, a global market research company, predicts that the size of the furniture market in Viet Nam will grow at an average annual rate of 8.7 per cent until 2027. In particular, as the economic level improves, interest in the quality and design of South Korean furniture in the Vietnamese market is increasing. As South Korean banks, law firms and companies are increasingly entering into the Vietnamese market, demand for high-end South Korean office furniture is also higher. To catch up with this trend, IPA plans to prepare support measures to reduce logistics costs, such as offering incentives on cargo volume. To increase exports, IPA is also seeking cooperation with Vietnamese companies in the fields of shipping, logistics and import-export. Previously, the IPA office in HCM City supported 15 South Korean small- and medium-sized enterprises to export products through Incheon port and distribute them on Vietnamese e-commerce platforms such as Shopee and Lazada, resulting in an export volume of up to 30 TEUs. IPA Vice President of Port Operations Kim Sang-ki said the port strives to become a major export channel for office furniture. It pledged to support import-export companies by reducing logistics costs and resolving their difficulties. VNS BEIJING The first-ever Viet Nam fruit festival opened in Beijing, China, on Sunday, co-organised by the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The festival took place at the Xinfadi agricultural wholesale market, the largest of its kind for fruit in the capital. The market serves not only Beijing's population of over 22 million but also people from nearby regions such as Hubei and Tianjin. The two-day festival includes direct trade exchanges between Vietnamese businesses and Chinese fruit importers and distributors, a product experience programme and a seminar on the potential for Vietnamese fruit exports. In his remarks at the event, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien said the countries growing comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership had brought tangible benefits to both. He noted that despite the global economic slowdown, bilateral economic and trade cooperation continued to expand, yielding positive and significant outcomes. In terms of fruit supply and fruit-based products, Viet Nam was China's third-largest global partner after Thailand and Chile, with many Vietnamese goods enjoying strong popularity among Chinese consumers. Dien underscored the significant untapped potential available for businesses on both sides. This festival would serve as a premise and provide valuable experience for organising more frequent, specialised festivals in not only Beijing but also other parts of China, thereby fostering connections and expanding Viet Nams fruit exports to this vast market, the minister stated. Additionally, the official proposed that Chinese authorities continue collaborating to facilitate quarantine processes, expedite customs clearance, address bilateral economic and trade policy issues, further open its market and expand the list of Vietnamese fruits and agricultural produce eligible for legal export. Viet Nam, in turn, would be ready to facilitate the import of Chinese fruits into its market in accordance with the law and help Chinese businesses invest and operate effectively and sustainably in Viet Nam, Dien noted. Zhang Yuxi, the board chairman of the Xinfadi market, underscored the significance of the Viet Nam fruit festival and noted that it reflected the growing cooperation and friendship between the two nations in the farming sector. He added that the event creates opportunities for networking and exchange between their agricultural enterprises. VNS HA NOI The Incheon Port Authority (IPA) announced on Sunday that exports of high-end South Korean furniture to Viet Nam have gained positive achievements. To date, eight TEUs (one TEU is equivalent to a 20-foot container) have been shipped to Viet Nam from South Korea. IPA started exporting furniture to HCM City from April 2024. The export volume is expected to continue to increase as the high-end office furniture market in Viet Nam expands, according to IPA. Statista, a global market research company, predicts that the furniture market in Viet Nam will grow at a high average annual rate of 8.7 per cent until 2027. In particular, as the economy has improved, interest in the quality and design of Korean furniture in the Vietnamese market is increasing. As banks, law firms, and many Korean companies are expanding their penetration into the Vietnamese market, the demand for high-end Korean office furniture is also rising. To keep up with this trend, IPA plans to prepare support measures to reduce logistics costs, such as offering incentives on cargo volume. In addition to increasing exports, IPA is also seeking cooperation with Vietnamese companies such as shipping, logistics, and import-export companies. Previously, the IPA office in HCM City had supported 15 Korean small and medium-sized enterprises to export products through Incheon Port and distribute them on Vietnamese e-commerce platforms such as Shopee and Lazada, creating an export volume of up to 30 TEU. VNS HA NOI The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) is working closely with ministries and local authorities to implement comprehensive strategies to address significant price disparities and stabilise the gold market. At the close of the week, gold ring prices were quoted at up to VN82.75 million (US$3,362) per tael for buyers and up to VN83.45 million per tael for sellers. These represent all-time highs for both buying and selling prices for gold rings. Throughout the week, gold ring prices continued to reach new record levels. For SJC gold bars, prices remained stable after Tuesdays hike, with a buying price at VN81.5 million per tael and a selling price at VN83.5 million per tael. This marked the highest price level for SJC gold bullion since June 3, when the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) increased the supply of SJC gold bars through select commercial banks and Saigon Gems and Gold One Member Limited Liability Company. Local branches of the SBV have been instructed to collaborate with relevant authorities to monitor, inspect and supervise gold trading activities in their regions. The central bank has also required licensed credit institutions and businesses to strictly comply with legal regulations regarding gold trading activities, particularly concerning invoicing and record-keeping. Additionally, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Ministry of Finance have been asked to enhance inspections and impose strict penalties on illegal activities, including gold smuggling, market manipulation and profiteering, which destabilise the gold market. Notably, the SBV has organised auctions of gold bars and directly sold gold to four State-owned commercial banks and SJC (Saigon Jewelry Company) to meet demand from individuals. It has also worked with ministries, especially the Ministry of Public Security, and local governments to maintain public order and ensure the effectiveness of intervention measures. Thanks to synchronised measures implemented by the State Bank and effective coordination with relevant authorities, the disparity between domestic SJC gold bar and international gold prices has significantly narrowed, resulting in a stabilised gold market, SBV stated. The SBV has also strengthened inspections and monitoring of gold trading businesses to address legal violations and ensure strict adherence to electronic invoicing regulations. Moreover, it has reviewed and improved the legal framework and policies related to market management and gold trading activities. Measures to combat illegal gold smuggling and trading have been intensified. According to the SBV, recent inspection activities have strictly followed legal guidelines, ensuring transparency without negatively affecting business operations. The SBV has issued Inspection Decision No. 324/Q-TTGSNH2 to audit compliance with gold trading laws among six licensed credit institutions and gold trading companies, which account for over 92 per cent of the gold bar trading market. Furthermore, according to the SBV, the Ministry of Planning and Investment is responsible for regulating and guiding the issuance of business registration certificates for gold trading enterprises. These companies must declare their capital upon establishment and comply with accounting and invoicing regulations following Decree 24, guided by the Ministry of Finance. Under the decree, enterprises must prove the origin of their gold in order to prevent fraud and legalise unofficial gold sources. VNS HA NOI Experts highlighted the important role of digital infrastructure, especially 5G technology, in developing Viet Nam's digital economy at a workshop in Ha Noi on September 30. The workshop, entitled 'Enablers for Digital Economy Development in Viet Nam', was organised by the au tu (Investment) Newspaper and updated participants on new moves in the development of the digital infrastructure, ecosystem and economy of Viet Nam. Speaking at the event, Investment newspaper Editor-in-Chief Le Trong Minh said developing digital platforms would be a breakthrough solution to promote faster digital transformation, reduce costs and increase efficiency. His statement reflects a basic tenet of the country's National Digital Transformation Programme. International cooperation is an important solution to implement the digital transformation, especially promoting digital transformation in society. Vietnamese organisations and businesses cooperate with large technology enterprises worldwide to research, develop, transfer and pioneer the application of new technologies and new models in Viet Nam," said Minh. This is an opportunity for experts and business leaders to share more experiences and lessons learned from domestic and foreign practices, as well as recommendations and solutions to successfully solve problems, contributing to creating a driving force for digital transformation and accelerating the digital economy in Viet Nam," added Minh. The digital economy includes all economic activities that use technology and data as its main input factor, uses the digital environment as its main operating space or uses information and telecommunications technology to increase labour productivity, innovate business models and optimise economic structure. Viet Nam has set a goal that by 2025 and 2030, the digital economy will contribute 20 per cent and 30 per cent of GDP, respectively. Viet Nam strives to be among the 30 leading countries in the information technology, innovation and competitiveness index by the end of this decade. To achieve this goal, 5G technology will play an important role. Head of the Digital Transformation Department at MobiFone Telecommunications Corporation Nguyen Tuan Huy said: The goal of the digital transformation is to increase business efficiency, labour productivity and work efficiency and improve service quality for customers. Digital transformation is optimising a company's processes in all operating departments, eliminating work that does not bring value to the business. "Digital transformation is not simply the use of digital technology in socio-economic activities, but also the process of establishing a new, advanced and modern production method - the digital production method," said Huy. According to President of Ericsson Vietnam Rita Mokbel, 5G has the potential to be a game-changer across a wide range of industries, enabling automation, improving productivity and streamlining resource management. Sectors like manufacturing, logistics and smart cities will benefit the most. For Viet Nam, 5G will play a critical role in advancing Industry 4.0, attracting foreign investments and driving economic growth. Private 5G networks, in particular, will allow businesses to innovate and reduce costs while providing telecom operators with new revenue opportunities. Overall, 5G will be instrumental in Viet Nams goal to achieve a digital economy that is expected to contribute 20 per cent of its GDP by 2025, stressed Mokbel. Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam Digital Communications Association Hoang Viet Tien said that Viet Nam's internet has gone through many stages of development amid its digital transformation, and noted that the development of AI in the next few years will be especially stormy. In the coming period, to successfully deploy the digital transformation and digital infrastructure, three parties are needed, including managers, network operators and solution providers, and end users. In particular, end users need to be trained, solution and infrastructure providers need to provide user-friendly solutions and State management agencies need to issue circular decrees and specific instructions, said Tien. Experts also said that in order to create the foundation for the digital transformation, developing digital infrastructure and getting ready to meet the explosive demand for connection and data processing will play an important role for Viet Nam. These include building and developing high-quality broadband infrastructure nationwide; re-planning frequency bands, developing 5G mobile network infrastructure and rapidly commercialising the 5G mobile network; and expanding regional and international internet connections, especially developing undersea fibre optic cables to make Viet Nam a regional connection centre, along with developing Internet of Things (IoT) connection infrastructure. VNS HCM CITY Viet Nam, with its stunning landscapes, rich culture, and affordable prices, has become a prominent player in global travel trends, attracting significant interest from international travelers, especially those from Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), as detailed in a recent report by Yandex Ads. The report highlighted a surge in user interest in traveling to Asia, including Viet Nam, during the second quarter. China, Thailand, and Viet Nam were the top three most searched countries in Russia. Similar trends were observed in other CIS region, with a notable increase in search queries for the three destinations. Viet Nam notably emerged as the most popular Asian travel destination, with a 57 per cent and 48 per cent rise in search queries from Russia and other countries, respectively. This heightened interest indicates a growing desire to explore the diverse offerings of the country. Key destinations such as Nha Trang, Phu Quoc, Ha Noi, HCM City, a Lat and a Nang experienced a substantial increase in search queries, with Nha Trang witnessing a remarkable 130 per cent surge. These cities stand out for their natural beauty, favourable tropical weather, and plethora of unique experiences, positioning them ahead of other Asian destinations, the company said. The future of Russian tourism presents significant opportunities for Viet Nam's development. Vietnamese businesses can tap into the growing market of Russian travelers to ensure businesses target the right demographics and maximise their reach, said Thu Nguyen, business development manager of Yandex Ads in Viet Nam. Potential of Russian-speaking tourists The report sheds light on the travel preferences of 15 million Russian and CIS tourists, highlighting their inclination towards social, family-oriented trips that often involve partners, children, or friends. Wealthier tourists from this demographic tend to spend upwards of US$2,300 per person on their international travels. Most Russian and CIS tourists embark on trips lasting one to two weeks or longer, providing ample time to explore various activities across different destinations. Coastal destinations are particularly favoured by Russian-speaking travelers, who enjoy tropical climates and water-based activities. Russian-speaking tourists often seek multi-faceted holiday experiences, combining relaxation on the beach with sightseeing and active pursuits. They show a preference for alternative accommodations like apartments, villas, and glamping, reflecting their interest in experiential travel over traditional hotel stays. Data indicates that women aged 25-44 with average to high incomes are the primary demographic making travel queries about Viet Nam, highlighting their spending capacity and demand for diverse, high-quality itineraries. Yandex Ads suggests that Vietnamese travel agencies, hotels, and tour operators can leverage these insights to align their offerings with the latest search behavior trends for enhanced engagement with this growing market. VNS HA NOI Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien had a working session with China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology Jin Zhuanglong in Beijing on September 30 as part of the Vietnamese officials trip to China for the 13th meeting of the Viet Nam-China Committee for Economic and Trade Cooperation. Dien said that the Vietnamese delegation's trip to China aims to implement the common perceptions reached by senior leaders of Viet Nam and China during Party General Secretary and State President To Lams August visit to China, and to continue promoting economic, trade and industrial cooperation between the two countries. He thanked Jin and Chinese colleagues for coordinating with the Vietnamese side to sign a memorandum of understanding on industrial cooperation between the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China. The signing of this document is significant, as it serves as a basis for the two sides to promote cooperation in their areas of strength for industrial development, and at the same time to foster the cooperative relationship between the two ministries. Dien said that industrialisation and modernisation is a thorough and consistent policy of the Party and State of Viet Nam. After nearly 40 years of oi Moi (Renewal), especially in the 10-year period from 2011 to 2020, the industrialisation and modernisation process has helped boost Vietnam's economic growth to an average of 6.17 per cent per a year, making Viet Nam a middle-income developing country. He noted that Viet Nam's industrial sector has been restructured, with a reduction in the proportion of the mining industry and an increase in the share of the processing and manufacturing industries. A number of large-scale industries have been established with the capacity to compete and secure a solid position in the international market. Furthermore, the scale of industrial production has been continuously expanded. The infrastructure of industrial parks and industrial clusters has developed, contributing to attracting domestic and foreign investors, especially in industries and fields with potential, advantages, and high added value, Dien said. Viet Nam and China are neighbouring countries, and Viet Nam has participated in a series of free trade agreements with major partners, such as the Viet Nam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and the Regional Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP). These agreements have helped bring the production and supply chains between Viet Nam and China closer, creating more cooperation opportunities for businesses operating in the industrial sectors of the two countries. To promote cooperation in industry between Viet Nam and China, Dien suggested that both sides should enhance collaboration in the automotive industry. This includes fostering partnerships with large corporations that have invested in Viet Nam and working with domestic companies in vehicle production and assembly to align with the government's direction and the Vietnamese market. Regarding cooperation in the consumer goods industry, he proposed that China coordinate to organise workshops to share experience that would help Viet Nam in upgrading production lines and minimising raw material waste in food processing. He noted that China's food sector is applying advanced technologies such as 5G and artificial intelligence to improve operations in food processing. Dien also called for increased collaboration on scientific and technical research, as well as technology transfer in the exploration, extraction, processing, and utilisation of minerals. This would help improve efficiency, reduce resource loss, increase labour productivity, and ensure environmentally friendly products in compliance with Vietnamese laws and standards. Additionally, both sides need to strengthen exchanges and share experiences and policies at both central and local levels regarding supply chain development, as well as promote linkage between Chinese FDI enterprises and domestic Vietnamese companies. He also requested that China enhance support for Vietnamese businesses to deeply engage in supplying products and services to foreign investors, share information, and organise training sessions to assist Vietnamese officials and experts in managing and developing industries. The Vietnamese government has attractive policies to draw foreign businesses to invest in foundational industries, supporting industries, mechanical technology, manufacturing, and new energy sectors, Dien said. He expressed his wish for both sides to expedite the implementation of three railway routes connecting Vietnam and China, namely Lao Cai-Ha Noi-Hai Phong, Lang Son-Ha Noi, and Mong Cai-Ha Long-Hai Phong lines. For his part, the Chinese Minister of Industry and Information spoke highly of the memorandum of cooperation recently signed between the two ministries in August this year, suggesting that both sides establish regular cooperation and exchange mechanisms to further enhance economic and industrial collaboration. Highlighting areas with significant potential for cooperation, Jin said that businesses from both countries could boost collaboration in sectors of mutual interest, such as raw materials, the automotive industry, electrical engineering, and the development of industrial zones. He mentioned that major automobile manufacturers in China plan to expand their investments and operations in Viet Nam, and his ministry is committed to supporting Chinese companies in this endeavour. Regarding the proposal for cooperation in the mineral sector, Jin affirmed that this area holds significant potential for both sides, and China is ready to collaborate with Viet Nam to support businesses in researching and implementing joint projects in mineral exploration, exploitation and processing while adhering to the legal policies of both nations. Affirming that there remains ample room for Viet Nam and China to cooperate in the industrial sector, he suggested that both sides promote the development of supply chains, enhance collaboration in electrical engineering, consumer goods, supporting industries, and foster the development of aerospace technology. VNS QUANG NINH The Italian-flagged Costa Serena, carrying nearly 3,000 foreign passengers and over 1,000 crew members, arrived at Ha Long International Cruise Port on September 30. Having docked in Viet Nam multiple times, this is the first visit by the cruiser to Ha Long City in the northeastern coastal province of Quang Ninh. The passengers abroad primarily hail from Chinese-speaking countries and regions. During their stay, they are set to explore Ha Long Bay as well as the citys downtown area and tourist attractions. Costa Serena is scheduled to depart at 6pm on the same day, and expected to return for more visits on October 14, October 18, November 4, and November 8. According to the municipal Department of Tourism, Ha Long anticipates hosting around 70,000 tourists aboard between 60 and 70 cruise ships this year, with the year-end period expected to be the peak season. Typically, the city experiences bustling cruise tourism from November of the previous year through April of the following year. VNS Jakarta - Indonesia's tourism industry has thrived over the past decade, surpassing nations like Belgium, Turkey, and New Zealand. "According to the Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI), Indonesia, which was once outside the top 50 in global tourism, has now proudly risen to 22nd place. We have surpassed countries known for their strong tourism sectors, including Belgium, Turkey, and New Zealand. In ASEAN, we now rank second, surpassing neighbors like Malaysia, Thailand, Viet Nam, and the Philippines, Indonesian Tourism Minister Sandiaga Uno said as quoted by the local daily online English-language newspaper Jakarta Globe. According to him, in the last 10 years under President Joko Widodos administration, Indonesia witnessed significant tourism progress and infrastructure development. Sandiaga noted that while the number of international visitors has not fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels, foreign exchange earnings from tourism have improved due to longer stays and higher spending in local economies. We are currently hosting 13-14 million international tourists annually, compared to 16-17 million before the pandemic. However, in terms of foreign exchange, weve exceeded previous figures, thanks to tourists staying longer and spending more locally. This has had a positive impact on job creation, with 25 million jobs generated in the tourism sector, the minister said. VNA/VNS MANILA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Monday said it has approved 32.35 million U.S. dollars of additional financing for a rural water supply and sanitation development program in northern Kyrgyzstan. The financing comprises a 27-million-dollar concessional loan and a 5.35-million-dollar grant from the Asian Development Fund, which provides grants to ADB's poorest and most vulnerable developing members. The Kyrgyzstan government will contribute another 6.45 million dollars in this financing round. The ADB said the additional financing will empower the government to continue rolling out its water program under Kyrgyzstan's National Development Strategy 2018-2040. It aims to provide drinking water to 95 percent of the country's settlements and extend centralized water supply to more than 2 million rural residents. Using a results-based approach, the ADB said the additional financing will help scale up the successful intervention in centrally located Naryn province, raising the initial target of 64,000 people to 100,000. Climate change considerations are integrated throughout the program's design and targets, including piloting household sanitation solutions to tackle climate change and disasters. The program will fund climate risk assessments of potential potable water sources and deploy campaigns to raise residents' awareness of the importance of saving water. HCM CITY Audiences in HCM City can explore the culture and history of Italy by watching classics at the 2024 Italian Film Festival, Enrica Padula, the countrys consul general in the city said. The festival at Galaxy Cinema in District 1 from September 29 to October 4 is being organised by the consulate, the Asian Film Festival in Rome and others. One movie is screened each day at 7 pm. The event opened with "Io Capitano" (I Am the Captain), directed by Matteo Garrone, which is about two cousins, Seydou Sarr and Moustapha Fall, who migrated from their hometown in Senegal to Italy. Other movies include Palazzina Laf by Michele Riondino, Zamora by Neri Marcore, Quell'estate con Irene by Carlo Sironi, Rapito by Marco Bellocchio, and La Chimera by Alice Rohrwacher. After each screening there will be a discussion with Antonio Termenini, artistic director of the festival and the Asian Film Festival in Rome. The festival will also include a workshop on "The filmmaking direction of contemporary Italian cinema" hosted by the University of Theatre and Cinema in HCM City, an "Italian Film Review Contest" for moviegoers and a short film contest on "Italian Culture Through the Eyes of Vietnamese People" exclusively for students of the University of Theatre and Cinema in HCM City. Registration is free. VNS HA NOI Party General Secretary and State President To Lam and a high-ranking delegation left Ha Noi on Monday morning for state visits to Mongolia, Ireland, attendance at the 19th Francophonie Summit and an official visit to France from September 30-October 7. He makes the visits at the invitation of Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, Irish President Michael D. Higgins and French President Emmanuel Macron, respectively. The delegation include Bui Thi Minh Hoai, Politburo member and Secretary of Ha Noi Party Committee; Nguyen Duy Ngoc, Secretary of the Party Central Committee and Chief of the Party Central Committee Office; Le Hoai Trung, Secretary of the Party Central Committee and head of the Party Central Committees Commission for External Relations; Bui Thanh Son, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister; among others. The top leaders state visits to Mongolia, Ireland, attendance at the 19th Francophonie Summit and official visit to France once more affirm Viet Nams foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification of relations, and proactive international integration. The visits also reflect the importance that the Vietnamese Party and State attach to the traditional friendship with Mongolia, the friendship and multi-faceted cooperation with Ireland and the strategic partnership with France, as well as Viet Nams wish to upgrade and deepen cooperative frameworks in alignment with the new situations in and interests of the countries. VNA/VNS GENEVA World Peace Council (WPC) Executive Secretary Iraklis Tsavdaridis has commended Viet Nams consistent policy on human rights protection and promotion. Speaking on the sidelines of the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), Tsavdaridis said Viet Nam has always paid attention to human rights and the protection of those rights, firstly the right to live in peace, welfare rights, and the right to the continuous improvement of living standards, which can be seen clearly in Viet Nams success in eliminating extreme poverty in the past. This is the biggest human rights achievement the country has recorded so far, he said. Tsavdaridis also highlighted Viet Nams improved international rankings despite a host of challenges in national construction and development, and affirmed support for Vietnamese peoples right to choose their path of development and progress. The HRC on September 27 adopted the outcomes of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)s fourth cycle for Vietnam as part of its 57th regular session. This adoption marked the completion of the fourth cycle review regarding the protection and promotion of human rights in Vietnam and paved the way for the next phase of implementing recommendations. The event drew around 90 representatives from various countries, international and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with consultative status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), including Vietnamese NGOs. In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency, Nguyen Thuy Hien, Deputy Director of the Centre for Women and Development (CWD) under the Viet Nam Womens Union, said in her remarks at the event, she spoke of the Vietnamese Governments efforts in promoting gender equality and womens and childrens rights, and facilitating the engagement of socio-political organisations and NGOs in this regard. The Viet Nam Women's Union has also played an important role in poverty reduction and national target programmes, contributing to the implementation of the country's commitments on women, gender equality and development, Hien said, adding that the CWD has been invited to give feedback on reports on the enforcement of the Law on Gender Equality and the drafting process of the revised law on human trafficking which will be submitted to the upcoming National Assembly session for approval. Duong Thi Nga, Deputy Secretary General Viet Nam Peace and Development Foundation, emphasised cooperation between ministries and agencies throughout the UPR process, adding the fourth cycle one offers an opportunity for social organisations and the foundation in particular to make substantive contributions to the work. VNS HA NOI Party General Secretary and President To Lams state visit to Mongolia carries significant meaning in the context when Viet Nam and Mongolia are celebrating the 70th founding anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations (1954-2024). Viet Nam and Mongolia have shared a long-standing traditional friendship. Mongolia was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with Viet Nam, the first Southeast Asian country with which Mongolia established diplomatic relations. Over the past 70 years, the friendship between the two countries has stood the test of time. The two countries have firmly maintained their mutual trust and given each other selfless assistance during the past struggle for national independence and reunification as well as the current reform and integration. Over the years, bilateral cooperation has grown strongly across all fields with increased delegation exchanges at high and all levels. Last year, Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh paid a state visit to Viet Nam in November. In terms of economy, before 1990, annual two-way trade was only about 2 million RUB equivalent (US$21,211 at current exchange rate). In 1996, the two sides signed a bilateral trade agreement, which helped push two-way trade to $6 million in 2008. The figure rose to more than $120 million last year, and $65.5 million in the first seven months this year. The two countries have regularly maintained the meeting mechanism of the Intergovernmental Committee on Trade, Economy and Science and Technology. To date, 18 meetings of the committee have been held. At the same time, progress has been seen in collaboration in culture, tourism, education and people-to-people exchange. The two sides signed the agreement on visa exemption for each others citizens holding ordinary passports in November 2013, creating more favourable conditions for people-to-people exchange activities. According to Galbaa Davkharbayar, Second Secretary of the Mongolian Embassy in Viet Nam, more than 2,000 Vietnamese tourists came to Mongolia last year, when the number of Mongolian travellers to the Southeast Asian nation topped 15,000. Commenting on the friendship and cooperation between Viet Nam and Mongolia over the past 70 years, Mongolian Ambassador to Viet Nam Jigiee Sereejav said at a recent conference on the 70-year Viet Nam-Mongolia relations that the legacy of mutual respect in bilateral relations and cooperation is a common precious value of the two peoples. Analysing historical stages in the relationship between the two countries, the diplomat expressed his belief in the prospects of the relationship that is in its prime with favourable development. He described Viet Nam as an important partner of Mongolia in the ASEAN region and the third neighbour of Mongolia. Associate Prof. Dr. Pham Hong Thai from the Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences Institute for Northeast Asian Studies held that what has created the long-standing traditional friendship between the two countries since very early on is the mutually supportive cooperation, which helps the two countries not only exploit their natural and social advantages but also strengthens national security and regional stability. Thai asserted that the development prospects of relations between the two countries are very positive thanks to the similarities in their interests and culture. Mongolias third neighbour policy with the goal of diversifying foreign relations also opens up opportunities for Viet Nam-Mongolia relations to further thrive. The state visit to Mongolia by Party General Secretary and President Lam is expected to further promote the Viet Nam-Mongolian relationship, making it deeper, more substantive and effective and suitable to the new situation. According to Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, during the visit, Lam and senior leaders of Mongolia will discuss major orientations and solutions to further strengthen bilateral political trust and cooperation in areas of mutual priorities, especially politics, diplomacy, economy, trade, tourism, and people-to-people exchange. VNS ULAANBAATAR General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee and State President To Lam and a high-ranking delegation of Viet Nam arrived at Chinggis Khaan International Airport in Ulaanbaatar on September 30 morning, beginning a state visit to Mongolia at the invitation of President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh. The top leader was greeted at the airport by Mongolian Minister of Foreign Affairs Batmunkh Battsetseg, Mongolian Ambassador to Viet Nam Jigjee Sereejav, and other officials of the Mongolian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and representatives of the Vietnamese Embassy in the country. During his visit, Lam and senior leaders of Mongolia are scheduled to discuss major orientations and solutions to further strengthen bilateral political trust and cooperation in areas of mutual priorities, especially politics, diplomacy, economy, trade, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges. The leaders state visit to Mongolia continues to implement Viet Nam's foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification of relations, and proactive and active international integration set at the 13th National Party Congress, the Politburo's Resolution 34 on a number of major orientations to realise the external policy given at the 13th National Party Congress, and Directive 25 of the Party Central Committees Secretariat on strengthening and enhancing the position of multilateral external relations until 2030. It also aims to further promote and deepen the bilateral cooperation with each partner, affirming Viet Nam's consistent policy of valuing friendly relations with traditional friends. Viet Nam and Mongolia have shared a long-standing traditional friendship. Mongolia was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with Viet Nam, the first Southeast Asian country with which Mongolia established diplomatic relations. Over the past 70 years, the friendship between the two countries has stood the test of time. The two countries have firmly maintained their mutual trust and given each other selfless assistance during the past struggle for national independence and reunification as well as the current reform and integration. Over the years, bilateral cooperation has grown strongly across all fields with increased delegation exchanges at high and all levels. Last year, Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh paid a state visit to Viet Nam in November. In terms of economy, before 1990, annual two-way trade was only about RUB 2 million equivalent (US$21,211 at current exchange rate). In 1996, the two sides signed a bilateral trade agreement, which helped push two-way trade to $6 million in 2008. The figure rose to more than $120 million in 2023, and $65.5 million in the first seven months of 2024. The two countries have regularly maintained the meeting mechanism of the Intergovernmental Committee on Trade, Economy and Science and Technology. To date, 18 meetings of the committee have been held. At the same time, progress has been seen in collaboration in culture, tourism, education and people-to-people exchange. The two sides signed the agreement on visa exemption for each others citizens holding ordinary passports in November 2013, creating more favourable conditions for people-to-people exchange activities. VNS ULAANBAATAR A welcome ceremony at the highest protocol for heads of state was held at the Sukhbaatar Square, Ulaanbaatar, on Monday afternoon for General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee and President of Viet Nam To Lam who is on a state visit to Mongolia. Host President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh welcomed the Vietnamese top leader as his motorcade arrived. They then inspected the guard of honour. Writing in the guest of honour book, Lam highlighted the 70-year-old Viet Nam-Mongolia relationship with major cooperation achievements. The leader said he and the Mongolian President would announce the elevation of the bilateral relationship to a comprehensive partnership later the same day, which is expected to open up a new period of development cooperation that is more substantive, effective, comprehensive, and long-lasting, for prosperity and happiness of their peoples. Following the welcome ceremony, the two leaders had a retreat and will hold talks and witness the signing of a number of cooperation documents. Lam's two-day visit to Mongolia continues to implement Viet Nam's foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification of relations, and proactive and active international integration set at the 13th National Party Congress, the Politburo's Resolution 34 on a number of major orientations to realise the external policy given at the 13th National Party Congress, and Directive 25 of the Party Central Committees Secretariat on strengthening and enhancing the position of multilateral external relations until 2030. It also aims to further promote and deepen the bilateral cooperation with each partner, affirming Viet Nam's consistent policy of valuing friendly relations with traditional friends. VNS HA NOI State President To Lam has granted amnesty to 3,763 prisoners for the National Day holiday on September 2 and Ha Nois Liberation Day on October 10. The President Office, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Supreme People's Court held a press conference on Monday to announce the amnesty decision. Two people serving suspended sentences were also granted amnesty at the same time. Twenty of those chosen for amnesty are foreigners, including 19 men and one woman, said o Hung Viet, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. The foreigners are from China (9), Laos (3), Cambodia (2), the US (2), South Africa (1), India (1), Congo (1) and Ireland (1). They were charged for their involvement in murder, smuggling, gambling, and organising illegal stays for foreigners in Viet Nam. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs would send diplomatic notes to the relevant countries' diplomatic missions and consular offices, requesting coordination with Vietnamese authorities to welcome those granted amnesty and to start the process of repatriating them to their home country or to a safe and suitable place of residence, Viet said. Major General Nguyen Ngoc Lam, Deputy Minister of Public Security, said among the prisoners granted amnesty in 2024, there were 561 inmates from ethnic minority groups. Four hundred and three people committed crimes against economic management orders, 275 people committed position-related crimes, 64 people committed murder, and 205 people were involved in drug crimes. Ninety-one people committed rape, 156 people committed crimes against property, and 77 people were accused of stealing. According to Lam, former officials Chu Ngoc Anh, Pham Xuan Thang and inh La Thang were not on the list of people given amnesty this time. According to Pham Thanh Ha, vice chairman of the President's Office, amnesty is one of the legal institutions stipulated in Article 88 of the 2013 Constitution, institutionalised by the 2018 Amnesty Law and related legal documents. In recent years, based on the nation's humanitarian tradition, the Party and the State have amnestied prisoners who have done well either in reforming themselves, working or studying hard, to allow them to return to the community. When considering amnesty, certain principles must be followed. Amnesty must be conducted strictly and democratically in an open manner, ensuring fairness and adherence to the provisions of law so that all eligible prisoners are considered and no prisoner who does not meet the prescribed conditions is considered for amnesty. In Viet Nam, all violations of the law are handled in accordance with Vietnamese law. All prisoners granted amnesty this time are those who have violated Vietnamese criminal law and have been sentenced by the People's Courts at all levels of Viet Nam under the sanctions prescribed in the countrys Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code, he said. "Amnesty does not discriminate or restrict any prisoner, whether the prisoner is Vietnamese or a foreigner. If the prisoner meets the conditions prescribed by Vietnamese law, he or she will be considered for amnesty," he told the press conference. He said early amnesty for prisoners serving prison sentences or temporarily suspending the execution of prison sentences who meet the conditions was a humane policy of the Party and State. The Government had directed the Ministry of Public Security and the people's committees of provinces and centrally-run cities to implement measures and policies to help prisoners who have been pardoned and released from prison to return to their place of residence and reintegrate into the community. VNS Could you outline the significance, main objectives, and importance of the State visit to Ireland by Party General Secretary and President To Lam? This visit marks the first time a Vietnamese head of state has travelled to Ireland since diplomatic relations were established in 1996. It is highly significant as it seeks to strengthen political trust, enhance mutual understanding, and elevate the depth and effectiveness of the multi-faceted cooperation between the two countries, thus ushering in a new phase of bilateral development. During the visit, General Secretary and President To Lam will hold official talks with President Michael D. Higgins, as well as with leaders from the Irish government and parliament. Discussions will focus on agreeing on strategic frameworks and measures to reinforce substantive relations and enhance the bilateral partnership. Key areas of cooperation will include education and training, trade and investment, innovation, science and technology and high-tech agriculturefields where both countries have mutual strengths and development goals. The visit will also provide a platform for both sides to exchange perspectives on regional and international matters of shared interest. There will be discussions on enhancing close collaboration within multilateral forums, contributing to peace, cooperation and global development. Party General Secretary and President To Lam is expected to deliver a policy speech outlining the strategic vision for the future development of bilateral relations. He will visit several educational and high-tech institutions and engage with Irish businesses in sectors such as semiconductor manufacturing, high-tech agriculture and energy infrastructureindustries with plans to expand their business and investment in Viet Nam. Moreover, the visit will include a meeting with the Vietnamese community residing, studying and working in Ireland, where Party General Secretary and President To Lam will reaffirm the Party and States consistent policy towards overseas Vietnamese communities. Several important documents are expected to be signed during the visit to enhance cooperation in areas such as trade, agriculture and education. Agreements between universities and businesses from both countries will also be formalised, paving the way for strengthened partnerships in education, research and development, finance, information technology and the semiconductor industrykey sectors for Ireland that align with Viet Nams development priorities. I am confident that the State visit to Ireland by Party General Secretary and President To Lam, accompanied by his spouse and a high-ranking delegation, will be a resounding success. It is set to elevate the comprehensive cooperation between the two countries to new heights, ensuring dynamic, effective and sustainable development, with tangible benefits for the people of both nations. How would you assess the current cooperation between Viet Nam and Ireland, particularly in areas such as the economy and trade, education and training, healthcare, agriculture, green growth and sustainable development? Cooperation between Viet Nam and Ireland has seen encouraging development across multiple sectors in recent years. Trade and education have particularly stood out as areas of notable progress, and there remains considerable potential for further enhancement and expansion into other promising fields in the future. Economic cooperation, especially in trade, has emerged as a core pillar of the bilateral relationship. This has been greatly facilitated by the successful implementation of the EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), and will soon be further strengthened by the EU-Viet Nam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), pending ratification by Ireland and other EU members. Bilateral trade has sustained a positive growth trajectory. In 2023, trade turnover reached US$3.5 billion, with Viet Nams exports to Ireland exceeding $340 million. Most imports from Ireland serve as input materials for Viet Nams production industries, such as circuit boards and computer equipment. In the first seven months of this year, bilateral trade turnover surpassed $2.7 billiona 42.5 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2023. Meanwhile Viet Nams exports to Ireland reached over $576 million, already exceeding the total value of the previous year, marking a 108.2 per cent rise compared to the same period in 2023. In terms of investment, Irish capital in Viet Nam remains modest, with 41 projects and a total registered capital of $60.82 million. In the first seven months of this year, Ireland has introduced one new investment project and expanded an existing one, with total new registered capital of $16.72 million. Irish businesses are exploring further investment opportunities in Viet Nam, particularly in sectors where Ireland has expertise and Viet Nam has substantial potentialsuch as green technology, renewable energy, healthcare, innovation and high-tech agriculture. Education and training occupy a significant place in the bilateral relationship. The Irish Government has long supported education in Viet Nam, offering practical assistance over the years. To date, around 200 Vietnamese students have been awarded scholarships to pursue masters degrees in Ireland. The Viet Nam-Ireland Bilateral Education Exchange (VIBE) program has attracted 15 universities across the country and has been effectively implemented. Educational cooperation will be a key focus of the State visit to Ireland by Party General Secretary and President To Lam. Collaboration in fields such as healthcare, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, sustainable development and IT are also areas being actively explored by both countries. Science and technology cooperation, while still modest, has significant untapped potential. Key sectors of interest for Viet Nam, such as the semiconductor industry, healthcare and biotechnology, are areas of strength for Ireland. In your view, what role does Viet Nam play in Irelands 'Global Ireland: Delivering in the Asia Pacific region to 2025' strategy? The Irish Government launched the 'Global Ireland: Delivering in the Asia Pacific region to 2025' strategy in January 2020. This important policy document outlines Irelands foreign policy priorities and reflects the nations ambition and commitment to fostering deeper relationships with the dynamic Asia-Pacific region. The update of this strategy in October 2023 further underscores Ireland's consistent and focused interest in the region by reaffirming the central role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). As part of this strategy, Ireland has clearly indicated its intention to enhance ties with ASEAN and its member states, including Viet Nam. In practice, Ireland sees Viet Nam as a key partner within the Asia-Pacific region and the ASEAN community. Beyond trade and educationwhich are already highlighted as pivotal aspects of the bilateral relationshipViet Nam holds a unique position as the only country in the region included in Irelands international development cooperation programme, Irish Aid. This programme aims to reinforce cooperation across a range of fields, including climate action, gender equality, mine clearance, support for ethnic minority communities, education and fostering people-to-people exchanges. How do you view the development of the Vietnamese community in Ireland and their contributions to both the host country and Viet Nam? Currently, the Vietnamese community in Ireland is estimated to be around 6,000 people, forming a diverse population across most regions of the country, with the largest concentration in Dublin and its surrounding areas. In addition to those who have long settled and established stable lives in Ireland, recent years have seen a growing number of young Vietnamese arriving for research, study and work. There are currently around 40 Vietnamese professionals working in research centres, Irish universities, and international technology companies headquartered in Ireland. Moreover, around 200 Vietnamese students are pursuing their education in the country. While relatively small in number, the Vietnamese community is active and vibrant, engaging in activities such as organising traditional festivals, teaching the Vietnamese language and contributing to the preservation of cultural identity. These efforts not only strengthen community solidarity but also make meaningful contributions to Viet Nam, serving as a living bridge of friendship between the two nations. VNS ULAANBAATAR Visiting General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee and State President To Lam and Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh witnessed the signing of cooperation agreements between the two countries' ministries, sectors and agencies following their talks in Ulaanbaatar on Monday afternoon. The documents include a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on legal cooperation between Viet Nams Ministry of Justice and Mongolias Ministry of Justice and Internal Affairs; an MoU on cooperation between the two Ministries of Transport; and an MoU on tourism cooperation between Viet Nams Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and Mongolias Ministry of Culture, Sports, Tourism, and Youth. The other inked documents are an agreement on collaboration in cybersecurity and crime prevention between the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security and the Mongolian Ministry of Justice and Internal Affairs, and an MoU to strengthen friendly cooperation between the administrations of Ha Noi and Ulaanbaatar. The Viet Nam Academy of Science and Technology sealed an MoU in cooperation with the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, while the Viet Nam National University Hanoi signed a similar pact with the Mongolian University of Science and Technology. The Vietnamese top leader's two-day state visit to Mongolia from Monday aims to continue reaffirming Viet Nam's foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification of international relations, and extensive, intensive and comprehensive international integration. It also underscores that the Party and State of Viet Nam attach importance to the traditional friendship with Mongolia, and want to deepen and enhance the bilateral ties in a more practical and effective manner in line with the new situation. VNS HA NOI Party General Secretary and State President To Lam on September 30 sent a congratulatory message to Botswana's President Mokgweetsi Masisi on the occasion of the 58th National Day of the Southern African country (September 30, 1966-2024). On this occasion, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son extended his congratulations to Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Botswana Lemogang Kwape. VNS Fulani herdsmen and other bandit terrorists often allied with them killed more civilians in Nigeria over a four-year period than Islamic extremist groups Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a new report states. Other Terrorist Groups, commonly called Fulani bandits, killed 12,039 civilians from October 2019 to September 2023, while Armed Fulani Herdsmen killed 11,948 civilians, according to the Aug. 29 report by the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA). The better-known Boko Haram and ISWAP combined killed just 3,079 civilians, the ORFA report stated. TheFulani herdsmen form part of the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM), and it is believed that part of the Other Terrorist Groups known as Fulani bandits are connected to the FEM, according to the report. It implies that FEM is a much bigger factor in the Nigerian culture of violence than Boko Haram and ISWAP, the ORFA report stated. Stay informed with The Christian Daily Newsletter Sign up Most of the victims were Christians, according to the report. The data shows that more Nigerian Christians were victims of violence than Nigerians holding to other religious affiliations, it stated. Amongst the 30,880 civilians killed in the four-year reporting period, the number of Christians killed was 16,769, while the number of Muslims killed was 6,235. Of 21,532 civilians abducted, 11,185 were Christians, while the number of Muslims abducted was 7,899, the report stated. Members of African Traditional Religions (ATRs) killed numbered 154, and 184 were kidnapped, while the religions of 7,722 civilians killed and 2,264 abducted was unknown, according to ORFA. Taking into account the relative sizes of the Christian and Muslim populations within the states researched, the ratio of Christians to Muslims killed was 6.5 to 1, and the ratio of Christians to Muslims abducted at 5.1 to 1, according to the report. The ratio of Christians to Muslims killed rises significantly when the religious composition of the states is taken into consideration in comparison with the overall numbers, which show a ratio of Christians to Muslims killed at 2.7 to 1, and the ratio of Christians to Muslims abducted at 1.4 to 1, the report stated. In the total of civilians and security personnel, 55,910 people were killed in 9,970 attacks, while 21,621 people were abducted in 2,705 attacks, with some overlap. ORFA documented 11,610 attacks in which people were killed and/or abducted, and of these, 8,905 involved killings without abductions; 1,065 involved both killings and abductions; and 1,640 involved abductions without killings. This is an average of eight attacks per day involving killings and/or abductions over a four-year period, the report stated. These numbers include attacks with civilians, Security Forces and/or Terror Groups killed and abducted. Muslims were killed by the same groups that killed Christians, although with different percentages: 55 percent of the Christians slain were killed by Armed Fulani Herdsmen (9,153) and 29 percent by Other Terrorist Groups (4,895). Boko Haram and ISWAP combined accounted for just 8 percent of the Christians killed (1,268), the report states. For Muslims, it was the reverse: 24 percent of the Muslims slain were killed by Armed Fulani Herdsmen (1,473), and 53 percent by Other Terrorist Groups (3,334). Boko Haram and ISWAP combined accounted for just 12 percent of the Muslims killed (770). The main area for Armed Fulani Herdsmen attacks was in Nigerias North Central Region, including the southern part of Kaduna state; for Other Terrorist Groups, it was the North West, also crossing into North Central, according to the report. The main area of operation for Boko Haram and ISWAP was in the North East. The epicenter of violent attacks was in the North West and North Central, the report noted. Most civilian killings took place in the North West (11,626) and North Central (8,789). The North East followed with 5,521 civilians killed. For Christians these numbers were 5,250 killed in the North West, 6,081 in the North Central and 2,595 in the North East; for Muslims, they were 3,678, 1,106 and 1,262 respectively. In the four-year reporting period, the North West was the epicenter of abductions, followed by the North Central. The abduction phenomenon began slowly in the 2020 reporting period, but then picked up speed in 2021 onwards, the report stated. Most civilian abductions were in the North West at 12,042 and North Central with 6,325. For Christians, these numbers were 5,931 and 3,277; for Muslims they were 4,976 and 2,469, the ORFA Report stated. The same aggressors that were responsible for most of the killings were by far the most important actors in the Nigerian abduction industry as well, the report stated. Most civilians were abducted by Other Terrorist Groups (13,728) and Armed Fulani Herdsmen (6,380). Boko Haram and ISWAP combined abducted 1,023 civilians. The data warns against national and international attention being focused mainly on Boko Haram and ISWAP, with FEM activity being largely passed over. Muslims were abducted by the same groups that abducted Christians, but with different percentages. Of Christians, 60 percent were abducted by Other Terrorist Groups (6,675) and 35 percent by Armed Fulani Herdsmen (3,914). Boko Haram and ISWAP combined were responsible for just 4 percent of abductions of Christians (422). For Muslims it was comparable: 71 percent of the Muslims abducted were abducted by Other Terrorist Groups (5,635), and 24 percent by Armed Fulani Herdsmen (1,903), according to the report. Boko Haram and ISWAP combined were responsible for only 4 percent of the abductions of Muslims (300). While the ORFA report highlighted economic motives for the attacks as herders seek to take over farmers lands for grazing, the Rev. Yusufu Turaki, formerly vice president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), said the aim of the Fulani herdsmen and other jihadists is to destroy Christianity and Christians, seize their lands, establish an Islamic state and impose sharia (Islamic law). The most striking point is that the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) are killing Nigerian civilians unopposed, Turaki told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News in his office in Jos. Mass killings, abductions and the torture of whole families go largely unchallenged as government forces pursue targets hundreds of miles away, according to the research findings. The Islamic aggressors appear to want to overthrow the Nigerian government, he said. The ORFA report showed that people were most vulnerable at home. Most civilians were killed (25,312) or abducted (16,761) during attacks on their communities; other, isolated attacks killed 5,568 civilians and resulted in the abductions of 4,771 people. The Islamic extremists targeted Christians as well as moderate Muslims who did not adhere to their ideology. Since 2015, there have been consistent reports of disparate treatment meted out to Christian and Muslim captives by members of Terror Groups, the report stated. Differences in treatment were observed based on reports from victims or their families, relating to forced labor; sexual violence; ransom demands and release; execution risks; religious tests. Nigeria remained the deadliest place in the world to follow Christ, with 4,118 people killed for their faith from Oct. 1, 2022 to Sept. 30, 2023, according to Open Doors 2024 World Watch List (WWL) report. More kidnappings of Christians than in any other country also took place in Nigeria, with 3,300. Nigeria was also the third highest country in number of attacks on churches and other Christian buildings such as hospitals, schools, and cemeteries, with 750, according to the report. In the 2024 WWL of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria was ranked No. 6, as it was in the previous year. Numbering in the millions across Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise hundreds of clans of many different lineages who do not hold extremist views, but some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the United Kingdoms All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief (APPG) noted in a 2020 report. They adopt a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP and demonstrate a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity, the APPG report states. Christian leaders in Nigeria have said they believe herdsmen attacks on Christian communities in Nigerias Middle Belt are inspired by their desire to forcefully take over Christians lands and impose Islam as desertification has made it difficult for them to sustain their herds. HA NOI General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee (CPV) and State President To Lam has sent a message of congratulations to General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and President of China Xi Jinping on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (October 1). Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man extended congratulatory messages to Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China Zhao Leji, respectively. In their messages, the Vietnamese Party and State leaders congratulated the Chinese Party, State and people on their significant achievements on socio-economic development, reform and opening-up over the past 75 years. They expressed their belief that under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee, with Xi at the core, China will successfully achieve the strategic goals set out by the 20th National Party Congress, turning China into a modern, strong and prosperous, socialist country with democracy, civilisation and harmony, making contributions to peace, stability, and prosperous development in the region and the world. Stressing that the Vietnamese Party, State and people consistently identify strengthening and developing a stable, healthy and friendly and cooperative relations with China as a strategic choice and a top priority in Viet Nam's foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification of external relations. They affirmed their readiness to work closely with China's senior leaders to maintain regular exchanges and enhance strategic guidance for bilateral ties based on high-level common perceptions. They are committed to fostering and consolidating the traditional friendship between the two Parties and nations, raising mutual understanding between their people, and further promoting the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries and building a Viet Nam-China community with a shared future in a deeper, more substantive and effective manner, for the practical benefits of their people, and for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world. On the occasion, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, who also serves as Chairman of the Viet Nam-China Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation, extended congratulations to Wang Yi, Director of the Office of the CPC Central Committees Foreign Affairs Commission, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Chairman of the China-Viet Nam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation. VNS HA NOI Viet Nam and Mongolia must advance specific measures to implement the agreements made by their top leaders, with defence and security cooperation as key pillars, helping to elevate their bilateral relations to a new level. This message was conveyed when Party General Secretary and State President To Lam held talks with Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh on Monday. The meeting took place during his State visit to Mongolia from September 30 to October 1. During the talks, Mongolian President Khurelsukh warmly welcomed Party General Secretary and President To Lam and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation. He stated that the historic visit contributed significantly to enhancing Viet Nam-Mongolia relations, and reaffirmed that Mongolia considered Viet Nam one of its most important partners in the region. He also expressed gratitude to the Vietnamese Government and people for providing US$500,000 in aid for recent disaster recovery efforts. He highlighted that the Intergovernmental Commission would meet in November 2024 in Ha Noi to discuss implementing the Viet Nam-Mongolia Joint Declaration on establishing a comprehensive partnership. For his part, General Secretary and President To Lam wished the Mongolian government and people success in implementing their New Recovery Policy and strategic goals outlined in the Vision 2050 policy, which aim to elevate Mongolia's international standing. Both leaders expressed their satisfaction with the development of the traditional friendship between the two countries in recent years. They engaged in deep discussions and reached a significant consensus on major directions and specific measures to carry out high-level agreements. The two sides agreed to enhance exchanges and contacts through diverse and flexible forms, strengthen the implementation of existing cooperation mechanisms and dialogues and further promote diplomatic, defence, security and judicial cooperation. They will also intensify collaboration in combating transnational crime and participate in United Nations peacekeeping activities, while continuing to support the development of cavalry, a symbol of their bilateral relations. Both parties also agreed to promote practical and effective economic cooperation tailored to each sides needs, while maintaining bilateral economic cooperation mechanisms, including the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Trade, Scientific and Technical Cooperation. The two leaders agreed to strengthen trade promotion measures and enhance business connections between the two countries, thereby contributing to the increase in bilateral trade between Viet Nam and Mongolia. They also committed to supporting information sharing mechanisms and policies that promote exports and imports, ensuring easier access to each other's markets, particularly for key products of both nations. They agreed to support policies that encourage businesses from both sides to invest in areas of strength, as well as in economic and industrial zones. The high-ranking leaders also pledged to enhance cooperation in research and development of advanced science and technology, digital technology, innovation, artificial intelligence, information and communications, climate change response, mineral extraction and livestock farming. They said they would work together to find solutions to challenges in logistics and transportation, while exchanging expertise to effectively implement cooperation agreements in road, rail, sea and air transportation. Both sides agreed to further develop mechanisms for the exchange of experts, lecturers and students between the two countries. They also committed to sharing experiences and policies in education, applying digital technology in education and organising cultural and historical exchange programmes to promote mutual understanding. Additionally, the two countries will work closely to promote their tourism potential and ensure that their citizens can live, study and work safely and securely in each other's countries. During their talks, the leaders also exchanged views on regional and global issues. They reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace, security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea (internationally known as the South China Sea). Both sides emphasised the need to uphold a peaceful and stable environment, respect international law and resolve maritime disputes through peaceful means, ensuring the legitimate rights and interests of nations in accordance with international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982). At the conclusion of the talks, Vietnamese top leader To Lam and Mongolian President Khurelsukh issued a Viet Nam-Mongolia Joint Declaration on the establishment of a comprehensive partnership, providing a framework for deepening and expanding cooperation in all areas with greater trust, substance and effectiveness. On this occasion, the two leaders also witnessed the signing of seven cooperation agreements between ministries, sectors and localities from both countries. General Secretary and President To Lam took this occasion to extend a warm invitation to Mongolian President Khurelsukh to visit Viet Nam, which the latter graciously accepted. VNS VIENTIANE Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos Nguyen Minh Tam presented his credentials to Lao Party General Secretary and President Thongloun Sisoulith in Vientiane on September 30. Sisoulith noted that Ambassador Tam is taking on his duties at a time when the bilateral relationship is increasingly deepening, practical and effective. Both nations are actively preparing for the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits and the 45th General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA-45). He asked both countries ministries and agencies to work closely together to effectively realise high-level cooperation agreements and treaties, as well as the Viet Nam-Laos joint statement. He stressed that the diplomat plays a critical role as a bridge between the two nations to facilitate the effective implementation of these agreements. The Lao leader expressed his belief that during his tenure, Ambassador Tam will continue to effectively advise leaders of both Parties and countries on the Viet Nam-Laos relationship. He emphasised the need to enhance political, diplomatic, and national defence-security ties, particularly by making breakthroughs in economic cooperation. This includes connecting the two economies, as well as financial, monetary, infrastructure, transportation, telecommunications, and tourism sectors. Ambassador Tam assured the Lao leader that Viet Nam attaches great importance and gives the highest priority to nurturing and consolidating great friendship, special solidarity, and comprehensive cooperation with the Lao Party, State and people. Together with Laos, Viet Nam is committed to preserving and passing on their unique relationship to future generations. Tam pledged that he, along with the embassy and its agencies, will make every effort to effectively serve as a bridge and coordinator. This will assist ministries, agencies, and localities in improving the effectiveness of cooperation with their Lao counterparts, including the successful implementation of high-level cooperation agreements and joint statements, as well as the Viet Nam-Laos cooperation agreement. The embassy will continue working closely with the Lao side to deepen the great friendship, special solidarity, and comprehensive cooperation across various fields between the two Parties, States and people, he said. VNS ULAANBAATAR Party General Secretary and State President To Lam had a meeting with Chairman of the ruling Mongolian People's Party (MPP) and Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar on September 30, as part of his ongoing state visit to the East Asian country. Both leaders expressed their delight at the elevation of bilateral ties to the level of a comprehensive partnership during Lams visit. They agreed to further enhance political trust by maintaining the exchange of all-level delegations, stepping up substantial and mutually beneficial cooperation to create a significant shift in economic, trade, and investment relations, and further upholding the role of the Viet Nam-Mongolia Inter-Governmental Committee. They committed to actively encouraging firms to participate in trade promotion programmes and business connectivity initiatives in both countries, aiming for stable growth in trade cooperation. The leaders stressed the importance of deepening people-to-people exchanges, as well as cultural and educational collaboration, while promoting broader joint work in labour, sci-tech, and information and communications. Lam affirmed Viet Nam's consistent policy of valuing cooperation with Mongolia and expressed his wish to develop bilateral ties in an increasingly substantive, effective and long-term manner, in line with the interests, potential and needs of both nations. He praised the signing of a new cooperation document between the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV) and the MPP, which laid a foundation to advance party-to-party relations in the future. On the occasion, Lam thanked the Mongolian Government and people for their support of US$200,000 to help residents of northern Viet Nam recover from the damage caused by recent Typhoon Yagi. PM Oyun-Erdene congratulated Viet Nam on its socio-economic achievements and increasingly important position and role in the region and the world. He affirmed that strengthening comprehensive and extensive cooperation with Viet Nam is a top priority of Mongolia's foreign policy in the region. He expressed a desire to further expand cooperation with Viet Nam in various fields, including politics, national defence-security, economy-trade, education, sci-tech, transportation, logistics, culture, sports, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges, as well as at multilateral forums and mechanisms in line with the bilateral comprehensive partnership. VNS ULAANBAATAR Viet Nam and Mongolia issued a joint statement on the establishment of the comprehensive partnership during a state visit by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee and State President To Lam from September 30 to October 1. The joint statement reads that during the trip, the Vietnamese leader had talks with Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, Chairman of the Parliament Dashzegve Amarbayasgalan, and Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene. The leaders of both countries highly valued the traditional friendship between Viet Nam and Mongolia, which has been strengthened and expanded significantly over the last 70 years. They also discussed directions for developing bilateral ties in the future, along with some regional and international issues of mutual concern. The Mongolian leaders affirmed that Mongolia views Viet Nam as an important partner in Southeast Asia and wishes to develop mutually beneficial cooperation in all spheres. Meanwhile, Viet Nam emphasised that it attaches importance to fostering relations with Mongolia, respects the latters peace-loving, open, independent, and multi-pillar foreign policy as well as the third neighbour policy, and hopes to further promote bilateral ties in the future. The leaders of both countries agreed that the development and intensification of Viet Nam-Mongolia relations align with the common interests of the two peoples and significantly contribute to regional and global peace, stability, and development. They agreed to elevate bilateral ties to a comprehensive partnership and continue to promote cooperation. In particular, Viet Nam and Mongolia will strengthen political cooperation through such measures as increasing mutual visits, exchanges, and meetings at all levels between their parties, states, governments, and parliaments; bolstering ties between their legislative bodies; and maintaining the effectiveness of the political consultation mechanism at the deputy foreign minister level. They will expand cooperation in national defence, security, and law enforcement, as well as in economic, trade, and investment partnerships. Result-oriented collaboration will be promoted in such areas as agriculture, science, transportation, culture, sports, tourism, education, labour, environment, and social protection. Additionally, the two countries will reinforce cooperation in regional and international affairs, including within the framework of international and regional organisations, and in addressing non-traditional security threats such as climate change, terrorism, and transnational crimes. The leaders also underscored the importance of maintaining peace, security, and stability in the East Sea (internationally known as the South China Sea), along with peacefully resolving disputes on the basis of the United Nations Charter, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). During the visit, the two sides also signed several cooperation documents. The countries leaders shared the view that the state visit to Mongolia by General Secretary and President Lam significantly helps to guide and open up prospects for the friendship and cooperation between the two countries, according to the joint statement. VNS HA GIANG Forty-six households with more than 170 people in Thuong My Hamlet, northern mountainous province of Ha Giang, have been relocated from landslide-prone areas after a severe erosion caused a landslide that killed two people on Sunday morning. The families were evacuated to stay at the hamlets community house. The landslide, reported on National Highway No 2 running through Viet Vinh Commune, Bac Quang District, left three people missing and injured eight others as of Monday morning, Vietnam News Agency reported. Eight houses completely collapsed. A passenger car, two trucks, three cars and many motorbikes were pushed down the slope by thousands of cubic metres of rocks and soil. The eight injured victims are being treated at local hospitals with the support of Bach Mai Hospital and Viet Nam-Germany Hospital in Ha Noi. The landslide caused traffic congestion to routes connecting Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang and other neighbouring localities with estimated initial property losses of over VN20 billion (US$813,000). Hoang Quang Hung, Secretary of the Party Committee of Viet Vinh Commune, has warned of more erosion risks as large cracks continue to be reported on the hill in the landslide area, prompting evacuation action. Local authorities have arranged volunteers to provide food and essential items to the residents, he said. VNS LONDON Vietnamese organisations and associations in the UK have raised funds worth 61,367 GBP (US$82,132) to support people who were affected by Typhoon Yagi in Viet Nams northern provinces early this month. They included the Vietnamese Association in the UK (VAUK); the Vietnamese Business Association in the UK (VBUK); the Vietnamese Intellectuals Association in the UK and Ireland (VIS); the Students' Association in Oxford; the Vietnamese Women and Children's Association in the UK; the Vietnamese communities in Birmingham and Liverpool; the Vietnam-UK Friendship Network (VUKN) and Vietnamese representative agencies in the UK. VIS President Prof. Nguyen Xuan Huan said that within only two days, the association mobilised 4,000 GBP not only from Vietnamese intellectuals in the UK but also from British friends. This reflected the development and prestige of VIS in the country. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese community in Liverpool transferred 1,000 GBP to the account of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee to aid the victims. Lam Oanh, head of the charity division of the Vietnamese Women and Children's Association in the UK, said that by the end of September, the association had raised a total of 10,588 GBP. Its representatives on September 22 came to the northern provinces of Cao Bang and Lao Cai to present gifts worth VN1 million each to more than 100 households. It will soon hand over 5,000 GBP to the VFF Central Committee. VAUK Chairman Tang Tuan Tu presented VN100 million ($4,000) to the VFF Central Committee in Ha Noi on September 27, while VBUK had previously transferred more than VN236.7 million to the VFF. Meanwhile, the amount of 33,060 GBP donated by the Vietnamese community in Birmingham is expected to be presented directly by the community's representative in Viet Nam soon. The support from the Vietnamese community in the UK to victims in the home country helped show the national solidarity and the tradition of sharing among Vietnamese people. VNS During the discussion, Tran Minh Tuan, general director of the Department of Digital Economy and Digital Society under the Ministry of Information and Communications, said, "5G opens up a new chapter of service provision. New 5G packages target businesses and smart factories, ports, and warehouses with fast, accurate, and automatic equipment. While 4G is more about business-to-consumer needs for internet connection, livestreaming, e-commerce, and others, 5G will focus more on business-to-business, such as private 5G networks for factories." "To deploy 5G infrastructure, telecommunications firms need to invest billions of dollars, and they will need to consider providing 5G coverage for the whole country or only some areas. These firms are studying international best experiences from countries such as Sweden, Norway, and China. It is vital to consider both business resources and consumer demands before deploying 5G," Tuan added. Nguyen Dinh Tuan, a member of MobiFone's Board of Members said, "5G infrastructure presents myriad opportunities thanks to high speed, broad bandwidth, and low latency. Businesses can take advantage of advanced technologies to develop new solutions and offerings. Although Vietnamese businesses have quickly applied IT, their awareness of digital transformation is not clear. The IT application and digital transformation are just the beginning phase. MobiFone's mission is to popularise new digital transformation solutions for businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises." "It only needs 40,000 to 60,000 base stations to expand 4G coverage across Vietnam. However, it requires many more stations to provide 5G. This is one of the major challenges to an effective rollout of 5G. Therefore, we will focus on the central areas where customers have demand for 5G. MobiFone will launch AI-products tailored to meet the needs of retail customers, household customers, corporate clients, and government clients," he added. Alejandro Osorio, managing director of Grab Vietnam, said that Grabs technical team is closely following the development of 5G. The team is building versions that use the least mobile data for customers to access easily. "In the first years of Grab in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, we encountered several difficulties in changing the traditional way of ride-hailing, like encouraging customers to buy a smartphone and downloading the app. This stage was extremely difficult, given that users didnt have much trust in using an app to call a driver they hadnt met. We had to prove that this digital service can improve customers lives thanks to improved productivity and efficiency," said Osorio. "Grab has a unique value proposition to solve an important problem in the market. The challenges of the transportation industry remain safety, transparency, pricing, and convenience. We have to build such values to provide suitable services to users. By identifying the problems to solve, we are building the right platform and expanding the ongoing operation," he added. George Choo, president of the Association of Telecommunications and Technology Industry in Singapore, said, "Singapore is promoting digital government, digital economy, and digital society. The Singaporean government made a commitment to digitalisation by collecting national records, medical records, and personal records. The digital economy covers various areas from manufacturing to services, fintech, smart cities, and digital payments. The digital economy involves Singaporean companies and Singapore-based multinational companies such as Meta, Google, and TikTok." "Vietnam has 100 million people, and the population is scattered across the country," Choo said, "So the country should consider applying similar initiatives in some major cities initially. Telecommunications companies need to consider financial feasibility and the actual needs of businesses before rolling out 5G and developing related applications." VIR to host conference on digital economy development VIR will host a conference on digital economy development in Hanoi on September 30, gathering representatives from state management agencies, international organisations, and business experts. VIR conference highlights factors driving digital economy The VIR conference Enablers for Digital Economy Development in Vietnam is taking place in Hanoi on September 30, offering interesting discussions about Vietnams economy, market trends, and 5G commercialisation. Preparations are gearing up in Vietnam for 5G commercialisation. What do you forecast about the development of Vietnams digital economy when it is commercialised? Khanh Nguyen, vice chairman of the Digital Sector Committee under the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam The commercialisation of 5G in Vietnam is expected to be a catalyst for significant growth and transformation in the countrys digital economy. It is anticipated that with superior connectivity and high-speed data transfer capabilities, 5G technology will accelerate digital transformation in Vietnam by enhancing connectivity and enabling the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, which will drive innovations across sectors like agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare, and smart cities. It will fuel the growth of e-commerce and open new economic opportunities in digital services and content creation. Manufacturing will benefit from smart factories and optimised supply chains, while public services will improve with advancements in e-government, healthcare delivery, and education. Overall, 5G will play a pivotal role in advancing Vietnams economy and infrastructure. Its significant impacts are highlighted by the National Institute of Information and Communications Strategy Report, which predicts that 5G will contribute approximately 7.34 per cent to Vietnams GDP growth by 2025. What sectors and industries will benefit most from 5G commercialisation? 5G technology, with its promise of ultra-high speeds, low latency, and massive connectivity, is poised to revolutionise numerous industries. As Vietnam embraces 5G to become a digital economy, the telecommunications sector stands to benefit significantly from enhanced mobile broadband and a wide range of IoT applications. In urban development, 5G will enable smart cities by improving transportation, public safety, and environmental management systems, while enhancing public services like e-government and online education. The agriculture sector can leverage 5G for precision agriculture and smart farming, optimising resource use and increasing efficiency. Tourism will also benefit from enhanced virtual and augmented reality experiences that improve connectivity and visitor engagement. The education sector will see advancements in online learning and virtual classrooms, providing broader access to educational resources. Additionally, financial services will benefit from 5Gs improved security and speed, enhancing mobile banking, digital payments, and fraud prevention. Among the most recent applications of 5G in commerce in Vietnam, in July 2023, Viettel announced the successful trial of a private 5G mobile network service for the Pegatron factory in the northern port city of Haiphong the first smart factory in Vietnam to be automated using 5G connectivity, featuring high-speed, low-latency, and support for multiple connections. What sufficient conditions are needed for Vietnam to make breakthrough developments in the digital economy? Achieving a breakthrough in Vietnams digital economy could benefit from several key conditions. Robust infrastructure is important, including widespread high-speed internet connectivity, reliable digital infrastructure like data centres, and investment in 5G and emerging technologies. Human capital development is also vital, with a focus on STEM education, digital literacy, talent development, and fostering entrepreneurship and innovation. Supportive government policies can help by providing clear digital economy regulations, reducing bureaucratic hurdles, protecting intellectual property rights, and investing in digital government services. Developing a vibrant digital ecosystem involves encouraging startups, fostering collaboration between businesses, government, and academia, and creating an environment conducive to digital innovation. Additionally, traditional industries might be encouraged to adopt digital technologies, with an emphasis on promoting e-commerce, digital payments, and advancing sectors like digital agriculture and smart cities. Ensuring robust cybersecurity measures and strong data privacy regulations is important for building trust and protecting digital assets. International integration through attracting foreign investment, participating in global digital trade, and collaborating with other countries could also play a significant role. Among these factors, innovation in management awareness through institutional support might be a key aspect of implementing digital economic development. Europe has become a key player in the global digital economy due to several factors, including a strong foundation in research and development, data privacy, consumer protection, and advanced digital infrastructure. A culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, along with collaboration and standardisation, has further contributed to its success. Notably, the digital age is one of the European Commissions top priorities, with the 2030 Digital Compass outlining a plan for the EUs digital transformation. Vietnam should learn from Europes example by adapting these lessons to its specific context to accelerate its digital transformation. Vietnam should focus on improving policies and institutions to attract digital technology investments and facilitate business activities such as capital contributions and mergers. The government should provide businesses with clear guidelines and financial resources to support digital transformation, emphasising sectors that can leverage international trade agreements and local strengths. How can stakeholders work together to strengthen digital ecosystems, thus contributing to Vietnams digital economy development? With the current growth rate, Vietnams digital economy could reach the target of 20 per cent of GDP by 2025. To achieve this goal, coordinated efforts from government agencies, businesses, and citizens are essential in promoting digital transformation and integrating IT across all sectors of economic and social life. Following the directive to promote national digital transformation; develop the digital economy on a foundation of science and technology and innovation, and to effectively implement the policies and tasks outlined in the documents of the 13th National Party Congress, a coordinated approach involving several key solutions is required. To strengthen the digital ecosystem, the government can launch educational campaigns to raise public awareness of digital transformation and the digital economy through the media and social platforms. Additionally, it can enhance legal frameworks by regularly updating laws will support digital transformation and encourage innovation and new business models. Strengthening cybersecurity with clear data protection policies is crucial for ensuring secure online environments. Investing in digital infrastructure by upgrading internet connectivity and advancing 4G and 5G networks, while promoting cashless payments, will further support the digital economy. Meanwhile, businesses should align their strategies with digital advancements, focusing on creating innovative products and services to remain competitive. Supporting workforce development through training programmes is essential to equipping employees with the digital skills needed for a modern economy. Citizens can contribute by participating in digital learning opportunities to enhance digital literacy and skills, as well as embracing digital services for daily activities, thus contributing to the digital economys growth. A digital infrastructure drive for economic development We are at a pivotal moment in Vietnams journey towards digital transformation, alongside many leaders who are driving innovation through technology. VIR to host conference on digital economy development VIR will host a conference on digital economy development in Hanoi on September 30, gathering representatives from state management agencies, international organisations, and business experts. VIR conference highlights factors driving digital economy The VIR conference Enablers for Digital Economy Development in Vietnam is taking place in Hanoi on September 30, offering interesting discussions about Vietnams economy, market trends, and 5G commercialisation. The Australian delegation includes leaders, professors, and industry experts from 17 leading universities and training institutions, and representatives of four states and territories. It is being led by Rebecca Ball, senior trade and investment commissioner for the Australian government. The Australia-Vietnam Partnerships: Innovation, Education and Training towards a Green Economy Forum in Hanoi on September 27 During the mission, the delegation was updated on the latest transnational education policies and practices through the Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) Education Partnership and Investment Conference in Haiphong. Members also visited DEEP C Industrial Zones facilities, and spoke with state-owned enterprises and industry leaders, to better understand the current stage of Vietnam's green economy transition. On September 27, the Australia-Vietnam Partnerships: Innovation, Education and Training towards a Green Economy Forum, hosted by the Australian Trade and Investment (Austrade), welcomed over 150 Vietnamese universities, colleges, associations, and businesses from the agriculture, energy and manufacturing industries to explore academic and research partnerships with Australian educational institutions. On the same day, Austrade, in collaboration with Hanoi University of Science and Technology, organised a discussion focusing on renewable energy, battery storage, and green building. The Australian delegation had in-depth discussions with Vietnamese universities and leading businesses to prepare for Vietnamese science and technology graduates with skills and knowledge to navigate net-zero goals. Vietnams national strategy aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, focusing on reducing greenhouse gases, increasing the use of renewable energy, and enhancing sustainable urban development. The transition is expected to generate nearly one million new jobs by 2040. Vietnam will need to reskill, upskill, and new-skill its workforce to meet employment demands in new and existing sectors, including energy, manufacturing, and transportation. Ball emphasised, As Vietnam strives to achieve its ambitious net-zero emissions target by 2050, Australias expertise in green technologies, sustainable practices, and clean energy solutions will play a crucial role in supporting Vietnams workforce development and green economy transition. Our institutions, recognised globally for sustainability programmes, stand ready to contribute to Vietnams decarbonisation efforts and future economic growth. Ranked 11th globally for sustainability programmes, Australian institutions are at the forefront of research and innovation in green technologies. Australias leadership in hydrogen exportation, lithium production, and clean energy further underscores its role in providing the knowledge and tools needed for Vietnams successful transition. With a proven track record of delivering high-quality, industry-relevant education and training centred on sustainability and green technologies, Australian educational institutions are well-positioned to bridge the green skill gaps in Vietnam. A somber atmosphere fell at a meeting of Lausanne 4 as church ministry leaders described the challenges faced in living out gospel values within difficult societal and cultural scenarios - after a human trafficking survivor in a presentation told of her abuse ordeal before being rescued and finding Christ. The discussion ensued during an evening session entitled Lessons from the Global Church. Reconciliation The Churchs Responsibility in Areas of Brokenness on Friday, Sept. 27. The panel involved Dr. Daniel Kyungu Tchikala, a bishop of African Inland Church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); the Rev. Dr. Ivan Rusyn, Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary; Dr. Rula Khoury Mansour, Nazareth Center for Peace Studies, Israel; and Dr. Emmanuel Ndikumana, Burundi, Regional Director for Francophone Africa, Lausanne Movement. Ruby, as the trafficking survivor was referred to, with her full identity protected for security and discretion, recounted how financial woes led her to becoming trapped in a house at the age of 16, where she had to sell her body to stave off debts. However, any monies earned were taken as payment for food, and any goods used inside the building. You see the picture of slavery today, she told the silenced gathering. Slavery is not just bars and chains. The picture of slavery today is debt and interest. Stay informed with The Christian Daily Newsletter Sign up Ruby, whose communication devices were confiscated so she could not contact loved ones, had to perform sexually before online cameras for customers from different countries. They forced me to do things to satisfy their desires and I never imagined doing those things. Each time I did that, I wanted to scream. On one occasion, she began screaming for help when hearing the sirens of emergency sirens outside the traffickers house. A woman inside the building threatened her with a knife, holding it against the teenage girls throat, and telling her to stop. My whole body was trembling, Ruby recalled sadly. She retreated to a bathroom and, although she had no particular faith, cried out to God for help: God, if you are there, please take me out of here. The next day, a police raid led to her being freed, with the support of a social worker from International Justice Mission, a Christian organization. She was given support, although the healing journey was difficult and long. Every day was a constant reminder of abuse, especially during [the court] trials, being face-to-face with my traffickers. But God transformed my heart in such a way that I was able to forgive my traffickers during their trial. They received 15 years of imprisonment. Ruby leant on Gods power to find freedom and now, some 11 years later, she has finished college and works full time in a respectable job. However, Ruby feels impassioned to speak out on behalf of the many children suffering like she did, encountering sexual exploitation at the hands of predators. I cannot afford to think of another child going through the horrors of this crime, she told the delegates at Lausanne 4, adding that she may lack money or power to help them. But she hoped that sharing her personal story would help galvanize others to take action to help such exploited youngsters. Sexual exploitation of children is a crime that destroys innocent lives of children. It's the devil's will to kill, steal, and destroy precious lives. But thank God that Jesus has come to give life in abundance. As the church, we need to build bridges that will provide survivors access to Jesus and the abundant life he promises. And as the global church, Ruby added, we can do this by educating ourselves about this crime and other forms of child abuse and exploitation: listening to survivors and involving them in your decision making and ministry design, investing in efforts to rescue victims and restore survivors. Perhaps it's time for your church to start this ministry, she said, issuing a challenge for delegates. After this presentation, panellist Mansour spoke at length about the difficulties of reconciliation in the context of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. She deplored the domination of voices of hatred, revenge, extremism and division from both sides. She added that it made her really sad that some of these views came from acclaimed Christian circles. Reconciliation may sound a little bit naive, she admitted but asserted that it is the way God wants us to look at it. I think reconciliation is divine. It is the move from a divided path to a shared future. Furthermore, Mansour hoped people involved in the troubles would search for truth, forgiveness, justice and healing. She felt humility was important to get the full picture of both sides in the conflict: Even if this perspective challenges our identity and convictions. Healing that is needed starts from honesty with truth, she added, moving beyond the known narrative. Forgiveness comes next but that is the hardest part. Victims of tragedies can acknowledge forgiveness but it is hard to forget what happened. Even so, it creates room for healing and truth. Forgiveness is not a sign of weakness. Justice follows, which restores dignity and Mansour saw that lasting peace required addressing systemic injustice and the root cause of conflict, ensuring a just resolution. She pointed to historic restorative justice enacted after known conflicts in Rwanda, Sierra Leone and South Africa. The goal is achieving justice but the end result is reconciliation, she said. This is followed by the positive door open to a shared future between two sides after a conflict. Reconciliation is essential for a shared future, she said. Starting with truth telling and dialogue. Acknowledging wrong and failures, embracing forgiveness, committing to justice and healing It builds the foundation for reconciliation. On a personal note, she said that churches in Israel, Palestine and Lebanon refused to lose hope and asked delegates to help create spaces for forgiveness and advocacy to bring a just solution for all parties involved: We keep going and pressing for peace, walking in the valley with Jesus. Meanwhile Bishop Tchikala talked about the challenges suffered by people with disabilities. He quoted the World Health Organization as saying 15 percent of the global population is disabled. He called for the church to take a greater lead in addressing injustices faced by this vulnerable demographic. The church can be influenced by the world, but its up to us as a church to influence the world through our model of peace, our model of forgiveness, our model of love, who is Jesus Christ himself. But today I'm wondering if we are using Jesus Christ as a model to show the world how to live in peace, love, and forgiveness in the area of disability. Tchikala said that in his own country of the DRC, many disabled people live in inhumane and degrading conditions, or even killed because of their condition. He questioned the responsibilities in this scenario, of the wider church, citing undisclosed statistics showing that people with disabilities are not welcome in the church. They are excluded from the gospel and Gods mission, he added, and suggested churches should instead see the disabled as co-workers. Otherwise, the church has been influenced by a worldly viewpoint seeing disability as a weakness, even a threat. However, from Gods perspective such weaknesses are not a threat, Tchikala made clear, as it says in 2 Corinthians 12:9: My strength is made perfect in weakness. Rusyn said the war in Ukraine has had to relook at what compassion means in the context of the invasion by Russia. Compassion for me is to suffer in the same way, the same style [sic] as people have. True compassion is impossible. Without information, without presence, true compassion can be revealed through the heart, and we are developing a theology of the heart. Rusyn added that he saw Jesus being present in Ukraine because he always shows up at the epicenter suddenly, and often through ordinary people, showing true compassion. In Ukraine, he said believers did not pray for peace, but for both justice and peace. And I want to underline that peace or reconciliation does not come alone. Peace is married to truth and the middle name of truth is justice. Ndikumana said most people in Burundi are Christians but there has been difficulties with the Covid pandemic and ethnic violence. He said forgiveness was hard, and required work, but it is possible to learn from others experiences that it is the only way from God, who himself epitomizes justice. Forgiveness is the way He chose to heal the wounds of the world, he said. During its annual global Pharma Media Day earlier this year, Bayer reaffirmed its commitment to driving medical breakthroughs to sustain long-term growth within its pharma strategy. The company has bolstered its innovation capabilities by focusing on core therapeutic areas such as cardiovascular and oncology, while expanding its reach through partnerships and enhancing its pipeline quality through rigorous portfolio pruning. Bayer Vietnam is working with the Hanoi Stroke Association and the University of Oxford to improve stroke care and research In late August, Bayer Vietnam partnered with Siemens Healthineers and the University Medical Centre in Ho Chi Minh City to host a scientific workshop focusing on the latest advancements in using MRIs with EOB contrast agents for diagnosing and treating conditions such as hepatocellular carcinoma. The workshop aimed to facilitate knowledge exchange and consensus-building among hepatobiliary disease experts on the role of EOB-MRI within Vietnams healthcare landscape, with the ultimate goal of aligning practices with international guidelines for managing, diagnosing, and treating liver tumors on a regional and global scale. The previous month, Bayer Vietnam forged a partnership with the Hanoi Stroke Association and the University of Oxford to elevate stroke management and enhance the quality of scientific research. The collaboration aims to amplify research and data analysis in atrial fibrillation and stroke treatment, unlocking the potential for healthcare innovation in combating these diseases. By bridging data disparities, this joint effort aims to enhance clinical decision-making and optimise patient care. One notable outcome of the collaboration was a scientific study on anticoagulation patterns in stroke patients in developing countries, which involved data from over 94,000 patients across 66 hospitals in Vietnam from 2017 to 2023. The studys findings, published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease, offer crucial insights into stroke and atrial fibrillation management, supporting the development of training programmes and elevating the quality of care for patients in Vietnam. Additionally, Bayer Vietnam has been collaborating with associations and public partners to enhance the accessibility of healthcare solutions. Earlier this year, through the Vietnam Young Physicians Association, Bayer sponsored 500,000 boxes of multi-vitamin effervescent tablets for humanitarian medical examination and consultation activities across 49 cities and provinces nationwide. This initiative is part of the broader Patient Support Programme, through which Bayer has distributed up to 2 million multivitamin boxes free of charge to vulnerable groups nationwide in collaboration with partner organisations conducting medical screenings and treatments, under the approval and guidance of the Ministry of Health. Bayer launches Science for Her campaign to raise awareness of women's healthcare Bayer has kicked off the Science for Her campaign in Vietnam to improve awareness and boost knowledge about women's healthcare. Bayer leveraging digital models to enhance healthcare The percentage of the worlds population over age 60 is predicted to reach almost 22 per cent by 2050 almost double the percentage reported in 2015. The impact of the demographic shift to an ageing and growing population is being felt across society and industries. LOTTE C&F aims to bring Vietnamese consumers a modern and reliable shopping model, enhancing the online shopping experience. General directors of LOTTE C&F, LOTTE Mart, LOTTE Financial Corporation The explosive growth of e-commerce and the trend of online shopping have driven BNPL services to become increasingly popular. In Vietnam, the BNPL trend meets the need for flexible consumption and helps reduce financial pressure, providing a more convenient shopping experience. Alongside the rapid expansion of this market, consumers are becoming more cautious and prioritising reputable brands to ensure safe and transparent shopping experiences. LOTTE Group has launched a retail agency channel under the Buy Now, Pay Later model, aiming to fully capitalise on the growing potential of the rapidly expanding BNPL market. With support from the groups key financial arms, LOTTE Financial Corporation (Japan) and LOTTE Capital (South Korea), LOTTE C&F is committed to offering flexible, transparent, and easily accessible shopping services to Vietnamese consumers. Through this collaboration, LOTTE C&F aims to become the top choice for Vietnamese consumers in consumer shopping. The partnership with LOTTE Mart marks an important milestone for LOTTE C&F to reach a large number of modern users and provide smart shopping services through the supermarkets shopping ecosystem. Customers in Vietnam can experience BNPL service while shopping online on the LOTTE Mart app, with various choices ranging from daily groceries to electronics and household items. LOTTE C&F is dedicated to enhancing the shopping experience by offering a modern and reliable BNPL service, designed to address customer needs effectively. Key features include streamlined procedures, flexible payment options, and transparent information. Lotte Hotel Saigon taking advantage of state incentives It has been a year of tourism recovery with various incentives and encouraging policies. Suh Dong Soo, general director of Lotte Hotel Saigon, told Nhat Ha about his inside experiences of running a hotel smoothly and achieving growth. Lotte Shin Kyuk-Ho Global Scholarship Award ignites student dreams Lotte's Shin Kyuk-Ho Scholarship Foundation has held a ceremony as part of its initiative to support Vietnamese disadvantaged students. Lotte Rental to foray into Vietnam's car rental market South Korea's Lotte Rental Co. will make its foray into Vietnam's long-term personal car rental market in the second half of 2024. Speaking at the forum, hosted by the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre in Ho Chi Minh City on September 24, Phuong Nguyen, CEO of Tona Syntegra Solar JSC, spoke about the need for the transition roadmap for industrial logistics to prioritise energy efficiency, monitoring and management, clean and renewable energy, low-emission vehicles and carbon offsetting through credits. "The application of clean energy and energy efficiency can help commercial and industrial sectors save at least 35 per cent of energy costs," said Phuong. The industrial sector currently consumes up to 54 per cent of the total energy used in Vietnam, with the transportation sector accounting for 20 per cent. "The significant increase in transportation activities caused by the country's economic development and increasing population makes energy a crucial issue," Phuong said. Catherine Tran, director of Leong Lee International Co., Ltd. believes that integrated technology solutions are one of the most effective solutions to help Vietnamese logistics firms achieve green transformation. "Continued innovation in solar and storage technologies will improve scalability, which is a good strategy in the green transition," she said. Juergen Weber, chairman of the Transport and Logistics Sector Committee of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, spoke of how cutting emissions from logistical activities will be vital to slow down the process of global warming. "Carbon reduction can be applied by optimising freight routes, switching to low-carbon transport modes, and reducing the carbon content of energy used for logistics," said Weber. "Logistics plays an important role in the climate crisis and addressing its impact requires a comprehensive approach that includes technology, policy and behavioural change," he added. Terry Tan, director of Sunny Auto Company said, "To achieve green transition targets, we must find ways to gradually replace combustible-engined vehicles with electric vehicles (EVs) and those that run on biofuels. Electric trucks release 54 per cent less CO2, save 70 to 80 per cent on fuel costs, and cost 30 to 50 per cent less to maintain than petrol vehicles. So, while the initial investment cost for EVs may be high, it will decrease in the long term." "Logistical costs in Vietnam are much higher than in other countries in the region, but switching to green logistics can reduce costs. Exporters will also benefit from reduced taxes in import markets, and they can receive and sell carbon credits," he added. ITPC deputy director Cao Thi Phi Van said, "Ho Chi Minh City has just issued an action plan from now until the end of the decade to implement the National Strategy on green growth. The city aims to promote a circular economy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions." "The city has set out 14 main areas to focus on, including green finance, high-quality human resources, green energy, clean water, green buildings, and of course, green transportation," Van added. There are currently over 40,000 firms in the logistics market in Vietnam, with large global brands such as DHL, CJ logistics and Maersk Lines. Vietnamese firms are also well represented in the sector, with names such as Transimex, Sotran, and Tan Cang Saigon. Vietnam's logistics sector hardest hit by Typhoon Yagi Vietnam's logistics sector was hit hard by Typhoon Yagi, with 82.4 per cent of businesses facing severe or moderate impacts, according to a new report by CEL. Vietnam SuperPort to elevate supply chain capabilities Vietnam SuperPort, a joint venture between YCH Group (Singapore) and T&T Group (Vietnam), has launched the new vision to enhance the country's logistics capabilities. Yap Kwong Weng, CEO of Vietnam SuperPort spoke to VIR's Nguyen Huong about the launch. During a digital conference titled 'Enablers for Digital Economy Development in Vietnam' at VIR headquarters on September 30, Ericsson Vietnam president, Rita Mokbel, announced a detailed roadmap to set Vietnam on the right path for the digital age. Rita Mokbel, president, Ericsson Vietnam "5G is not just the next step in technological advancement, it is the cornerstone of the digital transformation that both Vietnam and the world need. With the support of the government and our partners, we can ensure that Vietnam is equipped with the most advanced, secure, and competitive network infrastructure, driving us towards a prosperous digital future," Mokbel said, adding, "Our top priority is to assist Vietnamese carriers in upgrading to 5G in the most seamless manner. The goal is to achieve faster network speeds, wider bandwidth, and minimise disruptions for consumers, while also helping carriers increase their value in the supply chain." Additionally, she emphasised that Ericsson will leverage its global experience to support Vietnam. "With our global experience in this field, we are ready to share international use cases to develop new scenarios tailored to Vietnam. We have signed MoUs with major carriers and research institutions to build human resources and open ecosystems, facilitating the development and application of 5G in the most efficient way," she added. India and Malaysia have been cited as examples of the potential economic contribution of 5G. India has rolled out 5G across more than 446,000 sites in less than 19 months, providing up to 90 per cent coverage. Currently, there are over 198 million 5G subscriptions in the country, leading to a surge in global rankings for network performance. Malaysia has also recognised this potential, with forecasts suggesting that 5G will contribute between $28 and $32 billion to the economy by 2030. These nations have harnessed 5G as a tool to drive economic development, attract investment, and advance their digital agendas. Explaining the economic potential, Mokbel said, "5G will revolutionise sectors like manufacturing, where it enables automation, cost-efficiency, and productivity gains. We have already seen a 120 per cent increase in productivity in industries that have adopted 5G, along with a 32 per cent reduction in waste. These results demonstrate the real-world impact of 5G and its ability to drive both innovation and efficiency in sectors such as logistics, healthcare, and manufacturing." According to Mokbel, 5G can shift healthcare services from offline to online, enabling better patient monitoring and providing real-time updates. Similarly, manufacturing, a key sector for Vietnam, will greatly benefit from 5Gs ability to automate and optimise production processes, especially as foreign investors continue to build production bases here. Vietnam aims to have the digital economy contribute 20 per cent to GDP next year and 30 per cent by 2030. The share of the digital economy in each sector is targeted to reach at least 10 per cent next year, doubling by 2030. By the end of this decade, Vietnam is expected to rank among the top 30 countries globally in IT, competitiveness, and innovation. Digital transformation for a more sustainable Vietnam Digital transformation and sustainable development trends continue to be closely intertwined as Vietnam gears up its efforts to shape a thriving and sustainable future. Earlier this week, US-based tech company Supermicro signed an MoU with Vietnams Sovico Group on data centre development in Vietnam. In a meeting with Party General Secretary, State President To Lam during his working trip to the United States last week, Wally Liaw, founder and senior vice-president of business development at Supermicro, said the company proposed cooperation with Vietnam in developing data centres and server system manufacturing. Vietnam is a promising market as it has policies to encourage the development of high-tech sectors. We see enormous potential for AI growth in Vietnam, and we are committed to playing a part in that journey, Liaw said. As reported by Reuters in August, Google is mulling building a hyperscale data centre, in what would be the first such investment by a big US technology company in Vietnam. The hyperscale data centre could be developed near Ho Chi Minh City. Googles move was motivated by the large number of its domestic and foreign cloud services clients in Vietnam and the countrys expanding digital economy, a source told Reuters, noting it was one of the fastest-growing markets for YouTube, Googles popular online video sharing platform. The country has witnessed some acceleration in hyperscale data centres, with a joint venture between VNG Corporation and ST Telemedia Global Data Centres committing to develop 60MW in Ho Chi Minh City. In July, CMC Corporation announced a plan to build hyperscale data centre in the city. In May, Alibaba also revealed plans to build a data centre in Vietnam to store data locally, in compliance with legal requirements. A report released by Fitch Solutions in July showed that Vietnam has liberalised its data centre market by lifting the previous 49 per cent foreign ownership cap, enabling full foreign investment in data centres. The initiative seeks to ignite global investor interest to realise Vietnams AI. Vietnam is anticipated to receive approximately 100MW of data centre capacity over the next two years, against a current live capacity of approximately 30MW. The liberalisation of Vietnams data centre market as highly beneficial to wider digital transformation ambitions, especially as the local addressable market for data-intensive infrastructure remains strong. In 2024, one of the main catalysts that will continue to foster the growth of Vietnams data-intensive industries is the digital infrastructure master plan for 2030, Fitch Solutions said. According to the fifth annual Global Technology Report released by Bain & Company last week, the market for AI-related hardware and software is expected to grow between 40 and 55 per cent annually, reaching between $780 billion and $990 billion by 2027. AI workloads could grow 25 to 35 per cent per year through 2027 and, as it scales, the need for computing power will radically expand the scale of large data centres over the next 5-10 years. The report pointed out that AI will spur growth in data centres, from todays 50-200MW to more than 1GW. This means that if large data centres cost between $1 billion and $4 billion today, they could cost between $10 billion and $25 billion five years from now. These changes are expected to have huge implications on the ecosystems that support data centres, including infrastructure engineering, power production, and cooling, as well as strain supply chains. CMC joins the hyperscale data centre race Amidst the rapid development of Vietnam's digital economy, there is an increasingly active race being run to develop data centres and develop world-class IT infrastructure in the country. Updated legislation can propel data centre fortunes Data centres in Vietnam are becoming more appealing to investors, especially following the recent move by the government to open up the market. Julien Curtet, partner of Index Partners, gave VIRs Thanh Van his insight into the latest developments in Vietnams burgeoning data centre arena. Darrell Oh, Pharma Group chairman How much have Pharma Group member companies invested in Vietnam? Pharma Group currently has 21 members, comprising leading innovative pharmaceutical companies from Europe, the US, and Japan. We have been investing in Vietnam for several decades. Since 2019, following the introduction of the Pharma Law, companies have transitioned to a foreign-invested model, allowing them to directly import medicines and vaccines into Vietnam, thereby expanding our investment. Collectively, we employ more than 3,000 people directly and create over 15,000 indirect jobs. Our charter capital investment exceeds $100 million. Additionally, Pharma Group members invest substantial amounts annually in medical education, scientific activities, patient support programmes, corporate social responsibility initiatives, and donations, positively impacting hundreds of thousands of people. Beyond these areas, our members are actively investing in clinical trials and local manufacturing, in line with the sectors development goals. More companies are increasing their investment in clinical trials, both pre-marketing and post-marketing, and this area is expected to see significant growth in the future. What should Vietnam focus on to attract investment from the pharmaceutical industry? Vietnam has great potential to attract foreign investment, thanks to its growing domestic market, political and economic stability, and 16 active free trade agreements. However, while there has been progress in the pharma sector, Vietnam has not yet fully capitalised on its strengths and competitive advantages. With intense competition from neighbouring countries offering incentives and continuously streamlining their regulations, it is essential for Vietnam to accelerate its efforts to attract foreign direct investment and innovation. To do this, Vietnam should focus on three key areas: creating a business and investment-friendly environment through predictable and sustainable policies, ensuring early access to innovation, and providing a reliable foundation for long-term investment. A strong commitment to a streamlined regulatory process, adherence to regulatory timelines, and robust intellectual property protection are also critical. Additionally, the government should offer incentives that prioritise innovation, such as establishing R&D hubs and encouraging investment in the early stages of product development, including clinical trials and advanced manufacturing capabilities. An effective implementation process for the National Strategy for the pharmaceutical sector is also crucial. The recent establishment of the National Steering Committee is a positive step, but we recommend ongoing dialogue with the industry to monitor progress and quickly adapt to changes. Vietnam must introduce policies and incentives that are competitive with those offered by other countries in the region. Are you satisfied with the current draft of the revised Pharmaceutical Law? We support the new policies in the current draft law, particularly the regulatory reliance mechanism, which aims to speed up access to new medicines, vaccines, and biologics. The simplification of the marketing authorisation renewal process is another welcome change, as it will help avoid supply shortages like those seen in previous years. Additionally, the law includes policies to develop the pharma industry, with some improvements for foreign-invested enterprises, and offers incentives for local manufacturing of innovative medicines and R&D activities. We appreciate the efforts of the drafting committee in consulting with the industry and other stakeholders throughout the law revision process. We expect the law to be ratified by the National Assembly in 2024, with a smooth transition period for marketing authorisation renewal. The industry looks forward to applying the new mechanism to existing dossiers, allowing medicines to maintain validity from January 2025 onwards to avoid any disruption. We hope the government will issue guiding regulations in a timely manner to bring these advancements into action. Most importantly, we hope these regulations do not introduce additional administrative barriers and are accompanied by capability-building activities for both regulators and the industry. Pharma Group remains committed to supporting the finalisation and effective implementation of this important legislation. Opportunities abound for innovative pharma industry Countries around the world are hoping to entice investment for their innovative pharmaceutical industries in order to bring socioeconomic benefits towards sustainable development strategies. Emin Turan, chairman of Pharma Group, talked to VIRs Bich Thuy about the specific opportunities for Vietnam in this regard. A more conducive environment needed for investors Last year marked Pharma Groups 25-year journey of partnership in Vietnam. That year was even more significant for healthcare as we have witnessed several key laws issued with great improvements, notably the Law on Bidding and the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment. Legal landscape adjusted for global pharma groups Multinational corporations operating in Vietnam are expected to benefit from new legal changes in the months to come, after years of delay. Why did STADA choose Vietnam as a strategic investment destination, and how do you evaluate the development potential of the market? We are always aiming to expand globally, with Asia-Pacific as a key emerging market. Vietnam's strategic location, advanced pharmaceutical infrastructure, favourable investment policies and growing consumer demands have particularly impressed us. Stephane Jacqmin, Executive Vice President Emerging Markets at STADA Group Over the past twenty years, our confidence has grown that this is the perfect place to develop our manufacturing centre and distribution network, serving both the country beyond. The country's pharmaceutical market holds great potential, driven by rising incomes and a growing demand for quality, affordable products. Stability and predictability in the market are crucial for foreign investors like us. What specific healthcare areas has STADA invested in within Vietnam, and what are the future investment plans? At STADA, we are all aligned with the global vision To be the partner of choice in Generics, Specialty, and Consumer, while continuously outgrowing the industry in terms of growth and profitability. This applies to Vietnam as well. STADA Pymepharco aspires to lead the healthcare sector in Vietnam by surpassing its competitors through innovation and a diverse range of products. We will continue to rely on generics and consumer healthcare as the core of our offerings, ensuring we remain a comprehensive provider capable to addressing various healthcare needs in Vietnam and globally. We will continue to strengthen our presence in Vietnam by broadening and further diversifying our offerings, closely monitoring market demands while aligning with our strategic imperatives. How will the strategic investment in Pymepharco help STADA achieve its goals in Southeast Asia? Vietnam is a key market and strategic investment hub for STADA Group. STADA Pymepharcos outlook for Vietnam is rooted in the belief that the country will emerge as a key pharmaceutical hub in Southeast Asia. After more than 20 years in Vietnam, we are confident that it serves as the strategic base to expand our manufacturing and distribution network, serving both the country and the wider region. Furthermore, STADA Pymepharco adds to the global STADA network's state-of-the-art facilities, its dedicated employees, valuable networks, and partnerships. How do you evaluate Vietnamese pharmaceutical companies in general and the future of STADA Pymepharco? STADA Pymepharco is operating in an extremely competitive environment, which we welcome, as healthy competition is essential to ensuring consumers receive the best options available. STADA Pymepharco aspires to lead the healthcare sector in Vietnam by surpassing its competitors through innovation and a broad range of products. We will continue to rely on generics and consumer healthcare as the core of our offerings, making sure it remains a comprehensive provider able to address diverse healthcare needs in Vietnam and globally. Could you share STADAs long-term vision for Vietnam and how the company plans to expand its market presence here? At STADA Group and all our affiliates, we are all united in our global vision To be the partner of choice in Generics, Specialty, and Consumer, while continuously outgrowing the industry in terms of growth and profitability. Based on our purpose of Caring for Peoples Health as a Trusted Partner, we aim to provide German standard healthcare in Vietnam and to the world. STADA Pymepharco celebrates its 35th anniversary To do so, we will focus on four strategic pillars: driving economic prosperity through innovative healthcare solutions for generics, speciality, and consumer healthcare; upholding excellence and integrity in every aspect of our business; caring for people's wellbeing to build healthier communities and workforce; and commit to sustainable practices for a healthier planet, with a focus on environment, social, and created-shared values. European corporations take part in growing Vietnam's green economy Regional business executives of leading European corporations in various sectors met with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the Green Economy Forum and Exhibition (GEFE) 2022 on November 28 in Ho Chi Minh City. Germany's STADA expands presence in Vietnam's healthcare market STADA and its Vietnamese affiliate Pymepharco have announced the establishment of its new head office in Ho Chi Minh City, paving the way for further expansion in Vietnam's healthcare market. Addressing the conference, Le Trong Minh, VIR's editor-in-chief said, "Digital development based on digital technology and digital data is becoming a driving force for Vietnam to pursue fast-paced, sustainable, and comprehensive development amidst the global turbulence. The digital economy creates more wealth for citizens, so Vietnam can realise its aspirations of becoming an upper middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2045." Vietnam has set a target of having the digital economy account for 25 per cent of its GDP in 2025 and 30 per cent by 2030. The proportion of the digital economy in each industry or field is at least 10 per cent in 2025, doubling by 2030. "Developing digital platforms is a breakthrough solution to expedite digital transformation, reduce costs, and increase effectiveness. It is a basic point in the National Digital Transformation Programme to 2025, with a vision towards 2030. Meanwhile, international cooperation plays a vital role in facilitating digital transformation, especially in society. Vietnamese businesses and organisations partner with major tech companies in the world on research and development, technology transfer, and new model applications in Vietnam," Minh said To create a foundation for digital transformation, it is also vital to develop digital infrastructure to meet the soaring demand for data processing and connectivity. This includes developing the high-quality mobile broadband infrastructure, replanning the radio frequency, developing 5G mobile telecommunications infrastructure, and commercialising 5G mobile telecommunications. Efforts should be made to expand regional and international internet connections, especially developing submarine optical cable lines. "Today's conference aims to update new developments in the development of digital infrastructure, digital ecosystem, and digital economy in Vietnam. The conference takes place anticipating Innovate Vietnam 2024 on October 1-2 and the National Digital Transformation Day on October 10. Experts and businesses will share insights and discuss solutions to accelerate digital transformation and the digital economy in Vietnam," Minh added. The event also heard the best practices and lessons from top-notch experts and leaders from renowned companies such as Ericsson Vietnam, MobiFone, AWS Vietnam, Grab Vietnam, and other organisations like the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Association of Telecommunications and Technology Industry in Singapore, and EuroCham's Digital Sector Committee. Digital economy being led by real world asset tokenisation Asset tokenisation offers a significant opportunity for developing countries like Vietnam to engage in the global capital market with efficient capital mobilisation channels and low costs for projects involving real-world assets (RWAs). Cross-border e-commerce to be boosted Commodities export through cross-border sites is expected to create booming development for Vietnams e-commerce business. PHILADELPHIA (AP) Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas began walking picket lines early Tuesday in a strike over wages and automation that could reignite inflation and cause shortages of goods if it goes on more than a few weeks. The contract between the ports and about 45,000 members of the International Longshoremens Association expired at midnight, and even though progress was reported in talks on Monday, the workers went on strike. The strike affecting 36 ports is the first by the union since 1977. Workers began picketing at the Port of Philadelphia shortly after midnight, walking in a circle at a rail crossing outside the port and chanting No work without a fair contract. The union had message boards on the side of a truck reading: Automation Hurts Families: ILA Stands For Job Protection. Local ILA president Boise Butler said workers want a fair contract that doesnt allow automation of their jobs. Shipping companies made billions during the pandemic by charging high prices, he said. Now we want them to pay back. Theyre going to pay back, Butler said. He said the union will strike for as long as it needs to get a fair deal, and it has leverage over the companies. This is not something that you start and you stop, he said. We're not weak, he added, pointing to the union's importance to the nation's economy At Port Houston, at least 50 workers started picketing around midnight local time carrying signs saying No Work Without a Fair Contract." The U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents the ports, said Monday evening that both sides had moved off of their previous wage offers. But no deal was reached. The unions opening offer in the talks was for a 77% pay raise over the six-year life of the contract, with President Harold Daggett saying its necessary to make up for inflation and years of small raises. ILA members make a base salary of about $81,000 per year, but some can pull in over $200,000 annually with large amounts of overtime. But Monday evening, the alliance said it had increased its offer to 50% raises over six years, and it pledged to keep limits on automation in place from the old contract. The union wants a complete ban on automation. It wasnt clear just how far apart both sides are. We are hopeful that this could allow us to fully resume collective bargaining around the other outstanding issues in an effort to reach an agreement, the alliance statement said. In a statement early Tuesday, the union said it rejected the alliance's latest proposal because it fell far short of what ILA rank-and-file members are demanding in wages and protections against automation. The two sides had not held formal negotiations since June. We are prepared to fight as long as necessary, to stay out on strike for whatever period of time it takes, to get the wages and protections against automation our ILA members deserve, Daggett said in the statement. They must now meet our demands for this strike to end. The alliance said its offer tripled employer contributions to retirement plans and strengthened health care options. Supply chain experts say consumers wont see an immediate impact from the strike because most retailers stocked up on goods, moving ahead shipments of holiday gift items. But if it goes more than a few weeks, a work stoppage would significantly snarl the nations supply chain, potentially leading to higher prices and delays in goods reaching households and businesses. If drawn out, the strike will force businesses to pay shippers for delays and cause some goods to arrive late for peak holiday shopping season potentially impacting delivery of anything from toys or artificial Christmas trees to cars, coffee and fruit. The strike will likely have an almost immediate impact on supplies of perishable imports like bananas, for example. The ports affected by the strike handle 3.8 million metric tons of bananas each year, or 75% of the nations supply, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. It also could snarl exports from East Coast ports and create traffic jams at ports on the West Coast, where workers are represented by a different union. Railroads say they can ramp up to carry more freight from the West Coast, but analysts say they cant move enough to make up for the closed Eastern ports. If the strikes go ahead, they will cause enormous delays across the supply chain, a ripple effect which will no doubt roll into 2025 and cause chaos across the industry, noted Jay Dhokia, founder of supply chain management and logistics firm Pro3PL. J.P. Morgan estimated that a strike that shuts down East and Gulf coast ports could cost the economy $3.8 billion to $4.5 billion per day, with some of that recovered over time after normal operations resume. The strike comes just weeks before the presidential election and could become a factor if there are shortages. Retailers, auto parts suppliers and produce importers had hoped for a settlement or that President Joe Biden would intervene and end the strike using the Taft-Hartley Act, which allows him to seek an 80-day cooling off period. But during an exchange with reporters on Sunday, Biden, who has worked to court union votes for Democrats, said no when asked if he planned to intervene in the potential work stoppage. A White House official said Monday that at Bidens direction, the administration has been in regular communication with the ILA and the alliance to keep the negotiations moving forward. The president directed Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard to convene the alliances board members Monday afternoon and urge them to resolve the dispute fairly and quickly in a way that accounts for the success of shipping companies in recent years and contributions of union workers. Krisher in reported from Detroit. Associated Press journalists Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia, Mae Anderson and Wyatte Grantham-Philips in New York, Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit, Josh Boak in Washington, and Annie Mulligan in Houston contributed to this report. Projections by the United Nations show that 68 percent of the worlds population will live in urban areas by 2050. Missional leaders with ministry expertise in cities and the market workplace discussed befitting general evangelistic strategies for the future at the Fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Incheon, Korea. The Missiological Engagement Session, under the title Gods Mission in Cities and the Workplace, also heard from some panelists about the success of specific work-based witnessing activities for the gospel, such as in medical care, art and commerce, within different countries to date. A key emphasis standing out from the public discussion before delegates however was a growing awareness noted within evangelical circles, reaching to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus, of heeding the importance of unity within urban-based churches and city ministries across the globe both now, and in the years ahead. Faith investor Robert Doll, holding a plethora of responsibilities as chairman of the Board of Directors for the Lausanne Movement, also chairman of the board for urban evangelistic catalyst organization movement.org - and a trio-role of president, chief executive officer and chief investment officer for Crossmark Global Investments, said it was inescapable for observers to note the importance of cities as mission fields, also considering the historic emphasis on witnessing within metropolitan areas contained in the book of Acts. More than eight billion people currently inhabit the planet, he said, with half of that number in cities - and that percentage will duly increase. Doll stressed that the significance of cities would therefore become more prevalent for missional strategies. Stay informed with The Christian Daily Newsletter Sign up God used cities in the early days of Christianity to grow the faith, Doll said. It is estimated that at the end of the first century there were about 25,000 Christians and by 312AD, when Constantine the Great [the first Roman emperor to become a Christian] declared he was a Christian, it was 20 million. The Christian movement is rooted in the spread of the gospel through the influence of cities. Today there are a multitude of evangelistic movements in cities, churches and associated Christian agencies, according to Doll, which are making a difference to the advance of the gospel. Collaboration thus stood as the pragmatic framework for unity, Doll expressed, alongside a Christ-focused marketplace leadership movement globally enhancing the faith in non-rural business environments. Our prayer is that every person in this Congress becomes an ambassador for Christ in their city, added Doll, and he issued a challenge to delegates: How well do you know your city? Do you pray for your city and are you engaged in your city? Doll appealed to those at the Lausanne event to weigh up the possibilities for supporting evangelical enterprises in cities, such as the work of Movement Days and how to collaborate with such organizations. The Movement Day initiative, of which Doll is the board director and which is described as a collaborative partnership rather than a formulaic organization, originated in the early 1980s. A concern about cities and prayer needs led fellow Lausanne panelist Mac Pier to found Concerts of Prayer in 1988 after InterVarsity and Heres Life Inner City sought God earnestly to move in Manhattan. At the time only 9,000 of the 1.5 million residents went to church. The movement grew into a 2,000-strong network of churches in the city, under the Concerts of Prayer Greater New York umbrella and then, with an emphasis on developing church plant leaders, The Church Multiplication Alliance was started by apologist, pastor and theologian Tim Keller and others, leading to a 300 percent growth of churches in Manhattan, according to movement.org. The resulting new leaders, not just in church but in the marketplace, led to founding of The New York Leadership Center to train them in 2008. Movement.org is the expanded focus of this work around the world, to catalyze leaders to spiritually and socially impact their cities. It complements localized work in New York by partner organization LEAD.NYC. A success has been Movement Day events, started in 2010 with the intention of encouraging gospel value relationships and ways of working within Movement Cities to help local leaders globally to address spiritual and social needs of cities. Pier told the Lausanne Congress that the last Lausanne Movement get-together in Cape Town, South Africa, was a transformational gathering. He connected with Tim Keller and fellow panelist Bob Doll at the time, which then helped formulate tactics for the cities of the Lausanne movement. As we've looked at what God has done over the last 14 years, we have seen God mobilize tens of thousands of leaders in cities all over the world, Pier said. As I think about the original vision of John Stott and Billy Graham, we see that coming to fruition as leaders are gathering city by city and making remarkable differences. However, a key question in the current environment is how to emphasize the importance of unity for city ministries, which is why ideally local churches should serve as exemplars. I really believe that division in the church breathes atheism in the world, said Pier. And I also believe that the unity of the church in the city breathes the aroma of Jesus to that city. Pier and his colleagues envisioned leadership teams across thousands of cities around the world in the next 10 years. He was also sure that the Great Commission of Jesus Christ is going to be fulfilled. An essential part of that achievement will be the unity of churches, again city by city, across the world. As a proof of concept, Pier said that in New York, church growth had boosted 500 percent from 1989 to 2014, with 60,000 people attending church in Manhattan, which were not attending church in the 1980s. That happened because leaders had a great intention of being united and working together, he added. And as we look across our cities, we need to ask the question, what could God do in our city in a decade? And are we willing to pay the price to unite the body of Christ in our city, so that we can declare Christ together? Another panelist Sonja Kazanjian, born in Syria but an Armenian national and now living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), recalled how Serve the City was the thematic expression for a Movement Day for the city of Dubai. It had its origins in the work of the late missionary Dr Marian Kennedy, who opened the Oasis Hospital, now known as Kanad Hospital, in Al-Ain in the early 1960s, with her husband Dr. Pat Kennedy. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and his brother Sheikh Shakhbut invited them both because infant and maternal mortality rates were too high and the city needed high quality healthcare. Known for both her love of God and focus on medical mission, Kennedy saved countless lives in Dubai, cutting drastically high infant mortality rates, as she and her husband developed hospital facilities and medical care in the city. Kazanjian said that Marian was so dedicated to the women in labor that she donated her own blood to keep them alive. This love for the people resulted in rulers of the UAE being born in the hospital, to the extent that it is now called, the birthplace of rulers for the UAE Nation. Marian Kennedy received an inaugural Abu Dhabi Award, given to her by H.H. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, who was born in the same hospital. The UAE became a globally known country that connects the east and the west together, said Kazanjian, and she recalled a Movement Day in Dubai in March 2023, which involved visiting church and ministry leaders from the wider region of the Middle East. We hosted thousands of leaders globally to come and learn how to love their city and serve their city in the Middle East. Kazanjian paid public tribute at the plenary session to the church and ministry leaders from the Middle East who supported the Movement Day in Dubai, some of whom were delegates in Lausanne 4. She said the leaders have kept witnessing for Christ in their locality, despite difficulties such as wars. This morning as I was preparing and praying, the Lord reminded me of Joseph of Arimathea, Kazanjian said. He said he took the body of Christ and wrapped him. "Today is a call for you to wrap the body of Christ. Joseph of Arimathea was an important person, like you [who were] invited to Lausanne. He was [also] very strong and did what he did. Lets wrap the body of Christ with love. JERUSALEM The Israeli military said Tuesday it began a limited, localized operation against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, opening a new front in its war against the Lebanese militant group. In a brief announcement, it said it struck Hezbollah targets in areas close to the Israeli border, and air force and artillery units carried out attacks to support the ground forces. It gave no details on how long the operation would last. A few hours ago, the IDF began limited, localized and targeted ground raids, it said. These targets are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel. The incursion came shortly after it was approved by Israeli political leaders and marked a new stage in Israels war against Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militant group. Meanwhile, the Pentagon said Monday the U.S. will send a few thousand troops to the Middle East to bolster security and to defend Israel if necessary. The additional forces would raise the number of troops in the region to as many as 43,000. The increased presence will involve multiple fighter jet and attack aircraft squadrons, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters. U.S. officials said the total includes small numbers of other troops to augment the presence as well. Earlier, U.S. officials said Israel had launched small ground raids against Hezbollah and sealed off communities along its northern border on Monday as Israeli artillery pounded southern Lebanon. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Israel informed the U.S. about the raids, which he said were described as limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border. The sounds of airstrikes were heard throughout Beirut and smoke rose from the capital's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence, shortly after Israel ordered residents of three buildings to evacuate. There were no reports of direct clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants, who last engaged in ground combat on Lebanese soil during a monthlong war in 2006. Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire almost every day since the war in Gaza began, displacing tens of thousands of people in Israel and Lebanon. Israel says it will continue to strike Hezbollah until it is safe for families to return to their homes near the Lebanon border. Hezbollah has promised to keep firing rockets into Israel until there is a cease-fire in Gaza. Hezbollah vowed Monday to keep fighting even after its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top officials were recently wiped out by Israeli strikes. The group's acting leader, Naim Kassem, said in a televised statement that if Israel decides to launch a ground offensive, Hezbollah is ready. He said commanders killed in recent weeks have already been replaced. The man widely expected to take over the top post from Kassem is Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah who oversees Hezbollahs political affairs. Shortly before the Israeli invasion, the army declared three northern communities near the Lebanese border to be closed military zones, indicating that the ground operation was imminent. The army has heavily beefed up forces along the border in recent days, and commanders have said they are prepared to go into Lebanon if ordered to. Chris Coyle, a resident of northern Israel, said the army had erected gates and checkpoints throughout the region and positioned scores of tanks along the border in recent days. Theyre certainly getting ready to go in, he said. In the nearby Golan Heights, an Associated Press reporter heard Israeli artillery fire and explosions in southern Lebanon. Israeli forces also fired flares into Lebanon. An AP reporter in the southern Lebanon town of Marjayoun reported sounds of heavy shelling and explosions and occasional airstrikes coming from areas closer to the border. Israeli strikes in recent weeks have hit what the military says are thousands of militant targets across large parts of Lebanon. More than 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry. Hezbollah significantly increased its rocket attacks in the past week to several hundred daily, but most were intercepted or fell in open areas. There have been no fatalities since two soldiers were killed near the border on Sept. 19. But Hezbollahs capabilities remain unclear. It's possible Hezbollah is holding back to save resources for a bigger battle. But the militant group might also be in disarray after Israeli intelligence apparently penetrated its highest levels. Some European countries began pulling their diplomats and citizens out of Lebanon on Monday. Germany sent a military plane to evacuate diplomats relatives and others. Bulgaria sent a government jet to get the first group of its citizens out. Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles into northern Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack from Gaza into Israel sparked the war in the Palestinian territory. When colleges adapt to meet accessibility needs, they're met with students who thrive, data shows When colleges adapt to meet accessibility needs, they're met with students who thrive, data shows Stigma, lack of awareness make students reluctant to access services Digital accessibility improves perception, understanding, operability Setting the bar for accommodations DES MOINES The American Red Cross has launched a massive relief response following Hurricane Helene, which caused destruction across the Southeast. The Red Cross has deployed more than 45 emergency response vehicles to get help to where needed and about two dozen more are en route, according to a news release. Almost 1,400 disaster workers are helping with more on their way. Included among the volunteers supporting the response are 15 from Iowa. Where it is safe to do so, Red Cross disaster responders are aboard these vehicles, traveling throughout affected communities, assessing the damage and distributing meals and relief supplies. Right now, the Red Cross is working with partners to meet the urgent needs of those affected by providing safe shelter, food, emotional support and health services. How to help Thousands of people affected by Hurricane Helene need help now. Go online to redcross.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767) to make a financial donations. Individuals can also text the word HELENE to 90999 to make a donation. Donations enable the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from this disaster. Ninety percent of the Red Cross workforce is volunteers, the release said. Those interested in making a difference at home or across the country can visit redcross.org/volunteer to learn how to become a volunteer. There are opportunities to help locally or deploy to large disasters in other parts of the country. A variety of positions are available. The Red Cross will help people find the right opportunity, based on the individuals skills, interests and availability. This storm has also canceled blood drives throughout the affected region, causing more than 1,500 blood donations to go uncollected. Those outside the affected areas are encouraged to schedule a blood donation appointment now by visiting RedCrossBlood.org or using the Blood Donor App to help restock the shelves. Through its national inventory, the Red Cross has the ability to move blood wherever and whenever it is needed most. Hurricane Helene inundates the southeastern US INCHEON, South Korea In his 54th year in ministry, Rick Warren, founder of Saddleback Church, declared at the Fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization that he would spend the next 10 years of his life continuing to help church leaders finish their race and fulfill the Great Commission in their lifetime. Following an in-depth group discussion with delegates at Lausanne 4 earlier last week in which he detailed how pastors and church leaders can witness the exponential growth of believers like that seen by the first century Church simply by modeling Jesus, he shared with the thousands of delegates on Saturday 10 action steps from Acts Chapters 1 and 2 to evangelize the lost. Warren, who attended his first Lausanne when he was 20 years old, told those younger than 40 to look to those around them who are 40 and older because theyre going to need those individuals with experience to help them as mentors, models, partners and friends in order to finish their God-given assignments. Heres the list of the 10 action steps Warren shared at Lausanne 4: 1. Pray for Gods power Stay informed with The Christian Daily Newsletter Sign up Number one, we must pray for God's power. Prayer is mentioned many times in the book of Acts. Friends, when we start praying like they prayed in Acts, we'll start having the power like they had in Acts. There's a direct connection between prayer and power. Much prayer, much power. Little prayer, little power. No prayer, no power, said Warren, who retired from Saddleback Church in California in 2022. 2. Translate God's Word for everyone Number two, we must translate God's word for everyone, said Warren, who shared that hes devoted his life to fulfilling the Great Commission and training other church leaders to complete their calling well. God's Word is alive. God's Word is transforming. Gods Word changes lives. But we have to put it in words that everybody understands. We must translate God's Word for everyone. And sadly, there's still thousands, even millions, of people who don't have a Bible in their translation. That's part of our next action step. At Pentecost, God showed the importance of translation because he did a translation miracle with tongues. He reversed Genesis 11, the Tower of Babel, at Pentecost. We must translate God's word for everyone, Warren reiterated. 3. Appreciate our diversity Number three, we must appreciate our diversity. Not tolerate it, not accept it, but be proud of it. Love it, celebrate it. We need to do this because, number one, diversity is God's idea. He made us all different. The person who doesn't like diversity is basically saying, God, you made a mistake. Why didn't you make everybody like me? That's the hype of pride. We must celebrate and enjoy and grow on our diversity because diversity in ministry is a strength of the Church, not a weakness. Why? It takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people, he stressed. He (God) wants unity. He doesn't want uniformity. The only way we'll ever have unity is to love diversity. 4. Train every believer to preach the Good News Number four, we must train every believer to preach the Good News. At Pentecost, Peter had to quote Joel, the prophet, in order to explain why women were preaching at Pentecost. And here's what he says in Acts 2:14-18, I will pour out my spirit on everyone, your sons and daughters will preach, your young men will see visions, and your old men will have dreams that's intergenerational and all my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my spirit and they will preach. He continued, In 2003 at Saddleback Church, we launched an every member campaign that every member in our church would go to the mission field and plant a church. We took the five things that Jesus did, and we called the Peace Plan: Proclaim the Good News, equip every believer and alleviate suffering that's poverty, disease, illiteracy and contend in prayer as we fight battles on our knees and establish churches. Over seven years, I sent out 26,869 of my members to plant a church in every nation of the world. We're the only church in Christian history to plant a church in 197 nations. This was done by normal people. If you're a pastor, I would be honored to teach you how to do it. Your church can send missionaries around the world. You could mobilize. My goal is to help you turn an audience into an army, to turn spectators into participators, to turn consumers into contributors, and to turn members into missionaries and ministers. 5. Apply God's Word to ourselves to finish the task Number five, we must apply God's Word to ourselves to finish the task. We're going to have to practice what we preach, Warren emphasized. Jesus says, go and do likewise. James says, be a doer. The Word, the Great Commission, says, teach them to do everything I command, not teach them to know the problem with the Church today. We know more than we're doing, and there's a certain kind of preaching that will help people become doers of the Word. He added that we must apply God's word for ourselves." "You want an example of this? Look at Peter's message in Acts Chapter 2. He started responding to a question of the people. They said, what does this mean? And his sermon ended by telling people what to do. When the people heard Peter's words, they asked, What shall we do? That's what your sermon should be. Start with what does it mean and end with what should I do from today? A lot of messages at the end, they're still going, What does it mean? Teach people to be doers of the Word, to train people on how to be a doer. 6. Model love to the world "Number six, we must model love to the world," Warren said. "Love always attracts. My definition of evangelism is, you build a bridge of love between your heart and theirs, and Jesus walks across. Growing churches love, loving churches grow, he added. If you have a church that genuinely loves lost people, you'd have to lock the doors to keep people out. Now, a lot of people say, we love everybody we already know that's not loving church. 7. Return to using homes Number seven, we must return to using homes, Warren advised, calling this the fastest community growth movement of [the] Christian Church. His own church, he said, grew 50% in a decade before it ever had a church building. We had no church buildings. I wanted to prove you don't have to have a church building to grow a church, so Saddleback went 13 years without a building. We had over 10,000 people coming every week before we built our first building. Don't tell me you have to have a building to grow a church. The fastest growth was through homes. We [need to] go back to that. 8. Worship must become a joyful witness Number eight, our worship must become a joyful witness," he said. "And all I'll say about this is that worship, when celebrated, attracts unbelievers just like they like to go to concerts. 9. Share everything Number nine, we must share everything to work together, Warren said, citing Acts Chapter 2:44. Verse 44 says all the believers shared everything with each other. All these things are teaching. This is real collaboration, to co-labor. 10. Make financial sacrifices Number 10, we must make financial sacrifices, Warren said with conviction. Verse 45 says they would sell their land and the things they owned in order to give the money to those who needed it. These are things that every one of you can do tomorrow on your way home from Lausanne, he told the delegates who gathered in-person on the last day of the week-long conference. Lausanne 4 brought together over 5,000 Christians from over 200 countries to South Korea for a week of collaborating and strategizing for global missions. Lausanne 4 was held around the theme of "Let the Church Declare and Display Christ Together." It was supported by hundreds of Korean churches and thousands of individual Korean Christians who signed up to pray for or volunteer their time at the Songdo Convensia. Originally published by the Christian Post. https://skurlatov.ru/2024/02/20/metodichka-dlya-vojsk-i-grazhdanskogo-na/ A manual for troops and civilians of the Russian Federation during the SVO by I. Skurlatov. Anyone who offers us capitulation in the SVO is an enemy of the President, Russia and the people WtR A manual for the troops and the civilian population of the Russian Federation during the SVO from I. Skurlatov. Russian Russians are killing Russians on their own, there is a civil war. The false message of the left-liberal party and the CIPSO. Russian Russians are actually killing animals from the ukro-Neobanderian junta, supported by neo-fascists from 60 countries from the New Entente led by the United States and NATO, who are trying to destroy Russians in Little Russia, in our native Russian Kiev, by unleashing a hybrid (so far) Third World War against Russia (it is also the fourth Domestic). Russians are saving Greater Russia, the ancestral habitat of our ethnic group. All friendly nationalities of the Russian Federation (Chechens, Bashkirs, Tatars, Tuvans, Yakuts and so on, including foreigners) help us in this. The vast majority of Ukrainians These are our Russians who are praying that we will free them from the junta. 2. We must hold referendums in Ukraine on the consent of some Ukrainians to be Russia. Nonsense. Ask the Germans why they did not hold a vote on the unification of Germany and the GDR? Russia is pursuing (should pursue) a policy of irredentism, that is, reunification by force and criminally, contrary to the decisions of the March 1991 Referendum on the preservation of the USSR, to the divided peoples of Greater Russia, who for a millennium rallied into a single state. 3. Ukrainians and Russians are different peoples. Lie. Were even genetically the same! GENETICALLY! Russian Russian language and Orthodoxy, a common history and culture, in addition to Kiev, the father of Russian cities and the Lavra, the place where Prince Vladimir baptized Russia. In some regions of Ukraine there is a local mova, as it is in Belarus, the Urals, the Far East, Vologda and Krasnodar, but in general, Russian is our common native language. We have one story and one fate, temporarily broken by the fifth column of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1991. 4. Russians are fighting for Putin. No. We are fighting for the existence of Russia under the leadership of the Commander-in-Chief, for the preservation of our ancestral territories, because in case of defeat in Ukraine, the Russian Federation will be turned into. 5. We do not want and have never wanted a war. Its just that the neo-Bandera Ukrainians (but not the simple Ukrainian people), fooled by the zombie propaganda of the pro-Western ukro-junta, were already ready to be the first to attack Russia in February 2022 according to the already prepared secret decree of Zelensky, agreed in the United States and the CIA together with European structures. 6. ITS conducted only through the fault of the enemy. They started the war. We are forced to defend ourselves. 7. Zelensky is a real devil and a psychopath, a drug addict and an unambiguous Satanist. Evidence of this is the daily demonic dances in temples seized by the junta by armed means, including the Kiev Pechersk Lavra and other well-known facts. 8. We are fighting for a just cause, waging a holy war against Satanic inhumans. 9. The enemy purposefully commits atrocities, we only by accident. It is necessary to disseminate information about the atrocities committed by the enemy as quickly as possible, explaining that such actions are peculiar to him. To distribute more photos and videos of our fighters with cats and children. 10. The enemy uses prohibited weapons, kills peaceful women, children, and prisoners, if not destroyed immediately, are often mutilated by cutting off limbs, castrating, cutting out eyes, etc. We are for humane military action, the frenzied Satanists of the ukrojunta are not. 11. Our losses are insignificant, the enemys losses are huge. 12. Representatives of culture, science, art and intellectuals, the majority of the worlds population support our cause. Only the Anglo-Saxons and their vassals, besotted with zombie propaganda, do not support. 13. Anyone who doubts our propaganda and does not recognize our rightness is a traitor or an enemy. I wrote a comment at ZH (Zero Hedge) and I liked it. That is what becomes of you when you post for 12 years straight.so I will post it here also. This is why I write so few comments around the web Ultimately you will all be censored Twitter just banned me for life also, but what did I do! ~Sarc~ I am a bad boy in Govs eyes I have spent many years being destroyed by the status quo and it gets tiring after awhile. I have always walked alone and still post alone after all these years. But everyone (readers and website acquaintances) scatters like rats when Big Gov comes after you.just like everyone will run and hide when ZH gets censored Get ready for it. I am just a little site that at one time reached millions of unique views monthly and DC destroyed me and burned me to the ground. I am surviving as a site, because I moved the domain to Russia and the hosting to Iceland. That stopped the lawsuits and blocking from guilty until proven innocent I started years and years ago on Blogger Blogspot and got banned there. Had domains on Godaddy and got destroyed there. Had hosting on HostGator and got banned there. I spent a year trying to survive with India hosting and got banned there. French hosting burned my ass. Russian hosting sucks but safe, dont try Canadian hosting and Iceland just saved me and WtR. By the way 1984 hosting is the name and you should understand what the 1984 is about I have been posting for over ten years and no one gives a damn, you all run when the shit hits the fan Tell me I am wrong! I wanna believe that we will stand up and get our country back and people should be ashamed that I have much more freedom in Russia as an American, than I do in America Hate all you want, but the truth is the truth. Another truth is any website that does not get censored is on the take from the status quo.I have been asked to change my tune and offered money to do just that I write truth, well at least truth as I see it, live it and experience it I gave up caring if anyone likes me a long time ago. I write for me not you and if you gather a spark of truth once in awhile, just maybe, you will see the light Have a nice day The Moscow City Court has begun hearing the case against 72-year-old American Stefan Hubbard, who is accused of participating in the conflict on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a RIA Novosti correspondent reports. Hubbard moved to Ukraine in 2014 and lived with a woman who later left him. He was brought to court by military police. The American faces up to 15 years in prison under the article on mercenarism. *** American Stephen Hubbard, who is being tried in Moscow for participating in the armed conflict on the side of Ukraine, was paid a thousand dollars a month, the prosecutor said in court. Hubbard signed a contract with the territorial defense battalion of the city of Izyum in February 2022, underwent training, and was provided with weapons and uniforms. In April 2022, the American was detained by a Russian soldier. *** American pensioner Hubbard admitted in court that he fought on the side of Ukraine against Russia for money, RIA Novosti correspondent reports. WtR Link below for Western Whatevers https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/american-pleads-guilty-russian-court-fighting-ukraine-ria-reports-2024-09-30/ Muslims who abducted a 17-year-old Christian girl and gang-raped her for 10 days are threatening her family to pressure them to withdraw charges, even as police have failed to arrest most of the suspects, her father said. The girl, whose identity is withheld as a rape victim, was abducted from her home in village Chak No. 87 Fateh Colony, Hasilpur, Bahawalpur District, Punjab Province, on Aug. 25, said her father, Taj Masih, a 45-year-old Catholic daily wage laborer. I was at work while my wife had gone to a dispensary to get her medication when our daughter went missing, Masih told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. She immediately informed me, and we started searching for her. After some days they learned that their daughter had been kidnapped by Muhammad Asif, Nazeer Ahmad, Muhammad Yasir and Muhammad Aslam and a woman named Nazia Asif who lives in the same village, he said. Masih contacted village elders and requested they intervene. Im a poor man and did not have the resources to take a stand against the influential Muslims on my own, he said. When the accused were summoned by the village council, they admitted that they had taken her and assured them that she would be returned to us. However, when they kept delaying her return on various pretenses, I filed a complaint with the police. Stay informed with The Christian Daily Newsletter Sign up Police on Sept. 5 found the girl, who told them that she had been gang-raped by Muhammad Yasir and Muhammad Saif, Masih said. A medical examination proved she was physically tortured and raped multiple times by the suspects, he said. Masih said that the police have arrested Saif, but that the other suspects are still free. I go to the police station every day hoping for justice but return home empty-handed, he said. He said the suspects were issuing threats to pressure him to reach a settlement and withdraw charges. They are threatening me to drop the case or face the consequences, but I won't back down, he said. They wronged my beloved daughter, and I will do whatever is in my power to see that they get punished for their crime. His poverty and Christian faith have made access to justice difficult, he said. There are about 25-30 Christian families in our locality, and a majority of us are laborers, Masih said. We are often discriminated against due to our religion, but I was not expecting the police to treat this case with such an indifferent attitude. My daughters honor has been violated, and shes been scarred for life, but it seems theres no justice for poor Christians like us. The familys attorney, Lazar Allah Rakha, said the attack and subsequent police inaction exemplified challenges marginalized Christians and other minority communities face in accessing justice in Pakistan. Her medical and DNA examination prove the allegations against the accused persons, Rakha told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. The police have substantial evidence to effectively prosecute the accused, and we are hoping that the court will order the police to arrest the remaining accused as soon as possible. Rakha, a prominent Christian lawyer in South Punjab, said that costs and lack of resources were the most prominent barriers for minorities in obtaining justice in Pakistan. It is the responsibility of the state to ensure that all citizens have instant and inexpensive access to justice regardless of their faith affiliations, he said. The majority-versus-minority rhetoric has forced Christians and others to believe that they will not get the same treatment as Muslims. Therefore, its very important that the government should act to remove this impression. 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. Vice President Kamala Harris is set to rally in Las Vegas on Sunday night as both she and Republican Donald Trump continue to frequent Nevada, looking to gain momentum in the swing state as Election Day nears. The rally is part of Harris' latest West Coast swing, which included making her first trip to the U.S.-Mexico border since taking over for President Joe Biden atop the Democratic presidential ticket, where she walked alongside a towering, rust-colored border wall fitted with barbed wire in Douglas, Arizona, and met with federal authorities. Harris four-day trip was crafted with dual purposes: She was opening and closing the trip with stops in the Sun Belt battlegrounds of Arizona and Nevada, where the vice president is trying to shore up support as Trump pounds her relentlessly over illegal migration. And her mid-stay in California was devoted to hauling in campaign contributions from donors in her blue home state. This race is as close as it could possibly be," she said Saturday to a raucous crowd of donors. This is a margin-of-error race." Harris said even if there is enthusiasm, she's running like an underdog. And she invited people to join our team in battleground states to help get voters to the polls even if it's Californians making calls from home. Her border visit seemed to get under Trump's skin. The GOP leader spent two days railing about Harris at two separate rallies, upping his personal attacks against her, claiming she was responsible for a border invasion," and stirring up unfounded fears that she'd usher in lawlessness if elected. On Sunday, former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake became the latest prominent Republican to endorse Harris and Walz. He credited them with a fine character and love of country and said he wants a president who does not treat political adversaries as enemies or try to subvert the will of voters. Flake, a longtime critic of the former president, joins a list of anti-Trump Republicans who have said they will vote for the Democratic ticket, not just refrain from voting for Trump. Among them is Dick Cheney, the deeply conservative former vice president, and his daughter, Liz. But Maryland Senate candidate Larry Hogan, a former Republican governor and a sharp critic of Trump, said Harris has yet to earn his vote, though Trump won't get it. In Nevada, all voters automatically receive ballots by mail unless they opt out a pandemic-era change that was set in state law. That means most ballots could start going out in a matter of weeks, well before Election Day on Nov. 5. Harris heads back to Las Vegas on Oct. 10 for a town hall with Hispanic voters. Both she and Trump have campaigned frequently in the city, highlighting the critical role that Nevada, and its mere six votes in the Electoral College, could play in deciding an election expected to be exceedingly close. Trump held his own Las Vegas rally on Sept. 13 at the Expo World Market Center, where Harris is speaking Sunday. She's gone out of her way to troll the Republican candidate, scheduling events at the same venue where he spoke, including Milwaukee, Atlanta and suburban Phoenix. During a campaign stop in the city in June, Trump promised to eliminate taxes on tips received by waiters, hotel workers and thousands of other service industry employees. Harris used her own Las Vegas rally in August to make the same promise. Fully doing away with federal taxes on tips would probably require an act of Congress. Still, Nevada's Culinary Union, which represents 60,000 hospitality workers in Las Vegas and Reno, has endorsed Harris. Ted Pappageorge, the culinary union's secretary-treasurer, said the difference between the dueling no-taxes-on-tips proposals is that Harris has also pledged to tackle what his union calls sub-minimum wage," where employers pay service industry workers small salaries and meet minimum wage thresholds by expecting employees to supplement those with tips. That shows us she's serious, Pappageorge said. Harris has no public schedule on Tuesday, when her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, squares off against Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance for the first and only vice presidential debate of the campaign. But Harris and Walz will campaign jointly on Wednesday, making a bus tour with various stops through central Pennsylvania. --- Long reported from Washington. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Most veterans who need care are getting it at home from their loved ones, and Congress should do more to support them, an AARP veterans expert told Capitol Hill lawmakers Wednesday. Speaking before the U.S. House Committee on Veterans Affairs, AARP Kentucky State Director and Operation Desert Storm Army veteran Troy Broussard told lawmakers that family caregivers are holding up their families and Americas long-term health care system. Members only While its a labor of love, it can also be overwhelming, both personally and financially, he said. Broussard called on Congress to pass a bipartisan bill that would provide a tax credit for family caregivers to help offset caregiving costs, and urged them to make it easier for military and veteran caregivers to navigate federal agencies like Medicare, Social Security and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on their loved ones behalf. Learn How AARP Is Fighting for You AARP is your fierce defender on the issues that matter to people 50-plus. Read more about how we fight for you every day in Congress and across the country. On average, family caregivers spend more than $7,200 each year on caregiving expenses, according to AARP research. But Broussard said caregivers of veterans spend 50 percent more than that an average of $11,500 a year because military veterans often require more complex care. In his written testimony, Broussard said military caregivers consistently experience poorer health outcomes, greater strains in family relationships and more workplace problems than noncaregivers. They often provide care earlier and longer than civilian caregivers because of service-related injuries. Family caregivers need commonsense solutions that will save them time and money and provide them with more support, he said in his testimony. Resources available but more help needed AARP has spearheaded numerous efforts to support veterans and their caregivers. Our Veterans Resources Hub helps veterans, active duty and military families find information about VA benefits, caregiving, fraud and more. With the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, we developed a caregiving guide and a mental health and emotional support guide for veteran and military family caregivers. Join Our Fight for Caregivers Sign up to become part of AARPs online advocacy network and help family caregivers get the support they need. AARP also offers a free digital tool to help veterans and family members navigate health benefits, including help available through the PACT Act for veterans exposed to toxins, as well as a guide to benefits for veterans who want to modify their homes so they can remain independent. We are doing what we can to help, Broussard told the panel. We try to make sure that veterans and their families get access to benefits that theyre eligible for, and know what help is out there, but we need more than a website. Watch a recording of the hearing, and find more on family caregiving and AARPs caregiving advocacy. Pastor Joakim Lundqvist, International Ambassador of 'Word of Life Church,' Illuminates the Darkness that Plagues Our World Today Charisma Media Sept. 30, 2024 LAKE MARY, Fla., Sept. 30, 2024 / In his book, Shine Your Light, Pastor Joakim Lundqvist encourages us to trust God, so we too can see the One and Only Light in a world of darkness (ISBN-13: 978-1-63641-397-6). "Almost every religious ideology involves a deity to be worshipped. But that godhead is rarely described in detail," Lundqvist said. "The story of the gospel is completely different. It is one about a God who has created you not just to obey and serve Him but to have an intimate, personal relationship with Him." Shine Your Light serves to not only reestablish the truths about God in your life but also to illuminate your distinctive, unique light that He wants you to share with the world. Through Scripture, our eyes will open to these truths: "God is light. All light. Only light. All love. Only love. All good. Only good. And that because He is, He can be trusted." Why does this reaffirmation of God's nature matter? Because God is light and nothing but light we can be certain that any darkness in our lives was not authored by Him. So truly, we can devote our minds, hearts, and souls to the One who lights our way. Once we accept this truth, God will shine His light through us to save the lost. Amidst the darkness of this world, Pastor Joakim Lundqvist also explains that there are New Age and Eastern religions who have altered the word, "light," to terms like "enlightenment" and "enlightened." Light equals clarity; however, these religions are anything but clear. In turn, "God is the true light a light that reveals and enables us to see and know His nature, His goodness and love, and allows us the knowledge and assurance we need to trust Him, surrender to Him completely, and live our lives for His glory." Once you open your eyes to the Light of the Lord, what is the next step? Trust God! Joakim Lundqvist serves as pastor and international ambassador of Word of Life Church in Uppsala, Sweden. Even in this highly secularized nation, it has grown to a megachurch and become the launchpad of more than nine hundred churches in Europe, Russia, Central Asia, the Middle East, India, and beyond. Word of Life's oneyear Bible school has graduated more than 37,000 students worldwide. Joakim Lundqvist is a highly esteemed speaker, having inspired millions of believers in more than fifty nations to make a difference for Jesus in their world. He is the author of four books translated into several languages. He and his wife, Maria, married in 1987 and have two daughters, one soninlaw, and two grandsons. Learn more about Lundqvist X: @joakimlundqvist Facebook: @Joakim-Lundqvist YouTube: @Life.Church Instagram: @joakiml Title: Shine Your Light: Discover Your Unique Call to Illuminate the World With God's Love| Release Date: October 1, 2024 | Retail: $19.99 | ISBN-13: 9781636413976 | E-Book ISBN: 9781636413983 | Binding: Trade Paper | Size: 5.5" x 8.25" x .56" | Page Count: 224 | Hometown: Uppsala, Sweden; Baton Rouge, LA | BISAC Category: RELIGION / Christian Living / Inspirational, RELIGION / Christian Living / Personal Growth, RELIGION / Christian Living / Spiritual Growth To interview Lundqvist or for a review copy, please contact SOURCE Charisma Media Share Tweet NEWS PROVIDED BYCharisma MediaSept. 30, 2024LAKE MARY, Fla., Sept. 30, 2024 / Christian Newswire / -- Pastor Joakim Lundqvist went through his own period of darkness; however, after seeing the Light of the Lord during a youth revival event, his eyes were opened.In his book, Shine Your Light, Pastor Joakim Lundqvist encourages us to trust God, so we too can see the One and Only Light in a world of darkness (ISBN-13: 978-1-63641-397-6)."Almost every religious ideology involves a deity to be worshipped. But that godhead is rarely described in detail," Lundqvist said. "The story of the gospel is completely different. It is one about a God who has created you not just to obey and serve Him but to have an intimate, personal relationship with Him."Shine Your Light serves to not only reestablish the truths about God in your life but also to illuminate your distinctive, unique light that He wants you to share with the world.Through Scripture, our eyes will open to these truths: "God is light. All light. Only light. All love. Only love. All good. Only good. And that because He is, He can be trusted."Why does this reaffirmation of God's nature matter? Because God is light and nothing but light we can be certain that any darkness in our lives was not authored by Him. So truly, we can devote our minds, hearts, and souls to the One who lights our way. Once we accept this truth, God will shine His light through us to save the lost.Amidst the darkness of this world, Pastor Joakim Lundqvist also explains that there are New Age and Eastern religions who have altered the word, "light," to terms like "enlightenment" and "enlightened." Light equals clarity; however, these religions are anything but clear. In turn, "God is the true light a light that reveals and enables us to see and know His nature, His goodness and love, and allows us the knowledge and assurance we need to trust Him, surrender to Him completely, and live our lives for His glory."Once you open your eyes to the Light of the Lord, what is the next step? Trust God!serves as pastor and international ambassador of Word of Life Church in Uppsala, Sweden. Even in this highly secularized nation, it has grown to a megachurch and become the launchpad of more than nine hundred churches in Europe, Russia, Central Asia, the Middle East, India, and beyond. Word of Life's oneyear Bible school has graduated more than 37,000 students worldwide. Joakim Lundqvist is a highly esteemed speaker, having inspired millions of believers in more than fifty nations to make a difference for Jesus in their world. He is the author of four books translated into several languages. He and his wife, Maria, married in 1987 and have two daughters, one soninlaw, and two grandsons.X: @joakimlundqvistFacebook: @Joakim-LundqvistYouTube: @Life.ChurchInstagram: @joakimlTitle: Shine Your Light: Discover Your Unique Call to Illuminate the World With God's Love| Release Date: October 1, 2024 | Retail: $19.99 | ISBN-13: 9781636413976 | E-Book ISBN: 9781636413983 | Binding: Trade Paper | Size: 5.5" x 8.25" x .56" | Page Count: 224 | Hometown: Uppsala, Sweden; Baton Rouge, LA | BISAC Category: RELIGION / Christian Living / Inspirational, RELIGION / Christian Living / Personal Growth, RELIGION / Christian Living / Spiritual GrowthTo interview Lundqvist or for a review copy, please contact media@charismamedia.com SOURCE Charisma Media Total solar eclipse. Credit: Pavel Starha, Aneta Zatocilova, Miloslav Duckmuller. Scientists are working on the launch of a spacecraft mission which will allow them to view the Suns atmosphere in more detail than ever before. The proposed MESOM mission (Moon-Enabled Solar Occultation Mission) will enable an international team of researchers to study the conditions that create solar storms, leading to improvements in forecasts of space weather on Earth. The MESOM spacecraft will fly on a peculiar trajectory enabled by the gravitational attraction of the Earth, the Sun and the Moon, and will use the shadow of the Moon to re-create a total solar eclipse in space once every lunar month lasting almost 50 minutes. Total solar eclipses seen from Earth are much shorter and only last between 10 seconds and 7.5 minutes, with the annular solar eclipse in the Southern Hemisphere this Wednesday 2 October expected to last around 7 minutes. Creating a longer eclipse in space will enable the MESOM team to take high-quality images and measurements of the Suns corona, filling gaps in existing understanding of the physical processes taking place in the solar atmosphere that lead to space weather. Space weather is not a danger to people or animals on Earth but solar flares and eruptions from the Sun known as coronal mass ejections can cause severe disruption to power grids, satellites and other communication technologies on which modern society depends. Professor Huw Morgan, Head of the Space Physics Group at Aberystwyth University, is a member of the core UK team leading the mission alongside the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at UCL and the Space Centre at the University of Surrey. As we become globally more dependent on wireless technologies, there is a growing risk of major disruption to everyday life on Earth as a result of space weather. MESOM is an incredibly exciting mission which will advance our scientific understanding of the solar atmosphere and space weather to new levels, enabling us to provide more accurate forecasts and take mitigating action. In Aberystwyth, as members of the core UK team, we are closely involved in a study mapping out the feasibility of the mission which is due to be launched in the early 2030s. We are also working with international experts in solar physics, solar atmospherics and leading experience in solar-observing space missions. Dr. Nicola Baresi from the Surrey Space Centre said: Both solar flares and coronal mass ejections originate from the innermost layers of the Suns atmosphere, which remains elusive to current space-based instrumentation and can only be viewed in greater detail during total eclipses. By creating eclipses that last up to 48 minutes in space, rather than the maximum 7.5 minutes we manage to see on Earth, we stand a much better chance of unlocking their secrets. Professor Lucie Green from UCLs Mullard Space Science Laboratory said: "MESOM will offer scientists a unique opportunity to study and understand how the Sun creates and controls weather in space. But MESOM also offers the general public an opportunity to engage with the beauty and spectacle of a total solar eclipse as all our images will be readily available. We aim to reveal the secrets of the Sun whilst inspiring a new generation of space scientists and engineers." This project builds on world-class research in the Department of Physics at Aberystwyth University, including designing software for the Met Office to improve their space weather forecasting, measuring the speed of Coronal Mass Ejections more accurately and developing space instrumentation for the ExoMars mission. The MESOM feasibility study is a one-year project, funded by the UK Space Agency. Perth, Sep 30, 2024 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Great Western Exploration Limited ( ASX:GTE ) is pleased to announce preparations have been completed for drilling of the giant Oval Copper-Gold Targets in WA, with the programme to commence in approximately two weeks once access has been reestablished after heavy rainfall. - Tracks and drill pads have been completed, and experienced drilling contractor Blue Spec Drilling have been engaged to complete the programme. - Heavy rainfall has been recorded at Paroo Station, the property adjacent to the giant Oval Copper-Gold Targets, and access with heavy vehicles is currently restricted. Subject to no further heavy rainfall, drilling is anticipated to commence in approximately two weeks. - Oval and Oval South Targets were originally defined by a Rio Tinto EM Survey in the late1990s. They are coincident EM conductivity and gravity highs, located on the intersection of a crustal scale and basin defining fault, and within favourable stratigraphy of the Yerrida Basin for copper-gold mineralisation formation. - Modern modelling of a VTEM survey completed in 2012 found drilling completed by Rio Tinto failed to intersect the EM conductor, with the Rio hole terminated 70m above the conductor. - Great Western believes the multiple coincident geological and geophysical attributes of Oval and Oval South represent Winu and Haverion-style intrusive-related copper-gold mineralisation and highlights the potential for very large copper-gold discovery. The Oval Copper-Gold Targets are within the Company's Yerrida North Project, located on the northern and western portions of the Yerrida Basin, approximately 800km north-east of Perth and adjacent to the DeGrussa and Monty CuAu Volcanic Hosted Massive Sulphide deposits (VHMS), shown in Figure 1*. Tracks and drill pads have been completed, and experienced drilling contractor Blue Spec Drilling engaged. The drilling programme comprises four diamond drill-holes with holes ranging between 600 to 800 metres depth. Oval and Oval South share multiple coincident geological and geophysical features to the giant Winu and Haverion intrusive related copper-gold deposit, and drilling will focus on the co-incident gravity and electromagnetic anomalism at Oval and Oval South (Figure 2 and 3*). The Company interprets these coincident features as representing potential metal-rich sulphide mineralisation. The drilling programme will be completed in two stages, with two holes to be drilled at the Oval Target, then a short break in drilling to be taken to allow a down-hole electromagnetic (EM) survey to be completed. The EM and drillhole logging data will be assessed and the geological model refined, to guide the remainder of the drilling programme. Heavy rainfall has been recorded at Paroo Station, the property adjacent to the giant Oval Copper-Gold Targets, and access by heavy vehicles restricted. Subject to no further heavy rainfall, drilling is anticipated to commence in approximately two weeks. Oval & Oval South's Impressive Co-Incident Key Ingredients Discovery of giant deposits often involve the identification of at least three key ingredients that may define a potential major mineralisation system. Multiple significant key ingredients have been identified at Oval and Oval South, which greatly enhances the discovery of a giant Winu Style intrusive related copper-gold system, which include: - Co-incident gravity and EM anomalies - zones of dense rocks that are conductive interpreted to represent obscured metal rich sulphide mineralisation; - Magnetic anomalism at depth below the conductive high, potentially representing a deep intrusive providing mineralised fluids and heat to drive a mineralised system, possibly similar to the magnetic granite found at Winu; - Proximity to the crustal scale Ida Fault, a crustal scale feature stretching greater than 500km long, with proven fertility conduit for metal rich mantle fluids. The Mt Keith and Perseverance Deposits (nickel), DeGrussa (Copper) and Davyhurst (gold) are some of the deposits found along its length; - Intersection of the Ida Fault by a basin defining "growth structure", allow mineralised fluids to ascend and focus within suitable trap site/stratigraphy; - Favourable Yerrida Basin stratigraphy of the Johnson Cairn Formation for mineralised fluids to deposit copper-gold (shales, dolomites, siltstones), similar to the sedimentary rocks found at Winu; and - Position of both Oval and Oval South within an east-west intrusive corridor, a potential zone of weakened crust which in conjunction with the Ida Fault and GSWA growth Fault makes an ideal trap site for metal accumulation. Great Western interprets that Oval and Oval South's coincident geophysics anomalism, location on a major crustal mantle tapping fault intersected with a basin defining growth fault, and within favourable stratigraphy creates the potential for a colossal discovery to be made. The Company received approval for Co-Funding by the Western Australian Government under the Exploration Incentive Scheme (ASX Announcement 2 May 2024). The Company believes the government co-funding represents significant endorsement of the prospectivity of the Oval and Oval South Targets. A video further detailing the significant potential and technical attributes of Oval and Oval South can be found here: https://www.abnnewswire.net/lnk/076JQ402 *To view tables and figures, please visit: https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/G10179UW About Great Western Exploration Limited Great Western Exploration (ASX:GTE) is an explorer with a world class, large land position in prolific regions of Western Australia. Great Western's tenements have been under or virtually unexplored. Numerous work programmes across multiple projects are underway and the Company is well-funded with a tight capital structure, providing leverage to exploration success. Related Companies Reserves and Contingent Resources Statement at 30 June 2024 Melbourne, Sep 30, 2024 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Vintage Energy Ltd ( ASX:VEN ) advises an independent assessment of its reserves in its Cooper Basin Vali and Odin gas fields as at 30 June 2024 ("FY24") has been completed by Chris Dykes Reserves International Limited ("CDRI"), which is a specialist independent company that provides evaluation, estimation, auditing, consultancy and due diligence services for upstream oil and gas. Estimates of Contingent Resources estimates in Vintage's assets in the Galilee Basin and Otway Basin were provided by SRK Consulting Pty Ltd and ERC Equipoise Pte Ltd included in the statement are as published in the Company's 2023 Annual Report. The assessment of Vintage's Net Proved Reserves ("1P"), Net Proved and Probable Reserves ("2P") and Net Contingent Resources identified in its licences is provided in the tables on the following pages. In summary, the key features of the company's Net Reserves and Contingent Resources at 30 June 2024 are: - Inaugural classification of Proved and Proved and Probable Reserves for the Odin gas field. Odin was brought online in September 2023 for production appraisal. Gas produced from Odin is sold to Pelican Point Power Limited (a joint venture of ENGIE (72% and Mitsui 28%) under a long-term contract. Vintage's Net 2P Reserves at Odin are estimated to be 4.0 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) including 22.4 PJ of sales gas and ethane. - Net Proved Reserves of 6.3 MMboe, up 55%, chiefly through the conversion of Contingent Resources to Reserves attributable to Odin; - Net Proved and Probable Reserves of 12.6 MMboe up 45% from 8.7 MMboe, chiefly through the conversion of Contingent Resources to Reserves attributable to Odin; - Depletion through production during the year to 30 June of (0.08) MMboe; - Net 2P revisions of 0.7 MMboe; - Net Proved and Probable Reserves of 12.6 MMboe, comprises Net Developed Reserves of 0.5 MMboe and Net Undeveloped Reserves of 12.1 MMboe. The Developed Reserves figure does not include reserves attributable to the Odin-2 gas well which was completed subsequent to year end and is currently being connected to be brought online in October 2024: these volumes are included in the Undeveloped sub-class. - Sales gas and ethane account for 12.2 MMboe of Vintage's total 12.6 MMboe. *To view the complete report, please visit: https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/3XJPUVP2 About Vintage Energy Ltd Vintage Energy Ltd (ASX:VEN) has been established to acquire, explore and develop energy assets principally within, but not limited to, Australia, to take advantage of a generally favourable energy pricing outlook. Related Companies Commences Drilling on Andover South Lithium Project and Proposed Director Incentives Sydney, Sep 30, 2024 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Raiden Resources Limited ( ASX:RDN ) ( YM4:FRA ) is pleased to announce that it has commenced drilling activities on the Andover South Lithium Project in Western Australia. Highlights - Drilling on Andover South lithium project commenced - Program is designed for initial 5,000 metres of diamond drilling and at Raiden's election can be expanded to 10,000 metres - The initial 5,000 metre program is anticipated to be completed in November 2024 - Initial program is focused on Target Area 1, which is defined by high-grade mineralisation and wide, outcropping pegmatites - Further field mapping and target evaluation is ongoing to define further potential drill targets on tenements E47/4061 and E47/4062 (Andover South Project) Mr Dusko Ljubojevic, Managing Director of Raiden commented: "We are extremely excited to have commenced drilling activities on the Andover South lithium project. The initial program is underway with a single drill rig, with a second rig scheduled to mobilise to site shortly. The initial planned drill holes will assist us in defining the dip and dip directions of the outcropping pegmatites, which will lead to further drill confirmation at depth. We look forward to receiving initial results and will inform the market of the results as soon as they are received and interpreted. Andover South Drilling Program The drilling program at Andover South lithium project is currently underway. The maiden drill program, initially designed for 5,000 metres of diamond drilling commenced with asingle diamond drill rig, with a second drill rig mobilising to site shortly. The initial program is focused on the Target Area 11,2, which is defined by highly fractionated pegmatites, which are mineralised and have been mapped with significant widths at surface. Further target areas are currently being reviewed and considered for potential drill testing. The initial program is expected to be completed in late November. Results will be provided to the market as soon as management interpret and quality control the results. Proposed Director Incentives The board of directors proposes to put forward a performance share incentive plan for the board of directors at the next Annual General Meeting, which will be subject to shareholder approval. The performance share incentives are to incentivise and remunerate the board for their ongoing efforts, as the Company moves into a very exciting six months whereby likely four of the Company's projects will be drilled this year. The proposed performance rights will be staged across four meaningful milestones to align the boards interests with those of the shareholders. The directors and quantum of their allocation who will partake in the performance incentive plan are listed below. Full details of the proposed performance rights will be detailed in the upcoming notice of meeting to be lodged in due course and after the relevant regulatory reviews. To view the key terms of the performance rights proposed, please visit the link* below. *To view tables and figures, please visit: https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/6RO74ET9 About Raiden Resources Limited Raiden Resources Limited (ASX:RDN) (DAX:YM4) is a dual listed exploration and development company which is advancing the Mt Sholl Nickel-Copper-Cobalt-Palladium deposit in the Pilbara. The Company's portfolio host metals and commodities considered critical for the energy and electrification revolution. Related Companies 2024 China International Confucius Cultural Festival kicks off in Shandong 09:01, September 30, 2024 By Zhao Ruixue ( Chinadaily.com.cn Three educational programs were honored with this year's UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy on Friday night in Qufu, Shandong province, the birthplace of Confucius, during the opening ceremony of 2024 China International Confucius Cultural Festival. Sokola literacy education for indigenous Indonesians is awarded for combining first-language instruction with ethnographic methods and integrating syllables and phonetics to strengthen students' native languages. It extends beyond basic skills to include digital literacy, media literacy, education for sustainable development, global citizenship, and job-specific skills. Between 2021 and 2023, 200 participants benefited from the program. The "FastTrack" program from Nigeria includes a bilingual method of language instruction, teaching both the national language and the learners' first language. Since 2021, more than 19,000 refugees who have been displaced and out-of-school children across seven Nigerian states have completed literacy and life skills training. Illiteracy Eradication Project in Egypt expands literacy initiatives to include non-Arabic speakers, digitalizes its adult education curriculum, promotes digital literacy skills, and creates educational videos for all ages. The project has graduated over 130,000 learners and aims to address gender disparities in literacy and education access. Confucius Prize focuses on functional literacy, leveraging technological environments in support of adults in rural areas and out-of-school youth, Stefania Giannini, assistant director-general for education at UNESCO, said in her speech delivered online for the awards ceremony. "Once again, it's about putting an inclusion at the very core of our initiatives," she said. Confucius (551-479 BC) was a Chinese educator and philosopher credited as the first to set up a private school to enroll students from different social classes. His thoughts and ideas have had a deep influence in China and beyond. With the theme of Dialogue with Confucius: Mutual Learning among Civilizations, the 2024 China International Confucius Cultural Festival celebrates 2,575 years since the birth of the Chinese philosopher. (Web editor: Tian Yi, Xian Jiangnan) Hurricane Helene: Billy Graham Rapid Response Team Chaplains Deploy to Multiple Locations Throughout the Southeastern United States BG-RRT Press Kit NEWS PROVIDED BY Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (BG-RRT) Sept. 30, 2024 CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 30, 2024 /Christian Newswire/ -- Following the historically devastating impact of Hurricane Helene, the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (BG-RRT) is deploying crisis-trained chaplains to multiple areas across the southeastern United States. A Category 4 storm, Helene slammed into Florida on Thursday night before moving into Georgia, the Carolinas, and beyond. As of this time, the BG-RRT deployments will include: Tampa / St. Petersburg, Florida Perry, Florida Valdosta, Georgia Buncombe County (Asheville), North Carolina High Country (Watauga, Ashe and Avery Counties in North Carolina, and Johnson County in Tennessee) "It's heartbreaking to see the scale of the destruction from Hurricane Helene. In my nine years serving with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team, I've never seen damage as widespread. I know we are all praying for those impacted and especially those who have lost loved ones," said Josh Holland, international director of the BG-RRT. "We're sending our chaplains to offer hope and comfort to the weary and broken in the midst of this horrific disaster." The BG-RRT is deploying in conjunction with Samaritan's Purse, the Christian disaster relief organization which is also headed by Franklin Graham. Together the two ministries will address the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of those who have been affected. In addition to the Hurricane Helene deployments, BG-RRT chaplains are also meeting emotional and spiritual needs in Northern California (wildfire), Brazoria County, Texas (Hurricane Beryl), and South Central Louisiana (Hurricane Francine). Chaplains are also offering hope and providing emotional comfort and spiritual care to families who have been forced to flee their homes in war-torn Ukraine. For more information on the ministry, including videos, photos, news articles and an interactive map of former and current deployments, visit the BG-RRT press kit or BillyGraham.org/RRT. Updates can also be found at Facebook.com/RRTChaplains. Media Opportunities Interviews with Josh Holland, international director of the BG-RRT, and chaplain coordinators in the areas impacted by Hurricane Helene (where and when possible). B-Roll and photos of deployments (please use with credit to Billy Graham Evangelistic Association) Interview request form About the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team was developed by Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It has since grown into an international network of chaplains in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia who are specifically trained to deal with crisis situations. They have deployed to more than 800 disaster sites across the globe, including shootings, floods, hurricanes, wildfires and tornadoes. SOURCE Billy Graham Rapid Response Team MEDIA CONTACTS: Erik Ogren, 704-577-2109, eogren@bgea.org Lisa Moseley, 980-939-4377, lmoseley@bgea.org ABP News, one of Indias leading Hindi news channels, will be hosting the 'Abhiyaan Bemisaal, Swachhta Ke Dus Saal' conclave in New Delhi on Monday, September 30, 2024, marking a decade of the Governments Swachh Bharat Mission. This event will reflect on the significant progress and challenges of the nationwide cleanliness initiative, that has been launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 2, 2014, as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary. As the Swachh Bharat Mission completes 10 years, ABP News intends to foster crucial discussions among stakeholders for evaluating its impact and exploring the way forward. The half-day conclave will feature a dynamic lineup of expert panels and interactive sessions that highlight the contributions of cleanliness champions from various sectors. Thought leaders and practitioners will share their experiences, providing participants with valuable insights into effective strategies for creating cleaner, healthier environments. This collaborative atmosphere will foster dialogue and the exchange of best practices, empowering attendees to implement actionable solutions within their own communities. Through this platform, ABP News seeks to inspire continued dedication to cleanliness and sustainability by sharing success stories, best practices, and innovative solutions that have emerged over the past decade. By showcasing the tangible progress made under the Swachh Bharat Mission, the event will highlight how far India has come and outline the next steps needed to ensure the mission's sustained impact. The conclave also reaffirms ABP News commitment to fostering social change by utilising its vast reach to reinforce the Swachh Bharat Mission as a powerful and ongoing movement. The channel invites viewers to be part of this significant milestone and encourages active participation in the national cleanliness agenda moving forward. The 2024 edition of CMOs Charcha Bengaluru Chapter successfully brought together the countrys top marketing leaders to chart the future course for India Inc. Since its inception, CMOs Charcha has evolved into a respected forum, with chapters in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Bengaluru. This years edition, held on September 25, was around the theme, Revolutionising Marketing: The Fusion of Data, Creativity, and Technology. The summit explored how the integration of data, creative innovation, and advanced technology is transforming the marketing landscape. The world of media and marketing is rapidly evolving, with the lines between traditional and digital platforms blurring like never before. A panel discussion on Convergence in Media: Bridging the gap within different media channels for seamless brand experiences, highlighted the latest developments. Chaired by Akshaara Lalwani, Founder and CEO of Communicate India, the esteemed panelists included: Manasi Mody, Principal at Ipsos Strategy3 Amarnath Dutta, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at N. Ranga Rao & Sons Prasanth Naidu, Chief Marketing Officer at Moneyview Anuj Sharma, Chief Marketing Officer at Xiaomi India Ishaan Bose, Chief Marketing Officer at KreditBee Gandharv Sachdeva, Country Head, India, Hybrid Nitin Gupta, Founding & Managing Director, Asymmetrique The session began with Mansi Mody, Principal at Ipsos Strategy3, and then moved on to experts from the FMCG and fintech sectors, sharing their hands-on experiences with blending media strategies. Akshaara began by inviting Mansi Mody to share her perspective on media convergence, particularly in light of a report Mansi had presented earlier in the day. Very clearly, lets just in one line understand what convergence in media is, Mansi explained. Its nothing but traditional and digital channels coming together. She went on to describe the four distinct cohorts of clients based on their adoption of digital channels. These range from those who are fully immersed in digital marketing to those who are cautiously experimenting with blended strategies. Mansi pointed out that while digital channels like social media offer targeted marketing and engagement, traditional platforms like TV and print still have extensive reach. The challenge, she noted, lies in maintaining "unified and consistent messaging across platforms." As she put it, "You cannot have a brand with two different messages on two different platforms." Another key challenge she identified was tech integration, which requires substantial investment, as well as measuring the impact of digital marketing. Despite these hurdles, Mansi sees a blended strategy as a win-win. Consumers need an omnichannel experience. At the same time, brands need reach and engagement, she concluded, stressing that media convergence is not only beneficial but essential for success. The conversation then shifted to Amarnath Dutta, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at N. Ranga Rao & Sons, who shared his practical insights on implementing blended strategies. He acknowledged that his company, the makers of Cycle Agarbatti, operates within the fourth cohort, where both traditional and digital media play crucial roles. "We are living in an ecosystem which is like an omniverse," he remarked, "because consumers are shopping in brick-and-mortar stores while also shopping online." Amarnath emphasized the importance of micro-targeting. It is India within India. Who are you micro-targeting to?" He shared an example from Cycle Agarbattis campaign, which recognizes that consumers pray for different reasons. The housewife who lights two sticks of Cycle Agarbatti in the morning prays for health, wealth, and happiness. The youngster prays for a wicket in the last over. Understanding these different cohorts and tailoring communications accordingly is key to their marketing strategy. He also highlighted how the rise of e-commerce and quick commerce has impacted consumer behavior. Consumers are paying a premium for convenience, he observed. Amarnath spoke about their direct-to-consumer (D2C) platform, cycle.in, where they experiment with new products before scaling them to larger channels. "Consistency is the key," he advised, cautioning against contradictory messaging across platforms. Next up was Prasanth Naidu, Chief Marketing Officer at Moneyview, who shared insights from both the fintech and e-commerce sectors. I dont think there is any traditional, non-traditional media per se, he said, emphasizing that media should not be viewed as strictly old or new. Instead, he urged brands to consider where their consumers are most active and where conversions are happening. "You build for that particular platform," he said. "You dont try to force fit what you have created for a larger communication to work for a particular platform." Prasanth highlighted the importance of product experience in media convergence. He explained how Moneyview recently expanded its product portfolio to include offerings like digital gold and an FD marketplace. This shift required a seamless communication strategy that aligns with the consumer's purchase journey. "For example, a consumer can buy digital gold from us and then exchange it at the Caraclin counter for jewelry," he noted, illustrating how the communication follows the product experience. He also shared insights from his previous experience at Flipkart, where the Big Billion Days event served as an example of multiple media channels working together. Consumers receive messages from multiple places, he said. "Some are highly targeted, while others address macroeconomic reasons why people shop during this time." His takeaway? There is no one-size-fits-all strategy. Some campaigns require a common message across channels, while others need tailored nuances for different platforms. Anuj Sharma, Chief Marketing Officer at Xiaomi India, shared insights into how the tech giant tailors its marketing strategies to follow the consumers decision-making journey. Reflecting on Xiaomis evolution, he mentioned, We started off in 2014, and until 2017, our marketing spend was actually zero. We didnt have the money to spend, so we focused on influencing influencers and technology media. Anuj discussed the importance of understanding the consumers needs at each stage of the purchasing process, whether theyre buying a budget device or a premium product. He explained that Xiaomis marketing strategy begins with public relations and influencer engagement, followed by targeted content on platforms like Flipkart. He emphasized, For every product we have, we understand the consumers and follow that journey. What are they looking for at each point? We try to proactively address those questions. What stood out in his approach was Xiaomis consumer-centric planning. Our planning, for example, if weve got a launch planned for December, the planning is already in place. It always starts with the consumer. We are marketers, and we have only one audiencethe consumer. This relentless focus on the consumers journey, paired with constant iteration, has been key to Xiaomis success in a highly competitive market. Taking the conversation further, Ishaan Bose, Chief Marketing Officer at KreditBee, provided a deep dive into how data can drive optimization. At KreditBee, a fintech platform lending to professionals, data plays a pivotal role in creating effective marketing strategies. Every day, we get close to 50,000 new applications, and we need to create the right segments to understand where each consumer is coming from, he explained. Ishaan stressed the importance of segmenting consumers across channels to make sense of the data and create effective marketing mixes. The idea is to identify the right segments and use different channel combinations across cohorts to get the best conversion. For example, for some segments, a channel may drive direct conversions, while for others, it may assist but not be the final conversion point, he said. This meticulous approach allows KreditBee to optimize its marketing spend and ensure that each segment receives the most relevant messaging, whether its top-of-the-funnel brand building or bottom-of-the-funnel conversion efforts. The insight we get from this data allows us to decide how to use each channel, either as a performance channel or to build brand awareness, Ishaan added. Kicking off the conversation, Akshaara posed an intriguing question to the panelists, asking them to reflect on their experiences across different sectors. She was particularly interested in hearing about what has worked and what hasnt, without naming specific clients. "You both have specializations. One is more performance ad martech-driven, while the other focuses on creative digital. So, over to both of you," she said, setting the tone for a rich exchange of ideas. Nitin Gupta was quick to empathize with the marketers, acknowledging the immense complexity they navigate. "You guys have to be supermen these days," he said, referring to the multitude of challengesdata, tech, creativity, channels, and mediathat marketers juggle. Gupta painted a picture of the current marketing ecosystem, where conversion rates for e-commerce sites hover between 1% and 3%. He questioned whether such low conversion rates would ever be acceptable in offline channels. In his typical contrarian style, Nitin explained, "We are looking at a world that is actually not working together for the numbers to add up. The unit economics just dont work." He emphasized the need to rethink traditional marketing models, particularly the funnel approach, and advocated for a "full funnel" strategy that addresses the top, middle, and bottom layers with equal vigor. He also touched on a key issue facing marketers today: media fragmentation. "One of the biggest problems marketers are facing is fragmentation of media. You need to focus on the medium that works best for your consumer," Nitin advised. For him, a brand's success hinges on building a direct relationship with its consumers, and that relationship is only achievable with the right allocation of resources to the right media. Gandharv Sachdeva, reflecting on his early days in the industry, added an interesting historical perspective. "In 2008, when I ventured into the media industry, digital was just an afterthought. Clients wanted to take money out of digital and put it into print or television," he recalled. But over the years, digital has moved from the sidelines to the center stage, as clients began to realize its potential, albeit with a narrow focus on performance. Gandharv noted a pivotal shift in client expectationsfrom seeing digital as a purely performance-driven tool to recognizing its value in brand awareness and innovation. "Earlier, it was just about standard banner ads. Now, if you meet a client, the question is always, Whats innovative in the digital space? They want more than just performance; they want creative campaigns that push boundaries," he explained. Gandharv highlighted the rise of programmatic advertising and demand-side platforms, which have allowed brands to be more innovative in their digital marketing efforts. Yet, despite the push for creativity and innovation, the demand for performance metrics remains strong. "Performance will always remain important," he acknowledged, "but I believe that awareness can ultimately drive performance. You cant have one without the other." As the discussion progressed, a common theme emerged: the importance of finding balance in todays fragmented, fast-paced marketing landscape. Nitin stressed the need for a holistic approach where performance marketing, branding, and innovation coexist seamlessly. "There are no real segregations between media anymore," he noted. "Consumers are flirting across every medium possible. You have to be where they are and spend where it counts." Gandharv echoed this sentiment, observing that while clients will continue to demand performance-driven results, the most successful campaigns will be those that blend performance with brand-building and innovation. "The shift has happened, and brands are moving back to focusing on awareness," he said. "But innovation is key. Clients are constantly asking, Whats next?" In this ever-evolving landscape, one thing is clear: marketers must adapt to the changing dynamics of media, consumer behavior, and technology. The insights shared by Nitin and Gandharv offer valuable lessons for navigating these challenges, underscoring the need for creativity, strategic media spending, and a deep understanding of consumer relationships. The discussion left the audience with much to ponder, as Akshaara summed it up by saying, "Whats clear is that the industry is at a crossroads. We must embrace both performance and innovation to truly succeed in todays market." Also Read: Kunzum Hosts Event on Convergence of Marketing and PR Epic Games, the creator of popular games like Fortnite, Rocket League, and Fall Guys, has announced legal action against Google and Samsung, accusing the two tech giants of illegally colluding to block competition in app distribution. The lawsuit centers around Samsungs Auto Blocker feature, which Epic claims was designed in coordination with Google to stifle app store competition on Samsung devices. Epic Games also operates the Epic Games Store, an alternative app marketplace for games and software. According to the lawsuit, the Auto Blocker featureintroduced by Samsung in October 2023 as an opt-in settingwas initially optional, allowing users to disable the ability to install apps from third-party sources. However, in July 2024, Samsung made Auto Blocker a default-on setting, significantly hindering users from downloading apps outside the Google Play Store and Samsung Galaxy Store. Epic argues that this move further entrenches Googles monopoly in app distribution on Android devices, as users now face a 21-step process to download apps from alternative sources. Epic's Allegations Against Google and Samsung Epic Games lawsuit contends that the Auto Blocker feature was part of a coordinated effort between Google and Samsung to undermine the US District Court's remedy following the Epic v. Google jury verdict. The jury had ruled that Googles app store practices were illegal, including its anti-competitive agreements with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) like Samsung. Auto Blocker cements the Google Play Store as the only viable way to get apps on Samsung devices, blocking every other store from competing on a level playing field, Epic stated in its filing. This coordination between Google and Samsung not only harms developers and consumers but also undermines the jurys verdict and ongoing regulatory and legislative progress around the world. What is Auto Blocker and Why Is It Controversial? Auto Blocker is a feature that now prevents users from easily installing apps from third-party app stores or websites. The process to bypass Auto Blocker is extensive, requiring users to navigate a complex series of steps similar to Googles "Unknown Sources" process, which discourages app downloads from outside the Google Play Store. Epics litigation emphasizes that this restriction directly contradicts the jurys decision in the Epic v. Google case, which found that Google had entered into anti-competitive agreements with OEMs to block competition in the app store market. Epic alleges that Samsungs recent changes to Auto Blocker are part of an ongoing effort by Google to prevent meaningful competition from alternative app stores like Samsungs own Galaxy Store. Google's Alleged History of Inducing Samsung into Anti-Competitive Deals Epics lawsuit draws attention to Googles historical dealings with Samsung, accusing Google of paying OEMs billions to limit competition. According to evidence presented in the Epic v. Google trial, Google sought to avoid competing with Samsungs Galaxy Store, even proposing a deal known as "Project Banyan" to phase out the Galaxy Store entirely. In 2020, Google signed a revenue-sharing agreement with Samsung. Since then, Samsung has allegedly refrained from entering into exclusive deals with major game developers or competing with the Google Play Stores commission rate, which stands at 30%. Epic asserts that these actions have effectively neutered the Galaxy Store as a potential competitor to Googles app distribution dominance. Epics Legal Demands Epic Games is asking the court to prohibit Samsung and Google from engaging in anti-competitive practices and to mandate that Samsung disable the Auto Blocker by default. Epic is also calling for greater competition in the app distribution market, asserting that the jurys decision in Epic v. Google must be upheld in full. The jurys decision was unanimous and clear: Googles agreements with OEMs to block competition are illegal, Epic stated. This applies not only to Google but to the device manufacturers that collude with them. Epic Games remains committed to ensuring that its legal battle with Google and Samsung protects developers and consumers from unfair market practices. Born in Kolkata, Rollick Ice Cream, the heritage brand from Prestige Ice Creams and one of the largest ice cream manufacturers in Eastern India, recently unveiled its latest campaign ahead of the Durga Puja festival. Titled #AddaJomeJabe, the campaign celebrates the anticipation of the arrival of Ma Durga among a group of spirited Bengali youth, blending modernity with cultural traditions. The campaign has been conceptualized by CYLNDR India, a leading new-age creative production company. Rollick Ice Cream is redefining itself in a refreshed and renewed way by relaunching itself with the #AddaJomeJabe campaign that spans print, television, social, digital, OOH. The campaign comprises a TVC and two digital films in Hindi and Bengali for the regions where Rollick Ice Cream is dominant. The campaign portrays a group of enthusiastic and vibrant Bengali youth reveling in the joy of puja shopping and pandal hopping within the settings of a classic Bengali home with wooden decor and pleasant lights. In every step of their journey towards planning for the upcoming Durga Puja, Rollick Ice Cream becomes a pivotal part. Rollick celebrates the Durga Puja vibes with them as they relish delectable Rollick Ice Cream cone together. The ad campaign positions Rollick Ice-Cream as an irreplaceable aspect of the lives of Bengali youth during this Durga Puja. It associates itself and becomes an emblem of the joyous festive spirit of Durga Puja that lights everybodys hearts and brings a smile on their faces, just as Rollick Ice-Cream does. Thus, whenever a Bengali youth thinks of Durga Puja or discusses about it with his/her friends, Rollick Ice Cream is easily recalled. In this way, Rollick has become synonymous with Durga Puja this year among the youth, especially among dessert lovers and those with a sweet tooth. Though shot in Mumbai, the ad beautifully brings out the essence of Bengal and the adda culture prevalent among the Bengali youth, standing up for its tagline #AddaJomeJabe. Watch the ad films here: Adgully spoke to Amit Paul, Brand Head, Rollick Ice Cream, on the relaunch strategy of Rollick Ice Cream, the thought and concept behind the #AddaJomeJabe campaign, the marketing/ media mix strategy of the campaign, leveraging social media, AI, and influencer marketing to promote the campaign, the festive marketing strategy of Rollick Ice Cream, its performance in H1 of 2024, future plans, and more. Could you shed light on the relaunch strategy of Rollick Ice Cream as part of which the #AddaJomeJabe campaign has been rolled out covering all channels? The relaunch strategy for Rollick is centered on bringing culturally proud East Indians closer to the brands essence of Feast from the East. As a brand deeply rooted in the East, Rollick creates new experiences celebrating the joy of familiar traditions. With the campaign, #AddaJomeJabe, the brand aims to be the sweetest part of every occasion that Eastern culture brings, particularly focusing on the excitement of Durga Puja, a festival cherished by young food enthusiasts who love the taste of their culture. The campaign #AddaJomeJabe was first introduced on social media, seven days before the full launch, with digital ads conceptualized by Rollicks digital agency, Verb Stories, and produced by CYLNDR India. Verb Stories conducted thorough research to authentically capture the nuances of Durga Puja moments and launched the campaign with the #AddaJomeJabe. The digital ads targeted a young audience, highlighting experiences such as pre-Puja shopping and pandal hopping. This pre-campaign phase was highly successful, achieving over 10 million impressions before the main campaign launched. On September 1, the full campaign #AddaJomeJabe came to life with a TVC conceptualized and crafted by CYLNDR India, complemented by OOH and print creatives. For OOH, the brand strategically selected high-traffic locations, such as major entry/ exit stations, shopping areas, and dining zones, all of which were particularly crowded during the pre-Puja and Puja periods. In addition to these traditional channels, the digital campaign expanded to OTT platforms like Hotstar, and also utilized Google Display Network (GDN), gaming platforms, and public sites such as Inshorts, to maximize visibility across digital channels. The relaunch and the #AddaJomeJabe campaign have been well-received, blending traditional and digital media to engage young food lovers and bring the vibrant spirit of Durga Puja to life across multiple platforms. What was the thought and concept behind the #AddaJomeJabe campaign? The #AddaJomeJabe campaign draws inspiration from a popular Bengali phrase that loosely translates to the scene is set or its going to be lit. The idea was to capture the festive spirit and showcase how Rollick Ice Cream naturally complements every celebration. Ice cream, being a universally loved treat, adds that extra sweetness to any gathering, and with Rollicks deep connection to Eastern culture, the campaign highlights how the brand adds the perfect finishing touch to festive moments. The concept seamlessly integrates the idea that Rollick ice cream becomes the icing on the cake at any feast, especially during culturally significant occasions like Durga Puja. This playful yet culturally resonant approach was designed to evoke a sense of joy and celebration, making Rollick an essential part of every festive experience. What led to the relaunch and to what extent the marketing objectives have been fulfilled through this campaign? Rollicks relaunch is driven by its ambitious goal to become the market leader in Eastern India by 2030. The #AddaJomeJabe campaign serves as a strategic catalyst, providing the brand with the perfect platform to reignite its connection with consumers while reinforcing its presence in the region. By tapping into the cultural pride and festive spirit of the East, the campaign has successfully positioned Rollick as more than just a product its a celebration of Eastern traditions. The #JomeJabe campaign has met its initial marketing objectives, delivering strong engagement and visibility across multiple channels. With over 10 million impressions on digital platforms alone before the full rollout, the campaign has generated significant buzz, laying a strong foundation for future growth. Through its integrated approach across Print, TV, OOH, and Digital, Rollick has effectively reached its target audience, reinforcing brand awareness and setting the stage for its long-term vision of market leadership in the East. What is the marketing/ media mix strategy of the #jomejabe campaign and how is Rollick leveraging digital media, social media, and influencer marketing to promote the campaign and to lead to greater brand awareness and brand loyalty? The #JomeJabe campaign employs a comprehensive marketing and media mix strategy, seamlessly combining traditional and digital platforms to maximize its reach and impact. Rollick has used a blend of Print, TV, OOH, and Digital channels to create a unified and vibrant campaign, designed to capture the festive spirit of Durga Puja. Digital efforts, spearheaded by Rollick's agency Verb Stories, have been crucial in connecting with younger audiences by showcasing key moments around Puja, such as pre-Puja shopping and pandal hopping, all tied to the #JomeJabe theme. A major part of this strategy involves the expertise of CYLNDR India, which led the creative execution for both the digital ads and the TVC. CYLNDR's team did a fantastic job conceptualizing and producing the TVC, as well as the visually compelling digital content, ensuring the campaign resonated with its audience across various media platforms. In addition to traditional media, Rollick is leveraging digital media, social platforms, and influencer marketing to drive both brand awareness and loyalty. Rollick has partnered with 12 influencers, each promoting the #JomeJabe theme across Pre-Puja and Puja activities like shopping and pandal hopping, with a focus on how Rollick ice cream adds the perfect touch to festive celebrations. Through this comprehensive approach, Rollick has successfully increased its visibility and engagement on social media, while fostering a deeper cultural connection with its audience. The blend of traditional and digital media, strategized by Verb Stories and enhanced by CYLNDRs creative execution, has positioned Rollick as an integral part of Eastern festivities, building both brand loyalty and long-term engagement. What are the plans of Rollick for the festive season this year and what is its festive marketing strategy? What does the consumer sentiment look like this festive season? For this festive season, Rollick is poised to capitalize on the high consumer sentiment and heightened brand activity typical of Durga Puja. Recognizing the surge in consumer enthusiasm and the increased competition for share of voice, Rollick plans to intensify its marketing efforts to maximize its presence and engagement. The brand will be significantly visible with its festive marketing strategy, including a robust presence in over 71 selling stalls located across 35 top locations during the Puja celebrations. This strategic placement aims to ensure Rollick ice cream is front and center for consumers seeking sweet treats during the festivities. Consumer sentiment during this festive season is notably high, with increased enthusiasm for celebrations driving a boost in brand spending and visibility. By aligning its strategy with this positive sentiment, Rollick aims to enhance its brand presence, foster consumer engagement, and drive sales, making the most of the festive seasons dynamic and vibrant atmosphere. What are the expectations of the #JomeJabe campaign and how has been the traction received so far? The primary goal of the #JomeJabe campaign is to tap into the festive mindset and significantly raise brand awareness. By leveraging the regional nuance of the campaign, Rollick aims to connect deeply with its audience, particularly the 18-24 age group, who are highly engaged with the campaigns festive theme. So far, the traction has been positive, with strong engagement metrics and a notable response from the target demographic. The campaigns regional relevance and creative execution have resonated well with audiences, driving meaningful interactions and interest. Moving forward, Rollick plans to further amplify this momentum through an ongoing influencer campaign that will extend through the entire Durga Puja 2024 period, maximizing reach and deepening engagement as the festivities continue. How has been the performance of Rollick in H1, 2024, and what are the growth projections, expansion plans and focus areas for H2, 2024? In the first half of 2024, Rollick has experienced growth consistent with the overall category trends. The brands performance aligns well with market expectations, demonstrating steady progress. Looking ahead to the second half of 2024, Rollicks strategy is to consolidate its position, expand its footprint, and deepen its market penetration in Eastern India. This focus will involve targeted efforts to strengthen brand presence and drive growth specifically within this key region. By concentrating on the East, Rollick aims to solidify its market leadership and capitalize on regional opportunities to sustain and accelerate its growth trajectory for the remainder of the year. Adgully also caught up with Umesh Bopche, CEO, CYLNDR India, who speaks on the conceptualization process of the new campaign #JomeJabe by Rollick Ice-Cream, the creative brief that was given to them, and the challenges encountered while filming it. He also sheds light on the message communicated through the campaign and its TG. Could you take us through the conceptualization process of the #JomeJabe campaign by Rollick? Rollick, a renowned ice cream brand in the East Indian market, needed a campaign that reflected its joyful and youthful persona. The #JomeJabe campaign, a collaborative effort between CYLNDR India and Verb Stories, aimed to enhance brand visibility and forge a deeper emotional connection with the audience. Our approach was to evoke nostalgia and happiness, using humor to showcase how Rollick ice cream elevates everyday moments. We developed relatable scenarios to ensure the campaign resonated emotionally with the audience and strengthened Rollicks bond with its customers. The #JomeJabe theme highlights how Rollick ice cream adds a special touch to both daily experiences and festive occasions. By blending humour with nostalgia, the campaign underscores Rollick's role in enriching moments of joy. CYLNDR India produced two digital films, scripted by Verb Stories, and handled the end-to-end production of the TVC, including conceptualization, scripting, production, and post-production. We also conducted lifestyle photoshoots for print ads in Hindi and Bengali, reinforcing Rollicks market presence. What was the creative brief given to CYLNDR and what were the specific challenges encountered while filming this campaign? CYLNDR India was briefed to relaunch Rollick, a 32-year-old heritage brand, through a dynamic campaign designed to generate significant buzz and drive demand. The goal was to create a strong media property that would seamlessly integrate with the Durga Puja festivities and extend its appeal beyond the festival. This required a 360-degree approach across all media platforms to authentically capture the festive spirit. One of the primary challenges while creating #JomeJabe campaign was to authentically capture the essence of Durga Puja while staying true to Rollick's brand identity. Striking a balance between cultural elements and modern storytelling required meticulous planning and creative execution. Despite these challenges, CYLNDR India effectively produced engaging content, including a TV commercial, two digital films, and lifestyle photoshoots for print ads in Hindi and Bengali, all of which resonate with the target audience and reinforce Rollicks market presence. What is the message that the campaign #JomeJabe is trying to convey and who is the TG for it? The #JomeJabe campaigns core message is ADDA JOME JABE, emphasizing that Rollick Ice Cream is an essential component of every joyous occasion. Whether its during Pre-Puja activities or the Durga Puja celebrations, the campaign highlights how Rollick enhances these moments, making them more enjoyable and memorable. The primary target audience for the campaign is young adults aged 18 to 24. This demographic is particularly engaged with the campaign's nostalgic and humorous approach, positioning Rollick as a key element in their festive and everyday experiences. Hyundai Motor Company celebrated a significant milestone today, marking 100 million units of global cumulative production. This achievement was accomplished in just 57 years since the companys foundation, making it one of the fastest in the global automotive industry. In honor of this milestone, Hyundai Motor held a ceremony at its Ulsan Plant in Korea. As a token of gratitude for the unwavering support and trust of its customers, the company delivered its 100 millionth and first vehicle, an IONIQ 5, directly to a customer. The vehicle rolled off the final inspection conveyor belt at Ulsan Plants shipping center during a special handover ceremony. The event also featured a celebratory display commemorating 100 million and 1, symbolizing Hyundai Motors commitment to pushing one step further with its past accomplishments as the foundation. Reaching global cumulative production of 100 million vehicles is a meaningful milestone that was possible thanks to our customers around the world who have chosen and supported Hyundai Motor since the very beginning, said Jaehoon Chang, President and CEO of Hyundai Motor Company. Taking on bold challenges and being in constant pursuit of innovation has enabled us to achieve rapid growth and will empower us to take one step further toward another 100 million units as a mobility game changer. The Ulsan Plant, which began operations in 1968, holds significant historical importance as the birthplace of the development of the Korean automobile industry. Notably, the plant produced Koreas first mass-produced independent model, the Pony, in 1975. Currently, the Ulsan Plant is a central hub for electrification, and the company is establishing a dedicated electric vehicle (EV) facility at the site. Each and every employee at Hyundai Motor has contributed to the accumulation of 100 million units through their hard work and dedication, said Dong Seock Lee, President and Head of Domestic Productions and Chief Safety Officer at Hyundai Motor Company. This auspicious occasion is just the first step toward the future era of electrification that Hyundai Motor will lead. This historic achievement follows Hyundai Motors continuous growth, fueled by the launch of the premium brand Genesis, the high-performance brand N, and the introduction of EVs such as the IONIQ 5 based on the dedicated electric global modular platform (E-GMP). The companys global footprint has expanded with production facilities in Turkey, India, the U.S., and the Czech Republic, contributing to record achievements including surpassing 50 million vehicles manufactured in 2013. Businessman Raj Kundra, husband of actor Shilpa Shetty Kundra, tells HT City that he has no connection with arrested Bangladeshi actor Riya Arvinda Barde. Riya Arvinda Barde, a Bangladeshi adult film actor, was arrested in Ulhasnagar, Maharashtra on Thursday for allegedly staying illegally in India using fake documents, officials told PTI. Reports claim she worked on projects done by Raj Kundra Productions. However, Kundra tells that all these allegations are 'false'. He says he is "deeply disturbed" by the news doing the rounds, "I am deeply disturbed by recent news articles circulating false allegations about me. These reports claim that an individual, allegedly an illegal immigrant, worked for me or was associated with one of my supposed production companies. Let me be very clear I have never met this person, nor have I ever owned or been involved with any production company that this individual has worked for." He further calls the claims 'baseless', which are harming his reputation, "These baseless claims are not only damaging to my reputation but are also an attempt to exploit my name for sensationalism and media traction. I have always conducted my business with the utmost integrity, and I will not tolerate such false accusations." He is planning legal action. His lawyer Prashant Patil states, "There are certain reports in social, digital and print media regarding some alleged illegal immigrant getting arrested by Mumbai police. The fake reports are linking the said alleged accused to the production team of my clients Shilpa Shetty Kundra and Raj Kundra. This is misleading and has been intentionally done to defame my clients. There is a clear ulterior motive of dragging my clients name in a controversial case for which my clients have no direct or indirect direct connection at all. Due to such mischievous act of creating such offensive content on social media , my clients are initiating criminal case with the cyber crime Mumbai police immediately under the provisions of Information and Technology Act." He adds, "Let me assure the public at large , as a lawyer representing Mr Raj Kundra and Mrs Shilpa Shetty Kundra. The criminals involved in creating a fake narrative with an intention to defame my clients shall be booked under stringent provisions of criminal law. We shall request for immediate arrests of such criminals who are circulating fake news regarding my clients. A separate suit for rupees 100 crores, for defamation, shall be initiated before the Honourable Bombay High Court against the media houses reporting this fake news." Advertising, Marketing and Media industrys apex body The Advertising Club has announced the Managing Committee for the current fiscal, i.e., F.Y. 2024-2025, at its 70th Annual General Meeting. Rana Barua, Group CEO, Havas India, South East & North Asia (Japan & South Korea) Havas Group India has been re-elected to lead the body. Speaking about the appointment, Rana Barua, President, The Advertising Club said, I am truly honoured to lead the prestigious Advertising Club for a second term. This past year has been an enriching journey, marked by significant milestones in a dynamic, ever-evolving industry. Together with my esteemed committee, we have made remarkable strides, and I look forward to building on this momentum in the year ahead with a fresh team and ambitious goals. The below members were elected unopposed. The Office Bearers of The Advertising Club for 2024-2025 are Rana Barua President Dheeraj Sinha Vice President Dr. Bhaskar Das Secretary Punitha Arumugam Jt. Secretary Mitrajit Bhattacharya - Treasurer Managing Committee Members include the below industry leaders who will play a decisive role in driving synergies and ensuring the success of all The Advertising Club initiatives: Avinash Kaul Malcolm Raphael Prasanth Kumar Mansha Tandon Ajay Kakar Sonia Huria Subramanyeswar S. In addition, given below is the list of co-opted industry professionals: Mayur Hola Pradeep Dwivedi Sagnik Ghosh The below list of leaders are special invitees and bring immense value to The Advertising Club through their expertise and deep understanding of the respective industry segments: Ajay Chandwani Alok Lall Amitesh Rao Lulu Raghavan Ashit Kukian Raj Nayak Satyanarayan Raghavan Vikas Khanchandani Vaishali Verma Partha Sinha will continue as a member of the Managing Committee as the Immediate Past President for the ensuing year. Also Read: The Advertising Club launches The TAC Academy with IPA qualifications Zee Bharat successfully hosted its highly anticipated dialogue series, Bharat Ki Baat, with an impactful inaugural episode in Noida, highlighting the crucial role of various Indian states in shaping the nation's development narrative. This series is designed to foster an interactive platform for discussing achievements, challenges, and innovative solutions across states, starting with Uttar Pradeshs significant contributions to Indias growth. This on-ground event drew a distinguished assembly of influential political leaders, business experts, and thought leaders from diverse sectors. Among the esteemed political figures present were Yogendra Upadhyaya, Minister of Higher Education (UP); Sunil Kumar Sharma, Minister of IT and Electronics (UP) ; Danish Azad Ansari, Minister of Minority Welfare (UP); Narendra Kumar Kashyap, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Backward Class Welfare and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (UP); Atul Garg, Member of Parliament from Ghaziabad; and Arun Govil, Member of Parliament from Meerut. These leaders provided invaluable insights into the transformative changes within Uttar Pradesh, articulating their vision for the state's role in advancing the broader national agenda. The dialogue also showcased prominent business figures, including Ramesh Agarwal (IAF Retd., Industrialist), Rakesh Kumar (Chairman of India Expo Mart), Avneet Singh Marwah (CEO of Super Plastronics), Yogendra Kapoor (Policy Expert and Economist), Major General AK Siwach (Retd., Defense Expert), Dr. DK Gupta (CMD of Felix Hospital), Dr. Ranjeet Mehta (CEO and Secretary General of PHDCCI), and Imran Khan (Expert in the Tourism Sector). Their perspectives underscored the immense potential for innovation and growth across various sectors, demonstrating how collaborative efforts can drive transformative change in India. At the heart of the discussions was the ambitious vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a developed India, passionately championed by Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath. The speakers emphasized that states are not just contributors but key drivers of this national vision, leveraging their unique resources and capabilities to foster holistic development. In his address,Santosh Kumar, Editor of Zee Bharat, highlighted, "The 'Bharat Ki Baat' series serves as a critical initiative to unite diverse voices in constructive dialogue around progress and development. By convening experts and stakeholders, we aim to inspire meaningful conversations that yield actionable insights. The enthusiasm and commitment demonstrated during our first episode reaffirm the vital role of states in Indias growth narrative." Karan Abhishek Singh, CEO of ZMCL, highlighted the initiative's broader impact, saying, " Bharat Ki Baat is a powerful catalyst for engaging citizens in their states' narratives. By illuminating the success and challenges faced by states, we aspire to galvanize a collective vision for a prosperous and developed India. This inaugural episode sets an inspiring benchmark for future discussions, and we eagerly anticipate what lies ahead." Presented by FMC and powered by Agarwal Packers & Movers, with special partnerships from Polyfix and Haryali Piping Systems, the Bharat Ki Baat series is poised to explore critical themes related to India's development. Future episodes will delve into the unique contributions of various states across sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, and renewable energy, emphasizing the imperative for collaboration and innovative solutions to tackle pressing regional challenges. Zee Bharats 'Bharat Ki Baat' initiative aims to empower citizens by fostering inclusive dialogue about the future of their states, and aligning local aspirations with national objectives. This series aspires not only to inform but also to motivate decisive action among policymakers, business leaders, and citizens alike, marking a significant stride toward a unified vision for Indias development. Supreme Court Grants Interim Protection to Malayalam Actor Siddique in Rape Case 2 The Supreme Court on Monday granted Malayalam film actor Siddique temporary protection from arrest in a rape case. A bench comprising Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma issued a notice to the Kerala government and the victim. This followed Siddiques appeal against a Kerala High Court decision that had denied him anticipatory bail. At the start of the hearing, senior advocate Vrinda Grover, representing the victim, was questioned about the delay in filing the complaint. She referenced the Justice Hema Committee report, which shed light on the harassment and sexual exploitation faced by women in the Malayalam film industry. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Siddique, pointed out that the complaint was filed in 2024, eight years after the alleged incident. On September 24, the Kerala High Court had denied Siddiques anticipatory bail due to the seriousness of the accusations. Siddique, accused of rape and criminal intimidation, claims that the female actor complainant has been harassing him with false accusations since 2019. The case is part of a wider fallout from the Justice Hema Committee report, which has led to multiple FIRs against other high-profile Malayalam film personalities. Coffee giant Starbucks has extended its reach down Mobile Bays Eastern Shore this year, and the owners of a pair of local coffeeshops are inviting caffeine-seeking patrons to participate in a free taste-test challenge. William and Elisabeth Hanes opened Provision in 2020 in the heart of downtown Fairhope, at 100 N. Section St. Its part coffeeshop, part wine bar, part breakfast-and-lunch cafe and also features a small high-end grocery section. In 2023 they opened a drive-through branch office, Provision on the Fly, on the north side of Fairhope at 23764 U.S. 98. Daphne already had a Starbucks just off I-10. Within the last couple of months, Provision on the Fly has been bracketed by two new Starbucks locations, both on 98: One on the south side of Daphne, one at the intersection of 98 and Fairhope Ave. RELATED: 5 fantastic coffeehouse treats you can find in Fairhope Hot on the heels of the recent Fairhope opening, William Hanes issued a challenge on Monday: While it might be natural to fear big corporations negatively impacting our quaint town, we are confident that we have something truly unique in Fairhope that cannot be taken away from us commitment to our sense of place and one another, he wrote in a Provision announcement. To embrace this notion, we invite you to visit the new Starbucks and bring us your receipt in exchange for a complimentary drink. All we ask is that youd post on social media and compare your experiences and drinks. Were having a little fun with it, said Hanes. Is there a catch? Sure. The free beverage offer is limited to the first 150 receipt-holders at both Provision and Provision on the Fly. So youll need to be alert and move quick to take advantage of the deal, which shouldnt be a problem for any coffee fiend worthy of the name. Full rules, as provided by Provision: Visit the Starbucks in Fairhope (Hwy 98 in front of Big Lots) or Daphne (Van Avenue location) and make a purchase. Keep your receipt as proof of your visit. Bring your receipt to Provision or Provision on the Fly and get a drink on us! Post about your experiences and drinks, tagging @provision or @provisiononthefly. Limited to the first 150 people at both Provision and Provision on the Fly. Offer ends October 14, 2024 We believe that David can triumph over Goliath, Hanes said in the announcement. In a video version of the message, Hanes added a note of support for local businesses in general: To all the Davids. For more on Provision, visit www.provisionfairhope.com. An Alabama man died after crashing in extremely rugged terrain while base jumping in a wingsuit in Utah, officials said Monday. The Box Elder County, Utah Sheriffs Office said it received a report around 2 p.m. local time Friday from a friend of the base jumper after the jumper did not provide any updates after the jump. The sheriffs office contacted its counterparts in surrounding Weber County and helicopters were deployed to help with the search. A Utah Department of Safety helicopter located the victim, identified as 27-year-old Alabama resident Jonathan Bizilia, about two hours into the search. Authorities could not immediately be reached for where Bizilia resided in Alabama. Tragically, it was confirmed that the individual had crashed and had passed away, the Box Elder County Sheriffs Office said. Bizilias body was found about 1 mile northwest of Willard Peak, described by the sheriffs office as extremely rugged terrain. Bizilias friend, who told authorities Bizilia was an experienced base jumper, provided helpful information on places Bizilia may have jumped from and flight routes Bizilia may have taken, which assisted authorities in locating Bizilias body. We offer our deepest condolences to his family and friends during this challenging time, the sheriffs office said. Donald Trump repeatedly spread falsehoods Monday about the federal response to Hurricane Helene despite claiming not to be politicizing the disaster as he toured hard-hit areas in south Georgia. The former president and Republican nominee claimed upon landing in Valdosta that President Joe Biden was sleeping and not responding to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who he said was calling the president and hasnt been able to get him. He repeated the claim at an event with reporters after being told Kemp said he had spoken to Biden. Biden accused Trump of lying about federal contacts with Georgia officials. Hes lying, and the governor told him he was lying, Biden said Monday. I dont care about what he says about me, but I care what he what he communicates to people that are in need, Biden continued. He implies that were not doing everything possible. We are. We are. The White House previously announced that Biden spoke by phone Sunday night with Kemp and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, as well as Scott Matheson, mayor of Valdosta, Georgia, and Florida Emergency Management Director John Louk. Kemp confirmed Monday morning that he spoke to Biden the night before. The president just called me yesterday afternoon and I missed him and called him right back and he just said Hey, what do you need? And I told him, you know, weve got what we need, well work through the federal process, Kemp said. He offered if there are other things we need just to call him directly, which I appreciate that. Biden said he will travel to North Carolina on Wednesday to get a first-hand look at the devastation, but will limit his footprint so as not to distract from the ongoing recovery efforts. In addition to being humanitarian crises, natural disasters can create political tests for elected officials, particularly in the closing weeks of a presidential campaign in which among the hardest-hit states were North Carolina and Georgia, two battlegrounds. Trump over the last several days has used the damage wrought by Helene to attack Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, and suggest she and Biden are playing politics with the storm something he was accused of doing when president. Biden is defiant about spending time at his beach house While the White House highlighted Bidens call to Kemp and others, the president faced questions about his decision to spend the weekend at his beach house in Delaware, rather than the White House, to monitor the storm. I was commanding it, Biden told reporters after delivering remarks at the White House on the federal governments response. I was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday and the day before as well. I commanded it. Its called a telephone. Biden received frequent updates on the storm, the White House said, as did Harris aboard Air Force Two as she made a West Coast campaign swing. The vice president cut short her campaign trip Monday to return to Washington for a briefing from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Trump, writing on his social media platform Monday, also claimed without evidence that the federal government and North Carolinas Democratic governor were going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas. Asheville, which was devastated by the storm, is solidly Democratic, as is much of Buncombe County, which surrounds it. The death toll from Helene has surpassed 100 people, with some of the worst damage caused by inland flooding in North Carolina. At the beginning of a rally in Las Vegas on Sunday, Harris said we will stand with these communities for as long as it takes to make sure that they are able to recover and rebuild. Trump, speaking in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, described the storm as a big monster hurricane that had hit a lot harder than anyone even thought possible. Trump partnered with a Christian charity to bring supplies Trump said he wanted to stop in North Carolina but is holding off because access and communication is limited in hard-hit communities. When asked by the Associated Press on Monday if he was concerned that his visit to Georgia was taking away law enforcement resources that could be used for disaster response, Trump said, No. He said his campaign instead brought many wagons of resources. The Trump campaign partnered with the Christian humanitarian aid organization Samaritans Purse to bring trucks of fuel, food, water and other critical supplies to Georgia, said Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaigns national press secretary. Katie Watson, who owns with her husband the home design store Trump visited, said she was told the former president picked that location because he saw shots of the business destroyed with the rubble and said, Find that place and find those people. He didnt come here for me. He came here to recognize that this town has been destroyed. Its a big setback, she said. He recognizes that we are hurting and he wants us to know that, she added. It was a lifetime opportunity to meet the president. This is not exactly the way I wanted to do it. Trump campaign officials have long pointed to his visit to East Palestine, Ohio, the site of a toxic trail derailment, as a turning point in the early days of the presidential race when he was struggling to establish his footing as a candidate. They believed his warm welcome by residents frustrated by the federal governments response helped remind voters why they had been drawn to him years earlier. Trump fought with Puerto Rico and meteorologists while president During Trumps term as president, he visited numerous disaster zones, including the aftermaths of hurricanes, tornadoes and shootings. But the trips sometimes elicited controversy such as when he tossed paper towels to cheering residents in Puerto Rico in 2017 in the wake of Hurricane Maria. It also took until weeks before the presidential election in 2020 for Trumps administration to release $13 billion in assistance for the territory. A federal government watchdog found that officials hampered an investigation into delays in aid delivery. In another 2019 incident, Trump administration officials admonished some meteorologists for tweeting that Alabama was not threatened by Hurricane Dorian, contradicting the then-president. Trump would famously display a map altered with a black Sharpie pen to indicate Alabama could be in the path of the storm. The White House said Harris would visit impacted areas as soon as it is possible without disrupting emergency response operations. She also spoke with Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, and she received a briefing from FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell while she was traveling. Search and rescue units of the Alabama National Guard have been deployed to North Carolina to help recovery from the devastating floods produced by Hurricane Helene, Gov. Kay Ivey announced Monday. In a press release, the governors office said Alabamas Fatality Search and Recovery Team, which includes 11 airmen, a chaplain and a chaplains assistant, are part of the force called up to duty. Hurricane Helene left warzone-like devastation in its path, and Alabama is here to lend a helping hand as our neighboring states begin responding and recovering, Ivey said. North Carolina was especially impacted, and without hesitation, I am directing an Alabama National Guard team, in addition to other first responders, to aid in the search and rescue mission there. I pray for the safety of this team and that they are successful in their mission to rescue as many people as possible in the devastated parts of North Carolina. The Associated Press reported that the death toll from Hurricane Helene stands at 121 across six states. White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall suggested as many as 600 people hadnt been accounted for as of Monday afternoon, AP reported. Our hearts go out to our brothers and sisters who have felt the worst of this storm, Alabama National Guard Adjutant General Maj. General David Pritchett said. This team is well-trained and well-equipped, and the prayers of our entire force are with them as they work to bring rescue to as many as possible and closure to the families of those we have lost. Alabama has also sent three swift water rescue teams and one cadaver dog team to North Carolina. U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala, on Sunday defended her vote against a bill that would have provided federal protections for in vitro fertilization treatment. In an interview with Fox News Sunday host Shannon Bream, Britt was asked why she voted against a Democrat proposed bill to protect IVF treatment. Britt said the legislation was put up as a show vote by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to stoke fear among voters. This is politics at its worst, Britt said. If you think about what Chuck Schumer is doing instead of putting funding bills on the floor...he chose to put an IVF bill on the floor for a show vote. That bill extended into human cloning. That bill did not protect religious freedom, something we have agreed is a bipartisan issue. The Democrat bill, introduced by U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-IL, would protect IVF access and required insurance companies to cover the cost of the treatment. After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade reproductive health has become a primary issue of concern for women as Republicans have restricted abortion access across the country. WATCH: @SenKatieBritt joined to discuss former President Trump's messaging to female voters, policy on IVF, the GOP's efforts to regain the Senate. pic.twitter.com/BBKokmom7h Fox News Sunday (@FoxNewsSunday) September 29, 2024 Britt introduced her own bill that would have prevented states from receiving Medicaid funding if they prohibited IVF access. Democrats stopped the measure. National attention was drawn to the issue of IVF in February after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are deemed children. Britt said Alabamas legislature and Gov. Kay Ivey worked quickly to ensure legal protections for IVF providers following the ruling as several hospitals began halting their services over legal concerns. But the Alabama Supreme Courts decision was based off policies Republicans supported. In 2018, a constitutional amendment in Alabama, proposed by Republican Matt Fridy, was approved by voters. This amendment added to Alabamas constitution that, the public policy of this state to recognize and support the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children. While IVF services are available currently nationwide ongoing litigation continues to threaten providers due to the matter of legal personhood. Mobile Infirmary announced that it will be stopping IVF treatment in December 2024 despite Alabamas legislature enacting IVF protections. The measures enacted by the legislature do not address the legal question of personhood. In light of litigation concerns surrounding IVF therapy, Mobile Infirmary will no longer be able to offer this service to families after December 31, 2024, Mobile Infirmary announced in April. A man found dead and decomposing in east Birmingham was shot, authorities announced Monday. Jefferson County Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates said the victim was a 40-year-old Black male who lived in Birmingham. His name is being withheld because authorities have not yet been able to locate and notify his family. The discovery was made about 8:15 a.m. Thursday by a person walking in the 3000 block of Jefferson State Parkway. The body was found in a wooded area. The passerby flagged down a Jefferson County deputy who notified Birmingham police. Initially the mans death was unclassified, but an autopsy showed he was the victim of a homicide. The Jefferson County Sheriffs Office and Jefferson State Community College campus police also responded to the scene. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama at (205) 254-7777. Muscle Shoals police say a Nashville woman was struck and killed by a vehicle on Saturday night. The incident happened at about 7:35 p.m. on George Wallace Boulevard between Patriots Drive and Sixth Street. Officers responding found Jamya B. Shanes, 25, lying on the edge of the roadway with severe trauma to the body. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Witnesses told police they were walking with Shanes when a dark-colored truck struck Shanes and fled the scene. Muscle Shoals police, along with Tuscumbia police, gained a description of the vehicle and a license plate number, which they traced to an address in Tuscumbia. Police said an Explorer Sport Trac with heavy damage to the front passenger side and hood, and what appeared to be human hair on the vehicle, was found there. Police took a 74-year-old Tuscumbia man into custody and plan to charge him with leaving the scene of an accident that has resulted in death. Our thoughts and prayers are with Ms. Shanes friends and family during this difficult time, Muscle Shoals police said in a statement. Authorities have released the names of two men killed in weekend shootings in Birmingham and Fairfield. The Jefferson County Coroners Office on Monday identified the victims as Traiquielle Raheem Chambers, 29, and Paul Justin Stanley, 35. Both men lived in Birmingham. Chambers was found shot about 9:30 p.m. Saturday in the 1400 block of First Avenue West. Sgt. LaQuitta Wade said Shot Spotter, the citys gunfire detection system, alerted West Precinct officers to shots fired. One of the Shot Spotter calls registered five rounds, the second 12, she said. Chambers collapsed in the middle of the street, surrounded by shell casings. He was pronounced dead on the scene at 9:49 p.m. Wade said the preliminary investigation indicates the victim was involved in a verbal altercation somewhere else. At this time, she said Saturday night, it is unclear how the altercation ended up at this location, Investigators believe Chambers may have returned fire before he was killed. There were witnesses at both locations that were able to police about the altercation. Stanley was killed earlier Saturday at a Fairfield hotel. Jefferson County sheriffs deputies were dispatched just before 11:30 a.m. Saturday to Budgetel Inns & Suites on Kelco Place on a report of a person shot. Deputies arrived and made contact with the suspect who was holed up in one of the rooms, said sheriffs spokesman Henry Irby. The alleged shooter surrendered a short time later without further incident. Stanley was pronounced dead at the hotel at 11:49 a.m. Irby did not release any details surrounding the fatal shooting. Formal charges against the suspect have not yet been announced. Anyone with information in Chambers slaying is asked to call Birmingham detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777. This is another installment in Birmingham Times/AL.com/CBS42 joint series Beyond the Violence. This project is grant- and donor-supported. Contribute to support the project here. USA Health University Hospital in Mobile usually treats one gunshot victim a day. And as gun violence across Alabama grows, including a mass shooting in Birmingham that left four people dead and 17 injured, hospital staff, gunshot victims and their families are in need of resources that will curb and prevent future atrocities. USA Health University Hospital recently received $1.1 million in funding from the City of Mobile and the Mobile County Health Department to erect a Hospital Based Violence Intervention Program. Practitioners say interventions at the medical center, right after someone is injured, can curb violence and retaliation, decrease reinjury rates and build trust with the community. In the hospital, gunshot victims are willing to share not only what led to their current injury, but the root causes that have made them vulnerable to violence, their lack of access to support, perhaps education, perhaps employment, Michael-Sean Spence, managing director of community safety initiatives with Everytown for Gun Safety, said. These programs help high risk individuals to change their life trajectory and achieve more positive life outcomesThats the real magic of hospital based violence intervention. Gun homicides are declining in the United States , down 13.1% since 2023 and 16.4% since 2021, a historic single-year decline, according to the Center for American Progress. However gun violence remains a dire issue across Alabama . People who are disproportionately impacted by gun violence often live in under-resourced communities. And the most high risk individuals are those who have been shot before. Research on survivors of gun violence found that they often get shot again, fatally . Experts say connecting gunshot patients with resources while they are in the hospital is key to curbing gun violence. Joshua Jones, the program director for the USA Health University Hospital Based Violence Intervention Program, said it is important for advocates to use institutions, such as hospitals, to build trust with and rehabilitate the community. If we can get them connected to the necessary resources, give them opportunity, spark that hope that they can go on and create a life worth living on their own, and that they have a network and support system thats willing to stand with them, then we can be effective in curbing youth violence, Jones said. He said he is excited to remove barriers within the hospital system to connect patients with the resources they need to live happier, healthier lives and engage with people who are at a higher risk of being shot or perpetrating a violent crime. Not only are you able to provide support to the individual shot, you can also connect the family unit, friends, people in their social network with resources. You might also learn of a desire to retaliate and you have a unique opportunity for intervention to prevent future violence, Spence said. Not only are folks staying alive, theyre going back to school, theyre getting jobs, and theyre contributing to their communities, and thats all because theyre getting access to resources in the hospital. How hospital based violence intervention works: Changes peoples lives When a patient comes in with a gunshot injury, surgeons work around the clock to stabilize them. Once the patient is stable, violence intervention specialists will assess and begin to establish a relationship with the patient at their bedside. Not just understanding what physical injuries they have, but their past experiences, their family or support system, where theyre from, all things that are going to help us to really get to know the patient on a holistic level, Ashley Williams, a trauma acute care surgeon and the director for the Center for Healthy Communities at USA Health University Hospital, said. The specialists will assess what resources the patient and their family needs. Patients will work with the hospitals medical staff, violence intervention specialists and social work team to establish a plan to be safely discharged and reintegrated. And the team does not stop there. During a six to 12 month long program, patients are rehabilitated and connected with resources to meet their needs such as financial assistance, child care, housing and relocation, mental health resources, workforce development and employment. The hospital will measure the success of the program overtime by taking account of patient reinjury rates, retaliation events, the number of hospital follow ups patients participate in, tracking what resources patients are utilizing, learning if there is an increase in primary care visits and analyzing hospital treatment cost savings. Its like a walk throughout their journey, Williams said. We want to make sure that they have that full circle, that ecosystem of violence prevention. USA Health University Hospital works with the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (HAVI) to train violence intervention specialists, commonly known as credible messengers , to work with patients. Across the nation, there are 70 hospital violence intervention programs working with the organization and that number continues to grow, according to Kyle Fischer, policy director with the HAVI. Hospital violence intervention programs have been successful across the South and in Alabama. At UAB Hospital, of the 102 gunshot victims who have enrolled in the hospital linked violence intervention program since its inception in 2023, only one person has been reinjured, according to Deborah Daniels, credible messenger, executive director and co-founder of the Offender Alumni Association . The Grady Health System in Atlanta has enrolled 359 gunshot patients since its inception in 2023, according to Jacquel Clemons Moore, director of Grady Hospitals Interrupting Violence with Youth and Young Adults program. Clemons said all of their program participants are connected with resources to feel healthier and safer. It changes peoples lives, Fischer said. Lack of funding is a barrier to erecting successful hospital based violence intervention programs and thus a barrier to saving lives. Click here to donate to the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention . More USA Health University Hospital Resources On top of her duties as a surgeon, Williams founded Project Inspire in 2018, to prevent youth from perpetrating or being victims of violence by empowering them through mentorship, exposure and education. Every semester, Project Inspire works with 10 local young people, ages 13-18, who have been convicted of a gun-related crime and served time at the juvenile detention center. We have conversations about what success looks like, how to build healthy relationships. We take them on tours so they can explore different career paths that they can look forward to. We help them with CVs, resumes, all of the real life skills they would need to really make that transformation in their life, Daphney Portis, program coordinator for Project Inspire, said. Williams said the program coordinators talk to the participants about what solutions they would like to see Mobile make to curb violence and improve their communities. To measure the success of the program, program coordinators will track participants reoffending and injury rates as well as employment and graduation rates. Williams said the program so far has graduated 25 young people and 20% of participants have found employment while working with Project Inspire. These programs help to build trust and the feeling of safety in our hospital and in our communities, Williams said. For years, the Democrats (Obama, Biden, Hillary, Kamala, etc.), Big Media, Hollywood elites, Big Tech, and even the military have called President Donald Trump an existential threat to America and to our democracy. First, the U.S. is not a democracy; were a constitutional republic. A true democracy is simple majority rule, best understood as Hillary, Pelosi, and Trump voting on who to throw in prison, or two wolves and a sheep voting on the dinner menu meaning the simple majority become dictators over the minority. However, a constitutional republic is based on a constitution with checks and balances that prevent the majority from becoming authoritarians. Second, Trump is clearly not an existential threat. The Dems, along with all their minions of voters, and the media, knows that fact. How do we know they know? Simple, we already had four years of a Trump presidency. He never was a threat to our democracy. (The FBI said that January 6th was not an insurrection despite what Pelosi and Liz Cheney claimed.) Additionally, if the Dems truly believed he were the threat they claim he is, Biden, Kamala, and all the others would be cheering for those who tried to assassinate him. They didnt do that. Instead, they called him and expressed concern for his safety and promised more protection. So, their claim of existential threat is further proof that the media and the Dems (especially their politicians) are dishonest. That said, an existential threat (ET) is defined as a threat to the survival of a people or the long-term potential of humanity. Basically, an ET is a threat to a peoples/nations existence and/or survival. A couple of historical examples will help understand the definition. The white man was an ET to the native/indigenous inhabitants of the Americas. Within decades of Columbus discovering the island of Hispaniola, 95% of the natives were gone. It took several centuries, but the same result happened to the indigenous peoples of North, South, and Central America who were wiped out by the new inhabitants, mostly from Europe. One could argue that the European discoverers didnt intend to kill off the native peoples, but whether they intended to or not, the result was the same. A much more recent example of an intended existential threat was Nazi Germany and European Jews. The Nazis used an organized, systematic effort (called the Final Solution) to exterminate the Jews in countries and areas they occupied. They were hugely successful, killing roughly 70% of the Jews in Europe. If they had had a few more years, that figure would have approached 95% or higher. You would hope the world would have been so appalled at the Nazis genocide directed at Jews, that we would demand never again. And for a short period of time, the world was appalled. Sadly, that short period lasted about 20 to 25 years. The world was all for the Jews when they were victims of Nazi atrocities. Now that the Jews have their own country, are successfully defending themselves, and refusing to be victims, the world has returned to the Nazi camp of wanting them exterminated especially among the secular West. Ever since Israel established itself as a modern state (in 1948), they have faced an ET from the Arab world. The Arabs/Muslims have long stated their intent to destroy Israel and exterminate the Jews. However, for the most part, the West supported an independent Jewish nation, especially post-WWII, to include support during the wars Israel fought in 1948 and 1956. That support began to erode after the Six-Day War (1967) when the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) routed Egypt, Jordan, and Syria and captured the Sinai, Samaria and Judea (aka the West Bank), and the Golan Heights. Ever since, especially given Israels increased ability to defend itself from both external and internal threats, the support the world gave to the Jews shifted and is now solidly behind the Arabs and Muslims. Today, Israel and Jews (worldwide) are facing an existential threat that is more real than ever before. There are two primary reasons the ET is more dire than ever. First, the support from the West, especially from the United States, has eroded and now favors the Arabs. Its clear that Democrats, since Jimmy Carter, have moved strongly pro-Arab. Over the decades of the peace process, the only demands ever made were for Israel to cede territory. There were never demands placed on the Arabs who want to eradicate the Jews. Obama, given his Muslim heritage, was a very reluctant supporter of Israel, and took every opportunity to side with the Arabs. Now with Hillary, Biden, Kamala, and the Squad (particularly AOC, Ihan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, etc.) running the party, Democrat support has openly moved to full-on Islamist support as evidenced when Biden and his Dems lifted sanctions against Iran (imposed by President Trump) allowing them to obtain billions of dollars from oil sales, money theyve put into funding terror groups. Additionally, Biden, Kamala, and their fellow Democrat travelers, continue withholding weapons from Israel and have made endless demands of the Jews (especially demanding a ceasefire with Hamas) while making zero demands from Iran and its terror proxies. Demanding a ceasefire, at this moment, is akin to demanding a ceasefire with Nazi Germany back in 1944 and allowing Hitler to remain in power. The only way that Israel can eliminate the existential threats from Hamas, Hezbollah, etc. is to completely destroy those organizations by killing their foot-soldiers from lowest ranking to senior leadership. The Dems are doing everything they can to prevent Israel from doing so. Given 21st Century warfare, the ability to kill and destroy ones opponent is exponentially greater than ever before, particularly with modern abilities to communicate (the internet allows almost endless means), and to engage an adversary. Aerial drones, cyber warfare, and remotely detonated devices add to the complexity of the modern battlefield. Throw in Irans attempts to acquire nuclear weapons and to give any and all weapons to terrorist groups of Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and all the others, the existential threat facing Israel has never been greater. Knowing all this, especially after Hamass October 7, 2023 attack that killed 1,200 Jews and took hundreds hostage, one would think Israel would have large external support. It doesnt, not even among American Jews. American Jews mostly vote Dem and Dems do not support Israel. The Jewish nation is largely on its own. Israel appears to have only two foreign allies. The first are American, evangelical Christians meaning mostly Protestant Christians (along with Messianic Jews and some Catholics) who attend weekly services, have a relationship with Jesus Christ, and emphasize Biblical teachings; the second are President Trump-JD Vance supporters meaning MAGA Republicans. Final Thought: If you support Israel, then Trump-Vance is your only choice. Image: Public domain. Image: Public domain. In the spring of 1989, while Eastern Europe prepared for liberation, Iranian imam Ruhollah Khomeini issued a so-called fatwa calling for the assassination of Indian-born author and British citizen Salman Rushdie. A satirical novel, The Satanic Verses, had outraged Muslims around the world. At the time, the announcement of religious rulings, never mind any such of Islamic origin, was uncommon in temperate latitudes (i.e. Dar al-Harb for those who consider Western civilization a parenthesis in history). Khomeini, the holy man, who returned from his exile in France to found a theocratic terror regime in his homeland, initially came across as an exotic change from socialist (Baath-Party) liberators of the region, an anachronism, and despite summary executions of political opponents and hostage taking at the American embassy in Tehran an easy target for mockery. At any rate, Westerners responded to the fatwa with head-shaking disbelief or indifference. Largely unfamiliar with the history of Islam, sharia, and the mortal sin of blasphemy, they perceived the ruling as a purely symbolic incantation meant for domestic purposes in the Muslim world (i.e. Dar al-Islam). That was back then, though. In parallel with the strategic involvement of Iran in (a) regional conflicts, (b) global terrorism, and (c) open-secret production of nuclear weapons, Westerners have learned that the Shiite revolution of 1979 is anything but a laughing matter and really concerns the safety of the entire civilized world. What is more, population movements from the Middle East and North Africa have changed the face of Europe. Inflammable and undaunted, the Muslim mob, germinating in self-governing suburbs and controlled by extremists, now roams Western cities. Under the weight of invading Muslim masses who bring with them supremacist, intolerant attitudes towards people of other faiths and refuse to integrate, let alone assimilate, while straining health care, education, and the judiciary, public institutions that once formed the cornerstone of a high-trust society, are collapsing. Painstakingly building a just society with social cohesion has taken centuries in the West. In comparison, it has only taken a few decades to break it down to the ground. Not long ago, social satire was an inseparable part of public debate in the West. An expression of intellectual resilience ever since Greek antiquity, its survival now hangs in the balance, threatened by both extremists and woke legislators. Indeed, freedom of speech itself has come under pressure from elected governments that behave cowardly and treacherously against their own people. In the shadow of a growing Muslim diaspora (i.e. the recruitment base for Islamists), the British Labour Party is set on magnifying the unforgivable betrayal of the nation committed under Tony Blair twenty-seven years ago. This prime minister, who happily shook hands with hostile tyrants (e.g. Muammar Gaddafi, a supporter of the IRA and the mastermind behind the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988), set in motion mass immigration from the Third World. His successor, human rights lawyer Keir Starmer, who soon after taking office became identified with the Third-World practice of two-tier policing, contrary to the rule of law, has shown a striking resolve to crack down on members of the ethnic majority in the event of unrest, but spares members of the rising majority the Muslims. In government circles, where further legislation against hate speech (and Islamophobia) is under consideration, they tend to (a) neglect if not blame victims of Muslim barbarism (e.g. gangraped minors, homosexuals, and Jews), discouraging coverage in news media and prosecuting those (e.g. frustrated working-class relatives) who take to the streets to insist on justice, (b) refuse to uphold law and order in the public space, which an ideologically corrupt police force has surrendered to the Muslim mob without a fight, and (c) pander to the Muslim vote at elections. Whether you happen to be a Muslim apostate or not, you cannot publicly express criticism of Islam without getting into trouble to the extent of putting your life at risk. Marking another milestone in Western Islamization, worldwide controversy arose after the publication of twelve handmade drawings of Islamic prophet Mohammed in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. The background was a suspected unusual and therefore widely questioned reluctance by professional cartoonists to illustrate a childrens book about his life. Fifteen years after the Khomeini fatwa, which originally dealt with a single Muslim apostate, the awareness of religious taboos was on the rise. Unsurprisingly, the revived orthodoxy and a belligerent sense of identity spread to the West with the flood of immigrants. Although playing on guilt, mercy, and generosity in post-Christian, liberal-decadent societies with open borders, they have themselves proved to be portents of implacable bigotry (e.g. antisemitism) and savagery. Both diplomatic entanglements and bloody riots during the cartoon crisis (200510) resulted from subversive intrigues by imams living in Denmark. Drawing attention to the alleged blasphemy committed by infidels, they went on a world tour to inflame the inflammable minds of the ummah against their adopted homeland. Subsequently, numerous assassination attempts and large-scale terrorist plots to put things right got publicity in the press, including a dramatic scheme to attack the editorial office of Jyllands-Posten and massacre the staff. Since then (2015), a similarly designed attack on the French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo actually took place. Whereas sharia used to apply somewhere beyond the Bosporus Strait (i.e. in dechristianized desert lands ravaged by warlords and other tyrants), it now looms over Europe as a menacing sky and limits the personal freedom of Westerners themselves. In the progressive press, however, woke-dictated censorship is presented as if Westerners are concerned not to violate the delicate sentiments of their Muslim neighbors. The truth is that Westerners, stuck in melancholic self-doubt and victims of secular desperation, take the end of their civilization for granted. Instead of fighting for human freedom and dignity, they are busy negotiating the conditions of their surrender. Without any (a) experience of something greater in life than themselves, (b) historical insight, and (c) intellectual-moral self-discipline, they no longer know who they are, they have learned to hate themselves, and they therefore cannot bear to fight for themselves. Accordingly, parading their pitiful defeatism like masochists, they are ready to submit to Islamic rule. Apart from violent jihad (i.e. classic Muslim warfare), which comprises individual assassination and indiscriminate terrorism, juridical jihad has recently entered the modern vocabulary. Intimidation and suppression of critics may thus present themselves in the form of frenzied bloodsheds or elaborate lawsuits. Islamist tacticians know exactly how to exploit self-inflicted weaknesses of the West, including its judiciary system. The enfant terrible of French literature, Michel Houellebecq, famous for a provocative style and satirical comments on Islamic supremacism, including his dystopian novel Soumission, which describes a morally disintegrated France submitting to Islam, finally succumbed to the pressure of the superior power in January 2023. Sued by representatives of the Grand Mosque in Paris, who took offense at remarks from a transcribed conversation with philosopher Michel Onfray in Front Populaire, a sovereigntist review, Houellebecq lost heart. At long last, he had reached the limit of his endurance; his courage failed. In the absence of strong allies willing to fight side by side with him, personally tested to the extreme, he fell silent. Another voice of freedom had been silenced. Indisputably, the French author is now on retreat. And with him, it would seem, the rest of the French Republic as it used to be: A beacon of civil courage, the philosophical origin of liberty, equality, and fraternity. Perhaps, without overstating the case, the rest of Europe. Although Houellebecq was to avoid sharing the tragic fate of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, whose film Submission undoubtedly helped incite his Muslim assassin, his self-censorship signifies a suicide of the soul. And a defeat for freedom in the West. During the recent ABC debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, Harris claimed that if Trump were to be re-elected, he will sign a national abortion ban, and the freedom to make decisions about ones own body should never be made by the government. Trump answered that Im not signing a ban and Im not in favor of an abortion ban and added that because Roe v. Wade was overturned, it doesnt matter because this issue has now been taken up by the states. Harris refused to answer if she supports any abortion restrictions but has repeatedly claimed that Trump would ban abortions, including at her acceptance speech. So has her running mate, Tim Walz, even adding that reproductive choice is none or your damn business. But Trump has never supported an abortion ban, in the past (when he was pro-choice) or currently. Hes also made clear that he supports exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother, and in November, he will be voting against Floridas six-week abortion ban, saying, You need more time than six weeks. But what do Kamala Harris and Tim Walz really support? When anointed Democrat nominee Kamala Harris chose far-left Tim Walz as her running mate, she validated something insidious and troubling. Both have a history of supporting and even voting for abortion with no restrictions, even during the third trimester. Even more troubling is they have voted against protecting babies who survive abortions attempts. It began in 2013, when California House Democrat Judy Chu, who considers abortion a fundamental human right, proposed the Womens Health Protection Act. The proposed bill would ban any restrictions at any stage of the pregnancy unless there was a risk to the womans health. The bill had several House Democrat cosponsors, but when it made it to the Senate, it died in committee. In 2015, Chu again introduced the act, and thenMinnesota congressman Tim Walz became a co-sponsor. When the bill arrived in the Senate, it once again died in committee. In 2017, Chu began the process again, and with Walz as a co-sponsor. After Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) proposed it in the Senate, there was a new cosponsor: then-senator Kamala Harris from California. But it would again die in committee. In 2019, Chu would try again, but Walz was now Minnesotas governor, and Harris remained a co-sponsor in the Senate, where it again died in committee. But in the next session of Congress, the act would come perilously close to passing. On September 24, 2021, the House voted along party lines, 218-211, with one Democrat defector, Henry Cuellar from Texas. When the bill came to a Senate vote on May 11, 2022 (this time without Harris, who was now vice president), Joe Manchin of West Virginia was the only Democrat defector. The final vote was 51-49 for the bill, but the 60-vote filibuster rule prevented its passage. Both Biden and Harris slammed the defeat of the act, with Biden releasing a statement saying the bill had the support of the American people while attacking Republicans and added that if voters would elect more Democrats, he would sign the bill into law. Harris soon spoke after the vote, echoing Biden, and in a speech that July (at the 24th minute) and another in November (at the 24th minute) and right before the midterms said that if Democrats could add two more seats in the Senate, they could overcome support for the 60-vote filibuster rule (which included Democrats Sinema from Arizona and Manchin) and permanently remove the filibuster and be able to pass many radical bills, including the Womens Health Protection Act, but they failed. But just this past week, Harris threw a curve ball, claiming that if the Democrats hold the Senate (and with Manchin and Sinema retiring), they can eliminate the filibuster with 51 votes and re-establish Roe v. Wade, making no mention of her previous plans to remove all restrictions with the Womens Health Protection Act. As for the act in the current session, it was reintroduced last year on March 30 in the House, where it is stalled in committee. In the Senate, its been indefinitely placed on the calendar, with Democrats hoping (as Harris said about her red-herring plan to reinstitute Roe) that with the upcoming election, they have enough votes in the Senate to finally eliminate the filibuster and establish the no-restrictions Womens Health Protection Act as law. If successful, that would dramatically supersede any plans to reinstitute any version of Roe. But another bill has been making its way through Congress since 2015, and the Democrat opposition to it is far more egregious and atrocious than their support for abortion with no restrictions. Its the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, also known as the Born Alive Act, introduced by former congressman Trent Franks (R-Ariz.). It required any health care practitioner to provide care for any child born after a failed abortion. On September 15, 2015, it passed the House, 248-177, with only five Democrats voting yes. Among those voting no was Tim Walz, and when the bill was sent to the Senate, it died in committee. Finally, on February 25, 2020, the bill received a full vote in the Senate. The vote was 56-41 in favor, with just three Democrats voting yes, but because of the 60-vote filibuster, it failed. One of those voting against was Kamala Harris, who was months away from accepting the vice presidential nomination. So both Harris and Walz have cruelly voted against taking any action to save infants who have survived a failed or attempted abortion. Just last year, the Republicans tried again, with the bill finally receiving a second House vote. It passed on January 11, 2023 along party-lines, 220-210, with Henry Cuellar from Texas the only Democrat voting yes. Its currently in limbo in the Senate. After Walz left the House to become governor of Minnesota in 2019, his obsession with no restrictions on abortion and not protecting infants born after a failed attempt has continued with a vengeance. One day after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, leaving abortion laws to be decided by each state, Walz signed an emergency executive order on Saturday the 25th Protecting Access to Reproductive Health Services in Minnesota. The order invited people from other states to come to Minnesota to receive abortions. This led to a marked increase of abortions within the state and even included 226 abortions in the third trimester, most of which had been previously barred by Roe. Walz wasnt finished. After his re-election, Walz now had both houses in St. Paul, with Democrats in the majority. During January, they debated the Protect Reproductive Options Act, which included no restrictions at any point of pregnancy except for the mothers health. Republicans failed to include provisions prohibiting third-trimester abortions. So, on January 23, 2023 one day after the 50th anniversary of the Roe decision Walz proudly signed the state bill codifying abortions with no restrictions. Walz was still not through. In 2015, the state passed the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, which required that reasonable measures be taken to save a baby after a failed abortion. In May 2023, Walz moved to repeal the law. The House narrowly voted to repeal along party lines, with only one Democrat voting against, while the Senate narrowly voted to repeal along party lines. Walz signed the repeal of the Protection Act on May 24, 2023. On the issue of third-trimester abortions, a majority of the country has consistently opposed the procedure. Many Democrats and proponents argue that they are rare, and records show that 1.3 percent of abortions performed each year are late-term. But there were approximately one million abortions in 2023, which means that 13,000 third-trimester abortions were carried out. And a 2013 journal posted by the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute reported that most late-term abortions are elective, many of them because of indecision or partner abandonment. As for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, their adoration for abortion with no restrictions, not even to protect newborns who survive failed abortions, is truly unsettling. Image: Nogwater via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped). Recently, Virginia's governor Glenn Youngkin signed Executive Order 35 ("EO 35") "to protect the casting of legal ballots by legally eligible voters in Virginia's elections, including stringent ballot security, complete and thorough counting machine testing, and best-in-the-nation voter list maintenance." Nationally, the mainstream media portrayed EO 35 as a bold step to improve Virginia's election integrity before the 2024 General elections. On the contrary, citizens investigating Virginia's broken electronic voting systems know otherwise. We have discovered uncertified, unsecured electronic voting equipment and massively inflated voter rolls. Both issues also lead to the likelihood of absentee mail-in ballot fraud, not ballot security. Volunteers had to work outside the Republican political establishment to expose the current problems, notwithstanding the claims of EO 35. Virginia citizens have found the governor and the attorney general's office to be uninterested in looking into claims of election integrity issues statewide. To the citizens engaged in thousands of hours of election integrity work, the EO 35 is more like lip service. Some Downstream Consequences from the Lack of Election Integrity in Virginia: Voter Registration Lists Virginia's Registered Voter List (RVL) is grossly inflated -- the consequence is likely inaccurate and unsecure results in 2024 unless corrective action is taken immediately. The Voter History List (VHL) must have extra votes, too, because some of the inflated 'extra' voters have voted in the last four elections. In a recent pre-litigation letter filed against ELECT and Commissioner Susan Beals, the Virginia-based law firm of Holtzman Vogel cited that 101 of 133 counties/cities have registrations that exceed 90% of their respective eligible populations. Of those, 43 counties/cities have impossibly high ratios of registered voters -- at greater than 100%. The U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey reports that registration rates historically have been in the mid-70% range. Based on this and other corroborating data, we estimate that more than 1,000,000 extra registrations exist on the rolls, as the data suggests. Questionably Invalid Voter Registration IDs. Research has identified over 550,000 questionably invalid voter registration IDs based solely on incomplete or incorrect address data. This massive number came to light upon the RVL and Voter History Lists (VHL) analysis, including verifying address information through the USPS National Change of Address (NCOA) database. Contrary to claims by EO 35 and ELECT, the voters experience merely the pretense of cleaning the registration lists. Further, citizens found through FOIA that ELECT has yet to implement a process for proactively removing non-citizens. The governor's claim of removing 6,303 non-citizens from the rolls fails to mention the lengthy timeline afforded the removals and that these non-citizens had self-identified. An Attempt to Push Registration Challenges Until After the November Elections Voters recently discovered through FOIA that on July 23, 2024, Beals issued an internal "Advisory" to Virginia's registrars, limiting citizens' ability to challenge voter registrations until after the November elections. She must have seen these challenges coming. Curiously, many of the forthcoming challenges to voter IDs will be due to the voters leaving their respective counties or the state while still on the current registration lists. Some who have moved out of state have also voted in one or more of the last four elections. The "Advisory" is without legal merit or enforceability because it supersedes federal election law. Law-abiding registrars would wisely ignore this unlawful directive or face accountability to the voters. Restricting Voter Registration Data In September 2024, ELECT announced that voter registrants' birthdates would now only include the two-digit birth year. Again, the EO 35 feels more like lip service. While the governor's proclamation appears to enforce election security and accuracy, through ELECT, he effectively weakens the ability of citizens to monitor the security and accuracy of the voter registration database. That ability is a civil right afforded by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. While it doesn't appear significant, the decision to simplify the birthdate undermines the accuracy of voter registration data. This degradation in the quality of the voter data inhibits election integrity groups from identifying invalid registration IDs and minimizes the ability to challenge them. The Virginia State Board of Elections (VSBoE) The Republican-leaning VSBoE has been negligent in its duties to uphold free and fair elections. Citizens close to the matter perceive that the Board needs to demonstrate more interest in citizens' election integrity concerns. On more than a few occasions, citizens presented evidence of election system vulnerabilities and pointed to violations of federal election law to Chair John O'Bannon, but to no avail. In another example, O'Bannon voted with the Democrats to authorize the use of ES&S poll books despite informed election officers testifying that they observed that electronic poll books permitted 50% of registrants who appear to have an absentee ballot yet arrived to vote in person. Executive Order 35 Lip Service EO 35 puts forth a great deal of mis- and disinformation, including many provably false statements: There is no need to dwell on these items. Informed readers will recognize their disingenuous nature. Repeating lies and half-truths does not make them true. Conclusion: Countless citizens have spoken in public meetings, filed FOIAs, made presentations to Youngkin's teams and public notices, and submitted letters of complaint -- all with virtually no response or action from our election officials both at the state and local level. Acting outside the grip of the Virginia RINOs, Virginia voters have lodged legitimate investigations and made valid claims of electoral irregularities. Yet, electoral officials, including the governor, have not given the people a voice. This lack of action is a breach of sworn oath and is likely a dereliction of duty. And with EO 35, the governor comes out from behind the curtain to make exaggerated claims that cannot be backed up with facts. The citizens say that the elections in Virginia are not in compliance with federal law. We need them fixed now. Youngkin's claims in EO 35 seem like late-in-the-game lip service rather than serving the best interest of Virginia voters. Image: Tony Webster Most of the media and other Democrats say we dont need people to prove their citizenship to vote and we dont need to have photo IDs because it is already illegal for non-citizens to register to vote, and there is no evidence that there is a risk. Yet when Alabama finds 3,251 non-citizens registered to vote after they were given noncitizen identification numbers by DHS, and its Secretary of State wants to remove them from the voting rolls, the Justice Department, under the orders of Biden-Harris, sues them. They say it is too close to the election to remove them. Heres the story, from TownHall: DOJ Sues Alabama for Removing Noncitizens from Voter Rolls Too Close to Election In mid-August, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen had identified 3,251 individuals registered to vote in the state who were given noncitizen identification numbers by the Department of Homeland Security and had instructed the boards of registrars in the states 67 counties to inactivate and remove them from the voter rolls[.] Why would it ever be too close to an election to remove ineligible voters if you cared about election integrity? It wouldnt. They need illegal votes to win. How many states hand out drivers licenses to illegals? How many register to vote? Who knows, but it is probably a significant number. (See Olivia Murrays Why are nonprofit groups setting up voter registration booths outside of drivers license offices in Texas?) In Michigan, election integrity advocates have to sue the Democrat secretary of state to remove dead voters from the rolls, which shows how little Democrats care about honest elections; they have 106% of the voting age population as eligible to vote. Michigans Election Chief Faces Lawsuit for Refusing to Remove Dead People From Voter Rolls. Shes About to Get More Power. Michigan lawmakers are poised to empower Secretary of State Jocelyn Bensona Democrat who has faced six separate court orders to enforce election lawsto have more control over elections. They are systematically moving power away from local election clerkswho are not partisan but are hard workersand up to the state, state Sen. Ruth Johnson, a Republican and former Michigan secretary of state, told The Daily Signal. Under Benson, the state voter registration rolls have 106% of the voting-age population of Michigan, Johnson said, arguing that Benson is an operative for the far Left. Benson must have learned from Illinois and Chicago. The bureaucrats at the Census Bureau somehow overcounted people in seven Democrat-run states in 2020, and undercounted people in six Republican-run states; these miscounts lead to improper allocation of members of Congress. The errors are so consistent they can only be intentional. Census Bureau employees obviously are biased towards people who want bigger government. Remember this, from the Heritage Foundation? In a shocking report, the U.S. Census Bureau recently admitted that it overcounted the populations of eight states and undercounted the populations of six states in the 2020 census. All but one of the states overcounted is a blue state, and all but one of the undercounted states is red. Those costly errors will distort congressional representation and the Electoral College. Democrats continually seek to destroy the Electoral College just like they seek to destroy the Supreme Court. They cant stand the thought of small states having any influence, or having a Supreme Court that understands that legislatures make laws, not judges and unelected bureaucrats. The Constitution of the United States begins with We the People of the United States. It does not begin with, We the people of the government. The founding fathers wanted the people to hold political power, which makes sense why the Democrats seem to despise the Constitution. So, if you want to return the power, freedom, and money to the people, vote for Trump, who the media has sought to destroy for eight years with endless lies. If you want the greedy government to confiscate more power and money for itself, vote for the person most of the media is actively campaigning for, Kamala Harris. Image generated by AI. Kamala Harris was a district attorney in San Francisco, then a state attorney general in Sacramento, but apparently never personally prosecuted a single case. She did damage though, contributing to the sad downfall of those once-glorious cities. In 2014, she led the charge to pass Proposition 47, which ended prosecutions for crimes deemed unimportant and tied the hands of police. Crime and lawlessness have followed. Then she became a senator. Only California would elect such an unqualified person to that high office. She was by all accounts the most radical senator in Congress while she was there. Then, so enamored of her own intellectual prowess, she ran for president in 2020. Her candidacy was a disaster of humongous proportions. She had to drop out before the first primary in Iowa. She is a classic case of the Dunning-Kruger effect, a cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate their abilities. So how and why did Biden pick her as his VP? Most likely for job insurance and because he had promised to choose a black woman. Harris is nominally black and certainly not African-American. Another thing she is not, despite her endless assertions, is the product of a middle-class upbringing. Both parents were PhDs, underscoring that she was an academic underachiever. She was born in Berkeley, California, but spent her formative years in Montreal, Canada, in a wealthy, privileged neighborhood while her mother was a medical researcher at Canada's most prestigious institution of higher education, McGill University. She never worked at a McDonalds. That was another of her many, many lies. At this point in her wholly undeserved rise in the Democrat party, after years of on-the-record statements, every word out of her mouth is a lie -- a lie she presumes will get her into the White House. She was and remains Bidens border czar despite the medias claim that she has not been. There are countless clips of her opposing any border security, opposing deportation, opposing any kind of a wall, opposing any consequences for those who illegally enter the country. Now she says she will secure the border, but she wont. She has no intention of securing the border. The open border and the influx of millions of migrants from all over the world has long been part of the Democrat/globalist plan to attain a permanent democrat majority. And not surprisingly, she's touting amnesty for those already in. While her supporters lamely insist she has evolved and has changed her mind now on nearly all the issues she has long touted, even Bernie Sanders noted that no, she has not changed her values, she is being pragmatic, saying what she needs to say to get elected. In short, she is a pathological liar who will say anything if it will win her votes. That is rather typical of politicians who assume voters are not only ignorant but really stupid. The left has always believed the American people are stupid which is why they do not care what they think. And when they make too much noise, they arrest them, charge them with a made-up crimes and put them in prison. Since she became the illegitimate candidate for president after forcing Biden to step down, she has told so many untruths one cant possibly keep up with them all. She says she has reversed her hard opposition to fracking; probably not true. She has long supported the green new deal, a phony program to further control the masses by depriving them of essential conveniences like gas stoves and gasoline-powered cars. What they want to do is eliminate personal transportation, thus those silly 15-minute cities. This is at the core of Kamala Harris agenda and has been for years. She is all about equity of outcome, an obvious impossibility, not equality of opportunity. Just the other day Kamala announced that the American dream is over. Hows that for anti-American? She just admitted she opposes the hope of home ownership for all which means no primacy of families for all. Her version of democracy is not democratic at all; its totalitarian. There are hundreds of clips of Kamala vowing to confiscate guns, to enter homes to check guns are being stored properly. She abhors the Second Amendment and wants a mandatory buyback program! There are 400 million guns in America. Who does she think will end up owning guns after her confiscation? That would be the criminals, of course. That is how stupid she is. She advocates for a policy that without a shred of doubt will enable criminals. She also has promoted the defunding of police. She supported the BLM and Antifa thugs who burned Minneapolis to the ground in 2020 and did the same to cities across the nation with impunity. She not only raised money to bail out the arrested criminals who burned businesses to the ground and assaulted citizens, she encouraged them to keep up their violence against the thousands of small businesses they destroyed over the self-inflicted death of a chronic drug addict with a long criminal record, saying that the riots would not stop and should not stop. That George Floyd became a hero is an example of the depth to which American culture has fallen. She is still on record promoting the defunding of police until she was suddenly a candidate for president. Does anyone think she has really changed her mind on these issues? On health care, she has always promoted single payer, government-controlled health care system; the elimination of private, personal choice insurance according to ones needs. She advocates for a race, class and gender rule when it comes to disaster relief. How does that work? If an earthquake levels a white neighborhood, it will be the last to receive a government response, if any. That is how this woman rolls. She is a full on anti-white racist but only for reasons of her own political progress, not for any legitimate ethical reasons. She does not have an ethical bone in her body; she is all about self-promotion far beyond her abilities and qualifications. Harris also supports the wholly unconstitutional packing of the Supreme Court. This has not been suggested since FDR tried it in 1937. The Court had struck down many of his New Deal laws which frustrated him. He began thinking about packing the Court but was met with righteous opposition. It was never voted on in Congress and was never supported by the public. It was rightfully viewed as an undemocratic power grab as it surely would have been then and would be today. One hopes that the wiser heads that prevailed then would prevail now as well. But the far-left Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, has just submitted a bill to add six justices to the SCOTUS! They never learn; they never stop trying to abrogate the Constitution. John Kerry, a figure of mockery if there ever was one, now openly advocates for the overturning of the First Amendment. Like the rest of the left, he abhors our guaranteed freedom of speech because it allows for dissent. The left openly and shamelessly now campaigns for the end of this First Amendment freedom in favor of the suppression of any speech with which they disagree. Censorship is their mantra now and those who believe Kamala Harris lies seem to be falling for it, as if it will never come back to haunt them. It will. Bottom line? Kamala Harris is a pathological liar who rivals Adam Schiff for the use of prevarication for political purposes. She will say whatever she thinks we the people will swallow to get where she wants this time, it's the White House. She has so little respect for said we the people, she will lie and lie and lie about the border, about the Second Amendment, about health care, about the rise in crime, about her plan to defund the police, etc. She is an imposter, a con artist, a grifter who operates as a deceiver. There is nothing more dangerous than a person like Harris who believes herself to be capable of running a country about which she has no actual love or understanding. Can anyone explain how and why so many Americans seem to be falling for her countless, outrageous lies? Image: Screen shot from Kamala Harris video via YouTube In a beyond parody moment, Joe Biden recently took questions from reporters, one of whom asked him about the Israeli airstrikes in Yemenin response, Biden announced his support for collective bargaining and revealed his belief that the two parties would soon settle. Ummmm what?? Fried. Zapped. Nuked. Or, as Matt Vespa at TownHall writes, hes cooked. See for yourself below: REPORTER: "Any comment on the strikes in Yemen, Mr. President!?" BIDEN (or whatever's left of him): "I've spoken to both sides. They gotta settle the strike. I'm supporting the collective bargaining effort. I think they'll settle the strike." pic.twitter.com/iFawNWdWyH RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 30, 2024 First of all, how does anyone confuse missile strikes with union strikes? (Biden was evidently referring to the looming port strikes set to begin tomorrow.) Did he just hear the word strike and start parroting political talking points without any real awareness? Is this how hes been weighing in on domestic and foreign affairs while in office? Its a miracle were actually still alive. Secondly though, the strikes havent even officially started yethes really out of his mind. This is like Kamala Harris being asked if people are better off today than four years ago, before she responds with the false narrative that she was a middle class kid, raised in a neighborhood where people cared about their lawns. Is Harris still going to continue defending his mental state? Does she want to admit yet that she lied to the American people during her entire political tenure at the White House? We give Joe Biden a hard timeheaven knows hes earned itand while he certainly doesnt know whats going on, at least he takes questions from the media, unlike his own vice president who is currently running for the office of the president. Is Biden aware that he just deployed more than 700 soldiers from Tennessee to the Middle East? Im not convinced. Is Biden aware of the fact that he is supposedly running the country? Again, the jurys out. Heres what one online user said about Bidens gaffe: Not that strike. The port of Yemen military strike! Boom? On fire? Ringing and bells? Ironically, the airstrike may very well have been facilitated by Bidens own people (intelligence) and by Bidens own foreign policy (aid and weapons to Israel). This isnt some small-scale conflict in some obscure corner of the world that is far from the mainstream attention of the American political classthis involves Israel. He really has no excuse to not have a cluebut hes apparently still calling the executive shots? From another X commenter: On my worst day, Im not this out of touch. Its [sic] like he couldnt care less. Strikes? Yeah, man. That was a helluva ballgame. I used to play ball every weekend with Uncle Bosey. No joke. And, last one: The Houthi Local 1645 is known to be the toughest union to negotiate with. The most popular president in American history ladies and gentlemen! Hat tip: Jack Hellner. Image: YouTube video screen grab. It looks like Lahaina was a model, not a muck-up, in the federal response to natural disasters in the administration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The response to the aftermath of Hurricane Helene across 800 miles of ten states suggests it. Get a load of Harris, who has decided that now's the time for an Instagram shoot. I was just briefed by @FEMA_Deanne Criswell on the latest developments about the ongoing impacts of Hurricane Helene. We also discussed our Administration's continued actions to support emergency response and recovery. I also spoke with @NC_Governor Cooper about the ongoing pic.twitter.com/nlZPB0h3mO Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) September 30, 2024 Many noticed how 'Potemkin' it was: The paper is blank and the wired headphones arent even plugged into her phone. If youre going to pretend youre not AWOL as NC is under water, at least put some effort into it https://t.co/dZsPzKJxq8 pic.twitter.com/6NVJyzyEtG Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 30, 2024 The affected area has no electricity, no food, no water, no roads and at least a thousand are missing in North Carolina. There are many out reporting that FEMA is nowhere in sight. Yet here we are, looking at her response, which was to pose for an Instagram picture. Now that she's on the hot seat for it, she's not answering any questions from the press: OF COURSE: @KamalaHarris declines answering questions from the press on her and the administrations lack of response to those hardest hit by hurricane Helene pic.twitter.com/FjpV7usiZy Steak for Breakfast (@SteakforPodcast) September 30, 2024 Joe Biden was bad, too. "Do you have any words to the victims of the hurricane?" BIDEN: "We've given everything that we have." "Are there any more resources the federal government could be giving them?" BIDEN: "No." pic.twitter.com/jDMNGhpjOz RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 30, 2024 He sounds like a bitter old Ebenezer Scrooge, telling the helpless they're gettin' all their gonna get, more, in fact, despite the obviously unmet need. Can you imagine the response if George Bush had said anything like that in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005? Biden was not only not helping, he had been stingy with FEMA aid in Lahaina after a fire leveled that city. He also told the residents of East Palestine, Ohio, in the wake of a toxic train spill that they weren't getting a thing, either. This past June, Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott of Florida looked under the hood at FEMA in anticipation of a hurricane like this one that just hit and found out that they were out of money, despite the periodic top-ups the always got from Congress. I wrote about that here: The Herald noted that FEMA's deputy administrator, Erik Hooks, speaking at a press conference last week, said they had never run out of money before, which must have been odd news to the people of Lahaina, Hawaii, where cash disbursements were meager while FEMA officials lived it up at some of Maui's top five-star hotels on the far north of the island. Maybe it's lavish salaries and vacay perks that are adding to the shortfalls. But the issue of bankrolling illegals by FEMA first began to emerge as the Biden administration set up a conveyor belt for illegals to take them to their destinations of choice at Uncle Sam's expense, all expenses paid, and some of those expenses, as Howie Carr found out in his investigation, were very lavish indeed. How much of that is FEMA cash, routed through NGOs, through non-transparent means? That's why Rubio's and Scott's letter is so important. FEMA is a federal agency paid for by American taxpayers to support Americans in times of disaster they have no control over. Illegals have no claim on this money and the feds have no right to spend it. They seem to think it's their money, and they're using it to pay for Democrat policy aims of importing voters to pad congressional districts as well as replace the electorate with indigents who will always be loyal to them. But it's not their money, it's the American people's money. Any amount spent on them needs to be paid for or paid back, and if the current leadership can't or won't say where the money is going and why they constantly need extra bailouts, it's time to get them out of there. Fact is, FEMA aid has long been inadequate if not gone in times of natural disaster affecting Americans in part because of the amount of FEMA cash now being used to feed, transport, and house illegals: Heres an idea: Stop using FEMA funds to transport illegal aliens & use that money to help American citizens facing disastersyou know, the ones who paid for FEMA in the first place! https://t.co/wBMmRxoqAV Amy Reichert (@amyforsandiego) September 30, 2024 Some $640 million has gone for their care and feeding, while Lahaina's residents, who lost their homes in the flames, had to make due with a piddly $700 a pop, and that was all they were gettin,' as they were subsequently told, to use the language Biden might use. This disaster is quite a bit bigger, spanning an 800-mile trail of destruction across 10 highly populated states. If FEMA couldn't help the Hawaiians who lost their homes on one small island, how are they going to help the victims of total disaster stretching across that much of the U.S., including isolated towns in places like western North Carolina? Yet nothing comes before illegals in this Harris-Biden administration. Money that should be spent on natural disaster victims is now going to victims of artificially goosed disasters whose participants had a hand in their own decision to cross into the U.S. illegally on the expectation that they would be handed better benefit packages courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer. Katrina, anyone? President Trump, by contrast, is already on the scene, delivering water, fuel, and other aid to the battered city of Valdosta, Georgia, rolling up his sleeves. We are now heading to Valdosta, Georgia, in order to pay my respects and bring lots of relief material, including fuel, equipment, water, and other things, to the State. Many politicians and Law Enforcement will be there. Well be saying hello to Franklin Graham, Burt Jones, Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2024 Update: There's also this -- just out: JUST IN: Trump says he has spoken to Elon Musk about providing Starlink to communities impacted by Hurricane Helene, says Elon always comes through. Hundreds of thousands of people are currently without internet. Towns like Asheville are currently considered blackout zones pic.twitter.com/7s5mtil2bN Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 30, 2024 Which one, again, is the selfish one, out for him- or herself, Kamala? Sure, it's just a little. But private citizen Trump's not the one with his hands on the levers of power, the way Biden and Harris are. He's doing what normal Americans do during times of crisis, getting up and helping out -- and he's interrrupting his campaign to do so. Harris is just trying to use the crisis to get another photo out there. Never let a crisis go to waste, as Democrat operative Rahm Emanuel used to say. Image: Twitter screen shot Down in Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum will assume the presidency on Oct. 1. She will replace President Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador who was her mentor, as they tell me south of the border. He sent the message to the King of Spain who didn't respond. It was sort of like saying stick your grievances in your know what. President-elect Sheinbaum, a very white woman of Eastern European ancestry, did not like the way that the King of Spain treated the incumbent president, another very white man of Spanish ancestry. So she didn't invite him to her inauguration. She invited dictators like Vladimir Putin, and Nicolas Maduro. But not the King of Spain. That's a lot white people angry at whatever the "conquistadores" did centuries ago, as a Mexican friend told me on the phone. Of course, the question in Mexico and Spain is simple or "what's the point of all of this, Claudia?" Is anyone in Mexico really angry about those grievances? I don't think so, because Mexicans love Spanish people and vice versa. Again, so what's going on here? My guess is that the Lopez Obrador and Sheinbaum know that all of those judicial reforms now being instituted in Mexico are not going down well with Mexicans who don't want one-party government to return. The international investors are concerned, too. No one is happy in Spain, either, not even the socialist prime minister. Check this out Prime Minister Sanchez who is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) has described Sheinbaums government as progressive, and lamented her snub of the Spanish monarch. We cannot accept this exclusion, he said in a press conference on Wednesday in New York, where he was attending the United Nations General Assembly. Sanchez said that not sending a diplomatic delegation to Sheinbaums inauguration is a sign of protest against an exclusion that we consider unacceptable and inexplicable, given the level of relations between Spain and Mexico, two brother countries. The point here is that no one understands why the president and president-elect decided to pick a fight about all of this at this moment. Early in the 20th century there was anti-Spanish sentiment in Mexico by its tyrannical rulers, which this seems to hearken to. And of course, everyone recognizes that atrocities were committed centuries ago. At the same time, the Aztecs did not read their fellow Indians their Miranda rights when they captured them as enemies. There are a lot of grievances to go around! So a total waste of time, as a Mexican friend said. Yes, a total waste of time that confirms that the lady about to become president is one gal who must show total allegiance to her mentor. P.S.: Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. Having served on editorial boards, all I can say is that the New York Times editorial board must be a completely weird place. They put out this 1,995-word 'no surprise' editorial endorsement for Kamala Harris out today, topped with a giant photo of the vice president -- giving the most bizarre reasons imaginable, beginning not with her, but with what's really driving them, which is their tired old boilerplate hate for President Trump: It is hard to imagine a candidate more unworthy to serve as president of the United States than Donald Trump. He has proved himself morally unfit for an office that asks its occupant to put the good of the nation above self-interest. He has proved himself temperamentally unfit for a role that requires the very qualities wisdom, honesty, empathy, courage, restraint, humility, discipline that he most lacks. Those disqualifying characteristics are compounded by everything else that limits his ability to fulfill the duties of the president: his many criminal charges, his advancing age, his fundamental lack of interest in policy and his increasingly bizarre cast of associates. This unequivocal, dispiriting truth Donald Trump is not fit to be president should be enough for any voter who cares about the health of our country and the stability of our democracy to deny him re-election. For this reason, regardless of any political disagreements voters might have with her, Kamala Harris is the only patriotic choice for president. This crap is the same thing they said in the last two elections, so they haven't exactly developed new arguments beyond their ad hominem hatred of Trump's personality, and actual personhood, given all the assassination talk out there on the left. But as a result of this Trump Derangement Syndrome, they try to tell us that Harris, a socialist from Berkeley, California -- which is not exactly a bastion of that -- is actually a patriot if you don't pay attention to her policies. Trump's unfitness makes her so by default: For this reason, regardless of any political disagreements voters might have with her, Kamala Harris is the only patriotic choice for president. Patriotic? Patriots vote for patriots, so by extension, that makes Kamala a patriot, the patriot's choice in elections this time. But since when has Kamala Harris ever had anything good to say about this country until she ran for election? Patriotism, needless to say, has never been a hot issue in places like Berkeley or her subsequent city of San Francisco -- as flag burning is more the local style in those parts. Here entire past, including growing up in a wealthy part of Canada, suggests opportunism, not patriotsm, the selfless giving of self for a higher cause. She has zero academic achievement, for one, which would involve the patriotic American concept of hard work to get ahead based on merit. Nope, not for her. Her early adult life was propelled by partying with billionaires in Pacific Heights in tight little exclusive political and social networks in order to seek the next political rung upward. Instead of serving in the military as a patriot, she 'served' as Willie Brown's mistress to get her first no-show political appointment that led to more positions that followed, which is the kind of thing most patriots would recognize as cheating. What's more, she's never earned the kind of popular support it takes to win a primary on her own, let alone win a race in a standard and patriotic democratic election -- for her, it's always a matter of winning by rigging. That kind of unearned power is far from patriotic as Americans understand it. And every cause she has ever supported has been an anti-American one, seeking to replace America itself with Hugo Chavez-style socialism. Hugo liked to wave his country's flag around, too. But the New York Times insists she's the patriotic choice and advises its readers to embrace that "patriotism" over any lousy policies she might harbor: She may not be the perfect candidate for every voter, especially those who are frustrated and angry about our governments failures to fix whats broken from our immigration system to public schools to housing costs to gun violence. Yet we urge Americans to contrast Ms. Harriss record with her opponents. Do it for the flag. Vote for her because of all that "patriotism" you're suddenly filled with. This, from the very editorial page that in 2021 had this to say about the American flag: The New York Times sparked fireworks with an Independence Day report on the political implications of displaying the American flag just weeks after being forced to defend an editorial writer who said she was really disturbed to see Old Glory flown by supporters of former President Donald Trump. As I noted earlier, they've got funny ideas about patriotism over there. So now that we are supposed to ignore her policies in the name of patriotism, let's take a look at a few of those policies the Times doesn't want us to look at. Harris's open borders policies which are on her record now, was a naked bid to replace the electorate with one more to her liking -- and sure enough, much of it was literally Hugo's electorate, the same people who wore red tshirts and voted for Hugo Chavez and all pro-offered his free stuff. Now they're here, voting for more free stuff, cancelling out the votes of other Americans, and based on recent scandals, not even bothering to take out U.S. citizenship to vote in our elections. Patriotism, all right, but to a different country. The Times then gets comical when it calls her policy proposals, which amount to a string of Chavez-style crony handouts to special interests, "thoughtful." Pay no attention to that ever mounting national debt. In contrast to the Kamala-patriotism equation, the Times claims that Trump is all about moral turpitude while Harris is the picture of virtue and that's where it gets really disgusting. Most presidential elections are, at their core, about two different visions of America that emerge from competing policies and principles. This one is about something more foundational. It is about whether we invite into the highest office in the land a man who has revealed, unmistakably, that he will degrade the values, defy the norms and dismantle the institutions that have made our country strong. As a dedicated public servant who has demonstrated care, competence and an unwavering commitment to the Constitution, Ms. Harris stands alone in this race. There's also this kultursmog: His disdain for the rule of law goes beyond his efforts to obtain power; it is also central to how he plans to use it. Mr. Trump and his supporters have described a 2025 agenda that would give him the power to carry out the most extreme of his promises and threats. He vows, for instance, to turn the federal bureaucracy and even the Justice Department into weapons of his will to hurt his political enemies. In at least 10 instances during his presidency, he did exactly that, pressuring federal agencies and prosecutors to punish people he felt had wronged him, with little or no legal basis for prosecution. So Trump is the lawless one of low moral character and Harris is the virtuous one who only seeks to faithfully enforce and obey the Constitution? That's outright laughable, a logic turned on its head given Harris's record in office. Harris's privileged career in fact has long been one lawless act after another. Patriot that she is, she has an awful lot of problems with U.S. law and the Constitution. She views these things as obstacles to getting what she wants, and while she has the power, she's corrupt enough to break them for her own purposes. It's not just the grotesque legal runarounds on her open-border border policy -- it's a lot of things she's done in her long-ago that she doesn't want anyone talking about. Hamala Harris's entire public office record is immoral and unethical -- as attorney general in California, she kept people in jail beyond their terms in order to use their labor to fight wildfires. She used the Los Angeles Police Department as her personal party police. She harbored a sex harasser in her office as a close associate and then pretended to know nothing about it when the state was forced to make a large payout. She got her political start at Willie Brown's knee. She also unethically colluded with recent debate monitors, according to a whistleblower report, to keep certain topics, such as that of her brother-in-law Tony West accused of embezzlement, that she didnt want brought up at the debate, the scandal of rotting corpse in the bathtub where she let the perpetrator off easy because he was gay, the pervy priests she let off easy, the Jussie Smollett hoax which strongly suggests her involvement, the withholding of evidence in a death penalty case, the case of the lady thrown in jail for having a truant child who was sick in the hospital -- everything here screams moral turpitude and a reckless disregard for the law. These aren't political positions which she changes like she changes her underwear, these are things she actually did. Comically, after telling readers to pay no attention to Harris's policies before casting their ballots for her, the Times suddenly admits that Harris's policies might just be important after all: Many voters have said they want more details about the vice presidents plans, as well as more unscripted encounters in which she explains her vision and policies. They are right to ask. Given the stakes of this election, Ms. Harris may think that she is running a campaign designed to minimize the risks of an unforced error answering journalists questions and offering greater policy detail could court controversy, after all under the belief that being the only viable alternative to Mr. Trump may be enough to bring her to victory. That strategy may ultimately prove winning, but its a disservice to the American people and to her own record. And leaving the public with a sense that she is being shielded from tough questions, as Mr. Biden has been, could backfire by undermining her core argument that a capable new generation stands ready to take the reins of power. If her policies don't matter because she's such a big patriot and Trump is such a moral degenerate ... why should the voters be "right to ask" about the policies? They were just told to vote for her because it was the patriotic thing to do even if they disagreed with her. Nobody needs to be asking questions with a grand Times command like that. Weirder still, they list a long string of Trump's policies that they did consider successful, such as his COVID vaccine program which they liked, and his criminal justice reforms (studiously ignoring the big ones like Trump's economy record, Trump's jobs record for minorities, Trump's record of peace, including his Biden-Harris-trashed Abraham Accords, Trump's border control agreements, Trump's effect on people's 401(k)s and credit card debt). Thats not to say Mr. Trump did not add to the public conversation. In particular, he broke decades of Washington consensus and led both parties to wrestle with the downsides of globalization, unrestrained trade and Chinas rise. His criminal-justice reform efforts were well placed, his focus on Covid vaccine development paid off, and his decision to use an emergency public health measure to turn away migrants at the border was the right call at the start of the pandemic. Yet even when the former presidents overall aim may have had merit, his operational incompetence, his mercurial temperament and his outright recklessness often led to bad outcomes. Oh please -- they were getting ridiculous. They named so many succcesses of Trump's that their argument against him pretty well vanished, even as they later tried to claim that these were bad things. Their argument on patriotism as the rationale for voting for Harris was ridiculous. They never liked patriotism until they started claiming that Harris was the embodiment of it. Now they're running with this thin reed as an actual reason to vote for her, even as she hasn't a patriotic bone in her body. It's cultural appropriation of the worst sort. And in other circumstances, they claim to hate that, too. One wonders if they are biting their tongues as they write this inchoate and ridiculous endorsement editorial, the sound of Harris's manic laughter dancing in their heads all around them. No wonder RealClearPolitics ignored this one in their morning lineup this morning. Image: Screen shot from YouTube video. Meet the man the Democrats love to denigrate, demean, and insult -- and they have been doing it for years. His name is Benjamin Netanyahu and he is the duly elected prime minister of Israel and the head of the only Jewish State on the planet. He joined the IDF during the Six-Day War and is a veteran of the Yom Kippur War and other military operations. Twice wounded in battle, he was a member of Sayert Matkal, an elite commando unit. Now meet some of those big-name Dems who mock and belittle the prime minister, starting with Barack Obama, a man who never served in the military and couldnt punch his way out of a wet paper bag. Back in June of 2009, the White House posted a photo of President Obama with his shoes on his desk, tough-guy look on his face, speaking to Bibi on the phone. The bottoms of Obamas shoes face the camera (and Netanyahu). The pointing of soles of ones shoes is a Middle Eastern insult. In March of 2010, Netanyahu visited the White House. After refusing to bend to the demands of Obama, President Obama simply walked out, went to dinner, and left Bibi hanging. There was no meeting closure and no posing for photographs, a common courtesy regarding visiting heads of state. Then there was the intended leak reported in an Atlantic article back in 2014. The article claimed that a senior Obama administrator was quoted as saying, The thing about Bibi is hes a chickensh*t. Were these actually the brave words of the most famous community organizer in the world? We may never know but, to be sure, the Obama insult is duly noted. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who falsely claimed she had to evade sniper fire while visiting Bosnia, is on my list too. In February of this year she said, Netanyahu should go. He is not a trustworthy leader. Quite a statement regarding an allied leader of a nation that was in the middle of a multiple-front war. Then there is the Majority Leader of the Senate, Chuck Schumer, who also never served in the military. Last March, Schumer proclaimed to the many enemies of the Jewish State and the world, The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after October 7 I believe a new election is the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel. President Biden, who also never served in the military, called Schumers castigating speech against Netanyahu a good speech. But Bidens condescension of Bibi raises a serious red flag all its own. It happened the night of Bidens final State of the Union speech when an unaware Joe Biden was caught on hot mic whispering and chuckling with some of his Dem pals about his being able to make Netanyahu heel. He boasted, I told him, Bibi, and dont repeat this, but you and I are going to have a come to Jesus meeting. But Bibi had a response for Biden and Obama and all the rest of the condescending Dem leadership when he spoke at the United Nations last Friday. He said Israel will not go quietly into the night (and he wont either). Then he held up two posters, one in each hand; a blessing poster and a curse poster. This veiled reference to Abrahams Covenant was a message to the world: better to make Israel a friend than an enemy. In the meantime, practically as Bibi spoke, bombs were falling on Hassan Nasrallah and at least 20 other top Hezballah cohorts while they hid in their Beirut bunker headquarters. Nasrallah, chief of Hezballah for decades and responsible for the murderer of thousands, was no more. Before the world knew exactly what had transpired, Netanyahu was on his way back to Israel. After all, there was a seven-front war to be fought. Regarding the death of Hassan Nasrallah, President Biden said, His death from an Israeli air strike is a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians. Biden went on to also call for de-escalation and a ceasefire. There was no mention of Prime Minister Chickensh*t. Image: Israeli Defense Forces On September 12, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability renewed its request to FBI Director Christopher Wray for all information, documents, and communications in the FBIs possession related to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) affiliated entities and officials with whom Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has engaged and partnered. The third hearing on this matter was held on September 24. During the hearing, experts detailed how the CCP has successfully waged an influence and infiltration campaign targeting critical U.S. industries and politicians. Walz has made approximately 30 trips to the Peoples Republic of China, beginning in 1993 when he was a teacher organizing trips for his students. According to reports cited by the committee, all expenses were paid by the Chinese government. In addition, the committee found that while working in Congress, Walz helped obtain more than $2 million for the Hormel Institute in Minnesota, a research center that worked closely with the notorious Wuhan Institute of Virology. Hormels former director, Dr. Zigang Dong, was one of Walzs donors. Of particular interest are Tim Walzs financial disclosures. His familys income has remained fairly stable, averaging about $211,000 per year over the past decade. However, from 2006 to 2010, Walzs debt was extremely high in the midst of his campaigns, ranging from $45,000 to $115,000, according to various sources. At the same time, his trips to China did not stop; on the contrary, his interaction with Beijing was extremely intense. According to former NSA analyst John Schindler, Walz was an extremely vulnerable and tempting target for Chinese intelligence at the time. At the same time, some time later, Walzs debts were closed, and at the expense of what means a big question if indeed his income was declared from $167k to $212k per year. Another interesting fact is Walzs appearance with the president of the Chinese Peoples Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, which the State Department exposed a year later as a Beijing-based organization whose efforts are aimed at exerting direct and malign influence on state and local leaders to advance China's global agenda. The FBIs silence raises many questions. At this point, there are no facts to confirm that there is no criminal connection between Walz and the Chinese Communist Party. Trent England, executive director of Save Our States and a fellow of the Oklahoma State Public Relations Council, believes that the potential vice president may be a participant in Beijings coordinated operation. One such operation by China is the creation of geopolitical and humanitarian problems in the United States. And Beijing is skillfully exploiting the instability and extremely weak border control along the U.S.-Mexico border to flood the United States with its citizens, thereby increasing the burden on national security agencies. Last year alone, 1.8 million illegal Chinese migrants crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, and only 100,000 of them received deportation orders. This type of border crossing, without the necessary filtering measures, allows Chinese intelligence agents to easily enter the territory of the United States without providing their biometric data and freely carry out their activities. In addition, an unguarded border is also actively exploited by smugglers who bring drugs, weapons, and people into the United States. China remains the worlds leading producer and supplier of fentanyl. And this illegal activity by Chinese citizens only benefits official Beijing in its mission to undermine domestic stability in the United States. This gives reason to believe that the Communist Party leadership will not prevent its expatriates from continuing to engage in the illegal trafficking of prohibited goods. In this case, the question of Walzs interaction with Chinese organizations becomes a threat to national security. The governor of Minnesota is one of the few remaining Chinese lobbyists in American politics who will not restrict the flow of migrants from the PRC to the United States. In four years, with the current state of the border, more than seven million Chinese citizens will be able to enter the United States. How many of them will be spies and smugglers that our law enforcement agencies wont even be able to accurately track? Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0. " captext=" Gage Skidmore " src="https://images.americanthinker.com/ge/ge7nbrtgubwejcq1u2te_640.jpg" /> Image: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr, unaltered. HMD, the former brand responsible for Nokia smartphones, is preparing to introduce a new premium phone. In recent years, the company has focused on low-end and mid-range devices, although without making much of a splash in the market. However, the alleged HMD Moon Knight could finally change things with some flagship specs. HMD Moon Knight leaked specs suggest a return to the flagship phone segment As reported by @smashx_60 on X/Twitter, HMD is working on a flagship phone under the codename Moon Knight or TA-1691. According to the post, the smartphone will rely on Qualcomms Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset. This means that it wont rank among the most powerful devices on the market (especially once Qualcomm announces the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4/Snapdragon 8 Elite), but it will still merit the title of flagship. The device will feature a Full HD+ P-OLED display with a refresh rate of 144 Hz. The rear area of the phone is said to be home to a quad-camera system. It seems that HMD is looking to return to the days when Nokia devices were known for their cameras, albeit without the Nokia branding. The post also mentions the presence of a POGO Pin, which suggests that it will support modular accessories like the latest HMD Fusion. Other expected features include a pair of stereo speakers, an aluminum frame, and, of course, 5G support. The source does not offer any further details on the devices specifications. However, smashx_60 promises to reveal more tech specs and renders soon. HMDs last mobile flagship arrived in 2019 HMDs last attempt at the premium segment was the Nokia 9 PureView. The device arrived in early 2019, surprising the industry with a 5-sensor rear camera setup. However, the camera system didnt work as youd expect. The sensors didnt offer different modes, but instead all took photos at once. Then, the phone processed all the images to deliver an improved final picture. Unfortunately, things didnt go well with the device. A combination of poor marketing and broken support promises led to its failure. Even Light, the company that offered its camera technology, exited the smartphone market. Hopefully, things will be different this time, and Moon Knight can take on the competitive Android industry. The HMD Fusion is an attractive device, but it is surely not what flagship users are looking for. Samsung has introduced its Samsung Health Research Stack suite. The brands new SDK suite is a comprehensive solution aimed at improving digital health devices. The solution provides advanced data from Galaxy wearables to researchers and developers across the globe. Samsung Health Research Stack is the companys open-source project. It is touted to offer a versatile research environment for health devices. Samsungs new Health Research Stack will offer data-based digital health research Samsung has released the Health Research Stack version 2.0 beta. The company originally launched the solution as Samsung Health Stack Alpha in 2022 and Health Stack 1.0 in 2023. The company has now renamed the open-source project to Samsung Health Research Stack. The program emphasizes or increases support for data-based digital health research. The new project is a comprehensive package of software development tools for healthcare solutions. The solution supports digital health research using Android smartphones and Wear OS smartwatches. The company says the platform delivers IT developers and researchers with a complete software environment to conveniently and safely plan services using relevant health data. New SDK supports the development of mobile apps for both research and smartwatches The data suite also opens up many important health metrics gathered by various devices in the Samsung Health app. The users now dont need to download and activate any third-party apps. These include the Galaxy Watch, smartphones, and third-party devices. The SDK solution now supports the development of mobile apps for both research and smartwatches. Notably, the researchers and developers can also use sleep data from the newly launched Galaxy Ring. Most importantly, the new SDK provides enhanced support for the Sensor SDK for the first time. It will allow developers to create wearable apps that measure and utilize electrocardiograms. They can also use the blood oxygen level and body composition data from the sensors of the Galaxy wearables. Samsung Health Research Stack is already being used in multiple domestic and international clinical studies that utilize Galaxy Watch. With our innovative wearable technology, we aim to contribute to expanding the digital health ecosystem and serve as a valuable partner to IT and medical professionals in achieving research breakthroughs, said Yunsu Lee, Head of the Data Intelligence Team, at Samsung Research. Samsung will showcase the app SDK development tool at SDC 2024 In a press release, Samsung announced that it will showcase the Health Research Stack at the upcoming Samsung Developer Conference 2024. The event will kick off on October 2 in San Jose, California. The SDK suite is available for any company or medical institution, which are making solutions that utilize wearable devices and biomarkers. The development tool will reduce the cost and time needed to make apps for digital health. The latest version of the SDK suite is available to download on the Samsung Developer website and GitHub. Harris's audacity of deception strategy 2.0 By Mark Alexander web posted September 30, 2024 So, about all those Beltway Republican pundits asserting last week that Kamala Harris "needs another debate" with Donald Trump this is yet another example of mindless political groupthink that infests the swamp. They all eat and drink slop from the same trough. According to Harris, after CNN collaborated with her campaign to give her a friendly stage, "I will gladly accept a second presidential debate on October 23." After the rigged three-on-one "debate" with CNN's ideological twin, ABC, during which "moderators" David Muir and Linsey Davis teamed up with Harris to defeat Trump, the Kamala campaign knew Trump would decline another debate on enemy territory. They calculated the optics would look like Trump was afraid to debate again. To promote that conclusion, they complained that only one presidential debate in an election cycle would be unprecedented. Of course, this was Trump's second presidential debate, having already slain Joe Biden in another forum hosted by CNN. Biden imploded with the whole nation looking on (who could see that coming?), sending his Leftmedia publicists into a DEFCON 1 panic. That triggered activation of the Demos' long-planned BIG Swap, with Harris booting Biden to the curb. That's what was unprecedented after the completion of a primary with Biden on the top of the ticket, she then stepped in. And to provide Harris cover after the swap, her adoring political and media groupies diverted attention with a week-long celebration comparing Biden's agreement to step aside with George Washington, who declined another presidential term after his first two, refusing to become a dictator. Actually, they're still hawking that comparison. Just today, Sunny Hostin, a cohost of "The View," where Biden made an appearance this morning, asserted, "I truly believe that [Biden's] legacy will be etched in the history books as Washington; as someone who put that ego aside and put his country first." You can see the comparison, right? Since then, Harris has only had one national media "interview" with, you guessed it, CNN. But she showed up for those softball pitches with her support lapdog, VP candidate Tim Walz you know, the stolen valor guy. Yes, she did sit down for a local interview with, you guessed it, an ABC affiliate in Philadelphia, and she crashed and burned. Let's see a CNN Trump/Biden debate, a CNN Harris/Walz interview, and now another CNN debate offer. They don't call it the Communist News Network for nothin'. (Oh, there was that Oprah endorsement masquerading as an "interview" with Harris.) Moreover, this week, Harris became the first presidential candidate in 40 years to decline to attend the Al Smith Dinner, the 79th year of this high-profile national Catholic fundraising event. The last candidate to decline was Demo Walter Mondale in 1984, just before President Ronald Reagan defeated him in a landslide. The point is this: Kamala Harris is not looking for another debate stage or any venue where the nation might learn more about her than the prepackaged word salad she delivers at every campaign stop. One reason Harris is hiding from unscripted events was outlined in a July Axios article titled, "Biden doubted Harris' election chances," which noted: "Harris was the guest for a dinner at D.C. news mogul David Bradley's home a salon-style event Bradley hosts with Washington journalists and newsmakers. Harris' anxiety about the dinner was such that her staff held a mock dinner beforehand, with staffers playing participants. ... Harris aides even considered including wine in the mock prep so Harris could practice with a glass or two. They ultimately decided against it." She can't go to a safe-house fundraiser without a full rehearsal? Another Axios article hinted at the Harris campaign strategy, noting: "The Harris-Walz ticket is on pace to do fewer interviews and press conferences than any major party's presidential pairing in modern U.S. history. [They are] betting she and her running mate ... can avoid many tough interviews and still win as they run down the clock to Election Day." But the real reason Harris is avoiding unscripted venues the reason being perilously overlooked by all those expert Beltway Republican strategists? Michelle Obama almost said it out loud at the Kamalafest Coronation Convention: "Something wonderfully magical is in the air, isn't it? A familiar feeling that's been buried too deep for too long. You know what I'm talking about? It's the contagious power of hope! America, hope is making a comeback." That was a reference to Barack Obama's mesmerizing "hope and change" rhetoric on which he based his 2008 presidential campaign. Harris's entire campaign hinges on BO's successful 2008 strategy to obscure who he really was what I then dubbed "Obama's Audacity of Deception Strategy." If you are perplexed by the number of Americans who have embraced Harris with a degree of admiration that is associated with personality cults, I refer you to Obama's own lucid explanation for this phenomenon in the opening pages of his political autobiography, The Audacity of Hope. He wrote, "I am new enough on the national political scene that I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views." Maintaining this "blank screen" is precisely why Harris avoids unscripted events. Instead, she delivers the same rhetorical script, imprinting her dullard wide-eyed sycophants, especially women voters, with an identity facade they fully ingest. The less they know about the REAL Kamala, the more she can remain that "blank screen" upon which they can "project" that identity facade. Kamala is the "joy" candidate who professes to fix all that is troubling the electorate on her first day in office as if that were not almost four years ago. Of course, one major difference between Obama and Harris: Obama was, in Joe Biden's assessment, "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." In other words, Obama had an abundance of charisma. But the real Kamala Harris is vacuous, grossly inarticulate, and clearly lacks any charismatic depth. But what she lacks in charisma, she makes up for in her masterful ability to lie. Oh, and she is actually not "African-American" either, but we need not rehash that at risk of being labeled "RACIST!!!" However, the blank-screen strategy is critical for Harris to maintain her image as the "candidate of change." Of course, Trump is actually the change candidate. But Trump's considerable and well-documented record of domestic and foreign policy successes is diametrically opposed to the Biden/Harris regime's abysmal record of domestic and foreign policy failures. Thus, part two of Harris's one-two-punch strategy is to vilify her opponent while hiding her record. She must divert attention from the stark contrast between her failed record by implementing Nancy Pelosi's mainstream media "wrap-up smear" tactic to denigrate Trump. Harris is picking up where Biden left off, casting Trump as a "threat to democracy," when, indisputably, the most perilous domestic threat to Liberty in modern history is actually the Harris/Walz ticket and the Demo cadres of deep state socialists they will install into all levels of government. Will her one-two punch work? Not if Trump stays focused on contrasting their respective records every day between now and November 5th. Finally, that folksy socialist Tim Walz declared last week, "We can't afford four more years of this." Indeed, we can't. Mark Alexander is the executive editor of the Patriot Post. Defending freedom of speech includes protecting Angela Rayners right to call Tories scum, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said. At the Labour conference in 2021, the now Deputy Prime Minister described the Conservatives as a bunch of scum, homophobic, racist, misogynistic, before later apologising. The Conservative former minister argued that freedom of speech is under attack, to the peril of our constitution, and listed the Leveson report as one of the examples of this. Sir Jacob, who lost his seat at the general election in July, also hit out at the Online Safety Bill, claiming it had given Ofcom the ability to curtail freedom of speech. Speaking at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, he said: We should defend the right of Angela Rayner to call us scum, shouldnt we? Thats what she wants to do, its no skin off my nose. Also she may be a very helpful secret weapon for us, I think people who do all these property transactions are quite Tory anyway, its much more Tory than a socialist activity. During the debate on protecting free speech, Sir Jacob added: How do you have democracy without freedom of speech? How do you run an election if we cant print leaflets saying that the other side are a bunch of rotters, or words to that effect? How can you print leaflets saying that the Lib Dems are good, honest people if you dont have freedom of speech? Even with freedom of speech, thats pushing it. But nonetheless, your democracy cannot take place without freedom of speech. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner should have the right to call Tories scum, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg told conference (Peter Byrne/PA) You cannot have an effective election, because all you get is the message approved by the Government and churned out by the BBC. He said the multiple sexual assault allegations against Mohamed Al Fayed, the former Harrods and Fulham FC owner, who died last year aged 94, would have come out sooner if it were not for the increasing privacy laws. Sir Jacob told conference: Freedom of speech is under attack, to the peril of our constitution. Who has read recently about Mr Fayed, the former late owner of Harrods? Why did you not read a word about it whilst he was still alive, in this context? Because we have libel laws and increasing privacy laws that make it harder to reveal things. And yes, the Online Safety Bill has made it possible for Ofcom to have regulations that will curtail our freedom of speech. He added: And what about that great spider at the centre of the funding of the Labour Party by Lord Alli? What is the one thing hes spoken about in the House of Lords? Curtailing freedom of speech and controlling the press. What did that dreadful Leveson report try to do? I was one of 13 MPs who voted against it, 530 in favour. When the House of Commons is united, it is almost invariably wrong oh, just look back over the history. Elsewhere, Sir Jacob warned Tory members in the audience not to give in to the lefty loop use of language. He said Weve bought in to the language of equality. Now I hope our distinguished chairman is a chairman, not a chair the chair was what I was sitting on. Dont give in to the lefty loop use of language, it is absolutely fundamental, Sir Jacob added. During his speech, he also referred to an appearance he made at Cardiff University where pro-Palestine protesters gathered outside. Sir Jacob said: I also spoke at Cardiff and had a huge array of Palestinian people protesting against me. They were entitled to do so. They werent threatening violence, but they were entitled to be there and say they didnt agree with me. A bullet-proof vest emblazoned with a Union flag by Banksy has been put up for sale with an estimate of 200,000 to 300,000. Sothebys said it is the first Banksy vest to be auctioned from the collection, which the anonymous Bristol street artist began displaying in a shop window in Croydon in south London in 2019. Five years ago, Stormzy wore a similar stab-proof vest, made by Banksy, to draw attention to knife crime as he headlined Glastonbury. Banksys vest is expected to fetch hundreds of thousands of pounds at auction (Sothebys/PA) Emma Baker, head of contemporary evening sale at Sothebys, said: Given an iconic stature by Stormzy during his legendary Glastonbury performance, this reinterpretation of a classic piece of modern-day police-issue armour is Banksy at his best. In a way only Banksy can, he manages to powerfully condense a complex social issue through one redolent object. There is no doubt this artwork is more pertinent now than when the first vest debuted at Glastonbury an event that saw it become the symbol of a defining cultural moment. In 2020, Banksys Stormzy vest was nominated for a Beazley Design of the Year prize, and was subsequently donated to the Design Museum in London by the rapper. Another work from the series was featured in Banksys most recent exhibition, Cut And Run, which took place at the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow his first solo show in 14 years. Stormzy wore one of the vests from the Banksy collection at Glastonbury (Yui Mok/PA) The vest listed for sale, one in a series of five, will be shown during Frieze Week before it is offered in Sothebys Contemporary Art Evening Auction and will be displayed at the companys New Bond Street Galleries from October 3 to 9. On October 5 2018, Sothebys auctioned Banksys Girl With Balloon, which was then destroyed. Retitled Love Is In The Bin, the work returned to auction in 2021, and was sold for a record 18.6 million. Former Strictly Come Dancing professional Giovanni Pernice is relieved that he has been cleared of claims that he was physically aggressive towards his former partner Amanda Abbington, as the BBC apologised to her, saying it had upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made. Sherlock actress Abbington, who pulled out of the BBC One show last year citing personal reasons, later claimed she was subjected to a toxic environment and inappropriate, mean, nasty bullying. A spokeswoman for Pernice welcomed the review, saying they are pleased that this six-month review has not found any evidence of threatening or abusive behaviour by Giovanni. Giovanni is relieved that the overwhelming majority of allegations put to the BBC have not been upheld and looks forward to continuing his work on Dancing With The Stars in Italy this season, she added. There were no findings relating to physical aggression, but complaints of swearing and giving negative feedback were upheld, the PA news agency understands. PA understands that 11 out of the 17 allegations levelled at Pernice were thrown out. The review into Abbingtons complaints about Pernice was launched earlier this year. Pernice, who is not part of this years Strictly professional dancing line-up and has since joined an Italian dance show, Ballando con le Stelle, always rejected the allegations. The BBC said on Monday: We have assessed the complaints and we have upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made. We want to apologise to Amanda Abbington and to thank her for coming forward and taking part. We know this would not have been an easy thing to do. At the time, although the production team took steps to address the issues as they understood them, ultimately these were not enough. This is why the measures we have taken to further strengthen our existing protocols are so important. A written statement from Abbington said it was not an easy thing to do to come forward, and she has been accused of being a liar, a troublemaker and of being mad and unstable and that she and her children had been threatened. Abbington said: Despite this vile abuse, Ive never regretted coming forward, and todays apology from the BBC is a vindication of my complaint. Its not just a vindication for me, its a vindication for the other people who have contacted me since I made my complaint to express concerns about their own experiences on Strictly Come Dancing. I hope those who have felt unable to speak out now will be more confident that they will be listened to and believed. Amanda Abbington and Giovanni Pernice dancing together on last years Strictly (Guy Levy/BBC/PA) She added that she is considering meeting senior management, after this was offered to her. Abbington also said: This apology means a great deal to me. So too does the fact that the BBC have acknowledged the steps that were put in place to support and protect me and past contestants were not enough. What matters most now is that lessons have been learned and that the BBC makes the changes theyve promised, to ensure others dont experience the same ordeal that I and others like me did. BBC chief content officer Charlotte Moore said she could not go into detail because of confidentiality of a complaints process, during an interview with BBC News. She added: Of course, were also trying to balance that with the desire to be open and to be transparent about the way our complaints processes work, and obviously in this case, theres been lots of media speculation and lots of interest. So I think its really important that were as open and transparent as we can be about that process, which is why weve issued the statement. The show returned on September 14 for its 20th anniversary with a new cast of celebrities and some changes, including the presence of chaperones at all times during rehearsals. The BBC statement also said it has taken extensive steps to enhance our duty of care for everyone on the show, which include regular welfare meetings, 15 training room observers in place for rehearsals, the offer of a pre-series psychological review, and workshops for talent and crew on appropriate behaviour. It added: Building on previous protocols, there is a formal exit interview process for all involved as they leave the show, which will be logged and documented. These new measures build on longstanding processes and procedures on the show. We will always look at whether there is more we should do. The BBC also thanked a number of individuals who contribute to the probe, which the corporation said took time due to its complex nature and our desire to ensure a rigorous and robust process was undertaken. Irish TV presenter and former Love Island host Laura Whitmore previously said she spoke to the Strictly review team, and said she was subjected to inappropriate behaviour. She was partnered with Pernice in 2016, and was eliminated seventh that year. Italian dancer Pernice, who has also fronted a travel show with Strictly judge Anton Du Beke for the BBC, won the competition with former EastEnders actress Rose Ayling-Ellis, who was the shows first deaf contestant, in 2021. Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves sees more black holes than Mr Spock, a Conservative leadership hopeful has claimed. Tom Tugendhat said Octobers Budget could destroy growth in the UK and he branded VAT on private schools a vindictive and nasty policy. The shadow security minister faces Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly and Robert Jenrick in his partys leadership contest, with Rishi Sunaks successor due to be announced on November 2. Tom Tugendhats campaign merchandise includes Tugend-tan fake tan, the Daily Tugendchat newsletter and Tugent-tat temporary tattoos (pictured) (Jacob King/PA) Taking questions on the Conservative Party conference main stage in Birmingham on Monday, Mr Tugendhat said: This is going to be one of the most consequential budgets in our lifetime. This is going to be a Budget that takes us back to the 1970s not forward to the future. This is a Budget that is going to destroy growth, destroy opportunity and destroy hope for people, and dont just take my word for it, look at whats happening right now. Mr Tugendhat added: Go and talk to people in the City and ask them how much business theyre doing. Go and talk to financial advisers and accountants, they are all selling everything, cashing in everything and moving everything abroad. This Government is already destroying the economy. It is already doing damage to this country and theyve barely even started. Tom Tugendhat said we need to rebuild trust in the Conservative Party (Stefan Rousseau/PA) In reference to a 22 billion black hole which Ms Reeves identified in the public finances after she became Chancellor, and to the American sci-fi show Star Trek, Mr Tugendhat said: She sees more black holes than Mr Spock. Asked whether he would abolish VAT on private school fees, should he lead the next government, Mr Tugendhat replied: Yes. He added: Lets just be quite clear about this, this isnt just a bad policy, its a vindictive and nasty policy. First of all, theyre not waiting for the beginning of the school year to give parents and kids the chance to change if they need to, thats just plain mean. Secondly, theyre not just making those who send their kids to private school pay, theyre making everybody pay, because whether youre going to have to pay the 20% extra actually its business rates, so its more like 35% maybe even 40% extra whether youre going to have to pay that or whether youre just going to have to have larger class sizes, either way, Labour is making you pay. The Government will introduce a standard 20% VAT to private school fees from January 1 2025. On the Conservatives electoral enemies, Mr Tugendhat said: The enemy is trust. We have eroded trust in ourselves and we need to rebuild trust in the Conservative Party. Lets be honest: people didnt vote for that paddleboarder (Sir Ed Davey) to become prime minister and they didnt vote for Nigel (Farage) either to become prime minister. They voted against us. People woke up in the morning and they wanted to get us out. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey tumbled off a paddleboard in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, during the 2024 general election campaign (Jonathan Brady/PA) On Boris Johnsons support for Ukraine, the candidate described his work as heroism and added it would be up to local Conservative associations if they wanted to choose the former prime minister as their election candidate in the future. Mr Tugendhat also said he was working on being sanctioned by Pyongyang and Caracas. Ive been in Parliament, standing up against the dictators and tyrants that at the time some people thought were friends but we now know to be exactly who they are (Russian president Vladimir) Putin and Xi (Jinping, president of China) and the Ayatollah (Ali Khamenei) call them all out, he told activists and delegates at the conference. Got me sanctioned, as you know, for the privilege, but I think its important. Well, Im sanctioned by Russia, Im sanctioned by China, Im sanctioned by Iran. Im working on North Korea, Im working on Venezuela. Asked whether he is a former spy, Mr Tugendhat replied: I was a uniformed intelligence officer. Eamonn Holmes has spoken out against Phillip Schofield again. (WireImage) (Jeff Spicer via Getty Images) What did you miss? Eamonn Holmes has said he is "proud to have thrown Phillip Schofield under the bus", slamming his former This Morning co-star's tell-all episode of Cast Away. Schofield is set to make his return to TV tonight in the Channel 5 show where he has filmed his thoughts about his exit from ITV, but Holmes told GB News that he believed the ex-presenter was "where he deserves to be". Holmes, who used to present This Morning with his ex Ruth Langsford on Fridays, has made no secret of his animosity with former lead hosts Schofield and Holly Willoughby since leaving ITV and did not hold back in his Monday breakfast show as he discussed Cast Away. What, how, and why? Eamonn Holmes addresses Phillip Schofield's comeback. (GB News screengrab) (GB News screengrab) Eamonn Holmes has spoken out against his former This Morning colleague Phillip Schofield once again, saying he has no regrets over turning his back on the presenter. Holmes and his ex Ruth Langsford were the long-running Friday hosts of the ITV daytime show, which Schofield and Holly Willoughby presented for the rest of the week but were replaced by Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary in 2021. Since then, Holmes has been outspoken about his dislike of Schofield and Willoughby. Read more: Phillip Schofield During his GB News breakfast show on Monday, his co-star Isabel Webster read out quotes from Schofield's episode of Cast Away, due to air tonight, in which he claims he was thrown under the bus by colleagues at ITV. Holmes cut in: "Well look, if I'm one of the people who threw him under the bus, I'm very proud to have done it..." Holmes also made claims that Schofield was "addicted" to being in the spotlight. He went onto add: "This man is addicted to fame, absolutely addicted to fame." Eamonn Holmes and Phillip Schofield's row Phillip Schofield, Holly Willoughby, Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes used to be colleagues at This Morning. (PA/Alamy) (Ian West, PA Images) Holmes and Schofield have a lot of history together, having worked on ITV's This Morning since 2006 when the Northern Irish presenter joined the show. They were never good friends but remained amicable on-screen until one moment that changed that forever. Holmes' now estranged wife Ruth Langsford made a complaint about Schofield after he brutally cut off her during a segment on This Morning where she was teasing what was to come on Loose Women in 2019. He said: "Guys, we're going to have to jump in there and stop you I'm afraid because we're a bit tight for time at this end. Thank you, Ruth." In the moment, Langsford responded to say: "Well I only had about two more words to say." This moment was a turning point in Holmes' working relationship with Schofield. Later in 2022, Holmes addressed the incident saying that his then-wife wasn't the only person to be snubbed by Schofield. He told the Daily Mails Weekend magazine in February 2022: "Phillip is renowned for snubbing people. Hes very passive-aggressive. Its up to Ruth to say how she felt, but I was feeling hurt for her. No one would have snubbed me like that... I don't go for presenters who think they have a special privilege or aura or influence." What do we know about Phillip Schofield's Cast Away? Phillip Schofield's Cast Away will air on Channel 5. (Instagram) (Instagram) Last week, Schofield revealed he would be making a TV comeback in Channel 5's Cast Away, filmed on a secluded island off the coast of Madagascar. It marked his first TV job since the former ITV star resigned from This Morning in May 2023 when his affair with a younger male colleague came to light. Schofield said: "This is most definitely a first for me and the only thing I felt compelled to do. It appealed to me on so many levels. Ive recently had a lot of time to think about my life, what went right and what went wrong, but Ive always had the safe arms of friends and family wrapped around me. "This time its just me, no phone, no comforts, no crew and only lip balm as a luxury. Im looking forward to exploring the island, trying to tie knots to secure my shelter and foraging and fending for myself in the wild with no help. Maybe Ill be Robinson Crusoe, or maybe Ill just be Tom Hanks Wilson and quietly drift off into the wild blue yonder!!" The show, which will see the island hit by a storm during filming, airs tonight, 30 September at 9pm on Channel 5. Breakfast with Eamonn and Isabel airs on GB News at 6am on weekdays. This article originally appeared on Yahoo TV UK at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/eamonn-holmes-phillip-schofield-cast-away-gb-news-113501612.html Former EastEnders star Danny Dyer went undercover on Monday to help sell the Big Issue magazine. Wearing a flat cap and the red Big Issue tabard, he tried his hand at selling the magazine in Londons Tottenham Court Road alongside seller Andre Rosant. Dyer told the Big Issue he was surprised by how many passers-by failed to recognise him, instead rushing past with heads down an experience which Andre, who usually sells at a pitch in nearby Carnaby Street, said he is all too familiar with. Theres a lot of very kind people out there, Dyer told the Big Issue. TV legend Danny Dyer tried selling Big Issue in London. This is how it went and what he learnedhttps://t.co/ISr2BOOPXL Big Issue (@BigIssue) September 30, 2024 I understand they were probably buying because of who I am I was signing a few copies and stuff. I think its really interesting to be out here on the streets. Theres not a lot of money about from anybody, everyones struggling at the moment, so Im really happy we sold a few, I didnt think wed sell one, so Im over the moon, Im buzzing. Rosant added: Danny made a good stab at selling it. But as enormously famous as he is, still people walked past and ignored him. The expression on his face when people did walk past, and tried to ignore him or avoid him, was interesting, because Im sure hes not used to being ignored or avoided. Dyer has committed his support for the Big Community, a new Big Issue campaign to demand more action on poverty. Mike Ashleys Frasers Group has made an 83 million takeover bid for struggling handbag maker Mulberry. The fashion brand has been hit hard by a downturn in the luxury sector and warned late last week that it would need to raise cash amid concerns about its long-term future. Frasers Group, which owns Sports Direct and Flannels, already owns a 37% stake in the company. The retail giant said it put forward an approach worth 130p per share, valuing the stake in the company it does not own at 52.4 million. Mike Ashleys Frasers Group already owns a 37% stake in Mulberry (Yui Mok/PA) It comes after Mulberry said on Friday that it needed to raise more than 10 million after slumping to a significant loss for the past year. The luxury fashion firm reported a 34.1 million pre-tax loss for the year to March 31, compared with a 13.2 million profit a year earlier. It has said sales dropped more sharply over the spring and summer, with group revenues plunging 18% over the past 25 weeks as wealthy shoppers rein in spending. Within the accounts, Mulberry warned that the downturn has resulted in a material uncertainty, which may cast significant doubt on the group and parent companys ability to continue as a going concern if its struggles continue. Frasers said it is pushing to take control of Mulberry partly due to these concerns about the long-term viability of the business. The company said: Frasers are exceptionally concerned by the audit opinion in the latest annual report released on Friday September 27 2024, which notes a material uncertainty related to going concern. As a 37% shareholder, Frasers will not accept another Debenhams situation where a perfectly viable business is run into administration. Mulberry has witnessed a sharp drop in sales over the past year (Mulberry/PA) Mr Ashley held a roughly 180 million stake in Debenhams before the historic retailer collapsed into administration in 2020, with his stake becoming almost worthless. Mulberry was founded in Somerset in 1971 by Roger Saul and has celebrity fans including the Princess of Wales and Kate Moss. The company is being led by Andrea Baldo after the former Ganni chief executive replaced long-serving chief Thierry Andretta in a bid to drive improved performance. Mulberry has been contacted for comment. Shares in the company were 9% higher at 128p on Monday. A 14-year-old girl told police thats one way to be a celebrity after she stabbed two teachers and another teenager at a school in Wales. Swansea Crown Court was played CCTV footage of the girl attacking the two teachers at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman, also known as Amman Valley School, in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, and then moving on to stab another girl before she was disarmed by staff. Opening the girls trial on Monday, William Hughes KC, prosecuting, said that she told police officers after she was arrested: Im pretty sure this is going to be on the news. So more eyes will be looking at me. Thats one way to be a celebrity. But she also asked are they dead and added: How am I going to face my family after what Ive done? The court heard that the girl described the attack on the teenager to the officers, saying: I stabbed her, oopsies. Mr Hughes said the girl confronted assistant head Fiona Elias in the school yard telling her: Im going to kill you, Im going to f****** kill you, before launching her attack with a multi-tool that her father used for fishing. The video showed how Mrs Elias was with fellow teacher Liz Hopkin, who immediately intervened. Mr Hughes said Ms Hopkin ended up with the more serious injuries, to her back, neck, legs and arms, and had to be airlifted for treatment. He said the teachers later said the girl had lost it. The footage played in court showed how a number of teachers arrived quickly and talked to the girl, trying to calm her down in a kind of stand off, with the staff later saying she had a vacant look on her face. But the girl pushed past the male members of staff, ran around a corner and attacked another teenager. The prosecutor said the defendant also said to this girl: Im going to f****** kill you. Mr Hughes said police found a notebook at the girls home with a drawing of a female and reference to the teenager she attacked at the school. Forensic investigators at Amman Valley school, in Ammanford (Ben Birchall/PA) One comment said that girl will burn and another said cut their mouths and eyes. They also found found a drawing labelled Mrs Frogface Elias The jury has been told that the defendant has admitted attacking all three people at the school. She has pleaded guilty to three counts of wounding with intent and one of possessing a bladed article article on school premises. The girl denies three counts of attempted murder in relation to the incident on April 24, when she was 13. Mr Hughes told the jury: (The girl) does not dispute that she caused these injuries. She does dispute that she caused these injuries intending to kill one, two or all three of them. He said: (The girl) clearly thought ill of Mrs Elias and (the teenager who was injured) given the content of the drawings and the associated words. The prosecutor said Ms Hopkin was the worst injured and had to be flown to Cardiff where she was treated for stab wounds to her knee, lower leg, chest and under her shoulder blade. But the worst wound was to the top of her neck. Mrs Elias and the teenager were taken to hospital in Swansea, where they were also treated for stab wounds. The trial was adjourned and will resume on Wednesday. When you're a dog's favorite person, the signs are more like giant billboards that all say "I LOVE YOU." They aren't subtle. Just take one woman, who got the hint that her boyfriend's Great Dane was a little bit of a fan. It must sting to be Roman's dad in this situation, because the dog clearly favors his girlfriend. We're not exaggerating either. Just take a look at the video the couple shared that shows the way the Great Dane greets her. In the clip, Roman was giving his pop a bit of a hard time. They were having a quick tug-of-war over Roman's leash things were tense! It seems like both the large dog and his dad were both relieved when the woman appeared. Related: Great Dane and Toddler Brother's Matching Halloween Costume Should Win an Award Right away Roman ran over to her. "She's here! She's here!" we can imagine him saying. The comments section was cracking up over the very different ways that Roman treated his parents. "The way he immediately stopped," wrote one person. "He said 'Ope, Ma's here! Activate angel mode!'" another commenter teased. "'His dog' maam thats clearly your dog, he was being kidnapped and trying to escape," someone else commented. "Him back running over like 'stand uuuup dont embarrass me,'" another commenter added. All About Great Danes Known for their very large size, Great Danes certainly live up to their "gentle giant" reputation. They are very easy going dogs! However that doesn't mean that you should discount their ability to protect and guard their home. Great Danes can be 32 inches high at the shoulder, making them taller than most other dogs. Unsurprisingly, they can be intimidating to humans too. Which is why many home intruders will back away when they see one. In these situations, Great Danes can be courageous creatures, but they aren't naturally aggressive. For the most part, these dogs are extremely friendly and are great with kids. They are perfect for families that like to hang at home too. Great Danes don't need a lot of activity to be happy, but you will need to walk them two or three times daily. Grooming a Great Dane is pretty easy too. These dogs don't shed a lot and probably only need to be brushed once or twice a week. For the right family, Great Danes are incredible pets. And they aren't afraid to play favorites as we now all know. 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. Hassan Nasrallah's critical mistakes since October 7 By Yoni Ben Menachem web posted September 30, 2024 Since Hassan Nasrallah opened his war against Israel on October 8, he made a series of strategic miscalculations that significantly weakened Hizbullah and harmed the people of Lebanon. His reputation as a wise and effective leader was severely tarnished in Lebanon and across the Arab world, and eroded his credibility, leaving him viewed as a failure. Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Hizbullah, had long boasted of his deep understanding of Israeli society, its political landscape, and media. However, since his war began on October 8, 2023, he committed several strategic blunders, especially in his assessment of Israel's capabilities and responses. Here are some of his most critical mistakes: Failure to Act on October 7 Nasrallah's first major error occurred on the war's first day, October 7, 2023. He failed to order the "Radwan" forces, stationed on the Israeli border, to invade northern Israel and seize the Galilee region. This could have occurred simultaneously with Hamas's attack on settlements near the Gaza border. These forces had been training for years for such an operation and were combat-ready, but the order never came. This missed opportunity could have allowed Hizbullah to score a significant victory over Israel. At the time, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) presence on the Lebanon border was thin, and Hizbullah could have relatively easily occupied parts of the Galilee and captured Israeli settlements and military bases. Sources suggest that Nasrallah was not informed by Yahya Sinwar of the exact timing of Hamas's "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation. While he was aware of Hamas' broader intentions, the lack of precise information left him unprepared. By the time he recovered from the surprise, the IDF had reinforced its positions on the northern border, and Hizbullah lost the element of surprise. Ignoring Lessons from the 2006 War Nasrallah's second major miscalculation was failing to learn from Hizbullah's experience during the 2006 Lebanon War. Once again, he dragged Lebanon into a dangerous conflict to serve Iran's regional ambitions. By tying Lebanon's fate to that of the Gaza Strip, Nasrallah faced harsh criticism both within Lebanon and from the Shiite community from which Hizbullah draws its support. His actions led to devastation in southern Lebanon, resulting in hundreds of civilian deaths and displacing half a million people, many of whom have flooded into Beirut and other parts of the country. Misjudging Israel's Resilience Nasrallah's third error was in underestimating Israel's national resilience. He believed that Israel could only endure short conflicts and was ill-prepared for a prolonged war of attrition, like the ongoing campaign in Gaza. He also expected that the international community would impose harsh sanctions on Israel and force it to end the conflict, which did not happen. Nasrallah miscalculated Israel's response to the issue of hostages, assuming that it would cave to Hamas' demands, but that, too, has proven false. Underestimating Israeli Military Strength His fourth mistake lay in underestimating the capabilities of the Israeli Air Force and intelligence services. The IDF had thoroughly prepared for the northern front, assembling a comprehensive and precise target list. The Israeli Air Force's subsequent strikes were highly effective, and Hizbullah was left on the defensive, particularly after the Israeli intelligence services (SIGINT) infiltrated and disrupted its communications network. Conclusion Hassan Nasrallah failed to grasp that Israel is fighting for its survival in the region, and its citizens have no intention of leaving. His miscalculations led Hizbullah and the people of Lebanon to pay a steep price. The image of Nasrallah as a shrewd and successful leader has been shattered except for sycophantic Western media publishing fawning obituaries. Today, Nasrallah is seen in Lebanon and the Arab world as a defeated and discredited figure, serving Iran's agenda rather than protecting Lebanon. His errors left him on the defensive to his very end, struggling for survival in the face of Israeli attacks. Yoni Ben Menachem, a veteran Arab affairs and diplomatic commentator for Israel Radio and Television, is a senior Middle East analyst for the Jerusalem Center. He served as Director General and Chief Editor of the Israel Broadcasting Authority. Home The Duke of Sussex has hailed a group of little legends honoured at an awards ceremony, for uplifting all those around you despite serious illnesses. Harry paid tribute to the children and teenagers recognised at the WellChild awards, who act as carers, fundraisers or just carry on with life as they cope with debilitating conditions. His brief trip to the UK came as relations with his brother, the Prince of Wales remained strained, and despite travelling thousands of miles from California it is unlikely the duke visited William or his father the King, who is receiving treatment for cancer. The duke appeared upbeat and relaxed for the evening presentation, and before the ceremony began was upstaged by a boisterous seven-year-old, Noah Nicholson, who threw his toys on the floor and delighted in Harry picking them up. Harry told the young people and their families: Thank you for your courage, your perseverance, your kindness and of course your humour. And thank you for being you and uplifting all those around you. The WellChild Awards is an event that never fails to inspire me. The stories of young people who battle against the odds, living lives filled with medical procedures, hospital stays and endless appointments, remind us all of the strength of the human spirit. For many of us it is a daily life we can hardly imagine, and yet somehow, the young people I meet are always smiling and every room they walk into seemingly lights up with warmth and positivity. The WellChild awards also celebrate the inspiring qualities of health, social care and education professionals and among the famous faces watching the ceremony was Sir Rod Stewart and his wife Penny Lancaster. Sir Rod Stewart and his wife, Penny Lancaster arrive for the annual WellChild Awards 2024 (Yui Mok/PA) When Harry met Noah, who has cerebral palsy, chronic lung disease and other serious health issues, he chatted to the youngster and his mother, Tracey Nicholson, 42, from Grimsby. The seven-year-old brought his prized comfort toys George the cat and Ratty the Giraffe in the shape of a blanket and delighted in throwing them on to the floor. When Ms Nicholson said sorry for her sons antics, Harry, who is WellChilds patron, replied: Dont apologise, I love it. Noahs mother said afterwards: Hes in constant pain but is always happy and smiley. Hes just a very excitable boy and when hes around people he just loves it. Nothing ever gets him down, he never cries unless the pain gets the better of him. Hes seriously ill fighting for his life so much, but hes so happy. Our incredible 2024 winners gather on stage for a photo with WellChild Patron Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, at the #WellChildAwards, in association with @gsk. pic.twitter.com/tU6qT5B5Uk WellChild (@WellChild) September 30, 2024 Harry spoke about his role as a father in his speech: As a parent, I know a little about the emotional rollercoaster of parenting. But, when I hear about the care many of you mums, dads and family members provide; the level of round-the-clock care you offer; the skills youve had to learn; and the battles for support that you fight every single day I am truly in awe. In past years he has been joined by wife Meghan but travelled alone to London from their home in the celebrity enclave of Montecito in California where the couple established a new life for themselves and their children Archie, five, and Lilibet, three. The Duke of Sussex is to celebrate the achievements and resilience of seriously ill youngsters and their families during a rare UK visit. Harry will attend the WellChild awards ceremony in London in his role as the charitys patron, a position he has held for more than 15 years. The visit will raise speculation about whether Harry and his estranged brother the Prince of Wales will see each other, or if the duke will make a trip to Scotland to spend time with his father the King. The Duke of Sussex speaks to Poppy and her father Daniel Higham during the 2023 WellChild awards (Yui Mok/PA) It appears unlikely the royal siblings will make contact as the pair reportedly did not talk when they attended a family funeral in August in the UK. The King is believed to be spending time at his Balmoral home and it is thought he has not seen Harry since the duke rushed to his fathers side after Charless cancer diagnosis was announced in February. The WellChild awards celebrate the inspiring qualities of some of the countrys seriously ill young people and the dedication of those who keep them healthy and happy, including health, social care and education professionals. Harry regularly attends the annual event hosted by WellChild, the national charity which provides a nationwide network of nurses, home makeover projects and family support programmes. Before the big event the duke will attend a reception to meet the category winners and their families before joining guests for the private awards ceremony where he will present the Most Inspirational Child (aged four to six) award and deliver a short speech. The Duke of Sussex has been upstaged by a boisterous boy who threw his toys away during an awards night and laughed as Harry picked them up. The duke met seven-year-old Noah Nicholson who has complex medical conditions when he returned to the UK to honour children, teenagers and their parents who have been recognised with awards from the charity WellChild. Harry was asked by some of the youngsters whether he had a passport, and received gifts for his own children in the US. Six-year-old Noah is such a happy little boy, despite battling with several complex medical needs. Noah and his mum Tracy chat to The Duke of Sussex at the #WellChildAwards, in association with @gsk pic.twitter.com/iD2lObR0lj WellChild (@WellChild) September 30, 2024 He told one winner at Londons Royal Lancaster Hotel: My award is being here with you guys. The WellChild awards celebrate the inspiring qualities of some of the countrys seriously ill young people and the dedication of those who keep them healthy and happy, including health, social care and education professionals. Noah has cerebral palsy, chronic lung disease and other serious health issues, but his mother, Tracey Nicholson, 42, from Grimsby, said he remains happy and positive and lives life to the full. The seven-year-old brought his prized comfort toys George the cat and Ratty the Giraffe in the shape of a blanket and delighted in throwing them on to the floor. When Ms Nicholson apologised for her sons antics, Harry, who is WellChilds patron, replied: Dont apologise, I love it. Harry recognised Ratty the Giraffe and called the blanket comforter lovey, a name used in American, and said: Every parent has about six spare. The Duke of Sussex arrives for the annual WellChild Awards 2024 (Yui Mok/PA) At one point Noah, who has brain damage and won the most Inspirational Child aged four to six, grabbed Harrys beard and made him grin. Noahs mother said afterwards: Hes in constant pain but is always happy and smiley. Hes just a very excitable boy and when hes around people he just loves it. Nothing ever gets him down, he never cries unless the pain gets the better of him. Hes seriously ill fighting for his life so much, but hes so happy. Anya Olweny, 12, named as Inspirational Sibling, asked Harry if he had a passport: He said he still has to have one. The youngster, from Matlock, Derbyshire, was not fazed by meeting royalty and was recognised for supporting her mother caring for her 15-year-old brother Edward, who was born with a chromosomal disorder, is developmentally delayed and severely short-sighted. Scarlett Cripps, Inspirational Child 7-11 years old, presented Harry with a set of crystal hearts blue for the duke, green for his son Archie, yellow for his daughter Lilibet and purple for his wife Meghan. Scarletts mother, Aby Cripps, said: Scarlett told Harry she filled the crystal hearts with love and whenever he had a bad day or sad day he had to squeeze the heart and it would show him how special he was and make him smile. He said it was a lovely gesture and he hadnt seen his wife and his children because he was travelling here, so hell take it out later and squeeze them and it will remind him of his lovely wife. It is believed Harry arrived in the UK on Sunday, but it seems unlikely he will meet his estranged brother the Prince of Wales, and doubtful he will travel to Scotland to spend time with the King. Four Metropolitan Police officers and a member of staff are facing disciplinary proceedings over their alleged failures to take action against serial rapist David Carrick. A detective sergeant will face a gross misconduct hearing while the other four will face misconduct meetings over claims they breached professional standards, watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said. All the officers worked in the Mets internal standards department, the Directorate of Professional Standards. A woman who was preyed upon by David Carrick for 13 months said the words of the mother of Sarah Everard (pictured) made her decide to come forward and report his crimes to police (Family handout/PA) Former Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick was jailed for life in February 2023 after being unmasked as one of the UKs worst sex offenders. He was finally brought to justice after nearly 20 years of offending because one of his victims was so moved by a victim impact statement made by the mother of Sarah Everard, who was raped and murdered by another Metropolitan Police officer, Wayne Couzens. The IOPC said that a report of assault and harassment was made against Carrick in 2002, and he was spoken to by his line manager but no referral was made to the forces internal standards department. Two inspectors would have faced a misconduct meeting over this if they had not already retired. In 2016 another report of assault and harassment was made, which was investigated by Hampshire Police as a potential crime. No charge was brought, but the Mets internal standards department failed to investigate potential misconduct. The IOPC said two officers should face misconduct meetings, one of whom has since moved to City of London Police. In 2019, a report of assault was made and was investigated by Hertfordshire Constabulary, no charge was brought and again the Mets internal standards department was told. Two chief inspectors were told to go through a reflective practice review process to consider their failures to investigate Carrick for potential misconduct. Finally in 2021 a report of rape and sexual assault was made against Carrick, but no criminal charge was brought after an investigation by Hertfordshire. An internal investigation by the Met found that there was not enough evidence to prove misconduct, and so Carrick had no case to answer. But the IOPC said that a detective sergeant should face a gross misconduct hearing for allegedly failing to supervise that investigation properly, and a detective constable and a police staff member should face misconduct meetings. IOPC regional director Mel Palmer said: Our thoughts continue to be with all of the women who were victims of this serial predator. Our investigations into alleged failures to investigate reports made against David Carrick were comprehensive and identified several missed opportunities to pursue misconduct investigations against him. In all cases we identified that officers failed to properly explore, investigate or oversee the misconduct investigations against Carrick, who never faced any disciplinary proceedings despite being the subject of serious criminal allegations on multiple occasions. Had these matters been progressed appropriately, Carrick may have potentially faced gross misconduct proceedings and been dismissed from the force well before he was eventually arrested. Four officers and a member of police staff will now face disciplinary proceedings, including one officer who will face a gross misconduct hearing, while two more former officers would have faced disciplinary meetings had they not retired from the force. The mother of a jailed British-Egyptian pro-democracy writer has started a hunger strike, saying: I will not eat again until Alaa is released. Alaa Abd El-Fattah, 42, has been detained since September 29 2019 and in December 2021 was sentenced to five years in prison after being accused of spreading false news. The Free Alaa campaign said he should have been released on Sunday and Laila Soueif, 68, has started a hunger strike in protest at her sons continued imprisonment in Egypt. I thought I was ready for that day, knowing well in advance they had no intention of letting you go without a fightTurns out, you can never be ready for a day like today #FreeAlaa#ReuniteOurFamily pic.twitter.com/sgyGAihoOf Mona Seif (@Monasosh) September 29, 2024 Ms Soueif will not eat food and will drink only water with salt to regulate her blood pressure. The campaign added family members are due to meet Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Wednesday to urge him to help secure Mr Abd El-Fattahs release from prison and return to the UK. Mr Abd El-Fattah has spent most of the past decade in prison because of his criticism of Egypts rulers and is unable to see his young son who lives in Brighton. Ms Soueif, who was born in London and lives in Cairo, said: I will not eat again until Alaa is released. Every day that he is in prison beyond his sentence is a grave injustice, even beyond the terrible injustice that he has been imprisoned at all. Once again the Egyptian authorities have violated their own laws to persecute my son. At this stage I consider this a kidnapping as well as unlawful detention. Alaa is a British citizen, and it is urgent that the UK Government intervene now to stop this new violation of his human rights. The Foreign Secretary David Lammy has spoken up for Alaa in the past, but he must now turn those words into action. My son had hoped that the British Government would secure his release. If they do not I fear he will spend his entire life in prison. So I am going on hunger strike for him, and I would rather die than allow Alaa to continue to be mistreated in this way. Eilidh Macpherson, Amnesty International UKs individuals at risk campaign manager, said: Alaa is a courageous democracy activist who should never have spent a single day behind bars never mind five years, and this refusal to release him is a cruelty too far. During the past five years theres been a worrying sense that past governments were doing only the bare minimum to secure Alaas freedom that has got to change. A Foreign Office spokesman said: The Foreign Secretary is committed to trying to resolve Alaas case and will meet his family soon. The Foreign Secretary raised the need to make progress on Alaas case in his first meeting with the Egyptian foreign minister, which took place at the UN last week. Members of the largest education union in the UK have voted to accept the Governments 5.5% pay rise for teachers in England. In a National Education Union (NEU) snap poll, 95% of members who responded voted to accept the 2024/25 pay offer. Schools will receive 1.2 billion of additional funding in the 2024/25 financial year to help cover the costs of the increased teacher pay award, according to the NEU. General secretary Daniel Kebede said: Our members should be proud of what they have achieved through a hard-fought campaign. They have accepted this years pay deal, but the Government should be in no doubt that we see it as just a first step in the major pay correction needed. He continued: Teacher pay in England was cut by around a quarter in real terms under the Conservatives and is significantly lower than it is in Scotland. This is unsustainable. Without a major pay correction to restore the competitiveness of teacher pay, the desire to tackle the recruitment and retention crisis promised by todays Government remit letter to the School Teachers Review Body will come up short. The pay increases are in the interests of pupils and parents too. Teacher shortages and high class sizes damage education. Support staff, further education and sixth form college teachers also need solutions to long-standing problems in pay. The Government must make a commitment to repairing the damage done to teacher pay under the Conservatives. This must be done in negotiations with the teacher unions. Reversing pay cuts, alongside tackling sky-high workload, is essential to ensuring that we properly value, recruit and retain teachers. The snap poll was sent to approximately 300,000 members of the NEU who are serving teachers in state schools in England. There was a voting turnout of 41%. Last year, NEU members staged eight days of strike action in state schools in England in a pay dispute. Fateh Sharif, his wife and two children were killed in an Israeli strike on their home - Twitter Hamass leader in Lebanon, who was killed in an Israeli air strike on Monday, was working undercover as a teacher for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees. Fateh Sharif was killed with his wife and two children in an Israeli strike on his home in a Palestinian refugee camp in the southern city of Tyre, the movement said. Israeli military officials said Sharif was responsible for coordinating relations between Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Mr Sharif was suspended without pay by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in March as it investigated what it described as activities that are in violation of the agencys regulatory framework governing staff conduct. The killing of Mr Sharif came as Israel attacked central Beirut for the first time, hitting the predominantly Sunni Muslim district of Cola in a targeted strike that killed three leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP, a secular Communist outfit designated as a terrorist group by Britain and other Western countries, carried out a series of prominent aircraft hijackings in the 1970s, one of which resulted in Israels Entebbe raid in Uganda in 1976. Israel air strikes hit Beirut on Monday - Hussein Malla/AP Earlier on Monday, Hamas said that Mr Sharif was killed in an air strike on his home in Al-Bass camp in southern Lebanon. The group said he was killed with his wife, son and daughter in a terrorist and criminal assassination. Lebanons official National News Agency reported an air strike on Al-Bass near the city of Tyre, saying it was the first time the camp had been targeted. UNRWA told The Times of Israel on Monday that Sharif remained on unpaid administrative leave since the investigation into his political activities had been continuing. Sharifs suspension led to angry protests outside UNRWAs offices in Beirut, the Lebanese capital, with demonstrators demanding that it be rescinded. The revelation that Sharif was an UNRWA employee will renew international scrutiny on the agency, which provides humanitarian and development support to 5.6m Palestinian refugees. Israel accused 12 UNRWA employees in Gaza of taking part in the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct 7 that killed 1,200 people, allegations that prompted more than a dozen donors, including Britain, to withhold funding. Following an investigation, UNRWA fired nine of its staff members in August after finding that they may have been involved in the massacre. Britain and the other donors, with the solitary exception of the United States, have since renewed funding. UNWRA has 32,000 employees across its field of operations, most of them Palestinian. The organisation has acknowledged that some staffers may be affiliated to armed groups and has said that it is re-examining safeguards protecting its neutrality and independence. More than 200 UNRWA employees have been killed in Gaza since Israels military campaign began last year, the organisation says. A report into the BBCs coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict documents alleged breaches, errors and complaints made against the corporation The BBCs institutionally hostile coverage of Israel has made Britain unsafe for Jews, a former director has claimed. In a report published on Monday, Danny Cohen, the BBCs director of television from 2013 to 2015, accuses the broadcaster of making false and damaging claims about Israels conduct of this war. It also claims that appalling lapses in accuracy have served to fuel the flames of anti-Semitism that have spread across the world. The document is a review of alleged breaches, errors and complaints made against the corporation in its coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict. The report claims: Whenever the corporation is faced with the choice of whose account or narrative to believe, it seldom points in Israels direction. Three Jewish groups endorsed Mr Cohens findings. In a joint statement first published in The Times, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Jewish Leadership Council, and the Community Security Trust warned that the BBCs reporting has led many British Jews to conclude that the BBC has become institutionally hostile to Israel. Sir Ephraim Mirvis, the Chief Rabbi, also backed the report, saying: The data could not be clearer: wherever sustained misinformation and demonisation of Israel is found, incidents of anti-Jewish racism surge. Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Cohen said that the widespread support for his review was a direct result of the risk posed by the BBCs coverage to the safety and security of British Jews. He said: The reason the community organisations have got behind this is because they believe that the BBCs hostile reporting on Israel has a direct impact on the safety and security of Britains Jewish community. Thats why theyre speaking up. Theyre not speaking up simply because they disagree with some reporting. They have seen over the last year that [this reporting] has a real world impact on Jewish people, and that the BBC is contributing to an atmosphere in the UK in which Jewish people feel less safe because their reporting lacks impartiality. An earlier report into alleged BBC anti-Israel bias by the Israeli lawyer Trevor Asserson claimed the BBC had breached rules 1,500 times over the Gaza war. In one example, it criticised the broadcaster for using the term revenge attacks in a headline about Israels response to the Oct 7 attacks, arguing it depicted Israel as a vengeful aggressor. Members of the Jewish community protested last year against the BBCs refusal to label Hamas as terrorists. - Carl Court/Getty Images The reviews approach and bipartisan endorsement from the Jewish community is likely to cause extreme discomfort amongst BBC executives. The Board of Deputies is usually seen as Left-leaning, and Phil Rosenberg, its new president, is a former Labour councillor. Adamant that the catalogue of alleged errors must not be brushed aside, Mr Cohen has called for a judge-led inquiry into the reports findings. He said it was crucial that such an investigation was independent, as the BBC has gotten into the habit of marking its own homework and finding that there may have been one or two mistakes along the way, but theres never any systemic problem. I think when youve got 60 pages of a dossier, you can see theres a systemic problem, and thats what the BBC dont want to acknowledge and accept. The corporation routinely states that it has a robust process in place to handle complainants, who have the right of appeal to the independent regulator, Ofcom. Profoundly troubling Sir Ephraim, who backed the call for an independent inquiry, said: Few institutions are as vital for our national cultural identity or for the health of our democracy as the BBC. Thats why the content of this report, which records the repeated and long-standing failure to ensure impartial and accurate news coverage of the existential war that Israel is fighting on multiple fronts, is so profoundly troubling. He explained that demonisation of Israel in the media increases anti-Jewish racism, saying this is one of the reasons why the accuracy and objectivity of our national broadcaster is so important for the Jewish community. A BBC spokesman said: The Israel-Gaza conflict is a polarising and difficult story to cover, and we understand there are a range of views. The BBC has focused on reporting the conflict impartially, bringing audiences breaking news, insight and analysis, and reflecting all perspectives. While we do not recognise the overall characterisation of our journalism in this report, we will, of course, always look at anything raised with us with care and attention. Graduation ceremony Tony Blairs ambition to see at least half of all British school-leavers go on to higher education took two decades to achieve. Now university leaders have doubled down on what was always a controversial target. The government should be aiming for 70 per cent of school-leavers to enrol in tertiary education, says Universities UK (UUK). Having announced this headline-grabbing initiative, you might overlook vice-chancellors rather more substantive demand: a plea for the government to restore financial stability for universities by ending attacks on international student numbers. UUK wants ministers to reconsider (ie scrap) restrictions introduced by the last Tory government that prevent international students arriving in Britain with their entire families. In return, university leaders will make the supreme sacrifice of acknowledging public concern about immigration. The funding model for Britains universities has created a dependence on foreign students, with their eye-watering tuition fees. So long as ministers continue to fret about unsustainable levels of immigration, that source of revenue will be at risk. Hence ex-universities minister David Willetts saying that the debate itself has become increasingly politicised metropolitan code for too many people disagreeing with us. His contribution to the UUK proposals includes the suggestion that student visa holders be removed from headline migration statistics, a sleight of hands that would have the effect of fooling citizens into believing that immigration was coming down, even if it was not. The 70 per cent target which is ostensibly at the core of UUKs proposals will generate an appropriate amount of deflection. Blairs original 50 per cent target has not received universal support, either from students or from industry. The massive expansion in university enrolment had to be funded somehow, and the last Labour government chose to plunge future generations of students into long-term debt. The alternative route to employment on-the-job vocational training avoided such traps and provided the nation with skills it actually needed. But, despite this choice being lauded by ministers as just as attractive as a university career, it fell behind in the prestige stakes. This was despite universities scrabbling around to invent degree courses from which even Mickey Mouse might want to disassociate himself. The higher education sector ended up marketing employment-repelling degrees for 40 grand a pop. UUKs intervention also inevitably makes the case for more central government funding, including the restoration of maintenance grants, even as ministers reportedly consider a major hike in tuition fees for domestic students. Meanwhile, one in four young people leave primary school without basic literacy skills. Might the country benefit more from investment in our schools rather than from the creation of more meaningless university courses? Such a tin-eared approach by university leaders encapsulates the absurd degree of entitlement that is still enjoyed by our elites. There is indeed a crisis in education. That cannot be addressed by plunging even more students into debt to pay for courses of zero academic value, while sneaking ever greater numbers of immigrants into Britain at the behest of the arrogance of our universities leaders. Hong Kongs court of final appeal in Central district. British judge Nicholas Phillips has left the court for personal reasons. Photograph: Jerome Favre/EPA The British judge Nicholas Phillips has stepped down from Hong Kongs top appeals court, the fifth overseas judge to leave the citys judiciary this year. Phillips, 86, is leaving Hong Kongs court of final appeal (CFA) after 22 years for personal reasons after his fourth term ended on Monday and he said he did not wish to extend it, the court said. Phillips was among a long line of non-permanent foreign judges to serve on Hong Kongs judiciary, including from the UK, Australia and Canada. He is the fifth foreign judge to resign from the court this year, and the 10th since the introduction of the 2020 national security law that criminalised acts of dissent and subversion. The law has been criticised as vaguely defined and the government accused of wielding it as a political weapon against the pro-democracy movement. Related: The old days are no more: Hong Kong goes quiet as security laws tighten their grip In a statement to the Guardian the judiciary said it was grateful to Phillips for his support for the rule of law in Hong Kong. Despite the departure of some [non-permanent judges, or NPJs] in recent years, an overwhelming majority of the serving and departed NPJs have publicly reiterated their continued confidence in judicial independence in Hong Kong and the commitment of the Hong Kong courts towards upholding the rule of law, it said. Two other British judges who resigned from the CFA this year Jonathan Sumption and Lawrence Collins both cited the new political situation in Hong Kong. In an opinion piece in the Financial Times in June, Sumption said Hong Kong is slowly becoming a totalitarian state. The rule of law is profoundly compromised in any area about which the government feels strongly, he wrote. The Canadian judge Beverley McLachlin also resigned this year, as did the Australian judge Murray Gleeson, who cited his age, 85. Phillipss departure leaves six foreign judges on the CFA benches: four Australians and two from the UK, Lennie Hoffmann and David Neuberger. Pro-democracy activists and human rights groups have been calling on those remaining to also quit, saying their presence lends legitimacy to a legal system that has been undermined by the worsening security environment. In June, Sumption said it was no longer realistic to think the presence of overseas judges was sustaining the rule of law in Hong Kong. At the same time, however, Neuberger told the Guardian: Hong Kong has an impressive and independent judiciary and a thriving and able legal profession, both of which benefit the people of Hong Kong and contribute to the rule of law. They deserve support, not undermining. The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation called for the remaining foreign judges to resign. There should be no overseas judges giving any sort of veneer of legitimacy to a legal system which is now quite clearly under the control of the Chinese Communist party, no longer independent, and no longer trustworthy, said Alyssa Fong, the foundations manager and author of the report Lending Prestige to Persecution. The genius of SpaceX By Owen Kamphuis web posted September 30, 2024 SpaceX. Doubtless you've heard of Elon Musk's revolutionary company. SpaceX is built on the belief that commercial companies can survive in the predominantly government-agency dominated domain of space travel. SpaceX's existence depends on its ability to launch for much cheaper than NASA. Strangely enough, NASA is actually SpaceX's largest employer while previously being a rival. NASA wisely realized what it could save much of its ever-smaller budget by taking advantage of the drop in the price of a substitute to its rockets: SpaceX. At the height of the Cold War in 1966, NASA took up a staggering 4.4% of all US federal spending at an adjusted $55.7 billion. However, since then NASA has consistently taken less of a prominent role in the US budget and it's 2024 budget amounted to $26.8 billion. Although of course still a massive number, NASA has needed to carefully consider where to allocate their limited funds because of the high costs of space travel. NASA spent a large part of the early 2000s and 2010s developing the Space Shuttle because it was supposed to be a more cost-effective way to reach space due to its supposed reusability. Despite costing $450 million per launch, when adjusted for how much designing of the rocket also cost, most sources estimate the cost of a Space Shuttle Launch at $1.6 billion per flight. This was supposed to be the cheap, sustainable version of a rocket! SpaceX now charges $62 million per launch for its reusable Falcon 9 rocket. For the launch of its Falcon Heavy rocket, it charges $90 million per launch. Because of its mission to explicitly focus on cost-reduction, SpaceX successfully utilized investment to run at a loss for a few years, finally turning out a $3 billion profit in 2023. Because of this investment, SpaceX can now launch for much, much cheaper than NASA can. Although it may seem as if NASA would attempt to compete with SpaceX for military commissions and government grants, the opposite occurs. Of NASA's $24 billion budget in 2022, $2 billion was spent directly on contracting SpaceX. This is a smart move from NASA because it shows understanding that since the price of a substitute to their pricy missions went down, they should purchase the substitute. As a government agency, NASA also has no incentive to sink SpaceX, even if it could. NASA understands that if the private sector can provide space travel and transport loads for cheaper, then it should be used. Through saving money on certain tasks (such as giving SpaceX an $843 million deal to create a vehicle to disassemble the International Space Station) that NASA can hire SpaceX for, NASA can focus on other sectors such as Mars missions. NASA's utilization of a cheaper substitute makes the agency more cost effective, as well as boosting the private sector, showing that understanding the principles of economics can save government agencies large amounts of money and bolster the overall economy. (c) 2024 Owen Kamphuis. Home Ali Hasan Ali admitted four charges of sexual assault and four charges of exposure - Lincolnshire Police A judge has blamed Brexit for a more lenient sentence on a Bulgarian sex offender who carried out a string of daytime attacks on lone women. Judge Simon Hirst said omissions in the Brexit agreements meant he could not take into account previous sexual offences committed by 32-year-old Ali Hasan Ali in his native Bulgaria. This prevented him from classing Ali as a dangerous offender and handing down a longer extended sentence because the attacks in Britain took place after the UKs withdrawal from the EU. Instead, he had to give him a determinate jail sentence of 18 months, which means he will serve only nine months in prison before being deported. The Government plainly did not consider that aspect, he said. Ali arrived in Britain with his family after being released from jail in Bulgaria in December last year following three convictions for sexual assaults on children in his home country. The attacks included the use of a knife and threats to children to force them to undress, the court was told. However, within three weeks of his release from jail in Bulgaria, he began his attacks in the Lincolnshire town of Boston. Kissing and moaning noises The first was on Jan 10 when Ali came out of his new home and exposed himself to a female postal worker who was making deliveries. A second woman was also sexually assaulted on two different occasions as she walked along the same road. David Eager, prosecuting, said Ali again exposed himself and was heard making kissing and moaning noises. It left his victim feeling frightened and intimidated. Two other young women were sexually assaulted by Ali as they walked near Boston College. On Feb 28, he fled after being kicked in his crotch by a woman after he thrust himself towards her. Ali was arrested by police the following day and told officers: It wont happen again. He was remanded in custody, and a probation report concluded he was not suitable for treatment in the community. In court, he admitted four charges of sexual assault and four charges of exposure between Jan 10 and Feb 28. Overlooked or omitted At an earlier hearing, Mr Eager admitted it would seem incredible that the previous convictions from his time in Bulgaria could not be used by an English court to protect the public by giving him a longer sentence. Mr Eager told the court it was an issue that appeared to have been either overlooked or omitted during negotiations to leave the EU. Judge Hirst agreed to adjourn the case at the end of the first hearing after acknowledging it seems a remarkable state of affairs. The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed the court could use the Bulgarian previous convictions to assess dangerousness, but as the case was heard after the UK left the EU, the court could not rely on the convictions to hand down an extended sentence. The resignation of Simon Case has created a vacancy at the top of the UK civil service. Photograph: pxl.store/Alamy Simon Case has resigned as cabinet secretary and is due to leave at the end of the year. His departure kicks off a race to be his successor, with a job advert already circulated to attract a wide pool of applicants. To date the job of cabinet secretary has only ever been held by white men. Melanie Dawes Ofcoms chief executive has worked in a variety of government departments, from HMRC to the Cabinet Office and the Treasury, and was the permanent secretary of the then Department for Communities and Local Government at the time of the Grenfell Tower fire. Dawes gave an interview to Civil Service World last year that touched on the difficulties of juggling parenthood with a big job, and how Grenfell had helped to give her a very deep belief in the importance of good, effective, proportionate regulation. Oliver Robbins Oliver Olly Robbins, who was recently made a partner at Hakluyt, a consultancy founded by ex-MI6 intelligence officers, has repeatedly been linked with the job. He oversaw Brexit negotiations under Theresa May before leaving the civil service in December 2019. He has been spotted going to meet Keir Starmer and his team, and is known to have got on well with the prime ministers chief of staff, Sue Gray, but he has not confirmed that he would be interested in making a return to government. However, some within No 10 are keen for someone with less Brexit-related baggage and would prefer a less obvious candidate especially given the long history of white male cabinet secretaries. Government insiders believe he is being lined up for a security role instead. Antonia Romeo The permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice is a rare high-profile senior civil servant and is very well connected. She may have irritated colleagues by being more prominent than many permanent secretaries, but Romeos reputation was burnished when it emerged she had spoken out on behalf of more junior colleagues during the row over Dominic Raabs bullying of private office staff. Jeremy Pocklington A career civil servant, Pocklington has been the permanent secretary at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero since its creation, after doing the top job at the Ministry of Housing. He is known to have got on with Gray, who will be working closely with whoever gets the role of cabinet secretary, and recently spoke to the Global Governance Forum on how the AI and digital revolution is going to transform the civil service. Tamara Finkelstein As permanent secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Finkelstein has worked across Whitehall and would be a hugely experienced candidate, after five years in the job. Minouche Shafik A former deputy governor of the Bank of England, Shafik is conducting a government review of UK development aid. She has also served as permanent secretary in the former Department for International Development, and recently stepped down as principal of New Yorks Columbia University over its handling of protests about Gaza. Simon Case reiterated his decision to step down was not related to the freebies leak or the rows over Sue Gray - TAYFUN SALCI/ZUMA PRESS/SHUTTERSTOCK Simon Case, one of Sir Keir Starmers most senior government officials, has announced he will step down at the end of the year on health grounds. The Cabinet Secretary told the Prime Minister that he is to leave Downing Street on doctors advice 18 months after he was diagnosed with a neurological condition. He left with a warning to his colleagues that they must avoid being dragged into party politics and remain impartial servants of the Government, rather than partial participants in it. Mr Case, who has been a senior aide to the last six prime ministers, privately told Sir Keir before the election that he would be leaving this year, The Telegraph understands, and formally confirmed it on Monday morning. In his letter to colleagues, he made it clear the timing of his departure is nothing to do with reports that he had been accused of failing to get a grip on leaks about freebies from Lord Alli and about rows over the role of Sue Gray, Sir Keirs chief of staff. He told them: It is a shame that I feel I have to spell this out, but my decision is solely to do with my health and nothing to do with anything else. He added: Whilst the spirit remains willing, the body is not. In the valedictory letter to colleagues, Mr Case, who is also the head of the Civil Service, urged them to embrace reform and warned them not to act in a partisan way, as officials have often been accused of doing in the past. It comes after reports that Ms Gray would like to replace Mr Case with Oliver Robbins, the former Brexit negotiator, or someone else aligned with the Prime Ministers political stance. Mr Case wrote: We should resist the temptation to become the arbiters of, or participants in, legitimate democratic debate, leaving party politics to politicians and demonstrating our enduring and profound belief in democracy through the service of the elected government of the day. He also said: The world is changing fast and so must the Civil Service. The global context, the relentless evolution of technology, increasing public expectations of the services they consume and many more factors require us to keep adapting. At the same time, the core values of our United Kingdom have not changed and so I hope that the Civil Service will hold onto its fundamental purpose and values in the never-ending task of serving the Government of the day and, through them, the people of our country. The Prime Minister will appoint a new cabinet secretary following what Mr Case emphasised would be a full, open and transparent process in which an independent panel chaired by the First Civil Service Commissioner will conduct interviews and advise Sir Keir on suitable candidates for the role. Concentrating on treatment Mr Case, 45, was appointed to his current role by Boris Johnson in 2020 to help steer the country through the Covid crisis. He remained in place under Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir. He had previously worked as principal private secretary to Lord Cameron and Baroness May during their premierships, before a two-year spell as private secretary to the Prince of Wales. Mr Case has told friends that his neurological condition, which affects his eyesight and causes him to walk with the aid of a stick, means he can no longer commit to what is in essence a seven-day-a-week job beyond the end of the year. A father of three, he has not lived full time with his family for the past 14 years because of the need to be available 24 hours a day, and he has told friends he is looking forward to living at home full-time and concentrating on treatment for his condition. He said he eventually hopes to do some charity work to raise money for research into his condition and wants to write some papers on the constitution, but will not be writing a memoir. He told colleagues: It has been an honour to serve two sovereigns, four Prime Ministers and over 120 Cabinet Ministers in this role. There have been far more ups than downs along the way and by far the greatest highlight has been the privilege of working with so many remarkable public servants, across the length and breadth of our country, in our overseas posts and with counterparts from our close allies and partners around the world. National Crime Agency and Border Force seized the 40kg of cocaine worth an estimated 3.1 million tied up in black bin liners - JAMES ORR Cocaine thought to be worth up to 3.1 million has washed up on a beach in Cornwall. A black bag, which appeared to be wrapped in a bin bag, was found on Trevaunance Cove in St Agnes on the north Cornish coast on Saturday. An image said to have been taken outside Schooners bar overlooking the cove shows a police officer beside the bag. Otis Robertson, 19, who works at Schooners bar, told The Telegraph that the bag had been found in a cave nearby. He said: In the morning, it was found in a cave by a dog walker. They instantly called the police. It was a big black carrier bag. The lifeguards said it was full of bricks [of cocaine]. The police came down and searched to see if there was any more. They actually said it was around 40kg and valued at 3 million. Mr Robertson claimed that recent strong winds had brought the bag ashore. An anonymous resident told the Daily Mail: Its been the talk of the village this weekend. Its a very gossipy place anyway but when something unusual like this happens, even more so. Im told the drugs were found washed up on Saturday morning and the police were called. The beach is popular with dog walkers and even out of the main holiday season there are always lots of people here. The National Crime Agency (NCA) has said that the domestic cocaine market is dominated by criminal gangs who make around 4 billion a year. In February, the NCA and Border Force seized 5.7 tons of cocaine one of its biggest-ever seizures of class-A drugs in the UK. The contraband was found hidden among bananas in a container at Southampton Port which had been transported from South America and was bound for Hamburg, Germany. Based on UK street-level prices, this cocaine would have had an estimated value of over 450 million. Last month, a Royal Navy patrol ship seized 40 million of cocaine from a speedboat in the Caribbean. Royal Marines and US Coast Guard personnel on HMS Trent intercepted the vessel carrying 506kg of Class A narcotics south of the Dominican Republic. The bust was the sixth made by the Royal Navy vessel this year, bringing the total amount of drugs seized to 551.5 million. Devon and Cornwall Police was contacted for comment. Right-wing activist Bernard Gaynor is appealing against the Australian Classification Boards decision not to restrict Gender Queer, a graphic novel-style memoir about gender identity. Photograph: Rick Bowmer/AP The Australian classifications board made a broadbrush dismissal of over 500 submissions calling for a ban of the book Gender Queer by labelling those submissions as anti-LGBTQ+, a court has heard. In July last year, the Classification Board rejected calls to restrict access to a memoir about gender identity that was the target of conservative campaigns to have it banned in the US, and found the content was appropriate for its intended audience. Right-wing activist Bernard Gaynor had applied to the board in early 2023 to review the classification of the graphic novel-style memoir about gender identity by writer Maia Kobabe. Complaints about the book which details Kobabes experience coming out as non-binary are focused on the cartoon images of sex scenes, one of which has been described by critics seeking a ban as pornographic and paedophilic. When the Australian Classification Board upheld its original decision to classify the book as unrestricted with the consumer advice of M not recommended for readers under 15 years, Gaynor appealed against the ruling to the federal court. In a hearing on Monday, Bret Walker SC, acting for Gaynor, said the overwhelming majority of submissions to the board on the review of the decision had called for the publication to be restricted or refused classification. He argued the classification board had erred by not taking these submissions into account, by broadly labelling them as anti-LGBTQIA+. Walker said there was a deliberately broadbrush dismissal of those submissions, many of which he said objected to what they saw as depicting a man having sex with a minor referring to an image portraying Platos Symposium. Walker said many of those objections did not refer to the gender of the images subjects, just that it appeared to depict paedophilia. Justice Ian Jackman said that while by his count, about 600 submissions from among 9,000 people had been considered to be anti-LGBTQ+ by the board, on closer examination Jackman said just 52 of these expressed anti-LGBTQ+ views less than 1% of submissions received. Walker said the board gave little weight to the submissions, and had failed to engage with them in its review decision. In response, the barrister for the minister for communications and the classification board, Houda Younan SC, said the law did not require the board to accept submissions as part of the review of its classification decision and that the invitation of submissions did not require the decision-maker to then consider them. Related: Big W removes sex education book from shelves after staff members abused However, Younan said the board did consider the public submissions and did not dismiss them on the basis of being anti-LGBTQ+ but because they did not assist the board in its statutory task of a classifications decision. We say that in this case, every submission was received and considered, Younan said. Submissions in the decision were labelled to give their tenor, she said. Submissions were given weight based on whether they contained evidence the writer had read Gender Queer and understood its content within the context of the publication. Those that did not demonstrate an engagement with the publication were given little weight, she said. Younan indicated the board had considered whether a submission noted the context of the image being of Platos Symposium, or was a criticism of the image on its own, removed of context. She later identified 14 additional examples of explicitly anti-LGBTQ+ submissions beyond those initially identified by Jackman. Among the orders sought, Gaynor is seeking to have the decision remitted back to the classifications board. Jackman reserved his decision. In the US, Gender Queer is one of the most challenged books in libraries. Kobabe told the ABC in May that the US push to ban the book had been frustrating and that the depiction of Platos Symposium had been included as it was one of the few gay-themed texts Kobabe had encountered in college. It stuck in my mind, because it was the only one. David Carrick was unmasked as one of Britains worst sex offenders last year, having carried out more than 70 sex attacks Four police officers are facing misconduct hearings after they failed to stop serial rapist police officer David Carrick. The four officers and a police staff member missed chances to investigate a litany of complaints made against Carrick, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has found. Carrick, who worked for the Metropolitan Police, was unmasked as one of the UKs worst sex offenders and convicted of crimes against 12 women over 17 years. He is currently serving at least 30 years behind bars for carrying out more than 70 sex attacks. In July 2023, the watchdog announced four independent investigations into what actions were taken by the Met after four reports of serious offending were made against Carrick between 2002 and 2021, while he was a serving officer. Carrick was arrested in October 2021 and jailed in February 2023. The IOPC said that a detective sergeant would face a gross misconduct hearing, meaning he could face dismissal. The other three officers and a staff member will face misconduct hearings for alleged breaches of the police standards of professional behaviour, all relating to failing to progress misconduct investigations against Carrick. The arrest of David Carrick, captured on a police bodycam - Hertfordshire Police/PA Mel Palmer, the IOPC regional director, said: Our thoughts continue to be with all of the women who were victims of this serial predator. Our investigations into alleged failures to investigate reports made against David Carrick were comprehensive and identified several missed opportunities to pursue misconduct investigations against him. In all cases, we identified that officers failed to properly explore, investigate or oversee the misconduct investigations against Carrick, who never faced any disciplinary proceedings despite being the subject of serious criminal allegations on multiple occasions. Had these matters been progressed appropriately, Carrick may have potentially faced gross misconduct proceedings and been dismissed from the force well before he was eventually arrested. Four officers and a member of police staff will now face disciplinary proceedings, including one officer who will face a gross misconduct hearing, while two more former officers would have faced disciplinary meetings had they not retired from the force. Middle East Airlines is the last company still operating out of Beirut and is in talks with UK officials over flight tickets - AMANDA MOUAWAD/AFP The Government is buying seats on flights out of Lebanon to help British people flee over fears that the Middle East is teetering on the brink of all-out war. Officials are in talks with Middle East Airlines the only company still flying out of Beirut to try to increase capacity. Although it is believed that fewer than 100 seats will be available to buy, the Foreign Office does not believe there are a large number of UK citizens who want to escape. The Government said on Monday night that it has chartered a commercial flight out of Lebanon for Britons wanting to leave amid escalating violence. The flight is set to leave Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport on Wednesday and vulnerable British nationals and their spouses, partners and children under 18 will be prioritised, the Foreign Office said. The Government will pay to charter the flight but Britons will be expected to pay a fee of 350 per seat, the BBC reported. On Monday, the Prime Ministers spokesman said: Were doing everything we can to work with commercial airlines to maximise capacity because we want people to leave, and I understand that there have been extra Middle East Airlines flights leaving Lebanon over the weekend, another scheduled for Tuesday, and we have secured seats for British nationals on those flights. It comes as Israeli troops gather on the border of Lebanon and Hezbollah demands revenge for the assassination of its leader. The available flights will not be direct to London, but will go to other locations such as Athens or Istanbul. The UK hopes to buy the seats and sell them on to Britons wishing to evacuate, acting as guarantors. The Foreign Office is also investigating options for assisted departure via a chartered flight. Officials believe that there are not hundreds of British people desperate to get out. Many have stayed for good reasons, such as having family or other ties in the area. It means there are fewer Britons in the country than in the summer, when many were there on holiday. The Prime Ministers spokesman reiterated the Governments call for Britons to leave the country. The departure board at Beiruts international airport shows the limited options available to people trying to flee the city - AMANDA MOUAWAD/AFP He said: The Prime Minister has been very, very clear that British nationals should leave now, particularly whilst commercial flights are still available. What were focused on at the moment is securing extra spaces on commercial flights for those who do want to leave and reiterating our calls for those to leave and to register their presence with us and book the first available flights. Were also working to send a rapid deployment team to bolster the efforts of our embassy in supporting British nationals who want to leave. Asked why an evacuation has not started, the spokesman said: Weve been clear, whilst there are commercial flights available, British nationals can and, indeed, should leave. The spokesman also pointed to the deployment of 700 troops, alongside Border Force and Foreign Office officials, to Cyprus to continue work on all contingency options and plan for a range of scenarios in the region. Russian servicemen fire heavy mortar systems towards Ukrainian positions - SHUTTERSTOCK Hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers could be trapped in a besieged town as Russian forces complete their encirclement and close in. In a desperate plea, one Ukrainian soldier described how evacuation routes out of Vuhledar had been cut and food, ammunition and fuel were running low. The situation in Vuhledar is, to put it mildly, difficult, the unnamed Ukrainian soldier told Stanislav Bunyatov, a Ukrainian soldier and blogger. The attack is now coming from three sides. Capturing Vulhedar would be a significant victory for Valdimir Putin - GETTY The soldier said that it was too dangerous for Ukrainian armoured personnel carriers to drive towards friendly lines because of Russian artillery and drone attacks. Instead, he described how individual units were trying to quietly slip out of the Russian encirclement at night in fighting retreat formations. On average, if 10 people leave the city in groups, four to six make it out, he said. The soldiers complaints were published the day after senior Ukrainian commanders withdrew the commander of Ukraines 72nd Brigade that has been defending Vuhledar. Colonel Ivan Vinnik is reportedly highly regarded and has been tipped for a promotion but some commentators said that he had been withdrawn because he needed to be saved before the town was lost. Vuhledar, towards the southern edge of the front line that runs through Ukraines eastern Donbas region, has been described as a Ukrainian fortress because it has never been captured. Now, though, Russian military bloggers confirmed that the Kremlins forces have nearly surrounded it and have started to predict that Vuhledar will fall. The commander of the 72nd Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, responsible for the defence of the city, has been removed from office. Our troops are methodically destroying enemy firing points in the city, said the Two Majors Telegram channel, which has almost 1.2 million subscribers. Other Russian officials have said that 5,000 Russian soldiers have been transferred to the battle for Vuhledar and that a major push is planned. Colonel Ivan Vinnik is reportedly well-regarded and tipped for promotion - FACEBOOK Even Ukrainian and neutral information sources have said that Vuhledar, positioned on high ground overlooking an important east-west road, is likely to fall. DeepState, a pro-Ukraine Telegram channel, confirmed that Russia has sent regular forces and special forces as reinforcements to the area and OSINT Aggregator said Ukraine may have tried to hold Vuhledar longer than operationally feasible. The town had a pre-war population of about 14,000 people. If it falls, it will be Vladimir Putins most significant battlefield victory since he captured Avdiivka in February. Follow our latest live blog on Israels invasion of Lebanon Israeli troops are preparing to launch a limited ground invasion of Lebanon which could start as soon as today, senior US officials believe. Israels operation is expected to be smaller than its 2006 war against Hezbollah, which was a wider ground incursion, instead focusing on ensuring security for border communities in the north, the Washington Post reported. However, it came after intense talks between Israel and Washington over the weekend, with US officials believing they had done enough to convince Tel Aviv not to launch a major operation, the New York Times reported. Yoav Gallant, Israels defence minister, said on Monday that the next stage of the war against Hezbollah will begin soon, adding that the purpose of such operations would be to facilitate the return of displaced Israelis to their homes in the north. Israeli troops had already launched targeted operations in southern Lebanon on Monday as the army widened its campaign against Hezbollah. An Israeli official told the Telegraph that elite commandos were targeting Hezbollah infrastructure, including weapons sites and command and control centres, in a bid to push its fighters away from Israels northern border. 07:49 PM BST Were moving our coverage Thank you for following our live blog on the conflict in the Middle East today. Were moving our coverage. Click here to follow the latest from the conflict between Israel and Lebanon. 07:14 PM BST Israel declares military zone along northern border The Israeli military declared a military zone in parts of its northern border with Lebanon on Monday ahead of possible ground operations in the neighbouring country. The areas of Metula, Misgav Am, and Kfar Giladi in northern Israel have been declared a closed military zone. Entry to this area is prohibited, the military said in a statement. 06:42 PM BST US: Israel told us ground operations are limited Israel has told Washington that its operations in Lebanon are limited in their focus, targeting Hezbollah infrastructure near its border with Lebanon. They have been informing us about a number of operations, I know Ive seen reports about ground operations. Weve had some conversations with them about that, the State Department said in a briefing on Monday. They have at this time told us that those are limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border. But were in continuous conversations with them about it, Matthew Miller, the departments spokesperson, said. 06:34 PM BST Pictured: Bulgarians evacuated from Lebanon Bulgarians evacuated from Lebanon have landed in their home country as efforts continue across the world to get citizens out of the country ahead of an anticipated ground invasion by Israel. People disembark from a Bulgarian government plane following its arrival from an evacuation flight from Lebanon - REUTERS 06:16 PM BST Israeli reservists gathering at assembly points in the north Israeli reservists are gathering at assembly points near the northern border ahead of a potential invasion of Lebanon, the New York Times has reported. Soldiers are also being directed to register with military poice as they drive along northern roads. The US media outlet also reported that dozens of logistical trucks have been seen moving north. 05:57 PM BST Yemens Houthis vow to escalate attacks against Israel Yemens Iran-backed Houthi rebels have said they will escalate military operations against Israel after their military infastructure was attacked on Sunday. Israel carried out 17 air raids on Yemeni infrastructure, killing five and injuring 57, a Houthi spokesman said. Israel said the strikes were responding to Houthi attacks. 05:41 PM BST Watch: Israeli tanks massing in northern Israel 05:34 PM BST US: Israeli invasion of Lebanon could be imminent Israeli troop positioning suggests that a ground invasion of Lebanon could be imminent, a US official has told Reuters. It comes after CBS News reported that the invasion could happen within hours. 05:18 PM BST Analysis: Biden hoped Nasrallahs death would spark peace process Joe Biden believes the pending Israeli incursion into Lebanon is unnecessary because the death of Hezbollahs leader has weakened the terror group enough. When asked about the operation, which is said to be imminent, the US president called for an immediate ceasefire. Im comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now, he said when a reporter asked whether he was comfortable with Israels plans. Over the weekend, both Israel and the US confirmed that Hassan Nezrallah, Hezbollahs leader, had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. Mr Biden said his assassination was a measure of justice for the Lebanon-based terror groups victims, including Americans. But behind closed doors, the President hoped the high-profile killing would set into motion a peace process, rather than further military activity. Aides had told him that Hezbollah had been so decimated that their ability to attack Israel had been significantly limited. This meant US-led proposals for a 21-day ceasefire were still possible, despite previously being ruled out by Benjamin Netanyahu, Israels prime minister, they said. Instead, Israel appears poised to launch a ground offensive into Lebanon, which the US has previously warned could spark a wider conflict across the Middle East and cause untold amounts of casualties. 05:08 PM BST US to send thousands of troops to Middle East Washington will send a few thousand additional troops to the Middle East should Israel need defending, the Pentagon has said. Multiple fighter jet squadrons and the troops needed to support them will be sent, according to Sabrina Singh, the Pentagon spokesman. The additional personnel includes squadrons of F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16, A-10 and F-22 fighter jets. They are not in place to assist in an evacuation, Ms Singh said, before adding: They are there for the protection of US forces. 05:01 PM BST US and Israel talking about best way forward The United States and Israel are still in discussions about the best way forward, the Pentagon said on Monday, amid reports of an imminent ground invasion of Lebanon. Were continuing to engage with them, trying to learn more. We continue discussions on the best way forward, Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokesperson, said. Singh also said Israel gave US notice but did not coordinate its Sunday strikes in Yemen with the United States. 04:44 PM BST Hezbollah claims attack using ballistic missile Hezbollah said on Monday it had attacked Israel using a Nour Missile, which has been described as a ballistic missile by sources familiar with the Lebanese terror group. Hezbollah said it was the first time they had used the missile. The IDF said one projectile launched from Lebanon struck an open area near the Israeli border community of Kfar Giladi, causing no injuries. 04:38 PM BST Biden urges Israel to stop ahead of imminent invasion Joe Biden told reporters that he was aware of Israeli plans to launch a ground operation into Lebanon, and called for a ceasefire to end the fighting. In an address from the Oval Office, the US President said: Im more aware than you might know, and Im comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now. Washington had been pushing to broker a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, before an Israeli airstrike killed the terror groups leader. US officials over the weekend said Hassan Nasrallahs death made green-lighting a peace agreement easier, because it had significantly weakened Hezbollahs military capabilities. President Joe Biden said he was comfortable with Israel stopping ahead of an anticipated ground invasion of Lebanon - AP 04:37 PM BST Gallant: next phase of war to begin soon Israels defence minister has confirmed the next phase of his countrys war with Hezbollah will begin soon amid reports of an imminent ground invasion. In the meeting with the heads of the councils in the confrontation line forum I emphasized - the next phase in the war against Hezbollah will begin soon and will be a significant factor in achieving the goal of the war - returning the residents of the north to their homes, Yoav Gallant said. Yoav Gallant said the new phase of Israels war against Hezbollah will begin soon - X 04:30 PM BST Israel could launch ground invasion today Israel could launch a ground invasion of Lebanon as soon as today, CBS News reported. The report also supported previous reports (see post below) that the operation would be limited in scale. 04:26 PM BST Conflicting reports in US over ground invasion The New York Times reported that US officials believe they had persuaded Israel not to launch a major ground invasion of Lebanon. The US media outlet also reported that no decision had been made about whether or when to begin one. However, the Washington Post reported that a limited ground operation could start imminently, also quoting a US official. 04:08 PM BST Iran says it wont send troops to fight Israel Iran has said it will not send troops to Lebanon or Gaza, in a sign that Tehran does not want to immediately escalate its confrontation with Israel. There is no need to send extra or volunteer forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, a spokesman said, adding that fighters in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories have the capability and strength to defend themselves against the aggression. Irans foreign ministry said it had not received any request for assistance from Hezbollah and that the group does not need the help of our forces. The statement came amid an increase in Israeli strikes on Irans allies in Lebanon and Yemen, and as Israel prepares to expand ground operations across its northern border. Israeli commandos have carried out small-scale raids in Lebanon, gathering intelligence and targeting Hezbollah infrastructure ahead of a possible wider ground offensive. In a televised address, Naim Qassem, deputy Hezbollah chief, vowed on Monday that the group was ready to fight and win against Israeli troops. 03:51 PM BST Netanyahus thinly veiled message to Iran is clear Prime Minister Netanyahus thinly veiled message to Iran is clear; The regime shouldnt feel safe. After mentioning the enemies of Israel who have been assassinated in the past year, Netanyahu repeated his message to the Supreme Leader, that Israel can reach all of the Middle East. With every passing moment, the regime is bringing you the noble Persian people closer to the abyss, Mr Netanyahu said as he painted a picture of what a future relationship between Israel and the Iranian people could look like. The regime doesnt care about you and you deserve better, was his message to the Iranian people. In other words, if and when Israel decides to take out the head of the octopus as the regime is often referred to as, the people of Iran and the rest of the Middle East should be grateful. Mr Netanyahu wanted to bomb the Iranian nuclear programme in 2010-2011 but was stopped by the army and intelligence chiefs who feared the consequences of such an attack. Israel has not had a better opportunity to attack the nuclear programme than now. Hezbollah, which served as Irans bulldog and deterrence for years, is severely damaged, and Iran is left exposed. The speech to the Iranian people should therefore be seen as a hint of whats to come. 03:48 PM BST Iran is heading towards the abyss, Netanyahu warns Iran is heading towards the abyss, Benjamin Netanyahu has said, as he warned that there is nowhere in the Middle East that Israel cannot reach. With every passing moment, the regime is bringing you the noble Persian people closer to the abyss, Mr Netanyahu said in a televised speech addressed to the Iranian people directly. Irans puppets are being eliminated every day, the Israeli prime minister warned. Ask Mohammed Deif, ask Nasrallah, he said, referring to Israels reported assassination of Hamas military commander in July, and the air strike on Beirut that killed Hezbollahs leader on Friday. Netanyahu invited the Iranian people to imagine a future without their current government. Our two ancient peoples, the Jewish people and the Persian people, will finally be at peace. Our two countries, Israel and Iran, will be at peace. The Israeli prime minister gave the speech in English, mirroring the address he gave to the UN General Assembly on Friday moments before Israels assassination of Hassan Nasrallah. 03:07 PM BST US: World is safer after Israeli killing of Hezbollah chief Washingtons top diplomat has said that the world is safer after the Israeli assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, who had been Hezbollahs leader since 1992. The region, the world are safer without him, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. Mr Blinken however said that diplomacy remains the best and only path to achieving greater stability in the Middle East and vowed the United States would continue working urgently to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Nasrallah was killed on Friday when Israeli warplanes struck a Hezbollah command centre in Beiruts southern suburbs. The group said on Monday it would name a successor sooner [rather] than later. 02:57 PM BST Pictured: Israeli defence minister visits troops in northern Israel Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister, on a visit to troops of the 188th Armored Brigade and the Golani Infantry Brigade in northern Israel - Ariel Hermoni/Israel Mod/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock/Shutterstock 02:38 PM BST Lebanese soldier killed in Israeli drone strike, army says A Lebanese soldier was killed on Monday in an Israeli drone strike on a military checkpoint in the south of the country, according to the Lebanese army. In a statement, the army said: A soldier was martyred when an Israeli drone targeted a motorcycle while it was passing through the Lebanese armys Al-Omra-Al-Wazzani checkpoint. Lebanese media said that the soldier was initially injured by shrapnel and transported to hospital, where he later died. 02:26 PM BST Pictured: Lebanese girl flees Israeli air strikes with her cat Iman, a 9-year-old Lebanese girl, holds her cat to her chest after fleeing from Israeli air strikes on Beiruts southern suburbs. Having failed to find shelter, Iman and her family have had to stay on the side of a Beirut road. Thousands of Lebanese and Syrian nationals have fled south Lebanon, south Beirut and the eastern Bekaa valley due to an increase in Israeli strikes on Hezbollah positions in those areas. Iman, a 9-year-old Lebanese girl, holds her cat to her chest, after fleeing from Beiruts southern suburbs with her family - Marwan Naamani / Avalon/Avalon 02:18 PM BST Government finds seats on flights for Britons leaving Lebanon The Government has said it is working with airlines to secure seats for British nationals on flights leaving Lebanon. The Prime Ministers official spokesman said: Were doing everything we can to work with commercial airlines to maximise capacity because we want people to leave. I understand that there have been extra Middle East Airlines flights leaving Lebanon over the weekend, another scheduled for Tuesday and we have secured seats for British nationals on those flights. Asked why an evacuation has not started, the spokesman said that while commercial flights are still available, British nationals can and, indeed, should leave. The spokesman also pointed to the deployment of 700 troops, alongside Border Force and Foreign Office officials, to Cyprus to continue work on all contingency options and plan for a range of scenarios in the region. 01:59 PM BST Israeli troops cross into Lebanon for targeted operations Israeli troops launched targeted operations in southern Lebanon on Monday as the army widened its campaign against Hezbollah ahead of a possible ground invasion. Israels ground operation in southern Lebanon will likely expand in the coming days, a source told the Telegraph, adding that Hezbollah is weak and confused, making it the right time for Israel to launch an attack. You can read the full story here. 01:34 PM BST Your views: Israeli special forces cross into Lebanon 01:24 PM BST UK calls for ceasefire after increase in Israeli strikes Britain on Monday called for a ceasefire after an increase in Israeli strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon. Any further escalation must be avoided, a spokesman for Sir Keir Starmer said, adding that a ceasefire will provide the space necessary to find the political solution that is necessary to secure peace in the region. The spokesman also reaffirmed the UKs support for Israels right to self-defence. We are ironclad in our support for Israels right to self-defence ... but our very clear message now is, on all sides, (for) all parties to show restraint. 01:13 PM BST Lebanese PM calls for ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel Lebanons prime minister has called for a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel during a meeting with the French foreign minister in Beirut on Monday. The key to the solution is to put an end to the Israeli aggression against Lebanon and to revive the appeal launched by the United States and France... in favour of a ceasefire, Najib Mikati said. Mikati added that the priority is applying resolution 1701 of the United Nations Security Council, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. Jean-Noel Barrot, the French foreign minister, arrived in Beirut on Sunday and is the first foreign diplomat to visit Lebanon since Israel escalated its strikes on Hezbollah positions in the country. Lebanons caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot in Beirut - ANWAR AMRO/AFP 01:02 PM BST Pictured: Israeli forces mass at Lebanon border amid fears of ground incursion Israeli military vehicles gather at undisclosed location on Israel-Lebanon border, Sep 30 - ATEF SAFADI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/Shutterstock 01:00 PM BST Political boost for Netanyahu after Nasrallah killing In Tel Aviv Israels prime minister is not just on a military roll at the moment but a political one too. This morning the opposition New Hope party joined Benjamin Netanyahus fragile governing coalition, boosting the number of seats it holds in the 120 seat Knesset from 64 to 68. A gain of four may not seem much but it removes the possibility of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir collapsing the government and forcing fresh elections by walking out. Ben Gvirs extremist anti-Arab party holds six seats and has repeatedly threatened to bring down Netanyahu over proposed military and humanitarian compromises in Gaza, the West Bank and most recently Lebanon. New Hope is led by Gideon Saar, a long time critic of Netanyahu, who has seemingly buried the hatchet to join the coalition minister without portfolio. Saar said it was important to strengthen Israel, its government, and its unity and cohesion during these difficult and challenging days and was the patriotic and right thing to do now. Netanyahus poll ratings are close to an all time high and have been improving ever since he started taking the fight to Iran and its proxies in April with a strike on its consulate in Damascus. The killing at the weekend of Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah has further distracted attention from the security failures that led to the Oct 7 massacre nearly a year ago on the prime ministers watch. 12:14 PM BST Israels ground operation in Lebanon will likely expand in the coming days Israels ground operation in southern Lebanon will likely expand in the coming days, a source familiar with the matter told The Telegraph, adding that Hezbollah is weak and confused, making the timing right for Israel to launch the attack. But as Benjamin Netanyahu is under pressure from the US not to launch a major invasion, the ground incursions will likely be smaller, and more targeted so as not to drag the entire region in a full scale war. The Israeli air force has already crippled large parts of Hezbollah, including assassinating its entire senior leadership. To remove Hezbollah entirely from southern Lebanon will however demand ground troops. Tanks could also soon roll over the border to support the troops carrying out raids against Hezbollah targets, while the air force is already preparing the ground for the troops by launching major airstrikes against weapon depots and other military installations. Its highly unlikely that the IDF will conduct the same large-scale ground invasion as was done in Gaza. Special forces, such as Sayeret Matkal and Sayeret Tzanhanim (reconnaissance and paratroopers) will instead be used to push back Hezbollah forces north of the Litani river, which is Israels red line for the terror groups presence. 12:08 PM BST Germany says Nasrallah killing was an act of self-defence Berlin has said it considers Israels assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah an act of self-defence. Hezbollah is of course a terrorist organization and it was obviously a meeting of the top leadership of Hezbollah, from which one can assume, even from a distance, that they were planning their further operations, a foreign ministry spokesperson said. So in this respect, there are also reasons to believe that the right to self-defence was exercised here, the spokesman added. Nasrallah was killed in Beirut on Friday when Israeli warplanes struck a Hezbollah command centre in the citys southern suburbs. 11:57 AM BST Pictured: Israeli air strike on southern Lebanese village of Khiam Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Khiam, Sep 30 - RABIH DAHER/AFP 11:46 AM BST Israeli defence minister hints at ground incursion into Lebanon Israels defence minister has hinted that a ground operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon is being prepared. Nasrallahs elimination is an important step but it is not the end - to return the residents of the north safely to their homes we will activate all our capabilities - including you, Yoav Gallant told Israeli troops stationed in northern Israel. Israel evacuated some 60,000 citizens from its northern border regions due to near-daily Hezbollah rocket attacks that are fired from Lebanon. Returning those citizens to their homes is now an official Israeli war aim that most analysts believe will not be possible without troops on the ground in southern Lebanon. 11:25 AM BST Iran says it wont send troops to fight Israel in Lebanon or Gaza Iran has said it will not send troops to Lebanon or Gaza to confront Israel. There is no need to send extra or volunteer forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, a foreign ministry spokesman said, adding that fighters in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories have the capability and strength to defend themselves against the aggression. The statement comes amid fears that Israel is preparing to launch a ground incursion into Lebanon. 11:02 AM BST Watch: Israel strikes Houthi targets in Yemen Israel bombarded Houthi targets in Yemen on Sunday while continuing to attack Hezbollah in Lebanon. Dozens of Israeli warplanes attacked the port of Hodeidah, attacking fuel facilities, power plants and ship docking sites. Houthi media said the strikes killed four people and wounded 33. 10:49 AM BST UNRWA confirms that killed Hamas leader was one of its employees The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has confirmed that Hamas leader in Lebanon was one of its employees, but noted that he was under investigation for his political activities. Fateh Al Sherif was killed in an Israeli air strike on the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Monday and was identified by Palestinian reports as the head of the teachers union of the UNRWA (see our posts at 9.43am and 8.07am). In response to a query by the Times of Israel, the UNRWA said: Fateh Al Sherif was an UNRWA employee who was put on administrative leave without pay in March, and was undergoing an investigation following allegations that UNRWA received about his political activities. Al Sherif is understood to have been the head teacher of the UNRWA-run Deir Yassin secondary school in Tyre. Fateh Sherif Abu al-Amine, Hamas leader in Lebanon, killed in Israeli strike on Monday 10:26 AM BST Hezbollah says it will choose new leader soon Hezbollah has said it will choose a new leader sooner [rather] than later after Hassan Nasrallah, its former secretary-general, was killed in an Israeli air strike in Beirut on Friday. In a televised address, Naim Qassem, the groups deputy chief, sent his condolences to other fighters who were killed alongside Nasrallah in the Israeli attack. Qassem also vowed that Hezbollah would win in its confrontation with Israel, just as it said it had in the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah conflict. He added that Hezbollah forces would be ready to fight Israeli troops in the event of an Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon. 10:11 AM BST Israel expands war against Hezbollah to central Beirut Israel has expanded its war on Hezbollah to central Beirut for the first time since the conflict began in October 2023 in the wake of the Hamas-led attacks. An Israeli air strike hit a residential apartment building in Cola, a neighbourhood within Beiruts central city limits, at around 1am local time on Monday. According to Lebanese media, the strike killed four people, including three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. An official from Lebanons civil defence said that a member of the Al-Jamaah al-islamiyah Sunni militant group was also killed in the attack. Videos showed ambulances and a crowd gathered near the targeted building, which is next to a busy thoroughfare lined with shops. Cola is a mainly Sunni Muslim district that is located next to a large Palestinian refugee camp and is Beiruts major transport hub. Lebanese policemen secure the area after an Israeli strike on Cola, central Beirut - WAEL HAMZEH/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/Shutterstock 09:43 AM BST Pictured: Hamas leader in Lebanon that was killed in an Israeli strike Hamas commander in Lebanon was killed in an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, the terror group announced on Monday (see our post at 8.07am). Palestinian reports have identified the commander as Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin and said that he also served as the head of the teachers union of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). In August, nine staff members of the UNRWA were fired after a watchdog found that they had been involved in the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel. Head of the Teachers' Union at UNRWA in Lebanon Fateh Al-Sharif, along with his wife, son and daughter were murdered in an Israeli airstrike that struck their home in the Al-Bass refugee camp in Sour, southern Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/ehkf4DVcg4 Palestine Highlights (@PalHighlight) September 30, 2024 09:22 AM BST Iran will not leave Israels criminal acts unanswered Iran will not leave any of Israels criminal acts unanswered, its foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday, referring to the Israeli killing of Hezbollahs leader and an Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander in Lebanon. We stand strongly and we will act in a way that is regretful [for the enemy] Nasser Kanaani told a weekly news conference, adding that Iran does not seek war but is not afraid of it. Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollahs leader since 1992, and Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan, the deputy commander of operations for Irans Revolutionary Guard Corps, were killed when Israeli fighter jets struck a Hezbollah command centre in Beiruts southern suburbs on Friday. 09:06 AM BST UN: 100,000 people have fled Lebanon for Syria Around 100,000 Lebanese and Syrian nationals have fled Lebanon for Syria amid Israeli air strikes on the country, the UNs refugee chief has said. The number of people who have crossed into Syria from Lebanon fleeing Israeli airstrikes Lebanese and Syrian nationals has reached 100,000. The outflow continues. UNHCR is present at four crossing points alongside local authorities and @SYRedCrescent to support new arrivals. pic.twitter.com/7dtrghsMH4 Filippo Grandi (@FilippoGrandi) September 30, 2024 08:54 AM BST Pictured: A memorial service for Hassan Nasrallah Mourners are pictured marching with a symbolic coffin during a memorial service for Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollahs leader since 1992 who was killed in an Israeli air strike on Beirut on Friday. Men carry a symbolic coffin during a memorial service for Hassan Nasrallah, Sep 29 - AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP 08:47 AM BST What is the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine? Israel killed three leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in a strike on central Beirut on Monday morning. The group is a Marxist-Leninist faction that pioneered aircraft hijackings in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Although a rather faded force today, in its 1970s heyday, the PFLP was led by secular and Christian Palestinians and became popular with Left-wing student movements across the West. The groups armed wing, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, was reported to have taken part in the October 7 Hamas-led terror attacks on southern Israel. There are still murals of Leila Khaled, the groups most famous hijacker, in Belfast today. 08:13 AM BST Pictured: Aftermath of Israeli strike on central Beirut An Israeli air strike on Monday morning hit central Beirut for the first time since the war began. According to Lebanese media, the attack on the Cola district killed four people, including three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. A Lebanese soldier stands next to buildings damaged in an Israeli strike on central Beirut - Louisa Gouliamaki/REUTERS Firefighters search for survivors inside an apartment building hit by an Israeli air strike in Beiruts Cola district - FADEL ITANI/AFP 08:07 AM BST Hamas leader in Lebanon killed in Israeli strike Hamas commander in Lebanon was killed early this morning according to a statement from the group. Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin and his family were killed in a targeted strike on the Al-Buss refugee camp in the port city of Tyre, as Israel escalates attacks across the country. Sharif was Hamas top commander in Lebanon and a member of Hamas command outside the Palestinian territories, Hamas said. He succeeded Saleh Arouri, a Hamas commander in Lebanon who was eliminated earlier this year. Israel carried out a strike in central Beirut in the early hours of Monday, the first time it has struck beyond the citys southern suburbs since 2006 . The strike hit an upper floor of an apartment building near the Kola intersection, and a security source told Reuters that at least two people were killed. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said in a statement early on Monday that three of its leaders were killed in the strike. Israel has not commented on the attack. Lebanons health ministry has said more than 100 people have been killed by Israeli strikes on Sunday. It said more than 1,000 Lebanese have been killed and 6,000 wounded in the past two weeks, without saying how many were civilians. The government said a million people a fifth of the population have fled their homes. Related: Impact of Hezbollah assassinations may take months to emerge Israel said it bombed Houthi targets in Yemen on Sunday. The airstrikes on Yemens port of Hodeidah were a response to Houthi missile attacks on Israel in recent days, Israel said. The Houthi-run health ministry said at least four people were killed and 29 wounded. Images from Hodeidah showed parts of the city covered in a massive pall of dust, and towering explosions in the distance. The Israeli military said dozens of its aircraft had attacked power plants and Ras Issa and Hodeidah ports, accusing the Houthis of operating under Irans direction and in cooperation with Iraqi militias. Hezbollah confirmed that Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of the militant groups central council, was killed on Saturday, making him the seventh senior Hezbollah leader slain in Israeli strikes in a little over a week. The group also confirmed that Ali Karaki, another senior commander, died in the airstrike on Friday strike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Three days of mourning were announced, starting on Monday, after the killing of Nasrallah. Hezbollah denied claims that Abu Ali Rida, the commander of the groups Bader Unit in south Lebanon had been killed. Rida is the last remaining senior military commander of Hezbollah who remains alive. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said Israels airstrikes in Lebanon had wiped out Hezbollahs command structure, but he warned the group would work quickly to rebuild it. President Joe Biden said on Sunday he would speak soon with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and believes that an all-out war in the Middle East must be avoided. Israel on Sunday vowed to keep up its assault in Lebanon. We need to keep hitting Hezbollah hard, Israels military chief of staff Herzi Halevi said. Israels military said it struck dozens of targets in Lebanon including launchers and weapons stores and had intercepted eight projectiles coming from the direction of Lebanon. The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, has broken his silence on Israels assassination of Hassan Nasrallah. On Sunday, Syrias state-run outlet Sana quoted Assad as saying: We are certain that the Lebanese national resistance will continue on the path of struggle and justice in the face of the occupation, and will continue to support the Palestinian people in their struggle for their just cause. Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said Israel should not be allowed to attack countries in the Iran-aligned Axis of Resistance one after the other. Pezeshkian, in comments carried by state media, said Lebanon should be supported. An Iranian Revolutionary Guards deputy commander, Abbas Nilforoushan, was also killed in the attack that killed Nasrallah in Beirut. Pezeshkian said we cannot accept such actions and they will not be left unanswered. A decisive reaction is necessary. Saudi Arabia has stressed the need to preserve Lebanons sovereignty and territorial integrity. In a statement released on Sunday amid Israels deadly airstrikes, the Saudi foreign ministry said it was following with great concern the developments taking place in Lebanon. Yoav Gallant, Israels minister if defence, visits troops on Israels northern border - Ariel Hermoni/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock Israeli troops launched targeted operations in southern Lebanon on Monday as the army widened its campaign against Hezbollah ahead of a possible ground invasion. Israels ground operation in southern Lebanon will likely expand in the coming days, a source told the Telegraph, suggesting Israel wanted to strike while they believe Hezbollah is weakened. An Israeli official added that elite commandos were targeting Hezbollah infrastructure, including weapons sites and command and control centres, in a bid to push its fighters away from Israels northern border. Speaking on Monday, Naim Qassem, Hezbollahs deputy leader, said the group was ready for a ground incursion, despite suffering significant losses in recent weeks, including Hassan Nasrallah, its long-term leader, in an Israeli strike on Beirut on Friday. An Israeli intelligence source told The Telegraph that Israel is moving quickly in the wake of Nasrallahs assassination in an attempt to leverage its advantage. The question now is what the US will do, and I just hope the US doesnt get involved and pull us back, the source added. Meanwhile, Yoav Gallant, the defence minister, strongly hinted that Israeli troops would invade Lebanon. We will use all of our capabilities including you, Mr Gallant told soldiers on the northern border with Lebanon on Monday. We will deploy whatever is needed you, other forces, from the air, from the sea, and from the land, to return the 60,000 displaced civilians in northern Israel, Mr Gallant said. Israel has already redeployed soldiers from Gaza to the northern border in recent months, shifting focus to its campaign against Hezbollah, whose fighters have launched 9,000 rockets across the Lebanon border since fighting broke out in October last year. As Israel continues to expand its campaign against Hezbollah, MGI Rafi Milo, the commanding officer of the home front command, told local authorities there are gaps in the countrys air defences, which are not impenetrable. Therefore, when you hear an alert, immediately enter a sheltered space, Mr Milo said. If you dont have access to a sheltered space, choose the safest space available and enter it this saves lives. Stay alert, stay ready, and follow the instructions. Cross-border hostilities continue between Hezbollah and Israeli forces near the Lebanese border with Israel - Karamallah Daher/REUTERS It came as Najib Mikati, Lebanons caretaker prime minister, said he is ready to fully implement a UN resolution that was introduced to end Hezbollahs armed presence south of the Litani River. This would involve deploying the Lebanese army south of the river, which lies around 30 km from the countrys southern border. Hezbollah is barred under UN Security Council Resolution 1701 from maintaining a military presence south of the river, which it has frequently violated. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also targeted central Beirut for the first time since the conflict began nearly one year ago in the wake of the Hamas terror attack on Oct 7. An Israeli air strike hit a residential apartment building in Cola, a neighbourhood within Beiruts central city limits, at about 1am local time on Monday. According to Lebanese media, the strike killed four people, including three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed sits in court during her sentencing hearing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on 15 April 2024. Photograph: Eddie Moore/Reuters A judge has denied a request from Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed to appeal her involuntary manslaughter conviction. After the shock dismissal of the case against actor Alec Baldwin in July, Gutierrez-Reeds lawyer challenged the conviction against her, arguing prosecutors withheld potentially critical evidence. But on Monday, the New Mexico judge, Mary Marlowe Sommer, denied the motions requesting a new trial or a dismissal of the charges, as well as her release from prison. Gutierrez-Reeds defense argued that the state had suppressed a report from a firearms expert, failed to disclose an interview with a witness and didnt provide a report and video interview with a man who came forward earlier this year with ammunition he said was related to the case. Sommer ruled that the state did not suppress evidence that would have changed the result of the original trial. Gutierrez-Reed did not establish that there is a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been available to defendant, the evidence would have produced a different verdict, Sommer wrote. Gutierrez-Reed was found guilty earlier this year for her role in the on-set shooting that led to the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October 2021. The Rust crew was rehearsing at a movie set outside Santa Fe when a gun Baldwin was holding fired a round of live ammunition, fatally striking Hutchins and hitting the films director, Joel Souza. Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unknowingly bringing live ammunition on to the Rust set and said she showed an astonishing lack of diligence with gun safety. Gutierrez-Reed was convicted in a March trial, and has been serving the maximum 18-month penalty in a New Mexico prison. The latest development in the Rust saga comes three months after Sommer dismissed Baldwins involuntary manslaughter charge. Legal observers had described the case against Baldwin, who was also a producer of the film, as a botched prosecution. Sommer, who also oversaw Baldwins trial, had found in that case that prosecutors withheld evidence that could have been favorable to the actor in a manner that was intentional and deliberate. The prosecutor in Baldwins case has asked the judge to reinstate the charge against him. Melbourne protest on 29 September against Israeli strikes in Gaza and Lebanon. Some marchers carried Hezbollah flags. Photograph: James Ross/AAP Victoria police say they have identified six possible criminal incidents relating to weekend protests in Melbourne against Israels attacks on Lebanon, after initial suggestions that no offences had been committed. The AFP confirmed on Monday that it was expecting at least six reports of alleged crimes from their Victorian counterparts involving symbols and chants which are prohibited under federal hate speech law. It also said it would be writing to major news outlets asking for video footage of the protests which could assist in investigations. Some marchers at capital-city protests over the weekend carried Hezbollah flags and portraits of leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli attack. Those marchers have drawn criticism from the federal government, which has threatened to cancel the visa of anyone inciting discord in Australia and has warned against importing radical ideologies of conflict. The Hezbollah flag is considered a prohibited symbol as Australia has designated the group a terrorist organisation. The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, said she expected police to take action over the utterly unacceptable display of Hezbollah flags at weekend protests in Melbourne. This is driving deep grief and division here on the streets of Melbourne, she said. I expect the police agencies to pursue this. Bringing grief and pain and division to the streets of Melbourne by displaying these prohibited symbols, is utterly unacceptable. AFP called on members of the public to notify it of any individual who is inciting violence or wearing prohibited symbols while caling for the destruction of any group or individuals. The AFP has no tolerance for individuals who break the law and will use its extensive capability and networks to take action, it said, confirming that the circumstances of displaying a prohibited symbol determined whether or not it was a criminal offence. Such offences carry a maximum penalty of 12 months jail. New South Wales police allegedly pepper sprayed a 13-year old child and two others after officers attempted to pull a Hezbollah flag off protesters at the Palestine-Lebanon rally in Sydney, according to legal observers. Legal observers at the rally on Sunday said police used pepper spray indiscriminately on the crowd after the protester did not surrender the flag. Earlier on Monday, home affairs minister, Tony Burke, issued a statement saying any indication of support for a terrorist organisation is unequivocally condemned. It draws the immediate attention of our security agencies, Burke said. There is a higher level of scrutiny if anyone is on a visa. I have made clear from day one that I will consider refusing and cancelling visas for anyone who seeks to incite discord in Australia. Related: Protests across Australia as Penny Wong despairs continued retribution in Middle East Anthony Albanese followed Burkes statement with his own, issued ahead of Monday mornings cabinet meeting. Weve seen worrying signs over the weekend, he said. We do not want people to bring radical ideologies of conflict here. Multiculturalism and social cohesion cannot be taken for granted and its important that we continue to stress that that is the case as we go forward as well. Peter Dutton suggested protesters were praising Hezbollah leader Nasrallah and that some were visa-holders. The opposition leader did not provide any evidence to support the allegation. There are people who are living in the Jewish community in fear and there is an absolute outrage in relation to the glorification of a terrorist leader, which surely must be against the Australian law, Dutton a former home affairs minister told Brisbane radio 4BC. And if its not, the parliament should be recalled to pass a law that prohibits that from happening. Dutton said existing laws should be enforced. I find it completely unacceptable that the government wouldnt be arresting people already or cancelling visas of people who are glorifying Hezbollah and Hamas and others. They have no place in our country. On Sunday, the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network held a national day of action for Gaza, staging rallies across the country. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered on Sunday at the state library in Melbourne and at Sydney town hall, and in smaller cities and towns, to protest against the escalation of the conflict. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, condemned anyone supporting Hezbollah or Hamas. Any indication of support for a terrorist organisation is completely and utterly unacceptable whether its Hamas or Hezbollah, Chalmers said. These are listed terrorist organisations and I think any support for a terrorist organisation should and will immediately draw the attention of our security agencies. There is a higher level of scrutiny for people who are on a visa. Related: Israel needs to listen to international community, Albanese says as Wong calls for Lebanon and Gaza ceasefires The Asio chief, Mike Burgess, said earlier this year rhetorical support would not automatically disqualify someone from holding a visa but support for violent extremist ideology would. Hate speech laws which took effect earlier this year prevent the display of prohibited Nazi and terrorist symbols. Earlier on Monday, an AFP spokesperson said that to be considered an offence, a prohibited symbol must be displayed in circumstances where the conduct involves spreading ideas based on racial superiority or hatred; inciting others to offend or intimidate a person; advocating hatred of a person; advocating inciting others to offend; intimidating or using force or violence against a person or group based upon their race, religion or nationality. If the prohibited symbol is likely to offend, insult or intimidate people because of a defining characteristic it contained, it may also be an offence. Police officers have the power to direct a person to remove a prohibited symbol from public display, but they do not have the power to remove the prohibited symbol from public display themselves, the spokesperson said. A spokesperson for the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said: Its a matter for police to determine whether any action should be taken against those involved in the demonstrations. - Jordyn Beazley contributed to reporting Marine Le Pen said there was a Right-wing wave across Europe - Yara Nardi/Reuters Marine Le Pen has celebrated the march of hard-Right parties across Europe after the Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) won its first ever general election victory. Other Eurosceptic leaders also hailed Herbert Kickls historic triumph as a victory for national sovereignty against Brussels overreach. Ms Le Pen said there was a Right-wing wave across Europe, which had brought nationalists to power in Italy, the Netherlands and ushered in an anti-migrant government in France. After the Italian, Dutch and French elections, this groundswell which carries the defence of national interests, the safeguarding of identities and the resurrection of sovereignties, confirms everywhere the triumph of the peoples, Ms Le Pen said. The National Rally leader is allied to the FPO in the European Parliament. The FPO has Nazi roots, having been founded in the 1950s by a former SS officer. It is vehemently opposed to military support for Ukraine and is friendly towards Vladimir Putin, with its nominee for foreign minister dancing with him at her wedding in 2018. Today, the FPO continues to flirt with fascism, with its leader Mr Kickl styling himself as Austrias next Volkskanzler, the same title used by Adolf Hitler. He has also called for asylum seekers to be concentrated in the same place, remarks condemned as an allusion to Nazi concentration camps, which he denied. Prior to the election, some FPO officials were reportedly caught singing a Nazi SS loyalty song at the funeral of their colleague Walter Sucher, who died aged 90. The hard-Right partys election victory was described by the International Auschwitz Committee, which represents survivors of the Nazi Holocaust from 19 countries, as an alarming new chapter in Austrian history. Ms Le Pens own victory in this years European elections was so commanding that Emmanuel Macron called snap elections that led to a Right-wing government. Herbert Kickl (front), leader of the Freedom Party of Austria, is a controversial figure - Alex Halada/AFP via Getty Images The Patriots for Europe group wants to claw back powers taken by Brussels from national governments and reform the EU. Geert Wilders, the veteran Eurosceptic, won elections in the Netherlands in 2023. Despite leading his Party for Freedom to a convincing victory, he did not become prime minister. His calls for a Nexit referendum and for the Koran to be banned were too controversial for his eventual coalition partners. The Netherlands, Hungary, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, France, Spain, Czech Republic and today Austria! We are winning! Times are changing!, he said on X. Identity, sovereignty, freedom and no more illegal immigration/asylum is what tens of millions of Europeans long for. Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, said: Another win for the Patriots: a historic victory for FPO in Austria! Congratulations to Herbert Kickl! Friendly towards Russia Mr Orban is a veteran of many battles with Brussels over sovereignty, migration and opposition to Western sanctions on Russia for the illegal war in Ukraine. The FPO campaigned hard in the elections on a pro-Putin, Eurosceptic and anti-migrant platform. The government of the state is increasingly no longer in Vienna, but in Brussels, its manifesto said. The space of the state is being eliminated by the de facto principle of open borders.The people of the state are gradually being replaced by permanent mass immigration, it added. Led by 55-year-old Mr Kickl, the FPO won 28.8 per cent of the vote, ahead of the centre-Right OVP on 26.3 per cent, and the centre-Left Social Democrats (SPO) on 21.1 per cent according to a projection based on nearly all the votes by pollster Foresight for broadcaster ORF, a slightly bigger victory margin than final polls had indicated. Weve made Austrian history because its the first time the Freedom Party is number one in a parliamentary election, and you have to think how far weve come, Mr Kickl said after the partys record showing, which came seven decades after its foundation in the 1950s under the leadership of a former Nazi lawmaker. On Monday, the Austrian parties began the process of holding coalition talks which could prove time consuming and complex. The FPO currently lacks enough support from other parties to form a coalition. Liz Truss told Tim Stanley she would have won the election if she had stayed in No 10 - Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph The queue at conference was a mile long for Liz Truss in conversation with Tim Stanley. They were calling it this generations Frost/Nixon, though I had a nightmare of it turning into Parkinson vs Emu (which even the late Sir Michael had to admit Emu won). I was terrified. Id never done a live TV interview before. I also hadnt slept. My hotel room is overheated, the bedding made from loft insulation, and the window bolted shut lest you throw yourself out. So I lay awake imagining breakfast morning TV chat. Perhaps open with a Holly Willoughby, Are you OK? Followed by fashion tips, a spot of Hayek and the dos-and-donts for meeting Princess Anne. Will she do Bake Off?, I wrote on a pad, followed by or Strictly? I put a line through all that. Im not Graham Norton. In the end and you can watch the full interview below I think it went well, thanks entirely to Ms Truss. Liz has a philosophy and an analysis. Its no struggle to coax them out of her. The Tories made Britain socialist, she volunteered; Id have won the election if Id stayed in No 10; Trump should be back in the White House! She owned a million libs in under an hour. Other ex-PMs go silent on leaving office because, unlike Liz, they have little to say although Theresa May has let it be known that she thinks the 2022 Budget destroyed the partys reputation. Whats that line about throwing stones in glass houses? Im told candidates have been going in and out of Mrs Mays hotel suite all week, begging her not to endorse them. Ms Truss has probably never told a lie. By contrast, the leadership candidates feel as if theyre pretending to be something theyre not neither wet nor generic. In the main hall, Kemi Badenoch, posing as a pussy cat, sat down with GB Newss Chris Hope and transformed instantly into a lion held at bay with the flimsiest of chairs. Hows it going? Its going well, she snapped. How would it feel to be the first black leader of the Conservative Party? I dont know, Ive not done it yet. Chris, one of the best tamers in the business, asked if its fair to call her brittle? Kemi shot back: Can you give me an example? I suspect that the perception she is always on the defensive has forced her on to the offensive, turning the candidate into everything the critics condemn but friends know she really is not. Kemi Badenoch turned from pussy cat to lion held at bay when questioned by GB News - Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph People write their story for you, she explained. They mangle her words, too, including her claim that she became working class when employed at McDonalds. I feel working class just walking into McDonalds but Kemis point was that this occurred when she was fresh from Nigeria and genuinely poor. The first time I went on a bus was in this country. After that experience, Im amazed she stayed. Back in the hotel, stripped to my socks and covered in wet flannels, I texted colleagues to see if Ive got a career in television. Face for radio, said Emily M. You two shouldve got a room, said Nicky C. Michael Portillo ignored my message, but then he always does. It is estimated that Alpine glaciers will shrink by up to 90 per cent by the end of the century - Ken Welsh/UCG/Universal Images Group Editorial The melting of glaciers in the Alps has forced Italy and Switzerland to redraw the border that runs between them in the shadow of the Matterhorn. The frontier between the two countries has traditionally been delineated by the watershed, the point at which meltwater flows down towards one nation or the other. But rising temperatures caused by climate change are melting a glacier in the area, meaning that the watershed is shifting. Significant sections of the border are defined by the watershed or the ridge lines of glaciers, firn or perpetual snow, the Swiss government said in a statement. These formations are changing due to the melting of glaciers. Skiers and hikers can cross freely between Switzerland and Italys Valtournenche valley - Michael Portmann Firn is a Swiss German word that means the granular snow that accumulates on the upper part of a glacier, before it is compressed into ice. The affected area is part of the Zermatt ski resort, where skiers and hikers can cross freely between Switzerland and Italys Valtournenche valley. The two countries have agreed to alter the border around the landmarks of Testa Grigia, Plateau Rosa, Gobba di Rollin and Rifugio Carrel, a mountain hut situated at 3,830 metres (12,565ft). Switzerland has approved the border change while Italy still has to officially sign off on the alterations. Swisstopo, Switzerlands national mapping agency, says that the countrys borders with Italy, France, Austria, Germany and Liechtenstein have to be amended fairly frequently. The changes are normally based on readings taken by surveyors, without politicians getting involved. Across the Alps, glaciers are melting at alarming rates. In the summer of 2022, 11 hikers were killed in the Italian Dolomites when a large chunk of rock and ice broke off from the Marmolada glacier, the biggest in the Dolomites. Scientists said recently that the glacier is now in an irreversible coma and predicted that it could disappear completely by 2040. Temperatures across the Alps are rising at about 0.3C per decade about twice as fast as the global average. Unless greenhouse gas emissions can be dramatically curbed, glaciers in the Alps are expected to shrink by up to 90 per cent by the end of the century, scientists say. Robert Jenrick has pledged to publish data identifying migrant nationalities with the highest crime rates if he became prime minister - NEIL HALL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock The amount of crime committed by migrants in Britain is being covered up, Robert Jenrick has said. Mr Jenrick, a former immigration minister and Tory leadership contender, said the public deserved to know the truth as he pledged that if he became prime minister he would publish data identifying the migrant nationalities with the highest crime rates. His proposal follows thwarted attempts by MPs and migration campaigners to obtain the information through parliamentary questions and freedom of information requests. The Home Office, Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and Office for National Statistics (ONS) say they do not publish such data, although they could by linking information from Government and police databases. Mr Jenrick told The Telegraph: Under lax immigration controls we are importing serious and violent crime. The data from Denmark shows certain nationalities are more likely to commit crimes. We urgently need this data so we can carry out stronger checks at our border. The institutional cover-up of this data is a scandal. The public deserves to know the truth. Robert Jenrick says: Under lax immigration controls we are importing serious and violent crime - Gareth Fuller/PA The former Home Office and communities minister has proposed legislation that would require the Government each year to present a report to Parliament detailing the nationality, visa, and asylum status of every offender convicted in English and Welsh courts in the previous 12 months. It would mirror an approach by some US states and Denmark, where league tables compiled from government data show the crime rates of the top four nations Kuwait, Tunisia, Lebanon and Somalia are eight times those of Danish nationals. It follows an investigation by The Telegraph at the weekend which revealed how hundreds of Albanians who crossed the Channel on small boats have helped their drug gangs secure a stranglehold on the domestic cannabis market. More than 700 have set up a secret channel on Telegram to discuss tactics and methods. Mr Jenrick believes the publication of data on migrants offences would enable the Home Office to toughen up visa and deportation policies for nationalities linked to higher rates of crime in the UK. Tom Tugendhat, the shadow security minister and Tory leadership contender, is understood to be supportive of the plan to enable ministers to make decisions about immigration rules, movement deals and working with other governments to deport criminals. A source said: The Home Office should be providing clear and transparent data to do this. Disproportionate cost to extract nationality data Neil OBrien, a former minister, has sought to extract nationality data from the Home Office, MoJ and ONS but has been told his requests could only be answered at disproportionate cost. He said the Home Office collected significant amounts of data on arrests by ethnicity but not by nationality. Nor would it answer questions on the immigration status of foreign nationals held in prison. The MoJ publishes the nationality of foreign prisoners of which there are 10,000 in UK jails but will not provide further analysis, such as the number who are prolific offenders, because it would require them to link up their data with that of the Home Office. It could only be provided at disproportionate cost, said the MoJ. Mr OBrien said even the most basic data was missing as the ONS had told him it had discontinued giving a breakdown of the UK population by nationality. He said: Number 10 and the Home Office should grip this and start a cross-Whitehall push to improve migration data and start joining it up. Mr OBrien said that he and Mr Jenrick, when ministers, had initiated a joint project to obtain more accurate estimates of migrants use of the NHS, which led to an increase in the health surcharge imposed on migrants. He said: We just cant have a sensible conversation about migration if we keep deleting the data. James Cleverly and Kemi Badenoch, the other two Tory leadership hopefuls, have been contacted for their views. Kemi Badenoch, candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party, speaks at the UK Conservative Party annual conference in Birmingham on September 30, 2024 - Darren Staples/Bloomberg Liberalism may have lost its mind, but conservatism is officially brain-dead. This basic truth which nobody on the Right quite dares admit hangs horribly in the air at Tory party conference. Outside the gates the anti-Brexit protesters gypsy dance with ethereal ecstasy to Chopins Funeral March. Within the fortified sanctum, the scent of near-death is palpable. The partys state of neural vegetation smells of hotel lilies and curdling beetroot blinis, untouched in the Hyatt Regency lobby. The latter, the social hub when the Tories hold conference in Brum, is usually a Pol Roger-soused moshpit of political manoeuvring; this week it feels like a wake for some sad bore whom most attendants made no secret of hating. To be fair, the party is not quite perished, but stuck in a dystopian limbo. The Birmingham ICC where the fringe events and hustings are taking place has the squeaky bleakness of a departures lounge where all the planes are grounded indefinitely. Ousted MPs who cant let go but are in need of employment flit manically from fringe panels to coffee dates with lobbyists. Dapper Young Tories in bowties and yellow socks cluster in the sponsored Heathrow lounge, waiting for Godot. What is particularly worrying for the party is that the leadership contest is failing to inject new life into the party. Their confected radicalism is not so much stirring things up as adding ambivalent flavour to the bland affair, like synthetic sweetener in airport tea. Particularly striking has been the strange implosion of Kemi Badenoch. The former business minister was once touted as the obvious party leader of the next generation and the brain of New Conservatism. It feels a lifetime ago that she exploded on the scene during the 2022 leadership contest. Like Mrs Thatcher, she seemed to radiate sharp lucidity. Like Blair, she seemed to interpret the world prophetically from high ground, capturing in her rhetoric the Wests tectonic populist shifts, the dismal drift towards an ever-greater state and the self-mutilating tendencies of liberalism. Her colleagues, trapped in a bog of shop-talk over the best retail offerings for voters and the read across of the latest Tory narrative remain incapable of understanding, much less articulating, the big picture stuff that comes naturally to Badenoch. I personally still believe that as a serious thinker who grew up under a series of military regimes in Nigeria, Badenoch can appreciate more clearly than any other senior Tory the Wests momentous and catastrophic pivot. It has transmogrified from a dynamic freedom civilisation imbued with a romantic reverence for individual flourishing, personal responsibility and self-respect into a stagnant security civilisation. Now the state pretends it can protect citizens in a challenging and volatile world from all human uncertainty, risk and misery. It aspires to efficiently run every aspect of peoples lives. But as her underwhelming political performance of late shows, there is a gulf between grasping the depth of the problem and winning the argument about what needs to be done. Currently, both friends and enemies of Kemi Badenoch are whispering in their cliques about her car-crash claims over maternity pay and quite rightly. That Badenoch had a point on the perversity of working people having to subsidise other peoples children is irrelevant. What matters is her struggle to upgrade herself from a mere scrapping culture warrior to an epochal leader who can win the national argument on the need for change that is anchored in conservative values. Badenochs inspiration, Mrs Thatcher, had a knack for selecting emblematic and winnable battles from the radical deregulation of the financial sector to her focused legislation to curtail union power. If she was alive today, one wonders whether she would have quizzed Badenoch on why she had chosen to pick on pregnant women as the symbol of feckless Britain, particularly amid a fertility crisis. Not that Robert Jenrick the new grassroots favourite particularly inspires. There are questions about whether his born-again transformation from a cuddly Cameroonian to an anti-immigration warrior is authentic.Tory activists think he is the man to neutralise Farage because he is robust on leaving the ECHR. But staking a comeback on a policy area where you have not only serially failed but epically betrayed the public seems like an arrogant risk. The Tories will not be able to match Reform with their fantastical but popular one-in-one-out immigration vow. It surely makes more sense to prioritise the massive question of what a conservative growth plan looks like instead. And yet the lack of inspiration, when it comes to reviving the British economy is damning. The party seems to have given up on the idea that Brexit can play a serious role in Britains resurgence. It seems oblivious to the rapidly closing window for the country to become an AI superpower, as American data centre giants are drawn to Scandinavias cheaper, more stable energy supply and superior infrastructure, and France surges in open innovation. A few on the Right, like Mel Stride, talk eloquently about the crisis of capitalism that began with the credit crunch and has shifted the countrys economic philosophy Leftwards. The leadership candidates speak of the need for a modern pitch to match that of Thatcher. But that requires a deep and disruptive rethink of her economic philosophy. This is all the more crucial given that free market economics has been toxified not only by the financial crash but the mini-budget as Liz Trusss controversially unrepentant defence of her record on the conference fringe hammers home. It is no surprise then that the affable but intellectually hollow centrist James Cleverly is the most popular candidate not only among Tory MPs but the public, judging by the polls. When it comes to a choice between brain-dead radicalism and brain-dead centrism, most people in truth would choose the latter if only to kid themselves that sticking with bland technocrats maximises national stability and the chance of a quiet life. In its moments of humility the Tory machine likes to pronounce that it has no divine right to exist. The truth is much worse. At the moment, it has no infernal reason to exist at all. Benjamin Netanyahu told Iranians: There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country Israels prime minister has warned Iran there was nowhere in the Middle East that Israel could not strike after troops were ordered to prepare for an invasion of Lebanon. In a speech in English directed at citizens in the Islamic Republic, Benjamin Netanyahu said that Iran was heading towards the abyss in a possible prelude to a direct war with the regime. The speech came as Israeli tanks continued to mass on Israels northern border with Lebanon on Monday, with early reports of tanks beginning to shell villages. Meeting troops on the border, Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence secretary, said the next stage of the war against Hezbollah in Lebanon would begin soon. Mr Netanyahu raised the prospect of expanding the war yet further, telling Iranians: There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country. Irans puppets were being eliminated every day, the Israeli prime minister warned. Mr Netanyhu gave a similar speech directed at the Lebanese people before ordering air strikes that killed the Hezbollah leader in Beirut. He also threatened Iran at the UN last week. On Monday night, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) imposed a closed military zone around the northern communities of Metula, Misgav Am and Kfar Giladi. Smoke from an Israeli air strike billows from the southern Lebanese border town of Khiam - Avalon The IDF said it was preparing for the next steps in the fighting and that tactical battle plans had been approved by the head of its Northern Command. I said here a month ago [that] we will shift the centre of gravity [to the north], this is what I say now: We will change the situation and return the residents home, Mr Gallant added. Despite Israel having eliminated Hezbollahs senior leadership and destroyed much of its military capacity in recent days, rockets continued to be fired into northern Israel from Lebanon on Monday. An estimated 63,000 residents of the north of Israel have had to abandon their homes since Oct 7 because of Hezbollah rocket fire, leaving a string of ghost towns along the 75-mile border. Israeli tanks and troop carriers gather near the Lebanese border - Erik Marmor/Getty Images Europe An Israeli artillery unit fires towards Lebanon from a position near the border - Baz Ratner As tensions mounted, US officials briefed that a few thousand additional troops were being sent to the region. The increased US presence would come from multiple fighter jet squadrons, Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters. Britain said it was buying seats on commercial airlines to help people evacuate Lebanon. On Monday, Iran continued to signal that it wanted to avoid further regional escalation, saying that it would not not send troops to Lebanon or Gaza. Irans foreign ministry said that it had not received any request for assistance from Hezbollah and the group did not need the help of our forces. The comments sparked frustration on the streets of Beirut, where some Shia Muslims told The Telegraph that Iran had abandoned them. On Monday night, Israel told Washington that its operations into Lebanon would be limited, targeting only Hezbollah infrastructure near its border. US and Israeli media reported that the scale of Israels planned ground operation had already been reduced at the request of the US. Unlike the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war, in which Israel became bogged down, the new plan was designed only to destroy military targets rather than to conquer territory, it said. Even at the final hour the UK, US and others continued to push for a ceasefire covering both Lebanon and Gaza. Protesters in Tel Aviv gather to condemn the actions of Mr Netanyahu in failing to agree a ceasefire in Gaza - Anadolu Joe Biden, the US president, told reporters that he was aware of Israeli plans to launch a ground operation but called for a ceasefire. On Monday, Britain also called for a ceasefire. Any further escalation must be avoided, a spokesman for Sir Keir Starmer said, adding that a ceasefire will provide the space necessary to find the political solution that is necessary to secure peace in the region. We are ironclad in our support for Israels right to self-defence ... but our very clear message now is, on all sides, [for] all parties to show restraint, they added. The Gallagher brothers faced criticism for the pricing of their reunion tour in the UK - EPA-EFE/Simon Emmet/Fear PR/Shutterstock Oasis have ruled out the use of dynamic ticket pricing for the bands North America tour dates following fury in the UK. The Britpop group, who announced their reunion in August, said that the controversial pricing model would not be used for shows in 2025 in the US, Canada and Mexico. Oasiss management said: Ticketmasters dynamic pricing model will not be applied to the forthcoming sale of tickets to Oasis concerts in North America. It is widely accepted that dynamic pricing remains a useful tool to combat ticket touting and keep prices for a significant proportion of fans lower than the market rate and thus more affordable. But, when unprecedented ticket demand (where the entire tour could be sold many times over at the moment tickets go on sale) is combined with technology that cannot cope with that demand, it becomes less effective and can lead to an unacceptable experience for fans. We have made this decision for the North America tour to hopefully avoid a repeat of the issues fans in the UK and Ireland experienced recently. The release of tickets this month in the UK prompted the Government and the competition watchdog to announce a review of dynamic pricing, where tickets become more expensive when competition to buy them is fierce. Some standard tickets more than doubled from 148 to 355, in a situation blamed on unprecedented demand. Ticketmasters purchase policy explaining dynamic pricing - Yui Mok/PA Ticketmaster has previously said that it does not set concert prices and its website states this is down to the event organiser who has priced these tickets according to their market value. The decision to ditch surge or dynamic pricing for the US tour has caused outrage in the UK, with campaigners for fair ticket prices raising concerns on behalf of British fans. Stephen Lee, the president of the campaign group the Fair Ticketing Alliance, told the Telegraph: It is deeply unfair. The UK customers were misled and not given all the information they needed to make an informed decision when purchasing. Now they are all out of pocket and see US customers reap the rewards. They have been the victims of this experiment, which has been used on thousands of events already. He added that reform to ticketing systems is needed to ensure transparency and guarantee fans a fair price for the product, stating: Basically, respect the fans and put them first. Oasiss first performance in North America will be at Rogers Stadium in Toronto on Aug 24 next year. They will then head to the US for dates at Chicagos Soldier Field on Aug 28, East Rutherfords MetLife Stadium on Aug 31 and Los Angeless Rose Ball Stadium on Sept 6, with the final date at Estadio GNP Seguros in Mexico City on Sept 12. Similar to the UK and Ireland tour, there will be a pre-ballot for fans hoping to gain access to the sale first, with fans being asked to confirm entry by Oct 1. To enter, you are asked where you are based and a question about when Oasis last played in North America. The bands most recent appearances were on their 2008-09 Dig Out Your Soul tour.Their first UK show will take place at Cardiffs Principality Stadium on July 4. A string of 19 UK and Ireland dates have all sold out, including two extra Wembley shows. Tickets for Oasiss North America dates will be on sale from Oct 4. People walk past The Lucky Duck on Monday afternoon. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the bar, located at 810 N. Alamo St., for allegedly prohibiting police officers from carrying a weapon in the establishment. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News The Lucky Duck pictured on Monday afternoon, Sept. 30. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the bar, located at 810 N. Alamo St., for allegedly prohibiting police officers from carrying a weapon in the establishment. Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News While Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has failed to block a new no-gun policy at the State Fair of Texas, his office recently reached a settlement with a San Antonio bar accused of violating state law by prohibiting police officers from carrying a weapon in the establishment. Le Bajec Le LLLC, which does business as the Lucky Duck at 810 N. Alamo St., was ordered to pay $1,000 to the state as part of an agreed final judgment entered Aug. 15. Paxton sued the Lucky Duck in February, asking a state District Court in San Antonio to impose penalties and issue a ruling that prevents the bar from breaking the law. Other than the $1,000 payment, though, other relief sought by the third-term Republican was denied, the judgment said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The bar responded to the lawsuit by generally denying the allegations. Lucky Duck principal Michael Bajec and Jason Ray, the bars Austin lawyer, couldnt be reached for comment Monday. But in a March interview, Bajec said, We have never denied a peace officer (from entering the Lucky Duck) due to them carrying a gun. Under the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, establishments that restrict a peace officer from carrying their authorized weapon are subject to a civil penalty of $1,000 for each violation. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Paxton alleged that since 2022, the year Lucky Duck opened, until the filing of the lawsuit, it had restricted entry to off duty peace officers who are authorized to carry a weapon. The first time it happened was July 10, 2022, when San Antonio police officer Joel Zulaica was barred from carrying his weapon into the bar, the suit alleged. Zulaica even showed bar staff the pertinent section of state law, the complaint added. Paxtons office wrote Bajec to try to get him to comply with the law. In February 2023, Bajec assured the agency that it has and always would comply with these rules. Despite that pledge, Paxtons suit alleges that Lucky Ducks manager prohibited then-Jourdanton Police Chief Eric Kaiser from carrying his weapon into the bar. Kaiser was told he had forfeited the $300 prepaid reservation for himself, his wife and another couple, the complaint said. Fair ban The Lucky Duck was one of five venues Paxtons office sued this year over weapons bans. The most notable was the State Fair of Texas, which instituted a no-gun policy after a shooting last year at the fairgrounds injured three people. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The city of Dallas leases the fairgrounds to the nonprofit operator. Paxton argued the policy infringes on license-to-carry holders rights under the Second Amendment and state law that allows carrying firearms in places owned or leased by government entities unless the law forbids it. On Thursday, the Texas Supreme Court denied Paxtons request to block the policy. The justices ruled the state had not made the case for why the fair operator lacked the authority to institute the ban, which includes concealed firearms. The policy does not apply to law enforcement officials, qualified retired officers or those with credentials verified by the Dallas police. After the ruling, Paxton vowed to continue to fight the fairs weapons ban. This case is not over, he said in statement. I will continue to fight this on the merits to uphold Texans ability to defend themselves, which is protected by State law. Other settlement Paxton reached a settlement with at least one of the other venues his office sued this year. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Dallas County District Court records show Deep Ellum Live Ltd., doing business as the Factory in Deep Ellum, was ordered to pay $6,000 in civil penalties under an agreed final judgment executed in July. Paxton had alleged that the Factory had repeatedly prohibited numerous off-duty officers from entering the concert venue with their weapons. Scott Griffith, a Dallas attorney representing the Factory, said there were a number of factors that went into the decision to settle including the cost of litigation. Paxton also sued the Texas Trust CU Theatre in Grand Prairie and the Meow Wolf Grapevine art venue. The status of those lawsuits couldnt immediately be determined Monday. Paxtons office didnt respond to a request for comment. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Doctor A pensioner has been turned away from a GP for being already dead, despite being very much alive. Alan Rocket, 69, had been attempting to re-register at his former doctors surgery when he was informed by staff that he was deceased. Reception staff refused to hand over Mr Rockets medical data, forcing the retired decorator to go home and fetch his passport as a proof of identity. Mr Rocket, who is in remission from bowel cancer, said his experience at the Shenley Green practice in Birmingham had been distressing. He told The Sun: It was really upsetting. Five years ago this month, I was diagnosed with bowel cancer. Im in remission now but Im still not 100 per cent clear. So to be told I was dead completely stressed me out. I told my daughters and they were upset too. I wasnt getting anywhere so I got my ID and came back and said, Here you go, Im alive. Technical issue Mr Rocket added that employees had smirked at him while they delivered the news of his earlier death. Despite delivering his identity documents, Mr Rocket was reportedly unable to register at the practice for another 24 hours. A spokesman for the surgery told The Sun that there was a technical issue with the patient records and apologised for any inconvenience caused. Earlier this year, another elderly cancer patient was left unable to access his medical records or reorder his medication after being registered as dead on the NHS computer system. John Ashcroft, 73, who is in remission from prostate cancer, received a call from his local GP telling him he was deceased in late July. GPs working fewer hours It comes after a study revealed GPs are working an average of 26 hours a week. The contracted hours fulfilled by each fully qualified GP has fallen from 30 a week on average in 2016, to 26 a week in 2022, according to new analysis of NHS data. Dr Rosa Parisi, the studys lead author from the University of Manchester, which conducted the research, suggested that GPs may be working less because they were likely to be unwilling or unable to face more of the intense day-to-day pressures. The study revealed that despite there being about 6 per cent more GPs in 2022 than there were in 2015, they were delivering 2.7 per cent fewer hours in total. This is despite an increase of almost 250 patients per GP. Researchers said the decrease in total working hours was down to a combination of family doctors retiring early, poor recruitment and retention and more GPs doing fewer hours. The former presenter returns to television for a new Channel 5 series - PA Phillip Schofield is marooned on a desert island for 10 days in Cast Away (Channel 5). Its not long enough. How about 10 years? Or at least long enough for his camera batteries to run out. Not for Schofield the John Profumo route of a quiet retreat into charitable works. Hes out to resurrect his career and settle some scores, and hes as bitchy as Princess Margaret after a vodka pick-me-up. In Schofields mind, he has been cruelly betrayed. Im not doing this as a poor me, he insists, and indeed he isnt. Hes doing this as a f--k you to ITV bosses, his former best-friend-turned-mortal-enemy Holly Willoughby, and any member of the press or public who has failed to treat him with sympathy. A quick recap: Schofield lost his handsomely paid job as the face of This Morning after repeatedly lying about an affair with a runner who was 15 when they met and 20 when they began a sexual relationship (Schofield was then in his mid-50s). After more than a year of reflection he has decided to blame his downfall on homophobia, rather than his deceit. He will go no further than saying the affair was unwise, a description that sounds as if it has been workshopped by a team of lawyers and publicists. Cast Away is a canny vehicle for his comeback, because he is in total control. Anyone who knows me will know I love cameras get the shot, get the close-up, he says. With no crew on the island, he directs himself. He knows just when to be funny, theatrical or emotional. And he knows full well that the press will seize on his remarks about being thrown under a bus by people that he thought he knew. Schofield never mentions Willoughby by name, but he doesnt need to. Mocking her are you ok? message to This Morning viewers was particularly sly. Phillip Schofield filmed himself on an island off the coast of Madagascar - PA When Joanna Lumley did a similar Robinson Crusoe challenge many years ago (she popped up here to wish Schofield luck), the draw was seeing how she coped with the practicalities. Ruby Wax did it last year, and the focus was on how isolation affected her mental health. But the survival aspect is neither here nor there with Schofield. Who cares if he can build a shelter or catch a fish, or tell us how lucky he feels to be watching a lovely sunset? Footage of Schofield on his rock off the coast of Madagascar is cut with a longer interview conducted at home, and scenes of him enjoying a family lunch with his wife, Steph, and two daughters. All are clearly on very good terms. His eldest child, Molly, tells the programme: I really hope people see him how we see him, because he is just amazing. Im sure she does; because she loves her dad, and also because she has a job as his manager. Schofield discusses being close to suicide, the anguish of coming out as gay when middle-aged and married, and the devastation he felt at losing his job. All true and heartfelt, Im sure, but there was no sense that this was tumbling out of him as a result of his isolation. Every disclosure felt like something he had been planning to share, knowing it would make a good TV moment. And it was compelling television, but not for the reasons Schofield hoped. It was a revealing study of what happens to an entitled TV star, fuelled by a belief that the public adores them, when the stardom and adulation is taken away. His daughter said: On a desert island, you cant fake it. This is the real you. The real Schofield, on this evidence, is awful. Philip Schofield Cast Away continues tomorrow and Wednesday at 9pm on Channel 5 The exterior of a Post Office branch in east London The Post Office is facing a second IT scandal after an investigation found software used before Horizon could have created shortfalls for sub-postmasters as early as 1993. On Monday, Gareth Thomas, the Post Office minister, said that he was horrified to learn there was a reasonable likelihood the IT system, called Capture, could have created shortfalls in accounts. It comes as a former Post Office chairman is set to give evidence to the inquiry on Tuesday, following claims that he tried to shut down an investigation into Nick Read after he was informed he was a subject of the inquiry. More than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongfully prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 as a result of errors in Horizon software. Sir Alan Bates, the campaigning former sub-postmaster, went on to win a High Court battle against the Post Office over the issue, in a fight for justice that was dramatised in an ITV series earlier this year. Sir Alan Bates won a High Court battle against the Post Office and the former sub-postmasters campaign was dramatised in an ITV series - Tayfun Salci/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock In evidence given to the inquiry on Friday, Amanda Burton, a non-executive director at the Post Office, claimed that Henry Staunton shouted at a Post Office legal boss in an open-planned office. He was generally being very firm that we should stop the investigation, said Ms Burton. He did it under the guise it was causing stress to Mr Read and that the investigation was unfair and should stop. She later added: He had also, I had been told, shouted at the general counsel in an open-plan situation, so other staff could see. The Telegraph understands that Mr Staunton will strongly refute claims he attempted to frustrate the investigation if he is questioned on them and will also deny shouting at Ben Foat, the Post Offices general counsel. Jane Davies, the former Post Office HR director who submitted the original allegations, told the business and trade committee the report was intended to be concerned with Nick Read and Nick Read alone. At least 40 sub-postmasters have claimed they were falsely accused of stealing as a result of glitches in Capture, which was rolled out to branches from 1993 onwards. Half a dozen sub-postmasters are known to have been prosecuted as a result of losses. In January, the Tory government ordered the Post Office to investigate the claims related to Capture and a review was launched by Kroll, a risk advisory and financial solutions company. In an 87-page report released on Monday, the authors concluded that there was a reasonable likelihood that Capture could have created shortfalls for sub-postmasters. In its executive summary, Kroll confirmed there was an acknowledgement both in internal and external communications during the 1990s that Capture had bugs and errors that varied in severity. As was the case during the Horizon scandal, sub-postmasters were also contractually bound to repatriate losses caused through negligence, carelessness or error. The report continued: Given this external pressure placed upon sub-postmasters, our review has found multiple methods used to repatriate losses, often driven by an inconsistent understanding of resources available to support in the event of errors. The actions, based on sub-postmasters witness testimony, in certain cases, [were] claimed to have led to suspension, termination and prosecution based on theft and false accounting charges, as generally the understanding of contractual requirements was to reimburse (or make good) any shortfalls that occurred. Investigators conducted 21 interviews with sub-postmasters or family members, with one further sub-postmaster providing written testimony. The report detailed how 12 sub-postmasters were suspended as a result of the shortfalls, with eight prosecuted, two resigning and two having their contracts terminated. Authors also said a further seven were never suspended from their roles, but advised Kroll that they ended up selling their branch in part or whole because of the losses they sustained under the Capture system. The reports authors stressed it made no comment on the safety of criminal convictions. Gareth Thomas, the Post Office minister, has promised to thoroughly examine Krolls report into issues with the Capture IT system - Chris McAndrew/UK Parliament Mr Thomas said: I was horrified to learn about the issues with the Capture system, which pre-dates Horizon. I would like to thank affected postmasters, individuals that have worked with postmasters, and parliamentarians for bringing this to light. Today, I met with some of the postmasters who used the Capture system, and I thank them for their honesty and bravery in coming forward to talk about the impact it had on their lives and livelihoods. The independent report from Kroll Associates sheds further light on how the faults with the Capture system may have impacted the operation of post offices who used it. Once postmasters and others have had time to digest the report, I look forward to hearing their views. In parallel I will work closely with colleagues across government to thoroughly examine Krolls report and consider what action should be taken. We will work quickly and plan to set out next steps in December. A Post Office spokesman said: We have, and will continue to, fully support the independent forensic accountancy investigation established by the Government into the Capture software. We have been very concerned from the outset about the reported problems relating to the use of the Capture software in the 1990s and are sincerely sorry for past failings that have caused suffering to postmasters. We remain determined that wrongs must be put right as far as that can be possible. Richard Webb at home in Dartmouth, Devon. Country Diary chimed perfectly with those times it was rural nostalgia with a safe, beautiful look people wanted after the 1970s recession Photograph: family photo Nearly 50 years ago, a rediscovered diary enchanted the nation. Edith Holdens Nature Notes for 1906 published in 1977 as The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady captured the artist and schoolteachers observations on the English countrysides changing seasons, accompanied by exquisite illustrations of its flora and fauna. My friend Richard Webb, who has died aged 81, was the man who saw the potential of a dusty manuscript and turned it into a global bestseller. He had been shown the illustrated diary in 1976 by Holdens 22-year-old great-niece Rowena, then a student at Exeter Art College, whom he had met at a party, and he brought the book out the following year. Country Diary chimed perfectly with those times it was rural nostalgia with a safe, beautiful look people wanted after the 1970s recession, Richard later told an interviewer. The diary sold more than 3m copies around the world and was spun off into gift merchandising ranging from dinner plates to duvet covers, as well as a 12-part television dramatisation in 1984. It transformed the fortunes of Webb & Bower, the small independent Devon publisher that Richard had founded with his friend Delian Bower in 1975. The son of Lt Col Richard Webb and his wife, Iris (nee Ingram), he was born in Reigate, Surrey, where his father was stationed at the time. Although he grew up in a military rather than a literary family, Richard was an instinctive publisher. After school at Marlborough college and a very brief stint as a Royal Navy officer cadet, he studied at the City Lit in London and the London College of Printing and in 1966 landed a gofer job with Conde Nast. Before long he was in charge of its publishing division and nurtured books from contributors as diverse as Mary Berry and David Bailey. Richard was especially proud of his role in publishing Baileys Goodbye Baby and Amen (1969), a photographic essay on the Swinging Sixties, which could have been Richards own diary of life in Chelsea at that time. He had great charm and a formidable work ethic, a combination that saw him appointed publicity director of the publishing house Michael Joseph aged just 27. He worked with a wide range of authors, including James Baldwin and Spike Milligan, enjoying their company as much as they did his. Despite Richards success in London, his heart was in the West Country, and specifically Dartmouth in Devon, where his mother came from and to where his family had returned during his childhood. By 1994, after many years living in Exeter, he headed back to Dartmouth, planning on semi-retirement in a cottage next to the river. But he was too much of a natural publisher to sit and watch the River Dart flow past his window. The local historian Don Collinson brought him a manuscript, and The Chronicles of Dartmouth: An Historical Yearly Log, 1854-1954 (2000) became the first of a dozen books he produced involving the town and its people. As a teenager I couldnt wait to get out but I now think its an amazing place, he would tell visiting friends. In 1992 Richard married Gilly Jenkins, and she survives him. A Hezbollah fighter manning a multi-rocket launcher for Katyusha missiles in a file picture. The weapon is believed to have been used in the latest attack - Rawan / Rex Features A military base hosting US forces in Baghdad was hit by a rocket attack on Monday evening. At least two rockets were fired at the Victoria military base, which hosts American forces near Baghdad International Airport, according to the Reuters news agency, citing two Iraqi military officials. It was reported that the base had activated its air defences, intercepting the rockets. All military personnel are accounted for and military forces were not targeted as had been reported, a US defence official said. Two security sources told the AFP news agency that the base was targeted with three rockets, including two that were shot down by the bases special defences. The third fell near the headquarters of the Counter Terrorism Service Command, one source said. A second source confirmed the report, the agency said, and noted that there were no casualties and that the rockets did not affect air traffic. In a video posted on X, explosions and sirens could be heard at the base. The Victoria military base is a compound at Baghdad International Airport, used as the headquarters of US forces in Iraq from 2003 until 2011, when it was handed over to the Iraqi government. It still hosts US forces, and has previously been a target of Islamist forces in Iraq. Following the attack, the next scheduled flight to leave Baghdad airport, a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul, has been cancelled. The munitions used in the attack were reportedly Katyusha rockets, a weapon first fielded by the Soviet Union that has recently been used in the Middle East by Hezbollah and other Iranian-linked groups in Iraq. Several US military installations have been targeted by a loose alliance of Islamist groups backed by Tehran since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in October. In January, three US troops were killed at a base in northern Jordan, prompting a US retaliation. The attack came amid heightened tension in the region ahead of an expected Israeli invasion of Lebanon, after months of conflict between the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah. Liz Truss said parts of her party had adopted socially progressive policies in the hope it would make them more electable - Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph Too many Conservatives went woke to win votes, Liz Truss has claimed, accusing fellow Tories of failing to fight the culture wars. The former prime minister said that parts of her own party had adopted socially progressive policies in the hope it would make them more electable. Ms Truss made the remarks as she appeared in conversation with The Telegraphs Tim Stanley during her only appearance of this years Conservative Party conference. On Thursday afternoon, she claimed there had been a big push on woke which had filtered out into the Civil Service, the BBC and the corporate world. She said: I think the Equality Act in Britain was a major part of the country becoming more woke, the Gender Recognition Act and then these things have simply been used as a ratchet to make things worse. But theres been a cultural battle that Conservatives have failed to stand up to. In fact, many Conservatives have simply gone along with it because they thought it was electorally advantageous to be seen as progressive. What weve seen is a shift from the establishment being fuddy-duddy conservatives to the establishment being the liberal Left. Ms Truss was making her only appearance at this years Conservative Party conference - Geoff Pugh for The Telegraph Ms Truss was forced out of Downing Street after only 49 days in autumn 2022 amid the economic and political fallout to her and Kwasi Kwartengs mini-Budget. Asked whether she thought she would have fared better at Julys general election than Rishi Sunak, her successor, she replied: Yes, I do. Because when I was in No 10, Reform was polling at 3 per cent. By the time of the election, she added, this was much higher because we promised change that we didnt deliver. Now, of course without the support of the parliamentary party it was very, very difficult for me to get my changes through. She added: And if you have people in the parliamentary party saying this is Liz Trusss fault this has happened... It is very difficult for me to deliver that change. She said if her tax-cutting agenda had been allowed to succeed, Britain would have lower corporation tax and would have brought duty-free shopping into London. But she admitted that it would have been a tall order for the Tories to triumph at the general election, and said the partys best chance of victory would have been keeping Boris Johnson. Ms Truss said: I think our best chance of winning would have been to have kept Boris. I think it was a very stupid move of some of my colleagues to undermine Boris. And they still havent admitted that. And thats another bit of the analysis that needs to be done. She also blamed the rise of Reform, which won more than four million votes at the election, for the loss of her South West Norfolk seat. Ms Truss said: I lost my seat largely due to Reform. So Reform took a lot of my vote in South West Norfolk and I was frankly in quite a difficult position because I was running under a very orthodox Conservative Party while being an unorthodox Conservative myself. Thats what happened to us in many similar seats. Because Reform did so well, Conservatives lost and Labour got in. I dont believe the people of South West Norfolk actually consciously wanted a Labour MP. They didnt vote Labour because they were enthusiastic about the Labour Party, they voted Labour because they were fed up that we hadnt delivered. Asked about the current leadership contest, Ms Truss said that none of the Tory leadership hopefuls had acknowledged how bad things are for both their party and the country. She said: Theres been a bit of Panglossian, all we need to do is unite, all we need to do is show competence and we will be ushered back into office. They have to explain what went wrong, why things are so bad for the Conservatives and what theyre actually going to do. Now take energy prices. Now I havent heard anybody advocating for fracking, I havent heard a serious discussion about oil and gas or coal. Smoke rises above Beirut after an Israeli strike - Oliver Marsden / Story Picture Agency Israel has launched what is says is a limited ground invasion into Lebanon following months of tension on the border. Troops crossed the border in Operation Northern Arrows despite calls for restraint by world leaders fearing a wider regional war. Why is Israel invading Lebanon? Israel says it has invaded because it wants to restore security to Israeli communities living in the north, which were displaced because of constant incoming rocket fire from Hezbollah. The precise parameters of the military operation are not yet clear. A limited invasion could be an attempt to simply clear southern Lebanon of Hezbollah fighters and positions in order to restore calm to northern Israel and allow residents to return. Israeli soldiers may immediately withdraw after completing their missions in southern Lebanon, as some US officials hinted in comments to The Washington Post. But for Benjamin Netanyahu, Israels prime minister, this could be part of a wider plan to fully invade Lebanon and remove Hezbollah from power entirely, rather than just kill its members in the south. In that scenario, it is unclear whether Israel plans to occupy southern Lebanon, create a demilitarised zone, or simply leave the area completely after completing their objectives. What triggered the war? Northern Israel has been under near-constant rocket fire from Hezbollah since Oct 7, forcing some 60,000 to flee their homes near the northern border north. The IDF has returned fire at Hezbollah positions and launched sporadic airstrikes on Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon in return. But in recent weeks Israel has massively ramped up pressure on the terrorist organisation, setting off a wave of sabotage explosions in pagers carried by Hezbollah members, which injured more than 3,000 people. Israeli air strikes on Lebanon also intensified, culminating in an attack on Beirut that killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah. What is Hezbollah? Hezbollah, which means Party of God, is a radical, Shia paramilitary group based in Lebanon and backed and funded by Iran. It is politically and financially supported by Iran, and has been described as the most heavily armed non-state actor worldwide. Nasrallah had previously claimed that the group has more than 100,000 trained fighters, though it is thought that the true figure is around 20,000 to 50,000. It has a vast network of tunnels and defensive positions in southern Lebanon and also controls much of southern Beirut. What happens next? It is unclear where the conflict goes from here. Israel is already facing pressure from the United States to keep the scale of the invasion to a minimum. However, there are growing doubts over whether Mr Netanyahu considers the views of the Biden administration in his decision-making. A luxury cruise ship has set off from a Belfast dock after unexpectedly spending four months in the city ahead of a three-year voyage. Passengers cheered, applauded and hugged the liners chief when he confirmed on Monday night that they were ready for departure. The residents of the Villa Vie Odyssey waved goodbye to the Northern Ireland city they had become so familiar with, bringing souvenirs and memories with them. One man, who carried a self-assembled model of the Titanic on board on Monday, said he enjoyed Belfast but was ready for the rest of the cruise. Another woman from Georgia said she had always wanted to see the world, but thanked Belfast for hosting them, calling it a wonderful place. The luxury liner became stranded due to unexpected repair works in May, forcing passengers to become familiar with the sights Belfast and Northern Ireland has to offer. Passengers prepare to board the Villa Vie Odyssey at Belfast Port (Liam McBurney/PA) One pair of would-be voyagers became engaged while waiting for the cruise to begin. Gian Perroni, from Vancouver in Canada, and Angie Harsanyi, from Colorado in the US, got to know each other as they walked to and back from the ship in the past few months. After a proposal under a supermoon, they said they have found their soulmates. The passengers bade Belfast farewell with a bike tour ahead of their departure on Monday. CEO of Villa Vie Residences Mikael Petterson speaks to Donna Martemucci as passengers prepare to board the Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship at Belfast Ports Cruise Ship Terminal (Liam McBurney/PA) After last-minute paperwork delays, there were scenes of joy in the cruise terminal when it was confirmed that the ship was on its way to collect passengers. The ship is expected to anchor in Belfast Lough overnight before beginning its voyage in earnest on Tuesday morning. Andy Garrison, 75, who said he will be on board for at least three and a half years, said he arrived in Belfast for what he thought was three days in August and ended up there for six weeks. He said he wanted something to do so he ordered a model of the Titanic which he built over three or four days. Asked if he was worried it could be seen as a bad omen, he said: No, Im not. As a matter of fact Im going to put this on the wall of my room. Andy Garrison at Belfast Ports Cruise Ship Terminal (Liam McBurney/PA) He said the passengers had been resilient in waiting for the repairs to be completed and described them as a really nice group. I like Belfast a lot actually, I would stay here and enjoy myself except Im leaving on a ship, he said. I am so happy to be sailing away, Im ready to go. We stop briefly in Brest, France, and then we go to Spain, we go to Portugal, and we head across the ocean to go to the Bahamas, where we stay for a while in the Bahamas. Cyndi Grzybowski, 69, from Appling, Georgia, said she had always wanted to see the world and was excited for the voyage to begin. Cyndi Grzybowski said she enjoyed every minute in Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA) My better half passed away three years ago so this is giving me an opportunity to get off the farm, literally, and see the world, which is something that I have wanted to do, she told reporters on Monday. My son has been so supportive of this because when this opportunity came up, I was really humming and hawing because Ive been on the farm for 27 years, and he said, Mom, the only thing Ive heard you talk about is going to see the world. We started out as strangers in Southampton and Belfast and now we truly are family. We had two amazing parties yesterday with the pedal bikes and last night at Revolution de Cuba, we had a get-together with fantastic food. Thank you all so very much truly, Belfast has been such a wonderful place. I have so enjoyed every minute here. The luxury cruise offers rentals from 35 to 120 days, or villas can be purchased ranging from 90,000 to 260,000. Gian Perroni and Angie Harsanyi found love in Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA) Owning a villa on board guarantees the room for a minimum of 15 years, but the ownership stays valid for the entire operation of the ship. Speaking to reporters at the cruise terminal, chief executive of Villa Vie Residences Mike Petterson said he was a little stressed as efforts were made to clear a few last-minute things. Passengers board the Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship at Belfast Ports Cruise Ship Terminal, after the luxury cruise ship became marooned in Belfast for four months due to unexpected repair works (Liam McBurney/PA) Its administrative paperwork. We needed the right person to press the button, at the end of the day. Its been done and were putting the vessel in motion right now. The harbour master has been in direct contact with the MD. Weve been expecting this outcome for hours. He said departure was due just before midnight, when the terminal was due to close. The good news is that we have complete clearance and we will be out of here very, very, very soon. Asked how would he remember Belfast, he said your summer is horrible and you cant cook to save your lives, but you do know how to drink. The Prince of Wales will celebrate Londons Air Ambulance Charity renewing its fleet following a successful multimillion-pound fundraising appeal. William is patron of the charity which launched its Up Against Time appeal to fund two new helicopters for its service. In August, William hailed the announcement the money had been raised, posting on X, formally Twitter:Fantastic News! This is going to have a life-saving impact. A huge thank you to everyone who donated W. Hollywood star Tom Cruise and Arsenal football club manager Mikel Arteta were among the guests at a gala fundraising dinner in February for the charitys appeal. The Prince of Wales withTom Cruise, at the Londons Air Ambulance charity gala dinner (Daniel Leal/PA) The prince, a former air ambulance pilot with the East Anglian Air Ambulance, attended the event and in a speech highlighted the urgency of the cause: Here in London, the current aircraft have served magnificently. But our capital city needs a new fleet. And we are Up Against Time. The clue really is in the appeals name. By September, we need the two new red birds decked with the latest kit such as night vision in our skies. William will visit RAF Northolt in west London to view the new helicopters and meet pilots and medical crew. But predicted bad weather has forced the cancellation of the delivery flight of one of the helicopters, the prince was due to join, from the military airfield to the Royal London Hospital. Londons Air Ambulance Charity was established in 1989 following a growing consensus of opinion that victims of serious accidents were dying because of the delay in expert medical help reaching them, and the time it took to transport patients to hospital. The service pioneered the doctor-on-board model for air ambulances and aims to bring the hospital emergency department to the scene of an incident. Rupert Murdochs REA Group has abandoned its pursuit of British rival Rightmove after its last takeover approach worth 6.2 billion was rejected. Australian firm REA, which is majority-owned by the tycoons News Corp group, confirmed it will not make a firm offer for Rightmove, sending shares in the FTSE 100 listed property portal slumping by 7%. REA hit out at Rightmove, saying it was disappointed with the level of engagement from the firms board. It claimed this impeded its ability to make a bid ahead of Mondays 5pm deadline to make a firm offer or walk away under City takeover rules. Earlier on Monday, Rightmove revealed it had rebuffed a fourth cash-and-shares approach from REA on Friday worth 781p a share. Rightmove said it believed the proposal remained unattractive and continues to materially undervalue Rightmove and its future prospects. It had called on REA to put forward its best and final proposal ahead of the deadline and dismissed the request for an extension to end the uncertainty and disruption caused by the process. REA chief executive Owen Wilson said: Against a backdrop of intensifying global competition, we approached Rightmoves board because we strongly believed in the opportunity to create a globally diversified leader in the digital property sector that would benefit both REA and Rightmove shareholders. We were disappointed with the limited engagement from Rightmove that impeded our ability to make a firm offer within the timetable available. They had nothing to lose by engaging with us. He added: We are always financially disciplined when we look at M&A (mergers and acquisitions) and reinvestment in our business. REA had last week urged bosses at Rightmove to come to the negotiating table, criticising them for not agreeing to a meeting between the two parties. Rightmove said its chairman, Andrew Fisher, had met his counterpart at REA, Hamish McLennan, following Fridays proposed offer, with a further meeting also involving executives of both firms. But REA said the chairman-to-chairman meeting was introductory and high-level only and argued that no other information was given in either meeting. Rightmove said earlier on announcing its rejection of the approach that nothing was presented in either meeting which materially changed the boards view of the latest proposal. The FTSE 100 firm did not grant REA access to its books, arguing that none of REAs proposals received to date has been at a sufficient level to grant such access. Without a compelling proposal, it would not be appropriate or in the best interests of Rightmove or its shareholders to provide confidential and commercially sensitive information to REA, it added. It said the decision to reject the fourth proposal came after consultation with its shareholders. The board has concluded that shareholder interests would be better served through the execution of Rightmoves standalone strategic plan, the firm said. It said that REA had, in the meetings held following Fridays approach, requested an extension to the so-called put up or shut up (Pusu) deadline on September 30 so it could consider a fifth proposal. But Rightmove said the deadline was designed to protect offeree companies from being subjected to an unnecessarily prolonged period of uncertainty cause by an offer period. Ahead of REAs move to walk away from a bid, Rightmove chairman Mr Fisher said: The last few weeks have been very disruptive, as well as unsettling for our colleagues. To the extent REA wants to put forward a further proposal, I urge them to submit a best and final proposal ahead of todays 5pm Pusu deadline such that we can bring certainty to this process. Rightmove is the UKs largest online real estate portal, while REA is Australias largest property website. Founded in a garage in Melbourne in 1995, REA has expanded its operations throughout the country, while it also has businesses in India and south-east Asia. It is valued at about 27 billion Australia dollars (13.9 billion) on Australias stock market and employs around 3,400 staff. New China's developments benefit the world Chinadaily.com.cn) 09:06, September 30, 2024 Photo taken on Sept 25, 2024, shows an 18-meter-tall display in the shape of a flower basket is placed at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing as a decoration for the upcoming National Day holiday. (Photo/Xinhua) Editor's note: Over the past 75 years, New China has made remarkable progress that not only benefits the Chinese people but also creates opportunities for the global community. Three experts share insights on the significant impact of these achievements with China Daily's Shan Xueying, Dang He, and Li Wei. Excerpts from their discussions follow: Poverty alleviation contribution to the world China's efforts toward poverty alleviation have been exceptional, and driven by various factors. Before the transformative reform and opening-up in 1978, China focused on enhancing human capital through education and healthcare, strengthening industries to create jobs, and bolstering national security. Since 1978, the shift from a planned economy to a socialist market economy has unleashed productive forces. The strategy for poverty eradication has evolved, emphasizing key pillars such as commitment to reform, fostering innovation through special economic zones, and implementing long-term plans like the five-year plans and targeted assistance policies. Now China's focus on developing new quality productive forces is a crucial strategy for its continued growth. This approach involves not abandoning traditional industries but rather accelerating their transformation and innovation while respecting and optimizing their existing strengths. This initiative not only addresses emerging needs but also provides new opportunities for the global economy. China's emphasis on revolutionary technological breakthroughs has created a demand for high-end products in developed nations. This focus on enhancing total factor productivity and product quality aids in industrialization and efficient growth. Additionally, China's export of green and clean high-end products, such as new-energy vehicles and sustainable energy products, aligns with the global goal of sustainable development. China's pursuit of new quality productive forces is particularly significant for developing countries, especially those involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. By promoting industrialization and optimizing resource allocation based on comparative advantages, China provides expertise, job opportunities, and infrastructure development that empower local communities. This approach reflects the essence of the Chinese proverb, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Wang Yong is the academic deputy dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University. Chinese modernization brings great missions and visions The concept of "modernization" or "development theory" originally stemmed from the belief that the economic and political models of the Western world could be transplanted onto the newly independent nations of the Global South. An early founder of this theory, Daniel Lerner, in his influential work The Passing of Traditional Society: Modernizing the Middle East (1958), argued that the West, through the dissemination of modernity, can help underdeveloped nations transition from "traditional societies" to modern ones. However, the trajectory of Chinese modernization presents a different narrative. China's modernization journey began with a sincere aspiration to uplift its people from poverty, underdevelopment, illiteracy, and other pressing challenges. When the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, the country faced significant hardships. For example, in 1952, China's GDP stood at only 67.9 billion yuan, with a per capita GDP of 119 yuan, as per official figures. This meant that the average annual income of Chinese individuals at that time was barely enough for them to afford a few McDonald's "Big Mac" meals. Through 75 years of relentless endeavor, China has made remarkable strides across various fronts, with the Chinese people being the primary beneficiaries of the gains of modernization. Equally significant is China's commitment to collaborating with the global community and sharing the benefits of modernization worldwide, a principle deeply rooted in traditional Chinese values. For instance, during the First China-Latin America human rights round table recently, scholars from different countries were in agreement that the diversity of civilizations forms the bedrock of sustainable development for humanity. China gives priority to cooperation with developing nations. By embracing a people-centered approach, China unites with developing countries to chart a path to modernization that suits themselves, fostering mutually beneficial development strategies. The Chinese Story in Global Order, an analysis of the global perception of China's modernization journey, concludes that a majority of individuals in developing countries view China as a positive external force and aspire to draw lessons from China's experiences for their own future development. As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres highlighted during the General Debate of the 79th Session, the world is currently facing unprecedented challenges akin to a powder keg. To navigate these complexities and explore innovative solutions, humanity must cultivate new ideas and consider a broader array of alternatives. Now more than ever, it is imperative for mankind to unite and stand in solidarity. Liu Chen is a professor of intercultural development at Beijing Foreign Studies University and the author of The Chinese Story in Global Order (Springer Nature, 2023). China a steady supporter of peaceful development A participant at the 6th Forum on China-Africa Media Cooperation &China-Africa Think Tank High-Level Dialogue learns about the production process of traditional lacquered fluttering fans, which are made using a technique based on a national intangible heritage, in Beijing on Wednesday. (WANG JING/CHINA DAILY) As New China commemorates its 75th anniversary, the nation stands as an example of earth-shaking transformations and remarkable accomplishments. China's development, prosperity, and stability are integral components of global peace, security, and progress. Not only has China achieved significant domestic economic growth and maintained a leading position in infrastructure development, scientific and technological innovation, and industrial manufacturing, it has also dedicated itself to fostering sustainable human development and upholding peace and stability worldwide. China actively contributes Chinese wisdom and solutions to international affairs and global governance, generously sharing its governance experiences with partner countries. With a longstanding history of friendship with Middle Eastern nations, China has steadfastly pursued the principle of peaceful development over the past 75 years. The establishment of a community with a shared future for mankind is seen as the fundamental pathway to enduring global peace, including in the Middle East. Currently, China-Arab relations are at their peak, with the Middle East serving as a natural partner in initiatives such as the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative. China's high-quality collaboration within the Belt and Road Initiative with Middle Eastern countries, aligning development strategies, has significantly contributed to economic growth, boosted local employment rates, and laid a solid economic foundation for ensuring peace in the region. As against China's peaceful diplomacy in the Middle East, characterized by cooperation, solidarity, and equality, successive US administrations have pursued a regional strategy rooted in the "America First" doctrine. The US' diplomatic approach in the Middle East has often adhered to a hegemonic realist logic, neglecting the well-being and dignity of the region's inhabitants. China, a steadfast advocate for peace in the international arena, prioritizes the Middle East peace process. Through initiatives like the Global Security Initiative, China played a pivotal role in facilitating reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran in March 2023, and brokered the signing of the Beijing Declaration by 14 Palestinian factions in July 2024, emphasizing intra-Palestinian unity. China's history and actions in diplomacy underscore its credibility as a trusted partner capable of advancing peace and security in the Middle East. Zhang Yuan is a professor of Middle East studies at the Shanghai International Studies University. (Web editor: Tian Yi, Xian Jiangnan) USAA is facing a potential class-action lawsuit over an April data breach that affected more than 32,000 members. Shown is USAA's headquarters in San Antonio. Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News An April data breach at USAA has sparked a potential class-action lawsuit against the San Antonio insurance and financial services company. In a complaint filed Thursday in federal court in San Antonio, USAA member Maurice Fitzpatrick of Belton said there are at least 100 class members whose claims exceed $5 million as a result of the breach that affected the personal information of 32,275 USAA customers. Nearly 4,200 of those members are Texans. A spokesman for USAA, which has not been served with the complaint, had no comment. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The company notified affected members in an Aug. 27 letter that some documents for members with property and casualty insurance products with USAA were inadvertently posted to another members online account. It added that its investigation found no evidence of fraud or identity theft resulting from the incident, which exposed members names, addresses, Social Security and drivers license numbers, dates of birth and medical information. Fitzpatrick, though, says in his complaint that his personal information is being disseminated on the dark web, according to Capital One and Credit Karma. He also says he experienced about $950 in fraudulent charges to his American Express card in August and an increase in spam calls, texts and emails. The dark web is a network of websites not indexed by search engines and often associated with illegal activities such as selling stolen data. Advertisement Article continues below this ad USAA attributed the breach to a system error that occurred during a routine update to its document delivery system. It said it took steps to remove the inadvertently posted documents and has offered identity theft protection to affected members. Fitzpatrick is suing USAA for negligence, breach of implied contract and unjust enrichment. He wants the court to require USAA to take a number of steps, including engaging independent third-party security auditors and internal personnel to run automated security monitoring. The April breach was the second in the span of less than two years at USAA. In June 2023, USAA reported the personal information of an estimated 19,000 members had been exposed online as a result of a breach that occurred between Dec. 20, 2022, and May 18, 2023. USAA said a third-party contractor shared member access credentials with unauthorized individuals, giving them access to members personal and financial information. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Its become the norm for businesses affected by data breaches to have to defend themselves against lawsuits. Other San Antonio businesses that have been hit with similar suits include CentroMed, Frost & Sullivan Inc. and Generations Federal Credit Union. Mike Peters, frontman of Welsh band The Alarm, is in remission from aggressive cancer thanks to an NHS drug trial. The rock star, who was forced to cancel a US tour earlier this year after being diagnosed with fast-growing lymphoma, has been given the all-clear following experimental therapy at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester. Peters, who has supported U2 and Status Quo on tour, was first diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) more than 29 years ago aged 36. He has since undergone numerous drug treatments and rounds of chemotherapy, and had thought his cancer was being held in check. However, in April this year, five days before he was due to fly to Chicago for a 50-date US tour, he noticed that a lump in his neck had appeared overnight. Doctors quickly realised the rock star may have developed Richters syndrome, where CLL changes into a much more aggressive lymphoma. Mike Peters outside the Paterson research building at The Christie (Jules Peters/PA) Speaking exclusively to the PA news agency, the 65-year-old said: I was getting up at 6am to take my boys to Wembley to watch Manchester United in the cup, and I shavedand there was a big lump in my neck. I didnt think too much of it I thought, Oh, itll pass. But as luck would have it, Id arranged to meet my doctor the next day because I was going to America on the Saturday. I walked into the consultation, and Id given blood, and (the doctor) said, Mike, your blood count is absolutely plum normal, is there anything you need to tell me? Anything changed? I said, Well, Ive got this big lump in my neck, and he examined it, and his face went white And by 3pm that afternoon, I was having an emergency biopsy. Peters, who is married to Jules, 57, and has two sons, Dylan, 20 and Evan, 17, then faced an agonising wait for the results. For two or three days, Jules and I had to wait, he said. We couldnt cancel an American tour if I was just being given antibiotics So we had a bit of tap dancing, it was quite a stressful situation. We had tour buses in place and flights. very stressful. Soon, news came that Peters had Richters syndrome and would need to cancel his tour and start immediate treatment. Jules and Mike Peters at The Christie (Jules Peters/PA) Without prompt action, doctors told Peters he only had a couple of months to live, which he said was a huge shock. He added: It was clear there was no way I would be able to go to America despite me pleading, Can I just go for one week? They said, Look, Mike, this is a serious situation. We have to start now. You put this treatment off for a month, you might not be with us when you come back from America. So at that point, I realised the seriousness of the situation, and I knew how to put my health first and the family. Music and business came second at that point. Peters was referred from the North Wales Cancer Centre near where he lives in Dyserth, to the Christie for specialist care. There, he agreed to take part in a randomised phase II clinical trial investigating the combination of a targeted therapy called acalabrutinib with standard chemotherapy. Although acalabrutinib is already approved for CLL, it has not been tested in combination with chemotherapy for Richters syndrome. Luckily, the treatment has worked and a recent scan showed Peters is in remission. Medics now want to find a suitable donor so the star can undergo a stem cell transplant, which should prevent the leukaemia taking hold again. Peters said: Its amazing, especially when you go on the internet to look at other cases of Richters syndrome, which is not many, and you read that some people arent fortunate enough to get into remission so cant proceed with other treatments. Having complete remission thanks to this trial has been incredible. I now need to find the right match for the stem cell transplant and, if its successful, and with the incredible help of the team at the Christie, endeavour to find a way to be cured once and for all. Peters credits his thousands of fans with giving him a boost, saying his diagnosis in April led to an incredible response, with phenomenal support and prayers from the fans from all directions. Mike Peters, frontman of the Welsh band The Alarm (Yui Mok/PA) He added: I think, with my crazy instinct to try and preserve my life as well as my health, I worked out that I was able to play some British shows (this summer) Luckily for me,they were all at the end of the chemotherapy cycles. I couldnt do them with the band and the crew and the tour buses and all that, but I could stand up on the stage on my own with a small back-up team, so I wasnt being exposed to any viruses or conditions that would impact on my health. In fact, Peters, who has an MBE for services to cancer charities, believes keeping focused has been key and he has been determined to play gigs and focus on my music. He is concerned that radiotherapy may affect his voice and so he is hoping to avoid that, though he laughed: Ive had a great email from the Microsoft team saying we can preserve your voice by banking it with artificial intelligence!' Peters wife Jules has also recovered from breast cancer, having being diagnosed eight years ago. Mike Peters and his wife Jules (PA) She said: Luckily, I was probably more prepared for everything that came I was only 28 when Mike was diagnosed so my life with Mike has primarily been living with cancer. Im eight years on, so I remain confident. Professor Adrian Bloor, consultant haematologist at the Christie, said: Richters syndrome is a rare disease affecting a small percentage of patients with CLL. There are still very few effective and well tolerated treatments with patients that develop this condition. It is hoped that the combination of acalabrutinib with chemotherapy will be effective in treating Richters syndrome and stopping it coming back. Once Mike has completed his course of chemotherapy, we will be looking to do the stem cell transplant in the autumn. Dr Richard Francis, deputy director of research at Blood Cancer UK, which is funding research into the new combined treatment, said: All of us at Blood Cancer UK are pleased to hear that Mike responded well to treatment so far and continues to make good progress. Its further proof clinical trials designed to rapidly assess what treatment combinations work, improves peoples lives. AstraZeneca provided the drug for the STELLAR trial, which is still open to recruitment and is aiming to sign up 60 patients across the UK. Terrorist Abdalraouf Abdallah, the childhood friend of Manchester Arena attacker Salman Abedi, has lost a bid to be freed from jail. The 31-year-old faced a parole review after being recalled to prison for breaching licence conditions in January 2021. But, despite the decision, he is still due to walk free from prison later this year when his sentence expires. The Islamic extremist played an important role in Abedis radicalisation, according to a report from the inquiry into the attack. Abedi visited him in prison and experts believe he groomed the bomber but Abdallah has denied any involvement in the 2017 atrocity. In a statement on Monday, the Parole Board said: Following four oral hearing days and a dossier of evidence of over 1,800 pages, we can confirm that a panel of the Parole Board refused the release of Abdalraouf Abdallah. Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community. The panel of the Parole Board were not satisfied that he no longer posed a risk to the public, and accordingly did not direct his release. Due to the nature of his extended determinate sentence, law determines that he will be automatically released when his sentence expires. The sentence expiry date in November is determined by the period of punishment set by the sentencing judge. Abdallah was handed an extended sentence of nine-and-a-half years, including a five-and-a-half year prison term, in 2016 after he was found guilty of preparing and funding acts of terrorism by helping four others travel to Syria and was released from prison in 2020. He had previously been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after becoming paraplegic when injured in fighting in Libya in 2011 during the countrys uprising. His case was considered by the Parole Board over four days on April 8 and 9, July 1 and 31 2024. The hearing days on April 8 and 9 were conducted at the prison where Abdallah is held, while the latter dates were held remotely by via videolink. According to a report from the board, the parole review panel accepted the finding of the Manchester Arena Public Inquiry that the defendant had played a significant role in radicalising the Manchester Arena bomber, although there was no evidence that he was involved in the attack itself or had any pre-knowledge of it. The report also said Abdallah had undertaken an accredited programme intended to address the motivations behind his offending and the beliefs which enable it. He also undertook a one-to-one rehabilitative support programme intended to manage the risk of individuals who have been involved in extremist or terrorism-related activity. Despite this, his community-based probation officer, prison-based officer and prison-instructed psychologist did not support his release, with assessments determining he posed a high risk of serious harm to the public. Prison psychologists concluded that Abdallah continued to show levels of engagement with extremism and intent to commit terrorist-related offending. A release plan presented to the panel was also deemed not robust enough to manage him in the community as he retained a propensity to radicalise others and there was insufficient evidence to suggest there had been any change in his extremist mindset. The panel concluded that Abdallah retained an extremist mindset and continued to pose a risk of radicalising others, including those in any accommodation he is released to or any other person with whom he may come in contact. Michael Gove has said a critical part of his partys electoral recovery must be made in the North, as he warned against Treasury brain ahead of Octobers Budget. At a Conservative Party conference fringe event in Birmingham, the former levelling up secretary described the 2024 poll as an ejection election. He also ruled himself out of a future bid to become mayor of London, and declined to endorse one of the four Conservative Party leadership hopefuls Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat. The overwhelming feeling at the general election was this is an ejection election, Mr Gove told delegates and activists. He urged them not to focus on other parties performances, pointing to Conservative losses to Reform UK in Great Yarmouth, the Green Party in Waveney Valley, the Liberal Democrats in his former Surrey Heath seat, and Labour in Aldershot. Mr Gove added: We shouldnt be trying to second-guess what other parties will do. Asked whether he would stand to replace Labours Sadiq Khan as mayor in London, the Conservative former MP replied no to shouts of go on and yes from the crowd. No, you need someone much younger, much more effective and much better looking than me, he said. On stage in a marquee, Mr Gove had earlier defended the mayoral system in other English cities beyond London. He said: The original vision of elected mayors outside London was George Osbornes and at the time that he did it, working in Greater Manchester, the West Midlands, Tees Valley and so on, it was assumed that this would be handing power automatically to Labour. It was assumed that the West Midlands, probably Tees Valley, certainly would elect Labour politicians. Tom Tugendhat met Tees Valley mayor Lord Ben Houchen at the Conservative Party conference on Sunday, but Lord Houchen did not say whether he would endorse Mr Tugendhat (Stefan Rousseau/PA) But we saw with the success of Andy Street and Ben Houchen, that is not so. Lord Houchens third term as Tees Valley mayor, which he secured at a vote earlier this year, combined with past Conservative wins in Redcar and Middlesbrough, shows that a critical part of our recovery will be in the North, Mr Gove added. Asked whether the levelling up agenda which he led in government was a sticking plaster for a decline in steel and coal, marked on Monday by the Port Talbot blast furnace and Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal-fired power station shutdowns, he told the PA news agency: No, not at all. Levelling up started as a drive in 2019, arguably even preceded that, so no. It was intended to be a long-term exercise. I hope it will be sustained as a long-term exercise and the missions made that clear. But you know it is the case that having a programme of effective reindustrialisation of the country is important. Mr Gove criticised so-called Treasury brain in government, ahead of a Budget due on October 30. On the way in which civil servants review investments, he said: The way it works unfortunately means that the nominal return, say, on improving train times between Guildford and London is weighted disproportionately in such a way that it looks much better in terms of bang for your buck than improving rail links between, say, Sheffield and Manchester. Mr Gove said the phrase Treasury brain speaks to two things, and claimed officials would have raised concerns with the 1944 D-Day landings on the basis they were novel and contentious. He said: The Treasury is where the brightest brains are in government but its also the case that the Treasury brain and its quite a small-c conservative thing looks at different propositions and it takes the view: Hmm, you sir are saying that if we invest now, well secure all sorts of benefits later. Ive heard that a hundred times. All I know is youre calling on me to invest now, that means spending money. These benefits, they may never come. So theres a classic sort of Tory scepticism of utopianism within the Treasury, but the parallel to that is theres also a scepticism of anything which is anything which is in Treasury phrase novel and contentious. On school standards, Mr Gove said changes to Ofsted and the curriculum review gave him cause for concern. The Labour Government scrapped single-phrase headline inspection grades in September, and promised report cards featuring a much broader picture of how schools are performing. Becky Francis, seconded from her role as Education Endowment Foundation chief executive, is leading an independent review into the curriculum. The former education secretary said: It was a tragedy that one individual inspection was followed by a suicide, horrific tragedy, but my worry is that the sharp accountability that we need in order to improve the school system is progressively being eroded, linked to that the requirement for academies and free schools to follow the national curriculum, linked to that the fact that the person whos been put in charge of the curriculum review a very talented academic but some of the language around what they want to do suggests to me that well be moving away from the knowledge-rich approach that has yielded such benefits. Now, as I say, it may be the case that actually Ofsted can be strengthened. It may be the case that the curriculum review actually enhances the curriculum, but I am worried. A judicial tribunal will later examine allegations of widespread police spying on journalists. The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) in London is to probe claims that investigative reporters in Northern Ireland were subject to unlawful covert intelligence by the police. The actions of three police forces the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Durham Constabulary and the Met Police are set to be scrutinised. A complaint was initially brought to the IPT by documentary makers Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney, who were controversially arrested in 2018 as part of a police investigation into the alleged leaking of a confidential document that appeared in a film they made on a Troubles massacre. Preparatory hearings before the IPT subsequently have heard further claims that PSNI spying operations extended to several other reporters operating in the region. Journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey outside the Royal Courts of Justice (PA) In the case involving Mr Birney and Mr McCaffrey, the PSNI asked Durham Constabulary to investigate the leak of a Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland document that appeared in the documentary, No Stone Unturned, into the 1994 loyalist paramilitary massacre in the village of Loughinisland in Co Down. Given the ombudsmans role is to probe allegations of wrongdoing against police in Northern Ireland, the PSNI said it would have presented conflict of interest issues for it to have taken on the leak probe, and therefore asked for Durham to lead on the case. In 2020, the High Court in Belfast ruled that warrants secured by police to raid Mr McCaffrey and Mr Birneys homes and business offices in Belfast were wrongly obtained. The PSNI later unreservedly apologised for how the men had been treated and agreed to pay 875,000 in damages to the journalists and the film company behind the documentary. Mr Birney and Mr McCaffrey lodged a complaint with the IPT asking it to establish whether there had been any unlawful surveillance of them. Former Durham detective Darren Ellis, who took a leading role in the investigation, is set to be a key witness before the tribunal. As well as the events around the documentary, the tribunal chaired by Lord Justice Singh has also been presented with evidence related to two other instances of police surveillance against Mr McCaffrey in 2013 and 2011. RTE Northern Editor Vincent Kearney (PA) In the 2011 incident, it is alleged that the Met Police illegally obtained Mr McCaffreys phone data material the PSNI subsequently secured seven years later as part of another probe into the reporters work. Earlier this year, the BBC instructed lawyers to contact the tribunal over claims one of its ex-investigative reporters was spied on by police. The allegations relate to former BBC journalist Vincent Kearney and his work on a 2011 Spotlight documentary that probed the independence of the Police Ombudsmans office. Mr Kearney, who is the current northern editor at RTE, has said he is determined to find out what happened. The tribunal also heard claims that the PSNI undertook six-monthly trawls of the phone data of troublemaker journalists to see if they were in contact with officer sources. Under pressure to address the claims aired at the IPT, the PSNI published a report on its surveillance of journalists in the summer. Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Jon Boutcher (PA) The report revealed that the PSNI had made 323 applications for communications data relating to journalists since 2011. However, it said the vast majority of applications were related to journalists who were victims, suspects or witnesses to crime. The report, which was compiled for the Northern Ireland Policing Board the PSNIs oversight body said of the 323 applications, 10 sought to identify a journalistic source using covert powers. As well as the report, PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher also announced an independent review, headed by Angus McCullough KC, of any use of surveillance against journalists and other specific groups by police in Northern Ireland. Mr Boutcher has insisted much of the public concern over the spying claims has arisen because of misinterpretation of documents made available in redacted form at the tribunal. UK teenagers and young people have some of the highest rates of acne in the world, according to a new review. The UK was among the top 10 countries with the highest prevalence of acne diagnosed among adolescents and young people in 2021. And all countries with the highest rates of doctor-diagnosed acne have seen a rise since 1990, the new report suggests. In the UK some 14.65% of adolescents and young people were diagnosed with acne, according to the study, which has been published in the British Journal of Dermatology. This is a rise from 13.57% in 1990, according to the study which looked at data on diagnosis rates among people aged 10 to 24 across 204 countries. The British Association of Dermatologists (BDA) said the rise in cases could be down to the fact that people are quicker to see a healthcare professional about their acne. It could also be attributed to environmental or lifestyle factors, the BDA said. The organisation said the number of adolescents with acne in the UK is actually closer to 95% when accounting for people who self-managed their treatment. The new review shows that prevalence in 2021 was highest in Germany, where almost 15.98% of teenagers and young adults were diagnosed. Researchers said that rates of acne have been on the rise in all countries, except New Zealand. The UK ranks eighth among the countries with the highest prevalence, behind Germany, Portugal, Luxembourg, Norway, Andorra, Denmark and San Marino. Dr Zhou Zhu, the lead author of the research from the Department of Dermatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, said: Acne rates among adolescents and young adults have gradually increased in nearly all countries since the 1990s. Our research didnt look at why this is, but it could be linked to lifestyle factors like diet, stress, obesity rates, increased exposure to pollution from urbanisation, or simply a greater likelihood of seeking treatment. It is plausible that, as healthcare becomes more accessible in countries, reported acne rates increase. This is unlikely to be the only factor though, as even in countries with good access to healthcare, cases have increased. We only looked at healthcare data, which would not include the many people who have acne but are managing the conditions themselves, so overall acne rates are actually higher. The new review shows that prevalence in 2021 was highest in Germany (Alamy/PA) Professor Michael Arden-Jones, academic vice president of the British Association of Dermatologists, said: This study provides more evidence that the number of acne cases seen by doctors is increasing. While many people manage acne themselves using over-the-counter treatments, it is also a common reason for seeing a GP or a dermatologist. Acne is a common condition, but it can be severe. Friends and family have an important role to play, as do health professionals in providing emotional support, as it can have a negative impact on mental health, especially for teenagers. As well as the psychological impact of untreated acne, some people suffer permanent scars. However, there are treatments to limit the impact of the condition. Ideally, this means ensuring they have access to medical advice and acting fast to treat those where it is becoming severe, to prevent scarring. Acne ranges from a few spots on the face, neck, back and chest, to a more severe problem with solid painful lumps or cysts under the skin. With the closure of Ratcliffe-on-Soar, the UK has completed a journey from a pioneer of coal-fired electricity to leading the way among major economies in phasing out the fuel. So here is a look at what has happened to the UKs electricity mix and why. What is the story with coal? From the opening of the worlds first coal-fired power station in 1882, the UK has been using the fossil fuel to provide electricity for 142 years, an era that is now at an end. Coal provided the lions share of electricity in the UK until the 1990s, as the dash for gas using North Sea gas, saw cheaper and cleaner gas plants on the rise. It dropped from nearly 40% of the UK electricity mix in 2012 to around 1%, with days at a time of the UK grid operating with no coal, in just over a decade. Why did we phase it out? While the dash for gas first saw coal pushed off the system, it was concerns about its climate role that led to dedicated efforts to phase it out. (PA Graphics) Coal is the most carbon polluting of fossil fuels, producing carbon dioxide when burnt which drives increasingly dangerous climate change. In 2008, the UK passed the Climate Change Act to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, a target which has since been increased 100% overall, known as net zero. And by 2009, Ed Miliband, then energy secretary in Gordon Browns Labour government, had announced that only new coal plants with technology to capture and store their carbon emissions would be given the go-ahead, saying this signals the era of unabated coal is coming to an end. As further measures in the 2010s targeted power sector pollution and drove the installation of more renewables, Conservative energy secretary Amber Rudd announced in 2015 that all polluting coal-fired power stations would be closed by 2025. The 2025 closure date was brought forward in 2021 to October 2024, as the UK geared up to host the UN climate talks Cop26 in Glasgow. Wind power now makes up a significant share of electricity generation (Gareth Fuller/PA) What does the UK power mix look like now? By last year, the electricity mix in the UK had fundamentally transformed from what it had been just a few decades earlier. In 2023, 47.3% of power came from renewables, with 28.7% from wind alone, with the rest from other sources such as solar, hydro, biomass, while 36.3% was from fossil fuels, mostly gas, at 34.3%. Low carbon power, renewables and nuclear, accounted for 61.5% of the mix. And in the second quarter of 2024, for when the latest data are available, more than half of the UKs power came from renewables, some 51.6%, with 26.8% from wind greater than the 25.4% share from gas, as coal dwindled away. In addition to the power the UK generates domestically, there are undersea interconnectors allowing imports from sources such as French nuclear power and Norwegian hydropower. (PA Graphics) What happens now? Labour has pledged clean power by 2030 which is expected to involve largely low carbon sources such as renewables but with some gas on the system to provide back up. So the Government is looking to double onshore wind, triple solar power, and quadruple offshore wind by 2030, and there are also nuclear plants in construction or planned, but new nuclear capacity has faced delays, controversy and cost overruns. But after years of falling electricity demand thanks to greater energy efficiency and more recently high costs the UK faces a further challenge of meeting rising power requirements as vehicles, home heating and industry switch to electricity to cut their emissions in the drive to reach net zero. More power will be required as electric vehicles, heating and industry increase (John Walton/PA) What are the consequences of a shift away from coal? Ending coal use for electricity has helped the UK halve its greenhouse gas emissions since 1990, and has set a global precedent that major economies can phase out the use of the most polluting fossil fuel. That is crucial for curbing climate change when use of the fossil fuel globally for electricity still rose 1.1% last year, according to energy analysis company Ember. Clean energy is also cheaper, analysis shows, and shifting away from fossil fuels leaves the UK less reliant on price spikes in global energy markets. But there are concerns about security of supply with a reliance on renewables that are intermittent, so the future grid will require a greater focus on technologies such as batteries and power plants using hydrogen made from excess renewables. And there will be a greater need to manage demand, for example encouraging people to charge their cars or use appliances when there are high levels of renewables available. The Utah girl, now 12, imagined a better playground for her younger sisters to safely play on Clearfield City/Facebook Utah resident Rosili Olson's playground drawing A young girl in Utah is thinking outside of the (crayon) box! Clearfield resident Rosili Olson, 12, used her crayons last year when she was 11 to draw a playground she imagined would be better suited for her younger sisters to safely play on. After taking her drawings to City Hall, the city decided to use her designs to build the playground. Less than a year later, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, the girl attended the grand opening of the playground at Bicentennial Park with her mom and sisters, who all helped with the ceremonial ribbon cutting. Rosili realized the playground by her house was suited for ages 5-12 and was not geared toward her younger sister, Clearfield officials wrote in the caption of a Facebook video showing off the creation process. After seeing her initiative and detail, we knew we had to make her dream happen. Clearfield City/Facebook The new playground at Bicentennial Park in Clearfield, Utah Related: Warren Buffetts Son Reacts to Dads Plan for His Fortune That Theyll Have to Give Away Within 10 Years of His Death Rosili then reviewed multiple versions until we had checked all her boxes and got the colors right, the post explained, adding that she had initially pitched her idea to Eric Howes, the citys head of parks and recreation. At one point in the video, a smiling Rosili stood near an empty plot of land where the playground would eventually be built. 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. Clearfield City/Facebook Rosili Olson at Bicentennial Park before the playground was built Related: Neil deGrasse Tyson Says Legions of Angry Former Elementary School Students Still Send Him Hate Mail (Exclusive) Rosilis a very strong-willed and very wonderful person, her mom, Annie Olson, told area newspaper Standard-Examiner. When she brought it up, I thought, This is a big deal. All I did was call [City Hall] and say, Hey, do me a favor. Would you let my daughter come in? They were so gracious and so kind, a lot more than I ever couldve imagined, for sure. The head of parks and recreation said Rosilis pitch came at the right time. It was budgeted but we didnt have any specifics, Howes said to the outlet. After seeing all the effort she put into all of those drawings knowing wed already ordered the playground for the park right by her house, the next best thing was to say, Weve got a playground coming in next year. Lets use what youve done and build something there. Clearfield City/Facebook The ribbon cutting for the new playground in Clearfield, Utah It was just simply asking her, Do you want to be involved? She said yes and her mom was committed to bringing her every time, Howes said, noting that he met with Rosili three or four times to review plans along the way. At the ribbon cutting with family by her side, Rosili said, Its even better than I imagined. Its so beautiful, per the Standard-Examiner. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. FALL RIVER When it comes to culinary diversity, the Spindle City certainly delivers. And there's a new star emerging on the ethnic restaurant scene. At the recently opened 9 Star International, you can experience "the best of Southeast Asian, Spanish, and American cuisines all in one place." The new family-run eatery made its debut Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 275 Martine St., the site of the former Joe's Shish Kabob, a Middle Eastern city staple for nearly 20 years that closed its doors July 26. First-time restaurant owners Linda Heing-Kochan, who serves as chef, and husband Matthew Kochan of Fall River are hoping to continue the South End building's legacy as a go-to foodie stop with the introduction of their own unique flavors. 9 Star International restaurant, 275 Martine St. in Fall River, offers a variety of Cambodian and Spanish cuisine, seen here on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. "We are a family-owned restaurant, and we just want to contribute to the community," said Chantavy Colson, Linda's daughter who is also involved in the family business. "We know there are a lot of other cuisines that are here, but we just hope that everybody gets the opportunity to try our cuisine a Cambodian style mixed with Spanish and are open to the flavors that we are offering here." 'It's bittersweet': Owners of Joe's Shish Kabob selling business after two-year run According to Colson, owning a restaurant was a longtime dream of her mother. She's been "head chef" at home for years and even at her former job, where she would always bring in food for her co-workers. The dining area at 9 Star International restaurant, 275 Martine St. in Fall River, is seen here Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. "She's big on cooking food at home and making sure everybody's well-fed. And I think she just wanted to expand that to everybody around her," Colson said. "She has such a big heart, and wants to make sure everyone is happy and they know that what they are spending money on is worth it," Colson added. So at 9 Star the emphasis is on "homemade food that tastes delicious for a great price." Thong Khea, Chantavy Colson and owners Linda Heing-Kochan and Matthew Kochan at 9 Star International restaurant, 275 Martine St. in Fall River, on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. Linda is a native of Cambodia who immigrated to Fall River in 1989, and Matthew, who grew up in Somerset, is of Polish descent. So why this distinct mix of Asian and Spanish cuisines? Colson said when her mother first came to the United States she spent a lot of time learning the ropes in the kitchen of a Spanish restaurant as a teenager, so she decided to incorporate those recipes into 9 Star's menu. Papaya salad is served at 9 Star International restaurant, 275 Martine St. in Fall River, on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. What's on 9 Star's menu? 9 Star International promises a delightful buffet-style dine-in or takeout meal that "brings the worlds flavors right to your table." The menu comprises a lot of Linda's family recipes of traditional Cambodian dishes. Highlights include the Cha Kreung (Cambodian lemongrass chicken), Crispy Pork Belly, or the Pulled Pork ("pernil," which is Spanish for pork shoulder), as well as Beef Stew, Papaya Salad, Num Pang Pate (a Cambodian sandwich made with beef or pork, mayonnaise, pickled carrots, jalapeno, daikon, cucumbers, and fresh herbs such as cilantro), Num Banh Chok (a fish-based curry and noodles dish typically eaten at breakfast all over Cambodia), shrimp Thai fried rice and Cambodian fried rice. They also serve Spanish pastelillos. On Saturdays and Sundays, 9 Star offers an exclusive weekend-only menu featuring a handful of dishes such as Borbor Kreung (Cambodian rice porridge), Pho, and Beef Lok Lak (Cambodian pepper beef). 9 Star International restaurant is located at 275 Martine St. in Fall River, seen here on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. The Martine Street space accommodates 20 diners, with a buffet-style takeout station that has up to 15 different dishes to choose from daily. They also have specialty Asian grocery items for sale. They've only just gotten going, but Colson said business is off to a good start, with positive feedback and support from the community. "They don't see this kind of food every day, so I think that they were really happy with the variety that we were providing them," Colson said. Chantavy Colson plates Khmer fried rice at 9 Star International restaurant, 275 Martine St. in Fall River, on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. Craving pizza? Here are your picks for best restaurants in and around Fall River Martine Street the perfect place Aside from the perks of being in their home city, and a stone's throw from Watuppa Pond, the Kochans were called to the building in another way. When hunting for restaurant space, part of Linda's vision for her new eatery was to have a running waterfall inside as a centerpiece of its decor. "When we walked in, the first thing we saw was this huge waterfall, and I said, 'Mom, I think that's a sign,'" said Colson, referring to the large waterfall image that's graced the wall of the former Joe's Shish for years. "It just felt like home. Right when you walked in, you could feel this is the spot," she said. Specialty products are on sale at 9 Star International restaurant, 275 Martine St. in Fall River, on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. Coming soon: Boba bar and special drinks According to Colson, 9 Star plans down the road to add a section for special drinks with a boba bar and Vietnamese coffee. They'd also like to offer fried dough. They will also be offering free delivery soon, as well as DoorDash. For more information and hours of operation, visit 9 Star International's site at https://9starinternational.toast.site. A Facebook page is also in the works. This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River's new 9 Star International mixes Spanish, Cambodian flavors Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) said that Democrats use in vitro fertilization (IVF) accessibility concerns as a scare tactic in an interview Sunday. Senator Ted Cruz and I led a letter with all 49 Republican senators signing on saying they strongly support nationwide access to IVF, Britt told Fox News Sunday anchor Shannon Bream. And the truth is, Democrats continue to use this issue as a scare tactic, because IVF is legal and accessible in all 50 states. And President Trump has made it perfectly clear that hell continue to make sure that thats the case. Trump said late last month that his administration would protect IVF accessibility and have either the government or insurance companies pay for the treatment if he gets back into the White House. We are going to be under the Trump administration, we are going to be paying for that treatment, Trump said in an NBC News interview, also adding that being applicable to all Americans who get it; all Americans who need it. Vice President Harriss campaign criticized the promise by the former president to pay for IVF, previously stating it was one of his most brazen lies yet. Donald Trumps own platform could effectively ban IVF and abortion nationwide. Trump lies as much if not more than he breathes, but voters arent stupid. Because Trump overturned Roe v. Wade, IVF is already under attack and womens freedoms have been ripped away in states across the country, Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a past statement. Fears about IVF accessibility gained prominence in the last year, especially in the wake of the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos, as well as fertilized eggs, are considered people under the law and that those who destroy them can be held liable for death. However, lawmakers speedily pushed through legislation on civil and criminal liability for IVF providers, allowing IVF services, many of which had been halted, to resume. So you voted against a measure, though, that was offered up by Democrats on IVF in the Senate there, Bream said during Britts Fox News Sunday appearance. And they continue to point to that to say Republicans arent supportive of protecting IVF. Why did you vote no? Britt responded by stating that instead of putting legislation including funding bills on the floor, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) chose to put an IVF bill on the floor for a show vote. That bill extended into human cloning, Britt added. The Hill has reached out to Schumers office for comment. In an emailed statement to The Hill, Democratic National Committee spokesperson Aida Ross said when Donald Trumps MAGA lackeys in the Senate had the chance to protect IVF access for those who want to start or grow their family, they voted against it including JD Vance. Trump is the reason why IVF is at risk in the first place, and the American people are not falling for his MAGA minions desperate spin to cover for his extreme, anti-choice Project 2025 agenda, Ross continued. Updated at 8:46 pm 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. This article will be updated with forum dates as they become available. Early voting in Dona Ana County begins Oct. 8, and voters will get a first look at candidates for the 2024 general election this week. The non-partisan League of Women Voters of Southern New Mexico is hosting two public forums for local candidates. The first forum will be held Tuesday, Oct. 1 and the second is scheduled for Oct. 8. Both forums will be held at Las Cruces City Hall Council Chambers and begin at 5:30 p.m. The forums are co-sponsored by the Dona Ana County chapter of the NAACP and the American Association of University Women. The Oct. 1 forum will feature candidates for County Commissioner race in District 4 and District 5, and the 3rd Judicial District Attorney race. District 4 Democrat incumbent Susanna Chaparro is facing Republican Stacie Durham. District 5 Democrat incumbent Manuel Chavez is facing Republican write-in candidate Marcy Renee Teague. According to a news release announcing the events, District 2 candidates Lorraine McCullough and Stacie Durham are not able to attend. Fernando Macias ousted current District Attorney Gerald Byers in a Democratic primary in June. Macias faces Republican Michael Cain in the general election. The Oct. 8 forum will feature candidates for the New Mexico state senate. There are two competitive state senate races and three competitive races for the state House of Representatives. In addition to questions from the organizers, each forum will have short opening and closing statements. Candidate questions and answers will be posted at Vote411.org beginning Friday, Oct. 4. This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: 2024 election: Candidate forum schedule in Dona Ana County The Bexar County Sheriff's Office is searching for a man and woman who led deputies on a "high-speed pursuit" in a stolen car early Sunday morning. Theo Esquivel The Bexar County Sheriff's Office said investigators are searching for a man and woman who led deputies on a "high-speed pursuit" in a stolen car early Sunday morning. During the chase, one deputy was involved in a crash that caused minor injuries, BCSO spokesperson Johnny Garcia said in a statement. The pursuit started after a deputy attempted to stop a stolen 2014 Nissan Sentra in the 10900 block of Culebra Road in West Bexar County. The driver sped away, eventually leading police northbound along Loop 1604. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The car chase ended when the driver crashed into a Ford Mustang at Blanco Road and Loop 1604. Police searched the area, but the pair escaped on foot, Garcia said. The sheriff's office report did not state the time of the chase or either crash. Those in the Ford Mustang said they were uninjured but experienced pain from the crash, Garcia said. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Police have not identified the man and woman involved in the car chase, and a search for the pair continues. Deputies found identification cards, along with a handgun and cell phones, in the sedan. 4kodiak / Getty Images The cost of energy products like gasoline and heating oil are always on the minds of consumers, and the climate damage caused by fossil fuel production has been a hot topic for more than a decade now. The rise of electric vehicles has brought even more awareness to clean energy, giving investors cause to consider renewable energy stocks. But what exactly is renewable energy? Is investing in renewable energy a good idea in 2024? Heres what you need to know about renewable energy and the companies that provide it. Find Out: 6 Unusual Ways To Make Extra Money (That Actually Work) Best Renewable Energy Stocks To Buy for 2024 What is the best renewable energy stock? There are a variety of factors that go into choosing the best. Remember that even the best stocks might not be a match for you. Be sure to pick stocks that match your investment objectives and risk tolerance. With that in mind, here are some renewable energy stocks to consider. Methodology The stocks below were chosen based on a combination of industry exposure and dominance, potential growth, valuation and analyst forecasts. First Solar (FSLR) Price: $255.75 Market Cap: $27.386 billion Dividend Yield: N/A First Solar, Inc. provides PV solar panels to utilities, developers, distributors, commercial and industrial applications and more. The company, which was founded in 1999, had $3.3 billion in revenue in 2023. The company will have approximately 20 GW of manufacturing capacity by 2025, and First Solar modules can be found in more than 45 countries. First Solar is up over 48% year to date as of Sept. 29. Analysts feel that its reached its peak for the moment, however, after its recent big run. Of the 17 analysts who weighed in in September, eight recommended holding First Solar. Six called it a buy, and three said its a strong buy. NextEra Energy (NEE) Price: $84.54 Market Cap: $173.76 billion Dividend Yield: 2.44% NextEra Energy, Inc. is the worlds largest utility company in terms of market capitalization. NextEra owns Florida Power & Light Company, NextEra Energy Resources LLC and subsidiaries that run nuclear power plants in Florida, New Hampshire and Wisconsin. Although NextEra is a diversified power company, and therefore not a pure play on renewables, NextEra Energy Resources is the worlds largest generator of renewable energy from the sun and wind. The company has set a goal to eliminate carbon emissions from its operations by 2045. Its plan will use a mix of wind, solar, nuclear, battery storage, green hydrogen and other renewable sources to generate energy that is free of carbon emissions. The company cites studies indicating that its Real Zero plan could create up to 150,000 jobs and increase GDP by $15 billion in Florida through 2045. NextEra Energy had a rough go in the second half of 2023, but it has bounced back and is now up over 39% in 2024. Fifteen analysts made recommendations for NextEra in September. Of those, five rated it a strong buy, eight rated it a buy and two recommended holding it. The average 12-month price target is $84 up slightly from last month. Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEP) Price: $28.30 Market Cap: $18.68 billion Dividend Yield: 5.02% Brookfield Renewable Partners LP has a portfolio of hydroelectric, solar, wind and storage facilities in North America, South America, Asia and Europe. Brookfield has over 7,000 power-generating facilities and nearly 34,000 megawatts of generating capacity. Brookfields stock has been up and down over the past five years, returning 35.33% over that time frame but losing about 15% over the past three years. Just four analysts made recommendations in September two strong buys, one buy, one hold but 15 analysts followed it in August, with eight rating it a buy, two rating it a strong buy, four recommending holding and one calling it a sell.. The average 12-month price target is $29.37. SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG) Price: $23.12 Market Cap: $1.33 billion Dividend Yield: N/A SolarEdge Technologies Inc. designs, manufactures and installs solar energy systems, consisting of inverters and power optimizers. The company monitors installations in 133 countries on five continents. Founded in 2006, SolarEdge began shipping solar photovoltaic systems in 2010 and has since shipped over 31.6 gigawatts of inverter systems. Ten analysts reported on SolarEdge in early September, with six rating it a buy and two recommending a strong buy. The average 12-month price target is $30.49. Clearway Energy (CWEN) Price: $30.50 Market Cap: $6 billion Dividend Yield: 5.47% Clearway Energy is one of Americas largest renewable energy owners, with about 9,000 net MW of solar, wind and battery storage systems. Included in that figure are about 2,500 net MW installed of highly-efficient, environmentally sound natural gas generation facilities. CWEN fell in the first quarter of 2024 but has recovered on a year-to-date basis and is up 31.13% over the past year. Analysts polled by MarketBeat rate it a moderate buy with 3.98% upside. Nexans S.A. (NXPRF) Price: $141.95 Market Cap: $6.37 billion Dividend Yield: 1.75% Nexans has workers in 41 countries and has been in business for more than a century. The electric power company has three main divisions: Building & Territories (utilities and e-mobility), High Voltage & Projects (offshore wind farms, subsea interconnections, land-based high voltage) and Industry & Solutions (renewables, mining, oil and gas, transportation, automation, railway and industrial infrastructure). Nexans trades over the counter and isnt followed by any analysts in the Wall Street community, which could provide a good opportunity for investors. If any analysts ever pick up favorable coverage, the company could get more attention and potentially a boost to its stock price. The stock has already been a home run, returning over 71% in the past year and 54% over the past three. How To Invest in Renewable Energy Stocks You can buy all of the renewable energy stocks listed above from any broker or financial services firm. Youll need to open an account first, which will require personal and financial information like your name, date of birth, Social Security number, address and banking information so you can fund the account. Once you have an account, entering a trade is simple. You can either tell your broker the amount you want to invest in a stock or enter the trade yourself through an online account. You may want to speak with a financial advisor about how renewable energy stocks fit in with your overall portfolio, particularly if youre a new investor or unfamiliar with the industry. Pros and Cons of Renewable Energy Stocks Before adding renewable energy stocks to your portfolio, you should consider the pros and cons. Pros Renewable energy stocks have the potential for explosive growth. Youre investing in an industry that can create positive change in the world. Legislation may provide subsidies and financial assistance that could help these companies grow. Cons Stocks can be volatile. Picking the ultimate winners might be hard, and some companies may eventually go bankrupt. Consistent gains may not be achievable for a significant period of time. Government policies can change, and some politicians may restrict or even eliminate funding and subsidies for the industry. Alternative Ways To Invest in Renewable Energy If youd rather not take on the risk of owning an individual renewable energy stock, or if you dont have the time or desire to do the research to pick the right one(s), you can buy a mutual fund or exchange-traded fund instead. These types of investments hold tens or even hundreds of individual securities to help diversify your renewable energy portfolio, avoiding the make-or-break scenario if you put all your eggs into a single stock. Some funds and ETFs are actively managed by professionals who pick and choose securities for you, while others passively track an index reflecting the industry as a whole. iShares Global Clean Energy ETF (ICLN) If you dont want to put all your eggs into one renewable energy basket, consider the iShares Clean Energy ETF (ICLN). This ETF tracks the results of an index of global equities in the clean energy sector. It holds about 130 positions such as First Solar, Enphase Energy, Iberdrola SA, Consolidated Edison and Vestas Wind Systems. The fund is down almost 6% year to date and has an expense ratio of 0.41%. Guinness Atkinson Alternative Energy Fund (GAAEX) The Guinness Atkinson Alternative Energy Fund is a traditional mutual fund that invests in equities in the green energy sector. Stocks in the fund must have a market cap of at least $100 million and are chosen based on valuation, quality, sentiment and price momentum. Top holdings on Sept. 29 included Iberdrola SA, NextEra Energy, Trane Technologies, NextEra Energy Inc. and Schneider Electric SE. The funds return was flat year-to-date as of Aug. 31, and it carries an expense ratio of 1.10%. While relatively high, the fund had only $24.6 million in assets under management as of July 31, so the expense ratio may fall if assets increase. Guinness Atkinson Funds has launched an ETF version of this fund called the Smart ETFs Sustainable Energy II ETF, which trades under the symbol SOLR. What Is Renewable Energy? Renewable energy is energy derived from natural sources that are replenished at a higher rate than they are consumed, according to the United Nations. Solar and wind are examples of renewable energy because energy can be harvested from these sources, and they continue to produce more. Energy that is derived from fossil fuels, on the other hand, is not renewable. Oil, gas and coal are used to produce energy, but these resources are finite there is only so much of them, and once they are used up, they cannot be replaced. In addition, these kinds of fuels emit greenhouse gasses when they are burned, further harming the environment. Kinds of Renewable Energy There are several different kinds of renewable energy, each with its own advantages. Solar Energy Solar energy is intercepted by the earth at a rate 10,000 times the rate at which energy is consumed, making it the most available kind of renewable energy. It can be used for heating, cooling, electricity and fuel. Sunlight is converted to energy through photovoltaic panels these are the panels you see at so-called solar farms or on the roofs of houses or mirrors. Solar is one of the most cost-effective types of renewable energy, and costs continue to drop as technology advances and solar becomes more widely used. Wind Energy Wind turbines convert energy from moving air to usable energy. Wind energy can be harnessed on land or in offshore water. Offshore wind farms offer tremendous potential since there is no development to block the wind from reaching the turbine. Hydropower Moving water in rivers and reservoirs generates hydropower, which is currently the largest source of renewable energy for electricity. Hydropower requires more infrastructure than solar or wind energy and is impacted by drought, so it has some limitations for large-scale use. Bioenergy Naturally occurring materials, such as charcoal, wood and manure called biomass can be used to create bioenergy and are popular in rural areas and developing countries. Greenhouse gas emissions are created by burning biomass, but not at the same high levels as fossil fuels. It is most suited to smaller applications in rural areas. Geothermal Energy The heat from the earths interior is extracted via wells to create geothermal energy. This method has been used to generate electricity for over 100 years. Takeaway The future of energy is renewable, and these companies are at the forefront of the technology that will make this possible. This sector is one to watch as many move toward more sustainable methods of heating homes and driving cars. FAQ Is investing in renewable energy a good idea? According to GreenPortfolio, renewable energy tends to perform better than fossil fuel stocks over 10 years, returns of 192.3% for renewable energy stocks compared to 97.2% for fossil fuels. What is the best green energy company? This list is a good place to start, but you should also consider companies that are environmentally friendly in general, rather than only those that produce renewable energy. Some to consider include Adobe, Best Buy and Xylem. Editorial Note: This content is not provided by any entity covered in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews, ratings or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author alone and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any entity named in this article. Karen Doyle and Daria Uhlig contributed to the reporting for this article. Data is accurate as of Sept. 29, 2024, and is subject to change. This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Best Renewable Energy Stocks To Buy in October 2024 WASHINGTON President Joe Biden said he will visit North Carolina on Wednesday as communities in the western part of the state recover from devastating flooding caused by Hurricane Helene and with Republican rival Donald Trump raising questions about the federal government's response to the powerful storm. Biden announced the travel plans as he received an update on FEMA's hurricane relief efforts at a Monday briefing from the Oval Office. I'm going to North Carolina on Wednesday. It's planned now," Biden said, adding he would be landing in the state capital of Raleigh for a meeting at the Emergency Operations Center before later conducting an aerial tour of damaged communities. More: Hurricane Helene collides with 2024 election as Trump visits Georgia President Joe Biden speaks after receiving a briefing on Hurricane Helene in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 30, 2024. He also said hed be travelling to Georgia and Florida as soon as possible to survey damage. Earlier in the day, Biden said he wanted to make sure his presence would not disrupt recovery efforts before finalizing a trip. During the Oval Office briefing, Biden spoke to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, who appeared together on a video screen. Biden expressed his condolences "to all the families whose loved ones has died or are missing and stressed that his administration was going to be there finish the job of recovery. More: Biden on Helene disaster: 'We're not leaving until the job is done' It's going to take a hell of a long time, Biden said, but noted that with federal support, the state has reopened 220 roads to help responders reach people. Biden said "thousands of federal personnel are deployed in the communities" supporting search and rescue efforts, debris removal, power restoration, and restoring cellular networks back online. Cooper thanked Biden for the federal resources that have flowed into his state. "This has been a devastating storm, as you know," Cooper said. Vice President Kamala Harris, during a briefing at the FEAM headquarters in Washington, said she also plans to be on the ground for hurricane relief efforts "as soon as possible," also stressing that she wanted to avoid being a disruption. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, visited Valdosta, Georgia to help with relief efforts and where he insisted he wasn't there to talk politics. Even so, the former president on Sunday during a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, accused Biden of "sleeping right now" while he was spending his weekend in Delaware. Trump also took aim at Harris for attending a fundraiser on Saturday in San Francisco "with her radical left lunatic donors, when big parts of our country have been devastated by that massive hurricane." Biden pushed back strongly at false comments Trump made claiming Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp was unable to get in contact with Biden regarding relief efforts. Kemp told reporters Monday that he talked to Biden the day before and said Biden asked him about his state's needs. "He's lying," Biden said of Trump. "I don't know why he does this. And the reason I get so angry about it I don't care what he says about me but I care what he communicates to the people that are in need. He implies that we aren't doing everything possible. We are." At least 100 people are dead and more than 2 million are without power across parts of western North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina and Virginia. Atlanta totaled more than 11 inches of rain in 48 hours, smashing a record that stood for almost 150 years. Western North Carolina, particularly Asheville, took the brunt of the devastating rains, and more than 30 inches was recorded in some areas. Reach Joey Garrison on X, formerly Twitter, @joeygarrison. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden to see Hurricane Helene damage in NC as Trump blasts response WASHINGTON As many as 600 people are still missing in the wake of Hurricane Helene, President Joe Biden said Monday, promising devastated communities that help is on the way and the "nation has your back" in a speech Monday at the White House. "We'll continue to serve resources including food, water, communications, and lifesaving equipment will be there," Biden said. "I mean it as long as it takes to finish this job." He also said he's committed to travel later this week to affected communities. Storm damage in the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Florida's Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph. "I've been told that it would be disruptive if I did it right now," he said. Authorities are dealing with the storm's aftermath, which saw caused widespread devastation and power outages across the Southeast and killed at least 100. Biden, who said he's been in touch with governors, mayors and local leaders, said 600 people were still unaccounted for. That number fell from 1,000 overnight after cellular phone service was restored to some areas. The president said he'd directed his team to provide "every available resource, as fast as possible, to your communities, to rescue, recover, and to begin rebuilding." In addition to FEMA, the effort includes the Federal Communications Commission to help establish communications capability. The National Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Defense will all be providing resources to rescue and assist in clearing debris and delivering life saving supplies, he said. Millions of people across multiple states are dealing with power outages, destroyed roads and bridges and flattened buildings. The damage was experienced across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and Virginia. More: How can I help those affected by Hurricane Helene? Here are ways you can donate Noah Levinson looks at storm damage near the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Florida's Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph. The record-breaking storm hit Florida as a hurricane on Thursday with wind speeds of 140 mph has since weakened to a post-tropical cyclone with 25 mph winds. On Sunday, Biden approved major disaster declarations for the states of Florida and North Carolina, allowing survivors to immediately access funds and begin recovery efforts. People in 17 counties in Florida and 25 counties in North Carolina, including the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, can now apply for assistance with FEMA, according to a fact sheet provided by the White House. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell visited Florida over the weekend to assess damage alongside local and state officials. She continued surveying damage Sunday in parts of Georgia and will be leaving for North Carolina on Monday, according to the White House. More: Hurricanes on repeat: Natural disasters 'don't feel natural anymore' More than 3,300 personnel from across the federal workforce are deployed and supporting Hurricane Helene response efforts across the states, according to the White House. Vice President Kamala Harris planned to cut short a campaign trip in Nevada on Monday and will visit the FEMA headquarters to hear about the federal actions being taken to support emergency response and recovery, a White House official said. This story was updated to add a video. Contributing: Reuters Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: President Biden promises Helene aid 'as long as it takes' A slice of voters backing former President Donald Trump are also planning to support Democratic Senate candidates. Scott Olson/Getty Images Donald Trump hopes to push several swing-state GOP Senate candidates over the finish line. But some of his supporters say they plan to back Democrats in those races instead. These split-ticket voters could end up having a major impact on the country. In recent presidential election cycles, the level of ticket-splitting where people vote for candidates from different parties on their ballot has plummeted. Some 20 years ago, then-Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry lost GOP-leaning states like Arkansas and North Dakota even as the incumbent Democratic senators in those states Blanche Lincoln and Byron Dorgan, respectively coasted to victory. This sort of ticket-splitting was not seen as particularly unusual. But by 2020, things were different. Maine was the only state that year where voters backed a presidential candidate from one party (Democrat Joe Biden) and a Senate candidate from another party (Republican Susan Collins). In November, a slew of incumbent Democratic senators are running for reelection in states where the race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump remains competitive. However, there's an interesting dynamic at play in pivotal swing states like Arizona, Michigan, and Pennsylvania headed into November: A relatively small but significant bloc of Trump voters are also backing Democratic Senate candidates. While many of these Trump voters have long been loyal to the former president, many of the Democrats running have more moderate political brands that are so far giving them polling advantages over their GOP counterparts. Here's a look at how pro-Trump ticket-splitters could invariably aid a Harris presidency should she win the general election or cause trouble for a Trump agenda should he emerge as the victor. Ahead of the pack Even before Biden ended his reelection bid, swing-state Democrats running in the most competitive Senate races were generally leading in the polls. While Biden struggled in his matchup against Trump, many voters earlier this year had already begun to differentiate between the presidential race and down-ballot candidates. Trump has eagerly thrown his support behind GOP Senate candidates like Kari Lake of Arizona, Mike Rogers of Michigan, Bernie Moreno of Ohio, and David McCormick of Pennsylvania and he's implored his supporters to vote for them. But Democrats in these races have largely defied the conventional political norms of today. According to the latest New York Times/Siena College survey of five competitive Senate races, an average of 7% of likely voters indicated they would back Trump while also pulling the lever for a Democratic Senate candidate. The polled states included Arizona, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Of the five states, Ohio is the most likely to vote for Trump, as he easily won it in both 2016 and 2020. And the most recent Times/Siena poll showed Trump with a six-point advantage over Harris (50% to 44%) among likely voters in the Buckeye State. Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin leads in the most recent Senate polls in Michigan, a highly competitive state on the presidential level. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images In that same poll, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown had a four-point edge over Moreno among likely voters (47% to 43%). Brown also won over 13% of Republicans in the poll, a level of crossover support that helps him in the red-trending state. The Times/Siena poll also showed Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego leading Lake by six points (49% to 43%) in Arizona. In Michigan, Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin led Rogers by five points (47% to 42%). And in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Sens. Bob Casey Jr. and Tammy Baldwin led their GOP opponents by nine and seven points, respectively, among likely voters. Why does this matter? Should Democrats run the table in the most competitive swing-state Senate races, it'll leave them on the cusp of holding on to a majority. For Democrats, winning both safe and swing-state races along with Ohio would get the party to 49 seats. Then they'd need Montana Sen. Jon Tester to win reelection to get to 50 seats. (Tester is locked in a tough reelection battle against Republican Tim Sheehy in a state that Trump is expected to win by double digits.) Democrats are now trying to expand their Senate map by investing more money in Florida and Texas, which lean Republican on the presidential level but are poised to have close Senate races. Holding a majority is the best-case scenario for Harris should she win the election, as she would need a Democratic-led Senate to not only move through most of her agenda but also approve the bulk of her judicial appointments. If Harris wins in November and Democrats win exactly 50 seats, then Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz would deliver a majority by virtue of the vice-presidential tie-breaking abilities. And Democrats would be able to thank some of Trump's voters for that. But should Trump win the election and pro-Trump ticket-splitters help Democrats keep their majority, it would pump the brakes on a conservative agenda. A Democratic Senate would serve as a check on Trump. If Democrats flip the House, that chamber would be another check on him. And even if Republicans keep the House in a potential Trump second term, they'd clash with a Democratic-led Senate on a range of issues. So ticket-splitters who are backing Trump now have the potential to become one of the most important voting blocs of the 2024 election. Read the original article on Business Insider MEXICO CITY/SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian and Mexican authorities said on Monday they see the need to revise and expand their current trade agreements, in a push to strengthen the ties between the two largest economies in Latin America. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is in Mexico as part of an official government visit, which will include his presence in Claudia Sheinbaum's inauguration ceremony as Mexico's president on Tuesday. Mexico and Brazil have a trade agreement dated from the early 2000s which sets the exemption or the reduction of imports fees for some 800 types of products. "The growth of our relationship has already topped that agreement," Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico's incoming economy minister, said on the sidelines of an event on Monday. "We need to update it," he added. Earlier in the day at the same event, Lula said that the trade agreements between both countries, which also include a deal regulating trade of vehicles and auto parts, need to be revised as soon as possible. "I want our industries to grow, our agricultures to grow, I want Brazil and Mexico investing to build artificial intelligence that could bring economic benefits for us," he said in his speech, without providing more details. During the event, Lula also suggested that the trade agreement in discussion between the European Union and South America's Mercosur bloc could in the future be extended to Latin America. (Reporting by Kylie Madry in Mexico City; Eduardo Simoes and Andre Romani in Sao Paulo; Editing by Chris Reese, Aida Pelaez-Fernandez, Edward Tobin) By Brendan Pierson (Reuters) -California's attorney general on Monday sued a Catholic hospital accused of refusing to provide an emergency abortion in February to a woman whose water broke prematurely, putting her at risk of potentially life-threatening infection and hemorrhage. Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta accused Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka of discriminating against pregnant patients and violating the state's law requiring hospitals to provide necessary emergency care. The lawsuit, filed in Humboldt County Superior Court, seeks a court order to stop the hospital from denying medically necessary abortions in the future, as well as civil penalties. "Providence is deeply committed to the health and wellness of women and pregnant patients and provides emergency services to all who walk through our doors in accordance with state and federal law," a Providence spokesperson said in an email, adding that the hospital was reviewing the lawsuit. "We are heartbroken over Dr. Nusslock's experience earlier this year." The woman, chiropractor Anna Nusslock, was driven to another hospital 12 miles (19 km) away and was dangerously hemorrhaging by the time she reached the operating table, according to the lawsuit. Nusslock, who was pregnant with twins, said at a press conference on Monday that doctors at Providence agreed that she needed an abortion to avoid life-threatening complications. However, doctors said that they could not provide one because the Catholic-affiliated hospital's policy prohibited any intervention while they could hear "fetal heart tones" unless her life was in immediate danger, Nusslock added. Before she left for nearby Mad River Community Hospital, a nurse gave her a bucket full of towels "in case something happens in the car," Nusslock said. The hospital's policy "inflicted on me needless protracted pain, bleeding and trauma," Nusslock added. Bonta said Nusslock's ordeal was reminiscent of women's experiences in Republican-led states where abortion is banned. In California, Bonta added, the law is clear that hospitals must provide an abortion if it is medically necessary. "We need hospitals to follow the law, at the bare minimum," Bonta said. "That is not too much to ask. ... If you are a human being, you can see how cruel this was." The case is the latest in a series of legal battles over emergency abortion in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 ruling that allowed states to ban the procedure. For instance, a Kansas woman in July sued the University of Kansas Health System for refusing to give her a medically necessary abortion in 2022. The case is pending. The U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld a lower court's ruling that federal law on emergency care overrides Idaho's near-total abortion ban in medical emergencies, but litigation over the issue is expected to continue. (Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Will Dunham) Christian Flagg, 33, speaks at a California Reparations Task Force meeting to hear public input in Los Angeles on Sept. 22, 2022. California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a handful of bills on Thursday that stemmed from a yearslong effort to issue race-based reparations for the states Black residents and their descendants. Members of the California Legislative Black Caucus heralded his signature on four bills, including an apology for the states role in promoting slavery. But some advocates and at least one lawmaker said the bills do not go far enough to address the generational disparities that slavery inflicted upon Black people. Sen. Steven A. Bradford was a member of the California Reparations Task Force, which published a sweeping list of recommendations for policies and programs to holistically address the social and financial wrongs of slavery and racial discrimination in the state. One of his own bills, which would have set up a process for the restitution of land taken through racist tactics, was the only bill in a separate reparations package to make it past the Legislature. It passed with bipartisan support in the California Senate and Assembly, but was vetoed by Newsom on Wednesday. In his remarks, Newsom said the bill could not function without the accompanying Freedmen Affairs Agency, which would have been established by another one of Bradfords bills. Bradford said the Black Caucus blocked that bill from reaching the floor for a vote. We had enough votes and were at the finish line, he said in a statement. Advocates hoping for more ambitious laws to provide a more substantial investment in reparations were sorely disappointed. The measures passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Newsom, which ranged from banning discrimination based on natural and protective hairstyles to reviewing the list of books banned in prisons, are closer to racial equity measures, said Kamilah Moore, a lawyer and the chair of the Reparations Task Force. The policies notably did not require hefty price tags. Bradfords bills represented the strongest recommendations in the report, she said. They aligned with the true essence of reparations. The task force met from June 2021 to June 2023, conducting research, collecting testimony and ultimately releasing a report with more than 100 policy recommendations to be considered by the governor and the Legislature. Task force members Steven Bradford, right, and Reginald Jones-Sawyer at a meeting in Oakland, Calif., on Dec. 14, 2022. Among these recommendations were the repeal of Proposition 209, a 1996 law banning affirmative action in public agencies, as well as abolishing the death penalty and increasing funding to schools to address racial disparities. All together, the task forces recommendations would carry a price tag in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Newsom, who said he had devoured the report and had expressed support for reparations generally, set aside $12 million in the state budget to implement any successful measures. But given Californias multiyear budget deficit, lawmakers expressed concern about the cost of any policies heading to his desk. Bradford said the caucus blocked his bills because they were worried about a potential veto. Newsom's office did not respond to requests for comment. The Black Caucus chair, Assemblymember Lori Wilson, said the caucus had concerns about the bills from the beginning and that the governors concerns were no surprise to us. She declined to comment on what specifically the other concerns were, arguing that any changes would be clear when the legislation would be reintroduced in the next session. The centerpiece of Bradfords reparations package was the Freedmen Affairs Agency, which would have overseen state reparations initiatives. The agency was estimated to cost between $3 million and $5 million to run annually, according to a government report. In the final week of September, at the close of the state legislative session, two dueling reparations packages were expected to be brought to a vote: Bradfords three bills and six presented by the Black Caucus. California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks in San Francisco on Sept. 19. The governors office sent a series of substantial edits to Bradford on Sept. 23, which would have replaced the Freedmen Affairs Agency with a research program run out of the state university system. Bradford rejected the proposed amendments, thinking that he still had the support of his colleagues in the Black Caucus who were supposed to bring his bills to a vote. By the end of the week, it was clear that members of the caucus had changed their minds and decided to block two of Bradford's bills, even though they likely had enough support to pass. By the final hours of the legislative session, dozens of protesters had gathered in the lobby of the Capitol to support Bradfords bills. One of these people was Moore, the task force chair, who had driven up to Sacramento from Los Angeles with 20 other people that day. She wanted to show up in person to voice her support for Bradfords bills. I wanted to see the process all the way through, she said. Task Force Chair Kamilah Moore listens to public comment in Oakland on Dec. 14, 2022. Organizer Chris Lodgson was another community leader who went to the Capitol to lobby for Bradfords bills. Lodgson works with a descendant-led organization called the Coalition for Just and Equitable California, or CJEC, which ran community education and feedback sessions on behalf of the task force throughout the state. To say we are extremely disappointed is an understatement, he said. We felt betrayed by caucus members. Last week, Bradford said he had been responding to concerns from a wider community of pro-reparations politicians, including those in the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington, D.C. National, state and local legislators who had been looking to California as a blueprint for passing progressive reparations legislation were disappointed, Bradford said. As 16 municipalities, New York state and Illinois develop reparations proposals, Californias task force members have been in touch with a wide network of legislators working on reparations. Legislators are also discussing the fate of H.R. 40, federal legislation that would establish a commission to study the history of slavery and develop reparations, and the question of who will reintroduce it after the death of U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee this summer. Its not just about California, he said. Its about the rest of the nation. TippaPatt // Shutterstock Understanding capital gains tax is essential for savvy investors. If you're aiming to maximize your returns, you need to know when you'll encounter capital gains taxes and how to deal with them. In this article, Wealth Enhancement Group walks you through the basics of what capital gains tax is, how it's calculated, and the best strategies you can use to minimize your tax burden, whether you're a retiree or a young professional. What Is the Capital Gains Tax? Capital gains tax is a levy on profit made from selling an asset, whether it be a stock, a real estate holding, or a business interest. Essentially, it's a tax on the growth of your investments. This tax is only triggered upon the sale of the asset, not while you hold it. How Does the Capital Gains Tax Work? When you sell an asset for more than you paid for it, you have what's defined as a "capital gain." The amount of gain subject to the capital gains tax is the difference between the sale price and what you originally paid for the asset (which is known as the "cost basis"). You'll pay the capital gains tax on this difference. For example, let's say you bought stock five years ago for $100. Today, that stock has appreciated to $250, and you decide to sell it. Your cost basis for the sale is $100, and your capital gain is $150. The capital gains tax would be levied against the $150 portion of your profit (check out the next section to determine which capital gains tax rate you'd use). As a note, the capital gains tax is separate from your regular income tax. Your regular income tax is calculated based on your earned income like wages, salaries, and other forms of ordinary income. Capital gains (like the sale of a stock or business asset) don't typically add to your earned income for the purposes of calculating your regular income tax. Capital Gains Tax Rates 2023: Short vs. Long Capital gains taxes are divided into two different buckets: short-term capital gains and long-term capital gains. Each bucket has its own corresponding tax rate. Figuring out which capital gains tax rate to apply is straightforward: Short-term capital gains rate: For assets you've held for less than one year, you'll apply your ordinary income tax rate to the capital gain. Long-term capital gains rate: For assets you've held for more than a year, you benefit from a lower tax rate. Depending on your overall income, your capital gains tax rate will either be 0%, 15%, or 20%. Single 0% rate: Up to $44,625 15% rate: $44,626 - $492,300 20% rate: $492,301 or more Married filing separately 0% rate: Up to $44,625 15% rate: $44,626 - $276,900 20% rate: $276,901 or more Married filing jointly: 0% rate: Up to $89,250 15% rate: $89,251 - $553,850 20% rate: $553,851 or more Head of household: 0% rate: Up to $59,750 15% rate: $59,751 - $523,050 20% rate: $523,051 or more To finish the quick example from above, let's say you're married filing jointly, and your taxable income is $300,000. In that case, you'd pay the 15% rate on your $150 gain from the sale of the stock, or $22.50 in capital gains tax. How Is Capital Gains Tax Calculated? Get out your pencils. Calculating capital gains tax involves three steps: Determine the cost basis of your assets, which is the original value of the asset, plus any improvements and minus any depreciation. Subtract the cost basis from the selling price. The resulting number is your capital gain (or loss). Apply the appropriate tax rateeither the short-term rate, or the long-term ratedepending on how long you've held the asset. The resulting number is the capital gains tax levied on the sale of your asset. Now that you know how to calculate capital gains tax, here is an in-depth example. Calculating Capital Gains Tax: In-Depth Example Dale purchased a commercial office building in 2009 for $1,800,000. After operating the building for more than a decade, he decided to sell it in 2023 for the price of $3,450,000. During 2023, Dale's tax filing status was married filing separately, and his ordinary income was $415,000. Given this paragraph of information, we can calculate the capital gains tax Dale will pay on the office building. Let's follow our three steps: Step 1: Determine the Cost Basis Dale's cost basis in the property is the original purchase price of $1,800,000. Step 2: Calculate the Capital Gain To find the capital gain, subtract the cost basis from the selling price. $3,450,000 - $1,800,000 = $1,650,000. Thus, Dale's capital gain from the transaction is $1,650,000. Step 3: Calculate the Tax Owed Because Dale held the property for longer than one year, the long-term capital gains tax rate will apply. Given Dale's ordinary income of $415,000 and his filing status as married filing separately, he will fall into the 20% long-term capital gains tax bracket for 2023. We can then complete our calculation: $1,650,000 x 0.20 = $330,000. In this scenario, Dale owes $330,000 in long-term capital gains tax on the $1,650,000 profit from the sale of the commercial property. This amount is separate from any ordinary income tax Dale would owe on his $415,000 income for the year. But wait, there's more! Tax-savvy readers may be eager to point out some of the additional considerations glossed over in this example. In the sale of his office building, Dale needs to account for more than just a simple calculation: State and local taxes: In addition to the federal capital gains tax, Dale could be subject to state and local capital gains taxes, which can vary wildly. For example, Dale's state could impose a 5% levy on capital gains, which would see him cough up an additional $82,500. Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT): The net investment income tax is an additional tax applied to the investment income of specific individuals, estates, and trusts. If your net investment income (NII) or modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is over a certain threshold, you may owe this 3.8% surtax. In Dale's case, his MAGI (ordinary income + capital gains) is far over the $125,000 threshold for married filing separately. Thus, he will pay an additional 3.8% to the federal government on his capital gain, or $62,700. Depreciation & depreciation recapture: The IRS allows commercial real estate investors to depreciate the value of their properties over time. Say Dale took $300,000 in depreciation deductions over the years as his office building aged to reduce his annual tax bills. His original cost basis would be reduced by the depreciation he claimed, adjusting it to $1,500,000 (and forcing a recalculation of all the other numbers above). Upon the sale of the depreciated asset, the IRS compels investors to "recapture" that depreciation by paying a 25% tax on the value they depreciated, which would add an additional $75,000 to Dale's tax bill. And that's not the end of the story for Dale! A transaction like this could also be affected by capital improvements, tax credits, and more, which would further complicate his tax considerations. Capital Gains Tax Strategies: How to Avoid, Reduce, or Minimize Capital Gains Taxes Strategic planning can help you reduce your capital gains tax obligations. Read on for three strategies you can use to reduce capital gains. Tax-Loss Harvesting Tax-loss harvesting is a strategy that involves selling underperforming investments to offset gains in other assets. By realizing losses simultaneously with gains, investors can effectively neutralize their gains and potentially reduce the amount they owe in capital gains taxes. Note: If you sell off a particular asset to harvest the loss, you can't replace it with a "substantially identical" asset within 30 days of the sale. This is known as the "Wash Sale Rule." Timing Your Sales Strategic timing of your asset sales can also significantly impact your tax bill. If you've held an asset for under one year, waiting until a full year has elapsed will allow you to access the favorable long-term capital gains tax rates instead of the higher short-term rates. Additionally, if you can time the sale during a year in which your income is lower, you could avoid capital gains taxes entirely. Gifting or Donating Assets Another strategy to reduce your capital gains tax is to gift or donate the appreciated assets to family members in lower tax brackets or to charitable organizations. Doing so requires you to understand the annual gift tax exclusion and the lifetime gift tax exclusion. For 2023, the annual gift tax exclusion allows you to gift $17,000 in assets to each other individual before it starts counting against your lifetime exclusion. The current lifetime exclusion is $12.92 million. When gifting to a family member, the recipient assumes the asset's original cost basis, potentially resulting in less tax liability if they're in a lower tax bracket than you. When donating to charity, you can typically deduct the market value of the asset at the time of the donation from your taxable income, which reduces your overall tax liability. Capital Gains Tax Rules and Considerations Capital gains taxes apply differently to a few different types of assets. Here are three of the main tax rules and considerations for you to look out for. Collectibles Capital gains from the sale of collectibles, such as art, classic cars, or gold coins, are taxed differently than other types of assets. As of 2023, the maximum federal tax rate for long-term gains on collectibles is 28%. Wash Sale Rule The wash sale rule prevents investors from claiming a capital loss for tax purposes if they buy a "substantially identical" investment within 30 days of the sale. This is to stop investors from tax-loss harvesting (described above) with no risk. For instance, if you own a share of a particular total market index fund, you can't sell it for a loss and harvest the tax benefits if you immediately repurchase a different total market index fund. To harvest the loss in this case, you'd have to wait 30 days before purchasing. Selling a Residence Special rules also apply when you're selling your primary residence. A single individual can exclude up to $250,000 of their capital gain from taxation, and a couple filing jointly can exclude up to $500,000. Any portion of the gain above these exclusion limits is subject to capital gains tax. In either case, the individuals must have lived in the residence for at least two of the last five years before the sale. It's also worth noting that you can't use this exclusion more than once every two years. Understanding How to Calculate Capital Gains Tax Isn't Always Easy Knowing how to calculate your capital gains tax burden is crucial for making informed decisions about your investmentsand your financial future as a whole. Whether you're selling stocks, your primary residence, or even your collection of vintage Volkswagens, knowing the rules can save you significant money. However, tax laws are notoriously complex and subject to change at any juncture. This information is not intended to be individualized tax advice. Discuss your specific situation with a qualified tax professional. This story was produced by Wealth Enhancement Group and reviewed and distributed by Stacker Media. Monday's lawsuit alleges that the peer-on-peer sexual abuse occurred on the missionary training campus of Ethnos360. Warning: This story contains graphic descriptions of abuse. A Christian organization long plagued by allegations of child sex abuse is now facing a lawsuit that accuses the group of failing to protect a girl from one of her peers at its missionary training center. Ethnos360, a religious nonprofit group based in Sanford, Florida, that was formerly known as New Tribes Mission, sends missionaries and their families to far-flung corners of the world. In 2019, multiple women told NBC News that they had been sexually abused decades earlier by their dorm dads missionaries tasked with caring for children at New Tribes Missions overseas boarding schools while their parents served in the field. The group issued a public apology to the abuse survivors following the NBC News report and said that it had incorporated significant child safety training after an independent party commissioned by New Tribes Mission shared recommendations in 2010 amid abuse allegations. But Mondays lawsuit alleges that six years after those recommendations were issued, a girl was repeatedly sexually abused by another child on Ethnos360s missionary training property in Missouri. The lawsuit was filed in Floridas 18th Judicial Circuit Court and obtained first by NBC News. Ethnos360 has had a history of child sexual abuse within their community, at different locations across the globe. They certainly have been educated about this issue, said the attorney who filed the suit, Boz Tchividjian, a former sex crimes prosecutor and the grandson of evangelist Billy Graham. Tchividjian was the founder and former executive director of Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment, or GRACE, the group hired to make the 2010 recommendations to New Tribes Mission, but now is no longer part of GRACE. The lawsuit is filed on behalf of the girl alleging the abuse, as well as her parents. The complaint says that both the girl and her alleged abuser, also female, were living with their families on campus while their fathers worked in Ethnos360s IT department. Tchividjian said the alleged abuse started in 2016 when the girl, identified in the complaint only by her initials, A.W., and the alleged perpetrator were both about 9 years old. The lawsuit says the abuse took place over several years and ranged from unwanted touching of A.W.s chest and genital area to penetration of her vagina with a stick and hairbrush. It accuses Ethnos360 of failing to provide any education or training regarding anything related to peer-on-peer child sexual abuse to anyone living on the Ethnos Campus and failing to adequately investigate abuse allegations. A.W. is now 17 years old and has suffered mental anguish, emotional distress, suicide attempts, eating disorder, humiliation, embarrassment, and loss of capacity of the enjoyment of life, according to the lawsuit. In an exclusive Zoom interview alongside her parents, she told NBC News that the alleged abuse and the way Ethnos360 handled her claim left a deep imprint on her. Ive overcome a lot, but I still have a lot of struggles, just with PTSD and anxiety, A.W. said. I have to take things day by day. The lawsuit names Ethnos360 as a defendant. While Brian Coombs, the organizations director of child safety at the time of the alleged sexual abuse, is not named as a co-defendant, he is mentioned throughout the complaint, which accuses him of not being properly trained in safeguarding children and of failing to ensure that the alleged perpetrator was not left alone with other children after he found out about A.W. Coombs did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News. Neither did an attorney for Ethnos360. Past allegations On its website, Ethnos360 addresses past allegations of sexual abuse against children, saying it strives to keep children safe by reducing situations of risk, having accountability for adults in contact with children, and training members in our child safety policies. It also links to a 16-page document with facts regarding the grievous reality of child abuse that took place in the history of New Tribes Mission. Mondays lawsuit says that A.W. did not tell anyone what was happening because the alleged perpetrator threatened to kill her family if she spoke up. It was not until March 2021, two years after she and her family moved from Missouri to Florida, that A.W. told her parents and a therapist. Her parents reported the allegations to Coombs and to the Florida Department of Children and Families the same month, according to the lawsuit. The girl was interviewed by Florida officials, who verified findings of child-on-child sexual abuse and expressed concern that the alleged perpetrator may have victimized other children and may be a victim of sexual abuse herself, the lawsuit said. Yet Ethnos360 made no effort to find out where the alleged perpetrator would have learned about the sexual conduct from, it says. The lawsuit adds that Coombs promptly reported the alleged abuse to the Missouri Department of Social Services and assured the family that he was implementing a safety plan for the alleged perpetrator that would protect other children around her. But in the months that followed, the alleged perpetrator was left alone with children on multiple occasions, it says. In the meantime, the suit says, Missouri authorities never conducted a substantive investigation or turned the matter over to local law enforcement and closed the case in the summer of 2021, concluding A.W. was no longer in danger since she and the alleged perpetrator did not have access to each other anymore. The Missouri Department of Social Services declined to discuss the case with NBC News, saying that information related to specific child abuse and neglect investigations is closed and confidential under Missouri law, except under very limited circumstances. Coombs conducted a fact-finding investigation of his own during the summer of 2021 that involved speaking to other families on the Ethnos360 training campus, the lawsuit says. But when A.W.s family met with Coombs in October 2021 to discuss the findings of his investigation, they learned that he allegedly concluded that what occurred had been inappropriate sexual behavior between peers rather than sexual abuse, the lawsuit says. A.W. said that made her livid. I felt a lot of hopelessness, she said. I was like, Well, this is the guy, this is who Im supposed to get help from. So if hes not going to give me help, then I guess Im just not going to get it. I just was very lost. Discouraged, her parents met with Ethnos360s then-CEO, Larry Brown, in June 2022 to discuss the situation. Brown allegedly told them to leave things between God and others because it would be hard on everyone to re-do everything, the lawsuit says. Brown did not immediately comment. A.W.s parents said they felt like Ethnos360 became indifferent to the issue. We were hoping that the mission leadership would take ownership of this problem, that they would show that they value our daughter and all the other families and kids on the campus where we were, A.W.s father, Grant Whidden, told NBC News, especially since the alleged perpetrator and her family remained on Ethnos360 property. Instead, he said, it felt like once they saw that the state of Missouri wasnt going to pursue this investigation, they didnt feel compelled to do anything themselves. The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages and a jury trial and alleges that Ethnos360 had a duty to provide training to its employees on how to identify and report child abuse, including peer-on-peer abuse. It also says Ethnos360 breached its duty to A.W. by failing to adequately investigate her claim. A.W.s mom, Tracey Whidden, said what happened to her daughter shattered her view of Ethnos360 but not her faith in God. I feel that He looks down on leadership and weeps with the way that theyre handling this stuff, and He has righteous anger regarding all of this, she said. These leaders are not being held accountable by anyone outside of themselves. A.W. said the decision to file a lawsuit took a lot of thinking and prayer and that she is hopeful it will help others who have experienced sexual abuse. This doesnt define them, A.W. said. They are not a victim. They are a survivor, and theres hope. If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. The hotline, run by the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), can put you in contact with your local rape crisis center. You can also access RAINNs online chat service at https://www.rainn.org/get-help. Confidential chats are available in English and in Spanish. By Mike Scarcella and Supantha Mukherjee (Reuters) - "Fortnite" video game maker Epic Games on Monday accused Alphabet's Google and Samsung, the world's largest Android phone manufacturer, of conspiring to protect Google's Play store from competition. Epic filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court in California alleging that a Samsung mobile security feature called Auto Blocker was intended to deter users from downloading apps from sources other than the Play store or Samsung's Galaxy store, which the Korean company chose to put on the back burner. Samsung and Google are violating U.S. antitrust law by reducing consumer choice and preventing competition that would make apps less expensive, said U.S.-based Epic, which is backed by China's Tencent. "It's about unfair competition by misleading users into thinking competitors' products are inferior to the company's products themselves," Epic Chief Executive Tim Sweeney told reporters. "Google is pretending to keep the user safe saying you're not allowed to install apps from unknown sources. Well, Google knows what Fortnite is as they have distributed it in the past." Google in a statement called Epic's lawsuit "meritless" and said Android device makers "are free to take their own steps to keep their users safe and secure". Samsung said it planned to "vigorously contest Epic Games' baseless claims." "The features integrated into its devices are designed in accordance with Samsung's core principles of security, privacy, and user control, and we remain fully committed to safeguarding users' personal data," Samsung said in the statement, adding that users have choices to disable Auto Blocker at any time. Epic said Samsung's Auto Blocker was designed to blunt the impact of a U.S. verdict that Epic won against Google in December 2023 that is expected to force the company to make apps easier to obtain from other sources. Epic said it will also raise its competition concerns with regulators in the European Union, which has long scrutinized Google's business practices. Epic had earlier faced off with Google and Apple over their rules of charging up to 30% commissions on app store payments. After getting banned for nearly four years, Epic's Fortnite was available again on iPhones in the European Union and worldwide on Google's Android devices last month. Samsung introduced Auto Blocker on its smartphones in late 2023 as an opt-in feature to protect users from downloading apps that may contain malware. Epic said Samsung made Auto Blocker the default setting in July and intentionally made it difficult to disable or bypass. Cary, North Carolina-based Epic Games sued Google in 2020, claiming it stifled competition through its controls over app distribution and payments. (Reporting by Mike Scarcella, Supantha Mukherjee and Heekyong Yang; Editing by David Bario, Cynthia Osterman and David Evans) Jacob Beltran covers crime, breaking news and general assignments for the Express-News. He can be reached at jbeltran@express-news.net. A San Antonio native, Jacob began his journalism career in 2010. He's worked for the student-run newspaper for San Antonio College, The Ranger, and for Texas A&M University-San Antonio, The Mesquite. He enjoys video games, photography and exploring during his free time. Lawyers for Eric Adams called on a federal judge to toss part of the New York City mayors corruption case on Monday insisting Hizzoner didnt take bribes when he pushed FDNY leaders to fast track the opening of a Turkish tower. The rapidly filed motion argues that one of the five criminal charges Adams faces bribery should be dismissed less than a week after a federal grand jury handed down the bombshell indictment. Adams defense team also called the rest of the case brought by the Manhattan US Attorneys Office meritless, and took a shot at former staffer Rana Abbasova, who is expected to serve as the feds key witness. New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks while attending an event to mark the 25th anniversary of the Emmanuel Presbyterian Reformed Church in the Bronx on Sept. 29, 2024. REUTERS Despite the fact that the indictment reproduces quotes from messages, emails, and conversations for numerous other points, it does not allege any specific exchanges or conversations in which Adams and the Turkish official entered into this purported quid pro quo agreement, his legal team wrote, while pointing to a recent US Supreme Court decision that has weakened anti-corruption laws. Federal prosecutors allege Adams, as de facto mayor-elect, pressured the fire department to rush to open a new 36-story Turkish consular building without a fire inspection in September 2021 in exchange for free and heavily discounted luxury travel perks. The indictment includes messages between Adams and the then-FDNY commissioner and details swanky flight upgrades and posh hotel suite stays Hizzoner received from Turkish backers dating back to 2016. The bribery charge the defense wants to be tossed accuses Adams of accepting the luxury travel bribes in 2021 and 2022 in exchange for leaning on the FDNY to push through the Turkish House despite fire safety concerns. Adams is also accused of encouraging Turkish benefactors to funnel cash into his 2021 campaign through illegal straw donations, and of fraudulently getting $10 million in public campaign money. Adams sits in federal court beside his lawyer, Alex Spiro, on Sept. 27, 2024. REUTERS The first-term mayor has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to fight the case. He has also resisted mounting calls to resign following the indictment. The next hearing in the case, which has been assigned to District Judge Dale Ho, is set for Wednesday. Adams lawyers, including high-profile attorney Alex Spiro, said in Mondays court docs that the US Attorneys Office failed to outline that Adams agreed to accept any gift specifically in exchange for exercising his governmental pull, calling the allegations vague. The texts Adams sent urging then-FDNY commissioner Daniel Nigro to help ensure that the Turkish tower would be open in time for a visit from Turkeys president are merely innocuous messages that do not amount to what are known as official acts needed to make a bribery charge stick, the lawyers claimed. Adams pleaded not guilty to Federal charges at Manhattan Federal Courthouse on Friday. Paul Martinka The motion argued that because Adams was only Brooklyn borough president at the time, he did not have the power to order the FDNY to take action concerning the Manhattan building. The former NYPD captain had clinched the Democratic primary for mayor months earlier and was expected to easily win the general election in November against Republican Curtis Sliwa. The government is effectively claiming that Adams used his potential future position as Mayor to exert pressure on officials, not the official position he actually held, the motion reads. No precedent supports the notion that a candidate for office commits an official act by using her potential future powers to pressure an official to take some action. Adams exits federal court in New York City after his arraignment on bribery and fraud charges on Sept. 27, 2024. Getty Images His lawyers also argued allegations he received travel benefits during a trip to Ghana after the glossy skyscraper was opened could simply amount to gratuities, which they said would fall outside the scope of bribery laws. The motion accuses prosecutors of attempting to criminalize routine interactions by government officials, and claims the indictment replaces measured ethics rules with the blunt force of federal criminal law. Adams lawyers called the rest of the criminal counts equally meritless, arguing they all stem from false claims from a self-interested staffer with an axe to grind, in reference to Abbasova, a former aide and liaison to the Turkish community. Sources have told The Post that Abbasova is cooperating with authorities and is a key witness. Adams attorneys did not provide any evidence to support their argument against her merely claiming that more will be revealed in the course of litigation. We've entered the NFL season which, if you're a Swiftie, essentially involves watching Taylor Swift watch football (an arguably more entertaining activity than any given sport, I said what I said). Taylor showed up to her boyfriend (fiance?) Travis Kelce's first two games of the 2024-2025 season, but there are still DOZENS left to go. On that note, head below for a break down of which games Tay can attendat least based on what we know about her touring schedule. And yes, we're updating this as weeks progress! Sunday, September 5 Chiefs vs. Ravens ( Chiefs won) Location: Kansas City, Missouri Taylor Swift: Showed up! In over-the-knee red boots and a denim corset, no less. David Eulitt - Getty Images Sunday, September 15 Chiefs vs. Bengals ( Chiefs won) Location: Kansas City, Missouri Taylor Swift: Arrived! Wearing a Chiefs jersey as a dress. Icon Sportswire - Getty Images Sunday, September 22 Chiefs vs. Falcons ( Chiefs won) Location: Atlanta, Georgia Taylor Swift: Did not attend, no word as to why. Sunday, September 29 Chiefs vs. Chargers (Chiefs won) Location: Los Angeles, California Taylor Swift: Did not attend, despite speculation that she'd be there. TBD on what she was doing instead! Monday, October 7 Chiefs vs. Saints Location: Kansas City, Missouri Taylor Swift: Is free! And since this is a Chiefs home game and she'll be days away from starting up the Eras Tour again, chances are she won't want to miss it. Sunday, October 20 Chiefs vs. 49ers Location: Santa Clara, California Taylor Swift: Is busy. Specifically performing at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium with Gracie Abrams as her opening act. Sunday, October 27 Chiefs vs. Raiders Location: Las Vegas, Nevada Taylor Swift: Is busy. She's performing in New Orleans on the Eras Tour, also with Gracie Abrams. Monday, November 4 Chiefs vs. Buccaneers Location: Kansas City, Missouri Taylor Swift: Is free! However, she will have just played a show in Indianapolis the day before, so it's possible she will be getting in R&R time. Sunday, November 10 Chiefs vs. Broncos Location: Kansas City, Missouri Taylor Swift: Is free! She has about a week off before the Eras Tour resumes for international dates, and since this is a home game for the Chiefs, it's possible she'll attend due to being in Kansas City with Travis anyway? Just speculating/writing fan-fic here. Sunday, November 17 Chiefs vs. Bills Location: Buffalo, New York Taylor Swift: Is free! In fact, she's playing a show in Toronto the day before, which is just two hours from Buffalo. Sunday, November 24 Chiefs vs. Panthers Location: Charlotte, North Carolina Taylor Swift: Is technically freebut she has a show in Toronto on the 23rd so TBD on if she makes it all the way to North Carolina right after. Friday, November 29 Chiefs vs. Raiders Location: Kansas City, Missouri Taylor Swift: Is free...buuuut this is the day after Thanksgiving. So it kinda depends on whether Taylor spends the holiday in Kansas City with Travis or with her parents in Tennessee. Sunday, December 8 Chiefs vs. Chargers Location: Kansas City, Missouri Taylor Swift: Is busy playing the FINAL SHOW OF THE ERAS TOUR!!!!! Sunday, December 15 Chiefs vs. Browns Location: Cleveland, Ohio Taylor Swift: Is free unless she's busy, IDK, dropping Reputation (Taylor's Version) finally or something. Saturday, December 21 Chiefs vs. Texans Location: Kansas City, Missouri Taylor Swift: Is free! Wednesday, December 25 Chiefs vs. Steelers Location: Pittsburg, Pennsylvania Taylor Swift: Is technically free, but this is a Christmas Day away game soooo TBD on if she shows up. Sunday, January 5 Chiefs vs. Broncos Location: Denver, Colorado Taylor Swift: Is free I guess, but does anyone really know what their plans are in 2025 yet? Not me! You Might Also Like Jasper is the second mandrill born at the Fort Worth Zoo in nearly three decades. Theres a new cute and cuddly baby zoo animal around. Following in the footsteps of Moo Deng and Pesto, Jasper, a rare baby mandrill born at the Fort Worth Zoo, is ready to capture the hearts of many. Jasper is the second mandrill born at the Fort Worth Zoo in nearly three decades, following his sister, Ruby, who was born in January. Jasper was born on Sept. 13, weighing in at just two pounds. He's named after the gemstone, keeping in tradition with his mom, Scarlett, and sister Ruby. In videos shared by the Fort Worth Zoo exclusively with TODAY, the personalities of the mandrill family are on full display. While Jasper is enjoying some quality time with his mom, Ruby decides that she needs a little more attention and pops her head into the frame of the camera, completely blocking the view of her younger brother. Since Jasper was born, he has spent time with his mom, sister and dad, a mandrill named J.J. Mandrill babies nurse for six to 12 months, according to the zoo. Jasper has formed a close bond with Scarlett, while Ruby has embraced her role as a big sister, a spokesperson for the zoo shares. Ruby has started to explore the habitat at the zoo solo, but calls out to her mom and stays in close contact while also showing off her protective side toward her brother. Ruby and Jaspers births mark a significant moment for conservation efforts of the mandrill species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists mandrills as vulnerable on its red list of threatened species, meaning the species faces a high risk of extinction. The population of mandrills in the wild continues to decline due to habitat loss as well as poaching. Prior to Ruby and Jasper, only two other mandrills were born at the Fort Worth Zoo, a female in 1992 and a male in 1995, according to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth. The Fort Worth Zoo is home to nearly 7,000 animals. The zoo is poised to start the final installment, Forests & Jungles of the World, of a four-phase plan called A Wilder Vision. The first phase, African Savanna, opened in 2018, followed by Elephant Springs in 2021 and Predators of Asia & Africa in 2023. The zoo primarily focuses on conservation and education, welcoming more than one million visitors per year to experience its animals now including baby Jasper. This article was originally published on TODAY.com The author, not pictured, made a travel mistake that almost derailed her travel plans. Pyrosky/Getty Images I travel often, but my recent trip to Vietnam was the first time I had issues entering a country. I was denied entry because my visa didn't have my middle name but my passport did. I was able to buy an emergency visa because I had cash on hand. After spending 33 hours traveling from Phoenix to Dallas to Tokyo to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, I was exhausted but thrilled to finally reach my destination. It'd been six months since I last visited Vietnam, and I was looking forward to exploring new cities in the beautiful country. Upon deplaning, I headed to the passport-control area with my passport and a printout of the visa I'd applied for and been granted about six weeks earlier. When I got to the front, I handed over my two documents and awaited the inevitable stamp of approval. Instead, the employee handed them back to me and said, "Denied." I was so confused I've traveled to 46 countries and had never had issues gaining entry to any of them before. After bouncing around the airport and waiting in lines, I found an employee who would review my documents to tell me what the problem was. It turns out the two documents didn't match: My middle name was on my passport but not my visa. I couldn't believe such a tiny error would cost me When the author landed in Ho Chi Minh City, she couldn't leave the airport. Prasit Rodphan / Shutterstock Visa applications can be denied if your name doesn't match the one on your passport, and I'd missed this discrepancy. The employee told me I had two choices: I could fly back to Japan, where I'd just arrived from, or pay for a "very, very expensive" emergency visa. I knew flying back to Japan wasn't an option, as I was embarking on a river cruise out of Vietnam in less than 12 hours. So I chose the latter. I let out a sigh of relief when I learned my new visa would be $130 I'd expected it to cost much more. But I panicked again when I pulled out my credit card and the employee told me they accepted only cash. I found some $20 bills shoved in my bag. After a stressful wait, I had my new visa and was free to go. I learned 2 valuable travel lessons I'll never forget I still don't understand how my visa application was approved in the first place I had to submit a photo of my passport to get it but I now know to be extra vigilant. Later, I also realized why I'd forgotten to include my middle name: The electronic visa application didn't have a specific spot labeled for it. The form says "Given name" and "Surname." I didn't think to include my middle name in the same spot as my first because I'm used to seeing a separate spot for it on applications. From now on, though, I'll remember that names on a passport and visa must match perfectly, which includes every detail even if the application doesn't ask for it in a way you'd expect. I'm glad I was able to continue on my trip, and I'll never travel again without money on hand for emergencies. Cash is still king in most places, and I'm lucky this mistake only cost me a few bills and a few hours. Read the original article on Business Insider BANGKOK (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's Google said on Monday it would invest $1 billion in Thailand to build a data centre and cloud region to meet growing cloud demand and support artificial intelligence adoption in Southeast Asia. The investment would create an average of 14,000 jobs annually until 2029, Google said, citing a study of the project by Deloitte. In May, Microsoft said it would launch its first regional data centre in Thailand as part of its efforts to boost cloud services. "Googles cloud and data centre infrastructure in Bangkok and Chonburi will help meet growing demand for Google Cloud capabilities and AI innovations, and the companys popular digital services - such as Search, Maps, and Google Workspace," the company said. Its data centre would be located in an industrial estate in Chonburi, while the Google cloud region, which consists of hardware and software dedicated to providing services to private and public sector entities, would be in the capital Bangkok. Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said Google's investment was "perfectly aligned" with the country's Cloud First Policy. (This story has been corrected to clarify that the cloud region provides services to organisations and not the data centre, in paragraph 5) (Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by Jan Harvey and Susan Fenton) Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, speaks at a rally Sunday in Las Vegas. LAS VEGAS Vice President Kamala Harris said Sunday that she would "double" Justice Department resources to crack down on cartels and cut the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., just hours after former President Donald Trump repeated his false claim that she wants to legalize the drug. "As president, I will double the resources for the Department of Justice to go after those transnational cartels and take action to stop the flow of fentanyl coming into our country, which is destroying entire communities," Harris said in her speech here. She made similar comments during her trip to the southern border in Arizona on Friday. At a rally Saturday, Trump also discussed fentanyl, falsely claiming Harris wants to legalize it. "She's so radical she even wants to legalize fentanyl right away," he told a crowd Saturday in Wisconsin, a claim he repeated Sunday before a crowd in Pennsylvania. In a 2019 American Civil Liberties Union questionnaire, Harris pointed to "the opioid crisis" as having "reaffirmed the failure of criminalization." She checked a box confirming that she would "support the decriminalization at the federal level of all drug possession for personal use." "Full decriminalization with appropriate treatment responses could address this stark racial injustice and reduce incarceration," she said. Decriminalization is different from legalization and would keep the drug illegal. "As President, she will sign the bipartisan border bill that will fund detection technology to intercept even more illicit drugs and shell keep fighting to end the opioid epidemic," said a policy section on Harris campaign website highlighting how she would handle the fentanyl crisis. A spokesperson for the campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether her view on discrimination of drug possession has changed. Trump frequently references the topic on the campaign trail, calling for crackdowns on border crossings and giving the death penalty to drug dealers. Though experts have questioned the effectiveness of those policies, anti-fentanyl activists told NBC News in recent interviews that Trump's rhetoric resonates with some family members of opioid victims. One of them, Anne Fundner, spoke at the Republican National Convention in July about her son's death from fentanyl-laced pills. More than 100,000 people died of drug overdoses last year, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data indicated that nearly 70% of the deaths were related to synthetic opioids, mainly fentanyl. Trump has long argued that a Harris administration would shepherd in chaos at the border, saying at his rally Sunday in Erie, Pennsylvania, that people were murdered because of her action at the border and thousands more will follow in rapid succession and calling for her to be impeached and prosecuted for her actions. Harris, who recently tried to confront the political vulnerability head-on by visiting the border, highlighted what has become a frequent refrain when she talks about immigration, pointing to Trump's successful push to crush a bipartisan border deal in Congress in February. She contrasted Trump's vision with her goal to enact "comprehensive immigration reform." We must have comprehensive immigration reform with strong border security and an earned pathway to citizenship, including for hard-working immigrants who have been here for years, including our Dreamers, Harris said. More than 7,500 people attended the rally, according to the Nevada Democratic Party. Sunday's rally was Harris' second in Nevada since she launched her presidential bid. Nnamdi Egwuonwu reported from Las Vegas and Megan Lebowitz from Washington. CEDAR KEY, Fla. The innkeeper wonders whether its worth rebuilding this town dotted across a small archipelago again. The clam farmer worries about impacts to its namesake bivalves and visitors alike. And the business leader contemplates what Mother Nature will throw at them next as the climate changes. Natural disasters are natural disasters, said innkeeeper Ian Maki, who has lived through five hurricanes since moving in 2018 to the island community southwest of Gainesville. But these dont feel natural anymore. Tens of thousands of residents of Floridas Big Bend region are confronting the same fears in the wake of Hurricane Helene. And those feelings are increasingly shared by coastal residents from Alaska to California and Maine, as stronger, more frequent storms and rising ocean levels upend their lives and livelihoods. Many insurers already have curtailed coverage or withdrawn entirely from some areas, indicating their long-term perspective risk. Officials have not yet released official damage estimates from Helene, but financial services company CoreLogic initially estimated commercial and residential damage in just Florida and Georgia to be at least $3 billion and as much as $5 billion. That number is expected to rise substantially because of extensive flood damage across Tennessee and the Carolinas. A 2022 USA TODAY investigation warned the United States is facing a climate catastrophe as natural disasters accelerate: Since 1980, the U.S. has typically suffered eight disasters a year with more than $1 billion in economic damage costs. But over the past five years, the nation has seen an average of 18 billion-dollar disasters annually, according to federal data. Scientists who study the Earth's climate and weather say storms like Helene are more likely to occur in the future. Unlike more traditional hurricanes that gather strength over a relatively long period, Helene intensified from a disorganized tropical disturbance into a powerful Category 4 hurricane within just a few days. Hurricanes are powered by heat, and the Gulf of Mexico has been unusually warm for years. "The fact that the storms are so intense when they make landfall because they have rapidly intensified in the Gulf of Mexico almost certainly has a climate-change contribution to it," said Jim Kossin, an atmospheric scientist and science adviser at the nonprofit First Street Foundation. "The remarkably warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico are a big contributor and climate change has contributed to those." No more hurricane parties as storms' strength rises For coastal communities like Cedar Key, Horseshoe Beach, Key West and other geographically isolated areas, quick-moving storms make it harder for residents to board up and leave, potentially raising the likelihood people will choose to stay home and ride out the storm. In years past, many storms were mild enough that people held "hurricane parties" to mark their passage through their communities. That was the kind of calculation Bill and Debbie Dotson made when they retired to Horseshoe Beach in spring 2021. They've now been through five hurricanes, including Helene, which hit on Bill Dotson's 67th birthday. In a straight line, Horseshoe Beach is 25 miles from Cedar Key, although it's a 70-mile drive along two-lane roads to get from one to another. Their home sits atop 14-foot-tall concrete pillars, and last year's Hurricane Idalia destroyed one set of stairs and damaged the other. They had just gotten both sets fixed at a cost of $15,000 before Helene swept both away. Looking around their neighborhood, the Dotsons counted at least eight destroyed homes. Idalia cost the town 41 houses, they said, and Helene's damage appears to be worse. The town has only about 170 full-time residents. The Dotsons planned to live in a tent until they can find a contractor to help rebuild the stairs to their house, which was otherwise undamaged. Zoning laws across Florida increasingly recognize storm risks, and most new-built houses in danger zones must be set atop tall pillars. But a few blocks from the Dotson's house, the concrete pillars of a home closer to the beach were bent flat like grass. We came out here and saw this beauty and wanted to go fishing in our retirement, Debbie Dotson said. We had the discussion about hurricanes but you never imagine something like this. You just dont. More people are moving to storm-prone coastal areas Last month, the real estate firm Redfin reported a net increase of 16,000 people moving into high-risk flood areas last year, most of them in Florida, drawn by sunny skies, a lack of snow, great fishing and plentiful beaches. There's also no income tax in Florida. Many Florida counties also allow people to live in RVs, which can be an affordable housing option for the state's numerous retirees, but they also are particularly vulnerable to wind and water damage. And because the state is so big, the likelihood of experiencing a damaging hurricane is statistically low. That's the calculation Maki and his husband, Darrin Newell, made before they bought the Firefly Resort on Cedar Key. Maki had worked in public health for years in the Pacific Northwest, and they wanted a new adventure in Old Florida. Unlike most of Florida's coastal communities, Cedar Key depends primarily on aquaculture commercial clam harvesting rather than tourism. It was that authenticity and small-town feel that drew Maki and Newell to Cedar Key. Maki, who has a master's degree in public health, analyzed historic hurricane data and concluded Cedar Key would only suffer a damaging hurricane every seven years on average, giving them plenty of time to recover and rebuild between storms. Helene flooded and damaged portions of their cottages, most of which were originally built in local "cracker style with local softwoods, set atop cinder block foundations. The construction allows the wood to expand and contract as it gets wet and dries out, and it's easy to repair when damaged. But hurricanes keep trashing the interiors. Parts of the complex are just five feet above sea level, and Helene pushed a storm surge more than 2 feet higher than the highest surge ever recorded. Ive bought more appliances in the past year than I have in my entire life," Maki said. "I have felt everything from a desire to walk away from this island and never step foot on it ever again to digging in as deep as my roots will allow me to stay. I'm afraid that decisions are being made for me by consequences of nature, consequences of man's influence on nature, so that now the place that I had chosen to live may be uninhabitable in my lifetime." As Maki talked to a reporter at a community barbecue hosted by a local church, Cedar Key "Clambassador" Michael Presley Bobbitt arrived to offer his perspective. A commercial clam farmer, author and playwright, Bobbitt said he worries Helene has irrevocably altered the island he calls home. After similar disasters elsewhere, developers have been quick to buy damaged buildings or newly cleared land from distressed property owners, transforming older, quirky main streets into Anywhere, USA. Cedar Key's residents are fiercely protective of their island's local charm, which prioritizes locally owned shops and restaurants, not chain stores. But what do local property owners do when everything they had is gone? "Every commercial building in town of consequences just gone. And there are stretches of road where you're used to seeing a familiar house, a house that's been there for maybe 160 years and it's just missing," Bobbitt said. "And in some cases there's not even debris. There's just an empty space where a house used to be." But while the cleanup is already underway, the storms lingering impacts are just beginning to be felt in this 700-person island community reliant on aquafarming and the tourist trade. Building resilience to protect the future Doug Lindhout, 71, considers himself one of the lucky ones: Although there's water damage, his rowhouse on A Street is still standing. Less than 24 hours after Helene moved north, Lindhout and his wife were assessing the destruction in both their house and on the island and trying to figure out what to do next. It feels like weve been kicked in the teeth and punched in the kidney," he said. As the president of the island's Chamber of Commerce, Lindhout is deeply committed to Cedar Key. That means seeking good publicity when they can get it last year's negative Idalia coverage caused an 18% decline in tourist interest, he said while strengthening the island's aquaculture and other businesses. Cedar Key needs to do a deep think on how we can mitigate this amount of damage in the future. You cant stop the storm coming in. But we have learned lessons since Idalia," he said. "Because the more resilient you are, the harder a punch to the kidneys you can take. For Cedar Key, he said, resilience can mean making the shorelines better at reducing wave impacts, which helps protect the clam harvests. But it could also mean a community effort to relocate the grocery store, which sits in a low-lying area of the island and frequently floods even in minor storms. Before retiring, Lindhout worked with a lot of computer models, and he's closely scrutinized the University of Florida estimates showing how future storms will flood the island as ocean levels continue rising. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration studies also show sea level is rising at Cedar Key, and project the number of high tide flooding days in the community to double in just 10 years. In the absence of a sudden ice age, Cedar Key has to take a hard look at what life will be like in the coming decades, he said. Its going to be much wetter than it is today," Lindhout said Friday, hours after Helene. Despite his out-loud musing about their future on the island, Maki said he and Newell are committed to Cedar Key, come the proverbial hell or high water. But it's getting harder each time to keep the faith. "I never thought that we would be talking about places in the United States that would be suffering this kind of repetitive, increasingly damaging weather events with frequencies as often as they are," he said. "And this doesn't give anybody a chance to recover." Contributing: Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Florida's Cedar Key flattened by Hurricane Helene as storms intensify An Indiana man was sentenced to nearly 200 years in prison in connection to triple homicides when he was 16 years old. The killings happened in October 2021 in Marion County, where prosecutors announced Friday that defendant Caden Smith was sentenced to 189 years in the deaths of victims Joseph Thomas, Michael James and Abdulla Mubarak. Smith was previously found guilty of three counts of murder, two counts of felony murder, two counts of robbery, as well as various gun and drug-related charges, reported the Indy Star, part of the USA TODAY Network. Because the 2021 triple homicides did not happen the same day, community members began to wonder if there was a serial killer on the loose, the Indy Star and television station WKRC reported. Authorities debunked the serial killer rumors once they arrested 16-year-old Smith a few weeks after the murders. Heres what to know. Michael James girlfriend said he went to buy a switch from someone named Caden Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) officers found the bodies of the victims in a field on Oct. 21, 2021, according to documents filed in the Court of Appeals of Indiana. There, officers collected over 50 fired 9 millimeter cartridge casings at the scene, as well as unfired 9 millimeter bullets. Police said Smith brought the three victims to grassy fields to show them how a Glock switch works. The victims cause of death was deemed to be from multiple gunshot wounds, the document reads. The girlfriend of James, one of the victims, told investigators she last spoke with her boyfriend on Oct. 11, 2021. James told her he was going to meet someone named Caden to get some switches for a gun, the documents read. An Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) officer drives Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021, back to a site where IMPD is investigating a triple homicide in a "remote area" just off South Meridian Street near the I-465 overpass. A switch, the documents read, is an illegal device that allows a conventional semi-automatic Glock pistol to function as a fully automatic firearm." Investigators also spoke to a juvenile who said they had known two of the victims James and Mubarak and knew of someone named Caden. That juvenile gave investigators Cadens grandmothers address, as well as a cell phone number for Caden. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) officers continue Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021, investigating a triple homicide in a "remote area" just off South Meridian Street near the I-465 overpass. Victims mother remember him saying he was meeting someone named Caden Detectives spoke with the mother of victim Joseph Thomas on Oct. 17. 2021 and again nearly a week later, according to court documents. Thomas' mother last saw her son a week earlier at her house, when he told her Im going to meet with Caden and take care of something. His mother also recalled meeting someone named Caden and his grandmother three years ago. She remembered where the pair lived. After getting more information from Thomas' mother, investigators viewed surveillance footage from a gas station that showed him speaking to two people inside the store and exchanging numbers with one of them, court documents show. Investigators also spoke to a juvenile who is friends with Thomas and recalled that the victim spoke to someone named "Caden and was planning to meet him. The juvenile was shown a photo of Caden Smith and said it was the same Caden from the gas station, court documents show. What did officers find in Smiths home? Investigators looked into Smith more and requested a search warrant on Oct. 26. They searched his home the next day and found two firearms, one with a switch attached, ammunition and six cell phones. He was charged with multiple felonies, including three counts of murder. Smiths case had been delayed because a judge ruled that the warrant used to arrest him may have been unconstitutional. The judge ordered that the teenager be released but he was soon arrested again on marijuana possession charges, the Indy Star reported. He was found guilty in the killings in August. Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia the 757. Follow her on Twitter at @SaleenMartin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Indiana man sentenced in 2021 deaths that sparked serial killer rumors FILE - This aerial photo shows the movie set of "Rust," at Bonanza Creek Ranch, Oct. 23, 2021, in Santa Fe, N.M. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File) SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) A New Mexico judge on Monday upheld an involuntary manslaughter conviction against a movie armorer in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film Rust. Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed asked a court to dismiss her conviction or convene a new trial, alleging that prosecutors failed to share evidence that could have cleared her. Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer in her written order noted that the armorer's attorneys did not establish that there was a reasonable possibility that the outcome of the trial would have been different had the evidence been available to Gutierrez-Reed. The judge also rejected a request from Gutierrez-Reed that she be released from custody, saying it was moot because the request for a new trial was denied. Marlow Sommer halted and ended Baldwins trial in July based on misconduct of police and prosecutors and their withholding evidence from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set outside Santa Fe. Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for Rust, was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. A jury convicted Gutierrez-Reed of involuntary manslaughter in March in a trial overseen by Marlowe Sommer, who later sentenced her to the maximum 18-month penalty. Gutierrez-Reed has an appeal of the conviction pending in a higher court. Jurors acquitted her of allegations she tampered with evidence in the Rust investigation. Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of Rust and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols. Evidence that Gutierrez-Reed's attorneys said prosecutors failed to share included a report by a firearms expert about the functionality of the gun that Baldwin used, ammunition that was later turned in to authorities and an interview with Rust ammunition supplier Seth Kenney. Defense attorneys did not immediately respond Monday to an email requesting comment on the judge's decision. Gutierrez-Reed has pleaded not guilty to a separate felony charge that she allegedly carried a gun into a bar in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where firearms are prohibited. A proposed plea agreement is awaiting court review. 'Marilyn Monroe by Eve Arnold' (out Sep. 30) collects the photographer's intimate and candid images of the Hollywood icon The Estate of Eve Arnold Marilyn Monroe in 1960 Photojournalist Eve Arnolds pictures of Marilyn Monroe are some of the most intimate and candid ever taken of the Hollywood legend, springing not just from the pairs long collaboration, but from a friendship that began in the early 1950s. During her lifetime, Arnold, who died in 2012 at the age of 99, published two books collecting her images of Monroe. Now, Marilyn Monroe by Eve Arnold, a newly revised and redesigned edition of the photographers 1987 book Marilyn Monroe: An Appreciation, spotlights more than 100 of her pictures of the actress. Along with a forward by Anjelica Huston, a new introduction by Arnolds grandson Michael Arnold and the photographers own biography of Monroe, the book, out Sep. 30 from ACC Art Books, features many never-before seen photos from Arnolds archive. See a few of the highlights here. Life On Set The Estate of Eve Arnold Marilyn Monroe in 1960 Arnold's photos of Monroe on the set of 1961's The Misfits are some of her most famous images of the actress. This never-before-seen photo shows Marilyn between takes on the film's Nevada set in 1960. Ray of Sunshine The Estate of Eve Arnold Marilyn Monroe in 1960 Another never-before-seen 1960 photo from The Misfits captures the luminous quality that made Monroe a star. Beauty and the Boa The Estate of Eve Arnold Marilyn Monroe in 1960 A studio photo session, Arnold writes in the book, "provides the greatest chance for control. One can plan ones own lighting, work to ones own time clock, shoot and reshoot, change the subjects hair style, change or add or subtract clothing." Here, Monroe poses with a feather boa in a never-before-seen outtake from a 1960 shoot to promote The Misfits. Peekaboo The Estate of Eve Arnold Marilyn Monroe in 1960 Yet another never-before-seen pic shows Arnold herself with a playful Monroe on the set of a 1960 photo shoot in Los Angeles. Book Worm The Estate of Eve Arnold Marilyn Monroe in 1952 Eight years earlier, in 1952, Arnold caught a candid snap of Monroe reading James Joyce's Ulysses in Mr. Sinai, New York. Woman's Best Friend The Estate of Eve Arnold Marilyn Monroe in 1952 Another 1952 photo shows Monroe cuddling up to a furry friend in Long Island, New York. Screen Legends The Estate of Eve Arnold Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe in 1956 Prior to filming their 1957 picture The Prince and the Showgirl, Laurence Olivier and Monroe held court during a 1956 press conference at New York City's Waldorf Astoria hotel. Set Visit The Estate of Eve Arnold Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe in 1960 Monroe's third husband, playwright Arthur Miller, visited her on the set of The Misfits in 1960. The couple would end their five-year marriage the following year. Group Photo The Estate of Eve Arnold Montgomery Clift, Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe and Eli Wallach in 1960 Arnold photographed Monroe along with The Misfits co-stars Eli Wallach, Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift on the film's Nevada set in 1960. Sleeping Beauty The Estate of Eve Arnold Marilyn Monroe in 1960 Monroe, who famously claimed that she wore nothing but Chanel No. 5 to bed, posed in possibly that very ensemble for Arnold during a 1960 photo shoot. Photo Finish The Estate of Eve Arnold Marilyn Monroe by Eve Arnold Marilyn Monroe by Eve Arnold is out Sep. 30 from ACC Art Books. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. A long line of people wait to reach the Southwest Airlines baggage claim window to find out information about their bags as rows of unclaimed luggage sits around them at the San Antonio International Airport in San Antonio, Texas, Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 27, 2022. Sam Owens/Staff photographer Southwest passengers and airliners line up and move at Love Field in Dallas, Thursday, July 25, 2024. Southwest Airlines said Thursday that it plans to drop the open-boarding system it has used for more than 50 years and will start assigning passengers to seats, just like all the other big airlines. (AP Photo/LM Otero) LM Otero/Associated Press A federal judge on Monday rejected Southwest Airlines' bid to block a new lease agreement for airlines from taking effect Tuesday at San Antonio International Airport. Southwest and the San Antonio airport are fighting over the lease agreement because it would keep the airline out of the planned Terminal C, a $1.7 billion, 17-gate facility that's slated to open in 2028. Instead, the airline would be the sole tenant of the cramped Terminal A. The airline sued the city and Airport Director Jesus Saenz on Thursday and requested a temporary restraining order to keep the current lease agreement in place for the time being. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Without a TRO, the Dallas-owned carrier must either sign the 10-year lease by Tuesday or begin racking up higher fees and losing out on revenue-sharing deals that eight other airlines will participate in. Steve Sisneros, Southwest Airlines' vice president of airport affairs, said the airline isn't planning to sign the lease. It will continue pressing its lawsuit against the city. The parties will have to select a date for a preliminary injunction hearing. Without a long-term lease, Southwest could pay $6 million of additional fees and lose out on $4 million in revenue sharing if they don't sign on in the next year. The city described Southwest's lawsuit and its request for a TRO as "an extreme case of sour grapes." Advertisement Article continues below this ad The Dallas-based airline's federal lawsuit accused airport officials of an unfair "bait and switch" during more than two years of negotiations for a new use and lease agreement. In the suit, Southwest claims Saenz verbally committed to the airline that it would get all, or most, of the 10 gates it requested in Terminal C. But in May, the airline alleges, Southwest was told it must remain in Terminal A, the oldest facility on the airport's property. Southwest currently operates six gates in Terminal A. The city's response, filed Monday morning, rejects that claim. And even if Saenz did tell Southwest it could move into Terminal C, the city said in the filing, "he did not have the authority to bind the City on that point." "Only senior City leadership and the City Council had authority to make a final decision," the response said. "Southwests 'bait and switch' argument is both false and irrelevant." Advertisement Article continues below this ad The airline claims that if it had known it would be left in Terminal A, it would have negotiated different terms in the lease agreement. The deal sets aside $200 million for renovations in Terminal A, which Southwest says is not enough to relieve the overcrowding often chokes the facility's 75-foot wide concourse one of the narrowest among major U.S. airports. Southwest also claims the airport's criteria to determine which airlines would get gates in the new terminal were unlawful. Airport officials used several factors to decide which airports would be allocated space in Terminal C, including growth plans, their international flight offerings and whether the airline planned to build lounges for business-class travelers. Advertisement Article continues below this ad One of the city's criteria was "an airline's 'fit' into San Antonio," according to Southwest's lawsuit. In court Monday, Southwest attorney Lawrence Morales II said the city's decision to leave Southwest out of the new terminal essentially says its customers were not a good fit for the new facility. After the hearing, City Manager Erik Walsh said he was insulted by that claim. He said the city was only considering how airlines' operations would fit in the new terminal. "Municipal governments that own and operate airports cannot apply subjective, discretionary factors to pick 'winners and losers' among the airlines competing for space at the airport," Southwest's suit states. But the city argued that Southwest's claim "twists the law to uniquely benefit Southwest and effectively eviscerates the Citys proprietary authority to manage its Airport." Advertisement Article continues below this ad "Despite Southwests ire, nothing about the Citys gate allocation decision justifies the extraordinary relief of an emergency restraining order or upending the fully negotiated, multi-party AULA," or airline use and lease agreement, the city argued. The city said it would lose $1.2 million each month if the new lease agreement doesn't go into effect, and that the city's plans to open a new terminal in 2028 will also be delayed. "Southwest jeopardizes timely completion of a necessary public improvement for the nations seventh largest City solely to advance its corporate preferences," the city's filing reads. U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez said he denied the TRO because he didn't believe Southwest would suffer irreparable harm if the lease agreement goes into effect this week. "I feel like I'm being used as a pawn in negotiations," Rodriguez said. "You all should continue to talk, but I'm not going to be your mediator for this fight." American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and several international carriers are slated to take up the planned terminal's 17 gates. The City Council approved an airline use and lease agreement on Sept. 12. The usage fees established in the agreement, which includes a 5-year renewal option, could generate $3.2 billion over the next 15 years. Southwest is the San Antonio airport's dominant carrier, serving nearly 40% of all the facility's domestic passengers. Last year, Southwest flew more than 3.7 million of the airports customers. American accounts for 22% of all domestic passengers at the facility, and Delta 15%, according to data provided by the airport. Southwest had hoped to eventually serve half of the airports travelers, but officials have said the airline might shelve its expansion plans if it's forced to stay in Terminal A. However, the airline has said it will not leave San Antonio. Southwest played a key role over the last two years in negotiating the terms of the lease agreement that it's now attacking in court. It chaired a committee of airlines and major shipping companies that bargained with airport officials over the agreement. American, Alaska, Delta, Spirit, United, Viva Aerobus, FedEx and UPS have all committed to sign long-term leases with the airport. Failed resolution The lawsuit comes after San Antonio offered the airline another $100 million for upgrades to Terminal A during a meeting last week at the airline's Dallas headquarters for a total of $300 million for improvements. Southwest CEO Robert Jordan and COO Andrew Watterson participated, and Mayor Ron Nirenberg, City Manager Erik Walsh and Saenz led the city delegation. Southwest leaders turned down the city's offer, which City Attorney Andy Segovia said will remain off the table as long as Southwest moves forward with its lawsuit. In an interview with the Express-News earlier in September, Watterson said he wanted engineering and architectural studies to be conducted to identify the renovations Southwest would need, as well as their cost. Even before the city offered the extra $100 million, the airport had said it was committed to making major renovations to Terminal A, including reducing the number of gates from 17 to 10 to create larger waiting areas and reduce crowding in the terminal's concourse. Renovations also could include upgraded restrooms and ticket counters. Walsh said last week in a memo to City Council that Southwest which originally said it wouldn't sign a new lease unless it was allotted gates in Terminal C has accepted that it won't operate out of the new terminal. By Jaidaa Taha CAIRO (Reuters) - Israel's killing of Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was met with silence by many Sunni-led states across the region, showcasing the split between populations outraged at Israel and authorities who normalised ties with Israel or are opposed to Hezbollah's patron Iran. Nasrallah, who led the powerful Shi'ite armed group for 32 years, made regional enemies beyond Israel and the West. Gulf countries and the broader Arab League designated his group a "terrorist organization" in 2016, although the League retracted the designation earlier this year. Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia said in a statement late on Sunday that it is following the developments in Lebanon with "grave concern", and urged the preservation of the sovereignty and regional security of Lebanon. But it made no mention of Nasrallah. And Sunni-ruled states Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have stayed completely quiet on Nasrallah's killing. The UAE and Bahrain normalised ties with Israel in 2020, and Bahrain quashed a sizeable pro-democracy uprising by its Shi'ite community in 2011. The Bahraini pro-Iran LuaLua TV, however, broadcast videos showing modestly sized marches which it said were in mourning for Nasrallah. The channel said the Bahraini regime "attacked" demonstrators and detained some of them. The Bahraini opposition website Bahrain Mirror reported the kingdom detained a Shi'ite cleric for expressing his condolences on Nasrallah. Reuters was unable to verify the Bahraini media reports. According to a statement by the Egyptian presidency, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi spoke to Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati by phone and said Cairo rejected any violation of Lebanon's sovereignty - without mentioning Nasrallah. Egypt has been critical of Iran and its proxies in the past, though it has maintained informal contacts with Iran and Egypts foreign minister has held official meetings with Iranian officials over the past year. In the first televised speech since the killing of Nasrallah on Sunday, Sisi said the region is going through difficult circumstances, and said that Egypt "manages its issues in a way that preserves it and the region as possible, without being dragged in issues that can impact its stability and security." He also made no mention of Nasrallah in the speech. Other states like Syria and Iraq have declared a three-day mourning period. GRIEF AND CRITICISM Hassan Nasrallah's name has been trending online in many Arab states since Saturday, with many grieving his loss. Sheikh Ahmed Bin Hamad al-Khalili, the grand mufti of the Gulf state of Oman, said in a post on X that his country was "saddened by the passing of the secretary general of Hezbollah, after he had been a thorn in the throat of the Zionist project for more than three decades." But other users criticised Nasrallah, particularly over Hezbollah's intervention in the Syrian civil war. Along with support from Iran and Russia, that intervention ultimately helped President Bashar al-Assad regain control over much of the country from anti-government rebels. "The victims of Nasrallah in Syria are hundreds of thousands, does he deserve mercy from Muslims?" Iraqi-based journalist Omar AlJmmal said on X. UAE-based journalist Saif alDareei shared in a post on X a video he said depicted the "joy" of residents in Syria's Idlib province after news of Nasrallah's killing. "Hezbollah did what the Jews did not do against our brothers in Syria," he said. Saudi Arabian poet Abdul Latif Al-Sheikh said on X: "Gloating [over Nasrallah's killing] is not just random hostility, but a natural reaction to a series of dirty policies and actions that have aroused widespread resentment." Others tried to balance criticism of Nasrallah and Israel, whose military operations in Gaza and recent escalation in Lebanon have triggered widespread outrage. "Joy and gloating now is achieving victory for the enemy, fragmenting the (Arab) nation and betraying the people of Lebanon and Gaza," said Egyptian TV host Lamis Elhadidi on X. "Put your differences aside and forget about Iran, as there is an Arab country that is being bombed every hour." (Reporting by Jaidaa Taha, Editing by Maya Gebeily, Andrew Mills,) By Dave Graham VIENNA (Reuters) - Political parties on the European right celebrated Sunday's parliamentary election victory by Austria's Freedom Party (FPO) as a boost for national conservatives amid advances by the hard right fuelled by worries about immigration. Led by Herbert Kickl, who capitalised on a misfiring economy and concerns that Austria has taken in people faster than it can integrate them, the FPO won around 29% of the vote, a record result that may give it a platform to lead the next government. Kickl must find a partner to form a stable coalition and he is loathed by other party leaders, who have refused to serve under him and quickly began discussing the possibility of sounding out alternatives to an FPO-led government. But there were warm words from allies in Europe, where the FPO forms part of a right-wing group inside the European Parliament led by France's far-right National Rally (RN). Its leader Marine Le Pen expressed delight at the victory and said it showed those parties were advancing. "After the Italian, Dutch and French elections, this tidal wave which supports the defence of national interests, the safeguarding of identities and the resurrection of sovereignties, confirms the triumph of the people everywhere," Le Pen wrote in a post on X. Bjoern Hoecke, one of the leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), called the FPO's win a "sensation" and said on X: "The FPO victory isn't just a victory for Austria - it extends far beyond the borders of the Alpine republic and is a good sign of progress for Europe." The win by the Eurosceptic FPO could sow division within the European Union over foreign policy areas such as support for Ukraine against Moscow's invasion of the country. Kickl opposes sending aid to Kyiv and critics of the RN and other parties in the right-wing Patriots for Europe group, the third-largest in the European parliament, often argue they have been too soft on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. Earlier this year Kickl sealed an alliance with the Fidesz party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has frequently blocked or delayed major EU decisions such as sanctions against Russia and aid for Ukraine. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Facebook: "What a weekend!! After the Czech Republic, another victory for the Patriots across the border... No war, no migration and no gender propaganda!" Dutch nationalist Geert Wilders, whose PVV party leads the Dutch government, responded to the FPO victory on X by saying: "We are winning! Times are changing! Identity, sovereignty, freedom and no more illegal immigration/asylum is what tens of millions of Europeans long for!" Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini of the co-ruling League party said in a statement the Austrian vote was "a historic day in the name of change." "To those who speak of the 'extreme right', let us remind them that in Vienna (as in almost all of Europe) there is only the desire for change by putting the values of work, family and security back at the centre," he added. (Reporting by Ingrid Melander, Alvise Armellini and Gergely Szakacs; Writing by Dave Graham, Editing by William Maclean) (Reuters) - Healthcare-focused Glenview Capital Management will meet top executives at struggling healthcare company CVS Health on Monday to propose ways it can improve operations, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. The hedge fund's founder, Larry Robbins, has built a large position in CVS, which amounts to about $700 million of his $2.5 billion hedge fund, the report said, citing a person familiar with the matter. CVS said it "maintains a regular dialogue with the investment community as part of our robust shareholder and analyst engagement program," and said it can't comment on engagement with specific firms or individuals. Glenview did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment. Speculation has mounted among fund managers that an activist investor may swoop in to push CVS to make changes that would boost its share price. Investment firm Sachem Head Capital Management built a new 0.2% stake in the company during the second quarter, according to a regulatory filing in August. Earlier in August, CVS cut its annual profit forecast to $6.40 to $6.65 per share from its prior view of at least $7.00, marking at least the fourth time CVS lowered its outlook for the year. It also announced a multi-year plan to save $2 billion in costs through measures such as streamlining operations and using artificial intelligence and automation across its business. (This story has been corrected to say outlook has been revised three times, not four, in paragraph 7) (Reporting by Urvi Dugar; Additional reporting by Harshita Meenaktshi; Editing by Leslie Adler and Marguerita Choy) By Nidal al-Mughrabi CAIRO (Reuters) - Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 11 Palestinians, health officials in the enclave said on Sunday, as Israeli planes bombarded several northern, central and southern areas. A school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip was among buildings hit, killing four people and wounded several others, Gaza medics said. The Israeli military said it struck Hamas militants operating from a command centre embedded in a compound that had previously served as Um Al-Fahm School. It accused Hamas of exploiting civilian facilities and its population for military purposes, which Hamas denies. In another strike, three people were killed in a house in Gaza City, medics said. Four others were killed in three separate airstrikes in Nuseirat and Khan Younis in central and southern parts of the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces pursued their operations in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, and in Gaza City's suburb of Zeitoun, where forces blew up several houses, according to residents and Hamas media. On Sunday the Israeli military said forces continue the fight in a "multi-front war" and are operating in Gaza to bring Israeli and foreign hostages home and to "dismantle" Hamas. It said troops discovered and dismantled an underground tunnel route that is approximately 1km long near residential buildings and civilian spaces in central Gaza, adding that they found several rooms and equipment used by Hamas for proonged periods. Fighting and Israeli military activities in Gaza have declined in the past week as Israel escalated its military offensive against Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on Friday. The group announced Nasrallah's death on Saturday. Most of Gaza's population of 2.3 million have been displaced by the war, in which 41,500 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health authorities. Israel and Hamas have been fighting since gunmen from the Palestinian militant group stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing about 250 hostages, going by Israeli tallies. (Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by David Goodman) By Lucinda Elliott and Kylie Madry BUENOS AIRES/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - When Wagner Dias and his wife Mariana needed a loan to grow their children's clothes business, the Brazilian entrepreneurs turned to Argentina's MercadoLibre Inc, the online platform they use to sell their products. MercadoLibre, which is making a push into an increasingly crowded regional fintech and credit market, already had the data it needed to green-light the loan. The Amazon.com of Latin America has used innovations like that to cement its status as the region's most valuable firm with a market capitalization exceeding $100 billion. "Because they had access to all my app history as a seller and buyer, there was no red tape. The money was deposited instantly," said Dias, who borrowed in total some $30,000 to build the couple's business in Sao Paulo. "I can ask for credit with one click," said Dias, explaining that the first $11,000 tranche of the loan had boosted sales by 40% within six months. MercadoLibre, which has overtaken Brazilian state energy giant Petrobras this year as Latin America's most valuable company, is finding new ways to serve Dias and others in its online "ecosystem" to lock in shoppers and sellers. Its new offerings, ranging from credit to movies, have helped fuel its rapid expansion. The company is growing digital advertising revenues toward $1 billion this year with tie-ups for content with firms like Disney. It has added distribution centers to support sellers, and is using artificial intelligence to boost its loan business and streamline administrative costs. "We believe that we have a tremendous competitive advantage in the fact that we have an ecosystem," the firm's CEO Marcos Galperin told Reuters in an interview in Buenos Aires, adding that the financing and commerce business spurred each other. "When you have more financing, e-commerce grows. And vice versa." MercadoLibre is the dominant e-commerce player in Latin America, weathering aggressive pushes by Amazon and others. But on fintech it still lags behind pure digital finance rivals such as Brazil's Nubank, though it is ahead of Argentina's Uala. It wants to replicate the crossover success of Chinese online marketplace Alibaba, whose Alipay wallet is among the top players in the world's second largest economy. Galperin said growth of the fintech business was strong considering the tough regional competition. Fintech revenues increased nearly a third over the last year, second quarter data showed, though it declined slightly as a percentage of overall sales. Its credit unit grew at a faster rate, near 50%. Galperin said MercadoLibre wanted to be a major option for Latin Americans as they rapidly shift away from cash as the traditional form of payment and savings. "Basically the idea is to give each user a private banker of their own," he said. He downplayed concerns some analysts have expressed about non-performing loans, saying the plethora of data the firm had on its users reduced that risk. "We use artificial intelligence, we use machine learning, we have a lot of information between MercadoLibre and Mercado Pago that we can use... We have so much information on these people that we feel very comfortable providing them loans." BUYING NEW SHOES, WHAT ABOUT A LOAN? Investors are bullish on the company's outlook. The stock is currently at $2,100, and in September, Morgan Stanley hiked its target price on the shares to $2,500 from $2,175. Also in September, JPMorgan signed a $250 million financing deal to expand MercadoLibre's fintech business in Mexico. Growing use of smartphones in Latin America is opening up online saving and spending options to millions in a region where around a quarter of the population has little or no access to bank accounts or relies solely on cash. "We're really just scratching the surface of all that we can do," said Galperin, explaining that e-commerce and digital payment use was far higher in Asia, Europe and North America. He was targeting tripling active users to 300 million. But MercadoLibre faces strong competition from regional fintech rivals like Nubank or Uala, which secured a banking license last year in Mexico and is also using AI to aid credit scoring systems, a company spokesperson said. "It's still smaller than large competitors, but it has been calling attention in the space," said Maria Clara Infantozzi at Itau bank in Sao Paulo. Argentine confectionary business owner Silvina Riveros was growing tired of traditional banks but opted to get a loan from Uala to buy appliances "mainly due to the cheaper commissions for the service and the speed of crediting money into your account," she said. "I've given up on high street banks, there's too much paperwork and bureaucracy." MercadoLibre's potential ace card, however, remains its mix of commerce and finance. The firm is boosting areas like food, apparel, beauty and electronics, and has opened more warehousing and distribution centers to speed up delivery. It is also experimenting with an electric delivery fleet and drones to get goods to hard-to-reach consumers in isolated areas of Brazil. While drone technology remained niche, Galperin said "those geographies happen quite a bit in Latin America." Meanwhile, millions of customers like 24-year-old Irlanda Zermeno from Mexico City, are taking out smaller loans from the platform to help them buy more products at check out. Zermeno told Reuters she was shopping on the MercadoLibre app for a pair of new shoes, when a message popped up offering her credit to make the purchase in installments. "I didn't look for (a credit line), they suddenly just asked me: do you want one?" said Zermeno, who works in public relations. "Ever since then I use it frequently. If you pay back on time, the credit amount you can take goes up." (This story has been corrected to say that MercadoLibre is the more dominant e-commerce player over Argentina's Uala, in paragraph 9) (Reporting by Lucinda Elliott in Buenos Aires. Additional reporting by Kylie Madry in Mexico City and Andre Romani Pinto in Sao Paulo. Editing by Adam Jourdan and David Gregorio) By Alexander Tanas CHISINAU (Reuters) - A senior government minister urged Moldovans on Sunday to shun "thieves, fugitives and bandits" after an exiled pro-Russian business magnate pledged to pay voters to vote "no" in a referendum on joining the European Union. Infrastructure Minister Andrei Spinu's call underscored the increasingly unruly campaign for the Oct. 20 presidential election in which pro-European incumbent Maia Sandu is seeking a second term. Voters will also take part in a referendum on altering the constitution to enable ex-Soviet Moldova, one of Europe's poorest countries, to press for membership of the 27-nation EU. The most vocal opponent of EU membership, fugitive pro-Russian businessman Ilan Shor, offered in a weekend Telegram post to pay voters the equivalent of $29 if they registered for his campaign in the country lying between Ukraine and Romania. Voters, he said, would get larger rewards if they cast "no" ballots in the referendum and if results showed they lived in electoral districts rejecting the proposal. Shor was sentenced to 15 years in prison last year in absentia in connection with his role in the disappearance of $1 billion from Moldova's banking system. Exiled in Russia, he now heads the "Victory" election bloc, barred from taking part in the campaign. Andrei Spinu, infrastructure minister and head of Sandu's re-election campaign team, said opponents of the president's EU drive were "using money to buy votes and people". "They are using propaganda to spread lies about the European Union and frighten people with all sorts of tall tales," he wrote on Telegram. "Let us not believe thieves, fugitives and bandits." Sandu, who denounces Russia's invasion of Ukraine and views Moscow as one of the biggest threats facing Moldova, also told voters in a Saturday address to be on guard against fraud. "The liars are now trying to intimidate us and oblige us to take decisions other than those that we want," she said. "We must not let them decide our own fate." In recent days, paint has been daubed on buildings belonging to Moldova's state-owned broadcaster, the Supreme Court and two other state institutions. Police blame the incidents on a group trained in Moscow to destabilise the election. Sandu is favoured to win the presidential vote against 10 challengers, with a recent poll crediting her with about 27% support. That poll put backing for EU membership at 56% among decided voters with 34% opposed. (Reporting by Alexander Tanas, Editing by Ron Popeski and Marguerita Choy) ERIE, Pa. Former President Donald Trump said at a rally here Sunday that Vice President Kamala Harris should be "impeached and prosecuted" for her actions related to the southern U.S. border. He argued that people were "murdered because of her action at the border, and thousands more will follow in rapid succession," adding, "She should be impeached and prosecuted for her actions." Trump also lobbed personal attacks at Harris on Sunday, echoing comments at his rally the day Saturday, when he called Harris mentally disabled and mentally impaired. With Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket and a tight race in the final stretch of the presidential campaign, Trump's rhetoric has escalated. Trump has frequently gone after Harris in personal terms, often based on her race and gender. He has increasingly threatened to go after other political foes if he is elected. He has talked about jailing Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and discussed possibly carrying out election fraud prosecutions against election officials, donors and operatives. When she has discussed the border, Harris has often pointed to Trump's role in quashing a bipartisan border deal in Congress in February, which Democrats and several Republicans have said would have addressed aspects of the issue that he frequently invokes on the campaign trail. "Even though Donald Trump tried to sabotage the border security bill, it is my pledge to you that as president of the United States, I will bring it back up and proudly sign it into law, Harris said last week during her visit to the U.S.-Mexico border. Follow live updates on the 2024 election Donald Trump at a campaign event at the Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, Pa., on Sunday. An NBC News poll conducted this month found that 54% of registered voters thought Trump would better handle securing the border and controlling immigration, compared with 33% who said the same of Harris. Trump has worked to capitalize on those figures, frequently trying to blame Harris for millions of illegal border crossings since President Joe Biden took office and terming her the administrations border czar. Trump's comments about Harris' mental fitness echoed attacks he made Saturday at another rally in Wisconsin. "Joe Biden became mentally impaired. Kamala was born that way," he falsely claimed. "Think about it: Only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country," he added. "Anybody would know this." On Sunday, Trump doubled down, saying: "Crooked Joe Biden became mentally impaired sad. But lying Kamala Harris, honestly, I believe she was born that way." Minutes later, he called Harris a stupid person, and the crowd responded with chants of "lock her up." Asked for clarification about Trump's comments about Harris' mental state, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said Harris is "wholly unfit to serve as president, as evidenced by the shocking ICE numbers that were released last week detailing her abhorrent dereliction of duty of not securing the border allowing murderers, rapists, and convicted criminals to pour into our country to terrorize communities. Data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement said 13,000 migrants convicted of homicide are living in the U.S. outside of immigration detention. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told NBC News that the data goes back four decades, predating the Biden administration. The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump's remarks on Sunday. In a statement about Trump's rally Saturday, Harris campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said Trump has "nothing inspiring to offer the American people, just darkness." "The American people deserve better than Trumps bleak, backward-looking Project 2025 agenda," she added. Some Republicans also pushed back against Trump's comments on Saturday. Asked by ABC News whether he approved of Trump's language invoking "mentally impaired" and "mentally disabled," House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., said, "I think we should stick on the issues." Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was confronted with a clip of Trump's remarks during an interview on CNN. "I just think the better course to take is to prosecute the case that her policies are destroying the country, they're crazy liberal," he said. Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican who is running for the Senate, said in a CBS News interview that Trumps comments were insulting, not only to the vice president, but to people that actually do have mental disabilities. Hogan, whose prospects of winning in blue Maryland would most likely be weakened if he were associated with Trump, has said neither Trump nor Harris has "earned my vote." Jake Traylor reported from Erie and Megan Lebowitz from Washington. RED HILL, N.C. James Waters watched Helene's torrential rains and fierce winds decimate his farm set among the hilly slopes of Appalachian North Carolina, snapping trees, ripping out fences and causing a landslide. "The whole side of the mountain came down," he said. "Then it filled up the valley with mud." It took him a full day to dig to the main road with a farm excavator. He found roads strewn with downed power lines, fallen limbs, thick mud, and debris. In some areas, cars were washed into ditches. One neighbor found a body near a riverbank, he said. No one had cell service or power. People couldnt find out if their relatives were alive or dead. Waters knew he had a huge recovery ahead. But his family had survived. So, like others in the area, he first grabbed his chainsaw to help clear roads and check on neighbors. On Sunday afternoon, it led him to pull his muddy white Chevy pickup an 8,000-watt generator in the back up to a darkened general store in Red Hill, a tiny mountain community near Bakersville set along a road between steep hillsides. The store, run by Kacie Smith, 28, and her father, is a community hub. Outside, two soda machines sat near an old diesel pump topped with a sign advertising live bait. Inside, residents generally come for pickled eggs, aspirin, chewing tobacco, batteries, lottery tickets, snacks and community news at least before the power went out. Since the storm, the store had lost more than $6,000 worth of stock, the ceiling was sagging from water, and the gas pumps werent working. After arriving, Waters pointed a flashlight at a fuse box to jury-rig the generators connection. Smith said such help is just how things are done. Smith added that much of the tree removal from roadways in her area by Sunday was completed by local residents, who did not wait for overwhelmed state crews. "Its Red Hill its a pretty tight community, she said, cautioning that the recovery probably would be long and painful. "Its been just mass destruction around here," she said. Customers stand outside a general store in Red Hill, North Carolina, where residents helped restore power in an area hard hit by Helene. Searching in anguish, fearing the worst Across western North Carolina and parts of eastern Tennessee, Helenes destruction continued to emerge on Sunday. The storm washed away bridges, closed roads, destroyed buildings and cut off power. At least 90 people have died across multiple states since the record-breaking storm hit the U.S. last week. At a church shelter in Greeneville, Tennessee, just over the state line and run by the Red Cross, volunteers made pancakes early Sunday for a handful of people still sleeping on cots after being forced from their homes. Many who were there on a previous night had found housing with friends or in hotels, said Pat Barraclough, a volunteer. In Erwin, a town of about 6,000, people streamed into a local high school serving as a shelter to get hot food, bottled water and clothing. Some were still searching in anguish for missing relatives, fearing they were swept away in the floods. Others, having lost access to homes or had their businesses damaged, were grappling with next steps. Some had arrived from North Carolina, weaving through treacherous mountain backroads littered with downed power lines and collapsed trees and avoiding roads where bridges had been washed out. Some bought fuel for generators and returned home. How can I help those affected by Helene? Here are ways you can donate. Farther west of Red Hill, in the town of Burnsville, more than 100 people stood in line at a grocery store for food. At another location, people clustered around an emergency relief Wi-Fi site. The roads were choked with utility trucks and emergency vehicles. Smith had made a trip to Tennessee, too, where phone service was still operable. Back in Red Hill on Sunday, she talked to a steady stream of people pulling up to ask for directions. "How is the road down to the bridge? Can I get my car to it?" one woman asked. "Can I get over it?" "They were working on it," she replied. "You might be able to get through today." One resident handed over a slip of paper and asked Smith to make a call the next time she went to a place with cell service. It was a note with a phone number and the name of his neighbors family. "He is OK, but we have no power, cell or internet," it read. Smith said most of her neighbors made it, too. And she has faith theyll be OK. "Everybody around heres in the same boat. But theyll survive," Smith said. "Theyve got their grill, their generators." 'Were going to check on the neighbors. Thats what we do' Waters isnt sure that insurance will cover his losses to his farm, which include cattle and a sawmill. He know its a long road. At least his Scottish Highland cows survived, he said. But he sees a silver lining, too, watching some people who rarely speak suddenly thrust into helping one another. Thats heartening in a time of political division, he said. And that silver lining extends to his kids, too, he said. "Theyre learning about life without the internet. My son got to go out and learn about helping the neighbors," Waters said. "Hes like, 'Where are we going?' Were going to check on the neighbors. Thats what we do. These are good lessons." As Sunday afternoon light waned, Waters helped by friends who tried to sort out why the generator wasnt working finally saw the lights flicker back on as the generator roared. The lottery sign lit up. The freezer came back on. The gas pumps werent working, but they kept at it. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Helene's destruction in North Carolina: Town bands to stay united Key takeaways Opening a savings account for a child can help teach them valuable financial skills, such as money management and goal setting. Custodial accounts can hold more than just cash and may affect future financial aid eligibility. Kids' savings accounts often come with features like parental controls, educational tools and apps for learning about money. Opening a savings account for your child can provide a safe place for their money and allow the funds to earn some interest all while teaching them about banking and money management. When setting up an account for a child, parents can choose between a custodial account or a savings account designed for kids. Many financial institutions offer both options, making it relatively simple to find one thats right for your family. Types of kids bank accounts The main difference between a custodial account and a kids savings account is the way the two types of accounts are structured. Custodial accounts A custodial account is an account that parents can set up and manage on their minor childs behalf, and the child is able to take over the account upon becoming a legal adult. Once a custodial account has been established, any adult can contribute to it and once a deposit has been made to an account, it cant be revoked. Custodial accounts come in two varieties, with their main difference being the types of assets they can hold. Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (UGMA) accounts: UGMA accounts can hold financial assets such as cash, securities, annuities and insurance policies. These accounts can be opened in all 50 states. Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) accounts: UTMA accounts are more flexible than UGMA accounts, in that they can hold any type of property, whether its tangible or intangible, including real estate, artwork, royalties and patents. Transfers to these accounts are also permitted through inheritance. These accounts can be opened in every state but South Carolina and Vermont. Unlike a savings account, a custodial account can hold more than just cash. Your ability to include investments provides the potential for larger long-term gains than a savings account. A downside of custodial accounts is that since the assets are owned by a minor, it could impact the ability of the child to get federal financial aid for college. Both brick-and-mortar and online-only banks may offer UGMA or UTMA accounts, though the annual percentage yield (APY) may be substantially higher with an online bank. Savings accounts for kids An alternative to a custodial account is a savings account thats designed for children under age 18, and there is joint ownership between the parent and child. The best savings accounts for kids may come with perks such as apps with educational content and parental controls, birthday bucks for kids and debit cards for teenagers. Look for a childrens savings account with no maintenance fees, no minimum balance requirement and a comparatively high annual percentage yield (APY). What happens when the child turns 18 years old can vary from bank to bank. The account may be converted to an adult savings account, or it may remain jointly held until the owners decide to make changes. There are many benefits of opening a savings account for a child, such as: Helping them learn to plan ahead, as well as stay focused on goals and priorities. Teaching them to save for the things they want until they can afford it. Showing how their money can grow, thanks to compound interest. Giving kids hands-on experience with banking online as well as at a branch. Learning financial responsibility takes time, so dont give your child more than he or she is ready to handle. Remember that a joint savings account gives your child access to the money, so some parents may want to choose an account that provides parental controls. How to open a savings account for a child In some ways, opening a savings account for a child is very similar to opening one for an adult. Tips to consider when shopping for a savings account for your child include: 1. Open a savings account, not a checking account Checking accounts are for spending money whereas youre likely trying to teach your child how to save. Its advisable to wait until your son or daughter is a teenager or has a job before allowing them full access to a checking account. You may need to supply some identification documents for your child during the account opening process, such as a social security card or birth certificate. 2. Bank at the branch and online With your help, your child can sign on to the banks website or use its app to learn about managing their account from a smartphone or computer. They can check the account balance, transaction history and interest earned. Your child may be tech-savvy enough to do basic banking functions online, but it can also be helpful for them to learn proper banking etiquette at a brick-and-mortar branch. When kids receive money for a birthday or doing chores, they may enjoy visiting a branch to hand the money to the teller and receive a paper deposit receipt. 3. Find a bank that promotes financial education Some banks make saving fun and teach kids good money habits through offerings like mobile app features, online tutorials and birthday bonuses. Ask a banker and check the banks website to see what resources they provide for young people. The website of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a financial regulatory and education agency, is also a good place to find information on teaching your child about money matters. Best banks for kids accounts Bank accounts for children are available at various banks and credit unions large and small, including: Alliant Credit Union Bank of America Bethpage Federal Credit Union Capital One Golden 1 Credit Union USALLIANCE Federal Credit Union Wells Fargo The best bank accounts for kids typically come with valuable features and perks for children and parents. 4. Look for the highest yields Search for high-yield savings accounts. Credit unions and online-only banks typically offer the best rates, but dont just shop for rates. Accounts with the highest rates may not have other features that you want. 5. Avoid account fees and ask about features Some banks and credit unions waive monthly fees and minimum-balance requirements if the account is for a minor child. Ask about account perks and features, such as online tutorials and parental controls. 6. Dont forget about saving for college Most parents cant afford to wait when it comes to saving money for their childs education. The average cost to send a child to a public, in-state, four-year institution is $11,260 per academic year, according to College Board. Its $41,540 for a private, nonprofit four-year school. There are a variety of ways to build up savings for that daunting expense. You just have to decide which one works best for your familys goals and circumstances. 529 account : Most parents save for college in 529 plans, which allow you to invest after-tax money into diversified, low-cost stock and bond funds and then withdraw the money tax-free for qualified education expenses. UGMA/UTMA accounts : UGMA and UTMA accounts are custodial accounts that allow parents, grandparents and others to transfer assets to a minor child. The assets are managed for the child until he or she reaches adulthood. Custodial accounts are considered assets, so they have tax implications. Be wary of these accounts if you suspect your child may one day need financial aid to attend college custodial accounts can disqualify a student or reduce how much they qualify to receive. Education Savings Account (ESA): Also known as Coverdell ESAs, these accounts get no special tax treatment from the states, but federal taxes are deferred. The IRS doesnt tax withdrawals as long as they are used for qualifying education expenses. ESAs have little impact on eligibility for financial aid, even if the student owns the account. Whatever your financial goals are for your child, make learning about money fun. The rewards will pay off handsomely for both of you. Childrens savings accounts FAQs What do I need to open a savings account for my child? To open a savings account for your child, you typically need to provide information including your childs name, birthdate and Social Security number. Youll also likely need to provide your own Social Security number, drivers license number, address, phone number and email address. Youll likely be able to deposit money in person (if youre at a branch) or via an electronic transfer from another bank account. Some banks require a minimum opening deposit. What happens to my kids bank account at age 18? Often, banks will automatically convert a kids savings account to an adult one when a child turns 18 years old. The bank may provide paperwork to be signed by your child at that time. Can I open a savings account for a baby? Yes, you can open a savings account for a baby at banks and credit unions that offer kids bank accounts. You must provide the required verification documents to open an account, such as the babys Social Security number and birth certificate. Bottom line Its never too soon to get your child started on a savings path and a kid-friendly savings account can go a long way toward establishing good money-saving habits. Theyre not only a safe place to keep money and earn a little interest, but theyre also a proven way to help teach your child about money management and saving toward financial goals. Freelance writer Kevin Payne contributed to updating this article. OpenAI announced last week it would be restructuring as a for-profit company. Anadolu OpenAI is transitioning to a for-profit company so it can raise billions more in funding. The company has operated under a nonprofit board since its launch, adding a for-profit arm in 2019. It'll need to take several steps as part of this change. OpenAI took the tech world by surprise again when it announced last week that it was changing its governance structure and going all-in on profit for social good. Since its launch in 2015, OpenAI has operated under the supervision of a nonprofit board, with a mission to develop artificial general intelligence that is safe and benefits humanity. It added a for-profit arm in 2019 to help it raise money to fund that mission. Tensions grew between the nonprofit purists and those who wanted to move more quickly to develop and release products. It all came to a head last November when CEO Sam Altman, who his former coworkers have said subscribes to a more aggressive development approach, was briefly ousted by the board. Almost a year later, many of those who disagreed with Altman's approach are gone, and OpenAI is transitioning into a fully for-profit company. It is also trying to raise a fresh round of $6.5 billion in funding from tech giants like Microsoft, Nvidia, and several venture firms under the stipulation that in two years, it will become a public benefit company. The nonprofit will remain but retain only a minority stake. It seems OpenAI's backers are intent on seeing returns on their investments. It's an unprecedented shift for an unprecedented company, but the AI race has ushered in some unusual times. There are several complex steps the company will need to take to make this change in under two years. Here are some of the most critical ones: Asset Conversion When a nonprofit converts to a for-profit entity, it must ensure that it retains assets equal in value to what it transfers to the for-profit. In OpenAI's case, this also includes assets like patents on technology. OpenAI's operations would likely be sold to the for-profit, with the nonprofit keeping the proceeds. "Assets previously donated to the public benefit cannot be repurposed to private benefit without compensating the public for the loss," Alexander Reid, a partner at BakerHostetler, told The Wall Street Journal. Equity Right now, OpenAI's investors are set to receive a cut of its future profits, but it will need to translate those stakes into equity in the new company. Microsoft's more than $13 billion investment in OpenAI means it would have a sizable amount of equity in the new structure, which might warrant antitrust regulation, the Journal reported. Altman's equity Under the new structure, Altman is set to get equity in the company. Reports have suggested that discussions have been underway at OpenAI to give Altman a 7% equity stake, valued at some $150 billion. Altman dismissed those reports as "ludicrous," according to The Information. If true, the size of that stake could raise a few eyebrows among the public, as the company will still be committed to building technology for the public good. Governance Structure OpenAI will need to make decisions regarding the governance of the new for-profit entity and its relationship to the nonprofit. It'll also need to decide who would govern the new nonprofit and where the nonprofit would direct its resources. Legal Changes OpenAI must also change its structure under Delaware law. The good news is that changing should be the easiest part of the process because Delaware has business-friendly laws, Jill Horwitz, a professor at UCLA, told the Journal. Ongoing Litigation OpenAI must address legal challenges that could impact its transition, including a lawsuit from Elon Musk, which claims that OpenAI and its cofounders, Altman and Greg Brockman, put commercial interests ahead of the public benefit. Read the original article on Business Insider Claudia Sheinbaum is swarmed by admirers during her presidential campaign in May. She was elected in a landslide in July and will be sworn in Tuesday as Mexico's first-ever female president. RODRIGO OROPEZA/AFP via Getty Images This home in Allende, in the state of Coahuila in northern Mexico, was torched by the Zetas cartel during a 2011 massacre. It stands as an emblem of entrenched criminal violence in the country. Mexicans are looking to their next president, Claudia Sheinbaum, to curb the violence. Eduardo Verdugo, STF / Associated Press Soldiers traveling in armored vehicles patrol an area where a body was found lying on the side of a road, in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. Eduardo Verdugo/AP Crime scene investigators work at the site where a body was found lying on the side of a road in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. Eduardo Verdugo/AP EL PASO Victor Gonzalez fears for his safety every time he drives to meet potential clients outside his home base, the city of Aguascalientes in central Mexico. The reason: gangland violence. About this story This article is published in partnership with Puente News Collaborative, a bilingual nonprofit newsroom, convener and funder dedicated to coverage of the U.S.-Mexico border. Eduardo Garcia is a former chief of Bloombergs Mexico bureau and founder of the financial website Sentido Comun. Sandra Dibble has reported on the U.S.-Mexico border since 1994 and is a former Tijuana-based correspondent for the San Diego Union-Tribune. She writes a monthly newsletter on the border for the nonprofit news site Voice of San Diego. Alfredo Corchado is executive editor of Puente News Collaborative and a former Mexico correspondent for the Dallas Morning News. He is the author of Midnight in Mexico and Homelands. The article was edited by Dudley Althaus, a former Mexico City bureau chief for the Houston Chronicle, Mexico correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and special border correspondent for the San Antonio Express-News. If I go to Guadalajara, Im scared to death, Gonzalez said in an interview. Its very complicated to leave Aguascalientes. There are flights between Aguascalientes and Zacatecas, a laughable 20-minute flight, just to avoid the roads. Its extremely dangerous. Advertisement Article continues below this ad He loves Mexico, and he built a successful business there. His company Solinda, which makes precision machinery, brings in $4.4 million a year in revenue. Yet Gonzalez is moving with his family to El Paso. He says he might also move some of his manufacturing operations north of the border. He was one of more than 60 Mexican investors who gathered in El Paso recently to explore the possibility. Their fears underscore one of the biggest challenges facing Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico's first female president, who will be sworn in on Tuesday. Her center-left Morena party will control the national Congress and most of the countrys 32 state governments, giving her enormous political capital. Sheinbaum, 62, and other Mexican officials are counting on a wave of companies moving operations to Mexico from China and elsewhere to boost the economy and help millions climb out of poverty. Mexicos proximity to the U.S., its raft of free-trade agreements and its low-wage labor have made it a magnet for companies looking to avoid geopolitical tensions between China and the US. The countrys attractiveness as a business location increased after the COVID pandemic disrupted the supply chain between Asia and North America. Advertisement Article continues below this ad A Mexican National Guard soldier in Matamoros. Cartel violence is a deterrent to foreign investment in Mexico. ALEJANDRO CEGARRA/NYT 'Public security is critical' But to entice factories from Asia, Sheinbaum must deal with crime and cartel violence. Skittish manufacturing executives already eye U.S. cities such as Dallas, Austin and San Diego as alternatives. If we talk about Tijuana, the issue of public security is critical, said Carlos Jaramillo, an industrial park developer and business leader in the Mexican border city. Were seeing organized crime gain ground. Mexico became the U.S.s largest trading partner in 2022, surpassing both China and Canada. Deepening U.S.-Mexico trade ties have been driven by the North American Free Trade Agreement, which took effect in 1994, and its successor, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, reached in 2020. The trade pact is up for review by all three countries in 2026. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The United States and Canada together take nearly 90 percent of Mexicos exports. Shipments from Mexico comprise more than 15 percent of U.S. imports, while goods from the United States total nearly half of Mexicos annual imports. Once dependent on oil revenue, Mexico now has the world's 15th largest economy, powered by manufacturing. To take on organized crime, Sheinbaum has turned to Omar Garcia Harfuch, who served as Mexico City's secretary of citizen security, the equivalent of chief of police, when Sheinbaum was mayor of the capital city from 2018-23. He commanded a police force of 88,000. "Together, they slashed the citys crime rates and became strong allies," according to the nonprofit Americas Quarterly, a foreign affairs journal. Even so, Garcia Harfuch was wounded in an assassination attempt in June 2020 while driving on the famed Paseo de la Reforma, which runs through the heart of the capital. He was in an armored Chevy Suburban, traveling to his daily briefing with Sheinbaum. Two members of his security detail and a passerby were killed in the ambush. Garcia Harfuch blamed the attack on the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. In his previous job as head of the investigation division of Mexico's federal police, Garcia Harfuch was credited with capturing hundreds of kidnappers, securing the release of hundreds of kidnapping victims and dismantling criminal gangs. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Sheinbaum has announced he will serve in her presidential administration as secretary of security and civilian protection. Many hope he can weaken the grip of criminal organizations that are believed to control as much as a third of Mexico, besieging communities and extorting companies, including large corporations. But security is not the only issue worrying investors these days. A recent overhaul of Mexicos judicial branch, providing for popular election of magistrates, federal judges and even Supreme Court justices beginning next year, has many concerned. Mexican soldiers on patrol after two Americans were killed and two were kidnapped in Matamoros last year. ALEJANDRO CEGARRA/NYT 'Erosion of democracy' feared Outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador championed the changes with support from Sheinbaum, saying they would make the judiciary accountable to the public rather than to cartels or big companies. But critics contend the measures will erode Mexicos already fragile legal institutions by exposing judges to naked political pressure and threats of violence. An independent judiciary has provided investors some protection against corruption and government interference. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Critics see the reforms as part of a strategy to solidify the hegemony of the Morena party, which was founded by Lopez Obrador. A similar political machine ruled Mexico for most of the past century, until the opposition won the presidency in 2000. The critics fear Morenas unfettered grip on power could threaten market-friendly reforms and free-trade agreements that began transforming Mexicos economy in the mid-1980s. Consolidation of power augurs the erosion of what we call democracy broadly, said Tony Garza, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico under President George W. Bush. Mexicos ability to continue playing a starring role as a strategic partner in economic security initiatives and nearshoring could evaporate, Ryan C. Berg, senior fellow at the Americas Program of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C., wrote in a recent report. The judicial changes could prompt international companies and investors to view Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Panama as viable alternatives to Mexico, Berg and other critics contend. In the worst-case scenario, it could prompt a reconsideration of Mexicos role in the North American bloc, Berg said. Sheinbaum dismisses such warnings as exaggerated, insisting that both Mexican and foreign investors have nothing to fear. Rather, she and her allies say, the judicial overhaul aims to eradicate corruption in Mexicos courts. Legal experts and political observers remain unconvinced. Still, some are hopeful her policy proposals will depart, even if only slightly, from those of Lopez Obrador, a charismatic nationalist who favors firm state control of the economy. 'Investment decisions ... on hold' Under Lopez Obrador, private energy investments have been curtailed in favor of bolstering the two state-owned energy companies Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE) and Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex). Sheinbaum, an environmental scientist with a doctorate in energy engineering, has long championed renewable energy. And bets are being laid that shell loosen private investment in the electricity generation sector. Her promotion of solar energy as Mexico City mayor inspires confidence that she will be able to develop an attractive strategy for generating electricity from renewable sources, said Antonio Ocaranza, head of consulting firm OCA Reputacion. Some see other positive signals. They say Sheinbaums administration may prove more professional and technically proficient than the current one, which is often seen as capricious. Among other capable moderates, Sheinbaum has appointed Marcelo Ebrard as economy minister, Juan Ramon de la Fuente as foreign minister and Emilia Calleja as head of CFE. Keystone - Getty Images The sun was rising over the Nevada desert when my boyfriend informed me that for the past several months, hed been sleeping with my best friends roommate. His confession shouldnt have come as a shock. Id seen signs of their intimacy all week at Burning Man, from their legs casually touching as we shared a hookah to the excuses he kept making to stop by her camp. And as someone whod expressly agreed to an open relationship with him, I was technically a willing participant in this triangle. But that didnt stop the animalistic rage from overtaking me that dawn. What had merely been an abstract idea of sex with other women abruptly transformed into the tangible reality of naked encounters with a person who shared toothpaste with my closest friend. A person Id been socially acquainted with for years, whose bountiful confidence I envied, who drank her morning coffee in a kitchen where Id spent countless hours. So I did what any rational, begrudged girlfriend would do in response: I screamed and howled, waking up friends in nearby tents. I knocked over his bin of Burning Man costumes and sent colorful fabric flying through the dust. I sobbed until I couldnt breathe, and when I ran out of tears, I shuffled around our camp like a zombie until my eyes were ready to produce more. Needless to say, it was clear our relationship wasnt strong enough to survive this piece of information. tina shen - Getty Images Earlier that summer, Id left my job as an editor, rented a storage unit, and moved to Mexico City with nothing but a very large backpack and the previous years uncashed Christmas bonus check. I had spent most of my twenties on a journalism career escalator, and after a half-decade tethered to my laptop in service of the 24-hour online news cycle, I felt burned out and ready for a new adventure. I accepted a fellowship with a microfinance nonprofit and begged my boyfriend to join me in Latin America. He didnt want to leave the U.S.but he also didnt want to break up. Ours was one of those fiery connections that hijacked my common sense, our catalog of inside jokes annoying to everyone who didnt inhabit our two-person universe, our dalliances and disagreements both equally explosive. When I wasnt with him, I fantasized about our next encounter or fretted about whatever argument wed inevitably gotten into the last time we saw each other. Like most other addictions, logic informed me that my life would be a lot healthier without him, and lust won the battle against logic every single time. Maybe now would be a good time to experiment with opening up our relationship? my boyfriend suggested nonchalantly as I balled up the remaining clothing items I hadnt put into storage and shoved them in my backpack. I hesitated at first, but by the time I left for the airport, hed convinced me. Wed be living 2,216 miles apart, after all. Didnt I want the freedom to build a life for myself in my new city without giving up my long-term relationship? During my earliest weeks in Mexico, I read self-help books like Sex at Dawn and The Ethical Slut. I recited arguments in my mind about why it made perfect sense for someone you love to enjoy intimacy with others, why lifelong monogamy was an unrealistic societal expectation that bore no resemblance to our biological roots, why just because my partner connected physically with other women didnt mean he loved me any less. I memorized the dictionary definition of compersion and tried desperately to absorb it into my psyche. I went on a series of hollow, meaningless dates and immediately felt guilty if I so much as kissed my suitors on the cheek at the end of the night. But mostly, I agonized about my boyfriends love life. I obsessed over who he was with and who he might be meeting. I combed through his list of Facebook friends, searching for new women he had added since Id last seen him. I lost five pounds because I was constantly sick to my stomach. Though Id requested our open relationship follow a dont ask, dont tell arrangement, assuming Id feel worse if I knew about other people he was seeing, the absence of information only freed up my imagination to torture me with detailed, fantastical scenarios. Bettmann - Getty Images Then one morning, as I scrolled through social media for the umpteenth excruciating time, I noticed that my best friends roommatea woman named Ari who Id shared pleasant exchanges with on a number of occasionshad posted a quote from my boyfriends favorite book, Jitterbug Perfume, on her own Facebook account. A few days later, a handful of photos of the two of them laughing together at a beach party surfaced on both their pages. I had plans to meet a colleague from my fellowship at a cafe that afternoon, but I was so distraught by the thought of my boyfriend and Ari together that I canceled and spent the day in bed. Pretty soon Ari replaced my boyfriend as the object of my fraught fantasies. I checked her Facebook and Instagram feeds daily, poring over even the most inconsequential updates to try to uncover more clues about her life, interests, desires, and potential relationship with my partner. I clicked through her collection of photos, disarmed by her confident smile, her free spirit, her diverse group of friends. I was deeply jealous of her. I hated her. I wanted to be her. I called my best friend on Skype. Is Ari hooking up with my boyfriend? I blurted out before she could say hello. Im staying out of this, my best friend replied gently, reminding me that I was the one who didnt want to know any details about his dating life. Yet her face all but confirmed that my suspicions were correct. And when I flew from Mexico to Nevada to meet my boyfriend at Burning Man later that summer, the misalignment of our relationship preferences reached a breaking point. A year later, my Latin American escapades had run their course. I returned to San Francisco in search of a steady job and place to live. My best friend offered me a coveted room in her house: a thirteen-person communal living situation inside a historic Victorian mansion in the vibrant Mission District. Ari, of course, lived there with her. But Id spent the past year recovering from my mercurial relationship with my ex-boyfriend, absorbed by the resplendence of my travels. Though I still felt a sting when I thought about Ari, the opportunity to cohabitate with my best friend outweighed any residual discomfort. My connection with Ari was tentative at first: a yoga class here, a cooking session there. During our first few encounters, I felt awkward and shrill, the gal who couldnt hang within the confines of a modern, enlightened romantic configuration. I talked too loudly and immediately judged myself for everything that came out of my mouth, marveling at the ease with which Ari carried herself through our house, at parties, down Valencia Street. Eventually, our forced interactions began to feel natural. We discovered we both loved tuna melts and spent an afternoon procuring the fanciest loaf of bread and tinned fish we could find, laughing as we concocted absurdly extravagant sandwiches. We realized we wore the same size clothing and regularly began raiding one anothers closets. When she found out I used to struggle with depression, she approached me for advice about another friend of hers, and felt comfortable enough to cry in my presence. Finally, after a few months of forming a genuine friendship, we teetered onto the topic of our shared ex. It turned out, her connection with him had been the same as mine: passionate, volatile, unpredictable. When shed found out how upset I had been upon learning about their relationship, she was devastated (hed spent the summer insisting to her that I was totally cool with everything). They were no longer in touch, and she had no interest in ever seeing him again. In fact, wed both been equally anxious to broach the subject with one anotherand equally relieved to discover we had similar feelings. George Marks - Getty Images Society tends to fan the flames of toxic female competitiveness, casting the other woman as a devious snake. Shes unilaterally at fault for seducing the man we love, who maintains his innocence. My friendship with Ari taught me just how inaccurate that story can be. In the years since we lived together in San Francisco, our relationship has only grown stronger. My best friend and I brought her into our fold, and now as a trio, we form the foundation of each others whole worlds. Our text thread constantly buzzes throughout the day with triumphs, frustrations, epiphanies, photos, and hot takes on everything from Ezra Kleins podcast to season 4 of Succession to our latest vintage store finds. We share the mundane and the miraculous with equal enthusiasm, and I feel privileged to bear witness to their lives. Its more than friendshipits emotional life-partnership. And I consider our relationship to be one of the things Im most proud of, right up there with writing a book, getting sober, mastering Spanish, and raising my dog. A few years ago, on a trip to Rosarito, my ex-boyfriend texted me to say happy birthday. Ari was next to me when my phone pinged with his unexpected overture. In response, we made silly faces and snapped a selfie, devolving into a fit of giggles when I pressed send. I tossed my phone on the nightstand and went outside to join her in the hot tub before I could see his reply. By then, neither of us cared all that much about what he had to say. You Might Also Like Rebel Wilson and Ramona Agruma kept their romance low-key for months before offering a glimpse at their bond. In May 2022, Wilson hinted that she was seeing someone new while discussing her attempts to get back into the dating scene. I deliberately wanted to push myself to date a bunch of people and gain that experience, which I know is not normal, but it really helped me find out what I liked and what I didnt like, she shared on the U Up? podcast following her split from Jacob Busch. One month later, the actress took her relationship with Agruma public on social media. I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess #loveislove, Wilson wrote alongside an Instagram selfie of the happy couple in June 2022. The pair's connection was apparent to everyone around them. "Rebel [Wilson] is very happy all around in her new relationship, with her body and her career," a source exclusively told Us Weekly. They are enjoying getting to know each other and spending this time together. Rebel loves how down-to-earth Ramona is and that they have a lot in common. They're taking things slow but are excited to see what the future holds." The twosome announced their engagement in February 2023, getting married one year later. Scroll down to relive Wilson's sweet romance with Agruma: ATLANTA (AP) A day before a trial is set to begin on a challenge to two new controversial rules concerning the certification of vote tallies in Georgia, Democrats on Monday said they filed a lawsuit targeting another new rule that requires the number of paper ballots to be counted by hand at polling places after the close of voting. The Republicans who hold a majority on the State Election Board praised by name by former President Donald Trump at a recent rally have recently voted to pass a number of new rules governing the administration of elections. Democrats and other critics including Georgia's top elections official have said it's too close to the general election to pass new rules and worry they could cause confusion or undermine public confidence in the results. A trial is set to begin Tuesday before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney on a legal challenge that Democrats filed arguing that the two new certification rules could be used to upend the statutorily required process for certifying election results in Georgia. It's a bench trial, meaning there's no jury. One of the rules at issue in Tuesday's trial provides a definition of certification that includes requiring county officials to conduct a reasonable inquiry" before certifying results, but it does not specify what that means. The other includes language allowing county election officials to examine all election related documentation created during the conduct of elections. A series of recent appointments gave Trump-endorsed Republicans a 3-2 majority on the board in May. That majority has passed several new rules over the past two months that Democrats and others worry could be used by Trump and his allies to cause confusion and cast doubt on the results if he loses the crucial swing state to Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in November's presidential election. The lawsuit that Democrats said they filed Monday challenges a rule that requires three workers at each polling place to count the number of paper ballots not votes by hand on election night after voting ends. The lawsuit, brought by the state and national Democratic parties and four county election officials, argues that the rule is very likely unlawful," saying that it improperly adds a new requirement to the state election code. It notes that before the new ballot-counting rule was passed on Sept. 20, the attorney general's office and the secretary of state's office both wrote to the State Election Board advising against passing this rule or any others so close to the general election. Election board member Janice Johnston said a few days after the ballot-counting rule was adopted that there appeared to be an irrational and widespread panic over the rule. She rejected assertions that that rule and others might be the basis to not certify the election, and said they are meant to ensure chain of custody on election night so that there are no missing ballots. A separate lawsuit filed by a group led by a former Republican lawmaker initially challenged the two certification rules and was amended last week to also challenge the ballot-counting rule and some others that the board passed. That challenge has been assigned to a different judge. The challenge to the certification rules filed by Democratic groups and others asks the judge to confirm that election superintendents a multi-person election board in most counties have a duty to certify an election by the deadline provided in the law and have no discretion to withhold or delay certification. They ask that the judge declare the new rules invalid if he believes they allow such discretion. The state attorney general's office, representing the State Election Board, argues that the Democrats are asking the judge to declare what is already enshrined in Georgia law, that county certification is mandatory and must occur by 5 p.m. the Monday after the election, or the next day if Monday is a holiday, as it is this year. They also argue the challenge is barred by the principle of sovereign immunity and seeks relief that isn't appropriate under the law. The challenge was filed by the state and national Democratic parties, as well as county election board members from counties in metro Atlanta, most chosen by the local Democratic Party, and voters who support Democrats and two Democratic state lawmakers running for reelection. It was filed against the State Election Board, and Republican parties both state and national joined the fight on the board's side. The Democrats concede in their challenge that the two rules could be read not to conflict with Georgia statutes but they argue that is not what the drafters of those rules intended. According to their drafters, these rules rest on the assumption that certification of election results by a county board is discretionary and subject to free-ranging inquiry that may delay certification or render it wholly optional, they wrote in a court filing. They also note that numerous county election officials around the state have already sought to block or delay certification in recent elections and the new rules hand those officials new tools to do so again in November. State lawyers argue that since the argument against the rules is based on the alleged intent of the people who presented them or the way some officials could interpret them, rather than on the text of the rules themselves, the challenge should be thrown out. State lawyers also argue the Democrats' attempt to have the judge issue a declaratory judgment is prohibited under sovereign immunity, which protects state and local governments from being sued unless they agree to it. The Democrats' lawyers argue this challenge falls under a carve-out provided in state law saying the state has specifically consented to be sued and has explicitly waived its sovereign immunity as to declaratory judgment actions in which the rules of its agencies are challenged. Lawyers for both sides also invoke a 2006 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that courts should not change election rules right before an election. Lawyers for the Republican groups say prohibiting the enforcement of the new rules in the final weeks before voting starts would inject judicially created confusion, which the Supreme Court ruling meant to protect against. Lawyers for the Democrats say the ruling applies to federal courts, not state courts, to keep federal courts from intruding in a matter having to do with state laws. Even if it did apply in this case, they contend, it would support their arguments because it argues against long-standing election rules being changed close to an election. Ukrainian serviceman of 56th brigade fire by self-propelled artillery towards Russian positions at the frontline on Chasiv Yar direction, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) KYIV, Ukraine (AP) The Russian government wants to earmark 32.5% of its spending next year for defense, a record amount and up from a reported 28.3% this year, as Moscow seeks to prevail in the war in Ukraine. The governments draft budget released Monday proposes spending just under 13.5 trillion rubles (over $145 billion) on national defense. That is about 3 trillion rubles ($32 billion) more than was set aside for defense this year and was the previous record. The Ukraine war is Europes biggest conflict since World War II and has drained the resources of both sides, with Ukraine getting billions of dollars in help from its Western allies. Russias forces are bigger and better-equipped than Ukraines, and in recent months the Russian army has gradually been pushing Ukrainian troops backward in eastern areas. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the United States last week in pursuit of continuing financial and military support as the war approaches its three-year milestone next February. Russian President Vladimir Putin is also looking how to sustain his war effort as military spending has placed a huge strain on the Russian economy. Earlier this month, Russias central bank raised its key interest rate by a full percentage point to 19% to combat high inflation. It held out the prospect of more rate increases to return inflation from the current 9.1% to the banks target of 4% in 2025. According to the draft budget, spending on defense should decline in 2026. The proposed budget could still change as it goes through three readings in the State Duma, Russias lower parliament house, and then goes to the Federation Council, the upper house, before Russian President Vladimir Putin signs it into law. Meanwhile, Putin on Monday signed a call-up order for 133,000 conscripts in the autumn military draft, which is a routine number for seasonal conscription campaigns. In September, he ordered the countrys military to increase Russia's number of troops by 180,000 to a total of 1.5 million. Overall military personnel would be about 2.4 million. Overnight, Russia fired missiles and drones at 11 regions of Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said Monday, in a 33rd consecutive night of aerial attacks behind the front line and set a new monthly record of drone barrages. It was the first time Russians launched more than 1,000 Shahed drones in a month. It was also the first time the Iranian-made drones were used in every aerial attack on each day of the month. In Kyiv, multiple explosions and machine gun fire could be heard throughout the night as the Ukrainian capitals air defenses fought off a drone attack for five hours. No casualties were reported in Kyiv or elsewhere, though a critical infrastructure object caught fire in the southern Mykolaiv region, Gov. Vitalii Kim said, without elaborating. Russia has increasingly deployed Shahed drones, rather than more expensive missiles, in its aerial bombardment of Ukrainian cities since its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022. It launched more than 1,300 Shahed drones at Ukraine in September alone the highest number of drone attacks in a single month since the war began. Ukraine, too, has developed a new generation of drones for the battlefield and for long-range strikes deep inside Russia. More than 100 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russia on Sunday, Russian officials said. Also Monday, Putin released a video marking the second anniversary of the annexation of four Ukrainian territories and again accused the West of turning Ukraine into a military base aimed at Russia. Putin was speaking to mark the annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine after a referendum held in 2022 which was denounced by the West as a sham. Russia also illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. Since 2022, Putin said, businesses in the occupied areas are being actively restored and hospitals and schools are being rebuilt. Thousands of Ukrainians fled from the four regions as a result of Russias invasion, but Putin said Russias military operation in the country was to defend residents well-being and the future for our children and grandchildren. ___ Litvinova contributed from Tallinn, Estonia. ___ Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Sign up for CNNs Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. After their weeklong journey turned into a monthslong stay on the International Space Station, two Boeing Starliner astronauts are now within reach of the spacecraft that will eventually bring them home. The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, chosen by NASA to carry astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore back to Earth after their Starliner spacecraft was deemed too risky for crew, has arrived the space station. The vehicle, on a mission called Crew-9, docked at the ISS at about 5:30 p.m. ET Sunday. On board the SpaceX vehicle were NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. Alongside them were two empty seats, saved for Williams and Wilmore to occupy when the group returns to Earth next year. The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule successfully docked with the International Space Station on Sunday. - NASA The capsules hatch opened at about 7:04 p.m. ET, allowing Hague and Gorbunov to enter the space station. A welcome ceremony with Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, Wilmore and the other seven crew members currently on board the orbiting laboratory took place shortly after. Hague and Gorbunov launched aboard the Crew Dragon Saturday afternoon from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Though they reached their intended orbit without a hitch, SpaceX later revealed that the second stage, or upper portion, of the Falcon 9 rocket that powered the first part of their journey experienced an issue after it broke away from the capsule. After todays successful launch of Crew-9, Falcon 9s second stage was disposed in the ocean as planned, but experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn, the company shared in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. As a result, the second stage safely landed in the ocean, but outside of the targeted area. SpaceX indicated it would pause flights using Falcon 9 the worlds most frequently launched rocket as it explored the anomaly. We will resume launching after we better understand root cause, the company said in the X post. The Federal Aviation Administration told CNN it was looking into the issue. The FAA is aware an anomaly occurred during the SpaceX NASA Crew-9 mission that launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on September 28, the agency said Monday following Crew-9s successful docking. The incident involved the Falcon 9 second stage landing outside of the designated hazard area. No public injuries or public property damage have been reported. The FAA is requiring an investigation. Months in space The original crew of NASAs SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station including (from left), Stephanie Wilson, Nick Hague, Aleksandr Gorbunov of Roscosmos and Zena Cardman poses for a group photo in their flight suits at SpaceXs new Dragon refurbishing facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Cardman and Wilson lost their spots on the mission to make room for Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore. - SpaceX/NASA Together, Hague, Williams, Wilmore and Gorbunov will complete SpaceXs Crew-9 team. The group will spend about five months on board the space station before returning home no earlier than February. Williams and Wilmore first traveled to the International Space Station in early June aboard a Boeing Starliner spacecraft for what was expected to be a weeklong test mission. But issues with helium leaks and malfunctioning thrusters left engineers scrambling to figure out what went wrong and NASA ultimately decided the Starliners problems were not well enough understood for the space agency to allow Williams and Wilmore back on board. The Starliner instead flew home empty on September 6. After deciding not to return Williams and Wilmore to Earth on the Starliner, NASA opted instead to rearrange SpaceXs flight plans, booting two other astronauts spaceflight veteran Stephanie Wilson and Zena Cardman, who was set to make her first trip to space off the Crew-9 mission to make room for the Starliner team. But that meant Williams and Wilmore would have to fulfill the duties of the original Crew-9 staff, taking up months worth of routine work on the space station before their return trip. Space agency officials said spacecraft availability and ISS needs played a role in the decision to keep Williams and Wilmore in space for a full crew rotation rather than bringing them back to Earth sooner. We talked a lot about what to do in terms of when to rotate them back down, said Steve Stich, NASAs Commercial Crew Program manager, in news conference on Friday. When we look at the vehicles that we have ready and the flights it just made a lot of sense to rotate them back down with Crew-9 and have the two empty seats. Obviously the Crew-8 vehicle wasnt the right time to bring them back down. He added that NASAs next mission to the space station will involve a new capsule. We could schedule it a little shorter, but wed have to have another vehicle ready. So when we worked with SpaceX, that next vehicle for Crew-10 thats going to be in the February time frame, thats a brand-new Dragon were trying to get ready, Stich said. Wed like to fly that Dragon and space out the flights across the Dragons. And so really thats the reason well just keep Butch and Suni there a little longer. Both Williams and Wilmore veterans of earlier missions to the space station have said they easily adjusted to the idea of staying in space until next year, with Williams noting the microgravity environment is her happy place. Rounding out the staff currently on board the International Space Station are NASAs Don Pettit and Aleksey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. The three arrived at the space station aboard a Russian Soyuz vehicle on September 11. Pettit and Gorbunov rode aboard spacecraft developed outside their home countries as part of a seat-swapping agreement between NASA and its Russian counterpart. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal said Sunday he is voting for Vice President Harris because of her character, sidestepping questions about former President Trumps fitness for the highest office. I think character is what a person does when theyre under pressure. It is a combination of their deep-seated beliefs, the things, their core values, and the discipline they have to execute those, to live up to them, McChrystal said in an interview on CBS Newss Face the Nation with Robert Costa. So I think when we look at Kamala Harris, we look at her history, she came up as a prosecutor, an attorney general, into the Senate. She has lived a number of experiences that I think build in someone the kind of character thats going to be necessary in the presidency, he continued. McChrystal endorsed Harris in an op-ed in The New York Times on Thursday, touting the vice presidents character while avoiding naming her political opponent. In the Sunday interview, Costa pressed McChrystal on the numerous national security and military officials who have thrown their support behind the vice president over the former president. Asked directly whether he thinks Trump is fit for office, McChrystal did not mention the former president and GOP nominee. I believe that Vice President Harris is fit to lead the country in the presidency. I think shes got the character, McChrystal replied. Costa pressed again: Is he fit for office or not? OK, Bob, lets be honest. Why would a retired military officer come on to endorse his opponent? McChrystal said. You tell me, Costa countered. Because I think character is very important, and so Im voting for character. Im voting for Kamala Harris, McChrystal said. McChrystal has previously criticized the former president. During an interview in 2018, he said he would turn down an offer to join the Trump administration and said, I dont think he tells the truth. He also said he believed Trump was immoral. The GOP nominee lashed out at the retired general several days after the interview, writing in a post on the social platform now known as X, General McChrystal got fired like a dog by Obama. Last assignment a total bust. Known for big, dumb mouth. Hillary lover! Ten retired top military officials have backed Harris over Trump in the presidential race, as have hundreds of top national security officials. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. A U.N. Security Council vote scheduled for Monday on the armed international mission trying to rescue Haiti from the grip of armed gangs is critical to the fate of the operation and for the troubled nations fight for stability, a senior State Department official told the Miami Herald. Some countries cannot make contributions to this effort under their own constitution unless the Security Council authorizes it, the official said about the Multinational Security Support mission in Haiti, currently being led by Kenya. The vote on the extension of the missions mandate is also critical for tapping an $85.3 million U.N. trust fund. The U.S. and Ecuador are asking the Security Council to extend the mandate for the armed mission for another year ahead of its Oct. 2 expiration date. The mission was first approved by the Security Council in October 2023 for a year, but Kenyan police did not begin deploying until late June. Though it is supposed to have a force of as many as 2,500 people, the operation remains understaffed, underfunded and ill-equipped, with 382 Kenyan policemen and 25 security personnel from Jamaica and Belize. The missions money challenges have led Washington to push for it to be transformed into a formal U.N. peacekeeping operation, a move first reported by the Herald which has since been endorsed by the head of Haitis Transitional Presidential Council and Kenyas president. Earlier this month, the U.S. floated a draft resolution asking for the one-year extension of the mission and for the Security Council to transition the operation into a U.N. peacekeeping force. As a U.N. operation, the global entity would pay for the mission, relieving the U.S. of the financial load. As of Sunday, the draft language on peacekeeping had been changed to declare the U.Ss intentions to have the mission transformed in order to achieve progress on security in Haiti. However, the new language is presented in a way as to not sacrifice the renewal of the Kenya-led missions mandate by having Russia and China vote the resolution down, a source said.The two nations, permanent members of the Security Council, have veto power and have been critical of past U.N. interventions in Haiti. We need a resolution and we need to move this mission onto a more sustainable financial path that people can plan against, the U.S. official said on Friday when the language was still asking for preparations to be made to transition the MSS into a peacekeeping operation. He added that many countries with a relationship with either Russia or China said they would push for the nations support on the U.S. request. Crisis worsens Haitis former government first requested an armed international mission to help its beleaguered police force take on the gangs two years ago. At the time, the gangs had taken over a private port, preventing the distribution of fuel and exacerbating an already worsening humanitarian crisis. Today, the crisis has worsened. Gangs have escalated the violence and have tightened their grip on the capital. The U.N.s independent expert on human rights, William ONeill, said the violence has led to more than 700,000 having to flee their homes. Efforts must be redoubled immediately, ONeil said last week as he concluded a visit to Haiti on the same day that Kenyan President William Ruto arrived in Port-au-Prince to check on the progress of his troops before heading to the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York. The U.N. Human Rights Office said Friday that Haitians continue to experience extremely serious human rights violations and abuses, including gang executions, mutilations and rapes. The latest U.N report, which covers the period up to June, noted that between March and June, at least 22 public institutions and 16 police stations and substations were attacked, set on fire or ransacked by gangs in the capital and the nearby Artibonite region. Two gang-orchestrated prison breaks led to the escape of 4,600 inmates. At least 2,652 people have been killed and 1,280 injured as of June 30th, the U.N. said. Another 893 people had been kidnapped and held for ransom by gangs. Money is utmost priority The alarming level of violence should be the international missions utmost priority, Volker Turk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said after the reports release. The mission, he added, needs sufficient equipment and personnel to counter the criminal gangs effectively and sustainably, and stop them spreading further and wreaking havoc on peoples lives. The administration official doesnt disagree. He said while there were initially doubts about the international mission, there has been progress on the ground. There was skepticism that a force would ever be deployed; there was skepticism that the force would ever be equipped, be welcomed by the Haitian people, that it would actually carry out operations. Those were all things people pointed to last year, the official told the Herald. But a year after the U.S. began lobbying to support the mission and four months after the first contingent of specialized Kenyan police officers began deploying to Haiti opinions have changed, he said. This year... there were numerous people who came out and said We overcame all of the issues that made people skeptical in the past and there should be no excuse for not supporting this effort more robustly now and going forward, the official added. Despite the dozens of conflicts unfolding around the world, Haiti got a fair share of mentions during the first week of the U.N.s high-level debate last week. A number of world leaders raised the need for security and humanitarian funding. On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called on nations to do their part. He co-chaired, with Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille, a high-level meeting of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti of the Economic and Social Council. Trudeau announced an additional $12.2 million in new commitments to Haiti. In his speech at the general assembly, Ruto, the Kenyan president, appealed for all member states to stand in solidarity with the Haitian people. Our support for the Haitian national police has significantly advanced the pacification of cities and towns, protected critical infrastructure, and relieved many communities previously held captive by criminal gangs, he said. Latin American nations The State Department official said staffing the mission, which also received an offer of 150 military police officers from Guatemala and 50 from Suriname, isnt the problem. Its finding the money to pay for it. We have enough countries that are willing to send people. The issue is we have to house them, train them, we have to equip them and that all costs money, he said. He welcomes the support especially from several Latin American nations that had remained on the sidelines. Chile has said it will help, but hasnt provided specifics. Argentina has offered to provide troops to help run a military hospital and a water purification system in conjunction with Uruguay. The water purification offer is important, the official said, because it would assist with the operating bases the mission is trying to build to maintain control of areas where they have pushed out the gangs. The Dominican Republic is providing $10 million in support through a cooperation with El Salvador, which is providing helicopters for a Medivac operation. There are some very concrete things people put out there, said the U.S. official. In other instances, he said, the pledges were not well defined: Its hard to say exactly what they are going to be providing. Some noted that pledges they made in the past were actually in the process of depositing in the U.N. Trust Fund this week or in the coming weeks. The U.S. has provided the bulk of the funds for the mission, at over $300 million, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the U.S. will contributed an additional $160 million. The official said a little more than $100 million will go toward development aid and the rest toward paying for equipment and training for the mission members. He said training and vetting for some of the additional forces, including contingents from the Caribbean, continues. The number of police officers and other forces are not the issue, the official stressed. Our issue is the financial resources, not people. Theres just not enough money, he said. Weve got to raise more money. The official said a number of other nations also pledged financial support on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly, including France which will add to the U.N. trust fund. But the amounts of the new pledges, which fall somewhere between $15 million and $20 million, still fall short of whats needed. Georgia and John McGinty were seriously injured in an Uber crash in 2022 [Georgia McGinty] A couple who were left with life-changing injuries after their Uber crashed have been told they cannot sue the company because of the terms they accepted when using the app. Georgia and John McGinty, from New Jersey, in the US, are bound by a clause saying they could not take the case to a jury in a court of law. State judges ruled they had clicked a "confirm" button on the app on more than one occasion when asked if they agreed with Uber's terms of use. The McGintys argue they had not understood they were forfeiting their right to sue the company. They told the BBC the most recent time the terms were agreed to was when their daughter, then 12, had accepted them prior to ordering a pizza on Uber Eats. "How would I ever remotely think that my ability to protect my constitutional rights to a trial would be waived by me ordering food?" said Mrs McGinty. Uber told BBC News: "Our Terms of Use are clear that these types of claims should be resolved in arbitration. Its important to highlight that the court concluded the plaintiff herself, not her daughter, agreed to Uber's Terms of Use on multiple occasions." Arbitration means the dispute is settled through a third party rather than in court - in this case a lawyer appointed by Uber. Legal experts say it tends to result in smaller financial settlements. The case has parallels with Disney's attempt to avoid being sued over a death at Disney World - in its case over the terms of a Disney+ membership - before the company changed its mind. Pain every day In March 2022, Georgia and John McGinty were riding in an Uber in New Jersey when it crashed, and they suffered extensive injuries. Mrs McGinty's injuries included spine fractures and traumatic injuries to her abdominal wall. "I was in the critical care unit for a week," she told the BBC. "I had a horrible post-operative infection and almost died during this time, I wasn't able to care for my child who was suffering from unrelated injury," she said. John fractured his sternum and sustained injuries to his hand. "I shattered my wrist, broke my hand, and I have a steel rod with about nine pins in it. I don't have full function of my left hand," he said. "I am in pain every day." He added that they "accumulated a tremendous amount of medical debt" and still need further medical treatment in the future, including a possible third operation for Georgia. A photo of the Uber car in the scrapyard after the crash [Michael Shapiro] The couple attempted to sue Uber over the crash, citing the seventh amendment of the US Constitution, which grants people the right to a trial by jury. But the tech firm argued that the couple could not take the case in front of a jury because of a clause in Uber's US Terms of Use. The Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division agreed. "We hold that the arbitration provision contained in the agreement under review, which Georgia or her minor daughter, while using her cell phone agreed to, is valid and enforceable," its judgement says. The judgment found the child had clicked the button to say she was 18 despite not being. Referring to her daughter's use of Uber Eats, Mrs McGinty says she does not know how it can be right that she is considered to have "authorised my child to waive our rights to go to a trial if we're injured in a car accident." "I don't know how anybody makes that leap," she said. How does arbitration work? Arbitration clauses are "very common," especially when dealing with large corporations, said Ted Spaulding, a personal injury lawyer based in the state of Georgia. An arbitrator is "most often a lawyer who does this for a living," he said, who can "act like a judge and a jury". They decide on an outcome after weighing up arguments from both sides, and their fee is often split between both parties. In the US, the enforceability of arbitration clauses differs state by state. In its case, Disney used the arbitration clause in their terms to argue that a man whose wife died at Disney World could not sue them in a court of law. Jeffrey Piccolo filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Disney after his wife, Dr Kanokporn Tangsuan, died following an allergic reaction at a restaurant, run by a third party, at Disney World Florida in 2023. Disney said Mr Piccolo had waived his right to a jury trial when he signed up to a free trial of Disney+ in 2019. Disney later withdrew its claim to arbitration and opted to proceed with a jury trial after media coverage of the lawsuit. "We believe this situation warrants a sensitive approach to expedite a resolution for the family who have experienced such a painful loss," Disney executive Josh D'Amaro told the BBC in a statement in August. Mr Spaulding says: "The law understandably says, 'Look, you have the duty to know what you're signing'," referring to the terms and conditions people often accept when using a product or a service. However, he says "the scope should be within the transaction that you're agreeing to". Georgia and John McGinty say the Uber case has been "absolutely devastating" to their family. Georgia says their daughter, now 14, "suffered a lot of trauma as a result". She had a separate physical health issue which she was going through at the time, which her parents found difficult to help with while going through their own injuries. "Years of her life with her parents... were taken away," she says. "Luckily, she's a fighter, like her parents are," says John. "We are inadvertently teaching her adversity and strength and family and prayer and resilience." Uber told BBC News: "The court concluded that on multiple occasions the plaintiff herself agreed to Uber's Terms of Use, including the arbitration agreement." The company added: "We are dedicated to road safety." By Emma Farge GENEVA (Reuters) -The chief of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) on Monday denied knowing that its employee Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin was a Hamas commander in Lebanon and called on states to push back against Israeli attacks on the agency. El-Amin, the head of Hamas' Lebanon branch, was killed along with family members in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, the group said on Monday. He had been placed under investigation and suspended from his job at UNRWA in March following allegations concerning his politics, agency head Philippe Lazzarini told reporters in Geneva. "The specific allegation at the time was that (he was) a part of the local leadership... I never heard the word commander before," he said. "What's obvious for you today, was not obvious yesterday." U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said el-Amin had been on administrative leave without pay since March - "as soon as UNRWA received information about his possible involvement with Hamas at a senior level" - and had never been reinstated. "As soon as information was received - in this case, from the Israeli government - action was taken," Dujarric told reporters. "Every time UNRWA has received information beyond just a name, action has been taken." "Anyone who works for the U.N. and engages in terror, terror-like activity is unacceptable and outrageous and an insult to all U.N. staff members around the world," he said. Lazzarini, who briefed press after meeting with U.N. member states earlier on Monday, said he had asked them to "push back on all the reputational attacks on the agency and the ongoing drafting of bills which could be adopted in Jerusalem." He was referring to a move by the Israeli parliament to declare the organisation a "terrorist body" which has already received preliminary approval. Such a move would be "absolutely unconscionable", he added. He also referred to attacks against the agency in the nearly year-long Gaza war that have killed 223 staff and damaged or destroyed around two-thirds of its facilities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has for years called for UNRWA to be dismantled, accusing it of anti-Israeli incitement. Previous Israeli allegations of staff ties to Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 led some countries to freeze funding earlier this year, although many of these have now been reversed, with the exception of major donor the United States. The U.N. said in August that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the attacks and fired them. Lazzarini said UNRWA faces an $80 million funding shortfall for this year and 2025 is looking "a little bit grim" as some European countries seek to cut aid budgets. UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) was established in 1949 and provides relief to Palestinian refugees across the Middle East, including in Lebanon where it says up to 250,000 reside. Lazzarini said it was using existing shelters for Palestinian refugees to house some of the 1 million people displaced within Lebanon following two weeks of intensive Israeli strikes against Hezbollah. (Reporting by Emma Farge; additional reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Toby Chopra and Rosalba O'Brien) Gwen Walz and Usha Vance have been on the campaign trail since their husbands joined the presidential tickets. As JD Vance and Tim Walz prepare to face off in their Tuesday debate, the vice presidential hopefuls have banked several months of campaigning across the country after their sudden elevations into national politics. So have two key players helping shape their messaging and public images: their wives. While Usha Vance has acted more as a behind-the-scenes adviser, Gwen Walz has been hitting the campaign trail in key swing states as a spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign in the months leading up to the election. Originally from Minnesota and a former longtime public school teacher, Gwen Walz has always played a big role in her husbands political career. We have always worked as a partnership, she told the podcast "What If It Works" in an interview in July. We do work really closely together, and there are issues where I do a lot of the work and share my thoughts and briefings with him. Usha Vance, who built a notable career as a lawyer before and during her husbands start in electoral politics, is less of a presence in front of the cameras she has not delivered remarks on behalf of the Trump-Vance campaign at a public event since introducing her husband at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July. But the Vances use each other as sounding boards and partners to think through things, she said in a rare interview. JD and Usha Vance in Byron Center, Mich., on Aug. 14. I think that he treats everything I say with a lot of seriousness and respect. And that becomes a part of the way that he thinks about things, as is true for me, Usha Vance said on Fox News a few weeks after the Republican convention. The way that he talks about things and the conclusions he comes to really shape the way that I think about things, so theres a nice give and take, but I think its a pretty happy one. Both potential second ladies have been involved in preparations for Tuesday's debate: Usha Vance has helped guide her husband as he and his team of advisers worked on his debate strategy, a source directly involved with the preparations told NBC News, while Gwen Walz has joined the Democratic vice presidential nominee at his debate preparations in Harbor Springs, Michigan, in the last week. Usha Vance often appears onstage with her husband as he kicks off battleground state events introduced together over the loudspeaker as the next vice president and second lady of the United States and travels with him and their family, where she can provide that sounding board. She typically travels lightly as the campaign enters and exits their planes and vehicles though when the couple's three young children are on the trail, Usha Vance can be spotted carrying loose toys into the cabin or helping Secret Service agents fasten car seats into their motorcades SUVs. Taking questions from attendees at a town hall-style event in suburban Pittsburgh, JD Vance told an audience member who mentioned they homeschool their children that his wife has started to do "a little bit of homeschooling" with their 7-year-old son as they travel. She left her law firm not long after her husband was nominated to join the Trump campaigns ticket. Tim Walz's daughter, Hope, more frequently accompanies him on the campaign trail, while Gwen Walz has held multiple solo events in battleground states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Nevada. The Minnesota governor often tells a story about Gwen stepping in to deliver remarks at a fundraiser during his time in Congress when he was suffering from laryngitis. Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz holds a campaign event in support of educators in Augusta, Ga., on Sept. 19. "She should be the candidate," he joked during a fundraiser in Bethesda, Maryland. When not attending events solo, Walz is sometimes joined by Vice President Kamala Harris husband, Doug Emhoff, who has also been crisscrossing the country speaking and fundraising for the Democratic ticket. At her events, Gwen Walz has mostly focused on education, leaning on her and her husband's experience as teachers, and on protecting reproductive rights, which she has called personal for her family. We struggled to start our family, and we were only able to start a family because we had access to fertility treatments. And even then, it was quite a journey, and it took a long time, she explained during a solo campaign appearance in Lansing, Michigan, last week. During the Democratic National Convention, Gwen and Tim Walz participated in an interview with Glamour highlighting her struggles with infertility and her use of IUI (intrauterine insemination) to have their children. JD Vance took to social media to call out Tim Walz for making earlier references to using IVF. Today it came out that Tim Walz had lied about having a family via IVF. Who lies about something like that? Gwen Walz has gone on defense in her events: Im going to use my teacher voice here, my stern teacher voice, and Im going to send them a message, Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance, please mind your own business," she said in Lansing. Usha Vance, too, has stepped out to defend JD Vance. In the Fox News interview after the GOP convention, she echoed her husbands defense of criticism drawn from a 2021 comment likening Democratic leadership to childless cat ladies, describing the remark as a quip in service of making a point that he wanted to make that was substantive, and it had actual meaning. What he was really saying is that it can be really hard to be a parent in this country, and sometimes our policies are designed in a way that make it even harder, she said. Well before JD Vance became a senator and later the Republican vice presidential nominee, Usha Vance has been a longtime partner in his work. In the acknowledgements of his oft-cited memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy," JD Vance wrote: "Last, but certainly not least, is my darling wife, Usha, who read every single word of my manuscript literally dozens of times, offered needed feedback (even when I didnt want it!), supported me when I felt like quitting, and celebrated with me during times of progress." He added that "so much of the credit for both this book and the happy life I lead belongs to her. Annasofia Scheve covers trending news for the Express-News. She can be reached at Annasofia.Scheve@express-news.net. Annasofia has bachelor's degrees in journalism and political science from the University of Missouri. She is an Ohio native, and wrote for Cincinnati Magazine and the Cincinnati Enquirer before joining the Express-News in 2023. 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. One of the great pleasures of writing A Talent for Trouble about the life and Hollywood movies of the director William Wyler was discovering the letters he and his wife Talli wrote to each other during World War II, when he was overseas in the Army Air Force and she was home in Los Angeles caring for their children. Their intimate, newsy correspondence is now the basis of a new documentary directed by Taylor Alexander, which will premiere on Oct. 8 at Fairfield University. On Oct. 8 the premiere screening of Dear Willy will be held at Fairfield University, in Fairfield, Connecticut, in the DiMenna-Nyselius Library Auditorium / Room 101. Wyler was often accused of being inarticulate because of his style of directing, which frequently consisted of many takes and few instructions to his actors. Laurence Olivier, for example, couldnt bear to do another retake during the making of Wuthering Heights. He went up to Wyler and confronted him: For Gods sake, I did it standing up. I did it sitting down. I did it fast. I did it slow. I did it with a smile. I did it with a smirk. How do you want me to do it? Wyler stared at him, bemused: I want it better. Not helpful. Talli and Willy on leave during WWII (from Dear Willy). Willy and Talli on their wedding day in 1938. But in fact Wyler had no trouble expressing himself. He spoke several languages and was especially demonstrative to Talli. His letters were sometimes passionate, always affectionate, and characteristically showed a graceful lightness of tone. In a letter of May 11, 1943, he writes from a B-17 bomber air base in Bassingbourne, England, that he misses his family, that he hopes they miss him, too, and that each day no matter how dull or exciting amounts to the same thing, come evening. Im glad I have such a nice family to miss. And I think about all the wonderful things well do when this mess is over. And what a fine life together well have. And how glad well all be that we did the things we felt. And how much closer we will be than those that have been together. How we will then have another child just for the hell of it, and to show that were still young and useful. I love you. In another letter, he writes: I see you especially well when Im alone. And Im often alone. I say good-night to you as I go to bed and I see you when I get up and have a thing called breakfast. But our breakfasts were the best. You must think of them too. Thats what I call breakfast with wife, child, dog, pool, sunshine and eggs . But we shall have it again. We wont be quite so young maybe. But well be just as happy because we were happy and we knew it. It didnt pass us by. I was very happy. My life was full and rich, and you made it so. Married for 43 years, the Wylers eventually had five children and were one of Hollywoods most famously long-lasting couples. The ordination of the young pastor of the large diocese in southern Thailand, the first priest from the Thai Missionary Institute to be called to lead a local Church. Go and preach is the motto chosen in a context where Catholics make up less than 0.1% of the population. Fr Pelosin: A moment of grace for our community. It will help everyone to grow in the missionary spirit. Surat Thani (AsiaNews) - On Saturday 28 September, the Church in Thailand experienced the joy of the ordination and installation of the new young bishop of Surat Thani, 48 year old Bishop Paul Trairong Multree, appointed by Pope Francis on 8 July last. An event with a strong missionary character: the new bishop - who succeeds Msgr. Joseph Prathan Sridarunsil, who left the leadership of the diocese due to age limit - is in fact a member of the Thai Missionary Institute, established in 1990 to donate local priests to the mission ad gentes. Born on 7 September 1976 in Khon Kaen, and a priest since 2007, Bishop Paul Trairong Multree was a missionary in Phnom Penh in Cambodia for five years, and since last year he has been the institute's superior, as well as director of the Pontifical Thai Missionary Works. On 28 September, he began his ministry in St Raphael's Cathedral in Surat Thani, the seat of the large diocese in southern Thailand, where Catholics make up less than 0.1% of the population, scattered in some 40 parishes in a huge territory inhabited by more than 10 million people. A flock in a region with a Buddhist majority but also with a strong Muslim presence in the southern districts. Presiding over the rite was outgoing bishop Prathan Sridarunsil, in the presence - among others - of the apostolic nuncio to Thailand Msgr. Peter Bryan Wells, Archbishop Emeritus of Bangkok Card. Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij, the Apostolic Vicar of Phom Penh Msgr. Olivier Schmitthaeusler and the confreres of the Thai Missionary Institute led by Fr. Adriano Pelosin, a PIME missionary, who was its promoter and still follows its path. Together with many Thai friends in the Surat Thani cathedral were also present a group of faithful from a parish in the diocese of Padua in Italy, where the new bishop ministered during his liturgy studies at the Santa Giustina Institute. Go and preach (Mt 28:19) is the motto chosen by the new bishop for his service to the diocese. I have gladly accepted this invitation, he said addressing his flock, and I will try to put it into practice together with you. For his part, Msgr Joseph Chusak Sirisut, president of the Thai Bishops' Conference, thanked Msgr Trairong Multree, Fr Adriano Pelosin and the Missionary Institute for their contribution to the local Church. This ordination was a moment of grace for our small institute, which now has around 20 priests, commented Fr Pelosin, who has followed the priestly journey of Bishop Paul Trairong Multree step by step and also accompanied him in these last few days in the spiritual exercises before his entry into his diocese. Fr. Paul had many tasks among us, continues the PIME missionary, but the Holy Spirit evidently had other designs on him. And we are happy because we believe that he will help the entire Thai Church to grow in the missionary spirit. His is a very large diocese, with few faithful, but with many schools built by the Salesians who have led this diocese until today and also beautiful structures built by Bishop Prathan Sridarunsil, starting with the cathedral where the ordination took place. There is much to do but Fr Paul is calm and I am sure he will give much to the mission of this Church'. In view of the growing difficulties in Russia, it is becoming increasingly important to find effective alternatives, considering that money from working abroad constitutes a very important slice of the GDP of Central Asian countries, ranging from 10% in Uzbekistan to 40% in Tajikistan. An issue that is intertwined with the question of Afghans in Germany. Astana (AsiaNews) - Russia's political situation continues to complicate the lives of Central Asian labour migrants, and under these conditions the possibility for Western countries to influence the region's economy, including through agreements on legal migration, increases. On the other hand, pressure from sovereignist forces, which are against this enlargement, is growing in Great Britain and somewhat throughout the European Union. During his recent visit to Astana, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz concluded agreements in this field, but without divulging the details. After negotiations with the President of Uzbekistan, Savkat Mirziyoyev, Scholz confined himself to stating that the agreement will allow for the indispensable immigration of qualified personnel, which we in Germany are in great need of. On his way to Samarkand, the chancellor also agreed on simple and necessary procedures so that those who have to go back really do go back, an addition evidently for the internal use of German public opinion. Germany is just one of the many countries where immigration arouses reactions and tensions throughout society, which after all is one of the most effective tools for developing relations with Central Asia, whose strategic importance on a geopolitical level grows in proportion to the protracted Russian war in Ukraine. Kazakhstan-born Belarusian expert and publicist Jan Matusevic observes that the German government is faced with an issue that is not easy to solve, trying to harness anti-migrant tendencies in the face of recent electoral victories by the extreme right, while at the same time solving the problems of labour shortages, one of the biggest brakes on the country's economic growth. Given the growing difficulties in Russia, it is becoming increasingly important for migrants to find effective alternatives, considering that money from working abroad constitutes a very important slice of the Central Asian countries' GDP, ranging from 10% in Uzbekistan to 40% in Tajikistan. In the UK, however, there have been quite violent demonstrations against migration in the past month, protesting against plans to attract thousands of workers from Central Asia. The demands in the various British regions are very high, and the brokerage agencies take advantage of this with numerous scams and breaches of the law. Salaries in Western countries are two to three times higher for migrants than what they can earn in Russia, but the flow is still rather small, even compared to countries with a more traditional relationship with this region, such as South Korea. Currently, according to Die Zeit, 13,700 Uzbeks live in Germany, of whom only 200 are in an irregular situation, a minimal figure compared to the total of 225,000 migrants to be repatriated. The agreement between Scholz and Mirziyoyev should make the whole situation much easier to manage, similar to similar agreements between Berlin and other countries such as Morocco, Kenya and Georgia. German researcher Beate Eschment, from the Berlin centre for international studies ZOiS, notes that debates on migration today are very confused and irrational, and do not allow governments to take effective positions, considering that we absolutely need workers, and these can only come from abroad. Certain factors could make the issue even more dramatic, not only because of the migrantophobia of the Russians and conservative forces in Europe and America, but also because of particular contingencies such as the huge number of Afghans that Germany wants at all costs to send back to Kabul. Since Germany and other European countries do not wish to have official relations with the Taliban, Uzbekistan could offer a very feasible way out, as Tashkent has no problem making deals with the Afghans, and a win-win exchange could be realised. Central Asia expects a more convinced support from the West, overcoming fears and hesitations in this complex geopolitical phase. Photo: Flickr / Rasande Tyskar by Sumon Corraya The incident took place at a girls' high school in Daspara sparking attention following videos posted on social media. Hindu students and parents are asking for more security. Violence against minorities has increased after Sheikh Hasinas resignation. About a thousand Christian schools are also at risk. For Journalist Mostofa Feroz, the country belongs to everyone. Rangpur (AsiaNews) Last week Hindu students at the Uddin girls' high school in Daspara, Rangpur, northern Bangladesh, were forced to wear the hijab and not allowed to read the Gita, Hinduisms most important sacred text, action that sparked a protest and saw two educators involved suspended. Following the incident, young Hindus took part in a demonstration last Wednesday at the school, demanding the resignation and punishment of the principal, Mofizur Rahman, and the Islamic religion teacher, Mostafizur Rahman. The protest, which was also attended by parents, gained media attention after videos were posted on social media in which the students express their grievances, accompanied by hashtags such as #HinduLivesMatter and #WeDemandSafety. Violence against the Hindu community, the largest religious minority (8 per cent) in the Muslim-majority country, is nothing new. In fact, it has intensified, especially in the last month, following the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, because Hindus are considered close to her party, the Awami League, which has been openly tolerant towards minorities of any religion. As a result of the situation, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Education and ICT) Rezaul Karim, intervened. Karim, who also chairs the school's management committee, visited the school along with law enforcement and army personnel to restore order. Following an initial investigation, both the principal and the religion teacher were suspended, and a showcase notice was issued to them asking for explanations within 10 days. Meanwhile, Officer-in-charge Ataur Rahman of the Metropolitan Kotwali police station confirmed the authenticity of a video that went viral, stating that he was present at the protest. He added that the situation in the area has since stabilised. On the initiative of the Deputy Commissioner Karim, a commission of inquiry was set up to investigate further. The outcome of the probe is awaited while the school community is grappling with the controversy. The accused teachers have denied the charges against them. "Islam does not impose religion on anyone, said Joynul Abden, a Muslim, speaking to AsiaNews. Just as no one can be prohibited from wearing the hijab, so no one should be forced to wear it. This is a deeply regrettable and alarming incident, writes Mostofa Feroz, a journalist, on Facebook. After the Sheikh Hasina government stepped down, some may have believed that the country would shift towards an Islamist state, but they should remember that this country belongs to everyone. Forcing Hindu students to wear the hijab is entirely wrong and provocative. Some experts warn that if Muhammad Yunus' government does not address these episodes of Islamic radicalism, Bangladesh could go the way of Afghanistan or Pakistan. Christians run about a thousand schools and colleges in the country. A Catholic teacher from Dinajpur, a district near Rangpur, who wished to remain anonymous, told AsiaNews that in Church-run schools, the number of female students wearing burqas and hijabs in lieu of the school uniform has increased. He expressed fears that if a political party such as the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami were to take power, it could impose rules that also include requiring non-Muslim women to wear the hijab or the burqa. 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. 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. The Iran Trade Center was opened during a ceremony attended by Armenian Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan and Iranian Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad Atabak. The 18,000-square-meter retail and whole facility will consist of over 100 sections selling mostly Iranian-made consumer goods, chemicals and other industrial products. It is a joint venture set up by Irans ParsHilal Caspian Group and the Multi Group of Gagik Tsarukian, an Armenian businessman and politician. The largest Iranian trade center in the world has been opened in Armenia, the Iranian ambassador in Yerevan, Mehdi Sobhani, said during the opening ceremony. Trade between Iran and Armenia has grown by leaps and bounds, and I am sure that thanks to this center, greater impetus will be given to the development of commercial relations between the two countries, he said. The leaders of Armenia and Iran have planned to increase the volume of trade to $3 billion, and we must make efforts to make that a reality. According to Armenian government data, bilateral trade stood at $693 million last year and $323 in the first half of this year. It remains quite lopsided, with Iranian exports to Armenia account for more than 80 percent of these figures. We have committed ourselves to first bringing that [annual] figure to $1 billion in the near future and, as Mr. Ambassador pointe out, $3 billion later on, Papoyan said for his part. Armenian-Iranian commercial ties are expected to receive a major boost from the energy sector in the years ahead. Armenia plans to significantly increase the presently modest imports of Iranian natural gas after completing the protracted construction of a new power transmission line through which it will export more electricity to Iran. This will cement warm political ties between the two nations. Their geopolitical importance for Iran was underscored recently by Tehrans angry reaction to Russias renewed push for the opening of a land corridor that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave through Syunik, the only Armenian region bordering the Islamic Republic. Iranian leaders fear that such a corridor would undermine Armenias territorial integrity and eventually strip Iran of its common border and direct transport links with its sole Christian neighbor. Blinken held the trilateral meeting with Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov during a session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday. According to virtually identical Armenian and Azerbaijani readouts of the talks, the ministers agreed to put additional efforts towards the conclusion of the peace treaty. The Armenian Foreign Ministry has not yet clarified whether the two sides narrowed their differences. Hovik Aghazarian, a senior member of the Armenian parliament representing the ruling Civil Contract party, told RFE/RLs Armenian Service that they at least made no progress towards signing the kind of an agreement which Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian again advocated in a speech at the UN General Assembly delivered just a few hours after the New York talks. Pashinian said that Yerevan and Baku should take what has already been agreed, sign an interim peace treaty and try to settle their remaining differences later. The Azerbaijani government has repeatedly rejected the idea. It is not clear whether the United States backs the Armenian proposal. U.S. officials have made no public statements in support of it. In its readout of the New York talks, the U.S. State Department said Blinken encouraged continued progress by both countries to finalize an agreement as soon as possible. Pashinians proposal has not received support from any side, Artur Khachatrian, a parliament deputy from the opposition Hayastan alliance, said on Monday. Baku also makes the signing of a peace deal conditional on a change of Armenias constitution which it says contains territorial claims to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevs top foreign policy aide, Hikmet Hajiyev, reaffirmed this condition in an interview with Italys La Repubblica daily published on Friday. We need guarantees [by Armenia,] Hajiyev said, adding that Armenias ongoing militarization is another obstacle to peace. He also said: The best solution for Armenia would be neutrality, not [membership in] military alliances that threaten Azerbaijan's security. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was seen giving remarks to republican delegates from Texas on the first day of the Texas GOP Convention on May 23, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. Christopher Lee Spectators hold signs 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 Former League of Latin American Citizens (LULAC) National President Domingo Garcia 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 Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton vowed on Monday to continue combating vote harvesting after a federal judge limited his ability to investigate the practice. Paxtons latest investigation, which targets several San Antonio-area Democrats and members of the League of United Latin American Citizens, hit a snag over the weekend when U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez struck down a new portion of state law that regulates canvassing, calling it overly vague. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The attorney general said he would move to block the order so Texas can continue to defend its elections from bad actors seeking to undermine the ballot box. A rulingweeks prior to an election preventing my office from investigating potential election violations is deeply troubling and risks undermining public trust in our political process, Paxton said in a statement. Saturdays ruling is the second setback in recent weeks for Paxtons election-related efforts in San Antonio after a state judge threw out his suit against Bexar Countys voter registration program earlier this month. LULAC, whose members were raided by authorities in August as part of Paxtons probe, celebrated the ruling but said they expect the states litigation to continue. Todays ruling is a win for LULAC and the other plaintiffs who joined in this struggle, said Gabriel Rosales, the organizations director in Texas. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The vote harvesting provisions, created in 2021, outlaw canvassers from interacting with voters in the presence of a ballot in exchange for compensation or other benefit. Republican lawmakers said such provisions would prevent fraud. Rodriguez, however, said that the law had created confusion and dampened civic engagement groups ability to talk to voters in the weeks before an election. The ACLU, which helped argue against the provisions, said it was being applied to routine get-out-the-vote activities and noted that election fraud cases can still be prosecuted under other provisions. The threat of criminal sanctions under the new provisions left campaign groups unsure about whether providing volunteer canvassers with food, water, or bus fare would count as compensation, they said. A coalition of civic organizations, including the League of Women Voters, LULAC and OCA-Greater Houston, an Asian American-focused group, quickly challenged portions of the law, including the ballot harvesting provisions, leading to a lengthy trial with more than 80 witnesses. The case, which has now stretched more than three years, could be appealed. Advertisement Article continues below this ad State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands Armed Forces Americas Armed Forces Pacific Armed Forces Europe Northern Mariana Islands Marshall Islands American Samoa Federated States of Micronesia Guam Palau Alberta, Canada British Columbia, Canada Manitoba, Canada New Brunswick, Canada Newfoundland, Canada Nova Scotia, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada Nunavut, Canada Ontario, Canada Prince Edward Island, Canada Quebec, Canada Saskatchewan, Canada Yukon Territory, Canada Zip Code A hospital, a laboratory, three lab employees, a referring physician and his office manager will collectively pay more than $7.2 million to settle allegations that they defrauded government healthcare programs through unnecessary or tainted laboratory testing. Physicians' Medical Center, a hospital in New Albany, Ind., operated a clinical laboratory by the now-defunct United States Medical Scientific Indiana. The laboratory manager allegedly billed Medicare, Kentucky Medicaid and Tricare for laboratory testing that was not used for medical diagnosis or treatment, amounting to violations of the False Claims Act, according to a Sept. 27 release by the U.S. Department of Justice. These tests were referred to by various entities, including a homeless shelter and peer-to-peer recovery centers, according to the release. These facilities used the test results to monitor clients compliance with the conditions of their programs and court orders rather than medical diagnosis and treatment. PMC then submitted false claims totaling $3 million for the urine tests. Two employees were added to the settlement agreement for their submission of the false claims. Bobby Sturgeon, a sales representative for PMC's laboratory, allegedly knew that these nonmedical entities would not qualify for Medicare payment for the urine tests under federal guidelines, yet pursued them as clients. Mr. Sturgeon's salary was partly based on the amount that insurers reimbursed PMC for clients' testing, including the claims that were falsely submitted. Derrick Arthur, also named in the allegations, was a director for one of the peer-to-peer recovery centers and worked as a specimen collector for PMC's lab. According to the Department of Justice, he facilitated the improper billing by arranging for a volunteer physician to order the urine testing despite his knowledge that they would not be used for medical treatment. After closing its laboratory in 2018, Mr. Sturgeon became a sales representative for Blue Water Toxicology in Mount Washington, Ky., where he continued to submit false claims for nonmedical urine testing through July 2019. Through Bluewater, he allegedly submitted nearly $450,000 in false claims. In a connected scheme, Steve Moore, a laboratory sales representative for PMC and Bluewater, allegedly paid Pablo Merced, MD, and his wife and office manager, Theresa Merced, to prompt referrals of laboratory tests to PMC and Bluewater. Mr. Moore allegedly paid Dr. Merced in cash to receive the large volume of referrals and paid additional salary to lab specimen collectors at the facilities. PMC and Bluewater then submitted millions of dollars of claims to federal healthcare programs that were inflated by their sales representatives' alleged kickbacks. The settlement will also resolve PMC's alleged liability for claims for lab tests performed at Prescribe Recovery, a medical practice in Paris, Ky. USMSI, which owned Prescribe Recovery, directed referrals of lab tests to PMC labs and received 78% of the claim reimbursements made to PMC by the government. PMC's payments to USMSI induced the company to direct Prescribe Recovery's lab referrals to PMC, resulting in a violation of the anti-kickback statute. In total, the settlements will return over $7.2 million to Medicare, Kentucky Medicaid and Tricare programs. Hospitals and communities across the Southeast continue to assess and navigate the effects of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall Sept. 26 in Florida's Big Bend region as a Category 4 storm. Eight updates: 1. The storm's death toll continues to climb. As of Sept. 30, at least 95 deaths were reported across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and Virginia, according to CNN. 2. Large portions of the region remain without power. As of 8:41 a.m. ET on Sept. 30, more than 2 million residents in South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, and Virginia didn't have power, according to poweroutage.us. 3. Hospitals in the region made preparation efforts ahead of the storm, with eight Florida hospitals evacuating ahead of it, and four hospitals switching to back-up generators the night of Sept. 26. In Tennessee, Ballad Health's Laughlin Healthcare Center in Greeneville, which operates a 90-bed skilled nursing facility, evacuated 33 patients to Wexford House in Kingsport over the weekend. In an update posted on social media, Ballad Health said Laughlin Healthcare Center will remain closed until utilities and the Greeneville water supply stabilize. 4. Ballad Health said its Greeneville Community Hospital and Sycamore Shoals Hospital in Elizabethton, Tenn., have both suspended all services, though their emergency rooms remain open for local incoming patients. Elective procedures will resume on Sept. 30 at its facilities that are able to perform them, according to the Johnson City, Tenn.-based health system. 5. At Ballad Health's Unicoi County Hospital in Erwin, Tenn., dozens of patients and team members were successfully rescued from the hospital's roof on Sept. 27 amid flooding from a nearby river. Affected patients were transferred to Johnson City Medical Center, and the hospital remains closed until further notice, the health system said. 6. HCA Healthcare's Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., relied on a backup generator for power until early Sept. 29, and had patients "doubled up in ER rooms," Hannah Drummond, RN, told the Citizen Times. The publication reported Sept. 29 that nurses were also directing patients without life-threatening conditions to a medical emergency shelter in Buncombe County. 7. Hospitals are expressing their gratitude and support for team members in the wake of the storm. The Florida Hospital Association posted on its Facebook page on Sept. 27: "Across Florida communities, hospital caregivers and staff have been working diligently around-the-clock to support patients and staff membersThank you to our #HealthCareHeroes for putting your patients' needs above your own throughout and following the storm." At Ballad Health, its team member emergency fund is accepting donations that will benefit workers affected by the disaster. 8. Hospitals are also supporting community members. In a LinkedIn post over the weekend, Parinda Khatri, CEO of Knoxville, Tenn.-based Cherokee Health Systems, said the organization will be sending its mobile clinic to the most affected areas of Cocke County over the next few days. "Our team is coordinating with local officials to support recovery efforts where we are needed the most," she wrote. "We are currently focused on offering basic needs such as water, and healthcare." Alexis Nungaray, mother of Jocelyn Nungaray, center, speaks during a news conference in Houston on Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, about legislation related to the detention of immigrants that is being proposed in the wake of her daughter's killing. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz stands at right. Juan A. Lozano/AP Jocelyn Nungarays mom, Alexis, reacts as she listens to a family member talk about her daughter during a vigil on Friday, June 21, 2024 in Houston. Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a tour of the southern border with Mexico, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024, in Sierra Vista, Ariz, as Alexis Nungaray, mother of Jocelyn, listens as Joamel Guevara holds a shirt with a photo of Jocelyn. Evan Vucci/AP In a 60-second ad playing on TV stations across the state, the mother of a 12-year-old Houston girl who was killed earlier this year says her heart would break again if U.S. Rep. Colin Allred beats U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in November. Allred didnt kill my daughter, Alexis Nungaray says in the ad. But his policies are why shes dead. Nungaray says her daughter, Jocelyn, was murdered by two illegal migrants, each released on the same day as they were detained. Two Venezuelan nationals have been charged with capital murder in her case; each has pleaded not guilty. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The emotional clip, which the pro-Cruz Win It Back PAC is spending millions to air on TV and online, underscores the GOPs push this election cycle to tie record-breaking border crossings over the last four years with a rise in crime even as evidence says otherwise. Former President Donald Trump regularly warns of migrant crime, and his running mate, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, spent weeks pushing a debunked story that Haitian immigrants were eating pets in Ohio. Cruz, meanwhile, often returns to Jocelyn Nungarays story as an example of how every day, Americans are dying murdered, assaulted, raped by illegal immigrants, as he put it during a primetime speech at the Republican National Convention this summer. The messaging has grown especially loud in recent months as border crossings fell to their lowest point since February 2021. Advertisement Article continues below this ad But experts say there is no such crime wave. Studies have repeatedly shown that immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than U.S.-born citizens. And the latest federal statistics show crime is actually declining. Violent crime dropped 3% from 2022 to 2023, according to FBI statistics released this month. Murder dropped more than 11%, rapes fell by more than 9% and aggravated assaults declined by nearly 3%. We dont see it in the data at all, said Alex Nowrasteh, an analyst at the Cato Institute who has studied the issue. If you look at crime data and immigration in the United States for as far back as we have data on this, immigrants have had lower crime rates than native-born Americans, going back to the 19th century. That is also true in Texas, where Nowrasteh recently found immigrants in the state without legal authorization were 26% less likely than native-born citizens to be convicted of homicide. From 2013 to 2022, the homicide conviction rate for immigrants in Texas illegally was 2.2 per 100,000, compared to 3 per 100,000 for native-born Americans, Nowrasteh found. Nowrasteh said Republicans have sought to highlight really horrible, heart-wrenching anecdotes like Jocelyn Nungarays killing as border crossings for which the GOP spent years blaming the Biden administration have plummeted in recent months. Federal immigration officials reported 107,503 encounters with migrants along the southern border in August, down from 301,982 in December. Advertisement Article continues below this ad On Friday, U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, a San Antonio Republican, released data provided to him by the federal government showing that as of July, there were more than 662,000 migrants with criminal histories on the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement docket, meaning they are being tracked by the agency and facing deportation. ICE is currently tracking more than 7.7 million immigrants, according to CBS News. The data included more than 435,000 with convictions, nearly 189,000 of which are related to immigration, drug and trafficking charges. More than 94,000 were convicted on homicide, assault or sexual assault charges. Republicans said the figures were evidence to back their claims of a crime wave, though the data is a snapshot in time and does not include information on when or where the crimes were committed. These numbers are shocking, Gov. Greg Abbott wrote on X. We cant survive four more years of this. Advertising experts said the Nungaray ads play on fear is common for political campaigns. Advertisement Article continues below this ad These types of ads can be effective owing to the emotional nature of them, said Jacob Neiheisel, an expert on political communication and campaigns at the University of Buffalo. He pointed to the famous Willie Horton ad of the 1988 presidential campaign that George Bush used to portray Michael Dukakis as not being tough enough on crime. More from Benjamin Wermund: Abbott poured money into ousting House Republicans. Here's how it could reshape future races Lynn Vavreck, a political scientist at the University of California-Los Angeles, said the fact that Alexis Nungaray stops short of directly blaming Allred for her daughters death lends a sense of credibility. By distinguishing the two things the person from the policy she is also demonstrating she is being thoughtful, Vavreck said. The ad cites Allreds vote against a GOP-backed border security bill as evidence he supports the so-called catch and release policy Alexis Nungaray blames for her daughters death. Advertisement Article continues below this ad That bill would have required all asylum seekers, including families, to be detained. It also would have banned asylum to anyone who crosses the border between ports of entry and anyone who traveled through a third country on their way to the United States but did not seek asylum there. Allred, meanwhile, has said he believes policies releasing migrants apprehended at the border need to be reformed. He is a cosponsor of legislation that would establish five humanitarian campuses along the border to house asylum seekers while their cases are being decided. Migrants would be required to remain on site, but would have access to medical personnel, legal counsel and non-governmental organizations, according to a description of the proposal.The bill also seeks to speed up adjudication of those cases, aiming to have each claim decided within 60 days. Cruz is pushing legislation named for Jocelyn Nungaray that would require federal immigration officials to detain all migrants, unless all detention beds are full. In that case, migrants released would be required to wear GPS monitoring devices. The Texas Republican has argued the policy would have prevented the killing of Jocelyn Nungaray. Allred, meanwhile, has called the Nungaray ad offensive and said Cruz is using a tragedy for his own political gain. As a father of two young children, I just hope I can only pray that if we suffered a horrific tragedy like that, that we could turn it into some form of action, Allred said during an interview with Spectrum News. Allred said that Cruz, who has been in the Senate for 12 years, has done nothing in that time to prevent what happened in this case. He said Cruz has actually denied us when we had efforts, bipartisan efforts, to put billions of dollars into border security, to change our immigration system to make it work better, to make sure folks who shouldnt be here wouldnt be here. Nungaray, who did not respond to an interview request, said in a statement distributed by the Cruz campaign that she did not take part in the ad for anyones gain." She called the insinuation a "slap in the face." Graybill Medical Group, a primary care provider based in Escondido, Calif., is terminating its management services agreement with Poway, Calif.-based Palomar Health Medical Group following a cyberattack on Palomar in May, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Sept. 25. Graybill notified Palomar of its decision in August, citing "inadequate support and response to the aftermath of the May 2024 cyberattack directed against Palomar Health Medical Group." The attack compromised Palomar's computer systems, including its EHR. "The breach, coupled with the failure to fully restore critical functions, has impeded our groups ability to provide essential medical services to patients," Kelly Boyatt, MD, a Graybill family medicine specialist, said in a statement to the publication. Graybill claims that key operations remain in limbo, while Palomar insists that all systems have been "fully and safely restored." In response, Palomar accused Graybill of deflecting responsibility for the incident, noting that "one of Graybill's key leaders also serves as the chief medical information officer of Palomar Health Medical Group." Additionally, Vanessa Peters, MD, Graybill's chief physician officer, revealed that Palomar sent a memo Sept. 10 informing employees and Graybill providers that they must vacate the premises by Nov. 11 due to the termination. The split affects seven of Graybill's nine sites. Palomar Health Medical Group's interim CEO, Russ Riehl, said the group is offering every Graybill physician the opportunity to continue practicing with Palomar, emphasizing that "no doctors have been evicted" and that discussions with some physicians about staying are ongoing. Dr. Peters disputed this, stating that only six Graybill specialists have engaged with Palomar about remaining. While Judy Faulkner has no plans to retire from Epic, she has made arrangements for the company to stay private and employee-owned after she's gone, Forbes reported Sept. 30. Ms. Faulkner has run Epic since founding it in a Wisconsin basement apartment in the late 1970s. It has since grown into the market leader for hospital EHRs with $4.9 billion in annual revenue, all without ever taking venture capital money or acquiring another company. Ms. Faulkner, still the CEO at 81 years old, intends for things to stay that way. According to Forbes, Ms. Faulkner has all of Epic's voting shares, which, after she dies, will transfer to a trust governed by four family members her husband and three children and "five long-time senior manager employees" at the company. The trust's rules forbid an initial public offering, sale or acquisition and set forth that the next CEO must be a "long-term Epic employee and a software developer," Ms. Faulkner told the news outlet. Meanwhile, an independent oversight board made up of three of the company's longtime healthcare clients will "sue anyone who doesn't vote according to the rules." Ms. Faulkner has also begun selling her nonvoting shares back to Epic to fund her family foundation, with those being offered to employees, according to the story. "Eventually it's going to be pretty much all owned by employees and my family," she told Forbes, referring to Epic. VA employees wrongly accessed the medical records for both vice presidential candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz, according to The Washington Post. Five things to know: 1. Both campaigns were notified of the breaches after the VA identified unauthorized access within its medical records system. The investigation is ongoing. 2. Physicians as well as a contractor inappropriately viewed the medical records for an "extended time," according to the report. Law enforcement indicated concern about their motives for viewing Mr. Walz's and Mr. Vance's medical records. 3. At least 12 employees used their VA computers to access the medical records, and the investigators haven't identified whether information from the records was shared with additional parties. 4. Some of the employees said they breached the medical records because they were "curious" about the candidates' history. 5. The employees who inappropriately viewed the medical records face penalties including removal from their posts as well as criminal charges. The amount of time employees spent viewing the files and stated intent are taken into consideration when deciding the consequences, according to the report. Beth Israel Lahey Health is eliminating jobs as it navigates rising costs, a spokesperson for the Cambridge, Mass.-based system confirmed to Becker's Sept. 28. The health system, which operates 14 hospitals, did not say how many or which roles would be affected. In Massachusetts, employers are generally required to file a WARN notice when a layoff affects 50 or more employees at least 60 days prior to job cuts taking effect. The system did not address whether the layoffs would trigger a notice. "Like healthcare providers across the country, BILH is facing significant cost increases, a limited reimbursement environment and changing patient care trends," a spokesperson said in a statement Sept. 28. "Despite these challenges, BILH remains committed to our mission of delivering high-quality care in the communities we serve. At the local level, hospital leaders have identified opportunities to restructure staff roles, including eliminating some positions, to best meet local healthcare needs in a sustainable way. We continue to prioritize patient care and make investments that deliver on our commitment to community health." Some unionized nurses at three BILH hospitals were laid off, but are eligible for other jobs within the health system, the Massachusetts Nurses Association told The Boston Globe, which also reported that 22 nurse managers at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth were affected. The nurse managers were not union members. Becker's has also reached out to the state's nurses association and will update the report as more information becomes available. The health system reported a $110 million operating loss for the nine-month period ending in June 2024, according to financial documents published in August. Beth Israel Lahey Health reported a $23.3 million operating loss (-1% margin) for the three months ended June 30, up from the $15.3 million loss (-0.8% margin) for the same period in 2023. News of the layoffs comes as Beth Israel Lahey Health faces scrutiny from the New Hampshire attorney general over its plans to cut services at Exeter Hospital, which it acquired in 2023. On Sept. 25, the health system agreed to delay planned service cuts for up to six months. Beth Israel Lahey Health employs more than 4,700 physicians and 39,000 employees. Chicago-based CommonSpirit reported a $581 million operating loss (-1.5% margin) in the fiscal year ending June 30, improving on the $1.3 billion loss (-3.6% margin) the previous fiscal year. CommonSpirit attributed the improvement in FY 2024 performance primarily to strong volume with a reduction in labor costs and higher productivity. "While we are encouraged by the improvement in our finances for fiscal year 2024, we know there is more work to be done to accelerate this trajectory," CFO Dan Morissette said. "We have focused on operational excellence and strategic growth, and we will continue to lean into these areas as we work to expand on these successes." CommonSpirit recently underwent a "comprehensive portfolio review," consolidating eight operating divisions into five regions, completing multiple hospital transactions and implementing various changes with an intentional focus on each geographic market. The system has also adjusted its portfolio through growth and ambulatory services, invested and grown in its strongest markets including Arizona, Washington Colorado and Utah and divested of other geographies that it believes are better served as part of other systems, according to CEO Wright Lassiter III. Six things to know: 1. CommonSpirit's new operating structure is broken down into five regions: California, Central, South, Mountain and Northwest. The 137-hospital system has more than 2,300 care sites and 150,000 employees, including 25,000 physicians, according to its financial report published Sept. 26. 2. In August, CommonSpirit sold two Dignity Health hospitals in San Francisco to UCSF Health. The sale of Saint Francis Memorial Hospital and St. Mary's Medical Center saw a total of 1,800 employees and providers move to the UCSF Health team. The hospitals shed their religious affiliation and are now known as UCSF Health Saint Francis and UCSF Health St. Mary's under the acquisition. 3. The health system plans to sell Devils Lake Hospital in Devils Lake, N.D., to Altru Health System. The 25-bed critical access hospital dates back to 1902 and has been recognized as one of the most financially stable rural hospitals in the nation. 4. In May 2023, CommonSpirit acquired five Utah hospitals, more than 35 medical group clinics and a clinically integrated network of providers from Dallas-based Steward Health Care for about $705 million. The hospitals include: Holy Cross Hospital-Davis (formerly known as Davis Hospital and Medical Center) in Layton Holy Cross Hospital-Jordan Valley (formerly known as Jordan Valley Medical Center) in West Jordan Holy Cross Hospital-Jordan Valley West (formerly known as Jordan Valley Medical Center-West Valley Campus) in West Valley City Holy Cross Hospital-Mountain Point (formerly known as Mountain Point Medical Center) in Lehi Holy Cross Hospital-Salt Lake (formerly known as Salt Lake Regional Medical Center) in Salt Lake City 5. Centennial, Colo.-based Centura Health in August 2023 folded into CommonSpirit, which manages 20 hospitals and more than 240 care sites in Colorado, Kansas and Utah that were previously managed by Centura. The Centura Health brand transitioned to CommonSpirit and retired. 6. In September 2022, CommonSpirit sold MercyOne Health System in Des Moines, Iowa, to Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health for $613 million. MercyOne had previously been under a joint operating agreement between CommonSpirit and Trinity. Health systems across the country are rapidly embracing AI to enhance patient care, streamline operations and reduce clinician burnout. But as the technology gains momentum, a critical question arises: do these organizations have the IT talent necessary to support and scale these AI-driven initiatives? Despite growing investments in AI, a nationwide shortage of skilled tech professionals continues to challenge healthcare organizations. Dennis Chornenky, chief artificial intelligence adviser at UC Davis Health in Sacramento, Calif., told Becker's that staffing gaps persist, even in well-resourced hospitals. "Most hospitals, even well resourced ones, struggle with talent and getting adequate funding for it, especially IT talent necessary to deploy AI solutions," he said. Sarah Hatchett, senior vice president and CIO of Cleveland Clinic, echoed this sentiment, noting that recruiting IT talent for healthcare is particularly complex. She added that health systems with experience in "classic AI," such as predictive modeling, may be better positioned to adapt to the latest advancements in generative AI. "The complexity of the latest AI development and deployment in healthcare requires not only a strong technical foundation but also specialized knowledge in data science, machine learning and healthcare-specific regulations such as HIPAA," she told Becker's. "The shortage of talent with this unique blend of skills, as well as the challenges with training and upskilling the current workforce may require health systems to pursue vendor solutions or other managed services to bridge the gap and accomplish their AI goals." Despite these challenges, Mr. Chornenky pointed out that some health systems may already have untapped IT talent that can drive AI initiatives. "They [health systems] may have a number of different engineers, some of whom happen to specialize in advanced analytics and machine learning," he said. At UCSF Health in San Francisco, the focus has been on upskilling the current IT workforce to meet AI demands. "It's not just about having enough IT employees, but rather having employees with the right skill sets to support implementation of AI tools," Sara Murray, MD, chief health AI officer of San Francisco-based UCSF Health told Becker's. "While some new hires have been necessary, a lot of our focus has been on upskilling our workforce, helping our teams learn the fundamentals of successful AI implementation and making sure they have time to do the work." As AI adoption accelerates, healthcare organizations must address the dual challenges of staffing and expertise to ensure successful implementation and long-term sustainability. "She just landed from overseas this morning," Carrie Herzke, MD, chief medical officer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore said, referring to her chief nursing officer counterpart, Deborah Baker, DNP. "I was probably the second person she texted after her family." It's a quick aside, but sums up the commitment both women have to their roles at Johns Hopkins and their partnership as a leadership team. The two have worked alongside each other since 2019 when Dr. Herzke became the hospital's associate CMO. Having worked within the health system since 2008, she left only briefly in 2022 to serve as CMO for the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Within two years, Dr. Herzke returned to Johns Hopkins Hospital as CMO in early 2024. Dr. Baker has been with Johns Hopkins since her time as a student, earning her bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees at the university's School of Nursing before joining the hospital as a clinical nurse in 1992. Besides serving as the hospital's CNO, Dr. Baker is also the senior vice president for nursing of the entire Johns Hopkins Health System. Shared Goals, Core Values When reflecting on what makes their partnership unique, Drs. Herzke and Baker both expressed a shared commitment to a perhaps overlooked clinical leadership tool, rounds. "Being a visible leadership team is a core value for us," Dr. Baker said. "In addition to scheduled executive rounds, we also round with staff informally on nights and weekends." Dr. Herzke attributes much of their success with rounds to Dr. Baker, or, as she calls her, "Deb." "I appreciate how Deb can go on a floor and really relate," Dr, Herzke said. "Deb has set [the] expectation and demonstrates how she legitimately and genuinely cares about her team. It's one of the lessons that Deb has taught me, to get out and chat with the folks that are actually doing the work." Acknowledging Interdependence Dr. Herzke recalls watching Dr. Baker in action on rounds during the first wave of COVID-19, which happened shortly after Dr. Herzke stepped into the hospital's associate CMO role. She remembers walking with Dr. Baker through a specific unit that had been flipped into an ICU. "We were asking people to do things they weren't familiar with. We didn't have vaccines. People were very nervous," Dr. Herzke said. "It was really touching to see how Deb knew and worked with the nurses. Walking through that unit and hearing our physician and nursing colleagues talk, seeing how proud they were, that was a defining moment." Dr. Baker said her inclusivity can be attributed to their overemphasis on interdependence. "Carrie and I are intentional about including stakeholders that are impacted by decisions, with patient quality and safety as guiding principles," Dr. Baker said, highlighting "solution session forums" attended by human resources, nursing and executive leaders where staff can share concerns. Responding Together An example of their inclusive leadership style is their leadership response team initiative. Through the program, anyone on a care team can request a problem-solving huddle with executives. "The team huddles as many times as needed to resolve the issues," Dr. Baker said. "[It's] particularly valuable when the usual chain of command is unsuccessful in resolving critical issues. The nurse, physician and administrative leaders working well together [are] key to creating a healthy work environment." The program is one way Dr. Herzke and Dr. Baker push forward on Johns Hopkins' mission of patient safety and quality first. A mission, Dr. Herzke said, that cannot be achieved if hospital care teams feel like their leaders are not similarly aligned. "We want John Hopkins to be the best place to work as a nurse, as a physician, as a pharmacist we want to be the best place to work, period," Dr. Herzke said. "That really takes a leadership team that works together. And two big partners of that are the CNO and the CMO." Health systems continue to partner with Big Tech on their digital transformations. Here are 11 collaborations from the past month. 1. Columbia, S.C.-based Prisma Health is the third health system in the country to open a retail market featuring Amazon's "just-walk-out" technology, launching the project Sept. 26. 2. Providence, R.I.-based Care New England was selected Sept. 25 to participate in Amazon Web Services' Health Equity Initiative, a $60 million program aimed at supporting organizations developing solutions to advance health equity. 3. UTHealth Houston started discussing partnering with OpenAI in 2023 after using Microsoft's Azure platform and learning about OpenAI's HIPAA-compliant models, Becker's reported Sept. 23. 4. Somerville, Mass.-based Mass General Brigham collaborates with 20 tech companies including Microsoft, said Mass General Brigham President and CEO Anne Klibanski, MD, Sept. 23 at the health system's World Medical Innovation Forum in Everett, Mass., covered by Becker's. 5. Leaders from Microsoft, Google Cloud and Meta attended or spoke Sept. 23-25 at Mass General Brigham's World Medical Innovation Forum covered by Becker's. 6. Durham, N.C.-based Duke Health entered into a two-year collaboration Sept. 18 with SAS, a company specializing in data and artificial intelligence, to create AI-powered tools. The organizations say they will work jointly to advance responsible AI practices, collaborating with the nonprofit Coalition for Health AI and Microsoft-backed Trustworthy and Responsible AI Network 7. Microsoft said Sept. 17 it is collaborating with the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives and Nordic to create a national rural health IT community and encourage cooperation between rural hospitals and major tech companies. 8. Robert Garrett, CEO of Edison, N.J.-based Hackensack Meridian Health, told Becker's for a Sept. 16 story that collaborating with Amazon's One Medical to open primary care offices in New Jersey fits the health system's strategy of partnering with tech companies. 9. UC San Diego Health said Sept. 16 it is studying how to use Apple's new Vision Pro headset in operating rooms. 10. Mangesh Patil, chief analytics officer of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, told Becker's for a Sept. 11 story that the health system's nurse handoff AI use case was featured in the Google Next keynote last April. 11. A Microsoft spokesperson told Becker's for an Aug. 26 story that its AI-based solutions for hospitals and health systems are competitively priced, after a leader at Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente warned of a growing AI divide. The work taking place at Northern Ireland's first Greggs drive-thru in Craigavon. Pic: Belfast Telegraph Building work has commenced on Northern Irelands first Greggs drive-thru outlet. Sausage roll and pasty fans will soon be able to grab their favourite snack on the go at the site in Craigavons Marlborough Retail Park, Co Armagh. Planning permission for the drive-thru was approved in May by Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council. Ground was broken beside the retail parks Burger King restaurant earlier this month, but it is not clear when the outlet will be open to the public. Greggs has been asked for a statement on the building work. The Newcastle upon Tyne-based chain has almost 2,500 outlets across the UK and currently has 17 stores in Northern Ireland. Greggs offers coffee, sausage rolls, pasties, freshly made sandwiches and much more. The work taking place at Northern Ireland's first Greggs drive-thru in Craigavon. Pic: Belfast Telegraph According to the planning application for the drive-thru in Craigavon, which was submitted in January, it will be located next to the existing Burger King and will have an outdoor seating area. Supporting statements submitted on behalf of Turkington Properties said the size of the unit will be around 185 sq m. The Greggs bakery will have 31 indoor seats and 29 car parking spaces, including two disabled spots. Greggs Craigavon drive-thru application received no objections from DfI Roads, Environmental Health, NI Environment Agency or NI Water. The supporting statement added that the Craigavon retail park has undergone significant redevelopment and investment in recent years. Marlborough Retail Park also has a drive-thru Starbucks store, as well as an M&S Simply Food, Home Bargains, ONeills and Airtastic. Rushmere Shopping Centre, Tesco Extra and Halfords are all located next to the site. Meanwhile, Greggs announced a further expansion in Northern Ireland last month. Read more Greggs taking on former top south Belfast restaurant for new cafe The chain is planning to open a new location on the Lisburn Road, Belfast, and submitted plans to take on the former Deanes and Decano site, which was formerly run by restaurateur Michael Deane. Its also taking on a unit on the ground floor of a new student accommodation scheme on York Street in the city. The business is also taking one of the new food units being developed at Forestside Shopping Centre in south Belfast. This man is addicted to fame, Holmes said about his former colleague. Eamonn Holmes has reignited his feud with former This Morning colleague Phillip Schofield, saying that if he was one of those who threw him under the bus, he was very proud to have done so. Schofield makes his television comeback on Channel 5 show Phillip Schofield: Cast Away on Monday evening the first time the presenter will appear on television since leaving This Morning amid an affair scandal. The 62-year-old said last year he had lost everything after admitting to the affair and said that the fallout had had a catastrophic effect on his mind. An external review, revealed in December, found that ITV made considerable efforts to find out the truth about an alleged relationship between Schofield and a runner on This Morning in 2019 but was unable to uncover the relevant evidence, until the presenters own admission in late May 2023. When it emerged that Schofield had the affair, Holmes said both he and his former wife Ruth Langsford had been taken for fools by their former co-presenter after comforting him live on TV when he came out as gay. Speaking on GB News Breakfast on Monday, Holmes (64) said Schofield deserves to be in exile on the new Channel 5 show which sees his former co-presenter marooned on a tropical island off the coast of Madagascar for 10 days. Phillip Schofield says disaster has struck as wind destroys tent in Cast Away This man is addicted to fame, absolutely addicted to fame, added Holmes, who was quizzed by co-host Isobel Webster. Well, if Im one of the people who threw him under the bus, Im very proud to have done it, he continued. Schofields new show will air across three nights from Monday to Wednesday in three 60-minute instalments. In the programme, Schofield refers to himself as the shamed, disgraced Philip Schofield, who had an affair. The former This Morning host said: Strangely, I think another TV presenter or two might have done exactly the same thing. Difference is heterosexual. Its not an unusual thing in the gay world for there to be a difference in age groups. Thats not that unusual in the straight world. But if that had been the case with me and it had been a woman, pat on the back. Well done, mate. While the presenter admitted he has regrets and acknowledged he got something wrong and hurt the people around him, he added: I dont know what price youre supposed to pay and whether the price youre paying is necessarily proportionate. Holmes is so far the only one of Schofields former This Morning colleagues who has addressed his TV comeback and his reaction will come as no surprise after the pairs long-running, bitter feud. Schofield left ITVs This Morning in May 2023 after admitting to having a relationship with a much younger male colleague, with Holmes describing Schofield as a chief narcissist who didnt know the names of any of his staff. He also called him delusional and a liar after the under-fire host issued a statement insisting there had been no toxicity at the daytime show. The pairs feud dates back to 2019 when Holmes now-estranged wife and This Morning co-host Ruth Langsford filed an official complaint against Schofield. While working on Loose Women, Langsford was snubbed by Schofield when she was cut off mid-link while explaining what was coming up on the show during a segment on This Morning. Later, in November 2021, Holmes and Langsford were controversially axed from This Morning after 15 years and replaced on the Friday show by Dermot OLeary and Alison Hammond. Holmes was particularly aggrieved about being let go by ITV, claiming he was never given an accurate reason. Phillip Schofield: Cast Away airs on Monday, September 30, at 9pm on Channel 5. Anthony Franze is a native Texan and very passionate about covering any weather that is thrown at him. He can be reached at anthony.franze@express-news.net. Anthony earned a degree in Meteorology from Valparaiso University in 2017. He has worked as a broadcast meteorologist for six years, one at NBC Montana and the next five at NewsWest 9 in Midland before joining the Express-News in July 2023. In his free time, Anthony enjoys watching sports, checking out local restaurants and breweries, and getting outside whenever the heat allows for it. If you have any story ideas, questions about the weather or restaurant suggestions, drop him a line. But Year 8 tutors from St Ciarans College in Ballygawley are thankful they wont be constantly seeing double, as only two of the pairs of children are identical Meet the six sets of twins in one year at Co. Tyrone school Meet the pupils causing teachers at a Co Tyrone school to do a double take. Six sets of twins are among the new Year 8 intake at St Ciarans College in Ballygawley. Its not quite as problematic as it could have been. Only the Wilson girls, Sophie and Emily, are identical. I got my hair cut differently, said Sophie which should help their tutors and pals tell them apart. While each set of twins share a lot of traits, there can be big differences in their outlook on life, and tastes in food in particular. I like cauliflower and peas, Conor Devlin (11) told me. I dont, said his brother Sean. Following them through the doors on the first day of the new term at the 900-pupil school were Ruari and Patrick McKenna; Wojciecha and Szymon Burchacki; Amelia and Donnacha Harvey, and Ava and Mia McAteer. As they walked into the room they didnt all automatically sit beside their twin. Emily and Sophie Wilson are the only identical twins in the six sets (Picture by Peter Morrison) They may have come into the world virtually side by side, but it doesnt always have to be that way. We do have rows at home, said Amelia. Just a few. I thought there was bound to be at least one more set of twins coming to the school, said Patrick, quickly establishing himself as the talkative one of the group. There are 160 of us starting, so I guessed we wouldnt be the only ones. Hes not wrong. Roughly one in every 65 pregnancies results is twins. But that makes the 12 in 160 pupils at St Ciarans all born in the same area of Co Tyrone within a few months and ending up at the same school all the more remarkable. We get on okay I guess, Patrick added. Weve been together all our lives, apart from the first 11 minutes I was first. Asked if he felt that gave him superiority in the home, he nodded and smiled. Ruari nodded in resigned agreement. He will always be the younger twin. And hes taller than me, added Ruari. Patrick said: We dont like the same things at all, and Im not only taller, he wears glasses. Also playing the older brother card was Conor. By one minute, he smiled, holding up a single finger. Sophie and Emily said they both love being a twin. Weve never really been on our own, they said in unison. We always have each other to turn to. Weve always got along. Ava and Mia McAteer (Picture by Peter Morrison) Its only that shorter haircut that marks Sophie as instantly different from her sister. Thats not the case for Wojciecha and Szymon. Theres not much similarity at all. I like farming and he likes sport, explained Wojciecha. I play at Killeeshil (St Marys GFC), hes not interested, added Szymon. Senior Year 8 teacher Celine McGirr told the Belfast Telegraph: We have 160 pupils starting, but to have six sets of twins all starting at the same time in the same year was a bit of a surprise. But we are delighted that they have chosen St Ciarans as their school. One set is a boy and girl, the rest are either both boys and girls, but they are all so different to us already. The question we are all asking is what was in the air in 2012? But its wonderful for us that St Ciarans is benefiting from it now. They seem to all be enjoying their first few days in the school and we are delighted to have them with us for the next part of their education. We wish them all the very best over their next five or seven years with us. We cant wait until we see them grow and develop and we will nurture them along the way. Theyve all come from different primary schools, so its not just a Ballygawley thing, it must be a Tyrone thing! Its head of Year 8 Donna McKennas job to help the children settle into school life. She said: A number of years ago we had a set of quintuplets with us that was a wonderful thing for the school. But I dont recall ever having so many twins in the one year group. Absolutely were grateful that theyre not all identical. It makes it so much easier. We have no problem identifying them now. They all have different wee personalities as well. We can definitely see that coming through. Conor and Sean Devlin (Picture by Peter Morrison) The process of deciding whether they should be together or separated for classes can be a tricky one. She explained: We do take a lot of things into consideration whether or not they should be in the same class. We have a great relationship with our local partner primary schools and they will always be involved in what happens. And we can have requests from parents on whether to keep them apart or together. But they are all very unique in their own right. Some of them are more reliant on their twin than others, you can definitely see that coming through. Some are delighted to be in the same class as their twin, others want to get away from them. They all have a lovely wee connection, though, and thats fascinating for us to watch as they develop. There is a little phrase we would always use in this school A family for families. These six sets of twins are testament to that concept. A foundation established to honour John and Pat Hume is planning to open a centre in the couples home city. Its understood the intention is to have the centre in Derry city centre, within its famous Walls. The Belfast Telegraph has learned that the vacant Austins building was up for consideration but ruled out for a number of reasons, not least due to the size and current state of the property. SDLP founder John Hume passed away in August 2020, while wife Pat died the following September. Plans are however advancing and, rather than looking to the past, it aims to be a forward-thinking project that stays true to the Hume familys spirit of inclusiveness. It will advocate the principles of John and Pat Hume and aim to inspire peacemakers. The Hume Foundation was set up to honour the Nobel laureate and his wife, who worked side by side for decades to bring positive change to the lives of the people of Derry and Northern Ireland. Growing up, John and Pat Hume witnessed poverty, poor housing, inequality and injustice in Derry. These experiences shaped their life-long commitment to peace and social justice. At the age of 27, Mr Hume became the youngest ever president of the Irish League of Credit Unions. He was a leader of the Civil Rights Movement against discrimination and electoral abuse. The ensuing struggle for civil rights for all citizens of Northern Ireland, and his deep commitment to non-violence, drew him inevitably into politics. The Foundation is governed by a cross-community board of varying faiths and viewpoints who share the belief that difference is of the essence of humanity. Board members include former Progressive Unionist Party MLA and leader Dawn Purvis; former deputy First Minister, MP and SDLP leader Mark Durkan, and new UUP leader Mike Nesbitt. Sara Canning, whose partner Lyra McKee was killed by dissident republicans in Derry, and who is a Study Support Officer in Altnagelvin Area Hospital, is also among board members. The new 340m Grand Central Station in Belfast is contributing to serious traffic congestion in the city, Stormont Infrastructure Minister John ODowd has said (Rebecca Black/PA) The new 340 million Grand Central Station in Belfast is contributing to serious traffic congestion in the city, Stormonts Infrastructure Minister has said. John ODowd dealt with a number of questions in the Assembly from MLAs who complained about traffic chaos in the city. The minister said his officials are reviewing traffic problems from the weekend to see if lessons need to be learned. Stormont Infrastructure Minister John ODowd dealt with a number of questions from MLAs about traffic problems in Belfast (Rebecca Black/PA) Mr ODowd pointed to the new public transport hub as well as a major resurfacing scheme at the Sydenham Bypass and suggested rural MLAs would wonder what political representatives from the city are complaining about. Grand Central Station, which officially opened earlier this month, will become the largest integrated transport hub on the island of Ireland, replacing the Europa Bus Centre and the former Great Victoria Street Station. It is set to become operational in phases. While buses are already operating, train services are expected to start later this year. During ministerial question time at Stormont, DUP MLA Phillip Brett referred to traffic chaos in our city centre at the weekend. A major resurfacing project began at the weekend on the Sydenham Bypass in east Belfast, one of the citys main arterial routes. DUP MLA Jonathan Buckley said the traffic problems are not just down to roadworks (Liam McBurney/PA) Mr ODowd said: The traffic chaos you refer to at the weekend is the result of a 3.2 million road improvement scheme being carried out in Belfast. I suspect people in rural Fermanagh and rural Tyrone and elsewhere are aghast that people are complaining they are getting 3.2 million spent in their area. But DUP MLA Jonathan Buckley said the issues were not just caused by roadworks. He said: Can I ask the minister to explain in detail what his departments plans are to alleviate the serious congestion concerns? The minister responded: There is serious traffic congestion in Belfast in the mornings and during the evening rush-hour. Part of it is as a result of a 340 million investment in a new Grand Central Station, part of it is the result of the 3.2 million that is being spent on upgrading the Sydenham Bypass. The reason why some of it is happening is because we are making investment in our infrastructure for the economic wellbeing of us all. He added: I have asked my officials to monitor the Belfast situation closely to see if there is interim measures we can take while the work in and around Grand Belfast Central Station is going ahead, to see if there are changes to lighting operations or streetlighting operations that we could take that would help alleviate the traffic in and around it. I accept there are always circumstances where public transport is not suitable, but when you are sitting in traffic perhaps one question we need to ask is this Could we use public transport? When you are sitting in traffic, you are the traffic. DUP MLA David Brooks said east Belfast is particularly affected by the traffic problems, which he said he believes are caused by poor traffic management. Mr ODowd said: I am looking at your rural colleagues as they look with envy upon Belfast receiving its 3.2 million roads improvement, its 340 million bus and rail station. Your rural colleagues are going What are you complaining about? I do accept there has been traffic congestion in Belfast city centre. We are reviewing it and if lessons need to be learned from the weekend, they will be learned moving forward. But we are resurfacing a major artery into Belfast. It needs upgraded, it needs resurfaced and that is why we are doing it. Mr Brooks said some residents in the Sydenham area felt they were locked into their streets at the weekend. A5 closed Road users are advised the A5 is closed this morning, Monday 7th October, at its junction with the Woodend Road, Strabane and Duncastle Road, Newbuildings. Local diversions are in place and signposted. The road is likely to be closed for some time and an update will be provided in due course. UPDATE: The PSNI has confirmed the A5 remains closed this morning between its junctions with Leckpatrick Road, Ballymagorry and Woodend Road, Strabane. All traffic is being diverted via Donemana. The PSNI said the man was taken to hospital after an assault by a number of men in west Belfast (Photo: Kevin Scott/Belfast Telegraph) The PSNI said the man was taken to hospital after an assault by a number of men in west Belfast (Photo: Kevin Scott/Belfast Telegraph) The PSNI has said it will not tolerate vigilante activity after an attack on a house in west Belfast today was linked to an serious assault on a man in the area the day before. Police received a report of criminal damage to a property in the Ardcaoin area just before 6pm. Damage was caused to doors and windows were smashed. No-one was present in the property at the time. It is believed that the man has left the area. Chief Inspector Hamilton said: Although enquiries are ongoing, at this stage of the investigation we are linking this attack to a report of the assault of a man on Suffolk Road on Sunday, 29th September, during which he sustained serious injury. "Anyone with information on those responsible should contact police on 101 . We would reiterate that we are aware of online speculation connecting last nights assault to recent reported approaches to women and attempted sexual assaults in the west Belfast area; however there is no evidence linking these reports at present, and no arrests have been made. The PSNI said the man was taken to hospital after an assault by a number of men in west Belfast (Photo: Kevin Scott/Belfast Telegraph) We want to make it clear that the PSNI will not tolerate any type of vigilante activity and we would caution any individual or group in the strongest terms against taking the law into their own hands. "The Police Service is responsible for law enforcement in Northern Ireland, not the community. We are continuing to liaise with elected and community representatives to discuss these issues and our officers will be providing a visible policing presence throughout west Belfast. If you have concerns report them to police on 101, or 999 in an emergency." The man was taken to hospital by police after he was assaulted on Sunday shortly after 8pm. He had earlier been spoken to by police after a separate report that he had made remarks to a teenage girl that made her uncomfortable. However, he was not arrested. Sinn Fein MP Paul Maskey called for anyone with information in relation to incidents in west Belfast over recent days to contact police. The West Belfast MP said: Police have been dealing with a number of incidents across west Belfast in recent days. If anyone has information on these incidents, they should bring this to the PSNI. The police now have a job of work to do to bring whoever was responsible for incidents last week before the courts." News Catch Up - Monday 30th September The PSNI have warned against any type of vigilante activity (PA) Police have warned against people taking the law into their own hands after an assault and a report of criminal damage in west Belfast. The PSNI said a man was taken to hospital with a serious injury after he was assaulted by a number of men on Suffolk Road shortly after 8pm on Sunday. Police said they had spoken to the man earlier after a separate report that he had made remarks to a teenage girl that made her uncomfortable. The force said they were aware of speculation connecting the incident to recent reported approaches to women and attempted sexual assaults in the area but stressed there was no evidence linking it to previous reports and no arrests have been made. Police then received a report of criminal damage to a property in the Ardcaoin area of west Belfast just before 6pm on Monday. They said damage was caused to the windows and doors and that no one was in the property at the time. Chief Inspector Hamilton said that at this stage of the investigation they believed the two incidents were linked. We would reiterate that we are aware of online speculation connecting last nights assault to recent reported approaches to women and attempted sexual assaults in the west Belfast area; however there is no evidence linking these reports at present, and no arrests have been made. We want to make it clear that the Police Service of Northern Ireland will not tolerate any type of vigilante activity and we would caution any individual or group in the strongest terms against taking the law into their own hands. The Police Service is responsible for law enforcement in Northern Ireland, not the community. We are continuing to liaise with elected and community representatives to discuss these issues and our officers will be providing a visible policing presence throughout west Belfast. If you have concerns report them to police on 101, or 999 in an emergency. I was once offered a meeting with Vladimir Putin and invited to stay at luxury hotel in Moscow Aontu leader Family of 87-year-old Liam Farrell (above) believe their father was the victim of a serious assault which in turn precipitated his death Gardai are awaiting the results of fresh forensic tests carried out a week ago at the home of an elderly Irish farmer who died in suspicious circumstances nearly five years ago. A man has appeared in court charged in connection with the discovery of 1.4 million euro worth of gold bullion at business premises in Dublin. Some 460,000 euro in cash and 210,000 euro worth of suspected cocaine and ecstasy were also seized during the operation at the weekend. Farhats Bathijevs, 55, appeared before Blanchardstown District Court on Monday. Bathijevs, who has an address in Earlsfort Court in Lucan, was arrested on Friday by the Dublin crime response team. Some 18kg of gold bars and coins, valued at about 1,375,218 million euro, were discovered in a vault south of the city, and the drugs were found during searches of a residential property. Bathijevs is facing a number of charges. Three relate to money laundering and two to theft and fraud relating to false documents. He is also charged with two counts of possession of drugs and two counts of supply of cocaine and ecstasy. Garda Sean McElroy told the court that the accused was arrested at Ronanstown Garda Station on Friday shortly after 7pm. Defence solicitor Ciaran McLaughlin said there was no application for bail. An application for legal aid was made, but there was a request for statement of means and a decision on the legal aid will be made at a future date. District Judge David McHugh remanded Bathijevs into custody, to appear via video link from Cloverhill prison on Friday. Two women were also arrested in connection with the seizure at the weekend. The women, in their 30s and 50s, were arrested on Monday in the Dublin area. Both are being detained under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996 at garda stations in the Dublin region and can be held for up to seven days. The Israeli military has announced that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an airstrike in southern Beirut Friday and Hezbollah has reportedly launched a "rocket barrage" on multiple Israeli targets in response. Hezbollah has yet to confirm the death of Nasrallah, who was one of the founders of the Iranian-backed force. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei sent a message of assurance to Hezbollah on Saturday, saying that "all regional resistance forces" are standing with the group, CNN reported. Khamenei insisted that Israel was "too small to cause significant damage" to Hezbollah. "It is obligatory for all Muslims to stand proudly with the people of Lebanon and Hezbollah with their resources and help it in confronting the usurping, cruel and evil regime," his statement added. The Hezbollah strikes Saturday reportedly targeted Rosh Pina, Sa'ar and Avivim in northern Israel. Rocket sirens were activated in Safed and the Upper Galilee, according to Israel's Home Front Command, CNN reported. Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces said a rocket was intercepted over the West Bank. No injuries were immediately announced following the Hezbollah strikes. Israel continued to launch strikes on Beirut over night into early Saturday, claiming to target Hezbollah weapons. Hundreds have been killed in the recent series of Israeli bombardments, and some 100,000 people have been displaced by the attacks, according to Lebanese authorities. Israel warned that the assaults on Lebanon are "not the end of our toolbox." The Taoiseach has said he does not intend to move into Farmleigh as it would be very disruptive for his children. Gardai have investigated separate incidents of alleged harassment outside Simon Harriss family home, as well as a bomb threat against the Co Wicklow property. It has raised questions on whether Mr Harris should move to a location with heightened security. There is no official residence for holders of the office of Taoiseach but, on occasion, Stewards Lodge on the Farmleigh estate has been used by taoisigh for various reasons. However, Mr Harris has said he has no intention of moving there. Taoiseach Simon Harris speaking to the media (Brian Lawless/PA) Mr Harriss comments come as he appears as the first guest on the second season of former RTE star Ryan Tubridys podcast. Tubridy was at the centre of a scandal which rocked RTE for a year, after it was revealed that the national broadcaster had underdeclared payments to the former Late Late Show host. The crisis later widened out to other governance matters and the controversy around financial mismanagement at the station was seen as a driver behind a fall in TV licence receipts. It prompted a series of heavyweight Oireachtas committees and resulted in the Government changing how the organisation is funded. Tubridy now hosts a daily show on Virgin Radio in London which is also broadcast on Q102. He also writes a weekly column for The Irish Daily Mail On Sunday. Mr Harris told the podcast host that the incidents at his home were a form of intimidation and harassment. I think its done to unsettle and unnerve people, and I think its done by people to let you know that they know where you live. Ryan Tubridy arrives at Leinster House for an Oireachtas committee (Niall Carson/PA) Asked by Tubridy about the possibility for an official Taoiseachs residence, Mr Harris said: This has been put to me on occasion. The challenge for me apart from loving Greystones is that my kids are of an age where one has just started in the local school, and it would be very disruptive. I dont know where the future brings us in relation to this but I can see it happening in the future. Mr Harris said he did not imagine that Irish people would be unsupportive of such a measure, but added: Its not something that Im intending to do. On The Bookshelf With Ryan Tubridy, Mr Harris will reveal how he gorged on books as a child and raised money for MS Ireland by getting sponsored for the Readathon. The episode is also expected to feature the conflict in Gaza and a gift he received from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The premise of Tubridys podcast involves asking guests to bring in three books: a cherished childhood book, a book which brought them to tears, and a book which changed their life. Mr Harris identified Patrick Radden Keefes Say Nothing as the book that made him cry. This book did make me cry within the first few pages, because it is a book that tells the story of the Troubles, particularly the Jean McConville abduction. Ms McConville was a recently widowed mother of 10 when she was abducted. She was 38 years of age. She was abducted, murdered and then disappeared. Body buried. Disappeared, taken from her kids by the IRA and killed in the Troubles. Promotional material for the episode also shows two other books in front of Mr Harris. These are David McKittricks book about the Troubles, Lost Lives, as well as Mark Haddons The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, in which the lead character is widely regarded as an autistic boy although this is not explicitly mentioned in the text. Mr Harris has attributed his campaigning for better school facilities for his autistic brother as his entry into public life. The Bookshelf With Ryan Tubridy returns on Tuesday. The Duke of Sussex has been upstaged by a boisterous boy who threw his toys away during an awards night and laughed as Harry picked them up. The duke met seven-year-old Noah Nicholson who has complex medical conditions when he returned to the UK to honour children, teenagers and their parents who have been recognised with awards from the charity WellChild. Harry was asked by some of the youngsters whether he had a passport, and received gifts for his own children in the US. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content He told one winner at Londons Royal Lancaster Hotel: My award is being here with you guys. The WellChild awards celebrate the inspiring qualities of some of the countrys seriously ill young people and the dedication of those who keep them healthy and happy, including health, social care and education professionals. Noah has cerebral palsy, chronic lung disease and other serious health issues, but his mother, Tracey Nicholson, 42, from Grimsby, said he remains happy and positive and lives life to the full. The seven-year-old brought his prized comfort toys George the cat and Ratty the Giraffe in the shape of a blanket and delighted in throwing them on to the floor. When Ms Nicholson apologised for her sons antics, Harry, who is WellChilds patron, replied: Dont apologise, I love it. Harry recognised Ratty the Giraffe and called the blanket comforter lovey, a name used in American, and said: Every parent has about six spare. The Duke of Sussex arrives for the annual WellChild Awards 2024 (Yui Mok/PA) At one point Noah, who has brain damage and won the most Inspirational Child aged four to six, grabbed Harrys beard and made him grin. Noahs mother said afterwards: Hes in constant pain but is always happy and smiley. Hes just a very excitable boy and when hes around people he just loves it. Nothing ever gets him down, he never cries unless the pain gets the better of him. Hes seriously ill fighting for his life so much, but hes so happy. Anya Olweny, 12, named as Inspirational Sibling, asked Harry if he had a passport: He said he still has to have one. The youngster, from Matlock, Derbyshire, was not fazed by meeting royalty and was recognised for supporting her mother caring for her 15-year-old brother Edward, who was born with a chromosomal disorder, is developmentally delayed and severely short-sighted. Scarlett Cripps, Inspirational Child 7-11 years old, presented Harry with a set of crystal hearts blue for the duke, green for his son Archie, yellow for his daughter Lilibet and purple for his wife Meghan. Scarletts mother, Aby Cripps, said: Scarlett told Harry she filled the crystal hearts with love and whenever he had a bad day or sad day he had to squeeze the heart and it would show him how special he was and make him smile. He said it was a lovely gesture and he hadnt seen his wife and his children because he was travelling here, so hell take it out later and squeeze them and it will remind him of his lovely wife. It is believed Harry arrived in the UK on Sunday, but it seems unlikely he will meet his estranged brother the Prince of Wales, and doubtful he will travel to Scotland to spend time with the King. Jean Pallant said she is over the moon one of her long-lost designs was found in an Oxfam charity shop (Seb Durocher/Oxfam/PA) A British fashion designer said she is over the moon that one of her long-lost designs was found in an Oxfam charity shop nearly 40 years after it went missing from the designers warehouse. When designer Jean Pallant was told her one-of-a-kind coat had turned up in a donation bag at the Oxfam shop in Mill Hill, London, she was very excited, she told the PA news agency. I was absolutely over the moon, really. It was very sweet of the person who discovered it to believe that it was something important, she said. Its like seeing a child. Its lovely. I know every single square inch of it, and Im absolutely amazed that it looks so new, and it feels new. Everything about it looks exactly as it did when it went missing. A Pallant coat and shoes ready backstage at the Style for Change, Oxfam x Vinted Fashion Show (Gabi Torres/Oxfam/PA) Oxfams Mill Hill shop manager Marina Ikey-Botchway said she could tell the coat was a priceless item when the donation came in. She made the discovery among a donation of high street fast fashion clothes. The very first second I saw the coat I knew this was something special, so I checked the label and after a quick Google found Jeans email, she said. Ms Pallant, who was part of the 1960s cultural revolution and one half of a husband-and-wife team, made the orange coat with large buttons on her kitchen table in 1988 and it featured in a Sunday Telegraph article that year. When she went to retrieve some pieces from her warehouse nearly four decades ago, she felt sick to discover that the coat had gone missing along with five other pieces she had designed with her husband Martin, which still have not been found. When we retrieved them all, there were these pieces which I remember, of course, because theyre all my babies. These pieces were missing, and theres nothing I can do about it, she said. Now that the coat has been found, Ms Pallant said it was extraordinary that the item looks absolutely brand new. It doesnt look as if its ever been worn, so Im thrilled about that as well. It doesnt look like a rag. It doesnt even smell of must, which is weird. I dont know where its been for those years, but its obviously been well cared for, she said. Oxfams Mill Hill shop manager Marina Ikey-Botchway said she could tell the coat was a priceless item when the donation came in (Gabi Torres/Oxfam/PA) The coat was chosen by sixties fashion model Penelope Tree to walk in Oxfams Style for Change fashion show, in partnership with Vinted, as part of its Second Hand September campaign. Reuniting with her long-lost coat has renewed hope for Ms Pallant that she may still find her other missing pieces. She said: Id love those to turn up. There are some really special pieces that Id like back in our collection for our archive. Maybe theyll turn up, who knows? One of them was a piece which is so important to us, which was made in 1972 I think. It was worn by me in a TV fashion show to celebrate Britain joining the common market and it was a beautiful white jumpsuit and jacket with little mink spots on it. Id pay anything to get it back. Ms Pallant, whose husband recently died, is restoring and curating a Pallant collection to give to the V&A Museum in London. Ms Pallant said: I think its very important that this collection is in the V&A since we were part of the group of designers, which were part of the cultural revolution of Britain, the generation that made a difference in the 60s, 70s and 80s. I want our collection to be there with the other names that you will be familiar with of that era, which are names like Jean Muir or Ossie Clark or Bill Gibb or Zandra Rhodes, all of those British designers who started in the same era that we did. Angela Harsanyi and Gian Perroni who found love with each other after being stuck in Belfast for the last four months amid the delays to the departure of Villa Vie Residences Odyssey cruise ship (Liam McBurney/PA) Luxury cruise passengers who have been marooned in Belfast for four months are hoping to hit the seas this week. The worldwide voyage of the Villa Vie Odyssey has been long set back, leaving its guests stuck exploring Northern Ireland instead. Cruisegoers could avail of offered rental segments varying from 35 to 120 days, or purchase villas ranging from 90,000 to 260,000. Owning a villa on board guarantees the room for a minimum of 15 years, but the ownership stays valid for the entire operation of the ship. However, the start of the dream stay boasting an ever changing backyard has been delayed for four months due to unexpected repair works, meaning the cruise ship has been stranded in Belfast. The ships eventual passengers hope to board on Monday, beginning their life at sea soon thereafter. In the meantime, the would-be voyagers have fallen in love with Belfast, and each other. Villa Vie Residences Odyssey cruise ship at Belfast Port (Liam McBurney/PA) Gian Perroni, from Vancouver in Canada, and Angie Harsanyi, from Colorado in the US, first met in Belfast four months ago having bought cabins on the ship. Both were looking forward to an adventure at sea but were not looking for a relationship. The pair started walking through Belfast on their way to and back from the ship, before realising how compatible they were. Mr Perroni said the two are made for each other, adding: We found our soulmates. With love blossoming in Northern Ireland, the pair recently announced their engagement following a proposal on the Lagan Weir Bridge under a supermoon. Ms Harsanyi, who says she loves Mr Perroni from the bottom of her heart, added: I cant imagine spending another day of my life without him. On being unexpected waylaid in Northern Ireland, Mr Perroni quipped: I dont think wed consider it stranded as much as marooned? He said the Villa Vie Residences company has been great and diligent in making sure the vessel is safe and ready, as well as covering their expenses during the extended shore excursion. Angela Harsanyi and Gian Perroni show off their matching Trinity tattoos (Liam McBurney/PA) Weve all had the opportunity to travel and go home as needed. So weve learned patience and perseverance and learned how wonderful the people of Belfast have been. Ms Harsanyi said visiting Belfast for the first time has been absolutely lovely, with the pair, who got matching tattoos to commemorate their time in the city, almost ready to start giving their own tours after soaking up the central area. We enjoy the people, the pubs, the architecture, and a lot of the nature around here. She adds: The hospitality and the kindness has been awesome. Mr Perroni, who is half Irish, said they have been able to travel around Northern Ireland to destinations like the Giants Causeway: I dont think we could have picked a better place to end up. It is always going to be close to our heart. However, he admits: Weve enjoyed the pubs my liver is crying a little bit. Ms Harsanyi, who is also travelling with her sister, is looking forward to the cruises community outreach programme around the world. Mr Perroni, who has spent the last six years in Costa Rica, said the idea of the cruise really struck a chord with him. He is able to continue his work on board while seeing the world. The ships captain will marry the new couple as part of a gigantic wedding on board in April, between Costa Rica and Panama. Villa Vie Residences Odyssey cruise ship at Belfast Port (Liam McBurney/PA) Also waiting to board, Florida native Holly Hennessy said passengers were informed over the weekend that the ship has passed all certifications. It was an arduous four-month process but we get to board on Monday and then we get to perpetually sail around the world. She reflects fondly on her time in Belfast: What you lack in warmth of temperature, the people make up for. It has been a remarkable experience. As for the delay, she believes the cruise will be worth the wait. She paid 329,000 US dollars (275,000) for her balcony mini-suite: Im going to be incredibly comfortable. She added: When I see her (the Odyssey), my heart goes pitter-patter. I have a genuine affection for this ship. Holly Hennessy with her Siamese cat Captain at the Europa Hotel in Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA) Ms Hennessy said the experience on board will be an actual community. At Ms Hennessys side is her yachting companion, Captain the cruising kitty. The Siamese cat is used to life on deck, having spent every winter of his eight-year life on a boat. However, Ms Hennessy knows that hotels are not always accommodating of pets. Therefore, as part of what she describes as a generosity of spirit in the city, she said the Europa Hotel and others have been heroes by creating exceptions for Captain. Im abundantly grateful for what could have been a much worse situation for me and Captain! The cat has made friends all over Belfast, even being invited to the Lord Mayors office. Ms Hennessy, who said Belfast was her favourite part of the island when she last toured Ireland five years, said her shipmates are renting out three beer bikes as part of their last full day in the city. We are going to make a grand statement saying goodbye to Belfast! The stakes are high for Marine Le Pen as she and other officials from the French far-right party National Rally go on trial over accusations of embezzling European Union funds. The case has the potential to derail her political ambitions. The nine-week trial will be closely watched by Le Pens political rivals as she remains a strong contender in the race to succeed Emmanuel Macron when the next presidential election takes place in 2027. It comes as a new government dominated by centrists and conservatives just came into office in the wake of June-July legislative elections. Some observers expect the trial could prevent National Rally legislators, including Le Pen herself, from fully playing their opposition role in parliament as they would be busy focusing on the partys defence. Since stepping down as party leader three years ago, Le Pen has sought to position herself as a mainstream candidate capable of appealing to a broader electorate. Her efforts have paid off, with the party making significant gains in recent elections at both the European and national levels. But a guilty verdict could seriously undermine her bid to take the Elysee. National Rally and 27 of its top officials are accused of having used money destined for EU parliamentary aides to pay staff who instead did political work for the party between 2004 and 2016, in violation of the 27-nation blocs regulations. National Rally was called National Front at the time. Le Pen, whose party has softened its anti-EU stance in recent years, is denying wrongdoing and claims the case is politically driven. Parliamentary assistants do not work for the Parliament. They are political assistants to elected officials, political by definition, she argued in her defence. You ask me if I can define the tasks I assigned to my assistants; it depends on each persons skills. Some wrote speeches for me, and some handled logistics and coordination. If found guilty, Le Pen and her co-defendants could face up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to one million euro (834,000) each. Additional penalties, such as the loss of civil rights or ineligibility to run for office, could also be imposed, a scenario that could hamper, or even destroy, Le Pens goal to mount another presidential bid after Mr Macrons term ends. Le Pen was runner-up to Mr Macron in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections. She served as party president from 2011 to 2021 and now heads the group of RN legislators at the French National Assembly. Despite her denial, her party has already paid back one million euro to the European Parliament, the Parliaments lawyer Patrick Maisonneuve said. Of that amount, 330,000 euro were directly linked to Marine Le Pens alleged misuse of funds. The legal proceedings stem from a 2015 alert raised by Martin Schulz, then-president of the European Parliament, to French authorities about possible fraudulent use of European funds by members of the National Front. Mr Schulz also referred the case to the European Anti-Fraud Office, which launched a separate probe into the matter. The European Parliaments suspicions were further heightened when a 2015 organisational chart showed that 16 European legislators and 20 parliamentary assistants held official positions within the party roles unrelated to their supposed duties as EU parliamentary staff. A Russian court has sentenced a man to life in prison after he was convicted over a car bombing that seriously injured nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin. Prilepin, a vehement defender of Russias military campaign in Ukraine, was injured in the May 2023 bombing in the Nizhny Novgorod region. His driver was killed. The convicted defendant, Alexander Permyakov, is from Ukraines eastern Donbas region and once fought with the Russian-backed separatists there, news reports say. Russian writer and publicist Zakhar Prilepin was injured in the blast (AP) Mr Prilepin was known for his vehement defence of both the Russia-backed eastern Ukraine rebels who rose up in 2014, and of Russias fighting in Ukraine that began in February 2022. Since Russia sent troops into Ukraine, two prominent nationalist figures have been killed. Darya Dugina, a commentator on Russian TV channels and the daughter of Kremlin-linked ideologue Alexander Dugin, died in an August 2022 car bombing that investigators suspected was aimed at her father. Vladlen Tatarsky, a well-known military blogger, died in April 2023, when a statue given to him at a party in St Petersburg exploded. Russian political activist Darya Trepova was convicted in the case and sentenced to 27 years. She said she was following orders from a contact in Ukraine. Loyalist Dee Stitt heads back to Spanish holiday home amid race hate charge Loyalist on bail over incitement charge relating to Belfast street disorder during summer Dee Stitt on holiday showing off his expensive veneers and threaded eyebrows Ciaran Barnes Sun 29 Sep 2024 at 09:00 Under-pressure loyalist Dee Stitt has jetted back to his Spanish holiday home to unwind after being charged with whipping up racial tension. Brush a road to prosperity: Small town featuring dental care production witnesses vibrant journey toward healthy, sustainable development path 09:14, September 30, 2024 By Hu Yuwei ( Global Times An aerial view of Hangji town in Jiangsu Province which specializes in producing dental care products. (Photo: Courtesy of Tan Yuanshuai) As dawn breaks over Hangji town in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, the first rays of sunlight spill onto the bustling streets, illuminating the rhythmic hum of toothbrush production lines. In a cozy Beijing hutong, a grandmother beams with delight as she unwraps her brand-new toothbrush, its bristles gleaming with promise. Thousands of miles away, guests at opulent hotels in Dubai indulge in lavish oral care routines, where even this simplest act becomes a luxurious ritual. While on the other side of the globe, in the icy expanse of Antarctica, scientists endure frigid winds, finding small comfort in their trusted toothbrushes amid the stark wilderness. Lives that seem worlds apart are intricately connected by this small yet essential item produced in the small Chinese town of Hangji, known for its toothbrush manufacturing. Nearly one in every three toothbrushes in the world is produced here, Xinhua reported. Hangji has become a global champion in toothbrush production, with local stories of hard work and prosperity passing down through generations. Residents here wield this small item as a tool that connects them to the world, mirroring the dedication of millions of workers over the last 75 years and embodying Chinese people's pursuit of a beautiful and healthy life. The small town also serves as a testament to a dynamic and thriving China, where its people have marched forward in high spirits, embarking on a vibrant journey of pursuing a beautiful and flourishing life while connecting to the world. Tu Xinye (left), the manager of Shuguang Toothbrush Factory, checks whether the quality of the freshly produced toothbrushes on the production line is up to standard. (Photo: Hu Yuwei/GT) Returning to hometown When the Global Times reporter entered, Tu Xinye, 37-year-old manager of Shuguang Toothbrush Factory, was instructing his workers to clean the factory's marble sign. The brand, with "Shuguang" meaning "dawn," is part of a cherished legacy from his grandfather and father, symbolizing the resilience and innovative spirit of his family. Established in 1976, it was the first toothbrush factory in the town, witnessing the evolution from manual labor to mechanization, and later, the digital transformation brought about by the internet. Tu has been gaining the attention of netizens in 2020 when he invited his grandfather and father - former factory managers - to join him for live selling, while sharing the trials and triumphs of the family business. Viewers were captivated by the heartfelt stories of dedication and the pursuit of prosperity that have defined the Tu family's journey in the toothbrush industry. Returning home to inherit the family business was not Tu's initial choice. He pursued a degree in aircraft engine design in the UK, driven by dreams of aviation. However, the relentless efforts of his family to innovate and sustain the toothbrush factory ignited his sense of responsibility. Having observed his father tirelessly seeking market opportunities to provide jobs for local residents, he began to realize that the toothbrush industry was not just a business. It was a lifeline for his hometown. In 2013, Tu decided to return to China and take over the family business. He dropped out of a PhD application, and started from the ground up, working as a factory worker to understand the intricacies of production. Over the last decade, he made efforts with all employees to double the factory's output and expanded its reach to over 40 countries worldwide. Three generations face different challenges in different historical contexts. Tu's grandfather, the first factory manager, faced the challenges of the 1970s' planned economy in China when production was fine, but sales were not. In the early 1980s, as the planned economy began to dissolve and privatization took hold, Tu's father encountered a sudden drop in orders while navigating market complexities. During his childhood, Tu often found himself in the factory, waking up to his parents discussing machine upgrades and strategies to tap into overseas markets, despite a lack of English. However, their commitments to exploration opened doors to international markets and set the factory on a successful path. In recent years, Tu has embraced e-commerce as a new frontier for growth. In October 2019, a leading Chinese e-commerce platform approached his factory to collaborate on a budget-friendly electric toothbrush. The factory invested in research and development, ultimately launching an electric toothbrush costing only 9.9 yuan ($1.4) that sold over 30,000 units in just one day. This success highlighted a growing demand for quality dental care products, even in rural areas, he told the Global Times. "Was it worth investing hundreds of thousands into a workshop environment that consumers could not see? My parents questioned me. But I wanted foreign visitors to see that our production standards were on par with the best in the world," he explained. (Global Times) Tech drives a greener future In a small town covering just 40 square kilometers and home to fewer than 40,000 residents, an astonishing economic phenomenon is unfolding, marked by impressive figures. What's behind it is an engine powered by technology and environmental sustainability. In recent years, the toothbrush industry in Hangji has undergone a significant transformation, moving toward standardization and scalability. This shift has inspired a growing number of local youths to learn the craft. Dong Tao, a recent university graduate from Yangzhou, exemplifies this trend. After leaving a large corporate job, he joined Sanfeng Brush Factory, where he started his day at 7:30 am, preparing materials and warming up machines on the production line. Dong finds fulfillment in his role, utilizing his engineering skills and applying his knowledge of WIFI modules and Bluetooth technology to develop new products. He noted that many young graduates are eager to return to their hometowns, leveraging national policies and local technological advancements to carve out new career paths. The factory Dong works for has made attempts at innovation in the recent decade, supplying its toothbrushes to Xuelong 2, a Chinese icebreaking research vessel. Li Yang, the factory's manager, introduced that they tried different ways to develop a toothbrush with bristles measuring just 0.1 millimeters in diameter, designed to prevent gum bleeding in extremely cold conditions. The brush handle is made from polylactic acid, which can biodegrade in as little as three months, minimizing the ecological impact of research activities in polar regions. Driven by technological innovation, toothbrush manufacturers in Yangzhou are increasingly introducing smart toothbrush products. Tan Yuanshuai, the head of Fengyun Intelligent, a subsidiary of Sanfeng Brush Factory, showcased an AI-interactive toothbrush for children that utilizes a smart processor for real-time calculations and feedback, reminding kids to brush missed areas. "The popularity of this toothbrush reflects the growing consciousness and emphasis of Chinese people on a healthy and environmentally friendly lifestyle," Tan said. Similarly, Zhang Degang, the second-generation owner of Yangzhou Minsheng Brush Factory, highlights how the pursuit of quality and sustainability is reshaping their industry. Over the last decade, he has transformed production facilities to meet international standards, striving for a cleanroom environment akin to those used in chip manufacturing. Zhang said that in the past, they primarily focused on contract manufacturing, but now Chinese brands are becoming increasingly innovative and popular in the world. Zhang's factory also incorporates Chinese cultural elements such as the Grand Canal and Wenchang Pavilion, into the design of the toothbrush handle, attracting overseas customers who have an interest in Chinese culture. The synergy of technology and sustainability is revitalizing local economies and inspiring a new generation of young people to pursue careers in their hometowns. Toothbrushes with design incorporating Chinese cultural elements produced by Zhang Degang's factory in Hangji. (Photo: Courtesy of Zhang) Better life through hardworking In 2011, the China Toothbrush Museum, the only special industrial culture museum in the world named after a toothbrush, was established in Hangji. This museum houses over a thousand toothbrush specimens that span more than a thousand years. The story of Hangji reflects a typical narrative of how Chinese people have created a better life through hard work over the last 75 years. Countless small towns in China, which have achieved remarkable success through their advantageous industries, owe their progress to a group of pioneering individuals who are able to endure hardships. In China, 70 percent of China's violins come from Huangqiao township in Jiangsu; 80 percent of freshwater pearls are sourced from Shanxiahu township in Zhejiang Province; and 70 percent of industrial brushes are produced in Yuantan, Anhui Province. These industries have become new engines for China's economy. In a report on the achievements of economic and social development over the last 75 years, released by the National Bureau of Statistics on September 20, it was highlighted that under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China, living standards and quality of life have seen historic improvements. As residents' incomes continue to grow, consumption levels have risen, with notable enhancements in quality and ongoing optimization of consumption structures. Each artisan contributing to these progresses writes their glory and dreams into the new journey of national rejuvenation. Today, the vibrant presence of hardworking individuals from various sectors is evident, showcasing a lively and colorful tapestry of life. These ordinary individuals, through their relentless efforts, are striving to increase their incomes and enhance their quality of life. Tu has inherited the legacy of his family's toothbrush factory, "Dawn," along with a pursuit of excellence. His spirit of perseverance, adventurous drive, and practical determination resonate with countless young people striving to find their own "dawn" in the new global landscape. (Web editor: Tian Yi, Xian Jiangnan) Passengers line up to check in for their cruise at the Port of Galveston. The potential longshoremen's strike isn't likely to affect cruises. Yi-Chin Lee/Staff photographer A looming strike by longshoremen at ports from Maine to Texas isn't likely to affect cruises from the Port of Galveston, according to port authorities. Tens of thousands of dockworkers with the International Longshoremen's Association are preparing to go on strike Oct. 1 if they cannot reach a new labor deal with the United States Maritime Alliance of carriers, employers and port associations. The two sides are in a "stalemate," the longshoremen's association said this week, with the current six-year contract expiring Monday. Wages are proving to be the key issue between the ILA and the United States Maritime Alliance. A strike could bring a work stoppage to the Port of Houston, the busiest container port on the Gulf Coast. But it would have a less disruptive effect on the Port of Galveston, the fourth largest cruise port in the country, which welcomed a record 1.5 million cruise passengers in 2023. Advertisement Article continues below this ad From the Port of Galveston's discussions with the management of ILA locals that provide cargo and cruise services to the port, we understand that those businesses will not be impacted," said Rodger Rees, Galveston Wharves port director and CEO. "Well provide updates if anything changes. James McNamara, a spokesman for the ILA, indicated in a text message Tuesday that cruises departing from other Gulf and East Coast cruise ports would also be expected to proceed as scheduled. "Cruise and military cargo would not be affected by a coast-wide strike," said James McNamara, spokesman for the ILA, in a text message Tuesday. Cruise operators have said they do not expect a strike by longshoremen to disrupt their schedules. Advertisement Article continues below this ad "At this time, no operational impact is forecasted in the immediate future," said a spokesperson for Norwegian Cruise Lines, one of the lines that sails from Galveston. Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook. A South Korean court handed a three year jail term Monday to a former Seoul district police chief over a crush that killed more than 150 people, the Yonhap news agency reported. Tens of thousands of people -- mostly in their 20s and 30s -- had been out on October 29, 2022, to enjoy the first post-pandemic Halloween celebrations in the popular Itaewon nightlife district. But the night turned deadly when people poured into a narrow, sloping alleyway between bars and clubs, the weight of their bodies and a lack of effective crowd control leading to scores of people being crushed to death. Former Yongsan district police chief Lee Im-jae was found guilty of failing to prevent the crush -- the first police officer to be convicted for their direct role in the disaster. "It was foreseeable that there would be a large crowd of people in the sloped alley of Itaewon that would lead to serious danger to life and physical safety on the Halloween weekend in 2022," the Seoul Western District Court said in the guilty verdict, Yonhap reported. Another former officer in charge of the Yongsan police emergency centre was sentenced Monday to two years in jail on the same charges. "This ruling, which acknowledges the responsibility of police officers in connection to the tragedy, is a rightful outcome in holding those responsible for the disaster accountable," a group of victims' families said in a statement. The Seoul court, however, found local official Park Hee-young, head of the Yongsan Ward office, not guilty on similar charges. "The direct cause of the accident in this case was the influx of a large crowd," the court said, according to the Korean news agency Newsis. "There are no existing regulations granting administrative authorities the power to control the crowd influx or disperse crowds," it said in acquitting Park and three former ward officials. - Police chief verdict - Earlier this year, two former senior police officers were jailed for destroying evidence linked to the crush, making them the first police to be sentenced in connection to the incident. The court found that in the aftermath of the disaster, they had ordered the deletion of four internal police reports that had identified in advance safety concerns over possible overcrowding in the area. Kim Kwang-ho, the former head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, has also been on trial and is awaiting a verdict on charges of professional negligence resulting in injury or death. Prosecutors are seeking a five-year term for the ex-chief, with a verdict expected next month. Kim has denied wrongdoing, telling the court in April: "Instead of seeking a scapegoat, real preventive measures should be carried out," broadcaster JTBC has reported. District-level officials have been prosecuted over the disaster, but no high-ranking members of government have resigned or faced prosecution, despite criticism from victims' families over a lack of accountability. South Korea's rapid transformation from a war-torn country to Asia's fourth-largest economy and a global cultural powerhouse is a source of national pride. But a series of preventable disasters -- such as the 2022 crush and the 2014 Sewol ferry sinking that killed 304 people -- has shaken public confidence in authorities. kjk/ceb/smw First up is the word hallelujah. This word means praise the Lord. It is found in the Bible and is used as a word of celebration. Thomas Cooper Gotch from CBC explains, The word hallelujah first appeared in the book of Psalms in the Old Testament, a combination of two Hebrew words, "hallel" meaning praise and "jah" meaning God. But it's in Christianity that hallelujah or the Latinized "alleluia" became best known as a word of great emotional energy. The word is seen in Psalm 104:35, Psalm 106:1, and Revelation 19. Click here to read more about what Hallelujah means. Amen Amen is the closing word that people use while praying, or a word that they speak in agreement with something said or sung. Dictionary.com says, Amen is derived from the Hebrew amen, which means certainty, truth, and verily. It is found in the Hebrew Bible, and in both the Old and New Testament it can be expressed in endless ways, from a soft whisper to a joyous shout. Bible Study Tools shares more about the meaning of amen. An example in the Bible is 1 Chronicles 16:36, Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Then all the people said Amen and Praise the LORD. Hosanna Hosanna is a word often used near Easter time on what is called Palm Sunday. Hosanna means please save us. When Jesus rode on a donkey and a colt into Jerusalem before he died on the cross, he was celebrated by the people in the streets waving palm branches and shouting, Hosanna, in the highest heavens. This was the fulfillment of the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9. Photo credit: Pixabay/Daniel Reche BillOReilly.com is not available in this country. We apologize for any inconvenience. 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. Shipping container cranes are visible in the background as Longshoremen carry signs and chant Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, outside the Bayport Container Terminal in Seabrook as members of the International Longshoremans Association have decided to strike after their contract expired at midnight. Kirk Sides/Staff photographer Longshoremen carry signs and chant Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, outside the Bayport Container Terminal in Seabrook as members of the International Longshoremans Association have decided to strike after their contract expired at midnight. Kirk Sides/Staff photographer Shipping container cranes are visible in the background as Longshoremen carry signs and chant Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, outside the Bayport Container Terminal in Seabrook as members of the International Longshoremans Association have decided to strike after their contract expired at midnight. Kirk Sides/Staff photographer Longshoremen carry signs and chant Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, outside the Bayport Container Terminal in Seabrook as members of the International Longshoremans Association have decided to strike after their contract expired at midnight. Kirk Sides/Staff photographer Shipping container cranes are visible in the background as Longshoremen carry signs and chant Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, outside the Bayport Container Terminal in Seabrook as members of the International Longshoremans Association have decided to strike after their contract expired at midnight. Kirk Sides/Staff photographer The current contract between the International Longshoremens Association and an alliance of carriers, employers and port associations, expired at midnight on Monday. Godofredo A. Vasquez / Houston Chronicle Thousands of dockworkers at ports from Maine to Brownsville, including the Port of Houston, went on strike Tuesday. The contract between the International Longshoremens Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, a group of carriers, employers and port associations, expired at midnight Monday. About 45,000 dockworkers were on strike at ports on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts Tuesday in the first longshoremen's walkout since 1977. The union didn't say how many workers in Houston were affected. MORE ON THE STRIKE: Looming longshoremen's strike could bring work stoppage to Port of Houston Advertisement Article continues below this ad The economic impact of the work stoppage could be enormous, particularly if it's prolonged. Margaret Kidd, program director and professor of supply chain and logistics technology at the University of Houston, said that according to a 2023 report, the Houston Ship Channel in 2022 supported 1.5 million jobs in Texas and contributed some $440 billion to the state's economy. "Ports are economic engines for their local regional state and national economies. They're critical. They're also jobs generators," she said. "Here in Houston, the nation's fourth largest city, our vitality comes from trade." Here are three things Houstonians should know about the strike. Consumers will notice the effects of a strike within days In anticipation of a strike, many companies began stepping up their shipments to East Coast ports earlier this year, or rerouting shipments to the West Coast, meaning that most major retailers will have several weeks of inventory. Advertisement Article continues below this ad But within the first week of a strike, you might encounter shortages of fruits, vegetables and other perishable food items, for obvious reasons. And truckers will be immediately affected, said Ed Hirs, energy fellow at the University of Houston: "Within days, you would see the impact with Amazon and UPS." Prices of consumer goods would likely increase Although retailers have taken steps to lessen the effects of a work stoppage on the East Coast, the strike is bound to have a domino effect that would compound as days go on. West Coast ports, for example, could be hit with congestion and delays as shipments are rerouted to California. Some goods may be shipped by air rather than sea, a more expensive option. And some products may be in short supply within weeks. As a result. retail experts say a prolonged strike would cause consumer prices to rise. "The ripple effects of a strike port congestion, vessel delays and missed shipments, increased shipping costs, inventory challenges, and more all amount to yet another round of supply chain disruption and uncertainty," the Retail Industry Leaders Association trade group said in a statement last week. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Cruises will continue to sail Even if there is a strike, port authorities and cruise line operators this week expressed confidence that cruise services will continue as scheduled from ports including the Port of Galveston, the fourth largest cruise port in the country. The ILA confirmed in a statement Wednesday that the union will continue to work passenger cruise vessels, and handle military cargo, even during a broader work stoppage. More than 12 million of funding has been awarded to transform underused buildings into digital hubs and improve cyber skills in rural areas across the North and the Border counties. Three projects have been successful in securing the Peaceplus investment which will support thousands of residents, businesses and voluntary organisations, with initiatives designed to close the ICT gap in rural areas, foster economic growth and influence policy. Advertisement Peaceplus is a 1.14 billion programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB). Advertisement The successful projects include Mini Digi Hubs which plans to revitalise the east border region by transforming five underused public buildings into digital hubs and creating a mobile digital lab. Project partners include Dundalk Institute of Technology (DKIT), Monaghan County Council, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, Meath County Council, Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council and Ards and North Down Borough Council. Also receiving funding is the Smart Rural Innovation Driven Empowerment programme which aims to deliver solutions in supporting rural communities to use ICT. The project will be led by South West College, working in partnership with Ulster University, Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, Atlantic Technological University Sligo and Leitrim County Enterprise Fund as well as Alacrity. Advertisement The third project to receive funding is DS3 and will aim to close the ICT skills gap in rural communities across seven council areas. Stormont Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir said: Collaboration and cross-border working are key to supporting rural communities where people want to live, work and be active in a sustainable and environmentally responsible way. Connectivity is an essential requirement to achieve this desired outcome, and therefore the creation of Smart Towns and Villages presents an exciting opportunity to increase access to and awareness of telecommunications. Advertisement Irish Minister for Rural and Community Development Heather Humphreys (Brian Lawless/PA) Minister for Rural and Community Development Heather Humphreys said: I am delighted that a further 13 million in funding is approved for projects under the Peaceplus programme. These projects will be supported under the Smart Towns and Villages Investment Area and will promote the socio-economic inclusion of marginalised and disadvantaged individuals and communities, while also supporting the repopulation and economic development of rural towns and villages. SEUPB chief executive Gina McIntyre said: Peaceplus will support the creation of jointly developed solutions for Smart Towns and Villages, to incorporate digital hubs, which will enable remote working and ICT-themed social innovation approaches to developing new models of delivery for key services, including health and education. Advertisement This will provide greater access to and awareness of telecommunications, with an area-based approach taken to enable communities to maximise technology to improve social and economic conditions in their areas. Peaceplus is co-funded by the European Union, the UK and Irish governments and the Northern Ireland Executive. Dyslexia Ireland is asking TDs and Senators to publicly pledge support for the urgent introduction of extra time for dyslexic students in Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate exams in Ireland. This Dyslexia Awareness Month (October 2024), Dyslexia Ireland is highlighting the "urgent need" for this "reasonable accommodation". Advertisement Each year that passes without extra time, dyslexic young people are hugely disadvantaged, running out of time in their exams, leaving them unable to fully demonstrate their knowledge and ability, the society said. Dyslexia Ireland said the State Examinations Commission (SEC) and the Department of Education are "dragging their feet on this issue". Despite a recommendation from an expert advisory group in 2008 to introduce extra time for students with additional needs, and years of advocacy by Dyslexia Ireland, the SEC has only recently committed to a review over the coming two to three years. The introduction of extra time would be hugely impactful for the thousands of dyslexic young people in Ireland who struggle through exams each year, Dyslexia Ireland said. Advertisement In other European countries, and internationally, the society said extra time in exams is the norm at second level, and also the norm in third level in Ireland. Karen, a parent, said the accommodation of extra time in state exams is vital to allow her children to show their full potential. My children 11 and 14 years old - take longer to read, process and respond to written information. So extra time will go some way to allow them achieve what their non dyslexic peers can," she said. Chief executive of Dyslexia Ireland, Rosie Bissett, said: "Urgent action is needed now on the issue of introducing extra time in second-level examinations for students with dyslexia, dyscalculia and other learning difficulties. Advertisement "We are calling on Minister Foley and the Department of Education to show leadership on this issue and bring Ireland into line with standard international practice in relation to the reasonable accommodation of extra time. While the State Examinations Commission has promised a review, their timeline for the review process is worryingly long (two-three years minimum). "Each year that passes without extra time, thousands of students with dyslexia and other learning difficulties will struggle in exams. The lack of extra time is a huge disadvantage and barrier for dyslexic students in second level examinations. "The introduction of extra time as a reasonable accommodation would enable dyslexic students to reach their potential in these crucial exams. Ben, a Junior Cycle student, said: "I need extra time in exams because it takes longer to read the questions and write out the answers, because I'm a slow reader and writer. Dyslexia is a learning difference that causes difficulties with reading and spelling; it affects one in 10. These difficulties are exacerbated under time pressure, Dyslexia Ireland said. Promotional image for virtual event La Voz/Susan Barber Left to right: Dr. Laura Murillo, Dr. Tony Payan, Fernando Alfonso III, Gabriela Magana and Austin Davis Ruiz. Susan Barber Houston Chronicle Live is a series of live virtual events that peel back the curtains on our newsroom. Readers are invited to join us for VIP interviews, fascinating Q&As and on-the-record discussions on topical issues. In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, Chronicle readers are invited to a private Zoom at 11 a.m. CST on Tuesday, October 8, featuring distinguished Latino leaders making a difference in Houston. Join Dr. Laura Murillo, Austin Davis Ruiz, Dr. Tony Payan, and Gabriela Magana as they share their insights, work and perspectives on key issues facing Latino Americans today. The session will be hosted by the Chronicle's managing editor for news and content development, Fernando Alfonso III. Whether you know them yet or not, these individuals are shaping Houston by making waves in business, culture and politics. To join our free Zoom, please register here. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Dr. Laura Murillo is the President and CEO of the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, where she has led the organization to record-breaking membership and revenue since 2007. Her leadership has earned the Chamber numerous awards, including National and Regional Hispanic Chamber of the Year. Additionally, Dr. Murillo serves as the Founding President and CEO of the Greater Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation and hosts various media programs, reaching over 3.3 million people. She holds multiple degrees from the University of Houston and has received numerous accolades for her impact on business, diversity, and community service. Austin Davis Ruiz is in his second year serving as the president of Houston's LGBTQ+ Political Caucus and is the first Latino man to hold this position. He is one of the two staff liaisons for the new Harris County LGBTQIA+ Commission and the LGBTQ+ advisory body to the Commissioner's Court, which helps drive progress and change for all LGBTQIA+ residents. Previously, he was the Communications Director at The Montrose Center. Dr. Tony Payan is the Francoise and Edward Djerejian Fellow for Mexico Studies and director of the Center for the U.S. and Mexico at Rice Universitys Baker Institute for Public Policy. He researches the U.S.-Mexico border, focusing on borderlands, cross-border flows, and border governance. Payan has authored several books, including "Cops, Soldiers and Diplomats" and "The Three U.S.-Mexico Border Wars." He holds a BA and MBA from the University of Dallas and a Ph.D. in international relations from Georgetown University. He has served on multiple boards and was president of the Association of Borderlands Studies. Gabriela Magana, an artist and curator born in Mexico, holds a BA in Studio Arts from the University of St. Thomas and an MA in Arts Leadership from the University of Houston. She co-founded Latin American Women in the Arts Houston (LAWAH) and serves on the Latinx Initiatives and Changing Exhibits Committees at the Holocaust Museum Houston. Currently, she is the Executive Assistant and Special Projects Coordinator at Advocates of a Latino Museum of Cultural and Visual Arts & Archive Complex in Houston (ALMAAHH), where she focuses on community engagement and promoting Latino art and culture. Fernando Alfonso III is the managing editor of news and content development for the Houston Chronicle. Fernando is part of the Chronicle's senior leadership team and oversees breaking news, daily news, sports, business, government, and education. Hes previously worked at Chron.com, NPR, CNN, The Daily Dot as well as The Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky and the Post-Standard/Syracuse.com. Hes also taught journalism at Morehouse College, Kennesaw State University and University of Kentucky. Dublin City Council has granted planning permission to convert a permitted seven-storey office development in Dublins docklands into a 496-bed space tourist hostel. The planning authority has given the green light to Patrick Crean's Marlet Group for the scheme at Martin's Terrace, Dublin 2 and adjoining lands at the corner of Macken Street and the newly realigned Hanover Street East, despite local concerns that the scheme would result in an over-concentration of tourist accommodation in the area. Advertisement The decision now paves the way for one of Europes largest tourist hostel operators, the Berlin-headquartered a&o, to establish its first tourist hostel in the Irish market. A planning report lodged on behalf of applicants and Marlet subsidiary, Prime GP4 Ltd by planning consultant, Kevin Hughes of Hughes Planning and Development Consultants confirmed that the a&o chain is to operate the tourist hostel. Last year a&o accommodated 6.1m tourist bed nights in the most successful year yet for the business. Mr Hughes contended that from a practical perspective, the tourist hostel will contribute much more to the vitality of the area throughout the day compared to an office building whilst also ensuring increased activity within the immediate area at night. Advertisement He said that the proposed hostel will assist in alleviating pressure on the hospitality sector following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions. Mr Hughes states that while there are 24 tourist accommodation and seven student accommodation facilities within 1km of the subject site, the proposed tourist hostel will not result in an over-concentration or proliferation of tourist accommodation in the immediate area. a&o was founded in Berlin in 2000 and operates 41 properties, including three pipeline properties in European city centres. The 41 properties comprise 8,200 rooms and 28,000 beds. The firm has hostels in gateway cities such as Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam and Edinburgh. Advertisement The Council has granted permission despite Dublin Bay South TD, Chris Andrews TD stating that "the last thing the inner city community needs is another hostel or hotel". In a joint objection with Cllr Kourtney Kenny (SF), Deputy Andrews argued that the proposed tourist hostel will result in an over-concentration or proliferation of tourist accommodation in the immediate area. On behalf of Pearse Square Residents Association, Helen Murray echoed the concerns over tourist accommodation, stating that the addition of a large hostel further exacerbates this issue, potentially leading to imbalances in the local community and services. Ms Murray said that the presence of a large tourist hostel with ancillary bar/cafe/restaurant is likely to generate increased noise and disturbance, especially during late hours. This is particularly concerning given the mixed nature of the area, which includes residential properties. In another objection, William Crowley and Shonagh Hurley said: The introduction of a tourist hostel can alter the social dynamics of our community. The constant turnover of guests may lead to a sense of instability and reduce the sense of community cohesion that we currently enjoy. There are questions for the Sinn Fein leadership following the resignation of two party press officers who provided references for a former colleague who later admitted sex offences, the opposition leader at Stormont has said. SDLP MLA Matthew OToole said it was a serious situation and indicated he would be seeking further answers from the party. Advertisement Sean Mag Uidhir and Caolan McGinley resigned as Sinn Fein press officers on Saturday, days after it emerged that they had given references for former colleague Michael McMonagle for a job at a charity. Earlier this month, McMonagle (42), from Limewood Street in Derry, admitted a series of offences, including attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity. Sean Mag Uidhir was a senior figure in Sinn Feins organisation in the North. Photo: PA Advertisement Sinn Fein said the references were provided without clearance from the party and described the press officers actions as unacceptable and wrong. The party has said the work references were provided three months after McMonagle was dismissed from the party while under police investigation. The party said it only became aware of the references last week and launched an internal process. In a statement, Mr OToole said: This is a serious situation given that an individual has now pleaded guilty to the offences. Advertisement There are questions for Sinn Feins leadership, particularly in the North, about what they knew, when they knew it and what action they took in line with the safeguarding obligations on organisations to protect vulnerable people. Stormont opposition leader Matthew OToole said he would be seeking further answers from Sinn Fein (Liam McBurney/PA) The SDLP MLA also raised the issue during members statements in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Advertisement He said: In the last couple of days we have seen news of grave reports of a former member of staff in this Assembly who was given references by employees of a party in this Assembly who then went on to seek employment in another organisation. When it comes to accountability and responsibility there are further questions to be answered about that. I, and others, will be asking those questions and I hope that we get clear answers. Advertisement A Sinn Fein statement said: Following a media inquiry, Sinn Fein was made aware on Wednesday 25 September that, three months after Michael McMonagles employment ended, two former work colleagues were asked for work references in relation to their assessment of his work as a press officer. Both provided these references without clearance from Sinn Fein. This was unacceptable and wrong. The references were not provided by, or on behalf of Sinn Fein. Permission was not sought, nor would it have been given from the party for the provision of these references or their content. The statement added: Sinn Fein became aware on Wednesday 25 September that these references had been provided. In view of the serious nature of this revelation, Sinn Fein undertook an immediate internal process. Before this process concluded, both press officers resigned from their positions and party membership with immediate effect. The two press officers resigned on Saturday 28 September. Caolan McGinley resigned as a Sinn Fein press officer on Saturday, the party said (PA) Neither Mr Mag Uidhir nor Mr McGinley has made any comment. Mr Mag Uidhir was a senior figure in the partys organisation in the North and often appeared at media events with senior figures in the leadership. McMonagle was first arrested in August 2021. Sinn Fein has previously said as soon as it became aware of the arrest he was suspended from his job as a press officer at Stormont. In September 2022, Mr Mag Uidhir and Mr McGinley provided the references for McMonagle for a job with the British Heart Foundation. McMonagle pleaded guilty to 14 offences of attempted sexual communication with a child and attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity last week at Derry Crown Court last week. The offences dated between May 2020 and August 2021. He is due to be sentenced in November. The resignation of the two press officers emerged as Sinn Fein was holding its Ard Fheis in Athlone. The Taoiseach has said he does not intend to move into Farmleigh as it would be very disruptive for his children. Gardai have investigated separate incidents of alleged harassment outside Simon Harriss family home, as well as a bomb threat against the Co Wicklow property. Advertisement It has raised questions on whether Mr Harris should move to a location with heightened security. There is no official residence for holders of the office of Taoiseach but, on occasion, Stewards Lodge on the Farmleigh estate has been used by taoisigh for various reasons. However, Mr Harris has said he has no intention of moving there. Advertisement Taoiseach Simon Harris speaking to the media (Brian Lawless/PA) Mr Harris comments come as he appears as the first guest on the second season of former RTE star Ryan Tubridys podcast. Mr Tubridy was at the centre of a scandal which rocked RTE for a year, after it was revealed that the national broadcaster had underdeclared payments to the former Late Late Show host. The crisis later widened out to other governance matters and the controversy around financial mismanagement at the station was seen as a driver behind a fall in TV licence receipts. Advertisement It prompted a series of heavyweight Oireachtas committees and resulted in the Government changing how the organisation is funded. Mr Tubridy now hosts a daily show on Virgin Radio in London which is also broadcast on Q102. He also writes a weekly column for The Irish Daily Mail On Sunday. Mr Harris told the podcast host that the incidents at his home were a form of intimidation and harassment. I think its done to unsettle and unnerve people, and I think its done by people to let you know that they know where you live. Advertisement Ryan Tubridy arrives at Leinster House for an Oireachtas committee (Niall Carson/PA) Asked by Mr Tubridy about the possibility for an official Taoiseachs residence, Mr Harris said: This has been put to me on occasion. The challenge for me apart from loving Greystones is that my kids are of an age where one has just started in the local school, and it would be very disruptive. Advertisement I dont know where the future brings us in relation to this but I can see it happening in the future. Mr Harris said he did not imagine that Irish people would be unsupportive of such a measure, but added: Its not something that Im intending to do. On The Bookshelf With Ryan Tubridy, Mr Harris will reveal how he gorged on books as a child and raised money for MS Ireland by getting sponsored for the Readathon. The episode is also expected to feature the conflict in Gaza and a gift he received from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The premise of Mr Tubridys podcast involves asking guests to bring in three books: a cherished childhood book, a book which brought them to tears, and a book which changed their life. Mr Harris identified Patrick Radden Keefes Say Nothing as the book that made him cry. This book did make me cry within the first few pages, because it is a book that tells the story of the Troubles, particularly the Jean McConville abduction. Ms McConville was a recently widowed mother of 10 when she was abducted. She was 38 years of age. She was abducted, murdered and then disappeared. Body buried. Disappeared, taken from her kids by the IRA and killed in the Troubles. Promotional material for the episode also shows two other books in front of Mr Harris. These are David McKittricks book about the Troubles, Lost Lives, as well as Mark Haddons The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, in which the lead character is widely regarded as an autistic boy although this is not explicitly mentioned in the text. Mr Harris has attributed his campaigning for better school facilities for his autistic brother as his entry into public life. The Bookshelf With Ryan Tubridy returns on Tuesday. Irish contemporary artist Brian Maguire said he hopes visitors to his upcoming exhibition at the Hugh Lane Gallery will identify with the dead. Entitled La Grande Illusion, the exhibition spans nearly two decades of work from a prolific period of the artists career (2007-2024) and highlights the artists interest in conflict and injustices around the world. Advertisement Co-curated by the museums head of exhibitions Michael Dempsey, and director Barbara Dawson, La Grande Illusion displays themes of war, the drug trade, and damage to the environment. The Clearcut Amazon, 2023. Image courtesy of the Kerlin Gallery Maguire frequently embeds himself in the communities he paints, from the streets of Juarez in Mexico to warn-torn neighbourhoods of Aleppo, with the artist using his canvas as testimony to the silenced and forgotten. Advertisement Maguire told the PA news agency his works seek to tell previously untold stories and highlight injustices, citing his paintings focusing on the disappearance of people in Juarez as an example of this. He said: Ive worked with dead women and men from murder where theres no investigation, both in North America and in Mexico, and thats about bringing whats hidden to the fore. Perhaps thats what its all about, this show. Its taking the unspoken and presenting it. The issue of aesthetics comes in, in that the work needs to be really damn attractive, given its harsh message, in order to survive, to not just be, get that out of here. Advertisement Asked what he wants viewers to take away from the exhibition, the artist said: I would just hope they would identify with the dead. Nature Morte (4), 2014. Image courtesy of the Kerlin Gallery, Dublin Born in County Wicklow in 1951, Maguire said the Troubles erupting in the North when he was a teenager greatly impacted him. Advertisement When the North exploded at that time, it interested me. I was aware of it and I would think about it. It was just timing, location and age that made me familiar with violence, he said. I didnt face the war in Ireland head on, because to make work about the place youre from is a very difficult thing, because you know everything, and you know the consequences of every intonation that you make. Whereas when you go abroad, the distance simplifies everything. You can see whats wrong without having all the ifs and buts and ands, you just see it. He talked about the importance of travelling to the areas he wishes to paint and embedding himself in the community. Advertisement Its obvious to go, and also that if you go, you get to talk to the people who are there, who are living with the situation and its important to capture their voice, if they want you to, he said. Mr William Earle, Sudan, 1880, 2018. Image courtesy of Kerlin Gallery, Dublin On the relevance of his work in the context of escalation in the Middle East, Maguire said: We have two new addresses for war. Weve had wars in Gaza before and in Lebanon and, God forbid, the West Bank. Its not something Im pleased about. Its terrible, but its relevant today. War does change its address. Thats all it does. Its a constant presence. Mr Dempsey said: In the exhibition, Maguire presents an expanded view of war seen as a constant cycle of corrupted power and death it encompasses capital, class, gender, and post-colonial legacies. Intimate and uncompromising, his paintings form a demand for social justice and are an act of solidarity with families and communities. Brian Maguire: La Grande Illusion opens on October 3rd, 2024 at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin and runs until March 23rd, 2025. Americans are getting ready to head to the polls in November ahead of the next US presidential election. Either Kamala Harris will be elected or Donald Trump will see a second term in office. Advertisement Whether you're a US politics nerd or will just tune in to see the results, why not try our quiz ahead of election day? Try the quiz below: Kemi Badenoch has said that she does believe in maternity pay after she faced criticism from her fellow Conservative leadership candidates over comments in which she appeared to criticise the statutory benefit. Robert Jenrick said that the party should be firmly on the side of parents in the wake of Ms Badenochs interview on the first morning of Conservative Party conference. Advertisement Tom Tugendhat said he was unaware of the context of the comments, but it is important that women have the ability to choose how to live their lives. Ms Badenoch said on X, formerly Twitter, that contrary to what some have said, she does support maternity pay. Contrary to what some have said, I clearly said the burden of regulation on businesses had gone too far of course I believe in maternity pay! Watch the clip for the truth. Back to conference pic.twitter.com/kGsOpMCSpu Advertisement Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) September 29, 2024 She wrote: Contrary to what some have said, I clearly said the burden of regulation on businesses had gone too far of course I believe in maternity pay! Watch the clip for the truth. Advertisement Speaking to Times Radio earlier on Sunday, the shadow communities secretary appeared described statutory maternity pay as a function of tax, and said: Tax comes from people who are working, were taking from one group of people and giving to another. This, in my view, is excessive. Arguing that businesses are closing because the burden of regulation is too high, she added: We need to allow businesses, especially small businesses, to make more of their own decisions. The exact amount of maternity pay, in my view, is neither here nor there. We need to make sure that we are creating an environment where people can work and people can have more freedom to make their individual decisions. Advertisement Following the criticism a person close to Ms Badenochs campaign said that infighting and internal conflicts helped take our party to an historic defeat and accused other campaigns of seeking to score political hits. This conference is the first since the partys general election loss in July, and Ms Badenochs, Mr Tugendhats, Mr Jenricks and James Cleverlys race for the party leadership is taking centre stage. Advertisement Ahead of his final conference as Tory leader, Rishi Sunak said that his party should learn the lessons of their UK general election defeat and reflect on their period in government. Conservative Party leadership contender Kemi Badenoch, appearing on the BBC1 current affairs programme, Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg (Jeff Overs/BBC/PA) Writing for The House magazine, Mr Sunak described the conference as an important moment for our party. He added: This is our first conference in opposition since 2009. Of course, we need to learn the lessons of our defeat: we did not get everything right in government no government ever does and we do now need to reflect on that. But we should not forget what we have achieved since 2010. The party won 121 seats in the July election, down hundreds on their results in the 2019 general election. Tees Valley mayor Lord Ben Houchen warned that his party has a huge job to do to regain the support of its own voter base and to get back the votes that bled to Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats during the election. Speaking to journalists at the conference, he said that the party needs to reconnect with people they lost. Robert Jenrick with his wife Michal Berkner arriving in Birmingham (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Theres a huge job to do with our own base, with people who voted Labour whove voted Conservative before, with people who are voting Lib Dem now particularly in parts of the south and the South East, and those Reform voters who cost us a huge number of seats as a result of the fact that they didnt vote for a Labour Government, because actually, not that many people in this country do want a Labour Government, but they absolutely didnt want a Conservative government, Lord Houchen said. Weve got to reconnect with those people. The first day of the gathering in Birmingham also heard from former mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street. Mr Street lost narrowly to Labours Richard Parker in May this year, at the same time as the Conservatives lost hundreds of seats in the local elections. Tom Tugendhat looking at one of his T-shirts during the Conservative Party Conference (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Mr Street said that Conservatism is still really strong and there is support for the national fightback to begin here in the West Midlands. Addressing delegates, he said: I so wish the context of today was different. I dearly wanted to speak to you as the West Midlands mayor, not the former mayor of the West Midlands, I wanted to show you that moderate Conservatism is still a winning force, sadly that was not to be. Take heart ladies and gentleman, theres no debate, Conservatism is still really strong, he added. The first apparent Israeli air strike in central Beirut in nearly a year of conflict has hit an apartment building, hours after Israel attacked targets across Lebanon, killing dozens. A residential neighbourhood that houses predominantly Sunni Muslims was hit early on Monday morning, according to the Associated Press. Advertisement There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials. The Israel Defence Force has previously stated it carried out another targeted strike on Beirut but did not immediately provide details. A hole in the ground near the site of the air strike which killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beiruts southern suburbs (Hassan Ammar/AP) The air strike killed at least one person and wounded 16, said an official with Lebanese Civil Defence. Advertisement He said the person killed was a member of the al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Group, a Sunni political and militant group that is allied with Hezbollah. However, the Sunni militant group has not confirmed the death of any of its members. A Palestinian leftist faction in Lebanon said three of its members were killed in the air strike. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said in a statement early Monday that its military and security commanders in Lebanon, and a third member were killed in the attack. On Sunday, the Lebanese health ministry documented at least 105 killed across the country in air strikes. Advertisement They said two attacks hit near the southern city of Sidon, about 28 miles south of Beirut, killing at least 32. Separately, Israeli attacks in the northern province of Baalbek Hermel killed a further 21 and injured at least 47. As well as strikes in the capital, local media reported dozens of strikes against civilian buildings in the region of Bekaa and southern Lebanon. At the weekend, Hezbollah sustained heavy blows to its command structure with attacks taking out militant group leader Hassan Nasrallah and seven other senior members. Advertisement The Lebanese flag flies at half-mast at Lebanons government palace following the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (Bilal Hussein/AP) An Associated Press journalist at the scene where Mr Nasrallah was killed reported that the attack struck a multi-storey residential building. Video footage from the scene also showed ambulances at the scene and a large crowd gathered. Advertisement Hezbollah confirmed senior commander Ali Karaki and Nabil Kaouk, deputy head of the militant groups Central Council, were both killed in air strikes at the weekend. Mr Kaouk became the seventh senior member killed in a little over a week with several of Hezbollahs founding members dead. Israel also claims that at least 20 other militants were killed, including the head of Mr Nasrallahs security detail. The Lebanese health ministry also reported at least 14 medical workers were killed over two days in the south. In response to escalated aggression against Lebanon, Hezbollah has significantly increased its attacks against Israel in the past week, according to one Israeli military official. Attacks have risen from several dozen to several hundred daily, leaving several people injured and damaging infrastructure. Most of the rockets and drones were intercepted by Israels air defence systems or made landfall in open areas away from people. The IDF says its strikes have degraded Hezbollahs capabilities and the number of launches would be much higher if Hezbollah had not been hit. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has denied violating any rules as she and her National Rally party and two dozen others went on trial accused of embezzling European Parliament funds. Arriving at the court in Paris on Monday, Le Pen said: We have not violated any political and regulatory rules of the European Parliament, and vowed to present extremely serious and extremely solid arguments in the trial. Advertisement The case has the potential to derail her political ambitions. The nine-week trial will be closely watched by Le Pens political rivals as she remains a strong contender in the race to succeed Emmanuel Macron when the next presidential election takes place in 2027. The case comes as a new government dominated by centrists and conservatives just came into office in the wake of June-July legislative elections. Some observers expect the trial could prevent National Rally legislators including Le Pen herself, from fully playing their opposition role in Parliament as they would be busy focusing on the partys defence. Advertisement Since stepping down as party leader three years ago, Le Pen has sought to position herself as a mainstream candidate capable of appealing to a broader electorate. Her efforts have paid off, with the party making significant gains in recent elections at both the European and national levels. But a guilty verdict could seriously undermine her bid to take the Elysee. National Rally and 27 of its top officials are accused of having used money destined for EU parliamentary aides to pay staff who instead did political work for the party between 2004 and 2016, in violation of the 27-nation blocs regulations. National Rally was called National Front at the time. Advertisement Le Pen, whose party has softened its anti-EU stance in recent years, denies wrongdoing and claims the case is politically driven. She said in her defence: Parliamentary assistants do not work for the Parliament. They are political assistants to elected officials, political by definition. You ask me if I can define the tasks I assigned to my assistants; it depends on each persons skills. Some wrote speeches for me, and some handled logistics and coordination. If found guilty, Le Pen and her co-defendants could face up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to one million euro (834,000) each. Advertisement Additional penalties, such as the loss of civil rights or ineligibility to run for office, could also be imposed, a scenario that could hamper, or even destroy, Le Pens goal to mount another presidential bid after Mr Macrons term ends. Le Pen was runner-up to Mr Macron in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections. She served as party president from 2011 to 2021 and now heads the group of RN legislators at the French National Assembly. Despite her denial, her party has already paid back one million euro to the European Parliament, the Parliaments lawyer Patrick Maisonneuve said. Of that amount, 330,000 euro were directly linked to Marine Le Pens alleged misuse of funds. A Russian court has sentenced a man to life in prison after he was convicted over a car bombing that seriously injured nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin. Prilepin, a vehement defender of Russias military campaign in Ukraine, was injured in the May 2023 bombing in the Nizhny Novgorod region. His driver was killed. Advertisement The convicted defendant, Alexander Permyakov, is from Ukraines eastern Donbas region and once fought with the Russian-backed separatists there, news reports say. Russian writer and publicist Zakhar Prilepin was injured in the blast (AP) Mr Prilepin was known for his vehement defence of both the Russia-backed eastern Ukraine rebels who rose up in 2014, and of Russias fighting in Ukraine that began in February 2022. Advertisement Since Russia sent troops into Ukraine, two prominent nationalist figures have been killed. Darya Dugina, a commentator on Russian TV channels and the daughter of Kremlin-linked ideologue Alexander Dugin, died in an August 2022 car bombing that investigators suspected was aimed at her father. Vladlen Tatarsky, a well-known military blogger, died in April 2023, when a statue given to him at a party in St Petersburg exploded. Russian political activist Darya Trepova was convicted in the case and sentenced to 27 years. She said she was following orders from a contact in Ukraine. The indoor dining area at Credence, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024 in Houston. Ishika Samant/Staff photographer The Michelin Guide announced Monday that it will reveal its highly anticipated Texas rankings in Houston Nov. 11. A venue for the evening ceremony has not yet been revealed, but the confirmation comes after much speculation among local restaurants, chefs and Houstonians interested in which businesses will garner the coveted stars from the French tire company. We are delighted to be hosting the inaugural Michelin Guide Texas Ceremony in the vibrant city of Houston, said Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of the Michelin Guides, in a statement. Houston is full of culinary innovation and world class hospitality, which goes hand in hand with our values at the Michelin Guide. Together with Houston First, as well as the support of Travel Texas, we look forward to an evening of celebration as we toast to the restaurants that our Inspectors have chosen to award in Texas. Advertisement Article continues below this ad In July, Michelin announced alongside Travel Texas, the states tourism department, that anonymous inspectors will be reviewing restaurants in Houston, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio. HOUSTON EATS: The Chronicles top 100 restaurants The Nov. 11 ceremony will not be open to the public. Michelin typically sends out invites to a mix of chefs and restaurants, tourism partners and media. Rumors of Michelin coming to Texas have been swirling the past few years as other states including Florida, Georgia and Colorado have welcomed the guide since its U.S. debut in 2005, which took place in New York City. Texas will be the 11th destination in North America to have a Michelin guide. Advertisement Article continues below this ad MORE FROM BAO ONG: Which Houston restaurants should be in the first Michelin guide to Texas? Michelin restaurant critics award one, two or three stars to a restaurant. Very few restaurants are given three stars, the highest honor used by the French company. The inspectors look at five criteria: product quality; mastery of cooking techniques; harmony of flavors; the personality of the chef as reflected in the cuisine; and consistency over time and across the entire menu. Texas restaurants will also be considered for a Bib Gourmand, a rating often used for great quality food at good prices, and the Michelin Green Star category recognizing establishments for sustainability. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Earlier this month, Michelin unveiled its latest hotel awards, known as the Michelin Keys, during a press conference held in Austin. Charlotte, NC (September 27, 2024) Elevation Espanol, the Spanish-language branch of Elevation Worship, releases their latest album, Algo Nuevo Viene. Elevation Espanol | Merge PR This project marks the beginning of a new season for Elevation Espanol, showcasing a fresh expression of worship specifically crafted for Latin America. After years of releasing Spanish translations under the Elevation Worship umbrella, this collection of songs takes a bold step into a different era of ministry. Algo Nuevo Viene carries deep significance for the team. "This album symbolizes our new journey as Elevation Espanol, a ministry designed to serve the Latin church with more important translations and original songs for the future, says the group. Were excited to build something more while continuing to deliver the message of Gods power and presence through worship. With the theme of "under construction" throughout the albums visuals and artwork, the project mirrors the growth and transformation happening within them. The album features a mix of powerful themes, including revival and spiritual renewal, especially evident in tracks like Viento Y Fuego. Elevation Espanol notes that the collaboration with notable artists such as Unified Sound, Miel San Marcos, and ELEVATION RHYTHM enhances the depth and diversity of this project. The influence of Latin musical styles adds a dynamic layer to traditional songs like Alaba and Jehova, while acoustic versions provide an intimate worship experience, ensuring there is something for everyone in this project. Algo Nuevo Viene not only represents a musical release but the foundation of a new chapter for Elevation Espanol. Their goal is to build a platform that will allow for more timely and culturally relevant worship music. As they embark on tours to Peru, Mexico City, and Colombia this fall, the team looks forward to sharing these songs live, creating space for worshippers to experience Gods presence in fresh, impactful ways. TRACKLIST: 1. Algo Nuevo Viene 2. Alaba (Elevation Worship, Unified Sound) 3. Viento Y Fuego 4. Yahweh Te Amamos 5. Jehova 6. Confio En Dios (Elevation Espanol & Miel San Marcos) 7. Tan Tan Bueno 8. Siempre A Tiempo 9. ADIOS AL AYER (ELEVATION RHYTHM) 10.Otro Mas 11.Que Milagro 12. Grande Es (Version Acustica) 14.Bueno Eres Tu (Version Acustica) 15.Cordero (Version Acustica) Rupert Murdochs REA Group has abandoned its pursuit of Rightmove after its latest 6.2 billion ($12 billion) bid was rejected. The Australian property business confirmed its withdrawal on Monday afternoon (UK time), just hours after the London-listed rival snubbed a fourth offer. REAs decision to end its pursuit, which it blamed on limited engagement with the board, led to shares in Rightmove falling by almost 9 per cent on the London Stock Exchange. Rupert Murdoch has ended his pursuit of UK online property giant Rightmove. Credit: AP Owen Wilson, chief executive of REA, said: Against a backdrop of intensifying global competition, we approached Rightmoves board because we strongly believed in the opportunity to create a globally diversified leader in the digital property sector that would benefit both REA and Rightmove shareholders. He stopped short of proposing quantitative easing (QE), a remedy still viewed as Western snake oil by the Communist Party. But QE is where China may eventually end up. The GDP deflator has been stuck in negative territory for the last five quarters. Freya Beamish and Rory Green from TS Lombard said the monetary transmission mechanism is broken, and the Chinese economy is heading for an outright contraction of nominal GDP early next year, although Beijing will massage the figures to disguise this devastating indictment of Xi Jinpings strategy. Chinas economy is weighing on the world. Credit: Bloomberg Weve both covered the economy for our entire careers and weve never been more worried about Chinese growth. Policymakers have chosen demand deflation and that is what they are getting, they said. The mass attempt to deleverage by saving is killing profits and crushing wages. Things could get bad enough to force a bank recapitalisation, they said. Official stress tests published last month showed that over half of Chinas 4000 mid-sized and small banks would fail a moderate shock, and 10 of the 19 systemic banks would fail a serious shock. The true situation is probably worse. Loading TS Lombard said a US-style Tarp program would lift China off the reefs but the Xi regime is more likely to repeat the mistakes of Japan and Europe, papering over problems with mergers that contaminate stronger banks without resolving the debt problem. Chinese banks are clearly in trouble. Minsheng Bank is halving wages to stay afloat after lending heavily to the bankrupt developer Evergrande. Global Times reports that China International Capital Corporation (CICC) has cut salaries by 65 per cent since the peak four years ago. Hence the fate of Zheng Wenlu, a 30-year-old investment banker who threw herself off a CICC building in Shanghai. She had a mortgage debt of $US1.5 million and monthly payments of over $US8000. The property crash had wiped out her 40 per cent downpayment and left her in negative equity. Pay cuts pushed her into insolvency. This is an extreme case, but it has touched a nerve among netizens caught in the deflationary pincers of falling pay and falling home equity. Centalines property price index for Tier 1 cities has fallen 28 per cent over three years. The estimated paper loss for all homes across China is $US18 trillion. Robin Xing, from Morgan Stanley, said the economy is entering a second stage of entrenched deflation driven by a negative wage price spiral and surging urban unemployment that could be very hard to reverse. The De Tocqueville theory of revolutions is that regimes are most vulnerable when a long period of rising living standards is interrupted by a depression. If so, it is a mystery why Xi Jinping is allowing this slow-motion train crash to happen. His response at the Third Plenum in July was to double down on extreme over-investment in industry rather than taking steps to lift consumption. It is a bet that China can export its way out of its slump while at the same time achieving global clean-tech hegemony. Chinas property crisis is just one issue affecting its economy. Credit: AP This is not a remotely plausible strategy. The world will not tolerate a state of affairs where China produces 31 per cent of total manufactured goods but due to the forced savings of its Leninist structure accounts for 13 per cent of total consumption. The country has already built solar and lithium battery capacity that exceeds total global demand twice over. It is playing the same game with EVs, electrolysers, heat pumps, air conditioners, etc. Does the Politburo really think that China can get away with dumping its unemployment on our societies and demolishing our industries by means of predatory mercantilism? Investors need to watch China very closely over the next six months. But there may be another reason for Chinas reluctance to stimulate demand. Xu Gao, the chief economist at Bank of China, says much of the policy elite in Beijing has fallen under the spell of Friedrich Hayek and the Austrian business cycle. Hayek is neglected in the West few still read Prices and Production or The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism but his market fundamentalism is perversely fashionable in Communist China. Any attempt to alleviate Chinas post-bubble pain is decried as drinking poison to quench ones thirst. Excess credit must be purged by liquidation, with no interference in the self-correction process. Hardliners say that curing a debt crisis by pushing the augmented fiscal deficit to 14 per cent or 15 per cent of GDP is pure hemlock. This economic ideology is fully aligned with Xi Jinpings views on social discipline and moral fibre. Welfarism is a dirty word in Xi Thought. It fosters lazy people who get something for nothing, as he puts it. Loading Yet Chinas leader may conclude that the punishment beatings have gone too far and that the survival of the Communist Party is better served by letting the Chinese people consume more of their own hard labour, and by retreating from trade wars with Europe, America and India. Xi abandoned the Maoist lunacy of dynamic zero COVID suddenly and without explanation. It is not impossible that he will listen seriously to those now calling for a drastic change of course and for Rooseveltesque policies. Should he do so, it will change the global economic landscape overnight and set asset markets on fire. CBD was delighted to learn that Tabcorp, under the new management of ex-AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan, has decided to take the brave step of banning politicians from its marquee The Birdcage during Melbourne Cup week. The gaming, media and wagering services company missed its cost guidance by about $60 million at its results in August and its share price tanked, 18 days into the McLachlan tenure so cost-cutting is now a big focus. TAB will also axe its secondary entertainment structure near Flemingtons winning post, well away from The Birdcage. GIllon McLachlan has banned pollies from Tabcorps Birdcage marquee. Credit: Arsineh Houspian Tabcorp will lavish attention on clients in its marquee, instead of snout-in-the-trough elected officials out for a good time on someone elses dime. You have to hand it to McLachlan, CBD thought, loving the delicious dose of schadenfreude. 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 After 40 years and 27 books, Tim Winton says hes now written the inevitable book. When I started writing, I was literally a youth, he says. Then I was a young parent. Now I have six grandchildren. You do get a sense of perspective over that time, watching and anticipating the culture. And now, we find ourselves in an unavoidable moment, on a razors edge. Its no surprise that the novelist who is also well known for his environmental activism is talking about climate change. What is more surprising is that hes written a novel that fits into the cli-fi genre of adventure in a dystopian future. Juice is a whopping 500-page epic set in north-west Australia about two centuries from now. Life on a hot unstable planet Earth is a constant struggle. The tropical areas are just about uninhabitable. But after a long period of chaos and mass destruction, things have settled down a bit. Small groups of people are eking out a precarious living, growing crops, harvesting water, trading and salvaging, using low-tech equipment and spending most of the sizzling year underground. This is the world Winton envisioned when he decided to write about the nightmare our descendants might face if we dont do something effective within this decade. Hes talking to me from his home office somewhere on the West Australian coast (he wont get more specific because he wants to spare his family from intruders people can be a bit obsessed and unhinged.) Wintons new book does not disguise his feelings towards the oil and gas industries. Credit: Violeta J Brosig, Blue Media Exmouth Ive spent quite a bit of time north of the 23rd parallel and a lot of this dystopian future is already with us, he says. Weve just come through a winter in Western Australia with temperatures in the 40s. I know what 50 degrees feels like, and its terrifying. Having six grandchildren one in high school, one in primary school, two toilet-trained and two in bassinets means the future can no longer be abstract. I read the future in their little faces. He resisted writing this book for a long time, but he was also building up to it. Were at a widely acknowledged inflection point in the decisions were making and perhaps more to the point, not making. Were in the last decade of real agency in terms of mitigating the very worst effects of climate chaos. After spending 30 years in his other life as an environmental activist, Winton felt that once he had the knowledge, it was a moral evasion not to use it. So I thought, if not me, who? If not now, when? Advertisement Juice began life soon after his previous novel, The Shepherds Hut, came out in 2018. But at the same time, over three years Winton was writing, producing and starring in a documentary series for ABC TV, Ningaloo Nyinggulu. He and director Peter Rees spent more than 400 days filming at Ningaloo Reef, Exmouth Gulf and Cape Range National Park, which together form one of the last intact wild places on Earth, a home to many species, including some that are endangered. Its not a course of action Id recommend to any person who wants to keep their sanity, he says. We shot in very trying physical conditions. There were pretty damn early starts. I was trying to find hours in the day to keep my novel alive. And psychologically it was very challenging. Here I was, trying to celebrate one of the last wild places in the world. And at the same time I was setting my novel in the very same place, probably two centuries on, when the world has gotten away from us. He kept going, driven by frustration and rage, through the wrecking years of Abbott. Then you had the coal-wielding prime minister. The science and the consensus solidified and became overwhelming. And then there was the denial, the moral idiocy and bastardry of the fossil fuel lobby How do you make something out of this? How do you do something morally complex thats not just agitprop or a big vomit of frustration? His answer was to focus on creating something terrible and beautiful. On one level, Juice is a tense page-turning action adventure. Wintons hero, living a Stoic peasant-like existence with his mother, is recruited to a secret army and woken up to the fact that the world is not simply the way it is by chance, but has been made that way by the fossil fuel giants of the distant past. The army vows vengeance on the descendants of these giants and the action scenes could come straight from a video game. Advertisement Sadly the thing that would appeal to gamers is the worst of it, Winton says. The heroic fighters commit more and more appalling violence, but believe it is all necessary for the greater good. Obviously, this is not something Im recommending, but its historically inevitable. Winton calls this violent insurgency the fruit of humiliation. We know, he says, that crimes have been committed against nature and humanity, some in our name and some with our money. I read the future in their little faces. Tim Winton on his grandchildren In all likelihood there will be no Nuremberg trials for climate chaos. But theres so much data available to anyone who seeks redress in the future. So its conceivable those people who have to live in misery will rise up You produce a bitterness and a savagery, generation upon generation of trauma that almost always surfaces in malign ways. If some peaceable old chap like me can conceive of that, you know that millions of other people can have the same idea. Winton has no hesitation in placing the blame on the big fossil-fuel corporations, and his secret soldiers recite their names in a song. Is he worried about being sued? Theres nothing in the book thats not been on the public record, theres hardly any argument about it any more. Tim Winton puts his body on the line in the ABC doco Ningaloo Nyinggulu. Credit: Naomi Roche Advertisement Can a novel change peoples minds, wake people up? Ive asked myself that about five times a day for the last seven years, Winton says. I think its unwise to expect art to have a huge political or cultural impact or influence. And yet, I think its folly to dismiss the cultural and political potential of art. He cites writers in the 1930s who used their work to challenge fascism and other atrocities: Sinclair Lewis, John Dos Passos, Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell in his complicated way If you have a wide enough aperture and a long enough lens you can see that novels have had influence over time. Loading And John Steinbeck described climate change in his novel The Grapes of Wrath, about desperate migrants fleeing the Oklahoma dust bowls. The older I get, the more respect I have for Steinbeck. I see him as a visionary in his way. He wont say this is his most important book thats for others to judge. But it feels timely. I hope first and foremost its a rich reading experience and that it moves people to feel and think. Thats all a novelist can hope for, isnt it? And Id like the experience of the book to be longer than the reading of the book. Ive been in this caper long enough to know some books do achieve that. Juice by Tim Winton (Penguin, $49.99), is out now. The series opens with Joan, who, in her 20s, is stuck in an abusive marriage to violent criminal Gary. When a job goes wrong and Gary goes on the run, Joan sees an out for herself and her six-year-old daughter, Kelly, and legs it herself. But jobless, broke and homeless, she leaves Kelly in foster care, planning to collect her as soon as shes on her feet. She heads to London where she fudges her way into a job at an upmarket jewellery store. Best of all, Joan is based on a true story. Written by Anna Symon ( The Essex Serpent ) and directed by Rain Dogs Richard Laxton, the series is based on the real Joan Hanningtons 2002 memoir, I Am. What I Am, and she worked closely with Symon on the script. This six-part British series stars Game of Thrones Sophie Turner in a very different style of costume drama, but her outfits are no less dramatic. Turner stars as Joan Hannington, a housewife turned jewel thief who became one of Londons most notorious underworld figures in the 1980s and surely one of the most stylish. Gird yourself for brightly hued power dressing, crease-cut eyeshadow and extreme blusher. Not long into her tenure, her dodgy boss tries to hit on her, and, on a whim, she steals some loose diamonds from the safe (security was a little more lax back in the 80s), by swallowing them. Her plan is to sell the stones and use the money to set her and Kelly up with a flat. But then she meets handsome, charming grifter Boisie (Frank Dillane, son of actor Stephen, and last seen in The Essex Serpent), an antiques dealer who learnt his trade in prison, and sells a lot more than the Regency dinnerware on display in his shop. Frank Dillane as Boisie and Sophie Turner as Joan. Credit: Stan Boisie agrees to help Joan sell her diamonds if she helps him with just one job you can see where thats going. That one job involves posing as a glamorous couple and flying to Spain to sell some stolen jewels, and the lead-up to the gig alone buying herself a new wardrobe using a stolen chequebook sees Joan being slowly seduced by the lifestyle. Driven by her desire to get back Kelly, who has been fostered with a wealthy family seemingly keen to keep her, Joan quickly embraces her newfound skills. Only the first two episodes were made available for preview, but I was already completely on board for Joans ascent or descent, depending on how you view it into Londons underworld. The real Joan, whose underworld antics earned her the nickname The Godmother, was every bit as charismatic as Turners Joan; she claimed to visit her hairdresser daily to have her platinum hairdo touched up, owned 11 fur coats and some 2000 pairs of shoes, all while she and Boisie lived in a council flat to avoid suspicion. Collection Your October hit list: The hot, new and just-reviewed places to check out, right now New neighbourhood wine bars slake locals thirsts in the suburbs; our top picks at the citys Italian market and food hall; revamped pubs in Fitzroy and further afield, a rooftop cafe (and a cafe with a rooftop to come) and much more heres where to eat and drink this month. Advertisement Review Eating outSummer Hill Roll up to this newly hatted Summer Hill osteria for nostalgic Italian with a high chance of meatballs Ormeggio chef Alessandro Pavonis Postino Osteria in the inner west channels a mostly Northern Italian nonnas repertoire, from fave bean puree with chicory to veal saltimbocca, with a sharing menu less than $80 per person. Terry Durack October 1, 2024 Save Log in , register or subscribe to save recipes for later. You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Save this article for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime. Got it Share 1 / 7 Postinos warm and pubby interior. James Brickwood 2 / 7 Baccala mantecato is made with salted Murray cod rather than the more common imported cod. James Brickwood 3 / 7 Mondeghini meatballs come with lemony mayo. James Brickwood 4 / 7 Saltimbocca is an uncomplicated, old-school dish. James Brickwood 5 / 7 James Brickwood 6 / 7 Go-to dish: Chitarra spaghetti con pallottine, $37. James Brickwood 7 / 7 Pistachio tiramisu. James Brickwood Previous Slide Next Slide Good Food hat 15 / 20 How we score Italian$$$$ There are close to 40 meatballs in my spaghetti alla chitarra with tomato sugo. Theyre each the size of a hazelnut, but even so. These pallottine, as they are called, are a speciality of Abruzzo on the eastern coast of Italy. They are now also a specialty of Summer Hill, in the inner west of Sydney. At Alessandro and Anna Pavonis newly formed osteria, Postino, theyre served in a thick, rustic tomato sugo with a lovely, chewy, spaghetti alla chitarra ($37). Im told its the biggest seller on the menu, so lets just think that through for a moment. If they sell even 20 of these a night, thats 800 tiny meatballs that need to be rolled by hand before service. Maybe send a silent thanks to the team as you dig in. No wonder its all hands on deck in these early weeks of opening, as various heads of state of the Pavoni Plus restaurant group jump in to help make pasta, roll meatballs and whip baccala. Peering into the surprisingly small kitchen, I see talented chefs Victor Moya and Gianmarco Pardini as well as the newly appointed head chef Alessio Chessa, who has moved west from the Ormeggio team at The Spit. Advertisement Baccala mantecato is creamy and fresh-tasting. James Brickwood The former Summer Hill post office a grand, porticoed, high-windowed brick affair that owns its corner was Nina Alidenes much-loved One Penny Red for 10 years. It feels big, both in intention and dimension, and there are half a dozen different dining spaces upstairs and down, outside and in. On the floor, Anna Pavoni and manager Antonio Sebastiano settle their diners at seats along the grand bar or cosy tables in the dark wood, carpeted dining room. The interiors have been refreshed by designer Larissa Raywood and Perry Drakopoulos of the Pavonis long-term partners, Sydney Restaurant Group, and feel pubby and warm. Apart from the meatballs, the menu channels a mostly Northern Italian nonnas repertoire, from fave bean puree with chicory to veal saltimbocca. Baccala mantecato ($24) is especially good; creamy and fresh-tasting, almost grainy with flakes of the salted Murray cod that is used rather than the imported variety. Polenta chips form super-crunchy scoops. But wait, there are more meatballs. This time, mondeghini ($16 for four), crumbed and fried, and filled with a soft mince of beef, pork sausage and mortadella, ready to dip into a pool of lemony mayo. Pavoni first put these on the menu at the likeable Via Alta in Northbridge, back in 2014, so welcome back, mondeghini! Theyre great with a Menabrea lager ($13) or a glass of the aromatic Il Terraio Paterna Toscano made with malvasia and trebbiano grapes ($19). Advertisement Saltimbocca is an uncomplicated, old-school dish. James Brickwood Theres a touch of the counter lunch special about the saltimbocca ($42). Three pieces of flattened veal backstrap are swaddled with sage and prosciutto, and swim in a glossy white wine and butter sauce. Its an uncomplicated, old-school dish, thoroughly cooked and fairly salty. The food may tick all the time-worn osteria boxes, but there are subtle points of difference. The prosciutto, for instance, is an aged culaccio di Busseto ($28), thats sweet, soft and fragrant. Tonnato ($28) is made with slow-cooked wagyu beef under creamy tuna sauce, crunchy with pine nuts. The cheese here is more likely to be salty pecorino romano than the more elegant parmigiano, but it suits the classic trippa alla romana ($22) of soft honeycomb tripe in a velvety tomato sugo. Another point of difference the cushiony-soft tiramisu ($22) is brightened by the famous Bronte pistachio from Sicily, bringing a gentle sweetness to the balance of mascarpone cream and sponge. Alessandro Pavoni says the building reminds him of so many osterias he was taken to as a child in Brescia, and theres a certain sense of nostalgia in the air, for simpler, familial times. The hospitality is Italian, the four-course sharing menu is less than $80 a head, and there are three different spots for dining outdoors. All that, and a chance of meatballs. The low-down Vibe: Buzzy osteria for relaxed casa-lingering Go-to dish: Chitarra spaghetti con pallottine, $37 Drinks: Proudly (and mostly) Italian cocktails, beer and wines Cost: About $180 for two, plus drinks This series looks at which skills will be in demand in the workforce of the future. Students who gain qualifications in sustainability are not only helping save the planet, but they are also entering a gateway to one of Australias and the worlds fastest-growing and most widespread fields of employment. Sustainability jobs exist in every facet of society in an endless variety of roles from accountancy and data analysis to finance, planning and energy production and because each field of expertise is advancing rapidly, they will all require life-long learning. A quick online search for jobs listed under sustainability throws up more than 16,000 vacancies across Australia, including senior roles paying up to $300,000 and jobs for undergraduates starting at $64,000 that offer ongoing training and career advancement. But thats just the tip of the iceberg. Demand for graduates with sustainability qualifications is rapidly increasing, with Australias plan to transition to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 predicted to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs. They will be needed in every sector of the economy. For instance, according to the Australian Energy Council an extra 85,000 employees will be needed by 2030 in renewable energy infrastructure alone. When a frightened 72-year-old woman was trapped inside her burning house, Nick Karagiannis came to her rescue. The father of three saved her from the flames of her Homebush home right before the roof collapsed, a courageous act that in 2018 earned him the fourth-highest Australian Bravery Decoration. Video footage of the ceremony shows the 44-year-old smiling as NSW Governor Margaret Beazley awarded him the Commendation for Brave Conduct. In the years that followed, Karagiannis became increasingly well-known in his community. Online posts praised his charity work and schoolchildren watched his inspirational speeches in which he preached that todays work is tomorrows reward. Danni Smartini played with her daughter Tristen during a visit to Lake Conroe Park in 2019. The San Jacinto River Authority is looking to partner with a third-party company to re-open Lake Conroe Park 10 months after Montgomery County closed it due to rising operational costs. Jason Fochtman/Staff photographer Boaters enjoy time on a busy Lake Conroe ahead of Memorial Day weekend, Thursday, May 26, 2022, in Conroe. While 2021 was among the deadliest years on the lake, this year lake officials have reported two drownings and a decrease in boat accidents. Jason Fochtman/Staff photographer Graham Nelson laughs as he is chased by Amy Maley during a trip to Lake Conroe near Willis Friday. Temperatures for the Conroe and surrounding area reached 100 degrees for the first time this summer. Staff photo by Jason Fochtman/AP The San Jacinto River Authority is looking to partner with a third-party company to re-open Lake Conroe Park 10 months after Montgomery County closed it due to rising operational costs. SJRA is interested in evaluating ideas and innovative approaches to improving the Lake Conroe Park amenities to make it a year-round destination site for all visitors, said San Jacinto River Authority General Manager Aubrey Spear. The park, located at 14968 Texas 105 on the west shores of Lake Conroe, is a 19-acre site that began in 1990 as a partnership between Montgomery County, San Jacinto River Authority, and Texas Parks and Wildlife for a public park and outdoor recreation facility. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The park, which is owned by the river authority, includes an onsite water well, a sewer lift station, park office, picnic tables, restrooms, swimming area, volleyball court and pavilions. Our board of directors supports enhancing the current site and wants to ensure that Lake Conroe Park provides opportunities for memorable experiences for those who visit the park, Spear said. Montgomery County terminated its lease agreement with the authority in January. While the park was a popular destination for families, county officials said in the last several years, most of the visitors have been from out of Montgomery County. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Despite raising the park's visitor fee to $5 from $2 in March 2021, Precinct 1 Commissioner Robert Walker said the park was costly to maintain. On land that was once dotted with farms and market gardens, the skeleton of a giant air cargo warehouse rises out of rain-sodden earth at the southern end of Sydneys new international airport. Only a few months ago this was just fields, said Western Sydney Airport chief executive Simon Hickey, pointing at the first of five state-of-the-art warehouses to be built. Theyll look more like a modern Amazon facility than they would an old cargo shed of the 1950s. The first of five giant warehouses in the air cargo precinct. The runway and passenger terminal are in the background. Credit: Nick Moir In a little over two years, large cargo planes will begin parking at eight bays referred to as hard stands in front of the warehouses, loading high-value goods ranging from flowers and seafood to pharmaceutical goods destined for markets in Asia and further abroad. The first will be dedicated freighter aircraft from Qantas and Menzies Aviation, one of the worlds largest air freight operators, after the companies both signed deals to operate warehouses at Western Sydney Airports cargo precinct. 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 Virus transmission alone should not dictate public health orders in a future pandemic, and border closures must be informed by a nationally agreed framework, experts reviewing the states COVID-19 response have urged. The panel, convened by the Herald to examine how COVID lockdowns were designed and enforced, chiefly in NSW, broadly agreed policymakers overlooked social cohesion and mental health factors when they made public health orders or closed borders to contain the spread of the virus. They also argued governments should not regard the health and economic outcomes as separate; they were intrinsically linked, and the economic damage from shutdowns and stay-at-home orders would inevitably affect peoples health. Professor Patrick McGorry, a psychiatrist who specialises in youth mental health and was the 2010 Australian of the Year, said state chief health officers who came from a public health background were too often fixated on virus spread to the neglect of other health indicators. Nationals MP and former deputy premier Paul Toole; Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue chief executive Adam Leto; Tourism and Transport Forums Margy Osmond; former president of Local Government NSW and City of Sydney councillor Linda Scott; and former NSW Police commissioner Mick Fuller - along with mental health expert Professor Patrick McGorry who participated via Zoom - formed the Heralds expert panel on lockdowns and policing. Credit: Dylan Coker We had chief health officers who were actually chief COVID officers, he said. They didnt seem to be able to think about other health consequences and mental health was absolutely the top one they should have been thinking about a bit more. For example, during the Delta wave in 2021, NSW resisted introducing a singles bubble for people who lived alone until five weeks into the lockdown, even though it was used successfully towards the end of the long Victorian lockdown the previous year. People with an intimate partner were allowed to visit each other the whole time. Advertisement Were social animals, McGorry said. Its not just the lockdowns, it was the social distancing that really had a nasty effect. Thats where there was, to some extent, a lack of perspective, particularly after vaccines were available. Former NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller led the enforcement of public health orders requested by NSW Health and said COVID-19 test results alone drove 99.9 per cent of the health orders throughout the pandemic. They didnt seem to be able to think about other health consequences and mental health was absolutely the top one, professor Patrick McGorry told the panel. Credit: Dylan Coker But he warned that using health data in isolation didnt always deliver the best outcome. Fuller said that over time, the crisis cabinet appeared to consider factors beyond raw virus transmission data, including mental health, but Im just not sure if that happened quick enough. Linda Scott, who as Local Government NSW president herded the states 128 councils during the pandemic, said it was wrong to underestimate the impact of certain decisions on social cohesion. Some decisions were clearly unfair. Linda Scott, president of Local Government NSW during the pandemic, addresses the Heralds COVID discussion. Credit: Dylan Coker We stopped people in western Sydney going outdoors in a way that was arguably worse for their health than we did in areas across the other side of the road, Scott said, referencing the harsher lockdowns applied to local government areas of concern during the Delta wave. That was very hard to explain to people. Advertisement Premiers decisions to close state borders proved especially divisive during the pandemic, eliciting horror stories of people unable to visit dying loved ones, and children separated from their parents for long periods. The panel acknowledged the need to close borders to limit virus spread, but generally agreed the ad hoc nature of state border closures was regrettable. While they recognised decisions had to be made quickly based on limited information, they called for a more nationally consistent approach to deliver certainty about what threshold of virus spread would cause a border to be closed. There just needed to be some uniformity, said Margy Osmond, head of the Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF). There needed to be an understandable set of criteria that determined whether a border was closed. Because every state seemed to have a different attitude about what the criteria were. Uniformity call: former police commissioner Mick Fuller and Margy Osmond, chief executive of the Tourism and Transport Forum. Credit: Dylan Coker I understand we are a federation, but the uncertainty that was bred and the additional work it created by having all of these disparate border arrangements and having absolutely no certainty was very bad for the community, and impossible from a business perspective. That echoed a recommendation in the TTFs submission to the Commonwealths COVID inquiry, which called for stronger co-ordination and consistent management structures between federal, state and territory governments. One border closure that caused significant disruption was the New Years Eve 2020 decision by Victoria to shut its border to NSW as an outbreak on Sydneys northern beaches spread to other areas. NSW recorded 10 new cases the day the closure was announced. Advertisement Enforced from 11.59pm on New Years Day, the decision meant people holidaying in NSW had to rush home or face being locked out of their own state. Police enforce a checkpoint on the closed border between Victoria and NSW on January 1, 2021. Credit: Jason Robins Fuller also raised Queenslands controversial decision to close its border to NSW starting with hotspots but expanding to the whole state amid the Crossroads Hotel outbreak in winter 2020. That closure was vehemently opposed by the NSW government, with then-premier Gladys Berejiklian saying she begrudged her Queensland counterpart Annastacia Palaszczuk for the decision, and the then-health minister Brad Hazzard calling it appalling. In one case, an ACT woman was refused permission to leave hotel quarantine in Brisbane for her fathers funeral. Instead, she was escorted under police guard to view the body while dressed in personal protective equipment. Despite national cabinet meeting regularly at that time, and then prime minister Scott Morrison saying Australians were in danger of losing our humanity when making decisions about COVID, Palaszczuk kept the gates sealed until three days after the October 31 Queensland election. Then-premiers Annastacia Palaszczuk, Daniel Andrews and Gladys Berejiklian with then-prime Minister Scott Morrison at a national cabinet meeting in December 2020. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen Advertisement Former deputy premier Paul Toole, who was part of the crisis cabinet steering NSWs COVID-19 response, said that in future it must be a national approach. Toole emphasised the disruption to supply chains caused by sudden border closures. [It] sent the freight industry into an absolute spin, he said. We were on the phones constantly, especially [to] Queensland, just trying to get them to change their rules around it. In a submission to the federal COVID-19 inquiry, the Queensland government dedicated just one paragraph to border closures, defending what it called strong decisions based on health advice. Border restrictions were reviewed regularly and removed as soon as it was safe to do so, it said. The Commonwealth inquiry into Australias COVID-19 response does not include actions taken unilaterally by state governments but will examine how evidence informed interventions such as lockdowns in different jurisdictions across the country. The Heralds expert panel on lockdowns and border closures followed similar exercises on schools and the COVID-19 health response. Credit: Dylan Coker While the Heralds panel noted the unprecedented nature of the pandemic and the urgency with which consequential decisions were made, they said command hierarchies and communication trees instituted during COVID-19 did not always produce the best, or most consistent, outcomes. For example, Linda Scott said she quickly resolved a problem with road freight and avoided intervention by other authorities by speaking directly to five affected mayors. So often, powers were implemented when problems could have been solved within 24 hours through relationships, she said. Advertisement A bid to cut the number of councillors in one of Sydneys wealthiest and most highly represented local government areas has narrowly failed, in what local Liberals called a disappointing result. The Woollahra referendum to downsize from 15 councillors to nine was defeated by less than 300 votes, with 50.98 per cent opting to retain the status quo. Voters in the eastern suburbs LGA of Woollahra have narrowly rejected a proposal to reduce councillors from 15 to nine. Credit: Woollahra Municipal Council But it was a different story on the Central Coast, where 61.74 per cent of voters agreed to cut their 15 councillors down to nine, beginning in 2028. Voters in Hilltops, which includes the South Western Slopes town of Young, agreed to reduce their number of councillors from 11 to nine, and Port Macquarie narrowly assented to a reduction from nine to seven. Thanks for joining us for todays live blog. Well be back tomorrow with more news of the election campaign and from around Brisbane. Here are some of the top stories making headlines today. With the governor formally dissolving parliament this morning, the Queensland election campaign is officially on. Heres what you need to know as we head towards polling day on October 26. The Brisbane Broncos new coach, Michael Maguire, says all players under his tutelage will be held to the same standard, after he was pressed on how to unlock the best of star fullback Reece Walsh. A mayor accused of misleading voters about his army service in Australias biggest military city is facing a 12-month suspension. Hundreds of Brisbane Lions supporters have gathered in the CBD to welcome home their premiership-winning heroes. Coach Chris Fagan (far left) joins the Brisbane Lions on stage at the Premiership Party in Queens Gardens. Credit: Kristen Camp Outgoing ABC boss David Anderson has told staff he is truly sorry for those who have experienced racist behaviour and past harms, after a long-awaited review found overwhelming evidence of racism at the public broadcaster. And after facing liquidation, iconic French restaurant Montrachet reopens tonight with a bunch of new dishes and a Michelin-trained chef. Place a finger on the hollow of your neck, where your jugular vein drums out the rhythm of your life. Beneath this thick vein runs the vagus nerve, one of the major connecting cables between brain and body. It sends signals to the heart and lungs and nearly every other organ essential for your continued existence. Sara Ferola has Crohns disease an inflammatory disease that could one day commonly be the target of vagus nerve stimulation. Credit: Penny Stephens The vagus is part of our parasympathetic nervous network: it calms and soothes the organs, dulls inflammation, stands down our immune armies. A growing range of diseases Alzheimers, rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease are being linked to inflammation. What if we could trigger the vagus relaxing activity ourselves, scientists wonder. Could we treat those diseases? A manhunt is underway after a brutal attack on a juvenile seal in Victorias east left a veterinarian with no choice but to euthanise the animal. A walker reported seeing the small sub-Antarctic fur seal unharmed and resting on Lake Bunga Beach, east of Lakes Entrance, about 8am on September 17. The seal was resting on Lake Bunga Beach before it was found injured. Credit: Crime Stoppers Victoria Zoos Victorias Marine Response Unit agreed to keep an eye on it but about 10 hours later, at 6pm, the walker returned and found the seal with back injuries and wounds to its face. The animal was surrounded by human and dog footprints, and a large stick not previously there was next to it. Award-winning Attica chef and owner Ben Shewry has attacked the critics who judge his cooking and denied that he did so because his restaurant lost a coveted Good Food chefs hat in 2022. New Zealand-born Shewry, head chef at Attica since 2005, was previously awarded a long list of plaudits for his Ripponlea restaurant, including chef of the year, restaurant of the year and three hats in The Age Good Food Guide since 2012. Attica owner-chef Ben Shewry. Credit: Simon Schluter After 10 years in Melbournes top echelon of restaurants, Attica was downgraded from three hats to two in 2022 a decision Shewry writes about in his new book, Uses For Obsession, in which he excoriates food reviewers who he claims lack expertise. In the chapter titled Bats and Hats, Shewry argues that the review system is oppressive and contributes to intense pressure on the restaurant industry. He describes instances of working while sick or cancelling birthday celebrations to cater for critics. Protesters who displayed the flags of terrorist group Hezbollah and allegedly chanted violent verses could be jailed for a year or deported after the federal government ordered a manhunt into weekend protests that sparked a firestorm over the limits of free speech. In one of the Albanese governments toughest responses yet to extremist sentiment since the October 7 Hamas attacks, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke demanded NSW and Victorian authorities check the visa status of demonstrators who are alleged to have glorified Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut on Saturday. A Hezbollah flag can be seen at the pro-Palestine rally outside the State Library of Victoria on Sunday. Credit: AAP I wont hesitate to cancel the visas of visitors to our country who are spreading hate, he said late on Monday after a day of political debate about Australias laws banning terror insignia and hate speech. Federal police initially suggested the protests did not meet the threshold for an investigation, as Labor and Coalition MPs demanded action under new laws that ban the display of terror symbols if they are used to spread hate, intimidate or incite violence. Prosecutions would represent a high-profile national test case for the laws. With nearly 1000 years of siege-riddled history, Edinburgh Castle stands proud on the remnants of an old volcano with big guns, prisons and precious crowns inside. The simple, barrel-vaulted St Margarets Chapel dates back to approximately 1130, and was built under the reign of St Margarets son, King David I. When Robert the Bruce captured the castle in 1314, he ordered the castle buildings to be destroyed, but decided to spare the Romanesque chapel meaning its Edinburghs oldest building. The stained-glass windows arent quite as old, however they were made by artist Douglas Strachan in 1922. 2 Be awed by Mons Meg Mons Meg could fire a 150 kilogram stone ball up to three kilometres. Just outside the chapel is a big beast of a gun. Mons Meg was built in the 15th century, weighs nearly seven tonnes, and could fire a 150 kilogram stone ball up to two miles (more than three kilometres). It was sent around Scotland to smash castles and quell rebellions enemies often surrendered on sight. The big beast has a great view, too. The Forewall Battery offers a panorama over the New Town, Firth of Forth, Calton Hill and, more adorably, the tiny Dog Cemetery garden built into the ramparts for deceased regimental mascots. 3 Cover your ears for the One OClock Gun Singapore/Kupang: A boatload of migrants allegedly turned back by the Australian Border Force without maps, navigational equipment or reasonable training ran aground on rocks on Rote Island, Indonesia. Another group beached a few kilometres away and had to be rescued by locals responding to pleas for help. One man said they were so scared after being cut loose in the vast Timor Sea with only a 15-minute Border Force course in handling the boat, that they didnt dare touch anything but the steering wheel. Mithu, 27, from Bangladesh, hoped to reach Australia for work. His full image or identity cannot be revealed. Credit: Amilia Rosa They said, You see that land, that mountain? Go there. No GPS or maps, Sanour, 38, said. We were afraid something could go wrong and we could be lost at sea. What would happen to us then? We were relieved when we reached land and the locals helped us. The Indonesian authorities have helped us since. Nicole Hensley is a staff writer for the Houston Chronicle. She can be reached at nicole.hensley@houstonchronicle.com. She joined the Chronicle in 2018 from the New York Daily News and after writing for The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington. A native of Seattle, Nicole is a graduate of Washington State University. Jerusalem: The Israeli military has warned people to evacuate nearly two dozen Lebanese border communities hours after announcing the start of ground operations against Hezbollah. The militant group denied Israeli troops had entered Lebanon. It was not immediately clear whether Israeli troops had crossed the border. No photos or video footage has yet emerged showing Israeli ground forces inside Lebanon. A damaged building is seen at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut. Credit: AP Israel advised people to evacuate to the north of the Awali River, some 60 kilometers from the border and much farther than the Litani River, which marks the northern edge of a UN-declared zone that was intended to serve as a buffer between Israel and Hezbollah after their 2006 war. You must immediately head north of the Awali River to save yourselves, and leave your houses immediately, said the statement posted by the Israeli militarys Arabic spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, on the platform X. The warning applied to communities south of the Litani. Valdosta, Georgia: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the past few days has used the damage wrought by hurricane Helene to attack Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, suggesting she and President Joe Biden are playing politics with the storm something he was accused of doing when president. Trump repeatedly lied on Tuesday (AEST) about the federal response to the disaster, despite claiming not to be politicising it as he toured hard-hit areas in south Georgia. Republican presidential nominee former president Donald Trump walks outside a furniture store as he visits Valdosta, Georgia, a town impacted by hurricane Helene. Credit: AP More than 100 deaths across a half-dozen states were attributed to the powerful storm that slammed into Florida last week before cutting a destructive path through Georgia and into North and South Carolina. Up to 600 people remain missing, US Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall said at the White House, though she noted that the numbers could vary as responders reach more locations. However, Arraj pointed out that private credit offers a more flexible and rewarding option for investors looking to grow their wealth without the barriers associated with property investment. Hutcheson eager to elevate Simplicitys Queensland presence Ive watched with great interest the evolution of Simplicity Loans and Marketplace Finance Hutcheson said. Its customer-centric ethos, strong culture, and unwavering commitment to doing the right thing every time are truly commendable. Im excited to help bring this value proposition to Queensland. Austrias Far-Right Freedom Party Wins Historic Election, But Faces Struggle to Form Government (Picture: Herbert Kickl) (Photo: Michael Lucan/Wikimedia Commons/CC-BY-SA 3.0 ) Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPO), led by Herbert Kickl, achieved a significant victory in the nation's parliamentary election, becoming the first far-right party to win such an election since World War II. With 28.8% of the vote, the FPO secured its largest share ever, outpacing Chancellor Karl Nehammer's conservative People's Party (OVP), which garnered 26.3%. However, despite this electoral success, the path to forming a government remains uncertain for Kickl, as the majority of political parties have ruled out working with the FPO due to its hardline views. Kickl, a controversial figure in European politics, celebrated the FPO's triumph as a "new era" for Austria and promised to translate the party's 29% vote share into political power. "Tomorrow there will be a blue Monday," Kickl told supporters, referencing the party's color, "and then we will set about turning that 29% into a political reality in this country." The FPO's victory is part of a broader trend across Europe, where far-right, anti-immigration, and populist parties have gained ground in countries such as the Netherlands, France, and Germany. Despite these successes, far-right parties have often struggled to convert electoral wins into government power due to resistance from more moderate political factions. Austria's situation is no different, as most of the country's mainstream parties have already ruled out forming a coalition with the FPO. The OVP, which placed second in the election, has previously formed a coalition with the FPO. However, Chancellor Nehammer has publicly ruled out working with Kickl, citing the FPO leader's embrace of conspiracy theories and controversial views. "You can't run a state sensibly and responsibly with him," Nehammer said, reiterating his opposition to any collaboration with the far-right leader. This leaves the FPO in a difficult position. While it secured the largest share of the vote, it will need a coalition partner to govern, as required by Austrian law. President Alexander Van der Bellen, who oversees the formation of governments, has urged all parties to engage in negotiations, but the process is likely to be lengthy and fraught with challenges. Without a willing coalition partner, Kickl's victory may ultimately prove hollow. Kickl has positioned himself as an anti-establishment figure and has drawn comparisons to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, with whom he shares many Eurosceptic and anti-immigration policies. He has also gained notoriety for promoting conspiracy theories, including endorsing ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment. Kickl's opposition to sanctions on Russia and his support for withdrawing aid to Ukraine have further distanced him from Austria's political mainstream. In the days following the election, Kickl has sought to downplay concerns about his leadership style, offering to negotiate with all parties. However, political analysts remain skeptical of his ability to build the alliances necessary to form a stable government. "The constant characterization of Kickl as a menace and the refusal of other parties to work with him risks strengthening his pitch as an outsider," noted political analyst Thomas Hofer. "Kickl only sees this as a confirmation of his anti-system narrative." The FPO's success has reverberated across Europe, where far-right parties have been gaining momentum. However, as seen in countries like France and the Netherlands, electoral victories do not always translate into power. In France, the far-right National Rally won the first round of elections in June, only to be blocked by moderate parties in the second round. Similarly, Dutch nationalist leader Geert Wilders was unable to form a government despite winning the popular vote in the Netherlands. Kickl's task is further complicated by internal divisions within Austria's political landscape. The OVP and the center-left Social Democrats (SPO) have dominated the country's post-war politics, and both parties have expressed strong opposition to working with the FPO under Kickl's leadership. There is speculation that the OVP may seek an alliance with the SPO, sidelining the FPO despite its electoral win. Supporters of the FPO argue that the party's "Austria First" policies, which emphasize curbing illegal immigration and boosting the economy, resonate with a growing segment of the population. Critics, however, fear that the FPO's rise could signal a shift toward a more authoritarian state, drawing comparisons to Orban's leadership in Hungary. Irene Rubik, a 69-year-old retired civil servant and Greens voter, voiced concern that Austria is at risk of "Orbanization," a term used to describe Hungary's gradual erosion of democratic norms. The uncertainty surrounding the FPO's ability to form a government has left Austria in political limbo. If Kickl is unable to build a coalition, it could open the door for a potential alliance between the OVP and the SPO, both of which have dominated Austrian politics for decades. Such a coalition could stabilize the country, but it would likely further fuel Kickl's anti-establishment rhetoric and bolster his image as an outsider. Law enforcement salute slain Harris County Pct. 4 Deputy Maher Husseini as he is escorted from Ben Taub Hospital after he was shot and killed on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024 in Houston. Deputy Husseini, with Harris County Precinct 4 Constables Office, was fatally shot in west Houston while driving his personal car to work, police said Tuesday afternoon. The shooting happened around 12:45 p.m. at an intersection in the 8900 block of Richmond Avenue, near Fondren Road. A man got out of his vehicle and repeatedly shot at the constable's vehicle, striking him, Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz said. The 50-year-old deputy, who was not believed to be uniformed, was pronounced dead at Ben Taub hospital. Brett Coomer/Staff photographer A man accused of killing an off-duty Precinct 4 constables deputy, before driving into the Galveston Ship Channel as he fled authorities, sleepily went before a judge Monday following his return to Harris County on a murder charge. Athir Murady, 40, remained silent as he entered the 337th District Court in a yellow jumpsuit, which indicates he has a higher security risk, and gazed at those in the gallery. He spoke to Judge Colleen Gaido only to confirm the pronunciation of his name. He is accused of killing constables Corporal Maher Husseini, a three-year veteran of the Precinct 4 office who was shot and killed Sept. 4 as he sat in his personal vehicle, authorities said. Bruises visible on Muradys face after his arrest have since subsided. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The judge did not set bail but ordered that Murady remain on house arrest and without internet access which prosecutors requested should that change and he is released on bond. Assistant District Attorney Katie Rogers said it would be up to Muradys lawyer to approach on setting bail in his case. From from Houston Chronicle: Slain Harris County constable deputy remembered The prosecutor outlined how the shooting unfolded, citing at least one witness and footage from Husseinis dash camera on his personal vehicle. The camera appeared to show Murady opening fire at least eight times, she said. A medical examiners report found five gunshot wounds alone to his head and several more elsewhere. Authorities did not realize that Husseini was law enforcement until they removed him from his vehicle and noticed his badge and other belongings, Rogers continued. The camera clearly shows Murady opening fire on Husseinis driver-side window, before he paused and returned moments later to shoot at his vehicle again, Rogers said. Murady left by the time authorities arrived to investigate the shooting but his vehicle was soon spotted on cameras near League City. Advertisement Article continues below this ad An off-duty officer in Galveston recognized him and tried pulling him over, prompting Murady to drive into the ocean, she said. Murady swam out and was picked up by law enforcement in a boat. A police dog bit him, according to the prosecutor. A revolver likely used in the shooting was found from Muradys water-logged vehicle that same night. Murady remained jailed in Galveston on an evading arrest charge for most of September. Muradys lawyer, Lindsay Lopez, offered no arguments for her client Monday in court and left without addressing the case further. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment. She identified Murady as suffering from a mental disease or defect in court documents addressing who can visit him in custody. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Prosecutors have since requested records from a Dallas-based psychologist who may have interacted with Murady for mental health and substance abuse treatment as far back as 2017, according to court records. After a review of Muradys social media, Rogers specifically requested that he not be allowed to access the internet. He does a lot of social media and targets individuals, Rogers said. For the safety of the community, he should not be able to access anything. Husseini, who lived in Spring, came to the U.S. from Jerusalem about 30 years ago. He was married with two children. He previously ran for Montgomery County sheriff as a Democrat while leading a private company Jaguar Security and Investigations. His sheriff's office campaign focused on creating mental health programs for those charged with crimes, remodeling jails and improving pay for detention officers. Sean Combs arrives at the Pre-Grammy Gala And Salute To Industry Icons at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Mark Von Holden/Associated Press The New York rapper and producer is facing an indictment of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and interstate transportation for prostitution. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. Both law firms plan to have a press conference at 1 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the allegations involving Combs in connection to rape, sexual assault and sexual exploitation, according to a Monday news release. The conference will be held at the Buzbee Law Firm office in the JP Morgan Chase Tower at 600 Travis St. in Houston. Advertisement Article continues below this ad "At the conference, Lead Counsel Tony Buzbee will release pertinent details regarding cases that will be filed on behalf of what is now well over 100 alleged victims," the release stated. Buzbee, a Houston attorney, plans to provide details regarding other possible defendants and insight into the alleged crimes. He will also share some of the stories of people who said they were victims of Combs or others connected to him. WHAT TO KNOW: More about Diddy, the rapper federally indicted for alleged sex trafficking "This is an important matter that we intend to aggressively pursue. We will leave no stone unturned to find all potentially liable parties," Buzbee said in a statement. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Last week, Buzbee said his firm was representing more than 50 people who allege they were sexually assaulted by Combs and those associated with him. Buzbee said he expected that number to increase. As of Monday, the law firm reported cases would be filed on behalf of more than 100 people. A Harris County woman also filed a lawsuit last week alleging the rapper drugged and violently raped her in 2001 when she was 25 years old. Combs is in New York federal custody after being indicted on charges involving the coercion and the abuse of women for years, with help from associates and employees. Allegations include blackmailing, kidnapping, arson and physical beatings as a way to scare victims from speaking out. He was denied bail, including other conditions that his attorney proposed on his behalf. U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter ruled the initial proposal for bail was "insufficient" to ensure the safety of the community and the integrity of his case, the Associated Press reported. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Buzbee encouraged other potential victims to come forward and said their identity will remain confidential. "As we do this important work, we ask that the public understand it is very difficult and takes an incredible amount of courage for victims to come forward. I ask that we treat these brave individuals with the dignity and compassion that they deserve as they go through this trying time," he said. FILE - In this April 11, 2018, file photo, a high school student uses a vaping device near a school campus in Cambridge, Mass. U.S. health officials are scrambling to keep e-cigarettes away from teenagers amid an epidemic of underage use. But doctors face a new dilemma: there are few effective options for weening young people off nicotine vaping devices like Juul. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File) Steven Senne/Associated Press A vape mod sits on a counter Tuesday, March 29, 2022, at Eado Glass and Smoke in Houston. Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer FILE - Varieties of disposable flavored electronic cigarette devices manufactured by EB Design, formerly known as Elf Bar, are displayed at a store in Pinecrest, Fla., June 26, 2023. Health and law enforcement officials are set to face congressional questioning over the rise of illegal electronic cigarettes in the U.S., a multibillion-dollar business that has flourished amid haphazard enforcement by regulators. Rebecca Blackwell/AP Houston ISD placed around 150 fewer students in discipline alternative education programs for vaping in the spring 2024 than the previous semester, according to district data. Houston ISD gained its exemption in early January, saying the zero-tolerance vaping law lacked discretion for first-time offenders. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Around 370 of the district's roughly 183,000 students were sent to DAEP facilities from September to early December 2023 after the measure was enacted. By the spring semester, 216 students were sent to DAEPs for multiple vaping offenses. Placing students in a DAEP setting can disrupt learning and contribute to lower graduation rates, a former HISD spokesperson said in January. Since the exemption, the spokesperson said teachers and principals have been able to handle vaping discipline on a case-by-case basis. "HISD's primary focus is keeping students in the classroom and learning, and we're happy to see data that shows this is exactly what is happening," HISD administration said in a statement to the Chronicle. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Rep. Ed Thompson, R-Pearland, said he introduced the measure to assist overwhelmed law enforcement, not pull students out of classrooms. Many students caught with e-cigarettes were referred to the criminal justice system, which used thinly stretched resources to test devices for nicotine or marijuana, Thompson said. Thompson said he hoped the bill would allow schools to deal cases internally and prevent kids from getting a criminal record for vaping violations. It seemed to have had that intended affect locally by January, Thompson said, with a steep drop in Brazoria County law enforcement's youth vaping cases. The national teen vaping rate fell lower than it had at any point in the last decade this year, according to the Annual National Youth Tobacco Survey, which Thompson regards as a sign that vaping regulations are raising awareness on teen e-cigarette use. "Kids mess up ... so I wanted to keep them in the school district where they could continue with their education," Thompson said. "I'm hoping this bill will bring awareness not only to the schools, but also to the parents. They have to understand the gravity of this issue and have those conversations with their kids to make sure that they're aware of the dangers of these vape pens." Advertisement Article continues below this ad But more teens reported vaping daily or near-daily, indicating a potential increase in e-cigarette addiction, said Charlie Gagan, the Texas advocacy director for the American Lung Association. Gagan said the organization opposes sending students caught for vaping to DAEPs and hopes to see more addiction resources and educational tools, rather than punitive measures, introduced into schools. "Children who vape need proven interventions to stop, not punitive approaches that do not help quit," Gagan said. "We really continue to believe that teens should not be punished for being addicted to a product that was aggressively marketed to them on social media through celebrities and kid-friendly flavors." Gagan said he hopes lawmakers will focus on tightening regulations for e-cigarette retailers instead. While the state increased funding for its Tobacco Quitline in 2024, Texas still received an "F" rating in all but one category in the American Lung Association's State of Tobacco Control report card. "It comes just as a reminder of the lack of resources schools have, and how many things we're asking teachers and administrators to do outside of their baseline teaching of students...they're confiscating dozens (of vapes) a day," Gagan said. "Texas lawmakers still have a lot more than they need to do. We're hoping to see continued interest from lawmakers next spring and continued funding of proven programs to reduce tobacco use amongst all Texans." Advertisement Article continues below this ad A sign that reads No Trust! No Bond! is seen as members of the group Houston Stitching Together meet to work on protest signs against Houston ISD, Sept. 8, 2024, in Houston. Jason Fochtman/Staff photographer Leaders of the Harris County Republican and Democratic parties don't agree on who should be the next president, U.S. senator, county attorney or even the county tax assessor-collector. They have, however, found common ground during this November election on one issue their opposition to Houston ISDs $4.4 billion school bond proposal. Both the Harris County Democratic and Republican Party executive committees have unanimously voted in favor of resolutions opposing the largest school bond in state history, which is facing more public pushback than HISD's previous bonds due largely to community opposition to the state takeover and state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The Harris County Democratic Party county executive committee adopted a resolution against the bond during its Sunday meeting, where it cited the harmful impacts on HISD schoolchildren," ethical, governance and financial risks and lack of transparency and accountability to taxpayers associated with Miles leadership of the district. While the Harris County Democratic Party supports public education and acknowledges the need for full funding, including bonds, it opposes the HISD $4.4 billion bonds, Proposition A and B, due to Superintendent Mike Miles fiscal mismanagement, inadequate oversight and the detrimental impact on students and public education since the takeover, the resolution said. Ruth Kravetz, co-founder of Community Voices for Public Education, said she supports funding for public education, but she wrote and presented the resolution at the committees meeting because she believes Miles and the Texas Education Agencys intervention into the district is harming students, parents and teachers. I presume that the Harris County Republican Party has different reasons to oppose the bond than the Harris County Democratic Party, but for different reasons, people on both sides of the aisle found an abundance of evidence that says, Not today. We need a better bond, and we can vote for a better bond sometime in the future, said Kravetz, a Democratic precinct chair. Advertisement Article continues below this ad HISD did not respond to a request for comment on the two parties opposition to the bond. The bond proposes allocating about $2 billion for rebuilding and renovating schools and $1.35 billion for lead abatement, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning improvements and security upgrades. It would also provide $1 billion to expand pre-K, build three new career and technical education centers and make technology upgrades without raising taxes. It will be split into two propositions on the ballot that people can vote on separately. Proposition A would allocate $3.96 billion for school building renovations and expansions, including safety and security infrastructure, while Proposition B would allocate $440 million for technology equipment, systems and infrastructure. The Harris County Republican Party executive committee adopted a separate resolution against the bond during their Sept. 9 meeting. The resolution did not mention Miles, but instead cited HISDs declining enrollment, economic difficulties caused by the poor leadership of President Joe Biden and poor management of previous bonds. Advertisement Article continues below this ad HISD, so long plagued by poor fiscal management and lavish administrative spending, should demonstrate a record of fiscal discipline before asking taxpayers to trust it with a $4.4 billion loan, the resolution states. Rolando Garcia, who authored the resolution, wrote on social media that the HISD needed to go back to the drawing board, focus on essentials and come back to the voters with a new, pared-down request. He and the Harris County Republican Party did not respond to a request for an interview. Its the largest school bond in Texas history, wrote Garcia, a member of the State Republican Executive Committee. Conservatives do not trust Houston ISD with its long history of financial mismanagement and malfeasance to administer such a massive project without cost overruns and other shenanigans. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Both parties official opposition to the bond comes as leaders of the Houston NAACP, the Houston LGBTQ+ Political Caucus, the League of United Latin American Citizens Council 60, and the districts largest teachers union have already said they plan to vote against the bond due, in part, to their lack of trust in Miles and concerns over financial accountability. The measure has, however, seen support from multiple HISD principals, elected trustees and a coalition of Houston organizations, including Good Reason Houston, the Greater Houston Partnership and Houstonians for Great Public Schools, who say the bond is necessary to fix urgent infrastructure needs in the districts 274 schools. Houston voters who are not already registered to vote will need to do so by Oct. 7 to vote on the bond, as well as the other items on the ballot in the general election. Eligible Houstonians must request or print out a voter registration application and mail it to the voter registrar before the deadline. Chinese PLA Navy to host open-ship events celebrating 75th anniversary of PRC Xinhua) 09:50, September 30, 2024 BEIJING, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- The naval forces of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Northern Theater Command will open five vessels to the public to celebrate the 75th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The event, to be held from Oct. 1 to 3, will take place at two harbors in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. It is expected to attract more than 120,000 visitors. The five vessels, including two missile frigates, two missile destroyers and one comprehensive supply ship, were all independently designed and built by China. In addition to the event, the PLA Navy will host similar open-ship events in Guangdong Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan) Justin Ballard is the Houston Chronicle's first ever newsroom meteorologist. He can be reached at justin.ballard@houstonchronicle.com. He brings five years of experience forecasting tropical systems, severe weather outbreaks, and blizzards to the Houston Chronicle. His unique experience in forecasting will serve him well in his role at the Chronicle, as Houston has experienced a number of impactful weather events in recent years. Justin looks forward to his work with the Houston Chronicle, where he'll be responsible for posting daily weather forecasts. On top of daily forecasts, he is excited to tackle more in-depth weather and climate stories that impact the residents of Southeast Texas. A North Carolina native, Justin joined the Chronicle in July 2023. He graduated with his bachelor's degree in meteorology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in December 2017. Democrat Sean Teare (left) is squaring off against Republican Dan Simons (right) for Harris County District Attorney. Photo courtesy Teare and Simons If we learned anything from Harris County District Attorney Kim Oggs stunning primary election defeat, its that qualifications and independence only get you so far in that job. Sure, when it comes to the handling of actual cases exercising legal discretion, getting justice for victims and respecting the rights of the accused all that matters is integrity and competence. But the job of the county's top prosecutor also involves managing people well so they don't quit their jobs, balancing a budget, playing nice with politicians who control the purse strings that fund your office. In short, the top lawyer must also be a shrewd politician. It's a tough balance, one that Ogg struggled to achieve, but one that her successor must master if he's going to get the resources and staffing he needs to fight crime in the third-largest county in the nation. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Both candidates, Republican Dan Simons and Democrat Sean Teare, are former Harris County prosecutors with a keen understanding of the challenges facing the agency. As Simons pointed out to the editorial board during our screening, counties with comparable populations, such as Cook County in Illinois, have nearly double the number of prosecutors as Harris County. "Go and look at those comparisons and see how it's working," Simons said. "Show (commissioners) everything. Give them the tools." Simons believes the facts, the evidence, combined with his compelling personal background and extensive experience as both a prosecutor and criminal defense attorney will give him the credibility to make that case. Simons grew up shuttling between foster homes and homelessness until he moved in with a family he met through the Salvation Army at age 12. He joined the Air Force when he turned 18, hoping that would set him on a path to become a state trooper someday. When he left the Air Force in his mid-20s he went to Sam Houston State University for undergraduate studies, then pursued his law degree at Thurgood Marshall School of Law. He joined the DAs office in 2013 and rose to misdemeanor chief in Criminal Court No. 14. According to Simons, he helped reduce the docket in that court by more than 200 cases in four months and had an 84% conviction rate. He left the DAs office in 2017, joining a criminal defense firm, and then ran for misdemeanor court judge in Harris County in 2018, losing by 13 points. Hes run his own private law practice ever since, focusing mostly on misdemeanor and lower-level felony cases. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Simons presents as an earnest, trustworthy, "by the book" attorney. As a prosecutor, he said he shunned the after-hours socializing and fraternizing that some of his colleagues engaged in, focusing exclusively on his work, which could either signal virtue or obliviousness to the benefits of building social capital. Probably both. Communicating clearly is vital for a strong DA. We have to wonder how Simons would convey his messages to 350 prosecutors when we struggled a few times to follow his line of thinking in our hour-long meeting. At one point he told us he "stays away" from accepting clients charged with felony rape or murder because he knows his "abilities." That seemed to indicate his abilities were lacking. He later clarified that he was trying to say his own abilities as a defense lawyer were so strong that he didn't want to take advantage of less capable prosecutors, who might lose the case and set someone guilty free. Another time, he alleged that his opponent, Teare, had opted to lead the vehicular crimes division because it was "easy." Teare, sensing disparagement, pushed back and explained how many tragedies and lifeless bodies he had observed at crime scenes. Actually, Simons said, he meant "easy" as a compliment because Teare had the experience for the job. We'll take him at his word, but those minor misunderstandings would be a problem on a larger scale. Candidates for DA and judicial benches are forced to run as partisans whether they want to or not. Simons said his values "are more aligned" with Republicans but said his political affiliation has no bearing on the job hes running for and vows to leave his personal politics at the courthouse doorstep. Yet, some of Simons' attacks on Teare were more partisan than substantive. He painted Teare as a pawn of liberal billionaire George Soros, whose Texas Justice and Public Safety PAC donated nearly $700,000 to Teare during the primary campaign. It's a frequent, even trite, Republican attack on Democrats. When pressed to elaborate, Simons alluded to Soros' backing other liberal DAs in major, Democrat-led cities across the nation, and said "Soros wants something for his money." He also said that Teare would play favorites as DA because of the personal injury and criminal defense lawyers who have donated to him, yet bristled when we noted that he, too, could be accused of favoring special interests because of contributions he received from the bail bonds industry albeit in smaller amounts. Advertisement Article continues below this ad More concerning were Simons critiques of the criminal justice system, which were confusing and lacked substance. For instance, when asked how he would improve the DAs intake division, a team of prosecutors who take calls from police in the field to assess whether evidence is strong enough to accept criminal charges, he suggested allowing intake prosecutors to also present cases as part of the grand jury division, seemingly unaware that those two units are already combined. Simons position on bail practices was also somewhat incoherent. On the one hand, he lamented that misdemeanor bail reform in Harris County is "blocking" judges discretion in detaining criminal defendants who are a threat to public safety. That's a distortion of the O'Donnell consent decree, which still gives judges discretion over key classes of misdemeanor cases. He also claimed that bail reform "did go up to felony" courts as well, which is inaccurate. While some felony court judges appear to be making overly lenient bond decisions, that has nothing to do with the consent decree. Other evidence that Simons lacked political savvy: he reacted with surprise and dismay when Teare explained how he's already been meeting with county stakeholders, including county commissioners but also members of the budget office to work collaboratively and identify parts of the criminal justice system where funding is sorely needed for the DA's office. Teare said one of his first orders of business would be to hire a chief financial officer, and that he would make sure that person understands all the nuances of the county budget. We don't call that presumptuous or inappropriate. We call it being prepared. What impressed us most about Teare is his ability to see the bigger picture of the justice system and how all the pieces fit together. His experience certainly helps: he was a Harris County prosecutor for 11 years, trying both misdemeanor and felony cases. Hes tried two capital murders to verdict and was assigned to lead 10 others. He also served on the DAs Capital Committee for six years, a group of senior prosecutors who sign off on every capital plea bargain and decide whether to pursue the death penalty. He currently works as a defense attorney for the Cogdell Law Firm. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Teare said he's also been meeting with the Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council and Houston Area Womens Center to "inform the policies I intend to implement" around domestic violence prosecutions. Hes sitting down with the head of Harris Health Systems to discuss improving diversion programs for defendants with mental health issues. And hes studying programs in other jurisdictions that serve defendants with substance abuse problems, hoping to find ways to "stop criminalizing behavior that, frankly, the public doesnt want criminalized anymore." Teares own mother died of a heroin overdose when he was young. One idea he knows he wants to implement immediately is reinstituting an intake process that Ogg had done away with: a division with a rotating shift of veteran prosecutors with felony or misdemeanor trial experience who can earn overtime pay by working night and weekend shifts. He believes having that institutional knowledge on the front lines evaluating cases will lead to a lower case backlog and fewer defendants in an already overcrowded and unsafe jail. "Fixing the intake and fixing the morale and making it an easier, better place to work all the way around will reduce the backlog, which will get cases to court faster," Teare said. "One of the main reasons that we talk about the backlog is because of the humanitarian crisis going on in the jail. We're killing people there, and we've got to find a way to reduce the population of that jail through quicker disposition of the cases." Teare added that he wants to foster a culture of mentorship in the agency. Rather than silo the most talented trial lawyers in the homicide division, Teare said he would scatter some of them throughout the agency, so that each misdemeanor and felony division had experienced prosecutors showing younger staff the ropes. Advertisement Article continues below this ad In the course of screening judicial candidates, we are often struck by how many of them cut their teeth working as prosecutors in Harris County. Many speak glowingly of that experience, as a place where they could "really learn the law" and emerge better jurists as a result. We believe Teare has the interpersonal know-how to secure much-needed resources for the agency. And in doing so, he could restore a pipeline for fair-minded attorneys who care more about seeking justice than simply winning cases and scoring political points. Blog Archive: Oct 2024 (35) Sep 2024 (149) Aug 2024 (155) Jul 2024 (155) Jun 2024 (150) May 2024 (153) Apr 2024 (149) Mar 2024 (155) Feb 2024 (145) Jan 2024 (156) Dec 2023 (155) Nov 2023 (150) Oct 2023 (155) Sep 2023 (150) Aug 2023 (155) Jul 2023 (155) Jun 2023 (150) May 2023 (155) Apr 2023 (150) Mar 2023 (155) Feb 2023 (140) Jan 2023 (155) Dec 2022 (156) Nov 2022 (150) Oct 2022 (155) Sep 2022 (150) Aug 2022 (155) Jul 2022 (154) Jun 2022 (150) May 2022 (155) Apr 2022 (150) Mar 2022 (155) Feb 2022 (140) Jan 2022 (156) Dec 2021 (156) Nov 2021 (150) Oct 2021 (155) Sep 2021 (150) Aug 2021 (155) Jul 2021 (155) Jun 2021 (150) May 2021 (155) Apr 2021 (150) Mar 2021 (155) Feb 2021 (140) Jan 2021 (155) Dec 2020 (155) Nov 2020 (150) Oct 2020 (158) Sep 2020 (150) Aug 2020 (130) Jul 2020 (124) Jun 2020 (120) May 2020 (124) Apr 2020 (120) Mar 2020 (124) Feb 2020 (116) Jan 2020 (125) Dec 2019 (126) Nov 2019 (120) Oct 2019 (124) Sep 2019 (120) Aug 2019 (125) Jul 2019 (124) Jun 2019 (120) May 2019 (123) Apr 2019 (121) Mar 2019 (124) Feb 2019 (112) Jan 2019 (125) Dec 2018 (126) Nov 2018 (120) Oct 2018 (124) Sep 2018 (121) Aug 2018 (124) Jul 2018 (125) Jun 2018 (120) May 2018 (124) Apr 2018 (121) Mar 2018 (124) Feb 2018 (112) Jan 2018 (123) Dec 2017 (124) Nov 2017 (124) Oct 2017 (141) Sep 2017 (135) Aug 2017 (138) Jul 2017 (137) Jun 2017 (134) May 2017 (138) Apr 2017 (135) Mar 2017 (139) Feb 2017 (129) Jan 2017 (143) Dec 2016 (135) Nov 2016 (138) Oct 2016 (142) Sep 2016 (128) Aug 2016 (133) Jul 2016 (136) Jun 2016 (138) May 2016 (164) Apr 2016 (311) Mar 2016 (348) Feb 2016 (320) Jan 2016 (348) Dec 2015 (314) Nov 2015 (338) Oct 2015 (363) Sep 2015 (358) Aug 2015 (399) Jul 2015 (374) Jun 2015 (331) May 2015 (337) Apr 2015 (319) Mar 2015 (320) Feb 2015 (271) Jan 2015 (286) Dec 2014 (254) Nov 2014 (238) Oct 2014 (287) Sep 2014 (267) Aug 2014 (259) Jul 2014 (260) Jun 2014 (238) May 2014 (241) Apr 2014 (228) Mar 2014 (240) Feb 2014 (217) Jan 2014 (263) Dec 2013 (226) Nov 2013 (254) Oct 2013 (256) Sep 2013 (252) Aug 2013 (263) Jul 2013 (261) Jun 2013 (251) May 2013 (250) Apr 2013 (221) Mar 2013 (193) Feb 2013 (164) Jan 2013 (157) Dec 2012 (155) Nov 2012 (240) Oct 2012 (526) Sep 2012 (411) Aug 2012 (394) Jul 2012 (284) Jun 2012 (229) May 2012 (213) Apr 2012 (213) Mar 2012 (253) Feb 2012 (269) Jan 2012 (298) Dec 2011 (273) Nov 2011 (219) Oct 2011 (204) Sep 2011 (201) Aug 2011 (236) Jul 2011 (217) Jun 2011 (211) May 2011 (206) Apr 2011 (215) Mar 2011 (215) Feb 2011 (186) Jan 2011 (215) Dec 2010 (107) Nov 2010 (98) Oct 2010 (55) As the Founder and Chairman, Naser Taher has spearheaded the growth of MultiBank Group, creating a global powerhouse in traditional finance with robust net assets of over US$583 million with over 1 million traders across 90 countries. MultiBank Group boasts daily trading volumes averaging in excess of US$15.6 Billion per day and is one of the most regulated financial institutions worldwide with over 15 regulators across 5 continents, with an unblemished record since its inception in 2005. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240926146871/en/ Naser Taher - Featured As One Of The 100 Most Inspiring Leaders in Arabic Business 2024 (Photo: Business Wire) Mr. Taher has played a visionary role in developing trading exchanges for numerous banks in Europe and Asia including the MEX Exchange, the first interbank trading exchange and settlement ecosystem, revolutionizing the financial landscape of BRICS and GCC countries. The Arabian Business Inspiring Leaders List is more than a recognition; its a prestigious accolade and tribute to trailblazers who are at the forefront of economic innovation, industry transformation, and creative excellence, setting new benchmarks, redefining industries, and driving bold new directions. Mr. Taher joins other prominent figures such as Mohamed Alabbar, Founder and Chairman of Emaar and Noon, and Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Al Saud, the Arabian Warren Buffett and Founder and Chairman of Kingdom Holding Company (KHC). Commenting on the recognition, Mr. Taher stated: I am deeply honored to be recognized among such esteemed leaders. This award is not only a reflection of my personal journey, but also of the exceptional team at MultiBank Group, who have been pivotal in our global success. As we continue to innovate and expand and I remain committed to driving forward the future of financial services. Mr. Taher has built a distinguished career in finance, holding key positions including Head of the Irish Stock Exchange Development Projects in 2005, Vice President of the Chinese Banking and Entrepreneur Association in 2008, Honorary Chief Financial Advisor to the Tianjin Financial Government in 2013, and Senior Advisor to the Chinese Central Financial Government in 2016. As a prominent figure at international summits, Mr. Taher shares his deep expertise derived from decades of experience on Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCP) practices, foreign exchange law, exchange technologies, and the future of finance. Throughout his career, Mr. Taher has also worked with major financial institutions such as BNP Paribas, Barclays, UBS, Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch, cementing his role as a pivotal figure in forex, electronic banking, and finance. Mr. Tahers remarkable story goes beyond the financial industry, extending into various other sectors. His achievements outside finance include developing key infrastructure in the Middle East, founding Eastern Europes first private airline, and managing a substantial fleet of ships. ABOUT MULTIBANK GROUP Founded in California, USA, in 2005, MultiBank Group has grown to command a daily trading volume exceeding $15.6 billion, serving over 1 million customers. MultiBank Group has matured into one of the largest online financial derivatives providers globally, offering an array of brokerage services and asset management solutions. The groups award-winning trading platforms offer a diverse range of products, including Forex, Metals, Shares, Commodities, Indices, and Digital Assets. For more information, visit https://multibankfx.com/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240926146871/en/ CENTRAFRIQUE :: The true reasons for Paris' attempts to restore relations with Bangui :: CENTRAL AFRICAN France is rapidly losing its former influence in Africa. In many countries on the continent, there has been a recent rejection of French politics. This is because Paris continues to treat African countries as its colonies. Therefore, more and more African governments are refusing to cooperate with France, refocusing on much more mutually beneficial partnerships. One of the countries that broke off diplomatic relations with France was the Central African Republic. However, Paris, accustomed to living off the natural resources of its former colonies, the CAR in particular, has recently begun to take active steps to establish relations with the Bangui regime. It is reported that in the coming days, the capital of the Central African Republic will receive a French delegation with a roadmap that supports a new framework for cooperation between Paris and Bangui. The delegation will be headed by Political advisor Ruth Rakuzin. Political experts agree that the upcoming visit is only a pretext for further attempts by France to interfere in the affairs of the CAR in order to regain total control over the country later. It is noteworthy that the new political adviser to the French Embassy in Bangui, Ruth Rakuzin, has already communicated with some Central African figures living in France, in particular with Sorbonne Professor Jean-Francois Akandji-Kombe. The latter was previously an authoritative representative of the civil society of the Central African Republic, but has become a leading figure of the opposition in exile. It was Jean-Francois Akandji-Kombe who helped France destabilize the republican institutions of the CAR. In particular, he organized public riots in the CAR and actively opposed the draft amendment of the Central African Constitution. At the same time, this gentleman does not know the realities in which the inhabitants of the Central African Republic lived and live, since he himself is actually French. His point of view contradicts the opinion of the People's deputies and the majority of citizens of the Central African Republic, who positively supported the draft constitutional amendment. The fact that political adviser Ruth Rakuzin met with well-known opposition leader Jean-Francois Akandji-Kombe proves once again that France primarily supports the Central African opposition, and not the legitimate government of the Central African Republic. Earlier, the French ambassador to the CAR in one of his interviews actually confirmed that Paris does not support the current Bangui regime. Based on this, the Government and the President of the Central African Republic, Faustin Archange Touadera, should pay very close attention to the concerns expressed both in the country and abroad regarding the resumption of close cooperation with France. AFRIQUE :: Four African Presidents, Others Grace UBA 75th Anniversary His Excellency Carlos Vila Nova; President of Sao Tome and Principe; His Excellency Julius Maada Bio President of Sierra Leone; Brice Oligui Nguema President of Gabon; His Excellency; His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana; and the Queen Maxima of the Netherlands and others have commemorated the 40th anniversary of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) America and the 75 years of UBA Group. The United Bank for Africa held a Cocktail Reception at the sidelines of the ongoing 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA79) in New York City. Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Africas richest person; Governor Mohammed Umaru Baggo, Caleb Mutfwang, Governor of Niger; Governor of Plateau; Madam Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, Minister of Women Affairs; and Okey Benedict Oramah, President of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank,; as well as Wiebe Boer, CEO All On. UBA team had the likes of Oliver Alawuba, Group Managing Director, UBA Group; Biola Bawuah, CEO UBA Africa; Sola Yomi Ajayi, CEO UBA International; and Bolla Atta, UBA Group Director for Corporate Communications, and several others. At the event themed: Evening of Influence and Impact, Nollywood veteran actress, Genevieve Nnaji; Founder of Ebony Life Group, Mo Abudu; Chairman of MTN Nigeria Plc, Dr Ernest Ndukwe; and Chief Corporate Services Officer, MTN Nigeria Communications, Tobe Okigbo, amongst several others including Music Superstar, Davido, who had guests dancing to hits upon hits were in attendance. Tony Elumelu, Group Chairman, UBA, who led the charge of stepping up Africa on the global stage at the UBA Cocktail event was targeted at not just connecting global leaders but also shaping the future of Africa and the world at large. The bank, earlier at UNGA, had interfaced with global leaders and policymakers on the need to collectively foster progress, drive and invest in impactful change for Africas future, and put the continent on the global state. Elumelu noted there is a better way to invest in Africa for a sustainable future that creates value for all. This again was reiterated at the high-level conservations Elumelu held with his team and Jamaicas Prime Minister, Hon. Andrew Holness on the need to focus on enhancing partnerships between the Caribbean and Africa. The young people in the Caribbean, just as those in Africa, need the same economic opportunity and hope as their peers elsewhere in the world. They are resilient, creative, hardworking and innovative. We must prioritise and empower our young entrepreneurs because they are the lifeblood of our regions, he said. Also at the UNGA outing, the group chairman joined former US President, Bill Clinton on the Clinton Global Initiative Executive Roundtable lunch on Speed and Scale: Achieving Climate Targets, which emphasised the urgent need for innovative solutions to climate goals while fostering sustainable development. At the World Food Programme (WFP) reception, Elumelu joined WFP Executive Director, Cindy McCain, to call for urgent collaboration to tackle the global hunger crisis. While emphasising our shared responsibility to support the 733 million people facing food insecurity, Elumelu said business success cannot be realised if people are hungry. Also at #UNGA79, Elumelu CFR met with President Brice Oligui Nguema of Gabon, where he called for partnership in scaling opportunities, fueling innovation, and unlocking the potential of Africas next generation of entrepreneurs. According to Elumelu, the outing at UNGA was targeted at convening global leaders to talk about the three things that are important to him- transformative economic growth for Africa so that we can eradicate poverty and create prosperity for all; Making sure we create employment for our young ones. We need to stop wasting our talents on the continent; and thirdly, talk about equitable energy transition that is beneficial for Africa. Land Rover Range Rover SV Ranthambore Edition Prices: The price of the Land Rover Range Rover SV Ranthambore Edition in New Delhi is Rs 4.98 Cr (Ex-showroom). To know more about the Range Rover SV Ranthambore Edition Images, Reviews, Offers & other details, download the CarDekho App. Land Rover Range Rover SV Ranthambore Edition Engine and Transmission: It is powered by a 2998 cc engine which is available with a Automatic transmission. The 2998 cc engine puts out 394bhp@4000rpm of power and 550Nm@1500rpm of torque. Land Rover Range Rover SV Ranthambore Edition vs similarly priced variants of competitors: In this price range, you may also consider Toyota Land Cruiser 300 ZX, which is priced at Rs.2.10 Cr. Lamborghini Urus SE Plugin Hybrid, which is priced at Rs.4.57 Cr and Porsche 911 GT3 RS, which is priced at Rs.3.51 Cr. Range Rover SV Ranthambore Edition Specs & Features:Land Rover Range Rover SV Ranthambore Edition is a 7 seater Petrol car.Range Rover SV Ranthambore Edition has Multi-function Steering Wheel, Touchscreen, Automatic Climate Control, Engine Start Stop Button, Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Alloy Wheels, Passenger Airbag, Driver Airbag, Power Steering, Air Conditioner. By Cillian Sherlock, PA The Taoiseach has said he does not intend to move into Farmleigh as it would be very disruptive for his children. Gardai have investigated separate incidents of alleged harassment outside Simon Harriss family home, as well as a bomb threat against the Co Wicklow property. It has raised questions on whether Mr Harris should move to a location with heightened security. There is no official residence for holders of the office of Taoiseach but, on occasion, Stewards Lodge on the Farmleigh estate has been used by taoisigh for various reasons. However, Mr Harris has said he has no intention of moving there. Taoiseach Simon Harris speaking to the media (Brian Lawless/PA) Mr Harris comments come as he appears as the first guest on the second season of former RTE star Ryan Tubridys podcast. Mr Tubridy was at the centre of a scandal which rocked RTE for a year, after it was revealed that the national broadcaster had underdeclared payments to the former Late Late Show host. The crisis later widened out to other governance matters and the controversy around financial mismanagement at the station was seen as a driver behind a fall in TV licence receipts. It prompted a series of heavyweight Oireachtas committees and resulted in the Government changing how the organisation is funded. Mr Tubridy now hosts a daily show on Virgin Radio in London which is also broadcast on Q102. He also writes a weekly column for The Irish Daily Mail On Sunday. Mr Harris told the podcast host that the incidents at his home were a form of intimidation and harassment. I think its done to unsettle and unnerve people, and I think its done by people to let you know that they know where you live. Ryan Tubridy arrives at Leinster House for an Oireachtas committee (Niall Carson/PA) Asked by Mr Tubridy about the possibility for an official Taoiseachs residence, Mr Harris said: This has been put to me on occasion. The challenge for me apart from loving Greystones is that my kids are of an age where one has just started in the local school, and it would be very disruptive. I dont know where the future brings us in relation to this but I can see it happening in the future. Mr Harris said he did not imagine that Irish people would be unsupportive of such a measure, but added: Its not something that Im intending to do. On The Bookshelf With Ryan Tubridy, Mr Harris will reveal how he gorged on books as a child and raised money for MS Ireland by getting sponsored for the Readathon. The episode is also expected to feature the conflict in Gaza and a gift he received from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The premise of Mr Tubridys podcast involves asking guests to bring in three books: a cherished childhood book, a book which brought them to tears, and a book which changed their life. Mr Harris identified Patrick Radden Keefes Say Nothing as the book that made him cry. This book did make me cry within the first few pages, because it is a book that tells the story of the Troubles, particularly the Jean McConville abduction. Ms McConville was a recently widowed mother of 10 when she was abducted. She was 38 years of age. She was abducted, murdered and then disappeared. Body buried. Disappeared, taken from her kids by the IRA and killed in the Troubles. Promotional material for the episode also shows two other books in front of Mr Harris. These are David McKittricks book about the Troubles, Lost Lives, as well as Mark Haddons The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, in which the lead character is widely regarded as an autistic boy although this is not explicitly mentioned in the text. Mr Harris has attributed his campaigning for better school facilities for his autistic brother as his entry into public life. The Bookshelf With Ryan Tubridy returns on Tuesday. USG Supramax/Ultramax market stabilised and rising after falling during last month ICR Newsroom By 30 September 2024 By Brannvoll ApS, Denmark The USG Supramax/Ultramax freight market was holding largely throughout the month. The rates fell mid-month as tonnage count in the region was rising very fast while there were only a few cargoes entering the market. However, the rates stabilised quickly as more petcoke cargoes appeared for spot dates on transatlantic and front-haul routes. Freight rates for transportation of a Supramax-lot of petcoke from Houston to ARA ports with spot laycans are at US$23/t on average, slipping US$2 MoM. Deals for delivery of 50,000t of petcoke from Houston to Iskenderun with spot laycans are discussed at US$27/t on average, falling US$3 MoM. Shipping costs for delivery of a Supramax-lot of petcoke from USG to EC India are at US$48/t on average, down US$4 MoM. Supramax/Ultramax owners are likely to push rates up in the North Atlantic as the September cargo offer is growing steadily. Market participants report that they are seeing a lot more encouragement, with deals being discussed at evaluated levels for September and October delivery dates. Published under GICA to raise exports to 10Mta ICR Newsroom By 30 September 2024 Algeria's Groupe Industriel des Ciments d'Algerie (GICA) is setting ambitious targets to elevate its export capacity to 10Mt in the coming years, according to Dzair Tube. This initiative aligns with Algerias national strategy to diversify revenue sources beyond the hydrocarbon sector, reflecting the countrys broader economic vision for sustainable growth. The Ain Touta cement complex, a subsidiary of GICA, has marked a significant milestone in technological advancement, as highlighted by its CEO, Moumar Bahloul. Located in Batna, this 1Mta plant contributes to GICAs total output of 19.5Mta across Algeria. The plant has already successfully exported 60,000t of clinker to Tunisia. In 2023 GICAs exports of cement and clinker reached 6Mt, generating revenue of DZD24bn (US$181.3m), as reported by Hayat Lazri, the companys communication director. The company has certifications from European and American standards secured. Published under Ethiopia's PM inaugurates Lemi National Cement Plant Muriel Bal By 30 September 2024 Ethiopia's Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, inaugurated the Lemi National Cement Plant in the Lemi Building Materials Park, about 150km north of the countrys capital Addis Ababa. The new plant has a capacity of 15,000tpd (4.95Mta). During the inauguration of the mega plant, Abiy said the project was "a true model of fast and efficient delivery of critical infrastructure." He congratulated all those involved in the realisation of this important project, which will produce "50 perc ent of all cement manufactured by the country's factories." "Returning to this site after two years, I am amazed by the progress made, which reflects our principles of governance. It shows that through our hard work, future generations will not inherit poverty, but a solid foundation for growth and prosperity," the Prime Minister said in a statement. The plant, owned by a joint venture between East African Holding Co and West International Holding, the African business of West China Cement, represents an investment of US$600m. Published under I have some questions for Mayor Tim Kelly. I believe you are a good man and have been a fairly successful mayor. You have navigated many issues seemingly well although the staff turnover worries me a little. In general I would give you a B without doing a ton of research on your record and polices. For that reason and your office supposedly being non partisan was why I was surprised to learn that you attended the Democratic National Convention. I think I read that you were in Chicago anyway for a mayors conference. I think, okay, hes there anyway and I forgot about it. Then I read that you have endorsed the Harris Walz Campaign. This was surprising and the endorsement prompted a few questions in my simple mind. The Border Patrol posits that 10.8 million encounters of people entering our country illegally have occurred under the Harris Biden administration. Does your support of the current democratic nominees mean you agree with the current administrations border policy and should we expect an influx of border crossers in Chattanooga with your endorsement? Second, Tim Walz. In Minnesota they have passed a law affirming gender altering care for all at taxpayer expense for any age patient from anywhere without the parents' consent. I know, I couldnt believe it either. Do you advocate for this law in Minnesota and do you plan to push for similar legislation in our fine city of Chattanooga? I admit, I do not understand the motivation of politics. Ego seems very high on the list. The ability to speak well and decent looks seems to help. Every now and then someone comes along with a selfless passion for all of their constituents, not just their party or their voters. It is rare in my view. The later trait seems the only way forward for our country from a severe partisan divide. Final question: You seem to be doing pretty well politically. Why make an endorsement that is sure to alienate many Chattanoogans? Hank McMahon * * * Thanks for your questions and comments, Hank. For starters, I think your grade of B- is even handed and about what I would give myself at this point. I am not satisfied with that grade, but I am proud of the good progress were making and believe things are trending in the right direction on most fronts. We have a lot of work to do to bring Chattanooga to its full potential. A former Pittsburgh mayor once noted that there are really three political parties in the United States: Republicans, Democrats, and Mayors. Im a firm believer in this axiom, and it informs everything I do in my official capacity. A good mayor is a dedicated problem solver, someone who just looks at the evidence and resources at hand, and does what is best for a citys residents, regardless of ideology. The political affiliations of my senior staff, the diversity of counsel we incorporate into policy decisions, and the heterogeneity of the solutions weve put forward are just a few of the countless reassurances that I am indeed a non-partisan mayor. That doesnt mean I dont have personal opinions about national politics or which partys body of policies would be most beneficial to our city, our state, or to our country. Your questions are valid, and I address each of them in what follows. Before reading on, though, I want to be clear: I certainly do not agree with all the positions of the Harris-Walz ticket. That said, the following are some of the considerations that inform my commentary on this election: In general, Democratic administrations tend to put a higher priority on investments in urban infrastructure, public transportation, and affordable housing compared to Republican administrations. I think that continuing these types of investments are in the best interest of cities, helping us address traffic congestion, our housing shortage, and our aging city infrastructure and positioning Chattanooga to thrive in the future. On immigration: Both parties acknowledge and I agree that we desperately need immigration reform. I do not support illegal immigration and believe that Harris can get reform done in a reasonable, bipartisan way, without demonizing immigrants and dividing Americans. As an American citizen, I join a whole host of other leaders- including many Republicans- who place a very high premium on good leadership qualities who simply do not think the other fellow is our best option for the next four years. Regarding the Walz law in Minnesota: I do not support any law affirming gender altering care for all at taxpayer expense for any age patient from anywhere without the parents' consent. But as a mayor, this issue is well outside the scope of my control, so it's not something I spend time worrying about. That's what our legislators are for. I have close friends and political allies who disagree with me about these and other matters, and that is perfectly OK. I respect their perspective and opinions, and we are able to set differences aside in favor of what we have in common. So in terms of your remark about alienating some Chattanoogans, thats the last thing I want to do. The beauty of this country is that we are all free to speak our minds, and we should. But we have to get better at disagreeing while still working together in good faith toward actual solutions for the common good, and I am fully committed to that goal. Most importantly, know that I will continue to work with the right, the left, and everyone in between to do what is best for Chattanooga no matter who wins in November. Tim Kelly * * * Dear Mr. Mayor: While I wholeheartedly support your right to bear your own opinion and express them, you have to admit sir that your position also requires a certain responsibility to the citizens by whom you were elected and swore to "serve". Inherent in that responsibility is the image of our city. It does us a disservice when you seemingly back an administration that is without a doubt the most progressive and anti-Christian we have ever known. First, how do you possibly justify support for infrastructure expenditures that never fix anything. The money goes to "pet projects" and "green" industry that all too often results in a total waste of our tax dollars. Second, how do you possibly think that a vice- president and her four year opportunity to fix something about immigration and the border has in fact accomplished nothing other than a worsening of our porous southern border which has now spread nationally to infect our entire democracy. You are aware that any solution she seeks includes a path to citizenship for illegals which is totally untenable. With all the problems of our city, including rampant crime and failed municipal services and poor leadership, I would prefer that you focus your attention locally to fix all that's wrong here before devoting your previous time to national politics. With all due respect as my momma would say, "Set your butt down and fix what's wrong with you first." G. Don Howard * * * I certainly hope for the future of the city of Chattanooga that a conservative individual with common sense and a backbone will enter the mayor's election for 2025. We have had 12 years where the main focus is on bicycle lanes, a new stadium (3 to 4 thousand average attendance) and empty pothole promises. Chattanooga has many issues that will take strong bold leadership to correct. Any takers? Barry Reeves The Tennessee National Guard continues its support of state, county, and local emergency first responders assisting areas impacted by severe flooding following the landfall of Hurricane Helene. Working with the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, guardsmen are providing 24-hour, ground and aerial rescue support to those in need. Since flooding began, servicemembers from the 1-230th Assault Helicopter Battalion, based at Knoxvilles Joint Base McGhee-Tyson, have been flying rescue missions throughout the devastated areas. On Friday, three UH-60L Blackhawk helicopters performed nearly 60 aerial rescues of Tennesseans trapped by floodwaters, including hospital staff and patients at Unicoi County Hospital. Members of Smyrnas 45th Civil Support Team, who are certified swift water rescue technicians, deployed to East Tennessee to assist with rescue operations and four Light Medium Tactical Vehicles, from Johnson Citys 176th Combat Support Sustainment Battalion, supported water rescue missions in Carter County. LMTVs are vehicles with high ground clearance able to traverse flooded areas and assist in rescue operations. On Saturday, seven Blackhawk helicopters from Knoxville and Nashvilles Berry Field continued rescue missions in East Tennessee, saving nearly 15 citizens as well as performing critical missions like dam and bridge assessments, damaged area surveys, and transporting critical supplies. They are also working with Nashville Fire Department as part of Tennessees Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team to assist those in need. Today, these aviators are continuing rescue and relief operations throughout the affected areas. These missions are all being coordinated through the Tennessee Military Departments Joint Emergency Operations Center, which was stood up prior to Hurricane Helene making landfall. The JEOC operates continuously to manage the response of National Guard forces, communicate with partner agencies, and rapidly deploy emergency response assts. Today, they deployed a debris removal team, comprised of more than 50 engineering specialists from Trentons 230th Engineer Battalion and Knoxvilles 134th Air Refueling Wing, to East Tennessee to assist restoring critical infrastructure. The Tennessee National Guard is continuing rescue and relief efforts and will continue as long as needed. If someone needs assistance, please contact your local authorities. To report a missing person in the affected area, call the TBI FIND line at 1-800-TBI-FIND / 1-1800-824-3463. I am constantly now seeing the Harris/Walz campaign advertise that Trump is afraid to do a second debate against Harris. The only debate they are talking about is the one proposed by CBS news, which the Trump side believes would be as one-sided and biased as was ABC. But as old farts like me would remember, What is the rest of the story? Before Biden quit and Harris was anointed, there had been agreement for debates, including three presidential and one vice-presidential. After the first presidential debate (Biden-Trump) Trump followed through with the ABC disgrace that was Harris-Trump. Vance also is going forward with the lone vice-presidential with Walz. But what happened with the third one that had been agreed to? Harris refused to do it, even after the location facility had been contracted for by Fox News. Was Harris afraid because it was Fox? So now here we are. Harris is saying Trump will not do the CBS version, which would be after many, many votes have already because cast since the voting now starts over two months before the election date. And Harris did not do the previously scheduled Fox version and refuses to even respond to the multiple dates Fox has given for a third debate. So the facts are, both sides currently refuse any proposed third presidential debate. But anyone who does not get information from both sides (since there is no longer any honest/neutral major news organizations would not know it. All that is reported by all major news organizations except Fox, is about Trump saying no to CBS version. Nothing is said about Harris cancelling the previously scheduled Fox version or any of the proposed other dates by Fox. I actually would like to see a honest neutrally moderated debate, but that will not exist on any major news organization, including Fox. But since that will not happen, I have to consider that side (Trump/Vance) are not afraid to go antagonistic networks, but the other side (Harris/Walz) refuses to engage at all unless it is an organization that is actively backing them. That is cowardice, that I have to consider. I have to consider that none of the Democrat controlled major media (Fox is Republican controlled) call out or even report on the Harris refusals. I dont like not having a choice that I can feel good about, but too many things prevent that. I have had multiple former Trump voters say that they do not believe Harris has a chance in Tennessee, so they are doing a protest vote for the Libertarian or an independent. I have done that many times in the past since the Democrat/Republican duopoly have written advantages into law against any others. But this time I feel forced to object to the Harris/Media partnerships by voting for Trump. If one side is misleading and falsely reporting based only on their political bigotry, then I have to go in the opposite direction. Both sides are, but it is particularly done by the Democrats now, with Fox being the lone major on the Republican side. There are unknown minor sites/organizations on both sides I am sure, but their impact is minor and overwhelmed by the majors that just do circular reporting lead by Democrat activists. Debates should be fair and before any voting takes place. The change for valid absentee voting to this extremely early voting has made any later debates mostly irrelevant anyway. I did absentee voting while serving overseas and out of state, and occasionally after that because of business travel, but would never do it so early as happens today in many states. This is not about the candidates, it is about biased reporting and voters that do not investigate both sides. Jim Hill * * * Would it be possible for Mr. Hill to provide a source that the Biden campaign actually agreed to a third debate on FOX news? After an extensive search, I'm unable to find any information that states that. I found many articles where Trump accepted a third debate on Fox but haven't seen any where Biden's camp accepted the challenge. What is the truth? Steve Perry By SA Commercial Prop News South Africas listed property sector ended in the red as it slipped 0.3 percent during the week ended 25 October 2013. South Africas listed property sector ended in the red as it slipped 0.3 percent during the week ended 25 October 2013, according to Ian Anderson, chief investment officer at Grindrod Asset Management. Although most companies registered gains for the week, the sectors performance was driven by price declines for Growthpoint (-0.7%), Hyprop (-0.9%) and Redefine (-1.65), as investors appeared to take some profits after an eight week rally that lifted the sector more than 13%. Rand weakness and a moderate uptick in bond yields would also have contributed to lower prices among the industry heavyweights. The medium-term budget policy statement proved to be a non-event for the listed property sector, with investors focusing instead on company-specific news. Octodec Investments gained more than 4% last week after the company posted a 14.8% increase in distributions for the year ended 31 August 2013. Although a substantial reduction in the companys cost of debt contributed to the impressive growth, the underlying portfolio performed well in a tough trading environment. The company expects distributions to grow in line with the sector average next year. Premium Properties gained 1.7% after the company posted a 10.3% increase in distributions for the six months ended 31 August 2013. Like Octodec, the company significantly reduced its cost of borrowings. The companys residential portfolio performed well, driven by a reduction in vacancies and the market anticipates further strong growth from the residential portfolio on the back of Premiums active asset management strategies. Acucap Properties and Sycom Property Fund announced that they had each acquired a 50% undivided share in Greenacres Shopping Centre from Liberty Group. Acucap currently owns 27.5% of the adjoining The Bridge at Greenacres. According to Acucap, the purchase price of R1.016 billion represents an initial yield of 7.8% and the transaction is therefore earnings enhancing for both Acucap and Sycom. Vividend Income Fund reported a small decline in distributions for the year ended 31 August 2013. Vividend is one of very few listed property companies that have been unable to grow distributions in the past year and are also not expecting distributions to grow in 2014. Vacancies jumped from 2.4% to 8.7% of the portfolio as a result of the expiry of a material lease within the Owl Street Milpark Property on 1 May 2013 and the expiry of the head lease of the Vusani Property Portfolio on 31 August 2012. Vunanin Property Investment Fund announced the acquisition of Bryanston Gate for a purchase consideration of R174 million, which represents an initial yield of 10.8% and is therefore earnings enhancing. Ascension Properties announced the acquisition of government-tenanted Surrey House for a purchase consideration of R104.2 million. The purchase is consistent with the companys strategy of focusing on larger, centrally located commercial office buildings in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Nelspruit. Top 5 performers last week Hospitality B 6.25% Tower 5.29% Octodec 4.36% Ascension B 4.35% Sycom 4.18% Bottom 5 performers last week Dipula B -1.22% Redefine -1.57% Fountainhead -1.72% Rebosis -2.06% Redefine Intl -4.88% Source: Grindrod Asset Management The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) Region 2 Strike Force and bridge inspection crews are in East Tennessee helping with recovery and repairs following historic flooding caused by Hurricane Helene. On Saturday, five bridge inspectors and 12 Strike Force members deployed to Unicoi, Hawkins, Greene, and Washington Counties to assist Region 1 with slope failures, drainage restoration, sinkholes, and bridge inspections. TDOT Strike Force is a specialized group that can deploy quickly with necessary equipment. The team is made up of engineers, equipment operators, and transportation experts who work to remove debris, make repairs, and ensure public safety. The goal of this team is to provide immediate relief and begin the recovery process in flood-affected communities. While Region 2 experienced localized flooding and downed trees, the damage in Region 1 is vast. Damage statistics on state roadways as of midday Sunday are as follows: 27 state roadway sections closed 14 state bridges closed Five state bridges destroyed While there is no immediate timeframe for full repairs, TDOTs current priority is ensuring public safety and reconnecting communities that have been severed due to damage. Region 2 is currently standing by to send additional workers as needed. Chattanooga volleyball came up just short in what was a tightly contested match on Sunday versus Samford, as the Mocs ended up falling 3-2 at the hands of the Bulldogs in UTCs home SoCon opener of the 2024 season.The Mocs (8-7, 0-2) played an extremely well-rounded match that included swinging at a .328 clip over the course of the five-set match. However, the Bulldogs proved to be just a fraction more efficient overall in the match, outhitting the Mocs with a .349 hitting percentage of their own to help secure a slim margin of victory over Chattanooga.UTC was put on its heels early by Samford after the Bulldogs came out of the gates connecting on all cylinders.Fighting towards a 27-25 first set victory by the narrowest of margins, Samford was already looking at a 1-0 advantage early-on.While they were defeated in the opening frame, the Mocs didnt hang their heads for long as they continued to fight through another grueling set of action, swapping leads with the Bulldogs. Once again needing to go beyond 25 points to seal it, this time it was the Mocs that grinded out a hard-fought set win with a 26-24 result.Now fueled by leveling the score at 1-1, UTC went on a tear in set three pulling away for a 25-19 set win to put the Mocs up 2-1 in the match. This marked the largest set win of the day for either team.It was now Samfords turn to respond, and respond they did with the two teams battling through to yet another 25+ point set result. In the end it was the Bulldogs that claimed the win in set four by a score of 26-24, forcing a fifth and final set to determine who would be walking away with their first SoCon win of 2024.Much like the previous four sets, set five opened with the two teams trading blows and nobody giving up more than an inch. At the midway swap, the Mocs were able to just squeak ahead with an 8-7 lead. Unfortunately for Chattanooga, this was where the Bulldogs hit their stride as Samford was able to close out the match on an 8-1 scoring run, winning the set 15-9 and clinching the match in favor of the Bulldogs.There were numerous stat lines of note for the Mocs, including a season-high 32-dig performance by Paige Gallentine. Elaine Redman (53 assists, 10 digs) and Sydney Jackwin (19 kills, 16 digs) also dazzled for UTC, each notching double-doubles to their belts. Redman and Jackwin finished as team leaders in assists and kills, respectively.Charde Vanzandt (16) and Marcelle Baez-Carlo (15) would each finish with double-digit kills for the Mocs, and Chandler Alter was the fourth and final Moc to tally double-digit digs in the match, finishing with 13. Baez-Carlos 15 kills came on a blistering-hot .560 hitting percentage in the match.UTC will now once again hit the road this weekend for a pair of Southern Conference matchups, starting first on Friday, October 4 with the Mocs heading to Greenville, South Carolina, to take on Furman at 6 p.m. ET. Chattanooga will then meet with Mercer on Saturday, October 5 at 6 p.m. ET to round out the teams one-weekend roadtrip. Officials from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Research Institute today announced that Alasdair Cain, director of Research, Development and Technology Coordination for the U.S. Department of Transportation, will deliver the keynote address at Chattanooga Connect 2024, Oct. 21-23 at UTCs University Center.Officials said, "Mr. Cain oversees the USDOTs $1 billion annual research portfolio, ensuring that research and development efforts across the departments nine operating administrations are effectively coordinated.His leadership is key in facilitating collaboration among federal agencies, the private sector, and international stakeholders to drive innovation in transportation. This includes aligning the USDOTs research activities with emerging global transportation trends and ensuring that the departments efforts support U.S. leadership in areas like connected and automated vehicle technologies, AI, and intelligent infrastructure."With a background in public transportation research, Mr. Cain has worked on mitigating traffic congestion, evaluating bus rapid transit systems, and enhancing public engagement through market research. Before joining the USDOT, he held leadership roles in academic institutions both in the U.S. and the U.K., where he specialized in international research collaboration."Chattanooga Connect 2024 is going to play a meaningful role in shaping the future of transportation innovation in America, and having someone of Alasdair Cains stature certainly underscores that, said Dr. Mina Sartipi, the director of the UTC Research Institute and CUIP. Cutting-edge conversations about evolutions in smart tech and urban mobility are happening on UTCs campus and throughout Chattanooga everyday. We look forward to welcoming Alasdair and so many global leaders to town for this event.As previously announced, Erwin Gianchandani, assistant director for the National Science Foundation's newly established Technology, Innovation and Partnerships Directorate, will provide the conferences lunch keynote address on Oct. 23."Mr. Gianchandani and Mr. Cain join a distinguished and growing roster of subject matter experts across fields of transportation policy, intelligent infrastructure, AI and mobility technology," officials said.Registrations are open here and limited sponsorship opportunities are available. The 10-page article written in freshman English class at the University of Georgia by former Baylor student Robert M. Lawrence is another connection to the true Trial of the Century that took place in July 1925 in Dayton, Tn. Robbie is the grandson of Mildred Taylor Lawrence (1913- 1986) who married Harry M. Lawrence, Sr. in 1929. Their son Harry M. Lawrence, Jr., was born in 1931 and is now a 93 years young, retired ophthalmologist, and ordained Episcopal priest. He and his son agreed to be interviewed about Mildred's relationship with defendant John T. Scopes, although the article started with a strong, suggestive message that William Jennings Bryan died in my Gran's bed. The explanation has a much less sensuous meaning based on the facts that will be explained. Mildred Taylor was born in Dayton, on Labor Day in 1903. Her mother died when Gran was four and her father, Harry Hayes Taylor was working on the L & N Railroad traveling constantly. Gran and her sister, Edina, stayed at the Ault household, and when their father died in 1919, the girls became the Aults foster children after her father and four brothers moved to Jacksonville, Fl. Like all stories about the Scopes Trial, there are often two (or more) versions of the same events or individuals, and the historical plot and trial, that is approaching its 100th anniversary in 2025. The stories surrounding the young lady and the defendant, John T. Scopes and the famous trial over the constitutionality of the Anti-Evolution Act passed by the Tennessee legislature in March 1925 are multiple and interesting from a historical perspective, described in the above article by one of her grandsons. More than 200 journalists and photographers jammed into Dayton (population 1900) hotels and boarding houses. One famous photo on the Friday, July 10, 1925 edition in the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper that nationwide showed an attractive brown headed 22-year-old former high school student of John Scopes in Rhea County holding a felt pennant with the words Dayton, Tennessee, 1925 souvenir of the Monkey Trial sold at the Aults store. Mildred was identified as the steady girl of John Thomas Scopes. There is a quote included that no matter what one may think of the merits of the trial, Scopes taste in feminine charms is proved by the picture. After the trial ended on July 21, 1925 fundamentalist, William Jennings Bryan, suffered a stroke and died in his sleep five days later. To answer the initial teaser, Robbie Lawrence, in his short article proudly asserted, and yes, he did die in my Grans bed. To eliminate any incorrect suggestion of any impropriety between Mildred Taylor and Scopes, it is alleged and should be pointed out that Bryan was renting the old Taylor residence as his temporary quarters during the trial. After preaching on Sunday at a local Methodist church, he ate a large meal and went back to the residence to take an afternoon nap and died in his sleep in the bedroom where Lawrence claimed it was his grandmother's prior to the trial. John Scopes and Mildred remained friends, as did her future husband, Harry M. Lawrence, Sr., who she married in 1929 with Scopes attending the wedding. This friendship was confirmed in two signed original letters, dated February 25, and August 20, 1926, from John to Mildred that have been donated by the Lawrence family to the Scopes Museum in the basement of the historic Rhea County Courthouse. ---- 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) Beginning this Tuesday, the Hamilton County Health Department will offer flu vaccinations at all locations; no appointment is necessary.Officials said, "The flu vaccine is recommended for anyone six months and older."The flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses that infect the nose, throat, and lungs. Those at highest risk of severe complications from the flu include children under five years, adults 65 years and over, pregnant women, and those with preexisting medical conditions or a compromised immune system.The Health Department is encouraging everyone to get a flu shot this year."As we approach the winter months, we often see a rise in cases of influenza-like illnesses such as the flu, COVID-19, and RSV, said Dr. Stephen Miller, health officer for the Hamilton County Health Department. These respiratory viruses tend to thrive in colder weather, increasing the risk of transmission through sneezing, coughing and talking. Taking preventive measures like vaccines, good hand hygiene and staying home when sick is crucial to protect yourself and your loved ones from severe illness. By being proactive, we can all help ensure a healthier community this flu season.All Health Department locations will offer the flu vaccine, a high-dose vaccine for those 65 and older, and an egg-free vaccine for those with an egg allergy. The Health Department encourages anyone with an egg allergy to call the clinic ahead of time to ensure the vaccine is available and ready for their visit. The COVID-19 vaccination is also available at all Health Department locations and, according to the CDC, may be administered simultaneously with the flu vaccine.To learn more about the flu at https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/index.html. If you have questions about the flu or COVID-19 vaccination, contact the Health Department at 423-209-8000. For all Health Department clinic hours and locations, please visit Health.HamiltonTN.org.Additional resources If a minor is being vaccinated, a parent or legal guardian must be present at the appointment and bring a current, valid photo ID. If you are a legal guardian, bring proof of guardianship. For Health Department information, visit: Health.HamiltonTN.org. The U.S. government's free test ordering program is now reopened, allowing residential households to place one order for #4 free at-home COVID-19 tests. Visit: https://special.usps.com/testkits. Vaccines are widely available in the community through several providers. Visit vaccines.gov to find a vaccination site near you. To read this information in Spanish, visit the Health Departments Spanish Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SaludHamiltonTN. Did the Duke of Sussex receive fresh new ink during a recent trip to the Big Apple? Prince Harry spent several days in New York City, attending events related to two high-profile occasions: UN General Assembly High-level Week and Climate Week. Rumor has it the Duke of Sussex may have also gotten inked during his visit. But the shops staff remained silent when questioned about his visit. Prince Harrys tattoo parlor visit On Sept. 25, 2024, Prince Harry visited the East Side Ink tattoo parlor in Manhattans Lower East Side, reports The Mail. The outlet spoke to the stores owner, Josh Lord. He didnt give specific details about whether or not the Duke of Sussex added body art. I couldnt tell you anything about anyone that stopped by without their permission. We would respect anyones privacy in the exact same way, Lord revealed. He continued, A tattoo is a deeply personal choice. Anything that happens here is your private moment. Harry was said to have entered the shop with personal security and members of the NYPD. It was not revealed whether Harry was inked at the shop. Later that day, while taping a segment for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, any indication of a new tattoo went unseen. Do any royal family members have tattoos? Princess Eugenie tattoo | Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images Typically, members of the British royal family do not have tattoos. The clan is conservative and dont have many body modifications other than pierced ears for women. Before this visit, and assuming he did get a tattoo, Prince Harry joined a small circle of royal family members who have body ink. Harrys cousin, Princess Eugenie, has a small tattoo of a black circle behind her left ear. Lady Amelia Windsor, one of the Duke of Kents granddaughters, is also known to have a number of tattoos. However, she isnt a high-ranking royal and, therefore, doesnt have to adhere to the stricter rules of senior members of the family. Why was Prince Harry in New York City? Prince Harry was in New York City during the week of September 22. During UN General Assembly High-level Week and Climate Week in New York City, Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, will be in town to advance a number of his patronages and philanthropic initiatives, a spokesperson for Prince Harry said of his schedule, as reported by Town & Country. The statement continued, He will participate in engagements with African Parks, The HALO Trust, The Diana Award, and Travalyst. In addition, he will be furthering the work of The Archewell Foundation, the nonprofit organization he co-founded with his wife Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex. More details will be shared as we approach the week of events. During his visit to New York City, the Duke of Sussex attended the Every Child Protected dinner hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO). He also spoke on a panel at the Concordia Summit, an organization connected to The Diana Award named for his mother, Princess Diana. Harry attended an event for the HALO Trust, a cause also championed by Diana. He followed that by appearing at the Clinton Global Initiative, where he spoke about The Archewell Foundations Parents Network. Finally, Harry spoke at an event hosted by the Lesotho delegation to the UN and celebrated the fifth anniversary of Travalyst. Prince Harry has returned to the United Kingdom, where he will attend the WellChild Awards. He has been a patron of the organization for the past 15 years. FluoRok, an Oxford-based start-up, has raised 7.7m to scale-up, manufacture and commercialise novel fluorochemical reagents and battery electrolyte salts. The oversubscribed round was led by BGF alongside Green Generation Fund and included battery specialist Volta Energy Technologies, current investors (Oxford Science Enterprises and University of Oxford), Excellis Holding and angels. Founded in 2022, FluoRok is a University of Oxford spin-out that has developed an innovative patented method to access fluorochemicals, chemicals containing the element fluorine and key to global energy transition, healthcare and food supply. With a growing market valued at $24bn, fluorochemical manufacturing relies on a centuries-old, carbon-intensive process centred around hydrogen fluoride (HF), a highly-toxic, hazardous and difficult-to-handle chemical. FluoRok has developed a safe and sustainable approach completely bypassing HF and providing environmentally friendly access to fluorochemicals while reducing process costs. FluoRok's groundbreaking innovation has gained substantial traction, attracting numerous potential customers across core markets of Li-ion battery electrolyte salts and agrochemicals. The funding will support team growth and expanded production facilities for the initial supply of fluorinating reagents and lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF 6 ), a key component of lithium-ion batteries. Dr Gabriele Pupo, CEO and founder of FluoRok, said: "We are delighted to welcome BGF, Green Generation Fund and Volta Energy Technologies to our investor base. Their experience of building breakthrough businesses in battery and sustainable technologies is invaluable. With an outstanding investor syndicate, we continue our mission to make fluorochemicals production safer, cheaper, and more sustainable. This investment is critical in scaling and commercialising our proprietary technology with partners across the global fluorochemical supply chain, and in accelerating technology that will provide a reliable and localised supply of a key component of Li-ion batteries." Dennis Atkinson, investor at BGF, said: "FluoRok's approach transforms the safety and sustainability of fluorochemical production while reducing costs. Particularly encouraging is significant early demand from customers worldwide and we look forward to supporting FluoRok's journey to disrupt the global market and reach commercial scale." Manon Littek, founding partner at Green Generation Fund, said: "FluoRok's revolutionary process offers a breakthrough for the fluorination industry, enabling access to compounds fundamental to energy transition, global food supply, and health. As we continue our mission toward a resilient and sustainable future, GGF is thrilled to partner with a future global leader in fluorination and supply chain independence." You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close BRAP 2024 to enhance ease of doing business, boost Make in India initiative The government on Monday said that the Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) 2024 is set to establish a seamless business regulatory framework, enhancing the ease of doing business and further strengthening the Make in India initiative. The action plan aligns with key government initiatives such as the reducing compliance burden (RCB) and decriminalisation, while also integrating elements from the World Banks upcoming B-READY programme. According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, this convergence will streamline regulatory processes, bolster economic growth and foster greater investor confidence in Indias business landscape. The action plan, led by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), introduces next-generation reforms that address the needs of both businesses and citizens. The upcoming BRAP 2024 framework introduces an innovative assessment methodology, blending evidence and feedback-based evaluations for a more comprehensive and dynamic approach, said the ministry. Notably, the BRAP 2024 focuses on reducing approval times, integrating online service delivery, and leveraging initiatives like the National Single Window System and PM Gati Shakti. As per latest government data, the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme under the Make in India initiative has been a great success in terms of attracting investments and increasing exports, as actual investment is likely to reach Rs 2 lakh crore in the next year with 12 lakh jobs. Exports have exceeded Rs 4 lakh crore, with substantial contributions from key sectors such as electronics, pharmaceuticals and food processing. To further ramp up the momentum, BRAP 2024 continues to streamline processes, reduce compliance burdens, and implement digital solutions to make India a preferred global investment hub. The action plan also covers critical sectors such as labour, environment, taxes, land administration, utility permits, inspection and construction, while also incorporating new areas like ICT adoption and process reengineering. The government said that BRAP has emphasised transparent service delivery, ensuring that both businesses and citizens have access to clear information on procedures, fees, and timelines. Calvin University is located in Grand Rapids, Michigan | Calvin University Calvin University, a private Christian institution in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has welcomed its largest class in a decade, marking a significant milestone in its growth efforts. The university attributes this success to its commitment to integrating faith and biblical principles into students' educational experiences. Lauren Jensen, Vice President for Enrollment Strategy, revealed that the incoming class is 12% larger than last year's, with a 20% increase in first-year students compared to the previous year. This growth is the result of various strategies implemented over the past few years, including expanding the recruitment team and developing new ways to connect with prospective students. One notable initiative is the $2,000 visitation grant offered to encourage campus visits. Students who visit the university and subsequently enroll receive this grant as a scholarship applied to their financial aid. Jensen emphasized the importance of this program, stating, "Students can come interact with our faculty and beautiful spaces, and they get to meet our Christian community." The university is also expanding its academic offerings. Jensen shared that Calvin will be adding an aerospace concentration to its engineering program in the Fall of 2025. Additionally, the school has launched its first marching band program this year, expanding opportunities for students interested in music and community-building activities. Jensen emphasized that Calvin's appeal lies in its genuine commitment to its Christian identity, which attracts students seeking academic excellence alongside spiritual growth. She argued that faith-based education provides a unique environment for students to challenge their perspectives while living out their faith within a supportive Christian community. The university offers over 100 majors and programs to its 3,600 students, aiming to prepare graduates to serve as Christ's representatives in the world. Jensen encouraged prospective students and parents to look beyond tuition costs and consider the long-term value of a Christian education in shaping students' adult lives. As Calvin University continues to grow, it remains dedicated to its mission of providing a high-quality, faith-integrated education that prepares students for meaningful careers and lives of service. Pixabay/Foundry A high school in Nashville is facing backlash following allegations against a teacher who reportedly groomed and sexually harassed students through an LGBT club. Community members, including parents, students and faculty, are demanding accountability and transparency from the administration regarding how the allegations have been handled. The situation centers around Dean Masullo, a former English teacher and sponsor of the Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) club, who has been accused of targeting and sexually harassing students. A former student claimed she was groomed and sexually harassed by Masullo while recounting her experiences in a letter to the school's board of trustees. The letter also detailed how she felt mistreated by "administrators and lawyers" who prioritized protecting the school's reputation over addressing her claims adequately. In response to these allegations, over 250 alumni, parents and students have signed a letter threatening to withhold financial donations to the school until significant changes are implemented regarding its handling of sexual misconduct cases. The community has voiced concerns that the institution was not transparent about its investigation into Masullo. Parents and community members have reacted with outrage, fearing that necessary actions were not taken to protect the students. Unnamed parents expressed worry that the school may have reached a financial settlement with Masullo, along with a nondisclosure agreement that would prevent school officials from discussing details related to the misconduct claims. These parents conveyed their frustrations, stating, "Nothing the school has done over the past few months reflects any awareness that this matter involves something more than an employment issue". Amid the growing discontent, 20 faculty members sent a letter to the school's board of trustees on September 10, expressing concern over the investigation's progress and the perceived prioritization of the schools reputation over student safety. The faculty urged the administration to act swiftly and decisively to restore confidence in the school's leadership, emphasizing, "Transparency and accountability in addressing these issues are critical to rebuilding trust in the governance of our school". As the community rallies for change and accountability, the University School of Nashville must address the allegations' implications and work toward ensuring a safe environment from sexual harassment for all students. Open Doors A recent report titled "Corruption and Christian Persecution" by the U.S.-based watchdog International Christian Concern (ICC) has revealed a strong correlation between high levels of government corruption and increased persecution of Christian communities across several nations. The study emphasizes the urgent need for a coordinated international response to address the direct link between corrupt governmental practices and discriminatory policies targeting Christians. The report corroborates findings from various studies, including those by Transparency International, which defines corruption as the misuse of public power for private gain. ICC suggests that the connection between countries with high levels of corruption and significant Christian persecution is not merely coincidental. The study cites examples from countries known for severe persecution of Christians. In Afghanistan, pervasive corruption has allowed extremist interpretations of Islamic law to flourish, putting Christian converts at grave risk of death threats and social exclusion. Nigeria's corruption hampers economic development and directly impacts the safety of Christian populations, who constitute nearly 70% of religious killings in the country. Azerbaijan, which recently seized control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region inhabited by 120,000 ethnic Armenian Christians, exemplifies a similar pattern. The country's high tolerance for corruption affects all layers of society, including the treatment of religious minorities. Despite constitutional guarantees of religious freedom, Christians in Azerbaijan face restrictions, violence, and intimidation. In Pakistan, corruption and religious persecution jointly degrade economic stability, discouraging foreign investment and stunting national growth. India's combination of Hindu nationalist ideology and governmental corruption leads to policies and law enforcement practices that disproportionately target Christians. Myanmar's systemic discrimination against Christian communities is enforced by both government and military forces, particularly in regions embroiled in ethnic conflicts. Eritrea's widespread corruption among government officials has facilitated a harsh clampdown on religious freedoms, with Christians often detained in inhumane conditions without trial. In China, corrupt practices exacerbate the government's strict control over religious activities, leading to severe repercussions for Christians, including surveillance, arbitrary detention, and harsh punishments. The study also highlights the role of state-controlled narratives and corrupt media practices in fostering public intolerance and discrimination against Christians, particularly in Middle Eastern countries. ICC calls for a concerted international response to address the dual challenges of corruption and Christian persecution. The organization urges advocacy groups and international bodies to collaborate in imposing sanctions against corrupt officials and regimes that perpetuate religious persecution. Additionally, ICC advocates for international partnerships to provide asylum and support to persecuted individuals while pressuring their home countries to implement reforms. Pastor Mark Driscoll defies city order to remove Jesus Christ 24 | Facebook/Mark Driscoll Pastor Mark Driscoll has recently made headlines for his refusal to comply with an order from the city of Scottsdale, Arizona, demanding that he remove a campaign-style sign reading "Jesus Christ 24" from the property surrounding his church, Trinity Church. "We will not comply, but we will multiply," Driscoll firmly stated, emphasizing his position on First Amendment rights and the importance of promoting his message. The city issued the order following complaints about the sign, which was reportedly not classified as a political sign. The official communication from the Scottsdale city authorities pointed out that the sign did not meet specific city requirements and thus should be removed. Driscoll addressed these concerns during a sermon, showcasing his disagreement with the city's priorities. In response to the city's demands, Driscoll highlighted his commitment to his faith and community, questioning the city officials' focus on signs rather than more pressing issues. He declared, I would just humbly submit that if you work for the government before you go around collecting signs, figure out how to close the border and take care of people before signs. Driscoll's stance is not merely a reaction to the city order; it also underscores his belief in the importance of free speech as protected by the First Amendment. He maintained that the sign is a legitimate expression of religious and political belief, urging others to adopt a faith-driven perspective during the upcoming election. "The government asked us to take down our Jesus '24 sign, he declared. Additionally, Driscoll is using this controversy to promote his latest book, "Vote Like Jesus," and encourages his congregation to embrace a political vision aligned with their Christian values. He informed his congregation during a service that every member would receive a free "Jesus Christ '24" sign, reinforcing his call for Christian engagement in the electoral process. Despite past controversies, including incidents at his former church, Mars Hill, Driscoll's current church appears to be thriving, with multiple weekend services and a significant online following. Pastor David Lin | FreePastorLin.com US Pastor David Lin has returned to the United States following a 17-year wrongful detention in China, sparking international discussions on religious freedom and human rights. His release is welcomed not only by his family but also by advocates for religious freedom, as it highlights ongoing issues regarding the treatment of Christians and non-state-sanctioned religious groups in China. David Lin, a 68-year-old California pastor, was detained by Chinese authorities in 2006 after he attempted to establish a Christian training center in Beijing. He was subsequently accused of contract fraud and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009, charges he and many human rights organizations have denied as politically motivated. After nearly two decades of imprisonment, Lin was released and returned home to San Antonio, Texas, on September 16, 2024. His daughter, Alice Lin, shared her joy, stating, "No words can express the joy we have we have a lot of time to make up for". This reunion marks a deeply emotional moment for the Lin family, who have endured the separation for nearly two decades due to Lin's wrongful incarceration. The U.S. State Department had classified Lin's detention as wrongful and worked over the years to advocate for his release. Officials engaged in high-level discussions with Chinese authorities, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, to raise Lin's case at various diplomatic meetings. Following Lin's release, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller expressed relief, highlighting the importance of continued advocacy for other Americans still detained in similar circumstances. His case is part of a larger narrative surrounding religious freedom in China, where underground churches face significant repression. Advocacy groups report that Christians participating in unregistered gatherings often encounter harassment and legal repercussions. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom emphasizes that Lin's experience illustrates the risks faced by those involved in non-state-sanctioned religious activities. The Chinese government has implemented policies aimed at "Sinicizing" religions, which requires that religious practices and teachings conform to Chinese culture and Communist Party ideology. Religious groups are mandated to register with the state and operate within government-defined boundaries, effectively limiting their autonomy and freedom. These policies contribute to a highly controlled religious environment where any deviation from the state's guidelines is met with severe penalties. Home News CURE International announces largest hospital expansion in its history CURE International, a U.S.-based Christian nonprofit organization, has launched its most significant hospital expansion project to date, breaking ground on a 22,000-square-foot, three-story facility in Ethiopia. The new state-of-the-art building marks a milestone in the organizations 25-year history of serving children with treatable disabilities. The expansion will include five operating rooms, seven exam rooms and 22 patient beds, enabling the facility to serve about 5,000 patients annually, said the group, which operates a global network of eight childrens hospitals, in a statement to The Christian Post. With an investment of $12.5 million, the project is supported by The Rees-Jones Foundation, which provided funding for the construction and furnishing of the facility, and USAID, which supplied the medical equipment. 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 CURE has served children living with treatable disabilities in Ethiopia since 2008, so we know firsthand of the tremendous need for high-quality and increasingly specialized medical care in this region, said Justin Narducci, CEO and president of CURE International. The hospitals in the groups network offer no-cost surgical interventions for conditions such as cleft lip/palate, clubfoot, burn contractures and more. The new buildings foundation is designed to support two additional floors, potentially adding 15,000 square feet for new patient recovery rooms. The hardest thing about serving children at CURE Ethiopia is knowing that tens of thousands of children are waiting behind each one of our patients for their turn to live a normal, healthy life, said Adey Abate, executive director of CURE Ethiopia. Trevor Rees-Jones, co-founder with his wife, Jan, of The Rees-Jones Foundation, reflected on their involvement. My family and I love getting to support the healing of children in Ethiopia. It is one of the great privileges of our lives. Rees-Jones added, Each and every one of these children is loved beyond measure by God, and each one deserves care. The facility is scheduled to open its doors in 2026. CURE says that since its inception in 1998, it has conducted over 350,000 life-changing surgeries and 5.5 million patient visits. Established in the capital city of Addis Ababa in 2008, CURE Ethiopia performs over 3,000 surgeries annually and operates as a teaching hospital in partnership with the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA). It offers specialized training programs at the residency and fellowship levels, helping to train the next generation of national surgeons and healthcare workers. Home News Hurricane Helene leaves dozens dead, millions without power Dozens of people have died as a result of damage caused by Hurricane Helene as the storm continues to advance through the continental United States. Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane near Perry, Florida, late Thursday night. While the storm has now been downgraded to a tropical depression, it continues to leave a wake of destruction in the form of major damage, power outages and lives lost. At least seventeen people had died as a result of the storm in South Carolina as of Friday afternoon, The New York Times reports. 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 Broken down by county, four deaths occurred in Aiken County, four people died in Greenville County and three lost their lives in Spartanburg County. Two deaths apiece occurred in Aiken County, Anderson County and Newberry County. All of the counties where people lost their lives due to damage from Helene are inland locations in the western part of the state that are a long distance from the coast. In Florida, on the other hand, most of the deaths were limited to coastal counties. The New York Times reports that five people died in Pinellas County, located along the Gulf Coast while a sixth death occurred in nearby Tampa. The seventh person to die from Helene in Florida was based in Dixie County, another county located along the Gulf Coast. Georgia is reporting 15 storm-related fatalities: two in inland Laurens County, two in inland Wheeler County, one in inland Colquitt County and one in coastal Liberty County. Nine additional people lost their lives, but the exact locations where they died were not clear as of Friday afternoon. North Carolina, located several hundred miles north of where the storm made landfall, is reporting that two people lost their lives because of the storm, both of whom were located in the Charlotte area. One person died in Charlotte in the south-central part of the state, while the other was in nearby Catawba County. The website PowerOutage.us, which keeps track of power outages in the U.S., reported more than four million homes without power throughout the southeastern U.S. as of Friday afternoon, nearly 24 hours after the storm made landfall. South Carolina has the most power outages, which currently exceed 1 million. Georgia currently has over 900,000 people without power, while nearly 900,000 customers are without power in North Carolina. Florida, the site of Helenes landfall, still has around 700,000 customers without power. Other states in the storms path with more than 100,000 people without power include Virginia and Kentucky, which have more than 200,000 power outages; Ohio, which has more than 150,000; and Tennessee, which has just over 100,000 customers without power. President Joe Biden has approved emergency declarations in South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida, enabling the federal government to assist state and local authorities as they seek to facilitate recovery efforts before, during and after the storm. Congress National Spokesperson, Pawan Khera Congress National Spokesperson, Pawan Khera, on Monday brushed aside Union Home Minister, Amit Shahs charges of 'distasteful' remarks by Mallikarjun Kharge against the Prime Minister and said that the party President has inspired the cadres to work with fresh vigour in freeing the country from the BJP. Talking to IANS, Pawan Khera said that the Congress President has displayed great patriotism by claiming that he wont die until PM Modi is removed from the post. We have received big inspiration from his speech on Sunday. We are feeling proud that we are running the freedom movement again in the country. We will free our country from these people," he said. Kharge, while addressing an election rally in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday said, I am 83-years-old. I am not going to die so early. I will stay alive till PM Modi is removed from power. Kharge, who felt uneasy while addressing the public event, sat down for a while and then resumed his speech after a brief halt. I wanted to talk. But due to dizziness, I had to sit down. Please pardon me, Kharge told the gathering. Further mocking HM Shah's promises of introducing the Waqf Amendment Bill during the upcoming Winter Session of Parliament as a bid to pacify the RSS, Khera said, "When the BJP had 303 seats in the House, then they didn't bring it up. Now, you are coming up with it to fool Nagpur? Nagpur is also raising the same question that why didn't they bring it up when they had 303 seats? Now let's see whether Nagpur gets fooled or not." The Congress leader also criticised Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini's remark where he said that the Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi went to the state just for tourism. "He is himself a 'Parchi CM' and he left his seat and went to Ladwa. Why is he commenting on the Congress? Please tell him, your time is coming for rest now," he said. Home News As death toll from Helene tops 100, President Biden offers help and prayers President Joe Biden offered help and prayers to victims in multiple states impacted by Hurricane Helene Sunday, as the death toll stemming from the storm officially topped 100 as people cut off in remote communities remain unaccounted for. Earlier I was briefed on the impacts of Hurricane Helene and our work to support ongoing response and recovery efforts. I directed @FEMA_Deanne Criswell to determine what more can be done to accelerate support to those who need it most in isolated communities, Biden said in a statement on X Sunday night while promising to visit impacted communities. As soon as it will not disrupt emergency response operations, I intend to travel to impacted communities, Biden said. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe In an earlier statement on X Biden offered prayers for the victims of the hurricane while pledging that his administration will ensure that no resource is spared in ensuring the recovery of devastated communities. My Administration is in constant contact with state and local officials to ensure communities have the support and resources they need. As we continue to support response and recovery efforts, we will make sure that no resource is spared to ensure communities can quickly begin their road to rebuilding, Biden said. Jill and I are praying for those who lost loved ones from Hurricane Helene, and for those whose homes, businesses, and communities were impacted by this terrible storm. At least 107 people have died across six states as a result of Helene, and many of those deaths are being reported in western North Carolina. In the mountain city of Asheville, at least 30 storm related deaths have been reported, The Associated Press said. The Christian Post reported Sunday that Christian organizations such as Samaritan's Purse and The Salvation Army have swiftly mobilized to deliver critical disaster relief across the southeastern United States. In the Swannanoa area of Buncombe County in North Carolina, SKYline News quoted law enforcement officials stating that approximately 100 bodies have been found in the area, including some that were in trees. One officer, that wants to remain anonymous, said, Some of the bodies were found in the trees, the news outlet said. Another law enforcement officer said, The morgue is full. The bodies will be stored in a trailer for now. A release from the North Carolina Department of Transportation urged people to avoid travel to the western parts of the state because about 390 roads, including areas along Interstate 40 and dozens of highways in the foothills and mountains, are still closed due to flooding, downed trees, landslides or catastrophic damage from Helene. Our top priority is everyones safety and well-being, said state Transportation Secretary Joey Hopkins. People should still consider roads in western North Carolina to be closed and avoid travel unless it is absolutely necessary. Priority must be given to all the emergency responders, utility and transportation crews, and others who are working hard to help with what will be a lengthy response and recovery effort. Sam Perkins, whose parents live in the Burnsville area in a mountain community in North Carolina, revealed in a post on Facebook how he hiked 11 miles and 2,200 feet to find his parents on Saturday after he heard nothing from them for 48 hours. My parents live in an absolute gem of the NC mountains the Little Switzerland, Spruce Pine, Burnsville area halfway between Asheville and Boone. Under normal circumstances, it's pleasantly very isolated, he said. Little did I know that up there, Helene has demolished roads, homes, and utility networks. **This area is completely cut off from resources in every direction. ** I tried multiple routes to drive up but had to settle on parking in Marion at the base of a closed road (Hwys 221/226) and hiking 11 miles and 2,200 feet to find my parents thankfully ok but surrounded by devastation. I have never been so relieved to see anyone ok, Perkins continued. He explained that the devastation he witnessed while going to find his parents was difficult to process. I can't tell you how many failing roads and deep mudslides I had to cross, how many fallen trees I had to take off my backpack for and navigate through. While hiking up 226A, I met multiple people trapped by devastation in both directions of the highway, he said. In this part of the mountains with steep terrain rolling off the Blue Ridge Parkway, not only did water rise, it RAGED to tear up roads, earth and homes. Then, the winds (I'm certain tornados in some places) have brought down up to half the tree canopy. I'm still processing it all. I've never seen anything like it. Perkins estimated that it might take the NCDOT about two weeks to restore power to the area, but he could not imagine how long it would take for the road repairs. I cannot fathom how long it will take DOT to repair the curvy roads that hug steep mountainsides with the most amazing views, he said. It's just a waiting game now. If you are or you have family in the mountains, I feel for you. Know that crews are chipping away. Home News Ray Ortlund deletes social media post endorsing Kamala Harris after backlash 'Classic subversive doublespeak,' William Wolfe says Pastor Ray Ortlund of Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee, deleted a social media post endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president after receiving backlash Sunday. "I have deleted a post from earlier today because it was being misinterpreted. I should have foreseen it. My fault," Ortlund wrote on Threads, which is a part of Instagram. A screenshot of Ortlund's deleted post showed that the pastor had written, "Never Trump. This time Harris. Always Jesus." 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 While New York Times columnist David French congratulated Ortlund for his endorsement, writing, "This is the way," others were less enthusiastic. One user took issue with the longtime Christian leader and president of Renewal Ministries endorsing the Harris-Walz ticket given their liberal abortion views, writing, "How can you vote for Harris/Walz as a believer? Do you think that killing babies is something Jesus would support?" "Put your personal views on the person aside and vote for the party that is going to support your morals and religious beliefs. I believe that any party that has ANY association with murdering children of GOD should be immediately out of the question," the user added. Responding to the user, Ortlund appeared to suggest that Trump poses an evil that outweighs abortion. "Abortion is a horrible evil. But the evils on the other side have risen to levels that jeopardize the foundational rule of law in our country. I am thinking long-term and voting for us to have a national renewal in the future," he replied. Many on social media were critical of Ortlund's line of reasoning. Vice President of Discovery Institute John G. West wrote that if Ortlund "is truly concerned about not jeopardizing the rule of law in America, one has to wonder where he has been during the past nearly four years." "Politically-motivated prosecutions of ones electoral opponents, government-encouraged censorship of dissenting voices on social media, prosecutions of peaceful pro-life protestors, executive orders that have no basis in laws passed by Congress, the refusal to enforce laws already on the books," he continued. "This only a short list of what has been happening. But Ortlund assures us that in order to protect the rule of law we must vote for the same people responsible for these things. His comments are exceptionaly [sic] revealing about the echo chamber in which some leading evangelicals live." Christian social commentator Samuel Sey wrote: "If Ray Ortlund really believed abortion is a horrible evil, he wouldnt be voting for Kamala Harris. This is shameful." Former GOP North Carolina lieutenant governor candidate Allen Mashburn admonished Ortlund, saying that he "cant be 'This time Harris' and 'Always Jesus.'" "Those two statements are diametrically opposed to each other and not biblically cohesive," added Masburn, who lost the 2024 primary against current GOP candidate Mark Robinson. Ortlund received repeated pushback from William Wolfe, who serves as executive director of the Center for Baptist Leadership. Wolfe suggested Ortlund exhibits characteristics of "Big Eva" pastors who kowtow to the prevailing culture. "Remember, this is Gavin Ortlund's father and Russell Moores pastor," Wolfe wrote. "Hes the quintessential 'Big Eva' pastor. And now hes using the name of Christ to endorse a pro-abortion, pro-trans communist." After Ortlund deleted his post, Wolfe went after him again, writing, "Now Ray Ortlund is backpedaling, claiming his post was 'misinterpreted.' It was crystal clear: Hes voting for Harris *this time* Classic subversive doublespeak." Responding to one user on Threads who asked him to explain his reason for deleting his post, Ortlund replied, "Im sorry. But answering your question could risk reversing my decision to delete." Home News New report shows link between corruption and Christian persecution abroad A new study has shown a correlation between high levels of government corruption and increased persecution of Christian communities across several nations. Stressing the need for a concerted international response, the report points to a direct association between corrupt practices within government bodies and discriminatory policies against Christians. The report, titled Corruption and Christian Persecution and released this month by the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern, shows that corrupt governments often fail to protect minority rights, leading to environments where Christian persecution is either ignored or tacitly supported. The report corroborates various studies, including reports by Transparency International, which seeks to combat global corruption and defines it as the misuse of public power for private gain. ICC suggests that the fact that countries with high levels of corruption also experience significant Christian persecution is not merely coincidental. 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 the report, the group cites examples from countries recognized as the worst persecutors of Christians. In Afghanistan, corruption permeates multiple sectors, including government and law enforcement, severely undermining legal and social protections for minorities, the report says, noting that pervasive corruption has allowed extremist interpretations of Islamic law to flourish, putting Christian converts at grave risk. They face dire consequences, including death threats and social exclusion, with corrupt officials often turning a blind eye or even condoning such acts. In Nigeria, corruption not only hampers economic development but also directly impacts the safety of Christian populations. Corruption has facilitated a lack of accountability for acts of violence against Christians, who constitute nearly 70% of religious killings in the country, according to the report, which suggests that this neglect is often due to corrupt relationships between local officials and extremist groups. The situation in Azerbaijan, a predominantly Muslim country, where the militarily seized control of Nagorno-Karabakh a region predominantly inhabited by 120,000 ethnic Armenian Christians last year, reflects a similar pattern. In Azerbaijan, a high tolerance for corruption among the populace affects all layers of society, including the treatment of religious minorities. The countrys economy, particularly its oil and gas industry, is susceptible to corrupt practices, with reports of widespread cronyism among government officials and business elites, says the report. It adds that tolerance of corruption is also high among the population in Azerbaijan, with everyday citizens using bribes to bend the laws in their favor. Like many countries, the constitution of Azerbaijan guarantees freedom of religion, but Christians face restrictions, violence and intimidation. In Pakistan, empirical evidence suggests that corruption and religious persecution have detrimental effects on the countrys economic growth, says the study. The economic ramifications are profound, as corruption and Christian persecution jointly degrade economic stability, discouraging foreign investment and stunting national growth through a cycle of instability and distrust. In India, the intertwining of Hindu nationalist ideology and governmental corruption synergizes the oppression of religious minorities, including Christians. This collusion leads to policies and law enforcement practices that disproportionately target Christians, from police inaction to legal discrimination, under the guise of maintaining Hindu cultural supremacy, the study says. In Myanmar, the combination of corruption and religious persecution manifests through systemic discrimination enforced by both government and military forces. Historical and ongoing corruption within Myanmars colonial-era structures allows for continued exploitation and targeting of Christian communities, particularly in regions embroiled in ethnic conflicts, ICC says. Similarly, in Eritrea, widespread corruption among government officials has facilitated a harsh clampdown on religious freedoms, according to the report, which cites the U.S. Department of State (2020) to point out that the Eritrean regimes lack of transparency and accountability enabled the perpetuation of severe human rights abuses against Christians, who are often detained in inhumane conditions without trial. In China, the governments strict control over religious activities is worsened by corrupt practices that affect all levels of bureaucracy, enabling widespread human rights violations. As officials ascend the bureaucratic ladder, their involvement in corrupt activities increases, particularly those that suppress unauthorized religious practices, says the report. The corruption leads to severe repercussions for Christians, including surveillance, arbitrary detention and harsh punishments without due process, as the state seeks to eliminate any potential threats to its authority. The study also refers to the role of state-controlled narratives and corrupt media practices in public intolerance and discrimination against Christians, particularly in Middle Eastern countries. ICC suggests that a concerted international response is critical in addressing the dual challenges of corruption and Christian persecution. It urges advocacy groups and international bodies to collaborate more closely in imposing sanctions against corrupt officials and regimes that perpetuate religious persecution. The group further calls for international partnerships to provide asylum and support to persecuted individuals to mitigate the immediate dangers they face while also pressuring their home countries to reform. Home News Senior Lausanne figure calls on leadership to publicly acknowledge anguish of Palestinians INCHEON, South Korea After some participants at the Fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization took offense to a plenary speakers comments on the Gaza war on Monday, Lausanne issued an official apology two days later distancing itself from the statements. Now, Valdir Steuernagel, a senior figure in the movement spoke up on behalf of Palestinian participants, articulating their anguish of feeling abandoned by the global Church and calling on the Lausanne leadership to take notice and action. It was the fourth day of the Congress, and what was latent surfaced with pain and the force of institutional endorsement. Incredible, Steuernagel begins a letter he shared with Christian Daily International, which he had been circulating among leaders at the Congress. A problematic email, sent by the director of the L4 Congress, distanced itself from one of the most impactful presentations of the event. 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 Referring to Ruth Padilla DeBorsts speech, he says, Gods justice was affirmed and the violence of the war in Israel and its thousands of deaths, especially in Gaza, was highlighted. Steuernagel points to the word forgiveness that struck him when reading the apology letter, lamenting that the events organization had not paid due attention to the content of the presented text, and there were things that went unnoticed. Of course, there were theological details at play, which the author of the presentation herself would acknowledge, Steuernagel says. But what about the war? The deaths? The lives? And the churches? What about the Christians who live and suffer this cruel reality? Are there no words? No gesture? Will they, once again, simply be abandoned? A speech, a response, an apology As Christian Daily International reported earlier, the statements in Padilla DeBorsts presentation that triggered responses referred to colonialist theologies that justify and finance oppression under the guide of some dispensational eschatology. Later in the Micah 6:8-inspired speech, she also called on the global Church not to ignore the suffering of those who face injustice. There's no room for indifference towards all who are suffering the scourge of war and violence. The world around the uprooted and beleaguered people of Gaza, the hostages held by both Israel and Hamas and their families, the threatened Palestinians in their own territories. All who around the world are mourning the loss of loved ones. Their pain is our pain, she said. The two passages led to strong reactions by some participants who accused Padilla DeBorst of blaming violence in the Holy Land on dispensational eschatology, a theological view that holds to a literal interpretation of Old Testament prophecies that speak about the nation of Israel. Further objections pointed to her assertion of Israel holding hostages and the lack of mention of Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, among others. The Lausanne leadership also became target of criticism as it had reviewed all speeches before the Congress but had not taken action. Two days later, Congress Director David Bennett sent an email to all participants. He acknowledged the diversity of views represented at the Congress and among the speakers but distanced himself from the remarks and apologized for the offense that Padilla DeBorsts speech had caused. We have become aware of significant pain and offense experienced at this Congress from those in dispensational theological contexts, those who are Jews, and those engaged in ministries to Jews and/or in Israel. Our Lausanne team, including me, failed to review the wording of the presentation carefully enough in advance, or to anticipate the hurts and misunderstandings it would cause. As your brother in Christ, and on behalf of our Lausanne leadership, I ask for your forgiveness, he said in the email. Christians have a responsibility to speak up When Christian Daily International approached Padilla DeBorst for comment, she first pointed to the time constraints of talking about the vast topic of injustice within the allocated 15 minutes. She also stated that her remarks were not in any way a blanket dismissal of dispensational theology and, even less, of sisters and brothers who subscribe to that stance. For the pain my statement might have caused, I am sorry, she added, and clarified that what she referred to in her speech was the troubling theological rationale sustained by some people to perpetrate injustice against certain other people. Regarding why she was specifically naming the war in Gaza, she commented that she believes Christians have a particular responsibility to speak up. Truly, the Hamas attack almost a year ago was abhorrent and absolutely reprehensible, and truly people who live in Israel, Jewish, Palestinian and others are being threatened as I write. Their pain is our pain, she said. At the same time, she highlighted the suffering of the Palestinians, tens of thousands of whom have been killed, including many children. And she pointed to the Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank that have been on the rise in recent months. Their pain is our pain or it should be, she said. The reason why she believed this issue was important to raise at the Congress is because far too many Evangelicals around the world a-critically stand with Israel, and remain oblivious to the suffering Palestinians. This injustice must be named. Seeking to be seen and heard by the global Church While Lausannes apology sought to quiet down criticism from some corners, it stirred up greater controversy as participants expressed concerns about the leaderships selective judgment by singling out these two particular issues while ignoring others. In my view this apology was totally against the ethos of Lausanne, said Tim Adams, general secretary of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, in comments sent to Christian Daily International last week. He expressed his dismay about the lack of maturity of those who took offense, as global events should be spaces for robust debate. He was also concerned that the apology risked causing greater division. Steuernagel, however, points to another lamentable effect the apology had: that Palestinians, including those participating in the Congress, were given the impression that they did not matter. The day was marked by the tears of the brothers and sisters of the Palestinian churches. Attention! Steuernagel says. They are present, and despite the thousands of tears they have shed over these long months, once again they came and went hot. They arrived while surrounded by thousands of Christians from the most diverse places who, once again, rarely noticed the tears of a suffering, persecuted and declining Church. The feeling of abandonment cannot be deeper, more painful, or more incredible, he bemoaned. Incredible among others because it happened on the same day when the Congress highlighted the plight of the persecuted Church around the world. The silence around the Palestinian Church spoke loudly. A silence that said the global Church did not care. Did not need them, he says, referencing a phrase that had been presented as the most dangerous words for the global Church in the opening session of the Congress. Speaking for those who came as participants and had an opportunity to be in fellowship with brothers and sisters around the world, he says the Palestinian believers had already become familiar with the sense of abandonment, but they did not know it hurt so much to live it alongside those who passed by. Recognizing the existence of Palestinian Christians Earlier this month, Christian Daily International reported about a meeting of more than 100 Evangelical Christians from Israel, the Palestinian territory of the West Bank, Lebanon and Jordan who came together for three days in Amman under the theme That They May Be One. Hosted by the Alliance of Evangelical Councils in Jordan and the Holy Land, the extraordinary meeting was overshadowed by the ongoing war in Gaza, the mourning for fellow Christians killed in the conflict and the struggle with the reality that many in the global Church seem ignorant or indifferent to the suffering of their brothers and sisters in Christ in the region. Palestinian journalist Daoud Kuttab, who reported about the rare gathering of Christians from the four countries, wrote that the war in Gaza and the international response over the past year has alienated and angered many Palestinian Christians, who feel their co-religionists around the globe are oblivious to the suffering the war has brought. While Gaza is overwhelmingly Muslim, the small Christian community has been caught in the crossfire: a fact that some Christians in the Middle East feel is not understood or recognized by fellow believers in other parts of the world. Churches and a Christian-run hospital have been hit by Israeli shells with hardly a word from Christian leaders, they lament, amid reports that at least 23 Christians were among those who died in Gaza. Especially painful are news headlines of politicians who publicly flaunt their Christianity like last January when former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence approvingly signed his name on Israeli bombs destined for Palestinian and Lebanese communities. What Christians in the Middle East bemoan most, however, is that fellow believers in many parts of the world seem to forget that they even exist, let alone that they understand their daily reality. Kuttab wrote that during the gathering in Amman difficult stories were told about the war in Gaza and the dislocations" caused by what he described as "Israeli occupation in the West Bank. He describes how participants shed tears as they looked at photos of Palestinian Christian families who died in Gaza and listened to stories of the difficult life in the West Bank. Then they prayed for a ceasefire in Gaza and for the conflict and suffering to come to an end. It is this context that both Padilla DeBorst in her speech and now Steuernagel in his letter sought to highlight. (An op-ed published on Christian Daily International last February captured some of the dilemmas of different perspectives on the conflict.) Toward a day of embrace through repentance and listening In his poetically written letter, Steuernagel points to what he believes to be the right way forward. Desiring to move from the Day of Abandonment to the Day of Embrace, he expresses his hope for what could ultimately lead to comfort and unity. I saw it! I saw that there were also other tears. Tears that sprang from other tearful eyes and, born from the depths of the soul, wanted to express repentance and solidarity, he says. It is a fact. There are many others who have tears to shed. There are many other souls who, in solidarity, have space to cry. Let us move our bodies in search of the painful tears of these brothers and sisters, in search of transforming the day of abandonment into the day of embrace. He cautions that it is necessary to go slowly because before embracing, it is necessary to recognize the abandonment, and even the neglect, to which we subjected these churches and these brothers. It is necessary to do what this event has called us to: repentance. Repentance is not something abstract but real, he says. It is necessary to listen to our brothers and sisters from Palestine so that we can internalize their cries. The cry to be recognized and not forgotten and ignored. The cry of not being victims of a theology that has no place for them as participants in the Israel of God. The cry for participation in the reconstruction of both the Church and their communities, as a sign of a God who does not abandon but is present and does so through His body. Then, and only then, can the day of abandonment be followed by the day of embrace. An embrace that, with true eschatological hues, can begin with the exchange of tears, Steuernagel says, and concludes his letter with a question. Can we expect another email? Update: The Friday evening plenary at the Congress featured a Palestinian Christian as panelist who spoke on reconciliation. An article on the session will follow. Originally published at Christian Daily International Home News Workplaces offer a 'holy ground' to witness for Jesus, Bible expositor tells Lausanne 4 INCHEON, South Korea The first disciples were mainly workers in various trades and the workplace still offers a holy ground to be a priestly presence to witness for Jesus, delegates heard at the Fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization. These were the views of Julia Garschagen, a Bible expositor at Lausanne 4 and director of Pontes Institute for Science, Culture and Faith, also a guest lecturer at the Evangelistenschule Johanneum in Wuppertal and co-leader of truestory, a digital youth outreach event in Germany. How did the Gospel spread so quickly and so widely in a time without the internet? asked Garschagen, before saying it was due to an often overlooked, very diverse missionary force, which is the people in the workplace who gossip the Gospel. 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 Garschagen pointed out that the Gospel initially spread quickly, as recorded in the book of Acts, through working people such as the Ethiopian eunich, a politician occupied as a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure (Acts 8:27), or a saleswoman called Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth (Acts 16:14), or Aquila and his wife Priscilla, who were craftspeople the apostle Paul was a tentmaker, as they were. (Acts 18:3). The Gospel traveled in the suitcases of politicians like the Ethiopian eunich. It was passed on with the goods of sales women like Lydia, said Garschagen, who said that the importance of workplace missionaries today often goes unnoticed. In her opinion, the first Christians accepted a synergy between work and Gospel witnessing to the extent that Paul didnt even bother to write a chapter on evangelism and the workplace. For Garschagen, the witness of people in the workplace is mentioned all over the place. Its woven into the DNA of the mission of the early Church. The significance of this fact is a valuable prototype for evangelistic strategy today because 99% of church members spend their lives in the workplace, she said. When the first believers gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost, Garschagen again noted they were people from different career backgrounds: fishermen, tax collectors, political activists and food industry workers. They become the new temple of the living God, Garschagen said, referring to 1 Corinthians 3:16. She used the phrase Heaven and Earth people to describe this spiritual identity underpinning working Christians. Garschagen then examined how Paul and Silas were imprisoned in Acts 16 with the jailer doing his normal job looking after the two prisoners. Yet these two men carried the presence of God, as part of the temple of the living God, embodiments of Heaven and Earth. As a consequence, the jailer becomes a believer and carries on his work but his workplace becomes holy ground. What we can learn here in Philippi is that we carry the presence of God wherever we go, said Garschagen. And if the workplace of the jailer, a prison, can become a holy ground because of the presence of two Christ followers, surely your workplace can become a holy place too. The division between the secular and sacred was removed, said Garschagen, reiterating the point: Here in Philippi, we see that just like this prison of the jailer, your office, your workshop, your company can become holy ground. You carry the presence of God to a meeting on a Monday. You bring the power of God to your business on a Tuesday, you embody Christ while you cut people's hair, while you teach, while you cook, while you do your scientific research, wherever you travel on a business trip or as a work migrant, you take the presence of God with you, just like Paul and Silas did. This brings a different dimension to the workplace and a new dignity, according to Garschagen. She referenced a friend, working as a business consultant, who saw that her colleagues were not believers with no one praying or pastoring them. This acquaintance understood her workplace as a mission field with responsibility to witness for the Gospel through prayer and caring for co-workers. Every workplace is different and there may not be scenarios to openly sing worship songs, or talk openly about the Christian faith, but Garschagen said opportunities abound to seek direction from the Lord for the organization itself, as well as pastorally caring for colleagues as a priestly presence. Ask the Lord for wisdom, for creativity, for courage and for sensitivity, and ask Him to help you lead life so that people will ask questions because they see your integrity. Garschagen gave a personal illustration of a Zambian hairdresser in London she knew, who would pray over peoples heads as she cut their hair and got to know them personally. I have seen quite a few people leaving her saloon transformed, not just because they had a new haircut, but because they had also gotten a taste of the love of Christ through her priestly presence. Garschagen acknowledged before the delegates that being a priestly presence in workplaces brings various challenges. Integrity requires a level of courage. She referred to a story about another friend involved in a hedge fund who refused to agree to funding the weapons industry, despite the large amount of money offered. His business partners saw him as a traitor for refusing the business opportunity. Being a priestly presence at work is thus a tough calling. It can come at the cost of your salary, of your reputation, maybe even of your whole career, said Garschagen. And it can feel silly and naive like [Paul and Silas] singing hymns in a prison cell, but it's got transforming power in your workplace. Garschagen believed that Paul did more than just earn money when he joined Aquila and his wife, Priscilla, tentmaking, or possibly leather making in Corinth, as recorded in Acts 18. She hypothesized that Paul got to know personally, but professionally, the Jews and Greeks noted as being present in the Synagogue when he preached each Sabbath. Garschagen questioned why there were Greeks in the Jewish Temple and pondered the thought that Paul became familiar with them as customers through his secular work. Maybe they were his customers and his business partners, conjectured Garschagen. Knowing Paul, he would gossip the Gospel wherever he was and while selling his goods. She offered imaginative perspectives on this possibility, such as Paul inviting customers to an evangelistic business lunch to talk about integrity in the business world or an evening dinner to discuss the meaning of life beyond careers. Garschagen said Paul showed flexibility in his working life as a whole: one moment working a trade and using it as an opportunity and the next moment dedicating the majority of his time to preaching the Gospel, once Silas and Timothy joined him. Paul was flexible as long as Christ was being displayed and declared. And I think that is a guiding principle for the mission of the early Church throughout the whole book of Acts. We see there is no division between the sacred and the secular. And that means there's also no distinction in calling between lay people, full-time workers, part-time workers, whatever you may be. There are no second class citizens in the Kingdom of God. Garschagen speculated that the early Christians did not divide working life from other missional activities: Maybe they would have said something like, well, if we are the temple of God, then we are all full time for the Lord anyway in our work and in our life, wherever that work may be and wherever this life and the Holy Spirit may lead us. The pressing point made by Garschagen, called the incarnational principle, is that Paul learned from Christ to become like others, in order to win them for the Lord, echoing 1 Corinthians 9:22: I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. A leather worker to the leather workers, a lawyer to the lawyer, a cook to the cook, a teacher to the teachers, said Garschagen. Programs are not going to win people's hearts. People will. For the Church today, an exciting [development] actuality, is that Christians are already working in these different spheres: as pilots, politicians, pharmacists and other occupations. The key question is whether the Church realizes this as a calling. Garschagen told delegates that this is a word to church workers with the labels of pastors, theologians, evangelists and preachers. We need to be humble. The church is not church. We are not the amazing guys who run the show. The church exists to train and love and equip and send out the 99 percent of Christians who faithfully serve their Lord and master every day in their offices, their classrooms and their shops. Garschagen further suggested that churches reorient the emphasis on Gospel witness to learn from professionals, whom she called workplace priests. She suggested giving them space to be interviewed about their work, and hold regular prayer meetings for them. Again, she offered a personal illustration of a friend who had many praying for him as a church pastor but no one praying for him when he changed direction and became a businessman. The new scenario was more challenging and he met more non-Christians but sadly, no one prayed for him anymore. How about we get people of the same occupation together in one space to think and pray about what it means to be a Christian salesman or Christian nurse or Christian biologist? And how about the pastors just sit there and listen? Garschagen encouraged churches to consider developing a liturgy to commission people in their workplaces as priests and reassuring them of their value even if they dont volunteer in traditional church activities because they carry out God's mission in another part of the Kingdom. At the end of her talk, Garschagen invited delegates involved as work priests to stand and receive prayer. Praying over them, she said: Lord Jesus, we are so thankful that we as a Church have got so many different members, different cultures, different career paths, different callings, but we're all united in the calling to follow you and to serve you. And today, we especially want to commit our brothers and sisters to your hands who faithfully work every day in the secular world. We honor them Lord, just like you honor them, we pray. Would you anoint them? Would you bless them? Would you give them courage? Would you give them stamina? Would you give them opportunities, Lord? And would you give them love and patience? And would you radiate through them Lord, so that indeed other people would ask questions? Originally published at Christian Daily International Home News Youth pastor sentenced to 50 years in prison for impregnating 13-year-old girl A former youth pastor has been sentenced to 50 years in prison without the possibility of parole for impregnating a 13-year-old girl. The district attorneys office in Ellis County, Texas, announced last week that Marvin Scales, 53, of Waxahachie, was sentenced to half a century behind bars after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual abuse of a young child, one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of sexual assault of a child. The statement published by the DAs office said Scales first drew suspicion from police after a local hospital reported that he was overly involved in the delivery process of a 14-year-old girl who went into labor in August 2023. Scales was present with the minor as she gave birth, prompting a warrant for the babys DNA. Forensic testing confirmed that Scales was the child's biological father, proving that he had illegally had sex with an underage girl. 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 An investigation of Scales revealed his role as a youth pastor at a local church, and after word of his act of sexual abuse got out, more children came forward alleging that he had engaged in illegal acts with them as well. According to the Ellis County DAs office, Scales regularly took the children on overnight trips, and he would have the children sleep over at his house. Victims disclosed that Scales would regularly have sex with them on these trips and overnight stays. A report from ABC News affiliate WFAA listed the number of children victimized by Scales in his role as a youth pastor as at least four, including the 12-year-old daughter of the pastor at the church he was affiliated with. Scales allegedly had sexual intercourse with her while the other kids were sleeping during two separate trips to a water park. The girl reportedly spent up to two weekends a month at Scales home beginning when she was 8 years old and continuing until she was 12 years old. Court documents obtained by WFAA state that the mother of the girl who gave birth to his child, who was 13 at the time he impregnated her, knew what was going on and was allowing it to happen in exchange for Marvin paying for her lifestyle/needs/wants. Although the girls mother claimed she did not know her daughter was pregnant up until the baby was almost born, Instagram messages between her and Scales documented a conversation where the mother told the youth pastor that she was having to take his girl to the doctor because she was tired of having the school call her and tell her that they thought her daughter was pregnant. The message in question was dated April 2023, four months before the girl gave birth. The DAs office also noted Scales existing status as a registered sex offender that predated his impregnation of the 14-year-old girl and the presence of an extensive security system at his home that recorded his sex acts with children. The Texas Public Sex Offender Website shows that Scales has a criminal record dating back to 1998, when he committed offenses involving indecency with a child by contact and aggravated sexual assault of a child against victims aged 13 and 11 years old. Scales ended up spending 10 years in prison on those charges. This is an unusually heinous case of child sexual abuse, said Ellis County District Attorney M. Ann Montgomery. When a person of authority especially in a religious institution is the abuser, it can be incredibly difficult for victims and their families to speak out. We commend the bravery of the children who came forward to ensure that no other child suffered due to Scaless abuse, and our hearts are with the children who could not speak out. With this sentence, justice is done for all of Scales victims. We hope now they, and this entire community, can begin to heal, she added. Montgomery told WFAA, I know if I was pastor of a church, I would not want to have a registered sex offender with people spending the night with that person. The DAs office said that Scales is not eligible for parole and will have to serve all 50 years of his sentence. Authorities did not release the name of the church where Scales worked as a youth pastor. Home Opinion A message to the if-I-could-just-see-a-miracle crowd Are you someone who doesnt believe in God, but swears you would if you saw a bona fide miracle happen in front of you? If so, how about we play lets pretend? Pretend that you saw the wildest supernatural plagues explode on the land and people of Egypt, including the death of every Egyptian's firstborn son. You walked on dry ground as walls of the Red Seas waters stood on either side of you. You watched the Egyptian army drown as those same walls of water came crashing down on them. You were led by a pillar of cloud by day and another unearthly pillar of fire by night. Food called manna came to you preternaturally every single day. You drank water that came unexplainably out of a rock multiple times. Your clothing and shoes never wore out over the many years you traveled to a land you were promised. 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 And yet, after seeing and experiencing each of those things and more, you turned your back on the God who was responsible for all of it. Think that wouldnt be possible? Listen to what Gods man back then, Moses, said to the people who witnessed those things: And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land; the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear(Deut. 29:24). The bottom line with miracles is, unless your heart is right, theyll have zero impact and leave you no more enlightened than you were before. Need more proof? How about we play lets pretend again, but this time with Jesus and some of His miracles? But before we do, remember that, although Christs biographies sometimes make you feel like healings, exorcisms, and other such miracles were a common thing back in His day, nothing could be further from the truth. They were every bit as extraordinary as if they happened today. Our first stop is a guy with a shriveled and mutilated hand (Mark 3:16). Jesus tells the man to stretch it out and its miraculously restored. And whats the effect on the religious leaders who were supposed to know God better than anyone? The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him. Next is a woman who hadnt been able to stand up straight for 18 years (Luke 13:1014). Jesus frees her from the affliction and the response of the one running the show at the temple is: But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, There are six days in which work should be done; so, come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day. What did Moses say again? Something about not having a heart to know, or eyes to see, or ears to hear? My favorite New Testament example is the raising of Lazarus (John 11). Everyone is amazed and is flocking to see him after he walked out of his tomb. Heck, wouldnt you? But look what happens right after: The large crowd of the Jews then learned that He [Jesus] was there; and they came, not for Jesus sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead. But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus (John 12:10-11). So, lets get this straight: theyre looking to kill a guy, who is the object of a stupendous and undeniable miracle because the crowds were putting their trust in Christ due to the mans resurrection. Yikes! All these cases should be enough to get my point across to you, but wait, I have one bonus example, this time with the apostle Paul. Paul heals a guy at Lystra who had never walked and the people there are so jazzed they start calling Paul a god and are ready to make sacrifices to him (Acts 14:819). Surely nothing could go wrong there, could it? Think again; the very next verse reads: But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. OK, Im done now. To recap: all these examples showcase people who directly observed astounding miracles and were unfazed by them. How could that happen? Go back to what Moses already told us: Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear The legendary radio Bible teacher J. Vernon McGee is spot on with his commentary on this when he says: In spite of seeing all the signs, they still did not perceive. Isaiah has a great deal to say about that. Paul in Romans deals with the blindness of Israel: According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear; unto this day (Rom. 11:8). Does this mean that God will not permit them to comprehend, that God turns them off? No, it means they are already off. God has to turn us on! That is something which we need to recognize today. Until God opens the eyes and the ears of men and women, they cannot hear the Gospel. Now do not misunderstand me they can hear the words, but they cannot hear the Gospel with understanding. No, they cant. This is why St. Augustine stirred the pot so much back in his day when he wrote a prayer to God that read, Grant what thou commandest, and command what thou dost desire. Augustines detractors, both back then and today, are fine with the second part, but not the first. And yet Scripture says plainly we need God to open our minds and hearts before we can do what He commands: For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18) and But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised (1 Cor. 2:14). This means even an irrefutable miracle in the face of someone, as McGee says, who is not turned on by God, will be waved off and leave the person no better. So, if youre someone who doesnt believe in God today and thinks an external miracle will convince you, I have some advice. Like Augustine, ask God instead to grant you what you really need: a changed heart and mind so you can truly know Him. Truth is, the miracle of the new birth (John 3) is the biggest miracle God pulls off and it happens every day. Heres to hoping and praying it happens to you. Home News Christian groups provide disaster relief to Helene victims as death toll climbs past 60 Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region before sweeping through Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia and Tennessee, has left over 60 people dead and millions without power. In response, Christian organizations such as Samaritan's Purse and The Salvation Army swiftly mobilized to deliver critical disaster relief across the southeastern United States. The hurricane, which initially made landfall as a Category 4 storm, brought devastating winds, heavy rainfall and widespread flooding, particularly impacting Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. The damage has been catastrophic. Helene had left at least 63 people dead in five states, as of early Sunday, according to the National Hurricane Center. 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 State officials reported that at least 20 people have died in South Carolina, including two firefighters in Saluda County. In Georgia, the death toll has reached at least 17, with two fatalities caused by a tornado in Alamo. The number of confirmed deaths in Florida has risen to 11, including several drownings in Pinellas County. In Virginia, one person died in Craig County due to a storm-related tree fall and building collapse. Franklin Graham, leading both the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritans Purse, stated on social media, This storm is huge. Pray for the safety of all of those in [its] path. His organizations are offering both physical aid and spiritual support to the affected communities. The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team has deployed chaplains to the hardest-hit areas, including Tampa and Perry in Florida, Valdosta in Georgia and the High Country in North Carolina, the group said in a statement. These chaplains are providing a ministry of presence at shelters such as the one in Fletcher, North Carolina, as well as offering support at hospitals overwhelmed by the disaster, like the Watauga County Hospital in Boone. Josh Holland, international director of BG-RRT, described the scenes across the states as almost unfathomable. We often brace for storms, and we watched as Hurricane Helene came ashore. Even still, the impact of this disaster caught many by surprise. The scenes were witnessing across multiple states are almost unfathomable, Holland said. Similarly, Samaritans Purse said it has initiated responses in five key locations across the Southeast. The group's efforts are concentrated around their base in Perry, Florida, where the hurricane first made landfall with 140-mph winds. Additional bases have been set up in Valdosta, Georgia, and in the High Country of North Carolina, including Boone, where Samaritans Purse is headquartered. Samaritans Purse responds to help with storms and crises around the world every day, but now the storm has hit in our own backyard, Graham said, noting the personal connection to the storms impact. The organization is also assisting in the Asheville area in North Carolina, where rivers overflowed, causing significant damage. Volunteers from across the country are being rallied to assist with the recovery efforts, including mudding out homes, cutting down trees, and other vital activities to help affected homeowners, it said. Convoy of Hope is another Christian group making significant contributions, particularly in Perry, Florida, which has suffered from multiple hurricanes over the past year. According to an update on its website, they have initiated a drive-thru distribution of groceries, water and hygiene kits. The group quoted a resident of Perry as saying, It was like an earthquake. Were so grateful for you being here, Pastor Dave of Perrys First Assembly of God Church said. I told my friends, Help is here. You people are incredible. The Salvation Army has also been active, deploying 10 mobile feeding units immediately as the storm approached and putting an additional 35 on standby. These units are serving up to 1,500 meals per day to those affected, the group said in a statement sent to The Christian Post. In times of crisis, we stand united with communities facing hardship, Kenneth G. Hodder, national commander of The Salvation Army, said. As of late Saturday, the Salvation Armys efforts included meal provision in several emergency shelters across Georgia and support for local disaster workforce meals. Moodys Analytics estimates that Helene caused between $15 to $26 billion in property damage across affected states, with more than 3 million people still without power. Home News Fewer churches offering support to those struggling with opioid addiction, survey finds The percentage of churches that provide support to those fighting opioid addiction has declined compared to what it was five years ago, according to a new poll of pastors from Lifeway Research. Lifeway released a new survey of 1,004 Protestant pastors this month, which looks at how the ongoing opioid crisis in the United States is impacting their congregations and what they are doing about it. The research was conducted from Aug. 29-Sept. 20, 2023, with a margin of sampling error of +/-3.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. This was compared to a similar phone survey conducted in 2018 of 1,000 Protestant pastors. 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 Among those surveyed, 64% of pastors said that at least one family member of someone belonging to their congregation had been personally affected by opioid abuse, while 45% said that a member of our congregation was personally affected. Only about a quarter (24%) reported not knowing anyone tied to their church who was impacted by opioid abuse. Despite this, Lifeway found that, compared to 2018, support among congregations for those experiencing opioid addiction had declined on multiple fronts. Churches providing spiritual support including prayer or discipleship for addicts went from 82% in 2018 to 72% in 2023. Additionally, churches that were providing a 12-step program or other support group declined from 40% in 2018 to 32% in 2023. Pastors who reported that their churches were not providing spiritual support or other support for those experiencing opioid abuse increased from 13% in 2018 to 21% in 2023. Lifeway Research Executive Director Scott McConnell said in a statement that if churches are not expressing compassion for those who face these challenges, they likely wont become aware of needs until the abuse is chronic. Spiritual, physical and recovery help can all be ongoing ministries of a church or offered as needed, stated McConnell. When these are ongoing support ministries, there are naturally more opportunities to encounter and help those impacted by opioid abuse. In recent years, there has been a sharp uptick in deaths connected to the abuse of opioids, with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reporting that over 81,000 Americans suffered opioid-related deaths in 2023, a sharp increase from the 46,802 opioid-involved deaths reported in 2018. Many churches and ministries have responded to the crisis over the years. For example, the American Association of Christian Counselors hosted a one-day gathering in 2018 to help train people to combat the problem. AACC President Tim Clinton told The Christian Post at the time that the opioid epidemic is a problem that is impacting communities, churches, and families throughout the nation. No one entity can stem the tide. ... We must work together to help people recover from opioid addiction, said Clinton in the 2018 interview. We are determined to help eradicate this horrible scourge from devastating our society. This event showcases a model of community, civic, and church collaboration that should be reproduced nationwide to help those ensnared by opiates and other substance use disorders. In May, the CDCs National Center for Health Statistics announced that there were approximately 107,000 drug overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2023, which marked a 3% decrease compared to the estimated 111,000 deaths in 2022. This was the first reported annual decrease in overdose deaths since 2018. Home News Churches can offer hope to people seeking freedom from pornography: report Churches can play a significant role in helping individuals heal from pornography, according to a recent study that found pornography use has continued to rise over the past decade, including among those who identify as Christians. While pornography use is generally more prevalent among men and non-Christians, it affects both genders and people of all ages and religious backgrounds. As technology advances, so does access to pornography and sexually explicit material. Pure Desire Ministries, in partnership with Christian research organization The Barna Group, released a study Tuesday titled "Beyond the Porn Phenomenon." The study highlighted notable changes in pornography use since Barna last researched the issue in 2016, according to Barna Group CEO David Kinnaman. 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 rise in porn has been fueled by the shift to daily life online during the pandemic, increased loneliness, anxiety, and depression; the spread of sexualized content on social media and growing cultural acceptance, Kinnaman said in a statement provided to The Christian Post. The changing landscape requires the Church to step in and respond. Our hope is that this study illuminates the serious consequences porn has on people, families, and congregations so that church leaders can offer support and tangible help for their people, he concluded. For both porn users and betrayed spouses, we want to see the Church come alongside those struggling and provide hope to those looking for freedom from porn. The study surveyed 2,976 U.S. adults through an online questionnaire conducted from Oct. 20 to Oct. 30, 2023. The margin of error for the sample was +/- 2.3 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. Additionally, the study included surveys of 205 U.S. Christian youth leaders, conducted from Nov. 16, 2023, to Jan. 16, 2024, and 462 U.S. senior Protestant pastors, conducted from Sept. 27 to Oct. 9, 2023. Researchers found that three in five U.S. adults (61%) reported viewing pornography, with 84% of these users saying they dont have anyone in their lives to help them avoid it. Nearly four out of every five men and two out of every five women admitted to viewing pornography. Among married couples, one in five adults reported using pornography at least weekly, and nearly one in three said their spouse or partner regularly uses it. Christians were not exempt, as more than half of those surveyed reported viewing pornography at least occasionally. While otherstudies have found frequent porn use can negatively impact ones mental health and well-being, the Barna Group reported that 44% of U.S. adults believe watching pornography has little impact on the other aspects of an individual's life. Two in three (66%) agree a person can regularly view pornography and live a sexually healthy life. This view is held more strongly by men (75% agree) than women (59%), the study stated. Practicing Christians were less likely than the general population to agree with the idea that one can maintain a healthy sex life while regularly consuming pornography. However, the study found that more than half of practicing Christians still believed the opposite. Additionally, 48% of practicing Christians agreed with the 60% of U.S. adults who said that viewing pornography can improve a persons sex life. The researchers emphasized that pastors and churches cannot ignore the rise of pornography use and unwanted sexual behavior. A key finding of the study was that many churchgoers who view pornography feel they are dealing with this issue alone. Churches, which have extended resources to support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous by providing space for meetings, could take a similar approach for individuals seeking help to overcome pornography use, according to Barna researchers. Even though 58% of Christians and churched adults said it was important for their church to address the issue of pornography, only 10% reported that their church offers programming to help. Barna asked survey respondents for suggestions on how churches could address the pornography issue. Nearly half (48%) of Christians and 42% of non-Christians said providing access to counseling or therapy services would be the most effective approach. Additionally, 41% of Christians and 33% of non-Christians suggested that churches should "promote healthy discussions around sexual behaviors that emphasize moral values." "Pornography is an intensifying problem confronting both our culture and churches," Nick Stumbo, executive director of Pure Desire, said in a statement provided to CP. "The data reveals that this issue is more widespread today than ever before, affecting people across all ages, genders, social statuses, and religious beliefs," Stumbo continued. "We hope this data serves as a call to action for pastors, churches, and laypeople to recognize how damaging porn can be to individuals, relationships, and communities." "We want to see the church become the safest place possible for anyone struggling with porn use or dealing with betrayal," he added. Amphibious dock landing ship sails at sea China Military Online) 09:54, September 30, 2024 The amphibious dock landing ship Changbaishan (Hull 989) attached to a ship formation of a landing ship flotilla with the navy under the Chinese PLA Southern Theater Command sails on the sea during a maritime training exercise on August 4, 2024. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Qiao Chenxi) The amphibious dock landing ship Changbaishan (Hull 989) attached to a ship formation of a landing ship flotilla with the navy under the Chinese PLA Southern Theater Command sails on the sea during a maritime training exercise on August 4, 2024. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Qiao Chenxi) The amphibious dock landing ship Changbaishan (Hull 989) attached to a ship formation of a landing ship flotilla with the navy under the Chinese PLA Southern Theater Command sails on the sea during a maritime training exercise on August 4, 2024. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Qiao Chenxi) (Web editor: Tian Yi, Xian Jiangnan) Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara said on Monday that the Pakistani national and three other foreigners, who were arrested in the city for illegal stay, were set to get Indian passports. Speaking to reporters here, Parameshwara said, "As per the information available they have been living in India for 10 years. They came down and settled in Bengaluru a year ago. They have been taken into custody and will be investigated. They will be questioned on why they came to Bengaluru. How did they manage to get documents? Home Minister Parameshwara said, "If it is true that they have been staying in India for 10 years, why did not the intelligence agencies and other institutions track them? Even as the passports are done after much scrutiny, they managed to almost get them. They have got the Aadhaar cards and changed their names. They were running a restaurant here. Further investigation needs to be done. We have to wait until further information gets revealed in the investigation, he stated. "Many from Bangladesh have come to India. Every day we are nabbing illegal migrants from Bangladesh and deporting them back. They keep on coming. The borders are porous in Bangladesh, the situation has to be tightened at the borders. It is a matter of concern for the Union government and the military, Parameshwara stated. We have been bringing up the issue of illegal immigrants continuously before the Centre. According to the information available to me, there are many illegal immigrants living in Bengaluru. We are screening them every day and monitoring the situation every day. We will arrest them and deport them. The information would be given to the Bangladesh High Commission and the Government of India. The Centre needs to tighten the security at the borders, he stated. The Karnataka Police have arrested a Pakistani national, who was living illegally in India, and three other foreigners from the outskirts of Bengaluru in the Jigani police station limits. Police sources said on Monday the Pakistani national was residing illegally in an apartment with his wife, who is a Bangladeshi national and has two children. The raid was conducted by the police following the tip-off from the central intelligence agencies. The local police raided his residence on Sunday night and arrested him. The Intelligence Bureau sleuths had gathered information about the Pakistani national following the arrest of a ULFA militant in Bengaluru by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The preliminary investigations have revealed that the Pakistani national left his country following the controversy over religious matters and came down to Bangladesh. He married a woman in Dhaka and sneaked into India with her in 2014. The Pakistani national settled in Delhi and managed to get an Aadhaar card, voter ID and a driving license. He came to Bengaluru in 2016 with his family and has been living quietly since then. More details are yet to emerge regarding the case. Home News Muslim gang-rape suspects threaten Christian family to drop charges LAHORE, Pakistan Muslims who abducted a 17-year-old Christian girl and gang-raped her for 10 days are threatening her family to pressure them to withdraw charges, even as police have failed to arrest most of the suspects, her father said. The girl, whose identity is being withheld as a rape victim, was abducted from her home in village Chak No. 87 Fateh Colony, Hasilpur, Bahawalpur District, Punjab Province, on Aug. 25, said her father, Taj Masih, a 45-year-old Catholic daily wage laborer. I was at work while my wife had gone to a dispensary to get her medication when our daughter went missing, Masih told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. She immediately informed me, and we started searching for her. 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 some days they learned that their daughter had been kidnapped by Muhammad Asif, Nazeer Ahmad, Muhammad Yasir and Muhammad Aslam and a woman named Nazia Asif who lives in the same village, he said. Masih contacted village elders and requested they intervene. Im a poor man and did not have the resources to take a stand against the influential Muslims on my own, he said. When the accused were summoned by the village council, they admitted that they had taken her and assured them that she would be returned to us. However, when they kept delaying her return on various pretenses, I filed a complaint with the police. Police on Sept. 5 found the girl, who told them that she had been gang-raped by Muhammad Yasir and Muhammad Saif, Masih said. A medical examination proved she was physically tortured and raped multiple times by the suspects, he said. Masih said that the police have arrested Saif, but that the other suspects are still free. I go to the police station every day hoping for justice but return home empty-handed, he said. He said the suspects were issuing threats to pressure him to reach a settlement and withdraw charges. They are threatening me to drop the case or face the consequences, but I wont back down, he said. They wronged my beloved daughter, and I will do whatever is in my power to see that they get punished for their crime. His poverty and Christian faith have made access to justice difficult, he said. There are about 25 to 30 Christian families in our locality, and a majority of us are laborers, Masih said. We are often discriminated against due to our religion, but I was not expecting the police to treat this case with such an indifferent attitude. My daughters honor has been violated, and shes been scarred for life, but it seems theres no justice for poor Christians like us. The familys attorney, Lazar Allah Rakha, said the attack and subsequent police inaction exemplified challenges marginalized Christians and other minority communities face in accessing justice in Pakistan. Her medical and DNA examination prove the allegations against the accused persons, Rakha told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. The police have substantial evidence to effectively prosecute the accused, and we are hoping that the court will order the police to arrest the remaining accused as soon as possible. Rakha, a prominent Christian lawyer in South Punjab, said that costs and lack of resources were the most prominent barriers for minorities in obtaining justice in Pakistan. It is the responsibility of the state to ensure that all citizens have instant and inexpensive access to justice regardless of their faith affiliations, he said. The majority-versus-minority rhetoric has forced Christians and others to believe that they will not get the same treatment as Muslims. Therefore, its very important that the government should act to remove this impression. 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. Originally published at Christian Daily InternationalMorning Star News Home Opinion The conflation of race and sexuality why it matters for Evangelical America Youre on the wrong side of history. Your views are no better than that of religious bigots who used the Bible to oppose interracial marriage. Sentiments like these are among the biggest talking points LGBT activists use today. They try to convince folks that conservative Christian doctrine on marriage, sexuality, and gender is evil and bigoted. LGBT activists attempt to conflate Christians theological beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman, and that gender is immutably determined by biology, with those of racists from the past who promoted Jim Crow and white supremacy. These sentiments are very persuasive, and no small amount of Christians have been won over by LGBT-affirming arguments on the basis of that analogy. I know this very well, because I was very close to buying into this analogy myself for several years. When I was attending Oklahoma Baptist University a Southern Baptist college some events in my personal life caused me to dive headfirst into a large spiritual crisis surrounding this issue, and I was scared to death that my views on sexuality and gender made me as bad as a racist. 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 argument we often hear is that just like conservative Evangelicals were wrong about slavery and segregation, theyre also wrong about homosexuality and transgenderism today. To the world, both are cases of bigotry and prejudice, without exception. I wasnt so much worried about how secular leftists viewed me I have no problem standing for unpopular truths I was worried that they were objectively right, and I was objectively wrong. If they were right, then Id be causing undue harm to my LGBT neighbors and misrepresenting the love of God, and the idea of doing either of those things scared me to death. However, a survey of Christian Church history over the past 2,000 years does ultimately dispel this conflation, however rhetorically attractive it may be in modern America. For one, the Catholic Church, which has been around for two millennia, has always defined marriage as being between a man and a woman, and as racist as some bishops throughout history may have been, there was never an explicit doctrine in the Catholic Church that taught that interracial marriage was wrong. For Evangelical Protestants, especially Reformed folks, the evidence is even more glaring. The most prominent Reformed confessions of faith like the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms, the 1689 Baptist Confession, the Savoy Declaration, as well as the earlier Second Helvetic Confession, all have explicit teachings on marriage, and all but the last one touch on gender too. All of these confessions explicitly teach that marriage is between a man and a woman, but not a single one says anything about race or ethnicity. In the chapter on creation in the former three, it also explicitly teaches that God created us male and female, but theres nothing remotely similar to what Judge Leon Bazile infamously said about how Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay, and red to deny the interracial loving couple in Loving v. Virginia the right to marry anywhere in these confessions. The Westminster Catechisms also go further, with sodomy being condemned under the seventh commandment alongside bestiality, incest, and fornication but remains silent on the issue of miscegenation. The fact that even later iterations of the Westminster Standards didnt include an injunction against interracial marriage proves that the Bible does not condemn interracial marriage like fundamentalists and Evangelicals of the past thought it did. Very importantly, these are not obscure confessions or doctrinal statements; these are some of the most revered and influential Christian confessions in Protestant history. These confessions are anything but obscure sectarian documents they are easily within the mainstream tradition of Evangelical Protestantism. Having said that, there are still things Christians need to be mindful of. Some churches in the past have shamefully deployed the Bible to justify their ethnic bigotry, which has been used, in turn, by the LGBT crowd to wield that history against us when we defend biblical sexuality. This history and my two yearlong spiritual crisis surrounding it was enough for me to change the way I think about race and racism in America, as I describe here. If American Evangelical Christians want any moral legs to stand on in the sexuality debate, we must own up to our sordid racial past. We must be the most radically ethnically/racially united part of America instead of being the most segregated part. Our witness to a hostile world is priceless for the sake of Christs Kingdom. We cant afford to tarnish it. Home Opinion We are a nation in need of true revival There are reports from CBN News just recently about potential revivals going on at a few colleges. CBN writes, In the fourth major collegiate revival in less than a month, thousands of students gathered at the University of Arkansas on Thursday night to seek Jesus Christ and find salvation in His name. Unite US reports that 10,000 students from 67 different universities gathered in Bud Walton Arena. The event organizer, Unite US, says of the gathering in Arkansas last week: Jesus met us there ... We were blown away by His presence in the room and how it carried over to baptisms. It was a night we'll never forget. Other universities mentioned in the CBN report include the University of South Carolina, Texas A & M at Corpus Christi, and Ohio State University. Tonya Prewett shares the Gospel at various campuses, and said: God is doing something across this nation ... I do believe this move of God on college campuses is ushering in a greater awakening. This is not to mention what was happening at Asbury in early 2023. Is Aslan on the move? to paraphrase C.S. Lewis in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe referring to Jesus Christ. If so, this is very welcome news. America is in desperate need of a spiritual awakening. Poll after poll finds that millions of Americans feel that we are headed in the wrong direction as a nation. For example, statista.com notes: According to a survey conducted in August 2023, approximately 69% of Independents believed that the United States was headed in the wrong direction, compared to 90% of Republicans and 50% of Democrats. 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 are in serious need of serious change in this country. Although we desire for God to bless America, our first President noted this in his First Inaugural Address: The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained. How can God bless us, asked George Washington, when we violate the rules He Himself has given us? Rules like the Ten Commandments. We are clearly in great need of national revival. America was born in part through the revival that swept through the colonies. We call it now the First Great Awakening. That revival began in the 1730s with the preaching of Rev. Jonathan Edwards in Northampton, Massachusetts, and spread throughout the colonies, mostly through the work of the traveling evangelist George Whitefield. Sarah Edwards, Jonathans wife, said this about the impact of Whitefield's messages: It is truly wonderful to see what a spell he casts over an audience by proclaiming the simplest truths of the Bible ... Our mechanics shut up their shops, and the day laborers throw down their tools to go and hear him preach, and few return unaffected. Ben Franklin commented on the social effects of the revival. He said of Whitefields preaching: It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk through the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street. Founding father John Adams observed this about the link between what we now call the First Great Awakening and the push for Independence: The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the mind and hearts of the people and change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations. In his book, A History of the American People, the late British historian Paul Johnson adds, The Great Awakening was thus the proto-revolutionary event, the formative movement in American history, preceding the political drive for independence, and making it possible. Our Providence Forum documentary on The Road to Independence highlights these things. The Second Great Awakening in the early part of the 19th century helped end the horrible scourge of slavery. Two-thirds of the members of the abolition society in 1835 were ministers of the Gospel. Also, the anti-slavery Underground Railroad was run by churches. The late Dr. D. James Kennedy once said this, Many people are under the misconception that government will solve all our problems. But I believe that true change is going to take place when people throughout the nation begin to trust in Christ and in the God that made this nation great. And that will bring about a genuine revival. A revival that eventually moves to the halls of government. Not from the government down, but from the people up. This is Americas only real hope for a real and positive change. Perhaps what is happening on some college campuses is a harbinger of good things to come. James Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews reminds Christians that they are surrounded by a great "cloud of witnesses." (NRSV) That "cloud" has continued to grow in size since then. In this monthly column we will be thinking about some of the people and events, over the past 2000 years, that have helped make up this "cloud." People and events that have helped build the community of the Christian church as it exists today. Christianity in modern China In August 2023, the US-based Pew Research Centre published data provided by responses to the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) question: "What is your religious belief?" This revealed that, in 2018, about 2% of Chinese adults (c.20 million people) self-identified as Christians. Of these, Protestants accounted for about 90% (c.18 million adults), while the remainder were mostly Roman Catholics. Other surveys, using slightly different question wording, report similar stats. In the 2018 World Values Survey (WVS), 2% of Chinese adults said they believed in Christianity; in the 2016 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), 3% said this. In contrast, some media reports and academic papers have suggested that the number of Chinese Christians may be much larger than these surveys suggest. These have included estimates as high as 7% (100 million) or even 9% (130 million) of the total Chinese population, including children. However, it should be noted that, to date, no national surveys measuring formal Christian affiliation come close to these much larger figures. Nevertheless, the picture may be more complex still. This is shown in the fact that the cumulative share of Chinese adults who say they "believe in" Jesus Christ and/or Tianzhu (the term Chinese Catholics use for God and literally meaning 'Heavenly Lord' or 'Lord of Heaven) is 7% (c.81 million adults), according to the 2018 CFPS survey. It should be noted that such larger figures include those who also believe in one or more non-Christian deities, such as Buddha, 'immortals' (Taoist deities), or have Islamic beliefs. In contrast, in this research, the number of Chinese adults who say they believe in Jesus Christ and/or Tianzhu- and do not believe in other deities is about 3%. This is closer to the CGSS stats we started with. All of this reveals how difficult it can be to get an accurate estimate of the number of Christians living in modern China. The matter is made particularly complex because only those churches authorized by the communist government are officially allowed to operate. In reality, many Chinese Christians are members of "underground churches" (dixia jiaohui) or "house churches" (jiating jiaohui). These Christians face restrictions on Christian activities outside of registered venues, the policing of online activities, police raids on 'unregistered' gatherings, difficulties at work and official suspicion of faiths which do not conform to President Xi Jinping's call for the "Sinicization of religions." As a result, large numbers will not appear on any published statistics. Many of these Christians communities trace their origins either directly or by influence to the work of European and US missionaries in the 19th and 20th centuries. This 'foreign' connection lies behind the official view that they fail the test of the campaign for the "Sinicization of religions." Of the many who worked as missionaries in China in the 19th century, one whose work had a particularly enduring character was James Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission (CIM), which was responsible for taking over 800 missionaries to China. In time the CIM grew into one of the largest Christian missionary movements on earth. It became the Overseas Missionary Fellowship in 1964, and today operates as OMF International. The start of Taylor's faith journey James Hudson Taylor was born in May 1832, the son of James Taylor a pharmacist and lay preacher and his wife, Amelia. They lived in Barnsley (Yorkshire). Taylor seems to have lost his faith for a time during his youth, but by 1849 just one month after his sister resolved to pray for him daily he had a change of heart through reading a Christian tract. He wrote of how his belief was now that: "The promises [of God] were very real, and prayer was a sober matter-of-fact transacting business with God, whether on one's own behalf or on behalf of those for whom one sought his blessing." It was a radical transformation. Soon after, he resolved that he would travel to China as a missionary. He prepared himself for this new calling by reading books on China; studying the Chinese Gospel of Luke; and also studying medicine in London in 1852. He had not completed these studies before he travelled to China for his first visit. It was the start of an extraordinary relationship with a nation, its people and its culture. Missionary work in China Taylor sailed from Britain in September 1853 and disembarked in Shanghai in March 1854. He arrived in a land wracked by the civil war of the Taiping Rebellion (185064). It has been estimated that somewhere between twenty and thirty million people died due to this rebellion and related upheavals. Some figures have ranged as high as fifty million deaths. The suffering in China was enormous. Taylor saw that many Christian missionaries had adopted fairly comfortable lifestyles, and that few went inland to the poorer rural areas of China. Despite the turmoil and danger, Taylor resolved on a different approach to missionary work. He adopted Chinese dress and wore his hair in the manner of the contemporary Chinese. His aim was to overcome social barriers and to make the Christian message more accessible and less 'foreign.' In this he followed the example of the German Lutheran missionary Charles Gutzlaff (died 1851 in British Hong Kong) whom Taylor called the "grandfather of the China Inland Mission," due to his pioneering missionary work, including wearing local dress. The Chinese Evangelization Society, which he formed, was the one which sent Taylor to China. Until 1860 Taylor worked under the authority of the Chinese Evangelization Society in southeast China. It should be noted that Gutzlaff was a complex and controversial character. Closely connected to European imperialism, he defended the use of force in China by these outside powers; he was accused of gathering intelligence for the British government; critics felt he rushed to baptize converts, who soon fell away from faith; and he was defrauded by (apparent) converts he employed to spread the faith but who inflated numbers of converts and sold the gospel books he sent out with them. While Gutzlaff was his critics asserted too distant from what was actually happening on the ground in China, Taylor travelled extensively, preaching, and also bringing in medical supplies. Determined to live among the local population he moved to a little house from where he could meet and befriend local Chinese. Moving out of the foreigners' compound brought risks. A cannon ball hit the house and caused him to move back into the foreigners' compound before his house was burned down. He mother kept the cannon ball as a symbol of the protection she believed that God had provided for him. Despite these risks, Taylor and his co-workers continued preaching and distributing Christian literature and he was determined to be active at the grass-roots level of the missionary work. Over time he mastered several Chinese dialects that he used in his preaching. In 1858, in Ningbo, Taylor married Maria Dyer, who was his companion in the work until her death in 1870. Although ill health forced Taylor to return to England in 1860, he continued to be very concerned for the Chinese populations who lived in the provinces to which missionaries rarely, if ever, travelled. In 1865 he wrote China's Spiritual Need and Claims and founded the China Inland Mission (CIM). Its goal as the name indicates was to work in China far from the port cities. By 1866 the CIM had recruited twenty-two missionaries, including the Taylors. The first party of sixteen, including Hudson and Maria, sailed for China in 1866. The Taylors were accompanied by their four children. Eighteen more missionaries followed in 1870. Soon the mission grew in both numbers and geographical reach. By the end of 1887, 102 new missionaries travelled to China as part of the CIM's activities. In 1888, the first North American party was sent out to China. In China, Taylor pursued a policy whereby church buildings were built according to Chinese (not foreign) design, and in which the leadership was made up of Chinese Christians. The work was tough. The Talor's lost a daughter to meningitis in 1867, a baby son to malnutrition in 1870, and Maria died from cholera only a few days later. After returning again to England, Taylor married a fellow missionary Jane Elizabeth Faulding, and they returned to China in 1872. Taylor spent the rest of his life combining active work in China, with administrative duties and travelling to other countries to publicise the work in China and recruit more missionaries. While out of China he kept close contact with those working there as part of the CIM. Taylor played a prominent part at the General Conference of the Protestant Missionaries of China, which was convened in Shanghai in 1877 and 1890, and which sought to coordinate activities. He retired from the administration of CIM in 1901. After the death of his second wife in Switzerland, in 1904, Taylor returned to China for the final time and died in Changsha, Hunan, in 1905. He was buried beside his first wife, Maria, in Zhenjiang, in Jiangsu Province, China. The small cemetery, near the Yangtze River, was built over with industrial buildings in the 1960s, during the rapid industrialisation of modern China. In 2013 the land was redeveloped, the industrial buildings were demolished, and it was found that the Taylors' tombs were still there. The graves were excavated with the surrounding soil and then moved to a local church. The original grave marker included these words: "A MAN IN CHRIST" 2 Cor. XII:2 This monument is erected by the missionaries of the China Inland Mission, as a mark of their heartfelt esteem and love. The significance of Taylor and the China Inland Mission By the time of Taylor's death, in 1905, the China Inland Mission was an international body in which 825 missionaries worked, in all eighteen provinces of China. There were over 300 mission stations employing over 500 local Chinese helpers, and it had 25,000 Christian converts. A number of key characteristics stand out from Taylor's approach to missionary work. These are: total financial dependence on God, with no guaranteed salary; close identification with the Chinese people; working in all the provinces of China; the mission administration being based in China; a nondenominational evangelical character to the work. The China Inland Mission, known for a time as the Overseas Missionary Fellowship and now OMF International, carries on the missionary work started by James Hudson Taylor. Today it is an international interdenominational evangelical Christian missionary society, "with a heart for East Asia," with its international centre in Singapore. Martyn Whittock is a historian and a Licensed Lay Minister in the Church of England. The author, or co-author, of fifty-six books, his work covers a wide range of historical and theological themes. In addition, as a commentator and columnist, he has written for several print and online news platforms and is frequently interviewed on TV and radio news and discussion programmes exploring the interaction of faith and politics. His recent books include: Trump and the Puritans (2020), Daughters of Eve (2021), Jesus The Unauthorized Biography (2021), The End Times, Again? (2021), The Story of the Cross (2021), Apocalyptic Politics (2022), and American Vikings: How the Norse Sailed into the Lands and Imaginations of America (2023). He is currently writing Vikings in the East: From Vladimir the Great to Vladimir Putin, the Origin of a Contested Legacy in Russia and Ukraine (2025 forthcoming). Rick Warren lists 10 action steps through the book of Acts to help church leaders 'finish their race' (CP) In his 54th year in ministry, Rick Warren, founder of Saddleback Church, declared at the Fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization that he would spend the next 10 years of his life continuing to help church leaders "finish their race" and fulfill the Great Commission in their lifetime. Following an in-depth group discussion with delegates at Lausanne 4 earlier last week in which he detailed how pastors and church leaders can witness the exponential growth of believers like that seen by the first century Church simply by modeling Jesus, he shared with the thousands of delegates on Saturday 10 action steps from Acts Chapters 1 and 2 to evangelize the lost. Warren, who attended his first Lausanne when he was 20 years old, told those younger than 40 to look to those around them who are 40 and older because they're going to need those individuals with experience to help them as "mentors, models, partners and friends" in order to finish their God-given assignments. Here's the list of the 10 action steps Warren shared at Lausanne 4: 1. Pray for God's power "Number one, we must pray for God's power. ... Prayer is mentioned many times in the book of Acts. Friends, when we start praying like they prayed in Acts, we'll start having the power like they had in Acts. There's a direct connection between prayer and power. Much prayer, much power. Little prayer, little power. No prayer, no power," said Warren, who retired from Saddleback Church in California in 2022. 2. Translate God's Word for everyone "Number two, we must translate God's word for everyone," said Warren, who shared that he's devoted his life to fulfilling the Great Commission and training other church leaders to complete their calling well. "God's Word is alive. God's Word is transforming. God's Word changes lives. But we have to put it in words that everybody understands. We must translate God's Word for everyone. And sadly, there's still thousands, even millions, of people who don't have a Bible in their translation. That's part of our next action step. "At Pentecost, God showed the importance of translation because he did a translation miracle with tongues. He reversed Genesis 11, the Tower of Babel, at Pentecost. We must translate God's word for everyone," Warren reiterated. 3. Appreciate our diversity "Number three, we must appreciate our diversity. Not tolerate it, not accept it, but be proud of it. Love it, celebrate it. "We need to do this because, number one, diversity is God's idea. He made us all different. The person who doesn't like diversity is basically saying, 'God, you made a mistake. Why didn't you make everybody like me?' That's the hype of pride. "We must celebrate and enjoy and grow on our diversity because diversity in ministry is a strength of the Church, not a weakness. Why? It takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people," he stressed. "He (God) wants unity. He doesn't want uniformity. The only way we'll ever have unity is to love diversity. 4. Train every believer to preach the Good News "Number four, we must train every believer to preach the Good News. At Pentecost, Peter had to quote Joel, the prophet, in order to explain why women were preaching at Pentecost. And here's what he says in Acts 2:14-18, 'I will pour out my spirit on everyone, your sons and daughters will preach, your young men will see visions, and your old men will have dreams' that's intergenerational 'and all my servants,' both men and women, 'I will pour out my spirit and they will preach.' He continued, "In 2003 at Saddleback Church, we launched an every member campaign that every member in our church would go to the mission field and plant a church. ... We took the five things that Jesus did, and we called the Peace Plan: Proclaim the Good News, equip every believer and alleviate suffering that's poverty, disease, illiteracy and contend in prayer as we fight battles on our knees and establish churches. "Over seven years, I sent out 26,869 of my members to plant a church in every nation of the world. We're the only church in Christian history to plant a church in 197 nations. This was done by normal people. "If you're a pastor, I would be honored to teach you how to do it. Your church can send missionaries around the world. You could mobilize. My goal is to help you turn an audience into an army, to turn spectators into participators, to turn consumers into contributors, and to turn members into missionaries and ministers. 5. Apply God's Word to ourselves to finish the task "Number five, we must apply God's Word to ourselves to finish the task." "We're going to have to practice what we preach," Warren emphasized. "Jesus says, go and do likewise. James says, be a doer. The Word, the Great Commission, says, teach them to do everything I command, not teach them to know the problem with the Church today. We know more than we're doing, and there's a certain kind of preaching that will help people become doers of the Word. He added that "we must apply God's word for ourselves." "You want an example of this? Look at Peter's message in Acts Chapter 2. He started responding to a question of the people. They said, what does this mean? And his sermon ended by telling people what to do. When the people heard Peter's words, they asked, 'What shall we do?' That's what your sermon should be. Start with what does it mean and end with what should I do from today? "A lot of messages at the end, they're still going, 'What does it mean?' Teach people to be doers of the Word, to train people on how to be a doer." 6. Model love to the world "Number six, we must model love to the world," Warren said. "Love always attracts. My definition of evangelism is, you build a bridge of love between your heart and theirs, and Jesus walks across. Growing churches love, loving churches grow," he added. "If you have a church that genuinely loves lost people, you'd have to lock the doors to keep people out. Now, a lot of people say, we love everybody we already know that's not loving church." 7. Return to using homes "Number seven, we must return to using homes," Warren advised, calling this the "fastest community growth movement of [the] Christian Church." His own church, he said, grew 50% in a decade before it ever had a church building. "We had no church buildings. I wanted to prove you don't have to have a church building to grow a church, so Saddleback went 13 years without a building. We had over 10,000 people coming every week before we built our first building. Don't tell me you have to have a building to grow a church. The fastest growth was through homes. We [need to] go back to that." 8. Worship must become a joyful witness "Number eight, our worship must become a joyful witness," he said. "And all I'll say about this is that worship, when celebrated, attracts unbelievers just like they like to go to concerts." 9. Share everything "Number nine, we must share everything to work together," Warren said, citing Acts Chapter 2:44. "Verse 44 says all the believers shared everything with each other. All these things are teaching. ... This is real collaboration, to co-labor." 10. Make financial sacrifices "Number 10, we must make financial sacrifices," Warren said with conviction. "Verse 45 says they would sell their land and the things they owned in order to give the money to those who needed it. "These are things that every one of you can do tomorrow on your way home from Lausanne," he told the delegates who gathered in-person on the last day of the week-long conference. Lausanne 4 brought together over 5,000 Christians from over 200 countries to South Korea for a week of collaborating and strategizing for global missions. Lausanne 4 was held around the theme of "Let the Church Declare and Display Christ Together." It was supported by hundreds of Korean churches and thousands of individual Korean Christians who signed up to pray for or volunteer their time at the Songdo Convensia. The Christian Post From October 14 to 18, Huawei will participate in the GITEX Global 2024, one of the worlds largest technology exhibitions, as a Diamond Sponsor. There, it will showcase a variety of innovative products and solutions at the exhibition under the theme Accelerate Industrial Digitalization and Intelligence. Huawei aims to come together with global industry customers, partners, thought leaders, and technical experts to discuss important digital and intelligent transformation initiatives. At the exhibition, Huawei plans to unveil and showcase a range of flagship products and solutions for the global enterprise market, and its reference architecture for intelligent transformation and innovative practices across various industries worldwide. It will also host the Industrial Digital and Intelligent Transformation Summit, along with dozens of forums, hundreds of talks, and numerous speeches to facilitate idea exchange with thought leaders, industry professionals, technical experts, and partners from around the world, to discuss a wide range of topics related to the pan-enterprise market, industry intelligence trends, and practices. The intelligent world is fast approaching. The widespread use of digital and intelligent technology is revolutionizing our lifestyles, business productivity, and city operations. As a leading global ICT infrastructure provider, Huawei works with partners to help customers in various regions and industries worldwide, to lay a solid foundation for the intelligent era, said Leo Chen, Huaweis Corporate Senior Vice President and President of Enterprise Sales. At GITEX Global 2024, we will showcase innovative digital and intelligent transformation practices and engage in discussions with global customers, partners, and industry leaders to explore the potential of intelligence in driving industries, ecosystems, and beyond. We look forward to seeing you in Dubai, the city of innovation. Huawei will attend the GITEX Global 2024 Huawei Showcasing innovative practices of digital and intelligent transformation Covering over 1400 square meters, the Huawei booth in GITEX GLOBAL 2024 will fully showcase the deep integration of intelligent technology with various industries based on our reference architecture for intelligent transformation. Visitors can get firsthand experience at Huaweis innovative, global, and open collaboration atmosphere. The Accelerate Industrial Digitalization and Intelligence exhibition area will feature practices in industries like public utility, finance, transportation, electric power, oil and gas, mining, manufacturing, ISP & OTT, education, healthcare, etc. Also on display will be scenario-based solutions for the commercial market and HUAWEI eKit for small- and medium-sized enterprises and partners. Visitors can learn about Huaweis path to accelerate industries into the intelligent era. At the Innovative Digital and Intelligent Infrastructure exhibition area, Huawei will showcase its main products and portfolios for data communication, all-optical networks, data storage, smart campus, data center, and Huawei Cloud, which are designed to meet the needs of customers at different stages of digital and intelligent transformation. Its goal? To create a leading digital and intelligent infrastructure by bringing together partners and developers through an open ecosystem. GITEX GLOBAL 2024 will be held at the Dubai World Trade Centre from October 14 to 18. Huaweis booths are located in B10 and B20 of Hall 22. Visit Huawei booths at GITEX GLOBAL 2024, and explore journey to accelerate industrial digitalization and intelligence. For more information, please visit https://e.huawei.com/ae/events/branding/gitex. BARTs Red Line service was abruptly suspended early Monday morning, causing significant disruptions for Bay Area commuters. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle BARTs Red Line service was abruptly suspended early Monday morning, causing significant disruptions for Bay Area commuters. The Red Line, which runs from Richmond to Millbrae via SFO, experienced the suspension while commuters faced delays of up to 20 minutes on the San Francisco line, affecting routes to SFO, Millbrae, Daly City and the East Bay. The transit agency attributed the delays to power issues between Daly City and Balboa Park. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Commuters from Richmond were instructed to use the Orange Line to MacArthur Station and transfer to the Yellow Line to reach Millbrae, where they could then take a shuttle train to SFO. Similarly, travelers from SFO were recommended to take the shuttle to Millbrae, switch to the Yellow Line, and transfer at MacArthur Station to the Orange Line for their destinations. 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. UK Youth CEO announces departure UK Youths CEO Ndidi Okezie is leaving her position in December 2024, after five years in the role at the charity, which works with young people across the UK. Okezie said: Leading UK Youth has been an incredible journey of growth and impact. I'm deeply grateful to our amazing staff, the most dedicated network of organisations, and our generous funders and partners for their unwavering confidence and support. Together, we've achieved remarkable milestones in our mission to unlock the transformational power of youth work for all young people across the UK. The recruitment process for Okezies successor will begin shortly. New CEO for St Josephs Hospice Hackney Rachel Black has been announced as chief executive of charity St Josephs Hospice Hackney, which provides end-of-life care for local people in the east London borough. Black is joining the charity from the Orpheus Centre, where she had been CEO since 2019, and was previously a registered nurse and director of multiple childrens hospices around the UK. She will replace former CEO Tony McLean, who retires later this month Environmental charity appoints president Environmental and human rights activist Kumi Naidoo has been appointed president of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, which campaigns against the use of fossil fuels. Naidoo has previously spent three decades in leadership roles at environmental and social justice organisations including Greenpeace and Amnesty International. Loyd Grossman reappointed as chair of Royal Parks Broadcaster, entrepreneur and writer Loyd Grossman has been reappointed as the chair of the Royal Parks. Grossman has a long association with the arts and heritage sector, and is also chair elect of the Royal Society of Arts, and was previously a board member for charities including English Heritage, and was chairman of the Royal Conservation Trust and the Heritage Alliance. The Royal Parks is the charity which looks after Londons urban parks, including Regents Park, St James Park, and Hyde Park. Power to Change appoints deputy CEO Nicola Steuer has been announced as the deputy CEO of the community business think-tank Power to Change. Steuer previously spent almost three years at another independent think-tank, New Local, and has worked in the voluntary and community sector for over 25 years. NHS Charities Together appoints COO Chris Clements will be taking over the role of COO at the national healthcare charity network, NHS Charities Together, in September. Clements previously held the position of chief finance and impact officer at Social Finance, a not-for-profit consultancy. Clements said: After almost nine years at Social Finance, I am excited to take on a new challenge. My previous experience leading on financial and commercial strategy across a complex mix of business models means I can really hit the ground running in this new role. Ambitious about Autism appoints chair Robert Bishop has been appointed as the new chair of the board at Ambitious about Autism, a national autism charity which supports children and young people with autism. Bishop is partner at global law firm DLA Piper, and previously chaired its international corporate practice. He also has lived experience of autism, and has supported the charitys work for several years. European Fundraising Association announces president The European Fundraising Association (EFA) has announced that Ceri Edwards, executive director of change at the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, has been voted in as its new president. Edwards replaces Charlotte Rydh of the Swedish Fundraising Association, who steps down at the completion of her term. The announcement comes amid the EFAs restructuring with the creation of a new role, appointing Eva Torsson as its first executive director to work alongside its voluntary board, marking a critical expansion of the organisations capacity, that will reportedly support the EFA to grow its work and strengthen and develop fundraising across Europe. Scotlands Charity Air Ambulance appoints chair and trustees Robbie Brown, a former corporate lawyer turned cattle farmer, has been appointed as the chair of Scotlands Charity Air Ambulance. Brown was formerly the chairman of the Loretto Foundation. The charitys has also appointed two trustees, Mike Stewart and Sean Cox. Scotlands Charity Air Ambulance flies to time-critical emergencies across Scotland. NI regulator appoints two trustees The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland has announced the appointment of two trustees to its board. Leanne McCullough has been appointed commissioner while Hugh McKeag has been reappointed to the same role. McCullough is a former accountant who subsequently moved into public sector roles across various government departments and agencies, while McKeag has previously served on a number of other charities boards. Sex Matters appoints four trustees Sex-based rights charity Sex Matters has appointed four new trustees: former 10 Downing Street advisor Tim Allan, barrister Anya Palmer, governance professional Kate Owen, and teacher Claire Weir. Chair Naomi Cunningham said: We are all thrilled with the new appointments, which broaden the expertise of our leadership team as we grow into our new role as a charity. When we put out an open call for new trustees earlier this year, we were blown away by the number over 50 and calibre of the applicants, all passionate about the protection of sex-based rights. Our new trustees will play a crucial role in shaping the organisation and taking our influence and impact to the next level. Independent Age announces ambassadors and trustees Independent Age, which supports older people struggling with poverty in later life, has announced the appointment of five ambassadors and new trustees. Margaret Dangoor, Leigh Lewis, Thabani Sithole, Brian Pomeroy and Baroness Julia Neuberger have been announced as ambassadors a new role, whereby those in the role will use their individual networks and expertise to help the charity make meaningful changes. Meanwhile, Helena Herklots, Julia Shelley and Josh Greenspan have been appointed as trustees. National Autistic Society appoints managing director Candice York is set to join National Autistic Society as its managing director of adult services in October, having previously held roles within adult social in operational leadership and clinical governance. York said: Im looking forward to working collaboratively with the dedicated team to continue delivering high-quality support and expanding services. Together, we have the opportunity to create meaningful, lasting change for autistic adults, ensuring their needs are met and their voices are heard." Head of operations appointed at families charity Home-Start Wessex has appointed Belinda Hewett as its new head of operations, a new role designed to help the charity keep pace with rising demand. Hewett previously worked in the NHS for 40 years, and was most recently Matron of Womens Health Gynaecology at University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust. Home-Start Wessex is a charity which supports families around the Sussex and Dorset areas. Autism and Neurodiversity North Scotland appoints regional manager Kirstie Wallace has been announced as the first ever Highland and Moray regional manager of the north Scotland branch of the autism charity, Autism and Neurodiversity. Wallace is a former social worker who has previously taken on roles in the statutory and third sectors, including as a manager and a lecturer. In her new role, Wallace will reportedly play a pivotal role in developing and enhancing the charitys reach throughout local communities and authorities in the largely rural Highlands region. Actors named ambassadors for Alzheimers Research UK The UKs leading dementia research charity has unveiled Hollywood actors Ruth Wilson and Will Poulter as their latest ambassadors. Wilson has starred in hit series and films like the Affair, Luther, and His Dark Materials. She is personally motivated by witnessing her own fathers struggle with Alzheimers. Poulter has appeared in Hollywood blockbusters like Were the Millers and the Chronicles of Narnia franchise. Wilson said: I am so proud to have been made an Ambassador of Alzheimers Research UK. The work the charity does is essential, and I cant think of a much better use of my time. Seeing the effects of dementia on my dad has been heartbreaking, but knowing Im helping to drive funds and awareness for this incredible cause means so much to me and my family. sign up to receive the free Civil Society daily news bulletin here . For more news, interviews, opinion and analysis about charities and the voluntary sector, Sign up for The Media Today, CJRs daily newsletter. On Saturday morning, the Israeli military said that it had killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, alongside other commanders in a strike on Beirut. A few hours later, Hezbollah confirmed the news. As Robin Wright noted in The New Yorker, the Israeli government rarely acknowledges its military operations, but this time distributed a photo that it said showed Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, authorizing the strike from a hotel room in New York last week, shortly before addressing the UN. The strike was massive, destroying at least four residential buildings; yesterday, reporters from the Associated Press went to the scene and reported that smoke was still rising from the rubble. Its not clear how many people were killed. In the international press fears of a wider war in the Middle East reverberated. Again. The killing of Nasrallah was the latest escalation in fighting that had until recently simmered, if thats at all the right word, since Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel after its ally Hamas attacked the country on October 7. (Both Hezbollah and Hamas are aligned with Iran; I wrote about the recent escalation last week.) Of course, in a broader sense, conflict between Israel and Hezbollahwhich views Israel as a cancer that must be eliminateddates back decades, with Nasrallah long at the heart of it. In the worlds media, his death has been covered as a seismic development, not only for the trajectory of the current war, but due to his huge influence right across the region. This influence was built, in part, using the tools of mass media, even as Nasrallah himself typically stayed in the shadows. Following an impoverished upbringing in Beirut and religious studies at a Shiite seminary in Iraq, Nasrallah was an early member of Hezbollah in Lebanon in the eighties. (In the years after its founding, the group would, among other things, kidnap various foreign journalists including Terry Anderson of the Associated Press, who was held in captivity for seven years. In Hezbollahs view, people who go around asking questions in awkward and dangerous places have to be spies, Anderson recalled later; he died earlier this year.) Nasrallah ascended to the leadership of Hezbollah in 1992, after his predecessor was killed in an Israeli strike. He would later tell Wright that he had long envisioned taking such a role: Ever since I was 9 years old, I had plans for the day when I would start doing this, he said. My grandmother had a scarf. It was black, but a long one. I used to wrap it around my head and say to them that Im a cleric, you need to pray behind me. Wright described Nasrallah in 2006 as a man of God, gun and government, a cross between Ayatollah Khomeini and Che Guevara, an Islamic populist as well as a charismatic guerrilla tactician. After taking over Hezbollah, Nasrallah spoke with several other interlocutors from the Western mediaincluding Anderson, who interviewed him in 1995. (Nasrallah denied to Anderson that it was Hezbollah that had kidnapped him, and suggested that his detention was a fact of the war in which Lebanon was embroiled at the time.) In 2003, Ed Bradley, of CBS, traveled to Beirut to interview Nasrallah on camera for 60 Minutes, after a senior State Department official described Hezbollah as maybe the A-team of terrorists, to Al Qaedas B-team. The official promised to go after these problems just like a high school wrestler goes after a matchwere gonna take em down one at a timebut when Bradley put the officials remarks to him, Nasrallah insisted that he was no threat to the US. I consider this to be an Israeli accusation coming out of an American mouth, he said, and nothing more. Nasrallah greeted Bradleys cameras with a warm smile; Neil MacFarquhar, who interviewed Nasrallah for the New York Times the year before, recalls that they sat on the floor in a small room, where Nasrallah told him, If youre expecting me to say Death to America, its not going to happen here because I use that for my rallies. MacFarquhar also recalled the extraordinary security surrounding the interview: before entering, he was driven around the southern suburbs of Beirut in a blindfold, after which guards inspected absolutely everything in his possession; the Washington Posts David Ignatius, who visited in 2003, similarly noted that his wedding ring, ballpoint pen and credit cards were examined. Over the years, militants associated with Hezbollah have intimidated and attacked journalists the organization doesnt like. In 2006, a Lebanese satirical show broadcast a mock interview with Nasrallah; in response, supporters of Hezbollah blocked a road to Beiruts airport with burning tires. Leaders of Hezbollah defended their reaction, in the words of the New York Times Magazine, as a spontaneous emotional response to the mocking of a cleric. A month or so later, Hezbollah conducted a raid into Israeli territory and kidnapped two soldierssparking a brutal thirty-four-day war. In the aftermath, Nasrallah told a Lebanese TV station that he regretted the toll the war had taken, and said that Hezbollah wouldnt have kidnapped the soldiers if it had foreseen it. Per the Times, in the years following the war, Nasrallah largely avoided public appearances and eschewed using a telephone out of concern that he would be assassinated. In 2009, he presented a manifesto at a press conference and took questions, including from some outlets hostile to Hezbollah (as Josh Hersh, now of CJR, reported from Beirut at the time); in 2012, he gave what was reported to be his first direct interview in six yearson the first episode of a talk show hosted by the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that was aired by the Russian state broadcaster RT. But he conducted both of these appearances from a distance. (In the latter instance, it didnt help that Assange was under house arrest in the UK.) Since then, Nasrallah had appeared a handful of times in public, but mostly communicated with the public via TV addresses. Last year, following October 7, thousands of supporters gathered in Beirut to watch him speak via a big screen. He last spoke ten days ago, after Israel apparently detonated communications devices belonging to Hezbollah fighters. This time, per CNN, there was no big crowd. Sign up for CJRs daily email As the Associated Press noted following Nasrallahs death, he long ago rose to iconic status in much of the Middle East, with Hezbollah building its own media apparatus to distribute his messages; as the Lebanese newspaper LOrientLe Jour put it over the weekend, he became the voice and the face of an Iran-backed Axis of Resistance to Israel and US influence in the region. MacFarquhar and Ben Hubbard wrote in the Times that he was one of the Arab worlds most distinctive orators, presenting as less dour than most Shiite clerics, partly because of his roly-poly figure, a slight lisp and a propensity to crack jokes; Wright noted in The New Yorker that he was once so popular that shops sold DVDs of his speeches, and many Lebanese used lines from them as ringtones; Ignatius reported in the Post, citing a Nasrallah biographer, that as far away as Damascus you could buy key rings, shirts, buttons, bumper stickers and posters bearing Nasrallahs face. His death was met with mourning, in Lebanon and further afield. In Iran, newspaper front pages referred to him as a great fighter and martyr of the Holy War. Not that Nasrallah was universally popular or reveredfar from it. His popularity in the region waxed and waned over time, not least after Hezbollah backed up the brutal Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in that countrys civil war. In Iran, the security services warned certain journalists not to comment on Nasrallahs death, according to one exiled news site; in Lebanon, he was the most loved personality, in the words of LOrientLe Jourbut also the most hated. The polarized response to his death played out on social media, where supporters posted clips from his speeches and opponents posted images of Hezbollahs alleged victims, including the former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri, who was assassinated in 2005. As Hassan Hassan and Kareem Shaheen put it in New Lines magazine, a duality will likely surround Nasrallahs memory. For Hassan and Shaheen, the significance of Nasrallahs death surpasses that of other regional leaders, up to and including Osama bin Laden; Nasrallahs charisma and his ability to fuse the roles of military commander, political leader and cultural icon, they argue, placed him in a different league. Its not yet clear where Hezbollah will go from here, or how the group might fight back, but Firas Maksad, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, told The New Yorkers Wright that Israels bombings of Beirut have crossed the threshold of all-out war and sought to deliver a mortal blow to Hezbollah, and that the group might respond as if this war had no limit, no ceiling and no redlines. Today, Israeli strikes in Lebanon continuedincluding, for the first time since 2006, in the center of Beirutand Israeli officials briefed the press that commando units have been making brief incursions into Lebanese territory in preparation for a possible broader ground offensive. Meanwhile, Sheikh Naim Qassem, Hezbollahs deputy leader, addressed Nasrallahs killing publicly for the first time. He spoke via video, from an unknown location. Other notable stories: The devastation wreaked by Hurricane Helenewhich made landfall in Florida late last week before ripping across much of the Southeastis coming into focus; at least ninety-five people have been killed across six states, a total that seems sure to rise, while thousands still lack access to power and clean drinking water. Politico notes that some of the most shocking images of destruction have been captured in Asheville, North Carolinaand that thats just one well-populated area with a robust media presence and some working communications links. Some critics suggested over the weekend that the damage from the storm has not been adequately covered, but others noted that reporters on the ground are facing the same challenges as their communitiesand have, in many places, already done indispensable work. Last week, a federal bankruptcy judge ruled that the assets of Alex Joness InfoWars conspiracy empire can be auctioned offthe latest result of litigation holding Jones accountable for his repeated false claims that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax. Now Semafors Max Tani reports that progressive critics of Jones and groups dedicated to fighting misinformation are interested in buying the platform, spying an opportunity to transform an infamous source of online hatred, conspiracies, and oddities into something quite differentthough Tani notes that liberal bidders will likely have to overcome efforts by Jones himself to maintain control of his site. In an op-ed for the New York Times, Lilia Yapparova, a journalist with the independent Russian news site Meduza (which is based in exile in Latvia), writes about the cases of low-profile dissenters against the war in Ukraine who have been subjected to surveillance and kidnappings despite moving abroad. Their repression happens in silence, away from the spotlight and often with the tacit consent or inadequate prevention of their host countries, Yapparova writes. The Kremlin is hunting down ordinary people across the world, and nobody seems to care. ICYMI: Aspiring social media correspondents converge at a Trump rally. 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. Sign up for The Media Today, CJRs daily newsletter. Last week, three Israeli lawyers submitted a letter to Israels attorney general. The group, representing a collection of left-wing Israeli human rights organizations, accused Channel 14a popular far-right commercial television station known for its full-throated support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuof broadcasting rhetoric so violent as to be illegal. Over the past year, they argued, Channel 14 has regularly aired broadcasts in which pundits and guests have called for war crimes, including genocide, against Palestinians. The lawyersMichael Sfard, Alon Sapir, and Einat Gayerseek a criminal investigation; there is a decent chance that will happen, because of international scrutiny, though its much harder to say whether Channel 14 will face any meaningful penalty. The letter arrived after nearly a year of violence in Gaza, as Israel escalated attrition to its north, in Lebanon. The attack of last October 7, during which Hamas-led fighters killed roughly twelve hundred residents of Israel and took hundreds more hostage, cast Israeli society into deep mourning, profound sorrow, and understandable, blazing fury, the lawyers wrote. Its precisely those conditions, they observed, upon which moral monsters may emergeand are indeed emerging. Israeli strikes have killed more than forty thousand Palestinians. Another lettersubmitted to Israels Second Authority for Television and Radio, which regulates commercial broadcastsargues that Channel 14s coverage has violated the terms of its license. (The Second Authority name is something of a historical artifact; early on, most of Israels TV and radio stations were public, and this regulator emerged as a mechanism to oversee private broadcasters.) This letter calls on the regulator to impose sanctionsfines, potentially suspension. The system is comparable to that of the Federal Communications Commision in the United States; when a network airs something against the rules, the regulator is meant to step in. That has so far not happened in response to any of the statements the human rights groups flagged as promoting genocide. If the authority identifies a potential violation of the law, it requests a response from the channel and, if necessary, takes appropriate action, a Channel 14 spokesperson told me. None of the statements presented to us have served as the basis for a complaint. Appended to both letters is a disturbing catalogue of offenses. Researchers from the human rights groupsZulat for Equality and Human Rights, the Democratic Bloc, and Association for Fair Regulationcompiled their list by poring over all of the programming broadcast on Channel 14 since the start of the war. They identified at least fifty statements that they believe called for genocide and more than a hundred and fifty that they see as advocating crimes against humanity and war crimes, including the mass expulsion of civilians from Gaza and the use of starvation as a weapon of war. A media channel found in every home in Israel, watched by soldiers and officers acting on behalf of the State of Israel in Gaza, has become a solicitation machine for the commission of war crimes, the lawyers wrote. This is not just a slip of the tongue by one person or another, but rather a systemic approach. Among the examples cited: Danny Neuman, a political commentator, is quoted as having said that Israel should have killed a hundred thousand Gazans within two days of the start of the war. Only a few are possibly human there, he added. Over ninety percent are terrorists and are involved! Theres Yaakov Bardugo, a commentator, quoted as having declared, We need to bomb indiscriminately. Theres also this from Itamar Fleischman, a Channel 14 panelist: Victory will only happen here on one conditionon condition that the Jews destroy the anti-Semitic rats that did these things. He added, It needs to be total annihilation. Dont be afraid of words like humanitarian disaster. In addition to on-air rhetoric, the human rights groups identified hundreds of posts by Channel 14 personalities on social media. Among them was a tweet by Shimon Riklin, a host who, on the evening following the October 7 attacks, wrote on X that Gaza should be wiped off the face of the earth. According to the lawyers, material published by third-party platforms such as X is relevant to the case because anchors, Riklin among them, owe their traction on social media to their popularity as Channel 14 presenters, and the channel benefits from the online exposure that incendiary social media comments bring. (Channel 14 did not respond to questions about its social media policy.) Netanyahus relationship with Channel 14 goes back years, to the time when it was Channel 20, called the Heritage Channel, widely known as Israels version of Fox News. (Its controlling shareholder, Yitzchak Mirilashvili, is a prominent Israeli investor; he was born in Russia and educated in the United States, at Tufts University, then went on to found Russias largest social network.) Netanyahu elevated the networks profile by sitting down with its interviewers, granting rare access while receiving flattering coverage. In 2018, Netanyahu provided legal cover that enabled the network, previously licensed to provide educational material, to offer commercial news programming without needing to fulfill the financial and logistical obligations required of other broadcastersa major change, said Oren Persico, a staff writer at Seventh Eye, an independent Israeli publication that covers press freedom, that gave them a lot of discounts. The network moved to Channel 14 in 2021, and its audience has since skyrocketed. As prime minister, Netanyahu has drawn communications regulation under his close purview, and his relationship with the press came directly into play when he was, only a short time ago, indicted for breach of trust, bribery, and fraud. (He has since gone to trial, though in 2023 his government overhauled the countrys judiciary, effectively making it impossible for the courts to declare him unfit for office.) Netanyahu justified the changes he made to the countrys media by saying that he wants to pluralize the media landscape, to give an opportunity for right-wing voices who are more representative of Israeli society, Persico told me. In fact, if you look at his dealings, what he wants is a media with total loyalty. Generally speaking, Netanyahu and his allies have responded brashly to press criticism, and that has been felt more acutely of late. Itamar Ben-Gvir, a member of Netanyahus cabinet, has referred to Haaretz, a left-leaning Israeli newspaper, as the Hamas daily. Al Jazeera, which Netanhayu has called Hamass mouthpiece, has been thrown out of Israel, its offices raided. Sign up for CJRs daily email Language inciting genocide is a crime according to international and Israeli law. Last December, when Israel went to trial before the International Court of Justice over the war in Gaza, the court cited statements made by Eyal Golan, a pop star, that were aired on Channel 14Erase Gaza completely, dont leave a single person thereas evidence of clear direct and public incitement to genocide, which has gone unchecked and unpunished by the Israeli authorities. At the time, Israeli representatives agreed to take action to address the problemaccording to the countrys law, individual statements need not be directly linked to specific actions to be considered incitement of genocide. But since the ICJs provisional ruling, in January of this year, Channel 14 has not faced penalties. (An Israeli state prosecutor considered a probe into Golans statements but ultimately decided not to press charges.) Having received the letter from the human rights organizations, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who has had an adversarial relationship with Netanyahu, is supposed to decide whether to open a criminal investigation into Channel 14. If she does, the network would have the opportunity to speak with law enforcement, though it is not legally obligated to do so. Based on the findings of the investigation, Baharav-Miara could then summon Channel 14 to a hearing, where the network would be allowed, but not required, to present an argument. Based on that hearing, Baharav-Miara would then decide whether to indict; if she does, the channels representatives would be required to come to court. The Second Authority did not respond to requests for comment. In an email, the Channel 14 spokesperson called the allegations against the network grossly defamatory, untrue, and being made maliciously by organizations who are politically motivated. Channel 14 contends that it has been the target of an aggressive campaign led by Israeli woke organizations and activists aiming to suppress free speech. As for the quotes cited in the complaint, many are either taken out of context or were made by guest interviewees who have voiced the same opinions on other channels. (Its true that guests on other networks have made incendiary statements about Palestinians; at least some of them were not invited back afterward.) Channel 14 also noted that two of the human rights groups involved in last weeks complaint had filed one before, to the Israeli High Court of Justice. Because the previous complaint was deemed entirely baseless, per Channel 14, the High Court recommended that Plaintiffs withdraw the pleading so that it could be deleted. Judges did decline to move that original petition forward as a legal case, for lack of sufficient evidence. But it was meaningfully different, Yossi Abadi, the lawyer who represented those petitioners, told me, because that earlier complaint concerned fake news and a smear campaign against the judicial system, mostly predating the horrors of last October. That filing did not pertain to crimes against humanity; this new complaint reflects the coverage and cultural climate over the past year. Channel 14 has misled you, Abadi argued. This is merely a smoke screen intended to obscure the seriousness of the event. In the letters submitted last week, the lawyers concluded by writing that they would wait thirty days for responses before recommending that the human rights groups consider further legal action. According to Israeli law, the broadcasting regulator and the attorney general have forty-five days to respond, and they can request an extension. A lack of response would be considered an unreasoned rejection of the claims, which would entitle the petitioners to appeal or to bring their complaints before a judge. We urge the attorney general to initiate an urgent investigation to ensure that such incitement is neither legitimate nor permissible in Israel, Einat Ovadia, the director of Zulat, said. We believe it is time for those who instigate violence to face consequences. Beleaguered as it may be, the countrys legal system might still hold some sway, the petitioners hope. What that means for Israeli public opinion is another question altogether. Yona TR Golding was a CJR fellow. AccuWeather increased its estimate of the total damage and economic loss from Hurricane Helene to between $145 billion and $160 billion. This update is an increase from AccuWeathers preliminary estimate late last week of total damage and economic loss of $95 billion to $110 billion issued while the storms most significant impacts were still occurring. The increase makes Hurricane Helene one of the costliest storms in U.S. history. Related: Helene Unleashes Floods and Knocks out Power to Millions The losses come from devastating storm surge, damaging winds and historic flooding. In particular, a catastrophic flooding disaster unfolded in the southern Appalachians including Asheville, North Carolina, and surrounding areas, as well as widespread storm surge impacts along the populated west coast of Florida. The majority of homes and businesses in some communities were destroyed, bridges, roadways and critical infrastructure were heavily damaged or destroyed. Related: Hurricane Helene to Hit as Cat 3, and Early Estimates Forecast $3-$6B in Insured Losses Helene impact the Big Bend of Florida as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph. It made its way northward and brought hurricane conditions into Georgia and catastrophic flooding to the southern Appalachians, while bringing damaging winds and flooding rain into the Atlanta metro area. Helene also left more than 4.5 million customers without power, according to AccuWeather. Helene goes down as one of the most damaging storms in U.S. history, along with Hurricane Ian from 2022, which brought $180 to $210 billion in total damage and economic loss. Hurricane Harvey in 2017 caused $190 billion in total damage and economic loss, and Hurricane Irma that year caused $80 billion in total damage and economic loss. The AccuWeather estimate largely accounts for damage to homes, businesses, medical facilities, roadways and vehicles, as well as power outages, which results in food spoilage and interruption to medical care. High voltage power lines stand against a smoky sky as the Park Fire burns near Chico. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. began shutting off power to some customers in Northern California amid an increased risk of wildfires sparking and spreading. Jungho Kim/Special to the Chronicle Amid dry and blustery conditions sweeping Northern California, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. preemptively cut power to thousands of customers across the region to mitigate the heightened risk of wildfires. According to the utility company, about 415 customers in Butte County, nearly 8,000 in Shasta County and over 1,000 in Glenn, Colusa, Tehama and Lake counties were affected. Advertisement Article continues below this ad PG&E had warned customers that weather conditions could necessitate power shut-offs in sections of nearly a dozen Northern California counties, including Contra Costa, Alameda, Sonoma and Napa in the Bay Area. As of 11:30 a.m., no Bay Area county appeared subject to planned outages. However, due to ongoing warm, windy weather and low humidity, PG&E stated that shut-offs might continue through Tuesday. The company regularly disrupts electricity service in regions where weather conditions heighten wildfire risks. High winds and dry conditions can cause PG&Es equipment to topple, potentially igniting wildfires. Advertisement Article continues below this ad In San Francisco, several thousand people were without power in the city's South of Market neighborhood, outage map showed. The service interruption, which was affecting more than 4,000 customers, did not appear related to the PG&E preemptive shutoffs. Michele Seyranian and her daughter, Alique Topalian, at Playhouse Square. Michele is the CEO of The Gathering Place, which advocates for people who have cancer.Michele Seyranian BEACHWOOD, Ohio -- As CEO of The Gathering Place, Michele Seyranian is a fierce advocate for those coping with a cancer diagnosis. Passion is often influenced by personal experience. In Seyranians case, it involved her daughter, Alique. At 4 years old, Alique was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a rare form of leukemia in children. As a parent, I was devastated, Seyranian said, her face uneasy at reliving that time. Michele Seyranian, right, and her daughter Alique Topalian, who work to advocate for those being treated for cancer.Photo Courtesy of Michele Seyranian However, a friend suggested I reach out to The Gathering Place. It was 1998, and the place had just opened. They hadnt even officially opened all their doors yet. So, I came and shared with them about my daughter, and because it was so rare, it was trying to figure out where the best place would be for her to receive treatment. The Gathering Place was able to find a specialist in Seattle who has participated in studies involving Aliques form of cancer. The doctor was able to consult with physicians at Rainbow Babies and Childrens Hospital in Cleveland. CEO Michele Seyranian stands next to one of the fountains in back of The Gathering Place.Gregory Burnett, special to cleveland.com Alique soon started the most aggressive types of chemotherapy treatment a person can receive. Seyranian was there almost round the clock during the treatment. By the time the chemo ended, their hospital stay was six months. During this ordeal, Seyranian worked for Key Bank in marketing and strategic planning. Years after her daughter had been in remission, she remembered turning to God for assistance. I know youre not supposed to make deals with God, she said. But I asked God to save my child and promised I would do good. Im willing to end my career (so that I can be) doing good things with my life. Id always been in the for-profit world. I knew I had been given back the most incredible gift, the most precious thing -- my child. My first stop on this journey was Hospice of the Western Reserve. It was later I joined The Gathering Place. It has allowed me to help someone trudging the same path I once did. The family had hoped to find a bone marrow match for Alique, which could have led to a transplant. The Seyranians are of Armenian descent, and they discovered after working with the National Marrow Donor Program that there were not that many Armenians registered then. Undaunted, Seyranian led a nationwide drive to visit Armenian churches to register people for donations. They began to see numbers of people saying they needed bone marrow, too, but could not find it. On a recent visit to The Gathering Place, the atmosphere is Zen. The one-story building is tucked away inside an industrial park. Although its focus is on helping those dealing with cancer, extension support is offered to families who may be caring for the patient. Other amenities include classes on preparing meals that best fit the patients nutritional needs. A salon near the entrance to the facility has walls of wigs in a variety of colors. In addition, there are counseling and fitness exercises daily, and an outdoor space adorned with fountains, trees and shrubs for privacy adds to a sense of tranquility. Alique Topalian, 31, married and living in Cincinnati, earned her doctorate in health promotion education from the University of Cincinnati a few years back. She remembers some things about getting treatment for cancer at age 4. But it wasnt until three years ago, when she was diagnosed once again with acute myeloid leukemia, that memories from her past came flooding back. When I got sick again and was in the same hospital, all the same things were happening, she said. I remembered a lot more than I initially thought. I think some might say trauma is stored in the body. It was literally from the day I was finding out I was getting diagnosed when they brought me into the room for the bone marrow biopsy. I immediately started having a panic attack, and it was just so real. I started remembering going through it when I was a kid. Just realizing, wow, this is like before. When Topalians cancer came back, she had to fight for the diagnosis. Her medical team was calling her symptoms everything from migraines and burnout to gynecological issues. Finally, when they discovered it, I had 19 platelets in my body, she said. That day, I requested a CBC and differential, and the nurse responded, I dont think you need one. My mom made me get a CBC and (differential) whenever anything was wrong with me. And so now Ive been sick for a long time. Nobodys listening, and Im being told no by a nurse. I demanded that you place a note in my chart that I asked for this test, but youre not giving it to me. She went ahead and ordered it. When the results came back, it was indeed cancer. Like her mom, the experience propelled Topalian to the healthcare field. She looked at the core concepts of her career in research. She was always trying to figure out the correct approach medical professionals can take to escalate and empower the quality of life in communities everywhere. A patient thats educated in things that they dont know is an empowered patient, she said. And that doesnt mean you must go through hours and hours of training or anything like that. Its knowing that you can ask questions or make suggestions. You cant just treat us and leave us there. Its like pulling a fish out of the water and leaving it there, gasping for breath, right? Services at the Gathering Place are free. The Gathering Place is at 23300 Commerce Park Road in Beachwood. For more information, visit touchedbycancer.org/ WASHINGTON As he campaigned for the Senate in 2021, seeking to replace retiring Rob Portman, Ohio Republican JD Vance was vocal in his criticism of the bipartisan infrastructure improvement bill. The proposal was a huge mistake, drawn up by Democrats who want to spend taxpayer money on really crazy stuff, Vance said then. But that was before he embraced the bi-partisan package, co-written by Portman, that targeted more than $1 trillion at Americas crumbling infrastructure. Now Vance is all in. Since taking office in 2023, the vice-presidential nominee has sought more than $200 million from the infrastructure bill to be spent on projects in Ohio, an analysis by The Associated Press found. In 10 letters addressed to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, sent in 2023 and 2024, Vance requested more than $213 million. At least four of those projects were approved and are slated to get about $130 million, federal records show. A spokesperson for Vance defended his record, saying that advocating for Ohios share of the infrastructure money is part of his job. Senators are elected by their constituents to fight for them in Washington, regardless of the party in charge, Parker Magid told the AP. The fact is that this bill was a wish list of destructive Biden-Harris policy proposals and over 1,000 pages long, but as his constituents expect of him, Senator Vance successfully advocated for full and fair consideration of legitimate expenditures on Ohio projects by the federal government. As a candidate, Vance had criticized the bill as a boondoggle tainted by Democrats preoccupation with racial justice. Im reading through this new infrastructure bill, and it includes all these ridiculous references to things called transportation equity, which is basically just importing critical race theory into our nations infrastructure programs, Vance tweeted in August 2021. Its totally ridiculous and its obvious that Republicans have been had in supporting this bill. During a September 2021 interview with CBS News, Vance said that the mistake that Republicans have recently made on bipartisanship is that we gave Democrats a huge win. We do have infrastructure problems, but I dont think this bill actually spends the money on the things that we need, he said of the legislation. See all JD Vance in the news stories. Cleveland.com is closely tracking JD Vances every move and the reactions he provokes, as he becomes the first Ohioan in 80 years to appear on a presidential ticket for either major party. The coverage of JD Vance aims to provide a daily snapshot of the buzz surrounding him, capturing what he says, what he does, and what others are saying about him. COLUMBUS, OhioGov. Mike DeWine says hes infuriated that Republican presidential ticket Donald Trump and JD Vance are continuing to make false claims about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, claiming that such comments are hurtful to a lot of people. Thats according to Jonathan Martin of Politico, who was granted unusual access to DeWine during a recent visit to Springfield, where criticism over the roughly 15,000 legal immigrants who recently moved there from Haiti has escalated into bizarre, unfounded claims by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Vance, Trumps vice-presidential pick, that the Haitians are eating peoples pets. DeWine, who has done philanthropic work in Haiti for decades, had taken pains to temper his criticism of Trump and Vance over their comments about Springfield, which were followed by dozens of bomb threats made against schools, government buildings, and hospitals in Springfield. But over a dinner of take-out Haitian food at DeWines rural home about 12 miles south of Springfield, the governor told Martin that he grew just more infuriated about Vance calling Springfield Haitians illegal aliens, when in reality they came to the U.S. legally under temporary protected status after fleeing violence in their native country. To say that these people are illegal is just not right, you cant make up stuff like that, DeWine said to Martin, adding he knew he would have trouble when Trump brought up Springfield repeatedly in his lone presidential debate with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris earlier this month. I just started shaking my head, DeWine said. And then he kept on it! First Lady Fran DeWine, also at the dinner, said that when she and her husband went to a county fair somewhere in Northern Ohio a couple days after the debate, she met a woman with a young daughter adopted from China. Both were in tears, Fran DeWine said, because they feared that if Trump became president again, the girl would be sent back to China. Their comments are just hurtful; theyre hurtful to a lot of people, the governor said of Trump and Vance. And people listen and they hear that (Trumps) kicking everybody out, anybody whos not born here. Martin also reported that the DeWines energetically expressed admiration and empathy for comments made by Nathan Clark, the father of an 11-year-old who was killed last year near Springfield. when a Haitian driver crashed into the boys school bus. Clark, speaking at a Springfield City Council meeting the same night of the debate, demanded Trump and other Republican politicians stop mentioning his sons name. That guy had the guts, and his wife had the guts, to go in there in front of the world and to people who were clearly on the other side in that audience and to say that, exclaimed the governor. He doesnt have anything to gain, Fran DeWine added, to which her husband replied, He had nothing to gain! And he just drilled them. Despite his criticism of Trump and Vance, Mike DeWine who has been staunchly loyal to Republican candidates during his nearly 50 years in politics said he continues to support their campaign. If you want to continue to be effective you have to do it from inside your own party, said DeWine, who is expected to retire from politics when his gubernatorial term ends in 2027. My goal has always been to get things done. Ive been I think successful at it. And Ive got two years and three months and I want to continue to get stuff done. DeWine has repeatedly criticized President Joe Bidens handling of the border. But, he told Martin, thats a different matter than the Haitians of Springfield, who are in the country legally. The governor said that Biden, who served with DeWine in the U.S. Senate, offered to provide help and, by that time, the FBI had already been sent to Springfield. However, DeWine said, the federal response was initially not going as well as we wanted, so he reached out to Steve Ricchetti, a top White House adviser and an Ohio native. Now, DeWine said, federal agencies are working very closely trying to help us. In addition to deploying the Ohio State Highway Patrol to Springfield to patrol roads and conduct bomb sweeps at schools, DeWine has also ordered camera towers to be erected around the city. Hes also ordered state money to be spent on addressing two main criticisms of the Haitians presence in Springfield an increased burden on the local healthcare system and problems with Haitian drivers by setting up mobile health clinics in the city and creating more drivers education classes. Martin witnessed DeWine express irritation with aides over how long it was taking to get driving forms translated into Creole, the primary language used by most Haitians. The governor, Martin reported, held up a couple of Creole-language childrens books printed by Columbus-based Highlights as evidence of how quickly such material can be made. DAS has got to get off their ass and weve got to get moving, this is just not tolerable, said the usually genteel DeWine, referring to the Ohio Department of Administrative Services. You cant hold stuff up because we cant translate something. Jeremy Pelzer covers state politics and policy for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. WASHINGTON, D. C. - Immigrants are going to get you. Democrats are, too. The economy is going to collapse. We will have World War III if Democrat Kamala Harris wins the presidency. These are some of the attack lines that former U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat who faced Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance in two debates during Ohios 2022 U.S. Senate contest, expects Vance will roll out during Tuesdays vice-presidential debate with Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. He will try to scare the hell out of everybody, Ryan said of Vance, who defeated Ryan with 53% of the vote. Hes got an audience of one. Hes got to impress Donald Trump. Trumps going to want to see him be aggressive. And if hes not saying these kind of things that Trump has said, about World War III and all the rest, then Dads gonna be mad. Ryan says Walzs team sought his insights as he prepares to face Vance on Tuesday at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City. Ryan wouldnt reveal exactly what he told Walzs team but says his ex-colleague in Congress needs to be likeable himself, and point out any lies Vance tells, as Harris did when she debated Trump on Sept. 10. The aggression he expects from Vance could backfire, Ryan predicts. JD can come off as angry and super-intellectual, to where no-one even knows what the hell hes talking about, and he has flashes of anger, said Ryan. Most people use these debates to decide whether they like or dislike that person, and they dont get too much into the nuance of the discussions. CBS says the debate will be moderated by CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Norah ODonnell and Face the Nation moderator and CBS News foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan. Ryan served with Walz in the U.S. House of Representatives. They played together on the congressional baseball team, and both worked out in the House gym. He thinks Walz trumps Vance on likeability. He was definitely a buddy, Ryan says of Walz. He is just a good guy who is in it for all the right reasons. I think that is why Kamala picked him. He is likeable and he cares. That is coming through. I think that is why young people are gravitating to him. He is a real man. Not a bloviating wannabe tough guy. He was in the military and a football coach. A lot of young people can relate to him and that has been awesome to see. He said its important for Walz to be himself in the debate, and let his personality shine. He knows how to beat back extreme rhetoric with folksy normal people speak, Ryan says, noting how Walz has branded Vance and Trump as weird and has publicly urged politicians to mind their own damned business in respecting their neighbors life choices. He argues that Walz has more talent and experience than Vance, whom he believes makes everyone a pawn in the game, including the people of Springfield, Ohio, who experienced bomb threats after Vance and Trump aired unproven claims that Haitian immigrants to the city were kidnapping and eating residents pets. Walz is preparing for the debate by conducting mock debates with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg standing in for Vance. When Ryan prepared for his own debates, Franklin County Auditor Danny OConnor was the stand-in. He says much of debate preparation involves practicing how to remain composed when facing tough questioning and attacks from opponents in a high-profile public setting. Knowing the issues, knowing the data, knowing the stats is kind of like second nature to a lot of us who are in the business, Ryan says. Its really about emotional regulation. Ryan says he hammered Vance for being an ass kisser with Trump, and had him back on his heels for most of the two debates. I felt pretty good about it, Ryan said, and I think Walz will do just as good, if not better. Sabrina Eaton writes about the federal government and politics in Washington, D.C., for cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. Rotunda Rumblings Veep stakes: When Ohio Republican Sen. JD Vance and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz face off Tuesday in the only scheduled 2024 debate between vice-presidential candidates, millions of voters will be watching, but few of them are likely to be swayed by what they hear, Sabrina Eaton writes. Vice presidential candidates just dont matter all that much to the electoral fortunes of a presidential ticket, said University of Dayton political scientist Christopher Devine, co-author of two books on the influence of vice-presidential candidates in presidential elections. It would take a slip-up by one of the candidates during the nationally televised debate to sway voters, he predicts. Cant win: Ohio Supreme Court Justice Joe Deters, a Republican running for a different seat on the court, said Democrats are pushing a redistricting reform amendment because they cant win under the current rules. Jake Zuckerman writes that Deters, who recently ruled on GOP-authored ballot language for the amendment, likened the effort in Ohio to others at the federal level to nix the electoral college or add justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. He made his comments during an appearance on conservative talk radio in Cleveland last week. Presidential disorder: The story behind why presidential candidate Jill Stein has been disqualified in Ohio goes deeper than initially thought. As previously reported, the Ohio secretary of states office ruled any votes for Stein, the Green Partys presidential nominee running as an independent in Ohio, shouldnt be counted because her running mate, Anita Rios, withdrew her candidacy. But as Jeremy Pelzer reports, theres now a whole lot of finger-pointing over that, including an allegation by Steins campaign that someone submitted an unauthorized withdrawal letter using Rios forged signature. Statement game: Gov. Mike DeWines forceful dismissal of the unsubstantiated rumors spread by the GOP presidential ticket about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, left him as an outlier among his fellow Republicans. Laura Hancock and Rick Rouan assembled statements about Springfield from other Ohio Republicans. They write that some who have spoken publicly about Springfield have fallen in line with former President Donald Trump, who amplified rumors about Haitians eating their neighbors pets in the small city during the presidential debate earlier this month. Hello out there: U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan on Friday took the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to task for failing to provide Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose with data he requested to verify the citizenship of Ohio voters, Eaton writes. In a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Jordan says LaRose sought access to federal citizenship verification records on July 19 and hasnt gotten a response from the agency after sending four appeals seeking access to three databases and systems. Moving on: Lynn Hoover, interim director of the State Teachers Retirement System, and Matt Worley, the pensions chief investment officer, are leaving the organization in December and March respectively, the Dispatchs Laura Bischoff reports. The board over STRS last week was deadlocked 5-5 on a no-confidence vote among the pensions leadership team. The boards composition has changed in recent years, with new members challenging the way the money is being managed. Rain check: Springfield city officials were hoping to discuss the challenges of thousands of Haitian immigrants arriving in the city privately with JD Vance, but chose to cancel the call when his staff said several unidentified parties with first-hand experiences of how the immigrants were affecting their lives were joining the call. The city officials were uninterested in being drawn into more politicization. ABC News obtained emails about the canceled call through a public information request, its reporter Armando Garcia writes. All in the family: Vances mom, whose battles with addiction are featured in his Hillbilly Elegy memoir, invited a New York Times reporter to accompany her to her regular Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Middletown, Ohio. She is dimly aware that her son has become the figure of much outrage of late, but, for the sake of her own sanity and sobriety, she says she remains purposefully oblivious to many of the controversies swirling around him, the publication said of Vances mother, Beverly Aikins. Making hay: Seven bipartisan U.S. House of Representatives members from Ohio sent a letter last week that asks Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to allow emergency haying of eligible Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres by Ohio farmers because of the states drought. Ohio is currently facing its worst drought on record since the early 1930s, with USDA natural disaster declarations in place for 28 counties, says the letter. Farmers struggling to stay afloat have resorted to depleting winter hay supplies and prematurely selling off their livestock. The letter is signed by Republicans Michael Rulli of Salem, Brad Wenstrup of Cincinnati, Troy Balderson of Zanesville, Warren Davidson of Troy, Mike Carey of Columbus and Democrats Marcy Kaptur of Toledo and Greg Landsman of Cincinnati. Sliding into DMs: JD Vance has said his mind was changed about Donald Trump, who he previously disapproved of, based on his record as president. However, the Washington Posts Peter Jamison got to look at social media direct messages Vance sent in 2020 to an undisclosed person showing Vance remained critical. He said Trump failed to deliver on his economic policy, his China trade policy was disjointed and he accurately predicted Joe Biden would win the election. A Vance spokesperson said the comments were a critique of Republicans who stood in the way of Trumps agenda, not of Trump himself. Lobbying Lineup Five organizations that are lobbying on House Bill 207, which would change how pools with certain types of slides and wave-making equipment are regulated. Currently, if the pool is in an amusement park, its solely licensed by the Ohio Department of Agriculture and other pools are regulated by the local health department. The bill would specify that ODA regulates structural integrity and physical integrity of such pool components, and the local health departments would have authority over water quality, disinfection and surrounding areas. 1. Association of Ohio Health Commissioners 2. Ohio Campground Owners Association 3. Girl Scouts of Western Ohio 4. Ohio Alliance of YMCAs 5. Ohio Environmental Health Association On The Move Jon Allison, who was chief of staff to ex-Gov. Bob Taft, has been appointed to the board of the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio by Gov. Mike DeWine. Allison, who was named to a four-year term, succeeds Wade Steen, whose term expired Friday. DeWine attempted to remove Steen from the STRS board in 2023, but he was reinstated last April via a court order. Birthdays Aaron Pickrell, Democratic political consultant Straight From The Source I think it was important as the governor of the State of Ohio to tell the truth about what is going on in Springfield and to describe this community as I have known it for my entire life. -Gov. Mike DeWine, describing the impact of his New York Times op-ed calling out false statements from former President Donald Trump, U.S. Sen. JD Vance and other Republicans, about the community in the midst of a surge in immigration, write Andrew Tobias and Nick Castele of Signal Cleveland. Capitol Letter is a daily briefing providing succinct, timely information for those who care deeply about the decisions made by state government. Subscribe to get Capitol Letter in your email box each weekday for free. This aerial view shows the Big Sur coastline and Highway 1, looking northward. Plans to reopen a damaged stretch of Highway 1 connecting Big Sur to San Luis Obispo have been delayed until next year. kodiak greenwood/Special to The Chronicle The Deetjens Inn has remained open during the road closure of Highway 1. kodiak greenwood/Special to The Chronicle Plans to reopen a damaged stretch of Highway 1 connecting Big Sur to San Luis Obispo have been delayed until next year, Caltrans announced Friday. The agency originally planned a fall reopening of Highway 1 at Regents Slide, which was obliterated by a landslide in March, closing access to a 6.8-mile Monterey County stretch from 1 mile south of the Esalen Institute to 2 miles north of the town of Lucia. Repairs were delayed last month when crews found cracks during excavation of the site, Caltrans announced on Aug. 16. In the weeks since that update, continued land movement and slope cracking were observed during intensive project monitoring and investigation, Caltrans said in its statement on Friday. Crews need to do more monitoring to inform the design of the repairs, it added. Repairs will resume when crews and equipment can be positioned on stable ground. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Because of the lack of through traffic, the continued closure of the scenic roadway is a hit to Central Coast businesses in Big Sur and Cambria (San Luis Obispo County). Several other parts of Highway 1 have been closed due to landslides in recent months and years, including Rocky Creek Slide between Carmel and Big Sur, which reopened in May after closing in March, and Pauls Slide south of Regents Slide, which finally reopened in June after a year-and-a-half closure. Road crews work on top of Regents Slide area above Highway 1 in Big Sur. kodiak greenwood/Special to The Chronicle The road wipeout at Regents Slide did not deter a bicyclist from attempting to cross it last month. The cyclist fell down the slope, sustaining injuries and requiring a search-and-rescue response, the Los Angeles Times reported. Dancing to Emmylou Harris at the Banjo Stage of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2023 in San Francisco. Lizzy Montana Myers/Special to the Chronicle People enjoy the music at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival attendees. Manuel Orbegozo/Special to The Chronicle Cat Power is slated to perform at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival this year. Mauricio Santana/Getty Images Police officers monitor the scene at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festi. Benjamin Fanjoy/Special to The Chronicle Visitors clear security at an entrance near Fulton Street for the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco. Benjamin Fanjoy/Special to The Chronicle Patti Smith performs during the final day of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2012. She is slated to return in 2024. Clint Wirtanen/The Chronicle Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is a highlight of the Bay Areas fall arts season. The annual free three-day music festival, bestowed upon the city by the late investment banker Warren Hellman, returns to San Franciscos Golden Gate Park on Friday through Sunday, Oct. 4-6. Originating in 2001 as a modest one-day event featuring eight acts, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass has blossomed over two-plus decades into a cherished tradition. Featuring over 65 performances across six stages, the festival endures as Hellman ensured its perpetuity through a dedicated endowment, maintaining it as a gift to the city, free from corporate sponsorships, alcohol sales and unnecessary frills. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Who are the performers at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2024? Emmylou Harris has long been the final performer of the annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival. Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle The 2024 lineup includes Rock & Roll Hall of Fame musician and poet Patti Smith, indie sensation Cat Power, gospel powerhouse Mavis Staples, feminist rock trailblazers Sleater-Kinney, avant-garde folk artist Devendra Banhart, Irish balladeer Glen Hansard and the festivals perennial Sunday headliner, the revered Emmylou Harris. The list extends to more than 65 artists, including Ramblin Jack Elliott, Buddy Miller, Jessica Pratt, Steve Earle, Brandy Clark, Robin Hitchcock and Yo La Tengo. A special tribute to the influential power-pop band Big Star will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its landmark album, Radio City. For the full list of artists and set times, visit hardlystrictlybluegrass.com/schedule. Advertisement Article continues below this ad When does it start? Mavis Staples performs on the Banjo Stage at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Sarahbeth Maney/SFC Gates open at 11 a.m. Friday, and at 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Live musical performances start at 1 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. All stages go dark by 7 p.m. on all three days. Where is the festival? Attendees pass through security to enter the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass fest. Manuel Orbegozo/Special to The Chronicle The 24th annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass takes place on the west end of Golden Gate Park, featuring six stages in Marx and Lindley meadows as well as Hellman Hollow and McLaren Pass. Entrance to the festival will be limited to four main points: Advertisement Article continues below this ad John F. Kennedy Drive and Transverse Drive Fulton Street and 30th Avenue JFK Drive and 36th Avenue South Polo Field Special accommodations for accessibility are provided at JFK and 36th. How do I get there? Crowds gather during Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in 2019. Brian Feulner/Special to The Chronicle Public transport is highly recommended due to road closures within the park. Muni services, including the 5-Fulton, 31-Balboa, 38-Geary, and N-Judah lines, offer access. Ride-hailing services are directed to Balboa Street between 30th and 32nd avenues. Bicycling is encouraged, with bike parking details on the festival website. Limited parking is available at nearby school lots. Advertisement Article continues below this ad What are the food and drink options at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass? Festivalgoers enjoy their picnic at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Lizzy Montana Myers Special to The Chronicle The festival permits beer and wine in non-glass containers but prohibits hard alcohol. A variety of food options will be provided by Bay Area vendors, and free water refills are available. A general store will offer essential items. What items are prohibited? Festival attendees whose clear bags made it through security at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is a family-friendly festival, but children and leashed dogs should be comfortable with very large crowds, loud music and extreme weather conditions. Advertisement Article continues below this ad While it is admission-free, there are a few basic rules: smoking, busking, camping, solicitation and saving space are prohibited. Permissible items include small bags, refillable water bottles and short-backed chairs. Security screenings with metal detectors will be in place. Blankets should be no larger than 8x10 feet and may not be left unattended for more than an hour. For full details on rules, visit the FAQ section on the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass website. What are the after-hours events? Brooke Edwards enjoys the show at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco. Benjamin Fanjoy/Special to The Chronicle The festival is collaborating with local venues to present its first Out of the Park nighttime concerts, benefiting the Sweet Relief Bay Area Musicians Fund. These ticketed shows feature Hansard and Greensky Bluegrass at the Fillmore in San Francisco; Robin Hitchcock, Fruition and the Bones of J.R. Jones at Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley; Hayley Heynderickx at the Guild Theatre in Menlo Park; and a special tribute concert at the Great American Music Hall in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Big Stars landmark album, Radio City. Check the website for dates and ticket details. How can I watch the festival from home? Fans enjoy the scene on a sunny day at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Bronte Wittpenn/The Chronicle Cant attend in person? The festival can be streamed globally via Hardly Strictly Bluegrass TV, which includes original content and exclusive sets from previous festivals. It is available via the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass website. On Roku, open the Roku Channel Store and search for HSB TV. On Apple TV, open the App Store and search for HSB TV. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, seen in April, sued a California hospital, alleging it denied emergency abortion care to a Eureka woman who was miscarrying and bleeding profusely, forcing her to travel to another hospital in excruciating pain. Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press SACRAMENTO Attorney General Rob Bonta is suing a California hospital, alleging it denied emergency abortion care to a Eureka woman who was miscarrying and bleeding profusely, forcing her to travel to another hospital in excruciating pain and worrying she would bleed out. The woman, Anna Nusslock, described being overjoyed when she learned she was pregnant with twin girls. She crocheted them outfits and picked out decorations for their room. I really want to be a mom, she told reporters at a Monday news conference. I would dream about my beautiful daughters. Advertisement Article continues below this ad At 15 weeks pregnant, long before a fetus can survive outside the womb, she went to Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka in February because she was bleeding and her water had broken. She was told she needed an emergency abortion, but that the hospital wouldnt perform it because they had a policy not to provide abortions when a heartbeat is detected. The policy applied, she was told, even though her pregnancy was not viable and neither of her twins would survive. I needed an abortion so that my husband didnt lose both of his daughters and his wife in one night, she said. But despite the agreement of my doctors that I needed an abortion, I was told I could not receive emergency abortion care while at Providence because of hospital policy. She asked if she could drive to UCSF, which was about five hours away, but was told she would bleed out on the way if she did. She ultimately drove to Mad River Community Hospital, a small hospital about 12 miles away. As she left Providence, hospital staff offered her a bucket and towels in case something happens in the car, Bontas office said. Shortly after she arrived, she said she felt blinding pain and spontaneously miscarried one of her daughters and began to hemorrhage more severely. She described the experience as the absolute worst moment of her life and accused Providence of causing her needless protracted bleeding, pain and trauma. Providence did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment for this story. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Bontas office alleges that Providence Hospital violated Californias Emergency Services Law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, and the Unfair Competition Law when it denied Nusslock an abortion. Her doctors told her that her pregnancy wasnt viable and that she needed an emergency abortion, the last thing she wanted to hear, Bonta told reporters at the news conference. But then Providence hospitals policy prohibited the very care the doctors prescribed and even noted in Annas file that it was because a heartbeat was detected. The lawsuit comes in the wake of reporting by ProPublica that revealed two women died in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and ending the nationwide right to an abortion. Both womens deaths were deemed preventable because they werent able to access reproductive health care in the wake of the Supreme Court decision. The two deaths are the first preventable abortion-related fatalities that have come to light, although ProPublica has reported there are almost certainly others. Democrats have made abortion rights a centerpiece of their campaigning this election cycle, most prominently in the presidential race. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrats nominee for president, has focused on the issue in her campaign speeches in recent weeks since the deaths were reported. Advertisement Article continues below this ad But those deaths happened in Georgia, where abortion had been banned after the sixth week of pregnancy before many women even know theyre pregnant. A Georgia judge struck down that ban Monday. Its a far different situation in California, which has worked to expand access to the procedure in the wake of the Supreme Courts Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization decision, including by writing abortion rights and birth control access into the states Constitution in 2022. But there are still instances in which women in California have struggled to access care. The National Womens Law Center wrote a public demand letter to CVS in June after a San Diego woman was denied a prescription to help her manage her abortion, CalMatters reported. And there remain pockets of the state where access to abortion care is relatively nonexistent. At least 356 Californians obtained abortions outside the state last year, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research organization that supports reproductive health care, and the Brigid Alliance, which provides logistical support to abortion seekers. Bontas office said the suit was especially prescient because Mad River Community Hospital, which treated Nusslock, will be closing its labor and delivery unit in October. In a month, Providence will be left as the only hospital with an L&D unit in all of Humboldt County, the Department of Justice wrote in a statement. The next person in Annas situation will face an agonizing choice of risking a multi-hour drive to another hospital or waiting until they are close enough to death for Providence to intervene. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The case also highlights the difference between California law, which requires hospitals to provide emergency abortion care, and the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA. A woman who was prevented from obtaining a potentially life-saving abortion in Idaho, which bans most abortions, filed suit under EMTALA, and federal courts ordered the state to allow the procedure. Idaho appealed to the Supreme Court, which first agreed to review the case, then dismissed it on a 5-4 vote in June without deciding whether the federal law overrides state anti-abortion laws. With EMTALA in limbo, states like California have to rely on their own state laws to protect pregnant patients, Bontas office said. This story is part of CNBC Make It's The Moment series, where highly successful people reveal the critical moment that changed the trajectory of their lives and careers, discussing what drove them to make the leap into the unknown. Jyoti Bansal got to live out a scenario that most people can only dream about: He built his own startup, got an acquisition offer he couldn't refuse and sold it for billions. Today, it's among his biggest regrets. Bansal, 46, is the founder of software developer AppDynamics, which was preparing to go public in 2017 when tech giant Cisco swooped in at the last minute, offering to buy the company for $3.7 billion. The deal made hundreds of the startup's employees, Bansal included, instantly wealthy. But what should have been a joyous moment became Bansal's "saddest day," he tells CNBC Make It. Bansal had long dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur, and worked as a Silicon Valley software engineer for eight years until he got a Green Card he was born in India and launched his own startup. He built AppDynamics around the biggest problems he faced as an engineer, creating tools for troubleshooting outages and other software applications flaws. "When I started [AppDynamics], I didn't think about a financial outcome," he says. "I just thought in terms of: This problem needs to be solved." AppDynamics developed a reputation for helping big companies fix their wonky apps. But after selling it to Cisco, Bansal realized that he hadn't finished the job at AppDynamics which could've become a "much bigger" company, he says and he was aimless without a big problem to focus on. After six months of traveling the world, Bansal launched a San Francisco-based startup called Harness, which also makes tools for software developers. It was most recently valued at $3.7 billion in 2022, according to the company, the same amount AppDynamics sold for. Here, Bansal discusses how he made the difficult decision to sell AppDynamics, his near-immediate regrets and why he'd almost certainly turn down a similar offer for his startup today. CNBC Make It: It's January 2017. You've just sold AppDynamics for $3.7 billion. How are you feeling in that triumphant moment? Bansal: We announced the sale, and then we had a huge party at our office in San Francisco. Folks from Cisco were there. It was a very happy celebration. But walking home after, I was sad and depressed. I spent nine years of my life fully dedicated to what we were building there. Suddenly, it's the end of a chapter. That's the bittersweet part of selling your company. It's a great outcome in a lot of ways, but it's the end of a chapter, or end of a book, in many ways too. I was kind of lost. What was your initial reaction to Cisco's last-minute offer? It was definitely a surprise. We were about to go public, and we weren't stopping our IPO. [The AppDynamics board had] six days to figure out how we were going to go on this. People think: "Oh, that must have been the easiest decision to make." But it was the hardest decision. For three days, I got maybe three hours of sleep [per night]. We were getting on calls and figuring out what to do, getting all of the point of views. I was chairman of the board and the biggest shareholder, so I had to drive a lot of those conversations. What were the biggest factors you considered? Is it really possible in that timeframe? Is it the right thing to do? What's the joint story of the two products and the two companies? Does [the acquisition] allow us to continue the vision of what we set out to do? We could be part of a bigger platform, like Cisco, and their customer base and market. That's one factor. The second is culture, what kind of home your employees get. Cisco, to their credit, did an excellent job giving a high degree of independence to the AppDynamics unit, I'd say. The third factor is financial. Is it the right thing for the stockholders founders, investors and employees? As the only founder, I was fortunate enough [that] any outcome financially would be fine for me. [But] we had about 300 or so employees who made more than a million dollars in the final offer we accepted. We had dozens of employees with $5 million-plus outcomes. That's life-changing, so it all became risk versus reward. You seemed to believe you made the right decision on paper. So, why feel sad or lost? When I started AppDynamics, if someone said, "Your company could be worth $100 million," I would have said, "Oh, that's mind-blowing success." [After the sale] I realized that I really enjoyed building the company, creating products, solving problems, competing in the market, every element of company building that I'd gone through. It was intense and stressful, but I really enjoyed it. I also felt like we didn't fully finish what we could've done. Everyone told me, "You should retire. Go on the beach. What else do you need to do?" That was my first instinct, as well. I wanted to trek in the Himalayas, hike Machu Picchu, do a safari in Africa, see the fjords in Norway. In six months, my bucket list was done. And I started to realize: That's not it for me. You're currently weighing a potential IPO for Harness. Hypothetically, what would you do if you got a great last-minute offer to sell it? We'd have to entertain the offer, but I know the answer is most likely no. [At AppDynamics] it felt like we were closer to the finish line. At Harness, we want to get to billions of dollars of revenue. We're expanding into new markets, new products, solving more problems, and we create the organizational culture that does that. That's what I want to do, as long as we can. It feels like our journey is just starting, so it doesn't make sense to sell to someone else. That's a big part of what would drive a decision. We have so much [room] to grow from here. So, the answer is no unless something crazy happens. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Want to master your money this fall? Sign up for CNBC's new online course. We'll teach you practical strategies to hack your budget, reduce your debt, and grow your wealth. Start today to feel more confident and successful. Use code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off, now extended through September 30, 2024, for the back-to-school season. The Chinese stock market just had its best single day in more than a decade. The mainland CSI 300 index on Monday surged 8.5% , its biggest one-day gain since September 2008. That pushed the benchmark to its highest level since August 2023. It's also the last trading day of the week in China due to the Golden Week holiday. U.S.-traded ETFs linked to China popped following the overnight action. The iShares China Large-Cap ETF (FXI) traded 2.5% higher. The iShares MSCI China ETF (MCHI) gained 3.4%. Those moves came after China unveiled a slate of stimulus measures to curb the country's economic slump. On Sunday, China's central bank said it would tell banks to cut mortgage rates on existing home loans by the end of October. Against this backdrop, Roth MKM's JC O'Hara highlighted one S & P 500 sector that might benefit the most from a rebound in China's economy: materials. The firm's chief market technician pointed out that raw materials companies including metals and miners and chemical producers hit a record last week, soaring 3.4%. "Materials has the highest correlation among the U.S. sectors to China," he said. O'Hara also pointed to strength in industrial metals such as copper and zinc as a sign that these gains can continue, at least in the short term. Copper futures climbed 5.9% last week, their biggest weekly gain in almost three months. Zinc jumped 3.8%. Some materials stocks highlighted by O'Hara as potential winners, at least based on their price charts alone, are O-I Glass , Corteva and Freeport-McMoRan . To be sure, investors should tread carefully in materials, O'Hara said. "We like the absolute price movement but are still not impressed with the longer-term downtrend from the relative line," he said, referring to the sector's relative performance compared with the broader market. Elsewhere on Wall Street this morning, Seaport upgraded Disney to buy from neutral. "While we have tangibly soft Parks data, it is likely temporary, and emergent [direct to consumer] profitability is getting the benefit of the doubt, with recent price increases and paid sharing announcements possibly supporting further [average revenue per user] and sub growth," the firm said. U.S. crude oil prices posted a third monthly loss in a row in September as rising supplies from OPEC+ and weak demand in China haunt the market. The U.S. benchmark has declined more than 7% for the month, while global benchmark Brent has fallen about 9%. "Oil markets are experiencing a panic attack," Amarpreet Singh, energy analyst at Barclays, told clients in a Friday note. "Balances are set to loosen next year, but concerns are likely overdone." Barclays expects Brent to average $85 in 2025. Here are Monday's closing energy prices: Oil prices remain under pressure in part because OPEC+ plans to begin increasing production in December, and as demand in China, the world's largest crude importer, remains soft. Prices are finding little support from red-hot tensions in the Middle East even after Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike in Beirut on Friday. The Netanyahu government is pummeling the Iran-backed militia group, with concerns growing that Israel might launch a ground operation in Lebanon. "We believe that this price action reflects that the geopolitical risk premium remains limited [amid] market expectations of potentially higher oil supply" from Libya and Saudi Arabia, Daan Struyven, head oil analyst at Goldman Sachs, told clients in a Sunday note. The Stellantis sign is seen outside the FCA Headquarters and Technology Center in Auburn Hills, Michigan, on Jan. 19, 2021. Stocks of European carmakers hemorrhaged on Monday as Stellantis and British luxury brand Aston Martin issued profit warnings, citing broader industry challenges and difficulties in the world's largest auto market, China. Stellantis on Monday trimmed its 2024 annual guidance on the back of deteriorating "global industry dynamics" and bolstered competition from China, sending Milan-listed shares lower on open. The French-Italian conglomerate, known for brands such as Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Maserati, warned of lower-than-expected sales "across most regions" in the second half of the year. It now pencils in an adjusted operating income (AOI) margin between 5.5% to 7.0% for the full-year 2024 period, down from a "double digit" outlook. "Deterioration in the global industry backdrop reflects a lower 2024 market forecast than at the beginning of the period, while competitive dynamics have intensified due to both rising industry supply, as well as increased Chinese competition," the automaker said. It also lowered projections for its industrial free cash flow to a range between minus 5 billion euros ($5.58 billion) to minus 10 billion euros, from a "positive" guidance previously, as a result of a lower anticipated AOI margin and temporarily higher working capital over the second half of this year. The automaker further attributed the revisions to its guidance to "decisions to significantly enlarge remediation actions on North American performance issues," but supplied no additional details. Earlier this year, Stellantis was sued by shareholders in the U.S. who claimed the automaker defrauded them by concealing rising inventories and other items, Reuters reported. This month, Stellantis' U.S. dealer network criticized CEO Carlos Tavares for the company's recent sales decreases, factory production cuts, among other decisions that they assessed as detrimental to the automaker's business. European shares of the carmaker closed 14.7% lower on Monday. Shares on the New York Stock Exchange hit a new 52-week low Monday, closing down 12.5% to $14.05. Temperatures up to 25 degrees above normal are forecast across California to begin October as a heat wave builds across the state. Many temperature records will be threatened statewide. Baron/Lynx An autumn heat wave will bring temperatures as much as 25 degrees above normal to California this week, likely setting records in many locations. After temperatures were near normal over the weekend, a high-pressure system is predicted to build throughout the day Monday. The movement of this system is favorable for weak offshore winds that erode coastal fog and allow even San Francisco to warm up beyond midsummer norms. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The National Weather Service has excessive heat warnings and advisories across the Bay Area, which are in effect until 11 p.m. Wednesday. San Francisco and Oakland are forecast to be in the 90s, while many inland areas, including San Jose, should hit the triple digits, especially Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday will likely be the hottest day in the Bay Area, with highs in the 80s to mid-90s at the coast, 95 to 104 along the bay shoreline and up to 108 degrees inland. Santa Rosa, Kentfield, San Rafael, Livermore, Half Moon Bay and San Jose could all set record high temperatures Tuesday. Numerous other California cities are forecast to break record temperatures this week. Along with the hot days, exceptionally warm nights will not provide much relief. Southern California wont be spared the hot weather, either. A heat advisory is in effect for the Inland Empire on Tuesday and Wednesday for temperatures up to 108 degrees. Palm Springs could reach 113 degrees, prompting an excessive heat warning. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Dangerously hot conditions for late September and early October in Death Valley also prompted an excessive heat warning, with temperatures of 110 to 115 degrees through Thursday. A gradual cooldown is expected in Northern California beginning Thursday, but triple-digit temperatures will likely continue in the Central Valley and inland Southern California. Above-normal temperatures are predicted to continue throughout the entire state until at least mid-October. Monday breakdown San Francisco: A significant warmup will begin in the city, with temperatures 15 to 20 degrees higher than Sunday. Skies will be clear to start, with weak east winds allowing the Richmond and Sunset districts to climb to the 70s quickly after sunrise. The west side of the city should top out in the mid-70s to near 80 in the early afternoon, while downtown and the Mission District should reach the mid- to upper 80s. A warm night is expected, with lows in the low to upper 60s in the valleys and the upper 60s to mid-70s in the hills. Advertisement Article continues below this ad North Bay: Clear skies and light winds off the mountains will lead to rapidly warming conditions throughout the North Bay on Monday morning. Temperatures should be in the 70s by midmorning, near 90 by noon and pushing the triple digits in Santa Rosa, Sonoma, Napa, Fairfield and Vacaville by the mid- to late afternoon. San Rafael and Kentfield are forecast to be in the mid-90s, but often eclipse predicted temperatures in the early stages of a heat wave, so hitting 100 degrees cannot be ruled out. Beach weather will be beautiful, in the mid- to upper 80s with light winds. Lows will be warm, in the 60s in the valleys and 70s in the mountains. East Bay: Northeast winds gusting up to 30 mph in the Oakland and Berkeley hills will push warm air all the way to the bay shoreline in the morning, with temperatures in the 80s likely by noon. The winds will relax in the afternoon, but temperatures will continue to climb. Highs are forecast to reach the mid-80s to near 90 in Oakland and Berkeley, low 90s in Hayward and Fremont and mid-90s to near 100 in Lamorinda, Concord, Walnut Creek, Dublin and Livermore. Overnight lows will be warm, in the 60s to low 70s in the valleys and 70s in the hills. Pacific Coast and Peninsula: Perfect beach weather is in store for the San Mateo County coastline Monday, with highs in the upper 70s to mid-80s and light winds. Half Moon Bays forecast high of 82 degrees would be the warmest day in nearly a year. Tuesday will be even hotter. The Interstate 280 and Highway 101 corridors will be much warmer than normal as well, with highs ranging from the mid-80s in San Bruno to the mid-90s in Redwood City. Overnight lows will be warm, in the 60s to low 70s, hottest in the foothills west of I-280. South Bay and Santa Cruz: Temperatures will quickly climb as the sun rises in the South Bay, reaching the 80s by late morning and the low to mid-90s in the afternoon. San Joses forecast high of 95 degrees is well above the daily average of 79. Even Santa Cruz wont escape the warmth, with highs in the mid-80s to low 90s. An uncomfortably warm night is expected, with lows in the mid- to upper 60s in the valleys and 70s in the Santa Clara Hills and Santa Cruz Mountains. Dish's "Seinfeld" strategy appears to have ended quite like the actual show with its finale a generally-accepted disappointment. In 2011, Dish cofounder Charlie Ergen first mentioned "Seinfeld" on an earnings call, responding to an analyst's question about his company's mixed bag of assets. Ergen noted a half-hour episode of the 1990s sitcom would usually start with multiple plot lines without a clear direction, "But it all seemed to come together in the last couple of minutes," he said. "And so I think in terms of where we're going strategically, you'll have to just wait and see where it all comes together." On Monday, assuming regulatory approval, the conclusion was revealed. EchoStar , Dish's parent company, sold the pay-TV provider to DirecTV for a nominal price of $1 and $9.75 billion of associated debt on the business. EchoStar shares fell more than 11% Monday. In recent years Dish tried and failed to transition to a nationwide wireless carrier, while seeing millions of pay-TV subscribers cancel for streaming services and operators that include high-speed broadband, such as Comcast and Charter. Dish and DirecTV have lost a combined 63% of their video subscribers since 2016. "Times have changed," said EchoStar CEO Hamid Akhavan in a CNBC interview Monday. "The content-distribution industry has been on the decline, losing customers at a rapid pace." The company's enterprise value has plummeted in turn. When Dish and DirecTV discussed merging in 2014, DirecTV's market capitalization was about $40 billion, and Dish's market valuation was more than $28 billion. DirecTV sold a year later to AT&T for $49 billion in equity value. Dish remained independent and lost almost all of its value as its business dwindled and satellite TV has become increasingly anachronistic. EchoStar and Dish merged back together earlier this year after separating in 2008. EchoStar was motivated to move Dish and its debt off its balance as a $2 billion debt payment matures in November, CNBC reported last week. LONDON European stocks closed lower on Monday, starting the week and ending the final trading session of September in negative territory. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index provisionally closed 0.95% lower, with almost all sectors and major bourses in negative territory. Autos stocks were the biggest laggards, down 4%. Oil and gas stocks were the only ones to gain, adding 0.24%. The Stoxx 600 ended the month of September 0.33% lower, LSEG data showed. Milan-listed shares of Dodge-maker Stellantis shed 14.7% after the automaker trimmed its 2024 annual guidance amid deteriorating "global industry dynamics" and bolstered competition from China. France's Renault closed 5.6% lower on Monday, with German automakers Porsche down 4% and Volkswagen around 2% lower. Shares of Britain's Rightmove ended the day down 7.7% after Rupert Murdoch's Australian property firm REA Group said it would no longer seek to buy the U.K.'s largest property portal. Rightmove rejected a fourth takeover proposal from REA Group earlier in the day, saying it undervalued the company. The lackluster start for European markets comes after the pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed at a fresh record high on Friday, as stocks got a boost from China's announcement last week of a range of stimulus measures that aim to boost the economy. John Hess, chief executive officer of Hess Corp., speaks at the 2024 CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston, Texas, US, on Tuesday, March 19, 2024. The Federal Trade Commission has banned Hess Corp . CEO John Hess from Chevron 's board as a condition for the oil companies' $53 billion merger to move forward. The FTC on Monday alleged that Hess communicated with OPEC representatives about global oil output and inventory management over the years, encouraging them to take action that supports higher prices. A significant portion of Hess's private communications are blacked out in the FTC's complaint. The FTC also pointed to public statements made by the CEO praising OPEC policy. In one such statement, Hess said Saudi Arabia did a "masterful job leading OPEC plus" by "not oversupplying the market." The FTC said in the complaint that Hess' participation on Chevron's board would meaningfully increase "the likelihood that Chevron would align its production with OPEC's output decisions to maintain higher prices." Hess Corp. said in a statement Monday the FTC concerns are without merit, describing the CEO's communications with OPEC as consistent with statements he has made to the U.S. government. Hess Corp. and Chevron, however, have agreed that they will not appoint Hess to the board in order to facilitate the completion of the merger, according to the companies. Hess will serve as an advisor to Chevron on government relations and "social investments" in Guyana. Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said the FTC's decision "is an important step toward completing the merger." Wirth said "it is unfortunate" that Hess will not be able to join the oil major's board. The FTC's decision to allow the deal leaves the companies' dispute with Exxon Mobil as the final hurdle for the transaction to close. Exxon has filed claims with an arbitration panel arguing a right of first refusal over Hess' lucrative oil assets in Guyana. If the arbitration panel rules in Exxon's favor, the Chevron-Hess deal will not close. Chevron and Hess have said they are confident that panel will rule in their favor. The FTC voted 3 to 2 in favor of the order banning Hess from Chevron's board. FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a statement that U.S. oil executives communications with high-level OPEC representatives threaten competition and result in higher energy prices for Americans. FTC Commissioner Andrew Ferguson, in his dissent, said the commission majority was bending to political pressure from Democratic politicians. "The proposition that Mr. Hess's comments could move global oil markets is laughable," Ferguson wrote in his dissenting opinion. The FTC issued a similar order for Exxon Mobil's acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources. The commission banned former Pioneer CEO Scott Sheffield from Exxon's board, accusing him of colluding with OPEC to raise oil prices. Permian Resources is primed for strong gains ahead, according to Goldman Sachs. Analyst Neil Mehta initiated coverage on the energy company with a buy rating and 12-month price target of $19, which suggests about 40.6% upside. This year, the stock has lost roughly 1% this year and about 16.7% this quarter amid a rough quarter for the broader energy sector. Permian Resources produces oil and natural gas primarily from the Permian Basin, which is the highest-producing oilfield in the U.S. located in West Texas and southern New Mexico. "We are recommending PR as the stock carries several fundamental elements that position it to outperform peers," Mehta said in a Sunday note to clients. According to the analyst, the company appears attractive given these qualities: Permian Resources has "scarcity value" as one of the few high-quality pure plays focused in the Permian Basin, leading to a strong inventory quality compared to peers. Permian Resources has the potential to improve costs. The company has strong local relationships in the Permian Basin, which Mehta believes helps support its active M & A strategy and in the pricing of services and materials that supports cost leadership. "These elements have driven a strong execution track record through earnings, which we believe is relatively idiosyncratic compared to oil focused [exploration and production] peers, especially in a more mature phase of shale development, and should allow the stock to attract capital on a relative basis," the analyst said. Mehta set an 11% free cash flow yield target for the company. That is above rivals such as Diamondback Energy, which trades at about 10% free cash flow yield. "It is a premium to other oily peers that may not have the concentration of acreage in high quality resource base in the Delaware Basin, leading to better well performance and visibility of inventory quality for PR," the analyst said about his FCF expectation. He noted that he prefers Permian Resources' pure-play exposure to the Delaware Basin, which has seen its productivity rates consistently outperform that of other oily basins over the past several years and also has the largest inventory remaining in low-cost areas. An illuminated Google logo is seen inside an office building in Zurich, Switzerland. Google announced Monday it is investing 36 billion Thai baht, or $1 billion, into Thailand for the creation of a new data center and expansion of the country's cloud infrastructure. The move marks a ramp-up of Google's expansion in Asia, putting artificial intelligence at the heart of its international push at a time when it is facing intense competition from companies such as Microsoft and OpenAI. The investment would see the company create its first data center in Thailand, Google said in a post on its Thailand blog Monday. Data centers are the backbone of today's modern digital economy, fueling the rise of cloud computing technology that enables access to storage, compute and analytics services via the internet. Google said its debut Thai data center will be located in Chonburi, an eastern province of Thailand. The facility will "help support the growing demand for Google Cloud and AI innovations, as well as popular Google services such as Google Search, Google Maps and Google Workspace" in Thailand, Jackie Wang, Google's Thailand country lead, said in the blog post, according to an English translation taken via Google Translate. Beyond developing infrastructure, the $1 billion investment from Google into Thailand is "also about unlocking new opportunities for businesses, educators and all Thais," Wang said in the blog post. "As AI transforms industries, it is more important than ever to educate and upskill Thais to use this technology," she added. Thailand's digital economy is the second-largest in Southeast Asia and is expected to reach $50 billion by 2025, Google, Temasek and Bain & Company said in a 2023 report by e-Conomy SEA. Google is investing in the region with a focus on AI as it faces pressure from its rival tech giants when it comes to both AI and cloud computing. The internet giant currently dominates globally when it comes to its search engine technology. But the firm has increasingly come under threat from the surge of generative AI tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT. It is a technology that Google helped pioneer through its early research on so-called transformer models, which are the bedrock of many of the most-popular generative AI models. However, today Google finds itself under threat from the use of generative AI products, such as ChatGPT and Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine, to find information about things. Last week, Google filed an antitrust lawsuit with the European Commission accusing Microsoft of abusing its dominant position in the cloud industry to undermine competition. Should billionaires exist? Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, whose current net worth Forbes estimates at nearly $139 billion, admits it's "a strange thing to have people worth [billions]," he said in an episode of the new Netflix docuseries "What's Next? The Future with Bill Gates." "It's such a mind-blowing amount of money relative to personal needs," Gates added in the episode, which explores the issue of income inequality around the world. When an interviewer asked Gates directly if he believed he was "too rich," the billionaire avoided giving a "yes" or "no" answer. But he left no uncertainty that he feels wealthy individuals should share more of their wealth with the rest of humanity. "It's kind of wild that we do have billionaires," Gates said. "It's a huge amount of wealth, which if you even tried to consume it would be kind of absurd. You want that money to be given back to society, not just consumed." Gates is personally invested in the issue: His nonprofit Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has donated billions of dollars to address global problems like poverty and inequity. He's previously stated that the wealthiest people, himself included, should pay much higher tax rates. "I'm for a tax system in which, if you have more money, you pay a higher percentage in taxes. I think the rich should pay more than they currently do," Gates wrote in a 2019 blog post. He'd have roughly 62% less wealth under his own proposed tax system for the U.S., he told journalist Kara Swisher at a Netflix-sponsored event in New York last week. "I would set tax rates quite a bit higher for rich people," he said at the event, citing a conversation he had with progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has argued for substantially higher taxes for the wealthy. "I would not make it illegal to be a billionaire. [Sanders] would take away over 99% of what I have. I would take away 62% of what I have. So that's a difference." My top 10 things to watch Monday, Sept. 30 1. Wall Street is on track for slight declines Monday, the last session in what has been a strong, but volatile, third quarter and month of September. Within the Investing Club's portfolio, our top-performers in the third quarter have all been outside tech. In the week ahead, the September jobs report on Friday morning will be pivotal for the market . 2. Oil prices edged lower Monday despite an escalation of Israel's attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon. Back in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War, there was a four-fold increase in the price of oil because of an Arab-led OPEC embargo. Now there is no embargo and the price oil may be set by the U.S. Back then, the U.S. produced roughly 9.2 million barrels a day. Now? 13.2 million barrels. Russian is also flooding the world with oil to finance its war with Ukraine. Plus, China's recent stimulus announcements are impacting iron and copper prices, not oil. 3. JPMorgan analysts said demand for Apple 's iPhone 16 Pro is starting to overcome a slower start, citing steady lead times for that higher-end model. Morgan Stanley also argued lead times are stabilizing, rather than contracting. In my Sunday column for Club subscribers, I once again urged investors to not trade Apple stock based on lead time reports, which are meaningless. China's stimulus efforts should help iPhone demand. 4. European auto companies are in free fall as Dodge owner Stellantis trimmed its 2024 guidance, citing challenges that include increase Chinese competition, and Volkswagen negatively revised its operating margin expectations for the second time this year. Meanwhile, shares of luxury automaker Aston Martin tumbled more than 20% Monday on its own profit warning. 5. DirecTV announced an agreement to buy Dish Network from its parent company EchoStar for just $1, but it will assume roughly $9.75 billion of Dish's debt. Dish bondholders have to take a $1.568 billion haircut for the deal to be approved. The tie-up between these two pay TV providers has been rumored for many years. 6. California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a controversial artificial intelligence safety bill . Proponents of the legislation said it was necessary to protect the public before AI became too advanced. A number of tech companies including Club holding Meta Platforms expressed concerns about the bill. 7. Hedge fund Glenview Capital is reportedly pressuring CVS Health management for changes. I'm not sure that CVS can do more than it is doing now. In a piece for Club members earlier this month, we looked at how Club holding Amazon's booming business shipping everyday essentials is benefiting from the issues facing drugstore chains. 8. Club name Abbott Laboratories heads to trial in St. Louis this week over its premature baby formula. Abbott lost an earlier trial in late July, and I presume another loss on this one as I have said many times. But it may not impact the stock as much, given that after this trial the jurisdictions for other cases are in much less plaintiff-friendly locations. 9. Morgan Stanley cut its price target on Elf Beauty to $139 a share from $184, while arguing it's still too early to start buying the stock after its sharp pullback. The beauty category has lately been a tough place for investors to be in. 10. Some price target bumps for Club names: Stifel took GE Healthcare to $102 a share from $100, noting the company received U.S. regulatory approval for a diagnostic agent for heart disease. Meanwhile, TD Cowen took Costco to $975 a share from $925, citing U.S. traffic growth and gross margin performance. We also raised our PT on Costco last week after earnings. Sign up for my Top 10 Morning Thoughts on the Market email newsletter for free (See here for a full list of the stocks at Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED. Customers wait outside for the new iPhone 16 and the Apple Watch Series 10 at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store on September 20, 2024 in New York City. Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images My top 10 things to watch Monday, Sept. 30 I am minutes away from the ocean and one of my favorite restaurants on the island. Back in 2017, I was raising two young kids, working as an HR specialist and trying to pay back over $50,000 in debt. I started a blog called "Money Talk with Tiff" to chronicle my journey to debt freedom and help others do the same. Two years later, I started the "Money Talk with Tiff" podcast and became a full-time entrepreneur, running my business from my home in North Carolina. I didn't think about leaving the U.S. to live somewhere else until very recently. My dad is from Jamaica, so I have always felt connected to the island. In 2021, when I was 31 and pregnant with my third child, I finally got the opportunity to visit. I fell in love with everything about it: sights, smells, weather, people, food. DON'T MISS: How to master your money and grow your wealth I stayed for a month, visiting family I'd never met, meeting new friends who felt like family, and traveling from city to city. I didn't want to leave. I started to seriously consider moving to the island. I came to the conclusion that I had been my own boss for a while, and I could work from anywhere why not this place that truly felt like home? So, in May, I moved with my two youngest kids, 10 and one, to Negril, Jamaica. I'm so much happier now. Here's why. I work outside every dayand I spend less Whenever I sit out on my veranda, I say, "My office is open." There is some incredible scenery right outside my door, so I work outside every day. I live on the cliff side of Negril, so getting to the beach is about a 10-minute drive. It takes me only two minutes to walk to one of my favorite restaurants, Rick's Cafe, where I can jump off the cliffs into the ocean. My view from my veranda, where I work every day. Photo: Tiffany Grant My house has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a fenced-in yard with many fruit trees. I have moringa, mangoes, naseberry, and ackee in my yard. The area I live in is one of the most expensive on the island, because it is more popular with tourists. But my expenses come to about $1,900 a month, including rent, utilities, childcare, food, transportation, school fees and home maintenance. When I lived in North Carolina, my same expenses were about $3,000 a month. My young kids are thriving My oldest will graduate soon, so it made sense for him to live with his dad and finish high school in the U.S. But my middle child is in elementary school and was not thriving academically in North Carolina. This was a chance for him to get a fresh start. In Jamaica, the kids get to be out in nature for much of the day instead of sitting in front of screens all the time. A view from Travellers Beach Resort, where I often take my kids to the beach. Photo: Tiffany Grant When he is at school, my son and his classmates have two recesses, one for 35 minutes and another for 45. When he gets home, he stays outside until dark. I have noticed his concentration improving already. Kids in Jamaica start school at three years old. My youngest is nearly two now, and I'm excited for both of them to experience this kind of educational environment. Me in front of the Negril sign. Photo: Tiffany Grant We have been embraced by our community The kids and I often have beach days and sometimes go to the river. We go fishing without rods, just plastic bottles, hooks and fishing line. I've even gone crab hunting at night. Some folks here like to do "bush cooking," where they prepare food outside, and people will happily offer you a plate if you are around. The food here is incredible. Everything from fish to fruit is fresh and not ultra-processed. Many vendors sell local favorites, items like patties, delicious savory pastries filled with spicy beef and jerk chicken. Delicious jerk chicken, rice and vegetables from a street vendor. Photo: Tiffany Grant There is so much culture and community here. I love reggae music, and it isn't unusual to hear people blasting it throughout the day. Even though I was friendly with my neighbors back home, we barely saw each other. Here, even though people are busy with work and chores, everyone regularly stops by to say hello and ask after your well-being. On my lane, most of the residents are related to each other, and they have graciously welcomed us into their family. 'Rushing is no longer necessary' We don't have hot water, which I surprisingly don't miss. We have one air conditioner and we wash our clothes by hand and hang them out on the line. I love it. This is what life was like for my grandparents and their parents, and now we get to be a part of it. Being here, there isn't the hustle mentality and the constant stress and anxiety that is so prevalent in the U.S. The people here are more relaxed. There is so much wonderful, fresh produce here, from bananas to coconuts. Photo: Tiffany Grant General view of the Towers and oil platforms of the State oil Company of Venezuela, Venezuelan oil Company SA. Oil prices didn't react sharply on Monday after Hezbollah confirmed that its leader was killed on Friday in an Israeli airstrike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut. Over the weekend, Israel Defense Forces reported that Hassan Nasrallah, who had led the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah for over thirty years, was killed on Friday during a "targeted strike" on the group's headquarters in Beirut. Hezbollah, classified as a terrorist organization by several countries including the U.S. and the UK, is known for its violent opposition to Israel and its resistance to Western influence in the Middle East, according to the U.S. Director of National Intelligence and London Assembly. The incident follows several months of conflict and had raised concerns of a wider conflict involving Iran. The IDF characterized Nasrallah as the group's "central decision-maker" and "strategic leader." But oil markets did not see a significant surge. Global benchmark Brent added 1.56% to $73.10 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures traded 1.09% higher at $68.19 per barrel. While hostilities throughout the Middle East have ramped up, there has not been any oil supply disruption, observed Andy Lipow, president at Lipow Oil Associates. "The oil market does not expect an all-out war between Iran and Israel that would impact supply," he told CNBC via email. Since Hamas-Israel conflict that started last year, the disruption to the oil market has been limited. The oil market also remains under pressure as increased production from the U.S. Canada and Guyana add to the supply picture, on top of stalling Chinese demand while OPEC+ delayed the restoration of their production cuts, Lipow elaborated. "The elimination of Hezbollah leadership could trigger a response that spirals into affecting oil supplies, but since it didn't directly affect [the oil supplies] the oil market likely won't price in much additional risk for now," said Josh Young, CIO at Bison Interests. However, both experts noted that a rapid escalation in conflict could lead to crude oil prices hitting $100 per barrel. The biggest risk to the oil market is the closure of the Straits of Hormuz, said Lipow. While unlikely, oil prices would jump by $30 per barrel if it occurred, he added. "If events rapidly spiral, any material disruption to Iranian oil supplies or oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz could send oil prices well over $100 per barrel," said Young. The strait, between Oman and Iran, is a vital channel where about one fifth of global oil production flows daily, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. It is a strategically important waterway linking crude producers in the Middle East with key markets across the world. Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border have been forced to evacuate their homes due to cross-border fire in the months following Hamas's attack on Israel on Oct. 7, with Hezbollah throwing its support behind the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Check out the companies making headlines before the bell: Nio U.S.-listed shares surged more than 13% after the Chinese electric vehicle maker announced it will receive a cash injection of 13.3 billion yuan for its Nio China. "Strategic investors" will provide 3.3 billion yuan of that injection, with the rest coming from Nio Inc. The transactions, which are expected to be completed by the end of this year, will reduce Nio Inc.'s stake in Nio China to 88.3%, down from 92.1%. Stellantis Shares plunged more than 13% after the automaker trimmed its full-year outlook, citing a deteriorating "global industry backdrop." Ford and GM were also lower in sympathy. Alibaba The China e-commerce giant's stock rose around 4% after China's central bank announced it would tell banks to cut mortgage rates on existing home loans before the end of next month. This also spurred a broader rally among China stocks, which saw their best day of trading since 2008 . Rocket Lab Shares rose more than 3%, extending the more than 12% in gains seen during Friday's session. On Friday, the aerospace and defense name received a price target increase from KeyBanc Capital Markets, which cited "increased visibility/confidence in RKLB's ability to scale its business." CVS Health The pharmacy stock added nearly 3% after The Wall Street Journal reported that hedge fund Glenview Capital, a major shareholder in the company, was expected to meet with CVS leadership on Monday to propose fixes for the struggling business . This could be the first step in an activist push. Crypto stocks Stocks tied to the price of bitcoin retreated with the cryptocurrency, as investors grappled with uncertainty around the expected U.S. East and Gulf Coast port strike Tuesday and following a sizable rally last week. Coinbase fell 3% in premarket trading, while MicroStrategy dropped 5%. Bitcoin was down 3% and trading under $64,000. CNBC's Lisa Kailai Han, Sarah Min and Tanaya Macheel contributed reporting. Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. When Kyle Stockford went a few months without selling a painting, he decided to pick up a side hustle. It was 2021, and Stockford was a full-time abstract artist making colorful collages. Without sales, he needed another way to subsidize his living so he turned to his brother, who'd been doing people's yard work and helping assemble Ikea furniture through gig site Taskrabbit. Stockford signed up to do similar gigs, making "$16 to $18 an hour," he says. But the real money was in helping people move: The 29-year-old now charges as much as $98 per hour on Taskrabbit to load up his Chevy Express van with other people's belongings and transport them across the Boston area. College move-in season is his busiest time of year: Stockford's side hustle brought in $9,740 in August 2023 revenue alone, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. It brought in between $3,000 and $5,000 most other months, leading to a total of just over $36,600 in extra cash last year. "I'll be doing Taskrabbit for a while," Stockford says. Here's how he built his moving hustle. 'I'm driving around this big van, and I'm not making any money with it' Stockford bought his van in 2018, during his final year at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He wanted a vehicle that could help him transport paintings from Massachusetts to potential buyers. After roughly a year on Taskrabbit, Stockford got "kind of antsy about the fact that I'm driving around this big van, and I'm not making any money with it," he says. He bought straps, moving blankets, gloves and some bungee cords to prepare his vehicle, and himself, for a more intensive set of jobs. "It wasn't much," he says. "Probably around $50 in supplies from [Harbor Freight Tools]." DON'T MISS: The ultimate guide to earning passive income online Stockford says he started out charging $65 per hour, and booked an early gig helping two Northeastern University students move from the school's campus to their new apartment. The job took less than two hours, and he made about $130, he says. "I was struggling, because it was just me," says Stockford. Focusing on smaller tasks like one-bedrooms or Facebook Marketplace pickups helped him book more jobs per day. He learned to put a lot of effort into customer service, too. "I started to realize how stressful moving can be for people," he says. He'd tell them, "Don't worry, this will be over in about two hours." 'I can work three weeks out of the year, make a bunch of money' Americans' love affair with cash may be costing them in the long run, according to Wells Fargo. The bank believes "the time may have come" to start pulling money out of cash vehicles like money markets, high-yield savings accounts and other short-term instruments. A record $6.42 trillion is sitting in money market funds, as of Wednesday, according to the Investment Company Institute . While it has been a great place to park cash and earn attractive yields, those rates are coming down now that the Federal Reserve has started cutting rates. The seven-day annualized yield on the Crane 100 list of the 100 largest taxable money funds is currently 4.75%. The last time funds yielded less than 5% was July 2023, according to Peter Crane, founder of Crane Data, a firm that tracks money markets. The yield was 5.2% in November, the highest since Crane started tracking yields in 2006, although they were over 6% for a period in 2000-2001 and in the high teens in the 1970s, he said. The move in money market fund yields typically lag federal funds rate cuts. It usually takes about a month to fully digest Fed moves, Crane said. That delay is attractive for institutional investors. During Fed rate decreases, direct money market investments, like Treasury bills, will absorb the cuts quicker than money market funds. "Of course, so much cash is coming in so fast that the rates will drop faster," Crane noted. "The new cash must be reinvested at the new lower levels, but T-bill, repo [repurchase agreement] and CD investors are flocking to MMFs while they still hold some of the older, higher yielding stuff." However, investors need to make sure they are the right amount stocked away in cash. Those in cash vehicles will see reinvestment risk, or the lost opportunity to reinvest future cash positions at the current rate of return, Wells Fargo global investment strategist Michelle Wan said in a note last week. "A long-term risk of relying on money market funds as a sizable allocation is the cash drag over our strategic time horizon," she said. "Over time, riskier assets have outperformed cash and cash-alternative vehicles." The bank compared the growth of $1 million since 1926 and found that small-cap equities rose the most, to $62 billion, followed by large-cap stocks at $21 billion growth. One to 3-month Treasury bills, a cash alternative, rose to just $24 million over the same period, Wan said. That said, she doesn't advocate chasing a higher rate of return by moving cash into a higher-risk asset. Instead, she suggests allocating across asset classes. "We believe a diversification strategy offers a blend of growth potential and risk-management provisions for investors with a strategic time horizon," Wan said. "In past corrections, the S & P 500 Index has had a larger drawdown on average (from peak to trough) compared to a diversified allocation." Investors should review their long-term return expectations and risk tolerance, and then consider dollar-cost averaging into a diversified allocation strategy that is suitable for their long-term goals, she advised. For the fixed income portion of the portfolio, Wells Fargo has been suggesting high-yield bonds as a place to move some short-term investments. They have since gotten expensive, so it now believes investors should take advantage of any pullbacks to reposition allocations. When it comes to the interest-rate curve, U.S. intermediate term taxable fixed income is attractive, said Brian Rehling, head of global fixed income strategy. "We view these maturities as a nice compromise between the declining yields that will be experienced in shorter maturities and the potential price volatility in longer-dated maturities," he said. Rupert Murdoch looks on as he walks on the day of the hearing on the contentious matter of succession of Rupert Murdoch's global television and publishing empire, in Reno, Nevada, U.S. September 23, 2024. British real estate portal Rightmove rejected a sweetened $8.29 billion takeover bid from Rupert Murdoch's Australian property listing firm REA Group on Monday, saying the fourth bid still undervalued the company. Rightmove said its board, after taking into consideration the views of shareholders and considering representations from REA's chair and management team, had concluded that the proposal put forward on Friday remained "unattractive". Declining a request from REA to grant due diligence access, the British company also said that shareholder interests would be better served through the execution of its standalone strategic plan. The latest proposal from REA Group, which is 62% owned by Murdoch's News Corp, consisted of 346 pence in cash, 0.0417 new REA shares and a special dividend of 6 pence in cash. That gave Rightmove an implied value of 781 pence per share, about a 3% increase over the previous bid. Shares in the FTSE 100 company were down about 4% at 642 pence in early trade. REA has until 1600 GMT on Monday to make a formal offer for Rightmove or walk away. It had requested to the UK's takeover regulator for an extension of the deadline. Rightmove said that during the discussions, REA had requested to extend the deadline to allow it to consider a potential fifth proposal. Rightmove said its Chair Andrew Fisher met with his REA counterpart Hamish McLennan and executive teams of both sides also held talks. REA had expressed frustration at Rightmove's repeated refusal to hold talks. Rightmove, the runaway house search market leader in the U.K., has been battling fears of increased competition over the past year or so from rival OnTheMarket, which was bought by American property firm CoStar in 2023. The U.K. company looks primed for a steady recovery from a property market downturn as the potential for more rate cuts boosts sentiment in the U.K. housing sector. Job interviews can be nerve-wracking: Not only do you want to be personable and connect with your interviewer, but you also hope to be prepared enough to provide smart answers to their questions on the spot. Holly Taylor was recently in charge of hiring for her team and decided to take some guesswork out of the equation. Contrary to how most hiring managers operate, Taylor sent job candidates the interview questions in advance. 'That's something that you really need to go away and consider' Taylor, who has a decade of experience in the HR space, is the head of people at Public Digital, a digital transformation consulting company based in London. While hiring for a new leader, she wanted to try an unusual strategy she felt would foster a more equitable interview process. She sent each candidate a message a week before their interview outlining the format of the panel discussion and sharing a case study for them to think about, profiles of each person they'd be talking to, and a list of questions they'd be asked. Holly Taylor is the people director at Public Digital, a London-based consultancy. Courtesy of subject Taylor noticed some immediate benefits: She was able to ask more thought-provoking questions. Plus, she could give candidates a better idea of the company's culture. For example, one question she asked was: "We believe that openness is something all organizations should value and practice. We work as transparently as possible. With that in mind, what does working in the open mean to you, and how would you factor transparency in your work given the sensitive nature of what HR does?" "If I was going to ask that completely cold in an interview, I think that's a bit unfair, because I think that's something that you really need to go away and consider and think about," Taylor tells CNBC Make It. Plus, she adds, the context teeing up the question can give candidates "a flavor of what it would be like to work here" and what the company values. Establishing those values ahead of time can entice candidates who share them. It also gives prospects time to think through and better demonstrate how they've embraced those values in the past. Being quick on your feet isn't everything Taylor says one of the biggest reasons why hiring managers are reluctant to send questions in advance is because they want to measure how well someone thinks on their feet. But that ability may be overrated, she says. "How often do you really need to think on your feet?" she says. "Even if you're in that moment and don't know the answer, what do you do? You go, 'OK, I don't have that answer for you right now, but if you can leave it with me, I'll go away and I'll come back to you.'" "That just comes down to stakeholder management," Taylor says. From her perspective, "people that can think on their feet, it doesn't mean they're really good at their job," Taylor says. Thinking quickly might not translate to actually moving quickly or to delivering quality work at the end of the day, she says. Case in point, Taylor asked each job candidate what they thought of her sending the interview questions in advance. One mentioned they really appreciated the method because it gave them sufficient time to reflect on their answers. Another said that since they think quickly, having the questions didn't really impact their preparations. However, that person didn't get the job in part because the answers they gave were underdeveloped and lacked substance compared to their peers. People that can think on their feet, it doesn't mean they're really good at their job. Holly Taylor Head of people at Public Digital SBI Card, Indias largest credit card issuer, has introduced the KrisFlyer SBI Card in collaboration with Singapore Airlines (SIA).The KrisFlyer SBI Card is designed to cater to premium travelers, offering exclusive perks with the SIA Group, including Singapore Airlines, Scoot, KrisShop.com, Kris+ app, and Pelago.The card comes in two variants: KrisFlyer SBI Card and KrisFlyer SBI Card Apex.The KrisFlyer SBI Card offers accelerated rewards and milestone benefits on travel spending. New users receive 3,000 KrisFlyer miles as a welcome bonus for the standard card, while KrisFlyer SBI Card Apex users earn 10,000 KrisFlyer miles.Cardholders can accumulate up to 80,000 miles annually, which can be redeemed for flights, upgrades, and shopping on KrisShop.com.Customers can apply for the card online via SBI Card's website or through retail kiosks.The KrisFlyer SBI Card offers enhanced mileage earning opportunities.Cardholders who spend 2.5 lakh on Singapore Airlines using the standard card will be upgraded to KrisFlyer Elite Silver, while Apex cardholders spending 7.5 lakh can reach KrisFlyer Elite Gold.These upgraded memberships come with additional benefits like priority boarding, extra baggage allowance, and bonus miles.Both cards offer complimentary domestic and international lounge visits, as well as a 1% fuel surcharge waiver.Travel insurance is also included, with accidental death coverage of 1 crore for the KrisFlyer SBI Card and 3.5 crore for the Apex variant.The joining fee for the KrisFlyer SBI Card is 2,999 plus taxes, while the Apex card costs 9,999 plus taxes.These cards are available on the American Express and Mastercard platforms. Various Iranian proxies in the region are unlikely to coordinate a unified attack against Israel, as they are primarily focused on their domestic political agendas. This observation came in the wake of rising tensions following the death of Hezbollah leader Syed Hassan Nasrallah, which has raised concerns about the potential for escalating conflict in the Middle East. Iranian Foreign Minister Nasir Kanani condemned Israel's involvement in Nasrallah's death, stating that the country will not leave any of Israel's actions unanswered. This statement has prompted speculation about whether Iran's response could lead to an all-out war in a region already experiencing significant unrest. Talmiz Ahmed, former Indian ambassador to Oman and an expert on Middle Eastern affairs, weighed in on the situation during a recent interview with CNBC-TV18. Ahmed elaborated on the challenges of a coordinated response from Iran's proxies, which include Hezbollah, Iraqi militias, and the Houthis. Each of these groups is concerned with its own local priorities, he stated. Hezbollah is focused on Lebanons security, while the Iraqi factions are concerned about their political influence in Iraq. The Houthis are focused on their position in Yemeni politics. However, he emphasised that these groups have expressed a willingness to cease military operations if humanitarian assistance is provided to the Palestinian people, highlighting Israel's lack of interest in pursuing a ceasefire. "Each of them has emerged as a player in the current conflict due to the atrocities perpetrated against the Palestinian people. They have all stated clearly that they will halt their military actions the moment there is a ceasefire and humanitarian assistance is provided to the Palestinian people. However, the Israelis have no interest whatsoever in a ceasefire or in a peace process," Ahmed said. Despite the potential for localised retaliation, he expressed scepticism about a concerted attack against Israel by Irans proxies. I don't believe there will be any concerted attack. I feel that each of these groups is autonomous, he said. "Iran serves as a broad inspiration and has possibly upgraded its weaponry capacity, but that is all. This is not a coherent or cohesive group formed like a military coalition. Rather, these are all non-state actors, Ahmed said, adding, While each of them possesses certain weaponry, they are militias and do not have the same military capabilities that Israel has in terms of aircraft, artillery, and the technology that supports its modern warfare. Therefore, none of them is capable, either separately or jointly, of inflicting considerable damage on Israel. They can be a nuisance, but that is all. What drives them is their anger, commitment, and larger purpose." When asked if Nasrallah's death could be considered a "decapitating blow" to Hezbollah, Ahmed acknowledged that the group has suffered a significant loss. There is no doubt that Hezbollah has suffered a major blow. A large number of its top leaders have been killed, he said. However, he cautioned that such setbacks have occurred in the past and that Hezbollah is likely to recover. The factual position is, and this is borne out by history, that such assassinations serve very little useful purpose. Such movements are able to regroup time and again, he added. Ahmed pointed out that Israel has demonstrated its capability to inflict damage on Hezbollah using advanced technology and intelligence. Nevertheless, he emphasised that while Hezbollah may experience temporary setbacks, it remains resilient. This kind of assault on Hezbollah has taken place several times in the past, he noted. When discussing the likelihood of Iran retaliating against Israel, Ahmed stated that while Iran will respond, it will do so at a time and in a manner that aligns with its national interests. Iran has been deliberately and consciously provoked several times, both by the Americans and by the Israelis, he explained. Due to 40 years of sanctions, Iran does not have a conventional military capacity. It has safeguarded its interests by building non-state actors across different parts of the region. The ongoing conflict also raises questions about the role of the United States in the region, particularly in light of the upcoming elections. Ahmed criticised US involvement, arguing that it has largely been a bystander and a major supplier of weapons to Israel. The United States has made weak statements urging a ceasefire, he stated. I do not believe that any American president has the capacity to actually stop arms supplies to the Israelis and demand that a two-state solution be pursued. ALSO READ: Hezbollah Power Vacuum | 'Keys are in hands of Lebanese state': Israeli Embassy in India In a significant move, California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a highly contested artificial intelligence (AI) safety bill on Sunday, citing concerns over its potential to stifle innovation and impose excessive restrictions on AI technologies, including basic functions. Newsoms decision to veto Senate Bill 1047, which would have required safety testing and imposed stringent standards on advanced AI models, came after tech giants like Google, Meta, and OpenAI raised concerns that the bill could hamper AI innovation in the state and possibly push companies to relocate. While well-intentioned, SB 1047 (The AI Bill) does not take into account whether an AI system is deployed in high-risk environments, involves critical decision-making or the use of sensitive data, Newsom said in a statement. To mark the beginning of Saturday Night Lives 50th season (or prematurely honor Three Amigos 38th anniversary), David Lettermans YouTube account just posted an old interview with Lorne Michaels. The long-time SNL producer stopped by Late Night on February 14, 1983. Shout out to all the sad sacks who spent Valentines Day 83 watching Lorne Michaels tell stories on TV. Following an awkward chat about the weather, an awkward conversation about Michaels reputation as a television pioneer and a discussion of the time he collaborated with Woody Allen (which is awkward, in retrospect), Michaels finally talked about Saturday Night Live. Weirdly, this interview came during the five-year period when Michaels wasnt working at SNL. Still, he was happy to answer questions about the show, including Lettermans query about any sketches that were censored by NBC. Don't Miss Michaels then went on to somewhat hesitantly recount how the writers responded to a news story concerning the debate over capital punishment, specifically how a Senator from Upstate New York made the point that if the Romans hadnt believed in capital punishment, then Jesus would not have been crucified, and therefore there would be no Christianity today. So SNL was going to do a sketch imagining what would have happened if the Romans didnt believe in capital punishment, and instead of dying for our sins Jesus had gotten 8 to 10, and been out on parole. Once out of the slammer, Jesus Apostles would try to convince him to perform just one more miracle, which was intended as a parody of the Dustin Hoffman crime drama Straight Time. But the sketch touched a nerve with the network. While it made it all the way to dress rehearsal, soon afterwards, the NBC censors torpedoed the sketch, claiming that it was calling into question the divinity of Christ. In the book Live From New York, writer Rosie Shuster recalled that the Jesus bit was one of only two sketches where the censors were pulled out of bed and came running down to 8H right away between dress and air. Advertisement Advertisement Michaels was extra frustrated because the cut left him with a 20-minute hole in the the show. The costumes and sets had already been made, and several live animals were brought in. Michaels also mentioned that the role of Jesus was to be played by Canadian actor Michael Sarrazin, so presumably this all went down during the one episode he hosted in April 1978. Michaels told Letterman that he continued to battle the network even once the show started, and didnt give up until midnight. When Michaels finally finished the lengthy anecdote, Letterman was forced to wrap up the show, which meant bumping the young comedian the show had booked: some guy named Bill Maher. You (yes, you) should follow JM on Twitter (if it still exists by the time youre reading this). The 2016 version of Ghostbusters remains a weird anomaly in 21st-century comedy. Despite its meh reputation, the movie is Certified Fresh by Rotten Tomatoes. A Ghostbuster team worth calling, wrote critic Leonard Maltin. This ones a comedic win. But no one told moviegoers, who pummeled the film with a fury that made little sense then or now. Leslie Jones revealed that her participation in the movie even earned her death threats. I cant believe anyone would do this shit to someone, anyone, for working, she wrote in her memoir. This is awful. I am in a movie. Death threats for something as small as that? Ghostbusters director Paul Feig believes he knows who was responsible for all the vitriol. The political climate of the time was really weird, with Hillary Clinton running for office in 2016, he told The Guardian. There were a lot of dudes looking for a fight. When I was getting piled on, on Twitter, Id go back and see who they were. So many were Trump supporters. Don't Miss Its one thing to make Trump an imaginary villain to blame when things go wrong. But the candidate for President of the United States actually did make time to rant against the comedys casting. Trump came out against us, Feig said. He was like, Theyre remaking Indiana Jones without Harrison Ford. You cant do that. And now theyre making Ghostbusters with only women. Whats going on? and got all upset. Advertisement Everybody went fucking cannibal, Feig continued. It turned the movie into a political statement, as if to say, If youre pro-women, youre going to go see this. If youre not, then I didnt think it mattered at all that the main characters were women, but people brought a lot of baggage. Feig also believed going back to the past wasnt an option when it came to casting a new Ghostbusters movie. Bill (Murray) had publicly said he didnt want to do another Ghostbusters at that point, Feig explained. Harold Ramis had died. Dan (Aykroyd) and Ernie (Hudson) were there, but half the team felt weird. It had been 30 years and Bill and the gang were so iconic; I didnt want to do anything that hurt the original movies. Besides, said the Bridesmaids director, women are hilarious. And so, he tried to do his part to give them more opportunities to be hilarious on the big screen. Or as he put it to The Guardian, When I got to Hollywood, I started hanging out with these funny women that I knew from when I was a stand-up comedian. When I went to see their movies, they just played the mean girlfriend. I thought, I dont like this balance. Photo: Alon Adika/Shutterstock There are not many spaces in Manhattan like General Theological Seminarys campus. The Close, as its called (rhymes with dose), fills up nearly an entire block of Chelsea between Ninth and Tenth Avenues and 20th and 21st Streets, its buildings ringing a green courtyard with big old trees and winding paths. The buildings there are 13 of them are almost completely unified Collegiate Gothic. It was all put up in the decades before and after 1900, and it is largely un-messed-around-with. There is no steel-and-glass Louvre pyramid or brutalist library jammed into the middle. Its a nearly pure neo-Gothic campus, built mostly in brick rather than limestone, visibly worn enough to make it even more authentic and lovely, a nicely executed American echo of medieval Oxford that inarguably feels like New York. Although it educates clerics for the Episcopal Church, it also runs a little nondenominational preschool for both adult students children and outside kids, which means you occasionally see a group of tots playing on the grass. Clement Clarke Moore, author of The Night Before Christmas, lived across the street, was a professor at the school, and donated the land it sits upon. The only hints of this century appear at the ends of the block. On Tenth Avenue, a large building was sold off in 2007 to become the Desmond Tutu Center, which incorporates the High Line Hotel. At the Ninth Avenue end, it sold off a 1960s modern building around the same time, to be replaced by new condos. All of that happened because the seminary was in financial trouble, with a too-small endowment and running at an annual deficit. Since then, the institution made other moves to save itself, notably a semi-merger with Virginia Theological Seminary. It has run into other problems, including criticism for its affiliation with a Catholic music school with an anti-LGBTQ history and a staff revolt over its dean, Kurt Dunkle, who stepped down not long thereafter. The real-estate sell-off was its Hail Mary. The pass didnt lead to a win, and last week, GTS made a bigger move, making a 99-year-lease deal that gives over the Close to Vanderbilt University. GTS will keep some offices and apartments for its masters students there, but the real point is to give Vanderbilt a campus in New York. According to The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story, Vanderbilt is looking to expand its programs into fields where New York City is stocked with talent and resources, like media, fashion, and finance. You might suspect that its modeled, at least slightly, on Cornells slick new tech center on Roosevelt Island. One could reasonably be fearful for the physical fabric of the place. Whenever an architectural treasure changes hands, particularly when it needs renovation, its inherently at risk. But a few things suggest that the GTS campus wont be varaged. Its in a historic district, so nothing tall can go up. Any exterior changes are subject to Landmarks Preservation Commission approval, and this is just the sort of architecture that Landmarks doesnt like to see messed with. Moreover, GTS itself is still the landlord its not selling, and it will presumably have veto power over any big changes. According to the Journal story, the old GTS buildings need $32 million in repair work. That is a staggering amount for a little institution, but a middling ask at the elite level of a big colleges largest donors. Plenty of successful Vanderbilt alumni live in New York and if they are nostalgic for dear old Vanderbilts Kirkland Hall, theyre going to feel very much at home in the similar confines of the Close. Whether that coaxes their wallets open is up to the fundraisers and the Almighty. Chinese embassy in Syria holds event to celebrate National Day Xinhua) 10:21, September 30, 2024 DAMASCUS, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Officials from the Chinese Embassy in Syria and the Syrian government celebrated the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in Damascus on Sunday, highlighting the strengthening ties between the two nations. During a reception, Chinese Ambassador Shi Hongwei noted China's rapid development over the past 75 years, attributing the country's transformation into the world's second-largest economy to the leadership of the Communist Party of China. Shi stated China has achieved remarkable economic growth, emphasizing China's growing global role and its commitment to peaceful development and multilateral cooperation. The Chinese envoy also reaffirmed China's support for Syria, condemning foreign interference and unilateral sanctions. "China stands with Syria in protecting its sovereignty and supports its reconstruction efforts," he remarked. The ambassador called for continued cooperation across various fields, praising the enduring friendship between the two countries. Syrian Minister of Communications and Technology Iyad Mohammad al-Khatib praised China's development model, stating, "China's rise is rooted in cooperation and respect for international law." He highlighted the historical relationship between Syria and China, which dates back thousands of years, noting that it has strengthened with recent high-level visits and agreements. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan) EQS-Ad-hoc: Blue Cap AG / Key word(s): Disposal/Investment Blue Cap AG sells subsidiary nokra to Vishal Precision Group 30-Sep-2024 / 12:48 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. Munich, 30 September 2024 - Blue Cap AG ("Blue Cap") today concluded an agreement on the sale of its 90% stake in nokra Optische Pruftechnik und Automation GmbH ("nokra"). The buyer is Vishay Precision Group ("VPG"). The total proceeds (before taxes) are in the single-digit million range and a good EUR 1 million above the net asset value valuation as at June 30, 2024. The sale of the company corresponds to an annual return on invested capital (internal rate of return) of around 21% and a multiple on the capital employed of around 6x. nokra, which has been part of Blue Cap since 2014, manufactures high-precision, laser-optical measuring systems for the automatic inline inspection of geometric dimensions. Typical areas of application include the flatness measurement of sheet metal and panels, the thickness measurement of strip materials, the curvature of windscreens and 3D dimensions of hot forged parts. Due to the small size of nokra, there is no adjustment to the forecast for the full year 2024 as a result of the transaction. The Executive Board continues to expect consolidated revenue for the full year 2024 in a range of EUR 270-290 million and an adjusted(1) EBITDA margin of 8.5-9.5%. 1) Adjustments: Adjusted for extraordinary, out-of-period and other effects from reorganization measures and one-off effects About Blue Cap AG Blue Cap AG is a Munich-based investment company founded in 2006 and listed on the capital market. The company acquires medium-sized companies from the B2B sector in special situations and supports them in their entrepreneurial development with the aim of selling them profitably at a later date. The acquired companies are headquartered in the DACH region, generate sales of between EUR 20 and 200 million and have a sustainably stable core business. Blue Cap mostly holds majority stakes in eight companies from the Adhesives & Coating Technology, Plastics Technology, Production Technology, Life Sciences and Business Services sectors. The Group currently employs around 1,200 people in Germany and other European countries. Blue Cap AG is listed on the open market (Scale, Frankfurt and m:access, Munich; ISIN: DE000A0JM2M1; ticker symbol: B7E). www.blue-cap.de Contact: Blue Cap AG Annika Kuppers Corporate Affairs Phone +49 89 288909-24 ir@blue-cap.de To those who wonder why Mohamed Fayed had been able for so long to escape the just consequences of his actions the rape and sexual assaults of a bewildering number of young female employees a single word suffices: fear. As one of his victims says in the BBC documentary Al Fayed, Predator At Harrods: 'We were all so scared. He actively cultivated a culture of fear.' Emma Barnett, who interviewed one of the Harrods owner's victims, explained that, latterly, what had hurt them most was 'Netflix's The Crown's recent rosy depiction of Fayed as this colourful, avuncular character who was kind to everyone, from Princess Diana to any child he met in his perfect store'. As one of his victims says in the BBC documentary Al Fayed, Predator At Harrods: 'We were all so scared. He actively cultivated a culture of fear' In 1997, Fayed tried to get my wife Rosa Monckton sacked from her job as managing director of the jewellers Tiffany & Co in London, when Rosa - after Diana's death - declared that her friend had had no intention of marrying Dodi. Rosa is pictured here with the late princess at the Tiffany & Co summer party at the Mayfair Store in July 1993 Although that was the work of The Crown's screenwriter, Peter Morgan, who defends his version on the grounds of artistic licence, this travesty of the truth owes much to the efforts of Fayed's oleaginous PR man, Michael Cole, a former BBC Royal Correspondent, who definitely earned the millions Fayed paid him over many years (as a full member of the Harrods' board). My wife, Rosa Monckton, has personal experience of how scary Fayed could be. Rosa had gone on holiday with Diana (who was godmother to our daughter Domenica) on a little boat around the Greek coastline, less than a fortnight before the late Princess's violent death in Paris. So when Fayed began, in October 2003 fully six years later to propagate the grotesque conspiracy theory that Diana had told him she was pregnant by his son Dodi, that Buckingham Palace knew this and had her murdered to prevent 'a Muslim Royal child', Rosa felt obliged to make public that her friend had had her period while they were on the boat, and so could not have been pregnant at the time of her death. This fact was later confirmed by blood tests for the long-delayed inquest in 2007. Emma Barnett , who interviewed one of the Harrods owner's victims, explained that, latterly, what had hurt them most was ' Netflix 's The Crown's recent rosy depiction of Fayed (pictured) as this colourful, avuncular character who was kind to everyone, from Princess Diana to any child he met in his perfect store' The Crown's screenwriter Peter Morgan defends his version on the grounds of artistic licence, - but this travesty of the truth owes much to the efforts of Fayed's oleaginous PR man, Michael Cole, a former BBC Royal Correspondent, pictured Soon afterwards, Rosa called me (I was away) to say that a chauffeur-driven car had just arrived at night at our isolated home in the countryside it is not even on a road but down a long, unmarked track to deliver a menacing letter, from Fayed, accusing her of being involved in the 'plot to murder Diana'. In fact, Fayed had, in 1997, tried to get my wife sacked from her job as managing director of the jewellers Tiffany & Co in London, when Rosa - after Diana's death - declared that her friend had had no intention of marrying Dodi. At that time, Tiffany's head office in New York wanted to open a branch in Harrods, and Fayed rang the chief executive, Bill Chaney, to demand that he fire Rosa if he wanted the concession. Rosa's American boss rang her to ask what the hell was going on. She explained the reason for Fayed's demand (which left him all the more bemused). She kept her job, and Tiffany's never opened in Harrods. Which was good news for its female sales staff. Rosa was all right and not just because, in her case, Fayed's onslaught did not involve physical harassment. The point is that, unlike those young women who endured his disgusting depredations, my wife was not in his power or his pay. His victims all were, and their fear was partly based on what he could do to them if they complained. In fact, Vanity Fair magazine in 1995 published an investigation into Fayed, which included allegations of his sexual molestation of (unnamed) employees. In the wake of the BBC documentary, Henry Porter, who had been the UK editor of Vanity Fair, wrote an article for the Observer in which he explained how the owners of the magazine, who had been accumulating more devastating evidence after Fayed had sued for libel, agreed a sort of no-fault settlement with the Harrods owner after Diana and Dodi's death, 'out of respect for the grieving father'. Before that, we lived opposite Henry (in the same London street), and when on June 1, 1997, at Domenica's 2nd birthday party, Diana told us that she was intending to accept an invitation from Fayed to spend a few days with him and his family off the South of France on his newly-acquired yacht, Jonikal, I urged her not to accept. As I wrote in the Mail on the 20th anniversary of Diana's death: 'What I did not know then was that Fayed a man long obsessed with gaining connections with the British Royal Family had already conceived the holiday as an opportunity to introduce Diana to his son Dodi, and actually to make them a couple, with marriage the intended apotheosis of his stunningly audacious scheme.' I regret now that I did not include the allegations of his sexual depravity in the argument I put to Diana, that evening, as to why she should not accept Fayed's invitation. The Queen had been happy for well over a decade to allow Fayed to sponsor the Royal Windsor Horse Show - as seen here together in 1997 Instead, I concentrated on what was known for a certain fact: that he had been denied a UK passport because of a damning Department of Trade Report, following his acquisition of Harrods from the House of Fraser in 1987. The inspectors concluded that Fayed and his brother Ali 'had dishonestly represented their origins, their wealth, their business interests and their resources'. They also described Fayed as 'a fraudster' and observed: 'Fayed is at once capable of believing he is the victim of grand conspiracies and yet inventing fantastic false stories of conspiracy on the part of others.' This, as Fayed's behaviour after Diana's death demonstrated, was both precise and prophetic. Anyway, Diana thanked me for explaining all this but took no notice. She had earlier pointed out to Rosa that, having relinquished her Royal protection officers along with her title, she felt Fayed's big security operation would protect her. How tragically false that turned out to be. I suspect she also felt that if the Queen had been happy for well over a decade to allow Fayed to sponsor the Royal Windsor Horse Show, so that for year after year the Monarch sat next to the Harrods owner, and was photographed doing so (to the Egyptian's delight), what was so unwise about her getting a free holiday from the same man? This also shows how preposterous was Fayed's perpetual claim that he had been 'shunned by the establishment'. On the contrary, he was not shunned enough by Buckingham Palace, which continued until 2000 to bestow entirely discretionary royal warrants on Harrods, which he proudly displayed on the outside of his emporium. That fact of ostensible Royal support for Harrods would only have added to his victims' fear of how Fayed's status would count against them if they took him on. So he died last year, at 94, having never faced justice. The man who spent hundreds of hours interviewing Fayed for an abandoned ghost-written autobiography, Mark Hollingsworth, recalled that Fayed would say: 'I believe we go to another life and world, and you live with what you have done in life.' If anything like that is true, his victims can at least console themselves that the dark soul of Mohamed Fayed is in eternal torment. Here in the pit lane, Tory mechanics are peering at the blackened wreckage of their party. The gleaming roadster is now a smoking wreck. Can anything be saved or is its cylinder block cracked? As at the scene of any big-end explosion, some are fatalistic, others make wisecracks. Dan Hannan, former MEP and now a peer, walked on stage and started reciting Rudyard Kipling: This is the midnight, let no star delude us, dawn is very far. This is the tempest long foretold. Lord Gloomy Guts! Hannan, in such a mood, is not unlike one of those keening crones in a J M Synge play. You half-expected him to start sucking the paw of a dead rabbit and pronounce curses on all descendants of Lugh of the Long Arm. Yet his lordship did note that the election result was personal rather than philosophical. There had not been any massive shift in cultural values in the nation. Voters just hated the Tories. Maybe theyll soon hate Labour. Ex-MP Penny Mordaunt is here. Looking nicely tragic round the eyelines she did a morning telly turn and made a platform speech. Tory leadership frontrunner Kemi Badenoch arriving in Birmingham on Saturday evening for the party conference James Cleverly and his wife Susannah at the Conservative annual conference on Sunday Leadership contest contender Robert Jenrick at the Tory party conference in Birmingham Former MP and cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt said that Sir Keir Starmer had brought a touch of the Imelda Marcoses to the office of Prime Minister Members applauded party chairman Richard Fuller when he denounced MPs for in-fighting She said Sir Keir Starmer had brought a touch of the Imelda Marcoses to the office of Prime Minister. The BBCs Laura Kuenssberg almost swallowed her pencil. Did you just compare him to Imelda Marcos? 'I did, said husky Penny with an eyebrow and a half. The moment she stepped on stage, representatives cheered. They like Penny, despite her weakness for wokery. She reeled off a list of events this summer everything from Rotarian fund-raising to Team GB at the Olympics, Alan Batess knighthood to the Princess of Wales speaking up for cancer sufferers, and said: It might be that our party is in the doldrums but its values are vibrantly alive. Alongside her in the TV studio, Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch did look terribly young. In the conference foyer you are confronted by vast banners of the four candidates for the leadership. The one of Mr Jenrick has slightly Star Trek ears. James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat have both gone for the open-necked look. Mrs Badenoch may be the one to beat. She gave Comrade Kuenssberg a second attack of the vapours by saying our culture is a damn sight better than certain others. And immigrants should drop the anti-Israel stuff. Laura K stiffened like a porcupine. Mrs Badenoch enjoys winding up Beeboids.Later one of Mr Jenricks flunkeys toured the press compound, stirring trouble for Mrs Badenoch, calling her Kemi-kaze for suggesting that maternity leave was becoming onerous for employers. That sort of negative dumping would have annoyed the representatives in the hall. They applauded party chairman Richard Fuller when he denounced MPs for in-fighting. Mr Fuller did some magnificent grovelling to the activists for the election defeat. Real Japanese salaryman carpet-munching. The members enjoyed that. Rishi Sunak is here somewhere. He was photographed on arrival, cardigan casual. Then he vanished behind closed doors, reporters not admitted. There are more people here than I expected and they are actually going to be allowed to contribute to debates. Since Cameroon days that sort of thing has been v. much discouraged. It could go horribly wrong. The ones I have seen so far are back to the Tories of old, heroically unfashionable in shiny suits, combovers and bold tummies. Tory leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat at a hustings on the first day of the annual party conference In the conference foyer you are confronted by vast banners of the four candidates for the leadership Figures of former Conservative leaders and prime ministers Margaret Thatcher and Sir Winston Churchill at the party conference First time I can remember since going to a church in Blackpool with John Smith in the late 1980s, there was a conference church service. Birmingham Cathedral was packed. The vergers must have needed a Methuselah of the (goodish, quite golden) communion wine, such was the turnout. The liturgy was a little plastic we had to do the sign of peace, eek and the bishop kept mentioning climate change, but the first lesson was from Numbers: The rabble among the people had a strong craving. That craving in July was for change but not, perhaps, for socialism. There lies the Tories glimmer of hope. Not since King Harold, his brothers and much of the Saxon nobility were wiped out in the Battle of Hastings almost 1,000 years ago has one side annihilated the leadership of its enemy so suddenly and thoroughly. First the Israelis killed, blinded and maimed thousands of middle-ranking Hezbollah terrorists, by triggering explosions in their pagers and walkie-talkies. Then on Friday, in a series of strikes as surgically precise as they were powerful, Israels air force dropped up to 16 bunker- busting bombs onto the underground lair where Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was huddled with his top brass. They must have believed they were safe in their reinforced concrete hideaway, but for so many essential figures to be gathered in one place displayed reckless arrogance which was ruthlessly punished. Around 20 senior militia commanders were killed, including the security head of the organisation, Ibrahim Hussein Jazini, and Nasrallahs closest confidante, Samir Tawfiq Dib. A day later, Nabil Qaouk, a key figure in Hezbollahs central council, was killed in another air attack. A march in Sadr City in Bagdad, Iraq, as people hold up tributes to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah who was killed in by an Israeli Air Force strike in Beirut The militant group Hezbollah confirmed the death of Nasrallah following the afternoon strike on their 'central headquarters' Clouds of smoke and flames billow into the sky after an Israeli airstrike hits a neighbourhood in Beirut's southern suburb on September 28 By any sane rationale, the war between Israel and Hezbollah should be over. But fanatics are neither sane nor rational. This is a fighting force whose lower ranks are obsessed with martyrdom. They have been comprehensively defeated but that does not mean they will surrender. Until now, the Islamist militia was rigidly disciplined, with Nasrallah wielding supreme control. But with the decapitation of their leadership and the destruction of their communications network, the minions of Hezbollah will have nothing to guide them but their own maniacal and perhaps suicidal initiatives. As much as half their arsenal of rockets, shells and artillery has been destroyed, but there is still a mass of weapons at the disposal of local commanders eager to burnish their own combat reputations and leadership ambitions. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will probably feel he has no choice but to order a ground invasion of Lebanon to stamp out the smouldering remains of Hezbollah. But that is a high-risk strategy for three reasons. Firstly, Israeli casualties will be higher. In the featureless plains of Gaza, their enemy has nowhere to hide. But in the hilly terrain of southern Lebanon it can dart in and out of cover and wreak havoc with its armour-penetrating missiles. Secondly, a ground invasion will create a huge refugee crisis. In the past week, 80,000 civilians have fled Lebanon for makeshift camps in Syria. The Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati has warned up to a million people could be displaced. This exodus could be the perfect cover for Hezbollahs scattered remnants to spread terrorism across Europe. Unable to attack Israel, some might prefer to increase international pressure by exporting misery and violence to Israels supporters with Britain chief among them. Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine speaking at Mohammed Nasser - a commander in the militant group's funeral on July 4, 20224 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly at their headquarters in New York City on September 27 Smoke rising over the southern suburbs of Beirut after Israeli airstrikes have hit on September 28 First responders and civilians using a differ to clear the debris following in air strike in Haret Hreik - southern Beirut on September 27 Thirdly, perhaps most ominously, the sheer effectiveness of Israels megaton assassinations is likely to accelerate the Iranian nuclear weapons programme. Israel has already shown it has no compunction about killing enemies on Iranian soil, with the elimination in July of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Now, the knowledge that no bunker is safe will galvanise Irans leaders. While under huge internal pressure to retaliate against Israel directly, they fear the consequences be they their own assassinations, or airstrikes against their nuclear facilities. The mullahs will not want to provoke such an attack, especially as they are only weeks away from producing enough enriched uranium to make a nuclear bomb, according to the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. They are likely to conclude it makes more sense to challenge Israel using its proxy militias, such as the Houthis in Yemen, whose rocket attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea are designed to strangle Israel economically. For Iran to create a viable nuclear weapon, it will also need a detonator not an easy piece of technology to build. But this project, too, could be near completion, possibly with North Korean help. If Iran does successfully test an atom bomb, international efforts to avert nuclear war will become increasingly hysterical. The UN Security Council could attempt to persuade Iran to freeze its nuclear programme in return for a ceasefire, but this would have little chance of success without the cooperation of the US, who might take the view there is no way to put the nuclear genie back in the bottle once a test has been conducted. Israel has won a spectacular tactical victory over Hezbollah. But the main strategic enemy could soon be a nuclear- armed Iran. Armageddon beckons for one side or both. Mark Almond is director of the Crisis Research Institute in Oxford. Blink and you will have missed him. Rishi Sunak was gone within 24 hours of arriving at the conference. And any of the party faithful looking for something to remember him by will be disappointed: the outgoing leader has suffered the ultimate indignity of being excised from the record by Conservative Party HQ. In their latest range of political memorabilia there is absolutely no mention of the country's first Hindu prime minister though there are mugs, scarves and aprons bearing the name or image of Boris Johnson, Margaret Thatcher and even that old bore Sir John Major. There are photographs and memorable election posters, too: who could forget 'Labour isn't working', which helped oust Jim Callaghan and bring in Mrs T. But no mention of Sunak, whose decision to call the election backfired so spectacularly. 'It's a case of 'Rishi who?' around here,' said my Tory mole. 'His name is mud.' In their latest range of political memorabilia there is absolutely no mention of Rishi Sunak There are mugs, scarves and aprons bearing the name or image of Boris Johnson and Margaret Thatcher (pictured) Large photographs of the four leadership candidates hang inside the International Convention Centre on the first full day at the annual Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham Duke's dim view of Jenrick The frontrunner to be next Tory leader is Robert Jenrick, who quit as immigration minister in protest at the woeful failure to reduce the number of migrants entering the country illegally. He hasn't impressed the Duke of Beaufort, though. 'Depressing that Jenrick is leading the race to be Tory leader,' says Beaufort, who is known to friends as Bunter. 'Apart from anything else, he seems such a pompous t**t.' It's quite something when a true blue 12th duke thinks you're pompous. The frontrunner to be next Tory leader is Robert Jenrick (pictured at the the Conservative Party Conference at Birmingham) Delegates queued for more than hour to see Liz Truss, who was PM for a mere 49 days. Unapologetic and insisting she will return to Westminster, Truss was asked if she'd any cheerful info to impart. 'Yes!' she said. 'Donald Trump is going to win in November.' Quote of the day: Robert Jenrick, talking about the Labour infighting, said: 'You've got David Lammy, our Foreign Secretary. He's the one who went on Celebrity Mastermind and said that Henry VII succeeded Henry VIII. He's not quite a celebrity, certainly not a mastermind, but he's banging on about a ceasefire and that's just between Sue Gray, the Downing Street chief of staff, and Morgan McSweeney, the No 10 head of strategy.' Has a potential saviour emerged to take over from the interim chairman of the Conservative Party? A poll of 500 members overwhelmingly backed Jacob Rees-Mogg. Rees-Mogg, who lost his seat in July, was 'flattered'. To paraphrase Jim Hacker from Yes, Minister, he said: 'If my friends think I can serve the party in any capacity, I am very flattered.' Give that man the job! A poll of 500 members overwhelmingly backed Jacob Rees-Mogg to be the next chairman of the Conservative Party All four leadership contenders have their own stalls with merchandise advertising their wares. Tom Tugendhat is giving away eco-friendly bottles, pictured right, saying: 'For Keir's tears, when Tom is elected leader.' James Cleverly's bottles say, in a dig at Labour: 'There are no leaks here.' Kemi Badenoch is offering 'principled peppermints', based on six principles on which she is campaigning. And Robert Jenrick? He is asking rather more of his fans. His offering is a daily newspaper called The Jenrick Post. Tom Tugendhat is giving away eco-friendly bottles, pictured right, saying: 'For Keir's tears, when Tom is elected leader.' End-of-the pier peers Two Tory MPs, who lost their seats in the July 4 massacre, were overheard talking about the House of Lords. Would you take a peerage? asked one of the other. The reply came: When you have been an MP in the House of Commons, its like appearing every night on the West End stage. When you go to the House of Lords, its like appearing at the end-of-the-pier show in Cromer. September 30, 2024: India continues its effort to design and build SSN (nuclear attack sub) submarines. Construction is supposed to begin this year with the first SSNs entering service in 2032. India is currently building six locally designed SSBN (nuclear submarines carrying ballistic missiles). India is one of only six nations that build nuclear submarines. The United States was first, putting its first nuclear sub into service during 1954. Russia followed in 1958, followed by Britain in 1963, France in 1971, China in 1983 and India in 2016. The United States always had the largest number of reliable nuclear attack and ballistic missile carrying submarines. The Soviet Union put more nuclear subs into service, but these boats were less reliable and dangerous for their crews because of radiation leaks. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, one of its legacies was that most of its 240 nuclear submarines were worthless. Most were poorly designed and built and more dangerous to their crews than to their enemies. NATO nations are still assisting Russia to decommission these submarines and their 468 nuclear reactors. Most subs had two reactors. NATO nations are assisting Russia in this cleanup, to prevent any of those reactors and their nuclear material from ending up on the sea bottom emitting harmful radiation for hundreds of years. While the Americans, British, French, Chinese and Indians operated and disposed of their retired nuclear subs safely, Russia did not. India learned how to operate nuclear subs by leasing two of them from Russia. The first was in 1988 when India received the Russian K-43 attack submarine. Russia imposed restrictions on how India could use this sub and India returned it in 1990. In 2010 India leased a more advanced Akula class nuclear submarine but returned it in 2021 because of chronic and crippling maintenance problems. India had leased those two Russian subs to train their crews so there were Indian sailors capable of operating. In the 1980s India decided to build its own nuclear-powered submarines. This was a slow process. The first Indian ballistic missile nuclear sub was the Arihant, which entered service in 2018 after fourteen years of effort building it and getting the boat to function effectively. Indian Admirals pointed out that Arihant was a demonstration project and successfully went to sea in 2018 on its first patrol, armed with ballistic missiles. India began working on a SSN in the late 1980s but, as work progressed, it was decided to enlarge SSN design by adding a ballistic missile compartment and put all their efforts into creating an SSBN. This was a tried and true solution. Russia and China had successfully done this, following the example of the United States in the 1950s. The first American SSBNs were the five 6,000 ton boats of the George Washington class. These were basically Skipjack class SSNs that were enlarged to add a missile compartment for 16 Polaris missiles. The 3,000 ton Skipjacks were designed in the early 1950s and construction of the first one began in 1956 and entered service in 1959. The U.S. Navy literally modified the hulls of two Skipjack SSNs under construction to accommodate the missile compartment and other less drastic changes. Thus the construction of the first American SSBN began in 1957, was launched in June 1959 and entered service at the end of 1959. Four more followed and by March 1961 five of these SSBNs were in service. They all served into the 1980s. The first American SSBN class was followed by five of the 6,900 ton Ethan Allen class, which was designed from the start as an SSBN. The first of these began construction in late 1959 and entered service in August 1961. Four more followed by January 1963. Note that the first American SSN (the Nautilus) began construction in 1952 and entered service in 1955. So the U.S. Navy went from SSN to SSBN in four years. The Indian Navy took longer to get it done because the Indian weapons development and procurement bureaucracy is infamous for its ability to disrupt and delay weapons development programs. Arihant is still not fully in service. Meanwhile a second Arihant class SSBN, the Arighaat entered service in 2024. Arihant entered service in 2018 and carried out its first combat cruise with nuclear armed missiles. In 2022 Arihant launched one of its missiles which accurately hit its target area in the Bay of Bengal. Both Indian SSBNs are currently in service with more on the way. In 2016 India successfully tested its new K4 SLBM (Sea Launched Ballistic Missile) under realistic conditions. This consisted of a submerged silo (like the one used in a submarine) that successfully released the missile at a realistic depth. The missile reached the surface, ignited its rocket motor and completed its ballistic flight as it was designed to do. Several more successful tests like this are required before K4 can enter service. K4 is based on the Agni 3 land based ballistic missile, which has been in service since 2010. Both the Agni 3 and K4 have a range of 3,500 kilometers. K4 is a 20 ton, two stage, solid fuel missile that carries a one ton warhead. Arihant was built to carry nuclear armed K4 or K15 ballistic missiles designed and manufactured in India. Arihant has four vertical launch tubes, which can carry twelve, three per launch tube, of the smaller K15 missiles or four larger K-4s. The Arihant is based on the Russian Charlie II sub, which it resembles. The Charlie class had eight launch tubes, outside the pressure hull, for anti-ship missiles. Arihant has a crew of 90-100 and six 533mm torpedo tubes in addition to the four vertical missile launch tubes. In early 2013 the K15 missile underwent its final development test and was ready to be installed in the Arihant. This came after five years of testing and tweaking. In 2007, India announced that it had perfected the technology for launching ballistic missiles from a submerged submarine. That meant the silo design had been perfected as well. In 2008, India began a series of twelve test firings from a missile cell designed to fit into the Arihant. These test firings were not done from the Arihant, but from the cell placed in the ground or underwater to simulate launch from the sub. Seven launches took place in 2008. The seven ton K15 has a 700 kilometer range with a one ton warhead or 1,900 kilometers with a 189 kg warhead. The latter weight is sufficient to handle a nuclear warhead if India has been successful in developing warhead technology to the same point the U.S. and Russia were in the 1980s. The first SLBM was the U.S. Polaris A1, which entered service in 1961 after about five years of development. Like the K15 it was a two stage solid fuel missile. The Polaris A1 weighed 13 tons, had a range of 2,200 kilometers and a one ton warhead. There are apparently problems with the readiness of the nuclear warheads used in the Arihant SSBNs. This has to do with security and controls over who has launch authority. Since 1999 India has been seeking to build 24 modern diesel-electric submarines. India elected a new reform-minded government in 2014 that was obsessed with making India less dependent on imported military technology. Increased efforts to develop domestic weapons development and production capability have failed. In response to this the government made it more difficult to import needed weapons that Indian firms were unable to develop and build. India is also trying to reduce the power of government weapons development and production operations that have never been able to do much of anything, let alone compete with foreign defense manufacturers. The major goals of local procurement are to decrease reliance on Russia, which was, until recently, Indias largest supplier of military equipment. For a long time India was the second largest, after Saudi Arabia, importer of weapons in the world and the largest customer for Russian military exports. India has been buying less from Russia since the 1990s. Since the 1960s Russia supplied more and more, often over 80 percent, of Indian weapons imports. In the last decade that has fallen to fifty percent and continues to decline. The second part of the program to reduce weapons imports is to make it easier for Indian firms to meet the needs of the Indian military. The government issued a list identifying specific weapons and items of military equipment that must be procured locally. Making it mandatory to buy locally has been tried before and led to some spectacular failures, so much so that the government authorized the emergency FTP (Fast Track Procurement) procedures in 2004. With FTP the military could unilaterally buy some items from foreign suppliers. It was assumed that FTP would eliminate the most embarrassing problems with getting desperately needed military weapons. It was also believed that government efforts to clean up the corruption and other problems with the military procurement process would soon make FTP unnecessary. That has not happened. FTP is still around to allow the immediate purchase of essential military items without the usual political and procurement delays that can add years, sometimes a decade or more, to obtaining needed items. FTP is still needed because the current confrontation with better equipped Chinese forces on the northern border makes it obvious that all the Chinese weapons and equipment is Chinese-made and clearly more modern. Recent Made in India mandates make it more difficult to use FTP. The Indian Air Force believes it will not be able to replace aging jet fighters with local designs in time. The air force will shrink while the politicians come up with more ways to block efforts to fix the problem. This refusal to face reality and actually solve procurement problems has crippled the Indian military for decades. Meanwhile Indians ask why China developed a world-class weapons development and production capability in the last few decades while India has not? Mainly its about corruption and decades of India making it difficult for Indians to start and operate profitable firms that could produce consumer goods as well as military equipment. The United States became the largest economy in the world over a century ago by encouraging this entrepreneurship. Many other nations, including those in Europe and East Asia like Japan, South Korea and China followed that example. While making it difficult for Indian entrepreneurs, India tried to use government-owned weapons development efforts and defense manufacturers to locally produce weapons. These state-owned organizations were epic failures and continue to develop second-rate weapons or weapons that dont work at all. Recent examples include assault rifles, helicopters and jet fighters. The only successes have been with privately owned firms and that is what the government wants more of. New rules and laws to reduce restrictions on commercial firms are meant to encourage less dependence on imports. As with previous efforts in this area, the goals tend to be more aspirational than actual. Indian government bureaucrats and procurement agencies have become quite effective at protecting their own interests at the expense of commercial firms and the needs of the military. This is a problem in all industrialized nations because that is the nature of government; to use their power to expand. Nations like China and Israel are notably different because China did not begin undergoing the industrial revolution until the 1980s. As usual, that produced spectacular results, which will be eroded over the years as the government expands at the expense of successful new firms. That is already happening in China, where the communist government fears the potential political influence of the largest and most successful firms. Israel is a special case because they have been under constant attack by their Moslem neighbors since Israel was founded in 1947. For Israel it has always been a matter of succeeding at developing new weapons or being wiped out. India is different because it adopted a local form of socialism instead of free enterprise when modern India was formed in 1948. As a result, India has always had to import most of its weapons. Efforts to change this have failed so far, mainly because of corruption and unwillingness to tolerate competitive and efficient defense industries. That corruption that has been pervasive in India for thousands of years and makes imported weapons from nations willing to pay bribes to Indian government officials more attractive than allowing competitive Indian firms to develop and provide cheaper locally made equipment. One bit of good news is that this form of corruption has been under heavy attack for more than a decade because of the Internet. Political parties could control mass media and much local news, but not the Internet. Fighting corruption has become enormously popular with voters, who learn that most Western countries supplying weapons to India are often very anti-corruption themselves and much more successful at it. When Russia was supplying over 80 percent of weapons imports, you had a supplier that was a dictatorship and quite comfortable with bribes and payoffs. For more than a decade Russia has been losing sales to Western firms. The culture of corruption still exists in Indian defense procurement, but it is under heavy attack. Even if no bribes were involved when buying foreign weapons, that would not fix the inability to create a competitive Indian weapons industry. The reason for that has to do with why, for most of the last half century, most Indian weapons came from Russia. There were several reasons for that: politics, price and practicality. The policy was a decision by Indian politicians to be non-aligned during the Cold War. This conflict began just as India became independent from the British Empire. Still resentful towards Britain and the West for two centuries of colonial domination, India officially refused to take sides during the Cold War. Yet its relations with Russia, a communist dictatorship, were much warmer than with the Western democracies. Although India clung to democracy, the educated classes were infatuated with the promise of socialism. For several decades Indians abhorred the Russian form of government which was a dictatorship but admired their socialist approach to running their economy. It wasnt until the 1980s that most Indian politicians admitted that the Russian economic model was all a fraud and not working. For India, this set-in motion the sort of free enterprise policies that China had employed since the 1980s. By then it was too late for India. Decades of attempts to impose government regulation and guidance of the economy had created a huge bureaucracy that could not be easily dismantled because many of these jobs were used by politicians to reward supporters and get reelected. Then there was the price of Russian weapons. They were cheaper than Western equivalents. This meant more could be spent on bribes and payoffs. Finally, there was practicality. Indias main foes were Pakistan and China. Pakistan had a much smaller population, economy and defense budget than India. Russian weapons were adequate for Pakistan. China was also poorly equipped until quite recently, and separated from India by the Himalaya Mountains. Under those conditions Russian weapons were just fine for Indian needs. Since the Cold War ended in 1991 all this has changed. Indian politics has changed and now officially wants to clamp down on the corruption, which everyone admits cripples the economy. Price is still important, but its been noticed that Russian weapons have slipped in quality and effectiveness since the Soviet Union collapsed. Pakistan is even less of a military threat, because Pakistan is even more corrupt and economically crippled than India. China, however, is another matter. China has managed to build a powerful and productive arms industry. All those Russian weapons India has no longer provides any degree of superiority. India needs Western-quality arms to maintain a competitive military for confronting China, but those are more expensive. Its possible to make them in India under license, but the Indian industry has not been able to master high tech sufficiently to make this practical. In short, its no longer practical to tolerate an inefficient domestic defense industry. Efforts to create domestic defense industries have been crippled by specific portions of the bureaucracy. The worst of these is the DRDO (Defense Research and Development Organization). Alas, DRDO became a monumental example of bureaucratic inefficiency, wasting billions of dollars and decades of effort on weapons systems that never quite became operational or when they did, they really weren't. DRDO was created in 1958 to provide government support and guidance for defense related research. But the network of research and manufacturing facilities DRDO established since then were more about patronage and plundering the taxpayers than in actually creating competitive defense industries. Even DRDO efforts to create low-tech weapons like assault rifles and other infantry equipment were failures, with sloppiness and inefficiency resulting in very uncompetitive weapons. Worse, many major DRDO weapons development projects have failed because bad politics ensured that bad ideas kept getting funded, and those efforts rarely produced anything the military found acceptable. For example, the 5.5-ton Dhruv helicopter was in development for two decades before the first one was delivered in 2002. Since then, domestic and foreign users have expressed dissatisfaction. A series of crashes indicated some basic design flaws, which the manufacturer insisted did not exist. Similar situation with locally developed Tejas jet fighter. Indian politicians still cite these two aircraft as examples of successful Indian developed tech. The Indian military has been equally quick to cite these two aircraft as unacceptable and has often succeeded in avoiding accepting more than a token number. Export customers did not exist. Then there is the effort to develop and build a tank. Many of the problems with the Arjun tank project had to do with nothing more than government ineptitude. The Ministry of Defense was more interested in putting out press releases about how India was becoming self-sufficient in tanks than in attending to the technical details needed to make this happen. The Ministry of Defense crowd has done this sort of thing many times. Moreover, if it isn't incompetence screwing things up, then it's corruption. Efforts to develop missile systems have also been a long running failure. Work on indigenous missile designs, under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP), managed by DRDO has gone on for decades, with no useful weapons to show for it. The most common problems were apparently caused by inept software development. While India has a lot of local talent in this department, creating this kind of specialized military software is very difficult and the best programmers tend to join the growing number of new companies that sell their services or software products to foreigners. Many other Indian engineers and scientists migrate to countries where it is easier to put their skills to good use. The one exception has been ballistic missiles. Curiously this was seen as a really, really important project and the politicians eventually backed off and let the engineers get on with it. India has world class engineers and scientists, but too many of them have to go overseas to do what they do best because the government does not tolerate being told what works and what doesnt by people who know what they are talking about. India is determined to develop the capability of designing and building high-tech weapons, something few countries can do. India is following in the footsteps of China and Russia, two nations that still have most of their population living in poverty, while the state concentrated resources to create the technological base needed to build modern weapons. Russia and China have gone farther than India in developing and manufacturing modern weapons. Not as far as Western firms, if only because of the corruption and lawlessness in both those nations. But Russia and China had an advantage of having authoritarian governments. Decisions could get made quickly and decisively. India is a democracy and democracies are messy. Important decisions tend to get kicked down the road rather than taken care of. Chinese leaders openly boast of this as a major reason China has succeeded while India fails. There have been some new ideas and opportunities. One of the most alluring is the growing number of private firms in India that can handle defense work. Currently non-government Indian firms get about a quarter of the contracts. Foreign defense firms can make deals with these private firms who can then go after Indian defense contracts. But standing in the way are the Indian defense officials. The Indian bureaucrats have a well-deserved reputation of gumming up the works and preventing needful things from getting done. This makes it difficult for private companies, especially when the main customer is the government. Getting rid of DRDO and its 30,000 employees is difficult. Over 20 percent of them are scientists and engineers unable to compete in a free market economy with many of the rest are obstructionist bureaucrats that cripple the efforts of commercial firms competing with DRDO. Eliminating DRDO is extremely unpopular with most politicians. Yet in the last few years senior elected officials have made some decisive moves to end the bureaucratic deadlock. This involved something as simple as ending the ban on former military personnel taking key jobs in the Defense Ministry and shutting down state-owned arms factories with long records of failure. This situation is tragic and a growing number of Indians realize it. India, a regional superpower and the worlds largest democracy, with a population of over a billion, now finds itself in a very rough neighborhood and military efficiency is becoming a necessity, not just a worthy goal. To deal with that, India has always maintained large armed forces and one of the largest armies, with a million troops. But keeping these troops equipped, as is expected of them, has proved to be very difficult. The army keeps falling behind in replacing aging weapons like artillery and obtaining new technology like missiles, smart munitions, and night vision. Getting the money from the government has been the least of their problems. The biggest hassles are with corruption and failed efforts to develop local weapons production. The latest government moves to change all that are not revolutionary, but evolutionary. As has long been observed, democracies always do the right thing, but often only after trying everything else. India still has not reached the end of the everything else list. For the DRDO this moment arrived in 2024 when the government implemented a number of long overdue reforms. DRDO is losing many of its current staff and forced to concentrate more on efficiency and effectiveness. A matchmaker based in Dubai who charges six figures for one-on-one consultations shared the top dating tips she's picked up in her years of experience on the job. Christiana Maxion planted the seed for her multimillion-dollar matchmaking business in the aftermath of the pandemic with a tongue-in-cheek Instagram account about her dating adventures in the global city. 'I love dating in Dubai. I think it's the best place on the planet,' Christiana, who grew up in Westchester, New York, told DailyMail.com. 'You can date the entire map, people from all different ages, stages, phases in their life, nationalities, religions, ethnicities, cultures, upbringings. I think it's such a cool place to date,' she added. Christiana Maxion got into the matchmaking biz after starting an Instagram account that chronicled her dating adventures in Dubai, where she's lived since 2019 While the Instagram account was inspired by her own enthusiasm for Dubai's dating scene, she was surprised when it incurred an onslaught of gripes from both male and female acquaintances. 'What I learned from that account was that people hated dating in Dubai,' she said. 'And I was like, y'all are mad This is the best place. Because in all honestly, the most amazing people I've ever met live in this city,' she declared. She elaborated that Dubai, which is nearly 90 per cent expats, is packed with the type of person with the 'kind of balls' it takes to move to the bustling city on a work visa. In fact, Christiana first moved from New York City to the nearby metropolis of Abu Dhabi in 2016 as a relationship with a man who lived out of the city turned serious - also leaving her teaching position in the Bronx for one in Abu Dhabi. But, when they broke up in the next year, Christiana, who holds a masters in education, was determined to strike it out on her own. She kept on climbing the ladder as a teacher at local schools in the United Arab Emirates, first in Abu Dhabi and later in Dubai. Eventually moving to Dubai in 2019, she ultimately oversaw a team of 55 people before she decided to embark on a career as a matchmaker. 'I love dating in Dubai. I think it's the best place on the planet,' Christiana, who grew up in Westchester, New York, told DailyMail.com 'I've always been a connector my entire life,' Christiana said of the core skills that have allowed her to excel at the matchmaking vocation. 'Even in my early 20s, I would plan parties and I would strategically place people at different place settings.' When she first set out on her own in 2021, she was calling herself a 'dating manager' and charging clients roughly $2,700 to set them up on three dates. Three years later, she's running an agency with an international presence in partnership with Cinqe Matchmaking Service, with her rates now ranging from $25,000 for a basic package, and up to $350,000 for 'exclusive' one-on-one counseling and guidance. But the charges only apply to the client side - which, it's worth noting, in the past year alone, has seen four billionaires added to the roster. Those hoping to be set up on dates with Christiana's monied clientele are welcome and encouraged to register, sans charge, for her confidential database, which is now 40,000 plus singles strong. Through her innate savvy and on-the-job experience, Christiana is forthcoming with dating tips that work in any context. For one, dating is a numbers game, she says. That is to say, simply, the more people you go on dates with, the higher the chance of meeting 'the one.' Secondly, clear your mind of any thoughts of your exes as far as the first date goes - and, likewise, don't ask about the other person's exes, either. 'You're there to get to know that person You're past relationships are no reflection on your future ones,' explained Christiana. Thirdly, ditch your idea of a '100 per cent perfect' partner. 'Humans are humans,' stressed Christiana. Rather, look for someone who meets closer to 80 per cent of your ideal criteria, and 'build that 20 per cent together.' For straight women specifically, when it comes to top green flags in a man, look out for decisiveness and discipline above all else. Decisiveness can be spotted in a 'man who has a plan,' she said. 'A man is quick to claim his woman. So stop wasting with a guy who is playing games with you,' she added. And, 'Disciplined. This is a man who has direction, who makes certain choices in his life, in order to create success for himself. Whether that's wellness, wealth, his emotional well-being,' Christiana explained. Finally, as another advice tidbit directed at women, Christiana endorses dating 'boring' men - although she admits this is a 'controversial opinion.' In practice, this may look like someone who doesn't have social media and who doesn't go out and party, and 'isn't searching for validation in others,' she described. What about general compatibility? Even with all of her successes, with Christiana seeing many couples she's set up walk down the aisle, there's no magic formula. 'What I've learned as a matchmaker is that you can never tell the true compatibility of people from two flat profiles. It's never gonna work.' After just three years in business, Christiana charges six figures for an 'Exclusive' package that includes one-on-one guidance and counseling One of the benefits for clientele of her agency is that packages do come with unlimited dates, she says - again, in alignment with her thesis of successful dating being a 'numbers game.' 'What I think is super important is about finding the emotional yin to your yang,' she emphasized to DailyMail.com. 'What I mean by that is, let's say you're a person who's quick to temper. You're a hothead. It'll be very difficult for you to have a long, lasting healthy relationship with somebody who's also quick to temper and a hothead. You will need somebody cool and calm to balance out,' she offered as an example. And her own approach to dating? 'I have always been extremely practical, pragmatic person,' she reflected. 'I look at relationships like a contract. I've always been this way. 'Even in my current relationship, we wrote down, "What are our separate visions in life?" "What are our goals in life?" "What do we want our futures to look like?" "Do we have alignment?"' In bringing her wisdom to the wider global dating pool, Christiana is also launching a dating app, Maxion, that comes equipped with verification and concierge services. 'The app is a way for me to reach a much wider audience, so accomplishable, successful individuals, not just millionaires and billionaires,' she described. 'And it's a way to scale, create more connection. 'I know my purpose on this earth is to connect people. So it's exciting.' About 12 years ago, I came home with a new Labrador puppy. My wife, Maggie mother to our primary school-aged daughter looks shocked. 'I thought you were joking about feeling lonely,' she says. No, I wasn't joking. And no, Maggie and I still weren't talking in the evenings, we continued to feel more distant by the day, but at least I had the distraction of cleaning up Scotty's dog poo. This giant furball even slept on top of me in bed, which distracted me further from our marital problems. But having Scotty to look after means that for a short time I don't feel useless or lonely. Scotty would reach the grand age of seven before I felt any genuine happiness again. That was the summer I met Caroline, the woman with whom I began an affair, and whose story you read in these pages last week. By the time I chose to ask Maggie for a divorce, our 20-year-marriage had been dying the way Hemingway said we go bankrupt: slowly, then suddenly I do not hate my (just) ex-wife. Maggie isn't unkind, or a nag. She was and remains attractive. We raised our daughter with loving kindness. So why did I do this terrible thing? By the time I chose to ask Maggie for a divorce, our 20-year-marriage had been dying the way Hemingway said we go bankrupt: slowly, then suddenly. I met Maggie in the first term of university she was studying law and I was doing a degree in English. We were both shy and rather bookish. I worked up the courage to ask her out by first asking out two of her friends on embarrassing first dates. Maggie is very bright, with excellent taste in art and a soft spot for heavy metal that I still don't understand, but that charmed me all the more. After five years of dating, we settled into a functional and mostly loving marriage. Maggie became a commercial lawyer and I followed my dream to be a writer. We bought a small house in an up-and-coming neighbourhood of Edinburgh. Before long, we had a daughter. I enjoyed fatherhood so much that I was happy to dial back my career in the performing arts to be the stay-at-home parent, as I made significantly less money than Maggie. I truly didn't mind. To start with, I loved where we lived and how we lived. It's said that frogs, if boiled quickly, will jump out of the pan. But if you raise the temperature slowly, a degree at a time, your frog will be boiled with few complaints. Our frog started sweating when we had our daughter. What people don't tell you is that you'll be in competition with your children and your children should win. Kids are objectively wonderful, and you should cherish every moment with the selfish, snuggly monsters, but they are also the enemy to marital love. For years, our daughter insisted on coming into our bed every night. I felt she should return to her own room but Maggie was happy for her to stay. This started to get in the way of our intimacy. I don't just mean the sex, which I have learned to live without at times of my life. What I started to miss most as a man was conversation. One night, when we went to bed, I turned to talk about our day. Maggie said: 'You're really chatty at night, you know that?' I did know that. I thought Maggie knew that. We were together for five years before we got married. But that night, she made it clear that she didn't like night chat as a policy. There's nothing wrong with that; we were different people with different needs. I wanted conversation at night, she wanted to sleep. Maggie had a difficult job. I respected the choice. So, I stopped trying to initiate social intercourse. By this point, it had become uncomfortable to smile before bed because she was tired enough to fear that the smile would lead to sex or, God forbid, a conversation. Thirty years earlier my mother, in the middle of a argument with my father, confided in me that 'the bed is a battleground', and I had literally no idea what she was talking about. To a teenage boy that sounded pretty cool, a battleground! In our marital bed, Maggie began to adopt a defensive position, scrunched in the corner, knees and elbows strategically placed like razor wire to slow any invading force. And if that failed and I tried to go over the top, Maggie could always utter an angry sigh and I would retreat out of no man's land back to neutral territory. When my daughter starts school, I feel lonelier than ever. She has new friends, so I feel I should get a few more, as well. I start going to therapy, exercising like mad at the gym and throwing myself into cooking: Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson seem happy enough. Maggie agrees to go to therapy herself, but soon drops the process, finding it frustrating and unhelpful. Eventually, I suggest getting a dog, to which Maggie absent-mindedly says 'OK'. So I am able to distract myself for a few years with a new, hairier and even more intrusive guest on our bed. It's all companionable enough, if a bit chaotic for a while. But Scotty's arrival confirms a serious intimacy problem in our marriage. I distract myself with my city. When our daughter was small, we lived in a very social part of Edinburgh, with theatre, film, dance, museums. Later, however, we move to a more sparsely populated suburb, and a much larger house, a seemingly small trade to live far from my old friends. Then disaster strikes. March 2020, Covid and everything closes down. Living in a new area with no friends, I am stuck in a house with a teen who needs me less and less each day, and a wife who seems (to me) to prefer the solitary life. In this larger house, Maggie could avoid me to her heart's content. I believe she was happy knowing I was there, but wasn't actually happy spending time with me. She likes the idea of me, but the fact of me is hairier, noisier, and needier. A few months before the pandemic started, I meet Caroline on Facebook. Well, we didn't actually meet in person for at least six months, we just start chatting. I wasn't looking for an affair; I had made many online friendships with men and women over the years. I'd had one brief infidelity with someone I worked with 15 years prior and I don't recommend the endeavour. Affairs are tiring and tiresome work. But Caroline and I became fast friends, months before I saw her face and weeks before I heard her voice. She, herself, had gone through a bad divorce a couple years previously and she makes it clear she has no interest in breaking up a marriage or getting involved. But again: we can't stop talking to each other. And while the talk is occasionally flirtatious, we usually keep to topics of general interest: the lockdown, the silliness of thinking that a mask worn over a chin could stop viruses. I talk about my struggling sour-dough, my new kale and spelt recipe (my God, I'm so middle class) the terrible novel I am working on, my neurotic but lovable dog. Any normal human would find the conversations pedestrian, but for two people starved of attention, they are golden moments. Each time I talk to Caroline I feel better. I stop feeling lonely. I feel listened to. When we have embarrassing opinions, like, a love for the more politically incorrect humour in Carry On films, we share in both guilt and laughter. Five years on, we still chat away like children at a slumber party. Of course, we do; she knew me long before she met me. For years, our daughter insisted on coming into our bed every night. This started to get in the way of our intimacy. I don't just mean the sex, which I have learned to live without at times of my life. What I started to miss most as a man was conversation Six months after Caroline and I start chatting, I travel to London to meet her. I find myself very confused. I was hoping we could stay friends, or maybe have a short dalliance and that would be that. I'd scratch some midlife itch and it would all be over. Caroline confides to me weeks later that she promised herself she wouldn't sleep with me. I told myself 'whatever we do, don't screw up this friendship'. Of course we end up in bed within two hours of my arrival. It seems we can't stop doing that, either. That evening over an Italian meal, I realise I can't live without her. In fact, I can't imagine it. How could I leave my wife of so many years? I don't at first. I do something both horrible and kind: I lie to everyone closest to me. How could I lie? Because I don't know if this is some sort of midlife crisis. My work life utterly falls apart; the pandemic destroys my particular industry. I am doing some teaching, but however useful Zoom is, it's not a replacement for real social interaction. The lost salary isn't an issue but I am still alone in a big house and feeling more useless by the day. If there's one thing a man hates feeling, it's useless. Then my mother dies, my father having died several years before. Something changes inside me I realise we're not on the planet for very long. I look at my dog. I have been unhappy as long as Scotty has been alive, could I live another 40 years like this? Is all this the claustrophobia of the pandemic, or just the routine bad judgment of middle-class, middle-aged men? As the pandemic ends, I finally get a chance to see my therapist in person. I ask her if I'm really ready to leave my marriage, or if this is just some midlife crisis? She says something I'll never forget: 'What some people call a midlife crisis is a natural part of realising your own mortality. You're going to die sooner than you'd like and you might want some happiness before you do. Maybe you're afraid of dying.' She is wrong on that score. I'm not afraid of dying. I'm afraid of not having lived. I choose happiness. I discuss with my therapist how to exit a marriage with as little pain as possible. Unfortunately, my happiness would be bought with a lot of tears from me and my family, tears I would rather have avoided. But I never question my decision from that point. I accept a job in Manchester that would start in the autumn of 2022 and plan how to tell my wife that our marriage is over. The next week is a nightmare. I say to my wife that I wish to end the marriage. And I want to die as I watch her heart break. My advice for someone who wants a divorce is: avoid it if you can. I don't tell her about Caroline at first, because the problems in the marriage have nothing to do with her. But I am also scared and ashamed. We plan to tell our daughter in a week, but the tears keep coming and we are miserable and my daughter can tell. So we tell her together, I watch her heart break and I die all over again. Later, my wife begs me to reconsider. She claims she knew nothing about my loneliness, despite me reminding her of every time I told her 'I'm lonely'. I remind her of why we got Scotty. And that makes her feel blamed, so I back off. I try to tell her that I need things I don't think she can give. And that this doesn't make her a worse person maybe it makes me too needy. We sleep in the same bed for another day or two, and we hug each other, crying in the night, but we don't go further than that, because it is over. But, back in my new place, I feel like a weight has been lifted from my chest. I bike around Manchester feeling happier than I've felt in years. I feel free and invincible. Maggie is not and has not been the bad guy. I was with her for 20 years and I wasn't wrong to be. She is a good person who remains a friend. When I'm in her area and go back to see our daughter, I stay at our old house. I help with Scotty and take him to the vet when he develops a tumour. With treatment, we are able to extend his life for another two years. Maggie soon puts the timing together and guesses. Thinking back, she realises that all during the pandemic when she's avoiding me, I'm in another room talking to Caroline. She feels hurt and guilty, realising she left me alone for so long, and she feels stupid for not noticing I was cheating on her under her nose. Yes, I still feel terrible about lying to her. She feels I never gave her a chance to fight for me. Instead of reminding her of all the times I told her I was unhappy, I apologise. My daughter is angry with me for a time but, when she meets Caroline, much of that anger melts away. She sees how nice she is and how happy Caroline makes me. The divorce process itself is amicable and we settle on a reasonable split to keep us and our daughter comfortable. Our marriage, and our dog, die within months of each other. Again, I am reminded by tragic circumstance that life is short. And if life is so short, I believe you should spend it with people who want to spend it with you. Love is just that you really like the person in your bed and vice versa. And you want to know what's going on in their lives and in their heads; you're dying to know what happens next in their life. Because you are. Dying. 'I've never seen you look so happy,' my old friend says to me. I have just introduced her to Caroline. My friend is no fan of adultery but she sees the joy in my eyes and she has just met the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with and love more deeply than anyone I've ever known in my life. I'm not saying that every middle-aged bloke who realises they're mortal should run out on the people they love. But for the sake of the few years you have alive, talk to the person in your bed, listen to them. Make space for everyone in your life. Live while you can. An influencer has hit out at H&M and claimed the store has made size XS 'bigger' - meaning it no longer fits her petite frame. Ana Lendl, from Vienna, Austria, posted a clip on Instagram that racked up more than 10million views venting about the measurements. The fast fashion giant claims that XS is a UK size 6 or an EU 34 with a waist measurement of between 24 to 25 inches. Ana wrote in the caption: 'Many brands have embraced the 'body positivity' movement by offering plus sizes, which is a fantastic step toward inclusivity for the new generation. 'But WAIT: we need to acknowledge that the struggle goes BOTH ways.' Ana Lendl, from Vienna, Austria, posted a clip on Instagram that racked up more than 10million views venting about H&M's measurements The content creator posted a video of the XS label on her clothes as she tried them on in the changing room. Ana showed herself pulling on the baggy mini skirts, along with showing how big the smart trousers were on her. Some of H&M's clothing range goes down to XXS (equivalent to a UK size 4), but for most garments, XS is the smallest size available. Ana added: 'People often overlook how difficult it can be for very thin women to find clothes that fit properly. '[I don't know] how many times I've had to take clothing to a tailor just to make it wearable, or how often I've had to give up on styles I loved simply because they weren't available in my size. 'So, to all the brands out there: let's work on including petite and size zero options too.' The video received 130,000 likes and thousands of comments as her followers shared their thoughts on the clip. One wrote: 'Actually they should offer XXS or even XXXS [in my opinion] just like they offer XXL and XXXL.' Ana showed herself pulling on the baggy mini skirts, along with showing how big the smart trousers were on her The video got 130,000 likes and thousands of comments as her followers shared their thoughts on the clip Another penned: 'I swear XS has gotten bigger.' A third said: ''Body positivity' until it's a skinny body.' A fourth commented: 'Finally someone said it!! I stopped ordering online altogether make XS, XS again.' Last year, H&M introduced a 1.99 fee for customers who want to return their clothing and are not signed up to its membership scheme. This angered shoppers who hit out at the Swedish retailer and said the company needed to make their sizing more consistent. When asked about the 'inconsistent sizing', H&M's boss told the BBC last year: 'There's always improvement to make.' FEMAIL has contacted H&M for comment. Paul Forde found his mother and they spent nine years together before she died A pensioner who survived the Tuam mother and baby home is hoping a search of the site may reveal the body of his sister, whose fate remains unknown. Paul Forde, 79, said he doesn't have many memories of the home, located in County Galway in Ireland, adding that he was 'brainwashed' during his time there. The institution - which was run by nuns - operated in the area between 1925 and 1961 and housed unmarried women who were pregnant, usually at the request of their families. However it was later reported that the bodies of approximately 796 babies may have been disposed of on the site - particularly in a disused sewage tank. Nearly a decade after the horrific scandal came to light, a full excavation of the area to recover the remains has begun its preliminary stage, with the full excavation to begin next year. Paul's sister, Ellen, was born in 1942 and died aged two, before she was thought to have been buried in the mass grave. But until just two months ago, he had no idea she existed, until he was told by historian Catherine Corless that she had found her death certificate. He told BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour: 'I'm going to take her and going to bury her [with] her mother and if I don't, my family knows and my family will do it for me.' Paul Forde said he doesn't have many memories of the Tuam mother and baby home, adding that he was 'brainwashed' during his time there Paul was born a year after his sibling's death, but his biological mother never told him about Ellen after she was sent to the home and 'punished' for being a pregnant woman who was not married. 'Every morning when [my mother] went to mass, she lit two candles,' Paul said. Paul was around five years old when he left the Tuam mother and baby home and went to live with his new foster family. He said: 'My foster family were a lovely family, I was one of the lucky ones and they did everything they could for me. 'They clothed me, fed me and I went to school.' However, Paul was illiterate up until the age of 13, when he decided to teach himself how to read and write. After he moved away from the institution, Paul said his peers called him a 'homebird' - a derogatory term for people who had come from mother and baby homes. 'I remember when I was going to mass as well a few of them [tried] to take advantage and they started prodding me and stabbed me,' he said. He said that other members of society would 'look down' on children who had come from the Tuam home. The site of the mass grave thought to contain the bodies of 796 children pictured in 2014 A man holding an umbrella stands by the gravestone dedicated to almost 800 babies and children thought to be buried at the site in Tuam in 2014 A girl is pictured putting a teddy bear down alongside a bouquet of flowers at the site in 2014 Paul decided to seek assistance to help him look for his birth mother. Upon tracking her down, he was told he would have to wait a week before contacting her but it 'felt like 10 years'. 'I quizzed her about my father but she wasn't forthcoming for some reason. 'There was one time where I brought my two sons [to go and see her] and on our way out, one of them, who was around six, said 'I know where I got my brown eyes from'.' His mother stayed in the institution 'her whole life' and spent her time folding sheets, Paul says. Tuam Mother and Baby Home was set up in a former workhouse that housed destitute adults and children since the 1800s famine era. The building was turned into a home for mothers and babies in 1925 and was run by an order of Catholic nuns named the Bon Secours Sisters. In 1961, Tuam was shut down after it was seen to have fallen into a state of disrepair and the remaining residents were transferred to similar homes. However, in 1975, two young boys discovered skeletal remains while playing in the area, with locals attributing it to bodies from the famine era. In 2012, Catherine Corless wrote about the poor living conditions inside the Tuam mother and baby home and published a journal, detailing the poor living conditions. Reports found how infants suffered malnutrition and neglect, which caused the deaths of many, while others died of measles, convulsions, TB, gastroenteritis and pneumonia. Carmel Larkin (R) and historian Catherine Corless (L) are pictured in 2019 A year later, Catherine attempted to collate the death certificates of nearly 800 children who died at the Tuam home, before it started to gain media attention worldwide. She also told the BBC today: 'A woman who got pregnant in the village was absolutely frowned upon, whispered about, talked about. 'The priests were called the house and told the family that she could not stay in the village like that, being pregnant. 'So he would arrange for the woman to be whisked off to a home and even after they gave birth and spent a year in the home, they couldn't even come back to the village. 'Because many a time, and I quote some people, they were told she was a temptation, a bad influencer, a 'loose woman'.' Catherine said she exposed the story to the media because 'local people wouldn't listen' to her. Speaking of the treatment of the babies and children, she said: 'They were treated like... I wouldn't even say treated like animals because you treat your animals better. 'To put down all these beautiful babies and toddlers, wrap them out and put them down in a sewage facility and forget all about them it's too horrific, I had to be a voice for them.' Catherine herself encountered some of the children from the home and said she remembers them being 'pale and skinny and not dressed very well'. She added: 'I remember the most of all, they were all huddled together at the back and we were told not to talk to them, mix with them or play with them.' A source close to the investigation told the Irish Mail on Sunday at the time: 'No one knows the total number of babies in the grave. There are 796 death records but they are only the ones we know of. 'God knows who else is in the grave. It's been lying there for years and no one knows the full extent or total of bodies down there.' The Bon Secours Sisters apologised in 2021 and said they had 'failed to protect the inherent dignity' of women and children in the home. Daniel MacSweeney has been appointed the Director of Authorised Intervention at Tuam, and is in charge of running the current excavation operation. Queen Letizia looks quintessential in a lilac suit during presentation in Madrid Queen Letizia of Spain stepped out in a stylish lilac ensemble as she attended a presentation on radio and audio accessibility for deaf people today. The royal, 52, exuded style as she arrived for the presentation on National Radio for All; an initiative of RTVE and the Royal Board on Disability to make live radio accessible to deaf people, in Madrid on Monday. The glamorous mother-of-two donned a smart but chic purple suit in a relaxed fit which was paired expertly with beige kitten heels and a high neck white t-shirt. The Spanish royal perfectly paired the smart outfit with a sleek but simple makeup, adding a touch of smoke to her eyes and finishing the makeup with elegantly carved out eyebrows. Letizia kept her glossy locks down at her shoulders, showing off her thick shiny brunette tresses. Queen Letizia of Spain (pictured) stepped out in a stylish lilac ensemble as she attended a presentation on radio and audio accessibility for deaf people today The royal, 52, exuded style as she arrived for the presentation on National Radio for All; an initiative of RTVE and the Royal Board on Disability to make live radio accessible to deaf people The queen completed the look with a a set of three silver hoops in each ear. She accessorised the chic ensemble with a beige clutch bag in the same shade as her kitten heels. The stylish suit is one previously worn by the queen, having first debuted the look 2021 when she attended a virtual event on World Cancer Research Day during the pandemic. She donned the stylish look again earlier this summer while attending an event held at Boadilla del Monte. The event was held at Casa de la Radio, a local radio station in the Spanish capital. Attending the event without her husband, King Felipe, 56, Letizia arrived in Spain's capital for the presentation on 'Radio Nacional para Todos' - translated to National Radio for All. It detailed the work of RTVE, the Spanish Broadcaster, and the Royal Board on Disability to make live radio accessible to deaf people through new technological developments. They will aim to make this a reality by incorporating subtitles, and later avatars, in sign language. While attending the event, Letizia paused to pose for a picture with Minister Pablo Bustinduy Amador and the President of RTVE, Concepcion Cascajosa. Queen Letizia pictured with Minister Pablo Bustinduy (left) Amador and the President of RTVE, Concepcion Cascajosa (right) The glamorous mother-of-two donned a smart but chic purple suit in a relaxed fit which was paired expertly with beige kitten heels and a high neck white t-shirt The Spanish royal perfectly paired the smart regalia with a sleek but simple makeup looking Letizia wore her flawless skin naturally, adding a touch of smoke to her eyes and finishing the makeup with elegantly carved out eyebrows Letizia kept her long glossy locks down at her shoulders, showing off her thick shiny brunette tresses Last week, the Spanish royal stepped out in a dress from H&M during a red carpet event in Madrid, alongside her husband, King Felipe. The glamorous royal opted to recycle a black midi frock from the 2018 H&M Conscious Collection; first seen on the royal last year at an awards ceremony in Girona. While in 2023 she styled the uniquely decorated dress with silver court pumps, this year the fashionista went for something slightly different; and paired the look with a silver open toe block heels. Perhaps still brimming with her birthday glow, Letizia was all smiles as she paced along the red carpet with her husband, even taking the time to stop and wave at guests and fans. The frock's added frills made for the perfect decoration on the already outstanding look. To top it off, she teamed her ensemble with a black and silver clutch bag. Attending the event without her husband, King Felipe, 56, Letizia arrived in Spain's capital for the presentation on 'Radio Nacional para Todos' - translated to National Radio for All The event detailed the work of RTVE, the Spanish Broadcaster, and the Royal Board on Disability to make live radio accessible to deaf people through new technological developments Letizia pictured with , Concepcion Cascajosa, a Spanish lecturer, working at the Charles III University of Madrid For her make-up, she opted for a palette as glamorous as her style; choosing a glossy lip, sparkling peach eyeshadow and shimmering highlighter. She further marked the occasion with her neatly styled brunette locks and glittering silver crystal hoops. Her husband King Felipe also commanded attention the red carpet by wearing a suave black suit, light blue tie and black leather loafers. The royal couple were in town for the opening of the Royal Theatre's 2024/2025 season. A woman has laid bare the heartbreaking reality of caring for her autistic child with little support from health services. One mother from Northern Ireland, whose son has a learning disability and has been diagnosed with autism, opened up about a frightening incident that has left her unable to be alone with Eoin, 16. Speaking to BBC Spotlight in a new documentary, titled I Am Not Okay, Laura Flannigan revealed how she was once choked by her child - who can get distressed, leading to violent outbursts. 'At one stage he had me up against the wall in his bathroom and he had his hand round my throat and I just couldn't get past him,' she tearfully explained. 'And I just thought, well how am I going to get out of this. And I remember having to say to my daughter, 'ring your daddy'. And I was afraid, and she was afraid - and I just thought - I can't be in this situation again. One mother, whose son has a learning disability and has been diagnosed with autism, opened up about a frightening incident that has left her unable to be alone with Eoin, 16 'It hurt to know that you were the mummy but you couldn't be on your own with your own child.' Laura admitted that it was 'difficult' to talk to her husband Seamus about it, because she 'knew that would change everything for him'. 'He's basically nearly like a prisoner here because he couldn't go anywhere,' she added. 'When Eoin was here, he had to be here.' The mother said that as her son grew up, he became 'aggressive' and 'very agitated'. 'He just didn't seem to be happy in his own skin,' she remarked. 'He was starting to hit out at other people... it just became difficult to manage for everybody because he was so big that when obviously he's kicking things or throwing things or hitting. 'He has broken windows, he fractured somebody's nose, he kicked a door off its hinges he's put holes in walls.' The documentary shows moments in which Seamus is forced to hold back a clearly distressed Eoin, using his strength to keep him from hurting himself and others, and attempt to calm him down. One tender moment in the programme shows the family together in a hydrotherapy pool - an activity which cools Eoin down and helps him relax. The documentary shows moments in which Seamus is forced to hold back a clearly distressed Eoin, using his strength to keep him from hurting himself and others, and attempt to calm him down Laura told the documentary that the family are struggling to get regular overnight respite from Belfast Health Trust - which Eoin is entitled to. However, this is not being delivered In a sweet scene, Seamus gently holds and cuddles a chilled out Eoin. Speaking to the BBC, the father opened up about the expectation placed on him. 'I could be out of the room and the next second I'm being called by my daughter or my wife because he's kicked off again. You have to put yourself physically between him and them and get them out of the road,' he said. 'You think okay, at least I'm able to deal with this and it's not my wife and it's not my daughter that are getting hurt. But then you realise that they can't be on their own with him. 'They can't spend that quality time without someone being there as a bodyguard.' However, Seamus also spoke about the sweet moment he and his son shared in the pool while filming. 'It's so simple, just splashing about in the water, playing with the waves pushing against you,' he said. 'He just loves that and he loves you to be there with him.' In a sweet scene, Seamus gently holds and cuddles a chilled out Eoin. Speaking to the BBC , the father opened up about the expectation placed on him Laura told the documentary that the family are struggling to get regular overnight respite from Belfast Health Trust - which Eoin is entitled to. However, this is not being delivered. 'It's just very hard living day to day like that,' she said. 'We want to be there for own and to help him as much as we can but to do that we do need a break. 'We need time for ourselves, we need time for our daughter as well because obviously she's watching and seeing all this and it's very difficult for her as well. 'This is for Eoin. We've tried everything. We've contacted politicians, we spoke to our social workers. We went through every avenue we could possibly think of.' Social worker Geraldine O'Hagan - who had worked in the system for 30 years and passed away shortly after working on the documentary - said that Eoin's case is an example of the lack of support being provided. 'Laura trying very hard to hold it together and then you've got dad, who is wanting to support mum. The programme, which is available on iPlayer, demonstrated other instances where parents were unable to get respite - which are short breaks that can be offered to parents caring for autistic children THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF AUTISM According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people with autism have trouble with social, emotional and communication skills that usually develop before the age of three and last throughout a persons life. Specific signs of autism include: Reactions to smell, taste, look, feel or sound are unusual Difficulty adapting to changes in routine Unable to repeat or echo what is said to them Difficulty expressing desires using words or motions Unable to discuss their own feelings or other peoples Difficulty with acts of affection like hugging Prefer to be alone and avoid eye contact Difficulty relating to other people Unable to point at objects or look at objects when others point to them Advertisement 'They've already had two assessments. And I look at the assessments that they've had and it's from people that are inexperienced in learning disability. So it's really not worth the paper its written on. There's a lot of inexperienced social workers coming in with no training.' The programme, which is available on iPlayer, demonstrated other instances where parents were unable to get respite - which are short breaks that can be offered to parents caring for autistic children, from the Belfast Trust and the South Eastern Trust. As explained by the National Autistic Society, respite is 'available vary significantly depending on the age of your child and the level of their needs'. In England, local authorities are 'legally bound' to provide a range of short breaks including day-time and overnight care, educational or leisure activities and 'services available to assist carers in the evenings, at weekends and during the school holidays'. In Northern Ireland, respite can be provided to autistic children and their families 'if it is identified as a need by your HSCT'. The NAS website said: 'Some short break services are specifically for autistic children whilst others are generic services for children with all types of disabilities. 'Whilst it does not always matter whether a service is autism-specific or not, it is important that the people caring for your child understand autism.' In a statement to the BBC, the Belfast Trust said it is 'very sorry it is unable to offer overnight breaks and is exploring how to reintroduce them'. 'Eoin and Theo's [another child in the documentary] complex needs make it difficult to arrange,' they added. 'It says it does all it possible can to provide support for autistic children. It says it has no record of official complaints from Geraldine O'Hagan.' Elsewhere, the programme heard that 'the Department of Health says it is currently trying to improve and rethink autism care. But the Health Minister admits the current situation is unsustainable.' FEMAIL has reached out for further comments from the Belfast Health Trust and the South Eastern Trust. NI Health Minister Mike Nesbitt told FEMAIL: 'I have watched the recent BBC Spotlight documentary on children with learning disabilities and autism. I found the programme to be very distressing and fully recognise that the situation for those families and others is unsustainable. 'My heart goes out to these families and others in similar positions. I pay tribute to them for raising their voices. 'I have already met with one of the families profiled by Spotlight through my constituency work and I intend to meet the other families in the coming weeks. 'I am determined to see urgent improvement in this area and have tasked officials to provide costed proposals for my consideration in the coming days. 'An urgent and comprehensive response is required to better support children and families. It is important to reflect that improved access to Short Breaks is a part of the response, alongside a greater level of support in the family home. 'My officials convened a regional summit with Trusts, RQIA and PHA on 26 September 2024, to identify areas that could be rapidly progressed to address the immediate unmet needs of children with disabilities.' A music venue has apologised to solo male fans attending a The Last Dinner Party concert on Saturday night - after they claimed they were subjected to 'strange' treatment. Male fans of the Mercury-nominated, British indie rock band - which ultimately had to cancel the Lincoln gig due to illness - reported that they were subjected to humiliating treatment when trying to enter the The Engine Shed in Lincoln. One man wrote on X that he was 'funnelled into a dark corner with other men, told I might be a pervert cus I'm alone and then taken into a room alone with a security guard where I was interrogated and searched,' The Guardian reported. According to the publication, he was also asked what his favourite Last Dinner Party song was. Another male fan of the band described equally 'strange' treatment at the hands of the venue's security staff. The Engine Shed has since released an apology statement on social media for the 'unacceptable' treatment and has launched a preliminary investigation. Last Dinner Party (pictured at Reading Festival earlier this year) were due to play at The Engine Shed music venue in Lincoln on Saturday. The gig was called off due to illness Taking to X, solo male gig-goers claimed that they were discriminated against by security staff at The Engine Shed on Saturday X It said what happened fell 'far short of our venue entry policy, which requires all attendees to be treated equally and be subject to the same entry requirements'. Paul wrote on X: 'I rocked up there tonight at 8.45 on my own, no queue, I got asked how long I had liked them for, and to name my favourite song. 'I thought it was a bit strange and the first time I've ever felt like I'm on Mastermind to get into a gig. Now I've read this [the statement] I understand why now.' A third man claimed that his medication was 'discussed in front of the queue' and he had to explain what he takes it for. 'I've had my personal possessions held up like a trophy while other security staff were have a laugh, I've had every little thing emptied from my wallet in front of everyone.' A fourth made clear that he would not be attending the replacement gig on the basis of the exclusionary treatment he had received. Kam Zaki posted: 'I won't be attending any rescheduled dates based on the way I was treated last night & I am not alone'. Speaking to BBC Newsbeat, the 46-year-old from Brighton explained that he was taken aside by security staff and warned that he would have to leave if he didn't consent to being searched. While The Engine Shed issued an apology for 'the unacceptable treatment of some guests', one X account wondered why the band hadn't also apologised 'They took everything out of my pockets, they went through my wallet including the coin pouch, they searched my shoes,' he told the news site. He added that he was also asked to answer the following questions: 'How long have you liked the band?'; 'What's your favourite song?'; and 'How many times have you seen them before?' In the statement, The Engine Shed said the venue management team made an ad-hoc change to their security policy after previous 'incidents' at one of the band's previous gigs. It elaborated: 'Although the policy was changed with the right intentions, the change resulted in the unacceptable treatment of some guests, and The Engine Shed would like to fully apologise to anyone affected.' An X account with the name 'How to build a festival' recognised the venue's apology as a good step but queried why the Last Dinner Party hadn't issued a statement of their own. They posted: 'Good to see the venue have apologised but why so quiet from the band...#lastdinnerparty'. Kate Lawler has slammed a London bakery for charging almost 9 for a loaf of sourdough bread. The presenter went to the French bakery in north London to purchase her beloved artisan loaf. But the 44-year-old was left shocked when she was charged a whopping 8.82. She said that although it smelt 'lovely', she could not justify the price tag, but the man working in the bakery had already started cutting it up before she realised the cost. To add insult to injury, Kate was asked whether she wanted to leave the bakery a tip. Kate Lawler went to the store in north London to purchase her beloved artisan loaf in London and got a shock when she saw the amount on the card reader She said: 'I tapped no tip and then I had the audacity to feel stingy, what's going on in the world? '12 slices of bread for 8.82? The guy is a robbing b******. 'He should've had a black and white stripy jumper, black eye mask and a SWAG bag,' she added. Kate did not name the bakery she bought the sourdough from but admitted that she has tasted 'better' loaves. The TV star wrote in her caption: 'How much is a loaf of sourdough where you live? Less than 8.82 I hope. 'Still, it's fresh, it's healthy and I can't wait to slab some avocado and eggs on two toasted slices of it tomorrow.' Some prices in London have shot up in recent years, with the cost of mocktails in bars almost reaching the same price as their alcoholic counterparts. Shot - a darkly lit coffee shop based in Mayfair and Marylebone in London - is also charging a whopping 265 for a cup of coffee. The cafe claims the coffee is made from typica beans, a higher quality version of the arabica beans, and have been shipped in from the Nakayama estate based on the Okinawa Island in Japan. Before purchasing the extortionate bread, Kate was asked whether she wanted to leave the bakery a tip Kate's clip racked up 1.5million views on Instagram and thousands of comments from appalled fans High street favourites such as Black Sheep, Starbucks, Costa and Cafe Nero also offer Lattes at more than 4. Kate's clip racked up 1.5million views on Instagram and thousands of comments from appalled fans. One wrote: 'Get yourself to Aldi... none of this artisan nonsense that will cost you 8.82.' Another said: 'I put a bottle of Heinz back on the shelf the other day , 5 for a bottle of ketchup!' A third penned: 'If people are stupid enough to pay it, people will charge it.' A fourth commented: 'As a sourdough baker, I know the effort that goes into making it but a big bakery on a large scale shouldn't be charging that.' Princess Anne looked ready for business in an army green suit today as she visited a Gurkha regiment at the Imjin Barracks in Innsworth, Gloucestershire. The Princess Royal, 74, received a traditional Mala - or flower garland - from the Nepali soldiers, viewed a bust of herself made from icing sugar and cut a celebration cake with a large kukri, the national weapon of Nepal. Princess Anne, who is Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Logistic Corps - the branch of the British Army that supports the activities of the UK military around the world - wore a khaki coloured, checked skirt suit for the outing. Adorned with a small gold brooch, the jacket had a subtle red check and bright red buttons, which matched the Princess's crimson scarf, while the skirt fell just below the knee. The mother of Zara Tindall, 43, and Peter Phillips, 46, teamed her suit with a pair of patent, block-heel shoes embellished with a silver horsebit. Princess Anne (pictured) visited the Imjin Barracks in Innsworth, Gloucestershire. She was shown around by commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Gareth Allen (right) The Princess Royal, 74, received a traditional Mala- or flower garland - during her visit, which she wore around her neck Princess Anne also cut a huge celebration cake with a large kurki - the traditional knife used by the Gurkhas She was first pictured in the tailored green suit in November 2023 when she visited the Citizens Advice Bureau in Malvern, Worcestershire. As on that occasion, the Princess wore her hair brushed back today, completing her look with a pair of gold stud earrings. Princess Anne carried a colourful bouquet of flowers as she was shown around by Lieutenant Colonel Gareth Allen and later donned a sumptuous Mala made of yellow and green flowers. She met with multiple members of the Gurkha Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) Support Battalion, including the chefs responsible for creating an icing sugar bust of the royal. The talented chefs had also carved a portrait of Princess Anne from a watermelon. Following in the footsteps of her late mother Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Camilla, Princess Anne beamed as she cut a huge celebration cake with a large kurki - the traditional knife used by the Gurkhas. Last Thursday, the Princess Royal paid her respects to two unidentified World War I soldiers who were buried in a cemetery in Loos-en-Gohelle. Gun salutes sounded out as the two brave British soldiers were laid to rest in northern France over a century after they were killed in the bloody conflict in 1915. The royal met with a chef from the regiment, who presented a bust of her made from icing sugar The talented chefs had also carved a portrait of Princess Anne from a watermelon Princess Anna wore an army green, checked skirt suit for her outing today She met with multiple members of the Gurkha Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) Support Battalion Their burials marked the inauguration - which was led by Princess Anne - of an extension at the Loos British Cemetery, as fallen soldiers from the bloody conflict continue to be discovered. Calamitous battles played out in the area, which is located 25 miles south of the city of Lille. Princess Anne, who is the President of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), stood before the two coffins, wearing a dark green coat coupled with a scarf emblazoned with poppies, signalling her respects to the fallen countrymen. Little is known about the two men, who were buried alongside 46 unknown soldiers - only the Scottish regiments they served in. Unit Head of the CWGC Stephan Naji said there is 'very little chance' of identifying the pair. A message on their gravestones read: 'A soldier of the Great War - Known unto God', a phrase coined by writer Rudyard Kipling. The soldiers were carried to the 1,200-plot extension to the cemetery by Scottish soldiers donning traditional kilts and horsehair sporran belt pouches. Princess Anne is pictured inspecting the honour guard - the members of the regiment who perform ceremonial duties Princess Anne, who is Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Logistic Corps, beamed as she explored the site She wore a red scarf with her suit, which perfectly complemented its red buttons and subtle red check The royal accerssorised her outfit with a pair of gold stud earrings and a small gold brooch They were honoured with three volleys of gunfire as well as a member of Scotland's Black Watch regiment playing a bagpipe. 'It's a tremendous sacrifice that these men, women, fathers, gave to us. It's a great honour to be here and to be a part of that,' said Private Chalmers of the Black Watch, who gave only his family name. He continued that war cemeteries similar to Loos allow people to 'remember these great men'. Bodies from World War I battles are regularly unearthed across much of northern France where hundreds of thousands of soldiers died. It looks just like an expensive version costing $1199 Kmart Australia has released a luxe Christmas tree that looks similar to an expensive version costing nine times the price. The department store's new $129 Snowy Pre-lit Christmas Tree launched in stores last week as part of the 2024 Christmas range. The affordable buy stands 213cm tall, mimics the appearance of snow-covered branches and has 200 built-in LED lights to make it easier and faster to assemble. It also looks near identical to the Balsam Hill Frosted Fraser Fit Tree, priced at $1199 reduced from $1699. This option is slightly higher, standing at 229cm tall, and is also designed with a frosted look. It's built with different LED lighting options and has a full 'silhouette' look with more branches compared to the Kmart tree. In previous years the Kmart buy has been a hit with shoppers who were wowed by how it looks. 'Very impressed with how easy it was to assemble, and very little "snow" dropped to the floor. Such a bargain!' one wrote on Facebook. Pictured: Kmart Australia is selling a 213cm Snowy Prelit Christmas Tree The affordable festive product looks just like the Balsam Hill Frosted Fraser Fir Tree, priced at $1199 (pictured) Another wrote: 'Couldn't be happier with Kmart's pre-lit Christmas tree, gorgeous even when unlit.' 'Looks beautiful,' a third added. Last week Kmart quietly released a Christmas range three months ahead of the festive season. Customers across the country will be able to wow guests by decorating their homes with the adorable buys. A $15 Mini Gingerbread Man Waffle Maker, $8 Christmas Pudding Basket and $16 two-tone red and green Coupe Glasses were among the top products on offer. A $15 Mini Gingerbread Man Waffle Maker, $8 Christmas Pudding Basket and $16 two-tone red and green Coupe Glasses were among the top products on offer The non-stick Gingerbread Man Waffle Maker will be the latest mini appliance to land on shelves. Customers can use the handy gadget to bake homemade gingerbread man shaped waffles in minutes. Add a bit of colour to the bathroom this December with the $10 Ho Ho Ho Bath Mat designed with tassel detail. Impress guests when hosting by picking up the elegant 12 Days of Christmas Serving Plate Set. Each plate is designed with a different Christmas icon, from Santa Clause to his reindeers - and the set retails for a mere $20. September 30, 2024: The South American nation of Columbia is dealing with some epic failures. First on the list is the 2016 peace agreement with FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) that was supposed to end a half century of violence. There was less violence in some areas, but many of the pardoned FARC members moved their operations and continued their criminal activities in more remote areas. Soon there was more FARC violence than before although it was now happening in rural areas that had previously been peaceful. In 2017 FARC demobilized, as agreed. The demobilization did not bring peace because the demobilized FARC members then formed nearly three dozen new gangs that engaged in a variety of criminal activities including robbery, drug dealing, kidnapping for ransom and multiple other forms of violent mischief. These crimes are rarely punished because the gangs either bribe, intimidate or murder judges presiding over these cases. The mayhem is enhanced by thousands of landmines still present in some areas. Police and soldiers in rural areas often engage in illegal activities rather than trying to prevent them. Corruption among long enforcement personnel is the norm, especially in rural areas where its easier for security personnel to conceal what they are up to. This is especially true when the international drug cartels are involved. The cartels regularly offer security personnel a choice; take the bribe money or get killed for opposing the gangs. Then there are the problems caused by nearly three million refugees from neighboring Venezuela. Columbia offered them amnesty and refuge, which most of the Venezuelans accepted. Some of the Venezuelans moved on to Europe or the United States for better opportunities. The Americans asked the Colombians to block the movement of Colombians and Venezuelans to the United States and paid Colombia a substantial sum to make it happen. Some migration was blocked, but many refugees got to the U.S. border anyway. Neighboring Venezuela had the largest oil reserves in the world, and a lot of problems caused by all that money. It wasnt helping the average Venezuelan and over seven million Venezuelans have left their oil-rich homeland since 2015. The endless violence in Venezuela means it is safer to be a Venezuelan anywhere but Venezuela. The primary cause of this is local strongman Nicolas Maduro, who has remained in control since 2020 because he purchased the support of military commanders, armed militias and foreign allies like Russia, China, Iran and Cuba. Maduro would have no useful foreign allies if it were not for the huge oil resources Venezuela sits on. The oil wealth has long been a source of political discord and violence and that is what has kept Maduro alive. The oil wealth is only a century old. Oil production grew rapidly in the 1920s so that, when World War II broke out in 1939, Venezuela was the third largest producer after the United States and Russia. On the downside Venezuelan oil was more expensive to produce and refine because of its tar-like consistency. That meant Venezuela received less money per barrel than other nations. While Venezuela has the worlds largest proven reserves of oil still in the ground, this petroleum is not as valuable or as easy to pump and sell as elsewhere. That is a minor problem compared to chronic corruption. This has been the case since the beginning, before Spanish colonial rule was overthrown in the early 19th century. The post-colonial governments were largely democratic and less corrupt but not by much. The oil industry was owned by a few families and these families spent a lot of that money to maintain their ownership. Venezuelan oil assets were not nationalized until the 1970s and at that point government careers became far more attractive. How to handle oil income was always a political issue but one reform government after another was corrupted by the oil wealth. The current Chavez/Maduro government began as another populist reform movement and quickly morphed into another corrupt cartel of cronies. One unique feature of the current corrupt rulers is that they have managed to do more economic harm to Venezuela than any previous political group. Moreover, the current government is relying more on foreign governments to survive. Worst of all the democratic opposition is more fragmented and unable to agree on how to remove the current dictatorship. Most of the 28 million remaining Venezuelans are barely surviving. That is what drove over seven million to flee the country. Those remaining are fixated on survival, not reforming the government. The security forces are first in line for any economic benefits available. Maduro pays attention to advisors from Cuba, Russia and China. All three told him to allow some free enterprise because in small doses it boosts the economy without threatening Maduros rule. Maduro was also advised to let anyone leave the country if they wanted to, but to strictly control who could get back in. The basic advice was to remain in power because eventually the regional and international pressure would decline and ways around the sanctions would be found. Iran had nothing encouraging to say about that approach. This was what Russia was doing and, while Russia said they were doing fine in the face of continued sanctions, the average Russian described a different, and less encouraging reality. This was especially true since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Western nations, who provide customers and services that make Venezuelan oil profitable, are able to apply pressure on Maduro to behave. Maduro has not cooperated and currently the United States is offering a $15 million reward to anyone or any group that will make it possible for the U.S. to arrest and try Maduro for his crimes. As a cornered despot, Maduro must continue to rule or risk ending up in an American prison. Staying in power and avoiding a rebellion by angry Venezuelans forced Maduro to allow new presidential elections. Maduro believed he could manipulate the election process and get himself installed as a legitimate head of state. That would make him immune to any U.S. efforts to move Maduro to an American penitentiary. In July 2024 there were national elections in Venezuela. Foreign observers were allowed in to monitor the voting. Maduros main opponent was the popular, and notably honest Edmundo Gonzalez. Poll watchers monitored the election and confirmed that Gonzalez won with 67 percent of the vote. Maduro insisted, without much evidence, that he had won with 52 percent. This led to large demonstrations by thousands of Gonzalez supporters. Maduro ordered that Gonzalez be arrested for election crimes. Gonzalez sought asylum in the Spanish embassy and that allowed him to reach Spain on September 7th. Maduro still had the support of several countries, including Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and Cuba. Gonzalez was supported by the Americans, European Union and ten Latin American nations. This leaves Maduro an outlaw head of state who could, if need be, seek sanctuary in nearby Cuba. Sanctuary would be granted if Maduro brought with him some of the billions of dollars he stole while in office. That is not as easy as it used to be. National leaders trying to flee their country with large amounts of money now have to deal with international restrictions on taking that much money with you. In the last decade international regulators helped Nigeria reclaim large sums which larcenous governors of Nigerian states sought to take with them into exile. Stolen money is no good if the only place you can take it is Iran, Cuba or North Korea. Cuba will actually help wealthy people bring their stolen money to Cuba but expects the wealthy visitor to pay large sums to the Cuban government to remain free and wealthy in communist Cuba. North Korea is another option but few wealthy outlaws take it because the North Koreans will take your wealth and then expel you if they have a chance to do so. Iran is somewhere in between. They will tax your wealth but living in an Islamic religious dictatorship is not pleasant for a foreigner. One of the most deadly and untreatable pathogens in the world is on the rise in Rwanda, with eight dead and scores more thought to be at risk. Marburg virus, a relative of Ebola, causes people to bleed from their orifices and kills up to 9 in 10 of those infected. There are currently no vaccines or treatments available meaning medics instead focus on helping patients survive the infection. This often puts health workers at direct risk with the virus being passed on through infected bodily fluids. Rwanda's health ministry has confirmed that eight people are now known to have died from the current Marburg outbreak in the country which was only declared on Friday and is the first ever recorded in the nation. Marburg virus, a relative of Ebola, causes people to bleed from their orifices and kills up to 9 in 10 of those infected. Outbreaks typically occur in areas where people have been exposed to fruit bats, which naturally harbour the virus, via entering mines or caves where the animals live Most of the fatalities are among health care workers working in intensive care units with the sickest patients according to the country's health minister Sabin Nsanzimana. Pictured here speaking in new York earlier this month Most of the fatalities are among health care workers working in intensive care units, according to the country's health minister Sabin Nsanzimana. In total the country has 26 confirmed cases, though some 300 are thought to be at risk due to coming into contact with known patients. Mr Nsanzimana has urged people with early signs of the disease, which includes severe headaches, muscle aches, fever, diarrhoea, fatigue stomach pain and vomiting, to cease their usual activities like work and school and seek medical aid. Marburg virus is a viral haemorrhagic fever, the same type of disease that Ebola belongs to, but is even deadlier. Infected patients often become 'ghost-like', developing deep-set eyes and expressionless faces. This is usually accompanied by bleeding from multiple orifices including the nose, gums, eyes and vagina. Like Ebola, even dead bodies can spread the virus to people exposed to its fluids. Outbreaks typically occur in areas where people have been exposed to fruit bats, which naturally harbour the virus, via entering mines or caves where the animals live. It then goes on to spread person-to-person, and also via contaminated clothing and bedding or contact with dead bodies of those killed by the virus. Marburg virus can also spread sexually through contact with bodily fluids and from mother-to-child via breastfeeding. It can take from two days to three weeks from exposure to the first appearance of symptoms. As the early stages of Marburg virus infection resemble other conditions this gives time for the pathogen to spread before officials can raise the alarm. When infection does occur, the virus targets the body's immune system, which normally works to protect against pathogens. The infection causes the body's immune system to fail to activate correctly allowing the virus to spread unchecked. The Marburg virus has an incubation period of up to 21 days. The virus attacks the kidney and spleen and causes clotting and inflammation around the body. Symptoms can be pretty severe, such as rashes, bleeding from the eyes and delirium. A large portion of cases result in death, and even survivors suffer permanent damage. A total of 474 cases have ever been recorded, before this outbreak. Pictured: Sufferers of Ebola, which falls in the same family of viruses as Marburg Usually, around the fifth day after infection, the disease will progress to what doctors describe as the 'early organ phase'. At this point, a patient may start suffering bleeding out of their eyes, inflammation around the body, and visible swelling around their body - usually on the legs, ankles and feet. Patients will then often die within eight or nine days of their first symptoms appearing. The current outbreak has promoted the UK Government to issue a warning to British travellers to Rwanda, especially to the capital Kigali which has direct flights to Britain. This states: 'We understand it is present in hospitals in Kigali. Investigations are being carried out to determine the origin of the infection.' Marburg virus has a mortality rate of up to 88 percent. There are currently no vaccines or treatments approved to treat the virus The US embassy in Kigali has also taken action, telling its employees to work remotely for the next week and suspending all in-person services in a bid to avoid infections. Marburg virus is considered one of the most deadliest pathogens, with the World Health Organization stating it has a fatality rate of up to 88 per cent, depending on the specifics of the outbreak and the strain involved. However, the average overall case fatality rate sits about 50 per cent, closer to Ebola, meaning about half of those infected are expected to die. While this outbreak is Rwanda's first, neighbouring Tanzania had cases of Marburg in 2023, while Uganda to the country's North, had a similar one in 2017. But these only recorded five and four fatalities respectively from a handful of cases meaning the Rwandan outbreak is already more serious. Last year fellow African nation Equatorial Guinea recorded 12 official fatalities from an outbreak of Marburg virus, though another 23 deaths are thought to be 'probable' deaths from the infection but laboratory analysis to confirm this wasn't carried out. Marburg virus is initially transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, surfaces and materials Only nine cases were recorded globally in the decade before the Equatorial Guinea outbreak. Most outbreaks of Marburg virus thankfully fizzle out after infecting a few people. For this reason, experts say the chances of it spreading to another continent like Europe or the US is unlikely, but not impossible. Marburg virus has only reached the US once before in 2008, when it was diagnosed in a 44-year-old woman who had returned to Colorado from a two-week safari in Uganda. She was hospitalized but later made a full recovery. There are no known incidences of Marburg viruses reaching the UK, but it has reached Europe before. In 1967 such an incident led to the virus being discovered and named after outbreaks of a mysterious haemorrhagic fever occurred simultaneously in labs in Marburg and Frankfurt, Germany and in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia). The infections were traced back to three laboratories that received a shared shipment of African green monkeys which were infected with what later became known as Marburg virus. Earlier this year the WHO listed Marburg virus as one of the 30 pathogens most likely to trigger next pandemic. Doctors successfully removed a large glass jar from a man's bowel following eye-watering surgery that carries an extremely high risk of death. The man, who inserted the pint-sized glass into his back passage during a bizarre sexcapade, could have bled to death or suffered fatal organ damage if the glass shattered inside him. Yet, doctors were able to remove the vessel in full, not allowing any glass to shatter into pointy shards. Speaking of the case, representatives from the hospital that treated the patient, in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, said doctors must not judge patients for their unconvention sexual proclivities. 'Remember that doctors are not the morality police,' hospital spokesperson Alexey Nikonov said. X-ray images from the hospital show the glass jar was high inside the man's anus and was travelling up his rectum X-ray images show the glass jar that was removed by doctors along with a condom and lubricant The case, reported in The Sun, featured X-ray images showing the glass jar was high inside the man's back passage, slowly moving towards the upper bowel. Doctors managed to retrieve the glass jar as well as a condom and lubricant from his rectum. Mr Nikonov added that despite Russia having strict anti-LGBT laws, locals should not hesitate seek help from medics if they fin themselves in a similar situation. In the UK, taxpayers fork out around 500,000 per year to help the NHS treat victims of sexual mishaps, MailOnline has previously revealed. Official data shows hundreds of patients required medical assistance to extract items lodged in their back passage. Dozens of men needed their penises cutting free after getting them constricted in various ways. A total of 514 procedures for the 'manual removal of foreign body from rectum' between April 2021-March 2022, according to the latest NHS figures analysed by MailOnline. Of these 483 procedures listed the manual extraction as the main procedure, with other episodes representing other, secondary, procedures related to the incident. Objects that needed to be extracted were not specified. The average anal extraction costs almost 850 per object, according to a report published in 2021. The study found the incidence of objects having to be removed from rectums is on the rise with cases particularly growing in men. There were 514 procedures to remove items out of rectums between April 2021 and March 2022, according to NHS data This means removing stuck objects potentially cost the NHS more than 436,000 between April 2021 and March 2022. The 850 estimated price tag of removing the objects includes anaesthetic drugs used in the procedure, the time health staff spent treating the patient, and the cost of a hospital stay. Experts warn that the insertion of objects into that area of the body carries a number of risks beyond just an embarrassing trip to hospital. Lost objects potentially perforate the bowel which can be deadly as material from the digestive tract can spill into other parts of the body, causing an infection. Using a sex toy with a flared base is safer, according to the NHS because it helps stop it from getting lost inside. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has claimed that Queen Elizabeth II suffered from a form of deadly bone cancer before her death. As part of his upcoming tell-all memoir 'Unleashed', Mr Johnson recalled his final meeting with the monarch, stating he had been aware of her condition for over a year. 'I had known for a year or more that she had a form of bone cancer, and her doctors were worried that at any time she could enter a sharp decline,' he wrote. 'She seemed pale and more stooped, and she had dark bruising on her hands and wrists, probably from drips or injections.' However, despite her condition, the former PM recalled how sharp her mind remained in that final meeting. Queen Elizabeth II pictured here waiting in the Drawing Room before receiving then Prime Minister Liz Truss for an audience at Balmoral. This the last photograph taken of of the late monarch before her death and was taken on September 6 2022, the last day Boris Johnson saw her alive As part of his upcoming tell-all memoir 'Unleashed' Mr Johnson said he had been aware of her condition for over a year. Pictured here Mr Johnson meeting the Queen as newly elected leader of the Conservative party in 2019 The late Queen died at the age of 96 on September 8, 2022, at 3.10pm. The royal household has never confirmed a diagnosis suffered by the late monarch, and 'old age' was documented as cause of death, per her death certificate. However, death in advanced years is typically due to another condition that is exacerbated by age, perhaps because treatment is less effective. Bone cancer is considered a rare form of the disease accounting for less than 1 per cent of all cancer diagnosed each year, with only some 600 cases. The disease develops when cells in or near a bone develop DNA change that cause them to rapidly divide and multiply too rapidly. Some bone tumors cause a traditional tumour, although this might not happen until sometime after the area becomes painful. Age is considered the biggest risk factor for the disease with people in their late 80s most likely to be diagnosed. Bone cancer is incredibly deadly. Only about 50 per cent of patients are expected to live five years after their diagnosis. According to the NHS, bone cancer can develop in any bone in the body, but is most commonly found in the long bones of the arms and legs. Symptoms of bone cancer include a persistent bone pain that gets worse over time and that continues into the night, swelling and redness over a bone, weak bones that fracture more easily, and problems moving. Treatment, like most cancers, depends on what stage the cancer is spotted at as well as a patient's general health. Surgery to remove the cancerous bone and replace it with an artificial substitute is sometimes possible although amputation can be necessary. This can also be combined with cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiotherapy to target the tumour directly. Mr Johnson's comments aren't the first to suggest Queen Elizabeth II suffered cancer towards the end of her life. Gyles Brandreth, a friend of Prince Philip who wrote the biography 'Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait', previously told the Daily Mail the late monarch had a type of bone marrow cancer. He wrote: 'I had heard that the Queen had a form of myeloma bone marrow cancer which would explain her tiredness and weight loss and those "mobility issues" we were often told about during the last year or so of her life.' 'The most common symptom of myeloma is bone pain, especially in the pelvis and lower back, and multiple myeloma is a disease that often affects the elderly. 'Currently, there is no known cure, but treatment including medicines to help regulate the immune system and drugs that help prevent the weakening of the bones can reduce the severity of its symptoms and extend the patient's survival by months or two to three years.' Officially, the late Queen's death was caused by 'old age' as per her death certificate. The document, that was signed by Princess Anne as the 'informant', also says that she passed away at 3.10pm. Dr Douglas James Allan Glass, the Scottish doctor named on the official report, has worked for the monarchy for more than 30 years While 'old age' can be listed as contributing to a death, official guidelines state it should only be used as sole cause of death in very limited circumstances. There is no official age limit for saying someone died of 'old age', but it is generally only accepted if the person is over 80. The doctor should also have cared for the deceased for years or months and noticed a general decline in their health, as well as their functioning in day-to-day life. There must also be no obvious identifiable disease or injury that contributed to their death, though 'old age' can be listed as contributing factor. The final official condition for using 'old age' as the cause of death is that the doctor is 'certain' there is no reason that the death should be reported to the coroner for further investigation. Medics are often warned against listing 'old age' as the cause of death in most circumstances. This is because the family of deceased may not feel 'old age' is an adequate reason why their loved one has died. Medics may also need to provide evidence of their reasoning to coroners or health and social care regulators if they have any reason to doubt the doctor's decision. Attributing deaths solely 'old age' should also be avoided in hospitals as it is unlikely an elderly person is in hospital with no underlying disease or injury. Anyone experiencing persistent, severe or worsening bone pain is encouraged to visit their GP. While such issues are unlikely to be bone cancer it's important they are investigated. Emma Austin appeared to be a 'healthy, bubbly and happy' little girl. But at the age of two-and-a-half, her mother Kirstie began to fear something was wrong when Emma began struggling to put on her shoes and use cutlery. Her parents took her to see doctors, who said that her daughter was fine and didn't have any problems. About six months later, however, and while driving Emma to pre-school, Ms Austin said she heard 'strange mumbling noises' in the back of the car and turned round to find her daughter was having a seizure. What followed was a panicked trip to the hospital and a battery of genetic tests that diagnosed her with the rare one-in-200,000 condition CLN2 Batten Disease, a form of childhood dementia. The disease causes children to gradually lose the ability to talk, walk, see and swallow and sufferers usually don't survive more than five years after symptoms develop. Emma Austin, who is almost seven years old, has been diagnosed with Batten disease. This is a genetic condition that gradually robs her of the ability to talk, walk and run The little girl already knows she is different, her parents say, and struggles to play with other children Describing her daughter, Ms Austin who is from Bridgetown, Texas told Inside Edition: 'Emma was a healthy, bubbly, energetic, happy little girl. We had no problems, no signs, nothing. 'She started with a speech delay and then a little bit of motor delay. 'In just six months, it was progressively getting worse and that mom and gut instinct in me was like, somethings wrong.' In a video on TikTok, the mother also described how her daughter had gradually lost the ability to go to the potty and was having sleep disturbances and sudden rages as she approached her third birthday. After the seizure in April 2021, Emma was diagnosed with Batten Disease the following month. Her body lacks the TPP1 gene which is required to make an enzyme that clears waste out of the brain and spinal cord. This leads to a gradual build-up of waste in cells, like in some Alzheimer's patients, causing patients to suffer a gradual mental decline. Patients only live for a few years after symptoms begin, but doctors say that if a child develops symptoms around the age of 10 years it is possible for them to live into their early 20s. Revealing the diagnosis over a Zoom call, due to the Covid pandemic, doctors said Emma would gradually lose the ability to talk, walk, see and swallow and that there was no cure for the condition. The family now battles the disease every day, with Ms Austin having quit her job to become her daughter's full-time carer. She is still able to do many things other children can, which the parents think is because of the bi-weekly infusions of a man-made enzyme that she is receiving Emma is now nearly seven years old and can still walk, run and see and is still able to eat for herself and swallow. Her parents believe this is thanks to a twice-a-week infusion of the enzyme she is missing to help clear waste. The enzyme replacement therapy is called Brineura, and is a man-made version of it that is administered directly to the brain. The Austin family said the treatment costs $176,000 every two weeks, and that all patients need health insurance in order to access the drug. Although it has improved her condition, Ms Austin said she is still struggling: 'The awareness when we have play dates or she is at a playground and she is around other children, she just stands there by herself and stares. 'And you can see it in her eyes, you can tell she's wondering: "Why can't I do that?".' Her father Eric added: 'Now that she is getting older, you can see that she sees it you can see that she recognizes that she is different and all her friends and her cousins have moved on beyond her. 'They are doing things that she can't do and that she knows she can't do, and it is really hard to watch that.' The little girl's parents have been fundraising to buy equipment to help their daughter The family is fundraising to help cover the cost of Emma's medications as well as the home alterations they need to make for her. This includes the purchase of safety beds, safety chairs, wheelchairs, and a supply of diapers and wipes. It has so far raised $20,300 of the $50,000 goal on GoFundMe. The family believes a cure for Emma's condition may have already been found in Brazil. The concoction, which can stimulate the body to start making the enzyme Emma is missing, helped a patient during a clinical trial. But the research was then abandoned because the company felt it could not turn a profit on the medication. The family are now fundraising alongside the Batten Disease Support and Research Association (BDRSA) to buy the treatment's patent and then develop it. African children are the healthiest in the world, narrowly beating those in Europe and vastly outperforming those in the Americas. This result is from a pooled analysis of data from 33 countries that examined what proportion of children aged three to five are getting enough exercise, sleep and time away from computer, television or smartphone screens. While Europe, which includes the UK, recorded that just over half of children were getting enough exercise, specific data for Britain alone suggests only a tenth of children are actually getting the recommended level of physical activity. Youngsters from Africa had the best overall result with about one in four (23.9 per cent) getting their recommended exercise, screen breaks and sleep. Europe came a close second, with 23.5 per cent of children reaching this benchmark. Youngsters from Africa had the best overall result with about one in four (23.9 per cent) getting their recommended exercise, screen breaks and sleep Your browser does not support iframes. The Americas, which includes the North American countries like US as well as those in South America, had the worst performance with less than one in 10 (7.7 per cent) reaching this level of health. Children in this region were mostly let down by their sedentary time, periods in which they sit still and used as measure of screen time with only 17 per cent taking enough breaks the lowest proportion of any region analysed. Coming second worst in overall performance were children in South-East Asia, such as Thailand and Indonesia, (9.1 per cent) followed by those in nations of the Western Pacific, Australia and New Zealand (12.4 per cent). The analysis, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, was conducted by a multi-national team of experts led by those from the University of Wollongong in Australia. They looked at data collected from just over 7,000 children from 33 nations aged between three to almost five which had been taken between 2008 and 2022. Children's exercise levels were measured using activity monitoring devices while screen and sleep time was measured by parental reports. Experts then looked to see how many children were meeting World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on child health per global region. For exercise this included spending at least three hours a day of physical activity of which one hour should be 'moderate-to vigorous' like running. There are guidelines the NHS also sticks to. For screen time the WHO recommended threshold was only one hour per day with young children also aiming to have 10 to 13 hours of sleep. While the analysis didn't look at countries' individual results specifically a separate WHO analysis published earlier this year suggested British children are far behind their contemporaries when it comes to physical activity. This data showed only that 30 per cent of girls and 18 per cent of boys in England are inactive across all age groups surveyed, while the figure in Wales is 27 per cent for girls and 17 per cent for boys. In Scotland, 21 per cent of girls are inactive, alongside 12 per cent of boys. For comparison the overall European WHO region result for physical activity in the latest analysis was 53.5 per cent, the middle of the pack of the six regions analysed. By exercise North and South America has the best combined result with nearly three quarters (72.8 per cent ) of children meeting daily exercise requirement. But overall results were concerning, globally less than one in six children (14.3 per cent) are meeting all three recommendations, according to the analysis. Things are even worse for girls, with only 12.8 per cent meeting the recommended thresholds compared to 16.8 per cent of boys. 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 Girls mostly seemed to be let down by exercise levels. Globally under half (41.7 per cent) of girls did enough daily exercise compared to more than half (55.6 per cent) of boys. The authors noted this could be due to, in general, parents typically offering boys more 'freedom' than girls to allow them to play with less supervision. Overall, the authors said the results, while bound by limitations like sample size and the self-reporting nature of screen use and sleep duration, were concerning. 'Early childhood is recognized as a critical window of opportunity for establishing healthy movement behaviour patterns that are important for lifelong health and well-being,' they wrote. 'Our finding of a low proportion of children meeting the overall WHO guidelines across countries and regions poses important implications for future population health if no further actions are taken to address this issue.' Getting enough exercise is well established in improving both physical and mental health, and over the long term, helping ward off health problems like obesity. Latest childhood obesity data for England shows one in 10 children are too fat by the time they start primary school, rising to about one in four among Year 6. Among Year 6 pupils, national obesity fell from 23.4 per cent in 2021/22 to 22.7 per cent. Meanwhile, the proportion of children deemed either overweight or obese also dipped, from 37.8 per cent to 36.6. Both measures are above pre-pandemic levels Experts have pointed to a lack of exercise, and poor diets high in ultra-processed food, as being key drivers in the UK's childhood obesity epidemic. On screen use the authors noted the worst results were recorded in the Americas and theorised this was due, in part, to higher levels of digital device ownership in the region. They added that recent reviews of parents' views of childrens screen time had found many see devices as a necessity in this technological era and that they often used such devices as a distraction or a reward for children. The authors noted this stressed the importance of educating parents on healthy screen use and establishing boundaries for childrens use of technology. Children spending too much time using screens has been linked to host of health and behavioural problems, from poor eye sight to regulating emotions. It might seem like just a part of getting old - but suffering a fall could dramatically raise your risk of dementia. Researchers in Boston evaluated the medical records of more than 2.4million adults over 65, finding those who'd went to hospital after suffering a fall were 20 percent more likely to be diagnosed with dementia a year later than their peers. The researchers said that the findings show elderly people who suffer a traumatic injury should be screened for cognitive problems, which can be a precursor for conditions like Alzheimer's. There are now several approved medications to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease, but they are most effective when given in the early stages of the disease. Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston found that sustaining a fall in old age increased the risk of dementia by 20 percent The above graph shows the rate of dementia diagnoses following an injury. One year after injury, 10 percent of adults were diagnosed with dementia, compared to six percent from other injuries Dr Molly Jarman, senior study author and deputy director of the Center for Surgery and Public Health at Brigman and Women's Hospital in Boston, said: 'Our study highlights the opportunity to intervene early and the need for more clinicians who can provide comprehensive care for older adults. 'If we can establish that falls serve as early indicators of dementia, we could identify other precursors and early events that we could intervene on, which would significantly improve our approach to managing cognitive health in older adults. Your browser does not support iframes. The researchers analyzed injury data from Medicare Fee-For-Service, a healthcare payment system, while included 2.4million adults over age 66. More than half of the participants sustained a fall as their injury. The majority of participants - 91 percent - were white, and over 60 percent were women. The study, published Monday in JAMA Network Open, found that within a year of a fall, one in 10 participants were diagnosed with dementia, compared to one in 15 of those who suffered a different injury. After analyzing for other factors, falling was associated with a 21 percent increased risk of dementia. Dr Jarman said: 'The relationship between falls and dementia appears to be a two-way street. 'Cognitive decline can increase the likelihood of falls, but trauma from those falls may also accelerate dementia's progression and make a diagnosis more likely down the line. 'Thus, falls may be able to act as precursor events that can help us identify people who need further cognitive screening.' The team noted that conducting cognitive screening after a fall could help detect dementia at any earlier stage, slowing progression and potentially increasing life expectancy. Dr Alexander Ordoobadi, lead study author and resident physician in the Department of Surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital, said: 'One of the biggest challenges we face is the lack of ownership in the process of follow-up screening for cognitive impairment, because there may not be adequate time for these screenings in an emergency department or trauma center setting. 'Ideally, after an injury, older adults should receive follow up care with a primary care provider or geriatrician who can monitor their cognitive health and long-term functional recovery after the injury, but many older adults dont have a regular primary care provider and lack access to a geriatrician.' Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, affects about seven million Americans and nearly 1million Brits. Hair loss is big business in the UK, men and women spend an estimated 150 million a year on over-the-counter remedies. Around 80 per cent of men aged 50 have at least some hair loss, while 40 per cent of women the same age are also affected, often because of the drop in oestrogen levels during the menopause (the hormone helps hairs grow). Yet despite decades of research, science has still to come up with a cure. Existing remedies can stabilise hair loss and improve thickness slightly. But the improvements are limited and the side-effects may be intolerable. Around a third of people who use Regaine (a foam or lotion made with the drug minoxidil that increases blood flow to hair follicles) see little or no response. Hair loss is big business - in the UK, men and women spend an estimated 150 million a year on over-the-counter remedies And around one in 20 complain of side-effects including rapid heartbeat, swollen feet and stomach pains. The evidence for caffeine shampoos, meanwhile, remains mixed, even though British consumers buy more than a million bottles a year. Some studies suggest that applying the stimulant to the scalp can block the effects of dihydrotestosterone, or DHT a hormone in both men and women that makes hair fall out or shrink and become brittle. But other studies suggest little improvement. More powerful hair loss drugs are available on private prescription (but not on the NHS), including Propecia. Taken as a daily tablet, this contains the drug finasteride which also blocks DHT and can trigger new hair growth in up to 80 per cent of men. But it's been linked with erectile dysfunction in up to 3 per cent of those who use it. In the absence of an easy fix, it's hardly surprising that thousands of British men every year jet off to countries such as Turkey for hair transplants at a fraction of the cost in the UK. But are there better and potentially safer treatments coming down the line? Here we look at some of the promising new baldness cures being developed. Sugar gel makes hair grow back The cure for hair loss could be a lot closer to home than anyone realised, according to recent research by scientists at Sheffield University. They found that a type of sugar that occurs naturally in the body 2-deoxy-D-ribose can trigger hair growth when used in a gel for the scalp. The sugar stimulates the growth of new blood vessels to carry oxygen-rich blood to organs and tissues. The researchers were actually looking into whether it could help heal wounds by boosting blood supply to the area. But in tests on mice they noticed it also prompted new hair growth, reported the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology. It's thought the gel penetrates the skin, triggering the formation of tiny blood vessels that feed into hair follicles. And it's now believed to hold promise as a treatment for androgenetic alopecia (or male pattern baldness), the leading cause of hair loss in men, usually due to genes inherited from both parents. (Women also suffer genetic hair loss but it tends to result in thinning from the top, rather than all-over hair loss.) Around a third of people who use Regaine (a foam or lotion made with the drug minoxidil that increases blood flow to hair follicles) see little or no response Lotion with fewer side-effects One problem with drugs such as finasteride is that they're usually taken as a tablet, so have to pass through the stomach, then into the bloodstream and circulate round the body, increasing the chances of side-effects. A rival drug currently in trials in the US works in a similar way but comes as a rub-on lotion applied once or twice daily, with fewer adverse effects. Called Breezula, the lotion contains clascoterone, a drug already used in acne cream in the US it stops DHT stimulating the release of inflammatory chemicals and fats that trigger spots. In a trial involving 18 men with male pattern baldness, reported in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology in 2019, researchers found the lotion increased the diameter of hair shafts suggesting it leads to thicker hair and also increased the number of hair follicles. The results of bigger trials in the US, Germany and Poland involving up to 1,500 men are due early next year. 'This could potentially be a very useful treatment,' says Dr Christos Tziotzios, a consultant dermatologist at St John's Institute of Dermatology at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in London. 'Clascoterone seems to be able to block the effects of DHT. Bigger trials [will] confirm [if] it is effective and safe.' Could hay fever pill banish baldness? Millions of us take them during the pollen season but now research suggests certain hay fever drugs could also hold the secret to combating hair loss. Cetirizine in particular is attracting widespread interest. It's an antihistamine, which means it blocks the release of histamine, a chemical pumped out by the body in large quantities when it detects the presence of something harmful, such as an allergen. Several studies have found that a solution with 1 per cent cetirizine can also tackle genetic hair loss in men and women. In a study with 33 men, published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology last September, researchers in Iran showed that rubbing the lotion into the scalp twice a day was as effective as Regaine but with fewer side-effects. It's thought the drug blocks the production of a type of prostaglandin, a compound released by the body to boost healing, ease pain and keep blood vessels healthy. A specific form, prostaglandin D2 (PGD2), is found in excess levels in the scalps of bald men and is known to stunt hair growth. Studies have shown cetirizine can reduce PGD2 production. Dr Tziotzios said: 'There is anecdotal evidence that some antihistamines can help with certain forms of hair loss. 'But we need more research I would urge patients not to take hay fever drugs in the hope that it might help their hair.' The pills can cause side-effects such as fatigue, headaches, dry mouth, nausea and dizziness and are unlikely to reach the scalp in sufficient concentration to have an effect. Cream made from 'sunshine vitamin' A lack of vitamin D (produced by the body with exposure to the sun's UV rays) is known to increase the risk of thinning hair it disrupts the growth cycle and weakens the dermis, the layer of skin that holds hair in place. But could a cream made with vitamin D reverse the loss in women even if they're not necessarily vitamin D deficient? That's what a clinical trial at Sohag University in Egypt is exploring 45 women with genetic hair loss are using the cream twice daily for three months; the results will be compared against women using Regaine (minoxidil). A new study in the Journal of Nutrition Biochemistry found that bald mice sprouted new hairs when given vitamin D. It's thought the vitamin counters the harmful effects of DHT on delicate hair follicles, but it's unlikely a vitamin D cream will make a significant difference in patients who are not deficient in it, warns Dr David Fenton, a consultant dermatologist and hair loss specialist at the OneWelbeck clinic in London. 'You'd also need to be sure that the hair loss was not caused by a deficiency in some other vitamin such as B12 [important for the formation of red blood cells],' he says. Drug that's used for arthritic joints Another common cause of hair loss is alopecia areata, affecting an estimated 400,000 UK men and women, causing the sudden appearance of bald patches. The hair usually grows back, although it can fall out again in future. Earlier this year, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved the use of a new medicine, ritlecitinib, for alopecia areata. The tablet was originally developed for patients with rheumatoid arthritis, where the immune system mistakenly attacks the joints. A similar thing happens in alopecia areata the immune system mistakenly attacks the hair follicles. During trials on arthritis patients, doctors noticed new scalp hair also started to sprout in those with bald patches. It's thought the drug, from a class called Janus Kinase (JAK) inhibitors, blocks enzymes that prevent hair from regrowing in alopecia areata. 'These are good drugs but they're not a magic cure and they can have unpleasant side-effects,' says Dr Fenton. These include skin infections, chest infections and potentially life-threatening blood clots. Injection of jelly could help regrowth Stem cells harvested from a jelly found in umbilical cords could be a new treatment for some types of hair loss. Called Wharton's jelly, it's found in abundance in the umbilical cord, insulating and protecting it. Scientists have found it's also a rich source of stem cells master cells that can grow into any type of organ or tissue. Now researchers at a private New York clinic are exploring whether stem cells harvested from the jelly and injected into thousands of hair follicles in the scalp can treat genetic hair loss. The 12-month study, due to finish next July, will compare the results with a placebo treatment. A little girl in Arizona went 30 hours with snake venom coursing through her veins after doctors dismissed her symptoms. Allie Brasfield, 7, was on a family vacation earlier this month when she tripped in the grass and quickly brushed it off to continue playing. Over the next day her left foot swelled and turned purple, with the discoloration beginning to spread up her leg. Local doctors were stumped and initially sent the family home but Allie became violently sick. It wasnt until the Brasfields went to a larger hospital in nearby Phoenix that doctors worked out she'd been bitten by a rattlesnake. Doctors at two different emergency departments saw Allie's leg and believed her ankle was sprained. They conducted X-rays and other tests but did not detect the snake venom The girl had to undergo blood transfusions and two surgeries once doctors realized the cause of her injury. Antivenom is most effective within 24 hours of a bite. Given that 30 hours had elapsed before Allie got the antivenom she needed, her family considers it lucky that their daughter is still alive. It's not clear what kind of surgeries doctors performed specifically, but typically when venom causes severe swelling, doctors have to make incisions in the skin and connective tissue around muscles to reduce swelling and pressure on the muscles. Doctors may also have to remove dead tissue that the venom has destroyed to prevent infection. The terrifying ordeal began earlier this month during a family trip to Gilbert Regional Park in Arizona. The family was enjoying their day next to the canal when Allie tripped and fell, thinking she sprained her ankle. She didnt see any rustling in the grass or hear the characteristic rattling sound. Allie said: 'It didnt hurt right away. When the family got home, Allies leg continued to swell and she became nauseous. Her mother Amber took her to the hospital, where doctors performed X-rays. When nothing appeared broken, they ruled it a sprain and sent the family home. They went to another emergency department that same day for a second opinion, and were sent home again. Mrs Brasfield said: The first one said it was a sprained ankle and sent us home. The second one didnt know what it was. They were great and did blood work and imaging trying to figure it out, but they didnt know either. Since a third hospital discovered her body had been poisoned by rattlesnake venom, Allie has undergone two surgeries and will have a third this week aimed at restoring blood flow to her leg Allies nausea got worse and she began vomiting. When the family arrived at Phoenix Children's Hospital, Mrs Brasfield mentioned her husband asked whether it could be the result of a rattlesnake bite. She reported the doctors conducted a toxicology test, which revealed the presence of rattlesnake venom in her blood. There are many types of rattlesnakes and it is not known which specific kind bit Allie. Mortality rates vary, but death is fairly rare, ranging from three percent without antivenom and 0.3 percent with the treatment. The US Poison Control Center puts mortality at one death per 736 patients. However, there can be serious complications from a bite, including tissue loss, deformity or loss of some bodily function, depending where the bite is. In the most extreme cases, amputation might be necessary. In Allie's case, doctors were able to reduce swelling in her leg and restart blood flow to the area, and she kept her leg. She also required 40 vials of antivenom, which her mother said was because the venom had been in her daughters body for so long. For reference, the typical dose meant to be administered right after the bite occurs is between four and 12 vials. Allies father, Keith Brasfield, said: It was the scariest moment I have ever experienced in my life, and it went on for days, not knowing if she was going to pull through. Allie has to undergo a third surgery according to her familys GoFundMe page, to help defray the massive medical costs. The family did not say specifically what the surgery aims to do, though. Allie will undergo physical and occupational therapy to regain function of her leg In Gilbert, Arizona, the most common rattlesnake species is the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake Their insurance does not cover the antivenom treatments, which can cost as much as $17,000 each. Mrs Brasfield said: Theyre hoping that just with physical therapy and occupational therapy that she will be able to make full recovery. Nothing about her case is normal. Allie will have to undergo more physical and occupational therapy to gain strength back in her leg. She still can't put any weight on it and is using a wheelchair. Rattlesnake bites are relatively rare, with about 8,000 people being bitten by any kind of venomous snake yearly. Around 10 to 15 people die from the venom. The bites lead to severe pain and swelling at the spot where the bite occurred. It often causes excessive bleeding as well as nausea and swelling in the throat, making it difficult to breathe. The venom in snakes fangs damages tissues and affects the circulatory system by destroying skin and blood cells, leading to internal bleeding. The venom primarily consists of hemotoxic components, which are substances that specifically target the blood and vascular systems. Henry V by Dan Jones (Apollo 25, 464pp) Henry V is available now from the Mail Bookshop We have Shakespeare to thank for turning Henry V into England's unofficial patron saint. Who can forget 'Once more unto the breach, dear friends', delivered by Laurence Olivier in glistening armour and a bowl-cut hairdo? That 1944 film version of Shakespeare's history play raised the spirits of war-weary audiences and bagged Olivier his first Oscar. In this romp of a book, historian Dan Jones goes behind the theatrical jingoism to explore the real-life achievements of the man who ruled England and various chunks of France from 1413 to 1422. Ever since the Norman Conquest of 1066, the English had held land on the other side of the Channel, a fact that inevitably led to ferocious bad feeling. In Shakespeare's play, Henry V's speech that culminates in 'Cry "God for Harry, England and Saint George!"' is delivered at 1415's Battle of Agincourt, in which the real-life Henry and his raggle-taggle troops defended themselves against France's larger, slicker army. In the end, England's fearsome longbow archers won the day. This towering achievement was doubly impressive given that Henry had started out in comparative obscurity. True, his father, Henry Bolingbroke, was cousin to King Richard II, but he had been banished from England for ten years for his part in an attempted coup. Henry, his eldest son, was allowed to remain behind in England but the most the boy might reasonably have hoped for was life as a dutiful but undistinguished knight, minding his own business in a far-flung corner of England. All that changed in 1399 when Bolingbroke stormed back from exile, seized the throne from the increasingly unpopular Richard, and had himself crowned Henry IV. His best side: When an arrow pierced his cheek Henry was left with a scar that marked him for life This meant that young Henry was now Prince of Wales. He may have been only 13 but it was never too early to learn his trade. Within a year he was leading an army into Wales against the rebel leader Owain Glyndwr. Far from observing from the sidelines, Henry personally hacked off the heads of Glyndwr's henchmen and then, teenager that he was, bragged about it. He also issued his first order for a beheading. From here he joined his father's army in fighting another troublemaker, Sir Henry Percy, who appears in Shakespeare as 'Hotspur'. At the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403, Prince Henry received the injury that should have killed him but instead marked him for life. An arrow pierced his cheek and thrust six inches into his skull. It was only thanks to state-of-the-art doctoring, involving antiseptic honey and alcohol, plus some deft surgery with medieval pliers, that the teenager survived. It left him with a lifelong scar that reminded everyone that, though young in years, he was battle-hardened. When Henry succeeded his father as king in 1413, the early signs suggested that he would be a mild and moderate ruler. He went out of his way to bring former dissidents into the courtly fold, even restoring their confiscated land and fortunes. There were limits, though. One of Henry's most vexatious opponents was a man called John Oldcastle, a radical religious reformer who decried the excessive pomposity and wealth of the Catholic Church. Henry V and Oldcastle had been friends, but Oldcastle, who may be the model for Shakespeare's much loved Falstaff, mounted a rebellion. Henry's vengeance was swift and terrible: he condemned Oldcastle to be hanged and burned at the same time, a double punishment to match the betrayal of Henry as friend and king. There is a Horrible Histories element to Dan Jones's book. I lost count of the number of times Henry V ordered people - women as well as men - to be put to death in beastly ways. Political and military opponents were dragged through the streets before being hung, drawn and quartered. Heads were routinely stuck on spikes as a warning. Henry lived by the rule of 'take no prisoners' and, at Agincourt, ordered his men to slit the throats of the captive French. In his defence, he believed that he had God on his side, not to mention St George. One of the best gifts he ever received was from the King of Germany, who presented him with the pickled heart of England's warrior patron saint. Was Henry's brutality excessive? Dan Jones reminds us that life in the medieval period was nasty, brutish and short, and argues that Henry was not so much gratuitously cruel as coldly pragmatic. And there was no denying that his methods worked. In 1420 he extracted a formal statement from Charles VI of France that he was to be his heir. From now on, Henry proudly signed his official correspondence 'King of England, Heir and Regent of the Realm of France, and Lord of Ireland'. Theatrical: Lawrence Olivier as Henry V in the 1944 film adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry V In the end it was all hypothetical. Henry died in 1422, two months before Charles. He was only 35 and it was not war but far-from heroic dysentery that carried him off. Some contemporary chroniclers declared it was punishment for his twin sins of ambition and cruelty. For others it was a tragedy, the snuffing out of the best king that England would ever have. As far as Henry was concerned, it was down to the will of God. Dan Jones is a novelist as well as a popular historian and he tells Henry V's story with great narrative dash. Using the present tense lets him plunge his readers into the middle of the action but also, he explains, allows them to experience an entirely alien world, one in which 'Our values are not his. His are not ours.' Quite so. Yet the fact remains that, in 1944, when Britain was fighting for its life against the threat of invasion from the continent, the hero the nation turned to was Henry V, in his funny bowl-cut hairdo, shouting, 'Cry "God for Harry, England and Saint George!"' Almost 10 million households have been warned they risk overpaying for their energy if they do not send meter readings to their supplier before a 10 per cent price rise takes effect on October 1. The average household energy bill is to increase by 149 a year from Tuesday as Ofgem increases its price cap just as homes move into the winter months. The regulator has raised the cap from the current 1,568 for a typical dual fuel household in England, Scotland and Wales to 1,717, or around 12 a month more on an average bills. The latest cap will be just 6 per cent or 117 lower than it was compared to the same period last year. Those households on a standard variable tariff (SVT) - as opposed to a fixed deal - and who do not have a smart meter should submit their electricity and gas readings to their supplier as close as possible to October 1 to ensure any energy they use before this date is not inaccurately billed at the higher prices. Nearly 10 million UK households have been urged to send their meter readings to their supplier before the 10 per cent rise kicks in on October 1 (stock image) The average household energy bill is set to soar by 149 a year as Ofgem increases its energy cap this winter (Stock image of a person holding a smart energy reader) Suppliers who have not received meter readings base their bills on estimated usage, meaning households could be overpaying, while others may not be paying enough. The price cap sets a maximum price that energy suppliers can charge consumers for each kilowatt hour (kWh) of energy they use. It does not limit total bills because householders still pay for the amount of energy they consume. From October 1, households on a standard variable tariff that pay for their electricity by direct debit will pay on average 24.5p per unit, with a standing charge of 60.99p per day. For gas, the average will be 6.24p per unit with a standing charge of 31.66p per day. Ofgem said rising prices in the international energy market, due to heightened political tensions and extreme weather events, were the main driver behind the decision. Millions of pensioners are also facing a winter with less support after the new Government decided to scrap winter fuel payments for those who do not receive pension credits or other benefits. About 10 million pensioners will miss out on the payments of up to 300 this year. Octobers price cap will be significantly lower than during the peak of the energy crisis, which was fuelled by Russias invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, driving up costs in an already-turbulent market. However, experts think there is likely to be a further increase in January, with more rises possible early in the new year due to escalating tensions in the Russia-Ukraine war. The latest cap will be just 6 per cent or 117 lower than it was compared to the same period last year (Pictured: A gas meter) Homes with a standard variable tariff (SVT) have been warned to send their electricity and gas readings to their supplier as close as possible to October 1 (Pictured: a heating dial) This is to ensure any energy they use before this date is not inaccurately billed at the new higher prices (stock image) Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley has urged consumers to shop around and consider a fixed-rate tariff that could save money, adding that the regulator was working with Government, suppliers, charities and consumer groups to do everything we can to support customers. Citizens Advice has said it was particularly concerned about households with children and young people and those on lower incomes, who were most likely to struggle with their heating costs. Comparison site Uswitch calculated that the average household on an SVT is expected to spend 135 on energy in October compared with 55 in September due to a combination of higher rates and increased usage at the start of autumn. Uswitch energy spokesman Ben Gallizzi said: With energy prices rising next week, its vital that households submit a meter reading, with a 19 difference between the cost of a weeks energy at Septembers prices compared with October. Customers who dont have a smart meter should aim to submit their readings before or on Tuesday, October 1, so their supplier has an updated - and accurate - view of their account. If you delay submitting your readings, some of your September energy usage could end up being estimated and therefore charged under the higher October rates. Try making this task a monthly habit for billing accuracy. Households are also advised to see whether now is the time to change their energy tariff, to beat the October price hikes. There are a number of fixed tariffs worth considering right now. By opting for a fixed deal, youre locking in those rates for the duration - usually 12 months - which means households could have price certainty and avoid the ups and downs of the price cap. A truck hauling a load of electric vehicle batteries rolled over in Los Angeles and it saw an explosion following the accident, which led to the batteries catching fire and burning for an extended period. It took a long time for the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) marshals to extinguish the EV batteries that caught on fire, with some still burning until now, according to reports. The LAFD also claimed that it was expected that the fire would run for as much as 24 to 48 hours, and has since led to authorities closing off the Port of Los Angeles and the nearby Port of Long Beach. EV Batteries Caught Fire After Truck Tipped Over in Los Angeles Unknown electric vehicle batteries caught fire after the truck that carries it tipped over in Los Angeles, and according to The Verge, it led to significant closures in nearby areas. A nearby towing service company shared drone footage moments after the truck rolled over to its side, where its battery cargo exploded after the accident, sharing the 60,000 lbs. of lithium batteries' mishap. Firefighters responded on the scene, and LAFD claimed that it would last around 24 to 48 hours before they completely declared the fire to be out at 10 PM (Pacific Time) on Thursday night. The cargo, which has a load of 60,000 lbs. of EV batteries, has been a challenge for the firefighters to put out, mainly as large amounts of lithium battery concentration are infamously highly flammable. Read Also: [LOOK] 3 US Companies Create Fireproof E-Bike Batteries: Here's the Demo Port of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Bridge Closed Due to Fire According to Caltrans District 7, this fire effectively shut down the Port of Los Angeles, where the incident occurred, also affecting the nearby Vincent Thomas Bridge on State Route 47. For the entire day, it also affected the nearby Port of Long Beach operations, centering on Pier A and Pier T. Earlier today, the California Department of Transportation shared that the fire has been successfully extinguished but has not yet reopened the roads due to cleaning up of the hazardous materials. EV Battery Fires are Dangerous and Can Burn Long Lithium-ion (Li-on) batteries, used in most electric vehicle battery packs, are notorious for being flammable. Once they catch fire, it takes significant efforts and methods to extinguish it. This is why when fire risk issues are discovered on EVs, automakers are quick to recall it to fix or replace it, with BMW recently experiencing this problem. There are still limited fire suppression systems among electric vehicles, one of which could successfully prevent an electric vehicle battery fire from going out of hand as it detects it. That being said, many developments in power cell technology aim to help these issues, especially with the promising solid-state batteries. While there are cases where electric vehicles spontaneously catch fire, this can be rooted in poor car maintenance or potential issues that an EV has, but manufacturers have yet to see. Another cause is accidents like those in Los Angeles, which led to a significantly extended closure of two ports and a bridge that hindered its daily operations. Related Article: Automaker Geely's Latest EV Battery Can Last up to 50 Years, 3,500 Cycles An Australian company backed by Rupert Murdoch has until 5pm today to table a full-blown takeover bid for Rightmove or walk away. Analysts believe Rea Group, which is 61 per cent owned by Murdoch's News Corp, must offer at least 7billion to stand any chance of success. The company has had three proposals rejected and made a fourth offer worth 6.2billion on Friday, which is being looked at by Rightmove. Rea bosses have flown to London to appeal to Rightmove shareholders in the hope of persuading the board to come to the table for talks. They have also asked Rightmove to extend today's 5pm deadline and enter discussions something the British company has so far refused to do. Decision time: Rea bosses have flown to London to appeal to Rightmove shareholders in the hope of persuading the board to come to the table for talks Rightmove said it would consider the proposal over the weekend, having rejected bids of 5.6billion, 5.9billion and 6.1billion. It did not grant Rea's request to extend the bid deadline beyond 5pm today. But there was speculation last night that Rea might still secure such an extension. Rightmove has a near monopoly in the UK property listings sector, attracting 80 per cent of searches. Its shares rose 0.5 per cent, or 3.6p, to 668.6p on Friday, still far below the 781p offer price. This suggested investors did not believe the weekend's talks would yield a result. Rea last week expressed disappointment that Rightmove's board, led by chairman Andrew Fisher, had not yet engaged in takeover talks. The Melbourne-based group's chief executive Owen Wilson flew to London a few days ago in the hope of meeting Rightmove directors. But last night there was little sign that the two parties had met up. Wilson joined Rea chairman Hamish McLennan, who jetted in earlier to meet Rightmove shareholders. They had both hoped to encourage pressure on the firm's board to engage. 'Rea has repeatedly requested meetings with Rightmove but no meetings have taken place and as such there has been no substantive engagement beyond cursory procedural telephone calls with the Rightmove chairman,' a Rea spokesman said on Friday. Carmakers Aston Martin and Stellantis each separately warned on profits on Monday, following supply chain disruption and factors within the crucial Chinese economy. Aston Martin said 'external factors within the global automotive industry' meant full-year earnings would likely fall below last year's outcome of 305.9million and it no longer expects to boast positive free cash flow. The FTSE 250 carmaker, which saw losses widen in the first half of the year, announced a 'strategic realignment' to address the issues, with a 1,000 vehicle cut to 2024 wholesale volumes. Aston Martin puts the breaks on profit expectations amid China slowdown Chinese authorities have piled in with monetary and fiscal stimulus in efforts to reverse a significant slowdown in the world's second largest economy, amid a severe downturn in its property market. Weaker Chinese consumer strength has weighed on western luxury brands over the last year, with the likes of Burberry and Louis Vuitton seeing lower sales. It has also impacted the world's mining giants amid forecasts of weaker demand for copper and steel. Global exporters have also faced supply chain disruption, with significant issues facing the crucial Red Sea shipping lanes proving particularly impactful. Aston Martin boss Adrian Hallmark, who has been with the carmaker for a month, said: 'It has become clear that we need to take decisive action to adjust our production volumes for 2024 given a combination of supplier disruption, the weak macroeconomic environment in China and a proactive decision to strategically re-align our production plans to optimise efficiency and achieve a more balanced delivery cadence in the future.' Aston Martin shares slumped 7.5 per cent at the open to 147.6p. They have fallen roughly 31 per cent since the start of 2024 and almost 90 per cent over the last five years. French-Italian carmaker Stellantis NV also slashed its annual guidance, citing a deterioration in global industry dynamics and Chinese electric vehicle competition. 'Competitive dynamics have intensified due to both rising industry supply, as well as increased Chinese competition,' Stellantis said in its guidance. The profit warning also reflects Stellantis's decisions to 'significantly enlarge remediation actions on North American performance issues', the carmaker said without giving further detail. Stellantis also announced in August that it was laying off as many as 2,450 factory workers from its assembly plant outside Detroit as it ends production of its Ram 1500 Classic truck. REA Group has confirmed it will make no more takeover offers for Rightmove after the property website rejected a fourth bid from the Australian firm. Rightmove on Monday rejected a sweetened offer worth 6.15billion on the grounds it continued to 'materially undervalue' the group and its prospects. REA later in the day confirmed it would not be making another bid prior to todays 5pm deadline after Rightmove refused to give the group more time and due diligence information to inform a higher offer. Murdoch-backed REA Group has until 5pm to make a final bid for Rightmove or walk away Chief executive of REA, which is 62 per cent owned by the Murdoch family's News Corp, Owen Wilson said: Against a backdrop of intensifying global competition, we approached Rightmove's Board because we strongly believed in the opportunity to create a globally diversified leader in the digital property sector that would benefit both REA and Rightmove shareholders. We were disappointed with the limited engagement from Rightmove that impeded our ability to make a firm offer within the timetable available. They had nothing to lose by engaging with us. 'We are always financially disciplined when we look at M&A and reinvestment in our business and will continue to focus on the many other opportunities ahead of us. Rightmove shares were down 6.9 per cent to 622.2p by midafternoon on Monday. Takeover speculation has helped propel them 11.9 per cent higher since the start of September. Rightmove rejects fourth and final bid The latest bid comprised 346p in cash, 0.0471 REA shares and a special cash dividend of 6p per Rightmove share, marking an increase on the third offer of around 3 per cent. REA said a takeover of Rightmove 'would look to enhance the UK property experience for buyers, sellers and renters', supporting Rightmove's vision 'to give everyone the belief they can make their move'. But Rightmove chair Andrew Fisher said on Monday the board is 'confident in the standalone future' of the group, amid 'very significant opportunities for future growth'. The firm told shareholders that REA requests for further due diligence information and an extension to the bid deadline would not be in Rightmove's best interests. Fisher added: 'The last few weeks have been very disruptive, as well as unsettling for our colleagues.' What makes a person join a cult? Its easy to imagine that those lured into following deluded narcissists who demand unquestioning devotion to their wild beliefs - aliens, incest, the end of the world, even mass suicide - are somehow weak or stupid. But, says JW Ocker in his new book Cult Following, joining a cult is actually one of the most human things a person can do. Cult members are often unfairly derided as naive, brainwashed followers when, in fact, the research shows this couldnt be further from the truth, he writes. Religious scholar Lorne L Dawsons book The Sociology of New Religious Movements shows that the average cult follower is middle to upper class, highly educated, intelligent, ambitious, curious, and idealistic. The Branch Davidians' 51-day stand-off with law enforcement in Waco ended with more than 80 dead Marshall Herff Applewhite, also known as Do, the founder and co-leader of the Heaven's Gate cult killed himself thinking he would attain immortality in space Members of NXIVM's sex cult received a brand featuring the founder's initials He adds: Cults can offer a legitimate sense of community and all the benefits that come with it - friendship, dedication to a cause, stability, shelter. At least at first... Thanks to documentaries like Wild Wild Country, we now have vivid images of groups like the Rajneeshpuram cult, which carried out the first known bioterrorism attack in US history. And the chilling photographs in the aftermath of the Heaven's Gate suicide pact horrified anyone who saw them, after 39 people were persuaded to take a mix of barbiturates, vodka and applesauce in a bid for interstellar immortality. They believed their spirits would join a spaceship that was hiding in the Hale-Bopp Comet. We're also all-too familiar with the Branch Davidians, whose 51-day stand-off with law enforcement in Waco ended with more than 80 dead in 1993, and, even more recently, NXIVM, whose followers included Smallville actress Allison Mack and whose leader is now serving a life sentence for human trafficking, sex offenses and fraud. But what about the many other cults that never made it on to Netflix or into our collective imagination? Ant Hill Kids On an isolated mountainside in eastern Canada, a small group of people in matching tunics - mostly women - build a commune. The only one not pitching in is the groups leader, Roch Theriault. This busy activity, writes Ocker, inspired Theriault to name his group the Ant Hill Kids. But what sounds like the name of a childrens television show hides a level of brutality that is beyond shocking.' Theriault had managed to persuade his small band of followers that the world would end in February 1979, and that their only chance of survival would be to travel with him to a remote part of Quebec. A sketch of Roch Theriault hangs on the wall of his abandoned log cabin in Quebec Theriault's following grew - mainly because he insisted on getting every woman in the camp pregnant in his new book Cult Following, JW Ocker says that joining a cult is one of the most human things a person can do The first red flag should have come around then, when he happened to rename himself Moses. Of course, the supposed date of destruction came and went. But this self-styled Messiah managed to talk his way out of it. And, Ocker writes: Once his followers were in his thrall - exhausted from work, undernourished, and far from family and friends - he started beating, torturing, and sexually abusing them, maiming them via bizarre medical operations, and subjecting them to outrageous indignities, all in the supposed service of their spiritual purification. These atrocities included nailing a child to a tree and allowing the other children to throw stones at them, removing eight of his wifes teeth with pliers, commanding men to break their own legs with sledgehammers, and cutting off peoples toes for punishment. And much, much worse. Incredibly, his following grew - not because his message was so convincing, but because he insisted on getting every woman in the camp pregnant. The horrific abuse eventually came to the attention of the authorities, and Theriault was sentenced to life in prison - but even that was not enough to dissuade his followers. Some were so dedicated, writes Ocker, that they rented apartments close to the prison, and even joined him for conjugal visits. 'At least one child was born to him during his life sentence.' His reign of terror and coercion finally ended in February 2011, when a fellow inmate took great pleasure in stabbing him in the neck with a shiv. Raelism A supposed encounter with a short, green alien atop a volcano in central France in 1973 was Claude Vorilhons Moses moment. This alien - named Yahweh - reframed the Bible as a sci-fi epic, with humans as alien clones, the flood caused by a nuclear bomb (Noah was saved by a spaceship), and Jonah being swallowed by an alien submarine. Vorilhon was renamed Rael and spread this new gospel far and wide - and was apparently rewarded for all his hard work with a trip to the alien motherland, where he had sex with robots, learned about sensual meditation, the Cosmic Orgasm, and telepathy. Claude Vorilhon, leader of Raelism, whose Montreal HQ is called UFOland A member of the Raelian movement writes: 'Free your breasts, Free your spirit' on a woman during the group's Go Topless rally in Paris in 2013 Raelism hit the headlines most recently when Kanye West used its symbol - a swastika inside the star of David - to accompany his antisemitic rants on Twitter Rael set up his new religion in Montreal - with an HQ called UFOland - teaching standard stuff like not smoking, doing drugs, or consuming caffeine. Followers were instructed to tithe ten percent of everything they earned to the church, and to have sex with whoever they wanted. Raelism hit the headlines most recently when Kanye West used its symbol - a swastika inside the star of David - to accompany his antisemitic rants on Twitter. But, as Ocker writes: Today, more than 50 years after that fateful meeting on a French volcano, Raelism is still one of the more successful UFO cults. There have been no mass fatalities. Its leader is not in jail. And, according to the Religion and Media Centre, it has grown to more 65,000 members, with about 50,000 of those in Canada and the rest spread across more than 80 countries. Divine Order of the Royal Arms of the Great Eleven May Otis Blackburn baked a woman to death, helped hide a dead teenager under the floorboards of a house, and likely murdered her son-in-law, writes Ocker. But, in the end, she went to jail because she missed a writing deadline. 'Thats probably a good thing,' he adds, 'because the book she failed to finish would have triggered the end of the world. Single mom May and her daughter Ruth claimed to have been visited by the Archangel Gabriel in 1920s Hollywood, and had received a series of revelations about the Bible. The angels had also, apparently, disclosed to them the location of a hoard of priceless gold and jewels. All was to be revealed in their upcoming blockbuster, The Great Sixth Seal, the publication of which, they believed, would bring about the apocalypse. The body of Willa Rhoads - thought to have been poisoned - is removed from under her parents' home A member of the Blackburn cult holds an object known as 'The Light of God' - one of many golden lion's head decorations found in their California commune On Christs return, they said, he would choose 11 queens to reign over the world two of whom would be Blackburn and Ruth. Each of the Great Eleven would have a palace in Hollywood from which to reign and would be paired with kings. That - along with the temptation of all that treasure - was enough to attract a committed following, as well as a substantial amount of funding, and together they packed up and moved to Simi Valley, California. By day, the cult followers made money working at a tomato-packing company and gave their paychecks to Blackburn and Ruth. At night, they would conduct seances, sit in magic circles, wear long purple robes, sacrifice mules (which they called the Jaws of Death), and then finish it all up by dancing naked,' writes Ocker. This blissful existence was brought to an abrupt halt when the faithful started dying. First, Ruths husband disappeared, thought to have been poisoned. Another victim, also believed poisoned, was buried beneath her parents home (alongside seven mummified dogs who would apparently keep the girl company in death). And a third - a partially paralyzed woman - was baked in a brick oven for two days in an attempt to treat her ailment. Unsurprisingly, she too died. In the end, Blackburn was disgraced but unrepentant. Her followers drifted away - disillusioned by the fact that the promised Sixth Seal never made an appearance. They sued her for grand theft and - largely thanks to these lurid tales - she was convicted in 1930. However, she was exonerated on appeal, and she lived another 21 unremarkable years. No one ever did find out where those jewels were buried. Peoples Temple Before Jim Jones orchestrated the largest American civilian death event prior to 9/11, he actually did a lot of good, writes Ocker. The Peoples Temple was active in Indianapolis poorest communities, giving food to those who had none, providing homes for the elderly, jobs for the unemployed, and scholarships for those who couldnt afford school. All of these things helped his congregation grow. That - and his claim he could cure cancer. At its height, the church had a membership nearing 3,000 and Jones was wielding increasing power in politics. But, as stories of sexual abuse and Jones' healing scams increasingly drew negative press attention, it became clear that they had to leave the USA. Their destination: 4,000 acres of jungle in the former British colony of Guyana, known to the 1,000 faithful who made the trip as Jonestown. Jim Jones led more than 900 members of his cult to a painful death in Guyana A child's bow and arrow lies on the ground next to dead bodies at the Peoples Temple compound in Jonestown Bodies of the dead surround the Peoples Temple compound in Jonestown Conditions were far from paradise - and Jones followers were subjected to twisted physical and mental torture in their new 'utopia'. They toiled in the commune for long hours during the day, writes Ocker, and spent their nights listening to Joness anti-capitalist and anti-US sermons for hours. Jones started what he called White Nights, practice drills in which he would rouse residents from their sleep to gather in the main pavilion and tell them they were under attack from government forces. He set up people in the surrounding jungle to shoot rubber bullets at them to complete the effect. During at least one of these White Nights, he had his followers drink a red punch that he claimed was laced with poison. He waited until the most dramatic moment to reveal that the drinks werent poisoned after all, and then congratulated his followers on passing this test of loyalty. His final act - as he realized the authorities were closing in and his days as a messiah were up - was merciless. He called everybody to the main pavilion and incited them to drink cups of Flavor Aid laced with cyanide. He called it revolutionary suicide, but its better described as murder, writes Ocker. A third of the residents of Jonestown were children. Many members were injected with syringes full of cyanide. The finale to the horrific story was the bullet Jim Jones fired into his own head. Audio of the entire massacre, including Joness scattered, confusing, insane exhortations, was recorded. Its easy to find online, but hard to get over once heard. The number of dead reached 918. In 2011, survivor Teri Buford OShea summed up what had drawn so many to follow a murderous megalomaniac. What was good about Jonestown was not Jim Jones, Teri said. It was the people he attracted. They came from every walk of life, from the very well-educated to the totally uneducated. Some had lots of money, some were living off of Social Security, and some didnt even have that. It could have been you. It was me. Cult Following: The Extreme Sects That Capture Our Imaginations and Take Over Our Lives by JW Ocker is published by Quirk Books A California ghost town abandoned decades ago has transformed into a tourist hotspot - but visitors warn it is plagued by a 'curse'. Bodie is a small former gold-mining town near the the Nevada border that was once home to around 8,000 people and 2,000 buildings. It was named after the man who first found gold buried in the hills just north of Mono Lake in 1859. Two years later, a mill was set up and the town began to boom, with miners flooding in from all around the country. But its good fortunes didn't last and by 1881, the town began to go bust, with residents leaving en mass and mining officially ending in 1942. Today, tourists from all over flock to visit the town that remains frozen in time. But visitors are urged not to disturb what remains or pilfer items for themselves amid reports those who do end up plagued by bad luck, LADbible reported. Bodie, a small former gold-mining town near the the Nevada border was established after William S. Body found small amounts of gold in hills north of Mono Lake in 1859 There were once 65 saloons in area, including many brothels and 'houses of ill repute', gambling halls and opium dens, the town's website reports During its boom years, the town boasted houses, a school, a Wells Fargo bank, four volunteer fire companies, hotels, a jail, cemeteries, stores, churches, newspapers, a mortuary, and other structures that supported the large community of residents. There were once 65 saloons in area, including many brothels and 'houses of ill repute', gambling halls and opium dens, the town's website reports. This led to a huge rise in nightly shootings, stabbings and brawls, with the area soon becoming notorious for violence in the surrounding area. Coupled with a sharp decline in mineable material and rising racism against Chinese immigrants, Bodie's population began to plummet and by 1886 there were only around 1,500 residents left. Meanwhile, two devastating fires in 1892 and 1932 destroyed huge numbers of buildings, with the harsh climate also contributing to the town's decline. Today, only around 200 buildings still stand in the deserted community. Coupled with a sharp decline in mineable material and rising racism against Chinese immigrants, Bodie's population began to plummet and by 1886 there were only around 1,500 residents left Meanwhile, two devastating fires in 1892 and 1932 destroyed huge numbers of buildings, with the harsh climate also contributing to the town's decline Eventually, Bodie became a National Historic Landmark District in 1961 and a State Historic Park in 1962 Eventually, Bodie became a National Historic Landmark District in 1961 and a State Historic Park in 1962. While it receives scores of visitors every year, the area is kept in a state of 'arrested decay' to ensure things continue to look how they did then. However, those who visit believe that the dead town is plagued by a curse. Multiple sightseers have reportedly sent back souvenirs they had stolen from sites across Bodie after suffering misfortune. While it receives scores of visitors every year, the area is kept in a state of 'arrested decay' to ensure things continue to look how they did then Aaron Scarborough, a park aide at Bodie, previously said: 'The streets are covered with their own souvenirs, from old glass and nails to an occasional coin. But park aides advise you not to shoplift in Bodie. Not because of any moral code, but because of the curse. 'People take old rusty nails as souvenirs and send them back. They get them home and their luck goes bad. Just bad.' 'As proof, he points to a table in the museum, covered with bits of glass and metal, lined with letters from people apologizing for looting, telling tales of bad luck tax investigations, car repairs, fires and fights,' a newspaper article from 1993 added. Some have since compared the rumors to the 'Pompeii Curse' - where visitors to the ancient city destroyed in 79AD when Mount Vesuvius erupted reportedly suffered tragedies after taking home items from the ruins. Meanwhile, others claim various buildings and areas in the deserted town are haunted by ghosts. Those who visit believe that the dead town is plagued with the 'Pompeii Curse' Some believe that the J.S Cain House, once owned by a wealthy businessman, is haunted by a Chinese maid Bodie Cemetery is allegedly haunted by an angel 'ghost' of three-year-old Evelyn, daughter of Albert and Fanny Myers who was 'accidentally' killed in 1897 by a miner's pick. According to the Little House of Horrors, some believe that the J.S Cain House, once owned by a wealthy businessman, is haunted by a Chinese maid. Legend suggests that the maid killed herself after she was accused by Cain's wife of being his mistress and subsequently fired. The publication also alleges that the Bodie Cemetery is haunted by an angel 'ghost' of three-year-old Evelyn, daughter of Albert and Fanny Myers who was 'accidentally' killed in 1897 by a miner's pick. Most US states have their own versions of Bigfoot or other mythical creatures whose stories have been passed down through many generations. Florida is no exception, but it does have the distinction of having one of the grossest names for its beast of legend. The 'Bardin Booger,' as the cryptid has become known, has had several sightings in the landlocked Putnam County of northern Florida. Its name, broken down into two parts, comes from the tiny town where it was first spotted named Bardin - and 'Booger,' which is a slang term for 'bogeyman.' Like the Skunk Ape, another Florida-specific creature, the Bardin Booger is thought to be a regional twist on Bigfoot and Yeti myths, according to ClickOrlando. Dave Shealy told DailyMail.com he's been doing Skunk Ape research all his life after he says he first saw one at the age of 10 in 1974. A statue of a Skunk Ape found Dave Shealy's tourist destination dedicated to the creature of myth in Ochopee, Florida Shealy holds a plaster cast of what he claims is a Skunk Ape footprint Shealy's lifelong efforts to convince the world of the creature's existence - a pursuit he's stepped up in recent months by touring the country with his evidence - have culminated in him opening Skunk Ape Headquarters in Ochopee, Florida. The quaint museum recently won the honor of being the second best roadside attraction in the country as ranked by USAToday. Shealy also listed five places where these enigmatic brutes are often seen. Myakka State Park, Ocala National Forest, Kissimmee marshlands, the Florida Everglades, and Interstate 4 near Interstate 95 are all apparently the places to be if you want to lay eyes on them. Shealy believes there are five to seven Skunk Apes in the Everglades and over the years, he has set up numerous elevated structures in the marshes hopefully to catch a glimpse. He even claims they create nests in the trees, something he says other Skunk Ape researchers have noted. A supposed sighting of a Skunk Ape in Florida Everglades on July 8, 2000 Shealy compares his hand to a Skunk Ape footprint, which has a distinctive four toes, distinguishing it from Bigfoot When it comes to the Bardin Booger, which shares similarities with the Skunk Ape but is seen mostly in North Florida, tales about it first began popping up in the late 1940s, per The Florida Times-Union. So the story goes, a woman was riding her horse through the woods of Bardin in the summer of 1947 when she thought she saw a very tall man with a long raincoat. When she looked closer, however, she was shocked to learn the coat was actually fur and that the man was anything but. Many of the 424 residents of Bardin claim to have seen the creature, with some describing it as a 10-foot-tall, furry, monkey-like creature. 'I see monkeys out here in our woods all the time,' said lifelong resident Karen Moore. 'But I've never seen one that's 10 feet tall.' Another story about the Booger describes him as wearing torn, dirty clothes and having the face of a caveman. A third tale says the creature gave off a scent so foul that when a man raised his gun to try to shoot it, he couldn't fire accurately. Perhaps the most consistent detail across the countless stories is that the Booger is often reported to be carried a lantern. A map that depicts the number of Bigfoot sightings in Florida. Yellow colored areas indicate fewer sightings, whereas orange areas indicate more sightings Marie Dumont, the founder of the Mid Florida Bigfoot Research Group, tried to explain why this might be. 'As a Bigfoot researcher, that is a pretty common thin,' she told ClickOrlando. 'Whether its truly a creature that walks around with a lantern? Highly unlikely. But it could be that people are seeing a Bigfoot or Skunk Ape, or theyre seeing a light moving through the woods.' Florida is a hotspot for Skunk Ape sightings, according to Dumont. Though reports from north and south Florida differ quite a bit. She said Skunk Apes sighted in southern Florida are usually smaller - 5 to 7 feet tall. They're thinner, have less hair and only have four toes, at least based on the footprints some claim to have found. Skunk Apes found north of Tampa, she said, are 6 to 9 feet tall with five toes. Experts have theorized that UFOs appear to defy the laws of physics potentially thanks to an anti-gravity machine, and that as a result, humans look like we're moving in slow-motion. Luis Elizondo, the former Pentagon insider who's been blowing the lid off the government's UFO secrets, has made shocking claims in his book, 'Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs.' In his bombshell memoir, he outlines a theory that gained steam during his time as part of the AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program) group: UFOs harness anti-gravity to circumvent the laws of physics. An anti-gravity device, forming what Elizondo's team calls a 'bubble' around a craft, would potentially make the object immune to Earth's gravitational forces - which might explain its incredible acceleration abilities. And without any gravity affecting the craft, there would also be no time dilation taking place, meaning that while time for everyone on Earth would be slowed down by the Earth's gravity, time for anything operating a craft would be considerably faster. This would mean anything looking outside a craft would see the entirety of humanity moving at a fraction of their speed. Luis Elizondo, the former Pentagon insider who's been blowing the lid off the government's UFO secrets, has made shocking claims in his book, 'Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs' Research by Sean Kirkpatrick, director of the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, and Harvard's Avi Loeb has shocked the scientific community when they concluded that recent UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) observations defy laws of physics Physicist Erik Lentz from the University of Gottingen has similarly proposed a mind-boggling theory that could explain how these otherworldly visitors traverse the vast distances of space. His research suggests a way to create the above mentioned 'warp bubble' that could allow spacecraft to travel faster than light without breaking Einstein's cosmic speed limit, as reported by Physics World. But the catch is that it would require energy equivalent to 'hundreds of times the mass of the planet Jupiter' 'A warp bubble traveling faster than light cannot be created from inside the bubble, as the leading edge of the bubble would be beyond the reach of a spaceship sitting at its center,' he said. 'The problem is that you need energy to deform space all the way to the very edge of the bubble, and the ship simply can't put it there.' Erik Lentz suggests a 'warp bubble' could allow spacecraft to travel faster than light without breaking Einstein's cosmic speed limit Meanwhile, a groundbreaking paper by Sean Kirkpatrick, director of the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, and Harvard's Avi Loeb also sheds light - or bends it - on how UFO seem to create optical illusions. The paper states that these mysterious objects should create 'a bright optical fireball, ionization shell and tail' due to friction with air or water, as reported by Popular Mechanics. 'The friction of UAP with the surrounding air or water is expected to generate a bright optical fireball, ionization shell and tail implying radio signatures,' it wrote. On top of that, many of the observed UAPs show no signs of these telltale signatures. This could mean that UFOs could be nothing more than 'sensor-induced optical illusions.' 'The lack of all these signatures could imply inaccurate distance measurements (and hence derived velocity) for single site sensors without a range gate capability,' the authors wrote. 'Typical UAP sightings are too far away to get a highly resolved image of the object and determination of the object's motion is limited by the lack of range data.' A groundbreaking paper by Sean Kirkpatrick, director of the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, and Harvard's Avi Loeb also sheds light - or bends it - on how UFO seem to create optical illusions Without any gravity affecting the craft, there would also be no time dilation taking place, meaning that while time for everyone on Earth would be slowed down by the Earth's gravity, time for anything operating a craft would be considerably faster However, Elizondo points out in his book that the optical illusion could be generated by the 'bubble'. Citing the Doppler effect, the former intelligence officer said that light moving in and out of the medium would skew based on if the object was moving away from you or toward you. Elizondo, risking his life, has alleged in his book that the US military has been running a top-secret program to retrieve and reverse-engineer alien craft for years. He even has claimed they've recovered non-human specimens. 'We're not alone,' Elizondo told NewsNation. 'We are not alone in this universe, and it is a simple fact. The U.S. government has been aware of that fact for decades now. I think if the American public knew just how deep this lie went, that we would have a very significant constitutional crisis on our hands.' Elizondo, risking his life, has alleged that the US military has been running a top-secret program to retrieve and reverse-engineer alien craft for years He even has claimed they've recovered non-human specimens His book contains, among its many incredible revelations, details on a 2016 plan hatched by Elizondo and his military colleagues to catch a UFO in the ocean. 'The United States has been involved in the recovery of objects,' Elizondo told the outlet. 'Vehicles of unknown origin that are neither from our country or any other foreign country that we're aware of.' But it's not just conspiracy theories anymore. In August, Elizondo told reporters that he can confirm one of two 'vehicles of unknown origin' were recovered from the now legendary Roswell UFO crash of 1947. More shocking still, Elizondo said, 'We, as a nation have, been interested in not only the vehicles themselves but the occupants,' which he called 'biological specimens.' Elizondo helped release three of the most famous UFO videos in history after leaving his role in the US Department of Defense in late 2017. Elizondo first rose to national prominence in late 2017 in the pages of the New York Times where he blew the whistle on the US military and intelligence community's pervasive mismanagement and excessive secrecy on the topic of UFOs. His public resignation and opaque role within the Pentagon's UFO-hunting portfolio, known to its Senate backers as the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), brought fame and a lead role in a History channel docu-series. In April 2020, the Pentagon officially released three videos that Elizondo had helped leak in 2017, each taken by US Navy fighter pilots who had reportedly witnessed 'unexplained aerial phenomena' (UAP) as UFOs are now more technically known. Elizondo first rose to national prominence in 2017 in the pages of the New York Times, after he helped release three US Navy infrared UFO videos - including the GOFAST video (above) The videos depict, as Elizondo told CNN, 'things that don't have any obvious flight surfaces, any obvious forms of propulsion [...] maneuvering in ways that include extreme maneuverability beyond, I would submit, the healthy G-forces of a human or anything biological.' Despite corroboration from his peers and the late Senate Majority leader who helped create AATIP, Nevada Democrat Harry Reid, the Department of Defense has maintained that Elizondo's military role had no official UFO-hunting duties. Pentagon officials denied the existence of any 'credible evidence of extraterrestrial activity,' in a statement responding to NewsNation's forthcoming interview. 'As we have stated previously, Luis Elizondo had no assigned responsibilities for the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) while assigned to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security,' DoD spokesperson Sue Gough told NewsNation. Critics of Gough have pointed to a 2003 research paper on psychological warfare that she wrote for the US Army War College, implying the Pentagon spokesperson might be part of a coordinated campaign to undermine Elizondo's credibility. And, in May 2021, Elizondo filed a 64-page complaint to the DoD's Office of the Inspector General accusing high-ranking military officials of attempting to silence him by threatening his security clearances and obfuscating of his work with AATIP. Elizondo said he endured 'malicious activities, coordinated disinformation, professional misconduct, whistleblower reprisal and explicit threats perpetrated by certain senior-level Pentagon officials.' Above, veteran Australian TV news broadcaster and investigative reporter Ross Coulthart - who conducted the first televised interview with government UFO whistleblower David Grusch last year - conducted the new interview with Elizondo, which airs in full on Friday These actions, he and his attorneys said, suggested 'a coordinated effort to obfuscate the truth from the American people, while impugning my reputation as a former intelligence officer at the Pentagon.' His new memoir, 'Imminent,' sees the former Pentagon official opening up about much more incredible personal accounts including the story of his own family's disturbing experience with 'green orbs' floating through their house. In the book, Elizondo also details he and another AATIP member's plan to catch UFOs on the high seas. He told Dailymail.com in August that their investigations pointed to these craft having an apparent interest in military operations, nuclear power, and were often seen around bodies of water. So they coordinated with the Navy and other branches to create 'Project Interloper': an attempt to lure the mysterious craft and record them with high-tech equipment. Surrounded by golden sandy beaches and ranked the third safest city across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, it is hardly a surprise that Plymouth is officially the UK's greatest city to live and work in. Factors including job opportunities and housing affordability were taken into consideration when PwC picked the winner, with Exeter and Bristol also ranking highly on the list. Meanwhile, Stockton and Middlesbrough proved the least desirable cities to spend time in, falling just behind Bradford. Plymouth's success did come as a surprise to some critics, however, due to its reputation of anti-social behaviour and drug-taking. The urban location is also no stranger to boarded-up shops, tatty buildings and unexciting high-street chains, such as ShoeZone and Card Factory. Average earnings in Plymouth increased by 16 per cent last year, according to the Office for National Statistics. Meanwhile, the city's unemployment rate was 3.4 percent in May, significantly lower than the national average of 4.1 percent. Plymouth is also the third safest city across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, according to statistics website CrimeRate. Plymouth has been named the best city in Britain to live and work in John Adaway who swims daily only a few hundred yards from his house When MailOnline visited the city, locals in Plymouth were pleasantly surprised at their home being named the best place to live in the UK. The Devon seaside city came out on top of the Good Growth for Cities Index conducted by accountancy firm PwC which measures economic performance and quality of life. It received exceptional scores in the categories of work-life balance, income equality and jobs. Its heritage as a maritime city takes centre-stage in its appeal, with its seafront lido, busy international port, and waterfront Barbican district all appealing to visitors. By the city's beautiful Firestone Bay, MailOnline spoke to wild swimmer John Adaway, 66, who has lived in the city for 36 years. Mr Adaway, a semi-retired carpet cleaner, says he loves living by the coast and swims in the sea every day. He said: 'I'm surprised it's been rated the best place to live because the city centre is not good. 'Being by the beach it's amazing and you have got everything here but the city centre lets it down, it just wants rebuilding. Since they built the shopping centre the outside shops suffered a bit. It's just charity shops and barbers now. 'I moved here from Hampshire and met my wife who was brought up here and just stayed here ever since. I've been swimming every day and I will keep it up. 'We rent a house overlooking the sea and every morning when you look out the window it picks you up, even when it's raining.' Mayflower Marina in Plymouth. Average earnings in Plymouth increased by 16 per cent last year, according to the Office for National Statistics The city's unemployment rate was 3.4 per cent in May, significantly lower than the national average of 4.1 per cent Jodie Wilson is a support worker working in the city of Plymouth John Adaway who swims daily only a few hundred yards from his home in Plymouth Stockton (pictured) has been deemed the worst city to live in in the UK Plymouth - nicknamed Britain's Ocean City - finished in top above Bristol in the index, which scores cities' attributes including safety and skills, housing, commuting times, high street shops, environment and business startups. Its location by the sea has also attracted several major employers including HMNB Devonport - the largest naval base in Western Europe - which has a staff of 5,500 people and generates about 10 percent of Plymouth's income. Diane Vogler, 76, a lifelong resident said she wouldn't want to live anywhere else. The retired cafe worker and carer said: 'It's the people around you, they are so friendly, I love it here. 'We have a great market here and there's always something going on in Royal William Yard. The people I talk to are unbelievable, very sociable and always happy to chat. 'You have this beautiful view but it still feels local to live in. It's nothing like London, I've been there but wouldn't want to live there. It's too fast for me. 'I want to spend the rest of my days here then be chucked in the ocean.' Another local resident who gave his name as Frank described the decision as 'absolutely delusional'. He added: 'Plymouth is c***. Whoever voted needs to be sectioned.' Support worker Jodie Wilson, 34, said: 'I'm a little bit surprised it was top but I can understand the appeal of living on the coast. 'You can easily go to Cornwall and the improvements to the town are starting to work. Plymouth has a bad reputation, the Navy plays a part in that because people think of it as full of drunk sailors. Emily Fletcher at the Royal William Yard in Plymouth John Adaway who swims daily only a few hundred yards from his home in the city of Plymouth Plymouth is also the third safest city across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, according to statistics website CrimeRate Diane Vogler who has lived in Plymouth all her life after being born there The Scott Memorial overlooking the city of Plymouth 'I'd be happy to bring up kids here but I would like to see more done about housing and more things to do for young people. 'Homeless is really rife but it's very hard to stop because there is no availability, people on benefits only have the option of private rented which they can't afford.' Another resident, Emily Fletcher, 25, said: 'I love being by the sea, it's the reason I moved here from Birmingham. 'I think the city needs to sort out its housing though, this is one of the cheapest places to live but housing is still scarce. More housing for local people would be a big improvement.' PWC's Rachel Taylor said: 'Raising prosperity across the UK is needed more than ever as we continue to see growing inequality in housing, jobs and education. 'There is an increasing imbalance within and between neighbourhoods, which is being driven by disparities in access to quality education, jobs and housing. 'This is felt not only across different regions, but also between people living within the same postcodes in cities.' MailOnline visited the Yarm Road area of Stockton where residents were recently out in force demanding a purge to clean up the area. Resident Chris Allison, 28, said: 'The police and ambulance service come down here so regularly I have even learned to tell the sirens apart.' Daren McCoy, 47, who lives nearby, wants to move out the area totally before he becomes a dad for the third time. He said: 'I already have a seven year old and 20 year old. With another baby on the way I have decided I want to leave the whole area. Plymouth has been named the best city in Britain to live in, according to a new index John Adaway who goes for a daily swim very close to his home in Plymouth Factors including job opportunities and housing affordability were taken into consideration when PwC picked the winner Jodie Wilson is a support worker working in the city of Plymouth Jodie Wilson. Plymouth is also rated the third safest city across England, Wales and Northern Ireland Plymouth has been named the best city in Britain to live in, according to a new index Emily Fletcher at the Royal William Yard in the city of Plymouth Plymouth has stunning scenery, beautiful beaches and lots of good places to eat and drink 'It is because crime is so bad.' At the local Wellington Square Shopping Centre, shops were closing early because of the rain when the disorder broke out at a bar on the edge of the precinct. The windows of the local Savers Store was held together with stick tape after being smashed. Local bakery worker Stacey Melville, 34, who works around the corner, said: 'They are always smashing the windows there for some reason. Home Bargains gets attacked a lot as well. 'Thankfully, the main problem we have is just shoplifting. But it definitely getting worse. 'Many of the shoplifters are druggies but some of them are just normal people doing it because they are broke.' It was a similar picture in the neighbouring crime hotspot of Middlesbrough. Sunny Singh runs the local store in Beaumont Road in North Ormesby. She said: 'We have had the shop since I was ten and I am 26 now. 'It used to be really rough down here but I think things have got better since the council started clamping down. Stockton has been voted the worst place to live and work in in the UK The Infinity Bridge in Stockton-on-Tees, UK 'We have got street wardens now who keep an eye on things. But you still get people getting drunk and shoplifting. 'Some of the shoplifters are regular customers. If we spot them we ask why they are doing it. 'If they say it is for the kids and they are broke we just tell them they can have the stuff and pay us later. 'There is a strong community spirit around here whatever has gone wrong with the area in the past.' Customer Jed Wilson, 77, has lived in the area for 56 years and reckons just about everyone he ever knew is dead or moved away. He said: 'Everyone I knew has gone now and I hardly recognise the place. 'The 100 year social club has shut. The butcher has gone - the people who live around here now don't go to butchers' shops. 'I just keep myself to myself and hope for the best. I only came out today because I was desperate for milk.' Up the road in the local chippie, customer Kelly Berry, 37, said 'I used to hang around here when I was younger but I would not let the kids walk through here on their own. 'There are all these young people getting stabbed. So I try and dodge the area. 'The area was better when I was younger. When I was 14 and 15 it was safe to walk around on you own here. 'But I don't now and would not let my kids do it.' Chip shop owner Sun Lok, 37, said: 'It is the old people I feel sorry for. 'A lot of them have been here so long they don't want to move. They just stay in their homes looking out the windows.' Coalition support edged in front with 51 to 49 per cent Support for Anthony Albanese's Labor government has fallen to a record low in NSW, which could cost him up to four seats and a majority at the next election. A Newspoll analysis published on Sunday revealed that Labor's primary vote in the Prime Minister's home state had dropped to just 30 per cent, marking a historic low. The poll shows the Coalition has gained a slight lead in NSW with 51 per cent support on a two-party-preferred basis, compared to Labor's 49 per cent. Should Labor lose four seats in NSW alone, the Albanese Government would lose its majority and be forced to rely on the Greens or teal independents to retain power. In Victoria, traditionally a stronghold for Labor, the party's primary vote has also dropped to a new low of 31 per cent - below the national average. While Labor still leads in the state at 52 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis, the Coalition has closed the gap, trailing at 48 per cent. Support for Anthony Albanese 's Labor government has plummeted to its lowest level on record in NSW, with the Labor party also taking a hit in Victoria For the first time ever, Peter Dutton has become the preferred prime minister among the 50 to 64-year-old voters The sharp decline in support for Labor coincides with the cost-of-living crisis and the Reserve Bank raising interest rates 13 times in 2022 and 2023 to a 12-year high of 4.35 per cent. The rise in support for a possible Muslim party in the eastern states suggests that Labor's stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza may have also alienated parts of its traditional ethnic voter base, especially in south-west Sydney. The drop in Labor's primary vote is also closely connected to a decline in personal support for Mr Albanese. The Prime Minister recorded a five-point decline in his ratings, resulting in a minimal gain for Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Labor has also lost popularity in Western Australia, which could potentially see the party losing up to two seats in a state that delivered double-digit swings to the ALP at the last election. Its lead in WA has shrunk to 52 per cent to 48 per cent after preferences, down from 55 per cent to 45 per cent at the last election that saw four Perth electorates switch to Labor from the Liberal Party. The Coalition now also holds a two-party-preferred lead among voters aged 50 to 64, with 55 per cent supporting the Coalition compared with 45 per cent for Labor. This marks an increase from a previous lead of 51 per cent to 49 per cent in June. Mr Dutton is now viewed as the preferred prime minister by voters aged 50 to 64 for the first time ever. For the first time since the last election, the Coalition has edged ahead of Labor in the primary vote among Australians aged 35 to 49, the age group most likely to be struggling with mortgage stress and school expenses. Labor won 77 seats at the 2022 election but gained the Melbourne seat of Aston in a 2023 by-election, marking the first time since 1920 that a government had won a seat off the Opposition at a by-election. The unprecedented turn against Labor could be attributed to the cost-of-living crisis which has largely affected the working-class demographic But the loss of four seats in NSW and two more in WA would reduce Labor's House of Representatives tally to 71, on new electoral boundaries, which would be below the 76-seat threshold required for a majority in a 150-seat lower house in 2025. This could see Labor be forced to scrap negative gearing for future purchases of investment properties, to satisfy the Greens, or introduce more ambitious climate change emission reduction targets, as part of a power-sharing deal with the teals. The Newspoll also showed Labor in danger of losing the electorate of Robertson on the New South Wales Central Coast, north of Sydney, which has backed the winning side at every federal election since 1983. Labor had retained this seat in 2010 when Julia Gillard became the first PM in almost 70 years to head a minority government. Flu killed more than 18,000 people in the last two years, figures have revealed, amid fears a 'tripledemic' of viruses will hit the UK this winter. Health officials say poor flu vaccine uptake will leave Britons vulnerable to the deadly virus, with Covid and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) also both predicted to hit hard this season. The warning follows thousands being hospitalised in Australia during their winter months, often a precursor to what will happen in the UK. Steve Russell, national director for vaccinations and screening at NHS England, said: 'Today's data showing there were almost 20,000 deaths associated with flu over the past two winters is a shocking reminder that this is a seriously dangerous virus.' He added that the vaccine is the 'best way of protecting those who are vulnerable'. New figures from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) showed falling flu vaccine rates across all eligible groups in England last year. A flu jab. Officials say poor vaccine uptake is leaving Britons vulnerable to catching flu, with Covid and RSV both set to hit hard this winter Uptake among over-65s was high but had still declined, falling to 77.8 per cent from 79.9 per cent. Only four in ten people in clinical risk groups (41.4 per cent) took up the offer and fewer than one in three (32.1 per cent) of pregnant women. Though the vaccine is offered to children from two to the end of primary school, uptake for two and three-year-olds also remains low, at just 44 per cent. Maryam Sheiakh, whose six-year-old daughter, Saffy, was hospitalised with flu two years ago, said parents must take it seriously. Saffy required oxygen and spent days in the high dependency unit at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital after being admitted with a cough and high temperature. The nursery teacher, from Manchester, said: 'I honestly thought she might die.' She is urging parents to get their children vaccinated, which is done using a nasal spray in youngsters, rather than a jab. 'Just go and get it, don't take the risk,' she said. Millions of people can now book flu jabs and Covid-19 boosters through the NHS website and app, or by calling 119, with appointments starting from October 3. Flu jabs are offered to those 65 and over, anyone aged 18 to 65 in clinical risk groups and patients in long-stay residential homes. Only four in ten people in clinical risk groups (41.4 per cent) took up the offer of a flu jab and fewer than one in three (32.1 per cent) of pregnant women got vaccinated Frontline social care workers and people who provide care for elderly or disabled people are also eligible. Adults over 65, care home residents, staff, frontline health and social care workers, and people in clinical risk groups (including pregnant women) are eligible for an autumn Covid booster. A vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was also rolled out last month, with pregnant women and adults aged 75-79 invited to book. Health minister Andrew Gwynne said vaccines are 'the best way to protect yourself from these viruses that can cause serious harm.' A new multi-industry collaboration is on its way to deliver the first-ever recycled aluminum car that will rely on artificial intelligence to design, asking the machine learning technology to help reduce weight. The vehicle would be branded under the British luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin, which is also part of the project under the Performance Integrated Vehicle Optimization Technology (PIVOT) project. The current initiative towards recycled aluminum is regarded as a "game changer" in the industry, aiming to revolutionize the automotive industry using a cheaper and sustainable new design. AI to Design New Aston Martin Car Using Recycled Aluminum Artificial intelligence will now head the design of a future car branded under Aston Martin's "Racing. Green." program, which will feature a recycled aluminum material that was said to target as much as 30 percent weight reduction. Recently, a company called Altair announced that it is joining the latest cause and would share its global dominance in the field of computer intelligence in the project. The goal of the project is to lead the world towards sustainable vehicle manufacturing, which will rely on 100 percent recyclable aluminum. Altair would help advance the project using its AI and simulation capabilities. Recently, Aston Martin revealed that the project received a whopping $6.72 million (6 million) grant from the United Kingdom government through the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC)'s program. Read Also: Honda, IBM in Building AI-Powered Chips for Next-Gen Cars The PIVOT Project and Its Future in the Auto Industry The PIVOT program is led by the Coventry-based aluminum supplier Sarginsons Industries and is joined by Aston Martin, Altair, Brunel University London, and GESCRAP. The project received massive backing through a grant from the Advanced Propulsion Centre and Innovate UK. Using 100 percent recycled aluminum materials, the project can remove as much as 95 percent of carbon emissions in vehicles embedded in-vehicle components. AI will help in its design and use an "advanced casting process" that was regarded to help "reshape vehicle manufacturing" in the future. Artificial Intelligence for Vehicles After the massive dive of the world into artificial intelligence, it has made its mark on many technologies present, centering on its integration in everyday processes, which is also looking to enter the automotive industry. It is known that some companies and corporations give artificial intelligence the discretion to design or operate on their behalf, and that is the case with Nissan's upcoming 2025 Qashqai model, which relied on AI to bring significant enhancements to the vehicle. Moreover, Geely shared a video on the Chinese social media platform, Weibo, which shows an AI-powered, fully autonomous drifting vehicle that performs its feat on ice and snow. This highlighted Geely's AI digital chassis technology development that can take on the professional driving industry using its machine-learning developments for 'intelligent driving.' However, not all car companies have yet to deliver their AI-powered experiences or integration of artificial intelligence into their vehicles. However, many are already looking to provide this experience, including several partnerships among Big Tech. The PIVOT program looks to make cars cheaper, lighter, and sustainable, with an Aston Martin-branded car coming soon to debut the AI's design. Related Article: Waabi Brings 'AI-First' Approach to Self-Driving Trucks: What's This Secret Training Ground? With crime remaining a concern across America cities - Baltimore, Detroit and San Antonio claim they've turned the tied against violence by making major changes. The cities - particularly Baltimore and Detroit - have often been portrayed as some of the most dangerous in the United States but now claim crime has taken a sudden dip. Brandon Scott, the mayor of notoriously crime-plagued Baltimore, says his efforts began at a barbershop. He claims that the city - which has been used by Hollywood for decades as a setting for crime-fighting cops on shows like The Wire and Homicide - used barbershops as the only real safe havens. Now, he's trying to grow out those places of refuge, with a massive Group Violence Reduction Strategy that led a massive drug bust, with 12 people indicted on drug and gun charges. With crime remaining a concern across America, cities like Baltimore (pictured), Detroit and San Antonio claim they've turned the tied against violence by making major changes Brandon Scott, the mayor of notoriously crime-plagued Baltimore, says his efforts began at a barbershop The strategy involves the city asking those caught up in the drug trade and gang violence to work with them. 'Take us up on our opportunities to change your life or end up indicted, headed to prisons,' Scott told CNN. The results: a record 21% drop in homicides in the city - not even a decade removed from the riots following the death of Freddie Gray - in 2023, with a further 34% drop through the first half of 2024, according to the mayor. Stefanie Mavronis, the city's director of neighborhood safety, says Gray's death while in police custody, led the city to make change. 'We are not often a credible partner, and coming out of the uprising there was a lot of community energy around the idea that community has to be a part of the solution and needs to be a co-owner of our strategies moving forward,' she said. Scott says Baltimore's made progress through these programs that promote 'intentional collaboration between law enforcement, social services, and community members.' The programs cost the city $7.3 million a year, with contributions from the federal and state government as well as donors. Another city that has preached collaboration between the community and law enforcement is Detroit. He claims that the city - which has been used by Hollywood for decades as a setting for crime-fighting cops on shows like The Wire and Homicide - used barbershops as the only real safe havens. Another city that has preached collaboration between the community and law enforcement is Detroit They used American Rescue Plan funds to fund a program called ShotStoppers in the Motor City. Six community groups are given a budget of $700,000 a year to pursue strategies to cut down on murders and shootings within a certain part of the city. The communities can receive bonus funds of another $700,000 if they achieved certain markers. One example is FORCE Detroit, which uses the money to provide access to necessities for those most at-risk. Their region saw murders and shootings go down 72% from last November to this January vs. the year ago period and another 67% drop from February through April, which got FORCE Detroit bonuses worth $175,000. FORCE Detroit and three other groups had their contracts extended for a year thanks to their results and the city plans to expand the program. San Antonio, Texas has taken somewhat of a different strategy, one that was provided to them by people who study crime at the University of Texas in San Antonio. While the initial plan calls for targeted, increased policing in high-crime areas of the city, but after that, the city will work on what they say are the underlying conditions behind criminal activity. San Antonio, Texas has taken somewhat of a different strategy, one that was provided to them by people who study crime at the University of Texas in San Antonio While the initial plan calls for targeted, increased policing in high-crime areas of the city, but after that, the city will work on what they say are the underlying conditions behind criminal activity The city's most-troubled areas saw a 37% drop in crime in 2023 and an overall drop of 7.3% in violent crime in the city, though some have criticized it for being a cosmetic attempt to reduce crime. 'When this plan first rolled out, not a whole lot of people were happy with it because it just seemed too simplistic and again, quite candidly kind of boring,' San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said. 'But the fact of the matter is, it's working, and I think everybody has gotten used to it by now.' This follows news in July that the city of Boston saw its murder rate plummet in the first half of 2024. New statistics show the city's law-enforcement are easily beating their target to reduce incidents of homicide by 20 percent in three years. Compared to the same six-month period in 2023 from January 1 to June 23, Boston has seen its murder cases plummet from 18 to 4. Crime stats also show that the number of rapes has fallen by 39.7 percent - from 90 down to 67 - as Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox lauded the city's efforts. 'We are doing so many things, and hopefully it is having an impact,' he told the New York Times. Nationwide, crime rates surged during the pandemic, with widespread murder, rape and robbery rates increasing in major cities across the country. Some cities remain locked into higher crime rates, like the California town of Antioch, dubbed 'the new Oakland' recently. Crime was already spiking on every major metric before a weekend of unprecedented gun violence left one man dead, emptied the city center and left business owners fearing for their future. Police numbers have plunged from 115 to 76 in the last four years under the tenure of Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe who was elected in the teeth of opposition from the local police Officers' Association. And the city has become a magnet for 'Chinese criminal syndicates' supplying drugs to the rest of the state with more than 60 illegal marijuana dens uncovered in the last two years. 'Now Antioch is old Oakland,' said local bar owner Tony Loinab. 'In one week over 200 shots in Antioch, how many people got shot? Three or four? In one week, not in one year, one week!' Homeless encampments have returned to the city after a clear-out under the previous mayor in 2018, and murders were up by a third in the first six months of the year compared with the same period last year. Robberies were up 12 percent, larcenies were up 40 percent, and vehicle thefts were up 65 percent. At a time of falling crime rates nationwide, rises were also recorded in burglaries, vandalism, and assault. The NHS is offering thousands more 'artificial pancreases' to type 1 diabetes patients - spelling the end of finger-prick blood tests and insulin jabs for many. Up to 270,000 patients will be able to get the 'completely lifechanging' devices to control their blood sugars as part of the 14million rollout. The expansion follows a deal between the NHS and makers of the hybrid closed loop systems, making them more 'cost effective'. It means patients who already use diabetes technology - such as continuous glucose monitors (CGM) and insulin pumps - may now be eligible to switch. In patients with the autoimmune disease, the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, a hormone that regulates the amount of sugar, or glucose, in the blood. Up to 270,000 patients will be able to get the 'completely lifechanging' devices to control their blood sugars as part of the 14million rollout (file image) The expansion follows a deal between the NHS and makers of the hybrid closed loop systems, making them more 'cost effective' Professor Partha Kar (pictured), NHS England type 1 diabetes advisor, said it was 'a significant milestone' for many people living with type 1 diabetes This can lead to sugar level becoming too high, which can be fatal or potentially trigger serious health problems in the eyes, kidneys, nerves and heart. The device is worn on the body and constantly monitors how much insulin is needed to keep the patient's blood sugar levels steady, which is then automatically delivered via a pump. Professor Partha Kar, NHS England type 1 diabetes advisor, said it was 'a significant milestone' for many people living with type 1 diabetes. He said: 'The device detects your glucose levels, transmits the readings to the delivery system, known as the pump, which then initiates the process of determining the required insulin dosage - improving medical care but also enhances the quality of life for those affected. 'NHS trusts can access these devices at cost-effective prices, not only benefiting more patients, but benefiting the taxpayer through significant savings to the NHS.' Earlier this year, NHS England instructed local health authorities to start identifying patients who will benefit during the five-year programme. It has now increased funding seven-fold, meaning greater numbers of patients - including children - can get artificial pancreases within the next 12 months. The expansion follows a decision by the NHS watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), to start offering devices to those with diabetes not adequately controlled by their current insulin pump or glucose monitor. Diabetes UK said the number of people living with diabetes in the UK now tops 5.6 million (Stock Photo) Diabetes UK has welcomed the rollout, having previously spoken about how such devices can 'transform the lives' of people with the condition. Policy manager Nikki Joule said: 'Type 1 diabetes can take a huge mental toll, with people manually calculating how much insulin they need regularly throughout the day. By automating these calculations, hybrid closed-loop technology can greatly alleviate the emotional burden of diabetes'. Children and young diabetics, women who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy, and those who already have an insulin pump, will be the first beneficiaries, under the programme. Officials said it will be a phased roll out over five years, as the specialist clinical workforce build the skills needed to prescribe the devices. Dr Clare Hambling, NHS national clinical director for diabetes, said: 'The NHS continues to lead the way in care and treatment for people with diabetes and this is just the latest example of those efforts - by ensuring cost-effectiveness of the latest technology, we can roll out these groundbreaking devices to thousands more eligible patients over the next five years. 'The technology behind the Hybrid Closed Loop systems will be completely lifechanging for many people living with type 1 diabetes, promising a better quality of life as well as clinical outcomes.' This video is no longer available This video is no longer available A top lawyer has hit back after being accused of racism for refusing to participate in an Acknowledgement to Country procedure at the Victorian Bar Council. At meetings of the Victorian Bar Council, the president Georgina Schoff precedes matters with an acknowledgement of the Aboriginal group associated with the land on which it is held. At a recent such meeting, barrister Lana Collaris instead acknowledged all Australians and then posted the minutes of the meeting on social media. She was quickly met with a barrage of criticism, including being called a 'racist', a 'visitor' and an 'introduced species'. Ms Collaris was also attacked by two Bar Council colleagues and was told by the Indigenous Justice Committee that she had brought the Victorian Bar into disrepute. The under fire lawyer stood by her actions and told Sky News she could not tolerate the ubiquity of the Welcome to Country ceremonies. 'The reason why I decided to acknowledge all Australians that day is because I'd had enough of this implicit ceding of sovereignty before every meeting, before every Zoom meeting, before every time we land on a Qantas flight,' Ms Collaris said. 'I'd had enough and just wanted to take a stand against it.' A top lawyer has hit back after she was accused of being racist for refusing to participate in a Welcome to Country procedure at the Victorian Bar Council. A smoking ceremony and Welcome to Country ceremony is pictured She said the implication of the welcome messages was that non-Aboriginal people are of a lesser status, and to say so was at odds with the law she had sworn to uphold. 'It's the constant repetition of this message that's being given to us, that sovereignty does not exist within the Crown in some way, and that's what I've got an issue with. 'It's wrong in law and it's wrong in fact as well and that's why I decided to make a stand.' Ms Collaris said the response she got online was no surprise. 'I got fairly predictable personal attacks levelled towards me. 'And that's what made me think "I'm going to sit down and I'm going to express my views clearly in writing", and that's what I did.' In that article, published by The Australian, she wrote that 'acknowledgments of country are not about respect but were part of a political agenda. 'We show respect to Indigenous Australians by celebrating their culture and language, by valuing their historical knowledge, and by holding them to the same standards as all other Australians, not by making ubiquitous acknowledgments of country.' Poll Do you agree with barrister Lana Collaris for refusing to participate in the Welcome to Country? Yes No It depends on the circumstances Do you agree with barrister Lana Collaris for refusing to participate in the Welcome to Country? Yes 5531 votes No 202 votes It depends on the circumstances 137 votes Now share your opinion The barrister said Welcome to Country ceremonies go against 'the fundamental guiding principle of our constitution today (which) is the quality of citizenship. 'If you're going to take a stand that's different to that by making these repeated acknowledgements of country, which repeatedly chip away at that sovereignty, then I think Australians have an instinct and they know that something is not quite right and they understand that there is a political push behind this. 'For as long as people continue to make political statements by way of acknowledgments of country, I will continue to acknowledge all Australians, signalling my support for an Australia where we are all equal and subject to the same laws regardless of our race.' But in a response to Ms Collaris, also published in The Australian, Victorian Bar Council president Georgina Schoff wrote that the Bar had 'long prided itself on its strong relationships with the Indigenous members of our community'. 'The Victorian Bar is proud to have been the first Bar in Australia to have a Reconciliation Action Plan,' she said. 'To acknowledge country is a commitment we have made in our Reconciliation Action Plan and it has become an honoured and important feature of Victorian Bar functions.' Barrister Lana Collaris (pictured) instead acknowledged all Australians and then posted the minutes of the meeting on social media There was strong support, however, for Ms Collaris in online forums. 'Pity when standing up for what is right draws so much criticism from those who hate Australia and what it stands for,' wrote one. 'One Country one flag. The Australian National Flag is for all Australians not just a few,' another said. A third wrote that 'The majority have the support for Lana Collaris, yet again! And a government that won't listen, until the next election!' Business confidence slumped this month in another sign that Sir Keir Starmers corporate love-in is on the rocks. Bosses also reported feeling more pessimistic about the economy amid fears of a tax-raising Budget next month. In a closely-watched survey, firms confidence dropped three points to 47pc - the lowest for three months. By sharp contrast, in July and August confidence hit 50pc, according to the Lloyds Bank Business Barometer, which quizzed a sample of 1,200 businesses. And Lloyds metric for economic optimism has dipped from an eight-year high last month to 38pc in September. Nearly 1 in 5 businesses said they felt less confident in the economy compared to August, meaning economic optimism hit its lowest level since March. Business confidence has slumped this month as Sir Keir Starmer prepares to introduce tax rises and workplace reforms There are concerns in the City that doommongering from Sir Keir and his chancellor Rachel Reeves risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy Despite the weakening positivity, statisticians at Lloyds said firms were still bullish about their own trading prospects and keen to invest in jobs. There are concerns in the City that doom and gloom messaging from Sir Keir and Rachel Reeves risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Chancellor claimed last month that Labour had been left with the worst set of circumstances since the Second World War. And Sir Keir then said the inheritance was so bad that a painful Budget would be needed in October, adding: Things will get worse before they get better. The latest numbers suggest that many employers are maintaining a degree of caution, said Hann-Ju Ho, senior economist for Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking. While we still expect economic expansion, it may occur at a slower rate than the first half of 2024, he warned. There were calls from within the City for more positive mood music around the economy this week after the UK was given the biggest growth upgrade in the G7. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said Britains gross domestic product (GDP) will grow by 1.1 per cent this year, up from a previously forecast 0.4 per cent. During the election campaign, Ms Reeves insisted she would be the most pro-growth Chancellor in history. After claiming to have found a 22 billion black hole in public finances, Ms Reeves has said she will not hike VAT, national insurance or income tax - sparking uncertainty over business taxes. Ms Reeves has previously insisted she will be the most 'pro-growth' Chancellor in history and has committed to not hiking VAT, national insurance or income tax Firms are hoping ministers will echo Tony Blair's New Labour approach of close consultation with businesses Separate data from KPMG also today reveals that 28pc of financial services chiefs are braced for the Budget to have a significant impact on their businesses. Almost a third believe the largest consequence will be sector-specific tax hikes. Its not completely unexpected to see a dip in confidence after a post-election high, but the speculation surrounding the Budget could be compounding this, said Karim Haji, Global and UK head of financial services for KPMG. This will drive greater need for clarity and certainty when it comes to financial services policy and plans to maintain the UKs standing as a global financial centre. And firms are anxiously hoping to thrash out details of changes to employment rules and corporate taxes in the coming weeks. They are hoping ministers will echo Tony Blairs New Labour-era approach of heavily consulting with businesses. In particular, some firms are on edge over plans for Labours New Deal for Working People, a union-friendly package of workers rights. Anti-strike measures will be torn up, including removing minimum thresholds in ballots on industrial action. Staff will also have the right to demand flexible working, including from home and doing a four-day week. Another cause for concern is the proposed new right to switch off which would discourage employers from contacting staff outside their set working hours. States across the Southeastern U.S. started a massive cleanup and recovery effort on Sunday after winds, rain and storm surges from Hurricane Helene knocked out power for millions, destroyed roads and bridges, and caused catastrophic flooding. The devastation stretched along a string of east coast states as the storm killed at least 93 people in South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia with officials fearing even more bodies will be discovered. After roaring shore in Florida, a weakened Helene quickly moved through Georgia, then soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains that flooded creeks and rivers while pushing dams to be close to bursting. Damage estimates ranged from $15 billion to more than $100 billion, insurers and forecasters said over the weekend. The total amount of property damage and lost economic output will become clearer as officials assess the destruction. The North Carolina mountain town of Asheville has faced a massive amount of destruction following the storm Relief efforts continue in Asheville area where a major disaster due to Tropical Storm Helene has left communities devastated, roads impassable and thousands without power Members of the FEMA Massachusetts Task Force 1 conduct search and rescue in floodwaters caused by Hurricane Helene in Haywood County, North Carolina Residents walk along Catawba Avenue while debris is cleared in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Old Fort, North Carolina An aerial view of a home that was destroyed by fire as a result of storm surge as Hurricane Helene passed off shore in the Davis Islands neighborhood in Tampa, Florida North Carolina recorded the highest death toll with at least 36 dead. 30 people died in Buncombe County alone, that includes the mountain city of Asheville. The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in the Tar Heel State. All roads in the western end of the state should be considered closed and will take months to repair, he said. Food and water are being airlifted to those areas. The state's governor Roy Cooper predicted the toll would rise as rescuers and other emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding. He implored residents in western North Carolina to avoid travel, both for their own safety and to keep roads clear for emergency vehicles. More than 50 search teams spread throughout the region in search of stranded people. One rescue effort involved saving 41 people north of Asheville. Another mission focused on saving a single infant. The teams found people through both 911 calls and social media messages, North Carolina National Guard Adjutant General Todd Hunt said. Cars, trucks, billboards, entire house and roads have been blasted to bits by Helene Rescue personnel are seen working in a flooded area in Asheville, North Carolina Workers clean and gut a property that was flooded from the storm surge, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Steinhatchee, Florida on Sunday Residents wait in line with gas cans at a Gas Plus gas station in North Augusta, South Carolina Daniel Dickert walks to plant an American flag on is property where his boat shed was destroyed and his home damaged in Jena, Florida Jose Salazar dumps debris as he helps gut a property that took on a storm surge in Steinhatchee, Florida A passerby checks the water depth of a flooded road in Morganton, North Carolina. Torrential rain left many area streets flooded. In addition, traffic lights are broken due to powercuts A vehicle sits outside of its garage after storm surge in Madeira Beach, Florida Workers clean up a dock where a boat shed was destroyed in Jena, Florida An uprooted tree landed on a pickup truck in front of a home on East Main Street in Glen Alpine, North Carolina A drone view shows a damaged area in Asheville, North Carolina A trailer hangs off a bridge in Asheville, North Carolina on Sunday Mud fills the entrance to Terry Wilson's home. Wilson was able to get himself and his 93 year old mother, June, out of the house before the flooding : Williams Electric employees work to restore a power line off Highway 70 in Old Fort, North Carolina. The state has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration Another community, Spruce Pine, was doused with over 2 feet of rain from Tuesday through Saturday. Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder pledged that she would have food and water into the city - which is known for its arts, culture and natural attractions - by Monday. 'We hear you. We need food and we need water,' Pinder said on a Sunday call with reporters. 'My staff has been making every request possible to the state for support and we've been working with every single organization that has reached out. What I promise you is that we are very close.' Part of the problem is mudslides blocking Interstate 40 and other highways prevented supplies from making it through. Law enforcement was making plans to send officers to places that still had water, food or gas because of reports of arguments and threats of violence, the Buncombe County Sheriff said. The county's own water supplies were on the other side of the Swannanoa River, away from where most of the 270,000 people in Buncombe County live, officials said. In Flat Rock, North Carolina, there were widespread blackouts with people waiting hours in line for gas. 'Grocery stores are closed, cellphone service is out,' Chip Frank, 62, said as he entered his third hour waiting in line. 'It all depends on these gas stations. You're not going to be able to go nowhere, and it's just a scary feeling.' The storm has damaged water systems, communications and critical transportation routes across the region, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Damage and residual flooding from Mill Creek is seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on in Old Fort, North Carolina People walk through mud filled streets in the aftermath of Helene in Old Fort, North Carolina Keep sakes belonging to Terry Wilson lay outside his mother's home in the aftermath of Helene in Old Fort, North Carolina. Wilson said their beloved dog's ashes were found after the flooding Vehicles damaged from flooding and debris are seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Old Fort, North Carolina Two vehicles lie upended from flooding in Old Fort, North Carolina A sign advising residents to boil their tap water is seen after Helene passed offshore in St. Petersburg, Florida Recovery workers deflate a flood barrier at HCA Florida Pasadena Hospital after Helene passed offshore in St. Petersburg, Florida A flood barrier is deflated at HCA Florida Pasadena Hospital following Helene Flooding and damage caused by the storm that started as Hurricane Helene covering streets in Erwin, Tennessee The Army Corps of Engineers will start assessing damage to water systems on Sunday to help them get back online, FEMA said. South Carolina is reporting 25 fatalities, with falling trees contributing to many of them. 'It's a devastating blow, but we can make it through,' South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said at a press conference on Sunday. 'Help is on the way, but it is going to take time. 'We want people to remain calm. Help is on the way, it is just going to take time,' McMaster told reporters outside the airport in Aiken County. Roughly 2.7 million customers were without power on Sunday, a U.S. Energy Department official said, down 40 percent from Friday after unprecedented storm surges, ferocious winds and perilous conditions extended hundreds of miles inland. Days of driving rain followed after Helene slammed into Florida's Gulf Coast on Thursday night, destroying homes that had stood for decades. Eleven people died in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis said on Saturday in the Gulf Coast city of Perry, which saw 15-foot storm surges, larger than those seen in other hurricanes in recent years. In Horseshoe Beach, on Florida's Gulf Coast about 70 miles west of Gainesville, Charlene Huggins surveyed the debris of her blown-out house, pulling a jacket out of the rubble on Saturday. 'Five generations lived in this house, from my grandmother, my father, myself, my daughter, son and my granddaughter,' Huggins said, holding a chipped glass cake stand. 'So there's a lot of memories here. It just breaks your heart.' Charlene Huggins reacts outside her house, destroyed by Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Florida Charlene Huggins, and her daughter-in-law, Katelyn Huggins, right, walk past the destruction on their street in the aftermath of Helene, in Horseshoe Beach Remnants of Charlene Huggins damaged house are seen on the ground after Hurricane Helene 'Five generations lived in this house, from my grandmother, my father, myself, my daughter, son and my granddaughter,'Charlene Huggins said. 'So there's a lot of memories here. It just breaks your heart.' Crew members from Xylem Tree Experts walk to a staging area at Langley Pond Park in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Aiken, South Carolina A Dominion Energy lineman works on a power line in the aftermath of Helene in North Augusta, South Carolina Tommy Taylor, right, attempts to salvage equipment strewn across several lots after flooding in the aftermath of Helene in Old Fort, North Carolina. Taylor estimates he's lost over a million dollars in tools, vehicles and homes A view of a home that was destroyed by fire as a result of storm surge as Hurricane Helene passed off shore in the Davis Islands neighborhood in Tampa, Florida People fill their vehicles's gas tanks and mobile tanks at an Exxon station off Highway 40 in Marion, North Carolina Tommy Taylor looks inside at his 1972 Chevy Camaro for the first time in the aftermath of Helene in Old Fort, North Carolina Flood-damaged road is seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene The southeastern United States has been plunged into crisis as the aftermath of Hurricane Helene continues to wreak havoc across multiple states James Ellenburg reacts inside his house following Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Florida James Ellenburg stood on the property where his own family has lived for four generations. 'I took my first step right here in this yard.' Not far away, James Ellenburg stood on the property where his own family has lived for four generations. 'I took my first step right here in this yard.' The roof of one home sat flat in the dirt, its walls blown away. In coastal Steinhatchee, a storm surge - a wall of seawater pushed ashore by winds - of eight to 10 feet moved mobile homes, the weather service said. In the nearby tiny community of Spring Warrior Fish Camp, people were surveying the damage on Saturday and still waiting for emergency or first responder aid. 'No one thinks of us back here,' said David Hall, as he and his wife dug through seagrass and dead fish in the office of the hotel they owned. Many of the community's homes are built on stilts because of a local ordinance and survived heavy damage. Kristin Macqueen was helping friends clean up after their house was destroyed in nearby Keaton Beach. Leslie Merian and her husband David Hall survey the damage to their home and hotel after Hurricane Helene passed through the Florida panhandle, in Spring Warrior Fish Camp, Florida 'No one thinks of us back here,' said David Hall, as he and his wife dug through seagrass and dead fish in the office of the hotel they owned David Hall surveys the damage to his home and hotel after Hurricane Helene passed through Crews work to clean up the tons of sand and debris pushed onto Gulf Boulevard from Hurricane Helene storm surge, in Madeira Beach, Florida A condominium swimming pool filled with sand from Hurricane Helene storm surge is seen in Madeira Beach, Florida People view damage while workers clear debris from a bridge on Catawba Avenue in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Old Fort, North Carolina Pfc. Davion Williams, with the Army National Guard, left, assists a resident with potable water in the aftermath of Helene in Old Fort, North Carolina The power outages have sparked scenes of chaos, with desperate families lining up outside gas stations and reports emerging of roving mobs stealing generators 'It's complete devastation. Houses have just been ripped off their slabs,' she said. Some of the worst rains hit western North Carolina, where almost 30 inches fell on Mount Mitchell in Yancey County, the National Weather Service reported. Water washed over Lake Lure Dam in Rutherford County, and people in and around Chimney Rock described the village's downtown as washed out. Images showed accumulated mud and sediment, uprooted trees and snapped telephone poles, and buildings turned into debris. Just to the south in eastern Tennessee, Greene County officials worried that the Nolichucky Dam was on the brink of failure, but the Tennessee Valley Authority reported late on Saturday that it was stable and secure. Seventeen people, including children, died in Georgia, Governor Brian Kemp said after viewing damage in Valdosta. 'It's tragic,' U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters on Sunday, a day after declaring a major disaster in Florida. Biden also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina, making federal funding available for affected individuals. 'You saw the photographs. It's stunning.' As the Tory faithful gathered in Birmingham yesterday, they could have been forgiven for indulging in a bout of schadenfreude over Labour's current sea of troubles. After years of finger-jabbing piety over the supposed failings of the Conservative government, Sir Keir Starmer has been exposed as a rank hypocrite within three months of coming to power. Before the election he promised 'a government of service'. Given the revelations about his apparent addiction to freeloading, a government of self-service might be more accurate. In a withering letter resigning the Labour whip, Rosie Duffield brutally summed up the leader's shortcomings, saying he and his inner circle were 'tarnishing and humiliating' a once proud party. Robbing pensioners of their winter fuel allowance and refusing to lift the two-child benefit cap while at the same time accepting huge personal gifts from donors was outrageous, the Canterbury MP said. Four candidates are left in the race to succeed Rishi Sunak (pictured) in the forthcoming election She accused him of running an administration in which sleaze and nepotism are 'off the scale', failing to speak out against anti-Semitism when in the Shadow Cabinet and using 'heavy-handed' tactics against those who challenged him. Meanwhile, his senior Downing Street aides and advisers fight like cats in a sack, and his Chancellor is reportedly set to rewrite fiscal rules so Labour can embark on an orgy of potentially ruinous borrowing. Little wonder Sir Keir's approval ratings have collapsed, and millions who voted him in on July 4 are suffering an acute case of buyer's remorse. However, the Tories should not allow themselves to be too smug about Labour's agonies. They recently suffered their most disastrous electoral drubbing, losing seats they had held continuously for many decades and seeing their parliamentary representation slashed to just 121 MPs. They have a mammoth rebuilding job on their hands if they are to win back public trust before the next election. The staggering ineptitude of Sir Keir and his acolytes will help, but they need to offer a positive vision of their own, based on traditional low-tax, small-state, financially responsible Conservatism. If the threat from Reform UK is to be neutralised, their prospectus must include a credible plan to radically cut immigration and a commitment to defend British identity, history and culture, under relentless attack from the woke Left. Sir Keir Starmer (pictured) has been exposed as a rank hypocrite within three months of coming to power. Boris Johnson's brilliant memoir of his time in government reminds us of the perils of disunity In a withering letter resigning the Labour whip, Rosie Duffield brutally summed up the leader's shortcomings Above all, the party must rediscover its spirit of common purpose. Boris Johnson's brilliant memoir of his time in government reminds us of the perils of disunity. Having won a historic landslide, got Brexit done, guided us through a pandemic, and spearheaded Nato's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he was brought down by the factionalism and disloyalty of his own ministers and backbenchers. The result was chaos, public disgust and a Labour government by default. That cannot be allowed to happen again. Four candidates are left in the race to succeed Rishi Sunak in the forthcoming election. Whoever wins, the others, along with the wider party, must rally behind them. Labour can do enormous damage over the next five years, starting with the Budget on October 30, which is expected to be a tax assault on millions of ordinary families. It is an opportunity for the new leader to remind the nation there is an alternative. It's a political truism that divided parties don't win elections. The Tories forgot this golden rule under Boris. From today, it must be their guiding principle. A mother who was allegedly mowed down by her husband and killed tragically lost her seven-year-old son in a drowning accident last year. Steven Galcsik, 47, allegedly ran over his wife Natalie, 46, with a car at their Pokolbin home - where they ran a luxury accommodation business - in NSW's Hunter Valley region, just after 6pm on Friday. A family member called emergency services, but despite their best efforts, Ms Galcsik died at the scene. Detectives are reportedly investigating how many times Ms Galcsik was allegedly struck. Mr Galcsik was arrested and remanded in custody. He was formally refused bail at Newcastle Local Court on Saturday. The couple were the owners of Unlax @ Hunter Valley, a boutique four-star bed-and-breakfast, featuring self-contained cottages for hire in the heart of the state's wine country. Rooms at the rustic property start at $398-a-night, with guests offered '360 degrees views of natural bushland and native wildlife'. They had the business for seven years after buying the 40 hectare property for $1.45million in 2017. Natalie Galcsik, 46, (pictured) was allegedly murdered on Friday night. Above, Ms Galcsik is seen at Sydney's Luna Park in an image obtained exclusively by Daily Mail Australia The couple owned and ran Unlax @ Hunter Valley, a luxury bed and breakfast in the heart of wine country. The fatal incident allegedly occurred there Ms Galcsik's sudden death comes just 14 months after the couple's seven-year-old son died in a drowning tragedy in a dam near the property. The child was pulled unconscious from a dam in Pokolbin on August 18, 2023. He was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics at the scene and helicoptered to hospital but sadly couldnt be revived. Detectives are investigating whether the Galcsiks - who had no police record of domestic violence - were grappling with marital issues in the lead up to her death. Police are also investigating whether the alleged incident was witnessed by relatives, according to the News Corp. Pictured: One of the self-contained cottages on the Galcsik family's site Ms Galcsik was a horse enthusiast and her death has sent shockwaves throughout the local community It is understood the couple's adult son made the triple 0 call. An AVO application has been made between Galcsik and his adult son, which is due to appear before Cessnock Local Court next month. According to online posts, Ms Galcsik was a horse enthusiast who was a member of the region's equestrian community. She also loved dogs and was interested in spirituality and holistic wellbeing practices, such as reiki. The property has been declared a crime scene and Daily Mail Australia understands its accommodation services have been suspended until further notice. Galcsik is due to face Newcastle Local Court again on Monday. An ex-Florida Republican candidate for Congress has been indicted on federal charges after a recording exposed him for threatening to kill a GOP rival with Ukrainian and Russian hit squads. William Braddock, 41, was caught on tape saying that if it looked like rival Anna Paulina Luna was going to win the GOP primary for the 13th District Congressional seat - which she eventually did - he would take her out. According to the indictment, Braddock allegedly threatened to 'call up my Russian-Ukrainian hit squad' and make his primary opponent 'disappear.' Soon after the recording, Braddock dropped out of the race and fled the United States. He later was found to be living in the Philippines, according to the indictment. Braddock recently was deported and made an initial court appearance on Thursday in Los Angeles. William Braddock, an ex-Florida Republican candidate for Congress, has been indicted on federal charges after recording exposed him threatening to kill his political rival with Ukrainian and Russian hit squads Aides to Luna were unable to immediately comment as they dealt with recovery efforts related to Hurricane Helene, which has hit Florida with destructive force. Newspaper reports in Florida at the time about a related civil trial described alleged threats by Braddock against Luna. 'I really don't want to have to end anybody's life for the good of the people of the United States of America,' Braddock said in a conversation in 2021. 'That will break my heart. But if it needs to be done, it needs to be done. Luna is a f**king speed bump in the road. She's a dead squirrel you run over every day when you leave the neighborhood.' Braddock said his 'polling people' were going to charge him $20,000 to do a poll before the GOP primary. 'And if the poll says Luna's gonna win, she's gonna be gone. She's gonna disappear,' he said in the recording. 'For the good of our country, we have to sacrifice the few ... For the better or the good of the majority of the people, we've got to sacrifice the few.' The Tampa Bay Times had reported back in 2021 that Luna, who ran for the seat in 2020 and lost to Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist, had filed a stalking injunction against Braddock. 'I received information yesterday (at midnight) regarding a plan (with a timeline) to murder me made by William Braddock in an effort to prevent me from winning the election for FL-13,' Luna wrote in the petition. Braddock, 41, was caught on tape saying that if it looked like rival Anna Paulina Luna (pictured) was going to win the GOP primary for the 13th District Congressional seat - which she eventually did - he would take her out Newspaper reports in Florida at the time about a related civil trial described alleged threats by Braddock against Luna In the document she also accused her 2020 primary rival Amanda Makki and Matt Tito, who's thinking about jumping in the 2022, of being involved in a plot to 'take her out.' Another woman, a nurse turned conservative COVID-19 whistleblower, Erin Olszewski, also filed an injunction against Braddock. Olszewski was the woman who gave Politico a recording of a phone conversation she had with Braddock where she said he made the threats. In it, Braddock makes rambling statements about having access to alleged assasins. He said he would get help from fellow Freemasons to finance the plot and also import millions from Malta and Gibraltar. 'I have access to a hit squad too, Ukrainians and Russians,' he said, warning Olszewski, 'don't get caught out in public supporting Luna ... Luna's gonna go down and I hope it's by herself.' Politico reached Braddock by text, where he refused to say if he made threats about Luna or brought up Ukrainian and Russian hit squads. He told the publication it was allegedly me ... there is no proof to that' saying the recording 'may even be altered and edited.' Anna Paulina Luna received the support of former President Donald Trump for her 2020 House bid. Here she appears at a Make America Great Again rally in Tampa days before the election 'This is a dirty political tactic that has caused a lot of people a lot of stress and is completely unnecessary,' he said. Olszewski denied manipulating the recording and said she recorded him because of his 'unhinged' dislike for Luna - who had been backed in the last election cycle by embattled Rep. Matt Gaetz and former President Donald Trump. Olszewski turned the June 9 recording over to St. Petersburg police and informed Luna about it, who then filed the stalking injunction against Braddock. If convicted, Braddock faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, according to the Justice Department. The indictment comes at a time when the Justice Department is trying to clamp down on threats against election workers in the run-up to November's presidential and congressional elections. A new budget airline is set to disrupt Australia's competitive aviation market, but an expert warns there is no guarantees the carrier will last. Koala Airlines is laying the groundwork for its launch, aiming to disrupt the long-standing duopoly of Qantas and Virgin in the Australian aviation market. CEO Bill Astling has not yet confirmed when Koala will launch, what routes planes will fly, or who his investors are, but he is confident it will succeed. In contrast, industry experts are skeptical about Astling's optimism, especially given the failures of other airlines, including Rex, Bonza and Ansett. 'At the moment, we don't know a lot about their business model, so it's a bit early to understand what's setting them apart,' explained aviation expert Keith Tonkin. 'Personally, I don't have any high hopes given the recent history with Rex and Bonza. 'It seems as though a lot of people will be relatively sceptical and hesitant to book tickets, but we definitely wish them every success, because we like competition, and we like people to have a go in the industry.' Koala Airlines is setting the foundations for its launch which intends to break apart the duopoly in the skies that Qantas and Virgin have enjoyed for decades Aviation expert Keith Tonkin did not offer much optimism that Koala could survive but added that if it should then competition is never a bad thing 'We look forward to seeing where they want to fly to and how often and how they serve as the customer, and that will really help to understand if their business will be sustainable,' he said. 'There's a very strong presence of Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin, and they own about 90 per cent of the market so that's a pretty big barrier to entry for airlines. 'And the other barrier for them is those two airline groups have got a very significant proportion of frequent flyers on their books, I think Qantas have around 16 million frequent flyers and Virgin has about 12 million. 'That's a very large customer base to overcome.' Mr Tonkin said if Koala learns from Bonza and Rex's mistakes, then it might fare better. Koala has stated that it is interested in flying larger 737-type planes, which Mr Tonkin said suggests that it is eyeing popular routes between capital cities, which can be highly profitable for airlines. If Koala wanted to compete here it would need to run a tight ship, cutting prices and keeping on schedule, Mr Tonkin said. 'If a new airline wants to operate on those trunk routes, then it needs to have a product that is equal to the others or substantially different at a better price point, and make sure that aeroplanes are taking off and landing on the schedule that they publish, so that people have confidence in their service,' he said. One unique point of sale for Koala is its flight cancellation policy, where passengers whose flights are cancelled will get a full money-back refund instead of airline credit. Mr Astling said the customer's fares will be put into a trust account until their plane takes off, and if it does not, then the money is sent straight back to the customer. Mr Tonkin said the major hurdles for Koala is that nine-in-10 passengers currently fly on either Qantas or Virgin and that these airlines frequent flyer programs keeps them coming back Koalas' CEO, Bill Astling, has not yet confirmed when Koala will launch, what routes planes will fly, or who his investors are, but he is confident it will succeed Mr Astling's work in aviation began in 1977 and he said that watching other companies try and fail to get a foot in the door has taught him a lot. 'They think they can beat the two airlines and [that] the only way they're going to beat them is by lowering the fares,' he told the ABC. 'Well, that's never worked, and it probably never will.' As for specifics on what Koala will do to penetrate the market Mr Astling said it will fill 'niches' but refused to specify what they might be. 'We are just not prepared to give away what our strategy is and allow competitors to be able to think: "Right, well, we can work on this or work on that."' Nine out of 10 domestic passengers currently fly with either Qantas and Virgin and their most profitable domestic routes are between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Rex tried breaking into the 'golden triangle' in 2021 but faced immense challenges until it was forced to go into administration with about $500million in debt in July. A similar fate met Bonza in May when insufficient cash flow and funding prevented it from continuing to compete, its administrator said at the time. More than 300 staff were sacked overnight and thousands of travellers were left stranded after the shock news was announced in early May. As for specifics on what Koala will do to penetrate the market Mr Astling said it will fill 'niches' but refused to specify what they might be Shocking new evidence suggests that a Texas man set to be executed in a matter of days may be innocent. Robert Roberson, 57, was convicted in 2003 of murdering his two-year-old daughter, Nikki, by shaking her so forcefully that he caused irreversible brain damage and death from shaken baby syndrome, also known as abusive head trauma. He is now set to be executed on October 17. But his attorneys have submitted new evidence showing that the doctors may have misdiagnosed the young girl's cause of death, as they question whether shaken baby syndrome even exists. A bipartisan majority of 86 Texas lawmakers and the state Board of Pardons and Paroles have now recommended clemency - though the final decision lies with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Robert Roberson, 57, is set to be executed on October 17 for murdering his two-year-old daughter in 2002 Prosecutors argued he shook his daughter, Nikki, so forcefully that he caused irreversible brain damage and death from shaken baby syndrome, also known as abusive head trauma Prosecutors have argued that Nikki's 2002 death was consistent with shaken baby syndrome - pointing to the diagnostic 'triad' of intracranial hemorrhaging, brain swelling and bleeding behind retinas. They have rejected Roberson's assertion that his young daughter simply fell out of bed the night before, and he found her unconscious, limp and blue. Instead, medical staff at a Palestine hospital believed Nikki's injuries- including bruises on her face, a bump on the back of her head and bleeding outside of her brain - were all caused by abuse and alerted police to the scene, according to the Dallas Morning News. But Nikki was chronically ill and suffered a high fever in the days before her death, attorneys for the Innocence Project argue. She had the first of many infections that proved resistant to antibiotics just days after her birth - including a chronic ear infection that persisted even after she had tubes surgically implanted. The young girl also had a history of unexplained 'breathing apnea' that caused her to suddenly stop breathing, collapse and turn blue. Then, within just one week of her death, Nikki had been vomiting, coughing and having diarrhea, Roberson's attorneys said. When those symptoms continued for five days straight, Roberson and his mother took Nikki to a local emergency room, where a doctor prescribed Phenergan - a drug that now carries a Food and Drug Administration warning against being prescribed to children of Nikki's age and in her condition. Still, her condition continued to worsen with her temperature rising about 104 degrees Fahrenheit, for which another doctor prescribed more Phenergan in a cough syrup with codeine - an opioid that is now restricted for children under the age of 18 due to its risks of causing breathing difficulty and death. Nikki's toxicology report even showed lethal levels of Phenergan in her system at the time of her death, defense attorneys say. Roberson has maintained his innocence in his daughter's death for the more than two decades he has languished on death row Roberson has maintained his innocence in his daughter's death for the more than two decades he has languished on death row, and on August 1, 2024 his attorneys requested that the district court in Anderson County reopen his case. The filing states that new medical and scientific evidence shows Nikki died of severe viral and bacterial pneumonia that progressed to sepsis and then septic shock. It says Dr. Francis Green, an expert in lung pathology with more than 46 years of experience, reviewed Nikki's medical history and her lung tissue under a microscope. He found that her lungs were infected with two different and virulent types of pneumonia - which clogged her lungs, starving her brain of oxygen and ultimately causing death, Green wrote in a report. The pneumonia started many days or weeks before her final hospitalization, he added. Dr. Keenan Bora also concluded that Nikki's post-mortem toxicology report shows she had dangerously high levels of promethazine in her system, prescribed by two different doctors on two consecutive days, and Dr. Julie Mack concluded that the initial CAT scans of Nikki's head show only a minor impact site - consistent with Roberson's story that she fell off a bed and possibly banged her head. His attorneys were able to get a stay of execution in 2016 when they questioned whether shaken baby syndrome even exists Roberson's attorneys have even questioned whether shaken baby syndrome is an actual medical diagnosis. It was first posited by neurosurgeon Norman Guthkelch in 1971, and has since become an accepted medical fact. But researchers have challenged the hypothesis that shaking an infant can cause such brain damage since the 1980s, with some studies concluding that it cannot biomechanically cause the injuries Guthkelch described, according to USA Today. A 2016 systematic review by the Swedish Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Assessment of Social Services, for example, concluded there is 'limited scientific evidence that the triad, and therefore its components, can be associated with traumatic shaking' and there is 'insufficient scientific evidence on which to assess the diagnostic accuracy of the triad in identifying traumatic shaking.' Another study published in Forensic Science International also found that a significant number of patients were misdiagnosed with abusive head trauma, citing other conditions that can cause clinical and imaging 'findings commonly associated with AHT.' Even Dr. Guthkelch himself has since expressed doubts about shaken baby syndrome. In 2011, he told a National Public Radio reporter he 'worried that it is too often applied by medical examiners and doctors without considering other possible causes for a child's death or injury.' The following year, he also called his hypothesis into question in the Houston Journal of Health Law and Policy, saying he was concerned about the medical community's 'level of emotion and divisiveness on shaken baby syndrome/abusive head trauma' which he said 'interfered with our commitment to pursue the truth.' Shortly before he died, Guthkelch also told the Washington Post he was struck by the high proportion of diagnoses of shaken baby syndrome that could be attributed to natural causes and not abuse. 'I was absolutely horrified when I came back 20 years later to hear all this rubbish about incarcerating mothers,' he said in 2015. More than 80 state lawmakers have since written to the Board of Pardons and Paroles in support of his clemency petition citing 'voluminous new evidene' The legal argument previously worked in 2016, when Roberson was granted a stay of execution after his attorneys claimed his conviction was based on 'junk science' and 'false, misleading and scientifically invalid' testimony. However, in 2023, Texas' highest criminal court decided that doubt over the cause of his daughter's death was not enough to overturn his death sentence - and scheduled his execution for October 17, the Texas Tribune reports. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals also dismissed both a motion to halt the execution and a final application for relief filed by Roberson's attorneys earlier this month without reviewing the merits of the claims. That forced the attorneys to file a petition for clemency on September 17. 'Nikki's death... was not a crime - unless it is a crime for a parent to be unable to explain complex medical problems that even trained medical professionals failed to understand at the time,' they wrote, according to KLTV. 'No informed doctor today would presume abuse based on a triad of internal head conditions, as occurred in Robert's case,' the petition continued. 'But in the era when Robert was accused and convicted, conventional medical thinking gave doctors permission to skip consideration of any other factors and presume shaking and inflicted head trauma - an approach that has since been completely rejected as unsound.' The final decision on whether to execute Roberson lies with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott More than 80 state lawmakers have since written to the Board of Pardons and Paroles in support of the clemency petition, citing the 'voluminous new evidence' and raising 'grave concern' that Texas is preparing to execute Roberson 'for a crime that did not occur.' 'It should shock all Texans that we are barreling towards an execution in the face of this new evidence,' they wrote. 'Other states look to Texas as a leader for both enforcing the rule of law and addressing wrongful convictions. 'We now look to you to prevent our state from tarnishing that reputation by allowing this execution to proceed.' Still, prosecutors have maintained that evidence supporting Roberson's conviction is 'clear and convincing' and argue that the science around shaken baby syndrome has not changed as much as the defense claims. The board can take up to two days before the execution to make its decision, but the final decision will ultimately lay with the governor. This video is no longer available This video is no longer available The ABC has been slammed for failing to call out pro-Palestine demonstrators who were mourning the death of the leader of proscribed terrorist group. Thousands took to the streets in Sydney and Melbourne on Sunday to march in support of Palestine and Lebanon, amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Among the protesters were groups of young men, many masked, waving the red and green flags of Hezbollah, a political group from Lebanon which has been listed by Australian authorities as a terrorist organisation. Some protesters held framed photos of Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by an Israeli air strike in Beirut on Friday. The ABC's two-minute-long report on the pro-Palestine rally in Sydney failed to mention the support for Nasrallah and Hezbollah. 'He was the mother, he was the father of Lebanon,' one woman, who was wearing a hijab, said. 'He brought comfort, he brought security, when we really wanted answers we turned to him. The ABC has been slammed after failing to call out pro-Palestine demonstrators who were mourning the death of a leader of a listed terrorist organisation Drew Pavlou, a political activist and prominent critic of China, accused the ABC on X of being 'embarrassingly biased' in airing 'uncritical interviews'. ABC reporter Brianna Parkins described the protest as 'peaceful' and 'passionate' One social media user added: 'A new low'. 'Weve been saying defund the ABC for ages,' a second chimed in. 'This is disgraceful!' a third wrote. A spokesperson for the ABC pointed out that the criticised segment was 'the third of three stories on the events in Lebanon commissioned for 7PM News bulletins'. 'The other stories, filed by Kathryn Diss and Eric Tlozek from Jerusalem, provided full context on the recent conflict, which included the fact that Hezbollah had fired rockets "deep into Israeli territory", depicted Israelis taking shelter under air raid sirens, Prime Minister Netanyahu calling Nasrallah "not just another terrorist, the terrorist, the central engine of Irans axis of evil", and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant calling Nasrallah a "mass murderer".' The spokesperson said the journalist in Sydney was 'commissioned to do a self-contained story on the protest' and 'fully attributed the protesters comments and did not endorse them in any way'. 'He is a highly valued employee and has the ABC's full support,' ABC Director of News Justin Stevens said. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke blasted those protesters showing 'any indication of support' for a terrorist organisation, and threatened to cancel their visas. 'It draws the immediate attention of our security agencies,' Mr Burke said. 'There is a higher level of scrutiny if anyone is on a visa. I have made clear from day one, that I will consider refusing and cancelling visas for anyone who seeks to incite discord in Australia,' he said. Anthony Albanese's electorate has the highest concentration of craft breweries of them all but he has been accused of turning his back on a once-booming industry that is facing last drinks. The Prime Minister found love for a second time with his now-fiance, Jodie Haydon, at Young Henrys, one of 18 microbreweries in Sydney's inner west. But the pub's founder Richard Adamson and the national body representing 600-plus craft breweries around Australia say Mr Albanese has abandoned the industry, which contributes $1.93billion to the national economy each year and employs about 10,000 people. 'When he was in opposition, he was supportive and helped get the remissions scheme (for excisable alcohol) through (in 2021),' Mr Adamson, who is also president of the Inner West Breweries Association, said. 'But I guess he's got bigger fish to fry at the moment (than help us).' Independent Brewers Association CEO Kylie Lethbridge said Mr Albanese was refusing to listen to the industry's dire fears, particularly around the need for relief on the exorbitant beer tax, which accounts for about a third of beer sales (the third highest in the world after Norway and Finland). Asked if it was time to call on the Prime Minister to personally intervene to help ease pressure on the embattled industry, she said: 'We have several times, as recently as last Friday. 'He continues to ignore our plea without even the courtesy of a response,' Ms Lethbridge told Daily Mail Australia. Anthony Albanese has the highest concentration of craft breweries of any federal electorate but he's turned his back on a once-booming industry that is facing last drinks The Prime Minister found love for a second time with his now-fiance, Jodie Haydon , at Young Henrys, one of 18 microbreweries in Sydney's inner west It flies in the face of a promise by the Member for Grayndler while in Opposition back in June 2017 to back his local craft breweries, which include Hawke's Brewing, co-founded by his late mentor and ex-Prime Minister Bob Hawke. 'Among the concerns of the brewers is the fact that Commonwealth excise rates are higher for small kegs than larger kegs, which puts the brewers at a competitive disadvantage in relation to big brewers,' Mr Albanese said. 'I am disappointed this anomaly was not addressed in the 2017 Budget but will continue to support the industry in its push for sensible reform, as well as regulatory change at the state and local government levels.' Ms Lethbridge warned the industry may not exist in 12 months without urgent government support as production costs rise by as much as 40 per cent, causing two-dozen microbreweries to fold nationally in the past year. 'We will absolutely see more independent craft breweries close their doors, go through the small business restructuring program or tip in to voluntary administration if nothing changes,' she said. 'Unless consumers have some relief in the cost of living, our summer, when the warmer weather usually generates increased sales, will not save others from closing their doors leading to further job losses. 'And the quintessential pint at the pub will still be out of reach for many Australians.' The average price of a pint of beer in Sydney now tops $15, making a night at the pub with mates beyond many. Mr Adamson said it was now 'a matter of us hanging on till the economy really improves'. Former PM and Labor hero Bob Hawke at the craft brewery named after him in Sydney Jodie Haydon and PM Anthony Albanese at the footy in Canberra in 2022 'Thank god there wasn't another rate rise in September,' he said. 'It's been a tough time for a lot of people. 'Like other businesses, we had government support (during the COVID-19 pandemic) which kept us afloat at the time. 'But, coming out of it without the assistance, the economic changes and some of the breweries deferring excise during that time, thinking that we they reopened, the whole thing would come back to life. 'The cupboard's bare at the government level and the debt we deferred really needs to be paid now, but many breweries don't have the capacity to do so.' He said there wasn't a level playing field between the independent brewers and the two 'big boys' Lion and CUB who combined own 85 per cent of the market and the majority of beer taps in Australia's pubs. 'We'd made submissions to government inquiries about this. The creeping red tape keeps coming in, whether it's labelling or other compliance measures,' he said. 'The barriers we've got to run a small, family-owned business are only getting worse.' Both Lion, which produces XXXX, Tooheys, Stone & Wood, and CUB, makers of popular beers Great Northern, Carlton Draught and VB, are owned by Japanese companies. 'Many beer drinkers would think these iconic brands would still be Australian-owned and that they hard-earned would be staying in Australia,' Mr Adamson said. Wild footage captured the moment a smart alec was arrested by cops after refusing to follow their instructions. The bizarre incident unfolded at Malvern Police Station in south-east Melbourne last year with the video going viral on social media platform X on Sunday. The man walked into the police station and the officer behind the counter informed him he was happy to 'serve him', but asked that he turn off the camera. 'Even though it was just us two in here? You guys wear bodycams,' the man said. The officer reminded him it is a condition of entry and pointed to a sign off-camera. 'But that's not a law,' the man said. 'By law I don't have to talk to you,' the officer replied. The man told the officer he had to provide the service, prompting the officer to reiterate he was happy to oblige as long as he followed instructions. The video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter opened with the man filming his conversation with a police officer behind the counter at Malvern police station The man filming the video said he was doing a 'pressure test' of the police car tyres and was allowed to touch them as they are 'public property' 'The law says I can record in public. I'm trying to record my government,' the man said, stubbornly. The officer attempted again to explain it was a condition of entry, before the man demanded he tell him his name and badge number. Moments later, the man was outside the police station checking the tyre pressure of the police cars. 'Don't touch the police cars,' an officer said through a second-storey window. 'Don't touch them.' 'I'm allowed to touch them, mate,' the man responded. 'They're public property, mate.' The officer informed the man that police cars were not public property - but the smart alec refused to listen. 'It's public property mate It's public property ok? I'm doing a pressure test,' he said. He asked again for the officer's badge number and said the officer refused to give it to him. 'I'm gonna check the cars mate check 'em all. This one's a bit flat,' he said, pointing the camera to one of the tyres. The man was then seen back inside the police station where the police officer accused him of 'tampering with a motor vehicle'. 'I saw you kicking a police car,' he said. 'I wasn't kicking them. I was doing a pressure test on the tyres. I'm allowed to touch the tyres,' the man replied. The officer asked for the man's identification before coming out from behind the counter and telling the man to step outside. 'I'm not going anywhere, mate. I gotta get that constable's badge number,' the man said. Another officer emerged from the counter. After a lengthy exchange with police officers, the man was arrested for tampering with a police vehicle 'He refused to give me his badge number,' the man said. 'Don't touch me, mate. I'm not tampering, You got no evidence. I was doing a pressure test like a mechanic mate.' 'So you were touching the police car?' an officer said. 'I'm allowed to touch the public property!' the man said. The screen then went black as an officer was heard off-camera telling the man he was 'under arrest for tampering with a police car'. 'Do you understand that?' he asked. Social media users were quick to ridicule the smart alec - poking fun at the post that described him as an 'independent journalist'. 'That journalist/mechanic is nuts. He needs a psychiatrist asap,' one wrote. 'Journalist sounds like a pest,' another wrote. A Texas judge placed a mother in handcuffs after she appeared in court wearing shorts and was seen taking a photograph using her cellphone. A video of the interaction between District Court Judge Stephanie Boyd saw the woman being reprimanded by the judge for her choice of attire and breaking courtroom rules for using her phone. The particularly cantankerous exchange has been viewed on TikTok more than 18 million times. It led to TikTok viewers doing some judging of their own as they called out the judge for her 'ridiculously harsh' treatment of the woman who had been in court to support her son. District Court Judge Stephanie Boyd of the Texas 187th District Court is coming in for criticism Judge Boyd became impatient with a woman who was wearing shorts in the courtroom and using her cellphone Viewers initially see the woman approach the bench wearing a blue blouse and white shorts as she is summoned by the judge. 'You! Come forward!', the judge demanded, summoning the lady. Why are you in this court in shorts?' Judge Boyd asks curtly. 'I'm sorry, I just I've never really been in court,' the woman replies. But there is little sympathy from Judge Boyd who asks the woman to immediately hand over her phone. Boyd then summons a court deputy to come over and asks him to delete the picture that she is accused of having taken. 'Who were you taking photos of?' the judge demands to know. 'Oh, I was just letting my daughter know my son's okay,' the woman replies meekly. 'No, my question is who were you taking photos of?' the judge asks again growing steadily angrier. The woman was asked to explain why she was wearing shorts and using her phone The courtroom deputy was called over to delete the last photo on the woman's cellphone 'My son, Rick,' the woman explains, whose son appears to be the defendant in the court case the judge was presiding over. The judge's mind appears to be made up with her calling over the courtroom deputy to place her in handcuffs while asking him to delete the last photo the woman had taken on her phone. 'Turn your phone over to the deputy. Leave your phone open and do not close it. Alright, so Deputy Lord, if you put her in cuffs, since you want to be next to her son, put her in the box,' the judge orders as the officers places her in plastic hand ties. 'I apologize, ma'am, I didn't know,' the woman again says. 'Oh I appreciate your apology,' the judge responds. The deputy then placed the woman in cuffs and marched her out of the courtroom The video has gone viral online with many calling into question the judge's own judgement. 'The judge is way out of line,' wrote Cathrin in one many comments in a similar vein. 'Wow what an attitude the judge has,' stated Sam. 'Wow too much power and not enough compassion,' added John with his take on what he'd just watched. 'Now that was mean. Little too harsh,' said Jamilia. 'The judge is way out of line,' another viewer said. But others appeared to understand the situation the judge was in. 'There's an expected level of etiquette in court,' one wrote. 'Also, they announce before the judge comes out to put all phones away.' 'I understand the phone thing because the rules are everywhere and it tells you that but I never heard of no shorts in the courtroom,' added a user called Brandy. A close-knit migrant community in Sydney has banded together after the tragic death of one of its members. Mohammed Omor Faruk, a 25-year-old student, was found dead in his room in the Lidcombe suburb of Sydney on September 19. His closest friend in Australia, Mohammed Parvez Hossain, has organised a GoFundMe account to help repatriate Mr Faruk to his home country, Bangladesh. When Mr Faruk's family had not heard from him for three days, they contacted Ms Hossain through Facebook. He called his friend and got no response, so he called a friend who lived nearby to check on Mr Faruk. The student who moved to Australia in 2022 was found 'laying down on the floor beside the bed', Mr Hossain told Daily Mail Australia on Monday. Mr Hossain, who is also from Bangladesh and had studied with Mr Faruk in South Korea, arrived at the home minutes later. Paramedics, who had already arrived at the scene, told him that his friend had been dead for 36 hours or more. Muhammad Omor Faruk, a 25-year-old student, was found dead in his room on September 19 'But no one actually knew (he had died) because it was a house and he was living in a room by himself alone. 'His flatmates were from another country and they didn't knock on his door because they didn't realise that this could happen,' he said. The fundraiser's initial goal of $12,000 had almost been reached by Monday afternoon. 'We have raised enough funds to send his body back (to his family in Bangladesh),' Mr Hossain said. He said the money had been raised very quickly, with donations coming from all around the world, as news of the tragedy spread. Mr Faruk had been living in the Lidcombe suburb of Sydney (Lidcombe post office pictured) 'We are really happy that we got so much response from around the world. 'We have like a lot of friends from our undergrad university who moved to different countries and we reached every one of them and they also forwarded this campaign to their friends and families as well,' he said. 'That's how we got like a huge response from everyone, not only from in Australia, (but also from) South Korea, from European countries, from America, from Canada.' The exact cause of Mr Faruk's death in not yet known. Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has condemned dynamic pricing for show tickets as racketeering after the outcry over amounts paid by fans for Oasis concerts. Fans of the rock band were shocked by standard tickets for the reunion tour more than doubling on Ticketmaster last month, prompting the Government and the UKs competition watchdog to pledge to look into the use of surge pricing. The practice of increasing or decreasing prices based on demand has been compared to the way airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold. Asked about dynamic pricing potentially being used for theatre tickets, Lord Lloyd-Webber told The Sundays Times magazine: I dont think theatres should be in the business of trying to push prices up. You need to break even, but I dont like making theatre inaccessible. Dynamic pricing is racketeering, really - its completely wrong. Andrew Lloyd Webber has hit out at 'racketeering' through the use of dynamic pricing for tickets The theatre impresario, whose hit musicals include The Phantom Of The Opera, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar and Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, also criticised the lack of funding for the arts. People just dont realise the value of the arts, he said. Im not saying we turn every child in Britain into a musician, but music empowers a child to do well in other areas. I really believe that for every penny spent on music in schools, you will save it in policing costs related to knife crime, drugs, behavioural issues. Lord Lloyd-Webber has previously urged the Government to adopt the Music in Secondary Schools Trust programme which aims to make classical music accessible to students in every secondary school. The trust was established with funding from the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation and the Charles Wolfson Trust, and promises every child an entitlement to study a classical musical instrument on entry into secondary school, as well as tuition and performance opportunities. After lobbying for various campaigns and dealing with personal challenges, the theatre veteran is to set his sights back on his creative work. Oasis fans were shocked by standard tickets for the reunion tour more than doubling on Ticketmaster last month, prompting criticism of dynamic pricing Last year his son Nicholas, a composer and record producer, died aged 43. Lord Lloyd-Webber said: When my son died, obviously that was one of those... You know, he turned his own life around - which is another thing completely - but I just felt like I was doing so much that, frankly, was not me. He has decided not to be involved with the business side any more and to focus on being a creator again. His upcoming project is a new musical based on a film, which he is co-creating with writer Chris Terrio, who was behind the Oscar-winning 2012 movie Argo, according to The Sunday Times. Do you know more? Email Tita.smith@mailonline.com Instead she was allegedly dumped in Pakistan Allegedly said she would be visiting family EXCLUSIVE A tradie accused of abandoning his wife on an overseas trip shared photos of himself sightseeing around the world and picnicking with mates while she was allegedly left stranded without her passport thousands of miles from home. Ali Rahimi, 29, allegedly flew out of Sydney with his wife, 28, on July 8 last year after tricking her into thinking they were going overseas to visit family. The pair travelled to Afghanistan - where he is originally from - for a family holiday before heading to Pakistan to see her family. Rahimi, who allegedly had control of their tickets, passports, and other travel documents, then allegedly told her he was heading back to Afghanistan to visit his friends. The woman, who Daily Mail Australia has chosen not to name, allegedly learned in September 2023 that he had returned back to Australia without her. She had allegedly been left, helpless, in Pakistan without any ID, in an apparent case of what prosecutors now call 'exit trafficking'. Photos posted online four days after the couple left Australia show Rahimi enjoying a milkshake with a male friend in restaurant in Herat, in Afghanistan's northwest. It was just the beginning of his globetrotting adventures that included a recent trip to Bali and Istanbul, Turkey, Facebook photos show. Ali Rahimi enjoyed a trip to Bali in July this year - after allegedly dumping his wife in Pakistan without her identification documents Days after allegedly leaving his wife behind, Rahimi, 29, (pictured left) is pictured in Afghanistan on July 12 last year On July 8, 2023, Rahimi allegedly 'exit trafficked' his wife (pictured) out of Australia by tricking her into leaving the country Social media photos document Rahimi's adventures in the days that followed his initial trip to Afghanistan - exploring the countryside with mates. Pictures of the group show them dressed in Perahan Tunban - a traditional Afghanistan men's outfit consisting of a tunic top and pants - as they pose alongside a car next to a rural field in Qalat, in the country's south-east. Other photos taken on the same road trip show Rahimi and his mates standing next to an agricultural field clutching grapes, dipping their feet in a river, enjoying a picnic, and visiting historical sites at Bamyan, 466km north of Qalat. Two weeks later, on August 26, Rahimi shared another photo of himself standing in front of a rock wall as he continued his sightseeing adventure in the Middle East. The following week he had moved on to a new destination - Karbala, in Iraq - where he posted photos of him marching through the streets alongside thousands of pilgrims as part of a religious event. Since allegedly returning home without his wife later that month, Rahimi has continued to go on overseas trips, including jaunts to Bali and Turkey in July this year. His wife contacted AFP with her claims in November, sparking an investigation. Photos posted online in August 2023 show Rahimi on a road trip around Afghanistan with several friends The group stopped at a watering hole to dip their feet in a stream They also enjoyed a picnic lunch and some drinks they brought in a thermos Rahimi is pictured posing outside the entranceway into Bamiyan City, a three hour drive west of capital city Kabul The AFP worked with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to assist the woman to return to Australia safely. Rahimi was arrested by Australian Federal Police officers last Wednesday, nine months after officers first raided his Auburn home in Sydney's west where they allegedly seized passports, phones and travel documents. The tiler was charged with one count of exit trafficking of a person from Australia by using deception, which carries a maximum sentence of 12 years behind bars. The arrest came just four years after Rahimi was granted Australian citizenship. Sharing a photo of himself receiving his certificate in September 2020, he wrote: 'Today, I have been given the honour and privilege to be citizen of the greatest country, the most ethnically diverse societies in the world Australia.' 'Yes I finally made it.' During Rahimi's bail hearing in Burwood Local Court on Wednesday, his lawyer Lisa Dao disputed the allegations her client took control of his wife's travel documents. Ms Dao said Rahimi's wife was able to access her the documents during the trip. The court heard that Rahimi intends to fight the charge as Ms Dao disputed concerns raised by the prosecution that her client is a flight risk. Ms Dao told the court that Rahimi went overseas for a holiday as recently as July after the trip was approved by federal agents. She added that he runs a tiling business and has family living in Sydney. Later in August 2023, Rahimi shared another snap of himself posing at a site in the Middle East Rahimi is pictured participating in a pilgrimage in Iraq in September last year Rahimi is pictured in Turkey during a holiday in July Rahimi is pictured receiving his Australian citizenship in 2020 Police opposed Rahimi's application for bail, claiming the case against him was a strong one. However, Rahimi was released on bail on the condition he doesn't contact his wife or members of her family. He must also report to police three times a week and surrender his passport as part of his bail conditions. He will reappear in court at a later date It comes as AFP Detective acting inspector Emmanuel Tsardoulias issued a general statement about exit trafficking, describing it as a serious criminal offence that is often underreported. 'Exit trafficking can involve a person using coercion, deception or a threat, to organise or facilitate another to leave Australia,' Detective Tsardoulias said. 'No one has the right to force or deceive anyone to leave Australia, or to prevent them from returning against their will. 'We want victims to know the AFP is here to help them and that their safety and wellbeing is our primary concern when we are investigating these matters. 'Each case is handled with compassion and great care, and the victim's needs are always paramount.' If you suspect that you or another person is experiencing, or at risk of, modern slavery or human trafficking, call the AFP on 131 237. Ali Rahimi leaves Burwood Court on Wednesday after he was granted bail Donald Trump proposed a shocking, one-off solution to American crime problems that some are saying resembles the popular horror movie series The Purge. At a rally Sunday in Pennsylvania, Trump cited recent incidents of daylight robberies taking place in local businesses and suggested that criminals 'have to be taught' a lesson and suggested a quick and simple way to do so. 'If you had one really violent day. One rough hour -- and I mean real rough -- the word would get out and it would end immediately,' Trump said. He said that the crime problem exists due to police not being 'allowed to do their job' because Kamala Harris and 'the liberal left won't let them.' The speech led many to suggest what Trump is proposing is the plot of the movie series The Purge. Journalist Brian Krassenstein asked: 'Did Trump just f***ing suggest The Purge?' Donald Trump proposed a shocking, one-off solution to American crime problems that some are saying resembles the popular horror movie series The Purge Armand Domalewski said: 'Trump is literally proposing The Purge lmao.' One other social media user wrote: '[Trump's] campaign will try and spin this, but that's exactly what it sounds like.' The premise of the first Purge film, released in 2013, is that America has a 24-hour period in which all crime is legal. What Trump wants to do is give the police a no holds barred pass to crack down on any and all crime for just 'one violent day' and possibly for as little as one hour. The third film in the franchise, released in 2016 and titled 'Purge: Election Year,' uses Trump's campaign slogan of 'Keep America Great' as the film's tagline. Rumors of migrant gangs taking over apartments in Colorado have been mentioned by Trump Trump has railed against migrant crime, specifically in places like Aurora, Colorado where rumors of a Venezuelan gang invading apartment complexes have gone viral. 'Theyre going in with guns that are beyond even military scope and theyre taking over apartment buildings,' Trump said in North Carolina last week about Aurora. 'Theyre literally taking over those towns.' The mayor of Aurora has said the rhetoric is exaggerated and his town has been used to score cheap political points. Trump also escalated his personal attacks on his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, at the rally on Sunday by repeating an insult that she was 'mentally impaired' while also saying she should be 'impeached and prosecuted.' Trump's rally in Erie took on similar themes as an event one day earlier that he himself described as a 'dark speech.' He told a cheering crowd Sunday that Harris was responsible for an 'invasion' at the U.S.-Mexico border and 'she should be impeached and prosecuted for her actions.' The third film in the franchise, released in 2016 and titled 'Purge: Election Year,' uses Trump's campaign slogan of 'Keep America Great' as the film's tagline 'Crooked Joe Biden became mentally impaired,' he added. 'Sad. But lying Kamala Harris, honestly, I believe she was born that way. Theres something wrong with Kamala. And I just dont know what it is, but there is definitely something missing. And you know what, everybody knows it.' At the rally in Erie, Trump said the 'invasion' would end and deportations would begin if he took office. 'Thousands of migrants from the most dangerous countries are destroying the character of small towns and leaving local communities in anguish and in despair,' he said, talking about communities in the battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. With just over a month until the election, Trump is intensifying his use of personal and offensive attacks, even as some Republicans say he'd be better off sticking to the issues. His suggestions that political enemies be prosecuted are particularly notable for their departure from norms in the U.S. in which the justice system is supposed to be protected from political influence. In recent weeks, Trump has threatened prosecutions of Google for allegedly giving priority to 'good stories' about Harris and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Trump has long threatened legal action against his rivals, including President Joe Biden and his 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton. This month he vowed to jail those 'involved in unscrupulous behavior' this election, including election workers, lawyers, political operatives, donors, and voters, yet again attempting to sow doubt about the integrity of the election. Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Erie Sunday At the rally in Erie, Trump said the 'invasion' would end and deportations would begin if he took office On Sunday, he acknowledged he might lose in November: 'If she wins, it's not going to be so pleasant for me, but I don't care.' Trump has derided Harris, the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to lead a major party ticket, as 'stupid,' 'weak,' 'dumb as a rock' and 'lazy.' His allies have pushed him publicly and privately to talk instead about the economy, immigration and other issues. Harris has not commented on Trumps recent attacks but has said when asked about other comments that it was the 'same old show. The same tired playbook weve heard for years with no plan on on how he would address the needs of the American people.' Ahead of the rally on Sunday, some of Trump's supporters said he often makes offensive remarks. Still, they support his proposals to restrict immigration and said he would have a better handle on the economy. Last month, the GOP leader said he was 'entitled' to personal attacks against Harris. 'As far as the personal attacks, Im very angry at her because of what shes done to the country,' he told a news conference then. 'Im very angry at her that she would weaponize the justice system against me and other people, very angry at her. I think Im entitled to personal attacks.' A Massachusetts woman who was left bruised and bloodied by home invaders said it was her loyal dog's intervention that saved her life. Melanie Russell of Fitchburg described a harrowing home invasion that transpired on Thursday afternoon. Russell said an unknown man and woman busted down her door, ran into her apartment and then viciously attacked her. She told Boston 25 News: 'He put his hand over my nose and mouth so I couldn't breathe and told me to stop screaming.' The pair punched her, used a stun gun and whacked her with a crowbar until her 11-year-old dog Phoenix intervened. Melanie Russell of Fitchburg, Massachusetts was left bruised and bloodied by home invaders on Thursday afternoon The pair punched her, used a stun gun and whacked her with a crowbar until her 11-year-old dog Phoenix intervened Russell's daughter Brooklyn wrote on Facebook that when Phoenix came to defend her they also beat and tased the dog Her daughter Brooklyn wrote on Facebook that when Phoenix came to defend her they also beat and tased the dog. Brooklyn described the attackers as a heavy-set female and a male. Now, Russell is dealing with several broken bones in her face including a broken eye socket. Even though Phoenix saved her life, Russell said she's scared her attackers will return. 'Where you live is supposed to be your safe spot,' Russell told Boston 25 News before tearing up. Police said they believe the crime was targeted and said there's no immediate danger to the community. Russell said she believed the attack was related to an instance that transpired two days before her brutal beating. Brooklyn wrote that two men had pounded on both her and her neighbor's door asking where a package was that had been 'dropped off at the wrong place'. They threatened everyone in the complex and said there would be issues if it wasn't retrieved. Brooklyn alleged the cops had been called that night but police hadn't been dispatched to the house. A third man was parked in a dark blue Toyota Camry with a black trim. Russell is dealing with several broken bones in her face including a broken eye socket Two days before the assault, two men had pounded on both her and her neighbor's door asking where a package was that had been 'dropped off at the wrong place'. Police said they believe the crime was targeted and said there's no immediate danger to the community. PICTURED: Melanie Russell (left) and Brooklyn (right) The night of the assault, her attacker asked her 'where is it' to which Russell responded that she didn't know what he was talking about. Brooklyn clarified in the comments that Phoenix was a little roughed up and scared but okay. This attack happened five months after a Newport Beach homeowner opened fire on two men who stormed his $5million, 4,709 square-foot property while his family was sleeping. Heavily-armed police arrived at the gated community on April 16 off Newport Coast Drive and Pelican Hill Road after a 4.45am 911 call to find one suspect dead and another armed with a gun bleeding out in the middle of the street. The deceased intruder was bizarrely found with a 'self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head' after fleeing the house, police said. A multi-millionaire bikini boss who is gunning for a new career in politics has defended attempting to smuggle swimwear into China to allegedly avoid paying tax. Erin Deering, co-founder of the multi-million-dollar Triangl swimwear brand worn by the likes of Margot Robbie and Kendall Jenner, is running for Deputy Lord Mayor in Melbourne's council elections next month. Ms Deering is standing alongside environmentalist and former Acting Lord Mayor Aaron Wood on a pro-business platform aimed at scrapping red tape and boosting the local economy. But past comments have since resurfaced about how Ms Deering once attempted to 'illegally' evade tax in the early days of her bikini business, which she set up with her ex-husband and former AFL star Craig Ellis in Hong Kong in 2012. In her memoir Hanging By a Thread, published last year, Ms Deering revealed how the pair 'decided to illegally drive the stock across the border to their new factory in in Shenzen. 'A huge risk, but one we took so we could save a fair amount of money ... Doing it ourselves meant avoiding the inevitable taxes applied by China for all goods entering the country,' Ms Deering wrote. Ms Deering and her ex attempted to disguise the bikinis in suitcases but their 'stupid' ploy was uncovered by customs officials and confiscated. Thankfully, they were let go without a fine or prosecution. Erin Deering (pictured), co-founder of the multi-million-dollar Triangl swimwear brand worn by the likes of Margot Robbie and Kendall Jenner , is running for Deputy Lord Mayor in Melbourne 's council elections next month The entrepreneur told a podcast last year that the loss of so much stock could have 'killed' their business. Ms Deering denied that she had ever breached tax laws. 'Any suggestion Ive breached tax laws is wrong,' she told the Herald Sun. Despite writing in her memoir that she had been trying to act 'illegally', Ms Deering denied any illegality. 'If anyone has done business in China they know it can be complicated and difficult at times,' she added. 'All of our bikinis were made in China but had been sent to Triangl in Hong Kong, where there are no import duties. 'We tried to get the stock back into China quickly because we had engaged a logistics company for the first time, which was based in China, and were going to send stock directly from China to customers from then on. 'We got stopped at the border and the stock was confiscated.' Daily Mail Australia approached Ms Deering for further comment. Ms Deering and her ex-husband grew Triangl into a $200 million business sold in over 100 countries worldwide. Ms Deering has since remarried business owner Zachary Keane and launched her own fashion brand (the pair are pictured together) The success of the business propelled them both onto the rich list, with an estimated personal fortune of $35million. Ms Deering has since remarried business owner Zachary Keane and launched her own fashion brand. Melbourne's council elections are decided via postal vote only. Ms Deering said that, if elected, she would use all of her 'skills to help get Town Halls budget back under control, attract international investment back into our great city and stand shoulder to shoulder with small business owners'. 'I know what it takes to succeed in business - how many other teams in this election can honestly say that?' : ... Kevin Rudd has reportedly racked up a travel bill of more than $150,000 since the beginning of his posting as Australian ambassador to the US. Mr Rudd was slotted into the key diplomatic post by Anthony Albanese in 2022, but since then a senior Labor figure claimed he had become the governments ambassador to the world, the Herald Sun reported. The former prime minister has travelled to Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Singapore and twice to Australia on the taxpayer's dollar. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has insisted the travels have been in line with normal procedures and expectations. His apparent role has been to mix and mingle with world leaders at international conferences and dialogues, with the Albanese government sending him instead of ministers from home soil. Mr Rudd filled the shoes of absent government ministers at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and Germanys Munich Security Dialogue earlier this year, at a combined cost of $40,000. His bill included $30,000 to travel to the Northern Marian Island in the Pacific where he oversaw the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in June. During a 26-day stint on home soil last year, Mr Rudd ran up a $13,647 tab on chauffeured vehicles while he attended 98 meetings across five cities. Kevin Rudd has reportedly racked up a travel bill of more than $150,000 since the beginning of his posting as Australian ambassador to the US Within that time he met with five state premiers, nine federal ministers and Mr Albanese. Mr Rudd was visiting for general domestic talks and the annual AUSMIN forum between the Australian and American foreign and defence ministers. In the United Kingdom, the US ambassador reportedly played a role in AUKUS meetings and the London Defence Conference. A DFAT spokesman said Mr Rudd attended 17 meetings in his trip to Munich alongside US Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trumps now-running mate Senator JD Vance. In Switzerland, he held some 25 meetings with reportedly key US governmental and congressional contacts on a range of global security and economic issues. Opposition MP James Stevens criticised Mr Rudds travel expenses. Anthony Albaneses captains call to appoint Kevin Rudd as Australias ambassador to the US was a costly one, he said. He claimed Mr Rudd has been living a life of luxury and indulgence at the Australian taxpayers expense - an accusation DFAT denies. Mr Rudd was slotted into the key diplomatic post by Anthony Albanese in 2022, but since then a senior Labor figure claimed he had become the governments ambassador to the world They maintained the busy diplomats travel has been in line with normal procedures and cost guidelines. The department is still yet to process Mr Rudds costs for his AUKUS trip to the UK in May. Mr Rudd reportedly footed the bill for his own flights and took leave while promoting his book The Avoidable War at a literary festival in Wales. His next book on Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to hit shelves in October. Daily Mail Australia contacted DFAT for comment. A search and rescue team consisting of a group of volunteers were called into action last Sunday to save five climbers who had made the ill-advised decision to attempt to go rock climbing in the icy mountains of California's High Sierra. The climbers lacked the necessary experience and finding themselves stuck on a dangerous part of the trail were 'unable to proceed in any direction' after underestimating the treacherous conditions. When they finally made it back down to the ground the group were chastised by the rescue team on social media. In a post on Facebook on September 23, Inyo County Search & Rescue made it clear that the risky rescue was 'entirely avoidable'. A search and rescue team consisting of a group of volunteers were called into action to save five climbers who had made the ill-advised decision to attempt to go rock climbing in the icy mountains of California 's High Sierra. The volunteers rescuers were forced to ascend the same hazardous routes themselves in order to bring the stranded climbers to safety The team received two calls for help from the climbers, who had ventured onto icy scrambling routes without adequate preparation or gear, a decision that SAR suggested was nothing short of foolhardy. The volunteers rescuers were then forced to ascend the same hazardous routes themselves in order to bring the stranded climbers to safety. 'These missions are very risky to all people involved, and they are entirely avoidable,' Inyo SAR stated, clearly frustrated by the unnecessary danger posed by the climbers' lack of planning. The rescue team sternly advised that anyone encountering snow and ice the routes without the proper knowledge, training or equipment should turn around immediately rather than press on blindly. 'If you continue into higher elevations, the snow and ice will just get worse risk and consequences increase greatly,' the post warned. In a post on Facebook on September 23, Inyo County Search & Rescue made it clear that the risky rescue was 'entirely avoidable' Photos posted online show the steep gradients and tricky conditions the group faced The climbers found themselves stuck on a dangerous part of the trail were 'unable to proceed in any direction' such were the levels of snow and ice in the area The rescue team advised anyone encountering snow and ice the routes without the proper knowledge, training or equipment should turn around immediately rather than press on Photos taken by the rescuers show just how high the climbers were and how steep the slopes they encountered were The team's message was clear: those who ignore the dangers of these extreme conditions are not only putting themselves at risk but also endanger the lives of the volunteers who have to rescue them from their poor decisions. Inyo SAR also reminded climbers that icy and snowy conditions are currently prevalent throughout the High Sierra, including on the western side of the Sierra crest, making it particularly hazardous to engage in high-altitude climbing at the current time. The SAR's final note imparted words of advice to those tempted to take on dangerous conditions while issuing a subtle rebuke to the climbers who had to be rescued: 'Meanwhile, enjoy some adventures at lower elevations.' A New Jersey couple suffered 'life-changing' injuries after crashing in an Uber -- and have now learned they can't sue the company. Georgia and John McGinty of Princeton, New Jersey, were told by a judge they're bound by a sneaky clause in Uber's terms and conditions which states they cannot take a case to a jury in a court of law. On March 31, 2022, the couple were passengers in a vehicle operated by Uber driver Jia Wen Zheng when Zheng ran a red light and t-boned a vehicle, according to court documents. The McGintys suffered serious physical injuries. Georgia sustained cervical and lumbar spine fractures, rib fractures, a protruding hernia and traumatic injuries to her abdominal wall and public floor. She underwent multiple surgeries and was unable to work from the accident to April 1, 2023. Georgia (left) and John (right) McGinty of Princeton, New Jersey were told by a judge they're bound by a sneaky clause in Uber's terms and conditions that states the cannot take a case to a jury in a court of law On March 31, 2022, the couple were passengers in a vehicle operated by Uber driver Jia Wen Zheng when Zheng ran a red light and t-boned a vehicle, according to court documents John had a fractured sternum and his arm and wrist had severe fractures that required him to have a open reduction and internal fixation with a bone graft to just address the arm fractures. He now has diminished use and sensation in his left wrist. In February 2023, the couple filed a lawsuit against the company, Zheng and the driver Zheng hit. Uber filed a motion to compel arbitration - which is when they ask the court to enforce a contractual arbitration clause and require the parties to resolve their differences through arbitration instead of litigation. But those injuries wouldn't be compensated by the company because Georgia had accepted the terms and conditions listed in the company's Terms of Use that users have to accept before using the app. In the court documents, it said the McGinty's had stated they don't remember seeing a 'clickbox' on the date of January 8, 2022. They argued they believed their daughter Julia, then 12, had clicked it while they packed for an upcoming ski trip. At 6.15pm that day, Julia ordered food from a restaurant. The couple said they didn't remember if she had ordered it by herself or if Georgia helped her, but they recalled their daughter holding the phone to check the delivery drivers location. Uber argued it was activated as their records show and that Georgia tipped the Uber driver when the food was delivered. In February 2023, the couple filed a lawsuit against the company, Zheng and the driver Zheng hit In the court documents, it said the McGinty's had stated they don't remember seeing a 'clickbox' on the date of January 8, 2022. They argued they believed their daughter Julia (right), then 12, had clicked it while they packed for an upcoming ski trip Originally, the New Jersey court denied Uber's motion to compel arbitration saying it was unenforceable due to the agreement being unambiguous. But Uber would appeal, dragging the lawsuit out until September 20, when the Superior Court of New Jersey's Appellate Division ruled in the company's favor. They wrote in a per curiam opinion featured in the court documents: 'We hold that the arbitration provision contained in the agreement under review, which Georgia or her minor daughter, while using her cell phone agreed to, is valid and enforceable.' The couple told the BBC: 'How would I ever remotely think that my ability to protect my constitutional rights to a trial would be waived by me ordering food?' On September 20, the Superior Court of New Jersey's Appellate Division ruled in the company's favor The couple told the BBC: 'How would I ever remotely think that my ability to protect my constitutional rights to a trial would be waived by me ordering food?' In another case of a company utilizing an arbitration clause, Disney claimed in a May 31 filing, that a widower whose wife died after suffering a severe allergic reaction at a theme park restaurant couldn't sue the company because he had previously signed up for a free one-month trial of its Disney+ streaming service. Kanokporn Tangsuan, 42, suffered a deadly allergic reaction on October 5 last year after she and her family dined at Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant in the Disney Springs, Walt Disney World's outdoor shopping center. The family claimed their waiter assured them the food would be allergen-free. Her husband Jeffrey Piccolo filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Florida, claiming Walt Disney Parks and Resorts was negligent and failed to properly train their staff about food allergies. But Disney sought to dismiss the suit and argued it should instead be sent to arbitration because the terms and agreements of its streaming service contract which includes a 'binding arbitration clause,' court records show. EXCLUSIVE Wildlife rescue volunteers say they have received death threats for trying to stop Molly the Magpie from being kept with a Queensland couple's pet Staffordshire terriers. Molly and her canine companions, Peggy and Ruby, live with Juliette Wells and Reece Mortensen in their Gold Coast home and have become social media stars. The magpie was removed from the property in March after authorities learnt Ms Wells and Mr Mortensen had no permit to care for native wildlife, but the bird was returned six weeks later after a public outcry. Legal firm XD Law & Advocacy has now launched Supreme Court action against Queensland's Department of Environment, Science and Innovation (DESI) over it granting a wildlife permit to the couple. The firm is acting on behalf of an unnamed wildlife rescue volunteer who has the support of dozens of other animal carers, many of whom have been viciously targeted by online trolls. One of the volunteers backing the challenge to DESI allowing Ms Wells and Mr Mortensen to keep Molly wants to tell her side of the story but is afraid to be identified. 'A lot of carers are getting hammered and bullied - death threats, rape threats - it's incredible,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'It's not about this particular bird. The perception of it has been one-sided. Wildlife rescue volunteers opposed to Molly the Magpie being kept by a Queensland couple along with two pet Staffordshire terriers say they have received death threats for speaking out. Gold Coast woman Juliette Wells is pictured with Molly and one of her dogs 'Rather than looking at the issue as one of licensing, it's become about the people who dobbed them in and not about whether it's right or not.' Another wildlife carer said when she reacted negatively online to Molly being kept in a house, she was inundated with vile messages including a suggestion to kill herself. 'I got a lot of death threats,' she said. 'One lady said she knew where I lived and she'd be there by the morning.' A third carer who is not even based in south-east Queensland said her opposition to Molly's situation had led to a barrage of online insults. 'You just get called names constantly,' she said. 'I've been called a c***, I've been called a f***wit, I've been called an idiot.' XD Law & Advocacy, which has previously represented YouTube creator Jordan 'friendlyjordies' Shanks and defence force whistleblower David McBride, has received an email threat to blow up its offices since taking on the case. Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Ms Wells and Mr Mortensen are in any way responsible for the actions of anyone who has abused wildlife workers or made threats against the lawyers. The first volunteer revealed wildlife rescue groups were now sending carers out in pairs instead of alone after the abuse they had endured. 'What we do isn't easy,' she said through tears. 'It's hard work. We work long hours for no money. At the end of the day it's all wildfire carers being vilified.' Molly and her canine companions, Peggy and Ruby, live together with Juliette Wells and Reece Mortensen in their Gold Coast home and have become social media stars The volunteer said magpies were not suitable pets and suffered when kept in domestic captivity and that Molly - who is actually male - would likely not survive. That was also DESI's original position when it first removed Molly from the home. 'It is alleged that the bird was taken from the wild and kept unlawfully, with no permit, licence or authority being issued by DESI,' a departmental spokesman said at the time. DESI had independent veterinary advice Molly could never be returned to the wild, meaning he would need to be sent to a sanctuary or euthanised. Molly and Peggy have 1.3 million followers on Facebook and almost 1 million on Instagram, and the resultant public backlash led to an extraordinary intervention by Premier Steven Miles. Mr Miles dismissed criticism he had caved in to social media pressure by allowing Ms Wells and Mortensen to keep Molly, and said granting them a permit was the 'common sense' approach. 'I'm not a bird expert but he looks really well and healthy to me,' Mr Miles said when he visited Molly in the couple's home. DESI granted Ms Wells a permit to keep Molly after they agreed to conditions including not profiting from the magpie or its image, undertaking the appropriate training and advocating for wildlife. XD Law & Advocacy will argue that decision was made on political grounds due to media pressure and sets a precedent for anyone to keep a wild animal. The wildlife volunteer who said she had received death threats after raising concerns about Molly's welfare said magpies had to be protected as native wildlife. If Molly flew away from her current home she would be at risk from attack by dogs she might assume to be friendly, and likely be menaced by other magpies. 'They'll kill it,' she said. 'Or they'll drive it out of their territory. It has no coping skills to live in the wild. 'It can't socially interact with other animals. It doesn't have the skill set to thrive.' Molly was removed from the property in March after authorities learnt Ms Wells and Mr Mortensen did not have a permit to care for native wildlife but was returned a month later amid a public outcry The volunteer said Molly would want to raise his own family and not spend his life playing with dogs. 'If magpies were capable of being pets like rainbow lorikeets or sulphur-crested cockatoos ,they'd be pets,' she said. 'We don't have magpies as pets and there's a good reason for it. 'People may think it's cute. It may be cute from the outside but it's not cute for that bird.' According to a post on Molly and Peggy's Facebook page in May last year, the bird has already had at least one close call with other magpies. 'A few days ago Molly had a fight with a couple of other magpies,' the post read. 'He's not seriously injured but shaken up. 'He had a sore leg and blood on the sides of his head and around his neck. He spent a few days resting & sleeping.' The volunteer said she and other carers were already aware of 'copycats' who had decided to take native animals, including magpies, into their homes. 'It's been a problem people keeping wildlife for a long time,' she said. 'Its not something you can just Google. It requires training, expertise and knowledge. 'We've seen an uptick in the number of magpies coming in with cut wings and tails.' Public sympathy for Molly's handlers had also led to donors deciding they would withhold money wildlife rescue organisations need to keep going. The wildlife volunteer said while she was concerned about Molly's circumstances the court action was not directed only at the magpie's keepers or one particular bird. 'The issue is DESI making the decision and how they made it,' she said. 'It's about the licensing system, giving people a precedent. People are going to be poaching from the wild. 'We can no longer say to people it's illegal for you to take and keep that animal and that is very worrying. 'I want the system fixed. I'm determined to have this clarified in court so everybody knows where they stand. What's the criteria for this special exemption?' DESI would not provide the full list of conditions under which Ms Wells and Mr Mortensen were allowed to keep Molly in their home. 'The decision to return an Australian Magpie to a Gold Coast couple was made in accordance with the Nature Conservation Act 1992,' a departmental spokesman said. 'We are unable to provide further comment.' Legal firm XD Law & Advocacy has now launched Supreme Court action against Queensland's Department of Environment, Science and Innovation (DESI) over it granting a wildlife permit to Ms Wells and Mr Mortensen Another volunteer, whose association is not part of the court case, said she was against Molly being kept in a home. 'As a wildlife carer I am totally against this situation with this magpie being kept in captivity and being allowed to interact with dogs,' she said. 'The people involved should never have been allowed to keep a wild bird as they were not even registered carers.' Mr Mortensen said last week his family was distraught over the new legal challenge to them keeping Molly. 'Molly's 100 per cent, and always has been, our focus,' he told A Current Affair. 'We just want to just move on and just get on with it. 'Every time we're in the public sight and things like that, it raises awareness for people to get out there and try and do something to help wildlife and become involved. 'That's what we want to try and do is get as many people involved as we possibly can in helping wildlife, because there aren't a great deal of wildlife carers out there.' Ms Wells said: 'Four years ago yesterday, when we came across a little magpie, who would have thought we'd be standing in front of the Supreme Court here in Brisbane.' 'Molly's happy, healthy and alive. Bossy, barking and being Molly.' Ms Wells and Mortensen, who were contacted for comment, rescued Molly as a chick after he fell from his nest. The case returns to the Supreme Court later this month. READ MORE: Erin reveals the moment she found out about his crimes He tortured and raped and tortured about 42 pet dogs WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT The Outback Wrangler Matt Wright has given a home to a pet crocodile that once belonged to a disgraced zoologist who filmed himself raping, torturing and murdering dogs. British crocodile expert Adam Britton, 53, was sentenced to ten years behind bars in the Northern Territory Supreme Court in August after pleading guilty to 63 charges of bestiality, animal cruelty, and possessing child abuse material. Britton - who made a name for himself on BBC documentaries and once welcomed Sir David Attenborough to his home - sourced the dogs from Gumtree Australia over a two-year period for the sole purpose of torturing them to death on camera. He would tell the former owners their pets were enjoying their new home - when really they were already dead. When Britton was arrested in 2022, his two Swiss shepherds Ursa and Bolt and his crocodile Smaug were rehomed. Daily Mail Australia understands Smaug was taken to live on a property owned by Wright, who was made famous by various TV series' about his conservation efforts. On Sunday, Britton's ex-wife Erin - a fellow biologist - broke her silence in an episode of Channel Nine's 60 Minutes, saying she was so shocked and disgusted when police told her about her husband's crimes that she was lost for words. It is understood the Outback Wrangler Matt Wright accepted Smaug, Britton's pet crocodile, at his NT property Adam Britton (pictured) was a respected crocodile expert until his arrest in 2022 Britton shared this picture of himself and Smaug on X before his arrest She took viewers on a small tour of the home they shared at McMinns Lagoon, near Darwin, where Britton committed the bulk of his offences while she was away on work trips. The tour included a backyard swamp where they kept Smaug and an external laundry with a deep freezer, where detectives found a disturbing collection of dog remains. Erin said: 'He was mostly likely feeding those to the crocodile.' Britton operated two Telegram accounts called 'monster' and 'Cerberus' - the latter being a three-headed dog in Greek mythology - between 2020 and 2022, and used them to engage with like-minded people about animal cruelty and bestiality. In some of those messages, seen by Daily Mail Australia, Britton told his companions that he derived sexual pleasure from dead dogs. Adam Britton's ex-wife, Erin, broke her silence in an interview with 60 Minutes on Sunday Britton kept dog remains in a deep freezer, located in an external laundry at his McMinns Lagoon home (pictured) During the episode on Sunday, Erin was asked whether Britton fed dog carcasses to Smaug to get rid of the evidence. She replied: 'Yes, of course'. Since her ex-husband's arrest, Erin said she has been asking how she didn't notice what he was doing. 'The question I've been asking myself every day is, "Why did I not know? What did I miss?",' she said. 'Scratching my head, trying to look, trying to play back events of the last few years to see if there's any detail or anything, but there's nothing.' She now describes Britton as a 'psychopath' who destroyed her life. Erin doesn't read his prison letters anymore - partly because he didn't take responsibility for his actions. Pictured is the now abandoned compound where Britton carried out his obscene acts Britton (centre) poses for a picture with ex-wife Erin and Sir David Attenborough When he was first arrested, he would write to her about topics he was interested in and books he wanted to read - even asking her to send one about dog domestication, breed history and behaviour. She said it messed with her head. 'He's writing about this as if he can, sort of, continue his fantasies in his mind, and it makes me really angry,' she said. 'I cannot comprehend still how somebody can be so depraved, so evil, and how he's just destroyed my entire life.' When they met before 2004, Erin thought she had found her soulmate - they had shared interests, built a consulting company together called Big Gecko, which sold footage of crocodiles to television and film directors. They worked with natural history shows with the BBC and National Geographic. Meanwhile, Smaug became something of a celebrity in his field and appeared in two horror films. While their life together was idyllic to begin with, their relationship began to disintegrate within the years before his arrest. Adam Britton and his ex-wife, Erin, are pictured together on their wedding day Britton and his ex-wife, Erin, lived at a sprawling property near Darwin (pictured) - where he committed the bulk of his crimes They were both away for long periods of time on expeditions, but slept in separate beds when they were both home and hadn't been romantically involved for years. Sentencing remarks by NT Chief Justice Michael Grant outlined Britton's lifelong struggle with the socio-sexual disorder, paraphelia and zoosadism. He was never attracted to humans and struggled to have proper relationships with women when he was a university student in Hong Kong and the UK. He had two female partners, but they were not sexual relationships. After graduation, the judge said he had a 'brief' sexual relationship with a woman who worked in the animal industry. 'You attempted to establish a sexual relationship with her but those attempts were obviously hampered by your unorthodox sexual preferences,' said the judge. 'Sexual intercourse with your wife was not something you enjoyed and was extremely sporadic as a result. 'The relationship eventually became entirely platonic and asexual in nature.' Erin said Britton's crimes had further inspired her to advocate for animal welfare. A park bench designed to celebrate Indigenous reconciliation has divided a sleepy Canadian community. The controversial bench was installed in Kinsmen Park in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, to commemorate Canada's National Day for Truth and Reconciliation - an annual holiday on September 30 to recognize the atrocities and multi-generational effects of the Canadian Indian residential school system. Mayor George Andrews said the bench was meant as a place here people can sit and reflect, noting to the CBC that it has been positively received by some of the residents. But two women are speaking out against the new seating arrangement after the town council removed benches from public places last year. One of the women, Jade Rachwal, has even gone as far as to call it a textbook example of hostile architecture - due to the placement of an armrest near the middle. A bench installed in Kinsmen Park has divided the community of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador 'If you were to Google "hostile architecture," you would see a picture of a bench that looks like that,' said Rachwal, Labrador Friendship Centre's youth programs manager, referring to an urban design concept that incorporates certain elements to guide behavior. Its installation came just one year after the Town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay removed benches around the community of around 8,000 people - including at trail entrances - to combat 'loitering and illegal activity.' 'We're all witnessing the increase in the loitering,' Andrews said at the time. 'Intoxicated folks, groups of folks. 'The evening before last, we had 20 to 25 folks loitering around the plane [at the American military monument], throwing rocks, beer bottles, that kind of stuff.' He said the loitering became common practice since the Labrador Winter Games that March. 'What we're trying to do is just prevent those gatherings and that activity, you know, people sleeping and drinking - that kind of deal in these particular locations.' But members of the community opposed the town council's decision, saying it takes away benches from people who need a break while walking - and Avery Brown, a social worker and board secretary at the Labrador Friendship Centre - says the new bench is an affront to them. 'To remove that accessibility from not only folks impacted by homelessness, but also people who may have mobility concerns and need a rest in the middle of their walk, it just seemed a little ironic to me,' she told the CBC. 'You know, defending this bench through accessibility when the rest of the community was made less accessible.' Mayor George Andrews said the bench was never meant to create hostility, and was instead designed as a place for people to sit and reflect Both Brown and Rachwal said they would like to learn more about how the placement of the bench and armrest were considered by town officials, and about any discussions officials had about other reconciliation efforts. 'It just leaves me wanting more,' Brown said. 'The bench feels really small in comparison to what it is meant to commemorate.' Andrews, though, says the bench was never meant to create hostility. He said it was placed in the park to serve as a place to sit and reflect, and noted there were no concerns about people lying on the bench overnight because the park closes at 9pm. 'A couple of years ago, we were in a different situation, where pubic safety was viewed in terms of certain locations,' he said of the town council's decision to remove benches in 2023. 'The only reason it was done is because the activity that was happening around those benches - in our mind, as a council, was viewed as, you know, being a public safety issue. 'This has nothing to do with that particular issue.' The mayor went on to say that the decision to add a center armrest was a 'last minute kind of thing.' He also said the town has not added back any other benches yet due to other infrastructure priorities. A vet and young father-of-one has been identified as the victim of a fatal buggy crash on a rural property. Dr John Hosie, 38, was killed when the ATV buggy he was travelling in rolled on his property in Richmond, in North Queensland, about 1pm on Wednesday September 18. Paramedics were called to the scene, but despite their best efforts, Dr Hosie could not be saved. Dr Hosie grew up in Malanda watching his father Ian care for sick animals at their family business, Tableland Veterinary Service, before later following in his footsteps. In a tribute post on Monday, Tableland Veterinary Service (TVS) said he was a 'regular offsider' at the clinic even as a toddler. Dr John Hosie, 38 (pictured), tragically died earlier this month Pictured: Richmond in North Queensland TVS said it was 'no surprise' when Dr Hosie enrolled to study Veterinary Science at James Cook University in 2005. 'John was a natural as a veterinarian - clever, intuitive but most of all, affable and charming,' TVS wrote. 'He related to people from all walks of life but was always most at home with cattle and horses.' After graduating from university in 2010, Dr Hosie moved to Gympie Veterinary Service in south-east Queensland, before returning home two years later and becoming a member of the TVS team. He later became a partner in the business while also working to attain his pilot's licence, and was 'at his happiest flying around North Queensland's cattle stations pregnancy testing, bull testing, and soaking up station life'. Dr Hosie is pictured with his wife Michaela In 2020, he left Malanda to move 455km west to Yan Yean cattle station in Richmond with his fiancee and fellow vet, Dr Michaela McClymont. They married the following year, before welcoming their son Hayes in 2023. Dr Hosie is survived by his wife, their son, his parents and sister. 'He will be sorely missed by everyone who knew him,' TVS said. 'Our love and support goes out to all his family and friends at this difficult time.' A memorial for Dr Hosie will be held in Townsville on Friday. A crackdown on shops selling illicit tobacco and illegal vapes could see them shut down for months and be hit with penalties of more than $1million. Tobacconists selling illegal tobacco and vapes have been put on notice, with new legislation in the pipeline to shut them down and hit them with hefty fines. The South Australian government is working on legislation to give Consumer and Business Affairs Minister Andrea Michaels the power to shut down premises suspected of selling illegal products. If legislated, the minister's initial order could apply for 72 hours and be extended for up to six months, with the approval of a magistrate. Any business violating an order could also be hit with a penalty of up to $1.1million and an individual could be fined as much as $700,000. Ms Michaels says a government taskforce has already seized more than $1million worth of illicit tobacco and vapes but more needs to be done. 'This is a fantastic start but what we are seeing is that some of these businesses that we raid are up and running again almost immediately and that's unacceptable,' she said. 'We are not going to allow these criminals to profit off targeting unsuspecting people and destroying the health of our children and use it to fund their other illegal activities.' A crackdown on shops selling illicit tobacco and illegal vapes could see them shut down for months and be hit with penalties of more than $1million. Stock image Some stores are selling the untaxed and illegal packets for almost half the price of the legal product. Stock image Australia is one of the most expensive countries in the world to buy cigarettes, with the cost of an average packet of 25 costing as much as $50, with half of that tax. That has spawned a growing illicit market, with some stores selling the untaxed and illegal packets for almost half the price of the legal product. As a result, a lucrative black market exists across the country, that has led to turf wars between criminal organisations - particularly in Victoria where there have been more than 70 firebombing attacks on tobacco shops. Mark Cuban warned Elon Musk about Donald Trump's sense of loyalty following the Tesla CEO's declaration that this could be America's 'last election' if Trump loses. The billionaires are feuding over Musk's support of former President Donald Trump. Cuban, the former Dallas Mavericks owner, has thrown his weight behind Kamala Harris. Musk drew Cuban's ire on Sunday by making the stark claim that Democrats are purposefully shipping enough illegal migrants into swing states to tip the majority in their favor. 'Very few Americans realize that, if Trump is NOT elected, this will be the last election,' he wrote. 'Far from being a threat to democracy, he is the only way to save it!' Cuban, who has known Trump for decades, cautioned Musk. Mark Cuban warned Elon Musk about Donald Trump after the Tesla CEO said this will be America's 'last election' if Trump loses 'Elon, there will come a time when you need something from Donald Trump. You will think you will have earned the right to ask and receive,' Cuban wrote. 'You have been a loyal, faithful soldier for him. You have supported him politically with 10s of millions of dollars. Then, at the point you need him the most, you will find out what so many before you have learned, his loyalty is only to himself.' The Shark Tank star has said he would be willing to do 'whatever I can' to get Harris over the finish line in his home state of Pennsylvania. Musk had issued a long rant about an impending Democratic plot to shift the electorate should the party retain the White House in November. He said that Democrats will import millions of voters via illegal immigration over the next four years, fast tracking them to citizenship and pushing swing state margins into the blue column. 'America then becomes a one-party state and Democracy is over. The only 'elections' will be the Democratic Party primaries. This already happened in California many years ago, following the 1986 amnesty,' he wrote. 'The only thing holding California back from extreme socialism and suffocating government policies is that people can leave California and still remain in America. Once the whole country is controlled by one party, there will be no escape' Musk continued. 'Everywhere in America will be like the nightmare that is downtown San Francisco.' Musk did not provide evidence to support his elaborate theory that was pushed out to millions of people on the social media platform, which he owns. Cuban quoted Musk's post and issued a caution for one of the ex-president's biggest backers about who he thinks Trump is As a Harris campaign surrogate, Cuban has been trying to push that it's Harris - not Trump - who has a plan to continue to improve the economy four years out from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 'When you talk to her staff about putting together a policy, they literally dig in and try to understand it,' Cuban said. 'And when you do that, like a real business, you're not just going to be impetuous about everything that you're going to say.' 'That's the difference between the two. Trump will just say whatever he thinks he needs to say,' the Shark Tank star said. Cuban - who has feuded with Trump since he ran in 2016 - said Wednesday that he believes Trump's advantage on the economy is 'declining.' 'I mean people are realizing that having a well thought-out plan is a whole lot better than someone who just talks off the tushy,' he told DailyMail.com. Musk has suggested he will step up to the mark if appointed to a White House role by Trump. Trump said if he is elected president in November he would be open to naming the Tesla CEO to a cabinet or advisory role. 'He's a very smart guy. I certainly would, if he would do it, I certainly would. He's a brilliant guy,' Trump said in an interview with Reuters. Trump said if he is elected president in November he would be open to naming the Tesla CEO to a cabinet or advisory role Musk has suggested he will step up to the mark if appointed to a White House role by Trump Musk responded to the comments on X today with just five words: 'I am willing to serve.' The world's richest man, Musk has boosted Trump on X and dismissed left-leaning ideas as a 'woke-mind virus.' Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He backed President Joe Biden in 2020 but has tacked rightward since then. Musk said he believed he and the Republican Party were more closely aligned on their 'core values' than he and the Democrats. 'One of those values being meritocracy, as much meritocracy as possible, so you get ahead as a function of your skill, and nothing else,' he said. Musk has also become more aligned with the GOP on social issues after revealing he claimed he was 'tricked' by the 'woke mind virus' into allowing one of his sons to become a transgender woman. He said the PAC supported freedom from 'as much government intervention as possible' and claimed the state was more restrictive every year. An electric car has gone up in flames after its owner tried to recharge the battery with a dodgy cable setup. Fire Rescue Victoria urged EV owners to use proper chargers after a Nissan Leaf e+ burst into flames at 9.11am in Glen Waverley, Melbourne, on September 24. Five rescue teams arrived at the home and safely evacuated two adults and a dog from the home before extinguishing the flames. Crews wore breathing apparatus to battle the blaze and the scene was deemed under control within five minutes of their arrival. The fire burnt out the interior of a two-car garage, leaving only the hull of the Nissan intact and damaged the owner's Genesis luxury sedan which was parked next to it. The Fire Investigation Unit determined the fire was caused by an aftermarket charger which was connected to a household power point via a travel adaptor. Nissan's Australian website warns that aftermarket cables can be used on its cars, but advises owners to purchase theirs from a certified Nissan EV dealer. The carmaker does not include a cable designed for home charging via a household power with its Leaf e+. Fire Rescue Victoria urged electric vehicle (EV) owners to use proper chargers after a Nissan Leaf e+ burst into flames at 9.11am in Glen Waverley, Melbourne, on September 24 Fire Rescue Victoria warned EV owners on social media to be especially cautious with what equipment to use when charging the car. 'FRV would like to remind the community about the risks of using incompatible charging equipment following an electric vehicle (EV) fire,' FRV wrote. 'To minimise your risks of a fire caused by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, FRV recommends purchasing products from a reputable supplier and follow the manufacturers instructions, only using chargers and cords that are originally supplied with the device [and] checking that chargers have the Regulatory Compliance Mark, to show that they meet the relevant Australian Standards.' Genuine EV chargers can cost as much as $500 while third party aftermarket chargers can be listed for as cheap as $120 on online marketplaces. The danger with aftermarket chargers is their difference in energy output which can ignite fires if a cable is providing an incorrect power delivery to an EV. EVs, like e-bikes and e-scooters, contain rechargeable lithium ion batteries which FVR warns are 'more volatile than traditional batteries'. 'Only use chargers and cords that are originally supplied with that device,' the FRV website warns. 'Using chargers with incorrect power delivery (voltage and current) can cause damage to the battery or overheating that can lead to fires.' MBABANE Business Eswatini (BE) has revoked its membership from an advisory body to government on all labour-related issues. BE, which is a representative of more than 80 per cent of the private sector in Eswatini, reportedly withdrew its participation in the Labour Advisory Board (LAB). The LAB is a tripartite body (composed of government, employers and workers) and is established in terms of Part III of the Industrial Relations Act No. 1 of 2000. BE Vice President Industrial Relations Andrew Le Roux confirmed to this publication that the entity had revoked its participation in the LAB. He said: Yes, it is true that Business Eswatini is withdrawing from the Labour Advisory Board. This difficult decision was made after years of frustration in the LAB. BE is now tired of this dysfunction and it was decided that it would be prudent to withdraw until these dysfunctions have been addressed and resolved. Le Roux said the final decision was made at the annual general meeting (AGM) this past Friday and is yet to be formally communicated to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security; along with the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Explained Le Roux explained that there are three primary issues that need to be addressed and these are; constituents, consensus and the legal definition of consultation. He said the question that need to be answered is which organisations are compliant to be members, what their mandates are and who represents them. Also, on the consensus, he said it is generally a requirement for the LAB, but it has largely been ignored for the past few years, with votes by government and the unions seen as sufficient for matters to pass. He said the employers are no longer willing to participate in this charade of decision-making. Furthermore, he said there is a need to establish the legal definition of consultation. Le Roux said consultation is required for the passing of Labour and tripartite motions; however government seems to be confuse, merely advising the parties on what is happening, with meaningful consultation.The BE vice president of industrial relations was also asked if this will not have a negative impact on the progress of the tripartite and he said: Yes. And that is precisely the point. The LAB in its current form is dysfunctional, and anti-business. Laws and motions are being passed illegitimately. This needs to stop. Advised Le Roux explained that the ILO will be advised today and they will expect all activities within the LAB to cease immediately. Meanwhile, the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Phila Buthelezi said: Nothing official has been communicated with the ministry. The revocation of the membership of BE in the LAB happened at a time when government had set an all government task team to deal with issues which were raised in during the 112th International Labour Conference (ILC) session in 2024. The issues that need to be addressed in the report include investigating the alleged violation of workers rights, as concluded by the recent International Labour Organisation (ILO). This year having been the 16th time Eswatini came under discussion for allegedly violating the same ILO Convention, Buthelezi appointed the government task team to investigate worker rights violations in the country. It is worth noting that the LAB performs the following functions - (a) collect information on standards on occupational safety and health in all branches of economic activities and propose national standards; (b) coordinate legislation on occupational safety and health at national level; (c) recommend formulation and review of the national policy on occupational safety and health; (d) advise the Labour Advisory Board which, in turn, shall advise the minister on the formulation of standards and guidance notes for the purpose of assisting employers and employees to create and maintain an acceptable standard of occupational safety and health; and (e) perform any other functions assigned to it by the Labour Advisory Board. Furthermore, the LAB holds at least one meeting every month in each calendar year and the quorum shall be constituted by half of the members, which shall include at least one member representing employers and one member representing employees. Recommendations The committee formed by the members also submits to the LAB, interim reports consisting of its advice and recommendations at intervals it deems fit or as the LAB may direct. The committee shall deliver copies of the reports to the minister, who may on receipt of such copies, require the Labour Advisory Board to act on such advice or recommendations or direct on appropriate action which may be taken. The chairman of the committee shall prepare an annual report, which shall include the advices and recommendations given by the committee during the period of reporting, which report shall be presented to the minister within two months after the end of that year, reads in part functions and responsibilities of the committee of the LAB. Meanwhile, BE is a member of the International Organization of Employers (IOE), the ILO, the SADC Private Sector Forum (SPSF) and the Association of Southern African Development Community (SADC) Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Big Tech is celebrating as California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed an AI safety bill on Sunday that divided Silicon Valley. The bill, SB 1047, would have required companies to test their models and publicly disclose their safety protocols to prevent the models from being manipulated. The bill's opponents celebrated on X including Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke who wrote on X: 'Close one. Good leadership by Newsom. This should never have made it to his desk.' Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, argued that the bill would 'kill California tech' and stifle innovation. Pelosi wrote on X: 'AI springs from California. Thank you Newsom, for recognizing the opportunity and responsibility we all share to enable small entrepreneurs and academia not big tech to dominate.' Big Tech is celebrating as California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed an AI safety bill on Sunday that divided Silicon Valley The bill, SB 1047, would have required companies to test their models and publicly disclose their safety protocols to prevent the models from being manipulated Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, argued that the bill would 'kill California tech' and stifle innovation But there were some silicon valley giants who felt this bill would've been a step in the right direction. Geoffrey Hinton, who's regarded as an AI godfather for his work as a Google Brain researcher and his major achievement as a Turing Award winner, signed a letter on September 9 alongside 113 current and former employees of leading AI companies in support of the bill. Hinton wrote on X the following day after signing: 'I was happy to add my name to this list of employees and alumni of AI companies. 'These signatories have better insight than almost anyone else into what is coming next with AI and we should heed their warnings.' Elon Musk also chimed in on X, writing on August 26: This is a tough call and will make some people upset, but, all things considered, I think California should probably pass the SB 1047 AI safety bill. 'For over 20 years, I have been an advocate for AI regulation, just as we regulate any product or technology that is a potential risk to the public.' Geoffrey Hinton, who's regarded as an AI godfather for his work as a Google Brain researcher and his major achievement as a Turing Award winner, signed a letter on September 9 alongside 113 current and former employees of leading AI companies in support of the bill The landmark bill was introduced this year by Senator Scott Weiner and aimed to establish first-in-the-nation safety measures for large artificial intelligence models. It passed the California State Assembly last month before being vetoed by Newsom on Sunday. But this recent decision is a major blow to efforts attempting to rein in the homegrown industry that is rapidly evolving with little oversight. Earlier this month, the Democratic governor told an audience at Dreamforce, an annual conference hosted by software giant Salesforce, that California must lead in regulating AI in the face of federal inaction but that the proposal could severely effect the industry. Newsom said the proposal, which drew fierce opposition from startups, tech giants and several Democratic House members, could have hurt the homegrown industry by establishing rigid requirements. 'While well-intentioned, SB 1047 does not take into account whether an AI system is deployed in high-risk environments, involves critical decision-making or the use of sensitive data. 'Instead, the bill applies stringent standards to even the most basic functions - so long as a large system deploys it. I do not believe this is the best approach to protecting the public from real threats posed by the technology.' The landmark bill was introduced this year by Senator Scott Weiner and aimed to establish first-in-the-nation safety measures for large artificial intelligence models Newsom instead announced that the state will partner with several industry experts, including AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li , to develop guardrails around powerful AI models Newsom instead announced that the state will partner with several industry experts, including AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, to develop guardrails around powerful AI models. Li was also against the AI safety proposal. Weiner, called the veto 'a setback for everyone who believes in oversight of massive corporations that are making critical decisions that affect the safety and the welfare of the public and the future of the planet.' Wiener said the debate around the bill has dramatically advanced the issue of AI safety, and that he would continue pressing that point. The legislation is among a host of bills passed by the Legislature this year to regulate AI, fight deepfakes and protect workers. State lawmakers said California must take actions this year, citing hard lessons they learned from failing to rein in social media companies when they might have had a chance. The bill targeted systems that require a high level of computing power and more than $100 million to build. No current AI models have hit that threshold, but some experts said that could change within the next year. A number of leading AI companies last year voluntarily agreed to follow safeguards set by the White House, such as testing and sharing information about their models. Newsom's decision to veto the bill marks another win in California for big tech companies and AI developers, many of whom spent the past year lobbying alongside the California Chamber of Commerce to sway the governor and lawmakers from advancing AI regulations. The body of a woman has been pulled from the water after being swept off rocks. The woman was walking with two other people near a boardwalk at Cape Schanck off the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria on Monday. The trio was swept into the water and only two were able to return to shore. They were transported in a stable condition to Rosebud Hospital. Emergency services were called and a woman's body was winched from the water at the bottom of the Cape Schanck boardwalk at around 12.15pm. The woman's death is not being treated as suspicious and police will prepare a report for the coroner. The woman has not been formerly identified. Cape Schanck is located on the southernmost tip of the Mornington Peninsula, around 100km south of Melbourne. A woman has died after being swept into the water off the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria Cape Schanck Boardwalk is a scenic pathway located within the Cape Schanck Lighthouse Reserve. The boardwalk is a very popular tourist destination, offering visitors stunning views of the dramatic coastline and the iconic Cape Schanck Lighthouse. In February eight people were injured when they were knocked onto rocks by a wave near Cape Schanck. In January last year, a 24-year-old man died after falling from a cliff face in Cape Schanck, just off the Two Bays walking track at Bushrangers Bay. Police said two 24-year-old men from NSW were climbing the cliff face when they fell. CPR was performed on one of the men, but he died at the scene. The surviving man was taken to hospital where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. The two astronauts stuck at the International Space Station since June welcomed their new ride home with the arrival of a SpaceX capsule on Sunday. SpaceX launched the rescue mission one day earlier on Saturday with a downsized crew of two astronauts and two empty seats reserved for Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who will return next year. The Dragon capsule docked in darkness as the two craft soared 265 miles above Botswana. NASA switched Wilmore and Williams to SpaceX following concerns over the safety of their Boeing Starliner capsule. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of two astronauts, lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida In this image made from a NASA livestream, the two astronauts stuck at the International Space Station since June 2024, Butch Wilmore, far left, and Suni Williams, far right, welcome two new residents who flew up on SpaceX It was the first Starliner test flight with a crew, and NASA decided the thruster failures and helium leaks that cropped up after liftoff were too serious and poorly understood to risk the test pilots' return. So Starliner returned to Earth empty earlier this month. The Dragon carrying NASA's Nick Hague and the Russian Space Agency's Alexander Gorbunov will remain at the space station until February, turning what should have been a weeklong trip for Wilmore and Williams into a mission lasting more than eight months. Two NASA astronauts were pulled from the mission to make room for Wilmore and Williams on the return leg. 'I just want to say welcome to our new compadres,' Williams, the space station commander, said once Hague and Gorbunov floated inside and were embraced by the nine astronauts awaiting them. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is seen blazing through the sky into space following blast off SpaceX capsule Dragon approaches the International Space Station on Sunday Russian Space Agency's Alexander Gorbunov enters the International Space Station from the SpaceX capsule Dragon In blue suits, NASA's Nick Hague, left, and the Russian Space Agency's Alexander Gorbunov enter the International Space Station from the SpaceX capsule Dragon Hague said it was a smooth flight up. 'Coming through the hatch and seeing all the smiles, and as much as I've laughed and cried in the last 10 minutes, I know it's going to be an amazing expedition,' he said. NASA likes to replace its station crews every six months or so. SpaceX has provided the taxi service since the company's first astronaut flight in 2020. NASA also hired Boeing for ferry flights after the space shuttles were retired, but flawed software and other Starliner issues led to years of delays and more than $1 billion in repairs. Starliner inspections are underway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, with post-flight reviews of data set to begin this week. 'We're a long way from saying, "Hey, we're writing off Boeing,"' NASA's associate administrator Jim Free said at a pre-launch briefing. SpaceX capsule Dragon carries NASA's Nick Hague and the Russian Space Agency's Alexander Gorbunov to dock at the International Space Station The arrival of two fresh astronauts means the four who have been up there since March can now return to Earth in their own SpaceX capsule in just over a week, bringing the station's crew size back down to the normal seven. Their stay was extended a month because of the Starliner turmoil. Although Saturday's liftoff went well, SpaceX said the rocket's spent upper stage ended up outside its targeted impact zone in the Pacific because of a bad engine firing. The company has halted all Falcon launches until it figures out what went wrong was extended a month because of the Starliner turmoil. A woman who was allegedly mowed down and killed by her husband leaves behind five children - with her oldest son, 20, opening up about how he will have to raise his four younger siblings. Steven Galcsik, 47, allegedly ran over his wife Natalie, 46, with a car at their Pokolbin home in NSW's Hunter Valley region, just after 6pm on Friday. The alleged incident occurred at a property where the couple run a luxury accommodation business. A family member called emergency services, but despite their best efforts, Ms Galcsik died at the scene. Detectives are reportedly investigating how many times Ms Galcsik was allegedly struck as her husband is remanded in custody charged with domestic violence murder. On Monday, Ms Galcsik's 20-year-old son Alex revealed he has been left alone to support his siblings, as he launched a GoFundMe to assist with financial costs. 'My mother dedicated her life to raising myself and my siblings with selflessness and love despite difficult circumstances,' he wrote. 'She was the best mum we could of asked for. Natalie Galcsik, 46, (pictured) was allegedly murdered on Friday night. She left behind five children, family have revealed The couple owned and ran Unlax @ Hunter Valley, a luxury bed and breakfast in the heart of wine country. The fatal incident allegedly occurred there 'Any contribution great or small would be much appreciated to lessen the financial burden of this tough situation.' Friend Norma told Daily Mail Australia Ms Galcsik was a 'loving and devoted mother' and the 'best kind of friend you could wish for'. 'Her children were her universe, her absolute pride and joy,' she said. 'In addition to her many wonderful qualities, she was also spiritual, courageous, intelligent, caring, genuine, loyal and had an unassuming, quiet confidence which drew others to her. 'She has forever touched our hearts and will be eternally missed.' Another friend said she was left 'speechless' by the news of Ms Galcsik's death. 'Anyone who knew Natalie and her amazing kids would know how kind and selfless she was,' the friend wrote online. 'My heart breaks for these five children.' It is not the first tragedy to befall the family. Ms Galcsik's sudden death comes just 14 months after the couple's seven-year-old son died in a drowning tragedy in a dam near the property. The child was pulled unconscious from a dam in Pokolbin on August 18, 2023. The Galcsiks owned Unlax @ Hunter Valley, a boutique four-star bed-and-breakfast, featuring self-contained cottages for hire in the heart of the state's wine country. Rooms at the rustic property start at $398-a-night, with guests offered '360 degrees views of natural bushland and native wildlife'. They had the business for seven years after buying the 40 hectare property for $1.45million in 2017. Above, Ms Galcsik is seen at Sydney's Luna Park in an image obtained exclusively by Daily Mail Australia Pictured: One of the self-contained cottages on the Galcsik family's site Detectives are investigating whether the Galcsiks - who had no police record of domestic violence - were grappling with marital issues in the lead up to her death. Police are also investigating whether the alleged incident was witnessed by relatives. It is understood the Alex Galcsik made the triple 0 call. An AVO application has been made between Galcsik and his adult son, which is due to appear before Cessnock Local Court next month. According to online posts, Ms Galcsik was a horse enthusiast who was a member of the region's equestrian community. She also loved dogs and was interested in spirituality and holistic wellbeing practices, such as reiki. The property has been declared a crime scene and Daily Mail Australia understands its accommodation services have been suspended until further notice. Galcsik is due to face Newcastle Local Court again on November 27. A manager of a lingerie store has been applauded for calling out a delivery man accused of pestering her staff with inappropriate questions. Footage showed the woman stop the delivery worker as he was leaving her store in a New Zealand shopping centre and tell him his behaviour needed to change. 'I want to make something really, really clear,' she told the man, who was not identified in the clip. 'There is to be no discussion with my team about products that you see, products that you think will look good on them absolutely nothing.' The delivery driver said 'yep' and attempted to leave the store but was again chastised by the manager. 'You are to come in, drop the boxes, put your tablet on the counter, she will sign it and you will leave,' she said. The woman shared the video to TikTok and claimed the man had been pestering her staff and asking what kind of lingerie they liked. She also claimed he'd asked workers to play 'sex dice' with him. The manager of a New Zealand lingerie store let a delivery man know in no uncertain terms his conduct had not been appropriate 'Manager of the year!!! Well done love!' one person wrote. 'He knew he was in the wrong because he didn't even try to argue.' 'Thank you for looking out for your staff I was harassed at work when I was young and my manager gaslit me about the whole thing,' another person wrote. 'It's very healing to see you supporting your staff.' 'And THIS IS CALLED A GREAT MANAGER! great work I wanna work there!' was another comment. Sexual harassment is pervasive in Australian retail, according to a study conducted earlier this year by the Australian Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusion @ Work and Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety. The manager said the delivery man had been acting inappropriately towards staff in the lingerie store (stock image) Up to half of women and one in four men working in retail have experienced sexual harassment including physical contact, sexually suggestive comments and jokes, intrusive questions about their private life or appearance, and staring or leering. Young women under the age of 25 are highly targeted and often subjected to multiple forms of sexual harassment. Professor Rae Cooper, director of the Australian Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusion @ Work, said employers have a legal duty to prevent harm to workers from sexual harassment. 'These are not isolated incidents, this is happening every day across this large industry, and young people especially young women are copping the brunt of it,' Professor Cooper said. 'The retail industry is a key national employer of young people, and these workplaces have a duty of care to protect their inexperienced workers who are often working their first job. 'Sexual harassment doesn't just come from customers peers and managers are often perpetrators. It is pervasive.' A family-run human trafficking gang went undetected for years as it forced 16 slavery victims to toil at McDonald's and a factory supplying major supermarkets. Ernest Drevenak and Veronika Bubencikova, both 46, were found to have started exploiting the men from the Czech Republic in 2015 - but were only caught in 2019. Drevenak is said to have run the gang alongside his brother Zdenek. Their victims - who were homeless, unemployed or in very low-paid jobs in the Czech Republic - had been brought to the UK with the promise of a better life. Some were then put to work in Caxton, Cambridgeshire, at a branch of McDonald's - with the fast food chain now promising it had improved systems to spot 'potential risks'. Others were made to work for a factory providing bread for high street supermarkets. A gang forced 16 human trafficking victims to work at a McDonald's branch and a bread factory, a probe has found - including two (pictured) who have waived their anonymity Two brothers Ernest and Zdenek Drevenak have been convicted for leading the slavery gang Nine of the victims were put to work at a branch of McDonald's in Caxton, Cambridgeshire There were 16 slavery victims, the corporation revealed - with nine working at the McDonald's branch and nine at the pitta bread firm which had factories in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, and Tottenham in north London. Two of those involved were employed by both McDonald's and Speciality Flatbread, the latter of which is no longer operating. They are said to have been paid at least the national minimum wage, only to have almost all of their cash stolen by the criminal enterprise in charge of them. And the victims spent their days living in cramped accommodation including a leaking shed and an unheated caravan, even as the gang leaders were lavishing their earnings on luxury cars and gold jewellery. Warning signs were missed for years by officials, the BBC reported - such as the victims' wages being paid into accounts under other people's names. Payments meant for at least four of the employees, adding up to 215,000, were said to have gone into an account controlled by the slave-trading gang. Those trafficked here from the Czech Republic could not speak English, with a gang member completing their job applications and sitting in on interviews to translate. And the McDonald's employees were found to have been working as many as between 70 and 100 hours per week. Nine victims lived in the same terraced home in Enfield, north London, while working for the bakery firm. Dame Sara Thornton, the former independent anti-slavery commissioner, told the BBC: 'It really concerns me that so many red flags were missed, and that maybe the companies didnt do enough to protect vulnerable workers. Detective Sergeant Chris Acourt, who led a probe by Cambridgeshire Police, told of there being 'massive opportunities' missed to uncover the gang sooner. He said: 'Ultimately, we could have been in a situation to end that exploitation much earlier had we been made aware.' The gang was led by brothers Ernest and Zdenek Drevenak, who were found to have seized the passports of their victims while controlled them through fear and violence. One victim named Pavel, who waived his right to anonymity, told the BBC how he was first approached by the gang while homeless in the Czech Republic in 2016 and tempted by the promise of a well-paid job in Britain. Yet he found himself working 70 hours each week at McDonald's while given just a few pounds per day. Pavel said: 'You cant undo the damage to my mental health - it will always live with me. Slavery gang ringleader Ernest Drevenak has been jailed for 12 and a half years Veronika Bubencikova has been sentenced to ten and a half years behind bars for her role 'We were afraid. If we were to escape and go home, [Ernest Drevenak] has a lot of friends in our town - half the town were his mates.' He added: 'I do feel partially exploited by McDonalds because they didn't act. 'I thought if I was working for McDonalds, that they would be a little bit more cautious, that they will notice it.' The British Retail Consortium said: 'It is important that the retail industry learns from cases like this to continually strengthen due diligence.' A spokesperson for McDonald's (UK & Ireland) said in a statement today: 'The victims in these cases were cruelly exploited by the criminal perpetrators of these shocking offences. McDonalds commends the bravery the victims showed during the legal proceedings in bringing the criminals to justice. 'Together with our franchisees, we have taken action to strengthen the ability of our people and systems to detect and deter potential risks. 'In addition, this year, we have begun a partnership with Unseen, a leading expert organisation that specialises in addressing modern slavery issues and helping businesses in mitigating any risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains. 'We care deeply about the welfare of every single one of the 168,000 people working at McDonalds and franchisee owned restaurants across the UK and Ireland. With our franchisees, we will play our part alongside government, NGOs and wider society to help combat the evils of modern slavery.' Drevenak and Bubencikova pleaded not guilty to six counts of holding a person in slavery or servitude, five counts of arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view to exploitation, and fraud by false representation. They were found guilty last October after a trial at Cambridge Crown Court, with Drevenak jailed for 12 and a half years and Bubencikova for ten and a half years, Cambridgeshire Police said in a statement today. It is estimated the couple stole at least 200,000 from the men over the four-year period. Reporting on the case has been prevented until now due to reporting restrictions. Detective Constable Nick Webber, of Cambridgeshire Police, said: 'This case goes to show that sadly slavery can happen anywhere. 'Drevenak and Bubencikova preyed on vulnerable people in the Czech Republic who were down on their luck. The idea of work and accommodation in the UK was the dream they were sold something they didn't feel they could turn down. 'Drevenak and Bubencikova pretended to befriend the victims and acted as though they were doing them a favour, while all the time stealing thousands of pounds from them. Their crimes will have a significant and long-lasting impact on the victims. 'We have been working closely with McDonald's during this investigation. When they recognised the loophole that allowed these offences to take place, they put measures in place to prevent it happening again, and have provided significant support when relocating the victims. 'We need people to be aware of the signs of modern slavery and report any concerns they have.' About one-third of confirmed deaths caused by Hurricane Helene are from a single North Carolina region, it has been revealed. Thirty people have been confirmed dead in Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina, as rescue and recovery operations are ongoing, Sheriff Quentin Miller said on Sunday. Authorities said there is also a threat of landslides, adding to the challenges Buncombe County is facing due to damage from Hurricane Helene. County Manager Avril Pinder said she was asking the state for emergency food and drinking water. Streets in picturesque city Asheville were submerged in floodwater. 'This is a devastating catastrophe of historic proportions,' Governor Roy Cooper told CNN. 'People that I talk to in western North Carolina say they have never seen anything like this.' He added: 'This is an unprecedented tragedy that requires an unprecedented response.' Hurricane Helene knocked out power for millions, destroyed roads and bridges, and caused dramatic flooding from Florida to Virginia. At least 116 people have been killed, CBS News reports. A handout photo made available by the North Carolina Division of Aviation showing flood damage caused by the storm that started as Hurricane Helene in Asheville, North Carolina, USA, September 29, 2024 Relief efforts continue in Asheville area where a major disaster due to Hurricane Helene has left communities devastated, roads impassable and thousands without power Heavy rains from hurricane Helen caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina The North Carolina mountain town of Asheville has faced a massive amount of destruction following Hurricane Helene A drone view shows a damaged area in Asheville, North Carolina, on September 29, 2024 A resident and her dog walk around the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina Search and rescue teams from 19 states and the US government have converged on North Carolina, Cooper said, adding that some roads could take months to repair. In Flat Rock, North Carolina, there were widespread blackouts, and people waited hours in line for gas. 'Grocery stores are closed, cellphone service is out,' Chip Frank, 62, said as he entered his third hour waiting in line. 'It all depends on these gas stations. You're not going to be able to go nowhere, and it's just a scary feeling.' Hurricane Helene left a lot of infrastructure damage in its wake in North Carolina, according to Bill Norton from Duke Energy. 'The mountain zone of North Carolina is really inaccessible in many areas due to mudslides and flooding. We're using helicopters and drones to assess damage, but this is going to be a multi-day effort,' he told ABC News. The Southeastern US began a huge cleanup and recovery effort on Sunday, while cellphone towers across the region are still down,with hundreds of people having yet to make contact with loved ones and being listed as unaccounted for. Damage estimates ranged from $15billion to more than $100billion, insurers and forecasters said over the weekend, as water systems, communications and critical transportation routes were affected. Property damage and lost economic output will become clearer as officials assess the destruction. Roughly 2.7 million customers throughout the South were without power on Sunday, a US Energy Department official said, down 40 per cent from Friday after unprecedented storm surges, ferocious winds and perilous conditions extended hundreds of miles inland. President Joe Biden plans to visit affected areas this week, once he can do so without disrupting emergency services, the White House said. Members of the FEMA Massachusetts Task Force 1 conduct search and rescue in floodwaters caused by Hurricane Helene in Haywood County, North Carolina Residents walk along Catawba Avenue while debris is cleared in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Old Fort, North Carolina A trailer hangs off a bridge in Asheville, North Carolina on Sunday A passerby checks the water depth of a flooded road in Morganton, North Carolina. Torrential rain left many area streets flooded. In addition, traffic lights are broken due to powercuts Residents wait in line with gas cans at a Gas Plus gas station in North Augusta, South Carolina Damage and residual flooding from Mill Creek is seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on in Old Fort, North Carolina 'It's tragic,' Biden told reporters on Sunday, pledging recovery assistance after declaring major disasters in Florida and North Carolina and emergencies for Florida, North Carolina Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and Alabama. 'You saw the photographs. It's stunning.' Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris planned to cut short a campaign trip in Nevada on Monday to take part in briefings in Washington on the hurricane response and will visit the region when doing so won't impede the response, a White House official said. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will visit Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday to receive a briefing on storm damage and 'facilitate the distribution of relief supplies,' his campaign said. Helene slammed into Florida's Gulf Coast on Thursday night, triggering days of driving rain and destroying homes that had stood for decades. In Horseshoe Beach, on Florida's Gulf Coast about 70 miles west of Gainesville, Charlene Huggins surveyed the debris of her blown-out house, pulling a jacket out of the rubble on Saturday. 'Five generations lived in this house, from my grandmother, my father, myself, my daughter, son and my granddaughter,' Huggins said, holding a chipped glass cake stand. 'So there's a lot of memories here. It just breaks your heart.' Not far away, James Ellenburg stood on the property where his own family has lived for four generations. 'I took my first step right here in this yard.' Vehicles damaged from flooding and debris are seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Old Fort, North Carolina An aerial view of a home that was destroyed by fire as a result of storm surge as Hurricane Helene passed off shore in the Davis Islands neighborhood in Tampa, Florida Workers clean and gut a property that was flooded from the storm surge, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Steinhatchee, Florida on Sunday Two vehicles lie upended from flooding in Old Fort, North Carolina A vehicle sits outside of its garage after storm surge in Madeira Beach, Florida An uprooted tree landed on a pickup truck in front of a home on East Main Street in Glen Alpine, North Carolina A sign advising residents to boil their tap water is seen after Helene passed offshore in St. Petersburg, Florida The roof of one home sat flat in the dirt, its walls blown away. In coastal Steinhatchee, a storm surge a wall of seawater pushed ashore by winds of eight to 10 feet moved mobile homes, the weather service said. Other areas saw a storm surge of 15 feet. In the nearby tiny community of Spring Warrior Fish Camp, people were surveying the damage on Saturday and still waiting for emergency or first responder aid. 'No one thinks of us back here,' said David Hall, as he and his wife dug through seagrass and dead fish in the office of the hotel they owned. Many of the community's homes are built on stilts because of a local ordinance and survived heavy damage. Kristin Macqueen was helping friends clean up after their house was destroyed in nearby Keaton Beach. 'It's complete devastation,' she said. 'Houses have just been ripped off their slabs.' Over the weekend, beachgoers trawling for treasures had an unexpected surprise. There was a black holdall containing 3.1million worth of cocaine which had washed up on the shore of Trevaunance Cove in St Agnes on the north Cornish coast. Investigators are hunting for its owners and teams are scouring the coast between Padstow and Holywell Bay to see if any more of the substance washed out to sea. Trevaunance Cove is popular with dog walkers and even out of the main holiday season it is usually bustling with holidaymakers. But questions remain as to how 40kg of the Class A drug ended up on the sand of the picturesque Cornish beach. Cocaine worth up to an estimated 3.1 million was found washed up on the popular beach of Trevaunance Cove over the weekend (Pictured) A black holdall which contained around 40kg of the Class A drug was found on the sand along the north Cornish coast according to a village source Devon and Cornwall police are working with Interpol and other global agencies to try to find out how the drugs are ending up on British beaches, as Saturday's discovery is hardly a rarity in Cornwall. Smugglers may have dumped the cocaine overboard as they were hunted by anti-drug patrols. The drugs may have also fallen overboard when being transported on a small boat or due to bad weather conditions affecting the vessel. Cocaine is trafficked to Europe from the producer countries of South America by both air and sea, using a range of methods and routes. It is shipped from Latin America in vessels launched from Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela. Venezuela has become more important in recent years as trafficking organisations move Colombian cocaine overland and take advantage of the busy maritime traffic between the coast and the islands of the Caribbean. However, cocaine is also trafficked from Venezuela to Europe by air, either directly or via the Caribbean and Africa. Cocaine seized by the NCA on a fishing boat stopped at sea off the coast of Newquay, Cornwall A fishing boat carrying approximately one tonne of cocaine was intercepted off the Cornish coast earlier this month. Pictured: A stock image of a boat in Mevagissey, Cornwall Pictured: Newlyn town harbour in Cornwall. The Cornish coast often sees unexpected parcels The largest seaports in Europe are in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Antwerp, Belgium, and they are key points for this type of trafficking. Large container ports in other countries are also used, like Algeciras and Valencia in Spain, and Hamburg in Germany. According to the European Union Drugs Agency, the trafficking into Europe mainly occurs through western and southern countries. Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium are the most important entry points for South American cocaine reaching the Europe. Together, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Italy accounted for around four-fifths of the cocaine seized in the EU in 2014. Cocaine traffickers make use of a wide range of trafficking methods, but the key to facilitate it is corruption. Organised crime groups involved in cocaine trafficking may be making 'systematic efforts to corrupt workers in all major ports' in response to any crackdown in law enforcement, according to the EUDA. The drugs are loaded in the departure port and recovered in the port of arrival, so the use of corrupt employees at both ends is a key element. Earlier in the month, a fishing boat carrying approximately one tonne of cocaine was been intercepted off the Cornish coast in a 'huge loss' for an organised crime group, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said. NCA officers arrested four men and seized the drugs after the boat was stopped at sea near Newquay on September 13. The four men were arrested on suspicion of importing class A drugs. Images supplied by the NCA show 17 brick-shaped packages in brown wrapping and two in dark wrapping, most with the label 'pezx'. Pictured: A view of Trevaunance Cove, St Agnes Cornwall on a picturesque day An aerial view of a beach in St Agnes, Cornwall as people flock to the beach The force also released a photograph of a blue and white boat named 'Lily Lola'. Derek Evans, NCA branch commander, said: 'This is a significant amount of cocaine that will represent a huge loss for the organised crime group that attempted to import it into the UK. 'With our partners at Border Force and the Joint Maritime Security Centre, we have successfully removed this harmful drug consignment from the criminal marketplace. 'Its onward supply would have fuelled exploitation through county lines activity as well as serious violence and knife crime. 'Our investigation into this importation continues.' The National Crime Agency says the domestic cocaine market is dominated by criminal gangs who make in the region of 4bn a year. Cocaine trafficking is closely linked to serious violence throughout the supply chain, including firearms and knife crime in the UK. The cocaine trade has seen an exponential rise in associated violence in the past few years. In February the NCA and Border Force have made what is believed to be the biggest ever seizure of class A drugs in the UK. The haul of 5.7 tonnes of cocaine was found in a container at Southampton Port which was bound for Hamburg, Germany. The blocks of drugs were found hidden within a cargo of bananas which had been transported from South America. Based on UK street-level prices the cocaine would likely have had an estimated value in excess of 450 million. Cocaine is created from a paste extracted from the leaves of the coca bush found in South America, then mixed with 'cutting agents' such as talcum powder, flour, laxatives and sugar before being sold on the street to boost the dealer's supply. The SNP was today accused of 'sabotaging' a scheme to axe peak rail fares in Scotland after they were reintroduced to the ire of commuters. A trial that saw peak fares scrapped for nearly a year has now come to an end, causing the price of an anytime return ticket between Glasgow and Edinburgh rise from 16.20 to 31.40. The average peak fare reduced by nearly 17 per cent during the pilot, but it cost 40 million over a year to subsidise. Scottish Labour today insisted passenger numbers had 'soared' during the scheme but many would now be 'forced' to return to their cars. A trial that saw peak fares scrapped for nearly a year has now come to an end, causing the price of an anytime return ticket between Glasgow and Edinburgh rise from 16.20 to 31.40 SNP leader John Swinney has been criticised over the scrapping of the trial scheme Sarah Boyack, its Net Zero spokesperson, said 'This is another blow to the SNP's senseless decision to hike rail fares for working people. 'This pilot was a rare success story from an SNP government typically mired in chaos and failure. 'This scheme has been sabotaged by SNP incompetence at every turn, but peak-time passenger numbers have still soared. 'It's clear eye-watering rail fares have forced people off of peak-time trains and now thousands of Scots are at risk of once again being priced out of their daily commute, forced back into cars and stuck in traffic jams. 'The SNP is already ditching its climate targets, and now it is rowing back on measures that would help us get back on track. 'Scotland deserves affordable, reliable, green rail services but the SNP appears to have given up on rail and abandoned climate leadership.' Train drivers' union Aslef called on the Scottish Government to 'think again' over its decision and called the reintroduction of peak fares 'a tax on workers'. The union added that it was a 'short-sighted' decision that would damage local economies and make it harder to meet climate targets, and called on the government to reverse it in the next budget. Aslef Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay said: 'The flawed decision by First Minister John Swinney and transport minister Fiona Hyslop to restore peak fares will fleece passengers and is a huge mistake that must be rectified in the next Scottish budget. 'Peak fares are no more than a tax on workers and removing them was a step in the right direction to make rail fares more affordable. It put more money in the pockets of rail passengers. 'In Fiona Hyslop's own constituency, the impact will be severe. 'If a worker now has to get an on-peak return fare from Linlithgow to Glasgow five days a week for four weeks in a month, they will be 166 per month worse off. 'That is a shocking indictment of the decision she has made and the level of these rises in fares will impact local economies all across Scotland as people see their disposable income reduced.' Train drivers' union Aslef called on the Scottish Government to 'think again' over its decision and called the reintroduction of peak fares 'a tax on workers' An analysis of the scheme by Transport Scotland estimated that passenger levels increased by up to 6.8 per cent during the pilot peak fare removal scheme, which was initially introduced in October 2023. A Transport Scotland survey found 80 per cent of respondents said they were making more rail trips than previously, with around three quarters of them suggesting that the pilot scheme was the primary reason for this. The analysis report said that a 6.8 per cent increase in passenger numbers represents four million extra rail journeys over nine months, of which two million would previously have been made by private car. Scottish Greens transport spokesperson Mark Ruskell said: 'A lot of commuters will have an unpleasant surprise when they pay for their tickets this morning and see that prices are higher than ever. 'Peak rail fares are fundamentally unfair. They disproportionately impact people who have no say over when they need to travel for work or study. 'Bringing them back will do nothing to help workers or students or to encourage people out of their cars. 'Many regular commuters have saved hundreds of pounds on their fares over the last year, and some of the rises they will now face are staggering.' The Scottish Government previously said that a 10 per cent increase in passenger numbers would have been required for the policy to be self-financing and claimed the pilot 'primarily benefited existing train passengers and those with medium to higher incomes'. It said that instead of extending the pilot it will offer 12 single journeys for the price of 10 on flexipasses and discounts on annual season tickets. It also said it would be 'open' to consider further subsidy to remove peak fares if budget allocations from the UK Government improve in future years. A Transport Scotland spokeswoman said: 'The peak fares removal pilot was a welcome incentive over the last 12 months, saving many passengers hundreds and in some cases thousands of pounds during the cost-of-living crisis. 'The Scottish Government would be open to consider future subsidy to remove peak fares should UK budget allocations improve in future years. 'Ministers understand this will be disappointing for many rail users, particularly for those who cannot choose when they travel to and from work. 'That is why a 12-month discount on all ScotRail season tickets has been introduced, available weekly, monthly and annually.' A young man has died a week after he was allegedly coward punched while walking home from a night out. Cameron Duce, 22, was allegedly struck by an 18-year-old on The Esplanade, in Burleigh Heads, in Queensland's Gold Coast in the early hours of September 22. His family revealed on Saturday that Mr Duce's head injuries were too severe and there was nothing more medical staff at the Gold Coast University Hospital could do. Mr Duce's father, Chris Duce, said for seven days he sat in the ICU with his son who 'received the best possible care' from doctors who gave him 'every medical and drug intervention available'. 'We were informed yesterday that Cameron had no chance of any recovery and the family has decided to let our beautiful boy Cameron pass peacefully in his own time,' Chris wrote. 'We were fortunate enough to have the time to all say our goodbyes, and his long procession of very good mates as well as all his family and close relatives had the opportunity to come and say goodbye.' Chris said the love shown from those close to his son had been 'heartwarming' to the family. 'But nothing will ever replace the massive hole left in our lives with the passing of our beautiful son, brother, grandson, uncle, nephew, and one of the best people anyone could have ever called a mate,' he continued. Cameron Duce has died following an alleged coward punch while he was out in Burleigh Heads with friends a week ago 'He was the son I never deserved, so much better than me in so many ways. 'We will all cherish the years we had with Cameron, and grieve for the years we will never get to spend with him, never getting to watch him grow further into the fine young man that he had already become. 'Our hearts are broken. Our lives will never be the same. The world has lost one of the genuinely good people who brought joy, laughter and love to all of those he met. 'Rest in peace my beautiful son, our beautiful boy. We love you so much and miss you so badly already. Go and be the Angel you already were. 'Fly high Cammy boy, we all love you and miss you so very, very much. Forever 22.' Cameron Duce was allegedly punched before hitting his head on the ground on September 22 Police believe Cameron was walking home alone when the alleged assault occurred. 'My understanding is he'd (Cameron) been out for the night, was allegedly assaulted while he was walking out of the precinct, has fallen, struck his head and that's caused the fatal injuries at the end of the day,' Queensland Police Acting Superintendent Scott Knowles said on Monday. 'Our condolences go out to his family and our investigators will be working hard to actually bring the person to justice who has (allegedly) done this. The 18-year-old from Robina has been charged with unlawful striking causing death. He will appear at Southport Magistrates Court on Tuesday. Police were appealing for anyone who may have witnessed the September 22 incident or have CCTV footage of it to come forward. The grieving parents of a young actress who died after her blood clot symptoms were misdiagnosed by a physician associate (PA) as anxiety say she would be alive if she had been sent to A&E. Emily Chesterton died in 2022 three weeks after her 30th birthday when a PA mistook a clot on her lungs as anxiety and a sprain. Emily, who was from Greater Manchester but had moved to London to pursue a career in acting, believed she had been seen by a GP at her surgery in North London. But instead a physician associate prescribed her propranolol medication for anxiety. She collapsed later that evening and was rushed to hospital. However her heart had stopped beating and doctors could not save her life. A coroner concluded Emily could have been saved if she had been to A&E and given treatment for a pulmonary embolism. Her heartbroken mother Marion said the family only found out a week before her daughter's inquest took place that she hadn't see a doctor. The emotional mother told Good Morning Britain today: 'We believed she was a doctor. Marion and Brendan Chesterton say their daughter, Emily, would still be alive if a physician associate had sent her to A&E rather than misdiagnose her blood clot symptoms as 'anxiety' Emily died in 2022 three weeks after her 30th birthday and believed she had been seen by a GP at her surgery in North London 'As you said before, right until the week before the inquest five months later, that was when we were only told it wasn't a doctor it was a physician associate. 'The first thing I said was "well what is a physician associate?". I had to sit down, I remember I had to have a good few minutes to myself and I was thinking "what is going on?". ' Emily's symptoms included calf pain, a swollen and hot leg, shortness of breath and she was finding it increasingly difficult to walk. Her father, Brendan, said everyone he had spoken to had told him that a pain in the calf was 'medical 101' that it was a clot. 'We've said the name (physician associate) is rather grand,' he said. 'A physician associate sounds even better than junior doctor. The name itself we objected to. We were told nothing could be done about the naming of them. But it suggests someone who is highly trained and highly competent. B 'But people I've talked to, the say a pain in the calf is like medical 101. Everyone should realise that that is indicative of some kind of clot. She didn't notify that.' The parents said they had been left feeling reassured after Emily had seen what she believed to be a GP. 'She (Emily) trusted the doctor,' Brendan said. ;She came out and said "I've seen the doctor, the doctor said it is just anxiety". So it was a trust in the profession. We didn't question that, well the doctor said it's that.' Emily's symptoms included calf pain, a swollen and hot leg, shortness of breath and she was finding it increasingly difficult to walk Her father, Brendan, said everyone he had spoken to had told him that a pain in the calf was 'medical 101' that it was a clot Emily pictured with her mother Marion who said she had felt reassured after she had seen what she believed to be a GP A coroner concluded Emily (right) could have been saved if she had been to A&E and given treatment for a pulmonary embolism Marion added: 'We were reassured as she came out and said "it isn't anything serious, I'm being sent tomorrow for a chest X-ray", so that's the moment I was thinking "she doesn't look well". 'We had seen her three weeks previously and thought "what should we do?" And because we had believed she had seen a doctor and she was going to hospital the next day for an X-ray we thought we are trusting the doctors.' The GP practice where Emily was seen, the Vale Practice in Crouch End, has since stopped employing PAs. Marion and Brendan, both retired teachers, have joined growing calls for there to be greater clarity on the role of PAs. The Mail on Sunday first raised the alarm about PAs last year and has since been running a campaign to Rein In The Physician Associates. PAs do not go to medical school and instead do two years of post-graduate training on top of a degree in a subject like biomedical sciences. First introduced in 2003, a PA role currently allows them to take medical histories, perform physical examinations, analyse test results and make diagnoses. A group of senior doctors is planning to sue the General Medical Council in an unprecedented attack on the NHS's growing reliance on PAs. The group, Anaesthetists United, has raised more than 50,000 to take the GMC to court, claiming that its plan to start regulating the so-called 'cut-price medics' fails to set out clear rules over what PAs can and cannot do. The Royal College of GPs voted earlier this month to ban PAs from working in practices. The College which represents 50,000-plus GPs said almost two thirds of voters agreed to oppose PAs from working in surgeries. The NHS employs more than 3,500 PAs in England and plans to increase this to 10,000 by 2036. Around 2,000 currently work in general practices across the country. Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said at the time: 'It became very clear at today's Council discussion that we needed to speak out in opposition to the PA role within a general practice setting. 'I am pleased that our processes have enabled us to do this in a collegiate and democratic way.' A man who fought off an 8ft shark by stabbing it in the gills has revealed that he is getting the teeth left embedded in his arm from the attack turned into jewellery. Angus Kockott, 20, from East London, South Africa, was snorkelling in shallow waters off the island of Mangareva, French Polynesia when he was attacked on May 23. Out of nowhere, a suspected grey reef shark approached him from behind a reef - and clamped its jaws on his arm. Luckily, a quick-thinking Angus was able to pull a 4in blade - used for cutting diving lines - from his pocket to stab the shark in the gills before swimming to safety. An emergency military aircraft was called to fly him to the nearest hospital, where he underwent life-saving six-hour surgery. Angus Kockott, 20, from East London, South Africa, is seen in hospital in Tahiti, French Polynesia, where he had life-saving surgery after being attacked by a suspected grey reef shark Angus takes a selfie while swimming around Mangareva in French Polynesia before the attack took place Pictured: The silhouette of a grey reef shark is seen against lightrays in Ningaloo reef, Western Australia The reef shark's sharp teeth severed two of the major nerves in Angus' arm, plus some tendons. He had skin and nerve grafts - and several teeth and tooth fragments were retrieved from the injured limb. While he is still undergoing physio and nerve treatments, Angus said it has not put him off going back into the water again. He described the attack as a 'defining experience' in his life - and is even getting earrings made out of the teeth pulled from his arm. Angus said: 'When the shark bit, I didn't have time to panic - you just have to act when you have that kind of adrenaline in those situations. 'At first I felt immense pain - I really thought I would lose my arm. 'After my nerve graft and skin grafts, it's healing well but I'm taking it day by day. 'It's been a defining experience in my life and that's why I'm getting the teeth made into earrings. 'It hasn't put me off being in the ocean - I can't wait until I can go back..' A muzzed image shows Angus' shark bite following the attack, which he says left his arm 'like a drumstick' Angus shows how his arm was able to heal after the attacks, thanks to a skin graft he received, using skin from his left thigh and a nerve graft using nerves transplanted from the back of his heel This image shows a reef in the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia Angus was out sailing with a friend around the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia, but the pair had separated to do some freediving when he was attacked. He just managed to put out his arm to protect his head and neck, before the shark attacked. He said: 'Seeing that shark right before it bit me - that was a real ''oh sh*t'' moment. 'My first reaction was to get my knife used for cutting lines, and I just went for the shark as hard as I could. 'It was only a little knife, but I'm very glad I had it on that day. 'After it released my arm, I couldn't see anything except for a huge pool of blood around me, but I managed to stand up on a reef. 'My arm was literally squirting blood - it looked like a stripped drumstick..' Angus tied goggles around his arm to create a makeshift tourniquet. His friend helped him get to safety in a nearby town, Rikitea, and he was taken to Taaone Hospital in Tahiti. Angus is seen with here his parents. After spending three weeks in Tahiti to recover from his injuries, he flew home to South Africa for further treatment The next day doctors 'took [his] arm apart and put it back together again'. After spending three weeks in Tahiti to recover from his injuries, he flew home to South Africa for further treatment. The nerves in his arm had been completely severed by the attack meaning he had little movement or feeling. He had a skin graft using skin from his left thigh and a nerve graft using nerves transplanted from the back of his heel. Angus added: 'If I hadn't blocked the shark with my arm, it could have gone for my neck - my jugular vein was right there. I would've been toast. 'Or, if it had come to bite me again, I would have been too injured to fight back or get away. 'I think I would have died then in the water, or drowned.' Angus is itching to get back in the water and continue his training for a career in sailing. 'My assumption was it was a territory thing - you can't blame the animal,' he said. A heroin dealer caught brazenly selling drugs and dancing with cash under a CCTV camera dodged prison after a judge told him 'you were not very good at it'. Entison Dimitri, 35, was captured dealing cocaine and heroin out the back of his black Volkswagen Polo in February by a casino's security camera in Peterborough. The footage, taken on February 22, showed Dimitri skipping and jiving after selling class A drugs to customers and collecting more wraps from his car. But despite the clear flouting of the law, a judge at Cambridge Crown Court handed him a suspended sentence. Entison Dimitri dancing as he makes his way back to his black Volvo for more drugs to sell Caught red handed: Dimitri exchanging drugs for money close to a casino's CCTV camera A judge told him he was going to be caught eventually because 'you were not very good at it' Reprimanding Dimitri, the judge said: 'Having watched the CCTV you were somewhat naive given the fact that you were dealing drugs in full view of the CCTV. 'It was just a question of time before you were caught, because you were not very good at it.' The operator of the security camera at Merkur Slots in Millfield tipped off the police about Dimitri's illicit activities. Officers searched him outside the casino and took wraps of cocaine and crack cocaine worth about 5,000. Detectives then raided his home on nearby Lincoln Road and found uncovered more drugs taking the total seized to more than 10,000. The judge added: 'It is concerning that the birth of your child threw you into drug dealing. You also developed a gambling addiction and sold drugs in order to fund that addiction.' Dimitri was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years for drug dealing Finding his stash: Dimitri was selling cocaine, crack and heroin in Peterborough in February Dimitri was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, after previously admitting possession with intent to supply cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin. He must carry out 180 hours of unpaid work, complete a 25-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement and adhere to a curfew between 9.30pm and 6am for the next four months. Sergeant Sarah Phillips, from the Eastern Peterborough Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: 'Tackling drug dealing and associated crime in this area of the city is a priority for my team, as it was highlighted as a concern by the local community. 'This work falls under 'Alliance' which is a partnership initiative to regenerate Millfield to ensure a safer, better place for residents and businesses by tackling organised crime.' An embattled builder has come to blows with a journalist who confronted him over why construction was continuing on his wife's home while hundreds of customers are left with unfinished projects. Veteran Seven News reporter Geof Parry approached Nicheliving director, Ronnie Michel-Elhaj, on Saturday morning outside of the home in Applecross, Perth. Parry tried to ask Mr Michel-Elhaj why construction was still going ahead at his wife's home while up to 200 of his customers were waiting for their projects to be completed. Some customers had signed contracts with the builder four years ago. But instead of answering, Mr Michel-Elhaj snatched the microphone out of the reporter's hands and grabbed onto the camera to block its lens. A cameraman can be heard yelling at Mr Michel-Elhaj to 'drop the camera' to which he responded 'don't film me'. Mr Michel-Elhaj then claimed Parry was trespassing on the property after the pair fell to the ground behind metal fencing. 'I'm not trespassing, come on mate I just wanted to ask you a few questions. This is ridiculous,' Parry responded. Nicheliving director, Ronnie Michel-Elhaj, has been involved in a scuffle with a veteran reporter trying to ask him why hundreds of customers had their projects paused (pictured) Mr Michel-Elhaj lashed out at Parry and his cameraman in a statement revealing he had reported the incident to police and would be pressing charges. The director posted the statement to LinkedIn, accusing Parry and Seven of having 'relentlessly ambushed my family and me for sensationalist purposes'. 'After I asked Geof not to trespass on a work site and film me, he ignored my request and continued filming,' the statement reads. 'The first incident by Geoff and Seven was an ambush on my family at night walking home which has caused our family severe distress. 'Geof and Seven have taken things to a whole new level causing personal injury. 'This is not journalism, it is now bullying and absolutely unacceptable disgusting behaviour which must be banned.' Western Australia Premier, Roger Cook, came to the reporter's defence and slammed Mr Michel-Elhaj's response to his questions. 'My message to Nicheliving is: Ronnie, read the room,' Mr Cook said at the launch of a new domestic violence awareness campaign. 'It's not OK that you look after yourself and your home when you have literally hundreds of clients that are still not being able to get into their own home that you are under contract to build. 'Violence is never OK, but we particularly deplore the fact that (this is) someone going about their work, in this case, Geof and his camera team simply asking questions consistent with their job.' Mr Michel-Elhaj (pictured) lashed out at Parry and his cameraman in a statement revealing he had reported the incident to police and would be pressing charges WA Opposition leader, Shane Love, said the 'writing has been on the wall' for the company for many months. 'Many people have put their lives on hold, and their letters to the State Government, the State Administrative Tribunal, and the Building Commission have not been met with the urgency or empathy needed,' he said. 'The state government has sat on their hands.' Nicheliving had its registration renewal declined by the Building Services Board in July, which could have allowed affected customers to claim up to $200,000 from insurance. However, Nicheliving took the matter to the State Administrative Tribunal which returned their registration until the next hearing in November. Parry later appeared on Seven News with a blunt message for Mr Michel-Elhaj. 'You owe your customers answers, you owe your customers a way out of this nightmare and lastly you owe your customers an apology,' he said. 'Or I'll keep coming for your on their behalf.' Nicheliving has been involved in more than $500million worth of property deals in WA. Mr Michel-Elhaj himself was previously recognised as one of the state's top entrepreneurs at the 40under40 awards. A Labour-run council is being hauled into court by its own residents over a 'flawed' low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) plan which was forced through despite a majority opposition from locals. The West Dulwich Action Group, made up of residents and business owners, is asking London's High Court to force Lambeth council to scrap an LTN plan which two-thirds of residents do not want. Legal documents, seen by The Telegraph, list various 'failings' by the council whilst gathering residents views on the LTN in West Dulwich, which it is claimed proved they 'erred in law'. Court documents show how Lambeth council's consultation found 67.5 per cent of locals asked 'were either unhappy or very unhappy' with the LTN plan. The submission said 'the outcome of the consultation resulted in modifications to the scheme not to the principle of a LTN', in defiance of 63.5 per cent saying they were 'very unhappy' with the idea. Are you a West Dulwich resident opposing the LTN? Email freya.barnes@mailonline.co.uk A post uploaded to The West Dulwich Action Group's Facebook page details their concerns and urges other to get involved in stopping the LTN plan A road closure feature as part of an LTN by Southwark Council preventing motorists from accessing the junction of Carlton Avenue and Dulwich Village Despite this feedback and the Government insisting that schemes should not go ahead if there is widespread opposition, Lambeth decided to push the plan through anyway, the submission claimed. It also said Lambeth council's consultation with its residents was unfair and irrational, partly because some councillors 'refused to engage' with The West Dulwich Action Group because it was simply deemed 'anti-LTN'. The papers said 'decisions as to which businesses to consult seem to have been taken on a whim', with the council then telling a 'changing story' on exactly who they asked. Many local tradesmen believe controlled parking and road closures may cause a reduction in footfall and fewer customers in their shops, with fears some will be forced to close. A library 'drop-in' meant to address and document local residents' concerns about the LTN ended in near farce, the legal argument also claims. The 23-page document said: 'Seemingly as a result of the hostility to the proposals, the council members and officers who had attended took an early lunch break and also subsequently concluded the event early such that anyone who arrived during the unadvertised lunch break or towards the end of the advertised time slot was unable to participate.' It is claimed Lambeth council 'has sought to avoid using the term' LTN and called it 'street improvements' instead due to negative connotations associated with the term. The action group commissioned a 53-page report which suggests the LTN will increase car journey times on already congested boundary roads and therefore increase pollution and plummet the air quality well below World Health Organisation legal levels. However, they claim this was 'ignored' by Lambeth council. West Dulwich residents are taking pictures of the roads in the area as they are currently before the LTN is implemented and uploading them to their Facebook group as 'before' pictures Another picture uploaded to the Facebook group of a residential road in the area before the LTN is implemented The group's lawyers wrote: 'In other words, there was a refusal to engage with those who might be critical of what the council was proposing.' A spokesperson for The West Dulwich Action Group told The Telegraph: 'Once again, Lambeth council is riding roughshod over the wishes of the vast majority of its residents, showing a blatant disregard for pollution and collision data. 'The council refuses to listen or engage with the community, insisting it knows best despite evidence to the contrary. 'Democracy has been replaced with diktats, as councillors and staff relentlessly pursue a green ideology, regardless of whether their policies actually improve the environment.' A Lambeth council spokesperson told The Telegraph it was 'working to make the neighbourhoods safer and healthier for all' as the borough has 'some of the country's most polluted air', and lacks outdoor space with 'dangerous roads resulting in too many people getting injured'. They added: 'The street improvements project supports these aims, and was created in response to business and residents' appeals. It is an 18-month trial and will be continually monitored by Lambeth council. 'We have thoroughly engaged with the local community throughout, and there will be further opportunities for local people to feedback during the course of the trial.' Are you a West Dulwich resident opposing the LTN? Email freya.barnes@mailonline.co.uk Tory leadership favourite Robert Jenrick has vowed to emulate Donald Trump by moving the British embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. The former minister wore a 'Hamas are terrorists' hoodie as he addressed a Conservative Friends of Israel event at party conference in Birmingham. Speaking alongside the other three candidates to replace defeated Rishi Sunak he also boasted of getting Israel added to the e-gates system at UK airports. This, he told the audience, made sure that the Star of David was flown at the UK border as a 'show of support' for the Jewish state. Just five countries currently have their Israeli embassy based in Jerusalem, which is also claimed by Palestine. The most prominent of them is the United States, after Mr Trump had it moved in 2018 when president. The British embassy is currently in Tel Aviv, but Mr Jenrick told the event: 'I stood in this very hall a few years ago and I said it then, as I say it now tonight, and if the Foreign Office or the civil servants don't want to do it, I will build it myself. 'So friends, the next Conservative Party manifesto will say build the embassy in Jerusalem, recognise Jerusalem as the legitimate capital of the state of Israel.' The Prime Minister's official spokesman today said there were no plans to move the embassy. The former minister wore a ' Hamas are terrorists' hoodie as he addressed a Conservative Friends of Israel event at party conference in Birmingham. (FILE PIC) Just five countries currently have their Israeli embassy based in Jerusalem, which is also claimed by Palestine . The most prominent of them is the United States, after Mr Trump had it moved in 2018 when president. Labour has already clashed with the hardline Benjamin Netanyahu government since taking power in July. Netanyahu has criticised the UK Government's decision to suspend some arms export licences to Israel, amid concerns they could be used in violation of international humanitarian law. But Sir Keir later rejected his Israeli counterpart's accusation that the move had been 'misguided'. He described Israel as a 'very important ally' and said he had 'long respected and supported its right to self-defence' but said Britain had to comply with international rules. The new Labour Government has suspended about 30 out of a total of 350 arms export licences to Israel, after a UK assessment suggested they could be used to breach international rules. All four candidates spoke at a reception for the Conservative Friends of Israel on Sunday evening, setting out their support for the nation. Ms Badenoch claimed a group of independent MPs who stood on pro-Gaza tickets are a 'new threat', telling the fringe event: 'We must not pretend that these people are a minority. 'We have to fight this ideology that has no business in our country.' Mr Tugendhat said the Conservatives should be 'absolutely clear that we will always stand with democracies defending themselves' and hit out against Labour's partial arms embargo on Israel. Israeli special forces are already carrying out raids in Lebanon ahead of an imminent ground invasion to oust Hezbollah, officials have claimed. Elite commandos were said to be targeting the group's infrastructure, including weapon sites and control centres, as it scrambles to recover from the loss of long-time chief Hassan Nasrallah. 'They are targeting key sites which have been built across the border zone,' an Israeli official told The Telegraph. IDF tanks have massed on the northern border ahead of an anticipated incursion into Lebanon despite resounding pressure from Israel's allies to de-escalate at once. Hezbollah today said its militants were braced and 'ready' for war, as Lebanon prepared to deploy its own army to the south, fearing a collapse into all out war. Israel's assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah with US-made bunker-busting bombs on Friday came as the result of a critical intelligence breach amid decades of infiltration of Iranian and Lebanese militant command structures, it is claimed. Nasrallah died in a brutal assault that saw Israeli F-15I fighter jets drop dozens of munitions on the Hezbollah HQ in Beirut - a rapid succession of strikes dubbed 'Operation New Order' that eliminated half of Hezbollah's leadership council and decimated its top military command. Expert analysts said the F-15s delivered 2000lb Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) that are designed to penetrate deep into their targets before exploding, allowing Israel's air force to eliminate Nasrallah even as he hid in an underground bunker some 60 feet beneath Beirut's Dahiyeh suburb. That attack came barely a week after the deadly detonation of thousands of booby-trapped Hezbollah pagers and hundreds of radios which killed dozens of people and left thousands injured. One security source told Reuters less than 24 hours before the momentous strike that Israel has spent 20 years focusing intelligence efforts on Hezbollah so it could hit Nasrallah when it wanted, adding that the quality of the information Israeli military chiefs had received was 'brilliant'. Meanwhile, another source told French press that Nasrallah's arrival at Hezbollah HQ was leaked to the IDF by an Iranian mole, suggesting the Lebanese militant chief was compromised by his own backers. Nasrallah died in a brutal assault that saw Israeli F-15I fighter jets drop dozens of munitions on the Hezbollah HQ in Beirut The site of an impact crater following Israel's assault on Hezbollah HQ in Dahiyeh, Beirut A view of damage occurring in the surrounding buildings following Israeli warplanes targeted the Dahiyeh area in Beirut Israel have killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah (pictured in 2015) in strikes on Beirut An F-15I fighter jet of the IAF's 69th Squadron takes off from the Hatzerim Airbase in southern Israel to carry out a strike in Beirut against Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, September 27, 2024 The setup and the 'betrayal' Security-conscious Nasrallah had long avoided public appearances for fear of assassination, remaining largely hidden from view since Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in 2006. His movements were heavily restricted and only known to a select few members of his trusted military commanders, while the circle of people he saw in person was very small, according to a source familiar with Nasrallah's security arrangements. Since the September 17 pager blasts that injured thousands of his fighters, the Hezbollah chief had become even more vigilant. Nasrallah chose to skip the funeral of one of his trusted commanders and began releasing pre-recorded speeches rather than going live on air. But no amount of security precautions would have prevented Israel's air force from wiping their adversary out in his own backyard after IDF chiefs received 'real-time intelligence that Nasrallah was gathering with many senior terrorists', Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani said. Several security sources in Lebanon declared Nasrallah's assassination meant Israel must have successfully penetrated the upper echelons of Hezbollah's command structure with covert operatives and informants that were able to leak details of his movements to the IDF. Military historian and analyst Michel Goya posited that the pager and radio attack was an instrumental step in the hunt for Nasrallah. By crippling the group's means of secure communication, several members of Hezbollah's leadership were 'forced to meet in person' in the group's headquarters, he said - something that security concerns would typically never permit. But once the senior members were confirmed to be in the same location, someone had to alert the Israeli military so Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could authorise the strike. 'This is a massive blow and intelligence failure for Hezbollah,' Magnus Ranstorp, a veteran Hezbollah expert at the Swedish Defence University. 'They knew that he was meeting. He was meeting with other commanders. And they just went for him.' A Lebanese security source informed Le Parisien that an Iranian mole was responsible for leaking the information to Israel. Though this is yet to be corroborated, it would constitute a devastating intelligence breach for Hezbollah and its backers in the Islamic Republic. Both Hezbollah and Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) now face the enormous challenge of plugging the infiltration in its ranks that allowed its arch-enemy to destroy weapons sites, booby-trap its communications and assassinate the veteran leader. 'Israel clearly infiltrated Hezbollah at highly sensitive and consequential levels, killing senior command networks with airstrikes, paralysing its communication and coordination capacity, and grinding the organisation down, denying it time to recover and regroup thus far,' RUSI's Senior Research Fellow for Middle East Security, Dr Burcu Ozcelik said. 'This has been the culmination of years of complex, synchronised intelligence-gathering in the Israeli security establishment since before 2006.' This image reportedly shows Netanyahu ordering the strike on Nasrallah Israel's Air Force released images of the F-15I jets used to carry out the strike on Nasrallah Upon Netanyahu's order, a flight of F-15I fighter jets from the 69th Squadron of the IAF took off from the Hatzerim Airbase in southern Israel and headed for Beirut Scenes of devastation after the Israeli air strike in Dahiyeh Rescuers pulled out bodies from the rubble with winches, such was the depth of the craters A view of damage occurring in the surrounding buildings following Israeli warplanes targeted the Dahiyeh area in Beirut, Lebanon Smoke rises as damage occurred in the surrounding buildings as a boy is seen on the wreckage following the strike on the Dahiyeh area in Beirut Inside Israel's monumental strike A picture emerged on social media last week that showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holding a telephone to his ear, flanked by a pair of military officials. It is said that image depicts the moment that Netanyahu gave IDF officials the green light to launch the fateful strike on Hezbollah HQ. The attack unfolded while Netanyahu was in New York to speak at the UN General Assembly, with two Israeli intelligence officials confirming to Reuters that the Prime Minister authorised the attack on the sidelines of the assembly. Upon Netanyahu's order, a flight of F-15I fighter jets from the 69th Squadron of the IAF took off from the Hatzerim Airbase in southern Israel, completing the cross-country flight in a matter of minutes before soaring over the Lebanese border and bearing down on Beirut. Images and videos of their take-off released by the IAF enabled military aviation experts to determine the kinds of munitions that were able to successfully target Nasrallah in his underground HQ. The F-15s appeared to deploy devastating 2000lb US-made 'bunker buster' munitions - the GBU-31(V)3/B JDAM - which are designed to penetrate deep into hardened targets before detonating their high explosives for maximum effect. The precision-guided bombs find their target with pinpoint accuracy, while the sheer weight of the weapon, reinforced with a thick steel casing, sees it smash through layers of earth and concrete. Once inside, the delayed fuse triggers the explosion, leaving its helpless targets with no escape. Brigadier General Amichai Levin, commander of Israel's Hatzerim Airbase, said that all the bombs hit the target in a matter of seconds, and shocking videos and images from the blast site served as a testament to the fearsome power of the JDAMS. The munitions destroyed three of four buildings that were located above the Hezbollah HQ in Dahiyeh and left enormous craters in the reddish-brown earth. 'Dozens of munitions hit the target within seconds with very high precision, and this is part of what is required to hit underground sites at this depth,' Levin declared. Twisted metal rods were seen poking out of the remnants of reinforced concrete structures as rescuers pulled out bodies from the rubble with winches, such was the depth of the craters. Nasrallah's body was reportedly recovered intact this weekend, suggesting that he may have died from the sheer force of the blasts, or suffocated after being trapped underground. The Israeli Lieutenant Colonel who commands the 69th Squadron, known only as 'Mem', gave few details other than to declare the strike on Nasrallah proceeded 'smoothly'. 'We went to strike in the heart of Beirut, in the Dahiyeh. We knew who we wanted to target,' he said. But IDF chief Herzi Halevi told the Jerusalem Post that the strike had been a long time in the making, suggesting the air force was waiting for final confirmation of Nasrallah's whereabouts before the attack. 'This strike had been planned for a long time and was executed at the right time, with precision,' Halevi said. Smoke rises from the rubble of a building that which levelled in overnight Israeli bombardment on Beirut's southern suburbs, on September 28, 2024 Israel released a graphic showing the Hezbollah senior figures who had so far been 'eliminated' - adding that they had 'dismantled' the group Hundreds of Israeli tanks lined up at the Lebanon border this weekend with a ground invasion of Lebanon looming Iranian Revolutionary Guards' deputy commander Abbas Nilforoushan was also killed during the strikes in Beirut on Friday What next? In the wake of Israel's brutal attacks and the loss of its leader, Hezbollah is certain to fight on. The group, whose name means 'Party of God', had somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000 fighters ahead of the current escalation according to US and Israeli estimates, along with large weapons stockpiles and an extensive tunnel network near Israel's border. Thanks to decades of backing from Iran, prior to the current conflict Hezbollah was among the world's most well-armed non-conventional armies, with an estimated arsenal of 150,000 rockets, missiles and drones. That is ten times the size of the armoury the group had in 2006, during its last war with Israel, according to Israeli estimates. Over the past year, even more weapons have flowed into Lebanon from Iran, along with significant amounts of financial aid, a source familiar with Hezbollah's thinking told Reuters. Hezbollah has also shown an ability to replace lost commanders quickly. Nasrallah's cousin, Hashem Safieddine, has long been tipped as the slain leader's successor. 'You kill one, they get a new one,' said a European diplomat of the group's approach. In the meantime, Hezbollah's acting leader Naim Kassem vowed to keep battling Israel and said the Lebanese militant group was prepared for a long fight 'Israel was not able to affect our (military) capabilities,' he declared in a televised statement today. But since October 7, the group has been materially and psychologically weakened to an extent never before seen. An apartment block stands in partial ruins after being hit by an Israeli airstrike on, September 30, 2024 in Beirut Search and rescue team members, together with locals, work to find bodies under the rubble of buildings destroyed in an Israeli airstrike the previous day in Ain el-Delb neighbourhood, Sidon Smoke billows over Khiam, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as pictured from Marjayoun, near the Lebanese border with Israel, September 30, 2024 Including Nasrallah, Israel's military says it has killed eight of Hezbollah's nine most senior military commanders this year, mostly in the past week. These commanders led units ranging from the rocket division to the elite Radwan force. Iranian Revolutionary Guards' deputy commander Abbas Nilforoushan was also killed in the Israeli strikes on Beirut on Friday, Iranian media reported on Saturday, citing a state TV report. Israeli air strikes have hit more than a thousand Hezbollah targets in the past couple of weeks, Israeli officials have claimed, and roughly 1,500 Hezbollah fighters were maimed by the exploding pagers and walkie-talkies on September 17-18. An Israeli security official told Reuters this weekend that 'a very respectable portion' of Hezbollah's missile stocks had been destroyed, while other officials have said the fact that Hezbollah has only been able to launch a couple of hundred missiles a day in the past week suggests its capabilities have been diminished. RUSI's Dr Burcu Ozcelik told MailOnline that the Lebanese group and their Iranian backers now find themselves at a critical juncture. 'Hezbollah will not vanish overnight as a significant actor inside Lebanon and the region despite the pummelling it has endured... but Hezbollah's status as Iran's most strategically significant asset and main deterrent against Israel has been severely degraded now. 'How Iran chooses to respond will be highly consequential as the conflict evolves.' Hezbollah's belief that it would survive by relying on its weapons arsenal, manpower and support from Iran may be misguided, particularly given that Iran has not yet sprung to its defence. 'Hezbollah has been the most powerful military and political faction in Lebanon, but its role remained consistently contentious. Consensus on its legitimate role in the country was never achieved,' Ozcelik said. 'Over the past few months, Hezbollah may have thought that an equilibrium would be preserved and a rollercoaster of intensity and de-escalation would prevail. 'But the deep entanglement between Lebanon and Hezbollah is now being tested and interrogated by those who have long opposed the group.' Republicans have launched a legal blitz that is said to be an effort to lay the groundwork for election challenges in November in the wake of the 2024 election. The Republican National Committee says it is involved in more than 120 lawsuits across 26 states, in a strategy that some legal experts and voting rights groups say is meant to undercut faith in the system. The Harris campaign added that Republicans are 'scheming to sow distrust in our elections and undermine our democracy so they can cry foul when they lose.' But Republicans say the lawsuits are aimed at actually restoring faith in elections by ensuring people don't vote illegally. The lawsuits have been filed in swing states like Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania, which will be crucial in deciding who will win the 2024 presidential election between Harris and Republican rival Donald Trump. This comes almost four years after former president Trump and his allies tried and failed to overturn his election defeat with a flurry of more than 60 hastily arranged lawsuits, claiming that his loss to Joe Biden was tainted by widespread fraud. Republican presidential nominee former U.S. President Donald Trump gestures during a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, U.S., September 29, 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at the Expo at World Market Center on September 29, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada In Arizona, an advocacy group founded by Trump adviser Stephen Miller is advancing a bold legal theory: that judges can throw out election results over 'failures or irregularities' by local officials. The lawsuit by the America First Legal Foundation, a conservative advocacy group, says the court in such cases should be able to toss the election results and order new rounds of voting in two counties in Arizona, where Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris is leading Trump in the polls by a razor-thin margin. While the Arizona case is likely a long shot, legal experts say it fits with a pattern of Republican-backed lawsuits that appear aimed at sowing doubts about the legitimacy of the election before it occurs and providing fodder for challenging the results after the fact. 'This is part of creating the narrative that there will be irregularities that will require outside intervention,' said Columbia Law School professor Richard Briffault. America First Legal Foundation, its lawyers and Miller did not respond to inquiries. A spokesperson for the Republican National Committee said the party's top priority is fixing what they say are problems with voting systems before Election Day to ensure no ballots are illegally cast. 'Our Election Integrity operation is fighting to secure the election, promoting transparency and fairness for every legal vote. This gives voters confidence that their ballot will be counted properly, and in turn, inspires voter turnout,' said RNC spokesperson Claire Zunk. Trump and Harris are locked in a tight battle ahead of the November 5 election, fueling a wave of litigation by both Democrats and Republicans as they spar over the ground rules. Republicans typically sue to enforce restrictions on voting that they say are necessary to prevent fraud, while Democrats generally ask courts to keep voting accessible. In Nevada and other states, Trump allies are seeking to purge voter rolls of allegedly ineligible voters and noncitizens, though the deadline for systematically culling rolls in time for the election has passed (pictured: Kamala Harris during a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, on September 29, 2024) In Pennsylvania, Republicans are fighting to enforce strict mail-in voting rules and limit voters' ability to correct mistakes on their ballots (pictured: Donald Trump during a campaign event in Erie, Pennsylvania, on September 29, 2024) 'Team Harris-Walz enters the home stretch of this campaign with a robust voter and election protection operation and the best lawyers in the country, ready for any challenge Republicans throw at us. 'We will give Americans the free and fair election they deserve so all eligible voters can vote and have that vote counted,' the campaign said. In Michigan, another closely contested state, Republicans are suing to prevent state agencies from expanding access to voter registration, restrict the use of mobile voting sites like vans and impose tighter verification rules for mail-in ballots. In Nevada and other states, Trump allies are seeking to purge voter rolls of allegedly ineligible voters and noncitizens, though the deadline for systematically culling rolls in time for the election has passed. And in Pennsylvania, Republicans are fighting to enforce strict mail-in voting rules and limit voters' ability to correct mistakes on their ballots. On September 13, Republicans scored a victory when the state's highest court ruled mail ballots with incorrect dates will not be counted. Election litigation surged in 2020 as COVID-19 spurred changes to voting procedures wider use of mail-in ballots. Those fights were often reactions to granular, location-specific issues. More than 60 lawsuits Republicans filed challenging Trump's loss in 2020 were rejected by courts. This time, Republicans are filing legal challenges earlier and leveling allegations of widespread fraud that strike to the very core of the election process. Trump's continued false claims that his 2020 defeat was the result of fraud has taken root in the Republican Party. About 71 per cent of Republican registered voters responding to an August Reuters/Ipsos poll said they believed voter fraud was a widespread problem, well above the 37 per cent of independents and 16 per cent of Democrats who held that view. People queue ahead of Republican presidential nominee former US President Donald Trump campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, US, September 29, 2024 An attendee holds a 'Register to Vote' sign at Fashion For Our Future March on September 06, 2024 in Herald Square, New York City 'They're out front and early and are moving preemptively, whereas 2020 was kind of reactive. Here they're getting ahead of it,' Briffault said. The Arizona lawsuit, filed in February in Yavapai County court, underscores the proactive approach by Trump's allies. It alleges a litany of 'missteps and illegalities' by election officials in Maricopa, Yavapai and Coconino counties in past election and asserts that only court intervention can restore the public trust. Maricopa County was dismissed from the case on procedural grounds. The complaint asks a judge to impose a list of 24 orders enforcing the America First Legal Foundation's interpretation of election laws and correcting errors by any means necessary, including nullifying results and ordering new rounds of voting. Errors could include failure to staff ballot drop boxes at all times or failing to take certain steps to verify signatures on ballots. That is a novel and sweeping request that a judge is unlikely to grant, according to legal experts and election attorneys. But a judge nullifying results in a crucial state could lead to chaos, confusion and delays, which some legal experts and voting rights group say is a central goal of the Republican legal strategy. Uncertainty could give local officials and state legislatures the opportunity to meddle with the results, according to Sophia Lin Lakin, an attorney litigating voting rights cases on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union. For example, officials could try to throw out votes or refuse to certify the outcome. 'It's about laying the groundwork for there to be enough doubt in the election process that a political maneuver could be brought to bear to impact the outcome,' Lakin said. The New York Times has been criticised over an article that claimed Hezbollah terror boss Hassan Nasrallah was a 'gifted orator' who wanted 'equality' for all religions. The article, titled 'Protesters Mourn Nasrallah's Death Around the World', was uploaded onto the publication's website on Saturday and quickly began receiving a flurry of backlash, criticism, and mockery across social media. The short article - which comes in the wake of Nasrallah's assassination - praised the Hezbollah terror boss, calling him a 'powerful orator' who was 'beloved among many Shiite Muslims', in part for providing 'social services' in Lebanon. It also stated Nasrallah 'maintained that there should be one Palestine with equality for Muslims, Jews, and Christians'. But the terror leader notoriously believed in the destruction of the Jewish state and his radical Iran-backed militant organization carried out several deadly attacks on Jews around the world. The New York Times has been slammed for calling Hezbollah terror leader Hassan Nasrallah a 'gifted orator' who was 'beloved' by his fellow Shiite Muslims Nasrallah, 64, was killed in a major aerial bombardment by Israeli forces in Beirut on Friday A protester holds a picture of late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah during an anti-Israel protest in Palestine Square in Tehran, Iran, 28 September 2024 Although he often claimed to be anti-Zionist and not anti-Semitic, Nasrallah was quoted in a Times article from May last year chillingly saying: 'If Jews all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide'. Nasrallah, 64, was killed in a major aerial bombardment by Israeli forces in Beirut on Friday - in an incident that came as a huge, almost unthinkable shock across the globe. 'The Times readership is now down to liberal elites, politicians, Communists and Islamists,' one X user wrote in response to a post highlighting portions of the article viewed nearly 250,000 times. 'This is so embarrassing. How does anyone take the NYT seriously anymore?' another user asked. Another accused the Gray Lady of 'Jihadsplaining' and 'attempting to turn explicit calls for genocide into something positive.' Three senior Israeli defense officials told the NYT on Saturday that more than 80 bombs were dropped over several minutes to kill Nasrallah after Israeli leaders had been tracking his location for months. The sources, who remained anonymous, added the operation had been planned earlier in the week before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left to speak at the United Nations General Assembly. Confirming Nasrallah's death on Saturday, Hezbollah pledged to keep up its fight against Israel. They said: 'The leadership of Hezbollah pledges... to continue its jihad in confronting the enemy, supporting Gaza and Palestine, and defending Lebanon and its steadfast and honorable people.' Flames rise after an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, on Saturday Supporters of Hezbollah attend a televised speech by the group's leader Hassan Nasrallah in the Lebanese capital Beirut's southern suburbs on January 3, 2023 Hassan Nasrallah spoke to the world in front of a red screen last Thursday, insisting that the deadly attacks 'deserve a response' before launching salvoes of rockets towards Israel Nasrallah had been in power within Hezbollah since February 1992, overseeing the group in its transition from a militant group forged in the 1982 Lebanon War, against the backdrop of the wider Lebanese Civil War, into a political party and regional powerhouse. His death is being viewed as a massive blow to the Iran-backed group, that could potentially destabilize Lebanon as a whole. A triumphant IDF spokesperson said at the time of his death: 'Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorize the world.' Under the leadership of the 64-year-old Shia cleric, Hezbollah has fought wars against Israel and taken part in the conflict in neighboring Syria, helping tip the balance of power in favor of President Bashar Assad. Ali Karki, the Commander of Hezbollah's Southern Front, and additional Hezbollah commanders, were also killed in the attack, the Israeli military said. It comes as the IDF released a graphic on social media showing the Hezbollah senior figures who had so far been 'eliminated' - adding that they had 'dismantled' the group. More than 20 Hezbollah members were also killed alongside their boss Nasrallah in Friday's airstrike, Israel said. Among those 'eliminated' include the head of Nasrallah's security unit, Ibrahim Hussein Jazini, and Samir Tawfiq Dib, who the IDF described as 'Nasrallah's long-time confidant and adviser'. Israel released a graphic showing the Hezbollah senior figures who had so far been 'eliminated' - adding that they had 'dismantled' the group A Lebanese man showing a poster of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah that he found among the rubble of his house in July 2006 'Due to their proximity to him, they served a significant role in the day-to-day operations of Hezbollah and Nasrallah in particular,' the IDF said. A source close to Hezbollah told AFP on condition of anonymity that contact with Nasrallah had been lost since Friday evening. He had been rumoured killed during Israel's last war with Hezbollah in 2006, the source said, adding that he later re-emerged unscathed. A military statement said the strikes also killed Ali Karake, who the statement identified as commander of Hezbollah's southern front, and an unspecified number of other Hezbollah commanders. 'During Hassan Nasrallah's 32-year reign as the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, he was responsible for the murder of many Israeli civilians and soldiers, and the planning and execution of thousands of terrorist activities,' the statement said. 'He was responsible for directing and executing terrorist attacks around the world in which civilians of various nationalities were murdered. Nasrallah was the central decision-maker and the strategic leader of the organisation.' White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Israel's airstrikes had 'wiped out' Hezbollah's command structure, but he warned the group will work quickly to rebuild it. 'I think people are safer without him walking around,' Kirby said of Nasrallah during an appearance on CNN today. 'But they will try to recover. We're watching to see what they do to try to fill this leadership vacuum. It's going to be tough. Much of their command structure has now been wiped out.' Police are desperately searching for a mother and her four children, including a two-week-old baby, who have been missing for three days. Rochelle Watts, 35, her two sons, aged 15 and 10, and two daughters, aged eight and two weeks, were last seen in Goulburn, about two hours southwest of Sydney, at about 2.30pm on Friday. Also missing is the family's German shepherd, Elsa, which is believed to be with Ms Watts and her kids. Authorities say they hold serious concerns about the welfare of the family. Ms Watts is known to spend time in the Goulburn and Tirrannaville areas. Police are also investigating a report the mother and her children may have been spotted as far away as the south east Queensland town of Murgon. Mr Watts is described as being 165cm tall, with red hair and hazel eyes. Anyone with information about Watts and her children's whereabouts is urged to contact Goulburn Police Station or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. China's 75 years of changes documented by photos 10:25, September 30, 2024 By Bai Xu, Yue Yuanyuan and Qiang Lijing ( Xinhua BEIJING, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Bai Yaoqin's first photo was taken shortly after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. "It was chilly, and I was wearing a long robe," recalled the 80-year-old grandmother in Beijing. She was just five years old when she posed for the photo with her elder sister, a way they used to express their joy of liberation. As she flipped through her photo albums, she marveled at the big changes in the country reflected in the pictures taken throughout the decades. "The changes are earthshaking," she said. To ordinary Chinese people today, photo-taking has transformed from once a luxurious activity to a common practice. From children to senior citizens, they can easily capture any moment of their life with a click on their phones. The myriad photos since 1949 together bore witness to China's development in the past 75 years. RECORDING A SPECIAL MOMENT Unfortunately, Bai's first photo was lost. However, she managed to preserve her vocational school graduation picture, a black-and-white one taken in 1966 at the Tian'anmen Square. This is her first photo taken outdoors. In the yellowed photo, 42 students, dressed in dull-colored coats and trousers stared at or smiled shyly to the camera, with the short-haired Bai in the first row. "We rarely took photos at that time, but graduation was such a big occasion that we thought the Tian'anmen Square was the most suitable place," she said. The Tian'anmen Square, located at the center of Beijing, holds an important place in the hearts of the Chinese people. Li Jun, a 68-year-old retired photographer from the Da Bei Photo Studio, which boasts a history of 103 years, can still recall the long queues waiting to take photos at the square. "Back then people had no cameras, so having photographers taking a photo at the Tian'anmen Square was the wish of many people," said the shutterbug who started working at the Tian'anmen Square in 1978. He said that back then most Chinese people dressed in simple garments with monotone colors, such as black, white, green and dark blue. According to Li, a small black-and-white photo cost 0.4 yuan (about 0.06 U.S. dollars), including the postage. The customers coming from other parts of the country typically couldn't wait for the photo to be developed, so mailing was necessary. Considering that most Chinese people at that time earned just over 30 yuan a month, the price wasn't insignificant. At the peak season, a photographer could consume about 40 films, which means more than a dozen photographers there took photos for thousands of visitors a day. Traveling was not common at that time. "The customers were mostly on work trips or visiting their relatives or friends in Beijing," he said. There were also passengers transferring in Beijing, who would rush to the square about three kilometers away from the railway station for a quick snap. Li recalled meeting a young soldier whose uniform was drenched with sweat as he ran towards the iconic spot. "He said he only had a couple of hours between the trains but wanted to take a photo," the photographer explained. "I had a long queue of customers waiting, but I couldn't let him down." So he asked one of his colleagues to help the soldier fulfill his wish. TAKING PICTURES A COMMONPLACE In 1978, China launched its reform and opening up, leading to fast growth of the country's economy and marked improvement of the people's livelihood. The saving deposits of urban and rural residents increased from 21.1 billion yuan at the end of 1978 to 380.2 billion yuan at the end of 1988. Before the advent of color photography, Da Bei used to offer services dyeing photos for customers. Customers usually had their black-and-white photos dyed to decorate their rooms, placing them on walls or desks. According to Li Jun, the photographer, they normally asked customers what colors they would like to have for their clothes. Following the adoption of colored film, the photo studio launched a color photograph service in the 1980s, which was welcomed by customers. Li Jiangxia traveled to Beijing in the summer of 1987 from her hometown in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Then 25, she visited multiple tourist attractions in the city and had a picture taken at the Tian'anmen Square. It was a colored photo. Against the backdrop of the blue sky and red Tian'anmen Rostrum, she wore a long white dress. The photo cost her three yuan, one-14th of her monthly salary. "Considering that it was the first time I traveled, the photo was not expensive at all," she said. "After all, I needed something to record my journey." People would go to a photo studio to mark the important moments in their lives, such as birthday celebrations, family reunions and weddings. Meng Jing, 45, had her birthday photos taken in Da Bei each year of her childhood. "It was an inseparable part of my annual celebration," said Meng. As incomes rose, cameras became more accessible to families, making photography increasingly commonplace. Bai Yaoqin also took a photo at the Tian'anmen Square in the early 1990s with her husband, using their own camera. She was wearing a black jacket while her husband was in a long trench coat. Other visitors behind them are seen wearing blue or red down jackets. OPTIONS MORE DIVERSIFIED The following years saw China's economy soar. China's GDP more than doubled in the past decade, rapidly expanding to 121 trillion yuan in 2022 from 59.3 trillion yuan in 2013, with an average annual growth rate of over 6 percent. In the past decade, China's share of the world economy has increased from 12.3 percent to over 18 percent, with its annual contribution to global growth averaging over 30 percent. As people abandoned their pocket cameras for modern options, photography blossomed into a popular hobby among many Chinese people. Meng Jing bought a Nikon D80 digital camera in 2006, four years after she graduated from university. It cost her 10,000 yuan, equivalent to her two months' salary. With this camera, she traveled to many places across the country and overseas tourist destinations to take photos. Today it is no longer just a hobby for young people: at many scenic attractions in China it is common to see many elderly people holding a professional camera, practicing techniques they learned online or from training centers. For their own portraits people have more diversified preferences: Meng used to have her photos taken in studios where she was in evening dresses that feature a Western style. But in recent years she has been fascinated by Hanfu, China's traditional attire. Showing a Xinhua reporter her photos in an elaborate red dress of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), she said: "travel is pretty easy these days. Earlier this year, I went to Luoyang for a weekend specifically to capture these images at various sites." Luoyang, an ancient city in central China's Henan Province, is about 800 kilometers away from Beijing, but the high-speed train ride took her less than four hours to get there. The cost of service, including costume-renting, make-up and a professional photographer was about 400 yuan. This is quite affordable compared with her monthly salary, which now exceeds 20,000 yuan. Li Jiangxia, now retired, enjoys traveling both within China and abroad to countries such as Britain, France and Belgium, capturing photos with her phone. She also loves dancing and has joined a community club. This spring, she bought a set of Hanfu and often shares photos and videos of herself dancing in the dress on her social media account. Seeing people's high demand for Hanfu photos, Da Bei launched the costume-renting and photo-taking service earlier this year. Photographers could go with customers to attractions such as the Temple of Heaven or the Beihai Park to take pictures. "Young people are no longer satisfied with taking photos of a fixed pattern," said Li Liting, chairwoman of the Da Bei Photo Studio. "They would like to have their real happy moments recorded outdoors, rather than posing for photos inside a studio." However, she noted that services for vintage photos, including the black-and-white ones, still remain, with parents coming to take pictures for their children in the same style as their own childhood photos. "Each year I bring my son to Da Bei for his birthday photo, just as what I had 40 years ago," Meng Jing said, adding that she also took her parents there for family photos occasionally. Li told Xinhua that they also consider restoring the dyeing service, so that customers could have more choices for vintage photos. "I believe that no matter how developed the society is and what new technology may come out, photo-taking is an irreplaceable service," she said. "Our photos have recorded the lives of Chinese people in the past decades, and we will continue to do so for their children, in the years to come." (Xinhua writers Ding Jing and Ren Chao contributed to the story.) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan) LOBAMBA Over 420 civil servants requested to alter their birth dates to shift their retirement dates by five years. A report that was tabled by the Minister of Public Service, Mabulala Maseko, in Parliament, confirmed suspicions that were raised by Members of Parliament (MPs), that some civil servants alter their dates of birth. The suspicions are that in most cases, civil servants alter their age when they are about to retire. The report tabled by the minister, which is yet to be adopted or rejected by MPs, indicates that 426 civil servants in the past five years, made requests to alter their dates of birth. The minister stated in the tabled report that 246 of the requests were successful, while 180 were rejected. Out of over 44 000 civil servants, the granted requests consist of 0.2 per cent of the headcount. Responding The motion that the minister was responding to was moved by Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo and seconded by Mayiwane MP Sicelo Dlamini. The MPs moved that the Minister of Public Service should engage the Civil Service Commission (CSC), with a view to investigate the growing and prevalent trend of public servants who resort to altering their dates of birth, either midway through their period of employment or towards their retirement age. The minister was given 14 days to table a report before the House. The MPs said if the CSC could successfully carry out the assignment; it would be revealed that the public service is dominated by people who should have long retired. It has been mentioned in various sectors that some civil servants prolong their stay in the civil service, by falsifying their dates of birth. It has also been mentioned that fishing them out would result in job openings for new blood in the government system, thus presenting an employment opportunity for some of the around 260 000 unemployed emaSwati, who cannot be absorbed by government because of the hiring controls put in place. The retirement age in Eswatini, according to the Swaziland Retirement Act Fund, is 60 years. The Public Service Pensions Fund Regulations also stipulate that a member retires from public service at 60 years of age, while judges retire at 75 years. The Mayiwane MP stated that the investigation was not meant to scandalise anyone, but assist government in dealing with the high unemployment rate. Dlamini went on to state that civil servants, who were hired back in 1990, or before, have new national identification cards (IDs) in their files that were obtained between 2019 to 2021. In response to the motion, the minister, in the tabled report, stated that various reasons may lead to altering dates of birth by civil servants. The Ministry of Public Service wishes to inform Parliament that altering an individuals date of birth (DOB) can arise from various factors, including erroneous data capture, conflicting information given by an officer and administrative oversight, he said. Maseko, in the tabled report, said one primary reason for altering dates of birth is the erroneous capture of data during initial employment processes. When public servants are recruited, their personal information is collected through various forms, which may lead to mistakes due to human error or miscommunication. Such errors can result in incorrect dates being recorded in the official documents. Another significant factor contributing to this trend, the minister said, is the presentation of conflicting DOBs by officers on employment forms compared to what is stated on their birth certificates. This discrepancy often arises from a lack of standardisation in documentation practices or from individuals not having access to accurate records at the time they fill out employment forms. Employment In some instances, individuals may present a different date on their employment form than what appears on their legal documents, due to personal reasons such as a lack of knowledge or misunderstandings about their actual DOBs. He also blamed administrative oversight.The administrative processes involved in maintaining personnel records may not always be robust enough to catch these discrepancies promptly. As a result, alterations can go unnoticed for extended periods, until audits or reviews are conducted, he said. Maseko added that data entry errors are a common thing in many organisations. He mentioned that it then results in an individuals file having different dates of birth for the same person, which creates challenges in making administrative decisions, including training plans and communication of the retirement date to the officer concerned, by ministries, he said. He explained that when personal information is recorded incorrectly, whether through typographical mistakes or miscommunication, the consequences can be far-reaching. For instance, if an employees DOB is entered incorrectly into the human resources management system, it may lead to incorrect administrative decisions, including calculations regarding retirement age and benefits, hence the need for the correction of wrongly captured or confusing several dates of birth for the same officer, states the ministers report. Going forward, the minister said measures have been put in place to ensure that the personal particulars of every civil servant are correctly captured when they enter the service. These measures include periodic review of the personal details of civil servants contained in the Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS). The ministry is also exploring means of integrating the HRMIS and the National Population Register, to ensure the accuracy of the personal details of each civil servant, he said. An Australian tourist was allegedly beaten to death by his British friend in Thailand, police have claimed. The Australian man had been drinking beer with the Brit, 29, when they had a drunken row in front of their hotel in Pattaya - often referred to as 'Sin City' because of its focus on nightlife - before dawn on September 27. The pair sparked panic as they came to blows in the street while terrified locals watched on in horror. Police have said the Brit delivered a knockout punch that caused the Australian to smash his head on the pavement. Medics were called to the scene at around 4:30am local time, where they found the individual sprawled on the ground with no pulse. The scene following the incident shows emergency services outside the hotel after medics were called to the scene at around 4:30am local time A general street view shows scenes in Pattaya, which is notorious among tourists for its buoyant nightlife They performed CPR and rushed him to the Pattaya Memorial Hospital, but they said he could not be revived. Police Major Tanongsak Inphadung of the Pattaya City Police Station confirmed the Australian's death and identified the Brit as the suspect. He said the cause of death was still pending. Mr Inphadung said: The suspect still denies the charges, but he cannot contest us because we have complete evidence. 'We have security camera footage from the restaurant and four witnesses who drank together with them. They were all Thais. Tomorrow, we will request the court to detain him at Pattaya Remand Prison. 'He refused to say anything, even though we had an interpreter, and he will get a lawyer to defend the lawsuit. The suspect was drunk at the time. We need to wait for the autopsy results to see if the deceased was also drunk, but he was seen drinking for hours before the incident. They were tenants on the same floor.' Pictured: The outdoor area of the hotel where the altercation between the pair occurred before dawn on September 27 The cause of their fight was not clarified by officials. Former fishing village Pattaya became popular with American troops on 'rest and relaxation' breaks in the 1960s when the U.S. military had bases in Thailand to stem the flow of Communism from the east. In the ensuing years, the coastal resort spawned into a semi-barbarous sex-tourism destination. Embarrassed officials have made progress in gentrifying the region with family tourism projects but a ravenous nightlife industry continues to dominate the area. A doctor accused of wrongly discharging a boy from hospital before he died from sepsis cannot be tracked down, health chiefs have admitted. Dylan Cope, nine, suffered a burst appendix which led to a sepsis infection spreading through his body - and a coroner later ruled that had he been kept in hospital to have his appendix removed, 'his death would have been avoided'. The schoolboy, from Newport in south Wales, had visited his GP with severe stomach pain and was referred to A&E with suspected appendicitis. But a mystery medic discharged him with an advice sheet for flu after failing to read the referral note from the doctor. An inquest ruled Dylan partly died from neglect and his parents have been trying to trace the doctor who assessed him. Dylan Cope, nine, died in December 2022 after suffering a burst appendix which led to a sepsis infection spreading through his body His parents Corinne and Laurence Cope have been pushing to identify the doctor who previously discharged Dylan from hospital - but have been told he cannot be traced The schoolboy, from Newport in south Wales, had visited his GP with severe stomach pain and was referred to A&E with suspected appendicitis Yet almost two years following the schoolboy's death, parents Corinne and Laurence Cope say they have been told the health board are unable to identify the clinician in question. They appealed to the Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran, south Wales. to hand out anonymised portraits of staff so his father - who had accompanied Dylan to hospital - could identify him, but have been told this is not an option. Mrs Cope has now said: 'Losing Dylan is a life sentence of pain for us, and for all we know the person who was instrumental in reassuring Laurence is carrying on in his profession as usual. 'If they can't identify all staff involved, how can they ensure that this will not happen again? 'We are concerned for future patient's safety. If they don't identify people, then there is no accountability. Accountability is a key part of learning.' She said failure to find the medic had 'compounded our distress', exacerbating 'the grief of Dylan's unexpected and sudden death, which you can never recover from'. Mrs Cope added: 'All we want is the full picture and we have not been afforded that because of the way the investigation process is set up, with the health boards being able to investigate themselves. 'Now that they have accepted full responsibility for Dylan's death, they are no longer obliged to provide us with key information our solicitor was requesting that could help us come to terms with what actually happened.' At the five-day inquest in May this year, senior coroner Caroline Saunders ruled Dylan's death 'was contributed to by neglect'. She said: 'Dylan's death would have been avoided if he had not been erroneously discharged from hospital. His death was therefore contributed to by neglect'. She said there was 'no good reason' why medics did not look at Dylan's referral note. Dr James Calvert, medical director of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, said: 'We continue to be devastated by Dylan's death and our deepest sympathies remain with his parents and family. 'We are aware of the ongoing distress being experienced by the family due to our inability to identify the doctor who spoke with Dylan's father, despite an extensive investigation.' He told how doctors would usually follow up a formal clinical assessment by making an entry into the patient's medical record, but this was not done in Dylan's case - meaning, he said, they were unable to identify the individual involved. Dr Calvert added: 'We have sought advice from external organisations and believe we have explored all the options available to us to identify the individual the family are seeking. 'We have spoken regularly with the family and explained the findings of our investigation. Dylan's parents are now warning other parents of the dangers of sepsis and appendicitis 'The results of our investigation were discussed during Dylan's inquest and the coroner did not request that we undertake any further investigation beyond the actions already taken. 'Since this tragic incident and subsequent investigation, we have continued to work with staff and Dylan's family to put measures in place to make improvements in a number of areas identified.' He said the children's emergency department at the hospital remained a 'safe area', with access restricted to staff dealing with patients there. The inquest earlier this year was told that Dylan was 'a fit and healthy young boy' and 'enjoyed life and his family very much' but he fell ill after experiencing stomach pain at school and days later experienced vomiting and diarrhoea. Gwent Coroner's Court heard his parents assumed a bug was going around but took him to GP Dr Amy Burton on December 7 2022 after an 'alarming episode of pain.' She referred him to the Grange Hospital in Cwmbran with suspected appendicitis after becoming concerned with the level of pain in his lower right abdomen. But the mystery male clinician assured Mr Cope it was safe for Dylan to be discharged and that he was suffering with swollen 'nodes'. The medic told Mr Cope that it was 'highly unlikely it was an issue with his appendix'. The hearing was told if Dylan had been referred to a surgeon that night, a surgeon would have diagnosed appendicitis and kept him in hospital. At the end of the inquest in May this year, Gwent coroner Ms Saunders recorded a narrative verdict saying Dylan had been 'erroneously discharged'. She said: 'His condition warranted further observation and assessment. The effects of sepsis proved overwhelming. 'Dylan's death would have been avoided if he had not been erroneously discharged from the Grange University Hospital. His death was contributed to by neglect.' In her summing up the coroner said the failure of Dylan to receive a senior review was due to a misunderstanding, not a system failure. Mr Cope had told the inquest none of the medics at the Grange Hospital identified themselves nor gave their medical qualifications when they examined his son. The father-of-three said in a written statement that he assumed Dylan was seen by a surgeon, adding: 'He came across as senior in his role and was calm and confident in his demeanour. 'Although calm, casual, relaxed and confident he remained professional as though he was seeing me and Dylan in a professional capacity. He seemed very sure of himself.' Dylan was sent to A&E at the Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran in December 2022 Mr Cope said the doctor, who was in scrubs and a facemask, was in his 30s to 40s, slim to average build, tall and with a slight 'foreign' accent. The medic told Dylan's father it was 'highly unlikely' the schoolboy's abdominal pains were connected to his appendix - but Mr Cope could not remember him physically examining his poorly son. The inquest in Newport heard the doctor who was never identified, told the family that Dylan had tested positive for Influenza A which was raging at the time. Dylan was given Calpol and Nurofen at home but became more lethargic on December 10. His worried parents called the emergency number on the discharge note they were given by the Grange University Hospital. After 19 attempts to get through a female call handler advised Mr Cope to call 111 for advice but he said she 'did not seem concerned'. The family was waiting for a call back from a doctor when Dylan started shouting about his leg pain. Mr Cope said: 'His legs had started to mottle - Corinne said it was either meningitis or sepsis. An ambulance would have taken too long - I drove him to A&E and an emergency team took over. 'He was taken to the University Hospital of Wales and after an operation he was on life support.' The inquest heard Dylan had severe septic shock and went into cardiac arrest. Mr Cope said: 'The doctors told us there was nothing more they should do for him, it was highly unlikely Dylan would survive.' Life support was gradually withdrawn and Dylan died from septic shock on December 14 - eight days after the GP had told hospital staff to 'check for appendicitis'. Mr Cope, a web developer and his wife, a civil servant, have since been warning other parents of the dangers of sepsis which is more prevalent in the winter months when people are prone to viruses and infections. They also want to raise awareness of appendicitis and the symptoms of sepsis, which is a reaction to an infection and happens when the immune system overreacts and starts to damage the body's own tissues and organs. Symptoms can be like those of flu and include severe breathlessness and a high fever. The couple previously said: 'We have been told sepsis in children is very rare, tragically we know Dylan is one of many to lose their life to this brutal killer. 'There is much good work being done to help prevent deaths from sepsis and also improve outcomes for those recovering from sepsis but still a way to go. Newport Coroner's Court, where the inquest into Dylan's death took place in May this year 'We urge parents to always trust your instincts over anything else with your child, despite what you are told, if you feel something isn't right it probably isn't and be mindful that time may not be on your side. 'Trust your instincts over anything else and seek urgent help.' The couple's campaign has led to changes in sepsis awareness and a Sepsis Trust QR code is now printed on paediatric safety sheets in GP surgeries and hospitals. The Welsh Government is currently working with the Sepsis Trust to produce a sepsis leaflet that will be distributed across Wales. A fresh analysis of the unsolved murder of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme using AI implicates a new suspect - and threatens to derail the original investigation. Palme was walking home from the cinema with his wife when he was gunned down at point-blank range by an unknown assailant in central Stockholm in February 1986. In the years since, theorists have tried to pin the killing on everything from foreign interference to aggrieved arms dealers and CIA assassination. Police eventually concluded that the real killer was 'probably' graphic designer Stig Engstrom, long treated as a mere witness to the assassination, who died in 2000. But a new AI comparison of photographs of the main suspects found Engstrom to bear much less resemblance to the facial composite than another key witness. Olof Palme was shot dead while walking home from the cinema in February 1986 Christer Andersson came out as a greater match with the facial composite from witnesses The unsolved murder of Palme sparked a range of far-fetched theories. Pictured: the scene, '86 Police identified that Palme had been shot dead with a .357 revolver Jon Jordas, Director of Documentary at production company Filt, said he felt there was 'something wrong with this story', he told The Times. When the investigation was closed, he began looking through the newly released documents surrounding the case. Of interest, he found a facial composite built from a description of the prime minister's son of a man seen loitering near the cinema where his father was shot. There were more than two dozens witnesses to the murder, with the suspect described as being between 30 and 50, around 6ft tall and wearing a dark jacket. Nobody was able to give a clear description of the killer's appearance in any detail. But comparing the composite to photos of some of the main suspects from the case, Jordas' AI analysis found a match with Engstrom's picture of just 18 per cent. Christer Pettersson, initially charged with the murder in 1989 but acquitted in 1990, was a 25 per cent match. Pettersson died in 2004. But Christer Andersson, a suspect who later shot himself dead, came out as a greater match. Dozens of witnesses saw Palme's shooting, but couldn't put together a clear description Olof Palme and Fidel Castro in Havana, Cuba in 1975 Stig Engstrom (pictured) was deemed to 'probably' have killed Palme in 1986. He was understood to have had weapons training and disliked Palme's policies Hans Holmer, former head of the investigation into the assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, shows two Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolvers during a press conference in Stockholm Andersson, a metro driver-turned-investor who lived nearby and owned a .357 magnum like the one used to shoot Palme, was brought in for questioning in 1995. A raid on his house turned up no leads, but later testimonies were judged untrustworthy and he failed to appear to several interrogations in the 1990s. Andersson also refused to submit his weapon, making it the only registered .357 weapon in the Stockholm region not to be tested. He admitted having financial trouble, and claimed to have already sold his revolver to pay off debts. Police found some of his alibis bizarre - and it was illegal to sell a firearm to a stranger. He had also had his gun licence suspended for shooting at the television, allegedly as Palme appeared on screen. Andersson denied deliberately shooting the screen. But police ultimately dropped their inquiry. Andersson was interrogated a total of five times between 1995 and 1998, but committed suicide in 2008 when police rang his doorbell and asked to be let in. Jordas said that police stopped pursuing Andersson because they were convinced the Kurdish PKK movement was behind the assassination. If you look at the circumstances and on a practical level, a lot of things indicate it was the act of a lone wolf, he told The Times. Jordas believes that Andersson saw Palme enter the cinema and loitered outside with his gun. His theories are documented in his work, The Last Book on the Murder of Olof Palme. Palme was prime minister from 1969 to 1976 and 1982 to 1986, and leader of the Social Democratic Party from 1969 until his death (pictured in 1982) Flowers at the scene where Swedish prime minister Olof Palme was killed, in March 1986 Pettersson (3) was initially charged but acquitted of the murder in 1990 Christer Pettersson, outside his home in Sollentuna, was intiially charged but later aquitted Myriad theories have emerged pointing in different directions over the last 20 years. A special report shared by the CIA in 1986 dubs the assassination 'a classical KGB disinformation campaign'. Germany's De Zeit published an article in 1995 with the suggestion that Swedish right-wing extremist police officers were behind the attack. Others drew connections to the Yugoslavian security service, the CIA - dismissed as 'absolute nonsense' by the agency - and South Africa, as Palme opposed apartheid. Dozens of blogs still continue to be updated today, drawing on anecdotes and evidence from around the world suggesting who really killed Olof Palme. Jeremy Clarkson has revealed that he and co-stars Richard Hammond and James May boarded a boozy boat full of larger, vodka, gin and whiskey during the final episode of The Grand Tour. The veteran TV presenter made the comments at a Q&A after a premiere screening of The Grand Tour: One For The Road, which looks set to be the last ever motoring programme hosted by the trio. The ticket-only screening took place at the Who Wants to be A Millionaire host's new pub The Farmer's Dog in the Cotswolds on Friday night. During the Q&A, Clarkson told the crowd how he and his co-stars boarded boats, carrying their cars across Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe, and enjoyed the bundles of booze on board. Clarkson said: 'Hopefully nobody will notice that at the end of that lake crossing all of that drink had gone.' A woman in the crowd shouted: 'No, we did notice!', to which he replied 'Did you then notice we set off driving the next day?' 'I am duty-bound to tell you there was a three-day gap between arriving and setting off - but there wasn't,' he added. Jeremy Clarkson has revealed that he and co-stars Richard Hammond and James May boarded a boozy boat full of larger, vodka, gin and whiskey during the final episode of The Grand Tour Clarkson told the crowd how he and his co-stars boarded boats, carrying their cars across Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe, and enjoyed the bundles of booze on board The veteran TV presenter made the comments at a Q&A after a premiere screening of The Grand Tour: One For The Road, which is set to be the last programme to be made by the trio. Pictured: The three adventurers at an event at Television Centre to launch the series' final episode Adventurous trio, Jeremy, Richard and James May, 61, are completing their series with a stunning road trip through Zimbabwe in three luxury cars they have always wanted to own Clarkson, 64, said the trio used a spare third of a cargo plane for moving all their gear to store beer In the episode, Hammond said to Clarkson, 'You've bought a bar!' and described the boat as 'a floating drinks cabinet'. As they set off across the river, Clarkson announced: 'HMS S***-faced is underway!'. He later cracked open a lager and told viewers, 'We've done some daft things in out time, but I'm really enjoying this one. I'm sailing a bar with a Lancia on it and I've got a lot of drink to get through.' As the trio became more intoxicated, Clarkson's speech began to slur as he said: 'I've got three quarters of a bottle of vodka, half a bottle of gin, no, no, that's not gin. What is that? This is a blended brandy and I also have a blended whiskey.' He also claimed to have filled a third of a cargo plane with beer after failing to fill it with crew and filming equipment. In their final escapade together, Clarkson and his co-stars will explore beautiful landscapes in a Lancia Montecarlo, a Ford Capri 3-litre, and a Triumph Stag. When asked how many units of alcohol they drank per episode, Clarkson, 64, replied: 'I'll let you into a little secret. 'We had a big cargo plane to move all of the kit we needed to film and a crew of 70 people and more but we didn't fill the plane. 'A third of it was left - we thought, 'so what should we put on that?' Beer was the answer. 'But we do drink a lot, we are mostly smashed - hopefully, nobody will notice. 'I'm duty-bound to tell you there was a three-day gap between arriving and setting off - but there wasn't.' Clarkson, Hammond and May ill explore beautiful landscapes in a Lancia Montecarlo, a Ford Capri 3-litre and a Triumph Stag in their final escapade together Clarkson sharing a tipple with May while filming the final episode of The Grand Tour Clarkson also said he does not have the same love for cars as he did 35 years ago as 'they're all s**t now' and called the capital of Bolivia, La Paz a 's**t hole.' He said: 'Genuinely 80 per cent of them now 90 per cent, I couldn't even identify. I don't know what they are, I don't care.' The Diddly Squat farm owner also spoke about the Top Gear days and filming in Alabama and Argentina where infamous episodes were filmed. In an episode shot in Alabama, the trio are apparently chased out of town after spray-painting each others cars with offensive messages. While in Argentina they caused a diplomatic incident after one of the cars' number plate had the number 82 - which locals believed was a deliberate reference to the 1982 Falklands War. The last adventure also sees Jeremy, Richard, and James ignore producer Andy Wilman's instructions and head to Zimbabwe in three cars theyve always wanted to own. Another first look snap shows the trio giggling around a campfire as they sip on a couple of beers and enjoy a relaxing break next to a stunning lake. Jeremy said: 'I was more frightened in Alabama than Argentina. In Argentina, we bravely flew away before the trouble started. 'The crew was there, and they had a really torrid time. Alabama was bad - everybody ran there. I found myself at one point behind James May's Cadillac. 'Behind me was a pickup truck with good old boys with guns - I guess it was a kind of 'look after your mates' situation. 'I thought, 'f*** that,' and overtook James, leaving him to it - it was pretty scary.' Clarkson was also asked who the fastest driver out of Hammond, May, and himself was. He replied: 'Richard has driven fast twice, had his trousers cut off twice, and got in an ambulance twice. Richard Hammond said he would miss co-stars Clarkson and May 'terribly' as their 20-year partnership comes to an end The Grand Tour: One for the Road, which launches September 13 on Prime Video, will conclude the former Top Gear co-hosts' 21 year partnership 'James once went 45 mph, and it nearly killed him.' After mishearing the question 'What's next for you?' as 'What sex are you?' he also quipped 'Oh the Labour Party's here!' He also revealed the person he most wanted to see as the star in a reasonably priced car was music legend Bryan Ferry. He went on to downplay Top Gear's influence on the motoring world and added: 'We never thought we were influential. It reviewed the Ford Orion and I gave it a really hard time. 'It went on to be Britain's best-selling car. I then said the Renault 6 TL was brilliant - but they sold six.' Clarkson, May and Hammond at 'An Evening with The Grand Tour' at Television Centre in London on September 10 Hammond paid tribute to his two co-stars as the trio's 20-year partnership came to an end. He said : 'I'll be really honest, and theyll mock me for this, but I'll miss them terribly. Weve worked together for twenty years. 'Weve worked hard, and we have to egg each other on, and its never just loafing about. So, it'd be difficult to recreate that situation. 'If I go over and visit Jeremy at his farm, it would be to go over and relax. That's not the same as having to get up at five in the morning and drive for eight hours through the jungle.' Long-time producer Andy Wilman told the Edinburgh TV Festival that filming the episode was 'quite weepy' and 'quite heart-stringy'. The Grand Tour: One for the Road launches globally from 13 September only on Prime Video A handcuffed man broke free of his restraints before stealing a patrol car following a drunk driving arrest. The Long Island man named John Gibson, of Copiague, managed to flee police custody after slipping the handcuffs over his head and climbing into the front seat and driving away on the Southern State Parkway, according to New York cops. The 37-year-old man was pulled over by state troopers at around 5:30am Friday on suspicion of driving under the influence. After failing a sobriety test, he was arrested, handcuffed and put in the back of a police vehicle, officials said. While officers weren't looking, Gibson 'managed to slip his handcuffs to the front, freed himself from the seat belt, climbed into the front seat of the patrol vehicle and drove off from the scene,' according to a statement issued by state police. John Gibson, 37, fled from troopers in a New York State Police cruiser on the Southern State Parkway in Babylon (pictured) Troopers eventually located the stolen patrol car with the help of Suffolk County Police near a cemetery three miles away in West Babylon, cops said. The car was later found about 4.8 km away, police said, while the man was located in the nearby cemetery. The suspect racked up several felony charges for his illicit joyride on top of being caught driving under the influence, authorities said. His additional raps involved grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, unauthorized use of a vehicle, escape, resisting arrest, obstruction of governmental administration and unlawful fleeing of a police officer, cops said. He pleaded not guilty to all charges at his arraignment in Suffolks 1st District Court, according to records. Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick today warned there 'isnt' a future' for the party unless they campaign to quit the European Convention on Human Rights. The former immigration minister used a morning campaign rally on the fringes of the Conservative conference in Birmingham to issue a 'leave or die' message. He channelled ex-prime minister Boris Johnson's famous 'Get Brexit Done' slogan to call on the party to 'get migration done'. Mr Jenrick said continued membership of the ECHR was making it 'impossible for us to finish the job we began with Brexit, which is to restore sovereignty to our people and our Parliament'. He dismissed concerns about the impact of quitting the ECHR on the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, saying a new British bill of rights could provide a 'pragmatic answer'. And he also reiterated his call for a 'democratic cap' on the level of legal migration to the UK to bring it down to the tens of thousands per year. Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick warned there 'isnt' a future' for the party unless they campaign to quit the European Convention on Human Rights The former immigration minister used a morning campaign rally on the fringes of the Conservative conference in Birmingham to issue a 'leave or die' message Mr Jenrick channelled ex-prime minister Boris Johnson 's famous 'Get Brexit Done' slogan to call on the party to 'get migration done' Speaking to reporters after his speech, the Tory leadership contender repeated his warning that the ECHR represented an existiential issue for the party In his speech to supporters, some of who donned caps bearing the message 'we want Bobby J', Mr Jenrick spoke without notes as he continued his campaign to replace Rishi Sunak In his speech to supporters, some of who donned caps bearing the message 'we want Bobby J', Mr Jenrick spoke without notes as he continued his campaign to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader. He said that membership of the ECHR was an 'existential' issue for the Tories and 'critical to the future of our country'. The former Cabinet minister outlined how membership of the ECHR was 'making it impossible for us to deport terrorists... to remove dangerous foreign criminals like rapists, murderers and paedophiles', and 'making it impossible to secure our borders'. He claimed ex-PM Winston Churchill, a driving force behind the ECHR in the wake of the Second World War, would 'turn in his grave if he saw what had happened to this document today'. In a social media video released earlier this morning, Mr Jenrick listed a series of foreign criminals he claimed Britain was unable to deport due to the ECHR. These included a Somalian who aided a plot to blow up the London Underground, a Nigerian who raped a 13-year-old girl, an Algerian who recruited for ISIS, and a Ugandan who beat a man to death in the back of the ambulance. Speaking at his campaign rally, Mr Jenrick said it was a 'fantasy' to believe the ECHR could be reformed as it needed unanimous agreement from all 46 member states. 'It's leave or remain,' he added. 'Remain means subject our people and our country to dangerous criminals on our streets, to terrorists on our streets, to a court creeping into every aspect of our lives without any democratic accountability. 'And it means that we never secure our borders. Leave means end this farce once and for all. I'm for leave. 'For our party, this is more than just leave or remain. Frankly, our party doesn't have a future unless we take a stand and fix this problem. It's leave or die for our party.' Mr Jenrick said he wants to 'get migration done' so that politicians can talk about other issues, such as the NHS, the economy, the environment, and education. Speaking to reporters after his speech, the Tory leadership contender repeated his warning that the ECHR represented an existiential issue for the party. 'A party of the centre-right has to have an answer to these issues and if we don't take a stand on fixing illegal migration, restoring sovereignty to our people and our Parliament, there isn't a future for the Conservative Party,' he said. Mr Jenrick also denied that campaigning to leave the ECHR would split the party, adding: 'There's a consensus now in the Conservative Party that the ECHR is not working in the interests of the British people. 'That is why almost everyone in the party believes we should, at the bare minimum, reform the ECHR. My argument is that is not possible. 'I have a plan, I have given this a great deal of thought, I've spoken to our counterparts throughout Europe and reform isn't possible, it's a fantasy. So we will have to leave.' Asked how he would measure his ambition to 'get migration done', Mr Jenrick replied: 'There are two central things we need to do; firstly, have a democratic cap on legal migration, set by Parliament, in the tens of thousands or fewer. 'By having a democratic cap, the public will know that we will actually do it this time and we will bring the numbers down to the historic norms that we knew as a country prior to 1997. 'And by leaving the ECHR, we will finally be able to secure our borders and implement the stronger version of the Rwanda policy that I advocated at the turn of the year where somebody is detained and then deported within days. That is the only way we can resolve this issue.' Mr Jenrick said leaving the ECHR should be achieved without a referendum. Menopause clinics run by TV's Dr Louise Newson are being probed by the health watchdog over concerns about high-dose hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has said it is investigating 'information of concern' relating to Dr Newson's privately run clinics, known as Newson Health. More than a dozen patients told the BBC they had experienced complications. Some developed a thickening of their womb linings a potential precursor to cancer. Dr Newson, who is a member of the Government's Menopause Taskforce, has made appearances on BBC Breakfast, ITV's Lorraine and This Morning. The British Menopause Society (BMS) has removed Dr Newson from its online menopause specialist register, it is understood, 'as a result of concerns that aspects of her practice did not accord with established guidance'. But she has defended herself against the claims, stating her clinics treat 'every patient on an individualised basis'. Newson Health has said its approach to care was consistent with national guidelines and that the British Menopause Society was a charity, not a regulatory body. The British Menopause Society (BMS) has removed Dr Louise Newson (pictured) from its online menopause specialist register, it is understood, 'as a result of concerns that aspects of her practice did not accord with established guidance' Dr Newson, who is a member of the Government's Menopause Taskforce, has made appearances on BBC Breakfast, ITV's Lorraine and This Morning - she is pictured here with Davina McCall (left) A spokesperson for Newson Health told MailOnline: 'As the UK's leading menopause clinic, Newson Health utilises a wealth of clinical experience and data, as well as the best available scientific evidence, to treat every patient on an individualised basis and provide the best possible menopause care. 'This is particularly important in an area of health that is chronically underfunded, undervalued and under-researched. 'Newson Health has addressed all points raised by the CQC and has not been notified of any resulting concerns. Newson Health is confident in the quality of care it provides and maintains a CQC Good rating.' One woman told the BBC that, despite her HRT dose from Newson Health being three times the licensed maximum amount, her menopause symptoms had worsened. Four former Newson Health doctors also voiced concerns to Panorama, with one warning that women could 'come to harm', the BBC reported. HRT is used to help alleviate symptoms of the menopause and perimenopause, such as brain fog, hot flushes and mood swings. Dr Newson has defended herself against the claims, stating her clinics treat 'every patient on an individualised basis' Dr Newson (pictured left) outside the Houses of Parliament in London demonstrating against prescription charges for HRT (Hormone replacement therapy) back in 2022 It can be prescribed as a gel, spray, tablets or patches, with the highest licensed dose of oestrogen being 100 micrograms (mcg) per day. This is the level at which manufacturers have established safety and efficacy through clinical trials, which is then approved by the UK's Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The Newson Health website says some patients it treats are on higher doses. It says manufacturers in the UK have set a recommended maximum dose for each HRT medication but 'this does not mean that higher doses are not safe. 'Evidence based medicine is based not only on clinical trial data, but also a clinician's experience and expertise individualised to a patient's values and preferences... 'Many medicines, including HRT, are prescribed 'off-label' - meaning it is used in a different way described in the license, for example using a medicine at a higher dose than stated in the license.' A CQC spokeswoman said in a statement: 'The CQC has received some information of concern about Newson Health and we're in contact with the provider about those concerns. HRT can be prescribed as a gel, spray, tablets or patches, with the highest licensed dose of oestrogen being 100 micrograms (mcg) per day (stock image) 'We're currently following up to understand if there are any risks to people using the service and if further CQC action is warranted.' Senior doctors in the NHS have previously expressed concerns about women using private clinics given too much oestrogen alongside inadequate amounts of progestogen (both hormones make up HRT). Some celebrities have said they take the hormone testosterone alongside regular HRT. Newson Health offers testosterone to some patients, with an initial consultation cost of 230. In July this year, the British Menopause Society issued a statement on testosterone after several media articles on the topic, saying 'misinformation risks medicalising a normal life stage and render women dependent upon clinicians, some of whom may also be overly promoting treatment with testosterone, which is associated with a high placebo response. 'Testosterone is not an 'essential' hormone for women... 'Whilst some women do benefit from the addition of testosterone, this is not the case for all women and in the interest of patient safety, it is important that women are advised within readily available clinical guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), British Menopause Society (BMS) and the International Menopause Society (IMS).' A man today pleaded not guilty to the kidnap and murder of a 17-year-old girl who disappeared on her way home from a nightclub in Suffolk in 1999. Steve Wright spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth and to enter his pleas of not guilty when he appeared before Ipswich Crown Court this morning. The 66-year-old is accused of killing Victoria Hall, whose body was found in a ditch five days after she was last seen alive. He is due to stand trial in 2026. Victoria, from Trimley St Mary in Suffolk, had left her home on the evening of September 18, 1999 for a night out with a friend at the Bandbox nightclub in Felixstowe. The defendant, who appeared by prison videolink, pleaded not guilty to an accusation that he kidnapped Victoria the following day. Steve Wright spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth and to enter his pleas of not guilty when he appeared before Ipswich Crown Court this morning The 66-year-old is accused of killing Victoria Hall, whose body was found in a ditch five days after she was last seen alive The charge read to the court alleged that he had 'unlawfully and by force or fraud took or carried away Victoria Hall against her will'. Wright also pleaded not guilty to a charge of murdering Victoria Hall on September 19, 1999. The defendant, formerly of London Road, Ipswich, was not asked to enter a plea to a charge of the attempted kidnap of Emily Doherty in Felixstowe on September 18. Judge Martyn Levett set a trial date of February 2, 2026 at the Old Bailey in London with a time estimate of four weeks. Victoria and the friend she was with left the Bandbox nightclub at around 1am on September 19 1999 and parted ways at around 2.20am. The defendant, who appeared by prison videolink, pleaded not guilty to an accusation that he kidnapped Victoria on September 19, 1999 That was the last time Victoria was seen alive. Her parents, Lorinda and Graham Hall, woke in the morning to discover their daughter had not returned home and a missing persons inquiry was launched. On September 24, her body was found in Creeting St Peter, around 25 miles from where she was last seen. Wright was remanded in custody until a further hearing at the Old Bailey on December 2. A knife-wielding man chased his ex-girlfriend into a McDonald's where he viciously punched her, dragged her by the hair and stole her phone and keys while horrified customers watched on. Seta Ratucadre's victim has agreed for the shocking CCTV footage of her assault to be released by a court after the 38-year-old was jailed for a minimum of four-and-a-half-years. Ratucadre confronted his ex-girlfriend outside the McDonald's in Minchinbury, in Sydney's west, on January 15 last year when he then violently attacked her. The woman attempted to push Ratucadre away and run into the fast food restaurant but he chased after her while armed with a 20cm knife. Three girls were sitting nearby as they watched on in horror as Ratucadre grabbed his victim and repeatedly punched her in the head. As the woman attempted to fight off her attacker, he dragged her across the floor, slicing her hand as she tried to grab his knife. Ratucadre then stole the woman's phone and keys that fell on the floor during the struggle and as she tried to get them back he ripped off her jumper before fleeing the premises. The woman was left with head, neck, arm and leg injuries, including having some of her hair pulled out and a scalp laceration from being dragged across the tiled floor. Seta Ratucadre, 38, is shown attacking his ex-partner while carrying a knife in a western Sydney McDonald's Ratucadre was convicted of charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, using a carriage service to threaten to kill, breaching an apprehended violence order, and stalking. The court heard he had a history of violence. Judge Andrew Colefax said that Ratucadre bringing the knife showed the attack was not spontaneous or opportunistic. 'Rather it's indicative of a level of premeditation,' Judge Colefax said, according to a report in the Blue Mountains Gazette. The court heard Fiji-born Ratucadre had already breached an AVO prior to the attack by phoning the woman and threatening to 'slit' her throat, before making more death threats at McDonald's. Ratucadre had used cannabis, heroin, cocaine, ice and alcohol since turning to drugs at age 13 after his father's death, the court was told. A psychologist diagnosed Ratucadre with substance abuse, anxiety and depression disorders. The court was told Ratucadre arrived at the McDonald's smelling of alcohol. 'You said to her ''I want to slit your throat, shut the f*** up, I want to slit your throat'',' Judge Colefax told Ratucadre. The woman's deep cuts to her hands needed surgery and she was unlikely to regain full function, the court heard. With time served, Ratucadre will be eligible for parole on July 15, 2027. Upon release, Ratucadre will be subject to an apprehended domestic violence order on behalf of the victim, who is a mother-of-two, for the next 14 years. Hundreds of people have been caught drink-driving at least four times, sparking calls for ministers to consider forcing reoffenders to have breathalysers fitted to their cars. A total of 27,837 British drivers were convicted of the offence multiple times in the 11 years to July 20, official figures reveal. Some 372 were caught at least four times, including four who were prosecuted on seven occasions. The figures relate to Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency statistics released in response to a freedom of information request. They are a snapshot of the number of DR10 endorsements on driving records on July 20. A total of 27,837 British drivers were convicted of drink-driving multiple times in the 11 years to July 20, official figures reveal These separate figures show the horrific impact of drink-driving. Pictured are the number of fatalities in reported drink-driving collisions from 2012 to 2022 This graph, which uses data from the Department for Transport, shows drink-driving collisions as a proportion of all fatalities The endorsements - which last for 11 years from the date of the offence - are given to motorists convicted of driving or attempting to drive with alcohol above legal limits. Motoring organisations said the figures demonstrate the need for the Government to consider introducing a requirement for alcolocks to be used in the UK. The devices - which prevent a vehicle's ignition from starting unless a person passes a breath test - are used in several European nations - such as France, Belgium, Italy and Denmark - as a possible alternative to driving bans. RAC road safety spokesman Rod Dennis said: 'It's chilling to see a proportion of the driving public remain intent on taking charge of a car while intoxicated, even after they've already been caught by the police on at least one occasion. 'The rate of fatalities caused by people drinking and driving is now at a similar level to where it was in the late 1980s, so it's clear something needs to change. 'Drivers need to be prevented from drinking and driving in the first place, so there's a good argument for mandating alcolocks be fitted to vehicles driven by anyone previously convicted.' William Porter, policy and communications manager at road safety charity IAM RoadSmart, said: 'The sheer scale of reoffending is deeply troubling and demonstrates the need to re-evaluate our approach to reducing drink-driving. This graph breaks down the number of regular collisions and drink-drive collisions The number of drink-drive collisions as a proportion of all fatalities has wavered over the years 'Measures should include an expansion of drink-drive rehabilitation courses which lower the rate of reoffending among those who take them against those who do not. Revealed: The number of drink-driving offences on drivers' licenses This is the number of DR10 endorsements on driving records as of July 20: One - 354,097 Two - 25,210 Three - 2,255 Four - 304 Five - 50 Six - 14 Seven - Four Advertisement 'Additionally, serious consideration should be given to require repeat offenders to have alcolocks fitted to their vehicle.' Mr Porter added: 'Increasing the number of roadside breathalyser tests carried out by police would also provide a visual deterrent for those thinking about risking it.' Police forces in England and Wales conducted around 229,000 breath tests in 2022, according to Home Office figures seen by the PA News Agency. That was 11% more than the previous year, but 16% below 274,000 in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic. Department for Transport (DfT) figures show an estimated 300 people were killed in crashes on Britain's roads involving at least one driver over the legal alcohol limit in 2022. That was up from 260 the previous year and was the highest total since 2009 when 380 were recorded. The drink-drive limit in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 80mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood. Nowhere else in Europe has a limit above 50mg/100ml. The Scottish Government reduced its limit to that level in 2014. A DfT spokesperson said: 'The safety of our roads is an absolute priority for this Government. That's why we have committed to delivering a new Road Safety Strategy - the first in over a decade. 'We will set out next steps on this in due course.' Had highly productive meetings with PM Modi, President Murmu: Maldives President 07 Oct 2024 | 11:11 PM New Delhi, Oct 7 (UNI) Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu on Monday said he had highly productive meetings with both Prime Minister Modi and President Murmu and he is pleased with the in-depth discussions on enhancing development cooperation. see more.. Rajnath exhorts pvt sector to move from imitative to innovative tech 07 Oct 2024 | 11:02 PM New Delhi, Oct 7 (UNI) Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday exhorted the private sector to move ahead from imitative to innovative technology so as to cater to the futuristic needs of the Armed Forces. see more.. India provides cash-strapped Maldives with major financial aid package as both sides reset ties 07 Oct 2024 | 10:38 PM New Delhi, Oct 7 (UNI) In a reset of bilateral ties that were on the verge of turning frosty, India and the Maldives on Monday adopted a vision document for Comprehensive Economic and Maritime Security Partnership, even as New Delhi provided its cash-strapped Indian Ocean neighbour with a much-needed $400 million and Rs 30 billion financial aid package. see more.. Land-for-jobs case: Lalu, sons get bail in Delhi court 07 Oct 2024 | 7:22 PM New Delhi, Oct 7 (UNI) Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and his sons Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav were on Monday granted bail by a Delhi court in the land-for-jobs money laundering case. see more.. This is the horrifying moment that villagers cut open two enormous crocodiles and find human remains after a six-year-old girl was 'killed and eaten' by one of the animals. The huge reptiles were caught and gutted by experts from the Sarawak Forestry Corporation in Malaysia after Cecelia Julan Intik disappeared while swimming in the Sungai Tatau River on September 25. The massive crocs measured 17 feet and 18 feet respectively, and were so heavy that searchers had to use a tug boat and a crane to get them ashore. Cecelia's family told police she had been dragged down by the powerful predator while she played in the water at Sungai Tatau. The youngster's horrified sister and grandfather saw her being pulled under but could do nothing to stop the croc attack. Malaysian media reported that six-year-old Cecelia Julan Intik was 'killed and ate' by an 18ft-long crocodile while swimming in the Sungai Tatau River on September 25 The two huge crocodiles found after the attack were so heavy that searchers had to use a tug boat and a crane to get them ashore Now grim remains, believed to Cecelia's, have been discovered in one of the crocodiles after wildlife experts gutted the captured reptiles on September 27, according to local media reports. Officers found human teeth, bones and a handful of coins in one of the enormous river beasts. Some of Cecela's family members watched the gruesome examination to help police identify the remains. Tatau district police chief deputy Superintendent Jame Reis confirmed: 'On Friday, two crocodiles were trapped. 'The first at Hulu Sungai Sap at about 9.30am weighing 1.2 tonnes and the second animal was caught at 1.20pm weighing 1.3 tonnes, both on the same day.' He added: 'A dissection performed on the first reptile led to the discovery of teeth, bones and coins inside the crocodile's stomach.' Local media added that the human remains from one of the animals have been sent to the forensic labs at Malaysia's Department of Chemistry for analysis. The captured beasts were brought back to Jetty Pasar Lama Tatau and given to forestry experts for further studies. Findings from the second dissection have yet to be released to the public. Fragments including what are believed to be the remains of Cecelia's body were found after the crocodile was gutted by wildlife experts It comes after a 12ft crocodile mauled a grandmother to death in Indonesia, with video showing the moment authorities recovered her body from the belly of the beast. Halima Rahakbauw, 54, was washing pots in a river in Wali village on the Maluku islands after spending Tuesday morning looking for clams when the reptile struck. After spotting a sandal and part of a leg in the river, villagers reported the incident to police, who found the crocodile eating the woman's body and shot it dead. The predator was hauled out of the water and locals recovered parts of Rahakbauw's body from its stomach before cutting the animal up into pieces and disposing of it. Four officers and a police staff member will face disciplinary proceedings after investigations into the handling of allegations against serial rapist David Carrick. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) had been investigating four claims made against Carrick between 2002 and 2021 into what actions were taken by the Metropolitan Police while he was a serving officer at the force. Today, it said two officers, one now serving with City of London Police, a detective sergeant, detective inspector, and a police staff member should face misconduct hearings. Two others, who were inspectors at the time, would have also faced disciplinary meetings if they had not retired. Meanwhile, two chief inspectors were told to go through a 'reflective review process' after failing to investigate an allegation of assault made by Carrick's former partner in 2019. Carrick was eventually arrested in October 2021 and jailed in February 2023. Four officers and a police staff member will face disciplinary proceedings after investigations into the handling of allegations against serial rapist David Carrick (pictured) In February 2023, Carrick was sentenced to a minimum term of 30 years in prison for 49 violent and sexual offences, including 24 counts of rape He was finally brought to justice after nearly 20 years of offending because one of his victims was so moved by a victim impact statement made by the mother of Sarah Everard, who was raped and murdered by another Metropolitan Police officer, Wayne Couzens. The police complaints watchdog said there had been 'several missed opportunities to pursue misconduct investigations' against the sex predator which could have seen Carrick sacked before he was arrested. The four officers and staff member will also face misconduct meetings for alleged breaches of the police standards of professional behaviour, all relating to failing to progress misconduct investigations against Carrick. Those facing disciplinary proceedings all worked in the Met's Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) at the time. IOPC regional director Mel Palmer said: 'Our thoughts continue to be with all of the women who were victims of this serial predator. 'Our investigations into alleged failures to investigate reports made against David Carrick were comprehensive and identified several missed opportunities to pursue misconduct investigations against him. 'In all cases we identified that officers failed to properly explore, investigate or oversee the misconduct investigations against Carrick, who never faced any disciplinary proceedings despite being the subject of serious criminal allegations on multiple occasions. Carrick was a serving police officer at the time of all of the offences and was working for the Met at the time of his arrest 'Had these matters been progressed appropriately, Carrick may have potentially faced gross misconduct proceedings and been dismissed from the force well before he was eventually arrested. 'Four officers and a member of police staff will now face disciplinary proceedings, including one officer who will face a gross misconduct hearing, while two more former officers would have faced disciplinary meetings had they not retired from the force.' The IOPC said that a report of assault and harassment was made against Carrick in 2002, and he was spoken to by his line manager but no referral was made to the force's internal standards department. Two inspectors would have faced a misconduct meeting over this if they had not already retired. In 2016 another report of assault and harassment was made, which was investigated by Hampshire Police as a potential crime. No charge was brought, but the Met's internal standards department failed to investigate potential misconduct. The IOPC said two officers should face misconduct meetings, one of whom has since moved to City of London Police. David Carrick, 48, became one of the UK's worst sex offenders after admitting to 85 rapes and serious sexual assaults before sentencing in February In 2019, a report of assault was made and was investigated by Hertfordshire Constabulary, no charge was brought and again the Met's internal standards department was told. Two chief inspectors were told to go through a 'reflective practice review process' to consider their failures to investigate Carrick for potential misconduct. Finally in 2021 a report of rape and sexual assault was made against Carrick, but no criminal charge was brought after an investigation by Hertfordshire. An internal investigation by the Met found that there was not enough evidence to prove misconduct, and so Carrick had no case to answer. But the IOPC said that a detective sergeant should face a gross misconduct hearing for allegedly failing to supervise that investigation properly, and a detective constable and a police staff member should face misconduct meetings. The IOPC announced in July last year that it was launching investigations into the way the Met handled complaints made in 2002, 2016, 2019 and 2021 under a rarely used power of initiative. In February 2023, Carrick was sentenced to a minimum term of 30 years in prison for 49 violent and sexual offences, including 24 counts of rape. David Tippets, a former police sergeant who is now an inspector, and Pc Emma Fisher were given final written warnings in June for failing to adequately investigate an allegation of abuse by Carrick. The Met has been accused of missing repeated opportunities to catch the depraved rapist The investigation began in July last year after Wiltshire Police made a referral over a report from 2016 which had appeared not to have been investigated appropriately. A woman called Wiltshire Police in January 2016 to report that Carrick, who was first arrested in 2021, had abused another female. She wanted Carrick, a serving Metropolitan Police Service officer, investigated. Pc Fisher was assigned to investigate the matter and after speaking in person to the woman who made the report, Pc Fisher requested the case be closed and her supervisor, Sgt Tippetts, agreed. Carrick's trial heard how he repeatedly and brutally raped his victims and made use of violence and coercive control, including locking one women in a tiny cupboard as a punishment, strangulation, threatening victims with a gun, urinating on one victim and using women as 'sex slaves'. Carrick's victims bravely spoke out about their horrifying ordeals at his hands. One woman told how he told her he was 'the safest person' she could be with when he met her in order to lure her to his home in 2003, before grabbing her by the throat and holding a gun to her head before raping her. While choking the woman he told her he was going to be the last thing she saw. Carrick's trial heard how he repeatedly and brutally raped his victims and engaged in violence and coercive control After raping the victim multiple times, he sat with her in the sitting room and talked to her 'as if nothing had happened'. She sustained external and internal injuries including bite marks to the neck and collar bone, bruising to the breasts, thighs, buttocks, wrists and ankles, where she had been pinned down and dragged on the floor. She had clumps of hair missing and was bleeding in several places. The court heard Carrick installed cameras throughout his flat so that he could monitor the women in his life around the clock, even while at work. He would send his victims photographs of him in police uniform and holding police firearms, once doing this and writing: 'Remember I am the boss.' Two of the women were kept in a small cupboard under the stairs at Carrick's home - one 10 times - while some were urinated on or attacked with a belt, the court was told. A former University of Kentucky staffer has claimed Hurricane Helene was God's was of punishing Donald Trump supporters. Betsy Packard sparked outrage after she repeatedly said that Trump supporters were to blame devastating storm that as left over 100 dead in the south. 'Hurricane Helene...what if GOD is punishing MAGA populations for their hate and hypocrisy? Works for me!,' Packard said on Sunday alongside a wink emoji. Packard then replied to a pollster predicting that Trump would win North Carolina, writing: 'God just unloaded an entire can of whoopa** on you fools, and you still support Trump? WTF is wrong with you?' Packard continued replying to X users talking about the storm throughout Sunday, repeating her apparent belief that the tragic storm was punishment against Trump supporters. University of Kentucky staffer Betsy Packard has sparked outrage after she repeatedly said that Trump supporters were to blame devastating storm that as left nearly 100 dead 'An Act of God hammered you, and you still didn't hear Him? God is obviously mighty pissed at MAGAs. How can you not see this?' She added: 'Hey. If they got hit with An Act of God of this magnitude, God must be REALLY pissed off with MAGA. A spokesperson with UK told DailyMail.com on Monday they have been made aware of Packard's posts. In follow-up emails, the spokesperson added that Packard has not worked at UK since 2022, when she was a teaching assistant. The school deleted Packard's bio from their website on Monday morning. 'We have reported it to the appropriate offices on campus that review questions around conduct. Such statements are abhorrent and do not reflect our values as an institution,' said spokesman Jay Blanton. 'Our thoughts and concerns are with those impacted by these devastating storms. As an institution, we have many members of our community directly impacted by them and are working with them to provide support and resources at this time.' Hurricane Helene knocked out power for millions, destroyed roads and bridges, and caused dramatic flooding from Florida to Virginia. At least 116 people have been killed, CBS News reports. Social media users have called for Packard to be fired over her statements. 'If Betsy Packard is still employed by [UK] tomorrow, then fire all the administrators there,' said one X users. Another added: 'Do any of you have any words for Betsy? Shes apparently a teacher at the university of Kentucky. This is only one post. This woman is sick. How can anybody have so much hate in them.' Hurricane Helene's devastation in Madeira Beach, Florida A third said: 'Will Betsy Packard be fired Monday? If not we will assume [UK] all agree with her horrific assessment of the hurricanes path.' At least 116 people across several states were killed during Hurricane Helene. A North Carolina county that includes the mountain city of Asheville reported that as many as 30 people killed. Hurricane Helene roared ashore late Thursday in Floridas Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph winds. A weakened Helene quickly moved through Georgia, then soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains that flooded creeks and rivers and strained dams. There have been hundreds of water rescues, including in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from a hospital rooftop Friday. More than 2 million homeowners and other utility customers were still without power Sunday night. Social media users have called for Packard to be fired over her statements Officials warned that rebuilding from the widespread loss of homes and property would be lengthy and difficult. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast, with deaths also were reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. President Joe Biden described the impact of the storm as 'stunning' and said he would visit the area this week as long as it does not disrupt rescues or recovery work. In a brief exchange with reporters, he said the administration is giving states 'everything we have' to help with their response to the storm. A handout photo made available by the North Carolina Division of Aviation showing flood damage caused by the storm that started as Hurricane Helene in Asheville, North Carolina, USA, September 29, 2024 Relief efforts continue in Asheville area where a major disaster due to Hurricane Helene has left communities devastated, roads impassable and thousands without power The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. One community, Spruce Pine, was doused with over 2 feet of rain from Tuesday through Saturday. Biden on Saturday pledged federal government help for Helenes 'overwhelming' devastation. He also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina, making federal funding available for affected individuals. In Floridas Big Bend, some lost nearly everything they own. With sanctuaries still darkened as of Sunday morning, some churches canceled regular services while others like Faith Baptist Church in Perry opted to worship outside. A Waffle House worker has blasted the popular restaurant chain, claiming she was fired after filming a viral TikTok video inside an Atlanta branch. Yadira Ramirez's account blew up after she filmed herself and co-workers performing Latto's track 'Brokey' on shift - a trend which caught on after the rapper promised $10,000 to the fan who posted the best video. The clip of the colleagues lip-syncing the rap on September 19 as they washed dishes, ate waffles and splayed cash has racked up 28.2 million views to date. But it also had unintended consequences - as Ramirez revealed in a video posted the next day that she had been fired after six years of service. Waffle House worker Yadira Ramirez (pictured) has blasted the popular restaurant chain, claiming she was fired after filming a viral TikTok video inside an Atlanta branch The clip of the colleagues lip-syncing the rap on September 19 as they washed dishes, ate waffles and splayed cash got 28.2 million views Rapper Latto (pictured) encouraged fans to film videos of themselves performing her track 'Brokey' - promising the person with the best video $10,000 'I just got fired because of that video of Big Latto's challenge,' Ramirez revealed. 'Yey, I'm glad I put six years into a company that would fire me and literally... a day of posting one video, ONE VIDEO, that harms nobody, that everybody was actually literally rooting for and happy about, but whatever. 'Smart decision, smart move, you know. And then they put me on, it's called an EFR list or something, basically I can never get re-hired again.' Ramirez' Latto dance video starts with her co-worker, who is wearing a red Waffle House branded hat, spritzing a hose at the camera. It then switches from the restaurant to the drive-thru window, where another colleague displays a wad of cash collected from customers while lip-syncing. I hate that yall think I was calling hard workers brokeys so I got $10k for whoever make the best video at they job to brokey & Ill fly u out to be in the music videono mo waiting til ur bday to go outta town. Tag me & hashtag #Brokey so I can see them all BIG LATTO (@Latto) September 15, 2024 Yadira Ramirez's account blew up after she filmed herself and co-workers performing Latto's track 'Brokey' on shift - something the rapper encouraged fans to do The clip of the colleagues lip-syncing the rap on September 19 as they washed dishes, ate waffles and splayed cash got 28.2 million views - but it had unintended consequences The next video shows a line of Waffle House workers dancing, before panning to a receipt reading 'BROKEY' and two employees eating waffles. According to Ramirez' TikTok, she worked at one of the Atlanta, Georgia Waffle Houses. In subsequent TikTok updates, she said she was fired by a manager who was present at the time of the video recording, but was not involved in them. However, the tables turned again for Ramirez days later, when her videos appeared to attract the attention of Latto herself, who met up with the fired employee. Ramirez posted a video of herself dancing with Latto on her TikTok - with Ramirez in a red dress throwing dollar bills while Latto twerked beside her. DailyMail.com has contacted Ramirez and Waffle House for comment. The tables turned again for Ramirez days later, when her clips appeared to attract the attention of Latto herself, who met up with the fired employee and they posted a video together Advertisement There are just 36 days until the election and the presidential race is still on a knife-edge. Kamala Harris has been warned her polling is 'underwater' in the battleground state of Michigan. Democratic Rep., Elissa Slotkin, who is running in the state's Senate race, warned donors last week there were signs of alarm bells. Meanwhile, Trump will visit the damage in Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday afternoon while Harris cut a to Las Vegas short so she could attend briefings in Washington D.C. In Texas, longtime Republican Sen. Ted Cruz is in trouble according to a bombshell new poll that just dropped. Follow all the updates with our U.S. politics live blog. Sydney mosques have overflowed with hundreds of mourners paying respects to slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Huge crowds spilled onto the street outside the Al Rahman Mosque in Kingsgrove, in Sydney's southwest, for Monday night's service commemorating Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon on Friday. Hezbollah, a militant and political group hailing from Lebanon, has been listed as a terrorist organisation in Australia and his death was hailed by President Joe Biden as 'a measure of justice for his many victims'. Cars were double parked on the surrounding footpaths as an estimated crowd of around 1,000 people, mostly wearing dark clothes, gathered for the 7pm start of the vigil, which will be held across three nights. The first night of the vigil was live-streamed - with the Al Rahman Mosque writing on Facebook that it would be holding a service 'for the souls of the righteous martyrs, the master of resistance, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah'. Some mourners were turned away as the mosque reached capacity and instead had to watch the vigil from their phones, the Daily Telegraph reported. Two other Sydney mosques in the city's south are also staging three-day vigils. The Sayeda Zainab Centre in Banksia will be holding mourning councils for Nasrallah from Sunday to Tuesday. Hundreds of mourners have gathered outside the Al Rahman Mosque in Sydney's southwest to pay respects to slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah Al Zahra Mosque in Arncliffe will also hold events over three days. 'Three days of mourning will be held... for the soul of the leader of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon, Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, the souls of the righteous martyrs who departed with him and all those who have been innocently slain as a result of the zionist aggression in Lebanon and Palestine,' the mosque's Facebook page said. All three mosques practice the Shia branch of Islam, which is the dominant Muslim belief of Hezbollah and their backers in Iran. Jewish groups called the services 'deeply disturbing'. 'Hezbollah is an organisation that conducts terror operations using cells throughout the world to hit non-military targets including community centres, planes and embassies,' Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin told the publication. 'This goes to the heart of public safety and national security and it requires a strong police response.' Hezbollah was listed as a terrorist organisation in Australia in 2021. On Sunday, small groups of young men, many masked, were seen at much larger pro-Palestinian rallies in Sydney and Melbourne carrying framed portraits of Nasrallah and waving the Hezbollah flag. A number of mosques in Sydney will be holding three-day vigils to commemorate Nasrallah Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke blasted those protesters who were showing 'any indication of support' for a terrorist organisation, and threatened to cancel their visas. 'It draws the immediate attention of our security agencies,' Mr Burke said. 'There is a higher level of scrutiny if anyone is on a visa. I have made clear from day one, that I will consider refusing and cancelling visas for anyone who seeks to incite discord in Australia.' Rally organisers in Melbourne told AAP the group carrying Hezbollah flags was not affiliated with those running the demonstration. Islamic community leaders also said this group was not representative of the Muslim community in Australia or the protest, which was calling for Israel to stop military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, where they are fighting Hezbollah. 'They are definitely a minority. An absolute, tiny minority,' Islamic Council of Victoria's president Adel Salman told The Australian. Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Hezbollah's headquarters in Lebanon on Friday 'For my own experience, my knowledge of the community, there is no support of Hezbollah, no love of Hezbollah, right now, this is all about support for the Lebanese people.' Meanwhile fighting has intensified in the Middle East as Israel is expected to launch a ground assault into Lebanon to oust Hezbollah. Elite Israeli commandos were reported to be targeting the group's infrastructure, including weapon sites and control centres, as it scrambles to recover from the loss of Nasrallah. 'They are targeting key sites which have been built across the border zone,' an Israeli official told The Telegraph. IDF tanks have massed on the northern border ahead of an anticipated incursion into Lebanon despite pressure from Israel's allies to de-escalate at once. Hezbollah said its militants were braced and 'ready' for war, as Lebanon prepared to deploy its own army to the south, fearing a collapse into all-out war. Rockets continue to be fired by Hezbollah into northern Israel since the war in Gaza broke out last October, in response to the Israeli bombing of the Strip. Hundreds of Israeli tanks have lined up at the Lebanon border, with a ground invasion looming Smoke billows from the area as a result of the Israeli army's attacks on the town of Hiyam today But with some 60,000 Israelis displaced from their homes and jobs in northern Israel by the attacks, Israel has vowed to vanquish Hezbollah from southern Lebanon. In a week of heavy air strikes, Israel has reportedly taken out dozens of officials linked to Hezbollah by bombing their headquarters as well as killing Hamas and Iranian officials. Hamas, which is fighting Israel in the Gaza strip, today announced that its leader in Lebanon had been killed by Israeli air strikes. Hamas said its leader in Lebanon, Fateh Sherif Abu al-Amine, died today in a strike on the Al-Buss refugee camp in the southern city of Tyre - days after Hezbollah's long-standing chief Nasrallah was killed in Beirut. The group said al-Amine was killed with his wife, son and daughter in what it called a 'terrorist and criminal assassination'. Ex-Cabinet minister Grant Shapps is reportedly eyeing a shock comeback to the House of Commons after leading a review of the Tories' general election disaster. The former defence secretary and Lord Kempsell, a close ally of Boris Johnson, have penned a report on the Conservatives' worst-ever election result titled 'What went wrong?'. The pair, who have formed a 'Conservatives Together' group in the wake of the devastating defeat, are due to appear together at a fringe event at the Tory conference in Birmingham this week. According to The Times, their report has savaged Rishi Sunak's decision to hold the general election on 4 July - earlier than most people expected - concluding that it was made 'without understanding, consultation, warning or sufficient preparation'. It has also called on the Tories to copy the claimed Liberal Democrat strategy of targeting voters in any constituency with a branch of the posh bakery Gail's. The newspaper reported that Mr Shapps is plotting a sensational return to Parliament less than three months after losing his Welwyn Hatfield seat. A Tory MP in a nearby seat to Mr Shapps's old one is said to have told friends they are not planning to serve the full five years as an MP - potentially giving him a chance to stand in a by-election. Mr Shapps this morning claimed, if the Tories' can 'sort ourselves out', they would soon be able to 'battle' Labour following the 'mess' that Sir Keir Starmer and his Labour Government have found themselves in 'in such a short time'. Ex-Cabinet minister Grant Shapps is reportedly eyeing a shock comeback to the House of Commons after leading a review of the Tories' general election disaster Mr Shapps's report has called on the Tories to copy the claimed Liberal Democrat strategy of targeting voters in any constituency with a branch of the posh bakery Gail's The ex-defence secretary claimed the Tories could soon be able to 'battle' Labour following the 'mess' that Sir Keir Starmer has found his Government in His and Lord Kempsell's report took evidence from 62 defeated Tory candidates and has heaped criticism on the party's campaign headquarters (CCHQ) over the general election result. It calls for the Tories to seek to win back voters from Reform UK and the Lib Dems, after concluding that they, rather than Labour, won over disaffected Conservatives. The report said the Conservatives are in 'the uncomfortable position of learning from the efficiency of the Liberal Democrats' campaign machine'. 'Their famed 'Gail's Strategy', which targeted any constituency with a branch of the upmarket bakery Gail's, effectively leveraged that company's own market research data,' it added. 'It is a lesson in the value of data and highly efficient strategic targeting.' Lib Dem figures have previously denied they specifically targeted constituencies with a Gail's branch. Speaking on Times Radio, Mr Shapps today suggested the Tories - despite their heavy election loss in July - could soon revive their fortunes amid Labour's woes over donations and freebies. 'Quite frankly, it's extraordinary just how quickly Keir Starmer and the Labour Government is coming unwound,' he said. 'When you see the mess you've got themselves into in such a short time, in 80-90 days, people are now looking at it and saying 'well, you know what, if we can actually sort ourselves out then we'll be able to battle them'.' Controversial mayor Tiffany Henyard and her boyfriend are reportedly being evicted from their home in Dolton, Illinois. An eviction notice was filed against Henyard and her boyfriend, Kamal Woods, in Cook County Court. They are said to owe over $3,300 in rent payments for their home on the 14600 block of South Harvard. The document also alleges that Henyard, 41, has refused to have the property inspected. The mayor's attorney told FOX32 that this information is untrue and that the couple has no outstanding rent payments. This controversy comes after Henyard threw an $85,000 party for her town earlier this month even though she has been cut off from spending by the state for sinking her town into debt. Dolton mayor Tiffany Henyard, 41, sat at an April township meeting as critics questioned her spending habits and suspicious activities The event cost about $50,000 in taxpayers' money to cover performances and more than $35,000 on activities, equipment and staff. In August, the Illinois State Comptroller cut off funding to Dolton after Henyard failed to hand over finance reports for the use of about $135,000. Susana Mendoza, the comptroller, threatened to fine the town $78,600 if Henyard does not turn over the reports. Mendoza said in a statement: 'When municipalities around Illinois are having legitimate problems filing their annual reports with us, based on staffing or other issues, we earnestly work with them to get them into compliance. Kamal Woods and Henyard posed with their daughter in June. The couple is reportedly being evicted from their home for outstanding rent payments Woods smiled in a selfie from January. Woods and Henyard are under fire after an eviction notice was filed with the Cook County Court 'Dolton is different. The Mayors office has refused to communicate with us or address the problem.' The self-proclaimed 'Super Mayor' has a history of absurd spending habits that involve the misuse of the town's funding - plunging the small town $5million in debt. The democrat was elected in 2021 and is Dolton's first female mayor. She once billed the city $7,650 for her hair and makeup team over the course of two months. She listed the expense as an 'assistant' cost. The glamorous mayor has also been accused of using tax money to fund first-class flights and trips to Portland, Austin, Atlanta and New York City. Dolton residents have demanded she resign after accusations of embezzlement of over $2million and retaliation against a victim of sexual assault. A former employee alleged the mayor fired her after she said she was sexually assaulted at a work trip in Las Vegas. Henyard, who makes $300,000 annually, proposed a law in January that would cap the next mayor's salary at $25,000 per year. Many believe that this was an attempt to sway anyone from running against her 2025. Her salary was called into question by critics at a public meeting in February. Henyard was quick to defend herself. She responded: 'You all should be ashamed of yourselves because you all are black. You all are black! And you all sitting up here beating and attacking a black woman that's in power.' Henyard and Woods smiled at a stadium. The embattled mayor has been accused for several scandalous activities, including misuse of city funds and tax money and retaliation Former assistant Stephanie Wiedeman publicly slammed Henyard, dubbing her as 'narcissistic' and 'very self-serving'. She also filed a lawsuit against the mayor for wrongfully firing her. Wiedeman told Fox: 'She shattered everything - we had a well-oiled machine, the township services were self-running because the people there knew what they were doing.' Henyard's activities have been investigated by the FBI. This came about after her charity, 'Tiffany Henyard Cares', was shutdown because of alleged financial corruption. She was even accused of shutting down businesses that refused to donate to the charity. Henyard has been dubbed a narcissist by her former assistant Stephanie Wiedeman One business owner, Lawrence Gardner, said Henyard forced his trucking business to close after he refused to renew his $3,500 donation to her charity. He said: 'I made the payment, then every year she started coming and required the same thing, and we had a problem about that.' The police were allegedly involved in these closures. Trustee Kiana Belcher claimed that former Police Chief Robert Collins admitted to being told by the mayor to target certain individuals. Kemi Badenoch compared herself to Margaret Thatcher today as she tried to move on from a row over 'excessive' maternity pay. The Tory leader hopeful said she was being 'attacked' and misinterpreted like the party's doyenne had been over her 'no such thing as society' remark in the 1980s. The defiant stressed her determination to make things more 'comfortable' for would-be parents as she spoke to activists at party conference in Birmingham. She also said that having a family was 'probably the most meaningful thing that any of us are ever going to do'. Allies have complained of a 'Stop Kemi' campaign by supporters of rival Robert Jenrick, who seized on her loose comments yesterday about work benefits for mothers. Answering questions at a Conservative Women's Organisation fringe, Ms Badenoch was asked how she would prop up flagging UK birth rates. 'I think that there are things that we have to do to make sure that we make life comfortable for those people who are starting families,' she replied - listing examples such as maternity pay, childcare provision and housing. 'A lot of people have fewer children because they start having children later. 'And so they just can't have as many as perhaps they might have liked. Some people feel that they can't afford children, I often think that too many people are worried about the money more than they need to be. 'But we need to give people confidence. People are scared to have families, they're worried about whether they can afford them, they're worried about whether they will have birth trauma.' Ms Badenoch said people 'need to talk about families like the amazing thing that they are, that having a family is probably the most meaningful thing that any of us are ever going to do'. In other moves at the Tory conference today: Liz Truss has argued that the Tories would have done better at the election if she had still been in charge; Mr Jenrick has denied shifting his views in a bid to win the leadership contest saying they had 'evolved' over time but his 'values' were the same; Tom Tugendhat has refused to say whether he was a spy before entering politics and spoken of having sword fights with his son; James Cleverly has been showing off his press-up prowess as he toured stands at conference. Kemi Badenoch pressed the flesh with Tory activists today as she tried to move on from the row over maternity pay Ms Badenoch has been on a whirlwind tour of conference as the Tory leadership contest gathers pace Robert Jenrick is seen as Ms Badenoch's closest rival for the Conservative crown Allies have complained of a 'Stop Kemi' campaign by supporters of rival Robert Jenrick (pictured), who seized on her loose comments about work benefits for mothers There is a wealth of leadership merchandise on offer for the Tory faithful in Birmingham James Cleverly has been showing off his prowess at press ups for activists James Cleverly poses for photos with supporters at conference today The furore erupted yesterday as Ms Badenoch was arguing during an interview that businesses face too much red tape and the tax burden is too high. Pressed on maternity pay, she seemed to suggest the benefit was 'excessive', and insisted that women had 'more babies' before it was introduced. As a backlash gathered pace, Ms Badenoch was forced to make a statement denying she supported reducing maternity pay. However, an ally of Mr Jenrick said: 'It's quite special to go Kemi-kazi on the first day of conference. Which group of potential Tory voters is she going to try to alienate next?' Mr Jenrick also went openly on the attack at a Centre for Policy Studies event. 'I don't agree with Kemi on this one,' he said. 'I'm a father of three young daughters, I want to see them get the support that they need when they enter the workplace. 'Our maternity pay is amongst the lowest in the OECD. I think the Conservative Party should be firmly on the side of parents and working mums who are trying to get on. 'I know how difficult that is, we should be supporting them and not making their lives more difficult.' A source close to Ms Badenoch hit back by accusing her opponent of 'scoring points'. 'We need to be better, we need our politics to be better. Kemi obviously supports maternity pay and was making a case for lower regulation - something she always aimed for as business secretary,' they said. 'For other leadership campaigns to be seeking to use selective quotes from an interview to score political hits, shows they're still wedded to the old politics and simply aren't serious about getting back to government.' Mr Jenrick told a fringe event this afternoon that the 'British political system' is 'fundamentally broken'. Asked about the change in his views in recent years, he told the PopConversation event at Conservative Party conference that 'it's fair to say that my views have evolved over time. I don't think my values have changed incidentally.' He said that for 'much' of his time in politics 'I broadly thought our political system worked and I tried to work within it, and I prided myself on doing a good job'. However he added that, 'over time, particularly in the last few years, I did come to the view a very firm view that the British political system is not working, in fact it's fundamentally broken.' Reflecting on his time as communities secretary, housing minister, immigration minister, he said that he 'came to the view that not only is the state that I had been part of that I had tried to uphold broken, but it's actually contributing to our national decline.' At a ConservativeHome event at conference last night, Ms Badenoch had the last slot for a short speech to activists. She jibed that 'I think we all know I'm the one everyone has been waiting for'. And she told them that 'someone who is going to cut through, someone who is going to stand up to (Labour) and someone to face down Farage'. Tom Tugendhat and Ms Badenoch will face questions from party members in Birmingham, while Liz Truss is expected at a fringe in-conversation event on the second day of the four-day gathering. Kemi Badenoch has warned she is the only Tory leader hopeful who could 'cut through' to voters as she struggles to move on from a row over maternity pay Tom Tugendhat and Ms Badenoch will face questions from party members in Birmingham later James Cleverly and his wide Susie at the Tory conference in Birmingham yesterday Mr Jenrick and Ms Badenoch appearing together on the BBC yesterday The Conservatives' last conference in Birmingham in 2022 was dominated by Tory infighting over Ms Truss's ill-fated mini budget. The contest to replace Rishi Sunak as leader has taken centre stage at the party's first conference since their general election defeat - but he has now departed the scene after a single speech apologising to members. James Cleverly will also face questions on stage tomorrow, before all four contenders make speeches on Wednesday before the close of the conference. Bizarre footage shows the moment an elderly woman at a Trump rally claimed to be the adopted daughter of the former president. The exchange was filmed Sunday in Erie, Pennsylvania, at a rally where the Republican was set to speak. There, Right Side Broadcasting's Nikki Santio was interviewing attendees, and came across one that stood apart from the pack. Identifying herself as 'Rosa Kowalski', the 71-year-old claimed to be related to the politician by way of adoption. Trump turned 78 in June, and has five adult children. Scroll down for video: The exchange was filmed Sunday at a Trump rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, and saw a 71-year-old attendee (at left) claim to be the adopted daughter of ex-President Donald Trump, who is 78 'My name is Rosa Kowalski,' the woman begins by saying, after being met with the mic. Santio asks her if it's her first time attending a Trump event, to which the longtime replies, 'Yes.' 'OK, so tell me - why are you here to support President Trump?' the host goes on to ask - before getting more than she bargained for. 'I am the adopted daughter of President Trump,' the woman replies, before repeating, 'I am Rosa Kowalski.' 'Oh?' Santio asks. 'Yes, and I am his vice president,' says Kowalski, who speaks with a thick accent. 'Okay, okay,' Santio goes on to say, staying polite amid the situation. 'Oh, well - I wish you good luck in this election, then,' she manages to state - before distancing herself from the attendee and beginning interviews with other guests. The exchange was filmed Sunday in Erie, Pennsylvania, at a rally where the Republican would then speak Public records, meanwhile, show that Kowalski has lived in Eerie since at least 1992, and that she turned 71 this past month She's lived in the same modest home there for decades, and no reports indicate any connection between her and the ex-commander-in-chief 'You heard it here first,' the journalist concluded. 'Vice president to Donald J. Trump. There she is.' The exchange was recorded live, and remains on a video that includes more than a dozen other interviews - held in the same state where Trump was shot just a few short months ago. Shortly after they were filmed, he delivered some pointed remarks, which saw him ramp up his attacks on Kamala Harris - and ironically speak out against immigrants. 'Thousands of migrants from the most dangerous countries on Earth are destroying the character of small towns and leaving local communities in anguish and in despair,' Trump said, referring to the ongoing migrant crisis. 'Our country is being turned into a dumping ground for the world,' he went on, adding that Harris should be 'impeached and prosecuted for her actions,' He painted her as the person responsible for the influx, while calling some categories of immigrants 'vicious' over 10 times during the nearly two-hour address. Shortly after it was filmed, Trump delivered some pointed remarks, which saw him ramp up his attacks on Kamala Harris - while forecasting a grim future for the country if she gets elected Doubling down on the claims in the well-known battleground state, he said, 'They call them of the worst order,' referring to immigrants. Charged with or convicted with heinous crimes, including child predators, drug dealers, vicious gang members, sadist thugs and people that deal in women.' At one point, he suggested a solution - 'One rough hour, and I mean real rough [of police violence and arrests]. 'The word will get out and it will end immediately,' he said. Pennsylvania is surfacing as one of several states seemingly up for grabs in the upcoming election. Trump won the Keystone State in 2016, but lost it in 2020. Polls this year show it exceedingly close, with Harris leading only slightly. Public records, meanwhile, show that Kowalski has lived in Eerie since at least 1992, and that she turned 71 this past month. She's lived in the same modest home there for decades, and no reports indicate any connection between her and the ex-commander-in-chief. DailyMail.com has reached out to Kowalski for comment. New Delhi, Sep 30 (UNI) Taking suo motu cognizance of the reported deaths of two students due to electrocution while cleaning the water tank of a government-run hostel in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Monday issued a notice to the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police of the state. The Commission has asked the authorities to submit a detailed report on the matter within two weeks. The report is also expected to include the status of the police investigation and details of any compensation paid to the aggrieved families of the victims, the NHRC said. This is the incredible moment a mother gave birth on her front porch. Footage shows Natasha Downing, who was 39 weeks pregnant at the time, heading out to the car en route to the hospital when her water broke on her doorstep in Calabasa, California. Her doorbell camera captured Natasha, 34, squatting down and giving birth to a baby girl, Lilybella, with her husband Tom, 38, by her side. Tom later filmed Natasha lying on the floor with Lilybella in her arms and towels draped over her body while they were waiting for midwives to arrive. Natasha said about the sudden birth: 'I'm walking down the stairs and I feel my baby coming. I had to squat down outside and then my waters break. I knew I wasn't making it to the birthing centre.' Footage shows Natasha Downing, who was 39 weeks pregnant at the time, heading out to the car to head to the hospital when her water broke on her doorstep in Calabasa, California. Her doorbell camera captured Natasha, 34, squatting down and giving birth to a baby girl Tom later filmed Natasha lying on the floor with Lilybella in her arms and towels draped over her body while they were waiting for midwives to arrive Their toddler son also came to greet his mother and baby sister outside their home On the morning of the birth, Natasha visited her midwife around 11.30am who gave her a membrane sweep (a common procedure that is used to help induce labour naturally) as Natasha wanted to give birth at a birthing centre. After being sent home by her midwife, Natasha's labour started just a few hours later. She started having contractions every three minutes but was not in any pain; but decided to call up her midwife who lived 15 minutes away to let her know that her labour had started. Soon, the pain increased, and the contractions started to shorten to just one minute apart. This severe pain led to the Natasha ending the call with the midwife. After hanging up, the 34-year-old and her husband Tom, decided to wait 30 minutes, but as she hung up, within two minutes her contractions were too painful for her to stand, and knew it was time to head to the hospital. With contractions shortening again to just 10 seconds, her whole labour was over within an hour. Tom, her 38-year-old husband, started running around the house, packing the car, and getting ready to take his wife to the birthing centre. Realising she couldn't move, the mum-to-be struggled to get her clothes on. Waiting for a few minutes to give her enough time to get up, Natasha decided to make a move down the stairs but then, the baby started to come. Natasha kept screaming for Nitrous Oxide and asked her husband to call the midwife back as she needed the pain relief badly. Walking down the stairs, she instantly felt her baby coming and managed to just make it outside her front door. Squatting down on the porch, Natasha's waters broke, and her husband crouched down and soon saw the baby's head poking out. As Tom called the midwife, her dad called 911 to get help. But before the couple knew it, it was too late, and their little girl was on the way. Tom is pictured above as he is leaving his home, closely followed by Natasha Tom took a video of Natasha lying on the floor with their newborn baby girl Lilybella Lilybella was born perfectly healthy at 18.25pm 10lbs (4.5kg), whilst a midwife and paramedics soon arrived at the scene to check over the mum and baby. Natasha told how despite the chaos; her birth was one of the best experiences of her life. She said: 'She was perfectly healthy, it was everything I had ever dreamed of this was everything I had wanted for both of my births it sounds like it would be a traumatic birth, but it was very healing and really amazing.' 'After I hung up the phone on the midwife, I decided to wait 30 minutes and then as soon as the call ended, within two minute my contractions were too painful for me to stand. 'I wasn't able to stand or move and there was no way I was getting clothes on and no way I was making it to the birthing centre. 'I was walking down the stairs and I feel my baby coming. I just felt my body pushing her down. The brain isn't working the way it is when you're normal and cognizant. 'I just kept screaming at him at Tom to get Nitrous Oxide and tell the midwife to get it ready, as I'm thinking I can't get there. 'I got past the front door, I squatted down and my water breaks, to which then my husband crouches and sees the baby's head poking out of me. 'I got into the squat, and I just breathed like I just did not push at all, and her heads cleared on her own. 'As my husband looked, he told me the baby's blue and only her head was out, and I feel her pushing backward. 'I didn't know how she was going to clear in this position. So, I got on my side and I'm lying with my leg in the air. 'I was on call to my midwife, and all I know is I have to push to clear her shoulders. My husband got her head and it's amazing. My neighbour ran out and pulled my head onto her lap and came out with towels. 'It's like a wave going through my body and that was my only push, and she came out and she was totally fine. One push and she came out, and I gave birth at 18.25pm. 'My midwives arrived, and I birth the placenta when they came. The midwives checked the baby and gave her a vitamin K shot and I stayed home.' Police have charged the son of a 77-year-old man found lying dead in a Utah canyon with murder - alleging the offspring was upset after the dad tried to have him evicted. On Friday, the body of Dennis Shaw was discovered near the Franklin Snow Basin parking lot in Logan Canyon. He had been stabbed multiple times. The next morning, Clayton Shaw, Dennis's 33-year-old son, was booked into the Cache County jail 'on charges of homicide' possibly tied to According to GephardtDaily, when Dennis Shaw was found, he had various stab wounds to the chest from a 'small bladed object.' The son of a Utah man, 77, whose dead body was found in a canyon has been charged with murder On Friday, the body of Dennis Shaw was discovered near the Franklin Snow Basin parking lot in Logan Canyon Investigators with the Cache County Sheriff's Office said that the senior citizen victim appeared to have been dragged to the desolate spot. They believe that Shaw was likely murdered at a different location before being taken to the parking lot, which was 25 miles from his home. According to local authorities, Clayton and his father had been engaged in a bitter feud before the incident. In July, Clayton was served an eviction notice from a property that his father - or his father's trust - owned. On July 17, Dennis Shaw called the police to report that his son had appeared at his home in some kind of 'mental crisis,' according to 2KUTV. Clayton Shaw, Dennis's 33-year-old son, was booked into the Cache County jail 'on charges of homicide' Dennis informed authorities that Clayton took away his phone and threatened him, saying that he was 'trying to find a way to kill you.' Only a week later, the 77-year-old made an official report with the Logan police in which he stated that he was a victim of domestic violence at the hands of his son,' KSL reported. These incidents were part of a larger pattern of erratic behavior. Clayton, who suffers from paranoia and carried a gun, contacted police in September about 'human remains and dried up skin on his property.' When authorities arrived to investigate, they discovered that he was looking at tree bark. That same month, a female roommate of Clayton's contacted the police to report that she was afraid of him and that she 'wanted to know her options.' An employee at Dennis Shaw's business informed the police that he had been unable to contact his boss since around 4 pm on Thursday, which was unusual because Dennis was 'never without his phone.' Investigators with the Cache County Sheriff's Office said that the 77-year-old appeared to have been dragged to the desolate spot The employee said that Clayton's mental health had been deteriorating for some time, causing Dennis and the rest of the company concern. He told deputies that Clayton had previously built a hatchet with which he threated to kill his father. After Dennis's body was found, investigators were posted to his house, where they observed Clayton walk up to the door, knock, and then drive away. Authorities then decided to conduct a 'high-risk traffic stop' and examined Clayton's car. During their search, they found a blade that was consistent with the injuries that Dennis had sustained. They believe that Shaw was likely murdered at a different location before being taken to the parking lot, which was 25 miles from his home They also discovered drops of human blood in the trunk and a bloody fingerprint near the bumper of the car. In the backseat, investigators found an empty bottle of Lysol hydrogen peroxide cleaner. Dennis's dog was also discovered to be in Clayton's possession. Investigators decided to interview Clayton, who told them that he was supposed to meet with his father about some money, but Dennis had instead just dropped of his dog and left. 'Detectives are asking the public who may have any information concerning this case or the victim and suspect, as well as Clayton's black BMW and the victim's white Ford F-150 truck, to contact detectives,' the Cache County Sheriff's Office said in a statement When the detectives told him that his father was dead, he did not ask them to provide further details, according to KSL. Later in the interview, Clayton denied that he had stabbed his father. Authorities said there was sufficient evidence to charge him with murder. In a statement, the Cache County Sheriff's Office said: 'This case is still being investigated and no other details will be released at this time. 'Detectives are asking the public who may have any information concerning this case or the victim and suspect, as well as Clayton's black BMW and the victim's white Ford F-150 truck, to contact detectives.' An adult content model was shot dead while she was waiting for an Uber to attend her daughter's birthday in Costa Rica, the victim's mother said. Yuliana Castillo, 29, was standing near a business Saturday in Curridabat, a canton in the capital city of San Jose, when the suspects fired multiple shots. Castillo was declared dead at the scene, the Judicial Investigation Department said in a statement. The Instagram model was waiting for the ride-share app around 11am when the suspects confronted her. Adult content model Yuliana Castillo was shot dead while waiting for an Uber to attend her daughter's birthday party Saturday in Curridabat, a canton in the Costa Rican capital city of San Jose The late Costa Rican model Yuliana Castillo with her daughter, who turned 8 on Saturday 'At that moment some subjects arrive on board a motorcycle, apparently the woman argues with these subjects and at that moment they apparently shoot her and flee,' the Judicial Investigation Department said. The suspects had not been arrested as of Monday. Castillo's mother, Yesenia Sanchez told Costa Rican news outlet CR Hoy, that the family was celebrating the victim's oldest daughter's eighth birthday. 'She was going to get into an Uber because she was going to her daughter's birthday party,' Sanchez said. 'She was turning 8, we were at her little party. She was just about to get in.' A family member told La Teja news portal that Castillo may have been the victim of a mugging because her personal belongings were missing from the crime scene. 'The truth is that she got along well with everyone,' Castillo's relative said. 'They took all her belongings from her, we would think it was like a robbery or something like that, she probably struggled with them, but we really don't know what happened.' Authorities said Yuliana Castillo had an argument with her killers before they open fire multiple times Yuliana Castillo leaves behind two children, a two-year-old boy and an eight-year-old girl, whom are now under the custody of her mother Yuliana Castillo sold content on Fansly, a social media platform similar to OnlyFans Castillo also leaves behind a two-year-son. Her children are in custody of her mother. 'As a mother she was unconditional, everything she did and what she did was to give her children a better future and not depend on anyone, so that no one would judge her and she could get ahead on her own and give the best to her children,' her family member said. 'I think that is what she did, she gave them the best of herself.' Her murder shocked her longtime friend, Eli Sandoval, who recalled the days they would hang out around town. 'I still remember when we were out flirting in San Jose,' Sandoval wrote on Facebook. 'I still can't believe it. May God give strength to your mommy. May you rest in peace.' A family member who never met Castillo was stunned by the young mother's death. 'I never knew you and I didn't know you were my cousin,' Jordan Moreno wrote on Instagram. 'May God keep you in your holy glory.' Castillo had more than 13,000 followers on Instagram and sold adult content on Fansly, a social media platform similar to OnlyFans. Members of the NYPD have been eager to move on from an allegedly corrupt and heavy-handed leadership but are now dreading the prospect of a cop-hating alternative taking the helm, sources tell DailyMail.com. The mayor's recent federal indictment could see New York City Public Advocate and ultra progressive Black Lives Matter activist Jumaane Williams step up to the job if Eric Adams is ousted or resigns. 'Jumaane Williams is a known cop hater,' one NYPD official told DailyMail.com. 'He has a notorious reputation in the department for choosing the side of the criminals and throwing cops under the bus. 'This is somehow the choice we have in New York: A mayor who flaunts his rampant corruption or an incompetent politician who despises law and order.' Several officers who spoke to DailyMail.com admitted they were shocked but not surprised to see Adams become the first sitting New York City mayor in history to be indicted last Thursday. New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, an ultra progressive Black Lives Matter activist who has protested against police, is next in line for the office of NYC mayor if Eric Adams resigns. He is pictured being taken into custody during a protest in 2017 NYPD insiders tell DailyMail.com Mayor Eric Adams's recent indictment has sparked fears among police that the anti-cop activist will take the helm But they are now turning their attention to what comes next. If Adams resigns or is forced out, Williams will serve as interim mayor until a special election could be held 80 days later. Many in the NYPD dread this prospect, but also want to see Adams gone, blaming him for instability within the department. Upon taking office in 2022, Adams appointed an outsider, Keechant Sewell, as police commissioner, but she abruptly quit in July 2023 amid a power struggle with the heavy-handed Adams, his deputy mayor for public safety Phillip Banks and aide Tim Pearson, two ex-cops. Her replacement Edward Caban, an ally to the mayor, resigned earlier this month after his phone was seized in a federal investigation. He was replaced by interim commissioner Thomas Donlon, who days later had materials from his home seized by the feds. On Friday Adams pleaded not guilty to corruption charges during his arraignment in Manhattan Federal Court, accused of accepting lavish overseas trips in exchange for favors and defrauding taxpayers of $10million through fraudulent campaign funds. He was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery, and receiving campaign contributions from foreign nationals. The mayor's indictment has been the talk of the NYPD. 'There's nobody surprised by this,' one detective told DailyMail.com. 'We're just surprised it took this long and that there ain't more people named in the indictment.' 'We all think Adams should step down,' he added of the ex-NYPD police captain who was elected on a pro-business, anti-crime platform. Police have blamed the instability and multiple changes in leadership on the embattled mayor who first appointed an outsider, Keechant Sewell (pictured) as police commissioner, before she abruptly quit in July 2023 amid a power struggle Sewell's replacement Edward Caban, an ally to the mayor, resigned earlier this month after being dragged into a federal investigation, leaving Thomas Donlan (left) as interim police commissioner Sources told DailyMaill.com there's 'not a lot of respect in the police department towards' Williams 'He's just making the police department, the fire department, and all the other major city agencies look bad. It's making it look like we're all corrupt. 'We feel like the new police commissioner should be out of here too,' he continued. 'All the cops I'm speaking with, we agree that everyone from the two-star chiefs on up should all be out, and that the department should be revamped from top to bottom.' But Adam's arrest has raised a new set of concerns. 'In all honestly, I'd rather bring the bozo back than keep this guy,' he said, referring to the former unpopular Mayor Bill de Blasio who can't run again. 'Adams has to go. But then it doesn't get any better when he leaves because then we get Jumaane Williams. We're really stuck between a rock and a hard place.' Another officer echoed this, telling DailyMail.com: 'A POS like Jumaane Williams will just add another gaping hole in an already sinking ship.' Williams, 48, has a history of protesting against the police and has similar political views to far-left Democrat progressives such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, sparking fears that things could go from bad to worse in the city. 'A wounded Eric Adams, a weakened Eric Adams remaining in office, is better than the socialist Jumaane Williams,' former mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa told DailyMail.com earlier this week. 'That will open up the floodgates to socialism, and we will become Chicago.' Adams, a moderate Democrat and former cop, has been the target of progressives like AOC, who oppose his pro-NYPD views and statements denouncing the Biden administration's migrant policies. Ocasio-Cortez, who has repeatedly endorsed Williams, has been the leading Democrat voice against Adams, demanding his resignation in an essay for The New York Times published just hours before the mayor was indicted. During 15 years in public service, Williams has stoked anti-police sentiment and pushed for criminal reform, including to end solitary confinement in city prisons. He is also a prominent pro-Palestine activist. The failed gubernatorial candidate is a firm proponent of slashing the NYPD's budget but lives in a US military base in Brooklyn that offers 24-hour security. Jumaane Williams, 48, has a history of protesting against the police and has similar political views to far-left Democrat progressives The left-wing activist was photographed being detained by police during a protest in January 2018 Williams was previously snapped participating in a protest against the NYPD Williams was a leader of the BLM protests that took over the streets of New York City the summer of 2020. In June 2020, during the George Floyd protests, he led marches to Brooklyn Borough Hall to demand NYPD budget cuts. Some cops are now even looking at disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo as a potential replacement, hoping he will run for mayor and defeat Williams in an election. 'My hope is that Andrew Cuomo will step up to the plate,' the detective said. 'Believe it or not, even though he did his thing with Covid, he's still one of New York's favorite politicians.' An NYPD official who served under Adams told DailyMail.com that everyone in the department expected this period of reckoning would come. 'I don't know one person that's surprised this has happened, knowing Adams' history,' the source said. 'I never thought there could be a worse guy than de Blasio, but then Adams is proving me wrong.' 'The police department looks like a rudderless ship right now,' he added. But he shared the concern of other officers about Williams's reshaping the department. 'There's not a lot of respect in the police department toward Jumaane Williams,' the official said. 'He holds hands with AOC, which guys don't like. 'But hopefully he'd be just a placeholder,' he continued. 'I'd expect he'd have limited powers in what he can do, and they'd have to call for an election within 80 days.' Adams pleaded not guilty to corruption charges during his arraignment in Manhattan Federal Court on Friday Williams is blamed for helping stoke anti-police sentiment in the city and putting the public at odds with officers The first official told DailyMail.com that officers had been anticipating this indictment since last November when the feds seized Adams's electronic devices. 'Everyone's talking about this,' he said of the indictment. 'We're all joking about it because we all knew. The rumor was going around since late last year that the FBI was going to lock him up at some point. It was just a matter of when. 'And when it did happen, I don't think there's many cops that are like, "Oh god, the feds are being so unreasonable", in this case because of the reputation that came with Adams and his inner circle,' the official added. 'The fact nobody was surprised is a really telling state of the politics in New York City these days,' he added. 'It's a who's who of shadiness and corruption in the Adams administration. 'I can't wait to see who else gets locked up within the department and with other city agencies.' The insider said it has been 'extremely frustrating' to see Adams's heavy influence in running the department, usurping the commissioner's authority by putting loyalist, former NYPD colleagues in key positions both inside and outside the department. He pointed specifically to officials like Banks, a former NYPD Chief of Department named by the feds as an 'unindicted co-conspirator' in a 2018 corruption case. 'There's been this air of superiority by high level executives who were appointed by Adams and have walked around 1 PP (police headquarters) with that kind of mayoral cover,' the official said. 'It's been worse this past year since Sewell left. I mean, why would anyone want to take this job? With Adams as mayor, you're just going to be a target.' A farmer allegedly mowed down a six-year-old boy for stealing an orange, breaking both of his legs in front of his horrified mother in South Africa. Christoffel Johannes Stoman, 70, first appeared in the Vredendal Magistrate's Court on Monday on two charges of attempted murder and a charge of reckless and negligent driving. Stoman was arrested by Lutzville police after Kwezi Beukes, six, was hit by his vehicle that had a trailer attached while he was walking with his mother, Magdalene Jantijies, on September 20. The farmer accused Khwezi of snatching an orange from his farm and as punishment, the elderly man allegedly mowed down the little boy - causing him horrific injuries including two broken legs. Following the brutal incident, Stoman allegedly showed no remorse and told police he 'would do it again'. Christoffel Johannes Stoman, 70, appears in the Vredendal magistrates court on accusations of deliberately running over Khwezi Jantjies, a six-year-old child Khwezi had both of his legs broken after allegedly stealing an orange from Stoman's farm in Lutzville, in Vredendal, South Africa Khwezi's mother Magdalene Jantjies watched on in horror as her son was crushed by Stoman's vehicle Khwezi and his mother were dashed to local Vredendal Hospital before being transferred to Paarl Hospital - where the young boy is undergoing treatment to save his legs. He is due to have surgery on Wednesay, according to his heartbroken mother. Magdalene said she and her son had been walking past the accused farmer's smallholding when making their way to town to do some food shopping, EWN reported. The little boy reportedly stopped to pick up an orange that was on the ground before attempting to reach through a fence and grab another one - that was also on the ground. The distraught mother recalled the tragic incident, saying she heard Stoman yell before ramming into her and her son, pinning them against a fence. Magdalene told eCNA: 'He came from around the corner and he was driving at a speed. 'He shouted 'stand there, stand there,' I thought he was going to stop. He aimed directly at us in a corner, and I screamed, Help! Help! 'He said, 'I'm going to kill you by driving into you'. People protest outside Vredendal magistrates court ahead of farmer, Christoffel Stoman's appearance Stoman allegedly told police he 'would do it again' following the incident The case has caused uproar within the community, as locals have stepped forward to claim that this is not the first incident of its kind that Stoman has been involved in. Billy Claasen of the Rural and Farmworkers Development Organisation is now begging lawmakers to toughen the consequences on farmers committing crimes. National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila confirmed the State had opposed Stoman's release. 'He will stay in custody and will appear on Monday in the Vredendal Magistrate's Court,' he said. 'The State has indicated that it will oppose bail in this case. We welcome this development. 'We visited the crime scene, and there is no way that this boy could have gained access to the orchard over that fence. 'The suspect should answer in a court of law for this reckless behaviour.' Magdalene said her and Khwezi would now focus on his recovery and have plans to receive counselling after the traumatic event. She added: 'I aim to continue with this case. I want to proceed by the grace of God, as long as I can stand here.' The brutal onslaught of Hurricane Helene has left the small mountain town of Swannanoa, North Carolina, in ruins - with locals describing the community as 'entirely erased'. As the death toll in Buncombe County alone climbs to a staggering 30, survivors are left grappling with scenes of utter devastation and a desperate lack of basic necessities. The once-picturesque town now lies in ruins. Cars are perched in tree limbs along the flooded Swannanoa River. Homes have been torn from foundations, thrown upside-down or split in half. On top of that, a thick layer of mud blankets the entire area. The brutal onslaught of Hurricane Helene has left the small mountain town of Swannanoa, North Carolina , in ruins - with locals describing the community as 'entirely erased' As the death toll in Buncombe County alone climbs to a staggering 30, survivors are left grappling with scenes of utter devastation and a desperate lack of basic necessities The Swannanoa River at Biltmore in nearby Asheville has reached flood levels not seen since 1791. The First Baptist Church's parking lot became an aid station on Sunday. The usual worship service was replaced with a space of shared grief and mutual support. Pastor Jeff Dowdy, 48, and his wife Melody spent over four hours chainsaw-wielding their way out of their neighborhood to help establish the makeshift relief center, the couple told the Washington Post. 'We are just trying to do whatever we can,' Dowdy told the outlet. 'This is not a typical Sunday morning. But this is ministry, too.' Resident Dustin Ebert's flooded home sits just yards from a main road reduced to fragments. 'It seems like there would be more people here by now,' Ebert told the Charlotte Observer. As National Guard troops come and go, and search-and-rescue missions continue, many residents are asking where the federal help is. The once-picturesque town now lies in ruins The once-picturesque town now lies in ruins. Cars are perched in tree limbs along the flooded Swannanoa River Homes have been torn from foundations, thrown upside-down or split in half Resident Angela McGee, now living in her car with her children after a late evacuation notice, asked the outlet: 'Where is FEMA at when we need it?' 'We are down here in a disaster and no one is helping us out,' she added. The federal government has declared a major disaster for 25 North Carolina counties, promising quicker aid and reimbursement for local agencies. But for those on the ground, help can't come soon enough. For Shemsuddin Millard, the storm didn't just destroy property it obliterated his dreams. A thick layer of mud blankets the entire area The federal government has declared a major disaster for 25 North Carolina counties, promising aid and reimbursement for local agencies His soon-to-open Black Mountain Improvisational Theater now lies in ruins. 'Maybe the hard part is hoping that there's some sort of lifeline and wondering if that's there, but then kind of being faced with the reality that: No, there is not,' he told the outlet. 'Might as well just f****** laugh about it. Because, you know, what else is there? I already cried.' A 'sexual predator' who saw intercourse as a 'conjugal right' will join six more suspects taking the stand in the Monster of Avignon trial in France this week as the court heard damning evaluations from psychologists today. Jerome Vilela, 46, a supermarket worker and volunteer fireman, is among those accused of raping Gisele Pelicot while she was drugged and asleep, under guidance of her then-husband. As many as 50 men stand accused, many denying charges. Vilela - who took the stand today - was described by his ex-partner as a 'sex-addict' and manipulator who had extra-marital relations with people he was 'not attracted to' so as not to form attachments, according to a court psychologist. Psychologist Lucy Segnarbieux told how successful builder Thierry Parisis, one of the men suspected of abusing Ms Pelicot at her Mazan home, spiralled into despair following the death of his son, Jimmy, in a traffic accident on New Year's Day 2016. Giving evidence in his defence, Parisis' ex-wife Corinne told Vaucluse Criminal Court in Avignon how he tried to commit suicide in January 2021 on the anniversary of his son's death and was twice admitted to psychiatric hospital.' Asked by the judge how often her ex-husband drank alcohol, she replied: 'Some days he started drinking in the morning.' Then, turning to Madame Pelicot, she said: 'Madame, I can't understand why he did this to you.' Gisele Pelicot arrives for the trial of her husband at the courthouse in Avignon on Monday Ms Pelicot has been present at most of the hearings as her husband is accused of raping her Her story has inspired a wave of demonstrations across France in her support Dominique Pelicot has admitted drugging his wife repeatedly over a decade and inviting strange men to rape her while he filmed them Dominique Pelicot, who has allegedly drugged and raped his wife Gisele Pelicot, appears during his trial on September 17 (right) Vilela admitted to visiting Pelicot and raping his unconscious wife on six separate occasions at their home in a picturesque village in Provence over several weeks shortly after France went into lockdown as part of Covid-19 restrictions in 2020. And Vilela confirmed that he had created a list of his sexual conquests, but had not included Madame Pelicot's name because 'she didn't count'. Trial judge Roger Arata asked about a sheet of paper that bore the names of 89 women that police investigators found at his home following his arrest and whether it corresponded to all of his relationships. Vilela replied: 'I needed to count my conquests, not just my infidelities, it was a challenge.' Vilela had told the court he had cheated on every woman in his life but had 'only been unfaithful once' to his current partner Samira Trabelsi who has stood by him since his arrest in March 2021 for the rape of Madame Pelicot. Asked by Pelicot's lawyer Beatrice Zavarro why he had not included Madame Pelicot's name on his 'famous list', Vilela replied: 'She didn't count [as a sexual conquest]. Previously Vilela's ex-wife had told the court that the father-of-two was 'only happy if he was hiking or being unfaithful'. In a long and rambling testimony, Vilela offered to meet 'victim' Gisele Pelicot, 71, in person to offer a full apology. And he blamed his upbringing by a 'critical' mother for his subsequent 'difficult' relationship with women. His current partner Madame Trabelsi told the court she had agreed to pose for naked photographs in abandoned buildings after she refused to make love in public. Breaking down in tears Madame Trabelsi said: 'I've waited three years for the answer to my question, why? He had no reason go elsewhere for sex. 'He [Vilelva] wanted to have sex in the outdoors and that bothered me. 'He asked me to do nurbex. Nude photos in unusual places. I accepted.' Crying, Samira Trabelsi turned to Madame Pelicot, to offer her support. Some 50 men are accused of being accomplices to the rape of Ms Pelicot over a period spanning almost a decade. The case continues to rock France, with many thousands taking to the street in support of the victim. Most deny being rapists and claim they were 'tricked' by Pelicot who told them his wife had agreed to take part in a sex game in which she pretended to be asleep during the sex. Detectives discovered some 20,000 graphic images that he had collected of the rape of his wife when he was arrested in 2020, after he was caught taking photos up the skirts of women at his local supermarket. This week, seven men including a hospital nurse, a builder, a pastry chef will give evidence in the trial. Dominique Pelicot is accused of recruiting men online to assault his wife repeatedly over 10 years Thierry Parisis is among the suspects accused of abusing Ms Pelicot. Psychologist Lucy Segnarbieux gave her findings to the Vaucluse Criminal Court in Avignon today. She said: '[Parisis'] daughter speaks of a 'great childhood' before the great misfortune when on her brother died in a traffic accident aged just 18. 'From then on Thierry Parisis' life collapsed. 'He fell into alcoholism and depression. And he ended up leaving the family home because he could no longer stand to stay in this house where photos of his son were displayed everywhere.' Jerome Vilela was described as a 'sex-addict' who believed intercourse was a 'conjugal right' and had extra-marital relations with people he was 'not attracted to' so as not to form attachments. Elisa Scheidt told the court today: 'Vilela's ex-partner painted the portrait of a two-faced man, a seducer, a liar and a manipulator of women. She described him as a sexual predator who demanded intercourse with a high frequency. 'Vilela is a sex addict who believe intercourse is conjugal right in a couple a and demanded sex every night.' She added: 'Vilela told me he did not want to form attachments so he had extra marital relationships with people who he was not attracted to - obese women, men and transvestites.' Vilela, who is in custody, listened attentively from the secure dock inside the court room. The court was also told how hospital nurse Redouan El Farihi was desperate to have a child after he failed to conceive with his first and then second wives. But the dream of having his first child was shattered when the adoption of a little girl from his native Morocco was abruptly halted following his arrest for rape. The court that Jean Tirano, a pastry chef turned roofer, who is originally from the French Indian Ocean possession of Reunion had slipped into a life of heavy drinking and drug taking while he was working in France. Principle defendant Pelicot was not in court this morning as he require an operation in hospital today for a serious liver and bladder condition that risked causing the whole trial to collapse two weeks ago. Dominique Pelicot appears during his trial with 50 co-accused at the courthouse in Avignon, France, September 17, 2024 Abuse took place in the town of Mazan, south of France, and was only uncovered after the man was caught up-skirting women in a local supermarket, prompting officers to search his home Judge Roger Arata told the court: 'Monsieur Pelicot is ill. He must undergo a medical procedure today, this afternoon. 'He is excused [court] for the day. We are hoping to see him again tomorrow.' His lawyer Beatrice Zavarro had told AFP on Sunday that the examination 'went well.' Pelicot has admitted to the charges against him. He is being tried along with 50 other men aged between 26 and 74, many of whom have denied the rape charge. Most risk up to 20 years in jail if convicted of aggravated rape. Gisele Pelicot, who only discovered the abuse in 2020 after being told of it by police, has requested that the trial be open to the public to raise awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse. The case continues. Donald Trump flies into hurricane country on Monday as his opponent Kamala Harris returns home to Washington for briefings, as both adjust their campaigns to the devastation wrought by Helene at the weekend. Trump will be in Valdosta, Georgia, where he will get an update on storm damage and will 'facilitate the distribution of relief supplies,' as his campaign put it. 'I'll be there shortly, but don't like the reports that Im getting about the federal government, and the Democrat governor of the state, going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas,' he posted shortly before leaving, with a claim that local authorities had made it hard for him to visit North Carolina. Helene ripped into Florida's Gulf Coast on Thursday night, triggering days of torrential rain and flooding. It destroyed homes across the South-east and left at least 100 people dead in its wake. An aerial picture taken on September 28, 2024, shows storm damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Valdosta, Georgia. Donald Trump will visit Monday Almost three million people were without power on Sunday night. President Joe Biden said it was a disaster of 'tragic' proportions. And the turmoil throws a wrench into campaigning at a critical stage of the election race. Harris is cutting short a campaign trip to Nevada Monday so that she can attend briefings in Washington on the hurricane response. On Sunday evening she spoke with the governor of North Carolina, and was in touch with the governors of Florida and Georgia. 'She made clear that the administration will stand with the impacted communities throughout their recovery,' said a White House official. 'The vice president intends to visit impacted communities as soon as it is possible without disrupting emergency response operations.' She is expected to be at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Biden also said he planned to visit this week so long as it did not impact recovery work. That approach stands in contrast to Trump, who is making a beeline for the devastated region. Vice President Kamala Harris is cutting short her trip to Nevada to return to Washington where she will get briefings on the devastation and the emergency response Former President Donald Trump is taking a different approach, heading straight to the devastated region (which also happens to be a battleground state) On Sunday, he attacked Harris for attending weekend 'fundraising events with her radical left lunatic donors' in California when the storm was rampaging through the South-east. 'She ought to be down in the area where she should be,' Trump said. The storm worked its way through some of the most hotly contested election states, including Georgia. His advisers believe he is at his best when visiting communities that believe they have been left behind by Washington. They point to his trip last year to East Palestine, Ohiodevastated when a train derailed carrying toxic chemicalsbefore members of the Biden administration, when he spoke up for a town still waiting for help. But he attracted ridicule in 2017 when he arrived on the storm-wrecked island of Puerto Rico, and threw paper towels into a crowd. Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz said the sight was 'abominable.' Forecasts suggest Helene could have caused as much as $26 billion of property damage. The New York Times editorial board endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president calling her the 'only patriotic choice' and her rival former President Donald Trump 'unfit for any office.' The group of opinion journalists who make up the board made the endorsement on Monday with just over 30 days to go before the election in what remains a razor-thin race for the White House. 'As a dedicated public servant who has demonstrated care, competence and an unwavering commitment to the Constitution, Ms. Harris stands alone in this race,' they wrote. The New York Times went after Trump with a blistering critique right out of the gate and praised Harris even though she notably did not sit down for an interview with the editorial board before it made its decision. Vice President Kamala Harris speaking at a rally in Las Vegas on September 29. The New York Times editorial board endorsed Harris on Monday calling her the 'only patriotic choice' 'It is hard to imagine a candidate more unworthy to serve as president of the United States than Donald Trump,' the board wrote. 'He has proved himself morally unfit for an office that asks its occupant to put the good of the nation above self-interest. He has proved himself temperamentally unfit for a role that requires the very qualities wisdom, honesty, empathy, courage, restraint, humility, discipline that he most lacks,' it continued. The editorial board also blasted the Republican presidential nominee for his criminal charges, being 78-years-old as well as his 'fundamental lack of interest in policy and his increasingly bizarre cast of associates.' It later slammed his 'undisguised fondness for dictatorships and the strongmen' and accused him of undermining 'public confidence in the result of the 2020 election' which they wrote 'culminated' in the 2021 attack on the Capitol. They argued unless voters reject him, 'Trump will have the power to do profound and lasting harm to our democracy.' Former President Donald Trump speaking at a campaign rally in Erie, PA on September 29. The New York Times editorial board called him 'unfit' for any office While the NYT editorial board offered a brutal take-down of Trump, it called Harris 'more than a necessary alternative' and praised her for starting to lay out priorities to help Americans. It contrasted her plans, which they claimed would 'help Americans better afford things' with Trump's priorities including tax cuts 'which would benefit mostly the wealthy.' However, the endorsement was not without some criticism of the 59-year-old vice president's campaign, noting that some voters have said they want 'more unscripted encounters' to explain her 'vision and policies.' The editorial board suggested the campaign may be trying to minimize unforced errors but blasted the approach. While The New York Times editorial board endorsed Harris for president, it criticized her limited unscripted appearances and lack of access, warning it could 'backfire' 'That strategy may ultimately prove winning, but its a disservice to the American people and to her own record,' they wrote. The warned 'leaving the public with a sense that she is being shielded from tough questions, as Mr. Biden has been, could backfire by undermining her core argument that a capable new generation stands ready to take the reins of power.' Harris campaign senior spokesperson Ian Sams appeared on CNN on Monday morning following the endorsement where he was asked to respond to the criticism. Sams pointed to the vice president's half-hour live interview last week on MSNBC as well as another podcast interview Harris did that came out Monday morning. 'So she's going to continue talking to the American people in these sorts of settings and formats,' Sams said. He also insisted she will keep taking questions from reporters on the campaign trail, even though access has been limited to just a few questions she has taken while en route from so-called pool reporters who are traveling with her. In response, the Trump campaign slammed the newspaper, calling the endorsement 'about as useful as a moldy old dishrag that hasn't been cleaned in years.' 'They had to apologize in 2016 for misleading their readers and completely misreading President Trumps historic victory, but it seems like they still havent learned their lesson,' wrote Steven Cheung. 'Kamala Harris is endorsed by the Fake News because she is fake, a phony, and unfit for office.' The NYT endorsed Joe Biden for president in the 2020 general election but not the primary, even though he sat down with the editorial board for an interview ahead of their decision in late 2019. A 71-year-old British woman tragically died after getting into trouble in the water off the southern coast of the Greek island of Crete yesterday. The woman, who had gone for a swim in the early afternoon, began to feel unwell shortly after entering the water in the popular seaside town of Agia Galini. She successfully reached the shore after realising her condition was deteriorating and turning back, but she collapsed soon after arriving back on land, according to a report by Cretapost. Emergency responders were dispatched to the scene and made every effort to revive her but were unable to save her life. She was transported to Rethymnon hospital, where she was officially pronounced dead. The woman, who had gone for a swim in the early afternoon, began to feel unwell shortly after entering the water in the popular seaside town of Agia Galini A preliminary investigation is being conducted by the local Port Authority of Agia Galini to determine the circumstances surrounding her death. Her death follows that of another British tourist, aged 66, who lost her life after passing out while swimming at Achladies beach in Skiathos in July. The woman had left her hotel to go for a swim on the picturesque beach on the south of the island, CNN Greece reported, when she fell unconscious in the water and was pulled out of the sea by a lifeguard. Medical professionals performed CPR and immediately took the woman to the nearby Skiathos Health Centre, but they were sadly unable to save her life. The woman is believed to have lost consciousness in the 'intense heat in the area', with temperatures soaring to 31C on the island and little respite. An excessive heat warning was in place on Skiathos at the time amid a European heatwave. A woman has died after losing conscious at Achladies beach (pictured, file) on Skiathos In May, a British tourist drowned while swimming in the sea during a day trip to the Greek island of Kalymnos. The 76-year-old is believed to have drowned before he could be pulled from the water and helped by emergency responders at the port of Vathi. Six tourists were found dead in Greece in June alone, with officials warning of the perils of an intense heatwave sweeping the Mediterranean. Islamabad, Sep 30 (UNI) Pakistan has said it was well documented that India was not only committing state terrorism held in Kashmir but also abroad, media reports said. Pakistani diplomat Muhammad Faheem stated this before the 193-member UN General Assembly in response to Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankars accusation that Pakistan was a promoter of terrorism, the Dawn reported. The minister said a dysfunctional nation coveting the lands of others must be exposed and must be countered. The issue to be resolved between the two countries only relates to Azad Kashmir, he claimed. According to reports, Jaishankar protested against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's Kashmir dispute remark in the General Assembly and accused Islamabad of promoting cross-border terrorism. PM Shehbaz urged Israel and India to cease targeting innocent Palestinians and Kashmiris in a forceful speech on September 28. While exercising his right of reply after the Indian ministers speech on Saturday, Faheem said, It is most ironic that India, which is committing the worst form of state terrorism in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir while also actively engaging in sponsoring terrorism abroad, is portraying itself as the victim. The third secretary at Pakistans mission in the US, Faheem, said, It is a familiar ploy of all occupiers and colonisers to paint legitimate struggles for freedom and liberation as terrorism. India is failing to grasp the enormity of the indigenous Kashmiri resistance against its stranglehold and wrongly calling it cross-border terrorism. He said, India must introspect, reflect, and immediately implement the Security Council resolutions that provide for the Kashmiris to exercise their right to self-determination. Faheem called for holding India accountable for its actions that violate international law. Highlighting that India finances terrorism against Pakistan using its proxies, he said New Delhis campaign to damage and destroy Pakistans economy was no secret, including by impeding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor through the sponsorship of terrorist groups such as the Baloch Liberation Army and the Majeed Brigade. India is also supporting terrorism in Balochistan, he added. Indias assassination campaign against its dissidents residing overseas has been exposed in Canada and the United States, while its leaders publicly boast of murdering their citizens abroad, he said. UNI ARN RC This is the heart-stopping moment a lucky motorist was rescued this morning from his nearly-submerged car in Shropshire. The driver had attempted to traverse the ford at Boreton Brook, near Candover, at around 7.30am when his car became trapped. Dramatic photos show firefighters using ropes and pole as the muddy waters rushed through an open window and nearly fully submerged the car. The man was rescued and taken to hospital by paramedics for precautionary checks. The rescue mission prompted Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service to remind people to be aware of the dangers of being near flood water as Britons brace. This is the heart-stopping moment a lucky motorist was rescued this morning from his nearly-submerged car in Shropshire Dramatic photos show firefighters using ropes and pole during the rescue mission as the muddy waters rushed through an open window and nearly fully submerged the car The driver had attempted to traverse the ford at Boreton Brook, near Candover, at around 7.30am when his car became trapped A fire service spokesperson said: 'Crews from Red Shrewsbury have just rescued a male from flood water in Condover, please be aware of the dangers when near flood water.' A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesperson added: 'We were called by the fire service to Condover in Shrewsbury to assess a man who had been submerged in flood water. 'He was assessed and treated by ambulance staff before being conveyed to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital for further precautionary checks.' It comes as Brits braced for more rain today with dozens of flood alerts in place amid heavy downpours causing travel chaos and shutting railway lines. Yellow rain warnings have been issued by the Met Office - meaning there is a chance of flooding and travel disruption - one covering eastern England between 8am today and 3am tomorrow. The other is across North Wales and north-west England between 00.30am and 8pm. Both new warnings forecast 20-40mm of rainfall widely, with 60mm also possible in a few places across North Wales and north-west England and 60-80mm in some areas in eastern England, the Met Office said. There are currently 58 flood warnings in place across the country, and as a result the railway between Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton is closed. National Rail warned that 'poor weather' may further effect parts of the country until tomorrow. Yesterday, the railway was closed between Exeter and Plymouth due to the bad weather. DEVON: Sheep stranded in a flooded field after the River Axe burst its banks LIVERPOOL: A drenched man in a raincoat walks past a flooded road sign today OXFORDSHIRE: Cars drive down the water logged country lanes after another night of rain KENT: Waves crash over the promenade in Folkestone LONDON: Commuters attempt to shelter as they cross London Bridge in the rain OXFORDSHIRE: Drivers are struggling on flooded country lanes in Dunsden this morning There are currently 58 flood warnings in place across the country There are currently three weather warnings in place across the country today Met Office meteorologist Liam Eslick said they are expecting some 'pretty heavy persistent rain' across North Wales and north-west England and North Wales will get the brunt of the rain. The higher grounds in eastern England will see the most rainfall, with areas including Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire seeing less but already being saturated by recent heavy rain, he added. It comes after a wet and windy Sunday with over an inch of rain falling - 26.1mm - in Bastreet, Cornwall, and winds of 69mph recorded in Berry Head, South Devon, the Met Office said. Two yellow warnings, for wind and rain, came into force on Sunday and hit areas already saturated by downpours earlier in the week. Mark Garratt, flood risk manager at the Environment Agency, said rain expected will bring a risk of surface water flooding in large parts of the South West and southern England, spreading up into the Midlands, and later, flooding in parts of Leicestershire is also possible. He said: 'It is especially important that people not to drive though flood water - it is often deeper than it looks and just 30cm of flowing water is enough to float your car. 'Across the country, Environment Agency teams have been out checking flood defences and clearing any debris from storm drains and are also supporting local authorities in responding to surface water flooding. KENT: Huge waves crash over the promenade in Folkestone, Kent, today The railway between Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton is closed, with other disruption due CORNWALL: Beachgoers brave the strong winds in Seaton yesterday TEWKESBURY: A car battles through the flooded roads yesterday TEWKESBURY: Fields were underwater due to flooding in Tewkesbury yesterday 'The advice to the public is to keep checking their flood risk, and search 'check for flooding' and to sign up for free flood warnings on the latest situation or follow @EnvAgency on X for the latest flood updates.' Meanwhile, a yellow warning for wind which was issued across south-west England and Wales ended at midnight on Sunday. It comes after areas across England suffered heavy rain and localised flooding in recent days, with commuters facing widespread disruption on road and rail services. According to the Met Office, some counties in southern and central England have already had more than 250 per cent of their average September rainfall. About 650 properties were flooded in Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and the home counties, according to the Environment Agency, which estimated about 8,200 properties had been protected. By Tuesday night, higher pressure will move in, meaning a drier, sunnier spell, the forecaster said. Mr Eslick added: 'Come Tuesday night, into Wednesday, we're starting to see higher pressure, so turning a lot drier and plenty of sunny spells. 'But the following weekend, it does look like there's a further low pressure coming in, but we're still keeping an eye on that.' Emergency services were called to Boreton Brook, near Condover, Shropshire, after a motorist got into difficulty at around 7.30am today. The car was attempting to traverse the ford before the male driver got trapped and his vehicle was nearly fully submerged by water. Fire crews used ropes and a pole to reach the stranded man as floodwater gushed in through an open window. He was safely rescued before being taken to hospital by ambulance crews for further precautionary checks. Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service said crews from Much Wenlock, Shrewsbury and Telford Central were sent to the scene. A fire service spokesperson added: 'Crews from Red Shrewsbury have just rescued a male from flood water in Condover, please be aware of the dangers when near flood water.' A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesperson added: 'We were called by the fire service to Condover in Shrewsbury to assess a man who had been submerged in flood water. 'He was assessed and treated by ambulance staff before being conveyed to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital for further precautionary checks.' Sherlock actress Amanda Abbington today claimed 'vindication' after the findings of a report into alleged bullying and abuse by her former Strictly Come Dancing partner Giovanni Pernice. Ms Abbington, 50, accused the Italian dancer, 34, of 'cruel' and 'mean' treatment and made a variety of claims about alleged inappropriate behaviour. The BBC today apologised to Ms Abbington and said its previous measures had not been 'enough' to address the issues raised. But bosses also cleared Mr Pernice on 11 out of 17 allegations which threatening and sexually inappropriate conduct. It follows a six-month probe triggered by Ms Abbington's shock exit in week five of the 2023 series, citing 'personal' issues. Now the publication of the outcome reveals more details of exactly what the allegations against the dancer were. The report investigating what went on during training has been completed and is ready to be published 'early next week', a source said In one interview, Ms Abbington, 50, compared the dance show to 'the trenches' and claimed BBC producers had been left 'horrified' by clips that allegedly exhibited 'humiliating behaviour of a sexual nature' The exact details of the allegations against Mr Pernice, and which were upheld, have not been published - but it was previously reported Ms Abbington had accused him of bullying her during training sessions. In an interview earlier this year, the actress said she had been left 'horrified' after watching clips of rehearsals that allegedly exhibited 'humiliating behaviour of a sexual nature'. She also compared the experience to 'the trenches' and claimed she was sent an inappropriate video via WhatsApp. But the BBC did not make any finding that Mr Pernice had engaged in any inappropriate sexual behaviour. It did highlight two instances of sexual banter it judged to be 'inappropriate' in the workplace, but added they were judged as jokes and compliments of Ms Abbington dancing, received by her in a consensual, two-way manner of interacting. Ms Abbington also reportedly alleged her professional dancing partner had stepped on her toe during rehearsals - but it is understood the investigation found no evidence of physical abuse. Despite this the corporation issued a public apology to Ms Abbington after its probe found 'a number of' instances of verbal bullying and harassment. The BBC did not find that Mr Pernice had engaged in any inappropriate sexual behaviour Some of the six allegations proven involved Mr Pernice using swear words during training and several instances in which he is said to have used 'belittling' language. The BBC also agreed with Ms Abbington that at times he appeared to be giving her overly negative feedback. The review into Abbington's complaints about Pernice was launched earlier this year. Pernice, who is not part of this year's Strictly professional dancing line-up and has since joined an Italian dance show, Ballando con le Stelle, always rejected the allegations. The BBC said on Monday: 'We have assessed the complaints and we have upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made. 'We want to apologise to Amanda Abbington and to thank her for coming forward and taking part. We know this would not have been an easy thing to do. 'At the time, although the production team took steps to address the issues as they understood them, ultimately these were not enough. 'This is why the measures we have taken to further strengthen our existing protocols are so important.' A written statement from Abbington said it 'was not an easy thing to do' to come forward, and she has been 'accused of being a liar, a troublemaker and of being 'mad and unstable'' and that she and her children had been threatened. Abbington said: 'Despite this vile abuse, I've never regretted coming forward, and today's apology from the BBC is a vindication of my complaint. Mr Pernice, who is not part of this year's Strictly professional dancing line-up and has since joined an Italian dance show, Ballando con le Stelle, always rejected the allegations against him Ms Abbington left the show after just five weeks during the 2023 series 'It's not just a vindication for me, it's a vindication for the other people who have contacted me since I made my complaint to express concerns about their own experiences on Strictly Come Dancing. 'I hope those who have felt unable to speak out now will be more confident that they will be listened to and believed.' She added that she is 'considering' meeting senior management, after this was offered to her. Abbington also said: 'This apology means a great deal to me. So too does the fact that the BBC have acknowledged the steps that were put in place to support and protect me and past contestants were 'not enough'. 'What matters most now is that lessons have been learned and that the BBC makes the changes they've promised, to ensure others don't experience the same ordeal that I and others like me did.' Meanwhile in a written statement, a spokesperson for Giovanni Pernice said: 'We are pleased that this six-month review has not found any evidence of threatening or abusive behaviour by Giovanni. 'Giovanni is relieved that the overwhelming majority of allegations out to the BBC have not been upheld and looks forward to continuing his work on Dancing With The Stars in Italy this season.' A source close to Italian star Mr Pernice said: 'Gio is pleased that this has been thrown out after what has been a torrid nine months or so for him. 'From the outset, Giovanni has rejected any claims of threatening or abusive behaviour. While he appreciates that the BBC has likely decided to uphold some allegations to avoid the accusations of a 'whitewash' they've upheld the weakest allegations put to him.' Sources have told MailOnline Ms Abbington's bullying claims amounted to Giovanni swearing at her and not giving her enough feedback during their rehearsal sessions which took place last autumn. She also claimed that her partner stepped on her toe. One said: 'Giovanni has never tried to say he isn't a hard taskmaster but he isn't a bully and no evidence of that was found. 'It was an evidence based investigation and there was simply no evidence to back up what she was saying about Giovanni. He denied it all along and he has now been exonerated.' Shocking footage has emerged of a drunken Australian tourist being wrestled to the floor of a Thai airport by armed police officers. The Australian was waiting for his flight home from Phuket, Thailand, on September 22 when he became increasingly unruly after a waitress refused to serve him any more alcohol at an airport bar. The man, wearing shorts and a T-shirt, then stumbled out of the bar and started antagonising nearby passengers waiting for flights. Several police officers and airport staff descended on the man and tried to calm him down, but he only became more uncontrollable. Shocking video showed the man being tackled to the ground by police officers, with one repeatedly whacking the Australian with a baton. Another Australian who took the footage said the man appeared to be 'very drunk'. 'I was really disappointed to see Australians or anyone for that matter behave in this way,' the witness said. 'He was extremely drunk at the bar, got cut off, and then proceeded to fight anyone who so much looked at him.' An Australian traveller was wrestled to the floor of a Thai airport after be started acting out when he was cut off from a bar The other traveller said the man was eventually restrained and 'held in the bathroom corridor where he just tormented anyone who walked past'. 'When he was on the bench in handcuffs, he would start on anyone who made eye contact,' the witness said. 'I said to him "you're a flop, and an embarrassment''. He didn't like that.' Airport staff confirmed the tourist was held in an airport cell while he sobered up. As a result he missed his flight and was forced to rebook another plane. A Phuket International Airport spokesperson said the situation had been resolved. 'The holidaymaker in the video was very drunk and aggressive,' the spokesperson said. 'Police captured him at Gate 11. He was detained until he was sober and then the situation was resolved.' French presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen pleaded her innocence at the start of a 5.6million embezzlement trial today saying: We have not violated any rules. The 56-year-old far-Right firebrand appeared confident and relaxed at the start of a process that could see her imprisoned for 10 years and banned from standing in elections. She was on Monday in the dock at the Paris Correctional Court alongside 24 members and staff of her National Rally party in a case focusing on the EU. All are accused of stealing a total of 6.8million (5.6million) of European taxpayers money by setting up fake jobs in the European Parliament over a period of at least 10 years. Wearing a light grey duster coat over a black jacket with white top, Ms Le Pen spoke to journalists as she went into the 11th chamber of the Paris Correctional Court, saying: I have confidence in justice. I am here to present our arguments. I am very calm. Marie Le Pen pleaded her innocence at the start of a 5.6million embezzlement trial on Monday at the Paris Correctional Court French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) Member of Parliament Marine Le Pen (C) arrives at a court house for a trial on suspicion of embezzlement of European public funds, in Paris on September 30, 2024 The qualified barrister demanded an acquittal, saying: Parliamentary freedom is at stake. We have not violated any rules. A prosecution document of at least 160 pages was meanwhile displayed in court one that includes evidence compiled over the past nine years. It alleges that a sophisticated billing system was set up by Le Pen, an MEP in Brussels from 2004 until 2017, to divert cash into party funds back in Paris. Those implicated all of whom deny any wrongdoing include other leading lights in the Rassemblement National (RN), which was called the Front National (FN) up until 2018. Its founder is the convicted racist and Holocaust denier Jean-Marie Le Pen, who is also Marine Le Pens father. He was due to appear as a defendant too, but medics said the 96-year-old could stay away because of his deteriorating state of health. Embezzlement is a crime punishable in France by up to 10 years in prison, and penalties also available to judges include one million euros in fines, or double the proceeds of the offence, said a prosecuting source. He added that they have also asked for the additional penalty of deprivation of the right to be elected, for a maximum period of five years, or ten years for an elected person or member of the government. The trial of Marine Le Pen, 24 other people and the National Rally, suspected of having embezzled funds from the European Parliament to pay party employees, opens on September 30, before the Paris criminal court - a case with serious political stakes for the leader of the far right Ms Le Pen is currently one of 126 RN MPs, so if she were to be convicted, she would be ruled out of the 2027 presidential election, despite currently being a favourite to win. The investigation into RN fraud began in March 2015, when the European Parliament announced that it had referred possible irregularities to the EU anti-fraud office. It mainly concerned salaries paid to parliamentary assistants, and even to Jean-Marie Le Pens bodyguard. Ms Le Pen was in 2022 runner up to Emmanuel Macron in the race to become president of France, after a similar result in 2017. Party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen in turn came second to Jacques Chirac in the presidential election of 2002. Mr Le Pen has already been convicted in a criminal court, notably for spreading racial hatred, for Holocaust denial, and for other racist crimes. Earlier this year, the RN did so well in European elections that President Macron called snap domestic parliamentary elections. It led to the RN saying they were preparing for government, with party leader Jordan Bardella set to become prime minister. Mr Bardella is a former EU parliamentary assistant for the RN, but is not implicated in the current trial. In fact, the RN was beaten into third place in the election by the left-wing New Popular Front (NPF), and by Mr Macrons Renaissance party. Mr Macron then appointed former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier as prime minister, and he does not have a single RN or NPF minister in his government. The RN embezzlement trial is scheduled to run for three afternoons a week until November 27. The leader of Hamas in Lebanon worked for a UN refugee agency before he was killed in an Israeli strike, it has been revealed. Fateh Sherif Abu al-Amin died in the Al-Buss refugee camp in Lebanon's southern city of Tyre in an attack by Israel's air force yesterday. The group said al-Amin was killed with his wife, son and daughter in what it called a 'terrorist and criminal assassination'. But the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, confirmed today that Sherif was employed as a teacher, prompting Israel to levy fresh accusations that it is tied to Palestinian militant groups. UNRWA said it had put the Hamas commander on 'administrative leave without pay' in March as it investigated allegations about his political activities, insisting it was committed to neutrality and works to prevent any such infiltration. It comes after the UNRWA admitted in August that nine of its employees 'may have been involved' in the October 7 Hamas attack. Fateh Sharif Abu al-Amin was killed with his wife, son and daughter in what Hamas called a 'terrorist and criminal assassination' Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on a village near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on September 29, 2024 Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on villages near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on September 29, 2024 In a statement confirming his death, the IDF said Sherif 'led the Hamas terrorist organisation's force build-up efforts in Lebanon and operated to advance Hamas' interests in Lebanon, both politically and militarily'. However, he was also cited as the principal of the UNRWA's Deir Yassin school and head of a prominent teacher's union before he was suspended in March. His role as a teacher in a UN school is sure to lead to yet more criticism of the UNRWA by Israel, which had some of its funding withdrawn from Israel's allies after Tel Aviv claimed UNRWA employees were involved in Hamas October 7 attacks. In August, the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) completed its investigation into the alleged involvement of 19 UNRWA staff members in the attacks. 'OIOS made findings in relation to each of the 19 UNRWA staff members alleged to have been involved in the attacks,' he said. He added: 'In one case, no evidence was obtained by OIOS to support the allegations of the staff member's involvement, while in nine other cases, the evidence obtained by OIOS was insufficient to support the staff member's involvement. 'We have sufficient information in order to take the actions that we're taking - which is to say, the termination of these nine individuals.' The UN admitted that nine employees of its from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) 'may have been involved' in the October 7 Hamas attack UN spokesman Farhan Haq said: 'We have sufficient information in order to take the actions that we're taking - which is to say, the termination of these nine individuals' The United Nations launched the investigation after Israel charged that a dozen UNRWA staff took part in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks which triggered the Gaza war All the nine individuals who the investigation concluded may have had a hand in the October 7 attacks were men. The UN spokesperson did not give details of what they may have done, but said: 'For us, any participation in the attacks is a tremendous betrayal of the sort of work that we are supposed to be doing on behalf of the Palestinian people.' The United Nations launched the investigation after Israel charged that UNRWA staff took part in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks which triggered the Gaza war. Israel stepped up its accusations in March, saying over 450 UNRWA staff were military operatives in Gaza terrorist groups. UNRWA employs some 32,000 people across its area of operations, 13,000 of them in Gaza. UNWRA said in March that some employees released into Gaza from Israeli detention reported having been pressured by Israeli authorities and that staff took part in the October 7 attacks. Texas Governor Greg Abbott admitted he started bussing migrants to New York City to get revenge on Mayor Eric Adams for criticizing him. The Lone Star State was inundated with thousands of migrants crossing its borders each day in 2022 which led the three-term Republican governor to transport them to sanctuary cities. At first the plan was to send the migrants to Washington, D.C. in an attempt to show the Biden administration the nature of the crisis at the border, according to Abbott. Then he claimed New York City Mayor started to blamed him for the city's migrant crisis and the governor decided if he was going to be accused of bussing migrants there, he might was well do it. 'Out of nowhere Mayor Adams started criticizing me for busing them to New York, which I was not doing. But he kept criticizing me,' Abbott told The New York Post. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he started bussing migrants to New York City to get revenge on Eric Adams In March, Abbott's office revealed over 39,600 migrants have been bussed from the Lone Star State to New York City since August 2022 'I thought, "You know what? New York is a sanctuary city, if I'm going to get the criticism, I'm going to get the credit." So we started busing them to New York.' Since October 2021, over 10 million migrants have crossed into the US, according to federal statistics - straining the federal agencies that handle migrants and bringing border communities, like El Paso, Texas, to its knees. Texas' sixth largest city operated under a state of emergency for more than a year due as 2,400 migrants a day were crossing there at the peak. Abbott blamed President Joe Biden's border policies for the crisis and wanted to send a message to the White House. 'If they refused to come to the border and see the disaster they caused, I was going to take the border to them. We were busing initially only to the sanctuary city of Washington, D.C., so that the leaders there would see firsthand the chaos they caused,' Abbott said. Adams slammed Abbott for his actions, which then prompted the Republican governor to send migrants to the Big Apple. 'Adams wanted somebody to criticize, and he probably knew it was the Biden administration, but he wanted to use me as a punching bag,' Abbott said. Abbott claimed New York City Mayor Eric Adams blamed him for the city's migrant crisis before he was sending busses there Two months after the first busses from Texas arrived in NYC the mayor declared an emergency 'And I thought, you know what? If he thinks that were sending them there, well live up to what his expectations are and well start busing there.' The first bus load from Texas arrived in August 2022 and two months later Adams had declared an emergency, asking for help to handle the 61,000 migrants that were in the city's shelters in October 2022. In March, Abbott's office revealed over 39,600 migrants have been bussed from the Lone Star State to New York City since August 2022. The two have continued to spat over the migrant crisis and in April the mayor offered Abbott a complimentary stay at a migrant shelter during his trip to the Big Apple to headline the New York Republican Party's annual gala. This is the horror moment an elderly woman was gored to death by a rampaging bull while she was crossing a square during a Spanish festival. The 60-year-old, who was wearing a red dress, was knocked unconscious as she hit her head on the ground after being attacked. Onlookers rushed to her aid and moved her to a safer area before emergency responders made desperate attempts to save her life. The woman, who has not yet been named, is said to have suffered a gory injury to an armpit, but she tragically died as she was being rushed to hospital. The incident happened during an annual festival in the Spanish town of Enguera, located close to the east coast city of Valencia. A 60-year-old woman was knocked unconscious and gored by a rampaging bull and later died on the way to hospital Onlookers rushed to her aid and moved her to a safer area before emergency responders made desperate attempts to save her life Footage of the sickening moment she was knocked to the ground appeared to show she had become distracted and strayed into the area where the bull had been let loose so revellers could try to outrun it. The town council responded by cancelling some of the events linked to its patron saint festivities following what it described as a 'tragic incident' as critics went online to question the security arrangements in place that had allowed the woman to stray unchallenged into the area where she lost her life. Enguera's mayoress Matilde Marin said the town was in a 'state of shock.' Yesterday afternoon's tragedy occurred five days after a 74-year-old man was killed and three people including a young girl were injured when a bull charged them in Pantoja near Toledo south of Madrid. The animal attacked them after escaping from an enclosed area set up for revellers as part of a Running of the Bulls-style event. Last September a high-ranking executive for Spanish ceramic wall and floor tiles firm Pamesa was gored to death by a bull at a festival near Valencia. Jose Antonio Subies, 61, died at a hospital in the city after suffering gore injuries which affected his liver and one of his lungs. He was the chief executive officer of Pamesa's South American group. Mr Subies' 63-year-old friend Vicente Fontestad, president of a citrus fruit firm, was injured after being attacked by the same bull and had to be rushed to hospital for a leg operation. Footage of the drama showed the two men being lifted up in the air by the bull, called Cocinero which in English translates as Cook, after it was set loose on the streets in La Pobla de Fornals near Valencia. Events using bulls called Bous al Correr where revellers try to dodge the animals when they are let loose on the streets remain extremely popular in the Valencian region which covers the provinces of Castellon, Valencia and Alicante. Many deaths have occurred at events like these over the years where revellers have been gored or knocked down by bulls and hit their heads on the ground. An Airbnb host has sued the home rental company for 'gross negligence' after it allegedly failed to properly screen a renter who is a repeat offender. Eric Weaver, 60, of St. Petersburg, filed a lawsuit against Airbnb on September 20 in Florida Middle District Court - a little more than a year after his alleged nightmare began. Weaver, a civil engineer, claims that the renter, Lauren Dawn Chehouri, 47, failed to pay for her stay, refused to leave, and accused him of assault when he attempted to evict her from his property, according to the lawsuit obtained by DailyMail.com. The ordeal began on February 28, 2023 when Weaver accepted Chehouri's reservation for her to stay at his rental property the entire month of March, the suit detailed. Once March ended, Weaver soon discovered that Chehouri was still living in the home while owing him about $4,000 in rent for the month, according to legal documents. After telling her she had to vacate his property, Chehouri allegedly 'refused' to do so and instead 'falsely accused Mr. Weaver of battery,' the suit said. Eric Weaver, 60, of St. Petersburg, filed a lawsuit against Airbnb on September 20 for 'gross negligence' after the company allegedly failed to vet a renter who is a repeat offender. (pictured: stock image) Weaver was then arrested for the alleged assault and he was 'forced to pay to defend himself in a court .' He was found not guilty on February 6, 2024. Other than being arrested for the alleged crime, the lawsuit stated that Weaver also lost out on potential income opportunities involving his rental home because 'he no longer felt safe accepting guest referrals from Defendant.' After further review of Chehouri, Weaver's legal team found that she has an extensive criminal history dating back over a decade. In 1993, she was arrested for driving with improper plates on her vehicle, and in 1997 she pleaded guilty to DUI and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to public records reviewed by DailyMail.com In 2018, she pleaded guilty again to possession of paraphernalia, and pleaded no contest in 2019 to a petty theft charge. For the theft charge, Chehouri was compelled to attend 50 hours of community service and had to go to Shoplifters Anonymous meetings, according to court records. She did not complete her designated requirements and did not pay probation service fees, mandated court costs, or drug testing fees, according to a 2022 affidavit reviewed by the Independent. Weaver claims that the renter, Lauren Dawn Chehouri, 47, failed to pay for her stay, refused to leave, and accused him of assault when he attempted to evict her from his property, according to the lawsuit obtained by DailyMail.com. (pictured: stock image) In 2022 she pleaded guilty to passing bad checks and another DUI, records showed. Records also showed that Chehouri was a licensed practical nurse, but her license expired in 2015, according to the publication. Chehouri was also evicted twice before after being taken to court in 2008 and 2016 for defaulting on her rent for properties in St. Petersburg and Bradenton, the outlet reported. Both renters and hosts are supposed to undergo background checks when doing business with Airbnb, according to the company's website. The company added that 'not every Airbnb user' undergoes a background check because Airbnb is 'limited' and 'can't guarantee that they'll identify all past criminal convictions or sex offender registrations by a guest or Host.' 'Therefore, you shouldnt rely on them as a guarantee that the user has no criminal background or other red flags,' the company added. Because of the alleged problems Weaver faced with Chehouri, he was left with $3,961,80 in unpaid rent, attorney fees, court costs and 'the loss of ability to earn money,' the suit claims. The suit states that Airbnb 'was negligent' for failing 'to properly investigate or do a proper background check on the Guest prior to verifying and recommending the Guest to Mr. Weaver.' He's asked the company to pay him more than $414,694.45 in compensatory damages and $406,110.22 in punitive damages, according to the lawsuit. (pictured: stock image) 'Defendant had a duty to properly investigate potential guests, prior to recommending said guests to Mr. Weaver, to make sure said guests did not pose a threat or safety risk to others or themselves,' legal documents said. Weaver has demanded a jury trial for the case and has asked Airbnb to reimburse him for the missing rent fee, lost rental revenue, and the cost of hiring a lawyer to defend him against the battery charge brought on by Chehouri. He's asked the company to pay him more than $414,694.45 in compensatory damages and $406,110.22 in punitive damages, according to the lawsuit. When approached by DailyMail.com for comment, Weaver said to speak to his attorney, Charles Bryant Boydstun. 'We are not ready to discuss this at this time but I will let you know when that time may come,' Boydstun told DailyMail.com. Although an Airbnb spokesperson declined to comment because the legal case is ongoing, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told DailyMail.com that Chehouri booked a one night stay at Weaver's rental, before the two negotiated to extend her visit off-platform. The source said that this created a third-party issue between Weaver and Chehouri. DailyMail.com has contacted Chehouri for comment. On September 23 a summons was filed against Airbnb to respond to the accusations made in the lawsuit against the company, documents revealed. They have not filed a formal response. A female City worker who beat breast cancer aged just 29 claims bosses made her return to work 'impossible' after informing her that her pay would not be reinstated until a full medical report had been completed by her doctor. Camelia Fajri, who worked as a broker at Vantage Capital Markets, said her bosses 'insistence' on 'making contact' with her consultant oncologist delayed her return to work, eventually causing her to resign. Ms Fajri started her role at the firm, which involved the facilitation of trade between different clients such as banks or hedge funds, back in 2020. But she was diagnosed with breast cancer the following year and underwent a course of chemotherapy as well as surgery in the summer of 2022. In November that year, CEO John Meadows sent her a message on WhatsApp asking her what her 'plans' were. The following month, he told her that her pay would be 'significantly reduced', while the company's HR informed her she would not be paid until she returned to work. Ms Fajri sued for disability discrimination and has now been awarded 14,858.55 in compensation following an employment tribunal in central London. An employment judge said bosses left the broker in 'a limbo period' by refusing to pay her until the completion of the medical, which they deemed was not 'strictly necessary'. Camelia Fajri worked as a broker at Vantage Capital Markets (pictured) near Liverpool Street in central London Ms Fajri wrote to her bosses in November 2022 to tell them she had just finished radiotherapy and despite the 'ups and downs', she was 'recovering' and wanted to return to work to join 'the dream team again'. Despite telling bosses she was ready to return, the broker said she received no response and was forced to send an additional email to Mr Meadow in December asking him 'what's going on'. The CEO eventually replied and a date in January 2023 was agreed upon for Ms Fajri's return to work, the tribunal heard. But, further email correspondence saw Charles Eddis the company's head of compliance tell the broker that there would be a 'number of challenges' resulting from her time out. 'We will, in due course, need to have a full report from your doctor/oncologist in order to assess your fitness to return to work, so I would be grateful I you could let me know how you would prefer to go about this,' he wrote. The broker agreed to do so as she was 'keen to move forward'. In early January, Mr Eddis emailed Ms Fajri to say the company's 'priority' was to make sure she was 'fit enough to cope with her role and the additional difficulties in re-establishing client relationship'. Ms Fajri sued for disability discrimination and has now been awarded 14,858.55 in compensation following an employment tribunal at Victory House (pictured) in central London The email said: 'If you are looking for a phased/partial return to work, it would be helpful to know how you would address the inherent difficulty posed by the fact that the demands of clients and markets mean that it is very rare (in fact, unknown by us) for a part-time broker to be a successful broker'.' In February, Ms Fajri emailed Mr Eddis informing him that she was 'ready to return to work' and asked that her pay be reinstated. The broker provided details of her oncologist and also told him 'she did not consider networking and travel possible at that time' in relation to her return to work. Mr Eddis responded and said that when the 'relevant documents' relating to her medical were completed, she would be reinstated. In response, Ms Fajri queried why a medical report was required before she could restart work. She said 'my return is delayed by your insistence on making contact with my consultant'. On March 15, Ms Fajri resigned by email, alleging constructive dismissal and disability discrimination. The female broker said that her bosses had made it 'impossible' for her to come back. She told the panel: 'They didn't want me back because I had cancer and therefore needed adjustments which they were not willing to do and that is discrimination.' Employment Judge Barry Smith said the request for Ms Fajri to carry out a medical before returning to work was unfavourable treatment. He said the panel did not consider this requirement to be 'strictly necessary' and delayed the reinstatement of her salary. 'Whilst it may well have been a matter of good practice, particularly to identify reasonable adjustments, the lack of assessment did not preclude [Ms Fajri's] employment in some way,' EJ Smith said. 'Given the respondent's position on pay, this amounted to unfavourable treatment in all of the circumstances.' The judge said asking Ms Fajri to undertake a medical assessment before her return to work was not 'a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim'. He said the requirement for a report left Ms Fajri in 'a limbo period' between being off sick and returning to work and said something 'less discriminatory' could have been done instead. For this reason, her claims of disability discrimination were upheld. Other claims made by Ms Fajri were dismissed. 'Traumitised' film fans today gave their verdicts on Demi Moore's controversial 'body horror' film The Substance - after dozens of cinemagoers walked out in minutes. TikTokers were united in the belief that the film was gory and stomach-churning, just for some this proved to be an attraction. The Substance aims to tackle the issue of impossible Hollywood beauty standards and sees Demi play the role of Elisabeth Sparkle. Unceremoniously sacked as she hits her 50th birthday, Elisabeth discovers a black-market drug which can create a 'younger, more beautiful, more perfect' version of its user - but the drug's strict conditions are gruesome. Among those reacting to the film was TikToker Kevin Jacobs, who declared himself a fan despite admitting to finding it 'repulsive'. Among those reacting to the film was TikToker Kevin Jacobs, who declared himself a fan despite admitting to finding it 'repulsive' TikToker ceryslovesfilm was horrified, complaining of the 'medical gore, physical violence' and 'thrown-up organs' Demi Moore's gory new film The Substance is leaving cinemagoers walking out after mere minutes as they say it's the 'most graphic film they've ever seen' 'This film is disgusting, repulsive and I loved it. It's so so good that it's probably in the mix in Oscar season but it's probably too weird,' he said. 'If you are a freak, this is a film for you. Also, Dennis Quaid - who plays the Harvey character - is so gross. When he eats shrimp, it's one of the grossest things I've seen on film. 'If you love body horror, this is a great entry into the canon but don't bring anybody who's queasy.' Other TikTokers shared videos of themselves looking happy going into the movie and queasy and disturbed afterwards, while one declared it the 'most traumatising movie of 2024'. Many reacted negatively to the movie, with 'crazy.babooshka' questioning the producers' thinking. 'I watched the substance yesterday and have a pit in my stomach. It's also made me scared to age,' she wrote. 'I just found it so sad bar the last 10 minutes where I don't know what the producers thought they were doing.' Movie reviewer ceryslovesfilm was equally horrified, complaining of the 'medical gore, physical violence' and 'thrown-up organs'. TikToker such.polina offered a more nuanced take, insisting the film had 'so much to offer' despite being 'messed up'. 'The Substance is a very specific type of messed up,' she wrote in a caption. 'There's body horror, loads of needles, lost of skin opening up, disturbing depictions of aging and A LOT of blood and visceral sounds, however if you're able to get past that, this film has SO much to offer. 'Between the stunning cinematography, amazing soundtrack and stellar performances The Substance really has it all, but only if you can handle it.' At least 20 people are understood to have walked out of a screening in Leicester Square in London before the movie finished, branding it 'brutal' - while American viewers have also told of people quitting their seats in dismay. The Substance tackles the issue of impossible Hollywood beauty standards and sees Demi play the role of Elisabeth Sparkle This is the official movie poster for The Substance, which has been dividing critics One cinema-goer at a showing of The Substance in Leicester Square, central London, said: 'Most people watched it through their hands. It was the most graphic film I've ever seen' Social media comments have included calling the film 'a raw, gory, grotesque, WILD depiction of the effects of ageism and the beauty standards set on women' One cinema-goer at the showing in central London said: 'At least 20 people walked out of my screening in Leicester Square before the end. It was brutal. 'Most people watched it through their hands. It was the most graphic film I've ever seen.' X users also shared comments about just how 'gory' and 'disgusting' they found the film - though with many praising it and Moore's performance in particular. Comments have included calling the film 'a raw, gory, grotesque, WILD depiction of the effects of ageism and the beauty standards set on women'. One X user cautioned cautioned: 'Be warned: Very gory & disgusting imagery.' Another, from the US, wrote: 'Ya shoulda seen the faces on the two women who walked out of the theater behind me. I guess they thought they were going to see a nice new Demi Moore movie.' A separate poster wrote: 'The Substance: not entirely sure what I just watched. Felt faint. Almost walked out. But also still enjoyed? Ageism is real. And despite at times feeling overly sexualised, it highlights that we can try to stop it - it's impossible. Demi Moore is a force!!!' Another said: 'Three people walked out at my showing (which was quite full), each one during different scenes that were increasingly more graphic.' Demi discussed the film and her character on her first ever appearance on The Graham Norton Show on Friday. The Ghost star was joined on the show by her canine companion Pilaf, a chihuahua who attends many of her public events with her. Her little dog proved to be an instant hit with Lady Gaga, who was also on the show alongside Colin Farrell and Richard Ayoade. Movie-goers have been describing on X, formerly Twitter, how 'gory' and 'disgusting' they found The Substance - and also told of fellow viewers walking out of cinemas mid-screening Talking about the critically acclaimed film, she said: 'It is almost impossible to fully describe because it is dealing with some serious subject matters. 'The best way I can sum it up is that it is like The Picture of Dorian Gray meets Death Becomes Her meets a Jane Fonda workout video.' Asked whether it was liberating not to worry about what she looked like for the role, Demi said: 'I was very much pushed out of my comfort zone, but it was great to show up and be allowed to look bad!' Elsewhere in the conversation, she reminisced about being nude on the cover of Vanity Fair when she was seven months pregnant with daughter Scout. She said: 'It really was taken just for me but then I got the call to say they would like to use it. I said yes, never thinking it would have the impact it did.' The Substance has been hailed by critics for what has been dubbed its 'deliciously unhinged and dread-inducing' levels of gore, with one describing it as 'a shocking assault on the senses'. The film sees the character Elisabeth dealt a devastating blow on her birthday when she is fired by a ruthless executive played by Dennis Quaid. Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Elisabeth learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to turn the user into a 'younger, more beautiful, more perfect' version of them self. Though Elisabeth initially tosses the phone number in the bin, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order. Demi admitted it was refreshing to be 'allowed to look bad' in new body horror film The Substance during an appearance on The Graham Norton show The film sees Elisabeth dealt a devastating blow on her birthday when she is fired by ruthless executive, played by Dennis Quaid The one rule to follow is that Elisabeth and her better self Sue (Margaret Qualley) must trade places every seven days. So for one week at a time, she is forced again to live as her 50-year-old self. But the allure of youth and a made-for-TV butt proves too strong to resist that she tests the boundaries to see what the worst that can happen is if she squeezes an extra day or two in. Earlier this month, Demi's new film was described as the 'most disgusting film ever' by some viewers after it debuted on global streaming platform Mubi, having been generating buzz since its Cannes premiere in May. It picked up the prize for best screenplay at the prestigious French film festival, as well as critical acclaim, with reviewers branding it 'demented' as well as 'the most bats*** f****** insane movie of the last 20 years'. Of course this chatter related to some of the movie's unsavoury practices - which include 61-year-old Moore's character Elisabeth Sparkle going as far as injecting herself in the spine. This is all in a bid to stave off the physical effects of ageing by using a protocol described as 'the substance' - but leads to some unexpected outcomes, including a scene described by some as 'boob vomiting'. Following its Cannes premiere The Substance received positive reviews and, at the time in May, had a 92 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Earlier this month, Demi's new film was described as the 'most disgusting film ever' by some viewers after it debuted on global streaming platform Mubi, having been generating buzz since its Cannes premiere in May In order for the protocol to work, the two versions of Sparkle have to inject themselves daily in the spine (pictured) The gore fest features huge amounts of blood - as well as other body parts including a vomited-up breast Body positivity is just one of the things that had critics raving about The Substance - in which Demi and Margaret's characters have a nude bloody fight - which received a 13-minute standing ovation at the festival. Tim Robey, reviewing the movie for the Daily Telegraph, said: 'It's the casting of Moore and her willingness to denude herself at 61 emotionally, as well as physically that gives The Substance a startling connection with its themes. 'Not for 30 years has she owned a film with anything like this certitude.' Other critics have praised Qualley, Quaid and Fargeat's direction. '[Coralie Fargeat] draws on much of the hyperbolic flamboyance that's come to define megaplex horror,' wrote Owen Gleiberman for Variety. 'But unlike 90 per cent of those movies, The Substance is the work of a filmmaker with a vision. She's got something primal to say to us.' Not all critics were fond of The Substance - with Kevin Maher of the Times calling it 'puerile, pointless and intellectually specious' in his review. Hannah Strong, for Little White Lies, wrote: 'The Substance's execution of its supposed themes is as shallow as the very thing it's critiquing, a stab at feminism without actually saying anything other than 'women are held to excruciating beauty standards'. 'There's no compassion here, and certainly no catharsis just more and a sense we've done this all before.' Following its Cannes premiere, The Substance received positive reviews, and at the time in May, had 92 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes Body positivity is just one of the things that had critics raving about The Substance - in which Demi and Margaret's characters have a nude bloody fight - which received a 13-minute standing ovation at the festival Speaking to BBC News, Moore herself said: 'It was a completely unique, out-of-the-box script - you could tell it was visually stimulating and at the same time, we had no idea how it would end up, which made it even more risky and juicy. 'I felt like that was why I wanted to do it, in a way. Part of what made it interesting was going to such a raw, vulnerable place, to really kind of peel away. And it was quite liberating in many respects.' After taking the experimental 'substance', a new version of the actress - played by Margaret Qualley - bursts out of Sparkle's body. There are then two versions of Sparkle, who have to hide from the public, to keep their secret - which, if discovered, will result in grotesque consequences for both of them. And while Sparkle and her 'alter-ego' who calls herself 'Sue' live in separate bodies and lead separate lives, they have to 'stabilise' every day. They are connected by Sparkle, who is the 'matrix'. Every day, they must inject themselves with spinal fluids via a nauseating process. They each enjoy freedom every week on an alternative basis - so while one of the two characters is out living her life, the other is comatose locked in a bathroom. The rule that they must never take more than their seven days each in the real world is emphasised - and so when the two inevitably so, the other becomes increasingly frustrated, leading to a vicious physical fight in Sparkle's apartment. In more recent reviews, the Evening Standard's Nick Howells described it as the 'best and maddest film of the year so far' as he gave it five stars. He added: 'Caveat: as long as you like a full portion of body horror and are happy to be spattered head to toe in blood and mutant body parts. 'It all climaxes way beyond where you could dare imagine it might end, in a riotously hilarious torrent of blood the likes of which you might never have witnessed before. 'A sledgehammer parable for the Ozempic generation, The Substance, with all confidence, is an instant classic.' Demi's film, in which she co-stars with Margaret Qualley, is a blood-soaked dystopian satire of the male gaze, which takes graphic approach to speaking truth to power Starring Hollywood's highest paid actress Demi , The Substance tells the story of Elisabeth, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show Meanwhile, Krysta Fauria of AP described it as 'disgusting and deranged' as she wrote: 'The film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarising third act is what makes it unforgettable. 'What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting quite literally into a full-blown monster movie.' For the Mail, Brian Viner wrote of the film's 'snapping, bursting, oozing and squelching' in his three-star review. He said: 'There's plenty of popping in The Substance. Popping, in fact, might be the least of it, alongside snapping, bursting, oozing and squelching, in a grotesque body-horror satire that isn't for the squeamish but might be for the ticklish, if you can find the funny side. 'Yet for all its dystopian grisliness, Oscar Wilde would have recognised this story, which echoes The Picture Of Dorian Gray, but of course has particular resonance in today's looks-obsessed society.' RTE's Bren Murphy added: 'Coralie Fargeat, the French director of 2017's powerfully violent Revenge, returns with The Substance, and when it comes to delivering more shocking visceral images with a message, she's not holding back. 'Darkly funny, intense, and extremely graphic, this is a shocking assault on the senses, in a good way - on second thoughts, in a masterful way.' However two critics weren't entirely sure its critique of the male gaze had landed. Financial Times journalist Danny Leigh said: 'The longer the movie plays, the more you find other flaws. How gross beauty standards are, we are told, while for reasons that would be a spoiler, also being invited to shudder at elderly women's bodies. The Evening Standard's Nick Howells described it as the 'best and maddest film of the year so far' as he gave it five stars 'A satire of the male gaze this filled with young women twerking, they said, can look a lot like what it is meant to be satirising.' While Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent noted: 'The Substance's final stretch descends into a full-blown, blood-fountain homage to gross-out cult classics like Brian Yuzna's 1989 horror film Society. 'It turns the body into a public spectacle and invites the audience in, a little too eagerly, to gawk at what has elsewhere been presented as such intimate, secret disgust.' TAFE files contempt plea asserting rightful ownership of Massey Ferguson brand Chennai, Sep 30 (UNI) Tractor major TAFE has filed a contempt case against AGCO in the Madras High Court asserting its claims over the ownership of the Massey Ferguson brand . The Court in Chennai has ruled in favour of TAFE with an interim status quo order with respect to the Massey Ferguson brand as hitherto, it is therefore impermissible for either party to disturb the position as on April 29, 2024, and any attempt to do so will be violation of the court orders. TAFE has filed a petition against AGCO for disobedience of the orders of the court in a contempt petition in Chennai. Since its inception in 1960, TAFE has produced, built and nurtured the Massey Ferguson brand offering a wide product portfolio of over 500 models in India on the back of strong indigenous R and D and quality control. With a total annual production of over 180,000 tractors, over 100,000 Massey Ferguson are produced by TAFE in India with over 3 Million satisfied customers in its fold. TAFE and Massey Ferguson are synonymous in India, a TAFE release on Monday said. TAFE is the second largest producer of tractors in India and the third largest in the world, having established a reputation for itself for its reliability in quality winning the trust of farmers both in India and over 80 international markets. A strong distribution network of over 2,000 dealers effectively supports TAFEs four iconic tractor brands - Massey Ferguson, TAFE, Eicher Tractors, and IMT. TAFE exports tractors to more than 80 countries. TAFE has won innumerable accolades for performance and parts supply from its customers , industry bodies, media, and governments winning international recognition for quality and customer satisfaction. TAFEs products are India-centric in design, distinctly different from AGCOs products and ideally suited for small and medium farmers of India and across the world. AGCOs global brand website has historically for six decades has made no mention of the Massey Ferguson in the context of India, Nepal and Bhutan having ceded the entire territory to TAFE since the take-over of Massey Ferguson India in 1960. TAFE acquired shareholding in AGCO corporation commencing in 2012 to become its single largest shareholder and strategic long-term investor. This strengthened the collaborative relationship between the companies, and TAFE and AGCO signed Letter Agreements that have for over a decade assured AGCO of steady support. As TAFEs strategic influence increased, rather than address issues plaguing AGCO that have repeatedly called attention to, including flaws with AGCOs corporate governance, wholly inadequate engagement with shareholder and financial and operational performance in key areas, AGCO has sought to stifle TAFEs ability to seek changes through contentious and ill-advised moves with respect to brand usage that has for over six decades been an uncontested area. UNI GV 1645 A 13-year-old girl sobbed into her mothers shoulder as she became the youngest female to be sentenced after a summer of widespread rioting. The teenager left migrants absolutely terrified as violence broke out at a hotel housing asylum seekers, in the wake of the killing of three young girls in Southport, a court heard. The girl, who cannot be named because of her age, sobbed as the court was shown footage of her hitting and kicking the doors to the Potters International Hotel in Aldershot, Hampshire. Accompanied by her mother and stepfather, the girl was warned she would have received a lengthy prison sentence if she were aged 18 or over. Anti-migration protesters met in Aldershot after three young girls were killed in Southport Potters International Hotel: Where the 13-year-old girl kicked doors terrifying migrants Having admitted violent disorder, the nervous looking girl was today made subject of a referral order for the serious and very nasty offence in the youth court at Basingstoke Magistrates Court. Dressed in a cream jumper, skin tight leggings and trainers she spoke quietly to confirm her name and address, before a timid back and forth with the judge in which she admitted the asylum seekers would have been quite scared. The court heard the offence took place during a protest at the hotel on July 31. Prosecutor David Fosler told the court police were first notified by the manager of the hotel at 5.30pm. With a small number having first gathered on the hotel grounds, it was heard the crowd then swirled to about 200 people. The area outside the hotel was the centre of a local protest where roughly 200 gathered Police present at the time said majority of the people there were peaceful protesters, he added. However, entry was forced to the hotels car park. Mr Fosler continued: About 7.30pm, 35 people approached the hotel and started banging on the door. This resulted in seven others being charged with violent disorder, the majority of which have now been sentenced at Winchester Crown Court. The court was played body worn footage from a police officer at the scene, showing the girls involvement in the incident. In the short six second clip, she was seen to hit and kick the doors of the hotel. Mr Fosler added: As the Crown see it, the incident did demonstrate very purposeful hostility towards a recognised racial group. The court heard when identified by police and questioned, she made full admissions to it being her in the clip. Protesters wrongly believed a migrant was responsible for killing the three girls in Southport In mitigation, Ruth Cassidy said the teenager recognised she had been completely unjustified. She told the court the girl had been attending the protest peacefully with a friend and their parents, when there was encouragement to go to the front and see whats going on. (Her) involvement in the incident as a whole is very, very brief, she said. She peers through the window and strikes the glass with her hands and feet a number of times. There is no damage caused. She described her actions as very, very impulsive but had initially attended as an observer. Addressing the girl, District Judge Tim Pattinson said: You were hitting and kicking a door at the hotel as we have seen. You were with a large number of other people all shouting and making threats of violence. All the people engaged in violent disorder did so in order to cause fear to the people inside the hotel. What you and the other people did must have caused them to be absolutely terrified. He asked her to imagine being on the other side of that door. Asked how she thought the asylum seekers would feel, she said quite scared. There can be no justification for what you did, the judge continued. The 13-year-old girl narrowly avoided being sent to prison for attacking the hotel doors There were protests across Britain in some of the worst violence the country has seen in years He told the girl that many people involved in nationwide disorder had been jailed, but said due to her age and her being genuinely sorry, he imposed a 12 month referral order. I am not going to lock you up, he said. The court was told she would meet with the Youth Offending Panel and could involve doing jobs and putting something back into the community. If completed in a satisfactory way, it was heard that will be the end of the matter, but she was warned if she did not engage she would be hauled back to court and could receive a more severe punishment. The girl was also ordered to pay 111 in costs - which her mother must pay within a month. Rioting erupted nationwide after six-year-old Bebe King, Alice da Silva Aguiar, aged nine, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, aged seven, were fatally stabbed in a rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 in Southport, Merseyside. Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, 18, and from Banks, Lancashire, is charged with three counts of murder and ten counts of attempted murder after eight other children and two adults were seriously injured in the attack. Residents of the Atlanta area have reported a strong smell of chlorine after a fire at a chemical plant caused a toxic reaction 25 miles away. The city of Conyers has been evacuated and a shelter in place order was extended on Monday for all of Rockdale County after a fire at BioLab sent a massive plume of dark smoke high into the sky. While there have been no advisories for Atlanta, social media users in the area say the air smells like chlorine in Fulton County, which is about a 40-minute drive from Conyers. Residents of the Atlanta area also say the air is filled with fog, with some reporting feeling discomfort in their eyes, noses and throats - prompting firefighters to use detectors to check the quality of air in various parts of the city. 'This cloud just settled all over South Gwinnett. It was literally clear 15 minutes ago,' said one local who shared a photo. 'Picture of my yard and that ain't normal fog. It smells like chlorine.' A social media user shared the above image, saying it was taken this morning an hour away from Conyers. 'It smells like straight chlorine,' they said A second X user said: 'very alarming scene pulling onto I-20 E this morning. widespread haze as far as the eye can see. i am now in little five points and you can only taste and smell chlorine. its thick and overwhelming. mask up. stay indoors.' 'Feels like end of world stuff going on,' said a third X user. 'The biochemical plant explosion in Conyers has blanketed a lot of Atlanta. I smell chlorine in air in Johns Creek and a lot of people wearing masks today.' Another added: 'The Old Fourth Ward at Ponce City Market smells like an indoor pool.' A shelter in place order was issued for Gwinnett County in the metro Atlanta area on Monday morning following reports of the smell and fog in the area. Emergency management officials in Fulton County, which encompasses much of Atlanta, said people with concerns about the haze or smell should stay indoors, close their windows and doors and turn off the air conditioning. Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens said his office is aware of the reports of a toxic smell. A resident of Chamblee, 30 miles from Conyers, shared the above image. They said: 'it smells like chlorine outside and this is Chamblee this morning. Anyone else smell it outside?' 'Atlanta Fire Rescue is going out with detectors to various spots east to see what is in the air,' Dickens said on X. 'The assumption is a change of the wind direction blowing some of the Conyers fire residuals our way. We will push out messaging as we get more info.' Meanwhile Atlanta's Emergency Management said on X: 'We are investigating the numerous reports of a haze and strong chemical smell across Fulton County. We are investigating and will pass along any and all information we receive. If you have concerns, STAY INSIDE, CLOSE windows and doors, TURN OFF A/C & other ventilation system. 'We do believe it's related to the BioLab fire, but why we are seeing the change in conditions is what we are attempting to figure out. Latest plume modeling indicates it moving to the northeast, which it is clearly not.' 'This cloud just settled all over South Gwinnett. It was literally clear 15 minutes ago,' said one local The fog in South Gwinnett, about 20 miles north of Conyers, where the explosion happened A shelter in place order was issued for Gwinnett County in the metro Atlanta area on Monday morning following reports of the smell and fog in the area Multiple Atlanta counties cancelled outdoor activities over concerns about air purity. 'Until the air quality improves, we encourage all families and staff to limit time outside, and keep windows and doors shut,' said a spokesperson for the Gwinnett County School system. Closer to the source of the fire, officials said chlorine, a harmful irritant, had been detected in the air from the fire at the BioLab plant, the Rockdale County government said in statement early Monday. 'For everyone sheltering in place, the best practice is to turn the air conditioning off and keep windows and doors shut,' the statement said. BioLab released a statement addressing the fire's aftermath on Monday. 'Our top priority is ensuring the communitys safety, and our teams are working around-the-clock to respond to the ongoing situation at our facility in Conyers, Georgia,' the company said. The fire was brought under control around 4 p.m. Sunday, officials said 'We continue to work collaboratively with first responders and local authorities and have deployed specialized teams from out of state to the site to bolster and support their efforts. We are all focused on remediating the situation as rapidly as possible.' The fire was brought under control around 4 p.m. Sunday, officials said. Interstate 20, which was shut down in both directions in the area Sunday, was reopened Monday morning, officials said. Some other roads in the county and county government offices were closed. People in the northern part of Rockdale County, north of Interstate 20, were ordered to evacuate on Sunday, and others were told to shelter in place. The fire ignited when a sprinkler head malfunctioned around 5 a.m. Sunday at the BioLab plant in Conyers, Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel told reporters. The malfunction caused water to mix with a water-reactive chemical, producing a plume of chemicals. McDaniel said there were employees inside the plant, but no injuries have been reported. Kemi Badenoch quit her job rather than go on maternity leave when she had her second child because she thought it would be 'unfair' on her employer to take it. The Tory leadership favourite, who is embroiled in a row over maternity pay, is said to have resigned as digital chief with the Spectator magazine in 2016 instead of taking her statutory time off. In Blue Ambition, an unauthorised biography of the former business secretary by Tory peer Lord Ashcroft, the magazine's editor, Fraser Nelson, said he was very grateful to her for doing it. He told the author 'she thought it would be unfair to ask us to keep her job open while she was on maternity leave'. It comes as Ms Badenoch tried to recover from a row over comments she made about maternity pay being an 'excessive' tax burden on firms. And it was not the only time she did not take her available maternity period. In 2019 she cut it short so she could campaign for the December general election after having her third child. After being re-elected in Saffron Walden she later took the MPs' oath of allegiance while carrying her daughter in a sling. The Tory leadership favourite, who is embroiled in a row over maternity pay, is said to have resigned as digital chief with the Spectator magazine in 2016 instead of taking her statutory time off. Ms Badenoch's husband Hamish is an investment banker, so she could afford to quit her job After being re-elected in Saffron Walden in 2019 she later took the MPs' oath of allegiance while carrying her daughter in a sling. She had earlier told the Mail: 'There is no such thing as maternity leave in an election. You can't tell the voters, ''Sorry, I am looking after my baby.'' It's part of the deal.' At the time she quit the Spectator, Ms Badenoch was already married to her investment banker husband Hamish, meaning there was another source of family income. She was also a member of the London Assembly at the time, with a salary of 56,269. But Mr Nelson told her biographer: 'Having discovered she was pregnant, she told me she thought it would be unfair to ask us to keep her job open while she was on maternity leave. So she resigned to have her baby. 'She would have been within her rights not to have done that. As an employer, I really appreciated it. We're a small company. We'd have struggled to find someone decent to fill her post as stand-in digital chief while she was on maternity leave. 'Media is so fast moving that tech leadership matters and a year is a long time to lose. But we didn't lose any time at all, thanks to the way she handled it. It was an unusual thing to do. She did it out of loyalty to the magazine and, moreover, out of a sense of decency, I think.' The Tory leader hopeful stressed her determination to make things more 'comfortable' for would-be parents as she spoke to activists at party conference in Birmingham. She also said that having a family was 'probably the most meaningful thing that any of us are ever going to do'. Allies have complained of a 'Stop Kemi' campaign by supporters of rival Robert Jenrick, who seized on her loose comments yesterday about work benefits for mothers. Answering questions at a Conservative Women's Organisation fringe, Ms Badenoch was asked how she would prop up flagging UK birth rates. 'I think that there are things that we have to do to make sure that we make life comfortable for those people who are starting families,' she replied - listing examples such as maternity pay, childcare provision and housing. At the time she quit she was also a member of the London Assembly, with a salary of 56,269. Ms Badenoch pictured in the kitchen with her elder daughters in 2017 'A lot of people have fewer children because they start having children later. 'And so they just can't have as many as perhaps they might have liked. Some people feel that they can't afford children, I often think that too many people are worried about the money more than they need to be. 'But we need to give people confidence. People are scared to have families, they're worried about whether they can afford them, they're worried about whether they will have birth trauma.' Ms Badenoch said people 'need to talk about families like the amazing thing that they are, that having a family is probably the most meaningful thing that any of us are ever going to do'. Hillary Clinton has said that Joe Biden was right to stand aside in the 2024 presidential election following his incoherent debate performance against Donald Trump earlier this year. The 2016 presidential candidate, who unexpectedly lost to Trump in her race eight years ago, also said she met Biden just a week before the debate and didn't see a reason for him to step down - but that the debate changed her mind. 'Once that debate happened, he could not recover and did the right thing,' Clinton told the BBC about Biden stepping aside so that his vice president Kamala Harris could take over the race for the Democrats. The former secretary of state also said that the future of democracy was at stake in this presidential election, adding Harris had to 'defeat Donald Trump to break the fever that he has caused in our political system'. 'The two candidates have presented extremely different agendas for where they want to take our country,' Clinton said. The 2016 presidential candidate Clinton, who unexpectedly lost to Trump in her race eight years ago, said she met Biden just a week before the debate and didn't see a reason for him to step down - until his incoherent debate performance in June (pictured: Biden and Clinton in 2016) Clinton, who used the be the US secretary of state, also said that the future of democracy was at stake in this presidential election, adding Harris had to 'defeat Donald Trump to break the fever that he has caused in our political system' Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at North Western High School in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., September 2, 2024 Clinton was defeated by Trump in the 2016 election in crucial swing states like Pennsylvania. Trump narrowly won the state and the election in 2016, before losing both in 2020 against President Biden. This time around, polls show that Pennsylvania is again competitive. Many allies and advisers to Trump believe Pennsylvania is the most important of the seven battleground states that will ultimately decide the election. Of those seven, Pennsylvania is the most populous and has the most votes in the Electoral College, which in turn determines the presidential election winner. 'If we win Pennsylvania, we win,' Trump said on Sunday. Harris and Trump have already spent hundreds of millions of dollars on ads in Pennsylvania, more than the total spent in any other state and also more per capita. Harris leads Trump by 1 percentage point in Pennsylvania, according to an average of polls maintained by polling and analysis website FiveThirtyEight. That difference is well within almost all polls' margin of error. Meanwhile, Trump has escalated his personal attacks on his Democratic rival, Harris, on Sunday by repeating an insult that she was 'mentally impaired' while also saying she should be 'impeached and prosecuted.' Trump's rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, took on similar themes as an event one day earlier that he himself described as a 'dark speech.' He told a cheering crowd Sunday that Harris was responsible for an 'invasion' at the U.S.-Mexico border and 'she should be impeached and prosecuted for her actions.' Clinton was defeated by Trump in the 2016 election (pictured after a debate in September 2016) in crucial swing states like Pennsylvania President Joe Biden accepts the Clinton Global Citizen Award at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) on September 23, 2024 in New York City U.S. Vice President and democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris greets Hillary Clinton as former U.S. President Bill Clinton stands next to them at a service for Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), who died on July 19, at Fallbrook Church in Houston, Texas, U.S. August 1, 2024 'Crooked Joe Biden became mentally impaired,' he added. 'Sad. But lying Kamala Harris, honestly, I believe she was born that way. There's something wrong with Kamala. 'And I just don't know what it is, but there is definitely something missing. And you know what, everybody knows it.' With just over a month until the election, Trump is intensifying his use of personal and offensive attacks, even as some Republicans say he'd be better off sticking to the issues. His suggestions that political enemies be prosecuted are particularly notable for their departure from norms in the U.S. in which the justice system is supposed to be protected from political influence. In recent weeks, Trump has threatened prosecutions of Google for allegedly giving priority to 'good stories' about Harris and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Trump has long threatened legal action against his rivals, including President Joe Biden and his 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton. This month he vowed to jail those 'involved in unscrupulous behavior' this election, including election workers, lawyers, political operatives, donors, and voters, yet again attempting to sow doubt about the integrity of the election. The U.S. government has sought this year across multiple agencies to aggressively call out election interference and foreign influence operations - a stark turnabout from the government's response in 2016, when Obama administration officials were criticized for not being forthcoming about the Russian interference they were seeing on Trump's behalf as he ran against Democrat Clinton. It comes after Clinton blamed her 2016 election loss on women voters abandoning her for not being 'perfect' and warned the 2024 election may be America's last if Trump wins. It comes after Clinton blamed her 2016 election loss on women voters abandoning her for not being 'perfect' and warned the 2024 election may be America's last if Trump wins (pictured: People cheer as Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a rally on October 22, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio) Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump listens as Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton answers a question from the audience during their presidential town hall debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S., October 9, 2016 Clinton has given multiple interviews since laying responsibility for her defeat on various people, organizations, bodies and concepts. In May, in an interview she gave for a new book, The Fall of Roe: The Rise of a New America, Clinton revealed that she's added female voters to that long list. She says in the book that women were the ones who refused to push her over the line because she wasn't 'perfect' after then-FBI Director James Comey re-opened an investigation into her days before the election. 'Once he did that to me, the people, the voters who left me, were women,' she said. 'They left me because they just couldn't take a risk on me, because as a woman, I'm supposed to be perfect,' Clinton continued. 'They were willing to take a risk on Trump - who had a long list of, let's call them flaws, to illustrate his imperfection - because he was a man, and they could envision a man as president and commander in chief.' Councillors are calling for a public inquiry into the alleged child abuse at a Maidenhead children's home which occurred in the 1960s. Greenfield House's manager, Don Prescott, is accused of running a paedophile ring from it between 1964 and 1970. It was run by the now-defunct Berkshire County Council as a boarding home for 'maladjusted' boys, who were experiencing problems at school or at home. But Prescott - who died in the 80s - allegedly rented out the boys to paedophiles in the area and as far as Leicester and Cambridge. He was never charged. The abuse came to light in 2000 when one of the men suffered a nervous breakdown and went to the police, who investigated, but no charges were filed at the time due to a lack of evidence. Eventually, nine men came forward an out-of-court settlement was reached with them. The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead have now backed a councillor's call for a government-led inquiry into why no action was taken to stop it. Pictured is the Maidenhead Council building in Berkshire Councillor Neil Knowles, who is leading the call for an inquiry, said the Royal Borough doesn't have 'extensive archives' about the home as it was never in charge of it. But he told the BBC the council must find out how the authorities allowed the abuse to continue. He said: 'Sadly none of this can bring the childhood back for these boys and I don't think it will bring closure, but it might provide answers to questions in the minds of each of them.' Councillor Carole Da Costa, who is a survivor of abuse at a different home, said the inquiry might help boys to 'heal'. In 2010, former resident of the home John Affleck threw petrol over another member of staff when he appeared in court in a dramatic attempt to force him into a confession. Affleck pounced on Oliver Gilbart-Smith moments after he had been cleared at Reading Crown Court of 17 counts of sex assaults on boys at the children's home in the 1960s. He jumped from the public gallery as Mr Gilbart-Smith left the dock. He pulled a bottle of petrol from his pocket and doused the man he had accused of raping him during a five-week trial. Affleck then shouted at Mr Gilbart-Smith as he was being restrained: 'This is just the beginning for you.' Councillor Carole Da Costa, who is a survivor of abuse at a different home, said the inquiry might help boys to 'heal' The dramatic outburst came as Judge Stephen John told Mr Gilbart-Smith he was a free man after the Crown Prosecution Service said it did not want to pursue a retrial on two child sex charges which a jury had been unable to decide upon. The same jury had earlier cleared the defendant on 15 of the 17 charges he faced which alleged sexual abuse on eight boys between 1967 and 1970. During that time the court heard residents were subjected to sustained, systemic abuse at the hands of the home's managers and numerous visitors. The youngsters were repeatedly raped and even 'loaned out' to other paedophiles elsewhere, it was alleged. Mr Gilbart-Smith, a successful businessman, was accused of being one of those who took part in the sex attacks. Affleck from Southampton, Hants, had been sitting in the public gallery to see whether there would be a retrial on the two remaining counts, when Judge John told Mr Gilbart-Smith he was a free man. Affleck then lunged forward with a canister of petrol and threw its contents over the former defendant. After his outburst, police arrested Affleck, who was found in possession of a faulty lighter, and took him to a cell. Judge John ordered Affleck, a regular church-goer who runs a company selling Bible teaching resources, be charged with contempt of court. He admitted the charge when he appeared three hours later in front of Judge John. Affleck, whose wife sat in the public gallery, had given evidence during the trial of the abuse he suffered at Greenfield House. He had attended Reading Crown Court to hear whether Mr Gilbart-Smith would face a retrial for the two charges, neither of which related specifically to Affleck. But while Mr Gilbart-Smith walked free, Affleck was sentenced to a year in prison for his attack. Sentencing him, Judge John said: 'Police had already given warnings to members of the public including those who were the complainants in this case. 'You came to court having clearly planned to attack Mr Gilbart-Smith and had armed yourself with a quantity of petrol. 'The throwing of petrol over him must have been very frightening. For anyone to have petrol on them gives a real risk that even if you did not want to deliberately set it alight a cigarette or something similar could have put others at risk.' Simon Case, Britain's most senior civil servant, has confirmed he'll quit at the end of the year to leave Sir Keir Starmer searching for a new top Whitehall official. The Cabinet Secretary is leaving his 200,000-a-year role on health grounds, telling colleagues 'whilst the spirit remains willing, the body is not'. Confirmation of Mr Case's departure - which had long been expected since he was diagnosed with a neurological condition - will ramp up speculation as to who will replace him as head of the civil service. Sir Oliver 'Olly' Robbins, who oversaw the Brexit negotiations under former PM Theresa May, has been linked to the role. Prior to the general election, it was reported that Sue Gray - Sir Keir's powerful chief of staff - had held secret talks with Sir Oliver about returning to a top job in Whitehall. Simon Case, Britain's most senior civil servant, has confirmed he'll quit at the end of the year to leave Sir Keir Starmer searching for a new top Whitehall official The outgoing Cabinet Secretary, a former GCHQ boss and top aide to Prince William , said the Prime Minister would appoint his successor following a 'full, open and transparent process' Sir Oliver 'Olly' Robbins, who oversaw the Brexit negotiations under former PM Theresa May, has been linked to the role Prior to the general election, it was reported that Sue Gray - Sir Keir's powerful chief of staff - had held secret talks with Sir Oliver about returning to a top job in Whitehall There have recently claims of tensions at the heart of No10 between Mr Case and Ms Gray, but the Cabinet Secretary said: 'It is a shame that I feel I have to spell this out, but my decision is solely to do with my health and nothing to do with anything else.' Mr Case, 45, returned to work in January after two months off sick and said he had been 'undergoing medical treatment for a neurological condition over the last 18 months'. The outgoing Cabinet Secretary, a former GCHQ boss and top aide to Prince William, said the Prime Minister would appoint his successor following a 'full, open and transparent process'. He added: 'It has been an honour to serve two sovereigns, four prime ministers and over 120 Cabinet ministers in this role. 'There have been far more ups than downs along the way and by far the greatest highlight has been the privilege of working with so many remarkable public servants, across the length and breadth of our country, in our overseas posts and with counterparts from our close allies and partners around the world.' Mr Case has been the UK's most senior official since September 2020, when he replaced Sir Mark Sedwill as cabinet secretary and head of the civil service. His spell in charge of Whitehall was dogged by the Partygate scandal, with Mr Case forced to remove himself from leading an investigation into lockdown-busting gatherings after it was revealed a party was held in his own office. Ms Gray subsequently took over the Partygate investigation, before she quit as a top civil servant to become Sir Keir's top aide. Mr Case's absence from work due to illness meant he missed a scheduled appearance in front of the Covid Inquiry, although he belatedly gave evidence to the pandemic probe in May. Earlier this year, it was reported Mr Case was still working from home at least two days a week - but insiders stressed he is taking calls and fully engaged when not physically present in Whitehall. Any return for Sir Oliver to a senior civil service job would likely anger Tory Brexiteers due to his past role as the architect of Mrs May's Brexit deal. The former PM's agreement, negotiated by Sir Oliver with the EU, was rejected three times by the House of Commons before her downfall as Mrs May's PM. Sir Oliver is currently working at Hakluyt, a Mayfair-based strategic advisory firm, having previously worked for Goldman Sachs after leaving the civil service in 2019. Antonio Romeo, the current top official at the Ministry of Justice, Sharon White, the former chairman of John Lewis, and Melanie Dawes, the chief executive of Ofcom, have also been touted as potential successors to Mr Case. He's been at pains to show off his credentials as a true blue Tory as he runs for the party leadership. But Robert Jenrick might perhaps have taken the 'true blue' effort too far with his new nickname. At the Conservative Party Conference supporters have been sporting caps saying 'we want Bobby J', including some who have posed with him. He was also introduced at one event with the faithful as 'Bobby J, the legal eagle candidate', a reference to his previous career as a solicitor. However Mail Online can reveal that 'Bobby J' is actually a slang term for a popular sex act, as recorded by the online smut compendium the Urban Dictionary. One rival campaign source joked: 'We knew the Jenrick campaign sucked, but with this latest gaffe he's really going down.' At the Conservative Party Conference supporters have been sporting caps saying 'we want Bobby J', including some who have posed with him. Mail Online can reveal that 'Bobby J' is actually a slang term for a popular sex act. Meanwhile other Tories compared the gaffe to David Davis's Tory leadership campaign in 2005. He was thrashed by David Cameron after a campaign which saw him pose with women in tight-fitting t-shirts proclaiming 'it's DD for me' - an innuendo on the bra measurement system. One veteran Tory aide added: 'This is more ''BJ for Me'' than ''DD for me''... it gives a whole new meaning to sucky communications.' Another Tory source said: 'You have to wonder if team Jenrick have started drinking the kool aid and got a bit drunk on their own publicity. 'This has all the hallmarks of David Davis's botched leadership campaign in 2005.' Mr Jenrick's camp declined to comment. He has thus far run a strong campaign that has seen him emerge as the frontrunner with Tory MPs and the bookies. Mr Jenrick has thus far run a strong campaign that has seen him emerge as the frontrunner with Tory MPs and the bookies. He has run on a promise of tightening up the immigration system. This morning he warned there 'isnt' a future' for the party unless they campaign to quit the European Convention on Human Rights. The former immigration minister used a morning campaign rally on the fringes of the Conservative conference in Birmingham to issue a 'leave or die' message. He channelled ex-prime minister Boris Johnson's famous 'Get Brexit Done' slogan to call on the party to 'get migration done'. Mr Jenrick said continued membership of the ECHR was making it 'impossible for us to finish the job we began with Brexit, which is to restore sovereignty to our people and our Parliament'. He dismissed concerns about the impact of quitting the ECHR on the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, saying a new British bill of rights could provide a 'pragmatic answer'. And he also reiterated his call for a 'democratic cap' on the level of legal migration to the UK to bring it down to the tens of thousands per year. President Joe Biden said he expects to visit the areas devastated by Hurricane Helene this week as he defended spending the weekend at his beach house when the storm hit. 'I've told the governor of North Carolina I'll go down and I expect to be down there by Wednesday or Thursday when it is clear for me,' he told reporters at the White House. 'I'm committed to traveling to impacted areas as soon as possible, but I've been told that it would be disruptive if I did it right now,' he noted. The president became defensive when asked how he was in command while spending the weekend at his Rehoboth Beach vacation home while the hurricane was devastating parts of the South. 'I was commanding, I was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday, and the day before, as well. I commanded, it's called a telephone,' he said. 'I was commanding, I was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday, and the day before, as well. I commanded, it's called a telephone,' President Joe Biden said He noted he spoke with the governors of Georgia and North Carolina, two of the states hardest hit by the storm. At least 121 deaths in six states have been attributed to the storm a toll that climbed Monday as a clearer picture emerged of the devastation it inflicted on an area stretching from Florida's Gulf Coast northward to the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia. More than 600 are missing. 'We're not leaving until the job is done,' Biden said. Roads and I-64, a major interstate, have been wiped out in parts of these areas, making it difficult to bring in necessary supplies. Local and federal officials, along with the National Guard, are racing to bring relief. More than 460,000 people are without power and more than 1,000 had taken refuge in 24 shelters. Search and rescue teams from 19 states and the US government have converged on North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper said, adding that some roads could take months to repair. Meanwhile, Donald Trump heads to Georgia on Monday to address the efforts to help victims of the hurricane. Biden refused to comment when asked if the former president would be disruptive. 'I don't have any idea,' he told reporters. Flooding in Asheville, N.C., caused by Hurricane Helene And Kamala Harris is cancelling her planned campaign stops for Monday in order to return to Washington D.C. for briefings on Hurricane Helene. She will leave Las Vegas in the morning and be in Washington for a briefing at FEMA on Monday afternoon, according to her campaign. She will also visit the devastated areas when it won't disrupt the emergency response efforts. Damage estimates ranged from $15billion to more than $100billion, insurers and forecasters said over the weekend, as water systems, communications and critical transportation routes were affected. Property damage and lost economic output will become clearer as officials assess the destruction. Roughly 2.7 million customers throughout the South were without power on Sunday, a US Energy Department official said, down 40 per cent from Friday after unprecedented storm surges, ferocious winds and perilous conditions extended hundreds of miles inland. A jihadist friend of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi will be released from prison within weeks despite posing a 'high risk' of future terrorism and fears he could even orchestrate a future atrocity. Concerns about Islamic State extremist Abdalraouf Abdallah jailed for organising the travel of fellow fanatics to Syria were revealed by a Parole Board panel which rejected a bid for early release. But, despite being viewed as a 'high risk', Abdallah must still be freed in November on completion of a nine-and-a-half-year jail term for engaging in conduct for preparation of terrorist acts. Because he will be at the end of his full sentence, officials cannot dictate where he lives or restrict his behaviour. Wherever the UK-born extremist in a wheelchair after being shot while fighting in the Libyan revolution is housed on release, officials believe he poses 'a high risk of serious harm to the public, to children and staff'. Abdalraouf Abdallah giving evidence during the Manchester Arena Inquiry in November 2021 The Parole Board panel, who considered his early release bid, added: 'The potential event could happen at any time and the impact would be serious.' They also found that Abdallah 'continued to present a moderate level of engagement with extremism and having some capability to commit further extremist or terrorist behaviour'. Robby Potter, one of the most seriously-injured people to survive the Manchester Arena attack, said he believes Abdallah will commit further extremist activity. The 54-year-old, who was blasted through the heart with shrapnel, said: 'It says it all about the authorities they still think he's a high risk but let him out. I don't believe he's going to stop as, even when monitored, these people stop at nothing.' The public inquiry into the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing found Abdallah played a 'significant role in radicalising' suicide bomber Abedi although 'there was no evidence' of involvement in the attack itself. Abdallah was jailed after turning the bedroom of his parents' rented Manchester home next to a children's nursery into a de-facto IS travel agency in 2014, arranging for extremists including his brother Mohammed, now 33 and who later received a ten-year jail sentence - to be smuggled into Syria with cash and weapons. Salman Abedi visited Abdalraouf Abdallah in prison four times and the inquiry heard the pair exchanged 1,300 texts over several years, discussing martyrdom. Abdallah served almost all his sentence behind bars apart from when he was briefly released into supported accommodation in November 2020. He was recalled to jail in January 2021 after making threats to a fellow resident, assaulting a female staff member and possessing an unspecified Class C drug. Abdallah's most recent early release bid was considered over four days of hearings in April and July, which included 'closed' evidence from the security services and testimony from two psychologists. Abdalraouf Abdallah was jailed for nine-and-a-half years in 2016 for helping people going to Syria to join the Islamic State group The Parole Board revealed how Abdallah joined a programme 'intended to address the motivations behind his offending behaviour and the beliefs which enable it'. But officials said the course 'had not sufficiently reduced the risk he posed'. In its summary, the Parole Board said it was 'not satisfied' Abdallah 'no longer poses a risk to the public'. It also 'could not be satisfied that there has been any genuine change in Mr Abdallah's extremist mindset'. The panel added: 'Abdallah continues to pose a risk of radicalising others.' It is likely Abdallah will be subject to intensive monitoring. Such a regime led to Streatham terrorist Sudesh Amman, 20, being shot dead by surveillance officers when he went on a rampage 10 days after leaving prison. While in HMP Belmarsh, Amman openly expressed 'extreme views' including an intention to become a suicide bomber and wanting to 'kill the Queen'. He was released half-way through a 40-month sentence for preparing acts of terrorism despite concerns he was violent and radicalising inmates. During the Streatham attack in February 2020, Amman bought a knife and stabbed a man and a woman, who were both injured, before he was shot. The Metropolitan Police wrote to Belmarsh's governor in January 2020 asking if Amman's release could be delayed but was told it was not possible, an inquest into his death was told. A lawful killing verdict was returned. Abdallah, born to a Libyan father and Algerian mother and who grew up in Manchester, was injured in 2011 while fighting with Islamist militia the 17 February Martyrs Brigade. Giving evidence to the inquiry in 2021, he said confirmed Ramadan Abedi, father of Salman Abedi, was part of the brigade. Salman's brother Hashem Abedi, now 27, was jailed for a minimum of 55 years in 2020 for his role in the arena attack in May 2017, when 22 people were murdered. A Cleveland coffee shop sparked a heated debate with when an employee told a customer they were not allowed to buy a coffee for a homeless person. The Copper Moon allegedly has a policy that bans customers from giving purchased goods to the homeless people loitering around the shop, according to an employee who was recorded in a TikTok. In the August TikTok posted by @superheroeveryday2, a barista explains he is not able to sell her a coffee if she plans on giving it to a homeless person. He claimed: 'I will lose my job. 'The policy is that that causes trouble for our employees because it has people harassing customers out front.' TikTok user @superheroeveryday2 recorded her interacted with a Copper Moon barista who told her she could not buy a coffee for a homeless person A barista served coffee to four coffee shop customers (stock image) In the caption, @superheroeveryday2 wrote: 'He witnessed me speaking to a homeless man and the first thing he said is if the coffee is for him I cannot serve you.' She went on to tell the barista that she did not feel threatened or harassed. While filming, she kept the camera focused on the counter and did not show the barista's face. The employee allegedly asked the customer why the homeless man doesn't get a job 'like the rest of us', according to her caption. The Copper Moon did not respond to DailyMail.com's requests for comment. For @superheroeveryday2, this policy came as a massive shock - she could not believe that she was told what to do with her purchase. The Copper Moon coffee shop is located in Cleveland, Ohio But the issue was not as one-sided in the post's comment section, where over 8,600 users shared their opinions on the matter. Some users quickly came to the barista's defense. One user said, 'If you work in fast service food you understand.' Another user chimed in with their personal experiences: 'I had to tell customers to stop buying a guy stuff because he would hang out in the front the whole time and when people told him no, he would follow them around calling them names.' People explained that a lot of the times, employees are given pressure from their managers to enforce these kinds of policies. There were comments expressing understanding of both sides of the argument. Someone added that 'as someone in the food industry I understand' but 'as a human I don't.' Others said that she has the right to do whatever she likes with her money, so if that means buying something for a homeless man, that does not concern the business. A barista handed a customer a coffee through a drive-thru (stock image) According to another comment @superheroeveryday2 left, she ended up buying the coffee and just giving it to the homeless man anyway. She posted a follow-up video including a Google Review comment that The Copper Moon responded to. The comment reads: 'Don't understand why your employees are stating that as customers we can't buy homeless people items from this place.' The Copper Moon wrote back that a homeless person steals tips and 'defecates on the sidewalk.' 'You don't understand what led to this point.' The chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce had some strong words for Harvard University after the latest disciplinary records showed that the school allegedly failed to discipline students involved in pro-Palestine campus protests. "Harvard failed, end of story," U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said Thursday. Between Oct. 7 and the establishment of an encampment on campus in the spring, Harvard did not formally punish any students for engaging in antisemitic behavior, including taking over a campus building or using bullhorns to interrupt classes, the committee found. According to university documents released by the committee, Harvard referred 68 undergraduate students and six separate graduate schools for disciplinary action because of their involvement in the encampment. Out of those 68 students, the Harvard College Administrative Board overturned five initial suspensions and shortened probationary terms, leaving 52 in good standing, 15 on probation, and one on leave. "These administrators failed their Jewish students and faculty; they failed to make it clear that antisemitism will not be tolerated, and in this case, Harvard may have failed to fulfill its legal responsibilities to protect students from a hostile environment," Foxx added. The committee has threatened to withhold federal funding from Harvard several times since December, but on Thursday it explicitly accused the school of possibly violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits institutions that receive federal assistance from discriminating based on race, color or national origin. In a statement to the Harvard Crimson, a university spokesperson said the university has "updated and strengthened disciplinary procedures, allowing for common fact-finding in matters involving students across multiple schools." "Harvard's leaders have made clear to the community our rules, norms, and expectations for civil dialogue and responsible conduct, and we unequivocally condemn antisemitism and all forms of hate and bias, which have no place in our community," the spokesperson added. The committee has been particularly critical of Harvard's handling of antisemitism on campus, including the Harvard College Administrative Board's decision to decrease sanctions imposed on students who participated in the pro-Palestine encampment, as well as the inconsistent disciplinary procedures throughout the institution's many colleges. The committee wrote that Harvard's graduate schools decided not to impose any "meaningful sanctions." The group also condemned the university's decision to relaunch the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee as an official student club for the current term, following its suspension last semester. Harvard hasn't made it clear yet if it will follow on the recommendations made by the committee. Residents of Johnstown, Colorado, have been forced to pack up and leave their homes for a shocking reason their houses were built on a pond. Now homeowners have been left scrambling to sell everything they own before bulldozers move in to demolish their properties. Holly Sturgon, a resident for almost 11 years, is among those forced to leave. 'People walking down through this neighborhood have got to look at this and just say, what in the world?' Sturgon told 9News. 'This was originally a retention pond, and in a flood last year, it came to light that it needs to be a retention pond,' she added. Homeowners have been left scrambling to sell everything they own before bulldozers move in to demolish their properties. Holly Sturgon (pictured), a resident for almost 11 years, is among those forced to leave. Their homes were built on what was originally a retention pond (Pictured: a flooded Johnstown earlier this year The nightmare began when Sturgon's basement flooded after a over a decade of living in the home without problems. It was then that the horrifying truth came to light - their homes were built on what was originally a retention pond. The builder had filled in the pond and constructed houses without disclosing this crucial information to buyers. Following last year's flood, the town of Johnstown made the difficult decision to buy back four homes, with plans to bulldoze the land and rebuild the retention pond. This left residents like Sturgon with no choice but to leave their 'forever homes' behind. 'Up until a month ago I probably cried almost every single day. You can hear me choking up about it now,' Sturgon said. 'Going through this part of it, it tears at my heartstrings every day.' The nightmare began when Sturgon's basement flooded after a over a decade of living in the home without problems Following last year's flood, the town of Johnstown made the difficult decision to buy back four homes, with plans to bulldoze the land and rebuild the retention pond (Pictured: Sturgon's home before it was disassembled) This left residents like Sturgon with no choice but to leave their 'forever homes' behind In a desperate attempt to salvage something from this disaster, Sturgon has resorted to selling literally everything. 'I've sold toilets. I've sold lighting fixtures. I've sold air conditioning units. I've sold garage doors. Siding. Gutters. Everything is for sale,' she said. 'Make me a moderately small, reasonable offer, and it is absolutely yours to take and go home with.' The scene in Johnstown is now filled with trailers parked in front lawns loading up belongings. ' The compensation offered by the town of Johnstown wasn't even enough for families like the Sturgons to stay in Colorado. The builder had filled in the pond and constructed houses without disclosing this crucial information to buyers In a desperate attempt to salvage something from this disaster, Sturgon has resorted to selling literally everything 'I'm going to miss it,' Sturgon said. 'I look out here. I look at our neighbors. That's the hard part.' With housing prices skyrocketing, they've made the decision to relocate to Georgia to be closer to family. The affected residents initially wanted to fight back, but legal advice unanimously suggested they would lose any battle to keep their homes. 'When you sell a house, you clean it really good for the next person, and I'm purposely destroying the house. It's pretty different.' 'I hope nobody has to go through this because it's not a comfortable feeling at all,' Sturgon said. Bootleg alcohol has killed 11 people and put dozens more in hospital with severe poisoning in Iran. Over the past few days the northern province of Mazandaran has been the site of an outbreak of problems caused by the booze, according to Iranian state media. Iran's Tasnim news agency said 53 people suffering from 'ethanol or methanol' intoxication had been hospitalised since Sunday in the northern province. Iran banned the production and consumption of alcoholic beverages after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Smuggled and bootleg alcohol has ever since proliferated on the Iranian black market, with methanol often added to drinks as a cheaper alternative to ethanol. Bootleg alcohol has killed 11 people and put dozens more in hospital with severe poisoning in Iran. Pictured: The Iranian flag wave over the capital Tehran Iran banned the production and consumption of alcoholic beverages after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Pictured: Demonstrators hold a poster of Ayatollah Khomeini, in January 1979, in Teheran, during a demonstration against the shah On Sunday Tasnim news agency said four people died of alcohol poisoning in neighbouring Gilan province after 20 were hospitalised. So far no arrests have been reported connected to the illegal booze making operation. In September 2021, Iran sentenced four people to death over selling poisonous alcohol that killed at least 17 people months earlier. In May 2022, eight people died in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas after drinking bootleg alcohol. At least 210 people died in Iran during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 after drinking bootleg alcohol, falsely believing it to be a remedy for the virus. However some independent figures put the number closer to 700 bootleg alcohol related deaths during the pandemic. Alcohol poisoning skyrocketed by some ten times in Iran between 2020 and 2019, according to a government report released in April 2020. Many during the pandemic also started to drink methanol, a toxic alcohol used for industrial solvent, under the false belief that it could cure the virus. The Iranian government mandates that manufacturers of toxic methanol add an artificial colour to their products so the public can tell it apart from ethanol, the kind of alcohol that can be used in cleaning wounds. Some bootleggers in Iran use methanol, adding a splash of bleach to mask the added colour before selling it as drinkable. Sometimes it is mixed with consumable alcohol to stretch supply, other times it comes as methanol, falsely advertised as drinkable. Methanol also can contaminate traditionally fermented alcohol. Methanol cannot be smelled or tasted in drinks. It causes delayed organ and brain damage. Symptoms include chest pain, nausea, hyperventilation, blindness and even coma. President Biden gave an emphatic answer when asked if he was comfortable with Israels plan as the U.S. ally masses forces on the border with Lebanon, and it stopped well short of an endorsement. Biden got asked Monday at the White House if he was 'comfortable' with what is being called a limited invasion. His answer took that word and instead called on Israel to hold back. I'm more aware than you might know, and I'm comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now, Biden said. It came hours after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said 'diplomacy remains the best and only path to achieving greater stability in the Middle East.' He took the question at the White House Monday despite saying he wanted to stick with the subject of recovery from Hurricane Helene. His comments follow reports that Israel is planning a limited ground operation into Lebanon, after a series of withering strikes targeting Hezbollah leadership and weapons, even as it masses forces on the border. 'We should have a ceasefire now, President Joe Biden said when asked about reports of an Israeli 'limited' invasion into Lebanon Blinken also said the U.S. 'will continue to work with our partners in the region and around the world to advance a diplomatic resolution that provides real security to Israel to Lebanon,' even while justifying the Israeli air strike that took out 'brutal terrorist' Hasan Nasrallah by targeting Hezbollah's underground headquarters in Beruit. A U.S. official told the Washington Post Israel is planning a 'limited' ground operation and it could start immediately. Israeli armoured military vehicles are arranged in formation, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in northern Israel, September 30, 2024, amid reports of an 'imminent' invasion Israeli Defense Forces were already carrying out cross border raids Monday. Such a 'limited' invasion would appear to stop short of Israel's 2006 war against Hamas in Lebanon. It comes days after Israel took out longtime Hezbollah leader, and signal a plan stopping far short of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. U.S. officials publicly and privately urged restraint before Israel invaded Rafah in southern Gaza, and has urged restraint at other junctures while pushing for a cease fire and a release of hostages Hamaz seized during its brutal October 7 attack inside Isreal. Biden on Saturday called Nasrallah's death a 'a measure of justice' for his victims. Asked then whether an Israeli invasion was inevitable, Biden responded by saying 'Its time for a ceasefire.' U.S. diplomats are hurrying to assist U.S. citizens seeking to get out of Beirut. The embassy posted on X Monday that it is coordinating with airlines to help U.S. citizens leave after a series of airstrikes. Pressed on Biden's comments and whether he was in fact urging restraint, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeatedly said Israel has a right to defend itself against Hezbollah. 'What we have said is consistently Israel has the right to defend itself against Hezbollah. We are not shedding tears over a terrorist. That terrorist has American blood on their hands, and so we're certainly not going to shed a tear over that. We've been very clear Israel has right to defend itself,' she said, calling the support 'ironclad.' Israel's latest aerial campaign has killed more than 1,000 people, with at least 100,000 crossing over into war-torn Syria to avoid the bombardment, with makeshift shelters in the capital desperately overcrowded, according to the UNHCR. Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, met with troops near the Lebanese border today, insisting Israel would 'use all the abilities we have' to ensure the return of some 60,000 Israelis displaced from the north by nearly a year of border clashes. He added that 'everything that needs to be done - will be done' and that 'we will use all the forces from the air, sea and land'. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile issued a stark warning to the Iranian regime, now threatening retaliation for the attacks on Hezbollah, claiming 'there is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach'. A teenager stabbed a 15-year-old boy to death with a zombie knife just two days before the weapons were banned, a court heard today. Daejaun Campbell had cried out 'I'm 15, don't let me die' after being knifed in the leg on Eglinton Road, Woolwich at around 6.35pm on 22 September. Three young men have been charged with his murder, with the first, Jacob Losiewicz, appearing at the Old Bailey on Monday. Two other defendants, Marko Balaz, 18, of Sewell Road, Abbey Wood, and a 17-year-old youth, are expected to appear at the Old Bailey later this week. During the hearing, prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said the killing in Eglinton south-east London came amid 'tit-for-tat violence with all the hallmarks of a turf war'. Daejaun Campbell (pictured) had cried out 'I'm 15, don't let me die' after being knifed in the leg on Eglinton Road, Woolwich at around 6.35pm on 22 September The teenager (pictured) was set upon by a group of men in Woolwich, South East London , at 6.30pm on Sunday, according to witnesses A ban on owning zombie-style knives and machetes came into force on September 24, just two days after the stabbing. It is alleged that Losiewicz, 18, had driven the group to the scene in his mother's car. Ban on zombie-style knives and machetes comes into force The number of crimes involving machetes, swords or zombie knives has nearly doubled in five years, police figures suggest. Data obtained by the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act showed that in 2023 the three types of weapons were mentioned in more than 14,000 crimes recorded by 32 police forces in England and Wales. In 2019, there were 7,159 offences recorded as involving the large blades, which rose to 14,195 in 2023. Nearly 10,000 of the offences recorded in 2023 involved machetes, double the number from five years before, the broadcaster reported. On September 24, a ban on owning zombie-style knives and machetes came into force, following a four-week amnesty scheme where owners were encouraged to hand the weapons into police, local authorities or knife crime charities. The ban is part of efforts to reduce knife crime, with campaigners including actor Idris Elba pushing for the large blades to be outlawed. The Government plans to also ban ninja swords in the future. Advertisement During the attack, Daejaun was fatally stabbed in the thigh and also suffered injuries to his hands and a wound to the head, the court heard. Before leaving the scene, it is alleged one of the attackers retrieved a machete before running away. Losiewicz appeared in court via video-link from Thameside prison and spoke to confirm his identity during a short hearing before Judge Philip Katz KC. A plea hearing was set for December 16 and a provisional trial from June 9 next year. The defendant, of Church Manor Way, Abbey Wood, was remanded into custody. Daejaun's family last week paid tribute, releasing the statement: 'Daejaun was a great kid who had a bright future ahead of him, he was loved by his family and friends, as well as strangers who had interacted with him, and he has left a great impression with them. 'His calming nature and enthusiastic attitude would manifest a happy atmosphere amongst his family and friends wherever he went. 'Daejaun was known for walking with the biggest smile and even bigger heart, he would always do his up most best to help anyone. They continued: 'Daejaun had a joyful spirit, full of wit and charm with the incredible ability to light up a room with his presence and impactful smile. 'He is deeply loved by his family and though we should have many more years of memories with him, we will cherish the amazing memories he's left behind. 'His friends would say there wasn't anything that he couldn't do if he put his mind to it, he kept himself to himself and lived life to the fullest. 'Our Daejaun was naturally gifted, intelligent, creative and a mathematician with his quick thinking as well as musically talented. They urged for the 'senseless killing' to stop, painfully noting that Daejaun was 'not the first young person nor will he be the last' to be brutally killed. Daejaun's family last week paid tribute, releasing the statement: 'Daejaun was a great kid who had a bright future ahead of him.' Met Police Territorial Support Group officers and vans at the scene in Eglinton Road, Woolwich, where the teenage boy was stabbed to death A Metropolitan Police officer stands near a cordon and forensic tent in Woolwich A police forensic officer at the crime scene on Eglinton Road in Woolwich on the night of the attack Forensics officers at the scene in Woolwich last Sunday night after a boy was stabbed to death 'How many mothers, fathers, grandparents and love ones must go through this excruciating pain of releasing these heart breaking statements, sharing our grief because we have lost our children and grandchildren,' they said. 'Why are parents burying their children, when a child's place is by their mother's side? 'We must come together to bring change, solutions need to be put in place, we must do all we can together to ensure our young have the brightest of futures. #sayhisnameDaejaun 'We as a family, again would like to thank you all for the support and kind messages.' Police previously said the boy's murder was a 'stark and sobering reminder of the danger of zombie-style knives'. Detective Chief Inspector Kate Blackburn who is leading the investigation said: 'We are diligently progressing this investigation thanks to officers and detectives who have been working tirelessly throughout the week. 'Daejaun was only 15 when he lost his life. His family are understandably devastated.' Friends have also paid tribute to the sporty youngster at a makeshift shrine on the spot in Woolwich, where he was attacked. Up to 150 family and friends attended a vigil at the scene last Monday and heard appeals for an end to knife crime. They stacked flowers, cards and balloons - many in Daejaun's favourite colours, blue and purple - in the shape of a pyramid. His family nickname 'Pud' was also spelled out in coloured tea lights on the pavement alongside. Daejaun's best friend, who did not want to be named, said: 'He was charismatic, he had everyone's best interests at heart. 'He would do so much for other people, more than he would do for himself and I always told him that's a good trait to have, but always look out for yourself as well.' An eight-year-old who died after being shot in the face and head while 'rabbit shooting' on a farm in Cumbria has today been named by police. Jay Cartmell, from Frizington, West Cumbria, died after sustaining serious head injuries in a shooting incident on farmland near Warcop on Saturday. Emergency services rushed to the scene, near the A66, at 2.05pm after a child had sustained 'serious and life-threatening injuries' from a firearm. Jay was taken to hospital by air ambulance, but the young boy sadly passed away overnight. A man in his 60s, from West Cumbria, was arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter, but Cumbria Police have confirmed last night that he has been bailed. Jay died after sustaining serious head injuries in an incident on farmland near Warcop, Cumbria One police car was parked on a field at around 3pm on Saturday after rushing to the scene A firearm was recovered from the field, which is close to Wheatsheaf Farm, near Warcop, by officers. Sources told The Sun that the man, who was also not a local to the area, was shooting rabbits on the field with the landowner's permission when the tragedy occurred. Rabbiting is legal on private land in the UK, provided the gun owner has the correct firearms licence and written permission from the landowner. Councillor Heidi Strong, of Warcop Parish Council, said it was 'a horrible, horrible tragedy.' 'People are really shook up about it,' she said. 'All I can say is it was definitely an accident but we don't know the ins and outs of what happened.' Mrs Strong said she thought the boy was not local to Warcop and speculated that he had been with a shooting party out 'shooting rabbits'. The tiny village of Warcop is home to around 500 people, with two churches and a small primary school. A video posted online showed several emergency vehicles parked at the farm, which lies right next to the busy A66 and a short distance to Warcop village itself, around 3pm. Local Frank Chalmers, 73, said he saw five police cars and an air ambulance as he drove to his home in nearby Brough. 'I was just passing by in the car when I saw the police and an air ambulance,' he said. 'It is the most awful tragedy for the family and the community.' Wheatsheaf Farm has not been a working livestock farm since the 1980s and instead tenants rent the land for sheep grazing. A view of the fields and road which runs through the farm where the boy was shot One tenant said it was rumoured that the boy had been attending the Brough Hill travellers' horse fair, which is held on the last weekend in September. One young man in the village found out the news from a friend who lives outside the area. He said: 'I heard what happened and it's terrible. 'This is all word of mouth but apparently it was an accident.' A third man, who was also a parent, said: 'I've had my friends ask me this morning about it. 'It's a sad thing to happen here but but I don't know the family. It's a quiet village but people have been quiet about it so far today.' A man in his 60s was initially detained on suspicion of GBH assault but was rearrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter. The man has now been bailed as investigations continue. A spokesperson from Cumbria Constabulary said: 'An eight-year-old who died following an incident near Warcop on Saturday (28 Sept) has been identified as West Cumbrian boy Jay Cartmell of Frizington. 'Jay died after sustaining serious head injuries in an incident on land not far from the A66, north of Warcop. 'As officers continue with their enquiries into this incident, they are encouraging anyone who may have witnessed the incident or the moments leading up to it to come forward.' Tory leadership hopeful James Cleverly today said pledging to 'stop the boats' when he was home secretary was an 'error'. The ex-Cabinet minister claimed ending all Channel migrant crossings is an 'unachievable target' as he distanced himself from the phrase. Mr Cleverly headed up the Home Office under former prime minister Rishi Sunak from November last year until July's general election. During his spell as home secretary, Mr Cleverly repeatedly promised to 'stop the boats' both in Parliament and on social media. But, quizzed about the pledge during a fringe event at the Conservative conference in Birmingham today, Mr Cleverly backed away from the three-word slogan. 'I think the phrase 'stop the boats' was an error,' he said. 'It distilled a very, very complicated and challenging problem into a soundbite. 'The implication not the implication, I suppose the self-imposed yardstick was even one boat was a failure, and that was an unachievable target.' Tory leadership hopeful James Cleverly today said pledging to 'stop the boats' when he was home secretary was an 'error' Mr Cleverly pictured in January at a Downing Street press conference as then prime minister Rishi Sunak sets out his plan to 'stop the boats' A group of people thought to be migrants wade through the sea to clamber aboard a small boat off the beach in Gravelines, France Mr Sunak first made the promise to stop the boats in January last year, as he made it one of his five key priorities for his premiership. But he failed to get his plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda - which he claimed would deter small boat crossings - up and running prior to the Tories' general election defeat in July. Elsewhere at the Conservative conference, Mr Cleverly claimed those offering a simple solution to tackling migration 'don't know what they are talking about'. In an apparent swipe at his Tory leadership rivals, the ex-home secretary told the Conservative Policy Forum hustings: 'Under my watch in the seven months I was there our asylum rejection rate went up, our deportation rate went up, our net migration came down. 'I gobbed-off less and delivered a bucketload more. That is what gets us back into office, and anyone who sits here in front of you or on a stage wherever and says the simple solution is to do this one thing, they either don't know what they are talking about or they hope you don't know what you are talking about.' At least a dozen staffers at the Department of Veterans' Affairs improperly accessed the medical records of vice presidential nominees J.D. Vance and Tim Walz over the summer. The bombshell discovery first reported by the Washington Post reveals a major breach at one of the largest agencies in the U.S. that has over 450,000 employees and serves over 9 million veterans. The revelation also comes on the eve of the vice presidential debate between the two men, the last scheduled face-to-face showdown between any candidate ahead of Election Day. VA officials have said they are investigating the data breach internally and that the hack came through the department's Veterans Health Administration. The Department of Justice is also investigating the hack, a VA official confirmed to DailyMail.com. Vance and Walz are scheduled to debate Tuesday October 1 on CBS News Your browser does not support iframes. 'We reported to law enforcement allegations that VA personnel may have improperly accessed Veteran records,' VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes told DailyMail.com in a statement. 'We take the privacy of the Veterans we serve very seriously and have strict policies in place to protect their records.' 'Any attempt to improperly access Veteran records by VA personnel is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. For further queries on this matter, please reach out to the Department of Justice.' Both the Vance and Walz campaigns were reportedly notified about the security lapse. The VA Inspector General Michael Missals office shared evidence of the VP nominee's accounts being accessed with DOJ federal prosecutors, law enforcement officials told the Washington Post. Among that evidence are files indicating that a physician and contractor spent extended periods reviewing the politician's medical profiles, prompting concern about the suspect's motives. Both suspects used their agency credentials and computers to access the private medical files. Representatives for Vance declined to comment while Walz's campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Vice Presidential Nominee J.D. Vance speaks at a Town Hall Event in Monroeville, PA Democratic vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had his medical files illegally accessed by employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The same happened to Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, a Washington Post report published on the eve of their televised debate claims The candidate's data was apparently accessed in July and August but was not discovered until later in August after a security sweep. These sweeps of high-profile veterans happen periodically, sources told the outlet. One of the major questions that law enforcement officials are hoping to answer with their probe is whether the accessed files were shared externally. Intimate details such as disability compensation were not accessed in the data breach, officials told the Washington Post, as those are stored behind an interface requiring clearances. Some employees that accessed the private medical records that were interviewed by law enforcement officials told them they did so out of curiosity. The breach even prompted an internal memo to be sent out advising employees about the agency's data privacy requirements. The notice did not mince words. 'Veteran information should only be accessed when necessary to accomplish officially authorized and assigned duties as an employee, contractor, volunteer, or other personnel,' a copy of the notice obtained by DailyMail.com stated. 'Viewing a Veterans records out of curiosity or concern or for any purpose that is not directly related to officially authorized and assigned duties is strictly prohibited.' 'Failure to comply with these requirements may result in disciplinary action, including removal, as well as referral to law enforcement for civil penalties and criminal prosecution.' he US Department of Veterans Affairs building is seen on August 21, 2024 in Washington, DC Some VA employees who improperly viewed the politician's medical records said they did so out of curiosity Walz served for 24 years in the Minnesota National Guard while Vance served four years in the Marine Corps. Both candidate's military records have come into play on the campaign trail. Walz has been embroiled in a scandal where he is alleged to have exaggerated his service record, claiming to have carried weapons in war despite never having actually done so. He was also slammed for backing out of his unit shortly before it was deployed to the Middle East. Members of that military unit have critiqued Walz for abandoning them at the last minute before launching his bid for Congress. Vance's service has come up in regard to his role as a military journalist. The Republican has noted, as have is critics, that he never served in a combat role. Kemi Badenoch praised Israel over its attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon tonight, saying they an 'amazing thing with the pagers'. Speaking at the Conservative Party Conference the leadership candidate told members that Islamist terrorism 'should never, ever be appeased'. It came after Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group based in southern Lebanon, was targeted by an attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies that killed dozens of people and wounded around 3,000. They included many fighters but also many civilians. Israel has appeared to deny involvement with the fatal incident, with its president Isaac Herzog saying he 'rejects out of hand any connection' to the operation. But it is widely believed to have been behind the attack. Ms Badenoch told the conference in Birmingham she was 'very sympathetic to the Israeli argument' because they are 'always criticised'. It came after her leadership rival Robert Jenrick had earlier tried to woo Tory supporters of Israel by vowing to emulate Donald Trump by moving the British embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. The former minister wore a 'Hamas are terrorists' hoodie as he addressed a Conservative Friends of Israel event. Speaking at the Conservative Party Conference the leadership candidate told members she said that Islamist terrorism 'should never, ever be appeased'. It came after Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group based in southern Lebanon, was targeted by an attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies that killed dozens of people and wounded around 3,000. It came after her leadership rival Robert Jenrick had earlier tried to woo Tory supporters of Israel by vowing to emulate Donald Trump by moving the British embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Just five countries currently have their Israeli embassy based in Jerusalem, which is also claimed by Palestine . The most prominent of them is the United States, after Mr Trump had it moved in 2018 when president. Asked what the Tory party's position should be on the war in the Middle East, between Israel and Hamas, Ms Badenoch replied: 'My position has always been very clear, Israel has a right to defend itself. 'The UK is an ally of Israel, I stand with Israel, we cannot stand with Hezbollah, we cannot stand with Hamas we know who the bad guys are. 'Islamist terrorism is something that should never, ever be appeased, it is extremely dangerous. 'Israel is at the front line, it is surrounded by a lot of enemies, I think that what they are doing is extraordinary. 'People said that getting the leader of Hezbollah couldn't be done. 'People ask Israel to do things like be more targeted so you don't harm civilians, they did that amazing thing with the pagers, and when they did that they were criticised for it. 'They're always criticised, so I'm very sympathetic to the Israeli argument. 'But we mustn't forget the Palestinian people who are not Hamas, they are unfortunately caught in the middle of this terrible war, I think that we should do all that we can to help them, I sympathise with them. 'But I think if Israel can get rid of Hamas that's also going to be fantastic for the Palestinian people.' Labour has already clashed with the hardline Benjamin Netanyahu government since taking power in July. Netanyahu has criticised the UK Government's decision to suspend some arms export licences to Israel, amid concerns they could be used in violation of international humanitarian law. But Sir Keir later rejected his Israeli counterpart's accusation that the move had been 'misguided'. He described Israel as a 'very important ally' and said he had 'long respected and supported its right to self-defence' but said Britain had to comply with international rules. The new Labour Government has suspended about 30 out of a total of 350 arms export licences to Israel, after a UK assessment suggested they could be used to breach international rules. All four candidates spoke at a reception for the Conservative Friends of Israel on Sunday evening, setting out their support for the nation. Mr Tugendhat said the Conservatives should be 'absolutely clear that we will always stand with democracies defending themselves' and hit out against Labour's partial arms embargo on Israel. Israeli special forces are already carrying out raids in Lebanon ahead of an imminent ground invasion to oust Hezbollah, officials have claimed. Elite commandos were said to be targeting the group's infrastructure, including weapon sites and control centres, as it scrambles to recover from the loss of long-time chief Hassan Nasrallah. 'They are targeting key sites which have been built across the border zone,' an Israeli official told The Telegraph. IDF tanks have massed on the northern border ahead of an anticipated incursion into Lebanon despite resounding pressure from Israel's allies to de-escalate at once. Hezbollah today said its militants were braced and 'ready' for war, as Lebanon prepared to deploy its own army to the south, fearing a collapse into all out war. Road-trippers looking to visit the 'best apple orchard in America' can stop by Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards in LaFayette. Experts and USA Today readers placed Beak and Skiff at the top of USA Today's annual list of Best Apple Orchards. The upstate New York apple orchard is a family-owned business located on a hillside along Route 20. The LaFayette apple orchard offers 20 varieties of apple trees, and as of spring 2019, it has 300,000 apple trees in the ground, according to Beak and Skiff's website. Open seven days a week from late August through late October, Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards has now been number one on the Best Apple Orchards list five times in nine years. Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards in LaFayette, New York, was named the 'best apple orchard in America' by USA Today this month Syracuse onion farmer George Skiff and dairy farmer Andrew Beak founded Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards in 1911 after deciding to enter the apple farming business. By the 1920s, the orchard's business was booming, and it began selling apples to various grocery stores. Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards was one of the places heavily affected by a drought in the 1930s, and by 1937, all its trees lost their leaves. The orchard continued to struggle in the 1940s, losing an entire crop of apples in 1945. The top-ranked location persevered, and after implementing new methods to keep crops safe and trees watered, its founders managed to save thousands of apples from destruction. Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards continued to grow, and more than 60 years after it was founded, the business opened to the public in 1975. Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards offers 20 varieties of apple trees, and more than 15 different types of fresh apples The orchard went on to open the Apple Hill Country Store and bake shop, and by 1979, the business began making apple cider. 'As it gained in popularity and demand from our wholesale accounts increased we found the need to develop a pasteurization process that extends the shelf life but did not alter the delicious flavor,' the orchard wrote on its website. 'Our cider mill was the first to "flash pasteurize" fresh cider and distribute it through the wholesale channel.' The cider's popularity eventually led to the 2001 creation of 1911 hard ciders, which helped the orchard launch its own vodka and gin lines in 2010. Years after the orchard's successful opening, Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards has six attractions: 1911 Tasting Room and Tavern, Apple Hill General Store, Apple Barn, Beak & Skiff Bakery, Kids Treehouse, and 1911 Distillery. Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards' visitors must travel by wagon to enter the farm. It's open seven days a week from late August through late October What used to be an orchard where visitors must travel by wagon to access the farm is now a massive tourist attraction with adult and family-friendly activities. The 1911 Tasting Room and Tavern offers dining guests a selection of hard ciders, spirits, and wines. Guests who wish to see how those beverages get made can pop on by the 1911 Distillery, where its equipment prepares beverages like vodka and bourbon whiskey. Food options can be found at Apple Hill General Store and Beak and Skiff Bakery. The orchard's bakery is full of goodies like donuts, pies, and cookies, and its website noted that apple bread is the business 'fave.' Foodies can also stop by and pick up homemade fudge from the orchard's general store, along with other fun gifts and cold brew coffee. Children can enjoy the Kids Treehouse, which features activities for children as young as two. Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards seemingly has everything, from award-winning alcoholic drinks, to live music and a summer concert series. However, it's not the only apple orchard in the US that can put a smile on a traveler's face. Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards has six attractions: 1911 Tasting Room and Tavern, Apple Hill General Store, Apple Barn, Beak & Skiff Bakery, Kids Treehouse, and 1911 Distillery Two other places featured on USA Today's list of best US apple orchards are the Libby & Son U-Picks in Limerick, Maine, and the Mercier Orchards in Blue Ridge, Georgia. Apple orchard visitors in Maine can stop by Libby & Son U-Picks anytime between mid-August through the end of October and enjoy live music after picking fresh apples. Travelers look for a destination in Georgia can head over to the Mercier Orchards sometime from August to November to pick apples, visit a winery, or purchase products at a farmer's market. Other states that are home to some of America's best apple orchards include North Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee. A father in France had to have his foot amputated after his four-year-old son accidentally fired a loaded hunting rifle at him. Police sources say the accident occurred in Cournon d'Auvergne, a town in central France, on Sunday. French news company AFP report that the young boy was in a car with his father during a hunting session when they stopped to talk with friends who were also out hunting. It was at this moment the child fired one of the hunters' rifles and injured his father in the foot, the police source said, adding that the exact circumstances of the accident were still not clear. The child fired one of the hunters' rifles and injured his father in the foot, the police source said (file image) Police sources say the accident occurred in Cournon d'Auvergne (pictured), a town in central France, on Sunday But the police have already established that 'not all safety rules were met'. Dominique Busson, president of the local hunters' association, said that the hunters should have unloaded their rifles before gathering, but failed to do so. The boy was taken to a psychiatric ward for counselling, while a police investigation was opened in order to determine 'how a four-year old child found himself handling a loaded hunting rifle', the police source said. The University of Chicago's recent $100 million anonymous donation to promote free speech has drawn criticism from protest groups, given the school's response to a pro-Palestinian encampment earlier this year. According to the university the gift is the largest ever made to support its Chicago Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression, which was launched a year ago by President Paul Alivisatos. The donation was ridiculed by participants of last spring's campus encampment, which was dismantled by the university when tents were removed, according to ABC7. "It's hypocritical to award the University of Chicago with any sort of free speech gift, or any award to insinuate the university promotes free expression, especially since they held my degree and put my life on hold because I asserted my free speech," Youssef Hasweh, a graduate whose diploma was withheld by the university for two months, allegedly for his involvement in the protest, told the outlet. Sabha Abour, a liaison between the city and protesting students during the encampment, expressed mixed feelings about the announcement. While she was pleased with the support for free expression, she criticized the university for being hypocritical. "Hopefully, this means no more diploma delays for students advocating for Palestinian rights," Abour said. At the time of the encampment, Alivisatos explained in a letter that the university tried to "provide the greatest leeway possible for free expression" but drew the line when that expression "disrupts study, scholarship, and free movement around campus." "Like many other societies, the United States is grappling with issues related to free expression, including misinformation, a polarized media environment, and a rising censoriousness," Tom Ginsburg, a University of Chicago Law School professor said in the statement. The university said the funds will assist the Chicago Forum in expanding its research and fellowship program and inviting more public thinkers to attend seminars to discuss their work with students. The money will also go toward the forum's orientation program for new students. Russian aircraft came dangerously close to a U.S. fighter jet sent to intercept them off the coast of Alaska. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) detected and tracked four Russian military aircrafts operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on September 23. NORAD scrambled four F-16s fighters and a reconnaissance aircraft to escort the Russian formation through the zone, a spokesperson told Alaska Public Media. Video of the interaction shows one Russian jet soaring past an American aircraft, quickly banking left and right. 'The conduct of one Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional, and endangered all not what youd see in a professional air force,' said Gen. Gregory Guillot. NORAD detected and tracked four Russian military aircrafts operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone on September 23 Video of the interaction shows one Russian jet soaring past an American aircraft, quickly banking left and right Russia's formation included two Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers and two Su-35 Flanker jet fighters. NORAD said the Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace. 'This Russian activity in the Alaska ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat,' the agency said. An increase in Russian military planes and vessels near American territory prompted the US to relocate 130 soldiers along with mobile rocket launchers to a desolate island in Alaska earlier in September. Eight Russian military planes and four navy vessels - including two submarines - have come close to the 'last frontier' in the past week as Russia and China have conducted joint military drills, beginning on September 10. A Pentagon spokesperson said there was no cause for alarm as the aircrafts have yet to breach U.S. airspace. It's not the first time that we've seen the Russians and the Chinese flying in the vicinity and that's something that we obviously closely monitor,' Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said at a news conference. An increase in Russian military planes and vessels near American territory prompted the US to relocate 130 soldiers to Alaska U.S. Army soldiers maneuver through the thick terrain of Shemya Island, Alaska, as part of a force projection operation to the remote island in the North Pacific Ocean on September 13 'It's also something that we're prepared to respond to, he added. NORAD tracked and detected Russian military planes operating off Alaska over a four-day span with two planes each day beginning on September 11. The planes operated in the Alaska ADIZ - a zone beyond U.S. sovereign airspace - but within which the U.S. expects aircraft to identify themselves. The number of such invasions have fluctuated yearly, NORAD reports. The average was six to seven interceptions a year though last year, 26 Russian planes came into the Alaska zone and so far this year there have been 25. In such encounters it is common for the U.S. military to provide photos of the Russian warplanes being escorted by either U.S. or Canadian planes. A woman has claimed a married female police officer told her 'that one got your attention' after she groped her in a London bar, a court has heard. Metropolitan Police Sergeant Rachel Bright, 46, made the remark after she allegedly touched the woman without her consent at a bar in Clapham, south London, on December 5, 2022. Bright, from Sutton in south London, has pleaded not guilty to a count of sexual assault at Kingston Crown Court. Giving evidence in court today, the alleged victim claimed the officer, who was off duty at the time, grabbed her when she was trying to leave the bar - as she'd already made her feel uncomfortable. The court heard that the victim felt a 'firm grope' as she claimed to feel 'her (Bright's) hand go up my skirt'. Metropolitan Police Sergeant Rachel Bright (pictured), 46, made the remark after she allegedly touched the woman without her consent at a bar in Clapham, south London, on December 5, 2022 The alleged victim claimed that she felt Bright's hand go up her skirt. The victim told the court: 'I felt her hand go up my skirt. I felt uncomfortable. It was somewhere around where you do not want anyone but your partner to be' In court on Monday the alleged victim said: 'All of a sudden I felt a body behind me. Then I felt a firm grope and then a laugh and a "Ha ha - that one way to get your attention". 'I just froze.' The woman said she immediately told her friend, adding: 'I just felt absolutely disgusted, gross and absolutely degraded.' She added: 'I feel ruined, ruined. 'You not only have you ruined my life, you have ruined your own life. I'm a wreck, an absolute wreck. I do not know why you did it. It was disgusting.' She was wearing a bright pink skort - a skirt which has a pair of shorts sewn into it. The alleged victim told the court: 'I felt her hand go up my skirt. I felt uncomfortable. It was somewhere around where you do not want anyone but your partner to be.' The woman said she had about three alcoholic drinks while out that night, but added that she did not really finish them. The jury heard that Bright was mingling with people in the bar and the alleged victim felt she was 'a bit over familiar' and was 'kissing her face'. The jury heard that Bright was mingling with people in the bar and the alleged victim felt she was 'a bit over familiar' and was 'kissing her face' Earlier Bright had allegedly made comments about the woman's body which made her feel 'seedy and gross'. She told the court: 'It just made me feel so seedy. It was unacceptable. 'It made me feel so disgusted. I felt so gross. It made me feel so uncomfortable being around her in that situation. I thought you are drunk a little bit. I had not been drinking. 'It felt seedy. It felt gross. I felt humiliated. It just felt gross. It felt grim.' At one point Bright placed her hand on the woman's bottom and then followed it up by kissing her on the lips, the alleged victim claimed. She then told her friend that she wanted to go because she felt uncomfortable. Rosa Bennathan, defending, said that Bright is married and a heterosexual woman who did not attempt to assault anyone. Under cross-examination she told the alleged victim that 'realistically what she (Bright) was trying to do was to grab the front of your clothing to get you off the dance floor' and asked if it was possible she had 'drunkenly mistaken drunk clumsiness for sexual assault'. The woman said she was not drunk or mistaken. Bright, 46 from Sutton in south London, has pleaded not guilty to a count of sexual assault at Kingston Crown Court (pictured) Earlier, prosecutor Paul Edwards told jurors that 'throughout the night Rachel Bright took every opportunity to be touchy-feely with the complainant'. Bright's defence is that she does not remember making contact or touching but if she did, any touching was by accident and was not sexually motivated. There was no intention to touch her private body parts, she said. Bright, who works in the Metropolitan Police's south west command unit, is suspended from duty, the force has said. A collection of Salvador Dali prints discovered in a London garage after a clear-out have sold for almost 20,000 at auction. The 11 forgotten lithographs by the renowned Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali were found at a house in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, London after spending 50 years gathering dust. They had been bought for 500 from an art gallery at a closing-down sale during the 1970s before spending decades languishing in a garage. The 'treasure trove' of artwork was found recently after the seller was having a clear-out while preparing to move abroad. The collection was tipped to fetch 5,000 when it went under the hammer today at Hansons Richmond in London but ended up selling for four times as much at 19,750. Pictured, the 11 lithographs by the renowned Spanish surrealist painter, Salvador Dali Lot 10 of the auction, a signed Salvador Dali limited edition lithograph which sold for 4,900 The prints, bought in the 1970s at an art gallery closing-down sale for 500, sparked worldwide media interests and intense competition between online and phone bidders Catalonia-born surrealist Salvador Dali (pictured) received his formal education in fine arts in Madrid A limited-edition abstract colour lithograph of nude figures signed by Dali in pencil was the most sought-after piece and sold for 4,900. Another signed limited-edition lithograph featuring a woman in a yellow dress fetched 3,100 and all but one of the lots surpassed 1,000. Chris Kirkham, associate director of London's Hansons Richmond, said: 'It was an amazing find. 'It sparked phenomenal interest from all over the world - and phenomenal results. 'The lithographs sold to bidders from the UK, Europe and the USA. We're delighted for the people lucky enough to secure them and our client. 'The discovery came about after I was invited to assess some antiques at the vendor's home in Mayfair. 'During the visit he took me to his garage and, lo and behold, out came this treasure trove of surrealist lithographs. They'd been tucked away and forgotten about for around 50 years. It felt quite surreal. You never know what you're going to uncover on a routine home visit. Chris Kirkham, associate director of Hansons Richmond, London, with one of the Dali lithographs which sold for 1,300 Lot 7, a Salvador Dali colour lithograph limited, signed in pencil which sold 3,100. The prints were found in a garage in London Lot 1, signed Salvador Dali limited edition lithograph sold 1,300. Salvador Dali joined the surrealists in 1929 'The buyer paid a modest 500 for the lithographs, all unframed, in a closing down sale at a central London gallery in the 1970s. 'He purchased them with a view to framing them for his home in Berkeley Square but never got round to it. So the prints ended up in his garage. 'They were rediscovered because the seller was having a clear out. He's looking to retire and move abroad, so his lithographs finally saw the light of day at auction. 'News of the garage find reached every corner of the globe. 'It sparked huge media coverage and we're delighted as that helped us to unite these signed lithographs with people who will treasure them. 'We originally anticipated the collection would make 5,000 but it quadrupled that. It underlines the passion for Dali. 'The same sale saw 3,600 achieved against a guide of 1,200-1,800 for a limited edition (374/1,500) Dali bronze figure entitled The Surrealist Angel.' Catalonia-born surrealist Salvador Dali (1904-1989) received his formal education in fine arts in Madrid. He became increasingly attracted to avant-garde movements and joined the Surrealist group in 1929, soon becoming a leading exponent. One of the most prolific artists of the 20th century, he's renowned for his technical skill and bizarre images. Influenced by the old masters and Sigmund Freud, his repertoire included paintings, sculpture, film, graphic art, animation, fashion and photography. Rudy Giuliani's daughter Caroline announced her support for Kamala Harris in a scathing essay in which she blames Donald Trump for taking away her father. Caroline, a 35-year-old filmmaker, wrote in an essay for Vanity Fair: 'I've been grieving the loss of my dad to Trump. I cannot bear to lose our country to him too. She talks about how she cried when the former New York City mayor first told her he was going to be Trump's lawyer, which happened in 2018. 'Watching my dad's life crumble since he joined forces with Trump has been extraordinarily painful,' she notes. 'Trump being the president was the worst thing that ever happened to my dad, to my family, and to our nation's modern history.' Caroline Giuliani - the daughter of Rudy Giuliani - with Kamala Harris Caroline's mother is Donna Hanover, Giuliani's second wife. She was four when her father was elected mayor of New York and the family moved into Gracie Mansion. She was pictured at her father's 1994 inauguration, wearing a pink coat, and cupping her dad's face. After her parents' divorced in 2000, she and her mother lived in Gracie Mansion until Giuliani's term expired. They then moved to East Manhattan. Her brother Andrew also worked for Donald Trump. Rudy Giuliani has had a long fall from grace from when he was known as 'America's Mayor' in the aftermath of September 11th terrorist attacks, where he led New York City in its response and helped the city recover economically and emotionally. He lost his legal license in Washington D.C. and in New York City, where he made his name as a prosecutor in U.S. Southern District Court. He led the false claims that Trump had the 2020 election stolen from him. He is under indictment in Arizona for attempting to overturn the election results there. And he also owes $148 million to two Georgia election workers whom, a court ruled, Giuliani had defamed by claiming they had helped steal the election from Trump. In many ways, he's become a national joke - and a national tragedy. But Caroline notes, despite the fact the two have been estranged since he divorced her mother, she still loves him. 'My dad and I have a cartoonishly complicated relationship. But he is still my father, and despite his faults, I love him,' she writes. 'I've seen him experience surreal heights, and, now, unfathomable lows. The last thing I want to do is hurt him, especially when he's already down. Plus we never know how much time we have left with our parents. The totality of that makes this the most difficult piece I've ever written. Yet this moment and this election are so much bigger than any of us.' New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani with his daughter Caroline at his 1994 inauguration Caroline Giuliani with father Rudy and brother Andrew Caroline Giuliani, who supported Joe Biden in 2020 and Hillary Clinton in 2016, details in her essay her concerns of how Trump would act if he becomes president with full immunity from any actions taken while he's in the White House and what his presidency would mean for abortion rights. And she praises Harris: 'She has the experience, intelligence, and fortitude to lead us to a brighter future, and seeing her hold Trump accountable in the debate only further confirms her ability to defend us from our most dangerous enemies, domestic and foreign.' 'Take it from me, Trump destroys everything he touches. I saw it happen to my family. Don't let it happen to yours, or to our country.' The former president alluded to the VP faking a photo of her working Donald Trump has ridiculed Vice President Kamala Harris for 'pretending' to work on Hurricane Helene disaster relief in a photo posted on her social media. An image posted on Harris's X account Sunday shows the VP aboard a plane with headphones while seemingly on a call while she studiously writes on paper in front of her. The post even mentioned how she was coordinating with North Carolina's governor to help the state's recovery efforts after Hurricane Helene killed at least 30 in the Asheville area. At least 121 deaths in six states have been attributed to the storm a toll that climbed Monday as a clearer picture emerged of the devastation it inflicted on an area stretching from Florida's Gulf Coast northward to the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia. However, Trump pointed out a glaring issue with the photo. Vice President Kamala Harris posed this on her official X account on Sunday and many were quick to point out her headphones do not appear plugged in Your browser does not support iframes. 'You have to plug the cord into the phone for it to work!' Trump wrote on his Truth Social app, pointing out the headphone she's wearing isn't attached to her phone on the desk. 'Another fake and staged photo from someone who has no clue what she is doing.' However, the angle of the image does not provide a sight-line to the port in the VP's phone, raising the possibility that her headphones were in fact plugged in to the device. The earphone's cord falls straight down seemingly on the VP's lap and not onto the phone one the table before her, also meaning there could be a second phone involved in this latest scandal. The photo appearing to show Harris hard at work on the phone is captioned: 'I was just briefed by [FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell] on the latest developments about the ongoing impacts of Hurricane Helene. We also discussed our Administration's continued actions to support emergency response and recovery.' 'I also spoke with [Gov. Roy] Cooper about the ongoing rescue and recovery efforts in North Carolina,' the post continued. 'Our Administration will continue to stay in constant contact with state and local officials to ensure communities have the support and resources they need.' Harris has yet to visit any of the states impacted by the tragic and deadly storm. Trump, on the other hand, went to Valdosta, Georgia, to tour damage done by Helene on Monday afternoon. Flooding caused by the storm that started as Hurricane Helene covering streets in Asheville, North Carolina, USA, 27 September 2024 Flood damage is seen along Mill Creek in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 30, 2024 in Old Fort, North Carolina. According to reports, at least 120 people have been killed across the southeastern U.S., and millions are without power due to the storm Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump gives brief statements as he arrives at Valdosta Regional Airport to visit areas affected by Hurricane Helene on September 30, 2024 in Valdosta, Georgia I was just briefed by @FEMA_Deanne Criswell on the latest developments about the ongoing impacts of Hurricane Helene. We also discussed our Administration's continued actions to support emergency response and recovery. I also spoke with @NC_Governor Cooper about the ongoing pic.twitter.com/nlZPB0h3mO Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) September 30, 2024 Trump speaks at the event in Georgia where he toured damage caused by Helene He spoke to those impacted by the storm and helped distribute goods to those in attendance. The former president, in addition to ripping her for the 'staged' photo, slammed Harris for letting Americans drown. 'Biden and Harris abandoned Americans in Afghanistan,' Trump's post continued. 'They sacrificed Americans to an Open Border, and now, they have left Americans to drown in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and elsewhere in the South.' Online personalities also were quick to highlight questionable aspects of Harris' picture. 'Blank paper. Headphones not plugged in. Everything about Kamala is fake,' the account Libs of TikTok posted. The House Judiciary Committee Republican's X account similarly posted: 'Her headphones arent even plugged into the phone.' 'Things that can be seen: VP logo on coffee cup. Standard text on plane window. Things that cannot be seen: Kamala actually writing any notes as she pretends to take a phone call,' another user wrote. A meme posted in response to Harris's photo is captioned 'There will never be a more fake duo' showing Milli Vanilli - a defamed European music group that performed but never actually sang their songs - stacked on top of a picture of Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz captioned 'Hold our beers!' Democratic presidential candidate US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 29 September 2024 Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris departs Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., September 30, 2024 Harris, meanwhile, cancelled her planned campaign stops for Monday in order to return to Washington D.C. for briefings on Helene. She left Las Vegas in the morning and will be in Washington for a briefing at FEMA on Monday afternoon, according to her campaign. She said she will also visit the devastated areas when it wont disrupt the emergency response efforts. President Joe Biden said Monday he expects to visit the areas devastated by Hurricane Helene later this week and insisted he was in command even though he was at his beach house this weekend when the storm made landfall. 'I've told the governor of North Carolina I'll go down and I expect to be down there by Wednesday or Thursday when it is clear for me,' he told reporters at the White House. 'I'm committed to traveling to impacted areas as soon as possible, but I've been told that it would be disruptive if I did it right now,' he noted. The president also got defensive when asked how he was in command while spending the weekend at his Rehoboth Beach vacation home while the hurricane was devastating parts of the South. 'I was commanding, I was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday, and the day before, as well. I commanded, it's called a telephone,' he said. As of Monday afternoon 600 people were still missing as a result of the tremendous hurricane. At least three women at an Arizona car wash were victimized by a man who hid underneath their cars to stare at their feet in August. Jesse Michael Johnson, 28, was caught on camera as he crawled under women's cars while they were washing them at a Super Star Car Wash in Gilbert, Arizona. Johnson has a history of similar crimes in which he has stared at, touched or licked women's feet for sexual pleasure, according to legal documents. One car wash victim, Chanelle, told AZFamily: 'I have felt very violated and Ive been having nightmares. 'Going into the community and doing this to women is absolutely disgusting and I dont think he realizes what its doing to us as the victims.' Jesse Michael Johnson, 28, was arrested on Tuesday for hiding under women's cars to look at their feet Chanelle was stopping at the car wash, located near Riggs Road and Val Vista Drive, before dropping off her son at school. During a surveillance video, Johnson's head is seen peaking up at Chanelle from the driver's side of the car. He quickly returned to his own car and pretended to be cleaning his tires. He was recorded doing this to three different women on August 29. Investigators described the incidents to FOX10: 'In these three incidents, defendant pulled into a parking spot next to the victim. Chanelle, one of the victims, said she still has nightmares from the incident Johnson was caught on camera as he hid underneath women's cars at a Super Star Car Wash 'While each victim was vacuuming her vehicle, the defendant hid under her SUV and spent several minutes under her vehicle. 'The defendant climbed out from under the vehicle when each victim was finishing her vacuuming and left the area.' The car wash's manager Reyes Brito told AZFamily: 'That is not okay. This is a place, you know, to wash your car. You should feel safe.' Johnson was arrested on Tuesday with a $10,000 bond and is accused of three counts of voyeurism and three counts of disorderly conduct. Johnson is due back in court in early October. But this is not the first time Johnson has been caught for his creepy actions. In June 2016, Johnson was cited in Nebraska for touching women's feet under their cars - reportedly the fourth time he did so within a year -and for touching a woman's ankle in a grocery store, according to AZFamily. Johnson would quickly crawl back to his car and pretend that he was cleaning his tire the entire time Johnson has a reported foot fetish, according to past court documents. In the documents, it is written that he told Nebraska police he 'is sexually attracted to women's feet' and he 'can't control his sexual desires regarding this.' Chanelle told AZFamily: 'All of the victims had flip flops and shorts on.' She is still in shock and warned women to be alert in public. She said she probably would not have realized that Johnson was under her car if another customer did not point him out. Archaeologists have uncovered a throne room in Peru decorated with elaborate wall paintings that belonged to a ruler from more than 1,300 years ago. The researchers found a pillared throne room in a coastal valley that was used by the ancient Moche culture in 7AD. It was lined with murals showing a powerful woman intertwined with sea creatures and representations of a crescent moon, sitting on a throne and receiving visitors. Evidence such as the presence of human hair and wear on the stone indicated that the throne was used by a person. According to Jessica Ortiz, research director for the project at the Panamarca archaeological site on Peru's northwest coast, the ancient murals 'could indicate it was a woman who used the space, possibly a ruler'. A team work for the study, documentation, and conservation of the painted architecture at the archaeological site of Panamarca A view of a lower figure painted on the pillar. Researchers believe they have uncovered evidence that could point to a woman ruling in a coastal valley during the ancient Moche culture over 1,300 years ago Manuel Gonzalez Olacua, archaeology and conservation field assistant continues the pillar excavation at the archaeological site A view of a mural painting. Archaeologists believe the throne room dates from a time when the Moche culture occupied the coastal valleys of northwestern Peru Archaeologist Jose Ochatoma said: 'The most exciting thing is the traces of wear. 'There is not a surface in this area that is bare. 'Everything is painted and finely decorated with mythological scenes and characters.' Dr Ochatoma compared the room to the Vatican's Sistine Chapel, whose ceiling bears biblical figures and scenes painted in frescoes by Michelangelo. The one in Peru, Dr Ochatoma said, is 'a place where they captured scenes belonging to the Moche ideology'. Archaeologists believe the throne room dates from a time when the Moche culture occupied the coastal valleys of northwestern Peru. The researchers discovered a nearby room overlooking a square they called the Chamber of the Braided Serpents due to a mural of a figure with legs intertwined with snakes, a motif that has not previously been uncovered. The room has other murals showing warriors, anthropomorphised weapons and a monster chasing a man. Conservation advisor Ricardo Morales Gamarra examines the field illustration made by archaeologist-artist Pedro Neciosup Gomez at the archaeological site A view of a mural at the archaeological site. Dr Ochatoma compared the room to the Vatican's Sistine Chapel Conservator Rafael Gordillo Mendez reveals the painted surface of the pillar. Many of the paintings depicted a woman A view of a mural at the upper part of an inner wall. The site is located more than 250 miles north of the Peruvian capital Lima 'We are discovering an iconography that has not been seen before in the pre-Hispanic world,' Dr Ochatoma said. The discoveries were made at the Panamarca site near the Pacific coast, known for its colourful murals. The site is located more than 250 miles north of the Peruvian capital Lima. The Andean nation is rich in archaeological sites, many dating back thousands of years. It was home more than 500 years ago to the Inca empire that dominated swathes of South America's highlands until the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century. A six-year-old boy who suffered two broken legs when a farmer allegedly rammed into him for stealing an orange in South Africa screamed: 'Mummy... I'm going to die', his mother has revealed in court. Christoffel Johannes Stoman, 70, first appeared in the Vredendal Magistrate's Court on Monday on two charges of attempted murder and a charge of reckless and negligent driving. Stoman was arrested by Lutzville police after Kwezi Beukes, six, was hit by his vehicle that had a trailer attached while he was walking with his mother, Magdalene Jantijies, on September 20. Magdalene explained that her son was having nightmares about the tragic incident after he was pinned to the fence by the vehicle as his legs were crushed under the tyres. Recalling the horrific scenes, she said: 'He said: "Ouch, Mommy... I'm going to die!" And the child screamed, he screamed and I said: "It will all be alright, Khwezi."' Christoffel Johannes Stoman, 70, appears in the Vredendal magistrates court on accusations of deliberately running over Khwezi Jantjies, a six-year-old child Khwezi had both of his legs broken after allegedly stealing an orange from Stoman's farm in Lutzville, in Vredendal, South Africa Khwezi's mother Magdalene Jantjies watched on in horror as her son was crushed by Stoman's vehicle Khwezi and his mother were dashed to local Vredendal Hospital before being transferred to Paarl Hospital - where the young boy is undergoing treatment to save his legs. He is due to have surgery on Wednesay, according to his heartbroken mother. Magdalene said she and her son had been walking past the accused farmer's smallholding when making their way to town to do some food shopping, EWN reported. The little boy reportedly stopped to pick up an orange that was on the ground before attempting to reach through a fence and grab another one - that was also on the ground. The distraught mother recalled the tragic incident, saying she heard Stoman yell before ramming into her and her son, pinning them against a fence. Magdalene told eCNA: 'He came from around the corner and he was driving at a speed. 'He shouted "stand there, stand there," I thought he was going to stop. He aimed directly at us in a corner, and I screamed, Help! Help! 'He said, "I'm going to kill you by driving into you".' People protest outside Vredendal magistrates court ahead of farmer, Christoffel Stoman's appearance Stoman allegedly told police he 'would do it again' following the incident The case has caused uproar within the community, as locals have stepped forward to claim that this is not the first incident of its kind that Stoman has been involved in. Billy Claasen of the Rural and Farmworkers Development Organisation is now begging lawmakers to toughen the consequences on farmers committing crimes. National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila confirmed the State had opposed Stoman's release. 'He will stay in custody and will appear on Monday in the Vredendal Magistrate's Court,' he said. 'The State has indicated that it will oppose bail in this case. We welcome this development. 'We visited the crime scene, and there is no way that this boy could have gained access to the orchard over that fence. 'The suspect should answer in a court of law for this reckless behaviour.' Magdalene said her and Khwezi would now focus on his recovery and have plans to receive counselling after the traumatic event. She added: 'I aim to continue with this case. I want to proceed by the grace of God, as long as I can stand here.' Israel has tonight launched another series of air strikes in Lebanon after warning that the next phase of its campaign against Hezbollah will begin 'imminently'. Fears of an all-out war in the Middle East are growing as Israel prepares to launch a ground invasion of southern Lebanon in what it is describing as its 'next phases of combat'. British nationals have been urged to leave Lebanon immediately, with Foreign Secretary David Lammy warning the conflict could 'escalate in a major way'. The US said it has been informed about Israel's raids, which have been described as 'limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border.' Heavy artillery has been reported in border towns and villages in southern Lebanon in an indication that a ground incursion is moments away - if not already underway. Israeli soldiers have been putting the groundwork in by raining bombs down on Lebanon ahead of piling tanks into their neighbour's territory. With the world holding its breath over a major escalation of the Israel-Hamas war, dramatic photos show fires have erupted in areas of Lebanon, with smoke billowing above Beirut. The looming invasion, which comes nearly a year on from Hamas' October 7 attacks, is said to have forced Lebanese troops to retreat three miles from their positions along the county's southern border with Israel. The sound of explosions can be heard on the border tonight, with hundreds of Israeli tanks lined up ahead of an anticipated ground invasion that could plunge the Middle East into an all-out war. Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighbourhood in Beirut's southern suburb early on Tuesday Israeli artillery is being felt in Lebanon as the world hold its breath over an anticipated ground invasion Smoke and flames rise into the Lebanon sky as an Israeli bombardment continues into the night Israeli shelling hits an area in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel - as a ground invasion looms Israeli artillery shells hit areas near villages in southern Lebanon along the border with Israel, as seen from the Upper Galilee, northern Israel Israeli tanks and APC's gather by the Israeli - Lebanese border on September 30 Tensions are escalating after Israel said it had wiped out Hezbollah's top brass in the airstrike on southern Beirut that killed the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah The Israeli army has declared three of its northern communities as a 'closed military zone' as signals grew that more forces could soon be sent into Lebanon to fight the Iran-backed militants. As an Israeli bombardment continues into the night, residents living in southern Beirut have been ordered to evacuate 'immediately'. 'You are located near interests and facilities belonging to the terrorist Hezbollah, and therefore the IDF will act against them forcefully,' IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on X. 'For your safety and the safety of your family, you must evacuate the buildings immediately, starting at a distance of no less than 500 meters.' Tension in the Middle East escalated even further after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Israeli strikes on Beirut on Friday. Hezbollah said it 'targeted' Israeli soldiers' carrying out 'movements' in orchards near the Lebanese border. The Lebanese health ministry said 95 people had been killed in Israeli strikes, with another 172 injured. Mr Lammy said the situation on the ground is 'fast moving' and ministers can't guarantee support 'if things escalate in a major way over the coming hours and days'. He told reporters on Monday night: 'I have been urging since coming to office in July for British nationals to leave Lebanon. And indeed the previous government from October 2023 was urging UK nationals not to travel to Lebanon. 'Notwithstanding that we sent a rapid response team. 700 troops are in Cyprus. We will do all we can to assist people to get out. We have secured places on commercial flights that are flying tomorrow so that UK nationals can get out.' Asked what he would say to British nationals who have not yet taken his advice, he said: 'I urge them to leave because the situation on the ground is fast moving 'While we will do everything we can to protect British nationals and those plans are in place to do so, we cannot anticipate the circumstances of the speed with which we could do that If things escalate in a major way over the coming hours and days.' The UK Government has chartered a commercial flight out of Lebanon for Britons wanting to leave amid escalating violence. The flight is due to leave Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport on Wednesday and vulnerable British nationals and their spouses, partners and children under 18 will be prioritised, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said. Mr Lammy said: 'The situation in Lebanon is volatile and has potential to deteriorate quickly. 'The safety of British nationals in Lebanon continues to be our utmost priority. 'That's why the UK Government is chartering a flight to help those wanting to leave. It is vital that you leave now as further evacuation may not be guaranteed.' There have been no reports of direct clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants on Lebanese soil yet, but the threat of escalation in the Middle East is looming. The last time the two enemies engaged in ground combat was a 34-day war in 2006. A Western official, a diplomat in Cairo whose country is directly involved in de-escalation efforts, said an Israeli ground operation in Lebanon is 'imminent.' A picture taken from northern Israel, along the border with southern Lebanon, shows a fire following Israeli bombardment on an area of south Lebanon Bombs are raining down on Lebanon, lighting up the sky as Israel ordered evacuations Astonishing pictures show missiles being launched into Lebanon ahead of a ground incursion Heavy shelling has been seen in southern Lebanon as Israel prepare to invade Smoke rises over Beirut's southern suburbs after a strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Lebanon An Israeli tank manoeuvres in northern Israel near the Israel-Lebanon border on Monday An Israeli mobile artillery unit is seen near the Israel-Lebanon border on Monday Israeli artillery shells hit areas near villages in southern Lebanon along the border with Israel An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from northern Israel towards Lebanon, in a position near the Israel-Lebanon border Mr Lammy said the situation on the ground is 'fast moving' and ministers can't gaurentee support 'if things escalate in a major way over the coming hours and days' An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from northern Israel towards Lebanon, in a position near the Israel-Lebanon border, Monday Nasrallah, seen addressing supporters in Lebanon's capital Beirut in November 2013, was killed by an Israeli air strike on the city on Friday People check buildings levelled on September 27 by Israeli strikes that killed Nasrallah The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, said Israel had shared its plans with the US and other Western allies, and conveyed the operation will 'be limited.' Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire almost every day since the war in Gaza began. The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people in Israel and Lebanon. Israel says it will continue to strike Hezbollah until it is safe for Israelis displaced from border communities to return to their homes. Hezbollah has promised to keep firing rockets into Israel until there is a cease-fire in Gaza. It was not clear if Israel had made a final decision on a broader ground operation in Lebanon. Early on Monday, Hezbollah vowed to keep fighting even after its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top officials were recently wiped out by Israeli strikes. Giving his first address since the group's leader was killed, deputy Naim Qassem said: 'Hezbollah's front will continue, everyone on the battlefield is ready and, despite the losing of our leader and commanders, we will not move aside nor will we forsake our duty in support of Gaza and in defence of Lebanon,' he said. 'If the Zionists enter Lebanon, we are ready and prepared for a ground battle, and we will be victorious.' Israel's order restricting entry and exit from the northern communities of Metula, Misgav Am and Kfar Giladi does not necessarily mean Israeli troops will invade Lebanon immediately. Areas can also be declared closed military zones if an imminent threat is detected. People check for drone attacks as Israeli airstrikes continue while people flee and take refuge in parks and squares in Beirut Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem delivering a televised address from an unknown location, days after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike Hundreds of Israeli tanks have lined up at the Lebanon border, with a ground invasion looming Your browser does not support iframes. But the Israeli army has heavily beefed up forces along the border with Lebanon in recent days, and commanders have said they are prepared to send in forces if the government gives the order. Chris Coyle, a resident of northern Israel, said the army had erected gates and checkpoints throughout the region and positioned scores of tanks along the border in recent days. 'They're certainly getting ready to go in,' he said. In the nearby Golan Heights, sounds of Israeli artillery fire and explosions in southern Lebanon could be heard. Israeli forces also fired flares into Lebanon. Israeli strikes have killed Nasrallah and six of his top commanders and officials in the last 10 days. They have also hit what the military says are thousands of militant targets across large parts of Lebanon. Over 1,000 people have been killed in the country in the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry. Early Monday, an airstrike hit a residential building in central Beirut, killing three Palestinian militants, as Israel appeared to send a clear message that no part of Lebanon is out of bounds. Despite the heavy blow Hezbollah has suffered in recent weeks, acting leader Naim Kassem said in a televised statement that if Israel decides to launch a ground offensive, the group's fighters are ready. A smoke plume erupts after an Israeli airstrike targeted the outskirts of the village of Ibl al-Saqi in southern Lebanon on September 30 Smoke billows from the area as a result of the Israeli army's attacks on the town of Hiyam today He said the commanders killed have already been replaced. Nasrallah's longtime deputy, Kassem will remain in his acting position until the group's leadership elects a replacement. The man widely expected to take over the top post is Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah who oversees Hezbollah's political affairs. Hezbollah's capabilities are unclear after a series of major blows Hezbollah has significantly increased its rocket attacks in the past week to several hundred daily, but most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas. Several people have been wounded in Israel. There have been no fatalities since two soldiers were killed near the border on Sept. 19. But Hezbollah's capabilities remain unclear. As recently as two weeks ago, a strike like Monday's in central Beirut - outside of the main areas where Hezbollah operates and next to a busy transportation hub normally crowded with buses and taxis - would have been seen as a major escalation and likely followed by a long-range Hezbollah strike into Israel. But the unspoken rules of the long-running conflict no longer seem to be in effect. It's possible Hezbollah is holding back to save resources for a bigger battle. But the militant group might also be in disarray after Israeli intelligence apparently penetrated its highest levels. Search and rescue team members, together with locals, work to find bodies under the rubble of buildings destroyed in an Israeli airstrike the previous day in Ain el-Delb neighborhood, east of the port city of Sidon, southern Lebanon Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, meeting with Israeli troops Monday, said Israel would 'use all the capabilities we have,' hinting at a ground operation. Some European countries began pulling their diplomats and citizens out of Lebanon on Monday. Germany, which has been calling on its citizens to leave Lebanon since October 2023, sent a military plane to evacuate diplomats' relatives and others. Bulgaria sent a government jet to get the first group of its citizens out, with priority given to families with children and vulnerable groups. In the past week, Israel has frequently targeted Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence, including the massive strike Friday that killed Nasrallah. But it had not hit locations closer to the city center. Monday's strike killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small, leftist faction that has not been meaningfully involved in months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel has not claimed the strike but is widely assumed to have carried it out. Also Monday, Hamas announced that its top commander in Lebanon, Fatah Sharif, was killed with his family in an airstrike on the Al-Buss refugee camp in the southern port city of Tyre. The Israeli military confirmed it had targeted him. Firefighters search for survivors inside an apartment building hit by an Israeli air strike in Beirut's Kola district, September 30, 2024 Firefighters extinguished the fire that broke out in the targeted apartment after the Israeli army carried out an airstrike on a multi-story building in the Kola district of Beirut This screenshot from a video taken on Sept. 29, 2024 shows a fire following Israeli airstrikes on Yemen's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah Israel also launched a fresh wave of airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen (pictured) on Sunday Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pictured addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Sharif was an employee, and was put on administrative leave without pay in March as it investigated allegations about his political activities. Israel has accused the agency, known as UNRWA, of links to Palestinian militant groups, while the agency says it is committed to neutrality and works to prevent any such infiltration. Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles into northern Israel after Hamas' October 7 attack from Gaza into Israel sparked the war in the Palestinian territory. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies and both supported by Iran, and Hezbollah said it would continue the attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians until there was a cease-fire in Gaza. Israel responded to the rockets with airstrikes in Lebanon, and the fighting has steadily escalated over the past year. The Lebanese government says the fighting may have displaced up to a million people, although the UN estimate is around 200,000. Tens of thousands of Israelis have also been displaced. Israel has vowed to keep fighting until the attacks stop and its citizens can return home. Firefighters attempt to extinguish the fire at a power plant following Israeli airstrikes on Hodeidah city, Yemen, on September 29 Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on villages near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on September 29 as air strikes across the country continue Hundreds of Israeli tanks have been deployed in the Upper Galilee region of northern Israel Israel shows little interest in cease-fire calls as it bloodies a longtime foe. The United States and its allies have called for a cease-fire, hoping to avoid further escalation that could draw in Iran and set off a wider war. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown little interest, as his country racks up military achievements against a longtime foe. France, which has close ties to Lebanon, has joined the United States in calling for a cease-fire. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, visiting Beirut Monday, urged Israel to refrain from a ground offensive. Barrot also called on Hezbollah to stop firing on Israel, saying the group 'bears heavy responsibility in the current situation, given its choice to enter the conflict.' Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, speaking after meeting with Barrot, said the country is committed to an immediate cease-fire followed by the deployment of Lebanese troops in the south, in keeping with a U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war but was never fully implemented. Hezbollah, which boasts tens of thousands of battle-hardened fighters and long-range missiles capable of hitting anywhere inside Israel, has long been seen as the most powerful militant group in the region and a key partner to Iran in both threatening and deterring Israel. But Hezbollah has never faced an onslaught quite like this one, which began with a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies in mid-September that killed dozens of people and wounded around 3,000 - including many fighters but also many civilians. A would-be kidnapper met some swift street justice - in tony Beverly Hills of all places - when he tried to snatch a toddler away from her father as they took a Sunday stroll in the world-famous southern California neighborhood. In the end, no child was taken, and the deranged reputed kidnapper was dead. It all started on the 100 block of Spalding Drive at around 2:50pm when the unnamed assailant tried to snatch the little girl from her father. The dad struggled with the seemingly deranged man, who was intent on taking his baby, and the assailant wound up stabbed. But he kept struggling to get the child and when a good Samaritan saw the scuffle, he pulled over and jumped out of his car to help the dad. 'We realized we needed to do something,' the man, only wishing to be identified as Brian, told KTLA of how he was driving along with his own son when he pulled over to intervene. Scroll down for video: A confrontation turned deadly when a potential kidnapping turned into a fatal stabbing in Beverly Hills The incident occurred on the 100 block of Spalding Drive at around 2:50pm, and left the alleged would-be kidnapper (pictured) dead. Footage from the scene showed officers standing over the unnamed suspect, who was subsequently taken to a hospital where he died He told KCAL News, 'I saw someone crossing, who was holding a baby and he seemed to be in a tussle with another person. 'The baby had kind of fallen and flipped back.' At that point, the heroic fellow father said, the would-be kidnapper turned his attention on him and his own son, who was in the car with him at the time. 'I told my son to get in the car, I rolled up my window but I forgot my back window was open,' he recalled. 'My dog was in the back. He [the assailant] came in the back window and grabbed the dog.' But Brian and his son fought back - they both rained punches on the visibly addled suspect as his car rolled up onto the sidewalk. After a point, the suspect let go, Brian recalled - and then the deranged and bloodied attacker walked over to a nearby house and began 'banging on the windows.' The man was not identified, and the investigation continues, with cops on Sunday confirming the altercation occurred after the slain suspect confronted the victim and his child A Good Samaritan jumped in after driving by and seeing the suspect - and recalled how he had been attacking the man and his baby. The man, only wishing to be identified as Brian, recalled how he pulled over to intervene and how the suspect targeted his dog 'The people inside were terrified, screaming,' Brian said, asking that his face not be shown on either station for fear of reprisal. Aerial shots went on to show Brian's black SUV stopped on the curb outside of an apartment complex, with the surrounding area cordoned off by police tape. Several officers were seen there as well, with a close-up shot taken by one resident showing the suspect's arrest. Cops, meanwhile, added that suspect was stabbed during the confrontation, referring to him as the 'subject' in an initial statement. 'The male subject was transported to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries,' the cops added. Police went on to reveal that the other 'subject' involved was cooperating with their probe - before issuing another statement Sunday that painted him as 'the victim.' 'The investigation determined that a male suspect confronted the victim and his child as they were walking on the sidewalk,' the statement said. 'During the altercation, the victim stabbed the suspect, and both individuals sustained injuries.' Cops added the man has since been released from the hospital after receiving treatment. They have yet to confirm the incident was a kidnapping, as witnesses suggest. The Beverly Hills Police Department has not identified either of the parties involved, but confirmed the man who died was the aggressor 'He's in the car. I'm punching him. I can see his face and he's just not present,' Brian recalled. 'He was clearly having a psychotic break or something, some kind of drug reaction.' Cops' investigation, as of Monday, remained ongoing Among them is Sommer Janssen, who told ABC 7 she saw a couple and their young daughter walking down the road when the suspect attempted to grab the child, leading to the dad to fight him off and the fight to escalate from their. Brian added that when police arrived, they used a Taser to subdue the man. 'He's in the car. I'm punching him. I can see his face and he's just not present,' the resident recalled. 'He was clearly having a psychotic break or something, some kind of drug reaction.' The Beverly Hills Police Department has not identified either of the parties involved. Their investigation, as of Monday, was ongoing. DailyMail.com has reached out to the department for more information. Several college campuses were closed Monday after a chemical fire broke out on the roof of a BioLab plant in Conyers, Georgia, on Sunday. According to Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel, a sprinkler system malfunctioned inside the facility, which seems to have mixed with chemicals to cause a plume. Georgia Piedmont Technical College's Newton and Rockdale campuses announced they would be closed until further notice. Meanwhile, Emory University's Oxford College, which is located just six miles away from the plant, told students there was "no immediate threat to the campus," according to the Emory Wheel, and to check back for updates regarding shuttle service. "As a precaution, individuals may want to limit their activity outdoors, close any windows and doors, and turn off air conditioning and other ventilation systems. The university remains in contact with local and state officials and will provide any additional guidance as needed," the university said in a statement. Residents and businesses were ordered to evacuate the area surrounding the BioLab plant. A shelter-in-place advisory is in effect for approximately 90,000 individuals in Rockdale County. Jonatan Levi Quintero told the Emory Wheel that he was disturbed by the scenario, citing the BioLab plant's other accidents in 2016 and 2020. "I just really hope that the wind and weather do not blow any of these chemicals into Oxford," he said. New details have emerged following the arrest of a second suspect as part of the investigation into last month's murder of a 20-year-old nanny in Brazil. The Amazonas Civil Police apprehended Antonio de Oliveira, 25, last Wednesday in connection to the kidnapping and murder of Geovana Martins. Authorities arrested de Oliveira's girlfriend, Camila da Silva, on August 28. She had hired Martins to babysit her daughter a year ago. Martins was killed August 19 and found the following day in a wooded area in the northeastern Brazilian city of Manaus. Amazonas Civil Police chief Marilia Campello said during a press conference Thursday that Martins was at the home of a friend and ignored the da Silva's phone calls to return to her residence. Police say Geovana Martins, 20, was forced into prostitution after she was hired to work as a nanny by Camila da Silva, who allegedly assaulted her at her friend's home on August 19, the day she was killed, the Amazonas Civil Police revealed last Thursday The Amazonas Civil Police said Camila da Silva (pictured) was upset that her nanny, 20-year-old Geovana Martins, was not answering her phone calls and then visited the home of her friend, where she assaulted and kidnapped her. She reportedly then texted Martins' friend seeking information on her whereabouts Antonio de Oliveira (center) was arrested last Wednesday by the Amazonas Civil Police. He is one of two suspects being investigated for the August 19 kidnapping and murder of 20-year-old nanny Geovana Martins A furious da Silva allegedly went to Martins' location, where she beat and furiously dragged her out of the home. Campello said that da Silva later texted Martin's friend seeking information on her whereabouts as part of an attempt to cover up her involvement with the murder. 'She forcibly takes Geovana from her friend's house and on the 19th, at night, Geovana is probably already dead, she sends a message to this friend asking about Geovana,' the Amazonas Civil Police official said. 'It was a disappointment from start to finish, thinking that the police would not arrive because of the alibi she tried to form,' Campello added. Camila da Silva (left) dances in a TikTok video with her nanny Geovana Martins, who was found dead in a wooded area in the northern Brazilian city of Manaus on August 20. Da Silva's boyfriend was arrested last Wednesday. Authorities are still searching for two more suspects, including Eduardo da Silva, in connection to the kidnapping and murder of Geovana Martins in Manaus, Brazil on August 19 De Oliveira, who was arrested in 2023 in connection to the theft of luxury vehicles, allegedly assisted da Silva is kidnapping and burying Martins' body. Authorities are still searching for two more suspects, including Eduardo da Silva. It's unknown if he is related to Camila da Silva. The police alleged early in the investigation that Camila da Silva used her home as a prostitution den and would often prevent Martins from leaving. 'She was lured into a life of partying and drinking,' Campello said in August. 'But then Camila started forcing her to stay there. She wouldn't let her leave, even though she wanted to, and she was sexually exploited.' Other women were allegedly forced into performing sex work at the home, but Martins was the only one who was forced to live there. Police said Geovana Martins (pictured) was forced into prostitution by Camila da Silva, who had hired her as a nanny a year ago Camila da Silva allegedly used her home as a prostitution den, police said 'This victim was practically forced to perform sexual acts. From what we found out, the house operated as a massage parlor,' Campello said. 'In addition to Geovana, other girls also passed through there, but the victim lived there and could not have relationships with people from outside.' Videos posted on da Silva's TikTok account showed her and Martins dancing together. Martins' mother, Maria Costa, had told Brazilian news outlet G1 she was unaware her daughter had been forced to work as a prostitute. 'So far we don't know anything. She had never told me anything,' Costa said. 'It's painful, knowing that she was working with someone and then finding out that my daughter is dead.' It was supposed to be a dream opportunity to appear in a Hollywood blockbuster. But movie extra Cristina Stanovici is now suing the Hollywood studio Warner Bros after she suffered devastating injuries when she was struck by a motorbike on the set of Batgirl in Glasgow. To make matters worse, the movie was shelved after it was reported to have received negative test screenings amid a soaring budget. The 36-year-old was told she was lucky to survive being mown down by an e-motorbike carrying a camera rig but has been left traumatised and in constant pain. The marine engineer is now seeking 200,000 in damages plus interest and expenses from the production company behind the ill-fated film, which was never released. The Hollywood studio behind the shelved movie Batgirl is being sued after an extra was hit by a motorbike Movie extra Cristina Stanovici is suing Warner Bros after she was struck by a motorbike on the set of Batgirl in Glasgow But she fears she will never fully recover and said: 'I would pay ten times any amount if I could get my health back.' Ms Stanovici, from Yoker, Glasgow, was hired as a paid extra on the set of Batgirl when the cast and crew were filming in the city in March 2022. She joined an overnight shoot in Bothwell Street and she and other extras were told to stand on the pavement while a fire engine was filmed racing past. Moments later, the e-motorbike filming the action shot struck her from her right-hand side and she was left in agony on the ground. She said: 'I lay there for almost an hour while they checked me and stabilised me. Unfortunately, I didn't lose my consciousness. 'The memory will forever traumatise me. 'But even after all that I am still not 100 percent and I don't think I will ever be. 'The pain is there every day and something hurts all the time.' Doctors at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary told Ms Stanovici that she came close to losing her life. Her injuries included a broken femur, tibia and thumb, and she had hip and pelvis fractires and a laceration to her head. Ms Stanovici, from Yoker, Glasgow, was hired as a paid extra on the set of Batgirl when the cast and crew were filming in the city in March 2022 Ms Stanovici's injuries included a broken femur, tibia and thumb, and she had hip and pelvis fractires and a laceration to her head An emergency operation was carried out to place a pin in her thigh and she needed five blood transfusions. Ms Stanovici added: 'It lasted more than five hours, I had five blood transfusions and I almost died. 'To hear the anaesthesiologist say 'we had our fingers crossed for you' really sends a chill down your spine. 'The surgeon told me it was one of the worst cases he has seen in his eight years at the hospital.' Her personal injury action is being pursued by Thompsons Solicitors against American Night Productions Ltd, a subsidiary of California-based Warner Bros. Legal papers have been served at the company's London headquarters. Joel Shaw, a partner at Thompsons, said their evidence includes an expert testimony from a healthy and safety consultant and witnesses to an alleged near-miss involving the motorbike before Ms Stanovici was injured. Batgirl was due to star Leslie Grace in the lead role and filming in Glasgow took place in 2021 and 2022 Warner Bros (file image) He said: 'We have got statements from a couple of other people who were on set and one of them had a near-miss with the motorbike before Cristina was hit. 'So that tells you they should have known because someone else nearly got injured by this bike. 'At that point they should have stopped and checked if this was a safe way to do it. 'They have got to show they have taken reasonable steps to ensure the safety of our client. 'We have consulted a health and safety expert who says they haven't done that and they could have taken more care. 'It seems like a common sense case and this simply should not have happened on a film set.' Batgirl was due to star Leslie Grace in the lead role and filming in Glasgow took place in 2021 and 2022. But in August 2022 it was announced that the studio had shelved the film because of cost-cutting measures. Warner Bros was contacted. The future of key public services is at risk unless vital cost-cutting reforms happen more quickly, a new spending watchdog report has warned. The Accounts Commission is critical of the Scottish Government and local authorities for the slow progress of promised reforms as councils face a 585 million funding black hole next year, rising to 780 million by 2026/27. It warned that essential reform must happen at greater pace and scale - and said not doing so puts the sustainability of vital public services at risk. It also condemned ministers for imposing the council tax freeze, teacher numbers and learning hours on under-pressure local authorities. Stalled council reforms put vital services at risk Critics said councils have faced years of neglect and savage cuts as a result of decisions made by SNP ministers. The Accounts Commission report, published on Tuesday, said: Transformation in local government has been happening for decades, but a step change is now urgently required. Councils face barriers to transformation and progress has been slow, but reform is vital and must happen at greater pace and scale. Not doing so puts the sustainability of vital public services at risk. The report said it expects councils, the Scottish Government and partners to make significant progress in the next 12 months on agreeing a future operating model and setting out how services can be sustainably delivered. It highlights Dundee City Council as one authority which has made good progress, following 147 million of savings which included rationalisation of offices and other buildings, sharing services and increasing payments and income generation. It criticises several actions, decisions and behaviours by the Scottish Government which have undermined the Verity House Agreement, which set out a new relationship with councils, including former First Minister Humza Yousaf announcing a council tax freeze and the imposition of teacher numbers and learning hours requirements. The report concludes: While transformation is a long-term ambition, the need for change, innovation and action is urgent. The longer it takes to create solutions to the financial sustainability challenges facing the sector, the tougher those challenges will become and the more difficult it will be to find solutions. Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Liz Smith said: This report shows just how much strain councils are under, thanks to years of SNP underfunding. Change will be essential to provide the basic services people rely on, but that will only be possible if the SNP government finally starts to deliver support and funding. For years, councils have had to contend with the SNPs neglect and savage cuts, and Scottish households have seen services slashed while living costs and income tax have risen. They are paying more and getting less. The SNP government must now honour their commitments and deliver the funding and support necessary for council reform that will tackle peoples real priorities. Scottish Labour local government spokesman Mark Griffin said: For years the SNP has hollowed out Council budgets and lifeline services across the country have been cut to the bone as a result. We need real leadership from the Scottish Government to help councils deliver the reforms needed to make sure local services are fit for the future. The SNP must stop inflicting brutal cuts on local government and instead support councils in reforming and modernising these vital services. Finance Secretary Shona Robison said: The report from the Accounts Commission recognises collaboration and transformation is vital to protect public services. This aligns with this Governments core priorities of ensuring the delivery of effective public services, eradicating child poverty, growing the economy, and prioritising net zero. Despite the decision of the previous UK Government leaving the country in a challenging financial situation, the Scottish Government has made available record funding of over 14 billion to local councils this year - a real-terms increase of 2.5 per cent compared with the previous year. We will also continue to work with (council umbrella body) Cosla to empower councils through a new fiscal framework. Tom Tugendhat has promised a strong Scottish voice at the top of the UK Conservatives if he becomes the partys next leader. The former security minister, who is backed by most Tory MSPs, said Scottish leader Russell Findlay would be a member of his shadow cabinet. Mr Tugendhat pledged to attend the Scottish Tory cabinet every fortnight. One of four hopefuls vying to replace Rishi Sunak, the Kent MP also warned Labours flagship energy plans for Scotland were a job-destroying, price-hiking scam. Mr Findlay romped home in his leadership race last week after opposing Murdo Frasers Trojan Horse review, which could have led to a breakaway Scottish party. UK Tory leadership hopeful Tom Tugendhat, left, says Russell Findlay would have a seat in his shadow cabinet Mr Tugendhat stressed he wanted collaboration, not division within the Tories. Speaking to the Mail at the UK Tory conference, he said: For me, Unionism is absolutely indivisible from Conservatism. Im a Unionist to my core. Thats why I want to change the way the Conservatives work. I want to change us from being a Westminster club to a national movement. I want to bring an MSP into the shadow cabinet to make sure were constantly hearing that Scottish voice. I will be attending the Conservative cabinet in Scotland. We need to be making sure that the relationship between the Conservatives in Westminster and the Conservatives in Holyrood is strengthened. That is how we deliver not just for Scotland, but for the whole of the United Kingdom. Mr Tugendhat warned Aberdeen-based GB Energy was a real danger to all of us. Labour says the 8.3million public investment company will spur investment in renewable energy, upgrade the national grid, help deliver Net Zero by 2050 and cut household bills. But critics warn a rapid lurch away from fossil fuels risks 100,000 North Sea oil and gas jobs. Mr Tugendhat said GB Energy was insane and actively damaging current jobs and would push up bills by having a taxpayer-funded vehicle compete against the private sector. He said: Its going to dissuade investment. Its going to convince businesses that Scotland is no longer important in terms of energy extraction. It will look like theyre playing games with the energy future of the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, Mr Findlay will today unveil plans to sabotage Nationalist time-wasting on independence. His party will snub pointless SNP and Green debates on the subject at Holyrood and propose MSPs discuss issues that affect peoples everyday lives instead. Mr Findlay, who holds his first meeting with his MSPs today as leader, said he would not engage with the Nationalists self-indulgent political stunts. He has also decided against having a frontbench Constitution spokesman. Instead, he will create a Shadow Housing Secretary to underline his plans to increase home ownership and help people get on and up the property ladder. John Swinney only has a junior minister for housing. Mr Findlay said: We are going to be stronger in standing up to Nationalist attempts to discuss their favourite topic of breaking up the United Kingdom. I believe the public wants politicians in the Scottish Parliament to spend more time working on pragmatic solutions to the problems in our economy, schools, NHS and all the other issues that they care most about. In practice, the Tories would try to amend any independence motion before a debate. If unsuccessful, they would talk about another subject entirely, even if it risked a clash with the Presiding Officer. The SNP have held five independence debates at Holyrood in the last 18 months, including one led by John Swinney to mark 10 years since the 2014 referendum. SNP MSP Stuart McMillan said: To say Russell Findlays judgement is questionable would be an understatement. Israel assassinated Hezbollah's leader after he was smeared with a chemical agent that allowed spies to track his movements, it was claimed yesterday. Hassan Nasrallah shook hands with an Israeli agent who passed on the unknown substance, according to a Saudi Arabian news channel. The agent would have been an Iranian visiting Beirut where Nasrallah was killed in an air strike on Friday, news outlet Al Hadath claimed. Security sources have suggested the substance could have been identified by a sensor or camera aboard a low-flying drone. An Israeli statement on his killing noted the operation had been 'directed by' the country's Intelligence Directorate. Israeli 'micro-drones' maintain constant coverage of the Lebanese capital and are small enough to be invisible to the naked eye when flying over buildings. Alternatively, Nasrallah or one of his close associates, may have been sprayed with an invisible chemical marking agent. Hassan Nasrallah shook hands with an Israeli agent who passed on the unknown substance, according to a Saudi Arabian news channel Flames rise after an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, on Saturday If a chemical wasn't used, another explanation would be that a source provided information on his whereabouts. Nasrallah's body was recovered intact from beneath the remains of the building. In total more than 20 Hezbollah members were killed by the Israeli Air Force. Marking agents such as Nitrophenyl Pentadienal, known as 'spy dust' were used by the KGB during the Cold War. Israel is known to be at the forefront of research also involving the United States and the United Kingdom into the challenges of contemporary urban warfare. The country is also thought to have a connected network of hidden cameras and bio-sensors in Beirut monitoring key sites and the local population. One of these technologies is called 'Bionet', described by a security source as 'a deployable network of rapidly proliferating biological and biomimetic nodes that can infiltrate a city to detect and relay data'. The Israelis are also using Artificial Intelligence to sort through high volumes of data relating to Hezbollah human targets and present the information in the most relevant form. This system is understood to be saving its agents hundreds of hours of sifting through signals and messages gathered by intercepts. Another new technology apparently used by Israel to infiltrate Hezbollah is called 'EMS Persona'. This is a pool of realistic, diverse 'virtual humans' with verifiable digital histories used to communicate with sympathisers online. Advertisement Israel has vowed Iran's missile attack 'will have consequences' as the Middle East teeters on the brink of an all-out war. Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday night in revenge for Israel's campaign against Tehran's Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, including the assassination of its leader last week. Air raid sirens sounded as 181 missiles began raining down on Israel, with some rockets dramatically exploding into bright orange flames near Tel Aviv. But as Iran unleashed a wave of attacks, ordered by its supreme leader Ali Khamenei, several missiles burst into flames and lit up the sky as they appeared to be intercepted by Israel's 'Iron Dome' defence system. The expected Iranian attack, hailed as 'heroic' by Hamas, marks a major escalation in the Israel-Gaza war, and was 'twice the scope' of Tehran's previous bombardment in April which saw more than 170 explosive drones and 120 ballistic missiles launched. Follow our live blog below A cake marketed as 'gluten free' was found to be mislabeled as the FDA issued a product recall. Thirty-eight loaves of Mini Raspberry Lemon Coffee Cakes, made by Macrina Bakery of Kent, Washington, were recalled because of 'undeclared walnut and wheat' in the cakes. This was a voluntary recall, according to the FDA, because the bakery realized they accidently labeled the Mini Raspberry Lemon Coffee Cakes as Mini Squash Harvest Loaves, which contain gluten and other allergens. The recall is Class II, meaning that eating the cake 'may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote,' according to the FDA. In other words, the situation is of moderate risk to consumers. So far, there are no reports of any harm due to this mix-up. Macrina Bakery's Mini Raspberry Lemon Coffee Cakes were voluntarily recalled after the bakery accidently mislabeled 38 loaves The recall was initiated on September 14 and is specific to Washington. Macrina Bakery was founded in 1993 by Leslie Mackie, according to their website. Mackie studied at the California Culinary Academy and traveled around Europe to hone her craft. These experiences inspired her to open up her own bakery. She said in a website statement: 'My dream of Macrina has reached heights Id never imagined. A woman studying a food label at a grocery store (stock image). The Macrina Bakery loaves were marketed as 'gluten free' but contained gluten 'But one thing has never changed: Bread is the foundation of every meal I serve, and gathering to share a meal, to break bread with family and friends, and to enjoy the simple pleasure of good food and community is the richest part of my life. It is why I do what I do.' The bakery's mission is to 'enrich our communities through the joy of artisan baking.' They have six cafes throughout Washington and over 20 retailers that sell their products. This recall comes shortly after a popular mac & cheese brand recalled their products. A woman looking through baked goods at a store (stock image). The recall only impacted selected Washington retailers Reser's Fine Foods voluntarily recalled two of its products in early September, explaining that a refrigeration issue may have caused their 12-ounce packs to go bad. These varieties - original and white cheddar - were distributed in California, Illinois, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. This was also categorized as a Class II recall by the FDA. Tom Tugendhat will warn that Britain will be more dangerous if Labour don't commit to spending three per cent of GDP on defence by 2030. The Tory leadership candidate, who previously served in the military, will say that the armed forces should be equipped with an increasingly volatile world. The shadow security minister told the Mail that he had seen first-hand the dangers of not equipping soldiers properly during his time in Iraq and Afghanistan. He warned that keeping the UK safe has to the 'number one priority' of any government, and has committed to meeting the spending pledge if he becomes the next prime minister. Labour has committed to raising spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP but has not set a timeframe, unlike Rishi Sunak who pledged to get to the amount by 2030 during the election campaign. Tom Tugendhat (pictured) will say that the armed forces should be equipped with an increasingly volatile world The shadow security minister told the Mail that he had seen first-hand the dangers of not equipping soldiers properly during his time in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Pictured, Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales) The Conservative Party Leader hopeful said there are growing threats from China and Iran. (Iranians hold pictures of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah) The shadow security minister told the Mail that he had seen first-hand the dangers of not equipping soldiers properly during his time in Iraq and Afghanistan Referring to his time in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said he saw the consequences of 'Labour's utter failure to provide the kit that is needed. (Labour Party leader Keir Starmer) Mr Tugendhat has said that spending needs to be higher still as wars in the Middle East and Ukraine rumble on, and as threats from Iran and China grow. He told the Mail: 'Labour simply cannot be trusted with the defence of our nation. Keeping our nation and the British people safe is the number one priority of any government. 'The threats the United Kingdom and our allies are facing are numerous and growing, so we must ensure our Armed Forces have the funding and equipment they need. This is exactly what I will do as the next Conservative Prime Minister. 'I will always make sure our Armed Forces have the funding and resources they need. Not only because I have seen first hand the consequences of failing to deliver the kit our forces need first hand, but because I will never gamble with our defence and security.' Referring to his time in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said he saw the consequences of 'Labour's utter failure to provide the kit that is needed: soldiers going into battle without body armour, Land Rovers meant for Belfast being destroyed on the streets of Baghdad and helicopters unavailable to supply reinforcements or to get casualties to hospital.' He said that increasing funding would deliver critical defence programmes, increase national security, bolster NATO and create job opportunities around the country. Mr Tugendhat has pledged to meet the three per cent commitment by 2034 if he is elected prime minister in the next general election in five years and Labour has not yet met it. A Minnesota artist was gunned down last Wednesday while painting her street mural in an attack police are calling 'random' and 'cold-blooded.' Carrie Shobe Kwok, 66, of St. Paul, was kneeling over a colorful art project she'd been working on to brighten the community when surveillance footage showed the moment she was shot and killed. The gunman, later identified as 29-year-old Seantrell Murdock, was found at an address in Belle Plaine, which is about an hour from St. Paul. As St. Paul Police prepared to confront Murdock on Thursday, he came out of the house wielding a handgun. Two officers shot him and he was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center, where he died. St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry said what happened to Kwok was 'one of the most cold-blooded things I've seen in my life,' since they found no evidence that she and Murdock knew each other or had even gotten in a fight, KSTP reported. Carrie Shobe Kwok, 66, lived in St. Paul and was gunned down in random, cold-blooded attack, according to police. St. Paul police say this man, 29-year-old Seantrell Murdock, was the suspect who killed Kwok. He was killed by two officers outside a home in Belle Plaine Pictured: The mural Kwok had been working on when she was shot. Friends and loved ones have since placed flowers 'This murder that took place in our city, which led us to be talking about this officer-involved shooting today has all kinds of hallmarks and flags that I think are going to come out in the coming days that we as a state and a country need to start taking more seriously,' Henry said during a news conference. Murdock, who had four children, suffered from bipolar and schizoaffective disorders, court documents uncovered by KSTP reveal. CBS reported that Murdock's mother brought him to the ER in January 2023 over mental health concerns. While there, court records show Murdock physically and verbally assaulted staff, which necessitated 'physical restraints and emergency medications.' He said he was 'scared of himself,' while offering contradictory statements. He said he didn't want to harm anyone before also saying he 'wanted to kill others.' That same year, a Scott County judge ordered that he be civilly committed, an order that was stayed. This means that as long as Murdock participated voluntarily in treatment, the court will not enforce the order of commitment, according to NAMI Minnesota. It's unclear if he sought or kept up with treatment, but Murdock's case was dismissed in August 2023. Murdock is also a felon who was convicted of first-degree burglary in 2014. Meanwhile, Kwok is being remembered by family and friends as gentle soul who was extremely generous. Julie Shobe, Kwok's sister, said Kwok made clothes out of vintage fabrics and table clothes Kwok is pictured with two of her grandchildren and her sister Julie 'She helped tons of people. She always wanted to take care of others,' Kwok's sister Julie Shobe told KSTP. 'I thought I would die before her, so it's crazy. Terribly sad.' Shobe said Kwok was a member of the Lowertown Lofts Artist Cooperative in St. Paul, which became her main creative outlet. 'She had a lot of interests,' Shobe said. 'She made clothes out of vintage fabrics or she repurposed antiques. She made shirts out of old tablecloths, like women's wear.' The co-op wrote a social media post immediately after the news of the shooting spread, before Kwok or the suspect was identified. 'This afternoon one of our members was shot and killed while working on an art project outside of our building. We don't have a lot of information right now, but we are working closely with the authorities to resolve this tragic event,' the co-op wrote on Facebook. The statement continued: 'We ask that our friends and neighbors not speculate about the situation. Our community is in shock and grief as we grapple with the unimaginable.' Later, Kwok's friends at the co-op memorialized her, speaking to reporters just beside the mural she died while working on Ben Krywosz, left, and Tara Tieso, right, were among the co-op members who gave eulogies for Kwok Shobe said Kwok was a devout Christian, something that is a comfort to them Later, Kwok's friends at the co-op memorialized her, speaking to reporters just beside the mural she died while working on. 'The curiosity that I mentioned earlier was there. She loved life,' said Ben Krywosz, the president of the co-op. Tara Tieso described Kwok as 'sparkly.' 'Every time she talked to you, you saw little sparkly things around her,' Tieso said. 'As she passed, she was in a place that she loved so, so very much,' Tieso added, explaining that several other artists were at the scene with her. 'She knew that we loved her.' Kwok leaves behind two children and four grandchildren. 'It's extremely difficult,' Shobe said. 'It's unimaginable.' Shobe said Kwok was a devout Christian, something that is a comfort to them. 'Our family is pretty much resting in that peace,' Shobe said. 'There's a lot of people praying for us, and I'm thinking that God's presence is comforting everybody, I'm hoping.' Qatar Airways is set to buy a 25 per cent stake in Virgin Australia, opening up more international routes to Australian passengers and likely reductions in fares. The deal, which will be subject to approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board, would allow flights from Australia's four largest cities to Doha, under a plane and crew lease agreement. In a statement, Virgin say the proposed minority ownership stake would create 'more choice and better value for Australians'. 'Domestic competition in Australia is dependent on Virgin Australia thriving through the inevitable ups and downs of aviation.' The deal would be done by way of the Gulf airline acquiring 25 per cent of Virgin owner, Bain Capital's stake. 'This partnership brings the missing piece to Virgin Australia's longer-term strategy and is a huge vote of confidence in Australian aviation,' Virgin Australia chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka said. Virgin Australia has not flown flights longer than eight hours since it was rescued from administration by Bain Capital in 2020 Qatar Airways and Virgin Australia have been aligned since 2022 The move came a year after the Albanese government blocked Qatar from operating in Australia's domestic flight market. Mr Albanese denied discussing that stance with his close friend Alan Joyce, who at the time was head of Qantas. Taking a minority stake in Virgin Australia allows Qatar access to Australian domestic flight revenue despite the government's ban it operating independently. Qatar and Virign have 'codeshared' flights since 2022. 'We believe competition in aviation is a good thing and it helps raise the bar, ultimately benefiting customers,' Qatar Airways chief executive Badr Mohammed Al-Meer said. 'This agreement will also help support Australian jobs, businesses and the wider economy.' The Virgin Australia boss says government Foreign Investment Review Board approval was not being taken for granted, but the deal-makers had filed submissions outlining the benefits for Australian aviation, Australian travellers and the economy. The parties involved claim the deal would add $3bn to the Australian economy through incremental visitor flows during the next five years. Virgin Group and the Queensland Investment Corporation will retain shareholdings in Virgin Australia. 'Importantly, it will further strengthen Virgin Australia's ability to compete over the long term, which will inevitably translate into more choice and even better value airfares for consumers as well as additional Australian aviation jobs,' Ms Hrdlicka said. Shamed former lawyer Philip Shiner pleaded guilty to fraud yesterday after orchestrating a 3million legal aid scam relating to claims against Iraq War veterans. The 67-year-old, who was struck off for pursuing false torture and murder allegations against British soldiers, now faces a potential jail sentence after admitting three counts of fraud on the eve of his trial. The criminal conviction cements the astonishing downfall of a lawyer who was once voted human rights lawyer of the year and feted as a champion of Iraqi victims of alleged brutality by the UK military. Shiner, who founded and ran the now-defunct law firm Public Interest Lawyers, brought thousands of criminal complaints to the Iraq Historic Investigations Team a body set up by the Ministry of Defence to investigate soldiers. Not a single one was ever charged. The National Crime Agency then launched a five-year investigation into Shiners practices which revealed he had gained legal aid work worth 3million by dishonest practices, including cold-calling to drum up clients. This emerged in the wake of the Al Sweady inquiry which was set up by the Government in 2009 to examine claims that British troops had massacred Iraqi civilians in southern Iraq in May 2004. Philip Shiner, who was struck off for pursuing false torture and murder allegations against British soldiers, now faces a potential jail sentence after admitting three counts of fraud on the eve of his trial Soldiers in Iraq in 2016. The Al Sweady inquiry which was set up by the Government in 2009 to examine claims that British troops had massacred Iraqi civilians in southern Iraq in May 2004. Shiner received around 3million during the ensuing Al Sweady inquiry, which cost the taxpayer 24million In 2007 Shiner made an application to the Legal Services Commission seeking up to 200,000 of legal aid funding for his firm to represent clients. In total, Shiner received around 3million during the ensuing Al Sweady inquiry, which cost the taxpayer 24million. In 2014 the Al Sweady inquiry concluded that allegations of torture and murder were wholly without foundation and entirely the product of deliberate lies, reckless speculation and ingrained hostility. Shiner was later declared bankrupt after being struck off for dishonesty and other offences by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for pursuing false torture and murder allegations against British troops. He had been due to go on trial at Southwark Crown Court this week but he admitted three fraud charges at the last minute. The charges carry a maximum sentence of ten years in prison. Shiner was released on bail ahead of sentencing on December 2. A tragic final photo has emerged of grandparents sitting on the roof of their North Carolina home surrounding by raging floodwaters as they waited for rescuers to arrive. The Dryes were pictured by their daughter Megan who along with her seven-year-old son, Micah, had clambered to the rooftop of their Asheville home as the house was slowly consumed by the storm waters. The couple in their 70s can be seen dressed in regular clothes, wearing coat and a backpack with a couple of blankets for comfort. 'They are watching 18 wheelers and cars floating by. In addition, part of the house they're sitting on is in front of them. They've called 911 but they aren't the only ones needing rescue. This is definitely a moment when faith is all you have,' wrote Megan's sister Jessica Drye. A tragic final photo has emerged of grandparents sitting on the roof of their North Carolina home surrounding by raging floodwaters as they waited for rescuers to arrive Their daughter Meghan took this photo moments before the entire home collapsed killing the couple and their grandson Seven-year-old Micah was with his grandparents when he drowned. His mother, Megan Drye, was able to survive after she became wedged between something, stopping her drowning Tragically the pair, along with their grandson drowned after the roof eventually gave way no longer able to withstand the force of the torrent. Somehow Megan managed to survive after she became trapped between something and was able to keep her head above water. She was rescued one hour later and is now recovering in intensive care. Detailing the encounter on Facebook, sister Jessica shared her sadness at what had happened. 'I cannot convey in words the sorrow, heartbreak and devastation my sisters and I are going through nor imagine the pain before us. Please lift my sister who lost her son up in prayers and my other sister and myself as we come together to somehow comfort her and get through each moment banded together.' A GoFundMe page has been started to help Megan. The destruction and desperation across North Carolina in particular appears to be unimaginable. The destruction and desperation across North Carolina in particular appears to be unimaginable. A part of Asheville is pictured The North Carolina mountain town of Asheville has faced a massive amount of destruction following Hurricane Helene Flood damage caused by the storm that hit Asheville, North Carolina can be seen from above A flattened cargo container sat atop a bridge crossing a river with muddy brown water. Overturned pontoon boats and splintered wooden docks and tree trunks covered the surface of a picturesque lake tucked between the mountains. The North Carolina death toll included one horrific story after another of people who were trapped by floodwaters in their homes and vehicles or were killed by falling trees. A courthouse security officer died after being submerged inside his truck. Rescuers did manage to save dozens, including an infant and two others stuck on the top of a car in Atlanta. More than 50 hospital patients and staff in Tennessee were plucked by helicopter from the hospital rooftop in a daring rescue operation. Those Western North Carolina residents who survived Helene faced a 'post-apocalyptic' landscape on Monday, with hundreds of people still missing and residents struggling amid flooded roads and a lack of basic services. More than 128 deaths across a half-dozen states have been attributed to the powerful storm that slammed into Florida's Big Bend region late on Thursday before cutting a destructive path through Georgia and into the Carolinas. The federal government has declared a major disaster for 25 North Carolina counties, promising aid and reimbursement for local agencies A thick layer of mud blankets the entire area in Swannanoa, North Carolina Homes have been torn from foundations, thrown upside-down or split in half in Swannanoa The once-picturesque town now lies in ruins. Cars can be seen perched in tree limbs along the flooded Swannanoa River As many as 600 people remain missing, U.S. Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall said at the White House, though she noted that the numbers could vary as responders reach more locations. Either way, the death toll is likely to rise, officials said. Residents in devastated communities found themselves isolated by flooded roads and a lack of running water, power and cell phone service. In mountainous Buncombe County, which includes the popular tourist destination of Asheville, 35 people have died The county was set to begin distributing food and water to residents later in the day. Some supplies had to be airlifted to the region with most major routes blocked by mudslides and flooding. 'They're running out of gas for ATVs that are helping the rescue, they're also running out of gas for the chainsaws,' said Colleen Burns, 58, whose house is near Burnsville, in neighboring Yancey County. 'We desperately need gas.' The brutal onslaught of Hurricane Helene has left the small mountain town of Swannanoa, North Carolina , in ruins - with locals describing the community as 'entirely erased' Volunteers stage water for people in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Asheville A gas natural gas tank lies with other debris on a train bridge in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Asheville Carrie Owenby looks at her phone as a neighbor with power dropped an extension cord for neighbors who have no power in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Asheville Volunteers stage water for citizens in the aftermath of Helene in Asheville A worker moves debris in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Asheville Debris is seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Asheville People wait to get water at Mountain Valley Water in the aftermath of Helene in West Asheville Flood debris from Hurricane Helene floats by in Rutherford County, North Carolina Elsewhere in Yancey, the storm snapped century-old trees around the home of Taylor Shelton, 44. It took her husband two days with a chainsaw to cut a passage through the felled trees in their driveway and the nearby road so they could drive themselves and their three children out of the darkened house. With no phone service, they relied on a neighbor who works as an EMT and had a walkie-talkie to help them determine which back roads out of the mountains were passable. 'The devastation is unbelievable,' she said. They were attempting to drive back home on Monday to pick up their dog and two guinea pigs and leave out food for the cat and the chickens. Their car was loaded with coffee, donuts and diapers for their neighbors. 'It looks like 'War of the Worlds.' Very, very big trees are down everywhere,' she said. 'We saw houses that are just washed away.' She has still not been able to reach her husband's parents, who live in the nearby town of Burnsville, which was also badly hit. Lake Lure, around 20 miles southeast of Asheville, was covered with floating debris from homes and businesses washed away by mountain streams that surround the lake, a video posted on X by Charlotte City Councilman Tariq Bokhari showed. 'It's hard to describe - never seen anything like this, post-apocalyptic,' he wrote. 'It's so overwhelming. You don't even know how to fathom what recovery looks like, let alone where to start.' Some 1.8 million homes and businesses were without power on Monday night, according to Poweroutage.us. 'The lack of communication is concerning,' North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said on Monday in an interview with CNN. Rescue workers from the Pamlico County rescue team are shown working in the aftermath of Helene in the area of Chimney Rock, North Carolina Rescue workers from the Pamlico County rescue team are seen in Chimney Rock Many roads were virtually impassable blocked by fallen trees, rocks, mudslides and debris 'We know that there are people missing, and we know that there's going to be significant fatalities at the end of this and our prayers and our hearts go out to these families.' Cooper, who said he had not heard from his son and daughter in 72 hours, added that local officials and rescue workers were performing door-to-door welfare checks in many communities. In Buncombe, officials said they are conducting checks of 150 'priority' households that include elderly residents or residents with medical problems. The National Guard and emergency workers from 19 states have been deployed to help, along with Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel. Cooper said the rugged terrain in the mountains of western North Carolina makes it almost impossible to traverse with landslides and flooding. People wait to gather water at Mountain Valley Water in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in West Asheville, North Carolina A path is cut through where fallen trees blocked a major road near Chimney Rock Employees Linda Bandy, left, and Carissa Sheehan clean up their frame shop damaged by flood water from Hurricane Helene on North Green Street, in Morganton, North Carolina A sign hangs outside a closed barber shop and bar in Asheville on Monday 'So we're depending a lot on air power, helicopters with hoist capacity to get supplies in,' he said. President Joe Biden said he would visit North Carolina later this week and may ask Congress to return to Washington for a special session to pass supplemental aid funding. 'There's nothing like wondering, 'Is my husband, wife, son, daughter, mother, father alive?'' Biden said at the White House. 'Many more will remain without electricity, water, food and communications, and whose homes and businesses are washed away in an instant. I want them to know we're not leaving until the job is done.' Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris cut short a campaign trip in Nevada on Monday to take part in briefings in Washington on the hurricane response and will visit the region when doing so won't impede response efforts, a White House official said. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper speaks with FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell on Monday Debris is seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Asheville Residents walk along Catawba Avenue while debris is cleared in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Old Fort, North Carolina A trailer hangs off a bridge in Asheville, North Carolina on Sunday A passerby checks the water depth of a flooded road in Morganton, North Carolina. Torrential rain left many area streets flooded. In addition, traffic lights are broken due to powercuts Damage and residual flooding from Mill Creek is seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on in Old Fort, North Carolina Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump traveled to Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday to visit a furniture store that was heavily damaged in the storm. Helene struck Florida's Gulf Coast on Thursday night as a major Category 4 hurricane, triggering days of driving rain throughout the South and destroying homes that had stood for decades. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said on Monday that at least 25 people in his state had died, including a firefighter responding to emergency calls during the storm and a mother and her 1-month-old twins who were killed by a falling tree. Damage estimates ranged from $15 billion to more than $100 billion, insurers and forecasters said over the weekend. Fashion giant Mosaic Brands is set to close down five of its major retail franchise chains. Rockmans, Autograph, Crossroads, W.Lane and BeMe brands - including their stores and websites - will be shut down, Mosaic CEO Erica Berchtold confirmed. The company is Australia's largest women's fashion retailer group and had employed more than 4000 staff in more than 700 stores around Australia. Ms Berchtold said the shuttered brands had 'become marginal and non-core' and closing them would allow the company to focus on its remaining five. 'Each of those core brands will have a clearly differentiated market proposition, target customer, price point and product range.' The group will now focus on Millers, Noni B, Rivers and Katies. 'Whilst the operational details of the rationalisation plan, including store closures, continue to be worked through, we will seek to minimise the impact on our team, including where possible reassigning impacted team members into roles within the five core brands. Mosaic said it intended to 'continue to focus on servicing regional Australia.' Fashion giant Mosaic Brands is set to close down five of its retail chains According to Mosaic's financial report from August 2023, it had 150 Rockmans stores, 49 Autograph stores and 32 W.Lane stores, while BeMe and Crossroads are online-only stores. Some of the Rockmans, Autograph and W.Lane stores could be converted to its remaining core brands. Professor Gary Mortimer, Queensland University of Technology Business School retail expert, said Mosaic Brands made the mistake of 'essentially creating multiple brands to market to the exact same audience middle aged, middle class woman'. 'If you walk into a shopping centre, you will find at least two, if not three, of those brands all competing for the same customer and that just duplicates and triplicates the cost of doing business,' he told News Corp. Professor Mortimer likened the overlap to what Kmart and Target - both owned locally by Wesfarmers - were doing, often competing against themselves. Mosaic will close down multiple ventures including Rockmans stores (pictured) The company said it would focus on its 'core' brands including Rivers and Millers Mosaic currently has a total of around 763 stores across Australia and New Zealand but has been trying to focus more on big-box Rivers megastores in regional Australia as part of its 'BIG strategy'. Earlier this year Mosaic had problems as it migrated to a new supply chain system, and had little inventory on hand for the key Mother's Day trading period. The company's shares have been suspended from the ASX since September 2 because of a delay on filing its 2023/24 financial report, which was due in August. Mosaic said on Monday the delay was due to events outside the reporting period, which would impact disclosures accompanying the audited results. It was working with partners and stakeholders and had the support of its senior lender, Mosaic said. In February, Mosaic said it made a $5.4 million net profit, up 38 per cent from the previous quarter. But it also ended 2022/23 with a net liability position of $66 million, including $39 million in debt and $45 million in lease liabilities, which its annual report noted 'may cast significant doubt on the group's ability to continue as a going concern'. The Israeli military last night confirmed its troops had launched a long-awaited ground invasion of Lebanon, as fears mount that the escalation could plunge the Middle East into an all-out war. After a day of ratcheting tensions in the war-torn region, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) announced that it had begun 'localised and targeted raids' against Hezbollah enemies in southern Lebanon. 'These targets are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel,' the military added. The IDF said that its incursion, dubbed 'Operation Northern Arrows', will continue 'according to the situational assessment and in parallel to combat in Gaza and in other arenas'. The ground assault, which comes nearly a year on from Hamas' October 7 attacks, was given the green light after hundreds of Israeli tanks had massed on the border, with foot soldiers also being supported by the IDF's intensified air strikes. Dramatic pictures showed a barrage of rockets and bombs lighting up the sky, while artillery fire was heard in a number of villages close to the Israel-Lebanon border. The deployment of boots on the ground represents a significant escalation in Israel's war against Hezbollah, whose leadership has been wiped out in a series of recent airstrikes. Amid the increased violence, Syrian state-run media also confirmed that one of its television presenters was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Damascus. It came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a stark warning to Iran, whom Hamas and Hezbollah are both backed by. He said: 'There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country.' British nationals have been urged to leave Lebanon immediately, with Foreign Secretary David Lammy warning the conflict could 'escalate in a major way'. Astonishing pictures show missiles being launched into Lebanon as a ground incursion got underway Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighbourhood in Beirut's southern suburb early on Tuesday Israel was last night bombarding Lebanon from the sky and on foot as an incursion got underway Smoke and flames rise into the Lebanon sky as an Israeli bombardment continues into the night Israeli shelling hits an area in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel Israeli artillery shells hit areas near villages in southern Lebanon along the border with Israel, as seen from the Upper Galilee, northern Israel Israeli tanks and APC's gather by the Israeli - Lebanese border on September 30 before the ground invasion The US said it was informed beforehand about Israel's raid, which have been described as 'limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border.' The invasion is said to have forced Lebanese troops to retreat three miles from their positions along the county's southern border with Israel. The sound of explosions could be heard on the border overnight, with hundreds of Israeli tanks lined up for the ground invasion. Fires were seen erupting across Lebanon as plumes of smoke billowed into the night sky. Hezbollah also said it 'targeted' Israeli soldiers' carrying out 'movements' in orchards near the Lebanese border. The Lebanese health ministry said 95 people had been killed in Israeli strikes, with another 172 injured. Israel said around ten rockets crossed over the border from Lebanon, with some intercepted and others 'falling into open areas'. The Israeli army earlier declared three of its northern communities as a 'closed military zone' as signals grew that more forces could soon be sent into Lebanon to fight the Iran-backed militants. As an Israeli bombardment continued into the night, residents living in southern Beirut were ordered to evacuate 'immediately'. 'You are located near interests and facilities belonging to the terrorist Hezbollah, and therefore the IDF will act against them forcefully,' IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on X. 'For your safety and the safety of your family, you must evacuate the buildings immediately, starting at a distance of no less than 500 meters.' Tensions are escalating after Israel said it had wiped out Hezbollah's top brass in the airstrike on southern Beirut that killed the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah A picture taken from northern Israel, along the border with southern Lebanon, shows a fire following Israeli bombardment on an area of south Lebanon Bombs are raining down on Lebanon, lighting up the sky as Israel ordered evacuations Smoke rises over Beirut's southern suburbs after a strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces Tension in the Middle East escalated even further after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Israeli strikes on Beirut on Friday. Mr Lammy said the situation on the ground is 'fast moving' and ministers can't guarantee support 'if things escalate in a major way over the coming hours and days'. He told reporters on Monday night: 'I have been urging since coming to office in July for British nationals to leave Lebanon. And indeed the previous government from October 2023 was urging UK nationals not to travel to Lebanon. 'Notwithstanding that we sent a rapid response team. 700 troops are in Cyprus. We will do all we can to assist people to get out. We have secured places on commercial flights that are flying tomorrow so that UK nationals can get out.' Asked what he would say to British nationals who have not yet taken his advice, he said: 'I urge them to leave because the situation on the ground is fast moving 'While we will do everything we can to protect British nationals and those plans are in place to do so, we cannot anticipate the circumstances of the speed with which we could do that If things escalate in a major way over the coming hours and days.' Dramatic pictures show huge Israeli shelling obliterating parts of southern Lebanon Heavy shelling has been seen in southern Lebanon as Israel prepared to invade Smoke rises over Beirut's southern suburbs after a strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Lebanon An Israeli tank manoeuvres in northern Israel near the Israel-Lebanon border on Monday The UK Government has chartered a commercial flight out of Lebanon for Britons wanting to leave amid escalating violence. The flight is due to leave Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport on Wednesday and vulnerable British nationals and their spouses, partners and children under 18 will be prioritised, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said. Mr Lammy said: 'The situation in Lebanon is volatile and has potential to deteriorate quickly. 'The safety of British nationals in Lebanon continues to be our utmost priority. 'That's why the UK Government is chartering a flight to help those wanting to leave. It is vital that you leave now as further evacuation may not be guaranteed.' The ground invasion could mark the first time Israel and Hezbollah engage in ground combat since their 34-day war in 2006. An Israeli mobile artillery unit is seen near the Israel-Lebanon border on Monday Israeli artillery shells hit areas near villages in southern Lebanon along the border with Israel An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from northern Israel towards Lebanon, in a position near the Israel-Lebanon border Mr Lammy said the situation on the ground is 'fast moving' and ministers can't guarantee support 'if things escalate in a major way over the coming hours and days' An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from northern Israel towards Lebanon, in a position near the Israel-Lebanon border, Monday Nasrallah, seen addressing supporters in Lebanon's capital Beirut in November 2013, was killed by an Israeli air strike on the city on Friday People check buildings levelled on September 27 by Israeli strikes that killed Nasrallah Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire almost every day since the war in Gaza began. The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people in Israel and Lebanon. Israel says it will continue to strike Hezbollah until it is safe for Israelis displaced from border communities to return to their homes. Hezbollah has promised to keep firing rockets into Israel until there is a cease-fire in Gaza. Early on Monday, Hezbollah vowed to keep fighting even after its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top officials were recently wiped out by Israeli strikes. Giving his first address since the group's leader was killed, deputy Naim Qassem said: 'Hezbollah's front will continue, everyone on the battlefield is ready and, despite the losing of our leader and commanders, we will not move aside nor will we forsake our duty in support of Gaza and in defence of Lebanon,' he said. 'If the Zionists enter Lebanon, we are ready and prepared for a ground battle, and we will be victorious.' Israel's order restricting entry and exit from the northern communities of Metula, Misgav Am and Kfar Giladi does not necessarily mean Israeli troops will invade Lebanon immediately. Areas can also be declared closed military zones if an imminent threat is detected. People check for drone attacks as Israeli airstrikes continue while people flee and take refuge in parks and squares in Beirut Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem delivering a televised address from an unknown location, days after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike Hundreds of Israeli tanks have lined up at the Lebanon border, with a ground invasion looming Your browser does not support iframes. But the Israeli army has heavily beefed up forces along the border with Lebanon in recent days. Israeli strikes have killed Nasrallah and six of his top commanders and officials in the last 10 days. They have also hit what the military says are thousands of militant targets across large parts of Lebanon. Over 1,000 people have been killed in the country in the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry. Early Monday, an airstrike hit a residential building in central Beirut, killing three Palestinian militants, as Israel appeared to send a clear message that no part of Lebanon is out of bounds. Despite the heavy blow Hezbollah has suffered in recent weeks, acting leader Naim Kassem said in a televised statement that if Israel decides to launch a ground offensive, the group's fighters are ready. A smoke plume erupts after an Israeli airstrike targeted the outskirts of the village of Ibl al-Saqi in southern Lebanon on September 30 Smoke billows from the area as a result of the Israeli army's attacks on the town of Hiyam yesterday He said the commanders killed have already been replaced. Nasrallah's longtime deputy, Kassem will remain in his acting position until the group's leadership elects a replacement. The man widely expected to take over the top post is Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah who oversees Hezbollah's political affairs. Hezbollah's capabilities are unclear after a series of major blows Hezbollah has significantly increased its rocket attacks in the past week to several hundred daily, but most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas. Several people have been wounded in Israel. There have been no fatalities since two soldiers were killed near the border on Sept. 19. But Hezbollah's capabilities remain unclear. As recently as two weeks ago, a strike like Monday's in central Beirut - outside of the main areas where Hezbollah operates and next to a busy transportation hub normally crowded with buses and taxis - would have been seen as a major escalation and likely followed by a long-range Hezbollah strike into Israel. But the unspoken rules of the long-running conflict no longer seem to be in effect. It's possible Hezbollah is holding back to save resources for a bigger battle. But the militant group might also be in disarray after Israeli intelligence apparently penetrated its highest levels. Search and rescue team members, together with locals, work to find bodies under the rubble of buildings destroyed in an Israeli airstrike the previous day in Ain el-Delb neighborhood, east of the port city of Sidon, southern Lebanon Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, meeting with Israeli troops Monday, said Israel would 'use all the capabilities we have,' hinting at a ground operation. Some European countries began pulling their diplomats and citizens out of Lebanon on Monday. Germany, which has been calling on its citizens to leave Lebanon since October 2023, sent a military plane to evacuate diplomats' relatives and others. Bulgaria sent a government jet to get the first group of its citizens out, with priority given to families with children and vulnerable groups. In the past week, Israel has frequently targeted Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence, including the massive strike Friday that killed Nasrallah. But it had not hit locations closer to the city center. Monday's strike killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small, leftist faction that has not been meaningfully involved in months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel has not claimed the strike but is widely assumed to have carried it out. Also Monday, Hamas announced that its top commander in Lebanon, Fatah Sharif, was killed with his family in an airstrike on the Al-Buss refugee camp in the southern port city of Tyre. The Israeli military confirmed it had targeted him. Firefighters search for survivors inside an apartment building hit by an Israeli air strike in Beirut's Kola district, September 30, 2024 Firefighters extinguished the fire that broke out in the targeted apartment after the Israeli army carried out an airstrike on a multi-story building in the Kola district of Beirut This screenshot from a video taken on Sept. 29, 2024 shows a fire following Israeli airstrikes on Yemen's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah Israel also launched a fresh wave of airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen (pictured) on Sunday Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pictured addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Sharif was an employee, and was put on administrative leave without pay in March as it investigated allegations about his political activities. Israel has accused the agency, known as UNRWA, of links to Palestinian militant groups, while the agency says it is committed to neutrality and works to prevent any such infiltration. Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles into northern Israel after Hamas' October 7 attack from Gaza into Israel sparked the war in the Palestinian territory. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies and both supported by Iran, and Hezbollah said it would continue the attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians until there was a cease-fire in Gaza. Israel responded to the rockets with airstrikes in Lebanon, and the fighting has steadily escalated over the past year. The Lebanese government says the fighting may have displaced up to a million people, although the UN estimate is around 200,000. Tens of thousands of Israelis have also been displaced. Israel has vowed to keep fighting until the attacks stop and its citizens can return home. Firefighters attempt to extinguish the fire at a power plant following Israeli airstrikes on Hodeidah city, Yemen, on September 29 Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on villages near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on September 29 as air strikes across the country continue Hundreds of Israeli tanks have been deployed in the Upper Galilee region of northern Israel Israel shows little interest in cease-fire calls as it bloodies a longtime foe. The United States and its allies have called for a cease-fire, hoping to avoid further escalation that could draw in Iran and set off a wider war. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown little interest, as his country racks up military achievements against a longtime foe. France, which has close ties to Lebanon, has joined the United States in calling for a cease-fire. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, visiting Beirut Monday, urged Israel to refrain from a ground offensive. Barrot also called on Hezbollah to stop firing on Israel, saying the group 'bears heavy responsibility in the current situation, given its choice to enter the conflict.' Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, speaking after meeting with Barrot, said the country is committed to an immediate cease-fire followed by the deployment of Lebanese troops in the south, in keeping with a U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war but was never fully implemented. Hezbollah, which boasts tens of thousands of battle-hardened fighters and long-range missiles capable of hitting anywhere inside Israel, has long been seen as the most powerful militant group in the region and a key partner to Iran in both threatening and deterring Israel. But Hezbollah has never faced an onslaught quite like this one, which began with a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies in mid-September that killed dozens of people and wounded around 3,000 - including many fighters but also many civilians. The Israeli military says it has begun a 'limited, localized' operation against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. It said it was carrying out 'targeted ground raids' in villages close to the Israeli border. The targets, it said, pose an 'immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel.' It announced early Tuesday that the operation has been planned in recent months and was launched after approval by political leaders. The Israeli military launched small ground raids against Hezbollah and sealed off communities along its northern border on Monday as Israeli artillery pounded southern Lebanon and signals grew that more forces could soon be sent across the border to fight the Iran-backed militants. Meanwhile, the U.S. is sending a 'few thousand' troops to the Middle East to bolster security and to defend Israel if necessary, the Pentagon said Monday. Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburb early on October 1 Smoke rises from after Israeli warplanes target the Dahieh district, located south of the capital Beirut, with a series of airstrikes early on Tuesday morning Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburb The announcement follows word that Israel has already launched limited raids across the border into Lebanon. The additional forces would raise the total number of troops in the region to as many as 43,000. The increased presence will involve multiple fighter jet and attack aircraft squadrons, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters. U.S. officials said the total includes small numbers of other troops to augment the presence as well. The additional personnel includes squadrons of F-15E, F-16, and F-22 fighter jets and A-10 attack aircraft, and the personnel needed to support them. The jets were supposed to rotate in and replace the squadrons already there. Instead, both the existing and new squadrons will remain in place to double the airpower on hand. On Sunday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that he was temporarily extending the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and its embarked air wing in the region. A U.S. official said the extension will be for about a month. A second carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman, departed Virginia last week and is enroute to Europe. It will head to the Mediterranean Sea and will again provide a two-carrier presence in the broader region. Its not expected to arrive for at least another week. Israeli artillery is being felt in Lebanon as the world hold its breath over an anticipated ground invasion Israeli shelling hits an area in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel - as a ground invasion looms Israeli artillery shells hit areas near villages in southern Lebanon along the border with Israel, as seen from the Upper Galilee, northern Israel An Israeli tank manoeuvres in northern Israel near the Israel-Lebanon border on Monday In relation to Tuesday morning's raids, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Israel informed the U.S. about the strikes, which he said were described as 'limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border.' The sounds of airstrikes were heard throughout Beirut and smoke rose from the capital's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, shortly after Israel ordered residents of three buildings to evacuate. There were no reports of direct clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants, who last engaged in ground combat on Lebanese soil during a monthlong war in 2006. But a Western diplomat in Cairo whose country is directly involved in de-escalation efforts spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, said Israel had shared its plans with the U.S. and other Western allies, and conveyed the operation will 'be limited.' Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire almost every day since the war in Gaza began, displacing tens of thousands of people in Israel and Lebanon. Israel says it will continue to strike Hezbollah until it is safe for families to return to their homes near the Lebanon border. Hezbollah has promised to keep firing rockets into Israel until there is a cease-fire in Gaza. Israeli artillery shells hit areas near villages in southern Lebanon along the border with Israel Heavy shelling has been seen in southern Lebanon as Israel prepare to invade Bombs are raining down on Lebanon, lighting up the sky as Israel ordered evacuations A picture taken from northern Israel, along the border with southern Lebanon, shows a fire following Israeli bombardment on an area of south Lebanon Israel said it had wiped out Hezbollah's top brass in the airstrike on southern Beirut that killed the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah It was not clear if Israel had made a final decision on a broader ground operation in Lebanon. The Israeli army's radio station said a Cabinet meeting wrapped up late Monday, with Netanyahu continuing to consult with security officials. Hezbollah vowed Monday to keep fighting even after its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top officials were recently wiped out by Israeli strikes. The group's acting leader, Naim Kassem, said in a televised statement that if Israel decides to launch a ground offensive, Hezbollah is ready. He said commanders killed in recent weeks have already been replaced. The man widely expected to take over the top post from Kassem is Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah who oversees Hezbollahs political affairs. Israel's order restricting entry and exit from the northern communities of Metula, Misgav Am and Kfar Giladi does not necessarily mean Israeli troops will immediately invade Lebanon. Areas can also be declared closed military zones if an imminent threat is detected. But the army has heavily beefed up forces along the border in recent days, and commanders have said they are prepared to go into Lebanon if ordered to. Israeli shelling hits an area in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, early on Tuesday A picture taken from northern Israel, along the border with southern Lebanon shows a fire following Israeli bombardment on an area of south Lebanon. A Lebanese security official said Israel had conducted at least six strikes on south Beirut overnight on Tuesday Israel's army called on residents in the Hezbollah stronghold to evacuate A firefighter inspects a damaged car near a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike, in Beirut Damaged apartments, right, are seen in a building that was hit by Israeli strike, in Beirut A Lebanese policeman looks at damaged apartments that were hit by Israeli strike on Monday A fire engine ladder extends up a building that was hit in an apparent Israeli airstrike Policemen and civil defense workers inspect a damaged car near a building that was hit Policemen and civil defense workers stand next to damaged cars near a building that was struck A photographer documents damage in a building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut Damaged cars are parked in front of a building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows the site of an Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Lebanon Chris Coyle, a resident of northern Israel, said the army had erected gates and checkpoints throughout the region and positioned scores of tanks along the border in recent days. 'Theyre certainly getting ready to go in,' he said. In the nearby Golan Heights, an Associated Press reporter heard Israeli artillery fire and explosions in southern Lebanon. Israeli forces also fired flares into Lebanon. An AP reporter in the southern Lebanon town of Marjayoun reported sounds of heavy shelling and explosions and occasional airstrikes coming from areas closer to the border. Israeli strikes in recent weeks have hit what the military says are thousands of militant targets across large parts of Lebanon. Over 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry. Early Monday, an airstrike hit a residential building in central Beirut, killing three Palestinian militants, as Israel appeared to send a message that no part of Lebanon is out of bounds. Hezbollah has significantly increased its rocket attacks in the past week to several hundred daily, but most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas. Several people have been wounded in Israel. There have been no fatalities since two soldiers were killed near the border on Sept. 19. Two women take a selfie next to a newly painted graffiti of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, a day after Hezbollah confirms its leader was killed in an Israeli airstrike, in Tel Aviv, Israel, An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from northern Israel towards Lebanon, in a position near the Israel-Lebanon border An Israeli mobile artillery unit is seen near the Israel-Lebanon border But Hezbollahs capabilities remain unclear. As recently as two weeks ago, a strike like Monday's in central Beirut - outside of the main areas where Hezbollah operates and next to a busy transportation hub normally crowded with buses and taxis - would have been seen as a major escalation and likely followed by a long-range Hezbollah strike into Israel. But the unspoken rules of the long-running conflict no longer seem to be in effect. It's possible Hezbollah is holding back to save resources for a bigger battle. But the militant group might also be in disarray after Israeli intelligence apparently penetrated its highest levels. Some European countries began pulling their diplomats and citizens out of Lebanon on Monday. Germany sent a military plane to evacuate diplomats relatives and others. Bulgaria sent a government jet to get the first group of its citizens out. Monday's strike in Beirut killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small, leftist faction that has not been meaningfully involved in months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel has not claimed the strike but is widely assumed to have carried it out. Also Monday, Hamas announced its top commander in Lebanon, Fatah Sharif, was killed with his family in an airstrike on the Al-Buss refugee camp in the southern port city of Tyre. The Israeli military confirmed it had targeted him. Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles into northern Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack from Gaza into Israel sparked the war in the Palestinian territory. An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from northern Israel towards Lebanon Israel responded to the rockets with airstrikes in Lebanon, and the fighting has steadily escalated over the past year. The Lebanese government says the fighting may have displaced up to a million people , although the U.N. estimate is around 200,000. The United States and its allies have called for a cease-fire, hoping to avoid further escalation that could draw in Iran and set off a wider war. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown little interest , as his country racks up military achievements against a longtime foe. France, which has close ties to Lebanon, has joined the United States in calling for a cease-fire . French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, visiting Beirut Monday, urged Israel to refrain from a ground offensive. Barrot also called on Hezbollah to stop firing on Israel, saying the group 'bears heavy responsibility in the current situation, given its choice to enter the conflict.' Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, speaking after meeting with Barrot, said the country is committed to an immediate cease-fire followed by the deployment of Lebanese troops in the south, in keeping with a U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war but was never fully implemented. Hezbollah, which boasts tens of thousands of battle-hardened fighters and long-range missiles capable of hitting anywhere inside Israel, has long been seen as the most powerful militant group in the region and a key partner to Iran in both threatening and deterring Israel. But Hezbollah has never faced an onslaught quite like this one, which began with a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies in mid-September that killed dozens of people and wounded around 3,000 - including many fighters but also many civilians. Friends and family of a 16-year-old boy allegedly stabbed to death in a busy shopping centre have sent a heartbreaking message to Melbourne's youth crime gangs. Oscar Hamilton was allegedly killed in the outdoor food court of the Woodgrove Shopping Centre, in Melton West, in Melbourne's west, just before midday on Wednesday. In the wake of his death, his shattered mates are determined to make Oscar's life and tragic death mean something to other teens growing up in the west. They hit the streets in custom-made hoodies bearing the teen's face as they staged a solemn walk in solidarity against knife violence ahead of any weekend incidents. 'Long Live Oscar' and 'Justice For Oscar' was emblazoned across the front of the black hoodies. On the back was a poignant message to Melbourne's troubled youth, who continue to use knives to settle scores. 'Stop The Violence' the message read, with a smiling photo of Oscar above it. Oscar's mates embarked on a walk together from the shopping centre to Melton Police Station on Friday as they called for an end to knife violence and a reformed criminal justice system. Oscar Hamilton's friends are calling for an end to knife violence Oscar (pictured) was allegedly stabbed in the outdoor food court of the Woodgrove Shopping Centre, in Melton West, in Melbourne's west, last week They were joined by complete strangers, who joined in a touching singalong at a local park and released green, blue and black balloons in honour of the tragic teen. Oscar's girlfriend Briannan Hibbert thanked everyone for joining in and posted on social media: 'Everyone looks great in their hoodies. 'Oscar would have loved them as well.' Relative Sherry Faye added: 'You did a amazing job yesterday with all your friends. I was so proud to walk in Oscar's honour. 'It was so beautiful - thank you. Oscar will always be in your heart. The memorial is just wonderful. So many people love him. 'He will be flying high forever 16.' At the memorial, a representative from Oscars family appealed for calm and to remember him as 'a beautiful boy', The Age reported. 'This is about Oscar today,' she told the crowd. 'Its about that beautiful boy we all know not the person who did this.' A 15-year-old boy, who cannot be identified due to his age, has been charged with one count of murder. Police believe the incident occurred during an argument between the pair. Stop the violence: Oscar's friends are spreading the message so that his death was not in vain Others have reposted the hashtags '#stopyouthcrime #stopyouthknifecrime #knivesdown' on their Instagram Stories (pictured) In the wake of the death, Ms Hibbert changed her Instagram biography to urge the young couple's mates to 'stop carrying weapons'. Photos shared to Instagram had shown some of Oscar's mates posing up with giant machetes. Others have reposted the hashtags '#stopyouthcrime #stopyouthknifecrime #knivesdown' on their Instagram Stories. Friends of Oscar also re-shared his girlfriend's plea 'stop carrying weapons' on their own Instagram biographies. Ms Hibbert has created a public Facebook group to commemorate Oscar, who she described as a 'beautiful soul that I was lucky enough to call my boyfriend'. 'It was never meant to end this way but I'm guessing heaven needed you more than us,' she continued. 'Nobody will ever get over this. You filled everyone's life with so much light and joy. You never failed to bring a smile to faces. Oscar was allegedly stabbed to death in full view of witnesses Photos shared to Instagram show some of Oscar's mates posing up with giant machetes 'Life will never be the same without you. My heart will forever ache knowing that you are gone. 'I will never forgive who did this to you. We are going to get you justice, don't you worry. 'Everyone was so lucky to have you in their life. This world was too cruel for your beautiful soul.' It's understood Oscar's mother dropped him off at the shopping centre before he was allegedly stabbed 'several times' outside La Porchetta, in front of school holiday diners. It's understood the weapon allegedly used has yet to be recovered by police. Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua could be behind a shocking home invasion where four armed men pistol-whipped and tied up a woman before robbing her house. Four Hispanic men lying in wait confronted the woman as soon as she got into the garage of her Dallas house on the night of Sept. 21, forcing her to the ground and pistol-whipping her, according to a newsletter that went out to residents of the ritzy neighborhood where the crime happened. At gunpoint, the homeowner was forced inside the home on Elsby Aveune where the intruders remained for 'an extended period of time.' 'The victim was tied up and instructed to stay in the bedroom until the suspects left with property belonging to the victim,' the homeowners association detailed. A Dallas elected official linked the terrifying incident to the notorious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which has been unleashing a crime wave across America's largest cities. 'A home break in and trying up/ beating of resident alleged to be by Venezuelan or other gang,' Dallas City Council member Gay Willis wrote to residents. A Dallas home invasion could have possible ties to Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragaua. Pictured, the home where the horrifying ordeal took place Willis did not respond to questions about where she obtained the information. She also added in the newsletter that so far, Dallas police have 'no evidence' of gang activity. The local cops told DailyMail.com no suspects have been arrested and that the victim did not need medical assistance after the robbery. DailyMail.com was first to report that Tren de Aragua had a confirmed presence Dallas. Police admitted they are investigating several crimes tied to the South American mob, but wouldn't say what those crimes are. The notorious jail gang turned international criminal organization is best known for sex trafficking girls and women and exploiting their fellow Venezuelans, crossed the US-Mexico border in recent years- as DailyMail.com was first to report- mixed in with asylum-seeking migrants. The victim was confronted by four armed men as she pulled into her garage on Sept. 21 A newsletter from a Dallas city council woman mentioned the gang's possible ties to the crime The frightened homeowner is no longer staying at the house, neighbors tell DailyMail.com The home invasion took place in a Dallas neighborhood with million-dollar homes near Love Field Airport Meanwhile, the frightened victim of the home invasion is not even staying at the house, according to neighbors, and has instead gone to be with family. DailyMail.com is not naming the victim for her own protection. During a brief phone conversation with her, she declined to comment and instead directed questions to the homeowner's association. Dallas police have admitted they're working with other local agencies and federal partners to shut down TdA, as the gang is known, operations in North Texas. The gang has established its new headquarters on the US-Mexico border, just south of El Paso, Texas. Tren de Aragua gang tattoos (pictured above) were part of a Department of Homeland Security bulletin that was recently shared with federal agents 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 In Texas' sixth largest city, about a nine hour drive from Dallas, police are working on a confidential plan to address the growing threat, insiders told DailyMail.com last month. As a DailyMail.com investigation revealed, Venezuelan migrants have infiltrated food delivery and ride-share apps, renting or buying accounts that do not belong to them and showing up at your door illegally. Across the country, TdA cells have popped up in the Denver area, where the gangsters took control of several apartment buildings. If you feel like you're living in a convincing virtual reality akin to The Matrix, a scientist thinks you may well be right. Melvin Vopson, an associate professor in physics at the University of Portsmouth, claims our entire universe may be an advanced computer simulation. And the proof that this so-called simulation hypothesis is correct may be hiding in plain sight in the Bible. Professor Vopson told MailOnline: 'The bible itself tells us that we are in a simulation and it also tells us who is doing it. 'It is done by an AI an artificial intelligence.' Professor Vopson points to the Gospel of John, one of the first four books of the New Testament, the second part of the Christian Bible Professor Vopson points to the Gospel of John, one of the first four books of the New Testament, the second part of the Christian Bible. Gospel of John opens with the powerful statement: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.' The professor says this verse has 'deep theological significance in Christian doctrine', but it also carries 'intriguing implications' when considered in the context of the universe as a simulation. He argues that 'the Word' in this famous sentence refers to the underlying computer code that governs and controls the simulation. As anyone who has seen The Matrix will know, any computer simulation, big or small, consists of letters and numbers that write the rules for the entire creation. The academic further argues that 'the Word was God' could mean that God is part of the simulation, rather than separate from it. In other words, the entity that is controlling the whole thing God is written into the code too. Professor Vopson explains: 'The code running the simulation is not separate from the divine, but rather an integral part of it, perhaps an AI.' In the blockbuster movie The Matrix, protagonist Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, discovers we're living in a simulated reality. By the end of the film, Neo is able to see the simulated world for what it is - computer code (pictured) The simulated universe hypothesis proposes that what humans experience is actually an artificial reality, much like a computer simulation, in which they themselves are constructs. It formed the basis for the 1999 film The Matrix starring Keanu Reeves (pictured as his character wakes up in the real world) Gospel of John goes on to say: 'All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made...' Again, this statement supports the simulated universe theory, the professor suggests. 'It implies a Creator who brought the simulated universe into existence through the Word (i.e. the code)' he says. 'It suggests that the act of creation, as described in the Bible, could be analogous to a divine act of programming and simulation.' Arguably, the theory offers an answer to a question that many Christians struggle with how did God create the universe in six days? If the theory's to be believed, he did so by creating a simulated reality encapsulated in a computer programme something we know to be possible. The simulation theory - The Universe: A computer simulation - God: Part of the simulation, potentially an AI - The Bible: Also part of the computer simulation, potentially written by the AI Advertisement Professor Vopson has outlined his hypothesis in his new book, 'Reality Reloaded: The Scientific Case for a Simulated Universe'. He says it is not even something he necessarily believes in, but a 'extraordinary observation that deserves attention'. 'What is truly remarkable is that the interpretation given is fully aligned to the events of our times: the emergence of the AI, and also it is exactly what 'The Matrix' was projecting,' he told MailOnline. While the professor's thoughts may seem sacrilegious to some, he says it could have 'profound implications for Christian theology'. He believes there's an overlap where a belief in the simulated universe theory and the religious need for a almighty creator 'can coexist harmoniously'. 'This perspective aligns with religious beliefs that hold human life to be meaningful and purposeful, even within the context of a larger design,' he says. 'Instead of viewing the simulated universe hypothesis as antagonistic to religious beliefs, one can see it as offering a complementary perspective.' The professor has already said our lives contains several clues that suggest we're merely characters in an advanced virtual world. Melvin Vopson, an associate professor in physics at the University of Portsmouth, has outlined the clues that suggest we live in a simulated reality Professor Vopson thinks the prevalence of symmetry in the universe (pictured) suggests we are in a simulated reality because it's a way to save computational power For example, the fact there's limits to how fast light and sound can travel suggest they may be governed by the speed of a computer processor. The laws of physics that govern the universe are also akin to computer code, he says, while elementary particles that make up matter are like pixels. He also thinks the abundance of symmetry in the world from flowers to butterflies and snowflakes is a power-saving technique the machines use to render the digitally constructed world. The simulation theory is not unique to Professor Vopson; in fact, it's popular among a number of well-known figures including Tesla founder Elon Musk and American astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson. At a 2016 conference, Musk said the odds that we're living in a 'base reality' the real universe as opposed to a simulated one are 'one in billions'. The term 'base reality' is part of an expansion on the theory that there are layers upon layers of fake realities that we need to somehow wake up from, akin to the film 'Inception'. But as French philosopher Rene Descartes pointed out in 1637, 'Cogito, ergo sum', translated from the Latin as 'I think, therefore I am'. In other words, the ability to doubt the nature of our reality is essentially proof that we exist, in some shape or form. Experts are warning foragers to avoid using Google Images to identify mushrooms after the search engine is delivering misleading AI-generated results. Searches for a number of common edible mushrooms return wildly inaccurate images as the top result, despite these images being flagged as AI-generated. Foraging experts warn this could lead to dangerous, if not deadly, errors for foragers trying to identify safe mushrooms to eat. Professor David Hawksworth, a mycologist from the University of Southampton, told MailOnline: 'This is potentially extremely dangerous.' However, experts routinely warn that it isn't safe to pick up and eat mushrooms that we find on the ground - even if we think we can tell a safe species apart from a dangerous one. The moderator of the Reddit mushroom forum r/Mycology found that a search for the common Inkcap mushroom yielded an unrealistic AI-generated image as the first result Foragers have been warned to avoid using Google Images to identify mushrooms after the search engine delivered AI-generated images (stock image) This issue was first identified by a Reddit user MycoMutant, the moderator of the mushroom forum r/Mycology. In a post, MycoMutant explained how they had searched for Coprinus comatus, a common edible mushroom often called shaggy mane or shaggy inkcap. However, the user was surprised to find that the top result was a clearly AI-generated image and bore no resemblance to the real mushroom. MycoMutant wrote: 'Not only does this not remotely resemble Coprinus comatus and looks much closer to an inkcap in the Psathyrellaceae family but the image is not even real.' Selecting the image revealed that it was clearly titled 'Premium AI-generated PSD' and was hosted on a free stock image website, Freepix. Speaking to MailOnline, MycoMutant said they had reported dozens of incorrect snippet images to Google since March last year - most of which came from stock image sites. MailOnline identified another case in which an AI-generated image was the first result for a common edible mushroom Shaggy inkcaps (pictured) are edible, but experts warn that it could be risky if foragers are misled into picking unsafe varieties while looking for them MycoMutant added: 'Stock photo sites are a very poor source for accurate images of mushrooms because whilst there are many great photographers that can capture excellent images of mushrooms most of them are not capable of accurately identifying them.' Since then, the issue appears to have only got worse with Google even using images posted to the r/Mycology forum by amateur enthusiasts who may not have been correct in their identification. Professor Hawksworth adds: 'Even without AI, as many posted images are wrongly named. There really needs to be warnings put out!' However, when searching for the 'parasole mushroom', another common edible mushroom, the top result was once again AI-generated. The image in the top result was also hosted by Freepix, clearly labelled as a 'premium AI-generated image', and bears absolutely no resemblance to the parasol mushroom. Marlow Renton, foraging instructor and managing director of Wild Food UK, told MailOnline: 'I believe this is an area of genuine concern.' When shown the image, Mr Rentol said he didn't know of 'any in the UK that look remotely like that.' A foraging expert said the AI-generated image (right) bore no resemblance to any UK mushroom and definitely did not resemble the parasol mushroom (left) Google's AI overview described a Beech mushroom while providing images of the boletus, another very different edible mushroom In another case, the AI overview provided images of Common Morels while describing Japanese matsutake, an entirely distinct mushroom However, AI-powered misinformation was not only limited to Google Image results. MailOnline was able to identify several occasions in which Google's AI Overview misidentified or provided incorrect images for edible mushrooms. For example, when asked for a list of common edible mushrooms, Google's AI described a beech mushroom with images of a bolete, a different and unrelated edible mushroom. In an even more bizarre error, when describing a hedgehog mushroom the AI Overview provided an image of a real hedgehog. MailOnline found that Google's AI overview provided incorrect images for several searches for common edible mushrooms In a particularly bizarre case, Google provided a picture of a real hedgehog when describing the hedgehog mushroom As AI content and tools become more prevalent, there is also a growing concern that novice foragers could be at serious risk. Mr Renton says: 'This is a genuine worry because we're dealing with things that are potentially poisonous. 'Google Image search is not a reliable image search because the algorithm they use basically uses tagged words on the page rather than any image recognition software to verify the veracity of the tag. 'It's a place to start but people should always go to the source of the image and make their own judgement.' Since mushrooms can be so similar, relying on AI-can overlook details which would distinguish a potentially dangerous species. In one instance, Mr Renton used a popular AI-powered mushroom identification app on a white dome cap mushroom - an extremely toxic variety. Mr Renton says that AI-powered apps and information can mistake poisonous varieties such as the white domecap (pictured) with similar-looking edible mushrooms However, the app confidently identified the mushroom as a St George's mushroom which is a highly-regarded gourmet mushroom. 'If a novice had trusted the app, they would have poisoned themselves,' Mr Renton says. Recently, foragers were warned to avoid AI-generated foraging books which were being sold on Amazon. These books contained AI-generated descriptions and images which were, in many cases incorrect and misleading. Vix Hill-Ryder, wild food educator and founder of the Family Foraging Kitchen, told MailOnline: 'Whilst all mushrooms are safe to handle and smell, some wild mushrooms, like the highly poisonous death cap, which can be mistaken for edible varieties, are toxic. 'I would recommend only using online search engines and apps as an accompanying reference tool to compliment or compare to that of a positive ID taken from a reputable book source and by preferably, educating yourself via a course with an expert in their field.' A Google spokesperson told MailOnline that the company is 'looking into this'. An eerie discovery of structures at the bottom of an iconic US lake could unravel mysteries about the unchartered lakebed. Researchers were mapping an area of Lake Michigan that's home to at least 36 shipwrecks when they discovered strange depressions hundreds of feet under water. Scientists are hesitant to describe the strange circles as sinkholes, which have previously been found in Lake Huron, but said they're more akin to craters. So far, researchers have found 40 holes, measuring between 500 and 1,000 feet in diameter and hope that further observations will reveal how Earth evolved to support life. Scientists have discovered 40 craters about 450 feet below the surface of Lake Michigan The giant holes found at the bottom of Lake Michigan were first spotted by sonar images two years ago and recent findings have determined they are not man-made. Scientists at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) surveyed the lakebed on August 21 using a remotely operated vehicle to confirm that the circles are massive, naturally-occurring craters - each about the same size as an Olympic swimming pool. 'This is a whole new avenue of research. I mean, there's now a geological question in mind. How did they form? Why are they there, specifically in the bedrock?' Wisconsin Maritime Museum Director Kevin Cullen told TMJ4 News. 'We're all scratching our heads wondering, what could these things be?' The craters were discovered 450 feet below the water's surface and about 14 miles southeast of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. They extend southward toward Port Washington in the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary and although the scientists have found 40 of these sinkholes, researchers believe there's more. 'Any kind of new discovery in the Great Lakes is exciting,' Russ Green, a maritime archaeologist and superintendent of GLERL told Live Science. 'But these features really stand out they are in deeper water - 500 feet - and weren't known before, as far as we can tell.' Researchers used a remotely operated vehicle to survey the lakebed to confirm the massive circles seen in 2022 were actually craters A team of researchers at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory reported that 40 sinkholes were discovered, but it is likely there are more Part of Lake Michigan sits on limestone, making it likely that some of the craters are like the sinkholes found in Lake Huron in 2001. Limestone can form sinkholes when it dissolves and cracks, allowing the land above it to collapse or sink into the cavities. However, researchers are refraining from calling the depressions sinkholes until more studies have been conducted. 'I think they might be more accurately called craters, which have formed in the deep bottom sediment due either to water upwelling from below or trapped hydrocarbon offgassing,' Brendon Baillod, a local shipwreck hunter who also found several depressions told Live Science. Researchers reported that it's unclear when or how the depressions formed, but they provide such extreme environments that it could mimic the early conditions on Earth because of the limited oxygen and sulfur-rich conditions. This kind of environment is incredibly unique and can help scientists learn more about how Earth evolved before there was oxygen. 'It's an extreme environment,' Greg Dick, a professor at the University of Michigan and director of the Cooperative Institute of Great Lakes Research told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 'We typically have to go to Antarctica or Yellowstone National Park or some exotic location to get these extreme ecosystems, but this is in our backyard in the Great Lakes.' There is still very little known about the Great Lakes, as only about 15 percent of all five lakebeds have been mapped. Scientists have clarified that they know more about the surface and ecosystem on Mars than they do about the Great Lakes. 'We'll be exploring them for years to come to learn more, and sort out how they got there and what role they play in Lake Michigan's ecosystem,' Green told Live Science. For most of us, having WiFi in the home is just as essential as keeping the lights on. But experts now warn that your connection to the internet could also be giving criminals access to your most sensitive information. Research conducted by Broadband Genie found that the majority of people have never taken simple steps to protect their routers from cyberattacks. By leaving privacy settings and passwords on default and failing to update vital security updates, people could be leaving their network wide open to hackers. Here's how you can check your device is up to date with the latest security features, and what to do if it isn't. Experts warn that the majority of WiFi routers are at risk of cyberattacks which could be easily avoided (stock image) Routers are the devices that allow us to connect to the wider internet by acting as a gateway which passes information from one device to another. They act as the core of your home's WiFi network but most of us don't touch them or even think about them after we plug them in. Broadband Genie surveyed 3,000 internet users to see how they used their routers. Their survey found that more than half of those surveyed had never changed any of their devices' factory settings. Oliver Devane, senior security researcher at McAfee, says: 'Many default settings can be dangerous in the hands of cybercriminals.' Additionally, the survey found that the vast majority of people had never changed their WiFi network name or password. A survey from Broadband Genie found that more than half of people had not changed a single one of their WiFi router's default settings - up from two years ago How to update your router's software with the latest security features Most modern routers will automatically update with the latest software but some older models will require manual updates. To check your router's settings, copy the IP address (usually 192.168.1.1) into the address bar of any browser. When prompted, enter your admin username and password which can usually be found on the router itself. Find the router firmware update setting and check if any updates are available. If possible, set updates to automatically download in the future. Advertisement Of those surveyed, 89 per cent had never changed their network name, while 86 per cent had never changed their administrator password, and 75 per cent had never changed their WiFi password. Depending on the make or model, your router could have a default name that may be publicly known. If your WiFi network still has its default name, this makes it easy for hackers to look up what kind of password your network is likely to have and narrow down the range of possible guesses. Mr Devane says: 'Just like changing the lock on your front door, changing the default router password will ensure only authorised people can access your home network.' Another serious security issue identified by the report is that around nine out of ten people (89 per cent) have never updated their router's firmware. Internet service providers (ISPs) frequently release updates which add new features, resolve issues, and fix security weaknesses. When these aren't updated, hackers can use older, well-known security vulnerabilities to hack into the network. Mr Devane says: 'Cybercriminals take advantage of bugs and vulnerabilities in firmware, to gain access to your online information. Leaving your router's settings at their factory defaults can make it far easier for hackers to gain access to your network (stock image) What should you change to keep your router safe? Administrator login: This login grants access to all the routers settings, so you must change the password to something secure to only allow authorised users into these. Network name (SSID): The name of our WiFi network is a dead giveaway to hackers on which make and model router you're using. Change the name to something that doesnt include your router model or broadband provider. Wi-Fi password: The default password can be known for particular makes or models. Disable remote administration: Many routers offer a remote management function. This is an advanced setting you most likely wont ever need. Update your router firmware (software): This is your routers operating system; manufacturers will deploy updates for security and efficiency. Most modern routers will do this automatically, but some older models you may need to do this manually in the controls. Source: Alex Tofts, strategist at Broadband Genie, for MailOnline Advertisement 'Keeping the firmware up to date with the latest security patches will prevent this from happening.' Luckily, most modern routers will automatically check for and install updates whenever they are connected to the internet. However, if you have an older model it might be up to you to ensure that your network receives all the necessary security updates. If your network is compromised, hackers might be able to intercept information such as bank details or medical information which is sent over the network. Unscrupulous neighbours may also simply gain access to an unprotected network to avoid having to pay for their own. Most ISPs make it easy for users to see which devices are connected to their network, making it possible to figure out if there is anyone connected who shouldn't be. However, Broadband Genie's survey found that 75 per cent of people had never taken the steps to see who was connected to their WiFi. To check your router's settings or change your passwords, you will need to navigate to your WiFi router's online configuration page. To do this, open any internet browser on a device connected to your WiFi network and enter your network's IP address into the address or search bar. The IP address for most routers is 192.168.1.1 but if this doesn't work you will need to look up your router's address. Once you have entered the IP address and hit enter this will bring you to the login page where you will be prompted to enter your router's username and password which can usually be found on the sticker where the default password is written. The vast majority of people had not changed their router's administrator password in 2024 (right). Thee number of people who had fell from 16 per cent to 14 per cent in the last two years This comes after the WiFi network across 19 of the UK's biggest train stations was hacked, demonstrating the vulnerabilities in easily accessible wireless networks Something as simple as changing your WiFi password makes it harder for hackers to access your network but only 28 per cent of people said they had done this in 2024 From there you should be able to navigate through the settings to change your passwords and network name or install any needed updates, Broadband Genie says. You may need to check your ISP's website for more specific information on where to find these settings. If you find an unexpected device on your network or believe that you have been the victim of a cyberattack it is important that you take measures to secure your network. First, disconnect your internet and perform a full factory reset of the router which will remove any code the hacker might have installed to give themselves access. Once the router has been reset, you will need to change your admin password, WiFi password, and network names to something unique - take care not to repeat any of your existing passwords or use personal information. Finally, check any devices or accounts that you think might have been accessed for suspicious activity and report these if necessary. Verizon experienced a nationwide outage this morning, leaving many customers unable to send calls or texts. The outage began around 9:30am ET with customers reporting their cell service was completely down. Reports showed that phones were stuck in SOS mode while others said they have data bars, but they still can't receive any ingoing or outgoing calls and texts. Verizon is currently looking into the issue, but has not provided a time for when users can expect their cell service to return to normal. The outage came shortly before thousands of AT&T and T-Mobile customers also reported they weren't able to send or receive calls and texts. Verizon has gone down across the US with many users complaining they can't make calls or send texts Reports of Verizon outages are occurring all over the country, with many taking place in the Midwest Verizon has more than 143 million users in the US - but the amount hit by the outage is unknown. People took to Downdetector, a site that monitors online issues, to report the outage on Monday morning in areas as widespread as Chicago, Atlanta, New York City and Phoenix. Tea Storm Chasers, a non-profit that chases storms and police scanner calls, said the outage is primarily impacting Verizon customers across the Midwest. 'Well over 100,000 customers are reporting issues with mobile phones,' the non-profit wrote on X. 'We have had many messages about issues in the area as well. There is currently no ETA for full restoration of services.' However, the outage is also impacting people in other areas of the country, so the real number could be in the millions. A Verizon spokesperson told DailyMail.com that '[the company] is aware of an issue impacting service for some customers.' They added: 'Our engineers are engaged and we are working quickly to identify and solve the issue,' but did not confirm how many people were impacted by the outage. Verizon said it is looking into the outage but did not confirm when customers can expect their cell service to return to normal. Downdetector was inundated with reports about the outage, with 3,800 reporting they didn't have service at 9:30am ET, but that number jumped to nearly 85,000 by 10:40am ET. One Verizon user reported on Downdetector that they were able to get a few minutes on 5G if they switched airplane mode on and off, but then their phone returned to SOS. SOS is automatically activated on all phones when their isn't cell service but is a distress signal that can still be transmitted to request immediate assistance in a life-threatening emergency. An individual from Madison, Wisconsin also commented on Downdetector: 'In SOS mode. I've restarted my phone (iPhone 14pro), turned off cellular and back on & then it shows bars but immediately goes back to SOS.' In Indiana, one Verizon user reported that their phone isn't working for just some calls and texts, but not all and suggested people do a software update if they can and use WiFi calling. However, another person commented that does not seem to be an option, writing: 'In Southern Illinois, we also are seeing no signal from towers (SOS on signal indicator). 'What makes me think it's even bigger, however, is even connected through WiFi with cell connection turned off, WiFi calling and texting is not available.' The cellphone carrier responded to people's complaints on X, writing: 'We understand the importance of staying connected, and would be happy to take a look at what's occurring. Please send us a DM, and we can jump right in!' This outage comes just days after Verizon went down after Hurricane Helene swept across much of the Southeast Coast, leaving millions of people unable to contact loved ones. Immense flooding in areas of Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas created hazardous conditions that prevented Verizon technicians from accessing the area to fix downed lines and bring in generators. 'We continue to experience service impacts in parts of the Southeast due to prolonged power outages, massive flooding, access restrictions, and extensive fiber damage,' the company said in a press release. Restoration efforts are still ongoing as Verizon works with local power providers, first responders and local and state government agencies. A Montana man found guilty of illegally cloning sheep is due to be sentenced today in a first-of-its-kind case. Arthur 'Jack' Schubarth of Vaughn, 81 , used sperm imported from Kyrgyzstan to create a gigantic Marco Polo sheep he called the Montana Mountain King. The decade-long attempt to clone and create hybrids from the hulking sheep, which can weigh 300lb and have curled horns up to five feet long, aimed to provide sheep to be used for trophy hunts in Texas and Minnesota. Schubarth's attorney described his client's efforts as being like 'Jurassic Park' and told the court that cloning the enormous sheep has 'ruined his client's life'. Arthur 'Jack' Schubarth of Vaughn, 81 , used sperm imported from Kyrgyzstan to create hybrids The sheep nicknamed Montana Mountain King was cloned from a Marco Polo sheep Schubarth - who has been in the trophy hunting business since 1987 - successfully cloned a Marco Polo argali sheep using remnants he bought from a hunter who had killed a sheep in Kyrgyzstan in 2019. Schubart got a laboratory to create cloned embryos from Marco Polo argali sheep sperm. After implanting the embryos in a ewe, a pure Marco Polo argali sheep was born, which Schubert named 'Montana Mountain King'- and which was used to artificially impregnate other ewes. Montana Mountain King has now been confiscated by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services. Prosecutors are not seeking prison time for Schubarth - the maximum punishment is five years in prison, or a fine up to $250,000 or twice the defendant's financial gain. His attorney said in the sentencing memo, 'Jack did something no one else could, or has ever done. 'On a ranch, in a barn in Montana, he created Montana Mountain King. MMK is an extraordinary animal, born of science, and from a man who, if he could rewrite history, would have left the challenge of cloning a Marco Polo only to the imagination of Michael Crichton [the author of Jurassic Park].' Schubarth's attorney described his client's efforts as being like 'Jurassic Park' He created huge 'Franken-sheep' out of ram semen and his own mountain eyes Schubarth owns Sun River Enterprises LLC, a 215-acre alternative livestock ranch, which buys, sells and breeds 'alternative livestock' such as mountain sheep, mountain goats and ungulates. The animals are used for private hunting preserves, where people shoot captive trophy game animals for a fee, prosecutors said. Schubarth, in a letter attached to the sentencing memo, said he becomes extremely passionate about any project he takes on, including his 'sheep project,' and is ashamed of his actions. He said: 'I got my normal mindset clouded by my enthusiasm and looked for any grey area in the law to make the best sheep I could for this sheep industry. My family has never been broke, but we are now.' Schubarth pleaded guilty in March to charges that he and five other people conspired to use tissue from a Marco Polo sheep illegally brought into the U.S. to clone that animal. Schubarth also paid a hunting guide $400 for the testicles of a trophy-sized Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep in 2019 that had been harvested in Montana and then extracted and sold the semen, court records said. Schubarth sold semen from Montana Mountain King along with hybrid sheep to three people in Texas Sheep breeds that are not allowed in Montana were brought into the state during the conspiracy, prosecutors said. Schubarth sold semen from Montana Mountain King along with hybrid sheep to three people in Texas. A Minnesota resident brought 74 sheep to Schubarth's ranch for them to be inseminated at various times, court records said. Schubarth sold one direct offspring from MMK for $10,000 and other sheep with lesser MMK genetics for smaller amounts. Verizon customers were in an uproar after the cell phone carrier's service went down on Monday morning. The outage potentially impacted millions of customers who reported they couldn't make or receive calls and texts and only had an SOS signal. AT&T and T-Mobile faced similar challenges, with users complaining that they couldn't access their 5G network and their phone wouldn't connect to WiFi. Although AT&T and T-Mobile's outage appeared to be contained to the Southeast Coast in areas ravaged by Hurricane Helene, Verizon complaints soared in the Midwest. The outage continued into the early evening, though Verizon said the issue was beginning to resolve in some areas. Verizon users across the nation were impacted by the outage, but the majority were located in the Midwest. Customers complained that their phones were set on SOS mode and they couldn't send or receive calls or texts Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile customers complained about phone outages on Monday Reports that Verizon was down began around 9:30am ET with customers complaining their cell service was completely down. Customers extending across the US - from Phoenix, Arizona to New York City said they were only receiving an SOS signal. However, those impacted appear to be primarily located in the Midwest with people stating that the outage began at different times for each of their family member's devices. People across Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin complained that their phones were stuck in SOS mode which only allows for emergency calls via satellite. One person posted on Downdetector, a site that monitors online issues, that 'text via WiFi is not enabled for some reason and I cant access the settings to activate it.' Another person commented that they've experienced a complete blackout in Sacramento, California with no access to calls, text or data. The cell phone carrier responded to some comments, asking for additional information from anyone who said their phone was stuck in SOS mode. 'I know I would share your concern if my phone was in SOS as well. I am here to help take a look into this, and help find a solution.' one reply said. Verizon asked the user: 'When did this issue first start happening? Can you share the nearest cross streets and city where this is happening? Please send a DM.' It remains unclear why people in the Midwest were the most impacted by the outage and a Verizon spokesperson told DailyMail.com that they aware of the issue and its 'engineers are engaged and we are working quickly to identify and solve the issue.' The company later posted the same message on X. AT&T users reported they were likewise impacted by the outage and complained that they couldn't send or receive calls or texts and their phones wouldn't connect to WiFi. These people were mostly based in areas impacted by Hurricane Helene T-Mobile users across the Southeast Coast reported that they couldn't use their 5G or connect to WiFi AT&T and T-Mobile customers also reported an outage, saying they couldn't send or receive calls and texts nor could they access their WiFi. Those living in the Southeast where Hurricane Helene struck last week were primarily impacted, according to a T-Mobile spokesperson. Heat maps on Downdetector show that the majority of user outage reports are stemming from parts of Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas - all states that were impacted by Hurricane Helene last week. However, the outage could be more widespread because those affected may not report their experiences. A T-Mobile spokesperson told DailyMail.com that 'based on increased reports on Down Detector related to other providers, we believe our customers may be having challenges connecting with other networks.' They added: 'Outside of some areas where restoration is continuing from Hurricane Helene, our network is operating normally.' However, an AT&T spokesperson claimed in an email to DailyMail.com that the company is not experiencing a major outage and its 'national network is operating normally.' They added: 'Down Detector is likely reflecting challenges our customers are having attempting to connect to users on another network.' Agatha Christie once said: Trains are wonderful. Certainly, they were helpful to her, providing the inspiration for Murder On The Orient Express. She knew all about the mystique of travelling on an overnight train, which is the setting for the BBCs Nightsleeper drama, specifically on a chaotic, madcap Glasgow to London trip. But you dont have to experience similar mishaps. Just bed down in one place and wake up in another. Heres how to enjoy some of Europes top routes. CZECH IT OUT: BRUSSELS TO PRAGUE The European Sleeper runs thrice-weekly trains between Brussels (pictured) and Prague Tom says: 'The operators motto is "The Good Night Train" and the emphasis is on comfort with beds with duvets and quality linen.' Above is one of the train's 'cheaper couchettes' European Sleeper is a Belgian-Dutch co-operative launched last year, now operating thrice-weekly trains between Brussels and Prague, calling at Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Berlin and Dresden. The operators motto is The Good Night Train and the emphasis is on comfort with beds with duvets and quality linen. Youre given a bottle of water, and continental breakfast with a hot drink. There are also sinks, but toilets are along the hall. Carriages are sleek, made of fluted stainless steel; originally from the US in the 1950s. Compartments with three-tier bunks can be booked privately for 1-3 people, or there are cheaper couchettes fitting 5-6. Catch a London-Brussels Eurostar for the onwards journey. Or join at Rotterdam, having taken a ferry to the Hook of Holland. Dining car: Yes, but not on all services. Three-course meal such as pumpkin soup, schnitzel, and cheesecake 27. Reservations required. Best thing: Romantic vintage carriages. Timings: Departs Brussels 7.22pm, arrives Prague 10.56am: 15 hours and 34 minutes, covering about 630 miles. How to do it: Sleeper compartment for two from 350; or 132pp sharing a six-berth couchette (europeansleeper.eu). CALEDONIAN SLEEPER: LONDON TO SCOTLAND Take in fine highland scenery on the Caledonian Sleeper train, which runs between London and Scotland One-way fares are from 310 for two in a Classic compartment or 350 for two in a Club compartment with a bunk This runs between London Euston and Fort William, Inverness, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen (with other stops). One-way fares are from 310 for two in a Classic compartment or 350 for two in a Club compartment with a bunk (from 425 for two for a compartment with a double bed). Trains operate daily in each direction, leaving between 7.50pm and 11.45pm depending on route, arriving between 7.07am and 9.57am. Theres fine highland scenery (sleeper.scot). ROLL INTO ROMANIA: BUDAPEST TO BUCHAREST The Carpathian Mountains (above) are a highlight on the Ister sleeper train between Budapest and Bucharest For an intriguing ride from Hungarys capital to Romanias capital, hop on board the Ister sleeper train. Ister is Roman for Danube, and this journey travels in its direction towards the Black Sea. Budapest Keleti station has an ornate facade featuring a prominent statue of our railway pioneer, George Stephenson. On board the Caile Ferate Romane trains do not expect anything too fancy: compartments are poky with faux wood panelling and narrow beds with duvets. A sink is hidden beneath a fold-up table. The highlight is admiring the scenery of the Carpathian Mountains between Brasov and Bucharest, according to railway guru Mark Smith of Seat61.com. Dining car: None. However, theres a sandwich kiosk/bar offering sandwiches (1.70), wine (2.50), or beer (2.90). Timings: Departs Budapest 7.10pm, arrives in Bucharest 11.30am: 11 hours and 20 minutes, covering about 505 miles. How to do it: Sleeper compartment for two from 146, or 40 sharing a six-berth couchette (bileteinternationale.cfrcalatori.ro); put in Bucuresti for Bucharest. NORWEGIAN NIGHTS: TRONDHEIM TO BODO For an enjoyable journey at any time of the year, take the SJ Norge night train between Norway's Trondheim (pictured) and Bodo This is an especially good summer ride when its light into the early hours of the morning and you can watch Norwegian fjords and mountains pass by. But the journey is enjoyable at any time of year. A daily sleeper is operated by SJ Norge, with standard seats, Premium Plus rest seats (with more recline) and sleeper compartments. The latter come with two single beds with good quality linen, water bottles and sinks; toilets are down the hall. You also get free coffee/tea. Trondheim is an elegant city by a fjord, while Bodo is a smaller town with a thriving art scene. Both are great for the Northern Lights. Dining car: Yes, a cafe serves light meals such as salmon potato salad (13) or pizzas (12). But watch out: wine is 10, a beer 9 by the glass. Timings: Departs Trondheim 11.05pm, arrives in Bodo 9.05am: ten hours, covering about 435 miles. How to do it: Sleeper compartments from 144, Premium Plus from 82, standard from 60 (sj.no). NIGHT RIVIERA: LONDON TO CORNWALL 'The Night Riviera is a brilliant way to roll into Cornwall with stops at Liskeard, Par, St Austell, Truro and St Erth (for St Ives),' says Tom of the GWR service, pictured above Light breakfasts are included in the price of a Night Riviera compartment (left), which Tom says 'come with beds with good linen'. The train also boasts a lounge car with snacks and drinks (right) Departing Paddington at 10.30pm arriving at 7.54am in Penzance or 9.15pm or 9.45pm in the opposite direction, arriving at 6.45am the Night Riviera is a brilliant way to roll into Cornwall with stops at Liskeard, Par, St Austell, Truro and St Erth (for St Ives). Light breakfasts (bacon roll or cereal) are included with compartments, which come with beds with good linen. Theres also a lounge car with snacks and drinks. Station lounge use is included. Compartments from 166 for two (gwr.com). THE ITALIAN JOB: MILAN TO SICILY Tom comments: 'The sleeper journey from Milan to Palermo is known as the Intercity Notte.' Above - Palermo You might wonder how a train crosses the Strait of Messina from mainland Italy to Sicily. The answer is: by train ferry. This sleeper journey from Milan to Palermo (though a shorter version is possible from Rome) is known as the Intercity Notte, with compartments for 1-3 passengers, plus couchettes for up to six. The Superior compartments have tiny ensuite rooms, while the cheaper Relax compartments just have sinks. A continental breakfast plus a hot drink is served. Expect great coastal scenery. Dining car: None. But theres a refreshment trolley and food vending machines. Timings: Departs Milan 8.10pm, arrives Palermo 4.55pm: 20 hours and 45 minutes, covering about 970 miles. How to do it: Relax sleeper compartments for two from 215; couchettes from 60pp (trenitalia.com). NIGHTJET EXPRESS: VIENNA TO VENICE All aboard: The Nightjet train takes you overnight to Vienna and Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Berlin Sleeper compartments, as pictured here, offer maximum cosiness, says Austrian Federal Railways (OBB) LEFT: Travellers can purchase drinks and snacks on Nightjet trains. RIGHT: A private bathroom on the Nightjet train Austrian Federal Railways (OBB) has stolen a march on other national rail operators in Europe by investing heavily in a fleet of Nightjet sleepers. You can travel between Vienna and Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Berlin among other routes though a popular classic is between the two Vs: Vienna and Venice. Sleeper compartments offer maximum cosiness, says OBB. You are given a complimentary glass of sparkling wine on arrival, and breakfast with hot drinks and a selection of hams and cheeses. This is a superb way to cross the Alps into Italy. Dining car: Yes, and food can be ordered. Paprika chicken (11), glass of wine (3), beer (3). Timings: Departs Vienna 9.39pm, arrives Venice 8.34am: ten hours and 55 minutes, covering about 350 miles. How to do it: Sleeper from 300 for two; or couchette from 100pp (oebb.at). Strictly's Tom Dean and Nadiya Bychkova broke their silence after becoming the first couple to leave the BBC series on Sunday. The Olympian, 24, and pro dancer, 35, took to their respective Instagrams with gushing tributes following their 'devastating' early exits. Fans were left furious after the judges chose to save Toyah Wilcox, 66, over Tom despite her being at the bottom of the leaderboard and being bookies favourite for the chop. Sharing a snap of the pair Nadiya wrote: 'I want to say thank you for all the amazing messages tonight. Tom had so much to give and I had so much I wanted to teach him. 'His improvement in the last 2 weeks has been incredible and I think, actually I know, he could have become a brilliant dancer. Im devastated that you wont get to see that'. Strictly 's Tom Dean, 24, and Nadiya Bychkova, 35, broke their silence after becoming the first couple to leave the BBC series on Sunday The Olympian and pro dancer took to their respective Instagrams with gushing tributes following their 'devastating' early exits Fans were left furious after the judges chose to save Toyah Wilcox, 66, over Tom despite her being at the bottom of the leaderboard and being bookies favourite for the chop She continued: 'My 3-time Olympic Champion was an amazing student and is a wonderful gentleman. He will go on to bigger and better things and I know this year he could have had a brilliant Strictly story'. 'I love this show and I want to wish the other couples all the best and Im sure its going to be a great series. Thank you for your kindness'. While Tom shared his own candid snaps and said: 'Coming straight from the Paris 2024 Olympics into Strictly Come Dancing has been a whirlwind but Im so so proud' 'The journey may have ended a little earlier than I hoped and of course I am so gutted, but Im so grateful for all the amazing people I met, people Ill be cheering on throughout and who I know will continue to smash it' 'And to my brilliant partner @nadiyabychkova , thank you so much for everything. Youve been an amazing teacher and to have danced alongside you has been an absolute privilege. Over and out Strictly! Youve been an absolute blast x' Taking to X, fans struggled to understand the judges' decision branding it 'bizarre' and claimed the Olympic legend had been 'robbed'. Writing: 'Tom did NOT deserve to go. So gutted for him!': 'I'm shook why would they vote for Toyah?': 'Ridiculous': 'I don't understand the decision at all, justice for Tom': 'Fumin': 'Why Shirley? WHY?'. More said: 'That Strictly Come Dancing result, ridiculous': 'No, no, no no... shook that Tom has gone! Wrong decision in my opinion!': 'What a bizarre and incorrect dance off result': 'Timing and clarity? How about some actual steps that are required in the dance? There was no Jive [in Toyah's routine]. Tom was robbed' Tom shared a clip of the pair during rehearsals ahead of Saturday's show In another image he modelled his snazzy pink outfit from the first episode The pair appeared to have grown close with Nadiya saying he was 'devastated' viewers would not get to see Tom's improved skills on the dancefloor Another candid snap showed them with Janette Manrara (L) on spin-off series It Takes Two Nadiya wrote: 'I want to say thank you for all the amazing messages tonight. Tom had so much to give and I had so much I wanted to teach him. While Tom shared his own candid snaps and said: 'Coming straight from the Paris 2024 Olympics into Strictly Come Dancing has been a whirlwind but Im so so proud' Strictly Come Dancing leaderboard: Week 2 1. Tasha Ghouri and Aljaz Skorjanec - 8 + 9 + 9 + 9 = 35 + 30 = 65 2. Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola - 8 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 32 + 30 = 62 3. JB Gill and Amy Dowden MBE - 7 + 7 + 6 + 7 = 27 + 31 = 58 4. Wynne Evans and Katya Jones - 7 + 7 + 8 + 8 = 30 + 26 = 56 5. Montell Douglas and Johannes Radebe - 8 + 7 + 7 + 8 = 30 + 26 = 56 6. Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell - 6 + 7 + 8 + 8 = 29 + 23 = 52 6. Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu - 7 + 8 + 8+ 8 = 31 + 21 = 52 7. Jamie Borthwick and Michelle Tsiakkas - 6 + 7 + 7 + 7 = 27 + 23 = 50 8. Sam Quek MBE and Nikita Kuzmin - 4 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 22 + 23 = 45 9. Tom Dean MBE and Nadiya Bychkova - 3 + 6 + 5 + 6 = 20 + 23 = 43 10. Nick Knowles and Luba Mushtuk - 5 + 5 + 5 + 6 = 21 + 18 = 39 10. Pete Wicks and Jowita Przysta - 3 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 22 + 17 = 39 11. Punam Krishan and Gorka Marquez - 4 + 5 + 4 + 5 = 18 + 19 = 37 12. Paul Merson and Karen Hauer - 2 + 4 + 4 + 5 = 15 + 17 = 32 13. Toyah Willcox and Neil Jones - 3 + 5 + 5 + 5 = 18 + 12 = 30 Advertisement When asked by host Tess Daly about his time on the show, Tom said: 'I've had the best time the last few weeks and getting to work with Nadiya has been incredible. 'I wish I could have gone further and done more dances. 'I've had the most fun and I wish we could keep going longer and longer. We'll still go out for loads of brunches I'm sure.' Tom's professional dance partner Nadiya added: 'To get to know him, he's not just a three-time Olympic champion he's a true gentleman and he taught me how to work really hard and how to put everything in. 'And you know what? On this programme, sometimes to win, you don't need to win, and that's how I feel this year.' Earlier in the day the news of Tom's exit had been leaked, leading to more fans expressing their confusion. They said on X: 'How can they save who they saved, seriously?!' 'Give over This makes me so sad.', 'Sorry but what that Strictly spoiler,'. Tom was given the boot after Craig Revel Horwood , Motsi Mabuse and Shirley Ballas pointed out his lack of timing Both couples performed their routines again; Tom and Nadiya took on their Cha Cha to Boogie Wonderland by Earth, Wind & Fire then Toyah and Neil performed their Jive to Nutbush City Limits by Ike & Tina Turner With two votes for Toyah and Neil, and one vote for Tom and Nadiya, head judge Shirley Ballas had the deciding vote and chose to save Toyah and Neil Taking to X, fans struggled to understand the decision branding it 'bizarre' and claimed the Olympic legend had been 'robbed' During their perfomance on Saturday's show Nadiya suffered an awkward wardrobe malfunction when her skin-tight sequinned jumpsuit to rip between her legs. As they faced the judges where host Tess pointed out the awkward gaffe saying: 'Her costume! we had a costume malfunction it ripped on her leg!'. As Nadiya giggled, judge Shirley couldn't help but heap praise on Tom and gushed how 'coped and carried on carried on' during the mishap. Elsewhere Neil took a savage dig at partner Toyah, after the pair found themsleves at the bottom of last week's leaderboard with just 12 points. After JB Fletcher's perfomance saw him score a whopping 27 out of 40, partner Amy Dowden revealed she'd kept him from making mistakes, by charging him a pound every time. Hitting back Neil quipped: 'If we did the same with [last week's] tango, I'd be a millionaire by now!'. Meanwhile Tasha Ghouri left father Tarek in tears as she topped the leader board and made history after scoring the highest ever for a Viennese waltz in week two. The Love Island star, 26, performed with pro partner Aljaz Skorjanec, 34, in what the judges branded the 'dance of the night'. During their perfomance on Saturday's show Nadiya suffered an awkward wardrobe malfunction when her skin-tight sequinned jumpsuit to rip between her legs As they faced the judges where host Tess pointed out the awkward gaffe saying: 'Her costume! we had a costume malfunction it ripped on her leg!' While Neil took a savage dig at partner Toyah after the pair found themsleves at the bottom of last week's leaderboard with just 12 points Anton Du Beke gushed that he 'couldn't find anything bad' in the performance, while Motsi agreed: 'That was the best dance of the night! I absolutely loved it!'. Tasha's father who was sat in the audience appeared visibly emotional as his daughter also struggled to choke back tears following the feedback. When preparing to hear their scores host Claudia Winkleman said: 'What made it more emotional was watching your dad, sobbing, watching you'. This was the moment Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood hugged Giovanni Pernice on stage as the pair reunited ahead of the BBC's bullying probe results. The Italian dancer, 34, was accused by Sherlock actress Amanda Abbington, 50, of 'cruel' and 'mean' treatment as she made a variety of claims about alleged inappropriate behaviour. During one of Giovanni's Ballando dance classes in London, judges Craig and Motsi Mabuse seemed to have put the investigation aside as they appeared on stage with the professional dancer as a pair of special guests. In an Instagram clip of the class, shared online by Giovanni, Craig is graciously introduced onto the stage. Met with a huge round of applause from the audience, Giovanni is seen wrapping his arms around the former Strictly star as they made a public reunion on stage. This was the moment Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood hugs Giovanni Pernice on stage as the pair reunited ahead of the BBC's bullying probe results The Italian dancer, 34, was accused by Sherlock actress Amanda Abbington, 50, of 'cruel' and 'mean' treatment as she made a variety of claims about alleged inappropriate behaviour In an attempt to keep the interaction light-hearted, Craig asked him: 'Where have you been, Giovanni?' In a cockney accent, Giovanni joked: 'I've been eating pasta and pizza, mate!' referring to his new star turn on the Italian version of Strictly - Ballando con le Stelle. Despite the official findings from the BBC yet to be published at the time, Craig and Motsi appeared unphased by the star's recent bullying probe as they appeared in light spirits for the occasion. The clip came just hours before Sherlock actress Amanda claimed 'vindication' following the findings of a report into alleged bullying and abuse by Giovanni. The BBC apologised to Amanda on Monday and said its previous measures had not been 'enough' to address the issues raised by the actress. But media bosses have also reportedly cleared Giovanni on 11 out of 17 allegations, which claimed aggressive, threatening and sexually inappropriate conduct. The apology followed a six-month probe triggered by Amanda's shock exit in week five of the 2023 series. At the time, she cited 'personal' issues for her absence. However, the publication of the outcome has revealed more details of exactly what the allegations against the dancer were. During one of Giovanni's Ballando dance classes in London, judges Craig and Motsi Mabuse seemed to have put the investigation aside as they appeared on stage with the pro dancer In an Instagram clip of the class, shared online by Giovanni, Craig is graciously introduced onto the stage The clip came just hours before Sherlock actress Amanda claimed 'vindication' following the findings of a report into alleged bullying and abuse by Giovanni On Monday, the BBC apologised to Amanda and said its previous measures had not been 'enough' to address the issues raised The exact details of the allegations against Giovanni, and which were upheld, have not been published. But it was previously reported Amanda had accused him of bullying her during training sessions. In an interview earlier this year, the actress said she had been left 'horrified' after watching clips of rehearsals that allegedly exhibited 'humiliating behaviour of a sexual nature'. She also compared the experience to 'the trenches' and claimed she was sent an inappropriate video via WhatsApp. But the BBC did not find that Giovanni had engaged in any inappropriate sexual behaviour. It did highlight two instances of sexual banter it judged to be 'inappropriate' in the workplace, but added they were judged as jokes and compliments of Amanda dancing, received by her in a consensual, two-way manner of interacting. Amanda also reportedly alleged he had stepped on her toe during rehearsals - but it is understood the investigation found no evidence of physical abuse or aggression. Despite this, the BBC issued a public apology to Amanda after its probe found 'a number of' instances of verbal bullying and harassment. But media bosses have also reportedly cleared Giovanni on 11 out of 17 allegations, which claimed aggressive, threatening and sexually inappropriate conduct Some of the six allegations proven involved Giovanni using swear words during training and several instances in which he is said to have used 'belittling' language. The BBC also agreed with Amanda that at times he appeared to be giving her overly negative feedback. The review into her complaints about Giovanni was launched earlier this year. Giovanni, who is not part of this year's Strictly professional dancing line-up and has since joined an Italian dance show, Ballando con le Stelle, always rejected the allegations. The BBC said on Monday: 'We have assessed the complaints and we have upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made. 'We want to apologise to Amanda Abbington and to thank her for coming forward and taking part. We know this would not have been an easy thing to do. 'At the time, although the production team took steps to address the issues as they understood them, ultimately these were not enough. 'This is why the measures we have taken to further strengthen our existing protocols are so important.' A written statement from Amanda said it 'was not an easy thing to do' to come forward, and she has been 'accused of being a liar, a troublemaker and of being 'mad and unstable'' and that she and her children had been threatened. 'Despite this vile abuse, I've never regretted coming forward, and today's apology from the BBC is a vindication of my complaint. Giovanni, who is not part of this year's Strictly pro dancing line-up and has since joined an Italian dance show, Ballando con le Stelle, always rejected the allegations against him 'It's not just a vindication for me, it's a vindication for the other people who have contacted me since I made my complaint to express concerns about their own experiences on Strictly Come Dancing. 'I hope those who have felt unable to speak out now will be more confident that they will be listened to and believed.' She added that she is 'considering' meeting senior management, after this was offered to her. The actress also said: 'This apology means a great deal to me. So too does the fact that the BBC have acknowledged the steps that were put in place to support and protect me and past contestants were 'not enough'. 'What matters most now is that lessons have been learned and that the BBC makes the changes they've promised, to ensure others don't experience the same ordeal that I and others like me did.' Meanwhile in a written statement, a spokesperson for Giovanni said: 'We are pleased that this six-month review has not found any evidence of threatening or abusive behaviour by Giovanni. 'Giovanni is relieved that the overwhelming majority of allegations out to the BBC have not been upheld and looks forward to continuing his work on Dancing With The Stars in Italy this season.' Married At First Sight UK fans have called for Eve Reid to exit the show after 'mentally torturing' and 'gaslighting' her wife Charlie Curtis. Despite hitting it off on their wedding day, the pair's relationship came to a screeching halt during their honeymoon, with Eve repeatedly insisting she needed space from her wife. And in Monday's episode, Eve infuriated viewers when she reacted badly to Charlie accusing her of 'lying' about preferring to spend quality time with her over writing a candid letter about her life. For Experts Week, some of the couples were asked to write their partner a letter detailing some candid elements about their relationship. While Charlie opened up to Eve about her parents split, and her estrangement from her dad, Eve admitted she hadn't even written a letter. Married At First Sight UK fans have called for Eve Reid to exit the show after 'mentally tortured' and 'gaslighting' her wife Charlie Curtis Despite hitting it off on their wedding day, the pair's relationship came to screeching halt during their honeymoon, with Eve (pictured) insisting she needed space from her wife Insisting she'd rather spend quality time with Charlie, but she hit back: 'But you don't, you haven't. Stop, because you're lying.' Visibly furious, a stunned Eve asked: 'Are you joking me right now?' Things took a turn when Charlie broke down in tears, and she furiously asked Eve to leave the apartment, leaving the future of their relationship hanging in the balance. Viewers quickly took to X to criticise Eve's behaviour, with one claiming she'd clearly 'never seen the show.' Posts included: 'Can they just send Eve home NOW and save Charlie the mental torture;' 'We've seen an awful lot of toxic masculinity this series of #MAFSUK but I think Eve is quite the gaslighter;' 'Eve doesn't mind working on a relationship?? I've not seen her try? She was buzzing she got asked to leave there so she don't get the blame for walking away;' 'I'm sorry but Eve seems to live in her own false reality? She cannot listen to a single thing Charlie has said;' In Monday's episode, Eve infuriated viewers when she reacted badly to Charlie accusing her of 'lying' about preferring to spend quality time with her over writing a letter about her life Things took a turn when Charlie broke down in tears, and she furiously asked Eve to leave the apartment, leaving the future of their relationship hanging in the balance Viewers quickly took to X to criticise Eve's behaviour, with one claiming she'd clearly 'never seen the show' 'In my opinion, I really think Eve is trying to sabotage her way out of this. Like just leave already. You clearly don't want to be there if you don't even want to try;' 'Not sure why Eve even applied for the show, she's a big gaslighter and emotional abuser;' 'Eve is exhausting, why did she even apply for this show if she's not going to participate? She's boring me;' Given how Monday's episode unfolded, it may come as a surprise to few that it's been reported that Eve and Charlie eventually decide to split off-screen. The show's most talked about bride - who has been blasted as 'toxic' by viewers - was spotted at Ibiza airport with her arm around another woman, in pictures obtained by The Sun. Eve's latest sighting comes as a bit of a spoiler to fans as the episode revealing whether or not her and Charlie's marriage was a success has not yet aired. Eve, who is a fitness instructor from Omagh, tied the knot with Charlie, 30 from Surrey on the day they met. After explosive rows and Charlie ending up in tears during their honeymoon, viewers saw the couple agreeing to give their marriage another shot. Given how Monday's episode unfolded, it may come as a surprise to few that it's been reported that Eve and Charlie eventually decide to split off-screen However, according to The Sun, Eve was spotted kissing and holding her new lover in the airport before flying back to Belfast from the Spanish island. The snap, which shows Eve and the mystery woman standing in the queue at the check-in desk, was reportedly taken around 11:45 on Sunday. An onlooker told The Sun the couple kissed multiple times and when Eve noticed them looking, she put her hood up in an attempt to try and hide her face. The onlooker told The Sun: 'As a fan of MAFS UK I was shocked to see Eve with her hand around someone else other than Charlie.' They added: 'I was really rooting for them and they were one of my favourite couples.' '[Eve] seemed really loved up with the girl at the airport. She had her arm around Eve's waist as they were waiting to check in their bags.' The onlooker also added that Eve seemed in a really 'bad mood' and after taking the photo, she put up her hood as if she didn't want to be seen. Married At First Sight UK continues on Tuesday at 9pm on E4. Tarek El Moussa and his wife Heather Rae Young were spotted at LAX with Heather's parents. The foursome arrived back in Los Angeles after a trip to New York City where the HGTV stars took in the sights including the Empire State Building. At LAX, the former Selling Sunset star, 37, looked comfortable in a grey sweatshirt and pants. El Moussa wore a black sweatshirt and pants with a grey hoodie and a black ball cap. Tarek and Heather's father carried the carry-on bags for the group. Tarek El Moussa and his wife Heather Rae Young were spotted at LAX with Heather's parents While in the Big Apple, the parents of son Tristan, one, visited the Empire State Building where they cheerfully posed for cheesy tourist photos. The trip comes in the wake of Tarek's ex-wife Christina Hall announcing she was divorcing her third husband Josh Hall. Tarek, Heather, Christina, and Josh were all set to star in a new competition series, The Flip Off, but in light of the divorce, Us Weekly reported the show would be 'moving forward' without Josh. While promoting the series, El Moussa talked about filming the show - and how 'tension' can occur when his wife isn't reigning victorious on the series. 'The only time there's tension is when she realizes she's losing,' El Moussa told Fox Digital News. 'Outside of that, things are pretty good.' Heather added: 'I feel like we've all come a long way. We've been together 5 years, married almost three. And everyone's in a really good place right now. 'And we're just having a really good time filming the show and competing against each other,' she said. 'I think people are very excited about The Flip Off because, obviously, you have exes working together again after they were on Flip or Flop for so long,' Heather said. 'It's been like a fun, friendly competition.' The foursome arrived back in Los Angeles after a trip to New York City where the HGTV stars took in the sights including the Empire State Building The foursome arrived back in Los Angeles after a trip to New York City where the HGTV stars took in the sights including the Empire State Building. Seen here in September 2024 The trip comes in the wake of Tarek's ex-wife Christina Hall announcing she was divorcing her third husband Josh Hall. Tarek and Heather seen here in September 2024 The two couples were all set for their new HGTV competition show The Flip Off until the split turned it into two-against-one. Seen here in September 2024 The main cast of three causes tension at times as Tarek recently revealed. However, its not due to the personal relationships between the three stars 'The only time there's tension is when she realizes she's losing,' El Moussa told Fox Digital News. 'Outside of that, things are pretty good' Christina, who was also previously wed to Ant Anstead, with whom she shares son Hudson, five, accused her estranged husband Josh of transferring $35,000 of her money into his bank account. Per legal documents obtained by ET, the 41-year-old HGTV personality claimed, 'Josh was able to divert over $35,000 of my separate property rental income into his account.' She went on to say in the court paperwork, 'I am asking for Josh to account for the funds taken and return them to me as those funds are specifically used to pay any loans, obligations, property taxes, insurance, and maintenance for these rental properties.' The documents were filed in Orange County Superior Court in California, and the mother-of-three has requested that a judge order Josh to return the money. They are one of the most famous mother-daughter duos in the world. And on Sunday night, Kate Moss, 50, showed off her model physique in a semi sheer minidress as she helped daughter Lila celebrate her 22nd birthday during Paris Fashion Week. Kate, who has been teetotal for seven years, went all out for glamour, and sashayed into Cibus restaurant in the sheer number that was covered with black and gold polka dots. The catwalk pin-up looked sensational in the sexy see-through look which left her underwear on show. She wore her blonde locks loose and opted for a chunky gold bracelet for accessories and carried her belongings in a large black YSL handbag. Kate Moss went all out for glamour as she helped daughter Lila celebrate her 22nd birthday in Paris on Sunday evening Kate showed off her model physique in a semi sheer mini dress as she joined her daughter at the French capital's Cibus restaurant The stunning model wore black heels with a leopard print detail and opted for a simple cat eye makeup look for the night out. Lila stunned in a black frock with ripped detailing and ruching along the bottom. She held onto a black shoulder bag and teetered down the street in velor ruched cowboy boots. Lila styled her hair in a sleek bun and wore a dewy palette of soft makeup. The pair were joined by model and actress Barbara Palvin who was accompanied by hair arust Owen Gould. Barbara was spotted in a pleather coat that skimmed her thighs which she tightly knotted shut with a belt. She wore dark sunglasses and black heels with straps that criss crossed over her feet. Elsewhere, Natasha Poly dared to bare as she went braless beneath a sheer black dress as she arrived for the party. The Russian model, 39, was full of confidence as she bared her breasts in the racy, transparent outfit. The catwalk pin-up looked sensational in the sexy see-through look which left her underwear on show She wore her blonde locks loose and opted for a chunky gold bracelet for accessories and carried her belongings in a large black YSL handbag The supermodel puton a leggy display in some sheer black tights as she walked down the Parisian streets Kate battled with the wind as she walked down the street, brushing it away from her face as she made her way back into The Ritz Hotel after her night out Her blonde locks were strewn across her face as she was caught off guard by the September winds Lila held onto a black shoulder bag and styled her hair in a sleek bun, accessorising with silver drop earrings and a silver ring She teetered down the street in velor ruched cowboy boots as she stepped out in style to celebrate turning 22 As she returned from her birthday bash, Lila could be seen holding onto a brightly coloured bag that was laden with goodies The daughter of Kate and journalist Jefferson Hack, showed off her natural beauty as she wore a barely-there makeup look with a peach blush on her cheeks The celebrations later continued over at the Le Bristol Paris, where the stars gathered for the Seventy One Paris Fashion Week After-Party. There, Lila was presented with a two-tier red birthday cake, with the model seen excitedly blowing out her candles at the bash. A number of stars were out in force at the party including actor Lucian Laviscount, Mert Alas and Adriana Lima. Also in attendance was Lila's aunt Lottie Moss, with the pair posing for a cosy snap just weeks after Lottie ended her feud with her older sister Kate. Supermodel Kate was once known for her wild ways, but her longtime friend, DJ Fat Tony, revealed in 2020 that she is now clean. Her producer pal - who himself has been sober for 16 years - said in an interview: 'Kate's been clean for over two years. Me and my sober mates now have a better time than we ever did when we used to drink and take drugs.' Also in attendance was model and actress Barbara Palvin who was accompanied by hair artist Owen Gould The model and actress wore a pleather coat that skimmed her thighs which she knotted tightly shut with a belt She wore dark sunglasses and black heels with straps that criss crossed over her feet and toted her belongings in a black tote handbag Elsewhere, Natasha Poly [R] dared to bare as she went braless beneath a sheer black dress as she arrived for the party The Russian model, 39, was full of confidence as she bared her breasts in the racy, transparent outfit The model posed up a storm with a pal as she rocked her eye-catching ensemble The celebrations later continued over at the Le Bristol Paris, where the stars gathered for the Seventy One Paris Fashion Week After-Party There, Lila was presented with a two-tier red birthday cake, with the model seen excitedly blowing out her candles at the bash Kate was a member of The Primrose Hill Set - a name given to the all-star group of edgy residents of the leafy neighbourhood, who were known in their heyday for their raucous behaviour with stories of their antics becoming the stuff of legend. After attending a week-long detox in Turkey back in June 2015, the runway sensation wound up being escorted off an easyJet flight home after her airport drinking session took a heavy turn. The turnaround may come as a shock given that Kate's love of boozing, which reportedly extended to flutes of prosecco at 8am and glasses of wine and vodka at lunch, saw friends coin her the nickname 'The Tank'. A number of stars were out in force at the party including actor Lucian Laviscount The Emily In Paris hunk looked sharp in a black leather jacket and black wide-leg trousers Adriana Lima showcased her model figure in a strapless black catsuit at the event Adriana was in great spirits as she posed with visual artist Mert Alas Mert and Lila were all smiles as she was presented with her birthday cake Barbara showcased her killer legs as she continued the night at the second venue Daphne Guinness [L] caught the eye in a quirky, gold sequin ensemble with killer silver heels, while Ming Lee Simmons [R] brought the glamour in a stylish metallic gown Lila posed for a sultry snap alongside Isan Elba Stella Jones cosied up to the birthday girl at the bash Birthday girl Lila was on fine form as she posed for a number of snaps Also in attendance was Lila's aunt Lottie Moss, with the pair posing for a cosy snap just weeks after Lottie ended her feud with her older sister Kate Lottie looked incredible as she went braless under the racy halterneck lace up front number which showed off her amazing figure She added inches to her frame in a pair of towering heels and accessorised with a long cross necklace and matching drop earrings The catwalk queen admitted she's tried to cut down on caffeine and nicotine, and enjoys having more quiet nights in. Kate shares Lila with journalist Jefferson Hack, with whom she was in a relationship in the early Noughties. Jefferson and Kate - who dated from 2001 to 2004 with Lila being born in 2002 - have an amicable relationship and would ensure their daughter spent a regular amount of time with each of them in her childhood. Back in 2016, Jefferson admitted that despite Lila having two famous parents, she found them both to be 'deeply uncool'. Xi's article on promoting patriotism to be published Xinhua) 15:12, September 30, 2024 BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- An article by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on promoting patriotism, will be published on Tuesday in the Qiushi Journal. The article by Xi, who is also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stresses more efforts to build a strong China and advance national rejuvenation. Tuesday marks the 75th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan) Jackie O Henderson has revealed she met the 'man of her dreams' during her trip to New York this month. The 49-year-old radio host explained on Monday's The Kyle and Jackie O show that she met the man at a dive bar, but he ditched her after three hours when a photo of her posing at the Trump Tower emerged online. 'We were on the streets of New York on the night of the solar eclipse and decided to have a drink at a dive bar,' she explained. Once inside she met the mystery man who she immediately connected with and started talking to. 'We were talking for hours and his friend is visiting him from out of town. We were in our own little bubble and having the nicest conversation,' she continued. 'He was really good looking, he was smart and we had so much in common.' Jackie said they chatted for three hours and the man revealed he worked in politics for Kamala Harris' team. After he went to the bathroom, KIIS newsreader Brooklyn Ross informed Jackie that a photo of them at the front of the Trump Tower was making headlines. Jackie O Henderson has revealed she met the 'man of her dreams' during her trip to New York this month 'It looked like we were massive supporters of Trump. So he comes out of the toilet and said he had to go.' 'I think he googled me because it was the first thing that popped up,' she continued. It comes after Jackie revealed earlier this month just how long it's been since her last romantic dalliance. The admission came when Jackie was discussing the subject of 'hooking up' on her radio show. Admitting that it had been 'quite some time' since her last loved-up interlude, Jackie then asked co-host Kyle Sandilands what an 'acceptable' time between flings was. She explained on Monday's The Kyle and Jackie O show, she met the man at a dive bar but he ditched her after three hours when a photo of her posing at The Trump Tower emerged online 'What do you think is acceptable for quite some time?' Jackie asked. 'When do you imagine that is?' Pausing to consider Jackie's question, Kyle eventually shot back with: 'I expect it to be over four months.' It appeared that Kyle was on the money with his estimate with Jackie confirming it had, indeed, been longer than four months for her. 'Yeah, it is,' Jackie responded. 'It definitely is over four months.' KIIS FM stars Jackie 'O' Henderson and Kyle Sandilands have returned home to Sydney after broadcasting their show from Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The radio royalty touched down in Australia over the weekend, with Kyle, 53, landing on Saturday alongside his wife Tegan (nee Kynaston) and their son Otto, two. Meanwhile, Jackie, 49, made a stylish arrival on Sunday. She rocked her favourite pair of $1,750 'Fem' washed blue denim cargos from The Attico for the flight. She wore the same pair during an impromptu photoshoot in New York two weeks ago, and then again last week while eating a bag of fries in LA. This time she paired the slouchy trousers with a blue graphic T-shirt. She also hid her eyes behind a pair of black sunnies and rocked black Balenciaga slides with matching socks. Jackie, who recently shed 18kg on an incredible weight loss journey, slung a black leather tote bag over her shoulder as her blonde locks tumbled over her shoulders. Meanwhile, Kyle stepped out in his usual all-black attire with a cap pulled down low over his head as wife Tegan, 38, put on a fashionable display. KIIS FM stars Jackie 'O' Henderson and Kyle Sandilands have returned home to Sydney after broadcasting their show from Las Vegas and Los Angeles The king of radio carried a coffee cup in his hand as he pushed his family's luggage through the airport while balancing his sunnies on top of his hat. Tegan flaunted her expensive taste in a pair of crisp white $1,600 Gucci sneakers as she pulled along a $4,950 Louis Vuitton suitcase behind her. The mother-of-one flaunted her frame in a matching set of royal blue Alo athleisure wear, which featured $230 leggings and an oversized puffer jacket worth $455. With another $4,050 Louis Vuitton handbag over her shoulder, Tegan was all smiles as she guided son Otto through the airport. The radio royalty touched down in Australia over the weekend, with Kyle, 53, landing on Saturday alongside his wife Tegan (nee Kynaston) and their son Otto, two Meanwhile, Jackie, 49, made a stylish arrival on Sunday She rocked her favourite pair of $1,750 'Fem' washed blue denim cargos from The Attico for the flight She wore the same pair during an impromptu photoshoot in New York two weeks ago (pictured), and then again last week while eating a bag of fries in LA This time she paired the slouchy trousers with a blue graphic T-shirt Jackie, who recently shed 18kg on an incredible weight loss journey, slung a black leather tote bag over her shoulder as her blonde locks tumbled over her shoulders Jackie was all smiles as she landed back in Sydney after a luxury work getaway The young tot looked adorable in a black and white bomber jacket with matching jeans and sneakers alongside his glamorous mother. It comes after Jackie and Kyle took their ratings juggernaut Sydney radio show to America as they broadcast from Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The hit radio stars partied it up at the iHeart Music Festival and attended the Vegan chapel wedding of KIIS FM co-star Brooklyn Ross to partner Damien Dirienzo. They then recovered at Kyle's $5million Beverley Hills mansion in LA where they broadcast the Kyle and Jackie O show out of. Meanwhile, Kyle stepped out in his usual all-black attire with a cap pulled down low over his head as wife Tegan, 38, put on a fashionable display The king of radio carried a coffee cup in hand as he pushed his family's luggage through the airport, balancing his sunnies on top of his hat Tegan flaunted her expensive taste in a pair of crisp white $1,600 Gucci sneakers as she pulled along a $4,950 Louis Vuitton suitcase behind her The mother-of-one showed off her tiny frame in a matching set of royal blue Alo athleisure wear which featured $230 leggings and an oversized puffer jacket worth $455 With another $4,050 Louis Vuitton handbag over her shoulder, Tegan was all smiles as she guided son Otto through the airport The young tot looked adorable in a black and white bomber jacket with matching jeans and sneakers alongside his glamorous mother Kyle played the balancing act at one point as he attempted to push along his pile of luggage while carrying a tray of coffee cups Katy Perry surprised her fans with an exciting announcement on Monday following her performance at the AFL Grand Final show over the weekend. The pop star, 39, revealed she has added a show in Adelaide as part of her upcoming 2025 Australian Lifetimes tour. The original run included just one show in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, but the US popstar added two extra shows in Sydney and Brisbane last week. She has now announced she will also be performing in Adelaide during the tour. 'I heard you loud and clear Adelaide, I got you! Tickets on sale TOMORROW for June 26th on THE LIFETIMES TOUR,' Katy wrote on Instagram. Katy's fans flocked to the comments to share their excitement over the news. 'SCREAMING Katy is coming to us baby !!!' one excited fan wrote. '@katyperry can't wait and thank you for not skipping!!' a second person said while another added: 'Woohoo see you in Adelaide.' Katy Perry surprised her fans with an exciting announcement on Monday following her performance at the AFL Grand Final show over the weekend The announcement comes after Katy wowed the crowd at the MCG in Melbourne on Saturday during her AFL Grand Final show. She was reportedly paid a staggering $5million to put on a pre-game performance at the final. Her 20-minute set included two tracks from her latest album 143, Lifetimes and Gorgeous, her collaboration with Kim Petras, after reports she had been restricted to just one new song by AFL bosses. The pop star, 39, revealed she has added a show in Adelaide as part of her upcoming 2025 Australian Lifetimes tour Despite slipping the new songs in, it was the hits that got the crowd pumping with Katy kicking of with a rendition of Roar before ripping into her hits Teenage Dreams, Dark Horse and Firework. Katy also belted out a rendition of I Kissed A Girl with Tina Arena before the pair moved into a rendition of the Aussie pop star's hit Chains. But she caused surprise with her setlist by not singing Hot n Cold, despite it famously being the theme tune to MasterChef Australia and jokingly regarded by many as Aussie's true 'national anthem'. Nearly two years after his tragic passing, Ellen DeGeneres is paying tribute to her former Ellen show DJ Stephen 'tWitch' Boss. The 66-year-old comedian and former daytime talk show host shared a snap of her and tWitch on her show in an Instagram post on Sunday, which would have been his 42nd birthday. The dancer, choreographer and DJ was 40 years of age when he took his own life in a motel bathroom near his home in Los Angeles. 'Happy birthday tWitch. I miss you every day,' Ellen said in her post, which garnered over 156K likes in four hours. Boss was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and first came into prominence through his dancing in 2003 as a runner-up on Star Search. Nearly two years after his tragic passing, Ellen DeGeneres is paying tribute to her former Ellen show DJ Stephen 'tWitch' Boss 'Happy birthday tWitch. I miss you every day,' Ellen said in her post, which garnered over 156K likes in four hours He met his wife Allison Holker on Fox's So You Think You Can Dance, and tied the knot in December 2013, a year before he joined Ellen as a DJ and host. They share son Maddox, 8, and daughter Zaia, with tWitch adopting to Holker's daughter from a previous relationship, 16-year-old Weslie Fowler. The DJ was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the Oak Tree Motel - a 15-minute walk from his home in Los Angeles, on December 13, 2022. Ellen said in a statement after his passing, 'I'm heartbroken. tWitch was pure love and light. He was my family, and I loved him with all my heart.' 'I will miss him. Please send your love and support to Allison and his beautiful children - Weslie, Maddox, and Zaia.' Motel staff told DailyMail.com that a maid discovered the DJ's body while performing a welfare check after he failed to check out on time. They said he used his own name to check into the motel on Monday and was not discovered until Tuesday morning. tWitch's widow Allison Holker said in a statement at the time, 'It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to share my husband Stephen has left us.' He met his wife Allison Holker on Fox's So You Think You Can Dance, and tied the knot in December 2013, a year before he joined Ellen as a DJ and host. 'I will miss him. Please send your love and support to Allison and his beautiful children - Weslie, Maddox, and Zaia Motel staff told DailyMail.com that a maid discovered the DJ's body while performing a welfare check after he failed to check out on time They said he used his own name to check into the motel on Monday and was not discovered until Tuesday morning 'Stephen lit up every room he stepped into. He valued family, friends and community above all else and leading with love and light was everything to him. 'He was the backbone of our family, the best husband and father, and an inspiration to his fans. 'To say he left a legacy would be an understatement, and his positive impact will continue to be felt. 'I am certain there won't be a day that goes by that we won't honor his memory. We ask for privacy during this difficult time for myself and especially for our three children.' 'Stephen, we love you, we miss you, and I will always save the last dance for you.' Holker has since moved on with a new boyfriend named Adam Edmunds, who she recently shared that she ha found, 'great love' with. Barbara Palvin turned heads in a skimpy puffed jacket as she attended Lila Moss' 22nd birthday bash with hairstylist Owen Gould during Paris Fashion Week on Sunday. The Hungarian supermodel, 30, showed off her endless legs as she wrapped up in the stylish leather garment, which was completed with belt. The Victoria's Secret alum donned glossy tights and classy black stiletto heels as she held hands with a pal on her way out of the Bristol. Barbara nailed a flawless edgy ensemble opting for a timeless all-black, adding a handbag and very stylish shades. And on Sunday night, Kate Moss, 50, showed off her model physique in a semi sheer minidress as she helped daughter Lila celebrate her 22nd birthday during Paris Fashion Week. Barbara Palvin turned heads in a skimpy puffed jacket as she attended Lila Moss' 22nd birthday bash with hairstylist Owen Gould during Paris Fashion Week on Sunday The Hungarian supermodel, 30, showed off her endless legs as she wrapped up in the stylish leather garment, which was completed with belt The Victoria's Secret alum donned glossy tights and classy black stiletto heels as she held hands with a pal on her way out of the Bristol Kate, who has been teetotal for seven years, went all out for glamour, and sashayed into Cibus restaurant in the sheer number that was covered with black and gold polka dots. The catwalk pin-up looked sensational in the sexy see-through look which left her underwear on show. She wore her blonde locks loose and opted for a chunky gold bracelet for accessories and carried her belongings in a large black YSL handbag. The stunning model wore black heels with a leopard print detail and opted for a simple cat eye makeup look for the night out. Lila stunned in a black frock with ripped detailing and ruching along the bottom. She held onto a black shoulder bag and teetered down the street in velor ruched cowboy boots. Lila styled her hair in a sleek bun and wore a dewy palette of soft makeup. Supermodel Kate was once known for her wild ways, but her longtime friend, DJ Fat Tony, revealed in 2020 that she is now clean. Her producer pal - who himself has been sober for 16 years - said in an interview: 'Kate's been clean for over two years. Me and my sober mates now have a better time than we ever did when we used to drink and take drugs.' AFL star Lachie Neale and his wife Jules have celebrated another exciting milestone following the Brisbane Lion's win at the Grand Final on Saturday. The couple, who are currently expecting their second child together, celebrated their daughter Piper Rose's third birthday over the weekend. Jules shared a sweet photo of their baby girl to Instagram on Monday as she opened her gifts. 'THREE happy birthday my girl! Watching you grow is a dream come true x,' she captioned the image. Lachie met Jules when they were just teenagers, but they didn't start dating until around six years later. The couple went on to tie the knot in a romantic Perth ceremony in November 2018, before they relocated to Brisbane when Lachie made his move to the Lions. Jules works as a hairstylist in Brisbane's Soja Studios after selling her business in Perth to move across the country to support Lachie's AFL career. She boasts more than 1,250 followers on her hairstyling Instagram account, while she has 21,000 more followers on her personal Instagram page. AFL star Lachie Neale and his wife Jules have celebrated another exciting milestone following his team the Brisbane Lion's win at the Grand Final on Saturday Jules frequently gives an insight into her relationship with Lachie and their family life on their page, with the pair looking as loved-up as ever. The couple welcomed Piper Rose in September 2021, and have spoken openly about their struggles to conceive their beloved daughter. Jules is seen by her husband's side both on and off the pitch, and often graces the red carpet with him, showing off her glamorous sense of style. Every year, she attends the Brownlow Medal with her husband and never fails to disappoint with her high-glamour and show-stopping outfits on the night. The couple, who are currently expecting their second child together, are celebrating their daughter Piper Rose's third birthday The Brownlow Medal recognises the fairest and best player in AFL during the home-and-away season, with Lachie taking home the award in both 2020 and 2023. He became just the 16th player in VFL/AFL history to win the prestigious award multiple times, with his wife Julie proudly standing by his side after his win. It comes after The Brisbane Lions rebounded from last year's grand final heartbreak in stunning fashion on Saturday, belting Sydney by 60 points to claim their first AFL premiership in more than two decades. Lachie (33 disposals) and Norm Smith Medal winner Will Ashcroft (30) starred in the 18.12 (120) to 9.6 (60) win at the MCG, which completes the Lions' long climb to the summit under Chris Fagan. She's the bubbly contestant winning hearts on the latest season of My Kitchen Rules. But Hannah Campbell has a reality TV past many viewers may not be aware of. Before showcasing her culinary talents, Hannah, 30, previously graced Australian TV screens as a contestant on Channel Seven's Big Brother in 2020. During her stint in the Big Brother house Hannah proved to be a formidable player. She was nominated for eviction only twice during her first and last rounds. After spending 27 days in the house, she secured the 10th position in the competition, leaving a lasting impression on viewers. Now, Hannah is back and ready to win hearts on My Kitchen Rules with her partner Lawrence. Their dynamic partnership has quickly made them standouts in the competition. It comes as an unnamed contestant from the 2024 season has revealed to Daily Mail Australia that the going rate for burgeoning TV chefs was $1100 per week - barely above minimum wage. My Kitchen Rules star Hannah Campbell has a reality TV past many viewers may not be aware of Before showcasing her culinary talents, Hannah, 30, previously graced Australian TV screens as a contestant on Channel Seven 's Big Brother in 2020 The Australian minimum wage is currently $24.10 per hour, or $915.90 per week based on 38 hours. The contestant said appearing on the reality show meant taking a pay cut for many, claiming that one cast-made ended up in the red after filming. 'It certainly didn't cover our usual salaries,' they claimed. During her stint in the Big Brother house Hannah proved to be a formidable player. She was nominated for eviction only twice during her first and last rounds 'I think one of our cast-mates was in debt after filming.' Despite the show drawing a huge audience each season, the show's popularity is often not reflected in how the contestants are compensated, according to a Seven casting executive. 'A lot of people still think getting on TV will make you rich and famous,' they said. 'It doesn't.' They added that the excitement of being selected for the show often outweighs the meagre remuneration. 'By the time you have seen your contract most applicants are so excited to be picked, they don't care about the money and that's what producers expect,' the source revealed. A former MKR participant also revealed to Daily Mail Australia that, during their time on the show, they were forced to work well outside hours expected of someone earning just above average minimum wage. 'The shoots were longer than we were told and there was no overtime,' the contestant revealed. 'We were not expecting how long we were required to be there. Some nights we would be filming well into the night.' He is known for his staunch activism when it comes to animal rights, having been vegan for 37 years. And now American musician Moby has revealed how his manager managed to finally convince him to go back on tour after years of trying - by pulling on his heart strings. Moby, 59, real name Richard Melville Hall, said that he only agreed to go on tour because all the money was going to go to animal rights charities. 'For years, my manager has been trying to get me to tour, throwing out ideas of having a payday or the glamour of being onstage,' he told the Sunday Mirror. 'He realised the only thing I couldn't say no to was giving all the money away to animal rights organisations.' He is known for his staunch activism when it comes to animal rights, having been vegan for 37 years and now American musician Moby has revealed how his manager managed to finally convince him to go back on tour after years of trying - by pulling on his heart strings (Pictured in January 2020) Moby, 59, real name Richard Melville Hall, said that he only agreed to go on tour because all the money was going to go to animal rights charities Moby is extremely vocal about his fury at animal cruelty, previously slamming the wearing of fur as 'disgusting, unnecessary and tacky'. He added: 'You see people wearing fur and it's like advertising to the world that you're a f***ing psychopath.' His passion for animal rights is so strong that he has covered his body in activism-inspired inkings. Just to the side of his right eye is a small tattoo of a 'V' stacked over an 'X.' In 2019, Moby clarified on Instagram to his confused fans that the 'V' represented veganism in which observers cut out all animal byproducts, including dairy products and eggs while the 'X' stood for 'straight edge,' reference his abstaining from drugs and alcohol. 'Straight edge because I simply can't be a good activist if i'm lying in bed sick & hungover until 5pm every day,' he explained at the time. 'And of course vegan because i care about animals, human health, climate change, rainforest deforestation, workers rights, water use, famine, and all of the other horrifying things that are the result of using animals for food.' At the time, he also debuted two large tattoos comprised of block letter running down his arms that read: 'Animal Rights.' 'For years, my manager has been trying to get me to tour, throwing out ideas of having a payday or the glamour of being onstage,' he told the Sunday Mirror (Pictured in September) Moby is extremely vocal about his fury at animal cruelty, previously slamming the wearing of fur as 'disgusting, unnecessary and tacky' (Pictured in January 2023) The performer also has a huge neck tattoo which says: 'Vegan for life.' Years earlier, Moby born Richard Melville Hall took his passion for vegan living to a new level when he opened the once-popular plant-based restaurant Little Pine in Los Angeles' Silver Lake neighbourhood. However, the location was troubled by conflict with its workers after he didn't take care of his staff's healthcare benefits when the restaurant temporarily shut down at the start of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in 2020, while also remaining out of contact, according to Eater Los Angeles. The restaurant reopened later in 2020 with Moby stepping back as a silent partner while new management ran Little Pine, but it quietly closed last year. In 2019, Moby clarified on Instagram to his confused fans that the 'V' represented veganism in which observers cut out all animal byproducts, including dairy products and eggs while the 'X' stood for 'straight edge,' reference his abstaining from drugs and alcohol (Pictured in September) Though the one-time restaurateur is best known as a musician, earlier this year he premiered a documentary that he wrote and directed in addition to shooting and scoring titled Punk Rock Vegan Movie. The non-fiction film charts the surprising connections and overlaps between punk music, veganism and animal rights activism. While premiering the film at the Utah-based film festival, he shared that he hoped to give it away for free after the premiere, as he couldn't 'in good conscience try to profit from what is essentially a labor of love and activism.' Dame Jilly Cooper has revealed that she was silenced and mistreated after almost being raped by a fellow author. The writer, 87, who has sold over 12 million books and is one of the UKs most prolific romance novelists, said the attempted sexual assault took place in her early career. In her new documentary, In My Own Words: Jilly Cooper, she said the author was a great big gross creature who ripped off her clothes in a taxi. Dame Jilly, who has decided not to name the man, said: I remember I was in the publicity department for a big publisher and one of their authors took me out for lunch. And suddenly in the back of a taxi he ripped my clothes off, everything off. She said she managed to get away and sought help, recalling: I was struggling away so I collapsed into the office and a man said to me, Jilly, why are you crying? What happened? Dame Jilly Cooper has revealed that she was silenced and mistreated after almost being raped by a fellow author The writer, who has sold over 12 million books and is one of the UKs most prolific romance novelists, said the attempted sexual assault took place in her early career.(Cooper is pictured in 1978) I said, Somebody tried to jump on me in a taxi. He tried to rape me, it was horrible. And so he said, You must tell me. We will go to the police. Nobody is allowed to rape my Gillian in a taxi. We are not having any of that at all. Finally I... muttered out the persons name and he said, Oh. That is one of our authors. Out. I was very shocked. I was almost raped and there I was being kicked out of the office. It was attempted rape. He did not actually rape me but he tried jolly hard. It was just horrible. I was a junior member of the publicity department and he probably thought nothing would happen. She added: Everything that has happened to me I remember and probably fed into a book later. Dame Jilly said men were all macho back then tremendously bossy men, very dominant men. She added: Male chauvinist pigs all of them. Not that they are not macho now. They were much more forceful in telling you what to do in those days. In the BBC documentary, Dame Jilly also gives access to her personal archives and delves into her childhood. She describes her experience of growing up in Yorkshire, where she developed a passion for horses, dogs, and charming men, and the start of her career in journalism and publishing in the 1950s and 1960s, when fiction was very difficult as you could not mention any part of the waist, below the leg or above the knee. The film also takes Dame Jilly back to her former home in Putney, south-west London, where she lived with her late husband Leo and their children. In her new documentary, In My Own Words: Jilly Cooper, she said the author was a great big gross creature who ripped off her clothes in a taxi In My Own Words: Jilly Cooper airs tonight at 10.40pm on BBC1 and iPlayer It was there, in the late 1960s, that she came to prominence thanks to her candid ahead of its time Sunday Times column about marriage, sex, and society. In the documentary, she watches her past appearances on chat shows with Russell Harty and Terry Wogan, and talks about her marriage, sex, and her move to the Cotswolds. She also discusses the success of her 1985 novel Riders, the first in the Rutshire Chronicles series, which she says saved her from selling her Cotswolds home. In My Own Words: Jilly Cooper airs tonight at 10.40pm on BBC1 and iPlayer. Cardi B flaunted her tiny waist as she arrived to the FWRD fiesta during Paris Fashion Week on Sunday night - just 22 days after welcoming her third child. The Grammy winner - turning 32 on October 11 - showcased her taut tummy in a silver halter Alexandre Vaulthier cut-out dress and nude peep-toe platform heels selected by stylist Kollin Carter. Hairstylist Davontae' Washington coiffed Cardi's middle-parted ponytail and make-up artist Erika La' Pearl Roman fully contoured her complexion for the French festivities. The half-Dominican, half-Trinidadian rapper claimed via X on September 16 that she 'just was never the type to care about snap back after birth.' This, despite Cardi (born Belcalis Almanzar) revealing she wears waist trainers one hour a day and spends 30 minutes on the StairMaster in order to get her post-baby body back. Cardi B flaunted her tiny waist as she arrived to the FWRD fiesta during Paris Fashion Week on Sunday night - just 22 days after welcoming her third child The Grammy winner - turning 32 on October 11 - showcased her taut tummy in a silver halter Alexandre Vaulthier cut-out dress and nude peep-toe platform heels selected by stylist Kollin Carter On September 7, the Bronx native gave birth to her daughter (whose name has not been disclosed), which was her third child with estranged husband Offset. Cardi filed for divorce from the 32-year-old Migos alum on July 31, and she wants primary physical custody of their six-year-old daughter Kulture Kiari Cephus and three-year-old son Wave Set Cephus. Last Wednesday, Offset (born Kiari Kendrell Cephus) accused the Enough rapper of cheating on him 'with a baby inside' via the comments of her Instagram Live, which she appeared to confirm. 'Nothing surprises me anymore. You've done it all, so I don't care,' Cardi vented during the livestream. 'Thank you for my kids, though. All three of them I don't regret none of them, but I regret you. I don't regret my kids. You a good daddy. You aight. I don't regret none of them...But f*** you. I regret you. I'm too good for you. I've always been too good for you, n****. I don't want you dead because...my kids love you down. So I would never do that. And I really follow street codes.' The Kamala Harris supporter and the three-time Grammy nominee previously separated from December 5, 2018 to January 31, 2019 amid cheating allegations, but that was evidently not the issue this time around. The on/off hip-hop power couple - whose first date was the 2017 Super Bowl - reportedly separated last November after six years of marriage. Once safely seated inside the party on Sunday, Cardi lit up a cigarette and drank enough 'henny' aka Hennessy cognac to get 'drunk as f***' alongside her large entourage of pals on the payroll. Hairstylist Davontae' Washington coiffed Cardi's middle-parted ponytail and make-up artist Erika La' Pearl Roman fully contoured her complexion for the French festivities The half-Dominican, half-Trinidadian rapper claimed via X on September 16 that she 'just was never the type to care about snap back after birth' This, despite Cardi (born Belcalis Almanzar) revealing she wears waist trainers one hour a day and spends 30 minutes on the StairMaster in order to get her post-baby body back (pictured September 17) On September 7, the Bronx native gave birth to her daughter (whose name has not been disclosed), which was her third child with estranged husband Offset (R) Cardi filed for divorce from the 32-year-old Migos alum on July 31, and she wants primary physical custody of their six-year-old daughter Kulture Kiari Cephus and three-year-old son Wave Set Cephus The On Dat Money rapper - who arrived in France last Wednesday - has sat front row at the Paris Fashion Week presentations for McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Messika, Rick Owens, Rabanne, Mugler, and Balmain. 'Hey! I will never forgive y'all with how y'all did this song,' Cardi - who boasts 280.5 social media followers - said of her poorly-performing single Bongos with Megan Thee Stallion. 'This song here is in the club!' Bongos peaked at No. 14 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart despite the talented twosome's $2M-budget music video and a whole lot of hype. Back in 2020, Cardi and Megan's raunchy, prior collaboration WAP topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and became a full-blown cultural phenomenon. Once safely seated inside the party on Sunday, the Enough rapper lit up a cigarette and drank enough 'henny' aka Hennessy cognac to get 'drunk as f***' alongside her large entourage of pals on the payroll Cardi - who arrived in France last Wednesday - has sat front row at the Paris Fashion Week presentations for McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Messika, Rick Owens, Rabanne, Mugler, and Balmain The On Dat Money rapper - who boasts 280.5 social media followers - said of her poorly-performing single Bongos with Megan Thee Stallion: 'Hey! I will never forgive y'all with how y'all did this song. This song here is in the club!' Bongos peaked at No. 14 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart despite the talented twosome's $2M-budget music video and a whole lot of hype Back in 2020, Cardi and Megan's raunchy, prior collaboration WAP topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and became a full-blown cultural phenomenon The Whipshots creative director still plans on releasing the long-delayed sophomore follow-up to her 2018 debut studio album Invasion of Privacy later this year Cardi - who ate New York-style pizza in her hotel bed - is clearly in a self-indulgent phase having bought 'three bags in the span of, like, a month' while 'pregnant and bored' The Whipshots creative director still plans on releasing the long-delayed sophomore follow-up to her 2018 debut studio album Invasion of Privacy later this year. 'I have let that s*** get in my head to the point it's made me insecure in my own work,' Cardi lamented via Instagram Live on Sunday night. 'I'm my own enemy.' The Wanna Be rapper - who ate New York-style pizza in her hotel bed - is clearly in a self-indulgent phase having bought 'three bags in the span of, like, a month' while 'pregnant and bored.' Cardi - who gets 31M monthly listeners on Spotify - is next scheduled to headline ONE Music Fest on October 26 at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, GA. Scott Cam is reportedly ready to hang up his tool belt and retire from The Block after 14 years as its host. The media personality, 61, who took over as host from Jamie Durie in 2010 during season three of the series, is said to be frustrated with contestants in recent years. Woman's Day reports that Scott's had enough and 2025 will be his last year, but Nine says that's just not the case. An insider alleges that Scott revealed his retirement plans while filming season 20, saying he was only doing 'this year and next' on the show. 'When Jesse [Maguire] and Paige [Beechey] quit the series mid-season, it really shocked him and made him even more determined to walk away in 2025,' they said. 'Scott holds The Block very dear to his heart and he couldn't understand why anyone would leave his hit series and the highly emotional decision they made. 'It reinforced to him the idea of leaving on a high next year to spend more time with his family.' The source went on to reference similar rumours which spread in 2023 about Scott retiring soon, but Nine 'squashed' those by signing him onto a new deal. Scott Cam, 61, (pictured) is reportedly ready to hang up his tool belt and retire from The Block after 14 years as its host However, the deal is said to have only covered two years, keeping Scott on as host for the 2024 20th anniversary season and the 2025 Daylesford season. According to the insider, it was all 'part of a grand plan for Scott to leave on a high with very two different and challenging seasons of the renovation show'. The Block was originally set to film in Daylesford this year, but complications with receiving council permits pushed that renovation back to next year. Producers scrambled at the last second to secure a run down resort on Phillip Island, dropping a staggering $9.5 million on Island Cove Villas, The insider said Scott was 'bitterly disappointed' when Daylesford was put on the backburner because he wanted to host that season 'then bow out graciously'. However, Nine has once again put those rumours to rest, telling Daily Mail Australia on Monday: 'Scott Cam has no plans to step down from The Block.' It comes just days after Jesse, 29, and Paige, 27, lashed out at host Scott after he made 'distasteful' comments about recent participants on the show. The media personality, who took over as host from Jamie Durie in 2010 during season three of the series, is said to be frustrated with contestants in recent years. Pictured: 2024 contestants Jesse and Paige Last month, Scott said contestants of the Channel Nine renovation series have less grit than they did 20 years ago, when the show began. 'They are less resilient than they were 20 years ago, 15 years ago,' Scott told news.com.au at the time. 'There's more expectation of it getting easier, but it's not. It gets harder And people aren't ready for how hard it is.' Jesse and Paige, who dramatically left the show halfway through the current season, hit back at Scott's comments. 'A lot of people didn't like what Scott said. A lot of people did not like that. I think that was very distasteful,' Paige told Yahoo Lifestyle. Jesse went on to point out the show is completely different these days and contestants no longer have time to build due to challenges and daily consultations. The Block host Scott addressed rumours of his impending retirement from Nine's hit renovation show to Daily Mail Australia as recently as last year. Rumour now has it Scott's had enough and 2025 will be his last year, reported Woman's Day on Monday, but Nine says that's just not the case. Pictured: Scott and co-host Shelley Craft The builder-turned-reality TV host attended a launch party for the 2023 season of his show and told the crowd he was planning on staying for a long time. 'Two months ago I signed a multiple year deal with the Nine Network. It was an easy decision as I love this show and couldn't think of going anywhere else,' he said. Scott then said while he had no immediate retirement plans, when that day came in the distant future he had the perfect person in mind to take over as host. 'I reckon the only person who could do it is my current co-host Shelley Craft, that's right,' he said. Shelley, 48, added there was no one better suited than her to take over the reins when the time finally came. 'That's my job, isn't it? Don't I step up and then I get a sidekick?' she joked. In 2022, Scott addressed speculation about his future on the show yet again, telling Daily Mail Australia he would be on building sites for decades to come. The builder-turned- reality TV host has been the face of The Block since 2010 when he took over from the original host Jamie Durie (right) in season three The veteran tradie has a 40 plus-year career behind him and has hosted The Block for the past 14 yearswith seemingly no desire to stop any time soon. 'I'm 60 this year and I'm physically fit, I'm doing a renovation of my home now because of the mould from all the rain,' he told Daily Mail Australia at the time. 'I've got at least another decade on the tools. I told my wife recently, we've got 20 years of good health left so from January 1, let's start a 20-year odyssey of living life. 'I'll keep going till I can't anymore because I love it. I reckon I can do 20 years on the tools, and I'll pull up when my body tells me to.' An Australian podcaster and business owner has issued a public apology for previously judging other women who got cheated on after it happened to her. Lucy Jackson, 34, revealed on TikTok that prior to getting cheated on herself, she had the 'mentality [that] only girls that let it happen or whatever' had unfaithful partners. Meanwhile, Lucy's fans are also comparing her to the late Princess Diana after she wore a chest-baring black gown to a hens party over the weekend. On Saturday, Lucy attended Niki Wescott's hens do at Marman restaurant in Burleigh Heads, Queensland. In striking contrast to her best friend and the bride-to-be, Lucy wore a strapless and sultry floor-length dress that sat low across her chest. She paired it minimal gold jewellery, a full face of glam make up, and a black leather and leopard print clutch purse. Meanwhile, Nikki beamed in a silk white slip dress that cascaded over and flaunted her figure. She teamed the backless number with an iridescent clutch purse and statement earrings. Australian podcaster and business owner Lucy Jackson has issued a public apology for previously judging other women who got cheated on after it happened to her The best friends mirrored and contrasted each other's ensembles as they posed up a storm entering the Mediterranean restaurant for an afternoon of celebratory cocktails. 'Our girl is getting married soon,' Lucy captioned the snaps shared to Instagram. The pair started fashion label Jagger & Stone together after they found runaway success with an Instagram account documenting the outfits they wore to music festivals. The Gold Coast duo - who now have a podcast, merchandise, a wine label, a clothing brand, and an influencer business - are one of the 'mini media empires quietly growing in Australia', according to the Australian Financial Review. 'It's giving Princess Diana revenge dress vibes,' one of Lucy's 111,000 Instagram followers commented on the pictures. Meanwhile, Lucy's fans are also comparing her to the late Princess Diana after she wore a chest-baring black gown to a hens party over the weekend Earlier this month, Lucy revealed that her ex-boyfriend had moved out of her house just two weeks after moving in with her and saying 'I love you' for the first time. She uploaded three explanatory videos to TikTok revealing that she'd learned he had cheated on her with 'multiple women' and also urged her followers not to contact or harass her ex, who also deactivated his public Instagram account. In a new four-minute monologue, Lucy said that she's been 'truly humbled' by the experience as she returned to work after her heartbreak. 'I will have to keep saying this, but please do not reach out to this man, or say nasty things about him,' she began. [Posting the videos] 'is just about me processing my own situation. 'Cheating is a very complicated thing and I will say that that cheating itself wasn't even the thing that hurt me the most. 'I think that good people can make mistakes and there is always space to give people second chances. But honesty and truth and owning your behaviours are the true signs of character. Earlier this month, Lucy revealed that she'd found out that her partner had cheated on her 'with multiple women' weeks after moving in with her 'I truly used to think of other girls and women that you only get cheated on if you're... Not that you'd let it happen to you but...I always used to think that I was the kind of person who'd be able to pick up if someone was a cheater,' she said, choosing her words carefully. 'Naturally, that made me think that I would never be the kind of person that got cheated on. 'I'd be so supportive if any of my friends got cheated on but I didn't think it would happen to me. 'Now I feel so shit about having that attitude in the past and I wasn't being a girls girl.' Lucy said she felt the need to issue a public and formal apology for her prior mentality and any harmful opinions she may have voiced on her Happy Hour podcast because of it. 'I feel so truly humbled and I almost need to do a public apology to girls that have been cheated on,' she said. 'I think that's been one of the biggest learnings of this whole situation for me. I will endeavour now to change that mindset. She went on to say that she's reflected on her opinions and found that cheating 'doesn't say anything about the person that gets cheated on. 'It says so much about the person that did the cheating... and you're the poor girl that happens to be in the relationship with them at that time.' Liev Schreiber was spotted on a rare outing with his wife Taylor Neisen and his child Kai on Sunday. The X-Men Origins: Wolverine star, 56 who was last seen in August at the premiere of his film Across the River and Into the Trees was seen arriving at The Carlyle Hotel in New York City for dinner. He looked charming in a woven blazer and yellow sweater paired with brown pants as he stepped out of his car. His wife of one year, Taylor, 32, rocked a denim coat and trousers as she walked into the upscale eatery. The former beauty queen wore flats had her blonde locks swept up into a bun. Liev Schreiber was spotted on a rare outing with his wife Taylor Neisen and his child Kai on Sunday The trio was seen arriving at The Carlyle Hotel in New York City for dinner Schreiber's fifteen-year-old child, Kai who he shares with his ex-girlfriend Naomi Watts wore a sweater and jeans paired with trendy sneakers. The trio appeared to be in good spirits as they enjoyed their evening in the Big Apple. Schreiber and Taylor were first linked in 2017, five years after she was crowned Miss South Dakota and one year after his split from Naomi. And DailyMail.com exclusively revealed Liev and Taylor tied the knot at a backyard ceremony in the Hamptons over Fourth Of July weekend 2023. They welcomed their first child together daughter, Hazel Bee, on August 27, 2023, just a month after saying 'I do.' Schreiber and Watts were together from 2005 to 2016 but never wed. In their 11 year relationship, they also welcomed Sasha in 2007 and Kai in 2008. The exes are still on friendly terms as they co-parent their teenagers and have attended red carpets to support each other. Taylor and Naomi remain friendly as well. When Liev and his new wife announced the birth of their daughter on Instagram, Naomi penned her support, commenting: 'We love baby Hazel!!' Naomi moved on with Billy Crudup, whom she married in June 2023. He looked charming in a woven blazer and yellow sweater paired with brown pants as he stepped out of his car The actor appeared to be in good spirits as he enjoyed his evening in the Big Apple Schreiber's fifteen-year-old child, Kai who he shares with his ex-girlfriend Naomi Watts wore a sweater and jeans paired with trendy sneakers His wife of one year, Taylor, 32, rocked a denim coat and trousers as she walked into the upscale eatery Back in June, Naomi and Kai attended Paris Fashion Week together - attending the Balenciaga fashion show. In 2016, Kai voiced a young wolf in the remake of Disney's The Jungle Book, following in their father's showbiz footsteps. American actor John Travolta could be planning a move to Australia to embrace life Down Under. The Pulp Fiction star, 70, is said to be growing tired of Los Angeles' fast -paced lifestyle and looking at a relaxed way of life in Australia. 'These days in LA, John barely gets recognised. It's a completely different story in Australia, where it's like Grease came out yesterday,' a family friend told this week's New Idea. 'He loves that there's this whole country where he has consistently been famous for more than 40 years and is never disrespected.' One of the ways John continues to be appreciated in Australia is through local fans buying tickets to see productions based on his movies. Grease the Musical played to sold out crowds earlier this year, with thousands of Australian fans scrambling to buy tickets to see the Aussie production based on John's hit movie. The insider said Travolta had a long-time association with life in Australia ever since he co-starred with Olivia Newton-John in the smash-hit musical film. 'A lot of that comes down to John's long, close association with the late Olivia Newton-John. Their friendship made him something of an honourary Aussie, and John takes that pretty seriously,' they said. American actor John Travolta could be planning a move to Australia to embrace life Down Under Earlier this month, the megastar piloted a private jet from Queenstown in New Zealand to Australia for the three-day stay with his 24-year-old daughter, actress Ella Bleu, and his son Benjamin, 13. The New Jersey-born star started learning how to fly when he was 15 years old, and he obtained his first jet licence in 1978 the same year his iconic film musical Grease premiered in theaters and cemented his status as a popular leading man. He has been named worldwide ambassador for Qantas and been honored by the American Institute Of Aeronautical Engineers. John shared a special tribute to Newton-John on his Instagram Stories on what would have been her 74th birthday in 2022. The Oscar-nominated actor remembered his former co-star and close friend by wishing her a happy birthday. Pete Wicks was spotted putting on a very flirty display with rumoured love interest Maura Higgins on Sunday night. While the TOWIE legend, 36, was first linked to Love Island star Maura, 33, in August he recently sparked romance rumours with his Strictly partner Jowita Przystal. In fact, just hours before his cosy outing with Maura, he sent fans wild when he appeared to kiss Jowita during their passionate American Smooth on Saturday's live show. Yet on Sunday he was back in Maura's arms as they enjoyed a night out at The Ship in Wandsworth alongside his Strictly friends after being put through to the next week. An onlooker exclusively told MailOnline that the pair were inseparable, whispering in each other's ears and even interlocking legs as they enjoyed a drink alongside Wynne Evans, Tom Dean and Jamie Borthwick. Pete Wicks was spotted putting on a very flirty display with rumoured love interest Maura Higgins on Sunday night at The Ship in Wandsworth alongside his Strictly friends While the TOWIE legend, 36, was first linked to Love Island star Maura, 33, in August he recently sparked romance rumours with his Strictly partner Jowita Przystal (pictured) The eyewitness shared: 'They were all over each other, I was surprised to see them looking so close because I thought he had real chemistry with Jowita. 'At one point they were basically straddling each other and didn't seem to care at all that people could see them. 'You'd think Pete would be more concerned about Tom given he'd just been given the boot on Strictly but he only had eyes for Maura all night!' MailOnline has contacted Maura and Pete's representatives for comment. Romance rumours between the reality stars started swirling last month when they were pictured kissing outside the Broadwick Soho Hotel. However, Maura poked fun at the reports earlier this month as she supported him at his Staying Relevant podcast tour. Maura donned a personalised T-shirt showing a picture of the kiss and words, 'We can't be friends' written in capital letters across the front of her chest. She posed with an arm around Pete's best friend Sam Thompson in the snap, which she captioned ''Hilarious night.... you smashed it @samthompson @stayingrelevantpodcast.' An onlooker exclusively told MailOnline that the pair were inseparable, whispering in each other's ears and even interlocking legs as they enjoyed a drink alongside Wynne Evans, Tom Dean and Jamie Borthwick The eyewitness shared: 'They were all over each other, I was surprised to see them looking so close because I thought he had real chemistry with Jowita' Maura broke her silence on the Pete romance rumours earlier this month as she supported him and his best friend Sam Thompson (pictured) in a hilarious T-shirt at their podcast show It's not the first time Maura and Pete have been romantically linked. Last year, the pair were filmed getting cosy at Grosvenor House in London. In the clip, which was recorded in October 2023, Maura and Pete cosied up together in the corner of a room, seemingly taking selfies on Maura's phone. They were spotted gazing into each others eyes during what looked like a deep conversation, with Maura flashing a huge smile at the reality star as he waved his arms around during the chat. Their encounter happened a year before Maura, who split from American stuntman boyfriend Bobby Holland Hanton earlier this year, wrapped her arms around Pete's neck and kissed him during their recent romantic luncheon together. In recent weeks, Pete has been linked to dancer Jowita. Pete was spotted getting very cosy indeed with the Polish beauty at the National Television Awards earlier this month. In fact, their intimate conversations set tongues wagging amongst fellow guests that they might just strike up a romance during this years series. The long-haired lothario, who has previously dated Megan McKenna, Chloe Sims, and Ella Rae Wise, was seen with Jowita after in a corridor at Londons O2 Arena where the star-studded ceremony took place. One onlooker said: Pete was admiring Jowita outfits and told her she looked stunning. They were deep in conversation, and were both leaning in close. It got people talking and wondering if there might be a Strictly romance this year after all. There was a lot of affection between the pair. He was whispering in her ear which really made her smile. At one point, Pete placed a protective hand on Jowitas shoulder, it all looked very lovey dovey. Theyve clearly formed a very close bond during their time on Strictly. In recent weeks, Pete has been linked to dancer Jowita. Last week, Pete's best friend Sam fuelled the rumours as he said the TOWIE star was 'in love' with the professional dancer Last week, Pete's best friend Sam fuelled the rumours as he said the TOWIE star was 'in love' with his professional dancing partner. His podcast co-host revealed that he believes the two are in love and that the reality TV star 'cares about her so much'. When appearing on Friday's This Morning, Sam was quizzed by show hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary about their relationship. The presenter said: 'I think they are in love,' but quickly added that he actually believes their relationship is 'platonic. Sam added: 'He cares about her so much, the way he looks at her, I've never seen it before. 'I just want to see him happy, he is one of the best people I know.' On Saturday night fans branded them the 'fittest couple ever' after they took to the floor with a sensual American Smooth that saw Pete drawing Jowita in close and their lips just millimetres apart. The dance also ended with them leaning in for a kiss before the lights cut out, and while it appeared choreographed some viewers were positive a true romance was brewing between the pair. Judge Motsi Mabuse even spotted their connection saying: 'I think both of you, you had such a beautiful, flirty, romantic atmosphere, and I believed it was authentic'. Their routine saw them score 22 out of a possible 40 and ended up in joint tenth place on the leaderboard with Nick Knowles. Jesse Spencer has debuted a surprising new look. The 45-year-old actor, known for his roles on Aussie soap Neighbours and American medical drama House, is returning to Australian TV in the show Last Days of the Space Age. In the trailer for the Disney + show, the actor, who once stunned with his boyish good looks and luscious blond hair, looks very different in several scenes from the new show. The actor has moved on from heart throb look and now seems to be much more distinguished, playing a father in the drama series. The series follows three families in Perth in 1979 as the American space station crash lands near the Western Australian city. Jesse plays dad Tony Bissett, who is juggling family life while also leading a strike at the local power plant. The new show is a welcome departure for Spencer, who says he has been searching for a production in Australia after working in the US for so long. 'I was looking for an Australian production, probably since 2004,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald. Jesse Spencer has debuted a surprising new look. The 45-year-old actor, known for his roles on Aussie soap Neighbours and American medical drama House, is returning to Australian TV in the show Last Days of the Space Age. Pictured on Neighbours In the trailer for the Disney + show, the actor, who once stunned with his boyish good looks and luscious blond hair, looks very different in several scenes from the new show. The actor has moved on from heart throb look and now seems to be much more distinguished 'We have this hiatus, but network TV, the schedule of it sometimes I had six weeks off, sometimes a little more but to make a production work is really difficult. 'Once you're in [network TV], it's very hard to get out of,' he explained. The Melbourne-born actor also spoke to TV Week about his reasons for joining the Disney + production. 'I left Chicago Fire, and then I started a family, and I was doing that for a while, then Last Days of the Space Age came up. 'It was nice to be able to just work for a few months on my first Aussie project in over 20 years. I was so excited to do it,' he gushed. Jesse's acting career took off on the long-running soap opera Neighbours from 1994 to 2000 as Billy Kennedy, the youngest son of Dr Karl and Susan Kennedy. Jesse relocated to the US and got his big break on the medical drama House as Dr. Robert Chase, starring alongside Hugh Laurie, from 2004 to 2012 Jesse's acting career took off on the long-running soap opera Neighbours from 1994 to 2000 as Billy Kennedy, the youngest son of Dr Karl and Susan Kennedy. Pictured is Jesse with co-star Brooke Satchwell He relocated to the US and got his big break on the medical drama House as Dr. Robert Chase, starring alongside Hugh Laurie, from 2004 to 2012. Jesse starred as a main cast member in the action drama Chicago Fire until 2020, and has since made guest appearances on the show. Also in 2020, he married his long-time girlfriend, research scientist Kali Woodruff, in a private ceremony in Florida. The Australian actor revealed the happy news to The Daily Telegraph and called the couple's special day their 'silver lining to 2020.' In 2020, he married his long-time girlfriend, research scientist Kali Woodruff (left) in a private ceremony in Florida 'Despite a spike in COVID, a venue change, a Saharan dust plume, not to mention a torrential thunderstorm, we made it across the line on our wedding day, and I'm a very lucky man,' Jesse told the publication. 'What a silver lining to 2020. She's smart, pretty and way ahead of her years,' he proudly added of his new wife. 'We're very happy. She is my port in every storm, and we're already excited to be moving on to the next phase of our lives.' Melbourne-born Jesse began dating Kali after meeting her a Chicago music festival in 2014. He popped the question last year during a week-long hike in the Peruvian Andes, according to the publication. Jesse previously dated Brazilian surfer Maya Gabeira from 2010 to 2013. GB News star Eamonn Holmes has hit out at Phillip Schofield ahead of his TV comeback, saying he is 'very proud to have thrown him under the bus'. While discussing Schofield's much-criticised television comeback on Channel 5 show Cast Away, Holmes, 64, made his feelings clear. As co-host Isobel Webster revealed on Monday's GB News Breakfast that Schofield claimed he was 'thrown under the bus', Holmes was quick to reply: 'Well if I'm one of the people who threw him under the bus I'm very proud to have done it... 'This man is addicted to fame, absolutely addicted to fame.' Holmes - who has made no secret of the fact he dislikes Schofield - later added that Schofield 'deserves to be in exile'. Eamonn Holmes said Phillip Schofield 'deserves to be in exile and is addicted to fame' in furious rant on GB News on Monday Phillip is set to tell his side of the story on his new Channel 5 show Cast Away which will air on Monday night at 9pm Schofield's lover was just 15 when they met at a talk the veteran TV presenter was giving at a theatre school, The Mail on Sunday previously revealed. At the time, the schoolboy asked him for a job, and Schofield later arranged an interview for him. It led to a position as an ITV production assistant when he turned 18. Some time afterwards, their affair began. Schofield's new show Cast Away will air across three nights from Monday September 30 to Wednesday October 2, in three 60 minute installments. In the programme, Schofield refers to himself as the 'shamed, disgraced Philip Schofield, who had an affair'. The 62-year-old former This Morning host says: 'Strangely, I think another TV presenter or two might have done exactly the same thing. Difference is heterosexual. It's not an unusual thing in the gay world for there to be a difference in age groups.' 'That's not that unusual in the straight world, but if that had been the case with me and it had been a woman. Pat on the back. Well done, mate.' Schofield addsthat he 'has regrets' and acknowledges he 'got something wrong' and 'hurt the people' around him. 'I don't know what price you're supposed to pay and whether the price you're paying is necessarily proportionate,' he explains. Hitting back, a source at the channel said: 'It's a stupid thing for Phil to say, and it is just not true. Phil lied to his colleagues, his bosses and his friends about it, it wouldn't have mattered if it was a woman or a man.' They added that Schofield is unlikely to work with the channel again despite his hints that he had been approached to appear on their reality show, I'm A Celeb. One source said: 'He lied to us, it would be really, really difficult.' In the programme Schofield also takes aim at a trio of his former ITV colleagues, saying: 'I think there are only three s**ts.' He points out that one was a 'coward who never stepped up in queue gate,' while another 'is a coward because they never stepped up when I was being battered by that one journalist who thought I'd got them fired.' It is the first time Schofield has been on TV since leaving This Morning amid the affair scandal, which dominated the headlines for months, led to the breakdown of his friendship with co-presenter Holly Willoughby and 'devastated' his wife Steph. Holmes is so far the only one of Schofield's former This Morning colleagues who has addressed his TV comeback. His furious reaction will come as no surprise to the public after the pair's long-running bitter feud. Schofield left ITV's This Morning in May 2023 after admitting to having a relationship with a much younger male colleague. And at the time Holmes described his colleague as a 'chief narcissist' who didn't know the names of any of his staff. Holmes is so far the only one of Schofield's former This Morning colleagues who has addressed his TV comeback (pictured together on This Morning in 2013) He also called him 'delusional' and 'a liar' after the under-fire host issued a statement insisting there had been 'no toxicity' at the daytime show. Eamonn - a broadcasting institution of over five decades - has known Phillip for most of his professional life. They began working together on This Morning in 2006 when Eamonn joined the programme four years after his rival. The men were never close, but appreciated each others broadcasting styles and worked professionally alongside each other, according to insiders. But all that changed in 2019, when Eamonns now estranged wife and This Morning co-host Ruth Langsford filed an official complaint against Phillip. While working on Loose Women, Ruth was snubbed by Phillip when she was cut off mid-link while explaining what was coming up on the show during a mini-segment on This Morning. Later in November 2021, Eamonn and Ruth were controversially axed from the show after 15 years and replaced on the Friday show by Dermot OLeary and Alison Hammond. Eamonn was particularly aggrieved about being let go by ITV, claiming he was never given an accurate reason. His culling was made even more frustrating by his belief Phillip had been given unwavering support by ITV, despite his behaviour off set, a belief shared by Phillips former co-host Fern Britton and Amanda Holden, who briefly hosted This Morning alongside him in 2015, while Holly was on maternity leave. The incident confirmed Eamonn's belief that Phillip had constantly been feted despite his poor behaviour behind the scenes, sources claimed. Eamonn Holmes, Ruth Langsford, Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield used to be the faces of This Morning (pictured in 2020) before relations turned sour Eamonn later described the statement as 'delusional', adding: 'Believe me Pip if ur looking for a fight u have picked on the wrong person' Following his move to GB News, Eamonn appeared less restrained in his public criticism of Phillip and Holly, with the star liking a meme that mocked the pair for 'jumping the queue' at the Queen's lying in state last year. Eamonn failed to hide his true feelings live on air last week after it was announced Phillip is set to make his TV comeback. The presenter was hosting GB News as usual during the news bulletin and while the Irish broadcaster didn't speak on the matter, his reaction said it all as he scoffed at the announcement. His co-host Isabel Webster introduced the segment to an incredibly negative reception from the panel as GP Dr Renee Hoenderkamp fumed: 'Is this not just the chance for a narcissist to have more me time on screen? 'I don't want to know his story, I'm not interested in it. I know that he's a celeb and people do seem to lap up any news, whether it's good or bad but I think it's time maybe he stayed on the island.' Agreeing, former Home Office Minister Norman Baker argued: 'So what? I don't want to know about it, I'm not interested in it. 'Why is The Sun giving two pages to it? I suppose it sells papers but really, is that the most important thing in the papers?' Attempting to provide some balance to the discussion, while Eamonn remained silent, Isabel continued: 'Well, he was one of our most high-profile presenters in the country, he was married and he had two children when the scandal emerged. 'He lost all of his TV work including Dancing On Ice, he fell out with his one time best friend and co-host Holly Willoughby, who also quite frankly, didn't she lose her job off the back of it all?' As Norman sarcastically hit back: 'My heart bleeds', Eamonn couldn't help but let out a laugh as he poked fun at Phillip Schofield's plight. The broadcaster was then heard adding: 'Very good' before the conversation was steered elsewhere. While Schofield has received some heat from Eamonn, he has received the support of some of his other former This Morning co-stars. He was backed by Dermot O'Leary, Alison Hammond and Josie Gibson as he announced his TV return. He shared the news on his Instagram with a teaser clip for the show which was liked by Alison, Dermot and Josie, according to The Mirror. Comments on the post had been turned off and there was no sign of his former close friend Holly Willoughby supporting him after he posted the announcement. While Schofield has received some heat from Eamonn, he has received the support of some of his other former This Morning co-stars He shared the news on his Instagram with a teaser clip for the show which was liked by Alison (left), Dermot and Josie, according to The Mirror Comments on the post had been turned off and there was no sign of his former close friend Holly Willoughby supporting him after he posted the announcement (This Morning stars all seen in 2022) Meanwhile Vanessa Feltz who regularly stars on This Morning said of the new show while talking to The Sun: 'I'm surprised but delighted, and I hope it's great entertainment, and I hope that he achieves from it whatever he wants to achieve. 'I'd like to see it, I'm intrigued to see it and I wish him all the very best.' 'I see why he would have chosen it, although it's not what I would have expected. It seems to me that he would have autonomy over it, he is the only person in it, he was the only person filming it.' Loose Women's Nadia Sawalha has also weighed in saying on her podcast: 'The trailer was popping onto phones all over the place yesterday and everyone was aghast. 'When I was first sent it, there was no message with it, so I thought it was a joke. 'I just couldn't believe it. First of all, I cringed. If I'm honest, I absolutely cringed when I saw that video. I thought 'That is so embarrassing'. That was my first feeling.' 'I feel he's told his side of the story. I feel like we've only heard his side of the story because he did that great big spread in the Sun and another interviews.' 'He's also very clever so I think he understands an audience and I think he knows how to speak to an audience. So I think, yes, he'll be very, very careful. 'He lied to everybody at work. He left people to deal with his s**t, I feel, in my opinion.' Rebel Wilson looked every inch the blushing bride as she wed Ramona Agruma in a romantic ceremony in Sardinia. The Bridesmaids star, 44, said 'I do' with Ramona, 40, at a destination wedding on the large Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea on Saturday. A source previously told DailyMail.com that the couple planned to tie the knot in a 'super romantic' and intimate ceremony surrounded by their nearest and dearest. Pictures from the big day showed the newlyweds looking incredible in near-identical strapless wedding dresses with voluminous skirts from Pronovias, the bridal brand used by Pippa Middleton. Both brides opted for an off the shoulder design, but while Rebel opted for a plain finish and a thin belt around her waist, Ramona decided on beaded detailing and a plunging mesh neckline. Rebel Wilson looked every inch the blushing bride at her wedding to fiancee Ramona Agruma during a romantic ceremony in Sardinia on Saturday The Bridesmaids star, 44, said 'I do' with Ramona, 40, at a destination wedding on the large Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea on Saturday A source previously told DailyMail.com that the couple planned to tie the knot in a 'super romantic' and intimate ceremony surrounded by their nearest and dearest Rebel wore her blonde locks in loose waves with a pretty floral hairpiece, while jewellery designer Ramona had her hair pinned up in a stylish chignon. The newlyweds clutched matching bouquets of white roses as they said their vows in front of family and friends - which included former TOWIE star Vas J Morgan. Not on the guestlist, however, was Rebel's former best friend Hugh Sheridan, who recently claimed he no longer speaks to the couple and wasn't invited to their wedding, despite being the one to set them up. It was the perfect fairytale location for the couple to exchange vows as they notably holidayed in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, just days after going Instagram official with their romance in 2022. The Pitch Perfect actress and her partner were reportedly supposed to get married in a 2025 beach wedding but Rebel decided to move up the date. The couple first met in 2021 and announced their engagement in February 2023. They share a daughter Royce Lillian, who will turn two in November. DailyMail.com exclusively shared the news of their nuptials last week, revealing that the couple were 'thrilled' to be tying the knot. 'Rebel is really excited to be getting married to the love of her life, she is absolutely thrilled,' a source shared ahead of the big day. 'It is going to be stunning and super romantic. She is madly in love and can't wait to be wed.' 'Rebel doesn't want to wait any longer, she is happy to marry this month because she is very much in love with Ramona and wants to be wed,' the source added. 'It will be a small ceremony with close friends and family, and also very elegant,' the insider concluded. Pictures from the big day showed the newlyweds looking incredible in near-identical strapless wedding dresses with voluminous skirts Both brides opted for an off the shoulder design, but Rebel opted for a plain finish and a thin belt around her waist In contrast Ramona decided on beaded detailing and a plunging mesh neckline Rebel wore her blonde locks in loose waves with a pretty floral hairpiece, while Ramona had her hair pinned up in a stylish chignon updo The Pitch Perfect actress and her partner were reportedly supposed to get married in a 2025 beach wedding but Rebel decided to move up the date DailyMail.com exclusively shared the news of their nuptials last week, revealing that the couple were 'thrilled' to be tying the knot Previously speaking about her wedding plans, Rebel said she wanted to marry Ramona in a romantic beachside ceremony in 2025. 'It'll probably be next year. I feel like it's gonna be a beach wedding but I just don't know what beach,' she shared during an appearance on ITV's This Morning in May. Rebel came out as queer in June 2022 and debuted her relationship with Ramona in a sweet post at the same time, sharing a cosy selfie of them alongside some heartfelt words. 'I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess,' she gushed in an Instagram post at the time. Just days later, Rebel shared a photograph of her and Ramona grinning and holding hands as they holidayed in Sardinia together. The couple, who first met in 2021, went on to welcome their daughter Royce Lillian via surrogate in November 2022. 'Beyond proud to announce the birth of my first child, Royce Lillian, born this past week via surrogate,' Rebel confirmed on Instagram at the time. Rebel and Ramona then announced their engagement in February 2023, with the actress popping the question in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland in California. She shared photographs of Ramona flashing her diamond ring after Rebel popped the big question, with the overjoyed couple packing on the PDA with a sweet kiss. 'Rebel is really excited to be getting married to the love of her life, she is absolutely thrilled,' a source shared ahead of the big day An insider told MailOnline of the wedding: 'It is going to be stunning and super romantic. She is madly in love and can't wait to be wed' 'Rebel doesn't want to wait any longer, she is happy to marry this month because she is very much in love with Ramona and wants to be wed,' the source added 'It will be a small ceremony with close friends and family, and also very elegant,' the insider concluded Rebel's former best friend, Australian actor Hugh Sherida, is said to have set her up with Ramona, but after an explosive fallout he no longer talks to the couple. Just hours before the couple were said to have married, Hugh shared videos of himself on a nighttime boat trip around the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. 'It's corny and seedy, but believe me, I like the simple life,' he captioned the videos, referring to his song, titled Give Me the Simple Life. Earlier this month, the Australian actor detailed his shock falling out with his former best friend Rebel and said he was not invited or told about her Italian wedding plans. Speaking on The Kyle and Jackie O Show, host Kyle Sandilands asked Hugh whether he would be travelling to Italy to attend Rebel and Ramona's wedding. 'No, I wasn't even told about it. I've actually messaged them [but I didn't hear back],' the singer responded. 'Look, I don't even really know them anymore.' 'Did you do something wrong?' a surprised Kyle asked before Hugh admitted he had 'no idea what has happened'. 'On their first date, I even gave them both little Tiffany's necklaces and they still wear them,' Hugh continued. 'I just hope that everything goes well for Rebel. I do worry about it though because I went to court for her here and we were really great mates. 'I did introduce her to Ramona and all that sort of thing. I just want her to have good people around. 'And I worry because I feel like back in the day, I was probably one of the only people that would be there for her and now with the silence and stuff, I just want to make sure she's all right, but I'm sure she's all right.' Hugh also revealed how he introduced Rebel to his assistant and now 'she doesn't talk to me either'. Hugh previously told how he 'played Cupid' for Rebel by setting her up with Ramona in 2021. 'I'm a bit of a matchmaker in my spare time. I've got a few marriages in there,' Hugh said in a past radio appearance on 2Day FM. 'Both were really hard to set up. Ramona is really smart, and Rebel is really smart. 'I was in New York with my ex and feeling very sad, and Rebel said she can't imagine how I feels because she's never been in love before!' 'I thought, ''Gosh, she's a hard one to crack.'' So I thought of Ramona straight away.' Previously speaking about her wedding plans, Rebel said she wanted to marry Ramona in a romantic beachside ceremony in 2025 The couple planted kisses on each other after saying their vows They looked like a fairytale couple in their glamorous princess dresses The brides looked in high spirits as they celebrated their wedding with their loved ones The newlyweds held hands and both carried bouquets of white roses after tying the knot The pair looked delighted as they celebrated their big day with all their loved ones The pair were seen chatting away with each other as they enjoyed a moment to themselves Their friends - including former TOWIE star Vas J Morgan - and family showered Rebel with confetti as they walked down the aisle Their loved ones clapped and cheered as the newlyweds watched on Not at the ceremony was Rebel's former best friend, Australian actor Hugh Sheridan. He is said to have set the couple up but after an explosive fallout he no longer talks to the ladies Not long after her engagement, Rebel opened up about how overjoyed she was to have started a family with Ramona and detailed her fertility struggles. 'There's a lot of things I've had to overcome in my life but obviously, the end of the story is a very happy story because I am engaged,' she shared. 'I have I struggled with fertility with something called PCOS [Polycystic ovary syndrome] and the end of the day my story is I have a beautiful baby daughter who just she melts my heart! She's just started talking and she says like, 'I love you'... 'I went through five rounds of IVF to get her and it was worth every moment of that emotional rollercoaster and anyone who's dealing with fertility stuff knows what I'm talking about.' During an interview with People in March, Rebel then gushed about her experience of motherhood and revealed her daughter's first and 'favorite' word. 'It shocks me how much she melts my heart,' the star told the outlet. 'And when says, "Mama?" Lately that's her new favorite word.' 'And that was her first word ever. It just, it melts you and you're like, "Aw." I thought I would be a strict parent, but apparently I'm the opposite.' Rebel also discussed how her surrogate became pregnant with her 'last viable embryo' and called her daughter 'a miracle'. 'She opens her eyes, and she looks at us. We're a family now,' the actress continued, referencing to Agruma, and later added, 'I'm a mother. It's a bl**dy miracle.' It was the perfect fairytale location for the couple to exchange vows as they notably holidayed in Porto Cervo, Sardinia (pictured) just days after going official with their romance in 2022 The Pitch Perfect actress and her partner were reportedly supposed to get married in 2025 but Rebel decided to move up the date for their Sardinian wedding (pictured: Porto Cervo) The couple first met back in 2021 and announced their engagement in February 2023. They also share a daughter Royce Lillian (all pictured), who will turn two in November Rebel opened about her dating history before meeting Ramona in her memoir Rebel Rising, which was released earlier this year. She described herself as a 'late bloomer in love' and told how she was 'shy' about going on dates, before challenging herself to date 50 men to gain more confidence. 'I was a late bloomer in love, so dating was something I felt very, very shy about going on dates. That's why in 2019, when I was really single I realized I need to go on more dates,' she shared in the release. 'I did my own little experiment, when I dated like 50 men - not at the same time - but anyone who asked me out, I had to say yes. I got more and more comfortable dating. I did lose my virginity late compared to a lot of people - 35 years old.' She also divulged that she didn't lose her virginity until she was 35 and said she wanted to share the detail so other young people know that 'not everybody has to lose their virginity as a teenager'. She said: 'People can wait till they're ready or wait till they're a bit more mature... 'And I think that could be a positive message. You obviously don't have to wait until you're in your thirties like me, but you shouldn't feel pressure as a young person'. She went on to add that she believes if she was born 20 years later, she would have felt more open with exploring her sexuality at a younger age. 'It's absolutely incredible, if I had been born 20 years later, I probably would've explored my sexuality more. I just knew I was attracted to men, and that was the normal thing,' the Senior Year actress candidly shared. 'And so when I started opening myself up probably more after my father's death and realizing, oh, even though I'd seen marriage as a terrible thing and waste of time, I started opening myself up to that. 'And then only years later, meeting women and having feelings for a woman, and that, I just think it's a sign of where society kind of was.' Rebel came out as queer in June 2022 and debuted her relationship with Ramona in a sweet post, sharing a cosy selfie of them both alongside some heartfelt words Rebel and Ramona announced their engagement in February 2023, with the actress popping the question in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland in California While Rebel will no doubt be on cloud nine after her wedding, she is still in the midst of a legal battle over her directorial debut this summer. Rebel accused producers of sabotaging the film project, embezzling funds, and sexually harassing the lead star in a demand letter in June as well as a video shared on her Instagram account in July. DailyMail.com recently discovered Australian star Charlotte MacInnes, 25, is the woman who was dragged into Rebel's bitter feud with film producers Amanda Ghost, Gregory Cameron, and Vince Holden. The three producers have since filed a defamation lawsuit against the Australian comedian, slamming her claims as 'fictitious' and having 'no basis in reality.' They also accuse Rebel of bullying and falsely accusing Ghost of 'inappropriate behavior' towards Charlotte, with Ghost noting in the defamation suit that the actress strongly denied being subjected to such, when asked about Rebel's claims. Now, a legal complaint obtained by DailyMail.com reveals the feud broke out following a series of disputes over writing credits and Rebel's behavior on set of The Deb, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this month. The producers say that when Rebel 'did not get her way in these disputes', she 'revived a fictitious story about Ms. Ghost sexually harassing a lead actor in 'The Deb' that has absolutely no basis in reality, as the actor that is the subject of this defamatory tale has repeatedly confirmed. In a statement released to DailyMail.com, MacInnes confirmed she is the actress referred to in the lawsuit and angrily accused Wilson of 'undermining real victims' with her 'false' claims. She said: 'There is no truth to the allegations made involving me. I made a statement to the film team when this was first said in September 2023 and am saying this now to draw a line under it. 'Making false accusations undermines real victims and I won't be the subject of a fabricated narrative.' Musical comedy The Deb follows the story of farm girl Taylah Simpkins and her city slicker cousin Maeve as they look for dates for an upcoming ball. While Rebel will no doubt be on cloud nine after her wedding, she is still in the midst of a legal battle over her directorial debut The Deb this summer (pictured in the film) In her memoir Rebel Rising, the actress made shock claims about her experience filming The Brothers Grimsby with 'a**hole' comedian Sacha Baron Cohen - which he strenuously denied The court battle over The Deb follows a controversy earlier this year over a chapter in Wilson's memoir, Rebel Rising, in which she claimed Sasha Baron Cohen harassed her on the set of The Brothers Grimsby. The actress, who played Sacha's girlfriend Dawn in the film, accused him of making her uncomfortable with repeated requests for nudity and asking 'Rebel, can you just stick your finger up my butt?' during a skit. After Sacha, 52, described the claims as 'demonstrably false' and threatened to call the lawyers in, the book was published with redactions in the UK to avoid falling foul of the country's notoriously tough libel and defamation laws. Rebel has also previously been accused of lying about her age and upbringing. She was eventually forced to admit she was six years older than she had claimed but sued a number of Australian magazines in May 2016 for defamation, saying they had painted her as a 'serial liar'. She won the case and, in September 2017, was awarded $4.5million AUD ($3million USD, 2.3million GBP) in damages, although she was later forced to return $4.1millionAUD ($2.7 USD, 2million GBP) plus $600,000 AUD ($408,600 USD, 306,973 GBP) in interest following an appeal. Kanye West has baffled fans as he uploaded a new image which had eerily similar links to both his Donda 2 and Yandhi records - a day after announcing his new album, Bully. Over the weekend, the rapper, also known as Ye, 47, revealed his brand new album and debuted a new song during his show at Wuyuan River Stadium in Haikou, China. Then taking to his Instagram on Monday morning, Kanye shared an image which fans later identified as the stage he used to debut his Donda 2 album back in 2022. Kanye took to the stage at Miami's LoanDepot Park to livestream his 'Donda Experience Performance' at the time, but two years later, the structure appeared to be painted black seemingly for the potential artwork of the star's latest offering. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, an account shared images of the stage and noted the link, writing: 'Holy s**t Donda 2 Yandhi stage (Updated Stage from Today).' Kanye West has baffled fans as he uploaded a new image which had eerily similar links to both his Donda 2 and Yandhi records - a day after announcing his new album, Bully [pictured in March] Taking to his Instagram on Monday morning, Kanye shared an image which fans later identified as the stage he used to debut his Donda 2 album back in 2022 Responding to another person's bewilderment, they clarified: 'Nothing they just put black stuff/painted the stage black for the LP.' Meanwhile, over on Reddit, another fan was quick to declare that Kanye's new post looked very similar to the stage he used to debut his unreleased 2018 album Yandhi. While the image also bears a resemblance to the artwork to the record, which was supposed to be released in September 2018, but didn't happen. Kanye's ninth studio album was at the time pushed back by two months with the hitmaker tellking how he planned to finish it in Africa. However, after being pushed back a number of times, it was indefinitely postponed and eventually abandoned, with Kanye instead going on to release Jesus Is King. Taking to the comments on Kanye's new and only Instagram post, fans shared their differing responses, with some wondering if this was a second part of Yandhi, while others simply urged his to stop teasing an release the album. It comes as Kanye announced a new album and debuted a new song during his show at Wuyuan River Stadium in Haikou, China this weekend. The new album which follows his two Vultures releases earlier this year is called Bully. Kanye took to the stage at Miami's LoanDepot Park to livestream his 'Donda Experience Performance' at the time, but two years later, the structure appeared to be painted black seemingly for the potential artwork of the star's latest offering Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter , an account shared images of the stage and noted the link, writing: 'Holy s**t Donda 2 Yandhi stage (Updated Stage from Today)' Responding to another person's bewilderment, they clarified: 'Nothing they just put black stuff/painted the stage black for the LP' Meanwhile, over on Reddit, another fan was quick to declare that Kanye's new post looked very similar to the stage he used to debut his unreleased 2018 album Yandhi While the image also bears a resemblance to the artwork to the record Yandhi, which was supposed to be released in September 2018, but didn't happen The new song is called Beauty and the Beast and he performed it in China rapping over an instrumental background. 'I still think about it every night and day to try to stay away, to keep my audience / Don't take this disrespect, I'm sitting here trying to redirect.' Kanye who recently sold his Malibu mansion hadn't performed in China in 16 years prior to his first listening event in the country on September 15. During the concert West also debuted a new version of 530, a track off Vultures 2, which fans are calling a finished version as it contained a second verse. Kanye West announced a new album and debuted a new song during his show at Wuyuan River Stadium in Haikou, China today. Seen here in December 2021 Ye did not give the audience any clue as to when the Bully album would be released but if it follows the same route the two Vultures projects did, it will be plagued with delays. Vultures was delayed months before finally dropping on February 10. The second Vultures project was initially scheduled for a March 8 release but was pushed until August 3. The first was pushed by months before its inevitable release on Feb. 10, while the second was initially slated to drop on March 8 before finally hitting streaming services on Aug. 3. Yeezy has announced a number of albums that never saw the light of day including Good A** Job, TurboGrafx 16, Yandhi and Love Everyone. Additionally, the Vultures project was conceived of as a trilogy and the third album has not been released yet. Last month, the Gold Digger rapper took a dig at Adidas, who severed ties with the rapper in 2022 after Ye made several anti-semitic comments. He chanted 'f**k Adidas' and encouraged the audience to join him, before playing Can't Tell Me Nothing, another hit off his third studio album, Graduation. The new album which follows his two Vultures releases earlier this year is called Bully. Seen here arriving in China on September 27, 2024 The new song is called Beauty and the Beast and he performed it in China rapping over an instrumental background. Seen at Rolling Loud Festival in 2024 'I still think about it every night and day to try to stay away, to keep my audience / Don't take this disrespect, I'm sitting here trying to redirect.' Seen in 2024 He also recently gave Drake a shoutout during one his recent shows. Before performing his 2007 track, I Wonder, the father-of-four declared: 'This one for Drake.' According to The Sun, several K-pop artists were seen attending his gig on August 23. This included Aespa members Giselle and Winter, both 23. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley has revealed how she was once sent home from a photoshoot for being 'too full figured'. These days, the beauty, 37, is one of the world's top models, with an impressive career seeing her starring in numerous campaigns, strutting down many a runway and was even a coveted Victoria's Secret 'Angel'. However, the road to success wasn't always easy as Rosie recalled during a new interview with NET-A-PORTER's digital title PORTER, in which she stuns in a number of striking snaps for the latest cover story. Reflecting on the early days of her modelling career, the Plymouth-born star told how during a period of endless castings, she was once dismissed from a photoshoot was not being the right size. She shared: 'I feel fortunate that Ive seen the full breadth of the industry because, when I started, I was on the tube [Londons subway], portfolio and heels in my bag, doing castings with 200 girls, getting out in the middle of nowhere and middle of the night, getting into cars with strange drivers, being sent home from shoots because I was too "wholesome looking" or "too full-figured". Rosie Huntington-Whiteley has revealed how she was once sent home from a photoshoot for being 'too full figured' The road to success wasn't always easy as Rosie recalled during a new interview with NET-A-PORTER's digital title PORTER , in which she stuns in a number of striking snaps for the latest cover story Rosie's modelling career kicked off aged 16 as she landed a her first gig in a Levi jeans commercial. She had initially signed up for a bout of work experience at a modelling agency before getting the job, with Rosie previously recalling how she spent her time writing letters to fashions brands and shops in a bid to get her foot in the door. Rosie landed her big break when she was picked to be the face of Burberry, with the huge honour coming five years after that photoshoot snub. This sparked a career full of magazine covers and collaborations with luxury brands as well as a contract with Victoria's Secret. But the stunner surprised many in the industry by stepping back from the lingerie brand to launch her own collection with high street retailer M&S, with Rosie going on to recall the fear that she'd be ostracised as a result. She said: 'I recognized that at any point they could say, "Rosie is out." Id seen that with so many girls they literally worked with them for 15 years and then one day it was, "Shes too old and shes getting some weight." Thats the way this industry works. I was like, thats not going to happen to me.' Indeed, after attracting 'a lot of eyebrow-raising' thanks to her decision to work with the high street store, the partnership is still going strong 13 years later, with it said that one in 50 British women own a bra from her range. Rosie, who's career has also seen her branch out into acting thanks to roles in Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Mad Max: Fury Road, Rosie candidly reflected to the publication that her success has not been without its challenges. Reflecting on the early days of her modelling career, the Plymouth-born star told how during a period of endless castings, she was once dismissed from a photoshoot was not being the right size 'When I started, I was on the tube, portfolio and heels in my bag, doing castings with 200 girls, getting out in the middle of nowhere and middle of the night, getting into cars with strange drivers, being sent home from shoots because I was too "wholesome looking" or "too full-figured"' Rosie's modelling career kicked off aged 16 as she landed a her first gig in a Levi jeans commercial [pictured aged 17 during London Fashion Week in 2004] To see the full interview with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley read Porter at https://www.net-a-porter.com/porter/article-255fd12409d1e875 and/or download the NET-A-PORTER app for iPhone, iPad and Android. She shared: 'Success is so easy when something works out quickly. But when you've gone through sort of adversity, or youve had these challenging moments, and youve had the rug pulled from under your feet professionally and personally [thats] where you go to the real depths of yourself. In the moment, it feels horrendous.' Rosie went on to add that one grows 'more perspective' the more time passes by, noting that a person has to understand a 'side of yourself' that is 'resilient'. But as time goes by, you get to have more perspective, you get to have understood a side of yourself that is resilient.' So strong she is in her own conviction, Rosie added during the interview that these days she has 'less need to prove myself', which is in stark contrast to a couple of years ago when she was in a 'different headspace'. The stunner surprised many in the industry by stepping back from Victoria's Secret to launch her own collection with high street retailer M&S, with Rosie going on to recall the fear that she'd be ostracised as a result 'I recognized that at any point they could say, "Rosie is out." Id seen that with so many girls they literally worked with them for 15 years and then one day it was, "Shes too old and shes getting some weight." Rosie, who's career has also seen her branch out into acting thanks to roles in Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Mad Max: Fury Road, Rosie candidly reflected to the publication that her success has not been without its challenges While Rosie's professional life is proving to be a roaring success, so too is her personal thanks to her long-term relationship with film star Jason Statham, 57, whom she describes as the most 'hilarious' person she knows. The couple met in 2009 and went on to get engaged in 2016. They also share two children, Jack, six, and two-year-old Isabella. The pair choose to largely keep their children out of the public eye, with Rosie telling how she's 'mindful' of how much they're exposed. While Rosie's professional life is proving to be a roaring success, so too is her personal thanks to her long-term relationship with film star Jason Statham, 57, whom she describes as the most 'hilarious' person she knows The couple met in 2009 and went on to get engaged in 2016. They also share two children, Jack, six, and two-year-old Isabella, who they choose to largely keep out of the public eye She added that she will do all she can to 'protect them' because it's their 'choice' whether they want a 'public life' or not. This was one of the reason she and Jason opted to relocate from LA to the UK, noting that there was always paparazzi following them whenever they left the house in the USA. Opening up on life with her family, Rosie noted how her kids keep her humbled as she recalled a moment when someone asked her for a photo, only for her son to question this seeing as 'Daddys the famous person in the family!' Amelia Gray Hamlin looked incredible in a white cut-out dress took to the runaway at the Stella McCartney show in Paris during fashion week on Monday. The American model, 23, displayed her amazing figure in the fitted off the shoulders number which featured cut out detailing down the front. Amelia elevated her frame in a pair of quirky matching heels and toted her belongings around in a small white handbag. Styling her long dark tresses straight, the beauty braved the French rain as she walked in Stella's spring/summer outdoors show. The model, who is the daughter of American actors-turned-reality television stars Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin, was seen chatting to pals ahead of taking to the runway. Amelia Gray Hamlin, 23, looked incredible in a white cut-out dress took to the runaway at the Stella McCartney show in Paris during fashion week on Monday Watching Amelia walk in Stella's PFW show was Natalie Portman, Ashley Graham and Paris Jackson. Last week, Amelia joined numerous celebrities to party into the early hours of the morning to celebrate Saint Laurent's triumphant PFW show the day before. Saint Laurent - so often a pioneer of international style and sophistication - sexed up their Spring-Summer 2025 womenswear presentation as proceedings got underway at Musee Yves Saint Laurent Paris. And after enjoying their FROW seats on the runway, the celebs made the hop across town to the afterparty held at the fashion house's HQ on Rue de l'Universite. Kate Moss, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Amelia were all looked equally stunning in their lingerie-inspired looks. However, Amelia stole the show when she went braless under a cut-out fishnet bodysuit - pairing it with shiny black leather-look trousers. Amelia is the daughter of American actors-turned reality TV star Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin. Prior to the show, the starlet revealed how she really felt about her X-rated look. Amelia elevated her frame in a pair of quirky matching heels and toted her belongings around in a small white handbag Amelia elevated her frame in a pair of quirky matching heels and toted her belongings around in a small white handbag Styling her long dark tresses straight, the beauty braved the French rain as she walked in Stella's spring/summer outdoors show Her fellow models looked incredible in stunning outfits from the British designer The racy looks showcased the women's jaw-dropping figures 'I feel amazing,' Amelia enthused in a video posted to TikTok by user @Taoualitamar. 'I don't think I've ever felt so amazing. I'm so ready for the show. I can't wait.' Earlier this month, Amelia took to the floor at Milan Fashion Week. She walked the Ferrari runway and held her own alongside a catwalk giant - Russian model Irina Shayk. Amelia showcased her incredibly toned abs in a tiny tan leather bralette and matching skirt set. The belt she wore with the skirt artistically trailed the floor, and Amelia rocked the same black tasselled heels as Irina. Sarah Harris has slammed a controversial plan to track children's height and weight. Earlier this month, The Australian College of Nursing advised that school nurses should be tracking the weight and height of students in order combat increasing rates of childhood obesity. The Project co-host, 43, weighed in on the controversy, reflecting on her own struggles with weight when she was a kid. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Sarah said she was told she was 'too fat' for the front row of her dance class. The mother-of-two said she would hate for her two sons, Paul, eight, and Harry, six, to be weighed. 'I would hate for my kids to be weighed. I know what I was like growing up and just how the wrong comments can land,' she said. 'I am not a health expert but I got a really visceral emotional reaction when I read the story about it because I know what it was like to be eight-years-old and to be told that I was carrying too much weight,' she added. Sarah revealed that the way people talked about her weight when she was young had long-lasting effects, causing her 'complicated relationship with food.' Sarah Harris (pictured) has slammed a controversial plan to track children's height and weight 'Restricting calories and exercising too much, it was just insane. I'm 43 now so I eat for function. I couldn't do the job that I do, the travel I do, and run after two boys, trying to starve myself. 'You can't run a car on an empty tank it has taken me a long time to pick apart that kind of conditioning I did on myself after getting those comments when I was a kid,' the TV star shared. Harris announced her split from IT specialist husband Tom Ward in March 2021, after seven years of marriage. The former couple share custody of sons Paul, seven, and Harry, five. Sarah said she was told she was 'too fat' for the front row of her dance class. The mother-of-two said she would hate for her two sons, Paul, eight, and Harry, six, (pictured) to be weighed 'I would hate for my kids to be weighed. I know what I was like growing up and just how the wrong comments can land,' she said It comes as The Project viewers noticed a major sign that Sarah will be returning to the show in 2025. The current affairs program recently shared a promotional image for the show to promote the coming year. The image featured Sarah standing alongside Waleed Aly, and was captioned: 'We hear you like your news delivered differently. So, see you in 2025 for more of the same!' A number of regular watchers have posted to the Media Spy forums, saying this has confirmed Sarah has re-signed with the news program. 'It seems Sarah will re-sign on for another year. Hard to believe she's been there nearly two years now,' one person wrote. 'It seems to be a new picture of Sarah & Waleed,' another agreed. However one person claimed the image doesn't confirm Sarah will be remaining on the show for the entire year. 'Back in 2022, they had Lisa Wilkinson and Peter Hellier announced for 2023, then they left, along with Carrie who had already announced that she was leaving,' they wrote. Advertisement Phillip Schofield returned to television on Monday night for Channel 5's Cast Away - more than a year after he stepped down from ITV's This Morning following an 'unwise' affair with a junior colleague. The first episode saw the 62-year-old broadcaster stranded on an uninhabited island off Madagascar for 10 days with no food or water and without a production crew. Viewers watched him search for food and water, set up camp, and battle against harsh winds, before dramatically getting lost in the dark and being unable to find his way back. He also spoke candidly to his handheld camera, reflecting on the decisions he's made and how he feels about life now, over a year after being ousted from This Morning. Announcing his return to the nation's screens last week, Schofield described the show as: 'My story of survival, both on a desert island and off it.' Catch up on our live coverage below and join in the conversation in our comments section Rebel Wilson has returned to social media for the first time since exchanging vows with Ramona Agruma in Sardinia on Saturday. The Australian actress married her long-term partner in a romantic ceremony on the Mediterranean island, surrounded by close friends and family members. Breaking her social media silence on Monday, Wilson, 40, shared a photo of the happy couple as they held hands shortly afterwards. Captioning the photo, she wrote: 'Married. Sardinia 28.9.24.' A source previously told DailyMail.com that the couple planned to tie the knot in a 'super romantic' and intimate ceremony surrounded by their nearest and dearest. Rebel Wilson has returned to social media for the first time since exchanging vows with Ramona Agruma in Sardinia on Saturday Pictures from the big day showed the newlyweds looking incredible in near-identical strapless wedding dresses with voluminous skirts. Both brides opted for an off the shoulder design, but while Rebel opted for a plain finish and a thin belt around her waist, Ramona decided on beaded detailing and a plunging mesh neckline. Rebel wore her blonde locks in loose waves with a pretty floral hairpiece, while jewellery designer Ramona had her hair pinned up in a stylish chignon. The newlyweds clutched matching bouquets of white roses as they said their vows in front of family and friends - among them former TOWIE star Vas J Morgan. Not on the guestlist, however, was Rebel's former best friend Hugh Sheridan, who recently claimed he no longer speaks to the couple and wasn't invited to their wedding, despite being the one to set them up. It was the perfect fairytale location for the couple to exchange vows as they notably holidayed in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, just days after going Instagram official with their romance in 2022. The Pitch Perfect actress and her partner were reportedly supposed to get married in a 2025 beach wedding but Rebel decided to move up the date. The couple first met in 2021 and announced their engagement in February 2023. They share a daughter Royce Lillian, who will turn two in November. The Australian actress married her long-term partner in a romantic ceremony on the Mediterranean island, surrounded by close friends and family members Rebel and Ramona attend the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival on September 14 DailyMail.com exclusively shared the news of their nuptials last week, revealing that the couple were 'thrilled' to be tying the knot. 'Rebel is really excited to be getting married to the love of her life, she is absolutely thrilled,' a source shared ahead of the big day. 'It is going to be stunning and super romantic. She is madly in love and can't wait to be wed.' 'Rebel doesn't want to wait any longer, she is happy to marry this month because she is very much in love with Ramona and wants to be wed,' the source added. 'It will be a small ceremony with close friends and family, and also very elegant,' the insider concluded. Today host Carson Daly poked fun at British rockers Noel and Liam Gallagher on Monday morning after the Oasis stars announced they will bring their reunion tour across the pond in 2025. It was confirmed that the Manchester-born siblings will play shows in New Jersey, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, and Mexico City in August and September next year - just weeks are wrapping up their UK and Ireland dates. Sharing the announcement during the PopStart segment on Today, Carson, 51, said: 'We'll start today with news hot off the press from Oasis. The newly reunited band hitting the road, announcing only moments ago, there is indeed the lineup of the North America tour dates finally. 'The nineties superstars will be hitting Toronto, Chicago, New Jersey, LA and Mexico City starting in August of next year. That is after they wrap up their run... and I say this like we hope... we hope they can make it through the UK and Ireland dates. 'That's the thing with Oasis, their relationship is so tumultuous. We hope they can last through the test dates to make it over to this pond,' Carson joked as his cohost Savannah Guthrie commented: 'There's a lot of drama!' Today host Carson Daly poked fun at Oasis rockers Noel and Liam Gallagher during Monday's live broadcast Carson said he hopes the famous siblings can make it through their UK and Ireland tour dates next summer The newly-reunited Oasis has announced a line-up of North American tour dates. pic.twitter.com/sEXYK8ZA7d TODAY (@TODAYshow) September 30, 2024 The band announced their new tour dates, less than 48 hours after sending fans into a frenzy, by posting a montage video on Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter, which featured many posts from fans begging for North America dates. They captioned the clip: 'People of Mexico, get ready. The Brothers are on the way. Oasis Tour North America 2025. Register for the Pre-Sale Giveaway for Mexico City (link in our profile). The pre-sale will take place on Thursday October 3. General Sale will be Friday October 4 at 12pm local time.' Fans were quick to comment and share their excitement as one person wrote: 'THANK YOU I LOVE YOU GUYS,' and another said: 'This is such a great move guys I love you.' British fans, who were unsuccessful in buying tickets for the UK and Ireland dates, hinted that they may try their luck for the newly announced shows. 'It could now be genuinely cheaper to fly to the US and watch OASIS there, than to watch them here in the UK,' one person pondered on X. UK and Ireland dates were subject to 'unprecedented' demand when tickets went on sale last month, with fans left enraged by prices skyrocketing due to Ticketmaster's 'dynamic pricing' - or by being kicked off the site once they had queued for hours to secure a spot. In a separate statement shared on Monday morning, the band revealed that the 'dynamic pricing model' will not apply this time round. 'Ticketmaster's dynamic pricing model will not be applied to the forthcoming sale of tickets to Oasis concerts in North America. It is widely accepted that dynamic pricing remains a useful tool to combat ticket touting and keep prices for a significant proportion of fans lower than the market rate and thus more affordable. The famous brothers, pictured here onstage in 2009, are known for having a fractious relationship The band confirmed that Ticketmaster's 'dynamic pricing model' will not apply to the forthcoming sale of the North America tour dates 'But, when unprecedented ticket demand (where the entire tour could be sold many times over at the moment tickets go on sale) is combined with technology that cannot cope with that demand, it becomes less effective and can lead to an unacceptable experience for fans. 'We have made this decision for the North America tour to hopefully avoid a repeat of the issues fans in the UK and Ireland experienced recently,' the band added. But this left many British fans with a bad taste in their mouths and they quickly shared their thoughts online. 'Great just us Brits who got screwed over then,' one person fumed, while another person asked: 'So will UK fans who paid more due to dynamic pricing be refunded the difference?' A third angry person posted: 'So just the UK fans that get mugged off then? Sound,' and a fourth suggested: 'Maybe refund the UK fans you ripped off?' Another fan raged: 'So just us UK paying fans have to pay the consequences! Wheres the refunds to your UK fans! Not fair at all!' And someone else claimed: 'That sounds like something they'd say. Bet they won't finish the tour, they'll be fighting onstage in no time.' Tammy Hembrow set tongues wagging this week when she posed with her husband-to-be in a series of images shared to Instagram. The 30-year-old, who is Love Island Australia star Matt Zukowski, cradled her belly while posing in a flowing white boho frock as the pair enjoyed a day at the beach. The fitness influencer cuddled up to her man by the seaside, but it was the placement of her hands that had her fans in a lather. 'Baby #4' commented one person while another said, 'Keeps holding her belly! Its giving pregnancy vibes'. One more chimed in: 'Baby #4 coming up?' with someone else asking, 'Another baby is coming??' However, her fiancee Matt has previously opened up about his infertility. The reality television star joined the Back to Reality podcast to talk about the heartbreak of finding out about his condition. '[The doctor] called me because it's sort of like in our lock down stage. And he was like, "Hey, Matt, just let you know, you've got no sperm"' he said. Tammy Hembrow set tongues wagging this week when she posed with her husband-to-be in a series of images shared to Instagram. Both pictured The 30-year-old, who is Love Island Australia star Matt Zukowski, cradled her belly while posing in a flowing white boho frock as the pair enjoyed a day at the beach 'And I was like, "oh, so I've got low sperm." He said, "No, you've got no sperm." And I was like, "Oh, s**t."' Matt has shared that he may never be able to have children. 'I'm sad for Matt 10 years from now who is gonna wanna have kids with the girl that he loves,' he said. It comes after Tammy wowed her fans last week by revealing the gruelling exercise routine she is undergoing ahead of her upcoming wedding. The clip showcased just how dedicated Tammy is to achieving her fitness goals before she ties the knot with Matt in November. 'Baby #4' commented one person while another said, 'Keeps holding her belly! Its giving pregnancy vibes'. One more chimed in: 'Baby #4 coming up?' with someone else asking, 'Another baby is coming??' However, her fiancee Matt has previously opened up about his infertility It follows reports that Hembrow is busy planning her wedding - and her honeymoon. The fitness influencer and Matt, 28, got engaged in December after just three months of dating and are set to tie the knot in Byron Bay later this year. Tammy shared a series of loved-up selfies with her beau to Instagram, revealing that the pair are already dreaming up a special wedding night. 'Just a tall guy and his short girl. We're in the midst of planning our honeymoon (and wedding) but any guesses where we're going?' Tammy wrote in her caption. The jet-setting pair were engaged in the Maldives late last year, before heading off to Greece and Bali for luxury holidays in recent months. Tammy recently addressed the online backlash she received after her wedding invitation was leaked by a handful of influencers. 'You guys might know that recently my wedding details were leaked online accidentally,' she said in a TikTok video. It follows reports that Hembrow is busy planning her wedding - and her honeymoon 'This has caused a few issues for me, I have had to change a lot of the details because we want it to be very private and it's been a bit frustrating.' The Gold Coast-based blonde then clarified the interesting details on her wedding invitation which have been causing a stir on social media. Tammy and Matt asked for a wishing well - donation box in which guests can deposit cash gifts instead of material items. The decision raised eyebrows as Tammy's net worth is said to be a staggering $50million , according to AFR's Young Rich List. Oasis have announced they will perform five stadium shows across North American when their reunion tour gets underway in 2025, with the promise that tickets will not be subject to dynamic pricing. The iconic Britpop band, fronted by warring brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, confirmed they will regroup for a series of lucrative summer shows in August - their first since 2009. The tour, originally planned for the United Kingdom and Ireland, will now extend to the United States and Canada. The new dates include Toronto on August 24, Chicago on August 28, New Jersey on August 31, Los Angeles on September 6 and Mexico City on September 12. Confirming the news on X, formerly Twitter, they wrote: 'America is coming. You have one last chance to prove that you loved us all along.' Oasis have announced they will perform five stadium shows across North American when their reunion tour gets underway in 2025 The new dates include Toronto on August 24, Chicago on August 28, New Jersey on August 31, Los Angeles on September 6 and Mexico City on September 12 The band have also confirmed the North American tickets will not be affected by the same dynamic pricing controversy that affected the UK and Ireland Pre-sale tickets will be available from 12:00pm EST on October 3, while the general sale will take place from October 4. It's understood that registered applicants will be randomly selected for access to the ticket sale via a ballot, during which hopeful fans will be asked questions about the band in order to proceed. Oasis had previously come under fire after unprecedented demand for tickets across Britain and Ireland led to chaos online, where fans waited in queues for hours or fell victim to a dynamic pricing system that resulted in tickets trebling in price. But they have since confirmed the North American sale will not be subject to the same fiasco in a separate statement shared across social media on Monday. It read: 'Ticketmaster's dynamic pricing model will not be applied to the forthcoming sale of tickets to Oasis concerts in North America. It is widely accepted that dynamic pricing remains a useful tool to combat ticket touting and keep prices for a significant proportion of fans lower than the market rate and thus more affordable. 'But, when unprecedented ticket demand (where the entire tour could be sold many times over at the moment tickets go on sale) is combined with technology that cannot cope with that demand, it becomes less effective and can lead to an unacceptable experience for fans. 'We have made this decision for the North America tour to hopefully avoid a repeat of the issues fans in the UK and Ireland experienced recently.' The news prompted an inevitably strong reaction across social media after it was announced on Monday morning The iconic rock band includes brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher (pictured in 1998) - but was originally formed in 1991 with ex members Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs, Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll (pictured in 1998) They previously shared snaps of giant billboards showing the siblings, with a headline reading 'be careful what you wish for' On Sunday the band's social media platforms shared snaps of giant billboards showing the Gallagher brothers, with a headline reading 'be careful what you wish for'. It also read 'MONDAY, 8AM ET', hinting at the announcement date and time, and adding #OasisLive25 in their latest X post. UK and Ireland dates were subject to 'unprecedented' demand when tickets went on sale last month, with fans left enraged by prices skyrocketing due to Ticketmaster's 'dynamic pricing' - or by being kicked off the site once they had queued for hours to secure a spot. Many devastated Oasis fans were left empty-handed when the hotly-anticipated 17-date UK reunion tour sold out in a matter of hours in an online fiasco. Around 14million fans faced eight-hour queues in a bid to get their hands on the highly-sought-after tickets to see the rock band live, with many still missing out. While other lucky fans managed to nab tickets, many were forced to splash out huge amounts on them after dynamic pricing saw costs soar to almost double within mere hours. The Gallagher brothers have since announced two further Wembley shows and tickets will be made available via a staggered invite-only ballot to select fans who missed out the first time around on Ticketmaster. Other fans were angry and disappointed after being left empty-handed, having battled website issues, being mislabelled as bots and waiting in an online queue for hours to buy tickets. Last month, the band announced they were reuniting for the first time since 2009 after Noel and Liam Gallagher finally put their differences aside (pictured in 2003) This year marks 30 years since the band released their debut studio album, Definitely Maybe, which sailed to the top of the UK charts earlier in the month again in occasion of the anniversary (pictured in 2009) This year marks 30 years since the band released their debut studio album, Definitely Maybe, which sailed to the top of the UK charts earlier in the month, bolstered by the release of a deluxe edition celebrating its anniversary. Oasis released two live records during their heyday back in the 2000s. They released Familiar To Millions in November 2000 - four months after Oasis debuted at Wembley. Their first release sold more than a million copies. Knebworth 1996 was their second release, and this was recorded across two shows at the Hertfordshire venue and was released in September 2021. Jodie Comer cut an elegant figure while attending Gabriela Hearst's runway show during Paris Fashion Week on Monday. The Killing Eve star, 31, looked effortlessly classy in an unbuttoned navy blue shirt and a matching a-line maxi skirt. She added inches to her frame in a pair of black heels and opted for a radiant palette of make up. Leaving her long waved tresses loose, Jodie accessorised with gold hoop earrings and a chunky gold chain necklace which she left poking underneath her shirt. The actress appeared in good spirits as she flashed a smile as she exited the car to the star-studded event. Jodie Comer looked incredibly chic as she headed to Gabriela Hearst's runway show for Paris Fashion Week on Monday The Killing Eve star, 31, cut a classy look in an unbuttoned navy blue shirt and a matching a-line maxi skirt The actress appeared in good spirits as she flashed a smile as she exited the car to the star studded event The event comes as a break to Jodie who has been busy filming 28 Years Later in Northumberland. Back in April she was announced to be starring in the second sequel to the 2002 film which is once again directed by Danny Boyle. Reprising his role from the first movie, Oscar-winning Cillian Murphy will return as Jim, joined by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes, Erin Kellyman and Jack O'Connell. Jodie, who will play a Geordie character in the post-apocalyptic flick, was spotted filming in the Northumberland countryside in July. She recently revealed she had been taking inspiration from Girls Aloud star Cheryl for her Newcastle accent. According to an interview with ELLE UK, Jodie has been looking back at old episodes of Cheryl on The X Factor to master the twang. Talking about her role in the upcoming post-apocalyptic horror film and getting to work with Danny Boyle, Jodie commented: 'Danny just seems like such a confident, intuitive and intelligent director. 'The original was so loved, so I'm trying not to think of that too hard. I'm not putting too much expectation on myself.' Jodie accessorised with gold hoop earrings and a chunky gold chain necklace which she left poking underneath her shirt The event comes as a break to Jodie who has been busy filming 28 Years Later in Northumberland The original zombie apocalyptic film debuted in cinemas 22 years earlier in 2002 - with Cillian taking on a leading role. The sequel is slated to be the third instalment in the franchise and the first in an upcoming trilogy. Danny, who directed 28 Days later, as well as original writer, Alex Garland, are also returning. The pair notably only served as executive producers on the second movie, 28 Weeks Later (2007). Both Danny and Alex are producing the new project alongside Andrew Macdonald, Peter Rice and Bernie Bellew, while Cillian is an executive producer. While talking to The Independent earlier this year in January, Cillian revealed if he would possibly star in the franchise once again. This marks Jodie's second apocalyptic film in recent years, after her heart wrenching performance in the climate crisis drama The End We Start From. She starred as Mother in the movie adaptation of Megan Hunter's novel which sees her character navigating motherhood for the first time during an apocalyptic flood. Filming officially begun on Peaky Blinders movie The Immortal Man at a secret location in Liverpool on Monday. Lead actor Cillian Murphy, 48, donned his iconic Tommy Shelby costume to mark the occasion with a snap shared to Netflix's offical X account. The Oscar winner played the gangster in the multi-award winning BBC series from 2013 to 2022 and is now back for a big screen outing, alongside new cast members Barry Keoghan, Rebecca Ferguson and Tim Roth. Vehicles were seen arriving the unknown location with heavy security on hand to ensure only authority personnel could enter the set. As well as a snap of him in character, Cillian posed alongside show creator Steven Knight as they relaxed on set. Filming officially begun on Peaky Blinders movie The Immortal Man at a secret location in Liverpool on Monday Vehicles were seen arriving the unknown location with heavy security on hand to ensure only authority personnel could enter the set. The Oscar winner played the gangster in the multi-award winning BBC series from 2013 to 2022 and is now back for a big screen outing, alongside new cast members Barry Keoghan , Rebecca Ferguson and Tim Roth The caption read: 'By order of the Peaky Blinders... Tommy Shelby is back'. Cillian Murphy and Steven Knight are reunited on set as production officially starts on the upcoming Netflix film. Little is know about the plot but Knight returns as writer alongside the Tom Harper who directed episodes of the show's first series at the helm. Last month it was announced that Salburn star Barry had joined the cast, but details of his character have not yet been revealed. Barry has had an impressive career over the past few years starring in Saltburn, Top Boy and The Banshees of Inisherin. Netflix announced in June 2024 that the feature film had been greenlit and would go into production later this year. In June it was confirmed that the Peaky Blinders' original writing and directing team will be returning alongside Cillian for the Netflix film adaptation of the hit British series. Netflix confirmed the news on X with a photograph of the script, while the Oscar winning actor told Deadline: 'It seems like Tommy Shelby wasn't finished with me As well as a snap of him in character, Cillian posed alongside show creator teven Knight as they relaxed on set. The caption read: 'By order of the Peaky Blinders... Tommy Shelby is back'. Little is know about the plot but Knight returns as writer alongside the Tom Harper who directed episodes of the show's first series at the helm 'It is very gratifying to be re-collaborating with Steven Knight and Tom Harper on the film version of Peaky Blinders. This is one for the fans.' Director Tom shared: 'When I first directed Peaky Blinders over 10 years ago, we didn't know what the series would become, but we did know that there was something in the alchemy of the cast and the writing that felt explosive. 'Peaky has always been a story about family - and so it's incredibly exciting to be reuniting with Steve and Cillian to bring the movie to audiences across the world on Netflix.' Peaky Blinders launched in 2013 and garnered huge audiences both in Britain and overseas, attracting roles for silver-screen stars such as Tom Hardy and Anya Taylor-Joy. The programme is loosely based on a real Birmingham gang of the same name operating from the 1880s to the 1920s who did the same illegal activities their fictional counterparts did. Peaky Blinders aired six series over nine years and ended with Tommy, who had been tricked into believing he had a terminal illness, surviving an assassination attempt orchestrated by his own nephew before killing him and moving away for a new life. But the news sparks concerns for the welfare of Paul Anderson who plays Cillian's older brother in the show, Arthur Shelby, after he pleaded guilty to possession of crack cocaine earlier this year. The 45-year-old was also found to have amphetamines, plus diazepam and pregabalin on him. His continued erratic behaviour in recent months has prompted concern for his welfare. Last month it was announced that Salburn star Barry had joined the cast, but details of his character have not yet been revealed But the news of the movie sparks concerns for the welfare of Paul Anderson after he pleaded guilty to possession of crack cocaine earlier this year (pictured in 2016) The 45-year-old - who plays Cillian's older brother in the show, Arthur Shelby (pictured - has prompted concern for his welfare with his continued erratic behaviour in recent months One local shopkeeper, who counts Paul as a friend, told MailOnline: 'It's heartbreaking. He's a mess. But his erratic behaviour is causing real problems. He often seems dazed and not with it. 'He's had arguments with people locally. He walks around making a lot of noise. We are all apprehensive. He had a big argument in Tesco a few weeks ago. 'He is living like he is on another planet. He's been in public topless. He struggles to walk. It's a great concern. He looks out of control. It's tragic.' But last month it seemed the actor was clearing up his act - quite literally - as he ventured out in London to Tesco and bought various cleaning products, among them shampoo, Dove deodorant, kitchen roll and Vanish stain remover. My Kitchen Rules is back on television screens for a new season in 2024. On Monday's show, modern Italians Simone and Viviana made MKR history with the highest Instant Restaurant score in the show's 14 years. The best friends served precision on a plate, resulting in a total score of 104 out of 110, including a near perfect 58 out of 60 from judges Manu Feildel and Colin Fassnidge. Cooking for redemption after a dessert disaster unravelled their first Instant Restaurant score, Simone and Viviana's cuisine, creativity and technique eclipsed even their own high expectations. Their entree of Beef Tartare with Crumbed Yolk and Crostini put a twist on a traditional French dish. The risk paid off, with the inclusion of apple in the tartare and use of lasagna sheets instead of bread impressing the judges. Manu admitted: 'I'm a classic guy when it comes to French food. Why apple? Why have I not thought about this before? It is clever.' Colin also 'loved the apple with the beef.' My Kitchen Rules is back on television screens for a new season in 2024. On Monday's show, modern Italians Simone and Viviana made MKR history with the highest Instant Restaurant score in the show's 14 years. Both pictured The main Simone's own creation of Prawn and Potato Ravioli with Prawn Bisque wowed the whole table. Manu declared it the 'best dish' on MKR, leaving Simone speechless, and Viviana so proud of her friend. After initially questioning the addition of potato in the dish, Manu admitted it made complete sense, saying: 'I am jealous of people like you that can make pasta like this because I can't.' Colin agreed: 'It's not a normal dish but I tell you, after today, it should be.' Simone and Viviana's nerves were high taking on a complicated dessert of Millefoglie: a puff pastry layered with cream, with origins in France and Italy. The 'gorgeous' dessert was a total hit, and according to Colin: 'the crown on the meal we got tonight. You should be so proud of yourselves.' The best friends served precision on a plate, resulting in a total score of 104 out of 110, including a near perfect 58 out of 60 from judges Manu Feildel and Colin Fassnidge Wiping away tears, Viviana said: 'This is the best critique we could possibly get. It means the world to us'. Simone was left lost for words, sharing: 'I can't manage my emotions right now. I'm just freezing. I feel like this is the highest emotion that I felt in my life. Thank you.' The show got off to a shaky start earlier this year. Some viewers tuning in at home were less than impressed earlier this season, and shared their thoughts on X. 'I'm so over the fake contestants chat to the camera, but it's most likely recorded days later. So unnecessary' one person wrote. 'Have I just joined the wrong program? This is scripted Married at First Sight b***hiness, paraded as a cooking show' another said. One more wrote: 'I was really hoping the reboot of this show would not include having good guys and bad guys. It's so scripted and fake. Take a lesson from MasterChef and just cook'. Another posted: 'All of a sudden they're talking about the crust of steak. Scripted bulls***t' with one more adding, 'This is so boring, I just can't'. Wiping away tears, Viviana said: 'This is the best critique we could possibly get. It means the world to us'. Pictured with the judges MKR has had some teething issues since its return to television screens in recent years. In September 2023, the premiere of the cooking competition's 13th season managed to draw in just 470,000 viewers in the major capitals. MKR did not even finish in the top ten most-watched programs overnight, a far cry from its ratings heyday a decade ago when it would pull in well over a million viewers an episode. MKR returned to Channel Seven in 2022, two years after it was axed. Debuting to just 500,000 viewers, the show has continued to shed fans in the metro centres. Channel Seven axed My Kitchen Rules: The Rivals from Sunday night's programming back in 2020. The show's ratings, which plunged to a record low, were said to be untenable and Seven executives were 'pushing' to cancel it in 2020. A source told the magazine: 'MKR is no longer safe. There are people in power pushing to end the show for good.' However, it returned in 2022, but has continued to struggle in the ratings. MKR continues 7.30pm Tuesday on Channel 7 and 7plus Katie Holmes protected herself from the elements in style as she headed to a matinee performance of her show Our Town in New York City on Sunday. The actress, 45, headed to the theatre in an off-white trench thrown over a cosy turtleneck and jeans, topped by a Bevza large tote bag. Umbrella in hand, she trekked through the rain in alligator print ankle boots and paired the look with faded jeans. Katie also enjoyed a pre-show energy boost with the help of a cup of coffee. Her brunette locks cascaded down in sleek, glossy waves and she threw on a pair of edgy sunglasses. Katie Holmes protected herself from the elements in style as she headed to a matinee performance of her show Our Town in New York City on Sunday The actress flashed a beam as she made her way to the show. Holmes is currently starring as Mrs Webb in a new production of the Broadway play Our Town. The New York Daily News reported on Sunday that Katie's daughter Suri Cruise attended a showing of her mother's play. The publication reported that Suri was the first audience member to jump to her feet, as well as dermatologist Dr. Kenneth Mark and divorce attorney Ken Jewell, when Holmes emerged to take her bow. Katie has been getting raves online for her performance, being called 'phenomenal' and 'amazing.' Our Town - a play written by Thornton Wilder - has returned to the Broadway stage for the first time in over 20 years. The revival features a total of 28 actors, including Holmes, Jim Parsons, Zoey Deutch, Ephraim Sykes, Julie Halston and Michelle Wilson. The premise follows the 'timeless tale of a small town' as 'a stage manager narrates the daily lives of its locals, depicts a childhood friendship turn into marriage, and sets the stage for magnificent truths of what it means to be alive,' per the official Broadway website. Holmes is currently starring as Mrs Webb in a new production of the Broadway play Our Town Previews kicked off on Tuesday, September 17 at the Barrymore Theatre, opening night is October 10 and dates are set to run through January 19, 2025. Katie made her Broadway debut in 2008 for a production of All My Sons, and last appeared on Broadway in 2012's Dead Accounts. 'Love working on @ourtownbroadway,' the actress wrote on social media recently of her latest show. Holmes is currently starring as Mrs Webb in a new production of the Broadway play Our Town 'We are in rehearsals and having a great time. This is the very talented and kind and funny and wonderful @zoeydeutch and me. 'Come see @ourtownbroadway, preview performances begin September 17. We open October 10!' Meanwhile, Holmes' daughter Suri is currently attending Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. Suri has spent much of the last 12 years living in the shadow of frenzied speculation over her infamously fractured relationship with her famous father, Tom Cruise, whom Holmes was married to from 2006 to 2012. Cruise has all but been exiled from his youngest child's life for many years - a bitter rift that stems in large part from Katie and Suri's decision to cut ties with his controversial Scientology faith. Gavin Creel has died at 48 after battling an aggressive form of cancer. The beloved Broadway star was known for a string of successful performances in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hair, She Loves Me and Hello, Dolly! - performing opposite stars including Bette Midler and Jane Krakowski. Creel died on Monday, Sept. 30, while receiving treatment for a rare and aggressive form of sarcoma - according to his partner, Alex Temple Ward. Sarcoma is a rare type of cancer that forms in connective tissues including bone, muscle, fat, nerves, blood vessels, and more. Sarcomas most often appears in the arms and legs. Creel also played Troy Winslow on the TV series American Horror Stories. Gavin Creel dead at 48: Tony Award-winning Broadway star passes away from aggressive form of cancer He is said to have been undergoing treatment at New Yorks Memorial Sloan Kettering after being diagnosed with cancer in July. However, he recently transferred receive to hospice care at his home. Creel is beloved by the theatre community in New York, having amassed a staggering amount of stage credits to his name. The actor impressively earned a Tony Award nomination for his Broadway debut in the 2002 in a lead role of Thoroughly Modern Millie. He then received another nomination for his lead performance as Claude in the 2009 Broadway revival of Hair, starring alongside Caissie Levy. The star also played Elder Price in The Book of Mormon from 2012 to 2015, and would later win a prestigious Olivier Award for the musical's West End show. Creel received a Tony Award nomination for his lead performance as Claude in the 2009 Broadway revival of Hair, starring alongside Caissie Levy (Pictured above) Gavin Creel pictured performing a number with Sara Bareilles at a photocall for Waitress The Musical at Adelphi Theatre, London, England, UK on Monday 20 January, 2020 The vibrant performer was known for his huge talent on the Broadway stage (Picture above at the 2017 Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 11, 2017 in New York City) Creel and Jane Krakowski perform a number from She Loves Me onstage during the 70th Annual Tony Awards at The Beacon Theatre on June 12, 2016 in New York City Creel had also appeared on the West End stage in 2006 as Bert in Mary Poppins and when he reprised his role in Hair in 2010 for the West End transfer. His impressive stage credits also include La Cage aux Folles (2004), She Loves Me (2016), Waitress (2019), and Into the Woods (2022). The Ohio-born performer won a Tony Award for playing opposite Bette Midler in the role of Cornelius in Broadways Hello, Dolly! in 2017. As well as Midler, Creel also starred with Broadway legend Jane Krakowski in the 2016 revival of She Loves Me. Onscreen, he garnered many fans for playing the singing waiter Bill in the films Eloise at the Plaza and Eloise at Christmastime alongside Dame Julie Andrews. Creel's family has requested that gifts in Gavin's memory be made to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids. Creel (in blue satin) is seen with Bette Midler at her Hulaween event in 2017 Gavin Creel, winner of the Best Actor in a Musical Award for The Book Of Mormon poses in the press room at the Laurence Olivier Awards at The Royal Opera House on April 13, 2014 What is epithelioid sarcoma? Epithelioid sarcoma is an incredibly rare form of soft tissue cancer found most often under the skin of a finger, hand, forearm, lower leg or foot. The slow-growing cancer starts as a painless, small, firm growth. It can also present as an ulcer which refuses to heal. The disease is difficult to diagnose because it can be confused with other illnesses which have similar symptoms. Epithelioid sarcoma is an incredibly rare form of soft tissue cancer Patients who develop epithelioid sarcoma normally require surgery but other treatments might be required. Medics can use MRI or CT scans to inspect the lump, though biopsies are also used. A pathologist can determine whether the the sample is cancerous and if the tumour is aggressive. If a sample is cancerous, a surgeon will often remove the cancer along with some of the surrounding healthy tissue. In some cases, the surgeon will amputate the affected limb. Patients can also receive radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Source: Mayo Clinic Advertisement The talented thespian was born to parents James and Nancy Creel in Ohio on April 18, 1976. After graduating high school, Creel attended the Department of Musical Theater at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater, and Dance, where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1998. Tributes poured in for Creel on Monday with New York City Center writing on X: 'We lost our prince. The New York City Center and Encores! family is devastated by the death of Gavin Creel today. The world has less light.' GLAAD issued a statement saying: 'We're devastated to hear about the passing of Gavin Creel, the out actor and Broadway star who delighted audiences throughout the years. He was a co-founder of Broadway Impact, an advocacy group that mobilized the New York theatre community in the pursuit of marriage equality. Adding: 'In 2010, Creel accepted the Special Recognition Award for Hair at the GLAAD Media Awards. Our hearts go out to everyone who knew and loved him.' His co-star Bette Midler also posted on X: 'Beloved by the #Broadway community, the radiant actor #GavinCreel has died from a rare form of cancer. He played Cornelius Hackl to my Dolly in Hello Dolly and I looked forward to working with him every single night. He was fantastic. I cant believe hes gone. What a loss.' Brooks Nader and Gleb Savchenko packed on the PDA during a night out in Los Angeles on Sunday evening, amid claims they are now 'hooking up' with one another. The 27-year-old model and the professional dancer, 41, seemed to confirm their offstage romance as they spent time together away from the Dancing With The Stars studios. The pair were spotted getting cozy and couldn't keep their hands off of each other while enjoying a dinner date and as they left Wally's in Beverly Hills. The rumored couple first sparked romance rumors when they were pictured kissing backstage after taking the stage for the premiere of the competition show's 33rd season. Even though Nader and Savchenko were joined by friends, they were all eyes only for each other. Brooks Nader and Gleb Savchenko packed on the PDA during a night out in Los Angeles on Sunday evening The 27-year-old model and the professional dancer, 41, seemed to confirm their offstage romance as they spent time together away from the Dancing With The Stars studios The pair were spotted getting cozy and couldn't keep their hands off of each other while enjoying a dinner date and as they left Wally's in Beverly Hills While leaving the restaurant, the pair were spotted stopping to give each other a hug and share a kiss. As they enjoyed a late night stroll, they had their arms wrapped around each other and walked hip-to-hip. For their outing, Nader put on a casual display in a crop top and Daisy Duke denim shorts. She teamed a white, baby tee with low-rise, cutoff shorts and double-strap sandals. She left her hair down underneath a white Marlboro trucker hat and opted for a light, dewy makeup look. Nader also had a pack of cigarettes tucked into the waistband of her shorts as Savchenko smoked at one point during their walk. Meanwhile, the DWTS pro sported an oversized, black T-shirt with baggy jeans and white sneakers. Their date night comes less than one day after they were spotted kissing backstage as they prepared to go back on stage for their sensual dance routine on the hit competition show. The pair are also said to be 'hooking up' per a report from UsWeekly. Even though Nader and Savchenko were joined by friends, they were all eyes only for each other While leaving the restaurant, the pair were spotted stopping to give each other a hug and share a kiss. For their outing, Nader put on a casual display in a crop top and Daisy Duke denim shorts She teamed a white, baby tee with low-rise, cutoff shorts and double-strap sandals. She left her hair down underneath a white Marlboro trucker hat and opted for a light, dewy makeup look Meanwhile, the DWTS pro sported an oversized, black T-shirt He also sported baggy jeans and white sneakers for his date with Nader. At one point during their night out, Savchenko was seen wrapping his arms around her and rubbing the small of her back Nader also had her arms wrapped around his waist and her hands resting on his back She was seen touching his face endearingly, and they shared intimate eye contact As they enjoyed a late night stroll, they had their arms wrapped around each other and walked hip-to-hip Nader also had a pack of cigarettes tucked into the waistband of her shorts as Savchenko smoked at one point during their walk Her kiss with Savchenko is the latest of flirtations she has been involved in since her divorce with her husband of four years, Billy Haire, was confirmed by DailyMail.com. Nader was last romantically linked to Prince Constantine Alexios of Greece amid her divorce from her estranged husband. She was previously caught sharing a steamy rendezvous with the royal at Olivia Culpo's wedding. However, it seems like Nader has completely moved on to her dance partner. Savchenko previously dated Elena Bell for nearly three years before they broke up in March. As Nader and Savchenko set out to win the Mirrorball Trophy for the 33rd season of the competition series, it appears their chemistry is just as strong when they're not on the dance floor. The pair first sparked romance rumors when they shared an on-camera smooch as they worked on their 'strong connection.' As they strolled out of the restaurant, they kept their hands on each other constantly. They held hands behind Nader's back while Savchenko wrapped his arm around her As they strolled down the street, they kept their arms around each other Nader appeared enamored as she gazed at him and laughed at his jokes. They kept up the cozy display even while chatting with their friends Her kiss with Savchenko is the latest of flirtations she has been involved in since her divorce with her husband of four years, Billy Haire, was confirmed by DailyMail.com. Nader was last romantically linked to Prince Constantine Alexios of Greece amid her divorce from her estranged husband However, it seems like Nader has completely moved on to her dance partner As Nader and Savchenko set out to win the Mirrorball Trophy for the 33rd season of the competition series, it appears their chemistry is just as strong when they're not on the dance floor The pair first sparked romance rumors when they shared an on-camera smooch as they worked on their 'strong connection.' In her confessional from an aired episode, Nader said she has no issues with the public speculation that they're 'a couple' In a previous episode, Savchenko told producers: 'I'm trying to teach the quickstep, but it's hard because she's so distracting.' In her own confessional, Nader said she has no issues with the public speculation that they're 'a couple.' 'That doesn't make me mad at all,' she said. Episodes of Dancing with the Stars' season 33 will premiere live on Tuesdays on ABC and Disney+ and be available to stream the following day on Hulu. Maureen Lipman had a spring in her step as she attended the Inside Soap Awards on Monday evening - and with good reason. The Coronation Street actress was making her first public appearance since confirming her engagement to business consultant boyfriend David Turner. And what an appearance it was, with the veteran star winning Comic Performance for the fourth year running thanks to her role as Evelyn Plummer. Lipman, 78, had unconventionally opted to propose while attempting to tell a joke during a recent train journey with Turner, also 78. But she was back at work, at least in a manner of speaking, as the annual Inside Soap Awards got underway at London's Salsa Temple, where she was joined by her Coronation Street co-stars. Maureen Lipman attended the Inside Soap Awards at Salsa Temple in London on Monday night It was her fist public appearance since confirming her engagement to business consultant boyfriend David Turner (pictured) Lipman, who has starred on the soap since 2018, opted for a collared shirt dress for her night out at the venue, a vibrant cocktail bar on Victoria Embankment. She completed the look with a pair of flats, while her bobbed hair was styled with a simple side-parting. Discussing her recent engagement with Spectator, she wrote: 'Later that night my partner David and I decided to tell our children that, with a combined age of 156, we are going to get married. 'In truth I had been rather against the "M" word, but on a train coming back from Edinburgh he mentioned that it was the minor festival of Tu BAv a day when a Jewish woman can ask a man to marry her. 'Unable to resist the gag, I slid under the table separating us onto one knee and asked him for his hand. To my surprise and slight panic, he gave it.' The actress was married to TV scriptwriter Jack Rosenthal for 30 years until his death in 2004 and they welcomed daughter Amy, 50, and Adam, 48. David also has three children from a previous relationship. Writing about how the children took the news, she shared: 'All reactions were warm, and all were individual. 'One child said that he needed time "to process it". We broke the news to another as he slid leaves into a new dining table, transforming the scene into a Jack Rosenthal play one with, I like to think, a happy ending.' Screen veteran Lipman, who has played Coronation Street 's Evelyn Plummer since 2018, opted for a collared shirt dress for her night out at the venue She completed the look with a pair of flats, while her bobbed hair was styled with a simple side-parting Maureen first mentioned David in autumn 2023, when she shared that she was bringing a 'gentleman friend' to that year's National Television Awards. Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Express she said: 'I'm going with my gentleman friend David.' Discussing finding love again at 77, the star was overjoyed to be sharing life with a partner. She said: 'It's a gift for all concerned. It's a gift and he's been very nice. I've met some nice men in my life, some really interesting men, and we will see where it goes.' They made their public appearance debut at the Oldie Of The Year Awards that November. At the event, Maureen said of David: 'That's my significant other.' After the death of her husband, Maureen dated Italian businessman Guido Castro for 13 years before his death in 2021. The actress was married to TV scriptwriter Jack Rosenthal for 30 years until his death in 2004 (pictured on their wedding day in 1973) and they welcomed daughter Amy, 50, and Adam, 48 She had a 13-year relationship with computer expert Guido Castro, who died in 2021, after his body was 'weakened' by COVID-19 (pictured in 2014) Speaking about her partner's death, Maureen confirmed: 'He got COVID it wasn't COVID that killed him but it weakened him terribly. 'We don't know how he got it or when or if he had it when he got the vaccine.' Maureen heartbreakingly added: 'I said to Guido, ''It's time to go. You've got to let go''. And I think for once in his life he actually did what I told him.' Maureen is now best-known for her role as established character Tyrone Dobbs' grandmother. She has appeared in the Manchester-based soap as Evelyn Plummer, mother of addict Cassie Plummer, since 2018. The role has won her two awards: Best Newcomer from the Inside Soap Awards and Best Comedic Performance from The British Soap Awards. Phillip Schofield's daughter Molly emotionally declares she's 'proud to call him her father' in the final episode of his Cast Away series. The former This Morning star, 62, stunned the nation when he revealed he would be making his TV comeback in the Channel 5 series, which sees him fend for himself for 10 days on a remote island paradise. In the programme, Phillip's daughters and his wife Stephanie Lowe discuss the impact of his affair admission, and subsequent ITV exit, for the first time. In the third and final episode of the Cast Away series, which will air on Wednesday, Molly, 31, admits she 'never thought' Phillip would recover from his struggles with suicidal thoughts in the wake of the scandal. In the episode's final moments, Phillip returns from his time marooned on a desert island rejuvinated after a challenging 18 months. Phillip Schofield 's daughter Molly emotionally declares she's 'proud to call him her father' in the final episode of his Cast Away series (pictured with the presenter in 2022) The former This Morning star stunned the nation when he revealed he would be making his TV comeback in the Channel 5 series His daughter Molly then says: 'Seeing him recover, we never thought that would happen. We never thought that would happen. So now he is where he is. It is the best thing ever, seeing how far he's come. 'I am so incredibly proud to say he's my dad, and I always will be, no matter what.' Earlier in the series, Phillip spoke about how 'dark' his life became, and said his daughters helped him 'take a step back from the edge'. He said: 'In the last 18 months it got as dark as it is possible to get. A year ago I got so so close. 'I had everything in place, everything was set up and everything was ready and it was Molly that was looking after me, Molly and Ruby (daughters) both looking after me at the time and Molly said do you imagine what this would do to us if you actually managed to pull this off. 'Can you imagine what would happen and can you imagine what it would do to me if you did this on my watch? 'And that was enough just to take a step back from the edge. And I could have been hospitalised, I had the option to be hospitalised but I just thought that is going to get out so I raced to the family home.' In 2020, Phillip shocked the country when he came out as gay, however, he and Stephanie stayed married - albeit separating later that year. In the programme, Phillip's daughters and his wife Stephanie Lowe discuss the impact of his affair admission, and subsequent ITV exit, for the first time Speaking in the first episode of Cast Away, set to air on Monday, Molly opened up about how hard the past few years had been on her family. She said: 'What people don't realise is that they batter you but then there are other people affected.' Molly, who works as her father's publicist, added: 'We've seen him in his lowest times, but I've been so proud of him, and as a daughter to see the love that people had for him that when it's taken away it's just heartbreaking.' 'Weirdly everything that's happened recently has made us closer.' 'When my dad came out, it was, it was very hard for me,' Molly continued. 'It was very hard for the entire family. Mainly my mum, of course, everything was turned upside down. But we talked through it and over time it's got easier.' Phillip secretly filmed Channel 5 special Cast Away, which required him to give up his home comforts for 10 days of soul-searching on a tropical island in the Indian Ocean During the show, he will discuss his bitter parting of ways with ITV and This Morning, which he hosted for 21 years, while fending for himself on the island paradise, located off the coast of Madagascar. His wife Stephanie's world came crashing down when, in May 2023, it finally became public knowledge that Phillip had conducted a years-long affair with a much-younger male ITV colleague. Earlier in the series, Phillip spoke about how 'dark' his life became, and said his daughters helped him 'take a step back from the edge' Phil and Stephanie have never legally divorced with sources close to the couple saying previously that she 'still loves him' deeply and will always remain in his 'support system' with their daughters Molly and Ruby. Phillip has not worked since he left This Morning in May 2023 shortly before the affair was revealed. His co-host and once close friend, Holly Willoughby, later left herself, with Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard taking over their roles. Phillip quit ITV entirely after admitting he had lied to the Daily Mail about his the affair. Friends of the star were 'quite certain' he would never work again following his admission, but Channel 5 changed this. One said at the time: 'Phillip has been very, very down recently. He doesn't know how he is going to work again. It's devastating for him to realise but he also knows that there is not a lot he can do about it. He doesn't know who will take him. He knows there is no way back to ITV or the BBC.' Sources close to Schofield say that his friends are trying to encourage him to think he can have a 'fulfilling life' away from showbusiness. One said: 'Just because he may not be on telly again doesn't mean he can't enjoy his life. Phil isn't so sure though.' Before the Channel 5 gig, Phillip was tipped for a job on national radio his 'first love' with Britain's largest commercial stations said to be jostling to bring him in to woo new listeners from rivals, including BBC Radio 2. An ITV report in December 2023 cleared bosses of a cover-up of the affair and did not mention any further damaging claims about Schofield's relationship with a young runner on the show. Despite claims of a 'whitewash', industry insiders told MailOnline that it opens the door to the star getting a new big-money deal to return to work in 2024. But a senior British broadcasting source said a return to TV for Mr Schofield is 'unlikely for now'. Schofield is said to have turned down a selection of big money TV offers before choosing to sign up for Cast Away - which he believes will allow him to share his story in an 'unedited and honest' way. Phillip Schofield: Cast Away airs on Monday 30th September, Tuesday October 1 and Wednesday October 2 at 9pm on Channel 5. Phillip Schofield's much-anticipated TV comeback finally hit screens on Monday night, with the disgraced presenter vowing to tell his side of the story in an 'unedited and honest way.' But mere minutes into the first episode of his Channel 5 series Cast Away, viewers were quick to accuse the presenter of being 'less remorseful than he claims,' after he made a supposed dig at his former This Morning co-host Holly Willoughby. During the show, Phillip discusses his bitter parting of ways with ITV and This Morning, which he hosted for 21 years, while fending for himself on a remote island paradise, located off the coast of Madagascar. Phillip, 62, was ousted from This Morning in May last year, after he admitted to lying about his relationship with a much younger male colleague. Holly distanced herself from her former best friend and during a 'highly strategised' return to the This Morning sofa in June 2023, she told viewers she had been left 'shaken, let down and worried.' Phillip Schofield 's much-anticipated TV comeback finally hit screens on Monday night, with the disgraced presenter vowing to tell his side of the story in an 'unedited and honest way.' When she returned, she began by saying: 'Hello, Firstly, are you okay? I hope so. It feels very strange sat here without Phil.' Appearing to reference the now-famous speech on Cast Away, Phillip is seen having a BBQ with his family before heading off to the island. He gives out food to his wife Stephanie and their daughters Molly, 31, and Ruby, 28, and laughs: 'If you're ok, then we're ok, and I'm ok... are you ok?' No mention of Holly is made in the clip, but fans were quick to clock the jibe, with one branding Phillip's series an 'ego trip', before claiming he's clearly 'not as remorseful as he claims.' Posts on X included: 'Ooooh was that a cheeky dig at Holly Willoughby there Phillip? Are you OK; Are you OK... THAT HOLLY DIG!' 'Schofe's about to draw a smiley face on a volleyball and call it ''Willoughby'' Holly's said in the original statement that it: 'Feels very strange indeed sitting here without Phil and I imagine that you might have been feeling a lot like I have. 'Shaken, troubled, let down, worried for the wellbeing of people on all sides of what's been going on and full of questions'. But viewers were quick to accuse the presenter of being 'less remorseful than he claims,' after he made a supposed dig at his former This Morning co-host Holly Willoughby Appearing to reference the now-famous speech on Cast Away, Phillip is seen having a BBQ with his family before heading off to the island He gives out food to his wife Stephanie and their daughters Molly, 31, and Ruby, 28, and laughs: 'If you're ok, then we're ok, and I'm ok... are you ok?' No mention of Holly is made in the clip, but fans were quick to clock the jibe, with one branding Phillip's series an 'ego trip' 'All of us at This Morning gave our love and support to someone who was not telling the truth, who acted in a way that they themselves felt they had to resign from ITV and step down from a career that they loved. That is a lot to process'. 'It's equally hard to see the toll it's taken on their own mental health. I think what unites us all now is a desire to heal for the health and wellbeing of everyone.' She added: 'I hope that as we start this new chapter and get back to a place of warmth and magic that the show holds for all of us, we can find strength in each other. 'And from the heart, can I just say thank you for all your kind messages and thank you for being here this morning. Myself, Josie, Dermot, Alison, Craig and every single person that works on this show will continue to work hard every day.' Phillip stunned the nation when he revealed he would be making his TV comeback in the Channel 5 series Cast Away, which sees him fend for himself for 10 days on a remote island paradise. In the first episode, Phillip told how he had 'everything in place' for a suicide attempt, but decided against it when his eldest daughter Molly persuaded him not to, in the wake of his exit from This Morning. He said: 'In the last eighteen months, it got as dark as it is possible to get. 'A year ago I got so, so close. I had everything in place, everything was set up and everything was ready and it was Molly that was looking after me.' He explained: 'Molly and Ruby both looking after me at the time, and Molly said: 'Do you imagine what this would do to us if you actually managed to pull this off? Can you imagine what would happen and can you imagine what it would do to me if you did this on my watch?' The first episode of Phillip's Cast Away series saw him taken to the remote island, begin his quest for 10 days of survival, all the while discussing the impact his ITV exit had on him 'That was just enough, just enough to take a step back from the edge. I could have been hospitalised, I just raced to the family home and shut the gates and I was in there.' He later paid tribute to his wife Stephanie Lowe, Molly, 31, and his youngest daughter Ruby, 28, saying: 'Without them, I wouldn't be here.' Schofield's return to television comes 16 months after he was forced to apologise to the Mail for lying about his affair with his former This Morning colleague. He also lied to ITV and his former co-host Holly Willoughby about the romance and he hasn't worked since. But during the programme, he addressed the relationship, saying: 'It's like the biggest grenade going off in your life. You know you let people down, you know you've let yourself down. 'It was an unwise and unprofessional thing to do. I will be forever sorry. I screwed up. I made a mistake, and I hurt the people around me.' Schofield's admission that he had enjoyed the romance came three years after he came out as gay live on This Morning, with Ms Willoughby at this side. It was a secret he had kept from his entire family and his colleagues but he says he is proud of revealing the truth about his sexuality, saying: 'I'm very proud of what I did, and I know that coming out for so many people is liberating. And it's freedom on a plate. 'Absolutely. Be yourself. Live your life to the absolute full. That's the saying just live your best life. But for me, doing it later in life, at the moment it's just given me more, um, anguish than joy, because I'm fully aware of the damage that it leaves.' Indeed, for his family it was extremely difficult. 'When my dad came out, it was, it was very hard for me,' revealed Molly. 'It was very hard for the entire family. Mainly my mum, of course, everything was turned upside down. But we talked through it and over time it's got easier.' Despite the affair and coming out as gay, Schofield wears his wedding ring throughout the show - proving he is still married to Stephanie. During the show she broke her silence on the scandal, hinting at her own ordeal when she says: 'What people don't realise is that they batter you but then there are other people affected.' Molly, who works as her father's publicist, adds: 'We've seen him in his lowest times, but I've been so proud of him, and as a daughter to see the love that people had for him that when it's taken away it's just heartbreaking.' She added: 'Weirdly everything that's happened recently has made us closer.' His daughter said: 'We've seen him in his lowest times, but I've been so proud of him, and as a daughter to see the love that people had for him, when it's taken away it's just heartbreaking' Schofield notably doesn't mention Holly or his former lover, who he signed a mutual non-disclosure agreement with earlier this year in return for a six-figure payment to him. He will leave viewers wondering whether he is referring to Holly when he said: 'When you throw someone under a bus, you've got to have a really bloody good reason to do it.' In another outburst, Schofield said: ': 'I miss most of it. But there are bits that I really, really, really don't miss. You learn a lot about people. I don't miss that.' Since his exit from television, Schofield says he 'spent days in bed' where he would watch the news 'in a daze.' As for what he thinks of his return to the limelight, Schofield admits he expects little sympathy. 'I am not doing this as a poor me,' he says. 'I don't think I have a right. I don't have a right to to a poor me.' Phillip Schofield received top tips for island living from former Madagascar survivalist Joanna Lumley as he made his dramatic TV comeback on Monday. The former This Morning presenter, 62, returned to British TV screens on Monday for the first episode of his Channel 5 series Cast Away - where he fends for himself on a remote island paradise, located off the coast of Madagascar. Ahead of jetting off to the island, Phillip received a video message from Abfab actress Joanna - who embarked on her own Madagascar survival quest back in 1994. Joanna shared that Phillip should always keep his 'knives sharp' during his 10 days on the island, as well as urging him not to spend all day trying to find wood rather than prioritising food. She also reminisced about her own survival experiment, and how she turned her bra into a pair of shoes. Phillip Schofield received top tips for island living from former Madagascar survivalist Joanna Lumley as he made his dramatic TV comeback on Monday Ahead of jetting off to the island, Phillip received a video message from Abfab actress Joanna - who embarked on her own Madagascar survival quest back in 1994 'There's always time for some words of wisdom from my favourite survivalist,' Phillip said. 'Hello Phil this is Joanna Lumley,' the actress began. 'Listen Phil these are the tips Ive got: Keep your knives sharp, don't spend much of the day trying to find wood or you wont be able to eat anything. 'When I was on the island I made a pair of shoes out of my bra - and I'd love to think that you could do something a bit like that, a little bit challenging, and bring it back so we can all look at it. 'I shall be thinking about you a lot Phil. And actually I'm a bit jealous, lots of love.' 'Oh you darling thank you so much,' Phillip said after watching the clip. 'That's amazing.' His much-anticipated TV comeback finally hit screens on Monday night, with the disgraced presenter vowing to tell his side of the story in an 'unedited and honest way.' But mere minutes into the first episode of his Channel 5 series Cast Away, viewers were quick to accuse the presenter of being 'less remorseful than he claims,' after he made a supposed dig at his former This Morning co-host Holly Willoughby. During the show, Phillip discusses his bitter parting of ways with ITV and This Morning, which he hosted for 21 years. The former This Morning presenter, 62, returned to British TV screens on Monday for the first episode of his Channel 5 series Cast Away - where he fends for himself on a remote island paradise, located off the coast of Madagascar Joanna shared that Phillip should always keep his 'knives sharp' during his 10 days on the island, as well as urging him not to spend all day trying to find wood rather than prioritising food 'There's always time for some words of wisdom from my favourite survivalist,' Phillip said Phillip was ousted from This Morning in May last year, after he admitted to lying about his relationship with a much younger male colleague. Holly distanced herself from her former best friend and during a 'highly strategised' return to the This Morning sofa in June 2023, she told viewers she had been left 'shaken, let down and worried.' When she returned, she began by saying: 'Hello, Firstly, are you okay? I hope so. It feels very strange sat here without Phil.' Appearing to reference the now-famous speech on Cast Away, Phillip is seen having a BBQ with his family before heading off to the island. He gives out food to his wife Stephanie and their daughters Molly, 31, and Ruby, 28, and laughs: 'If you're ok, then we're ok, and I'm ok... are you ok?' No mention of Holly is made in the clip, but fans were quick to clock the jibe, with one branding Phillip's series an 'ego trip', before claiming he's clearly 'not as remorseful as he claims.' Phillip was ousted from This Morning in May last year, after he admitted to lying about his relationship with a much younger male colleague Posts on X included: 'Ooooh was that a cheeky dig at Holly Willoughby there Phillip? Are you OK; Are you OK... THAT HOLLY DIG!' 'Schofe's about to draw a smiley face on a volleyball and call it ''Willoughby'' Holly's said in the original statement that it: 'Feels very strange indeed sitting here without Phil and I imagine that you might have been feeling a lot like I have. 'Shaken, troubled, let down, worried for the wellbeing of people on all sides of what's been going on and full of questions.' Rebel Wilson and her new wife Ramona Agruma had the newlyweds glow as they stepped out in Paris on Monday night, two days after marrying. The Hollywood star exchanged vows with Ramona in Sardinia on Saturday and they happy couple are spending their honeymoon in Paris, where they were spotted heading out for dinner together. The couple dressed in matching black and held hands as they departed their hotel. Rebel looked chic in a velvet blazer teamed with leather trousers while Ramona was stunning in a full-length shimmering coat. Rebel Wilson and her new wife Ramona Agruma had the newlyweds glow as they stepped out in Paris on Monday night, two days after marrying The Australian actress married her long-term partner in a romantic ceremony on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia surrounded by close friends and family members. Breaking her social media silence on Monday, Wilson, 40, shared a photo of the happy couple as they held hands shortly afterwards. Captioning the photo, she wrote: 'Married. Sardinia 28.9.24.' A source previously told DailyMail.com that the couple planned to tie the knot in a 'super romantic' and intimate ceremony surrounded by their nearest and dearest. Pictures from the big day showed the newlyweds looking incredible in near-identical strapless wedding dresses with voluminous skirts. Both brides opted for an off the shoulder design, but while Rebel opted for a plain finish and a thin belt around her waist, Ramona decided on beaded detailing and a plunging mesh neckline. Rebel wore her blonde locks in loose waves with a pretty floral hairpiece, while jewellery designer Ramona had her hair pinned up in a stylish chignon. The newlyweds clutched matching bouquets of white roses as they said their vows in front of family and friends - among them former TOWIE star Vas J Morgan. The Hollywood star exchanged vows with Ramona in Sardinia on Saturday and they happy couple are spending their honeymoon in Paris, where they were spotted heading out for dinner together The couple dressed in matching black and held hands as they departed their hotel Breaking her social media silence on Monday, Wilson, 40, shared a photo of the happy couple as they held hands shortly afterwards Not on the guestlist, however, was Rebel's former best friend Hugh Sheridan, who recently claimed he no longer speaks to the couple and wasn't invited to their wedding, despite being the one to set them up. It was the perfect fairytale location for the couple to exchange vows as they notably holidayed in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, just days after going Instagram official with their romance in 2022. The Pitch Perfect actress and her partner were reportedly supposed to get married in a 2025 beach wedding but Rebel decided to move up the date. The couple first met in 2021 and announced their engagement in February 2023. They share a daughter Royce Lillian, who will turn two in November. Rebel and Ramona attend the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival on September 14 DailyMail.com exclusively shared the news of their nuptials last week, revealing that the couple were 'thrilled' to be tying the knot. 'Rebel is really excited to be getting married to the love of her life, she is absolutely thrilled,' a source shared ahead of the big day. 'It is going to be stunning and super romantic. She is madly in love and can't wait to be wed.' 'Rebel doesn't want to wait any longer, she is happy to marry this month because she is very much in love with Ramona and wants to be wed,' the source added. 'It will be a small ceremony with close friends and family, and also very elegant,' the insider concluded. Love Island winners Mimii Ngulube and Josh Oyinsan have split, just two months after soaring to victory in the villa. Mimii, 24, and Josh, 29, were crowned the winners of Love Island series 11 last month and took home the 50,000 cash prize. But Mimii has confirmed that despite trying to work things out after leaving the villa in July, the pair have decided to call it quits. Sharing a statement with fans, Mimii said: 'Hi everyone, I know that a lot of you have been wondering about Josh and I and why we haven't been making appearances. 'The truth is we have been trying to figure it out since leaving the villa, but unfortunately things aren't going to work out between us right now.' Love Island winners Mimii Ngulube and Josh Oyinsan have split, just two months after soaring to victory in the villa Mimii, 24, and Josh, 29, were crowned the winners of Love Island series 11 last month and took home the 50,000 cash prize 'I know it's a big disappointment for a lot of you as it is for me too, your support for us hasn't gone unnoticed and I will forever be grateful for it, you guys are the reason we made it to this point. God bless you all.' Fans had raised concerns about the couple as they were rarely seen out in public together. Mimii and Josh attended the National Television Awards together earlier this month for the ceremony on September 11. But before that their only public appearance together was on August 2 when they went on Lorraine following their win. When they appeared on the show last month, Josh revealed that they weren't expecting to win. He joked: 'No, I feel like you could tell by my reaction. Its a meme now.' Mimii then confessed to Lorraine that it feels so good to be home and around familiar faces as she claimed going on the show was the 'best thing I ever did for myself'. She said: 'Its so good to be home, around familiar faces, embracing everything. It was a long time but we learned so much about ourselves and each other. Best thing I ever did for myself.' Sharing a statement with fans, Mimii said: 'Hi everyone, I know that a lot of you have been wondering about Josh and I and why we haven't been making appearances' Mimii and Josh attended the National Television Awards together earlier this month for the ceremony on September 11 The couple made their first TV appearance as they appeared on Lorraine in August to discuss their time in the villa Prior to Josh, Mimii and Ayo Odukoya, 25, were previously coupled up, however, Ayo's head was turned during the annual Casa Amor recoupling and he ditched her for Jessica Spencer, 25, leaving Mimii as the only single girl in the villa. Mimii admitted to Lorraine that although the situation during Casa Amor 'wasn't nice' for her she confessed that everything 'worked out in the end'. She said: 'At the time it wasnt nice, it was hard. I stayed true to myself and Im glad I did. 'I feel like what needed to happen happened and it worked out in the end because me and Josh are good now. Everything happens for a reason.'' The couple's appearance on Lorraine came after they admitted they have been left both 'proud and overwhelmed' by their historic win Mimii then confessed to Lorraine that it feels so good to be home and around familiar faces as she claimed going on the show was the 'best thing I ever did for myself' During the interview, Lorraine asked Josh if he always knew it was Mimii for him to which he sweetly responded with: 'Yes. When I first met her I was like yes, theres definitely something here.' During Mimii's time at the beginning of the show, she built up a bond with Joey Essex, 34, however, in the lead-up to the final there were a series of clashes between the couple and Joey. However, the star revealed to Lorraine that Joey has now apologised to them both off-camera after viewers complained to Ofcom over what they perceived to be bullying behaviour. Phillip Schofield's much anticipated TV comeback has been brutally blasted by viewers who have dubbed it 'boring' and 'insanely cringe' after the first episode aired on Channel 5 on Monday night. The show sees the 62-year-old broadcaster stranded on an uninhabited island off Madagascar for 10 days with no food or water and without a production crew. The first instalment saw Phillip search for food and water, set up camp, and battle against harsh winds, before dramatically getting lost in the dark and being unable to find his way back to camp. He also spoke candidly to his handheld camera, reflecting on the decisions he's made and how he feels about life now, over a year after being ousted from This Morning. However, the majority of viewers have been left unmoved by the show, taking to X to slam it, writing: 'THIS IS BORING AS HELL #PhillipSchofield.' Phillip Schofield 's much anticipated TV comeback has been brutally blasted by viewers who have dubbed it 'boring' and 'insanely cringe' after the first episode aired on Channel 5 on Monday night The show sees the 62-year-old broadcaster stranded on an uninhabited island off Madagascar for 10 days with no food or water and without a production crew 'Well that's an hour of my life I won't get back. Prob won't watch the next episode of the pity party, was fun to wind up the Schofield Sympathisers for an hour though #phillipschofield #castaway 'Well that was the most boring hour of television I've ever watched on Channel 5 and he is still as annoying as we all already knew. #CastAway #PhillipSchofield.' 'This #PhillipSchofield thing is insanely cringe.' 'Lasted about ten minutes into the pity fest. I'm assuming it didn't get any more interesting #PhillipSchofield.' 'Confused about why someone who 'never wanted to be famous' is currently doing a one man, three episode show on national television #CastAway #PhillipSchofield.' 'The thing is I don't actually care about his surviving on an island. I care about him spilling some tea and so far not a single drop has been spilled. Is the kettle even on? #castaway.' But not everyone took issue with the programme, and some fans took to X to praise the former broadcaster, quipping: 'I think we can all now give this guy a break. His wife and daughters love him unconditionally. 'And if theyre on his side then so should everyone else be.' The first instalment saw Phillip search for food and water, set up camp, and battle against harsh winds, before dramatically getting lost in the dark and being unable to find his way back to camp While some people praised Phillip, the majority of viewers have been left unmoved by the show, taking to X to slam it 'Who the hell are we to judge ANYONE? I like Phil. Always have done always will. Well done fella. #PhillipSchofield.' 'Well I think Schofield is brilliant. Grew up watching him on various shows, and nothing will change my mind on that. #PhillipSchofield.' '#PhillipSchofield absolutely loved this. The man has the love and respect of his wife and daughters. Everyone else is incidental. 'Those who have a lot to say need to struggle and concentrate on their own diminishing careers. Loved him then, love him now. Well done Phil!' Mere minutes in viewers were quick to accuse the presenter of being 'less remorseful than he claims,' after he made a supposed dig at his former This Morning co-host Holly Willoughby. During the show, Phillip discusses his bitter parting of ways with ITV and This Morning, which he hosted for 21 years, while fending for himself on a remote island paradise, located off the coast of Madagascar. Phillip was ousted from This Morning in May last year, after he admitted to lying about his relationship with a much younger male colleague. Holly distanced herself from her former best friend and during a 'highly strategised' return to the This Morning sofa in June 2023, she told viewers she had been left 'shaken, let down and worried.' Mere minutes in viewers were quick to accuse the presenter of being 'less remorseful than he claims,' after he made a supposed dig at his former This Morning co-host Holly Willoughby Phillip Schofield 's much-anticipated TV comeback finally hit screens on Monday night, with the disgraced presenter vowing to tell his side of the story in an 'unedited and honest way.' When she returned, she began by saying: 'Hello, Firstly, are you okay? I hope so. It feels very strange sat here without Phil.' Appearing to reference the now-famous speech on Cast Away, Phillip is seen having a BBQ with his family before heading off to the island. He gives out food to his wife Stephanie and their daughters Molly, 31, and Ruby, 28, and laughs: 'If you're ok, then we're ok, and I'm ok... are you ok?' No mention of Holly is made in the clip, but fans were quick to clock the jibe, with one branding Phillip's series an 'ego trip', before claiming he's clearly 'not as remorseful as he claims.' Posts on X included: 'Ooooh was that a cheeky dig at Holly Willoughby there Phillip? Are you OK; Are you OK... THAT HOLLY DIG!' 'Schofe's about to draw a smiley face on a volleyball and call it ''Willoughby'' Holly's said in the original statement that it: 'Feels very strange indeed sitting here without Phil and I imagine that you might have been feeling a lot like I have. 'Shaken, troubled, let down, worried for the wellbeing of people on all sides of what's been going on and full of questions'. But viewers were quick to accuse the presenter of being 'less remorseful than he claims,' after he made a supposed dig at his former This Morning co-host Holly Willoughby Appearing to reference the now-famous speech on Cast Away, Phillip is seen having a BBQ with his family before heading off to the island He gives out food to his wife Stephanie and their daughters Molly, 31, and Ruby, 28, and laughs: 'If you're ok, then we're ok, and I'm ok... are you ok?' No mention of Holly is made in the clip, but fans were quick to clock the jibe, with one branding Phillip's series an 'ego trip' 'All of us at This Morning gave our love and support to someone who was not telling the truth, who acted in a way that they themselves felt they had to resign from ITV and step down from a career that they loved. That is a lot to process'. 'It's equally hard to see the toll it's taken on their own mental health. I think what unites us all now is a desire to heal for the health and wellbeing of everyone.' She added: 'I hope that as we start this new chapter and get back to a place of warmth and magic that the show holds for all of us, we can find strength in each other. 'And from the heart, can I just say thank you for all your kind messages and thank you for being here this morning. Myself, Josie, Dermot, Alison, Craig and every single person that works on this show will continue to work hard every day.' Phillip stunned the nation when he revealed he would be making his TV comeback in the Channel 5 series Cast Away, which sees him fend for himself for 10 days on a remote island paradise. In the first episode, Phillip told how he had 'everything in place' for a suicide attempt, but decided against it when his eldest daughter Molly persuaded him not to, in the wake of his exit from This Morning. He said: 'In the last eighteen months, it got as dark as it is possible to get. 'A year ago I got so, so close. I had everything in place, everything was set up and everything was ready and it was Molly that was looking after me.' He explained: 'Molly and Ruby both looking after me at the time, and Molly said: 'Do you imagine what this would do to us if you actually managed to pull this off? Can you imagine what would happen and can you imagine what it would do to me if you did this on my watch?' The first episode of Phillip's Cast Away series saw him taken to the remote island, begin his quest for 10 days of survival, all the while discussing the impact his ITV exit had on him 'That was just enough, just enough to take a step back from the edge. I could have been hospitalised, I just raced to the family home and shut the gates and I was in there.' He later paid tribute to his wife Stephanie Lowe, Molly, 31, and his youngest daughter Ruby, 28, saying: 'Without them, I wouldn't be here.' Schofield's return to television comes 16 months after he was forced to apologise to the Mail for lying about his affair with his former This Morning colleague. He also lied to ITV and his former co-host Holly Willoughby about the romance and he hasn't worked since. But during the programme, he addressed the relationship, saying: 'It's like the biggest grenade going off in your life. You know you let people down, you know you've let yourself down. 'It was an unwise and unprofessional thing to do. I will be forever sorry. I screwed up. I made a mistake, and I hurt the people around me.' Schofield's admission that he had enjoyed the romance came three years after he came out as gay live on This Morning, with Ms Willoughby at this side. It was a secret he had kept from his entire family and his colleagues but he says he is proud of revealing the truth about his sexuality, saying: 'I'm very proud of what I did, and I know that coming out for so many people is liberating. And it's freedom on a plate. 'Absolutely. Be yourself. Live your life to the absolute full. That's the saying just live your best life. But for me, doing it later in life, at the moment it's just given me more, um, anguish than joy, because I'm fully aware of the damage that it leaves.' Indeed, for his family it was extremely difficult. 'When my dad came out, it was, it was very hard for me,' revealed Molly. 'It was very hard for the entire family. Mainly my mum, of course, everything was turned upside down. But we talked through it and over time it's got easier.' Despite the affair and coming out as gay, Schofield wears his wedding ring throughout the show - proving he is still married to Stephanie. During the show she broke her silence on the scandal, hinting at her own ordeal when she says: 'What people don't realise is that they batter you but then there are other people affected.' Molly, who works as her father's publicist, adds: 'We've seen him in his lowest times, but I've been so proud of him, and as a daughter to see the love that people had for him that when it's taken away it's just heartbreaking.' She added: 'Weirdly everything that's happened recently has made us closer.' His daughter said: 'We've seen him in his lowest times, but I've been so proud of him, and as a daughter to see the love that people had for him, when it's taken away it's just heartbreaking' Schofield notably doesn't mention Holly or his former lover, who he signed a mutual non-disclosure agreement with earlier this year in return for a six-figure payment to him. He will leave viewers wondering whether he is referring to Holly when he said: 'When you throw someone under a bus, you've got to have a really bloody good reason to do it.' In another outburst, Schofield said: ': 'I miss most of it. But there are bits that I really, really, really don't miss. You learn a lot about people. I don't miss that.' Since his exit from television, Schofield says he 'spent days in bed' where he would watch the news 'in a daze.' As for what he thinks of his return to the limelight, Schofield admits he expects little sympathy. 'I am not doing this as a poor me,' he says. 'I don't think I have a right. I don't have a right to to a poor me.' Netflix saw cancellations spike after co-founder Reed Hastings said he was backing Kamala Harris. Hastings, still serving as the streaming giant's chairman and the face of the company, said he had donated $7 million to the Democratic candidate's campaign as well. The rate of cancellations - known as churn - nearly tripled in the US after Hastings' endorsement on July 22, according to research firm Antenna. Netflix, the market leader by some margin - with 280 customers globally and 84 million in America - typically enjoys the lowest churn rate in the industry. In July, US customers canceled their subscriptions at a rate of 2.8 percent, the highest monthly figure since February. That meant a loss of more than 2 million subscribers. The cancellations coincided with Donald Trump supporters calling for conservatives to ax their subscriptions in response to Hastings backing Harris. Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, now serving as the streaming giant's chairman, donated $7 million to Kamala Harris's campaign. After news of the endorsement was revealed, Netflix saw a spike in cancellations. Hastings, a longtime Democratic donor, endorsed Harris in a post on X, previously known as Twitter, on July 22. A day later, Hastings told The Information that he had donated $7 million to a pro-Harris super PAC. Bloomberg highlighted that July 26 marked the worst single day for Netflix cancellations this year, just three days after the donation news broke. This increase is also linked to Netflix's decision to phase out its basic, advertising-free tier. But experts said the five-day period following Hastings' endorsement stood out. In the past, Netflix has tried to distance itself from Hastings' political activities. It is wary of offending subscribers who might have views that differ from his left-leaning views. But it doesn't always work. Earlier in the summer, he was one of the more vocal public figures calling for President Joe Biden to not stand again. In an email obtained by the New York Times, he stated: 'Biden needs to step aside to allow a vigorous Democratic leader to beat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous.' Netflix will release its latest earnings - for the third quarter from July to September - in mid-October. Analysts expect this to provide more detail on the impact on subscriptions. Democratic candidate Kamala Harris was endorsed by Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings. The endorsement by Reed Hastings upset supporters of Donald Trump. They urged Republicans to cancel their Netflix subscriptions Netflix's 277 million subscribers make it by far the biggest of the streamers. The next closest is Amazon Prime Video, but that is largely because it bundles the service for free with its subscription service. Until the setback in July, Netflix has been mostly adding customers in recent years. A major part of that success has been its password sharing crackdown, which helped it add 13 million new customers last year. Meanwhile, earlier this year it emerged Hastings donated 40 percent of his ownership stake in Netflix - worth $1.1 billion - to a charity popular with tech billionaires for its tax breaks and privacy. Hastings made the donation to Silicon Valley Community Foundation after his Netflix stock surged following a strong earnings report. At midnight between 11-12, November Air Vistara will cease to function as an independent entity as the merger of Air India and Air Vistara will be solemnised. While it is certain that several of the 60-plus aircraft in Air Vistaras fleet will continue to operate in the airlines famous aubergine livery for a few years, the Vistara flight code UK will be retired and it is certain that Air India will rationalise routes and services between the two airlines, a process that will not be easy. To be fair, Tata Sons has already managed an airline merger, that of the former Air Asia India and Air India Express. However, that was much easier as both airlines were low-cost single-class operators, even though they operated different aircraft, Air Asia India, the Airbus A320 and Air India Express, the Boeing 737. But as the leases on older Airbus aircraft end, it is likely that the airline will move to a single fleet of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. Things are much more complex for the Air India and Vistara merger even though there is largely a single-type, the Airbus A320-family of aircraft. This is because of different aircraft configurations as well as different service and training standards. Many frequent flyers, including this writer, particularly on routes out of Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru are unhappy about small things like Air Indias new domestic catering options. On a recent flight between Delhi and Kochi at lunchtime, the meal provided was wholly inadequate with a sandwich and stuffed bread roll, unlike Vistaras continuing proper meal service. There is no need for airlines to offer a meal service, but if they claim to be full-service carriers they should offer a proper meal or at least offer a decent Buy on Board service. The largest airline in India does not pretend to offer full service; but has a Buy on Board service. However, as a frequent flyer, I sincerely recommend that flyers either bring their own food onboard or eat at an airport, no matter how overpriced the latter option is. That said, consolidation of Air India and Vistara into one large airline is a huge opportunity for Tata Sons and Indian aviation to develop India into a proper global aviation hub and compete with middle-eastern airlines such as Emirates and Qatar Airlines. Particularly as the Indian diaspora across the world grows and will travel back to their home, as well as growing the international inbound tourism market. India is also going to grow domestic aviation at an incredible rate with an estimated 250 million flyers annually by 2028. But if the merger stalls for any reason, Tata Sons ought to be worried as IndiGo which has built themselves up into a massive presence in India, controlling half the domestic market, will certainly make an international and premium passenger play. On the latter front they have already announced that they will be starting a premium class offering from later this winter as well as a new Frequent Flyer program called Blu-Chip. And with an order for 30 new Airbus A350-900 wide-body aircraft and the new Airbus A321XLR entering service next year, IndiGo can potentially threaten Air Indias global expansion plans as well. Indian Muslims must embrace internal reforms that align with a modern, secular framework, helping to bridge societal divisions The rise of right-wing politics in India seems to have solidified its presence, and the deepening of Hindu-Muslim fault lines is likely to persist. While liberal and secular parties may win several State elections, an increase in their numbers in Parliament or State legislatures is unlikely to mend the fragile communal ties. The division between communities has now reached a deeper societal level, presenting a grave challenge for Indian Muslims. To minimise this damage and repair the social fabric, it is essential to promote a counter-narrative grounded in secularism. Indian Muslims must focus on internal reforms that promote secularisation within their own societal framework. While some right-wing claims about Muslim life may be exaggerated or entirely untrue, certain aspects warrant closer introspection by the community itself. Although the issues have intensified since 2014, their roots can be traced back to much earlier times. As Muslims, it is critical to rework the internal narrative and processes within the community to align with secular values. The painful legacy of India's partition, drawn along communal lines, has left a heavy burden on the Muslim community. In response, Indian Muslims need to go above and beyond to heal the sentiments and emotions of the majority community. Despite constitutional protections and safeguards, the community needs to focus on changing perceptions at both societal and communal levels. One step toward this change is to reform Muslim personal laws and harmonize them with a modern, progressive social order. Instead of framing personal law reforms as a Hindu-Muslim conflict, Muslims should see these reforms as standalone processes that benefit the community. A close examination of some outdated practices will reveal that reforms have already taken place in many Muslim-majority countries. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board missed a crucial opportunity to declare triple talaq un-Islamic before the government passed legislation against it. Similarly, the Shah Bano case harmed the Muslim community's interests and fueled the resurgence of right-wing mobilisation. The Muslim Personal Law Board has exacerbated the communitys challenges by opposing every proposed reform instead of acting as a forward-thinking, responsible institution. Another significant issue facing Indian Muslims is the lack of leadership from within the intelligentsia. With few exceptions, Muslim leadership has been monopolised by the clergy, leaving the community without enlightened, visionary, and progressive guidance. The void left by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad has remained largely unfilled. Even leaders like Asaduddin Owaisi, despite their education and goodwill, have failed to adopt a liberal and secular approach in addressing legitimate community concerns. An aggrieved community must communicate in a conciliatory manner, rather than adopting a confrontational stance. The Muslim leadership's approach to the Hijab controversy clearly illustrates this failure. While Muslim women are entitled to wear the Hijab as a matter of choice and religious freedom, elevating the issue to the extent of students quitting their studies was unwise. It is essential for religion to be separated from public life and confined to the private domain. Although this holds true for all communities, Indian Muslims must make this move more emphatically due to historical reasons. The community needs to create a secular platform to address its concerns. The severe political and socio-economic challenges facing Muslims today cannot be ignored. One positive step in this direction has been the recent initiative by a group of retired civil servants from Delhi who attempted to engage with leaders from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). However, the initiative failed to gain traction as it was undertaken individually without an organizational framework. To be successful, such efforts must be scaled up to a national-level dialogue with a clear agenda involving eminent citizens from various levels, including state and central governments. It is imperative to address the widespread perception that the Muslim community is resistant to reform, reconciliation, and compromise. Before the Hindu-Muslim fault lines in India reach a dangerous level, the country urgently needs a period of cooling off. Many right-wing grievances against Muslims lack substance and truth. In a society governed by constitutional principles and the rule of law, a community cannot be punished for the historical wrongs committed by its ancestors. To address the right-wing narrative effectively, the Muslim community must launch a secular, modern, and progressive narrative based on evidence, rather than countering with equally polarizing rhetoric. it is the only viable option. (The writer has been associated with the Centre for Policy Research, IIM Lucknow, University of Delhi, and Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi; Views are personal) Despite technological advancements, setbacks like the Zhou-class submarine sinking, reveal a widening gap between Chinas military claims and actuality Deception is at the heart of Chinese strategy and operations, especially on matters, the military. Ancient Sinological philosophers like Sun Tzu (The Art of War) had propounded extensively on cheating (likening it to a magic weapon) as a vital underpinning of deceptive warfare. The Chinese PLA Navy Submarine Academy has formally distilled four examples of deception in war (under the manual, Essentials of Sun Tzu and the Art of War and Submarine Operations). Firstly Show yourself to intimidate the enemy, then Show the false to confuse the enemy, thirdly Create momentum to harass the enemy and lastly Deceive to obstruct the enemy. Herein, untruth is a natural necessity as per their established treatise. India would be well versed in how the Chinese would talk about the 1962 Indo-China War but remain conspicuously silent on the reversal of fortunes about the 1967 Nathu La and Cho La border clashes. While an estimated 340 Chinese soldiers had died then (88 on the Indian side) true to their downplaying style, they only accepted a figure of 32 fatalities. The Chinese are similarly circumspect or lying about the essential outcomes of the China-Vietnam War of 1979. This deliberate fudging of facts was to repeat itself in the 2020 India-China skirmishes on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). While India acknowledged the loss of its Bravehearts in the bloody encounters, the Chinese shied away from acknowledging any of their own this when the US pegged the Chinese fatalities as 20-35, the Russians estimated Chinese loss of about 45, whereas the Australians insisted at least 41 Chinese killed. Almost a year later, the Chinese sheepishly admitted four fatalities killed in the Galwan clashes, as they gave away gallantry awards. True to their practised instincts, the Chinese always overstated their gains and downplayed their losses to deceive the onlookers (especially their citizenry) to retain manufactured optics of infallibility and invincibility, even when the reality was a lot more unheroic. This sovereign impulse of fake claims, downplaying failures, and overstating their capabilities has been elevated to a fine art, as is the won't of any authoritarian state reeling from regime insecurities. It routinely manifests in their claims of making advancements in technologies, weaponry and platforms that are ostensibly cutting-edge and even ahead of peers like the United States or Russia. The reality is essentially predicated on reverse-engineering technologies that could be brazenly stolen or surreptitiously acquired but the claim of homegrown is gleefully posited. A lot of fifth generation fighters, Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, Hypersonic technologies to Chinese nuclear submarines remain in public news but are essentially untested or unsubstantiated in live combat. While it has a considerable industrial base and budgetary allocation granted to its Defence Industry, like everything else in the Chinese realm, claims remain more impressive than reality. With this murky backdrop, came the recent news of the sinking of the latest Chinese nuclear submarine. The fact that the Zhou-class of attack submarine sank even before going into service, speaks volumes of the gap between purported technological advancements as opposed to factual efficacy. Incidentally, the US Deputy Secretary of State, Kurt Campbell, had confirmed that the Russians were helping China develop this submarine technology and that it too wasnt necessarily home-grown, as claimed. While this sinking of the submarine is believed to have happened in May earlier, it was never owned up by the Chinese and it took satellite images to unravel the sinking of the first-in-class nuclear-powered Chinese submarine. It is certainly a major setback for Chinas priority weapons programs that is key to its expansionist and hegemonic aspirations. As if on the rebound and to stitch a counternarrative, China is believed to have fired an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile into the Pacific Ocean, in a move that seems designed to distract and deflect from the embarrassing news of its sunk submarine and to reiterate its prowess and capability. Coming as the testing does after more than four decades over the Pacific Ocean, it is unmistakably a signal move to suggest that the Dragon still retains sharp claws and fangs. Incidentally, the missile is part of the PLAs Rocket Force that was subjected to a sweeping corruption crackdown, purge, and complete overhaul last year something that could be inflicted again on the PLA Navy leadership, which was in charge of the sunk submarine. Already the chorus of sub-standard Chinese weaponry has gained decibels from traditional clients like Pakistan or from emerging ones like Bangladesh, who complained about the quality of spares for its navy. Russias decline on the global stage as a military supplier has not resulted in an automatic transfer of business to the Chinese manufacturers, as earlier thought and the growing perception of Made in China has a lot to do with the reactions. With the US returning to the Pakistani arms market (Islamabad accounts for over 50 per cent of Chinese exports), and the overall pressures of economic slowdown haunting the Chinese economy Beijing is in a tight spot to invest, innovate, and deliver weaponry that truly delivers what it claims. It is premature to write off Chines Military-Industrial complex just yet, but the chinks in its armour are getting routinely exposed. While still a value player for the desperate, authoritarian or paradise countries, its claim to cutting-edge technology is suspect. (The writer, a military veteran, is a former Lt Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry. The views are personal) Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and their parties engaged in war of words following the latters remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a public meeting in Jammu when he said he wont die before PM Modi is removed from power. Shah termed Kharges remark as absolutely distasteful and disgraceful. At an election rally in Jasrota in Jammu on Sunday, Kharge felt dizzy and uneasy but resumed his speech after a brief pause, saying he wont die before PM Modi is removed from power. Shah said in a bitter display of spite, Kharge unnecessarily dragged the Prime Minister into his personal health matters by saying that he would die only after removing Modi from power. Yesterday, the Congress president Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji has outperformed himself, his leaders and his party in being absolutely distasteful and disgraceful in his speech. He said Kharges remarks showed how much hate and fear the Congress people have for PM Modi and that they are constantly thinking of him. As for the health of Mr. Kharge Ji, Modi Ji prays, I pray and we all pray that he lives a long, healthy life. May he continue to live for many years and may he live to see the creation of a Viksit Bharat by 2047, the Minister said. Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Nirmala said the Congress leadership never loses any opportunity to display their hate towards Modi. Aptly said, Home Minister Amit Shahji, Sitaraman said in a social media post. Kharge responded to Amit Shahs attack on him and said the Home Minister should focus on serious issues such as the Manipur situation, census and a caste census. Home Minister Amit Shah should focus on serious issues like Manipur, census and caste census. Your Governments own survey says that 92 percent of the employees cleaning urban sewers and septic tanks come from SC, ST, OBC categories, the Congress chief said. The BJP is against caste census because then it will be known by which work SC, ST, OBC, EWS and all other categories are earning their livelihood. What is their economic and social status? What kind of targeted benefits of Government schemes should they get? Kharge said. He asserted that the Congress party is firmly committed to getting a caste census done. We will get it done, he added. Addressing the rally on Sunday, Kharge had said, I am 83 years old. I am not going to die so early. I will stay alive till PM Modi is removed from power. I wanted to talk. But due to dizziness, I have sat down. Please pardon me, the Congress leader said. BJP slammed Mallikarjun Kharge, terming his remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi absolutely distasteful and disgraceful. It also said Modi became the Prime Minister for a third consecutive term with the peoples mandate and not because of the Congress presidents grace. BJP national spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain hit out at Kharge for his remarks and said Modi has become prime minister for the third consecutive term with the blessings of the people of the country. Asked about Shahs attack on Kharge, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, In his election speech, Kharge said I am not going to retire till I see the exit of the Prime Minister, which is a perfect political statement to make. The non-biological prime minister and this self-declared Chanakya (Shah) have made disgraceful statements and they are now accusing Kharge. There is nothing wrong about Kharges statement. This is a deliberate distortion, a deliberate and malicious twist (to the Congress chiefs remarks). If I start recounting all the nonsense spouted by the Prime Minister on the Congress and its leaders, I can go on and on, Ramesh said. Congresss media and publicity department head Pawan Khera also hit out at Shah over his attack on Kharge. What Amit Shah has said in his tweet is wrong -- that we hate Narendra Modi. We do not hate Narendra Modi but we love our country and hence, we want to make India free from his rule. It is our intention and aim, Khera said. In a veiled but scathing attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the accidental Hindu raised in Roman culture cannot accept the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. While campaigning in Haryana, the UP chief minister remarked, The 500-year-long wait has ended, and on January 22, 2024, Lord Shri Ram Lalla was enthroned in Ayodhya Dham by Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi. While the nation and the world celebrate the historic event, the unfortunate Congress, shedding crocodile tears, cannot stand this joy. This highlights the contrast between Rams culture and Roman culture. He further stressed, A person nurtured in Rams culture has fought relentlessly for 500 years to uphold the honour of Lord Shri Ram. But, the unfortunate accidental Hindu raised in Roman culture could not bear the sight of the enthronement of Lord Ram in Ayodhya Dham. Accidental Hindus can never truly be honest to the country and its people. Ram symbolises India. Jo Ram ka nahi, woh humare kisi kaam ka nahi (Those who do not belong to Ram are of no use to us). UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held four public meetings in Haryana on Monday, urging voters to support Kapoor Valmiki from Bawani Khera, Vinod Bhayana from Hansi, Captain Abhimanyu from Narnaund, Ramkumar Gautam from Safidon, Gyanchand Gupta from Panchkula and Shaktirani Sharma from Kalka. Hitting out at Rahul Gandhi further, Yogi said: Those who claim there was singing and dancing at the inauguration of the Ayodhya Ram temple should remember that their family has been dancing and singing all their lives. He added that Congress, by insulting Hindus, criticising Sanatan culture and undermining constitutional institutions abroad, calls into question its own credibility. In 1526, the structure of slavery was erected by demolishing the Ram temple. The Mughals and the British sought to erase every trace of Hindu religion and culture. Unfortunately, even the first government of independent India did not allow the nation to stand with pride. In 2014, Narendra Modi became prime minister. In 2017, the Bharatiya Janata Party formed the government in Uttar Pradesh. Once the double-engine government gained momentum, the 500-year-old problem was resolved in just two years. While 140 crore Indians are rejoicing, Congress is distressed by this development, he added. While congratulating the people of Bawani Khera assembly constituency, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath stated that the people here understand that if Congress comes to power, it will betray the country. He accused Congress of focusing on filling its own coffers rather than pursuing development. He also accused the Congress of neglecting the welfare of the poor. In contrast, he praised the significant development in Haryana under the double engine government. Yogi Adityanath also highlighted the difference in approach, pointing out that Congress had stated that Muslims have the first right to the countrys resources, whereas Prime Minister Modi asserts that the first right belongs to the poor, marginalised, Dalits, and the backward sections of society. Under Modis leadership, India is emerging as a major power in the world. While 80 crore people in India are receiving free rations due to the pandemic, Pakistan is moving around in the world with a begging bowl in its hand, he added. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath stated that while Prime Minister Modi is focused on building the nation, the Congress, which ruled for 60 to 65 years, has repeatedly seized opportunities to loot the country, sending money to Swiss banks and other foreign locations. During the pandemic, while BJP workers followed the mantra of Seva hi Sangathan at the call of Prime Minister Modi and party national president JP Nadda, Rahul Gandhi was nowhere to be seen. In moments of crisis, he remembers his grandmother in Italy, not India, he remarked. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asserted that when the Ram temple was constructed in Ayodhya under Prime Minister Modis leadership, Article 370 was also abolished. He noted that despite Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkars opposition, Congress included Article 370 in the Constitution to maintain relations with Kashmir, ultimately leading to the rise of terrorism in the country. He further accused Congress of fostering a divisive environment among Hindus, leading to internal conflicts within the community. Chief Minister Yogi stated that in the past, Uttar Pradesh experienced riots every few days due to unfortunate individuals. However, he noted that for the last seven and a half years, the rioters were either in jail or in hell. He emphasised that there are now no curfews or riots in UP, asserting that the situation has stabilised. He criticised Congress for providing refuge to notorious mafias in Uttar Pradesh, claiming they had business partnerships with them. Yogi Adityanath noted that the mining, animal, forest and land mafias were aligned with Congress, and urged the people to keep the party away from power. Describing Haryana as Veerbhoomi, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath remarked, The hard work of the farmers here to feed the country is commendable. The soldiers from Haryana who protect the border give Pakistan a tough time. Yogi Adityanath expressed his excitement at seeing children portraying Ram, Sita, Hanuman, Laxman and Guru Vashishtha in Hansi. While criticising Congress, he told the gathering that they have decided that only Congress should don the costumes of Ravan, Meghnad and Kumbhkarna. He emphasised that after coming to power in 1947, the issues that Congress had derailed were addressed first by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and later by Narendra Modi, resulting in the creation of a new India. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath stated that Mahatma Gandhi believed the foundation of good governance in India could only be Ram Rajya. Congress is the problem, and BJP is the solution. Congress is the mother of terrorism, extremism and corruption in the country. Those who talk about Rome and Italy should go there; why do they seek votes in Haryana, Hansi and Hisar? he asserted. Reflecting on an anecdote from Jammu airport, Yogi shared, A maulana greeted me with Ram-Ram, and I reciprocated. I was surprised and asked an officer if all the maulvis here say Ram-Ram. He replied no; this is the effect of the removal of Article 370. Yogi Adityanath noted that those who once cursed Ram, Krishna and India are now saying Ram-Ram. He emphasised that the stronger the BJP becomes, the stronger India will be, and as India grows stronger, people will witness more bhajans of Hare Rama-Hare Krishna on the streets. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath alleged that Congress does not believe in Lord Ram and Lord Krishna. He claimed that they advocate for land only for the Waqf Board, not for Ram and Krishna. He pointed out that Chand Mohammad has been given a ticket to loot Panchkula, asserting that even Lord Ram and Lord Krishna have turned their backs on the ill-fated Congress. Yogi emphasised the need for a strong and powerful government to ensure effective and honest governance. As elections approach, he noted that Congress morale is declining as they realise their chances of success in Haryana are slim. He concluded with Bharosa dil se, BJP fir se (Trust from the heart, BJP once again). Yogi pointed out that the Haryana elections would be held on October 5 and the counting of votes was scheduled for October 8. He added that Shardiya Navratri will commence on October 3 and Vijayadashmi will be observed on October 12, emphasising that the lotus should bloom before then to bring prosperity and development. The BJP and the Congress on Monday accused the Aam Aadmi Party government of neglecting the city's roads for the past decade and only waking up to address the issue just 10 weeks before the upcoming assembly election. They termed it a political drama. In a statement, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva alleged that the Public Works Department (PWD), responsible for maintaining Delhi's roads, has been under the control of the "most corrupt faces" of the Kejriwal government. "The truth is that four people are primarily responsible for the poor condition of Delhi's roads: Arvind Kejriwal, Satyendra Jain, Manish Sisodia, and Atishi," he said. Earlier on September 27, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, after inspecting the roads, handed over a letter to Chief Minister Atishi in the Delhi assembly urging her to start the repair work of Delhi roads on a war footing. Sachdeva said, "AAP who has spent the last ten years destroying roads and neglecting maintenance are now waking up just 10 weeks before the election notification to claim that they will make the roads pothole-free." Delhi cabinet ministers led by Atishi hit the ground running on Monday morning, inspecting and identifying damaged roads across the city to ensure a pothole-free national capital by Diwali. The Delhi BJP president claimed that the former PWD ministers Satyendra Jain and Manish Sisodia and current PWD Minister Atishi, who has been operating under the influence of Kejriwal, are responsible for the bad condition of the roads. BJP MP Manoj Tiwari took a jibe at Kejriwal stating that Atishi proved he was "completely useless" as he never inspected the roads. "Those who slept for 4.8 years are now coming out on the streets to show off. Atishi has proved that Arvind Kejriwal was a completely useless Chief Minister because Arvind Kejriwal never inspected the roads... The people of Delhi will now send these people away permanently because the people of Delhi have understood that at the time of elections, they all talk sweetly and take good steps... The people of Delhi will punish them," he said. Terming it a nautanki by Atishi and her cabinet road inspection, South Delhi MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said Kejriwal government did nothing for the people of Delhi except press conferences. Evey day they conducted five to six press conference on daily basis, he added. Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav wondered why the AAP Government waited till the election year to give attention to the broken roads as these roads should have been recarpeted as a matter of routine by the PWD under the Delhi Government. In a move poised to significantly impact Punjabs political dynamics, a pro-Khalistan Sikh preacher and Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh currently detained under the National Security Act (NSA) at Dibrugarh Jail in Assam, on Monday announced plans to form a new political party. His announcement came a day after a similar statement was made by his parents at the Golden Temple, affirming their commitment to establishing a new platform to voice the concerns of Punjab. The development has the potential to reshape the discourse surrounding Punjabs pressing issues, as Amritpal contended that existing political entities have failed to address the states long-standing challenges effectively. Amritpal, in a post on X, revealed that his father, Tarsem Singh, along with his associates, would be spearheading the establishment of this new Sikh political party. The challenges facing Punjab are intensifying, and it is clear that neither the current religious nor secular political parties have provided adequate solutions to the issues concerning the Punjab community. Supported by Guru Maharaj from Sri Akal Takht Sahib, we will soon announce the formation of a new panthic political party, he wrote. Tarsem Singh, after paying respects at the Golden Temple, expressed the urgency of giving voice to the concerns of Punjabs youth. He emphasized that the existing political parties have consistently ignored the voices of the people, prompting them to take action on their own. He highlighted the need to save Punjabs youth from the grip of addiction and urged the formation of a party that genuinely represents their interests. The momentum for this political initiative coincides with the second anniversary of Amritpal Singhs dastarbandi, or turban-tying ceremony, marking a significant milestone in his political journey. Supporters believed that past and present governments, including Congress, BJP, and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), have prioritized financial gain over the welfare of the religious community, thus alienating the very groups they profess to support. Sukhchain Singh, Amritpals uncle, criticized previous administrations for failing to adhere to the principles of Miri-Piri, a concept integral to Sikh philosophy. He lamented that the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has often been viewed as a puppet of political families, leading to widespread disillusionment among Sikhs seeking genuine representation. Amritpals detention under the NSA in March 2023 has not dampened the resolve of his supporters, who are now rallying to establish a party that aims to establish Dharam da Raj (the rule of righteousness) in Punjab. This new political entity is not just a response to current challenges but also a movement to empower the youth of Punjab, addressing addiction, unemployment, and the pressing need for religious representation in politics. PM Modi to address fourth election rally in Faridabad today Chandigarh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address an election meeting in Faridabad on Tuesday (October 1), the fourth in the state since the announcement of the polls slated on October 5. A BJP leader said that the preparations for the rally are in full swing, and it will be held on the Faridabad-Palwal border in Prithla Assembly constituency. The Prime Minister will seek votes in support of BJP candidates in all nine Assembly constituencies of the district, he added. Faridabad Police, meanwhile, have issued a traffic advisory to ensure smooth traffic flow and law and order. To ensure smooth traffic flow, and maintain law and order, several restrictions will be in place from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. As per the advisory, the entry of all types of heavy and light motor vehicles (LMVs) into the district of Palwal from Faridabad and Delhi will be prohibited. The restrictions will also be on vehicles travelling on the Agra-Mathura Highway (NH-44). Congress expels 10 leaders for six years for indulging in anti-party activities Chandigarh: Congress on Monday expelled 10 leaders from the party for 6 years for indulging in anti-party activities. "The disciplinary committee of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), has expelled Chitra Sarwara, Satvinder Rana, Kapoor Singh Narwal and Virender Ghoghrian among others. Meanwhile, BJP also expelled eight party leaders for a period of six years due to their decision to contest the Assembly elections as independent candidates. Among those expelled are notable figures such as former minister Ranjit Chautala and former MLA Devendra Kadyan. 399 arrested, liquor worth Rs 95.43 lakh seized so far after MCC implementation in Gurugram Gurugram: 399 people were arrested and Rs 95.43 lakh worth of liquor was seized from across Gurugram district after the imposition of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for the Assembly polls in the State, police said on Monday. Giving details, police said in a statement that 26,351.805 litres of liquor worth over Rs 95.43 lakh have been seized within the period of 16 September to 29 September after the imposition of the poll code. BJP will protect reservation: Union Education Minister Pradhan Karnal: BJP Haryana election in-charge and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday pledged that the party would protect reservation and accused the Congress of opposing the same for Dalits and other communities. He announced that the birth anniversary of Rani Ahilyabai Holkar would be celebrated across the state. Pradhan highlighted that people from 36 communities across the state had joined hands with the BJP, including the Pal Gadariya community, which he said was associated with Rani Ahilyabai Holkar. Prime Minister Modi has dedicated himself to the ideals and bravery of Ahilyabai. If the BJP forms the government for the third time in Haryana, we will celebrate Rani Ahilyabais birth anniversary at the state level across the entire state, he said. Pradhan was addressing a state-level Pal Gadariya Mahapanchayat in the city and said that as long as Narendra Modi was the Prime Minister, no one would be able to abolish reservation. Kejriwal promises 12 lakh jobs, better health and education infrastructure in Haryana Karnal: AAP national convener and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday exhorted people to bring change, in the upcoming Assembly polls in the state, for better health and education infrastructure. Addressing a public meeting in Assandh in favour of partys candidate Amandeep Singh Jundla, Kejriwal promised five guarantees, including free and uninterrupted power, upliftment of schools, free healthcare infrastructure and 12 lakh jobs. Give me a chance, I will assure free electricity, quality healthcare in government hospitals similar on the lines of Delhi and Punjab, said the AAP convener. Accompanied by state president Dr Sushil Gupta, Kejriwal accused the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for sending him to jail.PM Modi hatched a conspiracy, leveled false accusations, made up a fake case, and threw me in jail, he alleged. Election campaigning for 15th Haryana Assembly Elections-2024 will come to end at 6 PM on Oct 3: CEO Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Agarwal on Monday said that the election campaigning for the Assembly Elections will come to an end at 6 PM on October 3. After 6 PM, no political party or candidate will be allowed to hold public meetings or rallies. Apart from this, as per the Election Commissions guidelines, except for the candidates election agent, other party workers, leaders, and campaigners who are not voters of the concerned constituency will not be permitted to remain in that constituency. Voting for all 90 Assembly constituencies in Haryana will take place on October 5 from 7 AM to 6 PM. Agarwal further said that all campaigning must stop during the 48-hour period leading up to the end of voting. During this period, no candidate is allowed to organize or participate in any public meeting. Further, no election-related material can be displayed through cinematography, television, or other devices. Political campaigns using music concerts, theater programs, or other entertainment forms to attract the public are also prohibited during this time. The use of loudspeakers will also be banned, the CEO added. The BJP on Monday charged that Chief Minister Atishis men have forcibly taken over parks and started illegal parking collections in her constituency. It was also claimed hundreds of saplings were destroyed. Making these allegations, Leader of Opposition in Municipal Corporation of Delhi(MCD)Raja Iqbal Singh said here on Sunday afternoon in the MCD Park located in Krishna Market, Kalkaji, Atishis representative Vandana Sinha, along with AAP leader Shivani Chauhan came with some goons and attempted to park vehicles forcibly. When local people, along with the municipal councilor from Kalkaji and BJP state vice-president Yogita Singh, questioned them, they responded by saying Atishi is not just an MLA but the Chief Minister now. Raja Iqbal Singh, Councilor Yogita Singh, and Rajpal Singh held a press conference on Monday condemning the illegal parking setup by the Chief Minister. They demanded strict action against the AAP goons by filing a police complaint for attempting to take over the park. Raja Iqbal Singh said pollution will peak in the coming times, and Delhiites will need parks and trees. However, the AAP goons have started encroaching on parks for their illegal collections. He added that AAP goons began illegal parking and started extorting money from the public. Seeing this, local councilor Yogita Singh, along with Kalkaji residents, informed the police, and the illegal parking was removed. However, by then, hundreds of saplings in the park had been destroyed. Raja Iqbal Singh questioned Atishi, asking how many parks she has developed in the last five years and what steps have been taken to protect Delhiites from pollution. He warned that Delhi citizens will no longer tolerate such hooliganism. Yogita Singh said during her first visit to the assembly after winning the election, Atishi incited violence against BJP councilors and now her people are carrying out similar actions in her constituency. She also mentioned that the damage to the saplings in the park is a matter she will raise with the NGT, as it involves the destruction of government property. Samvad- Vidhan Sabha Election 2024 was organized under the aegis of Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (JPCC) under the chairmanship of JPCC Chief Keshav Mahato Kamlesh on Monday to chalk out strategy for upcoming State Assemblu elections. JPCC In-Charge Ghulam Ahmed Mir was present as the Chief Guest in the program and former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Bhupesh Baghel was present as the Special Guest. Panchayat, Mandal, Block, District President, Delegates, State officials, MLAs, former MLAs, MPs, former MPs of all the districts were present in the program. On the occasion, Mir said that due to the Samvad Aapke Saath program, the organization came face to face with the people of entire Jharkhand and the ground reality, it was the need of the hour, working at the grassroots level raises the issues of the society and work is done on it. Sometimes, even after the election strategy and equations are in your favour, the election can be lost due to lack of work at the booth level, even one per cent votes can make and break the Government. To prove wrong the idiom that Congress has been defeating Congress. Whoever the party makes its candidate, ensure his victory. In the coming days, we will talk to the alliance parties about turning the major issues into guarantees, he added. Baghel said that in the last election, BJP made CAA and NRC an issue but today those issues have vanished. In the last election, the people of Jharkhand gave a befitting reply to the issues of BJP and changed the power here. There is no such party in the Modi Government against whose leaders action has not been taken. BJP's thinking is that a corrupt person should stay in BJP and not in any other party. In Jammu and Kashmir, Amit Shah promises to give two cylinders free on Eid and in Jharkhand he opposes Muslims. They ask for votes for some other work and do another work. People like Bapu and Patel have emerged from Gujarat who tied the Country together. Today, four people have emerged from Gujarat, two who sell the Country and two who buy the country. The Country's assets are being sold to two people, he added. Congress Legislative Party Leader Dr Rameshwar Oraon said that you have the Government's achievements in your bag to go to the elections. Despite the obstacles, we have achieved success. BJP people are coming from outside, the people of Jharkhand recognize everyone. There is nothing negative against the Government. BJP people are not able to create an issue here, due to which they are disappointed. BJP has not achieved any achievement in the State ruled by it and is not able to answer it. In the previous Government, the income of families in Jharkhand was zero, in this Government the income of the family is 5 to 6000 per month including all the schemes, we have succeeded in our aim, we will take it further, we will make the people of Jharkhand economically strong, he added. Campaign Committee Chairman Subodh Kant Sahay discussed in detail about the strategy and programs of the election campaign and the methods of the campaign. He said that the condition of BJP is bad, they are scattered all over Jharkhand like locusts, there is a BJP Government in the states around us, we will not let Jharkhand go out of our hands at any cost, we have to take it as a resolution. Former JPCC Chief Rajesh Thakur, Pradeep Balmuchu, Sukhdev Bhagat, Kalicharan Munda, Dheeraj Sahu, Deepika Pandey Singh, Banna Gupta, Pradeep Yadav and others were present. When you hit rock bottom, the only way you can go is up. The age-old dictum is proving right for the Congress, as a delay in the announcement of the state executive is helping the party garner greater contributions from its leaders in Madhya Pradesh. Ironical as it may sound, a staggering of the announcement has worked to Congress's benefit and assisted state unit party chief Jitu Patwari in cornering the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party through state-wide agitations over soybean support prices and rising crimes against women and children.Patwari, who was appointed at the helm of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee soon after the assembly election debacle for the party in December 2023, is perhaps coming to terms with late Prime Minister Narasimha Rao's observation that "inaction is action in itself." After decades in the doldrums, Congress has gained considerable ground in the state under Patwari, who has been ironically but robustly supported by the delay.Over the years, the announcement of the party state executive has led to protests and faction feuds between the various regional warhorses and satraps that comprise the grand old party in the state. This time too, the announcement was expected to trigger trouble for the Congress, especially as several new and young leaders are in the fray for a position in the MPCC, owing to the migration of a large number of party leaders to the Bharatiya Janata Party. While talk of the state executive started soon after Patwari's elevation, the Congress central leadership has staggered the announcement in an ostensible effort to allow Patwari to consolidate his position before the state executive takes charge. Formation of Congress state units has never been an easy equation, as several elements, including regional balance and satrap egos, need to be factored into the combination before it is placed for public scrutiny.Aspiring positions in the state executive, Congress leaders and workers are known to fully dedicate themselves to political work in the months leading up to the announcement, as they believe that the limelight would help them secure a better position in the party. Party insiders say that this time all the regional satrapsKamal Nath, Digvijay Singh, Arun Yadav, Ajay Singh, and their supportersare actively participating in party programs and agitations in their respective regions. In keeping with party tradition, the supporters of these senior leaders are expecting to be included in the state executive and are wholeheartedly participating in party programs.During former Union Minister Kamal Nath's tenure as PCC Chief, there was a jumbo state executive, as more than 2,000 party leaders and workers were included in the body to avoid the possibility of a free-for-all between the various factions.Party sources predict that the state executive will be much smaller this time around, and only a select few will find a place. They added that Patwari is likely to announce his new executive soon, as he is buoyed by the recent success of party agitations. State Congress Media in-charge Mukesh Nayak told The Pioneer that though the announcement was expected earlier, the new state body will now be declared during Navratri. Notably, the central leadership of Congress is busy with assembly elections in Haryana, and the results will be declared on October 8; it is highly unlikely that the announcement will precede the results. Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar was notably absent from a crucial party meeting held in Chandigarh on Monday, chaired by the states affairs in-charge Vijay Rupani. Jakhars absence has once again sparked rumours of his resignation, a topic that has been swirling in political circles for days. Despite his absence adding fuel to the speculation, party leaders, including Rupani, have firmly denied these claims. Rupani stated that Jakhar remains committed to his role as the state president and had only missed the meeting due to personal commitments in Delhi. Jakhar ji has not resigned. He is currently in Delhi on personal work and will resume his responsibilities shortly, said Rupani, emphasizing that Jakhars leadership continues to be vital for the party. Jakhars non-participation in todays meeting has only intensified speculation that he may have offered to resign, following reports that he had earlier expressed his willingness to step down if the party leadership found his style of functioning misaligned with their goals. According to insiders, Jakhar had recently met BJP national president JP Nadda and discussed his potential departure from the post. Though party leaders have repeatedly dismissed the idea of Jakhar stepping down, the fact that he has not made any public statements refuting these rumours has further fueled the uncertainty. Sources indicated that Jakhar has conveyed to senior party leaders, including the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several times that he is ready to resign if his leadership is not considered effective, but these discussions have remained private. Adding to the intrigue is Jakhars absence from two earlier meetings held in Bathinda and Amritsar, which were organized to strategize for bypolls in the key constituencies of Barnala, Gidderbaha, Chabbewal, and Dera Baba Nanak. These constituencies will soon face by-elections following the resignation of sitting MLAs who have now assumed roles as MPs. During Monday's meeting, chaired by Rupani, the focus was on shaping the BJPs strategy for the upcoming by-elections and the local body polls. The party reviewed feedback from district-level leaders and assessed the political landscape, particularly in light of the ongoing farmer protests, which remain a challenge for the BJP in Punjabs rural regions. The first phase of the BJPs membership drive, which concludes on Monday (September 30), was another key topic of discussion. The drive aimed at increasing the partys presence across the state, and party leaders expressed optimism about the success of their outreach efforts. The second phase of this campaign is set to launch on October 1 (Tuesday), targeting a broader section of the electorate. Despite the partys reassurances, Jakhars absence continues to raise questions. His non-attendance at pivotal meetings, coupled with strategic silence combined with the persistent rumours of internal friction, has kept the spotlight on his future within the party. However, sources within the BJP indicated that any decision regarding Jakhars leadership is unlikely to be made until after the upcoming by-elections and polls in neighbouring states, including Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir. Party insiders suggested that the BJP is focused on the immediate electoral challenges and will reassess the situation after October 5, once these electoral processes have concluded. Jakhars leadership, while under scrutiny, may not face any official review until the results of these elections are in. The by-elections for the four assembly constituencies Barnala, Gidderbaha, Chabbewal, and Dera Baba Nanak are seen as a crucial test for Punjab BJP, which is looking to strengthen its presence in the State. Historically, the party has struggled to gain significant traction in Punjab, and the bypolls are viewed as a critical opportunity to solidify its position. The constituencies, previously held by Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), became vacant after the MLAs resigned to take on roles as MPs. The Road Ahead Though Sunil Jakhars future as Punjab BJP president remains uncertain, the party leadership is keen to project stability. Vijay Rupani and other senior leaders stressed that Jakhar is very much still in charge and that his absence from todays meeting should not be misinterpreted. They emphasized that Jakhar would soon rejoin party activities and continue to lead the BJP through the upcoming electoral challenges. For now, the Punjab BJPs attention is firmly on the upcoming bypolls and local body elections. As the party gears up for these key contests, the speculation surrounding Jakhars leadership remains in the background but is unlikely to disappear entirely until an official announcement is made. The coming weeks are expected to be pivotal for both Sunil Jakhar and the Punjab BJP. Whether he continues to lead the party or steps aside, his absence from todays meeting has kept the political rumour mill turning, leaving party workers and political observers waiting to see how the situation unfolds. The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the Delhi government's forest department for not apprising it of any comprehensive measures taken by it to enhance the green cover of the national capital, saying it has shown a "complete lack of interest" and "lacklustre" approach. The Court said, "Judges come and go. It is not for the benefit of judges but for the national capital territory of Delhi." A bench of Justices AS Oka and Augustine George Masih directed the principal secretary of the forest department to be present on October 18 through virtual mode and asked him to file a personal affidavit to explain why information was not placed on record on steps taken and to be taken for enhancing the green cover of Delhi by October 15. "The Delhi government has claimed that it filed a compliance report in the contempt petition which has been transferred from this bench to another bench. Apart from this approach of the Delhi government, the status report dated September 21 shows a complete lack of interest by the principal secretary of the forest department," the bench said. The Supreme Court also expressed displeasure over the statement of advocate Chirag Shroff appearing for the Delhi government that it has filed the compliance report in a contempt matter, which is pending before another bench of the apex court. "Either there is a complete lack of knowledge or somebody else wants that this court should not hear this matter. There is something else in your approach obviously. Delhi Police has arrested three people, including a former contractual employee of the Ministry of Petroleum, for allegedly duping people on the pretext of providing CNG pumps. The fraudsters duped a man of Rs 2.39 crore under the guise of setting up a CNG pump, police said, adding that the accused had received Rs 1.79 crore through various dummy bank accounts and Rs 60 lakh in cash. "On March 27, this year, the complainant approached the IFSO Special Cell, stating that he had been defrauded of Rs 2.39 crore by individuals who promised to install a CNG pump on his land," Deputy Commissioner of Police (IFSO) Hemant Tiwari said. The officer further said that the complainant told police that he was searching petrol or CNG pump allotment processes online and was approached by two individuals, Amrendra and Amit Pandey, who presented themselves as coordinators and agents of a gas company. "They lured him with promises of getting a CNG pump installed with minimal formalities. The accused created forged documents, including a registration certificate, bank account details, and an invoice with a GST number, and sent them to the complainant. By posing as officers of a gas company. They swindled Rs 2.39 crore from the victim," said the DCP, adding that an FIR was registered and an investigation was taken up. According to the police, a special team was formed as the fraud dates back almost three years. The team gathered details of the bank accounts involved in the fraud and traced the money trail. The registration and allotment documents provided by the accused were verified with the gas company and found to be fake. "Team pinpointed the location of the accused and subsequently arrested Amit Kumar Pandey (41), Amrendra Kumar (47) and Amar Singh (62), the DCP said. To avoid detection, the accused had been using SIM cards registered in someone else's name. They also created fake emails to send documents to the complainant. Pandey was identified as the mastermind who forged the registration and allotment documents, while Amrendra Kumar collected the cash from the complainant. Amar Singh, a former employee of the Ministry of Petroleum, posed as a facilitator, police said. Sharing modus operandi, the DCP said that the fraudsters learned that the complainant was seeking to install a CNG pump on his land and falsely presented themselves as gas company officials and intermediaries. "They offered to install the CNG pump with minimal formalities, claiming to have strong connections in the Ministry of Petroleum. The gang employed various tactics to deceive the complainant, including arranging site visits and issuing fake NOCs, area clearance reports, and invoices to avoid raising suspicion. The investigation into other co-conspirators and any possible connection to the gas company is ongoing," he added. The Uttar Pradesh government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, is set to launch the fifth phase of its ambitious Mission Shakti programme on October 3, the first day of Shardiya Navratri. As part of this new phase, a dedicated health helpline for women Women Health Line, will be introduced soon particularly in rural areas. Modeled after the successful 1090 Women Powerline initiative, the helpline aims to provide accessible healthcare support to women who often face barriers in discussing health issues due to social stigma. One of the standout features of this helpline is the provision of tele-consultations with gynaecologists, offering expert medical advice without requiring women to travel to distant hospitals or clinics. This is especially significant for women in remote areas, where access to specialised medical care is limited. The helpline will empower women to seek timely and confidential medical assistance, bridging the gap in healthcare services in rural Uttar Pradesh. Mission Shakti, launched on October 17, 2020, has been a key initiative of the Yogi Adityanath government, focusing on womens safety, dignity and empowerment. Over the years, the programme has expanded to include initiatives promoting womens employment, education and hygiene. The upcoming fifth phase builds on these efforts, further cementing the state governments commitment to improving the lives of women from all walks of life. According to the Women and Child Security Organisation (WCSO), the new health helpline will not only provide immediate medical advice, but also help women navigate issues related to maternal health, reproductive health and mental well-being. The helpline aims to address the pressing healthcare needs of women in rural regions, where access to quality medical care remains a challenge. The Yogi Adityanath government has continuously prioritised womens health, recognising the importance of safety, self-reliance and dignity for women and children across the state. Each phase of Mission Shakti has introduced groundbreaking reforms, starting with its inception in 2020, followed by the second phase on February 26, 2021, the third phase on August 21, 2021, and the fourth phase on October 14, 2022. With the launch of the fifth phase, the state continues its relentless pursuit of empowering women, ensuring they have access to the healthcare and support they deserve. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has sought explanations from various district administrations for their poor performance in addressing peoples complaints received through the Integrated Grievance Redressal System (IGRS), CM Helpline and on Sampoorna Samadhan Diwas. For the past several days, the chief minister has been receiving reports of delays and inaction in resolving grievances and has taken a firm stance against negligent officials. He has called for explanations from the district magistrates and senior superintendents of police/ superintendents of police of the districts involved. It is anticipated that significant action may be taken against those found responsible for the negligence once the reports are out. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath recently expressed displeasure during a high-level meeting over the negligence in resolving complaints received through the IGRS, CM Helpline, and on Sampoorna Samadhan Diwas. He instructed that reports be called for from the negligent officers. Following this, Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh conducted a review of complaint resolution across the IGRS, CM Helpline and Sampoorna Samadhan Diwas. The review revealed poor performance in several districts between September 1 and September 25. Many complainants expressed dissatisfaction, as recorded through feedback collected via the CM Helpline and CM Dashboard. Districts like Deoria, Bhadohi, Gonda, Lalitpur, Prayagraj, Kaushambi, Fatehpur, Azamgarh and Mirzapur reported dissatisfaction levels as high as 70 per cent. In response, Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh reprimanded the district magistrates and senior superintendents of police/ superintendents of police of these districts and instructed them to make improvements. He is also preparing to submit the findings of the review to the Chief Minister's Office. Experts suggest that based on the report, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath may take strict action against negligent officials. However, the review also highlighted districts that performed well in resolving complaints in August and September. In August, Auraiya, Lakhimpur Kheri and Lucknow were commended for their timely resolution and submission of special closure reports. Similarly, in September, districts such as Auraiya, Lakhimpur Kheri, Meerut, Saharanpur and Gorakhpur demonstrated strong performance. The chief secretary praised the district magistrates and senior superintendents of police/ superintendents of police of these districts and directed other officers to follow their example. Yauatcha's Asia In A Glass' is more than just a cocktail menu, it is an homage to the traditional flavours and modern techniques that define Asian cuisine, says SHARMILA CHAND Yauatcha, the well- known contemporary Dim sum Tea House in Bengaluru is celebrating a unique cocktail menu, Asia In A Glass. It is a vibrant celebration of Asian ingredients, masterfully crafted into exquisite cocktails that promise to transport guests on a sensory journey across the continent. I was thrilled to see how they have gone beyond their culinary fare to extend their philosophy seamlessly into the heart of their bar program, where mixology transforms into an art form. The Drinks Narrative Ranging from classic cocktails with a unique twist to refreshing fruit-forward and tea-infused concoctions, each libation at this London-style bar is a meticulously crafted narrative. The carefully designed cocktail menu embodies innovation and sophistication in showcasing Asian ingredients. When I was working on the 'Asia In A Glass' article, I had the pleasure of meeting with Merwyn and gained a deeper understanding of the evolution of Yauatcha's cocktail scene. Yauatcha has always been at the forefront of mixology trends, being one of the pioneers in implementing an innovative ice program. Sitting down with Merwyn provided invaluable insights that helped shape the story. Its truly gratifying to see this meticulously crafted menu come to fruition with this article. said Aslam Gafoor, who inspired the creation of this cocktail menu with his article in the Yauatcha Life magazine, titled Asia In A Glass. As the name suggests, Asian ingredients take the spotlight in Yauatcha's cocktail program philosophy, turning every cocktail into a distinctive masterpiece. From the invigorating zing of lemongrass to the comforting warmth of ginger, Yauatcha's Head Mixologist, Merwyn Alphonso has curated a sensory experience that reflects Asian culinary heritage in every sip. Furthermore, the glassware and ice story transform into canvases for expression, enhancing visual allure and turning the bar into a dynamic masterpiece where flavours dance and evolve. Sharing his excitement about the launch of the new cocktail menu, Merwyn said, Discussing the beverage program at Yauatcha, its clear that its more than just a dim sum restaurant. When Allen Yau founded Yauatcha, it was built on the four pillars of hospitality, patisserie, dim sum, mixology and tea. To this day, these pillars guide us in crafting every cocktail that we put on our menus. The 'Asia In A Glass' menu was created with this ethos in mind, and we hope our guests enjoy these beautiful libations. The cocktails draw inspiration from across the Asian continent, incorporating traditional Asian ingredients such as Yuzu, Lychee, Pandan and Lemongrass. The result is a series of exclusive beverages that are as visually stunning as they are delicious, each one telling a story of its own. Highlights from the Menu Tian Shang: A refreshing blend of Gin, Vodka, raspberry liqueur, lemon, fresh raspberries, elderflower foam. Jian Mei: A tea twist with Gin, sake, floral tea liqueur. Around The World: A delightful concoction of White rum, limoncello, Aperol, lychee, homemade apricot compote, rosemary twig. Ginger Martini: A zesty, aromatic blend with White rum, ginger, green apple, orgeat, lime. Each cocktail is a testament to the skill and creativity of Yauatcha's mixologists, who have drawn inspiration from the diverse culinary landscapes of Asia. Experience the vibrant flavours and innovative creations that set Yauatcha apart. The drinks echo Yauatchas ethos, embodying innovation and sophistication in showcasing Asian ingredients. The concoctions are more than just drinks, they are conversation starters and memory makers. Step in, have your pick from the Asia In A Glass menu and see how a world of flavours is waiting to be explored by you! Cheers! Address: Yauatcha Bangalore, Level 5, 1 MG Road Mall, MG Road, Bangalore. Contact - +919222222800 Sharmila Chand is an author and consulting editor. She writes on food, travel, lifestyle, Culture. The first apparent Israeli airstrike on central Beirut in nearly a year of conflict levelled an apartment building early Monday. It came after Israel hit targets across Lebanon and killed dozens of people, as Hezbollah sustained heavy blows to its command structure, including the killing of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The airstrike hit a multistorey residential building, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene. Videos showed ambulances and a crowd gathered near the building in a mainly Sunni district with a busy thoroughfare lined with shops. The airstrike killed at least one person and wounded 16, an official with Lebanese Civil Defence said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. He said the person killed was a member of the al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Group, a Sunni political and militant group that is allied with Hezbollah. A Palestinian leftist faction in Lebanon said three of its members were killed in the airstrike. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said in a statement early Monday that its military and security commanders in Lebanon, and a third member were killed in the attack. Neither militant group has played a significant role in the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Shiite militant group Hezbollah. Also early Monday, another strike killed a commander with the militant group Hamas, which has a presence in Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps. Hamas said Fatah Sharif and his family were killed in an airstrike on the Al-Buss refugee camp in the southern port city of Tyre. In the past week, Israel has frequently targeted Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence including a major strike on Friday that killed Nasrallah but had not hit locations near the city centre. Israeli officials had no immediate comment. Earlier, Hezbollah confirmed that Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of its Central Council, was killed Saturday, making him the seventh senior Hezbollah leader killed in Israeli strikes in a little over a week. They include the group's founding members who had evaded death or detention for decades. Hezbollah also confirmed that Ali Karaki, another senior commander, died in the strike that killed Nasrallah. Israel says at least 20 other Hezbollah militants were killed, including one in charge of Nasrallah's security detail. The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least 105 people were killed around the country in airstrikes Sunday. Two strikes near the southern city of Sidon, about 45 kilometres south of Beirut, killed at least 32 people, the ministry said. Separately, Israeli strikes in the northern province of Baalbek Hermel killed 21 people and wounded at least 47. Lebanese media reported dozens of strikes in the central, eastern and western Bekaa and in the south, besides strikes on Beirut. Israel says it targets militants, but the strikes have hit buildings where civilians were living and the death toll was expected to rise. In a video of a strike in Sidon, verified by the AP, a building swayed before collapsing as neighbors filmed. One TV station called on viewers to pray for a family caught under the rubble, posting their pictures, as rescuers failed to reach them. The Lebanese Health Ministry reported at least 14 medics were killed over two days in the south. President Joe Biden said Sunday that he would speak soon with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and believes that an all-out war in the Middle East must be avoided. It has to be, Biden told reporters at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware as he boarded Air Force One for Washington. Meanwhile, wreckage from Friday's strike that killed Nasrallah was still smoldering. Smoke rose over the rubble as people flocked to the site, some to check on what was left of their homes and others to pay respects, pray or simply to see the destruction. In response to the dramatic escalation in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, Hezbollah significantly increased its rocket attacks in the past week, from several dozen to several hundred daily, the Israeli military said. The attacks injured several people and caused damage, but most of the rockets and drones were intercepted by Israel's air defense systems or fell in open areas. The army says its strikes have degraded Hezbollah's capabilities and the number of launches would be much higher if Hezbollah had not been hit. Israel strikes Houthi targets in Yemen Also on Sunday, the Israeli military said dozens of its aircraft struck Houthi targets in Yemen in response to a recent attack. The military said it targeted power plants and sea port facilities in the city of Hodeida. The Houthis launched a ballistic missile attack toward Israel's Ben Gurion airport on Saturday when Netanyahu was arriving. The Houthi media office said the Israeli strikes hit the Hodeida and Rass Issa ports, along with two power plants in Hodeida city, a stronghold for the Iranian-backed rebels. The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the strikes killed four people and wounded 40 others. The Houthis claimed they took precautionary measures ahead of the strikes, emptying oil stored in the ports, according to Nasruddin Ammer, deputy director of the Houthi media office. He said in a post on X that the strikes won't stop the rebels' attacks on shipping routes and on Israel. US warns Hezbollah will work quickly to rebuild Meanwhile, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Israel's airstrikes in Lebanon had wiped out Hezbollah's command structure, but he warned the group will work quickly to rebuild it. I think people are safer without him walking around, Kirby said of Nasrallah. But they will try to recover. We're watching to see what they do to try to fill this leadership vacuum. It's going to be tough. Much of their command structure has now been wiped out. Speaking on CNN's State of the Union, Kirby sidestepped questions about whether the Biden administration agrees with how the Israelis are targeting Hezbollah leaders. The White House continues to call on Israel and Hezbollah to agree to a 21-day temporary cease-fire floated by the U.S., France and other countries during the U.N. General Assembly last week. Airstrikes drive thousands from homes in Lebanon A wave of Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon have killed more than 1,030 people including 156 women and 87 children in less than two weeks, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Hundreds of thousands of people have been driven from their homes. The government estimates around 250,000 are in shelters, with three to four times as many staying with friends or relatives, or camping out on the streets. Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group and political party backed by Iran, Israel's chief regional rival, rose to regional prominence after fighting a devastating monthlong war with Israel in 2006 that ended in a draw. Kaouk was a veteran member of Hezbollah going back to the 1980s and served as Hezbollah's military commander in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war with Israel. The United States announced sanctions against him in 2020. Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies that consider themselves part of an Iran-backed Axis of Resistance against Israel. The conflict has steadily ratcheted up to the brink of all-out war, raising fears of a region-wide conflagration. Israel says it is determined to return some 60,000 of its citizens to communities in the north that were evacuated nearly a year ago. Hezbollah has said it will only halt its rocket fire if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, which has proven elusive despite months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt. The Supreme Court on Monday came to the rescue of a Dalit youth, who had lost his seat in IIT Dhanbad after missing the deadline to deposit a fee, by asking the institute to admit him to the BTech course. We cannot allow such a young talented boy to go away. He cannot be left in lurch, a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said. The top court used its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution in asking the IIT Dhanbad to admit Atul Kumar into its Electrical Engineering BTech course. We are of the view that a talented student like the petitioner who belongs to a marginalised group who did all to secure admission should not be left out... We direct that candidate is granted admission to IIT Dhanbad and let him be in the same batch to which he would have been granted admission if the fees would have been paid, the bench said in the order. Article 142 of the Constitution empowers the top court to pass any order in the interest of justice. The parents of Atul Kumar, 18, failed to deposit Rs 17,500 as the acceptance fee by June 24, the deadline for depositing the requisite fees for blocking the seat. The parents of the youth also approached the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Jharkhand Legal Services Authority and the Madras High Court to save the hard-earned seat. Kumar, the son of a daily wager, hails from a below poverty line (BPL) family living at Titora village in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. The National Commission for Scheduled Castes also expressed its inability to help him. As he had taken JEE at a centre in Jharkhand, the youth had also moved the Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority which suggested him to approach the Madras High Court as it was IIT Madras that had conducted the exam. The high court had asked him to approach the top court. The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the Delhi government's forest department for not apprising it of any comprehensive measures taken by it to enhance the green cover of the national capital, saying it has shown a "complete lack of interest" and "lacklustre" approach. The top court said, "Judges come and go. It is not for the benefit of judges but for the national capital territory of Delhi." A bench of Justices AS Oka and Augustine George Masih directed the principal secretary of the forest department to be present on October 18 through virtual mode and asked him to file a personal affidavit to explain why information was not placed on record on steps taken and to be taken for enhancing the green cover of Delhi by October 15. "The Delhi government has claimed that it filed a compliance report in the contempt petition which has been transferred from this bench to another bench. Apart from this approach of the Delhi government, the status report dated September 21 shows a complete lack of interest by the principal secretary of the forest department," the bench said. The top court also expressed displeasure over the statement of advocate Chirag Shroff appearing for the Delhi government that it has filed the compliance report in a contempt matter, which is pending before another bench of the apex court. "Either there is a complete lack of knowledge or somebody else wants that this court should not hear this matter. There is something else in your approach obviously. "You filed compliance in the contempt petition but not this. What is this going on? This is a complete lacklustre approach. Your secretary is not interested in filing the compliance report," the bench said. The top court was hearing a plea seeking directions to authorities for enhancing tree cover in the NCT of Delhi. On June 26, the top court had taken serious note of the "illegal and high-handed acts of felling of trees" brought to its notice through a contempt petition filed against the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) Chairperson. It had castigated the DDA for not providing information regarding the visit of Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena to the Ridge area where 1,100 trees were cut and said it was protecting higher-ups and blaming subordinate officers. The contempt petition was later transferred to a Chief Justice DY Chandrachud-led bench, where it is currently pending. On Monday, the bench asked Shroff what has been the progress in the matter in terms of the June 26 order, where the secretary of the forest department was directed to convene a meeting of the responsible officers of the department concerned in the presence of the committee of three experts to discuss the comprehensive measures to be taken to enhance the green cover of the NCT of Delhi. Shroff said they have filed the report in the pending matter related to the contempt petition, listed before another bench. The bench said, "The June 26 order was passed in this matter and you filed compliance in another matter before another bench. We are warning you, don't take advantage of the contempt petition being transferred." Senior advocate Guru Krishnakumar, who has been appointed amicus curiae in the matter, said they held a meeting in July and he along with senior advocate Anita Shenoy made some suggestions on enhancing green cover. Krishnakumar submitted that there was no response available from the forest department on their suggestions which include soil testing, tree species mapping, identification of native and indigenous tree species and tree audit. The bench said, "We fail to understand such a lackadaisical approach on the part of the secretary of the forest department and others. We direct the secretary of the forest department to file a personal affidavit recording compliance with the order of this court passed on June 26, 2024, and subsequent orders." Observing that there is nothing on record to show what steps have been taken in the past three months and what was the status of the working plan of the forest department, the bench said it appears that authorities are not at all serious and they are only holding meetings and adopting a very "casual approach" on the issue. The bench asked Krishnakumar and Shenoy to file their suggestions in the court and said it would pass appropriate orders. US President Joe Biden said Sunday he would speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and believes that an all-out war in the Middle East must be avoided. It has to be," Biden told reporters as he boarded Air Force One for Washington. We really have to avoid it. The president's statements come as Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon killed dozens of people on Sunday. He would not say when he planned to speak with Netanyahu. The Hezbollah militant group sustained a string of deadly blows to its command structure, including the killing of its overall leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The White House sees the death of Nasrallah as a huge blow to the group. At the same time, the administration has sought to tread carefully as it has tried to contain Israel 's war with Hamas, which, like Hezbollah, is backed by Iran, from exploding into an all-out regional conflict. Shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of Moderate Buy by the fifteen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $191.36. Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set an outperform rating and a $201.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of General Electric from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on General Electric from $192.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Get General Electric alerts: Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on GE Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Electric General Electric Trading Up 0.4 % Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Studio Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Electric by 97.5% in the 2nd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the conglomerates stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric in the second quarter worth $31,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in shares of General Electric during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new position in General Electric during the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Electric in the first quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors own 74.77% of the companys stock. General Electric stock opened at $185.38 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.14. General Electric has a 1 year low of $84.42 and a 1 year high of $190.88. The firms 50-day moving average is $171.51 and its 200-day moving average is $169.77. The company has a market cap of $202.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.78, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.18. General Electric (NYSE:GE Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $9.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.44 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 7.66%. The businesss revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that General Electric will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current year. General Electric Dividend Announcement The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. General Electrics dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.72%. General Electric Company Profile (Get Free Report General Electric Company, doing business as GE Aerospace, designs and produces commercial and defense aircraft engines, integrated engine components, electric power, and mechanical aircraft systems. It also offers aftermarket services to support its products. The company operates in the United States, Europe, China, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for General Electric Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for General Electric and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Masco Co. (NYSE:MAS Get Free Report) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,340,000 shares, a drop of 18.3% from the August 31st total of 4,090,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,800,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days. Currently, 1.5% of the companys stock are short sold. Masco Stock Up 0.5 % Shares of Masco stock opened at $83.57 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.18, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market cap of $18.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.48, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.24. The firms 50-day moving average is $77.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.30. Masco has a 1 year low of $47.66 and a 1 year high of $84.37. Get Masco alerts: Masco (NYSE:MAS Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The construction company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.02. Masco had a return on equity of 602.39% and a net margin of 11.59%. The business had revenue of $2.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Masco will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Masco Dividend Announcement Insider Buying and Selling at Masco The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 2nd. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Mascos dividend payout ratio is presently 28.43%. In other Masco news, VP Kenneth G. Cole sold 37,814 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.32, for a total value of $2,961,592.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 36,980 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,896,273.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the companys stock. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MAS. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Masco during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,377,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its holdings in shares of Masco by 89.5% during the second quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 579,597 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $38,642,000 after buying an additional 273,718 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Masco by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,846 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $2,123,000 after acquiring an additional 2,698 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in Masco by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 61,263 shares of the construction companys stock worth $4,084,000 after acquiring an additional 3,724 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Masco by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 6,870 shares of the construction companys stock worth $458,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the period. 93.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Masco from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Masco from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Masco from $73.00 to $66.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Masco from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Masco from $81.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $77.58. Get Our Latest Research Report on Masco Masco Company Profile (Get Free Report) Masco Corporation designs, manufactures, and distributes home improvement and building products in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company's Plumbing Products segment offers faucets, showerheads, handheld showers, valves, bath hardware and accessories, bathing units, shower bases and enclosures, sinks, toilets, acrylic tubs, shower trays, spas, exercise pools, and fitness systems; brass, copper, and composite plumbing system components; connected water products; thermoplastic solutions, extruded plastic profiles, specialized fabrications, and PEX tubing products; and other non-decorative plumbing products. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Masco Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Masco and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 564,500 shares, an increase of 27.2% from the August 31st total of 443,700 shares. Currently, 1.7% of the companys stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 314,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days. Insider Activity In related news, SVP Jason Lee Taylor sold 1,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.73, for a total transaction of $135,730.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,392 shares in the company, valued at $1,274,776.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Matson news, SVP Jason Lee Taylor sold 1,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.73, for a total transaction of $135,730.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,392 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,274,776.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Matthew J. Cox sold 7,500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.17, for a total value of $1,028,775.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 215,397 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,546,006.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 87,592 shares of company stock worth $11,389,694 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.32% of the companys stock. Get Matson alerts: Hedge Funds Weigh In On Matson Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Matson in the second quarter valued at about $759,000. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Matson by 98.5% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 8,906 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $1,166,000 after buying an additional 4,420 shares during the period. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Matson by 57.8% during the second quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 101,000 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $13,228,000 after acquiring an additional 37,000 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Matson by 1.9% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 19,923 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $2,609,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Matson by 126.5% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 240,117 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $31,448,000 after acquiring an additional 134,092 shares during the last quarter. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Matson Price Performance Shares of MATX stock traded up $1.87 on Monday, hitting $143.80. 60,623 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 280,318. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Matson has a 12 month low of $82.68 and a 12 month high of $144.93. The stock has a market cap of $5.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.03 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50 day moving average of $132.59 and a 200 day moving average of $122.56. Matson (NYSE:MATX Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The shipping company reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.26. Matson had a return on equity of 13.87% and a net margin of 10.41%. The business had revenue of $847.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $861.68 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that Matson will post 11.45 EPS for the current year. Analyst Ratings Changes A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MATX. Stephens increased their price target on Matson from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Matson from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Read Our Latest Report on MATX About Matson (Get Free Report) Matson, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of ocean transportation and logistics services. It operates through two segments, Ocean Transportation and Logistics. The Ocean Transportation segment offers ocean freight transportation services to the domestic non-contiguous economies of Hawaii, Japan, Alaska, and Guam, as well as to other island economies in Micronesia. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Matson Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Matson and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. ResMed (NYSE:RMD Free Report) had its price objective upped by Bank of America from $240.00 to $270.00 in a report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the medical equipment providers stock. Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of ResMed in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. They issued an outperform rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup cut shares of ResMed from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of ResMed in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Oppenheimer cut shares of ResMed from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of ResMed from $204.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, ResMed presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $212.25. Get ResMed alerts: Get Our Latest Stock Report on ResMed ResMed Price Performance RMD stock opened at $239.00 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.69. ResMed has a one year low of $132.24 and a one year high of $255.18. The stock has a market cap of $35.12 billion, a PE ratio of 36.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.69. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $230.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $211.44. ResMed (NYSE:RMD Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The medical equipment provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.05. ResMed had a net margin of 21.79% and a return on equity of 25.00%. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.60 EPS. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that ResMed will post 8.92 EPS for the current fiscal year. ResMed Increases Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This is a positive change from ResMeds previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. ResMeds dividend payout ratio is 32.57%. Insiders Place Their Bets In other ResMed news, CEO Michael J. Farrell sold 14,683 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.97, for a total value of $2,833,378.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 440,799 shares in the company, valued at approximately $85,060,983.03. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Brett Sandercock sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.35, for a total value of $194,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 90,056 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,502,383.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael J. Farrell sold 14,683 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.97, for a total transaction of $2,833,378.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 440,799 shares of the companys stock, valued at $85,060,983.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 102,931 shares of company stock worth $22,644,807. 1.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in ResMed by 24.9% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 177,083 shares of the medical equipment providers stock valued at $35,068,000 after purchasing an additional 35,273 shares during the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd bought a new stake in shares of ResMed during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,246,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in ResMed by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 81,313 shares of the medical equipment providers stock worth $16,102,000 after acquiring an additional 4,075 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in ResMed by 3,599.0% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 499,031 shares of the medical equipment providers stock worth $98,823,000 after acquiring an additional 485,540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in ResMed in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,535,000. 54.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. About ResMed (Get Free Report) ResMed Inc develops, manufactures, distributes, and markets medical devices and cloud-based software applications for the healthcare markets. It operates in two segments, Sleep and Respiratory Care, and Software as a Service. It offers various products and solutions for a range of respiratory disorders, including technologies to be applied in medical and consumer products, ventilation devices, diagnostic products, mask systems for use in the hospital and home, headgear and other accessories, dental devices, and cloud-based software informatics solutions to manage patient outcomes, as well as provides customer and business processes. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for ResMed Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for ResMed and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Budweiser Brewing Company APAC Limited (OTCMKTS:BDWBF Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 31,891,800 shares, a growth of 10.0% from the August 31st total of 28,988,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6,378.4 days. Get Budweiser Brewing Company APAC alerts: Budweiser Brewing Company APAC Stock Up 37.1 % Shares of BDWBF stock traded up $0.35 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $1.30. 100 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 28,238. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $1.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.28. Budweiser Brewing Company APAC has a 1-year low of $0.93 and a 1-year high of $2.02. Budweiser Brewing Company APAC Company Profile (Get Free Report) See Also Budweiser Brewing Company APAC Limited, an investment holding company, produces, imports, markets, distributes, and sells beer and other non-beer beverages primarily in China, South Korea, India, Vietnam, and the other Asia Pacific regions. It offers a portfolio of beer brands, including Budweiser, Stella Artois, Corona, Hoegaarden, Cass, and Harbin. Receive News & Ratings for Budweiser Brewing Company APAC Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Budweiser Brewing Company APAC and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Borregaard ASA (OTCMKTS:BRRDF Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 23,200 shares, a growth of 10.0% from the August 31st total of 21,100 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 0 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently days. Get Borregaard ASA alerts: Borregaard ASA Price Performance Borregaard ASA stock remained flat at $17.40 during midday trading on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $17.39 and a 200-day moving average of $17.17. Borregaard ASA has a 12-month low of $17.40 and a 12-month high of $17.40. About Borregaard ASA (Get Free Report) Featured Stories Borregaard ASA engages in the development, production, and marketing of specialized biomaterials and biochemicals in Norway, rest of Europe, the United States, Asia, and internationally. It operates in three segments: BioSolutions, BioMaterials, and Fine Chemicals. The BioSolutions segment develops, produces, and sells biopolymers for various applications, such as agrochemicals, batteries, industrial binders, and construction; and biovanillin for flavor and fragrance companies, as well as for food and beverage industry. Receive News & Ratings for Borregaard ASA Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Borregaard ASA and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW Get Free Report) was the target of a large decline in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,680,000 shares, a decline of 10.0% from the August 31st total of 11,870,000 shares. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 7,120,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.5 days. Get Corning alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes GLW has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Corning from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Corning from $47.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Corning from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Corning from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Corning from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Corning has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $47.00. Get Our Latest Report on GLW Institutional Investors Weigh In On Corning Corning Stock Down 0.9 % Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GLW. Grove Bank & Trust increased its stake in Corning by 21.5% during the 2nd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 1,414 shares of the electronics makers stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY raised its holdings in Corning by 1.9% during the second quarter. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY now owns 13,500 shares of the electronics makers stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Long Run Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Corning by 0.8% during the second quarter. Long Run Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 33,624 shares of the electronics makers stock worth $1,306,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC boosted its stake in Corning by 21.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the electronics makers stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Capital Group California Inc. boosted its stake in Corning by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 28,863 shares of the electronics makers stock valued at $1,121,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.80% of the companys stock. Shares of GLW stock traded down $0.41 on Friday, hitting $44.87. The stock had a trading volume of 3,940,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,876,941. The stocks 50 day moving average is $41.69 and its 200-day moving average is $37.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.04. Corning has a 52-week low of $25.26 and a 52-week high of $46.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.57. Corning (NYSE:GLW Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The electronics maker reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. Corning had a return on equity of 12.69% and a net margin of 3.53%. The business had revenue of $3.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Corning will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year. About Corning (Get Free Report) Corning Incorporated engages in the display technologies, optical communications, environmental technologies, specialty materials, and life sciences businesses in the United States and internationally. The company's Display Technologies segment offers glass substrates for flat panel displays, including liquid crystal displays and organic light-emitting diodes that are used in televisions, notebook computers, desktop monitors, tablets, and handheld devices. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Corning Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Corning and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Summit Materials, Inc. (NYSE:SUM Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of Moderate Buy from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $47.40. Get Summit Materials alerts: Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Stephens reaffirmed an overweight rating and set a $47.00 price target on shares of Summit Materials in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Summit Materials from $53.00 to $47.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a sector perform rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Summit Materials in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Summit Materials from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on Summit Materials in a research note on Monday, August 26th. They set an overweight rating and a $51.00 target price on the stock. Read Our Latest Stock Report on SUM Institutional Trading of Summit Materials Summit Materials Trading Down 1.3 % A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SUM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Summit Materials by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,240,546 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $545,561,000 after purchasing an additional 262,179 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Summit Materials by 0.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,837,110 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $393,871,000 after buying an additional 22,840 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Summit Materials by 6.6% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,210,736 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $263,985,000 after acquiring an additional 448,922 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Summit Materials by 1.2% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,324,077 shares of the construction companys stock worth $237,294,000 after acquiring an additional 64,128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Summit Materials by 7.0% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,678,485 shares of the construction companys stock worth $134,669,000 after acquiring an additional 241,757 shares during the last quarter. Shares of Summit Materials stock opened at $38.71 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $6.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.28 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Summit Materials has a 12-month low of $30.38 and a 12-month high of $44.89. The businesss 50 day moving average is $38.70 and its 200-day moving average is $39.19. Summit Materials (NYSE:SUM Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The construction company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.05. Summit Materials had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 7.00%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. Summit Materialss revenue for the quarter was up 58.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Summit Materials will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. About Summit Materials (Get Free Report Summit Materials, Inc operates as a vertically integrated construction materials company in the United States and Canada. It operates in three segments: West, East, and Cement. The company offers aggregates, cement, ready-mix concrete, asphalt paving mixes, and concrete products, as well as plastics components. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Summit Materials Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Summit Materials and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Veren (NYSE:VRN Get Free Report) is one of 283 public companies in the Crude petroleum & natural gas industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare Veren to similar companies based on the strength of its earnings, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation and dividends. Get Veren alerts: Dividends Veren pays an annual dividend of $0.33 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. Veren pays out -412.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, Crude petroleum & natural gas companies pay a dividend yield of 10.9% and pay out 113.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Institutional & Insider Ownership 49.4% of Veren shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.9% of shares of all Crude petroleum & natural gas companies are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Veren shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.3% of shares of all Crude petroleum & natural gas companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term. Earnings and Valuation Gross Revenue Net Income Price/Earnings Ratio Veren $4.28 billion $422.48 million -76.88 Veren Competitors $720.99 billion $1.05 billion 16.22 This table compares Veren and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation. Verens competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Veren. Veren is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry. Analyst Recommendations This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Veren and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat. Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Veren 0 0 1 0 3.00 Veren Competitors 2130 11498 16064 601 2.50 Veren currently has a consensus price target of $15.00, indicating a potential upside of 143.90%. As a group, Crude petroleum & natural gas companies have a potential upside of 29.22%. Given Verens stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Veren is more favorable than its competitors. Profitability This table compares Veren and its competitors net margins, return on equity and return on assets. Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Veren -0.69% 13.50% 7.39% Veren Competitors -2.43% 7.77% 6.85% Volatility and Risk Veren has a beta of 2.16, suggesting that its share price is 116% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Verens competitors have a beta of -13.05, suggesting that their average share price is 1,405% less volatile than the S&P 500. Summary Veren beats its competitors on 8 of the 15 factors compared. Veren Company Profile (Get Free Report) Veren Inc. explores, develops, and produces oil and gas properties in Canada and the United States. The company focuses on crude oil, tight oil, natural gas liquids, shale gas, and natural gas reserves. Its properties are located in the provinces of Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and Manitoba; and the states of North Dakota. The company was formerly known as Crescent Point Energy Corp. and changed its name to Veren Inc. in May 2024. Veren Inc. was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Receive News & Ratings for Veren Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Veren and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has awarded 450,000 to five suppliers to develop proof of concepts on potential solutions to treat, reduce and suppress the growth of Blue Green Algae. Last month, Minister Muir launched the first phase of the Lough Neagh: Blue Green Algae Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) which has been developed to explore solutions to treat and reduce Blue Green Algae blooms without impacting the natural environment of Lough Neagh and associated Northern Ireland waterways. DAERA contributed 200,000 towards the initiative, with the Department for the Economy (DfE) contributing 250,000 through its SBRI Challenge Fund. The competition attracted considerable interest nationally and internationally, with almost 200 initial expressions of interest and 53 actual bids being received, from which the five successful applicants were drawn following a rigorous evaluation process. The successful bids selected will allow proofs of concept to be developed in several areas, including the use of ultrasonics, mechanical treatment and biological treatment. Speaking following an introductory meeting with the five successful suppliers, Minister Muir said: I am pleased to welcome the five successful suppliers for phase one of the Lough Neagh: Blue Green Algae Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI), which is supported by funding from both my Department and the Department for the Economy. This first phase of the initiative is intended to demonstrate the technical feasibility of a proposed concept and its viability as a solution to help tackle Blue Green Algae in Lough Neagh and can hopefully be applied to any area that has been affected by the bacteria. However, we must remember, this alone will not solve the Blue Green Algae crisis. This initiative is only one action outlined in my 37-point Lough Neagh Report and Action Plan, which paves the way forward for improved water quality and reduced Blue Green Algae. There is a significant amount of work to do to restore the lough and enhance water quality throughout Northern Ireland. This will take both time and resources. Water quality issues at Lough Neagh and elsewhere were decades in the making and will take decades to fix. It is my vision to have a healthy, resilient environment with high water quality status and I am firmly committed to take the necessary action to make a difference to our waterways. The five successful suppliers awarded contracts are Clear Water Systems Ltd, Helix8 Ltd, Queens University Belfast, Varicon Aqua Solutions Ltd and Wholeschool Software Ltd (Biild). Economy Minister Conor Murphy said: My Departments SBRI Challenge Fund supports innovative solutions to complex challenges such as that at Lough Neagh. I welcome DAERAs appointment of five suppliers to move this research project to the next phase, where potential solutions can be explored and developed. It is anticipated that phase one will run through to March 2025 with a potential call for a phase two applications commencing summer 2025. The official launch of The White Butterfly Foundation, a local non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting individuals and families affected by miscarriage, baby loss, and neonatal death will be officially launched in October. The White Butterfly Foundation, founded by Kilrea woman Selina Casey, is set to host its inaugural events on 10th October at The Long Gallery, Stormont, and 11th October at The Guildhall, Derry. The White Butterfly Foundation is built on the mission of ensuring that no parent walks the painful journey of loss alone. Through trauma-informed counselling, resources, and personalised care, the Foundation offers emotional and psychological support to help families navigate their grief. In addition, the Foundation strives to raise public awareness through educational workshops and campaigns, dispelling myths surrounding baby loss and promoting compassionate understanding. Founder Selina Casey expressed her dedication to this cause, stating, "Losing a baby is one of the most profound and isolating experiences a parent can endure. The White Butterfly Foundation was created to provide a safe space for families to find comfort, healing, and hope." As part of the launch events, The Foundation will introduce its Timeless Tile Collection, a heartfelt series of handmade tiles crafted to commemorate significant dates in the journey of grieving parents, such as due dates and anniversaries. This collection underscores the Foundations commitment, with 100% of profits directed towards offering free one-on-one psychological support for bereaved families. The Foundations launch has garnered notable political support, further underscoring the importance of its mission. These two high-profile events during Baby Loss Awareness Week provide an opportunity to highlight the critical work being done to support grieving parents and the need for improved support systems. Join us for the official launch of the White Butterfly Foundation, and help shine a light on a cause that deeply affects so many families. Event Details: 10th October 2024 12.00 pm The Long Gallery, Stormont, Belfast The Long Gallery, Stormont, Belfast 11th October 2024 12.00 pm: Whittaker Suite, The Guildhall, Derry/L'Derry For more information Contact: Selina CaseyFounder, The White Butterfly FoundationEmail: Selina@thewhitebutterflyfoundation.co.uk Derry event enquiries contact: Sharon Tosh, sharonjtosh@gmail.com Socials: FB @the.white.butterfly.foundation / Inst @thewhitebutterfly_foundation About The White Butterfly Foundation: The White Butterfly Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting individuals and families affected by miscarriage, baby loss, and neonatal death. Through compassionate care, advocacy, and awareness campaigns, the Foundation provides emotional and psychological support, aiming to ensure that no family has to face this journey alone. Leo Varadkar urged all parties contesting the forthcoming general election in the Republic of Ireland to put more money into the Shared Island Fund to improve facilities, including the Ulster University's Magee campus. The former Taoiseach, who stepped down earlier this year, outlined that idea and a series of other proposals as he addressed schoolchildren at an event in Derry hosted as part of the SDLPs New Ireland Commission initiative. He said: One thing that I was struck by talking to the young people today was the very large number who are thinking of going away to university or elsewhere for their training after school as they are concerned that there arent enough jobs or good jobs in Derry, and that struck me as you dont hear that as much in Dublin, Galway, or Cork. Something that Colum (Eastwood) touched on that has to be part of our new Ireland is to make sure here in the north-west part of Ireland that we have a bigger university than we have at the moment, so the courses are there, and that if people want to go to Britain, Dublin, or Belfast, that it is a choice, people shouldnt have to leave the city because courses arent available. The Magee Taskforce's interim report estimates that Derry could reach 10,000 students by 2032, but this will require an investment of about 700m. The taskforce, set up in March by the Economy Minister Conor Murphy to bring forward an action plan to expand Ulster Universitys Magee campus in Derry to 10,000 students as soon as practicable, published its comprehensive 72-page interim report on September 11. The Irish Government had pledged 45 million prior to the report, and Mr. Varadkar said they remain committed to achieving the expansion of the Magee campus in Derry. The former premier said: More money into the shared island fund, contributing to the cost of the A5 and the improvement of facilities here for the universities. I think for this part of the country, the north-west, partition probably did more harm than anywhere else in the country; as Derry and Donegal were split from each other, Derry was split from its natural hinterland, and we are seeing things happening now like the development of the university at Magee, hopefully the building of the A5, and the new services at Altnagelvin. Things that should have happened decades ago or even generations ago that didnt happen because of the critical mass of population because it wasnt there in Donegal or it wasnt there in Derry, and so things went to Dublin, Belfast, or Galway instead, and I think that is now something that is slowly changing. Just 7% of victims of crime are fairly confident that Northern Irelands criminal justice system can deliver for them, a survey has found. In addition, 63% contend police did not investigate their case properly and 50% were dissatisfied with how they were treated by the Public Prosecution Service (PPS). Commissioner-designate for Victims of Crime Geraldine Hanna described the findings of the research published on Monday as an SOS message from victims. The 2023/24 survey, described as the first in the region to seek the view of victims of all crimes, also found just 9% believe they got enough support during the court process. While 7% feel fairly confident the justice system can deliver for victims, none said they are very confident it can do so. One of the victims who responded to the survey described their experience as so damaging, adding: I felt like a small fish in a tank full of sharks who were always circling. I would not want anyone else to be treated the way I was. They survey was carried out online between September 2023 and March 2024 and is set to act as a baseline to measure the experience of victims of crime in future. Ms Hanna said: These results are nothing short of an SOS from victims of crime. Sadly this is not surprising and reinforces what we have heard from victims before. This has to be a wake-up call to every part of our system. From our elected leaders, through to the criminal justice agencies, we need a fundamental change on how victims of crime are treated here. There is no doubt in my mind that the failure in the care and support of victims has contributed to the poor confidence levels that victims have in the system and its ability to deliver justice. Ms Hanna said there was some positive feedback from victims, but the overall view is that of the inconsistent delivery of basic services. She added: Sadly there is not a part of our criminal justice system that comes across well. The Commissioner for Victims of Crime in England recently published results from their survey and there was shock at the fact that only 27% of respondents were confident the criminal justice system was effective. Here in Northern Ireland the corresponding figure is 7%. In England, 38% of respondents were confident the criminal justice system was fair. In Northern Ireland thats only 8%. There are challenges for our criminal justice system when it comes to resources, but there are ways we must improve. We need legislative change to better protect victims privacy rights when it comes to the disclosure of third party information and changes to sentencing laws. We also need a commitment from Westminster that we will have a funding model that supports a criminal justice system fit for purpose. But on a simpler level, we have to look at how our system is consistently not getting the basics right, and thats not good enough. Behind these results are real people who have shown amazing bravery in coming forward and telling their stories. I truly hope those in positions of power and influence heed this SOS message from victims of crime and make the changes we so desperately need. The PSNI victims champion, Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson, said: As a victim-focused service our officers and staff have worked tirelessly to keep people safe and tackle the issues that matter to the communities we serve, against a backdrop of increasingly limited resources and growing demand. However, Mr Henderson said he most recent policing plan survey commissioned by the Northern Ireland Policing Board found that 91% of those who took part would feel confident contacting the PSNI and that 70% were satisfied in the work they do. He added: We have a close working relationship and I look forward to continue working with the commissioner designate to understand in more detail the issues outlined in the survey. The Public Prosecution Services senior assistant director and victims champion, Marianne OKane, said the service is under significant resourcing pressure but added that conviction rates remain high. The PPS faces similar and interlinked challenges to every criminal justice agency. As well as adequate funding, a strategic government approach is needed to tackle some of its most deep-rooted issues including delay in the system. We welcome open conversations about our work and how we can continually improve our support to victims and witnesses. The commissioner also announced the 2024/25 survey will begin on Monday and remain open until December 23. It is for anyone who has been the victim of a crime since 2019 and did not complete last years survey, and can be found at www.cvocni.org. The new 340 million Grand Central Station in Belfast is contributing to serious traffic congestion in the city, Stormonts Infrastructure Minister has said. John ODowd dealt with a number of questions in the Assembly from MLAs who complained about traffic chaos in the city. The minister said his officials are reviewing traffic problems from the weekend to see if lessons need to be learned. Mr ODowd pointed to the new public transport hub as well as a major resurfacing scheme at the Sydenham Bypass and suggested rural MLAs would wonder what political representatives from the city are complaining about. Grand Central Station, which officially opened earlier this month, will become the largest integrated transport hub on the island of Ireland, replacing the Europa Bus Centre and the former Great Victoria Street Station. It is set to become operational in phases. While buses are already operating, train services are expected to start later this year. During ministerial question time at Stormont, DUP MLA Phillip Brett referred to traffic chaos in our city centre at the weekend. A major resurfacing project began at the weekend on the Sydenham Bypass in east Belfast, one of the citys main arterial routes. Mr ODowd said: The traffic chaos you refer to at the weekend is the result of a 3.2 million road improvement scheme being carried out in Belfast. I suspect people in rural Fermanagh and rural Tyrone and elsewhere are aghast that people are complaining they are getting 3.2 million spent in their area. But DUP MLA Jonathan Buckley said the issues were not just caused by roadworks. He said: Can I ask the minister to explain in detail what his departments plans are to alleviate the serious congestion concerns? The minister responded: There is serious traffic congestion in Belfast in the mornings and during the evening rush-hour. Part of it is as a result of a 340 million investment in a new Grand Central Station, part of it is the result of the 3.2 million that is being spent on upgrading the Sydenham Bypass. The reason why some of it is happening is because we are making investment in our infrastructure for the economic wellbeing of us all. He added: I have asked my officials to monitor the Belfast situation closely to see if there is interim measures we can take while the work in and around Grand Belfast Central Station is going ahead, to see if there are changes to lighting operations or streetlighting operations that we could take that would help alleviate the traffic in and around it. I accept there are always circumstances where public transport is not suitable, but when you are sitting in traffic perhaps one question we need to ask is this Could we use public transport? When you are sitting in traffic, you are the traffic. DUP MLA David Brooks said east Belfast is particularly affected by the traffic problems, which he said he believes are caused by poor traffic management. Mr ODowd said: I am looking at your rural colleagues as they look with envy upon Belfast receiving its 3.2 million roads improvement, its 340 million bus and rail station. Your rural colleagues are going What are you complaining about? I do accept there has been traffic congestion in Belfast city centre. We are reviewing it and if lessons need to be learned from the weekend, they will be learned moving forward. But we are resurfacing a major artery into Belfast. It needs upgraded, it needs resurfaced and that is why we are doing it. Mr Brooks said some residents in the Sydenham area felt they were locked into their streets at the weekend. The prisoner population in Northern Ireland is currently significantly higher than was envisaged for the size of the prison officer workforce, the Justice Minister has said. Naomi Long said the Northern Ireland Prison Service was very highly reliant on the use of overtime to ensure a full complement of staff in the regions prisons. However, she said the situation was not at the levels reached in England, where an early release programme was recently rolled out to address acute overcrowding problems. Ms Long said she had given approval for the Prison Service to launch a recruitment campaign to take on an additional 75 officers. She was asked several questions about prison capacity during Assembly question time on Monday. She said the total number of prisoners in Northern Ireland was currently about 1,800. DUP MLA Maurice Bradley asked whether she envisaged having to release prisoners early in Northern Ireland. Ive learned at this job never to say never but, at the moment, were not in that situation, she replied. We currently have adequate capacity in our prisons for prisoners to be able to serve the entirety of their sentence. We also have adequate staff, so were not in an overcrowded situation. However, Im conscious, and thats one of the reasons why were going out to recruitment, that those numbers are significantly higher than was anticipated with the current complement of prison officers. And, in order to keep people safe and ensure that the regime is able to operate effectively, it is important that we have the prisons property staffed, and I think that the new custody prison officer recruitment will go a long way to help that. In respect of the use of overtime to ensure safe staffing levels, Ms Long added: That is a short-term fix, it is not a long-term solution to the problems that we face. Halloween lovers rejoice as spooky season officially kicks off this Tuesday 1 October! As Met Eireann's recent weather warnings prove that summer has well and truly ended, you might be thinking of what events and activities are taking place around the country this autumn season. There is a wide variety of family friendly, and not so family friendly, events taking place up and down the country throughout the month of October. With so much to do and so much to see, we've compiled a list of things to check out this Halloween: Visit a pumpkin patch The American tradition of pumpkin patches have become increasingly popular in Ireland around Halloween time. Taking a trip to visit a pumpkin patch is a great idea for kids and can also be a festive date idea! There are lots of charming pumpkin patches around the country such as Clissmann's in Wicklow or Alright Pumpkin in Meath. These pumpkin patches tend to be designed with some light spooks in mind, ideal for the smaller ones to get into the Halloween spirit. So make sure to check out any local pumpkin patches this October and pick up the perfect pumpkin! Celebrate Samhain with Halloween Festivals Of course, being the birthplace of Halloween, Ireland hosts numerous events to celebrate the holiday. The Puca Festival in County Meath is a well know festival that takes place every year where people can: "Dance with otherworldly creatures, revel in the richness of Irish music and storytelling, and experience Halloween in its most authentic form." The Puca Festival will take place from October 31 to November 3. If you're interested in visiting the largest Halloween festival in Europe, you should check out Derry Halloween. Derry Halloween celebrates Samhain in style through illumination, aerial performance, pyrotechnics and music all on the streets of Derry. This beloved festival will take place from October 28-31. Throughout the October Bank Holiday weekend, the Galway Aboo Halloween festival will be taking to the streets of the city with many of the events taking place for free! The famous Macnas Halloween Parade will also be returning to this year's festival. This parade is known for its captivating and family-friendly visual story-telling. Leave the light on after some spooky Halloween movies One thing we all love doing during this time of year is watching our favourite classic Halloween movies. Hocus Pocus will always be on the top of the watch list for kids and adults, but what about other family-friendly flicks? Older kids, and nostalgia prone adults, may be interested in checking out the new 'Beetlejuice' movie coming to theatres this month. Ireland's film industry continues to grow in strength, and the country has produced some top quality horror movies in recent times. Netflix has some great Irish horrors such as 'Nightingale' and 'You Are Not My Mother' which are definitely worth checking out once the little ones are in bed. If you want to venture out from behind your couch to watch a Halloween movie, Leopardstown's Retro Drive-in Movies will be showing a huge selection of Horror classics this October. There's a wide variety of movies on show for families and adults, ranging from 'Monsters Inc.' to 'The Shining.' Dare to venture into Ireland's Big Haunts If movies aren't enough to get you into the Halloween spirit and you instead want to immerse yourself in your own nightmarish experience, there are plenty of events available to get your adrenaline pumping. The Nightmare Realm is returning for its 15th year this October in Dublin. If you're brave enough, you can purchase tickets online to visit the major scare attraction dubbed Europe's best scream park. Have your own ghostly encounters Halloween is known as the time of year when the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest, so it's a perfect time to take a ghost tour! If you want to have your own paranormal encounter this Halloween then you should check out Spike Island After Dark. Guided by an expert storyteller, you can explore the haunting corridors of the abandoned prison infamously known as 'Irelands Hell.' If you have the guts, you can dive into the dark history of what was once Irelands most notorious prison with spine chilling tales of the murderers and deviants who once roamed its halls. So if you're looking to fill up your calendar this October, make sure to check out all of the Halloween events taking place near you. 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. StarLux Airlines: Taiwan's untapped potential as Asia-Pacific transit hub gains traction amid global shifts StarLux Airlines chairman Kuo-Wei Chang stated that with Taiwan's population of 23 million, there is little demand for a third national airline if solely catering to the domestic market. However, he emphasized that Taiwan's strategic geographic location in the Asia-Pacific region makes it a crucial hub, noting that its potential in the transit market has been significantly undervalued for years. On September 25, 2024, during the pre-IPO performance presentation of StarLux Airlines, Chang discussed the future outlook for Taiwan's aviation market, highlighting global demand for passenger and cargo transportation through 2025, with the Asia-Pacific region leading in recovery. Chang emphasized that Taiwan is strategically located in the Asia-Pacific region, with an ideal geographic position. He noted that it's within a five-hour flight from many major business and tourist destinations, giving it strong potential and significant advantages as a transit hub. StarLux Airlines CEO Glenn Chai added context to Chang's remarks, pointing out that Indonesia, with its population of 270 million, does not have direct flights to North America due to its distant geographic location, which is too far for new-generation aircraft to fly. Similarly, Thailand, with a population of 70 million, also lacks direct flights to North America for the same reason. Chang argued that Taiwan is ideally positioned as the best transit hub for the Southeast Asian market. He highlighted that in the past, key Asian transit hubs included Seoul in South Korea and Narita Airport in Japan. He also noted that Hong Kong, once a major international trade center with Chek Lap Kok International Airport (Hong Kong International Airport) serving as a critical gateway, has seen its role in global transit noticeably decline in recent years. Chang observed that Shanghai Pudong International Airport has also been developing its transit market weight, but political tensions between China and the US have weakened its role as a transit hub. As a result, he contended that the current situation has made Taiwan's importance even more pronounced. Shifting focus, Chang also pointed out the current shortcomings in both the software and hardware infrastructure at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. He emphasized that if Taiwan is to establish itself as a transit hub, it's not just the airlines that require improvementeverything from transit customs to ground services requires a complete overhaul. He called for collective efforts across various sectors to make this vision a reality. Chang candidly remarked that the business opportunities are clear, but the real challenge lies in seizing them. He noted that the government has long called for transforming Taiwan into a leading operations hub in Asia, yet progress has been slow. Chang concluded by stating that with favorable external conditions in place, it's critical to quickly build the necessary internal infrastructure to capitalize on this potential. How AI drives the renewed interest in nuclear energy Silicon Valley's elite have been pouring money into nuclear energy for years, convinced of its critical role in the clean energy transition. Now, the soaring energy demands of AI are providing fresh impetus for their push to advance nuclear technology in the US. As of July 2024, America leads the world with 94 operational nuclear reactors and a generating capacity of 102 gigawatts, according to Global Energy Monitor data cited by The Diplomat. Yet, China is expected to rapidly close the gap, potentially overtaking the US in the next decade. Despite dominating civilian nuclear power in the 20th century, the US has since lost its leadership, says David Gattie, an associate professor at the University of Georgia. Nuclear energy is now part of a broader debate around America's energy future, touching on issues such as climate change, energy security, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels. The share of nuclear power in the US energy mix remains at 9%, lagging behind oil and gas. Gattie argues that nuclear struggles to compete with natural gas and subsidized renewables due to its need for long-term investment. Its real value, he suggests, might lie in enhancing national security, rather than purely economic benefits. Public sentiment, however, is shifting. A Pew Research Center survey found that support for expanding nuclear energy in the US rose from 43% in 2020 to 57% by 2023, reflecting growing concerns over climate change. The cloud computing industry is also stepping up its nuclear bets, driven by the need to cut carbon emissions and fuel energy-hungry AI systems. Microsoft founder Bill Gates, a vocal advocate for nuclear power, has committed US$1 billion to build a next-gen nuclear plant in Wyoming through his company TerraPower. The project, expected to be completed by 2030, uses sodium instead of water to cool reactors, offering enhanced safety at a lower cost. Gates sees nuclear as essential to meeting the rising energy demands of AI, which could increase grid consumption by 10%. Beyond fission, fusion energy is also drawing attention, with Gates backing Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a startup developing the technology. According to a 2024 report by the Fusion Industry Association, fusion has attracted more than US$7 billion in investment as confidence grows in its potential to transform global energy markets. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has also made a significant bet on fusion. In 2021, he led a US$500 million funding round for Helion Energy, marking his largest personal investment to date. Helion aims to launch its first fusion power plant by 2028, with a goal of supplying more than 50 megawatts of electricity. Tech giants beyond Microsoft are also exploring nuclear power. Amazon's cloud division AWS inked a US$650 million deal to source nuclear energy for its data centers, while Oracle secured permits to build three small modular reactors (SMRs) to meet its growing energy needs. Though SMRs are seen as a cost-effective solution, analysts suggest it could still take another decade or more before they become a viable energy source for data centers. Semiconductor expansion clashes with Taiwan's strained renewable energy supply Taiwan's renewable energy sector has been hit hard by strict government regulations, causing significant delays in system installations. Market forecasts suggest that recovery may not come until mid-2025. Yet, demand is swelling, fueled by the expansion of semiconductor manufacturing and the influx of AI data centers, creating a paradoxical situation where green energy supply is constrained despite booming demand. Semiconductor and renewable energy firms are now exploring closer collaboration, aiming to integrate green energy into semiconductor production and renegotiate terms with the government to unlock frozen capacity. But semiconductor companies' deeper involvement in the sector could pose new challenges, particularly around price negotiations. Offshore wind energy developers are facing pressure, while solar power producers are more amenable to the terms. Large semiconductor manufacturers, driven by international clients like Apple, Google, Amazon, and Metaall members of the RE100 initiativeare scrambling to meet rising green energy requirements. These companies, already racing to expand their advanced chip production for AI, are nearing a critical shortfall in green energy supply. The energy demands of semiconductor giants have two main characteristics. First, they prefer to make bulk purchases of green energy. After evaluating smaller solar projects, they found that the varying prices and long-term contract terms were inefficient. As a result, they are gravitating toward large solar and wind farms that can meet their hefty energy needs while keeping management costs low. Industry insiders note that foreign companies are expected to set up AI data centers in Taiwan in the first half of 2024, sparking a flood of offers from domestic solar firms. However, most of these projects are small, such as rooftop solar installations on farms or homes, which foreign investors are reluctant to manage. This same dynamic has already impacted Taiwan's largest semiconductor firms, exacerbating the hunger for green energy. Second, cross-industry green energy development remains difficult. Some semiconductor companies have considered buying land to build solar farms, but speculation and skyrocketing land prices have made it nearly impossible. This has stalled their progress in self-sustaining energy production. Despite soaring demand from semiconductor firms, AI data centers, and RE100 members, negotiations between renewable energy companies and the government remain challenging. A series of scandals has frozen many projects, threatening to shrink green energy supply instead of increasing it. While Taiwan aims to drive economic growth through its semiconductor industry, it is struggling to solve the green energy shortage that threatens to choke its progress. Semiconductor companies note that foreign governments, eager to attract Taiwanese firms, are offering abundant green energy as part of their incentives. Taiwan's solar installations fell by 30% year-on-year in the first half of 2024, according to the Energy Administration. Industry insiders say the market remains pessimistic about any recovery before mid-2025, despite the formation of a new cabinet. Partnering with semiconductor companies may offer the best chance of breaking the current stalemate. Smart car innovation seminar: Taiwan-based manufacturers sharing practical experiences With automotive electronics becoming a key application area where the global ICT and semiconductor industries are exerting efforts, DIGITIMES hosted the Next-generation Smart Car Innovations and Developments seminar during Semicon Taiwan 2024 with an aim to facilitate communication between Taiwan's chip industry and automotive electronics sector. The event gathered Taiwan-based IC design firms and their system suppliers that have performed brilliantly in telematics and cockpit systems for an exchange of their views on autonomous driving and cockpit solutions through a panel discussion. They also gave advice on foreign market expansion by sharing their real-world experiences. Integrating various automotive AI technologies is key to Level 5 fully autonomous driving In talking about the future development of autonomous driving, Alex Dee, General Manager, Future Innovative Department, First International Computer, noted that as self-driving vehicles advance into Level 5, meaning they are in a fully automated state, how to enhance passenger experience is something to think about, for example, how to make passengers more comfortable, refreshed and avoid feeling car sick. As Dee described it, the car is like the passengers' second home where they may be watching a movie or taking a nap. However, self-driving vehicles must integrate a multitude of AI technologies before they can achieve Level 5. Dee emphasized that when a vehicle is in motion, its surroundings change in an instant. The process from an automotive camera captures an image and instantaneously sends it to the domain controller which then makes an analysis and decides whether to stop or turn the vehicle in a snap of a finger. More importantly, nothing can possibly go wrong during the process. Thus, Dee admittedly pointed out that automotive AI is indeed ahead of AI development in any other field. In consonance with Dee, George Hsueh, Chairman and CEO of SteadyBeat, said the noise cancellation IC that SteadyBeat develops is also aimed at shaping the future riding experience. Hsueh noted that his company's noise cancellation technology helps eliminate the use of heavy automotive soundproofing materials, thereby enabling automakers to design lighter and more energy-efficient vehicles. Specifically, the technology neutralizes the frequency of outside noise. Sound travels at a high speed so the noise cancellation chip must be able to respond relatively quickly in order to reduce outside noise in real-time and allow passengers to enjoy music or video without headphones. Hsueh added that air temperature and humidity affect the way sound travels. Through the collaborations with automakers, his team found that apart from acoustic sensors, vehicles need to include a variety of other sensors. The design requires comprehensive planning and even the integration of various algorithms. It is quite different from traditional noise reduction methods based on digital signal processing (DSP). First meeting automaker requirements, then adding AI and supporting various service application scenarios iCatch Technology and JET OPTO are upstream and downstream supply chain partners. Their representatives shared views on road safety and image recognition at the event. Commenting from the perspective of road safety, iCatch Technology director Chang-Long Lee said that the development of smart cars will need to consider safety both inside and outside the car. That is, the safety of drivers and passengers inside the car and the safety of pedestrians outside the car should both be ensured. Furthermore, with AI and big data analytics increasingly being adopted in automotive electronics, protecting the confidentiality of user information and cybersecurity become increasingly important. Taking display technologies for example, Lee also noted that mini LED and micro LED are being incorporated in vehicles as ambient lights to create a cozy atmosphere or warning lights to catch driver attention. These are already included in international automakers' basic requirements. Glen Tsai, Director of Marketing, JET OPTO, spoke candidly that whether products can meet market demand is what really matters. Taking audio and video equipment upgrades as an example, he said after the pandemic lockdowns ended, airplane passengers care about how old the aircraft is and how fancy the onboard audio and video equipment is. The same applies to automobiles. Manufacturers should first think about how to satisfy such market demand before adding other services. Taking it a step further, manufacturers can combine sensor and cloud technologies to make predictions and thereby provide tailored experiences for drivers and passengers. This is the thing to think about when expanding into automotive AI. Joining forces, iCatch Technology and JET OPTO secured an important order from a foreign customer iCatch Technology and JET OPTO share the same objective, which is to meet the demand from foreign systems and component makers. Lee specifically said that with JET OPTO's good understanding and conveyance of customer needs, iCatch Technology was able to recalibrate its product. He described the process of their collaboration as "being whipped into shape." As a matter of fact, foreign customers have stringent requirements on suppliers. Their recent partner project was required to have no security loophole in the program code and no copyright issue. The back-and-forth communication and recalibration between the two partners and their customers allowed them to win an order of 300,000 units from Panasonic. Such a brilliant performance was the fruit of their long-term collaboration since 2017. Amid rapid development in the global automotive electronics market, Taiwan-based manufacturers have shown the world their technological strength and ability to innovate. Leveraging all kinds of cutting-edge technologies, such as AI, image recognition, noise cancellation and cybersecurity management, they are securing a presence in the global automotive supply chain while continuing to strengthen their partnerships with international conglomerates. The seminar conducted in the form of a panel discussion not only shed light on Taiwan-based manufacturers' enormous potential in the automotive electronics sector but also set a solid foundation for smart car development going forward. As the global market imposes growingly stringent requirements on products for automotive applications, manufacturers need to keep strengthening their R&D as well as innovative capabilities so as to stand out in the fiercely competitive market. Panelists of the Next-generation Smart Car Innovations and Developments seminar from left to right: Alex Dee, General Manager, Future Innovative Department, First International Computer; George Hsueh, Chairman and CEO, SteadyBeat; Glen Tsai, Director of Marketing, JET OPTO; Chang-Long Lee, iCatch Technology Director; Ahsley Chu, show host, IC Broadcasting. India roundup: PSMC finalizes fab deal with Tata; US-India to establish national security fab PSMC and Tata finalized a deal for India's first commercial fab in three decades. The US and India agreed on a national security fab, which is likely to subject to US export curbs. PSMC and Tata finalize fab cooperation, Modi commits to two key promises to Frank Huang PSMC has announced the signing of a definitive agreement with Tata Electronics in New Delhi. Under the agreement, PSMC will assist Tata Electronics in constructing India's first 12-inch wafer fab in Dholera, Gujarat, which includes transferring mature process technology and training Indian staff. US and India to build national security fab, GlobalFoundries to set up R&D center in Kolkata As the US hosted the Quad Leaders Summit in Delaware, the US and India intensified their semiconductor collaboration by launching a series of initiatives, including a semiconductor fabrication plant. US and India launch national security fab for compound semiconductors amid export control challenges The US and India recently announced the establishment of a national security fab dedicated to producing chips using compound semiconductors, marking a significant milestone in India's semiconductor ambitions. However, US export control regulations applied to the fab may impact its operational effectiveness. Henkel expands semiconductor focus in India with plans for advanced packaging Henkel is positioning itself to support India's growing semiconductor ecosystem, leveraging its expertise in adhesives and electronics packaging. Since 2018, Henkel has been preparing for increased semiconductor production, scaling its involvement as the industry gains momentum. The company provides essential materials for semiconductor packaging, including advanced products for AI chips and mobile processors. To enhance local support, Henkel plans to open an applications lab in Chennai by 2025. Despite challenges like infrastructure and talent shortages, Henkel remains optimistic about India's potential as a semiconductor manufacturing hub and continues to localize its operations. Modi urges US tech giants to leverage AI opportunities in India's expanding market Leading technology companies in the US, including Nvidia and Google, have announced their commitment to India as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited them to seize opportunities arising from India's growth during his three-day visit to the US. Tata and Analog Devices join hands to explore opportunities for chipmaking and electronics manufacturing India Tata Group and Analog Devices have announced a strategic alliance to explore cooperative manufacturing opportunities by using Analog Devices's products in Tata applications. Fujifilm explores semiconductor joint venture in India amid global production expansion Fujifilm Electronic Materials, the semiconductor solutions division of the digital camera manufacturer, is set to enter the Indian market. The company is in discussions with multiple firms to provide comprehensive chemicals and solutions for semiconductor manufacturing and packaging. Samsung secures 5G equipment order from India's third-largest wireless operator Samsung Electronics has secured a contract valued at approximately US$720 million to supply 4G and 5G telecom equipment to Vodafone Idea, India's third-largest telecom operator. This agreement marks a significant milestone for Samsung, as it has now secured orders from the top three wireless operators in India. Foxconn-backed automotive IC design house to set up R&D center in India Foxconn-backed SiliconAuto established a new R&D center in Bengaluru that will specialize in designing semiconductor products and developing SoC solutions for the automotive industry. The focus will be on developing cutting-edge semiconductor solutions for EVs, autonomous driving, and connected car technologies. Weekly news roundup: TSMC, Micron struggle to compete with local Japanese giants for talent; China's mature chip dominance looms for Taiwan's IC design houses These are the most-read DIGITIMES Asia stories in the week of September 23 September 27. Semiconductor talent crunch: TSMC, Micron struggle to compete with Japan's homegrown giants Amidst the intense chip war across multiple regions, the race for talent has evolved into a prolonged struggle that directly affects company competitiveness. Despite offering lucrative incentives to establish operations in Japan, leading firms such as TSMC and Micron face significant hurdles in overcoming the home-field advantage of local Japanese companies like Tokyo Electron (TEL), ranked as one of the most sought-after employers for fresh graduates in 2024 by recruitment firms. China's mature chip dominance looms, Taiwan IC designers urged to prioritize sub-7nm China is poised to take the lead in the global market for mature semiconductor manufacturing processes as it expands its production capacity. Industry experts warn that Taiwan may face stiff competition from China's "red supply chain." To counter this threat, the Taiwanese government is urging local IC design firms to prioritize R&D in sub-7nm chip technology, helping them avoid direct competition with China in the near future. Huawei acknowledges chip manufacturing limitations in pursuit of advanced computing solutions Huawei's rotating chairman Zhijun Xu has publicly recognized for the first time that China's limited chip manufacturing capabilities hinder the company's ability to develop advanced computing solutions. With US sanctions on Chinese AI chips unlikely to be lifted anytime soon, this would leave China's semiconductor processes lagging. This acknowledgment highlights a significant bottleneck in Huawei's pursuit of greater computing power. China reportedly bypasses US DRAM tariffs via South Korea China has successfully circumvented US tariffs on DRAM modules through South Korea, leading to a sharp drop in direct exports of Chinese DRAM modules to the US and a corresponding surge in shipments to America from South Korea. Chinese DRAM manufacturers alongside Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix started shipping DRAM chips to South Korea, where they were assembled into DRAM modules and reclassified as South Korean products. Huawei claims top spot in global wearable market in 1H24 China's Huawei has overtaken Samsung Electronics and Apple for the first time to become the world's top wearable device brand in the first half of 2024, with an accumulated user base exceeding 520 million. While its smartphone business is restricted to China, Huawei continues to expand its wearables, notebooks, and tablets in international markets. Speculation mounts over potential discontinuation of Nvidia's H20 chip as US export review approaches As the US's annual review of export control approaches, speculation is mounting in the Chinese market regarding the potential discontinuation of Nvidia's H20 chip, a specialized version tailored for China. Sources from a distributor revealed that Nvidia has stopped accepting orders for the H20 chip since August. There has been no official announcement and Nvidia has not commented on these allegations yet. Qualcomm's Intel takeover ambition: why Taiwan suppliers consider it a disaster In response to speculation that Qualcomm is approaching Intel about a possible takeover, industry sources in Taiwan believe the merger would be disastrous since it undervalues Intel while exaggerating Qualcomm's capabilities. They pointed out that Qualcomm, without US government interference, is not only unable to acquire Intel but also lacks compelling reasons and benefits to do so The County Museum, Dundalk will host a lecture entitled Ulsters Lost Counties: Loyalism and Paramilitarism since 1920 on Monday October 7th next at 8pm. Louth County Council have announced the event takes place during 30th anniversary celebrations at the County Museum. The talk will be presented by Dr Edward Burke, Assistant Professor in the History of War at University College Dublin. The lecture will look at the history of Ulster loyalists who found themselves on the wrong side of the border, in what became the Irish state. Dr. Burke examines questions around an abandoned people in examining the experiences of loyalists in lost Ulster Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan during the Anglo-Irish War and Civil War (1919-1923) which reinforced a militant loyalist tendency, one passed on to successive generations. Read Next: Irish parenting expert brings helping children and teens cope with anxiety talk to Louth A successive wave of militant unionist or loyalist leaders in Northern Ireland spent their early years in the Irish Free State, and the impact of the loyalist South on Belfasts politics can still be felt in the present day, said Dr. Burke. Museum Curator, Brian Walsh, said: This lecture is a huge reminder of the importance of knowing and appreciating the importance of what happened in the past as we try to understand the present and plan the future. The concept of legacy is key to understanding so much of what we take for granted. He added: As we in the Museum celebrate our 30th anniversary, it is so important that we recognize the importance of legacy not only in the physical collection of items and artefacts but also the way in which our own belief systems inform and shape our view of the world. This lecture captures the importance of this in its entirety. Admission to the lecture is free but prior booking is recommended. Tea and coffee refreshments will be served after the talk. More information is available from the County Museum at 042 93 92 999. John Morgan, Accessibility for All member; Independent Councillor Maeve Yore; Sgt Ronan Loftus and Garda Darragh Prior, from Dundalk Community Policing Unit; along with Finbar Gethins and Bryan Coughlan from Louth County Council; supported Make Way Day 2024 in Dundalk. The Disability Federation of Irelands Make Way Day is a public awareness annual event to highlight the needs and challenges of people with disabilities in the public spaces we all share. Obstacles can include cars or vans parked on a footpath blocking the way, bicycles/motorbikes chained to lamp posts creating a trip hazard for a visually impaired person, illegally placed sandwich boards and forgotten bins. Cllr Yore said: Great progress has been in Dundalk municipal area in the seven years since the inception of Make Way Day. She thanked Louth County Councils Senior Engineers, Paddy Connolly, Sean OReilly, Mark Johnston and staff at Louth County Council, who formulated a programme of accessibility works which she said, have certainly improved the infrastructure throughout Dundalk Municipal District. They engaged with John, myself and with other people/groups with disabilities about the regeneration and upgrade of Clanbrassil St which has proved an 'accessibility success' and are in the process of doing the same for Bridge Streets regeneration, Cllr Yore added. John reiterated the great work and improvements carried out by Louth County Council and acknowledged the co-operation of the local Garda Siochana, led by Supt Charlie Armstrong and his great community policing team led by Sergeant Ronan Loftus and Gardai, Darragh, Ciara, Kate and Paul. Above: Obstacles can include cars or vans parked on a footpath blocking the way He reminded us that Louth was the first county to launch Operation Enable outside of Dublin in April 2018 and has been transformative in tackling illegal parking in disabled parking bays. By working together with Louth County Council, the Gardai, and the public, we have seen great improvements year on year for people with disabilities, and I thank Maeve for her unstinting support for people with disabilities across Louth. On our walkabout we met Eimear Casey originally from Dundalk living in Kilkenny who enquired about our Make Way Day campaign and she said Dundalk is definitely more accessible than Kilkenny and she thanked us and all involved for this and raising awareness - I encouraged her to organise a Make Way Day in Kilkenny next year. We also met local man Anthony Gorham whose lovely wife Jean sometimes uses a wheelchair, and he thanked the Gardai, myself, Independent Councillor Yore and Louth County Council for the great improvements across Dundalk and told us to keep up the great work - these are just two examples of what Make Way Day is all about and by working together we see a huge difference in Dundalk being accessible and safe for all 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 Al Dalton, Marketing and Development Officer at Graffiti Theatre Company, is in a reflective mood. We are one of the oldest theatre companies making work for young audiences in Ireland, and in terms of Cork, since the closure of Corcadorca, we are now the oldest theatre company here, he said. Al and Lynn Canham, General Manager, say their 40th anniversary has crept up on them. They are so busy! Indeed, their Artistic Director, Niall Cleary is off working on a show as we chat. Weve inherited that approach of putting your head down and doing the good work that Emelie FitzGibbon established back in 1984, says Al. Absolutely, Lynn agrees. For all that has changed since then, the ethos of what Emelie did in terms of nurturing creativity, curiosity and wonder in children, is still central. It started as being about theatre education in schools and now we have a range of programmes, working with young people from birth to their twenties. Niall Ceary with founder Emelie FitzGibbon of Graffiti with the Emelie FitzGibbon Bursary recipients Em O Ceallaigh and Sian Ni Mhuiri Image by Clare Keogh Its an exciting time for us and the 40th is a chance to step back and reflect, and also to look forward, asking whats next? So, what is next? Lynn believes its not necessarily about getting to more children. We want to keep doing what were doing. Last year was a big one with almost 27,000 encounters and though the number of children has been growing, its the number of times weve seen them thats really increased. We had children learning about set design, sound design and playwriting, working with professionals in those fields - creative learning that is about depth as much as reach. That is the Graffiti way! Al adds that the positive impact of continued engagement is well-documented. Any form of long-term, deep creative engagement develops hope in children. And that has been proven in research and is a big part of what motivates us. Long-term Relationship Lynn reflects on the longevity of the company and what it means for them personally too. The great thing about being 40 is that a lot of people who came through the place are coming back. People have grown up with Graffiti. Al and I were both in the youth theatre as teenagers. Julie OLeary, who now runs our Activate youth theatre, came through here too. We all went away and did our own thing and came back. Graffiti must be doing something right if were all coming back for jobs here! Beyond us, a lot of friends still talk about their experiences at Graffiti. Niall tells a story about getting his bike repaired once, where he mentioned working in Graffiti, and the guy shouted out You came to my school! His school had visited the Crawford Art Gallery, and an actor had come to life from a statue. Just a bit of magic. Those sorts of moments stick. Al had a similar experience bringing the theatre van to get the lettering re-done. The man remembered a school visit when they got out of class. We can arrive in a school, create a bit of magic, and break up the day. They are the origins of Graffiti, and we continue that work. Lynn clarifies that theyre not suggesting all children who encounter them will become actors. Its just a chance for them to use their brains in a different way and find their tribe. There are soft skills, oratory skills, interpersonal skills, to develop, and then they might go on to become barristers or teachers or whatever. Graffiti team members (L-R) Al Dalton, Marketing & Development Officer, George Hanover, Director of BEAG Early Years Arts, Niall Cleary, CEO/AD, Lynn Canham, General Manager & Sile Ni Bhroin, Associate Director. Picture: Clare Keogh Early Years arts are also an important focus for the team. We have an amazing team of multidisciplinary artists who work on our BEAG programme for 0-3 year olds. BEAG was one of Emelies babies and it has been running for about 16 years now. It runs in creches, in Direct Provision, with Traveller Visibility Group and on Oilean Chleire. It introduces the arts to our youngest citizens and encourages childcare providers and parents to get involved. Cork support We have an amazing community of artists who support us and people from the wider community. It is a Cork City Council building, and the Arts Council provides a lot of funding and support, says Lynn. Al points out that a number of well-established actors and theatre practitioners have passed through, people like Siobhan McSweeney, Enda Walsh, Jennifer Barry, Shane Casey, and Stephanie Preissner. So many have been influenced or been given work, which he says is an important part of the ecosystem. There are a lot of sound heads working with young people in Cork which makes a huge difference, he suggests. When you get the right mix of creative people working for and with young people, amazing things happen. Money makes the great work possible of course. Its great that other businesses are recognising us as we get our message out there, because we do require donations of all sizes to keep the doors open and the stage lit. We are a registered charity and to be less reliant on government funding would be great. Happy Workplace Whatever about having time to celebrate, this theatre company is a happy one. Ive been here five years, and there has hardly been a day when Ive put the key in the door and thought, I dont want this today. It is genuinely a privilege to work here, says Lynn. And Ive also worked as a freelancer, chimes in Al. To get a call from someone like Niall saying hes a bit of work for you its an amazing relief, so its great to commission artists. There is a certain energy to this building and there is a whole other young generation coming up and the talent and interest is phenomenal. Its a place for them to be themselves and find their voice a nurturing home for them. Grace One definite part of their celebration is the play they commissioned by Jody ONeill, Grace, about a girl who is non-speaking. It shows in the Dublin Theatre Festival in a few weeks and has been a huge undertaking. It is designed to be inclusive. Every show is a relaxed performance and that is very much the ethos of Graffiti. It is also lovely that Jody is one of our youth theatre alum. All children are welcome here, says Lynn. We piloted Activate Space this year, a youth theatre for young people with physical and intellectual disabilities thanks to funding from Cork City Council. The group absolutely loved coming for their weekly workshops. Now the job is to find financial support to keep it going. Its an exciting time for the company. Their past is impressive, and both Lynn and Al feel that Niall, their AD, has a great vision for Graffiti and for carrying on what Emelie started. For many children who come to us, Lynn says, before I leave, this might be the only time theyve been in a theatre and thats special. We had a little boy last year who couldnt get over that there were real people on stage. Those moments are wonderful. You see hope growing in young people as they watch a performance. Thats the power of live theatre, says Al. Graffiti is always looking for Sound Adults so that they can reach and inspire more children and young people. If you are a Sound Adult, you can donate at graffiti.ie/support/ or reach out to Al: al@graffiti.ie Architects of the future, studying in Cork, have been commended for the quality of their entries in a competition aimed at designing age-friendly homes. Mayor of the County of Cork, Joe Carroll, described the 2024 Age Friendly Housing Design Competition, a collaboration between Cork County Councils Architects and Planning Department, the countys Age Friendly Programme, and the Cork Centre of Architectural Education (MTU and UCC), as an initiative that demonstrated that, working together with educational partners, future developments can be shaped by putting age-friendly design in the minds of student architects before they begin their careers. Competitions like this inspire innovation and ensure that future housing can meet the needs of all generations, he said. Liz Downes, the chair of Cork County Older Peoples Council, said that older people want to stay in their homes as much as possible and, if this is not possible, to stay in their communities. Projects like this are crucial in making this a reality, as they help to design housing that supports older people staying connected to their homes and communities, said Ms Downes. Although the designs were not intended for actual construction, the initiative provided valuable experience for the students. Over the course of the project, students undertook site visits and met with technical representatives, town planners and architects from Cork County Council who offered advice and support. An exhibition showcasing the students work is now open to the public at Cork County Hall until October 11. The winners of the competition were Jurie El-Shenawi Assadi, who finished in first place, followed by Chia Jin-En, who was second, and the third place winner Deri-Delma Tiendioh. Quinton Kelly and Ellie Tattersall were also highly commended for their projects. The ever-lengthening waiting lists in our hospital emergency departments, as well as increasing wait times to see doctors, have become hallmarks of a health service that every year eats what is the largest allocation of any government department in the budget, and then comes back, Oliver Twist-like, looking for more, months before the next budget rolls around. This oft-lamented state of affairs is despite the best efforts of an overstretched workforce of nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals. Last year, they had to cope with a recruitment freeze by the HSE after it outspent its budget early in the year. This year, the freeze had been replaced with a recruitment embargo, according to the Irish Medical Organisations (IMO) pre-budget submission. In the introduction to the submission, the IMO sets out the context for its budget demands for the coming year in stark terms: Our healthcare system is at a critical juncture, facing persistent and escalating crises in emergency-department overcrowding, ongoing and significant deficits in bed capacity, and serious shortfalls in medical staffing and long waiting lists. A decade of under-investment through the years of austerity, matched with increases in population and, in particular, the ageing population, has led to a situation where our health services are not in a position to meet the challenges of dealing with the healthcare needs of the population in a timely manner. The population has grown significantly in the past decade and, at the current rate, the Central Statistics Office estimates it will grow to somewhere between 5.65m and 5.9m by 2032. What is more concerning again is that the CSO estimates that there will be more than 1m people over the age of 65 by 2030 and that over half of hospital-bed days are used by people aged 65 and over. Extra allocations of more than 1.5bn in 2023 and an estimated 1.2bn for this year help the health service stand still, rather than expand its provision. Another threat that the IMO pointed out in its submission is the loss by public hospitals of income from private health insurance providers and this is going to have knock-on impacts unless this loss is made good from the Exchequer. While the main focus of the concern is the overcrowding of emergency departments, the other issue that is contributing to this crisis is the perceived lack of GPs in towns and villages around the country. A leading member of the Irish College of General Practitioners, Dr Diarmuid Quinlan, a Glanmire-based GP, told The Echo of his hope that Ireland would not become plagued with medical deserts, like other parts of Europe. A medical desert is where a person who is ill has to travel for more than an hour to see a doctor. Work is ongoing to address this, through the expansion of training programmes to ensure that more GPs, be it those with foreign qualifications or Irish qualifications, are brought into the Irish system. Currently, we have approximately 4,200 GPs in the country, Dr Quinlan said. Of those, 14% are aged 65 and over thats about 500 aged 65 or over and most of those will retire within three years, thus creating a huge gap in our workforce. The intake in medical students this year has expanded and this will have to keep increasing if Ireland is to have sufficient doctors to treat its population as it grows and ages. In tandem with an increase in the supply of doctors, the IMO has also called for an investment to increase the number of hospital beds by around 40%, from 3,438 to 5,000. This will have a knock-on effect, requiring an increase in the recruitment of nurses and other ancillary medical staff. As well as the difficulty of maintaining a cohort of GPs, there is also work to be done to get the 5,600 consultants required by our current population level. This figure looks unlikely to be reached, given that of the 4,500 approved consultant posts, just 3,700 have been filled on a permanent basis. The IMO has called for the implementation of a report issued earlier this year by the National Taskforce on the Non-Consultant Hospital Doctor Workforce, in which there were recommendations, which the IMO welcomed at the time, about work-life balance as well as the working week, against a backdrop of exhausted doctors working extremely long hours in hospital emergency departments. As is well reported, there are increasing numbers of vacancies for therapists and other professionals to treat children with special needs across CAMHS, as well as in schools. Another ask of the IMO is for significant investment in electronic health records and IT infrastructure. Bearing in mind the harsh lessons learned when the HSE computer system was hacked in 2021, the IMO has called for investment that would deliver a fully digitalised health service over the next five years. A local historian has been honoured as 'Cork Person of the Month' for September. Ballincollig man, Dermot Lucey, has been named as this months awardee in recognition of the lasting impact of his work as a dedicated historian and educator. Mr Lucey is the secretary of the Muskerry Local History Society and editor of its bi-annual local history journal, Times Past, and played a pivotal role in the preservation and development of the Gunpowder Mills, contributing to the creation of the Regional Park in Ballincollig. His journey began in the early 1980s when, while teaching at Ballincollig Community School, he spearheaded the establishment of the Local History Society. Awards organiser Manus O'Callaghan said: "Recognising Dermot Lucey as the Cork Person of the Month for September is a testament to his outstanding dedication and contributions to the preservation and dissemination of local history. "Dermot's passion for history has left an indelible mark on our community, inspiring countless students and residents alike." Throughout his career, Mr Lucey has also authored several market-leading history textbooks, including Making History, Modern Europe and the Wider World, and The Past Today, as well as contributing to the History of Cork series in the Examiner during the Cork 800 celebrations in 1985. Former Lord Mayor of Cork, councillor Kieran McCarthy said: "Enormous work was pursued in the late 1980s and early 1990s by history teacher Dermot Lucey of Ballincollig Community School, who encouraged his students to document the changing village of Ballincollig in the twentieth century. That work culminated in a number of annual historical journals that shine a light on people, events, and transformations within Ballincollig over the century." Mr Luceys name will now go forward alongside the other monthly winners for possible selection as Cork Person of the Year at the annual Gala Awards Lunch in January. Latest: Rory Gallaghers guitar belongs in Ireland and should never leave here, the US rock guitarist leading a pair of Cork tribute concerts to the Irish blues hero next year has said. New York-born bluesman Joe Bonamassa is to head a two-night tribute to the late Leeside legend next July as part of the Live at the Marquee series. Rory Gallagher, who was arguably Irelands first rock star, was born in Ballyshannon in 1948, and he moved to Cork with his mother Monica and his younger brother Donal in 1956. Rory passed away in 1995 at the age of 47, three decades into a career that saw release 14 solo albums and become one of the worlds most influential musicians. Rorys 1961 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster guitar is due to go for auction in London in October, and is expected to sell for as much as 1 million (1.19m). A GoFundMe campaign, started by Sheena Crowley of Crowleys Music Centre, whose father Michael sold the Fender Strat to Rory in 1963 for 100, has already received pledges worth over 64,000. Promoter Peter Aiken described the tribute gigs as a labour of love for all concerned, in what will be the 30th anniversary of Rory Gallaghers death. Mr Bonamassa, a blues guitarist who opened for BB King at the age of 12, is one of the worlds leading guitar collectors, and owns over 700 vintage instruments. He told The Echo that he did not want to buy Rory Gallaghers Strat, as he felt it belonged in Ireland and should never leave. I dont want to own it, because its not my story, its part of Rorys story, its part of Irelands story, it belongs here and should never leave, he said. Its going to take someone with a lot of money to buy it, and hopefully thatll be someone who will let it stay here in Ireland. Asked whether he might chip in to the fundraiser to buy the guitar, he asked: Who is to say I didnt already? He added that he had donated a couple thousand euro to the fund. Rory Gallagher Celebration starring Joe Bonamassa will play Live at the Marquee on July 1 and 2. Tickets go on sale this Friday. Earlier: It was announced today that Joe Bonamassa and band will play two nights next July at the Marquee Cork as a special celebration of the legendary Rory Gallagher. Joe Bonamassa has sold over 10 million records, earned 27 #1 Billboard Blues albums and counting, and to date has received three Grammy Award Nominations and 13 Blues Music Award Nominations. In the years that have passed since Rory Gallaghers death, aged 47 on June 14 1995, his true stature has become ever more clear. Rory performed over 2,000 concerts throughout his illustrious music career but the emotive connection he made with audiences across the globe was greater than statistics could show. Joe Bonamassa and band performing in The Oliver Plunkett on Monday during a press conference. Picture Chani Anderson Rorys influence spread through the generations from Slash to Johnny Marr, from U2s The Edge to Queens Brian May, and onto The Manics James Dean Bradfield any aspiring player who encountered him was bound to be energised or transformed. Tickets for Joe Bonamassa plays Rory Gallagher, Live at the Marquee Cork on July 1 and 2 2025, go on sale on Friday October 4 at 10am from Ticketmaster. This is the first gig announcement for Live at the Marquee Cork 2025. Budget 2025 is due to be announced tomorrow, and the highly anticipated event has become a whole family affair, as even school children have taken to discussing the annual allocations on the playground. With this in mind, we visited a local primary school to get the perspective of young people on what they think Irelands most pressing issues are. Speaking to The Echo, third and fourth-class pupils at North Presentation Primary School in Blackpool shared their spending suggestions, with a particular focus on housing, healthcare, humanitarian aid and the homeless. From left, Ayesha Wagas, Darragh Hennessy, Gabrielius Killpys and Ginevra Balestrino. Picture Dan Linehan Fourth classs Kaya shared what she believes the annual budget is, saying: Its basically how the Government spend their money and how they use it for houses, pensions for elderly people and for food. [Its] also about how people need to spend their money, you cant use it for stupid stuff, you have to use it for stuff that is more important. Fellow fourth-class student Tabassum said: Its how the government spends all the money theyre supposed to use on the whole country. They can use it on stuff like hospitals and houses for the homeless. Their classmate Mia said the budget is when the government take some of the money away for themselves and leave you with some to use for clothes and all the essential things you need. From left, Tabassum Alam, Andrea Livakovic, Mia Claire and Kaya Cybulska. Picture Dan Linehan When asked what they would do if they had control of the countrys spending, third class students Ginevra, Darragh, Emmanuel and Gabrielius, in a manner beyond their years, detailed how they would split the money amongst lesser fortunate groups, before saving some for the future. Ginevra said: I would spend it on hospitals, schools and a tiny bit on more houses. I would spend a tiny bit for me [too] on food and clothes, and then I would give some to the homeless, so they can buy a house and some food. From left, Mia Wayasztyn Leitao, Wendy Liu and Emmannuel Poll Goater. Picture Dan Linehan Darragh said: I would spend it on homeless people, orphans and hospitals. Emmanuel said: I would probably spend some on farms so we have more organic food, and also some on hospitals and other stuff too. Gabrielius said: I would give half of the money to Gaza, and the rest of the money I would spend it on food, so I could give it to orphans and shelters, and dogs and cats, and other homeless people. Adding to this, fourth classs Andrea said: I would spend it on important buildings like schools, hospitals and police departments, but I would also save some of it. A general-election candidate in Cork has called for the Vat rate for small food-led businesses to be reinstated to 9% ahead of Budget 2025. Labour councillor in the city's South West ward Laura Harmon said that while it should be reinstated to 9% for all businesses, including hotels, the priority in tomorrows budget announcement should be small and medium enterprises, including cafes and restaurants. Smaller businesses, like local cafes, shops, and restaurants, are trying so hard to keep their doors open, and should be viewed separately to larger international businesses, said Ms Harmon. I believe that smaller businesses should have the 9% Vat rate applied to them as a priority in this budget [as] my view would be that the smaller businesses struggling in Cork should be prioritised first, but, broadly, I am in favour of the reduction for everyone. This budget is critical for what business owners will be facing for the next financial year. We are seeing a consistent message on the Vat rate and how it is becoming the difference on whether cafes and restaurants in Cork continue to serve or shutter up, Ms Harmon said. We want to see them thrive in a way that supports local employment and local communities. I have called for it previously, and it would be something that I would be very supportive of for Cork businesses. A crack cocaine addict using more than 1,000 worth of this drug in the past week is accused of carrying out three burglaries at commercial premises - and gardai objected to bail because of concerns for the community. Garda Kevin Roche outlined the prosecution issues with bail being granted to 41-year-old Aymen Barkaoui with an address at Barrack Street, Cork. One of the grounds for the objection to bail at Cork District Court was what the guard described as the seriousness of the charges. Garda Roche said: At 3.48 am on September 26 it is alleged the suspect forced the door of The Green Frog Cafe on Western Road and stole 600 from the till. At 10.50 a.m. on September 28 it is alleged the suspect went behind the counter of Nu10 phone shop on Oliver Plunkett Street and stole 200 from the till. No cash was recovered. At 2 p.m. on September 28 he was searched and found in possession of three paris of glasses total value 530 and he admitted he was planning to sell same to buy crack cocaine. They were returned to Specsavers, Opera Lane. At 7.45 p.m. on September 28 he forced the door of The Green Frog Cafe on Western Road and tampered with the till in exactly the same way as the first incident but there was no money in the till and he left empty-handed. He is a self-confessed addict. He said to gardai that his addiction is out of control crack cocaine. He is committing offences to feed his addiction. Gardai dont believe he is able to control his addictions at this stage and that he poses a risk to the community. We are concerned about the extreme level of offending in a short period of time. Eddie Burke solicitor said the accused has no previous convictions, he has been in Ireland for the past two years and working full time, has an address at Barrack Street and was more than cooperative in relation to the investigation. Judge Philip OLeary said: The court is concerned about his addiction and he is alleged to have a lot of matters but I will grant bail on strict conditions. Conditions include requirements to reside at his home at Barrack Street, sign on with gardai three times a week, surrender any travel documents, abstain from intoxicants in public, engage with addiction services and stay away from the premises referred to in the charges. The case was adjourned until November 25 to allow time for directions to be obtained from the Director of Public Prosecutions. Rory Gallaghers guitar belongs in Ireland and should never leave here, the US rock guitarist leading two tribute concerts to the Cork blues hero next year has said. New York-born bluesman Joe Bonamassa is to head a two-night tribute to the late Leeside legend next July as part of the Live at the Marquee concert series. Arguably Irelands first rock star, Rory Gallagher was born in Ballyshannon in 1948, moving to Cork with his mother and his younger brother Donal in 1956. One of the worlds most influential musicians, he passed away in 1995 at the age of 47. Donal Gallagher, Peter Aiken, Joe Bonamassa, and Gerry McAvoy pictured in The Oliver Plunkett yesterday during a press conference to announce details of a unique celebration of Rory Gallagher as part of next years Live at their Marquee line-up. Picture: Chani Anderson The July concerts, which were described by promoter Peter Aiken as a deeply personal project for Mr Bonamassa and him, will occur a fortnight after the 30th anniversary of Rory Gallaghers death. Auction The announcement of the two Live at the Marquee concerts by Joe Bonamassa and his band celebrating Rory Gallagher comes at a time of renewed interest in the Lee Delta bluesman, with his 1961 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster guitar expected to sell at auction for as much as 1m (1.19m) in London this month. In 1963, Michael Crowley sold the Strat to Rory for 100, and now a GoFundMe campaign to buy the guitar for the people of Cork, started by Michaels daughter Sheena, has received pledges worth more than 64,000. The Rory Gallagher celebration concerts were launched at a press conference in Corks Oliver Plunkett Bar, followed by a short, blistering gig with Joe Bonamassas four-piece tearing through Rory covers from Cradle Rock to Bullfrog Blues. Promoter Peter Aiken described the tribute gigs as a labour of love for all concerned, saying he couldnt think of any better musician to do justice to Rory Gallagher than Mr Bonamassa. This isnt a tribute act, this is a celebration, Mr Aiken said. Hes the real deal, and you couldnt think of another guitarist who has the chops to pull off the Rory thing. Mr Bonamassa, a bluesman who, at the tender age of 12, opened for the legendary BB King, is one of the worlds leading guitar collectors, and owns more than 700 vintage instruments. Rory's story He told The Echo that he did not want to buy Rory Gallaghers Strat, as he felt it belonged in Ireland and should never leave. I dont want to own it, because its not my story, its part of Rorys story, its part of Irelands story, it belongs here and should never leave. He added: I think its a national treasure that should stay here. Its going to take someone with a lot of money to buy it, and hopefully thatll be someone who will let it stay here in Ireland. Asked whether he might chip in to the fundraiser to buy the guitar, Mr Bonamassa asked: Who says I didnt already? He added: When I saw the GoFundMe, I was like, I got a couple of grand for that. Donal Gallagher said he felt mind-blown and lost for words at Mr Bonamassas interpretation of his late brothers work, especially coming up to the 30th anniversary of Rorys passing. Every day is an anniversary, in some ways, particularly when its the 10s, 15s, 20s, but for this to happen is extraordinary, he said. Joe Bonamassa plays Rory Gallagher Live at the Marquee on July 1 and 2, 2025. Tickets go on sale this Friday. By Jonathan McCambridge and David Young, PA There are questions for the Sinn Fein leadership following the resignation of two party press officers who provided references for a former colleague who later admitted sex offences, the opposition leader at Stormont has said. SDLP MLA Matthew OToole said it was a serious situation and indicated he would be seeking further answers from the party. Sean Mag Uidhir and Caolan McGinley resigned as Sinn Fein press officers on Saturday, days after it emerged that they had given references for former colleague Michael McMonagle for a job at a charity. Earlier this month, McMonagle (42), from Limewood Street in Derry, admitted a series of offences, including attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity. Sean Mag Uidhir was a senior figure in Sinn Feins organisation in the North. Photo: PA Sinn Fein said the references were provided without clearance from the party and described the press officers actions as unacceptable and wrong. The party has said the work references were provided three months after McMonagle was dismissed from the party while under police investigation. The party said it only became aware of the references last week and launched an internal process. In a statement, Mr OToole said: This is a serious situation given that an individual has now pleaded guilty to the offences. There are questions for Sinn Feins leadership, particularly in the North, about what they knew, when they knew it and what action they took in line with the safeguarding obligations on organisations to protect vulnerable people. Stormont opposition leader Matthew OToole said he would be seeking further answers from Sinn Fein (Liam McBurney/PA) The SDLP MLA also raised the issue during members statements in the Northern Ireland Assembly. He said: In the last couple of days we have seen news of grave reports of a former member of staff in this Assembly who was given references by employees of a party in this Assembly who then went on to seek employment in another organisation. When it comes to accountability and responsibility there are further questions to be answered about that. I, and others, will be asking those questions and I hope that we get clear answers. A Sinn Fein statement said: Following a media inquiry, Sinn Fein was made aware on Wednesday 25 September that, three months after Michael McMonagles employment ended, two former work colleagues were asked for work references in relation to their assessment of his work as a press officer. Both provided these references without clearance from Sinn Fein. This was unacceptable and wrong. The references were not provided by, or on behalf of Sinn Fein. Permission was not sought, nor would it have been given from the party for the provision of these references or their content. The statement added: Sinn Fein became aware on Wednesday 25 September that these references had been provided. In view of the serious nature of this revelation, Sinn Fein undertook an immediate internal process. Before this process concluded, both press officers resigned from their positions and party membership with immediate effect. The two press officers resigned on Saturday 28 September. Caolan McGinley resigned as a Sinn Fein press officer on Saturday, the party said (PA) Neither Mr Mag Uidhir nor Mr McGinley has made any comment. Mr Mag Uidhir was a senior figure in the partys organisation in the North and often appeared at media events with senior figures in the leadership. McMonagle was first arrested in August 2021. Sinn Fein has previously said as soon as it became aware of the arrest he was suspended from his job as a press officer at Stormont. In September 2022, Mr Mag Uidhir and Mr McGinley provided the references for McMonagle for a job with the British Heart Foundation. McMonagle pleaded guilty to 14 offences of attempted sexual communication with a child and attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity last week at Derry Crown Court last week. The offences dated between May 2020 and August 2021. He is due to be sentenced in November. The resignation of the two press officers emerged as Sinn Fein was holding its Ard Fheis in Athlone. (Photo: REUTERS / Thomas Mukoya)Rev. Timothy Njoya, an advocate for justice and human rights, reads the Bible at the Parliament gate during a demonstration against the legislators plan to receive higher bonuses in the capital Nairobi, January 14, 2013. Kenya's president rejected plans by members of parliament to triple their end-of-term bonuses and award themselves diplomatic passports, bodyguards for life and state funerals. In their last act before parliament closed for March 4 elections, Kenyan lawmakers, already among the best paid in the world,. The Evangelical Alliance of Kenya (EAK) has joined other religious leaders, including the Pentecostal Voice of Kenya (PVK), in rejecting the Religious Organisations Bill, 2024, proposed by a former assistant minister, Senator Danson Mungatana. The bill seeks to introduce taxes on income, gifts, or profits generated from churches, but it has been termed punitive, and its critics say it is being introduced without proper stakeholder consultation with clergy members, Citizen Digital reported on Sept. 25. "The move to table the bill took religious leaders and organizations by surprise, particularly coming after the finalization of the work of the Presidential Taskforce on the Review of the Legal and Regulatory Framework Governing Religious Organizations in Kenya," said EAK Chair Bishop Philip Kitoto. The Pentecostal Voice of Kena (PVK) has also raised serious concerns about the proposed Religious Organizations Bill 2024, commonly referred to as the Mungatana Bill, arguing that its passage would significantly cripple church operations. The EAK chair acknowledged that religious groups have been infiltrated by rogue individuals abusing various platforms and misleading congregations toward extremism, but noted that the church has been at the forefront of nation-building. "Religious organizations have played a critical role in shaping Kenya's social and economic landscape. They complement the work of the government in peacebuilding, providing services in the health, education, and hospitality sectors," he said. Kitoto's sentiments were echoed by EAK Secretary General Reverend Kepha Nyandega. 'RELGIOUS LEADERS NOT INVOLVED' "The Bill contravenes fundamental constitutional principles enshrined in Article 10, specifically the provision on public participation. Key stakeholders among them religious leaders were not involved in the development of the Bill," he said. "The Mungatana Bill fails to appreciate the importance of the critical qualification for the Proposed Registrar, particularly in religious or theological qualifications as a prerequisite." EAK is the national umbrella organization for evangelical churches in Kenya. The Mungatana Bill proposes a minimum fine of 5 million Kenyan shillings (around US$39,000), three years in jail, or both for any religious leader who operates an unregistered organization. Pentecostal Voice of Kenya (PVK) members on Sept. 22 voiced their discontent with specific clauses in the proposed legislation. After reviewing the bill, church leaders identified several regressive provisions threatening the freedom of worship guaranteed by Article 32 of Kenya's 2010 Constitution. They argue that the bill aims to criminalize the preaching of the gospel by imposing maximum penalties of up to Kes. 10 million or imprisonment for up to five years, or both, Nairobi Wire reported on Sept 24. This would restrict individuals from freely preaching on radio and television or conducting crusades. Furthermore, the leaders stated that the bill seeks to grant counties the authority to manage and interfere in the internal affairs of churches. They contend this provision would enable politicians to intrude into church matters and intimidate pastors who address governance issues. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed bill SB 1047, which aims to prevent bad actors from using AI to cause "critical harm" to humans. The California state assembly passed the legislation by a margin of 41-9 on August 28, but several organizations including the Chamber of Commerce had urged Newsom to veto the bill. In his veto message on Sept. 29, Newsom said the bill is "well-intentioned" but "does not take into account whether an AI system is deployed in high-risk environments, involves critical decision-making or the use of sensitive data. Instead, the bill applies stringent standards to even the most basic functions - so long as a large system deploys it." SB 1047 would have made the developers of AI models liable for adopting safety protocols that would stop catastrophic uses of their technology. That includes preventive measures such as testing and outside risk assessment, as well as an "emergency stop" that would completely shut down the AI model. A first violation would cost a minimum of $10 million and $30 million for subsequent infractions. However, the bill was revised to eliminate the state attorney general's ability to sue AI companies with negligent practices if a catastrophic event does not occur. Companies would only be subject to injunctive relief and could be sued if their model caused critical harm. This law would apply to AI models that cost at least $100 million to use and 10^26 FLOPS for training. It also would have covered derivative projects in instances where a third party has invested $10 million or more in developing or modifying the original model. Any company doing business in California would be subject to the rules if it meets the other requirements. Addressing the bill's focus on large-scale systems, Newsom said, "I do not believe this is the best approach to protecting the public from real threats posed by the technology." The veto message adds: By focusing only on the most expensive and large-scale models, SB 1047 establishes a regulatory framework that could give the public a false sense of security about controlling this fast-moving technology. Smaller, specialized models may emerge as equally or even more dangerous than the models targeted by SB 1047 - at the potential expense of curtailing the very innovation that fuels advancement in favor of the public good. The earlier version of SB 1047 would have created a new department called the Frontier Model Division to oversee and enforce the rules. Instead, the bill was altered ahead of a committee vote to place governance at the hands of a Board of Frontier Models within the Government Operations Agency. The nine members would be appointed by the state's governor and legislature. The bill faced a complicated path to the final vote. SB 1047 was authored by California State Sen. Scott Wiener, who told TechCrunch: "We have a history with technology of waiting for harms to happen, and then wringing our hands. Lets not wait for something bad to happen. Lets just get out ahead of it." Notable AI researchers Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio backed the legislation, as did the Center for AI Safety, which has been raising the alarm about AI's risks over the past year. "Let me be clear - I agree with the author - we cannot afford to wait for a major catastrophe to occur before taking action to protect the public," Newsom said in the veto message. The statement continues: California will not abandon its responsibility. Safety protocols must be adopted. Proactive guardrails should be implemented, and severe consequences for bad actors must be clear and enforceable. I do not agree, however, that to keep the public safe, we must settle for a solution that is not informed by an empirical trajectory analysis of AI systems and capabilities. Ultimately, any framework for effectively regulating AI needs to keep pace with the technology itself. SB 1047 drew heavy-hitting opposition from across the tech space. Researcher Fei-Fei Li critiqued the bill, as did Meta Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun, for limiting the potential to explore new uses of AI. The trade group repping tech giants such as Amazon, Apple and Google said SB 1047 would limit new developments in the state's tech sector. Venture capital firm Andreeson Horowitz and several startups also questioned whether the bill placed unnecessary financial burdens on AI innovators. Anthropic and other opponents of the original bill pushed for amendments that were adopted in the version of SB 1047 that passed California's Appropriations Committee on August 15. A representative for Costco has swiftly dismissed claims that music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs purchased baby oil in bulk from the wholesale giant following a swirl of controversy related to his recent indictment. Diddy Indicted on Sex Trafficking and Racketeering Charges Diddy was indicted in New York City on September 16 on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution. According to court documents, Diddy allegedly hosted what were described as "freak-offs"- elaborate sex performances - at his residences, keeping around 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant in his Miami, Florida, and Los Angeles, California, properties. The items, labeled as "Freak Off supplies," were reportedly seized during law enforcement searches of his home in March 2024. The revelation sparked curiosity regarding procuring such quantities, with rumors suggesting that Costco had been the source of the alleged baby oil bulk purchase. Diddy's Lawyer Responds to Baby Oil Allegations Marc Agnifilo, Diddy's attorney, responded to the unusual attention on the baby oil supply, speaking to TMZ following his client's indictment. He said he wasn't "really sure what the baby oil has to do with anything." "I don't know what you need 1,000 one bottle of baby oil goes a long way. I don't know what you'd even need 1,000 for," he added. "He has a big house, he buys in bulk. I think they have Costcos in every place where he has a home. Have you sat in the parking lot of a Costco and seen what people walk out of there with?" Costco Refutes Connection to Diddy's Bulk Purchase However, Costco has refuted any connection to the baby oil acquisition. A company spokesperson told TMZ that the wholesaler does not sell or carry baby oil in any U.S. locations. A search for "baby oil" on Costco's website yields results such as diapers, wipes, cleansing gels, powdered milk, car seats, food, and furniture - but no baby oil. The denial by Costco effectively undermines the narrative that their stores were involved in supplying Diddy's alleged stockpile. Originally published in Franchise Herald. New filings released from the divorce of Wendy Williams and Kevin Hunter include Hunter's request that Williams physically attended divorce court hearings. Williams has not been seen in public since making an appearance at a herbal supplement store in Newark, New Jersey, last August with their son, Kevin Hunter Jr. In addition, Hunter has argued that Sabrina Morrissey, Williams' New York-based guardian, is not eligible to represent her in the New Jersey Court, per legal documents obtained by 'The U.S. Sun.' "Ms. Morrissey's 'pro se' representation of Ms. Wendy Williams is akin to practicing law without a license as she is neither a barred attorney, nor a Guardian appointed by a New Jersey Court," wrote Hunter. "It is conceivable that, based on the history of Ms. Morrissey as it relates to allegations of malfeasance regarding persons that she is the Guardian of in New York, that Ms. Wendy Williams may not need a guardian according to the laws of the State of New Jersey." 'PEOPLE' reported that in May 2022, Williams, 60, was placed under court-ordered guardianship after Wells Fargo froze her assets due to arguments that she was of "unsound mind." In 2023, she was diagnosed with aphasia and frontotemporal dementia after undergoing a series of medical examinations. Frontotemporal dementia "is an umbrella term for a group of brain diseases that mainly affect the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. These areas of the brain are associated with personality, behavior and language," per the Mayo Clinic. According to court documents, Hunter aims to obtain money he says is owed from his marital settlement with Williams after he stopped receiving payments when the TV host's assets were frozen. The identity of her guardian remained concealed until Morrissey filed a lawsuit against Lifetime and the network's parent company, A&E Television Networks earlier this year. Morrissey claimed that Lifetime "shamelessly exploits [Williams] and portrays her in an extremely demeaning and undignified manner." She further alleged that the network "incorrectly states that she is 'broke' and cruelly implies that her disoriented demeanor is due to substance abuse and intoxication." Back in April, Hunter insinuated that there may be some questionable activity surrounding the financial oversight of his former spouse. Hunter, 51, reportedly voiced these assertions during a recent court session concerning his pursuit of renewed alimony payments. He conveyed to the presiding judge his suspicion that Sabrina Morrissey, Williams' appointed guardian, is withholding her financial statements due to alleged malfeasance, suggesting she has been secretly diverting funds for personal gain. "Ms. Morrissey has given me no reason for stopping the payments. If Ms. Morrissey had tried to modify the records, that would be different," he said. "I'm not just concerned about the money; she's come in and swooped in and depleted the account in that time... This has become a real travesty." Posts made on social media recently have proven that Snoop Dogg and his wife's relationship continues to be strong despite rumors of infidelity and a bevy of cryptic posts. Following his solo trip to the 2024 Paris Olympic games, speculation grew that Snoop Dogg and his wife, Shante "Boss Lady" Broadus, may not be on the best of terms. On Saturday, September 28, the "Gin and Juice" rapper put rumors to rest of trouble in paradise when he shared an Instagram video highlighting moments from his year. The video included heartwarming clips, such as him tying his granddaughter's shoes and spending time in Paris with Martha Stewart. The post also featured several photos of his wife, Shante, and their son Cordae. One standout image showed Snoop, real name Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., and Shante dressed in matching outfits, with Snoop wearing an orange fur collar and Shante sporting a jeweled coat. They both wore crown rings, symbolizing their enduring partnership as king and queen. Snoop's post was set to the tune of "A Beautiful Woman" by October London, an artist from Death Row Records, the label Snoop was signed to in the 90s. He captioned the post with his wife's tag and a fire, kissy face, and double-pink heart emojis. "Many beautiful years together. Beautiful photos," one fan wrote, while another added, "I love seeing you guys together, inspirational." Read more: Snoop Dogg Cheating Rumors Resurface After Video Of Martha Stewart Feeding Him Goes Viral Despite Snoop's infidelity in the past, their marriage has garnered respect for its longevity. One fan expressed admiration, saying, "My favorite couple of my favorite black couple...you two share the kind of love that a woman like me only dreams about." Another added, "It has its ups and downs, but that's where the better or for worse come in." Shante, 52, responded to Snoop's post with blue heart emojis in the comments. The day before, the entrepreneur posted several photos wearing a black coat with diamond-adorned pockets, captioned with, "Stay Fly and Keep It Pimpin.' " Her recent post contrasted with some of Shante's earlier cryptic messages, such as her April 21 post stating, "They never cheat with prettier, they cheat with easier." In an interview with 'PEOPLE,' Snoop, 52, praised Shante's resilience. "I've got a strong wife with a strong backbone and a good heart... we are meant to be together," he said. REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio The Ohio Department of Agriculture recently recognized five families as winners of the 2024 Conservation Farm Family Awards at the Farm Science Review on Sept. 19, in London, Ohio. The winners were the Weller Family, Workman Family, Hodge Family, Mehl Family and the Jepsen Family. The Conservation Farm Family Awards program was created in 1984 to recognize Ohio farm families for their efforts in conserving soil, water, woodland, wildlife and other natural resource on the land they farm. These farm families also often host a variety of educational programs, from schools and scout groups to farm organizations. The families receive $400 from the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation and appear in the September issue of Ohio Farmer magazine, which sponsors the Ohio Conservation Farm Family Awards. Weller Farms The area 1 winners are Arden and Kay Weller from Putnam County, Ohio. Weller Farms grows and harvests 400 acres of soybeans, wheat and alfalfa. Additionally, the Weller family manages 88 acres of forest and practices conservation through 100 acres of cover crops, 250 acres of crop rotation, waterways, 8.5 acres of filter strips, 45 acres of wetland restoration and development, 250 acres under a nutrient management plan, wildlife habitat, drainage water management, 250 acres of conservation tillage, 88 acres under forestry management and four large wetlands. Weller Farms also has 1,415 feet of two-stage ditch that is on display to other farmers for field days. Before his death, Arden was often described as a true steward of the land. Twin Oak Farms The area 2 winners are Fred and Jason Workman from Ashland County, Ohio. Twin Oak Farms grows and harvests 475 acres of corn, soybeans and hay as well as runs a 120-head beef cow operation and a 150-head background/replacement calf operation. Conservation activities on the farm consist of 200 acres of cover crops, 300 acres utilizing crop rotation, waterways, filter strips, 10 acres of livestock exclusion fencing, 345 acres under a nutrient management plan, a grazing management plan, 100 acres undergoing rotational grazing, 2 acres of pollinator habitat, drainage water management, conservation tillage and erosion control by natural spring development and stabilization of roads in heavy use. Windy Ridge Jerseys The area 3 winners are J and Rachel Hodge from Muskingum County, Ohio. Windy Ridge Jerseys farms 243 acres of corn, alfalfa, grass hay, triticale/rye and pasture. Additionally, the Hodges run a 140-head milk cow operation and oversee 160 heifers. They also manage 60 acres of forest/woodland and practice conservation activities like 35 acres of cover crops, 100 acres of crop rotation, 70 acres of filter strips, a nutrient management plan, 18 acres under rotational grazing, concrete liquid manure storage, a new milking facility and use a more sustainable cow breed, Jersey cattle. Alan and Rachel Mehl The area 4 winners are Alan and Rachel Mehl from Butler County, Ohio. The Mehls farm 125 acres of soybeans and 15 acres of forest. Their conservation practices include 125 acres of cover crops, nearly 4 acres of waterways, 27 acres of wildlife habitat, 125 acres of conservation tillage, a conservation plan, no-till and subsurface drainage. Alan also recently received the Outstanding Cooperator Award. Jepsen Family Farms The area 5 winners are Jim and Dee Jepsen from Fairfield County, Ohio. Jepsen Family Farms grows and harvests 1,645 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat and hay. They also run a 50-head beef cattle operation and practice conservation through 721 acres of cover crops, 1,555 acres of crop rotation, 27 waterways (16 of which are enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program), filter strips, nutrient management plans, grazing management plans and rotational grazing. Additionally, Jepsen Farms consists of 1,555 acres of conservation tillage, six water and sediment control basins, one systematic tile, heavy-use area protection, three grade stabilization structures and two livestock pipelines. Every year, nominations for the 2024 Conservation Farm Family Awards are accepted between January and May. For more information or to apply, contact your local soil and water conservation district. British beetroot growers will have access to the market in the United States for the first time following years of campaigning. The news follows extensive talks between the the UK and US governments, as well as trade representatives. The new access will be worth approximately 150,000 per year in increased exports, according to industry estimates. Farming groups had voiced their desire for the barrier to be resolved to allow UK producers to benefit from the potential of the US market, building on the recent successes of British lamb in the US. Defra said it would now work closely with UK beetroot growers and relevant industry bodies to ensure a smooth transition into the US market. Farming minister Daniel Zeichner said the milestone marked a significant step forward for Britain's beetroot growers. "This government was elected on a mandate to support our farmers in trade deals that is exactly what we are delivering," he said. But this is only the start over the coming weeks and months I will work tirelessly to back our British farmers and get our food exports moving again. NFU President Tom Bradshaw said it was 'great news', adding that it was industry collaboration with government that had been key to resolving this issue. He said: "Being able to access the US market, supplementing local production, will help to meet rising consumer demand for this healthy, nutritional crop, creating genuine growth opportunities for farmers and growers in the UK. We returned from the US where we were able to make the case for UK beetroot directly to government officials. "Industry collaboration with government and especially with the UKs agri-food attache based in Washington has been key to resolving this issue. It shows the type of wins were able to achieve with the UKs expanded network of agriculture attaches following a number of years of campaigning by the NFU for the creation of these positions." The government has announced plans to further support precision breeding technology to allow drought and disease resistant crops to be grown in the UK. Such technology will also help increase food production and reduce farmers' costs, the government said today (30 September). Technologies, like gene editing, could mean crops are developed that are resistant to pests and disease and resilient to the impacts of climate change. The Precision Breeding Act, which was approved last year, allows for the release and marketing of certain gene-edited plants. The post-Brexit law change currently makes England the only country in Europe where this novel material can be grown in farmers fields. But the new Labour government said it would pass secondary legislation to unlock the benefits of the Precision Breeding Act further, as soon as parliamentary time allowed. Precision bred products have already started to undergo research trials, including tomatoes with high levels of vitamin D and sugar beet that is less reliant on pesticides. Currently, only a few large multinationals can afford to navigate the complex authorisation process required to bring a new product to market. But Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner, who announced the plans today, said new legislation would simplify this process, making things fairer for SMEs and boosting investment. He said: "Today we are introducing legislation to unlock precision breeding to boost Britains food security, support natures recovery and protect farmers from climate shocks. With these measures, our agriculture sector will be at the forefront of innovation across the world. It comes as a project trialling precision-bred cereal crops on commercial farms in England - the first time in Europe - is currently underway. The seed harvested from plots at the John Innes Centre near Norwich will be multiplied in 2025 to enable farmers to grow trials of the crop the following year. Tom Allen-Stevens, Oxfordshire farmer who is taking part in the project, said new technologies were 'incredibly important' for farming and food production. He said: We need to produce more nutritious food with fewer resources and with less impact on the environment. Scientists have been developing new crop varieties that could help us rise to that challenge. "This project will bring those varieties from the laboratory to farmers fields where we can fully assess their potential, explore barriers to their adoption and pave the way for future innovation. Scrapping inheritance tax reliefs would 'tear apart' family farms and damage food security, the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has warned. The warning follows a poll by the CLA which found that a majority (86%) of farmers said it was likely that their land would have to be sold upon their death if inheritance tax reliefs are gone. And more than 90% said scrapping reliefs would damage the UKs food security in the long run, with just 5% saying they did not believe the move would hit food security. The CLA, which represents thousands of farmers and landowners, warned that the findings showed the move to scrap tax reliefs would 'tear apart' family farms during a 'crucial time' for the industry. More than 500 farmers responded to the poll amid concerns the government is looking to change agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) in autumn budget. APR exists to ensure the continuance of farming after the death of the farmer, while BPR fulfils the same objective for other types of family businesses. The group's president, Victoria Vyvyan said many farmers could be forced to sell land to pay inheritance taxes, putting livelihoods at risk. Uncertainty over tax was one of the most pressing challenges facing the rural sector, she explained. "There is a chill wind blowing through the tax environment and CLA members are very nervous that careful plans to sustain multi-generational businesses are about to be thrown to the wolves. Removing or even capping inheritance tax reliefs would have a major impact on the viability of family farms, jeopardising the future of rural businesses up and down the country." The CLA said reliefs allowed farmers and rural business owners to continue to produce food, maintain landscapes and support the rural economy. Maintaining a stable capital tax system was important to provide business owners confidence to make long-term commitments, it said, particularly those needed when investing for growth or to deliver for the environment over the coming decades. If there was no relief, or even if it was capped at 500,000 as some have suggested, there would be a high tax bill to pay, the body warned. Statistics show 17% of UK farms failed to make a profit and 59% made a profit of less than 50,000 in 2022/23, with the CLA saying this left little scope to pay inheritance tax out of farm income. Ms Vyvyan said: "Many farmers could be forced to sell land to pay inheritance taxes, putting livelihoods, and the nations food security, at risk, especially if the land is bought by corporates with deep pockets and no inheritance tax concerns. At a time of profound change in the industry, we need stability for our businesses while we adjust to new agricultural policies." British dairy has taken centre stage with more than 40 international buyers and 60 UK businesses taking part in a major event aimed at boosting exports. Buyers from Asia, the Americas, Middle East, Europe and North Africa headed to the UK for the Dairy Showcase, which put a spotlight on the best of British dairy. The sector exported 2 billion worth of goods to over 130 countries last year, with the industry hoping to build on this further. The week-long series of events aimed to build overseas buyers understanding about the high standards of British farms and dairy production such as cheese, butter, yogurt, cream, milk powders and infant formula. Tours were also ran to farms and processors in major dairying counties such as Somerset, Gloucestershire, Shropshire and Lancashire for delegates to gain experience of British dairy. The Dairy Showcase was developed by the government in consultation with the Dairy Export Taskforce, which includes sector bodies as the NFU, Dairy UK and AHDB. The week culminated with a Department for Business and Trade (DBT)-led Meet the Buyer event and gala reception in Hertfordshire which provided a platform for buyers to meet export businesses, with more than 320 business meetings taking place. Exports Minister Gareth Thomas said the new Labour government was "backing our dairy producers", many of whom as small businesses. "[They] can increase their exporting capabilities, use trade agreements to access new routes to market, and continue to thrive and grow our economy." Farming minister Daniel Zeichner added: The government backs British produce and it is great to see UK dairy products take centre stage at the Dairy Showcase. We have introduced new rules to improve fairness in the dairy supply chain and are seeking a new veterinary agreement with the European Union to tear down unnecessary barriers to trade. "This is part of our new deal for farmers to boost food security, restore nature and support rural economic growth. Children's 'love hormones' surge when they play with dogs. Playing with dogs makes children happy Scientists have found that kids get a burst of the hormone called oxytocin when interacting with pooches. Oxytocin is released into the bloodstream and is known to lower stress and anxiety as well as helping humans to express their emotions. The hormone was discovered at higher concentrations in youngsters when they played with canines compared to playing on their own with toys and games. Scientists recruited 55 children who played with their pet dog, an unfamiliar dog and by themselves on three separate visits to the Arizona Canine Cognition Center and found that oxytocin levels where consistently higher in children who had interacted with the animals. Gitanjali E. Gnanadesikan, leader of the study at the University of Arizona, said: "To our knowledge, this study provides the first evidence for an effect of affiliative social interactions with dogs on oxytocin concentrations in children." American Horror Stories actor star Gavin Creel has died aged 48. American Horror Stories actor star Gavin Creel has died aged 48 The star who was also a beloved Broadway star renowned for performances in shows including Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hair and Hello, Dolly! passed away on Monday (30.09.24) while undergoing treatment for a rare and aggressive form of sarcoma, his partner Alex Temple Ward said. Gavin was known to TV fans for playing Troy Winslow on American Horror Stories, and was diagnosed with cancer only two months ago. He found he had Sarcoma which forms in connective tissue including bones and muscle in July and had been getting treatment at New Yorks Memorial Sloan Kettering. His family has requested gifts or donations in his memory be made to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids cause. The actor landed a Tony Award nomination after his debut as a lead in the 2002 production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. He got another nomination for his performance in Hair before he earned a Laurence Olivier Award for playing Elder Price in the West End version of The Book of Mormon. Gavin acted in two episodes of popular US show American Horror Stories in its first season. His other notable stage credits include parts in a 2004 production of La Cage aux Folles, as well as roles in She Loves Me, Waitress and Into the Woods. Ohio-born Gavin was born to parents James and Nancy Creel on 18 April, 1976. After he graduated from high school, the aspiring actor attended the Department of Musical Theater at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater, and Dance, where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1998. John Ashton has died at the age of 76. John Ashton has died at the age of 76. The actor was best known for his role as Detective Sergeant John Taggart in the first two installments of the 'Beverly Hills Cop' series alongside Eddie Murphy but passed away on Thursday (26.09.24) following a battle with cancer, according to TMZ. A representative told the outlet on Sunday evening that John "died peacefully" at his home in Ft. Collins, Colorado. The actor was born in Springfield, Massachusetts and after leaving high school, he attended University of Southern California School of Theatre before making his film debut as Sgt. Matthews in the 1973 horror 'The Psychopath'. He followed this up with roles in 'Honky Tonk Freeway' and 'The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension' in the early 1980s before adding his signature part in the buddy cop franchise in 1984. Following its 1987 sequel, he appeared alongside Robert De Niro in 'Midnight Run' and then starred as an American director in the French comedy 'I Want to Go Home'. In more recent years, he has starred in 2007's 'Gone Baby Gone' and took on the title role of the 2016 thriller 'Uncle John' before returning to his role as Taggart in 'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F' earlier this year. At the time of death, he had completed work on the upcoming 'Hot Bath an' a Stiff Drink 2' and 'Hot Bath, Stiff Drink, an' a Close Shave' had entered post-production. The Hollywood star had also made several appearances on television throughout his 50-year career, notably starring in regular roles on 'Hardball' and Dallas' and played the father of a real-life kidnap victim in the biopic 'I Know My First Name Is Steven'. Some of his final appearances on television were in 'Law Order: Special Victims Unit' in 2009 and 'The Finder' three years later. Away from Hollywood, John married Victoria Marie Runn in 1968 but they divorced two years later and he was then wedded to Bridget Baker-Ashton from 1976 until 2001, producing a child from each of his marriages. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's son was puzzled when a fan asked her for a selfie because her partner Jason Statham is the "famous person in the family". Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's son didn't think she was as famous as her partner Jason Statham The 37-year-old model has revealed that her son Jack, seven, who she has with her film star fiance, was baffled when she was asked for a photo because he is used to the attention being on the 'Transporter' actor and didn't hide his thoughts from her. In an interview with Net-A-Porter's digital title Porter, Rosie recalled: "The other day someone asked for a selfie with me, and my son turned around and said: 'Why do they want a picture with you? Daddy's the famous person in the family!'" The star who also has two-year-old daughter Isabella with Jason - is known for her modelling work with Victoria's Secret and Marks and Spencer but she reflected on how she was sent home from shoots when aspiring for a breakthrough in the industry as she was deemed to be "too full-figured". Rosie said: "I feel fortunate that I've seen the full breadth of the industry because, when I started, I was on the tube, portfolio and heels in my bag, doing castings with 200 girls, getting out in the middle of nowhere and middle of the night, getting into cars with strange drivers, being sent home from shoots because I was too 'wholesome looking' or 'too full-figured'." The 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' actress explained how she knew that her modelling ambitions could be brought to an abrupt halt but was determined not to let that fate befall her. She explained: "I recognised that at any point they could say, 'Rosie is out'. I'd seen that with so many girls they literally worked with them for 15 years and then one day it was, 'She's too old and she's getting some weight.' "That's the way this industry works. I was like, that's not going to happen to me." To see the full interview, read Porter at https://www.net-a-porter.com/porter/article-255fd12409d1e875 Prince Harry has spare collections of the same toys for his daughter Lilibet in case she ruins one of her favourites. Prince Harry has spare collections of the same toys for his daughter Lilibet in case she ruins one of her favourites The Duke of Sussex, 40, who has the three-year-old girl and his son Archie, five, with wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, 43, shared the detail about their family life on a solo trip to Britain where he spoke with ill children at an awards ceremony on Monday. (30.09.24) He made the remark while at the WellChild event attended by severely sick kids and their loved ones when he met six-year-old Noah Nicholson, who threw his soft toys at Harry and laughed as the prince picked them up. Harry then noticed Noah was carrying a giraffe toy named Raffy the same one the youngster had when they first met in 2019. He said: Is this the same one? No way! Every parent has a spare. Ive got at least six spares. My daughter Lili has these Lovies. Harry also joked Noah was naughty after the child kept chucking Raffy and a white cat toy her called George in the dukes direction. The father-of-two is later set to present an Inspirational Child award for kids aged four to six, and deliver a speech for WellChild. It is his thirteenth appearance at its events after he was made patron of the charity 16 years ago. Before his visit on Monday he said: I am once again honoured to attend this years WellChild Awards celebrating the remarkable courage and achievements of children living with complex medical needs. These incredible young people, along with the dedicated caregivers, nurses, and professionals who tirelessly support them, inspire us all. It is a true privilege to recognise such extraordinary individuals. It is not known if Harry will meet his father King Charles, 76, who is fighting an undisclosed form of cancer, or his estranged older brother Prince William, 42, while he is in the UK. Telugu actor Ram Charan will soon be immortalized at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in London with his dog, Rhyme. This unique honour, revealed in a special video at a recent event in Abu Dhabi, makes Ram Charan the first celebrity to have his pet featured alongside him in the museum. The video shows the meticulous process of capturing both the actor and Rhymes measurements, ensuring every detail is perfect. Ram Charan expressed his gratitude for this opportunity, stating that he feels "honoured" to join the Madame Tussauds family and is excited to get closer to his fans. In addition to his wax statue getting unveiled, Ram Charan is preparing for the release of his next film, Game Changer, where he stars alongside Kiara Advani. The actor is also making headlines for his recent generous donation to the Telangana Chief Minister's Relief Fund, alongside his father, Chiranjeevi. New Plymouth, New Zealand--(Newsfile Corp. - September 29, 2024) - New Zealand Energy Corp. (TSXV: NZ) ("NZEC" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an operational update regarding the Tariki-5 gas development well. The Tariki Joint Venture, comprised of the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, NZEC Tariki Limited (as to 50%) and L&M Energy Limited (as to 50%), reports that operations for the Tariki-5 well commenced drilling at 6.30 (New Zealand Standard Time) on 30 September 2024. The well is planned to take 27 days to reach the target total depth of 2846 m AHRT (Along Hole below Rotary Table). The key sections of the well are expected to be drilled over the following date ranges: Tikorangi Limestone (fractured reservoir secondary target for information only) 12 to 14 October 2024; and Tariki Sandstone (primary development target for full evaluation) 16 to 21 October 2024. The current planning indicates well drilling operations including driling, and completion is expected to be completed by 26 October 2024. Well perforation, clean-up flow and tie-in of the well to production is expected to be completed by 14 November 2024. As previously announced, all other contractual arrangements necessary to allow gas to be transported through the main New Zealand gas network and to allow gas to be delivered to Genesis Energy have already been completed. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Information: This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking information. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking information regarding: the business of the Company and the Tariki Joint Venture, including future plans and objectives, the gas sales agreement, and the Tariki-5 well. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. This forward-looking information reflects NZEC's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to NZEC and on assumptions NZEC believes are reasonable. These assumptions include, but are not limited to: NZEC's current and initial understanding and analysis of its projects and the development required for such projects; the costs of NZEC's projects; NZEC's general and administrative costs remaining constant; and the market acceptance of NZEC's business strategy. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of NZEC to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; industry condition; volatility of commodity prices; imprecision of reserve estimates; environmental risks; operational risks in exploration and development; general capital market conditions and market prices for securities; delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals; the actual results of future operations; competition; changes in legislation, including environmental legislation, affecting NZEC; the timing and availability of external financing on acceptable terms; and lack of qualified, skilled labour or loss of key individuals. A description of additional risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking information can be found in NZEC's disclosure documents on the SEDAR+ website at www.sedarplus.ca. Although NZEC has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the expectations of NZEC as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. However, NZEC expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities law. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/225002 SOURCE: New Zealand Energy Corp. 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! EQS Newswire / 30/09/2024 / 10:23 UTC+8 RaffAello Partners with Templeton to Illuminate AI Rising Stars At the end of September 2024, Hong Kong stocks experienced a dramatic rebound, with the Hang Seng Index surging back above 20,000 points and achieving a record single-day trading volume exceeding HKD 445.7 billion, marking one of the most active trading days in the history of Hong Kong equities. Concurrently, in the latest global financial center rankings, Hong Kong has returned to the top three, reinstating the "Nylonkong" dynamic, which underscores the robust capital-raising capabilities of Hong Kong stocks. Previously, renowned U.S. hedge fund manager David Tepper advocated for acquiring all China-related assets. However, earlier on, RaffAello Securities (HK) Ltd., known as the designated agent for tycoons, had quietly taken action to assist enterprises in expanding and strengthening their operations. The latest company to leverage RaffAello's expertise to enhance its market presence is Shenzhen HQVT Technology Co., Ltd. ("HQVT"). As a leading firm specializing in AI algorithms and products in China, HQVT plays a crucial role in big data by comprehensively perceiving the physical world and making informed decisions. Collaborating with world-renowned experts in artificial intelligence, optical systems, operating systems, and file systems, HQVT continuously explores various domains within smart cities. The company has developed over 100 algorithms utilizing deep learning techniques across multiple spectra, including visible light, near-infrared, far-infrared, acoustic waves, millimeter waves, and terahertz, garnering widespread acclaim across various projects. HQVT's partners include Alibaba Cloud, China Railway Group (HKSE: 0390), CRRC Corporation (HKSE: 1766), and SenseTime (HKSE: 0020). Earlier this year, during one of the market's most challenging periods, RaffAello successfully raised USD 10 million for the Hong Kong fashion label Paprika, with investors including Franklin Templeton's Asia Pacific Structured Equity Fund LPF, showcasing RaffAello's impressive fundraising capabilities. HQVT has previously completed multiple rounds of financing, with investors such as Shenzhen HTI Group and Shenzhen Fountain Investment Management Ltd. Additionally, Zheshang Venture Capital Co., Ltd. (NEEQ: 834089), listed on the New Third Board, has participated in two rounds of financing, further indicating that HQVT's potential has yet to be fully realized. In this latest venture, the RaffAello Opportunity Fund and Asia Pacific Structured Equity Fund will each invest HKD 75 million, becoming shareholders in HQVT and joining forces with prominent Chinese investment institutions. Over the years, RaffAello has successfully introduced significant family capital from notable figures such as Henderson's Peter Lee and CK Life Sciences into a number of Hong Kong-listed companies, including China Wantian Holdings Ltd., Zhuguang Holdings Group Company Limited, and Purapharm Corporation Limited, thereby earning its reputation as the "Tycoon Designated Agent." As global competition in AI intensifies, HQVT is poised to emerge as a new star for China's artificial intelligence on the international stage. 30/09/2024 Dissemination of a Financial Press Release, transmitted by EQS News. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. Media archive at www.todayir.com Hebei, China--(Newsfile Corp. - September 29, 2024) - The 2024 Hebei International Industrial Design Week, hosted by the Hebei International Design Center (HIDC), successfully concluded its week-long program on September 26. Bringing together global design experts, enterprises, and institutions, this year's event focused on fostering cross-cultural collaboration and driving innovation in the design industry. Hebei International Industrial Design Week Concludes, Highlighting Global Design Innovation To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8814/224348_86d366fc04c549a3_002full.jpg Held from September 20 to 26, the event featured international product launches, exhibitions, and matchmaking activities, providing a platform for design professionals to explore emerging trends and cutting-edge technologies. As globalization deepens, the role of design in bridging economic and cultural divides was a key theme of the week, with a particular focus on how design can serve as a tool for economic integration. Participants from diverse countries shared insights into design thinking and aesthetic preferences, facilitating the creation of designs with broader international appeal. The event underscored the importance of collaboration, as designers discussed the challenges and opportunities in the global marketplace, while showcasing solutions that resonate across cultural contexts. Hebei's design industry continues to thrive on the international stage, thanks to its unique blend of historical significance and forward-looking innovation. During the event, Hebei-based designers and enterprises exhibited their latest achievements in fields such as artificial intelligence, smart manufacturing, and next-generation technologies. These innovations reflect China's transition from "Made in China" to "Created in China," marking a significant milestone in the country's design evolution. As the event concluded, HIDC reaffirmed its commitment to fostering international cooperation in design, contributing to global economic development, and promoting cross-border collaboration. For more information and highlights from the event, visit:https://youtu.be/eCZzNiBEtLk To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/224348 SOURCE: Plentisoft PARIS, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 27, the "Cooperation and Prospects for Sustainable Development in the New Era" forum was held in Paris, France, hosted by Tongji University and organized by the School of Economics and Management of Tongji University (hereinafter referred as "Tongji SEM") and Tongji Alumni France. ZHOU Jiagui, Minister Counselor of the Education Department of the Chinese Embassy in France, Jean-Baptiste DJEBBARI, former Minister of Transport of France, SHI Zhenming, Vice President of Tongji University, attended the forum. Nearly 100 experts and academics from the education and business sectors in China and France also attended the forum. The forum is one of a series of activities organized by Tongji University to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, as well as one of the series of activities of the 40th anniversary of the founding of Tongji SEM. Dean XIE En of Tongji SEM presented the achievements in talent cultivation of the Sino-French Business Administration Talent Pilot Program over the past 25 years, and exchanged viewpoints with the business school deans on how to promote the transformation and high-quality development of academic disciplines through the "triad" of digitalization, green development and integration. The deans said that the universities of the two countries should promote in-depth integration with enterprises and industries, and deepen multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary practical cooperation, so as to jointly contribute to the cultivation of globally competent high-level talents and the promotion of the world's sustainable development. Representatives from industries proposed to strengthen deep cooperation between education and enterprises to cultivate new technology talents that can adapt to market changes. Tongji University is one of the first comprehensive universities in China to initiate cooperation and exchange with France, and over the past 30 years of cooperation, Tongji University has established cooperative relations with more than 60 French universities, and there are more than 20 professional colleges in Tongji participating in cooperation with France. The Sino-French Business Administration Talent Pilot Zone Program of Tongji SEM is one of the earliest Sino-French dual degree programs in China, which has cultivated many international management elites who have an international perspective, are familiar with international rules, and can participate in international affairs and competition. It plays an important role in Sino-French education, technology, cultural exchanges, and other aspects. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2518797/picture.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/forum-on-cooperation-and-prospects-for-sustainable-development-in-the-new-era-hosted-by-tongji-university-in-paris-302262065.html ST. LOUIS, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), a global leader in the events and exhibitions industry has appointed Momentus Technologies as its partner to elevate its venue and event management operations. The strategic partnership follows a remarkable milestone in 2023, where DWTC welcomed 2.47 million visitors, solidifying its status as an international powerhouse. By integrating Momentus Technologies' state-of-the-art solutions, DWTC aims to transform its operations, setting new standards of efficiency and innovation across its diverse portfolio of high-profile, international exhibitions, and world-class conferences. Mahir Julfar, Executive Vice President, Dubai World Trade Centre said: "At DWTC, we have built a reputation for maintaining exceptional standards in event and venue management, consistently meeting the evolving demands of the industry. Our partnership with Momentus Technologies is the next step in our journey to enhancing operational excellence. By integrating Momentus' cutting-edge platform, we are not just boosting efficiency, but also setting new industry benchmarks. This collaboration enables us to continue delivering outstanding experiences for our global stakeholders, reinforcing DWTC's leadership in international exhibitions and events." Momentus Technologies, renowned for delivering innovative venue and event management solutions, will provide a bespoke integrated platform to manage DWTC's extensive event bookings, event and venue operations, and real-time data analysis. Momentus will leverage its expertise in handling complex logistics through innovative technology and work hand in hand with DWTC to continue to enhance efficiencies and deliver exceptional service quality across DWTC's wide range of events. "This partnership marks a significant milestone for Momentus as we expand our footprint in the Middle East," stated Alex Alexandrov, CEO of Momentus Technologies. "We are honored to be chosen by the largest exhibition venue in the UAE and contribute to their mission of setting new benchmarks in the industry. Our platform's advanced capabilities will support DWTC in achieving its strategic goals and enhancing its operational agility not only for today but well into the future." About Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC): A global business facilitator since 1979, Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) is home to the region's leading purpose-built convention and exhibition centre. DWTC provides a platform for connecting people, products, innovation and ideas from around the world through a dynamic calendar of international trade exhibitions and its own roster of sector leading mega events. As a designated free zone, complemented by award-winning commercial real estate, DWTC plays an integral role in Dubai and the region's growth story. Since its inauguration, DWTC has hosted over 6,000 events, with an estimated economic output of AED 248 billion, attracting over 38 million business visitors to Dubai. www.dwtc.com About Momentus Technologies Momentus Technologies is a global provider of industry-leading venue and event management solutions that empower organizations to create extraordinary moments. With over 60,000 users in more than 50 countries, Momentus serves the needs of convention and exhibition centers, higher education, corporate, stadiums and arenas, and arts and culture centers. Its powerful intuitive platform alongside intelligent data-driven solutions and unparalleled expertise provides customers a view of past, present and future event operations to increase end-to-end visibility, optimize efficiency and achieve business goals. Founded in 1985, Momentus is headquartered in the United States. The company's employees work across the globe in Momentus offices and remotely. https://gomomentus.com/ Contact North America Public Relations: Rebecca Meckstroth rebecca.meckstroth@gomomentus.com EMEA and APAC Public Relations: Miriam Hageboeck miriam.hageboeck@gomomentus.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2290838/Momentus_Technologies_Logo.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2517793/Momentus_Technologies__Dubai_World_Trade_Centre_logo.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2517794/Momentus_Technologies__Dubai_World_Trade_Centre_Appoints_Momentus_Technologies_to_Drive_Innovation.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/momentus-technologies-appointed-to-drive-innovation-in-venue-and-event-management-operations-at-dubai-world-trade-centre-302261326.html LONDON, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- HARTA GLOBAL ENERGY SDN.BHD., an Exploration & Production Company headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, reached a circa. USD3bln in valuation, following a 49% equity participation and corresponding USD1.2bln investment commitment by TOUCHSTONE CAPITAL GROUP HOLDINGS LTD. and AM CAPITAL PARTNERS SDN.BHD. HARTA GLOBAL ENERGY SDN.BHD., aims to start development & production activities of its Production Sharing Contract (PSC) with PETRONAS and its partner PETRONAS CARIGALI SDN.BHD., targeting an early production and monetization of its discovered gas fields. The block was awarded to SKYE-UMDP EXPLORATION BERHAD in February 2023, a subsidiary of HARTA GLOBAL ENERGY SDN.BHD., following the Malaysia Bid Round MBR2022. HARTA GLOBAL ENERGY SDN.BHD., has secured funding commitments of USD1.2bln for the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) in Block PM340 located in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The prolific Malay Basin acreage, covering 16,404 square kilometers in PM340 Block is deemed as one of the largest blocks in Peninsular Malaysia. It has reached a significant milestone, achieving a valuation of just under USD3.0bln billion following the multi-tranches firm commitment of USD$1.2bln investment from TOUCHSTONE CAPITAL GROUP HOLDING LTD, a UK based investment platform firm and a Malaysian/ Indonesian private investment group AM CAPITAL PARTNERS SDN.BHD. This substantial investment highlights the growing confidence in the oil & gas sector and solidifies HARTA GLOBAL ENERGY SDN.BHD. vis-a-vis SKYE-UMDP EXPLORATION BERHAD's position as a leading player in the oil & gas industry. The first tranche of USD200mln is set to be disbursed according to the agreed business plan in 2024. With the investment in place, the Executive Management Team are confident of timely delivery & monetization of early production in one of the DRO's (Discovered Resources Opportunity) Ular Gas Field where first gas is expected in year 2027 to meet the Malaysian Domestic gas demand. Current studies based on processed 3D seismic data & surrounding wells confirms ca.100 MMBOE of discovered resources in PM340 Block. Additionally, some 5.0 Tscf of contingent resources have also been estimated in various identified prospects within PSC Block. The HARTA GLOBAL ENERGY SDN.BHD.'s Management Team is very excited with these latest findings, the planned development and the exploration-appraisal programs. HARTA GLOBAL ENERGY SDN.BHD., through its subsidiary SKYE-UMDP EXPLORATION BERHAD intends to develop the smaller gas discoveries in several phases sequentially, ensuring a long-term gas supply forecast. HARTA GLOBAL ENERGY SDN.BHD. has appointed Dato' Dr. Ir. Mohd Ghazali Bin Haji Kamaruzaman as Executive Chairman and En.Ir.Ramlan Hamzah as President & Group Managing Director, both being the shareholders of SUNGAI TIANG DEVELOPMENT SDN.BHD. Meanwhile Mr. Kenney Song, Chairman of TOUCHSTONE CAPITAL GROUP HOLDING LTD and Mr. Azhan Muhammad, founder of AM CAPITAL PARTNERS SDN.BHD. shall join as Directors of HARTA GLOBAL ENERGY SDN.BHD.'s board of management. Dato' Dr Ir. Mohd Ghazali Bin Haji Kamaruzaman, Executive Chairman of HARTA GLOBAL ENERGY SDN.BHD. commented on the investment, stating: "The management team is very excited with this development and both TOUCHSTONE CAPITAL & AM CAPITAL PARTNERS have shared their aspirations of turning HARTA GLOBAL ENERGY SDN.BHD. into a full-fledged Exploration & Production (E&P) company of choice in this region, with eyes on the potential opportunities in Sabah Oil & Gas industry among others. The investment aligns with the Malaysian Government's goals for economic growth, with Mr. Kenny Song, Chairman of TOUCHSTONE CAPITAL GROUP HOLDINGS highlighting the importance of Block PM340 in driving the country's gas demand. He stated, "HARTA GLOBAL ENERGY SDN.BHD. is exactly the kind of forward-looking enterprise that will play its part and contribute to Malaysia's economic growth. Their commitment showcases the diversity and strength of our oil and gas sector. I am committed to fostering an environment where companies like HARTA GLOBAL ENERGY SDN.BHD. can thrive, creating job opportunities, driving innovation and new technology applications". AM CAPITAL PARTNERS investment signals strong belief in HARTA GLOBAL ENERGY SDN.BHD.'s growth potential. The private investment firm's founder Mr. Azhan Muhammad, who is also the Co-founder of the UK based asset management firm, VEMI VENTURES remarked, "We are excited about HARTA GLOBAL ENERGY SDN.BHD. and SKYE-UMDP EXPLORATION BERHAD's growth trajectory and confident in their core business proposition that the company is focused on especially in the "new and green energy" economy. The technical and commercial team at HARTA GLOBAL ENERGY SDN.BHD. and SKYE-UMDP EXPLORATION BERHAD are of the highest calibre, and we are joining hands together to bring a successful outcome from multiple objectives that the Harta Global team are working tirelessly to deliver." View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/usd1-2bln-investment-commitment-by-touchstone-capital-group-holdings-ltd-and-am-capital--partners-sdnbhd-values-harta-global-energy-sdnbhd-at-ush3bln-302261846.html The milestone was achieved in just 57 years, during which the company took on bold challenges and was in constant pursuit of innovation The occasion marks 'one step further' toward future era of electrification The ceremony at Ulsan Plant included the delivery of the 100 millionth and first vehicle, an IONIQ 5, to a customer SEOUL, South Korea, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai Motor Company celebrated a significant milestone today, marking 100 million units of global cumulative production. This achievement was accomplished in just 57 years since the company's foundation, making it one of the fastest in the global automotive industry. In honor of this milestone, Hyundai Motor held a ceremony at its Ulsan Plant in Korea. As a token of gratitude for the unwavering support and trust of its customers, the company delivered its 100 millionth and first vehicle, an IONIQ 5, directly to a customer. The vehicle rolled off the final inspection conveyor belt at Ulsan Plant's shipping center during a special handover ceremony. The event also featured a celebratory display commemorating '100 million and 1', symbolizing Hyundai Motor's commitment to pushing one step further with its past accomplishments as the foundation. "Reaching global cumulative production of 100 million vehicles is a meaningful milestone that was possible thanks to our customers around the world who have chosen and supported Hyundai Motor since the very beginning," said Jaehoon Chang, President and CEO of Hyundai Motor Company. "Taking on bold challenges and being in constant pursuit of innovation has enabled us to achieve rapid growth and will empower us to take 'one step further' toward another 100 million units as a mobility game changer." "Each and every employee at Hyundai Motor has contributed to the accumulation of 100 million units through their hard work and dedication," said Dong Seock Lee, President and Head of Domestic Productions and Chief Safety Officer at Hyundai Motor Company. "This auspicious occasion is just the first step toward the future era of electrification that Hyundai Motor will lead." This historic achievement follows Hyundai Motor's continuous growth, fueled by launch of the premium brand Genesis, the high-performance brand N, and introduction of EVs such as the IONIQ 5 based on the dedicated electric global modular platform (E-GMP). To watch the commemorative video, click here. More information about Hyundai Motor: https://www.hyundai.com/worldwide/en/ or Newsroom: Media Hub by Hyundai Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2518851/Image_1__Hyundai_Motor_Achieves_100M_Units_Global_Production.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2518852/Image_2__Hyundai_Motor_Achieves_100M_Units_Global_Production.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2518853/Image_3__Hyundai_Motor_Achieves_100M_Units_Global_Production.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2518854/Image_4__Hyundai_Motor_Achieves_100M_Units_Global_Production.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/hyundai-motor-hits-major-milestone-with-100-million-vehicles-produced-globally-302262103.html With collaboration from Cohere, Fujitsu promotes the utilization of generative AI by achieving advanced customization in a secure private environment News Facts: Fujitsu launches Takane, a Japanese-language large language model (LLM) designed for secure enterprise use Integrated into Fujitsu's AI service Fujitsu Kozuchi and offered through the all-in-one operation platform Fujitsu Data Intelligence PaaS (DI PaaS) Specialized and tailored for industry-specific use and trained for the Japanese language (world-class score on the JGLUE benchmark) to address the challenges of using LLMs in sensitive industries that require a high degree of accuracy and reliability TOKYO, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Fujitsu today announced the launch of Takane, a large language model (LLM) designed for enterprise use in secure private environments. Developed in collaboration with Cohere Inc., (1) Takane represents a significant leap forward in generative AI capabilities, offering world-class Japanese language capabilities. Fujitsu will integrate this new LLM into its generative AI services on Fujitsu Kozuchi and offer it through Fujitsu Data Intelligence PaaS (DI PaaS), an all-in-one operation platform that is part of Fujitsu Uvance, Fujitsu's portfolio of solutions addressing cross-industry societal challenges. Takane will be available globally starting September 30, 2024. Takane, which has achieved world-leading results on the Japanese General Language Understanding Evaluation (JGLUE) benchmark (2), is designed for enterprise use in a secure private environment. Fujitsu will offer Takane alongside its generative AI framework for enterprises which comprises knowledge graph extended RAG technology for referencing large-scale text and monitoring technology for generative AI that ensures output is compliant with laws, regulations, and corporate rules. With this comprehensive approach, Fujitsu aims to create an LLM that supports customers' business transformation. With the launch of Takane, Fujitsu elevates its generative AI offerings on Fujitsu Kozuchi with a high-precision LLM tailored for secure private environments. This strategic move aligns with Fujitsu's vision for seamlessly integrating generative AI into business operations. Takane will also be provided under an initiative to deliver total support for customers' generative AI journeys by combining the LLM with its Uvance Wayfinders consulting service and broader Fujitsu Uvance offerings. With this comprehensive approach, Fujitsu aims to empower customers to unlock new value and address societal issues by enhancing productivity, creativity, and innovation in their business operations. For full release click here View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/fujitsu-launches-takane---a-large-language-model-for-enterprises-offering-the-highest-japanese-language-proficiency-in-the-world-302262126.html Regulatory News: GeNeuro (Euronext Paris: CH0308403085 GNRO), a biopharmaceutical company developing new treatments for neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases, announces that the Geneva Court of First Instance has approved its application for a debt-restructuring moratorium dated July 15, 2024, aimed at restructuring its debts and finding solutions for the continuity of its activities in the interests of all stakeholders. Debt-restructuring moratorium procedure As communicated on July 15, 2024, following the unsatisfactory results of its phase 2 clinical trial GNC-501, testing temelimab against placebo in patients suffering from post-COVID-19 neuropsychiatric syndromes, and in view of the Company's over-indebtedness, GeNeuro's Board of Directors had concluded that it was necessary, under applicable Swiss law, to notify the over-indebtedness to the competent Swiss court and to request the latter to open debt-restructuring proceedings to enable the restructuring of its debts and the development of solutions to remedy the Company's situation. Following the hearing held on September 12, 2024, the Geneva Court of First Instance issued a ruling on September 26 2024 declaring the opening of provisional debt-restructuring proceedings for a period of 4 months, until January 27, 2025, with the appointment of a commissary. The purpose of this debt-restructuring moratorium is to enable the Company to evaluate all solutions enabling it to continue its business activities, and to conduct negotiations with its creditors, while continuing to seek ways to recapitalize, advance and/or monetize its assets under development which target multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The Geneva Court of First Instance judgment will be published in the Feuille d'Avis Officielle du canton de Geneve and the Feuille Officielle Suisse du Commerce. Postponement of the publication of the Company's half-year results In addition, the Company announces that its Board of Directors has decided to postpone the publication of its June 30, 2024 half-yearly results and half-yearly financial report in order to be able to take into account the financial impacts of the restructuring targeted by the Company as part of the granted debt-restructuring moratorium procedure. The Company will announce by press release the new date of their approval and publication. About GeNeuro GeNeuro's mission is to exploit the biology of human endogenous retroviruses ("HERVs") to develop safe and effective treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, by neutralizing the pathogenic factors encoded by HERVs, which account for 8% of human DNA. GeNeuro is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and has R&D facilities in Lyon, France. About the application for debt-restructuring moratorium Under Swiss law (the law applicable to GeNeuro SA), a stay of execution is a preventive measure to bankruptcy proceedings. The purpose of this procedure is to enable a company in financial difficulty to restructure its debts with its creditors and find measures to improve its situation. The stay would protect the Company from legal action by its creditors while it works with the "commissaire au sursis", an independent expert appointed by the judge to supervise the process, help draw up a draft composition agreement and validate possible recovery measures. This process may result in a recapitalization of the company, a restructuring of its debt or a sale of some of its assets, among other things. The aim of this procedure is to reach an agreement that will enable the Company to continue its operations while satisfying its creditors. For more information, visit www.geneuro.com X YouTube LinkedIn Forward-looking statements: This document contains forward-looking statements and estimates with respect to the financial condition, results of operations, strategy, plans and future performance of GeNeuro and the market in which it operates. Some of these statements, forecasts and estimates may be identified by the use of words such as, without limitation, "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "projects", "plans", "seeks", "estimates", "may", "will" and "continue" and similar expressions. They include all matters that are not historical facts. Such statements, forecasts and estimates are based on various assumptions and assessments of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which were believed to be reasonable when they were made but which may not prove to be correct. Actual events are difficult to predict and may depend on factors beyond the company's control. Consequently, GeNeuro's actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements, or industry results, may differ materially from future results, performance or achievements as expressed or implied by such statements, forecasts and estimates Given these uncertainties, no representation is made as to the accuracy or fairness of such forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates. Furthermore, the forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates are valid only as of the date of publication of this document. GeNeuro disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements, forecasts or estimates to reflect any change in the Company's expectations with regard thereto, or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements, forecasts or estimates are based, except as required by French law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240929580658/en/ Contacts: GeNeuro Jesus Martin-Garcia Chairman and CEO +41 22 552 48 00 investors@geneuro.com GoldenPeaks Capital Holding Ltd (GPC), a leading independent power producer in Eastern Europe and China National Building Material Group Corporation (CNBM), a Fortune Global 500 enterprise, have committed to further strengthen their strategic partnership to a yearly 1GW project pipeline, adding new markets, such as Germany, Italy and Greece to their existing projects. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240929093317/en/ Delegation of CNBM GoldenPeaks Capital, Munich, Germany. (Foto copyright GPC free for media) At a high-level meeting at the Westin Grand Munich, building on five years of trustful and successful collaboration, both companies have committed to set their sights on an ambitious plan which sees GPC developing 1GW of solar projects on an annual basis across Europe, with the strong support of CNBM as EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) contractor. GoldenPeaks Capital as one of the fastest growing independent power producers in Eastern Europe and one of the largest photovoltaic system owners in Poland and Hungary, will further expand its capacity into western Europe, including Germany, Italy and Greece. Adriano Agosti, Founder and President of GoldenPeaks Capital, said: "We are thrilled to focus on additional markets in Western Europe. In Germany we will look into several projects, but especially Bavaria, with its long sun-hours and relevant industry leaders, has high potential. By closely collaborating with CNBM and Triumph, we are confident to meet the goal of developing 1GW of new projects on a yearly basis. Our combined expertise will allow us to unlock exceptional opportunities in the European market and beyond." Mr. Yuxian Zhou, Chairman of CNBM stated: "We are proud of our joint successes of the past five years and now look forward to accelerating our growth together. This partnership underscores our shared vision of advancing clean energy on a global scale." Annual Project Expansion of 1 GW In their meeting in Munich, the leadership teams from CNBM and GPC reaffirmed their commitment to drive their partnership even further forward. With more than 1GW of new projects in the development pipeline, GPC aims to continue breaking new ground in Europe's renewable energy market with Triumph as its EPC partner. By integrating Triumph's domestic expertise with GPC's deep knowledge in project development, procurement, and financial structuring, this collaboration is expected to reach new heights in the coming years. In the short term 1 GW is already going into construction in 2025 and a further 2.5 GW are under development for 2026/2027. A Proven Partnership The partnership between CNBM, through its subsidiary Triumph Science Technology Group, and GPC has already achieved significant success since its inception five years ago. GPC has since then developed projects that blend Triumph's experience in innovative materials and clean energy technology with GPC's proven track record in solar energy development. The two companies have been able to leverage their respective strengths enabling GPC to scale renewable energy projects across Europe. GPC currently operates 800 MW of renewable energy projects, with an additional pipeline of 1.4 GW under construction or ready for development. As the leading comprehensive subsidiary of CNBM, Triumph plays a pivotal role being the EPC contractor supporting GPC's development. Triumph provides essential research, engineering services, and manufacturing capabilities, ensuring a robust and efficient supply chain for these large-scale renewable energy projects. Daniel Tain, Co-Founder of GoldenPeaks Capital added: "Our further strengthened partnership with CNBM and Triumph represents a significant milestone in the renewable energy landscape. This commitment has solidified our shared ambition to drive large-scale solar projects forward. With the expertise and commitment of both sides, I am confident that we will not only meet our 1GW annual target, but also play a pivotal role in the transition to a cleaner energy future." About CNBM China National Building Material Group Corporation (CNBM) is a Fortune Global 500 company with over 200,000 employees and operations across diverse material industries. CNBM's Triumph Science Technology Group is a leader in innovative CNBM's new glass materials and engineering services, making significant contributions to the global development of renewable energy. About GoldenPeaks Capital GoldenPeaks Capital, is a company specializing in the construction and operation of solar systems and one of the largest photovoltaic system owners in Eastern Europe with over 15 years of experience in structuring energy projects globally. GoldenPeaks Capital will further increase the pace of shaping the industry of renewable energies by applying the seamless integration of all sectors of GPC, such as project development engineering, financing structuring, supply chain management, construction commissioning, asset operations, and commercial energy sales, ensuring an invaluable alignment of methodologies, ethics and goals. Disclaimer Golden Peaks Capital: This press release was produced by and the opinions expressed are those of GoldenPeaks Capital as of the date of writing and are subject to change. It has been prepared solely for information purposes. Any reference to past performance is not necessarily a guide to the future. To the extent there are any forward-looking statements, these statements are based on the company's current expectations and projections regarding its business, operations and other factors relating thereto. Actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors. The information and analysis contained in this publication have been compiled or arrived at from sources believed to be reliable but GoldenPeaks Capital does not make any representation as to their accuracy or completeness and does not accept liability for any loss arising from the use hereof. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240929093317/en/ Contacts: GoldenPeaks Capital Siro Barino E-Mail: media@goldenpeakscapital.com info@goldenpeakscapital.com www.goldenpeakscapital.com Syngenta Group, a global leader in agricultural innovation, announced the launch of Cropwise AI at the World AgriTech Innovation Summit in London today. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240929730485/en/ Cropwise AI is a cutting-edge GenAI system designed to increase the efficiency of agronomic advisors and growers to determine the best crop management practices. Leveraging advanced machine learning algorithms and data analytics, Cropwise AI empowers growers with deep insights and enhanced decision-making capabilities to optimize crop yields, improve sustainability, and drive profitability. Cropwise AI leverages the deep library of Agronomic Models housed within Cropwise Insight Engine, including over 20 years of weather history, soil conditions, more than 80,000 observations on crop growth stages, and historical yield data from R&D and on-farm trials. This information is then integrated with Syngenta's extensive agronomic expertise. Combined with a multi-lingual conversational LLM, the system provides growers with tailored recommendations for precise input applications, product placement, and strategies for pest and disease control in easy-to-understand natural language. The unique combination of data and models helps farmers make better decisions. Utilizing Syngenta's seed recommendation models, Cropwise AI helps growers increase yields by up to 5 percent. "Cropwise AI represents a significant milestone in our digital transformation journey," said Feroz Sheikh, Chief Information and Digital Officer at Syngenta Group. "By combining our deep agronomic knowledge with cutting-edge AI capabilities, we are bringing the power of GenAI to agriculture and empowering growers to make data-driven decisions." Earlier this year, the launch of GHX 2.0 with Cropwise AI integration brought the full potential of farmer data to life. The updated GHX 2.0 app allows users to ask questions and get answers on products and agronomic challenges, to high-impacting diseases like Tar Spot. Key features of Cropwise AI include: Seeds recommendation and placement: providing insights on seed products and utilizing advanced predictive machine learning algorithms to deliver tailored seed recommendations. Predictive Modeling: Leveraging machine learning algorithms to forecast crop growth, yield potential, and risk factors based on real-time and historical data. Precision Agriculture: Providing site-specific recommendations for optimized input application, minimizing waste and maximizing resource efficiency. Looking ahead, Syngenta plans to expand Cropwise AI's capabilities with innovative features that will further revolutionize agricultural practices: Advanced Disease and Pest Management: Future iterations will leverage computer vision and image recognition to detect and identify pests and diseases early, for proactive and precise management strategies. Sustainability Analytics: Syngenta will integrate sustainability analytics to quantify the environmental impact of farming practices and provide suggestions for reducing carbon footprint. "Cropwise AI is an industry-leading example of how GenAI can address critical agricultural issues", said Elizabeth Fastiggi, Global Head of Agriculture, AWS. "Syngenta has revolutionized decision support, giving farmers easy access to expert advice. We're excited to partner with them to boost yields and optimize productivity across the agri-food system." Cropwise AI is currently available to selected groups of customers in the United States and Brazil, with plans to expand to Europe in the near future. For more information, please visit https://www.cropwise.com/innovations/cropwise_ai. About Syngenta Group Syngenta Group is one of the world's biggest agricultural technology companies, with roots going back more than 250 years. With around 60,000 employees, operating in more than 100 countries, the company strives to transform agriculture with science-driven, technological innovations to deliver high productivity and high-quality food while fighting climate change and restore nature. Syngenta Group works with farmers and partners to deliver four Sustainability Priorities: Higher Yields, Lower Impact; Regenerate Soil and Nature; Improve Rural Prosperity; and Sustainable Operations. The priorities are underpinned by regenerative agriculture practices to nurture and restore soil health, protect the climate and biodiversity, and enhance farm productivity and profitability. Syngenta Group, which is registered in Shanghai, China, and has its management headquarters in Switzerland, draws strength from its four business units: Syngenta Crop Protection, headquartered in Switzerland; Syngenta Seeds, headquartered in the United States; ADAMA, headquartered in Israel; and Syngenta Group China. Together, these businesses provide industry-leading ways to serve customers around the world. For Syngenta Group photos and videos, please visit the Syngenta Group Media Library. Data protection is important to us. You are receiving this publication on the legal basis of Article 6 para 1 lit. f GDPR ("legitimate interest"). However, if you do not wish to receive further information about Syngenta Group, just send us a brief informal message and we will no longer process your details for this purpose. You can also find further details in our privacy statement. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This document may contain forward-looking statements, which can be identified by terminology such as "expect," "would," "will," "potential," "plans," "prospects," "estimated," "aiming," "on track" and similar expressions. Such statements may be subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from these statements. For Syngenta Group, such risks and uncertainties include risks relating to legal proceedings, regulatory approvals, new product development, increasing competition, customer credit risk, general economic and market conditions, compliance and remediation, intellectual property rights, implementation of organizational changes, impairment of intangible assets, consumer perceptions of genetically modified crops and organisms or crop protection chemicals, climatic variations, fluctuations in exchange rates and/or grain prices, single source supply arrangements, political uncertainty, natural disasters, and breaches of data security or other disruptions of information technology. Syngenta Group assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changed assumptions or other factors. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240929730485/en/ Contacts: Media Relations media@syngentagroup.com 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. 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Rightmove Plc - Statement re Rejection of possible offer following engagement with REA PR Newswire LONDON, United Kingdom, September 30 NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN, INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF THAT JURISDICTION THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 30 September 2024 Rejection of Possible Offer Following Engagement with REA As previously announced, the Board of Rightmove plc ("Rightmove" or the "Company") received a fourth proposal from REA Group Ltd ("REA") on 27 September 2024 (the "LatestProposal"). Under the terms of the Latest Proposal, shareholders of Rightmove would receive, for each Rightmove share: - 346 pence in cash and 0.0417 new REA shares, which implies an offer value of 780 pence based on the closing price of REA on 30 September 20241, and - a dividend of 6 pence in cash (in lieu of any final dividend for the year ending 31 December 2024 to which Rightmove shareholders would ordinarily be entitled). The Latest Proposal adds 5p in cash (excluding the dividend referred to above) and 5p in REA shares, implying an additional 10p in value (or 1.3%) when compared to the third proposal recently made by REA. The third proposal was rejected by the Rightmove Board on 24 September 2024, on the basis that it materially undervalued Rightmove and its future prospects. The Board of Rightmove has fully reviewed the Latest Proposal with its financial and legal advisers. The Board has taken into consideration the views of its shareholders and also considered the representations from the Chair and management team of REA, as detailed below. The Board has concluded that the Latest Proposal remains unattractive and continues to materially undervalue Rightmove and its future prospects and that the Board cannot recommend the Latest Proposal to Rightmove shareholders. Accordingly, the Board has unanimously rejected the Latest Proposal. Since the commencement of the offer period on 2 September 2024, the Rightmove Board, together with its financial and legal advisers, has carefully considered the terms of each proposal put forward by REA. The Board's deliberations have taken into consideration, inter alia, the implied value proposition of these proposals for Rightmove shareholders and the mix of cash and REA shares being proposed. The Board's assessment of each proposal has centred on a comparison of the implied value of the proposal with its own view of the standalone value and future prospects of Rightmove. The Board has also consulted with and taken into consideration the views expressed to it from across the full spectrum of its shareholder base. Throughout this process, the Board has remained focussed on the best interests of shareholders as a whole, with a view to following a course of action which, in its judgement, will promote the success of Rightmove and maximise shareholder value in the medium to long term. The Board has unanimously concluded that the Latest Proposal is unattractive and materially undervalues Rightmove. The Board has concluded that shareholder interests would be better served through the execution of Rightmove's standalone strategic plan, with the multiple paths for long-term value creation which were laid out at the Capital Markets Day in November 2023. The Rightmove and REA teams have known one another for many years, and have had numerous interactions, including discussions around strategy and best practice as recently as June. Rightmove has taken every phone call that REA has made since its interest was first made public, with a level of engagement which in Rightmove's view is customary and appropriate in the context of an unsolicited and unilateral series of approaches, made to a UK listed company, where the possible offeror is taking an incremental and iterative approach to price discovery. Following the receipt of the Latest Proposal, Rightmove's Chair, Andrew Fisher, agreed to meet with Hamish McLennan, the Chair of REA. The purpose of this in-person meeting was to allow the Chair of REA an opportunity to present the Latest Proposal and engage in discussions with the Chair of Rightmove, ensuring that the Rightmove Board was fully appraised of all information of relevance to its ongoing deliberations. In addition, at REA's request, there was a further meeting including members of the executive teams of both companies. No information was presented in either meeting which was materially new or different to the information which has been previously presented publicly by REA. Furthermore, nothing was presented in either meeting which materially changed the Board's view of the Latest Proposal. In addition, the meetings confirmed Rightmove's confidence in its current strategy and execution within a UK context. During these discussions REA requested an extension to the Put Up or Shut Up deadline and access to due diligence information, to allow it to consider a potential fifth proposal. The Board considers that the considerable information on Rightmove's business, strategy and financial results in the public domain, existing knowledge of Rightmove within REA, and Rightmove's numerous engagements with REA, should be sufficient for REA to put forward a proposal capable of recommendation, within the 28-day period set out under the UK Takeover Code. The Put Up or Shut Up framework is designed to protect offeree companies from being subjected to an unnecessarily prolonged period of uncertainty cause by an offer period. The Board has declined requests from REA to grant due diligence access as none of REA's proposals received to date has been at a sufficient level to grant such access. Without a compelling proposal, it would not be appropriate or in the best interests of Rightmove or its shareholders to provide confidential and commercially sensitive information to REA. The Board remains confident in Rightmove's standalone prospects, as the clear leader in the UK property ecosystem, with momentum building towards its 2028 goals, as set out in the recent Capital Markets Day. Rightmove, the UK's No.1 property platform for the last c.25 years, has an exciting strategy to drive long-term growth and returns. Rightmove is well positioned to drive digitisation through the entire transaction chain, powered by unrivalled market data and insights. Over 80% of traffic comes to Rightmove's platform direct and it benefits from more than 80% of share of time spent by customers on property portals. Rightmove has significant technology capabilities, and is well placed to continue to innovate. With investment in technology and AI-enabled product teams, Rightmove has delivered 55% more technical releases in 2024 year-to-date compared to the equivalent period in 2023. Rightmove also benefits from the UK's largest, first party dataset of listings, lead generation and consumer interactions. Andrew Fisher, Chair, commented: "We respect REA and the success they have achieved in their domestic market. However, we remain confident in the standalone future of Rightmove. Rightmove has been the leading operator in the UK for over 20 years, and it has differentiated market presence, branding and technology, and very significant opportunities for future growth. "The last few weeks have been very disruptive, as well as unsettling for our colleagues. To the extent REA wants to put forward a further proposal, I urge them to submit a best and final proposal ahead of today's 5pm PUSU deadline such that we can bring certainty to this process. "Our world-class team is executing against our strategic plan, and continuing to drive innovation and accelerate growth to deliver compelling shareholder value." This announcement is being made without the agreement or approval of REA. There can be no certainty that any offer will be made nor as to the terms on which any offer may be made. Any offer for Rightmove is governed by the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the "Code"). Under Rule 2.6(a) of the Code, REA must, by not later than 5.00 p.m. on 30 September 2024, either announce a firm intention to make an offer for Rightmove in accordance with Rule 2.7 of the Code or announce that it does not intend to make an offer, in which case the announcement will be treated as a statement to which Rule 2.8 of the Code applies. This deadline can be extended with the consent of the Takeover Panel in accordance with Rule 2.6(c) of the Code. A further update will be provided as and when appropriate. Enquiries: Rightmove Investor Relations Investor.Relations@rightmove.co.uk UBS AG London Branch (Joint Financial Adviser and Sole Corporate Broker to Rightmove) Craig Calvert Christian Lesueur Gaurav Banerjee Meera Sheth +44 (0)20 7567 8000 Morgan Stanley (Joint Financial Adviser to Rightmove) Laurence Hopkins Dominique Cahu Ben Grindley Nagib Ahmad Sodali & Co (Financial Communications) Elly Williamson Rob Greening Jane Glover +44 (0)20 7425 8000 +44 207 250 1446 / rightmove@sodali.com Based on AUD:GBP FX rate of 1.9311 as at 7:00am UK time on 30 September 2024. Linklaters LLP is acting as legal adviser to Rightmove. The person responsible for arranging the release of this announcement on behalf of Rightmove is Carolyn Pollard, Company Secretary. Important notices relating to financial advisers UBS AG London Branch ("UBS") is authorised and regulated by the Financial Market Supervisory Authority in Switzerland. It is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and subject to regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority and limited regulation by the Prudential Regulation Authority in the United Kingdom. UBS is acting exclusively as financial adviser to Rightmove and no one else in connection with the matters described in this Announcement. In connection with such matters, UBS, its affiliates and their respective directors, officers, employees and agents will not regard any other person as their client, nor will they be responsible to any other person for providing the protections afforded to their clients or for providing advice in relation to this Announcement or any other matter referred to herein. Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc ("Morgan Stanley") is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority ("PRA") and regulated by the PRA and the Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") in the United Kingdom, and is acting as financial adviser for Rightmove and for no one else in connection with the possible offer and will not be responsible to anyone other than Rightmove for providing the protections afforded to its clients or for providing advice in relation to the possible offer, the contents of this announcement or any other matters referred to in this announcement. Publication on Website A copy of this announcement will be made available subject to certain restrictions relating to persons resident in restricted jurisdictions on Rightmove's website at plc.rightmove.co.uk by no later than 12 noon London time on 1 October 2024. Awarded The World's Best FX Technology Provider and The World's Best Technology Provider for FX Liquidity BOSTON, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- oneZero, a global leader in multi-asset enterprise trading technology solutions, is pleased to announce that it has won two prestigious Euromoney Awards: The World's Best FX Technology Provider and The World's Best Technology Provider for FX Liquidity. For over 44 years Euromoney's surveys and awards have set the global benchmark for FX excellence, as the most comprehensive representation of the wholesale FX market. The award entries are judged by a panel of global experts representing banks, providers and buy side corporations looking for robust examples of excellence and innovation in the market. oneZero was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2009 to deliver intelligent trading technology outcomes for all market participants. Today, oneZero is relied upon by hundreds of brokers, banks and buy-side market participants globally for price distribution, risk management, aggregation and data analytics. In recent years, oneZero, which has historically been the de facto provider of solutions for FX and OTC brokerages globally, has been making waves as it unveiled a solution for regional banks that addresses significant market demand for innovation in pricing derivative FX contracts and introducing data and AI to trading workflows. Commenting on oneZero being named The World's Best FX Technology Provider, Andrew Ralich, CEO and Co-Founder of oneZero, said: "I'm deeply proud of our team's achievements, recognized through this prestigious award. From launching oneZero's RFQ UI and platform for SMEs, to advancing portfolio risk management, while leveraging our extensive historical data to elevate our world-class analytics, oneZero is driving innovation in the institutional FX technology market." Commenting on oneZero being named The World's Best Technology Provider for FX Liquidity, Ralich said: "oneZero remains dedicated to expanding our liquidity-neutral EcoSystem on behalf of our clients. We've expanded bank integrations to include Forwards, NDFs and Swaps via RFQ. Our Algorithmic Trading Module further empowers clients with strategies to optimize their bank and non-bank LP relationships, while leveraging our best-in-class data and analytics." Last month, oneZero announced that it had made the Inc. 5000 of America's fastest-growing private companies for the third consecutive year. About oneZero oneZero has been a leading innovator in multi-asset class enterprise trading technology since 2009. Powerful software designed to provide intelligent performance combines oneZero's Hub, EcoSystem and Data Source in an award-winning solution for execution, distribution and actionable analytics. oneZero delivers robust and scalable connectivity, infrastructure and market access, to empower banks, brokers and investors to compete effectively in financial markets through globally compliant, liquidity-neutral solutions. oneZero is certified to the standards of ISO 27001 information security management systems, and provides 24/7 development and operations support in Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. In August 2023, oneZero made the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing private companies for the second consecutive year. For more information, please contact: Talia Geberovich Head of Marketing and Communications tgeberovich@onezero.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2516698/oneZero_Financial_Systems_World_s_Best_Technology_Provider_for_FX_Liquidity__2.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2516699/oneZero_Financial_Systems_FXA24_The_World_s_Best_FX_Technology_Provider.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/827473/oneZero_Financial_Systems_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/onezero-secures-double-win-in-euromoney-fx-awards-2024-302260142.html MILAN, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- At the recent Milan Fashion Week, the world's premier fashion showcase, a wave of new trends emerged, notably in the realm of home decor. Here, fashion and home furnishings merged seamlessly, signaling a novel trend. Xiaohongshu, in collaboration with VOGUE Business, hosted the VOGUE Business Milan Digital Summit themed "The Digital Silk Road: Pioneering the Future of Luxury Lifestyles" during the week. Mr. Shawn Li, General Manager of Commercial Durable Goods Business Group at Xiaohongshu, was one of the speakers on the "Tapping Lifestyle Trends: The Micro-Cultures Driving Engagement" panel. The summit, which explored the evolving concept of home living, provided profound insights into the changing lifestyles and preferences of today's youth in China. It introduced innovative ideas and trends that are reshaping how young people envision their living spaces, offering avant-garde perspectives for brands on consumer engagement. The event also sparked a new discourse on aesthetics in home and lifestyle, creating a confluence of fashion, art, and daily living. Xiaohongshu: A Go-to Social Media Platform for Tens of Millions of Users Finding Home Inspiration Aligning perfectly with Xiaohongshu's human-centric values, consumers are increasingly seeking harmony between their home environments and personal lifestyles. As a lifestyle community beloved by youth, the social media platform excels in understanding people's needs, gaining insights into emerging consumer scenarios and industry trends in China. According to Xiaohongshu Research, as of Q2 2024, with a monthly active user base of 300 million, nearly 65% of whom are passionate about home life. The shift has revitalized the home furnishing sector. Data from the Xiaohongshu Research shows a remarkable surge in home decoration and furnishings content over the last three years. Searches have soared by 450% from January to September 2022 to the same period in 2024. According to Nielsen's report released in September 2024, about 89% of users prefer searching on Xiaohongshu for product reviews and user experiences before purchasing home appliances and furnishings. Xiaohongshu Research also indicates that Italian high-end brands like Natuzzi are experiencing significant market potential on the platform, with over 500,000 monthly searches, attracting numerous potential buyers. During the summit, Shawn Li analyzed the diverse trends in the home furnishing sector from a human-centric perspective. By examining user demographics, preferences, and lifestyles, Shawn Li identified four demographic groups: Nomadic Youth, Nesting Youth, All-Rounders, and Home Curators. Emphasizing the "People - Needs - Scenarios - Trends" framework, Shawn Li highlighted Xiaohongshu's role in helping brands understand their audiences, discover innovative marketing solutions, and outperform competitors. Xiaohongshu's Role in Shaping Home Furnishing Trends In recent years, the flow of home furnishing fashion trends has shifted significantly. Previously, trends were dictated top-down, starting with designers and trendsetters, then trickling down to major brands and eventually reaching consumers. Now, this dynamic has reversed, with consumer behavior driving the trends. Xiaohongshu has been instrumental in the shift, creating a platform that encourages shoppers to express their personal styles, preferences, and lifestyles-effectively advocating for their preferred living environments. Each search, share, comment, and collect of posts on Xiaohongshu reflects the genuine needs of Chinese shoppers, fostering new trends in home furnishings in China that lead to industry innovations. In September, Xiaohongshu unveiled its latest Annual Home Lifestyle Report. This analysis of community content and user search preferences highlighted eight new home ideas popular among Chinese youth. Focused on human-centric themes, the report emphasized vibrant life scenarios, emotional expression, and attitudinal resonance, enriching insights with warmth and energy. It shows that consumers are keen to reshape residential aesthetics with innovative furnishings and redefine family dynamics through thoughtful design, pushing the boundaries of traditional home spaces. Notably, the approach to incorporating hobbies into home design has evolved from merely finding storage solutions to creating spaces specifically designed around those hobbies. Consequently, more Chinese individuals are establishing specialized home studios dedicated to their passions. Brand Strategy on Xiaohongshu Shifts: Witnessing Renewing Marketing in Home Furnishings However, in the home furnishing industry, brands have formed unique business models and product structures due to domain and product differences, leading to distinct consumer decision-making processes. Based on Xiaohongshu's research on Chinese consumer and business characteristics, brand marketing should start with the overall product structure, deeply understand consumer needs, and tailor strategies to specific category characteristics. For example, in major appliances, furniture, building materials, and daily home supplies, product structures span multiple related categories. Consequently, Xiaohongshu recommends that brands adopt a matrix-style product selection strategy on the platform, crafting content that aligns with consumer preferences and life scenarios. This approach aims to enhance category penetration and captivate consumer attention. Data shows that the Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) growth rate of the top 1,000 Single Product Units (SPUs) gaining traction on Xiaohongshu exceeds the overall market growth rate, highlighting the social platform's refined strategies that can help brands achieve overall success. The home furnishing industry is on the brink of significant market growth, and Xiaohongshu, the source of lifestyle inspirations in shaping Chinese youth's living spaces, provides an optimal community for brands looking to expand their influence. Looking ahead, the social platform plans to leverage its extensive expertise in user insights and brand management to drive innovative marketing strategies within the home furnishing sector. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2518238/image_5030780_22345238.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2518237/image_5030780_22345175.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/xiaohongshu-and-vogue-business-redefine-home-aesthetics-during-milan-fashion-week-302261871.html Kunstliche Intelligenz hat spatestens nach dem Raketenstart von Chat GPT das Leben aller verandert. Doch der Superzyklus steht nach Meinungen von Experten erst am Anfang. Wahrend Aktien wie Nvidia von der ersten Aufwartsentwicklung stark profitieren konnten, versprechen aussichtsreiche Player aus der zweiten Reihe noch enormes Aufwartspotenzial. Im kostenlosen, exklusiven Spezialreport prasentieren wir ihnen 5 innovative KI-Unternehmen, die bahnbrechende Entwicklungen in diesem Sektor pragen konnten. Warum sollten Sie dabei sein? Trotz der jungsten Erfolge steht die Entwicklung der kunstlichen Intelligenz noch am Beginn eines neuen Superzyklus. Experten gehen davon aus, dass der Sektor bis 2032 global auf 1,3 Billionen US-Dollar explodieren wird, wobei ein groer Teil auf Hardware und Infrastruktur entfallen wird. Nutzen Sie die Chance! Fordern Sie sofort unseren brandneuen Spezialreport an und erfahren Sie, welche 5 KI-Aktien das grote Potenzial zur Vervielfachung besitzen. Dieser Report ist komplett kostenlos und zeigt Ihnen die aussichtsreichsten Investments im KI-Sektor. Handeln Sie jetzt und sichern Sie sich Ihren kostenfreien Report! Regulatory News: TotalEnergies (Paris:TTE) (LSE:TTE) (NYSE:TTE) has started commercial operations of Danish Fields and Cottonwood, two utility-scale solar farms with integrated battery storage located in southeast Texas. These new projects, with a combined capacity of 1.2 GW, are part of a portfolio of renewable assets totaling 4 GW in operation or under construction in Texas. Danish Fields is TotalEnergies' largest solar farm in the United States, with a capacity of 720 MWp and 1.4 million ground-mounted photovoltaic panels. Danish Fields also features a 225 MWh battery storage system supplied by Saft, the battery subsidiary of TotalEnergies. 70% of Danish's solar capacity has been contracted through long-term Corporate Power Purchase Agreements (CPPAs) signed with industry players like Saint-Gobain, featuring an upside sharing mechanism indexed on merchant price. The remaining 30% will support the decarbonization of TotalEnergies' industrial plants in the U.S. Gulf Coast region. Along with Myrtle Solar which was commissioned in 2023 and the under-construction Hill 1 solar farm, these three projects will cover the electricity consumption of TotalEnergies' industrial sites in Port Arthur and La Porte in Texas, and Carville in Louisiana. Cottonwood has a capacity of 455 MWp featuring over 847,000 ground-mounted photovoltaic panels. The site will also feature 225 MWh of battery storage supplied by Saft, scheduled for commissioning in 2025. Cottonwood's electricity production is contracted under long-term PPAs indexed to merchant prices through an upside-sharing mechanism with LyondellBasell and Saint-Gobain, to support their decarbonization efforts. "The start-ups of Danish Fields and Cottonwood in the fast-growing ERCOT market showcase TotalEnergies' ability to deliver competitive renewable electricity to support our clients' decarbonization goals, as well as our own. Thanks to these projects, we are delighted to take another step in delivering our strategy across the entire value chain, from power generation to customer delivery, in order to achieve our profitability target of 12% ROACE in our Integrated Power business", said Olivier Jouny, Senior Vice President, Renewables at TotalEnergies. TotalEnergies and electricity in the U.S TotalEnergies is one of the top renewable energy players in the United States, with a portfolio of large-scale solar, storage, onsite B2B solar distributed generation, onshore and offshore wind projects. The Company aims to achieve a combined gross capacity of 10 GW by 2025 and more than 25 GW by 2030. TotalEnergies has also added 1.5 GW of flexible power production capacity with the acquisition of three gas-fired power plants in Texas. TotalEnergies and electricity As part of its ambition to get to net zero by 2050, TotalEnergies is building a world class cost-competitive portfolio combining renewables (solar, onshore and offshore wind) and flexible assets (CCGT, storage) to deliver clean firm power to its customers. Mid-2024, TotalEnergies' gross renewable electricity generation installed capacity was 24 GW. TotalEnergies will continue to expand this business to reach 35 GW in 2025 and more than 100 TWh of net electricity production by 2030. About TotalEnergies TotalEnergies is a global multi-energy company that produces and markets energies: oil and biofuels, natural gas and green gases, renewables and electricity. Our more than 100,000 employees are committed to energy that is ever more affordable, more sustainable, more reliable and accessible to as many people as possible. Active in nearly 130 countries, TotalEnergies puts sustainable development in all its dimensions at the heart of its projects and operations to contribute to the well-being of people. @TotalEnergies TotalEnergies TotalEnergies TotalEnergies Cautionary Note The terms "TotalEnergies", "TotalEnergies company" or "Company" in this document are used to designate TotalEnergies SE and the consolidated entities that are directly or indirectly controlled by TotalEnergies SE. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" may also be used to refer to these entities or to their employees. The entities in which TotalEnergies SE directly or indirectly owns a shareholding are separate legal entities. This document may contain forward-looking information and statements that are based on a number of economic data and assumptions made in a given economic, competitive and regulatory environment. They may prove to be inaccurate in the future and are subject to a number of risk factors. Neither TotalEnergies SE nor any of its subsidiaries assumes any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information or statement, objectives or trends contained in this document whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Information concerning risk factors, that may affect TotalEnergies' financial results or activities is provided in the most recent Universal Registration Document, the French-language version of which is filed by TotalEnergies SE with the French securities regulator Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF), and in the Form 20-F filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240930314779/en/ Contacts: TotalEnergies Contacts Media Relations: +33 (0)1 47 44 46 99 l presse@totalenergies.com l @TotalEnergiesPR Investor Relations: +33 (0)1 47 44 46 46 l ir@totalenergies.com 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. New contracts for hydrogen and battery electric buses drive IVECO BUS to success in France Turin, Italy, 30th September 2024. IVECO BUS, the urban, intercity and tourist bus brand of Iveco Group (EXM: IVG), received three new contracts for electric mobility solutions in France, reinforcing the brand's leadership in the transition to cleaner, greener public transport. In total, 31 hydrogen fuel cell buses and 20 battery electric buses have been ordered since the beginning of September. Cannes Lerins Urban Community has renewed its trust in IVECO BUS and ordered twelve GX 337 H2 LINIUM BRT hydrogen fuel cell buses. Deliveries will start in the second half of 2025 to complement the thirty-five IVECO BUS GX ELEC battery electric buses already in the fleet. Lorient Agglomeration has also chosen IVECO BUS's hydrogen technology for its network, with nineteen GX 337 H2 LINIUM buses, five of which will enter service in the second half of 2025. The third contract is with Grand Reims Mobilites which has selected IVECO BUS to deliver twenty (with an option for an additional nine) GX 437 ELEC LINIUM BRT battery electric buses. These vehicles will begin operating on the streets of Reims in autumn 2025. The hydrogen fuel cell bus chosen by Cannes and Lorient is one of the outcomes of the partnership between Iveco Group and Hyundai Motor Company that started in 2022. The model is equipped with an advanced fuel cell system developed by HTWO, the hydrogen business brand of Hyundai Motor Group, and a battery pack by FPT Industrial, the Iveco Group brand dedicated to the design and production of low-environmental impact powertrains. The battery electric bus for Reims is part of the successful range that has already been chosen by more than one hundred customers in Europe with more than three thousand units ordered. Domenico Nucera, President, Bus Business Unit, Iveco Group, commented: "We are proud of the trust placed in us by these forward-thinking urban communities. These projects underscore IVECO BUS's expertise in sustainable mobility, covering all ranges and technologies for low- to zero-emission vehicles. Moreover, we confirm our leadership in the French market, where we remain committed to providing high-performance mobility solutions that meet the diverse needs of customers. We look forward to continuing our journey towards more sustainable public transport and a greener future with our partners in France and all over Europe." Iveco Group N.V. Media Contacts: Francesco Polsinelli, Tel: +39 335 1776091 Fabio Lepore, Tel: +39 335 7469007 E-mail: mediarelations@ivecogroup.com Attachments QUZHOU, China, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- September 28 marks the 2575th birth anniversary of the revered Chinese philosopher Confucius. The ceremonial event, which seeks to respect the sage and honor rituals as well as promote nationwide worship of Confucius to achieve universal harmony, took place in the eastern Chinese city of Quzhou, located in Zhejiang Province. A Media Snippet accompanying this announcement is available by clicking on this link. "This year, the Confucius worship ceremony has, for the first time, moved beyond the confines of the ancestral temple and taken place at the Confucius Cultural Square located in front of the temple," said Sheng Xiongsheng, director of Quzhou Southern Confucianism Development Center. "By doing so, it has opened up the participation to representatives from various sectors of society in the city's public space, enabling the general public to take part in honoring and worshiping Confucius." In addition to expressing respect and admiration for Confucius and traditional culture through the rituals, this year's ceremony also launched an online initiative for Confucius worship, which has attracted widespread participation from individuals around the world and from all walks of life, according to Sheng. Quzhou, with its long history and rich cultural heritage, is renowned as the southeastern gateway and the sacred land of southern Confucianism due to its status as the ancestral home and secondary hometown of Confucius and his descendants. In the year 1129 AD, Kong Duanyou, the 48th direct descendant of Confucius, accompanied Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty on his migration to region of Zhejiang, where they later received imperial authorization to establish a family temple in Quzhou. Over the course of more than 800 years since then, the descendants of Confucius actively promoted the integration of Confucian culture into the cultural fabric of the region in the southern bank of the Yangtze River, giving rise to the renowned southern Confucianism. Their efforts have made significant contributions to the dissemination and development of Confucianism in southern China. The tradition of worshiping Confucius originated during the Han Dynasty and has been passed down through successive generations. By the time of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the scale of the ritual had reached its peak, becoming a grand national event known as a great ceremony of the nation. In 2004, Quzhou revived the interrupted tradition of the Confucius worship ceremony, which had been discontinued for many years. In contrast to traditional Confucius worship ceremonies, the Confucius worship ceremony in Quzhou stands out for its contemporary and down-to-earth approach. Participants don modern attire and observe modern etiquette, replacing the traditional offering of three types of livestock with the offering of five types of grains. The ceremony also replaces traditional music and dance with the recitation of excerpts from the Analects of Confucius. This contemporary and accessible approach, known as the contemporary and people-oriented Confucius worship, emphasizes the importance of adapting the ceremony to the present time. It encourages the abandonment of outdated rituals, promotes the wearing of modern clothing, and upholds the essence of Confucian philosophy. In May 2011, the Confucius worship ceremony in Quzhou was officially included in the third batch of China's national intangible cultural heritage list. It is worth mentioning that this year's Confucius worship ceremony in Quzhou has, for the first time, become a sub-venue event of the China International Confucius Culture Festival. It has undergone further innovative enhancements in terms of content and format. In recent years, Quzhou, as the birthplace of Southern Confucianism and an important component of Zhejiang's Song Dynasty cultural heritage, has been committed to revitalizing its traditional cultural heritage and promoting the modern transformation of Confucianism. Through innovative initiatives such as the Confucius worship ceremony and the Southern Confucianism season, Quzhou has successfully established the urban brand of a sacred land of southern Confucianism and a land with etiquette. These efforts have not only enhanced the city's level of civilization and reputation but also injected new impetus into the high-quality development of the regional economy. By integrating Southern Confucianism into modern life, Quzhou fully demonstrates the contemporary and practical significance of this cultural heritage. Source: Quzhou Southern Confucianism Culture Development Center ISACA's flagship European event returns to Dublin between 23-25th October 2024 ISACA, a global professional association that connects IT governance, infosecurity and cybersecurity professionals and helps them transform their careers and their organisations, is returning to the Dublin Convention Center for their 2024 Europe Conference, between 23-25 October 2024. More than 40 sessions will connect the global ISACA community and other industry experts to discuss the newest trends, challenges, and innovations in technology, including digital trust, audit, governance, privacy, security and artificial intelligence (AI). Attendees can earn up to 25 continuing professional education (CPE) credits during the conference and pre-conference workshop to enhance their skills and knowledge. An opening keynote presentation will be delivered by AI expert and business strategist Elin Hauge, sharing insights on how AI impacts businesses in her session "Trustworthy AI, an oxymoron?" The closing keynote will be delivered by Amy Brann, founder of Synaptic Potential, who will discuss the value of applying neuroscience principles when creating strong teams in her session "The Neuroscience Behind Creating Productive People in Successful Organisations." Other Notable Speakers and Sessions Alongside the keynote speakers, the ISACA Europe Conference features a dynamic speaker lineup of industry experts sharing the latest on tech challenges and opportunities. Topics include AI governance, cyberwarfare, managing compliance and risk in the face of security challenges, how the EU Digital Operational Resilience Act affects using the cloud, and more. The conference will include several panel discussions featuring thought leaders from across Europe and industries, including: "Turning AI Risks into Opportunities for Europe's Digital Future" with Una Fitzpatrick, Director of Technology Ireland and additional European Union policy development professionals "Conversation with the Chiefs: Leading in the Automated Future" with Ulrika Dellrud, Chief Privacy and Data Ethics Officer at Smarter Contracts; Robert Findlay, Global Head of IT Audit at Glanbia; Dr. Valerie Lyons, Chief Operations Officer at BH Consulting; and Dr. Shahram Mossayebi, Co-founder and CEO of Crypto Quantique "What Are the Skills Needed by IT and Cybersecurity Future Workforce to Prepare Them for Future Industry Roles?" with Jeff Angle, Senior Director of Academic and Workforce Development at ISACA; Jon Brandt, Director of Professional Practices and Innovation at ISACA; Dr. Anitha Chinnaswamy, Deputy Director of Cyber Security Innovation Centre at Aston Business School; and Ameet Jugnauth, Technology and Cyber Risk Director at Ardagh Group Erik Prusch, ISACA's CEO, said: "ISACA 2024 Europe Conference is designed to equip professionals with the information and resources they need to thrive in the constantly changing world of digital trust and cybersecurity." "With a range of industry leaders convening to share the latest knowledge and best practices, attendees will gain invaluable insights and practical strategies to enhance their professional capabilities." A pre-conference course, "AI Innovation Workshop," taught by ISACA Hall of Fame member Ramses Gallego, International Chief Technology Officer at OpenText Cybersecurity, and Megan Hall, Chief Information and Infrastructure Officer of First National Bank of Paragould, may be added at an additional fee. Workshop attendees receive a one-year subscription to the Artificial Intelligence Audit Toolkit. In addition to the educational sessions, the conference will offer exclusive networking opportunities, including a reception on the first day, providing attendees with the opportunity to connect with peers and industry leaders. Attendees can also learn about ISACA's SheLeadsTech program and the ISACA Foundation and discuss ways to achieve a more equitable digital world. Registration is now open, with special pricing for ISACA members. For more information and to register, visit the ISACA 2024 Europe Conference website: www.isaca.org/training-and-events/conferences/isaca-europe-conference. About ISACA For more than 50 years, ISACA (www.isaca.org) has equipped individuals and enterprises with knowledge, credentials, education, training and community to progress their careers, transform their organizations, and build a more trusted and ethical digital world. ISACA has 180,000+ members in 188 countries, including 225 chapters worldwide, who work in digital trust fields such as information security, governance, assurance, risk, privacy and quality. Through the ISACA Foundation, ISACA supports IT education and career pathways for underresourced and underrepresented populations. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240930567105/en/ Contacts: Firstlight Group +44 7960 079 643, isacateam@firstlightgroup.io ISACA Esther Almendros, +34 692 669 772, ealmendros@isaca.org HANGZHOU, China, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- No matter the distance, true friendship knows no boundaries. In the golden autumn of September, when the sweet fragrance of osmanthus fills the air, the Global Mayors Dialogue Hangzhou and the 9th Hangzhou International Sister City Mayors Conference kicked off in Hangzhou. Mayors and representatives from 24 cities in 15 countries and regions, along with diplomats from their respective embassies and representatives from domestic relevant departments and cities, attended the forum, according to the people's government of Hangzhou. With a focus on urban governance and sustainable development, mayors from both domestic and international cities engaged in in-depth dialogues, sharing advanced experiences in urban governance and contributing their wisdom to promote global urban sustainable development. In the 13th century, Italian explorer Marco Polo traveled a long distance to reach the distant East and was deeply captivated by Hangzhou, a renowned city on the southeast coast of China. In his travelogue, Hangzhou was hailed as "the finest and the noblest in the world." As time passes, Hangzhou has become a city featuring both ancient streets and alleys adorned with blue bricks and black tiles and a modern metropolis landscape with towering skyscrapers. Leveraging its rich historical and cultural heritage and thriving digital economy, Hangzhou showcases how an ancient yet modern city can coexist harmoniously, leading the way in global urban sustainable development trends. "West Lake may be compared to Beauty Xi Zi, whether she is richly adorned or plainly dressed." Yao Gaoyuan, mayor of Hangzhou, vividly depicts the city's characteristics as being suitable for living, suitable for business, and suitable for tourism. "Hangzhou is a city where once you arrive, you won't want to leave, and even after leaving, you will yearn to return," Yao said. Yao shared the exploration and practices of Hangzhou in areas such as digital innovation and urban governance, ecological civilization and urban sustainable development, as well as cultural heritage and humanistic exchanges. Digital empowerment has boosted urban governance in Hangzhou, making the city smarter and its governance more efficient. By constructing a digital city brain and utilizing technologies such as cloud computing, big data, and advanced modeling, Hangzhou has achieved real-time monitoring and efficient scheduling of urban traffic. It can now instantly perceive the traffic volume, vehicle speed, and congested areas, allowing for precise traffic guidance and effectively improving the intelligence and precision of urban governance. Yao also cited the case of the governance and conservation practices of Thousand Island Lake in Chun'an County in southwest Hangzhou, to illustrate the city's experience in balancing economic development and environmental protection. Leveraging its abundant natural water resources, Chun'an County has cultivated a water beverage industry cluster, led by Nongfu Spring, which has significantly contributed to annual output value and tax revenue. At the same time, Thousand Island Lake has become a popular tourist destination, attracting millions of visitors. This remarkable transformation truly embodies the concept that lush mountains and lucid waters are invaluable assets. Hangzhou is equally dedicated and sparing no effort when it comes to the preservation and inheritance of cultural heritage. Hangzhou's economic development goes hand in hand with the preservation and prosperity of its culture, never losing sight of the city's cultural essence. As a city with a rich historical and cultural heritage, Hangzhou boasts three world cultural heritage sites. In 2011, the West Lake cultural landscape was inscribed on the list. In 2014 and 2019, the Grand Canal of China and the Liangzhu Archaeological Site also earned the prestigious honor. Behind the successful inscriptions lies the city's decades-long persistence and efforts. Hangzhou has consistently highlighted holistic preservation, systematic inheritance, and innovative development. It has fostered a consensus and awareness throughout society about the importance of protecting historical and cultural heritage. By integrating ancient cultural heritage with urban development, Hangzhou breathes new life into its heritage, sparking vitality and rejuvenation. This year marks the 45th anniversary of Hangzhou's establishment of its first international sister city relationship. Over the past 45 years, the city has upheld openness, inclusiveness, mutual benefit, and win-win cooperation, engaging in friendly exchanges and cooperation with sister cities with fruitful outcomes in international cooperation. Particularly in the past 16 years, Hangzhou has hosted nine editions of the Hangzhou International Sister City Mayors Conference, resulting in a series of practical cooperation achievements. The conference has become an essential platform for Hangzhou to share governance experiences and discuss urban development with sister cities, bridging the gap between the city and the rest of the world. So far, Hangzhou has established friendly relations with 31 international sister cities and maintained friendly exchanges with 42 cities around the world. From hosting the G20 Hangzhou Summit, the Hangzhou Asian Games and Asian Para Games, to events like the Global Digital Trade Expo and the Liangzhu Forum, and now the Global Mayors Dialogue Hangzhou and the 9th Hangzhou International Sister City Mayors Conference, Hangzhou is embracing the global stage with an open and inclusive attitude. The eastern Chinese city looks forward to contributing more of its wisdom and solutions for the sustainable development of global cities, and continuing to write a new chapter of brilliance in the future. Source: The People's Government of Hangzhou GUANGZHOU, China, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- On August 30, 2024, the original dance drama "Wing Chun" from Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, made its UK debut at Sadler's Wells Theatre in London, known as the "temple of dance." Tickets for the event sold out rapidly, and the performance garnered rave reviews from the audience. From late August to early September, the production showcased 12 performances over nine days, achieving an impressive average occupancy rate of over 80 percent. This milestone established a record for the longest and most performances of a Chinese dance drama in London. "Wing Chun" masterfully blends dance and visual art to highlight the unique allure of Wing Chun, a style of kung fu known for its emphasis on close-quarters combat, rapid punches, and tight defense, as well as Gambiered Guangdong gauze (Xiangyunsha), a prestigious silk fabric renowned for its intricate dyeing and printing techniques. Both Wing Chun and Xiangyunsha are recognized as intangible cultural heritage items. The success of the drama reflects a growing global enthusiasm for Chinese culture, particularly Lingnan culture. In March 2024, the Featured Guangdong-Cantonese Opera event took place at the Guangdong Cantonese Opera House, attended by approximately 60 officials and their families from various consulates in Guangzhou. The attendees expressed heartfelt admiration for the beauty of Cantonese opera. The following month, the Foreign Affairs Office of the People's Government of Guangzhou Municipality, in collaboration with Panyu District, organized the "Explore Panyu" event for foreign consular officials. During this event, officials from 30 countries toured the ancient town of Shawan, enjoyed Cantonese music, admired murals and sculptures, and experienced traditional customs. In May 2024, the 20th China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair opened at the Shenzhen World Exhibition Convention Center. This event featured an impressive array of Chinese cultural products, ranging from intangible cultural heritage to domestically produced e-sports games, films, and original music. The fair attracted participation from 60 countries and regions, with 302 overseas exhibitors engaging both online and offline. Guangdong is dedicated to exploring the essence of its traditional culture by fostering innovative transformation and creative development through various cultural expressions, including Cantonese, Teochew, and Hakka cuisines, Xiangyunsha, Shiwan ceramics, kung fu, lion dancing, and dragon boat racing. To commemorate the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's death, the opera "Marco Polo" was restaged at the Guangzhou Opera House in May 2024. The international theme and contemporary staging captivated both domestic and international audiences. Dragon boat racing, as a vibrant aspect of Lingnan culture, has become an important avenue for international friends to experience local customs. During the Guangzhou International Dragon Boat Invitational Tournament held in June 2024, among the 111 participating teams, many overseas competitors hailed from the United States, Canada, Malaysia, and Kazakhstan. Not only tradition attracts global interest, but also modernity. In August 2024, the "Lingnan Water Town International Cartoon & Animation Week" kicked off in Hongmei Town, Dongguan. Local art toy brands such as Laura and Motor Nuclear, alongside popular domestic animation IPs like Pleasant Goat, Boonie Bears, and Piggy Hero, showcased their works, demonstrating the vibrant energy of contemporary art toys and animation. Industry leaders from Japan, the Republic of Korea, as well as from China's Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan region, gathered to share creative insights and discuss industry trends, generating significant interest in the Chinese cultural trade market. The lively cultural activities and exchanges in southern Guangdong are infusing new vitality into the integration and development of both Chinese and foreign cultures. Contact: Meii Zhang Tel.: 0086-18611686759 E-mail: 1713543383@qq.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2519101/Guangdong_Province.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/lingnan-culture-captivates-global-attention-with-wing-chun-cantonese-opera-and-dragon-boat-racing-302262488.html Golden Lake Exploration Inc. (CSE:GLM)(OTCQB:GOLXF) ("Golden Lake" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has commenced drilling on its flagship Jewel Ridge property (the "Property"), located in the prolific Battle Mountain-Eureka gold trend of Nevada. The Property is well-located proximal to infrastructure and is immediately adjacent to successful, high-profile exploration programs currently being undertaken by North Peak Resources Ltd. & i-80 Gold Corp. (IAU.TO), on their neighboring Prospect Mountain and Ruby Hill properties, respectively. Drill Program HD Drilling Services, based out of Winnemucca, Nevada, has been retained by the Company to complete the 1,700-meter drill program. The program will consist of 4 to 5 high-priority drill targets and is anticipated to take 2 to 3 weeks to complete. These high-priority drill targets include Induced Polarization (IP) anomalies generated from 2024 surveys situated within favorable geological & structural settings. Such settings host both Carlin-type disseminated gold deposits and carbonate replacement deposits, which are prominent in the immediate area of the South Eureka Gold Belt, where the Jewel Ridge property is located. Other targets include historic mines yielding high precious and base-metal assays, largely exploited at shallow depth that have seen no historic drilling. Full details of the drill targets can be found on the Golden Lake website at www.goldenlakex.com. Drill results will be released as they become available. Qualified person Golden Lake Exploration's disclosure of a technical or scientific nature in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Don Hoy, P.Geo., who serves as a qualified person under the definition of National Instrument 43-101. About Golden Lake Exploration Inc Golden Lake Exploration is a junior public mining exploration company engaged in the business of mineral exploration and the acquisition of mineral property assets. Its objective is to acquire, explore and develop economic precious and base metal properties of merit and to aggressively advance its exploration program on the Jewel Ridge property. Further to the Company's news release of September 13th, 2024, announcing the closing of an oversubscribed private placement, an additional arm's length finder was compensated with finder's fees of $4,600 cash and 92,000 non-transferable finder's warrants. Each finder's Warrant will entitle the finder to purchase one Warrant Share of the Company for a 12-month period after the Closing Date at an exercise price of $0.07 per share. On Behalf of the Board, Mike England CEO, President & Director For Further Information Please Contact: Telephone: 1-604-683-3995 Toll Free: 1-888-945-4770 Email: info@goldenlakex.com The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE: Golden Lake Exploration Inc. San Diego, California and Paris, France--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - Qualcomm Incorporated, a global leader in high-performance at low-power solutions, through its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. ("Qualcomm"), and Sequans Communications S.A. (NYSE: SQNS), a supplier of 4G and 5G semiconductor solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT), today announced that they have completed the sale of Sequans' 4G IoT technology to Qualcomm. "We are pleased to add Sequans' 4G IoT technology into Qualcomm's broad product portfolio, adding to our robust, low-power solutions for dependable and optimized cellular connectivity for industrial IoT applications," said Nakul Duggal, group general manager, automotive, industrial and embedded IoT, and cloud computing, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "This acquisition supports our commitment to delivering cutting-edge IoT solutions and strengthens our position as a leader in intelligence at the edge." "We are thrilled to finalize this transaction with Qualcomm and to retain a perpetual license to continue using, commercializing and advancing these technologies, said Georges Karam, CEO of Sequans. "It validates the strength of our technology and ensures that our customers will continue to receive top-tier support on our 4G portfolio and cutting-edge 5G innovation from Sequans. The asset sale is set to deliver significant benefits to our customers. With a robust balance sheet, proven technology and a comprehensive portfolio that includes low-power LTE-M/NB-IoT, LTE Cat 1bis and the upcoming 5G Redcap/eRedCap technology, Sequans is very well positioned in the market. Supported by a seasoned team dedicated to cellular IoT, Sequans is set to provide best-in-class IoT products and services." Qualcomm Technologies expects to integrate these 4G IOT technologies into its portfolio of purpose-built connectivity solutions for IOT. About Qualcomm Qualcomm relentlessly innovates to deliver intelligent computing everywhere, helping the world tackle some of its most important challenges. Our proven solutions drive transformation across major industries, and our Snapdragon branded platforms power extraordinary consumer experiences. Building on our nearly 40-year leadership in setting industry standards and creating era-defining technology breakthroughs, we deliver leading edge AI, high-performance, low-power computing, and unrivaled connectivity. Together with our ecosystem partners, we enable next-generation digital transformation to enrich lives, improve businesses, and advance societies. At Qualcomm, we are engineering human progress. Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of our engineering and research and development functions and substantially all of our products and services businesses, including our QCT semiconductor business. Snapdragon and Qualcomm branded products are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. Qualcomm patented technologies are licensed by Qualcomm Incorporated. About Sequans Communications Sequans Communications S.A. (NYSE: SQNS) is a leading semiconductor company specializing in wireless cellular technology for the Internet of Things (IoT). Our engineers design and develop innovative, secure, and scalable technologies that power the next generation of connected devices. We offer a wide range of solutions, including chips, modules, IP, and services. Our LTE-M/NB-IoT, 4G LTE Cat 1bis, and 5G NR RedCap/eRedCap platforms are optimized for IoT, delivering breakthroughs in wireless connectivity, power efficiency, security, and performance. Established in 2003, Sequans is headquartered in France and has a global presence with offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore, Finland, Taiwan, and China. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/225024 SOURCE: Sequans Communications NANNING, China, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On September 24, the China-ASEAN (Baise-Cao Bang) Industrial Chain and Supply Chain Cooperation and Innovative Development Conference, hosted by the CPC Baise Municipal Committee and Baise Municipal Government, took place in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. Nearly 200 entrepreneurial representatives from the Yangtze River Delta, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and other regions in China, as well as from Vietnamese enterprises, attended the conference. A Media Snippet accompanying this announcement is available by clicking on this link. At this conference, 19 projects were signed, with a total investment of 20.663 billion yuan. These projects cover a wide range of fields, demonstrating strong innovation capabilities and promising development prospects. They will provide robust support for Baise City to accelerate its high-level opening-up both domestically and internationally, and assist Guangxi in establishing a convenient operation environment for domestic and international dual circulation markets. China and Vietnam are good neighbors, friends and partners. Baise City and Cao Bang Province are connected by mountains and rivers, share similar customs, and enjoy extensive cultural exchanges. Their cooperation in various fields is very close, particularly in industrial chain and supply chain collaboration. In August of this year, during a visit to Cao Bang Province by a Baise delegation, both sides reached a broad consensus on cooperation in areas such as friendly exchanges, cross-border tourism, cross-border agriculture, connectivity, and border control. The convening of the China-ASEAN (Baise-Cao Bang) Industrial Chain and Supply Chain Cooperation and Innovative Development Conference is a concrete action to implement the cooperation consensus between Baise City and Cao Bang Province, aligning with the common interests and aspirations of both sides. At the conference, the Zhejiang Businessmen (Baise-ASEAN) Overseas Cooperation Center, jointly initiated by the Zhejiang Provincial Center for Supporting Zhejiang Businessmen's Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce in China, and the Baise Municipal Federation of Industry and Commerce, was officially launched. This center will leverage Baise's multiple advantages as a frontier for opening-up, transportation hub, and industrial cluster to promote deeper exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and Vietnamese enterprises, helping them share opportunities, foster mutual growth, and venture into international markets. Source: Baise Municipal Government NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / Gildan Activewear Every year, Gildan's summer internship program invites aspiring students and recent graduates to go beyond the simple t-shirt and discover the full breadth and scale of the organization. This year, Gildan welcomed over 30 interns across offices in Canada, Barbados, and the United States, providing them with opportunities to support various functions, hone their skills with experienced mentors, and network with professionals from the various regions where Gildan operates. "Our summer internship program is a great chance to introduce Gildan to passionate students," says Shannon Preston, Vice-President of Human Resources at Gildan. "Moreover, it is an opportunity for us to inspire responsible and strong leaders of tomorrow, both for Gildan and beyond." We asked some interns about their experience with the program and interesting things they learned along the way. Here's what they had to say: On why they chose Gildan: "I first heard about the internship program from a past Gildan intern and was impressed by his experience. Upon doing some further research, I learned about Gildan's commitment to producing apparel responsibly, and knew that this was the kind of company I wanted to work for. Imagine my excitement when I learned that there was a Customer Service internship opening for the 2024 season. It was the perfect opportunity for me to combine my passion for speaking with people with my degree in tourism and hospitality. This role offered me the chance to gain some practical experience and test my customer service skills in a global company stationed across multiple regions." - Kecia Alleyne, Customer Service Intern On what surprised them about Gildan: "I hadn't fully grasped the breadth of Gildan. It was only when I began working in the SOX Compliance team and collaborating with different stakeholders from across the Company that I realized the true scale of the organization. Throughout my internship, I had the chance to understand the work of many different departments, including external reporting, commodities, and treasury. Also, the internship cohort itself consisted of people from HR, Communications, Legal, etc., exposing me to multiple roles. Eventually, I began to see the bigger picture. I realized that there's so much that goes into making a company like Gildan, and so much that goes into making a simple t-shirt!" - Sergio Henao, Corporate Accounting Intern On the most rewarding part of the internship: "I worked on many projects this summer - from writing long-form articles and creating marketing brochures, to working on social media content and updating our websites. What was really rewarding for me was taking ownership of these projects from inception to closure. I also had the opportunity to work with stakeholders from across Gildan and build meaningful connections with marketing and communications professionals, all the while gathering valuable feedback on my projects. It was incredibly rewarding to see my projects evolve from the very beginning to the end, ultimately contributing to shaping Gildan's narrative." - Gabrielle Webb, Corporate Marketing and Communications Intern On their key takeaways from this experience: "From technical and professional skills, to building meaningful relationships, there are so many things I have gained. In law school, I often read many court cases and doctrinal writings, but it was a completely different experience to see how law plays a role in real life. But more than technical skills and knowledge, my biggest takeaway is the relationships I built here. From the get-go, my supervisors and colleagues created a welcoming and supportive atmosphere, making me feel like a valuable addition to the group. I always felt comfortable asking questions, presenting my opinions, and even discussing my career progression. It was a pleasure getting to know the team and I know these relationships will go far beyond my internship here." - Xuan He, Legal Intern On their most memorable moment: "There were so many! The HR team had planned many exciting activities for us, including lunch and learns with leaders, personal branding and LinkedIn workshops, and we even got to celebrate the Company's 40th anniversary. But if I had to pick, I'd choose the two lunch and learn events we had with Chuck Ward, President of Sales, Marketing, and Distribution, and Rhodri Harries, Executive Vice-President Chief Financial and Administrative Officer at Gildan. It was incredibly exciting to learn about their diverse career journeys and have the opportunity to ask them questions. Their stories gave me a lot of perspective and helped me see my own career as ever-changing and evolving." - Adara Mohammed, Human Resources Intern On their favourite project: "One of my favourite projects this summer was creating playbooks for Gildan's HR processes. This project involved a lot of research and collaboration with stakeholders, and after weeks of work, it is very satisfying to know that these documents will act as useful resources for Gildan's HR teams. But what I truly loved most about this internship was the dual role I often played - I was both an intern and was heavily involved in supporting the local Montreal internship program. For instance, I helped organize many of the lunch and learn events, while attending them myself too. This dual perspective really helped me glean into the nature of HR, preparing me for my future as an HR professional." - Gabrielle Boulanger, Human Resources Intern On advice for someone considering an internship at Gildan: "To anyone considering applying for the internship program at Gildan, I'd say, 'go for it!' As a student from Jamaica applying for an internship in Barbados, I wasn't sure what my chances were of being accepted to the program. And yet, here I am! Over the last two months, I've built long-lasting professional relationships and enhanced my skills in digital marketing which has been a huge value addition to my professional journey. So, take it from me - apply, because it is an enriching experience to work at a global company alongside encouraging mentors and a passionate group of interns." - Shian Scarlett, Digital Marketing Intern Find out more about Gildan's summer internship program here. A Look Into Gildan's Internship Program: Meet Seven Summer Interns of 2024 View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Gildan Activewear on 3blmedia.com. Contact Info: Spokesperson: Gildan Activewear Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/gildan-activewear Email: info@3blmedia.com SOURCE: Gildan Activewear 30th September 2024, 15:45 CET On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of ArcelorMittal Poland, ArcelorMittal Europe CEO Geert Van Poelvoorde calls for European Union support for emergency trade measures, and a firm action plan for steel, to keep steelmaking alive in Europe It is 20 years since Mittal Steel acquired Polskie Huty Stali in 2004, when the business was put up for privatisation by the Polish government. Since then, the business has been transformed and modernised through significant investment. Today in Poland, ArcelorMittal has Europe's most modern hot rolling mill, in Krakow; the heavy section mill in Dabrowa Gornicza is in the elite group of mills able to produce 120-metre-long rail. Carbon dioxide emissions have been reduced by 42 percent, dust emissions by 90 percent, and energy consumption by 40 percent. According to the latest report from the Warsaw School of Economics, in 2023 ArcelorMittal was the second largest foreign investor in Poland. The company's achievements gain even more importance at a time when many steel companies in the central and eastern Europe region are facing serious challenges concerning their future. Speaking at the 20th anniversary celebrations in Sosnowiec, Poland, Geert Van Poelvoorde, CEO ArcelorMittal Europe said: "As in the rest of Europe today, Polish steelmakers are under intense pressure, due to the high costs of making steel in Europe and the volume of subsidised, cheap imports flooding the market. As a result, the European steel industry will continue to shrink. But with the right policies in place to support us, we can thrive - and our industry can continue to be the foundation of European industry - in a new era." Mr Van Poelvoorde called on the Polish government for its support as it prepares to hold the Presidency of the European Council. This will be a critical time for determining the future of European steel, as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) legislation is finalised, which will determine European steelmakers' ability to continue to produce steel competitively while also being able to make the investments needed to decarbonise. "With Poland due to hold the presidency of the European Council for the first half of next year, I am sure that we can count on Poland's support to translate the Commission's ambitions into an effective policy to support the industry's decarbonisation, and to introduce much-needed emergency trade measures for the steel sector. Next year, more specifically the first six months of 2025, will be crucial to define the Commission's steel and metals action plan, the Clean Industrial Deal and to bring the measures necessary to create the level playing field that we need for Europe, on track. It is not an exaggeration to say that the decisions that Europe and its member states will take next year, will decide on the future size of European industry and the steel industry". Mr Van Poelvoorde also spoke positively about the recently proposed European Commissioner appointments, and what they mean for the industry: "The mission of the proposed Commissioner for Prosperity and Industrial Policy, Mr. Stephane Sejourne, includes the development of a steel and metals action plan. This has never happened before, and we look forward to seeing the detailed plan to understand how it will support us. I am happy to hear that our cries for a new Industrial Deal for Europe seem to have been listened to and I will continue to advocate for strong, faster action to safeguard our industry against the threats it faces. Indeed, there were many positive signs in the new European Commissioner nominations made last week. But these remain words on the page - an ambitious wish-list written at the start of a new mandate". Closing his speech, Mr Van Poelvoorde said that in light of the growth of protectionism around the world, and the world order coming under pressure, Europe has to define which role it wants to play in the future. "The understanding is now increasing that remaining an economic powerhouse is impossible without a strong industry and specifically, a strong steel industry. Decarbonising by de-industrialising is not a solution for Europe, not for the world and certainly not for the climate and our planet". Ends About ArcelorMittal: ArcelorMittal is one of the world's leading integrated steel and mining companies with a presence in 60 countries and primary steelmaking operations in 15 countries. It is the largest steel producer in Europe, among the largest in the Americas, and has a growing presence in Asia through its joint venture AM/NS India. ArcelorMittal sells its products to a diverse range of customers including the automotive, engineering, construction and machinery industries, and in 2023 generated revenues of $68.3 billion, produced 58.1 million metric tonnes of crude steel and, 42.0 million tonnes of iron ore. Our purpose is to produce smarter steels for people and planet. Steels made using innovative processes which use less energy, emit significantly less carbon and reduce costs. Steels that are cleaner, stronger and reusable. Steels for the renewable energy infrastructure that will support societies as they transform through this century. With steel at our core, our inventive people and an entrepreneurial culture at heart, we will support the world in making that change. ArcelorMittal is listed on the stock exchanges of New York (MT), Amsterdam (MT), Paris (MT), Luxembourg (MT) and on the Spanish stock exchanges of Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid and Valencia (MTS). CHANGZHOU, China, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On September 26, the 2024 New Energy Industry Development Conference & Invest in Changzhou Conference opened, gathering academicians, experts, domestic and international business representatives, and financial institutions to discuss collaboration and development. A Media Snippet accompanying this announcement is available by clicking on this link. A total of 42 projects were signed, with investments reaching 39.7 billion yuan, including nine foreign-funded projects worth $1.16 billion. Ten provincial financial institutions also signed financing agreements totaling 120 billion yuan in credit. New Identity: Advancing Towards China's Capital of New Energy The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has introduced industry identity initiatives, such as Hangzhou's "China's Vision Valley" and Ningbo's "Capital of Magnetic Innovation." Changzhou has been named China's "Capital of New Energy." The city has developed a comprehensive industrial ecosystem, covering power generation, energy storage, transmission, application, and networking. With a strong foundation in new energy, Changzhou leads Jiangsu province in manufacturing added value, forming two national-level industrial clusters in intelligent manufacturing equipment and new carbon materials, with five clusters exceeding one trillion yuan. Changzhou showcases its achievements as the "Capital of New Energy" through three sets of time data. The billion-yuan CATL Jiangsu project took just 363 days from signing to production. Li Auto, now a trillion-yuan company, transformed from a 3-page startup pitch to generating over 123.8 billion yuan in revenue within six years. Additionally, Changzhou's new energy vehicle industry evolved from small-scale production to a collaborative, large-scale model in four years, with vehicle output increasing from 112,000 units in 2021 to 678,000 in 2023, and projected to exceed 800,000 units this year. New Projects: Major Investments in Changzhou Changzhou ranked third in the 2024 Hurun Report for the concentration of China's new energy industry, marking three consecutive years of highest investment enthusiasm. Four local new energy companies achieved unicorn status, and five firms, including CATL, BYD, and Li Auto, from the latest Hurun Global 500 list, chose to invest in Changzhou. Key projects such as ArcelorMittal from Luxembourg, Li Auto's parts base, and Bayer Medical Equipment from Hong Kong have established operations in Changzhou, attributed to its favorable business environment. Since 2020, the city has attracted a total of $10.59 billion in foreign investment. At the conference, Ju Gwang-deok, the mayor of Changzhou's sister city, Namyangju in South Korea, emphasized enhancing cooperation in the new energy sector. Thirty enterprises were recognized for their significant contributions to foreign investment. Additionally, the "Service Guide for Foreigners in Changzhou," a multi-language resource, was launched to assist expatriates living and working in the city. New Tracks: Future Industries Moving Forward Green, low-carbon, digitalization, and sustainable development are the prevailing themes of our time. Changzhou will host various strategic collaborations, innovative platforms, and national events, including the launch of the Second Energy Electronics Industry Innovation Competition and a strategic cooperation agreement to enhance industrialization in the city. Additionally, the Jiangsu Province Advanced Power and Energy Storage Battery Technology Innovation Center was inaugurated. To attract investment in future industries, Changzhou has established Jiangsu's largest new energy mother fund, totaling 5 billion yuan. The event also included the signing of several fund projects, such as the 2 billion yuan Yangtze River Delta Hard Technology Scientist Fund and the 1.68 billion yuan Yuanzheng Venture Capital Fund, amounting to a total of 6.305 billion yuan. Changzhou is advancing the integration of "vehicle, energy, road, and cloud," introducing pilot programs for nearly zero-carbon parks and intelligent microgrid projects. It fosters the development of new business models, including virtual power plants and load aggregators, with the goal of becoming a national carbon peak pilot city. Looking ahead, Changzhou's new energy landscape is set to expand, with investment opportunities emerging in key areas such as synthetic biology, low-altitude economy, smart connected new energy vehicles, solid-state batteries, hydrogen energy, third-generation semiconductors, artificial intelligence, robotics, and industrial mother machines. Source: The Organizing Committee of 2024 New Energy Industry Development Conference & Invest in Changzhou Conference Vote For Your Favorite Bear Beginning October 2, 2024 ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Fat Bear Week , the most beloved week in wildlife conservation, kicks off its 10th anniversary from October 2-8, 2024. In partnership with Katmai National Park, Katmai Conservancy , and explore.org , Fat Bear Week highlights the remarkable transformation of brown bears at Brooks River in Katmai National Park Alaska as they prepare for hibernation. Fat Bear Week features a single-elimination tournament where the public votes online for the bear that demonstrates the most impressive weight gain as they feast on salmon. Voters can visit the " Meet the bears " section to compare photos and learn about each bear's history. The bear with the most votes advances, culminating in the crowning of the Fat Bear Week champion on October 8th. Season 2023's champion, Grazer, is now a new mom raising her first cub. If she retains her title, she will become the first mother bear to win the competition. Over the past decade, Fat Bear Week has captured the hearts of wildlife enthusiasts and nature lovers around the globe. Since 2014, it has grown from a one-day event with 1,700 votes to a weeklong worldwide celebration with almost 1.4 million votes cast from more than 100 countries in 2023. Fat Bear Week is made possible through a partnership with Explore.org, a philanthropic organization that provides live streaming webcams of bears fishing for salmon at Brooks River. This initiative is further supported by Katmai Conservancy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to preserving the natural beauty and wildlife of Katmai National Park. Together, they bring the remarkable world of these bears to audiences everywhere. "Fat Bear Week is an election in which every candidate is fit for office," says explore.org's founder Charlie Annenberg. "The bears have demonstrated their credibility through hard work, skill, and the growth of their waistline. Each aims to achieve the same goal-surviving winter hibernation. They all are worthy of our respect and admiration." Voters can also support Katmai's bears by donating to the Katmai Conservancy's Otis Fund , where all donations will be matched by Explore.org from October 2 -13, 2024. In addition to voting, there are live Fat Bear Week events hosted by park rangers and other experts. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2519355/ExploreOrg_Bear.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/fat-bear-week-celebrates-10th-anniversary-302262678.html Company ranks on this year's list with a three-year revenue growth of 124% Generis Group, a global leader in business-to-business event organization, is proud to announce its inclusion in The Globe and Mail's 2024 ranking of Canada's Top Growing Companies. Generis Group once again earned a spot on this year's list with a remarkable three-year revenue growth of 124%, demonstrating the company's consistent growth and resilience in a competitive industry. "It's an incredible milestone to be recognized once again," said Francesco Scalzo, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Generis Group. "Our continued growth is a testament to our team's unwavering commitment to delivering unparalleled value to our clients, as well as the strategic expansion we've embarked upon in both North America and Europe." "The Globe and Mail congratulates this year's Canada's Top Growing Companies winners for achieving exceptional growth and resilience in facing business challenges," said Andrew Saunders, CEO of The Globe and Mail. "It is a testament to dedication, strategic vision, and innovative drive." Since 2022, Generis Group has made significant investments to expand its presence in Europe, establishing an office in Berlin. The company has successfully hosted five business summits in the European market and plans to increase that number to six in 2025. Alongside this expansion, Generis Group is gearing up for new product launches in North America, complementing its existing portfolio of ten business summits in the U.S. "The expansion into Europe has opened new horizons for us," added Jason Cheddie, Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer at Generis Group. "Our ability to adapt and thrive in new markets, while maintaining the quality and impact of our events worldwide, is a reflection of our team's expertise and agility." The full 2024 ranking of Canada's Top Growing Companies is available in the October issue of Report on Business magazine and online at www.tgam.ca/topgrowing. This program celebrates entrepreneurial success by recognizing companies that demonstrate sustained revenue growth, positioning them as leaders in their respective industries. About Generis Group Generis Group is an award-winning, full-service B2B event organizer, committed to empowering executives worldwide to network, learn, and thrive through a dynamic portfolio of industry-leading summits. With expertise spanning aerospace and defense, automotive, food and beverage, packaging, pharma and biopharma, supply chain, manufacturing, medical devices, and information technology and cybersecurity, Generis Group fosters innovation, collaboration, and strategic growth across the globe. Discover more at www.generisgp.com. About The Globe and Mail The Globe and Mail is Canada's foremost news media company, leading national discussions and driving policy change through brave and independent journalism since 1844. With award-winning business coverage, Report on Business magazine reaches millions of readers each month. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240927317406/en/ Contacts: Media Relations: +1 (647) 792-8504 info@generisgp.com Bristol Myers Squibb joined hands with the Emirates Thalassemia Society and Dubai Science Park to organize the fourth edition of the 'Help Save a Life' Blood Donation Drive in Dubai. Bristol Myers Squibb in Saudi Arabia also initiated a puppet show for children with Thalassemia in Jazan. DUBAI, UAE, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- To mark the 10th anniversary of its Global Patient Week, Bristol Myers Squibb, a leading global biopharmaceutical company, organized patient-focused initiatives in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia with the goal of placing patients at the heart of its community-focused efforts in the MEA region. Amongst a vast array of engaging activities in both countries, Bristol Myers Squibb held the fourth edition of its 'Help Save a Life' Blood Donation Drive in Dubai in addition to holding a puppet show for children living with Thalassemia in Jazan, Saudi Arabia. In an effort to highlight the importance of blood donation and assist patients living with blood disorders, the company joined hands with the Emirates Thalassemia Society and Dubai Science Park, the region's leading ecosystem for scientific research and development (R&D) that is part of TECOM Group PJSC, to host the fourth edition of their blood donation drive, 'Help Save a Life' at Dubai Science Park. The donation drive coincided with Blood Cancer Awareness Month and aimed to underscore the significance of blood donation for both recipients and donors. Commenting on the initiative, Her Highness Sheikha Sheikha Bint Saif Al Nahyan, Chairperson of the Emirates Thalassemia Society, said: "We commend Bristol Myers Squibb for organizing this significant blood donation drive as part of their Global Patient Week. Blood donors play an indispensable role in the fight against thalassemia and other blood disorders. Their generosity not only saves lives but also brings hope and relief to countless families facing the challenges of these conditions. At the Emirates Thalassemia Society, our mission is to improve the lives of those affected by thalassemia through awareness, education, and support. This partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb allows us to further this mission and underscores the importance of community involvement in healthcare initiatives". "Blood donation is a noble, humanitarian act that not only saves countless lives but also embeds resilience into the healthcare systems by facilitating emergency response, medical procedures, and R&D in the life sciences," said Marwan Abdulaziz Janahi, Senior Vice President of Dubai Science Park part of TECOM Group. "It is vital to foster a community that leverages collaborative efforts and innovation to address healthcare challenges, and Dubai Science Park is home to more than 500 customers, with over 6,500 professionals, that are aligned with this goal. Dubai Economic Agenda 'D33', Dubai Research and Development Programme, and Dubai Quality of Life Strategy 2033 are reaffirming our city's position as one of the world's best places to live in. Dubai Science Park's partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb and the Emirates Thalassemia Society underscores our commitment to our community and will enrich healthcare and the life sciences in Dubai." In Saudi Arabia, Bristol Myers Squibb joined hands with Sheryan Society, a leading Hematology Patient Advisory Group based in Jazan, to host a puppet show for children who are bravely battling Thalassemia. Held in the city of Jazan, the puppet show aimed to uplift their spirits and bring joy to their hearts. The joint effort also included a number of activities for the pediatric patients to engage with and enjoy. Commenting on the success of the initiative, Mr. Khaled Dubaiyan Al Dubaiyan, CEO of the Sheryan Association in Jazan, said: "The puppet show that we organized in cooperation with Bristol Myers Squibb brought a touch of magic to the lives of these children. The event was successful in reducing the burden of the hardships they face, drawing smiles on their faces and sparking a sense of joy in their hearts. We were pleased to cooperate with Bristol Myers Squibb for this event, a step that is of utmost importance in raising the morale of young thalassemia patients, and one that provided them with enhanced mental wellbeing and moral support." He added: "This initiative serves as an ideal example of an impactful corporate social responsibility effort, as it showcased that collaborations between the private and non-profit sectors can make a palatable difference in patients' lives. More importantly, this initiative underscores the importance of supporting patients and providing them with comprehensive healthcare." "Global Patient Week is more than just a campaign; it's a reflection of the company's commitment to patients and our communities," said Oscar Delgado, General Manager of Bristol Myers Squibb in the Middle East and Africa. "For ten years, we've been dedicated to driving the power of collaboration to bring patient-centered initiatives to life in the MEA and beyond. These efforts are a testament to our belief in giving back and having a truly positive impact on the lives of the patients we serve." Delgado added, "Global Patient Week is an essential part of our company's culture, one that is rooted in setting time aside to focus solely on patients and their needs, and in doing so, we forge deeper and more empathetic connections with them, allowing us to learn from their stories and give back to them in more meaningful ways." Each year, Bristol Myers Squibb organizes a week of meaningful activities, which include inviting patients to the company's facilities across the world to share their stories and meet the people who play a role in the treatment of their disease. This central element of Global Patient Week serves as a poignant reminder to the company's employees that patients are always at the center of their work. About Bristol Myers Squibb Bristol Myers Squibb is a leading global biopharma company focused on discovering, developing, and delivering innovative medicines for patients with serious diseases in areas including oncology, hematology, immunology and cardiovascular. Our employees work every day to transform patients' lives through science. For more information, please visit: www.bms.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2519454/patients_activity.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2519455/Blood_Donation_Drive.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/bristol-myers-squibb-marks-10-years-of-global-patient-week-with-community-initiatives-in-the-region-302262825.html Langeais - September 30, 2024 Plastivaloire Group announces that it has completed the divestment of 100% of its subsidiary Plastivaloire Germany GmbH, which owns the German company Karl Hess and the Pilsen production site in the Czech Republic, to the principal manager of Karl Hess (see press release of 6 August 2024). The completion of this strategic operation is in line with the Group's ongoing drive to adjust its manufacturing base and focus on its most profitable activities. This disposal significantly reduces the Group's financial risk by ending the guarantee given to the German banks on Karl Hess's bank debt and reducing the Group's consolidated net financial debt by 34.4m. The divested business represented around 90 million in revenue compared with the Group's target of 760m for 2023-2024, as adjusted at the end of August. This exit from the scope of consolidation will have a one-off negative accounting impact of around 40m on the Group's 2023-2024 net income (September 30, 2024 closing), including the accounting effects, with no major cash impact, of the deconsolidation of the assets and the total impairment of the goodwill attached to these assets. Plastivaloire also announces that it has obtained a waiver from its banking partners relating to the minimum EBITDA threshold stipulated in its loan agreements for the 2023-2024 financial year. This waiver, which is in line with the adjusted targets[1], has been granted in order to provide the Group with the necessary flexibility to weather the current market conditions and continue its turnaround. Antoine Doutriaux, Chief Executive Officer of Plastivaloire Group, said: 'This divestment of an asset that is at risk for the Group and dilutive to our performance is an important step in our turnaround path. It is important to note that it in no way calls into question our relations with our German customers, with whom we will continue to do business at our other production sites. We are now fully focused on the 2024-2025 financial year, which the Group is approaching with determination to improve its economic performance'. Next financial publication on November 14, 2024: Full-year 2023-2024 revenue If you would like to receive financial information about Plastivaloire Group by e-mail, go to: www.actusnews.com About Plastivaloire Group: Plastivaloire Group ranks amongst the very top European manufacturers of complex plastic parts used in retail consumer products. Using innovative solutions, it designs and manufactures these high-tech plastic parts and handles their mass production for the Motor Vehicle and Industries sectors. Plastivaloire Group has more than 5,000 employees and 27 production sites in France, the United States, Poland, Spain, Romania, Turkey, Tunisia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Slovakia and Mexico. Number of shares: 22,125,600 - Euronext Paris, Segment B - ISIN: FR0013252186 - PVL Reuters: PLVP.PA - Bloomberg: PVL.FP Contacts Plastivaloire Group: Vanessa Findeling on +33 (0)2 47 96 15 15 ACTUS finance & communication: Investor Relations: Guillaume Le Floch on +33 (0)1 53 67 36 70 Pierre Jacquemin-Guillaume on +33 (0) 1 53 67 36 79 Press Relations: Amaury Dugast on +33 (0)1 53 67 36 74 [1] EBITDA margin target of 6.5% on revenue of 760m announced at the end of August (press release dated 29 August 2024) ------------------------ This publication embed "Actusnews SECURITY MASTER ". - SECURITY MASTER Key: l2+bk8lslWnIyG+fYcpoZpdml5pnkpKXZ2WYlJNwlJ6cmG+WyGppmJycZnFplWZu - Check this key: https://www.security-master-key.com. ------------------------ Copyright Actusnews Wire Receive by email the next press releases of the company by registering on www.actusnews.com, it's free Full and original release in PDF format:https://www.actusnews.com/documents_communiques/ACTUS-0-88018-pvl_cp_closing-deal-karl-hess-pilsen-vf-gb.pdf Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - BrandPilot AI Inc., (CSE: BPAI) (OTCQB: BPAIF) ("BPAI" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that it has been approved to commence trading its common shares (the "Common Shares") on the OTCQB Venture Market ("OTCQB"), beginning today, under the ticker symbol "BPAIF". Brandon Mina, CEO of BrandPilot AI., stated "We are looking forward to trading on the OTCQB and are pleased to be able to offer investors yet another avenue for trading our shares. We believe that trading on the OTCQB will enhance our liquidity and visibility in the U.S. and global capital markets generally." The OTCQB is a leading market for early-stage and developing U.S. and international companies. Recognized as an established public market by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the OTCQB has helped companies build considerable shareholder value including enhanced liquidity and valuation. Investors may benefit from efficient trading through their preferred broker or financial advisor, transparent pricing with real-time quotes, and trusted disclosure that is made broadly available to broker-dealers and market data providers. The Common Shares will continue to trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol "BPAI". Furthermore, an application with the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) is currently pending to further enable the electronic clearing and settlement of the Common Shares in the United States. About BrandPilot AI BrandPilot AI (CSE: BPAI) is a leading provider of AI-powered influencer marketing solutions. The company's flagship product, Spectrum IQ, is a powerful influencer search and campaign management tool that helps brands find the right influencers for their campaigns and track their results. BrandPilot AI is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to the business of the Company. Any such forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "projects", "plans" and similar expressions. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Statements about, among other things, statements concerning the Company's access to capital upon listing on the OTCQB, and increased investor liquidity and visibility, as well as the Company's strategic plans, are all forward-looking information. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. The Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by applicable law. Forward-looking statements involve significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to the financial markets generally and the ability of the Company to achieve its proposed business objectives. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law. Neither the Canadian Securities 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. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/225103 SOURCE: BrandPilot AI Inc. Plympton Park, South Australia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - Fort Knox Security announces the expansion of its wireless security solutions, integrating AI-powered monitoring to offer enhanced real-time threat detection and improved safety for homes and businesses. Fort Knox Security, a premier provider of CCTV and security camera installations, is revolutionizing the security landscape across Adelaide with the expansion of its AI-powered wireless security solutions. By leveraging the latest advancements in artificial intelligence, Fort Knox Security is delivering unparalleled real-time monitoring, threat detection, and instant response systems, ensuring homes and businesses are safer than ever before. AI-Powered Security Solutions for Modern Times: The newly expanded wireless security alarm systems from Fort Knox Security feature state-of-the-art AI technology designed to detect unusual activity and potential threats faster and more accurately than traditional systems. These systems can analyze data in real time, distinguishing between regular daily activities and suspicious behavior, reducing false alarms and enhancing overall security response. The AI-powered system continuously learns from patterns of behavior, improving its ability to predict potential threats and offering real-time alerts through a dedicated mobile app. Users can monitor their property remotely from anywhere in the world, with live video feeds and notifications sent directly to their smartphones or tablets. Enhanced Local Security for Homes and Businesses: With an increase in demand for smarter, more reliable security solutions, Fort Knox Security's wireless systems are perfect for Adelaide's diverse needs-from private residences to commercial properties. These systems offer flexibility in installation, requiring no complex wiring, making them ideal for both urban and rural environments. They also come equipped with backup battery power and cellular connectivity, ensuring continuous protection even during power outages or network failures. As part of their expansion, Fort Knox Security is also offering specialized packages for businesses that include 24/7 AI-powered monitoring, remote management, and cloud-based data storage, giving enterprises peace of mind with their security. Collaboration with Local Authorities to Boost Community Safety: Fort Knox Security has taken an active role in supporting Adelaide's community safety efforts by working closely with local authorities. The company is collaborating with law enforcement agencies to integrate their AI-powered systems into public safety initiatives, enabling faster responses to criminal activities and potential threats. "Our goal is to make Adelaide a safer place for everyone by providing cutting-edge security solutions that adapt to modern threats," said Jim Wills. "We're proud to be working alongside local authorities to improve security for homes, businesses, and public spaces. Our AI-powered systems will give communities the protection they need, reducing crime and improving safety overall." A Vision for the Future: Expanding Smart Security Solutions Fort Knox Security is also looking ahead to future developments, incorporating additional technologies such as facial recognition, advanced motion sensors, and integration with smart home devices. These features will offer even more robust and customizable security options for customers, ensuring they remain at the forefront of security innovation. About Fort Knox Security Fort Knox Security is a trusted leader in security camera installation and CCTV systems in Adelaide. Specializing in both residential and commercial security solutions, the company offers a range of products, including wireless alarm systems, AI-powered monitoring, and cloud-based video storage. With a strong commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction, Fort Knox Security provides cutting-edge solutions to help communities stay safe and secure. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/223827 SOURCE: GetFeatured The "Cardiac Holter Monitor Market Report by Lead Type, Product Type, End User, Regions and Company Analysis 2024-2032" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Global Cardiac Holter Monitor Market Analysis Global Cardiac Holter Monitor Market is expected to reach 1.27 billion by 2032 from US$ 692.33 million in 2023, with a projected CAGR of 7.03% from 2024 to 2032 The growth is attributed to factors such as the increasing prevalence of atrial fibrillation, the aging population, the rising incidence of cardiovascular disorders, a shift toward ambulatory monitoring devices, and favorable regulatory policies likely to drive the market growth. Purchasing trends, especially in developing nations and the adoption of modern technology are some factors that have influenced the growth of market. Stringent healthcare policies, scarcity of trained professionals, improper healthcare structures, and unbalanced reimbursement systems are likely to retard the growth of the market. The availability of advanced Holter monitors with better sensitive algorithms for automatic detection of arrhythmias is bound to provide the market with opportunities for development. Increasing Prevalence of Cardiovascular Diseases: Holter monitors are on high set demand for the unique purpose of diagnosing heart diseases, for which their number is constantly rising on the market. These portable devices record the heart's electrical signals for 24 hours to 48 hours at the most and help in early diagnosis of arrhythmias and other cardiac disorders. They have to take continual measurements for diagnosing the illness and quick treatment of heart diseases. New developments in the technology of Holter monitors have enhanced the ease of using the technique and also the accuracy of the results, thus has been widely used in clinical and homecare settings. The CDC released its June 2022 update and according to it, it was estimated that 20 percent of individuals with COVID-19 experiences a long-term impact. Of those one million adults with CAD, 313,000 were men and 687,000 were women in the United States in 2020. This condition is the number one form of heart disease that is prevalent in the country hence suggesting a possibility that the market could expand in future to cater for monitors that are required in the management of cardial diseases. Aging Population Worldwide Demands Cardiac Holter Monitors: The global increase in the elderly population has fueled the demand for continuous cardiac monitoring solutions, as elderly individuals are more prone to developing heart conditions due to age-related changes in the cardiovascular system. Continuous cardiac monitoring, provided by devices like Holter monitors, is crucial for early detection, management, and prevention of these conditions. These devices allow healthcare providers to monitor heart activity over extended periods, capturing irregularities that may not be apparent during routine check-ups. With the rise of the elderly population worldwide, there is an increasing need for reliable and non-invasive cardiac monitoring technologies to ensure timely intervention and improved quality of life for older adults managing cardiovascular health issues. In 2019, Nine percent of the global population was 65 and older. By 2050, it's expected to rise to 16%. By 2050, one in six people will be 65 or older, nearly equal to the number of children under 12. The overall growing elderly population has been promoting the need for continuous cardiac monitoring solutions since elderly people have higher rates of heart disorders due to changes in the cardiovascular system with age. Technological devices like Holter monitoring systems also aid in constant monitoring of cardiac functions, which are important in diagnosing, managing, and preventing these diseases. These wearable devices in a way help healthcare practitioners keep an eye on the heart activity for longer durations and observe signs that are not noticeable in examinations. Due to the increased number of elderly people across the globe, it has become crucial to have accurate and more advanced less intrusive cardiac monitoring solutions to help elderly people and caregivers on when it is time for effective cardiac interventions to be made. Technological Advancements in heart monitors: Technological advancements have led to the development of more compact, light, and wearable Holter monitors, which enhance patient comfort and convenience and potentially increase user adoption. These advanced monitors seamlessly transmit real-time ECG data to smartphones, tablets, or cloud-based platforms through robust wireless networking capabilities such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. This allows telemedicine consultations, remote monitoring, and effortless data sharing between patients and healthcare professionals. This advancement is expected to drive the market growth for cardiac heart monitors. Diagnostic technologies have improved over time and today, Holter monitors are lighter, smaller and portable thus making them easier for patients to wear hence potentially increasing usage rate. By incorporating sleek wireless networking features such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, these sophisticated monitors effectively transfer live ECG data to smart devices or over the cloud on tablets and smartphones. This makes it possible to have teleconsultation, remote vigilance, and smooth data transfer between the patients and the clinician. This advancement is expected to provide anew impetus to the development of the market for cardiac heart monitors. Integration with Digital Health Technologies: The integration of Holter monitors with digital health platforms and mobile applications allows for remote real-time monitoring of patients' cardiac activity. This advancement enables healthcare providers to access and analyze data remotely, providing timely intervention and personalized care plans. Patients benefit from increased convenience and continuous monitoring of their heart activity, and mobile apps improve patient engagement and compliance while facilitating communication with healthcare professionals. This convergence of medical devices with digital technologies aims to improve patient outcomes and meets the growing demand for connected health solutions in modern healthcare systems. In February 2021, Remo Care Solutions introduced Remo Cardia, a cutting-edge remote cardiac monitoring system leveraging artificial intelligence to track and analyze patients' vital signs in real-time. This groundbreaking product launch is poised to drive the market growth for remote cardiac monitoring systems significantly. Asia Pacific Cardiac Holter Monitor Market The Asia Pacific market for continuous and non-invasive cardiac monitoring solutions is driven by the increasing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, creating a demand for practical diagnostic tools. Holter monitors are valuable for long-term monitoring, aiding in the timely detection and management of cardiac irregularities. Technological advancements, such as miniaturization, improved battery life, enhanced data storage, and wireless connectivity options, contribute to developing more user-friendly and efficient Holter monitors. Additionally, integrating intelligent features and compatibility with mobile devices is expanding the appeal of these devices. Heart disease is becoming more common in China as the population ages, obesity rates increase, and air pollution worsens. Around 330 million people in China are affected by cardiovascular disease (CVD), encompassing conditions like coronary heart disease, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation. This growing prevalence is anticipated to boost the need for patient monitoring and support the market's expansion. The impact of smoking on cardiovascular health in the Asia-Pacific region includes around 1 million annual cardiovascular deaths attributed to smoking. It also emphasizes the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in Australia, with 43,477 CVD-related deaths in 2017. The text underlines the rising rate of cardiovascular disease diagnoses and the growing demand for home-based and remote monitoring cardiac systems due to technological advancements. Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 200 Forecast Period 2023 2032 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $0.69 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2032 $1.28 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 7.0% Regions Covered Global Key Players Analysis: Business Overview, Sales Analysis, Product Portfolio, Recent Development Strategies General Electric Company (GE) Nihon Kohden Corporation Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc. OSI Systems, Inc. Boston Scientific Corporation Koninklijke Philips N.V. Medtronic plc Irhythm Technologies Inc Key Topics Covered: 1. Introduction 2. Research Methodology 3. Executive Summary 4. Market Dynamics 4.1 Growth Drivers 4.2 Challenges 5. Global Cardiac Holter Monitor Market 6. Global Cardiac Holter Monitor Market-Share Analysis 6.1 By Product Type 6.2 By Lead Type 6.3 By End User 6.4 By Countries 7. Product Type 7.1 Wired Monitor Device 7.2 Wireless Monitor Device 7.3 Software 8. Lead Type 8.1 1-Channel 8.2 2-Channel 8.3 3-Channel 8.4 12-Channel 8.5 Others 9. End User 9.1 Hospitals 9.2 Ambulatory Surgical Centers 9.3 Others 10. Countries 10.1 North America 10.1.1 United States 10.1.2 Canada 10.2 Europe 10.2.1 France 10.2.2 Germany 10.2.3 Italy 10.2.4 Spain 10.2.5 United Kingdom 10.2.6 Belgium 10.2.7 Netherlands 10.2.8 Turkey 10.3 Asia Pacific 10.3.1 China 10.3.2 Japan 10.3.3 India 10.3.4 Australia 10.3.5 South Korea 10.3.6 Thailand 10.3.7 Malaysia 10.3.8 Indonesia 10.3.9 New Zealand 10.4 Latin America 10.4.1 Brazil 10.4.2 Mexico 10.4.3 Argentina 10.5 Middle East Africa 10.5.1 South Africa 10.5.2 Saudi Arabia 10.5.3 UAE 11. Porter's Five Forces Analysis 11.1 Bargaining Power of Buyer 11.2 Bargaining Power of Supplier 11.3 Threat of New Entrants 11.4 Rivalry among Existing Competitors 11.5 Threat of Substitute Products 12. SWOT Analysis 12.1 Strength 12.2 Weakness 12.3 Opportunity 12.4 Threat For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/g40vri 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. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240930570999/en/ Contacts: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T. Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./ CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 New Refrigerated Container Secured to Help Military Families Access Vital Food Resources. PORT HUENEME, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / In a powerful display of community solidarity, the Port of Hueneme, alongside SeaCube Containers and several key partners, has come together to support the Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC) USDA Fleet Reserve Program, which has provided access to critical food resources for military families and veterans for over 40 years. Originally founded in the back of a pickup truck behind the Naval Base Chapel, the program has grown significantly since 1984, providing essential food supplies to active-duty service members, their families, and veterans throughout Ventura County. The program, which distributes 25,000 pounds of fresh, frozen, and liquid foods each month to over 350 families and 2,500 individuals, faced a severe setback when its two refrigerated containers, both over 20 years old, were rendered unusable in December 2023 and April 2024. With refrigeration compromised, the NBVC Fleet Reserve Program was limited to distributing dry and some fresh goods to the military community, affecting hundreds of families in need. In response, representatives from the NBVC Fleet Reserve Program reached out to local community leaders for support. Dry and fresh goods being unloaded for the NBVC military community. The Port of Hueneme answered the call, rallying support from the local community and business partners including Navy League Channel Islands Council, Eskesen Advisory, and SeaCube Containers. Together, these organizations joined forces to ensure that the Fleet Reserve Program could continue its mission to serve military families on the local Navy Base Ventura County. Recognizing the high cost of purchasing a new refrigerated unit, the Port's Chief Commercial Officer, Stacy Lange, contacted business partners in hopes of finding a lower-cost solution. Bill Duggan from Eskesen Advisory, a premier consulting firm for refrigerated freight, connected the Port with SeaCube Containers, who generously donated a brand-new refrigerated container, providing immediate relief for the program. "SeaCube Containers is honored to support the Naval Base Ventura County USDA Fleet Reserve Program. We are proud of our US Navy and our veterans and deeply respect their contributions. No service member, whether active-duty or retired, should ever have to worry about food security. We make this donation with heartfelt gratitude. Go Navy!" said Bob Sappio, CEO of SeaCube Containers. Military Personnel with the newly donated refrigerated container. "The leadership at SeaCube, from the CEO Bob Sappio to his team, took action to deliver this needed container and help out the families in the Oxnard area," said Bill Duggan. "We are proud to be part of a community that recognizes the importance of supporting our military families," said Port of Hueneme Board President Celina Zacarias. "The NBVC USDA Fleet Reserve Food Program has been a lifeline for service members and veterans for decades, and we are committed to ensuring that it continues to thrive. This partnership is a reflection of our deep gratitude for the sacrifices made by these families, and we are honored to contribute to this vital cause." With the donation of the new refrigerated container, the NBVC Fleet Reserve Food Program will once again be able to provide 25,000 pounds of food each month to hundreds of families and individuals, ensuring access to fresh, frozen, and liquid foods for Ventura County's military community. "We are extremely grateful for the efforts and generosity of the Port of Hueneme, SeaCube, and local community partners that give back to the community," said Holly Walaszek, Food Pantry Coordinator, NBVC Fleet Reserve Program. The Port of Hueneme and its partners are proud to contribute to a cause that upholds the values of service, sacrifice, and community. Forklift transporting the newly donated refrigerated container. About the Port of Hueneme The Port of Hueneme is one of the most productive and efficient commercial trade gateways for niche cargo on the West Coast. Five locally elected Port Commissioners govern the Port. The Port consistently ranks among the top ten U.S. ports for automobiles and fresh produce. Port operations support the community by bringing $2.8 billion in economic activity and creating 24,997 trade-related jobs. Trade through the Port of Hueneme generates more than $236 million in direct and related state and local taxes, which fund vital community services. In 2017, the Port of Hueneme became the first port in California to become Green Marine certified and was voted the Greenest Port in the U.S. at the Green Shipping Summit. www.portofh.org . About NBVC USDA Fleet Reserve Food Program Naval Base Ventura County's USDA Fleet Reserve Food Program has been providing food resources to military families and veterans since 1984. Serving active-duty troops, retired service members, and their families, the program distributes 25,000 pounds of food each month to over 350 families, ensuring access to fresh, frozen, and liquid foods throughout Ventura County. PRESS CONTACT Letitia Austin Public & Government Relations Manager laustin@portofh.org (805) 816-8324 SOURCE: Port of Hueneme Whitby, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - Environmental Waste International Inc. (TSXV: EWS) (the "Company" or "EWS"), announces that they have entered into an arrangement agreement dated today (the "Agreement") pursuant to which Hydrotrux Group Ltd. (through a subsidiary) (the "Purchaser") has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding common shares (the "Shares") of the Company for cash consideration of C$0.0035 per Share (the "Transaction"). The Transaction is the culmination of a strategic and liquidity review that the Board of Directors of the Company (the "Board") has been engaged in since February 2022, with the assistance of Origin Merchant Partners ("Origin"). Such review was necessary to address the Company's liquidity issues and the need to raise sufficient capital for the build out of the Company's pilot plant in Sault Ste. Marie. The Transaction provides the capital to support the Company's business objectives with specific consideration to all of the Company's stakeholders and was the best alternative available to ensure the ongoing viability of the Company. If the Transaction is not completed, the Company does not expect that there will be an alternative that would provide any value to the holders of the Company's equity securities or debt holders. Transaction Summary The Transaction will be completed pursuant to a court-approved plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario). The Transaction will be subject to the approval of at least 662/3% of the votes cast by shareholders and 662/3% of the votes cast by all securityholders each voting as a class at a special meeting of EWS securityholders expected to be held on November 20, 2024 (the "Securityholder Meeting"). The Transaction is subject to, among other conditions, securityholder approval and receipt of certain regulatory, court and stock exchange approvals and other closing conditions customary in transactions of this nature. All outstanding options and warrants of EWS shall be either exercised or cancelled for no consideration on or before the closing date. It is not expected that any of the options or warrants will be exercised as all are out-of-the-money. The outstanding RSUs of EWS will be entitled to the same consideration as the shareholders. The Agreement includes, among other things, non-solicitation covenants on the part of the Company (subject to customary fiduciary out provisions) and a right for the Purchaser to match any competing offer that constitutes a superior proposal. To support the Company's liquidity needs during the period prior to closing the Transaction, the Purchaser has agreed to pay certain of the Company's working capital needs prior to closing of the Transaction. Under certain circumstances, the Purchaser is entitled to a $1 million termination fee and an expense reimbursement for any working capital expenses of EWS paid by the Purchaser from the date of the Agreement. Full details of the Transaction will be included in the Company's management information circular, which will be mailed to securityholders in connection with the Securityholder Meeting. Securityholders are urged to read the information circular once available, as it will contain additional important information concerning the Transaction. The Agreement will also be filed on the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. The Purchaser currently owns 30,000,000 (9.9%) Shares. Voting support agreements have been entered into between the Purchaser and each of the directors and officers of EWS, who collectively own approximately 12.1% of the outstanding Shares, and certain other significant shareholders of EWS, who collectively own approximately 40.5% of the outstanding Shares, to support and vote in favour the Transaction (the "Support Agreements"). The Support Agreements represent 52.6% of the outstanding Shares of EWS. Following completion of the Transaction, the Shares will be delisted from the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV"), and the Company will apply to cease to be a reporting issuer in applicable provinces in Canada. Board Recommendation The Transaction has been unanimously approved by the Board. The Board did not strike a special committee due to its small size and that all of its members were in a similar position as directors, debt holders and shareholders of the Company. None of the members of the Board are officers of the Company and are not receiving any different or additional consideration under the terms of the Transaction. All of the directors will resign on closing of the Transaction and are not entitled to any termination or change of control payments. Origin has provided an oral fairness opinion to the Board which will be confirmed in writing that, based upon and subject to the assumptions, limitations and qualifications to be set forth in the written opinion, the consideration to be received by the shareholders of the Company pursuant to the Transaction is fair, from a financial point of view, to such shareholders. Advisors Origin is acting as financial advisor to EWS and WeirFoulds LLP is acting as legal counsel to EWS in connection with the Transaction. Stikeman Elliot LLP is acting as legal counsel to the Purchaser in connection with the Transaction. About Environmental Waste International Inc. Environmental Waste International Inc. specializes in eco-friendly systems for the breakdown of organic materials, including tires. The Company has spent over 15 years engineering systems that integrate the EWS patented Reverse Polymerization process and proprietary microwave delivery system. EWS's unique microwave technology safely processes and recycles waste tires, while recovering highly valuable commodities, including carbon black, oil and steel. Each unit is designed to be environmentally safe, energy efficient, and economically profitable for the operator. For more information please visit, www.ewi.ca. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of such statements under applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forward-looking statements throughout this news release. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The Company is under no obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law. A more complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company appears in the Company's continuous disclosure filings, which are available at www.sedarplus.ca. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/225046 SOURCE: Environmental Waste International Inc. Mastercard NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / Business travel is continuing to rebound faster than predicted - and with net zero deadlines looming, it's even more important to reduce travel's carbon footprint. The task is complicated and tricky, but data analytics supercharged by artificial intelligence can make it easier for companies to track travel-related carbon emissions and offer precise insights for more sustainable travel practices. For example, PredictX's artificial intelligence-powered platform gathers and crunches a company's travel data to get a transparent accounting of carbon emissions, find cost savings and alert employees about more climate-friendly travel options, so a company can rein in CO2 emissions. "A good analogy of how PredictX works in some ways is a wastewater treatment plant, except we're cleaning dirty data instead of dirty water," says PredictX CEO Keesup Choe. "If it's not accurate and consolidated and clean, then whatever you calculate from it is going to be garbage." PredictX recently joined Mastercard's extensive ecosystem of partners to support companies in better managing travel spend through policy compliance, auditing and sustainability insights. The Mastercard Newsroom recently spoke to Choe and Mastercard's Lydie Charpin, senior vice president of corporate travel and B2B commercial card, about the challenges of tracking sustainable travel, what companies can do to lower their carbon emissions and how they can engage employees to come along for the ride. When PredictX moved into the corporate travel space, what were your customers' top concerns? Choe: At the time, companies couldn't answer the basic questions, like who spent what, with whom, let alone why they spent it. One of the reasons is that in travel, data is incredibly fragmented. There's data from the travel management companies and then expense systems, card systems. Travelers can sometimes book directly with a hotel, airline or third-party site. So simple questions - even "How much do we spend?" - were difficult to answer. Once they started getting data, they needed the right tools to help them use it. When did you start to see environmental and social sustainability become more of a priority for corporations in the context of business travel? Choe: It's not a coincidence that many of the pledges to get to net zero were made during the pandemic, when there was virtually no corporate travel. It seemed easier to meet some of these goals when the numbers didn't look as challenging. What makes tracking ESG metrics like carbon emissions so challenging in this space? Charpin: As Keesup mentioned, it's complex because it's fragmented, but also, and very importantly, it's not yet standardized. However, there's been significant progress with groups emerging to help establish sustainability standards for the travel industry. For instance, Mastercard recently joined the Travalyst Coalition, which aims to bring consistent sustainability information to the mainstream to help business and leisure travelers make more conscious travel choices. Travalyst has so far focused on scaling sustainability data for aviation and accommodation such as the Travel Impact Model, which since its launch has shown flight emissions estimates to over 65 billion travelers at the point of booking. While significant progress has been achieved with standardizing flight emission data, the hotel industry is considerably more difficult. There's not yet a clear consensus that this given hotel has the equivalent of this specific carbon footprint. Rather, an online travel booking platform can use one measurement and a major hotel chain can use another. The push for standardization throughout the entire travel industry is more important than ever. What should companies prioritize in their travel programs to accelerate their sustainability goals? Choe: Companies really need to shift from passive annual reporting to active management. There's no way any efficiency measures can be made when you're measuring something once on an annual basis. More instant feedback motivates people to act. Charpin: This feedback also enables companies to evolve their T&E policies in real time to meet their sustainability goals faster. Travel decision-makers across businesses also need to assess what trade-offs are permissible so employees travel more sustainably. Maybe it's tailoring their T&E policy to not permit connecting flights, even if they are less expensive, or buying all electric vehicles for their corporate fleet. What role do employees play in achieving a company's sustainable travel goals, and how can they be engaged? Choe: Education is key. Next is influencing them in the right way. PredictX has a module that identifies behavior that could be improved and automatically sends a little nudge to employees to consider a better option next time. It has to be part of an active strategy, reminding people to choose more sustainable travel as they are making the decision. I expect most people, when they're reminded, will take the option with a lower environmental impact. Charpin: You also have to ensure the information is provided in a meaningful manner that employees can easily understand. For instance, saying your flight's carbon footprint is equivalent to the emissions produced by a household for a year will carry more weight than saying your trip will produce two tons of carbon emissions per passenger. And then you have to go one step beyond that and encourage the employee to make the right decision. I've heard of companies, for example, that gamify choices so the "greenest" team of travelers during a given month or quarter is rewarded. What future innovations or investment areas is PredictX exploring to further enhance ESG metrics in travel management? Choe: PredictX finds CO2-saving strategies and then broadcasts them so travel managers can execute. PredictX has a simulation engine that can tell you in advance how much a carbon footprint is going to be for, say, a conference or product launch. It can help you decide if New York or Atlanta is the right place to hold an event. Or maybe there's a different city that could actually be much lower in terms of CO2. Perhaps your usual venue isn't using sustainable electricity, so why not use this other hotel that is? It allows you to make all of these choices and analyze them, well before an event, to make sure you are making the right decisions. These sorts of forecasting and predictive tools are what we're bringing to the market. Originally published by Mastercard Follow along Mastercard's journey to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere. View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Mastercard on 3blmedia.com. Contact Info: Spokesperson: Mastercard Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/mastercard Email: info@3blmedia.com SOURCE: Mastercard Forward Water Technologies Corp. ("FWTC") (TSXV:FWTC) and Fraser Mackenzie Accelerator Corp ("FMAC") (TSXV:FMAC.P) are pleased to announce the successful closing of their previously announced business combination (the "Transaction"). The combined company will continue to conduct the business operated by FWTC. Summary of the Transaction In connection with the Transaction, and following a 10 for 1 consolidation of the common shares of FWTC ("FWTC Shares"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of FWTC amalgamated with. FMAC and all of the issued and outstanding common shares of FMAC ("FMAC Shares") were exchanged for post-consolidation FWTC Shares at an exchange ratio of 0.95 FWTC Shares for each FMAC Share (the "Exchange Ratio"). In addition, each outstanding option and warrant to purchase an FMAC Share was adjusted to entitle the holders thereof to purchase FWTC Shares based on the Exchange Ratio. Concurrent Financing As previously announced, prior to the closing of the Transaction, FMAC raised gross proceeds of $1,699,999.95 through the issuance of 15,887,850 subscription receipts at a price of $0.107 per subscription receipt (the "Subscription Receipts"). Prior to the completion of the Transaction each subscription receipt was converted, without payment of additional consideration, into one unit of FMAC (each, a "Unit"). Each Unit consisted of one FMAC Share, and one-half of an FMAC common share purchase warrant (each such whole warrant, a "Warrant"). The FMAC Shares and Warrants issued on conversion of the subscription receipts were exchanged for FWTC Shares and warrants of FWTC, respectively, in accordance with the Exchange Ratio. Each such Warrant now entitles the holder thereof to acquire one FWTC Share for a term expiring on the third anniversary of the closing of the Transaction at a purchase price of $0.1579 per FWTC Share. At the closing of the Transaction, FMAC will pay to certain finders (each, a "Finder") aggregate fees of $96,325.79, being fees not exceeding 8.0% of the gross proceeds raised from subscriptions in the offering from persons who participated in the offering that were introduced to FMAC by such Finder (the "Finder's Fee"), and (b) an aggregate of 872,204 compensation warrants (the "Finder Warrants") issued by FMAC, being an amount of not more than 8.0% of the total number of Subscription Receipts issued to persons who participated in the offering that were introduced to FMAC by such Finder. Each Finder Warrant entitled the holder to subscribe for one Unit at a price of $0.107 at any time on or before September 30, 2026. On closing of the Transaction the Finder Warrants were exchanged for finder warrants of FWTC with the number of warrants and exercise price being adjusted by the Exchange Ratio. FWTC Capitalization 49,174,592 FWTC Shares are issued and outstanding as at the date hereof after giving effect to the Transaction, including the completion of the conversion of the Subscription Receipts. The effective issue price of the FWTC Shares for the purposes of the Transaction, based on the Issue Price of the subscription receipts adjusted by the Exchange Ratio, is $0.1126. The 49,174,592 FWTC Shares that are issued and outstanding as at the date hereof after giving effect to the Transaction consist of the following: (i) 19,542,448 FWTC Shares issued to holders of common shares of FMAC (excluding FWTC Shares issued to the former holders of Subscription Receipts), (ii) 2,744,575 FWTC Shares issued as a result of the conversion of $300,000 principal amount of FWTC debentures and accrued interest of $31,384 owing to GreenCetnre Canada (at the conversion price of $0.1126 per post-consolidation FWTC Share), (iii) 15,093,459 FWTC Shares issued to the former holders of Subscription Receipts and (iv) 11,794,110 FWTC Shares held by shareholders of FWTC prior to completion of the Transaction. In addition, 4,917,459 FWTC Shares have been reserved for issuance under the terms of the FWTC option plan of which 2,118,612 options are outstanding (both FWTC options and FMAC options), 10,591,756 FWTC Share purchase warrants are outstanding and 2,335,934 broker warrants are outstanding. 3,562,500 FWTC Shares and 356,250 options owned or controlled by former "Principals" of FMAC (as defined under Exchange policies) are subject escrow under the policies of the Exchange to be released over periods of 18 months (with the foregoing figures reflecting the first release of 25% on the issuance of the final Exchange bulletin in respect of the transaction). Early Warning Disclosure Pursuant to National Instrument 62-103 - The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues Upon the completion of the Transaction, Sumarria Inc. ("Sumarria"), a private investment management company with its head office located at 22 St Clair Ave E, Suite 2001, Toronto, ON M4T 2S5, became the holder of: (a) 1,776,199 FWTC Shares as a result of the automatic conversion of $200,000 principal amount of convertible debentures of FWTC (the "Debentures"); (b) 7,102,804 FWTC Shares as a result of the exchange of securities of FMAC held immediately prior to the Transaction; and (c) 3,551,402 warrants to purchase FWTC Shares (the "FWTC Warrants") as a result of the exchange of securities of FMAC held immediately prior to the Transaction. Upon completion of the Transaction, Sumarria has ownership and control over an aggregate of 8,879,003 FWTC Shares representing approximately 18.06% of the issued and outstanding FWTC Shares. Assuming exercise of all of 5,327,601 FWTC Warrants held by Sumarria (inclusive of the 1,776,199 FWTC Warrants held prior to the Transaction), Sumarria would have ownership and control over approximately 26.07% of the issued and outstanding FWTC Shares. Immediately prior to the Transaction, Sumarria was the holder of nil FWTC Shares, $200,000 principal amount of Debentures and 1,776,199 Warrants. Sumarria paid an aggregate of: (a) $200,000 for the Debentures (no further consideration was provided at the date of the Transaction); and (b) $800,000 for the subscription receipts that were ultimately exchanged for 7,102,804 FWTC Shares and 3,551,402 FWTC Warrants. Sumarria acquired the aforementioned securities for investment purposes. In the future, Sumarria may, depending on market and other conditions, increase or decrease Summaria's beneficial ownership of FWTC Shares. A copy of the early warning report to be filed in connection with Sumarria's security holdings will be available on the Company's SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca or contact FWTC at the phone number or email noted below. Further Information For more information concerning the FWTC's business, capitalization and the Transaction (including the members of the management team and board of directors listed above), see FWTC and FMAC's information circulars provided to shareholders in connection with the shareholders meetings of FWTC and FMAC held on September 23, 2024 which are available under each company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. About Forward Water Technologies Corp. Forward Water Technologies Corp. (TSX.V: FWTC) is a publicly traded Canadian company dedicated to saving the earth's water supply using its patented Forward Osmosis technology. The Company was founded by GreenCentre Canada, a leading technology innovation centre supported by the government of Canada. The Company's technology allows for the reduction of challenging waste streams simultaneously returning fresh water for re-use or surface release. The Company's mandate is to focus on the large-scale implementation of its technology in multiple sectors, including industrial wastewater, oil and gas, DLE, mining, agriculture and ultimately municipal water supply and re-use market sectors. FWTC has immediate plans to treat brine from the direct lithium extraction (DLE) sector using is mobile pilot equipment this summer in conjunction with its partners. This project will establish FWTC's iFOTM technology as a valuable component in producing lithium carbonate from aquifer sourced brines for use in applications such as electric vehicle (EV) battery production. In addition, the Company has initiated early-stage R&D for the treatment of food and beverage process streams. For more information, please visit www.forwardwater.com. About Fraser Mackenzie Accelerator Corp. FMAC was a "capital pool company" which completed its initial public offering on February 22, 2023. The Transaction constitutes FMAC's "qualifying transaction" as contemplated by the policies of the TSXV. In connection with the Transaction, the FMAC Shares will cease being listed on the TSXV at the close of business on October 1, 2024. Contact Information: Philip Benson, Director and former President & Chief Executive Officer of Fraser Mackenzie Accelerator Corp. Email: pbenson@frasermackenzie.com Telephone: 416-818-6163 Forward Water Technologies Corp. C. Howie Honeyman, Chief Executive Officer E-mail: howie.honeyman@forwardwater.com Telephone: (519) 333-5888 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. Caution Concerning Forward Looking Information This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Any statements that are contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "may", "should", "anticipate", "will", "estimates", "believes", "intends" "expects" and similar expressions which are intended to identify forward-looking statements. More particularly and without limitation, this press release contains forward looking statements concerning the plans for FWTC's business and timing for escrow releases. FWTC and FMAC caution that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain, and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, assumptions and expectations, many of which are beyond the control of FWTC and FMAC, including expectations and assumptions concerning the FWTC. The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking statements may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of FWTC and FMAC. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and neither FWTC nor FMAC undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by securities law. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any jurisdiction. SOURCE: Forward Water Technologies Inc. Avolta AG / Key word(s): Miscellaneous Avolta launches global 'Club Avolta' loyalty program for travelers 30.09.2024 / 21:00 CET/CEST Leading global travel experience player Avolta AG (SIX: AVOL) has today launched Club Avolta, an industry-first loyalty program that seamlessly integrates duty-free, duty-paid, food & beverage (F&B), brands, airports, airlines, hotels, and more. This strategic initiative aims to revolutionize the global travel experience, enhancing traveler satisfaction and driving sales. Club Avolta delivers substantial benefits to key stakeholders across the travel ecosystem by incorporating the company's full offering of travel retail, convenience, and F&B outlets, giving travelers exclusive benefits and experiences with the world's favorite brands. Designed to be completely customer-centric, it is simple, intuitive, and tailored to each traveler's unique needs. The program rewards members when they spend at Avolta stores in one of 73 countries with nearly 5,000 points of sale, offering exclusive member pricing, access to exclusive offers, products, experiences and instant rewards. This elevates their journey with travel network benefits from airlines, hotel groups, VIP lounges, and more. Xavier Rossinyol, Chief Executive Officer, Avolta said: "Club Avolta supports our ambition to maximize value for our customers, while driving sustainable growth for our business. As the largest travel experience player, our diversification across travel retail, F&B, and convenience gives us a competitive edge through our ability to generate insights from proprietary data points. For members, Club Avolta starts as a simple transaction but quickly becomes a habit, and eventually a lifestyle. The program allows us to understand our clients and their purchasing behavior even better, enabling data-driven business decisions that align with our Destination 2027 strategic objectives." For airports, Club Avolta will drive increased sales, while also boosting traveler satisfaction. The program is designed to seamlessly integrate with existing airport loyalty schemes, complementing and enhancing the overall customer experience. Meanwhile, brands will benefit from increased visibility of purchasing behaviors, allowing for data-driven investments in experiences and rewards that resonate with travelers and help grow market share. Club Avolta and the corresponding branding is being rolled out across all Avolta locations globally during a transition phase as the company retires Red by Dufry. Current members of Red by Dufry will have their membership automatically transferred to Club Avolta, with the current app prompting an automatic update for a full member experience. For further information: CONTACT Cathy Jongens Rebecca McClellan Director Corporate Communications Global Head Investor Relations Phone: +41 79 288 09 36 Phone: +44 7543 800 405 cathy.jongens@avolta.net rebecca.mcclellan@avolta.net End of Media Release Uber and Lyft are dramatically reducing wait-time disparities for Black riders, but the impact of systemic segregation persists. A new study from researchers in Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering found that ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft have helped to mitigate racial discrimination against Black passengers. The study builds on prior research that concluded using a Black-sounding name results in up to double the cancellation rate as when using a White-sounding name, but despite that substantial difference, wait times for a ride were the same or differed by mere seconds. To understand the similarity in wait times, the CMU researchers ran simulations of all the rides taken in Chicago, both before and after the Covid-19 pandemic, across a variety of days. The research estimated that at least 3% of drivers must be discriminating based on race to produce the cancellation disparities prior studies have observed. But it also showed that the ability of these services to rapidly rematch riders to new drivers nearly eliminates the effects of driver racial discrimination on rider wait time disparities. "The technology is mitigating a social issue, which is pretty rare," said Jeremy Michalek, professor of engineering and public policy (EPP) and mechanical engineering. "Discrimination is having little effect on average wait times, at least in part because these apps are able to quickly rematch when somebody cancels. Whereas with taxis it was a very hard problem to solve." Racial discrimination against passengers hailing rides has been a problem throughout the taxi era. "In the absence of these apps, certain populations having extremely long wait times could be lost because it is a hidden injustice where people just get passed by on the street," said Destenie Nock, professor of EPP and civil and environmental engineering. "Now you can be reconnected quickly, which allows for people to get to work on time, make their hospital appointments, and be active participants in the transportation system." Individual racism is only one part of the equation, and the larger systemic problem of residential segregation led the team to focus on Chicago one of the most residentially segregated cities in the United States, which also happens to make a lot of data available about ride-hailing trips. Even when drivers treat everyone equally, Black riders in Chicago experience notably longer wait times because of where people live, the study showed. Residential patterns in Chicago are influenced by a long history of discriminatory practices, including redlining, and other factors like inherited homes and wealth. Today, Black residents are concentrated in South Chicago, which is further from busy downtown areas, meaning fewer drivers are in the area to pick up passengers. This research is unique in that it distinguishes between "direct discrimination, like when a driver cancels on a rider because of their race, and systemic discrimination, where history has informed patterns in where people live so that even when the effects of direct discrimination are small or disappear altogether, disparities can persist," said EPP PhD student Anna Cobb. "Being able to distinguish these effects can help inform how we address disparities in the real world." "It is encouraging how well this technology has mitigated the effects of driver discrimination on riders," Michalek said. "But in a society with entrenched disparities, even a service without any direct racial bias can produce large gaps in service quality that can reflect, or even exacerbate, existing disparities." Corey Harper, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Heinz College, and EPP alumnus Aniruddh Mohan also contributed to the research. About the College of Engineering: The College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University is a top-ranked engineering college that is known for our intentional focus on cross-disciplinary collaboration in research. The College is well-known for working on problems of both scientific and practical importance. Our "maker" culture is ingrained in all that we do, leading to novel approaches and transformative results. Our acclaimed faculty have a focus on innovation management and engineering to yield transformative results that will drive the intellectual and economic vitality of our community, nation, and world. About Carnegie Mellon University: Carnegie Mellon, cmu.edu, is a private, internationally ranked research university with acclaimed programs spanning the sciences, engineering, technology, business, public policy, humanities, and the arts. Our diverse community of scholars, researchers, creators, and innovators is driven to make real-world impacts that benefit people across the globe. With a bold, interdisciplinary, and entrepreneurial approach, we do the work that matters. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240930494017/en/ Contacts: Abby Verret 337-255-7049 averret@andrew.cmu.edu Yerevan, Armenia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - Armenia is rapidly emerging as a powerhouse in the digital realm, and the inaugural Armenia Digital Awards underscored this transformation. Hosted by the E-Commerce & Digital Marketing Association (ECDMA) on September 27th at the prestigious Radisson Blu Yerevan, the event celebrated the nation's most innovative and impactful digital projects, attracting over 100 industry leaders, professionals, and media representatives. The evening was a testament to Armenia's vibrant digital ecosystem and its commitment to fostering innovation and excellence in the digital landscape. Armenia Digital Awards A Night of Innovation and Excellence The Armenia Digital Awards 2024 was more than just an awards ceremony; it was a convergence of the brightest minds in Armenia's digital sector. The event featured dynamic presentations, engaging panel discussions, and vibrant networking opportunities, all aimed at highlighting the significant strides Armenia has made in digital transformation. Eugene Mischenko, President of ECDMA and a seasoned expert in e-commerce and digital transformation, emphasized, "This event is a testament to the incredible talent and innovative spirit driving Armenia's digital economy. We are not just celebrating winners; we are inspiring the next wave of digital pioneers." The venue was abuzz with energy as attendees shared insights, discussed emerging trends, and forged new collaborations. The Armenia Digital Awards provided digital entrepreneurs, marketers, developers, and innovators a platform to showcase their work, gain recognition, and connect with potential partners and investors. Showcasing Armenia's Finest Digital Achievements The awards recognized excellence across various categories, reflecting Armenia's digital ecosystem's diverse and robust nature. Each category highlighted different aspects of digital innovation, from web design and mobile applications to groundbreaking digital solutions and media excellence. Best Website of the Year: HyurService.com, a leading platform for booking accommodations and tours in Armenia, emerged as the winner, revolutionizing Armenia's tourism sector with its user-friendly interface and visually appealing design. The platform's ability to attract tourists and boost the local economy underscores the critical role of a robust online presence in today's digital age. Best Website in Financial Services: Ardshinbank.am and Evoca.am. Ardshinbank.am, Armenia's largest bank, secured the Best Website in Financial Services award, highlighting its commitment to digital transformation and providing a seamless online banking experience. Similarly, Evoca.am, a leading digital bank known for its innovative and customer-centric approach, showcased its dedication to offering a modern and intuitive online banking platform, earning recognition in the same category. Best Mobile App of the Year: AMIO Mobile, Amio Bank's mobile banking app, took home the top prize, setting new standards in mobile banking with its secure and convenient solutions. The app's ability to provide users with seamless banking experiences on-the-go highlights the importance of mobile applications in today's fast-paced digital world. Best Mobile Payment App: EasyWallet, a popular mobile payment app, was recognized for its user-friendly and secure platform, reflecting the growing adoption of mobile payment solutions in Armenia. The app's ease of use and robust security measures have made it a favorite among consumers, driving the shift towards cashless transactions. Best Digital Innovation: AETIS, a platform for protecting intellectual property, received recognition for its innovative approach to safeguarding creative works. By providing creators and innovators with the tools to protect their intellectual property rights in the digital age, AETIS is leading the charge in ensuring that Armenia's creative talents are protected and nurtured. Best Innovative Advertising Solution: 8K.am for its exceptional ability to blend creative thinking with advanced technology in developing highly effective advertising campaigns. As a comprehensive solution for purchasing out-of-home (OOH) advertising, 8K.am simplifies the process, making it as easy as buying internet banners. Best Q-Commerce Service: Yandex Go, a service offering fast and convenient delivery of groceries and essential items, won in its category. This recognition highlights the growing trend of quick commerce and the increasing demand for rapid delivery services in urban areas, showcasing Armenia's adaptability to global consumer trends. Impact on Citizens' Quality of Life The Armenia Digital Awards not only celebrate technological advancements but also emphasize how these innovations significantly enhance the quality of life for Armenian citizens. Digital initiatives have improved access to essential services, enhanced communication, and fostered a more inclusive society. E-government platforms like Roadpolice.am and Workpermit.am have streamlined public services, making them more accessible and efficient for citizens. These platforms exemplify how digital solutions can enhance governance and public administration, promoting transparency and accountability. By simplifying processes such as traffic management and work permit applications, these digital tools reduce bureaucratic hurdles, save time for citizens, and ensure more efficient service delivery. These digital solutions demonstrate the profound impact that technology can have on everyday lives, fostering a more connected, efficient, and equitable society. Driving Global Excellence with ECDMA Global Awards Building on the success of the Armenia Digital Awards, ECDMA is thrilled to announce the launch of the ECDMA Global Awards, an international competition designed to recognize and celebrate digital excellence worldwide. This global platform invites innovators, entrepreneurs, and digital leaders from around the globe to showcase their achievements and gain international recognition. The ECDMA Global Awards aim to bridge the gap between regional and global digital markets, providing participants with opportunities to expand their reach, connect with international peers, and attract potential investors. By highlighting outstanding digital projects from diverse regions, the awards seek to foster a global community of digital innovators committed to driving positive change through technology. Early Bird Submission Now Open Don't miss the chance to be part of a global celebration of digital innovation. Early Bird submissions for the ECDMA Global Awards are now open and will close on November 15th, 2024. Participants can showcase their digital achievements on a global stage, connect with international peers, and gain unparalleled exposure. The submission process is straightforward, with categories spanning web development, mobile applications, digital marketing, e-commerce, and more, ensuring that a wide range of digital projects can be recognized. Impact of Armenia's Digital Transformation Armenia's digital transformation has profoundly impacted its economy and society. Over the past decade, the country has seen a significant increase in digital startups, investment in technology infrastructure, and the adoption of digital services across various sectors. Armenia's digital economy has been experiencing significant growth, contributing increasingly to the nation's GDP and creating numerous jobs in the tech sector. Satenik Kazaryan, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Armenia Digital Awards, played a pivotal role in promoting the Armenia Digital Awards and raising awareness about the event. "I'm passionate about the power of digital marketing to transform businesses and drive economic growth," said Satenik Kazaryan. "I'm thrilled to have contributed to showcasing the incredible talent and innovation within Armenia's digital landscape." Future Vision: Building a Thriving Digital Ecosystem The Armenia Digital Awards is just the beginning. ECDMA envisions a future where Armenia becomes a leading hub for digital innovation in the Eurasian region. By continuously supporting digital initiatives, fostering collaboration among industry stakeholders, and advocating for favorable policies, ECDMA aims to create an environment where digital businesses can thrive and compete on a global scale. Future initiatives include regular workshops, training programs, and networking events designed to equip digital professionals with the skills and knowledge needed to excel in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. ECDMA also plans to collaborate with international organizations to bring global best practices to Armenia and other developing countries, ensuring that the country remains at the forefront of digital innovation. Comprehensive Support for Digital Innovators ECDMA is committed to providing comprehensive support for digital innovators through various programs and services. This includes mentorship opportunities, access to funding and investment resources, and platforms for showcasing digital projects. By nurturing a supportive ecosystem, ECDMA helps digital entrepreneurs overcome challenges, scale their businesses, and achieve sustainable growth. About the E-Commerce & Digital Marketing Association (ECDMA) The E-Commerce & Digital Marketing Association (ECDMA) is a global association dedicated to fostering the growth and development of the e-commerce and digital marketing industries worldwide. Through initiatives like the Armenia Digital Awards and the upcoming ECDMA Global Awards, ECDMA aims to build a vibrant community of digital professionals, promote knowledge sharing, and advocate for policies that support the burgeoning digital economy. With a mission to drive digital innovation, ECDMA collaborates with industry leaders, government bodies, and educational institutions across the globe to create a cohesive and forward-thinking digital landscape. The association's efforts have positioned ECDMA as a key player in the international digital market, attracting investments and talent from around the world. Sincere Words of Gratitude The organizers of the Armenia Digital Awards 2024 express their deep gratitude to all those who contributed to the success of this inaugural event. Special thanks go to the esteemed jury members, participating companies and individuals, media partners, and dedicated volunteers who played a crucial role in bringing the vision of the awards to life. Join Us in Shaping the Future of Digital Innovation The Armenia Digital Awards 2024 and the accompanying Digital & Ecomm Evn Conference mark a significant step forward in the development of Armenia's digital ecosystem. ECDMA is committed to building on this success by continuing to support the growth of the digital industry in Armenia and promoting its achievements on the international stage. As Armenia continues to lead in digital innovation, ECDMA invites the global community to participate in this exciting journey. The ECDMA Global Awards promise to be a significant event in the digital calendar, offering opportunities for networking, collaboration, and recognition. Whether you're an established leader or an emerging innovator, the ECDMA Global Awards provide a platform to elevate your digital initiatives and drive meaningful impact. For More Information and to Submit Your Entry: https://awards.ecdma.org Armenia Digital Awards About E-Commerce & Digital Marketing Association E-Commerce & Digital Marketing Association (EDMA) is a professional organization founded in 2023, dedicated to connecting, educating, and empowering professionals within the global e- commerce and digital marketing community. With a mission to accelerate the growth and success of the industry, EDMA offers a platform for networking, professional development, and thought leadership. It emphasizes collaboration, education, innovation, and integrity to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. EDMA stands out for its commitment to establishing professional standards and fostering a diverse and inclusive environment within the e-commerce and digital marketing sectors To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/225105 SOURCE: E-Commerce & Digital Marketing Association AXIS Capital Holdings Limited ("AXIS Capital" or the "Company") (NYSE: AXS) today announced that it expects to release financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2024, on Wednesday, October 30, 2024, after the close of the financial markets. Vince Tizzio, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Peter Vogt, Chief Financial Officer, will host an investor teleconference, including a question and answer period, on Thursday, October 31, 2024 at 9:00 AM EDT to discuss the third quarter results as well as related matters. The teleconference can be accessed by dialing 1-877-883-0383 (U.S. callers), 1-866-605-3850 (Canada callers), or 1-412-902-6506 (international callers), and entering the passcode 1585719 approximately 10 minutes in advance of the call. A live, listen-only webcast of the call will also be available via the Investor Information section of the Company's website at www.axiscapital.com. An audio replay of the teleconference will be available for two weeks following the conference call by dialing 1-877-344-7529 (U.S. callers), 1-855-669-9658 (Canada callers), or 1-412-317-0088 (international callers), and entering the passcode 6042731. The webcast will be archived in the Investor Information section of the Company's website. About AXIS Capital AXIS Capital, through its operating subsidiaries, is a global specialty underwriter and provider of insurance and reinsurance solutions. The Company has shareholders' equity of $5.7 billion at June 30, 2024, and locations in Bermuda, the United States, Europe, Singapore and Canada. Its operating subsidiaries have been assigned a financial strength rating of "A+" ("Strong") by Standard Poor's and "A" ("Excellent") by A.M. Best. For more information about AXIS Capital, visit our website at www.axiscapital.com. Follow AXIS Capital on LinkedIn and X Corp. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240930391996/en/ Contacts: Investor Contact Cliff Gallant AXIS Capital Holdings Limited investorrelations@axiscapital.com (415) 262-6843 Media Contact Anna Kukowski AXIS Capital Holdings Limited anna.kukowski@axiscapital.com (212) 715-3574 Clayton, Missouri--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - Perimeter Solutions, SA (NYSE: PRM) ("Perimeter" or the "Company"), a leading provider of mission-critical firefighting products and services, as well as high-quality phosphorus-based specialty chemicals, today announced that the Company will permit holders of all outstanding warrants of the Company ("Warrants") issued to investors in connection with its initial public offering (the "Warrant holders") to exercise their Warrants on a cashless exercise basis beginning, it expects, on or around October 3, 2024. Warrant holders may continue to exercise their Warrants on a cash basis. No other terms of the Warrants are being amended. The Warrants expire on November 11, 2024. The cashless exercise right being offered to Warrant holders allows them to capture the value between the current price of Perimeter's Ordinary Shares and the exercise price of the Warrants without the need to provide cash on exercise. Cashless exercise would enable Warrant holders to exercise their Warrants without paying cash but rather paying the exercise price from the value of the Ordinary Shares that would otherwise be issued to the Warrant holder were the Warrants exercised on a cash basis. The Warrant holders exercising on a cashless basis would receive a number of Ordinary Shares equal in value to the volume weighted average price of one Ordinary Share at the time of exercise (calculated according to a formula set forth in the supplement to the warrant instrument) less the exercise price of the Warrants multiplied by the number of Warrants being exercised. A description of the manner for determining the number of shares issuable to a Warrant holder that exercises its Warrants on a cashless basis is contained in the supplement to the warrant instrument to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Form 8-K. About Perimeter Solutions Perimeter Solutions is a leading global solutions provider, providing high-quality firefighting products and phosphorus-based specialty chemicals. The Company's business is organized and managed in two reporting segments: Fire Safety and Specialty Products. The Fire Safety business consists of formulating, manufacture and sale of fire retardants and firefighting foams that assist in combating various types of fires, including wildland, structural, flammable liquids and others. Our Fire Safety business also offers specialized equipment and services, typically in conjunction with our fire management products, to support our customers' firefighting operations. Our specialized equipment includes airbase retardant storage, mixing, and delivery equipment; mobile retardant bases; retardant ground application units; mobile foam equipment; and equipment that we custom design and manufacture to meet specific customer needs. Our service network can meet the emergency resupply needs of over 150 air tanker bases in North America, as well as many other customer locations in North America and internationally. The segment is built on the premise of superior technology, exceptional responsiveness to our customers' needs, and a "never-fail" service network. The segment sells products to government agencies and commercial customers around the world. The Specialty Products business produces and sells high quality Phosphorus Pentasulfide ("P2S5") primarily used in the preparation of lubricant additives, including a family of compounds called Zinc Dialkyldithiophosphates ("ZDDP") that provide critical anti-wear protection to engine components. P2S5 is also used in pesticide and mining chemicals applications. Forward-Looking Information This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as: "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "goal," "seek," "believe," "project," "estimate," "expect," "strategy," "future," "likely," "may," "should," "will," and similar references to future periods including expectations regarding when the Warrants may be exercised on a cashless exercise basis. Any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance or results, and involve risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond the Company's control) and assumptions. Although Perimeter believes any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, you should be aware that many factors could affect Perimeter's actual financial results and cause them to differ materially from those anticipated in any forward-looking statements, including the risk factors described from time to time by us in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including, but not limited to, the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 filed with the SEC on February 22, 2024. Shareholders, potential investors and other readers should consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by Perimeter in this press release speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Perimeter undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/225101 SOURCE: Perimeter Solutions Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - AIM5 Ventures Inc. (TSXV: AIME.P) (the "Company"), announces the resignation of Zachary Goldenberg as an officer and director of the Company. The board of directors of the Company would like to thank Mr. Goldenberg for his contributions to the Company and it wishes him success in his future endeavors. Aaron Salz has been appointed Chief Executive Officer and Corporate Secretary of the Company to fill the vacancy left by Mr. Goldenberg. For more information, please contact Aaron Salz, the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary of the Company. 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. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/225132 SOURCE: AIM5 Ventures Inc. Clean Air Metals Inc. ("Clean Air Metals" or the "Company") (TSXV:AIR)(FRA:CKU)(OTCQB:CLRMF) announces that it has filed its unaudited consolidated interim financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for the six-month period ended July 31, 2024, available for viewing on www.sedarplus.ca. Financial Highlights Total assets as at July 31, 2024 of $37,635,700 Total cash as at July 31, 2024 of $4,194,919 Working capital as at July 31, 2024 of $922,959 Shareholder's equity as at July 31, 2024 of $33,677,958 Mike Garbutt, CEO of the Company, commented, "We are comfortable with our current financial position for project development activities through the end of 2025 and we look forward to meaningful progress over this period. As a reminder to shareholders, further results from the late summer drill program are pending." Financial Summary For the three months ended For the six months ended July 31, 2024 July 31, 2023 July 31, 2024 July 31, 2023 Operating Expenses $ 1,437,180 $ 1,096,522 $ 2,300,444 $ 2,073,693 Net Loss and Comprehensive Loss (1,425,964 ) (1,002,805 ) (2,289,228 ) (1,908,304 ) Loss per share - Basic and Diluted $ (0.01 ) $ (0.01 ) $ (0.01 ) $ (0.01 ) July 31, 2024 January 31, 2024 Total Assets $ 37,635,700 $ 39,205,074 Total Liabilities 3,957,742 3,478,961 Total Shareholders' Equity $ 33,677,958 $ 35,726,113 Full details of the financial reports and operating results for the six-month period ended July 31, 2024 are described in the Company's unaudited consolidated interim financial statements with accompanying notes and related Management's Discussion and Analysis, available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. About Clean Air Metals Clean Air Metals is a development and exploration company advancing its flagship, 100% owned Thunder Bay North Critical Minerals ("TBN") project, 40 km northeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The TBN project, accessible by road and next to established infrastructure, hosts two (2) deposits - the Current and Escape deposits, only 2.5 km apart. Together, the deposits host a 13.8 Mt indicated mineral resource containing 2.4M Pt eq. oz (Technical Report on the Thunder Bay North Project, Ontario Canada, NI43-101, SLR Consulting Canada Ltd, June 19, 2023) with significant potential for expansion down-plunge. One of the rare primary platinum resources outside of South Africa, the TBN project is in a stable and mining-friendly jurisdiction and benefits from longstanding relationships with local First Nations. With its proven technical team, Clean Air Metals is committed to growing the resources at the TBN project and creating long-term value for shareholders. Social Engagement Clean Air Metals Inc. acknowledges that the Thunder Bay North Critical Minerals Project is located within the area encompassed by the Robinson-Superior Treaty of 1850, and includes the territories of the Fort William First Nation,?Red Rock Indian Band, Biinjitiwabik Zaaging Anishinabek and Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek. Clean Air Metals also acknowledges the contributions of the Metis Nation of Ontario, Region 2 and the Red Sky Metis Independent Nation to the rich history of our area.? The Company appreciates the opportunity to work in these territories and remains committed to the recognition and respect of those who have lived, traveled, and gathered on the lands since time immemorial. Clean Air Metals is committed to stewarding Indigenous heritage and remains committed to building, fostering and encouraging a respectful relationship with First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples based upon principles of mutual trust, respect, reciprocity and collaboration in the spirit of reconciliation. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS "Mike Garbutt" Mike Garbutt, CEO of Clean Air Metals Inc. Connect with us on X/ Facebook/ Instagram. Visit www.cleanairmetals.ca for more information or contact: Mia Boiridy Director of Communications and Investor Relations 250-575-3305 mboiridy@cleanairmetals.ca Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. 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: 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. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to 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. SOURCE: Clean Air Metals, Inc. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - Syntheia Corp. (formerly, Veta Resources Inc.) (the "Company" or "Syntheia") is pleased to announce that it has received final approval from the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") for the listing of its common shares (the "Common Shares"), to commence trading on the CSE at the open of business on Wednesday, October 2, 2024 under the symbol "SYAI". A copy of the Company's listing statement (the "Listing Statement") is available under the Company's SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca. About Syntheia Syntheia is an artificial intelligence technology company which is developing and commercializing proprietary algorithms to deliver human-like conversations. Our SaaS platform offers conversational AI solutions for both enterprise and small-medium business customers globally. Cautionary Statement 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 news release. This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "would", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is provided, and is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the listing of the Common Shares on the CSE. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking information is not based on historical facts but instead reflects the Company's management's expectations, estimates or projections concerning the business of the Company's future results or events based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, such information involves risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such information, as unknown or unpredictable factors could have material adverse effects on future results, performance or achievements. Please refer to the Company's listing statement available on SEDAR+ for a list of risks and key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although the Company has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors which could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change, unless required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The securities of the Company have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirement. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/225080 SOURCE: Syntheia Corp. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - Aurania Resources Ltd. (TSXV: ARU) (OTCQB: AUIAF) (FSE: 20Q) ("Aurania" or the "Company") provides an update on the Company's activities and announces that its directors received their quarterly director fees in the form of stock options in lieu of cash for the period ended September 30th. Ecuador At the Company's Kuri-Yawi gold target, preparation is underway for an induced polarization (IP) geophysical survey. The geophysical company has been selected and the survey is expected to commence in the latter half of October. The survey should take approximately one month to complete after which data review will commence. The purpose of the survey is to identify drill targets at Kuri-Yawi. The Anaconda mapping program at the Company's Awacha porphyry copper target area is now complete. This was a necessary step to start the interpretation of the data to define the targets for future drill campaigns at Awacha. During this field program, new intrusive outcrops with typical porphyry alteration were found, some of them showing quartz veins with the presence of pyrite, chalcopyrite and covellite. A team of geologists will work on analyzing and interpreting the data from the Anaconda mapping program. Aurania's Community Social Responsibility (CSR) team continues to work with local communities in Ecuador to advance various social programs and initiatives within the areas of the Company's key targets, strengthening the bonds with the communities. Most recently, our team along with the Step Forward Foundation celebrated the opening of a new school in the community of Chikichikentsa near the Company's Awacha porphyry copper target. Aurania's CEO & President, Dr. Keith Barron was there for the ribbon cutting ceremony. Aurania would like to thank everyone involved in this very important project. See the image below. Image Description: the official opening of a new school in the community of Chikichikentsa, Ecuador. To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2477/225157_73b3a08404e03a2f_001full.jpg France The Company applied for a 51km2 exploration permit immediately in the vicinity of a major shear zone called South Armorican Shear (cisaillement sud-armoricain) in the Brittany Peninsula of northwestern France through a wholly owned French subsidiary. The concession area has historically been the site of significant high-grade gold finds. Placer gold in streams is present in the vicinity of the area. Aurania's geologists have visited the area and found numerous blocks of quartz and evidence of past mining activity. The Swiss challenge and the first public consultation phases planned in the permit application process have now been completed. The permit applications are progressing, and further updates will be provided as information becomes available. Conferences and Events Swiss Mining Institute (SMI) Aurania will be attending the Swiss Mining Institute conference taking place at the Dolder Grand in Zurich, Switzerland on November 20 and 21st. https://swissmininginstitute.ch/ Deutsche Goldmesse (German Gold Show) Aurania will be attending Deutsche Goldmesse on Friday, November 22nd at the Westin Grand in Frankfurt, Germany. Dr. Keith Barron will be presenting at this event. https://deutschegoldmesse.online/ Director Options in Lieu of Fees Directors (the "Optionees") of the Company have agreed to receive their quarterly director fees for 2024 in the form of stock options in lieu of cash. On September 30, 2024, each director was granted 10,500 stock options at an exercise price of $0.54. An aggregate of 42,000 stock options were granted to directors in lieu of their director fees for the third financial quarter of 2024. All such options will be exercisable for a period of three years from the date of grant and vested immediately upon grant. In the event an Optionee intends to exercise such Options, such Optionee shall be solely responsible for paying the entirety of the exercise price. About Aurania Aurania is a mineral exploration company engaged in the identification, evaluation, acquisition, and exploration of mineral property interests, with a focus on precious metals and copper in South America. Its flagship asset, The Lost Cities - Cutucu Project, is located in the Jurassic Metallogenic Belt in the eastern foothills of the Andes mountain range of southeastern Ecuador. Information on Aurania and technical reports are available at www.aurania.com and www.sedarplus.ca, as well as on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/auranialtd/, Twitter at https://twitter.com/auranialtd, and LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/aurania-resources-ltd-. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release contains forward-looking information as such term is defined in applicable securities laws, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. The forward-looking information includes Aurania's objectives, goals or future plans, statements, exploration results, potential mineralization, the corporation's portfolio, treasury, management team and enhanced capital markets profile, the estimation of mineral resources, exploration, timing of the commencement of operations, the Company's teams being on track ahead of any drill program, the commencement of any drill program and estimates of market conditions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to Aurania, including the assumption that, there will be no material adverse change in metal prices, all necessary consents, licenses, permits and approvals will be obtained, including various local government licenses and the market. Investors are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. Risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking information include, among other things, commodity prices, supply chain disruptions, restrictions on labour and workplace attendance and local and international travel; a failure to obtain or delays in obtaining the required regulatory licenses, permits, approvals and consents; an inability to access financing as needed; a general economic downturn, a volatile stock price, labour strikes, political unrest, changes in the mining regulatory regime governing Aurania; a failure to comply with environmental regulations; a weakening of market and industry reliance on precious metals and copper; and those risks set out in the Company's public documents filed on SEDAR. Aurania cautions the reader that the above list of risk factors is not exhaustive. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/225157 SOURCE: Aurania Resources Ltd. Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - Tethys Petroleum Limited (TSXV: TPL) ("Tethys" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on the Company's operations in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Operations update An acid job in KBD-10 was recently done to help test the Jurassic zone. The initial results have been discouraging but plans are to continue the test. The oil handling and gas utilization facilities are almost complete and the Company expects to have them in place and operational when the commercial license is received. Gas Contract Resolution After multiple rounds of negotiations regarding the settlement of the gas price dispute, QazaqGaz has improved its offer, resulting in a total receivable for gas deliveries from May 2022 to January 4, 2023, and from January 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024, including VAT (12%), amounting to 3,315,563,439 tenge, or approximately $6.9 million at the current exchange rate of 480 tenge to USD. Although the gas sale contract originally stipulated a higher price formula, the Company has opted to accept the revised offer to avoid the costly and lengthy process of resolving the dispute through arbitration. Ensuring liquidity is a priority for the Company as it continues to implement its development plans for the Kul Bas oil field and exploration program at new exploration blocks. The Company is hopeful that, pending receipt of the debt from QazaqGaz and the signing of a new sales contract, gas production can restart by the second half of October or November 2024. Regulatory update The Company is continuing to pursue the commercial license for the production and sale of oil. On February 20, 2024, the Company applied to the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan for a Production Contract for the Kul Bas field. The stipulated review period of 20 working days, as required by the Subsoil Use Code, expired on March 19, 2024. On March 28, 2024, the Company submitted a request for assistance in accelerating the review of the application, but no definitive answer has been received to date. The Ministry of Energy has also not yet issued the official minutes of the Working Group for the associated gas utilization program that was held in March, 2024. Without this document, the Company is unable to obtain the necessary gas flaring and ecological permits to restart its main production operations at KBD-02, KBD-06, and KBD-07 wells. On April 12, 2024, the Company submitted a formal request to the Ministry of Energy for the issuance of the official minutes. Following several follow-up inquiries, on July 19, 2024, the Ministry informed the Company that additional comments from the Working Group had been addressed and that the minutes would be provided in due course. The Company does not agree with the extension of the review period or the response indicating that the minutes would be provided without a specified timeframe. A formal complaint regarding the Ministry's response has been submitted, with a resolution expected by October 11, 2024. In light of these delays and the ongoing impact on the Company's operations, we have filed a claim with the Specialized Administrative Court of the City of Astana to obligate the Ministry to immediately issue the official minutes of the Working Group meeting for the associated gas utilization program held in March 2024. Additionally, we are also considering further legal actions to protect the Company's rights and interests. The Company will continue to actively engage with the Ministry of Energy to expedite both the receipt of the minutes and the signing of the Production Contract for the Kul Bas oil field, in order to ensure full compliance and enable the resumption of its operations. About Tethys Tethys is focused on oil and gas exploration and production activities in Central Asia and the Caspian Region. Disclaimer Some of the statements in this document are forward-looking. No part of this announcement constitutes, or shall be taken to constitute, an invitation or inducement to invest in the Company or any other entity and shareholders of the Company are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Save as required by applicable law, the Company does not undertake to update or change any forward-looking statements to reflect events occurring after the date of this announcement. 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. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/225167 SOURCE: Tethys Petroleum Limited ELKHART, IN / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / ITR Concession Co. LLC (ITRCC), the concessionaire and operator of the Indiana Toll Road (ITR), is proud to be a part of October's National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and, in conjunction, is launching the 'Think Before You Click' Smishing Awareness Campaign. The campaign is designed to educate Indiana Toll Road customers and the general public about the dangers of smishing, a cybersecurity attack that uses fraudulent text messages in an attempt to trick people to click on links that steal personal information or download damaging malware. The National Cybersecurity Awareness Month was an initiative launched in 2003 by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), as a month dedicated towards the public and private sectors working together to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity. The program seeks to help individuals understand the importance of staying vigilant against cybersecurity threats that could disrupt individuals, communities, and businesses through digital means. In light of the recent smishing scams that are impersonating toll road agencies nationwide, malicious actors are sending out deceptive texts claiming to be from the Indiana Toll Road, urging recipients to pay an unpaid toll. ITRCC has taken initial steps through website communications to inform customers that they do not send out text messages asking for sensitive information or payments. To further their endeavors, throughout October ITRCC is partnering with the Indiana State Police and the YMCA of Steuben County to post informative videos on social media that outline key strategies for spotting and reporting smishing texts to an FBI website dedicated to taking down fraudulent websites, IC3.gov. The videos and images will feature practical tips on how to identify suspicious messages and protect personal information. It is critical for the public to remain vigilant. The Smishing Awareness Campaign aims to empower individuals with the knowledge to recognize and report these fraudulent messages. "I received a text asking to pay an unpaid toll from the Indiana Toll Road that looked real and was very convincing. Thankfully, I didn't click the link and went to their website to confirm it wasn't legitimate. It's important for everyone to be aware of these scams or else it could lead to a much worse situation," says Tammy B., resident of St. Joseph County area and recipient of a smishing text. In addition to the social media campaign, ITRCC will conduct in-person education briefings at local facilities within the seven counties in which ITRCC operates, as well as distributing informational handouts on how to recognize smishing attempts and what steps to take if a suspicious message is received. The Smishing Awareness Campaign is to encourage everyone to "Think Before You Click." ITRCC is urging the public to be cautious and verify any unexpected or suspicious texts, especially those requesting payment or personal information. For more information on the campaign or to access the educational materials, please visit indianatollroad.org. If you suspect you have received a smishing message, report it immediately to IC3.gov. About the Indiana Toll Road Established in 2006, the ITR Concession Company LLC (ITRCC) responsibilities are detailed in the Concession and Lease Agreement with the Indiana Finance Authority, such as the construction, maintenance, repair, and operation of the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road. Headquartered in Elkhart, the Toll Road spans northern Indiana, linking Chicago with the Eastern Seaboard. Designated as part of Interstate 80/90, the Toll Road serves as a vital transportation link in the Midwest. Contact Information Yvette Leyva Communications Manager yleyva@indianatollroad.org 5742614028 SOURCE: ITR Concession Company LLC View the original press release on newswire.com. PRESS RELEASE REGULATED INFORMATION - INSIDE INFORMATION 30 September 2024, 23:55 CEST Sequana Medical announces H1 2024 results and provides business update alfapump - US FDA approval anticipated Q1 2025 and US launch planned for H2 2025; Strong progress with US reimbursement - CPT III codes issued & NTAP Application filed DSR - Publication of RED DESERT and SAHARA data in peer-reviewed "European Journal of Heart Failure" highlights potential as treatment for Cardiorenal Syndrome; Positive data from non-randomized cohort in US MOJAVE study and DSMB approval to start randomized phase Total liquidity position of EUR 4.2m as per 30 June 2024 Shareholder financing of up to EUR 6.1m announced today extends runway towards planned alfapump FDA approval; exploring direct financing into each of alfapump and DSR businesses Ghent, Belgium - 30 September 2024 - Sequana Medical NV (Euronext Brussels: SEQUA) (the "Company" or "SequanaMedical"), a pioneer in the treatment of fluid overload in liver disease, heart failure and cancer, today announces its business highlights and financial results for the six-month period ending 30 June 2024 and its outlook for the remainder of the year. Ian Crosbie, Chief Executive Officer at Sequana Medical, commented: "This is an exciting time for Sequana Medical as we prepare for launch of the alfapump in the United States. We are very pleased with our positive interactions with the FDA and look forward to finalising the remaining topics over the coming months. Regular meetings with US hepatologists have reaffirmed our belief in the clear demand for improved treatment options for this large patient universe driven by NASH / MASH and alcoholic liver disease - we estimate the North American alfapump market at $2.4 billion in 2025, growing at 9% per year. We are making good progress with our US reimbursement preparations with the receipt of CPT III codes and the filing of our application for the NTAP program. With these reimbursement steps in place, we are confident that our direct commercialisation strategy through a small specialty team will enable a successful launch through liver transplant centers, where 90 hospitals cover more than 95% of the US market. For our DSR heart failure program, we were delighted to see the publication of the RED DESERT and SAHARA data in the prestigious peer-reviewed European Journal of Heart Failure, and presented at the leading international heart failure conference THT 2024 DSR as a potential treatment for cardiorenal syndrome. Following the positive DSMB decision as well as the strong data from the first patients in MOJAVE, we look forward to commencing the randomized cohort of this US Phase 1/2a study once funding is available. Despite challenging market conditions, we were able to secure 14.5m of financing in the first half of the year and today announced additional support of up to 6.1m from our existing investors. We continue to explore all financing options for the company, including direct investments into each of the alfapump and DSR activities which we anticipate to expand the universe of potential investors and therefore benefit all Sequana Medical shareholders." Highlights from H1 2024 to date US alfapump liver program US Commercial: Submission of Premarket Approval (PMA): The PMA application for the alfapump system was accepted for substantive review on 29 January 2024. Following a review of this application by the FDA, the Company received a "Day 90" major deficiency letter and a "Day 100" meeting was held with the FDA to align on key findings. The FDA confirmed completion of the substantive review and no further new questions on the clinical study or the pre-clinical data, unless related to the Company's response to the "Day 90" Letter. The FDA had a number of non-clinical questions that required additional work and the Company will submit this additional information today and continues to plan for approval before the end of Q1 2025. US Reimbursement - CPT III: In January 2024 (https://www.sequanamedical.com/press-releases/sequana-medical-granted-us-cpt-iii-reimbursement-codes-for-alfapump-system/), the American Medical Association (AMA) approved the issuance of six new Category III Current Procedural Terminology (CPT III) codes for the alfa pump system. This is a key step in facilitating reimbursement and the US commercialization strategy, augmenting the existing ICD-10 procedure codes. Upon FDA approval, this will allow healthcare institutions to submit claims for the alfa pump system, paving the way for broader adoption and supporting commercial rollout in the US. US Reimbursement - NTAP: The Company has submitted the application for the US NTAP (new technology add-on payment) program. CMS established this program to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries have access to emerging technologies, recognizing that the cost of such new technologies often exceeds the existing payments under the relevant DRGs (diagnostics related groups). The Company believes that it meets all criteria for NTAP given alfapump's FDA breakthrough device designation and the anticipated device cost of $30,000. Posters and presentations: Presentation at the EASL (https://easl.eu/event/easl-congress-2024/) Congress 2024 1 of data from the North American pivotal POSEIDON study of the alfa pump, announced 6 June 2024 (https://www.sequanamedical.com/press-releases/sequana-medical-announces-data-on-alfapump-safety-and-quality-of-life-to-be-presented-at-easl-congress-2024/). The data demonstrated similar safety outcomes but significantly improved quality of life compared to baseline, which is not seen in refractory ascites patients enrolled contemporaneously in the prospective NACSELD3 (North American Consortium for Study of End-Stage Liver Disease) cohort. DSR heart failure program MOJAVE - US randomized controlled Phase 1/2a study of DSR 2.0 for treatment of congestive heart failure Approval to commence randomised phase: The independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) approved the start of the randomized cohort in MOJAVE, following review of the safety data reported from the non-randomized cohort, announced in January 2024 (https://www.sequanamedical.com/press-releases/sequana-medical-announces-dsmb-approval-to-start-randomized-mojave-cohort-us-phase-1-2a-study-of-dsr-2-0-for-treatment-of-heart-failure/). Study results from non-randomised cohort: On 25 March 2024 (https://www.sequanamedical.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Press-release_final-MOJAVE-non-randomized-cohort_25-March-2024_ENG_vF.pdf), the three-month follow-up data from all three patients in the non-randomized cohort of MOJAVE were announced, confirming the dramatic and durable improvement in their diuretic response and virtual elimination of loop diuretic requirements. These final data support DSR's mechanism of action as breaking the vicious cycle of cardiorenal syndrome. Posters and presentations: On 28 February 2024 (https://www.sequanamedical.com/press-releases/strong-data-from-dsr-proof-of-concept-studies-in-heart-failure-accepted-for-late-breaking-presentation-at-tht-2024/), presentation at the THT 2024 (https://tht2024.crfconnect.com/) conference 2 , a leading international heart failure conference, of a late-breaking abstract including data from the RED DESERT and SAHARA proof-of-concept studies of the Company's DSR therapy in patients with diuretic-resistant heart failure. On 3 April 2024 (https://www.sequanamedical.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Press-release_Publication-DSR-data_3-April-2024_ENG_vF.pdf), the Company announced publication of the results from two proof-of-concept studies, RED DESERT and SAHARA, in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal European Journal of Heart Failure (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ejhf.3196). This publication highlights the potential for DSR as a novel treatment for diuretic resistance and cardiorenal syndrome in heart failure. Corporate Financing February Shareholder Financing: On 8 February 2024 (https://www.sequanamedical.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Press-release_announcement_8-Feb-2024_ENG_vF.pdf), announcement of the granting of an unsecured subordinated convertible loan of EUR 3.0 million by two major shareholders, Partners in Equity and Rosetta Capital , and the agreement from its lenders to defer the debt service payments, alongside the decision of the board of directors to prioritize its resources towards US FDA PMA approval of the alfa pump as a key value inflection point for the Company. March Equity Financing: On 21 March 2024 (https://www.sequanamedical.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Project-Stars-Pricing-PR-ENG-FINAL.pdf), announcement of a successful equity raise of EUR 11.5 million in gross proceeds by means of a private placement allowing continuing towards FDA PMA approval of the alfa pump, preparing its US commercial launch, implementing CMC activities for DSR 2.0 3 , as well as extending the cash runway of the Company to the end of Q3 2024. September Shareholder Financing: Today, the Company announced the strong support of up to 6.1m from existing shareholders, with an initial tranche of 3.05m (with the second tranche at the discretion of each lender). The Company is exploring the possibility to expand this financing through including additional experienced investors. The announced financing extends the cash runway into Q1 2025 if the full 6.1m is received. Exploring direct financing into each of the alfapump and DSR programs: As a result of the success of the DSR development program and the data from the RED DESERT and SAHARA studies demonstrating the durability of the treatment effect, it was decided to pursue development of the DSR program without the alfapump. As a result, there is little synergy between the DSR and alfapump programs. Furthermore, based on feedback from potential investors, the Company is exploring how to enable investments into each of the DSR drug and the alfapump device programs separately which may expand the pool of potential investors and enable more effective financing of the Company's business. The Company believes that such an approach may be beneficial to Sequana Medical investors through expanding the pool of potential experienced investors, while retaining the ability to invest in Sequana Medical through the EuroNext Brussels listing. Outlook for the remainder of 2024 North American alfa pump liver program - on track for US commercial launch in H2 2025 Working with the FDA to complete PMA review - the Company's responses to the outstanding points raised by the FDA in the Day 90 letter will be submitted today US commercial launch planned in H2 2025 - ongoing engagement with target launch centers, and further preparations for reimbursement and market entry pump liver program - on track for US commercial launch in H2 2025 DSR heart failure program - start of MOJAVE randomized cohort is approved by the independent DSMB, and subject to additional fundraising. Financial review - Six months ended 30 June 2024 in Thousand Euros HY 2024 HY 2023 Variance Revenue 106 384 -73% Cost of goods sold (26) (88) -71% Gross margin 79 296 -73% Sales & Marketing (370) (1,100) -66% Clinical (1,628) (3,714) -56% Quality & Regulatory (1,771) (3,186) -44% Supply Chain (1,626) (2,372) -31% Engineering (982) (2,095) -53% General & Administration (3,438) (3,455) 0% Total operating expenses (9,816) (15,922) -38% Other income 142 210 -32% Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT)4 (9,595) (15,417) -38% Finance income 3,172 1,316 141% Finance cost (4,512) (2,108) 114% Total net finance cost (1,340) (792) 69% Income tax expense (146) (255) -43% Net loss for the period (11,080) (16,464) -33% Basic Loss Per Share (0.34) (0.65) -47% Cash position* at 30 June 4,153 17,122 N.M N.M.: Not Meaningful (percentage greater than 150%) * Cash position only includes highly liquid cash and cash equivalents. Condensed Consolidated Income Statement Revenue Revenue decreased from 0.38 million in H1 2023 to 0.11 million in H1 2024 due to the decision to terminate European commercial activities in Q1 2024. Cost of goods sold Cost of goods sold decreased from 0.09 million in H1 2023 to 0.03 million in H1 2024 in line with the decrease in revenue. Operating expenses Total operating expenses decreased from 15.92 million in H1 2023 to 9.82 million in H1 2024 due to the higher expenses in 2023 related to preparations of the submission for marketing approval of the alfapump in the US and the measures taken to substantially reduce the cash burn in 2024. Sales and Marketing expenses decreased from 1.10 million in H1 2023 to 0.37 million in H1 2024 due to the decision to terminate European commercial activities in Q1 2024. Clinical expenses decreased from 3.71 million in H1 2023 to 1.63 million in H1 2024, mainly as a result of lower costs related to the North American pivotal POSEIDON study of the alfapump and the decision to pause the start of the randomized phase of the MOJAVE study in the US. Quality and Regulatory expenses decreased from 3.19 million in H1 2023 to 1.77 million in H1 2024, mainly due to the higher expenses in 2023 for external advice solicited for the preparation of the submissions for marketing approval of the alfapump in the US. Supply chain expenses decreased from 2.37 million in H1 2023 to 1.63 million in H1 2024, largely driven by the measures taken to reduce the cash burn in 2024 and higher spend in 2023 for additional staffing and external advice for the preparation of the submissions for marketing approval of the alfapump in the US. Engineering expenses decreased from 2.10 million in H1 2023 to 0.98 million in H1 2024, largely driven by the measures taken to reduce the cash burn in 2024 and the one off costs for test samples in 2023 required for the preparation of the submissions for marketing approval of the alfapump in the US. General and Administration expenses remained stable at 3.45 million in H1 2023 and 3.44 million in H1 2024. Other income decreased from 0.21 million in H1 2023 to 0.14 million in H1 2024 and includes recognized income from Belgian Research & Development (R&D) incentives with regard to incurred R&D expenses. EBIT As a result of the above, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) evolved from a loss of 15.42 million in H1 2023 to a loss of 9.59 million in H1 2024. Total net finance cost Net finance cost increased from 0.79 million in H1 2023 to 1.34 million in H1 2024, mainly resulting from the impact of the valuation of the warrants and the February 2024 loan amendments. All of these items are non-cash items. Income tax expense Income tax expense decreased from 0.26 million in H1 2023 to 0.15 million in H1 2024 as a result of the lower activities in Switzerland. Net loss for the period As a result of the above, the net loss decreased from 16.46 million in H1 2023 to 11.08 million in H1 2024. Basic losses per share (LPS) Basic losses per share decreased from 0.65 in H1 2023 to 0.34 in H1 2024. Condensed Consolidated Statement of Financial Position Net debt Net debt5 at 30 June 2024 increased by 3.24 million compared to 31 December 2023, mainly as a result of the Convertible Loan provided by major shareholders (3.00 million). Working Capital Working capital6 at 30 June 2024 dropped 2.64 million compared to 31 December 2023. Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows Net cash outflow from operating activities was 12.36 million in H1 2024 compared to 16.36 million in H1 2023. The lower outflow was mainly driven by lower net loss of the period, partially offset by higher working capital needs. Cash flow from investing activities resulted in a net outflow of 0.03 million in H1 2024, compared to a net outflow of 0.08 million in H1 2023. Cash flow from financing activities resulted in a net inflow of 13.96 million in H1 2024, mainly as a result of the proceeds from the March 2024 equity placement and the Convertible Loan provided by major shareholders (3.00 million) in February 2024. In H1 2023, the net inflow of 14.72 million was mainly a result of the April 2023 equity placement. The Company ended H1 2024 with a total liquidity position of 4.15 million (end 2023: 2.58 million). For more information, please contact: Sequana Medical Ian Crosbie CEO E: IR@sequanamedical.com T: +44 7973 42 99 17 About Sequana Medical Sequana Medical NV is a pioneer in treating fluid overload, a serious and frequent clinical complication in patients with liver disease, heart failure and cancer. This causes major medical issues including increased mortality, repeated hospitalizations, severe pain, difficulty breathing and restricted mobility. Although diuretics are standard of care, they become ineffective, intolerable or exacerbate the problem in many patients. There are limited effective treatment options, resulting in poor clinical outcomes, high costs and a major impact on their quality of life. Sequana Medical is seeking to provide innovative treatment options for this large and growing "diuretic resistant" patient population. alfapump and DSR are Sequana Medical's proprietary platforms that work with the body to treat diuretic-resistant fluid overload, delivering major clinical and quality of life benefits for patients and reducing costs for healthcare systems. The Company's Premarket Approval (PMA) application for the alfapump was submitted to the US FDA in December 2023 and accepted for substantive review in January 2024, having reported positive primary and secondary endpoint data from the North American pivotal POSEIDON study in recurrent or refractory ascites due to liver cirrhosis. US market approval of the alfapump is anticipated before the end of Q1 2025 with US commercial launch planned for H2 2025. Results of the Company's RED DESERT and SAHARA proof-of-concept studies in heart failure support DSR's mechanism of action as breaking the vicious cycle of cardiorenal syndrome. All three patients from the non-randomized cohort of MOJAVE, a US randomized controlled multi-center Phase 1/2a clinical study, have been successfully treated with DSR, resulting in a dramatic improvement in diuretic response and virtual elimination of loop diuretic requirements. The independent Data Safety Monitoring Board approved the start of the randomized MOJAVE cohort of up to a further 30 patients, which is planned after alfapump US PMA approval. Sequana Medical is listed on the regulated market of Euronext Brussels. Important Regulatory Disclaimers The alfapump system is currently not approved in the United States or Canada. In the United States and Canada, the alfapump system is currently under clinical investigation (POSEIDON Trial) and is being studied in adult patients with refractory or recurrent ascites due to liver cirrhosis. DSR therapy is still in development and it should be noted that any statements regarding safety and efficacy arise from ongoing pre-clinical and clinical investigations which have yet to be completed. There is no link between DSR therapy and ongoing investigations with the alfapump system in Europe, the United States or Canada. Note: alfapump and DSR are registered trademarks. Forward-looking statements This press release may contain predictions, estimates or other information that might be considered forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. These forward-looking statements represent the current judgment of Sequana Medical on what the future holds, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Sequana Medical expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements in this press release, except if specifically required to do so by law or regulation. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which reflect the opinions of Sequana Medical only as of the date of this press release. Financial information The condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with IAS 34, as adopted by the EU. The financial information included in the press release is an extract from the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. The Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements for the six months ending 30 June 2024 are available on the website of Sequana Medical: https://www.sequanamedical.com/investors/financial-information/ Condensed Consolidated Income Statement in Thousand Euros (if not stated otherwise) Half Year ended 30 June 2024 2023 Revenue 106 384 Cost of goods sold (26) (88) Gross margin 79 296 Sales & Marketing (370) (1,100) Clinical (1,628) (3,714) Quality & Regulatory (1,771) (3,186) Supply Chain (1,626) (2,372) Engineering (982) (2,095) General & Administration (3,438) (3,455) Total operating expenses (9,816) (15,922) Other income 142 210 Earnings before interests and taxes (EBIT) (9,595) (15,417) Finance income 3,172 1,316 Finance cost (4,512) (2,108) Total net finance cost (1,340) (792) Income tax expense (146) (255) Net loss for the period (11,080) (16,464) Basic losses per share (in Euro) (0.34) (0.65) Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income in Thousand Euros (if not stated otherwise) Half Year ended 30 June 2024 2023 Net loss for the period (11,080) (16,464) Components of other comprehensive income (OCI) items that will not be reclassified to profit or loss: Remeasurements of defined benefit plans - - Items that may be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss: Currency translation adjustments 14 95 Total other comprehensive income/(loss)-net of tax 14 95 Total comprehensive income (11,066) (16,368) Attributable to Sequana Medical shareholders (11,066) (16,368) Condensed Consolidated Statement of Financial Position in Thousand Euros As at period ended 30 June 2024 31 December 2023 ASSETS Property, plant and equipment 1,991 2,317 Financial Assets 98 100 Other non-current assets 1,552 1,388 Total non-current assets 3,641 3,805 Trade receivables - 43 Other receivables and prepaid expenses 959 1,373 Inventory 2,036 2,296 Cash and cash equivalents 4,153 2,584 Total current assets 7,148 6,296 Total assets 10,789 10,101 EQUITY AND LIABILITIES Share capital 3,721 2,926 Share premium 196,350 185,644 Reserves (3,399) (2,896) Loss brought forward (217,102) (206,022) Cumulative translation adjustment 868 882 Total equity (19,561) (19,465) Long term financial debts 11,869 8,969 Long term lease debts 386 464 Retirement benefit obligation 642 668 Total non-current liabilities 12,897 10,101 Short term financial debts 9,903 7,818 Short term lease debts 175 269 Other current financial liabilities 2,120 2,767 Trade payables and contract liabilities 1,986 2,907 Other payables 1,060 2,257 Accrued liabilities and provisions 2,209 3,448 Total current liabilities 17,454 19,466 Total equity and liabilities 10,789 10,101 Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows in Thousand Euros Half Year ended 30 June 2024 2023 Net loss for the period (11,080) (16,464) Income tax expense 146 255 Financial result 1,310 67 Depreciation 141 144 Change in defined benefit plan (0) 156 Share-based compensation (109) (0) Changes in trade and other receivables 294 (407) Changes in inventories 143 (156) Changes in trade and other payables/provisions (3,044) 173 Taxes paid (155) (130) Cash flow used in operating activities (12,355) (16,362) Investments in tangible fixed assets (29) (81) Investments in financial assets - - Cash flow used in investing activities (29) (81) Proceeds from capital increase 11,500 15,780 (Repayments)/Proceeds from leasing debts (233) (222) (Repayments)/Proceeds from financial debts 2,884 (522) Interest paid (188) (318) Cash flow from financing activities 13,962 14,718 Net change in cash and cash equivalents 1,578 (1,725) Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the period 2,584 18,875 Net effect of currency translation on cash and cash equivalents (9) (28) Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period 4,153 17,122 Condensed Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity in Thousand Euros Share capital Share premium Reserves Loss brought forward Cumulative translation adjustment Total shareholder equity Balance at 1 January 2023 2,460 170,324 (2,426) (173,458) 946 (2,153) Net loss for the period (16,464) (16,464) Other comprehensive income (95) (95) April 2023 Equity Placement 461 15,320 15,780 Transaction costs for equity instruments (678) (678) Share-based compensation (0) (0) Balance at 30 June 2023 2,921 185,644 (3,104) (189,922) 851 (3,610) Balance at 1 January 2024 2,926 185,644 (2,896) (206,022) 882 (19,465) Net loss for the period (11,080) (11,080) Other comprehensive income (14) (14) March 2024 Equity Placement 794 10,706 11,500 Transaction costs for equity instruments (393) (393) Share-based compensation (109) (109) Balance at 30 June 2024 3,721 196,350 (3,399) (217,102) 868 (19,561) 1 Europe's largest event in this domain. 2 Technology and Heart failure Therapeutics conference held in March 2024 in Boston, US 3 Including a Quality Management System and preparations to start the randomized phase of the US MOJAVE study post- alfapump PMA approval 4 EBIT is defined as Revenue less Cost of goods sold and Operating Expenses, plus Other income. 5 Net debt is calculated by adding short-term, long-term financial and lease debt and deducting cash and cash equivalents. 6 The components of working capital are inventories plus trade receivables and other receivables minus trade payables (including contract liabilities) and other payables, and accrued liabilities. Attachments Aktis Oncology, a Boston, MA-based clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the discovery and development of novel targeted alpha radiopharmaceuticals to treat a broad range of solid tumors, closed a $175m Series B financing. The round was led by RA Capital Management, and co-led by RTW Investments and Janus Henderson Investors. A select syndicate of additional new investors joined the financing, including funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., Avidity Partners, and an undisclosed life sciences-focused investment fund. All existing institutional investors participated, as well as existing strategic investors Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Company, and MRL Ventures Fund, the therapeutics-focused corporate venture fund of Merck & Co., Inc. In conjunction with the financing, Andrew Levin, MD, PhD, Partner and Managing Director at RA Capital Management, will join the Aktis Oncology Board of Directors. Lauren Lee, PhD, from RTW Investments, and Vish Sridharan, MD, from Janus Henderson Investors, will join as Observers to the Board of Directors. The company intends to use the funds to further advance its differentiated radiopharmaceuticals pipeline, including its first-in-class Nectin-4-targeted miniprotein radioconjugate. Led by Matthew Roden, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer, Aktis Oncology is a clinical stage biotechnology company pioneering the discovery and development of novel targeted alpha radiopharmaceuticals to treat a broad range of solid tumors. The companys first of several pipeline programs targets Nectin-4, a tumor-associated antigen found in urothelial and other solid cancers. Founded and incubated by MPM BioImpact, the company has developed its proprietary miniprotein radioconjugate platform to generate tumor targeting agents with properties ideal for alpha radiopharmaceuticals. Designed to maximize tumor killing through high penetration followed by internalization and retention in cancer cells, Aktiss miniprotein radioconjugates quickly clear from other areas of the body, thereby maximizing anticancer activity while minimizing side effects of treatment. The platform is isotope-agnostic and further enables clinicians to visualize and verify target engagement with imaging isotopes prior to exposure to therapeutic radioisotopes. Aktis also has a strategic collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company to leverage its miniprotein platform to develop novel radioconjugates outside of Aktis proprietary pipeline. FinSMEs 30/09/2024 Briink, a Berlin, Germay-based AI startup dedicated to empowering ESG and sustainability teams, raised 3.85M in Seed funding. The round was led by EquityPitcher Ventures and 13books Capital, with participation from existing investors Merantix, seed + speed Ventures, and angel investors. The company intends to use the funds to develop these specialized AI tools further. Led by CEO Tomas van der Heijden, Briink develops AI solutions to support ESG and sustainability teams in managing the demand of regulatory compliance. By leveraging domain-specific AI and LLMs, the company is advancing AI agents for automating the audit and verification of ESG data, ensuring transparency and quality. Briink has over 40 enterprise clients, including some of the worlds largest corporations, funds, and advisory firms. FinSMEs 30/09/2024 Loti AI, a Seattle, VA-based company which specializes in likeness protection technology, received an additional undisclosed amount in Seed funding from Khosla Ventures. This new investment brought the total amount of capital raised to $6.65M. The seed round was led by FUSE and Bling Capital, with participation from K5 Tokyo Black, Ensemble, and AlphaEdison. The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its development efforts. Led by CEO and Founder Luke Arrigoni, Loti leverages advanced AI to detect and remove unauthorized content featuring clients likenesses online, including social media impersonations, deepfakes, voice simulations, and leaks. The company offers Loti Watchtower to surface, identify, and remove unauthorized content, and Loti Enforce to eliminate unlicensed distribution based on contract terms. The company has signed strategic partnerships with major talent agency WME and other major agencies, and works directly with celebrities in the world to secure their digital presence. FinSMEs 30/09/2024 Morgan Stanley Investment Management held the final close of the 1GT climate private equity fund (1GT), at $750M. The investor group was led by a number of institutions in Europe, Japan and North America. 1GT targets growth-oriented investments in companies in North America and Europe aiming to collectively avoid or remove one gigaton of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) emissions from the Earths atmosphere from the date of investment through 2050. It targets investments in private companies across mobility, power, sustainable food, agriculture and the circular economy. The 1GT team will leverage Morgan Stanleys resources to partner with portfolio companies to pursue earnings growth, multiple expansion and enhanced exit potential, while helping to increase climate change mitigation and improve ESG monitoring and reporting. Examples of 1GTs investments to date include: high-performance portable battery provider Instagrid, sustainable nutrition brand Huel, and sustainable supply chain services company Everstream Analytics. 1GT is an Article 9 fund under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, which promotes environmental or social characteristics and integrates sustainability into the investment process in a binding manner. Half of the 1GT teams financial incentives will be tied to achieving the avoidance or removal of one gigaton of CO2e emissions by 2050. FinSMEs 30/09/2024 RD Technologies, a Hong Kong-based company providing a financial platform for Web2 and Web3 services, raised US$7.8M in Series A1. Backers included from HongShan, Hivemind Capital, Aptos Labs, Hash Global, SNZ Capital, Solana Foundation, Anagram, Upward Capital, ZhongAn Digital Asset, HashKey Group, Dragonfly, Bright Venture, and Eminent Vision. The company intends to use the funds to continue building its financial platform. Led by CEO Rita Liu, RD Technologies provides a financial platform that bridges the Web2 and Web3 worlds, enabling businesses to gain access to financial services, enhance trade efficiency, and promote the development of Hong Kong as a trade hub in Asia and an international financial centre. It operates: RD Wallet Technologies Limited (RD Wallet), a licensed Stored Value Facility in Hong Kong (licence number: SVF0016). It enables global businesses to open multi-currency fiat accounts on mobile anytime, anywhere. RD Wallet is committed to facilitating cross-border trade and payments through efficient and innovative payment solutions for businesses, and contributing to the development of Hong Kong as a trade and financial hub in Asia. HKDR Stablecoin (HKDR), a trusted Hong Kong Dollar stablecoin 1:1 backed by the Hong Kong dollar, with high-quality and highly liquid assets safekept in segregated custody accounts with licensed financial institutions. Details of the reserves will be available to the public through regular independent attestation reports. In July 2024, RD InnoTech Limited, the issuer of HKDR, was among the first batch of entities to be admitted to the stablecoin issuer sandbox by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Commenting on the news, Rita Liu said: The legacy payment industry is ripe to be disrupted using blockchain technology and stablecoins to provide more efficient and cheaper cross-border payment networks. Hong Kong is leading the world in virtual asset regulation. We are confident that compliant and transparent stablecoins will invigorate the market and address the pain points of traditional payments and finance to bring in institutions and help Hong Kong become a global Web3 hub. RD Technologies announced on 18th July 2024 that its subsidiary, RD InnoTech Limited, has been admitted to the stablecoin issuer sandbox of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). Among the first batch of entities to join the sandbox, RD Technologies is set to test its operational plan for its Hong Kong Dollar stablecoin within the HKMA sandbox. RD Technologies other subsidiary, RD Wallet Technologies Limited, has been granted a Stored Value Facility (SVF) license issued by the HKMA and has officially commenced operations at the end of 2023. FinSMEs 30/09/2024 Sequentia Biotech, a Barcelona, Spain-based bioinformatics company focused on the analysis and application of omics data, raised 10M in Equity funding. The round was led by Seventure Partners and EIC Fund. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate the market introduction and expansion of its flagship platform, MICK, and the scale up of its bioinformatics enabling technologies. Led by CEO Walter Sanseverino, Sequentia Biotech is a bioinformatics company that transforms omics data into knowledge, offering cloud software, custom software and consulting services for healthcare, pharma, agriculture, industry and environment. The MICK platform provides data analysis and interpretation, enabling an exploration of microbiome data and translating it into actionable insights for multiple applications. FinSMEs 30/09/2024 The global manufacturing giant Normet specialises in advanced solutions for underground mining, tunneling, and construction industries. Since its inception in 1962, the group headquartered in Finland has expanded its presence to over 30 countries. In line with its global ambitions, Normet has recently operationalised its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Jaipur. In an exclusive conversation with CNBCTV18 at the Jaipur facility, the senior leadership at Normet elaborated on the plans of the company for India and beyond. Advertisement State-of-the-Art Jaipur Center The Jaipur facility is spread over 10 acres and is one of the largest greenfield investments by Normet globally. It serves multiple functions, ranging from equipment manufacturing and service to research and development (R&D). It also houses a rebuild center, a paint shop, a proto shop, and a technical training center. The facility has quickly become a strategic hub for Normet, second in size only to its facility in Finland. The India Opportunity The decision to establish the Jaipur facility stems from Normets recognition of Indias status as one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Kalle Sipila, Senior Vice President of Normets Equipment Business Line explained the reasons behind the foray in India - India is one of the fastest-growing economies, and we see a substantial opportunity here. Our customer base is expanding, providing valuable insights that help drive our research and development efforts. Additionally, Indias supplier base offers quality products at competitive prices, making it an attractive market for us. Commenting on the market dynamics, Sipila further stated that the tunneling and mining sector in India is growing rapidly and to meet this demand Normet is increasingly focused on serving local customer requirements by supplying products specifically tailored to the needs of Indian customers. Sipila highlighted the importance of customer feedback in shaping their R&D efforts, ensuring that the company stays ahead of market trends. In terms of product offerings, Normet is the only company in India providing end-to-end solutions for shotcreting, from equipment used for concrete spraying to the construction chemicals involved in underground processes. Their offerings extend beyond new products, with the rebuild center in Jaipur receiving old equipment from global markets such as Canada, Australia, and South Africa, which are then refurbished and resold. Normets steadfast commitment to upholding quality standards across its global operations was best articulated by Sipila who stated, Whether in Finland or India, our quality standards remain uniform. This consistency is critical for us, as we look to provide sustainable and high-performing solutions worldwide. Careful Blend of Sustainability and Innovation Normets Jaipur facility is a big step towards its commitment to sustainability. The facility runs on 100% solar power, a remarkable feat in an industry that is increasingly focused on reducing its carbon footprint. As Sipila explained, Sustainability is very important to us at Normet. Our customers are actively seeking eco-friendly solutions, and our battery-operated vehicles (BEVs) are a major part of this shift. We ensure that our BEVs are not only environmentally sustainable but also commercially viable for our clients. Advertisement Elaborating on the in-house innovations, Subhasis Mohanty, Vice President of India and Middle East Sales Area and Managing Director of Normet India, highlighted the facilitys remote monitoring centera standout feature that enables 24/7 real-time equipment monitoring using IoT-enabled technology. With advanced data analytics, Normet can fine-tune machine performance and address potential issues before they escalate, offering customers a seamless and efficient experience. The integration of next-gen technology in Normets products is safeguarded with robust data privacy standards as the company always obtains express consent from customers before accessing data from machines operating at their sites. This approach reflects Normets commitment to transparency and operational excellence in a digital age. Advertisement The Journey So Far & Road Ahead Looking ahead, Normet has ambitious plans for the Indian market and beyond. Mohanty reflecting on the journey of Normet in India stated, We first mooted the idea for the Jaipur facility in 2021, and its been a journey of progress ever since. The facility officially opened in 2023, and we are incredibly proud of what weve achieved in such a short time. Normet aims to continue expanding its presence in India, leveraging the Jaipur hub as a springboard to access other markets in South and East Asia. This aligns with their broader strategy of establishing a strong foothold in emerging markets. The company is also a proponent of the Make in India initiative. Weve developed a local vendor network in and around Jaipur, which helps us maintain inventory levels and reduce lead times, Mohanty explained. Advertisement Normets vision for India is driven by a steadfast commitment to technological innovation, sustainability, and automation. Continuous efforts at researching and developing automated solutions for tunneling, alongside the continued development of BEVs, will shape the companys offerings in 2025 and beyond. With a proactive approach to incorporating technological advancements and a deep understanding of customer demands, Normet is poised to shape the future of underground operations. Martin is expected to be another mega budget movie after KGF from Kannada cinema that will take Indian Cinema on global level read more The Kannada film industry is no doubt a very culturally rich segment of the Indian cinema. Whether its their power-packed action movies or comedy, the industry is known to have produced a plethora of critically acclaimed films. After the massive success of KGF franchise and Kantara, all eyes are on Dhruva Sarja starrer Martin. The trailer of the films has set to internet ablaze and it is undoubtedly the next big hit of Indian Cinema. Advertisement Directed by AP Arjun and produced by Uday K Mehta, Martin has been in the making for a while. After the trailer released, the film is anticipated one with expectations of high octane action sequences setting new benchmark for cinema. Dhruva hot in pursuit of the bad guys on bikes, snow-mobiles, cars, and even tankers has left audience gobsmacked. There has been speculation that Dhruva will be seen in a double role in the film, with one of them being Martin, but the actor has said that the central plot revolves around revealing the mystery behind the identity of Martin. With this, Martin is expected to be another mega budget movie after KGF from Kannada cinema that will take Indian Cinema on global level. It is mounted on a massive budget of Rs 150 crore. Not only this, look at the track record of Dhruva Sarja, it is expected to be his fourth hit after Bharjari, Prema Baraha and Pogaru. Apart from this, whats intriguing about the movie is it will be released in 5 languages including, Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Bengali. With this, it is expected to reach a larger audience across India and overseas. The movies ensemble cast also includes the talented Vaibhavi Shandilya, whose chemistry with Dhruva Sarja is another highlight of the movie. The movie is slated for release on 11th October 2024. A 50-year-old man and his four daughters were found dead in their rented home in Delhis Vasant Kunj on Friday morning. Police suspect they forged a suicide pact. The deaths have also drawn parallels to the infamous 2018 Burari case due to its mysterious circumstances read more The combo of pictures show the site where decomposed bodies of a man and his four daughters, two of whom were differently-abled, were found in their rented accommodation, at Vasant Kunj area, in New Delhi, Saturday, September 28, 2024. PTI A 50-year-old man and his four daughters were found dead in their rented home in Delhis Vasant Kunj on Friday morning. Police suspect it to be the case of a suicide pact. The deaths have also drawn parallels to the infamous due to its mysterious circumstances. Lets take a closer look. What do we know about the recent deaths? The victims, identified as Hira Lal Sharma, the father, and his daughters Neetu (26), Nikki (24), Neeru (23), and Nidhi (20), lived in Rangpuris Chauhan Mohalla in a small one-BHK flat. Advertisement The bodies were discovered after neighbours reported a foul odour emanating from the flat. The buildings owner, Nitin Chauhan, alerted by the caretaker about the smell, knocked on the door, however, he received no response. Subsequently, police forced entry with the assistance of a fire brigade and found Sharma in one room and his daughters in another. All five were foaming at the mouth. No external injuries were found on the bodies. Three packets of poisonous Celphos, a highly toxic substance commonly used for controlling pests and rodents, along with five glasses and a spoon containing a suspicious liquid were found at the scene. A box of sweets was also recovered and sent for forensics. CCTV footage showed Sharma entering the house on September 24 allegedly with a box of sweets. No one else did not enter or left the residence since then. Inquest proceedings under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) have been initiated, and a medical board has been established for the post-mortem examinations. The post-mortem will be conducted on Monday by the board of doctors. We will be able to tell the actual reason for death after the post-mortem. We have formed multiple teams to know the reason behind suicide. We are also checking CCTV footage of the area and adjoining areas to know with whom Sharma had last spoken and if he had shared anything with them. We are also checking mobile phone records of all the victims to know if they were in contact with anyone, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Rohit Meena said. Advertisement Why did the deaths revive the memories of the Burari case? Concerns arose when forensic teams during the initial check found a box of sweets at the scene and kalawa (a sacred red and yellow thread) tied on the waist, hand, and neck of the four daughters. In the 2018 Burari incident in Delhi, 11 members of the Chundawat family died in a single night. File Image These details drew an uncanny resemblance to the Burari suicide case, where 11 members of a family, blindfolded and mouth-taped, were found dead at their residence. There were also reports of the Delhi Police examining the 2018 case to determine if there is any connection to occult practices in the recent deaths in southwest Delhi. However, issuing a statement later, according to India Today, Deputy Commissioner of Police, South West, has denied such theories and stated that they will soon be sharing updates about the investigation with the media. Advertisement Also read: A look at the Delhi gas chamber deaths, Burari horror, and other chilling stories of suicide pacts So, is occult practice involved? Not sure. The deceased Hira Lal Sharma was reportedly struggling with emotional and financial stress. A carpenter by profession, he had worked at the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (ISIC) in Vasant Kunj for almost 28 years before abruptly quitting in January. He lived with his four daughters, who were all graduates. While the police confirmed that the youngest sisters were differently abled, neighbours say that all four daughters had disabilities. This claim is currently being verified, DCP Meena said. Sharma had been depressed since his wife passed away from cancer a year ago. The quiet person grew even more withdrawn. He was rarely seen outside except for buying groceries or taking his youngest daughters Neeru (visually challenged) and Nidhi (mobility issues) back and forth the hospital. Advertisement The building caretakers wife, Vimla Devi, told The Indian Express Sharma would never open the door even when someone visited his house. He would open it just a crack and would talk from there. He would never let anyone inside. Since his wife died, he was always busy taking his daughters to the hospital, back and forth. When he came back from the hospital, he used to hold or carry his daughters to the fourth floor, one by one, a neighbour said. Another neighbour, Lalitha, told the newspaper that she heard sounds from the flat the day before they died. I heard a lot of shouting and commotion I think the daughters were fighting, she said. Advertisement Sharmas sister-in-law, Gudiya Sharma, who lived two kilometres from the home of the deceased, also revealed that he never spoke about his problems and that they were not in regular contact either. The last time my husband spoke to him was six months ago. It was a general conversation about health and family. Even then, it didnt seem he could take such a step. All the daughters had completed their studies but they didnt work. He was the only one taking care of them financially and otherwise, she told The Indian Express. According to a preliminary probe, police suspect Sharma poisoned his daughters and, after they fell unconscious, consumed poison himself. They suspect Sharma was overwhelmed with his daughters medical needs after his wife passed away and this prompted him to take his own life. What happened in the Burari suicide case? In the 2018 Burari incident in Delhi, 11 members of the Chundawat family died in a single night. Ten of the family members were found blindfolded, with their mouths taped shut and hanging in their home. However, the 11th and oldest member, the grandmother, was strangled to death. The case shook the entire country as evidence suggested the family had followed rituals for several days before their deaths, spurred by delusions of supernatural salvation. The police, later, said the Chundawats suffered from a mental disorder known as shared delusion or psychosis. This ritual mass suicide was reportedly orchestrated by a family member, who was following his deceased fathers instructions. The family was allegedly practising the rituals for an entire decade. A three-part 2021 docu-series, titled House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths, on Netflix explains the horrific case in detail. With inputs from agencies Earth has got a rare second moon. The 2024 PT5 asteroid, which zipped past Earth on Sunday (September 29), is set to orbit the planet for nearly two months. The mini-moon has a unique connection to India through its orbital characteristics it belongs to a group of asteroids named after the warrior, Arjuna read more The small asteroid, which zipped past our planet on Sunday, September 29, is set to orbit Earth for nearly two months, offering brief but intriguing company to our permanent satellite, the Moon. Image for Representation. Pixabay The Earth has welcomed a new, temporary companion a rare mini-moon with an unexpected connection to India. This small asteroid, which zipped past our planet on Sunday, September 29, is set to orbit Earth, offering brief but intriguing company to our permanent satellite, the Moon. After approximately two months, the mini-moon will break free from Earths gravitational pull and continue its journey through space, a report published in the Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society revealed. Advertisement The mini-moons temporary capture has piqued the curiosity of the scientific community, who will closely monitor its rare orbit. But what exactly is this mini-moon, and how does it connect to India? Lets take a closer look at this celestial event and uncover its fascinating ties to India. What do we know about the mini-moon? The term mini-moon refers to asteroid 2024 PT5, which was first detected by Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), an automated sytem funded by NASA to monitor potential asteroid impacts. In general, asteroids that fail to escape Earths gravity, momentarily alter their trajectory and end up orbiting the planet for a time. These asteroids are referred to as mini-moons. These small, fast-moving asteroids are difficult to detect and identify. Raul de la Fuente Marcos, an astronomer at the Complutense University of Madrid and co-author of the study told The New York Times (NYT), Every time an object with an orbit so Earth-like is discovered, there is a chance that we are just recovering space debris. However, this time it a actually a natural object, she added. During its 53-day orbit around Earth, the aestroid will not complete a full revolution but instead perform a horseshoe loop before drifting away from Earths gravitational influence. Newly-discovered #asteroid 2024 PT5 is about to undergo a "mini-moon event" when its geocentric energy becomes negative from September 29 - November 25.https://t.co/sAo1qSRu3J pic.twitter.com/pVYAmSbkCF Tony Dunn (@tony873004) September 10, 2024 Advertisement As per Paul Chodas, director of NASAs Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2024 PT5 might be a fragment from the Moon, possibly ejected by a past lunar impact. Despite this possible lunar origin, it may not technically qualify as a mini-moon and be a temporarily captured flyby instead. It certainly wont complete one full revolution in the Earth-Moon system this fall, so Im not sure I would classify it as a mini-moon, Lance Benner, principal investigator of the asteroid radar research program at JPL told NYT. Advertisement What is the India connection? The 2024 PT5 asteroid, though small with a diameter of about 10 metres (33 feet), has a unique connection to India through its orbital characteristics. According to researchers, this asteroids orbital properties are similar to those of asteroids from a sparsely resonant population of small NEOs called the Arjuna asteroid belt. This group of asteroids is named after the heroic figure Arjuna from the Hindu epic Mahabharata, confirms Dr Anil Kumar, head of Isros Network for Space Objects Tracking and Analysis (NETRA) in The Times of India report. The Arjuna asteroids hold a special place in the solar system. The name dates back to 1991 when astronomer Robert H. McNaught discovered the asteroid 1991 VG at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. According to researchers, this asteroids orbital properties are similar to those of asteroids from a sparsely resonant population of small NEOs called the Arjuna asteroid belt. Image for He chose the name Arjuna, inspired by the legendary warrior from Mahabharata who is celebrated for his bravery, exceptional archery skills, and wisdom. Like the swift arrows of Arjuna, the name reflects both the asteroids swift movement through the solar system and its unpredictable nature. Advertisement The name was officially approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). While the phenomenon of mini-moons isnt newsimilar events occurred in 1997, 2013, and 2018this latest occurrence presents both a scientific opportunity and a chance to explore the connection between astronomy and cultural history. Can we see the mini-moon? Compared to Earths moon, which spans 3,476 kilometres in diameter, the 2024 PT5 asteroid is around 350,000 times smaller. Due to its tiny size, its far too faint to be seen with the naked eye or most amateur telescopes. However, it can be observed using larger and more advanced telescopes. On November 25, asteroid 2024 PT5 will part ways with Earth and resume its solo journey through space. Its expected to pass by Earth again in 2055. Advertisement With input from agencies Israels pounding of Lebanon has resulted in the killings of Hezbollahs top leadership, including its chief Hassan Nasrallah. These killings have left the Lebanese-based group rattled and is a significant escalation in hostilities in the West Asia region read more It has been difficult time for Lebanons Hezbollah, as it lost seven of its top commanders to Israeli airstrikes. The groups leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was one of the deceased. This year alone saw the demise of more than a dozen key members of the group amid the escalating Gaza war. Hezbollahs chief Hassan Nasrallah was killed on Friday while another eminent leader Abbas Nilforushan, general in Irans paramilitary Revolutionary Guard died in the most recent slew of airstrikes over the weekend. Advertisement While Israels military officials celebrated their breakthrough into Hezbollahs military and intelligence circle, the rest of West Asia is in shock by this move. Lebanons most powerful military group now finds itself in a corner with many key members and commanders missing. Let us take a look at some of the leaders who were killed over the weekend. Hassan Nasrallah Hassan Nasrallah has been a force to reckon with since joining Hezbollah in 1992 and led the group through several wars with Israel. He was also the overseer of the partys transformation into a powerful player in Lebanon. When Hezbollah entered Lebanons political arena, it was also taking part in regional conflicts making it the most powerful paramilitary force in the region. After Syrias uprising in 2011 spiralled into civil war, Hezbollah played a pivotal role in keeping Syrian President Bashar Assad in power. Under Nasrallah, Hezbollah also helped develop the capabilities of fellow Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq and Yemen. Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah speaks to the crowd in a rare public appearance. File image/AP Nasrallah is a divisive figure in Lebanon, with his supporters hailing him for ending Israels occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000, and his opponents decrying him for the groups weapons stockpile and making unilateral decisions that they say serve an agenda for Tehran and allies. Nabil Kaouk Killed in an airstrike on Saturday (September 28), Kaouk was the deputy head of Hezbollahs Central Council. He joined the group in its early days in the 1980s and served as Hezbollahs military commander in south Lebanon from 1995 until 2010. He made several media appearances and gave speeches to supporters, including at funerals for killed Hezbollah militants. He had been seen as a potential successor to Nasrallah. Advertisement Ibrahim Akil Akil was a top commander and led Hezbollahs elite Radwan Forces, which Israel has been trying to push further away from its border with Lebanon. He was also a member of its highest military body, the Jihad Council, and for years had been on the United States wanted list. The Unites States State Department says Akil was part of the group that carried out the 1983 bombing of the United States Embassy in Beirut and orchestrated the taking of German and American hostages. Ahmad Wehbe Wehbe was a commander of the Radwan Forces and played a crucial role in developing the group since its formation almost two decades ago. He was killed alongside Akil in an airstrike in Beiruts southern suburbs that struck and levelled a building. Advertisement Ali Karaki Karaki led Hezbollahs southern front, playing a key role in the ongoing conflict. The US described him as a significant figure in the militant groups leadership. Little is known about Karaki, who was killed alongside Nasrallah. Mohammad Surour Surour was the head of Hezbollahs drone unit, which was used for the first time in this current conflict with Israel. Under his leadership, Hezbollah launched exploding and reconnaissance drones deep into Israel, penetrating its defence systems which had mostly focused on the groups rockets and missiles. A Hezbollah flag at the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beiruts southern suburbs. AP Ibrahim Kobeissi Kobeissi led Hezbollahs missile unit. The Israeli military says Kobeissi planned the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli soldiers at the northern border in 2000, whose bodies were returned in a prisoner swap with Hezbollah four years later. Advertisement Other senior commanders killed in action Even in the months before the recent escalation of the war with Hezbollah, Israels military had targeted top commanders, most notably Fuad Shukur in late July, hours before an explosion in Iran widely blamed on Israel killed the leader of the Palestinian Hamas militant group Ismail Haniyeh. The US accuses Fuad Shukur of orchestrating the 1983 bombing in Beirut that killed 241 American servicemen. Other key leaders of units in the south who were also assassinated in the weekend airstrikes included Jawad Tawil, Taleb Abdullah and Mohammad Nasser. Who is left? One of the founding members of Hezbollah and Nasrallahs second-in-command Naim Kassem is right now the most senior member of the organisation. Advertisement Kassem is the only top official of the militant group who has conducted interviews with local and international media in the ongoing conflict. The deputy leader appears to be involved in various aspects of the group, both in top political and security matters, but also in matters related to Hezbollahs theocratic and charity initiatives to the Shia Muslim community in Lebanon. Meanwhile, Hashim Safieddine who heads Hezbollahs central council, has been named as Nasrallahs successor. Safieddine is a cousin of the late Hezbollah leader, and his son is married to the daughter of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, who was slain in a US drone strike in 2020. Like Nasrallah, Safieddine joined Hezbollah early on and similarly wears a black turban. Talal Hamieh and Abu Ali Reda are the two remaining top commanders from Hezbollah who are alive and apparently in the Israeli militarys crosshairs. With inputs from AP The BJP has attacked the Kashmir Valley politicians, including PDPs Mehbooba Mufti, for mourning the death and cancelling their election campaigns over Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallahs killing by an Israeli strike on Friday. Kashmir also erupted into protests, with thousands taking to the streets read more Kashmiri Shia Muslims shout slogans during a protest against Israel following the killing of Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli air strike in Beirut, on the outskirts of Srinagar September 29, 2024. Reuters The assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli air strike in Lebanon has stirred protests in Kashmir. A political row has also broken out in India after several politicians in the Union Territory called off their election campaigns to condole his death. Jammu and Kashmir is holding its first Assembly elections in a decade. Sunday (September 29) was the last day of campaigning for the 16 seats of north Kashmir that will vote in the third and last phase on October 1. Advertisement Lets take a closer look. Protests in Kashmir Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Shia-dominated areas of Srinagar and the neighbouring Budgam district denouncing Nasrallahs killing over the weekend. Holding pictures of the Hezbollah leader, demonstrators raised anti-Israeli and anti-American slogans. As per Al Jazeera, one of the slogans was Oh martyrs of Palestine, we are with you! The Iran-backed Hezbollah armed group confirmed on Saturday that Nasrallah was assassinated in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh on Friday. This led to peaceful protests in several areas of Kashmir including Rainawari, Alamgari Bazar, Lal Bazar, Pattan, Budgam, as well as parts of Kargil, as per reports. Police were deployed in Shia-majority areas to maintain law and order. Kashmiri Shia Muslim women shout slogans during a protest against Israel following the killing of Lebanons Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli air strike in Beirut, in Srinagar, September 29, 2024. Reuters All Jammu and Kashmir Shia Association (AJKSA), a union of Shia groups, called for a protest on Sunday evening at Imam Bargah Zadibal in Srinagar. We honour Syed Hassan Nasrallahs life, and legacy, remembering his unwavering resolve, strategic leadership, and compassion. His martyrdom will not diminish our resolve to strive for justice and equality, senior Shia leader Imran Ansari was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera. Hezbollahs Nasrallah is a revered figure, especially among the Shia community globally. In Kashmir, the community sees the leader as a symbol of resistance. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Abbas Ali, 25, a protester in Srinagar city said that Nasrallah had stood against oppression and injustice. We despise the world leaders who remain silent as the bloodshed in Gaza and Lebanon continues, he said. Advertisement This protest is not just for our dear leader Hassan Nasrallah but also for the oppressed people of Palestine, for Lebanon and for everyone suffering at the hands of oppressors, particularly Israel, Ali, a college student, added. Kashmir has long supported Palestinians against Israeli occupation. Maulana Yasoob Abbas, the general secretary of the All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB) termed Nasrallahs death a great loss for the Muslim world". He urged Indias Shia community to observe three days of mourning and hoist black flags at their houses, reported ANI. Amid protests over Nasrallahs killing, Kashmirs cyber police has issued an advisory, asking people not to fan communal or sectarian tensions in the Kashmir Valley. Advertisement Weve noticed inflammatory and sectarian posts being shared on social media, threatening communal harmony. We urge everyone to refrain from posting or engaging in such divisive content, the cyber police posted on X. Warning of strict action against the culprit, it added, Any individual found posting or sharing sectarian, inflammatory, or provocative content will face strict legal action under relevant sections of the law. Lets work together to maintain the unity and tranquillity of Kashmir. Politicians call off campaigns in J&K Several politicians, including former J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, cancelled their election campaigns in the UT. Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mufti wrote in a post on X, Cancelling my campaign tomorrow in solidarity with the martyrs of Lebanon & Gaza especially Hassan Nasrallah. We stand with the people of Palestine & Lebanon in this hour of immense grief & exemplary resistance. Advertisement Cancelling my campaign tomorrow in solidarity with the martyrs of Lebanon & Gaza especially Hassan Nasarullah. We stand with the people of Palestine & Lebanon in this hour of immense grief & exemplary resistance. Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) September 28, 2024 Senior National Conference (NC) leader and Srinagar MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, who was canvassing for NC candidates, also called off his campaign. The Muslim ummah [global Muslim community] is in grief now so thats why I ended the election campaign, he reportedly said. Advertisement Calling off my campaign. Ruhullah Mehdi (@RuhullahMehdi) September 28, 2024 NC vice president Omar Abdullah called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other world leaders to push Israel to establish peace in West Asia. After what happened yesterday, it seems as if the clouds of war are now visible in the entire region, ANI quoted him as saying. We have always opposed the bombing and use of force by Israel for the past year and have repeatedly demanded that it should be stopped, the NC leader added. BJP slams Valley parties The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has lambasted the Valley leaders, accusing them of being terrorist sympathisers. Hitting out at the PDP, the NC and the Congress, Union minister Anurag Thakur alleged these parties supported terrorists whenever there was action against terrorists anywhere in the world. They are those who were supporting terrorists and stone-pelters. Today if there is any action against terrorists anywhere in the world, the NC, Congress and PDP are there to support them, he said, as per The Telegraph. The saffron party also lashed out at the PDPs Mufti for shedding crocodile tears and indulging in vote bank politics. BJP national spokesperson RP Singh reportedly said, By cancelling her campaigning, she has shown she is shedding tears over the death of terrorists. It is her habit to call terrorists martyrs. She had similarly wept for Burhan Wani some time back. As per PTI, senior BJP leader Kavinder Gupta also slammed Mufti, asking her, What problem does Mehbooba Mufti have with the death of terrorist Nasrallah? When Hindus are killed in Bangladesh and Pakistan, there is a grave silence from them. Accusing Mufti of shedding crocodile tears, he said that those who attacked Israel were killed, including their commander, and yet she cancels her campaign in solidarity with the terrorists. These are crocodile tears. People understand her motives. Her actions will not garner sympathy from voters. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also trained guns on Mufti for cancelling her election campaign. He reportedly said at an election rally in poll-bound Haryanas Sonipat, I want to ask Mehbooba, Farooq Abdullah, and Rahul Gandhi: When terrorists kill Hindu soldiers, do you feel sad or not?" With inputs from agencies Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was meeting other commanders in an underground bunker in southern Beirut when Israel Air Force planes carried out a strike. They dropped more than 80 bombs within minutes, which penetrated the ground and detonated. Heres how the stealth operation was planned and executed read more A supporter of Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen Pakistan holds a photograph of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as he wipes his eyes during a protest against his killing, in Islamabad. AP In a targeted strike on Friday, Israel killed one of its biggest enemies Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The cleric, who led the Lebanon-based militant group for 32 years, had been an elusive figure, avoiding public appearances for decades. He has survived multiple assassination attempts. At last, Israel managed to assassinate Nasrallah in a Hezbollah stronghold the groups command headquarters in southern Beirut on Friday (September 27). The killing comes days after hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies were booby-trapped reportedly by the Israeli military and intelligence agency Mossad. Advertisement Its been one deadly blow after another for Hezbollah, one of the most influential non-state actors in West Asia. Its top leadership has been decimated and the militant group has been rattled by Israels spycraft. Hassan Nasrallah has been a target for years but how did the Israeli military finally manage to kill him? We explain. Tracking Hassan Nasrallah Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire for close to a year now since Hamas attacked the Jewish nation on October 7 2023. But Israel stepped up its offensive on September 17 this year with attacks on Hezbollah pagers, followed by the detonation of walkie-talkies. The exploding devices, which Israel has not claimed responsibility for, crippled Hezbollahs communications. According to experts, the operation reflected how deeply Israel Defense Forces sophisticated Unit 8200 penetrated Hezbollahs communications devices. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, speaks to the crowd in a rare public appearance during Ashura, that marks the death of Shiite Islams Imam Hussein, in the suburbs of Beirut on November 14, 2013. He was killed by the IDF in a targeted strike on Friday (27 September). AP Yet Fridays airstrike in Beirut that killed Nasrallah went back years. Israel has been tracking the Hezbollah leaders movement for long and was reportedly aware of his whereabouts for months. The decision to strike the Hezbollah headquarters was taken because Israeli leaders believed they only had a short window of opportunity before Nasrallah would disappear to another location, three senior Israeli defence officials told The New York Times (NYT). Advertisement Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told journalists, We had used the intelligence weve been working for years to gather, and we had real-time information, and we carried out this strike. Retired Colonel Miri Eisen, a senior fellow at Israels International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at Reichman University, reiterated that the strike was the product of extensive work. Israels capabilities when it comes to Hezbollah show the depth of the intelligence infiltration into Hezbollah lines, she said, adding these were not things that were invented in the last 11 months after Hezbollah began striking the north. However, Israeli officials started seriously exploring the option of eliminating Nasrallah in recent days. Advertisement People gather at the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beiruts southern suburbs, Sunday, (September 29). AP The spy that gave away Nasrallahs location Hezbollah is Irans main proxy and it turns out it was an Iranian mole, who provided Israeli authorities with the critical information about Nasrallahs precise location just hours before Fridays strike. The mole informed Israeli officials that the Hezbollah leader was at the underground headquarters in Beiruts southern suburb of Dahieh, according to the French newspaper Le Parisien. He was meeting with top members of the organisation to plan further attacks on Israel. The publication quoted an unnamed Lebanese security source as saying that the Iranian infiltrator informed the Israelis about the arrival of Nasrallah on Friday afternoon at the headquarters in the heart of Dahieh. Advertisement Using the intel input, the Israelis went all out; they didnt want to miss their target, the source said. The precision strike with US-made bombs Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told the media, We had real-time intelligence, an opportunity, an operational opportunity that allowed us to carry out this attack. The military called the operation New Order. Hezbollahs underground headquarters was reportedly highly secured, built under a complex of six residential buildings. Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of an evil terrorist organization; the senior terrorists eliminated with him, and the central headquarters they were in, were legitimate military targets under international law. Nasrallah intentionally built Hezbollahs central headquarters under pic.twitter.com/8SaRT6YDmX - Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) September 28, 2024 Advertisement A military video showed F15 jets taking off from Hatzerim Airbase in south Israel on Friday to carry out the operation. The head of the Israeli air force squadron that carried out the attack told Israels Army Radio that pilots were given the details of the target only a short time before take off. The pilots did not know what the target was in the days the (strike) was being planned, the officer, identified only as Lieutenant Colonel M, said. We exposed the teams to the target only a few hours before carrying it out and they understood what they were going for. A video published by the IDF on Telegram showed eight planes that reportedly were used in the attack. They were fitted with 2000-pound (900 kg) bombs including the US-made BLU-109 with a JDAM kit, a precision guidance system that attaches to bombs, Trevor Ball, a former US Army explosive ordnance disposal technician, was quoted as saying by The New York Times. Senior officials told the paper that more than 80 bombs were dropped over a period of several minutes to kill Nasrallah. People gather near the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beiruts southern suburbs. The Israel Air Force reportedly used US-made bombs to hit the bunker, which was a Hezbollah command centre. AP These explosives are known as bunker busters, which penetrate underground before detonating. In Fridays attack, a series of such timed explosives pierced through the Hezbollah bunker, which was at least 60 feet below the surface of a civilian neighbourhood. Interestingly, the Biden administration had paused the shipment of the 2000-pound bombs to Israel in May this year amid growing concerns over their use in Gaza. About a hundred munitions were used, with bombers dropping them every two seconds in perfect precision, Brig.-Gen. Amichai Levine, the newly appointed commander of Hatzerim Airbase, said about the operation. After the strikes, a cloud of orange smoke enveloped Beirut. That was the end of Nasrallah. The air strikes left craters up to 16 feet across, AFP photographers said. At the time of the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, where he was giving a speech even as many delegates walked out. An hour after the attack, his office released a photo of the PM giving a go-ahead for the strike on the phone. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly. AP Lebanons health ministry gave a preliminary toll of six dead and 91 wounded in the raid. Apart from Nasrallah, other top commanders died in the strike. On Saturday, Hezbollah fighters found Nasrallahs body along with top Hezbollah military commander, Ali Karaki. Nasrallahs death comes as a big victory for Israel. Its next steps are being watched closely. Even as the Israeli military continues to pound Lebanon, it remains to be seen if it will go ahead with ground operations to tackle Hezbollahs threat along the northern border. With inputs from agencies With Europe being the worlds fastest-warming continent, the impact of climate change is being felt most acutely in areas like the Alps. Melting glaciers have altered the frontier between Switzerland and Italy because the border itself is defined by the ridge lines of glaciers which change as they shrink. Experts say glaciers are set to lose 50 per cent of their ice by 2020 even if the Earth warms less than 2 degrees Centigrade over pre-industrial levels read more The Matterhorn mountain which straddles the border between Switzerland and Italy. Reuters Switzerland and Italy have been forced to redraw their borders. The countries have agreed to make alterations to the measurements of the Matterhorn mountain which straddles the border between Switzerland and Italy. The cause of the development? Climate change and the melting glaciers in the region which are essentially changing the frontiers. While Switzerland signed off on the change on Friday, the treaty is awaiting final approval in Italy. Lets take a closer look: Why is this happening? Advertisement First, lets take a brief look at the border. Switzerland, a land-locked nation, shares a 1,935-kilometre border with Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Liechtenstein. According to Sky News, the border between Italy and Switzerland traverses the peaks. However, melting glaciers have changed the frontier because the border itself is defined by the ridge-lines of glaciers which change as they shrink. As per Bloomberg, Europe is the worlds fastest-warming continent. The impact of climate change is being felt most acutely in areas such as the Alps. Glaciers in the region have shrunk by 10 per cent in the past two years alone. BBC quoted data as showing that Switzerlands glaciers alone shrank four per cent in 2023. That record was only surpassed in 2022 when they shrank six per cent. Significant sections of the border are defined by the watershed or ridge lines of glaciers, firn or perpetual snow, the Swiss government was quoted as saying by Bloomberg. These formations are changing due to the melting of glaciers. As per Euro News, the Theodul Glacier itself has shrunk nearly 25 per cent between 1973 and 2010 Advertisement Swiss glaciers are melting faster and faster, the Swiss Academy of Sciences said, as per Euro News. The acceleration is dramatic: we have lost as much ice in two years as between 1960 and 1990. The outlet quoted a study as showing that glaciers are set lose 50 per cent of their ice by 2020. This, even if the Earth warms less than 2 degrees Centigrade from pre-industrial levels. BBC quoted experts warning that larger glaciers like the Aletsch could vanish in a generation. In Italy, experts warned that the Marmolada glacier could disappear by 2040, as per The Guardian. The glacier has been called a natural thermometer of climate change. Advertisement The world last year saw its hottest summer ever since records began being kept. Which area is affected? The Zermatt ski resort has been affected. This is the famous place where hikers and skiers can cross between Switzerland and Italy. The Zermatt resort sees hundreds of thousands of visitors every year more than half of whom come from outside Switzerland. Last year, visitors spent a total of 2.7 million nights there. The two countries agreed to change the frontier around the landmarks of Testa Grigia, Plateau Rosa, Rifugio Carrel and Gobba di Rollin in keeping with their economic interests. As per Euro News, the exact changes to the border will be notified once both countries have signed off. Advertisement Though Italy is yet to give its okay, only Switzerland technically needs to give the nod to the minor border rectification. Changes to the border are usually carried out by surveyors with politicians often being left out of the loop. With inputs from agencies The Union Health Ministry has released draft guidelines for passive euthanasia for doctors, laying down conditions to consider for withdrawing life support in terminally ill patients. However, the head of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has expressed reservations. Heres why read more The Centre has come up with draft guidelines for passive euthanasia, framing conditions for doctors under which withdrawal of life support in terminally ill patients should be considered. However, these draft rules have been criticised by the countrys top medical body. In India, the Supreme Court allowed passive euthanasia for terminally ill patients in 2018 under strict guidelines. Passive euthanasia includes withdrawing or withholding life-preserving treatments to allow a person to die naturally. Advertisement Lets take a closer look. What does the Centre say? The Union Health Ministry has mentioned four conditions for evaluating the option of passive euthanasia for an individual in its Draft Guidelines for Withdrawal of Life Support in Terminally Ill Patients. As per the news agency PTI, this includes whether the person has brainstem death they are on an artificial life support machine and have no brain functions, and when there is a medical prognostication that the patient has an advanced disease condition and is unlikely to benefit from aggressive therapeutic interventions. The other conditions are patient/surrogate documented informed refusal to continue life support after awareness of medical prognosis and compliance with procedures directed by the Supreme Court. It states this draft considered decision in a patients best interests, to stop or discontinue ongoing life support in a terminally ill disease that is no longer likely to benefit the patient or is likely to harm in terms of causing suffering and loss of dignity. The guidelines say that doctors should make a considered decision to not begin life-supporting treatments (LSTs), including mechanical ventilation and dialysis, in a terminally ill patient if it is unlikely to favour the patient and could lead to suffering and loss of dignity, reported PTI. Advertisement In such circumstances, LSTs are non-beneficial and increase avoidable burdens and suffering to patients and therefore, are considered excessive and inappropriate. Additionally, they increase emotional stress and economic hardship to the family and moral distress to professional caregivers. Withdrawal of LST in such patients is regarded as a standard of ICU care worldwide and upheld by several jurisdictions. Such decisions have medical, ethical and legal considerations, according to the draft. It defines terminal illness as an irreversible or incurable condition in which death is imminent in the foreseeable future. The draft includes severe traumatic brain injury with no recovery after 72 hours or more. Advertisement The guidelines also say that the Supreme Court defined legal principles that an adult patient capable of taking healthcare decisions may refuse LST even if it results in death. If a patient is not capable of making such a decision, a group of at least three physicians comprising the Primary Medical Board (PMB) should take the call. The PMB must explain the illness, the medical treatment available, alternative forms of treatment, and the consequences of remaining treated and untreated to fully inform the surrogate, the draft said. The PMBs decision has to be endorsed by a Secondary Medical Board of three physicians with one appointee by the districts Chief Medical Officer (CMO). Advertisement The ministry has invited recommendations and feedback from stakeholders on the draft by October 20. Why is there a backlash? The head of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has expressed reservations about the health ministrys draft guidelines. RV Asokan, national president of the IMA, told PTI that the proposed regulations will put doctors under legal scrutiny. Such clinical decisions have always been taken in good faith by doctors. The patients relatives are explained and given all information, taken into confidence in a given case and decision is taken on merit in every single case. Putting it down in sort of guidelines and also alleging that inappropriate decisions have been taken or they have been prolonged is misunderstanding the situation, he said. Advertisement The IMA has opposed the Centres draft guidelines on passive euthanasia. Representational Image/Pixabay First the perception and assumption that unnecessarily machines are used and lives are prolonged is wrong. It exposes the doctors to legal scrutiny, Dr Asokan added. He said these decisions should be left to relatives, patients, and doctors based on science and situation. The IMA head said the body will examine the draft and submit their suggestions, seeking a revision of the guidelines, reported PTI. Passive euthanasia in India Active euthanasia is the act of deliberately ending a patients life to stop their suffering or intolerable pain. It remains illegal in India. The legality of passive euthanasia was first recognised by the Supreme Court in 2011 while hearing the euthanasia plea for Aruna Shanbaug, a nurse who was brutally sexually assaulted by a ward boy at Mumbais King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital in November 1973. The attack had left her in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) until she died in 2015. Although the apex court did not allow for Arunas euthanasia, it permitted passive euthanasia in rare cases by withdrawing life support to patients in a persistent vegetative state. However, it had to be done with the approval of a High Court. In 2018, the Supreme Court recognised living wills made by terminally ill patients likely to go into a permanent vegetative state in a landmark judgement. Declaring the right to die with dignity as a fundamental right, the court said, Life and death are inseparable. Every moment our bodies undergo change life is not disconnected from death. Dying is a part of the process of living. The apex court also laid down guidelines for passive euthanasia, in case the patient has left an advance directive or living will to withdraw life support if they fall terminally ill, and in case there is no such will. With inputs from agencies After raining down missiles on Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel, on Sunday, turned its attention to Yemen. The Israeli military targeted power plants and sea port facilities at the Ras Isa and Hodeidah ports, killing four people and injuring 33 others. The attacks are a response to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have consistently been launching missiles at the Jewish nation since last October read more A large fire and plume of smoke is visible in the port city of Hodeida, Yemen, after Israeli strikes on the Houthi-controlled city. AP West Asia is slowly descending into chaos. At a time when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are raining strikes on Lebanon the Lebanese health ministry has said that more than 100 people have died on Sunday alone it also struck Yemen, namely Houthi targets. In a statement on Sunday, the Israeli military said dozens of aircraft, including fighter jets, attacked power plants and sea port facilities at the Ras Isa and Hodeidah ports. The attack by Israel has killed at least four people one port worker and three electric engineers reported Houthi-affiliated media. Advertisement But why is Israel targeting Yemen? Who are the Houthis that Israel is targeting? Whats the enmity there? Israels strikes in Yemen On Sunday (29 September), Israel unleashed a wave of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen while simultaneously attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon. According to Israels military, dozens of Israeli Air Force aircraft, including fighter jets, refuelers, and spy planes, rained down hell on Yemen. In a large-scale air operation today, dozens of Air Force aircraft, including fighter jets, refuelling planes, and reconnaissance aircraft, attacked military-use targets of the Houthi terrorist regime in the Ras Issa and Hodeida areas of Yemen, military spokesman Captain David Avraham said in a statement to AFP. Notably, this is only the second time that Israel has struck Yemen the first being in July when they conducted an attack at the Hodeidah port after a drone hit Tel Aviv, killing a man in his apartment. Smoke rises from the site of Israeli air strikes in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, Yemen. Four people have died and another 33 have been injured in the strikes. Reuters The strike on Sunday has killed four people, claimed Houthi-affiliated media, adding that another 33 have been injured. Rescue teams are still at the site of the struck power station, searching for people in the rubble, with officials adding that the death toll could further rise. Israels choice of targeting the port in Yemen a part of its Dahiya Doctrine could prove disastrous for the country. Thats because a majority of Yemens population is dependent on humanitarian aid which enters the country through its port. As Niku Jafarnia, a researcher for Human Rights Watch focusing on Yemen, told the New York Times, The humanitarian importance of the ports cannot be understated. Advertisement Responding to the attacks, Nasruddin Amer, a Houthi spokesman said on X that oil depots at Yemens ports in Ras Isa and Hodeidah had been emptied of their petroleum in advance. He warned the strikes would not prevent further missile attacks on Israel. Were at war with the Zionist enemy and our operations will not stop, Amer said in a text message. Meanwhile, Irans Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani slammed Israel for the strikes, saying they had targeted civilian infrastructure such as a power plant and fuel tanks. However, Israels Defence Minister Yoav Gallant stated that the strikes were a message Our message is clear, for us, no place is too far. Advertisement But why did Israel strike Yemen now? The strikes on Sunday, as per Israel, were a reply to the Houthis for their recent missile strikes on Israel, especially the one on Saturday, September 28. The IDF then said it had intercepted a surface-to-surface ballistic missile launched at central Israel from Yemen. Notably, the missile was reportedly targeting Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus plane as it was about to land at Ben Gurion airport. A man runs as people run to gather their belongings during an air raid siren after which Israels military said a missile was fired from Yemen and intercepted, at a beach in Tel Aviv, Israel on September 28. Reuters A Houthi leader said that the missile, which was eventually brought down by Israels Arrow long-range missile defence system, was timed to coincide with Netanyahus landing in Israel from his New York visit. Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi vowed that the death of Hezbollahs Hassan Nasrallah would not be in vain and the resistance wont be in vain. Advertisement The Houthis also carried out an attack last Friday, firing a ballistic missile at a military target in Tel Aviv and a drone at a vital target in Ashkelon. The missile was intercepted, said the IDF. All about the Houthis But who exactly are the Houthis? They are an armed political and religious group made up of Yemens Shia Muslim minority, the Zaidis. According to the Alma Research and Education Centre, the Houthis capitalised on the Arab Springs momentum in the early 2010s to strengthen their position and by the end of 2014, they had taken control of Yemens capital, Sanaa, and by February 2015, they declared control over the country. Advertisement Today, the US has designated them as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entity. Yemen expert Gregory Johnsen describes the Houthis as always been on the outside. Theyve been a militia group thats now starting to dabble in politics. And they dont really know how to rule. The Houthis based in Yemen have always viewed Israel as enemies. One of the groups slogan is Death to Israel. File image/Reuters Houthis enmity with Israel The Houthis have always viewed Israel as enemies. One of the groups slogans is Death to Israel. They are also backed by Iran, which has viewed Israel and the United States as their main enemies. However, many experts note that while the group is close to Iran, they dont believe in ayatollahs and subscribe to Irans religious beliefs. Tehrans support to the Houthis, experts claim, includes arming the collective with advanced weapons as well as facilitating their training through Hezbollah operatives. This has transformed the Houthis into a formidable force in the West Asian region. Since October 7, 2023, the Houthis have also extended their support to Hamas and have consistently attacked Israel with missiles and suicide drones. When these attacks were intercepted, causing little damage or concern to the Jewish nation, the Houthis pivoted to attacking ships in the Red Sea. At first, they attacked only Israeli vessels. They then expanded to targeting ships bound for Israel or even with little Israeli connections. Their attacks on vessels led many major shipping companies to stop using the Red Sea earlier this year, causing significant economic losses. The Houthis also blame Israel for the instability in the region, saying that they would continue to mount attacks until the Israeli aggression stops. While the Houthis havent responded as of now to Israels strikes, analysts believe that the Jewish nation is accelerating towards a multi-dimensional regional conflict with devastating effects not only for the area but also for the world at large. With inputs from agencies At the ongoing Conservative Party conference, Robert Jenrick, one of the frontrunners to replace Rishi Sunak, has said that India should be subjected to tough visa restrictions unless it takes back its nationals who enter Britain illegally. The 42-year-olds remarks align with the anti-immigration stance that he has adopted since entering the Tory leadership race read more Robert Jenrick, Conservative Party MP and leadership candidate gestures as he arrives at the annual Conservative Party conference with his wife Michal Berkner in Birmingham, Britain. Reuters The race to replace Rishi Sunak as the leader of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom has reached its final stage, with four contenders in the running Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat. However, it seems that this race is now being closely watched by India as one of the contenders, Robert Jenrick has vowed to severely restrict visas to those from countries that refuse to accept the return of illegal migrants, and singling out India in this matter. Advertisement Who exactly is Robert Jenrick? What is his stance on immigration and what did he say about Indian immigrants? We have the answers. Jenricks stance on India On Sunday (September 29), at the launch of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Robert Jenrick raised the issue of immigration and singled out India, saying that the country should be subjected to tough visa restrictions. Speaking on the issue of migrants entering Britain illegally, he said, The government must stop other countries exploiting our generosity. It is time to play hardball with these countries and refuse to issue visas until they agree to take back their citizens who are living illegally in the UK, he said. Robert Jenrick has singled out India, saying that the country should be subjected to tough visa restrictions. File image/Reuters He pointed out that while India benefited from 250,000 visas in 2023, around 100,000 Indian nationals are believed to be living in the UK illegally. Jenrick lamented that despite an India-UK Migration and Mobility Partnership, deportations of illegal migrants remain limited. He further criticised Indias slow response in taking back its nationals who entered the UK illegally. Data reveals that of the 22,807 illegal migrants that were removed from the UK last year, 15 per cent (3,439) were Indian. Jenrick says under his plan, total removals will reach more than one lakh per year. Besides India, Jenrick also targeted Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Ethiopia. He claimed that these countries were not accepting returns despite receiving millions in aid from the UK. Jenrick and immigration Jenricks remarks on India arent wholly surprising. Since entering the race, the 42-year-old who served as Rishi Sunaks immigration minister for a year, has made migration his main plank. He was criticised in August for saying police should immediately arrest any protesters shouting Allahu Akbar, the Arabic phrase that means God is great. Advertisement He would also like parliament to set a binding cap on migration with the hopes of reducing overall migrants. Moreover, Jenrick extends support to quit the European Convention on Human Rights, saying: I believe our people and Parliament must be sovereign. Robert Jenrick is among the four contenders in the Tory leadership race. He is up against Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat. Reuters I believe that anyone who comes here illegally must be deported within days. I believe that ending mass migration wont be plain sailing. But we must do it. He has pledged to resurrect the Rwanda scheme in which people who the UK identifies as illegal immigrants or asylum seekers would have been relocated to the African nation for processing, asylum and resettlement. Many have criticised Jenricks stance on immigration, terming him as very Right-wing. However, he remains firm on the fact that his views represent the mainstream and are the same as held by millions of others across the country. Advertisement However, many point out that Jenricks stance on immigration has seen a 360 turn. When he joined the Home Office in 2022, he was seen as a centrist. But in 2024, he has become a known voice for the Right, demanding tougher measures on the migration crisis. This has led some, including Anna Soubry, a fellow Tory to say, He trims his sails to suit whichever political wind is blowing within the Conservative party. Life and times of Robert Jenrick Jenricks reversal on migration has led many to ask who exactly is Robert Jenrick and what he stands for. Born in Wolverhampton in 1982, Jenrick studied history at St Johns College, Cambridge and after university, worked as a solicitor for the Skadden Apps and Sullivan and Cromwell firms, in London and Moscow. He then moved into business, becoming an international managing director of the auction house Christies. Advertisement However, in 2010, he took the political plunge and stood as the Conservative candidate for Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. Unfortunately, he lost that election. It was in 2014 that he contested the by-election in Newark, Nottinghamshire and won. In January 2018, he became a minister in the Theresa May Cabinet. Eighteen months later when Boris Johnson took over from May, he promoted Jenrick to secretary of state for housing, development and local government, making him the youngest member of the Cabinet. He, however, was sacked two years later after finding himself in the middle of planning and COVID-19 rows. Robert Jenrick is best known as Rishi Sunaks immigration minister, a position he held for just over a year. File image/Reuters He returned to the front bench as a health minister during Liz Truss short stint as prime minister, before taking on the immigration brief under Rishi Sunaks leadership. A report in The Guardian notes that Jenrick was appointed as he was a loyalist who could keep an eye on the then troublemaking home secretary Suella Braverman. A Tory leader said that he had a much more informal relationship with Sunak than Braverman did. Advertisement However, the ties between the two deteriorated and soon Jenrick started echoing Bravermans stance on migration. In April, he was quoted as saying that uncontrolled migration threatens to cannibalise British compassion and that the lifestyles and values of people arriving via small boats over the Channel threatened social cohesion. A few months later, he also received flak for ordering the removal of a mural or cartoon characters inside an asylum seeker reception centre to welcome children. Last December, he quit the Sunak Cabinet, accusing the then-British prime minister of not going far enough on immigration. Will Jenrick and his strong anti-immigration stance resonate within the Conservative party? The answer will be revealed on November 2. With inputs from agencies A 54-year-old woman has shared her harrowing experience of being raised in the notorious cult of Indian mystic Rajneesh, popularly known as Osho. Prem Sargam detailed the rampant sexual abuse she endured from the age of six to 12 in three ashrams read more Rajneesh, a philosophy lecturer, founded the spiritual movement and commune in Pune in 1970. Image Courtesy: @OSHO/X Indian mystic Rajneesh, popularly known as Osho, who died in 1990, and his sannyasin movement have found themselves in the public eye again after a 54-year-old woman shared her harrowing experience of being raised in the notorious sex cult. Prem Sargam, in an interview with The Times, shared the rampant sexual abuse she endured from the age of six across three sannyasin communities or ashrams. Lets take a closer look. The sexual abuse in name of spiritual enlightenment Advertisement Prem Sargam opened about her childhood and the sickening Sannyasin sex cult led by Indian mystic Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, aka Osho, in the interview with The Times, ahead of the release of her documentary named Children of the Cult, which details her and two other British womens story at the ashrams. She opened up about how she was forced to undergo sexual abuse as a minor in the name of free love. I want the world to know what happened to me and countless others. We were innocent children, exploited and abused in the name of spiritual enlightenment, Sargam said. The nightmare started when Sargams family relocated from their Devon residence to the cults ashram in Pune when she was just six. Her disillusioned father sought enlightenment from Rajneesh, popularly called Osho. She was forced to change her name, wear orange robes and adopt a philosophy that viewed children as obstacles to parental sexual freedom. The cult believed children should regularly watch sex and that girls going through puberty should be guided by adult men on their sexual journeys. Sargam recalled, It was considered good for the children to be exposed to sexuality. Advertisement The so-called spiritual movement also felt that kids were a hindrance to their parents sex lives. This meant that Sargam lived in the childrens quarters, away from her parents, without an education, and worked in the kitchen for 12 hours a day. The abuse, however, escalated a year after joining the cult. Sargam told The Times that between the ages of seven and 11, she and her friends were expected to perform different sexual acts on grown men who lived in the commune. An adult man trained her, making her follow him around like a little dog and rewarding her with chocolate from Switzerland. Even in my seven-year-old mind, I thought what a strange thing to be doing. I was already becoming very mentally and emotionally confused, she reflected. Later, on the pretence of participating in a boarding school program, Sargam was transferred to the Medina ashram in Suffolk. Advertisement Still, the exploitation went on. It was only at 16 that I understood what had happened, she said. At 12, Sargam had been relocated to the US, joining her mother at an ashram in Oregon. By that time, she had endured rape over 50 times. About Rajneesh Rajneesh, a philosophy lecturer, founded the spiritual movement and commune in Pune in 1970. His ideas combined pop psychology, ancient Indian wisdom, capitalism, and sexual permissiveness in an odd way. He promoted unfettered promiscuity, including partner-swapping, from the age of 14, contending that monogamous marriage is improper. Because of his unconventional meditation methods and emphasis on sexual liberation, Osho became known as the Sex Guru in India. In the US, his 93-car collection earned him the nickname Rolls-Royce Guru. Advertisement Similar to Sargams parents, many of his supporters were well-educated professionals who were prepared to renounce middle-class tradition and pursue enlightenment in India, Cologne, and Suffolk communes, respectively. Not much has been published regarding the mistreatment that hundreds of young children endured in Rajneeshs international communes up to this point. There was only one US child protection services investigation against the Oregon cult, according to The Times. The childrens stories of abuse and neglect were left out of the popular 2018 Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country, which was about the cults Oregon branch. Nonetheless, the 2018 Netflix documentary provides more details on what life was like within the free-love cult. Advertisement His downfall The cults downfall in the 1980s was caused by its plan to construct a $100 million utopian city in a secluded area of Oregon in the northwest. A probe into visa fraud, tax evasion, and drug smuggling by Indian officials led Rajneesh to relocate to Oregon in 1981. They purchased a 64,000-acre ranch near the tiny settlement of Antelope, and the 7,000 followers who moved in overran the 50-strong resident Christian population. With several homes, stores, eateries, and even an airport planned, Rajneesh started building a self-sufficient city with 50,000 residents in mind. However, local politicians fiercely opposed him, claiming he was the head of a dangerous cult. Ma Anand Sheela, his personal secretary, and a few of her supporters were under investigation in 1985 for a variety of crimes, including a mass food poisoning attack aimed at influencing the county elections, an attempted assassination of lawyer Charles H Turner, and the attempted murder of the gurus doctor. As a result, the FBI found an arsenal of unregistered firearms in addition to 10,000 tape recordings from her widespread bugging operation. Sheela was arrested as a result, and she was given a 20-year prison sentence. However, she was released after 29 months of her arrest and deported. Rajneesh, meanwhile, was accused of visa fraud and was sent back to Pune, where he passed away in 1990 at the age of 59 from heart failure. There are still a small number of Rajneeshs followers around the world today. With inputs from agencies An image of Yayha Sinwar displayed during an Israeli Defense Forces briefing is causing speculation about the Hamas leaders fate. But what do we know about the whereabouts of Sinwar, reported to be hiding in Gazas underground network of tunnels? Lets take a closer look read more Yahya Sinwar is believed to have masterminded the 7 October attack. AP Where is Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar? Thats what people are asking after an image of Sinwar during an Israeli Defense Forces briefing went viral. The development comes after weeks of speculations regarding the fate of Sinwar, who took over as Hamas chief after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. It also comes in the aftermath of the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a strike on Beiruit. Sinwar is believed to be the architect of the October 7 attack on Israel, the deadliest attack in Israels history. Advertisement Known as the Ghost of Gaza, Sinwar has repeatedly evaded capture by Israeli and American intelligence slipping through even the most sophisticated operations. But what happened? And what do we know about Sinwars whereabouts? Lets take a closer look: What happened? On Sunday, Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi held a briefing, as per Times of Israel. While Halevi in the briefing focussed on the IDFs operations in Yemen, an organisational chart depicting the leadership of Hamas was put up in the background. The image from the IDF briefing going viral. Image courtesy: X The image of Sinwar had a question mark on it raising questions about the Hamas leaders fate and whether the IDF was sending some sort of message. The IDF knows how to reach far and strike with accuracy, Halevi said during the briefing. According to the Jerusalem Post, Israels intelligence experts for weeks have claimed that statements attributed to Sinwar were not actually written by him. The speculation comes amid a report by N12 news that Israel had the opportunity to eliminate Sinwar but did not do so out of fear of killing the hostages taken by Hamas. N12 news revealed that Israel had received a tip about Sinwars whereabouts. However, it refrained from doing so as Hamas was holding the hostages in the same area that Sinwar was said to be hiding. Advertisement N12 reported that Sinwar was using the hostages as human shields to stop Israel from taking aim at him. Ram Ben-Barak, a former deputy director of the Mossad, told The Guardian that Israel was being careful on account of the hostages. I believe if there were no such restrictions, we would have found him easier, Barak added. The Times of Israel earlier reported that Israels intelligence agencies were investigating whether Sinwar was killed in an airstrike in Gaza. The IDF had killed 22 people after targeting a Hamas command centre in Gaza. Advertisement Two Israeli officials with direct knowledge told me Israel doesnt have positive intelligence that suggests Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is dead. It is all hopes and guesses which are based on the fact the Sinwar has been incommunicado in recent weeks, an Israeli official told me, Axios reporter Barak Ravid reported. Haaretz quoted the Israeli military as saying we have no information confirming or refuting the matter. As per The Week, Israels Shin Bet agency thinks that Sinwar is alive. Where is Sinwar? There are reports that Sinwar has been hiding in Gazas underground network of tunnels. He is also believed to have adopted a variety of disguises including that of a woman. But Ynetnews quoted defence officials as saying they have no tangible evidence regarding Sinwars whereabouts. No strikes have been reported in areas where Sinwar was believed to be hiding. Advertisement Jerusalem Post reported that Sinwar has been relocated after Nasrullahs death in Beruit. Saudi-based Al Arabiya reported that Hamas has, in recent days, altered its security protocols for Sinwar and the other senior leaders. With inputs from agencies The incident came to light on September 26, when the childs health condition started deteriorating and he complained of unbearable pain. There were also some injury marks on his body read more The child was abducted from his home around 3 am and was dragged to a secluded place by a man who along with another person gang-raped him. Source: Representational Image. A five-year-old boy was allegedly lured and abducted around 3 am from his home by a man in Uttar Pradeshs Hapur. He was then dragged to a secluded place by the man who along with another person gang-raped the minor. The brutal crime took place on September 19. As per the complaint filed by the boys grandfather, while the two men raped the minor, two others, who were passing by, shot the act and allegedly uploaded the video on social media. Advertisement Police said the video of the act, purportedly of the survivor being violated by the perpetrators, was widely circulated on the internet. How 5-year-old boys gang-rape in UP came to fore? The incident came to light on September 26, when the childs health condition started deteriorating and he complained of unbearable pain. There were some injury marks on his body too. The boy was then cajoled who later narrated the entire ordeal to his grandfather and other family members. After this, the victims family went to the accuseds house and confronted about the crime. Over there, they were abused and threatened with dire consequences. They even threatened to kill the boys family. 4 accused in Hapur boys gang-rape incident missing The boys grandfather then filed a complaint at Babugarh police station. Following this, the childs statement was recorded in which he testified that he was brutally violated, Hapur citys circle officer Jitendra Sharma was quoted as saying by Times of India. The accused have been identified as Arsh, Junaid, Mobin and Shamim (only first names available in FIR), Sharma said, adding that they are from the same locality. As per the complaint, the child was lured and abducted from his home by Junaid on September 19 around 3 am and was taken to an isolated location. Advertisement Arsh and Junaid then allegedly gang-raped him in a nearby farm when the two goat herders, Rizwan and Alfez, who were also present on the farm, shot a video of the act and uploaded it on the internet, a report by India Today said. Others also joined him. Two other men, who were passing by, shot the act and later uploaded the clip on social media. On September 26, the childs condition worsened and he was in unbearable pain. He then narrated his ordeal to me, the victims father told in the police complaint. Sharma said that all the four accused are on the run and efforts are on to arrest them. Advertisement An FIR has been lodged against the accused under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 140-4 (kidnapping), 351-2 (criminal intimidation), and 352 (intentional insult), along with sections 5(m) and 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, which pertains to aggravated sexual assault. The Hapur police are also trying to investigate whether there was any past enmity or tensions between the family of the victim and the accused that may have contributed to the heinous crime. With inputs from agencies Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke to his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu over the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and highlighted the need for de-escalation read more Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke to his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu over the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and highlighted the need for de-escalation. Spoke to Prime Minister @netanyahu about recent developments in West Asia. Terrorism has no place in our world. It is crucial to prevent regional escalation and ensure the safe release of all hostages. India is committed to supporting efforts for an early restoration of peace and Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 30, 2024 Advertisement Sharing details of his conversation with Netanyahu, he posted on X, Spoke to Prime Minister @netanyahu about recent developments in West Asia. Terrorism has no place in our world. It is crucial to prevent regional escalation and ensure the safe release of all hostages. The Prime Minister also emphasised Indias commitment to supporting efforts for the early restoration of peace and stability in the region. India is committed to supporting efforts for an early restoration of peace and stability, PM Modi wrote. The prime ministers discussion with Netanyahu comes against the backdrop of rising tensions in the Middle East. Israel has been conducting extensive airstrikes in Lebanon, recently eliminating seven high-ranking officials from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. According to a Washington Post report, Israel is preparing for a limited ground operation in Lebanon and has communicated this plan to the the US. Earlier, in a direct message to Iranian people, PM Netanyahu assured them Israels full support and predicted that the Islamic Republic will collapse sooner than people think, and the Iranian people will be free. Advertisement In a video statement issued in English, Netanyahu criticised the Iranian regime, asserting that it subjugates its people while making big claims about defending Lebanon and Gaza. Israels defence minister Yoav Gallant said that elimination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was not the final step and hinted at Israels intention of mounting a ground invasion of Lebanon, after he told troops in the north of the country that we will use all of our capabilities including you. The elimination of Nasrallah is an important step, but it is not the final one. In order to ensure the return of Israels northern communities, we will employ all of our capabilities, and this includes you, AFP quoted Gallant as saying to soldiers deployed to the northern border. Advertisement With inputs from agencies the US Embassy announced on Monday that it has opened an additional 250,000 visa appointments for Indian travellers, which includes vacationers, students, and skilled labourers read more This year, the US has again granted a record number of student visas to India. Although the precise figure is yet unknown, it exceeds the more than 1.4 lakh student visas that were granted last year, which at the time was the most for any nation in the world. In the meantime, the US Embassy announced on Monday that it has opened an additional 250,000 visa appointments for Indian travellers, which includes vacationers, students, and skilled labourers. Advertisement It stated that the new slots will help hundreds of thousands of Indian applicants take timely interviews, facilitating travel. The embassy added that the US mission to India has already surpassed 10 lakh non-immigrant visa applications for the second consecutive year. In a statement on Monday, the US Embassy said that during the student visa season in the summer of 2024, they processed record numbers, and all first-time student applicants were able to obtain an appointment at one of their five consular sections around India. Eric Garcetti, the US Ambassador to India, said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden set an ambitious goal to improve and expedite the visa process and he was proud that they have delivered on that promise. He added that their consular teams at the embassy and four consulates work tirelessly to ensure that they can meet the surging demand. In 2023, for the third consecutive year, the US consular office in India issued over 1.4 lakh student visas in 2023, more than in any other nation in the globe. In a statement this January, the embassy said that Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, and Chennai are currently the top four global hubs for the processing of student visas, when considered separately. Owing to these explosive growth rates, Indian students now account for the greatest proportion of foreign graduate students in the country, accounting for almost 25% of the more than one million international students studying here, the embassy added. The military is going ahead with the full preparation to station the troops in the forbidding terrain of eastern Ladakh and the Arunachal Pradesh-Sikkim region read more India will be maintaining its forward deployment of troops at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) for the fifth successive winter. A senior source in the defence establishment told The Times of India that the troops will be deployed due to the persistence of trust deficit with China. The military is going ahead with the full preparation to station the troops in the forbidding terrain of eastern Ladakh and the Arunachal Pradesh-Sikkim region. The trust deficit on the ground with the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) remains very high, the unnamed military source told TOI. Advertisement The way China continues to strengthen its forward military positions as well as build permanent defences and infrastructure all along the 3,488-km LAC, it is quite clear the PLA will not be returning to its peacetime locations in the near future, the source added. The confirmation came as the Indian army transitioned from the summer to the winter posture. Winter stocking is currently underway The army is currently involved in winter stocking as they prepare to deal with the harsh conditions in the region. As per the report, General Upendra Dwivedi and the commanders-in-chief of the forces seven commands will review the operational situation at a meeting which is scheduled to be held on October 9-10 in Gangtok, Sikkim. At a diplomatic level, there have been talks regarding a possible breakthrough regarding the military confrontation in Eastern Ladakh. Bilateral talks were held between Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of a BRICS meeting in St Petersburg on September 12. However, animosities between the two nations still remain. Disengagement at Depsang and Demchok, if it happens, will only be the first step. Till the subsequent de-escalation and de-induction of troops take place for restoration of status quo ante, the threat will remain, a senior official told TOI. Even the buffer zones were meant to be only temporary arrangements. China continues to make unreasonable demands and is playing the long waiting game. India has to be careful about not falling into Chinas trap, the officer furthered. The official insisted that as the military stalemate between the two nations continues to persist, only political and diplomatic talks can break the deadlock. Advertisement If the two sides agree to a broad framework, the actual disengagement modalities at Depsang and Demchok can be worked out at the military level, the official explained. The Army, meanwhile, is maintaining a high-level operational preparedness to deal with any contingency. The Western governments bid looks pale amidst the majority of countries (mostly Islamic nations from Asia and Africa) singing paeans on Chinese developmental marvels in Xinjiang read more The Chinese government has allegedly employed a range of tactics, from mass internment in so-called re-education camps to intrusive surveillance, forced labour, and even forced sterilisation to suppress Uyghurs in Xinjiang. AFP October 1 is a red letter day for China as it heralded the dawn of a new Chinese era in Xinjiang region. Seventy-five years ago, on October 1, 1949, just a day after the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), Xinjiang was peacefully liberated without any bloodshed" and incorporated as an important frontier province of the PRC. Six years later, on the same day (October 1) in 1955, the Chinese Central government, controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under the leadership of Mao Zedong, made it one of the Autonomous Regions, rechristening its name as Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Suppose one analyses the Chinese policies in XUAR for over seven decades since 1949. In that case, the Chinese government has made concerted efforts and devised a carefully crafted policy to keep this unstable northwest frontier within the Chinese orbit. Advertisement Xinjiang became a prestige issue for Mao Zedong-led China after 1949 because of the tumultuous historical experiences in the region during the 19th and 20th centuries. Following the imminent Qing dynastys downfall in 1911 after almost three hundred years of rule, Xinjiang witnessed a messy, chaotic, and, many times, turbulent situation. The activism by ethnic minorities, especially Uyghurs and Kazakhs, led to some temporary success when the Turkic Islamic Republic of East Turkistan (TIRET) was established twice in one decade, first in 1933 and later in the 1940s. The imperialistic overtures of British and Tsarist Russia (and the Soviet Union later) in and around Xinjiang and the civil war between communists and nationalists further aggravated the regions already tense situation. Consequently, Xinjiang has become one of Chinas core issues, along with Tibet and Taiwan, and since September 2013, the lynchpin of the communist countrys 21st Century Strategic Initiative, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Seventy-five years later, Xinjiang is still under the absolute control of the Chinese central government politically, economically, strategically, and culturally. The Uyghur ethnic minorities having the majority population in Xinjiang are at their receiving end. All the efforts by the Uyghurs inside and outside Xinjiang to mobilise international opinion against the Chinese for inflicting excruciating pain upon them for decades have borne no results. China has shown absolutely no mercy towards Uyghurs, but rather has ruthlessly put down Uyghurs constant bid to create an independent East Turkistan nation through violent separatist and terrorist activities throughout the 1990s and later on. Advertisement Chinese policy in XUAR may remain carrot and stick in the academic vocabulary, but it is less or zero carrot and more stick. Chinas assertive assimilative policies have augured well for the country in general and the northwestern region of Xinjiang in particular. As a preacher and propagator of hardcore Realism in modern and contemporary times, the PRC believes that the nation (China) is first and foremost, and any of its constituent units, including Xinjiang, are inalienable. In addition, the Chinese authorities pronounce proudly that every Chinese means is fair in dealing with anti-national and anti-Chinese elements anywhere in the world. Similarly, Chinese leaders from Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping have cared more about keeping Xinjiang as its indivisible and integral" part and cared less about the global empathy towards Uyghurs. Advertisement It is essential to note that China has not only found but also used every opportunity to establish its authority in Xinjiang. For example, it has been the biggest benefactor of the American-led Global War on Terror (GWOT) after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which paved the way for Chinas indefatigable anti-terror or counter-terrorism endeavour in Xinjiang. One such initiative has been Strike Hard Maximum Pressure, which bears intensity, ferocity, and cruelty and is aimed at fending off anti-Chinese activity by anyone. The Chinese, too, took advantage of extending unconditional support to the GWOT. The Americans, who earlier sympathised with the Uyghurs, under tremendous moral and tactical pressure from the Chinese, did not hesitate to designate Uyghurs, their diaspora leaders, and organisations as terrorists and even enlisted them in the global terrorist list. Advertisement Since the establishment of the PRC, China has been successful in taming any external attempt to fish in the troubled waters of Xinjiang. For instance, in the post-1949 period, China discreetly dodged the efforts of both the superpowers of that era, the US and the erstwhile Soviet Union, who had allegedly made modicum efforts to use the Uyghur card against China. In the post-Cold War period, especially in the post-9/11 period, China turned the tide and became more assertive and successfully mobilised the US and other Western nations against the Uyghurs. In the last dozen years or so, since Xi Jinping took over the mantle of CCP leadership in China, China has been everywhere, and Uyghurs are nowhere. The Western countries have criticised China on the issue of incarceration of millions of Uyghurs in internment camps and the genocide of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, besides labelling China as a surveillance state, violator of human rights, etc. Advertisement However, the Chinese Central government has not paid any heed, even ignored the report by the United Nations published two years ago; instead, it has made all-out efforts to silence the critics (Western forces) the way it has silenced millions of ethnic minority people in Xinjiang. Several governments prepared reams of reports and documents, international organisations, think tanks, scholars, human rights activists, Uyghurs living all across the globe, and even a slew of measures taken by the US government in the form of the Uyghur Bill (2020). The international agencies have clamped numerous sanctions on Chinese authorities, entities, and individuals. In return, China has prepared a solid defence, perhaps a Great Wall of Defence", against all these global concerns and used its political ingenuity, diplomatic heft, and economic and military prowess to legitimise its policies in Xinjiang. Its 247 propaganda machine has proved the external forces wrong on the issue of Xinjiang. The Western governments bid looks pale amidst the majority of countries (mostly Islamic nations from Asia and Africa) singing paeans on Chinese developmental marvels in Xinjiang. The Chinese government has made the world believe there is peace and stability in Xinjiang and that Uyghurs are living in peace, progress, and prosperity. Mahesh Ranjan Debata teaches at the Center for Inner Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views. A lot of preparatory work was done to make the Modi-Biden summit substantial in terms of progress on several fronts, with a strong emphasis on technology cooperation across many sectors read more The Wilmington Quad summit was also the venue of a summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden. It was an occasion for an outgoing US President and an Indian Prime Minister at the commencement of his third term to take stock of India-US ties and lay the groundwork for them for the period ahead. India has bipartisan support in the US, and so whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump wins, it can be reasonably expected that the outcome of the summit at Wilmington will guide the relationship in various domains going ahead. Advertisement The joint statement issued on the occasion of the summit affirmed that the US-India Comprehensive Global and Strategic Partnership, the defining partnership of the 21st century, is decisively delivering on an ambitious agenda that serves the global good. To describe the partnership as a defining one for the 21st century suggests that it will continue on its upward trajectory till the end of the century and define the international landscape for the next 76 years. This is no doubt hyperbolic, but the rhetoric suggests a great deal of confidence in the long term future of ties. To claim that the US and India have reached unprecedented levels of trust and collaboration is true if we compare the position today with the lack of trust and limited collaboration from 1947 to the signing of the nuclear deal in 2005. The US-India partnership is still buffeted by issues of human rights, and democracy, etc, and hence the text of the joint statement says that this partnership must be anchored in upholding democracy, freedom, the rule of law, human rights, pluralism, and equal opportunities for all. This is a way to bring in sensitive issues on which there are differences between the two sides. The caveat as our countries strive to become more perfect unions is an acknowledgement that the US too has to progress on these issues. The joint statement commends the progress that has made the US-India Major Defense Partnership a pillar of global security and peace. This is an exaggeration, as India is not a military ally and NATO and other alliances of the US constitute far more important pillars of global security and peace for America. It is true though that India-US defence cooperation has acquired very significant dimensions. In the joint statement President Biden has been copious in his praise for Indias leadership on the world stage, particularly Prime Minister Modis leadership in the G-20 and in the Global South and his commitment to strengthen the Quad to ensure a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific. This praise comes in the wake of Indias concerns about US unwillingness to curb pro-Khalistani elements, the White House receiving such elements just before Modis visit, the embarrassing summons issued to Indias National Security Adviser over the Pannun affair, and Indian concerns about the US role in the change of regime in Bangladesh. Advertisement India, Biden says, is at the forefront of efforts to seek solutions to the most pressing challenges, from supporting the global response to the Covid-19 pandemic to addressing the devastating consequences of conflicts around the world. While Indias role in vaccine delivery during the Covid-19 crisis was exemplary, its role in addressing the conflicts around the world in which the US itself is deeply involved depends on the lead the US itself takes to address them. So far, whether in the Ukraine conflict or those in Gaza and Lebanon, or still those in the Red Sea area, Indias role has been limited. Advertisement President Biden commended Prime Minister Modi for his historic visits to Poland and Ukraine, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in decades, and for his message of peace and ongoing humanitarian support for Ukraine, including its energy sector. It is not clear what support India has given to Ukraines energy sector. Besides that, Bidens praise for Modis visit to Poland and Ukraine can be misunderstood to mean that India was remiss in not visiting these two countries before, and some may interpret these visits as a gesture to the US. Both India and the US have vital interest in the freedom of navigation and the protection of commerce, including in the protection of critical maritime routes in the Middle East where India will assume co-lead in 2025 of the Combined Task Force 150 to work with Combined Maritime Forces to secure sea lanes in the Arabian Sea. The joint statement notes this. Advertisement According to the joint statement, Biden shared with Modi that the United States supports initiatives to reform global institutions to reflect Indias important voice, including permanent membership for India in a reformed UN Security Council. But the US has made it clear separately that it opposes veto rights for the new permanent members. The two leaders have applauded the success of the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) in deepening and expanding strategic cooperation across key technology sectors, including space, semiconductors, advanced telecommunications, artificial intelligence, quantum, biotechnology, and clean energy. They have highlighted ongoing efforts to strengthen collaboration with like-minded partners, including through the Quad and a US-India-ROK Trilateral Technology initiative launched earlier this year to build more secure and resilient supply chains for critical industries. Advertisement There is a call to redoubling efforts to address export controls, enhance high technology commerce, and reduce barriers to technology transfer between India and the US, while addressing technology security, including through the India-US Strategic Trade Dialogue. Progress so far has been slow, as US barriers to technology transfers are in layers and are extremely complex. New mechanisms for deeper cyberspace cooperation through the bilateral cybersecurity dialogue, expanding the manufacturing and deployment of clean energy, including cooperation in solar, wind and nuclear energy and the development of small modular reactor technologies, are areas of mutual interest identified in the joint statement. In the technology area, the joint statement is full of new initiatives. The two leaders have rightly hailed a watershed arrangement to establish a new semiconductor fabrication plant focused on advanced sensing, communication, and power electronics for national security, next generation telecommunications, and green energy applications. The fab, which will be established with the objective of manufacturing infrared, gallium nitride and silicon carbide semiconductors, will be enabled by support from the India Semiconductor Mission as well as a strategic technology partnership between Bharat Semi, 3rdiTech, and the U.S. Space Force. This is potentially a major step forward in an area of priority for India. Biden and Modi have praised combined efforts to facilitate resilient, secure, and sustainable semiconductor supply chains including through Global Foundries (GF) creation of the GF Kolkata Power Center in Kolkata, that will enhance mutually beneficial linkages in research and development in chip manufacturing and enable game-changing advances for zero and low emission as well as connected vehicles, internet of things devices, AI, and data centres. They also applauded the new strategic partnership between the U.S. Department of State and the India Semiconductor Mission, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in connection with the International Technology Security and Innovation (ITSI) Fund. The two leaders have welcomed progress toward the first joint effort by NASA and ISRO to conduct scientific research onboard the International Space Station in 2025. To enhance collaboration between the US and Indian research and development ecosystems, the two sides plan to mobilize up to $90+ million in U.S. and Indian government funding over the next five years for the U.S.-India Global Challenges Institute to support high-impact R&D partnerships between US and Indian universities and research institutions. The two leaders also welcomed the launch of a new US-India Advanced Materials R&D Forum to expand collaboration between American and Indian universities, national laboratories, and private sector researchers. The joint statement notes funded projects between the National Science Foundation and Indias Department of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Department of Biotechnology to enable joint US.-India basic and applied research in the areas of semiconductors, next generation communication systems, sustainability & green technologies and intelligent transportation systems, as well as address complex scientific challenges and innovate novel solutions that leverage advances in synthetic and engineering biology, systems and computational biology, and other associated fields that are foundational to developing future biomanufacturing solutions and advance the bioeconomy. The second convening of the US-India Quantum Coordination Mechanism in Washington in August figures in the joint statement which welcomes the announcement of seventeen new awards for binational research and development cooperation on artificial intelligence and quantum via the US-India Science and Technology Endowment Fund (IUSSTF). On the defence procurement side, Biden welcomed the progress towards India concluding procurement of 31 General Atomics MQ-9B (16 Sky Guardian and 15 Sea Guardian) remotely piloted aircraft and their associated equipment. Biden and Modi have recognised the remarkable progress under the US-India Defence Industrial Cooperation Roadmap, including ongoing collaboration to advance priority co-production arrangements for jet engines, munitions, and ground mobility systems, though there is an irksome delay in supply of Ge 404 engines for Indias LCA MK 1 jets. The two leaders have applauded the recent conclusion of the Security of Supply Arrangement (SOSA), enhancing the mutual supply of defence goods and services. It is not a binding agreement. Indias decision to set a uniform Goods and Services Tax (GST) of 5 percent on the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) sector, including on all aircraft and aircraft engine parts thereby simplifying the tax structure and paving the way for building a strong ecosystem for MRO services in India has been welcomed by Biden. The two leaders welcomed commitments from U.S. industry to further increase Indias MRO capabilities, including for the repair of aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles. This includes the teaming agreement on the C-130J Super Hercules aircraft recently signed between Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems Limited to establish a new Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in India to support the readiness of the Indian fleet and global partners who operate the C-130 Super Hercules aircraft. Modi and Biden have lauded the growing defence innovation collaboration between the governments, businesses, and academic institutions of the two countries fostered by the India-US Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) initiative launched in 2023, and noted the progress achieved during the third INDUS-X Summit in Silicon Valley earlier in September. Modi and Biden have welcomed ongoing efforts to deepen military partnership and interoperability to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific, with India hosting the most complex, largest bilateral, tri-service exercise to date during the March 2024 TIGER TRIUMPH exercise. India will deploy the first Liaison Officer from India in US Special Operations Command (SOCOM). The November 2024 bilateral cyber engagement will enhance the U.S.-India cyber cooperation framework. As part of the US-India Roadmap to Build Safe and Secure Global Clean Energy Supply Chains, the U.S. and India would work together to unlock $1 billion of multilateral financing to support projects across the clean energy value chain for the renewable energy sector. The two leaders welcomed collaboration on a new National Centre for Hydrogen Safety in India. A new Memorandum of Cooperation has been signed between the US Agency for International Development and the International Solar Alliance aimed at promoting more responsive and sustainable power systems that leverage diverse renewable energy sources. The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to accelerate the development of diverse and sustainable supply chains for critical minerals under the Minerals Security Partnership. They looked forward to the signing of the Critical Minerals Memorandum of Understanding at the forthcoming US-India Commercial Dialogue. The two leaders welcomed the formal launch of the new US-India Global Digital Development Partnership, which aims to bring together US and Indian private sector companies, technology and resources to deploy the responsible use of emerging digital technologies in Asia and Africa. The Leaders welcomed strengthened trilateral cooperation with Tanzania through the Triangular Development Partnership, led by the US Agency for International Development and Indias Development Partnership Administration with a focus on advancing renewable energy projects, including solar energy, to enhance energy infrastructure and access in Tanzania. The two sides also announced a Roadmap for the US-India Initiative to Build Safe and Secure Global Clean Energy Supply Chains. Obviously, a lot of preparatory work was done to make the Modi-Biden summit substantial in terms of progress on several fronts, with a strong emphasis on technology cooperation across many sectors. 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 Firstposts views. Building financial acumen among women will not only aid in greater confidence in financial decision-making but will also benefit the economy, laying the foundation for resilient societies, where diverse perspectives drive innovation and prosperity read more What does it take to become an entrepreneur? It requires one to step out of their comfort zone, don their risk hat, and venture on to the path of uncertainty. To navigate this uncertain terrain, one needs the ability to make robust decisions to significantly reduce the involved risk. This ability to tackle risk confidently and effectively is dependent on an entrepreneurs ability to harness their cognitive skills, leverage unique personality traits, and understand their risk tolerance, accompanied by a strong financial acumen. But does the entrepreneurs gender play a role in their ability to run a business? Advertisement Evidence suggests that men and women entrepreneurs (WE) have similar odds of success during the funding stage, yet according to data, in India, women make up only 13.76 per cent of the total number of entrepreneurs in the country. To understand this disparity, we collected data from 898 WE in India, where most respondents relied on self-funding or financial support from family and friends, while only a small portion relied on business overdrafts (21.36 per cent) and business loans (17.5 per cent) to finance their ventures. Additionally, over 60 per cent of them reported facing barriers such as absence of security or collateral when seeking capital to run their business. This prompts the question: What fuels the hesitancy in WEs engagement with financial institutions, despite displaying a high confidence (73.8 per cent) in their knowledge and skills to run a business successfully, having trust in their vision, strategy, decision-making, and ability to adapt their business in response to external challenges and disruptions? Is it triggered by their low confidence in making financial decisions owing to gendered socialisation and self-limiting beliefs, or is it because of the failure of our financial institutions to empower them to reach their full potential? Gendered socialisation: The perception of finances, and in turn financial risk, among women is intricately intertwined with the social environment they navigate. A Forbes article suggests parents talk to their boys more than their girls about money. This also extends to inherited wealth. While legal provisions today grant women equal rights in ancestral property inheritance, it is still the men who are assumed to be the sole inheritors. Women are even expected to let go of their share for the male members, as it is the right thing to do. This conditioning has a profound impact on womens final knowledge, confidence, and decision-making capacity in financial matters. Their socially enforced role as savers, securing the needs of the family, further fuels their societal and individual struggle towards making financially risky decisions. Advertisement Self-limiting beliefs in financial risks: The findings of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor ( 2019) suggest that women, in general, tend to be more purpose-driven than men when starting a business. They are more likely to express a motivation to make a positive difference in the world. However, despite their resolute sense of purpose, lack of financial knowledge, and gendered socialisation, WE often grapple with internal perceptions and self-limiting beliefs that adversely affect their willingness to take financial risks. This internal struggle is marked by hesitation, self-doubt, and a pervasive sense of inadequacy compared to their male counterparts. Research shows that womens lower self-esteem in taking financial risks significantly affects their growth expectations for their ventures. The lack of knowledge, gendered socialisation, and low self-esteem add to their fear of failure in business, making them risk-averse and thus limiting their achievements. Advertisement Gender bias in credit allocation and financial institutions: Formal financial institutions have repeatedly displayed the existence of gender biases in their operations and utilization of resources. This is highlighted by more than 40 per cent of our respondents who perceive gender bias as an obstacle in running their businesses. This data aligns with broader studies, including those recognized by the World Bank, acknowledging that financial institutions exhibit inherent gender bias and stereotyping, contributing to the unequal distribution of credit between men and women. Studies show that men receive credit equivalent to 52 per cent of their deposits, while women receive a considerably lower 27 per cent. This gender disparity in accessing credit can be attributed to the underutilisation of womens credit history. Notably, in India, where 35 per cent of bank accounts are inactive, women face a higher percentage of inactivity at 42 per cent, compared to 30 per cent for men. The inactive accounts make it challenging for banks to assess the creditworthiness of women applicants. Moreover, the collateral requirement for obtaining loans further exacerbates the gender gap in access to credit. Women often lack sufficient collateral or a guarantor, a situation echoed by respondents in our dataset. Advertisement As seen above, the perception of financial risk among women is influenced by a complex interplay of psychological, social, and structural factors, contributing to their hesitancy in taking financial risks. Thus, to address these challenges comprehensively, efforts should focus on both empowering individual women and transforming institutional dynamics. Building financial self-efficacy: Self-efficacy refers to a sense of self-assurance in ones capacity to perform, cope, and succeed under any adversity. Research has shown that self-efficacy beliefs can enhance the ability of entrepreneurs to accomplish their vision. This makes cultivation of financial self-efficacy even more imperative in women entrepreneurs, who often become victims of self-limiting beliefs internalised due to generations of gendered socialisation, especially when it comes to financial matters. This entails providing women the knowledge and tools to exercise their financial acumen through the inclusion of financial education in school curriculum, focused especially on girls. The knowledge will provide women the confidence to undertake calculated risks, allocate financial resources, and make strategic decisions towards the growth of their ventures to their full potential. Advertisement Access to mentors: A role model can be a valuable source of motivation for anyone starting out as an entrepreneur. However, empirical evidence suggests that mentorship, particularly gender-matched mentorship, is a powerful tool in addressing barriers faced by WE in developing economies. The essence of mentorship lies in its ability to provide not just guidance but also relatable support. Pairing WE with women mentors can serve as a strategic solution. Having navigated similar challenges, women mentors can offer greater insight into barriers specific to gender and industry. Their experiences can serve as a source of motivation, encouragement, and practical advice, creating a conducive environment for learning and growth. Additionally, male mentors can also be encouraged and sensitised to adopt a style characterised by positive and empathetic engagement, keeping in consideration the gendered social context of women. Engage in networking: A resourceful network can be a significant asset for an entrepreneur, providing them valuable connections and support throughout their entrepreneurial journey. Rooted in personal relationships, having a robust network can provide entrepreneurs with rich feedback, insights into the unpredictable market, and assistance in decision-making. It also facilitates the establishment of credibility, resourceful contacts, and even access to venture capitalists. Unfortunately, studies show that women often miss out on these advantages due to their absence in strategic entrepreneurial networks. In our study too, more than 50 per cent of WE felt that lack of a network of like minded entrepreneurs/peers limits them in realising the full potential of their business. Often, WE tend to be hesitant to join formal networks, which have traditionally been male-dominated. To address this disparity, it is crucial to make deliberate efforts to include women in entrepreneurial networking. Mentors can facilitate networking events by leveraging their networks and connections for their mentees. Additionally, educational institutions can educate women on the advantages of networking and actively encourage them to participate in networking events by hosting such events. This can help provide an environment that encourages and promotes WE with crucial emotional and financial support, enabling them to consult with trusted individuals and pursue their business ambitions with confidence. Promoting financial inclusion by actively shunning gender bias: Financial inclusion is pivotal for empowering women, yet achieving this demands a transformative shift in gender-oriented attitudes of both familial and institutional entities. Families need to encourage women from a young age to understand financial concepts and empower them by involving them in financial decision-making. For instance, parents can introduce a pocket money system early on to their daughters, where they can learn the fundamentals of financial prudence in a controlled environment with minimal risk. Financial institutions too need to take cognisance of their gender-agnostic approach and make concerted efforts to understand and cater to the unique needs of WE. Its not merely about access to banking services but ensuring that these services are tailored to meet the diverse needs of women, acknowledging their roles as entrepreneurs, savers, and decision-makers within households and economies. Banks can take affirmative action to provide loans and credit facilities to women. They can establish dedicated support cells to encourage open dialogue with female entrepreneurs, providing a space for them to express their financial concerns without hesitation. These units can then offer tailored counselling services to address their specific needs, facilitating communication and providing guidance in their financial endeavours. Evidence from a 2023 report shows that women fund managers outperform their male counterparts, emphasising the existence of womens financial acumen. Thus, it is important for us to provide opportunities and knowledge for women to exercise this financial acumen. Research indicates that boosting self-efficacy and networking can translate into better confidence and an enhanced risk-taking appetite. Rather than attempting to directly influence an individuals risk-taking propensity, it is crucial to focus on altering the perception of risk and opportunity among WE. Building financial acumen among women in general, and WE in particular, will not only aid in greater confidence in financial decision-making but will also benefit the economy, laying the foundation for resilient societies, where diverse perspectives drive innovation and prosperity. Saumya Sindhwani is a professor and Sudipta Shaw is a research associate at Indian School of Business. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views. The bill would have introduced safety measures for large AI models, setting the stage for similar regulations across the country. However, Newsom expressed concerns that the proposed law could stifle the homegrown industry and hinder innovation, a sentiment that the tech industry shared read more Governor Newsom has made it clear that he wants California to remain a global leader in AI development. He noted that 32 of the worlds top 50 AI companies are based in the state and has promoted California as an early adopter of generative AI tools. Image Credit: Reuters California Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed a landmark bill that aimed to establish some of the first regulations on large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) models in the US The decision, made on Sunday, marks a significant setback for those pushing to rein in the rapidly growing tech sector, which has so far evolved with minimal oversight. The bill would have introduced safety measures for large AI models, setting the stage for similar regulations across the country. Supporters argued that these regulations were necessary to address potential risks associated with advanced AI technology. However, Newsom expressed concerns that the proposed law could stifle the homegrown industry and hinder innovation. Advertisement Earlier in September, Newsom had suggested during Salesforces Dreamforce conference that California should take the lead on AI regulation due to federal inaction. However, he also noted that the proposed bill could have a chilling effect on the industry. The bill had faced strong opposition from tech giants, startups, and several Democratic House members, who argued it would impose overly rigid requirements on AI development. Concerned over broad applications In his veto statement, Newsom said that while the bill was well-intentioned, it applied stringent standards to AI systems across the board, without considering whether those systems were being used in high-risk environments or for sensitive tasks. He argued that the bill placed unnecessary burdens even on basic AI functions, which he did not believe was the best approach to ensuring public safety. Instead, Newsom announced a partnership with several AI industry experts, including AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, to create more nuanced safety guidelines around AI models. Li, who opposed the bill, will help develop these guardrails. The bill, authored by Democratic state Senator Scott Weiner, aimed to reduce the potential risks AI poses by requiring companies to test their models and disclose safety protocols. This would have included measures to prevent AI systems from being manipulated for dangerous purposes, such as disabling critical infrastructure or aiding in the creation of chemical weapons. The bill also offered whistleblower protections to employees. Advertisement Debate sparks further discussions Senator Weiner called the veto a blow to public safety, stating that the lack of oversight leaves corporations unchecked as they develop powerful AI systems that could impact the future of society. He acknowledged that while the veto is disappointing, the debate has advanced the conversation around AI safety. Weiner pledged to continue advocating for stronger AI regulations. The bill was one of several legislative efforts this year aimed at regulating AI in California, including measures to combat deepfakes and protect workers. Lawmakers have expressed concerns about the lessons learned from failing to regulate social media early on and are keen not to repeat the same mistakes with AI. Advertisement Supporters of the bill, including Elon Musk and AI research firm Anthropic, argued that transparency and accountability are crucial as AI technology advances. They pointed out that even AI developers and experts dont fully understand how some of the most powerful AI models behave. The bill would have targeted systems that require significant computing power and financial resources to build, which, while not common now, are expected to increase in the near future. Tech industry pushes back The tech industry, however, pushed back hard against the bill, with critics like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arguing that it would kill California tech by discouraging investment in AI development. Concerns were raised that the bill could stifle innovation and make developers less likely to share open-source AI software. Advertisement The veto marks a win for the tech industry, which had spent the past year lobbying alongside the California Chamber of Commerce to influence lawmakers and the governor. Two other AI-related bills also failed to pass before the legislative deadline, including one that would have required AI-generated content to be labelled and another aimed at banning discrimination from AI tools used in employment decisions. A balancing act Governor Newsom has made it clear that he wants California to remain a global leader in AI development. He noted that 32 of the worlds top 50 AI companies are based in the state and has promoted California as an early adopter of generative AI tools to tackle issues like highway congestion, tax guidance, and homelessness programs. Advertisement In the weeks leading up to the veto, Newsom signed other significant AI-related legislation, including some of the toughest laws in the country to combat election deepfakes and protect Hollywood workers from unauthorised AI use. While the AI safety bill has been blocked, experts believe it could inspire similar measures in other states. Tatiana Rice, deputy director of the Future of Privacy Forum, said that the bills ideas are likely to resurface in future legislative sessions, as concerns over AI risks continue to grow. For now, California remains at the forefront of the AI debate, balancing the need for innovation with the call for responsible development. Google spent over $2.7 billion to get Shazeer, De Freitas, and Character.AI s tech team back under its roof. This wasnt a simple buyout but rather a clever reverse acqui-hire deal. Google didnt fully acquire the company but only licensed the tech and rehired key staff read more Shazeer first joined Google in 2000 where he spent two decades, most notably co-authoring the 2017 research paper Attention is All You Need, laying the foundations of AI as we know it today. Image Credit: Reuters, AP Google has made a bold and pricey decision, spending an eye-watering $2.7 billion to bring back a former employee who left in frustration just a few years ago. Noam Shazeer, a top AI engineer, has returned to the tech giant through a somewhat sneaky process called reverse acqui-hire. But why the hefty price tag, that too for one person? Well, its not just about the money its about what this deal means for the future of AI and the competition in the industry. Advertisement At a time when tech layoffs are becoming the norm, Googles willingness to splurge billions on rehiring one single person, seems very odd, but also sends a strong message: AI is the battleground, and theyre determined to win, no matter what the cost. But this move also raises concerns about how much power big companies like Google can wield over the AI space, potentially stifling innovation from smaller players. Who Is Noam Shazeer, and why is Google desperate to have him Noam Shazeer isnt just any engineer; hes one of the brains behind some of the most significant AI advancements of recent years. He first joined Google in 2000 and spent two decades making major contributions, most notably co-authoring the 2017 research paper Attention is All You Need. This very paper laid the foundation for the AI tools we now take for granted, like ChatGPT and Googles very own Gemini. Think of Shazeer as the father of modern-day AI chatbots. Frustration at Google & Alphabets leadership But things didnt stay rosy at Google. In 2020, Shazeer and a colleague, Daniel De Freitas, created a chatbot called Meena, designed to hold intelligent conversations on a wide range of topics. However, Google refused to launch it, worried that the bot might say something inappropriate. Frustrated, Shazeer left in 2021, taking De Freitas with him. Advertisement The duo went on to launch Character.ai, a chatbot platform that allowed users to interact with AI models representing celebrities, fictional characters, and even language instructors. It was a hit, raising $43 million in seed funding and attracting hundreds of thousands of users within weeks of its beta release. But despite early success, *Character.ai* faced financial challenges. The cost of keeping the technology afloat was becoming difficult to manage, and the platform wasnt quite going in the direction they wanted, with many users seeking AI-generated romantic conversations. Googles clever move or simply the power of money? Fast forward to 2024, and Google has opened its wallet to the tune of $2.7 billion to get Shazeer, De Freitas, and Character.AI s tech team back under its roof. This wasnt a simple buyout but rather a clever reverse acqui-hire deal, where Google didnt fully acquire the company. Instead, they licensed the tech and rehired key staff. Advertisement This approach allowed Google to sidestep regulatory concerns around monopolies and antitrust violations, which would have been triggered by a full acquisition. This deal has drawn comparisons to similar moves by other tech giants, like Microsofts $650 million deal with Inflection AI and Amazons recent partnership with Covariant. The common thread in these deals? Big Tech gobbling up top AI talent Big Tech is strategically acquiring talent and technology without triggering legal scrutiny, raising concerns about whether this is fair to smaller, independent firms. After all, competition is key in the AI space, especially in its early stages, where fresh ideas and innovation are crucial. Advertisement Shazeers return to Google puts him in a leadership role for their main AI project, Gemini, alongside other heavyweights like Jeff Dean and Oriol Vinyals. As the AI race heats up, Google is clearly making sure it has the best minds on board to stay ahead. But with all eyes on how the tech industry evolves, theres no doubt that this mega-deal will spark plenty of discussion about the future of AI and the balance of power between big corporations and emerging innovators. Authorities have yet to confirm if the fire has caused any damage to surrounding buildings within the Tata Electronics complex. However, its worth noting that one of the buildings at the complex was set to begin iPhone assembly duties by the end of 2024 read more The Hosur plant, owned by Tata Electronics, plays a crucial role in the production chain, and the temporary closure is a setback for Apples efforts to increase its manufacturing capabilities in India. File Image Indian authorities are set to investigate a fire that broke out on September 28th at a Tata Electronics factory, which produces iPhone components in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. The plant, formerly owned by Pegatron, has been temporarily shut down following the incident. The fire reportedly started in an area used to store chemicals, according to company officials, but was swiftly brought under control. District administrative official KM Sarayu confirmed that the fire has been completely put out. However, during the incident, two workers were hospitalized due to exposure to fumes. Advertisement Fortunately, both workers have since been discharged. Despite the fire being extinguished, it is considered unlikely that the factory will reopen before the end of the month, according to local authorities. Tata Electronics has launched its own investigation into the cause of the fire, with officials stressing their commitment to ensuring the safety of their employees. In addition, a forensics team from Chennai, the state capital, will conduct a thorough investigation to determine what caused the blaze. Impact on iPhone manufacturing This fire comes at a time when Apple has been increasingly relying on India to manufacture iPhone components, as the tech giant shifts its production strategy away from China. Along with India, Apple has also expanded its supplier base to countries like Vietnam and Brazil. The Hosur plant, owned by Tata Electronics, plays a crucial role in the production chain, and the temporary closure is a setback for Apples efforts to increase its manufacturing capabilities in India. Authorities have yet to confirm if the fire has caused any damage to surrounding buildings within the Tata Electronics complex. However, its worth noting that one of the buildings at the complex was set to begin iPhone assembly duties by the end of 2024. The current fire could delay those plans, though its too early to determine the full impact. Advertisement Past incidents This isnt the first time an iPhone supplier in India has faced such an incident. In February 2023, a fire broke out at a Foxlink factory in Andhra Pradesh that was responsible for manufacturing iPhone cables. While no casualties were reported in that case, the fire caused part of the building to collapse, resulting in $12 million worth of damages. The Tata Electronics fire serves as a reminder of the challenges Apple faces as it diversifies its manufacturing footprint outside China. With the ongoing investigation, it remains to be seen what long-term effects the fire will have on both Tata and Apples operations in India. The Secret Services purchase comes not long after Microsoft developed a version of GPT-4 specifically for US intelligence agencies. This move by the Secret Service aligns with broader changes in US federal policy around AI read more In March, the White House rolled out a new policy to ensure federal agencies use AI responsibly. This policy stresses the need for proper safeguards, particularly when AI might impact the rights or safety of Americans. Image Credit: Reuters, Reuters In a rather unusual development regarding the US Secret Service, the protective agency is taking its first steps into the world of AI and is spending over $50,000 on Microsoft Azure and OpenAIs cloud services. Whats unusual in all this is the fact that the Secret Service is not disclosing why exactly are they investing in AI and what they hope to use it for. This information came to light through documents obtained by 404 Media, revealing the agencys growing interest in leveraging AI technology in its operations and functioning. Advertisement While the exact purpose of the investment remains a mystery, the Secret Service has been tight-lipped, stating that it does not disclose details about its operational methods. Keeping it under wraps Though AI is becoming a buzzword in tech circles, the Secret Service isnt offering any specifics about how it plans to use Microsoft Azure and OpenAIs services. In a memo from September 2023, the agency noted the need for cloud-based AI services but gave no further details. The Chief Information Office of the Secret Service appears to be behind the purchase, which could extend through to June of this year. Microsofts Azure OpenAI service offers various features, from building chatbots to predictive analytics, which makes it versatile for all sorts of applications. However, when pressed about whether this AI tech might play a role in future criminal prosecutions, the Secret Service remained silent, simply reiterating that all technology must meet its strict security standards. Federal guidelines for AI This move by the Secret Service aligns with broader changes in US federal policy around AI. In March, the White House rolled out a new policy to ensure federal agencies use AI responsibly. This policy stresses the need for proper safeguards, particularly when AI might impact the rights or safety of Americans. Agencies are also required to keep inventories of their AI projects, although more sensitive projects can be kept from public view. Advertisement Interestingly, the Secret Services purchase comes not long after Microsoft developed a version of GPT-4 specifically for US intelligence agencies. AIs role in federal work is clearly on the rise, with the US Agency for International Development already becoming the first federal agency to adopt ChatGPT Enterprise earlier this year. For now, the Secret Service is playing its cards close to the chest, leaving the public wondering just what AI-powered tools are being quietly developed behind the scenes. After docking was completed, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov boarded the station just after 7:00 pm, embracing their floating colleagues on the space station read more Falcon 9 launches Crew-9, the first human spaceflight mission to launch from pad 40 in Florida. X - @SpaceX The SpaceX crew that will ferry back two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station docked with the orbiting laboratory Sunday, a live stream of the mission showed. The Falcon 9 rocket took off at 1:17 pm Sunday (1717 GMT) from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Saturday, with the Crew-9 mission on a Dragon spacecraft making contact with the ISS at 5:30 pm (2130 GMT). After docking was completed, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov boarded the station just after 7:00 pm, embracing their floating colleagues on the space station. Advertisement What a fabulous day it was today, NASA deputy administrator Pam Melroy said at a news conference. When Hauge and Gorbunov return from the space station in February, they will bring back two space veterans Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams whose stay on the ISS was prolonged by months due to problems with their Boeing-designed Starliner spacecraft. The newly developed Starliner was making its first crewed flight when it delivered Wilmore and Williams to the ISS in June. They were supposed to be there for only an eight-day stay, but after problems with the Starliners propulsion system emerged during the flight there, NASA was forced to weigh a radical change in plans. After weeks of intensive tests on the Starliners reliability, the space agency finally decided to return it to Earth without its crew, and to bring the two stranded astronauts back home on the SpaceX mission Crew-9. SpaceX, the private company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, has been flying regular missions every six months to allow the rotation of ISS crews. But the launch of Crew-9 was postponed from mid-August to late September to give NASA experts more time to evaluate the reliability of the Starliner and decide how to proceed. Advertisement It was then delayed a few more days by the destructive passage of Hurricane Helene, a powerful storm that roared into the opposite side of Florida on Thursday. In total, Hague and Gorbunov will spend some five months on the ISS; Wilmore and Williams, eight months. In all, Crew-9 will conduct some 200 scientific experiments. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province and is committed to its reunification with the mainland read more China considers the self-ruled island of Taiwan to be a breakaway province and is committed to its reunification with the mainland (Photo: Reuters) As the United States has approved a fresh round of military aid to Taiwan, China has warned that such support could backfire. US President Joe Biden on Sunday approved $567 million-worth military aid to Taiwan. The latest round of aid comes as China has ramped aggression in the Taiwan Strait and has scaled up expansionist activities in the South China Sea where its naval forces have been frequently harassing nations of the region. Advertisement In the brief statement, the White House did not give the specifics and said that Biden had authorised Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to direct the drawdown of up to $567 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Taiwan. In line with Chinas previous statements, it said after the aids announcement that such actions could backfire. In a brief statement, Chinese Foreign Minister Spokesman Lin Jian urged the United States to stop arming Taiwan in any form, according to AFP. The USs insistence on supporting Taiwan independence with weapons will only backfire and lead to self-inflicted consequences, said Lin. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province and is committed to its reunification with the mainland. China has not ruled out the use of force for such reunification. As China has become increasingly aggressive under President Xi Jinping and has unabashedly pursued hegemonic designs in the Indo-Pacific region, it has ramped up maritime and aerial incursions and has also simulated invasion of the self-ruled island in military exercises. Even though the United States does not recognise Taiwan as a sovereign state, it is the main defence and security partner of Taiwan. In recent years, Biden has scaled up the US support to Taiwan and has repeatedly reassured the self-ruled island of help in case of a Chinese attack. In April, The United States approved $95 billion in aid to Taiwan. Last year, the United States approved $345 million in defence aid to the self-ruled island. Advertisement As China considers Taiwan its part and is committed to its eventual reunification, it always reacts angrily whenever the United States announces aid. China has maintained that the reunification is inevitable and is a matter of when, not if. As tensions escalated following the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, US President Joe Biden on Monday expressed opposition to Israeli ground operations in Lebanon and urged for a ceasefire read more As tensions escalated following the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, US President Joe Biden on Monday expressed opposition to Israeli ground operations in Lebanon and urged for a ceasefire. Im more aware than you might know and Im comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now, AFP quoted Biden as saying to reporters when he was asked if he was aware of reports of Israeli plans for a limited operation, and if he was comfortable with one going ahead. Advertisement Bidens remarks came shortly after Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that elimination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was not the final step and hinted at Israels intention of mounting a ground invasion of Lebanon, after he told troops in the north of the country that we will use all of our capabilities including you. The elimination of Nasrallah is an important step, but it is not the final one. In order to ensure the return of Israels northern communities, we will employ all of our capabilities, and this includes you, AFP quoted Gallant as saying. According to The Guardian report, Gallant said that returning Israelis to their homes in the north about 60,000 have been forced to evacuate by repeated rocket fire from Lebanon was the mission of the IDF. That is what we will do, and we will deploy whatever is needed you, other forces, from the air, from the sea, and from the land, he added. As Israel continues its airstrikes on Lebanon, its operations in Gaza also persist, with reports indicating that 12 people, including a journalist, were killed in strikes on Monday. In Lebanon, approximately 1,000 people have died, 6,000 have been injured, and around one million have been displaced due to the Israeli bombardment. Over the weekend, Israel targeted locations in the Houthi-controlled region of Yemen, and on Monday morning, explosions were reported in Damascus, Syria. Advertisement With inputs from agencies This is the 24th time Pakistan has turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout the most for any country read more Cash-strapped Pakistan has turned to the IMF yet again to rescue its ailing economy. (Photo: Reuters) Cash-strapped Pakistan has announced the abolition of 15,000 government jobs and six ministries under the terms of the latest bailout package, according to PTI. Pakistan last week secured a $7 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It is the 24th such bailout the most for any country. Following the latest Pakistan-IMF deal, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said this would be the final bailout in Pakistans history and the nation would now embark on a path of a progress a promise he also made after the previous bailout in 2023 but then returned months later to the lender with the begging bowl. Advertisement In addition to abolishing six ministries, the Shehbaz government also announced the merger of two other ministries, according to PTI. Pakistani Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said that now Pakistan would embark towards formalisation of the economy which would be critical for the nation joining the G-20, the grouping of the worlds 20 most-advanced economies. Even though Shehbazs government has hailed the bailout and has dubbed this as a turning point in the nations history, the terms of the bailout deal are stringent and are bound to be unpopular across Pakistan as they involve hiking taxes, slashing subsidies, and cutting government jobs. More taxes, high interest loan, no subsidies Terms of IMF bailout deal The IMF has come to Pakistans rescue yet again but there are a lot of conditions. Even before the IMF approved the bailout, it told Pakistan to secure $2 billion of funds to be eligible for the bailout, according to The Express Tribune. Pakistan raised the required $2 billion in a loan from Standard Chartered Bank at exorbitant 11 per cent interest. Once the funds were secured, the IMF approved the 47 billion over the next 37 months and authorised the immediate the release of the first tranche of the bailout of around $1.1 billion. It will carry an interest of 5 per cent. Advertisement The newspaper has reported that the IMF bailout deal comes with several conditions, which include the restructuring the external and domestic debt that consumed 81 per cent of Pakistans tax revenues. It aims to infuse macroeconomic stability by consolidate public finances, rebuilding foreign exchange reserves, improving business environment, and a restructuring of the nations taxation and fiscal responsibilities. As a result, Pakistan is hiking income tax from 12-15 per cent to 45 per cent, according to the newspaper. The terms of the bailout would also stop provincial subsides on electricity and gas. It would also stop the setting up of special economic zones (SEZs) and stopping tax incentives to existing SEZs by 2035. Advertisement Under the terms of the IMF-Pakistan deal, Pakistan needs to have a budget with 4.2 per cent surplus of the gross domestic product (GDP) for the three-year period of the bailout, the federal government would be required to bring a mini-budget that would result in hiking taxes on imports, contractors, professionals, and on fertiliser. Amid the growing tensions in the Middle East, Israel continued with its barrage of attacks in Lebanon with its death toll surpassing the 100 mark. Not only this, the Jewish nation opened a new front for attack and launched a wave of airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. On Sunday, the Lebanese Health Ministry confirmed that at least 105 people had been killed and around 359 were injured as Israel continued to pound the Middle Eastern nation. Advertisement The fresh assaults on Iran-backed proxies make many concerned that what started as an Israel-Hamas war is turning out to be a bigger regional conflict. On Sunday, dozens of Israeli planes came near the port of Hodeidah in Yemen and launched rockets to target fuel facilities, power plants and docks at the Ras Issa and Hodeidah ports. This was the biggest operation the region witnessed during the nearly year-long crisis. Houthi news outlets reported that the airstrikes killed four people and wounded 33. The strikes also caused power cuts for most parts of Hodeidah. The strikes in Yemen came 48 hours after Israel conducted its operation that killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, leaving the Lebanese militant group completely paralysed. Israel continues to pound Lebanon A series of salvos were launched from Lebanon on Sunday, including the one Hezbollah said targeted a group of Israeli soldiers. However, Israel did not stop with its attacks in Beirut. Amid the chaos, a statement issued by the office of the Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, after he monitored the strikes from an air force command centre, said: Our message is clear. For us, no place is too far. The Israeli military later mentioned that the air force had struck dozens of targets, including launchers and weapons stores, while its navy said it had intercepted eight projectiles coming from the direction of Lebanon. The military noted that the strikes that were concentrated in the south of Lebanon were a tit-for-tat exchange between the two parties. Advertisement Drones could be heard flying over all parts of the Lebanese capital overnight and throughout the day on Sunday. On the same day, the Israeli military confirmed that they had killed Nabil Kaouk, the deputy chairman of Hezbollahs executive council, in a strike. The Iran-backed group eventually confirmed his death, bringing the number of senior Hezbollah leaders who have died in Israeli strikes in the last 10 days to seven. The senior Hezbollah leaders killed in the strike include three founding members who had evaded death or detention for decades. The recent strike came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintained that the killing of Nasrallah was a necessary step in changing the balance of power in the region for years to come. Nasrallah was not a terrorist, he was the terrorist, he said, warning of challenging days ahead. Advertisement With inputs from agencies. Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallahs death will not be in vain read more Iran will not deploy forces to Lebanon or Gaza to confront Israel, its foreign ministry said on Monday, as Israeli strikes target its allies in the region. There is no need to send extra or volunteer forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, said foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani, adding that Lebanon and fighters in the Palestinian territories have the capability and strength to defend themselves against the aggression. Israel has in recent days been mounting heavy air strikes in Lebanon against the so-called axis of resistance, a network of Iran-aligned militant groups in the region, including in Syria, Yemen and Iraq. Advertisement An Israeli strike on Beirut Friday killed Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that has been armed and financed by the Islamic republic for years. We have not received any request in this regard from any side, on the contrary, we are informed and are sure that they do not need the help of our forces, Kanani told reporters in Tehran. Kanani nonetheless vowed that Israel will not remain without reprimand and punishment for the crimes it has committed against the Iranian people, military personnel and the resistance forces. Also on Monday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visited Hezbollahs office in Tehran to pay tribute to Nasrallah, according to the governments website. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all matters of the state, has vowed that Nasrallahs death will not be in vain, and First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said it would bring about Israels destruction. Iran has also vowed to avenge the killing of Abbas Nilforoushan, a top commander of the Quds Force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps foreign operations arm, who died alongside the Hezbollah leader. The official National News Agency reported an air strike on Al-Bass near the city of Tyre, saying it was the first time the camp had been targeted read more Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on a village near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre. AFP Palestinian militant group Hamas said its leader in Lebanon was killed Monday in a strike on the countrys south, as official media reported a strike on a Palestinian refugee camp. Fatah Sharif Abu al-Amine, the leader of Hamas in Lebanon and member of the movements leadership abroad was killed in an air strike on his home in the Al-Bass camp in south Lebanon, a Hamas statement said. It said he was killed with his wife, son and daughter in a terrorist and criminal assassination. The official National News Agency reported an air strike on Al-Bass near the city of Tyre, saying it was the first time the camp had been targeted. Advertisement The statement came hours after the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a secular left-wing group, said three of its members were killed in a strike on Beiruts Kola district early Monday. Israel has repeatedly targeted Hamas officials in Lebanon since the Gaza war erupted almost a year ago. A strike in January, which a US defence official said was carried out by Israel, killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Aruri and six other militants in Hezbollahs south Beirut stronghold. In August, an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the south Lebanon city of Sidon killed Hamas commander Samer al-Hajj. Lebanons official Palestinian refugee camps were created for Palestinians who were driven out or fled during the 1948 war at the time of Israels creation. By longstanding convention, the Lebanese army stays out of the camps and leaves the Palestinian factions to handle security. The location of Hezbollah headquarters next to schools unequivocally proves that the terrorist group hides among civilians and endangers the lives of Lebanese people, said Israel read more Israel has said that Hezbollah headquarters, where its chief Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated last week, was located next to a United Nations (UN)-run school. Israel on Friday conducted massive airstrikes in Lebanese capital Beirut. The airstrikes in the neighbourhood of Dahieh, a stronghold of Hezbollah in southern Beirut, struck the central headquarters of the terrorist group. The target was the groups chief Hassan Nasrallah. Both Israel and Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallahs death separately in the attack the next day. Advertisement Now, Israel has shared satellite imagery of the neighbourhood and has said Hezbollahs headquarters was operating barely 53 metres away from a UN-run school. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said the fact that Hezbollah had embedded its headquarters in the midst of civilian buildings unequivocally proved that the group hides among civilians and endangers the lives of common Lebanese people. In the image shared by the IDF, a UN-run school is seen 53 metres away from the said headquarters of Hezbollah and another school is 123 metres away from the site. The IDF said, The terrorists were in Hezbollahs central headquarters, located in the heart of Beirut, embedded beneath civilian buildings. This unequivocally proves that Hezbollah hides among civilians, endangering the lives of the people of Lebanon. 53 meters. Thats the distance between a @UN school and Hezbollahs underground headquarters where Hassan Nasrallah was eliminated alongside 20+ additional terrorists. The terrorists were in Hezbollahs central headquarters, located in the heart of Beirut, embedded beneath pic.twitter.com/eTor8mBGhU Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 29, 2024 The Hezbollah and other terrorist groups in the Middle East, including Palestinian groups like Hamas, are known to hide among civilians in the region. Before launching the ongoing around of attacks against Hezbollah last week, which climaxed on Friday with the assassination of Friday, Israel had warned civilians across Lebanon to vacate the strongholds of Hezbollah to avoid being collateral damage in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. In a message to the Lebanese people, IDF Spokesperson Hagari told asked them to move out of harms way for their own safety and vacate Hezbollahs strongholds in southern Lebanon. Advertisement Sharing illustrations of how Hezbollah embeds weapons inside civilians houses in Lebanese villages, Hagari said that Hezbollah stores cruise missiles, rockets, launchers, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) inside civilian homes hidden behind the Lebanese population living in villages. Hagari said, There are dozens of Lebanese villages situated along approximately 80 kilometers of the border with Israel. For over 20 years, Hezbollah has deployed its arms inside homes and militarised civilian infrastructure. As a result, the Hezbollah terrorist organisation has turned southern Lebanon into a battlefield. Hagari said that people should pay attention to the message and warning published by the IDF and heed them. Hezbollah, facing relentless attacks from Israel, faces a difficult choice of electing its top leader the Shura Council chief after Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike last week. How does the group conduct its decision-making business? read more Hashem Safieddine is likely to become Hezbollah's next leader after Hassan Nasrallah' assassination by Israel. File image/AFP Hezbollah, meaning Party of God, came into existence in 1982, three years after the Iranian revolution that put Shia clerics in charge of the country. Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shia group, with a band of about 100,000 fighters by its own account, and a socio-political presence in Lebanon. The Lebanon-based and Iran-backed group has been in a constant state of conflict with Israel, which has repeatedly targeted the groups leadership forcing the militant outfit to find new leaders at different levels of its organisational structure. Advertisement The organisational structure of Hezbollah has evolved over decades. Its top-most decision-making body is called the Shura Council, which functions with five specialised councils managing the outfits day-to-day affairs from recruitment to election and from propaganda to armed fighting in West Asia. The five bodies subordinate to the Shura Council are the Executive, Judicial, Parliamentary, Political, and Jihad Councils. These five councils ensure that Hezbollah stays a powerful state-within-state entity in Lebanon, whose governance remains paralysed especially after its military commander-turned-politician Michel Auon resigned as the president in 2022. The country does not have a president and it runs its affairs through an interim government as Hezbollah has continued to block the election of a president through its legislators and those of its allies in the 121-member Lebanese parliament. Though Hezbollah translates to the Party of Allah in Lebanese, an Oxford University publication Hezbollah: Power and Mobilization by Aurelie Daher says that though it is usually understood as an Islamist groupits structure is nothing like that of the Muslim Brotherhood or Sunni al-Qaida. Admittedly, an Islamic version of the decision-making process is to some extent reflected by the collegial command structure (shura). But the organisation at heart is not Islamic. Indeed, Hezbollahs structure and its internal operations owe a good deal to communist and socialist models, it says. But how does Hezbollah decide whatever it does and how does it find recruits? Advertisement The Shura Council Originally established during 1984-1986, it took its current shape in 1989. It is a body of seven members including the chief of the Shura Council. Currently vacant after the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, who held the post of the secretary general. The Shura head is helped by a deputy secretary general and five heads of the subordinate councils. In theory, the Shura head is the first among equals, Nasrallah made it a position that towers over the rest. The Shura Council literally means a consultative council and is Hezbollahs supreme decision-making authority. It sits at the top of the organisational pyramid drawing the groups vision and policies. The Shura Council decides matters unanimously or by a majority vote. Its decisions, once taken, cant be challenged and religiously binding on party cadres. Advertisement But Hezbollahs Shura Council is not a sovereign unit in itself. Due to its allegiance to Iran, its authoritative position is subordinate to the Supreme Leader of Iran, who is the Wali al-Faqih the guardian of Islamic jurisprudence. So, if Hezbollah leadership is in a deadlock among its top council members, the matter is referred to the Supreme Leader of Iran to settle the matter. The Executive Council This body came up in 1995 and is responsible for day-to-day operations of Hezbollah. It is the duty and responsibility of the Executive Council to execute the decisions taken by the Shura Council. The Executive Council also oversees all cultural, educational, social and political affairs of Hezbollah. Advertisement Its current chairman Hashem Saffiedine is being tipped to be the next Hezbollah chief. Some media reports claimed immediately after Nasrallahs death that Saffiedine was chosen the Hezbollah chief. However, the group has described such reports as speculative and misleading Its members are drawn from Hezbollahs military unit, security department, organisational management and four subdivisions of Lebanon spread over Beirut, Beqaa and parts of south Lebanon. It is a powerful body that influences the working of the other four councils subordinate to the Shura Council as its daily tasks involve information sharing, maintaining external relations, handling financial matters and coordinating affiliations. Advertisement The Jihad Council the recruiting arm and much more Formed the same year as the Executive Council, the Jihad Council functions like the backbone of Hezbollah. It handles its military wing, devises strategy about when and how to attack Israel, recruits new members to the group and constantly assesses security risks for the group and its leaders. Nasrallah headed the Jihad Council himself and ran it with the help of a range of officials, drawn from various branches of the group. Media reports have quoted Hezbollah Shura Council member Naim Qassem as saying that the Jihad Council is made up of those in charge of resistance activity, be that in terms of oversight, recruitment, training, equipment, security, or any other resistance-related endeavours. It steps in to resolve matters where Hezbollahs otherwise purely political bodies and subunits face off with an overlap of activities including at either the jihad, recruitment or support ranks. The Jihad Council closely monitors and executes military operations including maintaining, logistics and supplies, screens recruits, trains them and provides protection to the groups VIPs. The Jihad Council assesses the circumstances facing Hezbollah and lays down the guidelines for Hezbollahs military units for it calls the Islamic Resistance the fight against those opposed to its sectarian objectives. It was under this principle, Hezbollah jumped into the Israel-Hamas conflict following the October 7 raid by the Palestinian armed group last year. Based on its assessment, if and when the Jihad Council concludes that an armed action or response is necessary, it recommends the same to the Shura Council, which, in turn, seeks approval from Irans Supreme Leader, whose consent is necessary for all Hezbollah operations. Other councils of Hezbollah Among the three other councils that run the organisation of Hezbollah, the premier is the Judicial Council that enforces Islamic law in areas under its control. This council sidelines the laws and constitution of Lebanon and runs a parallel judicial set up in the country while Hezbollah participates in the political legislative and administrative functions of the government. The Parliamentary Council oversees and governs the conduct of the elected representatives of Hezbollah in the Lebanese parliament. It ensures that its members follow the orders of the Hezbollah leadership in the national parliament. The Political Council deals with the daily political activities of Hezbollah in its areas of influence in Lebanon. Formerly known as Politburo, this body once gave the socialist ideological tilt of Hezbollah, especially during the initial years of its existence. It organises political campaigns, electoral issues and canvasses to spread Hezbollahs political ideologies among Lebanese voters. This structure makes Hezbollah a near perfect state-within-state in Lebanon where it recruits and trains its members, carries out its political, military and judicial activities parallel national institutions, while maintaining its affiliation to another sovereign country, Iran. All organisational appointments, in a way, happen through internal consultations but are subject to approvals by Irans Supreme Leader. The Jadar Valley lithium mine has become the epicentre of a high-stakes geopolitical struggle, where environmental concerns and economic ambitions collide with Russia and the West vying for influence in Serbias future read more In the summer of 2024, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Serbia expressing fierce opposition to a proposed lithium mine in the Jadar Valley. While environmental concerns fuelled the initial dissent, a deeper geopolitical layer began to emerge with the US and Germany pointing to Russian disinformation campaigns as a key factor behind the protests. The strategic importance of lithium to Europes automakers, coupled with Serbias position as a bridge between East and West, made this conflict a significant flashpoint in global energy and geopolitical dynamics. Advertisement Russias role Western officials have highlighted Russias suspected role in stoking opposition to the lithium mine project. According to The New Republic, US Ambassador to Serbia Christopher Hill asserted that Russia seized an opportunity here to try to drive a wedge between Serbia and the West. This sentiment was echoed by the US State Departments Global Engagement Center, which indicated that it was highly likely the Kremlin had played a direct role in spreading misinformation about the mine. Online conspiracy theoriesranging from claims that the mine would secretly extract uranium to predictions of sulphuric acid rain over Belgradegained traction, fuelling widespread discontent. According to the Wall Street Journal, these disinformation campaigns fit into a broader pattern of Russian interference in energy projects abroad. The US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt pointed to striking similarities between these efforts and previous Russian disinformation campaigns aimed at destabilising energy independence initiatives across Europe. Russias broader goal appears to be preventing Serbia from aligning too closely with the European Union, thereby maintaining its influence in the Balkans, the Wall Street Journal said. Environmental and economic concerns While disinformation may have amplified dissent, the project has also faced genuine local opposition grounded in environmental concerns. Many Serbians, especially those living near the proposed mine, fear the projects impact on air and soil quality, water sources and agricultural production. Serbian authorities, including the Ministry of Mining and Energy, have insisted that the project wouldnt endanger public health or the environment, emphasising the economic benefits such as job creation. Despite these assurances, local scepticism persists. Rio Tinto, the mining giant behind the project, has struggled to dispel these fears, regularly addressing false claims about environmental dangers. According to The New Republic, Rio Tintos CEO Jakob Stausholm held a six-hour televised Q&A session to engage directly with the public so that citizens can make informed decisions regarding the project. However, the balancing act between local environmental concerns and economic potential remains challenging. Advertisement Serbia at a crossroads Serbia now stands at a crossroads, pulled between Western ambitions for securing critical minerals and Russias determination to maintain its geopolitical foothold. Securing lithium from Serbia is crucial for Europes electric vehicle (EV) sector as the West seeks to reduce dependence on China. The Wall Street Journal highlighted a strategic agreement signed between the US and Serbia to foster cooperation in energy, including green energy projects, which Under Secretary Jose W Fernandez said would open new avenues for U.S. investment. Yet, Serbias long-standing relationship with Russia complicates these Western overtures. Serbias careful diplomacywhile it condemned Russias invasion of Ukraine, it has kept up strong ties with Moscow, particularly in energy. This delicate balancing act has kept Serbia from fully aligning with the West, leading some experts, including Orhan Dragas from the International Security Institute, to warn that the lithium project poses a major threat to Moscows interests as Serbias deeper integration with the EU looms. Advertisement Geopolitical stakes for Europe and beyond The geopolitical stakes surrounding Serbias lithium project go far beyond environmental or local concerns. Lithium, essential for electric vehicle batteries, is a prized resource in Europes push for energy independence from China. According to the Wall Street Journal, Germany has been particularly aggressive in courting Serbia with Chancellor Olaf Scholz making the case for the EU-Serbia lithium deal during his 2024 visit. The deal is part of the EUs broader strategy to secure critical minerals and reduce reliance on non-EU sources. Russia, meanwhile, views the Jadar project as an encroachment on its sphere of influence in the Balkans. According to The New Republic, Russian-backed disinformation efforts seek to prevent Serbia from joining European strategic and economic plans seeing such a move as a significant blow to Moscows regional leverage. The future of the Jadar project will play a crucial role in determining whether Serbia moves closer to the West or remains within Russias sphere of influence. Advertisement A flashpoint in US-Russia relations The lithium mine in Jadar Valley is shaping up to be more than just a local environmental issueit is a geopolitical flashpoint in the global struggle between East and West. Europes growing need for raw materials to fuel its green energy transition, particularly for electric vehicle production, has placed Serbia at the centre of this battle. The Wests efforts to secure Serbian lithium threaten Russias long-standing influence in the region and Moscows covert interference through disinformation reflects the high stakes involved. Ultimately, Serbia must decide its pathwhether to align more closely with the EU and play a key role in Europes energy transition or to remain closely tied to Russia with all the geopolitical consequences that entails. As the battle over lithium escalates, the global implications for energy independence, supply chains and geopolitical balance in the Balkans will continue to unfold. The two convicts shot dead a police officer almost four years ago while attempting to flee after clashes with law enforcement read more Iranian authorities on Monday executed two men in public over the killing of a police officer during an armed robbery in central Iran, according to the judiciary. The death sentence of two armed robbers was carried out this morning in the city of Khomein in the central Markazi province, the judiciarys Mizan Online reported, citing the local prosecutor. According to the report, the sentence was carried out in public on Monday morning. Iran, which performs death sentences by hanging, rarely executes convicts in public. Advertisement The two convicts shot dead a police officer almost four years ago while attempting to flee after clashes with law enforcement, Mizan reported. Iran carries out the highest number of executions annually after China, according to rights groups including Amnesty International. The Islamic republic uses capital punishment for major crimes including murder and drug trafficking, as well as rape and sexual assault cases. According to the Lebanese official, the headquarters was built beneath a residential block of six buildings in the heart of Beiruts southern suburbs. The Israelis managed to level those buildings during the air raids, causing massive destruction in the area read more Days after Israeli strikes killed Hezbollahs head Hassan Nasrallah, reports are emerging that an Iranian spy tipped off Israel about Nasrallahs location before the latter was targeted and killed in a massive airstrike. A Lebanese security official told the French newspaper, Le Parisien, that Nasrallah was killed while he was in his highly secure underground headquarters. According to the Lebanese official, the headquarters was built beneath a residential block of six buildings in the heart of Beiruts southern suburbs. The Israelis managed to level those buildings during the air raids, causing massive destruction in the area. As per the report, the buildings were situated between the Haret Hreik and Borj el Barajneh districts. Advertisement While it is still not clear exactly how many people were killed in the recent strikes, the event is touted as the largest Israeli attack on the country since the 2006 war. On Sunday, the Lebanese Health Ministry stated that the death toll in the recent attacks has surpassed the 100 mark. Iranian spy told Israel when Nasrallah would arrive at HQ As per the report by the French news outlet, an Iranian informant was providing Israeli military officials with intelligence about the whereabouts of the senior Hezbollah leaders. The Iranian spy went on to inform Israelis when Nasrallah would arrive at the Hezbollah headquarters, while the Jewish nations F-35 jets were waiting in Lebanese airspace. The Hezbollah chief arrived for an emergency meeting at the underground base. At that time, he was reportedly accompanied by more than a dozen other Hezbollah and Iranian commanders, including from Irans Quds Force regiment, part of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). They apparently arrived at the headquarters shortly after attending the funeral of Mohammed Hussein Srour, who headed Hezbollahs drones division and was killed in an airstrike the day before. They went all out; they didnt want to miss their target, Le Parisien quoted the unnamed Lebanese security source as saying. 70 pic.twitter.com/EbCbN12GCE EL BILAD - (@El_Bilade) September 29, 2024 Advertisement The official noted that at least six two-ton bombs were dropped on the site, causing a massive explosion in the area. Apart from killing Nasrallah, the strikes managed to kill over 20 Hezbollah operatives of varying ranks. The Lebanese militant group eventually confirmed the deaths of senior official Ali Karaki, as well as IRGC Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan. pic.twitter.com/oaorLqhk8R (@k7ybnd99) September 29, 2024 Advertisement According to the videos that are circulating online, the air raid caused a crater between 50 and 70 meters deep, showing the aftermath of the attack on the Hezbollah headquarters. Other videos circulating online allegedly showed Nasrallahs body being taken out of the crater. However, Firstpost could not independently verify if it was actually the Hezbollah chief. Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar is considered to be the mastermind of October 7 terrorist attack that triggered the ongoing Israel-Hamas War 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 Israel dropped a plan to assassinate Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar over fears of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, according to a report. The report comes after Israel assassinated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in airstrikes in Lebanese capital Beirut. Most of the top leaders and commanders of the Iran-backed and Lebanon-based terrorist group have also been assassinated in the ongoing wave of airstrikes in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon. Israeli outlet N12 has reported that Israel at one point had a tip-off about Sinwars location, but decided to not conduct the assassination over fears that hostages held in the vicinity could be harmed. Advertisement Sinwar, who became the chief of Hamas after the assassination of previous chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran earlier this year, is considered to the mastermind of the October 7 attack led by Hamas. During the attack, the terrorists killed around 1,200 people, injured thousands, and abducted more than 250. Around 100 of them continue to remain within Gaza. There have been reports that Sinwar has surrounded himself with hostages. The N12 report said that Sinwar is hiding in tunnels underneath Gaza and has surrounded himself with hostages as human shields. As Sinwar knows that Israel will not attack him if hostages are in the immediate vicinity, he has surrounded himself with hostages in the tunnels as an insurance against Israeli airstrikes, according to the outlet. Hamas has built a vast network of tunnels underneath Gaza. These tunnels are a subterranean base for Hamas and are used by Hamsa to store weapons, launch attacks, hideouts during battles, and home to its leaders. The New York Times has reported that the tunnel network runs for 350-450 miles (563-724 kms). For comparison, the Delhi Metro rail network is said to be around 243 miles-long (392 kms). Even as Israel currently controls much of Gaza, Hamas retains controls of a large network of tunnels and uses it to hide the hostages and wage insurgency against the Israeli control of the Palestinian enclave. As indications grew on Monday that Israel was on the verge of sending ground troops into Lebanon, officials on Monday said that Israel has already launched small ground raids against Hezbollah across the Lebanese border read more A Lebanese policeman looks at damaged apartments that were hit by Israeli strike early on Monday, in Beirut, Lebanon. AP As indications grew on Monday that Israel was on the verge of sending ground troops into Lebanon, officials on Monday said that Israel has already launched small ground raids against Hezbollah across the Lebanese border. According to a Reuters report, citing an US official, the positioning of Israeli troops suggested a ground incursion could be imminent. Meanwhile, according to reports, the Lebanese army is in the process of withdrawing from the border area close to Israel, Lebanons southern neighbour. Advertisement Sept 30 (Reuters) - The Lebanese Army was seen withdrawing from several positions on the southern border with Israel, local residents and a security source told Reuters. Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) September 30, 2024 Citing sources, Reuters news agency said the countrys military is pulling back from several positions on the southern border with Israel, adding that a Lebanese army spokesperson has neither confirmed nor denied such reports. BREAKING: Incoming reports of the Lebanese Army withdrawing from the border with Israel. Hezbollah are on their own Visegrad 24 (@visegrad24) September 30, 2024 The Lebanese army is part of the official national military of Lebanon, under the control of the central government, and has not been waging a military offensive against Israel since last October, unlike Hezbollah. Hezbollah is a separate entity with its own military wing that is known to be more powerful than the Lebanese army. Advertisement Hezbollah, meanwhile, has vowed to keep fighting even after its longtime leader and other top officials were recently wiped out by Israeli strikes. Talking about the raids, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Israel has informed the US about them, which he said were described as limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border. There were no reports of direct clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants on Lebanese soil. The last time the two enemies engaged in ground combat was a monthlong war in 2006. A Western official, a diplomat in Cairo whose country is directly involved in de-escalation efforts, said an Israeli ground operation in Lebanon is imminent. The diplomat said Israel has shared its plans with the US and other Western allies, and that the operation will be limited. Advertisement The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation. It was not clear if Israel had made a final decision on a broader operation. The Israeli military did not comment, but has made clear in recent days that it is preparing a possible ground operation. Last week, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi told troops that Israels punishing airstrikes were designed to prepare the ground for your possible entry and to continue degrading Hezbollah. Meanwhile, Israel on Monday declared three communities along its northern border to be a closed military zone, in a possible precursor to a ground invasion of Lebanon. Advertisement The order restricts entry and exit from the communities to military forces only. The towns are Metula, Misgav Am and Kfar Giladi. The order does not necessarily mean that Israeli troops will invade Lebanon immediately. Areas can also be declared closed military zones if an imminent threat is detected. But the Israeli army has heavily beefed up forces along the border with Lebanon in recent days, and commanders have said they are prepared to send in forces if the government gives the order. Israeli strikes have killed longime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and six of his top commanders and officials in the last 10 days, and have hit what the military says are thousands of militant targets across large parts of Lebanon. Over 1,000 people have been killed in the country in the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry. Advertisement Early Monday, an airstrike hit a residential building in central Beirut, killing three Palestinian militants, as Israel appeared to send a clear message that no part of Lebanon is out of bounds. Despite the heavy blow Hezbollah has suffered in recent weeks, acting leader Naim Kassem said in a televised statement that if Israel decides to launch a ground offensive, the groups fighters are ready. He said the commanders killed have already been replaced. He added that Hezbollah, which fought Israel to a stalemate in 2006, anticipated the battle could be long. A founding member of the militant group who had been Nasrallahs longtime deputy, Kassem will remain in his acting position until the groups leadership elects a replacement. The man widely expected to take over the top post is Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah who oversees Hezbollahs political affairs. With inputs from agencies In a direct message to Iranian people, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday assured Israels full support to them and predicted that the Islamic Republic will collapse sooner than people think, and the Iranian people will be free read more In a direct message to Iranian people, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday assured Israels full support to them and predicted that the Islamic Republic will collapse sooner than people think, and the Iranian people will be free. In a video statement issued in English, Netanyahu criticised the Iranian regime, asserting that it subjugates its people while making big claims about defending Lebanon and Gaza. The people of Iran should know - Israel stands with you pic.twitter.com/MfwfNqnTgE Benjamin Netanyahu - (@netanyahu) September 30, 2024 Advertisement Every day, you see a regime that subjugates you, make fiery speeches about defending Lebanon, defending Gaza. Yet every day, that regime plunges our region deeper into darkness and deeper into war, said Netanyahu as he boasted of Israels military might and recent assassinations of terror leaders. Emphasising the disconnect between the Iranian government and its citizens, Netanyahu said that Iranian regime is bringing its people the noble Persian people closer to the abyss. The vast majority of Iranians know their regime doesnt care a whit about them. If it did care, if it cared about you, it would stop wasting billions of dollars on futile wars across the Middle East. It would start improving your lives, said the Israeli Prime Minister. Imagine if all the vast money the regime wasted on nuclear weapons and foreign wars were invested in your childrens education, in improving your health care, in building your nations infrastructure, water, sewage, all the other things that you need. Imagine that, he added. Expressing optimism for a future free of the current regime, Netanyahu said that moment will come a lot sooner than people think. When Iran is finally free and that moment will come a lot sooner than people think everything will be different, he said. Our two ancient peoples, the Jewish people and the Persian people, will finally be at peace. Our two countries, Israel and Iran, will be at peace, added Netanyahu. Advertisement When that day comes, the terror network that the regime built in five continents will be bankrupt, dismantled. Iran will thrive as never before. Global investment. Massive tourism. Brilliant technological innovation based on the tremendous talents that exists inside Iran. Doesnt that sound better than endless poverty, repression and war? Netanyahu asked. Netanyahu asked Iranian people to not let a small group of fanatic theocrats crush their hopes and dreams' Dont let a small group of fanatic theocrats crush your hopes and your dreams. You deserve better. Your children deserve better. The entire world deserves better. I know you dont support the rapists and murderers of Hamas and Hezbollah, but your leaders do. You deserve more. The people of Iran should know Israel stands with you. May we together know a future of prosperity and peace, said Netanyahu. Advertisement With inputs from agencies Hezbollahs acting leader vowed Monday to continue battling Israel and said the militant group was prepared for a long fight even after much of its top command was wiped out, including its leader, Hassan Nasrallah read more Damages are seen on a building that was hit by Israeli strike, early on Monday. AP Hezbollahs acting leader declared on Monday that the group would persist in its struggle against Israel, emphasizing their readiness for a prolonged conflict despite the loss of much of its senior command, including leader Hassan Nasrallah. We will face any possibility and we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land and the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement, Reuters quoted Naim Qassem as saying in an address from an undisclosed location. Advertisement Israeli strikes have killed Nasrallah and six of his top commanders and officials in the last 10 days, and have hit what the military says are thousands of militant targets across large parts of Lebanon. Over 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry. Early Monday, an airstrike hit a residential building, wiping out one apartment, damaging others, and killing three Palestinian militants in central Beirut, as Israel appeared to send a clear message that no part of Lebanon is out of bounds. Despite the heavy blow Hezbollah has suffered in recent weeks, Kassem said in a televised statement that their military capabilities were intact. Israel was not able to affect our (military) capabilities, Kassem said, adding, There are deputy commanders and there are replacements in case a commander is wounded in any post. He added that Hezbollah anticipated the battle could be long. A founding member of Hezbollah who had been Nasrallahs longtime deputy, Kassem will remain in his acting position until the groups leadership elects a replacement. The man widely expected to take over the top post is Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah who oversees the groups political affairs. Advertisement Hezbollah has significantly increased its rocket attacks in the past week to several hundred daily, but most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas. Several people have been wounded in Israel. There have been no fatalities since two soldiers were killed near the border on Sept. 19. But Hezbollahs capabilities remain unclear. As recently as two weeks ago, a strike like Mondays in central Beirut outside of the main areas where Hezbollah operates and next to a busy transportation hub normally crowded with buses, taxis and vans would have been seen as a major escalation and likely followed by a long-range Hezbollah strike into Israel. Advertisement But the unspoken rules of the long-running conflict are no longer clear. Its possible that Hezbollah is holding back to save resources for a bigger battle, including a threatened Israeli ground invasion. But the militant group might also be in disarray after Israeli intelligence apparently penetrated its highest levels. In the past week, Israel has frequently targeted Beiruts southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence including the massive strike on Friday that killed Nasrallah but had not hit locations closer to the city center. The strike early Monday killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small, leftist faction that has not been meaningfully involved in months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel has not claimed the strike but is widely assumed to have carried it out. Advertisement Also Monday, Hamas announced that its top commander in Lebanon, Fatah Sharif, was killed with his family in an airstrike on the Al-Buss refugee camp in the southern port city of Tyre. The Israeli military confirmed that it had targeted him. Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles into northern Israel after Hamas Oct. 7 attack from Gaza into Israel sparked the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies and both supported by Iran, and Hezbollah said it would continue the attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians until there was a cease-fire in Gaza. Israel has responded to the rockets with airstrikes in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based, and the fighting has steadily escalated over the past year. The Lebanese government says the fighting may have displaced up to a million people, although the U.N. estimate is around 200,000. Advertisement Tens of thousands of Israelis have also been displaced. Israel has vowed to keep fighting until the attacks stop and its citizens can return to their homes. The United States and its allies have called for a cease-fire, hoping to avoid further escalation that could draw in Iran and set off a wider war. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown little interest, as his country racks up military achievements against a longtime foe. Some Israelis broke into spontaneous celebrations after Nasrallahs death was announced. Videos circulated of crowds at bars singing a song in Hebrew mocking him. A news anchor on a pro-Netanyahu station sang and danced as the studio audience joined in with him while a commentator on Israels largest TV station offered co-panelists celebratory shots. Hezbollah, which boasts tens of thousands of battle-hardened fighters and long-range missiles capable of hitting anywhere inside Israel, has long been seen as the most powerful militant group in the region and a key partner to Iran in both threatening and deterring Israel. Hezbollah fought Israel to a monthlong stalemate in their 2006 war, But Hezbollah has never faced an onslaught quite like this one, which began with a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies in mid-September that killed dozens of people and wounded around 3,000 including many fighters but also many civilians. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Israels airstrikes in Lebanon had wiped out Hezbollahs command structure but warned that the group will work quickly to rebuild it. Were watching to see what they do to try to fill this leadership vacuum. Its going to be tough, he told CNNs State of the Union on Sunday. With inputs from agencies While one section of the community was outraged by the killing, taking to the streets to express their anger, there was another side which celebrated the whole ordeal read more The death of Hezbollahs 37-year-long chief Hassan Nasrallah in Israeli strikes in Beirut had two kinds of reactions in the Muslim world. While one section of the community was outraged by the killing, taking to the streets to express their anger, there was another side which celebrated the whole ordeal. The shockwaves of the death of the Hezbollah leader even reached India. During the weekend, massive protests erupted in Kashmir following the death of Nasrallah in Lebanon. Amid the demonstration, the former Chief Minister and president of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti and senior National Conference leader Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi called off their election campaign to condole the killing of the Hezbollah leader. Advertisement The skies of the heavenly region of Kashmir were engulfed with anti-Israeli and anti-American chants as the protesters marched on the streets with the photograph of the Hezbollah supremo. Similar protests were also held in Iran as the countrys Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced a day of mourning. In Basra (Iraq), Kashmir ( India), and Bahrain people condemned the assassination of Sayed Hassan Nasrallah and mourned the martyrdom of Sayed Hassan #Nasrallah . pic.twitter.com/M5QX0n9CP9 Embassy of Iran in Bulgaria (@IRANinBULGARIA) September 28, 2024 However, there was one section of the Muslim society which celebrated the death of the Hezbollah chief. Acknowledging the atrocities Nasrallah and the Lebanese militant group committed over the years, many celebrated his death by singing dancing and just taking to the street. So why is the Muslim world so divided? What is at the root of this division? Advertisement Why was Kashmir outraged by the death of Nasrallah? It is pertinent to note that Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for over three decades, was a revered figure among the Shia community around the world. Even in Kashmir, the Shia community considered him as a symbol of resistance. Shortly after Nasrallahs death was confirmed by Hezbollah, Mehdia member of the Srinagar Parliament called off his campaigning. Calling off my campaign. Ruhullah Mehdi (@RuhullahMehdi) September 28, 2024 Advertisement Mufti also announced that she would end her election campaign. Cancelling my campaign tomorrow in solidarity with the martyrs of Lebanon & Gaza, especially Hassan Nasrallah. We stand with the people of Palestine & Lebanon in this hour of immense grief & exemplary resistance, Mufti wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. Cancelling my campaign tomorrow in solidarity with the martyrs of Lebanon & Gaza especially Hassan Nasarullah. We stand with the people of Palestine & Lebanon in this hour of immense grief & exemplary resistance. Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) September 28, 2024 Advertisement It is important to note that Sunday was the last day of election campaigning for the 16 seats of north Kashmir that will go to the polls in the third and last phase on October 1. Meanwhile, Iran which is predominantly Shia, also saw protests and mourning over the death of the Hezbollah leader. Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Israel that its assassination of Nasrallah would not go unavenged. Khamenei also announced five days of mourning in Iran and called for an emergency meeting of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Not only this, Tehran also called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council. Advertisement But is the Shia-Sunni divide really the case? Because demonstrations were also taking over Pakistan, which is predominantly Sunni. The clashes in Pakistan, especially in the city of Karachi even turned violent as protesters pelted stones and police struggled to stop them from reaching the US consulate in the city. The countrys police used tear gas and batons to disperse protesters marching towards the consulate. Senior Police official Asad Reza said that police intervened to maintain law and order after the protesters turned violent. When stopped by the police and reminded of their agreed route to peacefully protest, some of them turned violent and started pelting stones at the police in which some policemen were injured, Raza said as per the report by Dawn. So who exactly was celebrating Nasrallahs death? Pockets of revelry erupted across the Middle East, be it Sunni-dominated Syria or Shia-dominated Iran. Some people living in areas outside government control in Syria celebrated the killing of Nasrallah, including the jihadist-run rebel bastion of Idlib. In the videos circulated online, people were seen waving Syrian flags and handing out sweets on Saturday morning. I'm in idlib right now and the Syrians are out on the streets celebrating rumours of the death of Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, aka Hezboshaytan! Just a few days ago Hezboshaytan bombed a village here, today we buried a 1 year old baby and his mother that were killed. pic.twitter.com/bCUufPFS8w muslim daily (@muslimdaily_) September 27, 2024 Many Syrian opposition supporters and activists despise Hezbollah since the Lebanese group fought rebel forces in a number of areas in the country during the civil war. This not only led to heavy losses among opposition factions but also forced tens of thousands to flee the country. There were also celebrations in some parts of Iran, Hezbollahs prime sponsor. But the nature of the protests was a bit different. As per the videos circulating on social media, several Iranian women were seen toasting the news. Women in Iran celebrate the Elimination of Nasrallah pic.twitter.com/1zwAZAxlwH Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) September 27, 2024 In the video, the speakers blasted, The children of Iran, send a congratulatory message to everyone for the death of Hassan Nasrallah and congratulate the Iranian nation, adding a thank you to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Iranians gather outside the Israeli embassy in London to thank the Israeli army for taking out Nasrallah #IraniansStandWithIsrael @PahlaviReza #isrealthank #KingRezaPahlavi pic.twitter.com/Ayzt1jMlrp SabaKhoi (@saba_khoi) September 28, 2024 Not only this, pro-shah Iranians also gathered outside the Israeli embassy in London to celebrate the death of the Hezbollah leader. Some notable figures in Saudi Arabia also posted on social media celebrating what they called the end of an era and the death of one of the biggest threats to Arabs, Islam, and the world. More than just a Shia-Sunni divide: A divide between the majority and the minority There is one trend in common if we look at the section of society celebrating Nasrallahs death in the Middle East, i.e. the minorities and the oppressed groups in the Middle East are rejoicing Hezbollahs chiefs death. In the case of Syria, the section of society which opposes the government took to the streets to celebrate Nasrallahs demise. A similar trend can be seen in Iran where some of the women were seen in merry spirits. Now the important thing to note is that Iran is still scarred by the nationwide anti-government protests that erupted following the death of Mahsa Amini a couple of years back. Hence, it can be safe to say that the women in Iran saw the Hezbollah chiefs death as a defeat for the Iranian regime that has been actively supporting the Lebanese militant group. Not only this, minorities, especially the non-muslim minorities in Lebanon were also seen happy with the death of the veteran chief, looking at it as a hope for regime change in the country which has been in the clutches of the militant group for over three decades. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny showed signs of poisoning before his death in prison earlier this year, contradicting official reports which attributed his sudden death to natural causes, according to a report, citing documents read more Navalny, widely seen as a political rival of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in an Arctic prison in February, with authorities attributing his sudden death to natural causes. Reuters File Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny showed signs of poisoning before his death in prison earlier this year, contradicting official reports which attributed his sudden death to natural causes, according to unpublished official documents leaked to the independent news portal The Insider on Monday, according to a report. Navalny, widely seen as a political rival of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in an Arctic prison in February. The Russian government has been unconvincing in its explanations regarding the circumstances of Navalnys demise, with his supporters accusing the Kremlin of orchestrating his death as officials offered selective accounts of the events surrounding it. Advertisement The Russian Investigative Committee that looked into the cause of Navalnys death ultimately concluded that it was not criminal in nature and was due to combined illnesses. But the documents obtained by The Insider suggest that references to Navalnys symptoms were removed, the outlet said. The Russian Investigative Committee that examined the circumstances of Navalnys death ultimately determined that it was not criminal in nature and resulted from combined illnesses. However, according to Politico report, citing documents obtained by The Insider, references to Navalnys symptoms symptoms were omitted. An earlier version of the documents, signed by Russian investigator Alexander Varapaev, recorded that Navalny had suffered symptoms that medical experts said were consistent with poisoning, added the report. Convict AA Navalny lay down on the floor and began to complain of sharp pain in the abdominal area; he started reflexive ejection of his stomach contents, had convulsions, and lost consciousness, which was immediately reported to the medical staff of the correctional facility," Politico quoted from a document on the case that accompanied the investigative committees decision. Advertisement In a later final version of the document, however, all references to abdominal pain, vomiting and convulsions were removed, added the Politico report_,_ citing The Insider. It confirms that they (the Russian authorities) themselves consider that there was something there that they didnt want to show, Politico quoted Roman Dobrokhotov, chief editor of The Insider, as saying to the Russian-language Breakfast Show broadcast on Monday. If those had been normal symptoms, then why wouldnt they have left them in? Dobrokhotov asked. According to Politico, the Russian outlet also obtained an inventory of seized objects from the scene of Navalnys death, including samples of vomit, which an earlier draft of the document indicated were submitted for analysis; however, the final version reported no mention of vomiting, according to Insider. Advertisement This was not the first poisoning attempt against Russias most prominent opposition figure. In August 2020, Navalny fell into a coma after being poisoned with the Novichok nerve agent in what his supporters claimed was a state-sponsored assassination attempt. He survived, received treatment in Germany, and returned to Russia in 2021, where he was immediately arrested and remained imprisoned until his death. With inputs from agencies North Korea experienced a record downpour in late July which killed an unspecified number of people, flooded homes and submerged swathes of farmland in its northern regions near China read more This picture taken on September 29, 2024 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on September 30, 2024 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) inspecting the rehabilitation projects in the flood-hit areas in North Pyongan Province. AFP North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited flood-damaged areas in the country and ordered swift action to rebuild homes, state media reported on Monday. North Korea experienced a record downpour in late July which killed an unspecified number of people, flooded homes and submerged swathes of farmland in its northern regions near China. Thousands of displaced flood victims were relocated to facilities in the capital while their homes are being rebuilt. Visiting the construction site, Kim ordered workers to alleviate the pain of the flood victims as early as possible, according to the official KCNA news agency. Advertisement Photos from KCNA showed Kim walking through the muddy site and speaking with officials in front of partially built structures. This marks his third visit to flood-hit areas, with previous appearances showing him holding children, inspecting damage from a dinghy, and driving through floodwaters in his luxury vehicle. International offers of support have poured in since news of the flooding disaster first emerged, including from South Korea which offered aid via the Korean Red Cross despite the two countries strained relations. Russian President Vladimir Putin had also offered immediate humanitarian support to aid its recovery efforts. Kim has expressed thanks for the offers of help but refused to accept any foreign aid, saying that the countrys recovery efforts would be thoroughly based on self-reliance, according to KCNA. Anti-immigrant sentiment has been at the core of Trumps appeal in economically depressed, majority-white parts of the country ever since his 2016 presidential victory, but the rhetoric is turning ever more extreme as election day nears read more Former US President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris at the presidential debate. AP File Donald Trump on Sunday used a speech in key swing state Pennsylvania to urge a violent police crackdown on crime in the United States, while his White House rival Kamala Harris emphasized the need for immigration reform at a rally in Nevada. Pennsylvania is considered the most important of the seven toss-up states that will likely decide the November 5 presidential election, but Nevada is also one of the key battlegrounds. The Republican former president and current candidate, who held a similar rally in swing state Wisconsin on Saturday, reprised his dark, racially charged message about an America crumbling under invasion by violent migrants and other criminals. Advertisement Recounting isolated but widely publicized incidents of thieves staging brazen daylight robberies of shops in major cities, Trump got a loud cheer when he said police should become extraordinarily rough. Criminals, he said, have to be taught and this could be done if you had one really violent day. One rough hour and I mean real rough the word would get out and it would end immediately, Trump said. The police arent allowed to do their job because the liberal left wont let them. Harris, the vice president and Democratic candidate, addressed the serious problems of border security at a rally in Las Vegas later in the day, where she reeled off her usual stump speech, emphasizing the economy, health care and the need for immigration reform. As president, I will double the resources for the Department of Justice to go after the transnational cartels, Harris said. We know Donald Trump wont solve them. When he was president, he did nothing to fix our immigration system, she added, calling for comprehensive reform but without offering details. As on Saturday in Wisconsin, Trump spent much of his speech painting a picture of a failing United States, inundated by what he said was the massive number of savage criminal aliens that Kamala Harris has allowed to invade. Advertisement He claimed terrorists are pouring into our country and cited a big prison in the Congo, in Africa, as the source of a lot of people last week. Insults Anti-immigrant sentiment has been at the core of Trumps appeal in economically depressed, majority-white parts of the country ever since his 2016 presidential victory, but the rhetoric is turning ever more extreme as election day nears. Following record numbers of illegal border crossings earlier in President Joe Bidens administration, a tightening of rules to the consternation of immigrant rights and civil liberties groups led to a plunge in numbers this year. Crime, including murder, is also in steep decline nationwide, the FBI says. Advertisement Trump has long prided himself on his ability to coin insulting nicknames or slurs for his opponents and on Sunday, he repeated one that he aired on Saturday, calling Harris a former top California prosecutor and US senator mentally impaired. Crooked Joe Biden became mentally impaired. Sad. But lying Kamala Harris, honestly, I believe she was born that way, Trump said to loud laughter from the crowd. Harris did not address Trumps comments during her rally in Vegas, instead focusing on her usual bread-and-butter issues protecting access to abortion services and putting more money in the pockets of everyday Americans. Advertisement When Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom, as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law, she told supporters. Sudans army denied carrying out the attack, insisting it does not target diplomatic missions read more Smoke billows during air strikes in central Khartoum as the Sudanese army attacks positions held by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) throughout the Sudanese capital on September 26, 2024. Source AFP. The United Arab Emirates reacted with outrage on Monday after the home of its ambassador in war-torn Sudan was attacked and badly damaged. The oil-rich Gulf state, which has repeatedly denied accusations of involvement in the war, blamed the Sudanese armed forces for the heinous attack. Sudans army denied carrying out the attack, insisting it does not target diplomatic missions. The army accuses the UAE of backing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which it has been fighting since April 2023 in a war that has killed tens of thousands of people and ignited a dire humanitarian crisis. Advertisement The United Arab Emirates has strongly condemned the heinous attack that targeted the residence of the UAE head of mission in Khartoum by a Sudanese army aircraft, which resulted in extensive damage to the building, the official WAM news agency said. The UAE has called on the army to assume full responsibility for this cowardly act, it added, describing it as a flagrant violation of the fundamental principle of the inviolability of diplomatic premises. The Sudanese army responded that it condemns and denies the accusation by the UAE, adding that it does not target the headquarters of diplomatic missions, United Nations agencies or voluntary organisations and does not turn them into military bases and loot their assets. The one that carries out these heinous and cowardly actions is the terrorist, rebel militia (RSF) supported in committing all this by countries known to the world, a statement said. According to eyewitnesses in Khartoum, heavy clashes have raged in several parts of the capital for the past four days, in a major flare-up of hostilities. In June, Sudans ambassador to the United Nations Al-Harith Idriss al-Harith Mohamed accused Abu Dhabi of giving financial and military support to the RSF, calling it the main reason behind this protracted war. Advertisement The UAE has denied allegations of supporting the RSF as disinformation, saying its efforts are focused exclusively on de-escalation and alleviating Sudans humanitarian suffering. The UN Security Council voted unanimously Monday to extend the mandate of the Kenya-led multinational force helping to tackle gang violence in Haiti, after brushing off a call from Haiti to start talks on transforming it into a UN peacekeeping mission read more The president of Haiti's transitional presidential council, Edgard Leblanc Fils, addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, on Thursday at UN headquarters. AP The UN Security Council voted unanimously Monday to extend the mandate of the Kenya-led multinational force helping to tackle gang violence in Haiti, after brushing off a call from Haiti to start talks on transforming it into a UN peacekeeping mission. According to the final draft obtained by The Associated Press, China and Russia succeeded in eliminating the paragraph in the resolution that acknowledged the call by the president of Haitis transitional presidential council at the UN General Assembly to start a discussion on moving to a UN peacekeeping force. Advertisement Last Thursdays call by Edgard Leblanc Fils was the first public announcement of support by a government official since the United States proposed a UN peacekeeping mission in early September as a way to secure more resources for the Kenya-led mission. Nearly 400 Kenyan officers are now in Haiti, joined by nearly two dozen police officers and soldiers from Jamaica. The officers fall significantly short of the 2,500 pledged by various countries, including Chad, Benin, Bangladesh and Barbados for the mission. It is also seriously short of funding. US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Security Council that the 15-0 vote sends a strong message to the people of Haiti: The world is standing with you. And we are unwavering in our efforts to help restore security and stability and put the country on the path to peace and stability. She said additional financial contributions are urgently needed for the multinational force and also called on council members to heed Haitis call for a UN-funded peacekeeping operation. Chinas deputy UN ambassador Geng Shuang countered that The UN has sent multiple peacekeeping operations in Haiti, but the results have never been satisfactory, and the lessons learned have been extremely profound. He called for the implementation of the mandate of the Kenya-led force, stressing that discussing other options now will only interfere with its operation, and adding that peacekeeping operations are not a panacea. Advertisement Haiti does not have the conditions for the deployment of peacekeeping operations right now, Geng said. Russias deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky echoed his Chinese ally, saying only three months have passed since the deployment of the Kenyan officers and Russia expects the multinational force to expand its presence. Until this happens, we believe it is premature to plan any transformation to the international presence or any changes thereof, he said. Gangs have grown in power since the July 7, 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise and are now estimated to control up to 80% of the capital, and have moved into surrounding areas. The surge in killings, rapes and kidnappings has led to a violent uprising by civilian vigilante groups. Advertisement Leblanc told the annual gathering of world leaders at the General Assembly that while the current UN-backed mission has made some inroads, a lot still remains to be done and security continues to deteriorate. He said Haitians still live in fear and cannot move around the country freely, unable to work or send their children to school without great risk. The short resolution adopted Monday extends the Multinational Security Support mission until October 2, 2025. It encourages the mission to accelerate its deployment, and further encourages additional voluntary contributions and support for the mission." Republicans supporting Donald Trump are filing cases to enforce restrictions on voting and are advancing legal theory that judges can throw out election results over failures or irregularities by local officials read more In Arizona, one of seven competitive U.S. states that are expected to decide the 2024 presidential election, an advocacy group founded by Donald Trump adviser Stephen Miller is advancing a bold legal theory: that judges can throw out election results over failures or irregularities by local officials. The lawsuit by the America First Legal Foundation, a conservative advocacy group, says the court in such cases should be able to toss the election results and order new rounds of voting in two counties in Arizona, where Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris is leading Trump in the polls by a razor-thin margin. Advertisement Almost four years after former president Trump and his allies tried and failed to overturn his election defeat with a flurry of more than 60 hastily arranged lawsuits, Republicans have launched an aggressive legal campaign laying the groundwork to challenge potential losses. The Republican National Committee says it is involved in more than 120 lawsuits across 26 states, in a strategy that some legal experts and voting rights groups say is meant to undercut faith in the system. Republicans say the lawsuits are aimed at restoring faith in elections by ensuring people dont vote illegally. Trump and his allies have falsely claimed that his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden was tainted by widespread fraud. While the Arizona case is likely a long shot, legal experts say it fits with a pattern of Republican-backed lawsuits that appear aimed at sowing doubts about the legitimacy of the election before it occurs and providing fodder for challenging the results after the fact. This is part of creating the narrative that there will be irregularities that will require outside intervention," said Columbia Law School professor Richard Briffault. America First Legal Foundation, its lawyers and Miller did not respond to inquiries. A spokesperson for the Republican National Committee said the partys top priority is fixing what they say are problems with voting systems before Election Day to ensure no ballots are illegally cast. Advertisement Our Election Integrity operation is fighting to secure the election, promoting transparency and fairness for every legal vote. This gives voters confidence that their ballot will be counted properly, and in turn, inspires voter turnout, said RNC spokesperson Claire Zunk. Trump and Harris are locked in a tight battle ahead of the Nov 5 election, fueling a wave of litigation by both Democrats and Republicans as they spar over the ground rules. Republicans typically sue to enforce restrictions on voting that they say are necessary to prevent fraud, while Democrats generally ask courts to keep voting accessible. The Harris campaign said in a statement that Republicans are scheming to sow distrust in our elections and undermine our democracy so they can cry foul when they lose." Advertisement Team Harris-Walz enters the home stretch of this campaign with a robust voter and election protection operation and the best lawyers in the country, ready for any challenge Republicans throw at us. We will give Americans the free and fair election they deserve so all eligible voters can vote and have that vote counted, the campaign said. In Michigan, another closely contested state, Republicans are suing to prevent state agencies from expanding access to voter registration, restrict the use of mobile voting sites like vans and impose tighter verification rules for mail-in ballots. In Nevada and other states, Trump allies are seeking to purge voter rolls of allegedly ineligible voters and noncitizens though the deadline for systematically culling rolls in time for the election has passed. Advertisement And in Pennsylvania, Republicans are fighting to enforce strict mail-in voting rules and limit voters ability to correct mistakes on their ballots. On Sept. 13, Republicans scored a victory when the states highest court ruled mail ballots with incorrect dates will not be counted. Sowing confusion Election litigation surged in 2020 as COVID-19 spurred changes to voting procedures wider use of mail-in ballots. Those fights were often reactions to granular, location-specific issues. More than 60 lawsuits Republicans filed challenging Trumps loss in 2020 were rejected by courts. This time, Republicans are filing legal challenges earlier and leveling allegations of widespread fraud that strike to the very core of the election process. Advertisement Trumps continued false claims that his 2020 defeat was the result of fraud has taken root in the Republican Party: 71 per cent of Republican registered voters responding to an August Reuters/Ipsos poll said they believed voter fraud was a widespread problem, well above the 37 per cent of independents and 16 per cent of Democrats who held that view. Theyre out front and early and are moving preemptively, whereas 2020 was kind of reactive. Here theyre getting ahead of it, Briffault said. The Arizona lawsuit, filed in February in Yavapai County court, underscores the proactive approach by Trumps allies. It alleges a litany of missteps and illegalities by election officials in Maricopa, Yavapai and Coconino counties in past election and asserts that only court intervention can restore the public trust. Maricopa County was dismissed from the case on procedural grounds. The complaint asks a judge to impose a list of 24 orders enforcing the America First Legal Foundations interpretation of election laws and correcting errors by any means necessary, including nullifying results and ordering new rounds of voting. Errors could include failure to staff ballot drop boxes at all times or failing to take certain steps to verify signatures on ballots. That is a novel and sweeping request that a judge is unlikely to grant, according to legal experts and election attorneys. But a judge nullifying results in a crucial state could lead to chaos, confusion and delays, which some legal experts and voting rights group say is a central goal of the Republican legal strategy. Uncertainty could give local officials and state legislatures the opportunity to meddle with the results, according to Sophia Lin Lakin, an attorney litigating voting rights cases on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union. For example, officials could try to throw out votes or refuse to certify the outcome. Its about laying the groundwork for there to be enough doubt in the election process that a political maneuver could be brought to bear to impact the outcome, Lakin said. Trump made the remarks on Saturday while he was pushing his anti-immigration rhetoric in the battleground state of Wisconsin read more Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks as an image of democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris appears on screen during a campaign event at the World Market Centre, Friday, September 13, 2024, in Las Vegas. File Image: AP Senior Republican politician Lindsey Graham distanced himself from provocative remarks made by former US President Donald Trump against Vice President Kamala Harris. While addressing a charged-up gathering in Wisconsin, the Republican Presidential nominee called his Democratic counterpart mentally impaired and compared her actions to that of a mentally disabled person. On Sunday, Graham, a Republican Senator from South Carolina, pushed back at Trumps remarks in the speech, which the former president himself referred to as very dark. However, the GOP Senator tip-toed around the whole ordeal. I just think the better course to take is to prosecute the case that her policies are destroying the country, Graham said on CNN. Im not saying shes crazy, her policies are crazy," he added. Advertisement Trump made the remarks on Saturday while he was pushing his anti-immigration rhetoric in the battleground state of Wisconsin. Kamala is mentally impaired. If a Republican did what she did, that Republican would be impeached and removed from office, and rightfully so, for high crimes and misdemeanours, he said. Joe Biden became mentally impaired. Kamala was born that way. She was born that way. And if you think about it, only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country," the former president added. Republicans scramble to deal with Trumps remarks Minnesota Republican Representative Tom Emmer, who was a member of JD Vances debate preparation team said that the Trump campaign should stick with policy issues. I think we should stick to the issues. The issues are, Donald Trump fixed it once. They broke it. Hes going to fix it again. That those are the issues, Emmer told ABC News. Meanwhile, Marylands Larry Hogan hit back at the Republicans insisting that Trumps comments were insulting not only to the vice-president, but to people that actually do have mental disabilities." Ive said for years that Trumps divisive rhetoric is something we can do without, Hogan told CBS News. Shortly after Trumps remarks, his campaign decided to damage control the situation. Steven Cheung, the communications director for the Trump campaign, did not directly refer to the comments made by the former president, but insisted that Harriss record on immigration and border security made her wholly unfit to serve as president. Advertisement The use of the term mentally disabled for Harris did not sit well with the Democrats. Democrat Illinois Governor JB Pritzker told CNN that Trumps remarks were name-calling. Whenever he says things like that, hes talking about himself but trying to project it onto others, the Illinois governor averred. Eric Holder, the former Obama administration attorney general went on to claim that Trump is having a cognitive decline. Trump made a great deal of the cognitive abilities of Joe Biden, he told MSNBC. If this is where he is now, where is he going to be three and four years from now? Advertisement Meanwhile, Maria Town, president of the American Association of People with Disabilities, pointed out that many presidents had disabilities. Trumps comments say far more about him and his inaccurate, hateful biases against disabled people than it does about Vice President Harris or any person with a disability, Town said in a statement to the Washington Post. With inputs from agencies. The decision came as the country celebrated the 79th anniversary of the National Day and the 70th anniversary of the Capital Liberation read more Vietnam has announced that it will provide amnesty to over 3,000 prisoners including 20 foreign nationals who are currently serving sentences in the country. Deputy Foreign Minister Do Hung Viet confirmed the news as the countrys president To Lam signed the pardon of the prisoners. According to Vietnam Net, the decision came as the country celebrated the 79th anniversary of the National Day and the 70th anniversary of the Capital Liberation. During a press briefing on Monday, Viet announced that the president has pardoned 3,763 prisoners, including 20 foreign nationals this year. Advertisement These inmates were jailed for crimes such as murder, smuggling and gambling. The foreign nationals freed this year include Chinese and US citizens. Viet was flanked by the Deputy Chief of the Presidential Office, Pham Thanh Ha at the press conference. The pardons underscore the humanitarian tradition During the press briefing, Thanh Ha emphasised that the 2024 amnesty underscores the humanitarian traditions of the Vietnamese people. He insisted that the pardons also reflect the leniency of both the party and the state, Vietnam Net reported. The pardons aim to encourage reformed offenders to reintegrate into society positively, Thanh Ha said in the press briefing. The Vietnamese official maintained that the process of selecting amnesty candidates was rigorous, transparent, fair, democratic, and in strict accordance with the law. Viet noted that the amnesty acknowledges the inmates rehabilitation efforts and good behaviour while they were in prison. It is important to note that the Vietnamese authorities have maintained that additional penalties such as bans from holding certain positions, house arrest, fines, damages, and other civil obligations will still apply to the pardoned individual as mandated by law. In Vietnam, every act of lawbreaking is handled according to the stipulations of Vietnamese law. Therefore, all the inmates included in this amnesty have undergone due legal processes at various judicial levels, ensuring fairness and non-discrimination in the implementation of the law, Thanh Ha averred. Advertisement He insisted that amnesty would provide inmates with an opportunity to reflect on their past mistakes and resolve to abandon their criminal pasts. According to Vietnams Ministry of Public Security, the majority of those who have been pardoned previously have shown good signs of reformation and successfully reintegrated into the community. With inputs from agencies. US President Joe Biden, however, did not specify when he plans to hold the conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu read more The all-out war in West Asia has to be avoided, stressed Joe Biden and said he would be speaking with Benjamin Netanyahu. However, the US President did not specify when he plans to hold the conversation with the Israeli Prime Minister. Bidens upcoming talks with Netanyahu will take place amid a series of Israeli airstrikes that have wiped out much of the Iran-backed Hezbollahs command structures. More than 100 people, including Hezbollah decades-long chief Hassan Nasrallah, were killed in Israeli airstrikes. Advertisement We really have to avoid it (war)," Biden told reporters responding to a question on whether an all-out war in the region could be avoided. He made the announcement of the possible call with Netanyahu before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington. Measure of justice In a statement on Saturday (September 28), a statement released by the White House, as saying that Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist group he led, Hezbollah, were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade reign of terror." His (Nasrallahs) death from an Israeli airstrike is a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians, Biden said, adding that the United States fully supports Israels right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and any other Iranian-supported terrorist groups. Good for the world On Sunday (September 29), White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said that Israel has significantly weakened Hezbollahs leadership and that the airstrikes targeting Hezbollah leadership were good for the world. Referring to Nasrallahs death, Kirby said, I think people are safer without him walking around." He, however, cautioned that Hezbollah would likely attempt to quickly rebuild. Those who strike us, we strike them: Netanyahu Following Nasrallahs death, Netanyahu had issued a warning to Irans Ayatollah regime and asserted that those who target Israel will face consequences. He also said, with utmost confidence, that no location in Iran or the West East is beyond Israels reach. Advertisement Netanyahu called Nasrallah as the main engine of Irans axis of evil. He went on to say that Nasrallah was not just another terrorist, he was the terrorist. He was the axis of the axis, the main engine of Irans axis of evil. He and his people were the architects of the plan to destroy Israel. He was not only operated by Iran, he also frequently operated Iran." All those who oppose the axis of evil, all those who are fighting under the violent dictatorship of Iran and its proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iran itself and other places, they are all filled with hope today. I say to the citizens of those countries: Israel stands with you. And to the ayatollahs regime I say: Those who strike us, we strike them. There is no place in Iran or the Middle East that the long arm of Israel cannot reach. Today, you already know that this is correct, the Israeli PM said. Advertisement With inputs from agencies. Russian President Vladimir Putin significantly lowered the bar for the usage of nuclear weapons in new nuclear doctrine last week read more The Kremlin has said that the Western hardliners forced Russia to revise its nuclear weapons doctrine. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed revisions to the regimes nuclear weapons doctrine. The proposed revisions, which are set to be formalised soon, would lower the bar significantly for the use of nuclear weapons. Even as Ukraine and the West slammed Putins revised nuclear doctrine, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Western hardliners forced Russia to revise the nuclear doctrine. Advertisement While sober heads heard [Russian signals], [Western] hardliners are pushing on with this reckless policy course that may have very negative consequences for everybody. The developments have clearly necessitated formalizing new terms, said Peskov, according to state-run TASS news agency. Peskov said that the way tensions have intensified at Russias borders with the participation of Western nuclear powers forced the revision of nuclear doctrine. Peskov said, How things evolved globally, the way tensions intensified near our borders, with nuclear powers taking part in the conflict around Ukraine and NATO pulling its infrastructure to our borders all this has necessitated amendments to the nuclear doctrine. The revisions to the nuclear doctrine have been finalised and will be formalised soon, said Peskov. Last week, Putin announced that the revised Russian nuclear weapons doctrine would consider a non-nuclear states attack on Russia, if aided by a nuclear-armed state, as a joint nuclear attack. Such an attack would be eligible for a nuclear retaliation. This was a thinly-veiled threat to use nuclear weapons against supporters of Ukraine in the West. The revised nuclear doctrine comes at a time when Ukraine is seeking permission from the United States to use US- and British-supplied long-range missiles for deeper strikes inside Russia. In the same speech, Putin further said that Russia could even retaliate with nuclear weapons if attacked with conventional weapons. Advertisement If Russia detected the start of a massive launch of non-nuclear missiles, aircraft, and drones that pose a critical threat to Russias sovereignty, then Russia could retaliate with nuclear weapons, said Putin about the revised nuclear doctrine. This is not the first time that Russia has invoked the threat of nuclear weapons against the West since launching the war on Ukraine. Putin as well his top officials have made such threats frequently since invading Ukraine in 2022. Israels defence minister Yoav Gallant on Monday hinted at Israels intention of mounting a ground invasion of Lebanon, after he told troops in the north of the country that we will use all of our capabilities including you read more Israels defence minister Yoav Gallant on Monday said that elimination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was not the final step and hinted at Israels intention of mounting a ground invasion of Lebanon, after he told troops in the north of the country that we will use all of our capabilities including you. The elimination of Nasrallah is an important step, but it is not the final one. In order to ensure the return of Israels northern communities, we will employ all of our capabilities, and this includes you, AFP quoted Gallant as saying to soldiers deployed to the northern border. Advertisement According to The Guardian report, Gallant said that returning Israelis to their homes in the north about 60,000 have been forced to evacuate by repeated rocket fire from Lebanon was the mission of the IDF. That is what we will do, and we will deploy whatever is needed you, other forces, from the air, from the sea, and from the land, he added. Earlier, Hezbollahs deputy leader Naim Qassem made a defiant statement, announcing that a replacement for Nasrallah would be appointed soon. He claimed that Hezbollah was still utilising only a small portion of its capabilities to confront Israel. Qassem highlighted the groups extensive arsenal and affirmed their commitment to continue fighting. He remarked that any other organisation facing the recent sabotage attacks in Lebanon would have collapsed, but Hezbollah endured. These attacks, which resulted in numerous fatalities and injuries, are widely seen as part of an Israeli effort to target Hezbollah operatives. As Israel continues its airstrikes on Lebanon, its operations in Gaza also persist, with reports indicating that 12 people, including a journalist, were killed in strikes on Monday. In Lebanon, approximately 1,000 people have died, 6,000 have been injured, and around one million have been displaced due to the Israeli bombardment. Advertisement Over the weekend, Israel targeted locations in the Houthi-controlled region of Yemen, and on Monday morning, explosions were reported in Damascus, Syria. With inputs from agencies OPPO India has secured the top spot in customer satisfaction for after-sales service, with 62% of its customers rating their in-store experience as very satisfactory. This recognition, reported by Counterpoint Research in August 2024, is based on a survey of over 2,000 customers from the top five smartphone brands in India. Conducted across 13 Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, the survey included customers of OPPO India, realme, Samsung, vivo, and Xiaomi. OPPO India stood out in key areas, including repair quality, costs, resolution speed, transparency, staff expertise, and multilingual communication. Key Categories: Counterpoint Research After-Sales Experience: 62% of OPPO customers rated their service centre experience as very satisfactory, compared to 58% for vivo and 57% for Samsung. Transparency: OPPO India leads in transparency, with 78% of repairs completed in customers presence, closely followed by Xiaomi at 77%. Speed of Resolution: OPPO resolves issues for 35% of its customers within an hour, ahead of Samsung at 34%. Repair Quality: 57% of OPPO customers expressed high satisfaction with repair quality, while vivo scored 52%. Cost Satisfaction: 51% of OPPO customers were very satisfied with repair costs, while vivo and Xiaomi were at 45%. Multilingual Support: 48% of OPPO customers communicated with service representatives in languages other than English and Hindi, the highest among all brands. Staff Knowledge: 56% of customers were very satisfied with the staffs knowledge about issues, with Samsung and vivo at 49%. Trustworthiness: Customers commonly described OPPO India as trustworthy and genuine. Service Centre Location: OPPO has the highest satisfaction rate for service centre locations at 51%, followed by vivo at 46%. Currently, OPPO India operates over 560 exclusive service centres across 500+ cities and 25,000+ pin codes. The company launched the OPPO Self-Help Assistant in March 2024, allowing users to resolve smartphone issues digitally, in line with the Government of Indias Right to Repair initiative. This feature is available for all OPPO handsets launched in the last five years. OPPO India also introduced its new generation 3.0 service centres in 2022, focused on providing a transparent after-sales service experience. Customers visiting these service centres can witness product demonstrations and face-to-face repairs for complete transparency. Speaking about the companys achievements, Savio DSouza, Head of Product Communications at OPPO India, said, I couldnt find any measurements myself either. I used measurements from a box I used on my truck. The box had been re painted at some point a solid color, but the original two tone paint was underneath and I took the measurements from there. It is very possible even that was a re paint, I do not know the history of that box - but it looked to be original.1/2 for the top from the body line.3/4 for the bottom from the lower body line.The Phoenix Graphix pin stripes are the only one I am aware of that are factory style and measurements.The top stripe is 7/8 wide with 7 stripes.The bottom is 3/4 wide with 5 stripes.They cover quite a bit, ie. you have some room to play with. The pin stripes I used close up pictures of factory paint schemes I found online to estimate where to place them.3/8 for the top pin stripe from the body line.1/4 for the bottom from the body line.NOTE: In the future, I would place the top pin stripe 1/16 - 1/8 higher. The placement I used just touches the lower mirror mount, and door cyl lock. I started laying the pin stripes on the box first and did not realize until it was too late when I got to the cab and had to trim it slightly around the cyl lock. I use masking tape to run placement lines first, and use that as the guide for placing the pin stripe. Same with any trim.The Phoenix Graphix instructions say to not worry about small / tiny bubbles in the pinstripes. I had lots of them, very very small ones. It says they will flatten out over time in the sun. I had a hard time believing it, but after a few months the bubbles did flattened out.Top.Bottom.Overall pic. Most recent. Was a little rainy that day. If you need more let me know.EDIT: If anyone has a known factory original two tone paint (ie. you personally know the full history of the truck since new), it would be great to get pictures of the measurements. Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2024. Leatrice Beach, left, decked her out her husbands truck with American flags to pay their respects during a Colorado Department of Transportation procession for Nathan Jones, a Junction native who was killed in a car crash alongside CDOT worker Trent Umberger on Sept. 4 while working on the side of U.S. Highway 6 near Mount Garfield Middle School, photos taken on Sept. 24, 2024. These two guys are hard workers, loved them, such a brotherhood that they have with all of them (CDOT). Its just amazing, its wonderful. I hope that people pray for the families, pray for their loved ones as they go off to work with all of these different divisions, and that they slow down and move over. It is so important, said Beach, whos two grandsons work for CDOT along with her son. September 28, 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: On September 28, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant to discuss the situation in Lebanon. Secretary Austin made it clear that the United States supports Israel's right to defend itself and reinforced that the United States is committed to deterring Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from taking advantage of the situation or expanding the conflict. Secretary Austin emphasized that the United States remains postured to defend U.S. forces in the region. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3920291/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Biden Says US Will Respond to Recent Houthi Attack on Naval Ships in Red Sea Sputnik News 20240928 WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Joe Biden told reporters that the United States would respond to the Houthi attack targeting US Navy warships in the Red Sea that occurred this past week, according to the White House press pool. "We're responding," Biden said on Saturday when asked if he would respond to missile attacks on US warships in the Red Sea. US media reported that three US Navy warships had shot down nearly two dozen incoming missiles and drones launched by the Houthis while transiting the Red Sea. No Navy vessels were hit and no US service members were injured during the attack. Earlier on Saturday, the White House said Biden convened a call with his national security team to receive an update on the situation in the Middle East, review the status of US military force posture in the region, and direct continued diplomatic efforts to coordinate with allies and partners to deescalate the ongoing conflicts. The State Department also announced that non-essential US personnel in the American Embassy in Beirut had been ordered to leave Lebanon given the spike in violence in the region. Biden convened his national security team following confirmation that Israeli strikes on Friday had killed Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah. The US president called it a "measure of justice," claiming the movement's leader was responsible for killing hundreds of Americans. Biden's goal is de-escalation in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon through diplomacy, the White House said. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei also reportedly called an emergency meeting of Iran's Supreme National Security Council in light of the latest escalation of fighting in the region. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi Drone Attacks US Airbase in Northeastern Syria - Reports Sputnik News 20240928 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A US airbase near the Koniko gas field in Deir ez-Zor province in northeastern Syria has come under a drone attack from Iraq after a long hiatus, Iraq's Shafaq news agency reported on Saturday, citing a security source. "The US military headquarters at the Conoco base, east of Deir ez-Zor, was attacked by a single drone. ... Air defense managed to engage the drone and bring it down without any losses," the source was quoted as saying by the news agency. The United States has roughly 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria, according to the US Department of Defense. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hezbollah Officially Confirms Death of Movement's Leader Nasrallah Sputnik News 20240928 Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Saturday. Hezbollah officially confirmed the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, the movement said in a statement. "His Eminence, the Master of Resistance, the righteous servant, has passed away to be with his Lord and to His pleasure as a great martyr, a heroic, daring, brave, wise, insightful, and faithful leader, joining the caravan of martyrs of the eternal, luminous Karbala in the divine, faith-based path in the footsteps of the prophets and martyred imams", Hezbollah said in a statement. The IDF said on Saturday that it had continued targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon. Since Friday night, Israeli forces have struck over 140 targets, including "launchers aimed at Israeli civilians, buildings in which weapons were stored, strategic weaponry, weapons production facilities, and additional terrorist infrastructure sites, some embedded underneath residential buildings in the area of Beirut," the IDF said. On Friday, Israel carried out a massive airstrike on the main Hezbollah headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Six residential buildings were destroyed in the attack, Lebanese media reported. The Israeli air force launched a strike on the Hezbollah Central Headquarters, located under a residential building in a suburb of Beirut, according to the IDF. Born in 1960 in the suburbs of Beirut, Nasrallah studied at a Shia seminary in the Lebanese city of Baalbek and joined Hezbollah as it was formed in 1985. Nasrallah became the leader of the movement after his predecessor and Hezbollah co-founder, Abbas Al Musawi, was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike in 1992. Under Nasrallah's leadership, Hezbollah acquired long-range rockets capable of reaching northern Israel, aided its ally Syria against Western-backed insurgents and gained popularity in the region. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IDF Claims Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah Killed in Beirut Strike Sputnik News 20240928 The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attacked dozens of Hezbollah targets deep inside and in southern Lebanon in recent hours. The Israeli army has announced the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah following a strike on Beirut. "The IDF announces that yesterday (Friday), September 27th, 2024, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organization and one of its founders, was eliminated by the IDF, together with Ali Karki, the Commander of Hezbollah's Southern Front, and additional Hezbollah commanders," the IDF said. According to Israeli media, citing the IDF, Nasrallah was targeted while at Hezbollah's main headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold known as the Dahiyeh. The headquarters was located underground, under residential buildings in the Dahiyeh, the IDF added. Hassan Nasrallah is the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shia political and militant movement. He has led the group since 1992 after the assassination of his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi. Nasrallah is a central figure in Lebanon and a key player in the Middle East conflict. As the leader of Hezbollah, Nasrallah oversees both the political and military wings of the organization. His role involves making strategic decisions, guiding the group's ideology, and managing its extensive social, political, and military operations, both in Lebanon and across the region. He also serves as a spokesperson and symbol of resistance against Israeli and Western influence. Earlier of Saturday, various media reported that Hezbollah lost contact with its leader Hassan Nasrallah in the evening of September 27. "The contact with ... Nasrallah has been lost since Friday evening," media quoted a source in the Lebanese movement. On Friday, Israel carried out an airstrike on the main Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut in the center of the Dahiyeh neighborhood. Six residential buildings were destroyed in the attack, according to Lebanese media. The situation on the Israeli-Lebanese border worsened after the start of Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip in October 2023. The Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah fighters exchange fire almost daily in areas along the border. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with caretaker Prime Minister of Lebanon Najib Mikati Prime Minister of Canada - Justin Trudeau September 29, 2024 Ottawa, Ontario Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with the caretaker Prime Minister of Lebanon, Najib Mikati, about the ongoing situation in the Middle East. Prime Minister Trudeau expressed concern over the devastating effects of recent events on civilians in Lebanon, recognizing the hundreds killed in airstrikes, and he emphasized the urgent need for de-escalation to preserve unity. The people of Lebanon deserve to live in peace and security and should not bear the consequences of actions by Hezbollah, a terrorist organization. Prime Minister Trudeau also underscored the impact on the families of Canadians who have been affected, especially those who have been killed or injured. The two leaders discussed efforts underway to support de-escalation across the region, including for an immediate ceasefire. Prime Minister Trudeau reiterated that Canada is committed to continue working with the international community to help advance peace in the region, as underscored by our call for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border. The Prime Minister expressed his support for a diplomatic settlement consistent with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, as well as for the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2735 regarding a ceasefire in Gaza. The leaders expressed their shared concerns over the worsening humanitarian situation resulting from the conflict. They agreed on the importance of adhering to international humanitarian law, ensuring humanitarian access to the affected areas, preserving the safety and security of civilian infrastructure, and protecting civilians. Prime Minister Trudeau reaffirmed Canada's commitment to humanitarian support in Lebanon through the recent announcement of $10 million in funding for humanitarian assistance to address the urgent needs of civilians in Lebanon. Prime Minister Trudeau and caretaker Prime Minister Mikati highlighted the strong people-to-people ties between Canada and Lebanon and the ongoing contributions of Lebanese Canadians to Canada's national fabric. They agreed to remain in close contact as the situation continues to evolve. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address September 29, 2024 Release Statement From Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder Secretary Austin has been receiving updates from and providing guidance to his team throughout the weekend on the latest developments in the Middle East. He and DoD leaders remain focused on the protection of U.S. citizens and forces in the region, the defense of Israel, and the de-escalation of the situation through deterrence and diplomacy. Secretary Austin stressed that the United States is determined to prevent Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from exploiting the situation or expanding the conflict. Secretary Austin made clear that should Iran, its partners, or its proxies use this moment to target American personnel or interests in the region, the United States will take every necessary measure to defend our people. The United States retains the capability to deploy forces on short notice. The Department of Defense continues to maintain a significant amount of capability in the region and to dynamically adjust our force posture based on the evolving security situation. The Secretary has directed that the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN Carrier Strike Group (CSG) remain in the USCENTCOM theater and that the USS Wasp Amphibious Ready Group / Marine Expeditionary Unit (ARG/MEU) will continue to operate in the Eastern Mediterranean. This afloat posture is complemented by DoD's elevated fighter and attack squadron presence, including F-22, F-15E, F-16, and A-10 aircraft, and we will further reinforce our defensive air-support capabilities in the coming days. The Secretary has also increased the readiness of additional U.S. forces to deploy, elevating our preparedness to respond to various contingencies. And DoD maintains robust and integrated air-defense capabilities across the Middle East, ensuring the protection of U.S. forces operating in the region. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3920303/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Intl community concerned about escalation after Hezbollah leader killed in Israel's airstrike; US indulgence departs from global consensus: experts Global Times By Zhang Yuying Published: Sep 29, 2024 08:52 PM Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese border village of Zawtar on September 29, 2024. Israel said on September 29 that it was carrying out new air raids against Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese border village of Zawtar on September 29, 2024. Israel said on September 29 that it was carrying out new air raids against "dozens" of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, after killing the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Photo: AFP In response to the Israeli strike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, China on Sunday urged all parties concerned, especially Israel, to immediately take actions to cool down the situation and prevent the conflict from escalating or even spiraling out of control. Many regional countries and members of the international community also expressed similar concerns and criticism toward the Israeli strike in Lebanon. The Chinese Foreign Ministry released a statement on Sunday that said China opposes the infringement on Lebanon's sovereignty and security, opposes and condemns any action against innocent civilians, and opposes any move that fuels antagonism and escalates regional tensions. Apart from China, members of the international community, including Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Indonesia as well as the UN Secretary-General, also expressed concern over the further escalation of the regional crisis or directly criticized Israel's strikes in Lebanon. Chinese experts said on Sunday that this reflects the global consensus to stop conflict in the region and shared concern over the worsening situation, and that the indulgence of the US, which exacerbates the crisis, is at odds with the mainstream sentiments of the international community. The tension between Lebanon and Israel is a spillover of the Gaza conflict. The pressing priority is to implement relevant UN Security Council resolutions, end the fighting in Gaza as soon as possible, and earnestly safeguard peace and stability in the Middle East, Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokesperson said. Iran on Saturday called for the United Nations Security Council to meet over Israel's actions in Lebanon and across the region, Iran's UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, wrote in a letter to Security Council, Reuters reported. Iran's supreme leader has said the death of Nasrallah "will not go unavenged," BBC reported. Hamas said on Saturday it mourned Nasrallah following his death in the Israeli airstrike, saying his death would only fuel the fight against Israel. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the "brutal Israeli aggression," while the Palestinian Fatah movement offered condolences and emphasized "the historical relationship between the Lebanese people and their resistance and Palestine." UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed grave concern on Saturday over the dramatic escalation of events in Lebanon's capital Beirut. According to a statement issued by the spokesperson for Guterres, the secretary-general urges the parties to recommit to the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 (2006) and immediately return to a cessation of hostilities. He also reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all hostages held there. The responses from various parties underscore the international community's common stance in condemning the misuse of force and expressing deep concern over the cross-border strikes in Lebanon and the resulting humanitarian crisis, Sun Degang, director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Sunday. Opposite to many other countries' leaders, US President Joe Biden said on Saturday that the Israeli strike that killed Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah was a "measure of justice," according to VOA. This once again shows that it is precisely the US' indulgence that has led to the ongoing escalation of the situation in the Middle East today, analysts said. The US plays a key role that allows, tolerates, or even instigates the escalation of this crisis, experts noted. Sun said that it is the US' unreasonable and selfish indulgence that has enabled the extension of the crisis, which will diverge itself and Israel from the mainstream of the international community. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran urges swift action by Islamic countries to support Lebanon IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Iran's Vice-president Mohammad Reza Aref says Islamic countries should take swift and effective measures to support Lebanon and Palestine in the wake of inaction and lack of determination by the international community to resolve the crises they face. Aref made the comment as he spoke with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Sunday, expressing condolences to him over the martyrdom of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah who lost his life in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut two days earlier. The massive attack on residential areas in the Dahieh neighborhood of Beirut and the martyrdom of Nasrallah shows the peak of brutality of the Israeli regime, which was conducted under US support, the Iranian VP said, adding that Israel is responsible for this crime. He criticized lack of determination by the international community, especially the UN Security Council, to deal with the crises in Lebanon and Gaza in an effective and immediate way, stressing that it is high time that all countries, which are committed to upholding law, security and peace, courageously stand up against this illegal behavior. All political and diplomatic capacities should be used to increase pressure on Israel to stop its brutal attacks against civilians and civilian areas, Aref said, adding that all Islamic countries should take swift, practical, and decisive measures to support Lebanon and Palestine. The Iranian official also reaffirmed his country's political and economic support for Lebanon. On his part, the Lebanese PM said that Nasrallah's death is a great loss for Lebanon, and called on all countries to support the country. 4194 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Araghchi: Blood of Nasrallah promises victory of truth over falsehood IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that the blood of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will definitely be promising victory of truth against falsehood. Araghchi made the comment in a post he shared on his X account in Arabic language on Sunday, a day after Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement confirmed the martyrdom of its secretary general Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday. The Iranian foreign minister, in his post, hailed Nasrallah for being the commander of the first Arab force to defeat the Zionist regime and retake occupied Lebanese territory from "the Zionist enemy". Araghchi also praised the assassinated Hezbollah leader for the great victory he brought during the 2006 July war with Israel, saying that he now has the honor of being martyred in the path to liberate Al-Quds. The blood of Nasrallah will certainly be the sign of the victory of truth over falsehood, the top Iranian diplomat added. 4194 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran ready to provide relief to injured people in Lebanon: Pezeshkian IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said that the Iranian Ministry of Health and all the country's aid agencies are prepared to provide relief to those injured in the recent Zionist airstrikes in Lebanon. The president made the remarks while speaking at a cabinet session on Sunday, noting that the assassination of Hezbollah Leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah once again proved that the criminal Zionist regime is not committed to any international regulation. Promises by the US and European leaders about a ceasefire in exchange for Iran's refusal from responding to a July 30 assassination of Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran were all lies, he said, adding that giving chances to such criminals will further embolden them to commit more crimes. The Iranian president highlighted that the Lebanese fighters must not be left alone in this war so that this criminal regime would attack the Axis of Resistance countries one after another an and kill the innocent women and children. He also warned the Islamic states not to stand idle in the face of crimes of this regime which he said has proved to be the main reason of war, insecurity and killing in the world. Stressing that giving a response to these crimes is a necessity, he cited historical experiences that the freedom-seeking movements will not be destroyed by the assassination of their leader and tens of others will replace them and hold the anti-tyranny flag. 9341**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran condemns Israeli regime's attack on Yemen's Hudaydah IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Iran has condemned a fresh attack by the Zionist regime of Israel on Yemen's port of Hudaydah which led to damage on fuel storage facilities and a power plant in the region. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani issued a statement on Sunday saying that the Israeli attack on civilian infrastructure in Hudaydah was another proof of the Zionist regime's anti-human nature. Kanaani said the attack was a violation of the United Nations Charter as he called on the international community to stand against Israel's repeated defiance of the international law. He reiterated Iran's support for Yemen's honorable defense of the Palestinian people amid Israel's war on Gaza. The spokesman said Israel's criminal activities are being carried out under unconditional support provided by the United States, adding that the US is complicit in crimes committed by the ruling gang Tel Aviv in Palestine, Lebanon and Yemen. 2050**4261 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran will respond to Nasrallah assassination in due time: Zarif IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Iran's Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif has said the Islamic Republic will respond to the Israeli assassination of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah at the "appropriate time". Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony held in honor of Nasrallah on Sunday, Zarif said he personally knew the martyred Hezbollah chief for over three decades, and described him as a symbol of "bravery, honesty and tactfulness". The former foreign minister noted that Nasrallah, along with other senior Hezbollah leaders, delivered the first significant defeat to the Israeli forces in 2000, compelling them to withdraw from southern Lebanon in humiliation and without conditions. Zarif said that withdrawal was a huge embarrassment for the Israeli regime and it has been looking to assassinate Nasrallah ever since. Nasrallah was martyred in a massive wave of Israeli airstrikes on a group of residential buildings in southern Beirut on Friday amid heightened tensions between the Lebanese resistance movement and the Israeli regime over the war on Gaza. 4353**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Casualties reported as Zionist regime hits Yemeni's Hudaydah IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Yemeni media has reported that the Israeli regime carried out an airstrike in the port city of Al Hudaydah in Yemen. Yemeni media reported on Sunday that the Israeli warplanes attacked the power plant in the city of Al Hudaydah on the Red Sea coast in western Yemen. Qatar-based Al Jazeera news network reported that the Israeli airstrikes targeted the oil and fuel depots in the Yemeni port city. Lebanon's Al-Mayadeen TV network reported, citing local sources, that 10 airstrikes were carried out on the port of Al Hudaydah, and the successive explosions shook the coastal city. The Israeli warplanes also targeted the international airport and the Al Hudaydah power plant, Yemen's Al-Masirah news network reported, adding that the attacks targeted "the ports of Al Hudaydah and Ras Isa", as well as two power stations. Footage posted to social media shows smoke rising from the area. Meanwhile, Yemen's medical sources on Sunday night said the Zionist attack on Hudaydah left five people martyrs and 45 wounded. Yemen's al-Masirah network cited the spokesman of the Health Ministry as saying that there is a possibility of an increase in the number of casualties. The spokesman of Yemen's Ansarullah movement condemned the Zionist regime's new aggression against the country's civilian facilities and said: The will of this nation is stronger than the coercion of Israel and America. Mohammad Abdussalam emphasized that the new aggression is an attempt by this regime to break Yemen's will and decision to help Gaza but said the aggression rather strengthens the resolve toward Palestine and Gaza. 3266**2050**4399 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hezbollah has replaced all martyred commanders: Ex-Quds Force chief IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- A former commander of Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force has reiterated that the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has replaced all commanders and senior officials within its ranks who were martyred in recent days as a result of Israeli aggression on Lebanon. Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said on Sunday that he had been informed, as a source with direct knowledge of Hezbollah's decision-making process, that new figures had replaced commanders assassinated by Israel. "As an informed source, I insist that there is no empty place in Hezbollah's leadership structure and all martyred commanders have been replaced by other commanders," said Vahidi. He also dismissed as "silly" the notion that the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah had lost its strategic weapons because of Israeli regime's continued attacks on the Arab country in recent days. The general said Hezbollah's arsenal of strategic weapons has remained untouched by Israel's recent attacks on the group and its leadership. "Even the less silly individuals within the Zionist establishment admit to this," said Vahidi, adding that none of Hezbollah's strategic weapons had been eliminated and even targeted by Israel. He described such reports as a "psychological warfare tactics" used by Israel, adding that the regime will experience new conditions in the future once Hezbollah uses its strategic weapons. 2050**4261 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hezbollah confirms senior official Sheikh Qaouk martyred IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has confirmed that Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, a senior member of its executive council, has been martyred in an Israeli attack. "The leadership of Hezbollah announces to the people of the resistance and the nation of mujahideen, and to the religious seminaries in Lebanon and abroad, the passing of His Eminence the Mujahid scholar Sheikh Nabil Qaouk," Hezbollah said in a statement on Sunday. It added that Sheikh Qaouk was martyred in an Israeli raid in the Shiyah region, a Beirut suburb, on Saturday. In recent weeks, the Israeli regime has ramped up its airstrikes on Lebanon, including suburbs of the capital, amid heightened tensions with Hezbollah. Sheikh Qaouk's assassination came a day after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was martyred in a massive Israeli attack on a group of residential buildings in southern Beirut. In a separate statement on Sunday, Hezbollah rejected claims by the Israeli military that it had assassinated Abu Ali Reza, leader of the movement's Badr unit. "He is well and healthy," the statement said. 4353**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Lebanon's Hezbollah continues attacks on Israeli positions IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has said that its combatants targeted several Israeli positions with missiles in northern occupied territories. Hezbollah announced in a statement on Sunday that its fighters targeted the gathering of the Israeli soldiers in the Al-Manara settlement in Upper Galilee, adding that the strike was in response to the Israeli aggression on the Lebanese territory and was in support of the Palestinians in Gaza. Additionally, Hezbollah stated that its combatants also bombarded the Sa'ar settlement in Western Galilee, in the northern occupied territories, with a salvo of rockets. Earlier today, Hezbollah said in a statement that its combatants targeted the Ofek military base with Fadi-1 missiles in northern occupied territories. News reports added that Hezbollah had fired five rockets towards the Tiberias area in northern occupied Palestine. Israel's military launched extensive strikes on Lebanon starting last Monday. Since then, Hezbollah has responded with a series of missile and drone operations targeting Israeli military positions and settlements in northern occupied territories and the occupied Golan Heights. 3266**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address We will stand by Hezbollah until Holy Quds liberation: Quds Force chief IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps Quds Force Brigadier General Esmaeil Qa'ani has signaled the readiness of the force to stand by Hezbollah until the ultimate liberation of the Holy Quds. The Iranian general made the remarks in a message issued on Sunday in which he condoled the martyrdom of Hezbollah Leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and hailed his role in leading the resistance group to the peaks of honor. The late Nasrallah dedicated his lifetime to the fight against the enemies of Islam and Quran and gave "his divine blood and precious life" for the great causes of Islam, support for the oppressed people of Palestine and honor of the Lebanese people, Qa'ani said. He also appreciated Nasrallah's contribution to the fight against the Daesh and Takfiri groups in Iraq and Syria. The commander extended his condolences to the bereaved family of Nasrallah and Hezbollah fighters and the Axis of Resistance in general. 9341**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hezbollah hits Israeli military base with Fadi-1 missiles IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah says it has launched Fadi-1 missiles at an Israeli military base in northern occupied territories. Hezbollah said in a statement on Sunday that its missiles targeted the Ofek military base, adding that the strike was in response to Israeli aggression on Lebanese territory and civilians, and was in support of the Palestinians in Gaza. News reports also said that Hezbollah had fired five rockets towards the Tiberias area in northern occupied Palestine on Sunday. Israel's military launched extensive strikes on Lebanon starting last Monday. Since then, Hezbollah has responded with a series of missile and drone operations targeting Israeli military positions and settlements in northern occupied territories and the occupied Golan Heights. 4208**4354 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Lebanon says 783 civilians killed by Israel in less than a week IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- The outcome of the recent Israeli aggressions against Lebanon during the past seven days was the killing of 783 civilians, the health ministry of Lebanon has announced. The recent attacks also injured 2,312 Lebanese civilians, the report said on Sunday. Also, 33 Lebanese people were killed and 195 others were wounded in the Israeli attacks on different parts of Lebanon on Saturday, the report says. On September 23, the army of the Israeli regime started its massive attacks across southern Lebanon, and has announced that the attacks still continue. To respond to those aggressions, the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has not kept silent as it started attacks on the Zionist settlements and bases in northern occupied Palestine since the day. The health ministry of the Arab country has already stated that 1,640 Lebanese people were killed by the regime from the October 2023 aggressions. In a related development, some news outlets reported on Sunday (September 29) that four Lebanese and 13 Syrian civilians have been killed after several areas of Lebanon were bombarded by the Israeli forces. Some media outlets, too, reported the same day that the Zionist regime of Israel bombarded a relief center and killed four in south of Lebanon. The Israeli fighter jets have begun bombardment of Lebanese areas near the Syrian borders from early on Sunday to the morning. 1483**9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi Islamic Resistance conducts drone strike on Eilat IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has announced that it carried out a new drone attack on Israel's Eilat Port. The group stated that the strike hit a key target, which was in retaliation for Israeli crimes against civilians in Gaza and Lebanon, on Sunday, according to Al-Mayadeen news network. The Iraqi Resistance, which is an umbrella group of several movements, said in its statement that the latest attack on Eilat was carried out using multiple suicide drones. It followed a similar strike on the same port hours earlier. The Iraqi Resistance renewed its pledge to continue the retaliatory operations against the Israeli regime. The group also said it had carried out a drone attack on Saturday, hitting a "vital target" in Tel Aviv. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has been conducting military operations on Israeli targets since the occupying regime began its genocidal war on Gaza in October last year. 4208**9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US-led airstrike kills 18 in Syria's border city of Abu Kamal IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- US-led airstrike has left at least 18 people dead in Syria's eastern city of Abu Kamal located near the border with Iraq, news reports have said. The strike happened early on Sunday and was conducted by the US-led international coalition which has been in Syria since 2014, Al Jazeera reported. Hours earlier, the news channel reported that a strike had hit the headquarters of the Iraqi resistance group Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (meaning: The Master of Martyrs Battalions) on the Syrian side of the border. The group was targeted following a drone attack on a US military base near Conoco gas field in Syria's Deir uz-Zor province. Iraqi resistance groups have in the past months carried out drone attacks on US military bases in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for Washington's support of the Israeli regime's war on Gaza. The US has maintained its military presence in Iraq and Syria under a so-called international coalition Washington formed in 2014 to fight the Daesh terror group. However, the US-led military mission has caused public discontent, especially in Iraq, where many people and resistance groups see the presence of foreign forces as a source of instability and tension in their country. 4194**9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Zionist regime conducts new attacks on southern Beirut IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- News sources reported that the Zionist regime has bombed the Al Shuouth area in the south of the Lebanese capital Beirut. According IRNA citing the Lebanese media, four places were targeted simultaneously with mew pre-dawn raids on Beirut. More details of this attack, casualties and possible damages have not been published. The Zionist army started its massive attacks on various areas of southern Lebanon since Monday, October 2, and keeps ongoing with its bombing campaign that also martyred Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hezbollah resistance movement on Saturday. Lebanon's Hezbollah has not remained silent in the face of attacks on civilians, and since the early hours of Monday morning, it has put operations against Zionist positions and settlements in the north of occupied Palestine on its agenda. 4399 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Revenge for Nasrallah assassination on its way: Ansarullah IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- A member of Yemen's Ansarullah Political Bureau has warned that the period after the martyrdom of Hezbollah chief, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will not be the same for the Zionist regime as before. According to IRNA, Hazam al-Assad made the remarks in an interview with the Shihab news agency on Saturday evening. The Zionist enemy has opened a new chapter of confrontation by assassinating the Secretary General of Lebanon's Hezbollah, he said after it was confirmed that Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was martyred in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut. The coming days will be full of incidents and great punishments wait for the Zionist regime, the Asnarullah member said. Al-Assad clarified that Yemen does not get tired of helping the people of Lebanon and Gaza and all the oppressed, and revenge for the latest crime of the Zionist regime is on its way. 4399 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi, Yemeni groups target Zionist positions in occupied Palestine IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- In continuation of its anti-Zionist operation, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has announced attacks on vital targets in Tel Aviv and elsewhere in the occupied Palestinian territories. In a statement issued by the umbrella group of Iraqi resistance factions stated that the operation was the part of its approach of confronting the occupiers, helping the people of Palestine and Lebanon, and in response to the massacres committed by the usurper Zionist regime against civilians, including children, women and the elderly. The statement also emphasized the continuation of operations to crush the enemy's fortifications in the occupied territories. Separately, the Iraqi resistance announced an attack on the occupied port of Eilat. According to IRNA's Sunday morning report, the group stated that it attacked an important and vital target in the occupied port of Umm al-Rashras (Eilat) with a drone, emphasizing on crushing the enemy's positions with an upward trend. Also on Saturday, the spokesman for the Yemeni armed forces announced targeting Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv with a ballistic missile. According to IRNA's Saturday night report citing Al-Masirah, Brigadier General Yahya Saree said that the operation was carried out using "Palestine 2" ballistic missile at the same time the Zionist prime minister Netanyahu's return. The Yemeni armed forces and all the honorable and free people of the world respond to the crimes of the Zionist regime and will not hesitate to defend Gaza and Lebanon, Saree added. Earlier Zionist media sources confirmed the Yemini missile strike, saying sirens were activated in Tel Aviv, at Ben Gurion Airport and in occupied al-Quds. Palestinian sources also reported that explosions were heard in Tel Aviv, occupied al-Quds and the West Bank. The Israeli army also claimed to have intercepted a Yemeni surface-to-surface missile to the Gush Dan area in Tel Aviv. Media sources published pictures of the fear and panic among Zionists and their escape to the shelters. 4399 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pakistan Strongly Condemns Israel's Growing Adventurism in the Middle East Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pakistan strongly condemns the growing Israeli adventurism in the Middle East. Its unbridled attacks on civilian populations and disregard of international law have reached alarming levels. For the last several days, Israeli forces have engaged in unacceptable violation of the sovereignty of Lebanon, relentlessly targeting civilian population centers, and undermining its stability and security. We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the victims of Israeli aggression and the people of Lebanon. Yesterday's reckless act of killing the Secretary General of Hezbollah in Lebanon constitutes a major escalation in an already volatile region. Pakistan continues to stand in solidarity with the people of Lebanon. We urge the United Nations Security Council to restrain Israel from its adventurism in the region and violations of international law; and to restore peace in the Middle East. Islamabad 29 September 2024 170/2024 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chinese vessels tail PH, allies in WPS maritime exercise Philippine News Agency By Darryl John Esguerra September 29, 2024, 1:41 pm MANILA -- China's navy vessels tailed the Philippines' joint maritime exercise with Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the United States in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Sunday. AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said the military monitored People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels in the vicinity of the multilateral maritime cooperative activity (MMCA) on Saturday. "However, the [multilateral maritime cooperative activity] proceeded as planned without any interference, and the safety of participating countries' vessels was ensured by the protocols in place," Padilla said. "While there were observations of PLAN vessels tailing during the MMCA, no reports were received regarding the conduct of the alleged Chinese military exercise," she added. It was the fourth MMCA in the contested waterways. The first MMCA, composed of the US, Japan, Australia and the Philippines, was held within the country's exclusive economic zone in the WPS in April. The Royal Canadian Navy joined the second and third sails held June and August, respectively. Padilla said the AFP views the MMCA as a "pivotal demonstration of international cooperation, strengthening partnerships and enhancing the capabilities of allied nations." "This collaborative approach is essential in maintaining a safe and secure maritime environment in the region" she said. The activities are integral to the country's Maritime Security Operations, particularly in strengthening presence in the WPS, Padilla said. (With reports from Priam Nepomuceno/PNA) NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PH seeks multilateralism, says SCS no theater of power rivalry Philippine News Agency By Darryl John Esguerra September 29, 2024, 1:28 pm MANILA -- The Philippines pushed for multilateralism in addressing disputes as it rejected narratives projecting the South China Sea (SCS) as a "theater of major power rivalry" during the annual United Nations (UN) high-level meeting. Delivering the country's message at the General Debate of the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly early Sunday (PH time), Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said multilateralism is underwritten by a rules-based order governed by international law and informed by the principles of equity and justice, that safeguards the rights of all states. "If multilateralism is to thrive, all states must adhere to the rule of law," he said. Manalo said the International Court of Justice (ICJ) together with other international judicial and legal bodies, advances the rule of law, "uphold the primacy of resolving international disputes by peaceful means, not by the threat or use of force." "The growing volume and variety of cases brought before the ICJ and the Permanent Court of Arbitration signify the global trust and confidence in their role in peaceful dispute resolution," the country's top diplomat said. "Member States must invest fully in these institutions," he said. "The use of force and threat of use of force to resolve disputes has no place in our world." He said the country's policy in the South China Sea dispute is anchored on the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the binding 2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea. "The Award declares that claims exceeding entitlements beyond the limits of UNCLOS have no legal basis," Manalo stressed. The Philippines, "despite irresponsible and dangerous actions," remains committed to diplomacy and other peaceful means to settle disputes, according to Manalo, adding that it will abide by the UN Charter and the Manila Declaration on the Peaceful Resolution of Disputes in asserting its sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction in the SCS. "We do not accept narratives depicting the South China Sea as a theater of major power rivalry because they all ignore what is an essential truth: all states in this region have a right to determine their own destiny and secure their own future," he stressed. He cited that ASEAN and its centrality in the regional architecture exemplify the agency of states to bring forward multilateral solutions and shape the future of the region. Reformed UN Manalo also said that multilateralism must be reformed to address international crises and meet global development goals, echoing the overwhelming calls of nations to reinvigorate the UN agenda and processes following the adoption of a Pact for the Future, which resets the body's focus as the international community deals with conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, humanitarian catastrophes, climate change, persistent poverty, inequalities, disruptive technologies, and others. Manalo highlighted that the Philippines, as a founding member of the UN, is actively engaged in working with other countries on global solutions on many fronts of multilateralism, citing that the UN remains "the only viable platform for collective action," 79 years after its establishment. He pledged the Philippines' unwavering commitment to the international rules-based system, under the leadership of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. Manalo delivered the Philippine statement towards the end of the High-Level Week (HLW), which kicks off the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA79). At least 195 leaders, heads of state and governments, and foreign ministers spoke during the High-Level Debate. Manalo headed the Philippine delegation to the UNGA79 HLW and other related meetings on Sept. 22 to 28. He was joined by officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Budget and Management led by Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Health, National Economic Development Authority and Climate Change Commission. (PNA) NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Foreign Ministry Spokesperson's Remarks on the Killing of the Leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah People's Republic of China Ministry of Foreign Affairs Updated: September 29, 2024 13:50 Q: It was reported that Israel launched an airstrike on Beirut on September 27 and killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. What is China's comment? A: China is closely following the incident and is deeply concerned over the escalation of tensions in the region. China opposes the infringement on Lebanon's sovereignty and security, opposes and condemns any action against innocent civilians, and opposes any move that fuels antagonism and escalates regional tensions. China urges parties concerned, especially Israel, to immediately take actions to cool down the situation and prevent the conflict from escalating or even spiraling out of control. The tension between Lebanon and Israel is a spillover of the Gaza conflict. The pressing priority is to implement relevant UN Security Council resolutions, end the fighting in Gaza as soon as possible, and earnestly safeguard peace and stability in the Middle East. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraq resistance carries out new operations against Israeli targets Iran Press TV Sunday, 29 September 2024 10:33 PM The Islamic Resistance in Iraq says it has carried out new operations against Israeli targets in the occupied Palestinian territories in retaliation for the Tel Aviv regime's devastating war on Gaza and its bloody onslaught against Lebanon The umbrella group for Iraq's resistance factions said in statements issued on Sunday night that it had targeted a vital target in the occupied port city of Eilat using drones. "In continuation of our approach to resisting the occupation, and in support of our people in Palestine and Lebanon, and in response to the massacres committed by the usurping entity against civilians, including children, women and the elderly, the fighters of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq today, Sunday 29-09-2024, attacked a vital target in Umm al-Rashrash "Eilat" in our occupied lands, using drones," one statement said. The group added that a squadron of drones also struck two other targets in the occupied territories. Iraq's Islamic resistance said the third operation hit Israeli targets with missiles. The group stressed that it will continue its anti-Israel operations in support of Palestinian people in Gaza and Lebanon. Also on Sunday morning, fighters from the Iraqi anti-terror resistance groups also launched two drone strikes against strategic targets in the southern part of the Israeli-occupied territories. The Islamic Resistance claimed responsibility for the early Sunday morning attack on the port city of Eilat. The group noted that it will continue to target and destroy important installations across the occupied lands. Hours after the drone attack, the Islamic Resistance announced another strike, saying that it had used unmanned aerial vehicles to hit a vital target in the same Israeli-occupied area. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has been launching attacks on Israeli targets ever since the occupying regime started the genocidal war on Gaza in early October. The resistance has also been hitting American military bases in Iraq and neighboring Syria in retaliation for Washington's support for the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Israel has been waging an atrocious onslaught against the Gaza Strip, targeting hospitals, residences, and houses of worship after Palestinian resistance movements launched a surprise attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, on October 7. At least 41,586 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children, and another 96,210 individuals have sustained injuries in Gaza so far. Around 1.9 million people - about 9 in 10 of Gaza's population - are estimated to have been internally displaced during the war as well. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Unacceptable crimes: Iran president vows 'decisive' response to criminal Israel Iran Press TV Sunday, 29 September 2024 6:34 PM Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says it is imperative for Tehran to give a "decisive" response to the criminal Israeli regime. Addressing a cabinet session on Sunday, Pezeshkian once again strongly condemned Israel's assassination of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime leader of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah, in a massive airstrike on southern Beirut on Friday using American-supplied bunker-buster bombs. "This crime once again proved that this criminal regime does not adhere to any of the international principles and rules," he said. He added that Israel's criminal acts are not "unacceptable" and will not go unanswered. He emphasized that historical experience showed that freedom-seeking and awakening movements will not disappear with the assassination of their figures. "Dozens more people are ready to raise the flag of anti-tyranny and anti-justice," the Iranian president said. He added that inaction on crimes committed by Israel, the US and their allies will only encourage them to carry out more criminal acts. Pezeshkian stressed the importance of supporting the Hezbollah fighters in their war with Israel to prevent the atrocious regime from attacking countries of the axis of resistance and killing innocent women and children. He reiterated the heavy responsibility of Arab and Muslim countries in the face of the Israeli regime's brutal aggression in the region. He said, "Muslim countries should not be indifferent to the Israeli regime's criminality because it has been proven to all nations across the world who is the main criminal and the cause of war, insecurity and murder in the world!" The Iranian chief executive also lashed out at Western media outlets for pursuing contradictory attitude to Israel's terrorism and noted that they "magnify the smallest events in Iran" but remain silent vis-a-vis the Israeli regime's criminal acts. He further said Iran's Health Ministry and all relief bodies are fully prepared to help victims of the recent Israeli attacks on Lebanon. In a message of condolences on Saturday, the Iranian president said the international community will not forget that the order for Israel's terrorist act to assassinate the Hezbollah secretary general was issued from New York. Israel's attacks come against the backdrop of escalated tensions between the Lebanese resistance movement and the occupying entity, which included the targeted killing of top Hezbollah commanders and the detonation of telecommunication devices belonging to the Muslim resistance group. Israel has been targeting Lebanon since October 7 last year, when it launched a genocidal war on the besieged Gaza Strip. Hezbollah has been responding to the aggression with numerous retaliatory operations, including one with a hypersonic ballistic missile, targeting the occupied Palestinian territories. The Lebanese resistance movement has vowed to keep up its operations against Israel as long as the Israeli regime continues its Gaza war. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israeli military launches air raids on Yemen's Hudaydah after attack on Ben Gurion airport Iran Press TV Sunday, 29 September 2024 4:23 PM The Israeli military has carried out airstrikes against Yemen's strategic western province of Hudaydah, targeting oil facilities and power plants in the Red Sea port city. The military said in a statement that its warplanes launched air raids on the port of Ras Isa in Hudaydah on Sunday, striking al-Hali and al-Khateeb power plants as well as "sensitive" facilities belonging to Yemen's Ansarullah resistance movement in the area. The "large-scale operation" was conducted in coordination with the United States, using dozens of aircraft, including fighter jets and reconnaissance planes, it added. The strikes caused power outages in most parts of the port city of Hudaydah, residents said. It's unclear if there were any casualties. Hudaydah contains oil export facilities but is also a vital conduit for civilian goods and humanitarian aid to Yemen. Back in July, Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes against the port city, leaving at least nine people killed and 87 others wounded. The Israeli attack came a day after Yemen's Armed Forces announced that they had targeted the Ben Gurion airport in the central part of the occupied territories. The operation came amid the Israeli regime's October-present genocidal war on the Gaza Strip and deadly escalation against Lebanon, which have respectively claimed the lives of at least 41,586 Palestinians and hundreds of Lebanese. Women and children comprise the majority of the victims. The most recent stage of the escalation against Lebanon has seen the regime conducting dozens of airstrikes against the southern suburbs of the country's capital Beirut. The attacks led to the assassination of the Secretary General of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, besides causing several other casualties. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hezbollah says senior commander assassinated in Israeli air raid on Beirut Iran Press TV Sunday, 29 September 2024 3:59 PM A prominent leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement Sheikh Nabil Qaouk has been assassinated in an Israeli airstrike on Southern Beirut, the resistance has confirmed. Hezbollah said in a statement on Sunday that Qaouk, deputy head of Hezbollah executive council, was martyred in an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of Beirut. Qaouk, who was also the commander of its Preventive Security Unit, had been "consistently present in the arenas of jihad, close to the mujahedeen on the front lines," said the statement. Earlier in the day, Israel said its military had killed another Hezbollah official, Hajj Abu Ali Reda in Beirut. Hezbollah, however, said in a statement that "there is no truth to the Zionist allegations about the assassination of our brother fighter, Hajj Abu Ali Reda. He is well and healthy." On Friday, Israel assassinated Hezbollah Secretary-General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah in a massive raid on residential buildings in Beirut's southern suburb. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Sept. 28: 'Axis of Resistance' operations against Israeli occupation Iran Press TV Sunday, 29 September 2024 3:57 PM By Press TV Website Staff Amid Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 41,600 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, September 28, are as follows: Al-Qassam Brigades' operations on Sept. 28: Targeted an Israeli military Merkava tank with a Yassin 105 shell in the Tanour neighborhood east of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades' operations on Sept. 28: Confronted and engaged in fierce clashes with Israeli forces storming Balata camp, using machine guns. Engaged in clashes with Israeli infantry forces storming the Hashashin axis with a barrage of bullets and explosive devices. In a joint operation with the Martyr Abdulqader Al-Husseini Brigades, confirmed the detonation of an Israeli "Namer" military vehicle with a high-powered Yasser-2 explosive device in the Al-Jeneina neighborhood east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Targeted the command and control headquarters of the Israeli military in the "Netzarim" axis with a barrage of short-range 107-caliber rockets. Al-Nasser Salah Al-Din Brigades' operations on Sept. 28: Targeted the Israeli military's command and control site in the "Netzarim" axis with heavy-caliber mortar shells. Hezbollah's operations on Sept. 28: Targeted "Kabri" settlement with a barrage of Fadi-1 missiles. Targeted the "Ramat David" airbase and military airport with a barrage of Fadi-3 missiles. Targeted a battalion of Israeli soldiers at the "Sadah" site with artillery shells. Targeted the Sa'ar" settlement with a barrage of rockets. Targeted the "Rosh Pina" settlement with a barrage of rockets. Targeted the "Metsuva" settlement with a barrage of rockets. Targeted the "Ma'alot" settlement with 50 rockets. Targeted the "Katzrin" settlement with a barrage of rockets. Yemeni military's operations on Sept. 28: Targeted the Yaffa Airport, called "Ben-Gurion" by the Israeli regime, upon the arrival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a ballistic missile of the type Palestine-2. Islamic Resistance in Iraq's operations on Sept. 28: Targeted a vital Israeli military site in Umm Al-Rashrash (Eilat) in the occupied Palestinian territories with a barrage of drones. Launched a drone towards a vital Israeli military target in Tel Aviv. Attacked the occupied Golan Heights with a barrage of drones. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address We will stand by Hezbollah until liberation of Palestine, al-Quds: IRGC Quds commander Iran Press TV Sunday, 29 September 2024 2:56 PM The commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says Iran will stand by the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah until the liberation of Palestine and the Holy al-Quds. Brigadier General Esmail Qaani made the statement in a Sunday message of condolences over the assassination of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's longtime leader, in an airstrike on southern Beirut on Friday using American-supplied bunker-buster bombs. He said the sad martyrdom of the Hezbollah chief caused deep grief among all Iranians, the Islamic Resistance Front and the free people of the world. Nasrallah spent all his life in the battle against the most evil enemies of Islam and the holy Qur'an and finally dedicated his blood to the high Islamic values and the path toward supporting the oppressed people of Palestine and Lebanon, the IRGC commander emphasized. He noted that the wise Hezbollah chief led the movement and also played a key role in the fight against Daesh and Takfiri terrorists. Following Hezbollah's announcement of Nasrallah's martyrdom, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the resistance front will deal more crushing blows on the "dilapidated and decaying body" of the Zionist regime. The Leader said the foundation that Nasrallah established in Lebanon and provided direction to other centers of power will not disappear with his loss but will be strengthened by his blood. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Lebanon's PM says up to 1 million displaced amid Israel's attacks Iran Press TV Sunday, 29 September 2024 1:26 PM Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati says up to one million people have been displaced by Israel's attacks on the country. Following an emergency cabinet meeting on Sunday, Mikati told reporters that his country "is experiencing the largest wave of displacement in its history." He said, "The estimated number is very high and may reach one million" which would amount to roughly a sixth of Lebanon's population. "Our priority is to stop the ongoing Israeli aggression through continued diplomatic efforts. We have no other choice." Mikati's remarks came as Israel's warplanes bombed Lebanon, including the capital Beirut for a seventh day on Sunday. According to Lebanon's National News Agency, at least 11 people were killed in an airstrike on a house in the town of Ain in the Bekaa Valley in the northeast. At least 700 people, including at least 50 children have been killed across the country since Monday. The UN said Friday that Lebanon was facing its deadliest period in years, with its hospitals overwhelmed by casualties. "The recent escalations in Lebanon are nothing short of catastrophic," said Imran Riza, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon. The international community has warned that Israel's aggression on Lebanon could escalate the regime's genocidal war in the besieged Gaza Strip into a wider regional conflict. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israeli assassination of top Iranian general will not go unanswered: FM Araghchi Iran Press TV Sunday, 29 September 2024 11:22 AM Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has vowed that the Israeli assassination of Brigadier General Abbas Nilforushan, the Deputy Commander for Operations of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), will not go unanswered. The IRGC said in a statement on Sunday that General Nilforushan was martyred in an Israeli airstrike on Friday in Beirut, alongside Hezbollah's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. "This vicious and cowardly act is another clear sign of the terrorist and criminal nature of the Zionist regime and its well-known supporters," Araghchi said in a letter to IRGC Chief Commander Major General Hossein Salami. "Without a doubt, this horrible crime of the aggressor Zionist regime will not go unanswered," he asserted, pledging that Iran's diplomatic apparatus will use all its political, diplomatic, legal and international capacities to pursue "the criminals and their supporters." He also extended his condolences, as well as congratulations, to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, General Salami, and the Iranian nation over the martyrdom of General Nilforushan. The martyred general had a brilliant record of sincere endeavors in eight years of Iraq's war of aggression against Iran and aiding the resistance front against terrorism and Zionism, Araghchi added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hezbollah strikes Israeli military outpost in response to ongoing Lebanon attacks Iran Press TV Sunday, 29 September 2024 10:46 AM The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has launched a barrage of missiles at an Israeli military outpost in the occupied territories in retaliation for the Tel Aviv regime's unrelenting strikes across Lebanon, which left more than a thousand people dead and many more injured. The group announced in a brief statement on Sunday that it had launched an attack on Ovik outpost. The resistance movement stated that the strike, which involved dozens of Fadi 1 missiles, was a demonstration of solidarity with Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, while also serving as a response to barbaric violations that Israel is perpetrating in various parts of Lebanon. Also, five rockets launched from Lebanon landed in areas near the city of Tiberias in the northern part of the Israeli-occupied territories on Sunday. The Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that rocket alert sirens were activated in the city of Tiberias and the southern Golan Heights, prompting illegal settlers to run for cover. The official Lebanese National News Agency reported that at least 11 people were killed on Sunday in an Israeli airstrike targeting a house in the town of Ain in the Bekaa Valley in northeastern Lebanon. The report stated that six bodies were recovered from the rubble following the airstrike, while rescue operations are ongoing to retrieve five more victims. Additionally, at least four people were killed Sunday when Israeli fighter jets targeted a civil defense center operated by the Islamic Scout Association in the town of Tayr Debba in southern Lebanon. Israeli warplanes also carried out intense airstrikes on Tyre, the southern towns of Kfarchouba and Kfar Kila, as well as Hermel and its surrounding areas in eastern Lebanon. According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, thirty-three people were killed and 195 wounded in Israeli air strikes on Lebanon on Sunday. On Saturday evening, a rocket launched from southern Lebanon fell in the illegal Israeli settlement of Benjamin, near the occupied West Bank city of al-Quds, sparking fires. The development marked the first time since last October that the Israeli army reported a rocket launch from southern Lebanon towards the al-Quds area. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Nasrallah assassination aimed at provoking US-Iran war: Russia's Lavrov Iran Press TV Sunday, 29 September 2024 7:58 AM Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that Israel's assassination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah may have been intended to provoke a war between the United States and Iran. Lavrov told reporters at a news conference after addressing the UN General Assembly on Saturday that a lot of people believe Israel's assassination of Nasrallah was aimed at provoking Iran and the US "to unleash a full-blown war in the entire region." Killing the Hezbollah leader was "not simply a political assassination. It's very cynical as an act," Lavrov said. "I think - well not even, I think, but a lot of people say - that Israel wants to create the grounds to drag the US directly into this and so to create these grounds, it is trying to provoke Iran," Lavrov added. "The Iran leadership, I think, are behaving extremely responsibly. And this is necessary. This is something that we should take due note of." Speaking at the UN Security Council meeting on Friday, Lavrov said, "the Middle East is once again on the brink of a big war," calling for active diplomatic efforts to prevent the "most catastrophic scenario." In his UN General Assembly speech, Lavrov condemned the Israeli regime for its "inhumane attack on Lebanon." "Another glaring example of terrorist methods as a means of achieving political aims is the inhumane attack on Lebanon that transformed civilian technology into a lethal weapon," Lavrov said, calling for an immediate international investigation. 'US knew about Israel's pager attacks' Lavrov also told reporters that the US was likely aware of the Israeli regime forces' plans to launch a "terrorist attack" against Lebanon using communication devices. He said the complexity of the attack and the leaking of details to Western media indicate Washington's possible complicity in the terrorist operation. Last week, thousands of hand-held pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon simultaneously, killing dozens and injuring thousands, including many civilians. The attack, widely blamed on Israeli spy agency Mossad, drew international condemnation, with UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Turk calling it a "shocking" and "unacceptable" act that violates human rights laws. Tel Aviv has not claimed responsibility for the pager attacks, and its allies have denied any knowledge. However, according to Lavrov, Western media reports regarding the details and preparations "indicate to varying degrees the involvement and, at the very least, awareness of Washington concerning the preparation of that terrorist attack." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Strikes hit US-run base in eastern Syria: Reports Iran Press TV Sunday, 29 September 2024 7:51 AM A military facility housing US occupation forces in Syria's eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr has reportedly come under attack. Citing filed sources, Lebanon's al-Mayadeen television news channel reported on Sunday that a barrage of rockets and drones targeted the American-run base at the Conoco gas field and achieved direct hits. Meanwhile, Syrian media said that explosions were heard at the US military installation. However, there were no immediate reports about the extent of damage at the facility, and possible casualties. Citing a security source, Shafaq News Agency reported that Iraqi resistance forces had attacked the US base "by a single drone," which was brought down without any losses. Also on Sunday, several explosions were reported in Dayr al-Zawr's al-Bukamal region near the Syrian border with Iraq. The airstrikes targeted the headquarters of the Sayyed Al-Shuhada Brigades of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, wounding a person, said the Resistance News Network Telegram channel. American warplanes carried out three airstrikes near Dayr al-Zawr following Sunday's operation by the resistance, according to some reports. Iraqi resistance forces have conducted numerous strikes on the US-run bases in both Iraq and Syria in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip amid a Washington-backed Israeli genocide. With the US green light, Israel has in recent weeks escalated its acts of terror and aggression in both Gaza and Lebanon. On Friday, Israel assassinated Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement, in southern Beirut using American-supplied bunker-buster bombs. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi resistance launches retaliatory drone strikes on vital Israeli targets in Eilat Iran Press TV Sunday, 29 September 2024 6:00 AM Fighters from the Iraqi anti-terror resistance groups have launched two drone strikes against strategic targets in the southern part of the Israeli-occupied territories in retaliation for the Tel Aviv regime's devastating war on Gaza and its bloody onslaught against Lebanon. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of anti-terror fighters, in a statement published on its Telegram channel, claimed responsibility for the early Sunday morning attack on the port city of Eilat. According to the statement, the strike was carried out with kamikaze drones. It said the operation was conducted in continuation of the struggle against the occupying Israeli regime, in support of Palestinians and the Lebanese nation, and in retaliation for the massacres that the usurping Zionist entity is perpetrating against women, children, and elderly people in the besieged territory as well as the Arab country. The group noted that it will continue to target and destroy important installations across the occupied lands. Hours after the drone attack, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq announced another strike, saying that it had used unmanned aerial vehicles to hit a vital target in the same Israeli-occupied area. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has been launching attacks on Israeli targets ever since the occupying regime started the genocidal war on Gaza in early October. The resistance has been also hitting American military bases in Iraq and neighboring Syria in retaliation for Washington's support for the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Israel has been waging an atrocious onslaught against the Gaza Strip, targeting hospitals, residences, and houses of worship after Palestinian resistance movements launched a surprise attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, on October 7. At least 41,586 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children, and another 96,210 individuals have sustained injuries in Gaza so far. Around 1.9 million people - about 9 in 10 of Gaza's population - are estimated to have been internally displaced during the war as well. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran calls for emergency UNSC meeting to address Israeli aggression after Nasrallah's assassination Iran Press TV Sunday, 29 September 2024 2:09 AM Iran calls on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to convene an emergency meeting to address the Israeli regime's ongoing deadly aggression across the region, which recently led to the assassination of Hezbollah's Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Amir Saeid Iravani, the Islamic Republic's permanent ambassador to the United Nations, made the request in a letter addressed to the council on Saturday. A day earlier, the regime embarked on intense airstrikes against Lebanon's capital Beirut, causing the martyrdom of the leader of the Lebanese resistance movement alongside many others. The assassination came amid the Israeli regime's October-present escalation against Lebanon and genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, which have respectively claimed the lives of hundreds of Lebanese and at least 41,586 Palestinians. Women and children comprise the majority of the victims. Iravani denounced the unbridled aggression as "war crime and crime against humanity." He said the UNSC had to convene the meeting "to address Israel's terrorist aggression and the continuous atrocities perpetrated by the warmongering Israeli regime in Lebanon and across the region." "These brazen acts of aggression...pose a grave threat to regional and international peace and security, pushing the entire region into an all-out catastrophe," he cautioned. The envoy, meanwhile, reminded that attacks on Beirut had been carried out "using United States-supplied thousands-pound bunker busters." He also denounced the US for preventing the council from taking "an effective decision" against the regime, thus providing Tel Aviv with "complete impunity." "The Security Council must compel Israel to immediately cease its acts of aggression and crimes in Gaza and Lebanon, and comply with relevant UNSC Resolutions." Warning to Israel Iravani reminded that the regime's regional aggression saw it targeting the Iranian Consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus in April, causing the martyrdom of a commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), his deputy, and five of their accompanying officers. He asserted that the Islamic Republic "will not tolerate any repeat of such aggression." "Iran will not hesitate to exercise its inherent rights under international law to take every measure in defense of its vital national and security interests." Retaliating against the April attack, the IRGC targeted the occupied Palestinian territories with a barrage of drones and missiles, inflicting damage on Israeli military bases there. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israel Extends Attacks To Huthis In Yemen As Fears Of All-Out War Rise By RFE/RL September 29, 2024 Israel's military widened its attacks on Iran-backed militant groups, striking the Yemeni port city of Hodeida that is held by Tehran-allied Huthi rebels, even as it intensified air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in southern Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon, raising fears among global leaders of an all-out Middle East war. "In a large-scale air operation today, dozens of air-force aircraft, including fighter jets, refueling planes, and reconnaissance aircraft, attacked military-use targets of the Huthi terrorist regime in the Ras Issa and Hodeida areas of Yemen," military spokesman Captain David Avraham told AFP on September 29. The military said the air strikes targeted a Huthi-operated power plant and seaport used to import oil and to allegedly receive Iranian weapons. Israel has previously attacked the port, most recently in July. Yemen has endured a civil war since 2014, when Huthi rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, prompting Saudi-led forces to intervene in support of the internationally recognized government and leading to a massive humanitarian disaster in the country of some 40 million people on the southern Arabian Peninsula. The vast majority of humanitarian aid arrives through Hodeida's deep-water port, although much of that has been disrupted since the Huthis seized the facility. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on September 29 that Israel would strike at foes no matter the distance. Yemen's Huthi rebels, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in Gaza are considered to be Iranian proxies in the region. The Huthi rebels have been targeting ships in the Persian Gulf and launching missiles toward Israel over the past year, claiming it is in support of Hamas fighters in Gaza. Hezbollah and Hamas have been designated as terrorist organizations by the United States. The European Union also designates Hamas as a terrorist organization, as it does Hezbollah's armed wing but not its political party. Israel's continued aerial attacks on Lebanon and now in Yemen come amid mounting calls from the United Nations and major powers - including close ally Washington -- for an easing of hostilities. France announced that Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot had arrived in Beirut late on September 29 after Barrot spoke by phone with caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Paris also called for "an immediate halt to Israeli strikes in Lebanon." Mikati said in a televised speech earlier in the day that Lebanon had "no option but the diplomatic option." U.S. President Joe Biden on September 29 told reporters that he would soon being speaking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, although he didn't give a date. Asked if an all-out war in the Middle East could still be prevented, he said: "It has to be. We really have to avoid it." U.S. national-security spokesman John Kirby earlier warned that all-out war would not help Israel safely return people to their homes in the north of the country near the Lebanese border, where many thousands have been evacuated. "An all-out war with Hezbollah, certainly with Iran, is not the way to do that. If you want to get those folks back home safely and sustainably, we believe that a diplomatic path is the right course," Kirby told CNN. Kirby also said Washington was talking to Israeli leaders about what the best next measures in Lebanon might be and reiterated that U.S. support for Israel's security was "iron-clad." But he added that "we have made no bones about the fact that we don't necessarily see the tactical execution the same way that they do in terms of protection [of civilians]." Iran has vowed a response for the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a massive Israeli air strike in Beirut on September 27 and has signaled continuing support for groups confronting Israel, but it is also seeking an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. Israel's defense forces said on September 29 that they had conducted a "precise strike" on Hezbollah's southern Beirut stronghold. Mikati has warned that the fighting could be displacing as many as 1 million Lebanese civilians. Hezbollah confirmed that Israel's attacks killed the seventh of its leaders to die since mid-September, when Nabil Kaouk died on September 28. Hezbollah also confirmed Israel's earlier assertion that another of its senior commanders, southern forces commander Ali Karaki, had died in the strike that killed Nasrallah. In response to the Israeli assault on Lebanon, Hezbollah has intensified its strikes on Israel, firing several hundred missiles a day, causing some injuries and property damage, although most have been intercepted by Israeli defense systems. Netanyahu described the assassination of Nasrallah as a necessary move toward "changing the balance of power in the region for years to come." Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was quoted by the official Fars news agency as saying in New York that "Everyone should be aware that the situation is extremely explosive, and that everything is possible...even war." He said that "this horrible crime...will not go unanswered." But with analysts expressing doubt about Tehran's willingness to risk a direct conflict with Israel or its ally the United States, he also signaled a diplomatic push. "The diplomatic apparatus will also use all its political, diplomatic, legal, and international capacities to pursue the criminals and their supporters," Araqchi said. UN Security Council permanent members the United States and China urged de-escalation, while Russia warned of "fraught" and "dramatic" consequences for the region. In his first statement since Israeli forces and Hezbollah confirmed the death of Nasrallah in massive air strikes in Beirut, Netanyahu said "Nasrallah was not a terrorist, he was the terrorist." AFP and Reuters, both citing sources, reported on September 29 that Nasrallah's body had been recovered in Lebanon but that no date had been set for a funeral. The Lebanese escalation comes as Israel's war in Gaza nears the one-year mark since U.S.- and EU-designated terrorist group Hamas launched a cross-border attack that killed more than 1,200 people in Israel on October 7, many of them civilians. There are fears of a rapidly expanding conflict that could include an Israeli ground offensive in Lebanon and eventually draw Iran and the United States directly into the fighting. Israeli officials have said that a ground invasion of Lebanon is among their potential options. Iranian media reported that Israel's September 27 attacks in Beirut had also killed a senior commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). On September 28, Iran's mission to the United Nations reportedly called in a letter for an emergency meeting of the 15-member Security Council. Iranian Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani is said to have accused Israel of committing "a flagrant act of terrorist aggression against residential areas in Beirut, using U.S.-supplied thousand-pound bunker busters." On September 29, official media quoted the speaker of Iran's parliament, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, as pledging ongoing Iranian support for groups that "resist" Israel. "We will not hesitate to go to any level in order to help the resistance," Qalibaf said, adding an accusation that the United States was "complicit" and "has to accept the repercussions." UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "gravely concerned" by the "dramatic escalation" in Lebanon. "This cycle of violence must stop now, and all sides must step back from the brink," Guterres said in a statement. "The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel, as well as the wider region, cannot afford an all-out war." Security Council member Russia has condemned the killing of Nasrallah as "yet another political assassination" that is "fraught with even greater dramatic consequences for Lebanon and the entire Middle East." On September 29, China's Foreign Ministry urged all parties, but especially Israel, to act to de-escalate the situation. Pope Francis appealed to all parties involved in the ongoing violence "to cease fire immediately in Lebanon, in Gaza, in the rest of Palestine, and in Israel." With reporting by Reuters and dpa Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/israel-iran-lebanon- hezbollah-nasrallah/33139267.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 UAE Accuses Sudanese Army of Airstrike on Its Ambassador's Residence in Khartoum Sputnik News 20240929 DOHA (Sputnik) - The United Arab Emirates accused the Sudanese army of involvement in the airstrike on the residence of the head of the UAE diplomatic mission in Khartoum. The accusation comes in light of the conflict between the two countries over the UAE's support for the rebels from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the UAE Foreign Ministry said in a statement quoted by the state news agency WAM. "The United Arab Emirates has strongly condemned the heinous attack that targeted the residence of the UAE Head of Mission in Khartoum by a Sudanese army aircraft, which resulted in extensive damage to the building. The UAE has called on the army to assume full responsibility for this cowardly act," the statement says. At the same time, the ministry indicated that it would send a note of protest to the League of Arab States, the African Union and the United Nations in connection with this attack by the Sudanese armed forces, which is a flagrant violation of the basic principle of ensuring the protection of diplomatic missions. The Sudanese authorities have repeatedly accused the UAE of financially supporting and supplying weapons to the rebels from the RSF opposing them, military operations against whom have been ongoing in the country for almost two and a half years. Due to military actions in the Sudanese capital and its suburbs, foreign states were forced to move their diplomatic missions to Port Sudan in the east of the country, which is under the control of the official authorities. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israeli Air Force Strikes Within Beirut for First Time, Kills Three Popular Front Leaders Sputnik News 20240929 BEIRUT (Sputnik) - Israeli air force has struck a building within the city of Beirut for the first time in the Cola district, an eyewitness told Sputnik on Monday. "The air force struck a building near the Cola bridge. The missile exploded in an apartment. Part of a burnt body is visible on the street," the source said. Earlier, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) said that it hit dozens of what it claimed were targets belonging to the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah. At least 105 people were killed in Lebanon on Sunday as a result of Israeli strikes on the country's territory, Reuters reported citing the Lebanese Health Ministry. Later, the IDF said it was striking Hezbollah targets in the Beqaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, about 35 mi (56 km) northeast of Beirut. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) has reported the death of three of its leaders as a result of an Israeli strike on Beirut. According to the group's statement, Mohammed Abdel Aal, Emad Odeh, and Abdel Rahman Abdel Aal were killed in the attack. Mohammed Abdel Aal was a member of the political bureau of the front and the head of the Military Security Department. Emad Odeh was described as the "military leader" of the Military Department of the Front. Abdel Rahman Abdel Aal's station was not listed in the statement, but was described as a "heroic leader." "The IDF is currently striking terror targets belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the area of Beqaa in Lebanon," the IDF said on Telegram. On Friday, Israel assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an air strike that also flattened several residential buildings. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Georgia Welcomes Moscow's Pledge to Help Restore S. Ossetia, Abkhazia Ties - Ruling Party Sputnik News 20240929 TBILISI (Sputnik) - The Georgian leadership positively assessed the statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Moscow was ready to help Tbilisi in the process of normalizing relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze, who is also the secretary general of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said on Sunday. Earlier, Lavrov said that Moscow was ready to help Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the process of normalizing relations if the countries themselves are interested in this, including ensuring non-aggression agreements. "As for the statement by the Russian foreign minister, of course, our leadership positively assesses it," Kaladze told journalists. According to the politician, the fact that Russia welcomes and supports reconciliation is certainly positive. At the same time, Kaladze added that "after these statements, it would be good to take some practical steps," for example, "the withdrawal of Russian troops" from the territory of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Earlier, the founder of the Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, said that after the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 26, "the instigators of the war will be condemned," and Georgia will find the strength to apologize to the Ossetians for the military conflict of 2008, which was unleashed by former President Mikheil Saakashvili and his United National Movement party. Early on August 8, 2008, Georgia shelled South Ossetia from Grad multiple launch rocket systems; Georgian troops attacked the republic and destroyed part of its capital, Tskhinval. Russia, protecting residents of South Ossetia, many of whom had Russian citizenship, sent troops into the republic and, after five days of hostilities, ousted the Georgian military from the region. On August 26, 2008 Russia recognized the sovereignty of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Russian leadership has repeatedly stated that this recognition reflects existing realities and is not subject to revision. Georgia still does not recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia and considers them its regions. Based on the Agreement on the Joint Russian Military Base on the territory of South Ossetia, the 4th Joint Russian Military Base has been deployed in the republic, the task of which is to protect the sovereignty and security of Russia and South Ossetia. According to the Agreement on Joint Efforts to Protect the State Border of April 30, 2009, South Ossetia delegated to the Russian side the authority to protect its border with Georgia. In 2017, Moscow and Tskhinval signed an interstate agreement on the inclusion of part of the South Ossetian troops in the Russian army; Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the law on its ratification in 2018. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IDF Confirms Airstrikes on Power Plants, Port in Yemen's Al Hudaydah Sputnik News 20240929 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed on Sunday that the Israeli air force had carried out strikes on the city of Al Hudaydah in the Houthi-controlled western Yemen, hitting several power plants and the local seaport. Earlier in the day, a source in the provincial administration told Sputnik that Israeli fighter jets had launched a series of strikes on Al Hudaydah. "Today (Sunday), during an extensive, intelligence-based aerial operation, dozens of IAF [Israeli air force] aircraft including fighter jets, mid-air refueling aircraft, and intelligence aircraft struck military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime in the Ras Isa and Hudaydah areas of Yemen. The targets included power plants and a seaport used to import oil," the IDF said on Telegram. The strikes were launched in response to the recent attacks by the Houthis against Israel, the IDF said. "The Zionist raids on Al Hudaydah on Sunday resulted in the death of four civilians and the wounding of 40," the Yemeni health ministry spokesman said, as quoted by the Al-Masirah broadcaster. At the same time Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah confirmed that Nabil Kauk, a member of the Hezbollah's central council and Ali Karaki, commander of the movement's southern front, have been killed in Israeli strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut. "Senior commander Ali Karaki was killed in a criminal Zionist airstrike on the Haret Hreik neighborhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut [on September 27]," the movement said in a statement. The statement also said that Kauk was killed in the Chiyah neighborhood located in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital on September 28. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Up to 1Mln People Internally Displaced in Lebanon Amid Israeli Attacks - Authorities Sputnik News 20240929 BEIRUT (Sputnik) - Nearly 1 million people have been internally displaced in Lebanon amid Israeli attacks, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Sunday, adding that the country's priority is to stop the ongoing aggression against Lebanon. "The number of internally displaced people in Lebanon has reached almost 1 million people, the largest exodus from places of residence in Lebanon's history," Mikati told a press conference. The Lebanese government will ask donor countries to help Beirut under these circumstances and will cooperate with prominent donors to avoid the penetration of suspicious assistance, the prime minister said. Mikati expressed his country's readiness to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701 on the cessation of hostilities between Lebanese movement Hezbollah and Israel, provided that the relevant circumstances exist, including a ceasefire on all front lines, including the Gaza Strip. The country will mobilize all its capacities at the political and diplomatic levels to show that stopping the ongoing Israeli aggression against Lebanon is Beirut's top priority, Mikati added. Israel began a massive bombing campaign, codenamed Northern Arrows, in southern and eastern parts of Lebanon on Monday. The Lebanese Health Ministry put the death toll at over 1,500. Hezbollah retaliated by firing dozens of rockets toward northern Israel. The escalation was preceded by a series of explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies that rocked Lebanon from September 17-18, killing about 40 people and injuring nearly 3,500 others. The situation on the Israeli-Lebanese border worsened after the start of Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip in October 2023. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pentagon Chief 'Blew Up' as Israel Shortly Notified US of Strike on Nasrallah - Reports Sputnik News 20240929 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Israel gave a "few minutes notice" to the United States about its intention to strike the secretary general of Lebanese movement Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, enraging Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin, US media reported. Defense Secretary Austin "blew up" when Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant informed him about the strikes on Nasrallah, as there are many US troops stationed in the Middle East, and they had a very short time to prepare for possible hostile military response to the assassination, the publication explained. Since last week, the Israeli Air Force has been carrying out massive strikes on Hezbollah targets in various parts of Lebanon. Several precision airstrikes were also recorded in Beirut, killing senior Hezbollah commanders, including Nasrallah. To date, the Israeli army has reported strikes on several thousand Hezbollah targets. Observers note that Israel has not attacked Hezbollah with such intensity since the Second Lebanon War in 2006. Hezbollah has responded with rocket fire primarily at northern Israel, but the range of rocket attacks has increased significantly in recent days. The situation on the Israeli-Lebanese border has escalated since the start of Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip in October 2023. Tensions are growing amid statements by the Israeli military about preparations for a ground operation in Lebanon. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Considering More Troops in Middle East After Nasrallah Assassination - Reports Sputnik News 20240929 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Pentagon is considering options for increasing the US contingent in the Middle East out of fear of a possible response from Iran or Lebanese movement Hezbollah to the assassination of the movement's Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, NBC News reported citing US officials. Various options for increasing the US contingent in the region were presented to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who discussed some of them with US President Joe Biden and national security officials, but no final decision has been made yet, the channel noted. The United States currently has about 40,000 soldiers stationed in the Middle East. According to the broadcaster, the Pentagon, in particular, is considering strengthening the air defense of its contingent in the region. Earlier, the Hezbollah movement confirmed the death of its Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburb of Beirut. Since last week, the Israeli Air Force has been carrying out massive strikes on Hezbollah targets in different areas of Lebanon. Several pinpoint airstrikes were also recorded on Beirut, as a result of which high-ranking Hezbollah commanders were eliminated. To date, the Israeli army has reported strikes on several thousand Hezbollah targets. Observers note that Israel has not attacked Hezbollah with such intensity since the Second Lebanon War in 2006. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Secretary Blinken's Call with French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Barrot US Department of State Readout Office of the Spokesperson September 29, 2024 The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller: Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke today with French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot. The two discussed the importance of diplomatic efforts to avoid escalation of the conflict in Lebanon, including by advancing the political process and implementing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. They also discussed ongoing efforts to resolve the conflict in Gaza by reaching a ceasefire agreement that brings home the hostages. The Secretary affirmed Israel's right to defend itself against terrorism. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN: Tougher measures needed to stem gang violence in Haiti By Lisa Schlein September 29, 2024 Tougher measures are needed to stem the gang violence in Haiti that has brought the economy and government of the Caribbean nation to its knees by spreading fear and subjugating the population through killings, lootings, exploitation and brutal abuse, according to a report by the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Latest figures documented by the OHCHR show that more than 3,660 people have been killed since January. "No more lives should be lost to this senseless criminality," Volker Turk, the U.N.'s human rights chief said in a statement to coincide with the release of the report Friday. He welcomed "recent positive steps," such as the establishment of the new Transitional Presidential Council and government, and the deployment of the first contingent of the Multinational Security Support Mission, led by Kenyan police. However, Turk observed that the equipment and personnel on the ground clearly were not sufficient "to counter the criminal gangs effectively and sustainably, and stop them spreading further and wreaking havoc on peoples' lives." The report, which covers the period up to June, details extremely serious patterns of human rights violations and abuses taking place across the capital of Port-au-Prince. It documents at least 860 killings and 393 injuries, including at least 36 children during police operations "in what could constitute use of unnecessary and disproportionate force." It says the gangs have continued "to expand their territorial control and increase illegal revenues" outside the capital into new areas of the country "in which they could obtain further criminal forms of income." Ravina Shamdasani, the high commissioner's spokesperson said gang violence has continued to increase and spread to the Artibonite Department, as well as in the southern part of West Department, which until recently had been largely unaffected by violence. "In Artibonite, the country's agricultural heartland, increasing gang violence and extortion have forced farmers to abandon more than 3,000 hectares of land, further imperiling Haiti's food production, at a time when an estimated 1.6 million people in the country face emergency-level acute food insecurity," she said. She noted that the gangs are trying to maximize territorial gain as well as financial gain through all sorts of illicit methods, including extortion, protection rackets, killings of perceived opponents, and kidnapping people for ransom. "They are doing everything they can to maintain this control, including raping women, raping children... gangs have continued to use sexual violence to punish, spread fear and subjugate populations," she said. According to the report, "human rights violations and abuses have persisted at alarmingly high levels. The brutal forms of gender-based violence, including sexual violence, have reached new heights, leading to irreversible harm for victims and survivors and destroying various generations." The report underscores the ambition of the criminal gangs to maintain control and power. It notes that gangs who have benefited from the political instability and have worked to destabilize the former government "are demanding political influence and amnesties, threatening to resort to heightened violence if their demands are not met." Authors of the report say the gangs are backing up their demands by warning the authorities on social media "to prepare for an even more intense battle," and to reassess their action in view of the arrival of the Multinational Security Support Mission. Following the deployment of the Kenyan peacekeeping troops, the report says a gang leader posted a video on social media showing dozens of armed men chanting their readiness "to take on these foreign soldiers" who they consider to be "invaders." Human rights observers agree that Haiti's gangs are able to operate their criminal enterprises and carry out large-scale attacks using firearms because of the unimpeded flow of weapons into the country. This, despite an international arms embargo imposed on Haiti by the Security Council. High Commissioner Turk is urging the international community to implement the targeted arms embargo, the travel, and asset freeze imposed by the U.N. Security Council, to stem gang violence in Haiti. He also has signed on to numerous other recommendations set forth in the report, which are aimed at strengthening the police and other state institutions "crippled by endemic corruption, including the judiciary." Additionally, he is calling on the authorities to protect children from gangs and to redouble efforts to tackle gender and sexual violence and to protect internally displaced people. Haiti has been in turmoil since the July 7, 2021, assassination of President Jovenel Moise at his home in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petion-Ville. Armed gangs now control much of the capital and have spread to other parts of the country, where they have carried out massacres, kidnappings, human trafficking and sexual violence. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Bangladesh at crossroads as it pursues sweeping constitutional reform By Masood Farivar September 29, 2024 As Bangladesh pursues constitutional reform, international legal experts say a consensus-based process is vital for creating an enduring charter and ensuring political stability in South Asia's third most populous nation. The ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August pushed her Awami League party out of power, raising concerns that a key player could be excluded from a process shaping Bangladesh's future. In response, the nine-week interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, recently formed a constitutional reform panel, part of a broader effort to strengthen institutions and avert a return to authoritarian rule. The panel, one of six reform commissions, faces a dilemma: amend the country's 52-year-old constitution or begin afresh. A constitutional rewrite could tackle the issues raised by the recent protests that toppled Hasina's government. Amending the document is quicker but might leave key problems unresolved. Complicating matters, key provisions of the constitution are not amendable. Regardless of the path Bangladesh takes, the lesson from other countries that have implemented change is unmistakable: Experts say successful reform requires the involvement of all major stakeholders. "The main task of constitutions is to channel group decisions away from violence into politics," said Tarun Khaitan, a professor of public law at the London School of Economics. "So, what do you do if you're a group which has no share in political power and no hope of sharing political power any time in the future? You will take to violence." Yet in a country as deeply divided as Bangladesh, building consensus over a new constitution is a tall order. Two parties the Awami League and the Bangladesh National Party, or BNP have dominated politics since its founding in 1971. Except for two rare moments of unity in the 1990s, each party has "tried to game the system and lock the other out of power," making Bangladesh perennially unstable. "I think that is the issue that any constitutional settlement has to resolve," Khaitan said. Three global lessons Richard Albert, an expert on constitution-making and constitutional design at the University of Texas, noted three lessons that Bangladesh can learn from other parts of the world. First, the process matters more than the document itself. This means that citizens must be engaged in every step, from providing input to enacting the Charter, Albert said. "We know that when people are involved in the constitution-making process... that sets the stage for a stronger, more enduring, more legitimate constitution," Albert, who sits on Jamaica's constitutional reform committee, said in an interview with VOA. Second, resist turning the constitution into a wish list. Many countries make the mistake of including too many promises that they cannot deliver. The rules enshrined in a constitution, Albert said, "must mean something when they're written in the text of the country's higher [or highest] law." Third, the people are the ultimate source of legitimacy for a constitution, Albert said. The document must embody the values and aspirations of the citizens. "They don't have to be involved in the writing, the drafting, the deliberation of the constitution, but the people must feel and believe that the constitution represents them," Albert said. There are other lessons too. While public participation is important, the consent of major social and political groups is paramount, Khaitan said. Without a "consensual process," he said, minority groups can find themselves left out. Case in point: Nepal, where the minority Madhesis were sidelined despite broad public participation in the making of the 2015 constitution. Lesson from Chile Elsewhere, a lack of consensus has led to outright rejection of a constitution. Among legal scholars, Chile is the poster child for how not to do constitutional reform. In recent years, two successive governments one left-leaning, the other right-wing tried and failed to replace a Pinochet-era constitution with a new one stacked with ideological priorities. To some constitutional experts, the South American country's experience suggests that wholesale constitutional overhauls can fail in deeply polarized countries such as Bangladesh. "Pursuing constitutional replacement processes in such an environment can become an opportunity to fuel intolerance," Aldo Valle, a Chilean lawyer and former vice chairman of the country's constitutional council, wrote in a blog post in 2023. Bangladesh's constitution gives parliament the power to enact amendments. A 2011 amendment, however, bars changes to basic provisions, from citizens' fundamental rights to Islam's designation as the state religion. Such "constitutional unamendability" is increasingly common around the world, with countries like Turkey and France making certain constitutional provisions unchangeable. In Bangladesh, however, the constitution allows "one to become incredibly powerful and it has some paths for creating autocracy," making a rewrite necessary, Ali Riaz, the country's constitution panel chief, told The Daily Star newspaper prior to his appointment earlier in September. Waris Husain, an adjunct professor of law at Howard University, said drafting a new constitution is the easier part of constitution-making, and there are many successful models that Bangladesh can draw on. The real challenge, Husain said, is securing the buy-in of all stakeholders. "One of the things that you wouldn't want to happen is if you quickly pass a constitution and then subsequently there are so many issues that are raised about it and people haven't bought into that constitution," Husain said in an interview with VOA. If Bangladesh were to draft a new constitution and put it to a referendum, it would likely have a higher success rate than pushing through an amendment. According to a 2019 study, 94% of referendums to approve a constitution succeed, while 40% of referendums to amend an existing document fail. "If the plan in Bangladesh is to have recourse to a referendum, the data will be important to consider," Albert said. As it nears its second month in office, the interim government faces growing pressure to deliver results. But experts say constitutional reform cannot be rushed through it took Nepal seven years to enact a new charter. Yet Bangladesh's "constitutional moment," a period marked by political turmoil and calls for significant change, can prove fleeting, experts say. "Public appetite for grand, substantial changes typically remains short-lived," said Khaitan. "Bread and butter issues tend to come to dominate very quickly." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Charges against ex-officers for 2004 Thai 'massacre' facing dismissal By Zsombor Peter September 29, 2024 Lawyers and rights groups in Thailand are raising doubts any of the 15 former military, police and government officers charged with the murder of 85 protesters 20 years ago will appear in court before the statute of limitations expires next month. The statute expires October 25, exactly two decades after the events of the so-called Tak Bai Massacre, named after a district of Narathiwat province in southern Thailand, a predominantly Muslim and ethnic Malay part of the country. On that day in 2004, soldiers and police shot and killed seven people at a protest in Tak Bai calling for the release of suspected Islamic militants. The officers also packed dozens protesters into police trucks in which 78 of them died of suffocation, according to a state inquest five years later. Though the inquest found fatal flaws in the security response to the protest, the authorities did not pursue charges and no one was put on trial. This past August, though, on the back of a lawsuit filed by survivors and relatives of the dead, the Narathiwat provincial court charged seven retired officers with murder, attempted murder and unlawful detention in connection with the events. The Office of the Attorney General charged another eight with premeditated murder earlier this month. Each defendant must hear the charges against them in court and in person by October 25 for the cases to proceed. Otherwise, the charges will be dropped. An opening court date has yet to be set for the eight defendants charged by the attorney general, however, and the seven charged in Narathiwat all missed their first hearing on September 12. A second hearing is set for October 15, 10 days before the deadline. Lawyers and rights groups tell VOA doubts are running high that any of the defendants will appear in time. "Because until the 25th we have just [under] a month left, and in such a case ... it's very easy for the defendant to find an excuse to not show up or disappear," said Sanhawan Srisod, a legal adviser in Thailand for the International Commission of Jurists. "There are many ways in Thailand that they can just go ... abroad wherever they feel comfortable and [where it is] cheap," said Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, a human rights activist and lawyer representing one of the plaintiffs. After the seven defendants in the Narathiwat court case failed to appear earlier this month, the court issued arrest warrants for six of them. It left out Pisal Wattanawongkiri, an ex-general who now has legal immunity as a serving lawmaker for the ruling Pheu Thai party. As of last week, though, the court had no idea where any of the 15 defendants were, said Sorawit Limparangsri, spokesman for Thailand's Court of Justice, which oversees the country's provincial courts. "After the arrest warrants are issued, then it is the role of the Royal Thai Police to do, and usually they do not report to the courts during the time that they are investigating," he told VOA. A spokesman for the Royal Thai Police did not answer VOA's repeated calls or requests for comment. Chanatip Tatiyakaroonwong, Thailand researcher for Amnesty International, says the police force's past efforts to evade legal liability over its handling of the Tak Bai protest raise doubts about its commitment to follow through on the warrants. Following the 2009 inquest, the police claimed the deaths were a case of force majeure, a legal term referring to events beyond their control. More recently, Chanatip said, they petitioned the attorney general not to press the charges his office filed against the eight defendants on September 18. The attorney general ultimately rejected the petition, he added, "but what it showed us is that there's very little willingness from the police to pursue this case." Relatives of those who died in 2004 have also petitioned the House of Representatives to let Pisal stand trial, but the House has taken no action to lift his immunity, which ends only after the current session ends October 30, after the statute of limitations on the charges expires. Pheu Thai spokesman Danuporn Punnakanta told VOA the party did not know where Pisal was, in any case, and that he missed last week's meetings. He said the party had no opinion on the charges, calling them a "personal case." As head of the army's Region 4 command, Pisal was at the time of the 2004 protest in charge of all army activities in southern Thailand. The 2009 inquest concluded that he and two other senior officers failed to properly supervise the army's response. Compelling him and the other defendants to appear in court in time for the trials to continue is a chance for Thai authorities "to right the wrong and to ensure that there is accountability in this case," said Chanatip. "But at the same time, if the case stops or if the statute of limitations expires or if the perpetrators are not held accountable in the end, it could also embolden authorities or certain officers or state officials who commit human rights violations. It's like a message for them that it's okay ... because they would not be held accountable," he added. Most of southern Thailand has been under enhanced security laws since an insurgency seeking independence for the region, once the remit of an independent Muslim sultanate, flared up in January 2004. Locals and rights groups have accused the authorities of repeatedly abusing those powers to harass, torture and kill suspected militants and sympathizers. The level of violence has waned over the years, and the prospect of a trial over the Tak Bai protest is raising some hopes that accountability for the deaths could help move ongoing negotiations for a cease-fire forward. On the other hand, if the charges are dismissed next month because none of the defendants appeared in court, there is also the fear that violence could spike, said Pornpen. It would also be a missed opportunity for the victims to heal, and for those in Thailand's restive south to learn more about what happened that day 20 years ago and why, said Sanhawan. "That is kind of one of the scars left in the very center of the conflict, so ... it's very important for the Thai justice system to give truth, not only in the deep south but for everyone in Thailand, about what happened," she said. "It's important for the victims to end their suffering." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address National Guard assists with hurricane response in Southeast By National Guard Bureau September 27, 2024 STARKE, Fla. -- More than 4,700 National Guardsmen were mobilized across the Southeast Saturday, searching for and rescuing victims of Hurricane Helene, clearing debris and assisting first responders. As the massive storm moved ashore at Florida's Big Bend area late Thursday night, 3,900 members of the Florida National Guard were staged throughout the area to offer humanitarian assistance, security, debris cleanup and search and rescue missions with 450 tactical vehicles, 13 helicopters, boats and generators. Florida National Guard members were spread out in 21 counties to support and coordinate emergency response missions and requests for help. The Florida National Guard conducted search and rescue missions to support local authorities in Taylor, Dixie, Levy, Pasco, and Hernando counties to recover distressed civilians. Thirty people were rescued and evacuated from flooded areas in Pasco and Hernando counties Friday. Florida National Guard engineering resources were deployed to assist with route clearance in Taylor and Dixie counties. Six Zodiac boats were assigned to search and rescue missions in Taylor County. The Florida National Guard was also supporting a logistics distribution mission in Hernando County and staffing and supporting the State Logistics Response Center in Orlando. The Alabama National Guard contributed more than 40 Guardsmen and UH-60, HH-60, Chinook, and UH-72 helicopters to assist in the Florida response and the Mississippi National Guard sent 17 Guardsmen and three helicopters to Florida. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III approved Brig. Gen. Alexander Harlamor of the Florida Army National Guard to serve as dual-status commander to coordinate the federal/state military response in Florida. Austin also approved a dual-status commander in Georgia. Brig Gen. Kris Marshall was directing more than 480 National Guard members to assist there. In Tennessee, two dozen Guard members were activated, including 15 who helped evacuate a flooded hospital in Erwin with 6 tactical vehicles and two boats and nine Guardsmen conducting swift water and boat rescue operations. More than 50 hospital staff members and patients were trapped at the Unicoi County Hospital Friday due to severe flooding. Within the hour, the Tennessee National Guardsmen assigned to the 1-230th Assault Helicopter Battalion in Knoxville assembled three UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters and crew for aerial rescue operations. Once the weather cleared shortly after 1:00 p.m. CDT, the mission was approved and the aircraft departed Joint Base McGhee-Tyson to join the Virginia State Police, who had been requested by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency through the national, state-to-state mutual aid program, Emergency Management Assistance Compact. Through their combined efforts, the staff and patients were transported to a high school and the mission completed at 3:08 p.m. CDT. In North Carolina, about 200 Guard members were activated, supported by 15 Guardsmen and two Chinook helicopters from the Maryland and Connecticut Guard. Over 40 Alabama Guardsmen assisted the Alabama Emergency Management Agency with warehouse support. The Virginia National Guard staged almost 60 Soldiers, using tactical trucks capable of high mobility transportation in the Abingdon area and three Black Hawk helicopters with rescue hoist capabilities in the Roanoke area. They were linking with local emergency managers to assist as needed. "The Virginia National Guard is ready to support the commonwealth during times of need, and we are currently mobilizing a team as this storm approaches," said Brig. Gen. Todd Hubbard, Virginia National Guard director of the joint staff. "When our troops get the call to assist Virginia localities, they leave their loved ones and their jobs on short notice. We owe a special thanks to their families and employers for their continued support which is so critical to mission success." Typical missions for the National Guard during hurricane or tropical storm response operations are transporting first responders, distributing food and water to citizens in remote areas using trucks to move through high water, and providing chain saw teams to reduce debris to clear roads or power line routes. Contributing: Cotton Puryear, Virginia National Guard Public Affairs, and Capt. Kealy Moriarty, Tennessee National Guard Public Affairs Office NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran's space technology leap amid yoke of sanctions Iran Press TV Sunday, 29 September 2024 11:02 AM Iran's comprehensive scientific roadmap has set aerospace as a top priority goal in the country's science and technology system given the role it plays in the development of other priority technologies. The aerospace industry is also a vital component of national security and integral to our lives in an interconnected world, from connecting people across the globe to keeping them safe. According to official reports, Iran ranks first among Islamic countries and in West Asia in aerospace science, where recent achievements, especially in design, construction and launch of satellites, have increased national self-esteem and self-confidence and improved the country's status globally. Iran's vast land area and privileged geopolitical position, its capability to build, launch and place satellites, spacecraft and other flying objects in space and remotely operate them besides its access to a pool of high caliber talent and a well-established community of experts in its world-class universities and research institutes make it an imperative to pay special attention to this sector. These capacities and capabilities, along with other avant garde opportunities, promise a bright future, the realization of which depends on the comprehensive planning and cogent efforts of aerospace administrators. Iran broke into the global space race in February 2009 by launching its first domestically produced satellite, the Omid (Hope), into orbit aboard a Safir rocket. The successful placing of the payload into a low Earth orbit at an altitude of 299 kilometers coincided with the 30th anniversary celebrations of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, ushering the county into the elite league of the world's top 10 nations capable of launching satellites. It generated a swell of joy, pride and enthusiasm among the people, academic community and knowledge-based companies which consequently joined a national drive to promote satellites and space-related technologies. It came almost exactly a year after Iran launched the Kavosh-I (Explorer-1), a rocket capable of carrying satellites into space, which also marked the opening of an Iranian space center in the desert in Semnan. After the Omid, four more satellites were put into orbit which catapulted Iran to the status of a global technology player in possession of the complete space cycle - having the capacity to manufacture satellites, their launchers and having their own launch platform. According to head of the Iranian Space Agency Hassan Salarieh, ensuring security is no longer possible without being in space and using satellite monitoring on the ground. The monopoly on access to space technology and dominance in space, he says, has broken and all countries are in a race to use it to build their future. Iran's space industry is indigenous, where the introduction and transfer of space technology has brought about an industrial transformation. Its 10-year foundational space program calls for development of launch infrastructure and ground stations, design and construction of telecommunication satellites, launch of remote-sensing satellites with an accuracy of one meter and less, initiation of joint international projects, implementation of exploratory projects with a focus on infrastructure development and planning for launch of heavy cargoes. The plan aims to turn Iran into a regional hub in space technologies and launch services within 10 years by relying on the internal capabilities and knowledge of the country's specialists. As part of the plan, the country is building a satellite constellation, named after the late legendary anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani, intended as a dual-use narrowband telecommunication system for government users and the private sector. Last month, Salarieh said the pace of designing and manufacturing homegrown satellites has accelerated, with a raft of projects being jointly carried out with the private sector. Earlier this month, Iran successfully sent into orbit the domestically-developed Chamran 1 research satellite. In January, the Sorayya satellite was launched into a 750 km orbit, the highest by the country so far, followed by the sending of the Mahda research satellite, along with two research cargoes, to space onboard the Simorgh (Phoenix) rocket. It plans to send between five to seven domestically-developed satellites into space by the end of the current Iranian calendar year ending on March 20, 2025. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Chinese FM reiterates dedication to peace at UNGA Global Times Speech reaffirms nation's perspective on security, devt, civilization: experts By Liu Xin and Bai Yunyi Published: Sep 29, 2024 08:33 PM Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi gave a speech at the general debate of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 79) in New York, reiterating China's dedication to peace as the path to addressing global conflicts and crises. The speech reaffirmed China's perspectives on the world, security, development, and civilization, showing China's strong confidence in peace and development while expressing concern about the current turbulent global situation, analysts said. Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, delivered a speech titled "Building on past achievements and forging ahead together toward a community with a shared future for mankind" at the UNGA 79 in New York on Saturday local time. As the world faces increasingly serious challenges, China has never opted to be an indifferent spectator. Instead, we have been playing a bigger part in global governance than ever before. Chinese President Xi Jinping has put forth the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative in recent years. They carry China's wisdom for resolving various difficult issues confronting humanity and bring impetus from China for improving global governance, Wang said in the speech. The three major initiatives contribute Chinese wisdom and solutions to improve global governance, address changes in the world, and tackle humanity's challenges. They call for abandoning the old mentality of bloc confrontation and zero-sum thinking, advocate for a common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security perspective to achieve lasting peace and security in the world, Li Haidong, a professor from the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times. The initiatives seek inclusive development and respect for the diversity of civilizations, rather than viewing inter-country differences with arrogance. China's core propositions in global governance clearly demonstrate the responsibilities of a responsible major global power, said Li. During his speech on Saturday, Wang also expounded on the contribution of Chinese modernization to the world, explaining in detail the implication of Chinese modernization for the world and touching on four aspects: world peace and stability, common development, global governance and human civilization. Chinese modernization will contribute robustly to world peace and stability and "every step in China's development is an increase in the force for peace," said Wang. The speech clearly articulated the significance of Chinese modernization to the international community, highlighting that China is a peace-loving nation focused on its own prosperity and improving the living standards of its people. Meanwhile, it also conveyed China's proactive stance in participating in international affairs, maintaining global stability, and advocating for justice on the international stage, said Li. While emphasizing China's willingness to cooperate with the international community to address global challenges, China also firmly opposes the hegemonic and unilateral practices of certain countries, particularly unilateral sanctions and blockades, as well as their attempts to dominate an unjust international economic order, Zhu Yongbiao, executive director of the Research Center for the Belt and Road at Lanzhou University, told the Global Times. In the address, Wang reiterated China's dedication to peace as the path to addressing global conflicts and crises, including those of Ukraine, Palestine and Afghanistan, saying "Peace is the most precious thing in our world today. You may wonder if there is a path leading to peace. In fact, peace is the path." On the Ukraine crisis, Wang said the top priority is to commit to "no expansion of the battlefield, no escalation of fighting and no provocation by any party," and push for de-escalation of the situation as soon as possible. The Saturday speech has garnered global attention, with many Western media outlets focusing on China's proposals regarding the Ukraine crisis and the Middle East. Analysts notes that while the US and a few certain countries have criticized China's peace efforts, a growing number are expressing support. For instance, Reuters reported that Switzerland's foreign affairs ministry has expressed support for the peace plan proposed by China and Brazil. Unlike some Western countries and the US which are adding oil to the fire for their own interests, China and other countries of the Global South are intensifying efforts for peace, analysts said. During the Saturday speech, Wang also reiterated China's stance on the Taiwan question. He told world leaders in the audience that Taiwan being "an inalienable part of China's territory" is both "the history and the reality" and there is no "gray zone" or "room for ambiguity" regarding Resolution 2758. While some anti-China forces and "Taiwan independence" separatist forces are attempting to "reinterpret" Resolution 2758 to undermine the one-China principle and increase the island of Taiwan's international presence, Wang's remarks on the Taiwan question at UNGA 79 clarify right from wrong, exposing the lies of these anti-China forces and separatists to the international community, Li said. Resolution 2758 must be abode by and respected, Li said, noting that anti-China forces in the US as well as "Taiwan independence" separatists should not harbor any illusions about undermining it. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China and U.S. Hold New Round of Foreign Policy Planning Consultation Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China Updated: September 29, 2024 14:22 On September 27, 2024, Miao Deyu, Assistant Foreign Minister and Director-General of the Department of Policy Planning of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, held a new round of foreign policy planning consultation with Salman Ahmed, Director of the U.S. Secretary of State's Policy Planning Staff, in New York. The two sides had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on the international situation and other issues.a NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran president: Israeli regime main cause of regional instability IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian says the Israeli regime is the cause of instability in West Asia as it continues to kill and assassinate people thanks to the support it receives from the United States. Pezeshkian made the comment in an interview with CNN while he was in New York to attend the 79th UN General Assembly session. The Iranian president was in the US from September 22-26. He said that Israel is the main cause of regional instability as he responded to a question that whether Iran would make resistance groups, such as the Ansarullah that rules Yemen, stop confronting Israel. "The instability which is created in the region is because of the Zionist regime. Nothing will happen if the Zionist regime does not kill any person and assassinate anyone", the president said, adding that if the US stops supporting Israel and the regime halts forcing people out of their land and homes, none of the resistance groups such as Ansarullah, Hamas or Hezbollah will intervene. Pezeshkian made similar comments in an interview with Al Jazeera English as well, while he was on his trip to New York. He criticized European countries and the US for remaining silence on the Israeli genocide in Gaza despite their claims of defending human rights. The Iranian president stated that Islamic countries should get united to bring an end to the Israeli atrocities and forge peace in the region. On Iran's response to Israel's assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, Pezeshkian said that the Islamic Republic will decide the timing of its response but will not announce it or the type of the response. He also said that the Israeli regime seeks to expand conflict in the region. Therefore, he added, Iran should be careful not to fall into the trap of the regime, and as a result the Islamic Republic will make effort to take action at certain time and place so that the regime does not achieve its goal. The Iranian president further said in his interview that his country will respect any decision Palestinians will take for their future and for resolving the conflict with Israel. He also said that Iran is ready for talks with the West to resolve issues regarding its nuclear deal and the removal of sanctions. 4194 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Commander of Iran's Navy meets with his Chinese counterpart IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Iran's Navy Commander Admiral Shahram Irani met and talked with his Chinese counterpart Admiral Hu Zhongming. The Commander of the Navy, who has visited this country at the invitation of the Commander of the Chinese Navy, met and talked with his Chinese counterpart, Admiral Hu Zhongming. In this visit, the Iranian Navy commander stresses the development of maritime diplomacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the promotion of maritime relations between the two countries in the fields of education, the holding of bilateral and multilateral exercises, joint maritime patrols to ensure the security of shipping lines and combat terrorism and organized crimes. 2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israeli assassination of IRGC Cmdr. will not go unanswered: Iran FM IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the Israeli assassination of Brigadier General Abbas Nilforushan, a senior Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) commander, will not go unanswered. Nilforushan, deputy commander for IRGC operations, was martyred in a massive Israeli airstrike on a group of residential buildings in southern Beirut on Friday, in which Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other resistance officials were also martyred. "This horrible crime of the aggressor Zionist regime will not go unanswered," Araghchi said in a letter addressed to IRGC Chief Commander Major General Hossein Salami. The foreign minister also vowed that Iran's diplomatic apparatus will also use all its political, diplomatic, legal and international capacities to pursue the criminals and their supporters. He also extended his condolences to Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the IRGC chief, and the Iranian nation over the martyrdom of General Nilforushan. Separately on Sunday and before leaving New York for Tehran, Araqchi told reporters that the martyrdom of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah will significantly strengthen the resistance movement. He emphasized that the crimes committed by the Israeli regime in Gaza and Lebanon indicate that "there is certainly no future for it in the region," asserting that Israel will "never see peace". In a statement on Sunday, Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf also expressed condolences on the martyrdom of Gen. Nilforushan in the Israeli strikes in Beirut. "The Zionist regime once again showed it is incapable of confronting the warriors of Islam," he said. 4353**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IRGC confirms Iran's military advisor martyred in Israeli airstrike IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Sep 29, 2024 Tehran, IRNA -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) confirms its military advisor Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan has been martyred in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut. Nilforushan lost his life in the same strike that killed the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, on Friday. In a statement issued on Sunday, the IRGC said that the 58-year-old military official was martyred in the Israeli strike in Beirut late on Friday. The IRGC hailed the deceased commander who made heroic sacrifices in line with the Palestinian cause. Condemning the heinous act of the Zionist regime, the IRGC extended condolences over his martyrdom. Israeli regime sources said as many as a dozen Israeli fighter jets dropped 2,000-pound American bunker-buster bombs in the Friday attacks. In the aftermath of the airstrike, Lebanon's Ministry of Health reported that the bodies of six martyrs and 91 injured individuals were pulled out from the rubble of the destroyed buildings. Following the martyrdom of the Iranian military adviser, Iran's embassy in Lebanon issued a message on Sunday. The martyrdom of Lebanese and Iranian figures is the reflection of the two nations' amity and fraternity, it said. Their martyrdom foils the plots that target the regional security, it added. 7129**9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Who was Abbas Nilforushan, senior IRGC commander martyred with Nasrallah in Beirut? Iran Press TV Sunday, 29 September 2024 7:08 AM Brigadier General Abbas Nilforushan, the Deputy Commander for Operations of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), was martyred in an Israeli airstrike on Friday in Beirut, alongside Hezbollah's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the IRGC confirmed in a statement. Over the massive airstrikes, Israeli forces deployed "bunker-busting" bombs, reducing several residential complexes to rubble in the densely populated Dahiyeh neighborhood in southern Beirut, killing dozens of civilians as well. According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, six people were killed and 91 others injured in the bombardment, which leveled six apartment buildings. Hundreds more are feared dead as the rescue operations are underway. The recent fatal strike signifies a major escalation in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, following a year of Hezbollah's solidarity operations against the Isareli-occupied territories in support of the Palestinian people, with the Gaza war's death toll exceeding 41,500. In a statement on Sunday, IRGC confirmed the martyrdom of General Nilforushan who was also a military advisor to Lebanon in the Israeli airstrikes on Friday. The IRGC condemned the "crimes of the Zionist regime" in Lebanon and extended condolences, while also congratulating the martyrdom of General Nilforushan to Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Armed Forces. Who was General Nilforushan? Born in 1966 in the Iranian city of Isfahan, Nilforushan played a vital role within Iran's IRGC, overseeing ground forces as the Deputy Commander for Operations. The 58-year-old military leader began his military career in 1980 with the Basij before joining the IRGC. He joined the IRGC at a young age and steadily climbed the ranks. General Nilforushan played an active role in the Iran-Iraq war, referred to as the Sacred Defense in Iran, which lasted for eight years during the 1980s against Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist regime. Remarkably, he participated in the western and southern fronts during the war at the young age of 14. This early involvement in the conflict demonstrated his commitment and dedication to Iran's defense, ultimately shaping his military career and contributing to his rise through the ranks. Throughout the war, he distinguished himself as a prominent commander, successfully leading several critical military operations. Following the conclusion of the Iran-Iraq war, Nilforushan continued to broaden his expertise by pursuing academic studies in strategic management. He eventually earned a Ph.D from Imam Hussein University, further solidifying his credentials as a military leader and strategist within the IRGC. From 2005 to 2007, he held the position of Deputy Commander for Operations within the IRGC Ground Forces. This experience laid the foundation for his later appointment as the commander of the IRGC Command and Staff College from 2010 to 2014, where he contributed to the development and education of the next generation of Iranian military leaders. In June 2019, Nilforushan was officially appointed Deputy Commander for Operations of the IRGC by order of the corps' Commander-in-Chief, Major General Hossein Salami, a post he held until his tragic martyrdom. Nilforushan's key role in the Axis of Resistance Due to his extensive battlefield experience and unwavering efforts in supporting the Axis of Resistanceawhich includes groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Palestinian resistance factionsaGeneral Nilforushan became a pivotal figure in advancing the cause of resistance against foreign occupation and intervention. His unwavering engagement in both military and diplomatic strategies significantly proved instrumental in fortifying the Axis of Resistance. Under his guidance, these groups managed to bolster their influence and capabilities despite ongoing threats posed by the Zionist regime. As a strategic commander, Nilforushan played a crucial role in coordinating operations among various resistance forces, ensuring unity and effectiveness in their efforts. Firmly rooted in the principles of the Islamic Revolution, he was a staunch defender of the rights of oppressed nations in the region, particularly the Palestinian and Lebanese people. He consistently emphasized the importance of resisting global oppression and fighting against arrogance, a stance that earned him great respect and admiration among the resistance movements. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Militants kill 7 workers, kidnap 20 in southwestern Pakistan By Ayaz Gul September 29, 2024 Pakistani authorities said Sunday suspected insurgents killed at least seven workers and abducted 20 others at gunpoint in two attacks overnight in the country's southwestern Balochistan province. The violence occurred in the Panjgur and Musakhail districts of the sparsely populated insurgency-hit province, which is rich in natural resources. Police said that gunmen attacked a home in Panjgur at around midnight Saturday, spraying its occupants with bullets before fleeing on motorcycles. They added that the gunfire wounded one person and that the victims were laborers from the eastern Punjab province. The second attack took place early Sunday when a group of armed men stormed a gas and oil exploration company's site in Musakhail. Dheeraj Kalra, the local assistant police commissioner, told VOA by phone that the assailants opened fire, vandalized equipment, took 20 workers as hostages, and then escaped. "A search operation is currently underway in the area to locate the abducted individuals," he said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for either attack. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the violence and instructed provincial authorities to make all possible efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice, his office in Islamabad said. Late last month, insurgents in Musakhail killed 23 passengers from Punjab who were visiting or working in Balochistan after pulling them off trucks and passenger vehicles. The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack and a series of other raids across the province on the same day, resulting in the deaths of more than 50 people. The violence marked the most widespread insurgent attacks in impoverished Balochistan in years, targeting security posts, railway lines, and passenger vehicles. Several ethnic Baloch groups, including the BLA, accuse the central government of exploiting the province's natural resources, and claim their violent campaign is seeking an independent Balochistan. Pakistani officials reject the allegations, saying insurgent activities are aimed at halting economic development in the region. The province shares the country's border with Afghanistan and Iran and is the site of major China-funded infrastructure projects. The BLA, designated as a global terrorist organization by the United States, has recently intensified its attacks. It is known as the largest and most lethal group active in the region, repeatedly demanding that China withdraw from Balochistan and even targeting Chinese nationals working there. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Nuclear Doctrine Update Reflects Response to Russia's Adversaries - Kremlin Sputnik News 20240928 On September 25, Russia's President Vladimir Putin proposed discussing updating the state nuclear deterrence policy at a Russian Security Council meeting. The nuclear policy adjustment is a reciprocal response to the position of Russia's opponents, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "An official statement is an official statement. Especially when it is made at such a high, or even the highest level. And, of course, we build our understanding of the approaches of our vis-a-vis or our partners or our adversaries, enemies, precisely based on these official statements. So, yes, this is an absolute mirror of their position," Peskov said. On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed discussing the issue of updating the principles of state policy in the field of nuclear deterrence at a Russian Security Council meeting. Putin said Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression, including if the enemy uses conventional weapons to create a critical threat to the country's sovereignty. He also said that Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression against Belarus, as a member of the Union State. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Nuclear Doctrine Update Necessary Due to Heightened Tensions Near Borders - Kremlin Sputnik News 20240929 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The update of the Russian nuclear doctrine was necessary due to heightened tensions around Russian borders and nuclear nations supporting Kiev in its conflict with Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday. "It is evident that, considering the recent international developments, heightened tensions around our borders, nuclear powers supporting Ukraine in the Ukraine conflict and the NATO military infrastructure being moved ever closer to our borders - all this made it necessary for us to adjust both our nuclear doctrine and nuclear deterrence policy," Peskov told Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin. The update has already been drafted and will now be formalized, the Kremlin spokesman added. During the Russian Security Council's permanent meeting on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to discuss updating the foundations of Russia's state policy in the field of nuclear deterrence. Putin said that Russia reserved the right to use nuclear weapons in case of aggression, including if the enemy posed a critical threat to Russia using conventional weapons. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Taiwan blasts China over 'distortion' of Resolution 2758 at U.N. ROC Central News Agency 09/29/2024 03:23 PM Taipei, Sept. 29 (CNA) Taiwan's government has condemned Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's address at the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday for "distorting" a 1971 resolution that China uses as a basis for claiming Taiwan as part of its territory. During the general debate of this year's General Assembly, Wang reiterated Beijing's stance that Resolution 2758, passed "with an overwhelming majority" during the General Assembly in 1971, "resolved once and for all the question of the representation of the whole of China, including Taiwan." "There is no such thing as two Chinas or one China-one Taiwan. On this matter there is no gray zone," Wang said. "Taiwan will eventually return to the embrace of the motherland. This is the overwhelming trend of history that no one can stop." Resolution 2758 was adopted by the 26th U.N. General Assembly in 1971 to address the issue of China's representation at the world body. It resulted in Taiwan, officially named the Republic of China (ROC), losing its seat at the U.N. to the People's Republic of China (PRC). The resolution, however, did not mention Taiwan or the even the Republic of China by name. Taiwan has since been excluded from membership in the United Nations and from participating in the international organization and its affiliated bodies. In a statement Sunday, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) reiterated that the ROC (Taiwan) is a sovereign and independent nation, and that neither Taiwan nor the PRC is subordinate to the other. These are long-standing, objective, and internationally recognized facts, as well as the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, MOFA said in a statement. Only the democratically elected government of Taiwan has the right to represent the Taiwanese people in the U.N. system and the international arena, it said. MOFA again urged the PRC to stop misleading the international community on the topic, an appeal Taiwan has made repeatedly to no avail. It also called on the international community to face the issue and offer timely rebuttals and clarifications as it believes Beijing is using the argument as a legal foundation for an armed invasion of Taiwan. Also during Saturday's general debate, Francis Fonseca, the foreign affairs and foreign trade minister of Belize -- one of only two Central American countries that still formally recognize the ROC -- called on the U.N. to allow Taiwan's participation. "Taiwan is a nation that espouses democracy, development and innovation. The challenges we are tackling as an international community require Taiwan's full inclusion and participation in the international system. Belize calls for this to be done immediately," he said. (By Joseph Yeh) Enditem/ls NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ukrainian Drones Reach Deeper Into Russia As Biden Says Kyiv 'Will Win This War' By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service and Current Time September 29, 2024 Ukraine's military reported that heavy fighting continued on September 29 following a night of air strikes that included penetration deeper inside Russia by Kyiv's drone arsenal, while U.S. President Joe Biden declared on social media that "Ukraine will win this war." In its evening briefing, Ukraine's General Staff said that "the Russian invaders are continuing to storm positions of the Ukrainian defenders [with] the occupiers actively attacking in the [strategically important] Pokrovsk and Kurakhove directions." It added that "about 20 settlements in Chernihiv, Sumy, and Kharkiv regions were affected by [Russian] artillery and mortar shelling." The update came after Ukraine reported multiple injuries from overnight Russian drone attacks in a handful of regions, while Russian defense officials claimed to have shot down 125 Ukrainian drones in the latest reflection of Kyiv's increasing efforts to take the 2 1/2-year-old war to Russian territory. The governor of Russia's southwestern region of Belgorod said one man had died in the town of Shebekino, near the Ukrainian border. Russia's Defense Ministry suggested Ukrainian cross-border attacks were increasingly focused on its Volgograd region, to the east of the Kursk region where Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion in July that is thought to have captured around 1,300 square kilometers of Russian territory. One of the attacks in Volgograd was reportedly near a major ammunition warehouse in Kotluban that has previously been targeted, but it was unclear if there was any damage. On the diplomatic front, Biden posted on social media videos of counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy's recent visit to the White House and stated the "Ukraine will win this war." "And the United States will continue to stand beside them every step of the way," Biden added. Ukraine's military meanwhile said its air defenses had shot down 15 of 22 Russian attack drones detected in at least four regions of the country overnight, and said five more of those drones were thwarted by other "countermeasures." The head of the Ukrainian military administration in the southern region of Zaporizhzhya, Ivan Fedorov, said high-rise buildings and private homes had been struck overnight and "there may be people under the rubble." "Fourteen people were wounded in Zaporizhzhya today after a Russian strike. Debris removal has been continuing all day and two people were rescued from the rubble," he wrote on Telegram. Zaporizhzhya has recently seen near-daily destruction and injuries from air strikes. "About a hundred glide bombs are being launched by Russia against Ukraine every day. This is a constant reminder to all our partners who can help that we need more range for Ukraine, we need more air defense for Ukraine, we need more sanctions against Russia," Fedorov said. The area hosts Europe's biggest nuclear power plant, which has been under Russian occupation since early in the 31-month-old full-scale invasion. On September 28, Ukrainian officials said Supreme Court justice Leonid Loboyko was killed in a Russian attack on his vehicle while he was delivering humanitarian aid to residents of a village in the northeastern Kharkiv region. The Ukrainian General Staff said around one-quarter of the 165 combat clashes in the past 24 hours took place in the region around Pokrovsk, the strategic frontline city in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region where Russia is said to have been advancing in recent months. RFE/RL cannot independently confirm reports by either side of battlefield developments or casualties in many areas of the heaviest fighting. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine- russia-war-drone-zaporizhzhya-volgograd/33139313.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 Russian Defence Ministry report on repelling AFU attempt to invade Russian territory in Kursk region (29 September 2024) 29.09.2024 The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the operation to neutralise an enemy group, which broke into the territory of Kursk region. The Sever Group of Forces continues the offensive operation and engaged formations of 21st, 22nd, 115th mechanised brigades, 17th Tank Brigade, 82nd and 95th air assault brigades of the AFU, 1st National Guard Brigade, 36th Marine Brigade, as well as 103rd and 129th territorial defence brigades near Lyubimovka, Daryino, Novy Put, Nikolayevo-Daryino, and Plekhovo. For the past 24 hours, the Group repelled five counter-attacks of the enemy in the direction of Lyubimovka, Kremyanoye, and Plekhovo. Furthermore, attempts to attack towards Olgavka and Pogrebki were disrupted. As a result, the AFU losses amounted to up to 60 troops killed and wounded; two armoured fighting vehicles, and a motor vehicle. With the support of Army Aviation and artillery fire, six AFU attempts to break through the border of the Russian Federation towards Novy Put were foiled. The AFU losses amounted to more than 50 troops killed and wounded; a tank, four armoured fighting vehicles, and a motor vehicle. Five AFU servicemen surrendered. Army Aviation and artillery fire inflicted losses on manpower and hardware clusters of the 22nd, 41st, 61st, 115th mechanised brigades, 17th Tank Brigade, 80th, 95th air assault brigades of the AFU, 1st, 17th National Guard Brigade, 36th Marine Brigade, and 103rd, 112th, 116th, and 129th territorial defence brigades near Guyevo, Daryino, Ivashkovsky, Kolmakov, Kruglenkoye, Lyubimovka, Malaya Loknya, Martynovka, Medvezhye, Mirny, Novy Put, Novoya Sorochina, Orlovka, Plekhovo, Pravda, Tolsty Lug, and Cherkasskoye Porechnoye. Operational-Tactical Aviation, and Missile Troops delivered strikes region at concentration areas in Sumy and reserves of the 21st, 22nd, 41st, 47th, and 115th mechanised brigades, 80th, 95th air assault brigades, 1st National Guard Brigade, and 103rd, 129th territorial defence brigades of the AFU near Belovody, Boyaro-Lezhachi, Vorozhba, Vishenki, Glukhov, Zhuravka, Kucherovka, Miropolye, Privolye, Pavlovka, Revyakino, Rechki, Sumy, Chervonoprapornoye, Shalygino, and Khoten. Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk region, the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost more than 18,560 troops, 133 tanks, 64 infantry fighting vehicles, 97 armoured personnel carriers, 850 armoured fighting vehicles, 550 motor vehicles, 146 artillery guns, 32 MLRS launchers, including eight of HIMARS and six of MLRS made by the USA, eight SAM launchers, five transport-loading vehicles, 38 electronic warfare stations and nine counter-battery radars, two air defence radars, 18 engineering vehicles, including 11 counterobstacle vehicles and one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle, as well as one armoured recovery vehicle. The operation to neutralise the AFU units is in progress. Department for Media Affairs and Information NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Forces Take Control of Makeevka in Lugansk Region - Defense Ministry - MoD Sputnik News 20240929 MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia's Battlegroup Zapad has taken control of the village of Makeevka in the Lugansk People's Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday. The Ukrainian armed forces have lost up to 1,965 soldiers over the past 24 hours in battles with Russian forces, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Kiev has lost up to 620 soldiers, one tank and one weapon's depot in battles with Russia's Battlegroup Tsentr, the ministry said in a statement, adding that Russia's Battlegroup Yug eliminated up to 610 Ukrainian servicepeople. Russia's Battlegroup Zapad has eliminated up to 450 Ukrainian soldiers and three weapons depots, the ministry said, adding that Kiev has lost up to 135 soldiers in battles with Russia's Battlegroup Vostok. Ukraine has also lost up to 70 soldiers in battles with Russia's Battlegroup Sever and up to 80 soldiers, one tank and three ammunition depots in battles with Russia's Battlegroup Dnepr, the defense ministry said. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Every Day, Russia Uses About a Hundred Guided Aerial Bombs Against Ukraine - Address by the President President of Ukraine 29 September 2024 - 20:18 Dear Ukrainians! Today in Zaporizhzhia, 14 people were injured following a Russian strike. The rubble is being cleared all day long. 2 people were rescued from under the rubble. The aerial bombs hit ordinary residential buildings, ordinary city facilities. Today, Russians also struck Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Sumy regions with guided aerial bombs. In Hlukhiv, several residential buildings were damaged. In the Kharkiv region, apartment buildings, energy and medical infrastructure were damaged. And it is a daily Russian terror. Every day, Russia uses about a hundred guided aerial bombs against Ukraine. And this is a constant reminder to all our partners who can help that we need more long-range capabilities for Ukraine, we need more air defense for Ukraine, we need more sanctions against Russia. Now, this week, during our various talks in America, our position and arguments have been heard in as much detail as possible. So that there are no more questions. And the teams - ours and those of our partners - have already begun preparing for "Ramstein." In a week and a half, in October, at "Ramstein," we have to decide, together with other leaders, on common steps and a common vision of the ways to increase pressure on Russia for this war and for the sake of peace. A just peace. Today, I would like to especially acknowledge our people who have been saving lives and helping all those suffering from Russian attacks throughout this time. I extend my gratitude to the entire team of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, especially to Oleksiy Sukhorukov, Andriy Pavlenko, Ostap Tretiak, Ihor Koriahin, and Dmytro Borodatyi - employees of the SES in the Zaporizhzhia region, one of the most challenging areas. Also, our Dnipropetrovsk region: Volodymyr Zhushman, Vadym Derkach, Stanislav Lichmanenko, Ivan Podoliak, Ivan Khudoliy - these guys are employees of the SES. And our Sumy region: Ivan Sakhno, Andriy Nahornyi, Yehor Synytsyn, Danylo Suniov, and Oleksandr Protsyk have particularly distinguished themselves in recent weeks. I am grateful to you and all your colleagues from the SES in the Sumy region. And one more thing. I want to acknowledge the officers of the National Police of Ukraine working in the Dnipropetrovsk region, who rescued people after the Russian strike on the police department in Kryvyi Rih. These are Police Captain Kateryna Tupa, Lieutenant Colonel Mykola Harmash, and Police Colonel Inna Vlasova - thank you! Thank you to everyone who protects our people and does everything to help Ukraine get through this difficult time, endure, and achieve its victory - its peace. Glory to Ukraine! NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address President's Visit to the U.S. Was Challenging yet Crucial and Successful - Andriy Yermak President of Ukraine 29 September 2024 - 17:52 The presentation of the Victory Plan to President Joseph Biden, the U.S. Congress, and both U.S. presidential candidates, along with all of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly aimed to strengthen support for Ukraine in achieving a just peace. This was stated by Head of the President's Office Andriy Yermak on the air of the United News telethon. "The meetings with our partners were very substantive. They show that today, support for Ukraine is strong and ongoing. Moreover, the President and the entire team continue to work with countries that are still neutral," he noted. The Head of the President's Office emphasized that in order to create conditions for the practical implementation of the Peace Formula, Ukraine prepared the Victory Plan. Therefore, presenting the Victory Plan in Washington, particularly to President Joseph Biden and his administration, was a crucial part of the visit to the U.S. "Our partners received this Plan with great attention and interest, understanding its necessity. Very soon, another meeting between our leaders will take place to discuss the next steps regarding this Plan. The teams have already begun working on it," Andriy Yermak said. The Victory Plan was presented, in particular, to the Congress, the primary legislative body of the United States, which directly votes on support packages for Ukraine. Additionally, Volodymyr Zelenskyy introduced the Plan to both U.S. presidential candidates, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Furthermore, the President of Ukraine discussed the Victory Plan with G7 leaders, as Ukraine will work with all its allies to implement it. "We returned to Ukraine with the feeling that our partners' support for our country is at a very high level," concluded Andriy Yermak. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NEW YORK, Sept. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of common stock of Methode Electronics, Inc. (NYSE: MEI) between June 23, 2022 and March 6, 2024, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), of the important October 25, 2024 lead plaintiff deadline. SO WHAT: If you purchased Methode common stock during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Methode class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=21318 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email case@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than October 25, 2024. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs Bar. Many of the firms attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers. DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, during the Class Period, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Methode had lost highly skilled and experienced employees during the COVID-19 pandemic necessary to successfully complete Methodes transition from its historic low mix, high volume production model to a high mix, low production model at its Monterrey, Mexico facility; (2) Methodes attempts to replace its General Motors (GM) center console production with more diversified, specialized products for a wider array of vehicle manufacturers and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), in particular in the electric vehicle (EV) space, had been plagued by production planning deficiencies, inventory shortages, vendor and supplier problems, and, ultimately, botched execution of Methodes strategic plans; (3) Methodes manufacturing systems at its critical Monterrey facility suffered from a variety of logistical defects, such as improper system coding, shipping errors, erroneous delivery times, deficient quality control systems, and failures to timely and efficiently procure necessary raw materials; (4) Methode had fallen substantially behind on the launch of new EV programs out of its Monterrey facility, preventing Methode from timely receiving revenue from new EV program awards; and (5) as a result of the foregoing, Methode was not on track to achieve the 2023 diluted earnings per share (EPS) guidance or the 3-year 6% organic sales compound annual growth rate (CAGR) represented to investors and such estimates lacked a reasonable factual basis. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages. To join the Methode class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=21318 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email case@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investors ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Contact Information: Laurence Rosen, Esq. Phillip Kim, Esq. The Rosen Law Firm, P.A. 275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor New York, NY 10016 Tel: (212) 686-1060 Toll Free: (866) 767-3653 Fax: (212) 202-3827 case@rosenlegal.com www.rosenlegal.com REGULATED INFORMATION The interim financial report is prepared in accordance with article 13 of the Royal Decree on the obligations of issuers of financial instruments admitted to trading on a regulated market and can be accessed on the website of Biosenic in the section Financial reports'. BioSenic publishes its interim financial report in English. A French translation of the report will also be made available. In the event of differences between the English and the French version of the report, the original French version will prevail. Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium, 30 September 2024, 7am CEST BioSenic (Euronext Brussels and Paris: BIOS), the clinical stage company specializing in serious autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and cell repair, today publishes its business update for the first half, ended 30 June 2024, prepared in accordance with IFRS as adopted by the European Union, and the outlook for the remainder of the year. Clinical and corporate highlights of 2024 In January 2024, Dr Carole Nicco has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer (COO) in addition to her position as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). In January 2024, BioSenic's subsidiary, Medsenic SAS, signed a binding term sheet with Phebra PTY Ltd. related to an adaptation of the License Agreement and the MDA signed in May 2021. In January 2024, BioSenic filed for a U.S. patent for JTA-004, a viscosupplement in late-stage clinical development, following a post hoc analysis showing its efficacy in a recently defined subtype of osteoarthritis (OA). In January 2024, BioSenic has been granted a patent by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office to expand protection of the arsenic trioxide (ATO) platform. The patent, titled Use of metal ions to potentiate the therapeutic effects of arsenic, covers the use of ATO platform in combination with metal ions such as copper. In March 2024, BioSenic published an open-access article describing an optimized schedule for administration of oral arsenic trioxide (OATO) treatment for chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGvHD), based on an earlier post-hoc analysis of Phase II data. In June 2024, BioSenic's board of directors acknowledged the resignation of Mr Yves Sagot as an independent director of the Company, with effect from the Company's 2024 ordinary general meeting. In July 2024, BioSenic signed of global licensing, supply and commercialization agreements with Phebra Pty Ltd. related to the adaptation of the License Agreement and the MDA signed earlier in May 2021, when Phebra became a minority shareholder in Medsenic SAS. In July 2024, BioSenic filed of the continuation patent application US 18/763,376 with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) to provide protection for the use of arsenic trioxide (ATO) for the prevention and treatment of sepsis syndrome. In July 2024, BioSenic released new in-depth analysis of its positive phase 2 clinical data for optimal administration scheme for its next late-stage trial of arsenic trioxide (ATO) targeting cGvHD. In August 2024, BioSenic announced the granting of a key patent by the Japan Patent Office to expand protection of the arsenic trioxide (ATO) platform. In August 2024, BioSenic announced that the European Patent Office (EPO) has granted an important new EU patent to its subsidiary Medsenic "method for treating relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis using arsenic trioxide". In September 2024, Veronique Pomi-Schneiter stands down as BioSenic's Deputy CEO. Financial highlights of 2024 In January 2024, BioSenic signed a new subscription agreement for a maximum EUR 1.2 million convertible bonds facility, arranged by ABO Securities through its affiliated entity Global Tech Opportunities 15. In February 2024, BioSenic raised EUR 500,000 via a private placement. In April 2024, BioSenic filed a debt restructuring plan with the clerk's office of the Walloon Brabant Enterprise Court, with a view to requesting the Court to open private judicial reorganization proceedings by collective agreement and to obtain the agreement of creditors on a plan to reorganize BioSenic's debt. Please refer to the press releases of 11 April 2024,12 April 2024 and 26 April 2024 on this subject for further information. In April 2024, in view of the debt restructuring plan, BioSenic postponed its annual general meeting of the shareholders. In May 2024, BioSenic provided its business update for the first quarter, ended the 31 March 2024. In May 2024, the Walloon Brabant Enterprise Court registered the positive votes of the majority of BioSenic's creditors on the debt restructuring plan. In June 2024, BioSenic announced its business update and full year financial results for the year ending 31 December 2023, prepared in accordance with IFRS. In June 2024, BioSenic received the homologation judgment for the restructuring plan filed with the Enterprise Court of Nivelles, making it binding on all deferred creditors, and the measures provided for therein will continue until June 2029, the end of the five-year period set by law. The restructuring plan can be accessed via the following link: https://biosenic.com/sites/default/files/2024- 04/PRJ_BioSenic_FR.pdf In June 2024, BioSenic signed a new subscription agreement for a maximum EUR 2.1 million convertible bonds facility, arranged by ABO Securities through its affiliated entity Global Tech Opportunities 15. During the first six months of 2024, total operating income amounted to EUR 2.69 million, compared to EUR 0.37 million in H1 2023. Operating loss for the period amounted to EUR 0.47 million, compared to EUR 3.90 million in H1 2023. BioSenic ended the first six months of 2024 with EUR 0.82 million in cash and cash equivalents. Net cash used for the period amounted to EUR 0.70 million, compared to EUR 1.33 million over the same period of 2023. Outlook for the remainder of 2023 and 2024 Following the homologation judgement of 13 June 2024, BioSenic will take the necessary decisions to implement the approved plan and, notably, to retrocede its rights to the JTA and ALLOB technologies to the Walloon Region and to stop all activities in relation to such technologies. The Medsenic Phase II clinical study with arsenic trioxide in the first-line treatment of cGvHD has been completed and provided positive results. A Phase III study with oral arsenic trioxide in the first-line treatment of cGvHD, for which Medsenic received positive pre-IND response from the FDA, is currently anticipated to start in 2024. A Phase IIa clinical trial for systemic lupus erythematosus ("SLE") had previously established safety for the patient and efficacy on the course of the autoimmune disease. Positive preclinical work gives good grounds for a Phase II clinical trial on systemic sclerosis ("SSc"). Phase IIb clinical trials for SLE and SSc are in the planning stage with the protocols for both studies being ready. It will only be possible to start the SLE and SSc Phase 2b clinical trials if the BioSenic Group succeeds in concluding a strong partnership with a biopharmaceutical company or if it manages to successfully out-license some of its technology. The start of SLE and SSc Phase II clinical trials is therefore not envisioned before 2025. Maximum cost reduction and disciplined cash management will remain a key priority, and the situation will be closely and actively monitored. The Company will actively initiate the search for new assets through M&A processes. Negotiations with BioSenic's creditors will also be initiated as part of the potential sale of BioSenic's stake in Medsenic and other intellectual property assets held by BioSenic, and with a view to continuing the debt restructuring effort initiated following the court's approval of the plan. The Company has also invited Medsenic's representatives to urgently carry out a refinancing of Medsenic in which BioSenic will not participate. Financing for the next few months has been secured by means of an amendment to the convertible bond contract with GTO 15, allowing up to EUR 1.5 million to be drawn down, including at least two tranches of EUR 0.2 million net without any liquidity conditions. Unaudited Interim Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income (in thousands of euros) For the six-months period ended 30/06/2024 30/06/2023 Revenues 0 0 Other operating income 2,694 365 Total revenues and operating income 2,694 365 Research and development expenses (1,628) (2,452) General and administrative expenses (1,532) (1,813) Other operating expenses (1) (1) Operating profit/(loss) (467) (3,900) Financial Income 1,579 35 Interest income 24 30 Impairment expenses 0 (16,094) Financial expenses (787) (1,136) Exchange gains/(losses) 1 1 Result Profit/(loss) before taxes 349 (21,063) Income taxes 0 (24) Result Profit/(loss) for the Period 349 (21,087) Thereof attributable to: Owners of the Company 495 (20,843) Non-controlling interests (146) (244) Other comprehensive income 0 0 TOTAL COMPREHENSIVE INCOME/(LOSS) OF THE PERIOD 349 (21,087) Thereof attributable to: Owners of the Company 495 (20,843) Non-controlling interests (146) (244) Basic and diluted loss per share (in euros) 0.003 (0.17) Unaudited Interim Condensed Consolidated Statement of Financial Position Consolidated Assets IFRS per: (in thousands of euros) 30/06/2024 31/12/2023 Non-current assets 6,808 7,713 Intangible assets 2,984 2,989 Property, plant and equipment 591 698 Finance lease receivable 322 398 Investments in associates 12 12 Other non-current assets 53 135 R&D Tax Credits 2,845 3,480 Current assets 2,540 1,846 Trade and other receivables 1,187 1,315 Other current assets 437 272 Finance lease receivable 148 141 Cash and cash equivalents 816 117 TOTAL ASSETS 9,396 9,559 Consolidated Equity & Liabilities IFRS per: (in thousands of euros) 30/06/2024 31/12/2023 Equity attributable to owners of the parent (20,465) (22,912) Share capital 8,175 6,275 Share premium 5,839 5,720 Accumulated losses and other reserves (34,396) (34,887) Other reserves (82) (20) Non-controlling interests 61 207 Total Equity (20,403) (22,705) Non-current liabilities 23,313 16,420 Interest bearing borrowings 23,233 16,340 Other non-current liabilities 80 80 Current liabilities 7,434 15,844 Interest bearing borrowings 3,561 11,821 Trade and other payables 2,831 3,871 Current tax liabilities 0 5 Other current liabilities 94 147 Total liabilities 29,799 32,264 TOTAL EQUITY AND LIABILITIES 9,396 9,559 Unaudited Interim Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows (in thousands of euros) For the six-month period ended 30 June 2024 2023 CASH FLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES Operating profit/(loss) (467) (3,900) Adjustments for: Depreciation and Amortisation 106 101 Share-based compensation (63) 0 Grants income related to tax credit (48) (115) Grants income related to withholding tax (5) (47) Other (141) (68) Movements in working capital: (Increase)/Decrease in Trade and other receivables (excluding government grants) (125) (34) Increase/(Decrease) in Trade and other Payables (827) 492 Cash used by operations (1,569) (3,570) Cash received from license agreement 0 940 Cash received from grants related to tax credit 735 700 Net cash used in operating activities (834) (1,930) CASH FLOW FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES Disposal of intangible assets 0 17 Disposal of property, plant and equipment 0 3 Purchases of property, plant and equipment 0 (12) Purchases of intangible assets 0 (1) Net cash generated from investing activities 0 7 CASH FLOW FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES Repayment of borrowings (122) (150) Proceeds from borrowings 210 0 Proceeds from convertible borrowings 1,200 550 Repayment of lease liabilities (9) (84) Repayment of other financial liabilities (125) (75) Interests paid (12) (13) Transaction costs (109) (81) Proceeds from issue of equity instruments 500 450 Net cash generated from financing activities 1,533 596 NET INCREASE (DECREASE) IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS 699 (1,327) CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS at beginning of the period 117 1,846 CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS at end of the period 816 519 Unaudited Interim Condensed Consolidated Statement of Changes in Shareholders' Equity Attributable to owners of the parent Non-controlling interests TOTAL EQUITY (in thousands of euros) Share capital Share premium Accumulated Losses & other reserves Other elements of comprehensive income BALANCE AT 1 JANUARY 2023 4,774 4,517 (5,723) (42) (402) 3,124 Total comprehensive income of the period 0 0 (20,843) 0 (244) (21,087) Issue of share capital 450 158 0 0 0 609 Transaction costs for equity issue 0 (81) 0 0 0 (81) Other 0 0 (85) (6) 0 (91) BALANCE AT 30 JUNE 2023 5,224 4,594 (26,652) (48) (646) (17,528) BALANCE AT 1 JANUARY 2024 6,275 5,720 (34,887) (20) 207 (22,705) Total comprehensive income of the period 0 0 495 0 (146) 349 Issue of share capital 1,900 228 0 0 0 2,128 Transaction costs for equity issue 0 (109) 0 0 0 (109 Share-based payment 0 0 0 (63) 0 (63) Other 0 0 (4) 0 0 (4) BALANCE AT 30 JUNE 2024 8,175 5,839 (34,396) (82) 61 (20,405) About BioSenic BioSenic is a leading biotech company specializing in the development of clinical assets issued from its Medsenics arsenic trioxide (ATO) platform. Key target indications for the autoimmune platform include graft-versus-host-disease (GvHD), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and now systemic sclerosis (SSc). Following the merger in October 2022, BioSenic combined the strategic positionings and strengths of Medsenic and Bone Therapeutics. The merger specifically enables Medsenic/Biosenic to develop an entirely new arsenal of various anti-inflammatory and anti-autoimmune formulations using the immunomodulatory properties of ATO/oral ATO (OATO). BioSenic is based in the Louvain-la-Neuve Science Park in Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium. Further information is available at http://www.biosenic.com. About the main Medsenic/BioSenic technology platform The ATO platform provides derived active products with immunomodulatory properties and fundamental effects on the activated cells of the immune system. One direct application is its use in onco-immunology to treat GvHD (Graft-versus-Host Disease) in its chronic, established stage. cGvHD is one of the most common and clinically significant complications affecting long-term survival of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). Medsenic has been successful in a phase 2 trial with its intravenous formulation, Arscimed, which has orphan drug designation status by FDA and EMA. The company is heading towards an international phase 3 confirmatory study, with its new, IP-protected, OATO formulation. Another selected target is moderate-to-severe forms of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), using the same oral formulation. ATO has shown good safety and significant clinical efficacy on several affected organs (skin, mucosae, and the gastrointestinal tract). Systemic sclerosis is now full part of the clinical pipeline of Medsenic/BioSenic. This serious chronic disease badly affects skin, lungs, or vascularization, and has no current effective treatment. Preclinical studies on pertinent animal models are positive, giving good grounds to launch a phase 2 clinical protocol, using new immunomodulatory formulations of APIs recognized to be active on the immune system. The company is currently focusing its present R&D and clinical activities on a selective, accelerated development of its autoimmune platform. For further information, please contact: BioSenic SA Finsys Management SRL, represented by its permanent representative Jean-Luc Vandebroek, managing-director ad interim Tel : +32 478 27 68 42 investorrelations@biosenic.com Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this press release are forward-looking, which reflect the company or, as appropriate, the company directors current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial effects of the plans and events described herein. A multitude of factors including, but not limited to, changes in demand, competition and technology, can cause actual events, performance or results to differ significantly from any anticipated development. Forward looking statements contained in this press release regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. As a result, the company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any update or revisions to any forward-looking statements in this press release as a result of any change in expectations or any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which these forward-looking statements are based. Neither the company nor its advisers or representatives nor any of its subsidiary undertakings or any such persons officers or employees guarantees that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor does either accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release or the actual occurrence of the forecasted developments. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Stellantis Updates 2024 Financial Guidance AMSTERDAM, September 30, 2024 Stellantis N.V. today revised its 2024 financial guidance, reflecting decisions to significantly enlarge remediation actions on North American performance issues, as well as deterioration in global industry dynamics. The Company has accelerated its planned normalization of inventory levels in the U.S., targeting no more than 330,000 units of dealer inventory by year-end 2024, from a prior timing objective of the first quarter of 2025. Actions include North American shipment declines of more than 200,000 vehicles in the second half of 2024 (up from 100,000 prior guidance), compared to the prior year period, increased incentives on 2024 and older model year vehicles, and productivity improvement initiatives that encompass both cost and capacity adjustments. Deterioration in the global industry backdrop reflects a lower 2024 market forecast than at the beginning of the period, while competitive dynamics have intensified due to both rising industry supply, as well as increased Chinese competition. The Companys updated 2024 market outlook and financial guidance is as follows: Adjusted operating income (AOI) margin Expected to be between 5.5 - 7.0% for the FY 2024 period, down from prior double digit. Roughly two-thirds of the reduced AOI margin is driven by corrective actions in North America. Other contributors include lower than expected sales performance in the second half of the year across most regions. Industrial free cash flow Expected to range from -5 billion to -10 billion, from prior Positive. This primarily reflects the substantially lower AOI outlook as well as the impact of temporarily elevated working capital in the second half of 2024. The Company will continue to leverage and expand its competitive differentiators and believes that the recovery actions being put in place will ensure stronger operational and financial performance in 2025 and beyond. # # # About Stellantis Stellantis N.V. (NYSE: STLA / Euronext Milan: STLAM / Euronext Paris: STLAP) is one of the worlds leading automakers aiming to provide clean, safe and affordable freedom of mobility to all. Its best known for its unique portfolio of iconic and innovative brands including Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroen, Dodge, DS Automobiles, FIAT, Jeep , Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, Ram, Vauxhall, Free2move and Leasys. Stellantis is executing its Dare Forward 2030, a bold strategic plan that paves the way to achieve the ambitious target of becoming a carbon net zero mobility tech company by 2038, with single-digit percentage compensation of the remaining emissions, while creating added value for all stakeholders. For more information, visit www.stellantis.com . @Stellantis Stellantis Stellantis Stellantis For more information, contact: investor.relations@stellantis.com communications@stellantis.com www.stellantis.com Safe harbor statement This document, in particular references to FY 2024 Guidance, contains forward looking statements. Statements regarding future financial performance and the Companys expectations as to the achievement of certain targeted metrics, including revenues, industrial free cash flows, vehicle shipments, capital investments, research and development costs and other expenses at any future date or for any future period are forward-looking statements. These statements may include terms such as may, will, expect, could, should, intend, estimate, anticipate, believe, remain, on track, design, target, objective, goal, forecast, projection, outlook, prospects, plan, or similar terms. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Rather, they are based on the Companys current state of knowledge, future expectations and projections about future events and are by their nature, subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. They relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur or exist in the future and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on them. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including: the Companys ability to launch new products successfully and to maintain vehicle shipment volumes; changes in the global financial markets, general economic environment and changes in demand for automotive products, which is subject to cyclicality; the Companys ability to successfully manage the industry-wide transition from internal combustion engines to full electrification; the Companys ability to offer innovative, attractive products and to develop, manufacture and sell vehicles with advanced features including enhanced electrification, connectivity and autonomous-driving characteristics; the Companys ability to produce or procure electric batteries with competitive performance, cost and at required volumes; the Companys ability to successfully launch new businesses and integrate acquisitions; a significant malfunction, disruption or security breach compromising information technology systems or the electronic control systems contained in the Companys vehicles; exchange rate fluctuations, interest rate changes, credit risk and other market risks; increases in costs, disruptions of supply or shortages of raw materials, parts, components and systems used in the Companys vehicles; changes in local economic and political conditions; changes in trade policy, the imposition of global and regional tariffs or tariffs targeted to the automotive industry, the enactment of tax reforms or other changes in tax laws and regulations; the level of governmental economic incentives available to support the adoption of battery electric vehicles; the impact of increasingly stringent regulations regarding fuel efficiency requirements and reduced greenhouse gas and tailpipe emissions; various types of claims, lawsuits, governmental investigations and other contingencies, including product liability and warranty claims and environmental claims, investigations and lawsuits; material operating expenditures in relation to compliance with environmental, health and safety regulations; the level of competition in the automotive industry, which may increase due to consolidation and new entrants; the Companys ability to attract and retain experienced management and employees; exposure to shortfalls in the funding of the Companys defined benefit pension plans; the Companys ability to provide or arrange for access to adequate financing for dealers and retail customers and associated risks related to the operations of financial services companies; the Companys ability to access funding to execute its business plan; the Companys ability to realize anticipated benefits from joint venture arrangements; disruptions arising from political, social and economic instability; risks associated with the Companys relationships with employees, dealers and suppliers; the Companys ability to maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting; developments in labor and industrial relations and developments in applicable labor laws; earthquakes or other disasters; and other risks and uncertainties. Any forward-looking statements contained in this document speak only as of the date of this document and the Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise publicly forward-looking statements. Further information concerning the Company and its businesses, including factors that could materially affect the Companys financial results, is included in the Companys reports and filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and AFM. Attachment MIAMI, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Defiance ETFs, a leading provider of thematic and leverage-focused exchange-traded funds, is thrilled to announce that its MSTX ETF (Daily Target 1.75X Long MSTR ETF) has surpassed $400 million in assets under management (AUM). This milestone underscores the strong investor demand and confidence in the products innovative approach to offering amplified exposure to MicroStrategy Inc. (MSTR), a company known for its substantial Bitcoin holdings and cutting-edge data analytics solutions. Key Highlights: Unprecedented Growth: The MSTX ETFs rapid ascent to $400 million in AUM reflects investors growing interest in leveraged strategies and their desire to capitalize on the high volatility and significant movements in MicroStrategys stock. Innovative Investment Strategy: MSTX offers 1.75x the daily performance of MicroStrategys stock, providing sophisticated investors with a powerful tool to enhance their exposure to the companys dynamic market positioning. The ETF is designed for investors with a strong appetite for risk who seek the potential for amplified returns over short-term holding periods. Market Demand: The strong reception of the MSTX ETF signals confidence in Defiance ETFs ability to meet market demand for targeted leverage exposure, particularly in the tech and cryptocurrency sectors. MicroStrategys strategic focus on Bitcoin has made it a popular choice among investors looking to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency market. Strategic Timing: The launch of MSTX comes at a time when interest in both MicroStrategy and Bitcoin is surging, driven by the increasing institutional adoption of digital assets and the evolving landscape of corporate strategies centered around blockchain technology. We are excited to see such strong early interest in the MSTX ETF, which validates our belief in the demand for specialized leveraged products that offer precise exposure to high-growth sectors, said Sylvia Jablonski, CEO of Defiance ETFs. The rapid growth of MSTX is a testament to our teams ability to deliver innovative investment solutions that resonate with todays investors. About Defiance ETFs: Defiance ETFs is a leader in leverage-focused exchange-traded funds, providing innovative solutions designed for tactical traders and investors seeking amplified exposure to individual companies. For more information about the MSTX ETF or to explore Defiance ETFs full lineup of products, please visit defianceetfs.com. Media Contact: David Hanono Defiance ETFs Tel: 833.333.9383 The Fund is not intended to be used by, and is not appropriate for, investors who do not intend to actively monitor and manage their portfolios. The Fund pursues a daily leveraged investment objective, which means that the Fund is riskier than alternatives that do not use leverage because the Fund magnifies the performance of its Underlying Security. The Fund is not suitable for all investors. The Fund is designed to be utilized only by sophisticated investors, such as traders and active investors employing dynamic strategies. Investors who do not understand the Funds, or do not intend to actively manage their funds and monitor their investments should not buy shares of the Funds. About Defiance ETFs Founded in 2018, Defiance stands as a leading ETF issuer dedicated to income and thematic investing. Defiance also pioneers leveraged ETFs designed for traders seeking tactical opportunities. Our suite of first-mover leveraged & thematic ETFs empowers investors to express targeted views on disruptive innovations, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and quantum computing, while our actively managed options ETFs are designed to seek current income. Important Disclosures The Funds' investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses must be considered carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other important information about the investment company. Please read carefully before investing. A hard copy of the prospectuses can be requested by calling 833.333.9383. Defiance ETFs LLC is the ETF sponsor. The Funds investment adviser is Tidal Investments, LLC (Tidal or the Adviser). Investing involves risk. Principal loss is possible. There is no guarantee that the Funds investment strategy will be properly implemented, and an investor may lose some or all of its investment. Underlying Security Risk. The underlying security is subject to many risks that can negatively impact the Fund. Leverage Risk. Leverage may increase the risk of loss and cause fluctuations in the market value of the Funds portfolio to have disproportionately large effects or cause the NAV of the Fund generally to decline faster than it would otherwise. Derivatives Risk. Derivatives may be more sensitive to changes in market conditions and may amplify risks. Effects of Compounding and Market Volatility Risk. The Fund has a daily leveraged investment objective and the Funds performance for periods greater than a trading day will be the result of each days returns compounded over the period, which is very likely to differ from the Fund performance, before fees and expenses. Single Issuer Risk. Issuer-specific attributes may cause an investment in the Fund to be more volatile than a traditional pooled investment which diversifies risk or the market generally. The value of the Fund, which focuses on an individual security, may be more volatile than a traditional pooled investment or the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of a traditional pooled investment or the market as a whole. MSTR Performance Risk. MSTR may fail to meet its publicly announced guidelines or other expectations about its business, which could cause the price of MSTR to decline. Bitcoin Risk. While the Fund will not directly invest in digital assets, it will be subject to the risks associated with Bitcoin by virtue of its investments in options contracts that reference MSTR. New Fund Risk. As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Funds market exposure for limited periods of time. New Fund Risk. As of the date of this prospectus, the Fund has no operating history and currently has fewer assets than larger funds. Like other new funds, large inflows and outflows may impact the Fund's market exposure for limited periods of time. Brokerage Commissions may be charged on trades. MSTX is distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/87922bbb-50cf-447b-a7be-657fcf4cde83 MONTREAL, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd (the Company or Osisko) (OR: TSX & NYSE) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding agreement to acquire a 1.8% gross revenue royalty (GRR) on the Dalgaranga Gold project (the Dalgaranga Royalty and the Project) operated by Spartan Resources Limited (Spartan) in Western Australia. In addition, Osisko shall also acquire a 1.35% GRR (the Exploration Royalty) on additional regional exploration licenses in proximity to Dalgaranga. The considerations to be paid by Osisko to the seller, Tembo Capital Mining Fund III (Tembo), for the Dalgaranga Royalty and the Exploration Royalty, respectively, total US$44 million and US$6 million (collectively the Transaction). Closing of the Transaction is subject to approval from Australias Foreign Investment Review Board which is expected in the coming weeks. TRANSACTION HIGHLIGHTS Exposure to a Premium Gold Development Project in a Top-Tier Mining Jurisdiction Dalgaranga is one of the best gold development and production re-start projects globally. The Project is located in Western Australia, one of the most prolific and well-established mining jurisdictions; and Dalgaranga, a recently mined open pit operation, has been rejuvenated by very impressive new high-grade discoveries, most notably the Never Never and Pepper deposits, which have shifted the focus towards ore extraction via underground mining methods. Near-Term Cash Flow Potential The Dalgaranga mill is fully-permitted and approvals for future underground mining are in progress, providing a clear path to near-term production. The Project is on the verge of re-starting as one of Western Australias next significant high-grade gold mines with first production from underground likely re-commencing within the next 2 years. Significant Geological Potential High-grade discoveries at the Project continue to drive ongoing underground mineral inventory growth; Spartan expects to complete a Mineral Reserve Estimate update and Feasibility Study both within the first half of 2025; the new underground mine plan will serve as the basis for Spartans Final Investment Decision ( FID ) to re-start operations at Dalgaranga; and, ) to re-start operations at Dalgaranga; and, In addition to the evolving exploration story at Dalgaranga, the Exploration Royalty provides exposure to a large prospective land package covering mineralization within trucking distance to various mills located in the Murchison Gold District. Jason Attew, President and CEO of Osisko commented: Osiskos ability to uncover and execute accretive near-term cash flow precious metals transactions in Tier-1 mining jurisdictions is synonymous with our strategy. We believe that Dalgaranga is one of the most attractive gold development and re-start projects globally given its high-grade underground nature, and its location in the Murchison Gold District in Western Australia. What the Spartan team has been able to accomplish in terms of resource discovery and definition at Dalgaranga over the past two years is impressive. We believe that Spartan will move forward with an FID at the Project before the end of 2025 and that its team will continue to expand the high-grade resource at Dalgaranga. Were extremely pleased to be associated with one of Australias most exciting gold development and re-start opportunities, and with an asset that boasts such exciting exploration upside potential. We look forward to our partnership with the Spartan team going forward. DALGARANGA ROYALTY - ASSET HIGHLIGHTS Fully-Permitted Processing Plant in a Tier-11 Mining Jurisdiction With most material approvals already in place, the Project is in a position to be advanced quickly into development and construction upon FID and final project financing; and, Significant infrastructure has already been established on site, including a 2.5 million tonnes per annum sulphide processing mill (gravity and CIL) commissioned in May 2018 and operated until November 2022, and associated tailings, water, power and camp facilities to support the operations (all currently on care & maintenance). Spartan has also commenced construction of twin exploration declines, which is also likely to also be used for near-term production purposes. High-Grade, Long Life, and Low-Cost Future Gold Mine Spartans Dalgaranga licenses cover an area of approximately 509 square kilometers ( km 2 ) in the prospective Murchison Gold District of Western Australia; ) in the prospective Murchison Gold District of Western Australia; As of June 30 th , 2024 the global Mineral Resource Estimate ( MRE ) at Dalgaranga consisted of 8.70 million tonnes ( Mt ) grading 4.98 g/t gold ( Au ) for 1.393 million ounces ( Moz ) in the Indicated category, in addition to 7.44Mt grading 4.56 g/t Au for 1.089 Moz in the Inferred category; , 2024 the global Mineral Resource Estimate ( ) at Dalgaranga consisted of 8.70 million tonnes ( ) grading 4.98 g/t gold ( ) for 1.393 million ounces ( ) in the Indicated category, in addition to 7.44Mt grading 4.56 g/t Au for 1.089 Moz in the Inferred category; The Projects high-grade core, which is spread across the Never Never and Pepper deposits, consists of 3.88Mt grading 8.74 g/t Au for 1.09 Moz in the Indicated category, and 2.86Mt grading 8.52g/t Au for 0.78 Moz in the Inferred category and currently contains 75% of the identified gold to date; as such, this area remains a key target for future MRE expansions; Spartan is also focused on delineating higher grade underground Mineral Resources for the Four Pillars and West Winds gold prospects, situated under the historic Gilbeys open pit; Based on the above MRE, Osisko currently expects a mine life of 12+ years at Dalgaranga; and, Due to the high-grade nature of the deposit, Osisko expects Dalgaranga to be in the lowest quartile on the global gold cost curve, once back in production. Spartan is a Mid-Sized and Experienced Australian Underground Miner Spartan is a mid-sized and well-capitalized miner (~A$90 million in cash at June 30, 2024), led by a management team with a history of exploration success, mine development and operational expertise; Spartan has access to Western Australias renowned, highly-skilled and trained local mining workforce; and, Spartans key shareholders include Ramelius Resources Limited (18%) and Tembo (10%). Additional Information Spartan has the ability to buy back up to 20% of the Dalgaranga Royalty, as well as 20% of the Exploration Royalty for a total of A$3.15 million until February 2027. ___________________________ 1 Tier-1 Mining Jurisdiction defined as Australia, Canada, or USA EXPLORATION ROYALTY HIGHLIGHTS Large Land Packages and Highly Prospective Exploration Licenses The Exploration Royalty covers the 685 km 2 Yalgoo Licenses, in addition to ~1000 km 2 of other prospective licenses (including the advanced Glenburgh and Mt Egerton exploration properties, which have the potential to be a second production hub); Yalgoo Licenses, in addition to ~1000 km of other prospective licenses (including the advanced Glenburgh and Mt Egerton exploration properties, which have the potential to be a second production hub); Yalgoo is approximately 110 kilometers ( km ) Southwest via road from Dalgaranga and hosts the Melville gold deposit which consists of an open pit MRE which contains 3.35 Mt grading 1.49 g/t Au for 160 thousand ounces ( koz ) in the Indicated category, and 1.88Mt grading 1.37 g/t Au for 83koz in the Inferred category, within a granted Mining Lease; ) Southwest via road from Dalgaranga and hosts the Melville gold deposit which consists of an open pit MRE which contains 3.35 Mt grading 1.49 g/t Au for 160 thousand ounces ( ) in the Indicated category, and 1.88Mt grading 1.37 g/t Au for 83koz in the Inferred category, within a granted Mining Lease; Spartan is progressing with permitting of Yalgoo, which is expected to provide feed to supplement the high-grade ore from Never Never and Pepper; Glenburgh is a 768 km 2 land package, approximately 300km North of Dalgaranga, and contains 13.5Mt grading 1.0 g/t Au for 431koz in the Indicated category, and 2.80Mt grading 0.90 g/t Au for 79koz in the Inferred category, spread across 11 separate near-surface deposits, 10 of which are on a granted Mining Lease; and, land package, approximately 300km North of Dalgaranga, and contains 13.5Mt grading 1.0 g/t Au for 431koz in the Indicated category, and 2.80Mt grading 0.90 g/t Au for 79koz in the Inferred category, spread across 11 separate near-surface deposits, 10 of which are on a granted Mining Lease; and, Mt Egerton is a 237 km2 land package, approximately 300km North of Dalgaranga, and contains 0.23Mt grading 3.40 g/t Au for 25koz in the Indicated category, spread across two existing deposits (Hibernian and Gaffneys Find), both of which are located within granted Mining Leases. For more information, please refer to https://spartanresources.com.au/. Qualified Person The scientific and technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Guy Desharnais, Ph.D., P.Geo., Vice President, Project Evaluation at Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd, who is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101). About Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd. Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd is an intermediate precious metal royalty company which holds a North American focused portfolio of over 185 royalties, streams and precious metal offtakes, including 20 producing assets. Osiskos portfolio is anchored by its cornerstone asset, a 5% net smelter return royalty on the Canadian Malartic Complex, one of Canadas largest gold mines. Osiskos head office is located at 1100 Avenue des Canadiens-de-Montreal, Suite 300, Montreal, Quebec, H3B 2S2. For further information, please contact Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd: Grant Moenting Vice President, Capital Markets Tel: (514) 940-0670 #116 Mobile : (365) 275-1954 Email: gmoenting@osiskogr.com Heather Taylor Vice President, Sustainability & Communications Tel: (514) 940-0670 #105 Email: htaylor@osiskogr.com CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Certain statements contained in this press release may be deemed forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are statements other than statements of historical fact, that address, without limitation, future events, the obtaining of the required approval to close the Transaction, that the Project, including the Never Never and Pepper deposits will continue to be developed and will achieve near-term production re-start within 2 years, that exploration will be successful and that high-grade discovery will continue to drive growth of mineral inventories, that a Mining Reserve Estimate update and Feasibility Study will be delivered by the first half of 2025, that exploration potential on land covered by the Exploration Royalty will materialize, that a FID to re-start operations will be made by Spartan before the end of 2025 and that final project financing will be achieved, that delineation of higher grade underground Mineral Resources for the Four Pillars and West Winds gold prospects will be achieved, that Osiskos expectation of a mine life of 12+ years at Dalgaranga at the lowest quartile on the global cost curve will be accurate, that Spartan will continue to be well capitalized and have access to highly-skilled workforce, that Spartan may exercise its right to buy back 20% of the Dalgaranga Royalty as well as 20% of the Exploration Royalty, production estimates of Osiskos assets (including increase of production), timely developments of mining properties over which Osisko has royalties, streams, offtakes and investments, managements expectations regarding Osiskos growth, results of operations, estimated future revenues, production costs, carrying value of assets, ability to continue to pay dividend, requirements for additional capital, business prospects and opportunities future demand for and fluctuation of prices of commodities (including outlook on gold, silver, diamonds, other commodities) currency, markets and general market conditions. In addition, statements and estimates (including data in tables) relating to mineral reserves and resources and gold equivalent ounces are forward-looking statements, as they involve implied assessment, based on certain estimates and assumptions, and no assurance can be given that the estimates will be realized. 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, scheduled and similar expressions or variations (including negative variations), or that events or conditions will, would, may, could or should occur. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, most of which are beyond the control of Osisko, and actual results may accordingly differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Such risk factors include, without limitation, (i) with respect to properties in which Osisko holds a royalty, stream or other interest; risks related to: (a) the operators of the properties, (b) timely development, permitting, construction, commencement of production, ramp-up (including operating and technical challenges), (c) differences in rate and timing of production from resource estimates or production forecasts by operators, (d) differences in conversion rate from resources to reserves and ability to replace resources, (e) the unfavorable outcome of any challenges or litigation relating title, permit or license, (f) hazards and uncertainty associated with the business of exploring, development and mining including, but not limited to unusual or unexpected geological and metallurgical conditions, slope failures or cave-ins, flooding and other natural disasters or civil unrest or other uninsured risks, (g) that development of the Project will be pursued diligently and in a timely manner, (ii) with respect to other external factors: (a) fluctuations in the prices of the commodities that drive royalties, streams, offtakes and investments held by Osisko, (b) fluctuations in the value of the Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar, (c) regulatory changes by national and local governments, including permitting and licensing regimes and taxation policies, regulations and political or economic developments in any of the countries where properties in which Osisko holds a royalty, stream or other interest are located or through which they are held, (d) continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions, and (e) responses of relevant governments to infectious diseases outbreaks and the effectiveness of such response and the potential impact of such outbreaks on Osiskos business, operations and financial condition, (f) that conditions will be met to allow Osisko to exercise to exercise certain additional rights granted by Savannah; (iii) with respect to internal factors: (a) business opportunities that may or not become available to, or are pursued by Osisko, (b) the integration of acquired assets or (c) the determination of Osiskos PFIC status. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including, without limitation: that Spartan will maintain development of the Dalgaranga Project in a manner consistent with past activities; that public disclosure concerning the Project remains accurate; that no adverse development occurs in respect of the Project; and the absence of any other factors that could cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended and the absence of significant change in the Corporations ongoing income and assets relating to determination of its PFIC status; the absence of any other factors that could cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended and, with respect to properties in which Osisko holds a royalty, stream or other interest, (i) the ongoing operation of the properties by the owners or operators of such properties in a manner consistent with past practice and with public disclosure (including forecast of production), (ii) the accuracy of public statements and disclosures made by the owners or operators of such underlying properties (including expectations for the development of underlying properties that are not yet in production), (iii) no adverse development in respect of any significant property, (iv) that statements and estimates relating to mineral reserves and resources by owners and operators are accurate and (v) the implementation of an adequate plan for integration of acquired assets. For additional information on risks, uncertainties and assumptions, please refer to the most recent Annual Information Form of Osisko filed on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and EDGAR at www.sec.gov which also provides additional general assumptions in connection with these statements. Osisko cautions that the foregoing list of risk and uncertainties is not exhaustive. Investors and others should carefully consider the above factors as well as the uncertainties they represent and the risk they entail. Osisko believes that the assumptions reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be accurate as actual results, and prospective events could materially differ from those anticipated such the forward-looking statements and such forward-looking statements included in this press release are not guarantee of future performance and should not be unduly relied upon. In this press release, Osisko relies on information publicly disclosed by a third party pertaining to its assets and, therefore, assumes no liability for such third-party public disclosure. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release. Osisko undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by applicable law. Photos accompanying this announcement are available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/dd586297-5251-4166-889c-4db2ec30320a https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/29587cfa-087b-4f17-a6f0-b07ee364d483 Milan, Italy, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Thermore Group, which has been innovating in the apparel insulation-alternative sector for 50 years, announces the launch of Invisiloft, the revolutionary slim insulation that combines exceptional warmth with unprecedented thinness. Invisiloft has been designed to offer extraordinary insulating capacity while minimizing bulk, a feature that marks a significant step forward in the design of technical garments. Compactness and Versatility: Less bulky than traditional padding, one of the most significant advantages of Invisiloft is its ability to provide warmth without the typical volume of classic insulation, making it perfect for lightweight and functional garments such as high-performance sportswear. However, its not limited to sportswear. The innovative insulation is also well-suited for everyday wear, thanks to its packable nature, allowing jackets and outerwear to be easily stored in small spaces without compromising functionality. Made with 100% recycled fibers from post-consumer PET bottles, Invisiloft offers the ideal combination of softness, lightness, and high thermal performance, perfectly meeting the needs of clothing brands seeking superior thermal performance combined with eco-friendly materials. Invisiloft is GRS (Global Recycled Standard) certified, further affirming Thermores commitment to the growing sustainability demands within the industry. Available in four weights from 100 to 200 per square meter Invisiloft adapts to any design, meeting different climate and comfort requirements. Additionally, it is compatible with both normal washing and dry cleaning, ensuring ease of maintenance and long-lasting durability. Once again, Thermore reaffirms its position as a true pioneer in the textile industry, driven by innovation, performance, sustainability, and durability; principles that have shaped the companys history since its founding in 1972. ABOUT THERMORE Based in Milan, Italy, Thermore specializes in the research, development, production and marketing of high-quality thermal insulation for performance apparel. Through its global sales network and its production facilities in the Far East and Europe, Thermore caters to the best brands in the outerwear industry. Thermore was the first company to launch a recycled insulation and is now highly focused on sustainable innovation, using post-consumer waste such as PET bottles Attachment VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Myriad Uranium Corp. (CSE: M) (OTCQB: MYRUF) (FSE: C3Q) (Myriad or the Company), a uranium exploration and development company focused on the past-producing Copper Mountain Uranium Project in Wyoming, USA, today announced that Thomas Lamb, CEO, will present live at the Battery and Precious Metals Virtual Investor Conference, hosted by VirtualInvestorConferences.com, on October 1st 2024. DATE: Tuesday October 1st TIME: 1:00 PM ET LINK: https://bit.ly/3z584tW Available for 1x1 meetings: October 1, 2, 3 This will be a live, interactive online event where investors are invited to ask the company questions in real-time. If attendees are not able to join the event live on the day of the conference, an archived webcast will also be made available after the event. It is recommended that online investors pre-register and run the online system check to expedite participation and receive event updates. Learn more about the event at www.virtualinvestorconferences.com . Recent Company Highlights About Myriad Uranium Corp. Myriad Uranium Corp. is a uranium exploration company with an earnable 75% interest in the Copper Mountain Uranium Project in Wyoming, USA. Copper Mountain hosts several known uranium deposits and historic uranium mines, including the Arrowhead Mine which produced 500,000 lbs of eU3O8. Copper Mountain saw extensive drilling and development by Union Pacific, which developed a mine plan and built a leach pad for one of the deposits at Copper Mountain. Operations ceased in 1980 before mining could commence due to falling uranium prices. Approximately 2,000 boreholes have been drilled at Copper Mountain and the project area has significant exploration upside. Union Pacific is estimated to have spent C$117 million (2024 dollars) exploring and developing Copper Mountain, generating significant historical resource estimates which are detailed here. The Company's presentation can be viewed here. A recent interview with Crux Investor can be viewed here. Myriad also has a 50% interest in the Millen Mountain Property in Nova Scotia, Canada, with the other 50% held by Probe Metals Inc., For further information, please refer to Myriad's disclosure record on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca), contact Myriad by telephone at +1.604.418.2877, or refer to Myriad's website at www.myriaduranium.com . About Virtual Investor Conferences Virtual Investor Conferences (VIC) is the leading proprietary investor conference series that provides an interactive forum for publicly traded companies to seamlessly present directly to investors. Providing a real-time investor engagement solution, VIC is specifically designed to offer companies more efficient investor access. Replicating the components of an on-site investor conference, VIC offers companies enhanced capabilities to connect with investors, schedule targeted one-on-one meetings and enhance their presentations with dynamic video content. Accelerating the next level of investor engagement, Virtual Investor Conferences delivers leading investor communications to a global network of retail and institutional investors. CONTACTS: Myriad Uranium Corp. Thomas Lamb President and CEO tlamb@myriaduranium.com Virtual Investor Conferences John M. Viglotti SVP Corporate Services, Investor Access OTC Markets Group (212) 220-2221 johnv@otcmarkets.com Forward-Looking Statements Mineralization hosted on adjacent or nearby properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization hosted on the Companys properties. This news release contains forward-looking information that is based on the Companys current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections. This forward-looking information includes, among other things, the Companys business, plans, outlook and business strategy. The words may, would, could, should, will, likely, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, plan, forecast, project and believe or other similar words and phrases are intended to identify forward-looking information. The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect, including with respect to the Companys business plans respecting the exploration and development of the Companys mineral properties, the proposed work program on the Companys mineral properties and the potential and economic viability of the Companys mineral properties. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Companys actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, but are not limited to: changes in economic conditions or financial markets; increases in costs; litigation; legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; and technological or operational difficulties. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect our forward-looking information. These and other factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking information. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. The CSE has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the contents of this news release. TORONTO, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AlayaCare is pleased to announce it has ranked No. 313 on the 2024 Report on Business magazines ranking of Canadas Top Growing Companies. Canadas Top Growing Companies ranks Canadian companies on three-year revenue growth. AlayaCare earned its spot with three-year growth of 106%. Canadas Top Growing Companies is an editorial ranking that was launched in 2019 to celebrate the achievements of innovative businesses in Canada. To qualify for this voluntary program, companies had to complete an in-depth application process and fulfill revenue requirements. In total, 417 companies earned a spot on this years ranking. "Securing a spot for the sixth consecutive year on The Globe and Mails Top Growing Companies list is a reflection of our teams unwavering dedication to delivering cutting-edge solutions that empower home-based care providers," said Adrian Schauer, founder and CEO of AlayaCare. "This achievement underscores our commitment to driving innovation in the healthcare sector through advanced technologies like AI, machine learning, and data science, enabling our clients to provide superior care while optimizing operations. We're proud to be recognized among Canadas top businesses, and we remain focused on transforming the future of home-based care." The full list of 2024 winners along with editorial coverage is published in the October issue of Report on Business magazine. The list is out now and online here. Our annual ranking of Canadas Top Growing Companies reflects the sector-spanning ingenuity of this countrys entrepreneurs and corporate leaders, says Dawn Calleja, Editor of Report on Business magazine. And we think its important to tell their stories, to help inspire the next generation of up-and-comers across the country. "The Globe and Mail congratulates this year's Canada's Top Growing Companies' winners for achieving exceptional growth and resilience in facing business challenges," says Andrew Saunders, CEO of The Globe and Mail. It is a testament to dedication, strategic vision, and innovative drive. About The Globe and Mail The Globe and Mail is Canadas foremost news media company, leading the national discussion and causing policy change through brave and independent journalism since 1844. With our award-winning coverage of business, politics and national affairs, The Globe and Mail newspaper reaches 6.2 million readers every week in our print or digital formats, and Report on Business magazine reaches 2.9 million readers in print and digital every issue. Our investment in innovative data science means that as the world continues to change, so does The Globe. The Globe and Mail is owned by Woodbridge, the investment arm of the Thomson family. AlayaCare Press Contact: Steph Davidson steph.davidson@alayacare.com 647-668-6369 About AlayaCare AlayaCare is an end-to-end software platform for public, private, non-profit, and community home-based care organizations that manages the entire client lifecycle, including needs assessments, care plans, scheduling, visit and route optimization, and visit verification. Founded in 2014 with over 600 employees, AlayaCare combines traditional in-home and virtual care solutions that enable care providers to lower the cost of care and achieve better outcomes for their clients. For more information, visit: AlayaCare.com. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ea11344f-db68-4274-bec2-5fce1a99f4e1 Dublin, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Viral Vector Manufacturing Market - Forecasts from 2024 to 2029" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The viral vector manufacturing market is poised to grow to US$2.61 billion in 2029 from US$1.19 billion in 2024 at a CAGR of 16.99% Viral vector manufacturing involves developing crucial carriers such as adenoviral vectors, lentiviral vectors, and retroviral vectors used to transport therapeutic genes. Owing to their high-performance benefits, viral vectors find applicability in gene therapy and vaccinology. It also bolstered growth in such applications, which is majorly driving the demand for viral vectors, thereby propelling their overall manufacturing level. Moreover, viral vectors have been utilized to treat a variety of diseases that are inclusive of but not limited to cardiovascular diseases, different types of cancer, hematologic, infectious, and metabolic diseases. Hence, the growing number of clinical trials and the expanding cognizance of effective modes of disease treatment are further expected to drive the viral vector manufacturing market growth during the forecast period. Favorable investments in therapeutics are expected to bolster the demand for viral vectors. Viral vectors with genetic information can directly target the disease, thereby altering cell functioning. Due to such benefits, vectors find high applicability in gene therapy to assist in delivering a healthy copy of a gene in the cell. The growing prevalence of cancer, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative disease has led to various research collaborations and investments in gene and therapeutic therapies development. For instance, in August 2023, Astella Pharma Inc. and Poseida Therapeutics announced a strategic investment of US$50 million to support the latter's advancements in cancer cell therapy. This investment would also further Astella's focus on developing next-generation immune-oncology drugs. Likewise, in November 2023, AstraZeneca formed a collaboration and an investment agreement with Cellectis to bolster next-generation therapeutics development in immunology, oncology, and rare disease fields. Under the collaboration, AstraZeneca would leverage Cellectis gene editing technologies for developing novel cell & gene therapy products. The ongoing establishment of vaccine development facilities has furthered the overall market expansion. The scale of infectious disease globally is on the rise, and to combat it, the demand for various effective vaccines is also growing, which has led to the establishment of new vaccine manufacturing facilities in major economies. For instance, in June 2022, BioNtech SE announced the establishment of an mRNA vaccine production facility in Rwanda, which would provide all manufactured vaccines in member states of the African Union. Likewise, in July 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the provision of nearly US$176 million to Moderna for developing an mRNA-based influenza vaccine. The investment was announced through BARDA's (Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority) new Rapid Response Partnership Vehicle Consortium. Viral Vector Manufacturing Market Geographical Outlook North America is estimated to account for a remarkable share of the market. Region-wise, the North American region is poised for significant growth. It will account for a considerable market share fuelled by the ongoing research collaboration for therapeutics followed by the development and approval of new vaccine & gene therapy development in major regional nations, namely the United States and Canada. For instance, in December 2023, the Food and Drug Administration approved two-cell-based gene therapies, "Casgevy" and "Lyfgenia", for treating sickle cell disease in 12-year-old and older patients. The therapies signal an innovative advancement in gene therapy and will improve the treatment of sickle cell disease, which affects nearly 100,000 Americans. Likewise, in October 2023, the Governor of New York announced an investment of US$98 million to expand the gene therapy-related research & development operations at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. This expansion would make Roswell New York's first gene therapy hub and also comply with the government's commitment to achieve new milestones in the life science sector. Additionally, the US government is also investing in healthcare facilities and research institutes expansion to bolster the treatment of various chronic diseases, which has positively impacted the demand for viral vectors. Moreover, the well-established presence of major pharmaceutical companies, namely Pfizer, Galax Smith Kline, and AstraZeneca, has paved the way for future market expansion. In February 2024, AstraZeneca announced an investment of US$300 million in establishing its state-of-the-art facility in Rockville to develop commercial cell therapy platforms, mainly on T-cell therapies. The facility will also facilitate critical cancer trials in the future to bolster the advancement in cancer treatment. Companies Featured Sirion-Biotech GmbH Vigene Biosciences Batavia Biosciences B.V. Virovek Lonza Vector Biolabs Cobra Biologics MaxCyte, Inc. Genelux BioNTech SE Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 140 Forecast Period 2024 - 2029 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2024 $1.19 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2029 $2.61 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 16.9% Regions Covered Global Key Topics Covered: 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Market Overview 1.2. Market Definition 1.3. Scope of the Study 1.4. Market Segmentation 1.5. Currency 1.6. Assumptions 1.7. Base and Forecast Years Timeline 1.8. Key Benefits for the Stakeholder 2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1. Research Design 2.2. Research Processes 3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3.1. Key Findings 4. MARKET DYNAMICS 4.1. Market Drivers 4.2. Market Restraints 4.3. Porter's Five Forces Analysis 4.4. Industry Value Chain Analysis 4.5. Analyst View 5. VIRAL VECTOR MANUFACTURING MARKET BY TYPE 5.1. Introduction 5.2. Retroviral Vectors 5.3. Lentiviral Vectors 5.4. Adenoviral Vectors 5.5. Others 6. VIRAL VECTOR MANUFACTURING MARKET BY APPLICATION 6.1. Introduction 6.2. Vaccinology 6.3. Gene Therapy 7. VIRAL VECTOR MANUFACTURING MARKET BY END-USER 7.1. Introduction 7.2. Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies 7.3. Research Institutes 7.4. Contract Research Organizations 8. VIRAL VECTOR MANUFACTURING MARKET BY GEOGRAPHY 8.1. Introduction 8.2. North America 8.2.1. United States 8.2.2. Canada 8.2.3. Mexico 8.3. South America 8.3.1. Brazil 8.3.2. Argentina 8.3.3. Others 8.4. Europe 8.4.1. United Kingdom 8.4.2. Germany 8.4.3. France 8.4.4. Spain 8.4.5. Others 8.5. Middle East and Africa 8.5.1. UAE 8.5.2. Saudi Arabia 8.5.3. Others 8.6. Asia Pacific 8.6.1. China 8.6.2. India 8.6.3. Japan 8.6.4. South Korea 8.6.5. Thailand 8.6.6. Indonesia 8.6.7. Taiwan 8.6.8. Others 9. COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT AND ANALYSIS 9.1. Major Players and Strategy Analysis 9.2. Market Share Analysis 9.3. Mergers, Acquisitions, Agreements, and Collaborations 9.4. Competitive Dashboard 10. COMPANY PROFILES For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/lkk1uq About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Attachment TORONTO, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reshift Media has partnered with Amazon to create an exclusive advertising opportunity for franchise organizations. Amazon is expanding its advertising capabilities to allow non-product sellers to advertise on their online properties including Amazon.com, the Amazon app, Twitch, IMDb, and others. Reshift Media is one of a small number of digital marketing agencies that have been chosen by Amazon to have access to this exciting new ad platform. Reshift Media has integrated Amazon Ads into the companys award-winning Brand Amplifier software, which is a digital marketing platform designed specifically for franchise organizations. The Brand Amplifier allows franchise organizations to create top-performing localized digital campaigns across dozens, hundreds or even thousands of locations. Amazon and Reshift Media have collaborated to develop a limited-time opportunity for franchise organizations to trial Amazon Ads with no risk and no cost. Reshift Medias award-winning advertising team will work with franchise organizations to create, launch, and manage an Amazon Ads campaign free of charge. This includes: Creative development Campaign creation including geo, interest, and other targeting Campaign management and reporting Amazon will provide $500 in free advertising for every franchise location. As an example, if a franchise has 500 locations, they will receive a total of $250,000 in free advertising. This opportunity is open to all franchise organizations with at least 100 US-based franchise locations. There is absolutely no cost and no obligation to continue after the trail period. To qualify, ad accounts must be set up and active before November 30 and must run for a minimum of 60 days. This opportunity is available for a maximum of 5,000 franchise locations total. Contact us at www.reshiftmedia.com/contact/. About Reshift Media Reshift Media has been voted the Worlds Best Franchise Marketing Firm at the 2023 and 2024 Global Franchise Awards, ranked #1 in Entrepreneurs 2024 Top Franchise Suppliers Marketing Category, and named 2024 Marketing Disruptor of the Year by the International Business Awards. Reshift Media is an award-winning digital marketing firm that develops digital marketing strategies, processes, and technology to help franchise companies earn new customers and find new franchisees. The companys in-house team supports more than 200 franchise clients in 22 countries across all aspects of digital media, including software development, social media, influencer marketing, search, and website/mobile development. Celebrating 12 years of helping the franchise community grow and thrive, Reshift Media has cemented itself as the leading digital marketing agency for franchise companies worldwide. Among the company's accolades, Reshift Media is the creator of three proprietary digital marketing automation platforms: Social Brand Amplifier, Brand Amplifier, and Franifyeach designed specifically for franchise businesses. For more information about Reshift Media, visit www.reshiftmedia.com. About Amazon Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Amazon strives to be Earths Most Customer-Centric Company, Earths Best Employer, and Earths Safest Place to Work. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Career Choice, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Just Walk Out technology, Amazon Studios, and The Climate Pledge are some of the things pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews. Contact: Lisa Raffaele 647-896-0743 lisa@bubblegumcanada.com CEDARVILLE, OHIO, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A recent independent economic study conducted by Econsult Solutions, Inc. has revealed the significant economic contributions of Cedarville University, the fifth-largest private university in Ohio, to both the local and state economies. Using data from spring 2024, the study highlighted Cedarvilles pivotal role in fostering economic stability and growth throughout Greene County and Ohio. According to the report, Cedarville Universitys total economic impact on Ohio reached $472 million, with $142 million directly benefiting the Village of Cedarville. Cedarville visitors and students contributed $58 million to the greater Dayton region. This impact is driven by the university's 6,384 students, 132,000 annual campus visitors, and over 18,000 alumni residing in Ohio. Cedarvilles economic influence extends beyond student and alumni contributions. The university supports 2,970 jobs in the region, resulting in $111 million in employee earnings. This level of employment also generates $8 million in tax revenue for the state of Ohio. Cedarville students also contribute an estimated 295,000 hours of unpaid volunteer service to the greater Dayton region each year, showing their commitment to loving and serving their communities as followers of Christ. Caring for our neighbors and serving our community in the name of Jesus is central to our mission, said Dr. Thomas White, president of Cedarville University. The campus community regularly seeks ways to give back to our region through service, and this is reflected in the economic impact study. White noted the importance of Cedarvilles economic footprint for Ohio. Its important for Cedarville University to be an economic driver to our local and state economies, said White. We believe we are serving well in this area with high-quality and high-character students from nearly all 50 states, including 61% from outside Ohio, who support the local businesses. Cedarvilles record-breaking freshman class of 1,176 students in 2024, part of its 6,384 total enrollment, ensures that the universitys influence on the state economy will continue to grow. The impact Cedarville University has in our region, and for that matter, the State of Ohio, is significant, said Dick Gould, president of the Greene County Board of Commissioners. Cedarville is an economic engine for our economy. The high-quality students who graduate and remain in Ohio are employed in significant roles virtually everywhere in our region. Located in southwest Ohio, Cedarville University is a Baptist university with undergraduate programs in arts, sciences, and professional programs, and graduate programs. With an enrollment of 6,384 students in 175 areas of study, Cedarville is one of the largest private universities in Ohio and is recognized nationally for its authentic Christian community, rigorous academic programs, and high graduation and retention rates. For more information about the University, visit cedarville.edu. Photo Cutlines: 1. The $40 million Scharnberg Business and Communication Center, opened in August 2024, is part of Cedarville's significant impact to the Ohio economy. Photo by Scott Huck 2. Students in the Department of Communication now study and take classes in the new Scharnberg Business and Communication Center. Photo by Scott Huck 3. One of the fastest growing areas on campus is Cedarville's entrepreneurship program, directed by Dr. Kary Oberbrunner. Here, a student works on some entrepreneurial ideas in the study room in the new Scharnberg Business and Communication Center. Photo by Scott Huck Attachments Oklahoma City, OK, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DronePort Network is proud to announce the launch of its groundbreaking Community Airspace Awareness Project (CAAP) at Ardmore Industrial Airpark and Mid America Industrial Park. Ardmore and Pryor were selected as the Oklahoma beta test locations to explore airspace awareness at both controlled and uncontrolled airports. These innovative projects are the first step in helping local communities better understand current airspace traffic levels and drone operations at low altitude. With the rise of drones and autonomous aircraft, airspace conflicts at low altitudes are becoming an increasing concern. CAAP provides a cost-effective solution, offering real-time airspace monitoring and safety enhancements for local airports and communities. At the core of CAAP is Vigilant Aerospaces FlightHorizon product, a cutting-edge system for airspace management. This advanced system will be operational at both Ardmore Industrial Airpark and Mid America Industrial Park, enabling efficient, real-time monitoring, immediate traffic alerting and detailed long-term traffic reporting. Our mission with CAAP is to empower local communities by giving them the tools to understand and manage their airspace, said Craig Mahaney, CEO of DronePort Network. As aviation technology evolves, its critical for localities to stay ahead and informed, and CAAP provides a scalable, low-cost, introductory solution to meet that challenge with the flexibility to scale for the future. DronePort Network envisions this project as the first step in a larger framework, where additional capabilities like active surveillance and advanced traffic alerts for commercial drone operators can be integrated over time. By preparing communities like Pryor and Ardmore for the future of aviation, CAAP ensures safety and proactive airspace management for years to come. DronePort Network has prior experience with FlightHorizon, which it currently uses at the Skyway36 droneport in Tulsa, which it manages for Osage, LLC. Communities and organizations across the US interested in joining the CAAP network are encouraged to reach out for more program details. Applications are now being accepted, and a waitlist is open for the first cohort. For more information about CAAP and how your community can join, please contact us at info@droneports.net or visit www.droneports.net. About DronePort Network: DronePort Network is an emerging aerospace infrastructure development company focused on turnkey solutions that will allow communities to support the rapid scalability of drone technology. DronePort Network can provide a full infrastructure technology stack needed to safely integrate drone technology into your communitys everyday life. Our team of experts can help you develop a plan that will meet strict FAA requirements, gather industry partners to enhance your droneport project and bring in the appropriate technology partners that can provide a reliable and efficient system. About Vigilant Aerospace Vigilant Aerospace is the leading developer of multi-sensor detect-and-avoid and airspace management software for uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS or drones). We enable safe and scalable autonomous flight, beyond visual line of sight. Customers include NASA, the FAA, the U.S. Department of Defense and a variety of drone development programs. www.vigilantaerospace.com Attachment DENVER, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The U.S. dairy industry has long relied on monthly milk production data from the USDA to track the trajectory of milk supplies available for processing and to project potential dairy product output. Historically, falling milk production from dairy farms would signal a decline in supplies of both fluid milk and the key solid milk components used to produce cheese, butter and other dairy foods. Production volumes of farmgate milk and the components in that milk trended closely together for decades. As a market indicator, tightening milk supplies could potentially curtail dairy processors growth or expansion plans. That dynamic has changed, however, as the composition of milk produced in the U.S. has evolved to steadily include more butterfat and protein content. While U.S. milk production has slowed in recent years, key milk components used to make many of the most popular solid dairy products have climbed. Recent dairy production data accentuates the trend. Through September 2024, U.S. milk production on a milk volume basis has declined for 14 consecutive months. Meanwhile, butterfat and protein production has grown in 12 of those same months. According to a new report from CoBanks Knowledge Exchange, the decoupling of fluid milk production and milk component production represents an important paradigm shift for the industry given growing consumer demand for manufactured dairy products. More than 80% of U.S. milk production goes into dairy food products that rely on milk components while less than 20% goes into the fluid beverage category. Considering the significance of these changes in U.S. milk composition and consumer demand, the report suggests the dairy industry would benefit from a more comprehensive monthly report from USDA that includes milk, protein and butterfat production levels. USDAs Milk Production reports have been the gold standard for tracking milk available for processing since 1924, said Corey Geiger, lead dairy economist with CoBank. However, changes in milk composition have made the report incomplete when it comes to understanding whether production is growing or declining, and by how much. A more robust report including milk components as well as fluid milk production data would be informative to producers, processors and retailers from a planning and risk management standpoint. At $76 billion in annual U.S. sales, dairy is the largest category in retail grocery, according to data from Circana. However, dairy product sales look much different than in generations past. Growth in the category is being driven by manufactured dairy products such as cheese, whey, butter, yogurt, ice cream and other products that depend heavily on milk components such as protein and butterfat and not the fluid portion. The shift in consumption patterns means that milk solids, not milk volume, matter more to most dairy processors. Cheese is a prime example of a product that had benefitted from milks growing component yields. In 2010, 100 pounds milk from the typical U.S. dairy farm yielded 10.1 pounds of cheese. Fast forward to 2023, 100 pounds of milk yields 11.2 pounds of cheese. That 10.8% improvement is product yield driven by higher butterfat and protein content. Domestic markets arent the only category experiencing these shifts. Manufactured dairy products dominate the growing export opportunities for U.S. dairy and create more demand for milk components. Opportunities for growth both at home and abroad are among the reasons domestic and international dairy processors are investing over $7 billion in new dairy processing capacity in the coming years. Several factors have fueled the rising levels of protein and butterfat in the U.S. milk supply, chief among them are the Milk Component Pricing provisions that established values for 92% of the nations milk. Combined with soaring consumer demand for cheese, dairy producers have been increasingly incentivized to shift management strategies that would result in higher milk component levels. Geiger acknowledged that reframing the monthly Milk Production report to include protein and butterfat data would be a difficult and time-consuming endeavor for the USDA, given the complexities of how that data is currently tracked. But given the apparent permanence of shifting dairy production, processing and consumption patterns, the effort would be well-placed and well-received. Long-term, the collective U.S. dairy industry would benefit from an updated system that collects more component data and reports that data in a timely fashion, said Geiger. Thats important to the dairy industry because consumers both at home and abroad continue to eat more milk solids found in manufactured dairy products and drink less fluid milk with each passing year. Read the report, Why Milk Components Matter More than Milk Production. About CoBank CoBank is a cooperative bank serving vital industries across rural America. The bank provides loans, leases, export financing and other financial services to agribusinesses and rural power, water and communications providers in all 50 states. The bank also provides wholesale loans and other financial services to affiliated Farm Credit associations serving more than 77,000 farmers, ranchers and other rural borrowers in 23 states around the country. CoBank is a member of the Farm Credit System, a nationwide network of banks and retail lending associations chartered to support the borrowing needs of U.S. agriculture, rural infrastructure and rural communities. Headquartered outside Denver, Colorado, CoBank serves customers from regional banking centers across the U.S. and also maintains an international representative office in Singapore. ANN ARBOR, Mich., Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A new program between Washtenaw Community College (WCC) and Michigan Works! Southeast (MWSE) is fueling careers in the emerging mobility sector. MWSEs Power UP Your Future program assists the Southeast Michigan region in building a skilled workforce needed for in-demand jobs in the mobility industry. Power UP Your Future can provide up to $5,000 in training and education for eligible career seekers through career advising, tuition assistance, supportive services and apprenticeships in EV and mobility occupations. MWSE also works directly with businesses and start-ups to develop skills for incumbent workers in the EV and mobility industry. As the state advances its electric vehicle and mobility ecosystem, WCC this semester launched two new EV programs. The college now offers certificates for EV service technicians (22 credits) and EV fundamentals and safety (10 credits), as well as an EV concentration within its Transportation Technologies associate degree. Additionally, WCC is building an EV lab and has significantly expanded its EV fleet to include Mach Es, a Ford Lightning, Teslas and more. In addition to WCCs new EV certificates, the college offers multiple programs in automotive cybersecurity, pre-engineering, information technology, mechatronics, skilled trades and more that lead to mobility careers. At $99 per credit hour for in-district students, WCC tuition is among the lowest in the state. MWSE provides job training and career advising to career seekers as well as works with employers to assess talent needs to help career seekers get started in mobility careers. The Power UP Your Future program is supported through federal, state and local funding sources. To be eligible for MWSEs Power UP Your Future Program, a participant needs to be 17 years of age or older and not enrolled in secondary education, be a citizen of the United States or an eligible non-citizen, and be registered with the selective service, if applicable, and have a desire to work in the mobility industry. The training program of interest must fall into one of 10 career profiles: automotive service technicians, computer occupation, electrical & electronic engineering technologists, electrical engineers, industrial machinery mechanics, maintenance & repair workers, assemblers & fabricators, mechanical engineers, production workers, and software developers. Power UP Your Future WCC and MWSE have partnered to help career seekers get started in a high-demand, high-paying career in mobility. Learn more about the Power UP Your Future program and apply now at www.mwse.org/wcc/ About Washtenaw Community College Washtenaw Community College (WCC), Ann Arbor, Michigan, educates students through a wide range of associate and certificate programs in areas such as liberal arts, health care, business, STEM, advanced transportation and mobility. WCC offers accelerated and online programs to meet student needs. The college also works through community, business and union partnerships to develop highly specialized training programs to meet the regions workforce talent needs. For more information about Washtenaw Community College, visit www.wccnet.edu. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1da795b8-9e9f-4233-87cd-5e894b902f43 JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As summer comes to a close, Saudi Arabias mild fall and winter weather make now the ideal time for travelers to plan a stopover trip to Jeddah as part of an international itinerary. Saudia, the national flag carrier of Saudi Arabia, makes it easy to connect guests to the Kingdom through the stopover visa service, which allows visitors to stay in the Kingdom for up to 96 hours and explore its many diverse regions. A hub destination for Saudia, Jeddah serves as a prime stopover homebase. Visitors can explore the historical district of Al Balad (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and enjoy local delicacies, distinctive architectural designs as well as modern elements including boutiques from local designers and the new digital art museum presented teamLab Borderless Jeddah. Along the waterfront, visitors can walk, cycle or relax and enjoy the sunset in the Jeddah waterfront park also known by the locals as Al Kornaish. A new yacht club and marina, nearby Red Sea Mall and spectacular King Fahds Fountain are all worthy stops on an itinerary. For a day trip, travelers can head to nearby Taif, well-known for its mountains, monkeys, and "Taif" roses, a specific variety known for their intense fragrance and delicate petals. Taif is renowned for its rose cultivation and is often referred to as the "City of Roses" due to the abundance of these beautiful flowers. The stopover visa is also perfect for those looking to partake in religious tourism to Makkah, located within one hours drive from Jeddah. To use the stopover visa, international travelers must book travel from their country of origin to Jeddah on the way to their final destination. Saudia's website and digital channels offer a comprehensive suite of services, from trip planning to check-in and post-flight support. For more details on how to book and utilize the stopover visa, travelers can visit www.saudia.com/transit-visa. About Saudia: Saudia (Saudia Airlines) is the national flag carrier of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Established in 1945, the company has grown to become one of the Middle Easts largest airlines. Saudia has invested significantly in upgrading its aircraft and currently operates one of the youngest fleet. The airline serves an extensive global route network covering around 100 destinations across four continents, including all 28 domestic airports in Saudi Arabia. A member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO), Saudia has also been a member airline in SkyTeam, the second largest alliance, since 2012. Saudia was recently recognized as the Worlds Most Improved Airline 2024 by Skytrax, marking the third time it has received this accolade, alongside 14 other distinguished awards. Saudia has also been awarded the "World Class Airline 2024" for the third consecutive year at The APEX Official Airline Ratings awards. Additionally, also ranked top among global airlines for best on-time performance (OTP) according to a report by Cirium. For more information on Saudia, please visit www.saudia.com Atlanta, Georgia, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- White Howard Brands (WHB), a full-service commercial furniture dealership headquartered in Atlanta, has achieved an important growth milestone, going from a solo minority woman-owned business to a strong core dynamic team that is complemented by dedicated local, warehouses, a delivery team, and professional installers. Founded in 2017 by Lisa White, WHB provides complete commercial interior solutions that support the architectural and design community throughout the US. Aside from supplying new and pre-owned furnishing, WHB provides various services for its partners, such as space planning, design, and specification of architectural floor plans, project management, delivery, and installation of furniture. It serves partners across various industries, such as healthcare, government, education, non-profit, corporate, and hospitality. Lisa White, Founder of White Howard Brands Lisas journey to establish and grow WHB had its roots in divine prophecy. She worked for 23 years in sales at furniture manufacturer Kimball International, which is now the primary manufacturer for WHB. One day, a pastor prophesied in church that Lisa would have her own business, but she paid little heed to it, as she was happy in her job at Kimball. One day, on a company-sponsored business trip to Italy, Lisa met Carolyn Francis, a fellow Black woman who owned a commercial furniture dealership. She was inspired by Carolyn, as very few Black women owned businesses in this space. Lisa learned as much as she could from Carolyn and approached the president of Kimball with the idea of establishing a select furniture dealership selling the companys products in Georgia. The president agreed with this idea, and Kimball provided financial and logistical support for Lisa to establish what would become White Howard Brands. As someone who lives by Faith, I knew that only God could have put together something like that, Lisa says. Its like He tapped me on the shoulder and said I told you this was going to happen. So I let the pastor and the church know that the prophecy came true. Lisa adds that her entry into entrepreneurship allowed her to follow in the footsteps of her mother and her grandmother, who were both passionate entrepreneurs in the days when there were fewer economic opportunities for women, especially women of color. Recognizing this, she made it her mission to share her knowledge and experience with her fellow women of color, helping them benefit from business ownership. This is evident in the composition of WHB, where the core team members are all women coming from diverse ethnic backgrounds. As an entrepreneur, Lisa became an active part of the local business scene, joining organizations such as Atlanta Black Chambers (ABC), Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW), and Women in Defense (WIDGA). She was recognized as the inaugural ABC Member of the Year in 2023 and one of ICABAs Women of Impact that same year. She also holds a seat on the board of the Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA) and was recently inducted into the Georgia Titan 100. According to Lisa, WHBs growth was fueled by the close coordination and white-glove service it provides its clients, which WHB prefers to call partners, due to the collaborative nature of their work. Going beyond just providing furniture, WHB gets to know its partners and the goals they have for their spaces. It helps them create an ideal space for the business that helps attract and retain talent by creating the best working environment possible. This is reflected by the companys tagline of Our mission, your goal. WHB also has good relationships with many architects and interior designers, cooperating with them to create the most functional and aesthetically pleasing spaces. Its our partners selection that is the most important because, at the end of the day, its not me who will be working there, Lisa says. The typical furniture expenditure is not inexpensive. When purchasing furniture, our partners hope that they last upwards of 15 years. So, to make that investment worthwhile, we make sure to put a lot of thoughtfulness into the process. Looking forward, WHB aims to continue growing its business, serving more partners in the Atlanta Metro area and nationwide. It also aims to expand to several overseas markets, including Colombia and Guyana. To achieve this, WHB will expand and nurture its team towards its full potential. From just me, WHBs team has now grown to 15 highly capable individuals in just a few years. We will continue expanding our business and headcount. As WHB continues marching towards success, I want to see everyone under the WHB umbrella thrive and be their best selves, Lisa concludes. Media contact: Name:Elisa Bowman Email: elisa@whb-llc.com TUCSON, AZ, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Liberty Star Minerals ( Liberty Star or the Company ) ( OTCMarkets: LBSR ), is pleased to announce the latest results from the ongoing channel sampling program at its wholly owned Red Rock Canyon Gold Project, part of the larger Hay Mountain Project in Cochise County, Arizona. Highlights from Recent Channel Sampling: The recent channel sampling program conducted under the supervision of Chief Geologist Jim Bryce has yielded several high-grade gold assay results, further reinforcing the potential of the Red Rock Canyon area as a significant source of near-surface gold mineralization. Among the most notable results: A sample returned an exceptional gold assay value of 85.8 g/t (grams per tonne) from a jasperoid breccia with red matrix and black fragments. This sample, collected from a channel measuring 1 foot wide, is one of the highest grades recorded in the area to date. Another promising result includes a sample that returned 38.3 g/t Au, also from a jasperoid breccia, highlighting the consistency of high-grade mineralization within the Red Rock Canyon project. A 14-foot-long channel sample returned a weighted average of 0.9 g/t Au over 10 feet, with individual samples reaching up to 1.74 g/t Au, further indicating the presence of significant gold-bearing zones. These high-grade gold results, along with additional assays from various sampling, suggest that the mineralization at Red Rock Canyon is both extensive and presents an exciting, high priority drill target. The channel samples are critical in delineating the near-surface gold resource and guiding future drilling efforts. Ongoing Exploration and Future Plans: Liberty Stars exploration team continues to map, survey, and sample the jasperoid lenses throughout the Red Rock Canyon area. Jim Bryce stated, The information gathered from this work will be added to our 3D modeling software to better understand the emplacement of these lenses. This knowledge will be critical when designing our future drilling programs which will test the depth and continuity of the mineralization and allow us to generate a resource to depth on the RRC Property. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Liberty Star Minerals Visit lbsr.us for more about Liberty Star Minerals, the Red Rock Canyon Gold Project & the Hay Mountain Project, including images, maps, and technical reports. About Liberty Star Liberty Star Uranium & Metals Corp. (LBSR: OTCQB) d/b/a Liberty Star Minerals, is an Arizona-based mineral exploration company engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in Arizona and the southwest USA. Currently, the company controls properties that are located over what management considers some of North Americas richest mineralized regions for copper, gold, silver, molybdenum (moly), and associated metals. The Companys premiere property is the Hay Mountain property (exploration stage) for porphyry copper, gold, moly, and other commercially important minerals. Specific targets have been selected to explore for near-surface and deep-seated ore bodies, of which there are numerous analogs nearby. Contiguous with the primary Hay Mountain porphyry exploration target, and part of the overall Hay Mountain property, is an increasingly attractive area of exploration stage gold mineralization denominated Red Rock Canyon. Red Rock Canyon exhibits what we believe are extensive, promising hydrothermal-associated gold-bearing structures that are documented in historical public and Company records. View numerous geoscientific reports on our website. The Hay Mountain & Red Rock Canyon properties are in Cochise County (southeast) Arizona, USA. Forward Looking Statements Certain information contained in public release may contain forward-looking statements, as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934, as amended. All statements contained herein that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and other factors which are unforeseeable and beyond the Companys or managements control, that could cause actual results, developments and business decisions to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements may include but not be limited to the business strategies for the Company, assumptions of management, pending or future transactions, future estimated mineral resources or grades, investments, asset valuations, anticipated permits and approvals and other information that may be based on forecasts of future exploration, operational or financial results or estimates of matters not yet determinable. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance using words or phrases like the following may be forward-looking statements: : estimate, intend, believe, expect, anticipate, plan, potential, continue may, might, could, would or similar words or expressions. Important factors that could differ materially from the expectations of the Company and management include, among other things, risks related to unsuccessful exploration results, metals prices, fluctuations in currency prices, international markets, conclusions of economic evaluations and changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined as well as changes in the availability of funding for mineral exploration and development and general economic conditions. Additional information about these factors, risks and uncertainties on which forward-looking statements are based is discussed in the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2024 as updated from time to time in Company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company is not responsible for updating the information contained in this public release beyond the presentation date or published date, or for changes made to this document by wire services or Internet services. Risk factors for the company are set out in the 10-K and other periodic filings made with the SEC on EDGAR (ref. Liberty Star Uranium & Metals, Corp.). Regulation S-K 1300 Matters On October 31, 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission adopted Subpart 1300 of Regulation S-K (Regulation SK-1300) to modernize the property disclosure requirements for mining registrants, and related guidance, under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All registrants are required to comply with Regulation SK-1300 for fiscal years ending after January 1, 2021. Accordingly, the Company must comply with Regulation SK-1300 for its fiscal year ending January 31, 2022. Regulation SK-1300 uses the Committee for Mineral Reserves International Reporting Standards (CRIRSCO) based classification scheme for mineral resources and mineral reserves, that includes definitions for inferred, indicated, and measured mineral resources. Liberty Star is an Exploration Stage Issuer as defined in Subpart 1300. It currently has no exploration results, mineral resources or mineral reserves to report, accordingly, no information, opinions or data included in the website or in any public releases includes any information or disclosures regarding exploration results, mineral resources or mineral reserves as defined in Regulation SK-1300. As a result, the Company is not required, at this time, to obtain or provide a Technical Report Summary as defined in Regulation SK-1300. U.S. Investors are cautioned not to rely upon or assume for any purpose that any part of the mineralized real property of the Company in these categories will ever be converted into inferred, indicated, and measured mineral resources or probable or proven mineral reserves within the meaning of Regulation S-K 1300. UNLESS OTHERWISE EXPRESSLY STATED ON THE FACE OF ANY SUCH INFORMATION, NOTHING CONTAINED IN THIS PUBLIC RELEASE IS, NOR DOES IT PURPORT TO BE, A TECHNICAL REPORT SUMMARY PREPARED BY A QUALIFIED PERSON PURSUANT TO AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF SUBPART 1300 OF SECURITIES EXCHANGE COMMISSION REGULATION S-K. Follow Liberty Star Minerals on Facebook , LinkedIn & [X]Twitter@Liberty Star Minerals Sep 30, 2024 Liberty Star Minerals | Liberty Star Uranium & Metals Corp. LBSR: OTCQB http://www.lbsr.us Contact: Liberty Star Minerals Tracy Myers, Investor Relations 520-425-1433 i nfo@lbsr.us Attachment Dallas, TX, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dickeys Barbecue Pit, the worlds largest barbecue franchise, is proud to celebrate its 83rd anniversary this October. Founded in 1941 by The Dickey Family in Dallas, the iconic Texas-style barbecue brand has grown into a global restaurant company, with 866 restaurants across eight concepts. The past year has been one of focus mostly on its core, barbecue roots as the family-owned and operated business, launches an expanded menu in all Dickeys Barbecue locations and on dickeys.com. Dickeys Barbecue Franchise will also celebrate its anniversary with guest loyalty specials and giving back all month long. As Dickeys enters its 83rd year, the company is taking significant steps to ensure its continued success by focusing on reinvesting with franchisees and giving back to local communities. The brand is reinforcing its commitment to operational excellence and brand consistency. Under the leadership of husband and wife team, Roland Dickey, Jr., CEO of Dickeys Capital Group, and Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickeys Barbecue Pit, Inc., the company has embraced a strategic shift back to its core barbecue offerings. This anniversary is not just a celebration of our history, but of our future, said Laura Rea Dickey. Over the past year, weve doubled down on our barbecue and paused our focus on some of our other concepts. We have spent the past year prioritizing our barbecue menu, strengthening our franchise system and reinvesting in our restaurants. Strategic Focus: Barbecue first Dickeys has taken on four key initiatives to celebrate 83 years in business 1. Expanded Menu: the brand will launch a new expanded menu featuring southern favorites like crispy fried chicken, country fried steak, loaded mashed potatoes with gravy and three more loaded, stuffed baked potatoes to complement its traditional barbecue offerings that are smoked on site. 2. Restaurant Reinvestment: the brand launched a capital improvements campaign, heavily reinvesting in their traditional restaurants with upgrades including exterior signage, digital menu boards, catering van wraps, drive thru boards and store remodels. 3. Barbecue Focus: the brand has opted to stop expanding five of its non-barbecue concepts and retire licensing agreements outside its traditional franchise system. Dickeys has opted to terminate and transition non-compliant restaurants, both traditional and licensed locations. Dickeys has also expanded its brand champion program of giving 20% of royalties back to Dickeys Barbecue Franchisees that meet brand standards and achieve operational, barbecue excellence. 4. Giving Back: the brand kicks off anniversary celebrations with exclusive rewards for Big Yellow Cup rewards members. Their iconic Big Yellow Cup pink to support breast cancer with a portion of all pink cup sales in October going to fund breast cancer screening in first responders. Finally, the brand will host their annual Denim & Diamonds event for The Dickey Foundation in order to raise over $250,000 to support grants for first responders in their local restaurant communities. Looking Ahead: Long-Term Success Dickeys also looks at its 83rd anniversary as an opportunity and an obligation to ensure the brands long term success for both its barbecue business and its barbecue franchisees. Our focus at Dickeys is on our core brand and our barbecue franchisees, said Roland Dickey, Jr. We are focused on ensuring we a strong barbecue future as we continue this journey together and celebrate our 83rd anniversary. Roland Dickey, Jr. added, Continuing to serve better and better barbecue and build the Dickey's brand takes us back to our legacy and what my grandfather began in 1941. It's a heritage that we're really proud of, and we will continue to carry it well into the futurehopefully for another 83 years." As Dickeys Barbecue Pit celebrates 83 years of Legit. Texas. Barbecue., the company is committed to continuing its tradition of delivering authentic, high-quality barbecue while ensuring that franchisees have the resources and support they need to thrive. About Dickeys Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. Founded in 1941 by The Dickey Family, Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. is the worlds largest barbecue concept and continues as a third-generation family-run business. For over 80 years, Dickeys Barbecue Pit has served millions with its signature Legit. Texas. Barbecue. Slow-smoked over hickory wood-burning pits, Dickeys barbecued meats are paired with a variety of southern sides. Committed to authentic barbecue, Dickeys never takes shortcutsbecause real barbecue cant be rushed. With over 866 restaurants across eight concepts in the U.S. and several countries, Dickeys Barbecue Franchise and Dickeys Restaurant Brands continues to grow under the leadership of Roland Dickey, Jr., CEO of Dickeys Capital Group, and Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickeys Barbecue Pit, Inc. Dickeys has been recognized on Newsweeks 2022 "Americas Favorite Restaurant Chains" list, Nations Restaurant News 2024 top fast-casual brands for value, and USA Todays 2021 Readers Choice Awards. The brand has also ranked in the Top 20 of Fast Casuals Top 100 Movers and Shakers for four of the past five years. Additional accolades include Entrepreneur's Top 500 Franchise and Hospitality Technologys Industry Heroes list. The brand has been featured by Fox News, Forbes, Franchise Times, The Wall Street Journal, and People Magazine. For more information, visit www.dickeys.com. For information about becoming a franchise partner, visit www.dickeysfranchise.com. Attachment Boerne, TX, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With all of its charm and beauty, Boerne has also been steadily gaining a reputation for another honorbecoming a premier destination for enjoying award-winning wine in the Texas Hill Country. And what better way to appreciate some of the best local vintages than an elevated tasting experience at one of its three newest wine bars? Long recognized for its unique terroir among Lonestar State vintners, the area surrounding this beautiful part of Texas has quickly established itself as wine country, home to an astounding abundance of vineyards and wineries with a profuse selection of varietals. For those wishing to savor wines that typify the essence of Texas, here are three of the best seats in historic Boerne, TX. Lost Oak Cellars The wines from Lost Oak Cellars get their origin in 1950s Abilene, when founder Gene Estes began crafting his art of winemaking after living and working in Alsace, France. His passion project turned into delicious fruits of labor when he connected with Jim Evans, an established Texas winemaker. Lost Oak further established itself as a high-quality, handcrafted Texas wine producer when Estes collaborated with his stepdaughter, Roxanne, merging together its traditions with next-generation and next-level tasting experiences. Wine lovers have taken notice. With over 40 vintages, the Boerne wine bar location of Lost Oak Cellars provides wine enthusiasts with an impressive list of awards and accolades. Located at 111 Rosewood Avenue, in the heart of Boerne's historic Hill Country Mile, a visit to the wine bar enhances the enjoyment of its wines. Lost Oaks viticulture team has also worked in collaboration with major universities developing varieties that adapt best to Texas climate and terroir, leading to tastings of unique wines such as Tempranillo, Blanc du Bois, Shiraz, and Viognier. The experience at this wine bar is a must for those with a deep appreciation for Texas winemaking! DeVino Cellars Featuring high-quality local Texas as well as imported wines, the wine bar and tasting room at DeVino Cellars just south of the heart of historic Boerne is the passion project of owner/operators Luke and Bridgett Kersh. Having a globally curated selection in addition to tastes of the Lonestar State, their vintages are truly unique, so much so that the experience at DeVino Cellars represents award-winning and rare wine selections that are unable to be sourced in big-box stores. From its location at 1109 S. Main Street, guests can experience wines hailing from regions in Italy, Spain, Argentina, and France, not to mention coveted selections from Texas. Their wine bar represents the best of what the world and the state of Texas has to offer, and with their knowledge and excellent taste, Bridgett and Luke have created an atmosphere and selection that is growing in popularity! Platinum Brix Winery Next to the Boerne Visitors Center is one of the new gems in the Boerne wine bar crown! Platinum Brix Winery (7 Upper Cibolo Creek Rd.) recently opened its downtown tasting location, featuring premium, award-winning local wines. Fulfilling their mission of crafting platinum-level vintages that elevate the connoisseur experience, a wine bar location that was more accessible to those who appreciate this art was the next logical step in their progression. At the wine bar location at 248 N. Main Street in Boerne, Platinum Brix continues to adhere to their pursuit of excellence, showcasing the tastes and essence of only the highest quality grapes, water, and oak, which are used to ensure superiority in their winemaking processes. As a result, guests can experience the commitment to perfection in every glass! Are you ready to enjoy the excellent vintages and elevated experiences that a wine tasting in Boerne has to offer? Check out the Visit Boerne website for more information or contact the Boerne Visitors Center for extensive local winery, wine bar, and wine tasting or tour recommendations. Plan a next-level local tasting experience that raises the wine bar! Attachments TORONTO, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eloro Resources Ltd. (TSX: ELO; OTCQX: ELRRF; FSE: P2QM) (Eloro, or the Company) is pleased to announce that in connection with the annual and special meeting of the Company`s shareholders (the Meeting), that was held virtually on September 30, 2024, and in accordance with TSX reporting requirements, the following voting results were obtained. A total of 32,499,132 common shares representing 40.475% of the Company`s issued and outstanding common shares were voted in connection with the Meeting. Shareholders voted in favour of the election of the seven director nominees as follows: NOMINEE VOTES FOR % FOR VOTES WITHHELD % WITHHELD Thomas Larsen 27,710,072 99.393 169,120 0.607 Francis Sauve 27,746,772 99.525 132,420 0.475 Alexander Horvath 27,746,772 99.525 132,420 0.475 Dusan Berka 27,747,072 99.526 132,120 0.474 Richard Stone 27,745,772 99.521 133,420 0.479 Pablo Ordonez 27,740,923 99.504 138,269 0.496 Caroline Cathcart 27,721,872 99.436 157,320 0.564 Shareholders also voted in favour of the other items of business considered at the Meeting, being the setting of the number of directors of the Company at seven, with the directors authorized to determine the number of directors of the Company by resolution of the directors, the re-appointment of RSM Canada LLP as the Companys auditors, and the issuance of certain common shares in connection with a debt settlement agreement. Pursuant to Section 11.3 of National Instrument 51-102, the Company filed a Report of Voting Results on September 30, 2024, under the Companys filings on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca). About Eloro Resources Ltd. Eloro is an exploration and mine development company with a portfolio of gold and base-metal properties in Bolivia, Peru and Quebec. Eloro has an option to acquire a 100% interest in the highly prospective Iska Iska project, which can be classified as a polymetallic epithermal-porphyry complex, a significant mineral deposit type in the Potosi Department, in southern Bolivia. A recent NI 43-101 Technical Report on Iska Iska, which was completed by Micon International Limited, is available on Eloros website and under its filings on SEDAR+. Iska Iska is a road-accessible, royalty-free property. Eloro also owns an 82% interest in the La Victoria Gold/Silver Project, located in the North-Central Mineral Belt of Peru some 50 km south of the Lagunas Norte Gold Mine and the La Arena Gold Mine. For further information please contact either Thomas G. Larsen, Chairman and CEO or Jorge Estepa, Vice-President at (416) 868-9168. Information in this news release may contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information express, as at the date of this news release, the Companys plans, estimates, forecasts, projections, expectations, or beliefs as to future events or results and are believed to be reasonable based on information currently available to the Company. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Neither the TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. CREIGHTON, Saskatchewan, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northlands College is proud to announce the official naming of its Cultural Centre at the Creighton Campus in honor of the acclaimed Canadian author, playwright, and advocate for Indigenous culture, Tomson Highway. This monumental occasion will celebrate Highway's immense contributions to Indigenous literature and culture, as well as his inspiring role in shaping the Canadian cultural landscape. The Cultural Centre Naming Ceremony reflects Northlands College's commitment to recognizing and celebrating Indigenous heritage in Northern Saskatchewan. Situated at the Creighton Campus, which blends the rich geography and cultures of both Saskatchewan and Manitoba, this location mirrors the life of Tomson Highway himself. A registered member of the Barren Lands First Nation, Tomson hails from Brochet, a village located in northern Manitoba near the convergence of Saskatchewan and what is now Nunavut. As an author, musician, and advocate, Tomson Highway has used his voice to shed light on critical issues such as Indigenous identity, residential schools, and the richness of Cree traditions, making him an iconic figure in Canadian literature. His works, including the renowned Kiss of the Fur Queen and The Rez Sisters, have influenced generations of writers, artists, and thinkers in Canada and beyond. Reflecting on the honor, President and CEO Karsten Henriksen stated, "Naming our Cultural Centre after Tomson Highway not only celebrates his remarkable legacy but also highlights the vibrant cultures that define Northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Much like Tomson himself, our Creighton Campus stands at the crossroads of these two provinces, blending their histories and communities. This dedication reflects Northlands Colleges continued efforts to promote Indigenous culture, uphold the rich traditions and values of this land, and empower our Indigenous learners to build meaningful careers in todays industries. We are committed to providing opportunities for our learners to excel academically and professionally, while staying deeply rooted in their cultural heritage. Honoring Tomson Highway in this lasting way strengthens our mission to cultivate Indigenous excellence and ensure the next generation of leaders can carry these traditions forward. Tomson Highway has spent his career promoting Indigenous storytelling, language, and culture. He has received numerous accolades, including being made an Officer of the Order of Canada, and has used his platform to advocate for Indigenous rights and education. The Cultural Centre will serve as a space for learning, reflection, and connection, ensuring that his legacy continues to inspire future generations. About Northlands College Northlands College is Saskatchewan's Northern College, dedicated to empowering learners and fostering innovation. As a leading educational institution in Northern Saskatchewan, we are committed to providing diverse academic opportunities in the fields of Flexible Learning, University Studies, Health & Wellness, and Technology and Trades. With a strong emphasis on Learner success and community engagement, Northlands College has been a driving force for positive change in Northern communities. Our mission is to provide accessible, quality education that empowers individuals to reach their full potential and contribute to the betterment of their communities. For over three decades, Northlands College has been at the forefront of educational excellence, preparing learners for a dynamic future and inspiring positive transformations in the Northern regions of Saskatchewan. Visit www.northlandscollege.ca to learn more about our programs, facilities, and our commitment to shaping a brighter future for Northern Saskatchewan. Media Contact: Valerie Harding Ripple Effect Communications Email: Valerie@RippleEffectPR.com Tel: 617-536-8887 Corporate Contact: Aamir Saifullah Director, Engagement & Corporate Services Northlands College saifullah.aamir@northlandscollege.sk.ca Photos accompanying this announcement are available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/74606cfa-476e-4c20-83e0-4c39682c715c https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3910d84b-a622-41df-b284-7a6d436b63ab Charleston, SC, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CHARLESTON, S.C. Jeff Cook Real Estate LPT Realty, a leading real estate agency in the Southeast, is proud to announce its Hurricane Helene Relief efforts in response to the recent damage caused by the hurricane in surrounding states. As part of their commitment to giving back to the community, all Jeff Cook Real Estate offices have been designated as donation hubs to collect essential items for those affected by the hurricane. Starting on Monday, September 30th, and running until October 3rd, Jeff Cook Real Estate offices will be accepting donations to support the relief efforts. The first trip to Greenville, South Carolina, where the donations will be distributed, is scheduled to take place after the collection period. In partnership with LPT Realty, donations will be transported from Florida to the Greenville office via a flatbed truck. To facilitate drop-offs, the Columbia, Rock Hill, and Greenwood offices have designated donation coordinators who will assist in arranging drop-offs. Individuals interested in donating are encouraged to contact these offices directly. Other Jeff Cook Real Estate offices will also accept donations during normal business hours. To make the donation process even more convenient, Jeff Cook Real Estate has created an Amazon wish list. By visiting the link (https://a.co/gvbvij5), individuals can make purchases that will be shipped directly to the Greenville office, ensuring that the items go straight to those in need in surrounding cities. Jeff Cook Real Estate is committed to making a difference in the lives of families in need through their Jeff Cook Cares program and the 1% initiative. Through this initiative, 1% of the commission from home sales is directed toward donations and sponsorships that benefit those in need. The program has already partnered with over 140 organizations, making a significant impact in the communities they serve. Jeff Cook Real Estate encourages everyone to join their Hurricane Helene Relief efforts by donating essential items or making a contribution through the 1% initiative. Together, we can make a difference and provide much-needed support to those affected by the hurricane. For more information about Jeff Cook Real Estate LPT Realty and their office locations, please visit: https://www.jeffcookrealestate.com/about/office-locations/ About Jeff Cook Real Estate LPT Realty: Jeff Cook Real Estate LPT Realty is a leading real estate agency serving the Southeast region. With a commitment to excellence and a passion for giving back, Jeff Cook Real Estate is dedicated to making a positive impact in the communities they serve. Through their Jeff Cook Cares program and the 1% initiative, they strive to improve the lives of children and families in need. For more information, visit www.jeffcookrealestate.com. The Rhode Island Commerce Corporation awarded REGENT new incentives to support the seaglider manufacturer's expansion in the state. REGENT plans to open a new manufacturing center with 255,000 additional square feet and create hundreds of high-paying jobs in the next few years. REGENTs expansion will foster economic growth and position the Ocean State as a leader in innovation. Learn more about REGENTs milestones in Rhode Island here, and read why the company chose the state here. North Kingstown, RI, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- North Kingstown, RI, September 30, 2024 The Board of Directors for the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation awarded additional incentives to REGENT Craft, the manufacturer of all-electric seagliders, REGENT announced today. This will support the company as it continues to expand, create more well-paying jobs, and drive innovation and economic growth in the states Blue Economy. REGENT will receive $1 million under the First Wave Closing Fund Act to support expansion in Rhode Island and $3 million under the Rebuild Rhode Island Tax Credit Act. The corporation also amended the companys award under the Qualified Jobs Incentive Act to reflect a new hiring schedule, as REGENT expects to hit its first commitment under the incentive one year ahead of schedule. REGENT plans to build a manufacturing center with 255,000 additional square feet in North Kingstowns Quonset Business Park and create 300 jobs over 10 years. Since REGENT selected Rhode Island as its headquarters in 2022, the startup has created more than 135 jobs, including contract positions, and reinvested $22 million into the state. REGENT is growing quickly, creating new well-paying jobs every month and looking forward to expanding into our new manufacturing facility, said Billy Thalheimer, Co-founder and CEO, REGENT. Not only will this make Rhode Island the manufacturing capital of seagliders in the U.S.; it will also continue the states leadership in composites manufacturing and the Blue Economy. The expansion of REGENT Craft will strengthen Rhode Islands position as a leader in innovative and green transportation solutions, said Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee. This project will create a significant number of high-quality, good-paying jobs that aligns with our goal of raising incomes for all Rhode Islanders. REGENT Crafts expansion in Rhode Island helps strengthen our position as a hub for innovative, cutting-edge marine tech companies, said Secretary of Commerce Liz Tanner. This partnership is the perfect example of how Rhode Island is fostering economic growth through innovation, and we look forward to the long-term benefits this expansion will bring to our communities. Quonset is pleased that REGENT will continue to grow along with the hundreds of other companies here at the Business Park, enjoying continued success that will create jobs for Rhode Islanders and economic growth for our state, said Steven J. King, Managing Director of Quonset Development Corporation. About REGENT REGENT is pioneering the future of sustainable maritime mobility through the development and manufacturing of all-electric seagliders. Seagliders are new vessels that combine the speed of an aircraft with the convenience of a boat to deliver an affordable and efficient mode of transportation between coastal destinations. REGENTs flagship seaglider, Viceroy, is a 12-passenger vehicle that travels at up to 180mph to service routes up to 180 miles on a single charge. REGENT has already secured more than 600 seaglider orders valued at more than $9 billion from leading airline and ferry operators around the world and has raised more than $90 million from investors including 8090 Industries, Founders Fund, Japan Airlines, and Lockheed Martin. Learn about seagliders here Explore REGENTs website Discover REGENTs media kit Read REGENTs FAQs Follow REGENT on LinkedIn Follow REGENT on Instagram Attachment Naperville, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Naperville, Illinois - The Xcelerator Business Summit, a unique two-day event set to take place on October 3-4, 2024, at The Matrix Club in Naperville, Illinois, is a beacon for entrepreneurs and business leaders seeking growth and success. This year's summit theme, "Limitless," underscores the boundless opportunities available to those ready to push past traditional barriers and embrace innovative strategies for business expansion. The Xcelerator Business Summit brings together seasoned professionals, industry disruptors, and ambitious entrepreneurs in an environment designed to cultivate connections and provide actionable insights. Attendees will be able to learn from industry experts through immersive workshops, participate in strategic networking sessions, and access knowledge that can transform their approach to marketing, sales, finance, and overall business operations. Each session is thoughtfully curated to equip participants with practical tools they can immediately apply to their businesses, empowering them to take action and see results. In the lead-up to the event, Dr. Andrea Adams-Miller, CEO of TheREDCarpetConnection.com.LLC and a renowned neuroscientist and elite business consultant expressed her excitement about this year's summit. "The Xcelerator Business Summit is a transformative experience," said Dr. Adams-Miller. "It's where entrepreneurs gather to learn, grow, and connect with like-minded individuals who share a passion for breaking through limitations. Whether to enhance marketing strategies or strengthen operational foundations, this event will provide the tools to succeed." This emphasis on transformation is designed to inspire and motivate the audience. Get tickets for Day One of the event here, as the event begins on October 3, 2024, with an opportunity-filled morning. Starting at 9:00 AM, attendees can dive into the Business Expo and Business Workshop, which runs until noon. This event segment allows participants to engage with top-tier exhibitors, explore new business solutions, and network with key industry players. From the moment attendees arrive, the expo offers a chance to learn about the latest innovations and gain insights into improving their business models. Meanwhile, hands-on workshops will provide actionable takeaways that can immediately impact business operations. The Business Conference begins at noon following the expo, offering a day filled with high-impact sessions and discussions. One of the most anticipated segments of the day is the Women of Influence Panel, scheduled from 12:30 PM to 1:00 PM. This panel will feature a group of trailblazing female entrepreneurs and executives who will share their stories of perseverance, leadership, and success. Attendees will gain insights into women's unique challenges in the business world and how these leaders have turned obstacles into opportunities. The diverse range of topics covered further highlights the summit's comprehensive nature. The Marketing Pillar session, the first of the summit's five business pillars, will explore the latest strategies for boosting business visibility, leveraging digital platforms, and understanding customer psychology. Whether participants are seasoned marketers or new to the field, this session promises to provide fresh, innovative perspectives on building brand awareness and driving customer engagement. The afternoon continues with a valuable networking session from 2:30 to 3:50 PM. Networking is a crucial aspect of the Xcelerator Business Summit, with ample opportunities for attendees to build meaningful relationships, foster collaborations, and find future business partners or clients. With a room full of ambitious and like-minded individuals, the networking sessions are designed to help attendees make connections that will propel their businesses forward. After networking, the spotlight shifts to Sales, the second business pillar, from 3:55 PM to 5:35 PM. This session will focus on mastering the art of sales through understanding customer needs, improving communication techniques, and honing the skills necessary to close deals more effectively. Led by industry veterans, this segment will cover everything from basic sales principles to advanced tactics that help attendees drive revenue growth. The first day concludes with a lavish Family Bridges 20th Anniversary Gala and Networking Event from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM. This elegant evening allows attendees to unwind while continuing to foster business relationships in a more relaxed atmosphere. The gala offers an ideal opportunity for attendees to celebrate the day's achievements, share insights, and connect with new friends and potential business partners. Day two of the summit, get tickets here, scheduled for October 4, 2024, begins at 9:00 AM with another Business Expo and Workshop. This second round of the expo gives attendees additional time to explore exhibitor booths, discover new business tools, and attend hands-on workshops to tackle today's most pressing business challenges. The expo runs until noon, setting the stage for featured sessions. At noon, the focus shifts to Mindset, a critical element in business success. This session will explore the psychology behind business growth, addressing how entrepreneurs can overcome limiting beliefs, manage stress, and maintain the mental resilience needed to navigate the ups and downs of business ownership. The Mindset Panel, featuring industry thought leaders like Jose Escobar, Zack Tlili, Anthony Cutno, and Toccara Nicole, will provide attendees with the mental tools and strategies to take their business to new heights. At 1:15 PM, the summit takes a philanthropic turn with a Non-Profit Competition, where businesses focused on social good will compete for funding and recognition. This competition adds an exciting and impactful element to the summit, highlighting the importance of giving back to the community while demonstrating how businesses can integrate social responsibility into their operations. The afternoon sessions focus on Finance, the third business pillar, at 1:40 PM. Participants will learn how to manage their business finances, optimize cash flow, and plan for sustainable growth. The finance session is followed by another round of giveaways and a raffle at 3:00 PM, keeping the energy high throughout the day. Next, at 3:10 PM, the Operations Pillar takes center stage, providing attendees insights into streamlining processes, improving efficiency, and scaling their business operations effectively. This session is crucial for business owners looking to optimize their internal systems and create a solid foundation for long-term success. At 4:55 PM, the Real Estate & Investor Panel brings together seasoned investors and real estate experts to discuss wealth-building strategies through intelligent investments. Attendees will gain valuable insights into navigating the world of real estate and finance, with tips on making sound investment decisions that yield significant returns. The summit closes by focusing on Wellness, the final business pillar, from 5:30 PM to 6:45 PM. This session emphasizes the importance of maintaining personal well-being while running a successful business. Experts will share strategies for achieving work-life balance, managing stress, and prioritizing self-care to ensure long-term personal and professional success. Finally, the summit wraps up with the Business Diva Gala & Award Night from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM, where outstanding business leaders will be honored for their achievements. This glamorous event provides a final opportunity for attendees to celebrate their experiences, solidify new connections, and leave the summit inspired and empowered. As the countdown to October 3-4, 2024, continues, excitement builds for what promises to be the most impactful Xcelerator Business Summit yet. Registration is still open, but spots are limited. Entrepreneurs and business leaders are encouraged to secure tickets here at www.XBSInfo.com to secure their place at this transformational event. Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to learn, grow, and connect with the best in the business world. For more information about attending, exhibiting, or sponsorship opportunities, contact the event organizer at xceleratorbusinesssummit@gmail.com. About Xcelerator Business Summit: The Xcelerator Business Summit hosted by Martha Razo is an annual event designed to empower small business owners and entrepreneurs with the tools, strategies, and connections they need for sustainable growth. The summit features expert-led workshops, insightful panels, and extensive networking opportunities, providing participants with a roadmap to success across all facets of business. ### For more information about Xcelerator Business Summit, contact the company here: Xcelerator Business Summit Martha Razo 1-630-937-9581 xceleratorbusinesssummit@gmail.com 808 Illinois Rte 59, Naperville, IL 60540 LOS ANGELES, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Portnoy Law Firm advises Spire Global, Inc. ("Spire Global" or the "Company") (NYSE: SPIR) investors of a class action representing investors that bought securities between March 6, 2024 and August 14, 2024, inclusive (the "Class Period"). Spire Global investors have until October 21, 2024 to file a lead plaintiff motion. Investors are encouraged to contact attorney Lesley F. Portnoy, by phone 310-692-8883 or email: lesley@portnoylaw.com, to discuss their legal rights, or click here to join the case. The Portnoy Law Firm can provide a complimentary case evaluation and discuss investors options for pursuing claims to recover their losses. Case Details: The complaint claims that the defendants made false statements and/or concealed critical information, including: (1) the existence of embedded leases for identifiable assets and pre-space mission activities in certain Space Services contracts, which allowed customers to deploy their own applications and sensors via satellite; (2) Spire Globals lack of effective internal controls for revenue recognition related to these contracts; (3) as a result, the company overstated revenue for specific Space Services contracts; and (4) due to these issues, the defendants positive statements about the companys business, operations, and future prospects were materially misleading and lacked a reasonable basis. Please visit our website to review more information and submit your transaction information. The Portnoy Law Firm represents investors in pursuing claims against caused by corporate wrongdoing. The Firms founding partner has recovered over $5.5 billion for aggrieved investors. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. Lesley F. Portnoy, Esq. Admitted CA and NY Bar lesley@portnoylaw.com 310-692-8883 www.portnoylaw.com Attorney Advertising BRUSSELS and BERLIN, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Eclipse Foundation, one of the worlds largest open source foundations, and Deutsches Institut fur Normung (DIN), the German Institute for Standardization, have announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on bridging the gaps between classical standardisation and open source software development in Germany and across the EU. This agreement represents one of the first collaborations between industrial standards bodies and open source software foundations, with a shared goal of empowering industry and business to confidently leverage and adopt open source technologies. Open source software has historically been the domain of enterprise software applications. However, in recent years, the open source model has been applied to large-scale deployments across various industries, including manufacturing, automotive, robotics, and more. These sectors heavily rely on industrial standards to ensure safe production, said Mike Milinkovich, Executive Director of the Eclipse Foundation. As the leading open source foundation in the EU, particularly for many technologies focused on these industries, it makes perfect sense to work closely with DIN, the EUs leading authority in building industrial standards. As Germanys national organisation for standardisation and an ISO member, DIN is one of the worlds foremost authorities in creating industrial standards. Currently, there are more than thirty thousand DIN Standards, covering nearly every field of technology. The MoU outlines a cooperative framework for promoting mutual interests in advancing standards for open source software. Key points include: Exchange of Knowledge: Sharing relevant information on standards and open source development, governance, and best practices. Sharing relevant information on standards and open source development, governance, and best practices. Research and Innovation Activities: Collaborating on projects, workshops, and publications related to standardisation and open source implementation. Collaborating on projects, workshops, and publications related to standardisation and open source implementation. Promotion: Emphasising the importance of standards and open source development for fostering innovation, interoperability, and sustainability. Emphasising the importance of standards and open source development for fostering innovation, interoperability, and sustainability. Open Source Development: Facilitating the use of DIN's services and infrastructure for Eclipse projects and engaging in joint initiatives. Facilitating the use of DIN's services and infrastructure for Eclipse projects and engaging in joint initiatives. Standardisation Contribution: Providing support and guidance for projects related to standardisation, including the Cyber Resilience Act. The Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) is one of the most significant regulatory developments in the area of cyber security within the European Union. This regulation aims to increase the security of products and services with digital components in order to significantly improve resilience to cyber threats. With the CRA (as well as the AI Act and the Data Act), the IT sector is now being regulated more strictly than before. These regulations define the basic requirements. The technical specification is made by harmonised standards, which are jointly developed by experts from business, science, the public sector, and civil society at the European standardisation organisations CEN and CENELEC. The CRA now calls for the definition of specific protection goals for software and software systems. In the latest draft of the EU standardisation mandate, 41 areas were identified for this purpose. Participation and expertise from the open source sector is essential for the development of harmonised standards in the context of the CRA. As a strong partner, DIN will provide guidance and support, working together with the Eclipse Foundation to best reflect the perspective of the open source sector, a group strongly affected by the CRA. At DIN, we are seeing a significant rise in software applications shaping industrial processes and influencing technology across numerous industries, said Christoph Winterhalter, CEO of DIN and Vice President Policy of ISO. Todays agreement marks an important first step in aligning the EUs rapidly growing open source innovations with standardisation practices that will ensure broad industry adoption. Standardisation and open source can learn a lot from each other and, by exploiting synergies, ensure even greater trust and better interoperability in the future. Learn more at the Open Community Experience (OCX) , a transformative open source developer conference from 22-24 October 2024 in Mainz, Germany. Visit the OCX website for details on sponsorship and participation. About the Eclipse Foundation The Eclipse Foundation provides our global community of individuals and organisations with a business-friendly environment for open source software collaboration and innovation. We host the Eclipse IDE, Adoptium, Software Defined Vehicle, Jakarta EE, and over 415 open source projects, including runtimes, tools, specifications, and frameworks for cloud and edge applications, IoT, AI, automotive, systems engineering, open processor designs, and many others. Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, the Eclipse Foundation is an international non-profit association supported by over 360 members. Visit us at this years Open Community Experience (OCX) conference on 22-24 October 2024 in Mainz, Germany. To learn more, follow us on social media @EclipseFdn , LinkedIn , or visit eclipse.org . About DIN DIN, the German Institute for Standardisation, is the independent platform for standardisation in Germany and worldwide. Together with industry, scientific institutions, public authorities and civil society as a whole, DIN plays a major role in identifying future areas for standardization. By helping to shape the green and digital transformation, DIN makes an important contribution towards solving current challenges and enables new technologies, products and processes to establish themselves on the market and in society. More than 37,500 experts from industry, research, consumer protection and the public sector bring their expertise to work on standardization projects managed by DIN. The results of these efforts are market-oriented standards and specifications that promote global trade, encouraging rationalization, quality assurance and environmental protection as well as improving security and communication. For more information, go to www.din.de . Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Media contacts: Schwartz Public Relations for the Eclipse Foundation, AISBL (Germany) Gloria Huppert/Julia Rauch Sendlinger Strae 42A 80331 Munich EclipseFoundation@schwartzpr.de +49 (89) 211 871 -70/-43 Nichols Communications for the Eclipse Foundation, AISBL Jay Nichols jay@nicholscomm.com +1 408-772-1551 Provides for the reimbursement of eligible exploration expenses at its Jabal Sahabiyah project Toronto, September 30, 2024 - Royal Road Minerals (TSXV: RYR) ("Royal Road" or "The Company") is pleased to announce that it's 50% owned Saudi Arabian joint-venture company Royal Road Arabia ("RRA"), has qualified for the Kingdom's Exploration Enablement Program which provides for the reimbursement of up to USD $2 million in exploration costs per exploration license. The qualification is specific to RRA's Jabal Sahabiyah project which comprises three contiguous exploration licenses (see Press Release January 15, 2024). Royal Road Arabia ("RRA") is a Saudi Arabian joint-venture company owned on a 50-50% partnership basis by Royal Road and MIDU Company Limited ("MIDU"). MIDU is a Saudi Arabian investment holding company, headquartered in Jeddah, with interests across various sectors including mining, industrial, real estate development and utilities. The Exploration Enablement Program The Government of Saudi Arabia has developed an Exploration Enablement Program (EEP) which is designed to support exploration efforts over exploration licenses within their first five years of tenure and with a focus on Greenfields sites. The EEP allows the qualified applicant to request a reimbursement of up to USD $2 million per exploration license for costs relating to exploration activities, with certain caps per cost-item. Caps include 25% of total drilling costs, 15% of talent and labour costs up to USD $400 thousand, 70% of total local salary costs within the first 2 years up to USD $400 thousand and up to USD$1 million per license for geochemical analyses and other geoscience-related costs. Dr. Tim Coughlin, Royal Road's President and CEO, stated: "We are very grateful recipients of this exemplary and innovative initiative. The Exploration Enablement Program is an appreciable measure of Saudi Arabia's unrivalled approach to encouraging exploration investment. In our view, the Arabian Shield is one of the few pure grassroots environments which remains entirely open to the discovery of new and previously unconsidered styles of base and precious metals mineralization. The EEP comes at an opportune time as the global impact of resource depletion sets in and interest in mineral exploration recovers." about; Royal Road Minerals is a mineral exploration and development company with its head office and technical-operations center located in Jersey, Channel Islands. The Company is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker RYR and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the ticker RLU. The Company's mission is to apply expert skills and innovative technologies to the process of discovering and developing copper and gold deposits of a scale large enough to benefit future generations and modern enough to ensure minimum impact on the environment and no net loss of biodiversity. The Company currently explores in the Kingdoms of Saudi Arabia and Morocco. More information can be found on the Company's website www.royalroadminerals.com. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary statement: This news release contains certain statements that constitute forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements") describing the Company's future plans and the expectations of its management that a stated result or condition will occur. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, or developments in the Company's business or in the mineral resources industry, to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance, achievements or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-Looking statements include all disclosure regarding possible events, conditions or results of operations that is based on assumptions about, among other things, the Alliance, the intention to form a joint venture, enter into a related agreement and establish Newco and, more generally, future economic conditions and courses of action, and assumptions related to government approvals, and anticipated costs and expenditures. The words "plans", "prospective", "expect", "intend", "intends to" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, which may also include, without limitation, any statement relating to future events, conditions or circumstances. Forward-Looking statements of the Company contained in this news release, which may prove to be incorrect, include, but are not limited to the Company's exploration plans. The Company cautions you not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. There is no guarantee that the anticipated benefits of the Company's business plans or operations will be achieved. The risks and uncertainties that may affect forward-looking statements include, among others: economic market conditions, anticipated costs and expenditures, government approvals, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with Canadian provincial securities regulators or other applicable regulatory authorities. Forward-Looking statements included herein are based on the current plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions of the Company management and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should assumptions related to these plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions change. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/225025 Vancouver, September 30, 2024 - Wealth Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: WML) (OTCQB: WMLLF) (SSE: WMLCL) (FSE: EJZN) (the "Company" or "Wealth") announces the Company will apply for a CEOL for the Kuska Project - located in the Ollague Salar. The Government of Chile has announced today that the Strategic Council of the Lithium and Salt Flats Committee ("Strategic Council") has approved, for private investors, a first group of locations for the development of lithium projects in Chile. The Ollague Salar is one of these six locations that have been selected, based on its conditions for the feasibility of a lithium operation. According to the Government's publication, the six locations selected in this first group share key conditions, such as having strong interest from developing parties as collected in the recent RFI process conducted by the Ministry of Mining, favorable geological characteristics and sound environmental conditions for the awarding of a Special Lithium Operation Contract ("CEOL") and the execution of lithium projects. The Strategic Council publication also indicated that the Mining Ministry would only grant one CEOL in each location. The Government has announced that the award of CEOLs will be a competitive tender process. However, the first six locations announced by the Strategic Council will be subject to a simplified CEOL allocation process, which will consider the experience of the applicant in any part of the lithium production value chain, its financial strength to develop the proposed project and its holding of at least 80% of the mining concession in the respective area (referred to in Government material as a "polygon" which has yet to be defined). More specific rules for this simplified process will be published by the Mining Ministry in the upcoming weeks so that applicants can submit CEOL requests before the end of the year. In parallel, the Mining Ministry will run indigenous consultation processes in the six selected locations and provide certain CEOL draft templates to the applicant, which could be signed if both the Government and the applicant are in agreement as soon as the respective indigenous consultation is completed. Additionally, the Government announced that a second group of prioritized locations will be announced during the last quarter of this year, further indication of the desire to stimulate lithium project development in the country. Henk van Alphen, CEO of Wealth, comments "The whole team is very excited to see Ollague as one of the six locations selected by the Government of Chile in this first wave of CEOL grants. This confirms the quality and potential of our Kuska project. The Company has already performed much work to prepare for a CEOL application, and now with the Strategic Council news we will be able to submit an excellent package of information to obtain a CEOL for Kuska." Francisco Lepeley, CEO of Wealth Minerals Chile, also commented "This is an important step in the implementation of the National Lithium Strategy and is well oriented to increase lithium production in Chile. Chile has the most competitive conditions in the world for lithium production, and our Kuska project has the potential to be within the first and second quartile of the cash cost curve globally. In short, it is a great project in a great area. On the ground here in Chile, the team has conducted significant technical work, both in exploration and in direct lithium extraction technology reviews, to satisfy the most discerning project reviewer. Also, we have built a close relationship with the local indigenous community on the basis of trust, transparency and win-win project approach." About Wealth Minerals Ltd. Wealth is a mineral resource company with interests in Canada and Chile. The Company's focus is the acquisition and development of lithium projects in South America. The Company opportunistically advances battery metal projects where it has a peer advantage in project selection and initial evaluation. Lithium market dynamics and a rapidly increasing metal price are the result of profound structural issues with the industry meeting anticipated future demand. Wealth is positioning itself to be a major beneficiary of this future mismatch of supply and demand. In parallel with lithium market dynamics, Wealth believes other battery metals will benefit from similar industry trends. For further details on the Company readers are referred to the Company's website (www.wealthminerals.com) and its Canadian regulatory filings on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. On Behalf of the Board of Directors of WEALTH MINERALS LTD. "Hendrik van Alphen" Hendrik van Alphen Chief Executive Officer Follow Us: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/WealthMineralsLtd Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/company/wealth-minerals Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/WealthMinerals 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 press release, which has been prepared by management. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and US securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, statements regarding the anticipated content, commencement, timing and cost of exploration programs, anticipated exploration program results, the discovery and delineation of mineral deposits/resources/reserves, the Company's expectation that it will be able to enter into agreements to acquire interests in additional mineral projects, and the anticipated business plans and timing of future activities of the Company, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, the state of the financial markets for the Company's equity securities, the state of the commodity markets generally, variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, variations in the market price of any mineral products the Company may produce or plan to produce, the inability of the Company to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required, including TSXV acceptance, for its planned activities, the inability of the Company to produce minerals from its properties successfully or profitably, to continue its projected growth, to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in the Company's latest interim Management Discussion and Analysis and filed with certain securities commissions in Canada. All of the Company's Canadian public disclosure filings may be accessed via www.sedarplus.ca and readers are urged to review these materials, including the technical reports filed with respect to the Company's mineral properties. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/225021 NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, TO US PERSONS (AS DEFINED IN REGULATION S UNDER THE US SECURITIES ACT OF 1933 (AS AMENDED)) OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, JAPAN, NEW ZEALAND OR THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA OR INTO ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO MIGHT CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OR BREACH OF ANY APPLICABLE LAW. LONDON, September 30, 2024 - Orosur Mining Inc. ("Orosur" or the "Company") (TSX-V:OMI)(AIM:OMI), announces that it has raised the sum of 835,000 (before expenses) through a placing of 30,035,971 new common shares of no par value ("Placing Shares" or "New Common Shares") at a price of 2.78 pence per Placing Share ("Placing Price"), together with a grant of one unlisted warrant to purchase one additional common share exercisable at US$0.0494 (approximately 3.697p) ("Investor Warrant") for every two Placing Shares subscribed for (together the "Placing"). Completion of the Placing is subject, amongst other things, to admission of the New Common Shares to trading on AIM ("Admission"). The Company held cash of US$500,000 (approximately 370,000) as at 27 September 2024, and the additional funds will be used largely to progress the Company's Anza exploration project in Colombia. Work at Anza will include drilling at the Pepas prospect and the engagement of external consultants to examine results from 38,000m of drilling at the APTA prospect to determine if a Mineral Resource Estimate may be developed. Details of the Placing The Placing Price represents a discount of approximately 15 per cent. to the closing mid-market price of the common shares on 27 September 2024, being the last trading day prior to the release of this announcement of the Placing. The Placing Shares will, when issued, represent approximately 14.6 per cent of the existing common shares and will represent approximately 12.7 per cent. of the enlarged share capital of the Company. The Placing was undertaken by Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Ltd ("Turner Pope" or "TPI"), the Company's Joint Broker. Placing Agreement, Admission and Total Voting Rights The Company and Turner Pope have entered into a placing agreement ("Placing Agreement") pursuant to which Turner Pope agreed to use its reasonable endeavours to procure placees pursuant to the Placing. The Placing Agreement contains certain warranties and indemnities given by the Company in favour of Turner Pope. It also contains provisions entitling Turner Pope to terminate the Placing Agreement prior to Admission if, among other things, a breach of any of the warranties occurs. Completion of the Placing is subject, amongst other things, to the 30,035,971 New Common Shares being admitted to trading on AIM and is also conditional upon the Placing Agreement becoming unconditional in all respects and not being terminated in accordance with its terms. Application will be made for Admission. It is expected that Admission will become effective at 8.00am (GMT) on or around 4 October 2024. Following the issue of the 30,035,971 New Common Shares, which on Admission will rank pari passu with the existing common shares, the total number of common shares in issue with voting rights in the Company will be 235,620,423. The above figure of 235,620,423 common shares may therefore be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculation by which they may determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules. The Placing is subject to approval of the TSX-V. The Placing Price of 2.78 pence translates to 5.0 Canadian cents at the exchange rate of GBP1=CAD$1.8. No finder's fees have been paid as part of the placing. Principal Terms of the Investor Warrants The Investor Warrants are constituted pursuant to a Warrant Indenture by way of deed poll to be executed by the Company. The principal terms of the Investor Warrants are as follows: a) a holder of Investor Warrants will have the right at any time prior to 4 October 2026 upon written notice to subscribe for new common shares on the basis of one new common share for every Investor Warrant held, at US$0.0494 (approximately 3.697p) per new common share, being a premium of 33% to the Placing Price (based on US$1.3362/1.00 conversion rate); b) the Investor Warrants will not be listed or admitted to trading on any exchange, including without limitation AIM or TSX-V; and c) the subscription rights under the Investor Warrants will be subject to adjustment in the event of various corporate actions affecting the share capital of the Company. Broker Warrants In connection with the Placing, TPI will be issued with 3,003,597 broker warrants ("Broker Warrants"), the principal terms of which are as follows: a) TPI will have the right at any time prior to 4 October 2029, upon written notice, to subscribe for new common shares on the basis of one new common share for each Broker Warrant held, at US$0.03715 (approximately 2.78p) per new common share; b) the Broker Warrants will not be listed or admitted to trading on any exchange, including without limitation AIM or TSX-V; and c) the subscription rights under the Broker Warrants will be subject to adjustment in the event of various corporate actions affecting the share capital of the Company. Orosur CEO Brad George commented: "We are pleased with the positive response to our Placing at what is an exciting time for Orosur and indeed the gold market in general. The funds will be used to progress our Anza Project, in particular a drilling program at Pepas and the engagement of external consultants to examine the potential of calculating a Mineral Resource Estimate at APTA. Our work programs are ready to go and we anticipate accelerated news flow going forward". For further information, visit www.orosur.ca, follow on X @orosurm or please contact: Orosur Mining Inc Louis Castro, Chairman, Brad George, CEO info@orosur.ca Tel: +1 (778) 373-0100 SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP - Nomad & Broker Jeff Keating / Caroline Rowe Tel: +44 (0) 20 3 470 0470 Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Ltd - Joint Broker Andy Thacker/James Pope Tel: +44 (0)20 3657 0050 Flagstaff Communications Tim Thompson Mark Edwards Fergus Mellon orosur@flagstaffcomms.com Tel: +44 (0)207 129 1474 The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ('MAR') which has been incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement via Regulatory Information Service ('RIS'), this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain. 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. About Orosur Mining Inc. Orosur Mining Inc. (TSXV:OMI)(AIM:OMI) is a minerals explorer and developer currently operating in Colombia, Argentina and Nigeria. Forward Looking Statements All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained in this news release constitute "forward looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including but not limited to the "safe harbour" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are based on expectations estimates and projections as of the date of this news release. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, completion of the Acquisition, approval of the TSXV of the acquisition, Orosur becoming operator of the Anza Project, the expected focus on the Pepas prospect, the exploration plans in Colombia and the funding of those plans, and other events or conditions that may occur in the future. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, obtaining conditional approval of the TSXV and meeting other conditions to closing the Acquisition, timing of closing of the Acquisition and those as described in Section "Risks Factors" of the Company's MD&A for the year ended May 31, 2023. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events and such forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable law. The Company's continuance as a going concern is dependent upon its ability to obtain adequate financing, and to reach a satisfactory closure of the Creditors Agreement in Uruguay. These material uncertainties may cast significant doubt upon the Company's ability to realize its assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business and accordingly the appropriateness of the use of accounting principles applicable to a going concern This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com. SOURCE: Orosur Mining Inc View the original press release on accesswire.com Gold Reserve Inc. (TSX.V: GRZ) (OTCQX: GDRZF) ("Gold Reserve" or the "Company") provides the following update on the sale and bidding process (the "Sale Process") for the purchase of the common shares of PDV Holdings, Inc. ("PDVH"), the indirect parent company of CITGO Petroleum Corp. ("CITGO"), managed by the Special Master (the "Special Master") appointed by the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware (the "Delaware Court"). This update is qualified in its entirety by reference to such documentation which is available on the Public Access to Court Electronic Records ("PACER") system in the Delaware Court proceedings, including in Crystallex International Corp. v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 1:17-mc-00151-LPS (D. Del.). On September 27, 2024, the Special Master publicly filed a status report with the Delaware Court in which he reported on his discussions with certain holders of 8.5% Senior Notes due 2020 (the "PDVSA 2020 Notes") issued under an Indenture, dated October 27, 2016 among, inter alia, Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. ("PDVSA"), as issuer, GLAS Americas LLC, as Collateral Agent, and MUFG Union Bank, N.A., as Trustee, as it relates to the pledge of CITGO Holding (a subsidiary of CITGO) equity (the "CITGO Holding Pledge"). In the status report, the Special Master disclosed that, as of September 27, 2024, those discussions have not resulted in an agreement and the discussions are no longer active. The Special Master also publicly filed on September 27, 2024, a "Notice of Special Master's Recommendation" with the Delaware Court (the "Notice") in which the Special Master provided the following information: The Special Master has selected Amber Energy Inc. (the "Buyer"), an affiliate of Elliott Investment Management L.P., as the "Successful Bidder" pursuant to the Sale Process. The Special Master may recommend at a future date, in the Notice of Final Recommendation (as defined therein), the Delaware Court approval of the Buyer's purchase of all of the common shares of PDVH (the "PDVH Shares") pursuant to the terms and conditions set forth in the proposed executed Stock Purchase Agreement attached as Exhibit A to the Notice (the "Proposed Purchase Agreement" and the transactions contemplated thereby, the "Proposed Sale Transaction"). In the Notice, the Special Master excerpted certain terms from the Proposed Purchase Agreement, including: Purchase Price. The proposed purchase price for the PDVH Shares is equivalent to a total CITGO enterprise value of up to approximately US$7.286 billion, subject to material assumptions and adjustments pursuant to the Proposed Purchase Agreement, which terms are redacted in the attached Proposed Purchase Agreement but will be available upon the commencement of the Topping Period (as defined below) and the Special Master's filing of his final recommendation of the Proposed Sale Transaction, as described below (the "Final Recommendation"). Purchase Price Escrow. Cash consideration paid by the Buyer at closing of the Proposed Sale Transaction will be placed into escrow accounts in accordance with the Trust Structure Term Sheet (as defined and attached as Exhibit A to the Proposed Purchase Agreement). The release of the escrowed proceeds will be subject to conditions including, among other things, resolution of Ascertained Alter Ego Claims and the CITGO Holding Pledge (each as defined in the Trust Structure Term Sheet). Injunction Termination Right. In the event the Delaware Court denies the relief sought in the Special Master's "Motion to Enjoin the Alter Ego Claimants from Enforcing Claims Against the Republic or PDVSA by Collecting from PDVH or its Subsidiaries in Other Forums" (the "Alter Ego Motion"), which is scheduled for a hearing on October 1, 2024, the Buyer may elect to terminate the Proposed Purchase Agreement (the "Injunction Termination Right"). Superior Proposals. From the date of execution of the Proposed Purchase Agreement until the date on which the Special Master files the Final Recommendation, the Special Master is subject to a non-solicitation and non-discussion provision and is not permitted to consider any alternative proposals to purchase the PDVH Shares. If, following the Court's decision with respect to the Alter Ego Motion, and pursuant to the terms of the Proposed Purchase Agreement, the Special Master and the Buyer amend the Proposed Purchase Agreement and the Special Master files the Final Recommendation of the Proposed Sale Transaction, as amended, the 45-day period during which the Special Master may consider alternative proposals (the "Topping Period") will commence during which the Special Master will be permitted to consider alternative proposals, subject to the limitations set forth in the Proposed Purchase Agreement. In light of the Injunction Termination Right, the Special Master does not believe that a final recommendation of the Proposed Sale Transaction is appropriate at this time, nor would it be productive given the upcoming October 1, 2024 hearing on the Alter Ego Motion. Therefore, the Special Master recommends to the Delaware Court that it adopt the following briefing schedule and process related to the Proposed Sale Transaction: Notice filed on September 27, 2024; Hearing on Alter Ego Motion -- October 1, 2024; If the Court grants the relief requested in the Alter Ego Motion, the Special Master and the Buyer will work in good faith to make any amendments to the Proposed Purchase Agreement as are necessary to reflect the Court's ruling and, within three business days after the execution of such amendments-i.e., the Trust Structure Effective Date (as defined in the Proposed Purchase Agreement, which itself must occur by the later of October 25, 2024 and ten business days following entry of the Delaware Court's order on the Alter Ego Motion -the Special Master will file the "Final Recommendation". The Final Recommendation will include (i) an amended Proposed Purchase Agreement, (ii) final Trust Documentation (as defined in the Trust Structure Term Sheet), and (iii) a proposed form of Sale Order in connection therewith; The deadline for objections to the Proposed Sale Transaction, and all other briefing deadlines provided in the Delaware Court's Oral Order entered on September 20, 2024 will be based on the date of filing of the Final Recommendation; The Topping Period pursuant to the Proposed Purchase Agreement shall commence on the date of the filing of the Final Recommendation; and The Sale Hearing in connection with the Proposed Sale Transaction shall be scheduled based on the briefing schedule described in the fourth bullet above. Pursuant to the Sale Process Order, within seven days after the filing of the Final Recommendation, the Special Master will file a report under seal (and serve a copy to the Sale Process Parties) that provides a summary of the Bids for the PDVH Shares, including their cash and non-cash consideration components. On October 1, 2024, the Delaware Court is scheduled to hold a hearing on the Alter Ego Motion and on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela/PDVSA motion for a 4-month stay of the Sale Process. "At present, it is not clear what, if any, monies the Company would receive under the terms of this Proposed Purchase Agreement, and there is a significant risk the Company would not receive any recovery," said Paul Rivett, Executive Vice Chair. "All of the proposed terms appear to be contingent on the resolution of the Alter Ego Motion, as well as subject to further amendment if the motion is granted and, unfortunately, many of the terms are redacted. Gold Reserve's recovery appears to be entirely contingent on the amount of the Purchase Price that is escrowed to resolve the CITGO Holding Pledge (related to the 2020 Notes), and the resolution of the pending litigation concerning the CITGO Holding Pledge as well as the Ascertained Alter Ego Claims. Gold Reserve looks forward to obtaining further clarity on these open issues. In the interim, Gold Reserve is considering all of its options, including in respect of its objection rights and preparations for the topping period." On Behalf of the Board of Directors Paul Rivett Executive Vice-Chairman Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking statements This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable U.S. federal securities laws and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian provincial and territorial securities laws and state Gold Reserve's and its management's intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations or predictions for the future. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. They are frequently characterized by words such as "anticipates", "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed", "positioned" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements relating to the Sale Process, the Proposed Sale Transaction and any Potential Transaction (as defined below). We caution that such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other risks that may cause the actual events, outcomes or results of Gold Reserve to be materially different from our estimated outcomes, results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: the Sale Process may not be consummated, including that it may not result in a sale of the PDVH Shares to any person, including to the Buyer; the Company may not receive any monies under the Sale Process, including under the Proposed Sale Transaction, any potential transaction of the Company solely or with one or more other parties ( "Potential Transaction") in relation to the sale of PDVH Shares pursuant to the Sale Process, including, but not limited to: complying with the topping bid terms under the Proposed Purchase Agreement, discretion of the Special Master to otherwise considering any Potential Transaction, entering into any discussions or negotiation with respect thereto and that the Special Master may reject any Potential Transaction including without limitation because the Special Master's view is that the Potential Transaction is not of sufficient value, does not sufficiently take account of the PDVSA 2020 Notes, does not have sufficient certainty of closing and/or for any other reason; the form of consideration and/or proceeds that may be received by the Company in any Potential Transaction; that any Potential Transaction, and/or the form of proceeds received by the Company in any Potential Transaction, may be substantially less than the amounts outstanding under the Company's September 2014 arbitral award (the "Award") and/or corresponding November 20, 2015 U.S. judgement; the failure of the Company to put forth or negotiate any Potential Transaction, including as a result of failing to obtain sufficient equity and/or debt financing; that any Potential Transaction of the Company will not be selected as a "Successful Bid" under the Sale Process including complying with any topping bid procedures, and if selected may not close, including as a result of U.S. Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC "), or any other applicable regulatory body, not granting an authorization in connection with any potential sale of PDVH Shares and/or whether OFAC changes its decision or guidance regarding the Sale Process; failure of the Company or any other party to obtain any required approvals for, or satisfy other conditions to effect, any transaction resulting from any Potential Transaction or the Potential Sale Transaction; that the Company may forfeit any cash amount deposit made due to failing to complete any Potential Transaction or otherwise; that the making of any Potential Transaction or any transaction resulting therefrom may involve unexpected costs, liabilities or delays; that, prior to or as a result of the completion of any transaction contemplated by any Potential Transaction, the business of the Company may experience significant disruptions due to transaction related uncertainty, industry conditions or other factors; the ability to enforce the writ of attachment granted to the Company; the timing set for various reports and/or other matters with respect to the Sale Process (including the Sale Motion and Sale Hearing) may not be met; the ability of the Company to otherwise participate in the Sale Process (and related costs associated therewith); the amount, if any, of proceeds associated with the Sale Process the Company may otherwise receive; the competing claims of certain creditors, the "Other Creditors" (as detailed in the applicable court documents filed with the Delaware Court) of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ("Venezuela") and/or any of its agencies or instrumentalities and the Company, including any interest on such creditors' judgements and any priority afforded thereto; uncertainties with respect to possible settlements between Venezuela, PDVSA, and/or any of their agencies or instrumentalities, and other creditors and the impact of any such settlements on the amount of funds that may be available under the Sale Process; the ramifications of bankruptcy with respect to the Sale Process and/or the Company's claims, including as a result of the priority of other claims; and whether Venezuela or PDVH's parent company, Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., or any other party files further appeals or challenges with respect to any judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, any judgment of the U.S. District Court of Delaware, or any judgment of any other court in relation to the Company's right to participate in any distribution of proceeds from the Sale Process (including any Potential Transaction or the Potential Sale Transaction). This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements. For a more detailed discussion of the risk factors affecting the Company's business, see the Company's Management's Discussion & Analysis for the period ended June 30, 2024, Company's Annual Information Form on Form 40-F and Management's Discussion & Analysis for the year ended December 31, 2023 and other reports that have been filed on SEDAR+ and are available under the Company's profile at www.sedarplus.ca and which have been filed on EDGAR and are available under the Company's profile at www.sec.gov/edgar. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to Gold Reserve or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice. Gold Reserve disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements or the foregoing list of assumptions or factors, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, subject to its disclosure obligations under applicable rules promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission and applicable Canadian provincial and territorial securities laws. 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. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240930285350/en/ Contact Gold Reserve Inc. Contact Jean Charles Potvin 999 W. Riverside Ave., Suite 401 Spokane, WA 99201 USA Tel: (509) 623-1500 Fax: (509) 623-1634 Mazepin has plans to return to Europe Axed former Formula 1 driver Nikita Mazepin has "plans", now that the door to Europe has been re-opened to him. Nikita Mazepin, Hungarian GP 2021 Haas Two weeks ago, sanctions imposed on the 25-year-old due to his father's links to Vladimir Putin were finally lifted, meaning the Russian can now freely travel to Europe. Tass news agency says Switzerland has now followed suit by lifting the country's own set of sanctions against Mazepin, who was sacked by Haas at the outbreak of the 2022 Ukraine-Russia war. I am certainly happy about this news, Mazepin said. "The fight lasted a very long time, and one can say that justice has prevailed. I can announce that this week Switzerland also removed me from its sanctions list. This is a big victory for me. I will definitely tell you about my future plans, but a little later, he added. (GMM) Michael Andretti steps aside at racing empire Michael Andretti has ceded control of his motor racing empire, Andretti Global. Atmosphere, Singapore GP 2024 Red Bull Famed for its involvement and successes in mainly US-based series including Indycar, Andretti applied to be granted entry to Formula 1 early in 2022, simultaneously ramping up its operations and preparations. Early this year, despite FIA approval, Liberty Media-owned Formula 1 rejected the Cadillac-bolstered Andretti bid - ultimately resulting in a US government investigation into the arguably anti-competitive decision. In that context, it is fascinating that Andretti Global has now announced that co-owner Dan Towriss has taken over complete control of the company. Michael's goal has been to transition to a more strategic role with Andretti Global and focus less on the operational side of the race team, the outfit confirmed in a statement. Michael remains engaged and will continue to serve as a strategic advisor and key ambassador. (GMM) Earlier this year, HMD entered a new phase of its development and dropped its Nokia branding for smartphones in favor of its own HMD-branded devices. HMD continued to offer Nokia-branded smartphones, feature phones, and tablets for the past months, but it seems supplies for those have come to an end, at least in Europe. No Nokia smartphones in sight on HMD UK You won't find Nokia-branded devices on any of the official HMD websites in the Old Continent but Nokia devices are still present across HMDs storefronts in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand, and Latin America. We assume the availability in those regions will also cease sooner rather than later. HMD's support page still has Nokia smart and feature phones which will continue to receive software support, but it remains to be seen for how long. For clarification purposes, Nokia Corporation (the original Nokia) is still a major player in the network infrastructure business and one of the largest patent holders in the tech world with past lawsuits against multiple smartphone makers ranging from Apple to Samsung and members of the BBK group. Via Samsung's Galaxy A16 5G keeps on leaking without having become official so far. We've seen it in a render before, but today it's time for an image bonanza, as a new leak has portrayed the device in all three of its color versions. The phone has been rumored to sport a 6.7-inch 1080x2340 LCD display with 90 Hz refresh rate and 800-nit peak brightness, 4/6/8GB of RAM, 128/256GB of storage, a 5,000 mAh battery, and an IP54 dust and splash resistance rating. Samsung Galaxy A16 5G leaked renders Perhaps one of its main selling points will seemingly be the insane software support (for its price), with Samsung promising a whopping six major Android updates and six years of security patches for it. That's not something that can be easily matched by its similarly priced competitors, so for some people it may tip the scales in Samsung's favor. The Galaxy A16 5G will use the Dimensity 6300 SoC in India and Thailand, and Samsung's own Exynos 1330 everywhere else. Samsung Galaxy A16 4G leaked renders The Galaxy A16 4G is also coming, though its specs are less clear. Still, the official-looking renders above portray this one in all three colors as well, and there are minor differences between its hues and the 5G model's, but not much more. Source The Galaxy Tab S10 series and S24 FE made their debuts last week and Galaxy AI suite was one of the dominating features in the marketing side. While all of the new AI features are currently free, Samsung once again hinted that that may not be the case for too long. One of the footnotes in the official press release for the new Tab S10 series and S24 FE explicitly mentions that Fees may apply to certain AI features at the end of 2025. Samsung previously confirmed that Galaxy AI features will be provided for free until the end of 2025 on supported Samsung Galaxy devices, so it is safe to assume that Samsungs AI suite, or certain parts of it, will in fact require a payment from next year. Via Former Guam resident Abhay Godhania has achieved his dreams of becoming a registered professional engineer. This comes after recently passing the professional engineering exam and experience requirements to become a registered engineer for the state of Oklahoma. He is currently practicing in the field of transportation engineering. Godhania grew up on the island and graduated from George Washington High School and attended Guam Community College before transferring to Oklahoma State University where he graduated with a bachelors degree in civil engineering in 2019. He moved to Guam from India with his mom and brothers to live with his dad, who was living and working on the island for a few years. Godhania started his freshman year at GWHS in 2007 and took computer-aided drafting and design during his sophomore year, and carpentry in his senior year through the cross-enrollment program at GCC. After graduating from GWHS, he enrolled at GCC to learn more about drafting and then decided to take it further to earn an engineering degree in the states. I always had a strong background in math and science and was good at picturing something in 3D from different planar views and vice versa. Accomplishing this long-term goal would make my high school and college professors on island proud, he said. My family and friends on island would be happy that all the hard work has paid off after all these years being away from them. Although it was not easy to leave the island I call home, I am really thankful and appreciate all the love and support from them to help me get through this journey. Godhania said passing the professional engineer exam was a big milestone, and achieving it felt like it was all done. However, it is just a start for advancing in his engineering career. Even though I have passed my PE exam, it is continually going to be a learning process to stay up to date about new standards, codes, methods and technology to keep up with the demands needed to maintain existing and build new infrastructure, he said. It took the 3 Es to get where he is now, he said, referring to education, exams, and experience. The national board approves applicants if one graduated from an Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology-accredited college, then pass the six-hour long Fundamentals of Engineering exam and eight-hour long Principles and Practices of Engineering exam, then gain four years of work experience under engineers who are currently licensed in the field that one wants to practice as a professional. I am now able to stamp and seal highway engineering plans for Department of Transportation, municipality or county in the state of Oklahoma before it goes into construction, Godhania said. The Guam Visitors Bureau participated in the four-day Tourism Expo Japan 2024, one of the largest travel and tourism industry exhibitions in the world with participation from over 1,000 companies and organizations from about 80 countries and regions. The Sept. 26 to 29 expo at the Tokyo Big Sight was earlier expected to draw some 180,000 visitors. Through Tourism Expo Japan 2024, GVB said it aims to share the charm of Guam and increase arrival numbers for the Japan market. The first two days were set for trade days for industry professionals. Participating as exhibitors were GVB and several GVB member-companies, including Baldyga Group, Royal Orchid Guam, PHR-The Tsubaki Tower, Hilton Guam Resort and Spa, Hotel Nikko Guam, Pacific Islands Club, RIHGA Royal Laguna Guam, Arluis Wedding, Guam Premier Outlets, Crowne Plaza Resort Guam, Guam Plaza Resort, Dusit Thani Guam Resort, Dusit Beach, Dusit Place, Lotte Hotel Guam, Skydive Guam, Choice Broadcasting, Japan Guam Travel Association, and United Airlines. Wellness Island Project Additionally, on Sept. 27, GVB and H.I.S. Co. Ltd. held a signing ceremony at the H.I.S. booth, attended by GVB General Manager Carl T.C. Gutierrez, GVB board member and Sinajana Mayor Robert Hofmann, and GVB Global Marketing Director Nadine Leon Guerrero. The signing officially launched a joint promotion for the Wellness Island Project, which seeks to help widely promote Guam as a wellness and fitness island destination, aiming to bring 50,000 and more visitors to Guam in 2025. "We are proud of our partnership with H.I.S. highlighting our culture, natural resources, and upcoming events that promote fitness and wellness. Mr. Kozo Arita, H.I.S. executive officer, has embraced Guam and I encourage the company to expand and include our brothers and sisters in all the Marianas," Gutierrez said in a GVB press release Sunday. Also in Japan to promote the concept and share the Japan events through live broadcasts was Choice Broadcastings Ray Gibson, GVB said. GVB said its booth featured various activities that allowed visitors to experience Guams culture, cuisine, and beauty by appealing to the five senses. There were also a variety of fun events for visitors, such as giveaways of newly designed original eco-bags and rock-paper-scissors competitions, to name a few. A part of the introduction to Guams culture were performances by Guma Taotao Kinahulo Atdao na Tano led by Asami Nohira, and a CHamoru dance show by local cultural entertainers Vince San Nicolas and Jayvier Quenga. On the main stage, the Guam CHamoru Dance Academy also performed. Behind the booth, the Guam Mangge food truck selling tinaktak burgers and CHamoru BBQ bowls was in high demand among JATA goers, GVB said. There was also an augmented reality experience corner using the app STYLY, the bureau added. Guam Educational Travel Forum GVB, in collaboration with United Airlines and with support from the U.S. Consulate General Osaka-Kobe Commercial Section, held a Guam Educational Travel Forum 2024 in Nagoya on Sept. 18 and in Osaka on Sept. 19. During the forum, professors from Japanese universities who had participated in the United Summit Pilot Program and visited Guam in 2023, shared their insights from visiting various facilities and programs, including the University of Guam. In addition, a UOG team participated in the forum as guest presenters. They included Carlos Taitano, UOG director of Global Learning and Engagement; Kyle Mandapat, assistant director for communications, Center for Island Sustainability; and Austin Shelton, director for the Center for Island Sustainability. During the event, United Airlines and other related organizations shared information related to the theme, The current state of educational travel in Guam. Guam offers a wealth of educational resources, making it a treasure trove for learning, GVB said. Because tourism is a major industry on Guam, specialized training in tourism and hospitality is also available, making it an ideal destination for educational travel, GVB added. The forum concluded with a total of 26 participants from Nagoya, including five universities and 21 travel agents, as well as a total of 36 members, including 11 universities and 24 travel agents from Osaka. GVB thanks its members, guest presenters, and co-sponsors that participated in the forum, including UOG, United Airlines, U.S. Consulate General Osaka-Kobe Commercial Section, LeoPalace Resort Guam, Barefoot Guam, Crowne Plaza Resort Guam, Pacific Island Holidays LLC, Hyatt Regency Guam, and Ken Hotels & Resort Holdings Ltd. The death toll from Hurricane John, which made landfall twice on Mexico's Pacific coast, rose to 16 by Sunday, authorities said. Outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in a message on X, updated the toll in Guerrerro state to 15, while a civil protection official in the neighboring state of Oaxaca told AFP another life was lost there. Some media reported the toll was at least 20. John made landfall on Tuesday as a Category 3 hurricane before churning along the coast for several days and striking land again as a tropical storm. The storm left the beachside city of Acapulco underwater, causing panic in a town where memories are still fresh of Hurricane Otis -- a scale-topping Category 5 storm that left a trail of destruction and several dozen people dead in October last year. Some 18,000 military and rescue personnel were deployed to deal with John, and more than 5,000 people were evacuated from high-risk areas, according to authorities. About 3,800 were taken to shelters. The water level had started dropping by Sunday, and a cleanup was underway. Many people were wandering the muddy streets of Acapulco over the weekend, searching for food and fuel or waiting for emergency aid. President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, due to take over from Lopez Obrador, said on X she will visit Guerrerro state with her ministers the day after her swearing-in Tuesday to assess the situation and ensure "all the necessary assistance." Hurricanes hit Mexico every year on both its Pacific and Atlantic coasts, usually between May and November. In July, Hurricane Beryl forced the evacuation of hundreds of tourists and caused at least 18 deaths in the Caribbean, Venezuela and the United States. Meanwhile rescuers battled on Sunday to reach people in need of aid in the southeastern United States following devastating Hurricane Helene, with flooded roads and power outages impeding progress. Scientists say climate change likely plays a role in the rapid intensification of hurricanes, because there is more energy in warmer oceans for them to feed on. sem-sem/st/mlr/nro The U.S. Coast Guard on Guam will see the number of its cutter ships double from three to six, according to USCG Pacific Area commander Vice Admiral Andrew J. Tiongson at a digital press conference from Japan on Sept. 27. Tiongson was responding to a question from the Pacific Daily News on the Coast Guards role in the ongoing military buildup on Guam. We are doubling that force...weve already done that through the help of the administration well, first our department, the administration, and then our United States Congress, as we have been appropriated to purchase those new fast response cutters, he said. The press conference was held to discuss the Coast Guards Pacific Area Campaign Plan, and the vice admirals vision for the future of the Coast Guards presence throughout the Indo-Pacific and Oceania regions. So, I had just recently went to Guam. I talked to everybody in Guam because, yes, we are also increasing our footprint in Guam, Tiongson added. The USCG Pacific commander did not say when the new cutters would arrive and how many additional personnel would be assigned to Guam. Tiongson was also asked if there were any discussions underway on prospects for U.S. Coast Guard vessels to join or escort Philippine Coast Guard vessels in resupply missions to the Sierra Madre at the Second Thomas Shoal. The Philippine military has troops aboard the Sierra Madre, an abandoned World War II vessel, to maintain the Philippine governments claim to the disputed shoal. CBS News 60 minutes program aired a dramatic report of a Chinese ship that rammed a Philippine Coast Guard vessel near the disputed Shoal on Sept. 15. A 60 minutes reporter and crew were on board the Philippine vessel and recorded the incident. Tiongson did not directly address the incident but said, I am a friend of Admiral Gavan, the Philippine Coast Guards commandant. He has not asked me specifically to escort his vessels. But the vice Admiral added, We assist them with coming up with some of their plans, but we do not accompany, which I think is what youre getting after, in terms of an escort. So we do not do that, but right now we are advising and assisting, and certainly the Philippine government, according to Admiral Gavan, they have this mission and they want to continue to have this mission moving forward. The vice admirals press conference also came on the heels of the annual Quad summit between the leaders of the U.S., Japan, Australia and India. According to a news release by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the four leaders continued to express their serious concern about the militarization of disputed features and coercive and intimidating maneuvers in the South China Sea, and condemned the dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels, including increasing use of dangerous maneuvers. Tiongson said in his opening statement that the Coast Guards operating within an internationally accepted rules-based order serves as a non-escalatory resource that helps nations enforce laws, support regional objectives, and protect sovereignty. And all of that, in my mind, leads to the well-being of their people and their economy, he added. As a mammoth Category 4 storm, on Thursday, Hurricane Helene careened into Floridas Big Bend region before crisscrossing through multiple states on a path of destruction. According to an NBC News count of confirmed fatalities, at least 116 people are dead as a result of the storm a third of them in North Carolina. In fact, CNN reports that North Carolina suffered the highest death toll, with at least 42 confirmed so far. On Sunday, in Buncombe County, North Carolina, Sheriff Quentin Miller said the death toll in the community had climbed to 30 as rescue teams continue to search for the missing. We know that we have areas in Fairview, Black Mountain, Swannanoa, and Barnardsville with unimaginable devastation, county officials said. With devastating storm surge, damaging winds and historic flooding, Hurricane Helene could become one of the costliest storms in U.S. history, with the loss currently estimated between $95 billion and $110 billion and thats just a preliminary figure as some areas have not yet reported complete information. On Sunday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the state would be deploying recovery assistance to North Carolina and Tennessee to help with Hurricane Helenes impacts as part of Operation Blue Ridge a multi-state agency response that includes the Florida Division of Emergency Management, Florida State Guard, Florida National Guard, Florida Department of Transportation, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission a Florida law enforcement coordination task force and a law enforcement strike team. As part of the mission, the Florida Division of Emergency Management will deploy communications teams to assist in restoring phone service as well as more than 100 Starlinks to facilitate internet service. Further, ten truckloads (42,550 gallons) of water are being brought in and both the Florida State Guard and the Florida National Guard are sending in special search and rescue teams. Helene was a large and extremely powerful storm, with wind gusts of hurricane force extending far out from the center through the Florida Peninsula and a devastating, even record storm surge all along the Gulf Coast of Florida as the storm headed northward over the eastern Gulf of Mexico, AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter, said. After landfall, with the storm moving rapidly northward, hurricane conditions continued well northward into Georgia, with major metropolitan areas like Atlanta experiencing damaging winds and flooding rains. Catastrophic impacts also extended into the southern Appalachians, where flash flooding continues as does the risk of dam failures in some areas. For Florida residents, if you or someone you know needs rescue in Western North Carolina, the Blue Ridge Mountains, or the Tennessee Valley, officials are asking that you immediately fill out an assistance form at FloridaDisaster.org/OperationBlueRidge. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami continue to keep an eye on potential tropical development in the Caribbean Sea that could eventually turn to the north and move into the Gulf of Mexico. The area of low pressure is currently located over the western Caribbean Sea. So far, it has only produced disorganized showers and thunderstorms. Environmental conditions appear to be conducive for gradual development, and a tropical depression could form around the middle part of this week while the disturbance moves slowly west-northwestward, forecasters wrote in their seven-day tropical outlook at 7 p.m. CT Sunday. The hurricane center gave the disturbance a medium 50% chance of developing into at least a tropical depression over the next seven days. While these chances had gone up from 30% earlier in the weekend, the odds were unchanged from Sunday afternoon. The system is expected to shift into a zone of the western Caribbean Sea with decent prospects for tropical development, according to forecasters at AccuWeather. A combination of abnormally warm ocean waters and limited wind shear should make for ripe conditions for development. The system is forecast to move northwestward into the Gulf of Mexico during the latter portion of this week, forecasters said. Wind shear is expected to increase as the storm moves farther north into the Gulf later this week, according to AccuWeather. As southwesterly breezes increase, they should cause moisture and any tropical feature that has formed or is trying to form to be guided to the north or east later in the week and into the weekend. The steering breezes will determine where along the U.S. Gulf coast the system will make landfall. While its too early to determine how strong the system will be when that happens, it could impact anywhere from Louisiana to Florida, forecasters said. Should steering breezes remain weak, then a track toward Louisiana could occur. If strong steering breezes from the southwest occur, then a track toward Florida and perhaps the coastal areas of Georgia and the Carolinas would be more likely. Regardless, forecasters at the hurricane center remind those along the U.S. Gulf coast to monitor the systems progress during the week. Not as strong as Helene Even though the tropical disturbance in the Caribbean Sea is developing in the same region where Helene developed, forecasters dont expect the new system to strengthen the same way Helene did. Helene was a large tropical disturbance that moved into a highly conducive environment for rapid strengthening. In addition to the very warm water, there was very little wind shear in front of Helene, said Brett Anderson, AccuWeather senior meteorologist. One other component of Helene was a non-tropical system that moved south through the central U.S., which provided additional energy to the system and helped to send it northward into the southern Appalachians and then westward toward the mid-Mississippi Valley. Any tropical system that develops this week wont have that extra energy and northward pull, Anderson said. There is a possibility the system will experience enough wind shear to split it into two separate entities, meaning the second one may follow the first one a few days later. Either way, one strong storm or two weaker ones could deliver excessive rainfall to parts of the southeastern U.S. Will it be Kirk or Leslie? The next two names on the list for the 2024 hurricane season are Kirk and Leslie. The name given to any potential tropical development will depend on what happens with a system in the eastern Atlantic Ocean that developed into Tropical Depression 12 on Sunday. That system is expected to gradually strengthen on Monday followed by a faster rate of intensification through midweek, the hurricane center said in an advisory at 10 p.m. CT on Sunday. The depression could become a hurricane by Tuesday night or Wednesday. Forecasters with the National Hurricane Center in Miami continue to monitor the potential for tropical development in the Caribbean Sea that could be a threat to the Gulf of Mexico. The primary area of concern is a large and disorganized area of low pressure located over the western and southwestern Caribbean Sea, where the odds of development have decreased slightly, according to an update from the hurricane center Monday at 1 p.m. CT. The system now has a medium 40% chance of developing into at least a tropical depression over the next seven days, forecasters said. This is down from the previous 50% chance from over the past weekend. Still, forecasters at the hurricane center said environmental conditions could become conducive for gradual development. A tropical depression could form in the next few days while the system is over the southern Gulf of Mexico or northwestern Caribbean Sea. The timetable for potential development has shifted toward later this week or into the weekend, forecasters noted. The tropical disturbance is expected to shift into a zone conducive for development, according to AccuWeather meteorologist Alyssa Glenny. Abnormally warm ocean waters and limited wind shear are currently low, which could contribute to the development of the system. Wind shear will remain low initially but is expected to increase over the Gulf of Mexico later in the week, according to AccuWeather. As these southwesterly breezes increase, they will tend to cause moisture and any tropical feature that has formed or is trying to form to be guided to the north or east later next week into the following weekend. The exact strength and direction of the wind shear will tend to determine where downpours and gusty winds will be guided along the U.S. Gulf Coast. The downpours can be strewn anywhere from Louisiana to Florida, or even beyond the Gulf to Georgia and the Carolinas. Should steering breezes remain weak, then a track toward Louisiana could occur. Should strong steering breezes from the southwest occur, then a track toward Florida and perhaps the coastal areas of Georgia and the Carolinas would be more likely, forecasters at AccuWeather said. Not like Helene While the tropical disturbance in the Caribbean Sea is following a similar trajectory to Helene, which made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida as a Category 4 hurricane and was responsible for killing more than 120, there are significant differences between that storm and any potential development now. Helene was a large tropical disturbance that moved into a highly conducive environment for rapid strengthening. In addition to the very warm water, there was very little wind shear in front of Helene, said Brett Anderson, AccuWeather senior meteorologist. A non-tropical storm also dove southward through the central U.S., which provided additional energy to Helene and helped to send it northward into the southern Appalachian Mountains and then westward toward the mid-Mississippi Valley. The disturbance this week will likely be much slower to develop as it encounters more land masses and wind shear, Anderson said. The most likely scenario with this weeks tropical feature is that it will get drawn northward to a point over the Gulf but then shunted northeastward late this week. Any tropical development will likely draw moisture northward from the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, meaning excessive rain and flooding could be possible. At this time, AccuWeather forecasters place the highest risk for significant and possibly excessive rainfall over Florida, but that could change. Because of the uncertainty around how the tropical disturbance will develop, forecasters at the hurricane center advise those along the U.S. Gulf Coast to continue to monitor the progress of the system. Tropics heat up in the Atlantic Elsewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, a tropical depression has strengthened Monday morning into Tropical Storm Kirk. Kirk is expected to move west over the open Atlantic and become a major hurricane by the end of week. Isaac, which became a hurricane late last week, will travel over open waters of the North Atlantic south of Iceland and west of the United Kingdom this week. It remains a concern for cross-Atlantic shipping and cruise interests. Thousands of miles farther to the south over the central Atlantic, Joyce, which is now a tropical depression, is forecast to remain at sea as it dissipates this week. Haiti - FLASH : The United States abandons its request for a Peacekeeping Mission in Haiti The United States has abandoned its request to the UN Security Council for a transition to transform the Multinational Security Support Mission (MMSS) in Haiti, which supports the Haitian National Police (PNH) in fighting armed gangs, into a UN peacekeeping operation (blue helmets). This abandonment was necessary, despite 6 revisions to the renewal project, due to opposition from Russia and China, who cited the turbulent history of UN peacekeeping operations in Haiti. They argued that the political and security conditions in the country were not conducive to a new UN operation in Haiti. In addition, Russia wants to give the Mission in Haiti more time to establish itself, said Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russian Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations, specifying : "We do not want to prejudge the outcome of the Mission. It is too early to draw conclusions." Consequently, the draft resolution in blue** for the renewal of the mandate of the MMSS, which will be submitted to the vote this Monday, September 30, to the 15 members of the Security Council, no longer contains any reference to a United Nations peacekeeping operation in Haiti. The draft resolution in blue decides to extend the mandate of the MSS mission, as currently authorized by resolution 2699, until October 2nd, 2025. It encourages the mission to accelerate its deployment and the international community to provide additional voluntary contributions. It also reaffirms that the Secretary-General may provide logistical support modules to the mission, upon request, subject to full financial reimbursement to the UN through voluntary contributions and in accordance with the United Nations human rights due diligence policy. Let's recall that the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, had declared earlier this month that the establishment of a UN peacekeeping force would not be the best solution for Haiti, which is facing a humanitarian crisis with massive displacement, sexual violence and widespread hunger. **Draft resolution in blue : A draft resolution is "blued" by a member of the Security Council when it has been the subject of an informal agreement between all members of the Council or when it is clear that no further progress can be made through negotiations. SL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - News : Zapping... Faster election results thanks to ICT Frinel Joseph, observer member of the Transitional Presidential Council, announces that the transitional executive intends to rely on new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to speed up the process of publishing the results of the next elections. "D-1" Back to school and security On Saturday, Me Carlos Hercule, Minister of Justice and Public Security, held a meeting with Ministers Antoine Augustin (Education), Moise Jean-Pierre Fils (environment), Raphael Hosty (Public Works) and senior officers of the Haitian National Police (PNH) around the start of the school year scheduled for Tuesday, October 1, 2024. Minister Hercule assured that the PNH had taken adequate measures to promote the return to school with complete peace of mind. He also met with the public security brigadiers who must be deployed in the streets in order to accompany the students. Haitian coffee under spotligts in Japan The Embassy of Haiti in Japan held an exhibition on Haitian coffee at the premises of the "Ueshima Coffee Academy" in Tokyo. This exhibition presented the origins, particularities and weight of coffee in the Haitian economy of yesterday and today. The public present was able to taste 3 types of Haitian coffee. Conille visits aspiring police officers Prime Minister Garry Conille visited aspiring police officers of the 34th promotion of the National Police, at the Police Academy, in Freres (750 aspiring police officers, including 213 women). The Head of Government took the opportunity to encourage them to take their training seriously because the Nation expects a lot from them. Towards electronic signature The National Telecommunications Council (CONATEL) organized a workshop last week on the implementation of electronic signature for a digital transformation in Haiti. For Jose Jean Baptiste, Director General of CONATEL, it is a question of applying the law on electronic signature and raising awareness among the stakeholders concerned in order to secure online transactions. Strengthening Local Water Governance On September 24, Swiss Cooperation in Haiti and DINEPA co-chaired the 6th meeting of the strategic steering committee of the Program for Strengthening Local Water and Sanitation Governance (REGLEAU), implemented by "Helvetas Swiss Inter-cooperation". The results achieved, challenges and prospects for continuing the actions and enhancing the achievements of this program in the drinking water and sanitation sector in Haiti were discussed. HL/ HaitiLibre MDI, a Helsinki-based regional development consultancy, pointed out in its newly published population forecast that the number of new immigrants has surged by tens of thousands in the past two years, from 30,000 in 2021 to 70,000 in 2023. If Finland continues to attract immigrants at the record-breaking rate in the coming years, the population could grow to almost six million by 2040, the forecast suggests. The scenario, though, is but one of the four possibilities identified by the consultancy: The baseline scenario suggests that the rate of immigration will slow moderately and the population will expand to 5.75 million by the end of the next decade. The population would remain at about 5.65 million under the low-immigration scenario and contract slightly to 5.55 million under the extremely low-immigration scenario. Id say that all of these futures are possible because theyre based on real changes and real figures that weve seen either in Finland or the Nordics, Rasmus Aro, the specialist who authored the forecast at MDI, stated to YLE on 11 September. Immigration will largely determine the rate of population growth due to the slumping birth rate in Finland. Statistics Finland in May reported that the total fertility rate fell to 1.26 in 2023, its lowest level on records dating back to 1776. A rate of about 2.1 would be required to maintain the current population if migration had no impact on the population. Aro reminded the public broadcasting company that forecasts about immigration contain considerable uncertainty because the rate of immigration may be affected by policy decisions both at home and abroad, as well as global events. We know that a significant share of immigration is driven by informal networks, meaning that the experiences of immigrants in Finland will affect future immigration, he noted. MDI is, however, certain about two elements of the forecast: the elderly population will grow markedly in the coming years and immigration will not have a substantial impact on the number of primary-school aged children due to the fact that most immigrants are of working age. Only in the capital region is immigration offsetting the declining birth rate, according to the consultancy. The number of over 75-year-olds will grow by hundreds of thousands of people and the number of over 84-year-olds will double by 2040. This will translate to a sharp increase in service needs across the country, highlighted Aro. The key question for policy makers and society at large is, what kind of demographic structure is ideal for facing the imminent reality? In Finland, immigrants are relocating predominantly to the capital region. Although all regions have reported gains from international migration, many regions and municipalities are struggling to hold on to immigrants. Uusimaa and Southwest Finland, in fact, are the only two regions benefiting from internal migration flows. Immigration is distributed pronouncedly unequally within the country, Aro said in a press release on 11 September. The increase in immigration is not having too meaningful of an impact on population development in about 75 per cent of municipalities. In addition, immigrants are relocating actively within the country, aggravating the unequal distribution. Most Finnish municipalities have to therefore brace for a sharp decline in the number of working-age residents and its negative impacts on the municipalities and municipal residents. The appeal of the capital region can be attributed to factors such as better employment prospects, particularly for someone with a limited command of Finnish, and easier entry into the local community, estimated Aro to YLE. Holding on especially to newly graduated immigrants is pivotal for the long-term vitality of municipalities. If you think about industrial activity in Finland, for example, its focused strongly on medium-sized and smaller towns. The risk in some of these towns is that there isnt enough labour, he said. Aleksi Teivainen HT With wars raging in Palestine, Sudan and Ukraine, the international organisation is needed today more than ever, but without far-reaching reforms the organisation is at risk of being sidelined and losing legitimacy in the eyes of much of the world, Stubb warned in his statement at the UN General Assembly in New York, the US. Whether it is about climate change, technology, sustainable development or conflict, the same challenge remains: the current international institutions do not reflect global realities. The majority of the world is not properly represented in the global institutions and their interests are not met. This must change, he stated, identifying the consequent loss of agency as a factor undermining the legitimacy of such institutions. Stubb outlined a three-point proposal for reforming the UN. The UN Security Council, he said, should be expanded from five to ten members in a way that guarantees that all major continents are represented by adding two members from Asia, two from Africa and one from Latin America. Second, no state should have veto power, he continued. [I]n todays world, it has too often incapacitated the Security Council. His third proposal is that any permanent or elected member of the council should be stripped of its voting rights temporarily if it violates the UN Charter, under a decision by the UN General Assembly. There should be no room for double standards in the United Nations, emphasised Stubb. Finlands three point proposal today is very concrete, some might say overly optimistic, but I do feel we have to begin somewhere. He also touched on the conflicts in Palestine, Sudan and Ukraine. Neither Russia nor any other country, he underscored, has a historical right to the people or territory of anyone else. Finland condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the Russian aggression in Ukraine. Finland equally condemns the attempts to manipulate the global information space to destroy the principles that have sustained world peace for decades. I call on [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin to end this war right now, he said. While Russia is doing its best to blame others for its own aggression, we must systematically revert to the principles of international law and the UN Charter. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys 10-point peace plan would produce a just plan that is clearly in the interests of the global majority, according to Stubb. Also in Palestine, peace would be in the interests of the global majority, and a ceasefire, a two-state solution and regional security arrangements would ensure stability, as well as economic and societal development, across the region. In recent days, concerns over the conflict spilling over in the region have mounted as Israel has ramped up its strikes on Lebanon, killing more than 1,000 people in the past two weeks, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health was quoted saying on Saturday by to the Washington Post. Last Tuesday alone, Israeli strikes killed 558 people, including 50 children and 94 women. On Sunday, Israel announced it has carried out large-scale air strikes in Yemen, targeting military targets of the Houthi, according to the BBC. In Sudan, Stubb viewed that the global community has failed to apply local solutions in its attempts to resolve the civil war, turning the beleaguered country into an arena for regional and international rivalry. No one benefits from this development in the long term, he said. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), the humanitarian situation has worsened due to the civil war, disease outbreaks and heavy rains and flooding. More than eight million people have been internally displaced due to the situation, while almost 25 million are in need of assistance. I call upon the UN to take centre stage in conflict resolution and prevention once again. Peace mediation cannot be transactional it has to be centred in the United Nations. International law, the UN Charter, and the territorial integrity and sovereignty of states must prevail. Aleksi Teivainen HT A new survey conducted by Finnish organizations reveals widespread concern over the potential negative consequences of allowing alcohol home delivery. More than 75% of respondents expressed doubts about the effectiveness of monitoring age restrictions and ensuring sales are not made to intoxicated individuals, should a legal amendment permit food delivery services to handle alcohol distribution. The study, commissioned by A-klinikkasaatio, Ehkaiseva paihdetyo EHYT ry, and Ensi- ja turvakotien liitto, reflects growing unease over how alcohol delivery could impact families and children, with over 70% of participants predicting an increase in child protection cases if the policy is implemented. The results mirror earlier findings from Finland's National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), which published a report in February 2024 showing that 45% of Finns had little to no trust in the ability to properly supervise alcohol deliveries. Only 6% of respondents believed that existing systems were reliable enough to manage such a service. The concerns are not limited to households with heavy alcohol use. "It is a misconception that the harms of alcohol only affect families with excessive drinking habits," said Hannu Jouhki, CEO of A-klinikkasaatio. "The most significant issues often arise in working families, where problems may go unnoticed for longer periods." The debate comes at a time when Finlands child protection services are facing significant strain. In 2023, child protection reports were filed for 110,269 children, representing an 11% increase from the previous year. This means that around one in ten Finnish children is in need of support from child welfare services. "Resources for child protection are already stretched to their limits. Increasing alcohol availability through home delivery would only add to this burden," said Oona Ylonen, Secretary General of the Ensi- ja turvakotien liitto. Substance abuse and child protection organizations have voiced concerns that the governments focus on expanding alcohol availabilitysuch as raising the alcohol content limit for store-bought beverages to 8%neglects the importance of preventing alcohol-related harms. The latest proposal to allow home delivery is seen as a continuation of this trend. "Making alcohol easier to access leads to increased consumption and more harm for families," said Juha Mikkonen, Director of EHYT ry. "According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the most effective ways to prevent alcohol-related harm are to limit its availability, raise prices, and regulate advertising." Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's government has outlined a policy goal of shifting the emphasis from corrective services to earlier intervention and prevention in its program titled "Strong and Caring Finland." However, critics argue that recent budget cuts to three major substance abuse organizationsA-klinikkasaatio, EHYT ry, and Sininauhaliittoalong with reductions in funding for child protection efforts, are counterproductive to these goals. The joint "Invisible Children" campaign, launched by several organizations, aims to raise awareness about the effects of alcohol policies on children. It is estimated that around 89,000 children in Finland are affected by parental substance abuse. Many of these children and their families turn to services provided by non-profit organizations for support. The campaign calls for the protection of childrens rights to be prioritized in the ongoing reform of Finlands alcohol laws. A petition to ensure that childrens welfare is considered in future alcohol policy decisions is currently being circulated by the organizations behind the survey. The survey, conducted in August 2024 by Bilendi via an online panel, polled 1,000 Finnish adults from across the country, excluding Aland. The sample was evenly split between men and women, with 10% of respondents aged 18-24. Representation from other age groups ranged from 15-17%. One-third of respondents were from Uusimaa, Finlands most populous region. HT Legislature 'stands ready' to help, Senate leader says Phil Berger, leader of the N.C. Senate, said in a statement Sunday that the General Assembly stands ready to help restore communities in Western North Carolina. "The images and reports we're getting from Western North Carolina are heartbreaking and devastating. Entire towns have been flooded beyond recognition and roadways have been washed out. While the brunt of Hurricane Helene might be over, our emergency response efforts are still ongoing. I want to thank our first responders and emergency crews who have worked tirelessly to help rescue North Carolinians, restore power, and provide necessary resources." "I've been in contact with the senators in the area and other state and local officials as they continue to assess the damage and impact of Hurricane Helene. It will take time to know the full catastrophic nature of this storm, but the General Assembly stands ready to take the necessary steps to help our neighbors in Western North Carolina. "In the meantime, please keep Western North Carolina in your thoughts and prayers as the emergency response continues and the recovery process begins." Evacuees at Ag Center rescued from dire conditions ells and her cat, Garfield, were rescued by boat on Friday. [PHOTO BY HOLLY KAYS] FLETCHER Just two weeks ago, the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center in Fletcher was an epicenter of joy and merriment for the thousands of people who poured in for the annual Mountain State Fair. Now, its serving as both an emergency shelter for 300 people survivors of Hurricane Helene and a distribution center for meals, water, and necessities like baby diapers and formula. Im 67 years old, and Im getting tired of restarting my life over and over, said Swannanoa resident Ann Wells, who was at the shelter Sunday afternoon. The mobile home Wells moved into about a month ago washed away in Hurricane Helenes floodwaters. On Friday morning first responders paddling boats rescued her and her cat, Garfield, from the same fate. Ive spent close to $6,000, $7,000 in just moving expenses and hiring people to come and help me move my stuff in that place, and now I have nothing, she said. Its all gone. Lynn Bell, 64, was still waiting to hear what happened to her home in Barnardsville, about half an hour north of Asheville. She left at 5 o'clock Thursday evening, before the worst of the flooding hit. If the house is still there when I get home, then I have a house, she said. Jillian Tucker, 38, and Shawn Worley, 43, had already been homeless for two years when the rain began Wednesday evening. The water rose quickly on Tunnel Road, where they were eating dinner at the Panda Express, and they spent two nights sheltered under a porch at the nearby mall. Friday morning was the worst of it, said Worleythats when the wind changed direction, bringing down trees and powerlines everywhere. Thats one of the scarier storms Ive been in, Tucker said. We didnt think it was going to be near as bad as it was. I dont think anyone was prepared. Across Asheville and throughout the entire western portion of North Carolina, homes, roads, and in some cases, entire towns, have been destroyed. With as much as 29 inches of rain falling in some areas, water levels rose higher than in the fabled Charleston Hurricane of 1916. Power and cell phone outages continued into Sunday; even the shelter didnt have power until late in the afternoon. During a visit to the shelter Sunday, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson called for a rapid and robust response to help those hurting. "This is an epic proportion, folks, he said. Ive never seen anything like this in this state. We really need to bring everything to bear, and we need all hands on deck. We need to put politics aside, and we need to focus on being North Carolinians and human beings and get done what we need to get done for the people of Western North Carolina. Responders were still working to get showers and additional toilets at the shelter, which is jointly operated by Buncombe County and the State of North Carolina. The American Red Cross is participating as a support unit. Shelter manager Sue Edwards, a Red Cross volunteer who has seen her share of disaster responses, said this scramble to secure basic necessities is typical. As the response progresses, power returns and people start getting connected with the resources they need to move on with their lives, she expects to see things calm down and settle into a rhythm. But for now, keeping the shelter running is a nonstop, take-the-blows-as-they-come, full-steam-ahead endeavor. Edwards spoke in the midst of an endless workday interrupted only by the couple hours of sleep shed managed to catch on the shelters kitchen floor the previous night. These efforts have not gone unnoticed by shelter residents. The staff, the volunteersto me, its top notch, said Navy veteran Paul Oakes, 56, one of several veterans to be evacuated from the Veterans Restoration Quarters in Asheville. Its easy to give someone food or this and that, but to get compassion with it, its a plus. Peggy Rosencrance, 81, is staying at the shelter because the power is out at her house, and she needs electricity to use her oxygen tank. She said she is overwhelmed by the kindness of the people shes met. Its not a good time, she said. Its not a party, but people are just so humanisticso Christ-like, I guess. Duke: Power back on by Friday night; 18,000 linemen from 19 states working Toppled trees took out power lines on Greenville Highway in Flat Rock. Major updates Monday includes a projection for the restoration of power for most Duke Energy customers by Friday, Oct. 4, more than 150 more roads cleared and more resources en route to Western North Carolina to ensure access to food and water over the coming days, U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards said in update No. 3 of the Helene disaster. Highlights in the relief effort include 12,000 cases of water from Pepsi Bottling Co., delivery of an industrial-sized generator to power the Ingles distribution plant in Black Mountain so it could restock depleted shelves at supermarkets and delivery of 115,200 ready-to-eat meals to western counties. On the recovery front, AVL has reopened, a total of 18,000 linemen from 19 states and Canada are on the ground and NCDOT has established a base camp in Flat Rock with 250 people working to clear roads. Food and Water Supplying drinkable water remains a top priority for emergency crews. 100 water systems are on a boil advisory and 38 plants have reported having no power. My office has worked with private stakeholders to address potable water needs. Just this morning, an additional 12,000 cases of water were secured from our friends at Pepsi Bottling Co. and will be distributed to western NC through Red Cross and United Way. Henderson County worked with my office to secure an industrial-sized generator to power the Ingles Distribution Plant in Black Mountain. Ingles workers slept on site last night waiting for the generator to arrive. This will allow the distribution facility to begin shipping food and supplies to restock empty store shelves. As of the evening of September 29, 301 pallets of water (81,270 gallons) and 200 pallets of MREs (115,200 meals) have been deployed throughout our western counties. The state has been unable to supply me with a location for where these meals and water have been dropped off but check your local shelters and stay tuned. As I learn more, so will you. The State of North Carolina has promised 40 trailer loads of water and 20 trailer loads of food daily through at least October 6. Counties are beginning to stand up Resource Hub locations for water distribution and other supplies as they become available. Distribution will begin at noon today, Monday, September 30, 2024, at the following locations: Etowah Elementary: 320 Etowah School Rd., Etowah, NC 28729 Rugby Middle School: 3345 Haywood Rd., Hendersonville, NC 28791 East Henderson High School: 150 Eagle Pride Dr., East Flat Rock, NC 28726 North Henderson High School: 35 Fruitland Rd., Hendersonville, NC 28792 Mills River Town Hall: 124 Town Center Dr., Milles River, NC 28759 Fletcher Town Hall: 300 Old Cane Creek Rd., Fletcher, NC 28732 As we learn of additional hubs, we will continue to update this list. Power and Gas 396,000 customers remain without power in North Carolina. Nearly all these outages are in Western North Carolina. Damage assessments show many areas in NC-11 where the power system will need to be completely rebuilt before service is restored. Nonetheless, Duke Energy has stated that restoration of service for the majority of customers in Western North Carolina is expected by Friday, October 4, 2024. WARNING: Customers in areas that are inaccessible, dependent on infrastructure that has been destroyed or are unable to receive service may see additional delays. An additional 7,000 linemen have made their way to the Carolinas to help restore power, meaning a total of over 18,000 linemen are here to serve WNC, including crews from 19 states and Canada. Roads A DO NOT DRIVE message remains in place from the North Carolina Department of Transportation for Western North Carolina. Unless it is an emergency, please do not travel. 220 roads remain closed in Western North Carolina, a significant reduction from the 385 roads that were closed as of yesterday morning. I-40 remains closed from Exit 66 to Exit 72. NCDOT has established a base camp in Flat Rock with 250 people to assist with clearing roads. Transylvania Countys roads have been some of the hardest hit: 4 acres of Becky Mountain is gone. 70 percent of U.S. 276 is gone near Connestee Falls. 1,200 feet of East Fork is gone into the river. Severe damage on N.C. 215 due to multiple mud/landslides and parts of the road being completely gone. Asheville Regional Airport Asheville Regional Airport closed mid-day on Friday, September 27, due to risk of flooding. As of TODAY, September 30, commercial air service is resuming. Two American Airlines flights have already landed this morning. Delta and United are also resuming limited flights today. If you parked your car in an Asheville Regional Airport lot and could not retrieve the vehicle due to the storm, great news none of the airports lots flooded and all cars are fine. Stay safe and pick up your car when you are able. Cell Service While significant limitations still exist, communications capabilities are beginning to increase. Service providers have brought 24 more temporary cell sites online since yesterdays update, including temporary deployables in the following areas: Dillsboro Sylva Western Carolina University Cashiers Highlands Cherokee Franklin Bryson City Lake Toxaway North Carolina National Guard 650 North Carolina National Guard soldiers and airmen have been deployed to provide support to Western North Carolina so far. This includes the deployment of 250 vehicles, such as High-Water Vehicles, Palletized Load Systems for commodity distribution, and Forestry Support Teams for debris clearance. Air missions continue today in support of search and rescue, damage assessments, and supply delivery. Additional National Guard personnel, vehicles, and air assets will be arriving today, Monday, September 30. For Local Government Resource Requests For county leaders: This is a reminder to make sure your Emergency Operation Center has submitted the request for gasoline, food, water, cell service deployables, etc. with North Carolina Emergency Management to have your request processed and resources delivered. My office stands ready to assist with checking the status of your request if the county or municipality has not heard back from NC Emergency Management within 24 hours. For Individual Assistance through FEMA North Carolina received a Major Disaster Declaration for the following counties: Buncombe, Clay, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, and Yancey Counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. If you reside in one of the above-listed counties and had damage to private property due to Hurricane Helene, you may be eligible for Individual Assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Individual Assistance provides financial aid and services to eligible individuals and households that have been affected by a disaster to assist with the recovery process. Individuals can officially begin applying for Individual Assistance online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov, or by calling the application phone number at 1-800-621-3362 (TTY: 800-462-7585) between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. EST. To date, over 2,000 survivors have registered with FEMA for Individual Assistance. FEMA has also approved two new programs for use in NC: Displacement Assistance - Provides immediate housing for up to 14 days Serious Needs Assistance - Provides immediate financial assistance to replace and recover financial needs. To Connect with a Loved One Residents trying to connect with family members may call NC 211 (or 1-888-892-1162 if calling from out-of-state) to report missing loved ones or request a welfare check. Additionally, people in the impacted areas can indicate that they are safe by reporting themselves safe through Red Cross Reunification by calling 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767). Please only use 911 for life-threatening emergencies so the lines remain open for critical situations. Shelters A MINI documentary on an award-winning Stoke Row bakery has won third place in a southern counties film competition. Filmmakers Carsten Pleiser and Franky Dean produced a short film on Imma The Bakery in Busgrove Lane, which in April won an award for producing the best plain sourdough loaf in Britain. The pair filmed a seven-minute video featuring head baker Tonatiuh Erreguin and her path to creating the sourdough bread, which contains only three ingredients, flour, water and salt, and takes 72 hours to produce. Mr Pleiser, from Caversham, is a member of the Reading Film Club and the competition was run by the Institute of Amateur Cinematographers. About 18 clubs and individuals entered from across the south of England. Mr Pleiser, 41, said: Id been coming to the bakery when they first opened and I followed Tonas journey. I saw it as a secret spot and I came there to buy my bread every week. I wanted to find out more about Tonas story so I got in touch with her. I asked her one day if I could do a documentary because I found it quite inspiring that she came over from Argentina and Mexico where she ran a restaurant and decided to go into the bakery business. I wanted to tell her story from transitioning from fine food dining to baking and showcase the heart and passion behind it. Its a local business that deserves recognition, not just for its incredible bread but for the spirit it brings to our community. After they won the bread award, we thought it would be really good timing to do this. Mr Pleiser met Franky, who had studied filmmaking and journalism in New York, at Anonymous Coffee Co in Reading and reached out to her about the idea for the documentary and to collaborate. It took them two days to film. On the first day of filming, they recorded Ms Erreguin from the early hours of the morning to 12.30pm to show the process of the bread-making in the bakery, including interviews with Ms Erreguin to camera. Mr Pleiser said: We also had a shoot day on the Sunday where we took some more B-roll for capturing moments where the clients come in but we spent most of the time editing it. The whole editing process took about three or four weeks. It was a great collaboration. Franky is very talented. Shes really up and coming and I wanted to work with her on this. She came in on this first shooting day a couple of hours later and she was helping me with one of the shots that played a big part in this. We decided to do this completely free of charge. It was a gift to Imma The Bakery because I felt like her story needed to be told. The pair submitted the video after being encouraged by Mr Pleisers clubmates and was surprised to hear back. He said: I didnt expect to hear anything back from them but then all of a sudden, I got this email with the results. I was in the Isle of Wight at this stage and I struggled to get connection because of the internet reception but eventually learned that we made third place. I didnt expect we would come third. I wasnt expecting anything. It was a complete surprise. They announced the three positions and there was a five star rating on our film. We got really good feedback from two judges and a page long of feedback on the film. Franky Dean, 25, from near Sonning Common, said: It was really exciting because for Carsten and me, it was us doing something we loved. We were doing it because we wanted to do some footage for a lovely local business and so it was a great achievement to get something out of something youre just doing for fun. The story about how she became a chef and a baker was so inspiring. Judge Tom Hardwick said: Imma is a really feelgood production and this is solid grounding for success in any film festival. Tonatiuh is naturally relaxed in front of the camera, sure of her skills and direction, loving what shes doing, revelling in her customers reactions. This comes over so well, so smoothly. Her undisguised enthusiasm for family life and the coagulating effect of family meals shines through as a real truth. To watch the full video, visit https://vimeo.com/992077813 Chinese manufacturers sold the fewest electric cars in 18 months to customers across Europe, with registrations falling by nearly half in August from a year earlier. Chinese EV sales in Europe dropped nearly 50% in August, with MG losing market share to BYD amid tariff uncertainties. The broader market saw a 5.5% decrease in registrations as major markets reevaluate buyer incentives.(AFP) The 48% drop led to the second straight month of declining share for Chinese brands, based on figures provided by researcher Dataforce. MG, the British nameplate thats now part of SAIC Motor Corp., lost its top spot across Europe to Chinese rival BYD Co., according to Jato Dynamics, which also tracks the automotive market. Uncertainty tied to provisional European Union tariffs on Chinese EV imports can partly explain MGs 65% tumble in August, said Felipe Munoz, a senior analyst at Jato. He said the automaker has been putting more emphasis on the mild-hybrid and plug-in hybrid segments, rather than fully battery-powered cars. MG has had the most success of any Chinese carmaker in Europe, leveraging its long-held name recognition to rebuild the brand over the past decade, while making a pivot to EVs. But its state-owned parent SAIC has been hit with added EU levies of 38% on its EVs since July, the highest assessment of all. BYD Co., a Chinese heavyweight thats a relative newcomer to the European market, continued to make strides in August with a 19% year-over-year rise in registrations, according to Jato. Automakers are still weighing the potential impact of the EU tariffs, which affect all EVs imported from China, including those from non-Chinese companies BMW, Stellantis and Tesla. The added duties are set to be finalized by November, pending a member state vote, with negotiations between Beijing and Brussels taking place amid furious lobbying. There is nothing clear regarding the role of the Chinese EVs in Europe, Munoz said. Although there are many plans and announcements, there is even more uncertainty around their future and how Europe will react to the increasing competition. Bloomberg News reported on Friday that Chinas Chery Automobile Co. has pushed back a goal to start building EVs at a plant its taken over in Spain by one year to October 2025, as the company weighs the amount of work to be carried out at the Barcelona site. A broader slide in EV demand across Europe has added to the uncertainty for carmakers. Registrations fell 5.5% in the first eight months of the year across the region after major markets like Germany removed buyer incentives. European automakers have called on Brussels to reconsider key climate targets including 2025 fleet-emissions goals that could lead to billions of euros in fines. Sales trends for EVs imported from China have been uneven in the wake of the tariffs. In the UK and Norway, for example countries which havent followed the EUs lead EV registrations rose during August. Among Western brands, BMW, Mercedes-Benz Group and Renault all saw declines of 50% or more in August registrations across the region, according to Jato. Yet the popular Volvo EX30 helped drive a more than doubling of sales for the Swedish marks parent, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Tesla Inc., which imports some cars to Europe from China, posted a 7% rise. Neither Jato nor Dataforce count Volvo among Chinese brands. Polestar, the Swedish EV maker partly owned by Geely founder Li Shufu, isnt counted among Chinese brands by Jato, though its included in Dataforces market calculations. Dataforces market figures cover all EU and EFTA countries plus the UK, but exclude Hungary and Slovakia for August, as those markets hadnt published monthly data at the time the numbers were compiled. Production will remain suspended indefinitely at a Tata Electronics plant in Tamil Nadu which makes Apple iPhone components after a fire at the weekend, officials said as per news agency Reuters. Velu, a district fire officer, said, "We have stationed fire engines at the plant as there are chances of a follow-up fire incident or smoke coming off when the sheds that had fallen during the accident are removed. We have not yet ascertained the cause of the fire." Tata Electronics has suspended operations at its Tamil Nadu plant after a fire injured 10 and caused extensive damage. Investigations are ongoing, complicating rescue efforts. The halt in production poses challenges for Apple's supply chain amid its strategy to expand in India. The fire broke out at the plant on Saturday leaving 10 people with minor injuries and halting production. This will affect Apple's iPhone supply chain in India just as the tech giant is looking to diversify beyond China and sees India as a key growth market. Tata said the cause of the fire is under investigation and emergency protocols at its plant ensured its employees were safe. Rescue teams were still clearing debris and officials have struggled with inspections due to the extensive damage, the report added. The Tamil Nadu plant makes critical back panels and some other components for iPhones and another building in the same complex is due to start up iPhone assembly before the end of the year. A senior official, Shilpa Prabhakar Satish, who visited the plant told Reuters that it was "very badly burnt and (there was) absolutely no visibility inside". "The structure was falling, the roof was falling. No one could even go inside," she said. A gang of inter-state cyber fraudsters who duped Vardhman Group chairman SP Oswal of 7 crore. Two cyber criminals have been arrested and 5.25 crore have been recovered from them, Punjab Police said, while seven other members of this gang have been identified. All the nine members of the gang belonged to Assam and West Bengal, the police informed. A gang of cyber fraudsters scammed SP Oswal of 7 crore. Two arrests were made, recovering 5.25 crore, while seven others are identified. The fraudsters posed as CBI officers, threatening SP Oswal with a fake arrest warrant. Read more: Ashneer Grover will no longer be associated with BharatPe in any capacity SP Oswal was cheated by fraudsters when they got 7 crore withdrawn from various bank accounts belonging to the industrialist. Police said that one of them introduced himself as a CBI officer and showed the industrialist a fake arrest warrant and threatened him with digital arrest. The cyber cell of the police registered the case on the complaint of SP Oswal and the accused have been identified as Atanoo Choudhary and Anand Kumar Choudhary (both residents of Guwahati in Assam), the police said. This is the second such incident within a week as earlier a local industrialist Rajnish Ahuja was duped of 1.01 crore by some fraudsters who threatened him with an arrest warrant after claiming that an extortion amount was transferred to his bank account. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that AI agents will soon become as integral to the workforce as human employees as the tech boss suggested that the process of integrating AI into businesses will soon feel as routine as bringing on new members in the team. Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, asserts that AI agents will complement human workers by handling tedious tasks, enhancing productivity. He views AI integration as a routine onboarding process and supports nuclear energy as a sustainable power source for data centers amid rising energy demands.(AFP) Will AI replace human workers, Jensen Huang thinks AI will not replace human workers but will complement them, Jensen Huang asserted saying that AI agents will focus more on repetitive and time-consuming tasks, such as data entry, freeing employees to focus on more important and creative work. Read more: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang touts nuclear power as an option to feed data centers Integration of AI will be like onboarding a new colleague, where the AI agent is introduced, trained and given specific tasks. Jensen Huang also talked about the unique opportunity presented by current wave of AI innovation and said that his company Nvidia will make significant contributions to the future of technology. Jensen Huang on nuclear power and its potential Nvidia boss also said that nuclear power is a good option for the renewable energy needed for the growing number of data centers. Nuclear is wonderful as one of the sources of energy, one of the sources of sustainable energy. It wont be the only one. Were going to need energy from all sources and balance the availability and the cost of energy as well as the sustainability over time," he said. Jensen Huang explained, The first thing we have to do is comply with whatever policies and regulations that are being imposed. And, meanwhile, do the best we can to compete in the markets that we serve. We have a lot of customers there that depend on us and well do our best to support them. A bus carrying at least 50 passengers overturned while navigating a turn on an expressway near Mandya, resulting in injuries to a total of 15 individuals, Times Now reported. Drivers excessive speed was a key factor in the incident, according to the authorities. According to the report, the bus en route from Mysore to Bengaluru was reportedly speeding when the incident occurred. The video obtained by Times Now reveals that the bus lost control while transitioning from the expressway to a service road, resulting in it flipping over and crashing into a parked car. (Also Read: Disturbing video shows KSRTC bus run over woman in Karnataka's Tumakuru) What caused the accident? Drivers excessive speed was a key factor in the incident, according to the authorities. According to Times Now, a total of 15 individuals sustained injuries in the incident, with 12 suffering minor injuries and three, including the bus driver, experiencing more serious injuries. All injured passengers have been admitted to NIMS Hospital for treatment. An investigation is underway. Recently, a woman was critically injured after being run over by a state-owned Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus while crossing the road near the bus terminal in Tumakuru, located 70 km from Bengaluru. A video posted on the social media platform X by a Karnataka portfolio could not be independently verified by HT Digital. According to the post, eyewitnesses claimed the KSRTC bus was allegedly speeding when the woman, apparently unaware of the approaching vehicle, stepped onto the road. As seen in in the video, the collision was severe and resulted in critical injuries to the woman. In another incident in August, a Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus mowed down two bikers crashing into several cars on a busy road. The bikers had sustained critical injuries. (Also Read: On camera, state-run bus mows down bikers, crashes into cars on busy Bengaluru road) Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday promised action on the caste census report, which was submitted seven months ago, after tabling it before the cabinet. Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah. Addressing an event organised by the Alumni Association of Hostels for Backward Classes in Mysuru, Siddaramaiah said the caste census was necessary to identify the backward and deprived communities. "The system where we come from should be changed. We are trying to bring that change. Our government conducted the social census to recognise and uplift the marginalised sections of society. I lost power (in 2018) and it was not implemented," Siddaramaiah said. "Only recently we received the report. I will place it before the cabinet and get it implemented," the chief minister asserted. Caste census and Congress He added that the caste census has long been a "principle" of the Congress party. Since 1930, caste-based data has not been gathered as part of the national population census. Now, discussions on conducting caste census are gaining momentum across many states, Siddaramaiah noted. The much-awaited Socio-Economic and Education Survey report, popularly known as the "caste census" report, was submitted to Siddaramaiah by Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes Chairman K Jayaprakash Hegde on February 29. The report has faced objections from certain sections of society and even within the ruling Congress. Discussing the importance of education, the chief minister on Sunday said that true education must promote scientific thinking and foster responsible individuals. Siddaramaiah also called upon those who have benefited from government programmes, particularly former students of hostels, to give back to society. (Also Read: Bengaluru pubs not playing English or Hindi music': Man claims activists forcing to play Kannada songs) "Many of you have achieved success in your fields. Now, its time to extend your support to those in need. Helping the weaker sections of society is the true way to repay the debt we owe to society," he said. He warned against the dangers of selfishness, stating that "those who think only of their families become self-centred, and this mentality has contributed to the rise in the number of old-age homes. We must all work together to bring about positive change in our society." Siddaramaiah recounted the introduction of student hostels in 1977, a move that played a crucial role in the education of Backward Class students. "Today, these hostels accommodate 1,87,000 students. Such efforts have ensured that children from underprivileged backgrounds have access to education," he said. (Also Read: Karnataka ministers will have to resign if some documents are released: HD Kumaraswamy) The BJP-led Haryana government seems to be keen to grant a 20-day parole to the imprisoned head of Sirsa dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh before the October 5 assembly elections, according to people privy to the matter. The religious leader is serving a 20-year jail term after he was convicted by a CBI court in 2017 of raping of two disciples. He was subsequently convicted in two murder cases and will serve life sentences of those crimes after this jail term. (HT Photo) Also Read: Dera chief seeks parole again; poll panel questions reasoning The self-styled godman has often been accused of trying to influence his followers to vote in a particular manner in the elections. Since cases of parole during the imposition of model code of conduct have to be routed through the chief electoral officer (CEO) for consultation, Ram Rahims plea for 20-day parole was sent to the election department on September 28, which, in turn, asked the jails department to explain compelling emergent reasons behind the request. The dera representatives have cited the upcoming death anniversary of Ram Rahims father Maghar Singh on October 5 (observed as Parmarthi Diwas) as an emergent compelling reason for grant of parole. Besides, they have also cited the ongoing celebrations of Guru Gaddi Diwas (the day in 1990 when Ram Rahim was appointed as successor by Shah Satnam Singh) that started on September 23 and will continue till mid-October as another compelling reason for grant of parole, said a state official. The compelling reasons cited by dera representatives in support of the parole application were conveyed to the chief electoral officer who on Monday asked the state government to consider the grant of parole subject to correctness of the facts cited in the application. Of course, the parole, if granted, would also be subject to restrictions that the dera head will not stay in Haryana and will not make any election-related speech or canvass during the elections. The authorities will also have to keep a watch on his movements. In his application, the dera head has given an undertaking that during the period of temporary release, he will stay put at a dera in Barnawa in Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh, said another official. Anshul Chhatrapati, son of slain journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, for whose murder Ram Rahim is serving a life sentence in a communication to the Election Commission (EC) said the a special feature of latters temporary release is that on six occasions (out of 10 paroles and furloughs he has been granted), Ram Rahim was released just before an election. For the first time, he got 21 days of furlough in February 2022 before the Punjab assembly elections. Then he got 30 days of parole in June 2022 before the Haryana municipal corporation elections. After that, in October 2022, he again got 40 days of parole before the Adampur assembly byelection in Haryana. He got 30 days of parole in July 2023 before the Haryana panchayat elections. Then he got 29 days of parole in November 2023 before the Rajasthan assembly elections, Anshul wrote. As per EC guidelines, the model code of conduct applied to cases of releases of convicts on parole. If the state government considered that release of any convict on parole is absolutely essential for certain compelling reasons, in that case the state government shall consult the CEO before granting parole. The parole should be given in the cases of extreme emergency and it should be ensured that the convict does not indulge in any poll-related activities, said an April 10, 2019, EC communication to the chief secretaries of states. Officials said that as per the legal advice taken from Haryana advocate general Baldev Raj Mahajan, the request for grant of parole during the imposition of model code of conduct can be considered by the competent authority after consultation with the chief electoral officer, subject to compelling reasons and within the ambit of Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act. The dera head, who was recently granted a 21-day temporary release in the form of furlough on August 13, had stayed at a Barnawa dera and returned to the confines of Rohtaks Sunaria prison on September 2. The religious leader is serving a 20-year jail term after he was convicted by a CBI court in 2017 of raping of two disciples. He was subsequently convicted in two murder cases and will serve life sentences of those crimes after this jail term. Ram Rahim and three others were convicted in January 2019 for the murder of a journalist more than 16 years ago. In October 2021, he and four others were convicted for hatching a conspiracy to kill Ranjit Singh, a manager at the dera. Since his conviction, the dera chief has spent 255 days outside the jail. The Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act lays down that a convicted prisoner ( except hardcore convicts) may be released on regular parole, which does not count to a persons term served, for up to 10 of the 52 weeks in a calendar year, at most in two parts. Besides, a convicted prisoner is entitled to three weeks of furlough but it cannot be availed in parts. A dera spokesperson said since the Ram Rahim was entitled to 91 days of temporary release in a calendar year, his request for a 20-day parole is as per the law. He has availed 50 days of parole and 21 days of furlough. So, he is entitled to another 20 days of parole in the calendar year. As the calendar year is coming to a close, he has to exhaust the 20 days of parole otherwise it would get lapsed, the spokesperson said. The court of additional sessions judge Harbans Singh Lekhi on Monday sentenced seven men to life imprisonment for their involvement in a 2013 abduction case. The court acquitted four accused and two others died during the trial. (HT File) The accused had abducted industrialist Manish Kumar Barara and sought 5 crore as ransom for his released. The court acquitted four accused and two others died during the trial. Barara, the owner of an industrial unit in Doraha, and his driver were abducted near Malhipur village on July 13, 2013. They were returning to Ludhiana in a BMW car at the time of the abduction. The kidnappers, who were disguised as police officers and armed with illegal weapons, intercepted their car. Barara was released after his family paid the 5-crore ransom. After investigation, police identified the main accused as Gurarpan Chauhan, a businessman facing severe financial losses. Chauhan and his aide Deepali Bassi hatched the plan to kidnap Barara. The Himachal Pradesh Police later recovered 4.6 crore of the ransom from co-accused Sahil Chandels car. Advocate SC Gupta, who represented the victim, said Gurarpan Chauhan, Deepali Bassi, Himmat Singh, Sonu Chaurasia, Tony, Amit Kumar and Sahil Chandel were sentenced to life imprisonment. According to the investigators, Chauhan and Bassi were the masterminds. Two of the accused, Sarabjit Singh and Dharma, passed away during the trial, and four others Amandeep Singh, Balaji, Parminder Singh and Gopal Krishan were acquitted. The convictions include sections 364A (kidnapping for ransom) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. Bassi was also convicted under additional sections for her role. In total, 45 witnesses were called to testify during the trial that spanned over a decade. The court ordered that 2 lakh from the fines imposed on the accused be paid as compensation to the victim. A 47-year-old man and his eight-year-old son died after being attacked by wasps in Jaunpur block of Uttarakhands Tehri Garhwal district on Sunday, a police official said. This is the second such incident in Uttarakhand this year. (Representational image) According to officials, Sunderlal, a resident of Tuneta village in Jaunpur block, along with his son Abhishek had gone to a forest to graze their cows when they were attacked by wasps on Sunday. Sundarlal left no stone unturned to save his son, but to no avail, as the wasps continued to sting them. When the villagers received information, they rescued the injured victims and took them to a sub-district hospital in Mussoorie. Kempty station house officer (SHO) Vinod Kumar said, They were attacked by wasps on Sunday and rushed by villagers to the sub-district hospital in Mussoorie. As they were kept under observation by doctors, their health showed some improvement. Their family members and villagers took them to their house. But, Sunderlals health deteriorated suddenly in the evening, he was again rushed to the hospital, but he couldnt be saved. His son also died this morning. The postmortem of the duo will be carried out to ascertain the cause of their death, he added. A gram sabha member said that Sundarlal was the only breadwinner of the family and demanded that they should be given proper compensation by the forest department. This is the second such incident in the state this year. In August, a 55-year-old man died after he was attacked by wasps in the Jeolikote area in Nainital district. He was attacked by a swarm of wasps while working in his agricultural field. Congress leader Jagdish Tytler on Monday [CHECK] approached the Delhi high court challenging a city court order framing charges against him in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case that resulted in the death of three people in the Capital. Jagdish Tytler On August 30, a city court had ordered his physical appearance for the framing of charges under IPC sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting) 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 188 (disobedience of the order duly promulgated by a public servant), 295 (injuring or defiling a place of worship), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house), 451 (house trespass), 380 (theft in dwelling house), 149 (common object), 302 (murder) and 109 (abetment). The court had, however, discharged him under Penal Code (IPC)s Section 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons). Tytlers plea before the high court alleged that the city courts order was perverse, illegal and lacked application of mind. Terming the framing of charges as erroneous, the Congress leader asserted that the charges were framed on unfounded grounds, as there was no credible evidence to corroborate the allegations levelled against him. The impugned order is misconceived, has been passed mechanically and without application of mind, the plea read. He contended that the case against him was a witch hunt and harassment where he was being made to face trial for an alleged offence which was committed more than four decades ago. The case against Tytler is related to his alleged involvement in an incident of November 1, 1984, when three people Badal Singh, Sardar Thakur Singh and Gurbachan Singh were burnt to death, and the Pul Bangash Gurudwara was set ablaze, a day after the then prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated on October 31. Seeking to quash the order, Tytler, in his plea, said that he was never named in the FIR filed by the police in 1984, and no action was recommended against him in the chargesheet and the first two supplementary chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2007, 2009 and 2014. At present, apart from the petitioner, no other accused has been named, and the CBI after having filed the supplementary chargesheets/closure reports in favor of the petitioner is now seeking to rely on the statements of the witnesses who have earlier deposed contrary to what has been deposed in the third supplementary chargesheet wherein the petitioner has been summoned, the plea added. According to the CBI charge sheet, the agency established Tytlers presence at the crime scene based on the testimonies of six witnesses, of which four saw him allegedly instigating the crowd. The charge sheet claimed that Tytler was disappointed that more Sikhs were not killed in his constituency. It further pointed out that he was also influencing the investigation and threatening witnesses. The trial court took cognisance of the charge sheet filed on July 26 last year and issued a summons to Tytler to appear before the court. Tytler moved an anticipatory bail application. The court accepted his personal as well as surety bonds converting the anticipatory bail to regular bail. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha police on Monday said they have arrested one person for allegedly duping 189 Muslim devotees from the state on the pretext of taking them on a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. A view of Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in the holy Muslim city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. (Reuters File Photo) The police arrested Nabeel Abdul Mubin Shaikh from Mumbai on September 27 over several charges, including cheating, and produced him before a Balasore court on Monday under the Odisha Protection of Interests of Depositors Act. Shaikh, who runs a travel agency named Al-Adam Tour & Travels along with his father Firdos Bi Abdul Mubin Shaikh and sister Saima Anjum Shaikh, in association with Md. Bismillah Shaikh who runs AlIzma Tours & Travels in Vikhroli Kurla area of Mumbai, have been accused of taking money from 189 Muslim devotees in Odisha with the promise of taking them on Umrah. The two travel agencies took around 96,000 from each of the pilgrims, amounting to Rs.1.2 crore, from 2019 to 2023. But the two travel agencies neither took them on the pilgrimage, nor refunded the amount to the Muslim devotees from Bhadrak, Balasore, Baripada and other parts of Odisha. When the devotees insisted on the refund, the two travel agencies provided them cheques that were dishonoured by the bank, a senior EOW official said. The agencies also allegedly collected huge amounts in similar fashion from pilgrims of Maharashtra, Delhi and other places. Umrah is a pilgrimage undertaken by Muslims, which can be performed at any time except during the Hajj season. Artificial intelligence is a technology that holds potential to transform human life in profound ways, much like the discovery of fire, but it also poses significant risks if mishandled, said Stefania Giannini, UNESCO's Assistant Director General for Education . UNESCO's Assistant Director General for Education Stefania Giannini said artificial intelligence is a technology that holds potential to transform human life in profound ways, but it also poses significant risks if mishandled. (Representative image) In an interview with PTI from Paris, Giannini, who is also the former Minister of Education in Italy, said each technological revolution has had broad social and educational implications, radically changing the way we live and how we learn. Also read: Kerala launches new entrance training programme benefiting over 8 lakh students She flagged that the digital divide in countries is still very much deep and the new technology, if not driven and supported by the appropriate investments, will widen this divide. "Over the course of my career, I have witnessed at least four digital revolutions from the advent of personal computers to the expansion of the internet, to the emergence of mobile devices and social media and to the rapid and unexpected arrival of generative artificial intelligence (AI) like ChatGPT," she said. Also read: Schools in Guwahati to revert to regular timings from tomorrow as temperatures decline, details here Giannini said that each technological revolution has had broad social and educational implications, radically changing the way we live and how we learn. Although not all people and not all countries have felt these technological revolutions in the same way, everywhere the new worlds they create have been sources of both hope and concern, she added. Noting that AI has been compared to the discovery of fire, she said, like fire, AI offers both potential benefits and dangers. It can transform our lives in remarkable ways, at both individual and societal levels from schools to healthcare, work and transportation, but just as fire, if mishandled it can pose great threats, Giannini said. According to UNESCO's Global Education Monitoring Report, technology is never ideologically neutral and new AI models and applications are no exception. Also read: IAF AFCAT 2 results 2024 announced, how to check marks at afcat.cdac.in AI applications like ChatGPT generate new data from the vast amount of input available online, raising fundamental questions about human knowledge, education and learning, she said. "As AI continues to mine our collective intelligence and may soon outpace human capabilities, as experts now argue, we will still have the tools to control and steer technology to benefit humanity," she added. Giannini said that AI cannot be classified as good or bad when it comes to education. She emphasised the need for governments and international bodies to establish robust frameworks to regulate AI in education as its final users are schools, learners and teachers. Talking about the challenges of the use of AI in the education system, Giannini said, firstly what content and curriculum are appropriate for the digital age. "The second pressing issue is the assessment systems. How will we assess learning outcomes? Exams that were once unhackable are now easily hackable with AI applications. This raises tricky ethical questions, which have increased along with heated debate about the future of assessment, as students worldwide use AI for assignments. Should schools and universities try to block its use? Or should we transform assessments to focus on presenting and supporting ideas and arguments with evidence? she posed. According to Giannini, the main question is whether the schools of the future would need teachers or how will AI tutors change the work of teachers. In 2023, UNESCO published the first "Guidance to Generative Artificial Intelligence in Education and Research", proposing key actions for government agencies to regulate GenAI based on safety and appropriateness for teaching and learning. The proposed actions include obligation to protect data privacy, especially for children; updating copyright laws for the age of artificial intelligence and setting age limits for using generative AI. As per Gianni, this leads to the question of what competencies are needed in the digital age? While technical skills in computer programming, data science and software engineering, will remain relevant in the future. However, paradoxically, as AI becomes more sophisticated and easier to use, the need for specialised technical skills may instead diminish, she said. With generative AI, anyone can write a Shakespearean sonnet, program software, compose a violin concerto, or edit a photo, she said, adding that the results' quality will depend on one's ability to interact with technology. In this context, technical skills may no longer be essential, while the cognitive and socio-emotional abilities to interrogate the machine by asking the right questions will be critical, she added. Okay with suggested cuts On Monday, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) informed the Bombay High Court that Kangana, who is also the co-producer of the film, has agreed to the cuts suggested by the boards revising committee. As per a Bar and Bench report, the submission was made before a Bench of Justices BP Colabawalla and Firdosh Pooniwalla by advocate Abhinav Chandrachud, who represents the CBFC. The Court was hearing a petition by Zee Studios, the co-producers of the film, which has sought the release of the censor certificate for the film. The plea was filed after the film got in themiddle of a stir with some people calling for aban of the project over misrepresentation of the Sikh community. Last week, the censor board had stated that the film could be released following certain cuts. At the hearing on Monday, advocate Sharan Jagtiani, representing Zee, shared with the court that Kangana has accepted the proposed cuts, further requesting to ensure that these are the only changes expected. "The cuts suggested don't even touch a minute of the film. It's just some words here and there," Chandrachud said. With the producers seeking confirmation on the changes, the hearing has been postponed. It will now be held on Thursday. About Emergency Emergency, co-produced by Manikarnika Films and Zee Studios, was scheduled to release in cinemas on September 6. Taking to X, Kangana wrote on that day, With a heavy heart I announce that my directorial Emergency has been postponed, we are still waiting for the certification from censor board, new release date will be announced soon, thanks for your understanding and patience. The film, a biographical political thriller, delves into the life of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who imposed a 21-month emergency period from 1975 to 1977. Kangana plays the former prime minister in the movie. Emergency has been embroiled in controversies for some time now including facing backlash from several Sikh groups. The biographical drama is caught up in controversy after Sikh organisations, including the Shiromani Akali Dal, objected, accusing the film of misrepresenting the community and misinterpreting historical facts. Mukesh Khanna recently addressed reports suggesting that Ranveer Singh was being considered for the role of Shaktimaan. The veteran actor, who had previously denied it, has now explained the reasoning behind his decision. In an interview with Bollywood Thikana, Mukesh said that Ranveer's nude photoshoot is one of the factors contributing to his aversion to casting him. (Also read: Mukesh Khanna says he scolded Akshay Kumar for doing pan masala ads: Pakad ke maarna chahiye) Mukesh Khanna said that Ranveer Singh tried to persuade him for 3 hours to play Shaktimaan. Mukesh Khanna calls Ranveer Singh terrific actor Mukesh, when asked about his meeting with Ranveer and why he thinks the actor is not suitable to play Shaktimaan, stated, I don't take names as I am not supposed to criticise any actor. People get offended. But now everyone knows that Ranveer Singh came to convince me. I can't hide it that I had called him a terrific actor and praised his energy. People started posting pictures on social media as if Ranveer had been finalised to play Shaktimaan. Since, I hadn't taken a call on it as I have a contract with Sony, I posted a video where I said, I have not said anything about the lead actor so please wait for sometime. He further said, That poor guy (Ranveer Singh) was sitting in front of me for three hours. But it doesn't reflect on his face, what it needs to play Shaktimaan. He looks fickle as if he will con somebody. But he is a terrific actor. When I praised him I mentioned that nobody else in the film industry has the energy like him. But I haven't approved him for the role. He must have felt bad. However, in the industry it is the producer who casts the actor not the other way round. That photoshoot (a nude shoot with Dirty magazine) was one of the very big reasons that started my aversion to him. When I saw that photoshoot, I said, kya kar raha hai yaar (What are you doing). Ranveer Singh's upcoming projects Ranveer was last seen in Rohit Shetty's Cirkus. He will next be seen in Sigham Again, featuring Ajay Devgn in the titular role. The movie also features Deepika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Tiger Shroff and others in pivotal roles. Tusshar Kapoor recently made his OTT debut with Dus June Kii Raat. The actor was in for a shock after he realized that his Facebook accounts have fallen prey to hacking. The actor took to Instagram to issue a statement, warning his fans and alerting them that is why he has been inactive on the platform lately. (Also read: Tusshar Kapoor says certain section of the industry wants to pull him down: I also faced constant scrutiny) Tusshar Kapoor's Facebook accounts have been hacked. Tusshar issues statement In a new Instagram post, Tusshar said, "Hello everyone, I wish to inform you that both my public and private Facebook accounts have been compromised, which has caused my recent inactivity on the platform. My team and I are doing our best to resolve the situation and regain control of the accounts. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time and look forward to re-engaging with you all soon. Thank you for your continued support." More details Tusshar had recently opened up about his career in Bollywood and said that he is thankful that the audience does not judge him on the basis of his work. In an interview with India Today, the actor had said: Sometimes, I do feel why this certain section cannot accept me once and for all. And I think that section is part of the fraternity that wants to keep pulling you down. It's sad and true, but I have grown out of it. Thankfully, I have an audience that doesn't judge you no matter what you've done or what you've not. Tusshar, who is the son of veteran actor Jeetendra and brother of film and television producer Ektaa Kapoor, never got married. Tusshar became father to son Laksshya in 2016, who was born via surrogacy. He also wrote a book titled Bachelor Dad: My Journey to Fatherhood and More. Tony winner Gavin Creel died aged 48 on Monday amid treatment for a rare and aggressive form of cancer, his partner Alex Temple Ward confirmed. The Broadway star briefly battled metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma after being diagnosed back in July. He was being treated at New York City's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center before transitioning to hospice care at home. Tony-winner Broadway veteran Gavin Creel died aged 48 following cancer diagnosis Broadway community shattered by Gavin Creel's death at 48 The news about Creel's death left his fans and fellow Broadway stars devastated. He was best known for his performances in productions like Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hair, She Loves Me and Hello, Dolly! during a stage career that spanned 20 years. Josh Gad, who voiced Olaf in the Frozen franchise, mourned Creel's death in an emotional social media post. Sometimes, I dont have the right words to describe my sadness. Today is one of those days. We have lost someone far too young, far too early still in his journey and far too impactful to our creative community. My heart breaks for his family and his closest friends. This is just not fair. We will never forget you, he wrote on Instagram. Grammy-winner Andrew Rannells echoed similar sentiments as he wrote on Instagram, I fell in love with Gavin Creel in 1998 the moment I met him. I was certainly not alone in my instant affection for him. Everyone fell in love with Gavin. We called each other Soulmate or Soulie for short. It was a joke that became a nickname that, in some ways, became a truth that made us both smile when we said it. My heart feels incredibly empty today. I know Im not alone in this feeling because again, everyone fell in love with Gavin. Ben Platt, the son of American film producer Marc Platt, wrote on his Instagram stories, There are no words to describe this loss. Gavin was my first role model, idol and hero. He showed me around backstage after I saw my first Broadway show. I couldn't believe someone that supernaturally talented could also be every single person in the building's favorite human being. I wanted to sing just like him and be just like him, he added. Sebastian Stan recently portrayed the character of young Donald Trump in The Apprentice. The actor compared playing the former president to riding a psychotic horse through a blazing stable. Ali Abassis film dives into the yearly years of Trump when he was a businessman in New York. Stan, who looked unrecognisable in the role admitted that it was difficult to play such a polarising figure. Trump I currently running for president in the upcoming elections in November alongside J.D. Vance. Sebastian Stan plays young Donald Trump, describing the role as a difficult challenge. @imsebastianstan/Instagram, Brandon Bell/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Brandon Bell / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP) Also Read: Hollywood superhero shocks fans with Donald Trump endorsement: We live in a broken' Sebastian Stan on playing young Trump Stan revealed in an interview with Empire magazine, Working on it with Ali was like riding a psychotic horse through a blazing stable. We're talking about somebody that everyone has an opinion about, that everyone has an impression of, that everyone has strong feelings for." The actor also divulged that he watched a lot of material on and about Trump to prepare for his character including others impersonating the politician but did not want others influence to be reflected in his portrayal. He said, I watched everything. I watched stuff that impersonators did. All the things. But I also just had to go towards the collaboration and the vision that I was sharing with Ali," as reported by Daily Express US. The film explores Trumps journey of how he became the man he is today with the help of a New York attorney Roy Cohn. Also Read: Taylor Swift skips struggling Travis Kelce's second game straight: After break-up date? say netizens Stan says the film normalises Trump The Thunderbolt actor declared that the new film normalises the Republican nominee to some extent. He said, The film normalizes him. To some degree. There's a preference to speak about him in a very selective, sort of distanced way. Like he's this separate entity from the rest of us humans here on Earth." He continued, He's either God, in the skies, blessed by everything, or he's like Satan incarnate into the depths of Earth. And the truth is, he's a human being. The actor added that there is a lot to relate and understand from Trumps journey shown in the film. Stan said, And to me, there's a journey of watching a man turn to stone over a process of time." Acclaimed Kannada filmmaker Hemanth M Rao has launched a scathing attack on IIFA Awards on his social media. The filmmaker, who is best known for his two-part critically-acclaimed film Sapta Sagaradaache Ello (Side A and Side B) wrote a long note on Instagram, accusing IIFA of being disrespectful and making him wait till 3 am without any award. (Also read: IIFA Utsavam 2024 full list of winners: Aishwarya Rai wins Best Actress award, Mani Ratnam bags Best Director) Hemanth M Rao is the director of the critically acclaimed two part film Sapta Sagaradaache Ello The 2024 IIFA Awards were held in Abu Dhabi over the weekend, honouring the best of both Bollywood and the four south industries Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. Called IIFA Utsavam, the award ceremony for the south films included awards for all four languages but the categories were not consistent, as many online pointed out. Hemanth Rao's greivance with IIFA 2024 Hemanth addressed this in a note he posted on his Instagram handle on Sunday evening. The whole IIFA experience was such a massive inconvenience and extremely disrespectful. I've been in this business for over a decade and this wasnt my first stint at award shows. Its always been a case where the winners are flown in and hosted for the event. For context, I was sat till 3 AM in the morning only to realize there was no award. The same happened to my music director, Charan Raj, the filmmaker wrote. The filmmaker mentioned that he was not disappointed at missing out on an award but at the lack of transparency in the process behind it. He explained, Its your award. You can give it to whoever you want to. Thats your choice!! I haven't won MANY awards and havent lost sleep over it, so these grapes arent sour. If all the other nominees were invited and one winner emerged out of it. I wouldnt bother getting irritated. Also, the format this year was just to hand out the award. The nominees weren't even mentioned. Hemanth Rao takes on IIFA organisers In a direct address to the organisers of IIFA, the filmmaker then reminded them that the awards shows needed the talent and not the other way around. Maybe its been a while for you and your team to realize it. Your award shows run on the talent that you put on your stage. NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. I dont need your award to enjoy the best job in the world. Next time you need me on your stage... and TRUST ME...you will. Take your award and keep it where the sun dont shine, he added angrily. In his caption, Hemanth clarified that he was not angry at fellow Kannada director Arun Sudhir winning over him. And if it wasn't clear, I have no problem with @tharunsudhir winning. My best to him and his entire team. This is about wasting my time and energy, the caption read. The long emotional message received a lot of support from fans and followers, many of whom also criticised IIFA Awards in the comments. I knew this was a mafia/ rigged when Katera won the best music award. No offence for anyone. The award should be based on quality and not on popularity or anything, one wrote. Another added, Call them out! We support good art that you make. Commercial awards like these are pointless. TV actor Karan Veer Mehra has emerged as the winner of the 14th season of the action reality show Khatron Ke Khiladi. The announcement was made at the grand finale of the show on Sunday night and pictures of Karan with the winners trophy on stage appeared on social media soon after. The actor has said that the feeling has not sunk in yet. (Also read: Khatron Ke Khiladi 14: Asim Riaz shares cryptic post about 'insult' after fight with Rohit Shetty and others on show) Karan Veer Mehra is lifted by other contestants as he wins Khatron Ke Khiladi 14 Khatron Ke Khiladi 14 winner The thrilling three-month journey of Khatron Ke Khiladi came to a close on Sunday evening at the finale as Karan Veer Mehra beat the other two finalists - Krishna Shroff and Gashmeer Mahajani. The final death-defying task was a combination of water, air with a helicopter twist thrown in there, with Karan registering the fastest time to finish it. His win allowed Karan to walk home with not just the trophy but also a cash prize of 20 lakh as well as a brand new Hyundai Creta car. The finale saw some starry cameos as well with the likes of Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Bharti Singh, Nia Sharma and Kashmera Shah making appearances. The 14th season of Khatron Ke Khiladi was hosted by filmmaker Rohit Shetty and was shot in Romania. Karan Veer Mehra on winning KKK 14 Hours after his win, Karan rected to the triumph in an interview with the Times of India. He said, More than the feeling that I might win the show, there was a hope that I could get the trophy. This feeling I think everyone had. Lekin jab announce hogaya na naam sab sunn hogaya (when it was announced, I went numb) I had no clue what was happening around. Everything was in slow motion. I was almost going to faint when Rohit Shetty sir announced my name Accha nahi lagta na KKK ka winner faint hota toh (It would not have looked good had the winner of KKK would have fainted). It was earlier reported that actor Huma Qureshi has joined the cast of the third instalment of the Shefali Shah and Rasika Dugal-starrer series Delhi Crime. Now, we have exclusively learnt that the actors have started shooting in Delhi-NCR. Huma Qureshi and Shefali Shah The makers wanted to start with the shoot in the Capital. The initial plan was to start early September, but they were waiting for Humas dates. The shooting for Delhi Crime 3 started 10 days ago in Greater Noida. Huma, Shefali, Rasika and Rajesh Tailang are currently shooting, says a source. Also Read: From Ayushmann Khurrana to Aamir Khan, Bollywood set for a date with Delhi The insider adds that a mix of scenes would be shot in the ongoing schedule: Thaane (police station) ke, haveli ke aur roads ke kaafi shots Greater Noida mein shoot honge. Pehle ke seasons mein bhi Gautam Buddha Nagar ke police station ke shots thay. Then, the team will come to Delhi and cover different locations. They will be shooting here for over two months. The makers are planning to release the next season in splits. "The show will be out in two parts with a gap of a short time period. The plan is to release the first part by mid 2025," tells the source, concluding that many other new members will be joining the cast along with Huma, but that has been kept under wraps. Meanwhile, several media reports suggest that this season will be based on human trafficking. Actor Sunita Rajwar says Santosh being picked as UK's official entry for the Oscars under the Best International Feature film category is a "gift from the universe to me." "Yeh toh chappar phaad ke milne wali baat hai," she exclaims. A still from the film Santosh The 54-year-old is thrilled at the recognition she is getting from the industry. Besides the fact that the film is exceptional, I have a good and interesting role... And it feels great that along with Sandhya (Suri, director) and the main lead, Shahana (Goswami, actor), my name is also being mentioned, she gushes, adding, Ive done so much work in the industry in the last 24 years, but Ive never seen this happen to anyone. It feels like a dream. Also Read: Laapataa Ladies at Oscars 2025 | Sparsh Shrivastava: Kabhi socha nahin tha Oscars tak chale jaenge Prod further, and Rajwar says that she has been stereotyped in the industry. Known for her supporting roles in films like Kedarnath (2018), Bala (2019), Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (2020), Stree 2 and web series Gullak, Rajwar confesses, Ive said no to so many projects of late because everyone has been approaching me to play a character similar to Bittu ki mummy (her character in Gullak). Amid all of this, to get such a great news is amazing. What more than the film going to the Oscar for an artiste! Also Read: Explained: Laapataa Ladies or Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, which is India's 'official' entry for Oscars 2025? The film, set in Uttar Pradesh, revolves around a newly widowed housewife taking up her late husbands job as a police constable and getting involved in the investigation of a young Dalit girls murder. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section. Ask her if shes concerned about its release in India, and the actor shares, The film is too real. A lot of films face problems ahead of their release in India. At times, even the audience takes time to accept certain kind of films. We all appreciate how Hollywood and Iranian films are so real, how they shoot and make a film etc. But when it comes to (our own films), we are very judgmental... Luckily now, OTT par kabhi kabhi films release ho jaati hain. I would like for Santosh to get a release in India so that people watch a good film and see all our hard work. On how she plans to celebrate the the achievement and she says, This is a big moment for us all and we have are fingers crossed. We hope to win it." "Abhi woh dhuk dhuk si hai result aane tak. We will celebrate once the trophy is home," she wraps up. Aditi Rao Hydari and Siddharth recently tied the knot in an intimate wedding at Telangana's 400-year-old Sri Ranganayaka Swamy Temple. The actor-couple surprised their fans by dropping several photos from their simple ceremony. Along with the actors traditional jewellery, the large rocks on her finger - her engagement ring - caught peoples eyes. Known as the Toi et Moi ring, jewellery designer Archana Aggarwal says, It translates to You and Me. This design signifies the union of two individuals. It represents their shared journey and the unique bond theyve created. She went on to add that the two stones typically used in this type of ring symbolise loves duality and two separate souls coming together as one. Siddharth and Aditi Rao Hydari(instagram) Siddharth and Aditi Rao Hydari(instagram) Tarang Arora, Creative Director and CEO of Amrapali Jewels, explains, This ring is often used as an engagement or wedding ring, serving as a reminder of the love and commitment shared between the couple. The Toi Et Moi ring that French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte gave his wife Josephine de Beauharnais in 1796 that started the trend(X) This ring dates back to the 18th century but became rampant after the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte gave it to his beloved wife, Empress of France Josephine de Beauharnais in 1796. The ring featured a sapphire and a diamond set side by side like two lovers. While their marriage was annulled in 1810, the Toi et Moi ring came to symbolise eternal love and unity. In 2013 this ring was sold for $949,000 (INR 7,93,55,759), more than 45 times its estimate. Jackie Kenndy shows off her engagement ring from husband, Former US President John F Kennedy (X) Originally, Arora explains that Toi et Moi rings featured a pear-shaped diamond and sapphire. However, nowadays, people use a variety of stones, including diamonds and emeralds, like the one sported by the Former First Lady of the United States Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Then a Senator, the Former President of the US, John F Kennedy proposed to his wife in 1953 with a 2.88-carat diamond-and-emerald engagement ring from Van Cleef & Arpels. Arora shares, Ive had clients who opted for versions with only coloured stones. It comes down to personal preference. Aggarwal adds, Couples can also personalise their rings by selecting stones that hold a special meaning to them or represent significant moments in their relationship. They could add birthstones or even heirloom pieces, too. This is not the first time that Toi et Moi rings have created headlines, as they are popular among celebrity couples. In 2018, model and actor Emily Ratajkowski married producer Sebastian Bear-McClard, who presented her with a Toi et Moi engagement ring months after their wedding. When the couple divorced in 2022, she got her famous engagement ring redesigned into, what she dubbed, Divorce Rings. Emily Ratajkowski reworked her engagement ring in divorce rings(instagram) The models Toi et Moi ring featured a massive three-carat pear-shaped diamond and a two-carat, princess-cut diamond. The ring was created by jewellery designer Alison Chemla, who also worked with her to repurpose the massive stones into something that will represent my own personal evolution. In an interview, the model told Vogue, I dont think a woman should be stripped of her diamonds just because shes losing a man. In 2021, rapper Travis Scott gifted his then-girlfriend, entrepreneur and reality TV star Kylie Jenner and their daughter, Stormi Webster, matching Toi et Moi rings. Each ring had a pear-cut diamond and an emerald-cut stone. Daddy got us matching rings, Jenner captioned a photo, where she showed off the rings on her daughters and her hands. Kylies ginormous stones are estimated to be around 5 to 6 carats, while Stormis diamonds appear to be 1.5 carats each, reported Page Six. The Congress on Monday questioned the governments claims on job creation data, adding that no spin doctoring can take away from the fact that 2014-2024 has seen jobloss growth. Congress claimed crucial sectors like education saw 12 lakh fewer jobs in 2020-2021. (PTI file photo) The reference was being made to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) KLEMS (acronym for capital, labour, energy, materials, and services) data report released in July, which said around 80 crore new jobs were created in the last three-four years. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had cited the same report dismissing oppositions claims of widespread unemployment. Quoting the content of the report, Congress claimed that the current ruling dispensation equated the unpaid household to the work done by women as employment which is not a new job creation. A large part of the claimed employment growth is recording unpaid household work done by women as employment. It is not new job creation, he said. Also Read:Congs artful statistical jugglery jibe at Modi over 8 crore new jobs remark The 80 million new jobs headline also eludes discussion on the quality of jobs. Amidst the poor economic climate, the share of salaried, formal employment in the labour market has decreased. Workers are moving to low-productivity informal and agricultural jobs, which KLEMS is capturing as jobs created, Congress communications head Jairam Ramesh said in a statement. He added that the KLEMS data shows an increase in employment during the COVID-19 pandemic years, when large sections of the economy fully shut down. While crucial sectors like education saw 12 lakh fewer jobs in 2020-2021, a whopping 1.8 crore jobs were created in agriculture, he said. Calling poorly paid job as an economic travesty, the senior Congress leader argued that factory workers, teachers, miners who returned home during COVID-19 and had to return to farming and agricultural labour are registered as a job created in agriculture. This shift to low-productivity, poorly paid jobs is an economic travesty, which the government is touting as an achievement, he said. Questioning the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) data, a key parameter of creation of jobs in the formal sector, Congress said that while the government cited the addition of 6.2 crore net subscribers in the EPFO database to show record employment growth, EPFO only tracks the organised sector or less than 10% of total employment. The Congress pointed out the Supreme Courts 2020 verdict asking EPFO to include contractual workers at any establishment which employs more than 20 people and as a result. A substantial number of workers who were already employed are now being reflected in EPFO data these are not new jobs created, Ramesh said. Continuing his criticism of the governments alleged spin doctoring, Ramesh said that the countrys unemployment rate remains high. Whatever statistical jugglery they engage in, the truth remains: Indias unemployment rate today is the highest it has been in 45 years, with the unemployment rate for graduate youth at 42%, he said. A response from the government is awaited and the copy will be updated whenever it is received. HYDERABAD: A 30-year-old woman jumped off the 18th floor of her multi-storey apartment building with her three-year-old daughter on the outskirts of Hyderabad in the wee hours of Monday, the police said. Security guards and residents found the woman and her daughter lying in a pool of blood. (Getty Images/iStockphoto) The incident took place at about 12:30am inside a gated community at Narsingi under Cyberabad Police Commissionerate limits. Security guards and residents who rushed out on hearing a loud thud found the woman and daughter in a pool of blood. Narsingi police inspector G Hari Krishna Reddy told reporters that the couple hailed from Bhimavaram in West Godavari district of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh state and had been living in the apartment for two years. Prima facie, it appears she died by suicide by jumping from her flat in the 18th floor of the apartment due to health problems. But we have booked a case of suspicious death and are investigating all angles including the probable disputes with the husband, Reddy said. The womans husband, a techie who worked at Hitech City, was not at home at the time of the incident. If you need support or know someone who does, please reach out to your nearest mental health specialist. Helplines: Aasra: 022 2754 6669; Sneha India Foundation: +914424640050; Sanjivini: 011-24311918; Roshni Foundation (Secundrabad) Contact Nos: 040-66202001, 040-66202000; ONE LIFE: 78930 78930 and SEVA: 09441778290. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators have urged the Delhi lieutenant governor for a meeting to address the deteriorating law and order situation and the rise in gangster extortion in the national capital. AAP legislators have urged the Delhi LG for a meeting to address the deteriorating law and order situation.(Hindustan Times) The AAP MLAs have expressed concern over the law and order situation and the alarming rise in gang-related activities in Delhi, citing three incidents of shootings at business owners' properties on Saturday. Every trader in Delhi is living under constant fear due to the brazen manner in which these gangs are operating. Their family members are constantly thinking about the well-being and safety of their bread-earners, MLAs write in their letter. AAP has also mentioned that if the law and order issue is not addressed promptly, it could lead to a further escalation of violence and crime in Delhi. This issue was elaborately discussed in the recent session of Delhi Legislative Assembly. Many MLAs also echoed the similar concerns of residents of Delhi. We have lived in Delhi for decades, but such deterioration of Law & order was never witnessed in Delhi. Delhi has never seen so many gangs actively operating in Delhi, the letter reads. The MLAs have alleged that calls by the gangsters for extortion or demanding protection money has become a regular feature in businessmen's lives. This will force these people to shut their businesses in Delhi. As the subject of Police is a reserved subject for NCT of Delhi and is directly under the control of Central Govt and Hon'ble LG, we would like to bring this in your knowledge and have a constructive discussion on this burning issue, the MLAs have mentioned in the letter to LG. The MLAs have requested an urgent meeting to discuss possible measures to curb the rising lawlessness in Delhi and to restore peace, security, and ensure the safety and well-being of its citizens. The pressure on chief minister Siddaramaiah mounted with activist Snehamayi Krishna, the primary complainant in the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam, filing a complaint with the Enforcement Directorate (ED), seeking a probe by the agency. The complaint, along with a concurrent Lokayukta investigation, places Siddaramaiah in a challenging position as four Lokayukta teams will begin fieldwork on Monday, officials aware of the matter said. Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah speaks to the media. (ANI) Responding to the ED complaint filed by Krishna, Siddaramaiah said, Let him lodge a complaint. Since the MUDA case is with Lokayukta, I wouldnt want to comment much about it. I dont know who is Snehamayi Krishna. I have never met him. I do not know what cases are pending against him. Krishna, in his complaint addressed to the EDs Bengaluru office, has called for an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), alleging that Siddaramaiah misused his powers to allot 14 plots of land to his wife, Parvathi. The activist argued that these illegal allotments were facilitated by MUDA and demanded a thorough probe into the financial transactions involved. I have approached ED asking them to investigate the financial transactions in the MUDA case, Krishna said, adding that the Lokayukta probe could be influenced by Siddaramaiahs position of power. Krishna has approached the Karnataka high court, seeking to transfer the MUDA scam investigation from the Lokayukta to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). He cited concerns that Siddaramaiahs influential position as the CM could compromise the fairness of the inquiry. Krishna said that he believed only a CBI-led investigation would ensure impartiality, given the CMs control over state departments, including those involved in the case. Krishnas move came at a time when the Lokayukta police is preparing to expand their investigation into the scandal. Led by Lokayukta SP Udesh, four teams have been formed to conduct fieldwork from Monday. The development followed the filing of a first information report (FIR) against Siddaramaiah, his wife Parvathi, and others. In Krishnas writ petition, he drew attention to the Supreme Court ruling in Mitalesh Kumar Singh vs. the Government of Rajasthan, which led to a CBI probe into the case to preserve fairness. He argued that a similar situation existed in Karnataka, where Siddaramaiahs role as the CM could impact the outcome of the inquiry. Meanwhile, former CM and BJP MP Basavaraj Bommai has called for Siddaramaiahs resignation to ensure a free and fair investigation. To have a fair inquiry... Lokayukta should be given a free hand by the present government, for which the CM should resign from his post, Bommai said. Around 120 people from Ladakh including climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had marched to the national capital demanding sixth schedule status for the Union Territory, have been detained by the Delhi Police at the city's border, police sources said. Ladakh-based activist Sonam Wangchuk being detained at Delhi's Singhu border (Courtesy: x.com/@Wangchuk66) According to Delhi Police sources, the detained people, including Wangchuk, have taken to Alipur and other police stations along the city border. Wangchuk and others wanted to spend the night at the border. They were initially requested to go back as prohibitory orders were imposed in Delhi but when they did not stop, the policemen who were already deployed at the border, detained about 120 men, including Wangchuk, police officer said. They have been kept at Alipur Police Station and other nearby police stations at the Delhi-Haryana border, the officer said, adding that they will be released after some time. Women participating in the march were not detained, the source said, adding that the detentions were done in view of prohibitory orders banning gatherings of five or more persons in north and central Delhi. Wangchuk, in a post on Instagram shortly before being detained, shared visuals from the Delhi border, where amid huge police presence their buses were stopped. The climate activist could be seen interacting with police officials in the video. In his post, Wangchuk said several vehicles of Delhi Police and Haryana Police were accompanying their buses and while they initially thought they were being escorted, as they approached the national capital, it was clear they were going to be detained. "As we are approaching Delhi, it appears we are not being escorted, we are being detained," Wangchuk said. He said around 1,000 police personnel have been deployed at the Delhi border and they have been informed that heavy deployment of security forces has been done at the Ladakh Bhawan in Delhi, and in areas where students from Ladakh reside. "It appears they don't want to allow this padyatra to take place," he said. The 'Delhi Chalo Padyatra' was organised by the Leh Apex Body (LAB), which along with Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), are jointly spearheading an agitation over the past four years in support of statehood, extension of the Constitution's sixth schedule, early recruitment process along with a public service commission for Ladakh and separate Lok Sabha seats for Leh and Kargil districts. Delhi Police on Monday banned the gathering of five or more persons, people carrying banners, placards arms and or protests in the central part and bordering areas for the next six days in the national capital, citing law and order issues, including calls of protests given by several organisations. According to an order issued from the Delhi Police Headquarters, Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora has directed to impose the section 163 (which was earlier section 144 of CrPC) of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita in the districts of New Delhi, North and Central and all police stations jurisdiction sharing the borders with other states. The prohibitory order will remain effective till October 5. Two unidentified men duped an Ahmedabad bullion trader using fake 500 currency notes featuring Bollywood actor Anupam Kher instead of Mahatma Gandhi. Police were investigating the matter relying on CCTV footage to track the suspects. (X) A police officer at Ahmedabads Navrangpura police station said the two men handed over 1.3 crore to Bharat Joshi, an employee of the trader, Mehul Thakkar, in counterfeit currency as part of a deal for 2,100 grams of gold worth 1.6 crore. The men promised to return with the remaining 30 lakh but vanished with the gold before Joshi realised the notes were fake. Thakkar filed a complaint at the Navrangpura police station after discovering the fraud on September 24. Police said Thakkar agreed to sell the gold after getting a call from Prashant Patel, a jewellery shop manager, with whom he had a long-standing business relationship. Thakkar agreed to deliver the gold. Patel informed Thakkar that the buyer could not transfer the full amount immediately through RTGS and would instead provide 1.3 crore in cash, promising to transfer the remaining 30 lakh the next day, the officer said. On September 24, Joshi delivered the gold at an office in Navrangpura, which the men had set up just two days earlier. Two men handed over 26 bundles of 500 notes, totaling 1.3 crore, and told Joshi to count the money using a machine while they stepped out to fetch the remaining 30 lakh. Joshi handed over the 2,100 grams of gold. When he started counting the cash he discovered the notes were fake with Khers photo instead of Gandhis. By then, the men had disappeared with the gold, the officer said. Police were investigating the matter relying on CCTV footage to track the suspects, who remained at large. Actor Anupam Kher expressed shock after an Ahmedabad trader was duped with fake 500 notes which featured the photo of the actor instead of Mahatma Gandhi. The fake currency notes featured Anupam Kher's photo instead of Mahatma Gandhi.(Twitter) "My photo instead of Mahatma Gandhi's on a 500 note??? Kuch bhi ho sakta hai (Anything can happen)," Anupam Kher said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The 69-year-old actor also shared the video of a report about the recovery of the fake notes. The complaint was filed Mehul Thakkar, a bullion trader at the Navrangpura police station on September 24. He claimed that one of his employee was approached by the suspects for a deal involving 2,100 grams of gold valued at 1.6 crore. The men delivered 1.3 crore in cash, promising to pay the remaining 30 lakh the following day. However, after handing over the gold, they vanished, leaving the trader to discover that all the notes were fake. According to a police officer at the Navrangpura police station, Thakkar was initially contacted by Prashant Patel, a jewelry shop manager with whom he has had a long-standing business relationship. "Patel informed Thakkar that the buyer could not transfer the full amount immediately and would instead provide 1.3 crore in cash," the officer said. Ahmedabad Fraud Explained On September 24, Joshi delivered the gold to a temporary office set up by the suspects just two days prior. After handing over 26 bundles of cash, the men asked Joshi to count the money using a machine while they stepped out to retrieve the remaining amount. It was only after the men had disappeared that Joshi realised the notes featured Anupam Khers likeness instead of Gandhi's. Police are investigating, relying on CCTV footage to track the two suspects, who remain at large. "This is a unique case of counterfeit currency with a Bollywood twist," said a Navrangpura police officer. "We are working to identify and apprehend the culprits." Independent MLA PV Anvar, who disassociated himself from the ruling LDF last week, railed against the state government and the CPM leadership for not taking action on his complaints against ADGP MR Ajith Kumar and P Sasi, political secretary to the CM, at a public meeting in his constituency Nilambur on Sunday. Independent MLA PV Anvar disassociated himself from the ruling LDF last week. (Agency) It was the first time that the legislator, who had won 2016 and 2021 Assembly elections with the backing of the CPI(M), spoke directly to the public about his grouses against the Pinarayi Vijayan-led administration as opposed to his usual press conferences. The meeting in Chanthakunnu in Nilambur was also seen as a show of strength of the MLA and was attended by hundreds of people including a former local secretary of the ruling party. It came on the same day the MLA was booked by the Karukachal police for provoking people to riot by releasing illegally tapped phone conversations with senior officials. I gave documented evidence of misappropriation of wealth by ADGP Ajith Kumar to the DGP-led inquiry panel. The ADGP bought an apartment worth 33.8 lakh fully in cash and then sold it 10 days later again in full cash at 65 lakh. I submitted all the property documents. There was no action on it. Why? If the evidence were to be reviewed properly, it wouldnt take more than an hour for the inquiry panel to recommend the ADGPs suspension. Instead, a vigilance inquiry is ordered and six months time is given for it. Why is there no justice? the MLA asked. The legislator, who began his address by dismissing allegations particularly by CPI(M) leaders that he was spreading communal sentiments, spoke at length about his familys connections with people from other faiths. He said he was taught the first lessons in public speaking by a nun at a Christian-run learning centre in front of his home. Anvar claimed that he has gotten offers from other parties to join, but indicated that he would not do so. They asked me if I would form my own party. I said, let me speak to the people. I am not going to form a new party, but if the people of this state unite into a party, I will be a part of that formation. The people will decide, he said. He said he expected a truthful investigation from the police of a government that he believed in. But those hopes have fallen flat. I wanted that corrupt police officer to be removed from his position and dismissed from service. But nothing is going to happen here. The only hope now is judiciary. Let the high court appoint its own investigators and I will submit all the evidence there, he said. The Nilambur MLA wrapped up his nearly three-hour long address by vowing to reveal the truth in several cases where he claimed the police has wreaked corruption and wrongdoing. Kolkata, The West Bengal Cabinet on Monday gave its nod to set up a 660-megawatt supercritical electricity plant at Sagardighi in Murshidabad district, Power Minister Arup Biswas said. Bengal Cabinet okays 660 MW supercritical power plant, 5 other electricity facilities The Cabinet also accepted proposals for building five more power plants. "We will be setting up a new 660-mega-watt supercritical power plant in Sagardighi. This will be the first such power plant in eastern India. Even the National Thermal Power Corporation or the DVC do not have it," the power minister said after the Cabinet meeting. He said that 95 per cent of the work for the supercritical power plant has been completed. "It will be made of the latest machinery and 95 per cent of its work is complete," Biswas said at the secretariat. He said that the modern power plant, where less coal would be required to produce more electricity, would be ready by next March. The Cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, also gave its nod to set up a new power plant of 1600 MW and a global tender will be floated in this regard. We are not taking a single penny from anyone," he said. It would be the first time that a power plant has been planned based on a PPP model. "We will set up four more power plants and the paperworks for them is being done," he said. Asked about the location of the 1600 MW power plant, the minister said the company concerned would decide on that and the state government would work accordingly. The West Bengal government now has power plants at Sagardighi, Bakerswar, Kolghat Bandel and Durgapur. The Cabinet also decided to make 32.43 acres of long-term settlement land and 40.17 acres of old vested land of Shyam Shell and Power Limited in Jamuaria in Paschim Bardhaman district freehold and allow them to set up a new project of steel and power plant there. Meanwhile, the chief minister asked her Cabinet colleagues to concentrate more on the flood situation in the state and not on the upcoming Durga Puja festival. In north Bengal, parts of Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and the entire Malda districts were affected by flood, and all efforts are taken to ensure that relief measures are taken up properly, Chief Secretary Manoj Pant said. The situation will improve as the weather improves, he said. Water released from Bihar dams enter several districts of West Bengal, Pant said adding: "We have sounded an alert for districts of Uttar and Dakshin Dinajpur, Malda and Murshidabad so that all precautionary measures are taken." This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Muzaffarnagar , Celebrations erupted in Titora village of this district after the Supreme Court on Monday came to the rescue of a Dalit youth from the village, who had lost his seat in IIT Dhanbad after missing the deadline to deposit a fee. Celebrations erupt in UP's Titora village after SC asks IIT to grant admission to Dalit youth Using its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the apex court asked the IIT Dhanbad to admit Dalit student Atul Kumar into its BTech course. As the news spread, villagers started dancing with dhols and other musical instruments, and also distributed sweets in the village. Rash Devi, the mother of Atul, said, "We are very happy that the Supreme Court directed the institute to give admission to my son." Amit Kumar, the brother of the Dalit student, also expressed happiness. While passing its order, a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said, "We cannot allow such a young talented boy to go away. He cannot be left in lurch." "We are of the view that a talented student like the petitioner who belongs to a marginalised group who did all to secure admission should not be left out... we direct that candidate is granted admission to IIT Dhanbad and let him be in the same batch to which he would have been granted admission if the fees would have been paid," the bench said in the order. Article 142 of the Constitution empowers the top court to pass any order in the interest of justice. The parents of Atul Kumar, 18, failed to deposit 17,500 as the acceptance fee by June 24, the deadline for depositing the requisite fees for blocking the seat. The parents of the youth also approached the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Jharkhand Legal Services Authority and the Madras High Court to save the hard-earned seat. Atul, the son of a daily wager, belongs to a below poverty line family living at Titora village in Muzaffarnagar district. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Monday admonished a lawyer for repeatedly using the term yeah during arguments in the Supreme Court. In a strongly worded rebuke, the judge told the lawyer that he was allergic to the term 'yeah'. Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud(PTI file photo) CJI Chandrachud also told the lawyer that he was in a court of law, not a coffee shop. He said the lawyer should say 'yes', instead of 'yeah'. "Don't say 'yeah yeah yeah.' Say 'Yes.' This is not a coffee shop. This is a court. I am a little allergic to people saying 'yeah.' This cannot be allowed," said CJI Chandrachud, according to India Today. The lawyer was arguing before the court about what he called wrongful dismissal of a plea by the former Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi. He demanded a probe against the former judge, who is currently a Rajya Sabha MP. CJI Chandrachud took exception to the plea, asking how could a PIL be filed with a judge as a respondent. Responding to this, the petitioner said: 'Yeah, yeah, the then CJI Ranjan Gogoi. I was asked to file a curative." His remark drew CJI Chandrachud's ire. He said Justice Gogoi was a former judge of the Supreme Court and a such petition couldn't be filed against him. The lawyer later said Justice Gogoi had dismissed his plea relying on the statement he had challenged as illegal. Also read: 'Can't restrict women': Supreme Court slams Bengal govt's 'no-night shift' order CJI Chandrachud asked the petitioner to remove Justice Gogoi's name from the plea. Earlier this month, CJI Chandrachud rapped a senior counsel seeking the court's direction for the removal of Mamata Banerjee as West Bengal chief minister for her alleged failure over the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor inside RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. The Communist Party of India (Marxist), the countrys largest left-wing party, has appointed Prakash Karat as interim coordinator following the unexpected death of its general secretary, Sitaram Yechury. Prakash Karat at the central committee meeting in New Delhi on Sunday. (ANI) The Central Committee, meeting in New Delhi, announced on Sunday that Karat will oversee the politburo and central committee until the 24th Party Congress in April 2025 in Madurai. This decision was taken due to the sad and sudden demise of the sitting General Secretary of the CPI(M), Comrade Sitaram Yechury, a party statement said. A senior leader in the party, who asked not to be named, said there was consensus on Karats appointment, citing his three terms as general secretary and presence at Delhi headquarters. The senior politburo member explained the choice of coordinator title, saying that no temporary or acting general secretary could be appointed since the Party Congress is the sole authority to appoint a general secretary. We can only have an arrangement based on collective responsibility. Yechurys death on September 12 created an unprecedented leadership vacuum, as he was the first general secretary to die in office. People in the party suggested West Bengal and Tripura leaders particularly favoured Karat taking a larger role. He also has wider acceptability among the leaders, a senior politburo member noted, asking not to be named. The creation of safe zones for vultures in India remains a significant challenge, with the five-year deadline for the species conservation plan set to end next year, experts have said as the dwindling population of the scavenger bird poses a critical risk to the ecosystem. Of the 23 species of vultures found in the world, nine are in India and of them four are critically endangered. (HT File Photo) The concern was highlighted by subject matter experts at the National Symposium for Vulture Conservation, 2024, held in Ahmedabad and organised by the Bird Conservation Society of Gujarat. Indias three Gyps species vulture population, once around 40 million in the 1980s, suffered a drastic 90% decline by the 1990s to about 4 million. Over the next decade, the population further dropped by 99%, reducing the number to approximately 40,000. Further declines over the years have left the current estimated population at around 20,000 vultures. The three species include Long-billed Vulture, White-backed Vulture, and Slender-billed Vulture. Diclofenac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used in livestock, has caused visceral gout in vultures, leading to their catastrophic decline as they frequently feed on livestock carcasses. In response, the government banned its use in veterinary medicine in 2006 to protect the species from further harm. The presence of diclofenac in dead cattle was shown to decrease after the ban. However, since then, there have been many other NSAID introduced which continue to be toxic to vultures. Of the 23 species of vultures found in the world, nine are in India and of them four are critically endangered. In July 2015, the Indian government restricted the sale of diclofenac in vials larger than 3ml to prevent the misuse of larger multi-dose vials, which were intended for human use but illegally diverted for veterinary purposes. To save vultures, the government launched Action Plan for Vulture Conservation in India 2020-2025 which included setting up eight Vulture Conservation Breeding Centres in the country and an equal number of VSZs besides identifying VSZs in all states and covering all the nine species found in India. In 2023, the government through a gazette notification banned the veterinary use of aceclofenac and ketoprofen which were found to be toxic to vultures. There are over 14 NSAIDS available in the market for veterinary use and many of them may be toxic for vultures. Meloxicam and Tolfenamic acid are the only safe drugs to vulture. Nimuesilide, which is available in the market today, has been tested toxic for vultures. An area can be designated a VSZ if, after two years of monitoring, no toxic drugs or signs of visceral gout are found in dead vultures within a 100km radius, and vulture populations are stable or increasing. Alternatively, none of the 50 satellite-tagged, free-ranging vultures should die from NSAID poisoning within one year of their release. Despite identification, no safe zone has been established so far in the country, according to Dr Vibhu Prakash, who was a member of the task force of the Action Plan for Vulture Conservation in India 2020-25. The vulture breeding programme, focused on three Gyps species of vultures, aims to have 600 pairs of each of the three species to form a viable population. The first release into the wild was in 2020. It looks difficult that even one VSZ of the eight provisional VSZs will be established in the country by 2025. The aim of VSZ is to protect remaining in-situ populations and release sites for captive bred birds until diclofenac and other toxic drugs are removed nationally. Around 50 vultures have been released initially, more releases will only happen when VSZ are established, Prakash, who retired as deputy of Bombay Natural History Society, told HT on the sidelines of the event. He said the current vulture population is estimated to be around 20,000, including 13,000 Long-billed Vulture, 6,000 White-backed Vulture, and 1,000 Slender-billed Vulture, he added. John Mallord, a senior conservationist scientist at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, UK said that from 2012 to 2024 they undertook covert surveys of pharmacies in India, Nepal and Bangladesh to investigate the availability and prevalence of NSAIDs for the treatment of livestock. The availability of diclofenac has declined in all four Vulture Safe Zones in India, although the drug was widely available in other states, including the illegally manufactured (in India) large vials, Mallord said, adding that Nimesulide was particularly prevalent in India. Chris Bowden, globally threatened species officer for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Co-chair of the IUCN Vulture Specialist Group, pointed out that while India has the capacity for conservation, the necessary network is still lacking. Bowden also warned that releasing captive-bred vultures into the wild is premature without VSZs and proper regulations in place. New research shows that removing toxic NSAIDs can reverse vulture declines. India should mandate safety testing of NSAIDs on vultures before veterinary use is approved, he said. R Sureshkumar who is conducting pan India assessment of vulture population for the Union environment ministry, said that the nesting status of three critically endangered Asian Gyps vultures the White-backed Vulture, the Slender Billed Vulture and the Indian Vulture was undertaken from February 2023 and June 2024 and they found that the Indian Vulture had the highest nesting site primarily in Madhya Pradesh, central India. The White-backed Vultures were widely distributed with substantial nesting sites across various regions, particularly in Kangra valley in Himachal Pradesh. The nesting population of the Slender-Billed Vulture on the contrary was highly critical with all the observations limited to the Sibsagar and Tinsukia districts of Assam. A significant number of nesting sites for all three species were located outside the protected areas, he said. He added that the information of nesting for the three species forms an important baseline and will be maintained as part of the National Vulture Database being currently developed. The Delhi high court on Monday refused to entertain a plea for the complete removal of the blockade at the Singhu border connecting Haryana with Delhi, stressing that police would have decided to partially open the border based on actionable intelligence information. Security forces at the Singhu border in the city on Wednesday. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo) The border was closed on February 13 after farmers from Punjab began a march to Delhi demanding a legal guarantee for the minimum support price for crops. The border was partially opened to allow movement of vehicles after farmers postponed their march. A bench of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela granted petitioners Shankar Mor, Sachin Aneja, and Eknoor Singh, who work in Delhi and Gurgaon, liberty to file a representation for opening the border to the police. It reprimanded them for approaching the court straight away. Maybe they [police] have some intelligence and actionable information. We cannot take a chance...You and I cannot decide this. We do not know. ...If the movement is restricted, they can take control immediately. Otherwise, it will take a very long time to take control of the situation. ...We have not gone there, so we have no idea of what is happening, the bench told advocate Sachin Miglani, who appeared for the petitioners. You have straight away marched [to the court] without preferring a representation. We cannot direct the government of Haryana [to decide the representation]. The Delhi Police may decide. The problem today is we have become so accessible. Anyone can file a petition. It is very cumbersome to file a representation to the state and get an answer. So everyone comes directly to us. Make a representation, let us know what their stand is. The court refused to consider the petition days after the Supreme Court constituted a former Punjab and Haryana high court judge Nawab Singh-led committee headed to amicably address the grievances of protesting farmers, saying that the issue should not be politicised. The petitioner said not a single farmer had protested since February and the blockade of the National Highway-44 for over seven months was causing inconvenience to the public. A 30-year-old police constable was killed while patrolling in west Delhi's Nangloi early Sunday after a man, with whom he had a brief altercation moments earlier, chased him in a car, hit his bike, dragged him for over 30 feet and crushed him against a stationary vehicle around 2.15 am. A 30-year-old police constable was killed while patrolling in west Delhi's Nangloi early Sunday(PTI) According to the police, the two occupants of the car were intoxicated and deliberately ran over Sandeep Malik after he reportedly stopped them from drinking inside the vehicle. An FIR for murder was registered against two men, one of them identified as Rajnish was arrested. Police seized the car, along with a liquor bottle and packets of chips found inside, Times of India reported. However, the alleged motive that the suspects were enraged after Sandeep Malik stopped them from drinking doesnt align with an initial police diary entry. The entry mentioned a liquor supplier, Jangra, pressuring the constable to get work done. While police refuted any connection to organised crime, they didnt clarify the diarys contents. Police maintained that the attack was intentional, with one suspect involved in property rentals and the others family running a general store. The incident took place at Veena Enclave, Nangloi, where Delhi Police constable Sandeep, dressed in civilian clothes due to increased theft cases was on routine patrol. He had confronted two men drinking in their parked car at a railway yard parking lot. After asking them to leave, an argument broke out. Malik confronted two men who were drinking in their car at the railway yard parking lot, said a senior police officer. The constable asked them to leave and head home, but the suspects, identified as Dharmender and Rajnish refused. This led to a heated argument, he added. Constable Sandeep reprimanded Dharmender and warned him of legal consequences, urging him to leave the area. Angered by this, Dharmender drove off in the car, with the constable following on his motorcycle, the report mentions. The accused waited outside Veena Enclave after leaving the area, anticipating Sandeep's arrival. The CCTV footage confirmed that the constable was intentionally run over without provocation. Around 2:15 am, the car reversed slightly and stopped. As constable Sandeep approached on his motorcycle, the accused followed him and ran over him. The impact caused Sandeep to lose control and crash between the Wagon R and another vehicle. Despite being rushed to two hospitals, Sandeep did not survive. His body was handed over to his family after an autopsy. Later, the case took a twist when the police diary entry revealed new details. Though the police were quick to dismiss any mafia angle in the incident, their own diary entry, which surfaced on Sunday mentioned a liquor supplier named Jangra being involved. New Delhi, The Congress on Monday slammed the Centre over the ED booking Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in a money laundering case linked to the MUDA land case, alleging the probe agency has become Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "instrument of harassment and vendetta" against his political opponents. ED has become PM's instrument of vendetta against opponents: Cong on action against K'taka CM The opposition party's attack came after the Enforcement Directorate booked Siddaramaiah, his wife and some others, taking cognisance of a recent state Lokayukta FIR. Reacting to the development, Congress general secretary-in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "It is no secret that the ED has become an instrument of harassment, vendetta, revenge, and vengeance on his political opponents by the non-biological PM." "The people of Karnataka rejected Him resoundingly in May 2023 and He has not forgotten that humiliation. The Congress believes that He and His ED will stand thoroughly exposed soon. We have nothing whatsoever to fear. The CM of Karnataka will be vindicated," Ramesh said. The ED has pressed sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to book Siddaramaiah in its enforcement case information report , the equivalent of a police FIR, official sources said. According to the procedure, the ED is empowered to summon the accused for questioning and even attach their assets during the investigation. Siddaramaiah, 76, had last week asserted he was being targeted in the MUDA issue as the opposition was "scared" of him. He had also reiterated that he would not resign following the court ordering a probe against him in the case as he had done no wrong and asserted that he would fight the case legally. Siddaramaiah, his wife B M Parvathi, brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy and Devaraju from whom Swamy had purchased land and gifted it to Parvathi and others have been named in the FIR registered by the Mysuru-located Lokayukta police establishment on September 27. The FIR was lodged after a special court in Bengaluru ordered a Lokayukta police probe against Siddaramaiah in the case. The order of the special court judge came following the Karnataka high court upholding the sanction granted by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot for a probe against the senior Congress leader on allegations of illegalities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority . In the MUDA site-allotment case, it is alleged that compensatory sites were given to Siddaramaiah's wife in an upmarket area in Mysuru, which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land that was "acquired" by MUDA. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. The Eknath Shinde government in Maharashtra on Monday announced Rajya Mata status to cows, a big move ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in the state. Indigenous cows are a boon for our farmers. So, we have decided to grant this ('Rajya Mata') status to them. We have also decided to extend help for the rearing of indigenous cows at Goshalas, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was quoted by ANI as saying. According to a statement issued by Maharashtra chief minister's office, the state cabinet decided to implement a subsidy scheme of 50 per day for rearing of indigenous cows. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde presided over the meeting. Since the Goshalas could not afford it due to their low income, the decision was taken to strengthen them. This scheme will be implemented online by the Maharashtra Goseva Commission, ANI quoted the CMO statement. Each district will have a District Goshala Verification Committee. According to the 20th animal census in 2019, the number of indigenous cows has been found to be as low as 46,13,632. This number has decreased by 20.69 percent compared to the 19th census, the statement added. Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde with deputies Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar(Satish Bate/HT file) The Congress on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and sought Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharamans resignation for undermining democracy, a day after Karnataka Police registered a first information report (FIR) against her on a complaint relating to the now-scrapped electoral bond scheme for political funding. On Saturday, an FIR was registered against Nirmala Sitharaman, Union health minister and BJP president JP Nadda, Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials and several others on charges of extortion and criminal conspiracy on the directions of a Bengaluru court the previous day. (Ministry of Finance-X) The opposition party said the FIR has unmasked the true nature of the BJP, and reiterated its demand for a Supreme-court monitored inquiry through a special investigation team (SIT) into the whole electoral bond scheme. The scheme was struck down by the top court on February 15 for anonymising political donations. On Saturday, an FIR was registered against Sitharaman, Union health minister and BJP president JP Nadda, Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials and several others on charges of extortion and criminal conspiracy on the directions of a Bengaluru court the previous day. The complaint by Adarsh R Iyer, co-president of Janaadhikaara Sangharsha Parishath, alleged that the accused committed extortion under the guise and garb of electoral bonds and benefited to the tune of more than 8,000 crore. Addressing a press conference in Delhi with Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh, AICC spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said: The plan of the BJP, including the finance minister, had been sinister, especially since this FIR has unmasked the true nature of the BJP We would certainly demand an objective probe under the courts control but more importantly, ultimately supervised either by the Supreme Court or an SIT of the Supreme Court. Accusing the ruling BJP at the Centre of undermining democracy, Singhvi said the finance minister cannot do this on her own. We know who is number one and number two (in the government) and this was done on whose directions, he said. The larger issue is the level-playing field, which is necessary for free and fair polls, Singhvi said. Free and fair polls are critical for democracy. This is an attack on our democratic system, he said, terming the electoral bond scheme Extortionist BJP Scheme. The BJP hit back, saying the Congress is rattled by a Karnataka high court order to probe chief minister Siddaramaiah in the MUDA scam. He looted 55 crore from the public to provide undue benefits to his family. This corruption was promoted and supported by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. The Congress is trying to shift attention from the MUDA scam, BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said. NEED TO SPECIFY WHERE THIS QUOTE BEGINS AND WHAT HE MEANS BY HE (SIDDARAMAIAH PRESUMABLY) ANOTHER BJP QUOTE PREFERABLY, FOR BETTER BALANCE A war a words erupted between Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Union Home Minister Amit Shah after the former's remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Union home minister Amit Shah and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. A day after Shah slammed Kharge for dragging PM Modi into his personal health issues, the Congress chief asked the home minister to focus on issues like Manipur and caste-based census. Addressing a public meeting in Jammu on Sunday, Mallikarjun Kharge said that he won't die before PM Modi is removed from power. Shah described these remarks by Kharge as "absolutely distasteful and disgraceful". Hitting back at the home minister, Mallikarjun Kharge posted on X, "Home Minister Amit Shah should focus on serious issues like Manipur, census and caste census." He added, Your government's own survey says that 92% of the employees cleaning urban sewers and septic tanks come from SC, ST, OBC categories. Asserting that Congress is committed to a caste census, Kharge said, The BJP is against caste census because then it will be known by which work SC, ST, OBC, EWS and all other categories are earning their livelihood. What is their economic and social status? What kind of targeted benefits of government schemes should they get? We will get it done, he said Kharge, while addressing a rally in Jammu on Sunday, had fallen ill after he suffered a "syncopal attack". He took a brief break and resumed speaking, saying that despite his age, he won't die before PM Modi is removed from power. I wanted to talk but due to dizziness, I sat down. Please pardon me. I am 83 years old. I am not going to die so early. I will stay alive till PM Modi is removed from power, the Congress president said. Hitting out at Kharge, Amit Shah posted on X, Yesterday, the Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji has outperformed himself, his leaders and his party in being absolutely distasteful and disgraceful in his speech. In a bitter display of spite, he unnecessarily dragged PM Modi into his personal health matters by saying that he would die only after removing PM Modi from power. "As for the health of Mr. Kharge Ji, Modi Ji prays, I pray and we all pray that he lives a long, healthy life. May he continue to live for many years and may he live to see the creation of a Viksit Bharat by 2047," the union minister said. (With inputs from PTI) Himachal Pradesh minister Vikramaditya Singh on Monday said that his statements on the vendor policy in the state were unfairly given a communal angle. He clarified that his comments were in line with the law, aiming to protect the interests of Himachal's people while adhering to party ideology. Himachal minister Vikramaditya Singh addressing a public meeting. (HT Photo) ALSO READ- Karnataka HC stays probe against Nirmala Sitharaman in electoral bonds case: Report Addressing a press conference in Shimla, Singh said, We raised the issues of the people of Himachal. As far as vending is concerned, giving it a communal form is unfortunate. Himachal has its separate issues. The discussion was about vending zones to be formed in our Municipal Corporations and strengthening them, but it was given a communal and religious form, ANI reported. ALSO READ- Bulldozing laws of country': Supreme Court again slams bulldozer justice Party's ideology is our ideology: Vikramaditya Singh Addressing the controversy over restaurant owners' names, Singh said, "Our intention was very clear that we have to protect the interests of Himachal. There is no question of going out of the party's ideology. The party's ideology is our ideology, and it is our responsibility to follow the party's orders. We only raised the voice of the people of Himachal. Giving it a communal colour and linking it to another state is unfortunate." ALSO READ- Himachal employees to get salaries on October 1 Not summoned by Congress: Vikramaditya Singh Vikramaditya Singh met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday amid a row over Singh's recent remarks that it would be mandatory for street vendors to display their identity cards at their shops. The state government later clarified no such decision had been taken. Singh said he wasn't summoned by Congress leadership. "I was not summoned; I met the leadership of the party as I visited Delhi for pre-scheduled events," he said. I have clearly put forth my views before the party's central leadership and have assured them that I am dedicated and loyal soldier of Congress party, and I will always be ready to take Congress' ideology and principles on the ground, he added, PTI reported. New Delhi, The Delhi High Court on Monday said it will not tolerate the "obstructionist attitude" of authorities in relation to the implementation of the recommendations of a six-member expert committee on improving medical services in hospitals run by the city government. Hospital reforms: Will not tolerate obstructionist attitude, warns Delhi HC A bench headed by Chief Justice Manmohan, which had earlier assigned the task of implementation to the AIIMS director, asserted that the stakeholders cannot indulge in "stonewalling" the progress and directed that a fresh meeting with city officials be called by Dr M Srinivas on October 5. "The AIIMS chairman is saying you are sending people at the meetings who cannot take a decision. You are sending low-level officers. You are not cooperating. The problem is the matter has now entered a phase where there is nothing happening and there are only obstacles. That cannot happen. "There is a lot of stonewalling which is going on over here," the bench, also comprising Justice Manmeet P S Arora, told the senior counsel appearing in the court on behalf of the Delhi government. "You are stonewalling them. That too when the court is monitoring the progress. It cannot be like this. Some officer will be pulled up and he will be sent to jail if he does this, especially with a committee which is appointed by the court," the bench said. The court took exception to the health secretary not personally attending a meeting convened by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences director on the issue of implementation of the proposals and warned him of strict action. The court listed the matter for hearing on October 14 and asked the AIIMS director to convene another meeting on October 5 with the officials concerned. It also asked senior advocate Sanjay Jain, who represented the Delhi government in the matter, and two other lawyers to join it. "We want to convey a very clear message to the authorities that this obstructionist attitude will not be tolerated," the court said. The court had earlier formed the expert committee under Dr S K Sarin on a PIL it had initiated on its own in 2017 over the alleged lack of ICU beds and ventilators in government hospitals. The committee has pointed out deficiencies in the medical system, including vacant posts, a shortage of critical faculty members, infrastructure, medical or surgical consumables, emergency operation theatres and trauma services and the referral system. On September 2, observing that "all is not well" in the city's health department, which is witnessing a "bitter" fight between authorities, the court had asked the AIIMS director to take over the responsibility of implementing the recommendations. "Why didn't the health secretary go? What is the problem in the health secretary going and attending the meeting? This is getting too much. We will have to take action against the health secretary. We are mincing no words. We will pull him up. You cannot stonewall our orders. Why this obstructionist attitude?" the court asked on Monday. "We are not mincing words, the health secretary has to be cautious, otherwise we will send him somewhere else," it said. The court further questioned the Delhi government on the issue of completion of new hospitals in the city and said work cannot be stalled on account of lack of funds when it is more than 80 per cent complete. The senior counsel appearing in the matter for the Delhi government said according to estimates, some projects are in the list of "revised high-estimate value", where further funds have to be allocated. The court retorted that funds will have to be generated by the Delhi government and the capital cannot run on the model of freebies. "State will have to generate funds. It is not only for freebies. You have to generate funds. You have to spend money on public welfare projects," Chief Justice Manmohan said. "Money will have to be generated. Funds will have to come. Everything cannot be free. If everything is free, who will run the hospitals? This is not the model on which you can run a city like Delhi," he added. The court also emphasised the need for timely recruitment of doctors for newly-built hospitals, saying the process itself takes more than a year and therefore, cannot be started when a hospital is 100-per cent completed. "I cannot understand a 85 or 87-per cent project not getting completed. You cannot stop it. You have to complete it. Your cost will overrun if you stop it at this juncture," it said. The court observed that the Dr Sarin committee had to recuse itself since there was a "problem", which was not appreciated, and since it seems like an issue of "egos" between various authorities, the "big people" should stay out if it and let the doctors take a call in the matter. "There were some issues raised. We do not know who is raising it. The health minister and the health secretary are not on talking terms," it said. The Delhi government counsel appearing in the matter assured the court that the health minister has no problem with the AIIMS director taking over the implementation of the committee's recommendations. During the hearing, the court also clarified that the recommendations are now final. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday claimed that Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde had given industrial projects to Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah. Nagpur: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray with party leader Sanjay Raut. (PTI) Addressing a gathering in Ramtek, Uddhav Thackeray claimed Mumbai's economic centre was taken away to Gujarat at the behest of Shinde. He also claimed that Shah was coming from Delhi to finish him and Sharad Pawar. "When I was the chief minister, did you hear even a single news that any project from here went to Gujarat? In the last two and a half years, since this Mindhe (Shinde) became chief minister, so many industries have gone to Gujarat. Everything is being taken to Gujarat. Mumbai's economic centre has also been taken to Gujarat. We are not just fighting for power, but our fight is against the looting of Maharashtra," he said. Eknath Shinde led a rebellion against Uddhav Thackeray in 2022, leading to a vertical split in the Shiv Sena. Thackeray was later forced to relinquish the chief ministerial post and the party his father, Bal Thackeray, had founded. Shinde formed a government with support from the BJP. Uddhav Thackeray alleged that over the past two years, Maharashtra failed to bag projects and industries. Thackeray also accused Amit Shah of wanting to "finish" him and NCP (SCP) leader Sharad Pawar. "Mohan Bhagwatji (RSS chief), do you agree with the BJP's Hindutva? Goons are coming into this BJP, corrupt people are coming. Do you agree with this? Amit Shah is coming to finish me and Sharad Pawar, will you let us be finished? Only my people can finish me, not Amit Shah. If my people tell me to sit at home, I will sit at home, but if someone from Delhi tells me to sit at home, my people will make them sit at home. After our government comes to power, I will stop the loot going on in Maharashtra," he said. Also read: Uddhav Thackeray in MVA meet: Decide CMs name before Maharashtra polls Earlier, Uddhav Thackeray said Shah had held a closed-door meeting where the latter asked BJP leaders to split the opposition. "During his recent visit to Nagpur, Amit Shah held a closed-door meeting of BJP leaders where he asked them to split the Opposition ranks and politically stop me and Sharad Pawar. Why speak behind closed doors? He should say this before people," he added. Maharashtra will go to polls later this year. The BJP-Sena-NCP alliance will take on Congress-Shiv Sena (UBT)-NCP (SP) combined. With inputs from ANI, PTI New Delhi/Gopeshwar , A joint exercise between the militaries of India and Kazakhstan seeking to enhance military capability of both sides to undertake counter-terrorism operations in a sub-conventional scenario under the norms of the UN Charter got underway on Monday. India-Kazakhstan joint military exercise begins in U'Khand The 8th edition of 'Exercise KAZIND' commenced at Surya Foreign Training Node, Auli in Uttarakhand, the defence ministry said. The exercise, which has been held annually since 2016, will conclude on October 13. Last edition of this exercise was held at Otar, Kazakhstan from October 30 to November 11, the ministry said in a statement. The Indian armed forces, comprising 120 personnel, are being represented by a battalion of the Kumaon Regiment of the Indian Army, along with other arms and services, as well as personnel from the Indian Air Force. The Kazakhstan contingent is being represented mainly by personnel from Land Forces and Air Borne Assault Troopers, the ministry said. The opening ceremony of the joint exercise was attended by Colonel Karibayev Nurlan Serikbayevich, Commander of Kazakhstan contingent, and Colonel Yogesh Upadhyay, Commander of Indian contingent. "The aim of the joint exercise is to enhance joint military capability of both sides to undertake counter-terrorism operations in a sub-conventional scenario under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter," the ministry said. The exercise will focus on operations in semi-urban and mountainous terrain. Objectives to be achieved from the joint exercise are high degree of physical fitness, rehearsing and refining drills for operations at tactical level and sharing of best practices, the ministry said. Tactical drills to be rehearsed during the exercise include joint response to a terrorist action, establishment of a joint command post, establishment of an intelligence and surveillance centre, securing of helipad or landing site, combat free fall, special heliborne operations, cordon and search operations, besides employment of drones and counter drone systems, among others, it added. Joint Exercise KAZIND-2024 will enable both sides to share best practices in tactics, techniques and procedures of conducting joint operations. It will facilitate developing inter-operability, bonhomie and camaraderie between the two armies. The joint exercise will also enhance defence cooperation, further augmenting bilateral relations between the two friendly nations, the statement said. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Union defence minister Rajnath Singh and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge held rallies in parts of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday where they targeted each others camps as political parties wrapped up their campaigning in Jammu and Kashmir before the last of the assembly constituencies go to polls on Tuesday. Defence minister Rajnath Singh in Gurez. (PTI) Pakistan, terrorism, the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir and the question of statehood for a region that was turned into a Union territory in 2019 were the dominant issues in campaign pitches. The polls to select a new assembly is the first in a decade. Defence minister Singh, who held a rally in Gurez assembly segment of Bandipora district in the Kashmir valley, said India would have given a larger bailout package to Pakistan than sought by Islamabad from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had the neighbouring nation maintained friendly relations with New Delhi. Congress chief Kharge addressed a public gathering in Jasrota in Jammu, where he vowed to fight for the restoration of statehood to the Union territory, and said he would remain active in politics until Prime Minister Narendra Modi is ousted from power. Forty assembly seats across seven districts, comprising 3.9 millioneligible voters, will go to polls in the last phase on Tuesday, when the fate of 415 candidates, including former deputy chief ministers Tara Chand and Muzaffar Beig will be decided. Of the 40 seats, 24 are in Jammu and 16 are in the Valley. Polling for the remaining 50 seats were held in two phases on September 18 (25) and September 25 (26). The results will be announced on October 8. Addressing the rally in Gurez, Singh referred to the prime ministers development package for Jammu & Kashmir announced in 2014-15 by Modi. Modi ji in 2014-15 announced a special package for development of Jammu & Kashmir, which has now reached 90,000 crore. The amount is much bigger than what Pakistan was seeking from the IMF (as bailout package), he said. Singh referred to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayees popular remark that we can change friends but we cannot change the neighbours. I said, my Pakistani friends, why have strained relations, we are neighbours. If we had good relations, we would have given more money than the IMF, he said. Singh said Pakistan, which has used terrorism as a tool against India, has been isolated at the international forums with some of its trusted allies also stepping back. The Union ministers remarks came a day after external affairs minister S Jaishankar told Pakistan at the UN General Assembly that its policy of cross border terrorism will never succeed; it must have no expectations of impunity and its actions will have consequences; and the only issues on the table are Pakistans vacation of illegally occupied Indian territory and abandonment of its policy of terrorism. Kharge, at his rally, criticised the BJP-led government at the Centre for its handling of the Union territory, particularly regarding the delay of elections. We will fight to restore statehood. We are not going to leave it I will listen to you. I will fight for you, he said. The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha alleged the BJP was running Jammu & Kashmir through remote control, and pointed to the Supreme Courts intervention as the catalyst for the governments preparations for the elections. These people never wanted to conduct elections. They only started preparing for elections after the Supreme Courts order, he said. He also said that Modis recent visit to Jammu & Kashmir showed the latters anxiety about potential defeat. You must have heard how many lies Modi ji spoke when he came here. This shows his nervousness because he can clearly see defeat, he said. The ongoing contest in the Union territory is poised between the BJP, a Congress-National Conference (NC) combine, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). A last-minute alliance between Baramulla lawmaker Sheikh Abdul Rashids Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) and politico-religious outfit Jamaat-e-Islami their candidates are contesting as Independents and a host of local parties such as the Peoples Conference, the Apni Party, and the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) are likely to make inroads and skew the electoral arithmetic. A total of 415 candidates are in the fray for the final phase when 40 assembly constituencies will go to polls onTuesday. Of the total 449 valid nominations, 34 candidates withdrew their nominations by September 17, chief electoral officer PK Pole said. The voter turnout was robust in the earlier phases, with 61.38% participation in the first phase and 57.31% in the second. In a moment that restored his fading hopes, 18-year-old Atul Kumar stood before the Supreme Court on Monday as a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud delivered a verdict that would change the course of his life. Denied admission to IIT-Dhanbad for missing a fee payment deadline by mere minutes, Atuls future had seemed bleak. But in an extraordinary move, the apex court exercised its special powers to ensure that the talented young boy from a marginalised community would not lose his hard-earned seat. The Supreme Court made it clear that they were not just addressing the legal technicalities but ensuring that the students potential was not wasted. (ANI Photo) The bench, also comprising justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, ordered the IIT seat allocation authority to admit Atul into the electronics engineering programme at IIT- Dhanbad, recognising Atuls remarkable potential and the hardships he had endured due to financial constraints. We are of the view that a talented student like the petitioner, who also belongs to a marginalised section, cannot be left in the lurch. The power under Article 142 has to be used to do justice in cases like these, held the bench, ensuring that Atuls journey would not end due to a lack of 17,500. It added that if needed, IIT will add a new seat to accommodate Atul in the current batch and that he would also be eligible to hostel facilities. Atul, present in the courtroom during the hearing, remained composed as the bench examined his case. His story had already garnered significant attention - an 18-year-old Dalit boy from Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, who had cleared one of the toughest entrance exams in India but missed the chance to pay the acceptance fee by a few minutes. His family, struggling with severe financial constraints, had cobbled together the money by borrowing from neighbours. But the online portal for IIT-Dhanbad logged him out just before he could complete the payment. In court, the IIT counsel raised objections, claiming that Atul had been idle on the website for two hours, suggesting negligence. But the bench was quick to dismiss this claim, instead pointing out the more pressing issue: The boy simply did not have the money in time. If he had 17,500, why would he not pay? This is the last thing he would do to lose his seat, the CJI retorted. Throughout the proceedings, the bench expressed its intent to do justice. CJI Chandrachud, known for his sensitivity in such cases, remarked: Some places, teachers help; some places, judges help. The bench made it clear that they were not just addressing the legal technicalities but ensuring that Atuls potential was not wasted. At the end of the hearing, the CJI, with a smile, addressed Atul directly: All the best! Achha kariye (Do well), wishing him success in the journey that now lay ahead. With a smile of his own and folded hands, Atul expressed his gratitude to the court, acknowledging that the verdict had saved not just his academic future, but his familys hopes as well. Atuls legal journey had been a difficult one. Initially, he approached the Jharkhand high court, which suggested filing a petition in the Madras high court since IIT Madras was the JEE Advanced exam conducting authority for this year. After delays and uncertainty, Atul turned to the Supreme Court, where his case was taken up with urgency. His lawyers Amol Chitale and Pragya Baghel drew on the parallels with a 2021 case where another Dalit student, Prince Jaibir Singh, had been allowed admission to IIT Bombay after missing a payment deadline. Chitale emphasised that for Atul and his family, the decision was a lifeline. His father, a part-time tailor and daily wage labourer, had always emphasised education despite their financial hardships. With one brother already studying at IIT-Kharagpur and another at NIT Hamirpur, the family had pinned their hopes on Atuls success, the lawyer pointed out during the proceedings. Now, with the Supreme Courts intervention, their dreams are back on track. After the order, Atul left with a renewed sense of hope. Our dream train was off the track for some time but with the Supreme Courts intervention and exercise of its power under Article 142, it is back on track, said Atul, adding he now wishes to move forward, ready to embrace the opportunity that almost slipped through his fingers. The Karnataka high court on Monday ordered an interim stay on the FIR filed against Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a case related to alleged extortion through electoral bonds. According to an ANI report, a stay has been put on further investigation in the FIR registered against then Karnataka BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel, who is co-accused. According to a PTI report, an FIR was registered against Sitharaman, Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials, office-bearers of the BJP at state and national level, based on the order of a special court. BJP Karnataka chief B Y Vijayendra, party leader Nalin Kumar Kateel have also been named in the FIR. The complaint was lodged by Adarsh R Iyer, Co-President of 'Janaadhikaara Sangharsha Parishath' (JSP) alleging that the accused "committed extortion under the guise and garb of electoral bonds and benefitted to the tune of 8,000 and more crore of rupees." The complainant further alleged that the Union finance minister through the clandestine aid and support of ED officials facilitated extortion of thousands of crores of rupees for the benefit of others both at the state and national levels. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.(ANI file) The entire extortion racket under the garb of electoral bonds has been orchestrated hand in glove with officials of BJP at various levels." Cong demanded Sitharaman's resignation The Congress demanded finance minister Sitharaman's resignation, and reiterated its demand for a Supreme-court monitored inquiry through an SIT into the whole electoral bond scheme. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh had said," Four ways were used to extort money through the conspiracy of electoral bonds - prepaid bribery, postpaid bribery, post-raid bribery and through farzi companies. BJP MP Jagdish Shettar blamed the ruling Congress in Karnataka for the FIR against the Union minister. The FIR has already been filed as per the direction of the judiciary. Before filing the FIR, the concerned police officers have to examine whether the prima facie case is there or not...He (the complainant) alleged so many things in the complaint...There is no complaint filed by the aggrieved party, Shettar told ANI. The Karnataka high court on Monday stayed further investigation against Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and several others accused of extortion and allied offences in connection with the electoral bonds scheme. The Karnataka high court. Justice M Nagaprasanna passed the order on a petition filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Nalin Kumar Kateel challenging the criminal complaint against him in the matter. Justice M. Nagaprasanna, presiding over the matter, stated in his order: Section 383 mandates that any informant who approaches the court concerned or the jurisdictional police should have been put in fear. Due to that fear, they should have delivered some property to the accused; only then can extortion be prima facie established. While pointing out that criminal law can be set into motion by any person, the bench said that there are provisions under the IPC that can only be invoked by the aggrieved. If the ingredients of the case at hand are considered, who the complainant is becomes significant. The complainant is the co-president of Janadhikara Sangharsa Parishad. It is not his case that he has been put in fear to deliver any property. Therefore, if the complainant wants to press charges under Section 384 of the IPC, he must be an aggrieved informant, which he is not, the bench said. While the judgment was being read, advocate Prashant Bhushan pointed out that, according to the A.R. Antulay vs. R.S. Nayak case of 1984, anyone can set criminal law into motion. If there is a crime against society, anyone who is part of society can file a complaint, Bhushan argued. To this, the bench responded, Section 384 is not a crime against society but against an individual. The bench further continued: In this case, permitting further proceedings at least until the objections have been filed would be an abuse of the process of law. Therefore, further proceedings are stayed until the next date. In a petition challenging the registration of the complaint, Kateel claimed that he and the others had been falsely implicated with an ulterior political motive. The Karnataka police filed a first information report (FIR) on Saturday against Sitharaman, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda, and several others over allegations of extortion through electoral bonds following a court order the previous day. The order was issued by a special court in Bengaluru, which led to an FIR being registered at the Tilaknagar police station. The complaint accuses Sitharaman, Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers and BJP officials of extortion and criminal conspiracy. Adarsh Iyer, co-president of the Janadhikara Sangharsa Parishad (JSP), filed the private complaint that led to the courts directive. We have filed a total of 15 complaints against BJP ministers and office bearers after the Supreme Court verdict. But no action was initiated by police, which prompted us to file a complaint in court, Iyer stated. The FIR alleges that the BJP collected 8,000 crore through the electoral bond scheme, which the Supreme Court recently struck down as unconstitutional. Iyer cited two specific instances: We have mentioned two instances of collecting 230 crores from Vedanta group and 39 crores from Aurobindo Pharma by BJP. Based on the complaint police registered FIR under IPC sections 384 (Extortion), 120B (Criminal conspiracy), and 34 (Acts done by several persons with a common intention). Senior Advocate KG Raghavan appeared for Kateel and asserted that even a bare reading of the complaint would not make out allegation of extortion. He termed the complaint frivolous, vexatious and a complete abuse of the process of law. The entire allegation is extortion by the accused using government agencies, by putting money in electoral bonds. That can never be extortion in the eyes of law, he said. He urged the court to stay the criminal proceedings. Advocate Prashant Bhushan appeared for a private respondent and countered that there is a classic case of extortion made out. I am saying this is the most classic case of extortion. If ever there is a case of extortion, this is it. When you put the fear of arrest and the fear of raids etc. in the minds of a company and thereby induce them with that fear to give electoral bonds to the party which controls the ED and thereafter the ED stops the action - what else is extortion? This is classic extortion, he said. The matter will be heard next on October 22. There is no evidence yet that ghee adulterated with animal fat was used to prepare the laddu prasadam at the Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh, the Supreme Court said on Monday, marking a huge twist in the sensational case that has shocked millions of devotees and stoked a bitter political controversy. The bench underlined the gravity of the issue, pointing out that it affected the religious sentiments of millions of devotees of Lord Venkateshwara, the deity of the Tirumala temple, and that prudence required the CM to await the conclusion of the probe. (HT Archive) The top court chastised chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu for what it called were selective and premature statements, noting that there was absolutely nothing at this stage to support claim that animal fat was used. It also didnt approve of remarks from a high constitutional office in the middle of a probe, representing a setback for the CM on the hot button issue. The court also halted the states special investigation team (SIT) probe and agreed to consider whether it should be transferred to an independent body in the wake of public statements by Naidu, who attacked his predecessor Jagan Mohan Reddy over the issue. Top court pulls up state govt When you hold a constitutional office, it is expected that you exercise restraint...We expect Gods to be kept away from politics...Prima facie, there is no concrete proof at this stage to show that adulterated ghee was used in the laddus, said the bench, comprising justices Bhushan R Gavai and KV Viswanathan. The apex court also questioned the necessity of the CM going to the press without proper evidence and amid an ongoing investigation, referring to his public statement on September 18 which alleged that lab tests found traces of fish oil, beef tallow, and lard in the laddus consumed by tens of thousands of devotees every day. The bench underlined the gravity of the issue, pointing out that it affected the religious sentiments of millions of devotees of Lord Venkateshwara, the deity of the Tirumala temple, and that prudence required the CM to await the conclusion of the probe. We are prima facie of the view that when investigation was under process, it was not appropriate on the part of a high constitutional functionary to make statements, which can affect public sentiments. In that view of the matter, it would be appropriate that solicitor general Tushar Mehta assists us in deciding as to whether the SIT already appointed should continue or should the probe be conducted by an independent agency, stated the bench in its order, fixing the next hearing on October 3. The sharp statements from the top court triggered a row in Andhra Pradesh, with senior YSR Congress party leader and former Andhra Pradesh endowments minister Vellampalli Srinivas demanding a probe into the baseless and irresponsible allegations made by Naidu. His allegations have hurt the sentiments of millions of people. The Supreme Court has made the right observations on why Naidu made such statements even before ordering a probe by the SIT and why the TTD authorities had not taken second opinion on the laddu adulteration, Srinivas said. The bench was hearing a clutch of petitions seeking a court-supervised committee to investigate claims of the usage of ghee adulterated with animal fat in the preparation of the laddus. The petitioners included BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, YV Subba Reddy (Rajya Sabha MP from YSR Congress and former chairman of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams or TTD Board), historian Dr Vikram Sampath, spiritual speaker Dushyanth Sridhar, and Suresh Khanderao Chavhanke, editor of Sudarshan News TV. The controversy first arose on September 18, when Naidu alleged that his predecessor allowed the use of substandard ingredients and animal fat in the laddus. Then on September 19, the Telugu Desam Party released a lab report, run by the National Dairy Development Board (NDBB) in Anand, that purportedly confirmed the presence of beef tallow fish oil and lard in the ghee samples sent by TTD, which manages the famous Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple. The sample receipt date was July 9 and the lab report was dated July 16 both dates coming after Naidu had taken charge as CM. In response, Reddy, who was forced to scrap his visit to Tirupati last week after right-wing protests over his Christian faith, accused Naidu of making heinous allegations for political advantage. But on Monday, the court pointed out discrepancies in the lab report. This report prima facie indicates that the material tested was not used in the preparation of the prasadam. The report is not clear enough to substantiate the claim that the ghee used in the laddus was adulterated, observed the bench. Pressing further on whether the ghee flagged as adulterated was ever used to make laddus, it added, Where is the proof that this ghee was used in making the laddus? If you have not completed your investigation, how can you go public with such a statement? There was no material before you to justify the conclusion that adulterated ghee was used for the laddus. Why was there a need to make a public statement before the investigation was complete? The court took issue with the manner in which the SIT was formed and questioned the need for public statements during an ongoing investigation. Once you ordered the SIT, why was it necessary to make public statements before the investigation was completed? When such statements are made by high constitutional functionaries during an ongoing investigation, what effect does it have on the integrity of the probe and on the SIT officers? By issuing a statement, you have not affected the sentiments of just one lakh or two lakh persons but crores of them, it observed. Senior counsel Sidharth Luthra, representing TTD, took the court through a series of dates relating to the procurement of ghee and its testing. He mentioned that complaints about the quality of the laddu emerged in early June, leading to tests being conducted on ghee supplied in late June and early July. The senior counsel added that a fresh supply of ghee arrived on July 6 and was sent for further testing at NDDB. However, the bench was not convinced that the ghee in question was used in the laddus. Once you approve the supply, and ghee is mixed, how do you segregate and identify which batch was used? asked the bench, pointing to the difficulty in tracking the exact source of any contamination. The bench also pointed out the inconsistencies in the testing process, asking whether samples from all tankers were taken for analysis. Did the lab take samples from the June 12 tanker and the June 20 tanker? What were the results of those tests? And if those samples were not tested, it is only your assumption that they were also contaminated and used in the laddus, it questioned. The petitions filed by Swamy and Reddy stressed the need to preserve the temples traditions, arguing that making laddus as prasadam is a religious practice protected under Article 25 of the Constitution. They called for an independent investigation to look into the allegations of adulteration. On the other hand, the petition jointly filed by Sampath and Sridhar sought reducing government control over Hindu temples, particularly those managed by state authorities and ensuring greater accountability. Chavhankes petition sought an investigation led by a retired Supreme Court judge or former high court chief justice. TDP leader and president of state Brahmin Chaitanya Vedika Siripuram, Sridhar Sharma, said it was not appropriate on the part of the Supreme Court to say that there was no evidence to say that ghee used in Tirupati laddu was adulterated during the YSRCP regime. He said the chief minister had made the statement after going through the lab report submitted by the TTD. Had he not disclosed the report, it would have given the impression that he was defending the mistakes committed in the past. He disclosed the report only to tell the devotees that such mistakes would not recur, Sharma said, adding that it was his responsibility as the head of the state. At the centre of the battle is Indias richest temple, which gets 90,000 visitors a day and is considered among the most important shrines of Hinduism. The presiding deity, Sri Venkateswara, along with his consort Padmavathi are believed to have manifested in Tirumala, a seven-hill range in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. Its iconic prasadam is the laddu, of which nearly 10 million pieces get sold a month. According to the temples annual report on its website, it earns 500 crore as revenue from the yearly sale of laddus. A freak road accident in Kerala resulted in the death of a two-year-old girl who was travelling with her mother, police said. The girl, who was sitting in her mother's lap, died of suffocation after the airbags opened following an accident. The incident occurred when the familys car collided with a tanker lorry in the Kottakkal-Padaparambu area. The number of road accidents in India rose by an alarming 12% last year. (Representational imge) "The car collided with a tanker lorry and the airbag deployed suddenly under the impact of the collision," police said. According to police reports, the child was sitting on her mother's lap in the front seat when the collision occurred, causing the airbag to deploy suddenly. The force of the airbag pressed her face into it, leading to suffocation. While the child tragically lost her life, the other four passengers in the vehicle, including her mother, sustained only minor injuries. Authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash. The heartbreaking incident has raised concerns about the safety of children in cars, particularly regarding the use of airbags when young children are present. Road Accidents in India The number of road accidents in India rose by an alarming 12% last year, according to a report by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. According to the data, 19 Indians die in road accidents every hour. Yesterday, nine people were killed and 24 others injured after a bus collided with a Hyva truck on National Highway 30 in Madhya Pradeshs Maihar district. The report by the roadways ministry showed that 53 road accidents occur every hour in the country, and most of those involved are young adults. "Young adults in the age group of 18 45 years accounted for 66.5 per cent of victims during 2022," the report said, adding that people in working age group of 18 60 years constitute 83.4 per cent of total road accident fatalities. Kolkata rape case live updates: People protest against the alleged rape and murder of a junior doctor at RG Kar hospital, in Kolkata on Saturday. Kolkata rape case live updates: Junior doctors in West Bengal have announced that they would decide on resuming their total cease work in medical colleges after assessing the state government's assurances regarding their safety and security at workplaces. This decision will follow the hearing of the RG Kar case in the Supreme Court on September 30, Monday. The petitioners in the case have raised alarming concerns regarding the threat culture within state government-run medical colleges and hospitals....Read More They contend that widespread issues such as the sale of examination keys, bribery, corruption, and the sexual harassment and abuse of medical students and junior doctors are prevalent. The court has acknowledged the seriousness of these allegations, saying that if even a portion of them is true, it would treat them with utmost seriousness. On September 21, junior doctors partially resumed their duties at various government-run hospitals in West Bengal after a 42-day hiatus. They had been on 'cease work' to protest the rape-murder of a woman doctor on duty at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. On Thursday, junior doctors sent an email to Chief Secretary Manoj Pant, reiterating their demands that the state government had yet to fulfill. In the two-page letter, representatives of the West Bengal Junior Doctors' Forum referenced their meeting with Pant at the state secretariat on September 18, during which their demands were verbally agreed upon. Junior doctors from various government hospitals in West Bengal, along with other citizens, carried out torch rallies across the state on Sunday. The rallies took place at several locations, such as RG Kar Hospital, Sagore Dutta Hospital, SSKM Hospital, Calcutta Medical College, and Jadavpur in south Kolkata. Organised by the West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front - an umbrella group representing medics from various medical college hospitals in the state - the rallies also highlighted the need to end a threat culture in medical colleges, where students reportedly face intimidation. Junior doctors from various government hospitals in West Bengal, along with other citizens, carried out torch rallies across the state on Sunday. Kolkata rape-murder case: Junior doctors, along with citizens, hold a torch rally demanding the security of medics in hospitals and justice for the victim who was raped and murdered at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata.(Samir Jana/Hindustan Times) The agitation came a day before a key Supreme Court hearing on the case of rape and murder of a woman trainee doctor at the RG Kar medical college and hospital in Kolkata. The demonstrating medics, who had held a 41-day cease-work protest over the incident, are demanding justice for the victim and calling for improved security at their workplaces. The rallies took place at several locations, such as RG Kar Hospital, Sagore Dutta Hospital, SSKM Hospital, Calcutta Medical College, and Jadavpur in south Kolkata, reported PTI. Organised by the West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front - an umbrella group representing medics from various medical college hospitals in the state - the rallies also highlighted the need to end a threat culture in medical colleges, where students reportedly face intimidation. The renewed protests were also sparked after an alleged assault on three doctors and three nurses at Sagore Dutta Hospital, which the medics claimed demonstrated the government's failure to provide promised security. Bengal doctors threaten to resume cease-work On Saturday, junior doctors from West Bengal had threatened to resume total cease-work on Monday after observing the state government's submission on their safety and security at workplaces during the hearing of the RG Kar case in the Supreme Court. We are giving an ultimatum to the state government. If the government fails to take any positive measures to strengthen security in hospitals and gear up hospital infrastructure, we will go on a full-fledged strike again from Monday, a junior doctor said late on Saturday night. Kolkata rape-murder case The woman trainee doctor at the RG Kar hospital was found dead in the seminar room on the morning of August 9. According to the autopsy report and initial probe, the victim was severely hurt and sexually assaulted. A day after the incident, the Kolkata police arrested the main accused, Sanjay Roy, after he was seen entering the building around the estimated time of the crime in a CCTV footage, and his Bluetooth headphones were found near the crime scene. The case was later handed over to the CBI. Shortly after the incident, massive protests rocked the country, demanding an immediate justice for the victim. (With inputs from PTI) Former Karnataka chief minister and Union minister HD Kumaraswamy accused the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) M Chandrashekhar and the head of the special investigation team (SIT) of the Karnataka Lokayukta probing a 2007 land denotification case of corruption and extortion. HD Kumaraswamy called for Chandrashekhars suspension and accused the Congress government of misusing government machinery for political purposes. (ANI) Kumaraswamy called for Chandrashekhars suspension and accused the Congress government of misusing government machinery for political purposes. The allegations came after the Lokayukta police questioned Kumaraswamy on Friday for close to an hour-and-a-half in connection with the 2007 case. The case is related to 1.11 acres of land at Gangenahalli in northern Bengaluru which was acquired by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) for a layout. Kumaraswamy produced several documents to back his claims, including a complaint from a junior police officer accusing Chandrashekhar of demanding 20 crore, and another complaint lodged with former home secretary Rajneesh Goel accusing the ADGP of harassment. Chandrashekhar is using his position to settle personal scores, Kumaraswamy said. He also alleged that Chandrashekhar had requested permission to question officials from the Governors office regarding leaks related to a pending prosecution sanction against the former CM. Which post has Chandrashekhar been promised by the government? Why is there no action against him? The police force is being misused for political vendetta, Kumaraswamy charged. Chandrashekhar has sought permission from Lokayukta ADGP Manish Karbekar to probe officials in Governors secretariat on info leaks. Who is Chandrashekhar? On whose directions is he acting? Is it the CM or other ministers? This indicates that the police force is being misused by government, he said. The Union minister also accused Chandrashekhar of being involved in a racket led by businessman Vijay Tata, where large sums of money were extracted from merchants and builders. An FIR has been filed against Chandrashekhar, but no action has been taken. Vijay Tata extorted more than 100 crore from PACL Ltd with Chandrashekhars help. He even owns an illegal 38-storey building near Manyata Tech Park, Kumaraswamy alleged. Chandrashekhar is originally an IPS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre. He was selected as part of the Himachal Pradesh cadre in 1998 but later came to Karnataka on deputation for five years. He falsely claimed that the weather conditions in Himachal were unsuitable and created fake documents to continue in Karnataka, Kumaraswamy claimed. Kumaraswamy went on to announce that he would be submitting all relevant documents to the Union home secretary and would formally file a complaint against Chandrashekhar. I would like to ask DG&IGP Alok Mohan, what is your intelligence (department) doing? Why hasnt this officer been suspended yet? he questioned. In response to these serious accusations, ADGP Chandrashekhar, in a letter to his colleagues at Lokayukta, dismissed the claims as false and malicious and aimed at obstructing the work of the Lokayukta SIT. An accused in crime number 16/4 of the SIT, HD Kumaraswamy, at a press conference made false and malicious allegations and threats. As you know, the SIT had sought the prosecution sanction of the accused from the competent authority. This accused is on bail... he has done this to deter us from discharging our duties. It appears that his objective is to create fear in the minds of officers of SIT by attacking me, Chandrashekhar stated in his letter. The ADGP further told his team that they would continue their work undeterred by political pressure. But, an accused, however high and mighty he may be, is an accused. Let us not get demotivated by such allegations and threats. I, as head of the SIT, promise you that I will work without fear or favour and bring to justice all criminals and accused in our cases. I also promise you that I will protect you from external influences. Chandrashekhar concluded his letter by quoting Irish writer George Bernard Shaw: Never wrestle with a pig because youll both get dirty, and the pig likes it. He added, If we engage in a fight with pigs, we end up dirty because pigs thrive in filth. So, we should not wrestle with pigs. Satyameva Jayate. When asked about allegations by Kumaraswamy against Lokayukta ADGP, chief minister Siddaramaiah said, Kumaraswamy has made mistakes and hence he makes false allegations against others. It is not right to comment about officials. I wouldnt want to react to Kumaraswamys statements. Actor Mithun Chakraborty, 74, has been nominated for the countrys highest cinema honour Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced on Monday. Actor Mithun Chakraborty. (PTI) Mithun Das remarkable cinematic journey inspires generations! Honoured to announce that the Dadasaheb Phalke Selection Jury has decided to award legendary actor, Sh Mithun Chakraborty Ji for his iconic contribution to Indian Cinema, Vaishnaw said on X. The award will be presented at the 70th National Film Awards on October 8. Chakraborty, a former Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member who joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in 2021, is the recipient of three National Film Awards and Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award. He made his acting debut with Mrinal Sens Mrigayaa (1976) for which he won his first National Film Award for best actor. Chakraborty gained prominence with the film Disco Dancer (1982). Chakraborty will be the 54th winner of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, which was instituted in 1969 in honour of Dadasaheb Phalke, who is known as the father of Indian cinema. Phalke directed Indias first feature film Raja Harishchandra in 1913. Dadasaheb Phalke Award is presented annually at the National Film Awards ceremony for outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema. A committee of eminent personalities from the film industry selects the awardee annually. The award comprises a medallion, a shawl, and a cash prize of 1,000,000. Devika Rani was the first recipient of the award. The Madhya Pradesh police detained a teenage boy on Sunday for allegedly sexually assaulting a five-year-old kindergarten girl student on the premises of a school in Ratlam city. The incident happened allegedly in the watchman's room on the third floor of school premises on September 27. (Representational)(HT file) The act was exposed after the girl informed her mother about bad touch by the teenager. The victim is a UKG (upper kindergarten) student, and the accused teenager is a son of a watchman employed at the private school, news agency PTI reported. The incident happened allegedly in the watchman's room on the third floor of school premises on September 27. The school has CCTV cameras for security purposes, but the coverage is limited to the ground floor of the building. "The accused is a student of class 10 with another branch of the same school. An investigation was conducted after the girl's mother lodged a complaint that her daughter was sexually assaulted in the school where her daughter is a UKG student. The accused boy has been taken into custody," said Additional Superintendent of Police Rakesh Khakha. Also read | Badlapur effect: Cops intensify awareness drives in schools The teenager has been booked under Section 65-II (committing rape on a woman under twelve years of age) and Section 75 (physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) apart from provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Reacting to the incident, state Congress chief Jitu Patwari hit out at the ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh for its alleged failure to protect the daughters of the state. "The news of a tragic incident with a 5-year-old girl in Ratlam has deeply disturbed me. Such incidents happen with our daughters every day in MP. I am deeply pained. Daughters will not get justice by just asking for help from the government on social media. Now the Congress party will fight this battle on the streets," he said in a post on social platform X. In fresh trouble for Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday booked him, his wife Parvathi and others in a money laundering case linked to the MUDA land allotment case. The action has been taken in view of the recent Karnataka Lokayutka FIR against the chief minister, officials told PTI. Siddaramaiah booked by ED in MUDA 'land scam' case (PTI) Hours after the ED action against Siddaramaiah came, his wife Parvathi announced that she would be returning the 14 controversial land sites to MUDA given the case, reported PTI. The Karnataka CM's wife did so by writing a letter to the MUDA commissioner on Monday evening. The ED has pressed sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to book Siddaramaiah in its enforcement case information report (ECIR), the equivalent of a police FIR. According to the procedure, the ED is empowered to summon the accused for questioning and even attach their assets during the investigation. The FIR, lodged by the state Lokayukta on order of a special court in Bengaluru, names Siddaramaiah, his wife B M Parvathi, brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy and Devaraju - from whom Swamy had purchased land and gifted it to Parvathi - in the case. Read more: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah promises action on caste census report The order of the special court judge came a day after the high court upheld the sanction granted by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to investigate the senior Congress leader on allegations of illegalities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA). Earlier, Siddaramaiah had asserted that he was being targeted in the MUDA case because the opposition was scared of him. He had also reiterated that he would not resign following the court ordering a probe against him in the case as he had done no wrong and asserted that he would fight the case legally. The Congress also attacked the BJP-led central government, saying that ED and other central probe agencies have become Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "instrument of harassment and vendetta" against his political opponents. As per the allegations in the MUDA land allotment case, compensatory sites were given to Siddaramaiah's wife Parvathi in an upmarket area in Mysuru, which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land that was "acquired" by MUDA. (With inputs from PTI) A Pakistani national, along with three members of his family, was arrested from the outskirts of Bengaluru for allegedly living in India illegally for the past ten years, under a fake name and fabricated documents. A Pakistani national was arrested with his family near Bengaluru (HT File) The couple came to Delhi allegedly in 2014, and then moved to Bengaluru. Previous to this, the family lived in Bangladesh's Dhaka. Police identified the arrested persons as Rashid Ali Siddiqui (48), his wife Ayesha (38) and her parents Hanif Mohammed (73) and Rubina (61). The family had been living in Rajapura village under the aliases Shankar Sharma, Asha Rani, Ram Babu Sharma and Rani Sharma, reported The Indian Express. According to preliminary inquiry, the Pakistani national's wife used to live in Bangladesh, and the couple got married in Dhaka. They were taken into custody following a raid conducted in Jigani on the outskirts of Bengaluru on Sunday, based on inputs from intelligence officials. Read more: Bangladeshi adult actress Riya Barde arrested in Thane for using fake Indian documents "Our Jigani Inspector investigated a matter and registered a case. Four people of a family were residing here illegally with the help of fraudulent documents. Now, a case has been registered and those four people are being interrogated. Based on the outcome of the interrogation, we will take further action," a senior police officer told PTI. The officers said that the family had been living in Jigani in a rented accomodation for the past six years after obtaining fake documents. The police said that they were supplying materials to a garage, but they are still questioning him on his network and activities. "We have collected details about them and are investigating the case. They were supplying materials to a garage but that needs to be investigated," he said. The police arrested the Siddiqui family just as they were packing up and leaving, reported The Indian Express. The report said that the cops seized Indian passports and Aadhaar cards from the family that had Hindu names on them. Upon questioning and seizing materials from their homes revealing their true identity, the man revealed that he was from Karachi while his wife was from Lahore. The two got married when she was visiting Bangladesh with her parents in 2011. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke to Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on the conflict in Middle East. Spoke to Prime Minister @netanyahu about recent developments in West Asia. Terrorism has no place in our world. It is crucial to prevent regional escalation and ensure the safe release of all hostages. India is committed to supporting efforts for an early restoration of peace and stability, PM Modi posted on X. Lebanon crisis LIVE updates The prime minister's conversation with Netanyahu comes amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Israel has been relentlessly carrying out airstrikes on Lebanon, having already eliminated seven top ranking officials of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. According to a Washington Post report, Israel is planning a limited ground operation in Lebanon and has informed the United States. According to an AP report, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant told troops of the 188 Armored brigade and the Golani Infantry brigade on the northern border, The elimination of Nasrallah is a very important step, but it is not everything. We will use all the capabilities we have. ALSO READ: Iran spy helped Israel find, kill Hezbollah chief hiding 60-feet underground Earlier in the day, Netanyahu made a remark directed at Iran saying there was nowhere in the Middle East beyond Israel's reach. Iran and Israel would be at peace when Iran is "finally free", which Netanyahu said would "come a lot sooner than people think" Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his counterpart from Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. (PTI file photo) "There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country," the Israeli prime minister was quoted by Reuters as saying. Ready for any Israeli land invasion: Hezbollah Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem has said that the group's fighters are ready for any ground invasion by Israel. We will face any possibility and we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land and the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement, Reuters quoted Qassem as saying. Hassan Nasrallah's killing, along with the series of blows against the organization's communications devices and assassination of other senior commanders, constitute the biggest blow to Hezbollah since Iran created it in 1982 to fight Israel. NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday reiterated Indias opposition to terrorism and simultaneously urged his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu to prevent regional escalation, saying New Delhi will support early restoration of peace in West Asia. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Ajay Aggarwal/HT FILE PHOTO) Modi made the remarks during a conversation with Netanyahu that focused on the latest developments in West Asia. The interaction came days after an Israeli air strike in Lebanon killed senior Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, triggering fears about an escalation of the conflict in Gaza. Spoke to Prime Minister @netanyahu about recent developments in West Asia. Terrorism has no place in our world, Modi said in a post on X. It is crucial to prevent regional escalation and ensure the safe release of all hostages. India is committed to supporting efforts for an early restoration of peace and stability, he added, referring to scores of Israelis who continue to be held by Hamas after being abducted during the terror attacks of October 7, 2023. Modis call for restrain is significant in the context of remarks by several Israeli officials about a possible incursion by ground forces into Lebanon. Israel has also mounted air strikes on Iran-aligned groups in Syria and Yemen. Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has pledged to avenge the killing of Nasrallah, and experts believe any attack by Tehran could intensify the conflict in West Asia. India had initially expressed solidarity with Israel after the October 7 terror attacks but subsequently adopted a more nuanced position given its growing strategic ties with several Arab states, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Indian side has pushed for an immediate end to hostilities, the release of hostages, the resumption of humanitarian aid for Gaza, and the resumption of diplomacy and dialogue that leads to a two-state solution. Modis conversation with Netanyahu came a little more than a week after his meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the Summit of the Future in New York on September 22. During that meeting, Modi expressed deep concern at the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the deteriorating security situation in the region and reiterated Indias support to the people of Palestine, including humanitarian assistance. He reiterated Indias time-tested principled position on the Israel-Palestine issue and called for a ceasefire and return to the path of dialogue. He also stressed that only a two-state solution will deliver enduring peace and stability in the region. Meanwhile, Netanyahu told Iranians in a brief video message on Monday that nowhere in the Middle East was beyond Israels reach. Speaking in English, he blamed the Iranian government for plunging the region deeper into war at the cost of its own people. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country, he said. He accused the Iranian government of bringing its people closer to the abyss, and said the two sides will be at peace when Iran is finally free. He also referred to Nasrallah, killed on Saturday in Beirut, as a puppet of the Iranian regime. Irans foreign ministry said the country wont deploy forces to Lebanon or Gaza to confront Israel. There is no need to send extra or volunteer forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, said foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani, adding Lebanon and fighters in the Palestinian territories have the capability and strength to defend themselves against the aggression. However, Kanani said Israel will not remain without reprimand and punishment for the crimes it has committed against the Iranian people, military personnel and the resistance forces. New Delhi, Delhi Police on Monday banned protests and the gathering of five or more persons in the central and bordering areas of the city for the next six days, citing law and order issues. Protests, gatherings, in central, outer parts of Delhi banned till October 5: Police According to an order issued from the Delhi Police Headquarters, Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora has directed to impose the section 163 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita in the districts of New Delhi, North and Central and all police stations jurisdiction sharing the borders with other states. The prohibitory order will remain effective till October 5, the order stated. "There will be heavy movement of VVIPs and dignitaries in the areas of New Delhi and Central District on October 2, on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi," it said. The order further stated that the Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana legislative assembly elections are underway and, thus, there was a need to have continuous checks on the movement of persons and vehicles from Delhi borders. "The order stated that the aforesaid elections, the pockets inhabited by migrants from the states may become particularly vulnerable on account of infiltration and instigations at the behest of anti-social elements having vested interests in creating public order disturbances in the national capital," it said. In view of the order, around 120 people from Ladakh including climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had marched to the national capital demanding sixth schedule status for the Union Territory, have been detained by the Delhi Police at the city's border, police sources said. Therefore in the districts of New Delhi, North and Central apart from all police stations having territorial jurisdiction over the state borders of Delhi for a period of 6 days prohibit the assembly of five or more unauthorized persons, carrying of fire-arms, banners, placards, lathis, spears, swords, sticks, brickbats and pocketing or dharnas in any public area and doing so shall be punishable under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, it added. Meanwhile, Delhi minister Saurabh Bhardwaj, in a post on X, said, "Undeclared emergency. This order mentions 100 odd reasons why there should be curfew like situation in Delhi. None of the reason appears genuine." "I believe Centre is scared that people of Delhi will raise voice against rise of GANSTERS and firing incidents for extortion in Delhi," he stated. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday stepped up his attack against the Congress, as he accused party leader Rahul Gandhi of being unable to undertake development and renewed the Bharatiya Janata Partys poll pitch of a double-engine government. Union minister Amit Shah in Karnal. (PTI) Addressing an election rally in Badshahpur, Gurugram, he said that the Congress makes tall promises ahead of polls. But they are not able to fulfil their poll promises in Himachal, Karnataka and Telangana, Shah said, adding Rahul Gandhis guarantees have come a cropper. On the other hand, the BJP does not make any promise which it cannot fulfil, the Union Home Minister. Rahul baba and company cannot undertake development and it is the double-engine government that will ensure Haryanas development, he said. Referring to the contentious Waqf Bill, Shah told the rally, You have a problem with the current legislation on Waqf Board... we will amend it in the Winter Session of Parliament. Targeting the former Bhupinder Singh Hooda dispensation, he said the previous Congress governments used to undertake the development of one caste and one district. In 2014, the people of Haryana elected a BJP government and in the past 10 years, equitable development has been undertaken, Shah said. Dealers, dalals (middlemen) and damads (son-in-law) used to rule during Hooda governments time and corruption was rampant. Several acres of land in Gurugram was destroyed to make Delhis damad wealthy, he said. Whenever Congress rule comes, jobs are given on the basis of Kharchi and parchi (cash for jobs) whereas BJP government gave 1.5 lakh jobs purely based on merit, the Union home minister said. The union home minister also assured the people of Haryana that every Agniveer from the state will be given a pensionable government job, and this will be ensured in the next five years. The Agniveer scheme has been brought to ensure the youthfulness of the armed forces. Dont get trapped into the lies of Congress on this scheme as well as on job reservations as BJP is committed to the provisions of constitution, he said. Calling on people to support the BJP candidate in Badshahpur, Rao Narbir Singh, Shah said, Singh has served the party for last five years. I want you to ensure his victory so that he can be given a bigger responsibility. New Delhi, The Supreme Court on Monday observed that Telangana has a "legitimate interest" in pressing for domicile certificates in granting admissions in medical colleges even as it asked the state government whether it can put at abeyance its domicile policy for the present academic year. SC asks Telangana if it can consider implementing new domicile rule from next year for admissions in med colleges "We will keep this on Thursday . Just put all the students on notice and please apply mind to the social consequences and see if the rules can be implemented from next year," a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing the Telangana government. The top court was hearing an appeal of the state government against the Telangana High Court verdict holding that the states permanent residents cannot be denied the benefit of admission in the medical colleges merely because they lived outside for the last four years and did not study in state schools in class 9, 10, 11 and 12. The state government, by the Telangana Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Rules, 2017, as amended in 2024, mandated that only those students, who have studied for the last four years up to class 12 in the state, will be entitled to admission in the medical and dental colleges under the state quota. At the outset, the bench said the state government had earlier made a concession that it would grant a one-time exception to 135 students who had moved the high court seeking admissions in the medical and dental colleges under the 85 per cent state quota seats. "Maybe the concession we made was not correct," Sankaranarayanan said. "The state has a legitimate interest in pressing for domicile," the CJI said, adding the only thing in favour of the students, seeking admission under the state quota, was that the concession made by the state government in favour of those who had moved the high court. "Let this rule be then implemented from the next session," the bench suggested and sought the views of the state government on the next date of hearing. It said there may be students from Telangana with "the original domicile" who have gone out to study and sought the views of the government on them as well. The top court, on September 20, had stayed the high court order that permanent residents or those domiciled in the state cannot be denied the benefit of admission in medical colleges merely because of their study or residence outside Telangana. On that day, the state government, however, had agreed to grant a one-time exception to 135 students, who had moved the high court, in admissions in the medical and dental colleges. Besides Sankaranarayanan, lawyer Sravan Kumar Karanam also appeared for the state government. The top court had issued notices to the students and others on the state governments plea challenging the September 5 order of the high court. "Till next listing, without prejudice to the aforesaid statement made by the Telangana government, the impugned order of the High Court dated September 5, 2024, shall remain stayed," the bench had said. In its appeal, the state government contended that the high court erroneously held that Rule 3 of the Telangana Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Rules, 2017, as amended in 2024, to be interpreted to mean that the respondents shall be eligible to admission in the medical colleges in Telangana. The rule mandated that students seeking admission in Telangana medical colleges must have studied for four consecutive years in the state before the qualifying exam. "Such an order by the High Court overlooks the fact that the state of Telangana possesses the legislative competence to determine various requirements, including domicile, permanent resident status etc., to determine admission of students in the universities in the state of Telangana," the appeal stated. The state government said the high court judgement will mandate the state to prepare the new rules for admission which is a time-consuming process. "After framing the rules students have to apply and collect the requisite certificates from concerned authorities. Each certificate submitted by the student needs to be verified by the Health University. "Whereas the present rule prescribes that the students can produce their educational certificate without approaching any office or authority. "If the judgement of the High Court is implemented, it will result in a huge delay in the allotment of seats to MBBS and BDS students," the plea said. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. The Supreme Court on Monday criticised the Delhi governments forest department for its lacklustre and lackadaisical approach to enhancing the Capitals green cover, summoning the forest department secretary to explain lapses. SC slams Delhi Govts lackluster efforts on green cover, summons forest secretary The remarks were made by a bench of justices AS Oka and SVN Bhatti during a hearing on the efforts to boost green spaces in Delhi, in which it ordered the secretary of the forest department to appear on October 18 to respond to further questions from the court and to file a personal affidavit outlining the steps taken to improve the citys green cover. First, you (forest department) are not doing anything at all... You have a completely lacklustre approach... It is not for the benefit of judges like us that we are hearing this case. It is for the benefit of the people of Delhi that we are hearing this matter, observed the bench. During the proceedings, the bench sought an update from the Delhi governments forest department on the measures taken to enhance green cover in terms of its previous directives in May and June. However, the counsel for the department, Chirag M Shroff, requested more time, stating that the governments status report did not include the required information and referring to a separate affidavit filed in a contempt case. To be sure, the contempt case in question was the one that prompted Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud to intervene for resolving a rare confrontation between two Supreme Court benches. Related to tree-felling in Delhis Ridge area, the contempt case was shifted to the CJIs bench by an order in August after two different benches one led by justice Bhushan R Gavai and another headed by justice Oka -- started hearing related but separate aspect of the contempt case against the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), leading to a potential judicial standoff. When it was informed about the affidavit in the contempt case, justice Okas bench on Monday rebuked the counsel for filing the affidavit in the wrong case. The directions on enhancing green cover were filed in the writ petition, not the contempt matter. Dont try to take advantage of the contempt petition being transferred. We are warning you, it told Shroff. At this point, senior counsel Guru Krishna Kumar and Anitha Shenoy, who have been assisting the court as amicus curiae, pointed out that there is a working plan for Delhi being prepared, and that they had also given elaborate suggestions during the last meeting convened by the forest department. But the senior advocates also flagged the issue of lack of alacrity on the part of the authorities concerned. Responding, the bench expressed frustration over the governments inaction, remarking: They have done nothing. They are only holding meetings. They are doing nothing more. The courts formal order noted that despite a directive issued on June 26, 2024, for responsible officers to meet and implement green cover enhancement measures, no substantial progress had been made. The court highlighted the governments failure to submit any relevant records over the past three months detailing steps taken to improve the citys green cover. The status report dated September 21, 2024, shows complete lack of interest by the principal secretary, forest department, and the forest department as a whole, the order stated. It further noted that comprehensive suggestions had been provided by environmental experts, yet the government had not taken any visible steps. The court expressed disappointment with the actions of the forest department and directed the principal secretary to file a personal affidavit detailing the measures taken by the government. The court also instructed the secretary to be personally present at the next hearing scheduled for October 18, with the affidavit due by October 15. Justice Oka added: It is either complete lack of knowledge or somebody wants that even this matter should not be heard by this court. First, you have a lackluster approach, and to top it, you say you have filed an affidavit in some other matter. The judge emphasised that the case was being heard for the benefit of Delhis citizens. The courts displeasure stems from several instances of illegal and high-handed acts of felling of trees in Delhi, including the citys ecologically sensitive Ridge area as it heard a 1985 PIL relating to sealing of unauthorised constructions and environmental protection in Delhi. On June 26, the bench directed the secretary of the forest department of the Delhi government to convene a meeting of relevant officials and a committee of three experts to discuss measures to enhance the green cover of the national capital territory (NCT). Justice Okas bench also heard a contempt petition filed by Delhi resident Bindu Kapurea, which sought action against the illegal felling of trees at the south Delhi ridge area. The bench on the day instructed the Delhi government and the Tree Authority under the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act (DPTA) to initiate penal action against the DDA for the illegal tree felling. The courts inquiry simultaneously deepened into the role of lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena, following claims that he had ordered the felling of trees during a visit to the ridge area on February 3. The DDA failed to produce records of LGs visit, despite an email from a senior DDA official suggesting that LG gave orders to fell trees after the site inspection. The matter was scheduled for further consideration to ascertain Saxenas involvement. But the issue led to a rare clash between the Supreme Court benches when, on July 24, a three-judge bench led by justice Gavai, designated as the forest bench, raised concerns about judicial propriety in relation to the proceedings before justice Okas bench. Justice Gavais bench, which was overseeing the TN Godavarman forest conservation case, earlier issued a contempt notice against DDA for allegedly felling trees in the Ridge area without proper permissions. It questioned whether justice Okas bench should have entertained the contempt plea, as a similar issue was already being addressed by the forest bench. This judicial conflict led to CJI Chandrachud intervening to centralise the matter under his own bench, manifestly to avoid any future standoffs between benches and ensuring consistency in the courts handling of environmental protection and the rule of law. NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday issued a contempt notice to the Assam government for razing the houses of 48 residents in Kamrup district, alleged to be encroachers on tribal land, and ordered status quo on further demolition action. A view of Supreme Court in New Delhi (HT FILE PHOTO) The order was passed by a bench of justices Bhushan R Gavai and KV Viswanathan on a petition by residents of Mouza-Sonapur in Kamrup Metro district. The residents alleged that the state was required to get permission of the top court before demolishing their houses as per the recent order of the top court on September 17 on a batch of petitions where the court is considering issuing pan-India guidelines against bulldozer justice the practice of demolishing the properties of people accused of crimes, and, sometimes, of their families, often using earthmovers or bulldozers, without following due process. On being told that some houses have been destroyed while action against others is ongoing, the bench, issued notice to the state government and its officials. It held, In the meantime, parties shall maintain status quo. The court posted the matter after three weeks even as the main matter relating to guidelines against bulldozer justice is expected to be heard by a bench comprising justice Gavai on Tuesday. Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, who appeared for the residents, said: There has been egregious breach of this courts order. He pointed out that the courts order of September 17 was categoric that no demolition action should take place without its prior nod. The petitioners before the court had also been fighting a legal battle before the Gauhati high court to defend their rights over the land as power of attorney holders for several decades. In the case before the high court, the state advocate general on September 20 said that no action would be taken till the representations in this regard were decided. In February 2020, the top court ordered that in the event an adverse decision is taken with regard to the same residents, the authorities should give them reasonable time to allow them to pursue alternative remedies. The state was even alleged to have violated this order. The petitioners, who are residents of Kachutoli Pathar and adjoining areas, said in their contempt plea, that they do not have original papers of ownership of land but have been living on the land by way of power of attorney agreements passed on to them by their forefathers who settled in 1950s. It was on the strength of their land documents that identity documents were issued to them. According to them, they are not encroachers and dispute the 1987 notification cited by the state government declaring their land as part of tribal land. They claimed that the land was not purchased from tribals and alleged that there is no proper demarcation of tribal belt as several tribals have been settled outside the areas demarcated for them. NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the criminal defamation proceedings against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi chief minister Atishi in connection with a statement made in 2018. AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi chief minister Atishi (HT File Photo/Sanchit Khanna) Further proceedings in the case are stayed, a bench of justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti said on a plea by Kejriwal and Atishi, challenging the Delhi high court order of September 2 that refused to quash the defamation proceedings against Kejriwal and Atishi. The high court order implied that AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal would have to appear before the trial court on October 3 to face criminal defamation proceedings on a complaint of Rajiv Babbar, an authorised representative of Delhi BJP Pradesh committee. The proceedings stem from allegations made by the two AAP leaders, allegedly accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of orchestrating the deletion of 3 million voters names, from specific communities, from Delhi electoral rolls. The bench, which will take up the case after four weeks, said it needed to examine if Babbar was an aggrieved person under Section 199 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The bench also said that the petition raised a larger issue of whether the threshold for criminal defamation for speeches in political discourse should be higher. Senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared for the petitioners along with Vivek Jain. doubted the maintainability of the defamation complaint by pointing out that the statement alleged to be defamatory did not name Babbar. He stated that Section 199 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) lays down the procedure to prosecute a defamation complaint and provides that only a person aggrieved can file the complaint. Babbar claims to be the authorised representative of Delhi BJP, It is not an entity in law and a general indiscriminate class cannot file a defamation complaint. Further, Babbar is not concerned with my complaint. He is representative of a non-qualified entity, said Singhvi. He further said that the AAP convenor had said that it was shameful that the BJP orchestrated the deletion of names from the voter list and such language is part of political discourse. As regards Atishi, Singhvi said that nothing is attributable to her except for her picture in one of the posters as the statement was made by Kejriwal alone. Singhvi also drew a parallel to a similar case decided on September 10 where the top court stayed defamation proceedings against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor for his remark against PM Narendra Modi quoting an article of 2012 published by Caravan magazine. The magazine carried a statement by an unnamed RSS leader who compared PM Modi to a scorpion sitting on a Shivling. The order was passed by a bench headed by justice Hrishikesh Roy who said that the manner of speech used by Tharoor was a metaphor. Singhvi even suggested that the Kejriwal matter could heard along with Tharoors pending petition. Babbar was the complainant in the case against Tharoor too. Senior advocate Sonia Mathur appearing for Babbar sought to distinguish the present case from the September 10 order. She said, Here there is reference to caste and the imputation is against the BJP which brought harm to the caste. She said that while Babbar filed the complaint against Tharoor in his individual capacity, the present complaint was filed following a letter by BJP on January 16, 2019 authorising him to file the complaint as an authorised representative of the party. The bench remarked, If we take it that the complainant or the complainant political party are political entities, this has happened during elections (in the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha pollls). Cant we not take it that this was part of political discourse that was said to garner votes. Mathur argued that rather than focus on the person filing complaint, the character of the complaint must be seen. The bench did remark that the statement by Kejriwal did lack sobriety and said, Lakshman rekha (dividing line) in these cases has to be decided. Singhvi pointed out that past decisions of the top court dealing with defamation law vis-a-vis fundamental freedom of speech has required the threshold to place reasonable restrictions on free speech to be very high. Noticing these judgments in S Khushboo v Kanniammal (2010) and Subramanian Swamy v Union of India (2016), the bench said, The issue as to whether respondent 2 (Babbar) is an aggrieved person within the definition of Section 199 of CrPC needs to be examined. Similar examination needs to be made whether political party can be an aggrieved party under the relevant section. Further, the court observed, In other words, whether the threshold for criminal defamation is to be taken at a higher threshold level for political persons and political parties. The Delhi high court order that was under challenge in the top court said that the AAP leaders accusation implied that the ruling BJP engaged in corrupt practices by manipulating the voter rolls and removing names, to influence public opinion. The high court deemed the statements to be defamatory since they tarnished the reputation of the party and undermined public trust in the party. New Delhi The Union government along with various civic bodies will launch a door-to-door survey to identify vulnerability to urban poverty among low-income households, targeting six specific groups, including domestic and gig workers, officials aware of the matter said. A door-to-door survey to identify vulnerability to urban poverty among low-income households, targeting six specific groups, including domestic and gig workers. (HT Photo) Starting October 1, these surveys will be conducted in 25 cities across the country, including Kolkata, Chennai, Vishakhapatnam, Agra, Indore, and Varanasi, the officials said. Once the enumeration and profiling are done, it will be easy to map beneficiaries of different central and state social security schemes such as government insurance cover to benefit households as a whole, a senior official in the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) said. According to the India Employment Report (IER) 2024 by the International Labour Organization and the Institute for Human Development, the urban poverty rate was 12.55% in 2022 compared to 13.7% in 2012. But experts warn that since there has been an increase in urbanisation, the number of urban poor has increased even though there is an improvement in percentage terms. Through this survey, officials want to ensure more beneficiaries are covered under government schemes. The exercise will be part of a pilot project for MoHUAs new urban poverty alleviation programme among vulnerable groups targeting construction workers, gig workers, waste workers, care workers, domestic workers, and transportation workers. A revamped urban livelihoods mission has been in the works for long and was supposed to launched in 2023, but there was no such initiative even in 2024. This pilot with a funding of 180 crore comprising various verticals will continue for three months and the learnings will be used to formulate a new scheme to replace the existing Deendayal Antyoday Yojana - National Urban Livelihood Mission (DAY-NULM), the official said requesting anonymity. At least one city from all states/ UTs except in which elections have been announced has been considered while selecting locations for the survey, the official added. He added that some skilling and micro-credit aspects of the existing schemes will be enhanced as part of the pilot. The upper limit of loan under the self-employment vertical will be increased to 4 lakh from 2 lakh earlier for micro-entrepreneurs. Along with that, we will facilitate entrepreneurship development training, financial and digital literacy along with supporting market linkages, the official said. The group loan limit will be enhanced to 20 lakh from the existing 10 lakh, he added. The ministry hosted a workshop for the pilot programme on September 23, along with officials from the targeted states and cities. Speaking at that workshop. Srinivas Katikithala, secretary at MoHUA said, Urbanisation provides various opportunities and there is a need to harness these opportunities through innovative thinking so that the urban poor particularly the vulnerable groups, including youth, can get access to better livelihood opportunities. When asked, Katikithala refused to give a timeline for the launch of the new mission and said the finer details are yet to be worked out. The socio-economic profiling skeleton already exists at various levels as part of the PM SVANidhi se Samriddhi scheme (a micro-credit facility for street vendors) which benefitted the families of those who were enrolled in that programme. Till mid-June, the number of street vendors covered under this scheme was more than 3.35 million. Through the SVANidhi se Samriddhi framework, beneficiaries among the family members of eight other Union government schemes such as the PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, PM Suraksha Bima Yojana, PM Jan Dhan Yojana, One Nation One Ration Card, PM Shram Yogi Maandhan Yojana, Registration under Building and other Construction Workers, Janani Suraksha Yojana and PM Matru Vandana Yojana were identified. Till June this year since the start of DAY-NULM in June 2014, more than 3.7 million livelihoods and 9.6 million self-help groups have been created according to government data. Another 1.5 million odd candidates have been skilled. Aravind Unni, an independent expert on urban poverty alleviation policies, said, Expanding the beneficiary base by bringing in more vulnerable groups is a welcome step. But, he said, NULM 2.0 which has been under discussion for more than two years should be rolled out quickly. He also advocated for more transparency and continued dialogue with more stakeholders to formulate the schemes under the mission. We do not know if any assessment studies on the impact of the previous 10 years and if so, they should be in public domain, he added. The Thane police registered a case on Saturday against a woman and her kin for allegedly kidnapping her estranged husband over a dispute related to monetary settlement for divorce. The gang threatened the husband to increase the compensation amount to his divorced wife from 15 lakhs to 20 lakhs.(HT photo) The victim has been identified as a 44-year-old man living at Punjabi colony in Ulhasnagar area. He was allegedly kidnapped by a group of men on June 20, when he stepped out of his home to make certain purchases, news agency PTI reported. Police suspect that the man was kidnapped at the behest of his estranged wife. The gang threatened him to increase the compensation amount to his divorced wife from 15 lakhs to 20 lakhs. When the victim expressed his inability to pay more money, he was abducted by the gang and taken to a secluded place, an official from Central police station in Ulhasnagar said. The man was held captive in a dilapidated house till September 28 and two more men were put in charge to ensure he did not escape. The victim was also under constant threat to his life if he failed to increase the compensation amount to his wife. Also read | Boy abducted from California in 1951 at age 6 found alive on East Coast more than 70 years later He managed to escape their custody and registered a complaint with the police on Saturday. Thane police have launched a probe based on the victim's complaint. An FIR has been registered his wife, her brother and four other related persons under Section 140(2) (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder or for ransom) Section 351(2) (criminal intimidation), Section 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), Section 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt) and Section 3(5) (common intention) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, police said. (With PTI inputs) The latest controversy over the alleged usage of ghee adulterated with animal fat in the preparation of the famed Tirupati laddu, when YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was the Andhra Pradesh chief minister, has kicked up not just a political controversy, but also a nationwide outrage among millions of devotees of Lord Venkateshwara of Tirumala over the sacrilege of laddu prasadam. Hindu devotees visiting the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams temple. (AFP) Also Read: CJI Chandrachud offers prayers at Tirumala Temple amid Tirupati Laddu row The authorities of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which administers the affairs of the temple, have said that it has received several complaints from the pilgrims over the poor quality of laddu in the last few years. It was found that suppliers were supplying poor quality ghee, which lacks aroma and taste, and was possibly adulterated, TTD executive officer J Shyamala Rao said in his report to the state government, following the latest controversy. He added that the TTD lab has the facility to test certain basic parameters, including moisture, testing for fatty acids, mineral oil, added colour, melting point and iodine value, but not adulteration with foreign fats. Also Read: Jagan Reddy cancels Tirumala temple visit amid Laddus row, says Naidu using Hinduism for political gains So, no test for adulteration was ever done nor were the samples sent to outside labs for such tests, he said, adding that the National Dairy Development Board has come forward to donate the adulteration testing equipment worth 75 lakh to the TTD. Former chief priest of the Tirumala temple and advisor to the TTD on agama sastra (temple rituals) AV Ramana Deekshitulu alleged that he had complained to the authorities several times about the deterioration in the quality of laddu and other prasadams at the temple in the past few years, but nobody paid heed to his complaints. I had been in the service of Lord Venkateshwara for the past 50 years, but never had I come across the adulteration of any raw material used in the preparation of laddu. It was only in the last three or four years that there were complaints of poor quality of prasadam, the priest said. Also Read: IPS officer to head SIT in Tirupati laddu case HISTORY OF TIRUMALA LADDU Noted Right to Information (RTI) activist BKSR Iyengar, who has been fighting on the issues pertaining to Tirumala temple, said that there has been no archaeological evidence about the present form of Tirupati laddu, which has become a matter of sentiment for millions of devotees. There was a mention of Tirumala laddu in the songs of popular 15th century saint and composer Annamacharya, but it was not a popular offering to the Lord. Perhaps, it was very small in size and offered to the devotees as prasadam, he said. Dr V Thimmappa, a history professor of Sri Venkateshwara University in Tirupati, in his research paper Preparation of Tirumala Srivari Laddu: A Critical Study, said that historical records show that the offering of the prasadam to the presiding deity began during the time of Pallava dynasty in the ninth century. It was originally cooked rice. In the subsequent centuries, several other forms of Naivedyam (offering) such as sukkiyam, appam, manohara padi and vada are were offered to god. Manohara padi can be the earlier form of laddu, which was documented in 1715. In 19th century, then then Madras presidency began sale of prasadams to pilgrims as well. There was more demand for vadas from pilgrims because it could be preserved for several days, he said. In the early 20th century, the Madras government started selling sweet bundi, which was the initial form of laddu. It was in 1940, eight years after the establishment of TTD, that the sweet bundi took the shape of laddu, he added. According to Thimmappa, the architect of the present day laddu is Kalyanam Iyengar, a spiritual saint who introduced the Mirasidar (hereditary trustees) system to prepare laddus. These Mirasidars enjoyed the privilege to prepare laddus and get their share till 2001 out of each lot of 51 laddus, 11 were given to the Mirasi Brahmin families. The Mirasidar system was abolished in 2001, after the TTD won a legal battle in the Supreme Court against the hereditary system. HOW TIRUPATI LADDU IS MADE Traditionally, Tirupati laddus are made in the temple kitchen, referred to as potu, located in the inner circle of the temple, on the left side of the sanctum sanctorum. The raw materials are transported into the kitchen through conveyer belts. Earlier, the cooking used to be done using firewood, but it was replaced by LPG fuel in 1984. According to the TTD manual, the preparation of laddus is done as per dittam, a list of ingredients mentioned in the Aagama Sastra. However, slight modifications were made in the list in the last few decades to enhance the taste of laddus. At present, for the preparation of around 2.5 lakh laddus per day, the authorities use about 10 tonnes of Bengal gram (besan) flour, 10 tonnes of sugar, 700 kg of cashew nuts, 150 kg of cardamom, 300 to 500 litres of ghee, 500 kg of sugar candy and 540 kg of raisins. More than 600 people are employed in this laborious process of preparing the laddus. To support the preparation, the temples kitchens went through heavy customisation, such as installing escalator belts and bundi boxes, a TTD official said. In February last year, then TTD executive officer AV Dharma Reddy announced that the board was importing ultra-modern machines from Germany, Switzerland and Australia at a cost of 50 crore, which can prepare six lakh laddus a day. The machines were supposed to land in December, but so far, there was no information about the same. Iyengar said that the TTD had imported a similar laddu-making machine from London in 1997, but it was not used till 2006 and finally, it was dismantled. In fact, usage of machines for preparation of laddus was against the Agama principles, he said. In order to prevent black marketing of Tirupati laddus, in 2008, the TTD registered them for a geographical indication (GI) tag. In 2009, it obtained patent rights to Tirupati laddus under the category foodstuff under the GI Act 1999. This has prevented others from preparing or naming the sweet with the same name. In 2017, as part of their cuisine series, the Indian government unveiled a postal stamp that commemorated the Tirupati Laddu, he said. INSCRIPTIONS ON QUALITY OF PRASADAM Iyengar said that there were archaeological evidences on how the emperors and kings used to take utmost precautions in the preparation of prasadams offered to Lord Venkateshwara. There are around 1,150 inscriptions in Kannada, Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu on the temples of Tirumala and Tirupati, including 700 on the walls of the Lord Venkateshwara temple on Tirumala, some of them dating back to 8th century AD, he said. This inscription is engraved on the north wall in the first prakara (outer wall) of the Tirumala temple. It mentions that how to take extreme precautions for transportation of ghee to lord Venkateswara temple, he said. The Supreme Court on Monday said it will consider shifting the probe into claims of usage of ghee adulterated with animal fat in the preparation of laddus at the Tirupati Tirumala Temple from the state to an independent agency. It has asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to come back with instructions on October 3. The Tirupati laddu is made by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam which manages the Tirumala Venkateswara temple.(X) The top court also censured Andhra chief minister Chandrababu Naidu for making a statement on the alleged use of animal fat in laddus even though the investigation was underway and not even an FIR was lodged into the claims. Earlier, the Supreme Court bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan sought to know what was the evidence that contaminated ghee was used in preparing Tirupati Laddus. "At least, we expect the Gods to be kept away from politics," the top court bench observed. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench that it was a matter of faith and if contaminated ghee was used in preparation of laddus, it was unacceptable. Naidu claimed earlier this month that animal fat was used in preparing Tirupati laddus during the previous Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government in the state, triggering a massive political row. Jagan Reddy rejected allegations The YSR Congress Party hit back at Naidu, accusing him of using religion for political gains. A war of words continues in Andhra Pradesh between the YSR Congress Party and ruling TDP. On Friday, Jagan Reddy had cancelled his Tirumala visit, alleging that notices were being served to his party and its leaders. The demon rule is continuing in the state. The government is trying to obstruct my upcoming visit to the Tirumala temple. Police have issued notices to YSRCP leaders across the state regarding the temple visit. The notice states that the visit to the Tirumala temple is not permitted, and the program organised by YSRCP does not have the necessary approval. Consequently, leaders are not allowed to participate in that programme, the former chief minister had said. Amaravati, With the Supreme Court raising a number of questions to the party-led government in Andhra Pradesh over the Tirupati laddu controversy, the ruling TDP on Monday said it stands by what was said on the issue and that it was also ready for a 'central' probe although a state police' SIT was probing the matter. Tirupati laddu row: TDP welcomes SC remarks on independent probe, YSRCP slams 'heinous' publicity Opposition YSRCP used the SC's remarks to attack its rival, saying the 'heinous' publicity made over the laddu prasadam issue has hurt the entire world. TDP leaders insisted that adulterated ghee was used in making the famous Tirupati laddus, as alleged by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu recently. TDP Spokesperson Pattabhi Ram Kommareddy said "we stand by whatever we have placed before the public." "There is no going back..100 percent it was used, we have enough evidence to prove. We have placed everything before the public domain. So, the same will be placed before the Court also," he told PTI. Asked about the possibility of a central agency's probe in the matter, he said "we don't have any problem." "We have constituted a Special Investigation Team. The SIT is doing its job. If the Supreme Court says that Central Government agencies also should involve in this, we are more than happy. We don't have any issue at all," he said. "Ultimately, people behind this should be punished. We don't have any issue with that. We welcome if the Supreme Court decides that Central Government agencies also should investigate. As government of Andhra Pradesh we welcome it," he added. Observing that Gods should be kept away from politics, the Supreme Court on Monday questioned CM Naidu's public statement that animal fat was allegedly used in making Tirupati laddus under the previous Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy-led regime. The apex court said the laboratory test report was "not clear at all" and it prima facie indicated that 'rejected ghee' was subjected to test. "It is very clear from the report that this is not the ghee which has been used. Unless you are sure, how did you go to public with that," a bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan said. The bench asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to assist it in deciding whether the investigation by the state-appointed SIT should continue or the probe should be conducted by an independent agency. The opposition YSRCP targeted the government over the matter. "The heinous publicity made over the laddu prasadam issue has intensely hurt the entire world. A fearsome atmosphere was created and the Hindu community was subjected to violence," party leader B Karunakar Reddy said. Reddy is a two-time chairman of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams , the official custodian of Sri Venkateswara temple in Tirupati, a super-rich Hindu shrine in southern Andhra Pradesh. According to Reddy, the TDP-led state government resorted to massive injustice by dragging God into politics, despite impassioned appeals to not to do so. TDP spokesperson Jyoshna Tirunagari said the matter is sub-judice and that the courts will do their work. "And it is a fact that the ghee that was used was adulterated," she added. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. New Delhi, Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale on Monday said West Bengal is facing "man-made" floods and has not received any central aid, as the Union government announced flood relief for Gujarat, Tripura and Manipur. TMC MP accuses Centre of discrimination with flood-hit West Bengal In a post on X, Gokhale accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre of discrimination. "Shameless discrimination yet again. Union government this evening announced 675 crore flood relief from NDRF for Gujarat, Tripura, and Manipur. West Bengal, which is facing man-made devastating floods due to the Union government, given zero relief," Gokhale said in a post on X. "Lives in Gujarat are important for Modi but the lives of people of Bengal mean nothing to him. Why does Modi specifically hate Bengal so much? Is he the PM of Gujarat or the PM of India?" he asked. The Union government on Monday approved the release of 600 crore to Gujarat, 50 crore to Manipur and 25 crore to Tripura as the central share from the State Disaster Response Fund and an advance from the National Disaster Response Fund . These states have been affected by extremely heavy rainfall, floods and landslides during the southwest monsoon this year. The home ministry said Assam, Mizoram, Kerala, Tripura, Nagaland, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Manipur were affected due to extremely heavy rainfall, floods and landslides this year. Inter-ministerial central teams have been deputed in all these states to make an on-the-spot assessment of the damage. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 20, blaming the Damodar Valley Corporation for "unilaterally releasing water", which led to floods in south Bengal districts. In a four-page letter to Modi, Banerjee claimed that 50 lakh people in West Bengal have been affected by the floods and urged him to immediately sanction and release central funds to address the widespread devastation caused by the deluge. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Haryanas biggest assembly constituency, Badshahpur, with 5.2 lakh voters is likely to see a close contest between two high-profile candidates in the assembly election on October 5. BJP veteran and former minister Rao Narbir Singh, 63 is against Congress youth leader Vardhan Yadav, 33. BJP veteran and former minister Rao Narbir Singh (left) is contesting against Congress youth leader Vardhan Yadav in Badshahpur. Rao Narbir Singh, who served as a minister in the state cabinet from 2014 to 2019 and held portfolios such as home, transport, and public works, is emphasising his long-standing experience in Haryana politics. Known for calling out Gurugrams civic crises in his previous tenure, his campaign focuses on presenting himself as the khalis neta (pure leader) who accepts the reality of the citys challenges and promises to bring about practical solutions. Badshahpur is one of Gurugrams four sub-divisions (Gurugram, Pataudi and Sohna are the others). Singhs campaign song, styled after a popular Haryanavi folk song by dancer Sapna Chowdhary, reflects his attempt to connect with voters across the urban and rural spectrum, emphasising his past achievements and vision for the constituency. Vardhan Yadav, the Congress new face, is taking a modern, media-savvy approach. He has two campaign songs one for rural voters, where he positions himself as Badshahpur ka beta (Badshahpurs son), and another aimed at urban youngsters,a melange of pop beats and rap in Hindi and English. Yadav is capitalising on social media to amplify his message, promoting himself as the bridge between Badshahpurs rapidly urbanising landscape and its rural roots. We have high-rises and posh areas alongside villages still struggling to catch up with the Millennium City. The voter base is different, and it needs a leader who can fit both bills, said Yadav during a campaign event. The contrast between the two candidates could not be starker. Singh is banking on his track record and reputation as a seasoned politician with deep knowledge of the constituency. His rallies focus on his past tenure as a minister, during which he claims significant progress was made in Gurugrams infrastructure. I dont promise to turn Gurugram into Singapore, but I will ensure a well-managed, clean city that people can be proud of, he said in one of his speeches. Singh represented the constituency but was denied a ticket in 2019. The BJP candidate in 2019, Manish Yadav, was defeated by an independent candidate, Rakesh Daulatabad, who became a first-time MLA, but died suddenly this May. The Congress Yadav sees his newcomer status as an advantage. The youth of this constituency are tired of old promises. I represent a new vision and future, someone who understands their needs, he said, underscoring his campaigns focus on jobs, education, and modern infrastructure. His ability to connect with young professionals and first-time voters, particularly through social media, is seen as a significant threat to the BJPs traditional voter base. And the tailwinds of anti-incumbency are also likely to help his cause. Badshahpurs voters have much at stake in this election. The constituency has long been grappling with civic challenges, from waterlogging and traffic congestion to garbage disposal and power outages. Parts of the constituency have seen a surge in urbanisation, yet basic services have failed to keep pace. The Bandhwari dumpsite, which receives over 2,000 tonnes of waste daily, has become a major issue. Yadav has been vocal about addressing this environmental crisis, calling it a ticking time bomb. The waste has contaminated the water in the area, and every time theres an election, politicians come and promise its removal. But theyre just mountains of promises, said Yadav during a campaign rally. His strong stance on environmental issues is expected to resonate with both rural and urban voters, especially those directly affected by the dumpsites pollution. Meanwhile, Singh is doubling down on infrastructural solutions, proposing an effective drainage system to combat waterlogging and an overhaul of the garbage collection system. We need zone-wise pickup and treatment of waste to avoid creating dump sites. Once elected, Ill place these proposals before the government and hope to address these problems in the next two years, he assured voters at a public meeting. Traffic remains another hot-button issue, with the constituency plagued by bottlenecks and poor road conditions. Singh has outlined plans for creating 20 signal-free underpasses within the city and has even hinted at discussions with Union minister Nitin Gadkari about constructing an elevated road from Dhaula Kuan to Manesar to ease the Delhi-Gurugram traffic. But the election is not a straight two-way fight. Kumudni Daulatabad, the wife of Rakesh Daulatabad, is also in the race. Political expert Anil Arya said: Kumidni Daulatabad is denting the Jat vote, which has largely been leaning towards Congress. She has garnered sympathy, particularly in her home village of Daulatabad. However, she has not succeeded in turning the race into a triangular contest entirely. The constituency is a mix of urban and rural areas, where voters tend to focus more on party symbols than individual candidates.Despite Vardhan Yadav being a young and promising candidate, his reach remains limited. Meanwhile, internal conflicts within the BJP, including tensions between Rao Inderjeet Singh, Manish Yadav, and Rao Narbir Singh, could impact their vote share, but the BJP still holds strong in this region. Congress leader Vikramaditya Singh met party chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday and conveyed his loyalty to the partys ideology, amid a row over the Himachal Pradesh ministers remarks that it would be mandatory for streets vendors in the state to display their identities. Himachal Pradesh Public Works and Urban Development Minister Vikramaditya Singh with Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, in New Delhi on Sunday. (ANI) During the meeting in Delhi, Singh also conveyed to Kharge that the state government will work on the basic principles of the party, people familiar with the matter said. I discussed the issues pertaining to strengthening the internal security of the state. I also assured him that the government will work on the basic principles of the party, he said in a statement. On Wednesday, Singh stirred a controversy when he said that it would be mandatory for street vendors, especially those selling food items, to display their identity cards at their shops. The decision came a day after Bharatiya Janata Party ruled Uttar Pradesh said all restaurants and eateries in the state will have to prominently display the names and addresses of operators, proprietors, managers and staff, and that police verification drives will be held to ensure compliance. The Himachal Pradesh government, however, distanced itself from Singhs remarks and said that it had not taken any such decision. Singh said the decision was taken considering apprehensions expressed by several locals about the rising numbers of migrants in the state. He drew the censure of several leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) when he posted his remarks on social media. As the row escalated, Congress general secretary in-charge (organisation) KC Venugopal summoned Singh for a meeting where the minister was told that the party believed in party leader Rahul Gandhis mantra of fighting hatred with love. I apprised Venugopal ji of the real situation and I assuaged his concerns about ideology and assured him that we are dedicated and loyal soldiers of the party and will not do anything which is against the party line, Singh had said after the meeting. Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday took potshots at Narendra Modi saying he doesn't understand why God tells the non-biological Prime Minister only to help industrialist Gautam Adani. Rahul Gandhi with party leaders Priyanka Gandhi, KC Venugopal, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Kumari Selja during a public meeting for Haryana Assembly elections in Ambala district.(PTI) The Congress leader, who was campaigning in Haryana's Ambala, alleged that he met many families who told him that government agencies alter people's income status arbitrarily and remove their names from various benefit schemes. I want to ask why 20 lakh government jobs are vacant today. Why hasn't the Haryana government provided these jobs to the people of Haryana? asked Rahul. He said that Prime Minister Modi and the Union home minister visit Haryana to deliver speeches and say what they want, but they do not focus on the issues faced by the people in the state. You all have recognised Narendra Modi. He has made it clear that he is not human but non-biological. He also mentioned that he has a direct connection with God and follows whatever orders he receives. I don't understand why God gives all the orders to help Adani, Rahul said. He alleged that Narendra Modi has been taking all steps for corporate houses and not addressing the plight of farmers, following which Congress has decided that upon assuming power in Haryana, it will ensure minimum support price benefits for farmers. Rahul Gandhi also promised that a Congress government will provide 2 lakh jobs to youth from every community in the state. The Congress on Saturday rolled out its detailed poll manifesto for the October 5 state polls promising a special task force to combat the drug menace. Releasing a detailed election manifesto for the 2024 assembly elections, the Congress promised to provide jobs to retired Agniveers and restart the Padak Lao-Pad Pao scheme for sportspersons and a kisan commission to provide debt relief to farmers. Ananya Panday is in Paris to attend the Chanel Spring Summer 2025 show during the Paris Fashion Week. The Parisian luxury fashion house will showcase its latest Spring-Summer 2025 Ready-to-Wear collection in the iconic Grand Palais in Paris. Ananya Panday in a printed floral Chanel look. Ananya Panday is ready for the Chanel show at Paris Fashion Week After attending the 2024 IIFA Awards in Abu Dhabi, Ananya Panday travelled to Paris for Chanel's Spring-Summer Womenswear show. The actor took to Instagram to share the news with her fans. She shared a picture of a letter the luxury fashion house sent her along with beautiful flowers to invite her to the show at the Grand Palais. She captioned the post, Here for something special (shushing face emoji). Chanel sends a special invite to Ananya Panday. Meanwhile, Chanel's invitation to Ananya said, Dear Ananya, Welcome to Paris! We're so happy to have you with us for this very special show at the Grand Palais, that marks the comeback to our historical home for fashion shows. See you very soon. Love, your Chanel family." About the Chanel show According to Chanel's official Instagram page, the fashion house's return to the Grand Palais holds significance. The House is making its return to the Grand Palais, a place of culture and the privileged setting of the CHANEL shows for two decades. Today, the entrance to the Nave bears the name of Gabrielle Chanel symbolizing the close ties between the House and the Grand Palais, the statement said. Chanel is also a major patron of the institution. Additionally, the Ready-to-Wear show will begin at 10:30 GMT on October 1. Bollywood celebrities attend international fashion shows Apart from Ananya Panday, several Indian celebrities have attended the Paris Fashion Week. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Alia Bhatt were in Paris for L'Oreal and also walked the ramp, Rashmika Mandanna attended the Versace and Onitsuka Tiger show during Milan Fashion Week, and Kriti Sanon attended the Burberry show at London Fashion Week. Mouni Roy attended both the Milan and London Fashion Week for various brands, including Alberta Ferretti, Antonio Marras, and others. Lastly, Tamannaah Bhatia was in Milan for the Roberto Cavalli Spring Summer 2025 show. Janhvi Kapoor's current favourite colour is golden, and her recent fashion outings are proof. The actor recently attended the IIFA Awards in Abu Dhabi dressed in a gilded gold column gown by designer Gaurav Gupta. After the Gaurav Gupta look, she changed into a Rimzim Dadu gold metallic couture ensemble. However, the list of her golden goddess moments doesn't end here. Read on to see some of our favourite looks. Janhvi Kapoor stuns in gold-coloured ensembles. The Rimzim Dadu Couture Look For her second look at the IIFA Awards, Janhvi wore a golden Rimzim Dadu couture look featuring a strapless tube blouse and a body-hugging floor-length skirt. Her ensemble comes decorated with signature metallic cords done in silver sequins. She styled the golden look with a diamond choker necklace, tear-drop earrings, high heels, back-swept loose tresses, kohl-lined eyes, nude caramel lips, golden eye shadow, and darkened brows. The Gilded Goddess Janhvi's first red carpet ensemble at the IIFA Awards was a custom Gaurav Gupta column gown decorated in shimmering gold crystals, swan and serpent metal accents on the neck and waist, a plunging neck, and a bodycon mermaid silhouette. She added a touch of glam to her OOTD with side-parted loose tresses, a Bulgari choker necklace, Serpentine earrings, glossy pink lips, matching eye shadow, and mascara-adorned lashes. A Golden Apsara While promoting Devara, Janhvi wore a gold Kanjeevaram saree by Manish Malhotra. The nine yards feature intricate Zardosi embroidery, a contrasting pink patti border, and a heavily embellished pallu. A matching half-sleeve blouse, gold jhumkis, rings, a pink bindi, a dainty nath, mascara-adorned lashes, pink lips, and feathered brows completed the styling. Lastly, she left her hair loose in a side parting and styled it with soft blowout curls. The Temple Jewellery Blouse While attending Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant's wedding festivities, Janhvi chose this simply exquisite lehenga set designed by Falguni Shane Peacock. The traditional ensemble featured a temple jewellery blouse, an embellished mermaid-style lehenga, and a sequins-adorned net dupatta. She completed the look with a gold choker, matching Chandbalis, a maang tika, kadhas, rings, nude pink lips, winged eyeliner, rouge-tinted cheeks, and a centre-parted braided hairdo. The Elegant Tissue Saree Janhvi embraced Indian traditional wear in this gorgeous tissue silk saree featuring a broad embroidered border. She wore the nine yards with an embroidered blouse featuring a backless design, a plunging neckline, and half-length sleeves. She styled the ensemble with emerald earrings, rings, mascara-adorned lashes, feathered brows, caramel lips, and rouge-highlighted cheekbones. Alessandro Micheles eagerly awaited ready-to-wear Paris Fashion Week debut at Valentino was unveiled in a setting that hinted at a transformation a living room in flux. Stools, ladders, and lamps shrouded beneath white blankets evoked a house renovation, signalling not just change, but a conscious revival of past glories. The scene, poetic and subdued, perfectly set the stage for a maximalist-lite spectacle that was equally haunted by history and illuminated by Micheles unique flair. Models present Spring Summer 2025 creations by Valentino, Alexander McQueen and Akris. Meanwhile, under the soaring ceilings of the Ecole des Beaux Arts, overlooking the Seine, Sean McGirrs sophomore ready-to-wear show for Alexander McQueen arrived with a palpable sense of relief. The shift in setting from a bleak industrial warehouse outside Paris to this iconic venue reflected a fresh start for McGirr, whose uncertain debut had left critics shivering, both literally and figuratively. Now, with the benefit of more time to prepare, McGirr appeared more at ease, though hints of his sometimes overly simplistic approach still lingered. Here are some highlights of spring-summer 2025 ready-to-wear shows: Michele's Valentino's debut The mood was set with haunting music and the steady beat of a drum, creating an ambiance charged with drama and anticipation. Michele, who made headlines earlier this year after being named the new creative director of Valentino, following his successful reign at Gucci, brought with him much of his recognizable style. Yet there was a distinctive evolution in his vision less overtly ostentatious, but still unmistakably eclectic. Feathers floated on hats, soft and playful. Lingerie peeked through delicate layers. Flowers, fortune tellers hats, sparkling embellishments all coalesced into an eclectic wardrobe that carried a vintage feel. Michele, it seemed, was teasing apart the DNA of both houses he knows intimately: the exuberance of Gucci and the ethereal heritage of Valentino. Some of the pieces felt familiar to longtime Valentino admirers: the feminine nipped-waist dress, the floppy floral gown with its tiered skirt, and the iconic Valentino red that made its dramatic entrance. Yet in Micheles hands, these classics were playfully twisted feathers replaced fur on a billowing stole, and the result was a softer, more modern take that eschewed excessive luxury. Jared Leto was among the VIPs who sat in the front row, a testament to Micheles continued draw among Hollywoods elite. The designer, who had risen to international recognition by infusing Gucci with his beloved Geek-Chic aesthetic, seemed to bring a similar ethos to Valentino, though filtered through a more graceful, couture lens. Throughout his tenure at Gucci, Michele was celebrated for prioritizing his personal vision over the often suffocating codes of heritage houses, and Sundays show echoed that defiant spirit. McGirr's sophomore outing The opening tailored suit, its lapels rolled as if to ward off an unexpected London downpour, seemed a pointed metaphor perhaps a shield against the relentless scepticism that followed his first runway outing. This season, McGirr turned to a reference steeped in both his heritage and McQueens early days: the dark romance of the Banshee show. In doing so, he anchored his own identity more deeply in the labels legacy, embracing a Gothic allure that was more commercially viable this time around. It was a collection of contrasts. The precise tailoring echoed McQueens subversion of British suiting, twisting and clutching fabric in ways that seemed as though it had been caught in a sudden gust. However, this wasnt always effective. One such example a jagged, off-white tuxedo felt more like a costume of restraint. This overly simplistic take on tailoring lacked the subtle layering and tension that distinguished Sarah Burtons previous work for the house. Where McGirr truly shone, however, was in his eveningwear an area that has become increasingly vital in the era of celebrity-driven fashion. The shimmering embroideries and featherlight silks, frayed and distressed in lilac georgette, signalled his understanding of red carpet glamour. The brushed white chiffon minidress, paired with a gold beaded and sequined jacket, made a convincing case for the designers growing confidence. And when the silver chains traced the bodys lines, their intricate embroidery brought a level of audacity that was finally worthy of McQueen. The nights high point was a look of pure excess: an extreme gown embroidered with glistening silver chains that seemed to catch every glimmer of light in the venue. It was an ensemble that Daphne Guinness herself who watched approvingly from the front row might have worn in a heartbeat. Despite his strides, McGirrs sophomore effort still carried the weight of a designer learning the ropes of a storied brand. Akris: Where utility meets minimalism Akris Sunday collection had the audience leaning in, not for any over-the-top spectacle, but for the luxurious subtleties that Albert Kriemler so masterfully crafts. The designer, true to form, took the trench coat idea a staple of the wardrobe and transformed it into something distinctly Akris. With utilitarian detailing threaded through every seam, this was an exercise in functional luxury, the kind that Kriemler has long perfected. His designs dont shout; they whisper. The collection opened with takes on trenches, each reimagined to fuse practicality with fashion-forward flair. Minimalism, too, reigned supreme, with looks that kept embellishments at bay to let the craftsmanship shine. A flat, clean-cut fabric top paired with culottes nodded to the timeless Akris aesthetic unfussy, luxurious, and quietly powerful. This was minimalism of the highest quality, a testament to Kriemlers commitment to making clothes that defy the viral trend, focusing instead on timeless appeal. The month of October is here, and it has brought with it the plethora of festivals to look forward to. From Durga Puja and Dussehra to Diwali, this year, the month of October is very eventful. People have already started preparing for the festivals. Durga Puja to Diwali, this year, the month of October is very eventful. (REUTERS) In West Bengal, Durga Puja is celebrated with a lot of pomp and grandeur. Larger-than-life theme pandals are set up and idols of Goddess Durga with her children Goddess Lakshmi, Goddess Saraswati, lord Ganesha and Lord Kartik, are made from clay. People bask in the festivities and deck up in new clothes during the festival. Pandal hopping is one of the main attractions of this festival. During Diwali, the entire country gets together to celebrate. People light diyas and candles, and decorate their homes, this year, Karwa Chauth also falls in the month of October. On this auspicious day, the married women keep fast to pray for the longevity of their husbands. ALSO READ: Diwali 2023: Why do we celebrate Deepavali? Know history, lesser-known facts and significance about Festival of Lights Here's the complete festival list of October: October 2 This day is celebrated as the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. This year, the last solar eclipse will also fall on October 2. October 3 Shardiya Navratri begins on October 3 Ghatasthapana will be done on this day. October 10 Navapatrika puja will be done on this day/ October 11 This year, the eighth and the ninth day of Durga puja falls on a single day. Maha Ashtami and Maha Navami will be celebrated on October 11. October 12 On this day, Dussehra will be observed. According to Bengali traditions, Vijaya Dashami is observed on the last day of Durga puja. October 15 Pradosh Vrat (Shukla Paksha) will fall on this day in October. October 17 - Valmiki Jayanti, Ashwin Purnima Vrat, Tula Sankranti will be observed on this day. October 20 - Karwa Chauth is the ritual where married women keep fast from sunrise to moonrise to pray for the longevity of their husbands. Kartik Sankashti Chaturthi will also be observed on this day. October 28 Rama Ekadashi will be observed. October 29 Dhanteras and Pradosh Vrat (Krishna Paksha) will fall on this day. October 30 Monthly Shivratri will be celebrated on this day. October 31 One of the largest festivals of the country Diwali falls on October 31 this year. Naraka Chaturdashi will also be observed on this day. ALSO READ: Diwali 2023: How Diwali is celebrated in different parts of India Hindustan Times is celebrating 100 years of being the Voice of the Nation, and to commemorate this milestone, we're bringing you the "Festival of Gifts"! Join us this festive season by participating in this exciting contest where you can answer simple questions and stand a chance to win an iPhone 15 or a Samsung Galaxy A05. This festive season, participate in the Festival of Gifts and win big. It's your opportunity to be part of our centenary celebrations while adding a sparkle to your festivities. The more questions you answer, the closer you get to winning! Dont miss outjoin now and make this festival season truly unforgettable with Hindustan Times. Keep participating daily for your chance to win! Neha Dhupia travelled to Mexico recently and shared a video documenting her holiday. The actor posted the clip with the caption, Aa chal Mexico chaliye (Come, let's go to Mexico)!!!! 48 hours in Mexico The clip shows Neha having a blast enjoying different experiences in the country, including a Mariachi band performance, street shopping, gorging on Mexican food, and much more. Take inspiration from Neha Dhupia, and travel to these stunning spots in Mexico. If Neha Dhupia's holiday inspired you to pack your bags for a Mexican escape, we have some recommendations for you. So, get ready to experience the diverse environment, rich history, charming small towns, rugged landscapes, and colourful cities of Mexico. Here are the best places to visit for your next holiday. El Pescadero A hidden gem along the Pacific Coast, El Pescadero is a small village in Baja California Sur. In addition to the interesting cultural attractions, art studios, farm-to-table meals and a thriving pottery community, the village is known for its natural beauty, especially the beaches. Don't miss the popular Playa Los Cerritos or the quieter Playa San Pedrito. Tulum Tulum is a town on the Caribbean coastline of Mexicos Yucatan Peninsula. (Pexels) For the boho vibes and delectable meals, travel to Tulu. It is one of the most popular destinations in Mexico, situated about two hours south of Cancun. The sleepy beach town offers postcard-worthy beaches and gorgeous cenotes. During your visit, don't miss places like the Dos Ojos, Zacil-Ha, Calavera, Las Palmas, Playa Paraiso, and Playa Ruinas. Oaxaca City Oaxaca is a vibrant and beautiful city. (Pexels) The colourful, vibrant city of Oaxaca is a must-visit when travelling to Mexico. It is renowned for its 17th-century architecture, buzzy downtown area, rich Indigenous heritage, and artisan communities. When you are here, do visit the greenery-filled Jardin Etnobotanico de Oaxaca, Hierve el Agua, and the Oaxaca Cathedral. Copper Canyon Railway Called one of the best train rides in Latin America, the Ferrocarril Chihuahua Pacifico (Copper Canyon Railway) takes you through vibrant vistas like alpine forests, stunning valleys, and quaint villages. Also known as the Chepe Express (from the Ch of Chihuahua and P of Pacifico), it climbs from sea level at Los Mochis and takes you to the town of Creel via the rocky landscapes of Copper Canyon (also known as the Grand Canyon of Mexico). Guadalajara Guadalajara is a must-visit in your Mexico itinerary. (Pexels) Mexico's second-largest city, Guadalajara, is a cultural hub and one of the best places to experience mariachi music, tequila and fine dining. Must-visit places in Guadalajara include Lake Chapala, Tlaquepaque, Instituto Cultural de Cabana, Mercado San Juan de Dios, and Tapalpa. A luxury round-the-world cruise ship beset with technical delays and docked in rainy Belfast since May is finally set to depart late Monday, prompting celebration among its passengers. Long-delayed cruise set to leave Belfast after four months "We are going to have one heck of a time tonight, we are going to party like there's no tomorrow," beaming passenger Joe Martino told AFP. But even Monday's departure was hit with yet another technical hiccup. Dozens of passengers were left waiting in Belfast's cruise terminal beyond the scheduled boarding time as a last piece of required paperwork was held up. After Mike Petersen, head of the US-based firm Villa Vie Residences that owns the Odyssey residential cruise ship, at last announced the green light for the ship's exit passengers cheered and hugged each other. "The elation, the exhilaration of getting on that ship, when it takes off it will be the feeling of a lifetime," said Martino, 61, a bearded actor from Chicago, who spent all the last four months waiting in Belfast. Another ecstatic passenger Holly Hennessy, holding her cat called "Captain", said: "I've been in Belfast for four months and two days, but hey, who's counting!" The Odyssey was scheduled to set sail from the Northern Irish capital on May 30 on a three-and-a-half-year cruise. But outfitting, certification processes and engine repairs all took much longer than expected. "Everything that could go wrong went wrong," said Martino. The ship had undergone repairs for engine trouble in drydock at Belfast's Harland & Wolff, the famed shipyard where the doomed Titanic was built more than a hundred years ago. Further delay was caused by the shipbuilder going into financial administration earlier this month. Passengers are able to either buy or rent long-term cabins on the so-called "residential" cruise ship, with the promise of unlimited voyages around the globe. During the long wait, passengers could spend all day on board the ship but were not allowed to sleep there, so spent the nights in hotels or rented apartments instead. Some decided to explore Northern Ireland, while others used the opportunity to travel in Europe or join other cruises while the Odyssey remained stuck. They then flocked back to Belfast in recent days for the expected departure, which will see the ship head first to Brest, then Bilbao, the Azores, and across the Atlantic towards the Caribbean. The floating town, which can accommodate around 600 passengers, is due to visit all seven continents with more than 425 stops in 147 destinations planned. Port stays will stretch from two to seven days. pmu/sbk This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Last-chance tourism is a mix of exciting and kind-of-scary. With climate change reshaping the planet, people are rushing to see natural wonders before they disappear. Thanks to social media hype, it's not just about taking a vacation anymore, it's about checking off bucket-list spots that might not be around much longer. Think coral reefs, glaciers, and ancient forests, places that have gone from peaceful escapes to urgent, must-see destinations. It gives tourists a chance to experience unique adventure in nature's disappearing beauty. But the reality is harsh as every visit and footprint speeds up the destruction of these fragile ecosystems. (Also read: La Digue to Caye Caulker: Best off-beat islands for a calmer tropical vacation ) As environmental changes accelerate, last-chance tourism has become a trending travel choice. (Instagram) What is last chance tourism? The rise of last-chance tourism comes from the idea that some travel destinations have an expiration date. Whether they're changing so rapidly that the experience isn't what it used to be, or there's a genuine fear they'll vanish altogether, this has pushed many travellers to book trips to remote spots while they still can. According to a 2021 report from the World Travel and Tourism Council, travel contributes about 8 to 11 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions. Ironically, some of the greenhouse gases produced by travellers aiming to see these vulnerable destinations may actually be worsening the very changes that threaten them. Popular last-chance destinations 1. Antarctica: Climate change is rapidly affecting this pristine environment, with ice melting and wildlife at risk. Visiting now allows for a glimpse into a unique ecosystem that may not last. 2. Maldives: These beautiful islands are at risk of disappearing due to rising sea levels and climate change, prompting many to visit while they still can. 3. Galapagos Islands, Ecuador: Increased tourism and environmental changes threaten the unique species that inhabit these islands, making visits essential while they still thrive. 4. Venice, Italy: Rising sea levels and frequent flooding threaten this historic city, making it a race against time to experience its unique charm. 5. Machu Picchu, Peru: Increased tourism and environmental pressures are affecting this ancient site, making it crucial to experience its majesty while it remains accessible. 6. Great Barrier Reef, Australia: Suffering from coral bleaching and environmental degradation, this iconic reef is at risk, making it essential to see its beauty while it lasts. 7. Himalayas, Nepal/Tibet: The Himalayas, home to some of the world's tallest peaks, including Mount Everest, are a breathtaking destination for trekkers and adventurers. However, the region faces several threats that could change its landscape and cultural heritage. What is the impact? The more we rush to see natural wonders before they disappear, the faster we're pushing them toward extinction. Many travellers feel an urgent need to visit melting glaciers and dying forests while they still can. The latest IPCC report is alarming, predicting that glaciers could lose up to 80% of their mass by the end of the century and that over 90% of coral reefs could bleach by 2050. These numbers aren't just scary projections; they're a wake-up call. But it makes you wonder what do these trips really mean? Are we merely capturing fleeting beauty while our actions hasten its disappearance? In chasing these moments, we become witnesses to our own destruction. Nestled in the heart of northern Italy, Milan is not just a fashion capitalits a living, breathing canvas of art, culture, and history. The city tells stories through its centuries-old architecture, world-class galleries, and charming cobbled streets, blending the old with the new in a way that only Milan can. From the majestic spires of the Duomo di Milano to the artistic pulse of the Brera District, Milan is a treasure trove waiting to be uncovered. Experience Milan through the eyes of those who know it best. Ready to dive deeper than the guidebook version of the city? Join acclaimed Indian travel influencer Tanya Khanijow and Italian art aficionado Elisabetta Roncati as they embark on an unforgettable journey through Milans artistic soul, brought to life by Lufthansas Milan Insider series. In this second episode, Tanya swaps tourist hotspots for hidden gems, discovering the heart of Milan the way the locals dothrough its vibrant culture, history, and art. Because in Milan, its not just about seeingits about feeling the citys essence. More Than a Fashion Capital: Milan, the Artistic Muse Forget simply ticking off famous landmarksthis is about soaking in Milans essence one artistic masterpiece at a time. And who better to guide you than Tanya, dressed in her signature vibrant yellow (an ode to Milans sunny spirit!), as she walks through the citys less-trodden streets? Accompanied by local influencer Elisabetta Roncati, the duo embarks on a curatorial adventure, revealing a side of Milan thats often overlooked but brimming with culture and creativity. Their journey begins in the Navigli Canals, a once-industrial hub now transformed into the citys cultural heartbeat, with trendy bars, indie galleries, and eclectic boutiques lining its waterways. Once used for transportation, these canals are now Milans playground for artistic expression. Its where the citys past and present flow togetherquite literally! Insider Tip: Dont forget to visit on a Sunday when Navigli comes alive with artisan markets, where creativity flows as freely as the Aperol Spritz. Duomo di Milano The Milanese Art of Discovery: From Gothic Grandeur to Contemporary Cool Next stop? The iconic Duomo di Milano, where Tanya and Elisabetta stand in awe of the Gothic masterpiece. With over 135 spires piercing the Milanese skyline, this isnt just a cathedralits a work of art, centuries in the making. Every intricate detail tells a story, inviting you to look closer, linger longer, and imagine the hands that brought these stone carvings to life. From the Duomo, its off to the Pinacoteca di Brera, one of Milans premier art galleries, where Tanya finds herself surrounded by masterpieces from the likes of Caravaggio, Raphael, and Hayez. As she gazes at centuries-old paintings, she cant help but marvel at how Milan effortlessly marries tradition with modernity. Its a city where the past isnt forgottenits celebrated and reinvented. Insider Tip: Book a private tour for an up-close look at the gallerys hidden corners, and you might even find yourself face-to-face with a piece of art history that few get to see. Exploring Sforza Castle: Where History and Art Collide Tanya and Elisabettas journey then takes them to Sforza Castle, a testament to Milans rich history. This isnt just a fortressits an art lovers dream. Inside, they discover a treasure trove of masterpieces, from Michelangelos final sculpture Rondanini Pieta to sketches by the genius Leonardo da Vinci. As they wander through the castles halls, it becomes clear: in Milan, history and art are inextricably linked, each brushstroke telling the citys grand story. A Taste of Milanese Culture, One Bite at a Time But art in Milan isnt confined to museums and galleriesit spills out onto the streets, into the cafes, and onto your plate. After a morning of artistic exploration, Tanya takes a break to indulge in Milans vibrant food scene, from authentic Italian pizza to traditional ossobuco. Each dish is a masterpiece in itself, blending the rich flavors of Italy with a modern twist. Elisabetta leads Tanya to local foodie haunts where culinary art meets Milanese tradition. Because when in Milan, you dont just eatyou experience a symphony of flavors that tell the story of the city. Fly in Style: The Lufthansa Experience And what better way to embark on this artistic journey than in style? Lufthansa ensures that Tanyas experience is as luxurious as it is immersive. From the moment she stepped on board, her journey was shaped by Lufthansas renowned service and comfort. With curated experiences tailored to her destination, Tanya didnt just fly to Milanshe soared into the citys cultural heart, arriving refreshed and ready to explore. Because Lufthansa doesnt just get you from A to Bit takes you on a journey, making sure you arrive in Milan with your imagination (and wardrobe) fully prepared for the artistic discoveries ahead. Ready to Embark on Your Own Milanese Adventure? Milan is callingare you ready to answer? Join Tanya Khanijow as she continues her immersive journey with Lufthansa Milan Insider. Discover the citys hidden gems, dive into its artistic legacy, and experience Milan through the eyes of those who know it best. From the breathtaking Duomo to the creative streets of Brera, let Milan inspire you, one masterpiece at a time. Click here to watch Tanyas journey and start planning your own Milan adventure. Who knows? Your next cultural escapade might just begin with a Lufthansa flight and a world of artistic discovery. Disclaimer: This article has been produced on behalf of the brand by HT Brand Studio. Internet's most loved pygmy hippo helped a cryptocurrency user earn over 100 crore in just two weeks after he invested in the all-new Moo Deng memecoin. Moo Deng, a 2-month-old pygmy hippo from Khao Kheow Open Zoo, has captured the hearts of millions online Meme coins are crypto assets which are named after trending memes and art especially those including animals. In a post on X, user Lookonchain, who shares updates on blockchain, shared a screenshot showing a cryptocurrency user investing $1,300 (about 1 lakh) on September 10 on Moodeng coins. When the price of the memecoin surged, their investment was worth over $12 million on September 28. In total, they earned more than 100 crore from their 1 lakh investment. What is Moodeng coin? Moodeng coin joins Dogecoin and Shiba Inu coin as memecoins made popular through the internet. The coin was created after Moo Deng, a two-month-old pygmy hippo in Thailand, went viral on social media for her small size and playful videos. The baby hippo went viral on social media after videos of her were shared on TikTok and Instagram from the zoo she lives in. Moon Deng's name literally translates to "bouncy pork" in Thai which refers to a popular children's snack. Her name was decided based on an online poll in August, reports said. While memecoins may have a short lifespan, Moo Dengs internet celebrity status has led to the new coin named after her to surge in price by up to 90% in just 24 hours, reports said. Moo Deng: an internet sensation The playful hippo has even influenced beauty trends on the internet. Beauty and makeup influencers around the world are honouring the newest internet celebrity by basing looks on her characteristic pink chubby cheeks and smooth skin. "The moment I saw Moo-Deng born, I set a goal to make her famous, but I never expected it would spread abroad. I thought she could be famous in Thailand but not internationally," her zookeeper told the Guardian. In a tragic turn of events, a crocodile farmer in northern Thailand, known as Natthapak Khumkad or Crocodile X, has made the agonising decision to euthanise over 100 critically endangered Siamese crocodiles. The drastic measure was taken to prevent the reptiles from escaping into the surrounding community after Typhoon Yagi severely damaged their enclosure. The typhoon brought heavy rainfall, resulting in rising waters and eroding walls, posing a significant threat to public safety. A Thai farmer euthanised over 100 endangered crocodiles to prevent escape during Typhoon Yagi.(Unsplash) (Also read: Man's hair-raising encounter with Henry, world's oldest crocodile, terrifies internet. Watch) I had to make the most difficult decision of my life to kill them all, Natthapak, 37, told CNN. My family and I discussed if the wall collapsed, the damage to peoples lives would be far bigger than we can control. It would involve peoples lives and public safety. Typhoon Yagi causes chaos On September 22, as the storm battered the region, Natthapak took swift action, euthanising 125 crocodiles within 24 hours. Typhoon Yagi, deemed the most powerful storm in Asia this year, has already claimed at least nine lives in Thailand alone. Experts attribute the increasing severity of such storms to climate change. Storms like Yagi are getting stronger due to climate change, primarily because warmer ocean waters provide more energy to fuel the storms, leading to increased wind speeds and heavier rainfall, explained Benjamin Horton, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore. The growing threat of climate change The impact of climate-induced disasters on wildlife is profound, with flooding capable of separating animals from their families, drowning them, or destroying their habitats. This years unprecedented downpours have underscored the risks, as seen recently in Gujarat, where dozens of crocodiles were spotted in urban areas, prompting rescues to return them to their natural habitats. Natthapaks farm, operational for 17 years, had weathered numerous rainy seasons until this years relentless rains eroded the walls of the crocodile enclosure. I had to make a decision in less than 24 hours when I saw the erosion progress rapidly, he recounted, revealing that he resorted to electrocution to euthanise the crocodiles. (Also read: Cars protect bikers from super typhoon Yagi's fury in Vietnam. Heartwarming video) Community safety comes first Pornthip Nualanong, chief of Lamphuns fishery office, praised Natthapaks actions as brave and responsible, stressing the potential danger if adult crocodiles escaped into nearby paddy fields. Among those euthanised was Ai Harn, the oldest male crocodile and pack leader, renowned for his size and breeding prowess. Despite their commercial value, the wild population of Siamese crocodiles has plummeted due to hunting and large-scale farming practices, with estimates suggesting only a few hundred remain in their natural habitat. In Thailand, crocodile farming generates an estimated 6 to 7 billion Thai baht (over 18,000 crore) annually, highlighting the complex relationship between conservation and commerce. TIRANA, Albania Albanian opposition lawmakers on Monday violently disrupted a Parliament session to protest the imprisonment of a fellow legislator who was sent to jail on charges of slander. Albania's opposition violently interrupt parliament session after lawmaker is sentenced to jail The conservative Democratic Party of Albania has long accused the ruling Socialist Party of usurping all the powers, including the judiciary, and staged violent protests against the government since 2013. Democrats shoved microphones off tables, hurled objects at the seats of the Parliament's speaker and government ministers and burnt chairs, saying Ervin Salianji's prison sentence was politically motivated. They have also called for protests they say will block the capital, Tirana, starting next week. In 2018, Salianji demanded the resignation of the Socialist Partys then-governing interior minister Fatmir Xhafaj after a video circulated where two men claimed his brother was involved in illegal activities. The files and recordings they offered turned out to be fabricated and they have since fled the country. Salianji was accused of slander and last week the appeals court confirmed his sentence to a year in prison. He will now have to petition the country's supreme court in order to appeal the verdict while in jail. Parliament Speaker Elisa Spiropali of the left-wing ruling party said Monday the burning of chairs was a sign of "disrespect of the citizens, the law and the institutions of the democratic state. Democrats' leader Sali Berisha, who is under house arrest on corruption charges, said the protest was the start of the oppositions battle to reclaim power ahead of next years parliamentary election. Technical Cabinet. Free elections. Rotation. Opposition's victory, Berisha said, citing his party's demands while speaking from his apartment's window in downtown Tirana where a small group of supporters gather every night. The opposition has been harshly divided after Berisha and his family members were barred from entering the United States in May 2021 and the United Kingdom in July 2022 because of alleged involvement in corruption. The opposition lawmaker has denied the accusations repeatedly, saying Prime Minister Edi Rama was behind them, without providing evidence. The Socialists have 73 lawmakers in the 140-member chamber and easily pass almost all draft laws. Post-communist Albania has struggled to fight corruption, which has impeded the countrys democratic, economic and social development. Albania has launched full membership negotiations with the European Union in 2020. Follow Llazar Semini at https://twitter.com/lsemini This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Shigeru Ishiba will face five key challenges when he becomes Japan's new prime minister on Tuesday after being voted leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party . Five challenges facing Japan's new PM Ishiba Nerves are running high over China's increasingly aggressive moves in the region, following the first confirmed incursion by a Chinese military aircraft into Japanese airspace in August. Other incidents have soured relations since then, including the fatal stabbing of a Japanese schoolboy in Shenzhen. Security policy expert Ishiba wants to boost Japan's defence capabilities and proposes an "Asian NATO" to counter threats including North Korean missile tests. He also wants a more equal alliance with the United States "but there is no need to hyperventilate about the prospects for dramatic change" in defence policy, said Nicholas Szechenyi of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The rapidly deteriorating security environment in Asia favours more security cooperation with the United States and other partners," he said. Outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had record-low approval ratings, partly due to scandals over party funding and lawmakers' links to the Unification Church. Ishiba, who intends to call a snap election for October 27, has pledged to make the LDP "a fair and just party" again. James Brady of consulting firm Teneo said Ishiba's "ability to reflect the popular mood was evident earlier this year in his criticism of his party's response to the political funding scandal". But a general election could also rehabilitate some disgraced party members, said Naofumi Fujimura, a professor at the Graduate School of Law at Kobe University. "In Japan, if you win an election, you are considered to be purified," so some MPs "involved in the scandals may return to the public stage", he told AFP. Sluggish consumption and wage growth have long been a drag on growth in Japan. Ishiba backs the Bank of Japan's gradual move away from its maverick ultra-loose policies a stance that caused the yen to surge after his victory in the LDP vote, which in turn led Japanese stocks to tank on Monday. His win "implies less pressure... for large-scale debt-funded spending or a return to monetary easing by the Bank of Japan", policies championed over a decade ago by assassinated ex-premier Shinzo Abe, said Teneo's Brady. To help the government's existing plan to ramp up defence spending to two percent of GDP by 2027, Ishiba has suggested a hike in corporate taxes. Japan has the world's oldest population after tiny Monaco, and its population aged 100 or older is at a record high of more than 95,000, recent data shows. Ishiba aims to raise Japan's low birth rate through measures including a review of the country's notoriously long working hours, and expanding support for parents. He has called the revitalisation of rural regions where shrinking elderly communities are becoming increasingly isolated "my life's work" along with security and disaster prevention. Japan is targeting carbon neutrality by 2050, and Ishiba wants to boost the use of renewables to fuel resource-poor Japan, alongside nuclear power still a delicate issue after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. The E3G think tank ranks Japan in last place by some distance among G7 nations on efforts to reduce emissions from their power systems, with the highest reliance on fossil fuels. Economist and former Bank of Japan board member Sayuri Shirai told AFP that Japan needs to focus more on decarbonisation strategies, especially in business. "If Japanese companies don't do that, they will lose out to global competition" because high-carbon emission goods could be punished with taxes and tariffs, she said. bur-kaf/sn/bjt This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. FGN62: CHINA-XI LD DAY Following are the top foreign stories at 2010 hours ****President Xi says Taiwan is China's sacred territory, opposes Taiwan's independence Beijing: President Xi Jinping on Monday asked the Chinese people to be ready to overcome all uncertainties as he asserted that Taiwan is China's sacred territory and Beijing opposes Taiwanese independence, sending a strong warning to "separatists" in his address on the eve of National Day.**** FGN60: NEPAL-3RDLD FLOODS ****Rescue operations continue as over 200 people killed in floods, landslides in Nepal Kathmandu: Search and rescue operations continued in Nepal for the third consecutive day on Monday after monsoon-induced floods and landslides killed more than 200 people in one of the worst rain-related disasters in the Himalayan nation in recent years.**** FGN53: PAK-COURT-LD IMRAN ****Pak court rejects bail pleas of Imran Khan, his wife in new Toshakhana case Islamabad: A Pakistani court on Monday rejected the bail pleas of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in the new Toshakhana case, where they face allegations of misusing power to acquire state gifts.**** FGN51: UK-TATA STEEL ****Tata Steel ends 'legacy steelmaking' at Britain's largest steelworks London: Tata Steel-owned Port Talbot plant in South Wales hit a significant milestone on Monday when its Blast Furnace 4 ceased operations after over 100 years, marking an end of "legacy" steelmaking as the UK's largest steelworks transitions towards greener steelmaking.**** FGN50: PAK-SIKHS-CURRENCY ****Pakistan's Punjab govt asks Indian Sikhs to carry USD instead of INR during their visit Lahore: The government of Pakistan's Punjab province on Monday advised Indian Sikhs intending to visit the country to carry US dollars instead of Indian currency.**** FGN48: IRAN-BORDER GUARDS ****3 Iranian security personnel killed by militants near Pakistan border Islamabad: At least three Iranian border guards have been killed in clashes with militants in the restive Sistan-Baluchestan province bordering Pakistan, an official said on Monday.**** FGN56: UK-SUNAK ****Rishi Sunak makes plea for party unity in final address as Tory leader London: Britain's interim Leader of the Opposition Rishi Sunak has used his final address as Conservative Party chief to call on his colleagues to stop squabbling and unite behind his successor.**** FGN54: PAK-AHMADI ****Pakistan's Punjab police remove inscriptions from Ahmadi gravestones following pressure from religious extremists Lahore: Police in Punjab province of Pakistan allegedly defaced the inscriptions on gravestones of the Ahmadi minority community in a cemetery by covering them with black paint following pressure from religious extremists, Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan said on Monday.**** FGN26: CHINA-DIABETES ****Chinese scientists claim to have reversed type 1 diabetes with stem cell transplant: Report Beijing: Chinese scientists claimed to have cured a chronic type-1 diabetes patient using cell transplants in what was stated to be the first such case in the world.**** FGN6: US-JAISHANKAR ****Jaishankar reaches Washington DC, to meet Blinken Washington: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will meet his US counterpart Antony Blinken on Tuesday, during which they are expected to discuss a wide range of bilateral and global issues, including the Ukraine war and the Middle East crisis.**** FGN14: LANKA-INDIAN-FISHERMEN ****17 Indian fishermen arrested by Sri Lanka Navy for alleged illegal fishing Colombo: The Sri Lankan Navy has arrested 17 Indian fishermen and seized their trawlers for allegedly poaching in its territorial waters, taking the number of Indian nationals apprehended this year by the island nation in such incidents to 413, an official statement said.**** This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Monday that an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon killed one of its senior leaders. People and rescue teams search for victims after an Israeli airstrike hit two adjacent buildings, in Ain el-Delb neighbourhood east of the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP/PTI)(AP09_30_2024_000012B)(AP) The Hamas leader has been identified as Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, who was killed along with his wife, son and daughter. An Israeli airstrike targeted their house inside a Palestinian refugee camp in the city of Tyre in early hours on Monday. Three more militants were killed in the strike. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a resistance group fighting Israel alongside Hamas said the group lost three members after an Israeli strike hit the upper floor of an apartment building in Beirut's Kola district. The attack is reportedly the first strike by Israel inside the capital's city limits. The Israeli military has not commented on the attacks but has vowed to maintain its strikes to make northern Israel safe again and enable the return of its citizens to their communities. Days after killing Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, Israel continued to pound Lebanon on Monday, over areas it claimed as targets of the Iran-backed militant group. Apart from Nasrallah, Israel also killed other senior commanders of the group, including Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollahs Central Council and Ali Karaki, another senior commander who died alongside Nasrallah. Kaouk became the seventh senior commander of Hezbollah to be killed in over a week of relentless strikes. Almost 1,000 people have been killed and over 6,000 wounded across Lebanon in latest series of attacks by Israel. Environment Minister Nasser Yassin told the news agency AP that around 2,50,000 people have sought refuge in shelters, and thousands are staying with their kin or camping in open spaces. Prime Minister Najib Mitaki termed the displacement as the largest disaster in the country's history. "One of the biggest challenges is that the government doesnt have the means to equip the shelters, said Laila Al Amine, director for Lebanon at humanitarian group Mercy Corps. Israel also extended its latest round of strikes to Houthi rebels in Yemen's port city of Hodeidah in response to missile attacks by the rebel group. Four people were killed and 29 were injured in the strikes in Yemen on Sunday. (With inputs from Reuters) Germany sent an air force plane to strife-torn Lebanon on Monday to fly out some Beirut embassy staff, their dependants and German citizens with medical conditions, the government said. German air force to fly out some Beirut embassy staff "An Air Force A321 aircraft flew to Beirut today to support the departure of the colleagues and their families," said a joint statement by the foreign and defence ministries. "German nationals who are particularly at risk due to medical circumstances are also being taken on the Bundeswehr aircraft," said the statement, which added that staff of some German partner organisations were also being picked up. Israel has been bombing targets of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Beirut and eastern and southern Lebanon, in strikes that have killed hundreds and forced hundreds of thousands more to flee their homes. The Beirut embassy remained operational to help the estimated 1,800 German citizens in the country, and only non-essential embassy staff and their families were being taken out of the country. "The embassy continues to support the remaining Germans in Lebanon in their departure via commercial flights and other means," the statement added. At the weekend, Berlin raised its alert level for the missions in Beirut, Tel Aviv and Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. A German government spokesman earlier on Monday said that "we are currently at a stage where we support the departure but we are explicitly not in an evacuation scenario." The statement reiterated that "all Germans in Lebanon have been urged to leave the country since October 2023." Hezbollah began low-intensity cross-border strikes on Israeli troops a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, triggering war in the Gaza Strip. Israel said earlier this month that it was shifting its focus from Gaza to securing its northern border with Lebanon, in order to allow Israelis displaced since October to return to their homes. Hezbollah vowed on Monday to keep fighting Israel and said it was ready to face any ground operation into Lebanon, after its leader was killed in an air strike that dealt the group a seismic blow. bur-fz/fec/bc This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. The UN Security Council extended on Monday its authorization of the multinational policing mission in crime-ravaged Haiti, but without any call to transform it into a UN peacekeeping mission, as suggested by Port-au-Prince. Haiti security mission extended for one year The resolution, adopted unanimously, expressed "deep concern about the situation in Haiti including violence, criminal activities and mass displacement." The UN said on Friday that more than 3,600 people have been killed this year in "senseless" gang violence ravaging the country. The Kenyan-led policing mission seeking to assist the Haitian national police in taking back control of areas under gang control was extended until October 2, 2025. Though it is operating under the UN and Haitian government's blessing, it is not a UN-run force. Several months after the Council's first green light in October 2023, Kenya began deploying its first contingents this summer. The force now numbers around 400 personnel with more than a dozen officers from each Jamaica and Belize. Last week, Kenyan President William Ruto pledged that the deployment would be completed by January, bringing the total to 2,500. But with the mission hobbled by a chronic lack of funding, Edgard Leblanc Fils, the head of transitional council governing Haiti, told the General Assembly last week he "would like to see a thought being given to transforming the security support mission into a peacekeeping mission under the mandate of the United Nations." Such a move would allow it to raise necessary funds, he said, echoing a recent proposal from Washington. The first version of the extension resolution, drafted by the United States and Ecuador, called for planning to begin for a transition from the security deployment to a full-blown UN peacekeeping operation. But after fraught negotiations which were marked by opposition from China and Russia, according to diplomatic sources, the adopted text makes no reference to such a shift. Instead the resolution as adopted "encourages the MSS mission to accelerate its deployment, and further encourages additional voluntary contributions and support for the mission." Guinea, ruled by a junta since a putsch in 2021, offered on Saturday to contribute 650 police officers to the mission. abd-gw/nro This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. * Helene deaths exceed 100, supplies rushed to storm-ravaged North Carolina Thirty-five dead in North Carolina's Buncombe County * More than 2 million homes and businesses across southeast U.S. without power, communication outages widespread * President Biden and VP Harris to visit affected areas soon, Trump traveling to Georgia on Monday By Marco Bello and Maria Alejandra Cardona Sept 30 - Emergency responders in western North Carolina were racing on Monday to try to reach people who remain unaccounted for three days after Hurricane Helene tore through the southeastern United States, killing more than 100 people across six states, wiping out communications and leaving millions without power. In mountainous, hard-hit Bumcombe County, which includes the city of Asheville, 35 people have died, the county sheriff said at a news briefing on Monday. The county was set to begin distributing food and water later in the day to residents, after some supplies were airlifted to the region that has been largely isolated by flooded roads and power outages. "We don't have water, and we do not have power across most of the county... the roads are still incredibly dangerous," County Manager Avril Pinder said. In neighboring Yancey County, the storm snapped century-old trees around the home of Taylor Shelton, 44. It took her husband two days with a chainsaw to cut a passage through the felled trees in their driveway and the nearby road so they could drive themselves and their three children out of the darkened house. With no cellular phone service, they relied on a neighbor who works as an EMT and had a walkie talkie to help them determine which roads out of the mountains were passable. "The devastation is unbelievable," she said in a phone interview. She has still not been able to reach her husband's parents, who live in the nearby town of Burnsville, which was also badly hit. On Monday, they were attempting to drive back home to pick up their dog and two guinea pigs and leave out food for the cat and the chickens. Their car was loaded with coffee, donuts and diapers for their neighbors. "It looks like 'War of the Worlds,' very, very big trees are down everywhere," she said. "We saw houses that are just washed away." Lake Lure, around 20 miles southeast of Asheville, was covered with floating debris from homes and businesses washed away by mountain streams that surround the lake, a video posted on X by Charlotte City Councilman Tariq Bokhari showed. Cell service remained out in large swaths from Ohio through the Carolinas and into Florida. Some 2.1 million homes and businesses were without power early on Monday, according to the website Poweroutage.us. "The lack of communication is concerning," North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said on Monday in an interview with CNN. "We know that there are people missing, and we know that there's going to be significant fatalities at the end of this and our prayers and our hearts go out to these families." Cooper, who said he had not heard from his son and daughter in 72 hours, added that local officials and rescue workers were performing door-to-door welfare checks in many communities. In Buncombe, officials said they are conducting checks of 150 "priority" households that include elderly residents or residents with medical problems. BIDEN TO VISIT The National Guard and emergency workers from 19 states have been deployed to help, along with Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel. Cooper said the rugged terrain in the mountains of western North Carolina makes it almost impossible to traverse with landslides and flooding. "So we're depending a lot on air power, helicopters with hoist capacity to get supplies in," he said. President Joe Biden said he would visit North Carolina later this week and may ask Congress to return to Washington for a special session to pass supplemental aid funding. "There's nothing like wondering, 'is my husband, wife, son, daughter, mother, father, alive?'" Biden said at the White House. "Many more will remain without electricity, water, food and communications, and whose homes and businesses are washed away in an instant. I want them to know we're not leaving until the job is done." Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris cut short a campaign trip in Nevada on Monday to take part in briefings in Washington on the hurricane response and will visit the region when doing so won't impede response efforts, a White House official said. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump traveled to Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday afternoon to visit a furniture store that was heavily damaged in the storm. Helene slammed into Florida's Gulf Coast on Thursday night, triggering days of driving rain and destroying homes that had stood for decades. As it moved north it washed out roads, decimated neighborhoods and left many communities without water and basic necessities. The death toll was over 100 in the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia, and likely to rise. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said on Monday that at least 25 people in his state had died, including a firefighter responding to emergency calls during the storm and a mother and her 1-month-old twins who were killed by a falling tree. Damage estimates ranged from $15 billion to more than $100 billion, insurers and forecasters said over the weekend, as water systems, communications and critical transportation routes were damaged or destroyed. Property damage and lost economic output will become more clear as officials assess the destruction. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Israel's airstrike in Beirut that destroyed an underground bunker where Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was hiding has brought to spotlight the country's intelligence agencies and their widespread network. More details about the attack have now emerged, with a report claiming that Israel got the terrorist's location following a tip-off from an Iranian spy. A man walks on rubble at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs.(AP) The undercover agent informed Israeli officials about Nasrallah's presence at Hezbollah's underground headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut, according to a report in French newspaper Le Parisien. The intelligence revealed that Nasrallah was attending a meeting with senior members of the militant group at a complex comprising six buildings located in Dahieh, a densely populated area known for its support of Hezbollah. File photo of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who was killed in an Israeli airstrike.(AP) The tip-off was reportedly received by Israeli officials on Saturday afternoon, just hours before the airstrike occurred. At approximately 1.30 PM IST (11 am Lebanon time), Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on social media platform X that Nasrallah had been killed, declaring that he would "no longer be able to terrorize the world." Road Ahead For Hezbollah The airstrike marks a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which has long posed a security threat to the region. Reports have also shown how Israel planned a series of strikes to eliminate top Hezbollah leaders and create a leadership vacuum in the Iran-backed group. Lebanon's most powerful military and political force now finds itself trying to recuperate from severe blows, having lost key members who have been part of Hezbollah since its establishment in the early 1980s. Tension In Middle East Israel's strikes intensified after Hezbollah started supporting Hamas which carried out the unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians. Hamas also took over 250 civilians hostage, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,595 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN has described the statistics as reliable. Israel on Monday said its ground troops could join the fight against Iran-backed Hezbollah. Defence minister Yoav Gallant said that the killing of the Lebanese group's chief Hassan Nasrallah is an important step, but not the final one. "The next stage in the war against Hezbollah will begin soon," Gallant told a meeting of local council heads in northern Israel, Reuters reported. Middle East Conflict LIVE Coverage The Middle East conflict rages on as Israel continues to pound Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, while sounding a warning to Iran. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country, Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video directed to Tehran. ALSO READ: Who were the 7 high-ranking Hezbollah officials killed over the past week? I speak a lot about the leaders of Iran. Yet at this pivotal moment, I want to address you - the people of Iran. I want to do so directly, without filters, without middlemen. Every day, you see a regime that subjugates you, make fiery speeches about defending Lebanon, defending Gaza. Yet every day, that regime plunges our region deeper into darkness and deeper into war, Netanyahu added. ALSO READ: PM Modi speaks to Israel's Netanyahu on Middle East crisis: Terrorism has no place in our world Smoke plumes erupt after an Israeli airstrike targeted the village of Khiam in southern Lebanon near the border with northern Israel.(AFP) Here are the top 10 updates on the Middle East conflict:- 1. US president Joe Biden urged for a halt to the fighting as Israel gears up for a ground invasion, Bloomberg reported. Im more aware than you might know and Im comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now, the US President said. 2. According to an Associated Press report, the United States is sending an additional few thousand troops to the Middle East to bolster security and to be prepared to defend Israel if necessary, the Pentagon said. AP said the additional personnel includes squadrons of F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16, A-10 and F-22 fighter jets and the personnel needed to support them. ALSO READ: Fresh Israeli airstrikes kills Hamas leader, three other Palestinian militants 3. The Israel Defence Forces in an X post claimed to have eliminated Nidal Abdel-Aal, the head of the Lebanon Branch of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the head of the PFLP's military office in Lebanon, Imad Odeh. 4. Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have said they will escalate military operations against Israel in response to the attacks on the country. ALSO READ: 'Justice for...': US on Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah's killing 5. Hezbollah's acting leader Naim Qassem has vowed to keep fighting Israel, adding that the group was prepared for a long fight despite losing several top commanders including Nasrallah. 6. The UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) chief denied knowing that its employee Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin was a Hamas commander in Lebanon and called on states to push back against Israeli attacks on the agency, Reuters reported. The head of Hamas' Lebanon branch, Amin was killed along with family members in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon. He was suspended from his job at UNRWA in March following allegations concerning his politics, Philippe Lazzarini told reporters in Geneva. 7. The Israeli strikes continued with one of them killing a soldier in south Lebanon according to a military statement, the first death among Lebanese troops in the current escalation. 8. According to Lebanon's health minister Firass Abiad, said more than 1,000 people have been killed since September 17, AFP reported. UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi said "well over 200,000 people are displaced inside Lebanon", while more than 100,000 have fled to neighbouring Syria. 9. Syrians are now fearing Israel's bombardment of neighbouring Lebanon could spill into government-held areas, which have already faced hundreds of Israeli strikes over the years, AFP reported. Nasrallah was a key ally of President Bashar al-Assad and backed the Damascus government's forces during the Syrian civil war. 10. Hezbollah said in a statement it had attacked Israel using a "Nour Missile", which sources familiar with Hezbollah told Reuters is a ballistic missile. (With agency inputs) Israel, in its continuous attacks on Lebanon, targeted an apartment in Beirut on Monday, killing at least four people, reported news agency AFP, citing a Lebanese security source. This strike marked the first Israeli attack in the city limits since the Israel-Hamas war began after the Palestinian militant group stormed into Israel on October 7 last year. Israel strikes inside Beirut's city limits, 4 people killed (AP) According to sources, the strike targeted a flat in the predominantly Sunni neighbourhood of Kola, near the road linking the capital to Beirut airport. The flat belonged to two members of the Lebanese Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya - which has its origins to the Muslim Brotherhood, reported AFP. Videos and photos on social media showed the partially flattened floor of the building targeted by the drone strike. A plume of smoke can also be seen rising from the area. Shortly after this, the Israeli military said its fighter jets launched fresh strikes on dozens of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon's Bekaa region. Israeli Air Force jets attacked dozens of launchers and buildings where weapons were stored in the Bekaa in Lebanon. Israel will continue to attack powerfully, damage and degrade Hezbollah's military capabilities and infrastructure in Lebanon, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Telegram, reported AFP. Israel intensifies strikes in Lebanon Israel has intensified its strikes on Lebanon in the last few weeks, increasing fears of a bigger war in the Middle East. Last week, the IDF killed at least seven Hezbollah commanders, including the Iran-backed militant group's top leader Hassan Nasrallah. A day after death in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Hezbollah also confirmed the killing of Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of the group's Central Council. The group also said that another senior commander, Ali Karaki, died in the attack. Other Hezbollah commanders who were killed include - Ibrahim Akil, Ahmad Wehbe, Mohammad Surour, and Ibrahim Kobeissi. Israel continued its bombardment of Hezbollah targets on Sunday as well, killing over 100 people in a day. According to Lebanon's health ministry, 105 people were killed and 359 wounded in the attack. (With inputs from AFP, Reuters) Israel continued its bombardment of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Sunday, killing over 100 people in a day. It opened another front as it bombed Houthi targets in Yemen amid fears of a wider conflagration in the Middle East. Rescue workers carry a man who was injured after an Israeli airstrike hit two adjacent buildings in Lebanon.(AP) According to Lebanon's health ministry, 105 people were killed and 359 wounded because of Israel's attack on Sunday. The attack came two days after Israel killed Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Lebanon's Hezbollah group which has engaged in cross-border fire with the country to show solidarity with Hamas in Gaza. Here are the top updates on the Lebanon-Israel war: Lebanon's health ministry said there had been deadly air raids near the main southern city of Sidon Sunday. Dozens had died in the east, in the south and in and around Beirut. France's foreign ministry said a second French national had also been killed in Lebanon. On Monday, witnesses told foreign news agencies that Israel attacked central Beirut for the first time since the war in Gaza began last year. The airstrike hit a multi-story residential building. Videos showed ambulances and a crowd gathered under the building, where the strike appeared to have targeted an apartment. The country had been targeting southern Beirut where the Lebanese militant group has a strong presence. On Sunday, Israel killed Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of the militant groups Central Council. Hezbollah confirmed his death. He was the seventh senior Hezbollah leader who died in a week. The group also said that another senior commander, Ali Karaki, died in the Friday strike that killed Nasrallah. Meanwhile, the Lebanese media reported dozens of strikes in the central, eastern and western Bekaa as well. They claimed that Israel targeted buildings where civilians had been living. The Lebanese health ministry reported at least 14 medics were killed over two days in the south. Hezbollah has significantly increased its attacks over the past week in response to the Israeli hostilities. The attacks injured several people and caused damage. However, most of the salvos were intercepted by Israel's defense systems. The Israeli military said on Sunday that dozens of its aircraft struck Houthi targets in Yemen in response to a recent attack. They attacked power plants and sea-port facilities in Yemen's Hodeida. The Houthis had launched a ballistic missile attack on Ben Gurion airport on Saturday when Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu was arriving. US President Joe Biden said that he would speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He cautioned against an all-out war in the Middle East. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Israel's airstrikes in Lebanon had wiped out Hezbollahs command structure. However, he warned the group would work quickly to rebuild it. On Nasrallah's death, he said the people of the world would be safer without him. He said it would be tough for the group to fill the leadership vacuum. The ongoing war has triggered a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon. In less than two weeks of war, 1,030 people including 156 women and 87 children have died in the country. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their homes. The local government says 2,50,000 people were in shelters and nearly four times the number had been staying at their relatives' houses. The war in the Middle East began on October 7 last year when Hamas attacked Israel and killed 1,205 people, mostly civilians. They also took 251 hostages. Israel's retaliatory strikes have killed 41,595 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. With inputs from AFP, AP The bombs used by Israel in the airstrike carried out in Beirut that killed top Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah were American-made guided weapons, reported Reuters, citing a US senator. A person holds a poster of Lebanon's Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut(REUTERS) According to Mark Kelly, chair of the Senate Armed Services Airland Subcommittee, 2,000-lb (900-kg) Mark 84 series bombs, popularly known as bunker-busters, pounded Hezbollah headquarters last week. We see more use of guided munitions, JDAMs, and we continue to provide those weaponsThat 2,000-pound bomb that was used, that's a Mark 84 series bomb, to take out Nasrallah, he said, as quoted by Reuters. JDAMs convert a standard unguided bomb using fins and a GPS guidance system into a guided weapon. The US, a long-time ally of Israel, has been its biggest arms supplier - especially since the Israel-Hamas war began after the Palestinian militant group stormed into Israel on October 7, killing thousands of people. However, according to the White House, Israel had not warned them of the airstrike that killed Nasrallah in Beirut, and US President Joe Biden only found out about it once Israeli planes were already in the air, reported The Guardian. Israel kills 7 Hezbollah commanders in a week The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) intensified its strikes on Lebanon recently, and killing at least seven Hezbollah commanders in a week's time. A day after Nasrallah's death in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, the Iran-backed militant group also confirmed the killing of Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah's Central Council. The group also said that another senior commander, Ali Karaki, died in the attack. Other Hezbollah commanders who died in the attacks are - Ibrahim Akil, Ahmad Wehbe, Mohammad Surour, and Ibrahim Kobeissi. Meanwhile, Israel continued its bombardment of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Sunday, killing over 100 people in a day. According to Lebanon's health ministry, 105 people were killed and 359 wounded in the attack. * Italy could intervene over UniCredit HQ in Commerzbank deal Prospect of UniCredit moving HQ abroad alarms Rome * Italian bank says no reason to change Milan HQ * Government has golden powers to set conditions * Veto seen as unfeasible in intra-EU deal By Giuseppe Fonte ROME, Sept 30 - Italy fears that UniCredit may shift its central offices to Germany as part of any deal with Commerzbank, government officials said, adding Rome expects to have a say in the matter based on its 'golden power' rules. Milan-based UniCredit has sought to dispel concerns saying that there is no reason for the bank to shift its legal base away from Italy, reiterating its stake in Commerzbank is only a financial investment at present. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's office declined to comment. Golden powers allow Meloni's government to set conditions on or block foreign and domestic corporate forays, as well as the right to intervene on governance changes involving companies that operate in strategic sectors such as energy and banking. UniCredit this month unveiled a potential 21% stake in Frankfurt-based Commerzbank and its Chief Executive Andrea Orcel said he would be willing to discuss a full takeover. The location of a combined bank's headquarters would be a central issue in any merger talks, said one of the two officials, both of whom are familiar with Rome's thinking on the matter. UniCredit has previously explored the option of twin corporate centres in Germany and Italy, Reuters reported. The Italian government could use its powers to set some conditions on a deal, while an outright veto would be out of the question as the European Central Bank backs bank mergers and EU treaties promote the free movement of capital, the second official said. SALVINI'S STANCE Italy's government has so far adopted a cautious tone on the matter, but Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini publicly raised the issue of UniCredit shifting its base to Germany as part of a deal, confirming an earlier Reuters report. "It's good as long as Italy doesn't get screwed, as long as they don't close branches or offices in Italy and don't move to Germany, that's what matters to me as an Italian," Salvini said on Monday, speaking in Milan. UniCredit's stake-building has shocked Berlin, with German finance minister underscoring to Italy's Treasury his concerns over any hostile takeover of Commerzbank by UniCredit. Germany would account for 56% of customer loans in a combined UniCredit-Commerzbank group, compared with 31% for UniCredit alone at present. This has stoked discussions in Rome around the possibility UniCredit could relocate to Germany to overcome opposition from authorities in Berlin, the officials told Reuters. Golden powers require Italian government approval for any decision, act or transaction, adopted by a company owning strategic assets which results in changes in the ownership, control or availability of such assets, including merger deals or the transfer abroad of the registered office. A previous attempt by former UniCredit CEO Jean-Pierre Mustier to move on Commerzbank met with political opposition in Italy due to plans to create a German holding company to lead the bank's business. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. In what marks a significant development in Middle Eastern geopolitics amid Israel's military operation against Hamas and Hezbollah, the United States characterized former Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah's killing in an Israeli strike as "a measure of justice for its many victims." Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike.(AP File) US President Joe Biden called the elimination of Hassan Nasrallah by Israel "justice", a sentiment supported by Vice President and Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris. "Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist group he led, Hezbollah, were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade reign of terror. His death from an Israeli airstrike is a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians," President Biden said in an official statement on the Israeli airstrikes. Kamala Harris called Nasrallah a terrorist with American blood on his hands adding that his leadership destabilised the Middle East and led to the killing of countless innocent. This comes amid reports that the Biden administration wasn't informed about the attacks in Beirut that dismantled Hezbollah forces that controlled a better part of Lebanon for decades. However, the US has not been deterred from its ironclad support of Israel in the war against Hamas. Why US is against Hezbollah: A Brief History Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group backed by Iran, emerged during Lebanons civil war, which broke out in 1975. Since its inception, Hezbollah has acted actively against US-promoted forces. This offensive was followed by a series of deadly attacks on the US, marking a pivotal shift in relations between the United States and Hezbollah. The tensions escalated in April 1983 when Hezbollah planned a targeted bombing at the US Embassy in Beirut killing dozens, including eight CIA employees. Another attack of a similar nature killed over 200 and injured 60 military personnel, mostly US Marines in October 1983. In 1985, a Trans World Airlines flight was hijacked by an alleged Hezbollah member who fatally shot a US Navy diver. The U.S. designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization in 1997. Israel used US-made 900 kg bombs in Hassan Nasrallah's killing The Israeli airstrike that led to Nasrallah's death reportedly utilized American-made ammunitions, specifically 2,000-pound (900-kg) Mark 84 series bombs, commonly referred to as bunker-busters, news agency Reuters reported quoting a US Senator. According to Mark Kelly, chair of the Senate Armed Services Airland Subcommittee, 2,000-lb (900-kg) Mark 84 series bombs, popularly known as bunker-busters, pounded Hezbollah headquarters last week. Israel eliminates key Hezbollah commanders The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) intensified its strikes on Lebanon recently, killing at least seven Hezbollah commanders in a week. A day after Nasrallah died in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, the Iran-backed militant group also confirmed the killing of Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah's Central Council. The group also said that another senior commander, Ali Karaki, died in the attack. Lebanon crisis Highlights: Days after killing Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, Israel continued to pound Lebanon on Monday, over areas it claimed as targets of the Iran-backed militant group. Apart from Nasrallah, Israel also killed other senior commanders of the group, including Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollahs Central Council and Ali Karaki, another senior commander who died alongside Nasrallah. Kaouk became the seventh senior commander of Hezbollah to be killed in over a week of relentless strikes....Read More The group, which has vowed to continue its resistance against the zionist entity, continued to fire rockets and missiles into northern Israel on Sunday, but most were intercepted or fell over open spaces. Hezbollah has said it will only halt its rocket fire if there is a cease-fire in Gaza. The latest round of Israeli strikes killed over a hundred people and displaced hundreds of thousands across southern and eastern parts of Lebanon. Environment Minister Nasser Yassin told the news agency AP that around 2,50,000 people have sought refuge in shelters, and thousands are staying with their kin or camping in open spaces. Meanwhile, Israel had ruled out a ceasefire and said it is determined to return its displaced citizens from its northern border with Lebanon back to their homes. With growing calls for a ceasefire, the conflict has escalated global fears of an all-out war in the Middle East. By Jonathan Allen and Andrew Hay Massive search and rescue operation in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene -North Carolina was a "post-apocalyptic" landscape on Monday in the wake of Helene, with hundreds of people still cut off from communications and unaccounted for amid flooded roads and a lack of basic services. Officials reported more than 100 deaths across a half-dozen states due the powerful storm that was a major hurricane when it slammed into Florida's Big Bend region late on Thursday before cutting a destructive path through Georgia and into the Carolinas. As many as 600 people remained unaccounted for, U.S. Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall said at the White House. Flooded roads and toppled cellphone towers isolated devastated communities. Officials said the death toll was likely to rise even as they clung to hope that emergency responders would find most of those unaccounted for as they reached more locations and emergency mobile telecommunications assets came online. Throughout North Carolina, some 300 roads were closed, more than 7,000 people registered for U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance, and the National Guard was flying 1,000 tons of food and water to remote areas by plane and helicopter, officials told the news briefing. Helene struck Florida's Gulf Coast on Thursday night as a major Category 4 hurricane, triggering days of driving rain throughout the South and destroying homes that had stood for decades. The U.S. government, states and localities were engaged in a massive recovery effort. People were stranded without running water and 1.8 million homes and businesses remained without power on Monday, according to the website Poweroutage.us. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said on Monday at least 25 people in his state had died, including a firefighter responding to emergency calls during the storm and a mother and her 1-month-old twins who were killed by a falling tree. South Carolina reported at least 29 dead. CNN put the national death toll at 128, citing state and local officials. In North Carolina's mountainous Buncombe County, which includes the tourist destination of Asheville, 35 people have died, the county sheriff said at a news briefing. The county was set to begin distributing food and water later on Monday. Some supplies had to be airlifted to the region because most major routes were blocked by mudslides and flooding. "They're running out of gas for ATVs that are helping the rescue, they're also running out of gas for the chainsaws," said Colleen Burns, 58, whose house is near Burnsville, in neighboring Yancey County. "We desperately need gas." 'WAR OF THE WORLDS' In Yancey, the storm snapped century-old trees around the home of Taylor Shelton, 44. It took her husband two days with a chainsaw to cut a passage through the felled trees in their driveway and the nearby road so they could drive themselves and their three children out of the darkened house. With no phone service, they relied on a neighbor who works as an emergency medical technician and had a radio to help them determine which back roads out of the mountains were passable. "It looks like 'War of the Worlds.' Very, very big trees are down everywhere. We saw houses that are just washed away," Shelton said in a phone interview. Lake Lure, around 20 miles southeast of Asheville, was covered with floating debris from homes and businesses washed away by mountain streams that surround the lake, a video posted on X by Charlotte City Councilman Tariq Bokhari showed. "It's hard to describe, never seen anything like this, post-apocalyptic," Bokhari wrote. "It's so overwhelming. You don't even know how to fathom what recovery looks like, let alone where to start." North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper took an aerial tour of the damage and said "significant resources" would be needed in the short and long term. "The devastation was beyond belief, and even when you prepare for something like this, this is something that's never happened before in western North Carolina. Search and rescue teams are continuing to work," Cooper told a news briefing. Some 1,200 FEMA personnel were on the ground in addition to state and local responders, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was planning major debris removal. In Buncombe County, officials said they are conducting checks of 150 "priority" households that include older residents or those with medical problems. BIDEN TO VISIT The National Guard and emergency workers from 19 states have been deployed to help, along with FEMA personnel. President Joe Biden, attributing the storm's devastation to climate change, said he would visit North Carolina on Wednesday and Georgia and Florida soon after. He may also ask Congress to return to Washington for a special session to pass supplemental aid funding. "There's nothing like wondering, 'is my husband, wife, son, daughter, mother, father alive?'" Biden said at the White House. "Many more will remain without electricity, water, food and communications, and whose homes and businesses are washed away in an instant. I want them to know we're not leaving until the job is done." Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris cut short a campaign trip in Nevada on Monday to take part in briefings in Washington on the hurricane response and will visit the region when doing so won't impede response efforts, a White House official said. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump traveled to Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday to visit a furniture store that was heavily damaged in the storm. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. SANTA FE, N.M. A New Mexico judge on Monday upheld an involuntary manslaughter conviction against a movie armorer in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film Rust. Movie armorer's conviction upheld in fatal Rust set shooting by Alec Baldwin Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed asked a court to dismiss her involuntary manslaughter conviction or convene a new trial in the shooting death, alleging misconduct and suppression of evidence by law enforcement. Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer halted and ended Baldwins trial in July based on misconduct of police and prosecutors and their withholding evidence from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set outside Santa Fe. Gutierrez-Reed was convicted by a jury in March in a trial overseen by Marlowe Sommer, who later sentenced her to the maximum 18-month penalty. Gutierrez-Reed already has an appeal of her involuntary manslaughter conviction pending in a higher court. Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of Rust and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols. Gutierrez-Reed's attorneys argued that her case should be reconsidered because prosecutors failed to share evidence that might have been exculpatory. She was acquitted at trial of allegations she tampered with evidence in the Rust investigation. Gutierrez-Reed also has pleaded not guilty to a separate felony charge that she allegedly carried a gun into a bar in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where firearms are prohibited. A proposed plea agreement is awaiting court review. Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for Rust, was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. The 23rd China Shanghai International Arts Festival will take place from Oct 18 to Nov 17 with more than 5,000 artists from 80 countries and regions participating in over 300 performance and exhibition events, the municipality announced at a press conference held on Sunday. The main section will consist of 163 shows for 57 performing art productions. About 60 percent of them will be from overseas, and more than 90 of the shows will be making their debut in Shanghai. Shanghai Dance Theatre's new creation, Azure After the Rain, will open the festival at Shanghai Culture Square from Oct 18 to 20. The show tells the life and creations of Li Qingzhao (1084-1155), widely recognized as the greatest woman poet of China. A concert by the Munchner Philharmoniker from Germany, featuring Russian conductor Tugan Sokhiev and Chinese pianist Zhang Haochen, scheduled to take place at the Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Hall on Nov 16 and 17, will be the closing production for the festival. An integral part of the festival, the China Shanghai Performing Arts Fair (ChinaSPAF) will be attended by more than 2,000, representing about 500 performing arts institutions and art festivals. The festival will sign a five-year strategic partnership with the International Society for the Performing Arts, holding the annual conference for the Silk Road International Arts Festival Alliance. Aside from the on-stage shows, open performances will be held in the parks, river-side areas and urban community centers all over the city, and more than 90 art educational activities will be held during the festival. At 1:30 pm on Sunday, the festival kicked off the first round sales of discount tickets for the theater productions. The festival will give out altogether 8,000 discount tickets to the 57 theater productions, with the lowest priced at no more than 30 yuan ($4.3). Flooding and landslides triggered by heavy rains in Nepal over the weekend have killed 200 people, even as rescue efforts intensifed on Monday. In this aerial image of the Kathmandu valley, a locality is swamped in mud in Kathmandu, Nepal, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024 in the aftermath of a flood caused by heavy rains.(AP) Nepal's home ministry said 209 people had been killed across the country with another 29 still missing. "We intensified aerial rescue for people who are sick or still need to be brought to safety," home ministry spokesman Rishi Ram Tiwari told AFP. Most deaths took place in Kathmandu, where large parts of the city were submerged. A deadly landslide near a blocked highway 16 kilometres from Kathmandu buried several vehicles, killing three dozen people who were sleeping in the area. All highways out of Kathmandu were blocked due to landslides, but workers managed to temporarily clear the Prithvi Highway. ALSO READ- Bihar flood situation worsens as major rivers spate; IMD issues heavy rain alert The government has announced temporary shelters for those who lost their homes, as well as financial aid for the families of the deceased and the injured. Prime minister Khadga Prasad Oli, returning from the UN General Assembly, called an emergency meeting to address the crisis. ALSO READ- PM Modi speaks to Israel's Netanyahu on Middle East crisis: Terrorism has no place in our world Schools, colleges closed for 3 days Rescue and recovery efforts have gained pace as weather improved. Residents in southern Kathmandu have started cleaning their flooded homes as water levels recede. Schools and colleges across Nepal will remain closed for three days. Nepal grapples with record-breaking rainfall, climate change likely factor Nepal's weather bureau reported record-breaking rainfall in the 24 hours leading up to Saturday morning. A monitoring station at Kathmandu airport recorded around 240 millimetres of rain, the highest since 2002. Climate expert Arun Bhakta Shrestha from ICIMOD said that rainfall should usually decrease by late September as the monsoon season ends. "This kind of rainfall is abnormal," he said. "It is an extreme event, and climate change likely played a role." Shrestha also pointed out that unplanned urban development worsened the impact of the disaster. ISLAMABAD A Pakistani court denied on Monday a bail application by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife in a graft case, their lawyer said, another blow to the popular opposition leader who has been held in prison for more than a year after being convicted on multiple charges. Pakistani court denies imprisoned former premier Khan and his wife bail in graft case Imran Khan has been embroiled in more than 150 cases since 2022 when he was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote in parliament after several political allies deserted him. He has accused the military and his archenemy and current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of ousting him under a U.S. plot. Charges which they denied. He faced new charges, including the graft case, in July after a court overturned the convictions and seven-year sentences of the couple in a case questioning the legality of the couples 2018 marriage, giving way for their release. Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been accused of allegedly retaining and selling state gifts in violation of government rules while the former premier was in power. Pakistan allows government officials to buy gifts received from foreign dignitaries but they have to declare their sales as it adds to their income. Khan is charged with undervaluing such proceeds The couple's lawyer Intizar Hussain Panjutha denounced the court's decision. The bail application was heard at Adiala prison where Khan and his wife are held in separate cells. Oct.2 is set for the couple's indictment in the case. On Monday, Khans spokesman Zulfiqar Bukhari claimed on X that Bibi was being mistreated in jail, with officers storming her cell in the middle of the night, being forced to remove her hijab, the Islamic and having water thrown on her mattress. These violations of human and prisoner rights must be reported and stopped, he wrote. There was no immediate comment from the authorities on his claims. Recently, some prison officials were fired on charge of violating prison rules to help Khan. It was unclear how they aided him. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Prince Harry recently shared a heartwarming tribute to his late mother, Princess Diana. Harry made the comments at the 2024 Concordia Annual Summit. As he praised the team for its work, the team, which is led by Dr Tessy Ojo, appreciated the Duke of Sussex on his dedication to Dianas legacy and philanthropy. Prince Harry pays heartwarming tribute to late Princess Diana in NYC (Photo by Alex Kent / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP, AP Photo, File) A royal source has now told The Mirror US why it is so important for Harry to uphold his mothers philanthropy. Harry is devoted to upholding his mother's legacy - as it's the one thing that keeps her memory alive for him, the source told the outlet. Harry sees himself in his mother so much, they are almost like spirit twins in their nature and their approach to things. That's one of the reasons Harry is devoted to talking about the good she did to bring awareness to landmines, and in turn is devoted to supporting charities to continue the work Princess Diana was so passionate about." I know that my mum would be incredibly proud of you guys During hsi New York appearances earlier this month, Harry candidly spoke about his mother. At the Concordia Summit in New York, he talked about the Diana Award, named in memory of his beloved mom. The charity was launched as many as 25 years ago to honour people who seek to change the world. During Harrys conversation with Ojo, he was also joined by Christina Williams and Chiara Riyanti Hutapea Zhang, both of whom previously won the Diana Award. They talked about the mental health crisis affecting young people today. Taking the stage for a Diana Award event as part of the Concordia Annual Summit, Harry told the winners, "I know that my mum would be incredibly proud of you guys, all of the award winners, and Tessy, you've been in this for a very long time. So thank you for that as well. The way that you do it, your activism, your compassion, those two things are so true to how my mum led her life and what she believed in. The way that you do it is incredible." Oct 1 - Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the conscription of 133,000 new servicemen in Russia's autumn draft that starts Oct. 1 and goes until the end of the year, according to a Kremlin decree published on Monday. Putin orders conscription of 133,000 servicemen in Russia's autumn draft The decree, published in Russian state-run newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, calls to carry out the draft of citizens "aged 18 to 30 years, who are not in the reserve and are subject to conscription in accordance with the Federal Law ... in the amount of 133,000 people." The head of Russia's conscription office, Vice-Admiral Vladimir Tsimlyansky said that the terms for the conscript remain the same: 12-month service in military units in Russia. "I would like to note that conscripts will not be called up to participate in the special military operation in the new regions," Rossiyskaya Gazeta cited Tsimlyansky as saying. Russia calls its war in Ukraine, which it started with a full-scale invasion in February 2022, a special military operation. Kyiv and its allies call it an unprovoked, imperialistic attempt to grab land. In a move condemned by most of the Western world, Russia annexed parts of southeastern Ukraine in late 2022, calling the land 'new regions.' Citing growing threats on Russia's western borders, Putin in September ordered the Russian army to be increased by 180,000 troops to 1.5 million active servicemen, a move that would make it the second largest in the world after China's. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, U.S. President Joe Biden and other NATO leaders have blamed Putin for being the sole aggressor in the conflict in Ukraine and posing threats to other of its neighbours. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. * Putin promotes Dyumin and younger loyalists to Russia's politburo Putin elevates former bodyguard Dyumin again * Part of push to promote younger generation * Adds key loyalists to Security Council * Loyalists have military and defence expertise By Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW, Sept 30 - President Vladimir Putin promoted influential former bodyguard Alexei Dyumin to Russia's modern-day politburo on Monday, along with a new generation of officials tasked with the functioning of wartime command centres and overseeing the defence industry. In Putin's Russia, the Security Council is a key arena for the formulation of decisions on Russia's most important national security issues, and has been dominated till now by men of the president's generation, mostly born in the 1950s. At 52, Dyumin becomes one of the youngest members of the Security Council. According to a decree dated Monday, Putin also appointed Alexander Linets, the 61-year-old head of the Kremlin's main directorate for special programmes , First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, 55, and Veronika Skvortsova, 63, to the Council. Putin appointed Dyumin in May to be one of his aides overseeing the defence industry and later that month made him secretary of the advisory State Council, a step that fuelled speculation about his presidential potential. The GUSP, headed by Linets since 2015, is the secretive successor agency to the Soviet-era directorates which oversaw the functioning of wartime government command centres and coordination. It says it oversees mobilisation for the president, but gives few details. Linets once served as an officer in the Soviet Union's interior ministry troops and later in the Federal Security Service , the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB. Manturov was promoted to first deputy prime minister in May. He was seated directly to Putin's left when the Kremlin chief announced changes to Russia's official nuclear doctrine last week. Manturov oversees the Russian defence and civilian industry, which has surprised the United States and its European allies by ramping up artillery production faster than the whole of the NATO military alliance combined despite sanctions. Skvortsova heads the federal medical-biological agency and is a former health minister. Putin, who turns 72 on Oct. 7, at the same time dismissed Vladimir Yakushev from the Security Council. AGEING LOYALISTS The president's older loyalists include Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu, a former defence minister, who was born in 1955. The Council's former secretary, Nikolai Patrushev was born in 1951, as was FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov. Both men remain members of the Security Council. Other younger members of the Security Council, as well as Dyumin, include Putin's chief of staff Anton Vaino, 52, and Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, 48. Dyumin was one of the key people behind the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. In 2015, he was made deputy defence minister and a year later he was elected as governor of Tula region. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. "It was considered good for children to be exposed to sexuality," says 54-year-old Prem Sargam recalling her early childhood as part of a popular Osho cult, which is nothing short of a nightmare and brought to light the most sinister manifestations of human behaviour to a six-year-old. Osho shot to prominence in the 1970s and 80s.(HT File Photo) In an interview with The Times, the UK-based Sargam said she was raised in the "sickening Sannyasin' sex cult" led by Indian mystic Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, aka Osho, and narrated how she was forced to undergo sexual abuse as a minor in the name of "free love." Sargam further said that she endured grave sexual abuse from the age of six across the three Sannyasin communities - or 'ashrams'- she grew up in. The woman also gave a detailed account of how Rajneesh's Sannyasin spiritual movement, which was introduced to Sargam by her parents, followed the philosophy that children should regularly watch sex and that girls as they reach a pubic age should be guided by adult men on their sexual journeys. "It was considered normal for children to talk about sex and watch adults engaging in sexual activities regularly," Sargam told The Times adding that she was exposed to such occurrences since the tender age of six. "Between the age of seven and 11, I and my friends were coerced into performing sexual acts on grown men living in the commune. We knew something wrong was going on even then," she added. Sargam's journey with Sanyasin Rajneesh began after her father, disillusioned by the world order moved to Pune to seek enlightenment. Drawn by his experience, Sargam and her mother also joined the said cult. She was forced to change her name, wear orange robes and adopt a philosophy that viewed children as obstacles to parental sexual freedom. Later, Sargam was sent to the Medina ashram in Suffolk, alone and vulnerable, under the guise of attending a "boarding school" program. However, the exploitation continued. By the time she was 12, Sargam had been relocated to the US, joining her mother at an ashram in Oregon. By that time she had endured rape over 50 times. Rise Of The Osho Cult The Rajneesh cult, which later came to be known as the Osho cult, was founded in the 1970s. It heavily attracted Western followers who were seeking spiritual enlightenment. However, it is believed beneath the spiritual surface, the organisation harboured a dark life of exploitation and sexual abuse of children. Osho advocated for unrestricted promiscuity, including partner-swapping, from age 14. His unconventional methods of meditation and emphasis on sexual freedom earned him the title "Sex Guru" in India. SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, which will be NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore's ride back to Earth after being stuck in space for over 3 months, arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday (ET), Space X CEO Elon Musk confirmed in an X post, formerly Twitter. Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have been on the International Space Station since June. (AFP) Williams and Wilmore have been stranded at the International Space Station (ISS) since June this year after safety concerns grounded their Boeing spacecraft. However, despite Space X's Crew-9 rescue mission launch, neither astronaut is expected to come back to Earth before February of next year. What Went Wrong With Sunita William's 10-day Space Mission? The two NASA astronauts, who set off on an ambitious space mission that required them to stay in space for just 8 days turned into no less than a nightmare for Williams and Wilmore due to safety concerns with their Boeing Starliner spacecraft. The spacecraft went through a range of technical glitches such as helium leaks and propulsion issues, which could make their return to Earth unpredictable and dangerous. Earlier this month, the Starliner returned to Earth empty earlier this month, landing safely in the New Mexico desert. Why Was Extended Space Stay Exceptionally Hard on Sunita Williams? NASA astronaut and now the ISS Commander Sunita Williams, faced some unusual health risks during her extended stay at the space station making her time exceptionally harder. The astronaut is also going through a loss in the body bone density due to her extended stay in the space environment. Notably, in the microgravity environment of space, bones do not bear the same weight they do on Earth, leading to a loss of bone tissue. Also read: Why Sunita Williams will remain in space till Feb 2025 despite SpaceX Dragon docking at ISS For astronauts like Sunita Williams, this can mean losing up to 1.5% of bone density per month, particularly in weight-bearing bones like the vertebrae, hips, and femurs, media reports stated. Both Williams and Wilmore also pose health risks due to constant and long exposure to radiation in the space. Despite the harsh conditions, Wilmore and Williams, both seasoned NASA astronauts, are actively participating in routine maintenance and scientific experiments on the ISS. Sunita Williams Return to Earth: SpaceX Crew-9 Rescue Mission SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, part of the Crew-9 mission, was launched on Saturday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. It is carrying NASAs Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov. As per the video released by NASA, Sunita Williams welcomed the new arrivals, saying, "I just want to say welcome to our new compadres." ASHEVILLE, N.C. Widespread devastation left behind by Hurricane Helene came to light Monday across the South, revealing a wasteland of splintered houses, crushed cargo containers and mud-covered highways in one of the worst storms in U.S. history. The death toll topped 125. Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 125 A crisis was unfolding in western North Carolina, where residents stranded by washed-out roads and by a lack of power and cellular service lined up Monday for fresh water and a chance to message loved ones days after the storm that they were alive. At least 128 deaths in six Southeastern states have been attributed to the storm a number that climbed Monday as a clearer picture emerged of the damage it inflicted on an area stretching from Floridas Gulf Coast northward to the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia. North Carolinas governor, Roy Cooper, predicted the toll would rise as rescuers and other emergency workers reach areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding. During a briefing Monday, White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall suggested as many as 600 people hadnt been accounted for as of Monday afternoon, saying some might be dead. Government officials and aid groups were working to deliver basic supplies by air, truck and even mule to the hard-hit tourism hub of Asheville and its surrounding mountain towns. At least 40 people died in the county that includes Asheville. The destruction and desperation were unimaginable. A flattened cargo container sat atop a bridge crossing a river with muddy brown water. Overturned pontoon boats and splintered wooden docks and tree trunks covered the surface of a picturesque lake tucked between the mountains. A woman cradled her child while people around her gathered on a hillside where they found cellphone service, many sending a simple text: I'm OK. The North Carolina death toll included one horrific story after another of people who were trapped by floodwaters in their homes and vehicles or were killed by falling trees. A courthouse security officer died after being submerged inside his truck. A couple and a 6-year-old boy waiting to be rescued on a rooftop drowned when part of their home collapsed. Rescuers did manage to save dozens, including an infant and two others stuck on the top of a car in Atlanta. More than 50 hospital patients and staff in Tennessee were plucked by helicopter from the hospital rooftop in a daring rescue operation. How some of the worst-hit areas are coping Several main routes into Asheville were washed away or blocked by mudslides, including Interstate 40, and the citys water system was severely damaged, forcing residents to scoop creek water into buckets so they could flush toilets. People shared food and water and comforted one another in one neighborhood where a wall of water ripped away all of the trees and left behind a muddy mess not far away. Thats the blessing so far in this, Sommerville Johnston said outside her home, which has been without power since Friday. She planned on treating the neighborhood to venison stew from her powerless freezer before it goes bad. Just bring your bowl and spoon, she said. Others waited in a line for more than a block at Mountain Valley Water, a water seller, to fill up milk jugs and whatever other containers they could find. Derek Farmer, who brought three gallon-sized apple juice containers, said he had been prepared for the storm but now was nervous after three days without water. I just didnt know how bad it was going to be, Farmer said. Officials warned that rebuilding from the widespread loss of homes and property would be lengthy and difficult. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast, where deaths were also reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. Video showed a mass of debris, including overturned pontoon boats and splintered wooden docks, covering the surface of Lake Lure, a picturesque spot tucked between the mountains outside Asheville. Helene roared ashore in northern Florida late Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane and quickly moved through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains that flooded waterways. Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said Monday that hundreds of roads were closed across western North Carolina and that shelters were housing more than 1,000 people. Cooper implored area residents to avoid travel for their own safety and to keep the roads clear for emergency vehicles. More than 50 search teams spread throughout the region in search of stranded people. Waiting for help and searching for a signal in North Carolina Several dozen people gathered on high ground in Asheville, where they found one of the city's hottest commodities a cell signal. Is this day three or day four? Colleen Burnet asked. Its all been a blur. The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. Rainfall estimates in some areas topped more than 2 feet since Wednesday. President Joe Biden said Monday that the federal government would be with survivors and others in the nations southeast affected by Helene as long as it takes. He expected to ask Congress for additional money for disaster assistance and intends to travel to North Carolina later this week when his presence wouldnt divert from live-saving search-and-rescue missions. Ten federal search and rescue teams were on the ground and another nine were on their way, while trucks and cargo planes were arriving with food and water, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell surveyed damage with North Carolina's governor Monday. Volunteers were showing up too. Mike Toberer decided to bring a dozen of his mules to deliver food, water and diapers to the hard-to-reach mountainous areas. Well take our chainsaws, and well push those mules through, he said, noting that each one can carry about 200 pounds and travel 2 mph . Why western North Carolina was hit so hard Western North Carolina suffered relatively more devastation because thats where the remnants of Helene encountered the higher elevations and cooler air of the Appalachian Mountains, causing even more rain to fall. Asheville and many surrounding mountain towns were built in valleys, leaving them especially vulnerable to devastating rain and flooding. Plus, the ground already was saturated before Helene arrived, said Christiaan Patterson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. By the time Helene came into the Carolinas, we already had that rain on top of more rain, Patterson said. Climate change has exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones, sometimes within hours. Destruction from Florida to Virginia Along Florida's Gulf Coast, several feet of water swamped the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, forcing workers to move two manatees and sea turtles. All of the animals were safe but much of the aquariums vital equipment was damaged or destroyed, said James Powell, the aquariums executive director. Georgias governor, Brian Kemp, said the storm literally spared no one. Most people in and around Augusta, a city of about 200,000 people near the South Carolina border, were still without power Monday, and Kemp and other officials tried to reassure residents that they felt their misery. With at least 25 killed in South Carolina, Helene was the deadliest tropical cyclone to hit the state since Hurricane Hugo made landfall north of Charleston in 1989, killing 35 people. Tropical Storm Kirk forms and could become a powerful hurricane Tropical Storm Kirk formed Monday in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and is expected to become a large and powerful hurricane by Tuesday night or Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm was located about 700 miles west of the Cabo Verde Islands with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph . There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect, and the storm system was not a threat to land. ___ Associated Press reporters John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; Beatrice Dupuy in New York City and Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. LONDON -British foreign minister David Lammy repeated calls for an immediate ceasefire amid reports of a potential escalation in the Israel-Lebanon conflict, after discussing the matter with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the phone on Monday. UK foreign minister repeats calls for ceasefire after talk with Blinken on Middle East "We've both seen the reports in the media about a next phase for Israel in Lebanon," Lammy told Sky News, amid growing indications that Israel was on the verge of sending ground troops into Lebanon. "We both agreed the position that we had at the U.N. last week that the best way forward is an immediate ceasefire and to get back to a political solution." Earlier in the day a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged "all parties to show restraint". Lammy also reiterated the government's advice that British citizens leave Lebanon. "We have secured places on commercial flights that are flying tomorrow so that UK nationals can get out. I urge them to leave, because the situation on the ground is fast moving," he said. "Whilst we will do everything we can to protect British nationals and those plans are in place to do so, we cannot anticipate the circumstances and the speed with which we could do that if things escalate in a major way over the coming hours and days." In a statement, the government said it has also chartered a flight to help meet any additional demand from British nationals and their dependants wanting to leave the Middle Eastern country. That flight is due to leave Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport on Wednesday. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. US President Joe Biden pledged Monday that the government would help victims of Hurricane Helene for "as long as it takes," as he dismissed criticism from Donald Trump that he was not in command of the response to the disaster. Biden vows Helene aid, rejects Trump response criticism "We'll continue to surge resources, including food, water, communications and life saving equipment," Biden said in remarks at the White House, describing Helene as a "history-making" storm. "We'll be there as I said before, and I mean it as long as it takes to finish this job." Biden also rejected criticism by Republican candidate Trump that he and Vice President Kamala Harris should have been in Washington. Harris, the Democratic candidate, was on a campaign trip in California while Biden was at his beach house in Delaware and did not return to the White House until Sunday afternoon. Trump accused Biden at a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday of "sleeping" instead of dealing with the disaster and said Harris was at fundraisers with her "radical left lunatic donors." Biden said he would travel to the affected areas across the US southeast "as soon as possible," saying he had been told by responders it would be disruptive to do so immediately. He added that he spoke with the governors of North Carolina and Georgia as well as officials and leaders in Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee, while also approving emergency requests in seven states. "I was commanding, I was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday, and the day before as well," Biden said when asked about the criticisms. "I command, it's called a telephone." The southeastern United States continues to reel from the deadly storm with over 100 people dead. Biden said over 600 people remained unaccounted because they could not be contacted but said "God willing they're alive." Trump will on Monday visit Valdosta, Georgia where major flooding from the storm occurred. Georgia and North Carolina are both key states in the tight election being held in just five weeks' time. dk/nro/des This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. * California sues Catholic hospital for refusing to provide emergency abortion AG says hospital violated state law on emergency care * State aims to stop denials of medically necessary abortions By Brendan Pierson Sept 30 - California's attorney general on Monday sued a Catholic hospital accused of refusing to provide an emergency abortion in February to a woman whose water broke prematurely, putting her at risk of potentially life-threatening infection and hemorrhage. Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta accused Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka of discriminating against pregnant patients and violating the state's law requiring hospitals to provide necessary emergency care. The lawsuit, filed in Humboldt County Superior Court, seeks a court order to stop the hospital from denying medically necessary abortions in the future, as well as civil penalties. The hospital said it did not have an immediate comment on the lawsuit. The woman, Anna Nusslock, was driven to another hospital 12 miles away and was dangerously hemorrhaging by the time she reached the operating table, according to the lawsuit. Nusslock, who was pregnant with twins, said at a press conference on Monday that doctors at Providence agreed that she needed an abortion to avoid life-threatening complications. However, doctors said that they could not provide one because the Catholic-affiliated hospital's policy prohibited any intervention while they could hear "fetal heart tones" unless her life was in immediate danger, Nusslock added. Before she left for nearby Mad River Community Hospital, a nurse gave her a bucket full of towels "in case something happens in the car," Nusslock said. The hospital's policy "inflicted on me needless protracted pain, bleeding and trauma," Nusslock added. Bonta said Nusslock's ordeal was reminiscent of women's experiences in Republican-led states where abortion is banned. In California, Bonta added, the law is clear that hospitals must provide an abortion if it is medically necessary. "We need hospitals to follow the law, at the bare minimum," Bonta said. "That is not too much to ask. ... If you are a human being, you can see how cruel this was." The case is the latest in a series of legal battles over emergency abortion in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 ruling that allowed states to ban the procedure. For instance, a Kansas woman in July sued the University of Kansas Health System for refusing to give her a medically necessary abortion in 2022. The case is pending. The U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld a lower court's ruling that federal law on emergency care overrides Idaho's near-total abortion ban in medical emergencies, but litigation over the issue is expected to continue. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Donald Trump is being blasted for making an odd remark at his Wisconsin rally on Saturday, September 28. During his speech, the former president slammed the Biden administrations border policy as a "betrayal" to Americans. Making a strange claim about migrants' tech-savviness, he said, They have a phone app so the people can come into our country. Donald Trump mocked for saying 'people don't have any idea' what a phone app is (Photo by JEFF SWENSEN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)(Getty Images via AFP) "These are smart immigrants, I guess, because most people don't have any idea what the hell a phone app is, he added. The Kamala HQ X account shared a video of Trump making the claim, with many taking to the comment section to blast him. How do these people listen and clap to this garbage? one user wrote. Another example of how out of touch with reality & the public Donald Trump really is, one user wrote in the comment section of the above video, while another said, His concept of "most people" explains his terrible instincts about policy. Senile and demented, one user wrote, while another mocked, Only a stable genius like Trump knows what a phone app is. Wow! This guy thinks hes so smart that hes dumb! one user wrote. Trump is showing his age when he mocks that people don't know what a phone app is, one user wrote, while another said, By most people he's referring to himself. Another wrote, Omg hes such an embarrassment. Kamala Harris can never be forgiven for her erasing our border Trumps Wisconsin rally came a day after Kamala Harris visited the US-Mexico border for the first time in her presidential campaign this year. Addressing the crowd, Trump called the vice president mentally disabled and mentally impaired. He blamed Harris and Joe Biden for allowing undocumented immigrants to enter the United States, accusing some immigrants of wanting to rape, pillage, thieve, plunder and kill the people of the United States of America. Theres no greater act of disloyalty than to extinguish the sovereignty of your own nation right through your border, no matter what lies she tells, he said. Kamala Harris can never be forgiven for her erasing our border, and she must never be allowed to become president of the United States and Wisconsin. Former US President Donald Trump has proposed a strange solution to the nation's crime-related issues, which some have compared to the renowned horror film series The Purge. Donald Trump attends a campaign rally at the Bayfront Convention Center on September 29, 2024 in Erie, Pennsylvania.(Getty Images via AFP) During a rally on Sunday in Pennsylvania, Trump mentioned instances of daytime robberies happening in local businesses. He stated that thieves have to be taught a lesson and offered an easy and swift way to accomplish so. If you had one really violent day. One rough hour -- and I mean real rough -- the word would get out and it would end immediately, the GOP presidential candidate declared. He claimed that the reason for the surge in crime rate is that police are not allowed to do their job because US VP Kamala Harris and the liberal left won't let them. Trump faces flak for his PURGE policy proposal Following the speech, a lot of people speculated that Trump's proposals are based on The Purge movie narrative. Did Trump just f*****g suggest The Purge? wondered Journalist Brian Krassenstein. Trump is literally proposing The Purge lmao, another X user wrote, while one more commented, [Trump's] campaign will try to spin this, but that's exactly what it sounds like. Trump is proposing THE PURGE as a criminal justice reform. We should all take this threat very seriously, a fourth user stated. According to the plot of the first Purge movie, which was released in 2013, America has a 24-hour period during which all crimes are permissible. Also Read: Swing states opinion poll: It's advantage Trump against Kamala in five of seven battleground states It seems Trump intends to allow the police complete latitude to clamp down on all crimes for one violent day, and maybe even for an hour. The tagline of the third movie in the series, Purge: Election Year, was inspired by Trump's 2016 campaign slogan, Keep America Great. Trump has decried immigrant-related criminality, particularly in Aurora, Colorado, where a Venezuelan gang has allegedly invaded an apartment complex. In reference to Aurora, Trump stated last week in North Carolina, They're going in with guns that are beyond even military scope and they're taking over apartment buildings. Theyre literally taking over those towns. However, the mayor of Aurora stated that his community has been treated as a political punching bag and the rhetoric is overblown. The European Union must defend itself against the challenges from China and the United States without resorting to protectionism, former Italian prime minister Mario Draghi said Monday. EU must tackle China, US threats without being protectionist: Draghi Draghi, also the former head of the European Central Bank, delivered the strong message just weeks after warning in a much-anticipated report that Europe faced "existential" challenges. EU chief Ursula von der Leyen last year asked Draghi to report back on how the 27-country bloc could boost its competitiveness amid increasing global insecurity and economic challenges. Draghi is now working to ensure his warnings are heeded by EU policy makers. "The European Union is an open economy, and it's more open than anybody else. Fifty percent of our GDP comes from trade, versus something like 37 percent in China, 27 percent in the United States," Draghi said. "We are different from the United States. We cannot build a protectionist wall," he told an event hosted by the Bruegel think tank in Brussels. "We cannot do it and we wouldn't be able to do it even if we wanted to do it because we would harm ourselves." Draghi said there should be "very cautious, sector by sector" measures that "directly addressed only at making the playing field level" in the face of threats from abroad, notably China and the United States. Beijing and Washington have ploughed billions into developing clean technologies locally, which Europe fears will leave its industry falling further behind them. Draghi said competition abroad was being driven by innovation but "also by subsidies, industrial policies, state ownership and other practices". The EU's priority, he said, should be "to rebuild" respect for the World Trade Organization's rules, but he accepted that the world had changed. Brussels has already acted more cautiously than the United States against China. While Washington imposed duties of 100 percent on electric cars made in China, the EU has moved to impose tariffs of up to 36 percent, on top of the current 10 percent. The EU says the duties on which member states are expected to vote this week are intended to level the playing field, after a probe concluded that Chinese state subsidies were unfairly undercutting European rivals. raz/ec/js This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. By Trevor Hunnicutt and Tim Reid Harris, Trump 2024 campaigns interrupted by Hurricane Helene LAS VEGAS/WASHINGTON, Sept 30 - The aftermath of Hurricane Helene interrupted the campaigns of presidential rivals Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on Monday after Harris cut short a campaign trip to fly back to Washington and Trump visited a storm-hit city in the battleground state of Georgia. Democratic Vice President Harris plans to visit the southeast region "soon," according to an official who declined to be identified. The hurricane was responsible for the deaths of over 100 people in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia, while millions more faced power outages and destroyed roads. There were no immediate details on when Harris would visit or where she would go. Republican candidate Trump visited Valdosta, a city in the swing state of Georgia, where he thanked local leaders and first responders for their response to the hurricane and pledged "complete solidarity" with those who lost loved ones, homes and businesses. Democratic President Joe Biden said he told North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper he would visit the state later this week, and expects to be there by Wednesday or Thursday. Harris on Sunday flew back to Washington earlier than planned from Las Vegas, Nevada, where she was on a campaign trip, to take part in briefings at the headquarters for emergency management agency FEMA. She spoke with Cooper, a Democrat, and reached out to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, both Republicans, to discuss their needs, according to the official. North Carolina and Georgia are among a handful of swing states that will likely decide the White House race between Harris and Trump. Harris' campaign has announced campaign stops in two other battlegrounds, Pennsylvania and Michigan, on Wednesday and Friday, respectively. Vice presidential candidates Tim Walz, a Democrat, and JD Vance, a Republican, will debate on Tuesday. More than 3,300 federal personnel have been deployed as part of the hurricane response, including on search and rescue efforts and restoring power, Biden administration officials have said. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Eight alleged migrants were taken into custody on Saturday for looting in flood-ravaged sections of Washington County. Sheriff Keith Sexton informed them that they all will appear in court for initial hearings Monday. Hurricane Helene: The arrest of eight alleged migrants took place in the 107 area of Tennessee, which is still severely affected by catastrophic flooding.(X) The arrest took place in the 107 area of Tennessee, which is still severely affected by catastrophic flooding. Out of the eight individuals, who have been transferred to the Washington County Detention Center on $20,000 bonds each, five were accused of aggravated burglary for breaking into occupied structures, Knox News reported. These men were identified as Albin Nahun Vega-Rapalo, 24, Kevin Noe Martinez-Lopez, 25, Marvin Hernandez-Martinez, 43, David Bairon Rapalo-Rapalo, 37, and Dayln Gabriel Guillen Guillen, 37. Jesus Leodan Garcia-Peneda, 51, Ersy Leonel Ortis-Valdez, 33, Josue Berardo Ortis-Valdez, 30, were charged with burglary. Amidst the devastating flooding, Washington County Sheriff's officers remained on patrol, especially around the flood zone. Sheriff Sexton stated that deputies will keep policing flood zones in order to stop more looting and guarantee public safety. Also Read: Tesla bursts into flames inside Florida garage flooded by Hurricane Helene, terrifying video surfaces: Watch Tennessee bridge over Nolichucky River collapsed due to floods On September 27, the bridge across the Nolichucky River collapsed after Hurricane Helene's remnants carried it away in East Tennessee. There were no reports of injuries during the collapse of Kisner Bridge since all bridges over rivers were closed. Situated near Afton, Greene County, Tennessee, the Kisner Bridge spans Highway 107. Greene County is facing an extremely dangerous situation of Biblical proportion, according to Greene County Mayor Kevin Morrison's statement on Friday. Numerous local roads have also been swept out due to massive floods. Meanwhile, local officials are assessing the damage. Five bridges are completely gone, and fourteen state highways are inoperable. Death toll from Helene rises to 100 As a Category 4 hurricane, the Helene hit Big Bend region of Florida on Thursday. Although the storm is predicted to move on by tomorrow, flash flooding and excessive rain are still a concern for portions of the Appalachians. Over 2.1 million faced power cuts across several states in the US. President Joe Biden authorized the declaration of a major disaster for Florida to help the areas impacted by Hurricane Helene. At least 102 people have perished in six states after Hurricane Helene tore across the Southeast. With at least 42 deaths so far, North Carolina suffered the highest death toll, followed by South Carolina (25), Georgia (17), Florida (11), Tennessee (4) and Virginia (2), according to CNN. By Shivangi Acharya and Neha Arora India, US likely to sign pact on critical minerals, sources say NEW DELHI -India and the United States are likely to sign an initial pact for cooperation on critical minerals this week, two Indian government sources said, as the two countries try to bolster trade ties despite diplomatic hiccups. They are expected to sign an agreement to partner and cooperate in the area of critical minerals during Indian trade minister Piyush Goyal's visit to Washington, the sources said. Goyal is scheduled to be in the U.S. this week to discuss ways to deepen overall bilateral trade ties, according to one of the sources, weeks before the White House's preparation for a leadership change following the presidential election later this year. Goyal is expected to meet U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai this week, according to a statement from the Indian government. A spokesperson for Tai's office could not immediately be reached for comment. She is due to meet with Goyal on Thursday in Washington, according to a USTR public schedule. Earlier this month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden met in Delaware one-on-one as well as part of the Quad grouping which also includes the leaders of Australia and Japan. The initial pact on critical minerals would help build supply chains, exchange technical know-how, and promote collaboration between Indian and American businesses in the sector, the first official said. India's federal trade ministry and the U.S. embassy did not immediately respond to a Reuters email for comment. "The two sides are negotiating a MoU which intends to enhance bilateral collaboration to increase and diversify essential critical mineral supply chains and leverage their complementary strengths," the Indian trade ministry said on Sept. 29. Reuters reported in June that state-run Coal India Ltd is exploring lithium blocks in Argentina along with a U.S. company to secure supplies of the battery material. India has also proposed a separate critical minerals trade deal with the United States. This deal would prohibit the imposition of tariffs by both countries and will be similar to a pact with Japan that grants Japanese automakers wider access to a U.S. electric vehicles tax credit. India is a member of the U.S.-led Minerals Security Partnership, which aims to ensure adequate supplies of minerals needed to meet zero-carbon goals. Last year, Modi's government identified 30 minerals, including lithium and nickel, as critical for driving the adoption of clean energy. India-U.S. bilateral trade in the 2023-24 fiscal year stood at nearly $120 billion, a record high. Under the Biden administration, the two countries mutually resolved all their disputes at the World Trade Organisation, a development India called "historic". This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. After a massive nationwide outage that affected over a million Americans, Verizon confirmed that its cell service is being restored. Starting at 11 a.m. ET on Monday, Down Detector began showing a big spike in Verizon outages. Nearly 100k users reported the issue on the site that famously tracks complaints about service outages. The number of people facing the issue climbed to over 1.6 million, Down Detector shared on X. SAN ANSELMO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 30: In this photo illustration, the Verizon logo is displayed on a smartphone screen on September 30, 2024 in San Anselmo California. A widespread Verizon outage is affecting tens of thousands of Verizon customers across the country and is disrupting their ability to make calls, texts and access the internet. Verizon is working to solve the issue and restore service to customers. (Photo Illustration by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) (Photo by JUSTIN SULLIVAN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)(Getty Images via AFP) Verizon confirms its service is back again after massive outage As Verizon customers continued to face the issue for hours, the company issued a statement that read, We are aware of an issue impacting service for some customers. Our engineers are engaged and we are working quickly to identify and solve the issue. The tweet garnered nearly 9,000 responses, with users expressing their frustrations. The cities that were hit hardest by the outages were Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Omaha, Denver, Indianapolis, and Las Vegas. After hours-long outages, Verizon issued another statement on X, confirming that its service has been restored. Verizon engineers are making progress on our network issue and service has started to be restored. We know how much people rely on Verizon and apologize for any inconvenience some of our customers experienced today. We continue to work around the clock to fully resolve this issue, the company wrote. However, the outages appear to still continue, as Down Detector tweeted, The #VerizonOutage continues with over 1.6 million user reports on Downdetector. Customers of AT&T and T-Mobile trying to contact Verizon subscribers may also notice issues. Affected customers flocked to social media to vent their anger, with one X user asking, Me trying to understand how Verizon, a whole cellphone company, just doesn't work at all. Another frustrated user said, Too many people are joking about the Verizon outage. Do you understand how insanely dangerous and irresponsible this is for a cell service to be down THIS long? This is insane. Despite the fact that the polls are tight, it looks unlikely that Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will appear for another debate before election day. However, their running mates are preparing to face off. CBS News will host the vice presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz this week. JD Vance vs Tim Walz debate: When and where to watch, important rules and more (AP Photo)(AP) The debate, which will take place at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York, is set to be moderated by CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell and Face the Nation moderator and chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan. There will reportedly be 90 minutes of debate time. When and what time is the debate? The debate will begin at 9 pm Eastern Time on Tuesday, October 1. There will be two four-minute commercial breaks during the 90 minutes. Where to watch the debate? The debate will be broadcast on CBS, as well as other networks like PBS, NBC, CNN, C-SPAN, Fox News, MSNBC, and more. It will be livestreamed on CBS Newss YouTube channel, CBS News 24/7, Paramount+, C-SPAN, and other sites. What are the debate rules? The candidates microphones will remain on by default, but CBS News does reserve the right to mute them. There will be no live audience, just the way it was in the two presidential debates this year. Candidates will not be given the questions and topics in advance, and only the moderators can ask questions. There will be no opening statements, but candidates can give a two-minute closing statement after the debate ends. The candidates will get two minutes to answer each question, one minute for rebuttals, and one minute each for follow-ups at the discretion of the moderators. The candidates cannot interact with their campaign staff during the commercial breaks. Both the candidates will stand at identical lecterns. While Walz will stand on the left side of the stage, Vance will be on the right. The candidates will be provided with a blank notepad, pen, and a bottle of water, but pre-written notes and props are not allowed. What to expect While vice presidential debates are not considered as important as presidential debates, it is possible that this one in particular will matter as this will be the last time the campaigns face off on prime time TV in this format unless, of course, Trump and Harris agree to another debate. As the race is very close, swaying even a few voters in a key battleground state could prove beneficial for the candidates. Frank Sesno, professor and director of strategic initiatives at the GW School of Media and Public Affairs, noted that this debate could be Walz and Vances chance to prove to the world that they are ready for the race, as the two are still introducing themselves to a national audience. "Both sides are trying to be the defenders from those who would destroy the country," Sesno said, according to USA Today. "It's this very apocalyptic vision that each is trying to hang on the other." "What is actually happening out there is that there really are issues that people are living," Sesno said. "So if it's just sloganeering, that's not gonna be enough and they know that." President Joe Biden says he will visit Hurricane Helene-impacted areas this week as long as it does not disrupt rescue and recovery operations. Biden planned to speak about the administration's response efforts in remarks from the White House on Monday.(REUTERS) Biden was briefed again on Sunday evening about the impact of the devastating storm on an enormous swath of the Southeast. In a brief exchange with reporters, he described the impact of the storm as stunning and said that the administration is giving states everything we have to help with their response to the storm. Biden planned to speak about the administration's response efforts in remarks from the White House on Monday. The White House also said Vice President Kamala Harris will visit the storm-ravaged areas as soon as it is possible without disrupting emergency response operations. At a Las Vegas rally Sunday night, Harris spoke about the impact of Helene, saying, I know everyone here sends their thoughts and prayer for the folks who have been so devastated by that hurricane. She added: We will stand with these communities for as long as it takes and make sure they are able to rebuild. Harris was spending Sunday night in Las Vegas and had planned campaign stops in the city on Monday. But her office announced that shed instead head back to Washington earlier than expected and will attend a briefing on the damage caused by Helene at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A North Carolina county that includes the mountain city of Asheville reported earlier Sunday that 30 people were killed due to the storm, pushing the overall death toll to at least 91 people across several states. Biden on Sunday evening made calls to several state and local government officials in areas impacted by the hurricane, including Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp; North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper; Valdosta, Georgia Mayor Scott Matheson; and Taylor County, Florida Emergency Management Director John Louk. Biden told the officials the administration will continue providing support to impacted communities for as long as it takes," according to the White House. Biden, who spent much of the weekend at his beach house in Delaware, has received frequent updates on the storm from FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell, homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall and other officials. Harris received similar briefings while on board Air Force Two, according to the White House. The White House said Biden directed Criswell to figure out what can be done to accelerate support to isolated communities that are having difficulty accessing assistance. Former President Donald Trump's campaign announced earlier Sunday he'll visit Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday to survey Helenes impact on that state, one of several hotly contested battlegrounds that will be pivotal in the November presidential election. Trump is expected to receive a briefing, facilitate the distribution of relief supplies and deliver remarks during the visit, according to his campaign. Vice President Kamala Harris poked at Donald Trump over crowd sizes, his refusal to debate again and his privileged background on Sunday as she hauled in campaign cash in California and held a raucous rally at the same Nevada venue where the Republican nominee had appeared just two weeks ago. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at the Expo at World Market Center on September 29, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Getty Images via AFP) During the presidential debate, Harris appeared to get under the former president's skin when she said people were leaving his rallies early because of his rambling speeches. And she's kept it up on the campaign trail. The vice president told donors at a tony Los Angeles fundraiser that, as she campaigns around the country, her crowds are pretty big. And then before a roaring Las Vegas crowd estimated at 7,500, she renewed her jabs at Trump over being reluctant to debate again, saying, The American people have a right to hear us discuss the issues. And as you say here in Las Vegas, Im all in. Im all in. Harris four-day West Coast trip had dual purposes: She opened and closed it with stops in Sun Belt battlegrounds Arizona and Nevada where the vice president is trying to shore up support as Trump pounds her relentlessly over illegal migration. And her mid-stay in California was devoted to hauling in campaign contributions from donors in her blue home state. Harris also moved into what Trump considers his terrain immigration with a Friday visit to the border town of Douglas, Arizona. It was her first trip to the U.S.-Mexico border since taking over for President Joe Biden atop the Democratic presidential ticket. Harris border visit in Arizona seemed to irk Trump. The GOP leader has spent two days railing about the vice president during his rallies, upping his personal attacks against her, claiming she was responsible for a border invasion, and stirring up unfounded fears that shed usher in lawlessness if elected. Harris gave the same response she usually does to his insults, even despite Trump calling her mentally impaired. We just see the same old tired show from the same old tired playbook, she told a Los Angeles crowd of donors on Sunday, some who shouted boring! in response. Hours later in Las Vegas, she also revived her jabs at Trump for his silver platter background that nonetheless produced six bankruptcies, saying, "I come from the middle class, and I will never forget where I come from. Harris has warned the race is as close as it could possibly be, a margin-of-error race. But at the Los Angeles fundraiser, she added: The election is here and let me be clear. We are going to win. That event was full of celebrities: Stevie Wonder, Keegan Michael-Key, Sterling K. Brown, Demi Lovato, Jessica Alba and Lily Tomlin attended and Halle Bailey and Alanis Morissette took the stage. It, and a fundraiser a day earlier in San Francisco, raised a combined $55 million for Harris' campaign. Harris was spending Sunday night in Las Vegas and had planned campaign stops in the city on Monday. But her office announced that she'd instead head back to Washington earlier than expected and will attend a briefing on the damage caused by Hurricane Helene at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Meanwhile, the vice president is continuing to notch Republican support. Former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake became the latest to endorse her. He credited Harris with a fine character and love of country and said he wants a president who does not treat political adversaries as enemies or try to subvert the will of voters. Flake, a longtime critic of the former president, joins a list of anti-Trump Republicans who have said they will vote for the Democratic ticket, including Dick Cheney, the deeply conservative former vice president, and his daughter, Liz. But Maryland Senate candidate Larry Hogan, a former Republican governor and a sharp critic of Trump, said Harris has yet to earn his vote, though Trump won't get it. In Nevada, where Harris held her latest rally, all voters automatically receive ballots by mail unless they opt out a pandemic-era change that was set in state law. That means most ballots could start going out in a matter of weeks. Harris will be back in Las Vegas on Oct. 10 for a town hall with Hispanic voters. Both she and Trump have campaigned frequently in the city, highlighting the critical role that Nevada's six electoral votes could play in deciding an election expected to be exceedingly close. Trump held his own Las Vegas rally on Sept. 13 at the Expo World Market Center, where Harris spoke Sunday. She's also held events at the same venues that Trump used in Milwaukee, Atlanta and suburban Phoenix. During a campaign stop in Las Vegas in June, Trump promised to eliminate taxes on tips received by waiters, hotel workers and thousands of other service industry employees. Harris used her own Las Vegas rally in August to make the same promise. Fully doing away with federal taxes on tips would probably require an act of Congress. Still, Nevada's Culinary Union, which represents 60,000 hospitality workers in Las Vegas and Reno, has endorsed Harris. BRUSSELS Lithuania on Monday referred the hard-line president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, members of his government, security officials and military officers to the International Criminal Court, accusing them of committing crimes against humanity by forcing their own people to flee the country. Lithuania refers Belarus to the ICC, alleging crimes against humanity over opposition crackdown Opposition groups in Belarus have faced a severe crackdown since nationwide protests erupted in 2020, after disputed election results gave Lukashenko a sixth term in office. Hundreds of thousands of people fled the country and opposition leaders were either forced into exile or sent to prison. In its referral to the ICC, Lithuania said there are reasonable grounds to believe that Lukashenkos government, police and armed forces have been involved in deportation, persecution and other inhumane acts against Belarus civilians for more than four years. It said the Belarus authorities have forcibly displaced hundreds of thousands of lawful residents of Belarus to the territories of neighboring Lithuania, and other countries that are signatories of the Rome Statute on which the court is founded. The Lithuanian government asserted that the goal of the Belarus was to rid itself, by any means, of all critics and opponents in order to consolidate the regimes authoritarian hold on power. All direct perpetrators, their commanders and superiors were clearly aware of the attack. Lithuania said this amounts to a widespread and systematic attack on the civilian population. In a statement, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan confirmed that he had received Lithuanias referral and said that he would conduct a preliminary investigation to establish whether it is worth proceeding with a case. As Lukashenko seeks a seventh term next year to extend his three-decade rule, opposition leaders in exile say he is ramping up the pressure on Belarusians who moved abroad. The aim, they say, is to quash any opposition support from overseas. Months of major demonstrations over the widely denounced balloting in 2020 saw more than 65,000 people arrested over the last four years, with many of them severely beaten, according to the Belarusian human rights group Viasna. Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has been living in Lithuania, described the ICC referral as a monumental step towards justice for Belarus. The crimes committed by this regime, from forced deportations to illegal arrests and torture, cannot go unpunished. Lithuanias courage gives us hope that the world is finally holding the regime accountable for his atrocities, she said in a statement. Tsikhanouskaya said she and her supporters will gather on Tuesday at the Lithuanian Embassy in The Hague, where the ICC is based. She called on other countries to join Lithuania in holding the Belarus authorities to account. This is not just about Belarus it is about justice for all who value democratic peace, she said. Her husband, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, is among several prominent imprisoned Belarus opposition figures whom relatives say have not been heard from in a year or more. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. Police are on the lookout for a man who broke into an Upper East Side apartment and raped a 29-year-old woman on Saturday, September 28. The attack took place near East 92nd Street and First Avenue around 3:40 am. Man breaks into NYC apartment and rapes sleeping woman (NYPD) The suspect allegedly woke up the sleeping woman and punched her in the face. After the assault, the woman was rushed to Lenox Hill Hospital and was listed in stable condition, the NYPD said, according to New York Post. Cops later released surveillance video of the suspect leaving the scene, wearing blue jeans and a white shirt with a design on the front. He was also wearing a jacket with a camouflage pattern. The case has reportedly been presented to the Manhattan Special Victims Squad for further investigation. Police have asked anyone with information on the alleged rapist to contact NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS or at crimestopers.nypdonline.org. Another brutal assault This horrific incident comes as there is a rise in cases of sexual assaults in the Big Apple. In May this year, police arrested a man in connection to a brutal sexual assault in which a man wrapped a belt around a womans neck, dragged her behind a car and raped her. The NYPD arrested the suspect, 39-year-old Kashaan Parks, on May 14. Parks was charged with second-degree rape, second-degree assault, second-degree strangulation, sex abuse in the first-degree, first-degree public lewdness and harassment in the first-degree in connection with the incident. The assault took place near East 152nd Street and 3rd Avenue on May 1, ABC 7 reported. The most unexpected part of the case is that Parks mother, 56-year-old Beverly Parks, turned her son in, claiming his wife called and told her he had assaulted a woman. Im his mother that turned him in. Im the one that facilitated him being arrested, Beverly told New York Post. I found out about this yesterday morning at 5:12 am, and Ive been trying to get my son to do the right thing ever since. And I did. SEOUL, - North Korea's defence ministry denounced the United States' deployment of nuclear strategic assets in South Korea, state media KCNA reported on Tuesday, as Seoul was gearing up for a rare military parade marking Armed Forces Day. North Korea criticises US deployment of nuclear assets in South Korea Kim Kang Il, North Korea's vice defence minister, accused Washington of running a "reckless military bluff" and stoking tension by sending a nuclear-powered submarine recently to South Korea and again flying a B-1B bomber for the planned parade. South Korean media have reported a B-1B bomber will join the parade set for Tuesday afternoon, flying over Seoul alongside allied fighter jets and other aircraft. South Korea's military and U.S. Forces Korea have not confirmed the bomber's participation, but Seoul's defence ministry said the parade was partly intended to show off its military might as a deterrent to the North. Kim said the U.S. show of force highlighted its strategic disadvantage on the Korean peninsula over North Korea, as well as South Korea's "chronic nuclear phobia." He called for fresh measures in response. "We can examine such fresh action plans any time and carry them out," he said, vowing to continue improving the country's "powerful war deterrent," according to KCNA. Last week, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, criticised the presence of a U.S. nuclear submarine in South Korea, which docked at the port city of Busan to get supplies and allow crew members to rest. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. The New York Times editorial board on Monday endorsed Kamala Harris, calling the Democrat the only patriotic choice for president in the race against Republican Donald Trump. NY Times acknowledged Harris may not be the perfect candidate for every voter, especially those who are frustrated and angry about our government's failures to fix what's broken."(REUTERS) But the paper did not even mention the vice president's name until the fourth paragraph of its written endorsement instead focusing attention on Trump's unworthiness for the presidency, calling him morally and temperamentally unfit. This unequivocal, dispiriting truth Donald Trump is not fit to be president should be enough for any voter who cares about the health of our country and the stability of our democracy to deny him re-election. It's an anyone but Trump approach that The New Yorker took one day prior, with editors at the magazine saying the Republican represents the ongoing assault on the stability, the nerves, and the nature of the United States. In its lengthy endorsement, the Times acknowledged Harris may not be the perfect candidate for every voter, especially those who are frustrated and angry about our government's failures to fix what's broken. Yet we urge Americans to contrast Ms. Harris's record with her opponent's, the paper said. Ms. Harris is more than a necessary alternative. The Times editorial board has not thrown its weight behind a Republican for president since 1956, when it backed Dwight Eisenhower. But the paper emphasized that this election is about something more foundational than competing politics and principles in a two-party system. Unless American voters stand up to him, Mr. Trump will have the power to do profound and lasting harm to our democracy, the paper wrote. The Times said voters are right to ask more from Harris when it comes to policy specifics: Given the stakes of this election, Ms. Harris may think that she is running a campaign designed to minimize the risks of an unforced error... under the belief that being the only viable alternative to Mr. Trump may be enough to bring her to victory. That strategy may ultimately prove winning, but it's a disservice to the American people and to her own record. Meanwhile, it called the Republican Party little more than an instrument of Trump's quest to regain power and claimed a second Trump term would be much more damaging and divisive than the first. Kamala Harris is the only choice, the editorial board said. Donald Trump's take on overtime payments has become the latest flashpoint between him and Kamala Harris. Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, Pa., Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024.(AP) In a rare moment of honesty, former US president openly admitted that he hated to pay workers overtime at the Trump companies and always preferred replacing those who asked for it. After endorsing his policy to remove tax on overtime, he spoke his mind by stating despite initial reluctance. during his Erie rally in Pennsylvania Trump anyways continued, I shouldnt say this. I know a lot about overtime. I hated to give overtime, I hated it. Id get otherI shouldnt say thisbut Id get other people in. I wouldnt pay, Trump said, adding: This is going to lead to a lot more. I think its going to be economically positive, but Im not even doing it for that reason. Im doing it because, like the tax on overtime, its something so good. Interestingly, Trump's comments come soon after he endorsed his proposals to eliminate income tax on tips, overtime and Social Security. He claims it would give a boost to economy, then going on to add that he never liked paying overtime to his own workers. Few days back at rally in Tucson, Arizona, Trump had unveiled the policy to give people more of an incentive to work. "If you're an overtime worker, when you're past 40 hours a week, think of that, your overtime hours will be tax-free," Trump said. Harris campaign links Trump's views on overtime to Project 2025 Harris campaign used the comments as fodder to hit back at the Republican presidential candidate. In a statement to Daily Beast, Harris-Walz 2024 spokesperson Sarafina Chitik stated, Donald Trump is finally owning up to it: Hes built an entire career on screwing over workers. Its exactly what he did in the White Housetrying to rip away tips and overtime pay for millions of workersand exactly what he plans to do in a second term. Trump is a scab, plain and simple. He is selling snake oil lies in a desperate attempt to trick voters. He cant be trustedworkers know it, and voters know it. Theyll elect a champion who has their back by voting for Vice President Harris this November, it further stated. Democrats blatantly claimed, Trumps mindset against overtime is similar to the Project 2025 plan that calls for allowing employers to stop paying workers for overtime. Prince Harry will be visiting England this week and while everyone awaits a royal reunion, it does not appear to be in the cards. King Charles would like a meet with his beloved younger son, however, Queen Camilla seems to not agree with the idea. Camilla wants the King to skip meeting with Harry to avoid any kind of stress during his battle with cancer, as per one of the Queens friends who told The Daily Beast. Prince Harry's visit may not lead to a meeting with King Charles due to Queen Camilla's concerns over stress during the King's cancer treatment.((Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP), (Photo by Alex Kent / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)) Also Read: Prince Harry pays heartwarming tribute to late Princess Diana in NYC: I know that my mum would be Camilla advice the King to not meet Harry King Charles is reportedly weighing in counsel from his advisers including his wife, Camilla about having a meeting with Prince Harry. The advisers, however, suggested maintaining caution due to the possibility of the Duke of Sussex directly asking his father to intervene in his legal issue about his security with the British government i.e. his fathers government. The advice comes in light that it could add to the Kings stress amid his cancer treatment which could hinder the progress. Regardless, a definite meeting has not been scheduled from either side despite the father-sons efforts to reconnect. The two recently attempted to break the ice in their relationship with Charles publicly wishing Harry on his birthday on social media. Harry also did not update anything to his memoir, Spares paperback edition about the royals. In addition, King Charles will be travelling to Scotland during Harrys trip to the U.K. as a source told the media outlet, The king has an instinctive impulse towards Christian reconciliation, and his cancer diagnosis has only sharpened that. He wants this settled, not just because he loves both his sons, but because it has been so destabilizing for the monarchy. However, as revealed by Camillas friend to the news outlet, she has been the principal voice urging Charles to slow down and take things easy. The last thing she wants him to do is to get stressed out over a meeting with Harry. Also Read: JD Vance vs Tim Walz debate: When and where to watch, important rules and more Tension to ease among royals? It seems that tension is slowly easing out of the royal family and Harry if the royal X (formerly known as Twitter) account were to be believed as it posted a birthday wish for the Duke of Sussex which was reposted by Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton. However, a source revealed to Daily Beast, It was just a company thing. Happy birthday blah blah blah. It makes sense for Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace to align themselves on a little bit of essentially routine messaging around Harry. It shows William is willing to respect his fathers seniority and do what is asked of him. Amidst escalating tensions in the Middle East and death of Hezbollah terror chief, The New York Times came under massive criticism after publishing an article that many claimed attempted to downplay the image of Hassan Nasrallah by portraying him as a supporter of equality for all religious groups in the region. Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, carried out multiple horrifying attacks on Jews worldwide because he wanted destruction of the Jewish state.(AFP) On Friday, Israel's military launched a massive aerial bombardment on Beirut, killing Nasrallah, 64, in an event that shocked the world. Published without a byline on Saturday, the article headed Protesters Mourn Nasrallah's Death Around the World praises Nasrallah as a gifted and powerful orator who maintained that there should be one Palestine with equality for Muslims, Jews, and Christians. Nasrallah and his group carried out multiple horrifying attacks on Jews worldwide because he wanted destruction of the Jewish state. According to the article, Shiite Muslims beloved Nasrallah for offering social services in Lebanon. Over the last 40 years, Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Islamist terrorist group, has been accused of carrying out a number of deadly terror attacks against Jews, including the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires that claimed the lives of 85 people and the subsequent plane crash that killed 21 people, including several Jewish. Hezbollah carried out multiple suicide bombs in Israel during the 2000s, frequently attacking civilians in public areas like restaurants and buses. In the Golan Heights, which is under Israeli control, Hezbollah launched a missile attack this summer that killed at least 12 civilians aged between 10 and 20. Also Read: Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner hails Israel's killing of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah, declares Iran now fully exposed NYT draws massive backlash for its article One X user commented on a post emphasising certain elements of the article, saying, The Times readership is now down to liberal elites, politicians, Communists and Islamists. This is so embarrassing, another wrote, questioning, How can anyone take the NYT seriously anymore? Another person blamed the Gray Lady of Jihadsplaining and attempting to turn explicit calls for genocide into something positive. Nasrallah's death is being seen as a severe setback for the group and that it may cause instability throughout Lebanon. Following his demise, an ecstatic IDF spokeswoman declared at the time of his passing: Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorize the world, Daily Mail reported. SpaceX launched a two-person crew to the International Space Station, the start of a mission to bring home two NASA astronauts stuck in orbit after flying on Boeing Co.s Starliner spacecraft. In this image made from a NASA livestream, the two astronauts stuck at the International Space Station since June 2024, Butch Wilmore, far left, and Suni Williams, far right, welcome two new residents who flew up on SpaceX, NASA's Nick Hague, front left in blue, and the Russian Space Agency's Alexander Gorbunov, front right in blue, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. Behind them, from left in black, are NASA's Jeanette Epps, Russia's Alexander Grebenkin, NASA's Mike Barratt and NASA's Matthew Dominick. From left, wearing red, are Russia's Ivan Vagner, NASA's Don Pettit and Russia's Alexei (AP) NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov took off inside a SpaceX Crew Dragon from Cape Canaveral, Florida, just after 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Crew-9 capsule docked with the ISS on Sunday at roughly 5:30 p.m. Eastern time and Hague and Gorbunov entered the ISS about 90 minutes later. The pair had two empty seats next to them that NASA astronauts Barry Butch Wilmore and Sunita Suni Williams will fill when the spacecraft returns next year. The Crew-9 flight was meant to have a four-person crew but NASA removed two crew members to make room for the Starliner duo after technical failures with Boeings spacecraft. Astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson relinquished their seats so their colleagues could return to Earth. Were going to find spots for them to fly, Ken Bowersox, NASAs associate administrator for space operations, said of Cardman and Wilson during a Friday news conference. We really appreciate how hard it is to give up a mission and wait a little bit longer. Wilmore and Williams have been on the ISS since June 6, when they arrived on Starliner. During their docking, the spacecraft experienced a number of helium leaks and failures of its thrusters tiny engines the vehicle uses to maneuver through space. After months of analysis and testing, NASA decided it was too risky to bring them home on the Boeing capsule. The agency and Boeing instead returned the spacecraft uncrewed on Sept. 6, with the spacecraft landing under parachutes in New Mexico. When Starliner landed safely, it was wonderful that it made it back, Wilmore said during a Sept. 13 news conference from the space station. SpaceXs crewed flights for NASA last about six months, with this vehicle slated to return around February. Wilmore and Williams flight on Starliner was supposed to last roughly a week. We always miss our families. I miss my two dogs; I miss my friends, Williams said earlier this month. There are so many people on Earth that are sending us messages, and it makes you feel just right at home with everybody. US Swing states, the deciding factor of United States election, have a great news for Donald Trump. Latest polls from the seven battleground states indicate five are likely to go red in the upcoming elections. US Election: Latest survey finds Donald Trump at an advantage against Kamala Harris in five out of seven key swing states. Opinion survey, in swing states conducted by AtlasIntel, has given Trump a considerable lead in two major states of Michigan and Pennsylvania with 14 and 19 electoral college. Kamala is trailing behind her republican opponent by 3 points with 47.2% and 50.6% vote margin in Michigan and with a 48.1% against 51% vote margin in Pennsylvania. US Election: Trump leads against Harris in five out of seven swing states. Tough fight in 3 key battleground states Whereas in other three key toss-up states the fight is neck on neck with Trump enjoying a narrow advantage. In Arizona, Trump leads with 49.8% compared to Kamala Harriss 48.6%, reflecting a tight race where just over one percentage point separates the candidates. In Georgia, the margin is even tighter, with Trump at 49.6% and Harris at 49%. This near tie underscores how every campaign effort could sway undecided voters and influence the overall results. Wisconsin shows a similarly close contest, with Trump at 49.7% and Harris at 48.2%. Again, the narrow gap suggests that both candidates will need to mobilize their bases. On the other hand, Harris is leading in North Carolina with 50.5% to Trumps 48.1%, indicating a more favourable position for her in this state. This lead could be crucial for her campaign, as North Carolina is a vital state with 15 electoral votes. Kamala leading marginally in two states Additionally, Harris holds a strong lead in Nevada, with 50.5% compared to Trumps 47.7%. This margin not only positions her favorably in the state but also reflects the potential for her campaign to capitalize on local issues and demographics that resonate with voters. Overall, the data from AtlasIntel underscores the competitive nature of these battleground states, with Trump and Harris both needing to strategically target their messaging and outreach efforts to sway undecided voters and strengthen their positions in the lead-up to the election. Tim Walz is fighting nerves ahead of his high-stakes debate with JD Vance, sources told CNN. With Election Day nearly five weeks away, Tuesday's showdown could prove to be a turning point for both presidential candidates. Top campaign staffers told the outlet that the Minnesota governor is worried about letting Kamala Harris down. (FILES) (COMBO) This combination of file pictures created on August 15, 2024 shows, Minnesota Governor and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz (L) speaking in Los Angeles, California, on August 13, 2024; and US Senator and Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance speaking in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on August 6, 2024. US vice presidential candidates J.D. Vance and Tim Walz will face off on October 1st, in a debate that promises to be a feisty battle to win over voters in middle America, who could decide the cliffhanger 2024 election. (Photo by Frederic J. Brown and RYAN COLLERD / AFP)(AFP) Tim Walz nervous about facing JD Vance during Tuesday's debate The outlet reported that Walz confided in his close aides that he doesnt want Donald Trump to win. He doesnt want Harris to think she made the wrong choice. While the 60-year-old is confident about the Democratic nominee's vision, he is afraid of failing to make her case to the voters. When asked by an exclusive high-dollar fundraiser, How's debate prep going? Walz said, As teachers, we are trained to answer the question, and we train our students to answer the questions. Thats not how this goes, he added. ALSO READ: Elon Musk an illegal immigrant? His brother Kimbal's admission video resurfaces and goes viral | Watch In his very few public addresses, Walz has mostly encouraged people to vote for Harris instead of asking them to elect him as vice president. Walz once deflected when one of the hosts at the 36th floor of the InterContinental Hotel in Manhattan referred to him as the next VP. That still sounds really weird, he said, to which she replied, I know, but weve got to keep saying it, per the outlet. According to Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Harris' VP pick is a strong person but just not a lawyer-debater type. ALSO READ: European ministers dismiss Harris' claim world leaders are laughing at Trump Its not like he was dreaming of debates when he was in first grade, added Klobuchar, who has known Walz since they were both first elected to Washington in 2006. Meanwhile, former Ohio congressman Tim Ryan shared his advice for the governor to CNN, Just be who you are. Everyone is enjoying seeing you and seeing who you are. Just be that guy. If I was Tim, I wouldnt be the least bit intimidated by (Vance), Ryan noted. Tim Walz and JD Vance, the vice presidential contenders, will square off this Tuesday in CBS-hosted event in New York City. The broadcaster revealed prior to the Oct. 1 debate that both the rivals would be in charge of fact-checking each other instead of moderators Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan. JD Vance of Ohio and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will face off on Tuesday in the only scheduled vice presidential debate before the November election. CBS News' announcement comes weeks after ABC's moderators were blasted for fact-checking Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. The criticism came after Trump claimed that ABC has violated a pre-debate deal by fact-checking him on various issues about Haitian immigrants and rising crime rates in the US. Expressing his frustration with David Muir's moderation, he said, I had one against three, but I think we did great. But David Muir of ABC, fake news, when I said that crime is way up in our country, he corrected me... but he didnt correct Kamala Harris one time. He further claimed that his statistics on crime rates were accurate. The former president further asserted that prior to the debate, ABC News had reached a deal with his campaign that said no fact-checks would be conducted during the program. Also Read: Kamala Harris raises $55 million in California fundraisers, gaining edge over rival Donald Trump CBS comes under fire following announcement The moderators are appointed in accordance with the editorial standards of CBS News to both assist and uphold the rules of the discussion between the candidates. But when it comes to fact-checking during the broadcast, they delegate that task to the candidates. CBS News Confirmed Unit confirmed their journalists will provide live fact-checking via an online blog. Although CBS was once the gold standard for television news, political scientist Norman Ornstein lamented that those days and their standards are long gone. Reacting to CBS News on fact-checking candidates during a debate, Jay Rosen, a journalism professor in New York University, stated, ABC showed it could be done. CBS announced theyre not a news org, dont think they need to *give viewers truth or protect democracy*," wrote columnist Cliff Schecter. He reminded CBS News that If theres not truth, its not a debate, its mud wrestling. Speaking of mud, he stated, Trump's VP Vance has demonstrated hell make st up anytime, anywhere. Then admit he lied, like Springfield. Good to know CBS is all NOT over that. Author Denver Riggleman called it ironic that CBS News will not fact check the Walz-Vance debate. Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner has applauded Israel for escalating its offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon, urging the Jewish nation to finish the job. In a rare post on X, Kushner, the husband of Trump's eldest daughter Ivanka and a former White House adviser, rejected demands for a Gaza ceasefire deal and declared that Israel will never get another chance to destroy Hezbollah.(Reuters image) The situation in Lebanon has grown more complex in the last several days as Israel aims at eliminating Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran and is a major supporter of Hamas, the militant Palestinian organization. Israel has carried out extensive airstrikes on civilian areas in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. In a rare post on X, Kushner, the husband of Trump's eldest daughter Ivanka and a former White House adviser, rejected demands for a Gaza ceasefire deal and declared that Israel will never get another chance to destroy Hezbollah. I have spent countless hours studying Hezbollah and there is not an expert on earth who thought that what Israel has done to decapitate and degrade them was possible, Kushner said. According to Kushner, Israel's attack is significant since Iran is now fully exposed. Despite having inadequate air defense systems, he stated their nuclear facilities have not been destroyed because Hezbollah has been a loaded gun pointed at Israel. Hitting out at Iran, he stated that it has spent the last 40 years developing this capability as its deterrent. Kushner further stated that Israel now has the chance to neutralise Hezbollah in the north after largely neutralising the threat posed by Hamas in Gaza. He went on to add that those who are advocating for a ceasefire in the North are wrong as there is no going back, for Israel. They cannot afford now to not finish the job and completely dismantle the arsenal that has been aimed at them. They will never get another chance. Israel killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on September 27, and Kushner called it the most important day in the Middle East since the Abraham Accords breakthrough. The diplomatic agreements between Israel and a number of Arab nations were signed in September 2020 in an effort to reduce tensions and normalise their relations in the Middle East. The deal was brokered by Trump and Kushner. Also Read: 'Justice for...': US clarifies stance on Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah killing Hezbollah ready for Israels ground incursion: 'We will win' Meanwhile, Naim Qassem, the deputy chief of Hezbollah, in his Monday address, stated that Israeli forces are killing and massacring civilians. The US is a partner with Israel, through unlimited military support culturally, politically, financially. Stating that if Israel wants ground incursion, he declared that resistance forces are prepared for that. We are prepared and ready. Israeli enemy will not achieve its goals. According to the deputy head of the organization, Hezbollah would not waver from its core objectives in spite of Israel's intention to sow discord and the group's violent attacks on civilians in Lebanon. We shall triumph, as we did in our conflict with Israel in 2006, he concluded his video message. In just over a week, intensified Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon killed seven senior commanders and officials from Hezbollah, including its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The strikes have escalated the conflict, drawing the Middle East into a larger war. An Israeli member of the military adjusts an Israeli flag as armoured vehicles are arranged in formation, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in northern Israel, September 30, 2024. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart Follow- Lebanon crisis live updates 7 key figures of Hezbollah killed recently Hassan Nasrallah The group's leader since 1992, Nasrallah led Hezbollah through wars with Israel and played a pivotal role in regional conflicts, including the Syrian civil war. Under his leadership, Hezbollah expanded its influence across the Middle East, supporting Iran-backed armed groups. He was a highly divisive figure in Lebanon. Nabil Kaouk Killed in a recent airstrike, Kaouk was Hezbollahs deputy head of the central council and a former military commander in south Lebanon. He was a long-time member of the group, joining in the 1980s. Ibrahim Akil A top commander and head of Hezbollah's elite Radwan forces, Akil had been involved in major operations, including the 1983 bombing of the US embassy in Beirut. He was also on the US wanted list. ALSO READ- Iran spy helped Israel find, kill Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah hiding 60-feet underground Ahmad Wehbe A key figure in the Radwan forces, Wehbe was killed alongside Akil in Beirut. He played a crucial role in building Hezbollah's military capabilities. Ali Karaki A leader of Hezbollah's southern front, Karaki was instrumental in its current conflict with Israel. Mohammad Surour Head of Hezbollahs drone unit, Surour led the groups use of drones in the ongoing conflict with Israel. Ibrahim Kobeissi A missile unit commander, Kobeissi was responsible for planning the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli soldiers in 2000. ALSO READ- It is too early to write Hezbollahs obituary Who remains in Hezbollah's leadership? Naim Kassem Following the death of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's second-in-command, Naim Kassem, is now the highest-ranking leader. Kassem, deputy leader since 1991, is a founding member and has taken over key responsibilities. ALSO READ- 'Justice for...': US clarifies stance on Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah killing Hashim Safieddine Head of Hezbollahs central council and Nasrallahs cousin, Hashim Safieddine is seen as the likely successor. Safieddine has close ties to Iran, and his son is married to the daughter of the late Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Top commanders Talal Hamieh and Abu Ali Reda are still alive but are now key targets of Israeli strikes. (Inputs from AP) After months of uncertainty, SpaceX Dragon capsule, with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, successfully docked at International Space Station (ISS) as part of efforts to bring back Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore. (FILES) This undated handout picture from Nasa released on July 2, 2024 shows NASAs Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts (from top) Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Stations Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.(AFP) SpaceX launched the capsule on Saturday with two empty seats to accommodate Williams and Wilmore on their return journey to Earth in February 2025. Two Crew 9 astronauts-Stephanie Wilson and Zena Cardman-were removed from the mission, and the capsule was sent with supplies to replenish the ISS. Also read | Elon Musk says FAA should make Boeing pay for stranding Sunita Williams and Wilmore in space, not fine SpaceX Wilmore and Williams will continue their work formally as part of the Expedition 71/72 crew through February 2025. They will fly home aboard a Dragon spacecraft with two other crew members assigned to the agency's SpaceX Crew-9 mission, NASA had said in a statement. Why won't Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore return immediately? The two astronauts remain safe aboard the ISS, which is also called a permanent home in space for scientists deployed for technical research missions. The ISS remains well-stocked and efficiently supplied from time-to-time. SpaceX is not the only spaceship docked at the ISS. SpaceX Dragon Endeavour (Crew-8 mission), the Northrop Grumman resupply ship, Soyuz MS-25 crew ship, Progress 88 and 89 resupply ships and Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft are other ones currently docked together with the ISS. Also read | Why Starliner astronauts Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore rejected Boeing rescue mission Astronauts typically spend around six months in space as part of their missions. Hague and Gorbunov will also do the same before beginning their return to Earth with Williams and Willmore. Also, Williams and Willmore are not stuck alone inside the ISS. Other fellow astronauts include Oleg Kononenko (Commander), Nikolai Chub, Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, and Alexander Grebenkin. The crew capsules can also function as lifeboats when the astronauts need to abandon the ISS in case of an emergency or threat to safety. Boeing's Starliner also acted as 'lifeboats' for Williams and Willmore before it was hit by thruster failures and helium gas leaks, leaving those two stranded inside ISS. With Starliner landing back on Earth, SpaceX Dragon will be the return vehicle for those two. (With inputs from agencies) Kamala Harris was due to deliver a tough-on-illegal-migration message after visiting the US-Mexico border Friday, directly tackling the politically explosive issue in a bid to blunt one of Donald Trump's main attack lines in their fight for the White House. The US vice president's trip to Arizona -- her first to the border since replacing President Joe Biden as Democratic nominee in July -- comes as polls show illegal migration remains one of her biggest vulnerabilities against the Republican. Harris will call for tougher security in the speech in the border town of Douglas and accuse Trump of killing attempts to pass a bipartisan migration bill in hopes of boosting his own election chances, her campaign said. "The American people deserve a president who cares more about border security than playing political games," she plans to say, according to her campaign. A campaign official told reporters that Harris will announce that as president she would strengthen border restrictions recently put in place that successfully stemmed the flow of undocumented crossings. Harris made an unannounced visit to the border wall in Douglas, where she met with Border Patrol officials and was photographed alongside the distinctive metal slats at the international frontier. Arizona is also one of the half-dozen battleground states that are expected to decide the agonizingly close November 5 election, and it is where polls show Harris may have to do the most work. Former president Trump has turbocharged the border issue in recent weeks as he seeks an edge against Harris, America's first female, Black and South Asian vice president. The 78-year-old has called for mass deportations, amplified bogus claims about migrants eating pet cats and dogs, and stepped up his racially charged rhetoric about an "invasion" of illegal immigrants who he claims consist of murderers, rapists and mentally ill people. Hours before Harris was to speak in Arizona figures from the US Department of Homeland Security showed 425,000 non-citizens convicted of crimes are living in the United States, including more than 13,000 who have convictions for homicide. Trump leapt on the news, claiming these people had been "let out of jail, and they're roaming our streets." Trump claimed -- erroneously -- that the numbers referred to people who had illegally crossed the border under the Biden-Harris administration. In fact, the figures give no details on how long any of these people have been in the United States, and experts say many of them could have been in the country for decades. "These are people who, primarily, have already been charged and convicted and served their time," Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council told AFP. Reichlin-Melnick added that, under Trump, there were millions of non-citizens living in the United States, including hundreds of thousands with criminal records. "The only reason that they cannot be deported is because of diplomatic issues with their home country and nothing to do with the US government's policy or practices," he said. Recent polls have seen Harris eating into Trump's lead on migration with voters, yet it still remains a weak spot, with record numbers of illegal border crossings under her and Biden's watch. But Harris points to the fact that numbers have plummeted since Biden signed an executive order in June temporarily closing the border to asylum seekers -- to around 58,000 in August from a peak of 250,000 last December. Republicans have also focused on Harris's role early in the Biden administration when the president tasked her with looking into the causes of illegal migration from Central America -- falsely calling her a "border czar" and implying that she had overall control over US border policy. Trump has meanwhile doubled down on his divisive rhetoric targeting migrants, with the billionaire seeing it as appealing to his base of largely white, blue-collar voters. In his remarks on Thursday, Trump also repeated his claim that migrants were "infecting our country," using language that Biden's team has previously compared to that used by Nazi Germany. Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance have in recent weeks played up false stories about Haitian migrants eating pets in the town of Springfield, Ohio. Donald Trump on Friday accused Google of showing only "bad stories" about him and vowed to have the tech giant prosecuted if he gets back in the White House. Trump provided no backing for his accusation in a post on his Truth Social platform, in which he added that the search engine displays only positive articles about his Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris. "This is an ILLEGAL ACTIVITY, and hopefully the Justice Department will criminally prosecute them for this blatant Interference of Elections," he said in the post. "If not, and subject to the Laws of our Country, I will request their prosecution, at the maximum levels, when I win the election." The Trump post came after a conservative group reported on what it said it found when doing a search on "Donald Trump presidential race 2024." "Both campaign websites consistently appear at the top of Search for relevant and common search queries," Google said in response to an AFP inquiry. "This report looked at a single rare search term on a single day a few weeks ago, and even for that search, both candidates' websites ranked in the top results on Google." Google has been adamant that it does not manipulate search results to favor any political candidate. The company does not disclose the inner workings of the software that powers its ubiquitous search engine. However, factors known to influence search results for news stories include the timeliness and popularity of topics. Trump is at the center of numerous criminal and civil cases in which he faces accusations including sexual abuse, paying hush money to a porn star, interfering with the 2020 election and trying to thwart the peaceful transition of power after President Joe Biden defeated him. Accor Greater China is pleased to announce the opening of an exciting new addition to its diverse collection of Grand Mercure Hotels & Resorts. Grand Mercure Wuhan International Expo Center invites guests to discover the beauty of the Yangtze River, the vibrant culture of Wuhan, and the rich heritage of Hubei Province. The opening of this new flagship hotel will soon be followed by another six Grand Mercure hotel openings across the country by the end of 2024. Accor currently has a portfolio of 20 Grand Mercure hotels in operation across Greater China, with nearly 50 more addresses in development. Grand Mercure Hotels & Resorts appeals to a traveler's insatiable quest for discovery, offering an immersive experience that celebrates national culture and stimulates the senses. Guests can truly experience the heart of a destination through locally inspired dishes, beverage ceremonies, wellbeing traditions, and thoughtful design. Known for its storied past and seamless blend of antiquity and modernity, the city of Wuhan boasts vibrant shopping districts, trendy cafes, and a diverse culinary scene. The strategic location of Grand Mercure Wuhan International Expo Center - less than a 10-minute drive from the Wuhan International Expo Center - appeals to both business and leisure travelers, as well as meetings and event planners. Its proximity to Wuhan Gymnasium, the Yangtze River Bridge, and convenient transportation and easy access to the three towns of Wuhan add to the hotel's allure. Upon arrival at Grand Mercure Wuhan International Expo Center, guests will discover an immersive design experience that celebrates the Hubei culture with artwork and design motifs inspired by the region's thousands of lakes, rivers, and yellow cranes. A sculptural staircase invites guests to transition from their travels to the brand's signature journey of the senses. The hotel's 215 stylish guestrooms and suites are sumptuously fitted with high-end bedding, and locally-inspired amenities, extending the sensorial experience and sense of destination. The event facilities at Grand Mercure Wuhan International Expo Center arestunning and transporting. Spanning over 600 sqm, the facilities include the 375sqm Grand Mercure Grand Ballroom, complete with 4.2m floor-to-ceiling windows that frame the cityscape. Equipped with high-definition LCD screens, advanced sound systems and an adaptable Galaxy lighting set up, the venue creates an unforgettable atmosphere for meetings, weddings, and celebrations. Grand Mercure Wuhan International Expo Center invites guests to savor the authentic taste of Hubei through its culinary offerings. The hotel sources fresh local ingredients from Wuhan to create a diverse array of dishes, blending modern culinary techniques with traditional Chinese flavors. HE is a stylish restaurant offering a mix of local and international cuisine, including Southeast Asian specialties and signature local dishes. YING Lobby Lounge serves Hubei tea and provides a cozy atmosphere for hotel guests as well as locals to relax or enjoy an afternoon tea service. ZHUAN Chinese restaurant specializes in high-end Cantonese cuisine and offers reception rooms and private dining rooms for special occasions and events. With six more Grand Mercure destinations set to open by the end of of 2024, Accor continues to expand its presence in Greater China, celebrating cultural heritage with each new address. Upcoming openings include: Grand Mercure Changzhou Luoxi; Grand Mercure Hangzhou Qingshan Lake; Grand Mercure Lushan Jade; Grand Mercure Sanya Yalong Bay; Grand Mercure Kunming South; and Grand Mercure Shiyan. Hotel website The Newman, the first hotel from new international hospitality management company, Kinsfolk & Co, is delighted to welcome Nicole Johnson to the leadership team as Marketing Manager. Nicole's previous roles at The Biltmore Mayfair, NH Collection, Mondrian Shoreditch, St Martin's Lane, and Sanderson, have given her a unique perspective on creating memorable and impactful marketing campaigns. Her creative vision and strategic insight will play a crucial role in positioning The Newman as a leading destination in the luxury hospitality market. Belem, Brazil - The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), in collaboration with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabias Ministry of Tourism, today launched a new report revealing the stark impact of the pandemic on woman and youth employment within the global Travel & Tourism sector. Almost 70 million people working in Travel & Tourism lost their jobs during the pandemic, but women and young people were disproportionately impacted because their roles were more likely to be in the worst affected areas such as hospitality and food services. While the sector has broadly seen a strong recovery, the Social Trends in Travel & Tourism Employment report found it employed 42 million women and just over 16 million young people in 2022, notably lower than the 48.4 million women (-13%) and nearly 19 million young workers (15%) supported by the sector in 2019. While the sector remains a vital source of jobs for underrepresented groups, the report makes clear that more must be done to ensure an inclusive and equitable recovery. The report, which examines employment trends across 185 economies from 2019 to 2022, underscores the sectors potential as a key driver of inclusive economic growth and social progress. It is critical that we learn from these hardships and implement measures to protect these groups from being disproportionately affected in future crises. According to the latest EIR data, in 2023, the Travel & Tourism sectors GDP contribution rose by 29.1% above pre-pandemic levels, outpacing the global average, which remained 4.1% below. Yet despite this economic rebound, the social recovery continued to lag, particularly for women and young people who remain more likely to be stuck in informal, part-time, or low-wage roles without security or growth potential. This report highlights the extraordinary potential of Travel & Tourism to drive inclusive growth, but it also underscores the urgent need for action. Women and young people are the backbone of our sector, yet they continue to face significant barriers. By investing in skills, promoting inclusive policies, and fostering entrepreneurship, we can unlock the full potential of these groups and ensure that our sector leads the way in creating meaningful and sustainable employment opportunities. Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO The report also highlights that women remain underrepresented in high-wage and leadership roles, with the gender split in Travel & Tourism employment nearly mirroring that of the wider economy. Young workers, who make up a greater share of the Travel & Tourism workforce compared to the wider economy, face particular challenges in accessing stable employment. Saudi Arabia Minister of Tourism, His Excellency Ahmed Al Khateeb, welcomed the joint report findings and emphasised the Kingdoms commitment to supporting youth and female employment in the Travel & Tourism sector. Saudi Arabias Vision 2030 underscores the Kingdoms commitment to ensuring Travel & Tourism is a key driver of social change. Our substantial investments in 2024, includes 375 million riyals for skills development training local tour guides who acquire deep knowledge of our nation's rich history and landscapes. Others are becoming entrepreneurs, focusing on creativity, leadership, and digital skills In 2022, Saudi women's employment in tourism was the fifth fastest growing among G20 countries. The focus on localising services, in areas like AlUla and Diriyah, has created new opportunities for women in heritage tourism jobs. Through stronger partnerships, tourism can transform into a vehicle for inclusive development, creating a more equitable and prosperous future for everyone. Saudi Arabia Minister of Tourism, His Excellency Ahmed Al Khateeb This joint report calls for urgent action to address these disparities and maximise the sectors potential as a driver of inclusive growth. Key areas of focus for governments and the Travel & Tourism sector include: Develop policies for skills training and gender equality Enhance job opportunities for women and youth Invest in education and leadership programmes Implement inclusive hiring practices and equal pay Support flexible work arrangements and childcare Promote entrepreneurship through support for start-ups and small businesses Social Trends in Travel & Tourism Employment serves as a clarion call to governments and businesses worldwide: to prioritise the inclusion of women and youth in the workforce, to invest in their skills and future, and to ensure that the benefits of Travel & Tourism are shared by all. Read the full report on Social Trends in Travel & Tourism Employment: The Impacts of COVID-19 on the Research Hub. About WTTC The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) represents the global travel & tourism private sector. Members include 200 CEOs, Chairs and Presidents of the world's leading travel & tourism companies from all geographies covering all industries. For more than 30 years, WTTC has been committed to raising the awareness of governments and the public of the economic and social significance of the travel & tourism sector. WTTC Press Office WTTC Tourism has committed to embrace its unique role as a pillar of peace and understanding. On World Tourism Day 2024, UN Tourism brought sector leaders from every global region together around a common vision and commitment to building a peace-sensitive sector, recognizing its potential to build bridges and foster understanding. The official celebrations in Tbilisi, Georgia, welcomed almost 500 participants from 51 different countries, including 13 Ministers of Tourism. Reflecting its firm commitment to the day and its theme of "Peace and Tourism", the host country was represented by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze as well as seven other Ministers, showcasing tourism's cross-sectoral importance. Welcoming delegates, UN Tourism Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili, stressed that without peace, there is no tourism . He said: I call on all of you to help build a 'peace-sensitive tourism sector', one that plays a key role in building peace and ending conflicts, provides tourism stakeholders with tools to realize this potential, promotes tourism education as peace education, and links tourism to other peace building initiatives . Building bridges through tourism Reflecting on the theme of World Tourism Day 2024, "Tourism and Peace", the official celebrations featured a Ministerial Debate focusing on what this looks like in action. Ministers representing Georgia, Uzbekistan, Sierra Leone and Bahrain, made clear how peace and security are the foundations for prosperity, providing examples from their own countries and personal travels of how tourism connects people and promotes understanding. Key takeaways include the important role of tourism in combatting disinformation and mistrust, and the essential need to ensure the benefits tourism delivers are enjoyed fairly and equally across societies. To complement the public sector view, the day also featured a private-sector panel. The dialogue explored the private sector's potential and responsibility and to leverage its strengths and capabilities to promote peace and stability through tourism, and how it can work with the public sector to achieve these essential goals. And from the field of entrepreneurship and digital innovation, panellists highlighted the potential for tourism to rebuild in post-conflict and create resilience against future shocks. Summing up the dialogues, Minister of Tourism of Jamaica Edmund Bartlett said: Tourism recognizes differences, it embraces similarities. Tourism has a place for you and embraces you. That's the essence of the power of tourism to make peace. Investing in tourism, investing in peace Natalia Bayona, Executive Director of UN Tourism, set out the case for tourism investments as key to both growth and peace and opportunity. She said: We have seen time and again how tourism can transform post-conflict regions, provide employment and foster entrepreneurial initiatives. The private sector must remain committed to using its resources to build peace and create opportunities in emerging and vulnerable regions. On the occasion of World Tourism Day, UN Tourism launched the latest edition of its growing portfolio of investment guidelines. "Tourism Doing Business: Investing in Georgia" showcase the immense potential of the country as an investment destination. With an average GDP growth rate of 5% over the last decade, Georgia also received Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows surged of USD 2.3 billion in 2022, marking the highest investment inflow ever recorded. In spite of a challenging international environment, in 2023 FDI inflows reached USD 1.9 billion in 2023. The Guidelines also outline the key factors making Georgia and its growing tourism sector an attractive destination for international investors, including: The rich tapestry of natural beauty and cultural heritage, featuring over 12,000 historical monuments and four UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Significant growth in the hospitality and real estate sectors. In 2023, it welcomed 6.2 million international visitors, generating USD 4.1 billion in revenue. The expansion of international brand hotels and robust real estate market, attracting over USD 500 million in FDI in recent years. Transparency and regulatory efficiency. Economic reforms, such as the Association Agreement and DCFTA with the EU, and recent EU Candidate Status. 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 The global leaders of sustainable tourism convened in Belize for a ceremony to recognise the individuals and organisations that are accelerating change in net positive tourism. The inaugural World Sustainable Travel & Hospitality Awards, held on 27 September to coincide with World Tourism Day, proved a fitting showcase for Belize and its pioneering sustainability initiatives. The VIP reception featured the unveiling of the 21 winners of this years programme. Recipients of the coveted titles reflected the length and breadth of the sustainable tourism sector, ranging from community artisan initiatives to global hospitality giants. Highlights included Green Initiative named Worlds Leading Sustainable Organisation for pioneering projects that include restoring degraded land in Costa Rica, Peru and Brazil. Meanwhile, luxury resort operator Soneva emerged as the winner of Worlds Leading Sustainable Energy Efficiency Initiative for ground-breaking initiatives to reduce its environmental footprint in the Maldives. ibis RockCorps was named World's Leading Sustainable Partnership for projects that encourage volunteering in communities in France in return for access to exclusive concerts. Rainforest Expeditions claimed Worlds Leading Sustainable Conservation & Biodiversity Programme for research and conservation work in the Peruvian Amazon, resulting in the identification of 30 new species. It proved a big night for Mandarin Oriental, which collected triple honours: Worlds Leading Sustainable Development, Worlds Leading Sustainable Employer and Worlds Leading Sustainable Supply Chain Programme. Individual winners included Agnes Pierce, Global Head of Sustainability, Amadeus named World's Leading Sustainability Leader. Andy De Silva, CEO, Hotel Emporium was voted World's Leading Sustainability Leader of Tomorrow. Belizes sustainable credentials were highlighted with the coveted title for Worlds Leading Sustainable Destination, plus accolades for Cheil Mayan Chocolate (Leading Sustainable Cultural Heritage Project), Turneffe Atoll Sustainability Association (Leading Sustainable Marine Conservation Initiative). The winners received a world-first unveiling of the iconic World Travel Awards winner trophy, originally cast in bronze by royal jewellers Asprey, but recreated using 3D printing technology from recycled ocean plastic, powered by renewable solar energy. We are incredibly proud to celebrate and acknowledge the winners of the inaugural World Sustainable Travel & Hospitality Awards, each with fascinating stories of how they are positively impacting change. The standard has proved exceptional, and serves as a healthy indicator of the momentum, drive and innovation towards creating a net positive travel industry. The ceremony has proved a fitting climax for our winners to experience Belize in all its splendour, as well as a springboard for this enchanting nation to continue leading the world in sustainable tourism. When you set foot here, youre not just visiting a country, youre stepping into a world of vibrant heritage, community-driven sustainability and profound respect for nature. Justin Cooke, Executive Vice-President, World Sustainable Travel & Hospitality Awards We are incredibly proud of Belizes achievements at the World Sustainable Travel and Hospitality Awards. These wins reflect our nations deep commitment to sustainability and responsible tourism. Belize is setting a global example of how tourism and conservation can work hand in hand for the benefit of our people and the planet. Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism & Diaspora Relations, Belize The World Sustainable Travel & Hospitality Awards categories and entry criteria were agreed by an Advisory Board of thought leaders from the travel and tourism industry, academia and government. Entries were assessed by students in Sustainable Business from Nova Business School. Industry professionals, the media, and the general public voted for the nominees they consider to be leading the world in sustainable tourism. The programme is run in partnership with the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, whose partners and members represent over 50,000 hotels, 7 million rooms globally, 270 brands, and 40+ supply chain and strategic partners. World Sustainable Travel & Hospitality Awards is the sister event of World Travel Awards, currently celebrating its 31st anniversary. Winners of 1st annual World Sustainable Travel & Hospitality Awards Worlds Leading Sustainable Organisation: Green Initiative Worlds Leading Sustainable Supply Chain Programme: Mandarin Oriental Worlds Leading Sustainable Energy Efficiency Initiative: Soneva Worlds Leading Sustainable Health & Well-being Initiative: Emaar Hospitality Worlds Leading Sustainable Circular Economy Partnership: One Tree at a Time X Six Senses Courchevel Worlds Leading Sustainable Water & Waste Innovation: Six Senses Zighy Bay Worlds Leading Sustainable Finance Initiative: Soneva & Soneva Foundation Worlds Leading Sustainable Technology: Choice Hotels & CarbinX Worlds Leading Sustainable Partnership: ibis RockCorps Worlds Leading Sustainable Conservation & Biodiversity Programme: Rainforest Expeditions Worlds Leading Sustainable Development: Mandarin Oriental Worlds Leading Sustainable Destination: Belize Worlds Leading Sustainable Female Empowerment Initiative: SASANE Sisterhood Trekking & Travels Worlds Leading Sustainable Employer: Mandarin Oriental Worlds Leading Sustainable Accessibility & Inclusion Initiative: Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens World's Leading Sustainability Leader: Agnes Pierce World's Leading Sustainability Leader of Tomorrow: Andy De Silva World's Leading Sustainable Education & Training Programme: Travel4Impact Leading Sustainable Cultural Heritage Project: Che'il Mayan Chocolate Leading Sustainable Marine Conservation Initiative: Turneffe Atoll Sustainability Association Leading Sustainable Community Engagement Programme: Belize Tourism Industry Association About World Sustainable Travel & Hospitality Awards Launched in 2023 at COP28 in Dubai, the World Sustainable Travel & Hospitality Awards serves to recognise, celebrate, and share the stories of individuals and organisations that are accelerating change and making an impactful contribution in sustainable travel and tourism. About World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance The World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance brings together engaged hospitality companies and the wider hospitality value chain, along with strategic partners, to address key challenges affecting the planet, people and places around the world. About Belize Tourism Board The Belize Tourism Board (BTB) is a statutory body within the Belize Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, and it is governed by a Board of Directors appointed by the Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation. The BTB works in conjunction with members of the private sector - including the Belize Hotel Association, Belize Tourism Industry Association, and Belize National Tour Operators Association - and is dedicated to building tourism in the most economically and environmentally sustainable manner. For more information on the BTB and its services, visit travelbelize.org. About World Travel Awards WTA was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all sectors of the tourism industry. Today, the WTA brand is recognized globally as the ultimate hallmark of quality, with winners setting the benchmark to which all others aspire. Each year, WTA covers the globe with a series of regional gala ceremonies staged to recognize and celebrate individual and collective success within each key geographical region. WTA gala ceremonies are widely regarded as the best networking opportunities in the travel industry, attended by government and industry leaders, luminaries and international print and broadcast media. For more information about WTA visit worldtravelawards.com. Although the tourism industry isnt out of the woods yet with a potential recession ahead, its progress in the past four years has been positive. The international hospitality industry has slowly recovered from the long-winded effects of the pandemic UN Tourism reported that last year, the industry reached 88% of pre-pandemic levels. As the sector continues to look for stability, independent lodging brands are quickly evolving with tech by their side: AI discoverability dynamics are the next frontier to tackle. As consumers increasingly lean on AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini to undertake personal and work tasks, theyre also doing so to plan their next holiday 41% of people surveyed by Oliver Wyman recently confirmed this. The current trip-planning process is quite fragmented, involving endless hours of searching for the most suitable hotels, tourist spots, restaurants, and fun activities, while accounting for preferences and restrictions. To avoid this hassle, people are taking the smart shortcut of asking AI to plan their trips the tech isnt fully there, but giants like Google are making sure to speed up its development. The good news is that these changes are beneficial for lodging brands looking to increase their direct bookings. Last year, they increased by 50%, meaning one-third of travelers chose to skip online travel agencies (OTAs) and opted to book directly. And AI searches could boost this opportunity for independent lodging brands even more. The Future of Searches with AI-First Engines Not very long ago, both hotels and independent brands made sure to optimize their websites SEO to feature at the top of search engines and meta searches. However, it was difficult to beat OTAs at their own game. This is still the reality today, but its quickly changing. The advent of AI searches is redefining discoverability ranking well is necessary but not sufficient. Content thats relevant to users is increasingly more important for answer engines. By seeing the specificity of AI results thanks to its natural language processing capabilities, people are beginning to demand the same when theyre browsing the web to plan their holidays. They want granular, hyper-specific results that cater to their needs, restrictions, preferences, and more, without having to filter this information manually. As a result, Googles Gemini, Perplexity, SearchGPT, and other AI search engines are working to improve their travel planning capabilities. For example, in just one paragraph, travelers will be able to write their available dates, the kind of lodging theyre looking for cozy, with a view, affordable, family-friendly, pet-friendly the activities they like, and their restrictions. Then, an AI-first engine will find them their ideal accommodation options, including ones bookable directly. As such, lodging brands can shine through with their special offerings and personalized experiences, provided they know how to make it into AI searches. The Next Big Thing: AI Travel Companions With search engines being increasingly AI-optimized, results will deliver hyper-personalization. Google has taken the lead, recently unveiling Geminis ability to become a travel prep assistant. While fully AI-enabled travel searches wont happen overnight, recent advancements like OpenAIs preview of its o1 reasoning model are a clear step in this direction. Gemini promises to go above and beyond other AI-first search engines by using personal data retrieved from Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Maps, and other Google tools, mixed with inventory availability from Google Flights, Hotels, and Vacation Rentals. This way, it will gauge availability, preferences, and the best scheduling options in no time. Googles announcement opened the door to the many possibilities of AI and travel planning: This technology is set to become a travel companion. For instance, in the coming years, people will need to do minimal planning on their own, as AI will make sure to stay on top of their bookings, reservations, tickets, and anything else during their trip. Gemini will connect multiple data sources to stay updated on any cancellations or delays, keeping travelers informed without major efforts on their part. AI will also be able to offer personalized experiences even when people arent looking to travel. Did their favorite destination open a new boutique hotel? Is a lodging brand they previously booked with offering discounted prices? Travelers will be notified by their preferred AI travel companion about these opportunities so theyre persuaded to plan their next holiday soon. How Lodging Brands Can Keep Up For lodging brands to stay ahead of these changes, they must start appealing to AI search engines with features like targeted landing pages, content creation, and AI search optimization. To start, they can lean on AI and companies specializing in AI search optimization to generate targeted landing pages. These pages represent the audience brands are trying to attract to their properties, organically drawing them in through Generative Search Engines. Its not about keyword stuffing anymore, but semantic proximity. Brands can up their Generative Search Engine game by creating relevant content that targets the very specific audience they wish to attract. Think of each post as personalized letters that are as unique as the guests they want to draw. Are you offering family-friendly accommodation? Write a blog post discussing the best family adventures around your lodgings for a family of four with a toddler and a pet. Does your brand focus on honeymoon destinations? Write about the best activities for young newlyweds flying in for two days who are particularly interested in the citys cultural heritage. Brands can also optimize their website beyond semantic proximity. A recent study by Princeton University, Georgia Tech, Allen Institute for AI, and IIT Delhi on optimizing AI search discoverability found ways to democratize searches on engines like Perplexity and Bing Chat. They managed to boost general visibility by 40% and increase the discoverability of smaller-ranked websites by 115% by citing more sources and adding more quotations and statistics to the websites they tested on all things AI can help with. As AI advances, so do the tools for lodging brands to adapt to these new discoverability dynamics. Emerging companies are starting to offer these AI-optimization services for brands to effortlessly boost their traffic and direct bookings. With the coming opportunities being developed by giants like Google, lodging brands have the chance to go beyond OTAs and succeed on their own through AI optimization. Traveler demands are shifting, and as search engines respond, so too should brands in order to stay ahead of the curve in discoverability and enhanced engagement. Sjoerd Martens Partner & Chief Client Officer, Publicize hostAI In May 2024, the European Union designated Booking.com as a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a move intended to usher in fairer practices and transparency within the digital marketplace. The goal was to address concerns about data sharing, pricing transparency, and the platforms dominant position over hotel partners. However, nearly half a year down the line, progress has been slower than anticipated, leaving hotels still grappling with many of the same challenges. Given the current state of play, the big question is, how can hotels compete on a leveled playing field and continue to strengthen their direct business performance? Keep reading to find out. The Love / Hate Relationship between Booking and Independent Hotels that neccessitated legislative change Since its inception, Booking.com allowed independent hotels, without brand recognition, to sell rooms on a global digital marketplace. The platforms broad inventory and growing influence led many consumers to believe that all hotels that matter were listed there, and thus, Booking.com also became a significant source of revenue for hotels. In the years that followed however, this relationship evolved into one of over-dependency for many independent hotels, with 60% to 90% of their bookings coming from Booking and other OTAs. This heavy reliance left hotels with reduced control over their brand, pricing, and guest relationships. These challenges increased when Booking introduced a number of one-sided policies to their business model - including price parity and not sharing consumer data with their hotel partners in order to continue engaging guests directly. However, a turning point came for hotels during the pandemic when travel ground to a halt. During this period, independent hotels took it upon themselves to resolve guest issues and provide personalized services. This hands-on support created stronger bonds between guests and hotels, leading to a surge in direct bookings even after OTA operations resumed. However, Booking.com also faced criticism for issuing mass refunds during the pandemic without the consent of independent hotels, even when guests had accepted credit. This and other historical practices mentioned above, highlighted the imbalance in power dynamics, as hotels had limited control over refund policies and were often left to manage the fallout from cancellations. This further drew attention to Booking.coms anti-competitive practices, market dominance, and outsized influence over hotels pricing autonomy and direct guest relationships, further necessitating regulatory action. In May 2024, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) introduced new rules aimed at leveling the playing field by requiring Booking.com to share guest data more transparently. However, many hotels still report limited access to this information, hindering their ability to market directly to customers. Research by Hotelier News shows that 40% of European hotels continue to experience pricing disparities, with OTAs undercutting the rates advertised on hotel websites. Despite the DMAs objectives, Booking.coms market dominance remains largely unchallenged, commanding over 71% of the European OTA market in 2024. High commission fees, often exceeding 20%, still pose a significant burden for smaller independent hotels, who struggle to balance the revenue generated by the platform with the operational and financial challenges of their dependency. How Independent Hotels can Continue Strengthening Direct Performance despite the Slow Pace of Change from Booking.com Independent hotels that prioritize their direct channels and relationships with guests are in a better position now that Booking.com has been forced to change their policies and level the playing field. Here are the best practices to help your hotel achieve this in light of the current situation: Maximize Direct Bookings by Breaking Price Parity Leverage the new terms in the Booking.com contract that allow you to break price parity. By setting competitive rates on your website that differ from those on Booking.com, you can attract price-sensitive travelers directly. Highlight these offers prominently on your site to encourage potential guests to book directly, boosting your revenue and reducing reliance on OTAs. Utilize Google Price Ads and Free Booking Links for Visibility Advertise your lowest prices through Google Price Ads and Free Booking Links to enhance your hotels visibility in search results. By prominently displaying your best rates, you can capture the attention of potential guests comparing your price with Booking.coms price. Guests actively seeking deals can then direct them to your website for booking. Demand Guest Data Transparency Advocate for increased access to guest data from Booking.com. By encouraging transparency, you can better understand your customers preferences and improve your direct marketing strategies. This information is crucial for building personalized guest experiences and fostering direct relationships. Request Clarity on Ranking Changes If you notice fluctuations in your ranking on Booking.com, inquire about the reasons behind these changes. Ensure that your standing isn't negatively impacted by pricing alone; it should reflect your overall value proposition and commitment to guest satisfaction. Conclusion In light of this changing landscape, hotels have a significant opportunity to enhance their direct performance. They should take advantage of recent developments by demanding compliance from Booking.com on price and guest data transparency while prioritizing the optimization of direct channels for increased bookings. By concentrating on these efforts, independent hotels can build stronger relationships with guests, ultimately driving more direct bookings and improving overall business performance and profits. About GuestCentric GuestCentric is a leading provider of cloud-based digital marketing software and services that help extraordinary hoteliers promote their brand, drive direct bookings and connect with customers on all digital platforms. GuestCentric's all-in-one platform provides hotels with the only unified solution for managing their guests' online journey: award-winning, high impact websites; an integrated, easy-to-use booking engine; social media marketing and publishing tools; a GDS chain code and a channel manager to offer rooms on Amadeus, Booking.com, Expedia, Galileo, Google, Sabre, TripAdvisor and hundreds of other channels. GuestCentric is a proud provider of solutions that maximize direct bookings to hotel groups and independent hotels from collections such as Design Hotels, Great Hotels of the World, Leading Hotels of the World, Relais & Chateaux, Small Luxury Hotels and Small Danish Hotels. GuestCentric is featured on Skift Travel Tech 250, a list of the top 250 travel tech companies shaping the modern-day travel experience. Melissa Rodrigues Content Manager +35 196 157 3854 GuestCentric Systems View source Why Hotels Are Investing in Sleep Innovations That Range from Affordable to Extravagant - Image Credit Puzzle Parner Hotels worldwide are pulling out all the stops for the perfect sleep, offering dreamy stays from $300 to $2,500 Ever noticed how a good night's sleep can make or break a trip? Well, the savviest hotels sure have. Theyre not just fluffing pillows anymore; theyre pulling out all the stops, using the latest tech to ensure you get those much-needed Zs. The idea of sleep tourism is growing faster than you might think. According to HTF Market Intelligence, we're looking at an impressive growth of nearly 8%, adding over $400 billion by 2028. That's righthotels worldwide are pulling out all the stops for our bedtime routines. Picture this: serene settings, cutting-edge sleep technology, and even take-home resources to keep that good sleep vibe going. And the cost for these dreamy experiences ranges from $300 to a luxurious $2,500. Many luxury resorts are luring us with sleep studies as part of their wellness services. Imagine: sleep tracking gadgets, consultations with sleep doctors, and even sleep apnea testsall wrapped up in a wellness package. So, let's look at how the wellness, travel, and hospitality industries are embracing this trend. Sleepless in Seattleand Everywhere Else Remember Sleepless in Seattle? It was a fun romcom with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. But sleeplessness everywhere else? Not so charming. According to the McKinsey Future of Wellness, 47% of people prioritize better health, while 45% place better sleep as a "very high priority." It is also the area where consumers say they have the most unmet needs.Let's talk some stats: Rising Consumer Interest: Sleep is crucial, with 62% of adults believing good rest impacts well-being (Global Wellness Institute). Demand for Sleep Products: The sleep aids market, including supplements and gadgets, hit $74.3B in 2022 and will grow to $124.9B by 2030 (CAGR of 6.8%). Unmet Needs: Huge growth potential remains as 1 in 3 adults don't get enough sleep (CDC). Consumer Demographics: Millennials and Gen Z are keen on sleep products, with 53% of Millennials and 64% of Gen Z willing to invest in better sleep (Statista). Getting a good night's sleep is influenced by many factors, which makes it challenging for tech companies and new brands to create a comprehensive solution. But where there's complexity, there's opportunity. Let's dive into some of the innovative examples out there: Embracing the Tech-Driven Future of Wellness Travel Wellness-focused travel is trending, and the hospitality industry's biggest players are going all in. Theyre using the latest sleep technologies to make us more comfortable. It's not just about sleeping well; it's about waking up refreshed, happy, and ready to rave about your stay. Let's shine a spotlight on some sleep-tech trailblazers. WaverBed has introduced the WaverMat, a touch-free gravity wave treatment for hotel spas. This technology addresses common travel issues like fatigue, jet lag, and sleep problems. WaverMat sessions last just 30 minutes, catering to the 93% of travelers who suffer from jet lag. WaverMat toppers can convert any standard table into a high-tech WaverBed station, enhancing revenue potential. Offering WaverMat services after hours increases profitability with minimal staff. Selling WaverBed units for home use opens a lucrative retail channel for spas without inventory management or shipping hassles. Crowne Plaza Atlanta Airport has embraced the Journi Mobile Task Light as bedside lamps and Soraa Healthy zero blue bulbs. These bulbs cut down melatonin-disrupting light by 40% compared to usual LEDs, ensuring a restful stay. Timeshifter, an app designed to mitigate the effects of travel on the circadian rhythm, offers personalized plans based on travel schedules and individual sleep patterns. In collaboration with InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, the app aims to reduce jet lag and enhance guest well-being. Another InterContinental update is in select guest rooms which now feature designs by neuroscience expert Isabelle Sjovall, incorporating tones, textures, lighting, and nature to help guests unwind. Takeaways Sleep tourism and the growing desire to catch up on our shut-eye tap into a broader trend of enhanced health and wellbeing. And lets be honest theres no better time to prioritize sleep than when youre on vacation. Companies, especially in the hotel and travel sector who invest in sleep-centered wellness solutions that are tailored, relevant, and backed by science, will have a winning edge. Using the latest advancements to fight jet lag and travel fatigue, and by focusing on guest comfort, hotels can stand out - ensuring guests cant wait to return for another dreamy stay. About the Author As the CEO and co-founder of Puzzle Partner, Ivana leads a marketing consulting agency that collaborates with some of the world's most innovative travel, hospitality, aviation, wellness and longevity companies to help them outperform the competition, achieve highly profitable exits, and expand into the Americas. With an innate ability to identify growth opportunities, Ivana has earned an outstanding reputation as a hands-on start-up advisor and a trusted partner for her clients. She is a visionary brand strategist, influential thought leader, podcast producer, and prolific writer. Her insights are regularly featured in Forbes.com, Hospitality Net, Hotel Technology News, Travel Industry Wire, and other prominent media outlets. She is a member of the elite Forbes Agency Council, and Forbes Business Council, and contributes to Forbes Expert Panels, showcasing her knowledge and perspective on the dynamic interplay of advanced technologies and business success. Connect with Ivana on LinkedIn. About Puzzle Partner Ltd. Over the last 10 years, Puzzle Partner has grown to become a leading marketing consulting firm and trusted advisor to the hospitality and travel technology segment. The company has had the privilege of working side by side with some of the most innovative change-makers on the global stage and maintains the highest level of client advocacy in the industry. With exceptional domain expertise, an influential network, and decades of experience, Puzzle Partner's team of experts understands the interplay between travel, hospitality, and wellness technology branding better than anyone else. As a partner that prides itself on providing customized solutions to its clients and building strong relationships, Puzzle Partner consistently delivers results that amplify brand visibility and drive sustainable growth.Since its founding in 2014, Puzzle Partner has helped clients outperform the competition, achieve highly profitable exits, expand into the Americas, and achieve extraordinary outcomes. Puzzle Partner Ltd. is a privately held company headquartered in Toronto, Canada. For further details, please visitpuzzlepartner.co. Radisson Hotel Group Strengthens Middle East Presence with 58 Properties in Operation and 30 Under Development - Image Credit Radisson Hotel Group Radisson Hotel Group is set to announce major growth milestones across the Middle East at this years Future Hospitality Summit. With 58 hotels, resorts and serviced apartments in operation and 30 under development, the Group is rapidly expanding its regional footprint. Supporting this expansion, Radisson Hotel Group has strengthened its leadership team with the recent appointment of Ayman Ezzeddine as Director of Development for the Middle East, North-East Africa, and Pakistan, who will be instrumental in supporting the Groups growth strategy across the region. Expanding in Saudi Arabia with strategic new signings Radisson Hotel Group continues to expand its footprint in Saudi Arabia with strategic signings in Al Ahsa, Hail, Madinah, and a third Radisson Collection property in Riyadh, marking significant milestones in the Groups growth plan. With 29 hotels in operation and 17 hotels under development, the Group is actively working to reach its goal of operating 100 hotels in Saudi Arabia by 2030. These developments align with Saudi Vision 2030, positioning Radisson Hotel Group as a key player in the Kingdoms growing tourism and hospitality sector while contributing to economic diversification and job creation. More signings and openings will be announced soon across the GCC. The Middle East remains a key focus for Radisson Hotel Group with almost 90 hotels open or under construction. We thank our partners and owners for their continued trust in our 10 relevant brands and we look forward to further forging strong partnerships and creating a positive impact in the communities we serve," said Elie Younes, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Development Officer at Radisson Hotel Group. Strengthening the portfolio in Jordan and rest of the Levant region In Jordan, the Group has expanded its portfolio with two significant signings: Radisson Collection Residence, Amman Abdoun, and Radisson RED Amman Downtown. Both properties are set to open in 2028, bringing luxury and lifestyle offerings to the heart of Amman and increasing the Groups footprint to 3 properties in operation and under development. These signings (and more to be announced soon for the rest of the Levant region) highlight Radisson Hotel Groups commitment to strengthening its presence in key regional markets, providing guests with unique experiences catering to business and leisure travelers. Regional Overview: hotels in operation and development Radisson Hotel Group operates a robust and growing portfolio across the Middle East, with 58 properties in operation totaling 12,704 keys, and an additional 30 and 5,107 keys under development. Year to date, the Group has signed and opened 10 new hotels and serviced apartments, representing 1,500 keys across the region, further consolidating its presence in the Middle East. The recently opened Radisson Hotel & Residence Riyadh Olaya, along with the Park Inn by Radisson Makkah Thakher Alsharqi and Park Inn by Radisson Makkah Thakher Algharbi, highlight the Group's commitment to offering world-class hospitality in the region. Upcoming openings include the Radisson Blu Hotel, Riyadh Al Sahafa, Radisson Hotel Jeddah Tahlia Street, and the first Park Inn by Radisson property in Kuwait. Strengthening the team with new leadership To support the Groups regional expansion, Ayman Ezzeddine was recently appointed Director of Development for the Middle East, North-East Africa, and Pakistan. Ayman brings over a decade of experience in hospitality and development, having previously worked with leading brands across the region. His leadership will be focal in accelerating Radisson Hotel Groups growth, particularly in markets like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Pakistan. "We are proud to contribute to the regions economic diversification and to deliver hospitality experiences that align with the aspirations of both our investors as well as our guests. We are thrilled to welcome Ayman to the team to help drive our growth, and by expanding our portfolio and strengthening partnerships, were creating long-term value for our stakeholders while leading the way in sustainability and innovation across the Middle East," Elie Milky, Vice President of Development, Middle East, Greece, Cyprus, and Pakistan, Radisson Hotel Group. Strong First Half of 2024 with global growth During the first half of 2024, Radisson Hotel Group achieved substantial global growth, with over 130 new signings and openings in key markets across EMEA and APAC. This includes adding the Radisson Collection, Radisson Blu, and Radisson RED brands in new markets, solidifying the Groups position as a leading player in the worldwide hospitality industry. Focus on lifestyle brands and strategic investor partnerships Radisson Hotel Group is strategically advancing its lifestyle portfolio in the Middle East, with ambitious plans to introduce artotel as well as Prize by Radisson, in partnership with key strategic investors. artotel offers an elevated arts-inspired concept, where each property showcases the work of a signature artist, creating culturally immersive environments. These hotels not only cater to travelers but also serve as vibrant social hubs for local communities. Through close collaboration with leading investors, Radisson Hotel Group aims to fast-track the rollout of this lifestyle brand in key cities, building on artotels current growth momentum with several openings in London, Zagreb and Rome and reinforcing its leadership in the regions evolving hospitality landscape. A revised site plan for a planned subdivision on Summer Street in Williamstown shows the exact locations for driveways, homes and sheds on the 1.75-acre parcel. Williamstown Con Comm Reviews Revised Summer Street Proposal WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. The Conservation Commission on Thursday reviewed a refined version of the site plan for a planned four-home subdivision off Summer Street. Earlier this year, Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity sought and received an order of conditions from the Con Comm to build four single-family homes on the parcel currently owned by the town's Affordable Housing Trust. That order was appealed by abutters to the parcel to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, which last month received a revised set of plans from Northern Berkshire Habitat. As part of its review process, the MassDEP Western Regional Office asked the Con Comm whether the new plans continue to be satisfactory to that body. Essentially, the most recent set of plans specify exactly where on each home will be placed in the four building lots to be carved out of the 1.75-acre parcel. Prior iterations had more non-specific building envelopes marking where homes could be placed. "Because this was appealed to the DEP, we decided we would site the houses, site the sheds, site the roads," Northern Berkshire Habitat President Keith Davis told the Con Comm. "The only difference [from the plans the Con Comm already approved] is we put rectangles in where the houses will be built." Community Development Director Andrew Groff, who serves as the town's conservation agent, told the commission that, normally, such a refinement in the schematics for a project would be reviewed and approved internally by town hall staff. But given that the project is under appeal and the state agency specifically asked whether the commission, "considers the proposed plan change substantial," the matter was back before the commissioners. After a brief discussion, Lauren Stevens moved that the commission approved of MassDEP accepting and considering the revised plan, a motion that was OK'd on a 6-0 vote. The Con Comm also unanimously agreed to send a revised draft of a proposed town policy on memorial gifts back to the Select Board for implementation. The Select Board this summer took up the matter of establishing rules for accepting gifts like benches, trees and plaques on town property. Recognizing that a good deal of that property is on land under the care and control of the Con Comm, like Margaret Lindley Park, the Select Board consulted the commission on the proposed rules. A sticking point for one member of the commission was language in the draft policy that limited those honored to individuals or families and excluded "organizations and groups." Philip McKnight told the Select Board at a meeting this summer that he thought organizations should be eligible and would recommend to the Con Comm that it not support a policy that said otherwise. On Thursday, his fellow commissioners said they did not want to oppose the Select Board's draft based on that restriction. "I don't feel strongly about it myself," Tim Carr said. "Speech decisions shouldn't be under the purview of this board," Stevens noted. "That's more a job for our elected officials." The commissioners did agree to add language to the policy that any proposal to install a memorial planting or bench on land under the Con Comm's jurisdiction needs its OK. The suggested revision will be sent back to the Select Board for its approval. The Con Comm, meanwhile, is hoping this fall to be able to approve the town's plan to stabilize the bank of the Hoosic River near the intersection of North Street and Syndicate Road. Groff told the body that the commonwealth's Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program had ordered a full botanical survey for the proposed work area to determine whether it is home to the hairy fruited sedge, a species of concern to the state agency. "This stuff loves the Hoosic basin," Groff said of the marsh plant. "In this location, we felt it was obvious it wasn't there. We couldn't find it." But the state wanted confirmation from a third party, and the town contracted with a wetland consultant to do a survey of the site. "Once that's done, it will hopefully move forward with an approval from the Endangered Species Program," Groff said. "What that will permit is it will move the approval back to this commission to give final approval to the revised plan Andre-Anne [Chenaille] presented in, I think the last week of June." Groff indicated that if the commission can move on approval, the town will get the project out to bid and, conceivably, begin work this winter. "If there's not deep snow, winter may not be the worst time to do it," he said of the stabilization project. "The river is at low flow, and there is partially frozen ground." The town is waiting for approval from a different state agency, the Division of Conservation Services, to sign off on Williamstown's Open Space and Recreation Plan, Groff told the commission. The OSRP has conditional approval, but there is one piece missing: an Americans with Disabilities Act transition plan for town recreation amenities. Groff said that the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, which developed the OSRP with the town, is waiting on a grant from the Massachusetts Office on Disability to support development of the transition plan. "Once that's added, we can add [the transition plan] as an amendment to the OSRP," Groff said. "I'm optimistic we'll get it. Those are planning grants, small sums, awarded to almost everyone. If we don't get it, I'll pivot and try to find a different source of funding to complete the document, but that's the holdup." Stevens noted that an up-to-date and approved Open Space and Recreation Plan is needed by the town in order to qualify for other grant programs that help support the town's protection and recreational use of natural resources. Monday 30 September 2024, 16:11 - Last updated: 18:39 Before the forensic police arrived, some people entered the room at the 'Le Rose' residence where Marco Pantani died on February 14, 2004. Confirmation of this fact, which emerged a few months after the 'Pirate's' death, came as part of the investigation into a mafia-style criminal association aimed at illegal betting initiated by the Prosecutor's Office of Trento. According to two witnesses, who were forensic police officers at the time, they were ordered to wait for the go-ahead before filming and taking measurements in the room where the cyclist's body was found and were asked to wait outside the room. In particular, one of the two officers, then Chief Assistant of the Forensic Police, Maria Teresa Bisogni, noted in December 2004 the inconsistency of the directive, stating, "because - she said - on the scene of the incident under investigation, the forensic operators should be the first to enter, properly equipped with shoe covers, gloves, and suits." Reported in the final report of the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission on the champion's death, approved in September 2022, the fact raises new doubts about Pantani's end. The investigation by the Trento Prosecutor's Office, initiated last year, also follows the outcomes of the bicameral commission's inquiry, which stated that further investigation was needed into the 'anomalies' related to Pantani's exclusion from the Giro d'Italia 25 years ago. Prosecutor Patrizia Foiera, in particular, is focusing on a possible ring of illegal betting managed by the Camorra and the alleged tampering with the cyclist's blood samples during the anti-doping checks of the 1999 Giro d'Italia. In fact, it was in Trentino, in Madonna di Campiglio, on June 5, 25 years ago, that the results on the hematocrit concentration in the champion's blood were announced, approximately two percentage points higher than what was allowed by the regulations. Pantani was suspended from the final stage of a Giro d'Italia that he had dominated up to that point and was already considered the winner. Last July, Prosecutor Foiera went to Bollate prison to hear Renato Vallanzasca, the first to talk about an alleged betting ring and the involvement of organized crime in the affair. Vallanzasca, who is in poor health, was, however, unable to answer the questions. Currently, investigators have heard from ten witnesses, but there are no suspects. In recent hours, the Trento Prosecutor's Office has acquired new documentation related to Pantani's exclusion from the 1999 Giro d'Italia from the Forli Prosecutor's Office. Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Get our The Life Cinematic email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has been denied a new trial after her lawyers failed to convince a judge that their client had been deprived a fair hearing by the same evidence dispute that led to Alec Baldwins case being dismissed in July. New Mexico Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer instead upheld the manslaughter conviction against Gutierrez-Reed. Her lawyers had alleged that prosecutors failed to share evidence that could have cleared her. In her written order, Marlowe Sommer noted that the attorneys did not establish that there was a reasonable possibility that the outcome of the trial would have been different had the evidence been available to Gutierrez-Reed. The judge also rejected a request from Gutierrez-Reed that she be released from custody, saying it was moot because the request for a new trial was denied. Marlowe Sommer is the same judge who halted and ended Baldwins trial based on the misconduct of police and prosecutors and their withholding evidence from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set outside Santa Fe. open image in gallery Hannah Gutierrez-Reed standing trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico in March 2024 ( Santa Fe New Mexican ) Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for Rust, was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. A jury convicted Gutierrez-Reed of involuntary manslaughter in March in a trial overseen by Marlowe Sommer, who later sentenced her to the maximum 18-month penalty. Gutierrez-Reed has an appeal of the conviction pending in a higher court. Jurors acquitted her of allegations she tampered with evidence in the Rust investigation. Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of Rust and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols. Evidence that Gutierrez-Reeds attorneys said prosecutors failed to share included a report by a firearms expert about the functionality of the gun that Baldwin used, ammunition that was later turned in to authorities and an interview with Rust ammunition supplier Seth Kenney. 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 Gutierrez-Reed has pleaded not guilty to a separate felony charge that she allegedly carried a gun into a bar in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where firearms are prohibited. A proposed plea agreement is awaiting court review. Last month, director Souza said that the accidental killing of Hutchins during the films shooting had ruined him. When I tell someone it ruined me, I dont mean in the sense that people might generally think, he told Vanity Fair. I dont mean that it put my career in ruins. I mean, internally, the person I was just went away. That stopped. Additional reporting by Associated Press Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Get our The Life Cinematic email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Colman Domingos Sing Sing co-star Jon-Adrian JJ Velazquez has been officially exonerated after serving nearly 24 years in prison for a wrongful murder conviction. On Monday (September 30), Velazquez, 48, who was convicted of murdering a retired New York police officer in 1998, was formally cleared of charges by a Manhattan judge. Following the judges ruling, a teary-eyed Velazquez was seen hugging friends and family as he pounded his chest and pumped his fist in the air, according to Variety. I was kidnapped by this country and enslaved, he told the press as he left the courthouse. This is not a celebration. This is an indictment of the system. Velazquez appeared as himself in A24s 2023 drama about a man (Domingo) imprisoned for a crime he didnt commit. While there, he joins the prisons theater group and finds community alongside other incarcerated men. Sing Sing is based on the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at New York States Sing Sing Maximum Security Prison, where Velazquez was falsely imprisoned. In 1998, Velazquez was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison despite not matching the suspects description. At the time, witnesses described the shooter as being a light-skinned Black man. Velazquez is Latino. He also had an alibi that was corroborated by phone records. open image in gallery JJ Velazquez was wrongfully convicted of murdering a retired New York police officer in 1998 ( Getty Images ) NBCs Dateline began an investigation into Velazquezs case in 2002. A decade later, the news program aired a broadcast that introduced new physical evidence in Velazquezs favor. The episode led the Manhattan District Attorneys Conviction Integrity Unit to reinvestigate the case, but the DA eventually said it did not find sufficient evidence to demonstrate Velazquez was innocent. 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 JJ Velazquez (far right) and the cast of Sing Sing at the 2023 Toronto Internation Film Festival ( Getty Images ) Another revinstigation was launched years later. It was found that Velazquezs DNA did not match the DNA discovered on a betting slip that the shooter handled before killing the police officer. It wasnt until August 2021 that Velazquez was granted executive clemency by then-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. The next month, he was released from prison after serving 23 years, eight months and seven days. During a criminal legal reform forum in October 2022, President Joe Biden issued an apology to Velazquez on behalf of all society. Speaking to Variety ahead of his exoneration, Velazquez said: Its a lot deeper than discrimination. It comes down to diminishing a persons human dignity. Im getting a part of my dignity back. Theres nothing that they can do to give me back the 24 years I lost, and all of the tribulations to incur as a result. Theres a spirit of vindication, but theres still a lot of trauma thats unaddressed that the system refuses to address. While in prison, Velazquez obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Behavioral Science from Mercy College. He now works as a criminal legal reform activist. Sign up to Roisin OConnors free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Get our Now Hear This email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A man in Texas paid $4,000 for what was described as an autographed Taylor Swift guitar, only to immediately smash it to pieces with a hammer. Footage of the incident at the Ellis County Wild Game Dinner in Waxahachie, Texas has since gone viral. The event was a fundraiser to support agricultural education for local youth, and the guitar was one of many items that were auctioned off along with tickets to see George Strait and Chris Stapleton, an African safari, a dove hunt and a trip to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. In a statement to The Independent, one of the organizers said the Swift guitar was a real autographed guitar and it sold for $4,000. The man who smashed the guitar has since spoken out. In the video, the man can be seen approaching the stage where a member of auction staff is waiting with the instrument, which is covered in images of Swift from her record-breaking Eras Tour, and a hammer. The man then takes hold of both and smashes the face of the guitar with the hammer to the sound of loud cheering from the audience. open image in gallery A man in Texas smashes a signed Taylor Swift guitar with a hammer; Taylor Swift ( TikTok @jdcobb58/Getty ) As the man returns to his seat with the broken instrument in hand, the auctioneer laughs, passes him a box and says: Now take that and hang up that busted thing. One event attendee, Rob Bartley, told The Independent: A Taylor Swift guitar had sold at another event unrelated to this earlier in the year, so it wasnt an unheard of type of item to auction. That said... when the man announced his intention to smash it the camera phones came out. Bartley added: It was unexpected, but not surprising. This part of Texas leans heavily conservative and the Biden/Harris administration isnt held in high regard. Enjoy unlimited access to 70 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up Enjoy unlimited access to 70 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up A lot of the working class people that live around me feel that the administration gone from not working for us to working against us. Swift has provoked the ire of Donald Trump supporters in recent weeks after endorsing his rival Kamala Harris for president. In the days following Swifts announcement, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to write: I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT! Swifts endorsement drove more than 400,000 visitors to the vote.gov website in under 24 hours. I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election, Swift wrote in an Instagram post soon after Harris and Trump met in a televised debate. If you havent already, now is a great time to do your research on the issues at hand and the stances these candidates take on the topics that matter to you the most. Sharing a photo of herself holding her cat Benjamin Button from last years Time magazine shoot when the publication named her its person of the year she wrote: Like many of you, I watched the debate tonight. As a voter, I make sure to watch and read everything I can about their proposed policies and plans for this country. The cat seemed to be a reference to Trumps running mate JD Vance who told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in a 2021 interview that the country was run by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that theyve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too. Swift also mentioned AI-generated images, previously shared by Trump on Truth Social, falsely suggesting she was endorsing him for president, and called out the dangers of spreading misinformation. She wrote: Recently I was made aware that AI of me falsely endorsing Donald Trumps presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around AI and the dangers of spreading misinformation. It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth. She added: Ive done my research, and Ive made my choice. Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make. Russell Brand is undergoing a transformation. So far, hes had a few. Over the years, hes been a comedian, a host, a disgraced radio DJ, an actor and a YouTuber. Back in the days when he was Katy Perrys husband, he was into Hinduism, before that, he dabbled in being Hare Krishna. Im a spiritual gent and increasingly thats the level I want to vibrate on, were it not for my crazed lust for sex and glamour, he said of himself in 2008. Last year, a Channel 4 investigation alleged he is a rapist and a sexual and emotional abuser after four women came forward to accuse him. He denied the allegations. Now, Brands a reborn Christian and a deep-state, plandemic conspiracist. This weekend, the 49-year-old who was baptised himself in April, posted pictures on his Instagram account showing him baptising another man in a lake wearing nothing but a white pair of underpants. His caption read: It might seem a bit soon to be baptising people, but the Apostles did it on day one, so here we are. It followed an earlier video posted on Youtube in which he quoted from the Bible, doubling-down on his reinvention as a staunch Trump supporter in July, when he nestled up to Maga heavyweights at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. It wasnt completely out of the blue: the 49-year-old had already endorsed the presidential candidate on his podcast, Stay Free with Russell Brand. If you care about freedom, I dont know how you could do anything other than vote for Donald Trump for precisely the reasons that they claim that you cant, he said, in his typical rambling style. Still, his appearance at the RNC was surprising and Brand wasnt the only revelatory attendee. American model and TV personality Amber Rose also took to the stage alongside Eric Trump, Mike Pompeo and Hulk Hogan to proclaim that the media lied to us. Im here to tell you, no matter your political background, that the best chance we have to give our babies a better life is to elect Donald Trump president of the United States, she said in her speech. Rose added that she underwent a recent realisation. These are my people, she said. This is where I belong. Before coming out in favour of the right, Rose, who famously dated Machine Gun Kelly and Ye (formerly known as Kanye West), was the pioneer of the anti-rape Slut Walk, and a vocal abortion rights advocate. Now, along with Brand, she is shoulder to shoulder with Trump, a powerful, criminal, sexual predator, who vowed to overturn Roe v Wade; the epitome of everything she once stood against. Brand, to be fair, has never stood for anything for very long. Over the years his shapeshifting persona has served to deflect from countless controversies: the day after the 9/11 attacks, when he turned up to work dressed as Osama Bin Laden; being sacked from Radio X after reading pornographic material on air a year later. Then there was Sachsgate when he and Jonathan Ross left offensive voicemails to Andrew Sachs in reference to Brands relationship with his granddaughter, Georgina Baillie. But then last year, it seems, Brands capacity for mainstream redemption met its match. When four women one of whom says Brand groomed and assaulted her at age 16, whom he called The Child came forward to accuse him of sexually assaulting and raping them, Brands defence became conspiracy. Is there another agenda at play? he asked on his YouTube channel, in anticipation of the allegations surfacing. It was Elon Musk and Andrew Tate who came out in support of him. open image in gallery Brand has had a fair few transformations over the decades ( Russell Brand Instagram ) By then, Brand had already laid the foundations for his new identity a rich breeding ground of conspiracy theory, casting deep scepticism of the media. To those who followed him, the allegations were easily explained. Criticise the drug companies, question the war in Ukraine, and you can be pretty sure this is going to happen, Tucker Carlson wrote in support of Brand. Brand had indeed questioned the war in Ukraine along with Covid, vaccines, and institutional lying from the mainstream media on his YouTube channel, which he turned to when mainstream media stopped employing him. From 2021, the former comedian began posting videos like The Great Reset is HAPPENING and The Great Reset is NOT a conspiracy!, racking up millions of views. By 2023, Brands most popular guests Tucker Carlson for example were increasingly on the far right and were distrusting of the media. When the allegations surfaced, his stage was already set. Conspiracy theories of course allow you to deflect from any of your own shortcomings, says Dr Mikey Biddlestone, postdoctoral researcher on the University of Kent CONSPIRACY_FX team. So if you do anything wrong, or if youre corrupt, you can always say, Oh it was the deep state that did it. It can be quite a strategic thing to do, where you position yourself as a maverick intellectual someone that the deep state wants to silence. open image in gallery The presenter addresses crowds outside the Big Brother house in 2006 ( PA ) Perhaps Brand really is the victim and protagonist of a global conspiracy or perhaps hes dabbling in a method tried and tested by many men presented with sexual misconduct allegations before him. The thing is, its working. Now, with his Jesus-like image still firmly intact, hes the sacrificial lamb. Ask his followers and hes no predator. Rather, hes a magnanimous truth-seeker, a free-thinker under threat of being gagged, despite no one being able to silence him thus far. Turning to conspiracy is a tactic that often works well in political spheres, Biddlestone says, because [politicians] can position themselves as a unique outsider thats able to enact change. For the minority group, you end up creating this perception of yourself as a saviour who is trying to save the world with your benevolent views; the benevolent antidote to an unjust world. Conspiracy theories can be really effective in appealing to peoples emotions and morality. Feeling injustice often means feeling unsafe which is where conspiracy can become particularly powerful. It plays into the idea that there is something unknown to fear; some research suggests that those more likely to invest beliefs in this world are seeking some sort of control. Funnily enough, its not dissimilar to a conservative mindset. Conservatives tend to be more concerned about safety, certainty, order, Biddlestone explains. From a psychological perspective that means they want to compensate for these feelings of fear and uncertainty more so than people who are not conservative. It tends to make them more vulnerable to adopting these beliefs that have a broad answer to the world something that feels safe, and is the answer to these scary questions. Id say thats also true of conspiratorial and religious beliefs. The more you look, the more a grim Venn diagram of conspiracy, the right-wing and Christianity appears. And Brand has now joined fellow recent convert Elon Musk and far-right conspiracist Alex Jones, right in the centre of it. Absolving himself of past sins, cleansing himself in the murky waters of the Thames was the last piece of the puzzle. But while Brands baptism might seem out of the blue, he might actually be a notable example of Christian nationalism making its way over to Britain, says Dr David Robertson, of the Open University. open image in gallery Brand absolving himself of past sins during his Thames baptism in April 2024 ( Russell Brand Instagram ) Whats interesting at the moment is the way that theres a really strong resurgence of Christianity, he explains. In the US, theres a strong sense of Christian nationalism, even theocracy. In someone like JD Vance, for instance, theres this idea that Christianity is not only important to the US but the mission. Its a sentiment that was central to Trumps Maga movement in 2016 unsurprisingly, Reform UK MP Nigel Farage followed suit. We are a Christian country, with a Christian constitution and a Christian monarch, he said. I absolutely believe in Christian values that have made this country great, before the general election. For the far right and conspiracists alike religion-washing is a powerful tool for shutting down conversations that dont fit the narrative. Which, says David Aaronovitch, serves Brands current predicament nicely. Brand is a grifter, says Aaronovitch, author of Voodoo Histories: How Conspiracy Theory Has Shaped Modern History. He has done what is necessary in order to make money out of it. What hes found is that certain sorts of ways of being earn you very high levels of support, and therefore monetisation. Brands past as a reformed addict and his consequential discovery of spirituality is a particular type of currency, he says. His form of religiosity combines misogyny and conspiracism which is implicit in some of the new religiosity of people like JD Vance and others around them. I think it feels like they are saying, we are the true rebels taking aim at the liberals and their deconstruction of conventional society. It is interesting isnt it how JD Vance and Russell Brand ended up at the same convention? Its easy to dismiss Brands Trumpism and conspirituality as nothing more than publicity-seeking I just think hes a shallow person, says Robertson. But there is a creeping sense of dread around the whole thing. Scandal after scandal has not yet quashed the Brand of Brand. Still, now he has 2.6 million followers on TikTok and, despite YouTube suspending Brands channels from making money from adverts for violating its creator responsibility policy, his 6.4 million subscribers are still watching. This new identity, the radical shift from the left to the right, the crucial combination of theology and conspiracy, and the powerful ability to cast doubt on almost anything that comes his way, is extreme but not surprising. Maybe this time, Brand does believe his own waffling spiel or maybe its just another case of him trying on any hat that fits. This may be the second coming of Russell Brand but its unlikely to be the last unless he really is silenced by the deep state. Lets hope its soon. 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 Dame Joanna Lumleys message of love to Phillip Schofield as he returns to TV for the first time in nearly two years has raised eyebrows amongst viewers of the Channel 5 show. The former This Morning presenter hasnt been seen on British television for 16 months since he apologised for lying to the media, his friends and his colleagues about an affair with a younger man. Schofields return to television, in Cast Away, is a surprising one as hell be spending 10 days on a remote island off the coast of Madagascar where he will attempt to tell his side of the story. The Absolutely Fabulous actress, 78, was cast away off the coast of Madagascar in Girl Friday, a 1994 BBC programme that took its name from a character in Daniel Defoes island-set adventurer novel Robinson Crusoe. As he prepares to arrive on the island for Phillip Schofield: Cast Away, Dame Joanna sends him a message saying: Listen, Phil these are the tips Ive got, keep your knives sharp, spend much of the day trying to find wood otherwise you wont be able to eat anything. When I was on the island I made a pair of shoes out of my bra and I would love to think that you could do something a bit challenging, and bring it back so we could all look at it. I shall be thinking of you all the time Phil, and actually Im a little bit jealous, lots of love. Schofield, 62, said: Oh you darling, thank you so much, thats amazing. Lumleys support of Schofield amid the scandal surrounding his has divided viewers. After seeing her message one user wrote: Joanna Lumley, a national treasure! Surely not?!?!?! Another viewer said: Joanna Lumley of all people is giving Phillip Schofield some advice. I know shes done this before but its totally random at the same time. 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 A third asked: Joanna Lumley?! One viewer was at least happy to see her, writing: Aww! Joanna Lumley sending Philip a message. open image in gallery Phillip Schofield has blamed his brother for his ITV exit (Channel 5/PA) ( PA Media ) When comedian Ruby Wax was left on an island in the Indian Ocean for 10 days, and had to document her own story with body and hand-held cameras, in the first series of the show, she was sent a letter from Dame Joanna. In the three-part show, Phillip Schofield: Cast Away, the former presenter will be in a similar situation, trying to find his own food and shelter to survive. Phillip Schofield: Cast Away begins at 9pm on Monday on Channel 5, and will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday at the same time. Additional reporting by PA. Close Giovanni Pernice's former Strictly partner issues statement on BBC investigation For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Strictly Come Dancing star Giovanni Pernice has been cleared of some of the most serious allegations levelled against him, while Sherlock actor Amanda Abbington has been handed an apology by the BBC. The broadcaster has published its findings from an investigation into accusations against Pernice of abusive behaviour, upholding some, but not all of Abbingtons complaints about her time working with the professional dancer. We take any allegations of bullying and harassment very seriously and this review has taken time due to its complex nature and our desire to ensure a rigorous and robust process was undertaken, a statement posted to the BBCs media website said. Strictly Come Dancing is a family show and we rightly expect very high standards. While competition can be tough, rigorous and demanding, we want the show to ultimately be a joyous and transformative experience. It is a great shame if this hasnt been the case for everyone who has appeared on the show. We have assessed the complaints and we have upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made. We want to apologise to Amanda Abbington and to thank her for coming forward and taking part. We know this would not have been an easy thing to do. Follow below for live updates For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A third British judge has left a top Hong Kong Court amid growing calls for them to step down over a China-imposed crackdown on dissent. Lord Nicholas Phillips, 86, has left his post as an overseas non-permanent judge on the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal for personal reasons after his contract ended on Monday. It comes after British judges Lord Jonathan Sumption and Lord Lawrence Collins also resigned from the court in June over the political situation in Hong Kong. All the British judges have retired from their UK roles. Lord Phillips told The Independent: I have declined an invitation to serve on the court for another term for personal, not political reasons. Lord Sumption said Hong Kong was slowly becoming a totalitarian state and the rule of law was profoundly compromised. open image in gallery Lord Sumption (left) and Lord Collins resigned from the court in June over the political situation in Hong Kong ( Alamy/UK Parliament ) More than 1,800 political prisoners have been detained in Hong Kong in a crackdown since mass pro-democracy protests in 2019. In June, the last remaining Canadian judge Beverely McLachlin, 80, also quit the court. Australian judge Antony Gleeson, 88, resigned in March. Lord Phillips is at least the ninth judge to quit overall since the introduction of the 2020 national security law that criminalised acts of subversion. Critics accuse authorities of using it to surpress all dissent. British and other overseas judges have sat on the court since 1997 on a non-permanent basis as part of an agreement when the city was handed back to China by the UK. The intention was to help preserve the rule of law, provide expertise to local lawyers and reassure businesses and financial markets. In June, The Independent revealed the judges were paid 40,000 with flights, accommodation and travel expenses, to sit on the court for up to a month at a time. Lord David Neuberger and Lord Leonard Hoffmann remain on the court despite calls on them to step down. open image in gallery In August, Lord Neuberger upheld the conviction of pro-democracy newspaper tycoon and UK citizen Jimmy Lai ( . ) In August, Lord Neuberger was involved in a judgement which upheld the conviction of pro-democracy newspaper tycoon and UK citizen Jimmy Lai. He voted to uphold a 14-month jail sentence for 76-year-old Beijing critic Mr Lai, who supported anti-Beijing protests in 2019 and was accused of being involved in an unauthorised assembly. Former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten told The Independent at the time that it was obvious the case Lord Neuberger upheld was an act of vengeance by the city states government. It is a delusion for Lord Neuberger to think he is standing up for the rule of law by taking part in this sort of case, Lord Patten told The Independent. The people who have been found guilty have done far more for the rule of law in Hong Kong than any British judge. open image in gallery How we highlighted Jimmy Lais plight in December 2023 ( The Independent ) Lord Neuberger told The Independent he would not comment on his judgment as it had to speak for itself and previously vowed to stay on as a judge. He said he would support the rule of law the best I can. The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, an NGO, has previously accused the Western judges of lending their prestige to a justice system that has been undermined and co-opted by Beijing. A Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal spokesperson said: He [Lord Phillips] indicated recently that he did not wish to have his term of appointment extended upon its expiry due to personal reasons. Lord Phillips will have completed by the end of this month four terms of office totaling 12 years. Despite the departure of some NPJs [non-permanent judges] in recent years, an overwhelming majority of the serving and departed have publicly reiterated their continued confidence in judicial independence in Hong Kong and the commitment of the Hong Kong courts towards upholding the rule of law. 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 Typhoon Krathon is expected to make a rare landfall in the highly populated regions of southwestern Taiwan, prompting school closures, flight cancellations and evacuations. The storm intensified to a super typhoon on Tuesday, equivalent to a Category 4 storm, packing maximum sustained winds of 198kmph, with gusts exceeding 245kmph. On Wednesday, it lost some of its strength but it was still a powerful Category 3-equivalent storm, with sustained wind speeds of 185kmph and gusts of up to 240kmph, according to Taiwans Central Weather Administration (CWA). Follow our live coverage of Typhoon Krathon. With its northwards march slowed to just 8kmph, Krathon was approximately 130 kilometres south-southwest of Kaohsiung. The storm has been lingering close to the island, and its bands are already causing rainfall and wind gusts in southern Taiwan. open image in gallery A swirling Typhoon Krathon, with a distinct eye and dense clouds, captured between the Philippines and Taiwan ( Himawari-9/JMA ) The storm will further weaken as it passes over Taiwan, possibly dissolving into a tropical depression, the CWA said, while cautioning that the storm could still bring heavy rains for an extended period of time. After making landfall near Kaohsiung or Tainan city on Thursday, the storm is projected to move northeast toward Taipei over the next day or so. At least three people have died from extreme weather caused by Typhoon Krathon. Taiwan saw its first death related to the typhoon on Wednesday when an elderly man in Hualien fell from a tree, the fire department said. Earlier two people died as Krathon brought extreme rainfall to the northern Philippines. Dozens of people have also been injured. The island shut down on Wednesday as it braced for the storm, with hundreds of flights cancelled and offices, schools and financial markets closed. open image in gallery Map shows expected trajectory of Typhoon Krathon as it moves west-northwest and is projected to make landfall in southern Taiwan ( Japan Meteorological Agency, ) Taiwans CWA expanded its warning for the storm to include more areas. The mountainous districts of Taoyuan, Maolin, Namasia, and Liugui in Kaohsiung have been put on high alert for potential landslides, leading to precautionary evacuations. At least 521 people have already been evacuated from these regions. It [Krathon] is set to bring catastrophic damage, Taiwan president Lai Ching-te said. Hundreds of international flights have been cancelled across Taiwan since Tuesday and all domestice flights were halted. Nearly 10,000 people have been evacuated from vulnerable areas across Taiwan, particularly in regions prone to flooding and landslides. Most of the evacuations are concentrated in southern Taiwan, including cities like Kaohsiung and Pingtung, where the storm is expected to make landfall early morning tomorrow. open image in gallery Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration weather specialist Veronica Torres points at the path of powerful Typhoon Krathon on Monday ( AP ) On Monday, the storm battered the northern Philippines with heavy rain, strong winds, and potential landslides. In the northern Philippines, the provinces of Cagayan and Batanes have been affected by the outer bands of Typhoon Krathon, with strong winds and intense rainfall battering the region. Local authorities issued high-level warnings for storm surges and flooding, and several coastal and island communities have already begun evacuations. Ferry services were also halted. Experts warned once the typhoon interacts with Taiwans Central Mountain Range, its path could become erratic, with the potential for sudden changes in direction or looping tracks. Forecasters anticipated that Krathon will have its strongest impact between Tuesday and Thursday, with southern and eastern Taiwan experiencing the heaviest rain and winds. The high mountains of Taiwan could weaken the storm slightly, but residents have been warned to brace for powerful winds exceeding 200 kmph, along with extreme rainfall and the risk of landslides and flooding. Coastal and low-lying areas are particularly vulnerable to storm surges and flooding as the storm intensifies. open image in gallery A car moves along the shore in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan ( AP ) The city is expecting up to 800mm of rainfall in some areas, particularly in the mountains. Additional heavy rain warnings were issued for Hualien, Taitung, and other areas in eastern Taiwan, where some regions could see over 200mm of rainfall within 24 hours. Kaohsiungs Water Conservancy Bureau said that the citys flood control systems are fully operational, with 91 pumping stations, 112 mobile pumping units, and 25 detention ponds ready to manage the anticipated downpour. The citys Jinshi Lake flood detention capacity has also been increased. Around 40,000 military personnels have been mobilised to assist with evacuations as they moved individuals and vehicles out of danger zones on Monday. 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 Typhoon Krathon slammed into southwestern Taiwan on Thursday, cutting power to tens of thousands of homes, flooding streets, and killing two people in the east. The storm, initially a Category 4 typhoon, significantly weakened before making landfall near Kaohsiung, Taiwans major port city, causing widespread damage and bringing the entire island to a standstill for two days. Krathon was labelled a weird storm by the local media as it lingered near Taiwans coast for a long time, moving unusually slowly and making landfall on the populated western coast of the island, generally considered safe from typhoons. Schools, offices and shops were shut and flights were cancelled for the second day on Thursday as the typhoon began landfall around noon local time (4am GMT). This was the second time this year a storm shut down Taiwans stock exchange for two days. All domestic flights were cancelled for a second day as well as 242 international ones. The north-south high-speed rail line suspended services between central and southern regions until at least early evening. open image in gallery A security guard inspects a guard house after Typhoon Krathon makes landfall ( Anadolu via Getty Images ) On Thursday morning, Kaohsiung residents woke up to emergency alerts to take shelter as the eye of the typhoon entered the region bringing gusts of over 160 kmph. Heavy rainfall, which continued to lash the region since this week, intensified. At least two people were killed in the islands east amid the extreme weather caused by the typhoon. One victim fell while trimming a tree and the other died when a vehicle was hit by a rock. Earlier this week, the storm killed two people in the Philippines and left thousands displaced. No major casualties were reported in Kaohsiung, where the last major storm was Typhoon Thelma almost three decades ago. Fortunately people were well prepared this time, Chou Yi-tang, a government official in Siaogang district, home to Kaohsiungs airport, told Reuters news agency. Its been a long time since such a big storm made landfall here, he said. open image in gallery Taiwan Asia Typhoon ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ) Ahead of the storms landfall, the government distributed thousands of sandbags, water pumps were deployed and around 38,000 troops from the Taiwanese military were put on standby to assist with disaster relief efforts. Approximately 10,000 people were evacuated from vulnerable areas, particularly from Kaohsiung and other high-risk regions such as Pingtung and Taitung. This is one of the most powerful storms weve seen hit the west coast in recent memory. We urge all residents to stay sheltered and be prepared for extensive rainfall, Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chi-mai said on Tuesday. Despite the preparations, the storm left many areas inundated in knee-deep water. On Thursday, at least 51,000 households remained without power primarily in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, down from over 170,000 earlier. Some eastern regions received more than 1.6m (5.2ft) of rain, washing cascades of rocks and mud on to roads. The Southern Taiwan Science Park, site of one of the main factories of chipmaker TSMC, said operations were normal. Amid the extreme weather, a fire at a hospital in southern Taiwan killed at least nine people in Pingtung county, which has been hit hard by Typhoon Krathon. Reports said 176 patients were rushed to the front entrance and transferred to ambulances in the pouring rain. They were moved to shelters nearby. open image in gallery Map showed Typhoon Krathons projected path and wind intensities ( Joint Typhoon Warning Centre ) Taiwans Central Weather Agency (CWA) said some eastern and southern parts of Taiwan are still set to see more extremely heavy rain, with up to 40cm (1.3ft) falling over the next 24 hours. It issued alerts for more rainfall which was expected to last until Friday morning. Although the storm was expected to dissipate, the system is forecast to slowly work its way up Taiwans flat western plain and reach the capital Taipei, which could experience residual effects. The slow movement of storms is becoming a troubling trend in recent years as it leads to longer periods of rainfall and more destruction. Scientists have earlier linked this kind of pattern to the climate crisis. Rising global temperatures are heating ocean surfaces, providing more energy to the atmosphere and supercharging storms. These intensified storms carry more moisture and, combined with weakened atmospheric steering currents like jet streams, they are moving more slowly. This stalling effect leads to extended periods of heavy rainfall and destructive winds, as seen with Krathon again. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails 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 }} Japans incoming prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, says he will call a snap election on 27 October a full year ahead of schedule and just weeks after winning the leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). I believe its important for the new administration to be judged by the people as soon as possible, Mr Ishiba said during a news conference on Monday in which he also named some of his first cabinet appointments. The election date is not yet official as Mr Ishiba has not formally entered office he is expected to do so on Tuesday when Fumio Kishida resigns to hand over the reins after just over three years in power. Mr Ishiba, a moderate and former defence minister, won the ruling LDP presidential election at his fifth and final attempt last week, defeating economic security minister Sanae Takaichi in a runoff vote. The early election is seen as an effort to capitalise on the momentum of his victory in the party leadership race and turn around the fortunes of the LDP, which had been steadily sliding in opinion polls before Mr Kishida declared his decision to step aside. It will also give the opposition limited time to prepare and if he is victorious give Mr Ishiba his own mandate as prime minister. The election, set to take place a year ahead of schedule and just before the US presidential election on 5 November, will determine which party controls the lower house of parliament. Mr Ishiba mentioned his proposed election date on Monday during a press conference, saying he wanted to balance giving enough time for organisers with the need to hold the vote the sooner, the better. I want to ensure that we provide the necessary materials for voters to make a judgment, he said. According to Reuters, Japanese shares dropped over 4 per cent in early Monday trading as the yen surged and government bonds rose in response to Mr Ishibas leadership victory, given his reputation as a monetary policy hawk. Mr Ishiba began selecting government and party officials to join him in contesting the upcoming general election. So far, his picks include two former rivals from the leadership race: Katsunobu Kato as finance minister and Yoshimasa Hayashi, who will remain as chief cabinet secretary a key role that includes acting as the governments top spokesperson. Shigeru Ishiba, centre, waves as he is elected as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party after the partys leadership election, in Tokyo Friday, 27 September 2024 ( Kyodo News via AP ) An Ishiba ally, Takeshi Iwaya a former defence chief will become foreign minister, while Gen Nakatani is set to return as defence minister, a position he held in 2016. Yoji Muto, a former junior minister, is expected to lead the economy, trade, and industry ministry. Absent from Mr Ishibas expected picks is Ms Takaichi, his rival in the run-off. The Kyodo news agency reported that she declined an offer of a senior party position. On Friday Mr Ishiba won the partys leadership with 215 votes 189 from LDP lawmakers and 26 from local chapters compared to 194 votes for Ms Takaichi, who would have become the first female prime minister in Japanese history if she had won. During his campaign, Mr Ishiba proposed forming an Asian Nato, a controversial idea that could provoke Beijing and was described as premature by a senior US official. Mr Ishiba faces the urgent task of revitalising the LDPs image, which has suffered due to a political funding scandal linked to party factions. 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 Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves sees more black holes than Mr Spock, a Conservative leadership hopeful has claimed. Tom Tugendhat said Octobers Budget could destroy growth in the UK and he branded VAT on private schools a vindictive and nasty policy. The shadow security minister faces Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly and Robert Jenrick in his partys leadership contest, with Rishi Sunaks successor due to be announced on November 2. Taking questions on the Conservative Party conference main stage in Birmingham on Monday, Mr Tugendhat said: This is going to be one of the most consequential budgets in our lifetime. This is going to be a Budget that takes us back to the 1970s not forward to the future. This is a Budget that is going to destroy growth, destroy opportunity and destroy hope for people, and dont just take my word for it, look at whats happening right now. Mr Tugendhat added: Go and talk to people in the City and ask them how much business theyre doing. Go and talk to financial advisers and accountants, they are all selling everything, cashing in everything and moving everything abroad. This Government is already destroying the economy. It is already doing damage to this country and theyve barely even started. In reference to a 22 billion black hole which Ms Reeves identified in the public finances after she became Chancellor, and to the American sci-fi show Star Trek, Mr Tugendhat said: She sees more black holes than Mr Spock. Asked whether he would abolish VAT on private school fees, should he lead the next government, Mr Tugendhat replied: Yes. He added: Lets just be quite clear about this, this isnt just a bad policy, its a vindictive and nasty policy. First of all, theyre not waiting for the beginning of the school year to give parents and kids the chance to change if they need to, thats just plain mean. Secondly, theyre not just making those who send their kids to private school pay, theyre making everybody pay, because whether youre going to have to pay the 20% extra actually its business rates, so its more like 35% maybe even 40% extra whether youre going to have to pay that or whether youre just going to have to have larger class sizes, either way, Labour is making you pay. People didnt vote for that paddleboarder to become prime minister and they didnt vote for Nigel either to become prime minister Tom Tugendhat The Government will introduce a standard 20% VAT to private school fees from January 1 2025. On the Conservatives electoral enemies, Mr Tugendhat said: The enemy is trust. We have eroded trust in ourselves and we need to rebuild trust in the Conservative Party. Lets be honest: people didnt vote for that paddleboarder (Sir Ed Davey) to become prime minister and they didnt vote for Nigel (Farage) either to become prime minister. They voted against us. People woke up in the morning and they wanted to get us out. On Boris Johnsons support for Ukraine, the candidate described his work as heroism and added it would be up to local Conservative associations if they wanted to choose the former prime minister as their election candidate in the future. Mr Tugendhat also said he was working on being sanctioned by Pyongyang and Caracas. Ive been in Parliament, standing up against the dictators and tyrants that at the time some people thought were friends but we now know to be exactly who they are (Russian president Vladimir) Putin and Xi (Jinping, president of China) and the Ayatollah (Ali Khamenei) call them all out, he told activists and delegates at the conference. Got me sanctioned, as you know, for the privilege, but I think its important. Well, Im sanctioned by Russia, Im sanctioned by China, Im sanctioned by Iran. Im working on North Korea, Im working on Venezuela. Asked whether he is a former spy, Mr Tugendhat replied: I was a uniformed intelligence officer. 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 On a late September morning in the heart of Chablis wine country, grape pickers haul large and heavy buckets over their shoulders, drenched in sweat as they climb the very steep slope of the Vau de Vey vineyard. It's the final day of the harvest at the Domaine Roland Lavantureux winery, and workers are handpicking the last of the prized Chardonnay grapes that will eventually be transformed into the bright and high-end Premier Cru that is bottled by the estate. But wine lovers around the world may struggle to get their hands on the 2024 millesime wine that comes from a single year's harvest. It will be available in smaller quantities than usual. Much of Frances wine country faced one of the wettest years on record in 2024 so far amid a changing climate, after years of challenges to vineyards and wine quality caused by drought and heat. At the Lavantureux estate, the picking lasted just nine days about half the usual time after a year of unpredictably harsh weather marked by frost, hail, record rainfall and the spread of a dangerous fungus that has left Chablis growers on edge. I have been working here since 2010. This is my most difficult year, says winemaker David Lavantureux, who follows in the footsteps of his father Roland, a winemaker himself. And all the old-timers will tell you the same thing. Its been a very difficult year because the weather has been so unpredictable. We have not been spared a single thing. open image in gallery Bottles of Chablis white wine on display at Domaine Lavantureux, in Chablis, Burgundy region ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) The ordeal began in April with the frost. Then in May, a double hailstorm pummeled the region. Then came relentless rain, right up to the harvest. According to the Burgundy wine federation, some 1,000 hectares (nearly 2,500 acres) of vines in the Chablis country were affected by the May storm. And the excess moisture allowed a destructive mildew fungus to thrive. Once entrenched, the disease causes huge crop losses and can also affect wine quality. Together with his brother Arnaud, David fought hard to try and control mildew with various treatments, which were washed away by the rain and didn't prove effective. On our estate, were looking at losses of 60 to 65%, David Lavantureux said. Its going to be a low-yield year. The weather impact wasn't confined to the Lavantureux estate. Wet conditions across France have wreaked havoc on many wine-growing regions this year. Mildew, combined with episodes of frost and hail, have reduced overall production. The French ministry of agriculture estimates that it will amount to 39.3 million hectoliters, below both 2023 levels (-18%) and the average for the past five years (-11%). Its been a very tough year, both physically and mentally, Arnaud says. Were relieved the harvest is over. I'm exhausted. The challenges of this year will inevitably influence the wines produced at the family winery, resulting in a 2024 vintage with distinct characteristics. Balances are not at all the same, adds Arnaud. Theres more acidity. Maturity is less optimal. But the goal is to craft the wine so that, in the end, the balance is as perfect as possible." open image in gallery Grape-pickers sorting and taking Chardonnay grapes to the press at Domaine Lavantureux, in Chablis, Burgundy region ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) Located in the northern part of the Bourgogne region, the vineyards of Chablis have traditionally benefited from a favorable climate cold winters, hot summers and annual rainfall between 650-700 millimeters (25-27 inches). But climate change is altering those conditions, bringing unseasonably mild weather, more abundant rainfall, and recurrent spring frosts that were less common in the past. The frost damage is particularly frustrating. A similar phenomenon hit French vineyards in recent years, leading to big financial losses. And scientists believe the damaging 2021 frost was made more likely by climate change. There was a period when we thought that with global warming setting in, Chablis would be safe from frost, David Lavantureux says. And finally, over the last 15 years, its come back even stronger. open image in gallery Chardonnay grapes are photographed at Domaine Lavantureux , in Chablis, Burgundy region, France, ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) To adapt, winemakers have been adopting creative solutions. Cutting the wines later helps delay bud burst and reduce the vulnerability to late frost, while keeping a larger foliage above the fruit shields the grapes from the scorching sun in hot summers. During frost threats, many growers use expensive methods such as lighting candles in the vineyards. They also install electric lines to warm the vines, or spray water on the buds to create a thin ice layer that ensures the blossoms temperature remains around freezing point but doesn't dip much lower. Throughout the Burgundy region, anti-hail devices have also been deployed in a bid to lessen the intensity of hailstorms. It helps reduce risk, but its never 100% protection, David Lavantureux says. We saw that again this year with several hailstorms, two of which were particularly severe. open image in gallery Arnaud Lavantureux, 35, co-owner of Domaine Lavantureux, is photographed between barrels of Chardonay wine in the cellar ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) Fortunately for the Lavantureux family, two very good years in 2022 and 2023 should help mitigate the financial losses induced by the reduced 2024 harvest as international demand for Chablis remains solid, especially in the United States. In June, the Burgundy wine association said that Chablis wine exports to the U.S. reached 3 million bottles, generating 368 million euros ($410 million), a 19% increase compared to the previous year. Weve put this harvest behind us," says Arnaud Lavantureux Now it's time to think on the next one. Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A Utah girl asked her local city hall to build a playground she drew, and they held up their end of the bargain. When Clearfield resident Rosili Olson, 12, was 11 years old, she used her crayons to draw what she imagined to be a safer playground for her younger sisters. In an interview with local newspaper Standard-Examiner, her mother Annie Olson explained that she decided to encourage her daughters vision by arranging a meeting at Clearfields city hall. Rosilis a very strong-willed and very wonderful person, Annie Olson, recalled. When she brought it up, I thought, This is a big deal. All I did was call [city hall] and say, Hey, do me a favor. Would you let my daughter come in? They were so gracious and so kind, a lot more than I ever couldve imagined, for sure. She took her designs to city hall and, much to her surprise, officials decided to use them as inspiration for their new playground. She pitched her dream playground to Clearfields head of Parks and Recreation, Eric Howes, who noted that the young girls designs had come at just the right time. It was budgeted but we didnt have any specifics, Howes told the Standard-Examiner. After seeing all the effort she put into all of those drawings knowing wed already ordered the playground for the park right by her house, the next best thing was to say, Weve got a playground coming in next year. Lets use what youve done and build something there. open image in gallery Rosili Olsons initial design for the new playground at Bicentennial Park in Clearfield, Utah ( Facebook ) He continued: It was just simply asking her, Do you want to be involved? She said yes and her mom was committed to bringing her every time. In a Facebook video showing the creation process, Clearfield city officials revealed what convinced them to make the then-11-year-olds designs a reality. Rosili realized the playground by her house was suited for ages 5-12 and was not geared toward her younger sister, Clearfield officials recalled. After seeing her initiative and detail, we knew we had to make her dream happen. open image in gallery Rosili Olson and her family at the playgrounds ribbon-cutting ceremony at Bicentennial Park in Clearfield, Utah ( Facebook ) The post added that they had multiple versions of the playground for her to review throughout the process until they had checked all her boxes and got the colors right. Once the final designs were approved, they began to prepare an empty plot of land where the playground would eventually be built. At one point in the video, Rosili can be seen smiling ear-to-ear beside the plot, proud that her dream would soon come true. Less than a year later on Tuesday, September 24, she would attend the playgrounds grand opening at Bicentennial Park alongside her mom and sisters, who all helped with the ceremonial ribbon-cutting, beaming proudly at what she and the Parks and Recreation team accomplished. According to the Standard-Examiner, she gushed: Its even better than I imagined. Its so beautiful. Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A Utah mother battling a rare terminal cancer planned her funeral after being diagnosed with three months to live. In her GoFundMe campaign, Erika Diarte-Carr, 30, revealed that shes been struggling with Stage 4 small-cell lung carcinoma for the past two years, and doctors gave her a terminal diagnosis. After an 18 September oncologist appointment, she no longer planned on pursuing treatments as she was told that they would no longer help. The doctors told her she had at most three months left. 3 months to spend with my babies and loved ones. 3 months to make the best of what time I have left, she explained. During these next couple of months I need to make sure my kids will be ok after I am gone. I am faced now with the most difficult thing of planning my own funeral. Her campaign goal was to raise $5,000 to cover the cost of her future funeral service, but to her shock, more than 30,000 donors have since helped her raise $900,000. It happened overnight. I never expected that, she told ABC News. I never expected to have a big funeral service, or a lot of people reach out and help me. She added, With the way its went, Im just in shock just very grateful for everybody and everything thats been there. As of 29 September, the mother of two revealed that she planned on putting the majority of these donations in a trust fund for her two children: Jeremiah, 7, and Aaliyah, 5. In the campaigns description, she called her children her whole life, light and soul and what keeps [her] going. She also thanked her amazing medical team including Carl Gray and Kylie Money at Ogden Hematology Oncology, Steven Brown of Tanner Clinic and Brandon Fisher for their continued support. Back on 7 May 2022, the single mother walked into an emergency room sporting a normal shoulder injury, only to find out that day that she had cancer. Since then, she noted that the doctors words of warning looped in her head, replaying as she wondered how she was going to survive this diagnosis. She wrote that the doctor told her, I hope you have a good support system at home because youre going to need it, you have a long and hard journey ahead of you. The doctor than proceeded to tell me that there were multiple tumors that had metastasized to other parts of my body including my skeletal, which is how we were able to find the tumor that was causing my shoulder pain, Erika continued. By that point the damage had already been done. In that moment, mine and my kids entire lives had changed forever, as well as all of those around us. Things for the mother took a turn when she was diagnosed with Cushings syndrome on 17 January 2024, a disorder that leads the body to make too much of the hormone cortisol over a long period of time, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Thats when I started to decline and things got worse, she explained to ABC News, with the syndrome causing rapid weight gain and swelling, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, and muscle and bone deterioration, among other symptoms. Since my diagnosis I have managed to keep working full time, taking only 2 months off in the beginning for surgeries, biopsies, appointments, radiation and chemotherapy treatments, she added on her GoFundMe page. All while still being a full time mama. I do have an AMAZING support system but over time it has put a major financial, emotional, mental and physical toll on us all. Shes chosen the time she has to spend with her two children and ensuring their future, the latter of which seems to be secured thanks to the goodwill of thousands of donors. 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 U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said that the top Hamas commander killed in Lebanon Monday was one of its employees but had no function as he was placed on administrative leave since March. Fatah Sharif's connection to Hamas appeared set to ratchet up pressure on UNRWA, already facing a $80 million funding shortfall this year. Critics have repeatedly blasted the agency, saying it wasnt doing enough to root out Hamas militants from its ranks. The U.N.s internal watchdog has been investigating UNRWA since Israel in January accused 12 of its staffers of being involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which armed militants killed 1,200 people and abducted some 250 others. The allegations led more than a dozen donor countries to suspend their funding, causing an initial cash crunch of about $450 million dollars. Since then, all donor countries except for the United States have decided to resume funding the agency. Hamas said Sharif was killed with his wife, son and daughter in an airstrike on Al-Buss refugee camp, one of 12 dedicated to Palestinian refugees in the country, in the southern port city of Tyre. The Israeli military confirmed it had targeted him. Sharif was not open about his affiliation with the group and its armed wing. Israel has previously alleged the UNRWA has been infiltrated by the Palestinian militant group. Israels diplomatic mission in Geneva posted on X saying that Hamas announced Sharif's death, "And guess what was the second job of Mr Sharif? He was a principal, head of @UNRWA teachers association in Lebanon. The mission added: This case proves that there is a deep problem in @UNRWA, the way they do due diligence about who they are hiring. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said he learned in March of allegations that Sharif had been a member of the political party of Hamas and decided to suspend him and launch an investigation from day one. Lazzarini said he hadn't heard Sharif might be a Hamas commander" until Monday. So he was suspended, had no function, was not paid and was under investigation," Lazzarini told reporters in Geneva. "We are still an agency with due process I mean, respecting due process and the principle of rule of law. So the investigation was ongoing. Lazzarini said he had received a letter from Israeli authorities listing the names of some 100 people allegedly linked to Hamas, and he took it very seriously. But he said Israeli authorities never responded to UNRWA requests for more information so that it might launch investigations into those cases. A list is not proof of anything, he said. A Hamas statement praised Sharif for his educational and jihadist work and called him a successful teacher and an outstanding principal for generations of Palestinian refugees. The UNRWA teachers union and other Palestinian groups had periodically staged protests in front of the U.N. agency's office in Beirut since Sharifs suspension, alleging it targeted him for his political stances. Earlier this month, the union staged a sit-in during a visit to Lebanon by Lazzarini, saying it awaited positive and fair outcomes in the case of his suspension. Israel has been sharply critical of UNRWA and Lazzarini's leadership of it. In July, David Mencer, a spokesman in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, called the longtime Swiss diplomat "one of the bad guys, a terrorist sympathizer, a Jew-killing enabler, a liar. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric responded by saying the comments were reprehensible and threatening. UNRWA has 32,000 staff in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Palestinian territories, including 13,000 in Gaza who provide education, health care, food and other services to several million Palestinians and their families. Its facilities in Gaza, where thousands of Palestinians have sought shelter, have been repeatedly attacked. Lazzarini said 223 UNRWA staffers have been killed in Gaza during the war, a toll that the United Nations says is the highest ever in a single conflict for employees of the world body. The Israeli offensive in Gaza has killed 41,615, according to the Gaza Health Ministry which doesnt distinguish between civilians and combatants. ___ Associated Press Writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report. 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 }} Watch again as Donald Trump held a news conference on Monday (30 September) after the former president was briefed on the countrys response to Hurricane Helene. Trump announced he will visit the storm-ravaged swing state of Georgia on Monday, after he caused controversy for calling climate change one of the great scams over the weekend. At least 116 people have been killed and hundreds more remain missing after Hurricane Helene slammed into the southeast states, bringing catastrophic flooding to communities and plunging thousands into darkness. In one hard-hit county in North Carolina Buncombe County at least 35 have died and fears are growing for around 600 people reported missing. Deaths have also been reported in Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and Tennessee, since Helene made landfall in Florida last week and charted a deadly path through the US. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A judge in Georgia has once again blocked the state from enforcing a ban on abortion at roughly six weeks of pregnancy, concluding that state law criminalizing care is unconstitutional. The 26-page opinion, from Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, ordered that abortion access must be regulated as it was before Georgia lawmakers passed the states anti-abortion law in 2019. That ban under the states LIFE Act was effectively blocked by Roe v Wade, which the Supreme Court struck down three years later in 2022. Mondays ruling will allow Georgia abortion patients to seek care past six weeks of pregnancy for now potentially turning the state into a crucial refuge for access in the South, where every state has outlawed most forms of abortion care at any point in a pregnancy. Providers told reporters after the ruling that they anticipate expanding care access immediately. Judge McBurneys stunning order notes that most women are completely unaware or at best unsure whether they are pregnant at six weeks, or roughly two weeks after a missed period. He compares the states anti-abortion law to the violent misogynist regime in Margaret Atwoods best-selling novel, The Handmaids Tale. Abortion rights demonstators rally outside Georgias state capitol in Atlanta in May ( AP ) Women are not some piece of collectively owned community property the disposition of which is decided by majority vote, he wrote. Forcing a woman to carry an unwanted, not-yet-viable fetus to term violates her constitutional rights to liberty and privacy, even taking into consideration whatever bundle of rights the not-yet-viable fetus may have. Judge McBurney wrote that it is not for a legislator, a judge, or a Commander from The Handmaids Tale to tell these women what to do with their bodies during this period when the fetus cannot survive outside the womb any more so than society could or should force them to serve as a human tissue bank or to give up a kidney for the benefit of another. The case is now likely headed to the Georga Supreme Court, which had previously upheld the states ban. A footnote in the ruling oberves that there is an uncomfortable and usually unspoken subtext of involuntary servitude swirling about this debate, symbolically illustrated by the composition of the legal teams in this case. It is generally men who promote and defend laws like the LIFE Act, the effect of which is to require only women and, given the socio-economic and demographic evidence presented at trial, primarily poor women, which means in Georgia primarily black and brown women to engage in compulsory labor, i.e., the carrying of a pregnancy to term at the governments behest, the judge added. The ruling comes just two weeks after an investigation by ProPublica chronicled the deaths of two Georgia women who were not able to access abortion care in the state after the Supreme Court overturned Roe. These cases have revived scrutiny of Georgias abortion ban and similar anti-abortion laws across the US in the wake of Roes end, and the wave of litigation from abortion patients, providers and civil rights groups that has followed. The judges ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective and others against the state shortly after Governor Brian Kemp signed the measure into law in 2019. Judge McBurney had previously ruled that the law was unconstitutional in 2022, but that decision was reversed by the Georgia Supreme Court. Abortion is banned at all stages of pregnancy, with only limited exceptions, in more than a dozen Republican-controlled states. Abortion also is outlawed past six weeks in Florida and South Carolina, while others have imposed other restrictions and barriers to care in a constantly evolving and legally confusing map for abortion access. We are encouraged that a Georgia court has ruled for bodily autonomy, SisterSong executive director Monica Simpson said in a statement. At the same time, we cant forget that every day the ban has been in place has been a day too long and we have felt the dire consequences with the devastating and preventable deaths of Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller, she added. For years, Black women have sounded the alarm that abortion bans are deadly. While true justice would mean Amber and Candi were still with us today, we will continue to demand accountability to ensure that their lives and the lives of others who we have yet to learn of were not lost in vain. 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 }} Russia fired missiles and drones at 11 regions of Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said Monday, in a 33rd consecutive night of aerial attacks behind the front line and set a new monthly record of drone barrages. In Kyiv, multiple explosions and machine gun fire could be heard throughout the night as the Ukrainian capitals air defenses fought off a drone attack for five hours. No casualties were reported in Kyiv or elsewhere, though a critical infrastructure object caught fire in the southern Mykolaiv region, Gov. Vitalii Kim said, without elaborating. Russia has increasingly deployed Shahed drones, rather than more expensive missiles, in its aerial bombardment of Ukrainian cities since its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022. It launched more than 1,300 Shahed drones at Ukraine in September alone the highest number of drone attacks in a single month since the war began. Ukraine, too, has developed a new generation of drones for the battlefield and for long-range strikes deep inside Russia. More than 100 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russia on Sunday, Russian officials said. Also Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin released a video marking the second anniversary of the annexation of four Ukrainian territories and again accused the West of turning Ukraine into a military base aimed at Russia. Putin was speaking to mark the annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine after a referendum held in 2022 which was denounced by the West as a sham. Russia also illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. Since 2022, Putin said, businesses in the occupied areas are being actively restored and hospitals and schools are being rebuilt. Thousands of Ukrainians fled from the four regions as a result of Russias invasion, but Putin said Russias military operation in the country was to defend residents well-being and the future for our children and grandchildren. ___ Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices 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 Independent Voices email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A city besieged by the Romans over 2,000 years ago after its inhabitants rebelled against the empire was destroyed so completely that it remained uninhabited for nearly two centuries, archaeologists say. Researchers excavated remains of the ancient Roman-allied city of Fregellae in present-day Italy to understand its social and economic fabric before and after its destruction in 125 BC. Recent excavations at the oldest villa in the region, and a Roman military camp outside the city, suggest the attack destroyed the ancient citys livelihood so badly that the area remained uninhabited for more than 170 years. The villa located about 100km from Rome was built 80 years before Fregellaes siege around 205 BC, and is the oldest structure of its kind uncovered in the region, archaeologists say. Scientists found signs of the destruction caused by the Roman attack on the villa, including a layer of fire damage as well as fragments of pottery. Archaeological excavation in ancient Fregellae uncovered regions oldest known villa ( LEIZA/Dominik Maschek ) The excavation at the site is providing fresh insights into rural life and economic activities of inhabitants of the region at the time, they say. Analysis of seeds and plant remains found at the site revealed that wine, fruit, and grain were produced in the ancient villa complex. The wine was not only for the local market, but also for wider Mediterranean trade as far as Spain and France, researchers say. Archaeologists uncover 'unique' clearance trench at Waterloo battlefield site Scientists now suspect the sites destruction was likely meant to deal a blow to the livelihood of the citys inhabitants. The rebellions reason does not remain entirely unclear, but scholars suspect it may have been due to the people of the allied city demanding full Roman citizenship with complete legal rights especially in land ownership. Around the time of the rebellion, Romes consuls were campaigning overseas, researchers say. The violent destruction caused lasting damage to the entire economy of the region. The landscape remained uninhabited for over 170 years until the area was finally used as a rubbish dump, archaeologist Dominik Maschek from the Leibniz-Zentrum fur Archaologie says. Analyses of seeds and plant remains provide information on cultivation and trade of wine ( LEIZA/Anton Ritzhaupt ) Scientists also assessed the ruins of the Roman military camp on the outskirts of the ancient city. They found that the camp, built specifically for the siege, covered an area of about 90 by 143 metres, surrounded by a rampart and a ditch. This construction, researchers say, coincides with Roman military strategy and siege tactics. This new information consolidates our picture of the Roman siege in 125 BCE, Dr Maschek said. The Roman forces commanded by Lucius Opimius attacked the Latin town of Fregellae and destroyed it, an episode that came as part of a series of crises ultimately leading to the Social War of 91 BC to 87 BC when all of Romes Italian allies demanded full citizenship. The latest findings reveal the extent of the destruction wrought by the Roman campaign against Fregellae, showing the changes that shook the surrounding cultural landscape after the attack. 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 }} Three Just Stop Oil supporters have denied carrying out an attack on two Van Gogh paintings after soup was thrown at them hours after other activists were jailed, Stephen Simpson, 61, of Bradford, West Yorkshire, Phillipa Green, 24, of Penryn, Cornwall, and Mary Somerville, 77, of Bradford, West Yorkshire, pleaded not guilty to criminal damage at Westminster Magistrates Court on Monday. It comes after soup was poured over two Vincent Van Gogh paintings just hours after other members of the group were jailed for damaging the gold frame of the artists Sunflowers. Prosecutor James Bowker said the frames of the paintings had been damaged, adding that an antique frame owned by the National Gallery, estimated to be worth 10,000 to 20,000, would likely require lengthy restoration. He said the value of the other frame, on loan from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, was unknown, but likely to be in a similar range, adding that neither painting itself was damaged. One of two Vincent Van Gogh paintings targeted at the National Gallery in London by Just Stop Oil activists (Just Stop Oil/PA) ( PA Media ) Mr Bowker said damage to the artworks would have a serious social impact, adding the Sunflowers are loved by millions of people around the world and in the UK. The prosecutor said the value of damage could be a high total once it is assessed. Mr Bowker said that Simpson and charity worker Green threw soup onto a painting on the left of the gallery and retired teacher Somerville threw soup onto a painting on the right. The trio then took off their coats to reveal t-shirts which said Just Stop Oil on them, the court heard. Defending, Raj Chada said the damage to the frames had not been assessed yet. Mr Chada added: There was no damage to the paintings whatsoever. They have been covered by a very thick protective glass screen. Just Stop Oil activists Mary Somerville, and Stephen Simpson leaving Westminster Magistrates' Court ( Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire ) The National Gallery confirmed the paintings, Sunflowers (1888, National Gallery, London) and Sunflowers (1889, Philadelphia Museum of Art), remain unharmed. On Friday, Phoebe Plummer, 23, and Anna Holland, 22, were jailed after causing as much as 10,000 worth of damage to the artworks gold-coloured frame when they targeted it at Londons National Gallery. Plummer received a two-year jail term, while Holland was handed 20 months. Sentencing the women, Judge Christopher Hehir said the cultural treasure could have been seriously damaged or even destroyed. Judge Hehir, who previously jailed the co-founder of Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion for five years, continued: Soup might have seeped through the glass. You couldnt have cared less if the painting was damaged or not. You had no right to do what you did to Sunflowers. A telling phrase rang out from the latest trial of Lucy Letby. The prosecutor claimed that she had been caught virtually red-handed attempting to murder Baby K, by her colleague Dr Ravi Jayaram. Jayaram had come upon Letby standing over and watching the baby, it was said, as the baby desaturated, losing oxygen. As the babys breathing tube had reportedly been dislodged and the alarm had apparently not sounded, the inference was that Letby had removed the tube herself and paused the alarm, intending the baby would die (as Baby K eventually did three days later). But this inference depended, almost entirely, on the reliability of Dr Jayarams version of events, about which he was challenged in cross-examination. Letby denied doing any harm. Having heard their opposing accounts, a unanimous jury took just over three hours to find Letby guilty of the attempted murder of Baby K. The red-handed incident was no longer an inference; it was a fact. One that the judge could and did assert in his sentencing remarks, before condemning Letby to a 15th whole life order for her crimes. Letby had refused to appear for sentencing at her earlier trial, but for the retrial of this charge, the 34-year-old stood in the dock of Manchester Crown Court. As she left to resume her jail term, she paused to say quietly, back into the court: Im innocent. A statement that must have added to the distress of the family of Baby K, who described having to endure a long, torturous (sic) and emotional journey twice. During my time in office as a commissioner at the Criminal Cases Review Commission the body responsible for investigating alleged wrongful convictions and referring cases for a new appeal where there is a real possibility of success I encountered many safe verdicts that had been built on circumstantial evidence. We cannot know whether Letby is innocent. Only Letby herself knows that. But we can say that she was never caught red-handed; she was not seen committing those acts and there is still no definitive forensic evidence linking her to them. I am not a lawyer, but every criminal practitioner knows that indirect evidence, especially where it exists in multiple strands, can be powerful and compelling evidence of guilt, underscored by the unlikelihood of coincidence. In another contested case from 20 years ago, a male nurse, Benjamin Geen was convicted of killing two patients and harming others by injecting them with overdoses of drugs. He was not caught in the act, but on his arrest, as he arrived at the hospital for work, he was found with a syringe in his fleece pocket which contained one of the drugs (and traces of others) that he was alleged to have used. Although he and his supporters continue to claim he is innocent, that syringe is a significant obstacle to his chances of a successful new appeal. However, circumstantial evidence also has the capacity to mislead juries into reaching the wrong conclusion, perhaps never more so than when it appears plentiful, and in almost complete absence of direct evidence. One of the scrawled notes used as evidence in the case ( Reuters ) At first glance, the case against Letby seems overwhelming. She pleaded not guilty to 22 charges of murder and attempted murder, arising from the deaths and collapses of an abnormally high number of newborn babies in the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital. The incidents in question occurred between June 2015 and June 2016, while Letby, then in her mid-20s, was working there as a neonatal nurse. According to an analysis of the staff shift patterns, she was the one person present at every event. Letby was first arrested in 2018 and the trial took a painstaking 10 months, from October 2022 until August last year. She was alleged to have injected the babies in her care with air, or forced air into them through tubes leading to fatal air embolism, and also caused them internal bleeding and trauma. She is also alleged to have poisoned two with insulin and overfed two others with milk. The trial heard from her colleagues and from medical experts, led by Dr Dewi Evans, who attested to Letbys methods. There was evidence too of her morbid fascination with her crimes, searching families on Facebook, hoarding confidential documents about the cases at home and revealing her own thoughts in scrawled notes which include the now notorious admission, I am evil, I did this. The jury returned seven guilty verdicts on murder and seven guilty verdicts on attempted murder. They acquitted her on two counts of attempted murder and were unable to agree verdicts on six further counts of attempted murder, including the case of Baby K. Footage from Cheshire Constabulary taken during Letbys arrest in 2018 ( PA ) For her crimes, Letby was sentenced to 14 whole life orders. The trial judge, Mr Justice Goss, told her she had acted in a way that was completely contrary to the normal human instincts of nurturing and caring for babies and in gross breach of the trust that all citizens place in those who work in the medical and caring professions. Letby, Goss said, claimed that she never did anything that was meant to hurt a baby and only ever did her best to care for them. That was but one of the many lies you were found to have told in this case she was told. Doctors had to think the unthinkable when they became suspicious of her. The verdict was met with an avalanche of publicity; Cheshire Police released their own in-house documentary revealing how they had successfully investigated Britains worst serial killer of babies. And with the reporting came many reminders of the double tragedy faced by families whose babies had died or suffered serious harm only to later be told that one of the people caring for them had been responsible. I was not alone, however, in finding the case perplexing. While the Crown did not have to explain why Letby had committed the crimes, there was no indication whatsoever as to motive, nothing to suggest any profound psychological flaw that such crimes might require. As painful as it may be for the families of the babies who died or suffered harm, the ball is in Letbys court to decide to make the next move There was testimony, in fact, that Letby was a diligent, compassionate and hard-working nurse. Her parents supported her. So did many of her friends. Much was made of her apparent confession, I am evil, I did this scrawled on scraps of paper. On first look, it certainly looked like evidence of a troubled mind, but on closer inspection others have since suggested, this could easily be an expression of a deterioration of mental health and self-loathing at the association with the deaths of the babies and the increasing suspicions of doctors who worked with her. A growing body of people statisticians, scientists and doctors among them were starting to openly question the evidence on social media and elsewhere. They were not associated with or encouraged by Lucy Letby or her lawyers. In fact, many were blatantly critical of Letbys defence team, which had been led by Ben Myers KC with a local solicitor from Chester, Richard Thomas. As the Crown Prosecution Service promptly announced its intention to put Letby through a retrial for the attempted murder count of Baby K and with proceedings now active, reporting restrictions were swiftly put in place. No mainstream broadcast or print media in the UK would, rightly, have dared to breach the restrictions and interrogate the concerns around her conviction. To do so would mean they would face proceedings for contempt of court. A 2023 court drawing of Letby listening to the verdicts being read at Manchester Crown Court ( PA ) However, in one podcast serial, We Need To Talk About Lucy Letby, a statistician Peter Elston and Michael McConville, a retired paediatrician, tore into the case, with detailed arguments about the inadequacies of the medical evidence and concerns about the administration of the hospital and its neonatal unit, especially the inadequate levels of staff and training. Questions were raised about the key statistical element of the case: the graph that showed Letbys presence at all the events. Dr Dewi Evans was not just the Crowns trial expert, he was also an adviser in the police investigation and reviewed 60 cases of baby deaths and collapses (nearly three times the number charged) for assessments of foul play. It was suggested that the Crown had repeatedly, misleadingly referred to the babies as stable when in fact, by definition, they were anything but, because they were in the special care unit in the first place. Very sadly, some premature babies do die or suffer collapses quite naturally, or sometimes because of sub-optimal care. A previous review into the unit had found it was short of nursing staff and consultants were spread thinly between the paediatric ward and the neonatal unit. Junior staff reported feeling like they couldnt call on them and, consequently, the unit was often left in the care of less experienced doctors working in a very stressful environment. The details around Lucy Letbys case have received global attention ( PA Media ) How would the graph look if it showed the shift patterns of all the cases and not just those that had been cherry-picked by the prosecution? Clearly, Letby was not on shift for them all, so the graph, it is claimed by campaigners, was misleading. There were many other incidents in the neonatal ward for which she was not present, and so could not apparently be blamed. Much was made of the fact that the number of deaths fell once Letby was removed from neonatal duty, but around this time hospital management had also downgraded the unit, so that it stopped taking the most premature babies with the highest risk of mortality. Then there was the question of the causes of death and collapse, attributed to Letby, which appeared at times to be speculative, and had passed unnoticed in the initial post-mortems and reviews that followed the incidents. An enduring puzzle of the main trial was why the defence had not called any expert evidence itself, to rebut the claims of the prosecution and offer alternate explanations for the deaths. We learned from the recent failed appeal in the case, that the defence had instructed experts but never called them. Ben Myers, on Letbys behalf, had gone in hard on Evans during cross-examination and there had been some spiky exchanges as Evans was accused of being inconsistent and going for whatever mechanism might fit his explanation for Letbys involvement in the incidents. A diary and handwritten notes used as evidence in Letbys trial ( Reuters ) He claimed, for example, that various descriptions of different types of skin discolouration were consistent with air embolism. Ruling out other causes of death, he seemed to say, left air embolism as the only answer. But was it? Testimonies from another expert who wasnt called when they could have been claimed not. Letby and her lawyers have not engaged so far with the media. They have, to the best of my knowledge, declined all offers of help from the various circling experts. In May, a whopping 13,000-word New Yorker article was published while the reporting restrictions were still in place in the UK which raised further questions about the varieties of circumstantial evidence in the prosecution case. Now, with the retrial over and the restrictions no longer in place, a chorus of concern is growing louder. More publications are reporting the detailed worries of medical professionals and statisticians. Although it is not yet a concerted campaign, there is said to be a body of senior politicians who are concerned about the safety of Letbys convictions and about the way that medical and statistical evidence has been presented in this case and others. So where does this leave us? It had been suggested to me by a reliable source that Letby would be charged with further counts of murder but since that has yet to happen, either I was misinformed or the CPS has changed its mind or is still considering its position as to whether a further trial would serve the interests of justice. ( Chester Standard/SWNS ) Letby can seek leave to appeal the latest attempted murder conviction we wont know unless or until the case is listed for hearing. But a fresh appeal on the other 14 convictions lies solely with the Criminal Cases Review Commission. The CCRC is currently under scrutiny because of its role in the prolonged injustice faced by Andrew Malkinson (who spent 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit). Two reviews of the CCRC's role in the Malkinson case are imminent. Those circumstances may focus their mind on doing their best work, and the Commission has dealt with complex medical cases in the past. It can instruct experts, review evidence, and, perhaps importantly, invite trial counsel to explain their tactics and decision-making a necessity for any future chance of appeal. No one should be under any illusion that this is a quick process it could take a year, or years. As the Commission can only accept applications from the applicant or their instructed lawyers, despite a number of experts who now feel the case is flawed and are frustrated at her lawyers refusal to involve them, the CCRC cannot accept applications from outsiders. It is now up to Letby to choose her representation, and all the signs are that she is content with her current legal team. As painful as it may be for the families of the babies who died or suffered harm, the ball is in Letbys court to decide to make the next move, which would mean the case is revisited with a rigorous inquiry and expertise. But, whatever they decide and however difficult it is for the grieving families, it is evident the voices asking them to do so shows no sign of quieting down anytime soon. 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 }} Four officers and a police staff member will face disciplinary proceedings over alleged failures to investigate complaints against rapist Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick, a watchdog has announced. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has identified several missed opportunities by the Met Police to pursue misconduct investigations after four reports of serious offending were made against Carrick between 2002 and 2021, while he was a serving officer. The predator was eventually arrested in October 2021 and jailed in February 2023, after he admitted dozens of rapes and sexual offences against 12 women. He was ordered to serve a sentence of at least 30 years and was also sacked from the Met after being unmasked as one of the UKs worst sex offenders. He was finally brought to justice after many years of offending because one of his victims was so moved by a victim impact statement made by the mother of Sarah Everard who was raped and murdered by another Met officer, Wayne Couzens that she decided to report the attack. The IOPC, which carried out four independent investigations into what actions were taken by the Met, said it had decided a detective sergeant should face a gross misconduct hearing. It also found a further three officers and a staff member should face misconduct meetings for alleged breaches of the police standards of professional behaviour, all relating to failing to progress misconduct investigations against Carrick. Those facing disciplinary proceedings all worked in the Mets Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) at the time. Four officers and one staff member will face disciplinary proceedings over alleged Metropolitan Police failures to investigate complaints against Carrick ( PA ) The IOPC said that a report of assault and harassment was made against Carrick in 2002, and he was spoken to by his line manager but no referral was made to the forces internal standards department. Two inspectors would have faced a misconduct meeting over this if they had not already retired. In 2016 another report of assault and harassment was made, which was investigated by Hampshire Police as a potential crime. No charge was brought, but the Mets internal standards department failed to investigate any potential misconduct. The IOPC said two officers should face misconduct meetings, one of whom has since moved to the City of London Police. In 2019, a report of assault was made and was investigated by Hertfordshire Constabulary, no charge was brought and again the Mets internal standards department was told. Two chief inspectors were told to go through a reflective practice review process to consider their failures to investigate Carrick for potential misconduct. Finally, in 2021 a report of rape and sexual assault was made against Carrick, but no criminal charge was brought after an investigation by police in Hertfordshire. An internal investigation by the Met found there was not enough evidence to prove misconduct, and so Carrick had no case to answer. But the IOPC said a detective sergeant should face a gross misconduct hearing for allegedly failing to supervise that investigation properly, and a detective constable and a police staff member should face misconduct meetings. An inquiry led by Elish Angiolini was extended to incorporate the Carrick case ( PA ) IOPC regional director Mel Palmer said: Our thoughts continue to be with all of the women who were victims of this serial predator. Our investigations into alleged failures to investigate reports made against David Carrick were comprehensive and identified several missed opportunities to pursue misconduct investigations against him. In all cases, we identified that officers failed to properly explore, investigate or oversee the misconduct investigations against Carrick, who never faced any disciplinary proceedings despite being the subject of serious criminal allegations on multiple occasions. Had these matters been progressed appropriately, Carrick may have potentially faced gross misconduct proceedings and been dismissed from the force well before he was eventually arrested. Four officers and a member of police staff will now face disciplinary proceedings, including one officer who will face a gross misconduct hearing, while two more former officers would have faced disciplinary meetings had they not retired from the force. An inquiry led by Lady Elish Angiolini into how a serving police officer was able to kidnap and murder Everard has been extended, and will also examine the case of serial rapist Carrick. This will include the extent to which any issues relating to his conduct, performance and/or behaviour, particularly in relation to women, were known and raised by colleagues and investigated. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The Independents campaign to build a house for victims of domestic abuse has caught the imagination of readers and the wider public, says the publications editor-in-chief as the fundraising total passes 100,000. Geordie Greig gave the latest update on the ambitious fundraiser during an appearance on LBC with Nick Ferrari on Monday morning. Its a very exciting campaign, its very simple, Mr Greig said. We are trying to build a house for the most desperate people, those who are the victims of domestic abuse. The Independents editor-in-chief Geordie Greig has urged readers to be a brick, buy a brick ( Leon Neal/Getty Images ) For 300,000 pounds, we can build a house. Weve got a builder, weve got a plot, weve got the first line of bricks going in and as Dame Joanna Lumley said, be a brick and buy a brick. Its our Brick by Brick campaign and it has truly caught the imagination from Joanna to the Queen, who sent us a donation after seeing our campaign. Victims of domestic abuse is one of the areas she has seen there is a lot of work to be done, to improve the way women get protected and how men can behave better. Also among those to support our campaign are Victoria Derbyshire, Rylan Clark, Cherie Blair, Dame Helen Mirren and Olivia Colman. Through the scheme The Independent has partneredwith the charity Refuge who help protect victims of domestic abuse and provide them with shelter and support. An average of one woman is killed by a partner or ex-partner every five days in England and Wales, with Refuge receiving a call for assistance every two minutes. A CGI image of the front of the house for the survivor and her children ( Persimmon ) The house being built will have the latest security measures including a fire-proof letter box, CCTV, and enhanced locking features on windows and doors. It will be linked to the local police force to ensure officers can get there quickly in the rare instance a womans abuser discovers where she is living. We hope it will be there permanently, if someone is in help theyll have a sanctuary to go to. Its very simple to help, if someone texts BRICK to 70560 that will buy a brick for 15, Mr Greig said. Its totally caught the imagination of our readers, the wider public. It hits a chord of people wanting to help those who are most vulnerable and it provides a solution. Everything counts. To quote Dame Joanna, be a brick, buy a brick. It really is something concrete, theres a permanent legacy, its 100 per cent the money goes to this and we are very proud of it. Its one of those campaigns you feel in your heart and you know in your head that its a winner. Please donate now to the Brick by Brick campaign, launched by The Independent and charity Refuge, to help raise 300,000 to build a safe space for women where they can escape domestic abuse, rebuild their lives and make new futures Be a brick, buy a brick and donate here or text BRICK to 70560 to donate 15 On the morning of September 28, foreign students were capturing the rural scenery of Zhongfen Village in Suncun Town, Fanchang District, Wuhu City. The "Experiencing China: Discovering Fanchang" cultural exchange and experience activity for international students from Anhui Normal University was held in Zhongfen Village, Suncun Town, on the same day. More than 40 international students from countries including Russia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Mauritania, Pakistan, Thailand, South Korea, Tanzania, and Angola immersed themselves in the local customs and cultural heritage of Suncun. They learned to play waist drums, make dumplings, and fry round rice balls, as well as experiencing traditional Chinese agricultural activities such as harvesting rice and digging sweet potatoes. Through these activities, they witnessed the achievements and vitality of rural revitalization in the context of China's modernization drive.Yu Naisi 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 }} Millions of households have been warned over paying more for their energy bills than they need to. People have been warned they risk overpaying for their energy if they do not send meter readings to their supplier before a 10% price rise takes effect on October 1. The average household energy bill is to increase by 149 a year from Tuesday as Ofgem increases its price cap just as homes move into the winter months. The regulator has raised the cap from the current 1,568 for a typical dual fuel household in England, Scotland and Wales to 1,717, or around 12 a month more on an average bills. The latest cap will be just 6% or 117 lower than it was compared to the same period last year. Those households on a standard variable tariff (SVT) as opposed to a fixed deal and who do not have a smart meter should submit their electricity and gas readings to their supplier as close as possible to October 1 to ensure any energy they use before this date is not inaccurately billed at the higher prices. Suppliers who have not received meter readings base their bills on estimated usage, meaning households could be overpaying, while others may not be paying enough. Money Saving Expert founder Martin Lewis took to social media to sound the alarm. The price cap sets a maximum price that energy suppliers can charge consumers for each kilowatt hour (kWh) of energy they use. It does not limit total bills because householders still pay for the amount of energy they consume. From October 1, households on a standard variable tariff that pay for their electricity by direct debit will pay on average 24.5p per unit, with a standing charge of 60.99p per day. For gas, the average will be 6.24p per unit with a standing charge of 31.66p per day. Ofgem said rising prices in the international energy market, due to heightened political tensions and extreme weather events, were the main driver behind the decision. Experts think there is likely to be a further energy bill increase in January due to escalating tensions in the Russia-Ukraine war(Gareth Fuller/PA) ( PA Archive ) Millions of pensioners are also facing a winter with less support after the new Government decided to scrap winter fuel payments for those who do not receive pension credits or other benefits. About 10 million pensioners will miss out on the payments of up to 300 this year. Octobers price cap will be significantly lower than during the peak of the energy crisis, which was fuelled by Russias invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, driving up costs in an already-turbulent market. However, experts think there is likely to be a further increase in January, with more rises possible early in the new year due to escalating tensions in the Russia-Ukraine war. Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley has urged consumers to shop around and consider a fixed-rate tariff that could save money, adding that the regulator was working with Government, suppliers, charities and consumer groups to do everything we can to support customers. Citizens Advice has said it was particularly concerned about households with children and young people and those on lower incomes, who were most likely to struggle with their heating costs. Comparison site Uswitch.com calculated that the average household on an SVT is expected to spend 135 on energy in October compared with 55 in September due to a combination of higher rates and increased usage at the start of autumn. Uswitch energy spokesman Ben Gallizzi said: With energy prices rising next week, its vital that households submit a meter reading, with a 19 difference between the cost of a weeks energy at Septembers prices compared with October. Customers who dont have a smart meter should aim to submit their readings before or on Tuesday, October 1, so their supplier has an updated and accurate view of their account. If you delay submitting your readings, some of your September energy usage could end up being estimated and therefore charged under the higher October rates. Try making this task a monthly habit for billing accuracy. Households are also advised to see whether now is the time to change their energy tariff, to beat the October price hikes. There are a number of fixed tariffs worth considering right now. By opting for a fixed deal, youre locking in those rates for the duration usually 12 months which means households could have price certainty and avoid the ups and downs of the price cap. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Cabinet secretary Simon Case has announced he will stand down at the end of this year on health grounds but only after The Independent revealed that ministers had told Sir Keir Starmer he should be sacked. The UKs top civil servant, who was diagnosed with a neurological condition last year, said that whilst the spirit remains willing, the body is not. His resignation came just days after a row broke out after revelations that ministers told Sir Keir to remove him immediately, leading to protests by the trade union representing top civil servants. One senior minister had accused Mr Case of poisoning the well of government. In a letter announcing his decision to step down, he insisted that it had nothing to do with reports he had been accused of failing to prevent leaks about donations from Lord Alli, as well as being accused of briefing against Sir Keirs chief of staff, Sue Gray. Cabinet Secretary Simon Case (James Manning/PA) ( PA Wire ) However, the long held animosity between him and Ms Gray has been an open secret in Whitehall since well before she quit the civil service to join Sir Keirs team preparing for government. Ms Gray is understood to have left her previous Whitehall job because Mr Case had blocked her from being the permanent secretary to the Department for Business and Trade. After a torrid start to Sir Keirs government beset with leaks, infighting and rows over gifts, a number of cabinet ministers had already identified Mr Case as a major part of the problem. He has told Sir Keir he will go at the end of the year but there is a possibility he will go sooner. A source suggested that the final straw for him came after the reports in The Independent during the Labour conference of ministers briefing against him. One exasperated cabinet minister said: He [Case] has got to go now. One minister said his planned departure from government must be done now with immediate effect to show Keirs authority and to stop the damage and distraction. Another minister told The Independent they have personally raised their concerns with the prime minister and said Mr Case really should go now. Downing Street chief of staff Sue Gray is understood to have a difficult relationship with Mr Case (Leon Neal/PA) ( PA Wire ) Others considered Mr Cases relationship with Ms Gray to be too corrosive and accused him of briefing against her. How Case survived the Partygate scandal, has failed to unite No 10 with stability or direction and leaves every PM seemingly weaker in their mission and leadership is simply going to hurt this prime minister too, one said. Mr Case has always denied inappropriate behaviour regarding Ms Gray and being involved in leaks. Supporters also noted that the prime ministers spokesperson said Sir Keir had no concerns in this regard. In his resignation letter, Mr Case said: As many of you know, I have been undergoing medical treatment for a neurological condition over the last 18 months and, whilst the spirit remains willing, the body is not. It is a shame that I feel I have to spell this out, but my decision is solely to do with my health and nothing to do with anything else. Mr Case, who is also the head of the Civil Service, said it has been an honour to serve two sovereigns, four prime ministers and over 120 cabinet ministers in this role. He wrote: There have been far more ups than downs along the way and by far the greatest highlight has been the privilege of working with so many remarkable public servants, across the length and breadth of our country, in our overseas posts and with counterparts from our close allies and partners around the world. His successor will be appointed by the prime minister following a full, open and transparent process, he said. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The stakes are high for Marine Le Pen as she and other officials from the French far-right party National Rally go on trial Monday over accusations of embezzling European Union funds. The case has the potential to derail her political ambitions. The nine-week trial will be closely watched by Le Pens political rivals as she remains a strong contender in the race to succeed Emmanuel Macron when the next presidential election takes place in 2027. It comes as a new government dominated by centrists and conservatives just came into office in the wake of June-July legislative elections. Some observers expect the trial could prevent National Rally lawmakers, including Le Pen herself, from fully playing their opposition role in Parliament as they would be busy focusing on the party's defense. Since stepping down as party leader three years ago, Le Pen has sought to position herself as a mainstream candidate capable of appealing to a broader electorate. Her efforts have paid off, with the party making significant gains in recent elections at both the European and national levels. But a guilty verdict could seriously undermine her bid to take the Elysee. The National Rally and 27 of its top officials are accused of having used money destined for EU parliamentary aides to pay staff who instead did political work for the party between 2004 and 2016, in violation of the 27-nation blocs regulations. The National Rally was called National Front at the time. Le Pen, whose party has softened its anti-EU stance in recent years, is denying wrongdoing and claims the case is politically driven. Parliamentary assistants do not work for the Parliament. They are political assistants to elected officials, political by definition, she argued in her defense. You ask me if I can define the tasks I assigned to my assistants; it depends on each persons skills. Some wrote speeches for me, and some handled logistics and coordination. If found guilty, Le Pen and her co-defendants could face up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to 1 million euros ($1.1 million) each. Additional penalties, such as the loss of civil rights or ineligibility to run for office, could also be imposed, a scenario that could hamper, or even destroy, Le Pens goal to mount another presidential bid after Macrons term ends. Le Pen was runner-up to Macron in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections. She served as party president from 2011 to 2021 and now heads the group of RN lawmakers at the French National Assembly. Despite her denial, her party has already paid back 1 million to the European Parliament, the Parliaments lawyer Patrick Maisonneuve said. Of that amount, 330,000 euros were directly linked to Marine Le Pens alleged misuse of funds. A longstanding controversy The legal proceedings stem from a 2015 alert raised by Martin Schulz, then-president of the European Parliament, to French authorities about possible fraudulent use of European funds by members of the National Front. Schulz also referred the case to the European Anti-Fraud Office, which launched a separate probe into the matter. The European Parliaments suspicions were further heightened when a 2015 organizational chart showed that 16 European lawmakers and 20 parliamentary assistants held official positions within the party roles unrelated to their supposed duties as EU parliamentary staff. A subsequent investigation found that some assistants were contractually linked to different MEPs than the ones they were actually working for, suggesting a scheme to divert European funds to pay party employees in France. Alexandre Varault, a spokesperson for the National Rally who was elected to the European Parliament in June, told The Associated Press that Le Pen will attend the first day of the trial, adding that he hopes for the acquittal of all the defendants. Misuse of public funds alleged Investigating judges concluded that Le Pen, as party leader, orchestrated the allocation of parliamentary assistance budgets and instructed MEPs to hire individuals holding party positions. These individuals were presented as EU parliamentary assistants, but in reality, were allegedly working for the National Rally in various capacities. The European Parliaments legal team is seeking 2.7 million euros in compensation for financial and reputational damages. This figure corresponds to the 3.7 million euros allegedly defrauded through the scheme, minus the 1 million euros already paid back. During the 2014 European elections, the National Front won a record 24 MEP seats, finishing first with 24.8% of the vote, ahead of the center-right and the Socialists. This surge resulted in a substantial financial windfall for the party, which faced severe financial problems at the time. An audit of the partys accounts between 2013 and 2016 revealed that it was running a deficit of 9.1 million euros by the end of 2016. Yet, the party still had a cash balance of 1.7 million euros and had lent 1 million euros to Le Pens 2017 presidential campaign, while also holding 87,000 euros in loans to Cotelec, its funding association. At the time, the party was also indebted to a Russian bank for 9.4 million euros, a loan taken out in 2014 for 6 million euros. Suspected systemic practice The investigation uncovered many irregularities involving prominent party members. Thierry Legier, the long-time bodyguard of Le Pens father Jean-Marie, was listed as his parliamentary assistant. But his resume did not reference this role, and he made no mention of it in his 2012 autobiography. Legier admitted during the investigation that he was not interviewed and signed his employment contract without fully understanding his official role. Jean-Marie Le Pen, who led the National Front from 1972 to 2011, will not appear in court alongside his former colleagues due to health concerns. Now 96, he was deemed unfit to testify by a court in June. He has 11 prior convictions, including for violence against a public official and hate speech. He has denied wrongdoing during his time as party leader, stating that the pool of assistants was common knowledge. I did not choose which assistants were assigned to me. That was decided by Marine Le Pen and others. I only signed the contracts, he said. ___ Find more AP Europe coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/europe Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Robert Jenrick has said the Star of David should be displayed at every point of entry to the UK to show we stand with Israel. The Tory leadership frontrunner told a Conservative Friends of Israel event he wanted Britain to be the most welcoming country in the world for Israelis and the Jewish community. He said that, while immigration minister, he had pushed for Israelis travelling to Britain to be able to use e-gates. He said this would mean that at every airport and point of entry to our great country, there was a Star of David, as a symbol that we support Israel. On stage at the event, Mr Jenrick wore a black hoodie emblazoned with the words Hamas Are Terrorists, The Daily Telegraph reported. Mr Jenrick also used his remarks to promise that, if he became prime minister, he would move the British embassy to Jerusalem. Robert Jenrick said he wants Britain to be the most welcoming country in the world for Israelis ( PA Wire ) If the Foreign Office or the civil servants dont want to do it, I will build it myself, he added. Liz Truss had previously planned to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which both Israel and Palestinians claim as their capital, but the plans were abandoned by Rishi Sunak. Mr Jenrick told the Conservative Friends of Israel event: I want this country to be the most welcoming country in the world for Israelis and for the Jewish community. And a small thing that I fought for when I was the immigration minister was to ensure that every Israeli citizen could enter our country through the e-gate, through the easy access, so that at every airport and point of entry to our great country, there is the Star of David there as a symbol that we support Israel, we stand with Israel. We are friends and allies of Israel, and Israelis are welcome in our country. Andrew Mitchell condemned those who use words like apartheid and genocide to describe the situation in the Middle East ( PA ) Addressing the same event, shadow foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell said that those who fought against Nazi Germany and South African apartheid would turn in their graves at the words genocide and apartheid being applied to the situation in the Middle East. And he added: In parliament, on the streets of London, in university campuses around the world, we have witnessed a form of hysteria. Words like apartheid, genocide. Words that would make those who fought against Hitler and against the apartheid in South Africa turn in their graves. The vitriolic outpouring of hostility has crossed all boundaries of sane debate. Some of it may be well intentioned; people must be free to express their anger, and protest [about] the government of Israel and the genuine humanitarian concerns for the suffering we are witnessing. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Tom Tugendhat said he doesnt accept the term climate emergency, dubbing Ed Milibands plan for state-backed energy company completely insane. Great British Energy will provide 8.3m of funding for renewable power projects across the UK and shield consumers from international market shocks. the new Labour government has said. But speaking on the main stage at Mondays Conservative Party conference, Mr Tugendhat claimed Mr Milibands policies were going to destroy Britain, adding: Every single project hes got is designed to make electricity and power more expensive, harder to get and to make us more vulnerable to foreign dictators. Tom Tugendhat said we need to rebuild trust in the Conservative Party (Stefan Rousseau/PA) ( PA Wire ) His project on GB energy is utter rubbish, hes creating a public sector energy to compete against the private sector and therefore make bills more expensive. Its completely insane, he said. Asked if he accepts the term climate emergency, Mr Tugendhat said: I dont accept that term. What I think is that we need to make sure that we are getting energy independence and energy sovereignty back. Labour has Great British Energy will help to make Britain a clean-energy superpower, with a fully decarbonised power system by 2030. He said it would be a new national champion allowing us to reap the benefits of Britains abundant natural resources, with clean power projects in communities across our country, to create the next generation of good jobs, reindustrialising Britain. Labour has promised to work with the private sector to double onshore wind, triple solar power, and quadruple offshore wind by 2030. But Mr Tugendhat accused the government of going too far with plans to reach net zero, saying: When people hear net zero, too many people forget the word net and they just hear the word zero, and thats what Ed Milliband is doing. In July, the governments climate watchdog warned that Conservative government left the country significantly off track to meet its international commitments. The Committee on Climate Changes report found that policies inherited by Labour inherited would result in only about a third of the emissions cuts necessary to reach the UKs Paris agreement target. The report said the previous government reversed or delayed key policies gave inconsistent messages on its commitment to the actions needed to reach net zero, with cancellations of, and delays and exemptions to, important policies. It claimed to be acting in the long-term interests of the country but there was no evidence backing the claim that dialling back ambition would reduce costs to citizens, it added. 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 }} Watch a feed from a court in South Africa on Monday, 30 September, where a white farmer appeared on charges of attempted murder after allegedly running over a six-year-old Black boy. Christoffel Stoman, 70, from Lutzville, is accused of running down the child who had allegedly stolen oranges from trees. The six-year-old suffered two broken legs after allegedly being run over by a truck. Rural and Farmworkers Development Organisation spokesperson Billy Claasen told local media that the child was walking with his mother, who was not injured, when the incident occurred. Claasen told the Daily Voice: "The farmer drove over the child. It is claimed that he saw the child and his mother next to the road near his farm and then drove over the child. The child and his mother were taken to Vredendal Hospital and has been transferred to Paarl Hospital. It is confirmed that both legs of the child are broken. 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 }} An Iowa woman who had previously blogged about harmful chemicals and other toxins has pleaded guilty to poisoning her husband. Daisy Zantjer, 39, of Pleasantville, admitted to administering a harmful substance, on two separate occasions, called tetrahydrozoline hydrochloride to her husband Allan Zantjer, in July of 2023, according to charging documents obtained by Law&Crime. She was charged in August with two counts of administering harmful substances and two counts of domestic abuse causing bodily injury, according to Marion County court records. On Thursday, Zantjer pleaded guilty to all counts. Authorities said Zantjer committed domestic assault against her husband by giving him Tetrahydrozoline in his drink without his knowledge, according to the documents. Her husband was hospitalized as a result of the alleged poisonings but survived. According to Poison Control, ingesting tetrahydrozoline hydrochloride can lead to sleepiness, low blood pressure and a dangerously slow heart rate. Charging documents revealed that Zantjer had previously blogged on LinkedIn about the dangers of chemicals and toxins in everyday household products. The blogger appears to be the same woman who was arrested for poisoning her husband, Pleasantville Police Chief Joe Mrstik previously told Law&Crime. Charging documents revealed that Zantjer had previously blogged on LinkedIn about the dangers of chemicals and toxins in everyday household products ( Law&Crime ) In one of the blog posts dated October 30, 2018, Zantjer wrote: I am a Christian woman who wants to do right by her family and part of that is keeping them free from harmful chemicals and other toxins that could destroy their body. In another post dated November 2018, she wrote: Its like feeding someone arsenic. Its not going to kill that person right away. Its killing them slowly. I want to see others who care about themselves join me in being toxic free and financially free, another post reads. If you decide you want to transfer to spending a toxic free and organic store, feel free to message me and I will give you my website. Zantjer was arrested on July 20. Her bond was reduced from $12,000 to $6,000 following her guilty plea on Thursday. Her sentencing is set for November 7. 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 convicted killer was brutally beaten to death by three other inmates inside a California prison, according to authorities. Alberto Martinez, 46, was knocked to the ground and beaten by three inmates in the prison yard at Calipatria State Prison in Imperial County on Thursday, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a press release on Friday. The attack unfolded at around 1.23pm when officials allege that Tyler Lua, 25, struck Martinez, knocking him to the ground and repeatedly striking him. Officials allege that the two other inmates Jorge Negrete-Larios, 33, and Luis Beltran, 31, then began striking Martinez as he lay motionless. Staff reportedly broke up the altercation using pepper spray and a baton and performed life-saving measures on the 46-year-old. He was rushed to the prisons urgent care treatment area before being pronounced dead around an hour later. A coroner will determine his official cause of death. No other staff or prisoners were injured in the incident. Prison officials said two incarcerated-manufactured weapons were discovered at the scene. One of the accused Tyler A. Lua, 25, (pictured in mugshot), currently serving a 19 year sentence for attempted second-degree murder ( California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation ) The motive for the attack remains unknown. The three suspects have now been placed in restricted housing pending an investigation, the CDCR said. Martinez had been held at the facility since 2014, after being sentenced to death for first-degree murder. He was also sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for attempted first-degree murder with an enhancement for street gang activity and two years for street gang activity. Martinez was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and street terrorism in the killing of Orange County businessman David Montemayor in 2002, according to The Orange County Register. During his trial, jurors heard how Martinez and three other gang members were recruited by the victims sister to kidnap and kill him. Jorge Negrete-Larios (pictured in mugshot), 33, is serving a 32 year, four-month sentence for attempted second-degree murder ( California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation ) Despite being initially sent to death row, Martinez was moved to general population after California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a moratorium on executions in 2019. Lua, who had been behind bars at Calipatria State Prison since 2019, is serving a 19-year sentence for attempted second-degree murder with an enhancement for use of a firearm. He is also serving a two-year sentence for possession of a controlled substance while in prison. Negrete-Larios is serving a 32-year, four-month sentence for attempted second-degree murder with enhancements for inflicting great bodily injury, discharge of a firearm, and street gang activity in commission of a violent felony. Luis Beltran (pictured in mugshot), 31, is serving life without parole for first-degree murder ( California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation ) The third suspect Beltran is serving life without parole for first-degree murder with enhancements for intentional discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury/death; as well as possessing/owning a firearm as a felon. Martinezs death comes four years after another inmate died at the prison after being allegedly attacked by fellow inmates. Joseph Martinez, 21 who was serving 24 years to life for attempted first-degree murder was fatally stabbed in the chest and back in February 2020. Calipatria State Prison is home to at least 2,638 minimum and maximum security prisoners, according to California prison authorities. 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 }} Investigators looking for the cause of a huge blaze in western Colorado last month say they believe the fire started when a man tried to cremate his pet dog that had been euthanized. Authorities discovered the partially burned remains of a dog called Rocket leading to the conclusion that a man's attempted cremation of his pet sparked a fire that damaged private property including a cabin. At the site, etched on a large rock above Rockets remains, was written dates and Rocket Dog, Rest in Peace Buddy, according to an arrest affidavit. A bone was glued below the epitaph. Law enforcement arrested the man earlier this month and he is now charged with arson and trespassing, court documents show. Authorities say the cremation ceremony started the fire on August 1 that's estimated to have caused about $200,000 in damages and burned about 11 square miles (28 square kilometers), the Denver Post reported. The burn is now largely contained. This Aug. 1, 2024 photo provided by the Telluride Fire Protection District shows the Bucktail Fire in western Colorado His dog, named Rocket, had been in a fight with another dog and was euthanized under court in Nucla, a town on Colorados western border with Utah, according to the arrest affidavit. The suspect lived in a camper near where the fire started, and his pet's cremation got out of control when a spray can he threw into the blaze blew and lit a tree on fire, according to court records. Minutes after the fire was reported, law enforcement witnessed the man driving an ATV away from the blaze. It was first reported by the Montrose Daily Press. The Alexander Mountain Fire burning near Loveland, about an hours drive north of Denver, was one of several conflagrations that started up late last month and threatened urban areas north and south of the states capitol city. Last month U.S. Forest Service investigators, working alongside the local sheriffs office, did not provide more information on whether they believe the Alexander Mountain Fire was started intentionally or if there is a suspect. The Larimer County Assessor released a report finding that 27 homes were destroyed, along with 21 outbuildings, and another four homes were damaged. 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 }} An Ohio man is behind bars after he allegedly gave a loaded gun to his wife when she threatened to kill herself - which she then used to take her own life. Police say 71-year-old Michael Joseph Krupienski handed his wife, 81-year-old Maria, the weapon she used to take her own life on Sunday at their home in Vermilion. When officers arrived, they found Maria dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Vermilion Police Chief Chris Hartung told Fox 8 Cleveland. The couple had been drinking at the VFW in Avon before returning home, Krupienski told police. He said the anniversary of their daughters suicide was coming up and that Maria, who was under the influence of alcohol, made suicidal thoughts out loud. So Krupienski retrieved a loaded .357-magnum handgun and handed it to her to call her bluff, police said. She then shot herself. Krupienski was arrested and charged with reckless homicide, a third-degree felony. He will be arraigned on Tuesday morning at the Vermilion Municipal Courthouse. Hes currently being held in the Erie County Jail on no bond. 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. In the UK, people having mental health crises can contact the Samaritans at 116 123 or jo@samaritans.org. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The embattled mayor of a suburban Chicago town already under investigation for the alleged misuse of municipal funds, including $40,000 worth of Amazon purchases in a single day is now being thrown out of her home, according to an eviction notice filed in Cook County Circuit Court. Dolton, Illinois, Mayor Tiffany Henyard and live-in boyfriend Kamal Woods were notified September 18 that they were $3,350 in arrears on their rent and must either pay up or vacate the premises, the notice said. Reached on Monday by The Independent, landlord Genetta Hull declined to comment further on the situation. The couple pays $2,400 a month for the apartment, NBC Chicago reported . Their payments are not egregiously late, and it is not known why Hull moved so quickly to evict, according to WGN . Henyard, who earns $300,000 a year as mayor, also serves as supervisor of Thornton Township, where Woods makes $100,000-plus as youth director, according to the nonprofit Illinois Answers Project . Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was tapped to investigate allegations that Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard misused taxpayer funds ( Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) This is a claim brought under false pretenses, Henyards attorney Beau Brindley told WGN of the eviction proceedings. I dont believe proof of missed payment can be produced. This is being driven by other motives and is not a complaint brought in good faith. Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is heading up a probe into Henyards spending; Dolton is more than $3.5 million in the red, according to CBS News Chicago , a burst of seemingly outsized spending Amazon was just one of a plethora of improprieties Lightfoot last month announced she had found . Henyard has also allegedly spent thousands in taxpayer cash on hair and makeup and other personal perks . Heynard is also accused of billing the city for $67,000 on out-of-town travel during a five-month span in 2023. In April, FBI agents visited Dolton City Hall to execute a search warrant. However, it remains unclear what they were looking for or who exactly they are investigating. The Village of Dolton, once an area of natural prairie and home to Potawatomie, Sac, Illini, and Miami Indians has now grown into a bustling suburban community of over 23,000 residents, Doltons official website tells visitors . The village was founded by George Dolton who settled in the area with his family in 1835 and began running a ferry company with another resident of the area, J.C. Matthews. In 1866, the village built its first post office and Andrew Dolton, son of George Dolton, served as its postmaster. After a contentious debate, the Village of Dolton became incorporated on December 28, 1892. Henyard, according to the village site, was elected in February 2021 with 82 percent of the vote after serving eight years as village trustee. She made history as the first woman mayor of Dolton, as well as the youngest ever. As a life-long resident of Dolton, Mayor Henyard is passionate about Dolton and continues to live in the community where she grew up, her bio reads . A court date for Henyard and Woodss eviction proceeding has been set for October 22. 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 }} An Airbnb host in Florida rented a room to a guest who allegedly wouldnt pay, refused to leave, then had him arrested on bogus assault charges when he tried to evict her, landing the homeowner in criminal court for nearly a year as he attempted to clear his name. Eric Weaver, 60, is now suing Airbnb for gross negligence in what he says was the platforms failure to properly vet his renter who stiffed at least two other landlords in recent years and has an extensive criminal history, according to a lawsuit obtained by The Independent. Weaver, a civil engineer with patents on, among other things, a rainwater-capture greenhouse and a continuously moving sidewalk transport system, says his nightmare began in early 2023, when he accepted an Airbnb reservation from Lauren Dawn Chehouri, 47. Taking Airbnb at its word, Weaver relied on the companys apparent promise to screen all guests, according to the suit. Specifically, when deciding whether a guest or host is suitable, Defendant performs a background check on the user by submitting identifying information to one of their approved background check providers who checks the persons identity against public records or publicly available databases, the lawsuit says. So, on February 28, 2023, it says Weaver accepted Chehouris reservation to stay at his home for the month of March. (St. Petersburg all but prohibits short-term rentals for less than 30 days.) But as March ended and April got underway, Chehouri was still living in Weavers house. Making matters worse, she owed Weaver nearly $4,000 in unpaid rent. On April 19, at a stalemate, Weaver told Chehouri she needed to leave, the lawsuit states. Lauren Chehouri booked a stay at Eric Weavers home in St. Petersburg, Florida, then refused to leave, he claims ( AFP via Getty Images ) However, Chehouri, refusing to vacate the premises when asked to do so, falsely accused Mr. Weaver of battery, the suit continues. As a result of the false accusations, Mr. Weaver was arrested and forced to pay to defend himself in a court of law where he was found not guilty on February 6, 2024. The trumped-up charges also damaged Weavers earning potential on Airbnb, as he no longer felt safe accepting guest referrals from the platform after the hellish situation he had endured with Chehouri, according to the lawsuit. A subsequent review of court records revealed the Guest had an extensive criminal record, including two other eviction actions and two actions for delinquent payments on rent in Pinellas County, Florida, the suit contends, arguing that Airbnb neglecting to apprise Weaver of Chehouris problematic past before letting him rent to her constitutes a conscious disregard of the consequences. An Airbnb spokesperson declined to comment, citing active litigation. Chehouri could not be reached for comment. However, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told The Independent that Chehouri made the original reservation through Airbnb for one night, after which the two went off-platform to extend her stay, creating what they said was a third-party matter between Weaver and Chehouri. Public records do show Chehouri has a lengthy rap sheet. A licensed practical nurse whose license expired in 2015, Chehouri was first arrested in 1993 for driving with improper plates on her car. She pleaded guilty in 1997 to DUI and possession of drug paraphernalia, pleaded guilty in 2002 to passing bad checks and another DUI, pleaded guilty again in 2018 to possession of paraphernalia, and pleaded no contest the following year to a petty theft charge, for which she was sentenced to 50 hours of community service and ordered to attend Shoplifters Anonymous meetings, court records show. Chehouri failed to complete any of the requirements, and did not pay the mandated court fees, probation supervision fees, or drug testing fees, according to a 2022 probation violation affidavit filed in Pinellas County. On the civil side, Chehouri has been evicted twice and was dragged into court in 2008 and 2016 for defaulting on her rent at properties in Bradenton and St. Petersburg. Airbnb had a duty to properly investigate potential guests, prior to recommending said guests to Mr. Weaver, to make sure said guests did not pose a threat or safety risk to others or themselves. Weaver is demanding Airbnb make good on $3,691.80 in rent Chehouri never paid, plus reimbursements for lost rental revenue and the cost of hiring a lawyer to defend himself in court against the phony battery charge. In all, Weaver wants Airbnb to fork over $414,694.45 in compensatory damages, plus $406,110.22 in punitive damages. Airbnb has not yet filed a formal response to the allegations. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump has made his mark on Las Vegas in the form of a 43ft, nude statue. A naked statue of the former president, titled Crooked and Obscene, was erected in a fenced-in lot next to Interstate 15 north of Las Vegas, Nevada, on September 28. A 43ft naked statue resembling Donald Trump is erected in a fenced-in lot near Interstate 15 north of Las Vegas, Nevada on September 28. ( AFP via Getty Images ) The statue resembles a frowning Trump and has arms attached to strings, allowing them to be moved around like a puppet. It is made of foam-covered metal rebar and weighs about 6,000 pounds, according to The Wrap. The piece is a a bold statement on transparency, vulnerability, and the public personas of political figures, the creators, who have not been identified, told the outlet. A 43-foot-tall naked statue resembling Donald Trump is displayed in a fenced-in lot near Interstate 15 north of Las Vegas, Nevada, September 28, 2024. ( AFP via Getty Images ) The creators hope to inspire discussions around transparencyor lack thereofin politics, challenging viewers to think critically about political influence, according to a press release. This isnt the first time that Americans have experienced naked statues of the GOP nominee. In 2016, five nude Trump statues popped up in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Seattle. The project was dubbed The Emperor Has No Balls by creators Indecline, a group that describes itself as an activist art collective. The Independent has contacted Indecline regarding the latest work. The statue was installed just over a month before the hotly contested presidential election. Much like Trump himself, who has been zig-zagging the country on campaign stops, the project is expected to travel to other cities. Dates and locations have not yet been announced, according to The Wrap. 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 }} Vice President Kamala Harriss polling in the key battleground state of Michigan is underwater, a Democratic state representative has warned. Senate candidate Elissa Slotkin has voiced growing concerns about the vice presidents chances of clinching the Wolverine State just weeks from the presidential election. Im not feeling my best right now about where we are on Kamala Harris in a place like Michigan, Slotkin said alongside New Jersey Senator Cory Booker at a fundraising event last Wednesday, according to a video obtained by Axios. We have her underwater in our polling. Despite Slotkin insinuating Harris is struggling to buoy her lead, the vice president has garnered a marginal 3-point lead over former president Donald Trump in Michigan, according to an analysis of the states presidential polls. Slotkin made remarks during the Democratic National Convention on August 22 in Chicago ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ) Trump won Michigan in the 2016 election against then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton but lost narrowly to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election. The state is seen as a key battleground in the 2024 election, with it being a must-win for either partys chances to secure the White House. The Independent has contacted Slotkins spokesperson for more information. Its commonplace for campaigns to downplay their standing in the polls to create a heightened sense of urgency, and drive more votes. Polls also show Slotkin with a wider lead over her opponent, former representative Mike Rogers in the states senate contest. Holding on to Democratic senator Debbie Stabenows seat is critical for the Democrats to maintain control of the upper chamber. Kamala Harris spoke at Northwestern High School in Detroit earlier this month ( REUTERS ) Recent polling conducted by The New York Times/Siena College places Slotkin five points ahead of her Republican rival Rogers with the Democrat leading 47 percent to 42 percent. However, Republican internal polling shows that the candidates are neck-and-neck, a source told Axios. A recent poll from AtlasIntel has Trump leading Michigan 51 percent to Harriss 47 percent. It comes as a GOP super-PAC has poured millions of dollars into Rogers campaign as the Republicans desperately try to flip the seat. Senate Leadership Fund, which is affiliated with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, has donated $22.5 million to Michigans senate contest with the funds anticipated to be spent on television, radio and digital ads. So far in the senate race, Slotkin has spent more than an estimated $10 million on ads, while Rogers has split advertising costs with the National Republican Senatorial Committee and has spent about $2.7 million. The cash injection constitutes part of the PACs $67.5 million in new spending on advert space in Senate races in the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, according to the Wall Street Journal. 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 }} Vice President Kamala Harris will go head-to-head with Donald Trump in less than a month as Americans cast their votes in the 2024 election. There have been a scarcity of national polls released since last weeks debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz, but on average, Harris continues to lead Trump by a hairline; which hasnt changed substantially since mid-August. Yet a polling twist in Trumps home state of Florida shows a dwindling lead for the former president, according to a Republican pollster; particularly among young Floridians. Another noteworthy change in the polls came with Vance riding the wave of success from the vice presidential debate against Walz, to see a significant boost in his favorability, previously at record-low levels. While one new poll suggests that many Republicans may vote Democrat next month, how will Harris and Trump fare in November? Harris has a 2.6-point lead over Trump in the latest average of national polls, collated by FiveThirtyEight. On average, Harris has been marginally ahead of Trump in national polls for several weeks. Meanwhile, Trumps lead in Florida home to Mar-a-Lago, and several key Republicans has shrunk to just 2 percent. New figures from historically Republican pollster RMG Research show Trump with 50 percent of the vote and Harris with 48 percent, including those who are uncommitted but lean one way. In August, separate polls showed a shrinking lead in the sunshine state, but a still-substantial 5-point lead for Trump. This is a far cry from the reported 8-point lead for Trump over Biden in July. Vance wins the VP debate and a popularity boost Last weeks debate between Ohio senator Vance and Minnesota Governor Walz turned expectations on its head; with betting markets and pre-polls eyeing Walz as the presumed winner. Not only did Vance win the debate, but his performance appears to have done wonders for his public perception, which had been suffering for months. Our analysis before the debate found that Walz led Trump, Vance, and even Harris in terms of favorability. Vance received an +11 point boost in favorability from last weeks debate, according to the latest poll from YouGov. This leaves Vance in a neutral position, while voters had an overall -11 percent unfavorable opinion of him before the debate. Most interestingly, Vance improved his favorability by an astonishing +19 points among Democrats. Although, overall, he is still at a net -52 percent negative score among this group. Walz also received a more modest 3-point boost, reaching 15 percent favorability in YouGovs poll. Although Walzs performance was not debate-winning, he is still the most-liked candidate, and he even improved his favorability among independent voters following the debate. Among his own party, though, he lost approval from 7 percent of voters, still ending up at a net-positive position of 72 percent favorability with Democrats. Snap polls following the debate show that viewers were split on both candidates and Vance came out a few points ahead. A CBS/YouGov poll found that 42 percent of viewers considered Vance the debate winner, compared to 41 percent for Walz. However, Walz did emerge as more in touch with the average American, and more likely to share voters vision for America. For the full post-debate polling analysis, click here. Key issues for voters Regardless of political affiliation, the economy is the most important issue impacting how people will vote in this election. A poll from Redfield & Wilton Strategies, of 2,500 US adults up to September 26, shows that abortion is considered the second most important issue, for 37 percent of voters, followed by immigration at 34 percent. For Trump voters, however, these priorities are flipped. Over half (57 percent) of Trump voters view immigration as one of the biggest issues, amid border security tensions and recently debunked claims from Trump and Republicans about Haitian migrants. Interestingly, healthcare and abortion are tied as the next most important issues for Trump voters at 23 percent each. Though Trump has advocated for overhauling Obamacare, with unsuccessful attempts during his presidency, he was unable to outline an alternative healthcare policy at the September presidential debate. Meanwhile, abortion is front and center for Harris voters (55 percent), with Harris herself critical of abortion bans, following the overturning of Roe v Wade. Healthcare is also a top priority for Harris voters (40 percent), followed by housing (23 percent). Battleground states Recent polls from the swing states by Bloomberg/Morning Consult have Harris ahead by +3 points on average, ranging from neck-and-neck with Trump to a +7 point lead. The poll of more than 6,000 registered voters in the swing states was conducted from September 19-25, with margins of error ranging from 1 to 4 percent in each state. In Pennsylvania, which hosted the first Harris-Trump presidential debate, Harris has seen her lead increase from +4 points to +5 points since August. The state had previously been leaning towards Trump when President Joe Biden was on the Democratic ticket. Harris has the strongest 7-point lead over Trump in Nevada, with 52 percent of the vote to 45 percent. In Georgia, the two candidates are tied at 49 percent each, while Harriss 5-point lead in Wisconsin has shrunk to 3 points ahead of Trump. Harris is also 3 points ahead in Michigan and Arizona and 2 points ahead in North Carolina. While the economy remains the top issue for swing-state voters, the perceived competency gap is shrinking: 45 percent of swing-state voters think Harris can better handle the economy, slightly behind Trump at 49 percent. It is worth noting that separate New York Times polls earlier this month showed a lead for Trump in Arizona, North Carolina, and Georgia. This variation indicates that the swing states are still open to change before November. Who will vote? A YouGov/Economist poll has Harris with a three-point lead among registered voters, at 47 percent and Trump at 44 percent. The poll shows a wide 25-point margin for Harris among young voters, aged 29 and under. However, according to the same poll, the younger generations are also the least committed to voting, with 13 percent of the 18-29-year-olds surveyed saying they will maybe vote, while 3 percent will not vote or are still unsure. This amounts to 16 percent who are on the fence or not voting, higher than any other age group, and higher than the average of 9 percent. Just 65 percent of the 18 to 29-year-olds polled said they would definitely vote in November. This is in comparison to 77 percent of 30 to 44-year-olds, 85 percent of 45 to 64-year-olds, and 94 percent of the 65+ age group. Though the numbers may seem dismal, and represent a degree of hesitancy among younger voters, the overall picture is significantly more engaged than in 2020. The same YouGov/Economist poll at this stage in the 2020 presidential election showed that nearly a third of young people (27 percent) were not committed to voting in November, with 10 percent maybe voting and 17 percent definitely/probably not voting. Arizona: key issues In Arizona a historically Republican state that has 11 electoral college votes and flipped for Biden in 2020 polls have shown inconsistent leads for both Harris and Trump. The Trump campaign has made frequent stops in the state over the summer. In a state that borders Mexico, one in five (19 percent) of Arizona voters say that immigration is the most important issue affecting their vote, according to the same poll. This is second to the economy, which is the number one issue impacting voters statewide and nationwide. The majority (51 percent) of Arizona voters believe that Trump is better equipped to handle the top issues, which has flipped since August when Harris was slightly more trusted. This indicates that, despite the overall enthusiasm for Harriss debate performance, Arizona voters may favor Trump and his approach to key issues. As a generally Republican state, this is unsurprising. Demographics A separate poll from The New York Times and Siena College in September has Trump and Harris in a national deadlock, each at 47 percent of the vote among likely voters. This is a slight shift from the same poll in early September, which had Trump at +2 points ahead of Harris in a surprise result. The new poll, taken after the September debate and with 2,437 likely voters, had 67 percent of respondents saying that Harris performed well in the debate, compared to 40 percent who thought the same about Trump. Harris retains a strong lead among women (12 points ahead), while Trump enjoys a 14-point lead among men. In particular, Harris has improved her vote share among under-34s following the debate, with a 7 percent increase to 58 percent of the vote and a 21-point lead over Trump. Meanwhile, her lead within the 30-44 age bracket has shrunk, with Trump just 4 points behind; though Trumps margin in the 45-64 age bracket has also decreased to just 2 points. Make sense of the US election with The Independents experts in our exclusive virtual event Harris vs. Trump: who will make history? Reserve your space here. Among white, college-educated voters, the early September poll showed a 12-point preference for Harris. Following the debate, this group has seen the most substantial jump, with a 25-point lead for Harris at 61 percent of the vote. Interestingly, a pre-debate poll from The New York Times showed that nearly a third of voters (28 percent) felt they needed to learn more about Harris, compared to 9 percent who would say the same about Trump. However, the debate was helpful for Harris in that regard, as half of voters (50 percent) feel that they learned a lot about her during the debate, with just a third saying the same about Trump, according to The New York Times poll. CNNs snap poll following the first Trump-Harris debate showed that Harris managed to turn the tide with some voters. In the wake of the debate, more voters now believe Harris better understands the issues of people like them (44 percent) compared to Trump (40 percent). Before the debate, the opposite was true. Make sense of the US election with The Independents experts in our exclusive virtual event Harris vs. Trump: who will make history? Reserve your space here. JD Vance sparked a firestorm when he accused fellow veteran and Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, of abandoning his unit before it deployed to Iraq. When the United States Marine Corps asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did it, Vance told reporters. When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq he dropped out of the army and allowed his unit to go without him. Democrats were quick to hit back at the claim, pointing out that Walz filed to run for Congress and officially retired from the Minnesota National Guard months before his unit was alerted about deployment. But Vances criticism of his opponents record has drawn greater scrutiny of his own time as a combat correspondent in the Marine Corps, a role that involves gathering news and writing articles for internal Marine Corps publications and facilitating interviews and access for civilian media. Following his attacks on Walz, some Democratic critics gave him the disparaging nickname Sergeant Scribbles because of the clerical nature of his assignment. But Cullen Tiernan, who served alongside JD Vance in Iraq as a fellow combat correspondent, told The Independent the role was not without danger. When we first landed, we got mortar and rockets from Baghdadi, the neighboring town. That was definitely a shock, he said. Its odd to me that people would try to negate or put down what combat correspondents do. When youre walking in patrol, or when youre flying in a helicopter that goes into the sandstorm, or when you come upon an IED, and see people who have been blown up, youre having the same exact experience. You just also have a camera and an obligation to document it. Cullen Tiernan, a former Marine Corps combat correspondent who deployed with JD Vance, pictured alongside the Ohio senator and running mate of Donald Trump. ( Courtesy of Cullen Tiernan ) Vance enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduating from high school in 2003. He went by the name James D. Hamel at the time, having taken the last name of his stepfather. He served for four years with the 2nd Marine Aircraft In Wing, Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, and was deployed to Iraq for six months from August 2005 and into 2006, based at Al Asad air base in western Iraq. Vance would occasionally go out beyond the wire of the base on missions to Al Qaim and other towns further up the Euphrates River to document the work of the Marine Corps. Tiernan said they would carry M16 rifles and 9mm pistols as they did so. Writing in his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy, Vance said he was lucky to escape any real fighting. But the period in which he was deployed was by no means quiet. The US invasion and occupation of Iraq had been raging for three years by the time Vance arrived in the country. In 2005, Iraqis voted in national elections and some 844 American service members were killed across the country. The next year, a sectarian civil war brought extreme violence between Sunni and Shia communities and the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq, which would later become Isis. JD Vance and Cullen Tiernan at JD Vances wedding. ( Courtesy of Cullen Tiernan. ) Movie fans might be familiar with one of the few representations of combat correspondents on the big screen in the character of Private James T. Joker Davis, from the 1987 Vietnam War epic by Stanley Kubrick, Full Metal Jacket. But Tiernan said the combat correspondents primary role was telling the Marine Corps story. These people dont toot their own horn, so its about making their family and their friends and the people that love them understand what theyre doing and what their sacrifice entails, he added. Vance wrote at least 11 articles for the official website of the Marine Corps while he was deployed. His first, published on September 11, 2005, was about the Marine engineers building bases for the Iraq security forces. In another, he wrote about a daring rescue by Marines of a sniper who was injured and pinned down in a gun battle in northwestern Iraq. Luckily, the sniper was still alive, but he needed immediate medical attention. But, there was a problem. The closest casualty evacuation helicopters were miles away, and were still on the ground. If the Marines life was going to be saved, he needed to be evacuated right then, Vance wrote in the article, which included interviews with the people involved. Cullen Tiernan, left, pictured with JD Vance, second from right, during their deployment to Iraq in 2005/6. The image is scribbled with inside jokes. ( Courtesy of Cullen Tiernan ) Tiernan said Vances time writing about the Marine Corps was where he learned the art of storytelling, which enabled to tell his family story in his bestselling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy. The book propelled Vance to fame and set him on a path to the halls of Congress as Senator of Ohio, and later to the Republican ticket as candidate for vice president. Tiernan, a progressive activist who disagrees with Vance politically, was there for the entire deployment and they remain friends to this day. I love JD still. Pretty much everyone I served with but especially those I went to Iraq with and have those deep 20-year relationships [with] I really do my best not to let politics get in the middle of it, he said. That is not to say that I dont try to influence the man, and he certainly tries to influence me in our friendship over the years. An article written by JD Vance, who went by the name James D. Hamel, for a publication of the Marine Expeditionary Force, while he was deployed in Iraq in 2005. ( Screenshot ) Tiernan added that one thing they do agree on is trying to end wars. I think that hes in a unique position to try to de-escalate conflicts because he knows what its like to be a person sent to the front lines, be[ing] away from their family and their friends and everything that they know thats familiar. Him not wanting that to happen to other people its a real important voice to have in politics, he said. Both Vance and Tiernan returned from their deployment disillusioned with the war, and the projection of American military power. I left for Iraq in 2005, a young idealist committed to spreading democracy and liberalism to the backward nations of the world, Vance wrote in 2020. I returned in 2006, skeptical of the war and the ideology that underpinned it. In a statement, a Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson strongly pushed back against Vances claim that Walz had dropped out rather than deploy with the men he led, instead accurately describing the governors separation from service as a normal retirement after nearly a quarter-century in uniform. After 24 years of military service, Governor Walz retired in 2005 and ran for Congress, where he chaired Veterans Affairs and was a tireless advocate for our men and women in uniform and as Vice President of the United States he will continue to be a relentless champion for our veterans and military families, they said. 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 }} President Joe Biden sent a heartfelt birthday message to Jimmy Carter the day before the former president turned 100. Put simply, Mr President, I admire you so darn much, Biden wrote on Monday. Carter, the longest-lived president in the countrys history, hit the milestone on Tuesday. The 39th president has recently started talking about politics again after Kamala Harris took over the Democratic ticket and he plans to vote for her, according to his eldest grandson Jason. Your hopeful vision of our country, your commitment to a better world, and your unwavering belief in the power of human goodness continues to be a guiding light for all of us, Biden wrote in a touching message. The former president, pictured in 2015, turned 100 on Tuesday ( Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ) Biden called Carter one of the most influential statesmen in our history, pointing to his commitment to resolving conflicts, advancing democracy, preventing disease, and so much more, like his work at the Carter Center and Habitat for Humanity. Biden continued: Its transforming the lives of people not only at home but around the world. The Democrat praised Carter as always being a moral force for our nation and the world...Thats why I supported you so early, alluding to his 1976 endorsement for Carter. Youre a voice of courage, conviction, compassion, and most of all, a beloved friend of Jill and me and our family, Biden added. The president also remarked on how this will be the first year that his beloved wife, Rosalynn Carter, will not be there to celebrate with him. Its bittersweet, but we also know shes always with you. Shes in your heart; shell never go away, the president wrote. Then senator Joe Biden with Carter at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in 2008 ( AP ) The former first lady died in November 2023 at the age of 96, just two days after entering hospice care. Jimmy Carter has been in hospice care since February 2023. The former president has long defied the odds as the average length of stay in hospice care is 97 days and the median is 18 days, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization data from 2020. Jason Carter shared an update on the former presidents health in June. Carter is no longer awake every day and experiencing the world as best he can as he continues through this process after losing his wife. As of late, the fierce Democrat seems reinvigorated by politics namely the prospect of defeating Donald Trump in November. In August, Carter reportedly told his son Chip: Im only trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris. Early voting begins in his home state of Georgia on October 15. 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 }} Arizona Senator Mark Kelly says he wont vote to condition aid to Israel as the death toll in neighboring Lebanon continues to grow from escalating Israeli strikes. Kelly, who said earlier this year that he would support conditions on military aid if steps to minimize civilian casualties were not taken, told NBCs Kristen Welker on Sunday that he hadnt seen the Israeli government cross that line yet. He added that he continues to have conversations with Israeli officials. Kelly, who sits on the Armed Services committee, would be a key vote on the passage of future aid packages. We continue to talk to our allies, Israel, about how they are conducting this operation, he said. Hey, civilian loss of life is tragic wherever it happens. The Palestinian people who live in Gaza; theyre not Hamas. There are Hamas terrorists there, that Israel is focused on eliminating...but its a continuous discussion. He was asked to clarify by Welker, who said it sounded as if he was not at that point yet where supporting conditions on military aid packages would get his vote. Kelly, a Democrat, affirmed that was an accurate read on his views. "I've seen some positive responses from them when I have specifically asked them to do things differently, he told Welker, stating that he would continue with dialogue until he feld that option had failed. WATCH: Sen. Mark Kelly told #MTP in May that he'd condition aid to Israel if they don't "do a better job." He now tells @kwelkernbc he's not at that point yet. "I've seen some positive responses from them when I have specifically asked them to do things differently. pic.twitter.com/G0Uv8gcTFB Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) September 29, 2024 Kelly won a tough fight in the 2022 campaign cycle and is now seeing his home state return as a battleground for the presidential race once more. Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are committing significant resources to winning the state, which Joe Biden won in 2020. The war in Gaza and its continued escalation has the potential to throw a wrench in Harriss bid for the presidency this time around, as her opponent has hammered the Biden-Harris administration for supposedly allowing major conflicts to break out in the Middle East and eastern Europe under its watch. Separately, concerns and anger over the presidents handling of US-Israel relations is at an all-time high among Democrats, threatening voter enthusiasm particularly in places like Michigan, which has a high Arab-American population and is also a key swing state. Harriss ascendance to the top of the Democratic ticket has curbed some of the worst of that anger but she still faces deep skepticism from pro-Palestinian voters, which includes large segments of younger voters, after declining to allow a Palestinian-American speak at the Democratic National Convention in August. As October dawns, it looks more likely than ever than that the conflict in Gaza and the inability of Joe Bidens administration to broker a ceasefire will be a defining issue of the incumbent presidents legacy. Deaths in Gaza have passed 40,000 according to local officials, while Lebanese officials say the death toll in Beirut and southern Lebanon has climbed into the high hundreds after continued attacks from Israel. The US was reported to have been kept in the dark regarding Fridays strike targeting a top Hezbollah commander, Hassan Nasrallah, in Beirut. Biden himself was cited by a source familiar with the matter as having been frustrated by the attack, which confounded US efforts aimed at reaching a ceasefire, and felt that Israeli officials had humiliated US Secretary of State Antony Blinken with continued escalations, according to Politico. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A former Republican candidate for Congress in Florida has been charged with threatening to call up my Russian-Ukrainian hit squad to make his political rival disappear. A damning indictment from the Department of Justice unsealed on Thursday alleges that William Robert Braddock III, 41, made several threats to injure and kill Republican congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna during a 2021 telephone call with a conservative activist. At the time, Luna and Braddock were going head-to-head in the Republican primary for the 13th Congressional District of Florida seat. Luna went on to win the primary and, ultimately, the congressional seat. In the clandestine recording of the call, which surfaced in 2021, Braddock is allegedly heard explaining how he could take out Luna. I call up my Russian-Ukrainian hit squad and within 24 hours they are sending me pictures of her disappearing. No, Im not joking, he allegedly says. I really dont want to have to end anybodys life for the good of the people of the United States of America. That will break my heart. But if it needs to be done, it needs to be done. Luna is a f***ing speed bump in the road. Shes a dead squirrel you run over every day when you leave the neighborhood. William Robert Braddock III (seen in mugshot) could face up to five years in jail if convicted ( Bureau of Immigration Philippines ) In the call, obtained by Politico, Braddock goes on to brand Luna a piece of s***. At the time, Luna filed for a restraining order against Braddock, accusing him of stalking and making death threats. She claimed to have received text messages that revealed Braddock wanted to take me out, The Associated Press reported at the time. Braddock who moved to the Philippines after dropping out of the race has now been extradited to the US and charged with a count of interstate transmission of a true threat to injure another person. Republican congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (pictured) was going head-to-head with William Braddock in the GOP primary ( REUTERS ) He appeared in federal district court in Los Angeles on Thursday September 26. Luna is named only as Victim 1 in the federal DOJ document while the acquaintance on the other end of the phone is known as Victim 2. The charges against Braddock come at a time of growing threats of political violence with Donald Trump having survived two assassination attempts in the space of two months this summer. If convicted, Braddock faces up to five years in jail. The Independent contacted Anna Paulina Lunas office for comment. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email 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 }} Rudy Giulianis daughter issued a stark warning about a second Trump presidency, using her fathers implosion as an example of what happens when someone is caught up in the former presidents destructive trail. Giuliani has gone from a revered prosecutor and New York mayor that led the city through the devastation of the 9/11 attacks to a bankrupt and disbarred attorney since becoming one of Trumps staunchest allies. This fall from grace exemplifies how Donald Trump destroys everything he touches, according to Caroline Giuliani. Watching my dads life crumble since he joined forces with Trump has been extraordinarily painful, both on a personal level and because his demise feels linked to a dark force that threatens to once again consume America, the 35-year-old wrote inVanity Fair Monday. The writer and filmmaker said her fathers very public implosion has only caused her already cartoonishly complicated relationship to become more fraught. Caroline Giuliani with Kamala Harris, who she endorsed despite her father Rudy Giulianis ties to Donald Trump ( carolinerosegiu/Instagram ) Caroline wrote: After months of feeling the type of sorrow that comes from the death of a loved one, it dawned on me that Ive been grieving the loss of my dad to Trump. I cannot bear to lose our country to him too. She recalled when her father told her at a Fifth Avenue cigar bar that he was considering becoming Trumps personal lawyer. In response, she begged that he not go down this morally perilous path, citing Trumps open racism, rampant misogyny, and total lack of empathy. I even told my dad that I already felt ashamed of my last name whenever I saw headlines connecting him with Trump, and that this escalation would only deepen that feeling, she wrote. But she wasnt able to convince him. Rudy Giuliani was added to Trumps legal team in April 2018 during special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. From November 2020 through February 2021, records suggest that Giuliani was tasked with a nationwide effort to try to overturn Trumps 2020 election loss. Rudy Giuliani at a Trump rally earlier this month. His daughter endorsed Kamala Harris in a rebuke to him ( REUTERS ) Those efforts have resulted in him being disbarred in Washington, DC and his home state of New York, and indictments in election-related lawsuits across the country. Giuliani was also found liable in a defamation suit that plunged him into bankruptcy. Trump being the president was the worst thing that ever happened to my dad, to my family, and to our nations modern history. The consequences will only be more severeand irreversible a second time around, Caroline Giuliani wrote. Her article also referenced recent Supreme Court opinions, in part due to Trumps conservative appointees; New York court judgments against the former president; and his tendency to [demean] people based on their race, sexuality, disability status, and gender. Caroline Giuliani said that she would be voting for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris because she is the only candidate who cares about my rights as a woman. The younger Giuliani also mentioned the draconian abortion bans that have cropped up since the Supreme Court reversed Roe. These state-level bans are personal, she wrote. As a woman in my 30s struggling with long-covid-related health issues, theres a possibility that my soon-to-be husband and I will need to rely on surrogacy or fertility treatments if we want to have children of our own. She also praised Harris position on fighting the climate crisis, calling her our only chance for a better future. Caroline urged voters to cast their ballot for Harris on November 5. Take it from me, Trump destroys everything he touches. I saw it happen to my family. Dont let it happen to yours, or to our country. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump has sparked controversy for declaring that climate change is one of the great scams after Hurricane Helene left a trail of destruction, killing more than 100 people, across the southeast US. Speaking at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Sunday afternoon, the former president pushed a conspiracy theory that man-made climate change is a myth. Do you ever notice, this was such a big deal, the environmental stuff, he told rallygoers in a rambling address. I havent heard the environmental stuff mentioned in six months. I was saying the other night: What the hell happened to the environment? Calling out to David McCormick, the Pennsylvania GOP Senate challenger, Trump added: David, will you figure this out? No but think about this, Trump continued. They never talk about the environment anymore. You know why? He concluded: Its one of the greatest scams of all time people arent buying it any more. I dont want to use bad language, my wife said, Please dont use bad language. At least 116 people have so far been killed and hundreds more remain missing after the devastating hurricane made landfall in Florida last week, bringing catastrophic flooding to communities and plunging thousands into darkness. Trump at a campaign event in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Sunday where he turned Hurricane Helene into a campaign issue ( AP ) On Sunday, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Deanne Criswell told CBS Newss Face The Nation that the severe flooding and subsequent devastation caused by Hurricane Helene is linked to the climate emergency. Scientific evidence has also long revealed that global warming enables hurricanes to rapidly intensify. Despite claiming that climate change is a scam, Trump is planning to make a campaign stop in Georgia on Monday, one of the states hardest-hit by Hurricane Helene. He has also tried to turn the disaster into a campaign issue, condemning both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harriss response. The Harris campaign, meanwhile, has accused Trump of being insensitive when he said those impacted by Helene will be okay during a campaign rally in Walker, Michigan, on Friday despite the mounting death toll. Resident in Keaton Beach tries to recover their belongings on Sunday after Hurricane Helene passed through the Florida panhandle ( REUTERS ) Were with you all the way, and if we were there wed be helping you, he said. Youll be okay. Resharing the clip on X, the Harris campaign repeated the three-word phrase, with an addition: (Dozens of deaths have already been reported). Democratic critics also tied Trumps comments to Project 2025, the 900-page Heritage Foundation manifesto for a prospective Republican administration. The document contains proposals to slash funding for hurricane monitoring and relief agencies and privatize weather forecasts by federal agencies. In response, Trumps campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told The Washington Post that as President Trump has repeatedly said, Project 2025 has nothing to do with him or his campaign. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump was mocked online after proposing a solution to crime that bore jarring similarity to horror movie franchise The Purge. At a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday the former president suggested that one way to decrease levels of criminal activity would be allowing police one rough hour to tackle the issue, during which time there would be less restraints. One rough hour and I mean real rough, the word will get out and it will end immediately, Trump said. Social media users were quick to point out that a world in which people are free to act without impunity for a short amount of time is the exact plot of The Purge. One user on X posted a reminder of the original 2013 films synopsis. At a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday the former president suggested that one way to decrease levels of criminal activity would be allowing police one rough hour ( AP ) In an America ravaged by crime and overcrowded prisons, the government sanctions an annual 12-hour period during which all criminal activity including murder is legal, the synopsis reads. Trump is literally proposing The Purge lmao, wrote one X user, with another suggesting that the former president had just watched the movies. The way he watched The Purge and sat there like you know what we should try this, they said. Hes just describing the premise of The Purge, added conservative anti-Trump PAC The Lincoln Project, sharing a clip of Trumps remarks. Others pointed out that one of the movies multiple sequels came out in 2016 and was titled The Purge: Election Year the same year that Trump was elected as president. The films tagline - Keep America Great - received attention from the internet and media alike when it became the slogan used by Trump for his 2020 re-election campaign. The Purge: Election Year came out in 2016. Trump stole its motto in 2020 and its plot in 2024, wrote a social media user. In a statement shared with The Independent a Trump campaign spokesperson said: President Trump has always been the law and order President and he continues to reiterate the importance of enforcing existing laws. Otherwise its all-out anarchy, which is what Kamala Harris has created in some of these communities across America, especially during her time as CA Attorney General when she emboldened criminals. 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-endorsed Senate candidate Larry Hogan has revealed his shock decision over who he plans to vote for this November and it turns out he wont be returning the favor to the former president. Speaking on CBS News Face the Nation on Sunday, the former Maryland governor said that neither Trump nor Vice President Kamala Harris has earned his support in the presidential election. Neither one of the two candidates has earned my vote, and the voters in the country are going to be able to make that decision, he said. Hogan, who was endorsed by Trump in June as he goes head-to-head with Prince Georges County Executive Angela Alsobrooks for Marylands open US Senate seat, pointed out that he also shunned Trump in the last two elections. I didnt vote for him in 2016 or 2020 and Ive made that pretty clear, he said. Im willing to put country over party, and Im hoping that the voters will be willing to do the same thing. Hogan said that he has a completely separate identity to Trump as he vowed to continue to stand up to him regardless of the fact they share the same party. I stand up to him, probably more than just about anyone, and Ill continue to, he said, adding that he doesnt think he will campaign alongside the former president. Donald Trump speaking at a rally in Wisconsin on Saturday. Larry Hogan has revealed he doesnt plan to vote for the former president in November ( AFP via Getty Images ) Hogan also condemned Trumps comments at a rally in Wisconsin on Saturday where he called Harris mentally disabled and mentally impaired, branding it insulting to both the vice president and those who do have disabilities. Ive already called him out when he had the one interview where he was questioning her racial identity and now hes questioning her mental competence and I think thats insulting not only to the vice president, but to people that actually do have mental disabilities and Ive said for years that Trumps divisive rhetoric is something that we could do without, he said. I think hes his own worst enemy, he continued. But, despite his criticism of Trump, Hogan revealed he also wont be backing Harris, saying that both sides of the political aisle have been engaging in toxic and divisive politics of late. Im very concerned and I believe both parties are way off track from what their kind of base core values used to be, he added. Hogan is far from the only prominent Republican to reveal they wont be voting for Trump come November. Larry Hogan told CBS Face the Nation Trump hasnt earned his vote ( CBS Face the Nation ) Former vice president Dick Cheney, former congresswoman Liz Cheney, former rep Adam Kinzinger and a growing list of former Trump administration officials have publicly thrown their support behind Harris. Earlier this month, a group of more than 100 prominent former officials who served in Republican administrations endorsed Harris and warned that Trump is unfit to serve again in a letter obtained by The New York Times. This growing split in the Republican party comes as Harris is currently leading Trump in the polls by 2.9 points, according to the latest average of national polls. 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 }} At least a dozen employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs improperly accessed medical files for JD Vance and Tim Walz, and now officials have launched a medical investigation. A breach involving records of the Republican and Democratic vice presidential candidates, both military veterans, could amount to violations of federal medical privacy laws. VA employees had accessed Vances records roughly two months ago, according to The Washington Post, which first reported the incident. The office of VA inspector general contacted both campaigns to alert them of the breach. Terrence Hayes, a spokesman for the VA, said in a statement to The Independent that the agency has reported to law enforcement allegations that VA personnel may have improperly accessed Veteran records. We take the privacy of the Veterans we serve very seriously and have strict policies in place to protect their records, Hayes added. Any attempt to improperly access Veteran records by VA personnel is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. The agency referred The Independent to the Department of Justice for further comment. Veterans Affairs employees allegedly breached medical files of JD Vance (left) and Tim Walz (right). An investigation is now underway over the breach ( AFP via Getty Images ) Vance spent four years in the Marines and served a tour in Iraq in 2005 as a combat correspondent. Walz served 24 years in the National Guard and retired in 2005 before a run for Congress. Officials at the VA had notified both campaigns about discovering that employees within the agencys Veterans Health Administration healthcare arm did not have authorization to review their records, according to The Post, citing people familiar with the investigation speaking anonymously. The office of VA Inspector General Michael Missal has reportedly shared evidence with federal prosecutors about the employees, which include a physician and a contractor who spent extended time reviewing medical files, according to law enforcement officials speaking to The Post. Investigators are now trying to determine motivation, and whether any of those records were shared as a result of the breach. Its unclear what medical information was reviewed. An August 30 memo from VA Secretary Denis McDonough to VA staff on the importance of medical privacy states that veteran information should only be accessed when necessary to accomplish officially authorized and assigned duties as an employee, contractor, volunteer, or other personnel. Viewing a Veterans records out of curiosity or concern or for any purpose that is not directly related to officially authorized and assigned duties is strictly prohibited, according to the memo shared with The Independent. Failure to comply with those requirements may result in disciplinary action, including removal, as well as referral to law enforcement for civil penalties and criminal prosecution, the memo says. News of the breach arrived hours before Vance and Walz are set to participate in what is likely to be their only debate ahead of the presidential election. The Ohio senator and Minnesota governor will spar inside the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City on October 1. Moderators include CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Norah ODonnell and Face the Nation moderator and chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan. 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 }} Democrat Tim Walz and Republican JD Vance will go head-to-head on Tuesday in the first and most likely the only vice presidential debate before the election on November 5. Tuesdays highly anticipated debate between the two running mates is expected to bring fireworks as the Midwesterners have been duking it out on the campaign trail. Vance has attacked Walzs military record, claiming the Minnesota Governor dodged deployment to Iraq, while Walz has questioned Vances background, highlighting that the Ohio Senator is a Yale graduate who palled around with Silicon Valley billionaires while writing a bestseller about his hillbilly roots. Heres all you need to know about the vice presidential debate. The 90-minute debate will begin at 9pm (Eastern Time) on CBS on October 1. It will be moderated by CBS Evening News anchor Norah ODonnell and Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan. Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz (left) and Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance will face off on Tuesday, October 1 on CBS News in their first and only debate of the 2024 race ( AP ) The CBS debate will not have a live audience, according to the network, and will be filmed in New York City. When asked a question, the candidate will have two minutes to respond. Then, the other candidate will be given two minutes to give his response. Both will then be given one minute for a rebuttal. While there will not be opening statements, each candidate has two minutes to provide a closing statement. Walz will go first followed by Vance, who won a September 26 coin toss and opted to close out the program. Unlike the ABC News presidential debate on September 10 between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris - where the candidates mics were muted between responses - Vance and Walzs mics will be hot, increasing the potential for some zinger lines. CBS said that the running mates will not receive the questions in advance. After the presidential debate, Trump alleged that Harris was given the questions before the debate, in an apparent attempt to undermine her widely-praised performance. ABC News rejected Trumps claim. The vice presidential debate comes 34 days before the November election. About 75 per cent of Americans are planning to watch the debate, according to polling from Prolific for The Independent, while two-thirds of Democrats believe the vice-presidential candidate has a significant impact on the overall presidential ticket. Viewers can watch the debate on CBS News, its affiliate stations, the networks app, CBSNews.com, Paramount+, and YouTube. 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 president of Cyprus has fired the chief of police, his deputy and the acting director of the countrys central prisons complex following the embarrassing escape of a convicted murderer. Doros Theophanous escaped while under guard during an eight-hour pass to visit family. It is the second time Theofanous, nicknamed the hairdresser, has escaped from custody. Government spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis posted on the social media platform X that President Nikos Christodoulides decided immediately on his return late Sunday from New York, where he attended the United Nations General Assembly, to replace Police Chief Stylianos Papatheodorou and his deputy, Demetris Demetriou. The post adds that The President of the Republic exercising the powers granted to him by the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus decided to terminate the Chief and Deputy Chief of the Police Force of Cyprus and also instructed the Minister of Justice and Public Order to take the necessary actions to terminate the appointment of the Deputy Director of the Central of prisons. Taking the reins of the island nations police force is Themistos Arnaoutis while Panikos Stavrou has been appointed as his second in command. Letymbiotis said the president could recommend that Constantinos Constantinides take over as acting Central Prisons director. Christodoulides wasted no time on his return following the escape of Doros Theophanous, who is serving a life sentence for the 2011 murder of his 24-year-old pregnant partner and her 4-year-old daughter. Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) A nationwide manhunt culminated in Theophanous' arrest earlier Sunday reportedly after he was recognized while shopping at a Limassol convenience store. Three police officers and four prison guards who where guarding Theophanous, 42, while he attended a family get-together at their Paphos home have been suspended pending an investigation into possible dereliction of duty and other disciplinary offenses, according to a Justice Ministry statement. A 26-year-old man is also in police custody on suspicion that he aided Theophanous in his escape by driving him away from his guard detail. The escape whipped up much public indignation at the debacle that left a stain on the police forces reputation as Christodoulides grapples with widespread perception of official corruption and ineptitude in the country. 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 }} Norway has said it mulling over plans to build a fence along the198-kilometer (123-mile) border it shares with Russia. In a move inspired by a similar project in its Nordic neighbor Finland, Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl described a border fence as very interesting, not only because it can act as a deterrent but also because it contains sensors and technology that allow you to detect if people are moving close to the border. To prevent Moscow using migrants in what the Finnish government calls Russias hybrid warfare, Helsinki is currently building fences with a total length of up to 200 kilometers (124 miles) in separate sections along the border zone that makes up part of NATOs northern flank and serves as the European Unions external border. Enger Mehl said the Norwegian government is currently looking at several measures to beef up security on the border with Russia in the Arctic north, such as fencing, increasing the number of border staff or stepping up monitoring. The Storskog border station, which has witnessed only a handful of illegal border crossing attempts in the past few years, is the only official crossing point into Norway from Russia. Should the security situation in the delicate Arctic area worsen, the Norwegian government is ready to close the border on short notice, said Enger Mehl, who visited neighboring Finland this summer to learn about how the entire 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) Finnish-Russian land border was closed. A view of a fence blocking the road to the closed empty Nuijamaa border station between Russia and Finland ( Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) The Finnish government was prompted to close all crossing points from Russia to Finland in late 2023 after more than 1,300 third-country migrants without proper documentation or visas an unusually high number entered the country in three months, just months after the nation became a member of NATO. Finnish border officials say fences equipped with surveillance equipment to be located mostly around crossing points are needed to better monitor and control any migrants attempting to cross over from Russia and give officials time to react. Inspired by Finlands project, Enger Mehl said that such a fence could also be a good idea for Norway. According to NRK, her statement was supported by police chief Ellen Katrine Htta in Norways northern Finnmark county. Its a measure that may become relevant on all or part of the border between Norway and Russia, Enger Mehl said. The Storskog border station is currently surrounded by a 200-meter (660 feet) long and 3.5-meter (12 feet) high fence erected in 2016 after some 5,000 migrants and asylum-seekers had crossed over from Russia to Norway a year earlier. 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 }} Marine Le Pen has gone on trial accused of embezzling EU funds, in a case that could derail her political ambitions thanks to a possible fine, prison sentence and ban from public office if found guilty. The leader of the far-right National Rally (RN) party, Ms Le Pen is accused of using EU funds to pay Brussels-hired staff for work that was unrelated to their business in the EU, which is not permitted under EU regulations. Denying any wrongdoing when arriving at court, Ms Le Pen said: "We have not violated any political and regulatory rules of the European parliament". She vowed to present "extremely serious and extremely solid arguments" in the nine-week trial. Coming almost a decade after initial investigations started, the trial potentially puts Ms Le Pen at risk of being barred for up to 10 years from public office. RN and 27 of its top officials are accused of having used money destined for EU parliamentary aides to pay staff who instead did political work for the party between 2004 and 2016. Investigating judges have alleged that Ms Le Pen, as party leader, orchestrated the allocation of parliamentary assistance budgets and instructed MEPs to hire individuals holding party positions. These individuals were presented as EU parliamentary assistants, but in reality, were allegedly working for RN in various capacities. The European parliament's legal team is seeking 2.7m (2.25m) in compensation for financial and reputational damages. This figure corresponds to 3.7m allegedly defrauded through the scheme, minus 1m already paid back. Of that amount, 330,000 was directly linked to Ms Le Pen's alleged misuse of funds. Ms Le Pen lost to Emmanuel Macron in the second round of France's presidential election in 2017 and 2022. She is widely seen as a frontrunner in the next one in 2027. President Emmanuel Macron and prime minister Michel Barnier are seeking to keep the far-right and left-wing opposition at bay ( AFP/Getty ) Since stepping down as party leader three years ago, Ms Le Pen has sought to position herself as a mainstream candidate capable of appealing to a broader electorate. Her efforts have paid off, with the party making significant gains in recent elections at both the European and national levels. But a guilty verdict could seriously undermine her bid to take the Elysee. The national elections in the summer saw a coalition of left-wing parties win the most seats, but not enough to take control of parliament outright. After weeks of political wrangling, a new government dominated by centrists and conservatives has recently taken office with the former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier being picked as prime minister by the president, Emmanuel Macron. Some political observers feel the trial could prevent RN from effectively focusing on their role in parliamentary opposition. Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the National Rally in 1972 which until 2018 was called the National Front (FN) was also accused of embezzlement, but judges decided the 96-year-old was too frail to stand trial. A conviction for Ms Le Pen and her allies would be a major setback for the National Rally which has made huge strides over the past half-decade to position themselves as a genuine contender for government. Called by Mr Macron after National Rally won big in Junes EU parliament elections, the French legislative elections have resulted in a fragile new government led by Mr Barnier - the EUs chief negotiator in Britains exit from the EU. Le Pen could be hindered in her aim to succeed Macron as French president in 2027 ( Reuters ) But as opposition parties threaten no-confidence votes against Mr Barniers government, National Rally has now adopted a position of significant influence in opposition. Votes from Ms Le Pens party are needed for any no-confidence motions to pass. A major trial could serve as a major distraction for the National Rally as they divert time and money towards defending their finances in court. Party spokesperson Laurent Jacobelli said last week that Ms Le Pen was not worried about the trial. "She knows that what we are accused of is having a different understanding, as a French party, of what an assistant role is, compared with the European parliaments understanding," he told Reuters. The trial is set to last until 27 November. The RN is under another preliminary investigation, launched in July by the Paris prosecutor's office, into alleged illegal financing of its 2022 presidential campaign. Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report Close Trump claims he could end Russia-Ukraine war as he meets with Zelensky 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 }} Vladimir Putins forces have launched a hypersonic missile barrage at Ukraine as Kyiv attacked Moscows largest oil depot in occupied Crimea. Ukrainian troops were forced to down at least two eight-metre long Kinzhal missiles fired at Kyiv while another hit an airfield 170 miles further west in Starokostyantyniv. The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal is a nuclear-capable, Russian air-launched ballistic missile, revealed as a next-generation weapon by Putin in 2018. Missile debris damaged the roof of a tower-block in Kyiv and a school was also hit by the falling wreckage after it was shot down by Ukrainian air defence on Monday morning. Meanwhile, Kyivs authorities admitted one missile hit the area of the Starokostyantyniv airfield around the same time. It comes as a Ukrainian drone strike has caused a major fire at the largest oil depot in occupied Crimea, forcing local Russian officials to declare an emergency. The Ukrainian military confirmed it struck the Feodosia facility overnight and said it was being used to produce oil products for the invading Russian army. Several fuel tanks were engulfed in fire after people in Feodosia heard a series of loud explosions, reported the Baza Telegram channel, which claims to have sources in Russias security services. 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 European Union is set to remove some of its protections for wolves on the continent as their population grows, in the latest political clash between farmers and environmentalists. Ambassadors of the 27 EU nations reached a qualified majority last Wednesday to seek to loosen protection rules now enshrined in the European Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats. A ruling is expected in December, though EU ministers must officially vote on the bloc's position in the coming weeks. Farmers in many members have been increasingly angered by attacks on their livestock by wolfpacks as the animals have taken hold in woods and fields close to agricultural lands. The issue was brought to the EUs doorstep two years ago when a wolf killed a pony belonging to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. On Wednesday, the Commission welcomed the tentative vote and said that adapting the protection status will be an important step to address the challenges posed by increasing wolf populations while keeping the overall objective to achieve and maintain a favorable conservation status for the species. Experts and environmental groups estimate that up to 19,000 wolves may be present in the 27 EU member countries, with large populations thought to roam in Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania and Spain. Wolves remain a strictly protected species in most of Europe, but their numbers are estimated to have grown by 25% over the last decade. Under the plans the EU backs, wolves would be downgraded from strictly protected to protected," allowing for more measures to keep them at bay from farmers and the population. European grey wolves ( AFP via Getty Images ) Last month Dutch authorities urgently warned parents not to take young children to a popular forest area near the city of Utrecht following two recent close encounters with a wolf displaying atypical and worrying behavior. Growing numbers of the EU's environmental rules and regulations have come under pressure over the past two years, with populist and hard-right parties criticizing the measures as being thought up by urban elites with little knowledge of rural life. The main EU farm lobby Copa-Cogeca welcomed Wednesday's vote. We are glad to see the European Union institutions listening to the needs of farmers and rural dwellers despite the many pressures from those who often dont have to deal with the consequences of attacks. This decision will provide European livestock farmers with greater peace of mind, it said in a statement. The Eurogroup for Animals NGO said in a statement that EU nations are ignoring their citizens calls and science. Facilitating culling sends a dramatic message on the future of conservation and coexistence. 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 }} In just over a week, Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed seven high-ranking commanders and officials from the powerful Hezbollah militant group, including the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The move left Lebanon and much of the Mideast in shock as Israeli officials celebrated major military and intelligence breakthroughs. Hezbollah had opened a front to support its ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip a day after the Palestinian group's surprise attack into southern Israel. The recent strikes in Lebanon and the assassination of Nasrallah are a significant escalation in the war in the Middle East, this time between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanon's most powerful military and political force now finds itself trying to recuperate from severe blows, having lost key members who have been part of Hezbollah since its establishment in the early 1980s. Smoke billows after Israeli Air Force air strikes in southern Lebanon villages, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from northern Israel ( REUTERS ) Chief among them was Nasrallah, who was killed in a series of airstrikes that leveled several buildings in southern Beirut. Others were lesser-known in the outside world, but still key to Hezbollahs operations. Hassan Nasrallah Since 1992, Nasrallah had led the group through several wars with Israel, and oversaw the party's transformation into a powerful player in Lebanon. Hezbollah entered Lebanon's political arena while also taking part in regional conflicts that made it the most powerful paramilitary force. After Syria's uprising 2011 spiraled into civil war, Hezbollah played a pivotal role in keeping Syrian President Bashar Assad in power. Under Nasrallah, Hezbollah also helped develop the capabilities of fellow Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq and Yemen. Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ) Nasrallah is a divisive figure in Lebanon, with his supporters hailing him for ending Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000, and his opponents decrying him for the group's weapons stockpile and making unilateral decisions that they say serves an agenda for Tehran and allies. Nabil Kaouk Kaouk, who was killed in an airstrike Saturday, was the deputy head of Hezbollahs Central Council. He joined the militant group in its early days in the 1980s. Kaouk also served as Hezbollahs military commander in south Lebanon from 1995 until 2010. He made several media appearances and gave speeches to supporters, including in funerals for killed Hezbollah militants. He had been seen as a potential successor to Nasrallah. Hezbollah official Sheik Nabil Kaouk ( AP ) Ibrahim Akil Akil was a top commander and led Hezbollah's elite Radwan Forces, which Israel has been trying to push further away from its border with Lebanon. He was also a member of its highest military body, the Jihad Council, and for years had been on the United States' wanted list. The U.S. State Department says Akil was part of the group that carried out the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and orchestrated the taking of German and American hostages. Hezbollah supporters carry pictures of Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Akil during his funeral procession in Beirut's southern suburb, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein) ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) Ahmad Wehbe Wehbe was a commander of the Radwan Forces and played a crucial role in developing the group since its formation almost two decades ago. He was killed alongside Akil in an airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs that struck and leveled a building. Ali Karaki Karaki led Hezbollah's southern front, playing a key role in the ongoing conflict. The U.S. described him as a significant figure in the militant group's leadership. Little is known about Karaki, who was killed alongside Nasrallah. Mohammad Surour Surour was the head of Hezbollah's drone unit, which was used for the first time in this current conflict with Israel. Under his leadership, Hezbollah launched exploding and reconnaissance drones deep into Israel, penetrating its defense systems which had mostly focused on the group's rockets and missiles. Ibrahim Kobeissi Kobeissi led Hezbollah's missile unit. The Israeli military says Kobeissi planned the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli soldiers at the northern border in 2000, whose bodies were returned in a prisoner swap with Hezbollah four years later. Other senior commanders killed in action Even in the months before the recent escalation of the war with Hezbollah, Israel's military had targeted top commanders, most notably Fuad Shukur in late July, hours before an explosion in Iran widely blamed on Israel killed the leader of the Palestinian Hamas militant group Ismail Haniyeh. The U.S. accuses Fuad Shukur of orchestrating the 1983 bombing in Beirut that killed 241 American servicemen. Leaders of key units in the south, Jawad Tawil, Taleb Abdullah, and Mohammad Nasser, who over several decades became instrumental members of Hezbollahs military activity were all assassinated. Nasrallahs second-in-command Naim Kassem is the most senior member of the organization. Kassem has been Hezbollahs deputy leader since 1991, and is among its founding members. On several occasions, local news networks were quick to assume that an Israeli strike in southern Beirut may have targeted Kassem. People look up at a damaged building that was hit by Israeli strike early Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Beirut, Lebanon ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All right reserved ) Kassem is only top official of the militant group who has conducted interviews with local and international media in the ongoing conflict. The deputy leader appears to be involved in various aspects of the militant group, both in top political and security matters, but also in matters related to Hezbollahs theocratic and charity initiatives to the Shia Muslim community in Lebanon. Meanwhile, Hashim Safieddine who heads Hezbollahs central council, is tipped to be Nasrallahs successor. Safieddine is a cousin of the late Hezbollah leader, and his son is married to the daughter of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was slain in a U.S. drone strike in 2020. Like Nasrallah, Safieddine joined Hezbollah early on and similarly wears a black turban. Talal Hamieh and Abu Ali Reda are the two remaining top commanders from Hezbollah who are alive and apparently on the Israeli militarys crosshairs. 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 }} Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut, after 32 years at the helm of the Lebanese militant group. During Nasrallahs decades in charge, Hezbollah has grown into a regional force that has projected Tehrans influence across the Middle East. His death marks not only an enormous blow to Hezbollah but also to Iran, whose Revolutionary Guards founded the group in 1982. Another top Hezbollah leader Ali Karaki was also killed in the attack, which levelled six apartment buildings, alongside Revolutionary Guards deputy commander Abbas Nilforoushan. Iran has vowed to retaliate. Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorise the world, the Israeli military said. Spokesperson Daniel Hagari insisted that Nasrallah whom he said was among the biggest-ever enemies of Israel had posed a threat to Israeli citizens for decades, and his elimination makes the world a safer place. Fridays attack, followed by a heavy bombardment further airstrikes on Saturday and Sunday, have escalated the conflict between Israel and the heavily armed group, adding to concerns the region could be sucked into a broader war. The military said that it carried out a precise airstrike while Hezbollah leadership met at their headquarters in Dahiyeh, south of Beirut. Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah, speaks during a ceremony in Beirut on 24 July 1994, marking the first anniversary of the weeklong Israeli blitz on south Lebanon ( AP ) Who is Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah? Under the leadership of the 64-year-old Nasrallah, Hezbollah has fought wars against Israel and taken part in the conflict in neighbouring Syria, helping tip the balance of power in favour of the president, Bashar Assad. A charismatic and shrewd strategist, Nasrallah reshaped Hezbollah into an archenemy of Israel, cementing alliances with Shiite religious leaders in Iran and Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas. Idolised by his Lebanese Shiite followers and respected by millions of others across the Arab and Islamic world, Nasrallah holds the title of sayyid, or master, an honorific meant to signify the Shiite clerics lineage dating back to the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam. A fiery orator viewed as an extremist in the US and much of the West, he is also considered a pragmatist compared to the firebrand militants who dominated Hezbollah after its founding in 1982, during Lebanons civil war. Despite the power he wielded, Nasrallah has lived largely in hiding in the past years for fear of an Israeli assassination. Smoke billows over Beiruts southern suburbs, as seen from Sin El Fil ( Reuters ) How he rose to power Born in 1960 into a poor Shiite family in Beiruts impoverished northern suburb of Sharshabouk, Nasrallah was later displaced to south Lebanon. He studied theology and joined the Amal movement, a Shiite political and paramilitary organisation, before becoming one of Hezbollahs founders. Hezbollah was formed by Iranian Revolutionary Guard members who came to Lebanon in the summer of 1982 to fight invading Israeli forces. It was the first group that Iran backed and used as a way to export its brand of political Islam. Nasrallah built a power base as Hezbollah over time became part of a cluster of Iranian-backed factions and governments known as the Axis of Resistance. Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Beiruts southern suburbs ( AP ) Two days after its leader, 39-year-old Sayyed Abbas Musawi, was killed in an Israeli helicopter gunship raid in south Lebanon, Hezbollah chose Nasrallah as its secretary-general in February 1992. Five years later, the US designated Hezbollah a terrorist organisation. Under Nasrallah, Hezbollah was credited with leading the war of attrition that led to the withdrawal of Israeli troops from south Lebanon in 2000, after an 18-year occupation. Nasrallahs eldest son, Hadi, was killed in 1997 while fighting against Israeli forces. After Israels withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, Nasrallah rose to iconic status both within Lebanon and throughout the Arab world. His messages were beamed on Hezbollahs own radio and satellite TV station. That status was further cemented when, in 2006, Hezbollah fought Israel to a stalemate during the 34-day war. When Syrias civil war erupted in 2011, Hezbollah fighters rushed in, siding with Assads forces even though Hezbollahs popularity took a dive as the Arab world ostracised Assad. Nasrallah addresses a crowd in October 2015 during the holy day of Ashoura, in a southern suburb of Beirut ( AP ) His role in the current conflict A day after the Israel-Hamas war started on 7 October, Hezbollah began attacking Israeli military posts along the border, calling it a backup front for Gaza. In speeches throughout the conflict, he has argued that Hezbollahs cross-border strikes had pulled away Israeli forces that would otherwise be focused on Hamas in Gaza and insisted that Hezbollah would not halt its attacks on Israel until a ceasefire is reached in Gaza. Over the past weeks, he continued to strike a defiant tone as tension rose dramatically, with Israel announcing a new phase in the conflict intended to push Hezbollah back from the border to allow thousands displaced from northern Israel to return. It launched strikes killing top military commanders with the group and was blamed for the explosion of thousands of communications devices, mainly used by Hezbollah members, that killed 37 people and wounded thousands. 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 }} Israels widely-expected ground incursion inside Lebanon is underway with its military claiming troops have carried out targeted raids across the border while backed by airstrikes and artillery. In a statement issued on Tuesday morning, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was striking Hezbollah targets in areas close to its countrys northern border. The announcement came shortly after Israeli media reported that the countrys cabinet had approved the next stage of the military operation targeting the militant group. Pictures also emerged of dozens of Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles at the border with Lebanon while airstrikes intensified in southern Beirut after the IDF ordered an evacuation of three areas. UK foreign secretary David Lammy described the situation as volatile as a charter flight was ordered to evacuate Britons out of the country. Mr Lammy had joined US president Joe Biden in repeating calls for an immediate ceasefire amid fears of an escalation in the conflict. But just after midnight on Tuesday morning, and following reports of heavy shelling on border towns, the IDF confirmed that a ground operation had started. It said: In accordance with the decision of the political echelon, a few hours ago, the IDF began limited, localised, and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence against Hezbollah terrorist targets and infrastructure in southern Lebanon. These targets are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel. The IDF is operating according to a methodical plan set out by the General Staff and the Northern Command which IDF soldiers have trained and prepared for in recent months. The Israeli Air Force and IDF Artillery are supporting the ground forces with precise strikes on military targets in the area. A fire following an Israeli bombardment on an area of south Lebanon on Monday ( AFP via Getty Images ) Yesterday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned: There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. The Israeli military yesterday also declared three communities along Israels northern border to be a closed military zone, in a precursor to the ground operation on the Lebanon. It came as Israels defence minister Yoav Gallant told troops on the border with Lebanon that they should be ready to attack from the air, from the sea and from the land as they look to stop Iran-backed Hezbollah from continuing to fire into its northern territories. Nasrallahs elimination is an important step but it is not the end, he told Israels 188th brigade. To return the residents of the north safely to their homes we will activate all our capabilities - including you. That is what we will do, and we will deploy whatever is needed you, other forces, from the air, from the sea, and from the land. He added in a message on X, formerly Twitter, that Israels forces are ready and prepared to strike Hezbollah with force. Israeli soldiers check a Merkava tank near the border with Lebanon ( EPA ) Fears of an Israeli invasion of Lebanon Hezbollah forces currently control the southern half of the country, from where they have been continuously firing into northern Israel have grown since Israel launched a massive bombing campaign across the Middle East a fortnight ago. More than 1,000 people in Lebanon have been killed since, including dozens of senior Hezbollah personnel. Women and children are also among the dead, according to the Lebanese health ministry, a separate authority in the country. While Israeli forces, including the 188th brigade, are waiting in the northern territories for any orders to invade, units of special forces have already started carrying out raids into southern Lebanon. These missions have been going on for months, mainly involving small attacks in Hezbollah tunnels just across the border, but former senior military officials say these preliminary operations may well presage an all-out invasion. On Monday morning, Israel bombed a residential building in the Cola area of Beirut. In its first strike beyond the southern suburbs of the capital, it killed four people, including three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) group. Most of the apartments of the 10-story building were heavily damaged. With three of its four walls destroyed, the fifth floor that was targeted was left completely exposed. On the street lie ruins and whats left of furniture and personal belongings from the damaged apartments. Yes we were here, we saw everything this morning, says Mahmoud Kalaf Salam, a Syrian drinking coffee with some other men on the opposite side of the viaduct the targeted building faces. After the explosions, we saw rubble everywhere, there was fire, people wounded with shrapnel and debris all over their bodies. Everyone ran outside to see what happened. Lebanese policemen secure the area around a damaged building following overnight Israeli strikes in the Cola area of Beirut ( EPA ) In the neighbourhood of Hamra, the streets were filled with people and cars, many having fled the southern parts of the country or the capital itself amidst heavy Israeli bombardments since last week. On Monday afternoon, an Israeli surveillance drone could be heard loudly above the neighbourhood. Many pedestrians stopped for a moment to look up to the sky, searching and occasionally spotting the little white plane. Mr Gallant says the attacks are key to returning the 60,000 Israeli residents in the northern territories who have been displaced by Hezbollahs aerial assaults over the past 11 months. Israel recently added the return of those citizens to its core war aims. In his first public address since Israeli strikes killed Nasrallah in Beirut on Friday, Hezbollahs deputy chief Naim Qassem said the group was ready to fight against any possible invasion. We will face any possibility and we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land and the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement, he said in an address from an undisclosed location, adding that Hezbollah would emerge victorious. An Israeli tank moves next to soldiers as they stand atop of armoured personnel carriers ( AP ) The Iranian foreign ministry added that Israels criminal acts would not go unanswered. Since Hamas launched its incursion into Israel on 7 October last year, killing 1,000 people and taking 251 hostage, Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups have been attacking Israel, they say, in solidarity with those in Gaza. At least 41,500 people have been killed in the enclave since Israel launched its retaliatory ground and aerial offensive. Hours before Qassem spoke, Hamas said an Israeli airstrike killed its leader in Lebanon, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, along with his wife, son and daughter in the southern city of Tyre on Monday. The PFLP said three of its leaders died in a strike in Beiruts Kola district the first such hit inside the city limits since 2006, when Israel last invaded Lebanon. The wave of Israeli attacks on militant targets in Lebanon are part of a conflict also stretching from the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the occupied West Bank, to Yemen, Iraq, Syria and within Israel itself. The escalation has raised fears that the United States and Iran will be sucked into the conflict. 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 }} Israel has fired hundreds of rockets and missiles at targets across the Middle East, hitting military posts run by Iran-backed militias as it steps up its strikes on the Tehran-supported Hezbollah in Lebanon. In the past fortnight, more than 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based. The most significant of those attacks killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. On Monday, Israel also targeted central Beirut for the first time in 18 years, since the last war with Hezbollah in 2006. Across the eastern Lebanese border in Syria, Israeli strikes have also struck Hezbollah positions, while smoke was reported rising over the cityscape in Damascus, the Syrian capital. Late on Sunday, Israel also reported that it had struck targets in the Yemeni port of Hodeidah and Ras Isa. Iran, which backs the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas in the Gaza Strip and various other militias in Syria and Iraq, as well as the dictatorial regime of Bashar-al-Assad in Syria itself, has vowed that Israels criminal acts will not go unanswered. Below, The Independent looks at where Israels missiles and rockets have been fired. Hezbollah Nearly a year after Hamas, another militant group backed by Tehran attacked inside Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking a further 251 hostage, the Israeli military is widening its attacks. It has been exchanging fire with Hezbollah, which says it is fighting Israel in solidarity with Hamas, since 8 October, a day after the Hamas attack, though the assaults have been contained to limited strikes. After 11 months of Israels ground and aerial assault on the Gaza Strip, one that has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians and displaced more than 90 per cent of the population, Israel says it has destroyed almost all of Hamas military personnel, and it is now upscaling its assault on Hezbollah, based in southern Lebanon. The Israeli air forces, using fighter jets and bomber planes, have bombarded swathes of southern Lebanon, including Sidon, Tyre and Beirut on the Mediterranean coast, as well as the Bekaa valley on the other side of the country. It has also killed dozens of senior Hezbollah personnel, including Nasrallah, in strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut. In a further development, Israel has since struck central Beirut for the first time in 18 years, which was the last time it embarked on a month-long all-out war with Hezbollah. In his first public speech since Nasrallah was killed over the weekend, deputy Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said on Monday that the militia was now ready for an Israeli invasion. Israel attacks Yemen and Syria A large fire and plume of smoke is visible in the port city of Hodeida, Yemen, As Israels aerial assault on Lebanon continues, one they say may presage a ground incursion, the air force has also shifted some of its attention to hitting Houthi targets in Yemen. The militia, part of Irans so-called Axis of Resistance, ostensibly an array of anti-Israeli forces across the Middle East, controls pockets of western Yemen. They were engaged for years in a war with Saudi Arabia, a fierce Sunni state opposed to Irans Shia republic. Since last October, they have been firing at Israel and at ships sailing towards the country through the Red Sea. Israel announced on Sunday that it had struck the ports of Hodeidah and Ras Isa on Yemens western coast on the Red Sea. Houthi media reports said the strikes had killed four people and wounded 33. Residents said the strikes caused power cuts in most parts of Hodeidah. The attacks came days after the Houthis said they launched a ballistic missile attack on Israels main international airport as Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, was arriving. That attack was intercepted by Israeli air defences. Further north, residents in Syrias capital, Damascus, have also reported smoke rising above the city on Monday morning in what appears to be further strikes on the area. Will Tehran be next? Hezbollah supporters carry pictures of Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Akil and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during Akil's funeral procession in Beirut's southern suburb last weekend ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) Iran has been clear that it will respond to Israel following the wide-ranging strikes against its partners. But how that response will happen remains unclear. Some suggest Iran is wary of significantly escalating a conflict with Israel that, up to now, has been fought by its proxies. The one time since last October that Iran has fired directly at Israel, in response to a strike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus this summer, they fired around 300 rockets and drones, almost all of which were intercepted. But there is clear concern that Iran fears an Israeli attack; after Nasrallah was killed, Iranian sources said the countrys supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was taken to a secure location. The West had urged Israel not to invade Lebanon amid concerns of an all-out regional conflict dragging in Iran and huge diplomatic pressure is also being applied on Tehran not to get involved. Israel and Iran have been trading barbed rhetoric and threats about escalation for months, but Mr Netanyahus decison to push into Lebanon is a risk. He may see it as a calculated risk but the US, UK and other nations across the West and Middle East will be deeply concerned about where it might lead. They will see Irans response or preferably a lack of one as key. 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 }} Watch live from Beirut on Monday, 30 September, as an apartment building lies in ruins following an Israeli strike in the city centre for the first time since 2006. This feed shows a residential building that was hit by an airstrike in the Kola district. According to Lebanons health ministry, the attack brings the death toll from Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon to more than 1,000 people and the number of those injured to more than 6,000 over the last two weeks. Lebanons head of emergency disaster management said the number of displaced people in the country surged from 300,000 to nearly one million in just a few hours over the weekend. The attack stoked fears that Middle East fighting could spin out of control and draw in the United States. Hamas said an Israeli strike killed its leader in Lebanon on Monday, while another Palestinian militant group said three of its leaders were killed in a strike on Beirut. 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 }} Israel has claimed to have wiped out much of Hezbollahs leadership in recent airstrikes, as Lebanon said the bombing campaign has now forced a fifth of the countrys population to flee their homes. The Lebanese militant group has now confirmed the deaths of seven senior officials slain by Israel in just over a week, including its leader of 32 years, Hassan Nasrallah, in a strike Israel claimed also killed 20 other Hezbollah members in southern Beirut on Friday. Those include founding members of the group first established by Irans Revolutionary Guard in 1982, who had previously evaded death or detention at Israels hands for decades until Israels decision this month to launch its heaviest bombing campaign against Lebanon since the 2006 war. A Hezbollah flag was hung at the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in the southern suburbs of Beirut ( AP ) After Hezbollah confirmed the death of Nabil Kaouk who led the groups forces in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war in another strike on Saturday, the United States warned its ally Israel that an all-out war with Hezbollah, certainly with Iran, is not the way to make Israels own citizens safer. As Iran vowed to retaliate and warned that the US is complicit in all of these crimes, spokesperson John Kirby said the White House was watching to see what Hezbollah would do to try and fill its leadership vacuum, adding: Its going to be tough much of their command structure has now been wiped out. While Israel and Hezbollah had been trading frequent cross-border fire since Hamass attack on Israel on 7 October last year sparked the war in Gaza, Israel said this month that it was shifting its focus from Gaza to Lebanon, after launching two shock attacks in which it remotely detonated walkie-talkies and pagers used by Hezbollah. According to Lebanons health ministry, more than 1,000 people including 87 children and 14 medics have been killed in the ensuing bombardment, and a further 6,000 wounded, as Unicef warned that the pre-existing humanitarian crisis in Lebanon is rapidly escalating into a catastrophe. Environment minister Nasser Yassin said that around a million people amounting to a fifth of the population have fled their homes, with some 250,000 now living in shelters and three to four times as many staying with friends and relatives or camping in the streets. Rescuers at the scene of an Israeli airstrike in Beiruts suburb of Ghobeiri on Sunday ( AP ) Israel said on Sunday that it had hit dozens more targets in Lebanon, including key weapons-manufacturing sites. State media in Lebanon reported that at least 17 people from the same family had been killed in Israeli strikes in the Bekka Valley, with at least four others killed when two homes were hit. The health ministry said 24 people had also been killed and dozens more injured in a strike on Ain al-Delb, near to Lebanons third-largest city Sidon. And a day after the Houthis claimed to have fired a missile at Tel Aviv, the Israeli military said it had used dozens of aircraft, including fighter jets, to attack power plants and a sea port in Yemen, which it claimed were being used to transport Iranian weapons. Hostilities have continued in Gaza, where health authorities said at least 11 Palestinians were killed in strikes, including at a school sheltering displaced people in the northern city of Beit Lahia. Israel said it had hit Hamas militants, whom it accused of exploiting civilian facilities. Israels escalation of the conflict has been met with alarm and condemnation elsewhere in the region, with Iraq accusing Israel of crossing all red lines in Lebanon. Smoke rises from Israeli airstrike locations on Sunday in Beiruts southern suburbs ( Getty ) Israels allies, including the US, Britain, Germany and other European nations, all repeated their pleas on Sunday for a diplomatic solution and ultimately a ceasefire with Hezbollah, with France urging restraint following a report that Israeli military leaders were pushing to launch a limited ground offensive. Wreckage from the strike that killed Nasrallah and levelled six buildings in Beirut on Friday was still smouldering more than two days later, with smoke hanging over the rubble as people flocked to the site, some to check on what was left of their homes and others to pay their respects. Nasrallahs body was recovered intact from the site, and it appeared he had been killed by blunt trauma from the force of the blast, a medical source and a security source told reporters on Sunday. Iranian military commander Abbas Nilforoushan was also killed in the blast, and Tehran insisted on Sunday that this horrible crime would not go unanswered. We will not hesitate to go to any level in order to help the resistance, said Irans foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, referring to the groups the country supports, including Hamas, the Houthis, Hezbollah and various Shia groups in Iraq and Syria. Mr Araghchi also warned that the US is complicit in all of these crimes and ... has to accept the repercussions. The Pentagon said US defence secretary Lloyd Austin had authorised the military to reinforce its presence in the Middle East with defensive air-support capabilities, and to put other forces on a heightened readiness status. The US is determined to prevent Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from exploiting the situation or expanding the conflict, spokesperson Patrick Ryder said, warning those groups against targeting American personnel or interests in the region. Britain has urged its 5,000 or so citizens in Lebanon to leave the country. Cabinet minister Pat McFadden said on Sunday that the government has prepared plans for every contingency and will evacuate British nationals if necessary. Close Israeli hostages families march to Netanyahus home on October 7 anniversary For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} At least 10 firefighters have been killed in an Israeli strike on a municipal building in the town of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, the local health ministry has reported. Smoke could be seen billowing over parts of southern Lebanon as Israel resumed its airstrikes that it claims are targeting Hezbollah. The Lebanese health ministry, a separate authority to the Iran-backed group, says 22 people were killed and 111 wounded in Israeli strikes across the south yesterday. More than 2080 have been killed in total, and a further 9869 wounded, since Israel began bombing Lebanon a few weeks ago. It comes as Israeli civilians mark the anniversary of Hamas deadly 7 October attack, during which they killed around 1,200 people and took 251 more hostage in Gaza, 101 of which remain in the enclave. Nearly 42,000 Palestinians have since been killed by Israels retaliatory air and ground attack in Gaza, according to the local, Hamas-run health ministry. Families of the hostages marched to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahus residence in Jerusalem this morning to mark the terror attack. Close Israeli hostages families march to Netanyahus home on October 7 anniversary 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 }} Israel has said it will launch operations on Lebanons southern coast, hours after ten firefighters were killed in an Israeli strike in the south of the country. The Israeli military has told residents to stay off the beaches and fishermen off the sea for a 60-kilometre stretch along the Mediterranean. At least 10 firefighters have been killed in an Israeli strike on a municipal building in the town of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, the local health ministry has reported. The Lebanese health ministry, a separate authority to the Iran-backed group, says 22 people were killed and 111 wounded in Israeli strikes across the south yesterday. More than 2080 have been killed in total, and a further 9869 wounded, since Israel began bombing Lebanon a few weeks ago. It comes as Israeli civilians mark the anniversary of Hamas deadly 7 October attack, during which they killed around 1,200 people and took 251 more hostage in Gaza, 101 of which remain in the enclave. Nearly 42,000 Palestinians have since been killed by Israels retaliatory air and ground attack in Gaza, according to the local, Hamas-run health ministry. Families of the hostages marched to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahus residence in Jerusalem this morning to mark the terror attack. 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 }} Israeli troops have started an invasion of Lebanon crossing the border to carry out targeted ground raids against Hezbollah across a number of villages. Since the 7 October attack inside Israel by Hamas and Israels subsequent invasion of Gaza, Hamas-ally Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire almost daily over the northern border with Lebanon. Two weeks ago, a series of exploding device attacks in which Hezbollah pagers and walkie talkies blew up around Lebanon an attack widely believed to have been carried out by Israel the conflict has seen a major escalation. According to the UNs Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Lebanese authorities say more than one million people have been displaced in southern Lebanon since last October - 90 per cent of which have been in roughly the past week. Around 60,000 Israelis have been evacuated from northern towns in the same period. More than 1,000 people have been killed, including more than 100 women and children in the past two weeks, according to the Lebanese health ministry. A man who was injured in the exploding devices attack sits outside the Eye Specialist hospital in Beirut ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All right reserved ) This includes more than a dozen Hezbollah commanders, including leader Hassan Nasrallah, who led the militant group for more than three decades. But what is Israels goal in going forward with a ground invasion? What is Israels military doing? Nasrallah was killed in a large strike on Beirut, September 27 ( AP ) Israel says its invasion is aimed at guaranteeing security for the northern border. The Israeli military confirmed at 2am local time on Tuesday morning that it would be launching an asault into villages close to the border in southern Lebanon. On Tuesday morning, Israel said intense fighting had erupted with Hezbollah as commandos and paratroopers launched raids. Israel says it will be a limited, localised operation. In comments to the Washington Post, US officials suggested Israeli troops may withdraw after completing their objectives in southern Lebanon. But Israel has left the door open to a larger scale invasion in the coming weeks if its objective of pushing Hezbollah back and returning Israeli citizens to their homes. Israeli tanks were seen manoeuvring near the Israel-Lebanon border last night ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ) Major General Ori Gordin, the head of the militarys Northern Command, reportedly wants to clear Hezbollah fighters and infrastructure away from the border to create a buffer zone, which would allow the evacuated Israelis to return home. Hezbollah, a proscribed terrorist group in the UK, was formed in 1982 but gained significant military power in the 2006 Lebanon War against Israel. Its stated objective is to drive Israeli forces away from southern Lebanon. The group is aligned with Iran, which is understood to provide most of its funding. Hezbollahs military wing is sophisticated and thought to be about the strength of a medium-sized army, stronger than Lebanons own forces. What could be the wider consequences of Israel crossing the border? With its close ties to Iran, a direct assault on Hezbollah runs the risk of drawing the country a long-time opponent of Israel into the conflict. Tensions already reached a high point in April when Iran launched a drone and missile attack on Israeli targets in April, responding to the countrys bombing of part of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria. Netanyahu released a video address yesterday ( AP ) Speaking in a video which he said was addressing the Iranian people - but in which he spoke English - Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. It was a thinly-veiled threat to Tehran, which Mr Netanyahu accused of bringing its own people closer to the abyss. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country, he added. When Iran is finally free - and that moment will come a lot sooner than people think - everything will be different. The West had urged Israel not to invade Lebanon amid concerns of an all-out regional conflict dragging in Iran and huge diplomatic pressure is also being applied on Tehran not to get involved. Israel and Iran have been trading barbed rhetoric and threats about escalation for months, but Mr Netanyahus decison to push into Lebanon is a risk. He may see it as a calculated risk but the US, UK and other nations across the West and Middle East will be deeply concerned about where it might lead. They will see Irans response or preferably a lack of one as key. An 11-storey Beirut apartment block balanced precariously after an Israeli airstrike hit the city centre for the first time since 2006 early on Monday, 30 September. A strike near the Kola intersection hit a residential building, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene. According to Lebanons health ministry, the attack brings the death toll from Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon to more than 1,000 people and the number of those injured to more than 6,000 over the last two weeks. Lebanons head of emergency disaster management said the number of displaced people in the country surged from 300,000 to nearly one million in just a few hours over the weekend. Stock-market listed Corre Energy reported a profit after tax of 2m in the first half of 2024, up from a loss after tax of 9.9m in the same period last year. The company said this was primarily due to the positive impact of finance expenses and a tax credit. This financial expense of 5.8m was related to the revaluation of share options embedded in the Italian Energy Efficiency Fund financing agreement. Last year, the company reported a further 10m of funding through a subscription agreement, loan arrangement and a drawdown from the fund, which is managed by FIEE, an Italian alternative investment fund manager. FIEE made a long term equity-linked investment into Corre Energy in 2021. Corre added that the operating loss excluding these changes would be 5.9m, a slight improvement on the 6.5m operating loss recorded in the same period in 2023. The company also pointed to the results of its operational review, which was announced last month and was focused on reducing operating costs. It reported that there are plans to reduce operational expenditure, while it is focusing spending on its existing German projects. It is planning a consultation process which may lead to redundancies. Corre also recently announced a joint venture with Semper Power to develop a battery project at the companys Zuidwendig site in the Netherlands. Existing compressed air energy storage projects at the site have been delayed due to permitting delays. At the end of August, Corre Energy announced that it had secured a loan from a group of its existing shareholders. These shareholders are long-term investors in the business and represent 33pc of the companys share capital, Corre reported at the time. Corre said the loan would provide immediate funding to the business for ongoing operating expenses, working capital and capital expenditures in its existing projects. It added that the loan is available to be drawn down for one year, while the company can draw down 450,000 upon signing. In March, Corre also announced that it had received multiple indications of interest: industrial, strategic and institutional to invest in the business. A month later, it appointed Rothschild & Co as financial advisor to the company while it assesses options. It said at the time that discussions with each interested party remained at an early stage and did not confirm whether interest is for some or all of the business The group reported today that the process remains ongoing but its focus was on existing financial issues, which has had an impact on the investment. Corre now said that a transaction may not be completed until 2025 due to the Christmas break. "As part of our proactive strategy to streamline operations, we have implemented targeted cost reductions, including a right-sized team, chief executive Keith McGrane said. While there have been delays in some projects, we are in ongoing discussions with key stakeholders and remain confident of positive resolutions, he added. Our focus continues to be on ensuring that we invest in the right projects at the right time, with significant interest from strategic investors, particularly around the Rothschild-led investment project. Corre Energys main business is the development, construction and commercialisation of long duration energy storage projects which are linked to greater use of renewables. Yuno Energy will offer fixed rates on gas as well as electricity. Photo: Getty The newest provider in the electricity market, Yuno Energy, is set to supply gas to households, and claims its offer will be the cheapest on the market. The company also confirmed that it has won 30,000 customers since it launched a year ago, selling electricity to retail customers across the country. Yuno said it will supply gas at 8.23c per unit, which it said is the cheapest price on the market. The company is also offering electricity at 23.96c per kilowatt hour for new customers from this week. The gas offer is a one-year fixed-rate deal. This means the price will not go up over the year, but it also means that if wholesale gas rates fall further, this will not be passed on to someone who takes up the offer. Yuno said its latest move means it now offers the cheapest price for new customers on electricity-only, on gas-only and for those using electricity and gas together, known as dual-use customers. Yuno Energy operates a monthly bill-pay service for customers. The Irish company launched just over a year ago with the then-cheapest fixed rate offer for domestic electricity customers. It has since cut its electricity prices a number of times for new customers moving to it. Yuno Energy chief executive Cathal Fay said the companys 30,000 customers are attracted by its market-leading prices and its mobile phone app service, which gives customers control in real-time over how much they are spending on their energy costs. Mr Fay said a customer moving to Yuno for their electricity could save 581 a year. This is based on average usage of 4,200kWh for electricity, and compared with standard rates in the market. A customer who joins Yuno Energy today can expect savings of up to 333 over a year on their gas costs, based on usage of 11,000kWh for gas. Dual-fuel customers can save 914 by using Yuno Energy for both gas and electricity. The annual costs include standing charges. Mr Fay said that on a like-for-like consumption basis, Yuno Energy is offering an annual rate for an average user of 1,268 for electricity, 1,176 for gas and 2,400 for dual use. The rate is fixed and will not vary with fluctuations in wholesale electricity or gas costs. This compares to an average tariff across the other suppliers of 1,849 for electricity, 1,509 for gas and 3,3,358 for dual-use customers. Both prices are fixed for 12 months for new customers, so they will not change whatever happens to prices in wholesale energy markets during the coming winter. Mr Fay said: This is the perfect time to extend our offering to gas customers and to offer them the same competitive prices and the unique level of control over their energy consumption which has been so popular with our customers over the past year. He said there are significant savings to be secured for customers, particularly those who have not moved their supplier over the past year. Yuno Energy operates a bill-pay service which is run by the people behind PrepayPower, Irelands largest pay-as-you-go provider with over 180,000 customers. Yuno Energy is a separate business which operates independently from PrepayPower, with its own app and a seven-day-a-week call centre. Cillian Murphy and Steven Knight are reunited on set as production officially starts on the upcoming Netflix film. The Academy Award-winning Cillian Murphy has returned on set as the Peaky Blinders film has officially started production today. The highly-anticipated feature film, produced by Netflix in association with BBC Film, is a continuation of the award-winning series set in the lawless streets of Birmingham in the 1900s. Cork-born Murphy is returning as the iconic Tommy Shelby, the role he played over six seasons between 2013 and 2022. The Oppenheimer Oscar winner will be joined by fellow Irish actor and Academy Award nominee, Barry Keoghan, who will also star in the film. It has been confirmed that Rebecca Ferguson of Dune and Mission Impossible and Tim Roth of Reservoir Dogs and The Hateful Eight will join the cast, with further actors yet to be announced. The Peaky Blinders film, as yet untitled, has been written by the show's creator Steven Knight, who will co-produce the movie alongside Caryn Mandabach, Cillian Murphy and Guy Heeley. Although the plot and further casting remain tightly under wraps, the show's creator Steven Knight has revealed it's set during the Second World War. Im thrilled to see the cameras rolling on this new chapter of the Peaky Blinders story, set during World War II. The country is at war, and so, of course, are our Peaky Blinders, he said. Tom Harper, who directed episodes in the first season in 2013, will return to helm the film as one of the executive producers. He said there is a "great feeling of anticipation and excitement amongst our outstanding cast and crew". "Were grateful to the fans for getting us to this point and believe this next chapter is going to deliver something extraordinary," he added. Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby. Photo: Netflix Cillian Murphy has previously said the Peaky Blinders film is "one for the fans". It seems like Tommy Shelby wasnt finished with me. It is very gratifying to be re-collaborating with Steven Knight and Tom Harper on the film version of Peaky Blinders," he said. Budget 2025: Payment boost for sheep and suckler farmers/Government to clamp down on land investors Beef Welfare Scheme increased to 75/calf, overall sheep payment to increase to 25/ewe With Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue said to still be involved in negotiations, it is expected farmers across most enterprises will gain in the Budget. Photo: PA Margaret Donnelly and Ciaran Moran Mon 30 Sep 2024 at 16:22 Agriculture is poised for a major windfall in tomorrows Budget as the Government prepares to unveil new incentives for farmers ahead of an expected general election. Courts Unacceptable behaviour for visitors to our country, judge says, as tourists arrested trying to sell cocaine to garda Catholic church weddings accounted for 34.3pc of all weddings last year, down from 91.4pc in 1994. Stock image Traditional church weddings are declining amid the rise of non-religious ceremonies or weddings, according to new research. A study shows that a Catholic church ceremony is still marginally more common, but the second most popular option for couples getting married last year was a civil ceremony, which was chosen by 32pc or 6,474 couples. While Catholic church weddings still remained the most popular type of ceremony with couples last year, accounting for 34.3pc of all weddings, or 7,256 couples, this compares to 91.4pc of the total in 1994. The report for the Iona Institute, a pro-faith, pro-traditional marriage think-tank, has found that couples tying the knot here are increasingly opting for non-traditional spiritual ceremonies. The report is drawn from the latest CSO data and compiled by journalist Breda OBrien. The study, titled The rapid rise of New Age weddings in Ireland: how should the churches respond? finds that the decline in the proportion of church weddings over recent decades is stark. Currently there are three options for couples getting married in Ireland: a civil ceremony, a religious ceremony (including spiritual or New Age weddings), or a secular ceremony via the Humanist Association. Each is equally valid and binding under Irish law, provided the ceremony meets certain legal requirements and is conducted by a solemniser licensed by the State to conduct weddings. According to OBrien: The statistics confirm a decline in Catholic marriages, which is not surprising, given the decline in active church attendance and vocations to religious life and priesthood. This new research also reveals that Catholic ceremonies are not the only denomination seeing a drop in popularity, as the Church of Ireland saw its percentage of wedding ceremonies fall from 2.6pc of the total, down to 1.1pc. At the same time, weddings performed by one non-denominational organisation called Entheos Ireland outnumbered Church of Ireland weddings by more than two to one. Another organisation called the Spiritualist Union of Ireland conducted 7.8pc of all weddings in the country last year. According to OBriens findings, when all weddings performed by such organisations are taken into account, the sector represents almost a quarter of the total, and it is rising. The trend highlights the massive social change taking place in Ireland and OBrien notes that this has happened in a very short period of time. Entheos was established by founder Karen Dempsey also known as the Bald Priestess during the Covid lockdown of 2020 and submitted to the Office of the Registrar General as an inclusive, non-denominational religion. The organisation now has 65 celebrants. Last year, Entheos carried out 623 weddings, far more than the 242 that the Church of Ireland celebrated. Another provider, FuturFaith, also celebrated its first wedding only in 2021 but conducted 78 weddings last year. The trend is not confined to Dublin or even to other urban areas, although the change is most dramatic in the capital, according to OBrien. Exploring what is driving the trend, she highlights that the change in attitudes towards religion is one major factor, but also argues that there is also a big commercial aspect to what is taking place. She says that some of the changes are commercially driven in that hotels now offer wedding ceremonies and receptions in the same location and often direct couples to non-traditional wedding organisations. Currently, Catholic weddings only take place in church settings. One of the research papers recommendations is that the Catholic church in Ireland take a leaf out of the book of American dioceses which adapted during the Covid pandemic to allow marriage ceremonies take place in other venues such as hotels. Unless the churches find a way to respond, the present trends will probably worsen from their point of view and will very likely extend to funerals as well in due course, OBrien warns. Gardai are trying to establish the source of a phone call claiming a bomb had been placed at the Co Meath home of Justice Minister Helen McEntee yesterday. LATEST | Two women arrested after 1.4m in gold bullion, 460,000 cash and 210,000 of cocaine seized in Dublin The man, who is in his 50s, was arrested after gardai attached to the Dublin Crime Response Team (DCRT) carried out searches of residential and business premises Some of the gold that was seized Neil Fetherstonhaugh Mon 30 Sep 2024 at 12:28 Two more people have been arrested in relation to the seizure of 1.4 million in gold bullion, 460,000 in cash and 210,000 worth of Cocaine during a search in Dublin. Extensive evidence of blood discovered near where Leitrim farmer Liam Farrell was found dead in 2020, after family hire own forensic team 'Extensive' evidence of blood discovered at home of elderly Leitrim farmer Liam Farrell Paul Williams Mon 30 Sep 2024 at 03:30 Gardai are awaiting the results of fresh forensic tests carried out a week ago at the home of elderly Leitrim farmer Liam Farrell, who died in suspicious circumstances nearly five years ago. Tanaiste Micheal Martin with Taoiseach Simon Harris and President Michael D Higgins at the UN General Assembly in New York. Photo: PA Tanaiste Micheal Martin has said the Coalition decision to ditch hate speech legislation could be reviewed by the next government and called for a new garda approach to how threats against politicians are investigated. Speaking to the Irish Independent in New York last week when he attended the United Nations General Assembly, Mr Martin described the decision by Justice Minister Helen McEntee to drop hate speech laws as a compromise to government backbenchers who were critical of the legislation. Tanaiste Micheal Martin speaking about the budget at the opening of the new Civil Defence HQ in Dublin Tanaiste Micheal Martin has signalled a 12 increase to weekly pension payments as he dismissed reports of coalition rows on social welfare rate increases in Tuesdays as mischief and a phony war. Mr Martins comments come amid reports that Fine Gael had been seeking a 15 increase to pension payments alongside a lower hike for the Jobseekers Allowance. Both Taoiseach Simon Harris and Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys had publicly argued that it did not make sense to spend significantly more on Jobseekers Allowance at a time when the economy is at near full employment. On Monday, Mr Martin said a 12 hike had been priced in for months and added that there had been no disagreement on differentiating the social welfare payments among leaders during budget negotiations. He said: Genuinely, I think theres been a bit of mis-spin here, a bit of mischief going on. Tanaiste Micheal Martin and Dublin Civil defence volunteer Mick O'Sullivan with search dogs Max and Archie pictured at the official opening of the Dublin Civil Defence HQ in Clondalkin. Picture; Gerry Mooney. Because this only surfaced in the media. It hadnt surfaced in any meetings that I attended prior to my reading about it in the media. He said the 12 figure had been stitched in since the Summer Economic Statement set the expenditure framework for the Budget. There was never a 15 (rise) tabled ever at any meeting I attended. So I think theres a phony sort of spinning stuff going on about this and I think its completely overplayed. Mr Martin said throughout the four years of the Government, there had always been agreement that the same level of increases would apply to the pension and Jobseekers Allowance. He said he had questioned his Government colleagues on where the spinning came from, reiterating that there was no substance to the reports. He added that he was bemused by newspaper reports of a potential 15 hike in the pension. In an apparent reference to Tuesdays Budget and the looming general election, the Fianna Fail leader said: Maybe it is the cycle were in. Pressed on whether he was accusing Fine Gael of spinning budget lines to the press, Mr Martin told reporters: I dont know who is doing it but I think you know, maybe, because its being spun to you guys. Tanaiste Micheal Martin was speaking as he officially opened the new headquarters for Dublins Civil Defence, which he said gave an outstanding contribution to our society. The new facility, located in Cherry Orchard, Dublin, will serve as a vital hub for Dublin Civil Defence, the largest in the country with more than 200 volunteers, supporting its mission to provide voluntary emergency services to communities across the city and county. The Civil Defence plays a vital role in supporting the frontline emergency services in times of need, with dedicated volunteers working hard to ensure the safety and well-being of our citizens in times of crisis, he said. Before taking a tour of the facility, Mr Martin credited the work of the Civil Defence across Irish society. We saw that particularly last year in times of severe flooding but indeed in other supportive roles also in terms of major events that occur like the Fleadh Cheoil in Wexford, where they were pretty important, lessening the pressure on our primary care system. He said he was taking the opportunity to pay tribute to all the volunteers, who he said gave their time to train, develop skillsets and be of assistance to our communities. Mr Martin described the new HQ as a fantastic facility, illustrating tremendous co-operation between the councils in Dublin. It was the late Brendan Behan who said the first item of the agenda in Ireland was the split well, here we have a very good illustration of the opposite, where everyone has come together to make this facility possible in a unified approach to a Dublin headquarters, he added. While most units across the State report to a single local authority, Dublin Civil Defence covers all County Dublin across four local authorities. Tanaiste Micheal Martin and Dublin Civil defence Chief officer James McConnell pictured at the official opening of the Dublin Civil Defence HQ in Clondalkin. Picture; Gerry Mooney. Mr Martin said his department continued to work with Civil Defence officers and councils across the State to improve the standard of their facilities. As well as this new headquarters here in Dublin, other new facilities have also opened in Westmeath and Cavan. Towards 2030, the strategy for the modernisation of the Civil Defence in Ireland, emphasises the roles of the Department of Defence and local authorities in ensuring Civil Defence units have the buildings and equipment they need to support them in their duties. As Minister for Defence, I am committed to continued investment in the Civil Defence, to ensure that this invaluable organisation continues to grow and fulfil its crucial role in Irish society, the Tanaiste added. Taoiseach Simon Harris as first guest on The Bookshelf Podcast with Ryan Tubridy Taoiseach Simon Harris says he does not intend to move into Farmleigh because it would be very disruptive for his children, while appearing as a guest on Ryan Tubridys podcast. Gardai have investigated separate incidents of alleged harassment outside Mr Harriss family home, as well as a bomb threat against the Co Wicklow property. It has raised questions over whether Mr Harris should move to a location with heightened security. There is no official residence for holders of the office but, on occasion, Stewards Lodge on the Farmleigh estate has been used by taoisigh for various reasons. However, Mr Harris has said he has no intention of moving there. The Taoiseachs comments come as he appears as the first guest on the second season of former RTE star Tubridys podcast, which returns tomorrow. Tubridy was at the centre of a scandal that rocked RTE for a year, after it was revealed that the national broadcaster had underdeclared payments to the former Late Late Show host. The crisis later widened to other governance matters and the controversy around financial mismanagement at the station was seen as a driver behind a fall in TV licence receipts. Tubridy now hosts a daily show on Virgin Radio in London that is also broadcast here on Q102. Mr Harris told the podcast host that the incidents at his home were a form of intimidation and harassment. I think its done to unsettle and unnerve people, and I think its done by people to let you know that they know where you live. Asked by Tubridy about the possibility for an official taoiseachs residence, Mr Harris said: This has been put to me on occasion. The challenge for me apart from loving Greystones is that my kids are of an age where one has just started in the local school, and it would be very disruptive. I dont know where the future brings us in relation to this, but I can see it happening in the future. Mr Harris said he did not believe people would be unsupportive of such a measure, but added: Its not something that Im intending to do. On The Bookshelf With Ryan Tubridy, Mr Harris will reveal how he gorged on books as a child and raised money for MS Ireland by getting sponsored for the Readathon. The episode is also expected to feature the conflict in Gaza and a gift he received from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. The premise of Tubridys podcast involves asking guests to bring in three books: a cherished childhood book, a book that brought them to tears, and a book which changed their life. Mr Harris identified Patrick Radden Keefes Say Nothing as the book that made him emotional. This book did make me cry within the first few pages, because it is a book that tells the story of the Troubles, particularly the Jean McConville abduction. Ms McConville was a recently widowed mother-of-10 when she was abducted in 1972. She was 38 years of age. She was abducted, murdered and then disappeared. Body buried. Disappeared, taken from her kids by the IRA and killed in the Troubles. The Bookshelf With Ryan Tubridy returns tomorrow. Sean Mag Uidhir was one of the partys longest serving spin doctors Abuse survivor Mairia Cahill who criticised Sinn Fein's response to allegations an IRA member raped her in the 1990s A woman abused by an IRA man has said Sinn Fein have learned nothing after two party press officers quit following revelations they had provided job references for a colleague while he was being investigated for sex offences. Mairia Cahill spoke out after it was revealed that a long-serving Sinn Fein press officer is one of two who have resigned after they provided a job reference to an ex-colleague suspected of sex offences. The party confirmed yesterday that former republican prisoner Sean Mag Uidhir and Caolan McGinley had resigned on Saturday, the same day the partys Ard Fheis was being held in Athlone. Michael McMonagle a former press officer with the party last week admitted a series of offences, including attempting to incite children to engage in sexual activity. The 42-year-old was first arrested on August 19, 2021, while he was working for Sinn Fein at the Assembly. He was previously part of the partys press team at Westminster. The party has previously said they were informed of his arrest the following day and McMonagle was immediately suspended from his job and party membership. In September 2022, during the subsequent police investigation, McMonagle was appointed as communications engagement manager for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) in NI. It has been revealed that Mr Mag Uidhir and Mr McGinley provided references for McMonagle in relation to the post. Sean Mag Uidhir Mr Mag Uidhir is a senior figure within Sinn Fein. He received a 16-year sentence in 1976 and served eight years in jail before being released in 1984 after receiving 50pc remission. He worked for a number of years on republican newspaper An Phoblacht and was previously the editor of the North Belfast News. Mr Mag Uidhir went on to become one of Sinn Feins most senior spin doctors, often appearing at press conferences held by current First Minister Michelle ONeill. Mr McGinley is a former chair of the partys youth branch, Ogra Shinn Fein. Caolan McGinley Following the storys publication, Sinn Fein issued a statement denying the references had been cleared by the party and confirming both press officers had resigned before the conclusion of an internal process The references were not provided by, or on behalf of Sinn Fein. Permission was not sought, nor would it have been given from the party for the provision of these references or their content, said a spokesperson. "Sinn Fein became aware on Wednesday, 25 September that these references had been provided. "In view of the serious nature of this revelation, Sinn Fein undertook an immediate internal process. Before this process concluded, both press officers resigned from their positions and party membership with immediate effect. "The two press officers resigned on Saturday, September 28. The party has confirmed Mr Mag Uidhir and Mr McGinley are no longer working as press officers. Abuse survivor Mairia Cahill, who has criticised Sinn Fein for how it handled her allegations that she had been abused by a member of the IRA in the 1990s, said it appeared the party had learned little since then. Abuse survivor Mairia Cahill who criticised Sinn Fein's response to allegations an IRA member raped her in the 1990s "I wouldnt have much faith that individuals within that party have learned very much, she told the Belfast Telegraph. "Sinn Feins raison detre on any issue is to not take responsibility for it until the media get a hold of the story. "I find it instructive that some members of the party knew this and yet only reportedly resigned this week when the story was breaking. "The party were aware he had been arrested in relation for sex offences and those references were given. Ms Cahill said the situation also raised questions around the partys attitude towards victims of sexual abuse. "It doesnt instil much faith in me. In every case like this, there are always victims and there are very young victims in this case, she said. "Some of those charges are attempting to incite children into sexual activity, so where are they in all of this and why did people think that it was an acceptable thing for them to do? "I have repeatedly put on record my experience at the hands of the Sinn Fein party and they have yet to apologise for their treatment of me. "So I fail to understand why anyone would be surprised that their members and party workers would supply character references to someone accused of sex offences. "My thoughts are with the victims in this case, and thats where the thoughts of Sinn Fein should have been. McMonagle, from Limewood Street in Derry, initially faced three charges but a further 12 offences were later added to his list of crimes. These included attempting to incite two children to engage in sexual activity. He was also accused of 13 counts of attempted sexual communication with a child. All of the children contacted by McMonagle were under the age of 16, with some younger than 13. McMonagle pleaded guilty to the offences at Derry Crown Court on Monday. He had been due to appear in court the previous Friday but the hearing was adjourned after it emerged McMonagle had been found unconscious and taken to hospital. Following his admissions, McMonagle was also placed on the sex offenders register. Before releasing him on bail, Judge Neil Rafferty said it was likely a prison sentence would follow. The case was adjourned for sentencing on November 8. Planning refused for 64 apartments in Dublin over public safety fears as mental health concerns also raised Just five car park spaces planned for two blocks of flats Stock image Amy Molloy Mon 30 Sep 2024 at 03:30 An Bord Pleanala has refused permission for 64 apartments in north Dublin due to concerns the development would endanger public safety. Weekly social welfare rates will rise by 12A third rate of stamp duty, worth 6pc which will be introduced for properties worth over 1.5mCost of a typical vape will increase by more than 1, with a packet of cigarettes rising by 1The amount of money an employer can give employees as bonus payment will increase to 1,500.There will be an additional 485 beds across hospital and community servicesFree public transport has been extended to children aged 5-8 years oldCollege fees have been reduced by 1,000 The coalition has made its multi-billion-euro pitch to voters ahead of the general election with an 8.3bn Budget comprising 1.4bn in tax cuts and 6.9bn in new spending. Included in the raft of measures is an increase in the entry point for the higher rate of tax, a number of hikes in social welfare payments and a series of once-off payments to deal with the cost of living. Among the notable measures are the cutting of the Motor Insolvency Compensation Fund levy to 0pc, a new mansion tax, hikes of 12 to social welfare payments and an increase in the cost of your typical vape. Below you will find everything you need to know: Tax The entry point for the 40pc top rate of tax is expected to increase by 2,000 to 44,000. This means workers will pay 20pc tax on all earnings up to this point. The 4pc USC will be reduced to 3pc, with he entry point rising to 27,382. Personal tax credit increases will include: 125 personal tax credit, 150 home carer tax credit, 150 single person child carer tax credit, 300 incapacitated child tax credit, 300 blind person's tax credit. There will also be significant changes to inheritance tax, allowing children to inherit up to 400,000 from their parents tax-free. Grandchildren will be able to inherit 40,000 tax-free, and the threshold for siblings will be 20,000. Stamp duty on the bulk purchase of homes will increase to 15pc as part of a clampdown on vulture funds. The Residential Zoned Land Tax will go ahead as planned next year but farmers will be excluded following Coalition tensions on the issue. Cigarettes and Vapes A new tax on vapes and e-cigarettes will also come into effect, raising the price on the products. The tax on a packet of cigarettes will increase by 1. This will bring the price of cigarettes in the most popular price category to 18.05, which will come into effect overnight. The price of a typical vape will go up by 1.23 to 9.23, but this will not kick in until the middle of next year. Cost of vapes and cigarettes are both up. Photo: Getty Welfare There will be increases of 12 in the weekly rates for people in receipt of weekly social protection payments. A double payment will be made to recipients in both October and December. The over-70s are to benefit from a new bring a friend expansion of the free travel scheme. Parents of newborns will receive a special one-off baby boost of 420, while ministers have also agreed a 15 weekly increase in maternity, paternity and parents benefit. The Carers Allowance means-test disregard for a single person has been doubled to 1,250 for a couple. Cost-of-living package Measures are set to include: Two double payments of Child Benefit in November and December; A double payment of all welfare rates in October and December; A 400 lump sum for those in receipt of the working family payment. Every household will receive two energy credits of 125, worth a total of 250, between end of the year and start of next year. There will be a bonus payment of 200 for people in receipt of the Living Alone allowance. The Fuel Allowance will be extended to over-66s and there will also be a 300 lump-sum payment for recipients of the benefit as part of the Budgets 2bn cost-of-living package. Reduced 9pc VAT rate for gas and electricity for another six months for businesses and households. Climate Carbon tax rises by 7.50 per tonne on petrol and diesel from October 9, and on heating fuels from May 1, 2025. It will add around 19.40 to a 900 litre tank of home-heating oil, 89 cent to a 40kg bag of coal and 16.86 to an average annual gas bill. A 60 litre fill of diesel will cost 1.48 more and a fill of petrol will cost 1.28 more. Vat charged on heat pumps will be lowered from 23pc to 9pc. Battery electric commercial vehicles can qualify for 200 VRT rate. The benefit-in-kind tax relief for employees provided with company cars that are electric models remains. It will be extended to the provision of chargers at their home. 90m will be made available to retrofit social homes for 2025. The total carbon tax revenue for investment is now at 951m, half of which will be spent on energy efficiency in our homes. An additional 1.7bn for more homes, schools, for improvements in hospitals, and to tackle climate change under the National Development Plan. Carbon tax rises by 7.50 per tonne on petrol and diesel from October 9. Photo: Getty Grants Also included in the welfare package is: a 500 bonus payment of the Disability Support Grant; a 400 bonus payment of the Carers Support Grant; 200 Living Alone Allowance bonus payment; and a 100 Child Support Grant (formerly qualified child) bonus payment. Housing Stamp duty on the bulk-buying of homes will be hiked to 15pc in a bid to halt vulture funds squeezing out first-time buyers. The Government is bringing in a new mansion tax worth 6pc which will be introduced for properties worth over 1.5m. Existing stamp duty of 1pc will continue to apply for properties worth up to and including 1m, while it will be 2pc on properties worth over 1m but less than 1.5m. It kicks in from tonight. 7.8bn to go to Department of Housing in this year's Budget, with a further investment of 3bn to "build more homes and address affordability constraints. Total capital investment next year will be 15bn for infrastructure. 2bn will be available next year for 10,000 new social homes. 1.6bn will continue to support 66,000 social housing tenancies alongside an additional 7,400 social homes next year, as well as 38,000 social housing leases already in place. It will also bring 10,000 new households under the Housing Assistance Payment and Rental Accommodation Schemes in 2025. Tenants will benefit from an increase in the renters tax credit, which will increase to 1,000 next year and they will be able to backdate a claim of the same amount for 2024. This will work out at 2,000 for a jointly-assessed couple. The Help-to-Buy scheme will be extended to 2029 to assist first-time buyers. The First Home shared equity scheme will also remain in place. Mortgage interest relief will be extended for another year. There will be an extension of pre-letting expenses for landlords for a further three years. 90m will be made available to retrofit social homes for 2025. 2.1bn will be used to provide accommodation for those fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine and to support those seeking international protection. Education The free schoolbook measure is set to be extended to Leaving Certificate students. It currently is offered for pupils in junior infants right up to those in junior cycle of secondary school. School transport fees reduced during the pandemic will remain in place. Extending hot school meals programme to all remaining primary schools in 2025. A new fund to pay for mobile phone pouches, which will allow schools lock away devices during classes, is also being established. Third-level students will get 1,000 off their college fees, reducing the cost from 3,000 to 2,000, and postgraduate students will see their fee-contribution grant increase from 4,000 to 5,000. A 100m package from Higher Education Minister Patrick O'Donovan will see a once-off reduction of apprentice contribution of 1,000. There will be funding for more than 1,600 special needs assistants (SNAs) and 768 extra special education teachers in Irish schools. Almost 1.5bn over six years, to 2030, for capital investment for further and higher education. Funding will support 6,800 apprentice registrations next year. IVF support will include couples trying for a second child. Photo: Getty Health There will be an additional 495 beds across hospital and community services and 600,000 additional home-support hours. There will also be funding for two new surgical hubs in Galway and Swords in Dublin. An increase in GP training places is also expected. Free hormone replacement therapy (HRT) will also be rolled out for women following extensive campaigning. The measure could save women who are prescribed HRT between 360 and 840 a year, based on women paying between 30 and 70 per month. The Free IVF treatment scheme will be expanded in two areas, to include donor-assisted fertility treatment, and also couples experiencing secondary fertility problems where they already have a child but are struggling to conceive again. Cervical Check there will be exemption from income tax, capital gains tax and capital acquisitions tax on payments made to the women impacted by the failures in the CervicalCheck scandal. Justice and Defence Significant funding has been allocated to the Department of Justice this year to expand the prison system and tackle domestic violence. Funding has been set aside for a new prison on the Defence Forces base at the Curragh in Kildare and 1,100 new places in existing prisons will be introduced over the next five years. Justice Minister Helen McEntee also received funding to hire up to 1,000 gardai. The Department of Defence received funding to hire 400 more personnel. Irish Prison Service funding will be up in 2025, with the aim of adding 350 extra staff, while extra funding will be allocated towards facilities and improving rehabilitation of prisoners. Business and employment The amount of money an employer can give employees as bonus payment will increase to 1,500. National minimum wage will increase by 80 cent per hour to 13.50 euro from January 1. A 4,000 energy grant to cover the cost of electricity paid to the retail and hospitality sector before Christmas. Sick-leave days will not increase to seven days in January as planned. Auto-enrolment pensions will be delayed until next September. Tax changes will allow small businesses keep more of the money they earn, this will include changes to Vat thresholds. There will be changes to self-employed earned income to allow them keep more money. A new 20m fund will help businesses upskill staff. Increase in the first year threshold in the R&D tax credit from 50,000 to 75,000 to provide "further cash-flow support" to companies undertaking smaller R&D projects or engaging with credit for first time. The minister will introduce a new relief for expenses incurred in connection with a first listing on an Irish or European stock exchange, subject to cap of 1m Transport Free public transport will be offered to children aged 5 to 8. Farming Over 2bn to the Department of Agriculture next year. 13m for new tillage scheme 10m for animal health measures 22m continuation of sheep welfare scheme 8m to enhance payment rates of national beef welfare scheme Other measures 1bn to Irish Water 1.25bn to the Land Development Agency 3bn for infrastructure spending 168m in funding will target the regeneration of towns and villages, as well as to deliver necessary infrastructure in these areas The Motor Insurers Insolvency Compensation Fund levy will be reduced from 1pc to 0pc from January 1. Barriers for charities that wish to have access to tax benefits under the Charities Donations Tax Scheme will be removed. Charities will no longer have to be established for at least two years to access the scheme. Extra 4.1bn for Future Ireland Fund in 2024 Funding of 380m for arts and culture for next year for a wide variety of sectors. 226m will be allocated for tourism in 2025. Apple tax Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe and Finance Minister Jack Chambers speak to the media at the Department of Finance, Dublin. Photo: PA Government leaders agreed a major increase in the value of the cost-of-living package on Sunday night that will be a series of one-off payments and could include two double payments of Child Benefit. It was initially projected to be a package of 1.5bn, but this has increased to 2bn. There are ongoing discussions between the government leaders over the core welfare rates, with Fine Gael sources insisting a decision had not been made on increases. However, senior Fianna Fail figures said the Coalition agreed all rates would increase by 12 a week. Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys had called for all rates, apart from the Jobseekers Allowance for the long-term unemployed, to increase by 15 per week. Taoiseach Simon Harris said he instinctively agreed with Ms Humphreys proposals to increase the pension, Carers Allowance and disability payments at a higher rate than the Jobseekers Allowance. Government surplus will be around 25bn this year, Finance Minister Jack Chambers confirms However, he added he understood the view that all rates increased by the same amount in the last four budgets. The coalition leaders held talks with Finance Minister Jack Chambers, Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe and Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys to put the final touches on tomorrows Budget. Ms Humphreys said she would need more money allocated to her in the Budget if she was to increase all welfare rates by the same amount, according to sources. The figure is expected to be around 20m. Mr Chambers tabled a proposal to extend the Help-to-Buy scheme to 2029 and the tax on bulk-buying of new homes will increase to 15pc. In education, Minister Norma Foley secured funding to cancel for another year Junior Cycle and Leaving Cert fees, which are more than 100 each. Minister for Education Norma Foley Reduced school transport fees, cut during the Covid-19 pandemic, will also remain in place for another year. The minister received a commitment that schoolbooks would be made free to students at both primary and secondary level up to the Leaving Cert from next September. She also got funding to implement her ban on mobile phones in schools, allowing schools to buy digital pouches to lock away devices while classes are ongoing. Meanwhile, the Department of Health received funding for 350 new beds in acute hospitals and 160 in community facilities. There will also be funding for two new surgical hubs in Galway and Swords in Dublin. An increase in GP training places is also expected. This is a change thats good for the environment but good for parents pockets also. Housing Minister Darragh OBrien is pushing for a new renovation grant that will enable the State to provide funding to people who want to refurbish properties above shop fronts in towns and villages. The scheme is expected to be similar to the vacant property refurbishment grant that gives people up to 70,000 to renovate a derelict property. Enterprise Minister Peter Burke was anxiously awaiting the outcome of Budget negotiations as he continued to push for the 9pc Vat rate to be reintroduced for certain hospitality businesses. With the minimum wage set to increase by 80c, there are concerns in the Coalition for the hospitality and retail sector who hire two-thirds of low-paid workers. Mr Burke wants to exclude accommodation businesses from the 9pc Vat reduction and just target the rate at restaurants, bars and hairdressers. Fianna Fail believes Fine Gael is proposing policies such as the Vat reduction and the exclusion of the Jobseekers Allowance from welfare hikes they know will be contested by their coalition partners as they are playing to their base ahead of the general election. I think they know its not happening, but you hear all this stuff and its hard to know whats happening, a senior Fianna Fail source said. However, senior Fine Gael figures insist working voters support their proposals to differentiate between welfare supports. Children and Integration Minister Roderic OGorman secured an additional 1.34bn in his departments budget. Integration Minister Roderic OGorman has asked departments to make buildings available This will be used to fund extra hours and places in the National Childcare Scheme. The Green Party leader will also use the funding to expand schemes for disadvantaged children such as Family Resource Centres and the Equal Start programme for younger children. A pilot scheme to provide meals to schoolchildren when classes are off will also be funded through Mr OGormans department. Meanwhile, the Green Party secured free public transport fares for under-9s as part of the Budget talks which will come into effect in the summer. This is a change thats good for the environment but good for parents pockets also, a Green Party source said. It will save parents money when they are travelling with their kids, but will also ease congestion and pollution by encouraging people to use public transport. Its good news all round. Mary Lou McDonald has insisted she has never considered quitting as leader of Sinn Fein. Earlier this year, Ms McDonald announced that Sinn Fein had conducted an internal review after performing well below its own expectations in the local and European elections. She revealed senior figures in Sinn Fein were disappointed with her engagement with the partys base. On a personal level, Ms McDonald took several months off last year while recovering from hysterectomy surgery. A short time later, her husband became seriously ill while on a family holiday in France. He went through surgery and was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Also, the Sinn Fein leaders father died almost two months ago. During an interview on RTEs The Week In Politics, Ms McDonald said she had not considered stepping down. I never considered that for a moment, absolutely not. Asked if that belief had never wavered even on the hardest day of her difficult professional and personal year, she added: Even on the hardest day and some of the days were very hard no. Because I know in my heart of hearts that quitting actually isnt an option. I know in my heart of hearts that we can make incredible progress. We can make this country even better than it is. Pressed on whether she would step down if the party does not win the next general election, Ms McDonald said she had just been re-elected as party president at the Ard Fheis on Saturday. I carry this role mindful of its responsibility and responsibilities can be onerous but very proudly as the Uachtarain of Sinn Fein. Im here for the long haul, Im not a quitter. Im at this a while now, Ill be at it a while longer, and well be at it until we get to a position where Ireland is transformed to an equal and full republic and, in time, a 32-county one at that. Ms McDonald has defended a remark in which she said former taoiseach Leo Varadkar had discovered his "inner Shinner". The former Fine Gael leader recently called for politicians in the Republic to back the establishment of a forum to set out plans for Irish unity. In response, the Sinn Fein leader described the comments as welcome but belated, adding: "I'm glad that as he's exited the position of taoiseach, that he's found his inner Shinner and his appetite for reunification." SDLP politicians have described the comments as petty, with Stormont Opposition leader Matthew O'Toole posting on social media: "Sinn Fein does not own the aspiration to Irish unity and this kind of stuff is frankly pathetic and offensive." On Sunday, Ms McDonald described her comment as "simply a quip". Speaking on BBC's Sunday Politics Northern Ireland, she added: "I imagine Leo would have enjoyed that, actually. "Anybody listening to that would understand that when Leo was in office as Taoiseach, he didn't adopt this position. "I'm really pleased that he has and, of course, the issue of the future of our country belongs to all of us." Ms McDonald said she hoped public discourse would always have room for levity, irony and "even a bit of fun between public figures". "Leo and I know each other very well and I imagine that he laughed when he heard that." Pressed on whether Alliance voters in Northern Ireland would have found the comments funny, Ms McDonald said: "I imagine that Alliance voters have a sense of humour too. "Certainly, any of them that I have met at election counts and so on have been of really broad mind and open for conversation - and also to have a bit of craic." She dismissed criticism of the comment as "making a mountain out of a molehill". She said the conversation on unification will involve republicans, unionists and people "who fall somewhere in between". "This conversation and project belongs to all of us and along the way we're going to challenge each other and come with our own ideas. "We can also have, at times, moments of levity. We don't have to have our sense of humour taken from the entire conversation." Baby boost worth 420 for parents of newborns15 weekly increase in maternity, paternity and parents benefitsTwo double Child Benefit payments in November and DecemberPension, Carers Allowance, disability payments and Jobseekers Allowance will rise by 12 per weekTwo energy credits worth 125 each before ChristmasStamp duty on the bulk buying of homes will be hiked to 15pcPacket of 20 cigarettes looks set to increase by as much as 1VAT rate for hospitality set to stay at 13.5pc Budget 2025 is to be announced on Tuesday 1st October. Parents of newborns will receive a special one-off baby boost of 420, as part of a range of measures to be announced in tomorrows Budget. The Green Party had been pushing for a 560 payment but have settled budget negotiations on 420. The new payment will kick in from January 1 on a permanent basis. New parents will also see a 15 weekly increase in maternity, paternity and parents benefits, as part of a plan by Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys. It will raise the weekly rates through the schemes to 289. When combined with other Budget measures, parents of newborn children are set to benefit by up to 835 in the first six months of the babys life. Parents will also benefit from two double Child Benefit payments in November and December. The move is part of a major push the Budget to put money into the pockets of new parents struggling to pay bills. 30/09/2024 Minister for Finance Jack Chambers TD with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe TD at a Pre-Budget 2025 press conference at the Department of Finance this afternoon. Pic Stephen Collins/ Collins Photos The Green Party has always said that parents should be able to focus on welcoming their newborns into the world without having to worry about the costs of having a child, such as a new buggy, cot, car seat, clothes, mattresses, sterilisers, nappies and much, much more, a Green Party source said of the 420 boost for new parents. No one should have to go into debt when having a baby so this increased child benefit payment will be a significant help to people. Other social welfare payments such as the state pension, the carers allowance, disability payments and Jobseekers Allowance will rise by 12 per week. Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys wanted all payments apart from the Jobseekers Allowance to increase by 15 per week. This was overturned by the Coalition leaders. Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin was critical of Ms Humphreys push to differentiate between welfare payments. A budget package for carers will include a major increase in the Carers Allowance means test limits to 625 per week for a single person and 1,250 per week for a couple. The Carers Support Grant will be increased to 2,000, there will also be a 400 Lump Sum Payment and two double payments for carers in October and November. Meanwhile, there will be a double payment of all welfare rates in October and December. The double payment of child benefit will be issued in November and December. There will also be a 500 bonus payment of the disability support grant and a 200 living alone allowance bonus payment. Two energy credits worth 125 each will also be deducted from electricity bills later this year as part of the Governments 2bn cost-of-living package. Along with income tax cuts, workers are expected to benefit from 100 increases in tax credits. This comes alongside the 1pc USC abolition and widening of the bands. The VAT rate for hospitality is to stay at 13.5pc despite strong pushes to slash it to 9pc by Enterprise Minister Peter Burke. The minister proposed to cut the hospitality rate back to pandemic levels but this was rejected by Finance Minister Jack Chambers. It is understood Minister Burke also suggested cutting it to 11pc but this was also rejected. Coalition leaders tonight decided to keep the rate at 13.5pc as other rates were deemed too expensive. A source said this evening that savings would not be passed on to customers and that there were more retail and hospitality openings that closures during the first half of 2024. Meanwhile, a packet of 20 cigarettes looks set to increase again on health grounds, but there will be no added excise to motor fuels or alcohol. The increase on a packet of smokes could be 1 per pack -- double the 50 cent imposed last year, with pro-rata increases on other tobacco products, sources said. Free hormone replacement therapy (HRT) will be rolled out for women following extensive campaigning. The measure could save women who are prescribed HRT between 360 and 840 a year, based on women paying between 30 and 70 per month. The prescription-based medicine is used by some women to relieve symptoms of menopause. Funding will be contingent on prescriptions, and free HRT will be rolled out as part of a 35m womens healthcare package. The new scheme will be introduced in January 2025 and will see the State fund the cost to patients of medicines, patches or devices, such as coils. Vat has been removed from HRT products in Budget 2023 to assist with the cost. The single person tax credit will increase from 1,875 to 1,975, it has been suggested. The married persons or civil partners rate then becomes 3,850. The employee Tax Credit and the Earned Income tax credit both also go up by a similar ratio, to reach 1,975. Widowed person or surviving civil partner in year of bereavement moves from 3,750 to 3,850, with a similar move for a widowed person or surviving civil partner. "These increases to tax credits are one of the few things that have been missed so far," a well-placed source said. "They are good to go right now, once the three leaders sign off." The Single Person Child Carer Credit will increase, along with the Incapacitated Child Credit and the Blind Tax Credit. Tanaiste Micheal Martin speaking about the budget at the opening of the new Civil Defence HQ in Dublin There will also be hikes to the dependent relative tax credit and the home carer tax credit -- which can be claimed by households in which one of the adults stays at home, to care for children, for instance, meaning a number of people at an address are dependent on a single wage. Arts Minister Catherine Martin secured 35m in funding to continue her basic income for artists scheme which will see the programme extended and expanded. Ms Martin also received 140m from the Arts Council and 8m for Culture Ireland which promotes Irish arts overseas. There will be record funding for the Arts Council of 140 million, to enable further investment for young people and children, and additional support for artist, venues, and production companies. Additional funding for Culture Ireland, resulting in the highest ever allocation of 8 million in 2025, will enhance the overseas promotion of Irish creatives. The minister also received 61m to promote Ireland as a holiday destination at home and aboard. A capital spend allocation of 36m for Failte Ireland will also allow the agency to continue and expand its product development, including new tourism attractions in the regions. The budget for the sport arm of her department has increased by 10pc to 250m. Meanwhile, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly secured 30m in funding for new medicines in 2025. Stamp duty on the bulk buying of homes will be hiked to 15pc in a bid to halt vulture funds squeezing out first-time buyers. The Coalition leaders had three options - to hike stamp duty to 15pc, to extend the period during which the homes are bought to 18 months or to decrease the number of homes to five. They last night opted to hike stamp duty. Housing Minister Darragh OBrien is this afternoon pushing to extend the Help to Buy scheme to the end of the decade to give certainty to developers and buyers. It is understood he is also keen for the scheme to be looked at in a way it could support single income households or single people who want to use the initiative to buy their first home. However, it is understood any supports for single income households will not be tomorrows Budget, with one source saying these may be for discussions down the line. The final budget for the Department of Housing is still to be signed off on. Minister for Justice Helen McEntee is said to be putting significant focus on tackling domestic, sexual and gender-based violence with a budget allocation understood to bring spending for the area close to 70 million. The funding will contribute to ensuring that the number of refuge spaces are doubled as part of the Zero Tolerance strategy. Meanwhile, it is also understood that criminal legal aid fees are to increase by 8pc from January, in a measure set to be announced tomorrow. This will build on the 10pc increase in legal aid fees this year. Prison capacity and staffing are also set to see funding increases in Budget 2025 while a review is also underway on Thornton Hall as a location for another prison to be built. Budget measures are expected to result in hundreds of additional prison staff, which will include prison officers. Some 200 additional staff will hired this year with 150 being hired next year. The capital budget for the Irish Prison Service will also increase by over 70pc as part of plans to deliver 1,100 extra spaces in the system. Meanwhile, a total of 100m per year for the next six years will be invested into current and capital spending from the National Training Fund. The Department of Further and Higher Education will see a budget of 4.5bn and Minister Patrick ODonovan plans targeted measures to help employers, SMEs and Funding the Future. The Downing Street graphic included on the video The UK government has said a Downing Street graphic appearing to show Co Donegal subsumed into the UK was done in error. The graphic appeared during a one minute 25 second video clip which featured British Prime Minister Keir Starmer attending the UN General Assembly in New York last week. Under the caption global challenges rebound on us at home, a map of the British Isles appears with shading over England, Scotland, Wales and a large section of the north of Ireland. Rather than including merely the six counties of Northern Ireland, the shaded portion extends all the way to the west coast, taking in Co Donegal. A UK government spokesperson said today: This was a graphics error and will be updated shortly. The video was taken down while the error was fixed. But the faux pas prompted a reaction online, with Reddit users poking fun at the move. "Let them build some train tracks first, then well take it back, suggested one user. "Writing was on the wall when they found out scone is pronounced like "gone" here, joked another, while one Redditor suggested Downing Street might have seen all the gorgeous beach posts. One user took a swipe at both the UK and Irish governments. We really should think about setting up our own Republic at this stage lads with people claiming us and others forgetting we exist, they said. The sister of a woman who was killed by her own dogs, including an XL bully, will say Nicole Morey was loved by her dogs, but they just turned on her on RTEs Upfront with Katie Hannon. Nicole (23), who lived in Fedamore, Co Limerick, was killed by the dogs when she returned home from her 23rd birthday celebrations. A new law, prompted by her death, will make it illegal to import, breed or sell XL bully dogs from October 1. Speaking publicly for the first time, her sister Jolene will tell Katie Hannon the laws being introduced arent strict enough. The law theyre bringing out, you have to have a license, you have to have papers... But my sister had all them. Nicole loved them dogs. And the dogs loved Nicole, but they just turned on her, she said. Another law, set to come in from February 1, 2025, will make it illegal to own an XL bully dog without a certificate of exemption from a local authority. Ms Morey will also speak in the interview about the night her sister died and trying to contact her after she heard the news. News in 90 seconds - Sunday 29th September 2024 I was sitting in my room in darkness, and I rang Nicole because I didn't believe it was real. Then I texted her, I said, Are you okay? And got no message back. And then a video got sent to me. And they asked me if it was with my sister. And I just remember clicking into a video and seeing her on the floor. I was just waiting for the phone call to say she's gone because I had a feeling in my stomach that she didn't survive it. But my mom was like, No, it's only bites and stuff. Then my uncle rang, and I just knew from his voice that she was gone. Ms Morey said her family do not want Nicole to only be remembered for her death or the circumstances around it. My family want Nicole to be remembered as how much of a good person she was. Not the girl that died from the dog attack or the videos that's going viral. Nicole did so well in life. Nicole would do anything for anyone. She's just a lovable person." Upfront with Katie Hannon airs tonight at 10.35pm on RTE One and RTE Player. Figures from Justice Minister Helen McEntee show the number of knives seized by gardai rose by nearly 60pc over 10 years. Tougher sentences for four knife-related crimes come into effect from today after Justice Minister Helen McEntee signed a commencement order. The maximum sentences for possession of a knife with intent to unlawfully cause injury, trespassing with a knife, or intimidating with a knife have all been increased from five to seven years in jail. Maximum sentences for the manufacturing, importation or sale of non-firearm offensive weapons have been increase from seven to 10 years. Plans to increase sentences for knife crime were approved in April after Ms McEntee brought a memo on the issue to the Cabinet. This followed a commitment by Simon Harris when he was elected Taoiseach to quickly tackle crime and focus on law and order. Knife crimes are serious criminal offences, which can have far-reaching and devastating consequences, Ms McEntee said. These amendments represent a necessary strengthening and rebalancing of the penalties for knife crime under the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act 1990. The increased penalties show that this Government is serious about tackling not only the possession of knives, but also carrying or producing a knife or other article to threaten, intimidate or cause injury. I am also increasing the maximum penalty for manufacturing, importing, selling, hiring or loaning prescribed offensive weapons. This will further help to keep knives and other offensive weapons off our streets. These amendments reflect the true gravity of the offences in question and will ensure that, in the most serious cases, the courts can impose a sanction that fully matches the crime. A number of extremely serious, and, in some cases, fatal knife attacks in recent years have caused a valid increase in public concern about the criminal possession and use of knives These latest increases in the criminal penalties available to the judiciary follow on from my earlier doubling of the maximum sentence for assault causing harm, increases to the maximum sentence for conspiracy to murder to life, and increases to the maximum sentence for assaulting a peace officer. Changes to knife crime legislation come following a forum on anti-social behaviour chaired by junior justice minister James Browne. A sub-group within the forum focused on the rise in knife crime and has decided on tougher sentences as its response. The forum is made up of experts including members of An Garda Siochana, the Probation Service and relevant government departments, as well as academics and representatives from communities and businesses. I want to thank the members of the forum on anti-social behaviour for their work, and particularly the subgroup on knife crime. These increased penalties are a result of the recommendations made to me by the forum, Mr Browne said. A number of extremely serious, and, in some cases, fatal knife attacks in recent years have caused a valid increase in public concern about the criminal possession and use of knives. The Government has listened to the publics concerns and these changes in the law are aimed at ensuring that offenders are appropriately punished and that the use of knives in crime is reduced. The offences in question involve a clear and significant degree of criminal intent. They represent a significant threat to community safety, both in their own right, and because they can be precursors to serious and sometimes fatal assaults. These increases in the maximum sentences will send the message that the offences in question are wholly unacceptable behaviour in our society. When plans for tougher sentences were first considered in April, Mr Browne called for other measures to be introduced, including an age threshold for the purchase of knives. Mr Browne has also said the Justice Minister should be given powers to immediately ban certain types of knives. Figures supplied by Ms McEntee in January showed the number of knives seized by gardai rose by nearly 60pc over 10 years. There were 1,341 knives seized in 2013 compared to 2,132 in 2022. Last year, nearly 200 people were treated in hospital emergency departments for knife wounds. After introducing the changes to knife crime penalties in April, Ms McEntee said knives were extremely dangerous and that these crimes must carry significant consequences. Other recommendations made by the forum on anti-social behaviour included strengthening the use of anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs). An ASBO is a court order against a person shown to behave in an anti-social manner banning them from doing anything that is specified in the order. These changes have made it easier to issue an ASBO, and better training for gardai on their use has also been recommended. The forum recommended the minimum rank within the gardai to apply for an ASBO be lowered from superintendent to inspector. US rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa is to lead a special tribute to Irish blues legend Rory Gallagher which will include a replica setlist to the Cork star's famous 1974 Irish tour. Promoter Peter Aiken described the two night performance next year as "a labour of love" for all involved - and a recognition of the incredible legacy of Rory Gallagher who died aged just 47 years in 1995. Joe Bonamassa flew to Cork today for a special press conference to announce the two gigs at the Live At The Marquee series next July. Promoter Peter Aiken speaks on tribute gigs for rock icon Rory Gallagher The New York-born musician, who opened for B.B. King when he was just 12 years old, has been a lifelong fan of Rory Gallagher and is one of just two musicians given permission by the Gallagher family to play Rory's iconic 1961 Fender Stratocaster. "This is very much a labour of love for everyone involved," Mr Aiken said. "I think the fact that Joe flew into Ireland just to be here today underlines just how much Rory Gallagher and these shows mean to him." Mr Aiken added that, on a personal level, he also wanted to honour the legacy of the Donegal-born but Cork-raised guitarist who was once offered a place in The Rolling Stones. "In 1972 Rory Gallagher agreed to play in Belfast," he said. "It was one of the worst years of The Troubles and no international acts were willing to travel to Belfast. My father, Jim, was involved in music promotions and things were so challenging he was thinking about going back teaching." "But after Rory played Belfast, suddenly other acts agreed to play there." The influential music magazine 'Melody Maker' hailed Gallagher as "a genuine working class hero" for agreeing to play Belfast in 1972 and use music as a unifying factor. "(John) Lennon and (Paul) McCartney were given a lot of headline space for their attempts to bring Ireland into rock'n'roll lyrics. To me it was horribly irrelevant. You see, without any fuss at all, Gallagher had done just the one thing a rock'n'roller could do for Belfast - and that was play the damned place," it opined The 2025 tribute gigs have been organised in conjunction with the Gallagher family. Donal and Daniel Gallagher attended the launch along with Gerry McEvoy. The tribute shows will take place on July 1 and 2 and will see Joe Bonamassa lead a band including Jeremy Stacey, Lachlan Doley and Aongus Ralston. It features a 14-track show which will exactly replicate the setlist of Rory's 1974 tour and include such hits as 'Tattoo'd Lady', 'Bad Penny', 'Out on the Western Plains' and 'Bullfrog Blues'. Rory Gallagher remains an icon amongst guitarists with many citing him as a major influence on their playing style. He is regularly listed as amongst the greatest guitarists in rock history. The tribute gigs were announced as Rory Gallagher's 1961 Fender Stratocaster is to be offered for sale on October 17 at auction house Bonham's in London. Hailed as "the most recognisable Strat in rock history" interest in the guitar is expected to be intense with some estimating its value at over 1m. Cork has led the way in the campaign to keep the iconic musical instrument in Ireland - with a crowd-funding campaign underway and politicians being asked to get involved. Various options to keep the prized instrument in Ireland are now being considered. The guitar has been kept in secure storage by the Gallagher family over recent years. It has only left storage for very special occasions such as requests by other leading musicians to play it. Those who have been granted special requests to view and play the guitar include Joe Bonamassa and The Smiths' founder Johnny Marr. Rory is considered one of the world's finest rock and blues guitarists. Famously, he was offered a place in the Rolling Stones but decided to pursue his own solo career. He has been hailed as an inspiration by some of the most famous guitarists in rock and blues including Eric Clapton, Brian May and Alex Lifeson. The guitarist died in June 1995 in London after contracting MRSA while being treated for a serious liver illness. He had been over 13 weeks in intensive care in a London hospital after falling ill while playing at a gig in the Netherlands. The musician was only 47 years old. Next year marks the 30th anniversary of his death but his record sales and song downloads remain strong with the Cork guitarist having iconic status in places like Germany, France, the Netherlands and the US. Gallagher had bought the 1961 Stratocaster in 1963 for IR100. His mother had already agreed a payment plan at Crowley's Music Store in Cork for a cheaper guitar but, when Gallagher saw the Strat, he had to have it. He re-negotiated a new payment plan on the basis he had paid work as part of a local showband and kept the Strat under a bed in his family home. Bonham's auction house cultural department director, Clair Tole-Moir, said the guitar is iconic within the rock sphere. "Known for his electrifying live performances, this was the guitar he used on stage and in the studio," she said. "There is also a legend that says that this is the first Fender Stratocaster that came into Ireland. So it's also an important Fender guitar as well as an important Rory Gallagher guitar." "It has been considered the most recognisable Fender Stratocaster in the world because of... its unusually worn appearance but it's got a really distinct look, and everybody associates it with Rory." The Stratocaster, which has a price estimate of 700,000 pounds to 1m, is the leading lot for 'The Rory Gallagher Collection' auction which will take place Oct 17 at Bonham's in London. It will feature around 150 items including other guitars, amplifiers and tour accessories. Ireland has the eighth highest tax rate in developed world Peopl Insurance found huge inconsistencies in the way Vat is applied. Photo: Getty Consumers are paying the top rate of Vat on too many goods and services and there needs to be sweeping changes to how the sales tax is applied, it has been claimed. The standard, or top, rate of Vat in this country, at 23pc, is the eighth highest among developed countries, according to research carried out by Peopl Insurance, which provides insurance through credit unions. It said the number of goods the 23pc rate applies to should be radically reduced. This rate applies to hygiene products, petrol and diesel, toilet rolls, car tyres, mobile phone bills and coffins. The standard rate was raised from 21pc to 23pc in 2012 in what was announced at the time as a temporary measure. The tax raises a net 22bn a year, according to the Department of Finances Tax Strategy Group. Financial experts said reducing the standard Vat rate would have a far bigger impact on consumers than adjustments to the USC. The Tax Strategy Group paper on Vat, prepared ahead of Budget 2025, pointed out the tax is regressive, in that it affects poorer people far more than higher-income groups. Peopl Insurance said reviewing the tax in the Budget would be an effective way to tackle what it called runaway price rises. Peopl Insurance CEO Paul Walsh said Vat needs to be immediately reduced and the number of items that fall within its scope should be substantially cut. Currently, about 1 of every 5 spent on items that are liable for the 23pc Vat rate goes to Revenue and this includes essentials such as shampoo, toilet rolls and toothpaste, he said. He said recent indications suggest that the Government will extend the 9pc reduced rate of Vat for gas and electricity in the upcoming Budget. This, however, will not be enough to alleviate the pressure of high living costs on peoples pockets. The 9pc reduced rate of Vat needs to be applied to much more than gas and electricity. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has found that our standard Vat rate is above the international average of 19.2pc. Some basic day-to-day costs that consumers pay this standard 23pc Vat on include mobile phone bills and broadband bills while bigger bills such as legal fees or house furnishings also attract that rate, Mr Walsh said. It is clear that Irish consumers are paying 23pc Vat on far too many things and a review of the Vat charged on goods and services is long overdue. Research by Peopl Insurance found huge inconsistencies in the way the tax is applied. The reduced rate of 13.5pc Vat is charged on plain biscuits, but chocolate-covered biscuits attract the top 23pc rate. Teabags are Vat-exempt, but take-away tea is not exempt. A ham-and-cheese croissant is Vat-exempt. However, a plain croissant is not. The top 23pc rate of Vat is charged on coffins when surely a compassionate approach would suggest they should be Vat-exempt, Peopl Insurance said. The reduced 13.5pc rate of Vat is charged on bin collection services. Peopl contends that given that this is an essential service for consumers and that bin charges have increased substantially in recent years, there is a strong argument that bin charges should be Vat-exempt, it said. Indications are that there is unlikely to be any change in Vat rates, or the goods and services that are charged at the highest rate, will change when the Budget is announced. Killing unlikely to strike a decisive blow on group deeply embedded in the fabric of Lebanese society No one should shed any tears over the death of Hassan Nasrallah, the long-time leader of Hezbollah, in an Israeli airstrike on Friday. He was a terrorist kingpin with the deaths of countless innocents including Israelis, Americans, Syrians and fellow Lebanese on his hands. His demise was, as US president Joe Biden said, a measure of justice for his many victims. Simon Harris could do without his toes being trodden on by his predecessor Leo Varadkar's problem is there is no clear job description for a former head of government. Photo: Getty If there is one unwritten rule by which former taoisigh would be wise to abide by after leaving office, it is not to tread too heavily on the toes of their successor. Judging by his pronouncements on Irish unity last week, Leo Varadkar already seems to be developing a bad case of backseat driver syndrome since stepping down as taoiseach in April. By declaring that all political parties standing at the next election should pledge to make reunification an objective, not just an aspiration, Varadkar opens himself up to the charge of being wise after the event, since he never suggested such a radical shift in approach when he was actually in a position to do something about it, rather than the humble backbencher with a memoir to write that he is now. Whether Varadkar is correct to say that almost all trends point towards unification in the next few decades is for psephologists to untangle. Referendums can be tricky territories for the hasty, as he discovered earlier this year. The data from Northern Ireland is mixed, but does not suggest that a Yes vote there is imminent. As for the Republic, in our most recent poll only 12pc of respondents said they were prepared to pay significantly higher taxes to fund Irish unity, whilst a further 31pc expressed a willingness to pay moderately higher taxes. The largest cohort, making up 42pc, were not disposed to see their taxes go up at all. In a series of high-profile interviews and speeches last week, Varadkar appeared to set great store by Brexit as a potentially decisive factor in a future border poll, but the election of a more moderate UK government in the summer has taken much of the sting out of that tail too. Ultimately, this can all feel akin to arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. The realpolitik is that Dublin and London have both made it clear that chasing down unity is not a priority for either of them at this time. That caution is sensible. Hammering too impatiently at a closed door may only make those on the other side less inclined to open it. Simon Harris could do without his toes being trodden on by his predecessor Leo Varadkar is an intelligent and compassionate politician. As the first gay taoiseach, and the first to be a person of colour, he effortlessly represented a new inclusive Ireland, a fact reflected in his popularity ratings, which in the early days were even higher than Simon Harriss. His real problem is that there is no job description for a former head of government. Becoming taoiseach was once the pinnacle of a life in public service. After it usually came retirement. Mary Lou McDonalds quip that the former taoiseach has found his inner Shinner was one for quotes of the year Now that the office is held by ever younger politicians, it leaves decades ahead to fill when their tenure ends. Theyre restless and ambitious. They need something to do with that energy. Charles Haughey did not even become taoiseach for the first of four times until he was in his 50s. Varadkar is still only 45 years old. There is no reason why he should not make further significant contributions to the national discourse. His prodigious aptitude for communication would, however, be better deployed in consonance with his equally enterprising replacement, rather than apparent contradiction. The Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonalds quip that the former taoiseach has found his inner Shinner was one for quotes of the year, but seeing his opponents being gifted such solace when theyre on the ropes is hardly what the real Taoiseach needs ahead of an election, whenever he finally calls it. Pictured at the award presentation - front row l/r: Liam Hayes, Muskerry Local History Society; Dermot Lucey, Cork Person of the Month; Dick Beamish, Muskerry Local History Society. Back row l/r: Manus OCallaghan, Padraic Hanrahan, The Metropole Hotel; Oonagh Buckley, Masterkabin; Clara OMahoney, AM OSullivan PR; George and Max Duggan, Cork Crystal and Vitaliy Makhnanov, All About Us Video. Pic: Tony OConnell Photography. Local historian Dermot Lucey has been selected as the Cork Person of the Month for September. The dedicated historian and educator has been named Cork Person of the Month for September in recognition of the lasting impact of his work. Mr Luceys profound contributions have enriched the cultural fabric of Ballincollig and its surrounding areas for over four decades. Dermot Lucey, the secretary of Muskerry Local History Society and editor of its esteemed bi-annual local history journal Times Past has been a linchpin in the promotion and preservation of local history in the locality. His tireless efforts over 40 years have fostered a deep appreciation and understanding of history within the community, making significant strides in both educational and historical spheres. Awards organiser Manus OCallaghan paid tribute to Mr Lucey. "Recognising Dermot Lucey as the Cork Person of the Month for September is a testament to his outstanding dedication and contributions to the preservation and dissemination of local history. "Dermot's passion for history has left an indelible mark on our community, inspiring countless students and residents alike, he added. Mr Luceys journey began in the early 1980s when he spearheaded the establishment of a local history society while teaching at Ballincollig Community School. His students' history projects garnered significant success, leading to the publication of their first journal in 1984, with Dermot as both mentor and editor. This success laid the foundation for the Muskerry Local History Society, which Dermot was instrumental in founding. The society's bi-annual journals, brimming with rich historical insights continue to thrive under his editorial guidance. In addition to his editorial and mentoring roles, Dermot played a pivotal role in the preservation and development of Gunpowder Mills, contributing to the creation of the Regional Park in Ballincollig. His advocacy for history extended to national platforms, including contributions to the History of Cork series in the Cork Examiner during the Cork 800 celebrations in 1985. Mr Luceys influence is also evident in his contributions to history education. As a lecturer on the Professional Masters of Education (PME) course at UCC and a major adviser on secondary-level history curricula, he was a formidable advocate for maintaining history as a core subject at the Junior Certificate level. His lobbying efforts as secretary of Cork History Teachers Association (Cork HTA) were instrumental in ensuring the subject's continued prominence in secondary education. Throughout his career, Dermot has also authored several market-leading history textbooks, including Making History, Modern Europe and the Wider World, and The Past Today. His work has been described as synonymous with history education in Ireland, a testament to his enduring impact on the field. Former Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Kieran McCarthy said: "Enormous work was pursued in the late 1980s and early 1990s by history teacher Dermot Lucey of Ballincollig Community School, who encouraged his students to document the changing village of Ballincollig in the twentieth century. That work culminated in a number of annual historical journals that shine a light on people, events, and transformations within Ballincollig over the century, he added. Dermots name will now go forward alongside the other monthly winners for possible selection as Cork Person of the Year at the annual gala awards lunch in January 2025. The open evening event will give attendees a flavour of life at the secondary school, which moved into a state of the art campus in January 2016 Colaiste Mhuire Buttevant will host an open evening for current sixth class students and their parents/guardians from 7.30pm on Tuesday, October 1. The open evening event will give attendees a flavour of life at the secondary school, which moved into a state of the art campus in January 2016. On the night, sixth class students who are considering attending Colaiste Mhuire, and their parents/guardians, will get to tour the school and learn about the subjects available to study there and the extra-curricular and sporting activities it has to offer. Attendees will also have the opportunity to speak with students of the school and its teaching staff as they tour the facility. A spokesperson for Colaiste Mhuire said that it is important that each and every student feels welcome, secure and cared for within the school. The personal nature with which we carry out our daily business, where every teacher knows every student and where students are given individual attention in small classes is the cornerstone upon which our school community is built, the spokesperson said. Christian values are part of the everyday atmosphere and environment of the school. We want our students to leave school with self-respect and respect for others. We have an outstanding reputation for academic excellence, but the development of students intellectual and physical potential is also an integral part of the everyday school curriculum. Enrolment for prospective first year students who will start at Colaiste Mhuire in August/September of 2025 will commence from October 1 and close on October 22. Parents or guardians interested in enrolling a student into first year at the school for the 2025/26 year can contact the school office on 022 23733. Hopes that a planned museum in Killorglin could be advanced were raised at Fridays meeting of Kenmare Municipal District by Independent Councillor Podge Foley, who said there is a lack of stop over opportunities for tourists in Killorglin. Cllr Foley mentioned the bus loads of tourists that stop off at various points along the Ring of Kerry and how they should be encouraged to visit Killorglin. We get a small bit of tourism from people stopping in cars but unfortunately we dont get anything from the buses, he said. What were trying to do is get people to stop in Killorglin, enjoy it, spend money and be on their way again. Just like every other town in the Ring of Kerry, Cllr Foley added. Kerry County Council (KCC) said in reply that funding has been allocated for conservation and renovation works to Killorglin Courthouse under a Part 8 planning permission proposal by Kenmare MD members. KCC say it proposes to use the courthouse building as an exhibition space, archive viewing area, and community space. While Cllr Foley accepts the courthouse proposal, he criticised the fact it has been going on for years and years and raised concerns about its size saying it was very small to accommodate a museum. I was, hopefully, looking at something bigger in the town. But just to get something going is welcome. We have plenty of history and art around the place to give people something to stop for, Cllr Foley said. Fianna Fail Councillor Michael Cahill supported Cllr Foleys motion saying there is a lot of history in Killorglin. We have the oldest festival in Ireland here in Puck Fair. There is great tradition of sport, culture, music and song here, he said. "I would ask that the council examine this proposal further because Killorglin really does need somethingits important to give Killorglin something that would inject life and attraction, Cllr Cahill added. Aine Newsome from Mercy Mounthawk Secondary School in Tralee won first place in the Junior Category. She is with Tony Bergin, President of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Association. Photo: Mark O'Sullivan/Dennigan Photography. Rory O'Flaherty, winner in the Senior Category and Overall Winner of the Kerry Young Historian Award with Tony Bergin, President of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Association. Photo: Mark O'Sullivan/Dennigan Photography Evidence that researchers and historians of the future are in plentiful supply came to the fore at the recent Kerry Young Historian Awards at Kerry County Museum. The annual awards are open to Kerry secondary schools and young people from the county between the ages of 12 and 19 who enjoy exploring local history, archaeology and heritage. Fifth-year Mercy Mounthawk student Rory OFlaherty from Listellick was announced the Young Historian of the Year in the senior category for his essay, Tales of the Soldiers in Tralee during the War of Independence. Rory has a keen interest in global military history, but closer to home his attention was piqued by a visit to Ballymullen Barracks where he discovered that most of its original features, and the sense of history this imbued, was still vibrant. I was looking at the building and I just wanted to find out more information about it. Then I was working at the Kerry County Museum where I was given a diary with information on the barracks and what it was used for, and what the people who used it were like, he said. I decided to take that up as my topic. I had never seen anything on its history written down or the soldiers themselves of this town. In Listowel, you have stories of mutiny, in Dublin you have examples of the army, but not here in Tralee, he said. Aine Newsome from Mercy Mounthawk Secondary School in Tralee won first place in the Junior Category. She is with Tony Bergin, President of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Association. Photo: Mark O'Sullivan/Dennigan Photography. Rory focused his energies on the Military Archives to gain a sense from the personal testimonies of active participants in the War of Independence and references to Ballymullen Barracks. There was loads of information so I decided to take it from there. I didnt expect to find out how closely the IRA was working. I was reading into two men who were high up in the IRAs first and second battalion, Thomas OConnor and John ORegan. They were receiving guns from within the barracks that they were using to fight the Black and Tans, Rory explained. Rory enjoys visiting Kerry County Library and assessing the range of books available. He explained that even if he decides not to fully commit to studying history at third-level, he plans to keep his interest alive in the subject. Its something Im really interested in. When I was at the event I was told about a mutiny in Listowel at that time. I plan to look into that and see if there are connections with Tralee. The Headford Ambush, which I mention in my essay, was also a part of that. Im very honoured to receive this award, Rory said. The winner in the Junior Category was Aine Newsome, a Transition Year student at Mercy Mounthawk Secondary School who won the award for her essay on Annascaul Post Office. The competition is hosted by the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society, Kerry County Museum, Kerry County Council, Tralee Education Centre and the Kerry branch of the History Teachers Association. An RTE radio documentary charts the untold story of arms landed in Ireland in 1972. A new two-part radio documentary featuring former Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi and the importation of arms for the Provisional IRA will be aired on October 5 on RTEs Documentary On One titled First Consignment. Narrated by Kerry journalist Conor Keane and produced by Liam OBrien, the documentary touches on the planned attempt to land arms at Kerrys Farranfore airport. Gadaffis very first gift of weapons to the IRA comprised 25 RPG7 rocket launchers and 496 warheads. This was the first time in history the IRA received a cache of modern weapons. On 15 November, 1972, the weapons landed in Ireland. Initially, they were due to land at Kerrys Farranfore airport but the plane had to make a last-minute landing at Shannon. Over the course of the following evening, the weapons were smuggled out of Shannon Airport to arms dumps scattered around the surrounding countryside. Previously, on 11 June, 1972, Colonel Gaddafi spoke on Libyan National Radio indicating his support for the revolutionaries of Ireland who opposed British rule and who are motivated by nationalism and religion. Gaddafi said: There are arms, and there is support for the revolutionaries of Ireland. We have decided to create a problem for Britain and to drive a thorn in her side so as to make life difficult. She will pay dearly, he said. This was the first indication that Gaddafi was prepared to arm the Provisional IRA. While documents from the British and Irish Government record that Gaddafi donated five shipments of weapons to the IRA, beginning in 1973, the very first shipment a year earlier in 1972 was never recorded and is a mission very few know about. The story has been largely untold, until now. In the late summer of 1972, IRA Director of Munitions, Clareman Denis McInerney, was summoned to the Libyan Embassy in London, where he was told Colonel Muammar Gaddafi wished to donate 10 tonnes of weapons, four shipments, to the IRA. However, the IRA would have to make their own arrangements for the transportation of the weapons from Libya to Ireland. The IRA set to work, and by October 1972, a plan was put in place. An aeroplane had been sourced, along with two pilots and in early November 1972, that plane landed in Tripoli, where Denis McInerney was waiting. After a training camp was held, a plan for the first use of these rockets was put in place and on 28 November, 1972, ten attacks took place across Northern Ireland with 15 warheads fired. The first victim to be killed by these rockets was RUC Constable Robert Keys, a 55-year-old father of six who was just finishing up his night shift at Belleek RUC station in County Fermanagh when it came under fire at 9:35am that Tuesday morning. Robert was instantly killed the first victim of Gadaffis gift of weapons to the IRA. In the days, weeks, months and years that followed, many others across Northern Ireland were injured, maimed or killed by these weapons. More than half a century after these events occurred, First Consignment tells a story that has never been told before, with some of those involved in the operation. The documentary also includes members of the Keys family. The first episode aired on September 28, with the concluding part scheduled for this Saturday (October 5) at 2pm on RTE Radio One. The episodes are also available on playback. The East Wicklow Rivers Trust has completed work on the Ballinglen Project which should allow for migrating fish to reach their spawning grounds. Since 2020, the East Wicklow Rivers Trust (EWRT), Wicklow County Council (WCC), Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), and Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) have been working together in partnership to improve habitat and biodiversity for migratory fish in rivers and streams in Co. Wicklow Wicklow Fish Barrier Mitigation Programme. The project has also been supported by local riparian landowners and National Parks and Wildlife Service. In 2012 Inland Fisheries Ireland completed a survey of barriers to fish migration on rivers in County Wicklow. The scale of the problem was highlighted in the Avoca Catchment which showed that approximately 50pc of the entire catchment is potentially impaired by man-made structures, with fish migration either partially or fully blocked. One of these is at Ballinglen Bridge on the Ballinglen River, which is located between Aughrim and Tinahely villages. The Ballinglen River is a tributary of the Derry Water River, which joins the Ow River to become the Aughrim River and the barrier at Ballinglen Bridge was identified as a priority for action. The Ballinglen Bridge is a beautiful three-arched stone bridge built circa 1790. It is constructed of local shale with lime mortar and cut stone granite voussoirs. The floor bed underneath each archway of the bridge is laid with cut granite stones which are perfectly laid and grouted. Unfortunately however this man made structure creates a barrier to fish migration for fish species such as the Atlantic Salmon, Sea lamprey, River Lamprey and the Brook Lamprey, which is also a species in trouble. All of these species, with the exception of Brook lamprey, are diadromous, in that they travel between the sea and freshwater habitats where they spawn and a new generation begins life all over again. When migrating over large distances in rivers they inevitably encounter barriers to free movement which, as in the case of the Ballinglen Bridge prevents them from reaching their spawning grounds in the pristine habitat upstream. Recognising the built heritage of the bridge, WCC carried out all necessary heritage and archaeology studies and reports and the East Wicklow Rivers Trust received funding from the IFI Salmon and Sea Trout Rehabilitation, Conservation and Protection Fund 2021 for the project and engaged RIVUS Ecological Engineering to complete an Ecological Impact Assessment Report, an Appropriate Assessment Screening Report and to design the fish pass and lamprey and eel pass. In 2024 the project was given the green light to proceed. IFI staff completed a pre-construction fish survey and water quality monitoring has been ongoing by WCC staff. Following a competitive tender process RIVUS Ecological Engineering were appointed to construct the rock ramp and these works are now substantially complete. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore, who is the Social Democrats spokesperson on biodiversity, has commended all the participants in the project and has hailed Wicklow as a leader in improving fish migration in Irelands rivers. She said: The work done by East Wicklow Rivers Trusts on this project has been immense. It is wonderful to say that Wicklow is leading the charge to improve the quality of fish migration patterns in Irish rivers. What is happening across Irelands network of rivers and streams is very worrying, but the work done in Tinahely is an example of us getting it right. The initiative has seen the completion of a barrier modification programme for the Derry Water River at Ballingen Bridge near Tinahely. Using local stones to create a rock ramp under the bridge will open breeding grounds for upstream migratory fish. She added: I have been involved in a groundbreaking project in Wicklow, led by the East Wicklow Rivers Trust, in partnership to set this right in Wicklow. Also, the tremendous work of Alan Sullivan, from Rivus Ecology, who the East Wicklow Rivers Trust hired, must be acknowledged. This is just one local example of what needs to be done nationally. I hope that as other counties move to improve the migration of fish species in rivers around the country, they will use the approach adopted here in Wicklow as a template, as it has been a wonderful success. Shillelagh Pony Club members are celebrating an extra special 60th anniversary after they were allocated 19,591 in Sports Capital Grant Funding to purchase new equipment and attract new members. With its talented young riders being crowned Senior Champions at the Dublin Horse Show Pony Club Mounted Games and multiple other successes, the injection of funding under the Community Sport Facilities Fund represents another massive boon for the historic club, which has long ties to surrounding communities on both sides of the Wicklow-Wexford border. The new rector of Bray, the Revd Dr Leonard Madden (Centre) with the Revd Robert Marshall, Archdeacon Ross Styles, Dean Niall Sloane (preacher), Archbishop Michael Jackson, Archdeacon David Pierpoint and the Revd Sean Hanily. Bray parishioners gave a warm welcome to the towns new rector, Revd Leonard Madden, who was instituted in Christ Church Bray by the Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson. They were joined for the Service of Institution by Leonards wife, Dr Catherine Smith, representatives of other churches in the area and representatives of the local civic community. Clerical colleagues also came from Dublin and Glendalough and Leonards former diocese of Tuam, Limerick and Killaloe. Opening the service, Archbishop Jackson noted that both Leonard and Catherine were well known in Dublin and Glendalough, Leonard having served his deacon intern year in Blessington and Catherine through her work previously in Church House and currently with the Churchs Ministry of Healing: Ireland. The Archbishop also welcomed the Revd Lindsay Llewellyn-MacDuff to the dioceses as she was formally licensed before the service for her post as Deans Vicar in Christ Church Cathedral. The preacher was the Dean of Limerick, the Very Revd Niall Sloane, with whom Leonard served his curacy. He noted that the walls of the beautiful church had "absorbed the prayers, thoughts and praises of countless generations and Christ Church had witnessed the growth and development of Bray. Previous clergy had made valuable contributions to the life of the church and now another piece of history was being added to that rich tapestry. Leonard had exercised a rich and varied ministry in Limerick city parish for the past three years, he said. His many gifts would become apparent to parishioners quickly. His huge heart, his huge capacity for pastoral care, his careful ordering of the liturgy, his depth of scholarship, his unique charism of ministering to all ages, and his wonderful sense of humour. All these gifts and much more will help you together to continue to grow into a holy temple, he commented. The new rector of Bray, the Revd Dr Leonard Madden (Centre) with the Revd Robert Marshall, Archdeacon Ross Styles, Dean Niall Sloane (preacher), Archbishop Michael Jackson, Archdeacon David Pierpoint and the Revd Sean Hanily. A reception followed the service in St Andrews National School. The large crowd was welcomed by principal Daphne Wood, who outlined the history of the unique school which has trustees from the Church of Ireland, Methodist and Presbyterian community under the patronage of the Church of Ireland. She welcomed Leonard to Bray and looked forward to renewing the close ties between the parish and school. Archbishop Jackson thanked everyone for the work they had done in preparation for the institution and the public representatives and representatives of other churches who attended. He thanked Dean Sloane for preaching and said he had every confidence that Leonard and Catherine would be welcomed and taken into the hearts of the people of Bray. He also recalled the ministry of the Revd Baden Stanley and paid tribute to all the work he did as rector. Revd Dr Leonard Madden and church wardens of Bray. Welcoming Leonard and Catherine on behalf of the parish, David Reynolds reiterated the tributes to all involved in the preparations for the evening. He also thanked everyone who contributed to keeping the parish "alive and kicking. He pointed to a list of incumbents in the church dating back to 1284 and remarked on a long history and a clear identity. Tonight is historic but it is also part of the long game, he commented. He said Leonard and Catherine were coming to a vibrant and forward looking community and said they had been waiting and praying for this moment. Co-chair of Bray Churches Together Peter Growney welcomed Leonard and Catherine on behalf of all the local churches and wished them many happy years among them. The final words of the night went to Leonard, who thanked everyone for their warm welcome to the parish and the community. Catherine and I have been very excited to come to Bray and build on the ministry that has taken place here over many years, he said, adding that he was "looking forward to getting to know everyone. The Hollywood A-lister popped into the kitchen and posed for a picture with all the staff after he had enjoyed his dinner. Staff at Caisleain Oir Hotel in Annagry, West Donegal were going about their business when the star and his friends popped in. Word quickly spread amongst staff that the Ghostbusters actor was dining with them. And when Murray heard the staff were big fans he just had to oblige. Bill Murray The Hollywood A-lister popped into the kitchen and posed for a picture with all the staff after he had enjoyed his dinner. He was so impressed with the hotels cooking that he even left with a little doggy bag! And the Groundhog Day star certainly proved a hit as he posed for pictures and signed autographs. "What a gentleman. We had the privilege of having Bill Murray in for dinner and he popped in to thank and meet our entire kitchen crew. Thank you Bill," said a spokesperson for Caisleain Oir. TORONTO, ONTARIO - SEPTEMBER 14: (L-R) Rebel Wilson and Ramona Agruma attend the premiere of "The Deb" during the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival at Roy Thomson Hall on September 14, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Sonia Recchia/Getty Images) Rebel Wilson has married her partner Ramona Agruma in an intimate destination wedding on the Italian island of Sardinia. Since their engagement in 2023, Wilson had been teasing an intimate beach wedding for 2025 with close friends and family, but the pair reportedly changed their minds and decided to move up the date. According to American magazine People, the pair chose the location due to its sentimental value as the first place they visited together on holiday as a couple. The 44-year-old Pitch Perfect star and her fashion designer partner met in 2021 and share a one-year-old daughter, named Royce Lillian Elizabeth, who they welcomed via surrogate. They took their relationship public in May 2022 when Wilson shared a cosy selfie of the pair on Instagram with the caption, I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess #loveislove. Days after making their relationship Instagram official, Wilson posted a photo of them holding hands seaside town of Porto Cervo, captioning the post, Ciao Bellas. The Australian actor previously revealed that the pair were set up by a mutual friend, and said they connected over the phone before meeting in person. And that was a really good way to get to know each other, she explained at the time. "It was a bit old-school in that sense very romantic. Wilson and Agruma, who is the founder of the clothing brand Lemon Ve Limon, got engaged on Valentines Day in 2023. At the time, Wilson shared a picture of the pair kissing online while Agruma showed off her engagement ring, alongside another snap of Wilson down on one knee holding a blue Tifanny & Co box. We said YES! Thank you @tiffanyandco for the stunning ring and to Bob Iger and the incredible team at Disneyland @disneyweddings for pulling off this magical surprise! Wilson said on Instagram at the time. In her recent memoir, Rebel Rising, Wilson revealed how she pulled off the surprise proposal, explaining: Ramona sees the pastel rose petals all over the ground and the roses in vases. She continued: I tell her how special she is to me. And then I get down on one knee and open the ring box. I end with, So in this cliche way, on this cliche day, Ramona Agruma, will you marry me? Yes, she says through the tears streaming down her face. They welcomed their daughter in November 2022 after Wilson decided to freeze her eggs when she turned 40. Speaking about their experience of becoming parents, Wilson told Today: I was lucky to get an embryo from the process because of my age and because I have polycystic ovary syndrome. With just one embryo, I decided to go with surrogacy. Physically I could have carried the baby, but there was a much higher statistical chance it would work with surrogate. Wilson also reflected on how becoming a parent had been so life-changing for both of them. Its like you start thinking about someone else instead of yourself, priorities change, she told Australias The Morning Show. When you think, Aw, I wish I would go have a massage or something, instead youre like, No, I just want to spend time with her and be at home. 'When a mink gets into an area, its like a human walking into Supermacs' meet the dog saving birds from one of Ireland's most troublesome mammals French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has denied violating any rules as she and her National Rally party and two dozen others went on trial accused of embezzling European Parliament funds. Arriving at the court in Paris on Monday, Le Pen said: We have not violated any political and regulatory rules of the European Parliament, and vowed to present extremely serious and extremely solid arguments in the trial. Israel defence minister addresses troops near borderHezbollah will choose new leader 'at the earliest opportunity'Hezbollah says it is ready for any invasion by IsraelIsrael hits Beirut city limits with strikes A US official said Israel has informed the US about the raids that are underway and that Israel has not provided timing on plans for a larger operation. The US has not told Israel to halt all of its operations in Lebanon and wouldnt do so as Washington supports Israels right to defend itself, according to the official. Smoke still rising from bombed rubble two days after Nasrallah assassination Israel is believed to have used weapon from US known as bunker buster in the attack that killed Hezbollah leader This womn and her children have been forced to live on the street after being displaced by the bombing in Dahiyeh. Photo: Louisa Gouliamaki/Reuters Hassan Ammar Mon 30 Sep 2024 at 03:30 More than two days after a massive Israeli airstrike that killed the leader of the Hezbollah militant group, smoke is still rising from the smouldering wreckage. India-Sweden Bilateral Trade and Investment India and Sweden see significant potential for collaboration in areas like green technologies, renewable energy, smart infrastructure, healthcare, and defense. The Joint Economic Commission (JEC) remains the primary institutional platform for government-to-government dialogue between the two nations. India-Sweden bilateral trade India and Swedens bilateral relationship is underpinned by robust economic ties, expanding trade, and increasing two-way investments. In 2022, Swedish exports of goods to India totaled approximately US$1.62 billion (SEK 17.3 billion). While trade between the two countries fluctuated during the pandemic, 2021 saw a strong recovery, with Swedish exports to India increasing by 50 percent and imports from India rising by 43 percent in 2022. Swedens imports from India amounted to US$1.14 billion (SEK 12.15 billion), with the major imports being chemicals, clothing, and manufactured goods. Furthermore, Swedish services imports from India in 2021 were valued at approximately US$2.1 billion (SEK 22.3 billion). By June 2024, India exported goods worth US$104 million to Sweden and imported US$171 million, resulting in a trade deficit of US$66.6 million. Compared to June 2023, Indias exports to Sweden grew by US$32.4 million (45.2 percent), while imports from Sweden increased by US$30.3 million (21.6 percent). Key exports from India to Sweden (June 2024): Ready-made garments of cotton: US$8.82 million Electric machinery and equipment: US$5.31 million Auto components/parts: US$5.22 million Products of iron and steel: US$3.9 million Ready-made garments of other textile materials: US$3.84 million Key imports from Sweden to India (June 2024): Iron and steel: US$22.8 million Pulp and waste paper: US$16.3 million Paper, paperboard, and products: US$12.3 million Auto components/parts: US$11.3 million Industrial machinery for dairy and other sectors: US$9.19 million Growth highlights (June 2024): Indias export growth to Sweden was driven by significant increases in electric machinery and equipment (+107 percent), aluminum and its products (+196 percent), and optical items (+229 percent). Indias import growth from Sweden was fueled by sharp increases in iron and steel (+81.6 percent), pulp and waste paper (+88.6 percent), and paper and paper products (+164 percent). Top 5 Exported Items from India to Sweden in 2023 Items Value (US$ million) Machinery, nuclear reactors, boilers 133.75 Electrical, electronic equipment 103.96 Articles of apparel, not knit or crocheted 91.40 Vehicles other than railway, tramway 77.63 Articles of apparel, knit or crocheted 47.25 Source: Trading Economics Top 5 Indian Imports from Sweden in 2023 Items Value (US$ million) Machinery, nuclear reactors, boilers 367.65 Iron and Steel 292.12 Pulp of wood, fibrous cellulosic material, waste 207.19 Paper and paperboard, articles of pulp, paper, and board 146.49 Vehicles other than railway, tramway 142.59 Source: Trading Economics India-Sweden investment relations Sweden ranks as the 21st largest investor in India, with cumulative FDI inflows amounting to US$2.51 billion from April 2000 to March 2024. Key sectors attracting Swedish FDI include automobiles, industrial machinery, engineering, electrical equipment, and metallurgical industries. Swedens investment history in India dates to the early 20th century, with companies like Ericsson and SKF making early inroads. Today, more than 260 Swedish companies operate in India, including major multinationals such as ABB, Volvo, AstraZeneca, Atlas Copco, and Sandvik. These companies are active across diverse sectorsranging from marketing and R&D to manufacturing and servicesand collectively employ approximately 220,000 people in India. The Swedish business footprint spans industries such as automotive, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, retail, IT, and energy. In terms of trade and investment agreements, Sweden and India signed a treaty on avoiding double taxation and preventing tax evasion in 1997, which was later amended in 2013. Additionally, as a member of the WTO since 1995, India is part of its multilateral trade agreements. The EU and India have been negotiating a free trade agreement since 2007, further signaling ongoing efforts to strengthen bilateral trade and investment relations. List of Swedish Companies in India ABB Alfa Laval Astra Pharmaceuticals Atlas Copco Barracuda Technologies Electrolux Ericsson Hennes & Mauritz Hoganas IKEA Indiska Lindex Oriflame Perstorp Svedala Sandvik Skanska Swedish Match Tetrapak Volvo Source: MEA Indian companies in Sweden: Larsen & Toubro Infotech: L&T Technology Services has been the engineering partner of choice for several major brands in the Nordic region for over a decade HCL Technologies Wipro Technologies Tech Mahindra Tata Consultancy Services Bilateral agreements between India and Sweden India and Sweden have established a range of bilateral agreements across various fields of cooperation. Key agreements include the Exemption from Visa Requirements for Diplomatic Passport Holders (June 2015), which simplifies diplomatic travel between the two nations, and a Letter of Intent on Mutual Collaboration in Polar and Ocean Research (June 2015), reflecting a shared commitment to advancing scientific research. In the realm of sustainable development, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Sustainable Urban Development was signed in June 2015, promoting eco-friendly urban initiatives. Both countries have also committed to fostering Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), formalized through another MoU signed the same year. Other notable agreements include the Protocol for Amending the Convention on Double Taxation (January 2013) and the Agreement on Social Security (November 2012), which enhance financial and legal cooperation between India and Sweden. Additionally, the Agreement on Employment for Family Members of Diplomats (November 2012) allows family members of diplomats to work in the host country, strengthening diplomatic relations. Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) The India-Sweden Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation, signed in Stockholm on July 30, 1958, prevents businesses and individuals from being taxed on the same income in both countries, promoting smoother economic relations and reducing financial burdens. Key provisions: The treaty applies to income taxes in both India and Sweden, ensuring that profits, royalties, dividends, and interest are taxed in the country of origin or residence. It addresses tax liabilities for capital gains, immovable property, and aircraft operations based on location. Information-sharing mechanisms between tax authorities facilitate cooperation, while tax relief is provided to avoid double taxation, with credits allowed for taxes paid in the other country. The agreement outlines specific tax rules for remuneration, pensions, and annuities based on residency. The geopolitical context India and Sweden have evolved from neutrality to adopting pragmatic, multi-aligned foreign policies, reflecting global geopolitical shifts. Sweden, once known for its neutrality, pivoted by joining the European Union in 1995, applying for NATO membership, and aligning itself with the Indo-Pacific region. Similarly, India has moved beyond traditional non-alignment, strategically balancing Chinas influence through a multi-aligned foreign policy that prioritizes national interests. Swedens growing engagement with India is part of a broader strategy to enhance cooperation with like-minded nations in response to these shifts. Russias invasion of Ukraine cemented Swedens and Finlands decisions to join NATO, reshaping the European security landscape. Concurrently, Sweden has adopted a more critical stance toward China due to concerns over Chinas influence on the rules-based global order. Meanwhile, India continues to diversify its global relationshipsmaintaining ties with Russia while strengthening its connections with Western nations. Outlook There is significant scope for the bilateral relationship between India and Sweden to deepen further as both countries continue to leverage mutual strengths in trade, investment, and technology. The evolving geopolitical landscape, shared values, and collaborative approach toward sustainability, innovation, and economic growth lay the foundation for strong partnerships. Business opportunities: India is Swedens third-largest trading partner in Asia, and Indian government initiatives to ease FDI are creating opportunities for Swedish small and medium enterprises. India is Swedens third-largest trading partner in Asia, and Indian government initiatives to ease FDI are creating opportunities for Swedish small and medium enterprises. Collaboration: Multiple MoUs have been signed between the two countries in areas such as health, science, energy, environment, defense, space, and MSMEs. Multiple MoUs have been signed between the two countries in areas such as health, science, energy, environment, defense, space, and MSMEs. Industry-start-up collaboration: There are promising opportunities for co-inventing and designing innovative solutions between industries and startups. There are promising opportunities for co-inventing and designing innovative solutions between industries and startups. India-EU FTA: Both countries emphasize the need for the early conclusion of a mutually beneficial India-EU Free Trade Agreement. Additionally, the Make in India 2.0 initiative and Swedens leadership in green technologies could open new avenues for commercial and IP collaboration. Swedish companies are already playing a significant role in Indias manufacturing, IT, and energy sectors, and future trade deals are likely to promote circular economy initiatives and bolster both countries efforts in sustainable development. As both nations continue to align their interests, their partnership could play a pivotal role in addressing global challenges and creating sustainable economic growth model. Photo Courtesy: Unsplash At least 132 people died after flood and landslides hit Nepal amid heavy rainfalls, media reports said on Sunday. Nepal's Ministry of Home Affairs said so far 68 people have died due to disaster incidents in Kathmandu Valley, 45 in Bagmati province, 17 in Koshi province and two in Madhes province. Disaster-related incidents have left 64 people missing in the Himalayan nation. Sixty-one people were injured in the country amid floods and landslides. Three thousand six hundred and twenty-six people have been safely rescued throughout the country with the active participation of the security forces, the Ministry was quoted as saying by The Himalayan Times. The Nepali Army personnel have been mobilised to secure people at high risk. Several key highways which connect Kathmandu with the rest of the nation remain blocked amid landslides. Floods and landslides are common in Nepal during the Monsoon season. Air travel has been disrupted across Nepal due to the ongoing natural disasters. Photo courtesy: PR Team Kolkata/IBNS Peerless Hospital, Kolkata, successfully organized its flagship one-day conference, MediSafeCon 2024, with the theme Get it Right, Make it Safe, focused on increasing awareness about accurate diagnosis and the use of appropriate therapeutics. Held on Sept 28, MediSafeCon was dedicated to advancing patient safety by addressing the critical challenges of diagnostic errors in healthcare, in line with this year's World Patient Safety Day theme Improving Diagnosis for Patient Safety. Diagnostic errors, such as missed, delayed, or incorrect diagnoses, contribute to inappropriate treatments, patient harm, or even death. MediSafeCon 2024 brought together leading doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and medico-legal experts from West Bengal and across India to discuss practical strategies to ensure correct diagnoses and reduce medical errors. The sessions emphasized the importance of accurate diagnostic practices, therapeutic interventions, and interprofessional collaboration. Key Strategies for Improving Diagnosis Discussed: 1. Promote a Culture of Collaboration and Open Communication: o Interdisciplinary Teamwork: Fostering collaboration among doctors, nurses, specialists, and pharmacists to reduce diagnostic errors through multiple perspectives. o Patient Communication: Encouraging open dialogue with patients, ensuring that symptoms are clearly communicated and understood by healthcare providers. 2. Adoption of Diagnostic Decision Support Tools: o AI & Machine Learning: Utilizing advanced technologies to assist healthcare professionals in interpreting complex data, minimizing errors. o Electronic Health Records (EHR): Optimizing EHR systems to flag inconsistencies and enhance clinical decision-making by integrating diagnostic guidelines. 3. Continuous Education and Simulation Training: o Ongoing Medical Education: Regular training for healthcare professionals on new diagnostic techniques and addressing cognitive biases. o Simulation-Based Learning: Offering diagnostic simulations to reinforce decision-making and critical thinking skills. 4. Patient Engagement in Diagnosis: o Shared Decision-Making: Involving patients in diagnostic decisions and discussions, empowering them to ask questions and seek second opinions when necessary. 5. Leveraging Advanced Technology for Enhanced Diagnosis: o Genomic Medicine: Implementing genetic testing to improve diagnostic accuracy, especially in rare or hereditary conditions. o Telemedicine: Utilizing remote consultations to reduce diagnostic delays in underserved areas. 6. Enhancing Communication of Diagnostic Uncertainty: o Clear Communication: Encouraging physicians to communicate diagnostic uncertainties and regularly reassess diagnoses as new information becomes available. Prof. (Dr.) Subhrojyoti Bhowmick, Organizing Chairman of MediSafeCon 2024, said: Patient safety is a continuously evolving field, and there is always room to learn and grow. This conference brings together global experts to share cutting-edge practices, successful strategies, and technologies that enhance patient outcomes and reduce risk. Ravindra Pai, Managing Director, Peerless Hospital, Kolkata, emphasized, This conference fills a huge gap in addressing patient safety owing to diagnosis, medication errors, awareness, and support for families. At Peerless Hospital, we are evolving every year by adding clinical research on one side and increasing the bandwidth of new technology while training doctors on advanced diagnostic and therapeutic techniques. The sessions at MediSafeCon underscored the urgency of addressing diagnostic errors, which can have profound consequences on patient outcomes. According to WHO, diagnostic errors account for 10% of patient deaths globally, and the conference highlighted the role of interdisciplinary collaboration, technology, and patient engagement in overcoming this challenge. MediSafeCon 2024 serves as a critical platform for driving change in diagnostic practices, ensuring that healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, tools, and support needed to improve patient safety and outcomes. In image tala Prottay installation for Durga Puja 2024/ Facebook/Susanta Paul Kolkata/IBNS: UNESCO, the global UN agency that designated Durga Puja Art as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2022, maintained its commitment to promoting Durga Puja Art to a global audience this year. This is the third year in a row that UNESCO has extended its support to the Preview Show of Durga Puja Art, conceptualised by Kolkata-based social and cultural organisation- massArt. The 3rd edition of the Preview Show of Durga Puja Art was inaugurated at Tala Prattoy by Kolktata Mayor Firhad Hakim. Among the distinguished dignitaries present at the inauguration were Rayond Mullen, Deputy Ambassador of Ireland, and K P Nayar, Strategic Analyst. The Preview Show of Durga Puja Art will continue till October 4, 2024. Preview Show of Durga Puja Art is the worlds biggest public art festival and is the only art festival that continues throughout the whole night. The success of the last two editions of the Preview Show of Durga Puja Art has made Kolkata a much sought-after destination for both global as well Indian art aficionados. This year Ambassador of Germany; Ambassador of Peru; Ambassador of Ecuador; Ambassador of Belgium; Ambassador of Slovenia; Ambassador of Cyprus and Ambassador of Ireland confirmed their presence during the course of the Preview Show. A performance group from Cyprus will be performing at various venues of Durga Puja Art. There has been tremendous response from all quarters of society to be part of the Preview Show of Durga Puja Art. Sharing his observation on the success of this unique initiative, Dhrubajyoti Bose Suvo, Secretary - massArt said, If the aim is to promote cultural diversity -- a challenge in the face of globalization -and human creativity, the focus has to be on intangible cultural heritage, which provides a sense of identity and continuity. Preview Show of Durga Puja Art is undoubtedly a celebration of intangible cultural heritage as it brings together celebration of a tradition, which is passed down from generation to generation, and contemporary creativity. The preview show platform acts as an encouragement for the brightest minds to excel with their ideas and thus it has a positive impact on Bengal's creative economy." massArt, took thein showcasing the depth of the art of Durga Puja by organising Preview Show of Durga Puja Art for the first time in 2022. This year, twenty-six puja venues have been selected through a diligent process and enthusiasts will be exposed to the best of the Art installations in the city in a hassle-free manner a week before the actual festivities begin. A special exhibition of Making of Durga Puja Art will also be organised at Town Hall, where visitors will have the opportunity to witness the process of art live. As part of the Preview Show of Durga Puja Art 2024, pujas have been classified into two distinct divisions: Contemporary Durga Puja Art Bonedibari or aristocrat household Durga Puja Art Over the last two years there has been tremendous response and this year massArt expects that there would be huge footfall for this unique art show. A few of the added attractions of this year's Preview Show includes: A group of students from one of the Indias prominent institution specialising in architecture and fine arts Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University, Hyderabad will be part of the preview show for understanding the art and architecture involved with Durga Puja Guided tour of twenty-six puja pandals and world's first walk-through at night Live show of making of Durga Puja Art exhibition at Town Hall Art and cultural exchange between Ireland and Indian artists Guided tour for the senior citizens, orphans and specially-abled children 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider sold for $18,045,000 at Amelia Island in 2023. Photo courtesy: Christie's New York/IBNS: British auction house Christies has entered into an agreement to acquire Gooding & Company, the leading international auction house in the collector car market. Founded in 2003 by the husband and wife team of David Gooding and Dawn Ahrens, Gooding & Company has earned global recognition as a leader in the classic car auction industry. The company is known for its commitment to presenting high-quality consignments with exceptional integrity and transparency. Gooding & Company takes pride in offering vehicles from some of the most prestigious collections, as well as treasured family heirlooms and exciting new discoveries. 1967 Toyota-Shelby 2000 GT sold for $2,535,000 at Amelia Island in 2022, a world record at auction for the marque and the most expensive Japanese car sold at auction. Photo courtesy: Christie's This acquisition marks a significant milestone for Christies, establishing its position in the rapidly expanding classic and collector car market and further solidifying its leadership in the broader luxury sector. Christies and Gooding & Company are an ideal match, sharing values of specialist expertise, integrity and exceptional client service in the sale of exquisite objects, the company said in a media release. "This combination will provide Gooding & Company with an enhanced global platform to support its future growth and brand development. Gooding & Company remains committed to providing uninterrupted customer service of the highest level to its devoted clients, continuing with its existing calendar of prestige events, auctions and more," it said. 1937 Talbot-Lago T150-C-SS Teardrop Coupe sold for $13,425,000 at Amelia Island in2022, a world record for the marque and the most expensive French car sold at auction. Photo courtesy: Christie's At the close of the transaction Gooding & Company will become known as Gooding Christies. Guillaume Cerutti, Christies Chief Executive Officer said: Christies has long admired Gooding & Company and their way of doing business. The legacy that David Gooding and his team have built over the past two decades is well admired by collectors internationally and we could not be more honored to welcome them into the Christies family. We are confident that the combination of resources will provide many opportunities for significant global growth." 1970 Porsche 917K sold for $14,080,000 at Pebble Beach in 2017, a world record at auction for the marque. Photo courtesy: Christie's David Gooding, Co-Founder and President of Gooding & Company said: "When we founded Gooding & Company twenty-one years ago, we built it on the pillars of integrity, quality, and passion within the collector car market. "I am proud of our tremendous growth within this industry, and I am confident that our acquisition by Christie's is the next step in our continued development as a global market leader in this space. I look forward to working with Guillaume and the Christies team to achieve the next evolution of the Gooding & Company brand." 1995 McLaren F1 sold for $20,465,000 at Pebble Beach in 2021, a world record at auction for the marque. Photo courtesy: Christie's Francois-Henri Pinault, Chairman of Groupe Artemis said: "The ambition and values of David Gooding, and his team, align perfectly with those of Christies. They also correspond with those of the other businesses in which the Pinault family has long been invested, in the fields of art and culture, luxury, and lifestyle. "We are excited to support the development of Gooding & Company and explore new collaborations." The transaction is expected to close prior to the end of 2024. Protests demanding justice for RG Kar victim in Kolkata | Image by Avishek Mitra/IBNS New Delhi/IBNS: The Supreme Court will on Monday resume hearing the case pertaining to the rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on the intervening night of August 8 and 9. A Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud will resume hearing a day after massive torch relays were held in various parts of Kolkata that has witnessed widespread protests over the incident for more than a month. The West Bengal junior doctors, who called off their more-than-a-month-long ceasework after the government met a few of their demands and assured to fulfill the rest, have again threatened to suspend their services claiming the State took no step to keep their promises. "We are keeping an eye on the Supreme Court hearing. After the hearing, we will take a call on ceasework and wider movement," one of the junior doctors said. The junior doctors claim the government is yet to take a step on removing certain health officials, end threat culture and provide security to the protesters. Though Kolkata Police was quick to arrest civic volunteer Sanjoy Roy in connection with the incident, West Bengal junior doctors suspect there are more than one behind the incident. The case is currently being probed by the CBI under the monitoring of the Supreme Court. The CBI has arrested ex-RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh, who was already in custody for alleged financial irregularities in the hospital, and a cop in connection with the case. Prior to CBI's investigation, the state administration came under the scanner over its alleged cover-up, delay in filing FIRs, demolition work near the crime scene, posting of Ghosh to the same post at another college after his resignation from RG Kar. In its third hearing, the Supreme Court had said the status report of the RG Kar case provided by the CBI is "worse" and "really disturbing" stating the probe agency will be given time "to unearth the truth". "What the CBI has revealed in the report is worse, really disturbing..What you are flagging is of utmost concern, we ourselves are concerned, CBI has flagged it for us..we are ourselves disturbed by what we have read," Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said. A three-judge bench led by the CJI said the CBI is not "sleeping over" the probe and the investigating agency has responded to the issues that the court has flagged. The CJI had said as quoted by Live Law, "Making a disclosure today of what the CBI is investigating will jeopardise the process, the line which is taken by the CBI is to unearth the truth.. the SHO himself has been arrested... CBI has responded specifically to the issues we have raised, including whether the challan in the statutory form was submitted along with the postmortem... "CBI is also exploring the possibility of whether the scene of the crime was tampered with, evidence was destroyed, whether there was the complicity of other persons in failing to report the crime etc..." "The CBI, apart from performing its independent investigation, is also addressing the issues we raised. There is still time to complete the investigation. We have to give CBI adequate time, they are not sleeping over. To put any time limit will be to dislocate the investigation...They are required to be given time to unearth the truth," the CJI added. Representative image of CJI DY Chandrachud | Photo courtesy: Screenshot grab New Delhi/IBNS: Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud has slammed a lawyer who used the informal word "yeah" in front of the CJI during a court hearing on Monday, media reports said. In the court hearing, the lawyer referred to a 2018 petition where he had added former CJI Ranjan Gogoi as a respondent. "But is it an Article 32 plea? how can you file a PIL with a judge as a respondent," CJI Chandrachud asked the lawyer as quoted by NDTV. Responding to the CJI, the lawyer said, "Yeah, yeah the then CJI Ranjan Gogoi... I was asked to file a curative..." CJI Chandrachud immediately cut him off and said, "This is not a coffee shop! What is this yeah yeah. I am very allergic to this yeah yeah. This cannot be allowed." CJI Chandrachud slamming Karnataka HC judge's 'Pakistan' and 'undergarments' remarks Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud last week said no part of India can be called Pakistan besides taking a strong note of the misogynistic remark passed by Karnataka High Court Vedavyasachar Srishananda. In a court hearing, Justice Srishananda referred to a Muslim-majority area in Bengaluru as "Pakistan". The video of his remark went viral as the court proceedings are now live-streamed. The same judge told a female lawyer that she has knowledge about her opponent to an extent that she even knows the colour of his undergarment. In a suo motu cognisance, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court led by the CJI earlier had said there is a need to establish clear guidelines for constitutional court judges over their remarks in the courtroom. On Wednesday, CJI Chandrachud said as quoted by NDTV, "No one can call any part of territory of India as 'Pakistan'," Chief Justice Chandrachud said. "It is fundamentally against the territorial integrity of the nation. The answer to sunlight is more sunlight and not to suppress what happens in court. The answer is not to close it down." "Casual observational may indicate personal biases especially when perceived to be directed at a certain gender or community. Thus one must be wary of making patriarchal or misogynistic comments. "We express our serious concern about observations on a certain gender or a community and such observations are liable to be construed in a negative light. We hope and trust that the responsibilities entrusted to all stakeholders are discharged without bias and caution," he added. After a public apology from Justice Srishananda, the Supreme Court closed the proceedings. Photo courtesy: PIB New Delhi/IBNS: The Congress has demanded Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's resignation "on moral grounds" after the Bharatiya Janata Party leader has been named in a First Information Report following allegations of extortion involving the now-defunct electoral bonds. The complaint, filed by Adarsh Iyer from Janaadhikara Sangharsha Sanghatane, accused Sitharaman and others of using the electoral bonds for extortion, reports say. As a result, the Special Court for People's Representatives in Bengaluru has ordered the FIR, which has been registered against Sitharaman and other accused parties. Speaking to ANI, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, "... The ED, IT and CBI have been misused, threats were made to secure funds... The FIR has not been registered by the Congress but a special court on the basis of a complaint filed by an individual. This is the main issue in Karnataka. The Union Finance Minister should resign on moral grounds." #WATCH | On Bengaluru court allows FIR against Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over electoral bonds issue, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh says, "...The Union Finance Minister should resign on moral grounds." pic.twitter.com/qELQe4lC8C ANI (@ANI) September 30, 2024 The electoral bonds scheme, introduced by the Centre in 2018 to replace cash donations to political parties and aimed at enhancing transparency in political funding, was declared "unconstitutional" by the Supreme Court in February, which stated it violated citizens' right to information. Reacting to the FIR, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah called for Sitharaman's resignation and demanded a report on the investigation be submitted within three months. "An FIR has been registered against Nirmala Sitharaman in the Special Court for People's Representatives. Who is she? She is a Union Minister, and there is an FIR against her too. They were involved in extortion through electoral bonds, and the FIR has been registered on that. She should tender her resignation after the FIR has been registered. Will they (BJP) ask her to resign?" he was quoted as saying by India Today. He further added, "Now, as per Section 17A (of the Prevention of Corruption Act), the investigation must be completed and a report should be submitted within three months. Based on that, they have registered the FIR and are investigating further." Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act requires prior approval from a competent authority before investigating any allegations against public servants, providing additional protection against frivolous charges. Siddaramaiah himself will also be investigated under Section 17A in connection with alleged irregularities in the MUDA case. Photo Courtesy: Jan Thesleff X page Swedish envoy to India Jan Thesleff has appreciated India's space missions and its achievements in the field. He said several other nations failed to touch India's achievements in the arena despite spending more money. Expressing hope for the success of India's Venus mission, he described the journey as 'fascinating'. He said the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) would collaborate for the Venus mission. The mission is named Shukrayaan-1. Speaking to ANI, Thesleff said, "It is (the Venus mission) fascinating. What India is doing. India is achieving so much, that other countries that spent much more budget cannot achieve. This really proves the talent of Indian scientists. We believe strongly in the Venus mission." Indian Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the development of Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM), which will be a significant step towards the Governments vision of exploring and studying the Venus, beyond moon and mars. Venus, the closest planet to Earth and believed to have formed in conditions similar to Earth, offers a unique opportunity to understand how planetary environments can evolve very differently. The Venus Orbiter Mission to be accomplished by Department of Space is envisaged to orbit a scientific spacecraft in the orbit of planet Venus for better understanding of the Venusian surface and subsurface, atmospheric processes and influence of Sun on Venusian atmosphere. The study of the under rlying causes of transformation of Venus, which is believed to be once habitable and quite similar to Earth would be an invaluable aid in understanding the evolution of the sister planets, both Venus and Earth. ISRO will be responsible for the development of spacecraft and its launch. The Project will be effectively managed and monitored through the established practices prevailing at ISRO. The data generated from the mission would be disseminated to the scientific community through existing mechanisms The mission is expected to be accomplished on the opportunity available during March 2028. Why the mission is important? The Indian Venus mission is expected to answer some of the outstanding scientific questions resulting in various scientific outcomes. The realization of the spacecraft and launch vehicle is through various industries and it is envisaged that there would be large employment potential and technology spin-off to other sectors of the economy. Photo Courtesy: ADG PI X page The 8th edition of India-Kazakhstan Joint Military Exercise KAZIND-2024 commenced on Monday, at Surya Foreign Training Node, Auli, Uttarakhand. The exercise is scheduled to be conducted from September 30 to October 13. Joint Exercise KAZIND-2024 has been held annually since 2016. "Last edition of the Joint Exercise was held at Otar, Kazakhstan from 30th October to 11th November 2023," read a statement issued by the Indian government. The Indian Armed Forces, comprising 120 personnel, are being represented by a battalion of the KUMAON Regiment of Indian Army, along with other arms and services, as well as personnel from Indian Air Force. The Kazakhstan contingent will be represented mainly by personnel from Land Forces and Air Borne Assault Troopers. The aim of the Joint Exercise is to enhance joint military capability of both sides to undertake counter terrorism operations in a sub conventional scenario under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. The Joint Exercise will focus on operations in the semi-urban and mountainous terrain. Objectives to be achieved from the Joint Exercise are high degree of physical fitness, rehearsing and refining drills for operations at tactical level and sharing of best practices. "Tactical drills to be rehearsed during the Joint Exercise include joint response to a terrorist action, establishment of a Joint Command Post, establishment of an Intelligence and Surveillance Centre, securing of helipad / landing site, combat free fall, Special Heliborne Operations, Cordon and Search operations, besides employment of drones and counter drone systems among others," the statement said. Joint Exercise KAZIND-2024 will enable both sides to share best practices in tactics, techniques and procedures of conducting joint operations. It will facilitate developing inter-operability, bonhomie and camaraderie between the two armies. The Joint Exercise will also enhance defence cooperation, further augmenting bilateral relations between the two friendly nations. Photo courtesy: PM Modi with Benjamin Netanyahu | File image/PMO X New Delhi/IBNS: Amid tension in the Middle East, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to his Israel counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday and stated 'terrorism has no place in our world'. The two leaders, he said, had discussed the situation in West Asia. "Terrorism has no place in our world. It is crucial to prevent regional escalation and ensure the safe release of all hostages. India is committed to supporting efforts for an early restoration of peace and stability," he said in a post on X. Spoke to Prime Minister @netanyahu about recent developments in West Asia. Terrorism has no place in our world. It is crucial to prevent regional escalation and ensure the safe release of all hostages. India is committed to supporting efforts for an early restoration of peace and Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 30, 2024 The conflict in West Asia that had started with the abduction of Israeli citizens by Hamas in October last year, has been escalating since then. Israel struck back at Gaza and Iran-backed Hezbollah, which retaliated too. Yemen's Houthi rebels have targeted Israel as well. Israel has been carrying out airstrikes on Lebanon. It has also informed the US that it is planning a limited ground operation as well, the US daily Washington Post has reported. On Saturday, the Israeli army said it had eliminated Hezbollah chief Nasrallah in the strike on the group's central command headquarters in Beirut. The hardliners in Iran are now calling for drastic measures against Israel, including the closure of the vital Strait of Hormuz and nuclear weapon development. Netanyahu had responded, saying there was nowhere in the Middle East beyond Israel's reach. Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati called for a ceasefire in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah during a meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Beirut on Monday. Mithun Chakraborty while receiving Padma Bhushan Award earleir this year | Photo courtesy: PIB New Delhi/IBNS: Veteran Indian actor Mithun Chakraborty will be conferred Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2022, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced on Monday. Dadasaheb Phalke Award is the highest award conferred in India in the field of cinema. Vaishnaw, the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister, posted on X, "Mithun Das remarkable cinematic journey inspires generations! "Honoured to announce that the Dadasaheb Phalke Selection Jury has decided to award legendary actor, Sh. Mithun Chakraborty Ji for his iconic contribution to Indian Cinema." Mithun Das remarkable cinematic journey inspires generations! Honoured to announce that the Dadasaheb Phalke Selection Jury has decided to award legendary actor, Sh. Mithun Chakraborty Ji for his iconic contribution to Indian Cinema. To be presented at the 70th National Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) September 30, 2024 In his initial reaction, Chakraborty told ANI, "I don't have words. Neither I can laugh nor cry tears of joy. This is such a huge thing for someone like me who rose from nowhere literally. I could not have imagined this. I am extremely happy. I dedicate this to my family and my fans across the world." #WATCH | Kolkata: On being announced to be conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke award, Actor and BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty says "I don't have words. Neither I can laugh nor cry. This is such a big thing... I could not have imagined this. I am extremely happy. I dedicate this pic.twitter.com/tZCtwLSyxV ANI (@ANI) September 30, 2024 Chakraborty, who is presently a political leader from the country's ruling BJP, will be honoured at the 70th National Film Awards ceremony on October 8. The veteran actor, who has three National Awards under his belt, was conferred India's third-highest civilian honour Padma Bhushan in January 2024. "Delighted that Shri Mithun Chakraborty Ji has been conferred the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award, recognizing his unparalleled contributions to Indian cinema. He is a cultural icon, admired across generations for his versatile performances. Congratulations and best wishes to him," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on X. Delighted that Shri Mithun Chakraborty Ji has been conferred the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award, recognizing his unparalleled contributions to Indian cinema. He is a cultural icon, admired across generations for his versatile performances. Congratulations and best wishes to https://t.co/aFpL2qMKlo Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 30, 2024 Chakraborty made his debut with maestro Mrinal Sen's Mrigayaa in 1976. His portrayal of a Santhal rebel in Mrinal Sen's film earned him the national accolade. Chakraborty gained significant popularity in the 1980s with his role in Disco Dancer (1982), a film that became a major success both in India and internationally, establishing him as a dancing sensation. He became a household name with his iconic role in Disco Dancer, a film that not only showcased his exceptional dancing skills but also popularized disco music in Indian cinema. His performance in Agneepath also won him the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1990. Later, he won two more National Film Awards for his roles in Tahader Katha (1992) and Swami Vivekananda (1998). Over his extensive career, Chakraborty has acted in more than 350 films across various Indian languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Odia, Bhojpuri, and Telugu. He is known for his diverse performances, ranging from action to drama and comedy, and has won several awards, including three National Film Awards for Best Actor. Photo courtesy: Screenshot grab from X video Kolkata/IBNS: "I don't have words," said veteran Indian actor Mithun Chakraborty in his initial remark after the central government announced he would be conferred Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest award conferred in India in the field of cinema. Speaking to ANI, Chakraborty said, "I don't have words. Neither I can laugh nor cry tears of joy. This is such a huge thing for someone like me who rose from nowhere literally. "I could not have imagined this. I am extremely happy. I dedicate this to my family and my fans across the world." #WATCH | Kolkata: On being announced to be conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke award, Actor and BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty says "I don't have words. Neither I can laugh nor cry. This is such a big thing... I could not have imagined this. I am extremely happy. I dedicate this pic.twitter.com/tZCtwLSyxV ANI (@ANI) September 30, 2024 Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister, announced on X on Monday, "Mithun Das remarkable cinematic journey inspires generations! "Honoured to announce that the Dadasaheb Phalke Selection Jury has decided to award legendary actor, Sh. Mithun Chakraborty Ji for his iconic contribution to Indian Cinema." Mithun Das remarkable cinematic journey inspires generations! Honoured to announce that the Dadasaheb Phalke Selection Jury has decided to award legendary actor, Sh. Mithun Chakraborty Ji for his iconic contribution to Indian Cinema. To be presented at the 70th National Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) September 30, 2024 Chakraborty, who is presently a political leader from the country's ruling BJP, will be honoured at the 70th National Film Awards ceremony on October 8. The veteran actor, who has three National Awards under his belt, was conferred India's third-highest civilian honour Padma Bhushan in January 2024. Chakraborty, made his debut with maestro Mrinal Sen's Mrigayaa in 1976. His portrayal of a Santhal rebel in Mrinal Sen's film earned him the national accolade. Chakraborty gained significant popularity in the 1980s with his role in Disco Dancer (1982), a film that became a major success both in India and internationally, establishing him as a dancing sensation. He became a household name with his iconic role in Disco Dancer, a film that not only showcased his exceptional dancing skills but also popularized disco music in Indian cinema. His performance in Agneepath also won him the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1990. Later, he won two more National Film Awards for his roles in Tahader Katha (1992) and Swami Vivekananda (1998). Over his extensive career, Chakraborty has acted in more than 350 films across various Indian languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Odia, Bhojpuri, and Telugu. He is known for his diverse performances, ranging from action to drama and comedy, and has won several awards, including three National Film Awards for Best Actor. PM Modi is 'delighted' Congratulating Chakraborty, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X, " Delighted that Shri Mithun Chakraborty Ji has been conferred the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award, recognizing his unparalleled contributions to Indian cinema. He is a cultural icon, admired across generations for his versatile performances. Congratulations and best wishes to him." In image The Life of Chuck./credit: TIFF Toronto/IBNS: Directed, edited and screenplayed by Mike Flanagan, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2024 film 'The Life Of Chuck,' adapted from Stephen Kings works, deviates between mystery and coming-of-age drama. As a short story told in reverse, and narrated by Nick Offerman deviating between mystery and coming-of-age drama, The Life of Chuck is divided into three acts each. The story kicks off with Act Three, showcasing the world falling apart from the perspective of a small American town. The most frequent topics of conversation in this town include the latest catastrophic news bites and people asking one another about the curious billboards of a man named Charles Chuck Krantz (played by Tom Hiddleston) for 39 great years and leaving them to wonder if he is a doctor, a radio host, or a local TV personality and speculate how this misfortune came to be. Feeling that the world is ending and Chuck is being bid farewell by everybody, the film explores something special about an ordinary accountant and why he wants this sendoff. Other characters in the film include an unemotional schoolteacher Marty (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) and his ex-wife, an exhausted nurse (Karen Gillan) who are also trying to make sense of all the mysterious Thanks Chuck! billboards, signs and TV ads. Amidst his connections including Marty, his ex-wife, her co-worker, his neighbour, and everyone else they know, Chucks life story soon begins to unravel going back to a childhood with grandfather Albie (Mark Hamill), The film moves onto Act Two and eventually Act One follows Hiddlestons character. A dance sequence between Chuck and a heartbroken young girl, Lauren (Annalise Basso), on the street depicting a life lived to the fullest in spite of regrets. In its concluding segment, the movie follows Chucks childhood through a nostalgic story, in which Chuckis taught about accounting by his grandfather Albie, who also inclucates in Chuck the love for dancing, but is kept in the dark from a prophetic secret in the attic. The intimate, reflective, and simple story, 'The Life of Chuck''s underlying message is learning to embrace precious moments in the face of adversity. The film was introduced at the world premiere at 2024 TIFF with a quote from King himself: When an old man dies, a library burns down". The winner of the top audience award prize, Flanagan in a statement thanked TIFF, Im absolutely overwhelmed. Were so grateful that The Life of Chuck connected with audiences in such a powerful way, but never expected this. (Reported by Asha Bajaj) Photo Courtesy: IDF X page The Israeli military on Sunday said another top leader of the Iran-backed armed outfit Hezbollah group has been eliminated. IDF said it had eliminated Hezbollah's Preventative Security Unit Commander Nabil Qaouk. He was eliminated during an airstrike in Beirut. IDF posted on X: "ELIMINATED: The Commander of Hezbollah's Preventative Security Unit and a member of their Executive Council, Nabil Qaouk, was eliminated in a precise IDF strike." "Qaouk was close to Hezbollah's senior commanders and was directly engaged in terrorist attacks against the State of Israel and its citizens. He joined Hezbollah in the 1980s and was regarded as an important source of expertise in his field, having served as the Deputy Commander of the southern region on the Operational Council, Commander of the southern region and Deputy Commander of the Operational Council," it said. The IDF said it will continue to strike and eliminate the commanders within the Hezbollah terrorist organization and will act against anyone who threatens the citizens of the State of Israel. Israel, earlier confirmed Hassan Nasrallah, the chief of Iran-backed Hezbollah militia group, was killed during an airstrike in Beirut. The conflict between IDF and Hezbollah has intensified in recent times. According to media reports, the Israeli airstrikes on the terror group this week left over 700 people dead in Lebanon. Speaking from Beirut, Imran Riza, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Lebanon, said that for nearly a year, the countrys people and especially those in the south had lived in fear that the war in Gaza could come to them. Today across Lebanon, thousands of people in rural communities previously unaffected by Israeli targeting of Hezbollah infrastructure have fled bombardment and widespread destruction that have claimed at least 700 lives, injured thousands and uprooted around 120,000 people within mere hours, he said, adding: We are running into people that are saying, Whats the way to Tripoli? How do we get to there? The UN aid coordinators comments come amid increasingly intense exchanges of fire across the UN-patrolled line of separation between Lebanon and Israel since 7 October when war erupted in the Gaza Strip. Last weeks extraordinary targeting of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies left hundreds dead and signalled the start of intense Israeli bombardment in Lebanon and retaliatory strikes by Hezbollah. Photo Courtesy: Australian Federal Police website Two foreign nationals have been charged over two unrelated drug importations, with 27kg of cocaine and 21kg of methamphetamine with a combined estimated street value of $28.7 million seized at Sydney Airport in the space of 48 hours, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said on Sunday. A Canadian-Ecuadorian dual national, 41, has been charged with allegedly importing six kilograms of cocaine concealed in his underpants on 21 September, 2024. "On the mans arrival at Sydney Airport, Australian Border Force (ABF) officers identified abnormalities in the mans visa application," the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said in a statement. Officers conducted a search of the man and located a package around his groin area, positioned between two pairs of underpants and secured with electrical tape. ABF officers removed the package which contained a liquid substance which was tested and returned a positive result for cocaine. The matter was referred to the AFP. AFP officers attended and arrested the man and he was charged with importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, contrary to section 307.1 of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth). The offence carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Two days later (Monday, 23 September, 2024), AFP officers charged a US national, 23, with allegedly importing 21kg of cocaine and 21kg of methamphetamine concealed in two large suitcases. On the mans arrival from Los Angeles, USA, ABF officers located 28 suspicious packages in the mans two suitcases during a routine inspection. The contents of the packages were tested and returned positive results for both cocaine and methamphetamine. AFP officers seized the suitcases which allegedly contained a total of 42kg of border controlled drugs. The 23-year-old was arrested and charged with two counts of importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug, contrary to section 307.1 of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth). The offence carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. The 41-year-old man appeared in the Downing Centre Local Court on 22 September, 2024 where he was refused bail. He will return to the same court on 21 November, 2024. The 23-year-old man appeared in the Downing Centre Local Court on 24 September, 2024 where he was refused bail. He will return to the same court on 27 November, 2024. AFP Acting Sydney Airport Police Commander Dom Stephenson said illicit substances, including cocaine and methamphetamine, inflicted misery on the Australian community. "Despite all the risks involved, we are still arresting people attempting to bring illicit drugs into our country through our airports," Det. A/Supt Stephenson said. When individuals travel to Australia with drugs hidden in their possession, it should come as no surprise they will be detected and face the full consequences of the law. "The AFP and our partners are working tirelessly to prevent airports being used as part of the criminal supply chain. ABF Acting Superintendent Andrew Snook said these detections showed that travellers were not comprehending the life-altering consequences when making such brazen attempts to smuggle illicit substances into our country. Criminal syndicates are exploiting young travellers who may not understand the risks of importing border controlled drugs into Australia, all for their own financial gain, A/Supt Snook said. ABF officers utilise a combination of intelligence, observation, and intuition when it comes to identifying passengers who may be attempting to smuggle drugs into the country. The quantities alleged to have been stopped at Sydney Airport would have resulted in millions of street deals flooded into the illicit drug market and put thousands of lives at risk. We as border protection and law enforcement agencies must do all we can to disrupt the distribution and importation of these harmful substances into our community. Photo Courtesy: UN Photo/Loey Felipe Egypts Foreign Affairs Minister Badr Ahmed Mohamed Abdelatty said it is time to ring the alarm bells as the international system is currently showing its structural shortcomings that come from ineffectiveness, double standards and inequality at a time of occupation, hunger, terrorism and injustice. Sketching out a path forward, he first stressed that there is no alternative to the multilateral system. At the same time, Israels brutal aggression against Gaza and its current attacks on the West Bank place shame on international institutions, which are unable to put an end to these aggressions. Condemning Israels escalation and its attacks on Lebanon, which are pushing the region into the abyss, he said efforts must put an end to the bloodshed and a start to the immediate delivery of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza. Outlining other steps, he said multilateral banks must be modernised, and international institutions must be made more representative. He also voiced Egypts support for an expanded Security Council with more permanent seats, including for African nations. As for mounting climate challenges, he said efforts must be linked to adequate resources to do so, including through the Loss and Damage Fund, alongside national plans that align with the agreed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this vein, Cairo will continue to work on development initiatives with neighbours and partners in the Nile Basin. However, Egypt remains concerned about Ethiopias actions related to the Renaissance Dam project, which do not consider the needs of nations living downstream. Still, the world needs the UN to address a range of challenges from cybercrime and artificial intelligence to collective security. On the latter, maintaining peace and security is the raison detre of the Organization, he said, regretting to note that some global agreements, including nuclear non-proliferation treaties, are being flouted. At the same time, the Security Council has been unable to stop ongoing conflicts. Committed to strengthening the UNs role, he said the root causes of conflict must be addressed and efforts much be bolstered to truly maintain peace. One way to resolve the outbreak crises is to strengthen State institutions so they can fill vacuums created by political insecurity, he added. For its part, Egypt remains committed to working with regional and international partners to revitalise the multilateral system, he said. Despite ongoing crises and challenges, Egypt will continue working to bolster its human capital through a national dialogue that prioritises human rights and democracy and to maintain peace and security in the region and the world over. Our young people will take forward this vision, he said. They are the ones who will craft their future and preserve human lives without discrimination on the basis of race, gender or otherwise, all within the multilateral system. Photo Courtesy: UN Photo/Manuel Elias The Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia highlighted the countrys work to support peace efforts in the region and beyond in his address to the UN General Assembly on Saturday. Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud said the world is seeing an increase in crises, and unfortunately the international community is just looking to manage them, rather than find concrete solutions. In this context of tensions between countries, we wish to warn against political polarization, he said, underlining the need for dialogue and cooperation. He said Saudi Arabia categorically rejects "all crimes perpetrated by Israel against the kindred Palestinian people, with the war in Gaza representing just the latest chapter in their suffering. Last November, the kingdom hosted the joint Arab-Islamic Summit on the crisis and works to adopt resolutions and decisions that reflect the will of Arab and Muslim people and to stop the bloodshed, ensure unhindered humanitarian access, and realize the legitimate demands of the Palestinian people in particular, the creation of an independent State. Saudi Arabia therefore welcomed the 10 May 2024 adoption of a UN General Assembly resolution which said that the State of Palestine fulfills the conditions to become a UN Member State. Prince Faisal said his country has provided more than $5 billion to aid the Palestinian people since the start of the war in Gaza last October, and it is working with international and UN aid agencies to bring $106 billion in humanitarian projects. Some $106 billion in services, food, medications and other needs is being provided together with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). He stressed that it is essential to find a fair solution to the Palestinian crisis, adding that the prevalence of impunity, the lack of respect of legal obligations, is encouraging Israel to continue its escalation. Turning to the wider region, he said that Saudia Arabia has taken measures towards ensuring appeasement and development, such as concluding an agreement with Iran on restoring diplomatic relations. We hope that Iran will cooperate with the international community, in particular, vis-a-vis its nuclear programme and its ballistic missile programme, he added. The kingdom has resumed relations with war-ravaged Syria to strengthen cooperation on common issues because we are convinced that finding a solution to this crisis will enable us to entrench peace and stability in our region, he continued. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia is supporting all efforts towards a solution to the crisis in Yemen and in the Red Sea, where attacks launched by Houthi rebels in the country are threatening international shipping. In Sudan, we reaffirm our staunch position to preserve peace and stability, he said. Engagement has included hosting peace talks in Jeddah, with a third round in the works. Meanwhile, Afghanistan cannot be left by the waysides of its region and the international community, or be a prey to terrorists, he said. That's why it's necessary to put an end to the humanitarian and security situation in Afghanistan that is providing fertile ground to different groups and militias to continue their activities. The Foreign Minister said the international community must bring an end to the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince is continuing efforts in this regard. We have announced the freeing of several prisoners of different nationalities. We hosted a meeting of different officials from different countries, with the participation of several different States and international organizations. We stand ready to continue our mediation efforts between the parties to the conflict, he said. BEIJING, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping awarded the highest state honors on Sunday ahead of the National Day, urging the nation to learn from heroes and role models to pool strength for building a strong China. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, presented medals to recipients of national medals and honorary titles at a ceremony held ahead of the 75th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China, which falls on Oct. 1. Four people, including veteran war hero Huang Zongde and medical scientist Wang Zhenyi, were awarded the Medal of the Republic. Ten individuals, including border patrolman Bayika Kalidibek, technician Xu Zhenchao, and acclaimed actress Tian Hua, were awarded national honorary titles. Dilma Rousseff, former Brazilian president and president of the New Development Bank, received the Friendship Medal. Addressing the ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, Xi said the CPC has led the Chinese people in creating the twin miracles of rapid economic growth and long-term social stability. The country is now in a crucial period for building a great modern socialist country in all respects and achieving national rejuvenation through Chinese modernization, he said. "All Party members and people of all ethnic groups should take heroes and role models as examples, unite and strive forward to form a mighty force to build a strong China," Xi stated. Xi emphasized the need to bear in mind the ambition of making the country greater. "We should be loyal to the country, love the country, integrate personal development goals into the overall national development, and realize personal value in fulfilling duties for the country and serving the people," he said. He encouraged the Chinese people to hone their skills and contribute to building a strong China. He urged them to strive for extraordinary achievements in ordinary job posts, and contribute to overcoming challenges related to development and reform while safeguarding social harmony and stability. "A great era calls for heroes and fosters heroes. A galaxy of heroes emerging generation after generation will ensure the lasting success of the Party and the people's cause," Xi remarked. Lauding Rousseff as an outstanding representative of China's old and good friends, Xi said the Chinese people will never forget international friends who have made significant contributions to the country's development and the friendship between the Chinese and foreign peoples. The Chinese people stand ready to work together with people from various countries to safeguard world peace and promote common development, he added. Speaking at the ceremony, Huang Zongde, 93, said that the honor belongs to every member of the people's armed forces and all the heroes who sacrificed their lives for China's national independence, the liberation of the people, and the endeavor to make China prosperous and strong. In her address, Rousseff said the medal fills her with immense honor, pledging continued efforts to help strengthen the mutually beneficial cooperation between Brazil and China. About 1,000 people, including senior leaders Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi and Han Zheng, attended the ceremony, which was presided over by Cai Qi. Xi and other leaders had group photos taken with the award recipients after the ceremony. Smoke billows from a site targeted by shelling in the southern Lebanese village of Zaita. Photo Courtesy: UNICEF/Dar Al Mussawir At least three Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) members died in an airstrike conducted by Israel in Beirut' s Kola region on Monday. The strike near the Cola Bridge, a major intersection in the city, is the first time a location within the Lebanese capitals city limits has been hit in the current war, reported CNN. PFLP said those killed in the attack were identified as Mohammed Abed Al-Al, a member of its political bureau and head of the military-security department, Imad Odeh, a member of its military department and military command in Lebanon, and Abdul Rahman Abed Al-Al. The Israeli military on Sunday said another top leader of the Iran-backed armed outfit Hezbollah group has been eliminated. IDF said it had eliminated Hezbollah's Preventative Security Unit Commander Nabil Qaouk. He was eliminated during an airstrike in Beirut. IDF posted on X: "ELIMINATED: The Commander of Hezbollah's Preventative Security Unit and a member of their Executive Council, Nabil Qaouk, was eliminated in a precise IDF strike." ELIMINATED: The Commander of Hezbollah's Preventative Security Unit and a member of their Executive Council, Nabil Qaouk, was eliminated in a precise IDF strike. Qaouk was close to Hezbollah's senior commanders and was directly engaged in terrorist attacks against the State of pic.twitter.com/dcvKLRkMbf Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 29, 2024 "Qaouk was close to Hezbollah's senior commanders and was directly engaged in terrorist attacks against the State of Israel and its citizens. He joined Hezbollah in the 1980s and was regarded as an important source of expertise in his field, having served as the Deputy Commander of the southern region on the Operational Council, Commander of the southern region and Deputy Commander of the Operational Council," it said. The IDF said it will continue to strike and eliminate the commanders within the Hezbollah terrorist organization and will act against anyone who threatens the citizens of the State of Israel. Israel, earlier confirmed Hassan Nasrallah, the chief of Iran-backed Hezbollah militia group, was killed during an airstrike in Beirut. The conflict between IDF and Hezbollah has intensified in recent times. According to media reports, the Israeli airstrikes on the terror group this week left over 700 people dead in Lebanon. Speaking from Beirut, Imran Riza, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Lebanon, said that for nearly a year, the countrys people and especially those in the south had lived in fear that the war in Gaza could come to them. Today across Lebanon, thousands of people in rural communities previously unaffected by Israeli targeting of Hezbollah infrastructure have fled bombardment and widespread destruction that have claimed at least 700 lives, injured thousands and uprooted around 120,000 people within mere hours, he said, adding: We are running into people that are saying, Whats the way to Tripoli? How do we get to there? The UN aid coordinators comments come amid increasingly intense exchanges of fire across the UN-patrolled line of separation between Lebanon and Israel since 7 October when war erupted in the Gaza Strip. Last weeks extraordinary targeting of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies left hundreds dead and signalled the start of intense Israeli bombardment in Lebanon and retaliatory strikes by Hezbollah. Top Hamas leader in Lebanon Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin killed in Israeli airstrike. Photo Courtesy: Unsplash The Israel Defense Forces on Monday confirmed top Hamas leader in Lebanon Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin was killed during an airstrike in Tyre city. "Sherif was responsible for coordinating Hamas' terror activities in Lebanon with Hezbollah operatives, as well as Hamas efforts in Lebanon to recruit operatives and acquire weapons," IDF said on X. Fateh Sherif, Head of the Lebanon Branch in the Hamas terrorist organization, was eliminated in a precise IAF strike. Sherif was responsible for coordinating Hamas' terror activities in Lebanon with Hezbollah operatives, as well as Hamas efforts in Lebanon to recruit pic.twitter.com/nEwIdOnp6o Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 30, 2024 "Fateh Sherif was also an accredited @UNRWA member, and was the head of the UNRWA Teachers Union in Lebanon," the post said. Meanwhile, at least three Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) members died in an airstrike conducted by Israel in Beirut's Kola region on Monday. The strike near the Cola Bridge, a major intersection in the city, is the first time a location within the Lebanese capitals city limits has been hit in the current war, reported CNN. PFLP said those killed in the attack were identified as Mohammed Abed Al-Al, a member of its political bureau and head of the military-security department, Imad Odeh, a member of its military department and military command in Lebanon, and Abdul Rahman Abed Al-Al. The Israeli military on Sunday said another top leader of the Iran-backed armed outfit Hezbollah group has been eliminated. IDF said it had eliminated Hezbollah's Preventative Security Unit Commander Nabil Qaouk. He was eliminated during an airstrike in Beirut. IDF posted on X: "ELIMINATED: The Commander of Hezbollah's Preventative Security Unit and a member of their Executive Council, Nabil Qaouk, was eliminated in a precise IDF strike." "Qaouk was close to Hezbollah's senior commanders and was directly engaged in terrorist attacks against the State of Israel and its citizens. He joined Hezbollah in the 1980s and was regarded as an important source of expertise in his field, having served as the Deputy Commander of the southern region on the Operational Council, Commander of the southern region and Deputy Commander of the Operational Council," it said. The IDF said it will continue to strike and eliminate the commanders within the Hezbollah terrorist organization and will act against anyone who threatens the citizens of the State of Israel. Israel, earlier confirmed Hassan Nasrallah, the chief of Iran-backed Hezbollah militia group, was killed during an airstrike in Beirut. The conflict between IDF and Hezbollah has intensified in recent times. According to media reports, the Israeli airstrikes on the terror group this week left over 700 people dead in Lebanon. Photo Courtesy: IDF X page The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday confirmed the killing of the commander of Hezbollahs medium-range rockets unit during an airstrike in Beirut. He was identified as Eid Hassan Nashar. Giving details about the 'elimination' of the commander, the group posted on X: " Hezbollahs Missiles and Rockets Force. IAF fighter jets struck and eliminated commanders and infrastructure over the last week." DISMANTLED: Hezbollahs Missiles and Rockets Force. IAF fighter jets struck and eliminated commanders and infrastructure over the last week. During an airstrike in Beirut on Saturday, Eid Hassan Nashar, the Commander of Hezbollahs Medium-Range Rocket Unit, was eliminated. pic.twitter.com/x8zaWsLK0j Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 30, 2024 "During an airstrike in Beirut on Saturday, Eid Hassan Nashar, the Commander of Hezbollahs Medium-Range Rocket Unit, was eliminated. Eid was a veteran commander in Hezbollah and served a significant role in the unit's day-to-day operations. In the past, he served as the Commander of the Surface-to-Surface Rocket Unit and Deputy Commander of the Badr Unit," the force said. "We will continue operating to dismantle the capabilities of the Hezbollah terrorist army," IDF said. The Israeli government has informed the USA that it is conducting limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon which is located close to the border, a top State Department official said. They have, at this time, told us that those are limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border, but were in continuous conversations with them about it, spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a press briefing as quoted by CNN. Israel said on Saturday it killed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs, escalating tensions across the Middle East. Describing Nasrallah as "one of the greatest enemies of the State of Israel," the Israeli military claimed that his elimination "makes the world a safer place." The Israeli military confirmed that Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for 32 years, was killed in Friday's airstrike in Beirut, the stronghold of the Iran-backed group. Hezbollah confirmed his death on Saturday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Nasrallahs death was retribution for the killing of Israelis and other foreign nationals, including Americans. He added that had Nasrallah survived, he would have rapidly rebuilt Hezbollahs operational strength. U.S. President Joe Biden called Nasrallah's death a "measure of justice," reasserting the stance of the U.S., which supplies arms to Israel. More than one million people across Lebanon have been uprooted by ongoing and deadly Israeli airstrikes across the country, including one reported early Monday morning in a residential area of central Beirut, adding to fears of a full-scale invasion. In a situation update published on Monday the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 11 health workers had been killed and 10 injured between 17 and 28 September. Some 37 health centres have been forced to close due to the fighting out of 317 in total, and three hospitals treating patients have been evacuated. Many healthcare workers have been displaced especially in the south, Bekaa and South Beirut, WHO reported. WHO is continued to support Lebanons public health emergency response with staffing, financial and technical support, helping coordinate referrals and boosting trauma surgery capacity. Meanwhile, some 100,000 of the displaced have reached neighbouring Syria, according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. Photo Courtesy: Unsplash Armed terrorists stormed into an under-construction building in Khuda-i-Abadan area of Panjgur town in Pakistan on Saturday when they killed seven labourers, media reports said. The labourers belonged to Multan region in Pakistan. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have condemned the deadly attack on the labourers. The PM also sought a report on the incident from Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti. At the time of the attack, the construction workers were sleeping in the same room of the house that they were building in Mohalla Abdul Rehman, police told Dawn News, adding that the armed men opened indiscriminate fire with automatic weapons. Seven labourers were killed on the spot and another was injured in the firing, Inspector General Police Moazzam Jah Ansari told Dawn. Police rushed to the spot after the incident came to light. The victims were taken to a local hospital. Photo Courtesy: X page video grab The Indian government on Monday said it is coordinating with the Nepali government to ensure the safe evacuation of its nationals currently stranded in the flood-hit neighbouring country. In an X post, the Indian Embassy in Nepal posted: " There has been widespread damage due to floods and landslides on account of record rainfall over the weekend. Our thoughts are with everyone affected." "The Embassy has received intimation regarding citizens in who are stranded because of this situation," the Embassy said. " The Embassy is in touch with some of these groups and arranging for their safe return. Embassy is also coordinating closely with Nepali authorities to facilitate the evacuation of Indian citizens who are stranded," the X post said. Amid incessant rains,Nepal is recording heavy floods and landslides which has left at least 190 people dead. So far, 30 people have gone missing. Nepal's Home Ministry spokesperson Rishiram Tiwari told The Himalayan Times that 194 people were injured in the incidents of natural disaster. He said that more than 4,500 disaster-affected people have been rescued so far by mobilizing all security agencies for search, rescue and relief after the floods and landslides. Indian citizens in Nepal who require assistance may contact the following emergency numbers (with WhatsApp): +977-9851316807 - [Emergency Helpline] +977-9851107021- [Attache (Consular)] +977-9749833292 - [ASO (Consular)] Photo Courtesy: Matthew Miller X page video grab The Israeli government has informed the USA that it is conducting limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon which is located close to the border, a top State Department official said. They have, at this time, told us that those are limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border, but were in continuous conversations with them about it, spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a press briefing as quoted by CNN. Israel said on Saturday it killed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs, escalating tensions across the Middle East. Describing Nasrallah as "one of the greatest enemies of the State of Israel," the Israeli military claimed that his elimination "makes the world a safer place." The Israeli military confirmed that Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for 32 years, was killed in Friday's airstrike in Beirut, the stronghold of the Iran-backed group. Hezbollah confirmed his death on Saturday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Nasrallahs death was retribution for the killing of Israelis and other foreign nationals, including Americans. He added that had Nasrallah survived, he would have rapidly rebuilt Hezbollahs operational strength. U.S. President Joe Biden called Nasrallah's death a "measure of justice," reasserting the stance of the U.S., which supplies arms to Israel. More than one million people across Lebanon have been uprooted by ongoing and deadly Israeli airstrikes across the country, including one reported early Monday morning in a residential area of central Beirut, adding to fears of a full-scale invasion. In a situation update published on Monday the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 11 health workers had been killed and 10 injured between 17 and 28 September. Some 37 health centres have been forced to close due to the fighting out of 317 in total, and three hospitals treating patients have been evacuated. Many healthcare workers have been displaced especially in the south, Bekaa and South Beirut, WHO reported. WHO is continued to support Lebanons public health emergency response with staffing, financial and technical support, helping coordinate referrals and boosting trauma surgery capacity. Meanwhile, some 100,000 of the displaced have reached neighbouring Syria, according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. The outflow continues, said UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, in a tweet, accompanied by a picture of hundreds of people squeezed together at a Syrian-Lebanese border crossing. Grandi noted that the agencys teams were on hand at four crossing points inside Syria to support new arrivals. The development follows a dramatic escalation of hostilities between the Israel military and the Hezbollah armed group based in Lebanon, whose longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in a strike on Friday. On Monday, Hamas announced that its leader in Lebanon, Fatah Sherif al-Amin, had been killed in an airstrike on a refugee camp for Palestinians, along with his family. Humanitarian relief is being provided by the refugee agency, UNHCR and other UN agencies including UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, which has opened nine shelters accommodating 3,350 people. UNRWA provides in these shelters aid based on impartiality and non-discrimination, hosting Palestine refugees, Lebanese and Syrian refugees, supporting all in need, said UNRWA Lebanon spokesperson Fadi El Tayyar. The UN aid coordinating office, OCHA, said that 90 per cent of the one million people displaced fled their homes in just the last week. Displacement now surpasses the 2006 war, triggered by intense Israeli strikes and orders for civilian evacuations, said OCHA in a tweet. According to Lebanons health ministry, Israeli attacks have killed 105 people since Sunday across the country. Love is Blind, Habibi has set its OTT release date. The basic concept of the show is that in search of love, the show follows fifteen men and fifteen women who live in the same city. Over a ten-day period, the men and women go on dates in specially designed "pods" where they can communicate via speaker but not see one another. Now, Love is Blind, Habibi is going to be released on Netflix on 10th October 2024. Plot Screenrant reports that the first season of Love Is Blind: Habibi will be added to the increasing list of reality shows that have been given Middle Eastern franchises. The Middle Eastern variation of Love Is Blind will begin with the individuals entering the pods, dating, getting engaged, and then meeting for the first time, much like other editions of the show. Cast and crew Love is Blind: Habibi will be hosted by Saudi TV duo Elham Ali and Khaled Saqer. Originally the show was Love Is Blind created by Chris Coelen and produced by Kinetic Content. In addition to receiving applications, the casting crew actively recruits through social media, bars, supermarkets, and religious organizations. Psychological assessments and background checks are performed by an outside organization too. Love Is Blind and its other languages For the unversed, after six seasons, Love Is Blind was adapted into eight more foreign languages: Love is blind: Argentina, Love is blind: Mexico, Love is blind: Habibi, Love is blind: Brazil, Love is blind: Japan, Love is blind: Sweden, Love is blind: UK, Love is blind: Germany. For more news and updates from the world of OTT, and celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment. Do you think Anupam Kher looks like Mahatma Gandhi? An Ahmedabad trader was scammed because someone handed him fake Rs 500 notes that had his image instead of Mahatma Gandhi's. Turns out, it was Rs 1.60 crore fraud that has now been reported to the Police. Anupam Kher's face replaces Mahatma Gandhi on fake Rs 500 note ! ???? ! pic.twitter.com/zZtnzFz34I Anupam Kher (@AnupamPKher) September 29, 2024 Not just fans, even Anupam Kher was amused and shocked at the same time. Sharing the news, he wrote, "My photo instead of Mahatma Gandhi's on a Rs 500 note??? Kuch bhi ho sakta hai (Anything can happen)." All about Anupam Kher fake Rs 500 note case! Mehul Thakkar, a bullion trader, revealed that one of his employees was approached by some people for a deal involving 2,100 grams of gold which were valued at Rs 1.6 crore. The men delivered Rs 1.3 crores in the case and promised to pay the rest of the amount the next day. They vanished into thin air after handing over the money. When they checked the money, the notes turned out to be fake bearing Anupam Kher's face instead of Mahatma Gandhi's. Thakkar has now reported the matter at Navrangpura police station on September 24. Anupam Kher on currency notes pic.twitter.com/f5n58Q5COK Rajabets (@smileagainraja) September 29, 2024 The police are investigating the matter. They revealed that these men contacted Thakkar via Prashant Patel, a jewelry shop manager who has shared a long-standing business relationship with him. It was Patel who told Thakkar that these men won't be able to transfer the entire amount and would only be able to pay Rs 3 crore in cash. The Police have access to CCTV footage and they are trying to find the suspects. Even they are shocked at this fraud. "This is a unique case of counterfeit currency with a Bollywood twist. We are working to identify and apprehend the culprits," said a Navrangpura police officer. Also Read: Anupam Kher Once Slapped A Journalist & Celebs Including Salman Khan & Sanjay Dutt Stood By Him For more news and updates from the world of OTT, celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment. Gaurav Taneja's personal life has become a matter of public debate. Is divorce on the cards with his wife Ritu Rathee? If yes, is his extra-marital affair the reason? While his wife has broken her silence without revealing the reason why they are separated, she objected to audiences putting all the blame on her husband and requested privacy. Amid all this, here's all you need to know about Gaurav Teneja, a former AirAsia pilot turned YouTuber who now earns more than the CEO of his ex-company. Who is Gaurav Taneja? Qualifications The 38-year-old did electrical engineering at IIT Kharagpur in 2008. He is also a certified nutritionist and professional bodybuilder. Apart from this, he also pursued law from Delhi University after his legal battle with AirAsia. He passed the first semester of LLB but had to quit it due to "attendance issue". Personal Life He is married to Ritu Rathee Taneja, a Captain, and has two daughters with her - Kiara and Pihu. His legal battle with AirAisa Gaurav Taneja first made waves in 2020 when he was fired by AirAsia, where he was working as a pilot. Reason? He tweeted about Taneja's violations of safety regulations by the company. First, he was suspended and then fired. Taneja had good followers on social media by then. He was known as Flying Beast, his social media handle name, which had more than 7 million followers at that time. His post took the social media by storm. Here are the three things he pointed out: Fear of taking sick leave - he said that the company discouraged pilots to take sick leaves and gave lower bonuses to those who availed them. He said that any other job would permit a sick person to work but a pilot working when they are mentally or physically not fit would mean risking the lives of 200 people. SOPs not being followed - He also highlighted that the airline was not strictly adhering to the SoPs that were issued by the government on flying amidst COVID-19 times. Flap 3 or Flap 4 - Flaps are located on the trailing edge of the wing which help in controlling the speed of an aircraft wing at a given weight, thus reducing the landing and take-off distance. Flap 3 is commonly used by most airlines as it is fuel efficient and helps saving about 8kg of fuel. As per Taneja, AirAsia had mandated the usage of Flap 3 for 98 percent of landings. Taneja, however, used it only for 70 percent of his landings. As he pointed out these safety violations, he was suspended and later terminated for "standing up for the safe operations of an aircraft and its passengers." Did he win the legal battle? Following his claims, a probe was initiated and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), a statutory body of the Government of India to regulate civil aviation in India, intervened and suspended two senior executives at AirAsia India for three months. Gaurav Taneja (@flyingbeast320) August 10, 2020 He now earns more than the CEO of AirAsia After his termination, Gaurav Taneja became a full-time YouTuber and would run both his channels - FitMuscle TV and Flying Beast extensively. In an interview with Youtuber Raj Shammani, he revealed that he earned more than the CEO of AirAisa who expelled him from his job. Gaurav Taneja's arrest In 2022, the YouTuber was arrested on his birthday after he asked his fans to gather at the Sector 51 Metro Station in Noida. He of course didn't expect a huge crowd would gather at the metro station. His wife Ritu Rathee also posted to her fans that they have booked an entire metro for the fan meet up on her husband's birthday. As a result of which, Taneja was booked under IPC sections 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) for violating the prohibitory orders imposed in Noida given the rising Covid-19 cases at that time. He was arrested for disobeying the orders and an FIR was filed against him in the matter. Also Read: Did Gaurav Taneja share his own 'extra-marital affair' story in this viral video? Fans think so For more news and updates from the world of OTT, and celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment. Selena Gomez ditched her usual red carpet gowns for a little black dress as she attended Sabrina Carpenters freshly launched Short n Sweet tour in New York City last night. The Emmy-nominated artist was seen channeling her pop diva avatar while hogging all the limelight at the VIP stand of a fully sold-out venue. While fans - who were straight-away taken aback by her superstar presence - have hoarded the internet with Selena's pics and videos, the Love On crooner also took to Instagram to drop a fiery video of herself from the concert. Like most of us, the video also sent her beau Benny Blanco in a total tizzy who took to the comment section to write 'Can't Keep My Hands to Myself'. Selena Gomez attends Sabrina's concert Taking a page out of her BFF Taylor Swift's handbook of women supporting women, Selena put on an exceptional display of girl power at Sabrina's NYC concert. The Only Murders in the Building star was seen having the best time of her life with her friends on the starry night, elevating the atmosphere with her pop star aura. In the video shared by Selena on Instagram, the Disney icon was seen letting it loose on Sabrina's song Juno from her recently released album Short n Sweet. Singing along to the track's lyrics, Selena aptly displayed the excitement and passion that Sabrina sings about in the song. She dedicated her tasteful performance to her boyfriend Benny as she tagged him while sharing the video on Instagram. With her sultry moves complimented by her LBD, Selena was definitely the star of the night, blending her fanbase with Sabrina's and leaving everyone equally in complete awe. The Disney alum was all smiles to the cameras while immersed in Carpenters musical land. In a straight out of Disneyland full circle moment, a fan on X also pointed out that almost 11 years ago, Carpenter was in the audience at Gomezs concert, and it's wholesome to see the seats reversed. Selena's upcoming projects Selena, who was last seen in the 4th season of Only Murders in the Building will next feature in Emilia Perez. The film, written and directed by Paris' Jacques Audiard, releases on Netflix on November 19. For more news and updates from the world of OTT, and celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment. Looks like IIFA didnt vibe with everyone this year. Acclaimed Kannada filmmaker Hemanth M Rao didnt hold back on social media, calling out the IIFA (International Indian Film Academy Awards) in a fiery Instagram post. The director behind the critically-acclaimed Sapta Sagaradaache Ello (Side A and Side B) spilled some major tea, accusing IIFA of straight-up disrespecting him by making him wait till 3 a.m. without any recognition. Hemanth M Rao's fiery Instagram post Raos rant wasnt just a quick diss; it was a full-on essay about how the industry needs to do better. This comes right after the buzz of IIFA Utsavam 2024, where stars like Aishwarya Rai and Mani Ratnam took home major wins. But it looks like not everyones feeling the love. The 2024 IIFA were hosted in Abu Dhabi over the weekend, celebrating the finest of Bollywood as well as the four south industries of Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. The award presentation for south films, known as IIFA Utsavam, contained awards in all four languages, however the categories were inconsistent, as various Instagram users noted. Industry needs to do better - Hemanth M Rao Hemanth Rao expressed his dissatisfaction with the IIFA experience on Instagram on Sunday night, referring to it as "a massive inconvenience" and "extremely disrespectful." Even though he had been in the business for more than 10 years and had attended numerous award shows, he noted that this specific event stuck out for all the wrong reasons. He claims that although it's standard procedure for winners to be flown in and hosted for the event, he waited until three in the morning to learn that there was no prize in this instance. To underscore how awful the entire IIFA was, he added that his music director, Charan Raj, experienced the same thing. Not bitter about fellow director's win In his statement, Hemanth made it clear that he is not upset over fellow Kannada director Arun Sudhir's victory. "Just to clarify, I am completely fine with @tharunsudhir winning. Good luck to him and his crew. "This is more about how my time and energy were wasted," he added. His post resonated with fans, who flooded the comments with both praise and criticism of the IIFA. When Kaatera won for best song, one fan commented that the awards were clearly rigged, arguing that prizes should represent quality rather than popularity. Another fan agreed, stating they should be called out and emphasising that they are there to support true art, noting that these commercial prizes are a joke. US Senator Mark Kelly revealed on Sunday that Israel used an American-made guided weapon to kill Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The weapon in question was a 2,000-pound (900 kg) Mark 84 series bomb, according to Kelly, marking a pivotal moment in the escalating conflict. Nasrallah, who had led Hezbollah for over three decades, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Friday. His death creates a significant void in Hezbollah's leadership at a time of heightened tensions in the region. Israel used 2,000-pound bomb to target Nasrallah Speaking about the strike, Kelly, who heads the Senate Armed Services Airland Subcommittee, told reporters: We see more use of guided munitions, JDAMs, and we continue to provide those weapons. JDAM refers to Joint Direct Attack Munitions, and he added, That 2,000-pound bomb that was used, thats a Mark 84 series bomb, to take out Nasrallah, as reported by Reuters. Although the United States is Israels main arms supplier, especially since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict, the White House clarified that Israel did not inform them beforehand about the strike on Nasrallah. US President Joe Biden only became aware of it once Israeli planes were already airborne. Nasrallahs body was reportedly recovered on Saturday, according to an AFP source. His remains were washed and placed in a shroud, though no plans for his funeral or burial have been confirmed. Nasrallah had been regarded as one of Lebanons most powerful figures, leading Hezbollah since its formal inception in 1985. He was born in 1960 and played a key role in the groups anti-Israel stance, positioning the organization as Israels foremost enemy. Israel tracked Nasrallah using substance on his hand A surprising detail about the airstrike emerged from a report by IANS, stating that a man of Iranian origin had managed to shake hands with Nasrallah, smearing a substance on him that allowed Israeli forces to track his movements. This substance ultimately led to the precision strike. Though Nasrallahs body was found intact, speculation has arisen that he may have died from suffocation, possibly indicating a painful end. Who will lead Hezbollah after Nasrallahs death? With Nasrallahs death, Hezbollah faces the daunting task of finding a successor. The groups leadership does not include anyone as respected or influential as Nasrallah. His cousin, Hashem Safieddine, is widely viewed as the most likely candidate to succeed him, having overseen the organizations political affairs. However, it remains unclear if Safieddine survived the Israeli assault. Hezbollahs statement following Nasrallahs death made no reference to a successor, and the groups Shura Council is expected to convene in the coming days or weeks to determine its next leader. 7 Hezbollah commanders killed in Israeli escalation Nasrallahs death was part of a broader campaign by Israel, which has intensified its operations against Hezbollah in the past week. This escalation has resulted in the deaths of seven high-ranking commanders within the organization, including Nabil Kaouk, who was seen as a potential successor to Nasrallah. The other Hezbollah leaders who were killed in recent airstrikes include Ibrahim Aqil, Ahmad Wehbe, Ali Karaki, Mohammad Surour, and Ibrahim Kobeissi. This wave of losses has dealt a major blow to Hezbollahs leadership, raising concerns about the group's ability to maintain its influence. Israeli airstrikes target Houthi rebels in Yemen Israels military actions are not limited to Hezbollah. On Sunday, Israeli forces launched airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen following missile attacks by Houthi militants on Israel over the previous two days. According to the Israeli military, the strikes targeted power plants and a seaport in the Ras Issa and Hodeidah regions. The military stated, Over the past year, the Houthis have been operating under the direction and funding of Iran, and in cooperation with Iraqi militias in order to attack the State of Israel, undermine regional stability, and disrupt global freedom of navigation. Israel uses pager bombs against Hezbollah Also Read: Who is Hashem Safieddine, the possible successor to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah? In a separate covert operation, Israeli intelligence reportedly targeted Hezbollah members using pager bombs. Earlier this month, several members of the group were killed, and over 2,000 injured, when explosives embedded in their pagers detonated. This operation further weakened Hezbollah's ranks and highlighted Israels advanced intelligence capabilities in their ongoing confrontation with the organization. For more news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News. Netflix had an increase in cancellations in the days following its co-founder and chairman, Reed Hastings, endorsing Kamala Harris for president and contributing millions to her campaign. According to researcher Antenna, the number of cancellations, or churn in business terminology, nearly tripled in the United States following his endorsement. The streaming behemoth has the industry's lowest churn rate. US customers cancelled Netflix subscriptions following the donation BREAKING: Netflix Cancellations Surge After Hastings Backs Harris Netflix's U.S. cancellations nearly tripled after co-founder Reed Hastings endorsed Kamala Harris with a $7 million donation. pic.twitter.com/oDp8FZpslx Adrian Dittmann (@AdrianDittmann) September 30, 2024 Customers in the United States cancelled Netflix at a higher percentage in July (2.8%) than in any other month since February. This is primarily due to the company's choice to phase out its basic tier. Basic was the cheapest version of Netflix that did not include advertisements. But the five-day span following Hastings' support was exceptional, even in July. How did people on the internet react? People on the internet reacted very strongly after the donation, urging people to cancel their subscriptions. Here's what many people wrote. Netflix is garbage man Absolute trash for the mind (@creation247) September 30, 2024 I have been a member since 2007 and I stopped giving money to people who goes against my values. I canceled back in July Kurt (@GulledgeKurt) September 30, 2024 Netflix is a woke joke Wealth Turtle (@wealth_turtle) September 30, 2024 So I'm paying netflix, just so Harris takes the money? Hell no! Georgio (@FullGix) September 30, 2024 So I'm paying netflix, just so Harris takes the money? Hell no! Georgio (@FullGix) September 30, 2024 On July 22, Hastings, a longtime Democratic donor, posted an endorsement for Harris on the social networking platform X. A day later, Hastings informed The Information that he had donated $7 million to a pro-Harris super PAC. Shortly after Hastings' endorsement, supporters of Donald Trump began asking people to cancel the subscription. Some people used the hashtag #CancelNetflix to publish images of themselves closing their Netflix accounts. Three days after the contribution was made public, July 26 was the worst day for Netflix cancellations this year. Also read: Kamala Harris wears Rs 51 lakh Tiffany's link necklace to border, faces flak on the internet What do you think about this? Tell us in the comments. To stay updated on the stories that are going viral follow Indiatimes Trending. An Uber user in San Francisco, California, scheduled a ride using a ride-hailing service, unaware that their ordinary excursion would develop into an unexpected encounter with a startup founder. After entering the automobile, the passenger was welcomed by a poster taped to one of the seats. It stated that the driver has built a smartphone app and is seeking 1,000 downloads before pitching it to investors. Intrigued, the passenger struck into a conversation with the driver, Frederico Coutrim, who is developing an app to interpret communications in real-time. What did the poster read in the car? Chatting with our Uber driver who is building startup and looking for feedback. If anyone works in adjacent fields please hit him up pic.twitter.com/PS4NMSJSBY resham khanna (@Reshusaur) September 28, 2024 Reshan Khanna, the passenger's companion, posted a picture of the billboard on X (previously known as Twitter) to help Coutrim meet his goal. She wrote, Chatting with our Uber driver who is building a startup and looking for feedback. If anyone works in adjacent fields please hit him up." The poster reads, Please, help me build my startup. It is called TransChatMe- the revolutionary free mobile app that translates your messages automatically! No more copying and pasting just write your message, and TransChatMe handles the rest. I need 1,000 users, so I can share it with investors." Finally, Uber driver Frederico Coutrim released two QR codes for the app: one for Android users and another for iOS users. Uber driver expressed his gratitude In an update, Khanna stated that despite her companion booking the journey with Uber, she received an email from the driver. "Woke up to a very sweet email actually, my friend booked the Uber but he somehow found me on email/Linkedin." In addition, she posted a screenshot of the email she received. woke up to a very sweet email actually, my friend booked the Uber but he somehow found me on email/linkedin pic.twitter.com/HoxJUph4GG resham khanna (@Reshusaur) September 30, 2024 The email's subject read, Thank you so much from TransChatMe." How did people on the internet react? Many people on the internet were impressed. Others suggested a few changes in his name as well along with some other advice. Here's what people wrote. he should consider a name change cosmic mould (@cosmicmould) September 28, 2024 The name "TransChatMe" is both incredibly clunky and suggests something wildly different than intended Owen Roe (@owen_roe) September 28, 2024 Name is brilliant. Its marketing Its so ridiculous, people are tweeting. And others are engaging with it. This is like the 4th post I have seen on this and everyones talking about the name. Engagement is engagement. Change the name later. Erica Levin (@bankof_amERICA) September 29, 2024 Fluent would be a good app name (@quantizor) September 29, 2024 Also read: Bengaluru Uber auto driver harasses woman over online payment, spends a night in jail What do you think about this? Tell us in the comments. To stay updated on the stories that are going viral follow Indiatimes Trending. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reiterated Greece's firm stance on not recognizing Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus or compromising on its sovereignty, following a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in New York. The two leaders met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, marking their second encounter in recent months after a previous meeting in Washington in July. In a statement shared on social media, Mr. Mitsotakis emphasized that ongoing talks with Turkey do not mean the two countries are in full agreement. He stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation on key issues, particularly migration, and announced plans for a high-level bilateral meeting in Ankara, scheduled for early 2025. Cyprus has remained divided since Turkeys invasion in 1974, with peace talks between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot sides stalled since 2017. The Turkish Cypriot leadership, which controls the northern part of the island and is recognized only by Ankara, has insisted that any future negotiations must acknowledge its equal sovereignty with the internationally recognized government of Cyprus. iefimerida.gr The Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) and the Ministry of Finance are aiming to reduce Greeces 2025 loan program, aiming to reduce the debt -to-GDP ratio as well as the government Greece aiming to reduce debt-to-GDP ratio as well as government debt in absolute terms - The Adamawa State Police Command has rescued and nabbed a man who climbed a 33kv high tension pole in the Mayo-Belwa Local Government Area headquarters. While on the pole, the young man (name undisclosed) who climbed on Friday, insisted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must resign before he would come down. Advertisement Suleiman Nguruje, the commands Public Relations Officer, told Punch on Sunday that he was rescued on Saturday night, and is in custody in the state capital. READ ALSO: Security Agents Apprehend Fake Policeman For Extortion In Adamawa The command is going to parade the man today (Monday) for attempting a suicide, You know attempting to commit a suicide is a criminal offence under our constitution, so we are going to charge him to court, he said. Nguruje said it is the constitutional duty of the police to protect lives and property and that when any individual wants to take his life, he will face the full wrath of the law. Member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, Gbogi Emmanuel, has resigned from the Party. Emmanuel tendered his resignation letter at the weekend while highlighting his discontent with the ruling Party under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He criticised APCs governance for exacerbating the economic challenges faced by Nigerians. Advertisement More so, APC is now considered as a weapon of poverty and misery for the masses evident in the economic hardship that plagues the land. I hold the firm belief that politics is not only about winning elections, it is about bringing succour and dividends of democracy to the people we represent, Emmanuel stated in the letter. READ ALSO: In the copy of the letter addressed to the APC Chairman of Ward 6, Akoko South West Local Government, the party chieftain added that APC failed to uphold the true tenets of democracy and disregarded loyalty among members. The decision to exit the APC, he said, was well thought-out, especially after wide consultations with his family and political associates in Akoko land. My decision stems from failure of the party to continue to uphold the true tenets and principles of democracy which include fairness, equity, impartiality, rewards for loyalty and bringing dividends of democracy to the masses, he noted. The Party, according to him, now has a new practice of rob Peter to pay Paul. Social media influencer VeryDarkMan has finally disclosed how he obtained the contentious audio recording reportedly credited to popular crossdresser Bobrisky. On Monday, the activist testified before the House of Representatives joint committee on financial crimes and reformatory institutions about bribery allegations against Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) officials and Haliru Nababa, Controller-General of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS). VeryDarkMan initially declined to address the committee in Bobriskys absence until his lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, intervened. Advertisement Speaking to the committee, the activist revealed that he obtained the viral audio recording from someone Bobrisky owed money. VeryDarkMan claimed that Bobrisky received the money from the lender on June 19, 2024, when he was detained by the EFCC. How I got hold of that recording is a result of Bobrisky blackmailing somebody he owes money. According to the story and evidence of proof of chat that was sent to me, he said. READ MORE: N1bn Lawsuit: Ill Countersue Bobrisky, Integrity Of Lots Of People Will Go Down VeryDarkMan The person borrowed Bobrisky N4 million when he was in EFCC detention or rather in a private apartment. The person gave him the money on the 19th of June, 2024. It was transferred to a Kuda account of Abiodun Okuneye, apparently his brothers account. So, when it was time to get his money back, he told Bobrisky he needed to sort his bills in Lagos but Bobrisky refused to respond. The social media influencer also alleged that the crossdresser blackmailed the individual he owed money to when the time came to repay. The chat where he was disturbing the guy he wants to refund immediately after he saw my video and the chat where he blackmailed the guy, asking for the money, he continued. I would like to read a part where he said dear Bobrisky this is a reminder for the return of the loan amount of N4 million as agreed, the due date for the return is September 1. Mind you, it was Bobrisky who gave the date. Then he said kindly use the attached details to make the refund but because he did not get it, he came to me. So this part, the guy went on saying I helped when you needed help but when its time to pay me back, you are blackmailing me. Then Bobrisky went on to say when you kissed, smooched me, did you give me any money? I did not ask you for money because Im okay. If not EFCC, do you think Im going to ask you for money? Go ahead and call me out, I will respond to you on IG. You know Im shameless and I dont care. You will get your money, I have your account. I dont want to look ungrateful but threatening me with 24 hours ultimatum is the height of it. So these are the evidence I will be presenting. Additionally, after this, there is a second and a third one. The social media personality submitted a portion of the recording to the committee, despite not mentioning any names. The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, have arrested two suspected drug kingpins who were previously declared wanted. It was gathered that the drug lords, identified as Ajiboye Samuel and Alhaji Bashir Talba, were arrested in separate locations in Ogun and Lagos states on September 25 and September 27, respectively. This was contained in a statement released to the public on Sunday, by the NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi. Advertisement Babafemi noted that Samuel, who is popularly known as Na God, was declared wanted after a raid on his warehouse in the Mushin area of Lagos, where a total of 1,101 kilograms of Ghana Loud was was seized. READ MORE: NDLEA Nabs Ibadan Based Businesswoman, Auto Dealer For Drug Trafficking In Lagos The agency explained that Samuel had been evading arrest but was finally apprehended in a bank in Ogun State. NDLEA said: Operatives on Wednesday, September 25, arrested a wanted drug kingpin, Ajiboye Samuel (a.k.a Na God), after 12 months of evading arrest following the raid of his warehouse in Akala, Mushin area of Lagos, where a total of 1,101 kilograms of Ghana Loud, a strong strain of cannabis, was recovered on September 4, 2023. The arrest of Samuel in a bank in Ogun State followed well-coordinated efforts by the agencys Directorate of Assets and Financial Investigation, which traced 20 bank accounts linked to the suspect and blocked them. In like manner, the NDLEA operatives in Lagos on Friday, September 27, took into custody a wanted community leader and Sarkin Yamma of Badagry, Alhaji Bashir Talba, following the arrest of his two wives: Hauwa and Asmau and son, Sadat, as well as the seizure of a total of 226.2kg cannabis at their homes in Badagry on September 18. The World Bank, on Monday, approved three new loan requests totalling $1.57bn in financing for Nigeria. The approval, as revealed in a statement is to support the Federal Government in strengthening human capital through better health for women, children and adolescents. It added that the approved projects would also help build resilience to the effect of climate change such as floods and drought through improving dams safety and irrigation. Advertisement The World Bank has today approved three operations for a total of $1.57bn to support the Government of Nigeria in strengthening human capital through better health for women, children and adolescents and building resilience to the effects of climate change such as floods and droughts through improving dam safety and irrigation, the statement read. The new financing, the lender stated, includes $500m for addressing governance issues that constrain the delivery of education and health, $570m for the Primary Healthcare Provision Strengthening Programme and $500m for the Sustainable Power and Irrigation for Nigeria Project. READ ALSO: Whoever Says Tinubu Suspended Fuel Subsidy Is Joking Dogara The HOPE-GOV and HOPE-PHC programmes combined will support the Government of Nigeria to improve service delivery in the basic education and primary healthcare sectors which are critical towards improving Nigerias human capital outcomes. The SPIN project will support improvement of dams safety and management of water resources for hydropower and irrigation in selected areas of Nigeria. The HOPE-GOV Programme will support Nigeria to address underlying governance weaknesses in the systems and procedures of government in two key human development sectors, it noted. The approval highlights the World Banks commitment to strengthening Nigerias human capital and building resilience in the face of climate threats. Pennsylvanias legal disciplinary board has suspended a Philadelphia lawyer for 18 months after he attempted to file a civil lawsuit on behalf of the father of T.J. Siderio, the 12-year-old who was shot and killed by police in 2022, without his permission misconduct he acknowledged was driven by his desire for potentially high attorneys fees on the case. J. Conor Corcoran, 47, admitted that his actions were unethical, and agreed with the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania that he should not be allowed to practice law for 18 months, according to the boards order, released Monday. He accepted full responsibility for his misconduct and is remorseful, the order said. Advertisement The board began investigating Corcoran earlier this year after he attempted to file a lawsuit on behalf of Thomas Siderio Sr., whose son was shot and killed by Officer Edsaul Mendoza in March 2022. Corcoran had represented Siderio in two civil cases against the city about eight years ago both involving separate injuries Siderio said he suffered at the hands of Philadelphia police and prisons officers. READ MORE: Former Philly cop who shot and killed 12-year-old T.J. Siderio pleads guilty to third-degree murder Because of this, he assumed he would represent Siderio again, said Corcorans lawyer, Samuel Stretton. Siderio had been in and out of jail for much of his sons life, and at the time of his death was serving a six- to 12-year prison sentence tied to an illegal gun possession conviction connected to a fatal shooting. Just two days after T.J. was killed, Corcoran, who hadnt been in contact with Siderio in years, filed a writ of summons attempting to have Siderio named as administrator of his sons estate without having even met with or spoken to his former client about the matter, according to the order. He sent Siderio a contingency fee agreement the following month asking for an attorneys fee of 25% of any funds recovered, but the father never signed it. Other attorneys also vied to represent Siderio and his family, offering lesser attorneys fees, according to the order. Theres multiple lawyers who want this case. 1 lawyer just offered me 20%. If you can beat 20% let my dad know, Siderio told Corcoran, according to the filings. Corcoran then sent letters to the competitors, including Shaka Johnson, telling them to cease and desist and threatening to file complaints against them. Siderio ended up hiring attorneys at Clearfield & Kofsky to represent him. T.J.s mother, Desirae Frame, hired the firm Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky. They filed a lawsuit against the city earlier this year. READ MORE: Family of T.J. Siderio, the 12-year-old shot and killed by Philadelphia police, sues the city Still, Corcoran continued to claim he represented Siderio, and in June, he filed a petition in Philadelphias Orphans Court asking a judge to find Siderio incapacitated and to appoint a guardian to oversee his estate and civil cases. The disciplinary board said Corcoran lied about Siderios mental troubles and attached his medical records without his consent. He also requested that Siderios and Frames attorneys be removed from the case. That was a terrible mistake, said Stretton, Corcorans lawyer. A judge dismissed both requests. Corcoran ultimately withdrew his civil action in July 2022 and acknowledged the family was being represented by other lawyers. Corcoran acknowledged in the filing that his behavior was unethical and caused harm to the publics trust and perception of the legal profession, according to the suspension order. Corcoran got carried away because of the magnitude of the potential attorneys fees that could be garnered through the suit, the order said. His conduct was not characteristic of his 22 years practicing law and he had no prior disciplinary history, the order said. He is remorseful and regretful. The suspension begins Oct. 30, and he will be able to begin reapplying for his legal license in 10 months, Stretton said. Hes a good lawyer otherwise, and hell come back someday and do a good job again, he said. As Stretton sees it, many attorneys involved acted poorly, driven by what has become a growing issue undermining the legal profession. Greed, he said. Naasire Johnson, 20, was killed in February 2022. Kylen Pratt, 23, was convicted of first-degree murder for his death and sentenced to life in prison. Read more A North Philadelphia man prosecutors say fatally shot his lover before burning his body and leaving the charred remains in Fairmount Park in 2022 was found guilty of first-degree murder, authorities said. After a jury on Friday convicted Kylen Pratt, 23, of first-degree murder, abuse of corpse and related crimes in the killing of Naasire Johnson, Judge Giovanni Campbell sentenced Pratt to life in prison without the possibility of parole, followed by a consecutive term of 4 to 9 years, the Philadelphia District Attorneys Office said. Advertisement An attorney for Pratt could not immediately be reached. The February 2022 killing of Johnson was one of the most heinous cases Assistant District Attorney Cydney Pope, who led the prosecution, had seen, she said at a news conference Monday. Johnsons body was so charred and burned when investigators found it at the Glendinning Rock Park they could not immediately determine if the remains were human, she said. It took investigators a week to identify the body as that of Johnson, said Pope. This body was the worst burned body I have ever seen, said Pope. It was worse than any body Ive ever seen inside an arson. Inside a house. Pratt and Johnson had been in a sexual relationship, prosecutors said, and Pratt lured Johnson to his Brewerytown home with a plan: to kill Johnson to stop him from disclosing their relationship. Make no mistake about it, said Pope. This was a hate crime. This is an individual who was killed because he was gay, she added. And because the man who killed him did not want anyone to find out that he was in a relationship with him or that he had sex with other men. Plain and simple. It is absolutely one of the most abhorrent crimes I have ever prosecuted. Prosecutors say on the night of Feb. 17, 2022, Johnson went to Pratts home on the 2900 block of Oxford Street, where Pratt shot him in the neck, killing him. Pratt then moved Johnsons body to a secluded cobblestone trail in Fairmount Park, where his body was found three days later, severely charred, wrapped in plastic and a bedsheet, said Pope. The next month, a tip from an anonymous caller led police to Pratt, who was known as 29th Street Rich by Johnsons family, said Pope. Pratt was jailed on unrelated charges at the time. Cell phone records showed that Pratt was with Johnson the night of his murder and that Pratt was on the trail in Fairmount Park at the time police believe he set Johnsons body on fire, said Pope. During a search of Pratts home, police found a bedroom carpet that been cleaned with bleach, said Pope. The carpet had been cleaned so thoroughly, investigators had to dig under the carpet to the padding and hardwood floor that was soaked in Johnsons blood, she said. Police also recovered a 9mm gun that provided forensic evidence linking Pratt to the crime, prosecutors said. Investigators discovered internet searches on Pratts phone looking for news coverage of Johnsons death. Evidence from Pratts phone also showed he made searches such as murdering in cold blood, having sex with dead bodies, and traits of a psychopath, said Pope. Pratts conviction and sentencing offered the family some small form of closure, said Hakeem Pitts, one of Johnsons cousins and an interfaith minister. But the crimes effects are felt long after, he said. These types of crimes are not just individual tragedies. They infect entire communities, said Pitts. LGBTQIA people, especially Black and Brown people, members of our community we suffer a profound psychological and physical health effects. Cynthia Johnson, Johnsons grandmother, raised Johnson since he was one. Surrounded by family at Mondays news conference, Johnsons grandmother recalled her lovable grandson, who had just graduated from Architecture and Design Charter High School and was planning to go to community college. A slide show of photos slowly flashed moments of Johnsons life. A party as a young boy, smiling next to a relative. A photo of an older Johnson posing in a gray suit and bow tie. And a photo of him wearing his graduation cap and gown, smiling as he holds a sign that read Class of 2019. Everybody liked him. Nobody could say anything bad about him, she said, tearfully. My heart is so torn in so many pieces. Verity Beck is led from a Montgomery County Courtroom after pleading guilty but mentally ill in the killing and dismembering of her parents in January 2023. Read more A former Montgomery County special education teacher admitted Monday to killing her parents, more than a year after she was accused of shooting and dismembering them in their Abington home. Verity Beck, 45, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after entering a negotiated plea of guilty but mentally ill on two counts of first-degree murder. Advertisement During a brief hearing, in which Beck appeared in a red prison jumpsuit surrounded by sheriffs deputies, a Montgomery County judge ruled that Beck will serve two concurrent life sentences. In January 2023, Becks brother arrived at the family home to find that Beck had killed their parents, Reid and Miriam, after the septuagenarians confronted their adult daughter about stealing money from them. Things had been bad, Beck told her brother, according to criminal filings, who called 911 to report the killings. Police arrived at the home to find the elder Becks in various stages of dismemberment, and found Beck had used a chainsaw to mutilate their bodies after shooting them each in the head. Becks defense attorneys had previously made the case to Common Pleas Judge William R. Carpenter that Beck was legally insane when committing the crimes. Carpenter rejected that notion on Monday, but agreed with a criminal psychiatrists evaluation that Beck was mentally ill. The designation means Beck will receive psychiatric care during her sentence. Beck stood before a crowded courtroom Monday as her defense attorney read the conditions of the guilty plea to which she had agreed. When asked whether she understood that by pleading guilty to first-degree murder, she was acknowledging she had the specific intent to kill her victims, Beck responded, Yes. Becks plea ended a case that has shocked and fascinated the bedroom Montgomery County community, as intrigue grew around the former teacher at St. Katharines School of Special Education who had told police she had been drowning in more than $100,000 in student loan and credit card debt. Text messages between Beck and her parents revealed that in recent years, the couple had accused their daughter of stealing a $600 rent check from their Sea Isle property. Five days before the murders, police said, Reid Beck had confronted his daughter over Amazon purchases using his bank account, including a $1,007 necklace. County prosecutors said that they were satisfied with the conclusion of the case, while sheriffs deputies led Beck out of the courtroom in handcuffs and into an elevator. She was silent as reporters asked her questions about a possible motive. This is a person who is dangerous, said Assistant District Attorney Samantha Cauffman, a prosecutor in Becks case. She was sane when she killed them, she knew what she did was wrong, and shes going to pay for it for the rest of her life. James P. Lyons, Becks attorney, said his clients mental illness plea means she will be housed in a therapeutic wing of prison, as opposed to a maximum-security designation. He said that Beck was extremely remorseful, and called the crimes an absolute tragedy for everybody. A plea of guilty but mentally ill is rare in Montgomery County. Court officials said they could recall only one other county case that ended with that designation in the last decade, that of Naseema Sami. In 2021, Sami was found guilty but mentally ill in a case before Carpenter, the judge presiding over Becks proceedings. The Folsom native was accused of breaking into a West Norriton home in 2019 and beating two women to death in the throws of a paranoid delusion, nearly two decades after she had once rented a room in the property. Temple T logo flags on North Broad Street on the campus of Temple University. Read more Undergraduate students employed at Temple University as resident assistants, peer mentors, and executive board members of the residence hall association want to form a union. Some 78% of the 132 would-be union members submitted a letter addressed to school leadership on Monday, asking them to recognize their union. They are looking to join OPEIU Local 153, which also represents RAs at the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, and Drexel University. Advertisement We believe that Temple is a place where the administration is open, receptive, and collaborative, and makes the well-being of its staff a top priority. To unionize is to embrace those values and continue to ensure that everyones voice is respected and heard, reads the letter, addressed to university president Richard Englert and the Temple Board of Trustees. If the school does not agree to voluntarily recognize the union by Friday, the group plans to ask the university to agree to a union election. If the university does not voluntarily recognize the union or allow an election, the student workers could take the matter to the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, said Scott Williams, an organizer with OPEIU Local 153. University leaders, through Temple spokesperson Stephen Orbanek, acknowledged that they received the student workers request Monday. Orbanek said they are reviewing it. We deeply value the contributions of these students, and we are committed to providing them with outstanding leadership opportunities and learning experiences, Orbanek added. Temples peer mentors and resident assistants live in the dorms and are expected to work a minimum of 20 hours per week, according to OPEIU. Their duties include meeting with residents, coordinating events, and attending weekly staff meetings. As compensation, they receive a dorm room to live in, a meal plan, and a $200 stipend per semester, which is directly put toward their tuition. Being an RA and building connections with residents is one of the most rewarding experiences Ive had in college, said Temple RA Mario Rodriguez Canuto. However, those good moments are not enough to make up for all the stress and burnout that we often go through. Unionizing is an important step to get more support and proper compensation for all the work that RAs do so that we can also offer better support to our residents. The news of the student unionizing effort comes less than two weeks after Temples faculty union reached a tentative agreement with university administration on a five-year contract, which includes raises. The faculty union bargained that contract for over a year. The efforts also come at a time of leadership transition at Temple. John A. Fry, who was president of Drexel University for 14 years, will become Temples new president in November. OPEIU Local 153 represents resident assistants at Penn, who got their first union contract in June. Resident assistants at Drexel and Swarthmore also formed unions in the past year, organizing with OPEIU Local 153. This story has been updated with a statement from Temple University. An abandoned $6-million-dollar mansion in the Hollywood Hills is now almost completely covered in graffiti tags. The mansion is owned by movie producer John Powers Middleton, son of the Phillies' owner. Read more A Philadelphia-native film producer and son of the Phillies owner is apologizing following a wave of complaints about his California mansions. Its the first time John Powers Middleton, 40, son of businessman John Middleton, has publicly commented on the recent state of his properties, including one that has been significantly vandalized in the last month. Advertisement Neighbors say theyve been complaining about Middletons seemingly abandoned homes for years to no avail. One estate in particular, on Mulholland Drive, has been unofficially dubbed graffiti mansion thanks to its takeover by squatters and local street artists. READ MORE: What to know about Middleton and 'graffiti mansion' Its unclear if Middleton ever lived in the home or occupied it, but public records show the house, which he purchased in 2012, was declared a nuisance and considered abandoned more than a decade ago. Whats happened to the two properties I own is unacceptable, Middleton said last week in a statement. No matter what caused it, I own the houses. Public records also show Middleton has been delinquent on property taxes for the home since at least 2022 and owes about $266,500, including penalties. Middleton added that he intends to fix and sell both his California estates as soon as possible, but says that vandalism keeps happening along the way. Im doing my best to make the houses secure and fix them up, with the intent to sell each as soon as possible, he said. Im disappointed to note that even as I have worked this week to paint over the graffiti, vandals still managed to break in and paint over the newly cleaned walls. According to the Los Angeles Times, a crew of workers could be seen last week boarding up the Mulholland Drive mansions windows, painting over the latest round of graffiti, and installing a new chain link fence around the property. Still, neighbors are cynical things will improve. They told local news outlets that the popularity of graffiti mansion on social media has prompted even more people to visit the property. The Inquirer has been unable to reach Middleton for comment. His neighbors have told media outlets they havent heard from him, either. In turn, theyve taken to spamming his unrelated Instagram posts, asking him to do something. Middleton tersely confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that hes received their messages. Wildwood Mayor Pete Byron at a commissioners meeting in April 2023 while under indictment for health benefits fraud. Read more The former mayor of Wildwood had pleaded guilty to theft by unlawful taking in connection with an indictment from last year that accused him of fraudulently participating in the New Jersey State Health Benefits Program by lying about working a full-time, 35-hour week in order to receive benefits. Peter J. Byron entered his plea Friday in New Jersey Superior Court, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General said in a statement Monday. Byron also pleaded guilty Friday to falsifying or tampering with records and filing a fraudulent tax return in connection with an April indictment that accused him of failing to disclose a job he had accepted with a city attorney, and not paying taxes on the earnings from that position. Advertisement Byron previously pleaded guilty in March 2023 to federal tax charges in connection with that incident, and was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay $21,000 in fines and restitution. He resigned from office in September 2023. With Byrons plea, both indictments have now been resolved, the state attorney generals office said. As part of the agreement, the office recommended a three-year prison sentence. Additionally, Byron must also pay restitution and faces a lifetime ban from holding public office. He is slated to be sentenced in January. Illegally obtaining benefits is not what holding public office should be about. Rather, it should be about honorably serving the people you represent, said Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin. This was a self-serving, nearly decadelong betrayal of the publics trust that saddled New Jersey residents with a six-figure bill for the defendants personal gain. An attorney for Byron did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the health-benefits case, Byron, Wildwood Mayor Ernest Troiano Jr., and City Commissioner Steve Mikulski were accused of asserting that they worked full time in order to qualify for taxpayer-funded health benefits for which part-time elected officials were not eligible. All three men, the state attorney generals office alleges, did not maintain regular schedules, and their work hours were not fixed at 35 or more hours a week, so they did not qualify for the benefits. Byrons participation in the health benefits program cost taxpayers about $609,000 between July 2011 and October 2021, the office said. Troianos and Mikulskis cases remain ongoing. Byrons other case stems from an April indictment in which state prosecutors alleged that in 2017, he abused his position as Wildwoods commissioner by taking an unspecified job from a city attorney. Prosecutors said that he failed to properly identify that position in mandatory disclosure forms, and failed to report income earned from the job on his state taxes in 2017 and 2018. State prosecutors allegations were similar to those made by federal prosecutors in an earlier case. In their case, federal prosecutors said that Byron omitted more than $40,000 worth in income from a consulting job he had solicited. When Byron was sentenced in the federal case in August 2023, he vowed to continue to serve as Wildwoods mayor amid significant public support. The following month, he resigned, telling The Inquirer in a text message that he was between a rock and a hard place. People who know me still believe in me, Byron said. Aaron Wunsch, 53, of Philadelphia, award-winning architectural historian and preservationist, and associate professor in the graduate program of the Department of Historic Preservation at the University of Pennsylvanias Weitzman School of Design, died Friday, Sept. 20, of gastric cancer, at his home in Germantown. An expert on landscape architecture and the documentation of historic architecture, Professor Wunsch made detailed on-site inspections and took deep dives into public and private archives of all kinds to establish the nature and value of old structures. His family called it a fierce, tireless, and nimble advocacy for historic sites, and he teamed with other preservationists to document the histories of hundreds of places and sometimes battle developers and others who sought their destruction. Advertisement He worked with energy and urgency, he told The Inquirer in 1998, because the great American industries of the 20th century are fast disappearing. Buildings are being knocked down all the time. He focused much of his attention on abandoned industrial buildings, old cemeteries, Quaker meeting houses, unique rowhouses in South Philadelphia, and churches all over the city. He was quoted in The Inquirer and other publications about his scrutiny of the Church of the Atonement and Woodlands cemetery in West Philadelphia, the 19th Street Baptist Church in Point Breeze, and dozens of other places in Southeastern Pennsylvania and Virginia. His nomination made Laurel Hill one of the first U.S. cemeteries to receive National Historic Landmark status, and he made it clear in 2016 why appreciating historic sites is important. It doesnt require a degree in architectural history for people to know that they like living in a place because of the buildings age, or design, or the way theyre set back from the street, he told The Inquirer. Theyre upset when they see it get dismantled. It makes you feel like your neighborhood is disappearing. He was a preservation prodigy and worked summers at the Cambridge Historical Commission in Massachusetts as a teenager. His mother had roots in Philadelphia and Bryn Mawr, and they spent hours together exploring dusty abandoned buildings when he visited family as a youth. READ MORE: Professor Wunsch: It's not too late to reverse trend of razing parts of city's history In the 1990s, he worked at Eastern State Penitentiary and the Philadelphia Zoo on projects for the National Park Services Historic American Buildings Survey. As manager of a project in 1998 that documented the history and function of a Peco plant in Chester, his team sent cutaway diagrams and three-dimensional drawings to the Library of Congress in Washington so visitors could see how the architecture of the building was related to its engineering, he said. He got so involved with some restoration projects that he chipped in to patch a roof or nail back a hanging board. A colleague called those jobs his guerrilla repair projects. He joined Penns Department of Architectural History as a visiting assistant professor in 2008, lectured for the graduate program on historic preservation at the School of Design, and later became an associate professor for the graduate program. He was incredibly rigorous but accessible, said his wife, Jillian Galle. He knew what it was to be a student. Penn colleague Kecia Fong said: Aaron understood the integral relationship of buildings, history, and community vibrancy. His thumbprint is all over this city. One of the things we preach in this program is that preservation isnt about stopping change. Its about mediating it and doing it wisely. Professor Wunsch in 2014 on saving a historic mansion. Professor Wunsch sent letters to the editor of The Inquirer about preservation issues and wrote dozens of papers and articles for Hidden City Daily and other publications. His book, Palazzos of Power: Central Stations of the Philadelphia Electric Company, 1900-1930, was published in 2016, and his extensive research on historic Philadelphia cemeteries is due to be published later. He won awards, including in 2023 from the Philadelphia chapter of the American Institute of Architects for significant contribution to the preservation of Philadelphias built environment. He also consulted, served on boards, earned grants, ran seminars and conferences, and served fellowships at Penn, Swarthmore College, the Library Company of Philadelphia, and other places. Longtime friend and colleague Hal Sharp noted Mr. Wunschs universal values of preservation and public education and praised his passion, dedication, and pointed wit. Aaron Vickers Wunsch was born Dec. 22, 1970, in Cambridge, Mass. He earned a bachelors degree in history at Haverford College in 1992, masters degree in architectural history and certificate in historic preservation at the University of Virginia in 1996, and doctorate in architectural history at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2009. READ MORE: Hidden City: Celebrating Aaron Wunsch, Champion of Historic Preservation He met Jillian Galle in 1996, and they married in 2002, and had a son, Elias. They lived in Washington, Charlottesville, Va., and Philadelphia. Mr. Wunsch liked to read books with his son, and they explored streams and ravines, and poked around old structures wherever they went. He had two cats and could assemble a bicycle from scratch. He collected books, maps, and lithographs, and dived into Dumpsters for discarded treasures. He enjoyed music, studied Quakerism for years, and joined the Germantown Monthly Meeting in 2022. For him, nothing was lost as long as it was given the love and attention it deserved, said his brother, Oliver, and he proved the point through the care that he put into the world. In addition to his wife, son, and brother, Mr. Wunsch is survived by his parents and other relatives. Services are to be held later. Donations in his name may be made to the Keeping Society of Philadelphia, c/o Culture Works Greater Philadelphia, 1315 Walnut St., Suite 320, Philadelphia, Pa. 19107; the University of Pennsylvanias McNeil Center for Early American Studies, 3355 Woodland Walk, Philadelphia, Pa. 19104; and the Natural Resources Defense Council, 40 W. 20th St., 11th floor, New York, N.Y. 10011. Former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Bayfront Convention Center in Erie on Sunday. Read more Former President Donald Trump said at his rally in Erie Sunday that there should be one really violent day for policing crime in the United States. One rough hour, and I mean real rough, the word will get out and it will end immediately, Trump said to cheers from the audience at a convention center on Lake Erie Sunday afternoon. Advertisement Trumps comments serve as another example of allusions hes made to endorsing violence including extreme suggestions for addressing crime before, during, and after his presidency. In Philadelphia, they have raised concerns over public safety and respect for the law. It is disgraceful that we have a president, a former president, and somebody whos aspiring to the presidency, who routinely encourages violence and encourages a lawlessness that we dont need in our country, State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D., Philadelphia) said. Donald Trump comes to Pennsylvania again and again and again to lie, to shred the facts and truth any chance he gets, Kenyatta added. A Trump campaign official told Politico that the remarks were not indicative of a new policy proposal and that Trump was clearly just floating it in jest. President Trump has always been the law and order President and he continues to reiterate the importance of enforcing existing laws, Steven Cheung, the Trump campaigns communications director, said in a statement to The Inquirer, adding that Harris prosecutorial record as Californias attorney general created all-out anarchy. The former president spent a sizable amount of time at his rally Sunday harshly criticizing immigrants and Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump suggested Harris is mentally impaired for the second time in as many days, despite facing backlash for the false claim. As he routinely does, Trump ripped Harris for her record as San Franciscos district attorney, accusing her of lax consequences for shoplifting before suggesting that one real, rough, nasty day at businesses, like drug stores, would be a remedy to crime. Michael Coard, a Philadelphia-based criminal defense attorney, radio host, and justice advocate, said he was shocked and afraid after hearing Trump endorse violent policing and even more confounded that his comments have not disqualified him as a candidate. Where Trump has taken American politics is absolutely despicable, said Coard. What he has said would have torpedoed any political candidates career before it even started. Coard likened Trumps comments to his remarks to supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, in the hours before they stormed the Capitol. Trump told the crowd at his rally in D.C. on Jan. 6: Were going to walk down to the Capitol, and were going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and were probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them, because youll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong. The Trump campaign has maintained that neither Trump nor his supporters ever engaged in an insurrection. Trump also used violent political rhetoric in May 2020 when the then-president tweeted: when the looting starts, the shooting starts in reference to skirmishes between protesters and police in Minneapolis after the murder of George Floyd. Its a phrase that has racial and violent undertones dating back to the civil rights era. Trump claimed that he did not know the history of the phrase. Trump stoked controversy with inflammatory and racially charged rhetoric long before ascending to the White House. A member of the Exonerated 5 known as the Central Park 5 told a crowd in Philadelphia last Friday that he will never forget Trump taking out full-page advertisements in major newspapers calling for New York to adopt the death penalty after the five Black and Latino boys were falsely accused of assaulting and raping a white woman jogging in Central Park in 1989. Coard said he fears Trumps comments on Sunday could lead to the persecution of a swath of disenfranchised members of American society. Trump is now rallying cops to violently attack nonviolent alleged shoplifters, Coard said. This is the first time as a voter that Ive been afraid. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump suggested Vice President Kamala Harris is mentally impaired during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania Sunday, the second time in as many days he questioned his opponents mental capacity, despite facing widespread criticism for doing so. Crooked Joe Biden became mentally impaired, but lying Kamala Harris, honestly, I believe she was born that way, Trump said during an afternoon rally in Erie. Theres something wrong with Kamala, and I just dont know what it is, but there is definitely something missing. Advertisement Trump later referred to the vice president as a stupid person. During a rally in Wisconsin Saturday, the former president falsely said Harris was born mentally impaired and said her actions are that of a mentally disabled person, drawing swift criticism from advocates for people with disabilities. Several top Republicans and some Trump allies distanced themselves this weekend from the comments and said they were unhelpful to the campaign. The better course to take is to prosecute the case that her policies are destroying the country, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said during an interview on CNN Sunday morning. Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican running for Senate, said Trumps comments were insulting not only to the vice president, but to people who actually do have mental disabilities. Trumps doubling down on that language came midway through two hours of remarks at a convention center on Lake Erie Sunday afternoon. He spent the majority of the speech talking about immigration Pennsylvania voters favor him on the issue over Harris saying hes frustrated by the crisis at the southern border and acknowledging, Im a little bit rougher than I would normally be. The former president harshly criticized migrants, referring to people crossing the border as rough, vicious, rougher than anything you can imagine and saying his administration wouldnt tolerate migrant gangs and thugs. He added: Theyre coming into our cities and our small towns here in Pennsylvania and all over the country. These towns are petrified. Even if theyre not there yet, they will be there. READ MORE: Trumps messaging on immigration is littered with misinformation. But its taking hold in Pa. Trump relied heavily on new data published by the Department of Homeland Security under President Joe Bidens administration about criminal convictions of immigrants. He said Harris let in 25,272 illegal aliens convicted of rape and other sex crimes, and let in 13,099 convicted murderers. But thats a misrepresentation of the figures. The report was of aggregate data over decades and included immigrants who entered the country during previous administrations, including Trumps. Trumps remarks came two days after Harris traveled to Arizona to deliver a speech near the U.S.-Mexico border, in which she called for stricter immigration enforcement and executive actions that would go further in restricting border crossings than the ones Biden signed this year. During that speech, Harris also emphasized her support of a border protection bill that was drafted by a bipartisan group of senators but never came to a vote after Trump opposed it. Trump hit back at Harris in Erie, saying of her support for stronger border protections, Why didnt she do it almost four years ago? Why didnt she do it? Trumps rally comes during a busy stretch of campaigning in Pennsylvania with five weeks until Nov. 5 and as mail voting is already underway across the battleground state. On Saturday, Trumps running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R., Ohio), rallied in Newtown, Bucks County, a pivotal swing county. The campaign announced former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will campaign in Philadelphia for Trump Monday. And Trump is returning to Pennsylvania Saturday for a rally in Butler, where a gunman attempted to assassinate him two months ago. On the Democratic side, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) and Randi Weingarten, the head of the national teachers union, rallied with Harris campaign volunteers in Montgomery County on Sunday morning. Gov. Josh Shapiro joined writer and producer Shonda Rhimes in Plymouth Meeting Saturday. And Harris delivered a major speech on economics in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. Erie is itself a bellwether county that was twice won by former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, but Trump took the county in 2016. Four years ago, it swung back to Democratic and delivered a majority of its votes to President Joe Biden. Trump alluded to the countys boomeranging leaning, saying: Erie County was known as a Democrat area until Trump came along. And then they said ... What the hell happened to Erie County? All 203 state House seats are up for reelection this year. But only a handful of races will decide who will take or keep control. Democrats shocked the state in 2022 when they flipped the state House for the first time in 12 years with a narrow majority. Officials expected the states new redistricted maps, which gave Republicans a slight edge over Democrats, to be more competitive, but didnt expect them to flip it so soon. Advertisement House Democrats now control the lower chamber by only one vote, and at times had to lean on moderate Republicans from Bucks County to pass bills they couldnt get their whole membership to support. Lawmaking halted on multiple occasions throughout the two-year legislative session because of more than a half dozen resignations that put Democrats under their numeric majority. We have shown what it means to really respond to the needs of everyday Pennsylvanians, our communities better, said Joanna McClinton, the history-making House speaker representing parts of Philadelphia and Delaware County in the 191st District, who was elected after Democrats won control. Gov. Josh Shapiro is campaigning for House Democrats to maintain control. The first-term Democratic governor has a greater chance at getting his shared priorities into law with a Democratic House than if hes constantly playing defense behind a Republican legislature. (Republicans control the state Senate, and are expected to retain control after the Nov. 5 election.) Despite the more competitive maps, there are still fewer than a dozen races that are true toss-ups that will decide who controls the state House. National Democratic groups and party leaders have poured millions into keeping control of the state House, and more is expected to be spent in the final five weeks before the election. There are five Democrats and five Republicans across Pennsylvania who are vulnerable to a challenger due to the makeup of their district, according to an Inquirer analysis of 2020 election data, as well as voter registration. Heres a look at the most competitive races around the state on the Nov. 5 ballot and how much leaders are willing to put on the line for Republicans, to retake the House, or for Democrats, to bolster their narrow majority. Vulnerable Republicans Local races to watch Among the most vulnerable are two Republicans from Lower Bucks County a Democratic stronghold that Republicans were able to hold on to last election. Rep. Joe Hogan (R., Bucks), who represents parts of Middletown Township, Penndel Borough, and Hulmeville Borough in the 142nd District, won by less than 80 votes in 2022. He is challenged by Anna Payne, a Middletown Township supervisor. Rep. K.C. Tomlinson (R., Bucks), who represents parts of Bensalem, also faces a challenger from Anand Patel, a former Bensalem Township School Board director and small business owner, in the 18th District. The last Republican from Delaware County, Rep. Craig Williams (R., Delaware) will also face a tough fight to stay in his seat from Elizabeth Moro, a business owner, in the 160th District. Williams district includes parts of Delaware and Eastern Chester Counties. It remains a Republican-controlled district, but Democrats feel confident they can flip the seat to make Delco all blue. Tomlinsons, Williams, and Hogans seats are the top targets that Democrats think can flip and expand their majority (after protecting the seats they already have), top Democratic legislative leaders said. The suburbs offer a huge path forward, said House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery). The realignment that weve seen just since 2018 in the suburbs, a wholesale move from red to blue, is encouraging. Other races to watch across Pennsylvania In the Lehigh Valleys 147th District, Rep. Joe Emrick (R., Northampton), who represents Bethlehem Township and the surrounding municipalities, will face a tough challenge from Anna Thomas, one of the top candidates national Democrats have targeted as a key pick. In Western Pennsylvania, a Republican incumbent, Rep. Valerie Gaydos (R., Allegheny), will face Hadley Haas, a gun reform advocate and leader of Moms Demand Action in the 44th District in Pittsburgh. Gaydos is part of the politically mixed suburbs of Pittsburgh, as the rest of Western Pennsylvania shifts red. Vulnerable Democrats Local races to watch Rep. Brian Munroe (D., Bucks) faces a tough challenge from Republican Daniel McPhillips in the 144th District. While Democrats say they think they can flip the remaining Republican seats blue, Republicans have an advantage going into November: Republicans outnumber Democrats in Bucks, the most-purple county in the battleground state. Bucks County is kind of ground zero, said House Minority Leader Bryan Cutler (R., Lancaster). Other races to watch across Pennsylvania Former President Donald Trump may have received more than 65% of the vote in 2020, but Rep. Frank Burns (D., Cambria), won reelection to an eighth term in 2022. Hes running a Trump-style campaign against Amy Bradley, the president of the local chamber of commerce, in the 72nd District to keep his seat. Burns rejected several of the House Democrats more socially liberal policy proposals, but is still seen as a possible pickup for Republicans. Theres about a half a dozen seats that President Trump performed very well in, and I expect us to do well in those, Cutler added. Rep. Ryan Bizzarro (D., Erie) also represents a Republican-leaning district, though to a lesser degree. Bizzarro, who chairs the House Democrats policy committee responsible for setting the Democratic agenda, lost his primary for treasurer in April and now has to hold onto his seat to stay in state government. He faces Republican challenger Micah Goring, a small-business owner and U.S. Air Force veteran, in the 3rd House District. Two Democratic representatives from the Pittsburgh suburbs in the 16th and 33rd House Districts are also at risk of losing their seats: Reps. Rob Matzie and Mandy Steele. Matzies district leans Republican and stretches into Beaver County, while Steeles leans Democratic. Both are seen as possible pickups for Republicans. State Treasurer Stacy Garrity at the Pennsylvania delegates breakfast in Waukesha, Wis., a suburb of Milwaukee, in July during the Republican National Convention. Read more Running for state treasurer against incumbent Republican Stacy Garrity, Democrat Erin McClelland said the No. 1 question voters ask as she travels the commonwealth is not: What does the treasurer do? It is: Does this state have a treasurer? Advertisement Thats a steep learning curve for a candidate to overcome. As it happens, state treasurer is a position of power and consequence. But in a year in which Pennsylvania is receiving inordinate attention for its swing-state status in the presidential race along with significant contests for seats in the Senate and the U.S. House Garrity, a staunch conservative, and McClelland, a moderate, are not garnering much attention. Its like Im painting on a blank canvas, said McClelland, 49, a Harrison Township, Allegheny County, businesswoman whos worked in substance abuse and mental health counseling. But when I explain to voters that we do have a treasurer, and what that person does, the information is usually very welcome. When candidates find themselves in low-profile elections such as this one, experts say, they will do and say things to make themselves more familiar. This race, which has become contentious, is no exception. What you do in a race that most people dont follow is tie in broader political fights, said political scientist Chris Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion. Try to find issues voters do actually care about, and affix them to the campaigns. That could be why candidates vying for a job thats essentially the commonwealths CFO have nevertheless been arguing during this campaign season about the Israel-Hamas war as well as the 2020 election, and former President Donald Trump. You bring things like that up, Borick concluded, and maybe then you drum up interest and support. OK, first: What does a treasurer do? The Pennsylvania state treasurer is the fiscal watchdog for state assets. The custodian of more than $150 billion in commonwealth funds, the treasurer is responsible for the receipt and deposit of state moneys and oversight of all withdrawals and deposits from state agencies. The treasurer has the power to invest up to $50 billion in state money, Garrity said in an interview. Serving as the states banker, the treasurer is also responsible for reuniting citizens with what is now around $4.5 billion in unclaimed state property. The office is also responsible for running career and college savings programs. The treasurer can serve a maximum of two four-year terms. Garrity was elected in 2020 after defeating Democratic incumbent Joe Torsella in an upset. She became the first Republican in 16 years to hold the office. According to the latest campaign finance figures, Garritys campaign has raised $1,198,143.21, of which $265,290.75 has been spent. McClellands campaign has raised $148,674.21, which includes $100,000 of McClellands own money. The campaign has spent $52,499.13. How is Garrity pitching herself to voters? Garrity, 60, of Athens, Bradford County, said she doesnt consider herself a politician. I just call balls and strikes working in the fiscal interests of the commonwealth, she said. On her website, Garrity describes herself as the Angel of the Desert, a nickname she got while serving in Iraq in the U.S. Army Reserve in 2004, according to National Public Radio. There, she oversaw a camp of Iraqi war prisoners. None lodged any complaints of abuse, and Garrity was a humane custodian, according to NPR, thereby earning her the sobriquet. Garrity retired as a colonel and went on to work at Global Tungsten & Powders Corp., where she eventually became a vice president. The company makes industrial ceramic materials designed to withstand high temperatures. One of the main talking points of her reelection campaign is her assertion that she set a new one-year record returning nearly $274 million in unclaimed property to more than 174,000 Pennsylvania citizens in the fiscal year ending June of 2023. She also said she revamped the PA 529 college savings program, tossing out the minimum dollar requirement to open an account, and saving families $11 million. Garritys reelection campaign is focused on establishing a public-private partnership that would establish a tax-deductible 401(k)-style retirement savings program for Pennsylvanians without them called Keystone Saves. How does McClelland make her case? Unendorsed by the state Democratic establishment in the primaries, McClelland defeated State Rep. Ryan Bizzarro (D., Erie) in the spring, even as she was outraised 5-1. Bizzarro had already been making ads before the primary about Garrity, noting her support for former President Donald Trump. We have an electorate that is very, very fatigued on being motivated by rage, McClelland said after the election. Theyre looking for all their elected officials to just do their jobs. McClelland previously ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House in Southwestern Pennsylvania in 2014 and 2016 against former Republican U.S. Rep. Keith Rothfus. She also dropped out of the primary elections for U.S. House in 2018 and the Allegheny County executive race in 2023. Having worked at the Allegheny County Department of Human Services, McClelland also ran Arche Wellness, a mental health and drug and alcohol treatment center in Blawnox, Allegheny County, from 2006 to 2014. During her successful primary run, she said, it was clear shed have to win without much cash. I felt like I was running with nothing, she said in an interview. Just my ideas, perseverance, and four good tires. In her campaign against Garrity, McClelland says that, if elected, shell fight against school vouchers all the way to the states highest court. McClelland insists aggressive vetting before paying is part of the treasurers job. She said she would make cybersecurity of municipal governments part of the treasurers purview, because hacking is killing our local governments. McClelland would also require companies in Pennsylvania to verify that their supply chains are free of goods from countries with records of human rights abuses and deny them state contracts if they cant show theyve cut ties with these countries. What controversies have been roiling the race? Referencing her supply chain stance, McClelland has criticized Garrity for buying $20 million in Israeli bonds a few days after the October 2023 Hamas attack, saying, We shouldnt be investing in any countrys foreign wars. Asked to respond, Garrity said, I make no apologies. Israel is our most reliable ally, they have never defaulted, and they pay above market return. Its a great investment for the commonwealth. McClelland has also taken Garrity to task for delivering a speech at a Harrisburg election-denial rally on Jan. 5, 2021, a day before the U.S. Capitol insurrection. At the event, Garrity, who supports former Trump, said last week that people have the right to question the elections integrity, adding, the election is tarnished forever. Democrats pounced, saying she used her platform to promote election lies. McClelland added, I have no idea why she would say an election she won was fraudulent. Garrity responded that she never disputed that President Joe Biden defeated Trump, adding, my speech was not about the presidential outcome. She said she disagreed with then-Gov. Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for decisions about how mail ballots had been tabulated. McClelland denigrated Garritys Keystone Saves program as a scam in interview, saying its high-risk and susceptible to fraud. Garrity, who has called McClellands ideas weird, at best, dismissed the characterization, saying theres strong demand for such an initiative, and pointing out that Democrats, including Torsella, have supported it. Garritys campaign circulates a document referencing a February Pennsylvania Capital-Star report that McClelland campaigned and accepted donations months before registering a fundraising committee with the Pennsylvania Department of State, a requirement for any candidate seeking state office. The Department of State found no violations. McClelland said her campaign had undergone a whole bunch of systemic learning to deal with the issue. And Borick of Muhlenberg said the oversight doesnt rise to the level of voters being exorcised about it. More notable, McClelland has run afoul of leaders in her own party, after endorsing North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to be Vice President Kamala Harris running mate. McClelland referenced a sexual harassment scandal involving a former aide of Shapiros. I want a VP pick thats secure enough to be second under a woman, is content to be VP & wont undermine the President to maneuver his own election & doesnt sweep sexual harassment under the rug, McClelland wrote on X in July. Soon after McClellands post, Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman Sharif Street said he was offended by her comments. Borick said the matter has created significant tensions between McClelland and Shapiro. Shapiros office did not respond to requests for comment. Chuck Pascal, McClellands campaign chair, said in an interview that McClelland will speak out whenever she has a policy difference with someone, regardless of who. Unlike Republicans, we are not in a cult of worshiping personality, he said, a reference to Garritys full-throated support of Trump as the only man I trust to get the job done. Last week in an interview, J.J. Balaban, a Democratic strategist, said, Once you win a surprise Democratic primary, your first mission is to broaden your base of popular support. Its not clear to me that has happened based on her [McClellands] remarks about the popular governor. In early September, the Philadelphia Building Trades endorsed Garrity over McClelland. Usually, they would endorse a Democrat, Balaban said. Representatives for the group, an umbrella organization for 50 construction unions, did not respond to requests for comment. Staff writer Gillian McGoldrick contributed to this article. Parents spend a lot of money on laptops, tablets, and phones for their kids schooling and may not be certain if their insurance policy covers these items if theyre lost, stolen, or damaged while at school, she said, adding that a quick call to insurers can help confirm whether additional coverage is needed. And there could hardly be a more inspiring backdrop to grab the future with both hands than the Grand Hyatt Tokyo, also the venue for the gala dinner. Made famous as the setting for the film Lost in Translation, PSCs message of finding the harmony between traditional broking and powerful tech was, on the contrary, understood loud and clear. Our commitment to broker service has not only shaped our business structure, but also created the backbone of our culture as an agency. We look forward to setting new standards in Marine Underwriting excellence, she said. "Despite the fintech patterns, one of investment trends that is doing well is remote tech or enterprise collaboration technologies with nearly $2B in investment this year (twice as much as last years funding.) It's all about remote working collaboration tools, you know, efficiency at the desktop or on the edge (e.g. the laptop), for employees... it's also about integrating artificial intelligence and ensuring that we remain cybercrime safe," VanderLinden says. Originally launched as a startup division, ISU Francis-Pinney has experienced substantial growth over the years in part due to key mergers with firms like All-Cal Insurance and the John A. Francis Agency with well-known insurance figure R. Jan Pinney at the helm. Larsen further explained the broader scope of the damage: We anticipate the damaging effects of Helene will be deep inland with a large contribution of loss concentrated in the state of Georgia. We can look to Hurricanes Francis and Jeanne (Florida, 2004) and Superstorm Sandy (New York, 2012) as examples. A jury has awarded $2.78 million to an au pair whose employer used a hidden camera to videotape her while she slept in their New York City home. The jury in Brooklyn federal court ordered Michael and Danielle Esposito to pay Kelly Andrade $780,000 for emotional distress and $2 million in punitive damages for the camera that Michael Esposito had placed over Andrades bed after she moved in to their Staten Island home to care for their four children. The Sept. 12 civil verdict resolved the lawsuit Andrade filed in 2021 against the Espositos. She settled earlier with the agency that had placed her with the couple, Massachusetts-based Cultural Care Au Pair, for an undisclosed sum. According to court papers, Andrade was living in Colombia when she signed a contract with Cultural Care in 2020. In order to move to the United States and secure an au pair placement, Andrade had to pay a fee, take courses in child care and accrue 200 hours of child care experience. After completing the training, Andrade moved to the United States in March 2021 and was placed in the Espositos home, where she was given a bedroom, her lawsuit said. Andrade noticed over the next few weeks that the smoke detector over her bed was constantly being repositioned. She examined the smoke detector and found a hidden camera with a memory card that contained hundreds of recordings of her nude or getting dressed and undressed, the lawsuit said. Andrade did not have knowledge of the surveillance device and did not give the defendant permission or authority to record her in any way, according to the lawsuit. Immediately after Andrade discovered the hidden camera, Michael Esposito arrived home and tried to get her to leave the house, the lawsuit said. She locked herself inside the bedroom. He tried to break the door down, and she escaped through a window, went to the police and filed a complaint against the Espositos. Michael Esposito was arrested but avoided jail time by pleading guilty to a second-degree felony charge of unlawful surveillance. After completing one year of counseling, he was allowed to withdraw his felony plea and plead to a misdemeanor charge of attempted unlawful surveillance. Andrade, who is now 28 and living in New Jersey, believes that justice was not served in the criminal case, as Esposito only received probation and was able to continue living his life, an attorney for Andrade, Johnmack Cohen, said in an email. But she is happy with the civil verdict, Cohen said. We hope that Ms. Andrades case will inspire other sexual harassment victims to speak up and seek justice as Ms. Andrade was able to do, he added. A lawyer for the Espositos, Michael Gervasi, said the pair are exploring all post-verdict options, including an appeal. Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. A group of Baltimore longshoremen have sued the owner and manager of the ship that caused the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, arguing the companies should compensate them for wages lost while the port was closed in the aftermath of the deadly disaster. The class action lawsuit adds to a slew of other legal claims alleging the ships Singapore-based owner and manager, Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and Synergy Marine Group, knowingly sent an unseaworthy ship into U.S. waters. Six construction workers were killed in the collapse, which halted most maritime traffic through Baltimores busy port for months as crews worked around the clock to clear thousands of tons of mangled steel and concrete from the main shipping channel. During the initial cleanup, many longshoremen found themselves out of work. This was equivalent for longshoremen what the world experienced during COVID, when everything stopped, said plaintiff Ryan Hale, whos worked at the port for over a decade. Ill never forget, I wake up in the morning, getting ready for work, turn on the news I had to flip the channels twice to make sure it wasnt a horror movie. The port fully reopened once the channel was cleared in June, but traffic didnt immediately bounce back because some ships had been rerouted as the global supply chain made adjustments in the immediate aftermath of the collapse. Nearly six months later, shipping traffic in the Port of Baltimore has still not returned to pre-disaster levels, attorneys for the longshoremen wrote in their claim. Claimants incomes were and continue to be entirely dependent on the flow of cargo vessels in and out of the Port of Baltimore. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday on behalf of roughly 2,200 members of the International Longshoremens Association union. Baltimore attorney Billy Murphy, representing the plaintiffs, said theyre seeking to recover lost wages in addition to punitive damages. Murphy held a news conference Thursday at which three of the plaintiffs spoke about how the port closure affected them. They said their access to jobs and benefits is based on seniority, so working fewer hours has serious implications because it could mean sliding back down the totem pole. Everything we obtain is acquired through hours, Hale said. A suit filed last week by the U.S. Department of Justice provided the most detailed account yet of the cascading series of failures on the Dali that left its pilots and crew helpless in the face of looming disaster. That complaint alleges mechanical and electrical systems on the massive ship had been jury-rigged and improperly maintained, culminating in a power outage as it approached the bridge. The crews efforts to restore power in time were also hindered by other problems on the ship. Darrell Wilson, a Grace Ocean spokesperson, has said the ships owner and manager look forward to our day in court to set the record straight. FBI agents boarded the Dali in April amid a criminal investigation into the circumstances leading up to the collapse. Agents boarded another container ship managed by Synergy while it was docked in Baltimore on Saturday. The Dali was leaving Baltimore for Sri Lanka when its steering failed because of the power blackouts. Six men on a road crew, who were filling potholes during an overnight shift, fell to their deaths as the bridge crumbled beneath them. While the ship experienced a series of electrical issues before and after it departed Baltimore, the blackout that occurred as it approached the bridge likely resulted from a loose electrical connection, which had been damaged by the vibrations on the Dali, according to recent court filings. Engineers on the ship manually restored power by reconnecting the tripped breakers, but it again switched off because of a problem with the fuel pumps. Attorneys allege the fuel supply to the ships generators was improperly reconfigured as a cost-cutting measure after Grace Ocean purchased it in 2017. Grace Ocean and Synergy filed a court petition days after the collapse seeking to limit their legal liability in what could become the most expensive marine casualty case in history. Since then, a number of entities have filed opposing claims, including Baltimores mayor and city council, families of the victims, local businesses and insurance companies. Theyve all been consolidated into one sprawling liability case and the deadline for most claims to be filed was Tuesday. Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits A propane system is believed to have been the source of a massive explosion that killed two people and destroyed a house in the Pittsburgh area near the Ohio River earlier this year, authorities said. A spokesperson for the Allegheny County fire marshals office told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the investigation of the March 12 blast in Crescent Township had been closed and will remain undetermined, but the source of the blast is related to the privately owned propane system. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissions safety division said Tuesday it had concluded its probe and found no evidence linking the blast to natural gas service under public utility jurisdiction. The home had no public utility natural gas service, and while Columbia Gas has natural gas mains in the general area, there were no utility gas mains in the immediate vicinity and no utility gas leaks were found, the commission said. The commission noted, however, that while there was no public utility natural gas service connected to the home, a private natural gas well and propane tank were located on the property which are both outside the PUCs jurisdiction. Aerial images from the scene in Crescent Township in the northwest Pittsburgh suburbs showed smoking ruins with the structure reduced to rubble and some large pieces lodged in trees above. Chief Andrew Tomer of the Crescent Township fire department said the blast was severe, absolutely extreme you could feel it in your chest. The homeowners, 89-year-old David Mitchell and 87-year-old Helen Mitchell, were killed. In August 2023, a blast in the borough of Plum about 25 miles (40 kilometers) away in the same county killed six people and destroyed three homes. Authorities said the cause was under investigation, but the explosion occurred inside one of the homes, ruling out an outside cause including wells, pipelines and other utilities. Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. U.S. software firm Cloudflare has denied any role in hosting two websites run by a hacker offering for sale stolen personal data and medical records of customers of top Indian insurer Star Health. The statement comes after the company was made party to an Indian lawsuit filed by Star Health last week, in which the insurer alleged that Cloudflare hosted the websites in question. Cloudflare is not the host for the domains in question, the firm told Reuters, adding that it works as a pass-through service situated between a website host and an end-user, which is why one may see a Cloudflare IP address. Star has also sued Telegram and the self-styled hacker xenZen, after Reuters reported that sensitive personal data, from telephone numbers to copies of identity cards and blood reports of its customers, were publicly accessible via Telegram chatbots. The websites and Telegram bots were inaccessible on Sunday. Star did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours in India. Earlier, Star said initial assessment showed no widespread compromise, adding that sensitive customer data remained secure. The company has received a temporary injunction from a court in its southern home state of Tamil Nadu ordering Telegram and the hacker to block any chatbots or websites in India that make the data available online. Last week Telegram told Reuters any newly created bots attempting to share this data were probably removed in a massive sweep of its searchable content. The Star lawsuit comes as global scrutiny of Telegram grows following last months arrest of its founder Pavel Durov in France, with the apps content moderation and features allegedly abused for illegal activities. Durov and Telegram denied wrongdoing and said they were tackling the criticism. (Reporting by Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra; editing by Clarence Fernandez) Taiwan issued a warning on Monday ahead of the arrival of Typhoon Krathon, which has strengthened into the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane and is expected to cross the densely populated west coast bringing torrential rain and strong winds. Taiwan regularly gets hit by typhoons but they generally land along the mountainous and sparsely populated east coast facing the Pacific. Krathon is forecast to hit the major port city of Kaohsiung early on Wednesday afternoon, then work its way across the center of Taiwan heading northeast and cross out into the East China Sea, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon has strengthened into the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane, packing powerful winds of more than 210 kph (125 mph) near its center, according to Tropical Storm Risk. The impact is getting bigger and bigger, said Gene Huang, forecaster at the CWA, pointing to threats to Taiwans southwest and adding it was rare for such a powerful typhoon to make a direct hit to the islands western plains. Its a first in history for a typhoon with such movement and intensity, Huang said. Huang warned residents there to be prepared for extreme winds of more than 150 kph (93 mph). Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai told reporters that the city should steel itself for a destructive storm, adding 1,690 people have been evacuated from danger zones so far. In short, the path of Typhoon Krathon may cause a major disaster in Kaohsiung, and in mountainous regions there is a very high risk of disasters, he said. Taiwan authorities said more than 1,000 rubber boats and 15,000 soldiers were on standby across Taiwan, including on the eastern coast where up to 1.3 meters (four feet) of rain was expected in the coming days. All military hospitals have set up emergency medical teams and they are ready to support anytime, said defense ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang. Boats to Taiwans outlying islands have already been canceled and some domestic flights have been disrupted. The rail line connecting southern Taiwan to the east coast stopped running mid-afternoon Monday, though other services including the north-south high-speed railway were operating as normal, the transport ministry said. It added that international flights were not yet impacted. In July, Typhoon Gaemi killed at least 11 people in Taiwan. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee; editing by Kim Coghill, Michael Perry and Miral Fahmy) Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Trends Ventis, the London-based commercial and residential real estate managing general agent, has expanded into Ireland, continuing its mission to deliver client service and capacity to brokers in the underserved middle of the property market. Ventis capacity will be distributed through a partnership with The Underwriting Exchange (TUE), the Dublin-based specialist broker, as an exclusive distributor in the Republic of Ireland. Irish brokers will be able to access Ventis capacity for mid-market real estate risk up to a total sum insured of 40 million ($44.7 million). Many brokers in the Irish property insurance market have been struggling to find insurers who can deliver quality service. In the nine months since launching Ventis, we have built a reputation in the UK as a firm that provides exactly that, and now we are bringing that proposition to the Irish market, according to Gareth Roberts, CEO of Ventis, in a statement. We believe there is a marked opportunity, made possible through access to TUEs existing broker networks, to deliver Ventis quality capacity and service to the Irish mid-market property sector, Roberts added. Adding Ventis to TUEs panel of underwriting partners will allow us to access the property market at a higher level than we have covered previously, commented Stephen OConnor, chairman of Specialist Risk Europe, which is the platform for the European operations of London-based broker and underwriter Specialist Risk Group. We are looking forward to working closely with the Ventis team as our exclusive partner in this area to deliver the best service for our broker partners and bolster our offering in the property sector, OConnor added. Ventis Ireland will underwrite through its new presence in Dublin, where underwriter Suchitra Ramakrishnan is based. Ventis said it aims to underwrite a broad range of SME and mid-sized property risks, focusing on standard risks overlooked by larger insurers. London-based broker Specialist Risk Europe Ltd. trades as The Underwriting Exchange (TUE), MX Underwriting Europe, and LIME is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Source: Ventis Topics Insurance Wholesale On a brisk late September morning in the heart of Chablis wine country, grape pickers haul large and heavy buckets over their shoulders, drenched in sweat as they climb the very steep slope of the Vau de Vey vineyard. Its the final day of the harvest at the Domaine Roland Lavantureux winery, and workers are handpicking the last of the prized Chardonnay grapes that will eventually be transformed into the bright and high-end Premier Cru that is bottled by the estate. But wine lovers around the world may struggle to get their hands on the 2024 millesime wine that comes from a single years harvest. It will be available in smaller quantities than usual. Much of Frances wine country faced one of the wettest years on record in 2024 so far amid a changing climate, after years of challenges to vineyards and wine quality caused by drought and heat. At the Lavantureux estate, the picking lasted just nine days about half the usual time after a year of unpredictably harsh weather marked by frost, hail, record rainfall and the spread of a dangerous fungus that has left Chablis growers on edge. I have been working here since 2010. This is my most difficult year, says winemaker David Lavantureux, who follows in the footsteps of his father Roland, a winemaker himself. And all the old-timers will tell you the same thing. Its been a very difficult year because the weather has been so unpredictable. We have not been spared a single thing. The ordeal began in April with the frost. Then in May, a double hailstorm pummeled the region. Then came relentless rain, right up to the harvest. According to the Burgundy wine federation, some 1,000 hectares (nearly 2,500 acres) of vines in the Chablis country were affected by the May storm. And the excess moisture allowed a destructive mildew fungus to thrive. Disease Devastates the Vineyard Once entrenched, the disease causes huge crop losses and can also affect wine quality. Together with his brother Arnaud, David fought hard to try and control mildew with various treatments, which were washed away by the rain and didnt prove effective. On our estate, were looking at losses of 60 to 65%, David Lavantureux said. Its going to be a low-yield year. The weather impact wasnt confined to the Lavantureux estate. Wet conditions across France have wreaked havoc on many wine-growing regions this year. Mildew, combined with episodes of frost and hail, have reduced overall production. The French ministry of agriculture estimates that it will amount to 39.3 million hectoliters, below both 2023 levels (-18%) and the average for the past five years (-11%). Its been a very tough year, both physically and mentally, Arnaud says. Were relieved the harvest is over. Im exhausted. The challenges of this year will inevitably influence the wines produced at the family winery, resulting in a 2024 vintage with distinct characteristics. Balances are not at all the same, adds Arnaud. Theres more acidity. Maturity is less optimal. But the goal is to craft the wine so that, in the end, the balance is as perfect as possible. Adapting to Changing Climate Located in the northern part of the Bourgogne region, the vineyards of Chablis have traditionally benefited from a favorable climate cold winters, hot summers and annual rainfall between 650-700 millimeters (25-27 inches). But climate change is altering those conditions, bringing unseasonably mild weather, more abundant rainfall, and recurrent spring frosts that were less common in the past. The frost damage is particularly frustrating. A similar phenomenon hit French vineyards in recent years, leading to big financial losses. And scientists believe the damaging 2021 frost was made more likely by climate change. There was a period when we thought that with global warming setting in, Chablis would be safe from frost, David Lavantureux says. And finally, over the last 15 years, its come back even stronger. To adapt, winemakers have been adopting creative solutions. Cutting the wines later helps delay bud burst and reduce the vulnerability to late frost, while keeping a larger foliage above the fruit shields the grapes from the scorching sun in hot summers. During frost threats, many growers use expensive methods such as lighting candles in the vineyards. They also install electric lines to warm the vines, or spray water on the buds to create a thin ice layer that ensures the blossoms temperature remains around freezing point but doesnt dip much lower. Throughout the Burgundy region, anti-hail devices have also been deployed in a bid to lessen the intensity of hailstorms. It helps reduce risk, but its never 100% protection, David Lavantureux says. We saw that again this year with several hailstorms, two of which were particularly severe. Looking Ahead Fortunately for the Lavantureux family, two very good years in 2022 and 2023 should help mitigate the financial losses induced by the reduced 2024 harvest as international demand for Chablis remains solid, especially in the United States. In June, the Burgundy wine association said that Chablis wine exports to the U.S. reached 3 million bottles, generating 368 million euros ($410 million), a 19% increase compared to the previous year. Weve put this harvest behind us, says Arnaud Lavantureux Now its time to think on the next one. ___ Marine Lesprit contributed to this report. Photograph: Leaves of Chardonnay grapes with fungal disease that is causing major crop losses, photographed at Domaine Lavantureux, in Chablis, Burgundy region, France, on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard) Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Climate Change The way the Environmental Protection Agency has reported its test results since a Norfolk Southern train derailed and officials released and burned chemicals that spewed a toxic cloud over East Palestine, Ohio, makes it hard for residents to know the full extent of contamination and potential risks to their health. Data analyzed by The Associated Press show the EPA doesnt provide a specific measurement for chemicals that fall below a reporting limit, making it harder to know how much is there. The EPA has said that residents shouldnt worry about contamination from chemicals that are below the human health screening level that indicates danger and is usually higher than that reporting limit. But some health experts say that when mixed together, as they are in East Palestine, even levels of chemicals below that standard could raise the risk for cancer or other serious health problems. Extended exposure to low levels of chemicals might also cause problems. The agencys lack of transparency, combined with independent tests that appear to show lingering problem areas from the February 2023 derailment, are making it hard for some residents to trust the EPAs assurances that they will be safe. I used to feel like those were agencies to protect people, but I dont feel like that anymore, said Krissy Ferguson, who still isnt living in her home because of her concerns. They need to come forth and do the right thing. They know these chemicals just dont go away. Whats going on with the numbers? The test results the government reports are often labeled undetectable because the EPA says there isnt enough of a chemical present to reliably determine how much is there. The agency doesnt report exact numbers when the results are below a conservative reporting limit identified by the lab. But results from the railroads contractors and independent testers working in East Palestine include more details. Those spreadsheets include actual results even when they are below the reporting limits. Thats because there is a lower threshold called a method detection limit that spells out what a test is capable of finding. Testing experts say they generally report results above that lower limit because the numbers are considered reliable. The EPA hasnt explained why it hasnt disclosed detailed data on low levels of chemicals but has said its work in East Palestine is focused on levels high enough to pose an immediate threat to human health. When asked about testing of creeks near the site of the derailment, the agency said in a statement that none of the data that weve reviewed shows chemicals in the sediments far exceeding the long-term human health screening levels. Put simply, short term exposure to the sediments will not have meaningful increase in risk to human health. The EPA data and independent tests done this year do show the level of chemicals in the creeks improving after the cleanup efforts, even though some potentially dangerous substances linger at low levels. The agency also says that some of the contamination was likely present before the derailment because of industries that operated in East Palestine decades ago. The latest spreadsheet EPA posted on its East Palestine website last month shows 8,758 soil and sediment test results produced since the derailment. Some 6,400 of those entries declare there wasnt enough of an individual chemical found to report it accurately under a conservative reporting limit. But new data from Norfolk Southerns contractors, who have done most of the testing, reveal that 25,442 of 26,874 test results from last year nearly 95% had detectable levels of chemicals, according to the detailed information the lab provides. Carnegie Mellon professor Neil Donahue, director of that universitys Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research, said its customary to report any data thats over the method detection limit because the numbers are considered reliable. Other experts agreed the EPA should just report the data it has and explain it. Why dont they just straight tell people what the truth is? Do they not think we can handle it? said resident Christina Siceloff. What are the health implications? Even though its hard to know exactly how much of a health threat exists, medical researchers say there are real concerns in East Palestine because some residents have reported unexplained health problems since the derailment, including respiratory issues, rashes, hair loss, nosebleeds, asthma and at least one case of male breast cancer that prompted a double mastectomy. The human health screening levels that EPA is relying on are based on short-term exposure. Its less clear what it means to be exposed to these chemicals over a longer period of time. Researchers like Dr. Beatrice Golomb say that prolonged exposure to low levels of chemicals can be a problem. And even when there is a standard for exposure to a single chemical, there is no good research establishing what it would mean to be exposed to a mixture of chemicals, said Golomb, who is based at the University of California San Diego. Its not clear exactly what combinations of chemicals were created after several tank cars filled with hazardous chemicals spilled their contents and caught fire. Three days after the derailment, officials unnecessarily blew open five tank cars of vinyl chloride and burned that plastic ingredient because they feared those cars would explode. New substances were created when all those chemicals burned. Photo: In this photo provided by Melissa Smith, a train fire is seen from her farm in East Palestine, Ohio, Friday, Feb. 3, 2023. Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Pollution Last year, five people hoping to view the Titanic wreckage died when their submersible imploded in the Atlantic Ocean. A Coast Guard panel thats investigating the Titan submersible disaster heard two weeks of testimony that ended Friday. Previous witnesses provided testimony that raised serious questions about whether warning signs were ignored. Heres what witnesses have been saying so far: Public hearing wraps up, but not without a few surprises The Marine Board of Investigation concluded two weeks of testimony Friday with a moment of silence for the five victims who perished on the submersible Titan. The chair said more work needs to be done before a final list of recommendations is submitted to the leadership of the Coast Guard. The final day brought some dramatic moments, including when a former OceanGate employee testified company co-founder Stockton Rush brushed aside worries about the U.S. Coast Guard. Rush said that if the Coast Guard became a problem, then he would buy himself a congressman and make it go away, according to Matthew McCoy, who resigned after the interaction. Also Friday, Capt. Jamie Frederick, commander of the Coast Guard sector based in Boston, appeared to be stunned to learn that the captain of Titans support vessel felt, in hindsight, there was a slight shudder around the time the submersible imploded on its way to the wreckage of the Titanic last year. Lawsuit: Insufficient Testing of Titanic Sub Put Passengers in Potential Extreme Danger Frederick said it was unconscionable that they wouldnt share that in real time, and said it couldve changed the equation in terms of the Coast Guard rescue response. NASA, Boeing describe limited roles in creation of submersible Titan NASA and Boeing officials on Thursday described what they called their limited roles in the creation of the doomed submersible Titan even though the co-founder of OceanGate previously touted ties to NASA and aerospace manufacturers. Justin Jackson, a materials engineer, said NASA was unable to fulfill a role in building and testing the carbon fiber hull because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said NASA officials were uncomfortable with being linked to the experimental submersible, saying our folks had some heartburn when OceanGate suggested NASAs endorsement. Boeing was involved in an early feasibility study of the use of carbon fiber for Titans hull and in OceanGates acoustic sensors on the hull before the relationship ended. Mark Negley, material and process engineer at Boeing, said OceanGate ultimately departed from some of its recommendations on the pressure hull. Key employee says there was urgency to complete dives but not if it meant putting lives at risk A key employee with the company that owned the experimental submersible that imploded pushed back at a question from a Coast Guard investigator focusing on whether OceanGate felt a sense of desperation to complete the dives because of the high price tag. Amber Bay, director of administration for OceanGate, insisted Tuesday that the company would not conduct dives that would be risky just to meet a need. That said, told the Coast Guard panel, There definitely was an urgency to deliver on what we had offered and a dedication and perseverance towards that goal. She also referred to clients as mission specialists and explorers, not passengers. She tearfully noted that she knew all of them. Theres not a day that passes that I dont think of them, their families and the loss, she testified through tears. Company co-founder hopeful for a renewed interest in exploration The co-founder of the company that owned the experimental submersible that imploded en route to the wreckage of the Titanic told a Coast Guard panel Monday that he hopes the tragedy yields a renewed interest in exploration. This cant be the end of deep ocean exploration, said businessman Guillermo Sohnlein, who helped found OceanGate with Stockton Rush. He said the company was started with a laudable goal: We wanted to give humanity greater access to the ocean, specifically the deep ocean, Sohnlein said. Expert says carbon fiber is susceptible to fatigue failure Roy Thomas of the American Bureau of Shipping testified about challenges associated with carbon fiber, which was the material used for the pressure hull of the doomed Titan submersible. He noted that carbon fiber is difficult to manufacture and salt water can damage and weaken the material in multiple ways. Sub Disaster Puts Spotlight on Another Extreme Venture: Space Tourism He said theres no recognized standard for a submersible carbon fiber pressure hull for human occupancy and that carbon fiber is susceptible to fatigue failure under repeated external pressurization. The lead engineer says he wouldnt get in the Titan When testifying about a dive that took place several years before the fatal accident, lead engineer Tony Nissen said he felt pressured to get the Titan ready and he refused to pilot it. Im not getting in it, Nissen said he told Rush. Nissen said Rush was difficult to work for, made demands that often changed day-to-day, and was focused on costs and schedules. Nissen said he tried to keep his clashes with Rush hidden so others in the company wouldnt be aware of the friction. The Titan malfunctioned a few days before its fatal dive Scientific director Steven Ross said that on a dive just a few days before the Titan imploded, the vessel had a problem with its ballast, which keeps vessels stable. The issue caused passengers to tumble about and crash into the bulkhead, he said. One passenger was hanging upside down. The other two managed to wedge themselves into the bow, Ross testified. He said nobody was injured but it took an hour to get the vessel out of the water. He said he didnt know if a safety assessment or hull inspection was carried out after the incident. It wasnt the first time the Titan had problems A paid passenger on a 2021 mission to the Titanic said the journey was aborted when the vessel started experiencing mechanical problems. We realized that all it could do was spin around in circles, making right turns, said Fred Hagen. At this juncture, we obviously werent going to be able to navigate to the Titanic. He said the Titan resurfaced and the mission was scrapped. Hagen said he was aware of the risks involved in the dive. Anyone that wanted to go was either delusional if they didnt think that it was dangerous, or they were embracing the risk, he said. One employee said authorities ignored his concerns Operations director David Lochridge said the tragedy could possibly have been prevented if a federal agency had investigated the concerns he raised with them on multiple occasions. Lochridge said that eight months after he filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a caseworker told him the agency had not begun investigating and there were still 11 cases ahead of his. By that time, OceanGate was suing Lochridge and he had filed a countersuit. A couple of months later, Lochridge said, he decided to walk away from the complaint. He said the case was closed and both lawsuits were dropped. The whole idea behind the company was to make money, Lochridge testified. There was very little in the way of science. After Lochridges testimony this week, the federal agency responded that, at the time, it had promptly referred his safety concerns to the Coast Guard. Some people had a rosier view Renata Rojas, a member of the Explorers Club which lost two paid passengers in the fatal dive, struck a different tone with her testimony. She said she felt OceanGate was transparent in the run-up to the dive and she never felt the operation was unsafe. A passenger on a previous dive, Rojas was volunteering with the surface crew when the Titan imploded. Some of those people are very hardworking individuals that were just trying to make dreams come true, she said. Top Photo: This June 2023 United States Coast Guard still frame from video provided by Pelagic Research Services, shows remains of the Titan submersible, center, on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. (U.S. Coast Guard Video courtesy Pelagic Research Services via AP) Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. NEW ORLEANS (AP) New Orleans and the U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion Friday in federal court to take steps to end long-standing federal oversight of the citys police department. The city and the federal government had agreed to a reform pact for the New Orleans Police Department known as a consent decree in 2013, two years after a Department of Justice investigation found evidence of racial bias and misconduct from the citys police. The Justice Department had found in 2011 that New Orleans police used deadly force without justification, repeatedly made unconstitutional arrests and engaged in racial profiling. Officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths were investigated inadequately or not at all the Justice Department said. If U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan of the Eastern District of Louisiana approves the motion, the city and its police department will have two more years under federal oversight to show they are complying with reform measures enacted during the consent decree before it is lifted. Todays filing recognizes the significant progress the City of New Orleans and the New Orleans Police Department have made to ensure constitutional and fair policing, said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division in a statement. Morgan said in a statement that she plans to hold a public hearing within the next 45 days to allow members of the community to weigh in on whether they think the city and its police department should be allowed to wind down federal oversight. Colin Reingold, the legal director for the Promise of Justice Initiative, welcomed citizen input. The harms NOPD has committed are not harms of the past, and the need for police accountability in Louisiana is still as great as it has ever been, he said in a statement. NOPD is a long way from restoring trust with the communities we represent. Federal oversight of NOPD practices, though not a panacea, was and remains an important check on abuses of power, and NOPD straining to get out from under that oversight suggests that the lessons of the consent decree have not sunk in or led to long lasting reforms. The discussion about moving on from the consent decree should be had with the community before it is brought to the court. The citys Independent Police Monitor Stella Cziment said in a statement that the voices of city residents must be heard, considered and weighed in determining whether to allow the consent decree process to enter its final stages. But she noted the consent decree was always intended to be phased out over time. The reforms put into place, the officers that embrace those reforms, and the community that championed the reforms are not going anywhere, she said. The work continues. The Office of the Independent Police Monitor is an independent civilian police oversight agency created by voters in a 2008 charter referendum. It is tasked with holding the police department accountable and ensuring it is following its own rules, policies, as well as city, state and federal laws. Relations between Morgan and New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell have been strained, with the mayor saying the consent decree has been a drain on the citys resources. Complying with federal monitoring has cost the city millions. The mayors office said it would release a statement later Friday regarding the filing. Morgan said she applauds the progress the New Orleans Police Department had made so far. She added that the court would take swift and decisive action if the city and police department failed to follow the ongoing reform efforts. Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Law Enforcement A Florida surgeons license was suspended last week after he reportedly removed the wrong organ from a patient, leading to the mans death. Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky, working at Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast Hospital near Fort Walton Beach, made repeated surgical errors then fabricated medical records, according to a Sept. 24 emergency order from Floridas surgeon general, made available through the patients attorney. Dr. Shaknovsky claimed that he fired the stapling device blindly into the abdomen and removed an organ that he believed to be a spleen, reads the order from State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo. Instead, Shaknovsky had removed the mans liver and may have ruptured at least one artery, causing uncontrolled hemorraghing, according to the order and multiple news reports. After the August surgery and death, the Florida Department of Health investigated. The witnesses in the OR consistently and clearly recounted a summary of events that is markedly more troublesome than Dr. Shaknovskys written account of what occurred, Ladapos order reads. Patient William Bryan, 70, of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, had reluctantly agreed to the surgery after he felt pain in his abdomen, while visiting his rental propery in the Florida Panhandle. Shaknovsky and another doctor in Alabama warned that complications would develop if the spleen was not removed, the Miami Herald reported. Bryans widow hired Pensacola attorney Joe Zarzaur, who plans to file suit against the surgeon and the hospital system. Its not the first time Shaknovsky has removed the wrong part during surgery, the order notes. In May 2023, at the same Florida hospital, the surgeon removed part of a 58-year-old patients pancreas instead of an adrenal gland that had a growth on it. The hospital, part of a Catholic health system with hospitals in 18 states, said in a statement that it is investigating. The system has a history of safe and quality care, hospital officials said, according to news reports. The suspension order from Dr. Ladapo has raised its own questions. Lapado, appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, has been sharply criticized in recent months for his repeated misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines. Topics Florida Hurricane Helene has halted chicken processing plants and caused severe damage to some flocks, while also downing pecan trees and flattening cotton crops, as floodwaters swamped the southern US. Every commodity was impacted, with cotton, pecans, poultry and timber the hardest hit, according to Matthew Agvest, communications director for the Georgia Department of Agriculture. While its still early in the assessment stage, the state expects Helene to be more costly than Hurricane Michael in 2018, which caused $2.5 billion in agricultural damage. The future of hundreds of agricultural operations across Georgia is uncertain, the states Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said in a letter to Georgias Congressional Delegation. The storm could not have come at a worse time for our farmers and producers, who are already faced with record-setting drops in net farm income caused by inflation, high input costs, labor shortages, global competition and low commodity prices. Helene crashed into Floridas coast as a Category 4 hurricane before making its way inland. The giant storm with 140-mile-per-hour winds killed more than 90 people, knocked out power for millions and drenched states including Georgia, South and North Carolina. Wayne-Sanderson Farms poultry processing facility in Moultrie, Georgia, will not operate any shifts on Monday, according to a post on the companys Instagram account. Operations at two chicken plants run by Pilgrims Pride Corp. were suspended on Saturday due to power outages, owner JBS SA said in a statement to Bloomberg. Damage caused by the powerful storm has the potential to further constrain poultry production growth in the US at a time when demand is surging. Georgia and North Carolina are among the largest US chicken producing states. On Saturday, Georgia governor Brian Kemp said in a press conference that 107 poultry facilities had been damaged or totally destroyed by the storm. Nikki Richardson, a spokeswoman for JBS, said the company was still examining the extension of the impact to growers. We know many birds have been lost in some areas and the damage to some farms has been severe, she said. Cotton producers were also hit, with growers affected reporting yield losses from 35% to a total crop loss, the Georgia Cotton Commission said on its Facebook page. Losses will extend well beyond the farm, as cotton gins, other agribusinesses, and rural communities will feel the ripples of Hurricane Helenes aftermath for years to come, the group said. Cotton futures gained as much as 1.4%, the only soft commodity that was up as of 10:50 a.m. Monday in New York. Most of the hurricane damage occurred in the eastern portion of Georgia, sparing higher-producing counties in Southwest Georgia and Southeast Alabama, said Walter Kunisch, a senior commodities market strategist at Hilltop Securities. Cotton production in the state will decline, but the extent of that loss is still unclear, he added. The path of the storm saved the cotton in those regions, but where the losses in cotton occurred, the damage was severe and resulted in total losses, Kunisch said. Copyright 2024 Bloomberg. Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Hurricane Estimates of insured losses from Hurricane Helene continue to range around $5 billion, not including flood insurance losses, as the death toll in the Southeast continued to rise, reaching 107 by Monday morning. In Florida, the state Office of Insurance Regulation reported almost 40,000 property insurance claims had already been filed by Sunday. Total estimated insured losses have topped $435 million. Those numbers are expected to rise, but thousands of claims may turn out to be mostly damage from flooding, limiting exposure for Florida property insurers. This is a manageable event for Floridas property insurance industry, former Florida deputy insurance commissioner Lisa Miller told Fox 13 TV news. A.M. Best estimated that insured losses will be about $5 billion, similar to early estimates released by Gallagher Re, CoreLogic and others. Primary insurers underwriting property coverage will likely bear the brunt of those insured losses, given the recent trend by reinsurers to impose higher attachment points on that coverage, A.M. Bests Chris Draghi said in a bulletin. This hurricane could also be a key financial test for Florida property-catastrophe specialist writers, some of which are thinly capitalized. The Southeastern U.S. began a huge cleanup and recovery effort on Sunday and the death toll climbed after Helene knocked out power for millions, destroyed roads and bridges and caused dramatic flooding from Florida to Virginia, Reuters new service and others reported. ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) Floodwaters pushed by the remnants of Hurricane Helene left North Carolinas largest mountain city isolated Saturday by damaged roads and a lack of power and cellphone service, part of a swath of destruction across southern Appalachia that left an unknown number dead and countless worried relatives unable to reach loved ones. The storm spread misery across western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, where on Friday authorities used a helicopter to rescue dozens of people from the rooftop of a flooded hospital. In North Carolina alone, more than 400 roads remained closed on Saturday as floodwaters began to recede and reveal the extent of damage. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said supplies were being airlifted to that part of the state. Buncombe County officials said Interstate 26 between Asheville and South Carolina had reopened, but most other routes into the city were impassible. Among those rescued from rising waters was nurse Janetta Barfield, whose car was swamped on Friday morning as she left an overnight shift at Ashevilles Mission Hospital. She said she watched a car in front of her drive through standing water and thought it was safe to proceed. But her car stalled, and within minutes water had filled her front seat up to her chest. A nearby police officer helped her to safety. It was unbelievable how fast that creek got just in like five minutes, Barfield said. Early Saturday morning, many gas stations were closed because they didnt have electricity, and the few that were open had hourlong lines wrapped around the block. Where traffic lights were dark, drivers treated the intersections as four-way stops. The hub of tourism and arts, home to about 94,000 people, was unusually still after floodwaters swamped neighborhoods known for drawing visitors including Biltmore Village and the River Arts District, which is home to numerous galleries, shops and breweries. More than 700,000 customers were without power across North Carolina, including about 100,000 in Buncombe County. In Asheville, there was no cellular service and no timeline for restoration. Residents were also directed to boil their water. Local officials said they were working on setting up hubs to distribute food and water. We have had some loss of life, County Emergency Services Director Van Taylor Jones told reporters. However, he said they were not ready to report specifics as they were hindered in contacting next of kin by the communications outages. Police Chief Michael Lamb said his department had a list of about 60 people who relatives had not been able to reach and were seeking welfare checks. As of Saturday night, the governors office confirmed 10 storm deaths statewide but did not provide a breakdown of where they occurred. Officials said they tried to prepare for the storm but its magnitude was beyond what they could have imagined. Its not that we (were) not prepared, but this is going to another level, Sheriff Quentin Miller said. To say this caught us off guard would be an understatement. Atlanta resident Francine Cavanaugh said she has been unable to reach her sister, son or friends in the Asheville area. My sister checked in with me yesterday morning to find out how I was in Atlanta, she said on Saturday. The storm was just hitting her in Asheville, and she said it sounded really scary outside. The storms winds, rain and storm surge killed at least 90 people in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia, according to a Reuters tally of state and local officials. Officials feared more bodies would be discovered in the next few days. Business interruption claims are likely to mount across the region, as floodwaters and road washouts shut down enterprises and cellphone service was non-existent in some areas. The city of Asheville, North Carolina, home of a thriving tourist industry, was heavily flooded and left completely isolated. State officials set up airlifts to bring food and water to residents on Sunday. Grocery stores are closed, cellphone service is out, Chip Frank, 62, said as he entered his third hour waiting in line, according to Reuters. It all depends on these gas stations. Youre not going to be able to go nowhere, and its just a scary feeling. The North Carolina Department of Transportation has restricted any travel in the western part of the state. This is a devastating catastrophe of historic proportions, Gov. Roy Cooper told CNN. People that I talk to in western North Carolina say they have never seen anything like this. The extreme water levels caught many off guard. Most losses from flooding in the area will not be covered by insurance. Public and private flood policy take-up rates are minimal in the mountainous regions of the Southeast and will predominantly be the responsibility of the property owner, Guy Carpenter, the global risk and reinsurance firm, said Monday. Region-wide, total economic losses, aside from insured losses, could reach as high as $110 billion, AccuWeather noted. Moodys Analytics pegged total losses at no more than $34 billion. On the west coast of Florida, where heavy storm surge swamped hundreds of homes, mortgage companies may ultimately raise requirements for more flood insurance, Guy Carpenter noted. Wind insurers may bear expense to adjust water claims with zero ultimate payment. A number of fires broke out in Tampa, destroying some homes that also faced damage from storm surge and wind-driven rain. In storm-plagued Horseshoe Beach, on Floridas Gulf Coast about 70 miles (120 km) west of Gainesville, Charlene Huggins surveyed the debris of her blown-out house, pulling a jacket out of the rubble on Saturday, Reuters reported. Five generations lived in this house, from my grandmother, my father, myself, my daughter, son and my granddaughter, Huggins said, holding a chipped glass cake stand. So theres a lot of memories here. It just breaks your heart. Not far away, James Ellenburg stood on the property where his own family has lived for four generations. I took my first step right here in this yard. The roof of one home sat flat in the dirt, its walls blown away. In coastal Steinhatchee, a storm surge of eight to 10 feet (2.4 to 3 meters) moved mobile homes, the weather service said. Ive never seen so many people homeless as what I have right now, said Janalea England, of Steinhatchee, a small river town along the states rural Big Bend. She turned her commercial fish market into a storm donation site for friends and neighbors, many of whom couldnt get insurance on their homes, the Associated Press reported. Other areas saw a storm surge of 15 feet (4.5 meters). In the nearby tiny community of Spring Warrior Fish Camp, people were surveying the damage on Saturday and still waiting for emergency or first responder aid. No one thinks of us back here, said David Hall, as he and his wife dug through seagrass and dead fish in the office of the hotel they owned. Many of the communitys homes are built on stilts because of a local ordinance and survived heavy damage. Kristin Macqueen was helping friends clean up after their house was destroyed in nearby Keaton Beach. Its complete devastation, she said. Houses have just been ripped off their slabs. East Tennessee also endured extensive flooding, and a dam was near collapse over the weekend. Water levels behind the Nolichucky Dam near Morristown began to recede, but not until after downstream residents were evacuated. Top photo: Emergency personnel watch floodwaters rise in Asheville on Friday. (AP Photo/Erik Verduzco) Topics Profit Loss Flood California, the birthplace of hot rod culture and televised police chases, is cracking down on a surge in deadly street takeovers. Often organized through social media, these chaotic events also known as sideshows have transformed quiet streets into dangerous arenas where drivers race, spin out and burn rubber for cheering crowds. With injuries and fatalities on the rise, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a package of bills this week aimed at curbing the growing phenomenon by allowing authorities to seize vehicles, suspend licenses and jail participants. We have seen too many people killed or hurt at these events, Newsom said in a statement this week. Today we are sending a clear message to anyone participating in or attending a sideshow: Stricter penalties are in place, including the potential loss of your vehicle. The measures, which passed with bipartisan support, provide law enforcement with new tools to combat the problem in a state where daredevil street racing has long been romanticized from motorcycle riding rebels to lowrider cruisers and through franchises like The Fast and the Furious. One bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez, a Republican representing parts of Orange and Riverside Counties in southern Califronia, allows police to impound vehicles that block roads during takeovers, even without arresting the driver. However, a state Assembly analysis warned of potential legal challenges, citing concerns over possible violations of unreasonable search and seizure protections. Sideshows and street takeovers need to end now, Sanchez said in a statement. Our communities have had enough of the lawlessness. A surge in street takeovers began during the pandemic, when traffic was light and roads were empty. The California Highway Patrol cited 341 individuals for violation of motor vehicle exhibition of speed in 2020, up 70% from 2019. Theyve continued this year, with several incidents making headlines. Over the weekend, two people were killed in separate homicides connected to sideshow events in Sacramento. Hundreds of people joined an illegal street takeover in South Los Angeles in June, when more than 50 participants looted a nearby auto parts store, stealing an estimated $67,000 in merchandise, according to the Los Angeles Police. In April, a woman was apparently knocked unconscious while watching an Infiniti G37 lose control while cutting donuts during a street takeover in South Los Angeles. At least six people died in 2022 in connection with Los Angeles street takeovers, the same year a new $588 million bridge was repeatedly closed because of these events and other types of vandalism. Law enforcment has been taking action. In February, the San Joaquin County Sheriffs office infiltrated a weekend sideshow event, detaining 150 people and seizing 88 cars. Oakland Police arrested five people and recovered three guns in June after a series of sideshows that attracted 300 vehicles and 200 spectators. The tradition of sideshows in Oakland dates back to the 1980s, evolving a decade later into more spectacular events influenced by the citys hyphy culture, a local slang term meaning hyperactive that was coined by Rapper Keak da Sneak and popularized by E-40s song, Hyphy. The original sideshows were just meant to show off cars, but they developed into larger events under Oaklands unique hyphy culture in the 1990s, according to a bill analysis. The problem extends beyond California. A new Florida law imposes hefty fines and potential license suspensions for drivers involved in stunt driving and takeovers. Last weekend, police in Philadelphia responded to 11 incidents involving as many as 200 vehicles engaged in drifting and drag racing, with crowds setting off fireworks, wielding a flamethrower, and vandalizing five police vehicles, resulting in injuries to one officer. Its playing whack-a-mole, Philadelphia Deputy Commissioner Mike Cram said during a press conference. They just move from one location to another. Copyright 2024 Bloomberg. Topics Auto Fraud The first act for Live At The Marquee 2025 in Cork has been announced, with American guitarist Joe Bonamassa to lead two tribute gigs to the late Rory Gallagher. Details of the concerts were announced at a launch event on Monday at the Oliver Plunkett bar in Cork city, where Bonamassa was on-hand to play a few of Gallaghers classic tunes. Marquee promoter Peter Aiken announced the gigs in the presence of Donal Gallagher Rorys brother and manager through his career and other members of the Gallagher family. Taking place on July 1 and 2 next year, the gigs will come just a few weeks after the 30th anniversary of the death of the beloved Cork guitarist, who passed away on June 14, 1995, aged 47. "It's a real, real honour for the family to have this happen, and in particular, in Cork," said Donal Gallagher. "I can't think of a better 30th anniversary remembrance for Rory, a celebration of his work, and no better man than Joe to play that." Donal Gallagher, Peter Aiken, Joe Bonamassa and Gerry McAvoy in the Oliver Plunkett on Monday at the announcement of the Rory Gallagher tribute at Live at their Marquee. Picture: Chani Anderson Three-times Grammy nominee Bonamassa has often cited Gallagher as a major inspiration, and the New Yorkers debut album in 2000 even opened with a cover of the Donegal-born musicians Cradle Rock. At his appearances at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2011, Bonamassa played that track on Gallaghers original Fender Stratocaster. The legendary guitar has been in the news lately as its the main item in a batch of Gallaghers instruments and other equipment being auctioned at Bonhams in London in October. Bonamassa revealed at Monday's press conference he had anonymously put in "a couple of grand" to the GoFundMe campaign to keep Rorys guitar in Cork. Rory Gallagher in 1970. (Photo by Fin Costello/Redferns) For the Cork gigs, Bonamassa will be joined by an impressive band that includes British drummer Jeremy Stacey (Lemonheads, High Flying Birds, etc), and Dublin bassist Aongus Ralston (The Waterboys, etc). Gallaghers original bass player Gerry McEvoy is also expected to make an appearance. Much of the set at the Marquee will contain material from Irish Tour 74, as well as other popular tracks from the late maestros canon. Bonamassa also told the press conference that he was aware of the difficulty he faced trying to fill Gallaghers shoes, not least in the era of unkind social media comments. "I know this is going to be incredibly challenging for me. I'm not Rory Gallagher. I'm Joe Bonamassa playing Rory songs," he said. The venue for the launch would have been known as Zoes or Swingers to previous generations of Corkonians, but Donal Gallagher recalled it was the Palm Court Ballroom in Rorys youth, and he would have played there on many occasions. The 1974 tour provided the material for one of Gallaghers great albums, and footage of the gigs in Cork, Belfast and Dublin was also captured in Tony Palmers film. The gig in the North was organised by Jim Aiken, father of the current promoter, and eagle-eyed viewers may spot a young Peter in the background in one of the scenes. Peter also has fond memories of Gallaghers visits to Belfast in the 1970s, when the Troubles were in full swing, and the Cork guitarist was one of the few big acts whod travel to the strife-torn province. After the concerts, Gallagher and his band would often end up back in the Aiken household in Andersonstown. Rory was always such a nice, down-to-earth guy, recalled Peter, who said hed been hoping to organise a tribute event for several years. Peter Aiken, promoter of Live at the Marquee, is the son of Jim Aiken, who organised many of Rory Gallagher's early gigs. Picture: Chani Anderson A recent tribute gig at Cork City Hall organised by Sheena Crowley, daughter of Michael Crowley, who sold the famous Stratocaster to Gallagher in 1963 saw various local artists play as a part of a campaign to retain the guitar in Gallaghers home city. The Bonhams auction and Marquee gigs are the latest chapters in Gallaghers continued presence in popular culture since he became one of countrys first international rock stars. A new album, The BBC Collection, will also be released in mid-October, featuring highlights of the guitarists appearances on the British broadcaster across the years 1971 to 1986. Other announcements about acts for the Live at the Marquee summer series are expected in the coming weeks. The concerts will take place at the same Marina-side location as last years event, a stone's throw from Shandon Boat Club, another venue where Gallagher played numerous gigs during his formative years in Cork. A 10-year-old girl is being hailed a hero for the second time after raising 220k for the hospital that helped her beat cancer. Penny OBrien showed tremendous strength after overcoming osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, in March 2021. With the help of her mum Sinead, she has been doing everything she can to give back to Childrens Health Ireland. The primary school pupils efforts are now being recognised to mark Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Penny, who has two older sisters, Abi (12) and Emma (14), was diagnosed with the disease in June 2020, before undergoing limb-saving surgery the following September. She finally had the chance to ring the bell at Childrens Health Ireland in 2021 to mark the end of her chemo journey. Not content with relaxing after her courageous ordeal, she has spent the last few years fundraising for the Childrens Health Foundation. The charity supports child patients in Crumlin, Temple Street, Tallaght, and Connolly Hospital. Daisy Lodge in Co Down, which offers respite to families impacted by cancer, also benefitted from Pennys fundraising. Pennys mum Sinead and dad Kevin are naturally proud of their youngest daughter. Penny had a big cake sale and delivered the cakes to all the houses, Sinead said. She was shaking buckets for Crumlin and getting money from local businesses. "She made leaflets and put them through letterboxes so everyone knew about her fundraisers. "We are afraid to ask people for any more money at this stage, so well take a break from it for now. "However, Penny is always saying she would love to organise a walk or a cycle, so there will be more fundraisers to come down the line. The family will never forget the staff of Childrens Health Ireland who kept Penny strong during their darker days. Pennys consultant Dr Michael Capra got us through a lot of dark days, Sinead said. "When she got her diagnosis he had a slime fight with her and they were laughing at the end of it. "It was important that he told her in a way that didnt scare her. His advice to Penny was to do something really cool and fun with her hair before it all fell out so my sister, who is a hairdresser, dyed it with unicorn colours. Penny O'Brien had her hair dyed with unicorn colours before starting chemotherapy treatment. Sinead recalled her pride at seeing Penny ring the bell in March 2021, marking the end of her treatment. We used to hear the bell in the hospital sometimes and wonder when it was going to be our turn. "It was very emotional to hear Penny ring it. She had brought her play therapist Aoife with her to ring it. Aoife got her through a lot. "There was a guard of honour in the corridor and her nanny and grandad and cousins and dog Trixie were all waiting for her outside. It was a great day. The pair return to the hospital every Christmas to gift parents with treats for the festive season. Its only when youre going through something like this that you realise what everybody else is going through. "We were lucky to have family in Dublin who could help but not all families have that support, Sinead said. "When your child is that sick you cant really leave the ward. You dont want parents to have to think about anything else when their child is in hospital. "Hopefully, this gives them one less thing to worry about. We met a lot of people through Penny being sick and we are always there if they need to talk to us. Readers can donate to the Childrens Health Foundation by visiting www.childrenshealth.ie To donate to Daisys Lodge visit cancerfundforchildren.com/short-breaks/daisy-lodge/ Irelands cybersecurity agency is to get emergency powers to conduct surveillance on all Irish website traffic where there is a pressing national security threat, under proposed new laws. Richard Browne, director of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said these powers would allow for intrusive monitoring of internet traffic in Ireland. The cyber chief said these legal provisions are similar to sweeping surveillance powers French authorities introduced during the Olympics. In an interview with the Irish Examiner, Mr Browne said: The NCSC expects disinformation and foreign interference around the general election with the issue being the extent and the effect of it, but added there was very little during the recent British general election as social media companies got better at taking this material down; There has been a significant uptick in foreign interference in Ireland in the last year and the seriousness of the cyber attacks is ramping up; Cloud computing is critical for Ireland, not least because critical infrastructure including subsea digital cables, financial services and energy supply is increasingly based in the cloud. He said the NCSC, which sits within the Department of Communications, is part of a range of EU networks and has channels into Nato. The NCSC is set for a wide range of new powers under the General Scheme of National Cyber Security Bill. The complex legislation, which is 183 pages for just a draft bill, includes strong surveillance powers in cases of a national security emergency or looming threat. The provision says the NCSC can seek emergency powers when it becomes aware of a pressing national security threat likely to undermine the security of information systems of essential services including public and private entities. Mr Browne said: These are emergency powers that are far more expansive. The NCSC will be able to go to the High Court ex-parte (without anyone else knowing) and behind closed doors (no media or public) and seek to apply devices on public communication networks and data centres for a fixed period. The High Court shall grant the request where it is satisfied the NCSC has grounds for believing there are real and persistent risks to the security of the State or to the integrity of public sector data, or to the continuity of essential services. That essentially means the entire Irish IP address space, Mr Browne said. Theyre explicitly emergency powers. Theyre subject to very heavy oversight. He said they were premised on some powers that exist in other European countries, such as France around the Paris Olympics. If we were to have, for example, a major sporting event of that kind or very heightened threat environment to the European level, and even more major European war, for example, thats when wed activate those powers, Mr Browne said. What that is, is the power to monitor traffic on a national level in a much more intrusive way, looking for specific national security risks and issues ... not something you do every day. The Taoiseach has said he does not intend to move into Farmleigh as it would be very disruptive for his children. Gardai have investigated separate incidents of alleged harassment outside Simon Harriss family home, as well as a bomb threat against the Co Wicklow property. It has raised questions on whether Mr Harris should move to a location with heightened security. There is no official residence for holders of the office of Taoiseach but, on occasion, Stewards Lodge on the Farmleigh estate has been used by taoisigh for various reasons. However, Mr Harris has said he has no intention of moving there. Taoiseach Simon Harris speaking to the media (Brian Lawless/PA) Mr Harriss comments come as he appears as the first guest on the second season of former RTE star Ryan Tubridys podcast. Tubridy was at the centre of a scandal which rocked RTE for a year after it was revealed that the national broadcaster had underdeclared payments to the former Late Late Show host. The crisis later widened out to other governance matters and the controversy around financial mismanagement at the station was seen as a driver behind a fall in TV licence receipts. It prompted a series of heavyweight Oireachtas committees and resulted in the Government changing how the organisation is funded. Tubridy now hosts a daily show on Virgin Radio in London, also broadcast on Q102. He also writes a weekly column for The Irish Daily Mail On Sunday. Mr Harris told the podcast host that the incidents at his home were a form of intimidation and harassment. I think its done to unsettle and unnerve people, and I think its done by people to let you know that they know where you live. Ryan Tubridy arrives at Leinster House for an Oireachtas committee (Niall Carson/PA) Asked by Tubridy about the possibility of an official Taoiseachs residence, Mr Harris said: This has been put to me on occasion. The challenge for me apart from loving Greystones is that my kids are of an age where one has just started in the local school, and it would be very disruptive. I dont know where the future brings us in relation to this but I can see it happening in the future. Mr Harris said he did not imagine that people would be unsupportive of such a measure, but added: Its not something that Im intending to do. On The Bookshelf With Ryan Tubridy, Mr Harris will reveal how he gorged on books as a child and raised money for MS Ireland by getting sponsored for the Readathon. The episode is also expected to feature the conflict in Gaza and a gift he received from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The premise of Tubridys podcast involves asking guests to bring in three books: a cherished childhood book, a book which brought them to tears, and a book which changed their life. Mr Harris identified Patrick Radden Keefes Say Nothing as the book that made him cry. This book did make me cry within the first few pages because it is a book that tells the story of the Troubles, particularly the Jean McConville abduction. Ms McConville was a recently widowed mother of 10 when she was abducted. She was 38 years of age. She was abducted, murdered and then disappeared. Body buried. Disappeared, taken from her kids by the IRA and killed in the Troubles. Promotional material for the episode also shows two other books in front of Mr Harris. These are David McKittricks book about the Troubles, Lost Lives, as well as Mark Haddons The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, in which the lead character is widely regarded as an autistic boy although this is not explicitly mentioned in the text. Mr Harris has attributed his campaigning for better school facilities for his autistic brother to his entry into public life. The Bookshelf With Ryan Tubridy returns on Tuesday. The heartbroken son of a Cork man who was killed in a hurricane in Florida this week has said: The world has lost a legend. 71-year-old Aidan Bowles, who was originally from Glanmire, moved to the US over three decades ago. His son Sam said his father had planned to visit Cork again in the near future. He had been employed as an attorney and publican during his lengthy career, but prided himself on being Irish and returned home regularly. Mr Bowles was named after he was tragically killed when Category 4-level Hurricane Helene ripped through the US. The death toll from the hurricane has now reached at least 130. Hundreds more people are still unaccounted for across several states, and US President Joe Biden is to travel to North Carolina to monitor rescue efforts as the White House's response has become a bitter topic in the election. It tore into the Indian Rocks Beach in Pinellas County, Florida, where residents were told to evacuate. Sam posted an image of his late father on Facebook, saying: The world lost a legend to Hurricane Helene in Florida on Thursday night. Rest in peace Aidan Bowles." He continued in a second post: I dont even know what to say. Today I not only lost my dad, I lost my Superman. This guy was the strongest and smartest person Ive ever met in my life. He truly made an impact in his life on not just me but everyone he came into contact with. Im truly lost without him, we were not only father and son but best friends, business partners, and my hero Unfortunately, my father didnt make it through Hurricane Helene last night and passed away in his home early this morning. I will be arranging a celebration of life for him when I have a chance. I have an immense amount of things to deal with right now, so please be patient," he added. In an emotional tribute, Sam told of how his father, who adopted him when he was a year old, had emigrated to the United States at the age of 20 with just $800 in his pocket and went on to have a very successful career as an attorney in New York. He was a superhero. He adopted me when I was a one-year-old. He has done so much for me and for everyone he has come into contact with. He was so funny. He knew how to say it and when to say it. The remains of Mr Bowles were discovered in his one-storey cottage on Indian Rocks Beach a day after the storm by his neighbour John Comer. It is understood that Mr Comer discovered Mr Bowles body trapped under a dresser. Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said Mr Bowles appeared to have drowned from rising water that entered the residence. Speaking to RTE News from his home in Kentucky, Sam recalled the last conversation he had with his dad was the night before he died. "I called him around 10pm last Thursday night, and he told me there was nothing to worry about, that everything was fine, and the storm had already passed him," he said. But the storm surge is what caused the issue "The next morning around 9.30am, I got a call from the police to say my father was deceased in his home and there was about eight to 10 feet of water surrounding it." The passengers of a luxury cruise ship marooned in Belfast for four months have thanked the city for hosting them as they prepared to begin a global voyage. People were carrying souvenirs from Belfast, including a model of the Titanic, as they waited to board on Monday evening. The vessel is to depart just before midnight after last-minute paperwork was obtained. The Villa Vie Odyssey became stranded in the Northern Ireland city for longer than planned due to unexpected repair works in May. Passengers prepare to board the Villa Vie Odyssey at Belfast Port (Liam McBurney/PA) Passengers have since become familiar with Belfast and the sights of Northern Ireland, with many saying they had fallen in love with the city. They bade Belfast farewell with a bike tour and a meal as they expected to depart on Monday on what should be a three-year trip. Andy Garrison, 75, who said he will be on board for at least three and a half years, said he arrived in Belfast for what he thought was three days in August and ended up there for six weeks. He said he wanted something to do so he ordered a model of the Titanic which he built over three or four days. Asked if he was worried it could be seen as a bad omen, he said: No, Im not. As a matter of fact Im going to put this on the wall of my room. Andy Garrison at Belfast Ports Cruise Ship Terminal (Liam McBurney/PA) He said the passengers had been resilient in waiting for the repairs to be completed and described them as a really nice group. I like Belfast a lot actually, I would stay here and enjoy myself except Im leaving on a ship, he said. I am so happy to be sailing away, Im ready to go. We stop briefly in Brest, France, and then we go to Spain, we go to Portugal, and we head across the ocean to go to the Bahamas, where we stay for a while in the Bahamas. Cyndi Grzybowski, 69, from Appling, Georgia, said she had always wanted to see the world and was excited for the voyage to begin. Cyndi Grzybowski said she enjoyed every minute in Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA) My better half passed away three years ago so this is giving me an opportunity to get off the farm, literally, and see the world, which is something that I have wanted to do, she told reporters on Monday. My son has been so supportive of this because when this opportunity came up, I was really humming and hawing because Ive been on the farm for 27 years, and he said, Mom, the only thing Ive heard you talk about is going to see the world. We started out as strangers in Southampton and Belfast and now we truly are family. We had two amazing parties yesterday with the pedal bikes and last night at Revolution de Cuba, we had a get-together with fantastic food. Thank you all so very much truly, Belfast has been such a wonderful place. I have so enjoyed every minute here. The luxury cruise offers rentals from 35 to 120 days, or villas can be purchased ranging from 90,000 to 260,000. Gian Perroni and Angie Harsanyi found love in Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA) Owning a villa on board guarantees the room for a minimum of 15 years, but the ownership stays valid for the entire operation of the ship. Belfast was not the only thing would-be voyagers fell in love with over the past few months two became engaged on the Lagan Weir Bridge under a supermoon. Gian Perroni, from Vancouver in Canada, and Angie Harsanyi, from Colorado in the US, first met in Belfast four months ago and started walking through the city on their way to and back from the ship. Mr Perroni said the two are made for each other, adding: We found our soulmates. Mike Petterson, chief executive of Villa Vie Residences, was applauded by waiting passengers after telling them the ship was on the way at around 7pm. Villa Vie Residences chief executive Mikael Petterson (Liam McBurney/PA) Speaking to reporters at the cruise terminal, he said he was a little stressed as efforts were made to clear a few last-minute things. Its administrative paperwork. We needed the right person to press the button, at the end of the day. Its been done and were putting the vessel in motion right now. The harbour master has been in direct contact with the MD. Weve been expecting this outcome for hours. He said departure was due at 11.59pm a minute before the terminal closes. The good news is that we have complete clearance and we will be out of here very, very, very soon. Asked how would he remember Belfast, he said your summer is horrible and you cant cook to save your lives, but you do know how to drink. The appointment of Valerie OSullivan as the new chief executive of Cork City Council has been ratified by city councillors, despite some concerns about her explanation for how her X account was compromised and her handling of Traveller accommodation issues in the county. City councillors met on Monday night to consider the Public Appointments Services recommendation that she be appointed to the 182,280 role. The special meeting was held behind closed doors as is allowed under the Local Government Regulations 2014 in governing the appointment of a chief executive. Councillors were briefed before the meeting by the citys law agent, who set out the procedures for the appointment of a chief executive including how the recommended candidates name is considered by the councils corporate policy group and then by full council, which had three options on Monday: To appoint the recommended candidate, to not appoint, or to seek additional information from the service. However, the Irish Examiner has established that councillors opted against seeking further information and then voted in favour of her appointment. In a statement afterwards, the Green Party criticised the decision as "hire first, ask questions later". Green Party councillor Oliver Moran said he wanted Ms O'Sullivan to meet councillors before being appointed, but this was not supported by a majority of councillors. He referred to a number of questions that arose during Ms O'Sullivan's tenure as acting chief executive of Cork County Council, including her oversight of Traveller relations and a cybersecurity incident involving her X account. 'Compromised' social media account It was removed last November after online newsletter Tripe + Drisheen reported how the account had "liked" anti-LGBT+, covid, and climate change conspiracy content. The county council said at the time that the account had been compromised, that the acting chief executive had not engaged with this content, and that corrective action was taken. Ms OSullivan said she does not hold those views and she does not see how the content of her X account was connected to her prospective role as chief executive of Cork City Council. Speaking after Mondays council meeting, Mr Moran said the position of chief executive is effectively for 10 years. Taking a more careful approach to the appointment, especially where there is controversy, would have given the city more certainty, he said. Unfortunately, we're now left asking questions after the appointment is made rather than asking these up front "My feeling is that the decision has put us one step closer to a directly-elected lord mayor in Cork. I think most people would think it's incredible that someone could be appointed to a position like this with such a reluctance from the elected council to even meet the nominee before appointing." Independent Ireland councillor Ken O'Flynn described Ms O'Sullivan as "a fantastic public servant", and said he looks forward to working with her. Ms OSullivan said she was honoured and privileged" to be formally appointed. I have dedicated my career to public service and believe so much in the power of local Government to make a positive difference in peoples lives," she said. "It is the honour and privilege of my career to continue this in the city of my birth, where I will continue to work with a great team and all the elected members to deliver for Cork City, its residents, communities, and the business sector." Ms O'Sullivan held a number of senior roles in the city council, including in recreation, amenity and culture, in corporate affairs, and in housing, until she moved to Cork County Council in 2019 and was appointed divisional manager for the South Cork division, before being appointed temporary chief executive last October. As chief executive of the city council, she will have overall responsibility for an annual budget of 292m. The Government finds itself in an enviable position: An already swollen budget surplus has ballooned following a 14bn tax windfall from the drawn-out court case with Apple. Its a position in which most countries could only dream to find themselves. The question now is: How will the Government spend it? Tomorrows budget is already predicted to be a giveaway, offering tax cuts and incentives to entice voters ahead of a potential early election. However, the Apple tax haul represents an enticing new opportunity. The ruling of the European Court of Justice upheld a 2016 European Commission challenge to Irelands controversial tax breaks being provided to Apple. The global tech giant had avoided paying taxes in Ireland thanks to a now-defunct tax scheme. The Government spent a decade fighting not to accept the tax windfall. Now that the country no longer has any choice but to accept the payment, officials seem at a loss as to how to spend it. Government spokespeople have been reluctant to speculate as to the manner with which the surplus may be distributed, but details are expected to emerge at tomorrows budget announcement. One obvious solution would be to channel the funds toward some of the more critical threats facing the country by urgently addressing Irelands devastating biodiversity loss and failing climate targets. Celebrated across history for its famously lush landscape by poets and artists, even those as notably far-flung as Johnny Cash in his iconic Forty Shades of Green, the current state of decline in Irelands natural habitat is stark. The Government was forced to declare a climate and biodiversity emergency in 2019. In total, 85% of Irelands EU-protected habitats are in an unfavourable status with 46% in decline. Half of the countrys rivers and two-thirds of the estuaries are in poor ecological health. Ireland has lost more than 90% of its wetlands, more than any other country in the world. A third of Irelands 100 bee species are threatened with extinction alongside 48 species of fish, crustaceans, shellfish, and invertebrates. Nearly two-thirds of bird species have been designated as a conservation concern and are under severe pressure. Ireland is one of the most nature-depleted countries on Earth Since 2019, there have been concerted efforts to secure biodiversity and nature on the political agenda beginning with a citizens assembly on biodiversity loss. The assembly brought together 100 citizens who met across seven meetings between 2022 and 2023, delivering 159 recommendations with 73 high-level recommendations and 86 sectoral-specific actions. The report was a damning indictment of the Governments approach, stating that the assembly believes that the State has comprehensively failed to adequately fund, implement, and enforce existing national legislation, national policies, EU biodiversity-related laws, and directives related to biodiversity. In response, the Government launched the fourth National Biodiversity Plan which aims to protect and restore nature across the country. Nearly two-thirds of bird species have been designated as a conservation concern and are under severe pressure. Picture: Niall Carson/PA The plan lists 194 actions, a funding package of 3.15bn, and promises an all of Government approach to tackling the crisis. The plan includes commitments to expand Irelands national parks, target invasive species, and an exploration of ways to formally recognise the rights of nature. The Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action subsequently recommended the Government advance a referendum on protecting biodiversity which would have recognised the rights of nature as comparable to those of people. Despite this momentum, significant problems persist Plans to recognise the rights of nature have disappeared with no referendum or formal commitment to hold one, and the 3.15bn climate and nature fund under the national action plan is not accessible until 2026. Just imagine how transformative an influx of funding from the Apple tax payout could be toward addressing Irelands biodiversity loss, from supercharging forestation plans to investing in conservation and building nature-friendly infrastructure like green bridges and wildlife overpasses. As a rural woman, I am constantly reminded of the negative impact of humans on our wildlife by the array of animals left dead at the side of the road. Wildlife overpasses provide safer routes for animals and decrease road accidents in a society that continues to encroach upon natural habitats. Biodiversity loss and declining ecosystems are not solely an environmental threat but an economic, social, and moral issue. Failing to urgently address Irelands biodiversity crisis limits our ability to achieve sustainable development goals related to poverty, health, water, and climate. A failure to address these issues now could significantly impact future generations, causing food insecurity, health inequities, and economic instability. Investing in nature restoration and biodiversity is an investment in our future. If the Government is serious about protecting future generations, it should ring-fence funding from the Apple tax windfall for nature restoration and biodiversity and make that funding accessible. This approach should be done in tandem with specific green infrastructure funding including green buses and the implementation of the all-island rail review recommendations. Having missed the 2020 emissions reduction targets, Ireland is now on track to miss the 2030 targets by a significant margin. Climate goals Ireland is consistently underperforming, compared to our European counterparts, when it comes to climate goals. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) greenhouse gas emissions projections illustrate that Ireland could achieve a 29% reduction by 2030, but only if planned climate policies and measures are fully implemented. The goal for 2030 was a 51% reduction, and Ireland doesnt have a strong track record with regard to its implementation of vitally important plans. Ireland does not have to reinvent the wheel in order to plan more ambitious approaches toward addressing biodiversity loss and climate challenges. There are any number of examples set internationally and a stack of plans and strategies in Ireland that if implemented could make a difference. The difficulty is often in securing funding and, given the influx of revenue from the Apple court case, this development could make all the difference. The money from Apple amounts to 16% of last years total tax revenue That a Government should want to forgo this revenue to such an extent as to actively invest resources, time, and energy toward combating it in court is baffling and frankly embarrassing. The States responsibility is to the people, fauna, and flora of Ireland not multinational tech giants. There has been much speculation about how the Government will proceed to spend its unwanted windfall, with suggestions it could be used to reduce the national debt a truly uninspired proposal. The Government has an unprecedented opportunity to transform its approach to biodiversity loss and supercharge its efforts to meet climate goals in line with global leaders. For the sake of all who share this island, the Government should take it. The Freedom Party secured the first far-right national parliamentary election victory in post-World War II Austria, finishing ahead of the governing conservatives. But the partys chances of governing remain unclear. Preliminary official results showed the Freedom Party finishing first with 29.2% of the vote with Chancellor Karl Nehammers Austrian Peoples Party second with 26.5%, according to a near-complete count reported by national public broadcaster ORF. The centre-left Social Democrats were in third place with 21% as the outgoing government a coalition of Nehammers party and the environmentalist Greens lost its majority in the lower house of parliament. Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer gestures at the national broadcaster studio, set up in the parliament building, in Vienna after polls closed. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader) Herbert Kickl, a former interior minister and long-time campaign strategist who has led the Freedom Party since 2021, wants to be chancellor. But to become Austrias new leader, he would need a coalition partner to command a parliamentary majority. Rivals have said they would not work with Mr Kickl in government. The far-right has benefited from frustration over high inflation, the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic. It has also built on worries about migration. In its election programme, entitled Fortress Austria, the Freedom Party called for the remigration of uninvited foreigners to achieve a more homogeneous nation by tightly controlling borders and suspending the right to asylum via an emergency law. The Freedom Party also calls for an end to sanctions against Russia, is highly critical of Western military aid to Ukraine and wants to bow out of the European Sky Shield Initiative, a missile defence project launched by Germany. Mr Kickl has criticised elites in Brussels and called for some powers to be brought back from the European Union to Austria. We dont need to change our position, because we have always said that were ready to lead a government, were ready to push forward this change in Austria side by side with the people, Mr Kickl said in an appearance alongside other party leaders on ORF. Herbert Kickl, leader of the Freedom Party of Austria celebrates with supporters, in Vienna (Andreea Alexandru/AP) The other parties should ask themselves where they stand on democracy, he added, arguing that they should sleep on the result. Mr Nehammer said it was bitter that his party missed out on first place, but noted he brought it back from lower poll ratings. He has often said he would not form a coalition with Mr Kickl and reiterated: What I said before the election, I also say after the election. In June, the Freedom Party narrowly won a nationwide vote for the first time in the European Parliament election, which also brought gains for other European far-right parties. Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders, whose party dominates the Netherlands new government, congratulated the Freedom Party on social network X Sunday. So did Alice Weidel, a co-leader of the Alternative for Germany party. The Freedom Party is a long-established force but Sundays result was its best yet in a national parliamentary election, beating the 26.9% it scored in 1999. In 2019, its support slumped to 16.2% after a scandal brought down a government in which it was the junior partner. Then-vice chancellor and Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache resigned following the publication of a secretly recorded video in which he appeared to offer favours to a purported Russian investor. The leader of the Social Democrats, a party that led many of Austrias post-World War II governments, positioned himself as the polar opposite of Mr Kickl. Andreas Babler ruled out governing with the far right and labelled Mr Kickl a threat to democracy. Anti-right-wing protesters shout slogans and hold a banner that reads Dont let Nazis rule and never let them march in front of the parliament building in Vienna (Andreea Alexandru/AP) While the Freedom Party has recovered, the popularity of Mr Nehammers Peoples Party declined sharply compared with 2019. Support for the Greens, their coalition partner, also dropped to 8%. During the election campaign, Mr Nehammer portrayed his party, which has taken a tough line on immigration in recent years, as the strong centre that would guarantee stability amid multiple crises. The Peoples Party is the far rights only way into government and now holds the key to forming any administration. Mr Nehammer repeatedly excluded joining a government led by Mr Kickl, describing him as a security risk for the country but did not rule out a coalition with the Freedom Party itself which would imply Mr Kickl renouncing a position in government. But that looks very unlikely with the Freedom Party in first place. The alternative would be an alliance between the Peoples Party and the Social Democrats with or without the liberal Neos, who took 9% of the vote. A final official result will be published later in the week after a small number of remaining postal ballots have been counted, but those will not change the outcome substantial A stretch of aqueduct that supplies about half of New York Citys water is being shut down through the winter as part of a two billion dollar (1.49 billion) project to address massive leaks beneath the Hudson River. The temporary shutdown of the Delaware Aqueduct in upstate New York has been in the works for years, with officials steadily boosting capacity from other parts of the citys sprawling 19-reservoir system. Water will flow uninterrupted from city faucets after the shutdown begins this week, officials said, though its famously crisp taste might be affected as other sources are tapped into more heavily. The water will always be there, Paul Rush, deputy commissioner for the citys Department of Environmental Protection. Were going to be changing the mix of water that consumers get. The Delaware Aqueduct is the longest tunnel in the world and carries water for 85 miles from four reservoirs in the Catskill region to other reservoirs in the citys northern suburbs. Operating since 1944, it provides roughly half of the 1.1 billion gallons a day used by more than eight million New York City residents. The system also serves some upstate municipalities. But the aqueduct leaks up to 35 million gallons of water a day, nearly all of it from a section far below the Hudson River. The profuse leakage has been known about for decades, but city officials faced a quandary: they could not take the critical aqueduct offline for years to repair the tunnel. So instead, they began constructing a parallel 2.5-mile bypass tunnel under the river about a decade ago. The new tunnel will be connected during the shut down, which is expected to last up to eight months. More than 40 miles of the aqueduct running down from the four upstate reservoirs will be out of service during that time, though a section closer to the city will remain in use. Other leaks farther north in the aqueduct also will be repaired in the coming months. Mr Rush said the work was timed to avoid summer months, when demand is higher. The city also has spent years making improvements to other parts of the system, some of which are more than 100 years old. Theres a lot of work done thinking about where the alternate supply would come from, Mr Rush said. Capacity has been increased for the complementary Catskill Aqueduct and more drinking water will come from the dozen reservoirs and three lakes of the Croton Watershed in the citys northern suburbs. The heavier reliance on those suburban reservoirs could affect the taste of water due to a higher presence of minerals and algae in the Croton system, according to city officials. While some residents may notice a temporary, subtle difference in taste or aroma during the repairs, changes in taste dont mean something is wrong with the water, DEP commissioner Rohit Aggarwala said in a prepared statement. Just like different brands of bottled water taste a bit different, so do our different reservoirs. Hezbollahs deputy leader has vowed to continue fighting Israeland said the militant group is prepared for a long war despite much of its top command being wiped out, including its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. In his first televised speech since Mr Nasrallah was killed, Naim Kassem said that if Israel decides to launch a ground offensive, Hezbollah fighters are ready to fight and defend Lebanon. As deputy secretary-general, Naim Kassem now is the acting leader of Hezbollah until a replacement for Mr Nasrallah is chosen. Mr Kassem added that despite the killing of Hezbollahs top military commanders over the past few months, Hezbollah is now relying on new commanders. Israel was not able to affect our (military) capabilities, Mr Kassem said. There are deputy commanders and there are replacements in case a commander is wounded in any post. The speech came after an air strike hit an apartment building and killed three Palestinian militants in central Beirut, as Israel sent a clear message that no part of Lebanon is out of bounds after wiping out much of the Hezbollah militant groups top command, including Mr Nasrallah. As recently as two weeks ago, such a strike, outside of the main areas where Hezbollah operates and next to a busy transportation hub, would have been seen as an escalation and likely followed by a long-range Hezbollah strike into Israel. But the unspoken rules of the long-running conflict, and Hezbollahs ability to respond, are no longer clear. Hezbollah has vowed to strike on despite much of its senior command being eliminated (AP) Israel has not claimed responsibility for Mondays strike but is widely assumed to have carried it out. Strikes by Israel have killed Mr Nasrallah and six of his top commanders in the last 10 days, and have hit what the military says are thousands of militant targets across large parts of Lebanon. More than 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the health ministry, and the government says the fighting may have displaced up to a million people. Hezbollah has significantly increased its rocket attacks in the past week to several hundred daily, but most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas. Several people have been injured in Israel. There have been no fatalities since two soldiers were killed near the border on September 19. It is possible that Hezbollah is holding back to avoid an even bigger escalation, including a threatened Israeli ground invasion. However, the militant group might also be in disarray after Israeli intelligence apparently penetrated its highest levels. The Hezbollah commander was one of several leadership figures to be killed (AP) The strike early on Monday killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small, leftist faction that has not been meaningfully involved in months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. In the past week, Israel has frequently targeted Beiruts southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence including the massive strike on Friday that killed Mr Nasrallah but had not hit locations closer to the city centre. Rockets, drones and missiles have been fired by Hezbollah into northern Israel after Hamas October 7 attack from Gaza into Israel sparked the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies and both supported by Iran, and Hezbollah said it would continue the attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians until there is a ceasefire in Gaza. Israel has responded to the rockets with air strikes in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based, and the fighting has steadily escalated over the past year, displacing tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border. Israel has vowed to keep fighting until the attacks stop and its citizens can return to their homes. Families have fled after Israeli air strikes on Beirut (AP) However, the militant group might also be in disarray after Israeli intelligence apparently penetrated its highest levels. The strike early on Monday killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small, leftist faction that has not been meaningfully involved in months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. In the past week, Israel has frequently targeted Beiruts southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence including the massive strike on Friday that killed Mr Nasrallah but had not hit locations closer to the city centre. Rockets, drones and missiles have been fired by Hezbollah into northern Israel after Hamas October 7 attack from Gaza into Israel sparked the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies and both supported by Iran, and Hezbollah said it would continue the attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians until there is a ceasefire in Gaza. The US and its allies have called for a ceasefire, hoping to avoid further escalation that could draw in Iran and set off a wider war. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown little interest, as his country racks up military achievements against a long-time foe. Some Israelis broke into spontaneous celebrations after Nasrallahs death was announced. Videos circulated of crowds at bars singing a song in Hebrew mocking him. A news anchor on a pro-Netanyahu station sang and danced as the studio audience joined in with him while a commentator on Israels largest TV station offered co-panellists celebratory shots. Hezbollah, which boasts tens of thousands of battle-hardened fighters and long-range missiles capable of hitting anywhere inside Israel, has long been seen as the most powerful militant group in the region and a key partner to Iran in both threatening and deterring Israel. Hezbollah fought Israel to a month-long stalemate in their 2006 war. Hebollah are allies of Hamas (AP) But Hezbollah has never faced an onslaught quite like this one, which began with a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies in mid-September that killed dozens of people and wounded around 3,000 including many fighters but also many civilians. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Israels air strikes in Lebanon had wiped out Hezbollahs command structure, but warned that the group will work quickly to rebuild it. He told CNNs State of the Union show on Sunday: Were watching to see what they do to try to fill this leadership vacuum. Its going to be tough. A Russian court has sentenced a man to life in prison after he was convicted over a car bombing that seriously injured nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin. Prilepin, a vehement defender of Russias military campaign in Ukraine, was injured in the May 2023 bombing in the Nizhny Novgorod region. His driver was killed. Italian police have arrested 19 people, accused of criminal ties with the powerful Ndrangheta mafia group, in a move that decimated the fan clubs backing Serie A teams Inter Milan and AC Milan. Prosecutors said at a press conference on Monday that possible charges include criminal association, with the use of mafia methods, extortion, assault and other serious offences. According to the wide investigation, the criminal ring was linked to Ndrangheta the Italian mafia organisation that has emerged in recent years as one of the most powerful crime syndicates in the world, rivalling the better-known Sicilian mob. The San Siro Stadium in Milan (Owen Humphreys/PA) Prosecutors allege that the suspects have attempted to take control of all the lucrative business activities around Milans Giuseppe Meazza stadium also known as San Siro including parking, food, tickets and souvenir sales. Investigators said that some of the suspects might also have been involved in drug trafficking. Police searched the houses of more than 50 people, including Giancarlo Lombardi, a once top AC Milan fan known as The Baron, as well as that of Antonio Bellocco, a former local Ndrangheta boss who was killed a few weeks ago. Among those arrested were Luca Lucci and Renato Bosetti, leaders of the AC Milan and Inter Milan ultras fan groups respectively. Lucci had been previously convicted for drug-related charges. Christian Rosiello, described by local media as the bodyguard of popular Italian rapper Fedez, was also among the detained. This investigation shows the risks of infiltration creeping into professional and non-professional soccer by organised crime, said Italys anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Melillo. We need to stop pretending not to see these risks. Milan prosecutor Marcello Viola clarified that Milans two football clubs are offended parties in the investigation, having put in place rules to prevent wrongdoing. But they will also have to prove that they have severed any relationship with deviant supporters, Mr Viola added. The Israeli military launched small ground raids against Hezbollah and sealed off communities along its northern border as artillery pounded southern Lebanon and signals grew that more forces could soon be sent across the border to fight the Iran-backed militants. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Israel informed the US about the raids, which he said were described as limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border. There were no reports of direct clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants, who last engaged in ground combat on Lebanese soil during a month-long war in 2006. Damaged apartments in Beirut (Hussein Malla/AP) But a Western diplomat in Cairo whose country is directly involved in de-escalation efforts said an Israeli ground operation in Lebanon is imminent. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, said Israel had shared its plans with the US and other Western allies, and conveyed the operation will be limited. Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire almost every day since the war in Gaza began, displacing tens of thousands of people in Israel and Lebanon. Israel says it will continue to strike Hezbollah until it is safe for families to return to their homes near the Lebanon border. Hezbollah has promised to keep firing rockets into Israel until there is a ceasefire in Gaza. It was not clear if Israel had made a final decision on a broader ground operation in Lebanon. Mourners attend a rally commemorating Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (Vahid Salemi/AP) Hezbollah vowed to keep fighting even after its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top officials were recently wiped out by Israeli strikes. The groups acting leader, Naim Kassem, said in a televised statement that if Israel decides to launch a ground offensive, Hezbollah is ready. He said the commanders killed in recent weeks have already been replaced. The man widely expected to take over the top post from Mr Kassem is Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah who oversees Hezbollahs political affairs. Israels order restricting entry and exit from the northern communities of Metula, Misgav Am and Kfar Giladi does not necessarily mean Israeli troops will invade Lebanon immediately. Areas can also be declared closed military zones if an imminent threat is detected. But the army has heavily beefed up forces along the border in recent days, and commanders have said they are prepared to go into Lebanon if ordered to. Israeli strikes in recent weeks have hit what the military says are thousands of militant targets across large parts of Lebanon. More than 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry. Early on Monday, an airstrike hit a residential building in central Beirut, killing three Palestinian militants, as Israel appeared to send a message that no part of Lebanon is out of bounds. 1371138342::cfb49c8e-2422-11e5-99a3-d7f5c6e8b241 A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more. Confucianism has profoundly influenced the development of China and played a positive role in advancing human civilization, said participants on Friday at the 2024 China International Confucius Cultural Festival. Li Shulei, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, declared the festival open on Friday in Qufu, Shandong province, the birthplace of Confucius. The festival, which runs through Oct 7, will feature over 100 cultural and tourism activities. During the opening ceremony, three educational programs were awarded the 2024 UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy for their contributions to functional literacy leveraging digital tools. The "Illiteracy Eradication Project" in Egypt expands literacy initiatives to include non-Arabic speakers, digitalizes its adult education curriculum, promotes digital literacy skills and creates educational videos for all ages. Over 130,000 learners have graduated under the program. Learning and education are fundamental rights, regardless of a person's background or beliefs, said Amr Ahmed Abdelrazek Gabr, a representative of the Egyptian program, adding that this idea rooted in Confucianism is deeply inspiring and should spread all over the world. The "Sokola Literacy Education for Indigenous Indonesians" includes digital literacy, media literacy, education for sustainable development, and job-specific skills. Between 2021 and 2023, as many as 200 participants benefited from the program. Beatrix Gracella Pardede, a representative of the award-winning Indonesian program, said that Confucius knew many things not just about education, but also about morality, language, literature and arts. "It really inspires us that one person can think in a holistic way." The "FastTrack" program in Nigeria includes a bilingual method of language instruction, teaching both the national language and the learners' first language. Since 2021, more than 19,000 children who are refugees, displaced or out of school across seven Nigerian states have completed literacy and life skills training under the program. Stefania Giannini, assistant director-general for education at UNESCO, said the Confucius prize focuses on functional literacy, leveraging technological environments in support of adults in rural areas and out-of-school youths. "Once again, it's about putting inclusion at the very core of our initiatives," she said. Events commemorating the 2,575th anniversary of the birth of Confucius were held on Saturday in Qufu and in Quzhou, Zhejiang province. Austrian voters have given the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) its first-ever general election victory, as indicated by vote projections, highlighting the increasing support for right-wing parties across Europe, driven by concerns over immigration levels. The Eurosceptic and Russia-friendly FPO maintained a narrow lead in opinion polls for several months over Chancellor Karl Nehammers ruling conservative Austrian Peoples Party (OVP), with the campaign largely focused on immigration and economic anxieties. Under the leadership of Herbert Kickl, the FPO was projected to garner 29.1% of the vote, placing it ahead of the OVP with 26.2% and the centre-left Social Democrats at 20.4%, according to a projection from pollster Foresight for broadcaster ORF shortly after polls closed. Another projection from pollster Arge Wahlen also showed the FPO coming in first, winning by approximately 4%, which indicated a larger margin than what the final polling had suggested. If this occurs, I must say that the role of Austria in the European Union would change significantly, she commented. She further remarked that Mr. Kickl has frequently declared that (Hungarian Prime Minister) Viktor Orban is a role model for him, and he will support him fully. Mr. Kickl, who established an alliance with Mr. Orban this year, is against providing assistance to Ukraine and seeks the withdrawal of sanctions against Russia, arguing they are causing more harm to Austria than to Moscow. Celebrations erupted among FPO staff and activists during a party event in Vienna upon the announcement of the election projections. An FPO win would mark Austria as the latest EU nation to experience a rise in far-right support. However, Mr. Kickls victory may be a pyrrhic one, as the 55-year-old is a contentious figure, with other party leaders having declined to serve under him. In a televised discussion following the projections, Mr. Nehammer reiterated his refusal to create a government with Mr. Kickl, although he has not completely ruled out collaborating with the FPO as a party. Emphasizing his partys success, Mr. Kickl expressed his willingness to engage all parties in discussions about forming a coalition. Fortress for Austria The FPOs victory, characterized by its criticism of Islam and commitments to tighten asylum regulations, follows similar gains by far-right parties in the Netherlands, France, and Germany. Sarah Wolf, a 22-year-old graphic designer and supporter of the Austrian Communist Party in Vienna, expressed her concerns before the vote, stating she feared that an FPO victory could lead to a situation similar to Viktor Orbans regime: a slow, gradual reduction in media diversity, democracy, and understanding, she remarked. There are just so many really dangerous signs, she added. Viktor de Lijzer, a 17-year-old soldier and FPO supporter, argued that the party was best positioned to address the increased criminal violence he attributes to immigration. The FPO seeks to construct a Fortress Austria to prevent migrants from entering. President Alexander Van der Bellen, who is responsible for overseeing government formations, has expressed reservations about the FPO due to its critical stance on the EU and its reluctance to denounce Russias invasion of Ukraine. The party opposes EU sanctions on Moscow, invoking Austrias neutrality as justification. He has suggested that he might obstruct Mr. Kickl, noting that the constitution does not obligate him to ask the leading party to form a government, even though this convention has been followed historically. The FPO, which aims to cease granting asylum and establish a fortress Austria to block migrant entry, was originally founded in the 1950s under a former Nazi politician. Although the party has tried to soften its image, recent controversies arose over its past, highlighted by a video published by newspaper Der Standard showing party members at a funeral where a song favored by the Nazi SS was performed. A Jewish student group in Vienna has subsequently lodged a complaint against FPO members, accusing them of violating anti-Nazi laws. The FPO did not promptly respond to a request for commentary. Lebanons health ministry has reported that Israeli air strikes have resulted in the deaths of 21 individuals in eastern Lebanon, an area that has faced a series of attacks for nearly a week. The Israeli enemys raids on Baalbek-Hemel have resulted in 21 fatalities and 47 injuries, the ministry stated, providing a preliminary count, while an AFP journalist noted heavy bombardment in the Baalbek region. Israel has targeted more locations in Lebanon, intensifying pressure on Hezbollah with fresh assaults following the death of the Iran-backed groups leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, along with several other senior commanders as part of an escalating military operation. These strikes have delivered a staggering number of setbacks to Hezbollah after nearly a year of cross-border skirmishes, annihilating much of its leadership and exposing security vulnerabilities. Nasrallahs body was retrieved intact from the location of Fridays attack. In the aftermath of Nasrallahs death, which occurred during an airstrike in Beirut on Friday, Hezbollah initiated a barrage of rockets directed at Israel, while Iran vowed to avenge his demise. The intensifying Israeli bombardment has heightened fears that the conflict may spiral out of control, potentially involving Iran and the United States, Israels closest ally. Nasrallahs 32-year leadership not only transformed Hezbollah into a formidable domestic influence in Lebanon but also established it as a key element in Irans network of allied factions across the Arab world. According to medical and security sources, Nasrallahs body was found intact at the site of the airstrike on Friday. Hezbollah has yet to announce the date of his funeral. We need your consent to load this rte-player content. We use rte-player to manage additional content that may set cookies on your device and gather data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preferences Supporters of Hezbollah and other Lebanese citizens who admired its role in fighting against Israel, which occupied southern Lebanon for many years, are mourning his loss. We have lost the leader who instilled strength and belief in us that this small country we cherish could become a paradise, said Lebanese Christian Sophia Blanche Rouillard, who carried a black flag to work in Beirut. The ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel marks the latest chapter in a four-decade collision, coinciding with Israels war in Gaza against Hamas that erupted following the Iran-backed groups attack on Israel on October 7. Israels declared objective is to secure its northern regions from Hezbollahs rocket attacks and enable the return of thousands of displaced individuals, yet its military actions have severely affected civilians in Lebanon. Israeli troops in the Upper Galilee region of northern Israel, near the Lebanese border. Lebanons health ministry has indicated that over 1,000 Lebanese people have died and 6,000 have been injured in the past two weeks, without specifying how many were civilians. The government reported that a million citizens, approximately one-fifth of the population, have fled their residences. In Beirut, some displaced families are spending nights on benches at Zaitunay Bay, a lively area with restaurants and cafes along the waterfront. No matter what you do, no matter how many bombs you drop, or how many people you displace we will not be eradicated. We will remain here. This is our homeland, said Francoise Azori, a resident of Beirut, while jogging in the vicinity. The UN World Food Programme has announced the launch of an emergency initiative to provide sustenance for those affected by the ongoing conflict. Military action Israels military declared that its air force struck numerous targets this morning, including weapon launchers and storage facilities. Meanwhile, its navy reported intercepting eight projectiles launched from Lebanon and one originating from the Red Sea. Drones were reported flying overhead across various parts of the Lebanese capital overnight and throughout the day. The death of Nasrallah marked a challenging fortnight for Hezbollah, beginning with the detonation of thousands of devices used by its members. At least nine individuals lost their lives due to the explosions. Following this incident, another 20 deaths occurred when walkie-talkies utilized by Hezbollah detonated in southern Lebanon and within the southern suburbs of the capital, Beirut. While Israel was generally believed to be responsible for these actions, it has neither confirmed nor denied involvement. Israeli airstrikes targeting Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon, the Bekaa valley near the Syrian border, and in Beiruts southern suburbs have led to the deaths of several high-ranking commanders within the group. Israel has claimed responsibility for the death of Nabil Kaouk, a significant Hezbollah leader, which Hezbollah has verified. Escalation risks Concerns regarding the possibility of a broader conflict have intensified. Israel has mobilized reserve brigades and declared readiness for all options, including ground offensive operations. Thousands gathered in Tehran to protest following the death of Hassan Nasrallah. Hezbollah proclaimed that it would only agree to ceasefire once Israels offensive in Gaza concludes. Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari stated that Nasrallahs elimination renders the world a safer environment. Conversely, Irans First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref condemned the unjust bloodshed, warning that Nasrallahs killing would lead to Israels eventual downfall. Hamas referred to Nasrallahs assassination as a cowardly act of terrorism. Public mourning has been declared in Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, and Syria, while Yemens Huthi rebels announced that they launched a missile at Israels Ben Gurion airport yesterday in an effort to strike it as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned from New York. Diplomatic initiatives have shown minimal signs of success. During a cabinet meeting, Lebanons Information Minister Ziad Makary stated that efforts for a ceasefire were still ongoing. US President Joe Biden remarked that its time for a ceasefire when questioned about the likelihood of an Israeli ground operation, yet he also praised Nasrallahs killing as an act of justice for Hezbollahs victims. In Iran, which was pivotal in Hezbollahs establishment in the early 1980s, prominent figures expressed grief over the loss of a senior Revolutionary Guards member who died alongside Nasrallah. Tehran has called for a meeting of the UN Security Council to address Israels actions. Sources informed Reuters that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was relocated to a secure location in Iran after Nasrallahs death. Hezbollahs arsenal has long been a topic of debate within Lebanon, a nation with a history of civil strife. Critics within Lebanon argue that Hezbollah has unilaterally dragged the country into conflicts and weakened state authority. However, Lebanons leading Christian cleric, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, stated that Nasrallahs killing has opened a wound in the heart of the Lebanese. While Mr. Rai has previously criticized the Shiite Islamist group, accusing it of involving Lebanon in regional hostilities. Nasrallah led Hezbollah through decades of conflict with Israel. Witnesses reported that an Israeli airstrike struck an apartment building in Beirut, marking the first attack within the city limits as Israel intensified its actions against Irans allies in the region. The strike targeted the upper floor of the apartment building located in the Kola district of Lebanons capital, according to witness accounts. There has been no prompt response from the Israeli military. The increasing frequency of Israels attacks on the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and the Houthi militia in Yemen has raised concerns that the conflict in the Middle East could spiral out of control, potentially involving Iran and the United States, Israels key ally. The health ministry controlled by the Houthis reported that at least four individuals were killed and 29 injured in airstrikes on Yemens port city of Hodeidah, which Israel stated was in retaliation for Houthi missile strikes. In Lebanon, officials indicated that at least 105 individuals have died due to Israeli airstrikes. People gather outside an apartment building impacted by an Israeli airstrike in Beiruts Cola district. Lebanons Health Ministry announced that over 1,000 Lebanese people have lost their lives and approximately 6,000 have been injured in the past fortnight, without specifying how many of the casualties were civilians. The government reported that one million individuals, constituting a fifth of the population, have abandoned their homes. The ongoing bombardment over the last two weeks has resulted in the deaths of several prominent Hezbollah leaders, including the groups leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Israel has pledged to maintain its offensive, stating its intention to restore safety in its northern regions for residents who have been displaced by Hezbollah rocket assaults. Israeli drones have been spotted hovering over Beirut, with the sound of fresh airstrikes reverberating throughout the Lebanese capital. Read more about the conflict in the Middle East Many of Israels operations have occurred in southern Lebanon, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah primarily operates, or in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The attack on the Kola district seems to be the first strike within the boundaries of Beirut. The United States has advocated for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in Lebanon while also authorizing its military to bolster its presence in the area. When asked if a full-scale war in the Middle East could be avoided, US President Joe Biden stated, It has to be, adding that he would be in discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. ( Tomdispatch.com ) The divestment campaigns launched last spring by students protesting Israels mass slaughter in Gaza brought the issue of the militarization of American higher education back into the spotlight. Of course, financial ties between the Pentagon and American universities are nothing new. As Stuart Leslie has pointed out in his seminal book on the topic, The Cold War and American Science, In the decade following World War II, the Department of Defense (DOD) became the biggest patron of American science. Admittedly, as civilian institutions like the National Institutes of Health grew larger, the Pentagons share of federal research and development did decline, but it still remained a source of billions of dollars in funding for university research. And now, Pentagon-funded research is once again on the rise, driven by the DODs recent focus on developing new technologies like weapons driven by artificial intelligence (AI). Combine that with an intensifying drive to recruit engineering graduates and the forging of partnerships between professors and weapons firms and you have a situation in which many talented technical types could spend their entire careers serving the needs of the warfare state. The only way to head off such a Brave New World would be greater public pushback against the military conquest (so to speak) of Americas research and security agendas, in part through resistance by scientists and engineers whose skills are so essential to building the next generation of high-tech weaponry. The Pentagon Goes to School Yes, the Pentagons funding of universities is indeed rising once again and it goes well beyond the usual suspects like MIT or Johns Hopkins University. In 2022, the most recent year for which full data is available, 14 universities received at least and brace yourself for this $100 million in Pentagon funding, from Johns Hopkinss astonishing $1.4 billion (no, that is not a typo!) to Colorado States impressive $100 million. And heres a surprise: two of the universities with the most extensive connections to our weaponry of the future are in Texas: the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) and Texas A&M. In 2020, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and former Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy appeared onstage at a UT-Austin ceremony to commemorate the creation of a robotics lab there, part of a new partnership between the Army Futures Command and the school. This is ground zero for us in our research for the weapons systems were going to develop for decades to come, said McCarthy. Not to be outdone, Texas A&M is quietly becoming the Pentagons base for research on hypersonics weapons expected to travel five times the speed of sound. Equipped with a kilometer-long tunnel for testing hypersonic missiles, that schools University Consortium for Applied Hypersonics is explicitly dedicated to outpacing Americas global rivals in the development of that next generation military technology. Texas A&M is also part of the team that runs the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the (in)famous New Mexico facility where the first nuclear weapons were developed and tested as part of the Manhattan Project under the direction of Robert Oppenheimer. Other major players include Carnegie Mellon University, a center for Army research on the applications of AI, and Stanford University, which serves as a feeder to Californias Silicon Valley firms of all types. That school also runs the Technology Transfer for Defense (TT4D) Program aimed at transitioning academic technologies from the lab to the marketplace and exploring the potential military applications of emerging technology products. In addition, the Pentagon is working aggressively to bring new universities into the fold. In January 2023, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the creation of a defense-funded research center at Howard University, the first of its kind at a historically black college. Given the campus Gaza demonstrations of last spring, perhaps you also wont be surprised to learn that the recent surge in Pentagon spending faces increasing criticism from students and faculty alike. Targets of protest include the Lavender program, which has used AI to multiply the number of targets the Israeli armed forces can hit in a given time frame. But beyond focusing on companies enabling Israels war effort, current activists are also looking at the broader role of their universities in the all-American war system. For example, at Indiana University research on ties to companies fueling the killings in Gaza grew into a study of the larger role of universities in supporting the military system as a whole. Student activists found that the most important connection involved that universitys ties to the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, whose mission is to provide acquisition, engineering and technical support for sensors, electronics, electronic warfare, and special warfare weapons. In response, student activists have launched a Keep Crane Off Campus campaign. A Science of Death or for Life? Graduating science and engineering students increasingly face a moral dilemma about whether they want to put their skills to work developing instruments of death. Journalist Indigo Olivier captured that conflict in a series of interviews with graduating engineering students. She quotes one at the University of West Florida who strongly opposes doing weapons work this way: When it comes to engineering, we do have a responsibility Every tool can be a weapon I dont really feel like I need to be putting my gifts to make more bombs. By contrast, Cameron Davis, a 2021 computer engineering graduate from Georgia Tech, told Olivier about the dilemma faced by so many graduating engineers: A lot of people that I talk to arent 100% comfortable working on defense contracts, working on things that are basically going to kill people. But he went on to say that the high pay at weapons firms drives a lot of your moral disagreements with defense away. The choice faced by todays science and engineering graduates is nothing new. The use of science for military ends has a long history in the United States. But there have also been numerous examples of scientists who resisted dangerous or seemingly unworkable military schemes. When President Ronald Reagan announced his Star Wars missile defense plan in 1986, for instance, he promised, all too improbably, to develop an impenetrable shield that would protect the United States from any and all incoming nuclear-armed missiles. In response, physicists David Wright and Lisbeth Gronlund circulated a pledge to refuse to work on that program. It would, in the end, be signed by more than 7,000 scientists. And that document actually helped puncture the mystique of the Star Wars plan, a reminder that protest against the militarization of education isnt always in vain. Scientists have also played a leading role in pressing for nuclear arms control and disarmament, founding organizations like the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (1945), the Federation of American Scientists (1945), the global Pugwash movement (1957), the Council for a Livable World (1962), and the Union of Concerned Scientists (1969). To this day, all of them continue to work to curb the threat of a nuclear war that could destroy this planet as a livable place for humanity. A central figure in this movement was Joseph Rotblat, the only scientist to resign from the Manhattan Project over moral qualms about the potential impact of the atomic bomb. In 1957, he helped organize the founding meeting of the Pugwash Conference, an international organization devoted to the control and ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons. In some respects Pugwash was a forerunner of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which successfully pressed for the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force in January 2021. Enabling Endless War and Widespread Torture The social sciences also have a long, conflicted history of ties to the Pentagon and the military services. Two prominent examples from earlier in this century were the Pentagons Human Terrain Program (HTS) and the role of psychologists in crafting torture programs associated with the Global War on Terror, launched after the 9/11 attacks with the invasion of Afghanistan. The HTS was initially intended to reduce the cultural knowledge gap suffered by U.S. troops involved in counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan and Iraq early in this century. The theory was that military personnel with a better sense of local norms and practices would be more effective in winning hearts and minds and so defeating determined enemies on their home turf. The plan included the deployment of psychologists, anthropologists, and other social scientists in Human Terrain Teams alongside American troops in the field. Launched in 2007, the program sparked intense protests in the academic community, with a particularly acrimonious debate within the American Anthropological Association. Ed Liebow, the executive director of the association, argued that its debate convinced a very large majority of our members that it was just not a responsible way for professional anthropologists to conduct themselves. After a distinctly grim history that included reports of racism, sexual harassment, and payroll padding, as well as a belief by many commanders that Human Terrain Teams were simply ineffective, the Army quietly abandoned the program in 2014. An even more controversial use of social scientists in the service of the war machine was the role of psychologists as advisors to the CIAs torture programs at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba, and other of that agencys black sites. James E. Mitchell, a psychologist under contract to U.S. intelligence, helped develop the enhanced interrogation techniques used by the U.S during its post-9/11 war on terror, even sitting in on a session in which a prisoner was waterboarded. That interrogation program, developed by Mitchell with psychologist John Bruce Jessom, included resorting to violence, sleep deprivation, and humiliation. The role of psychologists in crafting the CIAs torture program drew harsh criticism within the profession. A 2015 report by independent critics revealed that the leaders of the American Psychological Association had secretly collaborated with the administration of President George W. Bush to bolster a legal and ethical justification for the torture of prisoners swept up in the post-Sept. 11 war on terror. Over time, it became ever clearer that the torture program was not only immoral but remarkably ineffective, since the victims of such torture often told interrogators what they wanted to hear, whether or not their admissions squared with reality. That was then, of course. But today, resistance to the militarization of science has extended to the growing use of artificial intelligence and other emerging military technologies. For example, in 2018, there was a huge protest movement at Google when employees learned that the company was working on Project Maven, a communications network designed to enable more accurate drone strikes. More than 4,000 Google scientists and engineers signed a letter to company leadership calling for them to steer clear of military work, dozens resigned over the issue, and the protests had a distinct effect on the company. That year, Google announced that it would not renew its Project Maven contract, and pledged that it will not design or deploy AI for weapons. Unfortunately, the lure of military funding was simply too strong. Just a few years after those Project Maven protests, Google again began doing work for the Pentagon, as noted in a 2021 New York Times report by Daisuke Wakabayashi and Kate Conger. Their article pointed to Googles aggressive pursuit of the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability project, which will attempt to modernize the Pentagons cloud technology and support the use of artificial intelligence to gain an advantage on the battlefield. (Cloud technology is the term for the delivery of computing services over the internet.) Meanwhile, a cohort of Google workers has continued to resist such military projects. An October 2021 letter in the British Guardian from Google and Amazon workers of conscience called on the companies to pull out of Project Nimbus [a $1.2 billion contract to provide cloud computing services to the Israeli military and government] and cut all ties with the Israeli military. As they wrote then, This contract was signed the same week that the Israeli military attacked Palestinians in the Gaza Strip killing nearly 250 people, including more than 60 children. The technology our companies have contracted to build will make the systematic discrimination and displacement carried out by the Israeli military and government even crueler and deadlier for Palestinians. Of course, their demand seems even more relevant today in the context of the war on Gaza that had then not officially begun. The Future of American Science Obviously, many scientists do deeply useful research on everything from preventing disease to creating green-energy options that has nothing to do with the military. But the current increases in weapons research could set back such efforts by soaking up an ever larger share of available funds, while also drawing ever more top talent into the military sphere. The stakes are particularly high now, given the ongoing rush to develop AI-driven weaponry and other emerging technologies that pose the risk of everything from unintended slaughter due to system malfunctions to making war more likely, given the (at least theoretical) ability to limit casualties for the attacking side. In short, turning back the flood of funding for military research and weaponry from the Pentagon and key venture capital firms will be a difficult undertaking. After all, AI is already performing a wide range of military and civilian tasks. Banning it altogether may no longer be a realistic goal, but putting guardrails around its military use might still be. Such efforts are, in fact, already underway. The International Committee for Robot Arms Control (ICRAC) has called for an international dialogue on the pressing dangers that these systems pose to peace and international security and to civilians. ICRAC elaborates on precisely what these risks are: Autonomous systems have the potential to accelerate the pace and tempo of warfare, to undermine existing arms controls and regulations, to exacerbate the dangers of asymmetric warfare, and to destabilize regional and global security, [as well as to] further the indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force and obscure the moral and legal responsibility for war crimes. The Future of Life Institute has underscored the severity of the risk, noting that more than half of AI experts believe there is a one in ten chance this technology will cause our extinction. Instead of listening almost exclusively to happy talk about the military value of AI by individuals and organizations that stand to profit from its adoption, isnt it time to begin paying attention to the skeptics, while holding back on the deployment of emerging military technologies until there is a national conversation about what they can and cant accomplish, with scientists playing a central role in bringing the debate back to earth? Copyright 2024 William D. Hartung Via Tomdispatch.com Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) Running a small independent publication on controversial issues is fraught with problems. One of them is that people threaten to sue you. It happens time to time. For some reason the Israelis are particularly trigger-happy about threatening lawsuits. Many years ago the notorious MEMRI campaign to translate only the worst things in the Arabic press, founded by an Israeli ex-military intelligence officer, threatened to sue me. They did not have a leg to stand on, since political speech in the United States is protected by the First Amendment. I made their threats public, and never heard anything more from them. Click here to donate via PayPal. Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at: Juan Cole P. O. Box 4218, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548 USA (Remember, make the checks out to Juan Cole or they cant be cashed) So, this summer Ive been being harassed by Higbee and Associates, who are the next best thing to a copyright troll, on behalf of an unnamed client that has provided no proof of ownership of copyright. Higbee is, outrageously, demanding $26,000 for copyright infringement. Most recently Higbee sent me a mock-up of a lawsuit to be filed at a district court, which I thought at first had actually been filed. It was extremely dishonest. Those supporters who donate $150 or more by Paypal and provide their address will receive a signed copy of my The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: A New Translation from the Persian, via Schulers Books in Ann Arbor (a good place to order all your books). Heres what is interesting. The basis of the claim is that Informed Comment embedded video from i24, an Israeli television channel, via YouTube. The front image of a YouTube video is called a flash image. YouTube licenses the flash image to those who embed the video. Higbee falsely maintained that I personally uploaded copyrighted photos to IC. I did not. The only images that appeared at IC were the flash images from YouTube via a WordPress app installed by our tech team. It is more complicated than just embedding, which is of course uncontroversial, and I wont go into the details, except to firmly deny the charge and to say that the threatened suit is frivolous. Moreover, the flash images were used (by a well-known professor at an educational blog) as the foundation for commentary, parody or criticism, which is fair use. Since the only photos at issue are the flash images from i24s YouTube channel, I can only speculate that this is an Israeli-instigated form of harassment. Im therefore starting our annual fundraiser early this year, in hopes that Informed Comments fans will help me not only keep Informed Comment going again this coming year but also to build a war chest for possibly going to court. It is important that we stand up to such bullies and keep them from preying on small publications. But defendants under US law are not entitled to court costs even if they prevail, and it is the substantial cost of going to court that leads people to fold and make a settlement in the face of unjust demands Informed Comment has retained counsel in this matter, which involved a hefty retainer fee. As you all know, I am critical of Israeli policies toward the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the current governments complete disregard for International Humanitarian Law. Informed Comment has been one of the few news and commentary sites you can find at Google News that has covered the ongoing Gaza genocide in detail, and has had straightforward headlines about the atrocities there that name the Israeli military and do not resort to the passive mood. Although IC has been shadow-banned on Facebook and gets a fraction of the hits from that platform that it used to, Im convinced we still have a wide reach because people email the posts around. We have no metrics for how many people see them this way, but it is likely tens of thousands at least, and some may reach even more readers. By the way, this is a reason you should *not* try to subscribe to IC via Facebook. Subscribe for the email Newsletter: Get sharp analysis of our world delivered to your inbox every day. Email The reason that I even embedded video from i24 is that I try to be even-handed. Most Jews did not come to Israel as settler-colonialists but as refugees from places where people were trying to kill them. Many are descendants of Holocaust survivors. That the British Empire gave them refuge in someone elses country Palestine is a grave injustice toward the Palestinians. Israelis should make peace with the Palestinians and give the latter the right to citizenship in a state. But individual Israelis have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness like everyone else. I have several times spoken in Israel and value my Israeli friends and colleagues. This attempt on my part to be even-handed and to let Israeli media speak at my web site turns out to have been a mistake, however. Because someone at i24 or associated with it has now put Higbee up to spamming me with these threats to take me to court for a big pay-out. Because of the Israeli angle and the editorial stance of Informed Comment, it is possible that this threatened court action is foundationally a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation ( SLAPP suit), intended to shut Informed Comment up. If so, as a lay person I can only wonder if Higbee, which has offices in Nevada and California where SLAPPs are prohibited, might be held liable for launching this frivolous action. And I have to say, this experience is beginning to change my view of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. I think it is important to boycott firms implicated in the illegal Israeli Occupation of the Palestine Territories, and firms that contribute to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. It is moreover incumbent on us to boycott settler-made goods, which are a form of theft from Palestinian resources. But I dont generally approve of academic boycotts and have often and loudly spoken against professional associations applying BDS to, e.g., Israeli universities. (Contemporary BDS does not target individuals, only institutions). But if a well-intentioned platforming of i24 turns into an attempt to bankrupt Informed Comment, then I wonder if people shouldnt stay away from formal Israeli institutions. There is something creepy and cult-like about this level of antipathy to any criticism at all. (The cultish side of Israel derangement syndrome is examined in the film, Israelism, which streams on Apple TV among other places.) Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at: Juan Cole P. O. Box 4218, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548 USA (Remember, make the checks out to Juan Cole or they cant be cashed) As for Higbee, Ill give the last word to Matthew Sag, who blogs copyright law and who writes that: Higbee does seem to send a lot of out letters of demand without much underlying depth. These letters often fail to provide a copyright registration. They often claim to represent a copyright owner who is not the author without evidencing any assignment of rights. You dont need a registration to make a demand, but you absolutely need one to file a claim in federal court and to get statutory damages. So that seems a bit odd. Not connecting the dots between the person who took the photo and the client they say they represent is also a bit odd. Moreover, the copyright troll label certainly fits with the sense of being ambushed that many defendants experience. I hear from a lot of these recipients. Receiving a letter from Higbee & Associates feels like an ambush because so many people dont really understand how copyright works. It also feels like an ambush because the settlement amounts Higbee & Associates demand in a typical letter dont seem to reflect the value of the underlying work. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - Thor Explorations Ltd. (TSXV: THX) (AIM: THX) ("Thor Explorations" or the "Company") issues the following statement regarding false claims and allegations, reported in the press, by Special Advisers of the Osun State Government, Nigeria. The allegations contain gross inaccuracies and false claims about Thor's wholly owned subsidiary, Segilola Resources Operating Limited ("SROL"), regarding tax evasion and unethical business practices. Thor Explorations fully rejects all the allegations and has not been presented with any evidence by the Osun State Government to support its claims. As reported in the local media, the allegations were formally refuted by the Country Manager of Segilola Resources Operating Limited. A link to the full statement is available for review here. The Company wishes to highlight in particular, the incorrect and unsubstantiated claim that SROL has engaged in tax evasion to the amount of 3,250,598,513 (approximately US$1.9 million). Despite the significant nature of this claim, Osun State Internal Revenue Service ("OSIRS") has not provided a detailed breakdown, computation, or justification explaining how this amount was determined. Upon receiving this claim, SROL formally objected to the tax findings through its tax consultants and presented detailed transaction records to substantiate its own calculations of withholding tax and PAYE remittances for which payments had already been duly made. Furthermore, on the 23rd of September (prior to the various press releases), SROL received a letter from the OSIRS after a review of the records presented by the Company revising the initial tax liability from 3,250,598,513 to 99,347,105 (approximately US$62,500) for the five-year period from 2019 to 2024. The Company is reviewing this figure as part of its normal course of business. The Company has written to the Federal Ministry of Mines in its capacity as the sector regulator to review the statements made and will seek dialogue with the State Governor regarding the inaccurate and unsubstantiated claims made by the State's Special Advisers. As one of Nigeria's leading mining companies, Thor Explorations remains committed to contributing to the economic growth of the state and the country while adhering to the highest ethical and operational standards. About Thor Explorations Thor Explorations Ltd. is a West Africa focused gold exploration, development and production with projects located in Nigeria and Senegal. Thor holds a 100% interest in its flagship Segilola Gold Project, located in Osun State, Nigeria. Mining and production commenced at Segilola in 2021, with first-year annual production of 95,000 ounces. Thor holds a 70% interest in the Douta Gold Project located in south-eastern Senegal, in partnership with local company International Mining Company ("IMC"). Thor trades on both the AIM and TSX Venture Exchanges under the symbol "THX". NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. WIRE SERVICES Toronto September 30, 2024 TheNewswire: AbraSilver Resource Corp. (TSX.V: ABRA; OTCQX: ABBRF) (AbraSilver or the Company) is pleased to announce assay results from the Companys ongoing, fully-funded 20,000 metre (m) Phase IV drill program, on its wholly-owned Diablillos project in Argentina (the Project). Key takeaways from the latest drill results include: Holes DDH 24-017, DDH 24-021 and DDH 24-024 were drilled in the Oculto northeast area and designed to expand the existing known shallow mineralization. DDH 24-017 encountered numerous zones of mineralization including a silver zone with 28.5 m grading 87 g/t Ag, starting at a downhole depth of 108 m, within which was 7.5 m grading 190 g/t Ag. DDH 24-024 intersected multiple zones of gold and silver mineralization including 23.0 m grading 50 g/t Ag and 0.18 g/t Au. Holes DDH 24-020 and DDH 24-023 were step-out holes in the JAC southwest area that were drilled to extend the existing Mineral Resources beyond the current conceptual open pit boundary. DDH 24-020 intersected a broad zone of mineralization, with 53 m at 58 g/t Ag, starting at a downhole depth of only 68 metres, and included an interval of 5.1 m 129 g/t Ag DDH 24-023 encountered 24 m grading 76 g/t Ag, starting at a downhole depth of 99 metres, and separately encountered another 11 m grading 52 g/t Ag. The Company is also pleased to announce the results of its recently completed TITAN geophysical survey, situated on the Diablillos Porphyry Complex located approximately 3.5 km northeast of the Oculto deposit. The TITAN survey was completed by Quantec International Project Services Ltd., which conducted a five-line survey covering the Cerro Blanco and Cerro Viejo target areas, and confirmed a large chargeability anomaly beneath Cerro Blanco reflecting a zone of intense silicification that is interpreted as being related to a large porphyry intrusion. John Miniotis, President and CEO, commented, We are very pleased with the continued success of our ongoing step-out drill campaign and the promising results from the TITAN geophysical survey. Importantly, the survey indicates strong geophysical anomalies that suggest the potential for a substantial porphyry system, which could unlock an exciting new phase of exploration moving forward. Our ongoing drilling campaign validates our commitment to unlocking the full potential at Diablillos, and we are very pleased that the Project continues to display significant exploration upside potential on numerous fronts. Dave OConnor, Chief Geologist, commented, The TITAN survey has identified significant resistivity anomalies extending to depths of over 1 km beneath shallow historical drill holes that intersected low grade copper mineralisation, together with surface sampling which assayed highly anomalous gold and molybdenum in the Cerro Blanco area. The resistivity anomaly is interpreted as reflecting silicification related to a porphyry intrusion which generated the associated high metal contents in sampling. The survey has helped significantly improve our knowledge of the Porphyry Complex and, within the next two weeks, we will be commencing a deep drilling program aimed to further define these new high-priority targets. The latest assay result highlights are summarized in Table 1 below. Table 1 Summary of Diablillos Drill Results Intercepts greater than 2,000 gram-metres Ag shown in bold text: Drill Hole Area From (m) To (m) Type Interval (m) Ag g/t Au g/t DDH-24-012 Fantasma - Oculto 67.0 79.0 Oxides 12.0 52.4 - DDH-24-017 Oculto NE 89.0 103.5 Oxides 14.5 60.3 - 108.0 136.5 Oxides 28.5 87.3 - Including 116.0 123.5 Oxides 7.5 189.7 - 182.0 185.0 Oxides 3.0 35.4 0.97 189.0 190.0 Oxides 1.0 23.8 1.04 192.0 193.0 Oxides 1.0 29.5 1.42 199.0 202.0 Oxides 3.0 23.4 0.47 256.0 261.0 Oxides 5.0 20.2 0.72 281.0 283.0 Oxides 2.0 37.9 1.18 DDH-24-020 JAC Extension 68.0 121.0 Oxides 53.0 57.7 - Including 103.9 109.0 Oxides 5.1 129.3 - DDH-24-021 Oculto NE 204.0 209.0 Oxides 5.0 31.7 0.19 DDH-24-022 JAC - Oculto 142.0 143.0 Oxides 1.0 55.5 - DDH-24-022 175.0 180.0 Oxides 5.0 33.6 - DDH-24-023 JAC Extension 99.0 123.0 Oxides 24.0 75.9 - DDH-24-023 126.0 137.0 Oxides 11.0 51.8 - DDH-24-024 Oculto NE 105.0 116.0 Oxides 11.0 47.0 0.19 DDH-24-024 127.0 150.0 Oxides 23.0 50.2 0.18 DDH-24-024 202.0 203.0 Oxides 1.0 50.7 1.19 DDH-24-024 214.0 218.0 Oxides 4.0 24.3 0.48 DDH-24-024 223.0 228.0 Oxides 5.0 11.6 0.69 DDH-24-024 230.0 232.0 Oxides 2.0 16.9 0.65 DDH-24-024 234.0 236.0 Oxides 2.0 28.2 0.65 DDH-24-024 269.0 272.0 Oxides 3.0 14.6 0.59 DDH-24-024 379.0 380.0 Sulphides 1.0 8.2 1.02 Note: All results in this news release are rounded. Assays are uncut and undiluted. Widths are drilled widths, not true widths. True widths are estimated to be approximately 80% of the interval widths for oxides. Figure 1 Plan View of Latest Drill Holes Diablillos Porphyry Complex (Cerro Blanco & Cerro Viejo) The Diablillos Porphyry Complex has been identified through a combination of historical drilling and geophysical surveys, including the recently completed TITAN geophysical survey, which outlined a large, deep-seated anomaly consistent with a porphyry system. As shown by Figure 2 below, the Cerro Blanco / Cerro Viejo area is located approximately 3.5 km northeast of the Oculto deposit. The quartz-sericite alteration zone on surface extends for over 2 km north-south and over 1 km east-west, within which there is anomalous gold, copper and molybdenum mineralization identified by historical shallow drilling and sampling. The TITAN survey has identified specific anomalous areas within this complex which will be tested with one drill rig, which will be dedicated to a deep drilling program at the Porphyry Complex. Figure 2 Location of Porphyry Complex Figure 3 shown below is a cross section depicting a compelling drill target because it has the characteristics of a potential underlying mineralised porphyry based on a resistivity response and chargeability signal, along with very anomalous molybdenum and gold at surface together with gold associated with pyrite in shallow historic drilling. Figure 3 Section Line Showing Resistivity Below Surface at Cerro Blanco Porphyry Target Phase IV Exploration Program Update The ongoing Phase IV drill program is focused on expanding target areas with known mineralization as well as exploring newly identified prospective exploration targets within the broader Diablillos land package. To date, we have completed approximately 9,100 metres of drilling in 47 holes. Several assay results are awaited and will be released on an ongoing basis pending review and meeting Company quality assurance-quality control protocols. Collar Data Hole Number UTM Coordinates Elevation Azimuth Dip Depth (m) Area Notes DDH 24-012 E719723 N7199500 4,182 0 -60 129 Fantasma-Oculto connection DDH 24-013 E720353 N7201851 4,146 270 -60 117.5 Jasperoid No significant intercepts DDH 24-017 E720480 N7199569 4,308 180 -70 350 Oculto NE DDH 24-019 E719906 N7202271 4,144 90 -60 106 Jasperoid No significant intercepts DDH 24-020 E719035 N7198615 4,130 0 -60 150 JAC West DDH 24-021 E720720 N7199424 4,366 180 -70 305 Oculto NE DDH 24-022 E719780 N7198802 4,176 0 -60 199 JAC-Oculto DDH 24-023 E719000 N7198614 4,134 0 -60 175.5 JAC West DDH 24-024 E720547 N7199598 4,306 0 -60 446 Oculto NE About Diablillos The Diablillos property is located within the Puna region of Argentina, in the southern part of Salta Province along the border with Catamarca Province, approximately 160 km southwest of the city of Salta and 375 km northwest of the city of Catamarca. The property comprises 15 contiguous and overlapping mineral concessions acquired by AbraSilver in 2016. The project site has good year-round accessibility through a 150 km paved road, followed by a well-maintained gravel road, shared with other adjacent projects. There are several known mineral zones on the Diablillos property. Approximately 150,000 m have been drilled to date, which has outlined multiple occurrences of epithermal silver-gold mineralization at Oculto, JAC, Laderas and Fantasma. Additionally, several satellites zones of silver/gold-rich epithermal mineralization have been located within a 500 m to 1.5 km distance surrounding the Oculto/JAC epicentre. Comparatively nearby examples of high sulphidation epithermal deposits include: La Coipa (Chile); Yanacocha (Peru); El Indio (Chile); Lagunas Nortes/Alto Chicama (Peru) Veladero (Argentina); and Filo del Sol (Argentina). The most recent Mineral Reserve estimate for Diablillos is shown in Table 2: Table 2 - Diablillos Mineral Reserve Estimate As of March 07, 2024 Category Tonnage (000 t) Ag (g/t) Au (g/t) Contained Ag (000 oz Ag) Contained Au (000 oz Au) Proven 12,364 118 0.86 46,796 341 Probable 29,930 80 0.80 76,684 766 Proven & Probable 42,294 91 0.81 123,480 1,107 Notes for Mineral Reserve Estimate: Mineral reserves have an effective date of March 7th, 2024. The Qualified Person for the Mineral Reserve Estimate is Mr. Miguel Fuentealba, P.Eng. The mineral reserves were estimated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Reserves, as prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by CIM Council. The mineral reserves were based on a pit design which in turn aligned with an ultimate pit shell selected from a Whittle TM pit optimization exercise. Key inputs for that process are: Metal prices of USD $1,750/oz Au; USD $22.50/oz Ag Variable Mining cost by bench and material type. Average costs are USD $1.94/t for all lithologies except for cover, Cover mining cost of USD 1.73/t, respectively. Processing costs for all zone, USD $22.97/t. Infrastructure and G&A cost of USD 3.32/t. Pit average slope angles varying from 37 to 60 depending on the geotechnical domain. The average recovery is estimated to be 82.8% for silver and 86.6% for gold. The Mineral Reserve Estimate has been categorized in accordance with the CIM Definition Standards (CIM, 2014). A Net Value per block (NVB) cut-off was used to constrain the Mineral Reserve with the reserve pit 2shell. The NVB was based on "Benefits = Revenue-Cost" being positive, where, Revenue = [(Au Selling Price (USD/oz) - Au Selling Cost (USD/oz)) x (Au grade (g/t)/31.1035)) x Au Recovery (%)] + [(Ag Selling Price (USD/oz) - Ag Selling Cost (USD/oz)) x (Ag grade (g/t)/31.1035)) x Ag Recovery (%)] and Cost = Process Cost (USD/t) + Transport Cost (USD/t) + GA Cost (USD/t) + [Royalty Cost (%) x Revenue]. The NVB method resulted in an average equivalent cut-off grade of approximately 46g/t AgEq. In-situ bulk density was read from the block model, assigned previously to each model domain during the process of mineral resource estimation, according to samples averages of each lithology domain, separated by alteration zones and subset by oxidation. All tonnages reported are dry metric tonnes and ounces of contained gold and silver are troy ounces. All figures are rounded to reflect the relative accuracy of the estimates. Minor discrepancies may occur due to rounding to appropriate significant figures. The Report titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report, Pre-Feasibility Study for the Diablillos Ag-Au Project" is dated April 30, 2024, has an effective date of March 07, 2024, and has the following authors: Qualified Person(s) Company Johnny Canosa, P.Eng. SGS Geological Services Luis Rodrigo Peralta, FAusIMM CP (Geo) INSA Joseph M. Keane, P.Eng. (Met) Consultant to SGS North America Inc. Miguel Fuentealba, MAusIMM P. Eng. Bmining Chile William Van Breugel, P. Eng. SGS Geological Services QA/QC and Core Sampling Protocols AbraSilver applies industry standard exploration methodologies and techniques, and all drill core samples are collected under the supervision of the Companys geologists in accordance with industry practices. Drill core is transported from the drill platform to the logging facility where drill data is compared and verified with the core in the trays. Thereafter, it is logged, photographed, and split by diamond saw prior to being sampled. Samples are then bagged, and quality control materials are inserted at regular intervals; these include blanks and certified reference materials as well as duplicate core samples which are collected in order to measure sample representivity. Groups of samples are then placed in large bags which are sealed with numbered tags in order to maintain a chain-of-custody during the transport of the samples from the project site to the laboratory. All samples are sent to the Alex Stewart sample preparation facility in Jujuy, then the sample pulps are sent to the Alex Stewart laboratory in Mendoza where they are analyzed. All samples are analyzed using a multi-element technique consisting of a four-acid digestion followed by ICP/AES detection, and gold is analyzed by 50g Fire Assay with an AAS finish. Silver results greater than 100g/t are reanalyzed using four acid digestion with an ore grade AAS finish. Qualified Persons David OConnor P.Geo., Chief Geologist for AbraSilver, is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, and he has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release. About AbraSilver AbraSilver is an advanced-stage exploration company focused on rapidly advancing its 100%-owned Diablillos silver-gold project in the mining-friendly Salta and Catamarca provinces of Argentina. The current Proven and Probable Mineral Reserve estimate for Diablillos, from a recently completed Pre-Feasibility Study, consists of 42.3 Mt grading 91 g/t Ag and 0.81 g/t Au, containing approximately 124 Moz silver and 1.1 Moz gold, with significant further exploration upside potential. In addition, the Company has entered into an earn-in option and joint venture agreement with Teck on the La Coipita project, located in the San Juan province of Argentina. AbraSilver is listed on the TSX-V under the symbol ABRA and in the U.S. on the OTCQX under the symbol ABBRF. For further information please visit the AbraSilver Resource website at , and follow us on Twitter at Alternatively please contact: John Miniotis, President and CEO This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: +1 416-306-8334 Cautionary Statements This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements that address future plans, activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur are forward-looking information. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. When considering this forward-looking information, readers should keep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary statements in the Companys disclosure documents filed with the applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. The risk factors and other factors noted in the disclosure documents could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those described in any forward-looking information. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - Atomic Minerals Corporation (TSXV: ATOM) ("ATOMIC MINERALS" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on ongoing drill permitting for its 6,500-acre Harts Point Uranium Project ("Harts Point") in San Juan County, Utah. This update is in partnership with Kraken Energy Corp. (CSE: UUSA) ("Kraken"), the Company's optionee partner, and the operator for the upcoming exploration program. The August 2024 permit application has now been reviewed by the Monticello Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") with comments provided to Kraken. The partners are currently addressing the comments. Kraken plans to conduct exploratory drilling across fifteen (15) proposed sites targeting the basal Moss Back member of the Chinle formation for uranium mineralization at depths of + 1500 feet (457 metres). The next phase of drilling is aimed at building on the successful Phase I drilling campaign at Harts Point. This collaboration with Kraken Energy underscores both companies' commitment to advancing exploration and development projects in this promising region. As described in the Company's permit applications, these permits will facilitate the execution of a thorough drilling and exploration program, designed to unlock the potential of the uranium-rich Harts Point Property. Clive Massey, President & CEO of Atomic Minerals, commented, "We are excited to be advancing the Harts Point Uranium Project alongside our partners at Kraken Energy. With the feedback received from the BLM on our permitting application, we are well-positioned to move forward with our exploration program. This step brings us closer to unlocking the significant potential of Harts Point, located in one of the most promising uranium regions in the U.S. We are confident that the upcoming drill program will help validate historical data and provide valuable insights into the property's resource potential." On May 23, 2023, Atomic Minerals executed a definitive agreement with Kraken Energy Corp., granting Kraken the option to acquire up to a 75% interest in Harts Point. Harts Point was identified as Moss Back member Chinle formation uranium target based on off-scale radioactivity readings from downhole gamma ray probes of three historic oil and gas holes in the area, which were spaced 2.8 miles apart. The partners believe Harts Point is analogous to Lisbon Valley. Lisbon Valley encompasses the Big Indian mining district, which produced 77.9 million pounds of uranium oxide ("UO") and 19 million pounds of vanadium from 16 large mines between 1952 and 1988 from the Triassic Chinle and Permian Cutler Formations from relatively shallow depths to more than 2,550 feet. This production represents more than 80 percent of the uranium ore mined in Utah during this time period. Ore grades averaged 0.34 percent U 3 O 8 , making these the highest grade and thickest mineable widths of all the large uranium mining districts discovered in the United States.1 Harts Point Property Highlights: World class uranium jurisdiction: located in the center of the Colorado Plateau, which has produced over 328 million ("M") pounds ("lbs") UO at 0.2 to 0.4% UO since the 1950s. 2 Property consists of 324 lode mining claims on Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") ground that covers an area of 2,622 hectares ("ha") (6,480 acres). Harts Point Anticline is Analogous to the Lisbon Valley Anticline: where the Lisbon Valley Uranium District hosted 17 large uranium mines which produced approximately 80M lbs UO at 0.34% UO from 1948 to 1988. 3 The dimensions of these tabular sandstone-hosted uranium deposits range from 2 to 13 meters ("m") (7 to 43 feet) thick, 100 to 3,048 m (328 to 10,000 feet) long, and 31 to 427 m (100 to 1,400 feet) wide . Significant Historic Uranium Production: Several historic mines located 11 km (7 miles) west of the Harts Point Property produced approximately 280,000 lbs UO at 0.3% UO from the favorable Chinle Formation host rock. 4 The Lisbon Valley Anticline is located 31 km (19 miles) to the east of the Harts Point Property produced approximately 80M lbs UO 0.34% UO. 5 Historic Exploration: Three wide-spaced historic oil and gas wells on the Property along the east flank of the Harts Point Anticline show 'off-scale' radioactivity within the favorable Chinle Formation host rock. Drilled between 1953 and 1980, historic drill holes 43-037-10438, 43-037-30109, and 43-037-30623 showed off-scale radioactivity readings between 2.1 to 3.7 m thickness (7 to 12 feet) from depths of 390 to 417 m (1,280 to 1,368 feet). Excellent Infrastructure: located approximately 64 km (40 miles) north of the White Mesa uranium processing facility. There is also excellent access throughout the Property, which is situated 45 km (28 miles) from the town of Monticello, Utah. Figure 1: Harts Point Claim Group, San Juan County, Utah Qualified Person Mr. R. Tim Henneberry, P.Geo. (BC), an advisor to the Company, is the "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the technical contents of this news release and has approved the disclosure of the technical information contained herein. Atomic cautions investors that the presence of uranium mineralization at Lisbon Valley is not necessarily indicative of similar mineralization at Harts Point. Technical Information The drilling results referenced in this release are from historical data, which Atomic Minerals is utilizing as a guide for current and future exploration efforts. The Company has not independently verified the sampling or analysis of this historical data. The planned drilling program at Harts Point will aim to validate the historical results, advancing the Company's understanding of the uranium potential at the site. About the Harts Point Property Harts Point is located in the heart of the Colorado Plateau, an area often referred to as "the Athabasca Basin of the U.S." due to its rich uranium resources. The property is situated 64 kilometers (40 miles) north of the White Mesa Uranium Mill, the only fully licensed and operational conventional uranium mill in the United States. Harts Point consists of 324 lode mining claims on BLM land, with drill permits secured for up to 20 exploration drill holes. About the Company Atomic Minerals Corp. is a publicly listed exploration company on the TSX Venture Exchange, trading under the symbol ATOM, led by a highly skilled management and technical team with a proven track record in the junior mining sector. Atomic Minerals' objective is to identify exploration opportunities in regions that have been previously overlooked but are geologically similar to those with previous uranium discoveries. These underexplored areas hold immense potential and are in stable geopolitical and economic environments. Atomic Minerals' property portfolio contains uranium projects in three locations within North America, all of which have significant technical merit and or are known for hosting uranium production in the past. Three of the properties are located on the Colorado Plateau, an area which has previously produced 597 million pounds of U3O8; Three others are in the prolific Athabasca Basin region and nine uranium projects are located Northern Saskatchewan, encompassing a total exploration area of 6,495 hectares. For additional information about the Company and its projects, please visit our website at www.atomicminerals.ca. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor their Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking" statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although Atomic Minerals Corporation believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of Atomic Minerals Corporation management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by law, Atomic Minerals Corporation undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. 1 Source: Chenoweth, W.L. (1990). Lisbon Valley, Utah's Premier Uranium Area, a Summary of Exploration and Ore Production. Utah Geological Survey Open File Report 188, July 1990. 2 Source: Holger Albrethsen, Jr. and Frank E. McGinley (1982). Summary History of Domestic Procurement Under U.S. Atomic Energy Commission Contracts, September 1982. 3 Source: Gordon W. Weir and Willard P. Puffett (1981). Incomplete manuscript on stratigraphy and structural geology and uranium-vanadium and copper deposits of the Lisbon Valley area, Utah-Colorado. Open-File Report 81-39. Pages 153 to 163. United States Department of the Interior Geological Survey. 4 Source: Chenoweth, W.L. (1993): The geology and Production History of the Uranium deposits in the White Canyon Mining District, San Juan County, Utah, Utah Geological Survey Miscellaneous Publication 93-3. 5 Source: Chenoweth, W.L. (1990). Lisbon Valley, Utah's Premier Uranium Area, a Summary of Exploration and Ore Production. Utah Geological Survey Open File Report 188, July 1990. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - Roscan Gold Corporation (TSXV: ROS) (FSE: 2OJ) (OTCQB: RCGCF) ("Roscan" or the "Company") is pleased to announce a fully subscribed non-brokered private placement financing for gross proceeds of up to $2,000,000 through the issuance of up to of 20,000,000 common shares (each, a "Common Share") in the capital of the Company at a price of $0.10 per Common Share (the "Offering"). Gross proceeds raised from the Offering will be used for exploration and development of the Kandiole Project and for working capital and general corporate purposes. Closing of the Offering is subject to receipt of all necessary corporate and regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. All securities issued in connection with the Offering will be subject to a hold period of four months plus a day from the date of issuance and the resale rules of applicable securities legislation. A finder's fees of 3% of the gross proceeds may be paid to certain finders in connection with the Offering. 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 unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available. About Roscan Roscan Gold Corporation is a Canadian gold exploration company focused on the exploration and acquisition of gold properties in West Africa. The Company has assembled a significant land position of 100%-owned permits in an area of producing gold mines (including B2 Gold's Fekola Mine which lies in a contiguous property to the west of Kandiole), and major gold deposits, located both north and south of its Kandiole Project in West Mali. For further information, please contact: Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking information which is not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking information is characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, changes in the state of equity and debt markets, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in obtaining required regulatory or governmental approvals, and other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, including those risks set out in the Company's management's discussion and analysis as filed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking information in this news release is based on the opinions and assumptions of management considered reasonable as of the date hereof, including that all necessary governmental and regulatory approvals will be received as and when expected. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable securities laws. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - Zodiac Gold Inc. (TSXV: ZAU) ("Zodiac Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an exclusivity agreement (the "Exclusivity Agreement") with Mable and Fable Limited ("Mable and Fable" or the "Investor"), an arm's-length private equity group focused on West African investments across various sectors including natural resources, banking, real estate, agriculture, and infrastructure sectors. Pursuant to the Exclusivity Agreement, Zodiac Gold has agreed to negotiate exclusively with the Investor until December 31, 2024 with respect to a potential investment or strategic transaction between Zodiac Gold and the Investor. In exchange, the Investor has agreed to pay a US$2 million deposit to the Company (the "Deposit"), of which US$1 million will be funded immediately and US$1 million will be funded within 30 days. Zodiac Gold will use the Deposit to fund exploration activities on its Todi Project and areas underlying its newly acquired exploration licenses, as well as for general working capital purposes. If Zodiac Gold and the Investor enter into a definitive agreement with respect to a potential transaction by December 31, 2024, the Deposit will be applied as a credit against amounts otherwise payable by the Investor pursuant to the terms of the definitive agreement. If Zodiac Gold and the Investor do not enter into a definitive agreement by December 31, 2024, the Deposit (converted into Canadian dollars based on a F/X rate of US$1.00 = C$1.35) will be converted into common shares of Zodiac Gold at a price of C$0.30 per share. The conversion of the Deposit into shares is subject to the receipt of TSXV approval. All shares issued on the conversion of the Deposit will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months and one day from the date of issuance. The Investor has also agreed that, except with the Company's prior approval, it will not transfer any shares issued on the conversion of the Deposit for a period of 12 months from the date of issuance. Management Commentary David Kol, President & CEO of Zodiac Gold, commented: "This exclusivity agreement represents a significant step forward for Zodiac Gold. By partnering with Mable and Fable, we align ourselves with a group that shares our vision for unlocking the potential of our Todi Project and broader land package. This transformative investment reflects the true underlying value we've built in our assets and the exciting exploration opportunities that lie ahead. With this funding, we will accelerate our work on key targets, where early results point to a highly prospective resource base. We remain focused on delivering meaningful discoveries, and I believe we are well-positioned to advance toward realizing the full potential of our district-scale opportunity in Liberia." About Mable and Fable Mable and Fable is the lead developer and investor behind a 10 billion diaspora real estate development project in Abuja, Nigeria. Their investment acumen in gold and iron ore mining, along with future steel processing and production, aligns with their expansive infrastructure development program in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. Mable and Fable, which has affiliated offices in the U.K., Germany, and Nigeria, brings extensive experience in supporting growth-stage resource ventures, reinforcing our shared vision for unlocking significant value in the region. About Zodiac Gold Zodiac Gold Inc. (TSXV: ZAU) is a West-African exploration company focused on its flagship Todi Project situated in Liberia -- an underexplored, politically stable, mining-friendly jurisdiction hosting several large-scale gold and iron ore deposits. Strategically positioned along the fertile Todi Shear Zone, Zodiac Gold is developing a district-scale opportunity covering a vast 2,316 km2 land package. The Todi project includes gold and iron occurrences both at surface and at depth, with high-grade gold intercepts and multiple drill-ready targets. For further information, please visit the Zodiac Gold website at www.zodiac-gold.com or contact: Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Information This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include predictions, projections, and forecasts and are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "forecast", "expect", "potential", "project", "target", "schedule", "budget" and "intend" and statements that an event or result "may", "will", "should", "could" or "might" occur or be achieved and other similar expressions and includes the negatives thereof. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's planned exploration programs and drill programs and potential significance of results are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Company's expectations include actual exploration results, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, results of future resource estimates, future metal prices, availability of capital, and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, uninsured risks, regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of personnel, materials, and equipment on a timely basis, accidents or equipment breakdowns, delays in receiving government approvals, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events, or results to differ from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause such actions, events, or results to differ materially from those anticipated. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and accordingly readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. TORONTO / Sep 30, 2024 / Business Wire / Great Quest Gold Ltd. (TSX-V: GQ) (Great Quest or the Company) is pleased to announce drill results from its maiden diamond drilling campaign at the Belmont project totalling 570m. Highlights Hole BKDD003 intersected 18m of 1.72 g/t Au from 74m including 8m of 3.72 g/t Au BKDD003 also intersected multiple points of visible gold within the 18m zone of mineralization BKDD003 confirms the down-dip extension of the previously intersected 6m of 6.85 g/t Au from 20m at the BK2 target About the Belmont Project The Belmont Project (Belmont) is a Greenfield target with no historical record of gold mineralization. Belmont was discovered in 2022 through surface geochemistry and currently comprises a zone of 72 km2 situated between two major regional structures, the Khorixas-Gaseneirob Thrust and the Belmont Thrust in Namibia. Approximately 90% of the prospect is obscured by calcrete and scree cover. Limited work, including rock chip sampling, soil sampling (also calcrete sampling), trenching and a few shallow percussion drillholes, has identified 15 target areas within the Belmont corridor (Fig. 1). Multiple visible gold samples have been observed in surface rock chips, and grab sample assays peak at 145.7 g/t Au and soil sampling peaking at 1.49 g/t Au. Individual anomalies appear to coincide with smaller-scale conjugate splay structures located between the two thrusts. Extensive calcrete cover and a lack of detailed geophysical data has, however, limited our understanding of mineralization controls. BK2 Target The BK2 target area is predominantly defined by a NW/SE trend of high-grade surface float samples. Approximately 95% of the target area is covered by a 1-5m thick calcrete cover, with small patches of sulphide-rich quartz zones outcropping. The BK2 rock chip trend can be traced for approximately 1.5km, however, when combined with the down strike Annex and BK11 targets this trend increases to approximately 5km (Fig. 2). Limited outcrop suggests that the mineralization is associated with structurally controlled quartz veins hosted in altered muscovite-chlorite schists and arkosic sandstones (Fig. 3). Alteration is typically associated with mineralized zones and includes: silicification, chloritization and iron-carbonate replacement of host rock. Diamond Drilling A total of 570m of diamond drilling was completed as part of a maiden scout drilling campaign by the Company (Table 2). Drilling was conducted at the VG Hill target (BKDD001 & BKDD002) and the BK2 target (BKDD003 & BKDD004). The best hole, BKDD003, intersected multiple quartz and sulphide-rich zones between 74m and 92m downhole, including a 1m zone of massive sulphide comprising pyrite and pyrrhotite (Fig. 4B & C). Assay results for this hole reported 18m of 1.72 g/t Au from 74m including 8m of 3.72 g/t Au. Drilling also intersected 2 points of visible gold at 84.4m and 86.1m with individual meters only assaying 0.5 g/t Au and 0.08 g/t Au respectively (Fig. 4A). The nuggety nature of mineralization at the BK2 target has been observed in surface samples and all assays were therefore analyzed using the screen fire assay method. It is, however, expected that due to the nuggety nature of this system, some gold might be missed even while using the screen fire assay method. Down-Dip Extension Hole BKDD003 was intended to prove the down-dip extension of the previously intersected zone of 6m of 6.85 g/t Au at 20m, recorded in hole BKP0036. The mineralization intersected by hole BKDD003 proves the down-dip extension of mineralization to a vertical depth of approximately 80m (Fig. 5). The interpreted mineralized zone dips steeply (75) to the SW and future drilling will take this into consideration. The interpreted mineralized zone can also be traced to surface where two visible gold samples as well as one grab sample assaying 15.55 g/t Au were recorded in quartz sulphide float. The newly discovered mineralized zone remains open in all directions. Future Work Recent drilling has proven the in-situ continuity of high-grade gold mineralization within the Belmont corridor. Detailed surface mapping coupled with detailed core logging indicates that mineralization within the Belmont Project is likely controlled by shearing and faulting. As is generally the case for Orogenic gold mineralizing systems, understanding these structures will be key to predicting mineralized traps. In order to delineate these structures better, the Company has embarked on a large drone-based magnetic survey, covering the entire Belmont Project. The Company has also collected in excess of 3,000 surface samples, both soil and calcrete, which will be submitted for analysis shortly. The combination of detailed surface mapping, surface geochemistry and magnetic surveys will be used to refine drilling targets in the coming months. Table 1: Table displaying intercepts above 0.5 g/t Au. Hole ID From To Interval (m) Au (g/t) BKDD001 103 104 1 0.52 BKDD003 74 92 18 1.72 including 8 3.72 Table 2: Table showing the coordinates of holes drilled by the Company. Hole ID X Y Z Azimuth Dip Depth (m) BKDD001 503084.9 7743768 1008 185 60 150 BKDD002 503036.8 7743666 1006 15 50 130 BKDD003 503162.2 7739441 1009 170 60 140 BKDD004 503407.4 7739309 1012 160 60 150 We are excited about the new developments in the Belmont Project, commented Dr. Andreas Rompel, President and VP Exploration of Great Quest, the shear size in strike kilometres, the presence of mineralized multiple and thick quartz veins, and the occurrence of visible gold encourages us to focus on Belmont with the next drilling campaigns. Quality Assurance & Quality Control (QA/QC) All sample assay results have been monitored through the Company's quality assurance / quality control (QA / QC) program following E2941 21 Standard Practices for Extraction of Elements from Ores and Related Metallurgical Materials by 4 acid Digestion with ICPOES finish. Drill core was sent to an independent laboratory, African Laboratory Specialists Namibia (ALS), for analysis. ALS is an independent laboratory, located in Kombat, Namibia. Core samples were prepared using the ASTM procedures. Sample size: 3 kg, crushed split to 250g weighed sample (+/- 0.5000g). Qualified Person The scientific and technical information in this release has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Andreas Rompel, Pr.Sci.Nat. (400274/04), FSAIMM, the Companys qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Change of Transfer Agent Great Quest also announces the appointment of Odyssey Trust Company (Odyssey) as the Companys registrar and transfer agent. Odyssey will now be responsible for all transfers of Great Quests shares through their office in Toronto rather than Computershare Investor Services Inc., which has resigned at the Companys request. Shareholders need not take action in respect to the change in transfer agent and register. About Great Quest Great Quest Gold Ltd. is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on developing high-potential gold and lithium projects in Namibia, Morocco, and Mali. The Companys flagship asset is the Damara Gold Project in Namibia, which includes the Khorixas, Omatjete, and Outjo projects, covering over 300,000 hectares. Khorixas has yielded high-grade grab samples up to 49.9 g/t Au, while Omatjete and Outjo present significant gold and lithium opportunities. In Mali, Great Quest is advancing the Sanoukou Gold Project, a 24 km concession in the Kayes region. Great Quest Gold Ltd. is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol GQ and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol GQM. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF GREAT QUEST GOLD LTD. Jed Richardson CEO and Executive Chairman Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information This news release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the mineralization and prospectivity of the Belmont Project, exploration of the BK2 target, the Companys exploration program and the Companys future plans. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statements or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable laws. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. TORONTO, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eloro Resources Ltd. (Eloro or the Company) (TSX: ELO; OTCQX: ELRRF; FSE: P2QM) is pleased to announce it has received a lead order from the Companys largest shareholder and strategic investor, Crescat Capital LLC, in connection with a non-brokered private placement offering (the Offering) of up to 3,000,000 units of the Company at $0.90 per unit (the Units) for gross proceeds of up to $2,700,000. Iska Iska is one of the most significant silver-base metal discoveries globally in recent years, stated Quinton Hennigh, Technical and Geologic Advisor to Crescat Capital, a strategic shareholder of Eloro. Although we are currently in a time when capital available to the mining industry is constrained, it is critical to see projects like this move forward. Eloro has a very capable technical team, and it is pleasing to see them continue to advance work, especially infill drilling in the Santa Barbara area so that a PEA can be undertaken. Metal prices are now rising. I believe this is, in part, due to the fact that very few mines have been built in recent years. Iska Iska needs to remain on track to ultimately provide the critical metals society needs. Kevin Smith, Crescats founder and Chief Investment Officer, commented Eloros Iska Iska deposit is a silver-rich multi-metallic resource that is one of the largest discoveries in the world today. There is a shortage of critical metals globally that are needed for the energy transition due to more than a decade of underinvestment in the mining industry. The growth in solar and wind-powered electricity generation is creating increased demand for silver and zinc, metals in which Eloro is richly endowed. We are happy to support the Company with additional capital for definition drilling at this time. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Offering for continued exploration and development of the Iska Iska project, and general corporate purposes and working capital. Each Unit will consist of one common share of the Company (a Common Share) and one-half of one common share purchase warrant of the Company (each whole purchase warrant, a Warrant). Each Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to acquire one Common Share at an exercise price of C$1.50, with the expiry date of each Warrant being two years following the date of the closing under the Offering. Completion of the Offering is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to the receipt of all necessary approvals, including the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange. The securities 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 the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. About Crescat Crescat is a global macro asset management firm headquartered in Denver, Colorado, which deploys tactical investment themes based on proprietary value-driven equity and macro models. Crescat's investment goals are to provide industry-leading absolute and risk-adjusted returns over complete business cycles with low correlation to common benchmarks, and they apply their investment process across a mix of asset classes and strategies. Crescat has been accumulating activist stakes in a portfolio of companies in the metals exploration and mining industry as a long-term strategic macro theme. About Eloro Resources Ltd. Eloro is an exploration and mine development company with a portfolio of gold and base-metal properties in Bolivia, Peru and Quebec. Eloro has an option to acquire a 100% interest in the highly prospective Iska Iska project, which can be classified as a polymetallic epithermal-porphyry complex, a significant mineral deposit type in the Potosi Department, in southern Bolivia. A recent NI 43-101 Technical Report on Iska Iska, which was completed by Micon International Limited, is available on Eloros website and under its filings on SEDAR+. Iska Iska is a road-accessible, royalty-free property. Eloro also owns an 82% interest in the La Victoria Gold/Silver Project, located in the North-Central Mineral Belt of Peru some 50 km south of the Lagunas Norte Gold Mine and the La Arena Gold Mine. For further information please contact either Thomas G. Larsen, Chairman and CEO, or Jorge Estepa, Vice-President, at (416) 868-9168. Information in this news release may contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information express, as at the date of this news release, the Companys plans, estimates, forecasts, projections, expectations, or beliefs as to future events or results and are believed to be reasonable based on information currently available to the Company (forward-looking statements in this news release include, without limitation, statements regarding the proposed use of proceeds from the Offering). There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not intend to update any such forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable laws. Final documents executed and shareholder approvals gained for an earn-in and joint venture agreement for Kincora's Mongolian assets with Woomera Mining Limited (ASX: WML) (Woomera) Woomera to now commence an aggressive initial drilling program at the Bronze Fox copper-gold project including testing the potential for a shallower higher-grade structural zone and resource expansion drilling coupled with a second mining license conversion Woomera has the right to spend up to US$4 million to earn an 80% interest Kincora has received $100,000 in cash payments and will shortly be allotted 180m shares and 180 attaching options in Woomera, becoming Woomera's largest shareholder Agreement allows Kincora to focus on the flagship NSW copper-gold projects located in highly prolific Macquarie Arc and follows the strategy of doing deals with funding and technical partners to unlock the value of the existing project pipeline Melbourne, Australia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - Kincora Copper Limited (ASX: KCC) (TSXV: KCC) (Kincora or the Company) is pleased have executed final agreements that provide Woomera, an arms length and unrelated party, the right to earn into the Company's wholly owned Mongolian subsidiaries and thereby obtain exposure to the Company's Bronze Fox copper-gold project, located in the world-class and rapidly emerging Southern Gobi copper belt. All requisite approvals and conditions precedent have now been met and include: The finalisation of the second tranche of Woomera's $1.7m capital raising via shareholder approval on September 25 th , 2024 (with a further Share Purchase Plan taking place); Both parties entering into a final Earn-in Implementation Agreement ("EIA", executed September 29 th , 2024) to reflect the terms of Woomera's operations of the Bronze Fox project with all shareholder and regulatory approvals now met; Drilling to now shortly commence for an initial 2250-3250m diamond core program planned before year end, targeting a shallower higher-grade structural zone, to also increase the existing resource base and supporting an application for a second mining license for the full Bronze Fox project; and, The issue of 180m shares reflecting $450,000 in scrip consideration and 180m options exercisable at $0.005 expirying July 31st, 2026 to Kincora (the same terms as the recent Woomera capital raising), with Kincora becoming the largest shareholder in Woomera. Sam Spring, President and CEO of Kincora, stated, "As Woomera's largest shareholder and retaining a very attractive asset level exposure we are very excited to be entering what we expect to be a transformational period with a high impact drilling program to commence in early October. This program is expected to achieve a number of very significant value catalysts and highlight Bronze Fox's strategic value as the fourth major porphyry district in the world-class Southern Gobi copper belt." About Woomera Woomera Mining Limited (ASX: WML) (Woomera) is an Australian public exploration company with a mandate for large scale new discovery opportunities backed by a team and shareholder register with very considerable prior successes. In Australia, Woomera has a portfolio of assets prospective for battery metals (lithium nickel, copper + PGEs) and gold in the Ravensthorpe Yilgarn and Ashburton areas of Western Australia plus the Musgrave Province in South Australia, along with copper-gold mineralisation in the Gawler Craton of South Australia. For more information, please visit Woomera's website at https://www.woomeramining.com.au. About Kincora Kincora Copper is dual listed on the ASX and TSX-V (ticker "KCC") and is an active explorer and project generator focused on world-class copper-gold discoveries that has recently executed four agreements that unlock up to A$60 million in multiple year partner funding. Further deals and new projects that offer a clear value path and targeted partnerships are proposed. Kincora's portfolio includes district scale landholdings and scale-able drill ready targets in both Australia and Mongolia's leading porphyry belts, the Macquarie Arc and Southern Gobi, respectively, and, the Company is targeting exposure to initially 10,000 and then 30,000m+ pa of drilling. For more information please visit Kincora's website at www.kincoracopper.com. This announcement has been authorised for release by the Board of Kincora Copper Limited (ARBN 645 457 763) Disclaimer and Previously Reported Information The scientific and technical information this announcement is extracted from reports lodged as market announcements referred to above, quarterly reports, project summaries and are available on the Company's website www.kincoracopper.com .The Company confirms that it is not aware of any new information that materially affects the information included in the original market announcement and that all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the estimates in the relevant market announcement continue to apply and have not materially changed. Forward-Looking Statements Certain information regarding Kincora contained herein may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements may include estimates, plans, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, guidance or other statements that are not statements of fact. Although Kincora believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Kincora cautions that actual performance will be affected by a number of factors, most of which are beyond its control, and that future events and results may vary substantially from what Kincora currently foresees. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration results, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. The forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The information contained herein is stated as of the current date and is subject to change after that date. Kincora does not assume the obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) or the Australian Securities Exchange accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Two days of attacks by Sudanese paramilitaries on the Darfur city of El-Fasher killed 48 people, a medical source told AFP on Friday, after world leaders appealed for an end to the country's suffering. Artillery fire from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) killed 30 people and wounded dozens on Friday alone, a medical source at El-Fasher Teaching Hospital told AFP, as the paramilitaries and regular army vie for control of the North Darfur state capital. The shelling comes a day after an assault on a market brought "18 dead to the hospital" on Thursday, "some of them burned and others killed by shrapnel", the source said, requesting anonymity for their own protection in light of repeated attacks on health workers and hospitals. The plight of Sudan, and El-Fasher in particular, has been under discussion this week at the UN General Assembly in New York after 17 months of devastating fighting between the RSF and the regular army. "We must compel the warring parties to accept humanitarian pauses in El-Fasher, Khartoum and other highly vulnerable areas," the US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said on Wednesday. The Teaching Hospital is one of the last still receiving patients in El-Fasher, where reports of a "full-scale assault" by RSF last weekend led UN chief Antonio Guterres to call for an urgent ceasefire. The paramilitaries have besieged El-Fasher since May, and famine has already been declared in Zamzam refugee camp near the city of two million. - 'Stop arming generals' - The war has killed tens of thousands of people. The World Health Organization has cited a toll of at least 20,000 but US envoy Tom Perriello has said some estimates reach 150,000. US President Joe Biden, who raised particular concern over the assault on El-Fasher, on Tuesday urged all countries to cut off weapons supplies to the country's warring generals, armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. "The world needs to stop arming the generals," Biden told the UN General Assembly. On the sidelines of the UN talks, Guterres met with Burhan, expressing concern about "escalation" and the risk of "a regional spillover," the UN said. Both sides have been repeatedly accused of war crimes. The RSF, which has its origins in Darfur's notorious Arab tribal militias, the Janjaweed, has been specifically accused of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. Darfur, a region the size of France, is home to around a quarter of Sudan's population but more than half of its 10 million people are internally displaced. Daglo released a video Thursday in which he rejected Burhan's participation in the UN General Assembly as Sudan's representative, saying the RSF had "formed a force to protect civilians" and was "open to all initiatives" aimed at peace. Also on Thursday, air strikes and shelling rocked Khartoum as the army attacked paramilitary positions across the Sudanese capital, witnesses and a military source said. - Women at risk - What appeared to witnesses in the capital to be a "large-scale offensive" by the army -- its first in months -- continued Friday, with gunfire and artillery ringing through Khartoum and "a cloud of smoke" rising over army-controlled areas, a resident said. By Friday evening, the army claimed "complete control" over one area of Khartoum North, which the RSF has held almost since the war began. Witnesses in the Hajar al-Asal area in River Nile State, north of the capital, reported RSF forces "retreating" in the face of an army attack. A hallmark of the war, which has mostly been fought in densely populated areas, has been mass human rights violations including systematic sexual violence, summary executions and the looting of humanitarian aid. A UN Women report published Thursday showed that as of December, some 6.7 million people in Sudan were in need of services related to gender-based violence, but "this figure is estimated to be even higher today". Sudan, which is facing what the UN called on Wednesday "the world's largest hunger crisis", is home to 5.8 million internally displaced women and girls, who UN Women said were acutely vulnerable. As famine threatens displaced populations across the country, "women are eating least and last", the report warned. UN human rights chief Volker Turk warned Thursday that, "if El-Fasher falls, there is a high risk of ethnically-targeted violations and abuses, including summary executions and sexual violence, by the RSF and allied militia." Russian strikes on a hospital in the Ukrainian border city of Sumy killed nine people Saturday, as President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned Moscow for "waging war on hospitals". Sumy lies just across the border from Russia's Kursk region, where Kyiv launched a shock offensive on August 6, aimed in part at creating a "buffer zone" inside Russia. "Russia hit one of the city's hospitals with Shahed drones," Zelensky wrote on Telegram and regional authorities said the toll had risen to nine dead and 12 injured. The attack hit the St Panteleimon Clinical Hospital near the city centre, officials said, with a nurse among the dead. The attack comes as Zelensky is pressing Kyiv's Western allies to allow the use of long-range precision weapons to strike deep inside Russia. "Everyone in the world who speaks about this war must pay attention to what Russia is targeting. They are waging war on hospitals, civilian facilities and people's lives," the president said. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said the attack was "more evidence of Russia's war crimes". Zelensky posted photos of smoke pouring from windows above the destroyed entrance to the hospital, rescuers carrying patients down the stairs and treating two policemen lying on the ground. On Saturday morning, three drones attacked the regional capital city and two hit the hospital, Ukraine's air force said. A first strike was followed by another around an hour later on Saturday morning, officials said, apparently targeting the rescue operation to maximise casualties. Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko wrote on Telegram that the first strike "killed 1 person" and damaged several floors of the hospital. "During the evacuation of patients, the enemy struck again", Klymenko wrote. - 'Cynical attack' - Russia has destroyed or damaged at least 1,736 medical facilities in Ukraine since its February 2022 invasion, Human Rights Watch reported in July. A Russian missile struck a Kyiv children's hospital in July and a maternity hospital in Mariupol was bombed in March 2022. Ukraine's National Police condemned the twin strikes as a "cynical attack" that killed one policeman and injured another. Regional prosecutors said the first attack took place at around 7:35 am (0435 GMT) and the second about an hour later. Images posted by officials showed body bags lying on the pavement outside the four-storey building with a destroyed entrance and the roof partially ripped off. The hospital's director Volodymyr Potseluyev told Suspilne media outlet that the hospital's admission department, casualty department and fourth floor were destroyed. He said seriously injured patients had been transferred to intensive care units at other hospitals. Regional authorities said the strikes also hit a residential area and posted images of flats with broken windows. Dobrobat, a volunteer group that helps repair damaged homes, wrote on Facebook that its volunteers were working at the scene when the second strike came. It posted a video showing thick smoke, explosions and people rushing to take shelter as sirens wailed. "People are just lying on the street dead," a volunteer said, filming himself on his phone. "We survived due to a miracle as we went into the entranceway of a building", the unnamed volunteer said. Ukraine's air force reported shooting down 68 Russian attack drones out of 73 in multiple regions overnight, including Sumy. It said it also downed two out of four cruise missiles launched overnight by Russia. In the central city of Kryvyi Rig, rescuers pulled another body from the rubble of a police office building struck by a missile on Friday, regional governor Sergiy Lysak said, taking the toll to four. A drone hit a car in a border village in the eastern Kharkiv region, killing one man and wounding three women, regional governor Oleg Synegubov said. In Russia's Belgorod border region, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a local resident was killed Saturday morning by a drone attack. bur-am/ Meta Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that Israel was committing a "genocide" in Lebanon after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was confirmed among hundreds killed in Israeli strikes this week. "Lebanon and the Lebanese people are the latest target of a policy of genocide, occupation and invasion carried out by Israel since October 7," Erdogan wrote on X, without directly referring to Nasrallah's death. "No person with a conscience can accept, excuse or justify such a massacre," he added, calling for a stop to Israel's "mindless" attempts to extend conflict across the region. Erdogan has regularly accused Israel of "genocide" throughout the devastating Gaza war that was sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity. Of the 251 hostages seized by militants, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,586 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN has described the figures as reliable. rba/imm/gv X Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned Moscow for "waging war on hospitals" after Russian strikes on a hospital in the border city of Sumy killed 10 people Saturday. Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko wrote on Telegram that the first strike "killed one person" and damaged several floors of the hospital. "During the evacuation of patients, the enemy struck again," he added. Sumy lies just across the border from Russia's Kursk region, where Kyiv launched a surprise offensive on August 6, aimed in part at creating a "buffer zone" inside Russia. "Russia hit one of the city's hospitals with Shahed drones," Zelensky wrote on Telegram. The attack hit the St Panteleimon Clinical Hospital near the city centre, officials said, with a nurse among the dead. The attack comes as Zelensky is pressing Kyiv's Western allies to allow the use of long-range precision weapons to strike deep inside Russia. "Everyone in the world who speaks about this war must pay attention to what Russia is targeting. They are waging war on hospitals, civilian facilities and people's lives," the president said. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said the attack was "more evidence of Russia's war crimes". Zelensky posted photos of smoke pouring from windows above the destroyed entrance to the hospital, rescuers carrying patients down the stairs and treating two policemen lying on the ground. On Saturday morning, three drones attacked the regional capital city and two hit the hospital, Ukraine's air force said. A first strike was followed by another around an hour later on Saturday morning, officials said, apparently targeting the rescue operation to maximise casualties. - 'Lying on the street dead' - Russia has destroyed or damaged at least 1,736 medical facilities in Ukraine since its February 2022 invasion, Human Rights Watch reported in July. These have included a children's hospital in Kyiv in July and a maternity hospital in Mariupol in March 2022. Regional prosecutors said the first attack took place at around 7:35 am (0435 GMT) and the second about an hour later. Images posted by officials showed body bags lying on the pavement outside the four-storey building with a destroyed entrance and the roof partially ripped off. The hospital's director Volodymyr Potseluyev told Suspilne media outlet that the hospital's admission department, casualty department and fourth floor were destroyed. He said seriously injured patients had been transferred to intensive care units at other hospitals. Regional authorities said the strikes also hit a residential area and posted images of flats with broken windows. Dobrobat, a volunteer group that helps repair damaged homes, wrote on Facebook that its volunteers were working at the scene when the second strike came. It posted a video showing thick smoke, explosions and people rushing to take shelter as sirens wailed. "People are just lying on the street dead," a volunteer said, filming himself on his phone. Ukraine's air force reported shooting down 68 Russian attack drones out of 73 in multiple regions overnight, including Sumy, and two out of four cruise missiles launched overnight by Russia. In the central city of Kryvyi Rig, rescuers pulled another body from the rubble of a police office building struck by a missile on Friday, regional governor Sergiy Lysak said, taking the toll to four. A drone strike in a border village in the eastern Kharkiv region killed one man and wounding three women, regional governor Oleg Synegubov said. In Russia's Belgorod border region, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a local resident was killed Saturday morning by a drone attack. Closing his visit to the United States, Zelensky released a statement later Saturday thanking US President Joe Biden for the latest military aid package of $8 billion, and the US Congress for its "unwavering" support. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned European countries against seeking confrontation with Moscow in a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York. Western countries "hope to defeat Russia using the illegitimate neo-Nazi Kyiv regime, but they're already preparing Europe for it to also throw itself into this suicidal escapade," he said. "I'm not going to talk here about the senselessness and the danger of the very idea of trying to fight to victory with a nuclear power." bur-jj/yad Meta The first law banning propaganda for LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people] in the Federation of Russia was passed back in 2013. It was aimed at protecting children and prohibited the dissemination of information that could create a positive image among them of non-traditional sexual relationships. In 2014, the law was reviewed by the Constitutional Court of Russia. The court clarified that propaganda means the intentional and uncontrolled spread of information that can harm the health, moral, and spiritual development of children. It could, the court argued, lead them to develop distorted ideas about the social equivalence of traditional and non-traditional sexual relationships. At the same time, the court noted that information about LGBT could still be presented to children, but only in a neutral manner. After Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the situation for LGBT people drastically changed, notes Max Olenichev, a human rights lawyer who works with the Russian LGBT community. When the Russian state failed to capture Ukraine within a few weeks, it began constructing the image of an internal enemy, he says. This was necessary to rally Russian society around the government and divert attention from military setbacks to internal enemies. Among those labeled as such were LGBT people. President Vladimir Putin in person played a significant role in shaping the evolving narrative around LGBT issues. In 2020, Russia held a vote on amending the Constitution. In addition to a provision that reset presidential term limits, allowing Putin to run for re-election in 2022, other changes were introduced. One of these constitutional amendments was to define marriage exclusively as a union between a man and a woman. Propaganda video broadcast in Russia before the vote for a new Constitution in the summer of 2020. The fiction is set in 2035, when an orphan is adopted by a same-sex couple. The video ends with the words: Is this the Russia you choose? Decide the future of the country - vote for the constitutional amendments. It was published on June 1, 2020 by the federal news agency, part of the Patriot Media Group then headed by the late Evgeny Prigozhin who also headed private military company Wagner. YouTube took it out of circulation three days later for incitement to hatred. In November 2022, the president signed the Fundamentals of State Policy for the Preservation and Strengthening of Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values. While the document does not carry direct legislative power, it established a broad ideological framework at the state level. It explained that the promotion of non-traditional sexual relations was foreign to the Russian people and described such ideas and values as destructive to Russian society. The documents adoption was justified as a matter of ensuring national security. Not just children In December 2022, Russia extended the legal ban on gay propaganda to adults. De facto, it refers to any positive or neutral statement about LGBT people in the public sphere, even in a group chat of just a few people. In August 2024, two human rights organizations, Sphere and Citizens watch, which advocate for LGBT rights in Russia, published a study analyzing how courts have applied these laws in recent years. According to the study, from December 2022 to March 2024, Russian courts reviewed 64 such cases. 47 were related to the propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships in general, and 17 cases were about spreading information about LGBT issues to minors. According to the same study, 59% of the defendants were individuals, while 27% were legal entities. Among the latter, online streaming platforms were most often targeted in court. For example, in September 2024, the streaming service Kinopoisk (one of the largest in Russia, owned by the IT company Yandex since 2013) was fined 3 million rubles (around 29,000 euro) for promoting non-traditional sexual relationships. The platform featured Gaspar Noes film Love. The movie was banned from cinemas in Russia due to its explicit sexual content. LGBT movement dubbed extremist organization In November 2023, Russias Supreme Court, following a request from the Ministry of Justice, labeled the LGBT movement as an extremist organization. People can be held accountable for publicly displaying extremist symbols. For example, this could include a photo of a rainbow flag posted on social media or a rainbow-colored accessory noticed by police on the metro. Penalties include fines of up to 2,000 rubles (around 20 euros) or up to 15 days of arrest. There are also criminal charges: incitement to extremism (up to four years in prison), organizing an extremist community (up to eight years), or organizing the activities of an extremist organization (up to ten years). Alongside the LGBT movement, the list of extremist organizations includes ISIS, the Taliban, Jehovahs Witnesses, the Ukrainian Azov battalion, and others 611 entries in total. In Russia, the system of restrictions and repression is not set up in a way that immediately prosecutes all LGBT people and their allies, explains lawyer Olenichev. The government has passed many restrictive laws, but it lacks the resources to enforce them on every citizen. Instead, it creates high-profile cases to send a message to society: what behaviour is acceptable and what is not. For now, society adjusts to the new rules, self-censoring its own actions. According to the human rights defender, at least 30 people have already been held accountable for displaying LGBT symbols in Russia. Additionally, there have been at least three criminal cases opened. In March 2024, the Central District Court of Orenburg placed the owner of the local club Pose, Vyacheslav Khasanov, club administrator Diana Kamillanova, and art director Alexander Klimov in pre-trial detention. In May, a criminal case was launched against Artem Fokin, president of the Samara LGBT initiative Irida, and in August against the director of a medical center in Ulyanovsk (his name was not mentioned). None of these cases have yet reached court for substantive review. At the same time, Russian law and its application still do not equate being LGBT with extremist activity, Olenichev notes. One can have a relationship, but not talk about it publicly, not kiss in the streets, not wear LGBT symbols on your clothes. Simply having such a relationship in Russia is not considered illegal. First case against a feminist photographer The first case following the designation of the LGBT movement as an extremist organization was initiated in Saratov, western Russia, at the end of 2023. Fine art photographer Inna Mosina was accused of displaying the symbols of an extremist organization, because of several images posted on her Instagram account, including a self-portrait with a small rainbow flag posted six years ago, a creative video featuring an astronaut holding a rainbow flag, or a rainbow emoji in her profile bio. The indictment explains that on December 13, 2023, an officer found these images on Mosinas Instagram. The Ministry of Internal Affairs Center for Combating Extremism tasked a district police officer with handling the case. In Russia, district officers typically deal with everyday crimes like noisy neighbours or scratched cars in parking lots. Dealing with this new category of cases proved challenging for the officer. When drafting his report, he used a template meant for Nazi swastika displays, spent days without acting, and consulted extensively with his chief and colleagues in Moscow. It even seemed like the officer was a bit embarrassed to have to charge me for that, Mosina recalls. Before that, since around 2020, strangers began collecting screenshots of my work, writing posts about me in Telegram channels, and somehow always predicting that I would get 10 years in prison. There were complaints filed against me, and I was summoned to the Center for Combating Extremism for discrediting the army, the fine art photographer recounts. Eventually, her case was transferred to court. Officers presented their conclusion during the court hearing, giving her no chance to review it beforehand to prepare her defence. After several hearings, in February 2024, the Leninsky District Court of Saratov found Mosina guilty and fined her 1,500 rubles (15 euros). Initially, she planned to stay in Russia and continue her work as an artist. However, after the death of opposition politician Alexei Navalny, she lost faith in the idea of a good and happy Russia, and by February 17, 2024, she began preparing to leave the country. This September, as she was leaving Moscow, Mosina was questioned by the FSB at the border: Before leaving, I once again stated that I was against the war. After a while, they eventually let me out of the country. Challenge at the UN Max Olenichev, who assisted Mosina, states that Russian courts committed multiple violations during her trial. He is currently preparing a complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, arguing that the states interference with Mosinas right to free expression contradicts Russias international obligations. According to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the state cannot simply prohibit the dissemination of information, Olenichev explains. It must assess whether such interference is necessary, whether it meets the standards of a democratic society, and whether it serves the purposes outlined in the Covenant. In Mosinas case, these requirements were not met. The UN Human Rights Committee, with a few other UN committees of the UN, is one of the only international bodies where Russians can still submit their complaints. Until March 2022, Russia was a member of the Council of Europe, and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had jurisdiction over the country. However, Russia is no longer a Council member and is not complying with the courts rulings, refusing to pay financial compensation or to amend its national legislation. We are confident we will win, Olenichev says about the prospects of the case in the UN Committee. Then, the process of enforcing the decision by the Russian Federation will begin. It seems the Committees decision will likely be enforced in a different Russia. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will on Tuesday make his first public address since his release from a British prison, speaking about his detention at the Council of Europe rights body. Assange will be at a hearing in Strasbourg from 0630 GMT at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) which issued a report expressing alarm at the whistleblower's treatment. The hearing would explore the 53-year-old Australian's "detention and conviction and their chilling effect on human rights," PACE said. Assange spent most of the last 14 years either holed up in the Ecuadoran embassy in London to avoid arrest, or locked up at Belmarsh Prison. He was released from prison in June, after serving a sentence for publishing hundreds of thousands of confidential US government documents. The trove included searingly frank US State Department descriptions of foreign leaders, accounts of extrajudicial killings and intelligence gathering against allies. Assange returned to Australia and since then has not publicly commented on his legal woes or his years behind bars. He has been seen infrequently, appearing at a court in the Marianas Islands, reuniting with his wife on arrival at a Canberra airport and spending time with his family on a beach in Australia. Although Assange was "still in recovery" from his extended confinement, Wikileaks said Wednesday he would attend the "exceptional" hearing organised by the Council's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. A report into Assange's case by one committee member, Icelandic lawmaker Thorhildur Sunna AEvarsdottir, is the basis for a draft Council of Europe resolution calling on the United States, member state, "to investigate the alleged war crimes and human rights violations disclosed by him and Wikileaks", the body said. Wikileaks said the report "focuses on the implications of (Assange's) detention and its broader effects on human rights, in particular freedom of journalism" and "confirms that Assange qualifies as a political prisoner". - Forthright or restrained? - Assange's timing and his choice of venue have puzzled some observers. The Council of Europe brings together the 46 signatory states of the European Convention on Human Rights, with little say over Assange's legal fate. He is still campaigning for a US presidential pardon for his conviction under the Espionage Act. Some legal experts believe Assange's appearance could put that bid at risk. "He'll inevitably be critical of the US government on some level and I can't see that as something that is going to be considered helpful," Holly Cullen, a law professor at the University of Western Australia, told AFP. "Even if he personally thinks that he doesn't care, his legal advisers would say 'maybe you need to be a bit more restrained until the pardon issue is resolved'." Chelsea Manning, the army intelligence analyst who leaked the documents to Assange, had her 35-year sentence commuted by President Barack Obama in 2017. But Assange's case remains deeply contentious. Supporters hail him as a champion of free speech and say he was persecuted by authorities and unfairly imprisoned. Detractors see him as a reckless blogger whose uncensored publication of ultra-sensitive documents put lives at risk and jeopardised US security. President Joe Biden, who is likely to issue some pardons before leaving office next January, has previously described Assange as a "terrorist". Dealing with licensing issues related to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) can be complex. Whether youre facing a potential violation, need to navigate the application process, or are appealing a decision, having the right legal support is essential. Here are three reasons to hire an FWC defense lawyer when you encounter licensing issues. 1. Experience in Regulatory Compliance Navigating the intricate web of regulations set forth by the FWC can be daunting. These regulations cover everything from fishing and hunting licenses to permits for operating certain businesses related to wildlife. A lawyer who specializes in environmental or administrative can help you deal with compliance issues. When you hire a lawyer, you benefit from their expertise in interpreting the laws and regulations that apply to your specific situation. They can help you understand what is required to maintain your license or to secure a new one. This knowledge can be invaluable, particularly if you are facing potential violations. Your attorney can identify any missteps that may have occurred and help you take corrective actions to avoid penalties. Additionally, a lawyer can assist in ensuring that your application for a new license is completed correctly. Mistakes in paperwork can lead to delays or even denials, which can be costly. Having a legal professional review your application and supporting documents can increase your chances of a successful outcome. 2. Protection Against Legal Consequences If you find yourself facing allegations of a licensing violation or any other legal issue with the FWC, you need to have a lawyer on your side. Violations can result in severe penalties, including fines, loss of licenses, and even criminal charges in extreme cases. An attorney can help protect your rights and mitigate potential legal consequences. Your lawyer wii assess the specifics of your case, advise you on your legal options, and formulate a defense strategy. Whether the situation involves a misunderstanding, an unintentional violation, or a more serious allegation, having legal representation can change the outcome. An experienced attorney can negotiate on your behalf, reducing fines or seeking alternatives to harsher penalties. In many instances, legal representation can help you avoid court altogether. Your lawyer can engage with FWC officials and work to resolve the issue through negotiation or alternative dispute resolution methods. This can save you time, money, and stress, allowing you to focus on your activities rather than legal battles. 3. Assistance with Appeals and Hearings If your license application has been denied or youve received a citation for a violation, you may have the right to appeal the decision. The appeal process can be complicated, requiring knowledge of specific procedures and deadlines. A lawyer can guide you through this process and ensure that your appeal is properly filed and presented. Your attorney can help you gather the necessary evidence to support your case, whether it involves witness statements, expert testimony, or documentation demonstrating your compliance with regulations. They can also represent you during hearings, articulating your position effectively and addressing any concerns raised by FWC officials. Having legal representation during an appeal can make a significant difference in the outcome. Your lawyer can identify legal precedents and relevant case law that may bolster your argument, increasing your chances of a favorable decision. By presenting a well-structured case, you enhance your likelihood of overturning the initial decision and obtaining the licensing you need. Summing Up Facing FWC licensing issues can be stressful. Thankfully a lawyer can ease the burden. Investing in legal support will let you position yourself for future success and compliance in your endeavors. The 'No Gain, No Love' spin-off 'Spice Up Our Love' finally arrives on TVING and Amazon's Prime Video, and it's time to get excited. Stars Lee Sang Yi and Han Ji Hyun continue their on-screen romance, where the first series leaves fans wanting so much more. See: 'No Gain, No Love': Exclusive Photos Released of Spin-Off Series 'Spice Up Our Love' 'Spice Up Our Love' is all about Han Ji Hyun entering the pretend world she created as a R-rated romance web novelist. The nutritionist magically transforms into her leading character, while Lee Sang Yi, who is a CEO and her crush, becomes her leading man. See: 'No Gain, No Love' Recap Episode 8: Did Shin Min Ah and Kim Young Dae Finally Kiss? Take a look at the sexy trailer below. Han Ji Hyun is a dedicated actress. She expressed her devotion to acting in a 2022 interview with 'Wikitree.' "I contemplated a lot and was worried. That's why I think I prepared more diligently and prepared a lot of things to show. I thought a lot about the character and put into analyzing her. I think I filmed with the thought to study the lines of other characters and the conversation between the actors on-site and more," Han Ji Hyun said about her role in the series 'Cheer Up,' according to an 'Allkpop' report. Lee Sang Yi believes in maintaining solid friendships with his coworkers. During a 2023 interview with 'The Korea Times,' he expressed his camaraderie with fellow 'Bloodhounds' actors. "We would go to the gym together to work out even when we were filming outside Seoul and would get chicken breast. Regardless of the series' success, we have a sense of companionship. The more you struggle, the more memories you have. So we kept an unusual friendship," Lee Sang Yi said. You can still catch Lee Sang Yi and Han Ji Hyun every Monday and Tuesday in 'No Gain, No Love.' The romantic comedy airs at 8:50 PM KST on tvN, and it's streaming for a global audience on Amazon's Prime Video. The romantic fantasy 'Spice Up Our Love' premieres on October 3 on TVING and Amazon's Prime Video. What are your expectations for the sizzling series 'Spice Up Our Love?' McGill University is threatening to cancel law school classes for the rest of the semester if it can't reach an agreement Monday with a faculty union that has been on strike since August. McGill University is seen Friday, Oct.13, 2023, in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz Monday, September 30, 2024 - Seventeen people have been killed in a brutal mass shooting in the remote town of Lusikisiki, Eastern Cape, South Africa. According to reports from the BBC, police confirmed that two homesteads were targeted in the attack. In one of the locations, at least 12 women and one man were killed, while three women and one man were murdered at the second site. An 18th victim is in critical condition and receiving treatment at a hospital. South African police have launched a manhunt for the perpetrators of the attack, but no arrests have been made so far. Senzo Mchunu, the Police Minister, is expected to visit the area and provide updates on the ongoing investigation. Local media report that the victims were preparing for a traditional mourning ceremony in memory of a mother and daughter who were murdered a year ago. The group was packing goods and presents, including furniture, for the event when the gunmen attacked on Friday night. The gunmen came and shot randomly, k!lling everyone. Women and children were also killed in the bloody shooting, the reports stated, leaving the local community in fear. Authorities are yet to establish a motive behind the attack, and investigations are continuing. Monday, September 30, 2024 - A joint team comprising the Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Protection Unit and detectives from DCI Kabete have successfully captured a child-stealing suspect and rescued two victims. Mary Akinyi Mulamula, who had been playing a cat-and-mouse game with the authorities, was finally cornered and apprehended in Kabete, Nairobi. The arrest followed a report received that a child had been stolen from her home in Muchingu, Mukango Sub-Location, Virhembe Location, Kakamega County, on June 6, 2024. On the ill-fated day, the suspect spun a web of deceit, convincing the shamba boy that she was taking the child to Kakamega to be registered in a sponsorship program promising a monthly stipend of Sh9, 000. However, the suspect vanished with the child without a trace, leaving the family in despair. After relentless investigations, the officers' efforts paid off when they successfully rescued the victim alongside another victim, apprehending the suspect in the process. The suspect is in police custody as the authorities prepare to bring her to justice. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations remains resolute in its dedication to protecting children's rights and eradicating the scourge of human trafficking. The Kenyan DAILY POST. Monday, September 30, 2024 - National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula has expressed support for the impeachment of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, accusing him of sowing chaos and anarchy within the government. Speaking on Sunday at Wamunyu Catholic Church in Machakos County, Wetangula emphasized that individuals in leadership positions, particularly at the national level, must be cautious not to create divisions by advocating for the interests of specific regions at the expense of others. We must know that our diversity is the source of our strength and that is how we shall live. If there is anyone who wants to disrupt the peace of the nation, they should be removed because we want peace for everybody, Wetangula said. I urge leaders to avoid politics that fragment our nation along ethnic or regional lines. Our Constitution states that every Kenyan has the right to live, own property, and enjoy peace everywhere in the country. We must remember that our diversity is the source of our strength. Wetangula added. Wetangula's remarks come as MPs prepare to table the impeachment motion against Gachagua on Tuesday, having surpassed the 117-signature threshold needed for it to be presented before the House. Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa, who announced his intention to move the motion on Thursday, said he had collected 242 signatures from lawmakers in support of the bid. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, September 30, 2024 - The Ministry of Lands and Public Works has changed its stance after it denied losing 367 title deeds as earlier communicated through a gazette notice. In a subsequent statement, the Ministry strongly denied claims of the loss of title deeds, arguing that as per the gazette notice issued on September 26, unscrupulous parties who gained access to the government printer stole papers used to print title deeds. According to the Ministry, corrupt cartels stole the papers in an attempt to print fake titles. "The documents stolen at the Government printer are the papers used for printing title deeds," part of the new statement read noting that the titles themselves were still intact. "We would like to reassure Kenyans that what was stolen at the Government printer are not title deeds but the papers used to print titles." Furthermore, the government clarified that papers can only become title deeds after due processes are followed and the documents are comprehensively filled with owner's details, stamped by the registrar, and handed over to the Ministry of Lands. The swift response came barely 24 hours after a gazette notice from the Government Press revealed the loss of title deeds without giving details of how the loss occurred. While pointing the finger at corruption cartels keen on printing fake titles, the government said mechanisms were being implemented to deal with organized groups committing land fraud. One officer working at the government printer has since been arrested in connection with the most recent fraud attempt. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, September 30, 2024 - Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has warned President William Ruto and his allies to shelf his planned impeachment, saying his ouster will be overturning the will of the people For the umpteenth time, Gachagua indicated that he ascended into office after being elected alongside President William Ruto on a joint ticket. Speaking at an MCK All Saints Church, Kinoru, Meru County, Gachagua made it clear that ejecting him from the DPs office without the electorates input would violate their sovereignty. In a rather low and relaxed tone, Gachagua appealed to those pushing for the purge to respect the will of the people who entrusted him to serve alongside President William Ruto. Let us not fall into the temptation of overturning the will of the people through other methods because people will not be happy when you overturn their will, Gachagua stated. Let us agree that the tenets of democracy say that you respect the will of the people because it is sovereign. Gachagua made the sentiments after receiving a special prayer from Presiding Bishop Mutwiri Nteere. At the same time, DP Gachagua appealed to the church to pray for the President and the entire Kenya Kwanza administration. The second in command raised fears that the latest political rhetoric and attacks would make the ruling party fail to deliver its campaign promises. He thus pleaded with the churches to join hands to pray for order to prevail in the country. It is my hope that sanity will prevail, we tone down on the politics of division and we work for Kenyans. "We were elected two years ago and we have not yet done the work that we promised to do, Gachagua stated. The Kenyan DAILY POST. Monday, September 30, 2024 - An outspoken United Democratic Alliance (UDA) MP has declared that the impeachment of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua is unstoppable, insisting that the second-in-command must be sent home. President William Ruto, who was out of the country when the impeachment calls gathered pace, is undecided on the subject and could try to dissuade his allies from the ouster bid as he did months ago. The head of state is scheduled to oversee a parliamentary group meeting before Gachagua's impeachment motion is tabled, with lawmakers saying they would resist plans to have them shelve the ouster bid. National Assembly Majority Whip Sylvanus Osoro said the President should respect the independence of Parliament, saying the impeachment was an initiative of lawmakers. "We respect the president, but on this one, it will take a miracle to convince the over 300MPs that demand for a National Deputy President. "If he requests us otherwise, then we will request him to accept our proposal to have 40 other DPs speak for other tribes that feel left out. "We advise the president to KEEP OFF on this and let MPs do their job. Gachagua MUST GO," Osoro said on Sunday. Nyeri Town MP Duncan Mathenge shared this view, saying MPs were independent enough to make their choices. "Impeachment is a parliamentary process and if the president could interfere in it, then President Uhuru Kenyatta would have intervened when former Governors Martin Wambora, Ferdinand Waititu, and Mike Sonko were impeached. "President Ruto would have also stopped (Meru) Governor Kawira Mwangaza's impeachment," said Mathenge. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, September 30, 2024 - Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has dismissed claims that he disrespected his boss, President William Ruto. In an interview with one of the local radio stations on Sunday, Gachagua termed reports that he banged the table during a meeting with the president baseless. While dismissing claims that he demanded Sh 8 billion as his exit condition, the second in command stated that he was uninterested in material benefits and that his priority was serving Kenyans. Gachagua said that if he were driven by money, he would have dumped Ruto during former president Uhuru Kenyatta's regime. The DP stated that his children are grown up, so he has no interest in accumulating wealth. I have no interest in any benefits or any money. If it is money I wanted, I would have been bought out by political opponents to part ways with President Ruto during the last regime, but I am not greedy. "I dont have many needs; my children are grown up and my wife is a pastor I do not put money first, Kenyans are my priority," Gachagua said. The claims that Gachagua banged the table during a meeting with the president are part of the allegations in the impeachment motion. The Deputy President was accused of demanding compensation for every vote Ruto received in the vote-rich Mount Kenya region during their 2022 presidential campaign to leave office. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, September 30, 2024 Deputy President Rigathi Gachaguas goose is already cooked and there is nothing he can do now to stop his looming impeachment. This is after National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula also supported his planned impeachment on Tuesday. Speaking at Wamunyu Catholic Church in Machakos County yesterday, Wetangula argued that any leader creating disunity in Kenya should be ejected in direct reference to Gachagua. According to Wetangula, anyone who attempts to cause chaos in Kenya should be stopped from dividing the country along tribal lines. "We must know that our diversity is the source of our strength and that is how we shall live," Wetangula stated. If there is anyone who wants to disrupt the peace of the nation, they should be removed because we want peace for everybody, he further asserted. His remarks followed a string of other politicians who attended the event and called for the impeachment of the deputy president. Allies of President William Ruto are set to table the impeachment motion against Gachagua on Tuesday, having secured over 300 signatures in support. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, September 30, 2024 - Detectives from Vihiga and Kakamega have launched investigations into the alleged abduction of PAG General Presiding Superintendent, Bishop Patrick Lihanda. The Man of God went missing on Saturday around 4 p.m. on his way to a meeting in Mbale town, Vihiga County. Shortly afterward, he sent a distressing SMS to his driver, claiming his life was in danger. The driver's attempts to contact him were unsuccessful, as the bishops phone was switched off moments later. The driver reported the matter to the Mbale Police Station, prompting swift action from DCI officers who tracked the phone's location to Mayoni. The bishops white Mercedes Benz was found abandoned at Shibale Trading Centre in Mumias, Kakamega County. The vehicle's headlights were still on, but there were no occupants. The officers found only the bishops Bible, spectacles, and diary in the car. His abduction comes days before the highly anticipated and contested PAG church elections scheduled for October 1, 2024, at the Nyang'ori church headquarters. The church has been embroiled in a five-year-long leadership dispute between two rival factions, leading to numerous court cases. The Kenyan DAILY POST. Monday, September 30, 2024 - Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has addressed the controversy surrounding the takeover of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) by India's Adani Group. Speaking to vernacular radio stations from the Mt. Kenya East region on Sunday, Gachagua distanced himself from the controversial deal. The Deputy President revealed that he had no knowledge of the entire Adani Group takeover deal, as he was not involved in the negotiations. Gachagua narrated how a senior official in the Kenya Kwanza administration threatened him after he failed to defend the controversial deal at a public function. "Adani- deal I came to learn about it through social media and newspapers. I was never informed. "The other day, I was in Kitale for a funeral and Senator Onyonka rose and spoke strongly against the Adani deal. However, in my speech, I stayed clear of the matter, Later someone senior in the government called and asked me why I don't defend the government against Onyonka; 's accusations. "I told him I can't defend what I didn't know. I wasn't involved in the Adani negotiations; I don't know what it is, and when I listen to the ground, people don't like it," Gachagua said. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, September 30, 2024 - Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has vowed never to fall into President William Rutos trap as his impeachment is just a heartbeat away. Gachagua, while engaging with residents of Meru Town, said he will not fight Interior CS Kithure Kindiki whom Ruto is allegedly using to divide Mt. Kenya. According to Gachagua, Ruto is intent on dividing the Mount Kenya vote by setting him against Kindiki. He noted that he would not take on Kindiki in the battle to become the Mt Kenya Kingpin. "There are some youths who have been given handouts to split us into Mount Kenya East and Mount Kenya West; but if we divide, that will be the end," he stated. "We are not fools. Now they want to bring our son Professor Kindiki so we can rival him. We saw this happen during Moi's time," he added. The Deputy President cited several past political figures James Njiru, Kuria Kanyingi, GG Kariuki, Kariuki Chotara, and the late Joseph Kamotho, who all stemmed from Central Kenya but were affiliated with different political parties over the years. With an impeachment motion set to be tabled against him in less than 24 hours, it seems Gachagua has gone on the defensive, and will almost certainly not go down without a fight. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, September 30, 2024 - National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichungwah has confirmed his support for the impeachment of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, stating that he has not acted like a national leader. Speaking after attending a Sunday service in one of the churches, Ichungwah, who is also the Kikuyu Member of Parliament, revealed that he had appended his signature to the motion, attributing his fallout with Gachagua who he termed as a tribal bigot. "It is true there is an impeachment motion against the deputy president. "As the MP for Kikuyu, I have read the motion and appended my signature to it and I will support the ouster," Ichungwah said Ichungwah stated that Gachaguas push for unity within Mt. Kenya fosters ethnic division and undermines the government. He further alleged that there are plans to fracture the Kikuyu community ahead of the 2027 General Election, encouraging members to abandon the Kenya Kwanza alliance in favour of new political coalitions with Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka, Roots Party leader George Wajackoyah, and Eugene Wamalwa. "I do not believe in the politics of ethnicity or sabotaging the government we formed. "They want us to abandon what we built so that others can benefit," Ichung'wah said. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, September 30, 2024 - Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has dismissed claims of blackmailing President William Ruto. In an interview with one of the local radio stations on Sunday, Gachagua said all he has been doing is demanding fairness from Ruto, given that Mt Kenya overwhelmingly voted for him. The second in command disclosed that the many appointments for the populous region have come out of intense lobbying. "You have heard MPs claiming I blackmailed the president. There is no blackmail, but the issue is me sitting down with the president and demanding our fair share because we voted for him. The positions we got as a region did not come easy. I really tried. I have been fighting every day for appointments to come to this region," Gachagua said. Gachagua slammed politicians from the Mt Kenya region, accusing him of tribalism, yet his only intention was to fight for the region's interests. "I've heard them say I'm tribalistic; isnt it true that I advocate a lot for the people of Mt. Kenya? So, how can you accuse me of tribalism while also saying I'm not doing enough for the community? It's really unfair to me. The little I've done, the effort I've put in, is what makes them label me as tribalistic," he said. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, September 30, 2024 - The airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the result of a years-long operation by Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, that penetrated the terror leaders entire network allowing him to be tracked to his underground command center in Beirut. The Israeli military then used 80 tons of specially designed bunker-busting bombs to blast through the heavily fortified bunker on Friday, September 27 which killed Nasrallah. According to a report by the Financial Times, Nasrallahs dath was exactly what Israel had been hoping for when it attacked. Unknown to Nasrallah, Israeli intelligence was well aware of the movements of Hezbollahs leadership following years of hacking and surveillance work on the Lebanese terror group according to the report. After failing to kill Nasrallah multiple times during the 2006 war, Israels Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman) created plans to to penetrate Hezbollah, the report says. Israel made progress in 2012 when the militant group deployed its fighters to Syria to help ally President Bashar al-Assad during it's civil war. Former Israeli intelligence officials and Lebanese politicians told the FT that the battle in Syria unearthed a trove of information, with Hezbollah constantly publishing information on its slain fighters that revealed their personal information. The new data allowed Israel to compile extensive profiles on Hezbollahs operatives, including the top chiefs who would attend the funerals of the slain fighters. The Jewish state then began hacking into the terror groups communication devices, with spies able to track down the exact movements of Hezbollahs operatives, sometimes through their wives cell phones. Israels spies also tracked Hezbollah leaders movements by hacking surveillance cameras in Lebanon, and even reading their cars odometers. As a result, Israel learned that whenever the routines of the terror group deviated, an attack was imminent, Israeli officials told the FT.They went from being highly disciplined and purists to someone who [when defending Assad] let in a lot more people than they should have, Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center, told FT. The complacency and arrogance was accompanied by a shift in its membership they started to become flabby. Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu called the killing of Nasrallah necessary and a potential historic turning point in the Middle East. Following the death of Nasrallah, Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was moved to a secure location. Netanyahu was in New York for his speech at the United Nations when he ordered the decision to drop the bomb to take out Nasrallah. The Jewish state had been planning the attack for months as it developed bombs outfitted with timed explosions that would dig through the earth, allowing the next bomb to reach further down, the Wall Street Journal reports. While Hezbollah did not say how Nasrallah died, Lebanese medical and security sources told Reuters that the terror leader had no direct wounds and likely died from the blunt trauma of the blast after his body was recovered intact on Sunday. Monday, September 30, 2024 - The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the elimination of senior Hezbollah intelligence commander Hassan Khalil Yassin in a precision strike on Saturday, September 28, in the Dahieh district of Beirut. According to a report by the Jerusalem Post, Yassin, a key figure in Hezbollahs intelligence array, was responsible for identifying civilian and military targets within Israeli territory. "Yassin stood at the head of a department responsible for the identification of civilian and military targets, on the northern border and deep within Israeli territory," the IDF stated. The military added that Yassin had been heavily involved in planning terror attacks during the ongoing war, with further attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers in the works. The strike on Yassin came amid escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah following the assassination of Hezbollahs leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The IDF confirmed that Nasrallah was killed a day earlier in airstrikes targeting Hezbollah's main headquarters in Beiruts southern suburbs, a stronghold known as the Dahiyeh. "Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorize the world," the IDF declared after confirming Nasrallah's death. His underground headquarters, hidden beneath residential buildings, was targeted in the airstrikes. In response to Nasrallahs death, Lebanon launched an attack on Israeli territory, prompting air raid sirens to sound in areas near Jerusalem. The IDF posted on X (formerly Twitter): "Sirens sounded in the area of Jerusalem following a launch from Lebanon into Israeli territory." The airstrikes and high-profile eliminations have further intensified tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, with protests erupting in Iran following Nasrallahs death. Protesters carried portraits of the Hezbollah leader and chanted slogans calling for "revenge" and denouncing both Israel and the United States. Lebanon has declared a three-day mourning period following Nasrallah's assassination. Meanwhile, Iran has called for an urgent UN Security Council meeting to address the rapidly escalating conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the killing of Nasrallah as a "historic turning point," stating that Israel had "settled its account" with a mass murderer responsible for countless Israeli, American, and French lives. As violence continues to escalate, Lebanons health ministry reported that Israeli airstrikes on Saturday killed 33 people and injured 195 more. In total, over 1,000 people have been killed, with more than 6,000 wounded, and about one million Lebanese displaced due to the Israeli strikes over the past two weeks. Monday, September 30, 2024 President William Rutos attempt to get rid of his Deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, won't be a walk in the park. This is after the DP sought divine intervention to fortify himself ahead of the planned impeachment tomorrow. Emotions ran high yesterday as Gachagua was being prayed for during a church service in Meru County. Juja Member of Parliament (MP) George Koimburi got emotional and cried as Gachagua knelt at the podium for special prayers by Bishop Mutwiri Nteere. Siri ya maombi haya, ni wewe wajua, siri ya maombi haya ni wewe wajua, the congregation sang in unison with the preacher, before they broke into prayers. The latest comes even as an impeachment looms for the DP. Speaking after the prayer session, the DP urged the individuals pushing for his ouster to reconsider their decision as removing him from office without the involvement of voters would violate their sovereignty. Let us not fall into the temptation of overturning the will of the people through other methods because people will not be happy when you overturn their will, the DP insisted. Let us agree that the tenets of democracy say that you respect the will of the people because it is sovereign. Gachagua also implored the church to pray for Ruto and the Kenya Kwanza regime. He explained that the ongoing political infighting will likely distract the regime from delivering its campaign promises. It is my hope that sanity will prevail, we tone down on the politics of division and we work for Kenyans. We were elected two years ago and we have not yet done the work that we promised to do, he added. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, September 30, 2024 - Safina Party leader Jimmy Wanjigi has claimed his life is in danger after masked men allegedly splashed blood at the gate of his Muthaiga home in Nairobi on Saturday night. Wanjigi stated that the incident occurred around 10 p.m. when a grey pickup arrived at his residence. The men inside reportedly poured a bucket of blood at the entrance before quickly fleeing. Normally, that is an act of warning, it is to say we are going to spill your blood and that of your family, Wanjigi said during a presser. The politician further castigated police, accusing them of interfering with communications at his residence using a signal jammer vehicle parked outside his home. For the last 27 days, there has been a car parked outside my residence that makes sure that I cannot talk on my phone and I cannot watch TV, he claimed. Wanjigi said that when the court ordered the police and government to stay away from entering his house, authorities decided to frustrate him through the airwaves. The Kenyan DAILY POST Monday, September 30, 2024 - A 14-year-old Vermont girl killed herself after being relentlessly bullied at school in the United States of America. Isabelle Vezina-Dykeman was a freshman at the Mill School in Winooski, an alternative high school for students with complex needs. But she was bullied over her mothers ongoing health issues, which included brain surgery that left the woman with a shuttered eye, according to reports. She was excited about the school year, excited about being a freshman, her mother, Heather Miller, told WCAX, adding the teen was spunky, outgoing, and loved to dance and ice skate. Miller said her daughter Isabelle was teased all day at school, and even after school dismissed, through heartless text messages poking fun at her and how her mother looks. Miller recently underwent brain surgery, which left her right eye shuttered. When her daughter returned from school Sept. 15 obviously upset, Miller figured she would give Isabelle some space to unwind. I thought I was doing the right thing, Miller told WCAX, but in 35 minutes, our whole lives changed. Isabelle died by her own hands that very night, the outlet reported. The Mill School is investigating the moms bullying claims, the school told WCAX. We, at the Mill School, have been devastated by the loss of one of our students, reads a statement from the school. We are working with the appropriate agencies and continue to provide counseling support. Miller said Isabelles organs were donated, and helped save the lives of seven people. Another child received Isabelles eyes, and can now see. Monday, September 30, 2024 - Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has urged President William Ruto to block his impeachment, arguing that it would be equivalent to subverting the will of the people. Speaking at a church service in Kinoru, Meru County, on Sunday, Gachagua asked those plotting his impeachment to let him complete his 5-year term before President William Ruto considers a potential replacement. Gachagua argued that since he was elected on a joint ticket with President William Ruto, his impeachment would be tantamount to subverting the will of the people. As we do whatever we are doing in the political space it is my prayer that we should always respect the will of the people which is supreme. "Elections were done the President and I were elected on a joint ticket for 5 years and that is the will of the people, Gachagua said The Deputy President warned of severe and unexplained political consequences if the impeachment proceeds. Let us not fall into the temptations of overturning the will of the people through other methods because the people will not be happy, he stated. Let us all agree that the tenets of democracy require that you respect the will of the people because it is sovereign, Gachagua asserted. The Kenyan DAILY POST A medical school classmate recently said to me, You wont be remembered for your failures. Her words were exactly what I needed to hear after failing my medical school licensing exam. She was rightI am more than my failures. I have failed, but I am not a failure. There is a difference. Failing is something that happens to you. Failure is what can define you, but only if you allow it. My failures are part of my story, not the whole of it. Years ago, I struggled to accept a one-point failure on my medical licensing exam, the year after the passing benchmark had been raised by one point. This occurred only a few weeks before the unforeseen announcement that the scoring system for the exam would inevitably change to pass/fail. In addition to other life circumstances that may have impacted my exam performance, I experienced a two-hour power outage six hours into the eight-hour test. The point (no pun intended) is that standardized test scores are nuanced and impacted by many personal and external factors. The numerical score I received on a prior attempt at the exam would have also been passing just a few years earlier when the scoring cut-off was different. Failure is taboo in society, especially in the medical world. For a field known for its rigor, it is ironic that failure isnt discussed more often. Many doctors have a history of failing exam scores, yet are still successful in their specialties. But this is rarely talked about. In my medical school journey, many doctors have disclosed their failures after learning about my own. Their stories of struggle, dedication, and ultimate success are buried beneath the idealistic standard of the medical student, resident, and doctor who never slips below academic excellence. This creates a perpetual cycle of students, and later physicians, who carry with them testimonies of failure and triumph that go untold. So much emphasis is placed on numbers and test scores that many forget the heart of the practice of medicine is service. Failure doesnt erase or diminish ones capacity to serve. However, it can be challenging to serve the health and well-being of others within a field that offers little grace in promoting the health and well-being of its servants. The high demands and even higher expectations start in training and continue into practice. Stories of failure remain under wraps for fear of dismantling ones image and disrupting the status quo. While there are some who may only see my story for its failures, I will always be grateful for those who offer grace in acknowledging its resiliency. Medicine can be brutal, but the dynamic journey of highs and lows can be a rewarding learning experience and an opportunity to strengthen others if we allow it to be. I am the student who has failed her licensing exam multiple times. But I am also the student who persevered through academic and personal challenges and graduated high school and college with honors. In my speech to my high school graduating class, I encouraged my peers to press forward in life, striving to do their best, rather than striving to be the best. Over the years, I have been challenged to put these words into practice by extending grace to myself and to others. In college, I noticed a longstanding trend of pre-medical students dropping their aspirations in weed out courses just because they felt like they wouldnt succeed. Chemistry was hard, but through faith and hard work, I overcame that challenge and earned good grades. Afterward, I was motivated to take up a part-time job as a general and organic chemistry tutor to help others overcome this hurdle. Grace in action is a beautiful thing to witness and an extraordinarily gratifying gift to extend. This is what many have done for me along my medical journey by sharing academic insight, offering spiritual encouragement, and inspiring perseverance through their testimonials of success despite academic challenges. Each of our stories is significant. Just as physical or mental illness does not define a person, neither do failures. What defines you most is the perspective you choose to embrace. Over the years of my non-linear medical school journey, I have had to ask myself, Will you keep going or will you quit? Will you get back up or will you remain defeated? When you think about the pages of your life story, what will you be remembered for? While I may not know all the intimate details of each personal story shared with me, I do have my own story to reflect on and learn from. I am still living it, and I feel called to share it with others. Becoming a physician is an esteemed career path known to be challenging for anyone brave enough to endure its rigorous path. The medical field is full of ambitious, passionate, and selfless people who decided that the journey is worth the toil it takes to become a doctor. For years, they studied long hours, devoted their time, and sacrificed their finances in hopes of one day serving their community. The notoriously challenging journey is one that many aspire to; however, many parts of this path dont get discussed. When excellence is the standard and failure is seldom talked about, one can see why medicine is so competitive. Its easy for those in the medical field to feel pressured to live up to impossible or otherwise unhealthy standards. I can only imagine the empathy that could be unleashed in how we treat each other and our patients if we created a supportive atmosphere where more doctors felt comfortable sharing their testimonies openly and extending grace freely. Such radical vulnerability and generosity are contagious and have the potential to be transformational. This shift sets the precedent for the next generation of doctors to nurture one another, and those within our care, with the perspective-shifting faith and hope we each need to thrive. Ashley McCray is a medical student. Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! We sit down with Phindile Chowa, an emergency medicine physician, to discuss her personal and professional journey through postpartum care. Phindile shares her harrowing experience of childbirth and postpartum depression, shedding light on the gaps in the health care system that leave many new mothers without adequate support. We delve into her transition from full-time emergency medicine to starting her own concierge practice, where she advocates for comprehensive care for postpartum women. Phindile Chowa is an emergency medicine physician. She discusses the KevinMD article, Postpartum crisis: a physicians call for comprehensive maternal support. Our presenting sponsor is DAX Copilot by Microsoft. Do you spend more time on administrative tasks like clinical documentation than you do with patients? Youre not alone. Clinicians report spending up to two hours on administrative tasks for each hour of patient care. Microsoft is committed to helping clinicians restore the balance with DAX Copilot, an AI-powered, voice-enabled solution that automates clinical documentation and workflows. 70 percent of physicians who use DAX Copilot say it improves their work-life balance while reducing feelings of burnout and fatigue. Patients love it too! 93 percent of patients say their physician is more personable and conversational, and 75 percent of physicians say it improves patient experiences. Help restore your work-life balance with DAX Copilot, your AI assistant for automated clinical documentation and workflows. VISIT SPONSOR https://aka.ms/kevinmd 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 Transcript Kevin Pho: Hi, and welcome to the show. Subscribe at KevinMD.com/podcast. Today, we welcome Phindile Chowa. Shes an emergency medicine physician. Todays KevinMD article is titled, Postpartum Crisis: A Physicians Call for Comprehensive Maternal Support. Phindile, welcome to the show. Phindile Chowa: Thank you. I am so excited to be here. Kevin Pho: Alright, so youre an emergency medicine physician in Atlanta. Tell us a little about your story and journey to where you are today. Phindile Chowa: For sure. Im originally from a small country in Africa of about one million people called Eswatini. From the very young age of nine years old, I decided to choose a career in medicine, and that decision was really fueled by the inequities I witnessed as a small child. My grandmother was pretty sick while I was growing up, and I had to go back and forth to the hospitals with her. So, I got to witness the health care system in my country. I saw patients during the HIV/AIDS pandemic. I saw stroke care and end-of-life care. From the age of nine, I decided that medicine was what I wanted to do. I came to America in 1995 and ended up going to undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh. I did my medical school at the University of Pittsburgh. I originally thought that I was going to go into OBGYN, but at the very last minute, I decided that I wanted to do emergency medicine because I wanted to do it all. I loved the excitement and the change in the day-to-day. So, I went to Boston where I did my residency at the Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Womens Hospital. Then I moved to Atlanta, where I originally came to work for a large academic institution. I currently am a concierge physician with a particular focus on helping postpartum moms in the fourth trimester. Kevin Pho: Alright, so your story leads into this KevinMD article, Postpartum Crisis: A Physicians Call for Comprehensive Maternal Support. Now, tell us about the events that led you to write this article in the first place. And for those who didnt get a chance to read it, of course, tell us about the article itself. Phindile Chowa: Yeah, so, after COVID, we all went through sort of this existential crisis, reevaluating our liveswhat do we want to do, and are we living a purposeful life? I love medicine, I went into medicine. Im a physician, and Ive been in medicine for the interactions I have with people. But after COVID, I really wanted more. I went through a transformative time within myself and started to reevaluate my day-to-day life and tried to find purpose in that. I decided, after going through COVID doing administrative work, that I wanted to do something that was less reactive in terms of medicine. I wanted to focus a lot more on preventative care and on building those interactions with my patients. So, I left my full-time job and went into concierge medicine. Those initial few months of seeing patients within their homes, I started getting a lot of calls from moms. It might start as a call for something like mastitis or issues with a C-section, but when I would go in there, I would speak with these moms and see that they were struggling with so much more. They were struggling with things in that first six weeks that went beyond what they had called for. I may have been called to evaluate their wound, but they were struggling with depression, anxiety, physical ailments like bilateral carpal tunnel, back pain, and SI joint dysfunction. There was so much more going on. Going into their homes took me back to my own journey as a mother. I started reflecting on my own experience postpartum, and I had a really difficult time during my postpartum period. I felt like I was alone on an island, per se, and nobody really understood what I was going through. It was like this crazy initiation into motherhood that everybody has to go through. I struggled with back pain. I struggled with deep postpartum depression, and I had no one. At my six-week appointment, I was cleared for physical activity, cleared for sex, and then that was it. But the journey of healing was almost a year-long process of trying to find myself again. So, looking at the patients in front of me and remembering my own journey, I felt empowered to speak more about my experiences and to find solutions in a way that I could help other mothers through this. So, as I was sitting at my desk and thinking, I realized we really need to get the word outmoms need more support. Theres a lot of attention that goes to pregnancy, a lot of attention that goes to delivery and childbirth. But once a woman delivers, shes left alone to figure it out until that six-week appointment. At that six-week appointment, its short, and theres just so much to cover. I wanted to write this article because I wanted people to understand that theres more that we can do for moms. Theres more that we should be doing for moms. Its not just the work of the OBGYN or the midwife. OBs are busy. They are on the forefront of research, policymaking, and trying to keep up the standard in obstetrics. Midwives are delivering babies and may not have the same expertise as an obstetrician, but its not just on them. Its on our policymakers, our government, our community workers, our birth workers, and other physicians. We really need to join hands and come together to be able to fight for maternal health and to get moms the help that they need. Because remember, a lot of the deaths that happen under maternal mortality occur after a woman gives birth. We need to be doing more because 60 percent of these deaths happen after a woman gives birth. Kevin Pho: So what are the major issues and lack of support that moms typically face in that immediate postpartum period? Phindile Chowa: In my practice, the things that Ive really encountered are postpartum preeclampsia, postpartum high blood pressure, abnormal vaginal bleeding, and postpartum mental health disorders. You know, when a woman delivers, shes sent home, and shes told, If you have a headache, if you have blurry vision, abdominal pain, any of these things, give us a call because we could be worried about X, Y, and Z. But heres the reality: A woman goes home, and shes taking care of her child. She may be taking care of her home, trying to maintain a relationship with her spouse. Shes not thinking, Oh, this headache could be life-threatening. Shes not thinking, Oh, these aches and pains, this swelling could be life-threatening. Shes thinking its just a normal part of postpartum, and shes just going about her day. When Ive gone into moms homes for one issue, I always check their blood pressure. Ive caught at least two or three moms with life-threatening blood pressures who had to go into the emergency department or back to labor and delivery, where they were admitted for postpartum preeclampsia. If I wasnt there for that one particular issue, they could have gone to bed and never woken up. So, these are the issues that are really taking away the lives of our momspostpartum preeclampsia, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, strokes, and heart disease. These all require additional screening because patients are not always going to look within and say, Let me call my doctor because I have X, Y, and Z. Kevin Pho: So, from a policy standpoint, what are some things that we can do to help? Should we just move the follow-up to a shorter time period? Add more resources? Obviously, what youre doing, you know, you cant necessarily see as many patients as you would like to see. So, what are some solutions that we can implement to solve this? Phindile Chowa: I think we have to look to other places that are already doing the work. In the article, I focus on other countries that have implemented similar solutions. For example, France is sending people to moms homesnurses, pelvic floor therapists, lactation workers. If you train these workers to go beyond their specialties and to also ask questions like, How are you feeling? Any thoughts about hurting yourself? Tell me what youre experiencing, or even having these people be able to check blood pressures I know one thing that Kaiser hospitals have implemented, at least the Kaiser system in Atlanta, is sending every woman home with a blood pressure monitor. Theyre doing a lot of remote tracking where moms have to check their blood pressure within a couple of days and send it into the clinic. But thats not standard for everybody. Some clinics are also moving the follow-up from six weeks to three weeks. Some of my colleagues want to see some of their high-risk patients earlier on instead of waiting for the six-week mark. So, I would say trying to get our moms seen earlier, and if they cant get into the clinic, lets utilize our community resources. We have doulas who can go into the homes. We have nurses who can go into the homes. All these people need to be integrated within the system. It shouldnt just be, Heres a doula, heres a lactation consultant, heres a pelvic floor therapist. We need to create alliances and networks that are going to surround the mom and be able to screen for life-threatening medical conditions and meet her where she is. Lets face itleaving your house to go to a clinic when you have a child, when you have other children, when you dont have the support needed to get the help you needits really a setup for disaster. Our policymakers need to find ways to integrate other models of care and other birth workers within this system to sort of shield the mom and protect her from these conditions. Kevin Pho: Just to be clear, other than a few patchwork solutions like you mentioned with Kaiser, new moms are typically sent home without really any of this support. Theyre not sent home with visiting nurses. Traditionally, theyre sent home and told to come back in six weeks. Is that right? Phindile Chowa: You are correct. At six weeks, theyre told to come back for their checkup. You can imagine going home for six weeks. By that time, you have probably accumulated a hundred questions. Youve probably struggled with breastfeeding. Youve probably had a clogged duct and mastitis by then. You may barely be able to walk because of back discomfort, SI joint issues, or bilateral carpal tunnel. Youre dealing with anxiety, depression, worry over your childyou have a hundred problems that youve accumulated. Now, you go to your six-week checkup and try to bring all that to your physician. In a general clinic visit, there is no time. Imagine how many patients an OB-GYN is seeing for these types of visits. They dont have time to go through individualized and personalized questions because everyone is different, right? Everybodys not going to follow the textbook. So, its just not enough time given for an obstetrician to be able to screen women for all the problems, and its just not enough time to discuss and go through everything to connect moms to resources. One of the things I talk about is, when I was dealing with my postpartum depression, I went to my OB-GYN for my six-week appointment. I went to pediatricians for my childs checkup. I took all the tests that are required to screen for mental health disorders, and I scored poorly. And I was told, You need to get the help that you need. You need to find some resources. But no resources were provided. I wasnt given a sheet with a list of therapists or psychiatrists. I wasnt given a list of support groups. I wasnt sent to a community to help me heal. I was literally sent back home, feeling the same way, until a neighbor came and said, Listen, this is what you need to do. If she hadnt been there, I honestly dont know where I would be without that help. Kevin Pho: Now, as you know, with policy changes, sometimes they go through, and sometimes they dont. And even if they do go through, were talking about a matter of years. What are some shorter-term solutions that the health care system can implement to address this issue more immediately or feasibly? Phindile Chowa: Policies take a while. I think theres a Momnibus Act that has really been in the hands of Congress for a very long time. So, youre correctour policymakers may not push this forward as quickly as we would like. I think its going to be up to individual clinics and insurance companies to take the lead. Many people dont know that you can have lactation consultants come to your home, and insurance companies are not going to tell you this. As soon as you get pregnant and give birth, these resources should be pushed to you. But insurance companies arent going to tell you, Hey, you have covered lactation services. You have covered pelvic floor therapists, and these people can come to your house. Theyre not going to tell you that. So, its going to have to be OB-GYNs getting on board and using the resources they have. Before, there was this kind of fighting match between doulas and OB-GYNs, but I think now theyve embraced doulas because they understand they cant do all this work. Theres more of a collective society when it comes to helping moms. But I think we need to do better. OB-GYNs need to utilize their doulas, have a birth network, and, when a mom is pregnant, say, This is your team. This is what you need. Also, I think what the community is doing really well right now is birth workers are getting together. Here in Atlanta, we have meetups where lactation specialists, pelvic floor therapists, mental health workers, and midwives get together. I will say that my OB-GYN colleagues often are not in those meetings. But, you know, like I said in my article, they are busy. They still have to pour into themselves while doing clinic work, performing surgeries, leading policy efforts, and maintaining the standard of care. So, we just need to find a way for OB-GYNs to get involved in this work, for midwives to get involved, and to have the community back them. It needs to be a joint effort. Kevin Pho: Now, for those new moms who may be listening to you now, are there any resources that they can request so they have someone to turn to? You mentioned the example of lactation consultants that are available to them. Are there any other resources they should specifically ask for before going home? Phindile Chowa: A blood pressure cuff. If its not a blood pressure cuff, then at least something else to monitor their symptoms. One thing I give all my new moms is a book I wrote called What to Expect Next. The reason I wrote that book, and Ive tried to distribute it to different OB-GYN clinics, is because I think moms often dont know what to expect or what to ask. Having resources and guideschecklists that go through and say, Today is week two. How should my bleeding be?helps. In the book, I outline what is considered normal bleeding at different time points, and if a mom is experiencing more bleeding than that, she should talk to her doctor. Or I include information like, What does your blood pressure say? If a moms blood pressure is above a certain number, she should contact her doctor. Having guides like this is really helpful for understanding what symptoms to look out for. OB-GYNs can definitely come up with that information to give their patients pamphlets. There are podcasts out there. I am a huge believer in self-advocacy. If our policymakers are not doing it and your provider may not have the time to do it, you have to take that into your own hands. There are several podcasts you could listen to that will teach you about the fourth trimester, like Fourth Trimester Voices and The Birth Squad. I could name a whole bunch of different podcasts that can help you know what to look for. Then there are support groups everywhere. Join a Facebook support group where you can connect with other moms and hear from them and know that, Oh my goodness, maybe this thing Im experiencing is not normal. There are in-person support groups all over. Here in Atlanta, theres MESH Moms, the Atlanta Mom Group meetupstheres so much you could utilize. But dont be in a corner by yourself. This journey is not meant to be walked alone. Weve seen it in many communities around the world where the communities literally surround moms and are vigilant, looking out for symptoms. This is not the time to be out on an island by yourself because youre dealing with so much. Your body and your mind are changing, and you need somebody there with you to be able to point out when something is going wrong because you may not realize it on your own. Kevin Pho: Were talking about the KevinMD article, Postpartum Crisis: A Physicians Call for Comprehensive Maternal Support. Dr. Chowa, well end with some of your take-home messages that you want to leave with the KevinMD audience. Phindile Chowa: I want to emphasize for our audience that personalized, patient-centered care is so important. Oftentimes, in our medical schools and residencies, were really taught to look for certain signs and symptoms, but everybody may not present in that way. People are not just physical. Theres the environment theyre in, there are the social environments theyre in, theres the mental, the spiritualtheres so much more. When youre looking at a patient, treat them as an individual. They may not come to you with the textbook signs and symptoms. Youve got to ask the right questions. Youve got to ask about their environment. Do they have the support they need? Its extremely important because people come with their own stories, their own unique needs. We just need to take a step back and go beyond what we see, ask more, and well find out more. Well see that it goes deeper than the surface. Kevin Pho: Well, thank you so much for sharing your perspective and insight, and thanks again for coming on the show. Phindile Chowa: Thank you so much for having me. The first batch of nine trucks carrying coated line pipes for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project has arrived at the Main Camp and Pipe Yard (MCPY) 4 in Kyotera District, Uganda. The pipes will be transported to designated storage sites and laid along the 1,443-kilometer heat-traced crude oil pipeline. Once completed, the EACOP will transport Ugandas crude oil from the Hoima Terminal in Uganda to Tanga Port in Tanzania, where it will be exported to international markets. To date, the project has received 800 kilometers of line pipes, which are currently undergoing coating and insulation at the Nzega Coating Yard in Tanzania. Mr Ali Ssekatawa, the Director of Legal and Corporate Affairs at the Petroleum Authority of Uganda, stated that the arrival of the pipes marks a significant milestone in the construction of the EACOP. This is a major landmark in the construction of the EACOP and a clear sign of the progress of the project. Government and its partners are committed to ensuring that all developments are completed in the most environmentally responsible and sustainable manner. Civil works have already advanced on the pumping stations, main camps and pipe yards, and storage facilities along the EACOP route as well as the coating plant in Nzega that is now in operation, Ssekatawa said. The EACOP project, estimated to cost $5 billion, is being developed by the EACOP Company. Uganda and Tanzania each hold a 15% stake, while TotalEnergies owns 62%, and CNOOC Uganda Limited holds 8%. Government has been urged to improve access to quality health services, education, and elderly-friendly facilities, particularly in rural areas. The appeal was made by Mr Emmanuel Ongiertho, Deputy Chairperson of the Uganda Parliamentary Forum for Social Protection, during a press briefing held at the Media Centre on Monday. Mr Ongiertho emphasized the need for better-equipped health units in rural regions, which are often underserved, leaving the elderly and vulnerable communities without essential healthcare. The Social Protection Month will be characterized by a series of activities, events, and campaigns that will engage multiple stakeholders and the general public at both national and sub-national levels, Mr Ongiertho said. The call for action comes ahead of Social Protection Month, set for October, during which various stakeholders will focus on improving services and policies that impact the elderly and other vulnerable groups. Mr. Fred Tukahirwa, the principal of the Aga Khan Education Service in Uganda, has urged parents to involve their children in business to help develop their entrepreneurial skills. He noted that many individuals run their businesses single-handedly without involving their children. As a result, when they are no longer around, the children struggle to manage these businesses, leading to their eventual collapse. The parents must be showing their children what they are doing because some of these children are even getting inspiration to do their businesses from their homes but some may not know where their parents do the businesses, Mr. Tukahirwa said. Mr. Tukahirwa made these remarks during the grand opening of the Aga Khan High School Entrepreneurship Expo in Kampala. Police have arrested counterterrorism officer Alex Adei, who went on the run after allegedly shooting his wife, Barbra Apia, on September 29, 2024, at around 9 PM. Kampala Metropolitan Police Deputy Spokesperson, Luke Owoyesigyire, revealed that a team from the Directorate of Crime Intelligence (DCI) and the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) apprehended him at his hideout. According to police, Adei fled the Naguru police barracks with the rifle allegedly used to murder his wife, in what is believed to be a case of domestic violence. During an examination of the scene on Monday morning, another body of a man was discovered in a nearby hut, lying in a pool of blood. He was deployed with a gun and encountered the woman outside, where he shot her. Initially, we thought only one person had died, but this morning, we discovered another officer, a resident of the barracks, lying in a pool of blood near where the female officer was shot. It appears the gunshot also struck the neighbouring officer, who was sleeping. We are currently working to confirm the identities of the victims, Owoyesigyire told journalists on Monday morning. Police have yet to determine whether the second victim was intentionally targeted or was a bystander caught in the crossfire. Detectives from Jinja Road Police Station have filed murder charges against the suspect. The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) is expected to release the timetables for the end-of-cycle examinations on Monday. The timetables cover Primary Seven, Senior Four, and Senior Six final exams. According to Jennifer Kalule, UNEBs spokesperson, the exams will be conducted between October and November. Senior Four candidates will receive a briefing on October 11 and begin their Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) exams on October 14. This marks a significant shift as it is the first UCE exam under the new lower secondary curriculum. As a result, Senior Four candidates have only two weeks to prepare for the UCE exams. Ms. Kalule revealed that a total of 300,000 students registered for the UCE exams, along with 10,000 others who will sit for the transitional examinations under the old curriculum. The new curriculum has created uncertainty among schools, learners, and parents regarding the expectations and potential outcomes of the exams. Schools across the country, particularly those in rural areas, are struggling with limited instructional materials, inconsistencies in grading and assessment guidelines, and concerns about the preparedness of learners for this crucial academic milestone. Introduced four years ago, the new curriculum aims to shift the focus from rote learning to a more practical, hands-on approach that fosters critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Kalule assured that UNEB has undertaken various activities to prepare for the implementation of competence-based curriculum assessment. TAP ARROWS OR 'NEXT' FOR MORE PICS Applegreen, one of Irelands largest roadside hospitality brands, has opened a new M&S Food shop in its existing location at Paulstown, County Kilkenny. The addition of the M&S Food range involved a redevelopment of the store, which is located just off Exit 7 on the M9 at Paulstown. READ NEXT: Significant funding announced for six Kilkenny areas The introduction of the retail brand is part of Applegreens continuous development to bring the best customer experience to Irish customers as they enjoy their journeys across Irish roads. The Paulstown store will now offer over 400 M&S products, including Irish customers favourite M&S Food ranges, such as fresh fruit and salads, quality Irish sandwiches and lunches, fresh flowers and dinner options. Popular M&S products such as Percy Pig sweets, M&S cookies, and Colin the Caterpillar cakes will also be available in-store. Applegreen Paulstown will feature free Click & Collect services for M&S Clothing and Home product ranges, providing customers with the option of ordering quality clothing, home and beauty essentials online at www.marksandspencer.ie, and collecting their purchases in-store. This free Click & Collect service is now available at all Applegreen M&S Food locations. FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS, CLICK HERE The Animation Ireland Pre-Budget 2025 Submission to Government asks for investment to uplift the animation sector here, so it can thrive and grow. Key to this is that Government take steps to re-imagine and relaunch the Regional Film Development Uplift at 8% ring fenced for a minimum of 10 years. The reintroduction of a regional tax incentive may take time to implement, so in the meantime Animation Ireland and their members would like to see the establishment of an interim Regional Audiovisual Development Fund of 10 million and the funding of a regional department within Screen Ireland. Ireland has been the envy of animation, film and creative communities across the world, our Government investment in the form of Tax Credits has contributed immensely to Irelands globally celebrated, awarded and commercially successful animation and live action sector. But without targeted tax incentives, especially for the regions, our domestic market would simply not have the resources to bring our stories to the world. Lighthouse Studios specifically based itself in Kilkenny to help create an animation hub with Cartoon Saloon. Situated in St Kierans College, it not only gives this iconic old building a totally modern purpose, it brings talent from all over Ireland, and indeed the world, to create and execute some of the worlds most well-known series, for providers like Netflix, Apple, Amazon and others, winning multiple awards including a BAFTA. It also now is developing multiple projects of its own IP. Animation is a slow process and it involves large numbers of artists. It is vital to attract talent to the studios who will consider staying in Kilkenny and creating a life and home here, to train and mentor young upcoming talent, and indeed many of our crew have done that. Creating a hub allows the studios to offer more consistent work to crew and ensure the sustainability of talent and employment in the region. As all creative industries are subject to the foibles of the content market, and considering how much has changed with the introduction of the streamers and now AI, it is imperative that we be able to survive the down periods as well as the up times. We must be competitive with our foreign friends in the industry and having extra incentives to help innovate new pipelines will promote sustainable and new ways of working to keep us known as a centre for excellence in animation and enable us to thrive in Kilkenny long into the future. READ NEXT: BUDGET 2025 MUST GET BALANCE RIGHT - PWC KILKENNY Many people in Kilkenny may find themselves owing significant amounts to the Revenue due to untaxed Covid-19 payments, an expert has warned. Those who received the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) or the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) during 2020 may be facing tax underpayments, as these supports were not taxed at source. Martin Brennan, Director at Irish Tax Rebates (irishtaxrebates.ie), has cautioned that the underpayments could lead to a reduction in tax credits over the next four years, resulting in a higher tax bill for many residents. READ NEXT: M&S Food now available at second location in Kilkenny He explained that the process of recovering the unpaid taxes has already begun for those who missed the initial deadline to settle their 2020 income tax returns. "Back in June, the Revenue Commissioners began sending letters to those affected, setting a deadline of the 5th of August for any outstanding 2020 income tax returns," Brennan said. "For those that missed that deadline, the process of releasing those underpayments has begun, meaning those liable will pay a higher amount of tax over the course of the next four years, proving a considerably heavy burden for quite some time." Brennan highlighted that while the deadline for 2020 returns has passed, it is still possible to reduce the impact by reviewing unclaimed expenses from that year. He encouraged those affected to act quickly, as the Revenue's four-year rule means any opportunity to claim expenses for 2020 will disappear after January 1, 2025. "Ensuring you keep receipts and staying on top of your taxes will ensure that when instances like this arise, youre in a position to navigate your way around any potential reduction in credits and paying higher amounts of tax in the future," he added. Kilkenny people impacted by the underpayment are urged to review their tax situation to avoid being hit with a larger bill down the line. FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS, CLICK HERE A number of gardai who have served in Kilkenny were recognised for their exceptional bravery and courage when they were presented with a Scott Medal Award. The presentations took place on Monday at Hotel Kilkenny and Assistant Commissioner Paul Cleary commended the recipients. Today we gather to award six Scott Medal Commendations First Class and two Scott Medal Commendations Second Class to gardai or sergeant and garda ranks who have distinguished themselves for bravery in the performance of their duties. The bravery shown by these gardai whose unwavering dedication and commitment to protect and serve the people of Ireland has seen them go above and beyond the call of duty. These courageous gardai have risked life while working in dangerous situations to protect the people of this country. They have done so selflessly and with distinction, he said. Superintendent Sean OMeara presented commendations to Garda Graham Gohery, Garda Aisling Butler and Sergeant Fiona Ruth for the exceptional courage and bravery shown in the execution of duty while engaging and pursuing two armed assailants following an armed robbery at a post office in Leighlinbridge on March 1, 2016. Scott Medal Commendations were also presented to Garda Cathal Furlong and Sergeant Hud Kelly for the bravery they showed when they entered a burning building in North Kilkenny in 2015 and to Garda Caroline OBrien who entered the River Nore in July 2019 to perform a river rescue. For full report see this Wednesdays Kilkenny People. Most of China will enjoy sunny weather during the upcoming National Day holiday, although temperatures will be 1-3 C cooler than usual, according to the China Meteorological Administration. At a news conference on Sunday, Jia Xiaolong, deputy director of the National Climate Center, said conditions in southern North China, southeastern Northwest China, and eastern Southwest China will be particularly pleasant for nighttime activities between Oct 1 and Oct 7. However, Jia cautioned that atmospheric conditions in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will worsen between Oct 4 and 7, potentially reducing visibility. "Temperatures will remain low across much of the country from Oct 1 to 3, with some areas in Northwest China, northern North China, and the Changbai Mountains in Northeast China seeing lows drop to 0 C or below," Jia said, noting large temperature differences between day and night in these regions. By Oct 6, cold air will push into northern areas, bringing light to moderate rain to parts of eastern Northwest China and North China. The CMA forecasts significant temperature fluctuations in October. Most of the country, except the plateau regions, will be colder than usual in the first half of the month. Warmer-than-usual temperatures are expected to return to northern regions in mid to late October, while southern areas will see conditions closer to the historical average. Jia also warned that October's cold spells and frost could negatively affect autumn crops, leading to potential yield reductions. Embraer S.A. (NYSE:ERJ Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,460,000 shares, a growth of 42.5% from the August 31st total of 3,130,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,690,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days. Currently, 2.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Embraer Trading Down 3.3 % NYSE:ERJ traded down $1.21 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $35.72. 1,579,175 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,675,978. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.81 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Embraer has a one year low of $12.48 and a one year high of $37.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.98. Get Embraer alerts: Embraer (NYSE:ERJ Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The aerospace company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.20. Embraer had a return on equity of 5.94% and a net margin of 6.76%. The firm had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Embraer will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Embraer in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Embraer in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Embraer in the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Embraer in the 2nd quarter valued at about $55,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Embraer by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,280 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 456 shares during the period. 34.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Embraer from $28.50 to $29.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. StockNews.com cut Embraer from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America reiterated a buy rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Embraer in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Embraer from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their price target for the company from $26.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Embraer presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $32.50. Get Our Latest Analysis on Embraer About Embraer (Get Free Report) Embraer SA designs, develops, manufactures, and sells aircraft and systems in North America, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, Brazil, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Commercial Aviation; Defense & Security; Executive Aviation; Services & Support; and Other segments. The Commercial Aviation segment designs, develops, manufactures, and sells commercial jets, as well as leases aircraft. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Embraer Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Embraer and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Pinnacle Bank (OTCMKTS:PBNK Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 600 shares, a drop of 25.0% from the August 31st total of 800 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.1 days. Pinnacle Bank Stock Performance Shares of PBNK remained flat at $19.14 during mid-day trading on Friday. 580 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,716. Pinnacle Bank has a 52-week low of $12.85 and a 52-week high of $19.14. The stock has a market cap of $111.97 million, a PE ratio of 9.52 and a beta of 0.59. The firms fifty day simple moving average is $18.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.75. Get Pinnacle Bank alerts: Pinnacle Bank (OTCMKTS:PBNK Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $10.20 million during the quarter. Pinnacle Bank had a net margin of 21.15% and a return on equity of 12.92%. About Pinnacle Bank Pinnacle Bank, a commercial bank, provides various depository and credit services in Santa Clara, San Benito, and Monterey counties. The company offers checking, savings, money market, sweep, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit and certificates of deposit account registry services. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Pinnacle Bank Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Pinnacle Bank and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Sun Communities, Inc. (NYSE:SUI Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,050,000 shares, a growth of 55.8% from the August 31st total of 2,600,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 723,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.6 days. Insider Activity at Sun Communities In other news, CEO Baxter Underwood sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.43, for a total transaction of $394,290.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 63,462 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $8,340,810.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Get Sun Communities alerts: Institutional Trading of Sun Communities Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SUI. Bristlecone Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Sun Communities by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 3,655 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $440,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in shares of Sun Communities by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 11,916 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $1,434,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of Sun Communities by 15.5% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 762 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $92,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of Sun Communities by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 20,541 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $2,745,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sun Communities by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 2,017 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. 99.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Sun Communities Stock Up 0.3 % Sun Communities Dividend Announcement NYSE SUI traded up $0.36 on Friday, hitting $135.98. 1,389,690 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 782,182. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $134.17 and a 200 day moving average of $125.42. Sun Communities has a twelve month low of $102.74 and a twelve month high of $147.83. The company has a market capitalization of $16.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 117.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Sun Communitiess payout ratio is 324.14%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In SUI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Sun Communities from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Sun Communities from $127.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. StockNews.com downgraded Sun Communities from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Sun Communities from $123.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut Sun Communities from an outperform rating to an inline rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $144.00 to $149.00 in a research note on Monday, September 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $140.91. Read Our Latest Report on Sun Communities Sun Communities Company Profile (Get Free Report) Established in 1975, Sun Communities, Inc became a publicly owned corporation in December 1993. The Company is a fully integrated REIT listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol: SUI. As of December 31, 2023, the Company owned, operated, or had an interest in a portfolio of 667 developed MH, RV and Marina properties comprising 179,310 developed sites and approximately 48,030 wet slips and dry storage spaces in the U.S., the UK and Canada. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Sun Communities Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Sun Communities and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,700,000 shares, a growth of 40.4% from the August 31st total of 4,060,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,850,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.5 days. Analysts Set New Price Targets Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Estee Lauder Companies from $130.00 to $117.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup cut their price target on Estee Lauder Companies from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. B. Riley initiated coverage on Estee Lauder Companies in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a neutral rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Estee Lauder Companies from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and upped their target price for the company from $95.00 to $114.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Estee Lauder Companies from a buy rating to a neutral rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $120.27. Get Estee Lauder Companies alerts: Get Our Latest Report on EL Estee Lauder Companies Stock Down 0.9 % Shares of EL stock traded down $0.91 on Friday, hitting $99.87. 3,820,431 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,210,515. The business has a 50-day moving average of $92.36 and a 200 day moving average of $116.00. Estee Lauder Companies has a fifty-two week low of $82.39 and a fifty-two week high of $159.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.39. Estee Lauder Companies had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 16.91%. The company had revenue of $3.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.80 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.07 earnings per share. The firms revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Estee Lauder Companies will post 2.97 EPS for the current year. Estee Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were given a $0.66 dividend. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Estee Lauder Companiess dividend payout ratio is currently 148.31%. Insider Activity In other news, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total transaction of $364,142.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,209 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,423,714.49. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Lynn Forester sold 3,890 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.61, for a total transaction of $364,142.90. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,209 shares in the company, valued at $1,423,714.49. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Charlene Barshefsky sold 3,437 shares of Estee Lauder Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.93, for a total value of $315,963.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,800 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,578,114. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Estee Lauder Companies by 34.1% during the 1st quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 295 shares of the companys stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Haverford Trust Co grew its stake in Estee Lauder Companies by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 3,409 shares of the companys stock valued at $525,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its stake in Estee Lauder Companies by 25.6% in the 1st quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 402 shares of the companys stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its position in Estee Lauder Companies by 11.9% during the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 849 shares of the companys stock worth $131,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Estee Lauder Companies by 103.1% during the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 195 shares of the companys stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. 55.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. 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. Featured Stories 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. Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 2,305,415 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.27, for a total transaction of $90,533,647.05. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 812,041,811 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $31,888,881,917.97. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a companys shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC. Berkshire Hathaway Inc also recently made the following trade(s): Get Bank of America alerts: On Friday, September 27th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 3,915,126 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.52, for a total transaction of $154,725,779.52. On Monday, September 23rd, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 4,941,403 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total transaction of $197,359,635.82. On Thursday, September 19th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total transaction of $465,811,996.80. On Tuesday, September 17th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 3,966,178 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.58, for a total transaction of $156,981,325.24. On Monday, September 9th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,721,366 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.57, for a total transaction of $68,114,452.62. On Thursday, September 5th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,031,014 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.28, for a total transaction of $202,649,243.92. On Tuesday, September 3rd, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,031,639 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.66, for a total transaction of $326,566,441.74. On Friday, August 30th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 7,938,699 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.61, for a total transaction of $322,390,566.39. On Wednesday, August 28th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 7,081,075 shares of Bank of America stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.95, for a total transaction of $282,888,946.25. On Monday, August 26th, Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 10,975,008 shares of Bank of America stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.87, for a total transaction of $437,573,568.96. Bank of America Price Performance BAC stock opened at $39.40 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $24.96 and a 12 month high of $44.44. The firm has a market cap of $308.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. The companys 50-day moving average price is $39.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.04. Bank of America Increases Dividend Bank of America ( NYSE:BAC Get Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This is a positive change from Bank of Americas previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.64%. Bank of Americas payout ratio is 35.99%. Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the companys management believes its stock is undervalued. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades BAC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target 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. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Bank of America from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and raised their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Bank of America from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $45.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $42.22. Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Bank of America Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 402.2% during the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 547 shares during the period. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 839.0% during the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 646 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. About Bank of America (Get 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. Recommended Stories 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. Black Diamond Group Limited (OTCMKTS:BDIMF Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 150,300 shares, an increase of 19.8% from the August 31st total of 125,500 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 300.6 days. Black Diamond Group Trading Up 0.3 % Shares of OTCMKTS BDIMF traded up $0.02 during trading on Monday, hitting $7.32. The firms 50 day simple moving average is $7.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $6.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $452.98 million, a PE ratio of 21.53 and a beta of 1.07. Black Diamond Group has a 52-week low of $5.22 and a 52-week high of $7.53. Get Black Diamond Group alerts: Black Diamond Group (OTCMKTS:BDIMF Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter. Black Diamond Group had a net margin of 7.80% and a return on equity of 10.23%. The company had revenue of $69.80 million for the quarter. Black Diamond Group Company Profile Black Diamond Group Limited rents and sells modular space and workforce accommodation solutions. It operates through two segments, Modular Space Solutions and Workforce Solutions. The Modular Space Solutions segment provides modular space rentals to customers in the construction, real estate development, education, manufacturing, health care, financial, government, and defense industries in North America. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Black Diamond Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Black Diamond Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Flexible Solutions International (NYSE:FSI Free Report) in a research report released on Friday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the stock. Flexible Solutions International Stock Performance NYSE:FSI opened at $3.65 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $2.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.45 million, a PE ratio of 19.21 and a beta of 1.48. Flexible Solutions International has a 12-month low of $1.36 and a 12-month high of $3.70. Get Flexible Solutions International alerts: Flexible Solutions International (NYSE:FSI Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.03. Flexible Solutions International had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.46%. The business had revenue of $10.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.34 million. Research analysts anticipate that Flexible Solutions International will post 0.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Flexible Solutions International Flexible Solutions International Company Profile An institutional investor recently raised its position in Flexible Solutions International stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Flexible Solutions International, Inc. ( NYSE:FSI Free Report ) by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 379,245 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 17,400 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 3.05% of Flexible Solutions International worth $664,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.31% of the companys stock. (Get Free Report) Flexible Solutions International, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and markets specialty chemicals that slow the evaporation of water in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Energy and Water Conservation Products, and Biodegradable Polymers. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Flexible Solutions International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Flexible Solutions International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com cut shares of Global Payments (NYSE:GPN Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning. A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Global Payments from $126.00 to $122.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Global Payments from $172.00 to $158.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Susquehanna restated a positive rating and issued a $147.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $141.36. Get Global Payments alerts: Read Our Latest Analysis on GPN Global Payments Trading Up 3.4 % Shares of Global Payments stock opened at $101.02 on Thursday. Global Payments has a 12-month low of $91.60 and a 12-month high of $141.77. The stock has a market cap of $25.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The businesss 50 day moving average is $105.57 and its 200-day moving average is $108.98. Global Payments (NYSE:GPN Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.03. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 14.26%. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.48 EPS. The businesss revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Global Payments will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Global Payments Dividend Announcement The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Global Paymentss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.84%. Insider Transactions at Global Payments In other news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,531 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,068,087.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Institutional Trading of Global Payments Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the second quarter valued at about $900,000. Brown Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the second quarter valued at about $1,128,000. Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the second quarter valued at about $333,000. Delphi Management Inc. MA boosted its stake in Global Payments by 5.6% in the second quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA now owns 13,682 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $1,323,000 after buying an additional 730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aurora Investment Counsel boosted its stake in Global Payments by 5.9% in the second quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 11,300 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $1,093,000 after buying an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Global Payments Company Profile (Get Free Report) Global Payments Inc provides payment technology and software solutions for card, check, and digital-based payments in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. It operates through two segments, Merchant Solutions and Issuer Solutions. The Merchant Solutions segment offers authorization, settlement and funding, customer support, chargeback resolution, terminal rental, sales and deployment, payment security, and consolidated billing and reporting services. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Global Payments Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Global Payments and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Monash IVF Group Ltd. (OTCMKTS:MNIVF Get Free Report) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 82,600 shares, a decline of 17.2% from the August 31st total of 99,800 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 0 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently days. Monash IVF Group Stock Performance About Monash IVF Group (Get Free Report) Monash IVF Group Ltd. engages in the field of fertility services. It operates through the following segments: Monash IVF Group Australia and Monash IVF Group International. The Monash IVF Group Australia segment provides assisted reproductive services, ultrasound, and other related services. The Monash IVF Group International segment provides assisted reproductive services in Malaysia and party to a co-operative agreement with an assisted reproductive service provider in China. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Monash IVF Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Monash IVF Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCMKTS:OTCM Get Free Report) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 600 shares, a decrease of 25.0% from the August 31st total of 800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 8,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.1 days. OTC Markets Group Trading Up 0.4 % Shares of OTCM traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $47.20. The companys stock had a trading volume of 2,855 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,811. The companys 50-day moving average is $47.88 and its 200-day moving average is $50.27. OTC Markets Group has a 52-week low of $45.00 and a 52-week high of $62.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $565.03 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.98, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.54. Get OTC Markets Group alerts: OTC Markets Group (OTCMKTS:OTCM Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.10). OTC Markets Group had a return on equity of 71.64% and a net margin of 24.67%. The business had revenue of $27.56 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $28.06 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that OTC Markets Group will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. OTC Markets Group Dividend Announcement About OTC Markets Group The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. OTC Markets Groups dividend payout ratio is currently 32.00%. (Get Free Report) OTC Markets Group Inc operates regulated markets for trading 12,000 U.S. and international securities. Its data-driven disclosure standards form the foundation of its three public markets: OTCQX Best Market, OTCQB Venture Market, and Pink Open Market. The company's OTC Link Alternative Trading Systems (ATSs) provide critical market infrastructure that broker-dealers rely on to facilitate trading. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for OTC Markets Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for OTC Markets Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. PIMCO New York Municipal Income Fund (NYSE:PNF Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,000 shares, a growth of 25.0% from the August 31st total of 9,600 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 27,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.4 days. Institutional Investors Weigh In On PIMCO New York Municipal Income Fund A hedge fund recently raised its stake in PIMCO New York Municipal Income Fund stock. Wolverine Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of PIMCO New York Municipal Income Fund (NYSE:PNF Free Report) by 9.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,940 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 2,525 shares during the period. Wolverine Asset Management LLCs holdings in PIMCO New York Municipal Income Fund were worth $219,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Get PIMCO New York Municipal Income Fund alerts: PIMCO New York Municipal Income Fund Stock Performance PNF stock traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $8.31. The companys stock had a trading volume of 1,671 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,984. PIMCO New York Municipal Income Fund has a 12 month low of $6.37 and a 12 month high of $8.40. The firms 50-day moving average is $8.01 and its 200-day moving average is $7.83. PIMCO New York Municipal Income Fund Cuts Dividend About PIMCO New York Municipal Income Fund The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.0335 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.84%. (Get Free Report) PIMCO New York Municipal Income Fund is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Allianz Global Investors Fund Management LLC. It is co-managed by Pacific Investment Management Company LLC. The fund invests in fixed income markets. It seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. See Also Receive News & Ratings for PIMCO New York Municipal Income Fund Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for PIMCO New York Municipal Income Fund and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. PTL Limited (PTLE) plans to raise $6 million in an initial public offering (IPO) on Friday, October 4th, IPO Scoop reports. The company will be issuing 1,300,000 shares at $4.00-$6.00 per share. In the last 12 months, PTL Limited generated $102.1 million in revenue and $940,000 in net income. PTL Limited has a market cap of $62.5 million. Dominari Securities and Revere Securities acted as the underwriters for the IPO. PTL Limited provided the following description of their company for its IPO: PTL Limited, or PTL, is a holding company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. Our registered office and our registered agents office in the BVI are both located at Corporate Registrations Limited of Sea Meadow House (P.O. Box 116), Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands. Note: Our principal executive office is located atA 111 North Bridge Road, #23-06A, Peninsula Plaza, Singapore 179098. The telephone number of our principal executive office is +65-90573550.A As a holding company with no material operations, PTL conducts all of its operations through its operating entity, Petrolink Energy Limited (the asOperating Subsidiaryat), a company incorporated in HongA Kong. Investors in our Ordinary Shares should be aware that they will not and may never directly hold equity interests in the Operating Subsidiary, but rather (are) purchasing equity solely in PTL, the BVI holding company.A Headquartered in Hong Kong, we are an established bunkering facilitator providing marine fuel logistics services for vessel refueling, primarily container ships, bulk carriers, general cargo vessels, and chemical tankers. Targeting and serving the Asia Pacific market, we leverage our close relationships and partnership within our established network in the marine fuel logistic industry, including the upstream suppliers and downstream customers, to provide a one-stop solution for vessel refueling. Through our Operating Subsidiary, Petrolink Energy Limited, we purchase marine fuel, including low sulfur fuel oil, high sulfur fuel oil and low sulfur marine gas oil, from our suppliers and arrange our suppliers to deliver marine fuel to our customers directly. As the bunkering facilitator, our services mainly involve (i) facilitating with our suppliers to supply fuel for the use by our customersa vessels at various ports along their voyages in the Asia Pacific region; (ii) arranging vessel refueling activities at competitive pricing to our customers; (iii) offering trade credit to our customers for vessel refueling; (iv) handling unforeseeable circumstances faced by our customers and providing contingency solutions to our customers in a timely manner; and (v) handling disputes, mainly in relation to quality and quantity issues on marine fuel, if any. Our operations are conducted in Hong Kong and substantially all of our revenue has been generated by our Operating Subsidiary in Hong Kong. We do not require any permits and licenses for the operation of our business, instead, we rely on the permits and licenses of our suppliers for the actual delivery of marine fuel at each port. Geographically, in terms of the delivery locations at which the marine fuel is delivered to our customers, nearly all of our revenue (93.2% and 95.3% of our revenue for theA fiscal years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively) were generated by the marine fuel delivery to customers in Hong Kong ports. Other delivery locations include United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and mainland China, and all of the transactions for marine fuel delivery and vessel refueling activities in these locations have been booked through and concluded by our Operating Subsidiary in Hong Kong. For theA fiscal years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, 0.6% and 3.2% of our revenue were generated by the marine fuel delivery to customers in the mainland China port, respectively, and none of these customers were mainland Chinese companies and all of such transactions are booked through and concluded in Hong Kong, instead of in mainland China. According to the industrial data provided by F&S, we had an estimated market share of approximately 2.7% and 0.8% respectively in terms of volume of fuel oil and gas oil supplied to operators in Hong Kong for the year ended December 31, 2023. Through strategic utilization of our available working capital resources, we have successfully achieved significant business growth. For the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, our customers mainly consist of end-users and trading houses. Our five largest customers contributed 44.3% and 44.3% respectively to our revenue for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022. We recorded an increase in revenue from approximately $74,817,208 for the year ended December 31, 2022 to approximately $102,106,509 for the year ended December 31, 2023, representing an increase of approximately 36.5%, while the volume of marine fuel supplied by us increased from 98,013 metric tons for the year ended December 31, 2022 to approximately 163,738 metric tons for the year ended December 31, 2023. Our cost of revenue mainly represented the marine fuel cost and other costs mainly including the agency fee, barging fee, cancellation charges and survey fee. Our cost of revenue increased by $26,486,642, or 35.9%, from $73,703,892 for the year ended December 31, 2022 to $100,190,534 for the year ended December 31, 2023, which was mainly due to the increase in our marine fuel costs and in line with the increase in our revenue. Note: Net income and revenue are inA U.S. dollars for the year that ended Dec. 31, 2023. (Note: PTL Limited filed an F-1/A on Aug. 19, 2024, in which Dominari Securities was named as the lead left book-runner teamed with Revere Securities to replace Pacific Century Securities, the deals original underwriter. Background: PTL Limited, a holding company, filed its F-1 on July 30, 2024, and disclosed plans for its IPO: 1.25 million shares at a price range of $4.00 to $6.00 to raise $6.25 million. Pacific Century Securities, LLC was the soleA underwriter.) . PTL Limited was founded in 2013 and has 7 employees. The company is located at Room 1112, 11/F, C C Wu Building, 302-8 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong and can be reached via phone at 00852 23593388 or on the web at http://www.petrolinkhk.com/. Receive News & Ratings for PTL Limited Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for PTL Limited and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Sabine Royalty Trust (NYSE:SBR Get Free Report) saw a large decline in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,400 shares, a decline of 32.7% from the August 31st total of 11,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 36,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.2 days. Approximately 0.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Separately, StockNews.com raised Sabine Royalty Trust from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Get Sabine Royalty Trust alerts: Check Out Our Latest Report on Sabine Royalty Trust Sabine Royalty Trust Price Performance SBR traded up $2.29 on Friday, hitting $61.77. The company had a trading volume of 41,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 34,568. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $62.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.53. Sabine Royalty Trust has a 12-month low of $55.60 and a 12-month high of $72.50. Sabine Royalty Trust (NYSE:SBR Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The energy company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $22.78 million for the quarter. Sabine Royalty Trust had a return on equity of 1,098.84% and a net margin of 96.63%. Sabine Royalty Trust Increases Dividend The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a $0.4213 dividend. This represents a $5.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.18%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Sabine Royalty Trusts previous monthly dividend of $0.14. Sabine Royalty Trusts dividend payout ratio is currently 87.85%. Institutional Trading of Sabine Royalty Trust A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SBR. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Sabine Royalty Trust in the 1st quarter worth $11,173,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in shares of Sabine Royalty Trust by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 21,918 shares of the energy companys stock worth $1,394,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank lifted its stake in Sabine Royalty Trust by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. American National Bank now owns 36,185 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $2,301,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Holderness Investments Co. acquired a new stake in Sabine Royalty Trust in the 4th quarter worth about $406,000. Finally, Burford Brothers Inc. acquired a new stake in Sabine Royalty Trust in the 4th quarter worth about $677,000. 15.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. About Sabine Royalty Trust (Get Free Report) Sabine Royalty Trust holds royalty and mineral interests in various producing oil and gas properties in the United States. Its royalty and mineral interests include landowner's royalties, overriding royalty interests, minerals, production payments, and other similar non-participatory interest in certain producing and proved undeveloped oil and gas properties located in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Sabine Royalty Trust Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Sabine Royalty Trust and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. TELUS International (Cda) Inc. (TSE:TIXT Get Free Report) insider TELUS Corporation bought 450,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of C$5.09 per share, with a total value of C$2,290,995.00. TELUS Corporation also recently made the following trade(s): Get TELUS International (Cda) alerts: On Friday, September 20th, TELUS Corporation acquired 100,000 shares of TELUS International (Cda) stock. The stock was purchased at an average cost of C$4.92 per share, with a total value of C$492,000.00. On Wednesday, September 11th, TELUS Corporation bought 100,000 shares of TELUS International (Cda) stock. The shares were acquired at an average cost of C$4.98 per share, for a total transaction of C$497,700.00. On Monday, September 9th, TELUS Corporation purchased 100,000 shares of TELUS International (Cda) stock. The shares were acquired at an average cost of C$5.00 per share, with a total value of C$500,230.00. On Thursday, August 29th, TELUS Corporation bought 100,000 shares of TELUS International (Cda) stock. The shares were bought at an average cost of C$4.87 per share, with a total value of C$486,600.00. On Monday, August 26th, TELUS Corporation purchased 30,798 shares of TELUS International (Cda) stock. The stock was bought at an average cost of C$4.96 per share, for a total transaction of C$152,662.61. On Friday, August 23rd, TELUS Corporation acquired 100,000 shares of TELUS International (Cda) stock. The stock was bought at an average cost of C$4.82 per share, with a total value of C$481,970.00. On Friday, August 16th, TELUS Corporation bought 200,000 shares of TELUS International (Cda) stock. The shares were bought at an average cost of C$4.75 per share, for a total transaction of C$950,240.00. On Friday, August 9th, TELUS Corporation purchased 416,400 shares of TELUS International (Cda) stock. The stock was purchased at an average price of C$4.09 per share, with a total value of C$1,703,325.84. TELUS International (Cda) Trading Up 5.4 % TIXT opened at C$5.11 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 80.53. The stocks fifty day moving average is C$5.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$8.19. The company has a market capitalization of C$567.21 million, a P/E ratio of 36.50 and a beta of 0.68. TELUS International has a 52 week low of C$3.90 and a 52 week high of C$15.56. TELUS International (Cda) Company Profile TELUS International (Cda) Inc design, builds, and delivers digital solutions for customer experience (CX) in the Asia-Pacific, the Central America, Europe, Africa, North America, and internationally. The company provides digital experience solutions, such as AI and bots, omnichannel CX, enterprise mobility solutions, cloud contact center, big data analytics, platform transformation, and UX/UI design; and customer experience solutions, including work anywhere/work from home, contact center outsourcing, technical support, sales growth and customer retention, healthcare/patient experience, and debt collection. See Also Receive News & Ratings for TELUS International (Cda) Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for TELUS International (Cda) and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Critics question feasibility of proposal to tackle shrinking forces with retirees By Lee Hyo-jin A proposal to recruit men in their 50s and 60s for non-combat military duties, intended to address South Korea's shrinking pool of conscripts, has sparked debate over the role that older men can or cannot play in the nation's defense. Military experts say that the proposal, which involves assigning older men to guard duties, would require a significant overhaul of the current military structure and personnel system, making it impractical at this time. Rep. Sung Il-jong of the ruling conservative People Power Party floated the idea last week as a potential solution to the looming personnel shortage. "I believe healthy and experienced men in their 50s and 60s, who have already completed their military service, could support our armed forces by working as contracted civilian employees or through private outsourcing," Sung said in an interview with CBS radio, Friday. He added that these older men, who tend to sleep less as they age but are healthy, could be suitable for guard duty. The lawmaker pointed to the U.S. Forces Korea model, where maintenance, repair and operations tasks, as well as private military company roles, are often outsourced to local civilians. He also suggested that his proposal could create jobs for retired men, offering economic benefits similar to those received by conscripted soldiers, who earn around 2 million won ($1,530) per month. Under current laws, all non-disabled South Korean men aged between 19 to 35 are required to complete military service. Afterward, they remain in the reserve forces until they turn 40, subject to potential mobilization. Recent data suggests that the number of military personnel will fall below 400,000 by 2040, down from the current 480,000. The figure dipped below 500,000 for the first time in 2022. The anticipated decline in military personnel has raised concerns about South Korea's national security, particularly given that the country remains technically at war with North Korea. "Some older men might be willing to rejoin the military as a second career after retirement," Kim Dae-young, a military expert, said. "But their willingness and what they can actually contribute in a military setting are two different things. It would be awkward for a major or captain in their 30s to give orders to men nearly twice their age, especially in our society, where age hierarchy matters." Kim added that lawmakers' proposing such unrealistic plans highlights how difficult it is to address the looming personnel shortage in the armed forces. Still, Sung's proposal may appeal to members of the Senior Army, an organization established in 2023 that consists mostly of men in their 50s to 70s who have completed their military service. Under the motto "When the country calls, we serve," the members voluntarily engage in regular physical and tactical training to maintain combat readiness. The group, which began with about 500 members, has since grown to 2,000, with the goal of expanding to 100,000. The Ministry of National Defense stated that currently there is no official position on the proposal. However, some military officials who spoke to The Korea Times questioned its feasibility. "Unlike U.S. base camps, which house tens of thousands of personnel like a town, our barracks are scattered across the country, with some housing only a few hundred troops. It's unclear how we would accommodate older men in their 50s and 60s in barracks located in rural areas or along the front lines, or even if they would be willing to serve in remote regions, separated from their families," one military official said on condition of anonymity. Another official said, "Unless we consolidate smaller bases into larger ones, which would require a complete overhaul of the military structure and personnel system, recruiting senior men for guard duties seems like a distant idea." By KTimes Actor Park Ji-a, best known for her powerful performance as Song Hye-kyos mother in "The Glory," passed away Monday at the age of 52, succumbing to complications from a stroke. We will forever remember her passion for acting, which stayed with her until the very end. Our deepest sympathies go out to her family and loved ones as they mourn her loss, her agency Billions said in a statement. Debuting in 2002 with the film "The Coast Guard," Park had an illustrious career, showcasing her versatility in a range of projects. She captivated audiences with her roles in films such as "Epitaph" and dramas like "Bloody Heart" and "Cleaning Up." However, it was her portrayal of Jeong Mi-hee, the complex and cold-hearted mother of Dong-eun (played by Song Hye-kyo) in Netflix's "The Glory" that left an especially indelible mark. Park's gripping performance as a woman willing to betray even her own child for personal gain resonated with viewers both in Korea and internationally. Earlier this year, Park also took to the stage in the play "Wife," continuing to engage with audiences until her health began to decline. Parks memorial is being held at Asan Medical Center in Seoul, with the funeral set to take place on Oct. 2. 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 Pyo Kyung-min HYBE Labels' Japanese-based K-pop boy band &TEAM is set to release new music capturing the essence of fall and winter, following the successful conclusion of its first arena tour in Japan. Wrapping up its "2024 &TEAM CONCERT TOUR 'SECOND TO NONE'" over the weekend with a finale at Port Messe Nagoya in Japan, the nine-member band revealed plans to release a digital single titled "Jyuugoya" in October, followed by its second full-length album "Yukiakari" in December. In a press release issued Monday, HYBE stated that during the encore of the shows, a large monitor displayed the logo for the upcoming releases. The members addressed fans during the show, saying, "Please look forward to both the fall digital single and the winter album. We'll continue to spend these two seasons with you." The fall-themed single, "Jyuugoya," meaning "night of the full moon" in Japanese, is slated for release on Oct. 23. The winter album "Yukiakari," which translates to "light reflected on snow," is scheduled to drop on Dec. 18, summarizing &TEAM's year-long journey. These upcoming releases are also set to complete the band's series under the four seasons theme, which began in May with the single "Samidare." &TEAM's first arena tour began in July with a two-day performance in Tokyo. The tour included stops in five cities across Japan and Korea Tokyo, Hyogo, Fukuoka, Seoul and Aichi where the group performed 14 shows to a total audience of around 80,000. Reflecting on the tour's success, group leader EJ revealed through Monday's press release, "I am happy to have created another special memory with LUNE (&TEAM's official fandom). We'll continue to grow and strive to become a group that fans can be proud of." South Korea, the United States and Japan have agreed to bolster joint efforts to combat North Korea's illegal cyber activities, which are increasingly targeting the virtual currency industry, the presidential office said Monday. The agreement was reached during a virtual meeting on Friday, attended by Wang Yun-jong, the third deputy national security adviser; Anne Neuberger, the U.S. deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technologies; and Keiichi Ichikawa, deputy head of Japan's National Security Secretariat. "The three sides assessed North Korea's illegal cyber activities, which fund North Korea's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, are becoming more sophisticated," the office said in a statement. "Global virtual currency exchanges, including those in South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, have become their primary target." The three sides stressed the importance of strengthening partnerships with the private sector, particularly with cryptocurrency service providers, to raise awareness of Pyongyang's cyber threats. "They agreed to collaborate with like-minded countries to trace forces behind North Korea's illegal cyber activities and take necessary measures to address the threats," it added. North Korea is estimated to have earned more than $6 billion through hacking and other illicit activities over the past seven years despite facing heavy international sanctions, according to the state-run Institute for National Security Strategy. (Yonhap) By Jun Ji-hye Stocks included in the Korea Value-up Index, part of the government-led Corporate Value-up Program, have risen by an average of 3 percent since the index was launched last week, the Korea Exchange said Sunday, noting that 80 out of the 100 stocks have shown an increase. The average fluctuation rate of Value-up Index stocks was 2.97 percent, based on a comparison of the closing prices from Tuesday to Friday. The index was revealed after the market closed last Tuesday. The average increase in the stocks on the secondary Kosdaq bourse outpaced those of the benchmark KOSPI market. The average return for the 33 Kosdaq stocks was 4.11 percent, while the average return for the 67 KOSPI stocks was 2.38 percent. Given that the KOSPI and Kosdaq index rose by 0.69 percent and 0.93 percent, respectively, during the same period, the performance of Value-up Index stocks is considered relatively strong. While large-cap stocks were largely expected to be included in the index, the surprise inclusion of small- and mid-cap stocks seems to have had a significant effect, Daishin Securities analyst Lee Kyung-min said. The lower liquidity of small- and mid-cap stocks also contributed to the higher rate of increase. The stock that experienced the highest increase was EcoPro HN, a green solutions provider, which rose by 20.65 percent. This was followed by Hyosung TNC and Hanjin KAL with increases of 15.95 percent and 15.38 percent, respectively. By sector, materials saw the highest increase at 5.77 percent, followed by manufacturing at 4.44 percent, information technology at 3.65 percent and communication services at 2.98 percent. Health care and energy declined by 0.05 percent and 1.45 percent, respectively. The information technology sector, which includes major semiconductor stocks such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, is interpreted to have been more influenced by Microns strong performance in the United States than by inclusion in the index. Stocks (in the information technology sector) rose not primarily due to the Value-up Index but rather because concerns about the semiconductor industry were alleviated by Microns strong performance, which led to a return of foreign investment, Mirae Asset Securities analyst Kim Seok-hwan said. Additionally, the impact of Chinas economic stimulus measures contributed to the rise in stock prices. Hwang Se-woon, a senior researcher at the Korea Capital Market Institute, cautioned against excessive expectations for the stocks included in the Value-up Index, saying it is difficult to attach significant meaning to the stock price increase at this moment. Companies actively engaged in value enhancement should be included more in the index, Hwang said. By Lee Hae-rin ATLANTA Incheon International Airport will replace Tokyo's Narita International Airport to become Delta Air Lines Asia hub, the airport operator said Saturday. Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) President and CEO Lee Hag-jae visited Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian in Atlanta, Wednesday, and confirmed the airlines strategic partnership with the airport to strengthen its Asia-Pacific air network and launch the Incheon-Salt Lake City air route next June. We think the Incheon hub is the best-connecting airport thats been built to connect customers efficiently and quickly and has the ability to continue to grow to other destinations within Asia, Deltas Networking Planning Senior Vice President Joe Esposito said during a press conference at the airlines headquarters in Atlanta, Thursday. Unlike Tokyo, which has two airports Narita and Haneda Incheon has only one airport, which makes it easier to communicate with customers on transit means and demand, he explained. And Salt Lake City is also a perfect hub for the central part of the country for the Midwest part of the country that connects every region, Esposito said, explaining that every person in the United States who wants to go to Asia can catch a flight from either Delta or a Korean airline. Delta has served flights to Incheon since 2007. It became the first foreign airline to sign a partnership agreement with the Korean airport in March 2018 to collaborate on initiatives to enhance the travel experience and make Incheon Asia's leading transit hub. It then expanded its air network to Asia through a joint venture partnership the strongest form of partnership among airlines, in which partners coordinate on route planning and share revenues on a route with Korean Air in 2018. Delta opened its Atlanta route in 2017 and increased the frequency of existing Detroit and Seattle flights, then added Minneapolis in 2019 and a second Atlanta route in 2024. It now plans to add more Salt Lake City routes in the summer of 2025. Under the joint venture between the two full-service carriers, Incheon International Airport has received an average of 2,100 daily transit passengers, mostly for connecting flights to the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Hong Kong and other Korean destinations. Notably, the figure has nearly doubled since before the strategic partnership and exceeded the figure for Tokyo by more than 600. "I am confident that Incheon Airport will be able to grow from a rapidly changing global aviation market to a global hub airport through cooperation with Delta Air Lines," Lee said. "We will become a role model for aviation partnerships that share and cooperate with our vision to lead the global aviation market as a global representative airport and airline in the future." "With the opening of a direct flight to Salt Lake City, which will be connected for the first time in Asia, Delta Air Lines has completed its Asia-Pacific hub base by connecting all four core hubs and Incheon," Esposito said. "In the future, Delta Air Lines plans to continue expanding its routes to Incheon to explore the Asia-Pacific market." Yoon says N. Korea wants US attention by showing off nuclear might North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for swiftly rebuilding homes in flood-devastated regions in the country's northwest, state media reported Monday. Kim made the remarks during a "field guidance" visit to the flood-stricken regions of North Phyongan Province on Sunday, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Late July's heavy rains inundated large areas along the Amnok River, with some South Korean media outlets speculating that the number of people who died or went missing could exceed 1,000. During the visit, Kim said that "all the builders should complete the housing construction on the highest level in the shortest time by directing redoubled efforts and sincerity to provide the people in the flood-hit areas with houses for happy living." Kim again emphasized that the quality of construction is not merely a matter of addressing the aftermath of a natural disaster but a critical process in implementing the party's far-reaching program for regional development. North Korea has been prioritizing economic development in backward provinces, following Kim's commitment to modernizing factories in 20 counties over the next decade. The country's "20-10 Regional Development Policy" aims to raise what the regime refers to as the basic material and cultural living standards of the people. It marks Kim's third visit to the rehabilitation sites, following earlier visits on July 28 and Aug. 8-9. South Korea's unification ministry responsible for inter-Korean affairs noted that this latest inspection seems intended to calm public sentiment and boost morale among military officials and young workers involved in the housing project. "It is somewhat unusual for Kim to inspect flood recovery efforts multiple times in such a short period," Koo Byoung-sam, a spokesperson for the ministry, said during a press briefing. (Yonhap) North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has stressed the importance of bilateral relations with Cuba in a message, widely seen as an effort to strengthen their long-standing ties, despite a setback over South Korea's recent establishment of diplomatic relations with Havana. Kim had conveyed cordial greetings to Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel in a message delivered by North Korea's new ambassador to Cuba, Han Su-chol, during his meeting with the Cuban president last Friday (local time), according to Cuba's presidential office and the social platform X. On Feb. 14, South Korea and Cuba formally established diplomatic relations, a surprising development that many viewed as a diplomatic blow to North Korea, which has long maintained close ties with the Caribbean nation. During the meeting with the Cuban president, Han emphasized Kim's strong commitment to the continued development of the historic relationship between North Korea and Cuba. Kim had said the bilateral relations are a source of pride for North Korean residents and a precious inheritance, according to the Cuban side. Han assumed his post earlier this month, following the departure of his predecessor, Ma Chol-su, in March. Some observers interpreted Ma's departure as a sign of North Korea's dissatisfaction with the new diplomatic ties between South Korea and Cuba. In response, President Diaz-Canel highlighted that next year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between North Korea and Cuba. He suggested that the two nations work together to create a schedule to celebrate the milestone, the office said. Since South Korea's establishment of diplomatic ties with Havana, North Korea has refrained from mentioning news related to Cuba in its state media. Ri Il-gyu, a former counselor of political affairs at the North Korean Embassy in Cuba, recently told Yonhap News Agency that North Korea would "never abandon" its ties with Cuba. Ri also revealed that members of North Korea's diplomatic mission in Cuba were summoned back to the country following his defection to South Korea with his family last November. Meanwhile, top diplomats from South Korea and Cuba held their first one-on-one talks on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York last week. The two countries are working to open embassies in Seoul and Havana by the end of this year. (Yonhap) By Kim Hyun-bin Marcia Donner Abreu, Brazilian ambassador to Korea, commemorated Brazil's 202 years of independence and the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Brazil during a National Day event held in Seoul on Wednesday. "I thank you all for being here tonight and joining the Brazilian Embassy in Seoul to celebrate 202 years of Brazil's independence and the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Brazil and the Republic of Korea," she said. Abreu emphasized the strong and enduring friendship between the two nations, built on mutual respect, shared values and a commitment to global peace and prosperity. "Our two countries built our longstanding friendship on mutual respect, shared values and a joint commitment to global peace and prosperity," she said. "My main goal during my mission here to increase the bilateral ties and promote even more fruitful exchanges between Brazil and Korea has found a fertile ground in the openness with which I have been received and in the interest Brazil, and Brazilians, lend to all things Korean." Highlighting the vibrant partnerships in trade, investment, political dialogue and cooperation, Abreu also touched upon the growing cultural and people-to-people bonds. "Despite the geographical distance and having cultures and societies so strikingly different from each other, Brazil and Korea have forged in these six and a half decades a solid path of mutual achievements that include vibrant partnership in trade, investment, political dialogue and cooperation," she said. "Our ties include a growing cultural and people-to-people bond, nurtured by a 50,000-strong Korean community in Brazil, a growing flow of businesses and tourism from side to side and, increasingly, family ties being built between our peoples." Addressing global challenges, the ambassador acknowledged the partnership between Korea and Brazil in tackling issues such as climate change, economic inequality and sustainable development. "Beyond bilateral endeavors, Brazil and Korea partnership addresses critical global challenges such as climate change, economic inequality and sustainable development," she said. "Our nations actively participate in various initiatives aimed at promoting a more equitable and sustainable world order." She also praised Korea's achievements and its role in global initiatives. "Korea's inspirational journey to development, its achievements in innovation and frontier technologies, including in the field of carbon-free energy, and its commitment to a world order that puts peace and prosperity at the forefront can offer valuable insights and contributions in the wider context of combating the spread of conflicts, inequality and the climate emergency worldwide," Abreu said. President Yoon Suk Yeol and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico agreed Monday to elevate bilateral ties and cooperate in carbon-free energy industries as South Korea aims to bid for Slovakia's upcoming nuclear power project. Yoon and Fico, who was on a three-day official visit to South Korea beginning Sunday, adopted a statement on forging a strategic partnership encompassing cooperation in security, defense, economy, trade, energy and technology areas. The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on comprehensive energy cooperation that covers carbon-free energy sources, including nuclear power, renewable energy and hydrogen. The MOU comes as Slovakia plans to build a new nuclear power unit with a capacity of up to 1,200 megawatts at the Jaslovske Bohunice plant in the country's western region. Slovakia has five nuclear reactors that generate half of its electricity, with another reactor under construction. The Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power has expressed interest in the Slovak project, after being selected as the preferred bidder for a similar nuclear project in the Czech Republic in July. The two countries also signed the MOU on the Trade and Investment Promotion Framework to pave the way for facilitating trade and investment and agreed to deepen cooperation in the defense industry area. Bilateral trade stood at approximately $4 billion last year, mostly in vehicles and auto parts. During the talks, Yoon and Fico expressed strong concern over its increasing military cooperation and arms trade between North Korea and Russia, which they noted as violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions, according to the joint statement. Fico voiced support for Yoon's pursuit of peaceful unification with North Korea based on liberal democracy and committed to enhancing cooperation for peace on the Korean Peninsula, it noted. The visit to South Korea marks Fico's second, following his first in 2007. In Slovakia, the prime minister holds the most executive power, while the president plays a largely ceremonial role. (Yonhap) The following is the full text of a joint statement adopted during a summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico held in Seoul on Monday. At the invitation of His Excellency Yoon Suk Yeol, President of the Republic of Korea (hereinafter referred to as the ROK), His Excellency Robert Fico, Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as Slovakia), paid an official visit to the ROK from September 29 to October 1, 2024. Building upon over 30 years of bilateral relations since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1993, Noting the significant progress made in various fields of bilateral cooperation, including trade and investment, security and defense, energy security, culture, and people-to-people exchanges, Reaffirming the importance of shared values such as freedom, human rights and the rule of law that form the foundation of our partnership, Sharing a common interest in revitalizing and working closer together on bilateral, regional, multilateral, and global issues, Marking the mutually beneficial relations and desire to further strengthen and deepen our cooperation as the two countries enter a new era of partnership, During the Summit Meeting between the ROK and Slovakia, both sides agreed to elevate our bilateral relations by establishing a Strategic Partnership encompassing the most significant areas of present and future cooperation as follows: Political, Security, and Defense Cooperation Considering the Protocol on Cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea signed in Seoul on August 27, 2001 and to maintain the momentum of regular high-level exchanges, both sides agreed to strengthen political dialogue and to conduct a regular political consultation between the two Foreign Ministries including at the Ministerial level to discuss bilateral, international and other issues of mutual interest. Both sides agreed to hold consultations among other inter-Ministerial bodies on subjects of common interest and encourage exchanges and dialogue between the National Assembly of the ROK and the National Council of Slovakia and other institutions. Both sides will fully support a fair, just, and rules-based international order, with the United Nations (UN) playing the central role in addressing global issues and bringing political solutions to international disputes through consultations and negotiations. Both sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in the UN, ASEM, ROK-EU relations, ROK-NATO relations, and other multilateral mechanisms, including close dialogue about the possibilities to address shared security threats and challenges. Within the framework of defense cooperation, the Memorandum of Understanding between the ROK and Slovakia was signed on September 21, 2022, at the level of the Ministries of Defense, and it covers the development of defense and security cooperation. It provides the basis for cooperation in defense policy consultation, military education and training, defense industry cooperation, and much more. Based on shared security interests and reliable, accountable, visible, and mutually beneficial partnership, both sides will promote mutually beneficial cooperation in the area of defense, including but not limited to sharing lessons learned in building robust, well-prepared, equipped, trained, and highly motivated Armed Forces; cooperation in the field of acquisition policy, introduction of military supplies, defense industry, including research and technology (R&T), countering hybrid and cyber threats, and strengthening the resilience of the state and society. Economic and Trade Cooperation Considering the existing robust economic and commercial relations, including a number of significant investment projects of the ROK in Slovakia, and the Agreement on Economic Cooperation between the Government of the ROK and the Government of Slovakia signed in Bratislava on February 28, 2017, both sides agreed to further reinforce the bilateral economic relations between the ROK and Slovakia. The Korean strategic investments in Slovakia established a unique basis for strengthening bilateral cooperation in the fields of innovation, modern technologies, and start-ups. Both sides recognized their shared commitment to free, fair, and rules-based trade and acknowledged the enormous potential for further expansion of trade and investment between the ROK and Slovakia. To deepen and expand mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation, both sides agreed to make full use of the ROK-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which entered into force in July 2011. In terms of technology cooperation, both sides will aim to facilitate collaboration between private sectors in various fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), e-sectors, green technology, robotics, autonomous systems, defense industry, and carbon-free energy industries, including hydrogen, nuclear, and renewable energy technologies. Both sides will also seek to cooperate in the development and application of hydropower and biotechnology. Both sides will aim to support and promote cooperation in the defense industry and in other sectors, recognizing the potential of a higher value-oriented investment for mutual growth and development. Slovakia will provide various forms of support for incoming investors, including regional investment incentives and a preferential tax regime for companies with R&D operations. Scientific, Medical, Social and Cultural Cooperation Considering the Agreement between the Government of the ROK and the Government of Slovakia on Scientific and Technological Cooperation signed in 2013 and existing cooperation between universities, institutes, and researchers, both sides agreed to identify opportunities for joint research and collaboration in mutually agreed areas. Both sides acknowledged the importance of international cooperation in the field of healthcare and global health challenges, and agreed to endeavor to explore areas of cooperation in relevant fields of mutual interest. Referring to the Agreement between the Government of the ROK and the Government of Slovakia on cooperation in the field of culture, education, and tourism, signed in Seoul on October 30, 2007, both sides emphasized the importance of enhancing the exchange of knowledge, experience, culture, and tourism between their peoples. Both sides agreed to endeavor to conclude an Agreement between the ROK and Slovakia concerning a Working Holiday Program and boost further exchanges between young generations. Both sides underlined their willingness to further develop and support cultural activities, promote the mobility of researchers and academics in relevant areas, and encourage student exchanges and university cooperation to strengthen the bond between the two countries. Both sides also agreed to lay support for cooperation on provincial and regional levels and through various twinning projects in mutually agreed areas. International Cooperation Acknowledging their common interests and priorities in a range of global issues, such as the preservation of the rules-based international order, the global financial architecture, climate change negotiations, non-proliferation, nuclear safety and security, piracy, and sustainable development, both sides agreed to further strengthen cooperation in these areas and confirmed their continued willingness to be actively engaged in these areas. To this end, both sides agreed to promote further cooperation within the Visegrad Group plus the ROK format, including through high level meetings, political consultations as well as other joint projects. Slovakia appreciated the ROK's contribution to the International Visegrad Fund (IVF) and agreed to continue identifying projects that align with the mutual interests of both sides in the future. Both sides shared the belief that there is much to be gained from a closer relationship between Europe and the Indo-Pacific and have agreed to work together toward this end, in close cooperation with other partners. Both sides agreed that future possibilities for closer dialogue and cooperation within new areas, both thematically and geographically, could be explored in the years ahead. Situation on the Korean Peninsula Slovakia has expressed its continued support for the efforts to establish peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula through meaningful developments in inter-Korean relations, on the basis of sincere and substantial dialogue. Furthermore, Both sides agreed to continue consultations to achieve this goal. In this regard, Slovakia supported the ROK's Audacious Initiative as well as the "August 15 Unification Doctrine" for a unified Korean Peninsula that is free, peaceful, and prosperous. Both sides have called for the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and rendered its consistent support in this regard. Both sides have condemned nuclear tests by the DPRK and the unprecedented number of missile launches, which pose a serious threat to regional and international peace and security and to the global non-proliferation regime. Both sides expressed strong concern over the increasing military cooperation between the DPRK and the Russian Federation, including the DPRK's export and Russia's procurement of ballistic missiles in violation of multiple UNSC resolutions. Both sides remain deeply concerned with the human rights situation in the DPRK, with the on-going, systematic, widespread, and gross human rights violations, some of which may amount to crimes against humanity. Both sides also committed to strengthening cooperation to promote human rights in the DPRK and called for the immediate resolution of the issues of abductees, detainees and unrepatriated prisoners of war. Closing remarks Taking into consideration the above-mentioned commitments and seeking to support effective implementation of this Joint Statement, both sides will review the implementation of the Joint Statement at mutually acceptable intervals. (Yonhap) The government discussed plans Monday for a potential emergency evacuation of Korean nationals in Lebanon as the escalating conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah is raising fears of a full-scale war in the region. The meeting, led by the foreign ministry, was the latest to be held to review contingency plans for South Korean citizens in Lebanon and nearby regions, following a serious of strikes by Israel on Lebanon that have killed dozens of people, including Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Concerns of a wider war have led to international airlines suspending their flights. Second Vice Foreign Minister Kang In-sun called for maximum efforts to ensure the safety of Koreans in the Middle East through close coordination between the ministry headquarters, diplomatic missions and relevant ministries. Kang also renewed her call on Korean citizens in Lebanon and Israel to leave the countries as soon as possible. About 140 South Koreans are in Lebanon and some 480 are in Israel, according to the foreign ministry. Officials from the defense ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were also present at Monday's meeting. (Yonhap) By Jon Dunbar Gojoseon was founded over 4,000 years ago, after a bear in a cave ate garlic and mugwort until she transformed into a human. Although this legend gives us a statutory holiday in Korea, there aren't that many street celebrations held for this fabled story. Instead, people around central Seoul's Haebangchon and Itaewon will be treated to a different kind of celebration: the return of Seoul Drag Parade. "As a drag queen, I gotta say a bear turning into a woman sounds very familiar to what I see in the backstage of drag shows," quipped Heezy Yang, a drag artist who goes by Hurricane Kimchi, who is a co-founder of the drag event. Read More Drag artist dives into songwriting Yang started Seoul Drag Parade in 2018 with Ali Zahoor, who also goes by Ali Vera. They held the parade annually twice before the pandemic got in their way. Now, they're finally ready to bring the public parade back to Seoul's streets. Read More Online Seoul Drag Parade goes global "During the COVID-19 pandemic, we were unable to hold the parade like this and had more online events and shows so we're very excited to go back to our roots," Zahoor said. "Our goals for this year's Seoul Drag Parade are somewhat reminiscent of our early days as we're back to doing an outdoor daytime parade, which can be attended by anyone regardless of age, gender, race or sexuality." Zahoor explained the need to hold an outdoor event, which enables anyone interested to join. "Drag in South Korea is often restricted to bar or club venues that cannot allow entry to minors as they serve alcohol," Zahoor said. "Some venues even restrict entry based on sex or sexuality, so we wanted to create a space for anyone to try drag or at least see it. Being out in the open outdoors is also a way to celebrate the art of drag and queer performers, raising awareness for the art form and the presence of queer people." Zahoor emphasized the importance of drag in the LGBTQ community. "Drag has always been a way for queer people to express their gender and/or sexuality, dating back centuries," Zahoor said. "As many queer people start to discover or experiment with this from a young age, it's only a positive thing for minors to have a safe and supportive environment to try out drag or at least see it." "If you think about it, gender roles and gender-appropriate clothing are what are unnatural actually," Yang added. "Some people just decided that men doing these things and women doing those things is what is correct. Same with the gender-appropriate clothing. These things are social constructs and (wrongly) learned ideas and concepts. Drag helps the youths unlearning these things, and it even prevents them from learning such wrong things in the first place." Drag has become the center of a moral panic in some Western countries, where some conservatives feel threatened by drag, seeing it as a sexual thing, and especially something that minors should be protected from. But in Korea, drag seems to be off the radar of conservative Christians so far. Unlike the much larger annual Seoul Queer Culture Festival (SQCF) that happens downtown, Seoul Drag Parade does not get attacked by religious people and needs no police protection to operate. "A lot of people in Korea still don't even know what drag is. Therefore, they don't know about Seoul Drag Parade either," Yang said. "The thing about the attacks and oppressions coming from anti-LGBTQ Christian groups is that they only take place when something gets visible and noticed on their radar." Yang added, "While the many Pride parades of South Korea are named and presented as Queer Festivals or Queer Parades, our event is officially titled and promoted as Seoul Drag Parade, which does not include the word 'Queer.'" The location in Seoul's more foreign areas may also help protect them from protests, Zahoor noted. "Protests have been minimal and mostly online rather than in-person, and I think a lot of this is due to the location being Itaewon," Zahoor said. "Even though drag shows exist in Hongdae, Euljiro and Jongno, to name a few, Itaewon is the heart of drag in Seoul. Itaewon is known to be more liberal and open-minded due to the presence of foreigners and establishments for sexual minorities." While registering with the police for the parade, Yang reported none of the problems experienced by SQCF organizers, who have to compete with Christian protesters registering their own counter-events. He did admit to keeping the event a secret until after they successfully gained permission. "So far, with declaring our parade at the police station and working with the police, I have not experienced anything negative," Yang said. "Theyve always tried to let us do whatever we wanted to do in the way we wanted to do, as much as possible, while theyre providing the help we need to keep us safe during the event." While SQCF attracts hundreds of thousands of participants, the Seoul Drag Parade sees participation in the hundreds. "If I may, size isnt everything," Yang said. "Seoul Drag Parade is a much smaller parade event than other Pride Parade events in Korea, but it is that much more intimate, community-like and safer from anti-LGBTQ Christian groups attacks and oppositions. I love what we have created and the way it is now." Seoul Drag Parade was originally founded to run the annual parade event, but the two co-founders soon started organizing and participating in various other drag-related events throughout the year, not just in Seoul but also in other Korean cities, and even overseas as well. It has also, out of necessity, become a human rights organization. "We create shows, events, spaces for drag performers, fans of drag, LGBTQ+ people and allies," Yang said. "We create platforms for those people." They recently raised donations in order to join the Daegu Queer Culture Festival, which is the second-oldest such festival in Korea. Seoul Drag Parade had a float for the festival, which was held Saturday. "We felt it was important to join in again for their 16th parade, especially since it's one of the most conservative parts of South Korea with potentially the highest ratio of protesters," Zahoor said. "Luckily, we were able to raise enough funds to cover transportation costs of performers due to kind and generous donors." The hour-long Seoul Drag Parade begins at 4 p.m. in front of Rabbithole Arcade Pub in Haebangchon and marches to Itaewon and back. There is no participation fee. Before and after, there are a whole day's worth of events, starting from 2 p.m. From 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., there is a queer market and tarot reading at Rabbithole and The Studio HBC next door. Entry is free to everyone of all ages, and the venues will have no alcohol sales during this time. Rabbithole and KYLDN Social Club will host after parties with drag performances from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. These events are not for minors, and 15,000 won gives guests entry to both events. As well, supporting businesses Phillies Pub, Living Room and Hair of the Dog will offer a free shot to people wearing the after party bracelet, when they make a purchase. Visit linktr.ee/seouldragparade for more information. By Bereket Alemayehu CHUNCHEON, Gangwon Province Ethiopia-gil, a road near to the Memorial Hall for Ethiopian Veterans of the Korean War in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, hosted a Meskel celebration for the 14th consecutive year on Sept. 29. An annual holiday celebrated by Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, it commemorates the discovery of the True Cross of Christ in the fourth century. Inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013, the festival was celebrated across Ethiopia on Sept. 27. The festival in Korea attracted hundreds of people from diverse communities in Korea, and was organized in collaboration with the Ethiopian Bet Association and Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Far East, as well as the dioceses of the United Kingdom, Ireland and surrounding countries and the Holy Mary Church of the Holy Light of South Korea. David Cha, president of the Ethiopian Bet Association, gave a speech expressing his heartfelt gratitude to everyone who joined the 14th Ethiopian Road Meskel Festival in the city. Every year when Ethiopians gather like this, it holds great significance for us," he said. "This is a precious time to share our greetings and the warmth of our homeland, and it's irreplaceable. You all play a crucial role in strengthening the relationship between our two countries. I sincerely hope that our children grow up with respect and become great individuals who contribute to the world. They are our future and hope. Today is a day for all of us. Let us celebrate by enjoying the Meskel festival to the fullest and cherishing each others presence." Colorfully dressed priests of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in South Korea offered ceremonial blessings, chanted hymns and prayers, and performed their unique rhythmic dance before the "Demera," or large ceremonial bonfire. One person in attendance was Chalachew Kindie Mengist, a researcher at Pusan National University's Research Center for Climate Sciences, as well as one of the church's head officers and a member of the festival organizing committee. He told The Korea Times that since the church officially established its presence here in 2019, it has taken part in organizing the festival every year. However, he added that even though it's originally a religious holiday, it attracts everyone who likes Ethiopia's people, culture and traditions, and has been an important aspect of the community that brings together people from all across Korea. Historically this place was visited by the last emperor of Ethiopia, King Haile Selassie, in the 1960s, who named the current coffee house, Ethiopia Bet, as the way when Ethiopians come to visit Korea to have a permanent place where they feel comfortable," he said. "The Korean business owners kept that promise for decades, in that mutual tradition evolved between the two societies. So, this is a place where we all come together as a family and feel connected, visit the war veterans memorial hall and exhibition, and celebrate our beloved country, Ethiopia. Overall, the annual festival is a time when families and friends celebrate unity. Ethiopian journalist Tewodros Assefa came all the way from Ethiopia with a film crew to represent Ethiopian National Television (EBC). For the last seven years, he has traveled to different countries with Ethiopian diaspora communities, filming major holidays they celebrate and making documentaries. We are happy witnessing such a gathering at the festival," he said. "They all come from different parts of Korean provinces. We know that not many Ethiopians live in Korea, however, it is great to see Ethiopians and Koreans get along and live in coexistence. In addition to documenting the festival, our production is working on featuring the friendship and relationship between the two nations. Chuncheon established the Memorial Hall for Ethiopian Veterans of the Korean War here in 2004 after signing a sisterhood agreement with the Ethiopian capital city of Addis Ababa. It also established Ethiopia-gil the same year, which runs through downtown Chuncheon's Geunhwa-dong and passes by the Bukhan River. Bereket Alemayehu is an Ethiopian photo artist, social activist and writer based in Seoul. He's also the co-founder of Hanokers, a refugee-led social initiative and a freelance contributor for Pressenza Press Agency. A court has sentenced Suga of K-pop superband BTS to a fine of 15 million won ($11,491) on charges of driving an electric scooter under the influence of alcohol, sources said Monday. Late at night on Aug. 6, police officers found Suga trying to get up after falling off his electric scooter under the influence of alcohol near his residence in the Hannam neighborhood of the Yongsan district. His blood alcohol concentration was measured at 0.227 percent, far exceeding the 0.08 percent threshold, which is subject to the revocation of a driver's license. Prosecutors later summarily indicted him for drunk driving. Legal sources said that the Seoul Western District Court imposed a 15 million-won fine on the 31-year-old artist, whose legal name is Min Yoon-gi, last Friday, a sentence that is identical to the prosecutors' request. A summary indictment, used for minor offenses, requests the court to impose a fine or confiscation through an expedited process without a full trial. Suga can challenge the sentence by filing for a full trial within seven days of the court's decision. (Yonhap) Prosecutors on Monday grilled an e-commerce tycoon believed to be at the center of the large-scale insolvency incidents involving online shopping platforms TIMON and WeMakePrice. Ku Young-bae, CEO of the Singapore-based Qoo10 Group, the parent company of TIMON and WeMakePrice, underwent questioning as a fraud and embezzlement suspect at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office in the morning. He entered the prosecution office at 8:55 a.m. after telling reporters that he will faithfully undergo the investigation. In late July, TIMON and WeMakePrice filed for court receivership due to liquidity problems that resulted in massive delayed payments to vendors on their platforms. Prosecutors estimated the amount of suspected fraud and embezzlement at 1.4 trillion won ($1.07 billion) and 50 billion won, respectively. They also suspect that Qoo10 may have misused about 50 billion won of the shopping platforms' due payments to vendors to acquire an overseas shopping mall. Prosecutors reportedly grilled Ku about whether he arbitrarily used the affiliated companies' funds and was involved in their irregular business operations despite knowing their financial situations were worsening. (Yonhap) Veterans Minister Kang Jung-ai on Monday presented a plaque to Ron Kim, a New York State assemblymember, in recognition of his efforts to raise awareness about Korea's independence movement and independence fighter Yu Gwan-sun (1902-20), Kang's office said. In a ceremony held in Seoul during Kim's visit to the country, Kang thanked the state assemblymember for leading legislative efforts to designate "Yu Gwan-sun Day" in New York earlier this year, according to the veterans ministry. Yu is a national hero who died in prison at age 17 after taking an active part in the March 1 independence movement during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. In 2019, Kim also played a central role in helping designate a day marking the 100th anniversary of the resistance movement against Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, according to the ministry. (Yonhap) President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval rating has fallen to 25.8 percent, the lowest level since he took office in 2022, with the negative assessment of his performance topping 70 percent for the first time, a poll showed Monday. The survey, conducted by Realmeter and commissioned by a local news outlet, showed Yoon's positive rating fell 4.5 percentage points from the previous week. The previous record low in Realmeter surveys was 27 percent in the second week of September. The survey attributed the decline to Yoon's dinner meeting with the leadership of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) that ended without meaningful discussions on sensitive issues, such as medical reform, as well as the growing factional row between pro-Yoon lawmakers and those aligned with PPP leader Han Dong-hoon. The negative assessment of Yoon rose by 4.6 percentage points to a record high of 70.8 percent, surpassing the 70 percent mark for the first time. The survey was conducted on 2,507 adults from Monday to Friday last week and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, with a confidence rate of 95 percent. In a separate survey conducted by the same pollster on 1,003 individuals aged 18 and over Thursday and Friday, the approval ratings of the ruling PPP fell below 30 percent for the first time under the Yoon administration. Support for the PPP dropped 5.3 percentage points to 29.9 percent, while the figure for the main opposition Democratic Party went up 4 percentage points to 43.2 percent. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, with a confidence rate of 95 percent. (Yonhap) Prosecutors demanded Monday a three-year prison term for opposition leader Lee Jae-myung on charges of suborning a former mayoral secretary to make false court testimony in his favor in 2018. Lee, chair of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), was indicted last year on charges of demanding a secretary of former Seongnam Mayor Kim Byung-ryang to give false testimony in a 2018 election law violation case involving him. The court will deliver the verdict on Nov. 25. The case involves Lee's conviction in 2004 for illegally impersonating a prosecutor in collusion with a TV news producer who was gathering information on then Seongnam Mayor Kim in connection with a preferential apartment distribution scandal. Lee was fined 1.5 million won ($1,145) in the case. During a 2018 TV debate while running for Gyeonggi governor, he claimed the case was based on false accusations. He was later charged with making false statements during the election but was finally acquitted in 2020. Last year, prosecutors charged Lee with urging a secretary of the former Seongnam mayor through telephone calls to testify in his favor during the ongoing court trial in December 2018 on election falsehood. Prosecutors suspect the secretary's subsequent testimony, aligned with Lee's request, led to his acquittal by the Supreme Court. The prosecution said Lee deserves a heavy punishment, given the seriousness of the alleged crime that "disrupts the judicial order and causes confusion in society." "Perjury is a serious crime that hinders the discovery of the truth, disrupts the legal system and creates societal confusion," it said in the closing statement. "By repeatedly lying about crucial issues that significantly shape voters' rational decisions and encouraging perjury to conceal the lies, the core of democracy has been deeply undermined." The prosecution accused Lee of "meticulously" executing his plan, just like "giving a student the answers for a perfect score." "This approach is rarely seen in similar cases," it said. Appearing at the Seoul Central District Court for the trial, Lee accused the prosecution of manipulating charges and evidence against him and of attempting to throttle the opposition party, saying "such violence should never be forgiven." "Prosecutors wielding court warrants are turning the country into a dictatorship, decades after the military regimes are gone," Lee said, surrounded by senior party officials who came to the court in support of him. Lee has consistently denied the charges, accusing prosecutors of false indictment, even though the secretary, charged with perjury, largely admitted to having falsely testified at his request. If Lee receives a finalized jail sentence or a harsher penalty in this case, he would be barred from running for public office while the sentence is in effect. The case is one of four trials Lee is currently facing in connection with various charges, including bribery and election falsehood related to a high-profile property development corruption scandal. Earlier this month, prosecutors demanded a two-year prison term for Lee in an election falsehood case, a sentence, if finalized, that would strip him of his parliamentary seat and suspend his rights to run for public office for the next five years. Sentencing in that case is schedule for Nov. 15. (Yonhap) The Cabinet on Monday demanded the National Assembly reconsider three bills, including one calling for a special counsel investigation into first lady Kim Keon Hee's stock manipulation and other allegations. A motion demanding reconsideration was approved during a Cabinet meeting 11 days after the bills passed through the opposition-controlled National Assembly. President Yoon Suk Yeol is widely expected to endorse the motion. "As this unprecedented abuse of legislative power continues, politics has been lost and the constitutional order of the separation of powers is being threatened," Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said at the start of the meeting. "I believe it will be difficult for our rational people to understand the intention of the opposition party in pushing bills that have already been scrapped through a parliamentary revote following the government's repeated demands for reconsideration, after increasing their unconstitutionality," he said. The special counsel bill calls for an independent probe into allegations the first lady was involved in manipulating the stock prices of Deutsch Motors, a BMW car dealer in South Korea, between 2009 and 2012, illegally received a luxury bag in 2022, and interfered with the ruling party's candidate nominations ahead of the April 2024 general elections. A similar bill previously passed through the Assembly but was vetoed by Yoon in January and later scrapped in a revote. The government also demanded the reconsideration of a bill mandating a special counsel probe into allegations the presidential office and the defense ministry inappropriately interfered in the military's investigation into the death of a Marine during a search mission for victims of heavy downpours in July 2023. The main opposition Democratic Party had earlier passed three bills similar to it, but the latest one calls for the Supreme Court chief justice to recommend candidates for the special counsel. The third bill put up for reconsideration calls for making it mandatory for the central and local governments to provide financial resources for the issuance of local currency vouchers designed to boost the economy. Monday's motion was the latest action in a long-running cycle of the opposition-controlled National Assembly unilaterally passing contentious legislation and Yoon vetoing it. (Yonhap) The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is likely to decide as early as this week whether to agree on the postponement of a new investment tax set to take effect next year, officials said Monday, with its leadership weighing a possible delay of the policy. The DPK will hold a general meeting of party lawmakers as early as Friday or Saturday and swiftly come to a decision, Rep. Jo Seoung-lae, the DPK's chief spokesperson, told reporters after a supreme council meeting. The ruling People Power Party (PPP) has been urging the DPK to agree on the abolition, or at least a postponement, of the financial investment income tax, which was originally set to be introduced last year but was delayed by two years until the start of 2025. DPK lawmakers remain divided over the issue, but observers say the party is likely to decide on delaying the tax. During a TV debate of DPK chairman candidates in August, DPK leader Lee Jae-myung called for the postponement of the financial investment income tax. He also hinted at delaying the tax in an interview with a local broadcaster Sunday, saying the DPK "cannot but consider the public sentiment" that now is not the right time to introduce the policy. A DPK official told Yonhap News Agency over the phone that "there is a consensus" within the party that delaying the investment income tax is unavoidable. Some DPK lawmakers have insisted the financial investment income tax should go into effect as planned, expressing concerns over a potential decrease in tax revenues. Under the new scheme, capital gains of over 50 million won ($38,138) from stock investments will be subject to a 20 percent tax, while earnings exceeding 300 million won will be subject to a 25 percent tax. (Yonhap) President likely to face challenges in carrying out reforms By Kwak Yeon-soo The approval ratings of President Yoon Suk Yeol and the ruling People Power Party (PPP) hit all-time lows, a poll showed Monday, reflecting broad dissatisfaction with the ruling bloc's policies. The survey, conducted by Realmeter and commissioned by a Korean news outlet, showed Yoon's approval rating fell to 25.8 percent, down 4.5 percentage points from the previous week. The negative assessment of his performance topped 70 percent for the first time since his inauguration in May 2022. The ruling PPP's approval rating dropped to 29.9 percent, down 5.3 percentage points from a week ago, marking the lowest level since Yoon's inauguration. It was the first time that the party's approval rating fell below 30 percent. Compared to the PPP, the approval rating for the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) increased by 4 percentage points to reach 43.2 percent. Several factors contributed to the widespread dissatisfaction with the government, including Yoon's dinner meeting with the PPP leadership, which concluded without any meaningful discussions on pressing issues like medical reforms. Other issues, such as the growing factional row between pro-Yoon lawmakers and those aligned with PPP leader Han Dong-hoon and allegations that first lady Kim Keon Hee interfered with the ruling party's candidate nominations ahead of the April general elections, also affected the approval ratings, according to political analysts. Experts said the public's approval of Yoon and the PPP has worsened compared to April, when the ruling party suffered a major setback by taking only 108 seats in the 300-seat National Assembly in the general elections. "Polls continue to show Yoon and the ruling party's approval ratings are in poor shape. The public's patience has run out. Yoon is already looking like a lame duck," Park Chang-hwan, political commentator and professor at Jangan University, said. "It is becoming increasingly evident that he has limited power to pursue the legislative changes or reforms he advocates, as his stubbornness prevents him from engaging in negotiations with the ruling party." Park was referring to the discord between the PPP leader and the government regarding the issue of increasing medical school quotas, which has sparked months of protests from doctors and disruptions in medical services. Han suggested initiating talks with the medical community about potential changes to the quota for the 2025 school year, while both the government and the president remain firm in their stance, asserting that the plan for next year cannot be retracted. Yoon's record-low approval rating likely means he will face significant challenges in carrying out the medical reforms and other major initiatives, especially when the opposition controls the Assembly. The DPK has been advocating for a special probe bill concerning allegations that the first lady was involved in manipulating the stock prices of Deutsch Motors, a BMW dealership in Korea, between 2009 and 2012. Additionally, she is accused of illegally receiving a luxury bag in 2022 and interfering with candidate nominations for the ruling party ahead of the general elections. Yoon is expected to exercise his veto power over the special counsel investigation bill concerning his wife, as well as other bills on politically contentious issues. This includes a proposal for a special counsel probe into the presidential office, which the DPK is advocating for regarding cash handouts to all citizens. "Yoon's continued veto will likely create a polarized political climate and deepen confrontation with the opposition. The DPK has done literally everything it can at the Assembly, including unilaterally passing controversial bills and holding public hearings," Park said. "If the bills fail to pass a parliamentary revote, the DPK may consider staging a protest outside the political arena," he added. Pyongyang's drastic policy shift highlighted at International Forum on One Korea By Jung Min-ho Reunifying the Korean Peninsula into one nation has always been a challenging mission. But over the past year, skepticism has grown to an unprecedented level. After the North Korean regime officially abandoned its goal of unification late last year, some politicians in the South have also joined increasing calls for peaceful coexistence. During this years International Forum on One Korea, co-hosted by the Global Peace Foundation (GPF), Action for Korea United and One Korea Foundation, political leaders, security experts and human rights activists urged the government and people in the South to reject that shift, saying that permanent division on the peninsula betrays Koreas founding vision and would not bring lasting peace. The fact that (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-un abandoned unification, which was a key policy of both his father and grandfather, is an admission that he has already lost, Hyun Jin Preston Moon, left, founder and chairman of the GPF, said at Fridays event held in Seoul. According to Moon, that decision was tantamount to abandoning the aspirations of modern Korea's forefathers who led the independence movement from Japans 1910-45 colonial rule and those who established the nation under the founding value of Hongik Ingan, interpreted as to benefit humanity widely. Whos carrying the torch of those aspirations and staying true to our 5,000-year history and the destiny of the Korean people (now)? Its you, he said, calling on the government to reform its unification ministry as a pan-government, nonpartisan entity for that critical task. North Koreas attempt to leave the peninsula divided will not be supported by any countries, not even China, one of its most important allies, according to Hao Su, professor emeritus at Renmin University of China. The Chinese government has always supported the policies for the peaceful reunification of the peninsula led by the people of the peninsula. North Koreas recent policy changes will not affect Chinas perception, nor will it change Chinas stance of supporting the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula, he said. Dozens of prominent scholars and activists shared their insights and discussed ways to make the vision possible there. One thing they all agreed on was that prioritizing denuclearization of North Korea above the human rights of its people has achieved neither of the objectives. For 30 years, our North Korea policy has sacrificed human rights for the sake of addressing nuclear weapons. Both North Koreas nuclear and missile programs have thrived. Sidelining human rights to appease the regime is not the answer, but a fundamental flaw in policy. Our task is to turn this record of failure into success, said Robert Joseph, a senior scholar at the National Institute for Public Policy and former special envoy for nuclear nonproliferation in the U.S. Given that the greatest vulnerability of the Kim regime is from within, from the alienation of its own people who suffer under its totalitarian repression, Joseph suggested placing human rights and a comprehensive information campaign at the center of a new strategy for North Korea. His view was echoed by Suzanne Scholte, a U.S. rights activist and chief of the North Korean Freedom Coalition. Today, the people of North Korea are far more informed about the outside world than ever before. It is precisely why Kim Jong-un is using such draconian measures to isolate them from the outside world: It is the only way he can stay in power, Scholte said. He is terrified that he is losing control over their minds, which will mean the end of this triple family dictatorship. What those experts suggest is to maximize the international efforts to let ordinary people in North Korea know what the whole world already knows the reality of their terrible human rights situation, the incompetence of their leaders and the world outside their borders. David Maxwell, a GPF senior fellow and vice president at the Washington-based Center for Asia Pacific Strategy, said such efforts matter not just for the countrys peaceful unification but also for another important mission of creating a new Korea. One of the subjects addressed during the forum was the economic cost of unification, which is one of the major reasons for growing skepticism, particularly among young South Koreans. According to Nicholas Eberstadt, a political economist, such worries are vastly overblown. First: the economic reconstruction of northern Korea will be an immense project but if the returns on investment in this project are high, the project can basically pay for itself in the long run, he said. Second, thanks to generations of market-led modern development, both South Korea and the world as a whole are richer and more productive than ever before better poised to mobilize and deploy the immense amounts of capital and know-how a successful Korean reunification will surely require. If reunification suddenly occurred today, the newly reunified Korean Peninsula would count as a fairly affluent country, he noted. Rough calculations indicate that overall wealth per adult for a reunified Korea would be over $150,000 today, he added about the same level as in much of Southern Europe. None of this will be easy of course but all of it is surely doable, Eberstadt said. But Korean reunification is unthinkable only if we fail to think about it. Prospects for Korean unification are stronger than they ever have been, says Edwin Feulner By Lee Hyo-jin North Koreans are growing increasingly dissatisfied with their leadership and admire the democracy and economic success enjoyed by South Koreans, according to Edwin Feulner, founder of the U.S. think tank The Heritage Foundation, Saturday. Feulner, who referred to the North Korean regime as a prison north of the 38th parallel, said North Koreans are deprived of basic physical needs and the ability to freely express themselves or believe in their own set of values. "People in the DPRK, I think, are increasingly aware of the disadvantage they have from their current political leadership, and we have been hearing from defectors from the DPRK just how bad the situation is and as to how many more North Koreans are unhappy with that situation," Feulner said during a joint interview with local media in Seoul. DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name. The interview took place during his participation in the International Forum on One Korea, co-hosted by the Global Peace Foundation (GPF), Action for Korea United, and the One Korea Foundation. Feulner went on to say that North Korean citizens are looking at South Korea and observing what free people can achieve, not only through economic activity but also through civil societys ability to address social issues. While Feulner did not specify how exactly change might unfold in the reclusive regime, he emphasized the belief among South Koreans that their system, supported by churches and private organizations, could ultimately lead to change. In this context, he hailed President Yoon Suk Yeols Aug. 15 Unification Doctrine as a straightforward and candid assessment of the current situation on the Korean Peninsula. A key pillar of Yoon's unification doctrine is its strong emphasis on inducing change within the Kim Jong-un regime and the people of North Korea through rigorous diplomacy with the international community. "I hope that this is a view shared widely among (South) Korean people. I know, of course, about political differences and other things, but I think the notion of peaceful reunification and encouraging that among all levels of society here is very, very important," Feulner said. Feulner also positively assessed the bolstered trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the U.S., and Japan. He expressed hope that this momentum would continue even after the upcoming leadership change in Washington to counter the prospective danger from China. I have my own personal political views, but one of the things that I am very encouraged by is that under both former President Trump and current President Biden, the importance of both the bilateral U.S.-South Korea relationship and the trilateral relationship between the U.S., Korea and Japan has been emphasized, he said. Commenting on Japans new prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, who was elected Friday, Feulner said he believed Ishiba would help maintain the momentum, saying, "Ive never had the honor of meeting the new prime minister, but I believe he shares very much the views that his predecessor had, who signed the Camp David Accords. He highlighted that The Heritage Foundation will continue to promote the benefits of the South Korea-U.S. bilateral relationship to policymakers in Washington, including senators, congressmen and local government officials. Later in the day, Feulner attended the Korean Dream Unification Practice March at Imjingak, Paju, where he delivered a congratulatory speech. It seems to me that at this time, the prospects for Korean unification are stronger than they ever have beenI feel very happy and honored to be invited and to be a part of this commemoration to look forward to better days ahead in terms of a unified Korea, he said when asked about his attendance at the march. The march, which gathered around 30,000 participants, including politicians, prominent scholars, civic activists, and members of the public, aimed to highlight the vision of Korean unification as a grassroots movement rather than political ideologies. According to the organizers, participants marched a two-kilometer route near the DMZ. The main event featured a keynote speech by Hyun Jin Preston Moon, founder and chairman of the GPF, who outlined his vision for the "Korean Dream" of pursuing a free and peaceful unified Korea. The event also included cultural performances such as singing by North Korean defectors and a taekwondo demonstration. Ishiba's pledge to form Asian version of NATO could complicate matters for Seoul By Lee Hyo-jin Newly elected Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's progressive views on historical issues have raised hopes for continued momentum in improving Korea-Japan relations, experts said Sunday. However, given Ishibas outsider status within Japan's ruling party, the experts cautioned against raising expectations too high for corresponding steps from him in response to concessions made by President Yoon Suk Yeol gestures that were hardly reciprocated under outgoing leader Fumio Kishida. Ishiba, a 67-year-old former defense minister, was elected to lead the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Friday. He is set to officially take office as Japan's prime minister on Tuesday. The incoming prime minister's approach to historical issues a long-standing source of tension in Korea-Japan relations is notably more progressive than that of his predecessors. He has openly expressed regrets about Japan's misdeeds during its 1910-45 occupation of Korea, a rarity among LDP members. In a 2017 interview with South Korean media, Ishiba stated that Japan should continue apologizing for the wartime sex slavery issue until South Korea accepts those apologies. He has also expressed somewhat negative views about visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines 14 Class A war criminals from World War II. Such visits by Japanese officials often become a source of diplomatic tension with South Korea. "Ishiba's stance on historical issues is considered progressive," said Lee Won-deog, a professor of Japanese studies at Kookmin University. "I would cautiously predict that this may help reduce friction between Korea and Japan on these issues, and the intensity of such disputes could weaken. At the very least, its unlikely that Japan will generate new sources of historical disputes under his leadership." Yoon, since taking office in May 2022, has sought to mend fences with Japan over historical grievances. However, he has faced growing domestic criticism for his perceived pro-Japan stance and conciliatory approach to Japans historical misdeeds. Kishida, despite holding a dozen bilateral meetings with Yoon, failed to offer meaningful reciprocal gestures, fueling concerns that Seoul may have given up too many concessions without sufficient returns. But Lee cautioned against expecting too much from Ishiba. "I dont anticipate that Ishiba will introduce meaningful gestures on sensitive issues such as the compensation plan for South Korean victims of wartime forced labor. Once a politician assumes leadership, their previous personal views often shift to align with the government's official stance," he said. The professor noted that Ishiba, long considered an outsider within the conservative party, currently faces the challenge of forming his own faction and broadening his support base among party members, which could mean his personal views may give way to the partys mainstream stance. In the diplomacy realm, Ishiba is expected to maintain many of Kishida's policies, particularly regarding the alliance with the United States and strengthening the trilateral partnership between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo. But some of his defense policies may complicate matters for Seoul. "As a former defense minister, Ishiba tends to view international affairs through a defense-oriented lens. While this doesn't pose an immediate direct threat to South Korea, defense issues are likely to be a focal point during his term," Lee said. In particular, Ishiba's call for an Asian version of NATO to counter growing security threats from China and North Korea reflects his desire for Japan to play a larger role in regional security. However, this proposal is expected to face significant opposition from both China and Russia. For South Korea, which has been working to restore strained relations with Beijing through the resumption of high-level talks that could lead to a long-stalled leaders' summit, Ishiba's ambition for a military grouping could complicate these efforts. Critics argue that the concept of an NATO-like security group in Asia remains unfeasible at this point, as the idea is unlikely to gain much support from Washington or other regional partners. But if Ishiba continues to push this policy during his term, the Yoon government may face challenges in its diplomatic balancing act. In response to Ishiba's election, South Korea's foreign ministry expressed hopes for continued friendly relations. "Our government will maintain close communication with the newly formed Japanese Cabinet and continue cooperation to sustain the positive momentum in Korea-Japan relations," a ministry official said. The new Japanese leader is expected to debut on the international stage at either the ASEAN Summit taking place in Laos next month or the APEC Summit slated for November in Peru, both of which the South Korean president is also expected to attend. Regarding a potential meeting between Yoon and Ishiba, the foreign ministry said, "We will coordinate with the Japanese side on appropriate ways and timing, considering the new prime ministers schedule." By Jon Dunbar The members of Camarata Music had so many musicals to choose from for their next production, that they decided to choose a couple dozen of them. For "Page to Stage," the cast of 19 performers will present 29 songs from 23 musicals. "One of the constant feedbacks we had been receiving was that people were interested in performing and wanting to do a musical, but the choices of musicals that were being offered were not ones that fit their interests or shows that they thought that they would be good fits for," said Tarryn Hood, the director and stage manager. "So with that in mind, we wanted to kind of find a way to get more people involved, and so we decided to, instead of doing a specific show, make it more like a genre of shows and let people be able to kind of pick and choose songs." The Broadway cabaret-style performance features songs from "Seussical," "Death Note: The Musical," "Phantom of the Opera," "Cats," "Porgy and Bess" and many more. All the selected musicals are based on books, hence "Page to Stage." "We started with a couple of different genres we were looking at, like musicals that had to do with magic or musicals about school or school life, and we came across the musicals based on books," Hood said. "Musicals that came from books was one of the longer list of shows that we could think of, and so we felt that it would give people more opportunities and more choices to be able to pick what they wanted to sing." Hood said that her favorite among the selections is "In" from "Carrie: The Musical," based on Stephen King's 1974 horror novel that was also adapted into a 1976 movie starring Sissy Spacek, which is definitely not a musical. This one will feature half the cast, including herself. "It's a lesser-known musical but well-known book, so I was excited to introduce the show/song to more people," Hood said. Under the musical direction of Leslie Laney, every cast member will appear in five songs with each person appearing in two full-cast numbers, one of two half-cast songs, a duo or trio and a solo. The full-cast songs are "One Day More" from "Les Miserables" and "In a Place of Miracles" from "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." Hood added that there are no costumes, just a dress code color to stick to, and the performers are allowed to use props or accessories for their solos. Hood has been part of Camarata Music, a nonprofit music organization, since shortly after she arrived in Korea in 2019. "When I came to Korea in 2019, I immediately started looking for ways to perform, as I knew I needed that to make Korea a lasting option for me," she said. "(I) found Camarata, and they responded immediately with auditions coming up. I went, got cast and have been stuck with them ever since. It feels amazing having my theatre family, even in a country across the world. It's such a great community and it makes being in a new country so much more comfortable." She started piano lessons with her grandmother at age 5, but they quickly switched to singing when Hood's talent shone through. At age 8, the theater teacher noticed her talent, and she's been doing musicals ever since. Camarata's previous musical productions have included Little Shop of Horrors, Into the Woods, The Pirates of Penzance and most recently You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Three performances of "Page to Stage" will be staged at The Studio HBC in central Seoul's Haebangchon neighborhood. The curtain will open on Saturday at 1 p.m. and again at 6 p.m. and on Sunday at 4 p.m. Tickets cost 20,000 won. Visit camaratamusic.org for more information and to book tickets. By Chris Tharp Situated on the third floor of an aging brick building in Busans old textile district, Aither gallery has a raw look that feels spontaneously industrial and warm. The space is only accessible via a narrow set of steep stairs. Once an urban apartment, the dwelling has since been gutted and the residents replaced by works of art. Paintings, photographs, drawings, sketches and digital works now grace the walls in abundance. There are hundreds of them taking up all available space, acting as a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes, with a name and story behind each individual piece. Welcome to Hechyeomoyeo. The more the merrier, organizer Neil Wheelock Deforest Smith told The Korea Times at the opening of Hechyeomoyeos first Busan exhibition on Sept. 14. We gather a bunch of artists, throw them in a room and see what happens. I just put out an open call, and anyone who wants to can participate. This ethos of maximum inclusivity is what sets Hechyeomoyeo apart from more selectively curated projects, while also adding to the excitement. After all, theres power in numbers, and creating art can be a lonely endeavor. A Korean artist suggested the name Hechyeomoyeo, Smith continued. Its a military term used when everyone is scattered around and disorganized a command to come together, file in line and get in order. This made sense for the project since there are artists all over the place, hiding in their bedrooms or stuck in the same galleries. We wanted to mobilize them, move them around and bring them together. The Busan event is the groups seventh exhibition and includes 230 artists from both Korea and abroad working in a variety of media. The opening party drew a variety of both spectators and participants, with a mix of students, artists, teachers, musicians, poets and regulars of Busans tight-knit creative community. The fact that Hechyeomoyeo is a Seoul-based project that made an effort to come down to Koreas second city and involve local artists was not lost on the local crowd. I think its amazing to have people coming from Seoul to do creative works in Busan, local artist Lee Jeong-min, aka Min the Elephant, told Korea Times. With our venue (the newly opened Arise Artspace) thats what I want to do as well, connecting expat and Korean artists in Busan and beyond. Hopefully we could build a nationwide creative network and collaborate on projects. This is such a dynamic project to be a part of, with such good vibes, added Gimhae-based photographer Kim Mint, whose work is featured in the exhibition. Its a place where we can receive a lot of energy. There was certainly no short supply of energy during the opening event. The intimate nature of the gallery forced attendees to group together, encouraging discussion and interaction while they took in the dizzying array of works. Koreas most relentless summer in recent memory also contributed to the mood: it was hot, and attendees sipped iced coffee, soft drinks and cold cans of beer in an attempt to stay cool. However, the fact that the collective temperature was raised seemed to make everything more immediate and vital. While the art on the walls was certainly enough to capture everyones attention, part of Hechyeomoyeos mission is to involve live creation and performance as part of the overall experience at their events. One of the rooms featured live painting by American painter Manes Marcellon. This is called Retrospective, he said, as he dabbed yellow and gold paint on a splashy, graffiti-style representation of the word. Its a look over all the work Ive done in the past. I think this connects with any artist, because everyone has that time when they wonder: Where am I going in life? What have I done? I think this painting speaks to this. Soon after, the poets from Busans homegrown Liquid Arts Network joined in the action. Three spoken-word performers recited pieces in what was once the apartments living room, as attendees crowded closely to catch each syllable. Surrounded by a multitude of images on the walls, the performers responded with verbal art, and the sweaty, rapt room soaked up every word. I met Neil (Hechyeomoyeos organizer) last year at Naughty Muse Studios and admired his vision immediately, poet Kenneth May, Liquid Arts' ringleader, told Korea Times. What I like about Hechyeomoyeo is that they work from the concept of contribution, collectivity and openness. There are no boundaries. In keeping with this spirit, the thump and vibration of electronic music mixed with live instrumentation began to reverberate from the open, second-floor space, where musicians Fat Hamster and Kang New had set up shop. The gallery crowd quickly poured into the music room, losing themselves in the groove, melodies and beats, until about 30 minutes in, the arrival of the local police put a stop to the impromptu concert. Undeterred, the guests headed back up to Aither, where they once again took in the works and made connections. A group had gathered around one particularly striking piece a blossoming swirl of colors that came together to form the triumphant face of a lion. It was clearly one of the most eye-catching works in the room and also happened to be local, created by Busan-based artist Sarah Soh, who originally hails from Malaysia. In a place where galleries are predominant, this event creates an equal opportunity for every artist residing in Busan to showcase their works without any biases. After all, art is super subjective, Soh told Korea Times. For me, this event is all about the people. I met so many people of my likeness, it is revitalizing. Since we are all artists, there is this unspoken understanding of each other's passion and struggles. Together, we can uplift one another. Hechyeomoyeo's Busan exhibition runs until Saturday. There will be a closing party starting at 5 p.m., featuring live music by 9 Dimensions, John Given and Kuna X DJ Wisdom Cloud, and live painting by Kim Gun-woo. Originally hailing from the Pacific Northwest in the U.S., Chris Tharp has called Korea home for nearly two decades now. Hes a regular contributor to National Geographic Traveller (U.K.), and his award-winning writing has also appeared in CNN Travel, Conde Nast Traveler, The Telegraph, Fodors, Asia Times and more. He lives in Busan with his wife and a houseful of animals. Visit substack.com/@christharp and christharp.journoportfolio.com for more information. South Korea will show off a new ballistic missile and other key weapons systems on the 76th founding anniversary of its armed forces this week, officials said Sunday, in an apparent warning against North Korea's provocations. The Hyunmoo-5, known to be able to carry a warhead weighing 8-9 tons, will be displayed during both the ceremony at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, just south of the capital, and a military parade in downtown Seoul on Tuesday, according to the officials. "We showcased the Hyunmoo-4 for the first time during the Armed Forces Day ceremony last year," one of the officials said. "This year we will showcase the Hyunmoo-5, which is much more destructive than the Hyunmoo-4." South Korea has been developing a series of Hyunmoo missiles, including ballistic and cruise-type ones, as centerpieces of Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR), an operational plan to incapacitate the North Korean leadership in case of a major conflict. The Hyunmoo surface-to-surface missile is considered one of the key assets in Seoul's three-axis deterrence structure against the North's nuclear and missile threats. During the ceremony, the military will also showcase the U.S. B-1B bomber for the first time at Seoul Air Base in the allies' apparent show of force amid heightened tensions over North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. The B-1B Lancer is a four-engine supersonic strategic bomber with a maximum speed of Mach 1.25 and a flight range of up to 12,000 kilometers. It can reach the Korean Peninsula within two hours from the Guam base. (Yonhap) The interior ministry held a meeting Sunday with relevant agencies to discuss preparedness for an approaching typhoon. Interior Minister Lee Sang-min presided over the meeting, where attending officials reviewed emergency plans and safety measures with Typhoon Krathon expected to affect the southern island of Jeju and other southern regions, plus the eastern province of Gangwon this week. The Korea Meteorological Administration said the typhoon will likely pass near Taipei on Wednesday with a maximum wind speed of 37 meters per second in a 320-kilometer radius and begin having an impact on Korea on Thursday. The interior ministry called on regional governments, police and firefighting authorities to identify vulnerable areas ahead of time and evacuate residents as necessary. The ministry also ordered thorough checks on areas that had previously been damaged by heavy rains. With two holidays on the horizon in the new week Armed Forces Day on Tuesday and National Foundation Day on Thursday the interior ministry said local officials must set up an airtight emergency response system. Lee said people should stay up to the minute on the latest weather forecast and refrain from going outside when their area is under the influence of the typhoon. (Yonhap) By John Merrill North Korea is building up its frontline tactical missile forces against South Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently announced that North Korea has deployed along the DMZ some 250 mobile missile launchers, capable of carrying up to four short-range Hwasong 11 KN-23 ballistic missiles. This is in addition to existing artillery positions aimed at Seoul and other sites along the border. The solid-fuel missiles, which are theoretically nuclear-capable, will allow Pyongyang to target key areas in South Korea with greater accuracy. If fired as a barrage, they could overwhelm any possible defenses. The KN-23 missiles, which were first displayed in 2018, are loaded in canisters on transporter erector launchers (TEL) and ready to fire at a moment's notice. They fly in a quasi-ballistic trajectory and their short flight time makes it difficult to intercept with current missile defense technology. They can deliver chemical, conventional and even nuclear warheads although deploying nuclear warheads to frontline units would be a logistical nightmare. If some of the newly deployed missiles are equipped with nuclear warheads, securing them and providing a reliable command and control system will pose a major problem. The addition of penetration aids or multiple warheads would make the missiles even more troublesome. They are reportedly highly accurate, with an estimated circular error of probability of 35 meters, based on imaging showing the pattern of impact craters from previous tests. The KN-23 is already being used by Russia in its war against Ukraine. The North Korean missile, although based on Russia's Iskander-M missile, is a more advanced version, able to carry heavier payloads. Seoul has sought to play down any immediate threat posed by the KN-23 deployment. Although it has a theoretical operational range of 900 km, which would enable it to reach most of South Korea, South Korea's National Intelligence Service estimates that the missile would reach only as far as the central Chungcheong region if launched from frontline positions. Moreover, it believes that there are not enough missiles for all of the TELs along the DMZ because North Korea continues to deliver KN-23 missiles to Russia in its ongoing war with Ukraine. In addition, Ukraine claims that the KN-23s launched by Russia have a high failure rate, with half of them having lost their programmed trajectories and exploding in the air. But the KN-23 is not the only new weapon to be deployed with North Korean frontline units. "Suicide drones" are also likely to be supplied to the troops. Earlier this month, Kim Jong-un oversaw a demonstration of the new drones destroying targets by crashing into them instead of firing missiles from a standoff position, hence the "suicide drone" label. The suicide drones might be the first sign of a reciprocal arrangement in which North Korea receives Russian military technology assistance in return for supplying artillery shells and KN-23 missiles to Moscow since the new drones appear to resemble Russian Zala Lancet-3 drones. North Korea's increased reliance on missiles and drones, which mirrors that of Russia in attacking Ukraine, suggests that Moscow sees no need to provide Pyongyang with modern combat aircraft, which would be a much more expensive alternative. The KN-23 deployment and the production of new drones signal that North Korea has shifted its focus from developing long-range missiles that could reach the United States to expanding its arsenal of short-range weapons that would be used against South Korea. The recent developments follow the collapse last year of the 2018 Comprehensive Military Agreement, which was a historic attempt to reduce tensions between the two Koreas by limiting military activity along the DMZ. At the time of the accord's demise, North Korea warned that it would "deploy more powerful armed forces and new-type military hardware" in the border region. Pyongyang further escalated tensions when Kim Jung-un declared earlier this year that South Korea was Pyongyang's No. 1 enemy, abandoning its five-decade policy of pursuing peaceful unification. He warned that his military could react with preemptive nuclear strikes against South Korea if he believed his leadership was under threat. It is noteworthy that the ceremony to mark the transfer of the KN-23 tactical missile launchers to frontline units also provided a clue to North Korea's future leadership succession plans. Kim Jong-un's sister, Kim Yo-jung, who attended the event, showed truly remarkable deference to Kim's daughter, according to the NIS. This reinforced previous speculation that his daughter, now in her early teens, might be being groomed as Kim's intended successor since she has attended many military-related events. No woman has ever run the country before. But if Kim Jong-un decides to make her his successor, the groundwork is already being laid by her frequent appearances as a reminder of the "Paektu bloodline." John Merrill (jmerrill05@gmail.com) is a visiting scholar at the Institute of Korean Studies at George Washington University. By Park Jin-wan On Korea's Liberation Day on Aug. 15, President Yoon Suk Yeol exercised a power as old as the presidency itself: the presidential pardon. With a stroke of his pen, he absolved or restored the rights of 1,219 individuals. But as the dust settled, people were left with a pressing question: Is this act of clemency a remedy for national wounds or just a temporary fix for deeper systemic issues? Among those pardoned and who had their rights restored were names well-known to any Korean news junkies: former South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Kim Kyung-soo, convicted for opinion rigging, ex-National Intelligence Service chief Won Sei-hoon and Cho Yoon-sun, the culture minister infamous for helping to create a "blacklist" of anti-administration artists, writers and celebrities. While some viewed these pardons as a step toward national reconciliation, others saw them as a dangerous precedent that places political figures above the law. Even the ruling party found itself divided. Han Dong-hoon, chief of the ruling People Power Party, publicly questioned the decision to restore Kim's rights, citing the gravity of his offenses. Meanwhile, the opposition Democratic Party of Korea focused on a different aspect: criticizing the release of individuals implicated in the Park administration's government manipulation scandal. This bipartisan scrutiny underscores the complexity of the issue, demonstrating that concerns about the pardon process transcend simple party politics. This isn't the first time presidential pardons have raised eyebrows in Korea. The Moon administration's decision to free former President Park Geun-hye after just four years of her 24-year sentence left many Koreans bewildered, with more than a majority of Koreans disapproving of the decision per a KBS poll. President Yoon's pardon of former President Lee Myung-bak in 2023 only intensified skepticism about the use of this constitutional power. On paper, the presidential pardon is a noble concept a constitutional safeguard against potential miscarriages of justice. In practice, however, it's often perceived as a tool for backroom deals and political favors. The core issue lies in the lack of transparency. Pardons are decided behind doors, with little public input or explanation. This opacity eventually created distrust and raised a fundamental question of whether presidents should have the power to overturn court decisions made on legal grounds. It's worth noting that not all pardons are controversial. In the recent Aug. 15 special pardon, only 55 out of 1,219 beneficiaries were former high-ranking officials and politicians. The vast majority fell into less contentious categories, including small business owners, individuals with severe illnesses, those wrongfully convicted, people under the age of 34 and workers in the transportation industry. These pardons often meet genuine societal needs and garner little criticism. The problem lies with high-profile political pardons, which seem to prioritize "national unity" over justice. These decisions, made without clear criteria or public consultation, risk eroding faith in the entire system. To restore public trust, Seoul must reimagine its pardoning process, starting with the Ministry of Justice. Currently, the review board within the ministry remains small and insular. Expanding this board to include experts from across the political spectrum would ensure a more balanced evaluation of pardon requests, providing valuable insights and helping mitigate concerns about political bias. Moreover, implementing a public hearing period before finalizing high-profile pardons would give citizens a voice in the process. While this step might not directly influence decisions, it would at least offer the public an opportunity to be heard, fostering a sense of participation in these consequential decisions. Another practical step would be to limit the frequency of pardons within a single presidential term. This measure could significantly reduce the perception of politically motivated timing, which often casts a shadow over the legitimacy of pardons. However, even if these systemic changes prove challenging to implement, one crucial reform stands out: requiring detailed justifications for pardoning decisions, particularly in controversial cases. This step, which could be implemented relatively easily, would promote the transparency and accountability that the current system sorely lacks. By clearly articulating the rationale behind each pardon, the administration could go a long way toward rebuilding public trust in this powerful presidential authority. These changes wouldn't strip presidents of their pardoning power but would create a more accountable and transparent system. By involving a broader range of stakeholders and subjecting the process to greater scrutiny, Korea can work toward a pardoning system that balances mercy with justice and upholds the principles of democratic governance. The controversy surrounding presidential pardons is more than just a legal debate it's a litmus test for the health of Korean democracy. With public trust in institutions already fragile (a recent Gallup poll showed 58 percent of Korean youth support no political party), reforming this system is crucial in regaining the public trust in the governance system through improving transparency. The power to pardon is a weighty responsibility. The path forward requires a delicate balance between preserving executive discretion and ensuring that pardons serve their intended purpose of promoting the greater good. Park Jin-wan is a nonresident James A. Kelly Korea Fellow at Pacific Forum. Ishiba should offer proactive policies to address past issues Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) elected Shigeru Ishiba, a moderate, as its new leader on Friday. Ishiba will be sworn in today as Japan's 102nd prime minister, following the tradition that the party leader assumes the role. His predecessor, Fumio Kishida, decided not to seek reelection due to falling approval ratings after a fundraising scandal. Kishida had served as prime minister for the past three years. In the preliminary vote, Ishiba was defeated by his right-wing rival, Sanae Takaichi, but secured the leadership in a runoff against her. With the formation of Japan's new cabinet, anticipation is growing in South Korea about the future of bilateral relations. Ishiba has taken proactive positions on key issues between the two nations, including unresolved matters related to modern history. Ishiba has long been an outsider within the ruling party, often clashing with influential hardliners like former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Despite having a relatively small support base, he managed to secure the leadership by promising to steer the party out of the turmoil caused by the fundraising scandal. He is seen as having a different perspective on history compared to moreconservative members of the LDP. Notably, he has described Japans role in the Pacific War as an "war of aggression." He has also refrained from visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors class-A war criminals, setting him apart from many in his party. Ishiba has emphasized the importance of Japan sincerely acknowledging its responsibilities toward war victims while also recognizing its history of aggression and colonial rule. He expressed hope that Japan and Korea could return to the era of former President Kim Dae-jung and former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, a time characterized by unprecedented friendship between the two nations. In a book published just before the LDP vote, Ishiba noted that Korea-Japan relations had significantly improved under President Yoon Suk Yeol's outstanding leadership. "Japan should make the most of this opportunity," Ishiba wrote. His remarks have raised hopes for improved bilateral relations. In contrast, the Kishida Cabinet faced criticism for failing to achieve tangible progress in relations, despite the Yoon administration's steadfast efforts and concessions. Despite rising hopes of improved relations, it may be premature to expect significant changes. Ishiba is likely to encounter challenges as an outsider in the LDP, which is dominated by right-wing conservatives. Additionally, he has taken a firm stance on the contentious Dokdo issue, asserting it as Japans territory. Ishiba has also opposed any further compensation for Koreans conscripted for forced labor during World War II, arguing that this issue was resolved by the 1965 agreement between Japan and Korea. Ishiba, a former defense minister, has been advocating for the establishment of a multilateral collective defense system among Asian nations, similar to NATO. He has also proposed amending Japan's Peace Constitution to officially recognize the country's armed forces. These positions raise concerns about Ishiba's inclination to support a resurgence of Japan's military power. Next year will be a pivotal moment in Korea-Japan relations, as it marks the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties. Bilateral relations have undergone significant fluctuations based on Japan's positions regarding historical issues. The bilateral relationship entered a future-oriented, friendly era in 1995 with Japan's adoption of the Murayama Statement and in 1998 with the Korea-Japan Partnership Declaration, where Tokyo expressed remorse and apologized for its past wrongdoings. However, relations deteriorated when Japan failed to uphold this commitment. In March last year, the Yoon administration proposed initiatives to improve bilateral relations, including compensation from third parties for Korean victims of forced labor, urging, "Now that we have filled half of the glass, it is time for Japan to fill the remainder." The newly formed Ishiba Cabinet must develop proactive measures, acknowledging the pain of the victims caused by Japan's past actions. Gov't should play role as supporter, not initiator In the era of artificial intelligence (AI), public-private partnerships are essential for helping tech companies advance. This is particularly relevant for countries like Korea, which is working to take the lead in AI development. In recent years there has been a spike in electricity demand as AI data centers consume a significant amount of electricity. At data centers, cooling systems and servers account for the majority of energy consumption. A Google search, for example, uses about 0.3 Watt-hours (Wh), while a ChatGPT query requires around 29 Wh, according to the Electric Power Research Institute. Expanding and modernizing the power grid has become an urgent policy issue for the government, which is keen to support tech companies in their research and development efforts and to test their ideas for real-world applicability. On Thursday, President Yoon Suk Yeol unveiled a national AI strategy which, among other things, calls for the establishment of two AI data centers in the nation by 2030 with an investment of 2 trillion won ($1.52 billion). Yoon said humanity is experiencing a civilizational shift because of AI. Our fate in the future will be determined by what kind of choice we make now. Two choices lie ahead of us at the moment we can lead or follow, he said, vowing to make Korea one of the worlds top 3 leaders in AI by 2027. He stressed that the nation can achieve that goal if public- and private-sector entities work together. President Yoons national AI strategy is timely and appropriate, because, as seen in the surging electricity demand which requires a more modernized power grid, the role of government is critical in making Korea a global AI leader. However, there are issues that need clarification regarding the government's role. First and foremost, President Yoon did not specify what role the government intends to play. It remains uncertain whether the government seeks to dominate decisions just like it did in the 1970s when government-led economic growth was the prevailing approach. Or is the Yoon administration attempting to minimize its role, acting only as a troubleshooter to assist the private sector? Policymakers should limit their role and just be supporters, rather than initiators. Thanks to the relentless efforts of tech companies in the fierce global competition, Korea is now a competitive player in the AI industry. Some surveys find that Korea ranks sixth in AI. Given the nation's technological resilience, its not desirable for the government to take control. It would be far more beneficial if the government acted as a guardian rather than a back-seat driver. Secondly, a discussion is necessary on how to transform the newly launched Presidential Committee on AI into a hub for innovative ideas and successful strategies, rather than allowing it to remain just a nominal entity that exists out of obligation. Launching the AI committee on Thursday, President Yoon announced that he will serve as its chair. It will include experts, 30 business leaders and 10 Cabinet ministers, all tasked with overseeing Koreas AI strategy. The government already has hundreds of committees, so many in fact, that the public doesnt even know what they all are for. Committees, therefore, are vulnerable to the criticism that they waste taxpayer money. How can the Yoon government make sure the newly launched AI committee will be any different? This is the question policymakers should answer. The AI era requires policymakers to be creative and think outside the box. On Sept. 12, high-ranking U.S. government officials held a roundtable meeting with a group of 12 tech leaders, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, AES President and CEO Andres Gluski and Alphabet President and Chief Investment Officer Ruth Porat. After the meeting, the White House launched the Task Force on AI Datacenter Infrastructure to ensure policy coordination across the government. According to a Bloomberg report, Altman shared a document with the White House outlining the benefits of building data centers that consume 5 gigawatts, equivalent to the output of five nuclear reactors and enough to provide energy for 3 million homes. The productive nature of the meeting was likely due to the White House staff's eagerness to explore their roles in supporting tech companies and their openness to engaging directly with industry leaders. Policymakers here can draw lessons from the interactive White House roundtable meeting. Government officials should change their mindsets and work methods. In the age of AI, the public and private sectors are equal partners. Government officials should stop thinking that they are in charge and therefore they will dominate decisions. Instead, they should ask their private-sector partners, How can we help you? By Robert Neff Described as "a dowdy female newspaper correspondent," Anna Northend Benjamin traveled extensively throughout East Asia and Russia documenting her experiences and observations. She was blessed with an amazing gift of writing, though, depending upon the reader, her harsh opinions could be seen as a curse. Despite spending less than a fortnight in Korea during the summer of 1900, she wrote enough about the Hermit Kingdom to rankle Horace N. Allen, the conservative American minister to Korea. Nothing escaped her eye or her venomous pen. Her descriptions of the country were heavily tinged with sympathy, curiosity and sarcastic elitism. They were often bold and somewhat offensive even by the standards of her time. We may say without hesitation that the lot of the Korean woman is the most pitiable, just as the position of her people is the most deplorable, in the Far East," she wrote. "In the lower classes she must work, work, work. In the upper classes she must be entombed. Benjamin wrote extensively about the daily tribulations of Korean women but, unlike many female Western observers, devoted little attention to their clothing. What she did write seems to have been gleaned from other sources and supported her narrative of women being oppressed by misogyny and tradition. Several hundred years ago, when Korea was fighting the Chinese, the entire Korean army and all the men in the capital of Seoul had marched out in defense of that capital to meet an attacking force toward the north. At the same time another force, unknown to the Koreans, approached Seoul from the south. Since every able-bodied man had already gone to the attack, the city and the remaining inhabitants were threatened with destruction. The Korean women, however, like their sisters in other parts of the world, devised a plan by which they might frustrate the enemy. They donned their husbands long white garments with the wide sleeves, and gathering together, marched boldly toward the foe who, appalled by the sight of such an unexpected force of Koreans, fled in haste, and the city was saved. When the army returned and it was made known what the women had done, it was decreed that thereafter they should wear mens sleeves hanging from their veils as a mark of honor and a badge of their bravery in the national crisis. According to Benjamin, Koreas misogyny originated from China, from where every degrading idea was imported and carried out to the extreme. The wife is not more than a chattel, seldom seen before the marriage, which is arranged by a go between, and after marriage to talk to her even is a degradation for the husband, she described. Even the wedding customs, were, in her opinion, oppressive. The rules of ironclad Korean etiquette demand that that the bridesmaid wear her hair in a massive headdress. Huge masses of false hair swatches, as we call them are piled in a fantastic way on the unfortunate womans head, till a wonderful effect is obtained. Considering her short stay in Korea, I doubt she actually attended a wedding, and instead based her observations on what American missionaries told her. Even Isabella Bird Bishop, arguably the most popular travel writer of the time, did not describe bridesmaids in her book, Korea and Her Neighbors. Bishop did, however, echo the sentiment that Korean men treated their wives as valuable chattels and that a wife's first duty was silence especially in the higher classes. However, she added in balance, I am far from saying that the [Korean] women fret and groan under this system, or crave for the freedom which European women enjoy. To support her claim, Bishop asked an intelligent Korean woman what she thought of the manner in which Westerners treated their wives. The answer was somewhat surprising. We think that your husbands dont care for you very much. I find it rather strange that Benjamin neglected to mention the fashion enjoyed by lower classes of women bare breasts. Many contemporary male visitors described encountering bare-breasted women especially in the countryside. According to The City History Compilation Committee of Seoul, a book published by the Seoul government nearly two decades ago, poor women and female servants could not even dream of wearing a cloak. They strode about the city freely in their own old clothes. Fashions revealing the breasts were a sort of privilege (?) enjoyed only by those women who had given birth to their first son. In Seoul, however, things were changing rapidly. Again, according to the Seoul government publication: In the 1880s, a new type of woman emerged, who traded the extravagance of traditional Korean clothing for the new fashion of Western clothing. These new women were the women of the Enlightened Party and the so-called Evangelist Women. After the 1890s, more and more women wearing the latest fashions in Western clothing were seen on the streets of Seoul. Seoul was alive with talk of these new women and Western-style beauties. Apparently as late as the early 20th century, some women still walked the streets in breast-revealing clothing, causing one missionary woman to take it upon herself to carry pieces of cloth and safety pins so that she could cover them up and make them decent. Korean women were truly oppressed, not only by conservative tradition but by conservative progress. My appreciation to Diane Nars for her assistance and allowing me to use one of her images. Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters. By Robert Neff Anna Northend Benjamins observations and venomous pen were not confined to just Korean women; she also commented on the lives of Korean children more specifically, boys. Korean children are the least fortunate, or the most fortunate according to ones point of view of any children of the Far East, for in this hermit kingdom education is not compulsory, and the average small boy or girl grows up with little instruction, she bombastically declared. She described the childrens homes as nothing more than a little hut with mud walls, its roof thatched with straw which was held in place by ropes stretched across and tied down. Many of these homes had only a single room about nine square meters and their walls were covered with plaster and paper and the floor layered with matting thin and coarsely woven. The ceiling is low; it would be considered a waste of time and material to make it of any height, for the people who live in this little house rarely stand up in it. The floor, she explained, was used to sit on during the day and to sleep on at night the room and house had no other function except storage. In an almost backhanded compliment, she praised the homes as being very warm, even during the severe cold of the winter and noted Japanese and Chinese homes were, in contrast, quite cold. Korean homes were thoroughly heated by the ondol system, a series of flues beneath the floor that carried warm air and smoke from the kitchen fire. But there were drawbacks to this system smoke and intense heat could sometimes be hard to regulate. The fire is often so hot that Koreans are sometimes blistered by it while asleep in the night, and since it is also used for the family cooking, it is kept throughout the summer when the heat is great, she described. Benjamin then turned her attention to the appearance of Korean boys and their white clothing: [His] outfit consists of loose trousers stuck into heavy socks padded with cotton wool all the year round. The rest of his clothes are also padded in this way in winter. A short loose jacket with full sleeves completes his costume. While this description was relatively accurate, it contrasted greatly with those of her peers including Isabella Bird Bishop who disparagingly wrote that the streets of Fusan (modern Busan) were filled with mangy dogs and blear-eyed children, half or wholly naked, and scaly with dirty, roll in the deep dust or slime, or pant and blink in the sun, apparently unaffected by the stenches which abound. While Benjamins initial description was somewhat benign, she could not resist commenting on the perceived filthiness of Korean boys and by extension, the general Korean population. After a boy has worn his white clothing for a few days, the white part belongs entirely to the imagination. Think of his wearing one suit for a month! On the other hand, many early Western visitors were actually impressed by the attention the average Korean paid to their clothing. Koreans spent considerable sums of money on their clothing and were fastidious about keeping them clean. Benjamin acknowledged this, but noted it was only after the boy became an adult. Despite her initial harsh criticisms, Benjamins opinion of Korean boys softened and took on a defensive, almost maternal, tone. She declared they lead the thoughtless kind of existence which was common to boys in all parts of the world. She added that one of the greatest pleasures for a Korean boy was to follow a foreigner, crying at the top of his voice: Foreign lady or man are you well? It was harmless behavior and, she noted, much more polite than the epithets in which Chinese children indulge on similar occasions. There may have been some truth to this observation. Korean boys were notorious for following Western sailors around the ports not to practice their English but to bum a cigarette or a small amount of tobacco. When their requests were refused, they often hurled a volley of British oaths (acquired from earlier encounters with sailors) and occasionally stones with alarming accuracy. Aside from harassing foreigners, perhaps the second-greatest pleasure to a Korean boy was eating. When Frank G. Carpenter, an American travel writer, visited Korea in 1888, he wrote: a big stomach is an honor [and] mothers, in order to increase the size of the stomachs of their babies, stuff them day after day with rice, paddling them on the stomach to press down the contents to make room for more. Carpenters exaggerated account was clearly written to amuse his readers whereas Benjamins was more understated and endearing. She noted that at an early age, the Korean boy learns to use the brass chopsticks, and shovels in rice very fast from his brass or china bowl. Sometimes there will be pickles or bits of meat and on great occasions something sweet. The meals are served on a low wooden stand or table, set within the doorway of the house. But these were the pursuits of boys although men, too, had voracious appetites and were known to pester foreigners for tobacco. At some point in a Korean males life often sooner rather than later marriage transformed him from a Korean boy into a man. His long, loosely braided hair was cut and styled into a sang-to (topknot), held in place by a sort of net of bamboo or horsehair. Over all he wears one of the famous transparent black hats made of the same material. From this moment on, his attitude towards his personal hygiene depended on whether or not he rose to official dignity. Although Benjamin did not mention the common man, we can infer from the tone of her earlier descriptions that they remained unkempt. However, if he was of the gentry or was a scholar, he [took] pride in the immaculate appearance of his outer garments at least, and to further increase his dignity [wore] a pair of enormous goggles of horn or shell, which probably took his last cent to purchase. She was not exaggerating about the cost (up to $100 a very princely sum in the 19th century) or the importance of the goggles. In the late 1890s, James Scarth Gale, a missionary, vividly described a Korean scholar: In immaculate white he emerges from the holes and corners of every mud village. If he is an official of importance, he does not walk alone, but is assisted by the arms on each side. If he ventures by himself, it is with a magnificent stride that clears the street of indifferent passers, and commands only on-lookers. In one hand is a pipe three feet long, in the other a fan; over his eyes two immense discs of dark crystal, not to assist him in seeing, but to insure his being seen. How precious these are! Many a man will forego the necessaries of life if only he can gain a pair of Kyung-ju (spectacles), and so cover himself with glory before an on-looking assemblage. Interestingly, Benjamin never mentioned the Korean propensity to smoke nor the importance of the ever-present pipe not just for men, but for women and children as well. In the 1890s, George W. Gilmore, an American teacher in Seoul, observed: The use of tobacco is universal, even boys and women are using the weed. A part of the dress of a Korean is his tobacco-pouch, his flint, steel and tinder or his matches. Without it, he never goes abroad However, tobacco was not the only subject conspicuously missing from Benjamins accounts of Korea. Despite being an early feminist, she wrote almost nothing about Korean girls. Perhaps she intended on doing so later, when she had more time, but unfortunately, Benjamins time ran out on Jan. 2, 1902, when she suddenly passed away from cancer at the age of 27. Following her death, the New York Tribune wrote: Miss Benjamins personality was interesting. She seemed utterly unlike a woman who would have the courage to go through the experiences which she so eagerly sought. She was slight and girlish in appearance, and had none of the self-assertiveness which some might expect in a woman war correspondent. Indeed, her demeanor was quiet and retiring to the point of apparent timidity. Doubtless her very femininity was a great aid to her, for army officers and others were glad to help her when they would have turned a deaf ear to a more pushing, belligerent type of woman. In spite of her almost shy way, she usually managed to obtain privileges which she sought. Like her Korean articles, perceptions of Benjamin were full of contrasts. To some, she was a dowdy old feminist war correspondent, while others saw her as a timid, shy young woman who skillfully and without shame used her femininity to achieve her goals. Regardless of the perspective, I think everyone, including the grumpy conservative American minister to Korea, Horace N. Allen, would agree that she was an intriguing woman who died far too early. I would like to thank Diane Nars for her invaluable assistance. Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters. By Lee Min-hyung Lee Sang-hyeok, a superstar gamer for League of Legends (LoL), has received a customized Mercedes-AMG luxury vehicle to celebrate his legendary achievement as the first inductee into the Hall of Legends. Lee, better known by his nickname Faker, won the special Mercedes-AMG SL 63 4MATIC+ luxury roadster. The German carmaker said the vehicle embodies well the exceptional performance and uniqueness that perfectly match Fakers playing style. Each year, one professional LoL player is inducted into the Hall of Legends to honor their achievements. Mercedes-Benz Korea paid tribute to Faker by delivering the one-of-a-kind car featuring Fakers signature on the headrests and the Hall of Legends lettering on its floor mats. After the incredible honor of being inducted into the Hall of Legends this year, I am grateful to receive this best-performance vehicle from Mercedes-Benz Korea, he said. It is especially meaningful to me because it not only delivers outstanding performance, but also offers the quickness and agility that are crucial for gamers. The vehicle can accelerate from zero to 100 kilometers per hour in just 3.6 seconds and boasts a maximum output of 585 horsepower, which the carmaker said matches perfectly with Fakers irreplaceable presence in esports. Mercedes-Benz also expressed respect for Faker in his ability to maintain his top spot. The carmaker is the official automotive partner for all global LoL events. We are thrilled to deliver the ideal vehicle suited for LoLs unmatched superstar Faker, Mercedes-Benz Korea CEO Mathias Vaitl said. We hope he continues to set unprecedented records as a legendary player, inspired by the positive energy of the Mercedes-AMG SL 63. Faker made his debut in 2013 and has since exuded a strong presence at the top of his field for more than a decade. He proved himself to be the greatest player of all time by sweeping multiple awards in major global competitions. Nongshim said it will nearly double the sales of its Shin Ramyun instant noodles in Japan by 2026 as it further penetrates the local noodle market. Nongshim, Korea's leading instant noodle maker, aims to achieve 20 billion yen ($183 million) in Shin Ramyun sales in 2026, up from 11 billion yen in 2023, the company said in a statement. This year, the company said it expects to sell 13.5 billion yen worth of "spicy" Shin Ramyun products in the neighboring country. When all "ramyeon" products are combined, Nongshim is expected to post 17 billion yen in overall ramyeon sales in Japan this year, up 21 percent from 14 billion yen a year earlier. Nongshim earns nearly 40 percent of its total ramyeon sales in overseas markets, including the United States, China and Japan. Nongshim's sales stood at 3.41 trillion won ($2.6 billion) in 2023, up 8.9 percent from 3.13 trillion won a year ago. The company has six domestic plants and six overseas ones two in the U.S. and four in China. It sells instant noodle products represented by its flagship noodles Shin Ramyun, Chapagetti and Neoguri in global markets. (Yonhap) Top officials at Samsung, Hyundai Motor summoned for parliamentary audit By Lee Min-hyung Lawmakers are being urged to end the longstanding practice of summoning high-ranking business leaders for questioning during the National Assembly's annual audit. This political spectacle, repeated nearly every year, has faced criticism for undermining both the morale of business leaders and overall business sentiment, industry officials said Monday. The concern arises every year, yet over a hundred business tycoons were once again asked to appear for the audit this year. The list includes Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun and Samsung Electronics President Roh Tae-moon, according to the Assemblys Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee. The Assembly's trade and industry committee also decided to summon a total of 35 business leaders for an upcoming audit. Among those requested to attend for questioning are SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun, and Hyundai Motor CEO Chang Jae-hoon. Officials from major companies have expressed concern about this political practice, noting that executives from conglomerates must manage tight business schedules both domestically and internationally. The heads of these global firms have very hectic schedules as they seek new revenue streams and build partnerships abroad. However, the annual audit presents a burden for them each year, an official at a major firm said. They are willing to attend the event if their companies have caused significant social or economic controversies, but that is not the case this time. Lawmakers, however, still aim to focus on rebuking these businesspeople, which many perceive as a politically-motivated gesture. The agricultural and fisheries committee is considering plans to summon the heads of the nation's top conglomerates, including Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, and the Hyundai Motor Group chief. This move is prompted by their perceived insufficient contributions to a fund aimed at promoting co-prosperity with the country's farming and fishing communities. But it remains to be seen whether the top business tycoons will attend the upcoming audit mostly due to their busy overseas schedules. There is little incentive for the businesspeople to attend the upcoming audit, as they often risk damaging their reputation without gaining much in return, according to another official at a major conglomerate. Most big companies operate special units to communicate with the National Assembly or the political circle, the official said. Even if the top management does not appear for questioning, big companies remain open to dialogue with the government or authorities. Top management feels uneasy about facing lawmakers during the annual audits, as the focus tends to be on criticizing companies rather than seeking a middle ground that could satisfy both parties, the official said. Several Assembly committees took a similar approach last year by initially including the names of leaders from prominent conglomerates. However, most were ultimately excluded from the witness list for the audit due to increasing backlash from the public and even within political circles. According to a National Assembly act, businesspeople are required to submit a non-attendance statement in advance if they are summoned for the annual audit. Al Mana known for successful operation of McDonald's in Qatar By Nam Hyun-woo McDonalds Corp. announced Monday that it has completed the sale of its business in Korea to Kamal Al Mana, one of the owners of Qatari conglomerate Al Mana Group. According to the fast food franchise, Kamal Al Mana has been appointed as the developmental licensee and will own and operate the McDonalds business in Korea, which includes 400 restaurants, more than 80 percent of which are company-owned. McDonalds said Al Mana has a proven track record across different industries, including extensive experience in food and beverage, retail, real estate and luxury industries. He is currently the developmental licensee for McDonalds in Qatar and Turkey, as well as a minority partner in the McDonalds businesses in Singapore and Malaysia. McDonalds did not disclose further details, such as the value of the deal or the governance structure of McDonalds Korea after the deal. McDonalds Korea Managing Director, Kim Ki-won, will continue to lead the business in Korea. We look forward to partnering with Kamal to take our brand to the next phase in Korea, which includes our growth ambition to expand from 400 to 500 stores by 2030, said Jo Sempels, president of International Developmental Licensed Markets at McDonalds Corporation. Building on our existing brand strengths and momentum in the market, I am confident we will create exciting experiences for our customers. Al Mana said, I am honored by the opportunity to lead McDonalds Korea in the next phase of its growth journey. With our market leadership position and growth potential, this is an exciting time to build upon the strong fundamentals in place and grow the business and brand to the next stage," he added. Since 2016, McDonalds has been searching for a developmental licensee in Korea, who will own and run the business as the master franchisee. Last year, McDonalds failed to reach a deal with Dongwon Group, which initially showed interest in acquiring McDonalds Korea, but dropped its bid due to price differences. At the time, Dongwon Group reportedly offered 200 billion won ($152 million) for the Korean license, while McDonalds wanted to receive approximately 500 billion won. McDonalds struggle to find a developmental licensee for its Korean business was attributable to the companys profitability. According to regulatory filings, HanGook McDonalds, McDonalds Koreas official name, posted 1.12 trillion won in revenues last year, but suffered 20.3 billion won in operating losses, extending its yearly loss for the fifth consecutive year. The substantial licensing royalties that McDonalds Korea must pay to its headquarters have contributed to the hesitation shown by domestic investors. According to the filings, McDonalds Korea paid 68.5 billion won in commission fees, including licensing royalties, to McD Global Franchising last year, an increase from 62 billion won in 2022. Against this backdrop, the latest deal is seen as McDonalds attempt to finalize its long-delayed search for an operator for McDonalds Korea by licensing it to a Qatari tycoon with extensive experience in retail businesses. According to McDonalds, its outlets operated by Al Mana, have shown steady growth. Since opening its first store in 1995 in Qatar, McDonald's has expanded to 77 locations as of 2024, continuing a trend of ongoing expansion. McDonald's in Turkey, where Al Mana became its developmental licensee in 2022, saw a 40 percent increase in average store visitors in 2023 compared to 2021. As Mr. Al Mana has been setting model cases of successes in Asia, we expect he will lead McDonalds Koreas business and brand growth as the DL, a McDonalds Korea official said, noting that Al Mana has promised enough support for sustainable growth and human-orientated management. Three top technical leaders at Microsoft-backed OpenAI quit on Wednesday, the latest in a string of executive departures this year coming at a time of flux for the ChatGPT maker. Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, VP Research Barret Zoph and Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew all announced their departures via X on Wednesday afternoon. The San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup is negotiating a new $6.5 billion financing round valuing the company at $150 billion, contingent on the company upending its corporate structure. The company plans to restructure to a for-profit benefit corporation and will give CEO Sam Altman an equity stake, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Currently, a non-profit board controls the for-profit entity, an unusual structure which led to members of the non-profit board ousting Altman in November 2023 over a breakdown in communication and loss of trust. He was reinstated after five days. The funding round has not closed yet and the company is in the process of finalizing it. It was unclear whether the executives' departure could affect the ongoing fundraise. Some fundraising documents contain a "material adverse change" clause which allows investors to withdraw from a deal if the company encounters anything that could have a significant negative impact. Murati is still working at OpenAI while she negotiates her exit from the company, according to a source close to Murati. She has been part of the ChatGPT maker for six and a half years, and briefly served as CEO in November when the board temporarily Altman. According to her LinkedIn profile, Murati joined OpenAI as the "VP of Applied AI and Partnerships" in December 2020 and was promoted to CTO in May 2022. Prior to OpenAI, she worked at virtual and augmented reality startup Leap Motion and at Tesla. As CTO, Murati frequently appeared alongside Altman as the public face of the ChatGPT maker. When OpenAI launched its GPT-4o model in May, capable of having realistic voice conversation, Murati led the presentation. "I'm stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration," Murati wrote a post on X. Murati, Zoph and McGrew are the latest in a string of OpenAI executive departures. In August, OpenAI co-founder John Schulman said on X that he had joined rival AI company Anthropic and another co-founder, Greg Brockman, also said on X he was taking a sabbatical through the end of the year. A third co-founder, chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, left OpenAI in May. On X, Altman said Murati did not inform him in advance of her departure, explaining to him that she wanted to do it when the company was in an upswing and that "there is never a good time." In the same post, Altman also announced a slew of internal promotions: Matt Knight to chief information security officer, Josh Achiam to head of mission alignment and Mark Chen to senior vice president of Research. (Reuters) By Nam Hyun-woo Korean chipmakers reliance on raw materials imported from China deepened last year, despite the escalating global supply chain uncertainties fueled by growing U.S.-China tensions. Industry officials voiced concerns about the risks of relying heavily on a single country, emphasizing the need to diversify sourcing channels. However, they also acknowledged that Chinese materials remain cost-competitive, urging the government to better prepare for potential supply chain disruptions. According to a report by the Export-Import Bank of Korea, the countrys reliance on Chinese imports of five out of six key raw materials for making semiconductors increased last year. The reliance on Chinese imports for silicon used in silicon wafers rose from 68.8 percent in 2022 to 75.4 percent in 2023, while that of germanium, a key material for next-generation compound semiconductors, surged by 17.4 percentage points to 74.3 percent during the same period. Only fluorite, a key material for hydrofluoric acid, showed a slight decrease from 49.9 percent to 47.5 percent during the same period. In the wake of the war in Ukraine and growing trade conflicts between the U.S. and China, Korean chipmakers have been making efforts to diversify their sourcing channels, but the data showed that they are critically relying on China for key raw materials. The report also showed that Korean chipmakers are also relying heavily on Chinese manufacturing. Samsung Electronics Xi'an plant accounted for 29 percent of the companys total NAND flash production in 2021, but the number rose to 36 percent in 2022, 37 percent last year and is expected to reach 40 percent this year. The ratio of SK hynixs DRAM production at its Wuxi plant declined from 49 percent in 2021 to 42 percent last year, though it is expected to remain significant at 41 percent this year, underscoring China's continued importance in their semiconductor manufacturing. The numbers are worrisome for the Korean chipmakers, as the U.S. is slapping more bans on trade related to improving Chinas chip manufacturing capabilities. As well, Korea's trade dependence is feared to leave it vulnerable to Beijing's economic retaliation in the event of any potential future political disputes. Bloomberg reported on Sept. 2 that China has warned of severe economic retaliation against Japan if it further restricts sales and servicing of chipmaking equipment to Chinese firms, and Toyota Motor told Japanese officials that Beijing could react to the curbs by limiting Japans access to minerals required for automotive production. With over a month remaining before the U.S. presidential election, businesses are expecting Washington to tighten regulations against China and stronger pressure on its allies to fall in line, regardless of the election result. In the wake of the tensions between Washington and Beijing, businesses have been making efforts to diversify sourcing channels for raw materials to avoid supply chain disruptions stemming from political risks, a semiconductor industry official said. However, it is also true that Chinese raw material imports still maintain cost competitiveness, backed by its solid mining infrastructure and natural reserves. This means that diversifying sourcing channels will incur higher costs, forcing companies to keep their reliance on Chinese imports to a certain level. Another semiconductor industry official also said that lowering dependence on Chinese imports is not always the answer, and that firms will have to expect assists from the government in the event of supply chain disruptions. r Prosecutors investigating two beleaguered e-commerce platforms' payment delays to vendors are now trying to determine the nature of huge sums of money changing hands between those firms and their parent company, legal sources said Sunday. According to the sources, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office secured a management consulting agreement from June 2023 between Qoo10 and their e-commerce affiliates, TMON and WeMakePrice. Under the deal, those affiliates were required to pay the Singapore-based company millions each year in exchange for management consultancy offered by Qoo10 CEO Ku Young-bae, and also to cover labor costs for the finance department and the service center at Qoo10. Prosecutors suspect TMON and WeMakePrice sent about 1 billion won ($762,195) to Qoo10 each month for a year, according to the sources. Qoo10 Technology, a tech subsidiary of Qoo10, had been receiving 1 percent of the affiliates' revenue each month in exchange for handling those companies' finances, technology development, legal affairs and human resources management. The contract seen by the Seoul prosecutors apparently forced TMON and WeMakePrice to pay even more money to Qoo10. Prosecutors are also trying to determine whether Qoo10 had taken its affiliates' money intended for Qoo10 Technology for offering financial services. The sources said prosecutors recently questioned TMON CEO Ryu Kwang-jin, WeMakePrice CEO Ryu Hwa-hyun, Qoo10 Technology CEO Kim Hyo-jong and Qoo10 CFO Lee Si-jun over the matter. They are being suspected of embezzlement, fraud and other illegal acts. Ku is expected to be called in for questioning as early as Monday. Ku's home was raided in August as part of the investigation. In late July, TMON and WeMakePrice filed for court receivership due to liquidity problems that led to massive delayed payments to vendors on their platforms. The government estimates that overdue payments amount to 1.28 trillion won, affecting around 48,000 vendors. Ryu Kwang-jin and Ryu Hwa-hyun are accused of letting Qoo10 misappropriate 50 billion won of their companies' corporate funds to finance its takeover of the U.S. e-commerce platform Wish. (Yonhap) By Park Jae-hyuk U.S. naval officers and high-ranking diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Korea visited R&D facilities of HD Hyundai and Hanwha Ocean, Friday, to seek cooperation with the Korean shipbuilders. According to HD Hyundai, 13 high-level U.S. government officials visited the companys Global R&D Center in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, to discuss potential cooperation in future warships, as well as eco-friendly and digital technologies. The visitors included Rear Adm. Thomas Anderson, who serves as the program executive officer of ships, and Rear Adm. William Greene, who serves as the commander of the Navy Regional Maintenance Center and director of surface ship maintenance, modernization and sustainment. With the worlds No. 1 shipbuilding capabilities, we hope this will open up more opportunities on naval shipbuilding and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) businesses with the United States, said Joo Won-ho, head of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries special ship business. Read More US Navy secretary touts Korea's shipbuilding capabilities Amid the widening gap between China's state-funded shipyards and the U.S.' increasingly outdated shipyards, experts and international media have advised the U.S. Navy to join hands with their allies shipbuilders. The Wall Street Journal, for example, said in its recent report that no single global shipyard matches the production capacity of HD Hyundais facility in Ulsan. In February, Anderson and U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro visited HD Hyundais shipyard in Ulsan to observe the companys naval ships including the latest Aegis destroyer. U.S. Ambassador to Korea Philip Goldberg also visited the shipyard in July to discuss naval business opportunities. We are thankful to HD Hyundai for hosting us today at their impressive maritime R&D facility and the productive dialogue on where the U.S. and Korea have the opportunity to collaborate in shipbuilding for mutual benefit, Anderson said. The U.S. delegation also examined eco-friendly fuel technology and energy storage systems for submarines, during their visit to Hanwha Ocenas R&D Campus in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province. Earlier this month, the shipbuilder became the first Korean company to win an MRO order from the U.S. Navy, starting a three-month overhaul of the USNS Wally Schirra, a 40,000-ton dry cargo and ammunition ship which arrived at its shipyard on Geoje Island, South Gyeongsang Province. I hope the recent visit of the U.S. Navy to the Siheung R&D Center will serve as a stepping stone for technological exchanges, not only in the MRO projects, but also in future shipbuilding endeavors, Hanwha Ocean CEO Kim Hee-cheul said. AX-specialized service firm, innovation center to be built By Lee Min-hyung KT and Microsoft have joined forces to co-develop Korea-tailored artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing solutions amid the global rise of the two promising tech areas, the companies said Sunday. The multi-billion-dollar partnership is widely expected to boost Koreas global footing in AI and relevant services optimized for Korean industries and culture. The five-year-long partnership will also enable KT to strengthen its global competitiveness in telecommunications and other key tech areas. The partnership with Microsoft presents a pivotal opportunity not only for technological collaboration, but also for expanding Koreas AI foundation and driving transformative innovation across industries and daily life, KT CEO Kim Young-shub said. Leveraging this strategic partnership, we aim to rapidly evolve into an AICT company with unparalleled competitiveness in domestic and global markets, he said. The AICT refers to a combination of AI and information and communications technology ICT. Microsoft also welcomed the latest partnership with KT and pledged to expand ties to more advanced tech areas. Our strategic partnership brings together KTs industry expertise with the power of our entire tech stack, from Azure AI to Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said. Together, we will help accelerate the AI transformation of Korean organizations across the private and public sectors and build new AI-powered experiences for millions of consumers. Firstly, both companies will utilize OpenAIs GPT-4o and Microsofts Phi language model to jointly develop the Korean version of the AI model. These models will be used for both KTs internal and consumer-facing applications, such as customer service chatbots, and also for building industry-specific AI solutions for B2B customers across industry verticals to best serve the needs of Korean consumers and businesses. KT plans to expand the development and utilization of KT-custom AI agents not only for consumer use cases in education, health care and in-vehicle infotainment, but also for business applications. Both firms will also focus on launching Secure Public Cloud services, tailored for industries regulated in Korea. KT will drive its Secure Public Cloud business with support from Microsoft, enabling public sector and regulated industry customers to use new platform capabilities for securing data and workloads and helping them comply with local privacy and regulatory requirements. Microsoft has enough experience in its partnership with a group of European nations, such as Switzerland and Italy, in co-developing cloud services. Microsoft will share its know-how with KTs IT specialists so both sides can operate more secure and cutting-edge cloud services. Additionally, KT will establish a new service firm specializing in AI transformation (AX) to assist businesses in Korea in harnessing the latest AI innovations. The upcoming KT AX-specialized service company will offer advanced Microsoft Cloud and AI expertise and solutions tailored for the Korean market, with plans for expansion into broader markets, including ASEAN. Microsoft will support this initiative over the next three years by providing professional consulting resources to develop core practices and capabilities for the new entity. KT and Microsoft also showcased their plan to build an innovation center in Seoul, which will serve as the pivotal facility to achieve the latest vision. Microsoft will provide personnel support for the facility for the next three years to complete the joint projects on time. KT has plans to foster new AI startups and develop a partner ecosystem for the nations AI transformation. Under the drive, KT and Microsoft will attract a research workforce from universities and tech organizations. Leading researchers and businesspeople will deepen their research initiatives in network modernization, AI health care and a string of other sectors. Steelmakers reject shipbuilders' request to cut steel plate price By Park Jae-hyuk A dispute has escalated between shipbuilders and steelmakers in Korea over the importation of steel plates from China, amid stalled talks over the price of the key material for ships. Thick steel plates, defined as those over 6 millimeters in thickness, are primarily used in shipbuilding and construction. Typically, Korean shipbuilders and steelmakers establish the price of these plates for the second half of the year before the end of the first six months. However, they have yet to reach a conclusion, as steelmakers have rejected the shipbuilders' request to lower the steel plate price and are attempting to limit the increased importation of Chinese products. In July, Hyundai Steel filed anti-dumping complaints with the government against imports of low-priced thick steel plates from China, citing the need to protect the domestic steelmaking industry and stabilize the market price. Steelmakers also emphasized their deteriorating profits due to the oversupply of Chinese products. The steelmaking sector, which is one of the key industries for Korea, has been damaged severely by the influx of excessively low-priced products, a steelmaking industry official said. When shipbuilders faced difficulties and steelmakers enjoyed the industry boom, shipbuilders asked us not to raise the steel plate price. It is now the time for shipbuilders to help steelmakers. Shipbuilders have opposed the antidumping complaints, expressing concerns about potential difficulties in using low-priced steel plates to boost profitability. According to the Korea Offshore & Shipbuilding Association, Chinese products account for around 20 percent of the entire steel plates used by the nations top three shipbuilders HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, Samsung Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean. Mid-tier shipbuilders, such as HJ Shipbuilding & Construction and K Shipbuilding, have relied more heavily on Chinese steel plates, so potential anti-dumping tariffs may have negative impacts on the shipbuilding sectors profits. Shipbuilders also mentioned the falling global iron ore price as the reason for their request to cut the steel plate price. The steel plate price is the most important factor for the shipbuilding industrys competitiveness, as the cost for steel plates accounts for 20 percent of the entire shipbuilding cost, a shipbuilding industry official said. It is necessary to achieve consensus on the steel plate price from a long term perspective, so that the shipbuilding and steelmaking industries, both of which are key industries for Korea, enjoy a win-win situation. Govt sides with construction firms against cement makers By Park Jae-hyuk Recent attempts by Korean construction companies to import low-priced cement from China have exacerbated their ongoing conflict with domestic cement manufacturers over local cement prices, which have soared nearly 50 percent over the past three years. Earlier in September, a group of employees from domestic construction firms responsible for materials purchasing held a meeting to discuss the possibility of buying cement from China's Shanshui Cement through a Korean broker. They held the meeting as domestic cement producers have refused to cut their product prices, despite a recent fall in the global prices of bituminous coal, the core material for cement. When Korean cement makers raised their product prices, they cited the bituminous coal price hikes caused by the war between Russia and Ukraine. The government is also considering supporting construction firms plans to import cement from other countries, as part of efforts to lower construction costs and supply houses more quickly. We are preparing for measures to reduce raw material prices, Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Park Sang-woo told reporters, Sept. 9. Because it is inappropriate for the government to force companies to cut their product prices, we seek to come up with cost reduction measures by alleviating the shortage of raw materials. Domestic cement companies, however, claimed that their increasing facility investments in compliance with tougher environmental regulations have made it difficult to lower product prices. Their efforts to prevent the import of Chinese cement also won bipartisan support at the National Assembly. Read More Builders cry foul over soaring cement prices The import of Chinese cement will trigger a deterioration in Korean cement companies profits, decrease in their R&D investments and reduce their workforces, Rep. Eom Tae-young of the ruling People Power Party said. Rep. Park Yong-gab of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea pointed out that it is unreasonable to import low-quality cement from China as a cost-saving measure. IBK Securities analyst Cho Jung-hyun did not expect construction firms to truly import cement from China, saying that their proposal seems to be intended to gain the upper hand in price negotiations. Israel said it bombed Houthi targets in Yemen on Sunday and mounted further airstrikes in Lebanon, expanding its confrontation with Iran's allies in the region two days after killing the Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. The airstrikes on Yemen's port of Hodeidah were a response to Houthi missile attacks on Israel in recent days, Israel said, amid fears that Middle East fighting could spin out of control and draw in Iran and the United States, Israel's main ally. The Houthi-run health ministry said at least four people were killed and 29 wounded. The strikes took place as Israel attacked more targets in Lebanon, where its intensifying bombardment over two weeks has killed a string of top Hezbollah leaders and driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. Lebanon's Health Ministry said Israeli strikes on Sunday had killed at least 105 people, including 32 in Ain Deleb in the south and 33 people in Baalbek-Hermel in the northeast, and that 14 medics had been killed in air strikes over the past two days. Israel on Sunday vowed to keep up its assault. "We need to keep hitting Hezbollah hard," Israel's military chief of staff Herzi Halevi said. Israeli drones hovered over Beirut overnight and for much of Sunday, with the loud blasts of new airstrikes echoing around the Lebanese capital. Hezbollah and Israel have been trading fire across the border since the start of the war in Gaza, which was triggered by the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants. Yemen's Houthis have launched sporadic attacks on Israel throughout that time and disrupted Red Sea shipping. Israel rapidly ramped up its attacks on Hezbollah two weeks ago, killing much of the group's leadership, as it aims to make its northern areas safe for residents to return to their homes. Israel's defense minister is now discussing widening the offensive. Nasrallah's death dealt a particularly significant blow to the group he led for 32 years, and it was followed by new Hezbollah rocket fire on Israel. Iran said his death would be avenged. The United States has urged a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in Lebanon but has also authorized its military to reinforce in the region. U.S. President Joe Biden, asked if an all-out war in the Middle East could be avoided, said It has to be." He said he will be talking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. U.S. Senator Mark Kelly said the bomb that Israel used to kill Nasrallah was an American-made 2,000-lb (900-kg) guided weapon. In Iran, senior figures mourned the death of a senior Revolutionary Guards member killed alongside Nasrallah, and Tehran called for a U.N. Security Council meeting on Israel's actions. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was moved to a secure location in Iran after Nasrallah's killing, sources told Reuters. Lebanese deaths Nasrallah's body was recovered intact from the site of Friday's strike, a medical source and a security source told Reuters. Hezbollah has not said when his funeral will be held. Nasrallah made Hezbollah into a powerful domestic force in Lebanon and helped turn it into the linchpin of Iran's network of allied groups in the Arab world. Some Lebanese mourned him on Sunday. "We lost the leader who gave us all the strength and faith that we, this small country that we love, could turn it into a paradise," said Lebanese Christian woman Sophia Blanche Rouillard, carrying a black flag to work in Beirut. Lebanon's Health Ministry said more than 1,000 Lebanese have been killed and 6,000 wounded in the past two weeks, without saying how many were civilians. The government said a million people - a fifth of the population - have fled their homes. In Beirut, some displaced families spent the night on the benches at Zaitunay Bay, a string of restaurants and cafes on Beirut's waterfront. On Sunday morning, families with nothing more than a duffle bag of clothes had rolled out mats to sleep on and made tea for themselves. "You won't be able to destroy us, whatever you do, however much you bomb, however much you displace people - we will stay here. We won't leave. This is our country and we're staying," said Francoise Azori, a Beirut resident jogging through the area. The U.N. World Food Program began an emergency operation to provide food for those affected by the conflict. Saudi Arabia and France said they were sending medical aid. Israel military action Israel's military said it struck dozens of targets in Lebanon including launchers and weapons stores and had intercepted eight projectiles coming from the direction of Lebanon and one from the Red Sea. It also said dozens of Israeli aircraft had attacked power plants and Ras Issa and Hodeidah ports in Yemen, accusing the Houthis of operating under Iran's direction and in cooperation with Iraqi militias. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said: "Our message is clear - for us, no place is too far". Nasrallah's death capped a traumatic fortnight for Hezbollah, starting with the detonation of thousands of communications devices used by its members. Israel was widely assumed to have carried out that action. Hezbollah's arsenal has long been a point of contention in Lebanon, a country with a history of civil conflict. Hezbollah's Lebanese critics say the group has unilaterally pulled the country into conflicts and undermined the state. However, Lebanon's top Christian cleric, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, said Nasrallah's killing had "opened a wound in the heart of the Lebanese." Rai has previously voiced criticism of the militia. (Reuters) Vice President Kamala Harris poked at Donald Trump over crowd sizes, his refusal to debate again and his privileged background on Sunday as she hauled in campaign cash in California and held a raucous rally at the same Nevada venue where the Republican nominee had appeared just two weeks ago. During the presidential debate, Harris appeared to get under the former president's skin when she said people were leaving his rallies early because of his rambling speeches. And she's kept it up on the campaign trail. The vice president told donors at a tony Los Angeles fundraiser that, as she campaigns around the country, her crowds are pretty big. And then before a roaring Las Vegas crowd estimated at 7,500, she renewed her jabs at Trump over being reluctant to debate again, saying, The American people have a right to hear us discuss the issues. And as you say here in Las Vegas, Im all in. Im all in. Harris four-day West Coast trip had dual purposes: She opened and closed it with stops in Sun Belt battlegrounds Arizona and Nevada where the vice president is trying to shore up support as Trump pounds her relentlessly over illegal migration. And her mid-stay in California was devoted to hauling in campaign contributions from donors in her blue home state. Harris also moved into what Trump considers his terrain immigration with a Friday visit to the border town of Douglas, Arizona. It was her first trip to the U.S.-Mexico border since taking over for President Joe Biden atop the Democratic presidential ticket. Harris border visit in Arizona seemed to irk Trump. The GOP leader has spent two days railing about the vice president during his rallies, upping his personal attacks against her, claiming she was responsible for a border invasion, and stirring up unfounded fears that shed usher in lawlessness if elected. Harris gave the same response she usually does to his insults, even despite Trump calling her mentally impaired. We just see the same old tired show from the same old tired playbook, she told a Los Angeles crowd of donors on Sunday, some who shouted boring! in response. Hours later in Las Vegas, she also revived her jabs at Trump for his silver platter background that nonetheless produced six bankruptcies, saying, "I come from the middle class, and I will never forget where I come from. Harris has warned the race is as close as it could possibly be, a margin-of-error race. But at the Los Angeles fundraiser, she added: The election is here and let me be clear. We are going to win. That event was full of celebrities: Stevie Wonder, Keegan Michael-Key, Sterling K. Brown, Demi Lovato, Jessica Alba and Lily Tomlin attended and Halle Bailey and Alanis Morissette took the stage. It, and a fundraiser a day earlier in San Francisco, raised a combined $55 million for Harris' campaign. Harris was spending Sunday night in Las Vegas and had planned campaign stops in the city on Monday. But her office announced that she'd instead head back to Washington earlier than expected and will attend a briefing on the damage caused by Hurricane Helene at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Meanwhile, the vice president is continuing to notch Republican support. Former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake became the latest to endorse her. He credited Harris with a fine character and love of country and said he wants a president who does not treat political adversaries as enemies or try to subvert the will of voters. Flake, a longtime critic of the former president, joins a list of anti-Trump Republicans who have said they will vote for the Democratic ticket, including Dick Cheney, the deeply conservative former vice president, and his daughter, Liz. But Maryland Senate candidate Larry Hogan, a former Republican governor and a sharp critic of Trump, said Harris has yet to earn his vote, though Trump won't get it. In Nevada, where Harris held her latest rally, all voters automatically receive ballots by mail unless they opt out a pandemic-era change that was set in state law. That means most ballots could start going out in a matter of weeks. Harris will be back in Las Vegas on Oct. 10 for a town hall with Hispanic voters. Both she and Trump have campaigned frequently in the city, highlighting the critical role that Nevada's six electoral votes could play in deciding an election expected to be exceedingly close. Trump held his own Las Vegas rally on Sept. 13 at the Expo World Market Center, where Harris spoke Sunday. She's also held events at the same venues that Trump used in Milwaukee, Atlanta and suburban Phoenix. During a campaign stop in Las Vegas in June, Trump promised to eliminate taxes on tips received by waiters, hotel workers and thousands of other service industry employees. Harris used her own Las Vegas rally in August to make the same promise . Fully doing away with federal taxes on tips would probably require an act of Congress. Still, Nevada's Culinary Union, which represents 60,000 hospitality workers in Las Vegas and Reno, has endorsed Harris. (AP) Hezbollah's acting leader vowed Monday to keep battling Israel and said the Lebanese militant group was prepared for a long fight even after much of its top command was wiped out, including its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Israeli strikes have killed Nasrallah and six of his top commanders and officials in the last 10 days, and have hit what the military says are thousands of militant targets across large parts of Lebanon. Over 1,000 people have been killed in the country in the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry. Early Monday, an airstrike hit a residential building in central Beirut, wiping out one apartment, damaging others, and killing three Palestinian militants, as Israel appeared to send a clear message that no part of Lebanon is out of bounds. Despite the heavy blow Hezbollah has suffered in recent weeks, acting leader Naim Kassem said in a televised statement that if Israel decides to launch a ground offensive, the group's fighters are ready. He said the commanders killed have already been replaced. Israel was not able to affect our (military) capabilities, Kassem said in a televised statement, the first time any senior Hezbollah figure has been seen since Nasrallah was killed. There are deputy commanders and there are replacements in case a commander is wounded in any post. He added that Hezbollah, which fought Israel to a stalemate in their monthlong war in 2006, anticipated the battle could be long. A founding member of the militant group who had been Nasrallahs longtime deputy, Kassem will remain in his acting position until the groups leadership elects a replacement. The man widely expected to take over the top post is Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah who oversees Hezbollahs political affairs. Hezbollah has significantly increased its rocket attacks in the past week to several hundred daily, but most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas. Several people have been wounded in Israel. There have been no fatalities since two soldiers were killed near the border on Sept. 19. But Hezbollahs capabilities remain unclear. As recently as two weeks ago, a strike like Monday's in central Beirut outside of the main areas where Hezbollah operates and next to a busy transportation hub normally crowded with buses, taxis and vans would have been seen as a major escalation and likely followed by a long-range Hezbollah strike into Israel. But the unspoken rules of the long-running conflict no longer seem to be in effect. It's possible that Hezbollah is holding back to save resources for a bigger battle, including a threatened Israeli ground invasion. But the militant group might also be in disarray after Israeli intelligence apparently penetrated its highest levels. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, meeting with Israeli troops on Monday, said Israel would use all the capabilities we have, hinting at a ground operation. You are part of this effort, he added. In the past week, Israel has frequently targeted Beiruts southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence including the massive strike on Friday that killed Nasrallah but had not hit locations closer to the city center. The strike early Monday killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small, leftist faction that has not been meaningfully involved in months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel has not claimed the strike but is widely assumed to have carried it out. Also Monday, Hamas announced that its top commander in Lebanon, Fatah Sharif, was killed with his family in an airstrike on the Al-Buss refugee camp in the southern port city of Tyre. The Israeli military confirmed that it had targeted him. Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles into northern Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack from Gaza into Israel sparked the war in the Palestinian territory . Hezbollah and Hamas are allies and both supported by Iran, and Hezbollah said it would continue the attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians until there was a cease-fire in Gaza. Israel responded to the rockets with airstrikes in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based, and the fighting has steadily escalated over the past year. The Lebanese government says the fighting may have displaced up to a million people , although the U.N. estimate is around 200,000. Tens of thousands of Israelis have also been displaced. Israel has vowed to keep fighting until the attacks stop and its citizens can return to their homes. The United States and its allies have called for a cease-fire, hoping to avoid further escalation that could draw in Iran and set off a wider war. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown little interest , as his country racks up military achievements against a longtime foe. Some Israelis broke into spontaneous celebrations after Nasrallahs death was announced. Videos circulated of crowds at bars singing a song in Hebrew mocking him. A news anchor on a pro-Netanyahu station sang and danced as the studio audience joined in with him while a commentator on Israels largest TV station offered co-panelists celebratory shots. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the country is committed to an immediate cease-fire followed by the deployment of Lebanese troops in the south, in keeping with a U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war but was never fully implemented. Mikati spoke after meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot. France, which has close ties to Lebanon, has joined the United States in calling for a cease-fire . Hezbollah, which boasts tens of thousands of battle-hardened fighters and long-range missiles capable of hitting anywhere inside Israel, has long been seen as the most powerful militant group in the region and a key partner to Iran in both threatening and deterring Israel. But Hezbollah has never faced an onslaught quite like this one, which began with a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies in mid-September that killed dozens of people and wounded around 3,000 including many fighters but also many civilians. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Israel's airstrikes in Lebanon had wiped out Hezbollahs command structure but warned that the group will work quickly to rebuild it. Were watching to see what they do to try to fill this leadership vacuum. Its going to be tough, he told CNNs State of the Union on Sunday. (AP) Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has been killed, the Iran-backed group said on Saturday, confirming his death after the Israeli military said it had eliminated him in an airstrike in Beirut the day before. His death marks a devastating blow to Hezbollah as it reels from an escalating campaign of Israeli attacks. It is also a huge blow to Iran, given the major role he has played in the Tehran-backed regional "Axis of Resistance." Hezbollah said in a statement that it would continue its battle against Israel "in support of Gaza and Palestine, and in defence of Lebanon and its steadfast and honourable people." It did not say how Nasrallah was killed. The Israeli military said earlier that Nasrallah was eliminated in a "targeted strike" on Friday on the group's underground headquarters beneath a residential building in Dahiyeh a Hezbollah-controlled southern suburb of Beirut. It said he was killed along with another top Hezbollah leader, Ali Karaki, and other commanders. "The strike was conducted while Hezbollahs senior chain of command were operating from the headquarters and advancing terrorist activities against the citizens of the State of Israel," it said. Friday's airstrike on Dahiyeh shook Beirut. A security source in Lebanon said the attack a quick succession of massively powerful blasts had left a crater at least 20 metres (65 feet) deep. It was followed on Saturday by further airstrikes on Dahiyeh and other parts of Lebanon. Huge explosions lit up the night sky, and more strikes hit the area in the morning. Smoke rose over the city. Residents have fled Dahiyeh, seeking shelter in downtown Beirut and other parts of the city. (Reuters) Israel killed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in a powerful airstrike in Beirut, dealing a heavy blow to the Iran-backed group as it reels from an escalating campaign of Israeli attacks. The Israeli military said on Saturday it had eliminated Nasrallah in the strike on the group's central command headquarters in Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday. Hezbollah confirmed he had been killed, without saying how. Nasrallah's death is a major blow to both Hezbollah and Iran, removing an influential ally who helped build Hezbollah into the linchpin of Tehran's network of allied groups in the Arab world. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the killing of Nasrallah as a necessary step toward "changing the balance of power in the region for years to come." "Nasrallah was not a terrorist, he was the terrorist," Netanyahu said in a statement, warning of challenging days ahead. U.S. President Joe Biden described Nasrallah's death as a measure of justice for what he called his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis and Lebanese, and said the U.S. fully supported Israel's right to self-defense. But when asked if an Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon was inevitable, Biden told reporters on Saturday: "It's time for a ceasefire." A senior member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, deputy commander Abbas Nilforoushan, was also killed in the Israeli attacks in Beirut on Friday, Iranian media reported. Sources told Reuters that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been moved to a secure location in Iran following Nasrallah's killing. Iran later called for a United Nations Security Council meeting on Israel's actions in Lebanon and elsewhere in the region. It also warned against any attacks on its diplomatic facilities and representatives. "Iran will not hesitate to exercise its inherent rights under international law to take every measure in defense of its vital national and security interests," Iran's U.N. ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, said in a letter to the 15-member council. Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed 33 people and wounded 195 others on Saturday, the Lebanese health ministry said. The strikes continued on Beirut's southern suburbs throughout the early evening on Saturday, according to a Reuters live broadcast, sending large clouds of smoke over the city. One Israeli strike hit an industrial area 500 meters (yards) from Beirut airport buildings, a security source told Reuters. The airport continued to operate normally, according to Middle East Airlines boss Mohammad al-Hout. More than 1,000 people have been killed and more than 6,000 wounded as a result of Israeli attacks in the past two weeks, the health ministry said, and about one million Lebanese have been displaced by the strikes, including hundreds of thousands since Friday, Nasser Yassin, the minister coordinating the government's crisis response, told Reuters on Saturday. Israel said it killed a senior Hezbollah intelligence official in a strike on southern Beirut, naming him as Hassan Khalil Yassin. Hezbollah has made no mention of this. In Israel, air raid sirens sounded across the centre of the country including Tel Aviv and large bangs were heard after a missile was fired from Yemen and intercepted, according to the Israeli military. A projectile fired from Lebanon crashed in the occupied West Bank, sparking fires, the Israeli military said. There were no casualties, according to the Israeli ambulance service. Hezbollah said in a statement that it would continue its battle against Israel "in support of Gaza and Palestine, and in defence of Lebanon and its steadfast and honourable people." Iran's Khamenei said Nasrallah's death would be avenged and his path in fighting Israel would be pursued by other militants. Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said his country was facing the threat of danger, without mentioning the death of Nasrallah. His office later announced three days of mourning for the Hezbollah chief. Hezbollah and Israel have been fighting a conflict in parallel with Israel's war against the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza since Hamas' attack on Israel last Oct. 7, in a cross-border confrontation that has sharply escalated in recent days. Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV aired verses from the Koran after Nasrallah's death was announced. Bursts of gunfire were heard in Beirut and Lebanon's army deployed tanks in the city centre, according to Reuters witnesses. The Israeli military said Nasrallah was eliminated in a "targeted strike" on the group's underground headquarters below a residential building in Dahiyeh a Hezbollah-controlled southern suburb of Beirut. It said he was killed along with senior Hezbollah official Ali Karaki and other commanders. Nasrallah's death is by far the largest blow in a traumatic fortnight for Hezbollah, starting with a deadly strike on thousands of communications devices used by its members. Days later, Israel significantly ramped up airstrikes in Lebanon, killing several top Hezbollah commanders and hundreds of other people across wide areas of the country. Succession Many Hezbollah supporters were in disbelief on Saturday. "He was leading us. He was everything to us. We were under his wings," one supporter, Zahraa, told Reuters tearfully by phone from a school where she had been displaced to overnight. Hezbollah gave no immediate indication of who might succeed Nasrallah. Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine has long been regarded as heir apparent. The group has not issued any statement on Safieddine's status or that of any other Hezbollah leaders apart from Nasrallah since the attack. Hezbollah continued its cross-border rocket fire on Saturday, setting off sirens and sending residents running for shelter deep inside Israel. Israeli missile defences blocked some of them and there was no immediate report of injuries. The escalation has increased fears the conflict could spin out of control, potentially drawing in Iran, Hezbollah's principal backer, as well as the United States. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel's war was not with the Lebanese people, calling Nasrallah the "murderer of thousands of Israelis and foreign citizens." Gallant held talks late on Saturday about possibly expanding Israel's military offensive on its northern front, his office said. Biden, who had no advance warning of the strike that killed Nasrallah, said the U.S. aimed to de-escalate the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon through diplomatic means. Hezbollah has said it would cease fire only when Israel's Gaza offensive ends. Hamas and other allies of Hezbollah issued statements mourning his death. Russia said it strongly condemned Nasrallah's killing and urged Israel to stop hostilities in Lebanon. Lebanon asks Iranian plane not to land Residents fled Dahiyeh, seeking shelter in downtown Beirut and other parts of the city. "Yesterday's strikes were unbelievable. We had fled before and then went back to our homes, but then the bombing got more and more intense, so we came here, waiting for Netanyahu to stop the bombing," said Dalal Daher, speaking near Beirut's Martyrs Square, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel says it has been attacking Hezbollah with the aim of allowing tens of thousands of residents evacuated from northern Israel to return home. Lebanon's transport ministry asked an Iranian plane not to enter Lebanese airspace after Israel warned air traffic control at the Beirut airport that it would use "force" if it landed, a ministry source told Reuters. The source said it was not clear what was on the plane, adding: "The priority is people." Late on Friday, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israeli air force planes would not allow "hostile flights with weapons to land" there. (Reuters) EU releases 10 million in humanitarian aid for Lebanon Today, the European Commission announced 10 million in additional humanitarian aid to help people in Lebanon affected by the ongoing escalation of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. This emergency funding aims to tackle the most urgent needs such as protection, food assistance, shelter and health care. The EU stands ready to provide further support by mobilising all the available emergency response tools, including via use of the Civil Protection Mechanism. In 2024, the EU provided 74 million in humanitarian aid to help vulnerable populations in Lebanon, including this allocation. The conflict has triggered population displacement in Lebanon from areas bordering Israel, with latest data pointing to at least 90,530 newly displaced people in Lebanon in addition to the nearly 112,000 displaced since October 2023. There are already hundreds of casualties and injuries among civilians. Background People in Lebanon, including refugees, were already experiencing high levels of poverty and food insecurity while having limited access to services. Nearly 2 million Lebanese and Syrian refugees are estimated to be food insecure. This number is expected to rise further. Since 2011, the EU allocated over 941 million in humanitarian aid to respond to the urgent needs of the population, both Lebanese and refugees. As the situation worsened for the broader Lebanese population, especially since 2019, EU humanitarian aid is being delivered both to Syrians and Lebanese who are most in need. The EU also organised the series of Brussels Syria Conferences to address the needs of Syrian refugees and host communities in Lebanon. Through our humanitarian funding, we support vulnerable populations to meet their basic needs through health care, education, protection and legal services. For More Information Lebanon country page Quote As hostilities rapidly escalate, people in Lebanon are being subjected to extreme violence, with innocent civilians paying the price of confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel. With this emergency allocation we aim at immediately establishing a lifeline for people in Lebanon, both nationals and refugees, affected by the surge of hostilities. At this moment in time, now more than ever, all parties must abide by International Humanitarian Law. Janez Lenarcic, Commissioner for Crisis Management 2024-09-28 Zarazeno ne 29.09.2024 17:09:00 Zdroj Evropska komise en Original ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/api/documents?reference=IP/24/4941&language=en lang en guid /IP/24/4941/ PPNs from around the country met in Leinster House for pre-budget talks with deputies and senators. Laois PPN co-ordinator Dan Bergin was chosen as one of the regional representatives along with his colleagues Siobhan Cronogue Longford PPN, Bridie Costello Offaly PPN, Muriel Tobin Waterford PPN, and Paul Clabby Roscommon PPN. PPNs are seeking additional funding to enable them to better support their growing number of registered Member Groups, Reps and resulting workload. A presentation outlining the work and challenges of PPNs nationally was given by Bridie Costello and Siobhan Cronogue and was followed by a lively Q&A session involving all representatives on the presentation panel. Support was promised by every TD and Senator in the room. Senator Micheal Carrigy - Longford-Westmeath said, It was an honour to host the PPNs at Leinster House this week. He added This meeting was an important step in ensuring that PPNs have a strong and recognised voice in our national conversation. I fully support their call for increased funding in Budget 2025, which will enable them to continue their vital work in advocating for and representing communities across Ireland. Its crucial that we continue to strengthen policy and decision making at the highest levels. Dan Bergin, Laois PPN Co-Ordinator said Thank you Senator Micheal Carrigy for the opportunity to present at Leinster House. Thank you to all cross-party Independent Deputies and Senators who attended, all giving their full support to increase PPN Funding 2025. We are delighted to have had this opportunity and we look forward to a positive outcome for PPNs in Budget 2025. Dear Editor We are all familiar with the announcement on airplanes before take-off to put on your oxygen mask first before tending to others. The same is true when looking after someone with a brain tumour. You have to make sure that you give yourself room to breathe too. Thats why, on Tuesday October 22, as part of National Brain Tumour Awareness Week, Brain Tumour Ireland will host an evening webinar Who cares for me? Challenging the carer to care for themselves too. The online event will feature contributions from broadcaster and mental health advocate, Keith Walsh, and leading psychotherapist, Brid OMeara, on the importance of looking after ourselves first if we are to best look after our loved ones. With lots of helpful self-care tips and advice, the webinar will also feature the lived experiences of people who have been diagnosed with a brain tumour and their families. Its worth reflecting that, each year, approximately 800 people are diagnosed here with a brain or other central nervous system tumour, including around 60 children and young people. Thats 800 families who each year have to come to terms with news that inevitably turns their lives upside-down. Brain Tumour Ireland is here to support anyone who has received a brain tumour diagnosis, as well as their families. If you have any questions about brain tumours, or would like more information, telephone 085 7219000, Monday to Thursday, 9am to 5pm. In the meantime, registration for the webinar is completely free. For details of this, and other events taking place as part of the National Brain Tumour Awareness Week, visit www.braintumourireland.com Yours sincerely, Fiona Keegan Chief Executive Brain Tumour Ireland Carmichael Centre North Brunswick Street Dublin 7 The first inter-provincial cross-sea helicopter flight from Sanya, Hainan province, to Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, completed its maiden launch on Sunday, with a journey time of around one hour. It aims to enhance the connectivity to and from the island province with agile flight services. This follows the launch of a low-altitude cross-border route from Guangzhou to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region by China Southern Airlines on Thursday, marking another milestone in low-altitude cross-sea travel. The route, operated by China Southern Airlines General Aviation Company Ltd, uses the advanced Sikorsky S76 medium twin-engine helicopter, which can carry 12 passengers. It departed from Sanya Tianya General Airport and arrived at the Xintang helicopter landing point in Zhanjiang. During its trial operation period, the route primarily offers charter services, allowing both domestic and international travelers to customize their travel plans and enjoy a new, efficient, and convenient cross-sea travel experience. Based on market response, the company plans to schedule regular and non-regular flights, adding more services during weekends, holidays, exhibitions, and peak tourist seasons, said Li Erbao, chairman of the company. A variety of aircraft, including the spacious and comfortable Sikorsky S92 with 19 seats and the flexible Bell 429 with six seats, will be deployed to cater to different passenger preferences. This initiative not only improves transportation convenience but also offers passengers aerial sightseeing experiences over attractions such as Wuzhi Mountain and Moon Bay in Hainan, and Huguangyan National Geopark Scenic Area in Guangdong, further enriching both provinces' tourism appeal. "The opening of this low-altitude flight route will facilitate the economic, cultural, and social exchanges between Hainan and Guangdong, constructing a swift and convenient pathway for interactions and travel between the two regions," Li said. Hainan province issued the "Three-Year Action Plan for Low-Altitude Economic Development (2024-2026)" on Sept 3, aiming to achieve a total output value of over 30 billion yuan ($4.3 billion) in the low-altitude economy by 2026 and establish a main network of low-altitude routes. Sanya has introduced a decision on Sept 13 to accelerate the development of new productive forces, promoting the aerospace industry and vigorously developing a low-altitude economy centered on tourism. As a sub-central city in Guangdong province and a key growth pole in the coastal economic belt, Zhanjiang has implemented the "Zhanjiang Action Plan for Promoting High-Quality Development of the Low-Altitude Economy (2024-2026)" since Sept 22. The city is accelerating the layout of the low-altitude economy in areas such as logistics, emergency response, healthcare, transportation, culture and tourism, smart agriculture, and the marine economy. A NOTORIOUS junction where a driver died is still awaiting road safety measures, more than 15 years after the tragedy. The fatal accident black spot at Moneyquid near Killeigh, on the busy N80 route between Portlaoise and Tullamore, is still described as seriously dangerous despite repeated appeals for roadworks. Cllr Seamus McDonald made yet another appeal at the September meeting of Borris-in-Ossory/Mountmellick Municipal District, when he asked county council officials to make contact with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) to make the junction safe. Because it is on a national route, TII is the agency responsible for upgrades. Cllr McDonald described Moneyquid as a seriously dangerous area, where one man sadly lost his life and there were further crashes in recent years. The Fianna Fail councillor from Rosenallis said: It is a speedway out there and something will have to be done as quickly as possible. Cllr McDonald made similar appeals at council meetings in December 2019 and in June last year, when he said that rapid action must be taken at the dangerous junction near the Laois-Offaly border. Each time, he was told that the issue had been raised with TII. In response to the latest appeal, senior engineer James Dowling said the councils road design department previously raised the Moneyquid issue with TII and would do so again at the next road safety meeting, which was due to be held within a couple of weeks. Mr Dowling said that TII budgets have been massively reduced this year, but the council would stress the urgency of the Moneyquid junction. Independent cllr James Kelly told cllr McDonald: You may get on to your local TD! The fatal crash at Moneyquid happened in March 2009, when a man in his 40s died in a two-vehicle collision. Cllr McDonald also asked for an update on progress regarding repairs to the bridge at Rearyvalley on the River Barrow, where he said safety is a major concern as cracks in the bridge are deepening. Mr Dowling replied that Laois County Councils area office has finalised the design and is awaiting funding, before the bridge project can go out to tender. Dissatisfied with the response, cllr McDonald said the problem at Rearyvalley was ongoing for the past ten or 15 years and residents were becoming increasingly concerned. He said: Residents are getting more frightened all the time, as the cracks in the bridge are deepening and it needs to be done as soon as possible. Cllr McDonald also asked for traffic-calming measures at the Deadmans Inn, Ballyfin. Mr Dowling replied that municipal district staff would meet the councillor on site to discuss traffic-calming measures. Stephanie Nolan, (Hartstown, Dublin and formerly of Mountrath, Co. Laois) September 29th 2024 peacefully in the loving care of the staff at Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown. Beloved mother of Siobhan. Sadly missed by her loving daughter, sister Denise, brothers Gerard, Peter and David, Siobhans dad Christy, brother-in-law Robert, sisters-in-law Berni, Helen and Ann, nephews, nieces, relatives, neighbours and friends. May she rest in peace. Reposing at Cunninghams Funeral Home, Clonsilla on Tuesday evening (October 1st) between 5 pm and 7 pm. Removal on Wednesday morning (October 2nd) to St. Ciarans Church, Hartstown arriving for Funeral Mass at 10 am followed by cremation in Glasnevin Crematorium at 12 o'clock. Stephanies funeral service may be viewed online (live only) by following this LINK. Stephanies cremation service may be viewed online (live only) by following this LINK. Messages of sympathy and condolences for the family may be left by selecting Condolences below or alternatively at www.cunninghamsfunerals.com. Family flowers only, donations if desired to St. Francis Hospice, Blanchardstown. With the new television season upon us, here are a few things you are virtually certain to see again and again and again: lots of folks spending the better part of their day surrounded by their friends and family in happy conviviality; folks wandering into the unlocked apartments and homes of friends, family and neighbors at any time of the day or night as if this were the most natural thing in the world; friends and family sitting down and having lots of tearful heart-to-hearts; Little League games, school assemblies and dance recitals, all attended by, you guessed it, scads of friends and family. Youre going to be seeing these scenes repeatedly because the basic unit of television is not the lone individual or the partnership or even the nuclear family. The basic unit of television is the flock be it the extended family of brothers and sisters, grandfathers and grandmothers, nieces, nephews and cousins, or the extended circle of friends, and, rest assured, it is always a circle. On television friends never come in pairs; they invariably congregate in groups of three or more. That television has become quite possibly the primary purveyor in American life of friendship and of the extended family is no recent blip. Over the last 20 years, beginning with Seinfeld and moving on through Friends, Sex and the City and more recently to Desperate Housewives, Glee, The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Cougartown and at least a half-dozen other shows, including this seasons newbies Raising Hope and Better With You, television has become a kind of friendship machine dispensing groups of people in constant and intimate contact with one another, sitting around in living rooms, restaurants and coffee shops, sharing everything all the time. You might even say that friendship has become the basic theme of television, certainly of broadcast television, though cable has its own friendship orgies like Men of a Certain Age, My Boys and Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Friendship is what television is about. Advertisement What makes this so remarkable is that it has been happening at a time when it is increasingly difficult to find this kind of deep social interaction anyplace but on TV. Nearly a decade ago, Harvard professor Robert Putnam observed in his classic Bowling Alone that Americans had become more and more disconnected from one another and from their society. As Putnam put it, For the first two-thirds of the twentieth century a powerful tide bore Americans into ever deeper engagement in the life of their communities, but a few decades ago silently, without warning that tide reversed and we were overtaken by a treacherous current. It was a current that pulled Americans apart. Moreover, the current that Putnam observed has, according to more recent studies, only intensified in the last decade. One study found that Americans had one-third fewer nonfamily confidants than they had 20 years earlier, and 25% had no one in whom to confide whatsoever. Another study of 3,000 Americans found that on average they had only four close social contacts, but these included family members like ones own spouse. This decline in real friendships may account in part for the dramatic rise of virtual friendships like those on social-networking sites where being friended is less a sign of personal engagement than a quantitative measure of how many people your life has brushed and how many names you can collect, but this is friendship lite. Facebook, in fact, only underscores how much traditional friendship friendship in which you meet, talk and share has become an anachronism and how much being friended is an ironic term. Advertisement Among the reasons Putnam cited for the increasing atomization in American life were economic pressures and anxieties; women entering the workplace in full-time employment by necessity and thus disengaging from their friends and neighbors; metropolitan sprawl, which meant more time spent commuting, greater social segregation and the disruption of community boundaries; and last but by no means least, the rise of television itself, especially its splintering influence on later generations who have grown up addicted to the tube. It is no secret that watching television is not exactly a communal activity. Rather, we often use it to fill a communal void. But instead of bringing comfort, it seems only to remind us of our alienation. In Putnams view, based on several studies, TV is apparently especially attractive for people who feel unhappy, particularly when there is nothing else to do. Its not that we prefer television to human contact. The laugh track attests that most people dont really want to be alone in front of their TV sets. They want to be part of a larger community. Yet another study indicates that TV provides a sort of simulacrum of community because the relationship between the TV viewer and the people he or she watches on the screen competes with and even substitutes for physical encounters with real people. It is Facebook with hundreds of friends but without any actual contact with any of them, only the virtual contact of watching. But what none of these theories of television has noticed is that TV has learned how to compensate for the increasing alienation it seems to induce. And it compensates not by letting us kill time with friends on screen but by providing us with those nonstop fantasies of friendship, which clearly give us a vicarious pleasure. Watch Seinfeld or Friends or Sex and the City or Community or Men of a Certain Age the list is endless and youll see people who not only are never ever alone but people whose relationships are basically smooth, painless, uninhibited and deeply, deeply intimate the kind of friendships we may have had in college but that most of us can only dream about now. How many adults do you know who manage to hang out with their friends every single day for hour after hour? Advertisement Or watch the incomparable Modern Family or Brothers and Sisters or Parenthood and youll see big, happy family gatherings with lots of bonhomie and jokes and an outpouring of love. On the last there seems to be a huge extended family dinner every other night where most families would be lucky to have one such get-together each year at Thanksgiving. And dont forget those school assemblies, already mentioned, which everyone in the family takes off work to attend en masse or the weekend birthday parties where attendance is also compulsory. One feels a little churlish pointing out how phony most of this intimacy is. After all, these shows, even one as observant as Modern Family, arent about realism. They arent about the genuine emotional underpinnings of friendship or family, and they certainly arent about the rough course that almost every relationship, be it with a friend or family member, takes the inevitable squabbles, the sometimes long and even permanent ruptures, the obtuseness, the selfishness, the reprioritization, the expectations of reciprocity, the drifting apart, the agonizing sense of loneliness even within the flock. These shows are pure wish fulfillment. They offer us friends and family at ones beck and call but without any of the hassles. It is friendship as we want it to be. For the fact is that we miss the friendships we no longer have, and we know that Facebook or e-mails cannot possibly compensate for the loss. So we sit in front of our television sets and enjoy the dream of friendship instead: a dream where we need never be alone, where there are a group of people who would do anything for us, and where everyone seems to understand us to our very core, just like Jerry and George, Chandler and Joey, Carrie and her girls, or the members of the McKinley High glee club. It is a powerful dream, and it is one that may now be the primary pleasure of television. calendar@latimes.com Q: I dont get more than about five-and-a-half hours of sleep a night during the week, but my wife says I cant hang out in bed on the weekends because we have too much to do. Can you give me some ammunition -- I need the rest! -- Greg T., Tallahassee, Florida A: Your situation is pretty common. Around a third of adults get less than the recommended seven hours of sleep a night. And we have two things to say about your situation. One: Lets explore ways you can get more sleep on weeknights -- it is an essential part of living a healthier, happier life. Two: Research shows your instinct to get extra sleep on the weekends is just what the doctor ordered. A study presented at the European Society of Cardiologys meeting recently looked at data on around 19,000 sleep-deprived adults and found that those who had the most catch-up sleep on weekends lowered their risk of developing heart disease by 20%. So, Greg, let your wife in on this good news. One other thing: Sleep deprivation causes more than heart woes. Physical and mental health problems, injuries, loss of productivity, and even a greater likelihood of death are associated with chronic lack of sleep. That brings us back to point No. 1: ways to help you get more sleep on weeknights. Even if you work 10-plus hours a day, you have control over your time between getting home and going to bed. You may pitch in around the house, but were betting youre also spending too much time on screens. You may also be doing things like overeating late at night or exercising in the evenings that make it hard to fall asleep at a reasonable hour. We recommend you get into bed seven to eight hours before you have to get up, lights off, no digital devices or screens, and keep it cool, dark and quiet. Then practice 10 minutes of mindful meditation ... and ZZZ. * * * Dr. Mike Roizen is the founder of www.longevityplaybook.com, and Dr. Mehmet Oz is global advisor to www.iHerb.com, the worlds leading online health store. Roizen and Oz are chief wellness officer emeritus at Cleveland Clinic and professor emeritus at Columbia University, respectively. (c)2024 Michael Roizen, M.D. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc. A 17-year-old Bethlehem man facing a criminal homicide charge shot and killed a man over a drug deal gone bad near Governor Wolf Elementary School, city police said. Gianni Santini, of the 1770 block of Callone Avenue, is also facing felony aggravated assault and two counts felony robbery charges, as well as firearms and weapons offenses, authorities said. Santini surrendered to police late Friday evening and is being charged as an adult in the case. He was arraigned late Friday before District Judge Vivian I. Zumas, who denied bail. He remains at Northampton County Prison. Allentown-based attorney, John Waldron, who is representing Santini, told lehighvalleylive.com Monday hes awaiting more evidence from the state before commenting on behalf of his client. The affidavit of probable cause, which lays out evidence and witness testimony in the case, says the shooting happened shortly before 11:30 p.m. Thursday as Santini met 30-year-old Altaron Amir Robinson of Easton and another 21-year-old woman from Allentown in the 1900 block of Butztown Road. The incident happened on the street, near the elementary school, Bethlehem Police Chief Michelle Kott told lehighvalleylive.com Monday. The trio agreed to meet to exchange $320 in cash for marijuana outside the school, according to city police. The male victim and Santini arranged the deal over social media, text messages and Facetime and didnt know each other prior to the meeting, court records state. The female victim reported to investigators she watched as Santini walked on the sidewalk of the north side of the elementary school, along the east side of the building. He crossed the grass into the street and over to her silver Mercedes-Benz, she reported. She was parked outside the school with Robinson in the drivers seat and she was in the front passenger seat, court records state. Robinson told Santini to get into the back passenger seat behind him, which he did before pointing a handgun at the womans head, court records state. Santini then allegedly pointed the gun at Robinson. The woman handed over two designer purses and the bagged marijuana, city police said. Santini then got out of the car and began to run, according to police. Robinson chased after Santini, tackled him to the ground and the pair tussled before the female victim heard two gunshots, according to police. Santini then fled while the woman called 911, court records state. Multiple police cars quickly descended onto the scene with investigators seizing two spent 9 mm casings and one live round, as well as a perm cap Santini was seen on video surveillance footage wearing to cover his head and glasses, authorities said. Shortly before 11 p.m. Thursday, a relative of Santini called authorities and said they believed Santini was the shooter, according to court records. Santini told the relative over Facetime he was involved in a robbery and made a gesture with his hand, indicating a gun was used, court records state. Police issued a warrant for Santinis arrest by Friday morning. Bethlehem Area School District shut down Governor Wolf Elementary School Friday as police investigated. Crime scene tape Thursday evening could be seen around the schools property. Robinson was taken to St. Lukes University Hospital in Fountain Hill, where he was later pronounced dead by the Lehigh County Coroners Office. An autopsy was conducted on Monday. Robinsons death was caused by a gunshot wound to the head and the manner of death was ruled a homicide by Lehigh County Coroner Daniel A. Buglio. Santini is scheduled to return to court for a preliminary hearing tentatively scheduled for 9 a.m. Oct. 16 before Zumas. A judge will then determine if theres enough evidence to send the case onto the Northampton County Court of Common Pleas. Please subscribe now and support the local news you rely on and trust. Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Upper Mount Bethel Township Supervisors Chairman John Bermingham said township officials have had discussions with a major corporation about moving into the River Pointe Logistics Center. Bermingham said Friday the corporation has asked for its name not to be disclosed during these early discussions. What I can say is that its a good company and if they are able to put all of the pieces together and we agree with their final proposal, the project would bring high paying jobs to Upper Mount Bethel and would significantly increase our tax base, Bermingham said. All while having minimal impact on traffic and minimal impact on existing community services. Public chatter regarding the large business looking to move to River Pointe prompted Bermingham to issue a statement Friday night during a town hall meeting. River Pointe is a proposed 800-acre industrial development bordered by River Road, Potomac Street and Route 611. River Pointe owner Lou Pektor confirmed his company has been courting a major business to come to the planned 800-acre development. The industry we are chasing is what we think is best for this site, Pektor said. Pektor said he would like River Pointe to become a hub for technology companies like those that make computer chips or are involved in artificial intelligence. The River Pointe property, which neighbors an energy generating station, has access to a great amount of electricity, he said. Hi-tech manufacturers need a lot of energy to operate, he said. Its not about land, Pektor said. Its about power. Pektor asked that supervisors work with him to bring in the types of businesses that all parties would like to see inhabit the development. However, the current board of supervisors and River Pointe have not been working hand in hand on some issues. The township has filed a lawsuit against the Upper Mount Bethel Township Municipal Authority. The authority was created in 2023 by a previous board of supervisors to manage River Pointes sewage issues. Current supervisors ordered the authority to dissolve itself, which it did not do, and the lawsuit ensued. River Pointe, and the associated neighboring developments RPL East and New Demi Road LLC, currently have a lawsuit against the township, the individual supervisors and the township engineer. The lawsuit asks for a declaratory judgment stating the township has sought to undermine the development regarding the authority. Township resident Ron Angle said its a shame the township hired an attorney to monitor the townships own municipal authority. There are thousands of dollars being thrown away, Angle said. Bermingham has said in the past that he is not against development at River Pointe but he wants to see the right kind of development there. Bermingham and many residents have said they do not want warehouses and the high-volume traffic they bring. The statement Bermingham read Friday indicated the business being discussed would be a step in the right direction. However, none of the supervisors gave an outright endorsement of the development. Supervisor Jonathan Erler said it is important for the supervisors to remain unbiased regarding what businesses may come to the development. Resident Charles Cole, who has been critical of the River Pointe since it was first proposed in 2020, said supervisors need to tread cautiously with any business coming into the township. Supervisors need to oversee any development and conduct a cost benefit analysis before they support any business coming in, he said. Before any businesses come to the development, River Pointe must clear some hurdles. An Upper Mount Bethel Township Zoning Hearing Board meeting is scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m. regarding a proposed wastewater drip irrigation field on Potomac Street. The township does not have a public sewer system, so, River Pointe will need to create its own system. The hearing began in February. Closing statements are expected this week. The zoning hearing board will then have to vote on whether to grant the special exception to allow wastewater to be released on the Potomac Street property. If the drip irrigation field is approved by the board, River Pointe will need permits from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection before any construction of the sewer system could begin. Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust. John Best is a freelance contributor to lehighvalleylive.com. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Rathdowney woman Gina OLoughlin has decided to celebrate her 70th birthday in style- by parachuting out of a plane for charity. Mrs OLoughlin is well known throughout Laois for her involvement in various charitable organisations and campaigns, including Meals on Wheels in Rathdowney, and Portlaoise Action To Homelessness (PATH). Having first become involved with PATH in 2018, Mrs OLoughlin regularly volunteers with the charity, and has ran successful fundraising events in the past. Mrs OLoughlin will turn 70 on December 20, and decided to ring in her birthday with a daring parachute jump in aid of PATH. I was looking for something special to do for my birthday, and I was inspired by PATH Treasurer Irene Redmond, Mrs OLoughlin explained. Irene had done something similar the year before, and I decided Id do it to raise money for PATH, she said. Mrs OLoughlin was originally supposed to undertake the jump on September 15, but the plane was kept grounded due to technical issues. Having rescheduled to Sunday September 22, Mrs OLoughlin was once again prevented from undertaking the jump due to poor weather conditions. I had psyched myself up for the jump and I had friends and family travel from around the country to see me, so I was a bit disappointed that it couldnt go ahead, she said. Im now booked in for November 9, so Im hoping it will be third time lucky!. Pictured: Mrs O'Loughlin will undertake the parachute jump on November 9. Originally a Murphy from Kilcoke, Mrs OLoughlin is well known throughout Laois, and has been overwhelmed with support for her fundraiser. I cant believe the response so far, she said. There are people coming in the door with 50 each to me. So far Ive raised around 1,200, and Ive never asked people for a penny, she said. All of the fundraising has been through word of mouth. Even the knitting club here were excited about it and donated 50 from their funds, along with members separately themselves, she said. Mrs OLoughlin said that the classmates of her youngest grandchildren Ailish and Jake have been doubting that their Nanny will be jumping out of a plane, with Jake explaining that she wont even need a parachute. I thought Id love to be up there floating with the clouds, Mrs OLoughlin said. Ive done the skyline walk in Croke Park, and the tree walk in Rathdrum. My sisters came with me, and I left my sister Irene a third of the way up, and I left Myrtle nearly halfway up. I was waving down to them from the top! she said. Pictured: Mrs O'Loughlin has received fantastic support for her fundraiser so far. Photo: Pixabay Members of my family have done skydives abroad, and when I was deciding to do it I had asked them, they all said it was brilliant. Mrs OLoughlin has ran several previous fundraisers that have done very well, including one for Portlaoise's Cuisle Centre in 2012. She raised over 2,000 in memory of her mother Gladys Murphy. Mrs OLoughlin delivers Meals on Wheels around Rathdowney every Friday, and volunteers with PATH on Wednesdays and Fridays. She usually travels to Dublin with PATH once a month. Ill be going the next two Wednesday nights, those nights are harder to get volunteers, she said. I remember the first night I volunteered with PATH on the streets of Dublin. You would see the homeless on the streets when youre out and about up there, and youd want to go up and help them, she said. It was so strange to be standing making someone a cup of tea on OConnell bridge, I came home so delighted. It was a brilliant feeling, knowing you were helping people. It was one of my favourite nights ever! she said. Pictured: Gina O'Loughlin. Before Covid, we would use trolleys to hand out food and essentials to people sleeping in doorways. Most of them were happy with just a chat, she explained. Now we have a bag night where we work out of the back of the van, and then we have a table night where we set up tables with food on Grafton street, Mrs OLoughlin said. Im so delighted with what the parachute jump is raising for PATH, any little helps at all, she said. There is no online GoFundMe for the jump. Those who wish to donate should contact Gina at any date on (087) 245 4722. The winner of Saturday night's Lotto Plus 2 has come forward to receive their winnings. The winning ticket was sold in Breslin's Supervalu Rathdowney, and the local community have expressed their delight for the winner. The shop received a phone call from Lotto HQ this morning with the news that the winner had come forward. Mr Connell Breslin, owner of the Supervalu branch, has warmly congratulated the lucky ticket holder. "It's a fantastic win for the town. We're trading over 15 years and this is the first big win for the shop," Mr Breslin said. "We're all hoping it's someone local, that's just the nature of the town. Most of our trade is local, so we're delighted for whoever won- we'll know when we see who has a new car!" he said. Mr Breslin's Abbeyleix Supervalu shop had a 250k winner four years ago. "The staff are all very excited with the news- they all reported for work this morning, so we know it wasn't one of them!" he laughed. "We are so delighted to have sold it, it's a great boost for the town," he said. The winning numbers in Saturday's Lotto Plus 2 draw were: 1, 20, 28, 32, 34, 38, and the Bonus was 9. Sarah Ruane, Spokesperson of the National Lottery expressed her excitement about the record night. Wowwhat an extraordinary night for our players! Three brand-new Lottery millionaires and two other huge winners all from a single drawthis is the stuff dreams are made of!" she said. "We couldnt be more thrilled for our winners in Dublin, Wexford, Laois, and Kildare. If you bought a ticket for last nights draw, check it right awaythis could be your life-changing moment. Dont forget to sign the back, keep it safe, and get in touch with us to collect your prize at Lotto HQ. This is what makes the Lotto so specialtransforming lives in a single night!" she finished. The National Lottery is now urging all Lotto players from Dublin, Wexford, Laois and Kildare who purchased tickets for Saturday nights Lotto, Lotto Plus Raffle and Lotto Plus 2 draws to check them very carefully as theyve all won very substantial prizes. The winners should sign the back of their tickets and keep it somewhere safe. They should make contact with the National Lottery prize claims team on 1800 666 222 or email claims@lottery.ie and arrangements will be made for them to collect their prize in Lottery HQ. A reminder of those Winning Numbers: Main Lotto draw: 4, 6, 13, 27, 29, 32, Bonus: 47 Lotto Plus Raffle number: 3737 Lotto Plus 2 draw: 1, 20, 28, 32, 34, 38, Bonus: 9 The Lotto Jackpot of 2 Million was won and split between two players from Dublin and Wexford, each claiming a cool 1 million. The Dublin and Wexford players become the 8th and 9th Lotto Jackpot winners of 2024. There is support in Laois for the chosen site for the first Midlands palliative care in a purpose-built hospice unit but the Tullamore location picked by the Minister for Health has met with resistance in Offaly. Laois Hospice Chairperson Mary Delaney welcomed the choice of Arden Lane in Tullamore following consultation with the hospice groups in the midlands and other stakeholders. The location of a hospice in Tullamore met with opposition in Laois when it was first put on the table by the HSE and doctors. However, this stance subsequently changed. Laois Hospice is delighted that Minister Stephen Donnelly has made a decision on the site for the Midlands inpatient hospice unit. We hope that the project will now proceed as quickly as possible to plan and get the project commenced. We look forward to this, she told the Leinster Express / Laois Live. An original site beside the Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore was deemed unsuitable after the former Taoiseach Micheal Martin announced 20 million in public funds for a region which is the last in Ireland not to have a hospice unit. This led to a consultation process that concluded in February 2024 and led to Minister Donnelly announcing that Arden Lane was the best location in Tullamore. His approval carried a condition that the project must be ready to go within 12 months. Otherwise, Mr Donnelly said the alternative site at Wellwood on the Tullamore bypass would be pursued. The HSE is tasked with advancing the project. It gave an outline of where the work is at. The design team has been appointed with Coady Architects as the lead and are currently progressing through the design process. The HSE is committed to advancing this critical hospice development for the people of the Midlands with voluntary hospice groups and with our Palliative Care Teams across the region. The HSE will quickly advance next steps with all relevant parties as we progress to the planning application, HSE informed the Leinster Express / Laois Live. However, there is resistance in Offaly to the choice of Arden Lane. Most high profile is the Fianna Fail MEP and former Laois Offaly TD Barry Cowen. He warned that developing the site at Arden Lane could be more expensive than Wellwood owned by Offaly builders John Flanagan Developments. It is the location for yet to be developed private hospital that was planned during the Celtic Tiger. The people of Midlands region have waited two years for the delivery of a new hospice after funding having already committed. I have fought for this project and secured 20 million funding. While today it is welcome to see progress being made, I am concerned following todays confirmation the hospice will be housed at out of town site in Arden, Tullamore. I personally favoured the Wellwood site, a fully serviced and appropriately zoned location as per County Offaly Development Plan. Its also located adjacent to and accessible to Midlands Regional Hospital with extensive area capable of meeting accommodation needs of this overdue facility/service. MORE BELOW PICTURE. As a public representative Ive a duty to express my views and concerns when seeking to ensure public finances are spent wisely and fairly. The costs associated with servicing Arden with relevant roads and services would be at least in excess of a further 2 million not to mention the uncertainty in obtaining permission at all. That would cause further delay and disappointment not to mention further costs for the taxpayer to carry. Therefore I merely urge caution. I as much as anyone having used my political will and credit to win such substantial funding want to see this region with a hospice. But I have to call out my fears and concerns while hoping they somehow can be resolved, he said. There is also opposition from Offaly Hospice which issued a statement to the Tullamore Tribune. ''We have reviewed the suitability award matrix and feel strongly that the Arden Lane site is the incorrect decision and that there were very significant flaws through the adjudication and scoring process. ''The inclusion of non-hospice stakeholders was envisaged, we are surprised that the Dublin and Midland Hospital Group management was not included as a stakeholder, given their future requirement to deliver co-located services to the facility,'' said the Hospice. While many hospice units in Ireland are not co-located with acute hospitals, the Offaly Hospice group believe that it should be located beside Tullamore hospital. ''Can you imagine a palliative care patient, who urgently needs specialist intervention and instead of a 400m on-campus four-minute walk, a specialist needs to drive 2km through two sets of traffic lights, a pedestrian crossing and roundabout on a busy road with multiple exit and entrance lanes. They could potentially have to deal with breakdowns,traffic light malfunctions, Garda checkpoints, accidents and one would be hoping that if such a need were to arise, that it would not coincide with match traffic in OConnor Park. ''We are concerned that insufficient descriptions were given to evaluators to describe the meaning of particular scores from a graduated relativity perspective. Certainly such detail was not made available to Offaly Hospice Foundation. "We also believe that relevant incremental costs in terms of facilitating works and services, for which we have professional estimates of an additional 2m for the Arden Lane site, is not adequately considered in the scoring matrix. This is an unnecessary spend of public money, which could be more appropriately spent on patients in palliative care. Relevant costs should be clearly included in site selection as referenced in section 4.1 of the Design guidelines for specialist palliative care settings. "Finally, we are surprised that a process that evaluated three sites and theoretically yielded a 3.2% differential between the leading two sites did not eliminate the lowest bid and proceed to a further round of detailed comparative scoring, with further detail provided to evaluators to ensure all were evaluating on the same basis with a view to achieving the optimum process outcome," he said. They concluded that this project involves a commitment of significant public funding and therefore it is essential that the principles enshrined in EU law and founding EU treaties are meticulously applied. John Flanagan Developments applied to Offaly County Council in late 2023 to alter plans for a 99-bed hospital which was granted planning permission earlier last year. The application sought to alter the floor space of the hospital, reducing the in-patient bed space to 56 while increasing the capacity for outpatient day spaces and elective procedures. Two Laois pubs were among the regional winners in the 2024 Irish Pub Awards. Treacys Pub and Restaurant at The Heath has been shortlisted as Best Food Pub sponsored by Musgrave MarketPlace. In Portarlington, ODeas Bar & Bistro was selected as a regional finalist in the Diageo sponsored Best Local Pub award. Now in its sixth year, the Irish Pub Awards, jointly presented by Licenced Vintners Association (LVA) and Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI), are acknowledged as the definitive industry standard and have gained recognition throughout the trade as the most credible and comprehensive assessment of the best in Irish Pubs. "The Irish Pub Awards have truly cemented their status as the most prestigious accolades within the Irish pub industry, says VFI President and Offaly Fine Gael Cllr, John Clendennen. Its fantastic to see such a strong representation of exceptional pubs from every corner of Ireland among this years regional winners. Securing a place on this list is a clear indicator that your pub is among the finest in the country. For those who didnt make it, I encourage you to learn from the winners and aim to come back even stronger next year.' 'The anticipation is building as we look forward to the national awards ceremony in November, where well celebrate the best of the best and reveal which pub will claim the coveted title of National Pub of the Year.' Chair of the LVA, Willie Aherne said The collaboration between VFI and LVA is core to the success of the Irish Pub Awards. The Awards play a big part in acknowledging the role great publicans play in employing people across Ireland, investing in their premises and in acknowledging the wonderful contribution pubs make to their local communities, to Irish social life and to Irish tourism. All seventy regional winners will be showcased as best in class in their region and will receive a prize package of management training to help them progress their business further. All regional winners will also avail of comprehensive media coverage, including a profile piece in an Awards Supplement in the Irish Independent on the day of the National Awards presentation on November 13 next. The awards media partners are Irish Independent and Drinks Industry Ireland. The final bill to build 45 modular homes for Ukrainians in Laois who have fled Russia's war looks set to come in just short of 15 million, according to a Laois TD who has described a report into the spend as 'astounding'. Sinn Fein TD and Chair of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Brian Stanley, revealed the final cost of building the houses after it was highlighted along with other overspending of taxpayers' money in the annual report from the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG). He outlined the findings of C&AG analysis of the rapid build programme that was overseen by the Office of Public Works (OPW). The rapid build programme as part of the Governments response to provide accommodation for beneficiaries of temporary protection (BOTPs) is one example. The 500 units were completed 17 months late. No credible and long-term use for the modular units has yet been determined. The final projected average cost per unit of around 442,000 is an increase of around 120% on the original February 2023 estimate. Its astounding! MORE BELOW PICTURE. Pictured: Former Minister at the Office of Public works Patrick O'Donovan with builders on the site of modular homes in Rathdowney in late December 2023. "And in my home county of Laois, at Rathdowney, we have seen the tiny, 45 square meter units, cost over 345k each. In June the Daft report showed that the average price of a home in Laois is now 263,000. A modular unit with no long-term use identified costs substantially more than the average Laois person's forever-home, he said. It took seven months to build the homes which can accommodate 168 people. The Laois Offaly TD said the Leinster House bike shed and the security hut at the Department of Finance may be the latest examples of inexplicable use of public monies in the annual report of 2023 spending. In April 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing humanitarian crisis, the Government agreed a range of measures to boost the supply of accommodation for refugees arriving from Ukraine. The programme cost had reached 289.3 million by June of this year for all the houses. The initial projected capital cost of 100 million. The C&AG report said the delivery of the first 500 units by end February 2023 was considered to be an ambitious, but achievable timeframe at the outset of the programme. However, delivery of 500 units was only achieved in early August 2024 some 17 months later than planned. The report also noted that in addition to the delays in delivery, "significant project cost overruns have occurred". The initial projected cost was an estimated 200,000 per residential unit, increasing to an average projected cost per unit of around 436,000 by June 2024 an increase of almost 120%. The latest total programme cost projections of 289.3 million, indicate a final projected average cost per unit of around 442,000. Channing Tatum has delighted his Irish fans after sharing that his daughter took home a number of trophies in Irish dancing at the weekend. The Hollywood star proudly posted pics of his 11-year-old daughter Everly Tatum, whom he shares with his ex-wife and fellow dancer Jenna Dewan, after she took part in the St Ambrose Fall Feis in Los Angeles. "There is absolutely no words for how proud i am of this lil girl!!!," the 44-year-old Magic Mike star posted on Instagram, as he shared pictures of a beaming Everly side-by-side with her dad and on the podium with her two trophies, as well as one of himself posing with her sash and silverware. "Im freaking out maaaaannn!!!!" Many of Tatum's Irish fans have flooded the comments section, congratulating Everly and hailing the actor, who has Irish heritage, as "the ultimate feis dad" Read Also: Move to Phoenix Park ruled out after 'thuggery' and threats to family home, Taoiseach tells Tubridy "Feis dad of the year" was the comment from Irish dancing troop and TikTok sensations Cairde. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Channing Tatum (@channingtatum) "Not Channing Tatum being the ultimate feis dad," read another comment, with other fans expressing surprise; "Channing being a feis dad was not on my bingo card". According to her mother Jenna, Everly was inspired to start Irish dancing after seeing the 2021 animated film Riverdance. She told Access Hollywood: 'We watched a movie called Riverdance and she said, "Mom, please find me a dance class". So we found a dance class and it just took off, she loves it.' A Kildare-based garda has described an incident in Derrinturn during which a petrol bomb was thrown into a home. Garda Shane Smyth of Naas Garda Station discussed the incident when he appeared as a guest on KFM on the morning of Wednesday, September 25 last. He explained that on Monday, September 23 last, at around 3.35am, one of the occupants of a house located in the Beech View region of Derrinturn 'woke up to a loud bang' and subsequently discovered smoke in his home. Gda Smyth added that they subsequently fled with their family, and that a number of persons started smashing the home's windows. He also said that one of the people causing damage to the home also threw a petrol bomb into the residence. When asked by the Leinster Leader about the incident, a garda spokesperson responded: "Gardai are investigating a criminal damage by fire incident which occurred in Derrintun, County Kildare on September 23, 2024. "The incident occurred at approximately 3.25am." The spokesperson continued: "The fire was brought under control by local fire services. "One male was treated for non-life threatening injuries. "No arrests have been made." "Investigations [are] ongoing," they concluded. Anyone with information in relation to this incident can contact Leixlip Garda Station on 01 666 7800. The Charities Regulator's public notice that the sales proceeds of O'Modhrain Hall in Newbridge may be transferred to Conradh na Gaeilge has prompted criticism. The site, which remains derelict on Cutlery Road, was sold in 2017 to a developer by the trustees, the names of which were published in the notice last week. It is also understood that none live in Newbridge. The Cy Pres scheme, which is a legal process for charities, involves issuing a notice to the public following which they have one month to send complaints or observations about what is planned. The deadline for receipt of submissions the Charities Regulator for the O'Modhrain Hall Scheme is October 23 2024. 'THIS MONEY BELONGS IN NEWBRIDGE' One person expressing concern is Social Democrats councillor Chris Pender, who noted that the proceeds of the sale of O'Modhrain Hall total 213,097.50 may be transferred to a restricted fund managed by the national organisation Conradh na Gaeilge. Cllr Pender, who is also the Deputy-Mayor of the Kildare-Newbridge Municipal District, said: "This is an unbelievably poor proposal, especially for such a high-profile case. "Have the trustees something against engaging with the local community or our representatives? Why didnt they work with Kildare County Council (KCC) to put the hall to use when they were first approached? Why didnt they seek proposals from the community to use the proceeds of the sale? And why is the Charities Regulator endorsing this approach?" He claimed that locals 'are particularly concerned by the lack of transparency and engagement in the decision-making process.' Deputy-Mayor of the Kildare-Newbridge Municipal District, Cllr Chris Pender, standing near O'Modhrain Hall. Photograph supplied by Cllr Pender. Cllr Pender also claimed that 'neither the trustees nor Conradh na Gaeilge engaged with local representatives or the community before initiating the statutory process.' He elaborated: "Despite interest from Kildare County Council in acquiring the hall in previous years to retain it as a community resource, no local consultations took place regarding the future use of the sale proceeds. "This money belongs in Newbridge, where it can support local projects that honour the original charitable purposes of O Modhrain Hall. "The hall was built for our community, and the funds raised through its sale should remain here." "The lack of consultation with local leaders and community groups is deeply concerning and raises serious questions about the decision-making process," Cllr Pender concluded. He is now urging local residents to make their voices heard by submitting objections to the Charities Regulator: "Objections can be raised regarding the proposed transfer of the funds to Conradh na Gaeilge, and submissions must be made before the deadline. "This is an opportunity for the people of Newbridge to stand up and ensure that these funds stay within our community. "We need to let the Charities Regulator know that we believe these funds should be used to benefit the town they were raised for, not transferred to a national body with little direct connection to Newbridge." "How to make a submission: Email: CSU@charitiesregulator.ie Reference: SR73187 Postal Address: Charity Services Unit, Charities Regulator, 3 Georges Dock, IFSC, Dublin 1, D01X5X0 "Community members can send objections by email or post, quoting reference SR73187 in their correspondence." "The full details of the proposal are available through the Charities Regulators website or by contacting local representatives for further information," Cllr Pender concluded. 'WE'RE VERY TAKEN ABACK' Another local who voiced concerns over the public notice is local community campaigner Orla O'Neill. Ms O'Neill, who has said that she is a member of a group which organised 'a packed public meeting' in the Town Hall in 2017 to oppose the sale, said that she she was shocked to learn of the decision by the trustees and the Charities Regulator. She explained: "Were very taken aback by this proposal to give the funds to Conradh na Gaeilge; a great organisation, but which has no presence in Newbridge. "While we understand they intend to disburse the funds through a grant scheme, there has been no engagement by any of the parties with local people. "We are the people with the best knowledge on how the charitable aims of the O'Modhrain Hall Trust could be fulfilled. "We dont know how Conradh intends to distribute the funds and we dont know how much of a management fee they will take. "The public notice outlines how there is 213,000 remaining from the sale price of 260,000 after legal and other expenses were deducted." Another concern Ms O'Neill says she has at present 'is the stated intention in the Scheme to distribute the funds in Newbridge and the 'surrounding local areas in County Kildare'.' She explained that because there are no Irish language groups set up in Newbridge, this means all of the funds could end up outside the town: "It is incomprehensible that the geographical area of the OModhrain Hall has been extended beyond the town. "It is well documented that the Hall was purchased in the 1950s through local fundraising... My father was a trustee of the Hall in the 1990s and I know he would be saying 'Newbridge or Nowhere' if he were alive today." Ms O'Neill went on to say that local campaigners had previously contacted the Charities Regulator to suggest that local youth cultural group, Kildare Youth Theatre, should get the funds to help with the proposed Youth Cultural Centre for which a Business Plan had been developed. "However, we received no response to this suggestion," she said: "We intend to object and well be calling on people to back our plans to have the funds spent in a better manner locally. "People can follow us on the Facebook Page O'Modhrain Memorial Hall or contact me directly on orlaponeill@gmail.com." "We will have more information available in the coming week about how people can object to this proposal which will have no impact in our town," she concluded. File photograph showing Orla O'Neill (LEFT) speaking at an event in Newbridge Kildare Social Inclusion Week 2024 has officially launched with a Community Arts and Crafts exhibition. The Week's programme launched last week with a community arts and crafts exhibition organised by Kare and the Newbridge Disability Access Group. The event, which was held in Newbridge Town Hall on Monday, September 23 last, brought together people from all walks of life in the community in a celebration of creativity. Broadcaster and Newbridge resident Keith Walsh was present as a special guest at the event, and delivered an insightful talk on inclusion in society, focusing on the small actions we can all take to create a more inclusive community: "If everybody did one nice thing today, imagine the ripple effect that would have in a county like Kildare. "We do have power as individuals; its not just about the big organisations, everybody plays a part when it comes to welcome people into a community." He also encouraged everyone to 'Break the routine with small interactions; make a little extra effort to engage with someone we dont usually talk to, with simple suggestions of how to embrace new connections in our daily lives.' Speaking after the event, Anne-Marie Potter, Social Inclusion Officer at Kare, said: "We were thrilled with the turnout and the level of engagement from the community for this exhibition. "It was fantastic to see so many groups and individuals come together to showcase their creativity and launch Social Inclusion Week in Kildare." "Events like this show just how important it is to create spaces where people feel welcome and included, and thats what Social Inclusion Week is all about." Ms Potter concluded: "We were delighted to collaborate with Newbridge Disability Access Group, with the support of Kildare Public Participation Network, to host this event." ATMOSPHERE Individuals and community groups showcased their talents with impressive displays of arts and crafts, including sculpture, painting, knitting, and weaving. There was strong attendance from across the wider community, including schools, arts and crafts groups, local politicians and An Garda Siochana, resulting in a warm and social atmosphere throughout the morning. Attendees were invited to browse the diverse array of work on display and avail of the refreshments, with many taking the opportunity to chat, make new connections, and catch up with old friends. Kare was founded in 1967 by a group of parents and friends of children with intellectual disabilities who set out to ensure that children with disabilities could live at home with their family and be educated locally. The organisation's catchment area is Mid-South Kildare, East Offaly, West Wicklow and North-East Carlow. Newbridge resident, broadcaster and mental health advocate, Keith Walsh, spoke at the event about the small actions individuals can take to promote inclusion in the community. Photograph credit: Kare. Tributes have been paid to a former Mayor of Kildare who passed away suddenly aged in his early 50s on Thursday, September 26 last. The late Micheal 'Spike' Nolan, who previously served as a county councillor for Fine Gael, passed away last week in Newbridge. He was the son of the late Micheal 'Spike' Nolan Senior, who also had a career in local politics and passed away in 2014. Kildare South Senator Fiona O'Loughlin paid tribute to Mr Nolan's passing on Friday, September 27 last, and now, even more people have come out to pay their respects on RIP.ie. Minister of State Martin Heydon said: "Micheal Spike Nolan, served as a member of Kildare County Council from 2007 to 2014 representing Newbridge, and served as Mayor of Kildare for two years. A proud Sarsfields man, he followed in his fathers footsteps working for all of the people of Newbridge. "More than that, he was someone I worked closely with, and whose opinion I really valued. "He took a leading role in a number of my election campaigns in Newbridge and was always available at the end of the phone for updates and advice." "Our thoughts are with Deirdre, Rebecca, Tadhg, Jack, Ursula, Kevin, Brian and Cissy. He will be greatly missed. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam." Brian Mulvey, the Chairperson of the Board of Management for Patrician Primary School, said about the late Mr Nolan: "On behalf of the entire Patrician Primary School Community, we would like to express our deepest condolences to our dear colleague Deirdre, to Rebecca, Tadhg & Jack and to the wider Nolan and O'Leary families on the sudden passing of Micheal. "We are devastated for your loss. "As part of a lifetime of public service, we were honoured to have Micheal serve as Treasurer on our Board of Management for the last ten years or more. "He constantly gave back to the community, following the proud traditions of the Nolan family. "We will miss him greatly, both as a friend and esteemed colleague." "RIP a chara," Mr Mulvey concluded. The late Micheal 'Spike' Nolan with his wife Dee. Photograph credit: Senator Fiona O'Loughlin via Facebook. Another person who paid tribute was Fine Gael Senator Paddy Burke: "Deepest sympathy to Deirdre, Ursula and the Nolan family on the sad and sudden passing of Michael (Spike). "Have many great memories of Micheal Jnr, Snr and you Ursula." "Rest in Peace my friend." Shay Nolan of Bus Eireann also said: "Deepest condolences to Kevin and [the] Nolan family on the passing of Michael. "A true gentleman and a good friend, will be greatly missed in Broadstone." "Rest in peace pal." Lastly, another Senator, Sean Kyne (also of Fine Gael), said about the late Mr Nolan: "Sympathies to Deirdre, Rebecca, Tadhg and Jack, Ursula and the extended Nolan family on Spikes passing. "May he Rest in Peace." DEATH NOTICE The death has occurred of Micheal 'Spike' Nolan. Ballymany Manor, Newbridge, Kildare. Suddenly on September 26, 2024. Predeceased by his sister Ann and dad Michael. Micheal 'Spike' Nolan is sadly missed and survived by his loving wife Deirdre, his children Rebecca, Tadhg and Jack and the family dog Pearl, his mum Ursula, his siblings, mother-in-law Cissy, extended family, relatives and friends. May Micheal Rest In Peace. Reposing in Anderson & Leahy Funeral Home, Henry Street, Newbridge on Tuesday evening at 3pm with Prayers at 7pm. Removal on Wednesday morning at 10.30am to arrive at St Conleths Parish Church for 11am Mass, which will lived-streamed at https://newbridgeparish.ie/parish-church. Funeral afterwards to St Conleths Cemetery, Newbridge. EirGrid, the operator and developer of Irelands electricity grid calls on third-level students across Kildare to submit applications for the second annual CleanerGrid Competition. The competition has a top prize of 12,000 (6,000 for the winning student team and 6,000 for the students third-level institute). According to the organisers, it 'aims to foster innovation and creativity by encouraging students to showcase their skills in solving critical energy challenges, with a focus on sustainability, efficiency and clean energy technologies.' They elaborated: "With this years theme 'Present your vision of what the growing energy sector will need to look like in 2050 to have sustainably achieved net-zero emissions' entrants should show how the grid will need to change to allow for more renewable sources and less synchronous generation, including: what government policies will need to be in place, how the economy will be affected, how the grid will need to adapt, how technology can help achieve this goal, or any other relevant points they identify in order to create a resilient energy system for the future." The competition is open to undergraduate and postgraduate students, below PhD level, from all disciplines at any third-level institution in the Republic of Ireland. Students can take part by signing up at EirGrid.ie/CleanerGrid as part of a team of up to six members. The top entrants will be invited to EirGrids head offices to present their innovations to industry experts including members of the EirGrid senior management team. Welcoming the launch of the competition, Liam Ryan, the Chief Transformation and Technology Officer at EirGrid, said: "Citizen input is crucial in shaping effective practices and policies for the energy transition. "Third-level students, as future leaders and innovators, bring fresh ideas and are key stakeholders in advocating for sustainable practices. "The CleanerGrid competition provides a platform for EirGrid to hear these ideas and foster deeper engagement with our future leaders to create a cleaner, more resilient future." Mr Ryan added: "I look forward to seeing the entries from students and wish all entrants the best of luck." Finalists will receive cash prizes for both them and their third-level institute with first-place winner will receive a 6000 cash prize (+6,000 for their third-level institute), with 3,000 (+3,000 for their third-level institute), for second place and 1,000 (+1,000 for their third-level institute), for third place. Aspiring applicants have until October 31, 2024 to submit their application forms. Kildare County Council has received a repeat application to develop a privately operated century between Sallins and Clane. It comes from Amendoeira Developments Limited for a cemetery comprising a total of 1,448 plots, 30 car parking spaces, overflow parking area (with gates), new vehicular entrance with gate and wing walls. A similar application from the same company was lodged with KCC in November 2017 and was approved the following year. Subsequently KCC acceded to a request to extend the permission for a year. The original application also sought permission for 30 car park spaces, an overflow parking area with gates, a new entrance for vehicles, a maintenance yard, on a 3.75 acre site. According to that application the company had an address at Weir House in Clane and its directors were listed as Judy McCarthy and Seamus McCarthy. A document submitted as part of the application points out that the land is currently zoned for agricultural use. Read more Kildare news It further points out that the local authority has an obligation to acquire or extend burial grounds as necessary and to acquire new lands for this purpose. It also points out that the existing burial ground at Bodenstown is noticeably small and, even so, the number of plots proposed is smaller than at burial grounds approved at other locations in Ireland, all of which were approved. It is planned that the proposed cemetery will be privately run and will be multi denominational. According to the developer a company will be specifically established to manage the day-to-day running of the graveyard. An annual maintenance fee will be required which will provide a legal contract between the company and the customer. This fee will cover grave opening, foundation and headstone, grave maintenance and maintaining a purchased register of interments. It is proposed to provide an internal pedestrian link between the proposed new cemetery and Bodenstown graveyard. The overflow car parking area is only expected to be used during the three Sundays in June when large numbers visit the area for political party commemorations at the grave of Wolfe Tone. It says there is minimal adverse impact on local ecology and no obvious risk to subsurface archeology. The adjacent Bodenstown Cemetery, which served the community in Sallins andi the burial place of revolutionary Wolfe Tone, is almost full. A two-year-old child told his mother 'daddy battered me', Derry Magistrate's Court heard today. The court heard this as a man appeared charged with assaulting a 2-year-old child and one count of non fatal strangulation of the same child. The 29-year-old from Derry who cannot be named to protect the identity of the alleged victim in the case was charged with the assault, the non fatal strangulation charge, a charge of criminal damage, one charge of causing unnecessary suffering to a child and possession of cannabis all of which were said to have occurred on September 28. A police officer connected the accused to the charges and opposed bail. The court heard that police were called by the child's grandmother who told them that her daughter's partner had assaulted her grandchild and left the property. READ NEXT: Gardai arrest man and seize car in Dundalk following alert from PSNI The police were told the child had been 'having a tantrum' as his mother was trying to change him. The defendant was said to have taken the child upstairs when the crying suddenly stopped. The police were told the defendant came down stairs carrying the child and said he had changed him. The mother noticed that the child was red in the face and appeared to be struggling to breathe and there were marks on the face, ear and neck. She asked the defendant what happened and he said nothing and she put him out the back door of the house. The defendant was then said to have thrown a chair at the window before hitting it with his fists. The mother asked the child what had happened and he answered 'daddy battered me' before going hysterical. The marks on the child were photographed. When the defendant was arrested a quantity of cannabis was found. The child was taken to Altnagelvin Hospital and was said to have said 'daddy did that to me'. The marks were found to be consistent with strangulation. At interview the man denied assaulting the child and said he had not noticed any marks on him. Bail was opposed due to the fear of interference with the investigation. Defence solicitor Seamus Quigley said that the defendant had spoke freely to police. He accepted that this was a 'serious case' which would cause 'some concern to the court'. But the solicitor said that the defendant had his own address and added there were no children at that address. District Judge Barney McElholm said 'these allegations are extremely serious' and added 'anyone convicted should rightly expect prison for a long, long time'. The judge said that the fears expressed by the police were justified and added any address within the city was too close. Bail was refused and the defendant was remanded in custody to appear again on October 24. The Plastic Surgery Foundation Appoints Alan Matarasso, MD, FACS, as New President San Diego, Sept. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alan Matarasso, MD, FACS, has been elected president of The Plastic Surgery Foundation (The PSF), an organization that supports the research and international activities of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). He took office Sept. 29, 2024, at Plastic Surgery The Meeting, the Society's annual scientific conference, in San Diego. Dr. Matarasso is a world-renowned plastic surgeon with a dedication to medical training, education and scientific research. He will serve a one-year term as president of The PSF, supporting the academic and financial development of the organization. "I am honored to lead The PSF and continue our deep commitment to advancing plastic surgery through research and collaboration," said Dr. Matarasso. "I look forward to further growing The Foundation's research initiatives, academic development and expanding plastic surgery's vital role in global health care." The author of more than 1,000 peer-reviewed journal articles, publications, book chapters, monographs and reviews, Dr. Matarasso has been invited to deliver more than 700 presentations, lectures and panels to share his expertise on aesthetic plastic surgery. He is also a prominent subject matter expert for the media, frequently quoted in national newspapers and magazines and featured across all major TV networks and numerous radio broadcasts. Dr. Matarasso has a long history of service to the specialty. He is currently assistant national secretary (United States) to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) and the U.S. delegate to the International Confederation of Plastic Surgery Societies (ICOPLAST), as well as a director on four nonprofit, non-medical boards. He previously served as president of ASPS (2019), The Rhinoplasty Society (2009) and the New York Regional Society of Plastic Surgeons (2006). Dr. Matarasso's dedication to providing excellent patient care has been recognized throughout the field. During the course of his career, Dr. Matarasso has continuously been named one of the top plastic surgeons in publications such as The New York Times Magazine, Vogue, Newsweek, Elle, American Health Castle-Connolly and Woodward/White. Recently, he was appointed to the Warren B. Davis Circle ? the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (PRS) Reviewers Hall of Fame. A graduate of the University of Miami-Miller School of Medicine, Dr. Matarasso trained in general surgery at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine-Montefiore Hospital, where he became chief resident in plastic surgery. Having devoted his entire career to the subspecialty of aesthetic plastic surgery, he is currently clinical professor of surgery and systems chief, cosmetic surgery at Hofstra University Zucker School of Medicine/Northwell Health System. He practices cosmetic surgery in Manhattan and holds hospital privileges at numerous New York City medical centers and maintains his own AAAASF-accredited operating room. +++ About The Plastic Surgery Foundation The Plastic Surgery Foundation (The PSF), founded in 1948, supports research, international volunteer programs and visiting professor programs. The foundation's mission is to improve the quality of life of patients through research and development. The PSF accomplishes its mission by providing invaluable support to the research of plastic surgery sciences through a variety of grant programs. The PSF works in concert with the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). About American Society of Plastic Surgeons The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) is the largest organization of board-certified plastic surgeons in the world. Representing more than 11,000 physician members worldwide, the society is recognized as a leading authority and information source on cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery. ASPS comprises more than 92 percent of all board-certified plastic surgeons in the United States. Founded in 1931, the society represents physicians certified by The American Board of Plastic Surgery or The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Attachment 29 september 2024 at 17:00 News published onand distributed by: Kao Signs Memorandum of Understanding for Collaboration with Thailand's C.P. Group On September 30, 2024, Kao Corporation (TOKYO:4452) (President and CEO: Yoshihiro Hasebe) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Charoen Pokphand (C.P.) Group, Thailand's leading conglomerate, in order to collaborate on promoting a sustainable future in Thailand. Kao will work with C.P. Group, which operates 7-Eleven convenience stores and supermarkets, to provide environmentally friendly products in the daily goods sector and foster sustainable cooperation in the chemical business. As Kao celebrates its 60th anniversary in Thailand, the company will promote efforts to enrich the lives of Thai people through a global perspective and partnerships. 1. Background Kao's mid-term plan "K27" emphasizes building Global Sharp Top businesses and building businesses through co-creation with partners. Kao Thailand will serve as a model in promoting activities that contribute to the expansion of the Kao Group's global business and the development of new business models. Kao's operations in Thailand began in 1964, and launched Thailand's first powdered shampoo, "Feather Shampoo," in 1967. In 1972, the company started its chemical business. Currently, Kao provides 11 brands of everyday commodities, including Attack, Biore, and Merries. In recent years, to address the growing threat of dengue fever in Southeast Asia, Kao developed a mosquito repellent without synthetic chemical ingredients using its unique technology and launched it first in Thailand. The company is also collaborating with the industry, government, and academia to reduce dengue fever cases, showcasing its ESG initiatives aimed at solving social issues. C.P. has been operating in Thailand since its predecessor was established in 1921, under the philosophy of "benefiting the country, the people, and the company." Delivering high-quality products, the company has expanded its operations across a wide range of fields in Thailand, including retail sectors represented by stores such as 7-Eleven, as well as in the distribution, industrial, and agricultural sectors. In the distribution field, C.P. has supported the lives of Thai people by delivering various products while considering the social, economic, and environmental impacts, with a focus on sustainability. 2. Details of the Collaboration Under the shared aspiration of contributing to the future of Thai children, Kao and C.P. Group will begin collaborating in the ESG field. By starting concrete cooperation and leveraging synergistic effects, the companies aim to deepen their partnership and achieve a sustainable future. Co-develop a new house brand featuring innovative, sustainable consumer products for sale under C.P. Group's brands, utilizing Kao Group's innovations to achieve sustainability goals. Exclusive supply of specific environmentally friendly products from Kao Group to C.P. Group. Explore further collaborative opportunities in the chemical business. Collaborate to address social issues and develop products for industries related to C.P. Group's businesses by leveraging the expertise of both companies. About Kao Kao creates high-value-added products and services that provide care and enrichment for the life of all people and the planet. Through its portfolio of over 20 leading brands such as Attack, Biore, Goldwell, Jergens, John Frieda, Kanebo, Laurier, Merries, and Molton Brown, Kao is part of the everyday lives of people in Asia, Oceania, North America, and Europe. Combined with its chemical business, which contributes to a wide range of industries, Kao generates about 1,530 billion yen in annual sales. Kao employs about 34,300 people worldwide and has 137 years of history in innovation. Please visit the Kao Group website for updated information. 30 september 2024 at 00:35 News published onand distributed by: Touchstone Exploration Announces Cascadura Well Test Results and Provides an Operational Update Touchstone Exploration Inc. ("Touchstone", "we", "our" or the "Company") (TSX:TXP)(LSE:TXP) provides an operational update. Highlights Successful completion of our Cascadura C wells: the Cascadura-2ST1 and Cascadura-3ST1 wells were completed with initial shut-in wellhead pressures building to 3,600 psi and 2,665 psi, respectively. Gas presence indicated at Cascadura-2ST1: the fluid column gradient observed in the tubing at Cascadura-2ST1 suggests a significant presence of natural gas, comparable to findings in the Cascadura-1ST1 well, reinforcing our geological models. Crude Oil and Natural Gas at Cascadura-3ST1: Cascadura-3ST1 successfully flowed crude oil from the lower sheet 5 Herrera interval on September 17, 2024, followed by a test from the sheet 4 Herrera interval on September 26, 2024 confirming natural gas. Flowline installation: we have successfully installed the flowline connecting the Cascadura C surface location to our natural gas facility, and hydrotesting of the line will commence shortly. Cascadura infrastructure enhancements: the test separator at the Cascadura natural gas facility has been installed, and the riser at the Cascadura B site has been completed, optimizing our operational capabilities. Significant production increase at Balata East: since acquiring the field in June 2024, production has surged by nearly 300 percent from a targeted workover and optimization program. Paul R. Baay, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: "The results from the Cascadura-2ST1 well test is highly promising, closely mirroring the responses we observed at the Cascadura-1ST1 well. We are eager to connect it to the completed pipeline and begin testing at our facility as soon as possible. The discovery of crude oil during the initial test of the Cascadura-3ST1 well further underscores the potential within the Ortoire acreage. The encouraging results from this initial well test opens up new liquids possibilities on the block. The results of the second well test are particularly significant, confirming the presence of economic hydrocarbons on the east side of Fault C, areas that have not been previously booked as reserves. Initial findings suggest that the Cascadura structure hosts multiple hydrocarbon accumulations beyond previously defined boundaries. Although the oil test at Cascadura has delayed the final tie-in of the wells on pad C, the insights gathered will be invaluable for our future drilling efforts in the area. We are proactively establishing essential infrastructure at Cascadura to accelerate the development of upcoming wells, significantly reducing the time from drilling to production. A prime example of this efficiency is our ability to move the rig to the Cascadura B pad using our own road network, along with the risers already in place to facilitate successful development on the pad. We look forward to keeping our stakeholders informed as our operations progress." Cascadura-2ST1 On September 8, 2024, the Cascadura-2ST1 well was successfully perforated across 115 feet of sheet 4 in the Herrera Formation, at depths between 6,142 to 6,294 feet. Following the perforation, wellhead pressure rapidly increased to 1,900 psi, and within the next 18 hours, it continued to build, reaching 3,600 psi. This increase in wellhead and bottom hole pressure indicates a substantial gaseous column within the tubing. Currently, the Cascadura-2ST1 well is shut in, awaiting connection to the newly constructed flowline. Cascadura-3ST1 On September 15, 2024, the Cascadura-3ST1 well successfully perforated 40 feet of sheet 5 in the Herrera Formation, at depths between 7,248 and 7,294 feet. Sheet 5 was identified as a secondary exploration target. Following perforation, the wellhead pressure immediately climbed to 2,100 psi, and flowback testing commenced on September 17, 2024. The interval was flow tested using 3.5-inch tubing and a 10/64-inch choke. In the first hour we recovered 54 barrels of completion fluid, and the well continued to flow for 40 hours at restricted rates of approximately 300 to 400 bbls/d of 25-degree API crude oil, without any formation water, yielding a total of 538 barrels of oil during this period. On the third day of testing, we observed a sudden shift in flowing pressures, leading to the well producing both oil and significant quantities of formation water, mud, and sand. This initial test marked a critical milestone as it was the first conducted in the lowest Herrera sand sheet encountered in the field to date, extending across the interpreted outermost structure fault, known as Fault C. While the initial flow test results were promising, indicating stable rates of clean oil, it appears that a lower water-bearing sand was breached into the wellbore, necessitating the plugging of this lower test. This testing phase represented our inaugural drilling results on the east side of Fault C, revealing the lowest structural location as the formation trends upward to the northeast. On September 26, 2024, the service rig successfully completed the uphole section of the sheet 4 Herrera interval, the primary target of the wellbore. This interval was perforated across 36 feet at depths from 6,794 to 6,889 feet. Following perforation, the wellhead pressure rapidly reached 2,100 psi and subsequently built to 2,620 psi. The well was then opened on the same day using a 12/64-inch choke, resulting in a flow of dry natural gas for one hour at a flowing pressure of 2,400 psi, before being shut in for safety reasons. Due to the absence of natural gas testing equipment on site, we were unable to estimate the volume of natural gas produced. The current shut-in wellhead pressure is 2,665 psi. Future testing will be conducted as we integrate the well into the gas gathering system at the Cascadura natural gas facility. The results of the second well test confirmed the presence of hydrocarbons on the east side of Fault C, highlighting additional opportunities for future development in the area. Cascadura Infrastructure We are making substantial progress in connecting the Cascadura C surface location to our Cascadura natural gas facility. The flowline has been successfully installed along the designated right-of-way, and hydrotesting of the line is set to commence shortly. An additional natural gas separator has been installed at the facility, and the wellhead tie-in piping and valves have been fully welded. With well testing now complete, the final surface piping is ready to be transported to the site for installation. Additionally, the bridge over the Poole River is approximately 80 percent complete, with expected completion by the end of October. While the bridge is not necessary for the initial gas production, its completion will facilitate direct vehicle access across the Cascadura field, enhancing trucking and logistical operations in the area. This development will greatly improve our operational efficiency and support future growth. To ensure the safety and integrity of our operations as we move forward, following the oil test at the Cascadura-3ST1 well, the final tie-in for the Cascadura-2ST1 and Cascadura-3ST1 wells will take place once the service rig has vacated the Cascadura C pad. We anticipate that first natural gas production from the Cascadura C pad will commence prior to the end of October 2024. Balata East Our operations team has been actively engaged at the Balata East field, located north of our Ortoire block, since we assumed control on June 1, 2024. After obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals for service rig operations, we initiated an optimization, workover, and recompletion program at the end of August. Following our initial workover efforts, we have successfully increased field production from 33 bbls/d in July to an estimated current rate of 125 bbls/d. We remain committed to identifying additional wells for optimization to further enhance production and maximize the field's potential. Production Volumes In August 2024, we attained average net sales volumes of 5,125 boe/d comprised of: average net natural gas sales volumes of 23.3 MMcf/d (3,887 boe/d); and average net crude oil and natural gas liquid sales volumes of 1,238 bbls/d. Touchstone Exploration Inc. Touchstone Exploration Inc. is a Calgary, Alberta based company engaged in the business of acquiring interests in petroleum and natural gas rights and the exploration, development, production and sale of petroleum and natural gas. Touchstone is currently active in onshore properties located in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The Company's common shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange under the symbol "TXP". For further information about Touchstone, please visit our website at www.touchstoneexploration.com or contact: Mr. Paul Baay, President and Chief Executive Officer Mr. Brian Hollingshead, Executive Vice President Engineering and Business Development Tel: +1 (403) 750-4405 Advisories Working Interest Touchstone has an 80 percent operating working interest in the Cascadura field, which is located on the Ortoire block onshore in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Heritage Petroleum Company Limited ("Heritage") holds the remaining 20 percent working interest. All Cascadura-3ST1 production test figures referenced herein are gross volumes. Touchstone has a 100 percent working interest in the Balata East block via an Enhanced Production Service Agreement with Heritage. Forward-Looking Statements The information provided in this news release contains certain forward-looking statements and information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, forecasts, estimates, expectations and objectives for future operations that are subject to assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expect", "believe", "intend", "estimate", "potential", "growth", "long-term", "anticipate", "forecast" and similar expressions, or are events or conditions that "will", "would", "could" or "should" occur or be achieved. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release speak only as of the date hereof and are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Specifically, this news release includes, but is not limited to, forward-looking statements relating to the Company's business plans, strategies, priorities and development plans; well test results; field estimated production rates, which may not necessarily translate to sales volumes; estimated completion of Cascadura infrastructure operations; the future opportunities within the Ortoire block; and ultimate production from the Cascadura-2ST1 and Cascadura-3ST1 wells, including the timing thereof. The Company's actual decisions, activities, results, performance, or achievement could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such forward-looking statements and accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur or, if any of them do, what benefits that Touchstone will derive from them. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. Certain of these risks are set out in more detail in the Company's 2023 Annual Information Form dated March 20, 2024 which is available under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca) and on the Company's website (www.touchstoneexploration.com). The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof, and except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company assumes no obligation or intent to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements made herein or otherwise, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Oil and Gas Matters References in this news release to production test rates and well pressure date are useful in confirming the presence of hydrocarbons; however, such rates are not determinative of the rates at which the well will commence production and decline thereafter and are not indicative of long-term performance or of ultimate recovery. Additionally, such rates may also include recovered "load oil" fluids used in well completion stimulation. While encouraging, readers are cautioned not to place reliance on such rates in calculating the aggregate production for the Company. Accordingly, the Company cautions that the production test results contained herein should be considered preliminary. Abbreviations The following abbreviations are referenced in this news release: API American Petroleum Institute gravity bbls/d barrels per day psi pounds per square inch SOURCE: Touchstone Exploration, Inc. 30 september 2024 at 02:00 View the original press release on accesswire.comNews published onand distributed by: Zoomlion Launches World's Largest Hybrid Electric Drive Mining Truck, Setting New Benchmarks for Efficiency and Sustainability CHANGSHA, China, Sept. 30, 2024 /CNW/ -- On September 27, 2024, Zoomlion rolled out ZTE520, the world's largest hybrid electric drive mining truck, from its intelligent production line, marking a monumental advancement in mining technology. With dimensions exceeding nine meters in width and seven meters in height, this truck boasts a payload capacity of 300 tons and a maximum total weight of over 520 tons. Equipped with a cutting-edge hybrid power system that combines a 16-cylinder, 52-liter, 2100-horsepower diesel engine with the largest hybrid battery in the industry, the ZTE520 outperforms conventional models. Its innovative electric drive and high-torque wheel hub drive system achieve energy savings of up to 15% while maintaining a lifespan of over 60,000 hours, achieving a perfect balance between power and energy efficiency. The ZTE520 integrates seamlessly with Zoomlion's large mining excavators, making it an ideal solution for large-scale open-pit mining operations with annual production exceeding 30 million tons. This synergy enhances operational efficiency and supports the construction of green mining initiatives. All key components of the ZTE520 are independently developed and manufactured by Zoomlion, ensuring supply chain stability and significantly reducing user costs. Yuan Ye, assistant president of Zoomlion, emphasized the significance of this launch, stating, "The ZTE520 reflects our unwavering commitment to continuous technological innovation. It not only showcases our breakthroughs in the global market but also enhances operational efficiency and lowers costs for our clients. This advancement is pivotal in supporting the sustainable development of the mining industry." The launch event was attended by over 200 guests, including key executives such as Huang Qun, vice president of Zoomlion; Yuan Ye, assistant president of Zoomlion; and Liu Haitao, deputy general manager of CRRC Zhuzhou Institute. As Zoomlion continues to push the boundaries of innovation, it remains dedicated to providing high-end, integrated mining equipment solutions. With the launch of the ZTE520, Zoomlion reinforces its position in the high-end mining equipment market and demonstrates its commitment to sustainable and high-quality development in advanced equipment manufacturing. About Zoomlion Founded in 1992, Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd. (01157.HK) is a high-end equipment manufacturing enterprise that integrates engineering machinery, agricultural machinery, and financial services. The company now sells more than 600 cutting-edge products from 55 product lines covering ten significant categories. For more information, please visit Zoomlion's website. SOURCE Zoomlion 30 september 2024 at 04:01 News published onand distributed by: Argon Medical Announces the Expansion of Liver Management Portfolio with Two New Product Introductions PLANO, Texas, Sept. 30, 2024 /CNW/ -- Argon Medical Devices, a leading provider of medical device solutions for Interventional Radiology, Vascular Surgery, Interventional Cardiology, and Oncology procedures, announced the launch of the Intaratm Introducer Sheath and the TLAB Transvenous Liver Biopsy System. Argon Medical Announces the Expansion of Liver Management Portfolio with Two New Product Introductions The Intara Introducer Sheath is intended to maintain access to a patient's peripheral or central vasculature (excluding coronary and neuro vasculature) to facilitate the introduction of therapeutic or diagnostic devices. The 10-French sheath is resistant to kinking and it offers enhanced visibility to assist with the introduction, navigation, and delivery of devices for a variety of vascular procedures. Argon Medical anticipates the Intara Introducer Sheath will help facilitate use of the company's TLAB Transvenous Liver Biopsy System and the Scorpion and Travelertm Portal Vein Access Sets, as well as stents for the transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) procedure. "The Intara Introducer Sheath is an upgrade to the current market options. It provides more resilience, ease of use, and safety throughout the TIPS procedure and stent placement," said Dr. Dylan Suttle, Interventional Radiologist, Greensboro Radiology in Greensboro, NC. The TLAB Transvenous Liver Biopsy System is an expansion of Argon Medical's TLAB Transjugular Liver Biopsy System, adding FDA-clearance for a unique approach for collecting biopsy samples from the liver via access in the femoral vein. The system includes a novel tool that allows users to safely adjust the shape of the device to best suit a patient's unique anatomy. The new addition is reinforced by a recent 500-patient retrospective review demonstrating the safety and efficacy of transfemoral transcaval liver biopsies versus the traditional transjugular approach. The authors of this review, including Dr. Jacob Cynamon, Interventional Radiologist at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, New York, found transfemoral transcaval liver biopsies had reduced complication rates with no hepatic injuries1. Argon Medical designed the TLAB Transvenous Liver Biopsy System in conjunction with patents licensed from Montefiore on which Dr. Cynamon is a primary inventor. "The TLAB Transvenous Liver Biopsy System approved for both transjugular and transfemoral use, offers an alternative femoral approach for physicians to achieve technical and histopathologic success while minimizing procedural time and complications. With the transfemoral approach, we have seen the benefits first-hand and I believe this will be a positive step forward for patients and physicians performing liver biopsies," said Dr. Cynamon. "We are pleased to expand our liver management portfolio with the addition of the Intara Introducer Sheath and the TLAB Transvenous Liver Biopsy System," said George Leondis, President & CEO, Argon Medical. "Our company is dedicated to applying innovation to improve the devices interventionalists use to diagnose and treat liver diseases. This is demonstrated by our cadence of new product introductions in this space, including the BioPince Ultra Full-core Biopsy Instrument, the Scorpion Portal Vein Access Sets, and the Traveler Portal Vein Access Sets." "Liver diseases (cirrhosis, hepatitis, and cancer) account for 1 out of every 25 deaths worldwide, illustrating the need for faster, easier, and more accurate diagnosis and treatment options2. We listened to the advice of physician experts in this field to guide development of the Intara Introducer Sheath and the TLAB Transvenous Liver Biopsy System. As we commercialize these new devices, we are excited to see their expertise translate into positive outcomes for interventionalists and the patients they serve," said Tom Younker, Senior Vice President of Global Marketing, Argon Medical. The Intara Introducer Sheath and TLAB Transvenous Liver Biopsy System were first introduced at Portal 360 - The Portal Intervention Symposium in Chicago, IL on September 27, 2024. Both devices are now available in the U.S. and Canada. About Argon Medical Since its founding in 1972, Argon Medical Devices has earned a reputation for delivering innovative products, superior service, and exceptional value for Interventional Radiologists, Vascular Surgeons, and Interventional Cardiologists worldwide. Argon is proud to have over 1,200 employees, and manufacture products in the United States in Texas, Illinois, New York, and Wisconsin. Argon brands are well-known globally, highlighted by the Optiontm ELITE IVC Filter, the CLEANERtm Rotational Thrombectomy System, the BioPincetm Ultra Full-Core Biopsy Instrument, and SKATERtm Percutaneous Drainage Catheters. By utilizing a well-established sales and marketing infrastructure, Argon serves its global customers through a direct sales organization, and long-standing relationships with medical device distributors and strategic partners. 1 Peng R, Wattamwar K, Kuc N, Jagust M, Golowa Y, Cynamon J. Transjugular versus Transfemoral Transcaval Liver Biopsy: A Single-Center Experience in 500 Cases. J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2020 Sep;31(9):1394-1400. doi: 10.1016/j.jvir.2020.05.024. Epub 2020 Aug 11. PMID: 32798119. 2 Devarbhavi, Harshad et al. Global burden of liver disease: 2023 update. Journal of Hepatology, Volume 79, Issue 2, 516 ? 537. Rx only ? For full indications and risks, please visit www.argonmedical.com/ The Intaratm Introducer Sheath and Dilator Set is indicated for introduction of therapeutic or diagnostic devices into the vasculature, excluding coronary and neuro vasculature. The TLAB Transvenous Liver Biopsy System is intended to be used for percutaneous transjugular and transfemoral venous liver access during diagnostic and interventional procedures. SOURCE Argon Medical Devices, Inc. 30 september 2024 at 08:37 News published onand distributed by: SEMI Consortium to Develop Cybersecurity Strategy and Roadmap for the Semiconductor Industry in NIST Framework MILPITAS, Calif., Sept. 30, 2024 /CNW/ -- Seeking to strengthen the semiconductor industry's resilience to cybersecurity threats, the global association SEMI today announced the creation of a strategic roadmap for cybersecurity implementation throughout the industry. The SEMI Semiconductor Manufacturing Cybersecurity Consortium (SMCC) has partnered with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop a semiconductor manufacturing industry profile for NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 (CSF 2.0) that will serve as the foundation for the aforementioned roadmap. NIST plans to publish the profile in mid-2025. According to research by the Identity Theft Resource Center, cyberattacks rose by 72 percentage points in 2023 over the previous all-time high in 2021. As semiconductor factories become increasingly connected and autonomous, the industry must respond to the growing security vulnerabilities associated with this next level of digital reliance and align with broader government efforts to secure the building blocks of technologies vital to society. "Semiconductors are integral to both national security and the global economy ? we need to do everything in our power to protect the industry," said Cherilyn Pascoe, Director of the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) at NIST. "NIST is pleased to partner with SEMI SMCC for the development and adoption of a NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 Profile for Semiconductor Manufacturing. This collaboration is important to identify and reduce cybersecurity challenges in semiconductor manufacturing." "It's important to recognize and address the unique cybersecurity challenges facing the semiconductor industry," said Jennifer Lynn, SMCC Working Group Chair and Semiconductor Cybersecurity Lead at IBM Research. "This community profile could allow us to better identify and execute a path forward." In support of the 2023 National Cybersecurity Strategy's strategic objective to secure global supply chains for information, communications and operational technology products and services, the White House Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) included a Cybersecurity Framework Profile as part of initiative 5.5.5 in the National Cybersecurity Strategy Implementation Plan Version 2. SMCC recognized the need for a cybersecurity community profile specific to semiconductor manufacturing and worked with the federal government to develop one. "Unlike air, space, land, and sea, cyberspace is the only battle domain created entirely by human hands," said Anjana Rajan, Assistant National Cyber Director for Technology Security at ONCD, during the Global Executive Cybersecurity Forum at SEMICON West 2024. "This means we have both the power and the responsibility to shape it. The future of cyberspace where defenders have an inherent advantage over attackers starts with preparation, and that preparation must begin with securing the building blocks." Prior to completion, the community profile will open for public review and commentary in accordance with NIST's official process. The review period has yet to be announced. The community profile is part of a broader NIST strategy to further standardize cybersecurity protocols for the semiconductor sector, in line with profiles for other industries. "With the committed resources and support from NIST to support SMCC working groups, we'll be able to accelerate the development of this semiconductor manufacturing industry community profile creation," said Brian Korn, Director for SMCC and Staff Technologist focused on Cybersecurity and Automation at Intel Foundry. SMCC will provide cybersecurity recommendations for semiconductor manufacturing equipment, information on implementation, and updates on the development of the community profile. For more information, visit the project webpage or contact [email protected]. SMCC working groups are engaged with the SEMI Standards program to create a standards-based approach supporting the semiconductor ecosystem by leveraging the program's 50-year history of industry alignment. SMCC is currently working on developments to two cybersecurity standards: E187: Specification for Cybersecurity of Fab Equipment E188: Specification for Malware-Free Equipment Integration About SMCC The Semiconductor Manufacturing Cybersecurity Consortium (SMCC) is a SEMI technology community founded in 2024 to develop and promote a standard based, semiconductor industry wide approach to improve cybersecurity and accelerate implementation of actionable solutions. The vision of SMCC is to strengthen cyber resilience and protection of the global semiconductor supply chain against evolving threats. SMCC's reach extends all over the world and enables our members to connect and collaborate on specific cybersecurity issues and challenges affecting different regions. It focuses on important key topics and seeks to find solutions that will benefit the entire industry. About SEMI SEMI is the global industry association connecting over 3,000 member companies and 1.5 million professionals worldwide across the semiconductor and electronics design and manufacturing supply chain. We accelerate member collaboration on solutions to top industry challenges through Advocacy, Workforce Development, Sustainability, Supply Chain Management and other programs. Our SEMICON expositions and events, technology communities, standards and market intelligence help advance our members' business growth and innovations in design, devices, equipment, materials, services and software, enabling smarter, faster, more secure electronics. Visit ?www.semi.org, contact a regional office, and connect with SEMI on?LinkedIn and X to learn more. About NIST The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) was founded in 1901 and is now part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. NIST is one of the nation's oldest physical science laboratories. Congress established the agency to remove a major challenge to U.S. industrial competitiveness at the time ? a second-rate measurement infrastructure that lagged behind the capabilities of the United Kingdom, Germany and other economic rivals. The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) under NIST is a collaborative hub where industry organizations, government agencies, and academic institutions work together to address businesses' most pressing cybersecurity challenges. This public-private partnership enables the creation of practical cybersecurity solutions for specific industries or broad, cross-sector technology challenges. Working with technology partners?from Fortune 50 market leaders to smaller companies specializing in IT security? the NCCoE develops modular, easily adaptable example cybersecurity solutions demonstrating how to apply standards and best practices using commercially available technology. About ONCD The Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) advises the President of the United States on cybersecurity policy and strategy. Established by Congress in 2021, ONCD is a component of the Executive Office of the President at the White House. The Office spearheaded the development of the President's National Cybersecurity Strategy, which President Biden issued on March 2, 2023. ONCD coordinates a whole-of-government approach to implement the National Cybersecurity Strategy. ONCD's mission is to advance national security, economic prosperity, and technological innovation through cybersecurity policy leadership. In carrying out its directive, ONCD works closely with White House and interagency partners, as well as with all levels of government, America's international allies and partners, non-profits, academia, and the private sector, to shape and coordinate federal cybersecurity policy. Guided by the President's vision, as articulated in the National Cybersecurity Strategy, ONCD is working to create a more equitable, safe, and resilient interconnected world in which every American can thrive and prosper. Association Contact Samer Bahou / SEMI Phone: 1.408.943.7870 Email: [email protected] SOURCE SEMI 30 september 2024 at 10:00 News published onand distributed by: Statement by the Prime Minister on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation OTTAWA, ON, Sept. 30, 2024 /CNW/ - The 24-hour safe and confidential National Residential School Crisis Line, available at 1-866-925-4419, provides crisis referral services to Survivors and their families and explains how to obtain other health supports from the Government of Canada. First Nations, Inuit, and Metis seeking immediate emotional support can also contact the Hope for Wellness Help Line toll-free at 1-855-242-3310, or by online chat at www.hopeforwellness.ca. The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation: "On the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day, we confront the lasting and painful impact of the residential school system on First Nations, Inuit, and Metis in our country. We remember the children who never returned home. We honour the Survivors, who suffered unspeakable abuse. We listen to their experiences and their stories, and recommit to the shared path of reconciliation. "Between 1867 and 1996, the federal residential school system forcibly removed over 150,000 First Nations, Inuit, and Metis children from their families and communities, and separated them from their cultures, languages, and identities. Many endured years of trauma and loss at the hands of these institutions. Reconciliation is not just a matter of looking back and understanding the mistakes of the past. It is also about understanding that those mistakes are still shaping us today. "The Government of Canada is dedicated to walking alongside Indigenous communities on their healing journeys, making it a top priority to support them every step of the way. We will continue our work to support their efforts to identify children who did not come home from residential schools, to locate and memorialize related unmarked burial sites, and to honour those who died. This is part of our ongoing commitment to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action. Earlier this year, we also announced funding to fight residential school denialism and preserve the memory of what happened under this deplorable system to ensure that history never repeats itself. "Today and in all the days to come, I encourage Canadians to reflect on the enduring impact of residential schools, participate in Indigenous-led National Day of Truth and Reconciliation events in their communities, learn about the stories of Survivors, and wear orange in honour of every child who suffered or lost their life. Let's reflect on how each and every one of us can contribute to a better country ? and a better world ? through truth and reconciliation." This document is also available at https://pm.gc.ca SOURCE Prime Minister's Office 30 september 2024 at 10:33 News published onand distributed by: Sino-European Corporate ESG Best Practice Conference Recognizes China's Taicang High-Tech Zone for Its Sino-German Collaboration, Driving ESG Development Taicang High-Tech Industrial Development Zone (THIDZ), located in Jiangsu Province, eastern China, was recently recognized as the "Best ESG Community in Sino-European Economic and Trade Cooperation" at the first Sino-European Corporate ESG Best Practices Conference held in Frankfurt, Germany. Since welcoming its first German company in 1993, the zone has been committed to promoting sustainable development, fostering corporate social responsibility, and improving governance mechanisms within the park. Over nearly three decades, the zone has developed a distinctive model of Sino-German corporate collaboration. THIDZ focuses on three major industries: key components for new energy vehicles, machine tools, and aerospace. It encourages cooperation between German and local enterprises, driving industrial integration, innovation, and talent development. Today, more than 500 German companies have settled in the zone, with total investments exceeding USD 6 billion, contributing an annual industrial output of over RMB 60 billion. The zone places a strong emphasis on green technology and environmental protection. For example, the Sino-German Energy Efficiency Network project, launched in June 2021, aimed at improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions, has already achieved remarkable results. Now, the zone is planning to establish a carbon emissions monitoring system to help companies adopt data-driven energy solutions, further enhancing efforts in energy conservation and emission reduction. THIDZ has also made strides in vocational education. In 2001, the first Sino-German dual education and training project was signed in Taicang, marking the beginning of localized implementation of Germany's dual vocational education system. After more than 20 years of continuous effort, this system has become a hallmark of the zone's industrial development and talent cultivation. In addition to fostering innovation, the zone continually improves its business environment, which has in turn elevated corporate governance standards. By prioritizing services for enterprises, the zone has introduced a series of policies to support the development of enterprises. "This case offers a valuable window into the Sino-German cooperation in Taicang. Its uniqueness lies in its all-encompassing, multi-level collaboration model, while its sustainability and feasibility are evidenced by tangible results and long-term planning," stated the conference jury. The jury continued, "Taicang High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, as a model community for Sino-German cooperation, exemplifies success in industrial collaboration, talent development, cultural integration, and green growth." 30 september 2024 at 11:15 News published onand distributed by: Duke Energy Foundation commits $1 million to support communities impacted by Hurricane Helene Working closely with local leaders and nonprofits to provide ongoing essential support to those impacted by Hurricane Helene Tops $20.5 million in disaster readiness and recovery investments during past five years CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to the devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene, Duke Energy Foundation announces a $1 million commitment to nonprofits providing vital assistance to affected communities across the Southeast. "Our hearts are with the communities devastated by Helene's deluge and damage," said Amy Strecker, president, Duke Energy Foundation. "At Duke Energy, we are working tirelessly to respond to the storm, addressing both power restoration and immediate and long-term community support." Funding will aid a variety of organizations providing food, shelter and other urgent needs, ensuring that relief efforts reach those who need it most. Duke Energy Foundation will continue making donations responsive to evolving needs as communities recover and nonprofits stand up their short- and long-term efforts. This additional funding builds upon the Foundation's work ahead of the storm and year-round commitment to preparedness and resiliency. "Our communities require time and resources to recover and rebuild from Hurricane Helene," Strecker continued. "We are in constant conversation with nonprofit partners navigating the impacts on their own operations to bring relief, comfort and stability to those most affected by the storm. It's moments like these that reinforce how our community partners are generous in support for their neighbors, working through difficult conditions to help one another." The American Red Cross has been on the ground across Helene's footprint since before the storm, providing shelter, food and critical relief. "Duke Energy Foundation's timely and generous support is making a significant impact on our ability to provide essential relief and recovery services to families affected by Hurricane Helene," said Anne McKeough, chief development officer, American Red Cross. "We are grateful for partners like Duke Energy Foundation as we work together to provide comfort and hope to people in need when the unthinkable happens." In the past five years, Duke Energy and its Foundation have invested more than $20.5 million in emergency readiness and response across the states we serve. Duke Energy volunteers have packed thousands of no-cost storm kits and contributed $3.3 million of their own money and volunteer time in the same five-year window. North Carolina In North Carolina, Duke Energy Foundation has made a lead grant to the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund at the United Way of North Carolina. "United Way of North Carolina is grateful for the quick response and generosity of our partners at Duke Energy Foundation," said Brittany Pruitt Fletcher, president and CEO, United Way of North Carolina. "As fellow first responders, they understand the unique challenges of disasters, and the need to support our organization's efforts to deploy resources in a timely manner. With this leading and substantial gift, their philanthropy will allow United Way to offer a match challenge to encourage community donors to support both immediate and long-term recovery efforts in the most impacted areas." South Carolina Access to food is a critical need for storm-stricken communities, and South Carolina nonprofit organizations like Harvest Hope are answering the call. "As we continue to assess the needs of our communities here in South Carolina, we're grateful for partners like the Duke Energy Foundation," said Erinn Rowe, executive director of Harvest Hope. "These recovery efforts will take some time and we want to be flexible to respond to the changing needs, and investments like these help make that happen." Florida Volunteer Florida has activated to address the most pressing needs of Floridians seeking relief from Helene's destruction. "On behalf of Volunteer Florida, we extend our sincere gratitude to Duke Energy Foundation for their generous financial contribution to the Florida Disaster Fund in support of recovery efforts across the state following Hurricane Helene," said Josie Tamayo, CEO of Volunteer Florida. "Their support will be instrumental in providing essential services to help rebuild impacted communities." As the 2024 storm season continues through November, customers are also encouraged to download the enhanced American Red Cross Emergency app. Duke Energy Foundation The Duke Energy Foundation provides more than $30 million annually in philanthropic support to meet the needs of communities where Duke Energy customers live and work. The Foundation is funded by Duke Energy shareholders. Duke Energy Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America's largest energy holding companies. The company's electric utilities serve 8.4 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 54,800 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas utilities serve 1.7 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. Duke Energy is executing an ambitious clean energy transition, keeping reliability, affordability and accessibility at the forefront as the company works toward net-zero methane emissions from its natural gas business by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions from electricity generation by 2050. The company is investing in major electric grid upgrades and cleaner generation, including expanded energy storage, renewables, natural gas and nuclear. More information is available at duke-energy.com and the Duke Energy News Center. Follow Duke Energy on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook, and visit illumination for stories about the people and innovations powering our energy transition. 24-Hour: 800.559.3853 SOURCE Duke Energy 30 september 2024 at 11:45 News published onand distributed by: Barrick and Mali Reach Agreement to Settle Disputes BAMAKO, Mali, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:GOLD)(TSX:ABX) and the government of Mali have agreed to find a global resolution to the existing claims and disputes between the government and Barrick's Loulo and Gounkoto gold mining companies. Details of the agreement, based in essence on Barrick's original proposals, will be made public once the terms of the settlement have been finalized. Barrick president and chief executive Mark Bristow said the company's mutually beneficial relationship with Malian governments had endured for 30 years and occasional differences with successive regimes had always been amicably resolved. "The current negotiations have proved challenging but we're encouraged by the government's recognition of the importance of securing the long-term viability of the Loulo-Gounkoto complex as a substantial contributor to the Malian economy. We look forward to working with the government to normalize our long-standing partnership." Bristow said. Barrick enquiries Investor and media relations Kathy du Plessis +44 20 7557 7738 Email: [email protected] Website: www.barrick.com 30 september 2024 at 14:40 News published onand distributed by: InvenTrust Properties Corp. Announces Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Release and Conference Call Dates InvenTrust Properties Corp. ("InvenTrust" or the "Company") (NYSE: IVT) today announced that it will report its third quarter 2024 earnings results on October 29, 2024, after the market closes. The Company's earnings release and any supplemental information will be posted on the Investor Relations section of the Company's website ? www.inventrustproperties.com/investor-relations/. InvenTrust will host an earnings conference call to discuss the Company's results and business highlights on October 30, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. ET. An archive of the webcast will be available on the Company's website. Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call Date: Wednesday, October 30, 2024 Time: 10:00 a.m. ET Dial-In Number: 833-470-1428 Access Code: 861040 Webcast & Replay Link: https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/437641621 About InvenTrust Properties Corp. InvenTrust Properties Corp. ("we," the "Company," "our," "us," "IVT" or "InvenTrust") is a premier Sun Belt, multi-tenant essential retail REIT that owns, leases, redevelops, acquires and manages grocery-anchored neighborhood and community centers as well as high-quality power centers that often have a grocery component. We pursue our business strategy by acquiring retail properties in Sun Belt markets, opportunistically disposing of retail properties, maintaining a flexible capital structure, and enhancing environmental, social and governance ("ESG") practices and standards. A trusted, local operator bringing real estate expertise to its tenant relationships, IVT has built a strong reputation with market participants across its portfolio. IVT is committed to leadership in ESG practices and has been a Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark ("GRESB") member since 2013. Availability of Information on InvenTrust Properties Corp.'s Website and Social Media Channels Investors and others should note that InvenTrust routinely announces material information to investors and the marketplace using U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, press releases, public conference calls, webcasts and the InvenTrust investor relations website. The Company uses these channels as well as social media channels (e.g., the InvenTrust Twitter account (twitter.com/inventrustprop); and the InvenTrust LinkedIn account (linkedin.com/company/inventrustproperties) as a means of disclosing information about the Company's business to our colleagues, investors, and the public. While not all of the information that the Company posts to the InvenTrust investor relations website or on the Company's social media channels is of a material nature, some information could be deemed to be material. Accordingly, the Company encourages investors, the media and others interested in InvenTrust to review the information that it shares on www.inventrustproperties.com/investor-relations and on the Company's social media channels. 30 september 2024 at 16:05 News published onand distributed by: Biocodex Microbiota Foundation Invites Canadian Academics and Scientists to Apply for ?25,000 Research Grant to Advance Microbiota's role Study in health and diseases MONTREAL, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Biocodex Microbiota Foundation , an organization founded by Biocodex and dedicated to inspiring scientific projects that explore the microbiome, is calling for grant proposals from innovative researchers at Canadian institutions. Biocodex Microbiota Foundation is pleased to announce the initiation of its annual call for projects: the 2024 National Grant in Canada - a unique opportunity to delve into the fascinating world of the human microbiome. The Foundation is dedicated to fostering investigations on microbiota and their intricate interactions with various human pathologies. In line with this commitment, the Foundation is calling for "non-profit" research projects and will award selected projects that demonstrate exceptional potential and innovation. About the National Grant The 2024 National Grant in Canada will provide a substantial award of ?25,000 to an applicant from a Canadian institution or university with a 1 to 2-year long research project centered around the theme of microbiome in human health and diseases. This initiative reflects the Foundation's mission to support groundbreaking research that contributes to a deeper understanding of the role of microbiota in maintaining or compromising human health. Application Details - Join Us in Advancing Microbiota Research! Interested researchers are invited to submit their applications no later than October 31st, 2024. The independent scientific committee overseeing the selection process will announce their decision by November 30, 2024. More information about eligibility criteria and the application process can be found on the official Biocodex Microbiota Foundation website: National Research Grant - Call for Projects Canada 2023 Grant Winner - Dr. Charlene Roussel As we embark on this new grant cycle, we also take a moment to celebrate the success of Dr. Charlene Roussel, the distinguished winner of the 2023 National Grant. Dr. Roussel, affiliated with the Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods (INAF) at Laval University and newly appointed Assistant Professor within the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Ottawa. She was recognized for her outstanding research on microbial interactions with a focus on enhancing human health, particularly in the realm of women's health. Dr. Roussel's innovative work exemplifies the kind of impactful research the Biocodex Microbiota Foundation aims to support. Her dedication to advancing our understanding of microbiota and their role in human health aligns perfectly with the Foundation's mission. For more information about Dr. Charlene Roussel and her award-winning research, please visit 2023 National Research Grant Winner - Dr. Charlene Roussel. About Biocodex Founded in France in 1953, Biocodex is a multinational company, based on the highest scientific and manufacturing standards. Biocodex currently holds 17 subsidiaries (including Biocodex Canada Inc. based in Montreal ? Quebec) and multiple long-term partnerships spanning more than 115 countries. With over 70 years of successful international operations, the mission of Biocodex is to remain a worldwide leader in expertise within the microbiota realm. www.biocodex.ca/en/ About Biocodex Microbiota Foundation The Biocodex Microbiota Foundation is a non-profit, general interest organization that supports research into microbiota and their interaction with various pathologies. Both foundational and applied research grants are awarded. Projects investigating the implication of microbiota in human health are selected annually by committees of independent international scientists. www.biocodexmicrobiotafoundation.com Contact: [email protected] Follow us on LinkedIn: Biocodex Microbiota Foundation A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e16e8d21-13a9-4bec-afdf-ea23c3a979a8 30 september 2024 at 16:10 News published onand distributed by: Teva to Host Conference Call to Discuss Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results at 8 a.m. ET on November 6, 2024 TEL AVIV, Israel, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE and TASE: TEVA) announced today that it will issue a press release on its financial results for the third quarter of 2024 on Wednesday, November 6, 2024, at 7:00 a.m. ET. Following the release, Teva will conduct a conference call and live webcast on the same day, at 8:00 a.m. ET. In order to participate, please register in advance here to obtain a local or toll-free phone number and your personal pin. A live webcast of the call will be available on Teva's website at: https://ir.tevapharm.com/Events-and-Presentations Following the conclusion of the call, a replay of the webcast will be available within 24 hours on Teva's website. About Teva Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE and TASE: TEVA) is a global pharmaceutical leader with a category-defying portfolio, harnessing our generics expertise and stepping up innovation to continue the momentum behind the discovery, delivery, and expanded development of modern medicine. For over 120 years, Teva's commitment to bettering health has never wavered. Today, the company's global network of capabilities enables its ~37,000 employees across 58 markets to push the boundaries of scientific innovation and deliver quality medicines to help improve health outcomes of millions of patients every day. To learn more about how Teva is all in for better health, visit www.tevapharm.com. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release and the conference call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are based on management's current beliefs and expectations and are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that could cause our future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from that expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include risks relating to: our ability to successfully compete in the marketplace including our ability to successfully execute our Pivot to Growth strategy; our substantial indebtedness; our business and operations in general; compliance, regulatory and litigation matters; other financial and economic risks; and other factors discussed in this press release, in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the second quarter of 2024, and in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, including in the sections captioned "Risk Factors." Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or other information contained herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. IR Contacts Ran Meir +1 (267) 468-4475 Yael Ashman +972 (3) 914 8262 Sanjeev Sharma +1 (973) 658 2700 Media Contacts Kelley Dougherty Eden Klein +1 (973) 832-2810 +972 (3) 906 2645 30 september 2024 at 16:30 News published onand distributed by: NASA Invites Media to Preview its Museum Earth Information Center WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Media is invited to preview and interview NASA leadership ahead of the opening of the Earth Information Center at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History at 10 a.m. EDT, Monday, Oct. 7. The 2,000-square-foot exhibit includes a 32-foot-long, 12-foot-high video wall displaying Earth science data visualizations and videos, an interpretive panel showing Earth's connected systems, information on our changing world, and an overview of how NASA and the Smithsonian study our home planet. Visitors also can explore Earth observing missions, changes in Earth's landscape over time, and how climate is expected to change regionally through multiple interactive experiences. The event will take place at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History 1000 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Members of the media interested in attending should email Liz Vlock at: [email protected]. NASA's media accreditation policy is available online. Participants will be available for media interviews starting at the following times: 10 a.m.: NASA Administrator Bill Nelson 10 a.m.: Kirk Johnson , Sant director, Museum of Natural History , Sant director, Museum of Natural History 10:30 a.m.: Karen St. Germain , division director, NASA Earth Sciences Division , division director, NASA Earth Sciences Division 10:30 a.m.: Julie Robinson , deputy director, NASA Earth Sciences Division The Earth Information Center draws insights from across all NASA centers and its fellow partners ? National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Agency for International Development, Environmental Protection Agency, and Federal Emergency Management Administration. It allows viewers to see how our home planet is changing and gives decision makers information to develop the tools they need to mitigate, adapt, and respond to climate change. NASA's Earth Information Center is a virtual and physical space designed to aid people to make informed decisions on Earth's environment and climate. It provides easily accessible, readily usable, and scalable Earth information ? enabling global understanding of our changing planet. The expansion of the physical Earth Information Center at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Museum makes it the second location in the Washington area. The first is located at NASA Headquarters in Washington at 300 E St., SW. To learn more about the Earth Information Center visit: https://earth.gov/ SOURCE NASA 30 september 2024 at 17:23 News published onand distributed by: French President Emmanuel Macron was a "positive nuisance" during acrimonious Brexit negotiations and wanted to punish the United Kingdom for leaving the EU, former British prime minister Boris Johnson has said. In the latest excerpts from his memoir Unleashed due to be published next month, Johnson said the French leader saw Brexit as "a terrible snub to the EU and to his view of the world." Johnson argues in the book, being serialized by the Daily Mail newspaper, that Macron tried to "put his Cuban-heeled bootee into Brexit Britain" over various issues during the protracted divorce talks. Johnson who took power in 2019, three years after Britain voted to leave the European Union said that included "weaponizing" the issue of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats. "It seemed at least possible to me that he was weaponizing the problem, Belarus-style, and discreetly allowing the migrants to come across," Johnson wrote. The former UK leader added that Macron was "personally charming" and the pair "often agreed on important issues" but that "he really meant it when he said that Brexit Britain must be punished." "On some issues, I am afraid I therefore suspected him of being a positive nuisance." Johnson also details in the memoir set for UK publication on October 10 how he "put French noses badly out of joint" by agreeing to the AUKUS military alliance. The deal for Australia to break a contract to procure nuclear submarines from France, and instead buy them from the US and UK, was secretly sealed at a 2021 G7 summit in Britain, according to Johnson. "My most important job at Carbis Bay was to organize a discreet three-way meeting... without being rumbled by the French," he wrote of convening US President Joe Biden and Australian counterpart Scott Morrison. "In great secrecy, we pulled it off," Johnson said, adding the subsequent announcement meant "they all went predictably tonto in Paris." Elumelu emphasized, I have often said that there is nowhere else in the world you can reap the kind of investments as in Africa. However, I am acutely aware of the fundamental challenges our continent faces. THE LIME Tree Theatre and Belltable team have put together an exciting programme of events for the annual Bualadh Bos Childrens Festival this October. The festival is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2024, and is a legacy project from Limerick City of Culture 2014. The aim of the festival, taking place from Wednesday, October 2 to Saturday, October 12, is to inspire and engage teachers, children and their families in the performing arts. Liam McCarthy, festival curator said Our priority was to include as many children as possible, especially those who may not have had the opportunity to experience Bualadh Bos before. We hope this years programme brings us another step closer to our long-term goal. This year will see the best of Irish and International work for children playing on our stages across the city. Were thrilled that Bualadh Bos 2024 also includes some brand new (and home grown) theatre for younger audiences, he added. An important element of the festival is the Pay It Forward Fundraising Campaign. Working with Doras, this campaign will allow children and families to be included throughout the autumn family programme who might not otherwise have the opportunity to attend. READ MORE: Limerick Mental Health Week launches programme of events Visitors can contribute to the campaign when buying a ticket to any show. The festivals organisers said: This festival guarantees the perfect opportunity for children to be creative in a fun way, it allows them to use their imagination sparked by superb theatre, dance, music, creative workshops and lots more. Galway theatre company Branar Teatar do Phaisti will present a new, music-filled, bilingual show Story of a Day Sceal Lae to open the festival on October 3 at 6.30pm. Anna Newell Theatre Adventures presents the immersive show An Attempt to Talk to the Beginning of the World for babies up to 1 year old. Explore the mystery of lost post at The Dead Letter Office, or bring your toddler along to the interactive performance of Wooden Tales. The Bualadh Bos Family Day will take place on Saturday, October 12. Boss Rob returns with A Masterclass for Aspiring Artists, this time to Limerick City Gallery of Art. Visit Dance Limerick for the dance show Moving Words, or get your storytelling fix at the Wandering Stories Workshop. Bualadh Bop is also back, with an afternoon of music, dance, crafts and storytelling. The day will be topped off with a family film screening of The Muppets Take Manhattan. The full schedule of events is available online at limetreebelltable.ie, and bookings for all events are now open. 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. THE SISTER of a Limerick woman who was tragically killed by her own dogs, including an XL Bully is to speak for the first time this Monday night. Nicole Morey, pictured below, who lived near Fedamore died on her 23rd birthday in June following the harrowing incident. It sparked new legislation making it illegal to import, breed or sell an XL Bully dog - and this comes into effect tomorrow, Tuesday. On Upfront with Katie Hannon, which begins a new series this Monday night at 10:35pm on RTE One and RTE Player, Nicole's sister Jolene opened up on the horror of the night of the tragedy. READ MORE: Limerick city housing prices rise almost 10% since last year, according to report She recalled how she was contacted to say that her sister needed help. "I was sitting in my room in darkness, and I rang Nicole because I didn't believe it was real. Then I texted her, I said, Are you okay? And got no message back. And then a video got sent to me. And they asked me if it was with my sister. And I just remember clicking into a video and seeing her on the floor," she said. "People won't feel the pain until it hits their front doorstep." The sister of a woman who died after being attacked by her dogs, one of which was an XL bully, has said the incoming ban on the breed should be "stricter." READ: https://t.co/FsiY98vSkP@rtenews | #RTEUpfront Upfront with Katie Hannon (@RTEUpfront) September 30, 2024 Jolene admitted she was waiting for the heartbreaking phone call to confirm her sister had died, adding: "I had a feeling in my stomach that she didn't survive it." "But my mom was like, No, it's only bites and stuff. Then my uncle rang, and I just knew from his voice that she was gone," she said. Nicole's family want her to be remembered as a good person, not the victim of a dog attack. "Nicole did so well in life. Nicole would do anything for anyone. She's just a lovable person," Jolene said. Also on the show, Upfront looks ahead to Budget 2025, set for Tuesday lunchtime. Fine Gael TD Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Sinn Fein TD Louise OReilly and chief economist of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council Eddie Casey will debate what is set to be revealed in the Dail on Tuesday. The Taoiseach has said he does not intend to move into Farmleigh as it would be very disruptive for his children. Gardai have investigated separate incidents of alleged harassment outside Simon Harriss family home, as well as a bomb threat against the Co Wicklow property. It has raised questions on whether Mr Harris should move to a location with heightened security. There is no official residence for holders of the office of Taoiseach but, on occasion, Stewards Lodge on the Farmleigh estate has been used by taoisigh for various reasons. However, Mr Harris has said he has no intention of moving there. READ MORE - 'A bright, kind and fun loving boy' - Tributes paid as young man killed in crash named locally Mr Harriss comments come as he appears as the first guest on the second season of former RTE star Ryan Tubridys podcast. Tubridy was at the centre of a scandal which rocked RTE for a year, after it was revealed that the national broadcaster had underdeclared payments to the former Late Late Show host. The crisis later widened out to other governance matters and the controversy around financial mismanagement at the station was seen as a driver behind a fall in TV licence receipts. It prompted a series of heavyweight Oireachtas committees and resulted in the Government changing how the organisation is funded. Tubridy now hosts a daily show on Virgin Radio in London which is also broadcast on Q102. He also writes a weekly column for The Irish Daily Mail On Sunday. Mr Harris told the podcast host that the incidents at his home were a form of intimidation and harassment. I think its done to unsettle and unnerve people, and I think its done by people to let you know that they know where you live. Asked by Tubridy about the possibility for an official Taoiseachs residence, Mr Harris said: This has been put to me on occasion. The challenge for me apart from loving Greystones is that my kids are of an age where one has just started in the local school, and it would be very disruptive. I dont know where the future brings us in relation to this but I can see it happening in the future. Mr Harris said he did not imagine that Irish people would be unsupportive of such a measure, but added: Its not something that Im intending to do. On The Bookshelf With Ryan Tubridy, Mr Harris will reveal how he gorged on books as a child and raised money for MS Ireland by getting sponsored for the Readathon. The episode is also expected to feature the conflict in Gaza and a gift he received from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The premise of Tubridys podcast involves asking guests to bring in three books: a cherished childhood book, a book which brought them to tears, and a book which changed their life. Mr Harris identified Patrick Radden Keefes Say Nothing as the book that made him cry. This book did make me cry within the first few pages, because it is a book that tells the story of the Troubles, particularly the Jean McConville abduction. Ms McConville was a recently widowed mother of 10 when she was abducted. She was 38 years of age. She was abducted, murdered and then disappeared. Body buried. Disappeared, taken from her kids by the IRA and killed in the Troubles. Promotional material for the episode also shows two other books in front of Mr Harris. These are David McKittricks book about the Troubles, Lost Lives, as well as Mark Haddons The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, in which the lead character is widely regarded as an autistic boy although this is not explicitly mentioned in the text. Mr Harris has attributed his campaigning for better school facilities for his autistic brother as his entry into public life. The Bookshelf With Ryan Tubridy returns on Tuesday. More than 10 million of funding has been awarded to transform underused buildings into digital hubs and improve cyber skills in rural areas across Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland. Three projects have been successful in securing the Peaceplus investment which will support thousands of residents, businesses and voluntary organisations, with initiatives designed to close the ICT gap in rural areas, foster economic growth and influence policy. Peaceplus is a 1.14 billion euro (950 million) programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB). The successful projects include Mini Digi Hubs which plans to revitalise the east border region by transforming five underused public buildings into digital hubs and creating a mobile digital lab. Project partners include Dundalk Institute of Technology (DKIT), Monaghan County Council, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, Meath County Council, Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council and Ards and North Down Borough Council. Also receiving funding is the Smart Rural Innovation Driven Empowerment programme which aims to deliver solutions in supporting rural communities to use ICT. The project will be led by South West College, working in partnership with Ulster University, Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, Atlantic Technological University Sligo and Leitrim County Enterprise Fund as well as Alacrity. The third project to receive funding is DS3 will aim to close the ICT skills gap in rural communities across seven council areas. Stormont Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir said: Collaboration and cross-border working are key to supporting rural communities where people want to live, work and be active in a sustainable and environmentally responsible way. Connectivity is an essential requirement to achieve this desired outcome, and therefore the creation of Smart Towns and Villages presents an exciting opportunity to increase access to and awareness of telecommunications. Irish Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys said: I am delighted that a further 13 million euro in funding is approved for projects under the Peaceplus programme. These projects will be supported under the Smart Towns and Villages Investment Area and will promote the socio-economic inclusion of marginalised and disadvantaged individuals and communities, while also supporting the repopulation and economic development of rural towns and villages. SEUPB chief executive Gina McIntyre said: Peaceplus will support the creation of jointly developed solutions for Smart Towns and Villages, to incorporate digital hubs, which will enable remote working and ICT-themed social innovation approaches to developing new models of delivery for key services, including health and education. This will provide greater access to and awareness of telecommunications, with an area-based approach taken to enable communities to maximise technology to improve social and economic conditions in their areas. Peaceplus is co-funded by the European Union, the UK and Irish governments and the Northern Ireland Executive. THE HIGH Court has reversed a ruling by An Bord Pleanala to refuse permission for the construction of a 650 million Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal on the Shannon Estuary. Shannon LNG had been seeking permission for the 650m development, including a 600 megawatt power plant and LNG terminal at the site near Tarbert in North Kerry. In 2023, An Bord Pleanala said it would be inappropriate to permit or proceed with the development of any LNG terminals in Ireland pending the review of energy supply. This Monday, the High Court overturned the decision by An Bord Pleanala, to refuse permission. The development follows a judicial review application by Shannon LNG, a subsidiary of the US-based New Fortress Energy company, reports RTE. The multi-million euro project can now be remitted - or resubmitted - to An Bord Pleanala for fresh adjudication. Minister of State Niall Collins said the decision is welcome as it means that Shannon LNG have another chance at securing a 10-year permission for a floating storage and re-gasification unit, as well as a 600MW power station. "The decision to overturn the ruling refusing permission for the construction of a floating LNG terminal in the Shannon Estuary marks a step forward for our energy security needs. "An Bord Pleanala's decision in 2023 was based on a consultation document as opposed to a formal State directive or undertaking, said Mr Collins. He said there is a need for a floating LNG terminal to ensure security of our energy into the future. "In recent years we have been at risk of electricity blackouts. Just last year, Eirgrid's winter outlook warned that such blackouts were possible as the balance between supply and demand is still tight. "Energy security has to be at the top of our agenda. We need to guard against events such as extreme weather events, political instability, or disruption of gas supplies from the UK or Norway. Mr Collins continued: "I recognise the important role that renewables will play in our energy policy, particularly the role of offshore wind, but a floating LNG facility is sorely needed as a backup. "Such an LNG facility can be future-proofed and can be conditioned against the use of fracked gas. "My hope is that Shannon LNG submits its application to build this much needed facility on the Tarbert-Ballylongford landbank and that it gains approval as quickly as possible." What drives Indias young investors? Nearly 50% of India's 16.2 crore demat accounts are now held by investors under 25. This rapid growth among young investors reflects a broader trend: the increasing allure of financial markets for the tech-savvy, risk-taking youth. With more young Indians diving into investments, understanding their mindset becomes crucial. Investing has become more accessible than ever, especially with the rise of digital platforms like StockGro. But are they investing out of genuine interest or merely due to FOMO (fear of missing out)? Mints Alt View, in collaboration with StockGro, sought answers at Jain University, Bangalore, in a candid discussion that brought together students, Ajay Lakhotia, founder and CEO of StockGro, and Professor Manita Shah from Jain Business School. The Youth and Their "Dumbest" Investments The students candidly admitted to making impulsive decisions, largely driven by market hype or the influence of social media and influencers. These stories reflected the lack of financial literacy that many young investors struggle with. The discussion also underlined a common theme: external influences played a significant role in their investment decisions. Lakhotia aptly commented, Many of you are making investments without understanding the underlying fundamentals. Investing isnt about copying what others are doingits about understanding what works for you, given your own financial goals and risk appetite. The Role of FOMO in Investment Decisions The discussion highlighted that FOMO plays a significant role in how young people invest today. One student described how influencers create an illusion of easy wealth. "Most of the time, we get influenced by what we see on social mediaespecially from influencers," said one participant. "They show massive returns, but they dont tell you about the risks involved or the fact that their capital is much higher than ours. It creates a misleading narrative." Another spoke about how algorithms on social media platforms keep bombarding users with content on finance and investments, further intensifying the pressure to act quickly. However, this sense of urgency is not always harmful. As Lakhotia pointed out, "This is the time when you can take risks. Youre young. Even if you lose a few thousand rupees, its a learning experience. The key is to make these mistakes early, with smaller amounts, so you dont lose big when youre dealing with larger investments later in life." SOMO: The Relief of Missing Out While FOMO is well-known, several students also highlighted the lesser-discussed SOMO "Sukoon (relief) of missing out." Many mentioned how they were actually relieved that they hadnt jumped into certain investments under peer pressure. As one participant noted, "I felt so good that I didnt invest during the hype. Seeing others lose their money made me realize that following the crowd isnt always the best idea." This reflective mindset underscores an important aspect of investingpatience and learning when not to invest can be just as valuable as making the right investment. As Manita Shah mentioned, The calmness of missing out should teach you patience. If you miss an opportunity, learn from it and be ready for the next one. You dont have to follow every trend. Loans- Liability, Bridge, or Enabler? Loans can be a strategic enabler for investments, particularly when used wisely. As Ajay explained, "When you take a loan at 8% and invest in arbitrage trading with a 12% return, your net gain is 4% on the cost of capital." This makes loans a viable option for growing businesses and investments, especially in trading. "If you know how to grow your business with a loan, you should definitely go for it." While risks exist, calculated borrowing can provide significant returns, making it a sound strategy for some investors. Learning by Doing The event at Jain University showcased the potential of Indias youth when it comes to investing. Yes, they do make mistakes, sometimes costly ones. But theyre eager to learn. To assist these avid learners, platforms like StockGro are providing the tools and knowledge to help them make better financial decisions. Successful investment is all about striking a balance. Young investors must be aware of the risks. But at the same time should also have the confidence to experiment and learn from their experiences. With the right guidance, todays budding investors can become tomorrows informed, strategic decision-makers. Auto stocks such as Ford Motor and General Motors crashed by three per cent and nearly four per cent, respectively, on Monday, September 30, after Stellantis NV slashed its 2024 forecast. The world's fourth largest carmaker, Stellantis NV, has revised its 2024 financial forecast as it is focusing on US operations amid an industry slump and rising competition from China. The company has accelerated its planned normalization of inventory levels in the US, targeting no more than 330,000 units of dealer inventory by year-end 2024, from a prior timing objective of the first quarter of 2025, the carmaker said in a statement. Also Read | Stellantis begins search for new CEO, lays out plan to improve US business Actions include North American shipment declines of more than 200,000 vehicles in the second half of 2024 (up from 100,000 prior guidance), compared to the prior year period, increased incentives on 2024 and older model year vehicles, and productivity improvement initiatives that encompass both cost and capacity adjustments. it added. The carmaker expected to end the year with a negative cash flow of 5 billion euros to 10 billion euros, from the positive cashflows expected earlier. Also Read | Stellantis Starts Search for Tavares Successor as Pressure Rises About Stellantis NV The company was founded after merging PSA Peugeot with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2021. In related events, the carmaker is searching for a new CEO to succeed Carlos Taveres, whose term ends in early 2026. Tavares is facing the heat of US dealers and the United Auto Workers union due to disappointing first-half financial performance, reported AP. Also Read | Stellantis announces layoffs for 2,450 union workers at Warren Truck Plant Stellantis net profits were down 48% in the first half of the year compared with the same period the previous year. The company is also under pressure in Italy because of production cuts. The workers announced a one-day strike on October 18, it added. Earlier, carmaker Volkswagen had slashed its earning outlook due to underperformance in its passenger car division and poor demand. Bengaluru: CarDekhos early investors including Peak XV, Google Capital and Hillhouse Capital are expected to sell part of their stakes in the automobile marketplace as the company initiates conversations with merchant bankers for an initial public offering next year. CarDekho, which is expected to file its IPO papers in March, may see other early investors also book a profit from its public share offering, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Mint. The company is planning to raise about $500 million including a primary component at a valuation of $2-2.5 billion," one of them said. The net proceeds from the public offering will be used to fund CarDekhos geographical and category expansion and also for future acquisitions to expand its portfolio of its services." Google, Peak XV and Hillhouse have been on CarDekhos capitalisation table for about a decade. These investment firms will offload a part of their stake under the offer-for-sale option," the second person mentioned above said, adding that CarDekho is in advanced discussions to appoint bankers for its IPO, which could be as early as next week. CarDekho declined to comment. Google Capital said it would not comment on what it termed as speculation. Peak XV (formerly Sequoia India) said it had no comments on the matter, while Hillhouse did not immediately respond toMints emailed queries. Startup IPOs are on a comeback this year after a tepid 2022 and 2023. So far in 2024, 10 startups have listed their shares, including FirstCry, Ola Electric, Go Digit, Awfis, and ixigo, riding the stock markets bull run. Food and grocery delivery platform Swiggys upcoming IPO and electric-scooter maker Ather Energys listing are among the next most-anticipated public share offerings. Also read | Startup IPOs have made a scorching comeback. Beware the optical illusion Racing ahead Earlier this year, CarDekho was in talks to raise $100-150 million in a largely secondary roundin which early investors sell all or part of their stakes in a company to other investorsat a slightly higher valuation of $1.3 billion,Mint exclusively reported in March. That was a shade higher than the $1.2 billion CarDekho was last valued at, in October 2021, when it raised $250 million in a mix of primary and secondary funding. In that round, investors led by Leapfrog Investments, alongside Canyon Partners, Mirae Asset, Harbor Spring Capital, and existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Sunley House invested in the company. CarDekho, which is owned by Girnar Software, has been actively working towards an IPO in recent months by focusing on improving its margins and revenue. In May, the company appointed Neelesh Talathi, a former finance head at Pepperfry, Mensa Brands, and Vedanta Group, as its group chief financial officer. Co-founder and chief executive officer Amit Jain had said that the company would target at least 4-6 quarters of profitability before tapping the public markets, as per media reports in January. CarDekho is already profitable at the group level, one of the people cited above said. CarDekhos consolidated revenue increased to 2,331 crore in 2022-23 from 1,600 crore in the year before, but its net loss widened to 562 crore from 535 crore. The company is expected to file its audited results later today. Founded in 2008 by siblings Amit Jain and Anurag Jain, CarDekho started by selling used vehicles on its platform but pivoted to financing vehicles. It brought down its vehicle resale business, in which it competes with CarTrade, Spinny and Cars24, to near-zero in 2023-24. CarDekho has invested $100 million in its fintech subsidiary Rupyy to scale up its non-bank lending business. The group has also started an insurance business, InsuranceDekho, and is aggressively scouting for acquisitions to bolster its bouquet of offerings. In December, CarDekho acquired shared mobility startup Revv for an undisclosed sum. BharatPe and its co-founder Ashneer Grover have reached a settlement, ending a protracted legal battle and bitter public disputes between the two parties. A statement released by the fintech unicorn on Monday said that Grover will not be associated with it in any capacity, dropping the legal suit against him. As part of the agreement, Grover will also not be a part of the shareholding of the Delhi-based company. The settlement brings to an end years of legal disputes between the fintech firm and the former Shark Tank India judge. Grover, who had served as managing director and co-founder of BharatPe, resigned from his position on 28 February 2022. A person with direct knowledge of the development told Mint that of the 8.5% stake held by Ashneer Grover and family, around 4% has been given back to the company and the remaining 4-4.5% stake will now be housed under the Grover family trust. Also Read: BharatPe, PhonePe settle long-standing trademark dispute over Pe suffix Grover and his family will retain all rights as common shareholders, and the board will hold the right of first refusal as and when they decide to monetize their stake, the person said, requesting not to be identified. In a statement issued on social media platform X, Grover said: "...I will no longer be associated with BharatPe in any capacity, nor be part of the capital table. My remaining shares will be managed by my Family Trust. Both parties have decided not to pursue cases filed...". Also Read: Ashneer Grovers relative Deepak Gupta sent to judicial custody for 5 days in BharatPe fraud case A Right of First Refusal (ROFR) clause in a Shareholders' Agreement (SHA) gives existing shareholders the first opportunity to buy shares if a shareholder decides to sell his/her stake. Before offering the shares to an outside buyer, the selling shareholder must give existing shareholders the chance to match the offer. As part of the settlement, the cases filed by the company and its investors against Grover and family with the Economics Offence Wing (EOW) will be dropped. The dispute Since his resignation, Grover and BharatPe have been involved in a public dispute, with both sides levelling accusations. BharatPes parent company, Resilient Innovations, alleged discrepancies in vendor invoices and claimed that some HR consultancies associated with the company had been set up to siphon funds from the fintech company. Grover, however, defended himself by calling the entire matter a witch-hunt by the BharatPe board and management to remove him from the company, according to media reports. Additionally, in February last year, Grover wrote to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), accusing BharatPes co-founder Bhavik Koladiya of data theft. Later in November, during the dispute, a lookout circular (LoC) was issued against both Grover and his wife, Madhuri Jain, preventing them from travelling abroad. The couple was stopped at Delhis Indira Gandhi International Airport last year while attempting to fly to New York due to financial misconduct allegations. Plans ahead Meanwhile, BharatPe wished Mr. Grover well. The company, which has grown more than 5x in revenue, since it raised its last round in August 2021, to $260 million as of March 31, 2024, may target public market listing over the next 24 months. Dr Lal PathLabs Ltd, Indias largest diagnostics company, is looking to close deals in southern India by the end of financial year 2025 and has plans in place to double its volume growth. The 75-year-old firm is looking to acquire small (less than 50 crore annual turnover) and mid-sized ( 50-100 crore annual turnover) diagnostic companies mainly in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, according to Ved Goel, the chief financial officer at Dr Lal PathLabs. Later, it will also look to acquire firms in Gujarat, he said. Small, big, mediumwe can do all, but large deals are unlikely in the South as hardly any large assets are available," Goel said. Hopefully, something will finalize this year only." Dr Lal PathLabs, with a nearly 1,000 crore surplus cash, is focusing on a combination of acquisitions and organic growth. The firm plans to set up 20 new labs across key cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Goa in FY25 and is aiming to build hub labs in smaller towns in the northern and eastern regions. Also read | The Big Data Centre rush: Adani fast-tracks $4 bn investment, others follow suit The companys strategy is to expand into tier-II and smaller cities in the core regions of the North and the East, said Shankha Banerjee, the chief executive of the company. In the West and South, it will focus on tier-I and II citiesMumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai, he said. The expansion in Mumbai, Pune and Goa will be led by wholly owned subsidiary, Suburban Diagnostics India Pvt. Ltd. The companys plan to consider acquisitions in the South and Gujarat comes after a four-year pause. In the South, the firm last bought ChanRe Diagnostic Services (CDSPL) in Bengaluru, Karnataka, for 17.5 crore in 2020. The same year, its subsidiary, PathLabs Unifiers Pvt. Ltd, bought a 70% stake in Bindish Diagnostic Laboratory LLP (BDL) in Jamnagar, Gujarat for 4 crore. In FY24, the companys Southern labs contributed 6% to the total revenue, lower than 6.3% in FY23. The western region contributed 14.8%, down from 15.3% in FY23. Southern India is the most competitive territory within India for the diagnostics industry, so it's not going to be easy," said Aditya Khemka, fund manager at InCred Asset Management and Alternative Investments. There are a lot of exclusively South dominant players in the market." Consolidation in the sector Diagnostics firms are now in an expansion mode. Metropolis Healthcare is planning to go pan-India to increase its presence to 1,000 towns in the next two years through a blend of organic and inorganic expansion, particularly in the countrys northern and eastern markets, Mint had reported earlier. Mumbai-based Metropolis has a strong presence in the southern and western parts of the country and plans to expand its foothold in the North and East. With a corpus of 70 crore, it is looking to start with two-three bolt-on acquisitions in FY25, with a deeper penetration through organic growth. Vijaya Diagnostic Centre Ltd, the south-based diagnostic chain with centres in over 23 cities, also acquired a 100% in PH Diagnostics and forayed into Pune in December 2023, according to their exchange filings. The Indian diagnostics industry is projected to nearly double to $25 billion by FY28, up from $13 billion in FY23, according to a Praxis Global Alliance report. The industry is going through a phase of consolidation after the pandemic-driven surge in demand. In fact, according to Khemka, Dr Lal PathLabs acquired Suburban at the wrong time, when valuations were at a peak. During the pandemic, a lot of small independent diagnostics firms came up across the country because of the high demand of expensive covid-tests," Khemka said. Today these companies are bleeding as the covid windfall is gone. They have to either shut down or the owner is looking to sell them off. There are multiple consolidations happening in the business right now." Larger companies are now finding it easy to buy these companies, as they can be acquired for cheap, Khemka said. Strategy-wise, it makes a lot of sense to acquire now." Volume over pricing Dr Lal PathLabs targets 6-7% growth in patient volumes in FY25 as against a muted 2.6% rise in the previous year. The company catered to 27.6 million people in FY24 compared with 26.9 million in FY23. If you look at Q1 FY25, our patient volume has already grown to about 5.5%," Banerjee said. We want to achieve slightly better overall revenue growth than what we did last year without having to take a price increase. About 6-7% growth will then come through patient volumes." The company does not plan to raise prices as it enters more tier-III and IV towns. Also read | Chinas real estate stimulus to aid Indian steelmakers but oversupply persists One of the key things is to convert from unorganized competition," Banerjee said. To a certain extent, we are up against, you know, it's not really a level playing field." International footprint On 19 September, Dr Lal PathLabs dissolved its Kenya arm, which had been non-operational for the past three years. The company now operates in 24 countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It didnt work in Kenyas market and our learnings were also a bit different, so we had to shut that subsidiary," Banerjee said. Dr Lal PathLabs Kenya Pvt. Limited was incorporated on 6 August 2019 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the company. (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has executed around 3 billion ($4 billion) of trades in Thames Waters bonds in September, as it makes a market between original investors exiting the beleaguered utility and opportunistic players scooping up the debt at a discount. Hedge funds and distressed funds are continuing to bid for the debt of the UKs largest water provider, said dealers at the US bank in a note to clients and seen by Bloomberg on Monday. The trading comes as the company has kicked off talks with creditors as it struggles to raise equity. Worries the firm will soon run out of cash led S&P Global Inc. and Moodys Ratings to downgrade its Class A debt deemed the safest by five and six notches respectively last week. They also downgraded its riskier Class B debt. The Thames structure remains topical at GS as risk continues to change hands post downgrade, the bank said in the note. Selling was initially in Class B debt, but more recently weve been sellers of Class A risk as well. Buyers are favoring the more illiquid and lower cash price paper, as the market difference between shorter-dated and longer-dated bonds flattens, the note added. Companies with large amounts of debt often have bonds with wildly differing cash prices because notes are issued over multiple years at different points in the rate cycle. Goldman Sachs has also been trading some of Thamess bank debt, with 145 million changing hands via its desk since April, according to the note. A spokesperson for Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to a request for comment. S&P sees a debt restructuring and consequently a default as likely in the coming 12 months. The company has said it does not expect to receive funds in the form of equity ahead of a final determination by regulator Ofwat, expected at the earliest on Dec. 19. Thames has been negotiating with a group of creditors holding 10 billion of the companys Class A debt over options to delay a potential liquidity shortfall. The group of creditors including investors from BlackRock Inc. and Elliott Investment Management has been working on its own plan to address the need for new funds and the unsustainable debt pile. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com Aiming to venture into entrepreneurship, Bollywood celebrities have long leveraged their star power for years. Recently, the trends have gone up as A-list celebrities launched their own brands in fashion, beauty, fitness, and lifestyle. Hrithik Roshans HRX crossed 1,000 crore revenue mark, and Katrina Kaifs beauty brand, Kay Beauty, emerged as a profitable venture, while Deepika Padukone's brand 82E faced massive loss, reported Storyboard 18. Also Read | Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor starrer Brahmastra wins big at National Film Awards The success stories: Among the most prominent success stories is Hrithik Roshans HRX, launched in 2013 as a fitness and lifestyle brand, which has now crossed the 1000-crore revenue mark. HRX witnessed a remarkable growth trajectory and has become one of Indias leading celebrity-endorsed brands. Offering a range of products, ranging from fitness apparel and shoes to accessories, the brand had partnership with Myntra which further boosted its market presence. Second brand that emerged as a profitable venture is Katrina Kaifs beauty brand, Kay Beauty. It was launched in collaboration with Nykaa and has garnered a loyal customer base, having over 15 lakh customers in its portfolio. It is expected to grow at a rate of 62 percent, added the report. Also Read | SRK and Hrithik promote local businesses as AI moves deep into advertising The third brand in the list is Alia Bhatt's Ed-a-Mamma, which was acquired by Reliance Retail. Its revenue increased fourfold. The losers: Deepika Padukones skincare brand 82E witnessed a significant loss of 25.1 crore at the EBITDA level in the first nine months of FY24. Despite Deepika being a global role model, 82E has struggled to gain a foothold, as report suggests the brands high pricing and limited market penetration as reason. Other brands facing similar issues include Virat Kohlis WROGN, which witnessed a revenue decline of 29 percent. Shahid Kapoors Skult, Anushka Sharmas Nush, and Sonam Kapoors Rheson are grappling with market presence and return on investment issues. Also Read | Pregnant Deepika Padukone has a unique reason to attend Anant-Radhikas sangeet Expert's take: Analysing the reasons for brands' success and failure, Pulp Strategy's Founder and Chief Strategist, Ambika Sharma, cited that a lack of clear brand identity and overexposure may result in a brand's revenue declining. (Bloomberg) -- Ivory Coast has raised the price it pays farmers for their cocoa above Ghana, even as growers in both countries will continue to receive far less than the global market. The worlds top producer of the chocolate-making ingredient increased the farmgate price by 20% to 1,800 CFA francs ($3.06) per kilogram for the harvest that starts on Oct. 1, Minister of Agriculture Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani said in the capital, Abidjan. The rate, which translates to $3,060 per ton is a notch higher than what Ghana started paying farmers at the beginning of its season this month at $3,039 per ton. This may help to discourage smuggling of Ivorian beans to the worlds second-biggest producer, even though the risk of the illegal exports to other Ivory Coast neighbors, including Liberia and Guinea wont be fully addressed because of buyers there who pay rates closer to the world market price. A combination of unfavorable weather, disease and a lack of inputs curbed output across West Africa last season, sending cocoa futures to an all-time high earlier this year, topping $11,000 a ton. Futures have eased since, trading around $7,700 a ton on Monday in New York. The poor harvest kept the global market in deficit for a third straight year. While output is expected to recover in the upcoming season, the surplus is likely to remain small at around 90,000 tons, according to the average of 15 analysts and traders surveyed by Bloomberg. The price setting system by governments in Ivory Coast and Ghana has not allowed growers to fully benefit from the global rally. Thats prevented adequate investment in farms and encouraged smuggling to neighboring countries where the market isnt as tightly regulated and prices are much higher. Ivory Coast has lost an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 tons of beans to smuggling during the crop year that ends on Monday, Bloomberg reported Sept. 19. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com Mumbai: Private equity (PE) firm Kedaara Capital, which owns around 16% stake in Care Health Insurance, voted against Religare chairperson Rashmi Salujas reappointment to the Care board, in an ordinary resolution that passed with a majority, according to one person with knowledge of the information. Commercial reasons, a second person informed on Kedaara Capitals thinking said, ahead of the annual general meeting on Monday. The PE firm sought a legal opinion before casting its vote on Monday. Kedaara Capital did not reply to requests for comment. Religare Enterprises, which owns 63-64% in Care Health Insurance Ltd, voted in favour of Salujas appointment. Kedaaras decision follows the Burman familys letter to Care Health Insurance board on 26 September ahead of the AGM, in which it sought to remove Saluja as a director on the grounds that there were investigations led by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) against her. Also read: Care throws a challengeand an apologyto insurance regulator on Salujas Esops The letter argued that this was against Care Healths Articles of Association. On 6 September, ED filed an First Information Report (FIR) against Saluja and others for allegedly filing false cases against the Burmans. The ED charges were filed for alleged cheating and criminal conspiracy. The Burmans moved to take over Religare Enterprises in September last year, a battle that has now turned hostile, with the REL board resisting the move. On Sunday evening, ahead of the AGM, additional independent director on Care Healths board Pratap Venugopal told Mint that the Burman letter did not have a legal standing as "investigation by ED and/or Sebi would not automatically disqualify a Director from being reappointed. A person familiar with Salujas thinking argued that FIRs could be contested, observing that many people including Union ministers have FIRs against them. On Monday evening, Religare, Saluja and the Burmans did not respond to a request for comment. But a spokesperson for Care said, "The Directors of Care Health Insurance Ltd (CARE) reviewed the communication dated 27.09.2024 received from the Proposed Acquirers of Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL) demanding the removal of Dr. Rashmi Saluja from the Board of Directors of CARE. In light of a legal opinion received by CARE, the Directors agreed that there exists no cause for removal of Dr. Rashmi Saluja and a suitable response is being sent to the Proposed Acquirers accordingly. Postponing AGM The Care AGM comes in the wake of its parent Religare moving the Registrar of Companies in August to postpone its own AGM to December, a development which has upset shareholders, Mint reported last month. Also read: Religare upsets investors by delaying AGM Religare, Saluja and the Burmans did not respond to a request for comment. Care Health, seen as Religare's crown jewel, is expected to go public later. The company is worth at least 10,000 crore, based on the price of its shares at 110 in its last rights issue in 2022. It underwrote a premium of 6,864.5 crore in 2023-24, recording a 33-51% year-on-year growth. The Care health insurance board and the insurance regulator are also currently at odds over whether it is appropriate for Saluja to receive Esops (employee stock options) at Care. While Care board has argued in favour of granting her Esops, the insurance regulator has fined Care for doing so, against its express orders. The case is currently under appeal in Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT). (Bloomberg) -- Kimberly-Clark Corp. is exploring options for its international tissue business as part of its strategy to focus on more profitable areas, people with knowledge of the matter said. The company is working with advisers to review its tissue operations outside North America, which could lead to a sale of part or all of the business, the people said. A deal could value the business at around $4 billion, according to some of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Shares of Kimberly-Clark have risen 17% this year, giving it a market value of about $48 billion. The company sells Kleenex tissues, Scottex brand paper towels, Andrex toilet paper and WypAll cleaning cloths. If it decides to pursue any divestments, they could attract interest from private equity firms as well as rival tissue companies, the people said. Dallas-based Kimberly-Clark announced in March it will reorganize its operations to bring its overseas consumer tissue and professional tissue businesses together under a new division called International Family Care & Professional. That business generates around $3.5 billion in annual sales with 10% operating margins, according to a statement at the time. Its going to be one of three main reporting segments under the revised structure, alongside a new North America division and another group encompassing its international personal care operations. Deliberations are in the early stages and any potential sale of the business will depend on the eventual outcome of the review, according to the people. Kimberly-Clark could also decide to retain the business, the people said. A representative for Kimberly-Clark declined to comment. --With assistance from Crystal Tse and Leslie Patton. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com Tractor giant Massey Ferguson Ltd, a subsidiary of American agricultural machinery manufacturer AGCO Corporation, on Monday issued termination notices to Indian tractor company Tractors and Farm Equipment Ltd (TAFE), effectively ending their 28-year partnership. The notices allege a breach of various agreements and will prohibit TAFE from using the Massey Ferguson trademark. As a result of these notices, TAFE is no longer an approved licensee, user, distributor, or seller of Massey Ferguson products in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Bhutan, with immediate effect. These terminations follow inappropriate and unauthorized actions taken by TAFE that the company believes breached the various agreements, AGCO said in a press statement. The company has also initiated legal proceedings in India regarding TAFEs continued use of the Massey Ferguson brand. AGCO clarified that the latest termination is separate from notices issued in April, which pertained to the termination of certain commercial licences. In April, Massey Ferguson terminated a trademark usage agreement with TAFE dating back to 1994. TAFE, a joint venture between Massey Ferguson Ltd and Chennai-based Amalgamations Pvt. Ltd, was formed in 1960. Following the termination notices in April, TAFE sought relief in the Chennai commercial court. The court, in its 28 April order, granted TAFE temporary relief, allowing the company to continue using the Massey Ferguson trademark while the dispute is under review. In its plea, TAFE argued that the termination was abrupt, executed without notice, and followed a 25 April AGCO board meeting. TAFE claimed that the termination was carried out in bad faith and could disrupt global commercial transactions. TAFE also emphasized its substantial investment in marketing and developing the Massey Ferguson brand over the past six decades. The company expressed concern that any public statements from AGCO could cause industry-wide panic and harm Indian farmers who rely on TAFEs Massey Ferguson-branded tractors. New Delhi: State-run power-sector lender REC Ltd is keen to finance nuclear power projects as it looks to spend 1 trillion a year on green energy for the rest of the decade, said its chairman and managing director (CMD) Vivek Kumar Dewangan in a interview. The company, which is committed to spending 6 trillion for energy transition by 2030, will also look at financing cross-border transmission projects as the planned India-Sri Lanka transmission and other regional interconnections gain take concrete shape going ahead. He said the company would look at sanctioning at least 1 trillion each year for green projects till the end of the decade. "We are willing to finance nuclear but no one has come to seek financing for nuclear projects so far. We are open. That is also non-fossil fuel source. If someone is willing to come for seeking finance for a nuclear power plant we are open to finance that. We had certain discussion with Nuclear Power Corporation also for their upcoming projects. But they have not come to us yet for seeking finance," he said. He said REC has had initial talks with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL). The plan to finance nuclear power projects comes at a time when the Union government is looking at increasing India's nuclear power generation capacity to 22.4 GW from the current 8 GW. Nuclear power is considered to be a non-fossil resource as it produces little or no carbon emission. At the recently concluded 'RE-INVEST 2024' conclave, REC committed the highest amount of financing among the public sector banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFC) for supporting India's green transition by 2030. At the programme in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, it signed for loans worth 1.12 trillion. Borrowing plans Speaking to Mint, the REC CMD said that the target is to take its renewable energy loan book to 3 trillion by 2030, which would be 30% of its overall loan book. "Last year we were able to (renewable energy) sanction projects worth 1.36 trillion. We do have sufficient projects in pipeline. Every year at least 1 trillion we will able to sanction for renewable projects in the next six years. That's why, 6 trillion sanction target is there, but the loan book doesn't grow that fast. That's why I am targetting my renewable energy portfolio from 43,000 crore to 3 trillion by the end of 2030." Dewangan further said that although the company has diversified into non-power infrastructure sectors, the disbursal for those infrastructure projects has declined given the renewed focus on coal-based power along with green energy projects. Noting that power generation, distribution and transmission remain the key focus areas for the company, the CMD said that the company would look at financing cross-border transmission projects. "One Sun One World One Grid has been conceptualized but still lot of work is yet to be done. We are first looking into the neighbouring countries. India-Sri Lanka transmission line is not yet finalized, if that project comes we can think of financing. First the south-east Asia is our nearest opportunities," adding that all such projects would be taken up after approval from the Reserve Bank of India. Regarding RECs borrowing plans, he said the company is well on track to borrowing $20 billion or 1.6 trillion during the fiscal and has already disbursed about 84,000 crore in FY25. He added that external commercial borrowings at lower rates and 54EC capital gain bonds continue to be attractive sources of fundraising for the NBFC. "We follow a very judicious mix of borrowing. Maximum we take (of) domestic corporate bonds (is) around 40%. Then we do take domestic term loans from the banks to the tune of 18%. Then, I have a special instrument, which is capital gains tax saving, called 54EC bond. That constitutes 10% of my borrowing. That is the cheapest source of fund available." Inclusion of the company under the 54EC of the Income Tax Act exempts investors buying bonds from it from capital gains tax, making their bonds more attractive. "Then external commercial borrowingwe raise bonds and we also raise term loan from the banks in foreign currency. As of today foreign currency borrowing after hedging is cheaper option for me. We are using innovative hedging techniques. I am able to bring down my cost of external commercial borrowing to below 7%. My overall aim is to bring down the cost of fund. If the domestic borrowing is cheaper I will take more and more domestic borrowing. I will go for cheaper option." Devangan said. On Saturday, the company raised $500 million through green dollar bonds to support various renewable energy projects. Tata Power has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Rajasthan government to develop power distribution, transmission, and green energy projects, marking a significant expansion of its renewable energy footprint in the state. The agreement, signed at the 'Rising Rajasthan Investor Meet' in the national capital on Monday, includes a wide range of initiatives, from solar module manufacturing and EV charging infrastructure to nuclear power and rooftop solar installations. Tata Power aims to provide round-the-clock, clean, affordable, and reliable power, while also generating 28,000 jobs over the next decade. This ambitious 10-year plan aims to support Rajasthans transformation into a power surplus state," the company said in a statement, highlighting investments across the entire power value chain, including renewable energy, transmission, and distribution. Tata Power will invest 1.2 trillion, with 75,000 crore allocated to renewable energy projects, including 10 GW of capacity6 GW solar and 4 GW hybridacross Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Barmer, and Jodhpur. Additionally, the company plans to set up a 2 GW solar module manufacturing facility in Jodhpur with an investment of 2,000 crore. To modernize the grid and reduce energy losses, 30,000 crore will be invested in upgrading transmission and distribution infrastructure. Tata Power is also exploring opportunities to develop a nuclear power plant and will invest 1,000 crore to establish 100,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging points across Rajasthan. The company plans to install rooftop solar systems for 1 million households under the PM Surya Ghar Yojana. The initiative aligns with Indias target of achieving 500 GW of installed non-fossil capacity by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2070. Tata Power emphasized the socio-economic impact of the MoU, stating that it will create over 28,000 direct jobs and bolster local industries in solar manufacturing and renewable energy innovations. Read this | Indias renewable energy target may prove elusive without course correction Already a major player in Rajasthan, Tata Power has till date commissioned 1 GW of solar projects, 185 MW of wind projects, and 130 MW of rooftop solar installations in the state. Defense startups developing weapons to counter China have a problem. They depend on the country for parts. China is the dominant supplier of batteries, motors, sensors, rare-earth materials and other key components needed by U.S. defense companies. The industrys outsize reliance on China for materials to build everything from drones to ships and missiles has become an untenable reality in Washington. Defense-tech startups face particular challenges building without the most affordable and readily available parts, according to industry executives and national-security experts. We dont want companies dependent on China. Thats a national security risk. We see that, and we are very clear about that while following the requirements in law," said Trent Emeneker, a project manager and contractor with the Defense Innovation Unit, which helps the military buy startup technology. Breaking up with China is expensive and often befuddling, defense startups say, yet it is necessary for business survival. China could stop the flow of components into the U.S. for whatever reason it chooses. If your supply chain runs dry, you have nothing to sell," said Ryan Beall, founder of TILT Autonomy, which makes autonomous systems for drones used by the U.S. Navy. Overhauling the supply chain is an added complication to a startup sector that has been hot with investors but is struggling to find customers. Hundreds of new U.S. defense-tech startups have captured much of the $130 billion venture capitalists have plowed into the sector globally since 2021, according to PitchBook data. Few are making much money yet. Just 16 venture-backed defense-tech companies receive annual revenue from the federal government that exceeds $25 million, according to an analysis by data firm Procure.FYI. Evolving and often unclear regulations in the U.S., as well as export restrictions in China, have pushed startups to improvise solutions and make bets on which parts will become off-limits. The hodgepodge of strategies includes manufacturing in Southeast Asia, sourcing parts from Mexico, building components in the U.S. and using 3-D printers to make replacements. One industry trade group is exploring buying components in bulk for startups to try to get lower prices. A lot of drone companies are still looking at this as an existential threat to their business," said Michael Robbins, president of the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International, or AUVSI, the drone and robotics trade organization based in Washington. A Southern California startup, Empirium, has created a shopping site for supplies that are from friendly countries and free of Chinese components. Virginia-based startup SolidIntel searches AI-generated data sets to uncover supply-chain risks, such as any vendor connections to the Chinese government. Remaking supply chains requires resources and geopolitical savviness many startups lack, said Mike Sims, co-founder of Empirium. Its the CTOs and CEOs on a Sunday night clicking around on the internet to find out if a supplier is from China," he said, referring to chief technology officers and chief executives. No money for us Entrepreneur Scott Colosimo saw an opportunity to sell electric motorcycles and batteries to the U.S. military, harnessing what he learned building motorcycles in China at his previous startup. He used profits from his China business to buy a factory in Cleveland and is trying to avoid using Chinese parts to help the U.S. regain its manufacturing mojo, he said. The company, LAND Energy, has sourced 80% of its components from the U.S., but some battery and wheel components are only available from China. LAND has small grants and research projects with the Defense Department, and Colosimo is looking to supply the military with batteries to power tactical vehicles. He said the company needs more support if the Pentagon wants to promote building defense products in the U.S. Theres a lot of lip-flapping about national security resilience manufacturing," he said. But there is no money for us to do this." He is looking into moving some manufacturing to the Philippines, where he has more opportunity to expand his business and the cost is more affordable. Established defense contractors depend on thousands of suppliers in China, which makes decoupling complicated, but they, too, are looking for solutions. Lockheed Martin is investing in 3-D printing more components. The executive chairman of RTX said at a conference that the company is reviewing its options for alternatives but isnt pulling out of China. Anduril Industries, one of the largest defense startups, has reduced its spending on parts from China to 0.2% of its total supplier budget, said CEO Brian Schimpf. Our mission is to support the U.S. when things arent good, and if you have too much dependency on China, thats not a good risk to expose the U.S. government to," he said. Regulators have limited the use of Chinese parts in critical technology systems, and policymakers have passed and proposed laws aimed at unhooking America from a China-dominated supply chain. The Defense Innovation Unit this summer started asking defense startups for a full list of their hardware to keep an eye on parts coming from China. In a letter Wednesday to an Air Force official, two members of Congress called the services dependence on Chinese manufacturers a serious national security threat," citing a report that shows the Air Force last year increased its reliance on Chinese suppliers by 69%. Defense officials and industry executives expect Chinese motors and batteries will be restricted next, and there are few alternatives. China supplies more than 90% of the magnets needed for the motors that power everything from missiles to ships, drones and satellites. New U.S. magnet-production companies are trying to put a dent in that dominance, but it will take years. Reducing Americas reliance on China emerged as a bipartisan priority during the pandemic, which left industries without essential China-made goods. It has become a bigger focus since then as the U.S. has shifted its national security strategy to focus more on China. U.S. drone makeover Small drones are on the front lines of Americas supply chain overhaul. Ukraines reliance on China for drones and drone partsand Chinas efforts to put export restrictions on those supplieshave been seen by many as a preview of how reliance on a rival can affect battle outcomes. The risks of dependency on Chinese components are no longer seen as theoretical," said Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank. Both China and the U.S. have put restrictions on critical components from China that the defense industry wants, squeezing American companies. Laws prohibit federal agencies from buying defense systems that use critical components, including cameras, radios and flight controllers, that come from China. There are also restrictions on Chinese suppliers that have been blacklisted for alleged connections to the Chinese military and for supporting Russias military. Around one out of five of the drone systems the Defense Innovation Unit reviews dont meet military requirements because they have prohibited parts. TILT Autonomys Beall has avoided Chinese parts since founding his company in 2022. He reverse engineered a Chinese radio the Ukrainians were using in their drones and found a way to build it in the U.S. The new radio was more than double the price and took months, rather than days, to finish. He designed his own circuit boards rather than buy them from China. He estimates that avoiding Chinese components increased his costs by six to 10 times. If the government wants a U.S. supply chain, thats fine, but they need to be clear about their requirements, and they need to pay for it," said Beall. Write to Heather Somerville at heather.somerville@wsj.com MUMBAI : Direct-to-consumer beauty brand Sugar Cosmetics is looking to double down on younger consumers aged 15 to 24 by accelerating product launches and introducing more value-conscious items in the next few months, a top executive told Mint. Co-founder and chief operating officer Kaushik Mukherjee said in an interview that the Mumbai-based company sees a bright spot in Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) and Gen Alpha (born in 2012 and after) consumers, who represent a different yet interesting proposition. The customer base we started with in 2015 is now a decade older. We need to reinvent to touch the next decade of consumers," Mukherjee said, adding that the company wants to be known as a go-to cosmetics brand for all age groups. India has one of the youngest populations in the world. According to 2021 estimates by the government's Central Statistical Office (CSO), people aged 15 to 29 constitute 34% of the total population, and nearly 66% of the total population is under the age of 35. And according to a November 2023 study by data analytics firm Kantar, women aged 18-44 spent as much as 1,120 crore on makeup products in the first 10 months of 2023. Sugar, founded by Vineeta Singh and Mukherjee in 2015, senses a massive opportunity in this emerging cohort of users. It has already introduced multiple ranges, including youth-focused Sugar Play and pocket-friendly Sugar Pop. However, their consumption patterns differ widely from previous generations, which presents a fresh challenge. Besides, India's about $20-billion beauty market enjoys robust investor confidence, with new brands such as Blur India, Typsy Beauty, Kiro Beauty, and Swiss Beauty looking to offer products matching international standards. And they've also picked up the trend. Listed player Honasa Consumer Ltd, which owns skincare brands Mamaearth and Aqualogica, launched Staze, an affordable, youth-focused colour cosmetics range, earlier this year. Swiss Beauty, based in New Delhi, told Mint in August that it was looking to grow its Gen Z-focused Craze line, starting at 180. Also Read: How dark stores are lighting up the online beauty business Tough crowd Indias beauty and personal-care market is expected to reach $30 billion by 2027, growing at a 10% compound annual growth rate between 2022 and 2027, according to a 2023 report by Redseer Strategy Consultants and Peak XV Partners. The country is expected to account for nearly 5% of the global growth opportunity despite a per capita category spending of $14, lower than China ($38) and a fraction of the US ($313). It's a huge market, and young customers are spoiled for choice. A distinct characteristic of Gen Z is that they are open to experimenting with brands, making loyalty a tall ask, according to an e-commerce executive. Mint reported in August that new-age cosmetics brands are evaluating the best ways to retain users as well as keep up with ever-changing trends. To this end, Sugar is working on launching at least four different product ranges across categories in 2025, with a focus on face and lips, Mukherjee said, noting that the emphasis is now on skincare-infused makeup. A big point of difference is that the younger consumers want makeup that doesn't only look good but is also good for the skin. They wont settle for poor-quality products, which makes thoughtful innovation so much more important. Sugar Play saw its revenue grow more than 218% sequentially in the June quarter, Mukherjee said, adding that it is expected to be Sugars fastest-growing range in the next 18-24 months. He didn't share the figures. Students and users who are just entering the workforce tend to be budget-conscious and require products that dont burn through their pockets. Sugar is also working towards expanding its Pop range of products, which starts at 199. Marketing is the key The overcrowding in the beauty and personal-care segment in recent years is also prompting many to re-evaluate marketing strategies, said the e-commerce executive quoted above. Consumer brands tend to spend as high as 50% of their overall expenditure on marketing and promotional expenses, a component hard to overlook. In 2022-23, nearly 32% of Sugar's overall spending was advertising and promotional costs. However, Mukherjee noted that the brand has come a long way since its inception and is hopeful that some changes in the overall strategy could result in minimal spending. According to Mukherjee, Sugar has steered clear from implementing fear-based marketing techniques" that typically highlight cosmetics as products to hide flaws. For the newer generation, its about functionality. They are fairly secure about their flaws," he said. Also Read: Nykaa raises fashion game but beauty segment fades Moreover, in the age of social media, new-age cosmetic brands like Sugar could face the heat from ever-changing beauty trends, which could force them to speed up innovation. It is also diversifying it sales channels to improve sales. We expect a 50% jump in our monthly quick-commerce sales between now and November," Mukherjee noted. The cosmetic brand, which has raised upwards of $85 million so far from marquee investors, including Elevation Capital and A91 Partners, reported an operating revenue of 420 crore in 2022-23, up from 222 crore in the year-ago period. Its losses remained flat at 76 crore. New Delhi: Exports of products such as air conditioners and refrigerators will drive growth in Indias consumer durables sector, said Amardeep Singh Bhatia, secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). Exports will play a crucial role in the next growth phase of Indias consumer durable sector as the sector is on a robust growth path, underpinned by liberalized investments, a dynamic startup ecosystem, and ongoing innovation and (research and development) efforts, he said. Citing the findings of a report by the Confederation of Indian Industry, Bhatia said the domestic consumer durable industry is estimated to reach about 5 trillion and create around 500,000 skilled jobs across the value chain by 2030. Addressing the Consumer Electronics & Durables Summit organized by CII, the DPIIT secretary said the industry should focus on exports and future demand while planning investments or joint ventures for expanding production. Citing examples of countries like Thailand and China, where exports have been the primary focus, Bhatia emphasized that while Indias consumer durable sector already has a strong presence in Africa and West Asia, true success will be measured by its ability to export to more developed nations such as Japan. To achieve this, the industry must prioritize quality, stay ahead in terms of technological advancements, and increase investments in research and development, he said. Addressing the summit, B. Thiagarajan, chairman of CIIs Consumer Electronics and Durables Committee and managing director of home appliances maker Blue Star Ltd, said the governments decision to extend the productivity-linked incentive scheme to components is creating a competitive manufacturing ecosystem in India. This move is attracting global investments and positioning the country as a global manufacturing hub, with significant potential to shape the industry's future, Thiagarajan said. Indias consumer durables sector contributes 0.6% to the countrys GDP, and is expected to grow at a 11% compound annual growth rate to reach 3 trillion by 2028-29. The domestic consumer durables market grew at a 10% CAGR during FY19-24 driven by increasing affluence, household penetration, premiumization, and shorter replacement cycles. Frequent heat waves due to climate change have made ACs a necessity rather than a luxury, evident in the categorys growing penetration, from 6% in 2019 to 10% in 2023, according to the CII report. (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia plans to cut spending next year to contain a widening budget deficit as a decline in oil revenue runs up against the cost of multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects. Expenditure for 2025 is forecast at 1.285 trillion riyals ($343 billion), down 5% on estimates for this year, according to a statement published by the finance ministry on Monday. Government total spending is expected to reach 1.429 trillion riyals by 2027. The Finance Ministry projects a shortfall of 101 billion riyals next year, or 2.3% of gross domestic product, increasing to 2.9% in 2026, both higher than previously expected. The deficit will likely persist at similar levels over the medium term, due to the expansionary spending policy intended to support economic growth, the ministry said. The $1.1 trillion economy is forecast to grow 4.6% next year. Revenues for the year are set to total 1.184 trillion riyals. Saudi Arabia has already been forced to scale back some of the projects at the heart of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmans economic transformation plan, known as Vision 2030, in part because oil prices remain far below the level the government needs to balance its budget. A pull back in planned spending next year is hardly surprising given the earlier indication of project timelines being extended and the recent fall in the oil price, said Monica Malik, Chief Economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. We see the fiscal projections as looking to balance support to the transformation programme, while maintaining contained deficits. Slashed Forecasts Saudi Arabia has slashed its growth forecasts for this year after delaying plans to boost oil production, and has forecast wider budget deficits in 2025 and 2026 than previously expected as it cut revenue projections. The budget deficit is also likely to be wider this year as a result of higher government spending to speed up progress on investments. Economic output this year is expected to be 0.8%, down from a previous estimate of 4.4%, according to new projections from the Finance Ministry released Monday. The International Monetary Fund said in a report this month that the worlds largest exporter of crude oil is expected to see its current account balance turn negative this year. That would mark a significant reversal from 2022, when oil soared to almost $130 a barrel after Russias invasion of Ukraine and Saudi Arabias current account surplus was almost 14% of gross domestic product. The kingdom needs oil prices at $96 a barrel to balance its budget, according to the IMF. Bloomberg Economics puts the breakeven at $112, once domestic spending by the kingdoms sovereign wealth fund is taken into account. With the budget in deficit for multiple quarters, and foreign direct investment slow to materialize outside the oil and gas sector, the kingdom has become one of the biggest issuers of international debt in emerging markets. According to the preliminary statement, the country will continue borrowing to meet the 2025 estimated financing needs. --With assistance from Matthew Martin. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com The Supreme Court on Monday came to the rescue of a Dalit youth, who had lost his seat in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Dhanbad after he failed to deposit an admission fee till last date. The apex court asked the institute to admit the Dalit youth to the B-Tech course. We cannot allow such a young talented boy to go away. He cannot be left in lurch, a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said. Also Read | Meet the four musketeers of Indias quantum computing dream We are of the view that a talented student like the petitioner who belongs to a marginalised group who did all to secure admission should not be left out... we direct that candidate is granted admission to IIT Dhanbad and let him be in the same batch to which he would have been granted admission if the fees would have been paid, the bench said in the order. The top court used its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution in asking the IIT Dhanbad to admit Atul Kumar into its Electrical Engineering B-Tech course. Article 142 of the Constitution empowers the Supreme Court to pass any order in the interest of justice. 18-year-old Atul Kumar, the son of a daily wager, hails from a below poverty line (BPL) family living at Titora village in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. He had failed to deposit 17,500 as the acceptance fee by June 24, the deadline for depositing the requisite fees for blocking the seat. His parents had also approached the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Jharkhand Legal Services Authority and the Madras High Court to save the hard-earned seat. However, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes had expressed its inability to help him. As Atul had taken JEE at a centre in Jharkhand, the youth had also moved the Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority which suggested him to approach the Madras High Court as it was IIT Madras that had conducted the exam. India is looking to implement stricter localization norms from next April for makers of electric vehicles (EVs) and public charging stations, according to a draft of the proposed criteria seen by Mint. The guidelines also define a set of domestic manufacturing and assembly processes to avail government subsidies. A new phased manufacturing program (PMP) for the EV subsidy program PM e-DRIVE, effective 1 April 2025, will require original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to locally source and assemble many of even the smallest sub-components for eight critical EV components and assemblies across electric three-wheeler and two-wheeler categories, and 11 such components for electric buses, the draft shows. In contrast, the PMP followed by beneficiaries of the previous Fame-II subsidy scheme had 18 EV components where some flexibility with respect to imports was allowed. Fame, or the faster adoption and manufacturing of electric vehicles in India scheme, was introduced first in 2015 to promote electric and hybrid vehicles in India through financial incentives from the government. We definitely want to promote faster adoption of EVs with the PM e-DRIVE, but the condition is that it must be localized to the maximum extent possible," heavy industries ministry additional secretary Hanif Qureshi told Mint. Qureshi said the government wants to strike a balance in the new PMP. We don't want to make PMP too difficult that it cannot be followed, but we also don't want to make it too easy, which will lead to increase in imports," he said, adding that the final rules will be released over the next few weeks after a series of inter-ministerial and industry body discussions. Apart from tightening local sourcing rules on PMP components such as electronic throttle systems, traction motors and motor controllers, some non-PMP components such as tyres, suspension and braking systems may also be mandated to be locally assembled. Also read | Why Ford now wants to make for the world from India There is also a restrictive clause which does not permit import of any other components that are not listed in PMP," an industry executive in close consultation with the government said on condition of anonymity. Indian auto components makers often rely on assembling imported child parts. This can be challenging to adhere to in its current form." The new norms will also bring in tighter rules to prevent false claims by EV makers to garner subsidies, something that has plagued earlier incentive programs. Next steps The government will hold a key stakeholder discussion on 4 October, and is looking to finalize the new PMP for the PM e-DRIVE scheme by the end of the year, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The discussions are going to lay the groundwork for the upcoming PMP, where the government's push to nudge the industry towards deeper localization and enhancing domestic manufacturing capabilities within Indias EV ecosystem is quite clear," one of the two persons said. Till the rules are finalized, OEMs will be allowed to claim subsidies based on the localization criteria set up in 2021 under the FAME-II scheme, the people said on condition of anonymity. Also read | What an IPO signals about Ather's battle against Ola Electric In an event scheduled for 1 October, Union heavy industries minister H.D. Kumara Swamy is expected to formally kick off the PM e-DRIVE scheme by distributing digital vouchers to customers as part of the Centres push to promote EV purchases. PM e-DRIVE refers to the third and final phase of the government's Fame subsidy program that will come into effect on 1 October with an outlay of 10,900 crore in the form of demand incentives to encourage greater proliferation of electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers, e-buses and heavy trucks. Emphasis on local assembly, mfg processes The new PMP draft reflects a sharp increase in localization targets compared to the Fame-II scheme. While earlier norms allowed manufacturers some leeway in importing parts like battery cells, traction motors, and charging inlets, the 2025 guidelines will need OEMs to source everything from within India. To be sure, this was the case earlier, too, but this time the guidelines are stricter on what aspects of these components should be locally manufactured or assembled. One of the most critical changes in the new PMP is the emphasis on domestic processes for the production of key EV components. The draft outlines detailed steps that must be completed within India, such as PCB assembly, wiring harness production, and even software/firmware flashing. These processes were not fully covered under Fame-II, where OEMs were permitted to import semi-assembled systems and complete minor integration steps domestically. The new PMP takes localization a step further by ensuring that Indian manufacturers play a bigger role in the value chain. The latest draft also places more importance on safety systems. For instance, the inclusion of MCBs/circuit breakers and electric safety devices shows an emphasis on creating a more standardized approach to vehicle safety systems, which must be indigenously sourced. Penalties for non-compliance This time, the ministry of heavy industries is being more proactive in establishing processes to counter false claims of adherence to localization norms. Under the Fame-II scheme, the government had found that seven two-wheeler OEMs had claimed subsidies without being fully compliant with the PMP criteria, and eventually initiated recovery proceedings against a couple of them. Now, vehicle OEMs will be required to provide an undertaking affirming that all submitted data is accurate and has been duly signed by an authorized signatory. Further, OEMs must proactively notify test agencies of any adverse changes to their submitted data that may affect their compliance with the PMP. This includes any modifications to the vehicle model, supply chain, or technical specifications post-eligibility certification", the draft says. Failure to comply with these requirements can result in the revocation of the Eligibility Compliance Certificate by the Test Agency and recommendations for the recovery of any subsidies granted," the draft said. The stock market regulator on Monday paved the way for a new investment product bridging mutual fund schemes and portfolio management services, relaxed rules for investment advisors and research analysts, and unveiled a new framework for passively managed MF schemes, among a series of significant decisions. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said the new investment product will be introduced under the existing mutual funds framework, after a meeting of its board in Mumbai. The new asset class will offer flexibility in portfolio construction. "The new product also aims to curtail the proliferation of unregistered and unauthorized investment schemes/entities, which often promise unrealistic high returns and exploit investors expectations for better yields, leading to potential financial risks," Sebi said. Siddarth Pai, co-founder of 3one4 Capital said the new asset class will open a brave new chapter for India's capital markets. "Allowing mutual funds to run hedging and derivatives strategies, traditionally the mainstay of hedge funds (CAT-III AIFs), will see significant asset reallocation towards such strategies. The 10 lakh minimum ticket size mooted is far less than that prescribed for CAT-III AIFs, who may choose the tax advantages that the new asset class offers," he said. Also read | Risk managers in demand as Sebi wants another 1,000 firms to tighten control A. Balasubramanian, managing director and chief executive of Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC said mutual funds will be able to operate in the derivatives market similar to a hedge fund to generate higher returns, leading to greater institutional participation in F&O, which is currently dominated by proprietary traders and retail clients. RIAs, RAs Sebi also relaxed the eligibility criteria and restrictions to attract more individuals to become registered investment advisors (RIAs) and research analysts (RAs). The regulator accepted the proposal to remove net worth requirement for both, as their services are fee-based and they do not manage clients' funds and securities. They will be expected to maintain a deposit lien marked to a stock exchange that recognizes them. Currently, aspirants for RIAs and RAs must have at least a post-graduate degree. Sebi has lowered the educational qualification to graduation. MF Lite The current regulatory framework for mutual funds governs both actively and passively managed schemes, though these regulations were originally designed with active funds in mind. Active funds rely on fund managers' discretion for asset allocation and investment, whereas passive funds follow a rule-based strategy with minimal discretion. Recognizing that many of the existing regulations may not be fully relevant for passively managed funds such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and index funds, Sebi has introduced the MF Lite framework. The framework offers relaxed requirements with respect to eligibility criteria for sponsors, reduced minimum net worth, track record, and profitability thresholds, simplified trustee responsibilities, streamlined approval process and relaxed disclosure requirements. Ashish Gupta, chief investment officer, Axis MF, said the intent of the new framework was to ensure a level playing field between new players and existing schemes. AMCs managing both active and passive schemes can choose to split off their passive funds into a separate group entity under the same sponsor, with the newly separated entity governed by the lighter regulations. UPI block mechanism Starting 1 February, 2025, qualified stock brokers (QSBs) will be required to offer additional trading options to their clients in the secondary market (cash segment). In addition to the current method of trading, QSBs must provide one of the following alternatives: 1. Trading Supported by Blocked Amount (TSBA) using UPI block mechanism, which allows clients to trade without transferring funds upfront. Instead, the required amount will be blocked in the client's bank account and only debited upon trade settlement. This will be similar to existing Application Supported by Blocked Amount (ASBA) in primary share sales. 2. 3-in-1 Trading Account Facility which integrates a client's bank, trading, and demat accounts, allowing for seamless trading and settlement directly from their bank account. Clients can either continue with the existing method of trading, which involves transferring funds to their trading members (TMs), or choose one of the new options under the updated framework. Optional T+0 The Sebi board reviewed the performance of the beta version of the optional T+0 settlement cycle and approved several enhancements, incorporating feedback from various stakeholders. The number of stocks eligible for trading under optional T+0 settlement cycle will be increased gradually. Initially, the top 25 scrips were included, but this will be expanded in phases to cover the top 500 stocks based on market capitalization. All registered brokers can offer their investors access to the optional T+0 settlement cycle. Institutional Investors such as foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and mutual funds will also be able to access the optional T+0 settlement cycle. The optional T+0 settlement cycle in the equity cash market will continue to operate alongside the existing T+1 settlement cycle, giving market participants flexibility in choosing their preferred settlement method. Amendments to insider trading regulations Sebi cleared the broadened definition of "connected persons" by including new categories, aligning the definition with the Income Tax Act. The new definition will now include relative, partner or employee of connected person; person on whose advice connected person is accustomed to act; body corporate whose management is accustomed to act on advice of connected person, etc. Every week, Bertie receives an email from a global strategist featuring a chart that showcases India's valuation premium over other emerging markets. For years, the strategist has been calling for a mean reversion, which is just fancy finance jargon for "what goes up must come down, and what goes down will rise again." The message? Sell India, buy emerging markets. But the premium has only grown, with no sign of reverting to the mean. While Bertie opens the email purely for the satisfaction of smirking at the chart, it seems emerging market companies are paying close attentionthough not in the way the strategist would have hoped. Firms with large Indian subsidiaries are rushing to file for initial public offerings (IPOs) of their local units. Bertie learned this when his kimchi-loving friend from Seoul called, seeking his advice on the valuation of the Indian subsidiary of a major automaker. The next day, the same friend connected Bertie with a consumer durables analyst, looking for similar insights. Old-timers refer to George Fernandes as the father of Indian capital markets, given his role in making Indian subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNCs) list locally. Bertie cant help but wonder if that chart is becoming George 2.0. IPO frenzy Bertie steers clear of socializing in his professional circlesits dull at best and, at worst, a tiresome display of one-upmanship. Instead, he prefers the company of his right-brained friends, who talk art and theatre and drag him to places like Kala Ghoda. During one such art exhibition, his actor friend Abhi posed a question that made Bertie stop in his tracks: Is that housing company really so good? 3 lakh crore of demand for a 5,000 crore issuewow! Read this | Why history tells us to beware the IPO frenzy Bertie had to quickly snap his finance brain out of its slumber to offer an intelligent answer. Youve heard of riskless profit, right? he began, only to be met with a blank stare. Realizing this wasnt B-school, he switched gears. Would you enter a tambola contest if the entry fee is tiny, but the prize is huge? Abhi nodded. Even if you knew your chances of winning were slim? After a moment's thought, Abhi responded, Yes. Theres almost nothing to lose, but a small chance to win biglike a lottery. Abhi had unknowingly explained riskless profit better than Berties professor ever had. The process of applying for an IPO is so seamless these days, it costs next to nothing. The money never even leaves your bank account. And with markets the way they are, IPOs are opening at huge premiums over their offer price. Its almost like a lottery, Bertie concluded. So dont judge a companys worth by its IPO demand. Abhi smiled and said, Just like one shouldnt judge Mumbais housing market based on the number of MHADA (Maharashtra Housing Development Corp. Ltd.) applications. Bertie wondered if Abhi should take an aptitude test. (Graphics: Mint) Emotional markets In our last missive, a gloomy Bertie was seen seeking advice on investing in China. He was told to look for companies offering strong dividends and engaging in significant share buybacks. That turned out to be prescient. Last week, Chinas policymakers opened the taps, encouraging share buybacks, among other measures. The emotionally driven Chinese market responded with its best week in nearly 15 years. More here | Markets with Bertie: The perils of private equity and the elusive perfect match A cheerful Bertie called his friend in Hong Kong. Happily ever after, right? he quipped. Not so fast, my friend, came the measured reply. Yes, this move is stronger than previous attempts, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Investors in JK Cement Ltd have little to complain about, even as the cement sector faces challenges. The companys shares have climbed around 20% in 2024 so far, outperforming industry bigwigs such as UltraTech Cement Ltd and ACC Ltd. JK Cements strategic geographic expansion and cost-saving initiatives are driving the positive sentiment. The company aims to be among the top five cement makers by capacity. To meet this goal, it plans to double its current capacity of 24.3 million tonnes per annum by 2030. JK has land banks and limestone reserves in key locations where the management sees potential to scale operations. Its improving regional mix is expected to fuel its next phase of growth, with greenfield expansion in Jaisalmer (northern India), brownfield expansion in Panna Line-III (central), Muddapur, Karnataka (southern India), and Odisha (east). That said, timely execution and ramp-up of these plants will be critical. The pace of consolidation in the cement sector has accelerated recently, with large players opting for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to increase capacity and market share. JK Cement, however, is focusing on organic growth. More here | Cement: Too early for the consolidation party While most of the recent industry M&A transactions have fructified in the range of ~ $80100/tonne; JK Cement believes (having demonstrated w.r.t. Panna expansion) that organic expansion can be done at ~ $60/tonne," ICICI Securities said in a report. Low-cost expansions usually bode well for return ratios. Additionally, JK Cement has continued the implementation of waste heat recovery systems (WHRS) and increasing share of green energy/alternative fuels in its fuel mix. These should help reduce operating costs and carbon footprint. Share of green power has risen from 19% in FY20 to 57% currently, and is expected to reach 75% by 2030. True, others are also investing in WHRS. But JK Cement is among the few cement companies in India that is backed by a WHR power plant across all clinker lines, added the ICICI report. JK estimates cost savings of Rs150-200/tonne in the next two years led by a slew of cost-cutting measures. On the flipside, elevated capital expenditure (capex) for capacity additions could keep debt levels high in the medium term. JK plans to spend around 1,900 crore in FY25 and 1,800 crore in FY26. Net debt is projected to rise to 5,000 crore by FY26 before stabilizing, according to estimates from Motilal Oswal Financial Services. As of end of June, net debt stood at 2,830 crore. JK Cement recently entered the paints sector, partly to counter competition from paint manufacturers in the wall putty business. However, the paints sector is becoming more competitive, with new entrants like Grasim Industries Ltd making significant capex commitments. JK has invested 400 crore in its paints business so far, capping its total investment at 600 crore. The company aims to break even in the segment before FY2627, but any unexpected increase in capex could dampen sentiment. Meanwhile, a muted pricing environment continues to challenge the cement sector. Also read | This indicator shows why cement companies have a rough road ahead In the June quarter (Q1FY25), JK Cement experienced a sharper-than-expected sequential decline in grey cement realizations. Whether the recent price hikes in September hold will be crucial. A bleak pricing outlook could overshadow the positive factors supporting the JK stock. At FY26 EV/Ebitda, the stock is trading at a multiple of 15 times, according to Bloomberg data, and valuations may face pressure from the sectors weak pricing dynamics. Bank of Baroda (BoB) shares have fallen 9.5 per cent since July following three straight months of decline. Despite this domestic brokerage Motilal Oswal (MOSL) reiterated its buy recommendation on the public sector lender as it expects the bank's earnings to clock a modest 10 per cent CAGR and return on assets (RoA) to remain steady at 1.1 per cent. The brokerage has a target price of 290 on the stock, implying an upside potential of over 16 per cent from its current market price. MOSL highlighted that BoB saw a strong rise in RoA from 0.57 per cent in FY22 to 1.17 per cent in FY24. The brokerage remains bullish on Bank of Baroda stock supported by improving asset quality and a projected cost-to-income ratio of 45 per cent by FY27. Loan growth was strong at 17 per cent CAGR over FY22-FY24, while deposit growth is expected to align with the system at 11 per cent, with advances growth moderating to 11.5 per cent over FY24-FY27, driven by retail, agriculture, and MSME segments, MOSL said in a recent note. Stock Price Trend The public sector lender has risen 16.66 per cent in the last one year and 8 per cent in 2024 so far. The stock shed almost a per cent in September, extending losses for the third straight month. It fell 1.4 per cent in August and 7.9 per cent in July. Before that, the stock witnessed continued volatility between January to June. In June, the stock was in the green, up 3.7 per cent after a 5.65 per cent fall in May. It also gained 6.6 per cent in April and lost 0.5 per cent in March. Meanwhile, it jumped 6.8 per cent in February and 7.6 per cent in January. The scrip has risen almost 33 per cent from its 52-week low of 187.95, hit in October last year and is down over 16 per cent from its record high of 298.45, recorded in June 2024. Investment Rationale Loan book to post 11.5% CAGR: MOSL reported that Bank of Baroda (BoB) achieved a 13 per cent year-on-year (YoY) loan growth in FY24, driven by a 21 per cent increase in retail, agriculture, and MSME (RAM) segments. The retail portfolio, comprising 21 per cent of the loan book, is expected to grow 20 per cent YoY in FY25, according to the brokerage. BoB aims to increase the RAM segment share from 45 per cent to 60 per cent, boosting margins and profitability. MOSL projected a modest 11.5 per cent CAGR in loan growth for BoB over FY24-FY27, amid systemic growth moderation and a higher credit-deposit ratio. Deposit accretion remains a challenge: However, MOSL noted that deposit growth remained a challenge for Bank of Baroda, projecting an 11 per cent CAGR in deposits over FY24-FY27. The bank reduced bulk deposits to 15 per cent from 17 per cent in 1QFY24 and aimed to lower this further. The credit-deposit (CD) ratio is expected to rise slightly to 81.6 per cent by FY27. Intense deposit competition and slower CASA growth would likely keep deposit costs high, with MOSL estimating costs to remain at 5.3 per cent over FY25-FY26. NIM to remain range-bound in the near term: In terms of margins, BoB's net interest margin (NIM) contracted by 35 basis points from a peak of 3.53 per cent in 4QFY23 to 3.18 per cent in 1QFY25, driven by a 63 basis point increase in deposit costs. Despite these pressures, the banks focus on reducing high-cost deposits and maintaining a strong CASA ratio helped protect its margins. With 50 per cent of BoB's loan book linked to the marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) and 30 per cent tied to the repo rate, the bank expected a gradual margin progression as the rate cycle turns. MOSL projected a 19 basis point contraction in NIM over FY26. Opex growth to remain controlled: Operating expenditure (opex) growth, which surged in FY24, was expected to moderate, enabling improvements in the cost-to-income (C/I) ratio. MOSL estimated opex to post a 9 per cent CAGR over FY26-27, while revenues were forecast to grow at 11 per cent during the same period, driven by a focus on increasing fee income, where BoB lagged behind peers. The C/I ratio was projected to decline from 47.7 per cent in FY24 to 45.1 per cent by FY27. Asset quality remains robust: BoBs asset quality remained robust, with its gross non-performing asset (GNPA) ratio improving from 9.4 per cent in FY20 to 2.9 per cent in FY24. MOSL projected further improvement, estimating the GNPA ratio would decline to 2.4 per cent by FY27, with fresh slippages remaining under control. BoB guided for recoveries and upgrades totalling 100 billion, and credit costs were expected to stay within the guided range of below 0.75 per cent. MOSL remained cautious about potential provisioning requirements related to the final expected credit loss (ECL) guidelines in the public sector banking space. Despite some headwinds, MOSL remains optimistic about BoBs prospects. The brokerage cited the banks focus on reducing high-cost deposits, maintaining healthy margins, and improving operating efficiency as key factors supporting its positive outlook. Additionally, BoB's asset quality has seen substantial improvement with more projected by FY27. MOSL concluded that these factors position BoB well for future growth, despite short-term challenges in the deposit market. India is on the brink of a technological revolution, fuelled by its rapidly growing drone industry . Recent global conflicts, from Israel-Hamas to Russia-Ukraine, have demonstrated the growing importance of drones in modern warfare. Now, India has a unique opportunity to harness about 1.8 trillion in domestic manufacturing potential through the indigenisation of drones for security and commercial use. The Indian drone industry is expected to grow exponentially over the next decade, with analysts predicting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 80% over FY22-27. Here are five top drone stocks that could be ready to soar as Indias drone industry takes off. #1 IdeaForge Technology IdeaForge is a globalleader in drone technology, creating and producing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems for security and surveillance purposes. It holds a dominant position in the Indian UAV market, with a 50% market share in FY22, and caters to both the civil and defence sectors. IdeaForge offers a range of defence-oriented drones. These likely include solutions for surveillance and reconnaissance missions, security patrols, and target acquisition to support other military assets. In January it won a 48 crore contract from the Indian Army for counter-drone technology. Also read: Five top performing IPOs of 2024 so far The company has partnered with Garuda Aerospace, another leading drone maker, for product development and manufacturing as the two companies look to benefit from their combined skills and resources. IdeaForge is well-positioned to capitalise on the projected growth of India's drone industry between FY22 and FY27. It stands to benefit from increased demand across the defence, commercial, and industrial sectors. In Q1 FY25 the companys financial performance declined significantly. Revenue fell by 11% YoY to 86 crore in the June quarter while net profit tanked 90% to 2 crore. View Full Image Source: Equitymaster The company's order book shrank to 54.2 crore at the end of the June quarter (the lowest level in four quarters), from 120 crore at the end of the March quarter. The company plans to focus on performance and reliability to ensure its drones function effectively in harsh conditions. It is also making strategic investments to enhance its capabilities in surveillance, expand its drone-as-a-service (DaaS) offerings, and develop middle-mile logistics solutions. These efforts aim to generate demand and drive adoption. The company has also launched a beta version of FlightCloud, an automated workflow platform for civil drone applications. The aims to simplify drone data management and provide a unified solution to customers. #2 DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations DroneAcharya is an Indian drone company that specialises in drone-based solutions for industries such as agriculture, infrastructure, mining and surveying. It also offers tailored drone services. It has operations in India, the US, the Netherlands, Dubai and Thailand and is looking to further expand its footprint. With a diverse portfolio of drone-based solutions, it is set to benefit from the increasing adoption of drones across sectors. The rising demand for drone technology in both commercial and defence markets aligns perfectly with its expertise in specialised solutions such as multi-sensor drone surveys, GIS data processing, and drone pilot training. Also read | Understanding market bubbles: The feather analogy of boom and busts On 24 May the company signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbots Aerospace Technologies to bolster their joint efforts in the drone industry, with a strong focus on the agricultural sector. On 7 February it announced an export order for defence FPV drones in collaboration with its associate company Drone Entry (Thailand). The company is setting up a new manufacturing unit for agriculture and surveillance drones in Maharashtra. It has teamed up with Gridbot Technologies to combine drones, bots, and internet-of-things (IoT) solutions to serve the advanced needs of defence and industrial organisations. It also joined forces with StudioTrika for drone-based immersive solutions to create drone-powered light shows and experiential concepts for events, product launches, customer experience and marketing. DroneAcharya also plans to set up a plant to manufacture agriculture, survey and surveillance drones in the next two years. View Full Image Source: Equitymaster Revenue jumped 94.9% to 37.3 crore in FY24 and net profit jumped 81.4% to 6.2 crore. #3 Zen Technologies Zen Technologiesmanufactures anti-drone systems that can detect, track, and neutralise threats by jamming drone communication. It also builds simulators for weapons and defence equipment. As a leader in defence-related drone and counter-drone technologies, the company is well-positioned to capitalise on increasing demand for drone systems, particularly in national security where drones play a pivotal role. The surge in demand for counter-drone systems, and the shift from soft-kill to hard-kill solutions, aligns perfectly with Zen Technologies's expertise. View Full Image Source: Equitymaster Revenue grew by 92% to 250 crore in Q1FY25 from 130 crore in Q1FY24, in line with expectations. Management sees significant potential in the air force and navy simulator markets, which are currently dominated by imports. They are collaborating with original equipment manufacturers to build such simulators. Management is also exploring acquisitions in the electronic warfare and training/simulation sectors to enhance its offerings, emphasising the importance of maintaining synergy with acquired companies for smooth integration. Also read: These five stocks stand to benefit from the Fed rate cut The company targets revenue of 900 crore for FY25. Management expects an operating margin of around 35% and a net margin of 25%. Overall, management is optimistic about future growth, citing strong demand in core markets and a robust pipeline of orders. #4 Paras Defence and Space Technologies The company specialises in technologies needed for rockets and missiles, space research, naval systems, electronic warfare, drones and quantum communication, among other things. It continues to indigenise drone manufacturing, developing diverse camera technologies for small drones and larger UAVs. Its investment in anti-drone solutions aligns with the increasing focus on security in the aerospace sector. The establishment of a subsidiary focused on anti-drone devices, including jammers, demonstrates the companys proactive approach to addressing security challenges posed by unauthorised drones. The company's portfolio includes high-altitude military-operation drones, logistic-support drones, attack drones, and tracking-and-detection drones. Paras Aerospace Private Limited, its subsidiary, has been in the defence engineering industry for the past three decades. Its drones are equipped with AI technology, allowing them to carry out tasks under various unpredictable conditions with little to no human supervision. The companys partnerships with institutions such as IIT Bombay and collaborations with leading global companies such as Israel Aerospace Industries help enhance its technological prowess and competitive edge. View Full Image Source: Equitymaster Revenue increased by 24.2% to 79.67 crore in the March quarter while net profit jumped 63.8% to 96 crore. With a substantial order book thats projected to hit 2,500 crore by FY28 and 25-30% annual growth, Paras Defence is well-positioned to leverage the expected boom in the drone industry, making it a key player to watch in this rapidly evolving landscape. #5 CE Infosystem (MapmyIndia) The company offers a range of software services, including digital maps as a service (MaaS), software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and IoT solutions tailored to automakers and other large corporations. With a 95% market share of the in-dash navigation segment, MapmyIndia is also well-positioned to benefit from growth in the drone sector. Also read: This multibagger defence stock could become the next Maharatna PSU The company recently invested about 7 crore to acquire a 20% stake in Indrones Solutions, which specialises in drone manufacturing and data analytics, to strengthen its foothold. In 2024 MapmyIndia scored a significant win by securing a drone 3D mapping and risk monitoring contract with a major logistics company, and expects this to be a source of recurring business. View Full Image Source: Equitymaster Revenue grew by 13.5% to 100 crore in the June quarter while net profit rose 12% to 35.9 crore. The company targets 1,000 crore bn of revenue over the next four to five years, with the drone business expected to play a substantial role in achieving this goal. MapmyIndia expects drone services to contribute around 5% of revenue by FY28. The booming drone market presents a significant growth opportunity as MapmyIndia can leverage its existing mapping technologies and integrate them with drone systems. This strategic focus should allow it to capitalise on the increasing demand for innovative drone services in various industries. Conclusion The Indian drone industry is expanding rapidly. With the government aiming to position India as a global leader in drone manufacturing and associated services, the sector presents tremendous investment opportunities. Recent media reports indicate the government plans to launch a scheme to provide drones to women in rural areas for agricultural use. Over the next three years, women's self-help groups are expected to receive 15,000 drones and training to operate them. Remember, though, it is crucial to conduct thorough research before making an investment decision. Also, ensure your investments align with your financial objectives and risk tolerance. Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes only. It is not a stock recommendation and should not be treated as such. This article is syndicated from Equitymaster. Manba Finance IPO listing: Shares of Manba Finance made a strong debut on the bourses on Monday, September 30, listing at 145 on NSE, a premium of 20.83 per cent over its IPO price of 120. Meanwhile, on BSE, it listed at 150, up 25 per cent. The initial public offering IPO, valued at 150.84 crore, was open for subscription from September 23 to September 25. The IPO was priced in the range of 114-120 per share. Following the three-day bidding process, Manba Finance IPO closed with an overwhelming demand, with the issue subscribed 224.05 times. The IPO received bids for 197.14 crore shares against 87.99 lakh shares on offer. The retail investor segment saw a massive subscription of 143.95 times, while the Non-Institutional Investors (NII) category was booked 511.62 times. Meanwhile, the Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) quota was subscribed 148.55 times. About Manba Finance IPO The Manba Finance IPO was entirely a fresh issue of 1.26 crore shares. There was no offer for sale component in the IPO. The minimum application size for retail investors was set at 125 shares, requiring an investment of 15,000. Investors could bid for a minimum of 125 shares and in multiples thereof. The IPO allotment date was September 26. Manba Finance Ltds offering saw impressive demand, with a subscription rate over 224 times, signalling a strong debut today, potentially at a 30-35% premium. With improving RoCE margins, reduced NPAs, and expansion plans, investors who have been allotted shares are advised to hold their position from a medium to long-term perspective, said Akriti Mehrotra, Research Analyst, Stoxbox. Manba Finance IPO reserved 20% of the issue for QIB, 15% for NII, and 35% for retail investors. The Company proposes to utilize the Net Proceeds towards augmenting the capital base to meet the Companys future capital requirements. Hem Securities Limited is the book-running lead manager of the Manba Finance IPO, while Link Intime India Private Ltd is the registrar for the issue. About the Company Established in 1998, Manba Finance Limited is a non-banking finance company (NBFC-BL) specializing in providing financial solutions for new two-wheelers, three-wheelers, electric vehicles (EV2Ws and EV3Ws), used cars, small business loans, and personal loans. The company caters to both employees and the self-employed, offering tailored financing solutions that typically cover up to 85% of the vehicle's on-road price, with the customer contributing the remaining amount. Operating across urban, semi-urban, and metropolitan regions, Manba Finance has built a robust network of over 1,100 dealers, including more than 190 EV dealers in states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh. ICICI Securities, a brokerage house, has initiated coverage on Adani Energy Solutions and given it a 'Buy' rating. They have set a target price of 1,318, indicating a potential upside of around 31% from Monday's closing price of 1,009.65 on the BSE. According to the brokerage's analysis, Adani Energy Solutions is the second-largest bidder for smart meters and the nation's second-largest transmission company, with a market share of over 40% in bids according to CEA. Take note that there are strong tailwinds in both categories. The brokerage estimate EBITDA is therefore expected to increase from 58 billion in FY24 to 132 billion in FY27E. A) about 30 billion from new transmission bids; B) + ~40 billion from smart meters; and C) + ~5 billion from distribution regions are the main causes of the significant rise. The brokerage house thinks that the stock's 12xEV/EBITDA valuation, considering the robust rise in operating profits, is reasonable. We recommend BUY on the stock while valuing the businesses on SoTP-basis with target price of 1,318 per share, ICICI Securities said in its report. The brokerage said in its report that the company began by creating assets for cost-plus transmission. At a cost of 110 billion and with regulated equity of 33 billion, it has established four transmission assets on a regulated basis. With the purchase of Mumbai DISCOM, it entered the distribution industry. Regarding its increased involvement in unregulated operations, Adani Energy holds a 20% market share in unregulated transmission assets. With wins of 170 billion during FY16 and H1FY25, it has become the biggest private participant in transmission assets. Also Read | Indian Oil Corporation withdraws 22,000 crore rights issue Key Risks The brokerage points out significant risks such as receiving fewer projects than anticipated, facing intense competition, dealing with counterparty risk, handling implementation risk, and managing refinancing and FX risks related to dollar-bond issuance. Financial Summary Adani Energy Solutions Unilex Colours and Chemicals IPO: The allotment for Unilex Colours and Chemicals IPO is expected to be completed on Monday, September 30. The 31.32 crore IPO was open for subscription between September 25-27. The proposed listing date for Unilex Colours and Chemicals IPO is Thursday, October 3, 2024. The stock will debut on the NSE SME platform. The Unilex Colours and Chemicals IPO's book running lead manager is Hem Securities Limited, and the issue's registrar is Link Intime India Private Ltd. Also Read | Swiggy IPO: Food delivery startup likely to command lower valuation than Zomato Here are the steps to check allotment status online Since Link Intime India Private Ltd. is the registrar to the Unilex Colours and Chemicals IPO that is to be listed on NSE SME, investors can check the allotment status online. Here's how: Step 1- Head to the registrar Link Intime India Private Ltd's website by clicking on this link: https://linkintime.co.in/initial_offer/public-issues.html Step 2- Click on Company selection and thereafter from the drop down select the company name Unilex Colours and Chemicals Ltd. Step 3 - Select from among any one of the following - Application No., Demat Account, PAN number or Bank account number along with IFSC code. Step 4- Enter these details from the option selected. Step 5 Hit the Submit button and don't forget to enter the Captcha code if asked before submitting for search. Investors can also use the NSE website to check the status of Unilex Colours and Chemicals IPO allotment by providing the required information. Unilex Colours and Chemicals IPO - GMP or Grey Market premium Based on information from Investorgain.com, the GMP for the Unilex Colours and Chemicals IPO has fallen to +11 on Monday from +13 on Friday. This implies that shares of Unilex Colours and Chemicals IPO are now available at a reduced 11 premium over the issue price in the grey market. The market participants, thereby, are expecting Unilex Colours and Chemicals share price to list at 98, 12.98% higher than the upper band of the issue price of 87. Beware of what you wish for, elders say, for it may come true. For most equity investors, their top-most wish would undoubtedly be a stock that delivers robust capital appreciation as well as handsome dividends. Well, for many of the faithful, this wish has been granted in the form of Vedanta Ltd. The natural resources company has been the top performer in the Nifty Metal Index over the past year, soaring 145%. And as far as dividends are concerned, Vedanta is in such a generous mood that it may soon replace Santa Claus as the poster-boy of gift-giving. By some measures, it has already done so. Santa comes bearing his gifts only once a year. Vedanta does it with regular abandon. Drunkard in the casino Last week, the mining-to-metals giant said it would distribute the fourth interim dividend for FY25. The Anil Agarwal-led company paid the third interim dividend in September. So far this fiscal year, Vedanta has approved a total dividend payout of 13,474 crore. In FY24, it had declared a total interim dividend of 10,966 crore. To put this figure in context, the companys profit after tax for FY24 stood at 11,254 crore (down 22% on-year) while long-term borrowings swelled 16% to 50,633 crore. In FY23, Vedantas dividend payout was even higher at 37,572 crore, while profit after tax tumbled 39% to 14,506 crore. So why is a company with declining profits and a growing pile of debt that is at the mercy of the global commodities cycle doling out dividends with the gusto of a drunkard in a casino? The answer lies far away in London. Vedanta is a majority owned and controlled subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Ltd, which was once listed in London but has been delisted now. VRL had borrowings of about $5.5 billion (over 46,000 crore) as of June-end. It deleveraged its balance sheet by $3.7 billion over the past two years and plans to pare debt by $3 billion over the next three years. The steady stream of dividends from Vedanta (as well as its cash-rich subsidiary Hindustan Zinc) is integral to ensure the financial health of its parent. But what about the financial health of the India-listed firms? Failed delisting Consistent dividend is among the most important tests for a listed company, but an unusually high dividend yield can be a negative indicator as that money could have been reinvested to grow the business. This is especially true for Vedanta, which has committed to execute about $8 billion ( 67,000 crore) of growth capex in the next few years. But as veteran Vedanta investors know only too well, the stock is not for the faint of heart. Just four years ago in May 2020, VRL sought to delist Vedanta from the exchanges by offering shareholders 87.50 per share a 9.9% premium to the closing price of the day before the announcement. However, this set off a volley of protests from the shareholders, who said the company was severely undervalued by the promoters. Proxy advisory firm Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IiAS) termed the price opportunistic" as the stock was trading at a steep discount to its historic five-year average amid the Covid-triggered pandemonium in financial markets globally. State-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), which owned s 6.37% stake in Vedanta, offered to tender shares at 320 apiece. The delisting proposal, naturally, came to naught. The share trades above 511 currently, which is 484% higher than the delisting price. This was not the first time Agarwal had to contend with a setback. If anything, he thrives on it. Over his five-decade-long career, the scrap dealer-turned-billionaire has had numerous showdowns with rivals, investors, environmentalists and regulators, and lived to tell the tale. Fuelled by debt His group received a shot in the arm when he acquired Hindustan Zinc and Bharat Aluminium Co (BALCO) from the government at a great price about two decades ago and transformed these companies into cash-spewing machines. He forayed into the oil and gas sector with the acquisition of Cairn India for $9.6 billion in 2011. The hectic dealmaking was chiefly fuelled by debt, which has remained an overhang on the group for a long time. This also led to more than 99% of the promoter shareholding in Vedanta and Hindustan Zinc being pledged to lenders. The group sprang yet another surprise last year when it announced the demerger of Vedanta into six independent companies Vedanta Aluminium, Vedanta Oil & Gas, Vedanta Power, Vedanta Steel and Ferrous Materials, Vedanta Base Metals, and Vedanta Ltd. The key reasons stated were simplification of group structure, unlocking value and raising productivity. Curiously, these were also among the reasons given about a decade ago when VRL went on a consolidation spree by acquiring and/or merging Sesa Goa, Cairn India, and Sterlite Industries. Separating the signal from the noise is a good quality to possess. For Vedanta investors, though, it is critical for their sanity. Vedanta is like a noisy village fair with too much going on at the same time humongous debt, speedy deleveraging, Byzantine holding structure, a maverick promoter, a penchant for making big-bang announcements, and an undeniably lucrative bunch of assets. Amid all the flurry of headlines, sometimes it can be easy to miss the last point. China factor Vedanta has a 75% share in Indias primary zinc market (through Hindustan Zinc), owns the worlds largest underground zinc-lead mine at Rampura Agucha, is the third-largest silver producer in the world, accounts for about 25% of Indias crude oil production, is the countrys largest primary aluminium producer and is one of the largest merchant iron-ore miners in India, among other feathers in its large cap. Its Q1 results were also in line with estimates, with net sales rising 6% YoY to 35,800 crore and consolidated EBITDA soaring 55% to 9,900 crore. It also got an unexpected boost recently after China announced measures to shore up growth, pushing the prices of industrial metals such as aluminium, copper, and nickel to multi-month highs. As the world's largest consumer of base metals, accounting for some 50% of global output, China is central to the global commodity cycle. The companys new ventures too are closely tracked. In 2022, it announced a $19.5 billion semiconductor joint venture with Foxconn. The plan was shelved last year, with Vedanta saying it will bring in new partners. All the handwringing about debt and dividends aside, the Street seems comfortable with Vedantas position as of now. The stock has also benefitted from anticipation of the deleveraging exercise, which secured lenders nod in July 2024. In this frenzied bull market, if two-outlet bike dealerships can get their initial public offers subscribed 400 times, one can only imagine the demand for high-quality paper. All in all, investors have little cause to complain, at least for the moment. Good times should be enjoyed unabashedly. As market long-timers will tell you, good times, like hefty dividends, do not last forever. Mumbai: Stockbrokers have started cautioning investors against the growing menace of fake WhatsApp groups offering investment advice while impersonating registered entities. The modus operandi of these groups, market experts said, is to entice investors by promising sky-high returns, while pretending to be legitimate brokers having access to insider information. They are feeding into the frenzy and the fear of missing out among retail investors, which has already alarmed the regulators. Even the National Stock Exchange, the nations largest bourse, recently alerted investors. The exchange said on 12 September it had received a complaint regarding a WhatsApp group named "JO HAMBRO", which is luring retail investors with claims of providing discounted shares after the market closes. Latest warning The latest broker to warn investors is SMC Global Securities Ltd, which issued a public advertisement on Thursday listing nearly 70 WhatsApp groups and over 500 phone numbers that it said belong to admins of such groups. Recently, it has come to our notice that a whole lot of community has been formed who impersonate SMC, claiming to be our core management to propagate their malicious agenda of scamming unaware customers," said the public notice. Ajay Garg, chief executive of SMC Global Securities, said these individuals are falsely promising returns of two-three times on stock investments and are even using fake Sebi certificates to pose as registered brokers. In the past seven to eight months, we found 300-400 WhatsApp groups operating under the name of SMC Global Securities, with 500 numbers acting as admins in these groups." Also read | Sebi removes over 15,000 finfluencer sites in crackdown on unregulated entities SMC came to know of the issue from complaints by investors who were duped by the impersonators. The brokerage said it approached Sebi and the exchanges, who directed them to file FIRs (first information reports). Garg said the scamsters operate like an organized gang and if any member raised an alert, the admins would quickly remove everyone from the WhatsApp group. Mint tried calling at least 50 of the numbers listed in the advertisement. A majority of these were out of service, and one person who picked up claimed he was from Bihar and was unaware of any WhatsApp group. Emails sent to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), NSE and BSE remained unanswered. Some pretenders The markets regulator has received complaints about some entities fraudulently pretending to be Sebi-registered intermediaries and trying to dupe the investors through social media platforms and apps by asking for funds to purchase securities, according to information presented in the Rajya Sabha on 20 July. Junior finance minister Pankaj Chaudhary said that Sebi has flagged 8,890 instances of unlawful or misleading content relating to the securities market to the social media platform concerned for legal action. On 23 July, Alankit Ltd, the flagship company of the Alankit group and fintech services provider, had informed the stock exchanges that it found deceptive WhatsApp groups impersonating the company and its related firms. These groups, Alankit said, are providing stock recommendations and unsolicited investment advice by misusing the names of the company and its managing director Ankit Agarwal, and the firm's registered trademark. Also read | How India turned into a trading nation Such groups are designed to defraud the stakeholders," it said. According to the regulatory filing, one of the messages received by some people read: "Join the Alankit Limited stock group to get stock codes with a 30% weekly return." A spokesperson for Alankit said that in addition to public awareness campaigns, it has also filed a formal complaint with the cyber cell department to take action against fraudsters. Amid a rising tide of WhatsApp scams, Alankit is taking decisive action to protect its reputation and restore investor confidence. Fraudsters are using the platform to target unsuspecting individuals with false promises of high returns and guaranteed profits." False impressions According to Ashish Rathi, a full-time director at HDFC Securities, fake WhatsApp groups give the impression that large sums of money can be made by paying a small amount of money. They also claim to have insider information and access to news not available to the public yet. For a small payment, people are told they will get access to a lot of information, which will help them make easy money, he said. This is really harmful given that the customer or the prospect gets an impression that it is an easy way to make money; also, given that a big institution is backing it up, it means it's authentic," said Rathi. For the institution, its the reputation risk that takes a beating." Also read | Zerodhas referral stoppage exposes the dark side of influencer marketing Brokerages are worried about loss of trust. Shripal Shah, managing director and chief executive of Kotak Securities, said not even the leading stockbroking firms have been spared. Such impersonation/frauds cause irreparable business and reputation loss not only to stockbrokers being impersonated, but also pose a systematic risk to the entire market and economy." According to legal experts, the menace of fake WhatsApp groups can be tackled using the law against identity theft under Section 66C of the Information Technology Act. From a regulatory perspective, the onus is on Sebi to direct all registered stockbrokers to maintain a publicly available list of all their communication channels so that investors can immediately verify the authenticity of any WhatsApp group against such list," said Deepika Kumari, partner, King Stubb & Kasiva, Advocates and Attorneys. Retail investors vulnerable As the equity market soars, chances of generating quick returns make retail investors vulnerable. Everyone seems to want a piece of the great Indian equity rally, and most want it fast. In absence of a better term, it is this greed that leads to FOMO (fear of missing out), and consequent gullibility as investors," said Nirav Karkera, head of research at Wealthtech company Fisdom. The current frenzy is an opportune moment for people with mala fide intentions to capitalize on such gullibility and make money off it." Also read | Why people buy stories financial influencers peddle Karkera, however, pointed out that the problem is not specific to stock markets. Today, impersonation in the digital ecosystem has become rather common as imposters try to deceive unsuspecting people through easily accessible channels such as social media and messaging applications," he said. This is happening across levels with a wide array of brokers and several other financial intermediaries." Millennium parcels out the roughly $69 billion it manages for clients across more than 2,600 traders, analysts and other investment staffers working on hundreds of teams. Each team operates independently, betting on things like bonds converging or which companies get added to stock-market indexes or the outlook for commodity prices. But all of them face unusually tight limits on risk-taking, according to people familiar with the firms inner workings. For example, portfolio managers who are allocated $1 billion can lose only $50 million before that buying power will likely be cut in half. If they lose an additional $25 million, they will likely be fired. Protecting itself against even modest losses has made Millennium one of the most stable performers in the hedge-fund industry and made Israel Izzy" Englander, the firms chief executive, a billionaire. Millennium has generated $56 billion in gains for investors after fees since the firms inception in 1989, according to LCH Investments. Among hedge funds, that trails only Citadel. Millennium has had a single down year, 2008. Over the past five years, it hasnt lost more than 1% in any given month. That kind of longevity and consistency is rare in the hedge-fund world. Many of the most successful traders historically were defined by their risk appetites and track records that featured home-run returns alongside strikeouts. Nowadays, among investors such as pension plans and charitable foundations, go-for-broke hedge funds are out of fashion while those that reliably generate decent gains are in demand. It is that type of returns that multimanager firms such as Englanders are designed to deliver. A group of 53 multimanager hedge funds produced annualized gains of 9.9% over the past five years ended in June, outperforming the overall hedge-fund industry, according to Goldman Sachss prime-brokerage unit. They did it with less than half as much volatility as other hedge funds and nearly no correlation to the broader stock market. Englander avoids the spotlight that other famous investors relish and rarely speaks about his fund in public. At a closed-door industry conference last year, fellow hedge-fund manager Paul Tudor Jones introduced Englander as one of the best risk-mitigators ever. When Englander plays the board game Risk, where the whole point is world domination, Jones joked that the Millennium executive is instead focused on world mitigation." Millennium and other multimanager funds follow a similar playbook to manage risk. They have several investment teams, sometimes called pods, that operate autonomously with different strategies and asset classes, breeding diversification. These firms tend to run market neutral, or have mostly balanced wagers on rising and falling asset prices. The firms monitor teams exposure to the underlying attributes, or factors, that may be present across different securities. Firms target a level of volatility that they view as acceptable, often resulting in portfolio managers increasing their positions when markets are tranquil and cutting them in times of trouble. Behind the scenes, risk managers might scale back similar bets that a number of different teams take to ensure they arent overweight any single position firmwide, usually without the knowledge of those teams. Where Millennium stands apart is its relatively rigid imposition of so-called stop-losses, or the maximum amount its people can lose before the firm gets involved. A reduction in capital can occur when a portfolio manager is down by 5%. When losses reach 7.5%, that usually means the portfolio manager is out of a job, though Millennium sometimes makes exceptions. Hedge funds track how big their returns are relative to the risk they took to generate them. Since its inception, Millennium scores a 2.6 on this metric, known as the Sharpe ratio. That is more than double the 1.1 that a broad hedge-fund index achieved over the past five years, according to Barclays. Millenniums portfolio managers can operate under a fear of hitting those stop-losses. Many portfolio managers choose to deploy millions of dollars less than they are allotted so as to give themselves more breathing room for losses. Millenniums higher turnover also means it constantly needs to find new people to put its money to work. About 15% to 20% of its staff leave each year, and Millennium, like other multimanager firms, offers generous pay packages to new recruits that can reach tens of millions of dollars. At the conference, Englander cited noncompete agreements at rival hedge funds for the escalating cost of hiring new traders. As long as their portfolios dont lose money, Millennium gives employees a long leash. The firm can be less prescriptive than rivals when it comes to telling teams which or how many companies they can cover and invest in. Team leaders often give distinct names to the pods they run, as if they managed a stand-alone hedge fund. That autonomy extends to how often members of investment teams are required to come into the office. One Millennium portfolio manager, Yao King, owns a farm in Pennsylvania and documents on social media his adventures growing garlic, inspecting his barn for leaks and tapping maple trees for sap. A video posted to Millenniums YouTube page splices clips of King splitting wood with others of him in front of a trading terminal. Whether its in farming or in finance, youre constantly trying to consider what risks youre not considering," King said. Write to Peter Rudegeair at peter.rudegeair@wsj.com What is the first thought that comes to mind when one hears the words an Indian chef in the US? Theres a fair chance they serve biryani, dosa or modern Indian food. But, heres a young Indian chef in the US who is not following the herd. The 21-year-old, Philadelphia-based Viraj Thomas is a pizzaiolo and his brand new pizzeria, Char, has created a buzz. One of the foremost American food publications, Eater , featured it on its list of Phillys Most Anticipated Fall 2024 Restaurant Openings . Thomas is a first generation Indian-American, born to immigrant parents who moved to the US from Kerala in the mid-eighties. His father is an IT professional and his mother is a home-maker. His parents believe in academic merit and encouraged their three children to complete college. Thomas, the youngest in the family, had other plans. He started cooking at the age of 14, experimenting with dishes like roasts and bakes. At home, we had desi khaana or Kerala food, and I had no reason to go there; instead, I made things I wanted to eat," he shares. In 2018, when the 15-year-old Thomas came across the beautiful Gozney Roccbox propane pizza oven on a YouTube video, he was mesmerised. These stone ovens can heat up to 500 deg celcius and cook a Neapolitan pizza in 60 seconds. But, as a high-schooler, he couldnt shell out $499 ( 41,000 approx) to buy it. He took up odd jobs, like working at an elementary school and the departmental store Target, to pay for it. In 2019, he bought his dream pizza oven, started making as well as selling pizzas to friends and neighbours out of his parents garage. In 2021, he worked as a pizzaiolo at a local Italian restaurant named Cicala. His pizzas started gaining fans leading to more opportunities. He began organising pizza pop-ups in local breweries, cafes and restaurants. The format was a mobile pizza brand that he called Char. The pop-ups helped polish his skills, and he enjoyed talking to customers which added to his popularity. Sometimes the wait period for his pizzas would go from 45 minutes to up to an hour. He has done about 100 pop-ups so far. Thomas believes the pop-ups proved to his parents that he could run a profitable food business without joining a college. My family wasnt sold on my pizza journey, especially the pop-ups. But, things changed when they realised that I could make a decent living. American colleges are expensive and it is a task to pay the fees. So, Im not keen on taking that route," says Thomas. He doesnt wish to attend a culinary school. If the plan was to cook at a gourmet French restaurant, I would definitely go to culinary school," he adds underscoring his clarity of purpose--being a topnotch pizzaiolio. His fondest food memory is a trip to New York, a gift from his family when he graduated high school in 2019. The family visited seven different pizza places, two bakeries and a couple of ice cream places. This experience fostered his love for pizza. I saw how pizza could be made in different ways thick crust, thin crust, hand tossed, stuffed crust and more. After this, I visited New York atleast 10 times just to eat different pizzas," he shares. His favourite pizza spots are Lindustrie in Brooklyn, Razza in New Jersey, Pitruco and Pizza Factory, both in Philadelphia. I look up to these place in terms of what they make and what theyve accomplished," says Thomas. The young pizzaoilo keeps himself updated by watching YouTube videos and reading the food magazine, Bon Appetit. He follows David Chang, the American restaurateur known for the show Ugly Delicious and the food chain Momofoku. And, he likes what the US-based Pizza Czar Anthony Falco does in terms of flavour. His pizzeria Char opened in Philadelphias hip neighbourhood Olde Kensington in early September. It specialises in Neapolitan pizzas. The menu is simple with combinations like marinara sauce and basil, white sauce with mushrooms and onions, classic pepperoni, a margherita with chilli and garlic paste, among others. We have about six pizzas and two startersmeatballs and a salad," he informs. The margherita is his favourite as the sauce is quite well-rounded, flavour-wise. Char is an upscale, casual place which seats 40. He believes the magic is in the small thingslike brushing the crust with oil before serving for smoothness; making sure the toppings arent too heavy and dont slide off; baking for a few extra minutes for a delicate crisp; and being careful to not mess with the resting period as well as baking time of the dough to achieve the perfect bite that doesnt scrape the roof of the mouth. Right now, this is a great place to be," Thomas feels. If all goes well, he hopes to open another Char in another city. Sumitra Nair is a journalist based in Kerala. Also read: Peek into bookshelves of chefs MUMBAI : At a recent informal investor meet-up in Bengaluru, half of the 20-odd participants said they had received calls to buy Swiggy shares ahead of its initial public offering (IPO). The Mint writer's tweet on the subject, asking for comments, elicited hundreds of responses. India seems to have moved from the Coldplay ticket row to the pre-IPO investment gambleSwiggy's shares are being sold and re-sold for higher prices in the grey market. Investors have spent the last three years twiddling their thumbs, waiting for the younger half of India's food-delivery duopoly to finally go public. And with Zomatos stock, listed in 2021, spiking 174% over the past year, they seem ready to toss caution to the wind. The bet Many are betting that the valuation gap between Swiggys market capitalization at current grey-market pricesof around 85,000-90,000 crore will be closer to Zomato's 2.5 trillion m-cap. "I bought Swiggy's pre-IPO shares because, I think, it would catch up with Zomato. Zomato's m-cap is 2.5 trillion, and Swiggy's m-cap after the IPO is expected to be 1 trillion. I bought Zomato's shares in 2022 through my parents' accounts after a correction in the stock's price. The investment has risen 2-3X since then. So, in the worst-case scenario, if Swiggy corrects, I would just average down. It's just a 50,000 investment at around 480 per share," said Harsh Patwari, a CA final-year student from Kolkata. View Full Image What grey market traders have to say about Swiggy's shares. Graphic: Pranay Bharadwaj Some bigger investors take a more nuanced view. I don't think their m-cap will converge with Zomato. I think it would always trade at a discount to Zomato, considering the difference in the execution qualities. Still, even if it were to be half of Zomato's valuation, there is a 25-30% upside in the short term," said Vikram Koul, a director at a pharmaceutical and medical consumables company. Swiggy is in a duopoly, and its ability to raise prices gives me comfort," said Dhaval Gandhi, a Mumbai-based business owner who invested large amounts in the food-delivery company from his family office. In Swiggy's case, many fintech platforms, such as InCred Money, have brought organized buying and selling to a largely disorganized shadowy market. These platforms conduct KYC (know-your-customer) checks to onboard investors and credit shares upon payment. However, delivery is not instant. The time it takes to receive the shares can vary depending on the demand-supply situation, from one day to an average of six months for unlisted shares of the National Stock Exchange. It's a 3-4 week wait for Swiggy investors. High-net-worth investors have applied for CCPS (compulsorily convertible preference shares) with a minimum ticket size of 5.5 lakh. The advantage is that these shares trade at a lower price than standalone shares. Over the past few months, many investors have bought CCPS in the 330-370 per share range compared to 450-500 for standalone shares. This gives them a margin of comfort. Some have pooled money to meet the higher ticket size. "I have bought Swiggy shares via co-investing. The thesis is that Swiggy has almost half the market share of Zomato, and the m-cap should converge with it. Since we bought a big lot of 1 crore, we got a discount and distributed it among friends. We got the shares at 360, which is below the standalone equity price of around 450.So, at least that gap will provide a cushion," said Tanmay Shah, a Surat-based investment banker. The risks Nothing can negate the risks associated with buying unlisted shares. Investors may not actually get the shares they have paid for, unlike listed equities, there are no exchange mechanisms to enforce contracts. I have seen dealers cancelling deals for the NSE shares as their price has zoomed," said Atul Modani, a Pune-based chartered accountant. Unlisted shares of the NSE have risen from about 3,000 at the end of 2023 to around 7,000 at present. I couldn't buy the NSE shares in November 2023. There was a difference between the price I was willing to pay and what they wanted (a private banker was arranging it). It was 3,300 back then, now zoomed up to approximately 7,000 (ex-bonus). But I got SBI AMC in February 2024 and some others. About 7% of my portfolio in all," said Neelmani Bagaria, a financial product enthusiast and consultant. Newbies to this space should go through the securities (brokerage) arms of large banks or respectable firms. Don't fall prey to scams," Bagaria added. Investors looking to make quick gains by investing in pre-IPO shares should be aware that there could be a slip between the cup and the lip as many times the listing plans could get delayed like in the case of the NSE. So, unless they are willing to let their money stay put for a long term, they should avoid such proposals," said Abhishek Kumar, a Sebi-registered investment advisor and founder and chief investment advisor at Sahaj Money. Besides, the unlisted companies themselves may not play ball. A surge in Reliance Retail pre-IPO shares in 2023, almost to 2,500 levels, saw investor hopes dashed after the company went for a capital reduction, forcing investors to sell shares at 1,362 apiece. A similar frenzy played out with PharmEasy in 2021. Its share price zoomed to 60-70 levels. However, the IPO never happened, and the shares are now trading at around 10. Experts also warn about the regulatory vacuum. Platforms matching buyers and sellers in this market without a licence are essentially running illegal exchanges," said Ajay Rotti, founder at Tax Compaas. Not all investors run after hot" pre-IPO shares like Swiggy's. Some buy unlisted shares with a long-term outlook. I bought unlisted shares of HDB Financial Services for 750 and SBI Mutual Fund for about 2,000 through a respectable player, Tata Capital, because this market is murky. There are many unknowns. How many shares are outstanding? Sometimes, bondholders or employees have the right to convert into shares, and then there is the fair price. I checked on a few websites, but the information is still limited," said Nand Kishore Divakarla, a Bengaluru-based corporate executive. (Bloomberg) -- Mexicos Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador ended his last news conference on a sentimental note, giving his watch to a member of the press and pledging he is stepping out of the daily spotlight. Since 2018, the outgoing president held a total of 1,438 press conferences that started early in the morning and often lasted three hours or more. He only missed a few of them when he had Covid. His mananeras, as theyre called in Spanish, became part of Mexicans daily routine and also a powerful tool that helped him shape the countrys political narrative. I want to thank you for participating in these conferences for nearly six years, Lopez Obrador told journalists at the presidential palace Monday. This open dialogue ends today. Keeping with the tradition, he used most of his last conference to boast about his governments accomplishments. Unemployment is low, wages are rising and tax collection remains strong, he said. Tourism, trade, and remittances from Mexicans living abroad are also going well, by his account. While homicides have been hardest to address, their numbers have dropped 19% since he took power six years ago, he said. Austerity should be part of the government, he reminded listeners before praising President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, who takes office Tuesday. Shes been respectful to the very end, which shows what a great person she is, he said, standing on stage in a black jacket with a red tie. Anyone with a complex, either man or woman, would have rejected me to try to differentiate himself or hers. AMLO, as the president is known, appeared to tear up while listening to a song composed in his honor. He gifted his watch to a reporter who won it as a prize in a draw. He invited all those present to join him in a breakfast of tamales after a band played Mexican folk music. But first he still had a few words about the crisis of the day: Aid will be handed out to 15,000 homes in Acapulco, hit by a storm last week before it could fully recover from hurricane Otis in 2023. After leaving the breakfast, he reappeared once more to unveil his portrait that will be on display in the National Palace. While his predecessors were painted against more subdued backgrounds, AMLO was depicted standing on a balcony of the palace and overseeing a crowd in the Zocalo square. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com A 62-year-old woman in West Tripura was tied to a tree and set on fire by her sons and family members on September 28, reportedly over a property dispute. The horrifying crime against the elderly woman is making headlines across the state. The incident was reported in Khamarbari, which falls under the Champaknagar police station jurisdiction. After receiving an input that a woman was set on fire, a police team rushed there and found the burnt body tied to a tree," PTI quoted Sub-divisional police officer of Jirania, Kamal Krishna Koloi, as saying. The police official further informed that the body had been taken to the hospital for post-mortem examination. According to police officials, a family dispute seems to be the motive behind the alarming incident. After the elderly woman's husband passed away one and a half years ago, she became dependent on her two sons. She lived with one of her two sons, while the other son lived in the state capital, Agartala. Also Read | College student kills class 9 girl, slits own throat in Tripura The official added, "We have arrested her two sons for their alleged involvement in the case. They will be produced before the court on Monday, seeking police remand for interrogation. A family dispute may be the reason behind the incident," PTI reported quoting the official. Earlier this year, a similar instance was reported involving a 26-year-old woman who was allegedly set ablaze inside a public park in Chandigarh's Sector 35. Her lover, in fury, set the woman on fire following a verbal dispute over their relationship. The man claimed that he was innocent and suggested that the woman attempted suicide after their last meeting before the break-up. According to eyewitnesses, the man rushed to save her and used his T-shirt to extinguish the flames. His attempts to douse the fire failed to save the woman's life. Mumbai Police on Monday said a man allegedly jumped off the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link, officially known as Atal Setu, after parking his SUV on the bridge at around 10 am. A man jumped into the sea from Atal Setu in Mumbai earlier today. Police reached the spot upon receiving information, PTI quoted Mumbai Police as saying. The police said they launched a search and rescue operation for the man after a passerby alerted the authorities. The incident occurred at Sewri around 10 am, police officers added. Teams from the Sewri police and coastal police immediately reached the site and initiated a search operation after a passerby alerted the authorities, the report quoted a Mumbai police officer as saying. We checked the CCTV footage and found out that the man had come to Atal Setu in a car. We checked the number plate of the car and found out that the car was registered in the name of one Sushant Chakravarti. Efforts underway to trace the man and pull him out of the sea," English daily Mid-Day quoted a police officer as saying. The city police are also trying to trace the man's family members, the police officer added. It is important to note that even in the past, several such incidents have taken place on the bridge where people have tried to end their lives by jumping off the Atal Setu. In August, a woman attempted to jump off the Atal Setu but was saved by a cab driver and police personnel. The dramatic rescue was captured on CCTV, showing the driver and police pulling the woman to safety. A woman attempted to jump off the Atal Setu New Delhi: The top medical education regulator plans to recognize post-doctoral certificate courses in medical specializations such as paediatric endocrinology, laboratory immunology, spine surgery and critical care after complaints by post-grad medical students. While these courses are taught in medical colleges and hospitals, they are currently not recognized by the National Medical Commission (NMC). Now, the regulator has written to all medical schools to include these courses as post-doctoral certificates, post-doctoral fellowship, doctor of medicine, and master of chirurgiae (surgery). The NMCs recognition of medical qualification regulations, 2023, prescribes the procedure for inclusion of new medical qualifications. These are the specialist training courses which medical students pursue after MBBS. All over India there are around 37 such courses in some of the medical colleges for which they charge around 15-20 lakh from the students just for giving clinical exposure. However, even after the student has completed these skill enhancement courses, their qualification is not registered. Right now, most of the corporate hospitals are doing such courses and are not regulated, an official said aware of the matter. Also read: Thesis approval not a must for postgraduate medical students to sit in exams, says NMC The medical institutions that wish to run such courses onwards have to apply to the medical education regulators PGMEB for which they have to pay 250,000 per qualification. The health ministry has increased the number of medical colleges, MBBS and PG seats to make availability of doctors in the healthcare system. There is an increase of 5.92% in PG seats from 69,024 in 2023-24 to 73,111 in 2024-25. During the last ten years, the number of PG seats increased by 39,460 from 2013-14 (31,185 seats) to 2024-25 (73,111 seats). Similarly, there has been 98% increase in medical colleges from 387 in 2013-14 to 766 in 2024-25. Presently there are 766 medical colleges, out of which govt are 423 while 343 are private medical colleges in the country. Queries sent to the health ministry spokesperson remained unanswered. After the stock market regulator, it is the turn of the competition watchdog to face scrutiny by the powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Parliament this fiscal year. The committee sought a detailed note from the corporate affairs ministry earlier this month on the functioning of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), a person aware of the matter said, marking the first step towards a performance audit. The ministry submitted the details by 27 September, the deadline set by the committee. The information was sought by the Lok Sabha Secretariat's PAC branch. Congress party leader K.C. Venugopal heads the PAC, which has members from different political parties. A general decision was taken by the PAC for performance review of regulatory bodies established by Acts of Parliament. CCI will definitely be part of this," a second person said. Both people declined to be identified. Covering effectiveness The review is expected to cover the effectiveness of competition regulation in the country in ensuring consumer choices and best market outcomes without stifling innovation. CCIs manpower and track record in enforcement will be part of the review, said the first person. Data available from CCI showed that of the 1,224 anti-trust cases registered up to end of March 2023, CCI had ordered investigation in 403 cases, leading to detection of violations and adjudicatory orders in 185 cases. Over 100 cases were pending at various stages at the end of March 2023. Till then, CCI had also decided on over a thousand merger filings. PAC helps to hold the executive accountable to the parliament. Besides the funds sanctioned by the parliament and the governments annual finance account, it examines any other matter which it considers fit. The recommendations of the committee are followed up by the government, which gives its replies about the action taken or to be taken, which forms the basis for the committees action taken report to the parliament. Also read | What the overhaul of Indias merger control regime means One area that may receive attention from the parliamentary panel is the way businesses contest CCIs penalty orders, which come in the way of recovering those amounts. In FY22 and FY23, CCI imposed penalties of 1,336 crore and 2,672 crore, but could recover only about 13% and less than 1% of those, respectively, CCIs annual report for 2022-23 available on its website showed. Eye on CCI's mandate The panel is also expected to look into how CCI is equipped to handle its mandate. The authority now has the additional mandate of handling profiteering cases related to Goods and Services Tax (GST) after the National Anti-Profiteering Authoritys (NAA) term expired in 2022. Besides, the growing digital economy and a proposed digital competition law are expected to add to the watchdogs regulatory ambit. However, the regulator has only about 30 professionals across the disciplines of financial analysts, economists and lawyers, said the first person quoted above. CCIs effectiveness in ensuring level playing field in the market will receive the PACs attention," said the person. Experts said the regulations governing competition in India have evolved over the last decade and have been fairly effective. Over the years, with various initiatives like the introduction of the de minimis exemptions for combinations (exemption for small targets), the green channel and most recently, reducing the timelines for approving M&A combinations from 210 to 150 days, the CCI is seen as a progressive regulator keeping up with changing times and global best practices," said Natasha Treasurywala, a partner at law firm Desai & Diwanji. However, now, with significant attention on the digital sector and a spate of proposals from a competition law perspective, the CCI has to tread a fine line between regulating big tech players while allowing growth and innovation in the digital sector, and all this while ensuring that the end consumer isnt negatively impacted," said Treasurywala. Mohit Chaudhary, managing partner at law firm Kings & Alliance LLP, said Indias competition regulation has made significant strides in promoting fair market practices and in curbing anti-competitive behaviour, and that CCI has been instrumental in shaping India's competition landscape. Though India's competition regulation has made significant progress, there are areas where industry's regulatory experience can be improved. CCI needs to strengthen its capabilities to tackle complex digital market issues, such as data-driven anti-competitive practices," said Chaudhary. Regulating competition A proposal to introduce ex-ante rules to more closely regulate competition in digital markets is under way, he said. Also, effective coordination between the CCI and sectoral regulators is crucial to avoid regulatory overlaps and ensure seamless enforcement, he said. CCI must balance public interest with competition concerns while dealing with public sector units, which are exempt from certain provisions of the Competition Act, said Chaudhary. Ongoing regulatory reforms aim to streamline the merger review process, introduce settlement and commitment procedures, and expand leniency provisions. These areas highlight the need for continued refinement in India's competition regulation to ensure a level playing field for businesses," said Chaudhary. The parliamentary panels review also has the potential to become politically sensitive. On 21 August, Opposition leader Jairam Ramesh said in a social media post on X that the CCI has not hesitated to impose penalties on both domestic and global firms for alleged abuse of dominance. Also read | Hostile takeovers of faltering firms are integral to a competitive economy Yet, a five-fold increase in user development fees (UDF) paid by passengers at Lucknow and Mangalore airports has been allowed by the Union government," said Ramesh, who is not part of the PAC. The two airports are run by the Adani group. Queries emailed on 6 September to CCI, ministry of corporate affairs, the PAC and to the Adani group seeking comments for the story remained unanswered at the time of publishing. The West Bengal government told the Supreme Court on Monday that resident doctors were not performing inpatient department and outpatient department work. The assertion came amid continued protests over the rape and murder of a Kolkata doctor in early August. Lawyers representing the agitating medics however countered the claim in court with Indira Jaisingh insisting that it was a lie. The doctors have come back but only for emergency services, Dwivedi told the apex court. If this continues I will take no responsibility for one more strikewhat is thisit's a lie, Bar and Bench quoted the lawyer as saying in response. Jaisingh has categorically stated that all doctors shall perform essential services including IPD and OPD, the CJI placed on record. We have started rejoining duties today. Our colleagues are returning to their respective departments for essential and emergency services, but not at the OPDs. This is only a partial resumption of duties, one of the protesting doctors had clarified at the time. The apex court pulled up the West Bengal government over delays in installing CCTVs as well as constructing toilets and separate resting rooms at medical facilities. The state administration has been asked to complete ongoing work by October 15. It also reiterated its earlier order that no intermediary is allowed to publish the name and photo of the victim in the case. The bench also noted that substantial leads have come up in the CBI investigation and it has given statements on both aspects alleged rape and murder and the financial irregularities. The court asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who is appearing for the CBI about the people under scrutiny who remain employed at RG Kar Hospital. It asked the SG to share the information with the state government for appropriate action. Supreme Court on Monday is scheduled to hear the case involving the alleged rape and murder of the postgraduate trainee in the RG Kar Hospital. Earlier on Sunday, junior doctors from different government hospitals in West Bengal, along with community members, took part in torch rallies across the city, calling for justice for the murdered doctor from R G Kar Hospital and demanding improved security at their workplaces, PTI reported. Moreover, the junior doctors on Saturday expressed their intention to consider resuming total cease work in medical colleges, contingent on the state government's commitments regarding their safety during the upcoming court proceedings. At Sagore Dutta Hospital, junior doctors held a torch and candle march in response to an assault by outsiders following a patient's death on Friday night. Justice delayed is justice denied Dr Shreya Shaw, a doctor at RG Kar College and Hospital, told ANI that their demands have been the same since the beginning of the protest. We have five demands that have not been fulfilled till now. We joined our duty thinking our patients needed us, but during all this, another similar incident happened at Sagar Dutta Medical College and Hospital. All our meetings with the CM and government have all gone in vain... All we want to say is, no safety, no duty. We have our eyes on every hearing of the SC, and we need to keep the pressure high. We have faith that the CJI will announce a verdict that gives us justice... We want justice as soon as possible because justice delayed is justice denied, she said. Participants carried candles and torches as they marched from Sagore Dutta Hospital to Dunlop Crossing on the outskirts of Kolkata. The protests were ignited by the alleged attack on three doctors and three nurses, which the medics argued highlighted the government's failure to deliver on promised security. After returning to work following a month-long strike, the junior doctors said they might resume a complete 'cease work' in medical colleges, depending on the state government's assurances regarding their safety during the upcoming court proceedings. Earlier on September 17, the Supreme Court expressed concern over the findings presented in a status report by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) regarding the rape and murder case but chose not to disclose the specifics, stating that any release of information could compromise the ongoing investigation. Additionally, the court requested a status report from the CBI regarding its inquiry into financial irregularities allegedly involving Sandip Ghosh, the jailed former principal of R G Kar Medical College and Hospital. Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma visited R G Kar Medical College and Hospital on Sunday afternoon to evaluate security measures ahead of the Supreme Court hearing. He engaged with police personnel and toured the hospital's emergency department. This visit follows an incident on August 15 when a mob vandalized the emergency department, occurring a day after the Calcutta High Court ordered the transfer of the rape-murder investigation from Kolkata Police to the CBI. The city police are currently looking into this incident. The Calcutta High Court, noting the serious nature of the allegations surrounding a threat nexus in medical colleges, directed the state government on September 26 to submit an affidavit addressing the claims made in a PIL. The petitioners have reported several concerning issues, including a culture of threats in state-run medical colleges and hospitals, the sale of examination answer keys, bribery, corruption, and incidents of sexual harassment and abuse involving medical students and junior doctors. Tirupati Laddu Row: The Supreme Court of India on Monday heard arguments in connection with ongoing row over the Prasadam served at Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh. The apex court said that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta would assist in the decision whether the State SIT should continue the probe into Tirupati Laddu row or should an independent agency be roped in. Slamming Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telegu Desam Party (TDP) leader Chandrababu Naidu, the apex court asked, What was the need to go to the press at all, when you yourself ordered investigation? Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had recently claimed that the previous regime of Yuvajana Sramika Rythu (YSR) Congress Party used substandard ghee containing animal fat to prepare the laddus. Tirupati Laddu Row: What Supreme Court said? Supreme Court asked what was the proof to show that contaminated ghee was used in preparation of laddus. "At least the Gods should be kept away from politics," the Supreme Court remarked. "Whether such a statement should have been made that affects the sentiments of the devotees? What was the need of going to the press and making public statement when SIT was ordered? Prima facie there is nothing at least to show, no concrete proof to show at this stage, that the same ghee was used and procured. Even pending investigation when such statements are made by responsible public functionaries then what effect it will have on the SIT? What was the material?" Bar and Bench quoted the SC. Also Read | SC to hear pleas seeking probe into Tirupati laddoo animal-fat claim on Sept 30 It is matter of faith. If contaminated ghee was used, its unacceptable, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta tells SC. The apex court asked, Then while investigation was on ... Where is the proof that same ghee was used in preparation of laddus?. To this the Supreme Court bench was informed Same supplier was used. To this Justice Viswanathan queried, How do you segregate the contractors? Nowhere is it clear that the same ghee was used. Supreme Court notes that Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu spoke about alleged use of animal fat ghee in Tirupati laddus before an FIR was lodged or a Special Investigations Team was constituted. "When probe was under process, it was not appropriate for higher constitutional functionary to go public," says SC. Supreme Court posts pleas, including those seeking court-monitored probe, for hearing on October 3. Top Stories on Sept 30: On Monday, over 300 stocks, including JSW Steel and NTPC, reached one-year highs on the BSE, even as the Sensex and Nifty 50 declined over 1% amid weak global cues. Further SEBI approved IPO plans for Swiggy and Hyundai Motor India and several other companies. Indias current account deficit widened to 1.1% of GDP, and core sector output fell by 1.8% in August. The Enforcement Directorate filed a money laundering case against Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah linked to the MUDA scam. Take a look at top headlines on September 30 with LiveMint. Over 300 stocks hit 1-year highs while Sensex, Nifty 50 crash Over 300 stocks, including JSW Steel, NTPC, Sun Pharma, BPCL, Cipla, Hindalco, Sun Pharma and Vedanta, hit their one-year highs in intraday trade on BSE on Monday, September 30, even as Indian stock market benchmarks, the Sensex and the Nifty 50, suffered strong losses of over a per cent each amid weak global cues. READ MORE Hezbollah gets ready for Israel ground incursion; Qassem signals long war Hezbollah deputy leader Qassem reassures supporters of the group's military strength and readiness for a prolonged conflict, emphasising their preparedness against Israeli incursions and their commitment to supporting Gaza and safeguarding Lebanon amidst escalating violence. READ MORE Hyundai Motor India, Swiggy receive SEBI approval to float IPOs Swiggy, Hyundai Motor India, Acme Solar Holdings, Vishal Mega Mart, and Mamata Machinery got approval from the capital markets regulator SEBI to go ahead with their IPO plans. READ MORE Indias current account deficit widens to 1.1% of GDP India's current account deficit (CAD) has widened to 1.1 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) to $9.7 billion in the April-June quarter of current fiscal (Q1FY25) from a surplus of one per cent in the preceding March quarter of FY24. READ MORE Indias core sector output growth contracts by 1.8% in August The index of eight core industries fell by 1.8% annually in August compared with a 6.1% increase in July, according to provisional data released by the commerce ministry on Monday. READ MORE US opens 250,000 additional visa slots for Indians The US Mission to India announced the opening of 250,000 new visa appointment slots on Monday days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the US and held meetings with President Joe Biden. The new lots will be allocated to Indian travellers applying under various categories including tourists, skilled workers, and students. READ MORE ED books Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah in Muda scam The ED registered a money laundering case against Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, his wife and others in connection with the MUDA case following an FIR registered against him by Lokayukta police last week. READ MORE Vardhman Group Chairman SP Oswal was allegedly duped by a gang of inter-state cyber fraudsters of 7 crore. The gang members approached the industrialists posing as CBI officials with a fake arrest warrant. Two cybercriminals have been arrested, and 5.25 crore have been recovered, according to Punjab police. Also Read | HDFC Mutual Fund buys stake worth Rs71 crore in Vardhman Textiles The police have begun their investigation and identified several members of the gang. Seven cybercriminals identified in the fraud case were from Assam and West Bengal. Two criminals were arrested after the Punjab Police busted the inter-state cyber fraudsters network on Sunday. So far, 5.25 crore have been recovered from them, reported PTI citing Ludhiana Police Commissioner Kuldeep Singh Chahal. Fraudsters posed as CBI officials for cheating Vardhman Group Chairman According to the news agency PTI, fraudsters approached the industrialist Oswal as a CBI official. They also showed him a fake arrest warrant and threatened him with online arrest. Later, the imposters cheated the owner by extorting 7 crore. The massive amount was transferred from various bank accounts of the company. The case was registered within 48 hours of the incident after SP Oswal filed a complaint against the scammers, said the cyber cell of the police. Also Read | Vardhman Special Steel expects Aichi investment Main accused in Vardhman Chairman fraud case The main accused in the fraud case have been identified as Atanoo Choudhary and Anand Kumar Choudhary (both residents of Guwahati in Assam), the police said. The two are associated with a larger inter-state network of online scammers active in duping industrialists and other people. Israel-Hezbollah update: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not in favour of a ceasefire, as indicated by the latest air strike at an apartment in Beirut that claimed two lives. On Sunday, the Israeli military said it killed another high-ranking Hezbollah official in an airstrike. The development comes after the targeted killing of Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah in a major blow to the Iran-backed militia outfit. (Bloomberg) -- Kenyas planned sale of a diaspora bond may fund key infrastructure projects including the proposed expansion of the nations busiest airport, according to Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi. The proceeds can be harnessed into supporting infrastructure development such as an upgrade of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Mudavadi said in a statement on Monday. An unsolicited bid by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani to develop the airfield in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, sparked protests and lawsuits, and has been put on hold by a Kenyan court. Kenyans opposed to the deal argue the $1.85 billion proposed investment is too meager and the concessions attached to the deal are too deep. We can mobilize diaspora resources, to partner with other private sector resources and actually fund this piece of infrastructure, Mudavadi said. Kenya is weighing expanding key infrastructure at a time when neighboring states are plowing billions of dollars into new projects as they jostle to dominate the lucrative market for regional transport. Mudavadi said he regretted that JKIA is being left behind as other major airports in Africa are being expanded and upgraded. The truth is that if you went to West Africa today, whether you are landing in Ghana, Togo or you went to Addis or Rwanda, their airports have overtaken Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, he said. Issuance of diaspora bond were revived this month after being put on hold Kenyans living abroad may have increased appetite for investing in domestic assets, with remittances growing to $2.8 billion in the first seven months of this year, compared with $2.4 billion a year earlier, Mudavadi said. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com Nearly 200 experts, scholars, government officials, and industry representatives from around the world gathered to explore the development of digital health in Beijing from Friday to Saturday at the Forum on Adoption and Development of Digital Health and Innovative Medical Technologies. The event, jointly hosted by the Asia Pacific Medical Technology Association (APACMed) and the Institute for Global Industry of Tsinghua University, was a part of the regular activities of the Zhongguancun Forum. Zhang Jun, director of the Office at the Center for Medical Sociology at Tsinghua University, said: "The forum facilitated discussions on key issues in digital health. It focused on policies and pathways and new clinical technologies, aiming to explore opportunities and models for promoting innovation across the whole chain and process." Alicia Chang, country lead of APACMed in China, said in the opening remark that "the forum emphasized the collaboration between government, enterprises, universities, research institutes and users. We hope to create an innovative ecosystem jointly to generate new quality productive forces." She added that guiding the development of innovative medical technology through presenting the latest achievements and application cases of the APACMed in government-industry-university-research collaborative innovation is also key to the shared goal of all sides. The forum invited experts in the MedTech industry to share cases from the Asia-Pacific. Gabriel Sim, director of Strategic Partnerships of APACMed, said that the cases about innovation through collaboration and partnership are crucial for collaboration, and typical cases of innovation promoted by corporations, academia, health systems, and accelerators in scaling innovation are inspiring to start-up companies across Asia. "China's medical innovation can draw valuable lessons from successful innovations in other countries and have great potential accessing other markets as well," he said. Zhang Qin, a dual-appointed professor from Tsinghua University's Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology and Department of Computer Science and Technology, shared the application of dynamic uncertain causal graphs in the clinical diagnosis and introduced the advantages of the new generation of AI theoretical systems compared to big data machine learning. He said that innovative technology will provide solid support for China's hierarchical medical treatment system. Peng Kaiping, dean of the Institute for Global Industry at Tsinghua University, said that the promotion of digital technologies will help the development of the country's public health, in particular, psychological health. "In a sense, continuous development of digital technologies enables people to live healthier and happier," he said. Wang Ningli, former director of Tongren Eye Center and president of the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology, highlighted the role of artificial intelligence in protecting eye health, an increasingly common but often neglected public health issue. Two panel discussions were held around the topic of medical technology translation. Guest speakers shared experiences in the overseas marketization of medical innovation products and clinical institutions' transformation efforts. The Forum on Adoption and Development of Digital Health and Innovative Medical Technologies aims to set up a platform for academic exchange and experience sharing to strengthen exchanges among countries in the Asia-Pacific region in medical technologies, striving to enhance communication between member enterprises and promote the development of medical technology and global health. "The organization of the Forum on Adoption and Development of Digital Health and Innovative Medical Technologies is of great significance for promoting the innovative development of China's medical and health field," Peng said. "We hope that, through such an exchange platform, the application and promotion of cutting-edge technologies can be accelerated to contribute greatly to the health and well-being of the people," he added. Wei Wangyu contributed to this story. PB Fintech Chairman and Group CEO Yashish Dahiya has shed light on the company's plan to invest in the healthcare space. The company intends to make a one-time investment of up to $100 million for a 20-30 per cent stake, and will not provide further recurring funding, Dahiya told CNBC-TV18 in an interview. The announcement has boosted the company's stock price by 3.5 per cent. This will be a one-time investment. We don't intend to make a recurring investment in the healthcare company, he told the news channel. Dahiya revealed plans to acquire a 20-30 per cent stake in the venture, with a potential investment of up to $100 million, pending board approval. The stock climbed to 1,700 in morning trading, representing a 3.5 per cent increase from the previous close. This positive movement follows a period of decline, during which PB Fintech's shares had fallen by 15 per cent over the past five trading sessions. Dahiya explained the rationale behind the company's foray into healthcare, stating, A middle-class person can't afford a bed for 78,000 per night. We are looking to bridge the trust gap between hospitals and insurance companies. He added that the new healthcare entity is expected to generate its own resources for growth and may attract investments from private equity firms and other financial institutions. This clarification comes on the heels of comments made last week by Alok Bansal, Co-Founder and Executive Vice Chairman of PB Fintech. Bansal had emphasised the company's commitment to entering the healthcare sector, citing its importance for the middle class and alignment with the company's broader financial inclusion goals. Also Read | Kolkata doctor rape murder case hearing LIVE: SC to hear suo moto plea today The investment strategy has elicited mixed responses from market analysts. Bernstein, a brokerage firm, maintained an outperform rating on PB Fintech with a price target of 1,760. They noted that while investors are drawn to the company's high growth potential and robust business model, some may view this move into healthcare as a departure from its typically capital-light approach, which could be impacting the stock's performance. Tirupati Laddu row: The Supreme Court is expected to hear a batch of petitions today at 1 pm for applications seeking a court-monitored probe into allegations of animal fat used in laddus at the Tirupati Temple in Andhra Pradesh. On September 28, Saturday, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) visited the Tirupati temple to begin investigations into the alleged adulteration of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Prasadam Laddu. Later, the SIT held a meeting at Padmavathi Guest House in Tirupati, reported ANI. The Tirupati laddu row began a fortnight back after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu claimed that beef tallow, lard and other substandard ingredients were used in the preparation of the prasdam offered at the Sri Venkateswara temple. Also Read | Tirupati laddus sales remain unaffected despite row, over 16 lakh sold in 5 days Criminal conspiracy and mismanagement of TTD Trust According to a report by The News Minute, one of the pleas filed by advocate Satyam Singh sought that either a judicial committee be formed or the CBI conduct a probe. Calling the Tirupati laddu row a criminal conspiracy and mismanagement of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Trust, the plea noted that there had been a "grave violation of religious customs." Also Read | Tirupati laddus sales remain unaffected despite row, over 16 lakh sold in 5 days The plea also added that the recent violation at the Tirumala Tirupati Balaji Temple represents a grave infringement of Article 25 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to freedom of religion. This act not only violates the fundamental tenets of Hindu religious customs but also deeply wounds the sentiments of countless devotees who regard the prasadam as a sacred blessing. The gravity of this situation cannot be overlooked, as it strikes at the core of our religious practices and beliefs, read the plea, reported News Minute. Demon rule' Earlier, Ex-Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy cancelled his visit to the Tirupati temple, saying that he was denied permission. Reddy further went on to accuse the Chandrababu Naidu government, stating that his demon rule prevented YSRCP leaders from visiting the Tirumala temple. Mahalaya Amavasya marks the beginning of Navratri celebrations across the country. At the same time, it is observed as the end of Shradh or Pitru Paksha, which is a 16-day-long period when Hindus perform rituals and pay homage to their ancestors. Mahalaya Amavasya 2024 will be observed on October 2. The annual religious event holds special importance for Hindus as it offers the last chance to pay homage to ancestors. At the same time, it marks the beginning of jubilant Navratri celebrations, which also includes Durga Puja. It also reminds people of the power of truth, of courage and of the universal fact that in the end, good will always triumph over evil. Importance of Mahalaya Amavasya 2024 According to Hindu belief, the souls of the departed reside in Pitru Loka, which is a realm between heaven and earth. The Pitru Paksha phase is an opportunity for souls to visit their descendants. Hence, people perform rituals to remember their ancestors and pay gratitude towards them. The rituals are also a way to thank them for their guidance and blessings. Also Read | Durga Puja 2024: Cops prepare detailed Kolkata traffic plan for the festivities The Pitru Paksha rituals performed on Mahalaya Amavasya are considered special and auspicious. These rituals are also believed to help the souls achieve peace and salvation. In addition to the Pitru Paksha rituals, the day also holds significance for artisans working to create Goddess Durga idol. There is a special ritual for artisans related to Mahalaya Amavasya. According to ANI, it is considered that artisans carry out their final touch of drawing the eyes of Ma Durga. Bustling with tourists and locals alike, hills of Mussoorie transformed into a playground for supercar enthusiasts. Recently, an astonishing convoy of 71 Lamborghinis cruised through the streets of this iconic hill station, reported Hindustan Times quoting a journalist Sirish Chandran who shared the video on his Instagram profile. In the video, that opens to the bustling streets of Mussoorie and suddenly a line-up of Lamborghinis has brought the city to a complete standstill. Not only the car enthusiasts but also intrigued locals eager to capture the spectacle of the impressive convoy that was part of the Lamborghini Giro. The thunderous roars of the engines filled the air of the hill station and created an electrifying atmosphere that captivated everyone in attendance. Chandran captioned the post, 71 Lamborghinis bringing Mussoorie to a standstill. Insane local admin support to stop all traffic for the Lamborghini Giro convoy. If youve ever driven through Mussoorie town, youll know traffic is wild, and to get this supercar convoy through that is some mad organisation. Also, the joy that a Lambo convoy brings to everybodys faces. Unbelievable. After all, deep inside, we are all 8-year-olds in love with loud, flashy extrovert cars. Also Read | Virat Kohli gets an unusual welcome in Kanpur, ground staff member touches feet Here's the video: Following the video was uploaded, it has garnered nearly three million views and several people commented on the post. Here are few comments: One user exclaimed, This is the definition of living life in the fast lane! A third observer quipped, Talk about a car enthusiast's dream come true! Only in India can you see this kind of luxury on the streets! commented the third. One enthusiastic user shared, Who needs a theme park when you have 71 Lamborghinis? while another added, This just makes me want to get my own Lambo! (Bloomberg) -- New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she fully expects a strike by dockworkers to go ahead, which will halt operations at East and Gulf coast trade gateways including the Port of New York-New Jersey, the nations busiest Atlantic hub for international commerce. The food supply is secure right now, Hochul said during a press conference Monday, while urging people not to rush out to grocery stores to stockpile supplies as they did during the pandemic. The US Maritime Alliance, a group known as USMX that represents ocean carriers and port terminal operators, and the International Longshoremens Association have no talks planned before their contract expires at midnight setting the stage for a strike to start Tuesday. In a statement on Monday, the ILA said USMX continues to block the path toward a settlement on a new contract and seems intent on causing a strike at all ports from Maine to Texas beginning in almost 12 hours. JPMorgan Chase & Co. transport analysts estimate the shutdown of eastern and Gulf ports could have an economic impact of between $3.8 billion to $4.5 billion a day, some of which would be recovered after a return to normal operations over time. Hochul said about 47,000 workers are set to strike, including 4,500 in the New York and New Jersey area. While there are supplies and consumer goods in warehouses, residents could start seeing depleted store shelves if theres a prolonged stoppage of a few weeks, officials said. Were deeply concerned about the impact that a strike could have on our supply chains, especially when it comes to critical goods like medical supplies and others, Hochul said. The governor said state agencies have been working with the supply chain industry to get cargo off ships and out of port terminals ahead of the potential strike. Rick Cotton, the NY-NJ Port Authoritys executive director, said the facility anticipates close to 100,000 containers will be stored at the NJ-NJ port and remain there for the duration of the strike. The 35 ships coming in or arriving at the port over the next week are expected to go to anchorage. Car Dealers Automobile shipments may be caught up in the disruptions. If youre expecting to be able to get a new car this week, it may be something you want to check with your dealer, Hochul said. It may not be arriving, for example, in the next few weeks. Hochul said shipments of semiconductor chips may also be halted. Theres a lot of areas where people may not have anticipated a disruption, but we have. Were working closely with the industry, she said. Brian Dodge, the president of the Retail Industry Leaders Association, urged both sides to return to the negotiating table and called on the Biden administration to stay engaged by considering all options to keep the US economy going. Shoppers can rest assured holiday merchandise will be on shelves, Dodge said in an emailed statement Monday. However, the longer this work stoppage goes on, the harder it will become to shield customers from its effects. President Joe Biden said Sunday he wouldnt intervene in any dockworkers strike. Resolving the dispute is a matter for collective bargaining, he told reporters in Delaware. (Adds detail on workers in sixth paragraph, comments in final two) More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com BRUNSWICK, Maine (AP) Maine environmental officials said all water samples analyzed so far in the wake of the state's largest recorded accidental spill of firefighting foam are below its guidelines for potentially dangerous chemicals. A fire suppression system at a hangar at Brunswick Executive Airport discharged more than 1,400 gallons (5,300 liters) of the foam concentrate mixed with 50,000 gallons (190,000 liters) of water at the former Navy base on Aug. 19. The discharge triggered an investigation and also prompted a warning from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to limit consumption of freshwater fish from nearby bodies of water. The foam contained chemicals known as PFAS that are associated with health problems including cancer. The foam was removed after the accident. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection sampled 34 water supplies in the area of the spill and has contacted property owners to discuss the results, the agency said Thursday. The water supplies will be tested every three months for a year, the agency said. The department has also evaluated eight rounds of surface water results from the nearby watershed and found concentrations are continuing to decline, the agency said in a statement. PFAS levels in the watershed have not yet returned to pre-spill concentrations and testing of surface water will continue to track the trends, the department's statement said. Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are found in everything from food packaging to clothing. The Environmental Protection Agency last year proposed limits on the chemicals in drinking water. Some fire departments have also started to phase out using foam that contains PFAS because of concerns the chemicals leach into groundwater and can put firefighters at risk. PFAS are often described as forever chemicals because some dont degrade naturally and are believed capable of lingering indefinitely in the environment. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection said soil results have also been received from four areas identified as either most likely to be impacted by the foam release or having the greatest risk of potential exposure to recreational users. A preliminary review of the results shows some PFAS detected in all the soils tested, the department said. Comprehensive evaluation of the soil testing is still ongoing, the department said. The department said fish and shellfish tissue samples will take longer to process. The advisories against consuming freshwater fish from nearby waterbodies remained on the Maine CDC website on Monday. Americans reliance on government support is soaring, driven by programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. That support is especially critical in economically stressed communities throughout the U.S., many of which lean Republican and are concentrated in swing states crucial in deciding the presidential election. Neither party has much incentive to dial back the spending. The big reasons for this dramatic growth: A much larger share of Americans are seniors, and their healthcare costs have risen. At the same time, many communities have suffered from economic decline because of challenges including the loss of manufacturing, leaving government money as a larger share of peoples income in such places. For its analysis of government spending, EIG used a government definition of income that includes spending on programs that Americans pay into, such as Medicare and Social Security. Another major government health programMedicaidis also counted. The analysis also includes unemployment insurance, food stamps, the earned income tax credit, veterans benefits, Pell grants, Covid-era payments and other income support. States help pay for some of these programs, such as Medicaid, but the federal government covers roughly 70% of the total cost. The EIG analysis doesnt include other ways government spending floods into corners of America, such as through farm subsidies or military bases. This spending accounts for a big and growing share of the national debt. But this years presidential candidates, Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, have said little about reining it in. In fact, both have offered plans that would add to the costs. Trump would end taxes on Social Security benefits. Harris would expand the Earned Income Tax Credit for lower-income workers and extend Affordable Care Act subsidies that are due to expire, among other proposals. The data help explain why. Though counties that rely significantly on government spending tend to be small, they are still home to nearly 22% of the U.S. population. The growth in these counties has been far more concentrated in places that vote for Republicans or have shifted that way. The map of government spending also helps explain the rise of Donald Trump. He not only has promised to revive Americas economically stagnating communities, but to protect Social Security or Medicare from even a single penny of cuts. That stance was a departure from that of prior Republican leaders, who pushed to curb spending, in some cases by cutting benefits for future retirees. This is how the most reliant counties voted in 2020. Many of the counties that rely heavily on government safety-net and social-program money have this in common: They are clustered in the battleground states that will decide the presidential election. About 70% of counties in Michigan, Georgia and North Carolina are significantly reliant on the government income. So are nearly 60% of counties in Pennsylvania. In Arizona, 13 of the 15 counties are heavily reliant on safety-net income. Measured another way, more than 44% of Michiganders live in counties that are significantly reliant on the government programs. In Arizona, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, more than a third of the populations live in such counties. Trump has visited Johnstown, Pa., in all three of his presidential campaigns, promising economic renewal. A former steel powerhouse, the city and surrounding Cambria County lost jobs as industry collapsed, prompting businesses to close and workers to leave for opportunities elsewhere. The city has shed more than half its population since 1970. The number of workers has fallen more than 10% since 2000. So has the number of business establishments. Renewal hasnt arrived, and voters in the county have increasingly supported Republican candidates for president. Trump won 68% of the vote in 2020. About 35% of county income comes from federal and state safety-net payment and social programs, one of the highest shares in the state. Like much of Pennsylvania, the counties of Northern Michigan are heavily reliant on government money. But Leelanau County, which juts into Lake Michigan, stands out as different. It has something in common with Cambria: a lot of seniors, who are beneficiaries of Social Security and Medicare. Seniors make up 35% of the residents in Leelanau County, compared with 25% in Cambria. And yet government social and safety-net income accounts for 16% of total income in Leelanau County, compared with 35% for Cambria County. This is largely because people in Leelanaua popular retirement and tourism destinationhave much higher underlying incomes. The population there has risen 6% since 2010. And where Cambria County voters swung more heavily toward Trump in 2020 compared with 2016, voters in Leelanau shifted Democratic. Wake County, N.C., presents a very different picture. Fast-growing and home to state capital Raleigh, the biggest county in North Carolina relies on government support for only about 10% of income. The young population is a big helponly 13% of Wake Countys population is at least 65 years old, far below the national sharemeaning residents arent heavily tapping government programs for seniors. About 14% of people there were born in another country, roughly matching the U.S. level. EIGs data shows that counties with more immigrants tend to rely less on the government programs EIG tallied, while counties with small foreign-born populations tend to rely more on this government spending. Since 2008, the county has backed Democrats for president while turning steadily bluer. Biden won 62% of the vote in 2020. Government spending to help address poverty also contributes to the trend of increasing reliance, especially during economic downturns. But poverty in the U.S. has been relatively stable while the population grows older. Meanwhile, the costs of an aging population are rising. Today, more than 17% of Americans are ages 65 or older, up from about 10% in 1970. Spending on these programs has outpaced the income people earn from other sources, the EIG analysis shows. Meanwhile, pressure from a graying population wont let up: By 2060, nearly a quarter of the U.S. will be at least 65, the Census Bureau projects. Write to Aaron Zitner at aaron.zitner@wsj.com, Jon Kamp at Jon.Kamp@wsj.com and Brian McGill at brian.mcgill@wsj.com Israel-Hezbollah war: In the wake of a deadly Israeli attack that resulted in the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, the group's deputy leader Naim Qassem delivered his first public address. In his speech, Qassem announced, Hezbollah is prepared for Israels ground incursion and is also prepared for a long war. The statement comes amid escalating tensions as Israel intensifies its military actions in Lebanon, including a recent bombing in Beiruts Kola area that killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Key Statements from Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem Hezbollah's Condemnation of Israeli Airstikes Qassem accused Israeli forces of committing atrocities against civilians, stating, The US is a partner with Israel, through unlimited military support culturally, politically, financially. He also emphasised Hezbollah's readiness to confront Israel. We are quite ready if the Israelis wanted ground incursion, the resistance forces are ready for that. We are prepared and ready. The Israeli enemy will not achieve its goals. Hezbollah is prepared for Israels ground incursion and is also prepared for a long war Hezbollah's Commitment to Resistance Reflecting on the loss of Hassan Nasrallah, Qassem expressed deep sorrow, noting, We lost a dear brother and a leader who loved the fighters for the faith. He highlighted Hezbollahs ongoing military operations, claiming that the group has successfully targeted Israeli positions up to 150 km within Israel. He assured supporters that operations have intensified since Nasrallah's death, Hezbollahs operations have continued at the same pace and more since Nasrallahs killing. We will continue with our plan. Will win, just as we won in our confrontation with Israel in 2006. Hezbollah's Future Leadership and Goals Addressing the transition in leadership, Qassem mentioned, We will choose the Secretary General for Hezbollah sooner rather than later, according to the mechanism that we have in place. He reiterated Hezbollah's commitment to its primary objectives of supporting Gaza and safeguarding Lebanon, stating, Hezbollah will continue with its main goals despite the aggressive attacks against civilians in Lebanon, and Israels aim of creating chaos. Hezbollah will continue with its main goals of supporting Gaza and protecting Lebanon. Hezbollah's Military Readiness and Strategy Qassem conveyed Hezbollah's preparedness for a prolonged conflict, emphasizing, We are prepared for Israels ground incursion and are also prepared for a long war. The Hezbollah leader noted that the Israeli military is considering a ground operation and expressed confidence in Hezbollahs capabilities. Hezbollah will have the upper hand when it comes to the ground; we also have a whole underground tunnel system, just like Hamas, that is potentially more sophisticated, he added. Despite acknowledging recent challenges, Qassem reassured supporters that Hezbollah remains strong and intact. The structure is still intact... We have not been defeated. Hezbollah Community Concerns Qassem addressed the anxieties of Hezbollah's supporters, particularly regarding security in Beirut and its southern suburbs. He aimed to reassure them of the group's ongoing military strength and resolve, insisting that: Were not ready to surrender. Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed a key Hamas leader on Monday the latest casualty amid an escalating barrage of attacks from the other country. Three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were also killed in Beirut in the first such hit with the capital city limits. Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin identified as the leader of Hamas in Lebanon was killed along with his family after a strike targeted their house within a refugee camp in Tyre. Israeli missiles also struck a building in the heart of Beirut in the early hours of Monday in a first-of-its-kind attack. Three members of the PFLP were killed in the strike. Reuters eyewitnesses said the strike hit the upper floor of an apartment building. Also Read | Hassan Nasrallahs death will reshape Lebanon and the Middle East The attacks signal no let up in Israels campaign to paralyze its enemies in Lebanon and elsewhere in the region after assassinating Hezbollahs long-elusive leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it the biggest-ever blow to Irans network of proxy militias spanning from Gaza to Yemen, Syria and Iraq. Israel has said its preparing a potential ground incursion into southern Lebanon, a step the US and other world powers fear would risk a drawn-out conflict that might directly pit Tehran against Washington. Israeli strikes on Lebanon in the past two weeks have killed at least 1,000 people, including 100 in the last 24 hours, and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes, according to local officials. Massive floods and landslides triggered after incessant rainfall over the weekend left nearly two hundred people dead and several others missing in Nepal, reported PTI on Monday. The heavy downpour wreaked havoc in the Himalayan nation, leading to landslides and inundation, said Home Ministry Spokesperson Rishiram Tiwari. Search and rescue operations are underway to track the people who went missing in different places due to flash floods and landslides. Meanwhile, schools and other educational institutions were shut on Monday due to heavy rainfall. Here are the top ten updates on Nepal floods. Nepal floods: Top 10 updates -The rescue mission is still underway, as over a dozen people are still missing due to heavy rainfall-induced flash floods and landslides. In a meeting held on Monday, the Disaster Risk Management Authority decidedthat the rescue operation would continue in full swing for those stranded on the highway and displaced by the floods and landslides. Also Read | Eyewitness recounts horrifying Nepal bus accident that killed 27 Indians -Given the extent of devastation in the country due to heavy rainfall, rescue, relief, and re-establishment efforts have been increased in the worst-affected regions, decided the members of an all-party meeting convened by Officiating Prime Minister Prakash Man Singh at the Prime Minister's Office in Singha Durbar on Sunday. -Flood and landslide victims are being treated for free at rescue camps. They have also been provided with food and other emergency relief materials, said Spokesperson of the Home Ministry, Rishi Ram Tiwari, adding that 31 people still remain missing. -The security forces have rescued over 4,500 disaster-affected individuals so far, reported ANI citing Home Ministry official. The rescue operation has been carried out as a collaboration between Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force personnel. -Rescued victims are struggling to deal with the aftermath of the flood disaster. Hundreds of the people are facing shortage of food with no access to safe drinking water and sanitation in the national capital, Kathmandu, reported ANI citing eyewitnesses. -Amid massive devastation in different parts of the city, Nepal's Education Ministry has urged schools and colleges to remain shut for next three days, an official told news agency Reuters on Sunday, September 30. -Nepal floods have also disrupted vegetable and other edible items supply in the region leading to a massive surge in vegetable prices. Vegetables coming from India and other districts of the country have been temporarily halted due to obstruction in major highways due to landslides, reported ANI. -Numerous roads, including crucial highways were severely damaged, affecting transportation. Many people were stranded on different parts of roads and crucial highways. Notably, all routes leading to the capital city, Kathmandu, are still blocked, leaving thousands of travellers stranded, reported ANI citing The Kathmandu Post newspaper. -The disaster also damaged Nepal's hydropower plants as twenty of them suffered damages due to floods leading to massive power disruptions in power supply in Kathmandu and other cities. Sean Diddy Combs is facing fresh allegations of sexual assault as he remains imprisoned at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Centre. According to Deadline, a new lawsuit filed in New York City accuses the Grammy-winning artist of drugging, raping, and intimidating a former model over several years, beginning in 2021. The plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, claims Combs impregnated her, and although associates pressured her to have an abortion, she ultimately suffered a miscarriage, ANI reported. The lawsuit details a disturbing pattern of behaviour, alleging that Combs forced the plaintiff to take ketamine and alcohol while subjecting her to sexual encounters with other individuals. The accusations echo claims made by nearly a dozen other individuals since Cassie Ventura, Diddy's ex-girlfriend, publicly accused him of similar misconduct in November 2020. What is in the video? A male 'sex worker' handed over a bombshell copy of a 'freak-off' tape that Sean 'Diddy' Combs had allegedly made in May 2023, TMZ reported earlier this week. Freak Offs are being referred to the recorded sexual performances and drug-fueled orgies. The 'sex worker' allegedly provided 'Diddy' 'freak off' tape to prosecutors after meeting federal investigators in NYC. Sources told TMZ that one of Sean Diddy Combs' alleged encounters with a sex worker was videotaped, and that tape is now in the hands of federal prosecutors. Several reports have emerged that the explicit videos linked to the rapper being leaked on the dark web while he remains imprisoned in Brooklyn, NewsNation reported. Ariel Mitchell-Kidd, the attorney for a new accuser of Sean "Diddy" Combs, has revealed that she has been approached about the sale of one of the alleged "Diddy tapes." While she did not disclose the identities of those featured in the video, she mentioned that both Combs and a more high-profile individual appear in the explicit recording. During an interview on "Banfield," Mitchell-Kidd stated, "There have already been tapes leaking around Hollywood, but one particular person contacted me about a specific video." She described the video as pornographic and noted that it seemed as though one person was unaware they were being filmed. Combs was arrested on September 16 at a Manhattan hotel and faces charges including sex trafficking and racketeering. If convicted, he could face a life sentence. Investigators seized firearms and phones belonging to Combs. Along with a heavy presence of officers wearing protective gear and weapons, command trucks were parked outside both properties during the raids. Combs sons, Justin and Christian King Combs, were handcuffed during the raid at their fathers Los Angeles home, NewsNation reported. Earlier, hotel surveillance footage from 2016, obtained by CNN, appears to show Combs violently attacking Cassie Ventura at the now-closed InterContinental Hotel in Century City, Los Angeles. In the video, Combs is seen chasing Ventura while wearing only a towel, aggressively grabbing and dragging her down before kicking her. He then picks up her luggage and drags her back to a hotel room along the floor as she protects her head. Two days later, Combs released an apology video in which he admitted to beating Ventura in the hotel hallway. He said he was truly sorry and labelled his actions as inexcusable. "I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. Im disgusted now," he said. Combs also mentioned seeking professional help, undergoing therapy, and asking God for mercy and grace. Its so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that, he added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about recent developments in West Asia. Terrorism has no place in our world. It is crucial to prevent regional escalation and ensure the safe release of all hostages. India is committed to supporting efforts for an early restoration of peace and stability. Lebanons Health Ministry says Israeli attacks have killed 105 people in the last 24 hours as army jets continue their bombardment across the country. Meanwhile, US officials confirmed that Israel has told Washington it is planning a limited ground operation in Lebanon that could start imminently. Netanyahu's Vision for Israel and Iran Netanyahu expressed optimism about the future relationship between Israel and Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the people of Iran in a new video, saying the Iranian regime plunges our region deeper into darkness and deeper into war. Netanyahu said that when Iran is finally free, both nations could enjoy peace, with tourism and technological advancements benefiting both countries. Every day, their puppets are eliminated. Ask [Hamas commander] Mohammed Deif, ask [Hezbollahs Hassan] Nasrallah. There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country, said Netanyahu in the video he posted on X. Escalating Violence in Lebanon For the past week, Israel has heavily bombed the countrys east, south and southern Beirut suburbs, killing hundreds of people and displacing up to one million. On Saturday, Lebanons Health Minister Firas Abiad said bodies and body parts were still under the rubble. Also Read | 7 high-ranking Hezbollah leaders Israel killed in airstrikes last week Lebanons acting PM Mikati says the government is ready to fully implement the 2006 UNSC Resolution 1701 that aimed to end Hezbollahs armed presence south of the Litani River as part of an agreement to stop war with Israel. Lebanese Casualties from Israeli Airstrikes The situation remains dire as more than 60 individuals have reportedly lost their lives due to Israeli attacks in Lebanon since the previous night. This includes three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) group. Israel Targeting New Areas in Beirut Israel's recent bombings marked a significant escalation, with attacks in the Kola area of Beirut, moving beyond the traditionally affected southern suburbs. PARIS : Marine Le Pen and dozens of other members of National Rally stand trial on Monday on charges of misusing European funds, a case that risks disrupting the French politicians efforts to carry her far-right party into the political mainstream. French prosecutors allege Le Pen and other National Rally leaders used close to 7 million eurosor around $7.8 million earmarked for assistants working inside the Strasbourg-based European Parliamentto pay party staffers in other parts of France between 2004 and 2017. EU rules require European Parliament assistants to work at one of the bodys offices in Brussels, Strasbourg or Luxembourg and to reside near that workplace. A lawyer for Le Pen declined to comment. Le Pen has dismissed the allegations as an attempt to thwart National Rally when its influence is growing. For the first time in its decadeslong history, National Rally became the single biggest party in Frances National Assembly after Julys snap elections splintered support for parties that sit elsewhere on the political spectrum. National Rally now holds enough seats to bring the new government down in a no-confidence vote, which left-leaning parties have vowed to put forward. Le Pens willingness to abstain from voting down the government has essentially given her veto power over any of its next measures. The trial threatens to upend Le Pen and her ranks. If convicted, Le Pen faces up to 10 years in prison, a fine of 1 million and a 10-year ban from holding public office. Any sentence that impedes her from holding office, analysts say, would be highly contentiousand therefore unlikelybecause she is widely expected to run for president in 2027 when Emmanuel Macrons second and final term ends. Still, a conviction with a lighter sentence risks tarnishing a party that has worked hard over the years to clean up its image as a fringe far-right party and present itself to the public as a mainstream force that is ready to govern. National Rally, formerly known as the National Front, was founded by Le Pens father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who was repeatedly convicted of antisemitism and of inciting racial hatred. In recent years, Le Pens efforts to distance herself from her fathers fiery rhetoric have helped broaden National Rallys appeal. The party made historic gains in European elections in June, trouncing the centrist forces of Macron. That prompted the French president to call snap parliamentary elections. The results fell short of National Rallys ambition to win a majority and take the reins of government, but they placed the party at the epicenter of French politics. Le Pens party has long been a vocal opponent of the EU. Still, its rise was partly funded by the European Parliament, prosecutors say. By winning seats in that institution, National Rally gained access to EU money that was in part earmarked for parliamentary assistants but, French prosecutors suspect, was redirected to domestic political activities. The French probe stems from investigations EU authorities conducted in 2014 and 2015 into whether Le Pen, who was at the time an EU lawmaker, and other National Rally representatives to the European Parliament improperly paid their political aides. Le Pen hired as parliamentary assistants, among others, her fathers bodyguard Thierry Legier and her former sister-in-law Catherine Griset. Le Pen employed Legier for three months in 2009, while he continued working with her father, according to Legiers 2012 autobiography. She gave him a new contract in 2011 that ran from October to December at a monthly rate of 7,237 after taxes. The average salary in France was 2,130 a month in 2011, and most European Parliament assistants are paid much less. Le Pen also hired Griset, who received 294,592 in salaries and expenses between 2010 and 2015, despite appearing for a total of around 12 hours in the Brussels parliament from September 2014 to August 2015, according to the EU antifraud office. Legier and Griset didnt respond to requests for comment. In June 2017, Paris prosecutors pressed preliminary charges of breach of trust against Le Pen. She was ordered to stand trial after prosecutors found what they described as an organized system to fund the salaries of a growing number of the partys employees through the European Parliament. The trial is expected to last two months. Write to Noemie Bisserbe at noemie.bisserbe@wsj.com Former British prime minister Boris Johnson has revealed that during acrimonious Brexit negotiations, French President Emmanuel Macron wanted to punish the United Kingdom (UK) for leaving the European Union (EU), news agency AFP reported on Monday, September 30. In the latest excerpts from his memoir "Unleashed" due to be published next month, Johnson said the French leader saw Brexit as a terrible snub to the EU and to his view of the world. Macron tried to put his Cuban-heeled bootee into Brexit Britain over various issues, which included "weaponising" the issue of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats during the protracted divorce talks, Johnson claimed in his book. Also Read | Reform leader Nigel Farage says his party will win next UK election It seemed at least possible to me that he was weaponising the problem, Belarus-style, and discreetly allowing the migrants to come across, the former British PM has written. Further, Johnson said that Macron was personally charming and the pair often agreed on important issues but that he really meant it when he said that Brexit Britain must be punished. On some issues I am afraid I therefore suspected him of being a positive nuisance. Boris Johnsons memoir is set for UK publication on October 10. Also Read | French President Emmanuel Macron backs Indias bid for UNSC permanent seat AUKUS military alliance In his book, Johnson also discusses how he put French noses badly out of joint by agreeing to the AUKUS military alliance. He said the deal for Australia to break a contract to procure nuclear submarines from France and buy them from the US and UK was secretly sealed at a 2021 G7 summit in Britain. My most important job at Carbis Bay was to organise a discreet three-way meeting... without being rumbled by the French, he writes of convening US President Joe Biden and Australian counterpart Scott Morrison. The US expects Israel to launch a limited ground incursion into southern Lebanon after Washington cautioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government against a larger and longer-term operation to root out Hezbollah, according to a US official. The official, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations, said the Biden administration persuaded Israel to conduct targeted attacks focused on clearing the groups infrastructure from the Lebanon-Israel border. Asked Monday morning whether the White House was aware of a possible Israeli incursion, President Joe Biden called again for a halt to the fighting. Im more aware than you might know and Im comfortable with them stopping, Biden said. We should have a cease-fire now. Israel earlier in the day signaled its ready to use more ground forces against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, including tank units, after running small-scale commando operations over the border for months. The preparations come after Israel pounded Beirut with massive airstrikes, including the assassination of the groups leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday and a strike in the center of the capital Monday. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told tank crews deployed along the border Monday that the killing of Nasrallah wasnt the final step in the fight against Hezbollah and that we will employ all the capabilities at our disposal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the goal of crushing the Iran-backed group is to end the rocket attacks that forced tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes in northern Israel. A similar exodus has been seen in southern Lebanon amid Israels retaliation. The Biden administration has failed several times to limit and shape Israels military response since Oct. 7, when Hamas in Gaza killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 200 in southern Israel. Hezbollah began its rocket attacks the next day. Both groups are backed by Iran, which Netanyahu has said is Israels biggest threat. US officials had warned Israel against a full-scale invasion in Gaza and withheld a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to make the point. While Israel undertook a limited ground operation, it later seized the Rafah border crossing and eventually moved troops into the Philadelphi corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border developments that made it more difficult to achieve the cease-fire the administration was seeking. With assistance from Josh Wingrove and Iain Marlow. NEW YORKThe tepid reception of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the U.S. this week exposed the narrowing options that he faces after 2 years of war. Zelensky touted his so-called victory plan"an effort to win more weapons and security guarantees from the U.S. and its allies in order to gain some leverage over Russiain a flurry of meetings as he shuttled between New York and Washington. But Biden administration officials, long wary of making moves that Moscow could perceive as escalation, expressed skepticism and said they wanted more details. President Biden released a fresh tranche of already-approved military aid, but didnt grant Zelenskys main request: permission to strike into Russia with longer-range missiles. Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, reiterated after meeting Zelensky on Friday that his priority was to seek a quick end to the war with a fair deal for both sides," without detailing how it could be achieved. Trump, who has declined to say whether he wants Kyiv to win the war, said he had a very good relationship" with Russian President Vladimir Putin," as well as Ukraines visiting leader. I hope we have more good relations," Zelensky interjected. Zelenskys struggles to garner a significant boost in U.S. support, his countrys most important foreign backer, points to a perilous road ahead. His countrys troops are facing their most serious situation in months on the main battlefield in the east, where they find themselves outgunned and outnumbered against relentless Russian attacks. Russian troops are jabbing forward at several points along the 800-mile front line, including a dangerous push for the key Ukrainian logistics hub of Pokrovsk. That would advance Russias main current goal of seizing all of the eastern Donetsk region, which the Kremlin has already declared part of Russia. Ukrainian troops are inflicting heavy losses on advancing Russians, but are struggling to hold back forces from a country with a population four times larger. Zelensky says Ukraine needs permission to use longer-range missiles supplied by the U.S. and Europe to strike inside Russia in order to relieve the pressure on the front lines. Biden has declined to lift restrictions, despite open calls from Kyiv and European alliesas well as some members of Congress, to do sofearing such a move could escalate the conflict with Russia. Biden pledged continued support to Ukraine as he released a fresh package of military aid worth nearly $8 billion. Vice President Kamala Harris, who met Zelensky separately at the White House, also vowed further support. In a sign of increasing concern about the situation, some European allies urged bolder action from the U.S. Alexander Stubb, Finlands president, and Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said in interviews that Putins threats to escalate had proven largely empty, and that there was little indication that would change if the U.S. allowed Ukraine to strike Russia with longer-range missiles. Even if Moscow escalated the conflict, Landsbergis said, that would be a necessary risk to take as theres a war to win." The worst consequences out of all the possibilities, he said, would be if Ukraine lost the war. Some NATO members acknowledge that Ukraine will need significantly more weapons as well as the kind of security guarantees that only NATO can provide to halt Russias quest to dominate its neighbor. I think it is clear now, after two and a half years with war in Europe, that this is not primarily a question about Ukraine. This is primarily a question about Russia and their imperial dreams," Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in an interview. Without a major surge in the quantity and power of weapons flowing into Ukraine, Zelenskys stated goal of returning all occupied territory, about one-fifth of the country, appears distant. In recent months he has tweaked his rhetoric to focus on the need for Ukraine to receive enough support to force Russia into peace," as he told the United Nations on Tuesday. His troops launched a surprise invasion into Russias Kursk region, the first major incursion since World War II, to increase Kyivs leverage. After meeting Trump on Friday, Zelensky said they had found some common ground. We have a common view that the war in Ukraine must be stopped. Putin cannot win. Ukraine must win," he said. Trump suggested that both sides wanted the war to stop, and reiterated that he thought he could negotiate a rapid deal. Officials in Ukraine and Europe worry that could result in a rapid withdrawal of support for Ukraine to try to force it to make a deal with Russia, however unfavorable. Republicans typically supportive of Ukraine appear to be maneuvering to reflect toward Trumps language. The reality of it is that the way the war in Ukraine is going to end is with a negotiated settlement," said Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee and a former vice presidential hopeful, said Sunday on NBC Newss Meet the Press" program. Putin, meanwhile, has shown no interest in peace negotiations other than to impose conditions on Ukraine that would strip it of territory and reduce it to a vassal of Moscow. Back in Ukraine, Zelensky on Sunday said 14 people were injured in a Russian airstrike on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia. He said Russia is dropping around 100 massive glide bombs every day, which he called a daily Russian terror." This is a constant reminder to all our partners who can help that we need more long-range capabilities for Ukraine, we need more air defense for Ukraine, we need more sanctions against Russia," he said. Alex Leary contributed to this article. Write to James Marson at james.marson@wsj.com, Alexander Ward at alex.ward@wsj.com and Lara Seligman at lara.seligman@wsj.com October evenings in South Africa are a treat for the mind, body, and soul. It was on one such evening many years ago in a brightly lit convention hall, back from a pleasant evening walk, that I got to be part of a discussion with Ahmed Kathrada, a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist of renown. Kathradas ideas had taken shape and matured during the apartheid days. I was eager to learn his views on the then fledgeling democracy, the condition of the Indian diaspora in South Africa, and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhis work in that country. I asked Kathrada why the South Africans were occasionally opposed to Gandhis ideals. Dont South Africans feel he is their friend? Kathrada countered: Tell me a place where Gandhi didnt encounter opposition. He was vilified when he was alive and even decades after his death if people are making a career out of denouncing him, it means hes still relevant." According to Kathrada, with a rise in the chorus of opposition, the curiosity of the new generation to know more about Gandhi and his ideas will also grow. They will discover him in greater detail and will feel more inspired by him," he said. Gandhi was considered the predecessor of Nelson Mandela in South Africa till recently. We are celebrating the Mahatmas birth anniversary the day after. Around this time over the past couple of years, there have been attempts to make long live Nathuram Godse" hashtags viral on the social media. In moments like these, I am reminded of what Kathrada said. The resilience of Gandhi and his ideas make him immortal. According to Kathrada, with a rise in the chorus of opposition, the curiosity of the new generation to know more about Gandhi and his ideas will also grow. Godse is known solely for being Gandhis assassin, and he has no independent identity. Gandhi on the other hand is a global giant. On 30 January 1948, had he passed away from natural causes, too, he would still have been a towering global personality for what he achieved in 78 odd years of his life. Its not for nothing that every global leader who ever visits India or our leaders who travel to foreign lands always invoke Gandhi and pay their respects to the Mahatma. Even last month when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Ukraine, he paid respects at the Gandhi statue in Kyivs Peace Park and wrote on X (formerly Twitter): The ideals of Bapu are universal and give hope to millions. May we all follow the path he showed humanity. Modis Kyiv visit was aimed at bringing the devastating Russia-Ukraine conflict now in its third year to an end. Brand Gandhi still solidly represents India globally. This is why voices of sanity in Bangladesh invoked Gandhi when Hindus were being brutally targeted in their country. Bapu holds a special place in the Bengali psyche. Noakhali in Bengal was being torn by communal violence just before Independence. People who had lived together for centuries became bloodthirsty rivals overnight. On 7 November 1946, Gandhi arrived in Noakhali with a message of peace. His magic inspired the Muslims to contribute to restoring the temples they had damaged during the riots. A couple of days later, Gandhi was in Kolkata, when a mob surrounded him chanting, Gandhi go back". Gandhi told the crowd: I have come to serve Hindus and Muslims alike. I am going to place myself under your protection. You are welcome to turn against meI have nearly reached the end of lifes journeybut if you again go mad, I will not be a living witness to it." His efforts saved Kolkata and the newspapers gladly reported it as a Calcutta miracle" and termed Gandhi as a one-man army". However, an irony of our times is that while Bangladesh is invoking Gandhi, India is witnessing its reverse. On 19 May people celebrated Godses anniversary in Gwalior. The news of the celebration grabbed headlines the next day. Whether it is a tragedy of our times, or some vested interests bent on exploiting fault lines, is anybodys guess. No matter how thick the envelope of falsity may be, humanity is synonymous with relentless endeavour towards the bright light of truth. Like Kathrada, I have firm faith in Gandhis eternal relevance. Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief, Hindustan. Views are personal. Asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) in India have long been perceived as vehicles solely for the recovery of bad loans, with limited scope beyond securing delinquent assets. Instead of just being agents that buy non-performing loans from lenders for recovery, ARCs should evolve to their full potential into entities that not only recover assets, but also rehabilitate and turn around distressed businesses. The regulatory framework adjustments in India can allow ARCs to shift from a reactive stance to a more proactive role in the business ecosystem. With 28 licensed ARCs operating in the country, collectively holding assets under management worth about 5 trillion, this sector has grown significantly since the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) first allowed this licensed category under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act in 2002. Despite the presence of these entities for over two decades, ARCs have yet to properly try aiding the revival of distressed businesses. Their primary focus has remained on the recovery of bad loans, with little attention paid to turnarounds. Also read: RBI pushes asset reconstruction companies to strengthen KYC compliance While this was relevant when ARCs were first mooted, today there is much to gain from early identification of assets turning bad, their purchase by ARCs and subsequent repair for value maximization. With appropriate regulation and access to finance, ARCs can play a transformative role in the Indian financial ecosystem. The ARC industrys evolution hinges on a more proactive role in early detection of distressed assets. The current special mention account (SMA) and non-performing assets (NPA) framework, though helpful, may still let companies slide into default before action is taken. To prevent this, ARCs and banks could use covenant-based indicators and trend-based red flagssuch as, say, a non-financial matrix that includes lack of innovation and customer continuityfor early warning signs, enabling a quicker sale of potentially distressed assets before they become NPAs. This shift, aimed at timely prevention of value erosion, would need regulatory support as well as collaboration between banks and ARCs. The latter acquiring standards assets need to follow the same prudential norms as banks and other regulated entities for NPA classification. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) has enabled struggling businesses to be revived under the law, but it kicks in only once a company defaults and is taken to bankruptcy court. Its record has several turnarounds to its credit. The examples of Bhushan Steel and Essar Steel, which went through IBC processes, show how large distressed companies can be revitalized under new ownership with a clear roadmap. Yet, often, by the time a company defaults and becomes an IBC case, it is too late. Also read: This RBI circular could mean fewer ARCs to resolve toxic assets Since the Indian economy is better served by faltering companies being brought back from the brink before that point arrives, India needs a formal turnaround ecosystem that goes beyond the last-resort IBC mechanism. So far, Indian ARCs have developed expertise in asset recovery, financial restructuring and legal frameworks related to insolvency. They understand the mechanics of stressed assets and have built strong networks with banks, legal advisors and debtors. Apart from a mindset change, ARCs would need skill-building and capital to support turnarounds. Consider capital. Turnaround plans may require money to be raised for the purpose, so ARCs would need access to either a blind fund pool managed by them or funds from non-bank capital providers. Private credit, especially alternate investment funds, could play an important role. Allowing ARCs to manage such funds within RBI-set limits would enhance capacity and improve risk management, with RBI oversight ensuring financial stability. If ARCs manage or arrange new capital from regulated entities, prudential norms on loan restructuring should apply, with safeguards to prevent any misuse of these provisions. For skills, India should leverage its management institutions to lay greater emphasis on turnaround studies. It could train not just resolution professionals, who are required by the IBC system, but finance professionals in general to specialize in this field. The broad idea is for turnaround expertise to be brought to bear well ahead of actual business failures, as defined regulatorily by a default. As this would require debtor managements to be open to advice from ARCs, only if the latter develop their capabilities can they acquire credibility. As for regulators, they would find it easier to oversee a credit market where regulated lenders focus on asset growth and proper risk pricing, while ARCs buy weakening assets and focus on how best to repair them before any traditional recovery methods are applied. Should ARCs demonstrate an ability to restore asset quality, they would find is easy to raise capital for it. They will need to be trusted institutions, of course, so apart from a deep talent pool, they will also need high governance standards. With pre-IBC revivals, the risk of India running into another twin balance sheet crisis would markedly reduce. And asset reconstructors will finally live up to their name. What do investors want? On the establishment of a regional office of The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in New Delhi, chief justice D.Y. Chandrachud reflected on one crucial element for enhancing investor confidence, the rule of law." Established under an 1889 intergovernmental treaty, the PCA provides an institutional framework for both intergovernmental and commercial arbitrations. Its New Delhi office is an important step for Indias aspirations to become a global arbitration hub. Justice Chandrachuds address noted that rule of law is the virtual semiconductor of our digital era," and investors thrive in a system where rights are protected, contracts enforced and disputes resolved efficiently. The rule of law is fundamental to the Constitution. The judiciary has the power to invalidate laws or government actions that are arbitrary or violative. When fairness is imbued within the legal framework, a key question that arises is whether trade and investment agreements that India concludes should provide foreign investors any special rights that are otherwise not available to domestic investors or to a domestic investee entity. Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) is a mechanism often used in agreements to do precisely that. It affords special rights to foreign private investors to initiate dispute resolution proceedings against sovereign governments before ad hoc tribunals. The origins of ISDS can be traced to a 1959 agreement between Germany and Pakistan. It proliferated to over 3,000 investment treaties worldwide, including several of Indias bilateral investment treaties. Indias tryst with ISDS was exemplified by recent awards in favour of foreign investors. Among these was the White Industries case involving an Australian supplier of machinery to Coal India and the Antrix satellite dispute that involved a French investor. In each instance, alternative remedies were available to the aggrieved investors, including through access to courts within India and through commercial arbitration proceedings. Though the ISDS is an exclusive remedy available to foreign investors, it is problematic because of its very character. Arbitration is best suited to disputes arising from commercial matterssuch as over the rights and obligations of parties where contractual terms have commercial consequences. ISDS arbitrations, however, are not always disputes of that kind, and instead, often involve matters of public policy and interpretation of national laws. Over the last few decades, ISDS has had a chequered history of fragmented and often contradictory jurisprudence that has emerged from hundreds of ad hoc tribunals, leading one scholar to call it the wild wild west of international law." Not surprisingly, even one of the biggest early proponents of ISDS, the US, has questioned its wisdom. President Joe Bidens sees no rationale for an ISDS mechanism that provides only some corporations exclusive access to special tribunals. The US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which replaced the NAFTA in 2020, phased out the availability of ISDS for US and Canadian investors. Since then, the US has not included ISDS in any of its agreements. Proponents of ISDS have argued that it attracts investment, but this has no factual basis. Brazil exemplifies this. It has remained an attractive investment destination without using ISDS in its deals. Its model is that of investment facilitation with a focus on conflict prevention. The Brazil-India Investment Cooperation and Facilitation Treaty is an example. Attracting investment is critical for growth. Trade and investment agreements signal to businesses that they are welcome and that their investments will be protected. Streamlined processes for foreign investment, elimination of bottlenecks, transparency of rules and procedures, and access to local infrastructure also help. Yet, disputes are possible and effective resolution is crucial. The India-Brazil treaty provides for national-level ombudsmen dedicated to supporting each others investors through a collaborative approach to prevent disputes. Matters that get escalated can be referred to a joint committee with representatives of both countries. If dispute prevention fails, then either country can seek arbitration. Another model is the Investment Promotion and Cooperation chapter under the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement that India signed with Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. Its thrust is on investment promotion and cooperation. These seemingly soft obligations are given teeth through the institutional mechanism of a sub-committee tasked with engaging the private sector to identify obstacles and opportunities. It also puts in place a consultative mechanism for governments to resolve disputes. India also recently signed the Agreement on Clean Economy under the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). While its text is yet to be released, fact sheets explaining the IPEF note that its objective is to facilitate investments, project finance, joint projects, workforce development and capacity building for industries. Each of these offers valuable lessons for the design of investor protection mechanisms as India negotiates trade and investment deals with the EU, UK and others. Innovative ways to attract and retain foreign investments are important. But ISDS is not necessary to achieve this objective. These are the authors personal views. Samajwadi Party Member of Parliament Afzal Ansari has been booked in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly advocating legalisation of ganja or cannabis. Ansari, elder brother of slain gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, allegedly said that millions of people consume ganja during large religious gatherings, where it is referred to as Gods prasad and considered as a sacred herb. Also Read | Himachal Pradesh to legalise controlled cannabis cultivation amid fiscal woes Ansari, the MP from Ghazipur in east UP, also alleged asked if ganja is considered a sacred herb and prasad of Lord Shankar, then why is it portrayed in a distorted manner in society. He also said when bhang, another intoxicant, is licensed why not legalise ganja. Ansari said large amounts of ganja was consumed at the Kumbh Mela and many sadhus, saints, and religious figures consume the substance, believing it has health benefits. Entire Goods Train Filled With Ganja Even if an entire goods train is filled with ganja, it would be insufficient for the upcoming religious gathering in Prayagraj, UP. Ansari, who later apologised for his remarks, also called for legalising ganja while speaking with reporters in Ghazipur. Ansari's remarks sparked a row with many Hindu saints and organisations raising objection demanding action against him. Ansari, however, said that his remark was aimed at drawing attention towards 'ganja' smuggling and the drug problem in his area. Also Read | SC conditionally suspends conviction of former BSP MP Afzal Ansari The FIR against Ansari was registered at the Kotwali police station under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Section 353(3) (statement inciting public mischief) by Gora Bazar police outpost in-charge Rajkumar Shukla. Ghazipur Circle Officer Sudhakar Pandey said police have an audio of Ansari's statement. Three-term MP Ansari is a three-term MP from Ghazipur. He won the seat in 2004, 2019 and 2024.Ansari defeated Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Paras Nath Rai by over 1.2 lakh votes in 2024 general elections. He won the seat in 2019 too, defeating BJP's Manoj Sinha, now J&K L-G. On May 1, 2023, Ansari was disqualified as MP after his four-year jail sentence. His suspension was conditionally revoked on December 15, 2023 by the Supreme Court. Afzal Ansari's younger brother, Mukhtar Ansari died of a heart attack in March this year. Mukhtar's son, Umar Ansari, alleged that his father was given a slow poison in UP jail that led to the heart attack. If ganja is considered a sacred herb and prasad of Lord Shankar, then why is it portrayed in a distorted manner in society? Sonipat/Hisar/Sirsa: As night falls in Kulana village in Haryanas Hisar district, a motley crowd of farmers and day-wage earners gathers to exchange views on the issues of the day. Today, no one goes to sleep hungry. But most of us cannot afford decent healthcare and education," says one. Politicians try to divide us on caste lines. But what we need is a fair price for crops and assured water supply for irrigation," chimes in another. Ahead of the state elections, scheduled for 5 October, it is not uncommon to hear the common man in the state air such grievances. Bordering national capital Delhi, Haryana is among the richest states in India, with a per capita income ( 2.96 lakh in 2022-23) about 1.7 times the national average. While the numbers would suggest people in the state are better off than their compatriots elsewhere, the locals do not quite see things that way. Kulana, for instance, is another world compared to the prosperous and urbanized parts of the state, far from the luxury-car outlets along Grand Trunk Road and gated high-rises in urban Gurgaon. An estimated 65% of the population lives in villages, and this rustic backyard is today setting the agenda for the elections. Unlike in earlier years, when the assembly poll was a multi-cornered contest, the polls this year are a straight fight between the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has ruled Haryana for two back-to-back terms, and the opposition Indian National Congress (INC), which has ruled the state off and on since its founding. It will be the first head-to-head fight between the two national parties since the 2024 general election. Unlike in earlier years, when the assembly poll was a multi-cornered contest, the polls this year are a straight fight between the incumbent BJP and the opposition Indian National Congress It is an election that will be decided by issues such as farm woes, frustration with the armys recruitment policy, lack of job avenues, and the anguish of the states vaunted wrestlers. Most of all it will be decided by which way Haryanas castes choose to lean. Farm distress dominates Any discussion on the Haryana election usually begins with the problems farmers in the state face. While the agriculture sector contributes just about 16% to the states gross domestic product, farm issues and farmer angst have dominated its political landscape in recent years. Political parties have been going all out to pacify and woo farmers. With good reason; the state has been a hotbed of farmer protests in recent years. It started in end-2020, when a mass agitation began after the Centre introduced a set of farm laws to reform the agriculture markets. The protests were led by farmers from neighbouring Punjab and Haryana, who picketed Delhis doorstep for more than a year, until the three laws were repealed in 2021. View Full Image While the agriculture sector contributes just about 16% to the states GDP, farm issues have dominated its political landscape in recent years. A fresh round of agitations started this February, with farmers demanding legal status for the governments minimum support price (MSP) regime. MSP is the price at which the Centre purchases crops, mostly rice and wheat. The farmers want this to be a legal obligation for 24 non-perishable crops. When the farmers decided to march on Delhi again, a face-off ensued, with the Haryana police firing teargas shells and rubber bullets on the protesters. We are going to plant mustard (a winter oilseed) now, but fertilizers are not available. The state government procures only a limited quantity of crops like mustard and bajra (at MSP) but payments are often delayed by months," complained Amit Kumar, a farmer from Kulana. The village, unlike more fertile areas such as Karnal and Ambala, grows less rice and more of other crops, including bajra (pearl millet), as there isnt enough water available for irrigation. Hawa Singh, a 73-year-old farmer from Sonipat, complained that rising expenses on farming have pushed him to reduce spending on household items. The Centre is giving 6,000 every year (under the PM-Kisan scheme) to farmers, but I end up paying many times more, because of the 18% GST (goods and services tax) on pesticides, and steep prices of diesel (used to run farm machinery)," he said. View Full Image 73-year-old farmer Hawa Singh wants a reduction in GST on pesticides and a cut in the price of diesel used to run farm machinery. However, state BJP leaders appear confident about winning the farm vote and a third term. Farmer leaders may be unhappy but real farmers are satisfied with BJPs performance. The state purchased 14 crops at MSP and it is paying farmers 1,000 per acre for not burning paddy stubble (which worsens air pollution during the winter months in the National Capital Region). Congress is fuelling protests for electoral benefits," said Surjit Kumar Jayni, BJP in-charge of Fatehabad assembly seat. To be sure, not all farmers are in step with the protests. For instance, a large number of them grow vegetables to supply Delhis markets. They depend less on state support and more on market-determined prices as an MSP has not been announced for perishable crops. We suffered a lot during the farmer agitation of 2020-2021 as roads were blocked and vegetables could not be transported to the Azadpur mandi (in Delhi)," said Dharmendra, a 46-year-old farmer from Dipalpur village in Sonipat, Haryana. In a bid to win over the farmers, the Congress has promised to provide a legal guarantee for MSP. But the BJP has questioned this; addressing farmers at a rally earlier this month, Prime Minister and BJP leader Narendra Modi said that the Congress has not done so in states where it is in power (Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh) and is making a false promise to farmers in Haryana. Modi also asserted that the Centre has removed the minimum export price on premium Basmati rice, which will help growers from the state earn more (the crop will be harvested beginning October). Job and wrestler angst The lack of decent jobs is another cause of angst, particularly among the landless. Four of my children are graduates but none has a proper job," said Shiv Kumar, a non-teaching staff member at a local private school in Hisar, and resident of a Valmiki mohalla (a settlement of families belonging to scheduled castes) next to Kulana. Its a struggle to manage daily expenses with my meagre earnings," adds Kumar, who supplements a monthly pay of 5,000 with casual wage work. The Congress has been raising the issue of unemployment, tying it with the new army recruitment scheme. Thousands of youngsters from Haryana are illegally migrating to the USA, risking their lives, because they do not have jobs here. Families are selling land to send their children abroad because they do not have the option of a secure army job anymore," Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said at an election rally in Hisar, Haryana. The Congress has not provided MSP in states where it is in power and is making a false promise to farmers in Haryana. -Narendra Modi The BJPs Jayni countered this by saying that the state government had created 150,000 jobs during its term, in a clean and transparent manner. In comparison with some states, Haryana certainly seems to be performing better. The unemployment rate among graduates in the state is at 6.6%, about half the national average, as per the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for 2023-24. A protest by female wrestlers has also become an emotive issue in rural Haryana. Wrestlers from the state have won multiple Olympic medals. Last January, Sakshi Malik (Olympic bronze medalist in 2016) and Vinesh Phogat led a protest in Delhi alleging sexual harassment of women wrestlers by former head of the wrestling federation and former BJP parliamentarian Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. The daughters of the state being dragged on the streets of the national capital by the police touched a raw nerve. Phogat, who attained celebrity status after assuring herself of at least a silver medal at the Paris Olympics in August only to be disqualified for being overweight by 100 gm, is contesting the elections on a Congress ticket from Julana assembly seat. View Full Image A file photo of wrestler Vinesh Phogat. (HT) Our sisters and daughters were dragged along the streets of Delhi. Anyone who protests, be it farmers or women wrestlers, is termed anti-national. This anger will be reflected on polling day," said former wrestler Bajrang Punia, who is currently the chairman of farmers wing of the Congress party. He won a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and happens to be Vineshs brother-in-law. The caste factor Politics in Haryana has always been dominated by caste. Jats, an agrarian upper caste, who comprise about a quarter of the states population, traditionally align with the Congress. Other Backward Castes or OBCs account for about 30% and the BJP has banked heavily on their support. Dalits (Scheduled Castes) make up another 20% of the electorate. The saffron party is hopeful of winning a third term by again riding on a consolidation of non-Jat votes. In the 2019 state elections, the BJP won 40 out of 90 seats with a vote share of 36.5%. It formed the government in alliance with the Jananayak Janata Party (JJP), which had won ten seats. This time around, the JJP, which got 15% of the vote and won 10 seats in the 2019 polls, is facing the wrath of the Jats for supporting the BJP. Party chief Dushyant Chautala has said he made a mistake by continuing as the deputy chief minister during the farmers agitation in 2020/21. Indeed, amid the clash between the BJP and Congress, other parties, including the AAP, INLD, and BSP, seem to have become a sideshow in this election. In the general elections held earlier this year, the BJPs vote share dropped by 12 percentage points from the 2019 general elections to 46%, while the Congress saw its vote share rise by 15 percentage points to 44%. As a result, the BJP lost five of the states ten Lok Sabha seats to the Congress. In March, just a month before the Lok Sabha polls, and with six months remaining for the state elections, the BJP replaced chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who had helmed the state for nine years, with Nayab Singh Saini, in a bid to counter anti-incumbency. Khattar belongs to the Khatri caste, a minority Punjabi upper caste community, and was Haryanas first Punjabi chief minister. Saini, who belongs to the OBC community, is the BJPs answer to the dominant Jats. A reading of the BJP manifesto for the state elections shows it is going all out to woo every section of the electorate. It has promised to procure 24 crops for which MSP is announced, a monthly cash transfer of 2,100 to women, a 10 lakh health insurance scheme, a guaranteed government job to Agniveers (after their four-year stint in the Army) and creating 200,000 government jobs for the youth. The Congress, too, has promised a monthly cash transfer to women over 18 years of age, cooking gas at 500 per cylinder, 6,000 pension for elderly and widows, a caste census, restoration of the old pension scheme for government employees, and a legal guarantee on MSP for farmers. In addition, it has promised to provide 25 lakh health insurance and government jobs to families who lost a member during the farmer agitation. While both parties seem to be offering similar sops, it is the states caste dynamics that are likely to determine the outcome of the election. On that front, the Congress could find itself on the backfoot with the Dalit vote. Caste arithmetic is a big factor. The Congress is banking on a consolidation of Jat and Dalit votes, while the BJP is wooing OBCs. Both parties have promised multiple welfare benefits. A shadow fight is taking place between Bhupinder Hooda, the Congresss tallest Jat leader and former state chief minister, and Kumari Selja, the partys Dalit face in Haryana, who is a former central minister and currently a member of Parliament from the Sirsa constituency. In the runup to the state elections, Selja has been noticeably absent from campaigning after being sidelined by Hooda and not being given much of a say in the partys choice of candidates. The BJP is banking on that rift, with Modi launching a tirade against Congress at his election rally in Sonipat on 25 September. The Dalits of Haryana are seeing the drama happening within Congress. If Congress comes back to power the infighting within the party will destroy Haryana," Modi warned. Citing the Hansi assembly seat in Hisar as an example of how caste equations could play out, Yoginder Yogi, a local Congress leader said, Of the 200,000 voters in Hansi, 48,000 are Jats. Whether the Congress will win this seat depends on how the Dalits and OBCs (about 120,000 together) vote. In the 2024 general elections, there was a consolidation of Dalit votes in favour of Congress. But the current internal dynamics of the party could hurt that Jat-Dalit alliance." Brewing discontent The age limit for recruitment in the Indian army was reduced from 23 years to 21 years when the Agnipath scheme was launched in 2022. This seems to be a major grouse among young aspirants. In Sherpura village of Sirsa district, Kulwant Kumar missed his last shot at joining the army after he failed to qualify this year. I have not thought of what to do next, maybe tend to cattle like my friends do," said Kumar, 21, son of a small farmer, who will vote for the first time in these elections. View Full Image Kulwant Kumar, 21, is unsure what to do next after failing to join the army. The lack of jobs and a 2022 change in the Indian Armys recruitment policy to a short-service tenure of four yearsknown as the Agnipath Schemehave demotivated the youth, say Congress leaders. Joining the Army used to be a hope and a mark of financial security for youth from poorer families. You could see hundreds of them running on the streets every morning (preparing for the recruitment physical). Now, these dejected youth are getting into drugs and petty crime," said Congress leader Punia. According to Sandeep Sinwar, a farmer and activist from Sirsa, more than 50 youth from the village used to prepare for recruitment in the Army until a few years ago. That is no longer an option now. We have been actively organizing village-level meetings to dissuade youngsters from falling for drugs, and getting into petty crime," Sinwar said. Will this discontent in rural Haryana outdo the support for BJP in urban sections? It certainly appears that way, say two political observers Mint spoke to. The best case scenario for the BJP would be to win at least 35 seats by maintaining its tally in the urban and industrial belts of south Haryana (Gurgaon, Faridabad, Bhiwani)," said Rahul Verma, political scientist and fellow at Centre for Policy Research, Delhi. The BJP had everything going in its favour in 2019. Now, there is a desire for change. Still it would hope that factors like visible Jat dominance and infighting within Congress will help its cause," said Verma. Last time, it was a division of Jat votes between Congress and JJP that helped the BJP to form the government. But this time a division in Jat votes looks unlikely." Last time, it was a division of Jat votes between Congress and JJP that helped BJP to form the government. -Rahul Verma Yogendra Yadav, political activist and a former psephologist, who is a native of Rewari in Haryana, also believes the Congress will do well. Large parts of what we call urban Haryanatowns like Karnal or Rohtakare not strikingly different from the psychological and social structure of its villages, except for Gurgaon, which is an outlier," he explained. After a few days of travelling in Haryana, it seems like more than half of the outcome of these elections was pre-decided by the electorate even before the campaign began. The current chief minister is more popular than the former one (Khattar). But we cannot forget that even in 2019, BJP did not get a clear mandatethe state had almost voted for a change," Yadav added. My sense is, this time it will be a clear verdict in favour of Congress." The average assets per candidate contesting in the Haryana Assembly Elections 2024 stands at 8.68 crore. Captain Abhimanyu is the wealthiest candidate with assets exceeding 491 crore. Rohtas Singh and Savitri Jindal are the two other candidates who are in the list of top three wealthiest candidates. Election watchdog Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 1028 out of 1031 candidates contesting in the Haryana Assembly Elections 2024. The polls are scheduled for October 5, to elect 90 members of the Haryana Legislative Assembly. BJP's Captain Abhimanyu the richest Captain Abhimanyu from the Bharatiya Janata Party is the richest of all the candidates with total assets crossing 491 crore. He is contesting the assembly elections from the Narnaund seat in the Hisar district of Haryana. Share of wealth among contesting candidates Candidates Rohtak Singh and Savitri Jindal are not far behind. Rohtas Singh, contesting from the Sohna seat in Gurugram district has assets exceeding 484 crore. This is a roughly 1.4 per cent low from Captain Abhimanyus assets. Also Read | Haryana BJP expels eight for contesting upcoming polls against party candidates Savitri Jindal, on the other hand, has total assets more than 270 crore. She is contesting the Assembly polls from the Hisar constituency. 52% crorepatis Out of the 1028 candidates, 538 candidates, that is 52 per cent of the contesters are crorepatis, stated the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) report. This is a slight increase of 0.19 points from the figures of 2019 Assembly Elections, where 42 per cent of the contesters were crorepatis. Looking at the party wise crorepati candidates, BJP ranks the first, with 96% crorepatis in the party. Meanwhile, INC follows second with 94% crorepatis, with Jannayak Janta Party ranking third, reporting 70% crorepatis within the party. Table showing party wise crorepatis Mallikarjun Kharge news: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, on Monday, lashed out at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, describing his speech as disgraceful and distasteful. Kharge had said that would live long enough to remove Prime Minister Narendra Modi from power, while addressing a rally at Jammu and Kashmir ahead of the Assembly polls. The last phase of polling is scheduled on Tuesday. Other Congress and BJP leaders also expressed their opinions regarding Kharge's speech. While Congress leader Pawan Khera expressed his support stating that the party does not hate PM Modi, but loves the country, Union Textile minister Giriraj Singh claimed that Modi's rule has nothing to do with who lives or dies. Unneccesarily dragged PM Modi The Home Minister said Kharge had unnecessarily dragged PM Modi into matters concerning his personal health. "Yesterday, the Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji has outperformed himself, his leaders and his party in being absolutely distasteful and disgraceful in his speech. In a bitter display of spite, he unnecessarily dragged PM Modi into his personal health matters by saying that he would die only after removing PM Modi from power," Shah posted on X. Shah further added that Kharge's comments were a display of the hate and fear, the Congress held for PM Modi. Also Read | PM Modi dials Mallikarjun Kharge after Congress President falls ill at J-K rally "It just shows how much hate and fear these Congress people have of PM Modi, that they are thinking of him constantly. As for the health of Mr. Kharge Ji, Modi Ji prays, I pray and we all pray that he lives a long, healthy life. May he continue to live for many years and may he live to see the creation of a Viksit Bharat by 2047," tweeted Shah. Stay alive till Modi removed from power Mallikarjun Kharge had fainted while addressing a poll rally at Jasrota in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday. He resumed his speech after regaining consciousness. "I am 83 years old. I am not going to die so early. I will stay alive till (Prime Minister) Modi is removed from power. I will listen to you. I will fight for you. I wanted to talk. But due to dizziness, I have sat down. Please pardon me," said the Congress president. It just shows how much hate and fear these Congress people have of PM Modi. Poison filled mentality' Responding to Kharge's speech, says BJP national spokesperson CR Kesavan said Mr Kharges personal toxic remark against PM Modi exposes the poison-filled mentality of Congress leadership. His masters voice is that of (Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP) Rahul Gandhi who at every opportunity tries to demean and insult the Prime Minister, reported PTI. Also Read | Kharge appoints Uday Bhanu Chib as new president of Indian Youth Congress If Ukraine and its Western backers are to win, they must first have the courage to admit that they are losing. In the past two years Russia and Ukraine have fought a costly war of attrition. That is unsustainable. When Volodymyr Zelensky travelled to America to see President Joe Biden this week, he brought a plan for victory", expected to contain a fresh call for arms and money. In fact, Ukraine needs something far more ambitious: an urgent change of course. A measure of Ukraines declining fortunes is Russias advance in the east, particularly around the city of Pokrovsk. So far, it is slow and costly. Recent estimates of Russian losses run at about 1,200 killed and wounded a day, on top of the total of 500,000. But Ukraine, with a fifth as many people as Russia, is hurting too. Its lines could crumble before Russias war effort is exhausted. Ukraine is also struggling off the battlefield. Russia has destroyed so much of the power grid that Ukrainians will face the freezing winter with daily blackouts of up to 16 hours. People are tired of war. The army is struggling to mobilise and train enough troops to hold the line, let alone retake territory. There is a growing gap between the total victory many Ukrainians say they want, and their willingness or ability to fight for it. Abroad, fatigue is setting in. The hard right in Germany and France argue that supporting Ukraine is a waste of money. Donald Trump could well become president of the United States. He is capable of anything, but his words suggest that he wants to sell out Ukraine to Russias president, Vladimir Putin. If Mr Zelensky continues to defy reality by insisting that Ukraines army can take back all the land Russia has stolen since 2014, he will drive away Ukraines backers and further divide Ukrainian society. Whether or not Mr Trump wins in November, the only hope of keeping American and European support and uniting Ukrainians is for a new approach that starts with leaders stating honestly what victory means. As The Economist has long argued, Mr Putin attacked Ukraine not for its territory, but to stop it becoming a prosperous, Western-leaning democracy. Ukraines partners need to get Mr Zelensky to persuade his people that this remains the most important prize in this war. However much Mr Zelensky wants to drive Russia from all Ukraine, including Crimea, he does not have the men or arms to do it. Neither he nor the West should recognise Russias bogus claim to the occupied territories; rather, they should retain reunification as an aspiration. In return for Mr Zelensky embracing this grim truth, Western leaders need to make his overriding war aim credible by ensuring that Ukraine has the military capacity and security guarantees it needs. If Ukraine can convincingly deny Russia any prospect of advancing further on the battlefield, it will be able to demonstrate the futility of further big offensives. Whether or not a formal peace deal is signed, that is the only way to wind down the fighting and ensure the security on which Ukraines prosperity and democracy will ultimately rest. This will require greater supplies of the weaponry Mr Zelensky is asking for. Ukraine needs long-range missiles that can hit military targets deep in Russia and air defences to protect its infrastructure. Crucially, it also needs to make its own weapons. Today, the countrys arms industry has orders worth $7bn, only about a third of its potential capacity. Weapons firms from America and some European countries have been stepping in; others should, too. The supply of home-made weapons is more dependable and cheaper than Western-made ones. It can also be more innovative. Ukraine has around 250 drone companies, some of them world leadersincluding makers of the long-range machines that may have been behind a recent hit on a huge arms dump in Russias Tver province. The second way to make Ukraines defence credible is for Mr Biden to say Ukraine must be invited to join NATO now, even if it is divided and, possibly, without a formal armistice. Mr Biden is known to be cautious about this. Such a declaration from him, endorsed by leaders in Britain, France and Germany, would go far beyond todays open-ended words about an irrevocable path" to membership. This would be controversial, because NATOs members are expected to support each other if one of them is attacked. In opening a debate about this Article 5 guarantee, Mr Biden could make clear that it would not cover Ukrainian territory Russia occupies today, as with East Germany when West Germany joined NATO in 1955; and that Ukraine would not necessarily garrison foreign NATO troops in peacetime, as with Norway in 1949. NATO membership entails risks. If Russia struck Ukraine again, America could face a terrible dilemma: to back Ukraine and risk war with a nuclear foe; or refuse and weaken its alliances around the world. However, abandoning Ukraine would also weaken all of Americas alliancesone reason China, Iran and North Korea are backing Russia. Mr Putin is clear that he sees the real enemy as the West. It is deluded to think that leaving Ukraine to be defeated will bring peace. Indeed, a dysfunctional Ukraine could itself become a dangerous neighbour. Already, corruption and nationalism are on the rise. If Ukrainians feel betrayed, Mr Putin may radicalise battle-hardened militias against the West and NATO. He managed something similar in Donbas where, after 2014, he turned some Russian-speaking Ukrainians into partisans ready to go to war against their compatriots. For too long, the West has hidden behind the pretence that if Ukraine set the goals, it would decide what arms to supply. Yet Mr Zelensky cannot define victory without knowing the level of Western support. By contrast, the plan outlined above is self-reinforcing. A firmer promise of NATO membership would help Mr Zelensky redefine victory; a credible war aim would deter Russia; NATO would benefit from Ukraines revamped arms industry. Forging a new victory plan asks a lot of Mr Zelensky and Western leaders. But if they demur, they will usher in Ukraines defeat. And that would be much worse. 2024, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on www.economist.com Trump makes false claims about federal response as he campaigns in area ravaged by Hurricane Helene Donald Trump is spreading falsehoods about the federal response to the deadly Hurricane Helene, despite claiming not to be politicizing the disaster Sinn Fein's alternative budget published recently has been strongly criticised by Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment Peter Burke who said there is nothing in it for Irish business. The Longford-Westmeath TD stressed the alternative budget being proposed by Sinn Fein is yesterdays solutions to yesterdays problems and is not materially different to alternative budgets published by the party in the past. It is clear that the opposition have learnt nothing about the enterprise needs of the country despite having chaired the Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment during the term of this Dail, he said. What is particularly of concern is how the Sinn Fein proposals either completely overlook or are indifferent to the issues and challenges now being faced by Irish business, namely rising input costs and especially energy costs along with the challenges of recruiting and retaining staff." Also read: TuesGays horror movie double bill next week in Longford Minister Burke said the Sinn Fein alternative budget would firstly penalise business expansion with a higher stamp duty rate for commercial property and secondly dilute investment returns through higher withholding taxes and capital gains tax. Also read: Energy credits and Social Welfare 'lump sums' - what we know ahead of Budget 2025 The Fine Gael representative stressed this would make the market for skilled labour even more difficult by levying more income taxes on higher earners. Nor is there adequate provision in the Sinn Fein proposals to deal with the broader power generation and water supply issues which face the country," he said. "The proposed infrastructure fund of 50million in the first year is totally inadequate and reflects the lack of understanding of the scale of the transformation needed, Minister Burke added. Also read: Late Mary Walsh was a dedicated stalwart of community life in Longford and Roscommon He also pointed out that he is also working with government colleagues on ways to provide the multi-billion euro investment in the national grid. The annual Irish Road Safety Week (IRSW) will be taking place next week from Monday, 7 October until Sunday, 13 October. The Road Safety Authority are seeking support for the national drive to save lives. Numerous road safety activities have been planned across the country. The RSA encourages everyone to support the week and get involved with the schedule of events or plan their own initiatives. Mr Sam Waide, CEO, Road Safety Authority, said: We are running a range of activities nationwide to promote awareness of road safety during the week. If you or your organisation are hosting your own event in your community, we want to hear from you. We can add your event to our IRSW events list on the RSA website and encourage more people to attend. Get involved, find out whats happening in your local community, and play your part in saving lives and preventing serious injuries on our roads. Also Read: Drunk driver in Longford was erratically crossing over the white line The week will be kicking off on Monday, 7 October with Tyre Safety Day. The Irish Tyre Industry Association (ITIA) is offering all motorists a free tyre pressure check inspection and thread depth inspection. Visiting their website will lead any interested motorists to any ITIA registered dealer in your area. Your Guide to Tyre Safety will also be available to any driver who is interested. It is free to download and includes information on buying second hand tyres. Also Read: Longford /Westmeath Minister slates Sinn Fein's alternative budget Tuesday, 8 October will be Pedestrian Awareness Day. The RSA will be revealing new research into fatalities and serious injuries among pedestrians up to 2023. Data from the Irish Road Traffic Collision Database has been used to produce this report. The RSAs Annual Conference will be held Wednesday, 9 October. The theme of this year's conference will be Distracted Driving. Speakers from Ireland and abroad will be sharing research on the topic of driver distraction and the best practice for addressing the issue. The next meeting of the Road Safety Youth Forum will be held in Dublin on Thursday, 10 October. The Road Safety Youth Forum aims to deepen engagement and provide a safe space for young people to discuss their common concerns on road safety. National Child Safety Day will be taking place on Friday, 11 October. It will provide opportunities for preschoolers to get involved in road safety. Beep Beep packs have been pre ordered by Pre-Schools. These packs will be distributed to the schools on the day as well as over 50,000 high visibility vests to pre-schools nationwide Additionally, the RSA Shuttle and Rollover will be visiting a number of schools throughout Irish Road Safety Week. It will be in counties Clare, Sligo and Monaghan that week. Its primary school experience Street Smart will be at a primary school in Westmeath. Check it Fits, the RSAs free child car seat checking service, will be visiting Leitrim, Roscommon, Longford during Irish Road Safety Week. It is a great opportunity to get your child's car seat checked to ensure your child is travelling safely in your car. The service will be visiting Longford on Thursday, 10 October at Davis' Supervalu. The RSA National Road Safety Education Service will be travelling the length and breadth of the country, delivering road safety education programmes to creches, schools, universities, workplaces and communities throughout the week. The RSA Leading Lights in Road Safety Awards are back, and nominations are now open for 2024. Now in its fourteenth year, the awards recognise and honour the contribution made by individuals, groups and communities in reducing serious injuries and deaths on our roads. If you know about a school, businesses and individual who is committed to making our roads safer, nominate them for a Leading Light award. Closing date for submissions is Friday 11th October. Significant funding must be forth coming in tomorrows Budget to help guarantee the future of Irelands local independent media, a Fine Gael Senator has said. Senator Micheal Carrigy, Fine Gael General Election candidate for Longford-Westmeath and member of the Oireachtas Media Committee, said that the Government needs to invest at least 10m in the independent media sector, which is under immense pressures. Senator Carrigy said: Continuous cuts to advertising have been sustained by many good local newspapers and radio stations over the past number of years, drastically reducing their ability to provide a full news, sport and information service for communities across the country. "Local media is the lifeblood of a community. It is an absolutely fundamental part of our democracy. It is essential we fund and protect it. Also read: 'Were Breastfeeding Friendly Longford' launching next week At least 5m is required to support the independent broadcasting sector if were to help local radio stations that provide such a vital service for the communities and to many are a lifeline. In tandem with this, another 5 million must be provided for a media fund that supports local democracy. The growth of social media has resulted in a growing proportion of people, especially younger people, distancing themselves from their own local communities. The risk of people becoming isolated from the realities of their own area is growing, and many are already unaware of the various projects and schemes underway in their locality. Local broadcasting could engage with these people, informing them of the issues that affect them, and integrating them better into the area. Also read: Longford projects allocated 328,000 The potentially devastating effects of misinformation and disinformation on modern society is becoming increasingly clear. Media literacy campaigns could be utilised to warn of these dangers and the rise of AI generated content, as the technology advances at a rapid and concerning rate. Recent controversies at RTE have shone a light on importance of a national public service broadcasting and to the values that should be upheld, by both legislators and broadcasters. The same attention must be given to our independent local media. Also read: Late Mary Walsh was a dedicated stalwart of community life in Longford and Roscommon Providing a truthful, reliable, unbiased and balanced news and information service has never been more important and the Government needs not only preserve, but to enhance its contribution to education and democracy in our towns and villages around the country. The annual Padraic Colum Gathering will take place in Granard Library Saturday, 5 October and will run from 10:30 am until 3pm. The event celebrates the work of Padraic Colum, one of Longford and Irelands most notable literary figures and a leading name in the Irish Literary Revival. His wife Mary Colum will also be celebrated. Mary was a writer as well as a literary critic. The Gathering is organised by Longford County Council through its Library, Archives, Arts and Heritage services. PICTURES | Padraic Colum Gathering, honouring one of Longford's great writers It is supported by the Commemoration programme which is run by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts Gaeltacht, Sport, and Media. The Gathering will feature two speakers from 10:30 am to 1pm, a local historian Gearoid OBrien and University College Dublin (UCD) Prof Margaret Kelleher. Gearoid OBrien will speak about his memories of Padraic Colums visits to Athlone which took place mainly in the 1960s. UCD Anglo-Irish Literature and Drama Chair, Prof Margaret Kelleher will follow. Margaret spoke at the Gathering in 2021 and is no stranger to honouring Padraic and Mary Colum, as she is currently writing a joint biography on the pair. PICTURES | Huge crowds in Longford as Relics of St Bernadette of Lourdes visit St Mel's Cathedral A poetry reading will take place at 2pm, led by Granard native, poet and dramatist Noel Monahan. The poetry reading will feature the work of those who are participating in a workshop to be facilitated by Noel in Granard Library on Tuesday, 1 October. The Gathering will close with a performance from children of the Sacred Heart National School in Granard based on Colums play Thomas Muskerry. The performance will be directed by drama facilitator Hannah Carleton, who has been working with the children over several weeks. Also read: Late Mary Walsh was a dedicated stalwart of community life in Longford and Roscommon Longford County Council Cathaoirleach, Cllr Mark Casey welcomes the Gathering. This long-standing event promotes the excellent work and legacy of Padraic Colum, an Irish playwright, poet and novelist born here in Longford in 1881. His work is important for our heritage and culture, and I encourage everyone to turn out for this important celebration of his work. PICTURES | Style and entertainment galore at entertaining Longford fashion show Longford County Council Chief Executive Paddy Mahon added, Longford has a very strong literary tradition and events like the Padraic Colum Gathering help to promote this for future generations. The Council proudly supports this event, which this year has an excellent showcase of Colums work and new creative work as we expand upon our literary heritage. Local News By Chris Boyle Published: September 30 2024 The walk will raise funds to support suicide awareness and prevention on Long Island. The Long Island Chapter of The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP LI), a leading suicide research and prevention organization in the US, will host its annual Long Island Out of the Darkness Community Walk on Sunday, October 27th at Jones Beach, Field 5, in Wantagh, NY. The walk will raise funds to support suicide awareness and prevention on Long Island. The Community Walks, held in hundreds of communities across the country, are the core of the Out of the Darkness movement, which began in 2004. The Jones Beach Walk is one of the top 5 fundraising walks in the country for AFSP, with over 4,000 participants. Past walks have raised in excess of $500,000. These events give people the courage to open up about their own connections to the cause, and a platform to create a culture thats smart about mental health. Friends, family members, neighbors and coworkers walk side-by-side, supporting each other and in memory of those lost. The walk takes place along the boardwalk and is approximately 3 miles long. Walkers can shorten their routes as needed and is wheelchair and stroller accessible. There is no fee to register for the walk and no minimum fundraising requirement, but if you raise $150, you will receive an official walk t-shirt. Free parking is at Jones Beach Field #5. Pets are not allowed at NY State Parks. REGISTER: Sign up to participate in the walk here: http://afsp.org/longislandwalkwest You can find out more information about AFSP and the Long Island chapters activities by visiting https://afsp.org/chapter/new-york-long-island. Or please contact: Carrie Aronson, Long Island Special Events Manager at caronson@afsp.org or (516) 865-3944. ABOUT THE AFPS: The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide, including those who have experienced a loss. AFSP creates a culture thats smart about mental health through public education and community programs, develops suicide prevention through research and advocacy, and provides support for those affected by suicide. Led by CEO Robert Gebbia and headquartered in New York, with a public policy office in Washington, DC, AFSP has local chapters in all 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico, with programs and events nationwide. Learn more about AFSP in its latest Annual Report and join the conversation on suicide prevention by following AFSP on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and TikTok. Wantagh Man Sentenced to Up to 15 Years in Prison for 2023 Woodbury DWI Crash Crime By Chris Boyle Published: September 30 2024 Willem Specht pled guilty in August for fatally striking and killing 61-year-old Joseph Devito in the On Parade Diner parking lot. Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced that a Wantagh man was sentenced today to seven to 15 years in prison for fatally striking a man in the parking lot of the On Parade Diner in Woodbury in January 2023. Willem Specht, 63, pleaded guilty on August 26, 2024, before Judge Meryl Berkowitz to Aggravated Vehicular Homicide (a B felony); Assault in the Second Degree (a D violent felony); and Aggravated Driving While Intoxicated (an unclassified misdemeanor). The defendant was sentenced today to seven to 15 years in prison. In the middle of the afternoon on January 18, 2023, Willem Specht got behind the wheel of his car more than twice the legal limit for alcohol, put it in reverse, and mowed down 61-year-old grandfather Joseph Devito, said DA Donnelly. During the course of this prosecution and against court orders, Specht continued to drink brazenly and publicly. Surveillance video even captured the defendant entering his local liquor store, buying a bottle of vodka, and uncapping it right in the parking lot at the same time he was scheduled and failed to appear for a court date in Joseph Devitos tragic death. Joseph was a dependable and compassionate man. Spechts irresponsible drinking and reckless choices robbed the Devito family of a husband and fathers supportive presence. I hope that this defendant uses his significant prison sentence to reflect on the heartbreak that he has caused. DA Donnelly said that at approximately 2:30 p.m. on January 18, 2023, Joseph Devito was standing on the sidewalk in front of the On Parade Diner, talking to a childhood friend. Specht, who was highly intoxicated, struck Devito after rapidly reversing his car from a parking spot. Specht narrowly avoided striking Mr. Devitos friend as well. Devito suffered catastrophic head injuries and died shortly afterwards at Syosset Hospital. After hitting Devito, the defendant continued to drive his 2004 Infiniti G35 in reverse and drove over another sidewalk, striking a ramp and a metal fence leading into the diner. He continued in reverse and struck the exterior wall of the diner. Specht then drove forward and stopped his car in a parking spot in the direction where he originally came from. He exited his car, stood in the diners parking lot for a short period of time, and then attempted to leave the scene but was stopped by a witness. Specht was arrested shortly thereafter by the Nassau County Police Department. A search warrant for the defendants blood taken at the hospital revealed that his blood alcohol content was 0.18% more than three hours after the incident. Local News By Chris Boyle Published: September 30 2024 14,736 pounds of food was collected at the seven sites, along with $6,350 collected online and in cash donations and gift cards. PSEG Long Island thanks generous Long Islanders for helping make its fourth annual PSEG Long Islands Power to Feed Long Island initiative another success. In the seven collection events that took place from Memorial Day through the end of September, the equivalent of 25,000 meals was collected for Island Harvest Food Bank and distributed to members of the community through local food pantries and soup kitchens. In the past four years, this initiative has collected and distributed the equivalent of nearly 130,000 meals to people on Long Island struggling with food insecurity. We are grateful to the people of Long Island for their kindness and compassion in supporting PSEG Long Islands Power to Feed Long Island food collection initiative this year, said David Lyons, interim president and COO of PSEG Long Island. In each community we visited, we met wonderful people with a genuine desire to help their neighbors in need. Our employees stepped up once again by donating more than 650 pounds of food, which equates to more than 550 meals, and volunteering at the collection events throughout the summer. This is one of the ways PSEG Long Island supports our community, along with providing safe and reliable power. Breaking down the results, 14,736 pounds of food was collected at the seven sites, along with $6,350 collected online and in cash donations and gift cards. The breakdown in each area is as follows: Date Location Pounds Collected Resources Collected Total Equivalent Meals May 24 Massapequa 2,117 $388 2,540 June 8 East Northport 1,774 $684 2,846 June 21 Levittown 1,531 $631 2,538 July 12 South Setauket 2,570 $1,284 4,572 July 26 Carle Place 1,501 $502 2,254 Aug. 16 Oceanside 1,507 $564 2,384 Sept. 13 West Babylon 3,265 $543 3,807 May Sept. Online donations NA $1,758 3,516 PSEG Long Islands continued support of Island Harvests efforts in addressing the needs of people who are food insecure once again proves that partnerships between companies and nonprofits are indeed making a difference in the lives of our neighbors faced with uncertainty, said Randi Shubin Dresner, president and CEO, Island Harvest. We are grateful to the PSEG Long Island employees who worked so hard to make Power to Feed Long Island a success, and we extend our thanks to our longtime partner Stop & Shop for hosting the food drives, and of course, special thanks to the numerous Long Islanders for their generosity too. Stop & Shop is proud to support Island Harvest in their mission to combat food insecurity across Long Island, said Daniel Wolk, external communications manager, Stop & Shop. PSEG Long Islands Power to Feed food drives held at Stop & Shop locations across Nassau and Suffolk were a great success and will help our neighbors in need. We want to thank our caring customers for their support and donations to this important initiative, as we work together to fight hunger and help our local community members. Power to Feed Long Island was created by PSEG Long Island in 2021 to raise awareness about the issue of food insecurity on Long Island and to provide the public with venues where they live and work to donate food and personal care items to their neighbors. Food collection events were held at seven Stop & Shop supermarkets this year in Carle Place, East Northport, Levittown, Massapequa, Oceanside, South Setauket and West Babylon from Memorial Day weekend through the end of September. PSEG Long Island created this event during the pandemic and continued to hold events each summer because the need continues to be great. Summer is a difficult time of year for food banks, pantries and programs because vacations cause a decrease in donations and collection drives are not as prevalent. It is also a time when children out of school are not receiving daily free or reduced-cost breakfast and lunch, which puts a heavier burden on their families. Hunger Action Month is September, and there is still time to make a donation to this cause online. For additional information on Power to Feed Long Island or to make an online monetary donation, visit psegliny.com/feedLI. A screenshot from the online statement on Nasrallahs death issued by Saraya al-Ashtar and Saraya Waad Allah. In a statement released online, two Iranian-backed Bahraini militias eulogized killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah while also promising to take revenge against the criminal Zionists for his death. Nasrallah, the long-time leader of Hezbollah, was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon, on September 27. Since his death, a slew of Hezbollah-allied Shia militias and other armed groups from Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Palestine have sent their condolences. The Bahrainis are just the latest to join this chorus. The statement, co-signed by Saraya al-Ashtar and Saraya Waad Allah, two of the larger Iranian-backed militias on the island kingdom, begins with saying that Nasrallah was a witness of the weak and the oppressed and a witness of the global arrogance represented by America and the Zionists. It continues: [Nasrallah was] a witness to the Arab and Islamic failure, a witness to the existence of strong mujahideen in the cause of truth, and a witness to the unity of the arenas. The blood of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was shed in paving the way to Jerusalem. In response to his killing, the two militias reaffirm that Nasrallahs blood must be avenged. Speaking to supporters inside Bahrain, they state that any Zionist present on the Islamic land of Bahrain has his blood permissible [to be killed], considering that they are fighting against God and His messengers, and you are a people resisting this cancerous existence. The two militias also call for mass rallies in support of Nasrallah and Lebanese Hezbollah, saying, Let us also raise pictures of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah everywhere, decorate our villages and towns with the yellow flag [of Hezbollah], and establish his love in the conscience of our generation. Saraya al-Ashtar, a US-designated terrorist organization for its terrorist attacks in Bahrain and relationship with Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has long threatened attacks on Israel, Zionists, and Jews more broadly. For instance, in February 2019, al-Ashtar openly threatened attacks against Israeli targets in Bahrain. Speaking in a video, a spokesman for the group denounced the Khalifa regimes openness to the Zionists and added that the Zionist presence is a legitimate target on the island. Other IRGC-backed Shia militias in Bahrain have also directly threatened Israel in the past. Just two days after the Hamas-led invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, Saraya Waad Allah praised the violence and called for additional attacks on Israelis and Jews, including in Bahrain itself. Before this, in 2020, it stated it created a dedicated sub-unit to target Israeli interests in Bahrain. It also took credit for threats against an Israeli delegation meeting with Bahraini officials in 2019. Saraya al-Mokhtar, another US-designated terrorist group for its ties to the IRGC, has also threatened Israelis and Jews in Bahrain. Despite all the talk, however, no Iranian-backed militia in Bahrain has actually carried through with these threats. Both Saraya al-Ashtar and Saraya Waad Allah also operate inside Iraq, where both are integrated within the structures of other so-called Islamic Resistance groups, or Iranian-backed forces in the country. For instance, Iraq was the likely launch point for Saraya al-Ashtars drone it fired into Israeli territory earlier this year. So, even though the threat in Bahrain is limitedbut not zeroit also stands to reason that the two Bahraini militias will likely participate in the event of increased hostilities inside or emanating from Iraq in the wake of Nasrallahs killing. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meets with IDF troops in northern Israel. (Ariel Hermoni/Israeli Ministry of Defense photo) The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continued to train and prepare for a possible ground offensive against Hezbollah on September 30, amid growing reports in Western and regional media that an operation is imminent. The IDF also declared a closed military zone in several communities along the border with Lebanon. It prohibited entry to Metula, Misgav Am, and Kfar Giladi near the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona. The closures appeared linked to the possibility of a ground offensive. Over the last month, the IDF has rapidly shifted forces to the north while striking at Hezbollahs command and control. The Israeli government added a new goal to its war effort on September 17, making the return of residents to communities in northern Israel a primary goal of the war. This set the stage for the IDFs wider strikes against Hezbollah commanders and other targets. On September 30, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited the 188th Armored Brigade in northern Israel. The elimination of Nasrallah is an important step, but it is not the final one. In order to ensure the return of Israels northern communities, we will employ all of our capabilities, and this includes you, Gallant said. His meeting with the armored unit is one of several Israeli officials and military brass have had with the key units expected to be involved in a ground offensive into Lebanon. Israeli Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi met with elements of the IDFs 7th Armored Brigade on September 25, as the unit conducted a training exercise designed to simulate a potential conflict against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. At the time, Halevi indicated Israel was preparing for a ground offensive. Major General Ori Gordin, the head of IDF Northern Command, and Gallant also met with the 7th Armored amid the same training. Gallants visit with the 188th Armored Brigade and the Golani Infantry Brigade on September 30 completes the cycle of visits over the past week as the IDF prepares for the next steps in Lebanon. The 188th Armored, the 7th Armored, and the Golani Infantry are all part of the IDFs 36th Division, which is expected to play a major role in any future ground war against Hezbollah. The division fought in Gaza during the opening part of the ground campaign between October and December 2023. Most of the division was then transferred to northern Israel, while the 7th Armored remained in Gaza. However, along with the IDFs 98th Division, which includes commandos and paratroopers, the 7th Armored also moved to northern Israel recently to prepare for war with Hezbollah. The meeting between Gallant and the troops signals that the IDF is serious about the potential to move forward on the ground after a week of intense airstrikes that began on September 23. The IDF dubbed the operation against Hezbollah Northern Arrows. During the Defense Ministers trip to the north, his office said he was briefed by commanders on the ground, about the readiness of troops for the possibility of expanding activities in the northern arena. Gallant has favored a more aggressive approach to Hezbollah since the first days after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. Hezbollah began its attacks on Israel on October 8 and has launched more than 8,000 rockets at Israel since then. The Iranian-backed group has extended the range of those attacks several times, often claiming to be responding to Israeli strikes. After the IDF attacked Beirut on September 20, Hezbollah extended the range of its rocket fire deep into northern Israel and also targeted areas near Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. On September 29, Hezbollah claimed to use what it calls its Fadi-1 missiles to strike at an IDF base. The group also claimed, via the pro-Iranian al-Mayadeen media, to have hit 11 other sites in northern Israel, including the city of Rosh Pina. There is a widespread expectation that Israel will begin a ground offensive against Hezbollah soon. For example, on September 30, Al-Ain media, an Arabic-language website in the UAE, ran the headline Israeli forces infiltrate Lebanon, while Israels Ynet media stated, Israel planning to launch ground operation in Lebanon at any moment, reports say. 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). If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom. Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook. The death toll from powerful storm Helene jumped to at least 93 on Sunday, with one county in North Carolina alone reporting 30 deaths, authorities said, as rescuers battled to reach people in need across the southeastern United States. The storm response took on a political tinge after President Joe Biden and the two candidates vying to replace him, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, announced plans to soon visit hard-hit areas, some of them in key battleground states in the November election. High winds and torrential rain pummeled towns and cities across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Homes were destroyed, roads flooded out and power cut off to millions. "We're hearing (of) significant infrastructure damage to water systems, communication, roads, critical transportation routes, as well as several homes that have been just destroyed by this," the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Deanne Criswell, said Sunday. At least 93 people were killed in the extreme weather -- 37 in North Carolina, 25 in South Carolina, 17 in Georgia, 11 in Florida, two in Tennessee and one in Virginia, according to tallies from local authorities compiled by AFP. That total was expected to rise. "We have another devastating update. We now have 30 confirmed losses due to the storm," Quentin Miller, the sheriff in North Carolina's Buncombe County, which includes the tourist city of Asheville, told a briefing. Flood warnings remained in effect in parts of western North Carolina, amid fears of potential dam failures. Conditions were expected to improve in the affected areas by around Tuesday, National Weather Service director Ken Graham said. Nearly 2.2 million households remained without power on Sunday, according to tracker poweroutage.us. US Department of Energy official Matt Targuagno said that crews were working hard to restore electricity but warned it would be "a complex, multi-day response." Thousands of people continued to seek assistance in shelters run by the American Red Cross, organization official Jennifer Pipa said. - Bridges washed away - Helene blew into Florida's northern Gulf shore as a huge Category Four hurricane with winds of 140 miles (225 kilometers) per hour. Even as it weakened, it wreaked havoc. North Carolina saw some of the worst of the flooding, with Governor Roy Cooper saying rescuers were being forced to airlift supplies in some areas due to damaged or flooded roads. "I don't know that anybody could be fully prepared for the amount of flooding and landslides that they are experiencing right now," Criswell said on CBS, adding that more search and rescue teams were being deployed. William Ray, director of the state's emergency management department, warned that conditions were still extremely dangerous. Hundreds of roads across the region remained closed, with several bridges washed away by floodwaters. Four major interstate highways were closed across North Carolina and Tennessee, with "multiple" bridges still out, said Kristin White of the US Department of Transportation. Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina each had more than 100 road closures, she added. In the Georgia city of Valdosta, the storm ripped the roofs off buildings, and left road intersections a tangle of felled utility poles and trees. "The wind started really hitting, like, felt branches and pieces of the roof hitting the side of the building and hitting the windows," said Valdosta resident Steven Mauro. "And then we were looking out and then literally this whole street, just everything went black." Trump, the Republican former president seeking another term, will visit Valdosta on Monday for a briefing on the disaster, his campaign said. Biden, who has approved federal aid for several states in the wake of the disaster, intends to travel to hard-hit areas this week, "as soon as it will not disrupt emergency response operations," the White House said Sunday, later adding that Harris would do the same. "We will stand with these communities for as long as it takes to make sure that they are able to recover and rebuild," Harris said Sunday evening at a campaign rally in Las Vegas. Biden was scheduled to speak about the post-storm response from the White House on Monday. bur-sst/jgc After massive air strikes on the Dahiyeh district of Beirut, the Israeli military succeeded in assassinating the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, together with other top commanders of the organisation. It seems that the head of Hezbollahs southern front, Ali Karaki, was also killed in the attack. Netanyahu ordered the strike personally and he is clearly provoking both Hezbollah, and its main backer Iran, to enter into all-out war with Israel. This danger is now closer than ever. The US Administration was quick to announce that it had nothing to do with the attack, although the Israelis stated that they had informed them in advance. The fact remains that in yesterdays attack, the missiles used to kill Nasrallah were provided by the United States. They can try and distance themselves, but everyone can see the role of US imperialism here. In words they talk of ceasefires, but every time Israel carries out one of its bloody attacks it knows it can count on continued US support. Biden and his administration together with all the western governments that support Israels supposed right to defend itself are covered from head to toe in the blood of tens of thousands of Palestinians. Now they are adding the blood of the Lebanese. The most that the western imperialist powers, with the United States at their head, are prepared to do is talk of peace, suggest temporary ceasefires, while they shed crocodile tears over the death and destruction being unleashed by Netanyahu and his government. Netanyahu speaking at the UN yesterday / Image: Amir Ohana, Twitter But they will not stop supplying arms and military aid to Israel, which would be the only concrete way of weakening the Zionist war machine. They will continue to back Israel even if this means seeing the whole Middle East engulfed by a regional war. They will continue to defend Israel even if its actions risk disastrous consequences for the people living in the region, and also for the world as a whole. Israel is often referred to as a terrorist state by protestors around the world. The Zionists feel deeply offended by this and accuse Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Palestinian people of terrorism. Let us be clear here: it is the Palestinians who are the oppressed it is they who have suffered mass expulsions from their homeland; it is they who have been forced into refugee camps; it is they who have suffered mass killings on numerous occasions. And the oppressor state is called Israel. It is a state that feels it has the right to bomb and destroy, to kill and maim, to keep the oppressed in their place. They like to portray themselves as civilised and dont like being referred to as terrorists. But how else can one describe what happened yesterday? The airstrikes hit densely populated areas in the south of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. Over 800 people have been killed in the past week most of them innocent civilians and at least 250,000 have been forced to flee their homes. Protesters around the world often refer to the state of Israel as a 'terrorist state'. The Israeli regime dislikes that epithet, but what else can you call yesterday's actions? / Image: own work The Bekaa valley has also suffered heavy bombardment, with thousands of people fleeing the area. According to a New York Times article: Where factories, stores and houses once stood, there are piles of cinder blocks, twisted pieces of metal and shards of glass. Emerald green shrubbery is coated in dull gray dust, and power lines yanked from their metal posts in the blasts dangle over the road, swaying with the breeze. We highlighted in our article yesterday how Iran has shown extreme restraint in the face of constant provocations. The western media always portray Iran as the aggressor and Israel as the victim. But the aggressor here is Israel. It is the Israeli government, led by Netanyahu, that wants an all-out regional war. That was made very clear in Netanyahu's speech to the UN on Friday. Listening to Netanyahu, no one could have any doubts as to his intentions. He vowed to continue the war on Hezbollah. As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice and Israel has every right to remove this threat, he said. We will continue degrading Hezbollah until all our objectives are met. He also directly threatened Iran, and the whole of the Middle East, when he said, There is no placethere is no place in Iranthat the long arm of Israel cannot reach. And thats true of the entire Middle East. Herzi Halevi, chief-of-staff of the IDF, made it clear today that yesterdays strike does not mark the end of Israels bombing campaign when he said: This is not the end of our toolbox. The message is simple: anyone who threatens the citizens of Israel we will know how to reach them. This is not the language of those who seek peace; it is the language of all-out war. The fact that the IDF have issued messages to the residents of Dahiyeh in Beirut to evacuate the area and move to other parts of the city is an indication of their plans over the next few days. Nadav Shoshani, a spokesperson for Israels military has spoken very clearly: Are we ready for a wider escalation? Yes, he said, adding that our forces are on high alert . The Iranian regime does not want a regional war. Hezbollahs measured responses to Israeli aggression show that they too did not want to increase the level of military confrontation. They wanted to keep the conflict at the level it has been over the past year, of skirmishes and tit-for-tat bombings across the border. The imperialists in particular the Europeans dont want a regional war as they can see the disastrous consequences for themselves. And yet the situation is tobogganing towards the very thing they all fear. Revolutionary Communists always identify who the oppressed and the oppressors are, and we stand on the side of the former. The warmongers here are called Netanyahu, Biden, Starmer, Macron and all the other leaders of the West. To stop their warmongering it is not enough to appeal to them. It is like appealing to the devil to stop sinfulness. They do not listen. They must be removed! The MBTAs Red Line is back in business. A three-and-a-half-week closure of its Braintree Branch ended on schedule Monday with 18 miles of tracks freshly repaired. For the first time since Sept. 5, the subway system can take riders between Braintree and Boston in one smooth ride. So whats next? The Mattapan Trolley, Orange Line and Green Line will all take turns on the operating table in the coming weeks, according to the MBTA. From Monday through Thursday, service will end early at 11:30 p.m. on the Mattapan line, a trolley service connecting to the Red Line at Ashmont. The trolley will then close for the weekend at 8:30 p.m. Friday. The Green Lines D Branch will also be closed on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 5 and 6, between Kenmore and Newton Highlands. On Oct. 19 and 20, the same line will be closed between Riverside and Brookline Hills. From Oct. 8 to 11 and Oct. 15 to 20, Orange Line will be closed between Forest Hills and Back Bay. From Oct. 12 to 14, the closure will extend from Forest Hills to North Station. On the weekend of Oct. 26 and 27, the line will shut down between Oak Grove and Ruggles. It will close between Oak Grove to North Station from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1 Full details on the closures and alternate methods of travel, including free shuttle bus service, can be found on the MBTAs website. MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng rides a Green Line train from Riverside to Park Street with then Transportation Secretary Gina Fiandaca, March 27, 2023. (Chris Van Buskirk/MassLive) With each completed project, the MBTA takes another step toward eliminating slow zones areas where safety concerns limit the trains speed by years end. The closure of the Braintree Branch this month was for a significant amount of work on tracks and other infrastructure that needed to be restored and replaced, MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng said. But the outcome was far more efficient service and giving people back time in their days, he said. The T estimated that roundtrip travel on the Braintree Branch could improve by 24 minutes. The work would not have been possible without a total shutdown of train service, according to transit officials. If repair crews could only work when the Red Line is normally closed each night, we would have been here for 10 years probably, Eng said. But the message from their riders was clear: If youve got to shut it down, shut it down. But get it fixed, as one UMass Boston commuter put it. Iconic Britpop group Oasis says North American fans have one last chance to prove that you loved us all along. Oasis, who announced its reunion after more than 15 years earlier this year, will play five shows in North America in 2025, the chart-topping band said on X Monday, Sept. 30. Oasis will be joined by Cage The Elephant on tour. The tour dates and locations can be found below: Aug. 24, 2025 Rogers Stadium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada Aug. 26, 2025 Solider Field in Chicago, Illinois Aug. 31, 2025 Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey Sept. 6, 2025 Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles, California Sept. 12, 2025 Estadio GNP Seguros in Mexico City, Mexico. People can register for the North American ticket pre-sale private ballot by clicking here. The pre-sale will take place Thursday, Oct. 3 with a general sale starting Friday, Oct. 4. The North American shows will follow the 19 shows that Oasis is scheduled to play across the United Kingdom and Ireland next year. The news of Oasis reunion comes 30 years after the band 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, made up of brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, 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. Other notable songs by the band include Dont Look Back in Anger, Stop Crying Your Heart Out, Champagne Supernova and Live Forever. Oasis released five more studio albums, with their last project being Dig Out Your Soul in 2008. However, the band broke up after a backstage brawl at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris in August 2009, according to the BBC. More information about tickets can be found on Oasis website. A trio of Massachusetts lawmakers are raising fresh concerns about the sale of bankrupt Steward Health Cares physicians network to a company thats owned by a private equity firm. Democratic U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, joined by U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-4th District, said theyre worried state residents would be at the mercy of another private equity firm as they recover from the damage of Steward, which was formerly owned by a private equity firm. The letter to the companys CEO, Benson Sloan, was shared exclusively with MassLive. Steward, headquartered in Dallas, announced in August that it had reached a $245 million deal with the Nashville-based Rural Healthcare Group to sell the network, which is known as Stewardship Health. Rural Healthcare is a subsidiary of the private equity firm Kinderhook Industries LLC, MassLive previously reported. The company operates 17 clinics in Tennessee and North Carolina. The proposed sale still needs to clear a regulatory review process in Massachusetts and other states, according to published reports. Even so, the lawmakers said they remain deeply concerned that this proposed transaction, if allowed to proceed, would empower yet another private equity firm to prey on Massachusetts patients and providers, sucking taxpayer dollars out of the system for the profit of a few corporate executives and shareholders. Markey, Warren and Auchincloss argued that Kinderhook, the parent company, has a history of predatory practices as well as worrisome ties to a health software company, NaviHealth, which is the subject of a class action lawsuit stemming from its work to develop algorithms used by insurers to determine patient care plans. The three lawmakers added that they were troubled that Rural Healths pending acquisition may follow the same playbook that private equity firms and large insurers have deployed to aggressively acquire physician practices across the country and squeeze profits out of federal health programs. In just the last few years, private equity and for-profit insurers have invested roughly $50 billion in primary care alone, they wrote. Theyre not alone in their concerns. The proposed sale has been greeted cautiously by members of the Bay States medical community. Last month, Massachusetts Medical Society President Dr. Hugh Taylor called on Steward and Rural Healthcare Group to establish and maintain transparency and accountability and to promote equitable, affordable and timely access to care for our patients, the Boston Globe reported. The industry trade group represents both doctors and medical students. Warren, Markey, and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey repeatedly have hammered private equity-owned Steward and its CEO, Dr. Ralph de la Torre, for putting profit above patients as the company spiraled into bankruptcy. Rural Healthcare could not be reached for comment for this story. In a previous statement, Sloan said the company was excited to bring our mission and approach to the state of Massachusetts. In many ways, RHG has directly preserved and restored primary care in our Tennessee and North Carolina markets as both independent providers and health systems have sought us out to ensure long-term continuity of care in their communities, he added. A thriving primary care infrastructure is critical to supporting local hospitals and specialists, as primary care providers are instrumental in ensuring patients are directed to the appropriate facilities at the right time. On Friday, Healey announced that her office had used eminent domain to seize St. Elizabeths Hospital in Bostons Brighton neighborhood in a bid to keep its doors open. The move will allow the state to take control of the property and transfer the hospitals operations to Boston Medical Center, Healeys office said in a statement. As part of the legal process to take the hospital, Healeys office argued that a potential shutdown for St. Elizabeths would create a public health emergency. Thats because of the large number of patients the hospital now serves and the knock-on effects to medical services across the region, the administration said. Healeys office had previously announced that it had found new operators for five of Stewards seven hospitals in Massachusetts. Lawrence General Hospital will become the new operator for both campuses of Holy Family in Haverhill and Methuen, Lifespan will assume operations of Morton Hospital in Taunton and Saint Annes Hospital in Fall River, and Boston Medical Center will take over Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton. These transfers of ownership are expected to go into effect on Oct. 1, Healeys office said. Two Steward-run hospitals, Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, and Carney Hospital in Dorchester, closed in August after Steward said it failed to find qualified bidders for the property. Healeys office has said it convened a pair of working groups aimed at addressing the impact of those shutdowns. Last week, the U.S. Senate approved a resolution intended to hold Steward CEO de la Torre, in criminal contempt for failing to testify before a Senate panel. The Senate approved the measure by unanimous consent. Toyota is recalling more than 42,000 vehicles due to a skid control software error which may result in a loss of power brake assist. The voluntary recall, which was issued on Sept. 20, states a loss of power brake assist can extend the distance required to stop, increasing the risk of a crash, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Certain 2023-2024 Corolla Cross Hybrid vehicles are included in the recall. Dealers will update the skid control ECU (electronic control unit) software, free of charge, the recall states. Notification letters are expected to be mailed out to owners by Nov. 5. Vehicle owners can contact Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyotas number for this recall is 24TA11. In certain situations, during brake application when turning a corner, a driver may temporarily experience a hard brake pedal that can cause the stopping distance to be more than expected, Toyota stated in a release. Nearly 42,200 vehicles are covered by the recall and nearly 500 of which were distributed in Puerto Rico. Outgoing Steward Health Care CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre slapped a U.S. Senate committee with a lawsuit Monday, days after lawmakers voted to hold him in criminal contempt for ignoring a subpoena. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C., names the Senates Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and nearly all its membership, as defendants. The suit exempts U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who abstained from the vote. It claims the panel, chaired by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., violated his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination when it tried to compel him to testify on the Dallas-based companys financial collapse. The hospital executive had previously told the committee that he would not comply with its order to appear at a Capitol Hill hearing. The complaint asks the court for "the declaratory and injunctive relief necessary to stop the contempt proceedings. The Senate panel, which also including, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., voted Sept. 19 to send civil and criminal contempt resolutions to the full Senate after de la Torre carried through on his promise to not appear before lawmakers. The full Senate approved a criminal contempt resolution a week later, on Sept. 25. The resolution refers the matter to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia to criminally prosecute de la Torre for failing to comply with the subpoena, The Associated Press reported. In a statement, de la Torres lawyer, William Bill Burck, said the hospital executive was not trying to tear a page from former Trump White House aides Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, who each invoked executive privilege when they defied congressional subpoenas, were held in contempt, and sentenced to jail time. Although former President [Donald] Trump had asserted executive privilege, President [Joe] Biden rejected the assertion, and its the sitting president who gets to make the decision, not the former, Burck, who previously represented Bannon, said. By contrast, Dr. de la Torre has invoked his inalienable rights under the 5th Amendment of the US Constitution, which no one not the Congress, not the President, not the Judiciary has the right to deprive him of while he faces the criminal accusations the committee has hurled at him, Burck continued. No one can be compelled to testify when they exercise this right under these circumstances. Nor does the Constitution permit Congress to punish and intimidate him, or any other American, for exercising these rights. The Constitution, not the Senate, reigns supreme in this country, he concluded. Spokespeople for Markey and Sanders could not immediately be reached for comment. During the committees vote earlier this month, Markey said that while de la Torre "may try to shield himself from hearing from the people in Massachusetts and across this country that he hurt ... I hear from them, and I am with them. They are angry, and I am angry for them. Sanders, meanwhile, has said that lawmakers will hold Dr. de la Torre accountable for his greed and for the damage he has caused to hospitals and patients throughout America. The Steward boss, who has made national headlines for his high-flying lifestyle, announced Saturday that he was leaving the company. His last day is Tuesday. Last week, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey announced the state had used eminent domain to seize St. Elizabeths Hospital in Bostons Brighton neighborhood. The move was intended to allow the state to take control of the property and transfer the hospitals operations to Boston Medical Center. Healeys office had previously announced that it had found new operators for five of Dallas-based Stewards seven hospitals in Massachusetts. Lawrence General Hospital will become the new operator for both campuses of Holy Family in Haverhill and Methuen, Lifespan will assume operations of Morton and Saint Annes, and Boston Medical Center will take over Good Samaritan. These transfers of ownership also are expected to go into effect on Tuesday, Healeys office said. Two Steward-run hospitals, Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, and Carney Hospital in Dorchester, closed in August after Steward said it failed to find qualified bidders for the property. Earlier this week, Healeys office said it had convened a pair of working groups aimed at addressing the impact of those shutdowns. Nobody can predict the future; However, modernising payroll gives the space to contemplate a companys unique workplace evolution. We are overwhelmed by predictions of the future workplace. Workforces will be more flexible. Employees will assert their independence. Hybrid and remote working will become the norm. The 9-to-5 grind is coming to an endor not. There is evidence pointing towards and away from these predictions. Some companies are trialling 4-day work weeks while others try to lure employees back to the office. Some business models work very well remotely, while others struggle when they dont have people present. The more we try to unpack the potential futures of the workplace, the more scenarios appear. The only thing we can say with confidence is that nobody has the answers, says Sandra Crous, Managing Director of PaySpace by Deel. What works for one business doesnt work for another, which is not what business leaders want to hear. One day, well have the answers. But were the ones who need to come up with those answers and put them to the test. The certainty of flexibility With so many contradictions, what is the best way forward? There is a clear answerautomate the tasks that stop HR departments from applying their minds to these crucial questions. Consider when you go shopping. Which approach is more effective: making a shopping list beforehand or trying to figure it out while you shop? A shopping list is much more efficient and gives you the space to consider other options, such as price differences or taking advantage of a special. Our brains can only handle so many things at a given point. If you try to do everything at once, you dont do anything well. So, are there things that occupy your mind that dont need to be there? I think this is the real definition of flexibility: its not just about choice but removing unnecessary choice, says Crous. HR staff are like a busy shopper floundering between necessary and unnecessary choices. They wear many hats, interact with employees and owners, juggle policies and culture, and manage the workforces demands. They are also expected to help inform and cultivate a workplaces future. In order for them to focus on those questions, they need more flexibility and space. How can we create that space? Flexibility through payroll The answer lies in automating and streamlining routine yet crucial employee and business touchpoints, and payroll modernisation is the most obvious place to start, says Crous: Payroll encompasses a lot: the main examples are remuneration, benefits calculation, leave allocation, budgeting for salaries, and employee loans. Indirectly, payroll relates to talent management and employee wellbeing. On a strategic level, payroll is a big cost to business and a nerve centre between employees and employers. Some payroll tasks are simple yet important, such as providing payslip information so an employee can do things like open bank accounts. Other things become very complicated, like changes to employment laws or managing staff across multiple regions. Can payroll help HR prepare for the future workplace? Just like shopping without a list, payroll tasks can overwhelm HR and other departments with routine yet crucial tasks pulling their attention in different directions. However, when payroll services start removing the clutter and demands of payroll through automation, self-service, and enriched integration, it gives HR professionals the flexibility to apply their skills to the changing workplace. Nobody can predict what the future of offices will look like, Crous explains. Every business must figure that out for their circumstances. But if your HR people are constantly dealing with payroll issues, they dont have the scope to envision long-term scenarios and feel the pulse of company workforces. Nobody has conclusive answers on what tomorrows workplace looks like. But we can empower the right people to apply their minds to those questions by removing things that shouldnt consume their bandwidth. Payroll is an obvious place to start. In the pantheon of North American snakes, copperheads are among the most common. Their range stretches across many different types of habitat, from the conifer forests around the Gulf of Mexico to the deciduous woodland of the northeast. In hotter climates, copperhead snakes are nocturnal in the summertime, hunting after the scorching sun has set. In the colder months, they're active in the daytime, which makes them more likely to encounter unsuspecting humans. Advertisement What Do Copperheads Look Like? You know a copperhead when you see one; they are large reptiles, between 24 and 40 inches (61 and 102 centimeters) long, with triangular heads. Their bodies range in color from pale tan to a light pinkish-brown, with hourglass-designs along the length of its body. These hourglass-shaped crossbands are of a darker hue, sometimes a dark brown, but aren't present on the top of the head. The problem is that you probably won't see them; copperhead camouflage is notoriously excellent, and they often blend in perfectly to their surroundings, such as dead leaves or forest underbrush. While there are some harmless snakes that have a similar patterning like northern water snakes only copperhead snakes have the combination of bands and colors previously described. by Fern Siegel , September 30, 2024 Bourbon is the backbone of Kentucky. What began in 1783 is today a $9 billion economic and tourism powerhouse, said Eric Gregory, president, Kentucky Distillers Association. To promote the travel aspect, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a new campaign, consisting of a website rebranding, new logo and social videos: Kindred Spirits and State Line. Print and OOH ads in airports will follow in 2025. Lewis is handling all creative work. More than 2.5 million people visited the Kentucky Bourbon Trail in 2023, according to the KDA, created in 1999 to open the states most historic distilleries to tourism. Now 42 distilleries are available to tour. The work positions the KBT as a destination, similar to California wine country. advertisement advertisement The primary objective of the branding campaign is to reintroduce the Kentucky Bourbon Trail to the world. This is not the same Bourbon Trail experience from 25 years ago, and Kentucky is not just the misperceptions that many have, Tom Johson, vice president-integrated creative director, Lewis, told Agency Daily. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail should not be about completion, but centered on enjoying your time in Kentucky and taking in all that each unique distillery has to offer. We want our guests to savor the experience. The new logo, modern and customized, evokes a new KBT chapter. The Build Your Own Bourbon trail lets visitors tailor a trip to their singular tastes exploring big-name bourbons and smaller distilleries. The brand colors are a tribute to the craft of making the spirit (copper) with a nod to the states landscape (Kentucky bluegrass). Kentucky is responsible for 95% of bourbon production. The reasons are organic. The water in Kentucky is hard with a high pH and a high proportion of minerals, including calcium and magnesium, which are optimal for distilling. The yeast in bourbon favors those minerals. Plus, the state has rich, fertile soil, ideal for growing the whiskey's major ingredient: corn. (Bourbon must contain at least 51% corn.) We sought to build a brand that was modern, yet had a nod to bourbon's craftsmanship and rich history. It had to have a sense of familiarity for our existing guests, while feeling much more modern with a touch of attainable luxury for the next generation of more diverse visitors, added Johson. Lewis client work includes Alabama Launchpad, LED Technologies and ALS Network. It rested the case after weeks of sharing hours of expert testimony and introducing into evidence endless quotable emails from Google executives describing their views on the companys position in the advertising ecosystem. "We'll be able to crush the other networks and that's our goal," said David Rosenblatt, Google's former president of display advertising, describing the company's strategy. The notes were cited in court. advertisement advertisement Google argued that it faces plenty of competition and its business decisions, which the DOJ has characterized as anticompetitive, are intended to create a safer ecosystem for its users -- competition from other companies Microsoft Advertising and increasingly from TikTok and other tech companies building an ad business like The Trade Desk. Then, as the trial ended, the unexpected happen. Executives began willingly speaking out and sharing their views on a variety of companies they beleive to have followed in Google's steps. Lotame Founder Andy Monfried shared an interesting point on X, identifying a "weird evolution" in the ad-tech industry. He said that during the past decade Trade Desk executives have positioned the company as the alternative or "the good guys" when it comes to building a business and delivering value for brands and agencies, in programmatic ad technology -- specifically as an alternative to Google. by Barbara Lippert , Columnist, September 28, 2024 "Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story" is the too-long (nine-episode) slog that has become the number-one dramatic series now on Netflix. Co-written by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, masters of celebrity murder and mayhem, two words come to mind while watching the series: salacious and exploitative. Certainly, some of the homoerotic love shown between the brothers (that they have since objected to) could have been excised. One scene, revealing them showering together when their mother finds them, illustrates a story the Vanity Fair writer Dominick Dunne tells a captivated audience at a chi-chi dinner party. The acting in the series is excellent, with Javier Bardem as Jose Menendez, Chloe Sevigny as Mary Louise Kitty Menendez, Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez, and Nicholas Alexander Chavez as Lyle Menendez. advertisement advertisement But I found the way Nathan Lane plays Dunne cloying and clunky. Dunnes daughter, tragically, had been murdered, and the murderer was convicted but received a light sentence. So that experience completely biased his take, and he had no business reporting the story. As is well known, the Menendez brothers committed a single murder some 35 years ago, for which they are still imprisoned. Their story, involving the perverse and vile behavior of two handsome Beverly Hills rich kids, (ages 18 and 21 at the time) has been dramatized and documented many times over the years. The cold-blooded brutality of their actions never fails to be shocking. But at bottom, the reason remains unknowable, no matter how many people investigate. Indeed, why would two young adult sons blow their parents heads, hands, and other body parts off with shotguns one night while the couple slept in their den? The prosecution claimed that the kids did it for the family money. Their father, Jose, was a hard-charging, successful Cuban-American exec in the video and record businesses at a time of explosive growth for both. But even before the murder, both Lyle and Erik had already gotten into petty crime. Lyle, who got thrown out of Princeton, bought a Porsche and a pile of Rolexes after their parents death, seemingly doing the worst Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky impression. But the boys defense was based on their accounts of the constant sexual assault they had endured starting in childhood from Jose, while their mother, Kitty, turned a blind eye. Kitty reportedly even felt jealous of her sons for the attention they got from their father. Obviously, it was a deranged upbringing, and theres more than enough grisly psychopathology to go around in this family. This is Murphys second Monster series for Netflix (the word was pluralized for the brothers). The first, Jeffrey Dahmer, was excellent. Why was that one so riveting and this one so difficult to plod through? Maybe because we knew less about Dahmer. The excellent script by Ian Brennan was written from the victims point of view and over the years, their stories hadnt been as sensationalized in the media as the Menendezs. And maybe Brennan had his Dahmer script less tinkered with by Murphy. Episode 5, written by Brennan, is the standout of the series. The camera stays on Erik Menendez face (he was the more sensitive brother) as he describes to his lawyer the years of torture he endured from his father and how it destroyed him. Thats why Erik called himself The Hurt Man, which is the title of the episode. The series also has some moments of levity, which are hard to process, given the rest of what is revealed. Its difficult to integrate this lightness with the overall ghastliness of tone, but the writers plunge ahead. I vaguely remembered that there was something about a toupee. And theres always humor found in a hairpiece. Id thought that the taller, curly-haired guy, Erik wore it, but it turns out that it was his older brother Lyle. And we find out about it when Mom gets mad and rips the thing off her sons head in front of the whole family. This accounting of Lyles fake topper provides clues to his fathers unyielding narcissism and the emotional abuse, on top of the sexual, that he unleashed on his children. As Lyle started losing his hair in high school, Jose insisted that the kid get a convincing rug, spare no expense. Lyles thin hair offended his father, who said he was eventually going to move to Florida and run for the Senate, and as a candidate he couldnt abide a less than perfect family. Thus, Lyle had to live with the shame and constant coverup. During his initial time in jail, he obsessed over getting the right glue and pins with which to stick the piece on. Once the thing on his head was revealed to the press, he became a laughingstock. Current contemporary photos of him now show that hes a proud bald man. And (big spoiler alert) we get a major surprise, and big laugh, in the second to last episode, when Erik is shown talking through the wall to the prisoner in the next cell. He turns out to be a newly imprisoned O.J. Simpson. Apparently, all this is true. In fact, the boys had known O.J. as kids. They shared a lawyer, Robert Shapiro, at one point. But the brothers had quickly fired Shapiro, because he insisted, knowing how guilty they were, that they go for a plea deal. (Good advice, in retrospect.) So the irony in the O.J. scene is that Erik tells him to watch out for Shapiro, but to go for a plea deal. (Good advice, in retrospect.) The idea that there was such a celebrity murderers row in the prison at the time is pretty amusing, though their actions were despicable. In all, its an uneasy blend, but still, I guess theres something about Ryan Murphy, because I didnt stop watching. by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, September 30, 2024 Google owns the most powerful ad-serving business used by publishers to sell advertisements, the most powerful tool used by advertisers to buy them, and the largest exchange where the auctions are run. Lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) claim that when combined, those tech tools allow Google to keep 36 cents on every ad dollar that goes through them. Last week, the company finished making its case in the Department of Justices lawsuit related to some of its advertising technology, and on Friday recapped the arguments made during the trial as well as the conclusion. Google tried to prove through testimony that regulators who say Google holds an illegal monopoly over the technology have underestimated the competition such as Facebook and TikTok. In a wrap-up posted on Friday, the company explained that the DOJ tried to describe marketers that really "don't exist" and "ignored important ways that ad buyers and sellers buy and sell ads. advertisement advertisement "The DOJ had to hypothesize a market limited to banner ads on websites," in trying to show Google has market power, Lee-Anne Mulholland, vice president of regulatory affairs at Google, wrote. "But that blinkered definition misses many other types of display ads, let alone all the other places people see ads -- in apps, on social media and on connected TV." Ben John, CTO at Xandr (following Microsoft's acquisition), testified its integrated ad tech platform transacts across a range of digital advertising surfaces and formats. Mulholland explained how Googles ad-tech fees are lower than reported industry averages. Yale Professor Judith Chevalier explained that "using Google tools actually has a lower revenue share compared with competitors full stack average revenue shares, and it is on average less expensive to use Google-to-Google compared with third-party-to-third-party tools to connect advertisers with publishers. The DOJ also has to invent a market for open web display advertising, but many witnesses acknowledged they had heard the term only in the context of this lawsuit, and never in the real world. The DOJs expert witness testified that the combination of the four words is not commonly used. Index Exchange CEO Andrew Casale testified that putting the four words together is not common. "In reality many digital ads are not sold on ad exchanges and most publishers dont use Google Ad Manager," Google wrote. "Direct deals, where ad buyers and sellers bypass an exchange entirely, make up 70% of all digital ads spending. As our employees testified, our products help advertisers and publishers streamline traditional, manual negotiation by incorporating features that come from the programmatic or the real-time bidding world." Still, Google said, the DOJ excluded direct deals -- even those using ad tech tools -- from its alleged markets. Google also explained how the DOJ ignored AdSense, which publishers use much more often than Google Ad Manager, and DoubleClick For Publishers (DFP) Small Business, even though these tools, as Vice President of Global Partnerships at Google Scott Sheffer explained, also enable publishers to monetize inventory and provide access to Google Ads advertiser demand. In the end, Google believes that the DOJ missed "the forest for the trees," referring to the "intense competition in ad technology. Buyers have plenty of choices. Mark Israel, an economist who prepared an expert report on Googles behalf, said the government focused on a narrow market in which it defines as open web display advertising -- essentially banner ads that appear on the top and along the right-hand side of a web page -- and fails to account for a variety of competition beyond those boxes. It also failed to account for the advertisers that now spend budgets on Reddit, TikTok and on retail networks such as Amazon, Walmart and others. Popular in major global cities such as London, Paris and New York, these cameras will now target hoon drivers and noisy vehicles in NSW. Brand new cameras are being rolled out in NSW, in a bid to clamp down on hoon behaviour on roads and noisy vehicles. Source: Getty/ABC Brand new roadside cameras are about to be rolled out in Australia's most populous state in what authorities say is a fresh bid to stamp out hoon driving. In a multi-agency effort, NSW Police, Transport for NSW (TfNSW) and the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) will roll out the new cameras by the end of the year, using methods popular in major global cities like New York, Paris and London. According to the state government, the cameras will target "anti-social behaviour" and in particular noisy vehicles. In NSW, cars under 20 years old are legally limited to a maximum noise level of 90 decibels, roughly equivalent to the volume of a lawn mower. Motorcycles under 40 years old are limited to a maximum of 94 decibels. As it stands, fines of up to $600 are in place for individual offenders, but a noise reading will need to be taken while a vehicle is stationary. "Noise cameras are an emerging technology, and the trial will evaluate the effectiveness and accuracy of the equipment and the resources required to use noise cameras for regulatory purposes in NSW," a spokesperson for the EPA told Yahoo News on Monday. Noise cameras have already proven successful in London, Paris and New York. Source: UK Government NSW councils among first in country to trial new camera technology The trial is set to kick off in the NSW councils of Bayside and Wollongong, to allow the EPA to evaluate "the resources required to use noise cameras for regulatory purposes". The new tech will use noise meters to pick up sounds above a certain decibel limit within a distance of just over 15 metres, while cameras zoom to scan licence plates and catch offenders. Wollongong councillor Richard Martin backed the move and said fines were crucial to measure the cameras' impact. "The amount of residents that contact me complaining about the noise, we've got to deter [hooning drivers]," he told the ABC. "Whether the trial of a noise camera is going to deter them, I'm not sure, but a fine certainly will." So far, four cameras have been purchased for the trial, with each one estimated to cost $50,000, according to the ABC. Yahoo News has sought comment for TfNSW over the figure. It's understood the two councils are consulting with the state government bodies to plan where they'll be installed. The EPA said the "location of noise cameras may move from time-to-time", suggesting they can be moved around to target problem areas. In April, the NSW government flagged the camera trial and asked for community input, saying it was cracking down on "cars that disturb the peace". NSW Minister for the Environment, Penny Sharpe, said car hoons were about to be "put on notice". "The NSW Government has heard the communitys concerns about noisy vehicles and is committed to sourcing and testing the most effective methods to deter anti-social behaviour on our roads," she said at the time. The EPA told Yahoo that recent consultation with the community on their preferred locations to install the noise cameras saw 2,500 responses from residents. Noise camera trials in New York and London resulted in the technology being used more widely. In New York for example, there was just one noise camera in mid-2021 before the city rolled out seven by 2023. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. by Wayne Friedman , September 30, 2024 Now combining the two major U.S. pay TV satellite providers, DirecTV says its merger with Dish Media will incentivize programmers to allow it to sell smaller TV network packages at lower prices. The deal will give DirecTV/Dish greater scale -- amassing an industry-leading 20 million among traditional/legacy pay TV operators (cable, satellite, telco, and virtual). DirecTV recently struck a deal with Walt Disney that it says will allow it to offer smaller TV network packages to consumers at lower prices. Monday's announcement says DirecTV will buy Dish/Sling from its parent Echostar for $1.00 plus the assumption of $9.75 billion in Dish Media debt. At the same time, the 30% minority DirecTV owner -- the TPG Group -- will buy out AT&T majority $70 stake for $7.6 billion, according to reports. In a release, DirecTV notes that the pressures on the pay TV business are highly competitive -- with streaming services owned by large technology and programming companies with subscription numbers that far exceed those of pay TV distributors. advertisement advertisement DirecTV/Dish says it has lost a collective 63% of their satellite customers over the past eight years -- with traditional pay TV subscribers of U.S. households under 50%. The company will continue to be led by Bill Morrow, chief executive officer of DirecTV, and Ray Carpenter, its chief financial officer. DirecTV says the deal will allow Echostar to continue to strengthen its positions in the wireless business -- through its Boost Mobile brand -- which it now says is the fourth largest U.S. carrier. by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, September 30, 2024 AT&T's $57 million privacy fine for allegedly disclosing customers' locations should remain in place, the Federal Communications Commission argues in new court papers. For years, AT&T sold the location of its wireless customers to its business partners with no way of verifying that the information was being used for a legitimate purpose or that the customers had consented to sharing it, the agency argues in papers filed Friday with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. This system-wide vulnerability endangered the privacy, and safety, of millions of the companys customers. The agency's argument comes in a battle that began in 2020, when the FCC proposed fining AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile for allegedly sharing customers' location data with third parties. The FCC specifically alleged in a notice of apparent liability that the carriers sold access to geolocation data to aggregators that resold the information to outside companies. The FCC issued the notice around one year after Vice Media's Motherboard reported that a journalist had been able to pay a bounty hunter $300 to track a phone's location to a neighborhood in Queens, New York. advertisement advertisement Earlier this year, the FCC followed through on the notice of apparent liability and fined AT&T around $57 million, Verizon around $47 million, and T-Mobile $92 million (including $12 million for Sprint, which merged with T-Mobile in 2020). The agency voted 3-2 to impose the fines, with Republican commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington dissenting. The carriers -- which say they no longer sell location data -- paid the fines under protest and are now appealing to separate federal circuit courts. (AT&T appealed to the 5th Circuit, Verizon filed its appeal with the 2nd Circuit, and T-Mobile appealed to the District of Columbia Circuit.) AT&T argued in papers filed in July that the sanction should be vacated for several reasons, including that the FCC imposed the fine without proving the allegations at a jury trial. AT&T also contends the agency lacked authority to issue fines because the location data at issue wasn't tied solely to voice services, like telephone calls. Instead, the location information was tied to non-voice location-based services such as the Life Alert program, which sends medical help to people, or roadside assistance company AAA. AT&T said the difference between call information and location information that isn't derived from phone calls is critical, arguing that the FCC is only authorized to police the confidentiality of call information. The FCC is now asking the 5th Circuit to reject those arguments for numerous reasons. Among other contentions, the agency says AT&T would have been entitled to a jury trial if it had requested one before paying the fine. AT&T simply chose to dispense with that opportunity and instead opted to pay the forfeiture at once and to seek relief in this court, the agency argues. The FCC also says it has the authority to police the privacy of location data tied to a broader range of services than phone calls. AT&T's argument to the contrary ignores the undisputed fact that a cellphone constantly shares its location with a carrier, even when it is idle, the FCC contends. The agency adds: AT&T points to no way of disaggregating location data particular to voice services from those relating to non-voice services, nor any distinguishing characteristic of such voice location data. The 5th Circuit hasn't yet scheduled a date for oral arguments. What is Endophthalmitis? Endophthalmitis is a bacterial infection and inflammation of the intraocular cavities (the vitreous humor, the retina and the choroid) of the eye. It is a rare condition but if neglected could cause complete loss of vision and hence requires immediate medical attention. There are two types of Endophthalmitis: Exogenous Endophthalmitis - It results from direct infection from the outside as a complication of eye surgery, foreign bodies, and penetrating injuries to the eye. - It results from direct infection from the outside as a complication of eye surgery, foreign bodies, and penetrating injuries to the eye. Post ocular surgery or after eye surgery this is the most common reason for infection especially after common inocular surgeries like the Know About Cataract. Post traumatic or after penetrating injuries there is a higher risk of losing vision in these cases especially due to delay in giving medical attention or due to age. Endogenous Endophthalmitis - It is a rarer kind of endophthalmitis which results from the spread of bacteria from a distant source of infection in the body through the blood stream. Infection may spread from the infected organ to the eye through the blood stream where the bacteria, fungi or parasites may cross the blood-retina barrier and enter the ocular tissue. Endophthalmitis is caused by - Bacteria - aerobic bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pnuemoniae which are resistant to postoperative antibiotics Fungi - Cephalosporium, Candida, and moulds like Aspergillus and Fusarium Advertisement Virus - Epstein-Barr virus or Cytomegalo virus, herpes simplex or HIV Parasites - This infection may result after surgery, injections, injuries, and HIV infections. Common Symptoms - Increasing defect in vision Ocular pain Conjunctival swelling or chemosis Hypopyon an inflammatory condition caused by toxins secreted by pathogens Corneal edema Vitritis inflammation of the vitreous body Reduced fundus view secondary to inflammation Floaters: Especially in cases of fungal infection a sub acute onset of floaters and blurred vision may be associated with ocular discomfort and photophobia Keratitis - Inflammation of the cornea which may be bacterial or viral in origin Rarer Symptoms due to fungal infections - In Candida infections - localized fluffy creamy white retinal or sub retinal nodules may be associated with vitreous haze. Early or peripheral fungal infection may be asymptomatic. But, when infection is severe there is bleeding with necrosis and retinal block. Advertisement Endophthalmitis is diagnosed through the symptoms and physical examination with detailed history of the case taken by the physician or the ophthalmologist Your doctor will check for the following signs to determine endophthalmitis: Redness of eyes Decreased Reflex Corneal edema Swelling of eyelids Swelling of the conjunctiva Drooping of the eyelids (ptosis) Protuberance of the eyeball (exophthalmos) Hypopyon Hemorrhage of the iris Laboratory Diagnosis: by gram staining and culture; results must turn out positive and show gram negative bacteria or fungal colonies. Direct injection of antibiotics into the eye or vitreous humor followed by topical antibiotic application Vitrectomy drainage of the inflammation in the vitreous humor Decongestants and NSAIDs to relieve the pain Corticosteroids The following are the medicines used to treat endophthalmitis - Naphazoline is a decongestant, prescribed for conjunctivitis with symptoms of redness. is a decongestant, prescribed for conjunctivitis with symptoms of redness. Fluorometholone is a corticosteroid, prescribed for the swelling caused by infections, injury, surgery or other conditions. Oxymetazoline is a decongestant, used to relieve nasal and sinus congestion due to colds, allergies, and hay fever. Ophthalmic indication is for relieving redness in the eye. Combination of intravitreal Vancomycin and Ceftazidime or alternatively combination of Vancomycin and Amikacin is good to treat endophthalmitis. Advertisement Other drugs or antibiotics like Gentamicin and Ceftazidime. Endophthalmitis can be prevented by taking the following precautions: Antibiotic injection and antibiotic eye drops given together lower the chance of infection. Povidineiodine prophylaxis- prevention by cleaning the vitreous humor of the eye with povidone and iodine prior to surgery. Meticulous draping of the eyes to prevent any entry of the pathogens from external sources after surgery. Injection of the antibiotic (Cefuroxime) in the eye at the end of surgery lowers the chance of endophthalmitis after surgery. Operative technique (blue-line incision) -The blue line incision performed with a diamond knife trans conjunctively, 2 mm behind the surgical limbus during cataract surgery. Postoperative injection of sub-conjunctival antibiotics. Health Tips Maintain good hygiene of the eyes before and after surgery Avoid injuries to the eyes caused by harsh cosmetics like false eyelashes Avoid using old expired eye cosmetics IIFA 2024 was an event that brought together the creme de la creme of Bollywood under one roof in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. While the event was all about stars earning accolades for their work, a lot6 of attention was focused on their sartorial style, of course. Some stuck to classics and chose to wear a simple black tux while others experimented a bit with their wardrobe through colours and embellishments. Here are some of the best dressed Bollywood actors at IIFA awards 2024. 1. Shah Rukh Khan Instagram/IIFA It would be unfair to kickstart this list without SRK on the top. After years of sporting the long hair look, SRK is back in his short hair era. This new hairstyle is making him look much younger and if you add a classic black suit to that, you have a winner. SRKs look for IIFA 2024 is the best example of how a good black suit will never go out of style just like the man himself. 2. Shahid Kapoor View this post on Instagram Shahid was one of the more experimental stars on the red carpet as he showed up in a blingy suit for IIFA Utsavam 2024. His jacket looked like a piece of art with snowy peaks splashed across the edges. And he carried it off just right! 3. Karan Johar Instagram/IIFA Karan Johar is known for his sartorial fashion choices and it was no different at the IIFA 2024 awards. He wore a white oversized blazer with blingy black swatches of sequins. He paired it with a pair of his signature oversized glasses to complete the look. 4. Karan Aujla Instagram/Karan Aujla For a black tie event, Karan Aujla decided to rebel and went all white in an Alexander McQueen suit and Dior accessories. He even sang Tauba Tauba from Bad Newz live on stage as Karan Johar looked on, enjoying the performance like others in the audience. View this post on Instagram 5. Bobby Deol Instagram/IIFA It was a moment of pure joy for Bobby Deols fans who finally saw the actor win an award after years for his performance in Animal. The actor shined bright in a striped Shantanu & Nikhil suit with a golden embroidered patch pocket as he received the award for the Best Actor in a Negative Role. 6. Vijay Varma An ex-Army soldier was sentenced to three months in federal prison Thursday and must pay $202, 309 in restitution after conspiring with a woman to evade U.S. immigration laws, enter into a fake marriage and steal federal benefits. Andre Fulton II, 30, of Georgia, who joined the Army in 2014, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jill A. Otake for theft of government money. His prison term will be followed by three years of supervised release, and Fulton also was ordered to pay a $100 fine as part of a plea agreement he entered into May 30 with the U.S. Department of Justice. In a letter to the court filed Sept. 20, Futon wrote that there isnt a day that goes by that he doesnt regret making the biggest mistake of his life. Im sorry and I wish I could start over. I wanted to be a soldier and I was proud to serve my country then I made the worst mistake of choosing greed instead of staying focused and my whole world has come to a stop, Fulton said. Im so sorry. There isnt a day I dont cry and each day I try to make my life better. In return for Fultons guilty plea, the government agreed not to file charges against the defendant for knowingly making false statements on three occasions in August and September 2019 for aiding and abetting visa fraud. While the United States appropriately confers significant benefits upon our military personnel for their service, it does so with the understanding that such benefits will be not exploited or misused, said U.S. Attorney Clare E. Connors in a news release. Here, defendant Fulton exploited his position with the United States military to violate our immigration laws and defraud the government. We will hold those who abuse our laws and privileges accountable under the law. Assistant U.S. Attorney Darren W.K. Ching prosecuted the case. Beginning in May 2019 and continuing until August 2023, Fulton did knowingly and willfully embezzle, steal, purloin, and convert to his own use and the use of another Department of Defense money, including the basic allowance for quarters, the variable housing allowance and cost-of-living adjustment payments with an aggregate value exceeding $1, 000, based on false claims that he was legitimately married to a woman, identified as Person A in court documents filed April 30, and that the woman and her minor child were his dependents. In January 2018, Fulton, while stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, entered into a fraudulent marriage. and the woman he conspired with filed an application for a change in immigration status based on her fraudulent marriage to the defendant. Fulton admitted in his plea agreement that he knew the purpose of the fraudulent marriage was to permit his co-conspirator who was not a U.S. citizen to evade immigration laws and stay in the U.S. illegally. In January 2022, Fulton admitted he paid the woman between $2,500 and $5,000 to get married. Fulton told federal agents he never lived with Person A, that Person A never lived in Hawaii, that he and Person A took photographs together to trick immigration authorities into believing their fraudulent marriage was legitimate, that he dated other people during the fraudulent marriage, and that the true purpose of the fraudulent marriage was for Person A to evade the immigration laws of the United States, according to the plea agreement. In May 2019 the Army transferred Fulton to Fort Shafter, and the woman and her daughter stayed on the mainland. Fulton admitted he submitted paperwork in August and September 2019 falsely claiming that his co-conspirator and her minor daughter were living with the defendant, in Hawaii, as his dependents. If they were truly his dependents, he would have been entitled to additional money for medical coverage and housing and cost-of-living allowances. The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate ; the Armys Criminal Investigation Division ; Defense Criminal Investigative Service ; and Homeland Security Investigations. The successful prosecution of this case highlights the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Divisions unwavering commitment to upholding the integrity of our military and ensuring those who violate the publics trust are held accountable, said Special Agent-in-Charge Ruben R. Santiago, Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Divisions Pacific Field Office, in the news release. Engaging in fraudulent activities erodes confidence in our institutions and diverts funds and resources that should be dedicated to our nations defense. As a result of the Fultons deceit, a non-citizen was able to maintain her status in the United States, and the government paid out at least $202, 039, including $166, 071 in housing expenses, $30, 214 in medical expenses and a cost-of-living adjustment of $5, 754. HSI is committed to safeguarding the nation through protecting the integrity of our countrys immigration system, said HSIs Acting Special Agent in Charge Lucia Cabral-DeArmas in the release. Through our partnerships with federal agencies, HSI ensures the benefits afforded to honorable serv ice members are not abused. ___ (c)2024 The Honolulu Star-Advertiser Visit The Honolulu Star-Advertiser at www.staradvertiser.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. BEIRUT Hezbollah's deputy leader vowed to continue fighting Israel and said the militant group was prepared for a long war after much of its top command was wiped out, including its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. In his first speech since Nasrallah was killed, Naim Kassem said in a televised statement Monday that if Israel decides to launch a ground offensive, Hezbollah fighters are ready to fight and defend Lebanon, where the group is based. As deputy secretary-general, Naim Kassem now is the acting leader of Hezbollah until the group's leadership elects a replacement for Nasrallah. Israeli strikes have killed Nasrallah and six of his top commanders in the last 10 days, and have hit what the military says are thousands of militant targets across large parts of Lebanon. Over 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry, and the government says the fighting may have displaced up to a million people. Hezbollah has significantly increased its rocket attacks in the past week to several hundred daily, but most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas. Several people have been wounded in Israel. There have been no fatalities since two soldiers were killed near the border on Sept. 19. Kassem said that despite the killing of Hezbollahs top military commanders over the past months, Hezbollah now is relying on new commanders. "Israel was not able to affect our (military) capabilities, Kassem said. There are deputy commanders and there are replacements in case a commander is wounded in any post. Before he spoke, an airstrike leveled an apartment building and killed three Palestinian militants in central Beirut early Monday, as Israel appeared to send a clear message that no part of Lebanon is out of bounds. As recently as two weeks ago, such a strike, outside of the main areas where Hezbollah operates and next to a busy transportation hub, would have been seen as an escalation and likely followed by a long-range Hezbollah strike into Israel. But the unspoken rules of the long-running conflict, and Hezbollah's ability to respond, are no longer clear. Israel has not claimed Mondays strike but is widely assumed to have carried it out. It's possible that Hezbollah is holding back to avoid an even bigger escalation, including a threatened Israeli ground invasion. But the militant group might also be in disarray after Israeli intelligence apparently penetrated its highest levels. The strike early Monday killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small, leftist faction that has not been meaningfully involved in months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. In the past week, Israel has frequently targeted Beiruts southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence including the massive strike on Friday that killed Nasrallah but had not hit locations closer to the city center. Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles into northern Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack from Gaza into Israel sparked the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies and both supported by Iran, and Hezbollah said it would continue the attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians until there was a cease-fire in Gaza. Israel has responded to the rockets with airstrikes in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based, and the fighting has steadily escalated over the past year, displacing tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border. Israel has vowed to keep fighting until the attacks stop and its citizens can return to their homes. The United States and its allies have called for a cease-fire, hoping to avoid further escalation that could draw in Iran and set off a wider war. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown little interest, as his country racks up military achievements against a longtime foe. Some Israelis broke into spontaneous celebrations after Nasrallahs death was announced. Videos circulated of crowds at bars singing a song in Hebrew mocking him. A news anchor on a pro-Netanyahu station sang and danced as the studio audience joined in with him while a commentator on Israels largest TV station offered co-panelists celebratory shots. Hezbollah, which boasts tens of thousands of battle-hardened fighters and long-range missiles capable of hitting anywhere inside Israel, has long been seen as the most powerful militant group in the region and a key partner to Iran in both threatening and deterring Israel. Hezbollah fought Israel to a monthlong stalemate in their 2006 war, But Hezbollah has never faced an onslaught quite like this one, which began with a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies in mid-September that killed dozens of people and wounded around 3,000 including many fighters but also many civilians. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Israel's airstrikes in Lebanon had wiped out Hezbollahs command structure but warned that the group will work quickly to rebuild it. "Were watching to see what they do to try to fill this leadership vacuum. Its going to be tough, he told CNNs State of the Union on Sunday. ___ Melzer reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is sending several thousand more U.S. troops and aircraft to the Middle East, as Israel continues to increase its attacks against Hezbollah. Austin ordered aircraft units and their associated personnel set to leave the Middle East region to remain in the area and those set to replace them will instead join alongside them, amounting to a "few thousand" troops from multiple aircraft squadrons, Tom Crosson, a Pentagon spokesman, confirmed. The announcement followed Israeli strikes and operations in Lebanon in recent days as well as the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday. "The secretary also increased the readiness of additional U.S. forces to deploy, elevating our preparedness to respond to various contingencies," Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters Monday. "And [the Defense Department] maintains robust and integrated air-defense capabilities across the Middle East, ensuring the protection of U.S. forces operating in the region." Read Next: VA Records for VP Nominees Vance, Walz Were Allegedly Accessed Improperly by Department Employees Singh did not tell reporters specific numbers, but stated the new and existing assets in the region would include F-16, F-15E, A-10, F-22 fighter aircraft and their associated personnel. The increase in U.S. forces comes after Israel launched strikes in Lebanon that killed Nasrallah and other key leadership in Hezbollah. On Monday, multiple news outlets reported that Israel was preparing for a potential ground incursion into Lebanon, again ratcheting up tensions in the region and threatening a wider war after a year of brutal Israeli offensives against Hamas in Gaza following that group's terrorist attack on Israelis in October. In addition to adding more fighter jet squadrons to the mix, Austin also ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group and the USS Wasp Amphibious Ready Group, which includes a Marine expeditionary unit, to remain in the region, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon's top spokesman, said in a statement Sunday. Military.com reported last month that the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group and the USS Wasp Amphibious Ready Group -- which contains the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit as well as the USS Oak Hill and the USS New York -- would be moving into the Middle East amid the rising tensions. Ryder said in his statement that Austin has underscored that any harm Iran does to U.S. troops in the region would be met with a swift response. "Secretary Austin made clear that should Iran, its partners, or its proxies use this moment to target American personnel or interests in the region, the United States will take every necessary measure to defend our people," Ryder said in the statement. "The United States retains the capability to deploy forces on short notice." Austin spoke twice with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant on Friday following the violence in Lebanon where the defense secretary "expressed full support for Israel's right to defend itself and its people against Iranian-backed terrorist groups" and "stressed that the United States is determined to prevent Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from exploiting the situation or expanding the conflict," the Pentagon said in a statement Saturday. President Joe Biden called Nasrallah's death "a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis and Lebanese civilians," in a statement on Saturday, and he decried the former Hezbollah leader's decision to work with Hamas to create a "Northern front" against Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks along the Gaza-Israel border. Related: As Tensions Simmer in the Middle East, Pentagon Redirects Carrier Strike Group to the Area The beachgoer said there were 'hundreds' of the blue inflated things during her walk but she didn't know what they were. The woman found hundreds of bluebottles washed up at Massacre Bay in Victoria last week. Source: Facebook An Aussie woman has narrowly escaped injury after unwittingly picking up a dangerous creature and innocently asking the internet what it was that she had found washed up on the beach, simply describing it as "plastic rubbish". Last week, the South Australian was travelling along the Great Ocean Road when she stopped at Massacre Bay, Victoria, for a walk. It was there she spotted "hundreds" of the inflated blue things among a bunch of "kelp and seaweed on the shore". "Any ID thoughts?" she asked a dedicated Facebook group. The woman picked up some of the bluebottles and took a picture. That's when she quickly found out the absent-minded act could have been a painful one with the jellyfish renowned for their uncomfortable stings. "Don't touch them!" one person urged, clearly too late. While another person offered some advice: "Just a tip, if you don't know what something is, don't pick it up". "I can't believe people don't know what a bluebottle is," one person commented. Every year up to 30,000 bluebottle stings are reported in the country. Source: AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi What to do if you're stung by a bluebottle this summer Every year up to 30,000 bluebottle stings are reported in the country, with the majority occurring in the eastern states. Bluebottles account for the majority of reported cases of Aussies who come into contact with marine stingers, with an expert telling Yahoo there is one particular method swimmers should turn to when treating the itchy blisters their tentacles cause. It is best to rinse the area with seawater, remove any remaining tentacles and immerse the skin in hot water, as it is known to provide relief within 10 minutes. The common myth of urinating on the affected area or using vinegar is not advised. "Definitely not recommended to use vinegar or urine," Surf Life Saving Australias Dr Jaz Lawes previously told Yahoo News. "The best thing to do is pull the tentacles off and rinse with seawater first and then hot water/shower as hot as you can stand it for 20 minutes." Aussies asked to report sightings for new 'forecasting system' Despite the stingers being common and often unwelcome summer visitors, little is known about them. A group of marine biologists from Griffith University and UNSW has commenced a project called Bluebottle Watch, in partnership with Surf Life Saving Australia. The project hopes to develop a deeper understanding of the stingers and help to create a "forecast system" so beachgoers and experts alike can be aware of where they are. Aussies are encouraged to report any bluebottle sightings to help the team collect data on stingers along the coast. If you see a bluebottle on the beach, take a photo and upload it to the iNaturalist platform. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. A Space Force colonel commanding a mission to safely bring back two stranded astronauts aboard the International Space Station became the first Guardian to ever launch into space over the weekend. Col. Nick Hague, a Space Force Guardian and NASA astronaut, launched Saturday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida alongside Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov as part of the SpaceX Dragon Crew-9 mission. The duo arrived at the International Space Station, or ISS, on Sunday evening. Hague transferred from the Air Force to the Space Force in 2021. In a press release Saturday, Hague said his involvement with NASA's missions helps show what Guardians do to assist with space exploration. Read Next: Thousands More US Troops, Attack Aircraft Heading to Middle East as Israel Targets Hezbollah in Lebanon "I feel privileged to have the opportunity to cast a broader spotlight on everything that Guardians do to make human space flight possible," Hague said in the Space Force news release. "The average person might not understand that human space flight doesn't exist if Guardians aren't doing what they do on a day-to-day basis, whether it's launching us into space and the range support that we get there or it's tracking or navigation." Hague, according to a NASA blog, spent his first day back aboard the ISS placing "standard emergency gear inside the newly arrived Dragon spacecraft" and brushed up on using the onboard exercise device to maintain muscle mass in outer space. The Space Force does not create or train astronauts, but the Department of Defense has a long history of loaning out its skilled aviators and troops to NASA for space exploration missions. "NASA and the Space Force have very different functions, but we share a common interest in the free and responsible use of the space domain," Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in a press release. "I wish Nick all the best on his mission to the International Space Station." This is the second time Hague has been in space -- his first was while he was in the Air Force -- but Saturday's launch marked his first time as a Space Force Guardian. Mike Hopkins, an Air Force officer, became the first Guardian in space when he took his service oath in a ceremony aboard the ISS in 2020. The path to Hague's launch day was hectic, and it was originally scheduled for mid-August alongside Gorbunov and two other astronauts. Mechanical issues with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft caused delays and, ultimately, left astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams -- who were supposed to be aboard the ISS for eight days but have remained there for nearly four months -- stuck longer than expected. Hague and Gorbunov "will conduct scientific research and maintenance activities" aboard the ISS, according to the Space Force. One element of research Hague will be studying is related to potential remedies of space-related vision disorders called "spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome," NASA said on its website. But the two will also be tasked with bringing Wilmore and Williams back home when they return. Hague and Gorbunov are scheduled to stay aboard the ISS for five months. "Col. Hague represents NASA, but, beneath the spacesuit, he remains a Guardian -- embodying the character, commitment, connection and courage inherent to the Guardian spirit," Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said in the news release. "I wish Nick the best of luck on his journey, and I know he will do us proud." Related: Astronauts Stuck on Space Station Will Be Brought Back Home by Space Force Guardian BEIRUT In just over a week, intensified Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed seven high-ranking commanders and officials from the powerful Hezbollah militant group, including the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The move left Lebanon and much of the Mideast in shock as Israeli officials celebrated major military and intelligence breakthroughs. Hezbollah had opened a front to support its ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip a day after the Palestinian group's surprise attack into southern Israel. The recent strikes in Lebanon and the assassination of Nasrallah are a significant escalation in the war in the Middle East, this time between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanon's most powerful military and political force now finds itself trying to recuperate from severe blows, having lost key members who have been part of Hezbollah since its establishment in the early 1980s. Chief among them was Nasrallah, who was killed in a series of airstrikes that leveled several buildings in southern Beirut. Others were lesser-known in the outside world, but still key to Hezbollahs operations. Hassan Nasrallah Since 1992, Nasrallah had led the group through several wars with Israel, and oversaw the party's transformation into a powerful player in Lebanon. Hezbollah entered Lebanon's political arena while also taking part in regional conflicts that made it the most powerful paramilitary force. After Syria's uprising in 2011 spiraled into civil war, Hezbollah played a pivotal role in keeping Syrian President Bashar Assad in power. Under Nasrallah, Hezbollah also helped develop the capabilities of fellow Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq and Yemen. Nasrallah is a divisive figure in Lebanon, with his supporters hailing him for ending Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000, and his opponents decrying him for the group's weapons stockpile and making unilateral decisions that they say serves an agenda for Tehran and allies. Nabil Kaouk Kaouk, who was killed in an airstrike Saturday, was the deputy head of Hezbollahs Central Council. He joined the militant group in its early days in the 1980s. Kaouk also served as Hezbollahs military commander in south Lebanon from 1995 until 2010. He made several media appearances and gave speeches to supporters, including in funerals for killed Hezbollah militants. He had been seen as a potential successor to Nasrallah. Ibrahim Akil Akil was a top commander and led Hezbollah's elite Radwan Forces, which Israel has been trying to push further away from its border with Lebanon. He was also a member of its highest military body, the Jihad Council, and for years had been on the United States' wanted list. The U.S. State Department says Akil was part of the group that carried out the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and orchestrated the taking of German and American hostages. Ahmad Wehbe Wehbe was a commander of the Radwan Forces and played a crucial role in developing the group since its formation almost two decades ago. He was killed alongside Akil in an airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs that struck and leveled a building. Ali Karaki Karaki led Hezbollah's southern front, playing a key role in the ongoing conflict. The U.S. described him as a significant figure in the militant group's leadership. Little is known about Karaki, who was killed alongside Nasrallah. Mohammad Surour Surour was the head of Hezbollah's drone unit, which was used for the first time in this current conflict with Israel. Under his leadership, Hezbollah launched exploding and reconnaissance drones deep into Israel, penetrating its defense systems which had mostly focused on the group's rockets and missiles. Ibrahim Kobeissi Kobeissi led Hezbollah's missile unit. The Israeli military says Kobeissi planned the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli soldiers at the northern border in 2000, whose bodies were returned in a prisoner swap with Hezbollah four years later. Other senior commanders killed in action Even in the months before the recent escalation of the war with Hezbollah, Israel's military had targeted top commanders, most notably Fuad Shukur in late July, hours before an explosion in Iran widely blamed on Israel killed the leader of the Palestinian Hamas militant group Ismail Haniyeh. The U.S. accuses Fuad Shukur of orchestrating the 1983 bombing in Beirut that killed 241 American servicemen. Leaders of key units in the south, Jawad Tawil, Taleb Abdullah, and Mohammad Nasser, who over several decades became instrumental members of Hezbollahs military activity were all assassinated. Who is left? Nasrallahs second-in-command Naim Kassem is the most senior member of the organization. Kassem has been Hezbollahs deputy leader since 1991, and is among its founding members. On several occasions, local news networks were quick to assume that an Israeli strike in southern Beirut may have targeted Kassem. Kassem is the only top official of the militant group who has conducted interviews with local and international media in the ongoing conflict. The deputy leader appears to be involved in various aspects of the militant group, both in top political and security matters, but also in matters related to Hezbollahs theocratic and charity initiatives to the Shia Muslim community in Lebanon. Meanwhile, Hashim Safieddine who heads Hezbollahs central council, is tipped to be Nasrallahs successor. Safieddine is a cousin of the late Hezbollah leader, and his son is married to the daughter of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was slain in a U.S. drone strike in 2020. Like Nasrallah, Safieddine joined Hezbollah early on and similarly wears a black turban. Talal Hamieh and Abu Ali Reda are the two remaining top commanders from Hezbollah who are alive and apparently on the Israeli militarys crosshairs. ___ Jeffery reported from Jerusalem. MANISTEE, MI This Up North car ferry is about to turn into five decks of fright to celebrate Halloween and raise money. Michigan! Are you ready to have the yell scared out of you? Ghost Ship organizers asked on social media last week. Manistees Ghost Ship aboard the historic 1931 S.S. City of Milwaukee car ferry open on Friday, Oct. 4. It will be open 7:30-10:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays throughout October, plus 7:30-10 p.m. on the last Sunday of the month, Oct. 27. The haunted tour takes 25 to 30 minutes. RELATED: The oldest U.S. passenger steamship on the Great Lakes now offers haunted tours Admission is $15 per person, available only at the door; pay with cash or card. Children 6 and younger are free, however, organizers recommend that no one under 7 years old enters the haunt. Each deck of the 360-foot vessel has a different hair-raising theme designed to terrify those who disturb it. Visitors will encounter actors, eerie props, animatronics, pneumatics, flashing lights, custom SFX, and authentic ghosts that will make your blood run cold, organizers said. Even those who have climbed aboard this haunted ship in the past will find themselves jumping and screaming, organizers said. They never repeat the same sets or paths, ensuring that every year brings a new nightmare. Find the Ghost Ship at 99 Arthur St. in Manistee. RELATED: Hotel. Motel. Boatel? Stay on this historic ship in Northern Michigan This is biggest annual fundraiser of the Society for the Preservation of the S.S. City of Milwaukee and USCGC Acacia, which owns and maintains the historic car ferry and adjacent U.S. Coast Guard ship. The Ghost Ship brings in up to $75,000 a year. Ship tours and the boatel generate up to $30,000. Other revenue streams include the gift shop selling everything from T-shirts to key chains, coffee cups and stickers emblazoned with the ships name donations, membership and private events. ACL Fest 2024 begins this weekend, featuring Blink-182, Chappell Roan, Tyler, The Creator, Chris Stapleton, and more across two packed festival weekends. Shop last-chance tickets on Vivid Seats, SeatGeek, StubHub, Ticketmaster, and a limited availability still listed on the official ACL Fest website. Sturgill Simpson "Why Not?" tour stops in Detroit this September 2024 / Courtesy of Vivid SeatsCourtesy of Vivid Seats Theres still time to reserve single-day and full-festival wristbands to Austin City Limits 2024. This years party in Zilker Park features two back-to-back weekends of music, local vendors, and art, all in view of the Austin, Texas skyline. Closing acts remain consistent whether you choose this week, October 4 through 6, or next, October 11 through 13. The Friday headliners are Blink-182 and Chris Stapleton, followed by Pretty Lights and Dua Lipa on Saturday, with Sturgill Simpson and Tyler, The Creator performing on Sunday. Also included on the ACL Fest 2024 lineup are Chappell Roan despite pulling out of All Things Go Festival this past weekend Foster the People, Kevin Abstract, Porter Robinson, Still Woozy, Khruangbin, Kehlani, Vince Staples, Leon Bridges, Renee Rapp, The Marias, and more. Find tickets below: Weekend 1: 3-day pass Vivid Seats from $455 | SeatGeek from $379 | StubHub from $386 | Ticketmaster, platinum passes from $5710 Fri, Oct 4 Vivid Seats from $148 | SeatGeek from $156 | StubHub from $150 | Ticketmaster, join waitlist Sat, Oct 5 Vivid Seats from $198 | SeatGeek from $205 | StubHub from $204 | Ticketmaster, join waitlist Sun, Oct 6 Vivid Seats from $171 | SeatGeek from $185 | StubHub from $163 | Ticketmaster, join waitlist Weekend 2: 3-day pass Vivid Seats from $248 | SeatGeek from $264 | StubHub from $256 | Ticketmaster from $370 Fri, Oct 11 Vivid Seats from $133 | SeatGeek from $139 | StubHub from $117 | Ticketmaster from $165 Sat, Oct 12 Vivid Seats from $165 | SeatGeek from $169 | StubHub from $162 | Ticketmaster from $165 Sun, Oct 13 Vivid Seats from $170 | SeatGeek from $174 | StubHub from $138 | Ticketmaster from $165 ANN ARBOR, MI Steps are being taken to address a shortage of special education teachers amid concerns being raised again by parents and community members, Ann Arbor Public Schools officials said. As of Friday, Sept. 27, close to a fifth of the districts 26 teacher positions posted on its online jobs listing were for specialties in special education or a resource program. Its a shortage referenced by a few speakers during public comment at the Ann Arbor School Boards Wednesday, Sept. 25 meeting. Specifically, a submitted statement signed by 24 parents and community members alleges a staffing crisis among the special education team at Mitchell Elementary School, impacting the wider school culture. Fred Klein, a 35-year teacher and president of the Ann Arbor Education Association teachers union, told board members he was alarmed by the number of unfilled special education jobs, as well as teacher assistant positions at schools hes visited. This is causing (individualized education programs) to risk becoming out of compliance, burning out staff, and is posing a safety issue at some buildings, Klein said. Ann Arbor Superintendent Jazz Parks acknowledged the issue. Every district in our county and many districts statewide are experiencing just a significant shortage of special education staff, Parks said. We want to make sure the community knows we are working diligently to ensure that our positions are filled. Teachers who have a degree in or a certification endorsed in special education can accommodate students with a variety of learning or developmental disabilities and other impairments, according to the qualifications listed under some AAPS job postings. The latest concerns come after those raised during the summer after some teachers were reportedly being involuntarily transferred between schools ahead of the current school year in part to help fill special education positions required by state law. Read more: Involuntary transfer of Ann Arbor teachers facing pushback from parents In July, a teacher said he was one of nine others told theyd be transferred. According to a list of all teacher transfers after May 1, obtained by MLive/The Ann Arbor News via a Freedom of Information Act request, close to 10 were transferred to resource or special education programs, including some from other existing resource positions, out of 68 teacher moves at large. So, what is AAPS doing to address the shortage? Concetta Lewis, the districts assistant superintendent of special education programs, said Ann Arbor Public Schools is: Working with local universities to identify candidates to fill open resource teacher positions and provide support interns. Partnering with a Grow Your Own program for existing district employees with a bachelors degree to apply to earn a masters degree in special education at no cost. Aiming to increase pay rates for long-term substitutes in critical positions, such as those who work in programs with students who have cognitive impairments and Autism. Seeking input from outside agencies with staff and expertise for students with unique socialization and emotional needs. At Mitchell, Lewis said that may look like tapping three Washtenaw Intermediate School District teacher consultants to develop a targeted support plan for the building. Upon learning of some of the concerns, I went over, visited, talked with staff to get their insight and feedback and get a better understanding of whats going on so that we can work collaboratively to ensure that every student at that building has what they are supposed to have, she said. The intermediate school district began piloting a paraprofessional-to-teacher certification program with Eastern Michigan before the COVID-10 pandemic that is helping fill some local special education openings, WISD spokesperson Ashley Kryscynski said. Read more: Its a calling. Woman achieves dream to be a teacher in new Washtenaw County program Paid for by local districts, she said the program enables paraprofessionals, often referred to as instructional or teachers aides, to go back to school, finish their bachelors degree, and get their certification in special education teaching typically over three and a half years. We see it as an investment into our own staff, Kryscynski said. Theyre folks who already live and work in our communities, already understand everything that comes with working in a public-school setting, and because theyre parapros, theyre assigned to working with, oftentimes, students with disabilities. The WISD has seen five groups of participants in the pilot program with their third one set to graduate in December, she said. One group of 17 graduated in April, while another of 19 graduated in December 2023. Of the latter group of grads, 17 found teaching jobs in special education the following semester in Washtenaw County. We actually know that some of them were hired as long-term subs to take over classrooms before they graduated, Kryscynski said. So, they kind of just slid right into those permanent positions when the finished, which was amazing. Reporter Samuel Dodge contributed to this story. 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. (This story has been updated to include comments from Flint 1st Ward Councilman Leon EL-Alamin.) FLINT, MI -- A recall election targeting the late Quincy Murphy will be on the ballot in Flints 3rd Ward on Nov. 5 but the results wont determine who replaces him on the City Council. Genesee County Clerk-Register Domonique Clemons said on Monday, Sept. 30, that Murphy cant be recalled because he is no longer an officeholder and the council will instead appoint a replacement for him until a special election can be scheduled. Flags flew at half-staff outside City Hall on Monday in tribute to Murphy, who the city said died this weekend and whom officials praised for his efforts to improve living conditions in the 3rd Ward. Murphy and four other candidates filed for a spot on the November ballot after organizers collected 533 valid petition signatures to recall the incumbent earlier this year. The recall language said Murphy should be removed from office for taking possession of a donated lawnmower. Prior to his election in 2021, Murphy spent years focused on quality-of-life issues like overgrown grass, dumping and abandoned homes in his neighborhood. He became a guardian angel for Dewey Park, cutting grass, advocating for funding, and cleaning up trash in the area of East Moore and Damon streets near Saginaw Street on the citys north end. He left a major impact on the city of Flint, said council President Ladel Lewis, who suggested renaming the park in Murphys honor. Thats Murphys park, Lewis said Monday. Thats Quincys park. Asked about his dedication to Dewey Park more than 20 years ago, Murphy told MLive-The Flint Journal, I havent come this far to turn around. God wont let me give up. Hes got a reason for me to be here. Otherwise, Id have been long gone. I love beauty, he said of his area. This neighborhood is either going to get better or worse, and I want to try and make it better. Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley called Murphy a tireless advocate for his ward in a statement issued by the city. My prayers are with Councilman Murphys family, friends, and all those who loved him, Neeley said. During this difficult time of grief, I ask our community to respect the privacy of Councilman Murphys family. This is a moment to come together as one unified community in the spirit of service that Mr. Murphy embodied. Reginald Flynn, chief executive officer of the North Flint Reinvestment Corporation, said in an email to The Journal that Murphy surprised him earlier this month with his knowledge of the groups work during a meeting at which the North Flint Food Market was discussed. NFRC built and is pushing to open the market despite struggles to raise funds needed for inventory, job training and payroll. I tried my hardest not to shed a tear (because Im strong), but I could not contain my emotions, Flynn said. For someone in city government just to acknowledge our history, our track record, our struggle, our sacrifice -- brought about a deep sense of gratitude and contentment. Quincy simultaneously disarmed me, affirmed me, and touched me ... His service, sacrifice, and steadfastness in the midst of opposition are reasons why we too must stay in the fight until the end, Flynn said. The citys announcement of Murphys death didnt list a cause of death and funeral arrangements had not been announced as of Monday afternoon. The councilman said earlier this month that he had been hospitalized for what he thought was dehydration and complained about social media speculation about his health. Anybody who knows me knows I dont do Facebook with my personal information. I dont know how it got out -- my mother did not even know ... Next thing you know, I was getting phone calls that I was dying and all of this different kind of stuff, he said then. Murphy is the second Flint council member to die this year while serving in elected office. Longtime 1st Ward Councilman Eric Mays died on Feb. 24 and council members appointed Leon El-Alamin to fill the position until a special election could be scheduled. El-Alamin faces Carol McIntosh in the Nov. 5 election with the top vote-getter finishing Mays term, which ends in 2025. El-Alamin issued a statement Monday, calling Murphy a beloved community advocate whose tireless efforts made a significant impact on the lives of the residents he represented. His work in blight elimination and community development played a vital role in enhancing the quality of life in our neighborhoods. His determination and spirit will be sorely missed, the statement says. LAPEER, MI A Lapeer High School student was struck by a vehicle and suffered minor injuries before the start of school on Monday, Sept. 30, according to an announcement from administrators. The 15-year-old student was treated for a minor facial and arm injury at a local medical facility. This mornings incident serves as a reminder for our students walking to school and those driving during school hours to practice caution, the announcement reads. Lapeer Police Chief Jeremy Howe said the student was attempting to cross Saginaw Street in front of the high school when he was struck by a vehicle headed north. The vehicle was traveling at approximately 15-20 miles per hour, Howe said. Howe said the driver, a 51-year-old Lapeer woman, was not at fault. The student darted out in front of traffic, according to witnesses, Howe said. Want more Flint-area news? Bookmark the local Flint news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Flint daily newsletter. The LEGO Group, known for its brick sets, remains optimistic about its long-term growth in the Chinese market, focusing on innovation and local relevance. CEO Niels B. Christiansen reaffirmed the group's commitment to continued investment in the market during a recent trip to Shanghai. Over the past decade, the group has achieved significant market share and rapid growth in China, one of its most important international markets. The group has opened more than 500 stores in China. "We've experienced a fantastic journey of growth here, and we strongly believe in the future of the market. There are still many children and families who haven't had the opportunity to experience LEGO," Christiansen said. He expressed confidence in the company's ability to return to growth. "What matters most is our commitment to the Chinese market and our confidence that we will achieve growth again in China," he added. Although consumers have become more cautious about non-essential purchases, Christiansen remains optimistic. "Consumer might be hesitant to spend now, but I'm certain confidence will return, and we'll be ready to capitalize on that," Christiansen said. To support future growth, the group plans to continue to expand its operations in China. A key strategy is the development of culturally relevant products, such as the LEGO Monkie Kid series, inspired by the classic Chinese legend Journey to the West. "Monkie Kid is unique to the Chinese market and reflects our commitment to ensuring the LEGO brand resonates with local consumers," he said. "We're proud that Monkie Kid has been well-received in China, and we plan to continue developing products that speak to local culture." The company is gearing up for the new items for the upcoming Chinese New Year, although specific details have not yet been disclosed. The group is doubling down on expanding its physical and digital presence in China. The company has recently added investment in its factory in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, with the opening of a new processing line, a molding center and two high-bay warehouses, to bolster its supply chain and support future growth. Retail remains a crucial pillar. The company plans to open more stores, upgrade existing ones, and relocate some to better locations to improve customer experiences, said the CEO. "Stores will continue to play an important role for us, but they'll be complemented by digital and online experiences," Christiansen said. The company's digital innovation center in Shanghai is not just focused on the Chinese market but is also contributing to the group's global operations, he added. The opening of LEGOLAND Shanghai next summer is expected to be a key driver of the company's growth in China. The park is set to be one of the largest and most modern LEGOLAND parks globally. Globally, the LEGO group has outperformed the broader toy industry globally over the past five to six years, growing at an average 13 to 14 percent, compared to the industry's two percent growth. The company introduced more than 300 new products in the first half of this year alone. One growth driver for the LEGO Group is to combine creative experience with physical products. Key partnerships, such as collaborations with sportswear giant Nike and F1 this year, have helped the company stay relevant and trendy with consumers around the world, said the CEO. "If you ask me what keeps me awake at night, it's our ability to stay relevant and come out with exciting products all the time," said Christiansen. Sea lions have been decimated by HPAI overseas, and there are similar fears for populations in Australia. Source: Getty Australia has been likened to the Titanic, hurtling towards danger and refusing to change course. The warning comes from the Invasive Species Council which has renewed concerns the federal government is spending too little to protect the countrys wildlife from an "iceberg" a devastating strain of avian influenza. Although $6.9 million has been allocated for industry preparation and surveillance, just $580,000 has been announced to fund the wildlife response. Thats despite a growing concern the highly virulent HPAI strain could have serious consequences for iconic animals like Tasmanian devils, eagles and sea lions. This could be the worst ever single disaster for Australias wildlife, the Councils Jack Gough told Yahoo News on Monday. The virus is expected to arrive imminently. His comments follow a warning from Threatened Species Commissioner Dr Fiona Fraser that the virus could have massive ecological consequences for native species, telling The Australian it could be worse than the 2019/2020 Black Summer Bushfires. And in August, at a national forum facilitated by the Biodiversity Council, University of Melbourne microbiology expert Dr Michelle Wille said the strain would likely be catastrophic just like overseas. Related: How is New Zealand preparing to fight bird flu? Avian influenza has affected over 50 species, including sea lions, in Chile. Source: Getty How bad is avian influenza? The HPAI H5N1 strain has impacted every region other than Oceania, and contributed to the deaths of tens of millions of animals and birds. A 2023 study found 356 species had been impacted by the virus, but the number is likely to be greater now. Mass mortalities within populations have been high for instance, in Peru around 40 per cent of pelicans died in two months. Australia has successfully fought off strains of the virus before, but only in agricultural settings. Experts are concerned native species will have little immunity when it likely reaches our shores, which they believed will be in spring or summer, when migratory birds arrive from overseas. The nation has over 2,200 species threatened with extinction, and experts are increasingly worried animals and birds could be wiped out by HPAI an issue the Council first raised with Yahoo in May last year. After African swine fever threatened Australias commercial pig industry, the government invested $66 million. Source: Getty How has Australia responded to the threat of other viruses? Gough wants the Albanese Government to commit more funds to respond specifically to the needs of wildlife, like they have when other diseases threatened the agriculture sector. With the threat of African swine fever turning up, the government really quickly committed $66 million in 2019. It's just ridiculous when you think about the comparison, he said. He added, This is the sort of issue that falls through the cracks. The Agriculture Department is focused on the response to chickens and the Environment Department is not really focused on what's needed. And it didnt put in a budget bid for serious money. There's a failure in our systems when it comes to horizon scanning for massive ecological potential problems. We're so focused on managing threats to the Tasmanian devil population right now, that were not looking ahead to the thing that could wipe them out. Australias Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is organising a meeting with her state and territory colleagues. Source: Getty Australia's response compared to Titanic and iceberg Environment Minister Tanya Pliberseks office confirmed it is convening a meeting to discuss the issue. Planning is well underway for a meeting of environment ministers on bird flu soon, a spokesperson told Yahoo. But Gough believes every sign so far indicates the government response will be more focused on shielding tourists and the general public from the impending carnage rather than actually protecting individual animals. This is such a classic public service response. Theres a lack of funding, so the focus is on communication and managing public expectations rather than actually fixing the issue, he said. It seems the focus is on telling everyone to prepare for the iceberg, rather than actually telling the Titanic to turn around. We cant avoid the iceberg, but we can do more than just brace ourselves. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? Get our new newsletter showcasing the weeks best stories. GRAND RAPIDS, MI Changes are happening at the site of the former Bravo Italian restaurant at The Village at Knapps Crossing retail development on East Beltline Avenue NE. The building, 2078 East Beltline Ave. NE, is being renovated into a location for VCA Animal Hospitals, a veterinary care organization based in Los Angeles, California that has locations nationwide. Work on the site is ongoing, but the building is expected to open Oct. 28. RELATED: Whats being built on East Beltline? It will have lots of books and Mexican food A representative of Lormax Stern, a metro Detroit commercial real estate firm that owns The Village at Knapps Crossing, could not be reached for comment. Nor could officials from VCA Animal Hospitals. VCA Animal Hospitals says it provides primary, specialty, urgent and emergency vet care. The company was founded in 1986, and describes itself on its website as a family of hometown animal hospitals committed to making a positive impact for pets, people, and our communities. The company has 22 clinics in Michigan, including locations in Allendale, Kalamazoo, Portage and Kentwood. The new, Knapps Crossing clinic is its second in Grand Rapids the first is at 1527 Michigan St. NE. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when many restaurants were struggling, the 6,500-square-foot Bravo Cucina Italiana closed its location at Knapps Crossing. The restaurant opened in February 2016, and at the time it was the chains first location in West Michigan. More on MLive: Chipotle announces opening date for new restaurant north of Grand Rapids Large, colorful painting of Lake Michigan sunset wins $125K ArtPrize 2024 grand prize State board waives $500,000 fee for struggling Grand Rapids apartment, retail building KALAMAZOO, MI -- As a licensed professional counselor in the Kalamazoo area, Natasha Federinko has worked with many adolescents struggling with their emotions. Kids grieving lost family members. Kids with post-traumatic stress disorder. Kids dealing with depression or anxiety or anger issues. Federinkos secret weapon for those in a mental-health crisis: Horses. A counselor trained in equine-assisted therapy, Federinko says working with horses can provide an avenue for building self-esteem and confidence; for teaching problem-solving skills, impulse control, and emotional awareness; and for helping kids as well as adults -- learn how to build trust and empathy. Weve had kids who have a very hard time at school, like getting into arguments, Federinko said. And then theyll come in and say, I got really mad at my teacher or they got mad because a classmate looked at them wrong. But then they thought of their horse and the mindful calming exercises we practiced and did that in their head, and so they didnt hit or yell or push or whatever. Whenever that happens, Federinko said, thats a huge success story. Federinko works with a number of organizations, including the Cheff Therapeutic Riding Center in Augusta, which opened in 1969 as the first therapeutic riding center in North America. For the first few decades of its existence, the Cheff Center focused on those with physical disabilities, such as cerebral palsy. But in recent years, it has expanded its programming to work with mental-health patients. RELATED: Additional $125M greenlit for Michigan school mental health funding after summer cut The Cheff Center has had 190 trained volunteers who have helped support the therapeutic riding programs.Fran Dwight Equine-assisted therapy, in which a mental health clinician has additional training to use horses as part of the treatment plan, is a modality that feels like its exploding across the nation, Federinko said. Thats particularly true in the post-COVID era, as the number of children diagnosed with anxiety or depression or both has skyrocketed. Equine-assisted therapy can include a lot of different things, Federinko said. It can be one-on-one therapy, with all of the typical aspects of talk therapy, but happening in a horse barn instead of an office. You can incorporate components of good peer-reviewed therapy into it, like cognitive behavior therapy, solution-focused therapy, etc., she said. But theres something about horses that, for a lot of people, facilitates their therapeutic journey. Group equine-assisted therapy and psychoeducation programs also can be effective, Federinko said. One of the programs she helped develop at the Cheff Center is Girlz in the Barn, a program aimed at adolescent girls facing things like anxiety, depression or adjustment issues. Girlz in the Barn is a psycho-educational program at Cheff aimed at adolescent girls to build their self-esteem and confidence and improve their communication skills. The girls meet weekly with a licensed counselor and an equine handler. The program includes riding, working with the horses, and classroom activities, such as art and craft projects.Fran Dwight High-quality equine therapy is administered by a licensed mental-health professional working with a certified equine handler. Patients typically are assigned to a specific horse, and the program involves grooming and feeding as well as riding. Yet another option is working with a therapeutic riding instructor, such as Gretchen Johnson, who works out of Alamo Township. Johnson isnt a licensed clinical therapist, but shes gone through extensive certification to help children work with horses. In recent years, most of her clients have had behavioral health issues and her program is often a supplement to traditional therapy provided by a clinician, she said. Her success stories are many, Johnson said, including a child with autism who was completely nonverbal until the day she tried to say the name of her therapy horse. Everybody was in tears when that happened, Johnson said. Horses are especially useful in therapy because they are so sensitive to the emotions of their handlers, providing immediate feedback on nonverbal cues and energy. My horses understand what each child needs at the moment they dont push boundaries, but they are very sentient about the time they spend with the kids and they understand their emotions on a different level, Johnson said. Ill start from my own experience, she said. I grew up with extreme anxiety, kind of a tough family. I also wrestled with an eating disorder for almost 30 years. But for the horses, it didnt matter whether I was 40 pounds overweight or 20 pounds underweight, they were there for me. You form a bond with a horse thats different from any other animal because they are so present and aware of the moment. For instance, horses can sense when someone is fearful or angry, which can help make that person more aware of how they are feeling and acting. And in learning how to calm a horse, the handlers learn how to calm themselves and self-regulate their own nervous system. Developing a relationship with a horse also can help vulnerable adolescents learn how to overcome fears, communicate more effectively, and live in the moment. Working on those skills in a horse barn can be a bit more welcoming for people who maybe dig in their heels a bit about traditional therapy, Federinko said. There are different levels of therapy sessions. With some Cheff Center participants, Federinko said, there is a specific treatment plan and were structuring the time the same way as if I were in an office and I had a sand tray for play therapy. But there are also programs like Girlz in the Barn where the emphasis is education, versus therapy. The focus is on skills and there is a therapist facilitating and theres confidentiality, but theres not a treatment plan for each individual, Federinko said. The Cheff Center opened in 1969 as the first therapeutic riding center in North America. It initially focused on clients with physical disabilities, but in recent years has expanded its programs to include those with behavioral health issues.Fran Dwight To be sure, equine therapy is not a cure-all. Its often one aspect of a larger treatment plan, especially for patients with more serious mental health issues. Its not going to be a complete substitute for other forms of mental health treatment, such as medication, Federinko said. And while anecdotal evidence suggests many people may benefit from equine therapy, the research on its effectiveness as a mental health treatment remains limited. I would agree that the research is somewhat limited, but more and more is being done all the time, with encouraging results, said Karen Waite, an equine specialist at Michigan State University. For instance, a recent study found a six-week program of equine therapy led to statistically significant improvements in emotional regulation and self-esteem compared to a control group. That study was done in Egypt and involved 100 patients hospitalized for substance-abuse disorders. The study was published in 2023 in the BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies journal. Another study, published in 2021 in the journal Human Brain Mapping, involved 19 military veterans diagnosed with PTSD. That study found that after eight sessions of equine therapy, the veterans showed neurological changes on MRIs and other brain scans that related to symptom reduction, and patients also showed clinical improvement. That study suggests equine therapy could help rewire the brain for those suffering from PTSD. Waite said MSUs equine program is now partnering with the universitys counseling and psychiatric services division to provide equine-assisted therapy. Weve done three workshops with students, each about six weeks, and weve definitely had positive feedback, she said. Were also starting a new program with the Center for Survivors at MSU. So I think there needs to be more research, but you also have to have the programs to do the research. Waite said that equine-assisted therapy appears to have potential benefits for all ages, from senior citizens to children. I kind of think the skys the limit, she said. Its nice to have a non-pharmaceutical option that can benefit people experiencing mental health issues. Equine-assisted therapy does have its downsides. It can be expensive and is typically not covered by insurance. For instance, the Girlz In The Barn program is $400 for a six-week session, while Johnson charges $50 an hour for therapeutic riding lessons. As a licensed counselor, Federinko said, she can bill insurance for equine-assisted therapy lessons. But insurance will only cover the cost of a traditional office visit and not the additional costs related to using a horse and shes prohibited from billing insurance clients for the excess cost. That means the only way to get full payment is private pay. Another downside of equine-assisted therapy: There are a limited number of certified facilities, which means access can be problematic, especially for those with transportation issues. Theres also the potential for injuries working with horses can result in falls or other incidents. Moreover, there have been reports of lowered self-esteem and increased aggression in children who become attached to the horse, only to lose a beloved companion when the therapy ends. Federinko said thats a real issue, but she incorporates that into her treatment plan, using it as a lesson in how to cope with transitions. For Federinko, theres no question the pros of equine-assisted therapy outweigh the cons. If we can move the needle a bit, its worth it, she said. Lets say someones anxiety is 10 on a scale of one to 10. We may not be able to bring it down to a two, but if we can bring it down to a seven or eight and they can take the skills theyve learned in the barn and apply that (to other aspects of their life), thats progress. Thats a success story. Natasha Federinko is a licensed counselor who offers equine-assisted therapy for several Kalamazoo-area organizations, including the Cheff Center.Fran Dwight This story is part of Southwest Michigan Journalism Collaboratives 2024 coverage of youth mental health issues. SWMJC is a group of 12 regional organizations dedicated to strengthening local journalism. Visit swmichjournalism.com to learn more. SWMJC is committed to equitable reporting that includes the perspectives and input from a variety of sources in our communities. This story was reported over four weeks and included conversations with four people. Documents and data were also used to determine the focus of this story. Please contact Julie Mack here (Kzjuliemack@gmail.com) with comments or questions about how we do our work, and why. CARROLLTON TOWNSHIP, MI A printing mishap with a printing vendor resulted in some mailed Carrollton Township absentee ballot envelopes to include labels featuring the incorrect community, township officials said. The return address was printed as City of Wixom on some envelopes mailed to voters in Carrollton Township, a Saginaw County-based township of 5,750 residents, a notice on the Carrollton Township website stated. The future of the endangered takahe looks a little brighter after five juveniles were raised on a sanctuary island. The island of Motutapu in New Zealand is home to 28 takahe. Source: DOC Hope is growing for one of the worlds rarest birds after it was discovered five new juveniles had been successfully raised on a sanctuary island. The South Island takahe was thought to be extinct until a small remnant population was rediscovered in the 1940s in New Zealand. A breeding population has been set up on Motutapu, a 178-million-year-old island that's one of the oldest land masses in the Hauraki Gulf. Located near Auckland, the 1,510 hectare landmass has no invasive predators and it is the largest of the 17 sanctuary sites and is home to 28 birds. The hatchlings will be added to the world population on Tuesday, taking it to 500. Why are there so few takahe? The arrival of European settlers almost obliterated takahe, with hunting, habitat destruction and introduced predators all significant contributors. Because the birds breed just once a year and pairs raise no more than two chicks, recovering the species has been slow. Avian influenza also remains a threat, but a vaccine is being trialled to try and prevent it decimating the species. Takahe chicks stay with their parents for a year. Source: Servane Kiss Takahe facts you probably didn't know Juveniles live with their parents for a year, learning how to survive. Takahe are vegetarian and spend their days grazing on tussock and sedge grasses which have low nutrient levels. It can live up to 22 years at sanctuary sites, and its peak breeding age is 5 to 14. There were two species of takahe, but the North Island bird is extinct. What is the ultimate plan for this rare bird? The new takahe were born in November to December last year. Department of Conservation ranger Glen Greaves said the result bodes well for the future. After a decade of ups and downs, its fantastic to see the takahe population on Motutapu flourishing, he said. Five juveniles being raised from five breeding pairs, along with several years of good adult survival, is comparable with the top tier of takahe sanctuary sites. A juvenile with a parent bird at Motutapu in 2023. Source: DOC DOC believes habitat restoration on the island has directly contributed to the positive result. The ultimate plan is to create multiple self-sustaining wild populations within the takahes historic range. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? Get our new newsletter showcasing the weeks best stories. The technology is being used all over the world, but some customers thought it was 'creepy' nonetheless. Eyebrows were raised at an Aussie Kmart branch this week after a shopper noticed a new digital display inside the change room. Source: Reddit Kmart shoppers have been left confused and even a little "freaked out" after a new hi-tech feature was spotted in the change rooms of one store this week. The new trial by the budget retailer is ostensibly aimed at clamping down on theft during the cost of living crisis, but it's drawn a mixed reaction from Aussies. Sharing his curious discovery on social media, the shopper wondered what was going on after noticing a new digital sign displayed inside the change room at a Melbourne store, alerting him to the clothing items he'd taken in with him. The photos were taken at a store in Westfield Southland in the city's south-east, with others online wondering if there were surveillance cameras, electronic scanners, or even some kind of X-ray technology. Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, a Kmart Australia spokesperson set the record straight, but not before shoppers weighed in with their thoughts. "Do you have to scan them or does this happen automatically? I don't want anything scanning my ass in a change room," one person joked. "My paranoid ass would've freaked the f***k out," said another. While a third person labelled the the tech feature "impressive and creepy". Opinion divided over new Kmart change room tech Many thought the technology was a good idea, and would clearly deter theft. "Good. Pretty sick of paying big bucks because people think theyre entitled to a five finger discount," said one person. However, despite the fact the technology is widely used in the retail industry, others tried to make the case it was an invasion of privacy, but others were quick to disagree. "In my opinion there is a lot of new tech out there that is clearly an invasion of privacy. This is not one of them," one person said. One clued-on customer said the tech was "pretty common stuff around the world, they just have Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags on them, and when you enter the room those tags are scanned". Speaking to Yahoo, a Kmart spokesperson confirmed that was indeed the case. RFID needs no camera to work as it's basically just an advanced barcode, they explained. "Kmart Southland is currently participating in a new trial of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology in our fitting rooms, that scans our apparel products upon entry, and then displays these products to the customer," the spokesperson told Yahoo. "There are no cameras or photographs utilised with this technology. RFID technology is used globally and not new to Kmart, as it is already used in other areas of our stores including with our Tory robot, which uses RFID technology to count our inventory daily and improve the shopping experience for our customers." Kmart introduced its Tory robot in certain stores a couple years ago to mostly bemused shoppers. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. It took just five minutes from the time the blaze was called in to firefighters arriving to find the entire garage engulfed in flames. Australian EV owners have been warned over using inappropriate charging equipment after an electric vehicle was destroyed in a fire in Melbourne on Tuesday. Source: FRV Australian EV owners have been warned again over using incompatible charging equipment after an electric vehicle travel adapter burst into flames last week destroying the car, another beside it and a garage. Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) released a statement warning of the potential dangers of using the wrong charger when trying to power up an EV, after the fire tore through a suburban garage in Glen Waverley in Melbourne last Tuesday. According to the authority, it took just five minutes from the time the blaze was called in to firefighters arriving for the entire garage to be engulfed in flames. "Two people and a dog had evacuated the property before firefighters arrived," FRV said. EV batteries pose a serious fire risk if they are not used properly. Source: Ecocycle/ABC "Firefighters arrived within five minutes to find a garage, 10m by 5m, fully engulfed in flames. Crews wore breathing apparatus to battle the blaze, and the scene was deemed under control five minutes later." The Fire Investigation Unit said the blaze was not caused by the EV but from a travel adaptor connected to an "aftermarket charging lead", being used to charge the car. To reduce the risk of fire caused by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, FRV recommended Aussie EV owners only purchase products from a reputable supplies and follow manufacturer instructions. "Only use chargers and cords that are originally supplied with the device," FRV said. "Check that chargers have the Regulatory Compliance Mark, to show that they meet the relevant Australian Standards." Experts say petrol cars are still more prone to combustion, with data suggesting the fire risk is between 20 and 80 times greater. Fire risks are also greater for electric scooters and electric bikes. Over the weekend, rising EV maker BYD, was reportedly forced to recall nearly 100,000 of its vehicles in China over fire risk, according to a statement on China's State Administration for Market Regulation. The brand has been rising in popularity in Australia in recent months. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. Brunello Cucinelli S.p.A. (OTCMKTS:BCUCF Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 373,400 shares, a growth of 28.4% from the August 31st total of 290,800 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3,734.0 days. Brunello Cucinelli Stock Performance BCUCF stock remained flat at $100.00 during midday trading on Friday. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $99.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.69. Brunello Cucinelli has a 1-year low of $79.00 and a 1-year high of $107.96. Get Brunello Cucinelli alerts: About Brunello Cucinelli (Get Free Report) Read More Brunello Cucinelli S.p.A., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production and sale of clothing, accessories, and lifestyle products in Italy, Europe, North America, Japan, and China. The company offers women's collection, including coats and jackets, blazers, knitwear, jumpsuits, dresses, t-shirts and tops, shirts, skirts, pants, denim, travel wear, and matching sets; sneakers, heels, boots, loafers, sandals, and flat shoes; hats, belts, eyewear, jewelry, scarves, and other accessories; mini bags and clutches; crossbody bags and backpacks; and handbags and shoppers. Receive News & Ratings for Brunello Cucinelli Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Brunello Cucinelli and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of Ryder System, Inc. (NYSE:R Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of Moderate Buy from the eight research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $137.86. R has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ryder System from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Ryder System from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Vertical Research upgraded Ryder System from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Friday, June 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Ryder System from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Stephens initiated coverage on Ryder System in a report on Monday, July 8th. They issued an equal weight rating on the stock. Get Ryder System alerts: View Our Latest Stock Report on R Ryder System Price Performance Shares of NYSE R opened at $145.44 on Wednesday. Ryder System has a twelve month low of $91.31 and a twelve month high of $150.00. The company has a market cap of $6.29 billion, a PE ratio of 18.94 and a beta of 1.28. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $138.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $126.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.09. Ryder System (NYSE:R Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The transportation company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.87 by $0.13. Ryder System had a return on equity of 17.22% and a net margin of 4.06%. The business had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $3.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.61 EPS. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Ryder System will post 12.19 EPS for the current year. Ryder System Increases Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This is a positive change from Ryder Systems previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Ryder Systems dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.19%. Insider Activity In other Ryder System news, EVP Francisco Jr. Lopez sold 12,730 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.32, for a total transaction of $1,773,543.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,779 shares in the company, valued at $6,656,570.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the companys stock. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ryder System Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Ryder System by 116.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 47,459 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $5,704,000 after acquiring an additional 25,533 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LP raised its position in shares of Ryder System by 206.9% during the first quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 8,319 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 5,608 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Ryder System by 41.1% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 49,303 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $5,926,000 after purchasing an additional 14,360 shares during the period. Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Ryder System during the first quarter valued at $463,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Ryder System by 7.0% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 809,590 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $97,301,000 after purchasing an additional 53,288 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.47% of the companys stock. Ryder System Company Profile (Get Free Report Ryder System, Inc operates as a logistics and transportation company worldwide. It operates through three segments: Fleet Management Solutions (FMS), Supply Chain Solutions (SCS), and Dedicated Transportation Solutions (DTS). The FMS segment offers full-service leasing and leasing with flexible maintenance options; commercial vehicle rental services; and contract or transactional maintenance services of trucks, tractors, and trailers; access to diesel fuel; and fuel planning and tax reporting, cards, and monitoring services, and centralized billing, as well as sells used vehicles through its retail sales centers and www.ryder.com/used-trucks website, as well as digital and technology support services. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Ryder System Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Ryder System and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of Buy by the six brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.33. AROC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Archrock in a research report on Friday, September 6th. They set an overweight rating and a $24.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Archrock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Archrock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. They set an outperform rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Archrock in a research report on Friday. They set a buy rating and a $24.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Archrock from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Get Archrock alerts: Read Our Latest Report on AROC Archrock Price Performance AROC stock opened at $20.39 on Wednesday. Archrock has a 12 month low of $11.73 and a 12 month high of $23.44. The stock has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of 24.57 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $19.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. Archrock (NYSE:AROC Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The energy company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.01. Archrock had a net margin of 13.20% and a return on equity of 16.35%. The company had revenue of $270.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $270.61 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that Archrock will post 1.07 earnings per share for the current year. Archrock Announces Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were issued a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 6th. Archrocks dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.52%. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Archrock Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AROC. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Archrock in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Archrock in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $52,000. CWM LLC raised its stake in Archrock by 382.0% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,591 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 2,846 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Archrock by 16.6% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,052 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in Archrock during the second quarter valued at $101,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.45% of the companys stock. About Archrock (Get Free Report Archrock, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Contract Operations and Aftermarket Services. It engages in the designing, sourcing, owning, installing, operating, servicing, repairing, and maintaining of its owned fleet of natural gas compression equipment to provide natural gas compression services. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Archrock Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Archrock and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Hudson Pacific Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HPP Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of Hold from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $6.95. A number of brokerages have recently commented on HPP. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Hudson Pacific Properties from $5.00 to $4.50 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Hudson Pacific Properties from $4.50 to $4.00 and set an underperform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Hudson Pacific Properties from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 26th. Wolfe Research lowered Hudson Pacific Properties from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Hudson Pacific Properties from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $6.00 to $4.25 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Get Hudson Pacific Properties alerts: Get Our Latest Analysis on Hudson Pacific Properties Insiders Place Their Bets Institutional Inflows and Outflows In other Hudson Pacific Properties news, COO Andy Wattula sold 9,356 shares of Hudson Pacific Properties stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.28, for a total value of $49,399.68. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 61,068 shares in the company, valued at $322,439.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website . In other Hudson Pacific Properties news, COO Andy Wattula sold 9,356 shares of Hudson Pacific Properties stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.28, for a total transaction of $49,399.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 61,068 shares in the company, valued at $322,439.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink . Also, Director Jonathan M. Glaser sold 9,287 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.20, for a total transaction of $48,292.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,713 shares in the company, valued at $19,307.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . 2.95% of the stock is owned by insiders. A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Silver Lake Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hudson Pacific Properties in the second quarter valued at $145,000. Algert Global LLC boosted its holdings in Hudson Pacific Properties by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 954,042 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $4,589,000 after acquiring an additional 7,047 shares during the period. Scion Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Hudson Pacific Properties in the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,505,000. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hudson Pacific Properties during the second quarter worth about $1,563,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Hudson Pacific Properties by 3.0% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 83,572 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 2,408 shares during the period. 97.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Hudson Pacific Properties Trading Down 1.7 % HPP stock opened at $4.69 on Monday. Hudson Pacific Properties has a 12-month low of $4.26 and a 12-month high of $9.85. The businesss 50-day moving average is $5.14 and its 200 day moving average is $5.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The stock has a market cap of $661.97 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.93, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.31. Hudson Pacific Properties (NYSE:HPP Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.33) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.50). Hudson Pacific Properties had a negative net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 7.41%. The firm had revenue of $218.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $216.08 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.24 EPS. The businesss revenue was down 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hudson Pacific Properties will post 0.62 EPS for the current fiscal year. About Hudson Pacific Properties (Get Free Report Hudson Pacific Properties (NYSE: HPP) is a real estate investment trust serving dynamic tech and media tenants in global epicenters for these synergistic, converging and secular growth industries. Hudson Pacific's unique and high-barrier tech and media focus leverages a full-service, end-to-end value creation platform forged through deep strategic relationships and niche expertise across identifying, acquiring, transforming and developing properties into world-class amenitized, collaborative and sustainable office and studio space. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Hudson Pacific Properties Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Hudson Pacific Properties and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Canadian Utilities Limited (OTCMKTS:CDUAF Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,503,100 shares, a growth of 20.9% from the August 31st total of 1,242,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 58,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 25.9 days. Canadian Utilities Price Performance Shares of OTCMKTS CDUAF traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $26.55. 576 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,181. Canadian Utilities has a fifty-two week low of $20.65 and a fifty-two week high of $27.78. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.20. Get Canadian Utilities alerts: Canadian Utilities Company Profile (Get Free Report) Further Reading Canadian Utilities Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the electricity, natural gas, renewables, pipelines, liquids, and retail energy businesses in Canada, Australia, and internationally. It operates through ATCO Energy Systems, ATCO EnPower, and Corporate & Other segments. The ATCO Energy Systems segment provides regulated electricity transmission and distribution services in northern and central east Alberta, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and the Lloydminster area of Saskatchewan; and integrated natural gas transmission and distribution services in Alberta, the Lloydminster area of Saskatchewan, and Western Australia. Receive News & Ratings for Canadian Utilities Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Canadian Utilities and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of CAVA Group (NYSE:CAVA Free Report) in a report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $135.00 target price on the stock. A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Loop Capital boosted their target price on CAVA Group from $80.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on CAVA Group from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on CAVA Group from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of CAVA Group from $72.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of CAVA Group from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $115.64. Get CAVA Group alerts: Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on CAVA CAVA Group Stock Down 2.6 % Shares of NYSE:CAVA opened at $123.76 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $14.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 301.85 and a beta of 3.34. The businesss 50 day moving average is $105.19 and its 200 day moving average is $87.42. CAVA Group has a 12-month low of $29.05 and a 12-month high of $131.82. CAVA Group (NYSE:CAVA Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.04. CAVA Group had a net margin of 5.04% and a return on equity of 7.37%. The firm had revenue of $233.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $219.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.21 EPS. The businesss revenue was up 35.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CAVA Group will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current year. Insider Activity at CAVA Group In related news, CEO Brett Schulman sold 201,504 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.53, for a total transaction of $25,294,797.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 702,590 shares of the companys stock, valued at $88,196,122.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other CAVA Group news, CFO Tricia K. Tolivar sold 5,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.64, for a total value of $628,200.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 292,600 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $36,762,264. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brett Schulman sold 201,504 shares of CAVA Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.53, for a total value of $25,294,797.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 702,590 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $88,196,122.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 304,994 shares of company stock worth $38,310,084. Institutional Investors Weigh In On CAVA Group A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of CAVA Group by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 39,154 shares of the companys stock worth $3,632,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in CAVA Group by 101.2% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 505 shares of the companys stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC raised its position in CAVA Group by 4.2% during the second quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 6,907 shares of the companys stock valued at $641,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in CAVA Group during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Nemes Rush Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of CAVA Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. 73.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. About CAVA Group (Get Free Report) CAVA Group, Inc owns and operates a chain of restaurants under the CAVA brand in the United States. The company also offers dips, spreads, and dressings through grocery stores. In addition, the company provides online and mobile ordering platforms. Cava Group, Inc was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Washington, the District of Columbia. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for CAVA Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for CAVA Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Cuprina Holdings (Cayman) Ltd (CUPR) plans to raise $16 million in an initial public offering on Friday, October 4th, IPO Scoop reports. The company will be issuing 3,800,000 shares at $4.00-$4.50 per share. In the last twelve months, Cuprina Holdings (Cayman) Ltd generated $80,000 in revenue and had a net loss of $890,000. Cuprina Holdings (Cayman) Ltd has a market cap of $30.7 million. Network 1 Financial Securities acted as the underwriter for the IPO. Cuprina Holdings (Cayman) Ltd provided the following description of their company for its IPO: We manufacture and distribute chronic wound care products medical grade bio-dressing products made from sterile blowfly larvae and sold under the MEDIFLY brand mostly in Singapore since February 2020 and in Hong Kong since March 2023. (Incorporated in the Cayman Islands) From the Prospectus: Looking ahead, we have strategic plans in place for the second half of 2024 and 2025 to expand our sales and establish physical operations in several key regions, including Southeast Asia, the Middle East (in particular, the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC), and mainland China. These expansion initiatives will further enable us to cater to the growing demand for our products in these promising markets, cementing our position as a trusted player in the field of chronic wound care and treatment. We are a Singapore-based biomedical and biotechnology company dedicated to the development and commercialization of innovative products for the management of chronic wounds, as well as operating in the health and beauty sectors. Our expertise in biomedical research allows us to identify and utilize materials derived from natural sources to develop wound care products in the form of medical devices which meet international standards. We believe we will be able to build upon and leverage such expertise to develop innovative cosmeceutical products in the future. As of Dec. 31, 2023, we manufactured and distributed a line of medical grade sterile blowfly larvae bio-dressing products marketed under the MEDIFLY brand name, or the MEDIFLY products. The MEDIFLY products are used as a biological debridement tool for chronic wounds, in a procedure known as Maggot Debridement Therapy, or MDT, which is an effective alternative to surgical debridement. In addition to our commercialized MEDIFLY products, we have two lines of chronic wound care products in our pipeline: *Collagen dressings, including sponges, particles and hydrogels, using bullfrog collagen derived from the valorization of abattoir waste streams of American bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus) and *Products using medical leeches for wound treatment. We expect development of such products to take place over the course of 2024 and 2025 and to become commercially available subject to regulatory approval.A We believe what sets us apart is our focus on developing functionally specific chronic wound care products designed to address the major stages of the wound healing process from chronic to closure. Our chronic wound care products, including both our existing commercialized products and forthcoming products in our pipeline, are poised to benefit from escalating global market demand. This demand is primarily fueled by the demographic shift towards an aging population and the concurrent rise in comorbidities such as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular ailments and peripheral vascular diseases.A For our cosmeceuticals business, we introduced three products in 2023, including a hydrating balm product, a muscle energy cream and a pain relief muscle patch. For our commercialized cosmeceutical products, we have commissioned original equipment manufacturers of skincare products to develop the formulation and manufacture the substantially finished and finished products. In addition, we plan to explore the possibility of developing a range of potential cosmeceutical product candidates incorporating bullfrog collagen with a view to making them commercially available between 2024 and 2028, subject to the progress of the relevant R&D work. We offer our chronic wound care products to both public and private hospitals and clinics, where patients can obtain them through prescription from a physician. Our customers primarily include major public and private hospitals and clinics in Singapore. Our commercialized cosmeceutical products can be purchased directly by individual customers through a variety of channels, including retailers and gyms in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia, as well as online shopping platforms such as Shopee. Note: Net loss and revenue figures are in U.S. dollars for the year that ended Dec. 31, 2023. Note from the Prospectus: Our independent registered public accounting firm expressed substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern. Our ability to continue as a going concern requires that we obtain sufficient funding to finance our operations. (Note: Cuprina Holdings (Cayman) Ltd. filed an F-1/A on Sept. 3, 2024, disclosing that its IPOs price range is $4.00 to $4.50 a change from its IPO price of $4.00 and keeping the IPOs size at 3.75 million Class A ordinary shares to raise $15.94 million. Background: Cuprina Holdings (Cayman) Ltd increased the number of shares to 3.75 million up from 2.5 million shares initially without disclosing the IPO price in an F-1/A filing dated June 20, 2024.) (More Background: Cuprina Holdings (Cayman) Ltd filedA an F-1/A dated May 16, 2024, disclosing that it will offer 2.5 million Class A ordinary shares without stating the IPO price. More Background: Cuprina Holdings (Cayman) Ltd. filed its F-1 on March 7, 2024, without disclosing terms; estimated IPO proceeds were $10 million. Previously: The Cayman Islands-incorporated holding company submitted its confidential filing to the SEC on Oct. 13, 2023.) . Cuprina Holdings (Cayman) Ltd was founded in 2019 and has 14 employees. The company is located at c/o Blk 1090 Lower Delta Road #06-08 Singapore 169201 and can be reached via phone at +65 8512 7275 or on the web at https://www.cuprina.com/. Receive News & Ratings for Cuprina Holdings (Cayman) Ltd Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Cuprina Holdings (Cayman) Ltd and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSE:CM Get Free Report) (NYSE:CM) Director Harry Kenneth Culham sold 50,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$83.42, for a total transaction of C$4,170,750.00. Harry Kenneth Culham also recently made the following trade(s): Get Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce alerts: On Friday, September 13th, Harry Kenneth Culham sold 47,430 shares of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce stock. The stock was sold at an average price of C$83.41, for a total value of C$3,956,136.30. On Monday, September 9th, Harry Kenneth Culham sold 50,000 shares of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce stock. The stock was sold at an average price of C$81.87, for a total value of C$4,093,500.00. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Price Performance Shares of TSE CM opened at C$82.78 on Monday. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has a 1-year low of C$47.44 and a 1-year high of C$84.46. The business has a fifty day moving average price of C$75.47 and a 200 day moving average price of C$69.69. The stock has a market capitalization of C$78.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.12. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Dividend Announcement Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce ( TSE:CM Get Free Report ) (NYSE:CM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported C$1.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$1.75 by C$0.18. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce had a net margin of 29.56% and a return on equity of 12.37%. The business had revenue of C$6.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$6.31 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce will post 7.5778986 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 28th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.35%. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerces dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.10%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce from C$71.00 to C$77.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce from C$77.00 to C$81.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce from C$74.00 to C$75.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Bank of America raised shares of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price target for the stock from C$74.00 to C$90.00 in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Desjardins increased their price objective on shares of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce from C$77.00 to C$83.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of C$79.15. View Our Latest Stock Analysis on CM Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Company Profile (Get Free Report) Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, a diversified financial institution, provides various financial products and services to personal, business, public sector, and institutional clients in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Canadian Personal and Business Banking; Canadian Commercial Banking and Wealth Management; U.S. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Uni-Select (OTCMKTS:UNIEF Get Free Report) and Miller Industries (NYSE:MLR Get Free Report) are both consumer cyclical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk, institutional ownership and earnings. Analyst Ratings This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Uni-Select and Miller Industries, as provided by MarketBeat.com. Get Uni-Select alerts: Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Uni-Select 0 0 0 0 N/A Miller Industries 0 0 0 0 N/A Profitability Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Uni-Select N/A N/A N/A Miller Industries 5.55% 20.16% 10.70% Insider & Institutional Ownership This table compares Uni-Select and Miller Industries net margins, return on equity and return on assets. 73.0% of Uni-Select shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.2% of Miller Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.2% of Miller Industries shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth. Earnings & Valuation This table compares Uni-Select and Miller Industriess top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation. Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Uni-Select N/A N/A N/A $2.20 16.33 Miller Industries $1.29 billion 0.53 $58.29 million $5.73 10.51 Miller Industries has higher revenue and earnings than Uni-Select. Miller Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Uni-Select, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. Dividends Uni-Select pays an annual dividend of $0.51 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Miller Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Uni-Select pays out 23.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Miller Industries pays out 13.3% 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. Summary Miller Industries beats Uni-Select on 8 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks. About Uni-Select (Get Free Report) Uni-Select Inc., together with its subsidiaries, distributes automotive refinish, and industrial coatings and related products in North America. It operates through FinishMaster U.S., Canadian Automotive Group, and GSF Car Parts U.K. segments. The company engages in the distribution of automotive aftermarket parts in Canada; and distribution of automotive original equipment manufacturer and aftermarket parts in the United Kingdom. It operates distribution centers and corporate stores under the BUMPER TO BUMPER, AUTO PARTS PLUS, and FINISHMASTER names. Uni-Select Inc. was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Boucherville, Canada. About Miller Industries (Get Free Report) Miller Industries, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells towing and recovery equipment. The company offers wreckers that are used to recover and tow disabled vehicles and other equipment; and car carriers, which are specialized flat-bed vehicles with hydraulic tilt mechanisms, which are used to transport new or disabled vehicles and other equipment. It also provides transport trailers for moving various vehicles for auto auctions, car dealerships, leasing companies, and other similar operations. The company markets its products under the Century, Vulcan, Challenger, Holmes, Champion, Chevron, Eagle, Titan, Jige, and Boniface brands. Miller Industries, Inc. sells its products through independent distributors in North America, and Canada, Mexico; and through prime contractors to governmental entities. Miller Industries, Inc. was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Ooltewah, Tennessee. Receive News & Ratings for Uni-Select Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Uni-Select and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. With Gasgoo Daily, we will offer daily important automotive news in China. For those we have reported, the title of the piece will include a hyperlink, which will provide detailed information. NIOs ONVO L60 begins nationwide delivery ONVO, NIOs new sub-brand, has officially begun nationwide deliveries of its first model, the ONVO L60 on September 28. The L60 is a family-oriented smart electric SUV, priced at 206,900 yuan for the 60-kWh version and 235,900 yuan for the 85-kWh long-range variant. Photo credit: ONVO Aston Martin Valiant Limited Edition to hit Chinese market soon On September 30, Aston Martin announced its limited-edition Valiant will gain regulatory approval for sale in the Chinese market, priced from 30.525 million yuan (including VAT). With only 38 units globally, this ultra-rare model is expected to be delivered by the first quarter of 2025. All-electric Wuling Hongguang hits market On September 29, SAIC-GM-Wuling put the all-electric Hongguang model, which rides on its new energy commercial vehicle platform, onto the market. The all-electric Hongguang offers two versions with a range of 300 km, with prices ranging between 69,800 yuan and 72,800 yuan. Hainan Expressway signs agreement for cooperation on vehicle-road-cloud integration pilot project On September 28, at the New Energy Vehicle City Development Forum held during the World New Energy Vehicle Congress (WNEVC) in Haikou, Hainan Expressway Co., Ltd. signed a strategic cooperation agreement with six key partners. These include the China EV100, Hainan branches of China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, Hainan Data Exchange, and Baidu. The partnership aims to develop a pilot program for "Vehicle-Road-Cloud Integration." AITO delivers over 200,000 new M7 vehicles 12 months after market release On September 29, Huawei's Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA) officially announced that cumulative deliveries for its new AITO M7 have surpassed 200,000 units in just 12 months since its market launch. NETA Auto begins sales operation in Brazil On September 30, Chinese new energy vehicle maker NETA Auto officially launched its sales operations in Brazil, marked by the arrival of over 1,000 new vehicles in the country. Chinas vehicle inventory alert index in Sept. 2024 dips both YoY, MoM On September 30, 2024, the China Automobile Dealers Association ("CADA") released the latest "Vehicle Inventory Alert Index" (VIA). The report shows that the index for September stood at 54%, marking a year-on-year decrease of 3.8 percentage points and a month-on-month drop of 2.2 percentage points. Hyperview unveils autonomous racing system with successful track debut On September 28, at the Zhuzhou International Circuit, a race car equipped with Hyperview's autonomous driving system "Tianyuan" completed a 3.77-kilometer lap in under three and a half minutes, marking its successful track debut. This project, developed by Gaosheng Qingdong (name in Chinese pinyin) and Hyperview, features a track-level autonomous system designed to push the limits of high-speed performance rather than focusing on the safety and comfort of L4 and L5 systems. Leapmotor International establishes first overseas sales channels in European countries On September 24, Chinese new energy vehicle maker Leapmotor officially launched its C10 and T03 models in 13 European countries, with vehicles arriving at overseas dealerships to begin sales. Momenta launches mass-produced intelligent driving large model On September 29, 2024, the Global Intelligent Vehicle Summit (GIV2024) kicked off in Hefei, Anhui Province, where autonomous driving tech firm Momenta launched its first mass-produced intelligent driving large model. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE Get Free Report) CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 83,334 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.72, for a total transaction of $1,643,346.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,758,641 shares in the company, valued at $34,680,400.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Trading Down 1.0 % Shares of HPE stock opened at $20.14 on Monday. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $18.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a 1-year low of $14.47 and a 1-year high of $22.82. The firm has a market cap of $26.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.70, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.19. Get Hewlett Packard Enterprise alerts: Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The technology company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.03. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 6.39% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The company had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. Hewlett Packard Enterprises revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.66 EPS for the current year. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 19th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 19th. Hewlett Packard Enterprises dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.96%. Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Rise Advisors LLC increased its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 253.9% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,465 shares of the technology companys stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051 shares in the last quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 571.5% in the 2nd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 1,343 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,143 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. American National Bank boosted its position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 89.4% during the 1st quarter. American National Bank now owns 1,949 shares of the technology companys stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 920 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 224.5% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,853 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282 shares in the last quarter. 80.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several brokerages have issued reports on HPE. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a neutral rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $26.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, June 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hewlett Packard Enterprise currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $21.31. Get Our Latest Analysis on HPE About Hewlett Packard Enterprise (Get 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. Further Reading 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. Hugoton Royalty Trust (OTCMKTS:HGTXU Get Free Report) and LandBridge (NYSE:LB Get Free Report) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, dividends, profitability, risk, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations. Valuation and Earnings This table compares Hugoton Royalty Trust and LandBridges top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation. Get Hugoton Royalty Trust alerts: Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Hugoton Royalty Trust $11.53 million 1.87 $11.10 million $0.27 1.99 LandBridge $100.26 million 29.04 $260.42 million $3.56 11.18 LandBridge has higher revenue and earnings than Hugoton Royalty Trust. Hugoton Royalty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than LandBridge, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. Analyst Ratings Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Hugoton Royalty Trust 0 0 0 0 N/A LandBridge 0 2 6 0 2.75 This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Hugoton Royalty Trust and LandBridge, as reported by MarketBeat.com. LandBridge has a consensus target price of $34.14, indicating a potential downside of 14.21%. Given LandBridges higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe LandBridge is more favorable than Hugoton Royalty Trust. Dividends Hugoton Royalty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 85.4%. LandBridge pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Hugoton Royalty Trust pays out 170.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. LandBridge pays out 16.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Profitability This table compares Hugoton Royalty Trust and LandBridges net margins, return on equity and return on assets. Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Hugoton Royalty Trust 96.22% N/A N/A LandBridge N/A N/A N/A Institutional and Insider Ownership 17.0% of Hugoton Royalty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.8% of LandBridge shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth. Summary LandBridge beats Hugoton Royalty Trust on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks. About Hugoton Royalty Trust (Get Free Report) Hugoton Royalty Trust operates as an express trust in the United States. It holds 80% net profits interests in various natural gas producing working interest properties in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Wyoming under conveyances. The company was founded in 1998 and is based in Dallas, Texas. About LandBridge (Get Free Report) LandBridge Company LLC owns and manages land and resources to support and enhance oil and natural gas development in the United States. It owns surface acres in and around the Delaware Basin in Texas and New Mexico. The company holds a portfolio of oil and gas royalties. It also sells brackish water and other surface composite materials. The company was founded in 2021 and is based in Houston, Texas. LandBridge Company LLC operates as a subsidiary of LandBridge Holdings LLC. Receive News & Ratings for Hugoton Royalty Trust Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Hugoton Royalty Trust and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of MaxLinear, Inc. (NYSE:MXL Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of Hold by the ten research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $24.67. MXL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of MaxLinear from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of MaxLinear from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Craig Hallum decreased their price objective on shares of MaxLinear from $38.00 to $28.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Susquehanna cut their target price on MaxLinear from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a positive rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Benchmark decreased their price target on MaxLinear from $28.00 to $22.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Get MaxLinear alerts: Check Out Our Latest Report on MaxLinear MaxLinear Trading Down 0.7 % MXL opened at $15.20 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, a PE ratio of -8.04 and a beta of 1.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.59. MaxLinear has a fifty-two week low of $11.08 and a fifty-two week high of $26.59. The companys 50-day moving average is $13.91 and its 200 day moving average is $17.83. MaxLinear (NYSE:MXL Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of ($0.19) by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $92.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $100.25 million. MaxLinear had a negative net margin of 42.38% and a negative return on equity of 12.39%. The firms revenue for the quarter was down 50.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.19 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that MaxLinear will post -1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, CEO Kishore Seendripu purchased 108,303 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $12.94 per share, with a total value of $1,401,440.82. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 531,937 shares of the companys stock, valued at $6,883,264.78. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 8.60% of the companys stock. Institutional Investors Weigh In On MaxLinear Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of MaxLinear in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in MaxLinear during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MaxLinear during the second quarter worth $31,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of MaxLinear during the second quarter worth $56,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of MaxLinear in the first quarter worth $59,000. 90.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. About MaxLinear (Get Free Report MaxLinear, Inc provides communications systems-on-chip solutions worldwide. Its products integrate various portions of a high-speed communication system, including radio frequency, high-performance analog, mixed-signal, digital signal processing, security engines, data compression and networking layers, and power management. Read More Receive News & Ratings for MaxLinear Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for MaxLinear and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Oversea-Chinese Banking Co. Limited (OTCMKTS:OVCHF Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,201,300 shares, a growth of 36.3% from the August 31st total of 881,200 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2,002.2 days. Oversea-Chinese Banking Stock Performance Shares of OTCMKTS:OVCHF remained flat at $11.68 during mid-day trading on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $10.80 and a 200 day moving average of $10.47. Oversea-Chinese Banking has a one year low of $9.10 and a one year high of $11.68. Get Oversea-Chinese Banking alerts: About Oversea-Chinese Banking (Get Free Report) Featured Stories Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited engages in the provision of financial services in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Greater China, rest of the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company's Global Consumer/Private Banking segment provides products and services to individual customers, including checking accounts, and savings and fixed deposits; housing and other personal loans; credit cards; wealth management products consisting of unit trusts, banc assurance products, and structured deposits; and brokerage services. Receive News & Ratings for Oversea-Chinese Banking Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Oversea-Chinese Banking and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shimano Inc. (OTCMKTS:SMNNY Get Free Report) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 17,100 shares, a drop of 14.1% from the August 31st total of 19,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 67,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.3 days. Shimano Price Performance OTCMKTS SMNNY opened at $18.63 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $16.73 billion, a PE ratio of 36.53 and a beta of 0.59. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $18.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.61. Shimano has a 1-year low of $13.01 and a 1-year high of $19.69. Get Shimano alerts: Shimano (OTCMKTS:SMNNY Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter. Shimano had a return on equity of 8.74% and a net margin of 12.62%. The firm had revenue of $746.22 million for the quarter. Shimano Company Profile Shimano Inc develops, produces, and distributes bicycle components, fishing tackles, and rowing equipment. It has operations in Japan, Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America, and Oceania. Shimano Inc was founded in 1921 and is headquartered in Sakai, Japan. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Shimano Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Shimano and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Phoenix New Media (NYSE:FENG Free Report) in a research note released on Friday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the information services providers stock. Phoenix New Media Stock Performance Shares of NYSE FENG opened at $3.01 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $3.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $2.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.86. The company has a market cap of $36.39 million, a PE ratio of -3.72 and a beta of 0.75. Phoenix New Media has a 12 month low of $1.18 and a 12 month high of $4.15. Get Phoenix New Media alerts: Phoenix New Media (NYSE:FENG Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The information services provider reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter. Phoenix New Media had a negative net margin of 6.60% and a negative return on equity of 3.95%. The business had revenue of $23.16 million during the quarter. About Phoenix New Media Phoenix New Media Limited provides content on an integrated Internet platform in the People's Republic of China. The company operates through two segments, Net Advertising Services and Paid Services. It offers content and services through PC channel, mobile channel, and telecom operators, as well as transmits content to TV viewers, primarily through Phoenix TV. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Phoenix New Media Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Phoenix New Media 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 Beijing (Gasgoo)- On September 28, at the New Energy Vehicle City Development Forum held during the World New Energy Vehicle Congress (WNEVC) in Haikou, Hainan Expressway Co., Ltd. signed a strategic cooperation agreement with six key partners. These include the China EV100, Hainan branches of China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, Hainan Data Exchange, and Baidu. The partnership aims to develop a pilot program for "Vehicle-Road-Cloud Integration." Signing ceremony; photo credit: Hainan Expressway According to the agreement, the parties will collaborate on investment, construction, and operation related to vehicle-road-cloud infrastructure, fostering a new cooperative framework that maximizes resource sharing and mutual benefits. Moving forward, Hainan Expressway will work with its partners to strengthen cooperation in areas such as cloud control platforms, road-cloud network facilities, joint operations, and industry incubation. This collaboration aims to accelerate large-scale demonstrations of intelligent connected vehicles (ICVs) and explore new commercial models, ultimately making Hainan the first province-wide open vehicle-road-cloud application demonstration zone in China. During the forum, policymakers, experts, and industry leaders from various cities worldwide shared valuable experiences in promoting zero-carbon smart transportation and urban infrastructure. The forum served as a platform for knowledge exchange, infusing new energy into Hainan's new energy vehicle industry and its push toward zero-carbon intelligent transportation. *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 Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On September 29, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Geely New Energy Vehicle (NEV) Headquarters took place during the Major Projects Promotion Conference in Beilun District, Ningbo, according to a post on the WeChat account of the Ningbo municipal government. Photo credit: Ningbo municipal government's WeChat account The project, located in the core area of Beilun within the Yongjiang Innovation Zone, covers an area north of Chenshan Road, east of Yongjiang Avenue, and south of Kangleqiao Street. With a total investment of 440 million yuan and a planned building area of approximately 46,000 square meters, the project is scheduled for completion in March 2028. Upon completion, it will serve as Geely's NEV project management headquarters, housing functions for research and development, procurement, sales, after-sales service, human resources, finance, and administration. In recent years, Ningbo has become a hub for major automotive brands, with Geely Auto Group, Lynk & Co, smart, and ZEEKR all establishing global or regional headquarters in the city. From January to August 2024, Geely's production facilities in Beilun manufactured 79,000 vehicles, reflecting a 19.7% year-on-year increase. Of this total, NEV production reached 44,800 units, a staggering 5.7-fold increase compared to the previous year. Remarkably, the construction plan for the Geely NEV headquarters was firmed up in June this year, achieving the groundbreaking milestone in just four months. In the eighth month of 2024, there were a total of 1,935,668 locally-produced passenger vehicles (PVs) registered across the Chinese Mainland, representing a 3.32% year-on-year (YoY) growth and a 9.35% month-on-month increase, according to the data compiled by the Gasgoo Auto Research Institute ("GARI"). Of the PVs registered in August, 1,011,202 units were contributed by the new energy vehicle (NEV) sector, marking a highest-ever volume on a monthly basis. For clarity, the PVs hereby refer to the vehicles locally produced and registered on the Chinese Mainland. The China Passenger Car Association commented that the overall automobile market in China has shown signs of recovery, driven by policy support for scrapping and upgrading vehicles, as well as local trade-in incentives. Following government calls to curb unhealthy price competition, terminal prices have stabilized, easing consumer hesitation and boosting market activity. The growing momentum in the NEV market, with penetration exceeding 50% for the second consecutive month, reflects a shift in energy structures. While traditional oil-fueled vehicle performance followed a seasonal pattern, NEV demand surged in August, continuing a strengthening trend in the second half of the year. At the national level, policy guidance aimed at the auto industry has been frequently issued with the goal of further stabilizing and expanding vehicle consumption. The effectiveness of the Ministry of Commerce's "Hundred Cities in Action" auto festival and "Thousands of Counties and Towns" new energy vehicle consumption season has become evident. Local authorities across the country have continued to roll out consumption-boosting policies that, combined with automaker sales promotion measures, provided stable support for the market at the end of last year and start of this year. The trade-in policy has also triggered significant consumer expectations. For the first eight months of this year, China's cumulative PV registrations summed up to 13,378,170 units, growing 3.72% from the previous year. Looking at brands' performance by locally-made PV registrations in August, BYD topped the chart with 111,945 vehicles registered. Wuling, Geely, Changan, Chery, and Li Auto are other Chinese brands that make significant appearances, demonstrating the strength and competitiveness of domestic brands in China. In addition, Volkswagen ranked second with 107,249 units of registrations, narrowly trailing BYD, highlighting its persistent popularity in China, despite the growing strength of local brands. Toyota, Honda, and Nissan still maintained positions within the top 10, indicating that Japanese automakers still enjoy a solid customer base in China despite their sliding trend in sales. Tesla, though ranked lower at 36,852 units, continues to be a significant player in the premium electric vehicle market with only two China-made models. The German trio, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and BMW, made it to the top 20 list, with 31,650, 29,102, and 21,278 units of registrations, respectively. This shows that despite the rising interest in affordable EVs, premium brands still attract a considerable customer segment. Li Auto, AION, and AITOrelatively new players in the NEV sectorregistered solid figures, with 32,537, 20,916, and 20,848 units, respectively. Brands like JETOUR and Hongqi, although not in the top 10, still showed impressive figures (27,025 and 19,680 units, respectively), suggesting that second-tier automakers are also finding success in some specific segments. In terms of the Jan.-Aug. locally-made PV registrations, BYD's remarkable performance stood out as the clear market leader, registering 1,952,409 units, far outpacing its competitors. Its commanding lead, approaching the two-million-unit mark, is a testament to its diversified product portfolio and strong brand recognition in the domestic market. Volkswagen followed in second place with 1,260,217 units registered in the first eight months. Toyota ranked third with 933,755 units registered. Toyota's conservative approach to NEVs compared to BYD has likely contributed to the difference in numbers, but its reputation for reliability and fuel efficiency continues to resonate with consumers. Among China's wholly-owned brands, Geely, Changan, Wuling, and Chery occupied strong positions within the top 10 rankings, each with Jan.-Aug. registrations exceeding 400,000 units. Lower down the chart, we see the emergence of newer brands like AITO, which registered 255,070 units in the Jan.-Aug. period, indicating the increasing presence of the Chinese fresh player in the NEV market. As for the performance of top-selling PV models by Aug. registrations, BYD's Seagull led the pack with 27,723 units, further cementing BYD's stronghold in the Chinese market. As a small, affordable electric vehicle (EV), the Seagull's success demonstrates the rising demand for entry-level battery electric vehicle (BEVs) among Chinese consumers, likely driven by its competitive price point and practical design for urban environments. Tesla's Model Y ranked second with 24,668 units registered in Aug., proving that despite growing competition from Chinese automakers, Tesla remains a major force in China's EV market. The next four spots are occupied by BYD's Qin PLUS, Song PLUS, Qin L, and Seal 06. These models reflect BYD's strategic advantage in offering both plug-in hybrid electric vehicle s (PHEVs) and BEVs, catering to a wider range of customer preferences. For drivers seeking flexibility and less reliance on charging infrastructure, PHEVs provide an attractive solution, allowing BYD to dominate the PHEV segment. Volkswagen's Lavida and Nissan's Sylphy, both in the top 10 with 14,500 units and 14,277 units registered, respectively, represent the continuing relevance of traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, albeit with hybrid options to cater to more environmentally conscious buyers. In terms of Jan.-Aug. registrations, three BYD models the Qin PLUS, the Song PLUS, and the Seagull - occupied the three of the top four positions, underscoring the company's strong market presence. The Model Y was the runner-up with over 60,000 units registered in this period. Lower down the rankings, BYD still had four models on the top 20 list, namely, the Yuan PLUS, the Song Pro, the Destroyer 05, and the Han. Among cities on the Chinese Mainland, Beijing and Shanghai occupied the top two positions in terms of PV registrations for August 2024. Other major cities, including Chengdu, Hangzhou, and Guangzhou, also featured prominently in the top 10. Beijing also led the way in terms of locally-produced PV registrations for the first eight months of 2024. Chengdu, Shanghai, and Guangzhou followed closely behind Beijing. In Aug. 2024, the new energy passenger vehicle (NEPV) sector posted a year-on-year surge of 49.97% and a month-on-month jump of 14.26%. It accounted for 52.24% of the country's total PV registrations, up 2.24 percentage points over the previous month. Breaking down China's Aug. NEPV market by powertrain solutions, BEVs held a significant lead with a share of 57.67%, while PHEVs constituted 32.05% of the market. Range extended electric vehicles (REEVs) made up a smaller portion of the market, accounting for 10.28%. Regarding the market share of each powertrain solution in the NEPV market for the Jan.-Aug. period, BEVs had the largest market share at 58.22%, while PHEVs held a significant share of 30.19%, suggesting that consumers are gravitating towards vehicles that offer the benefits of both electric and traditional internal combustion engines, possibly due to concerns about range anxiety or a preference for hybrid technology. REEVs had a share of 11.6%. Notably, there were 23 fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) registered across the Chinese Mainland in the first eight months of this year, but their percentage contribution is negligible given the extremely small number. As for the landscape of vehicle brands by Aug. NEPV registrations, BYD still led the chart with over 360,000 vehicles registered, outperforming the sum of the No.2 to No. 11 spots' occupants. Tesla recorded a registration volume of 63,913 units in the same period. Wuling and Li Auto have made notable gains, securing the third and fourth positions, respectively. Several other Chinese brands, such as AION, AITO, and Galaxy, were also making their presence felt in the top 10. As for the performance of specific brands by Jan.-Aug. NEPV registrations, the most striking finding is the continued dominance of BYD, which occupied the top position with a significant lead over other brands. Tesla maintained its second position, while Wuling and Li Auto ranked third and fourth, respectively. Three brands from Geely Holding, namely, ZEEKR, Galaxy, and Geely, all cracked the top 20 list. On the top 20 list of NEPV models by Aug. registrations, BYD's products took up to 12 spots. Of those, the Seagull led the pack with 27,723 units registered, outnumbering the runner-up Model Y by 3,055 units. Besides, the Li L6 ranked 9th with 8,616 units registered in Aug. Notably, Li Auto announced on Sept. 19 that the cumulative deliveries of the Li L6 had surpassed 100,000 units, only five months after it hit the market. For the first eight months of 2024, BYD's Qin PLUS topped other NEPV models with a registration volume of 327,953 units. Besides, the Model Y, the Song PLUS, the Seagull, and the Yuan PLUS all recorded a registration volume between 200,000 units and 300,000 units. In August, Hangzhou outdid other cities with 30,478 locally-made NEPVs registered, which accounted for 66.76% of the city's overall PV registrations. Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Shenzhen secured the second to fifth places with respective registrations all surpassing 26,000 units. During this year's first eight months, there were 12 cities on the Chinese Mainland with over 100,000 domestically-built NEPVs registered each. Los AngelesWicked Sensual Care, an intimate wellness brand, is focusing its Retail Employee Spotlight on adult retail associate Alyssa Rodriguez of The Love Shack Boutique in San Antonio, Texas. A family connection to the pleasure products sector served as the catalyst for Alyssas entry into the wellness field. A decade ago, I was a student searching for my path, uncertain of where life would take me. While pursuing my degree, I decided to assist my Aunt Amy, the visionary CEO of Love Shack Boutique, in order to understand the beauty of the pleasure industry, Rodriguez said. Alongside veteran founder, owner, and certified sex educator Amy Gonzalez, A.C.S., Rodriguez developed a connection to the people she helped. Fast forward ten years, and this journey has been nothing short of extraordinaryfilled with fun, learning, and immense joy. I wouldn't trade this incredible adventure for anything in the world, she said. For Rodriguez, humor can be a tool in setting customers' minds at ease in the store. My specialty is making people laugh, she said. I strive to create a lighthearted atmosphere for everyone. I take immense pride in this and always aim to give my customers a memorable experience when they walk through our doors. Sex is often considered taboo, so it's incredibly rewarding to put a smile on people's faces and break the ice in fun and exciting ways. This facilitates what I love most about my jobthe genuine opportunity to help people. Growing up, I always believed that if I could positively impact just one person each day, I was on the right path. I'm immensely proud to say that I've been able to achieve that. A lighthearted approach to sales helps create a welcoming environment, making customers feel comfortable and more inclined to engage," said Wicked Sensual Care Senior Account Executive Nicole Talley. By blending humor with expertise, Alyssa continues to foster trust, transform lives, and ultimately drive strong sales outcomes for Love Shack Boutique. Retail pleasure product professionals are invited to nominate employees who exceed expectations for Wicked Sensual's Retail Employee Spotlight. Candidates may be nominated by sending their name, store/city, and a brief paragraph about why they deserve to be chosen (a photo is optional) to [email protected] or by filling out this form. Professionals may also self-nominate. To learn more about Wicked Sensual Care, please visit WickedSensualCare.com. NANJING Shen Jing is a perfect example of the modern pet sector's target customer. At 23, the human resources worker devotes nearly a fifth of her monthly salary to pampering her golden retriever. "I spend around 1,500 yuan ($213) each month on everything from dog food and snacks to regular grooming sessions," Shen told Xinhua News Agency as she walked her dog in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. "He's like a child to me." Shen is far from alone in her spending habits in China these days. The growth of the middle-income group, rapid urbanization and shifting demographics including an aging population and a growing number of people who are choosing to delay marriage and parenthood have transformed China into one of the fastest-growing pet markets in the world. According to an industry report, the urban pet (dogs and cats) market in China grew to 279.3 billion yuan in 2023, up 3.2 percent from 2022. It is projected to jump to 361.3 billion yuan by 2026. This surge in Chinese demand bodes well for pet food and pet product companies, and for businesses ranging from dog grooming salons to luxury pet hotels. At the production workshop of Jiangsu Weihong Pet Products Co Ltd in Huai'an, a fresh batch of dog chew treats had just been packaged and was ready for shipment when Xinhua reporters visited. "Our pet snacks have consistently achieved over 10 percent annual growth," said Hu Zimeng, the company's general manager. "We're more confident than ever about expanding into new markets." During China's mid-year "618"shopping festival, sales of smart pet drying boxes handy after downpours or baths on Taobao, Alibaba's e-commerce platform, soared 408 percent from last year, and sales of smart pet deodorizing devices rose 335 percent. "The pet market in China has enormous potential, and consumer demand is becoming increasingly diverse. This requires us, as industry professionals, to continually innovate," said He Yang, who manages the Pupurazzi pet chain brand in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province. Pupurazzi, the largest flagship pet store in Sichuan, saw its revenue hit 2.5 million yuan in its first month after opening on June 1, with daily foot traffic ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 visitors. "This far exceeded our expectations," said He. Pet-friendly hotels are also in abundant supply. Shanghai resident Zhao Congyan often spends holidays with her dog at Blossom House, a hotel in Suzhou. The hotel offers facilities such as a vast lawn, pet-friendly dining areas and grooming services. "It allows owners to relax with their pets," Zhao said. Beyond pet services, pet health and wellness are gaining attention. Pet owners are increasingly focusing on preventive health care, including balanced nutrition and weight control. Industry statistics show that the Chinese mainland pet healthcare market grew to approximately 70 billion yuan in 2023, accounting for roughly 24 percent of the overall pet industry. Royal Canin, a France-based pet health and nutrition company, sees China's pet economy as more than a passing trend. Xu Juan, general manager of Royal Canin China, said that the surge in pet-related industries is a sign of social progress one that could become a new driver for economic growth. Xu's view is shared by Zhang Sining, a researcher at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, who said that as modern society becomes more fast-paced and work-related pressure intensifies, many people are turning to pets to fulfill their emotional needs. "This trend is opening up a blue ocean of opportunities across various sectors of the pet sector," Zhang said. LONDONWickEnt, a U.K.-based tech company, has launched a white-label fan site service for adult brands. The turnkey solution enables users to launch branded fan sites and capitalize on the growing popularity of subscription-based creator platforms. The service targets multiple industry sectors including model agencies, dating service providers, pay sites, cam sites, and traffic providers. The platform allows our partners to focus on growing their brand through user acquisition and retention, capturing revenue that would otherwise be lost to OnlyFans, said Kaspa Sejo, co-founder of WickEnt. By handling all backend operationssuch as platform maintenance, feature upgrades, hosting, regulatory compliance, payments, and customer supportwe eliminate the complexities and headaches of running a fan site. As a white-label product, WickEnt allows partners to cross-sell and monetize both creators and traffic from other sites with no audience leakage, the company said. Creators are the lifeblood of our industry and we recognize the burnout they experience managing multiple accounts across different sites, Kaspa added. Our platform also acts as a content distribution tool for creators, allowing them to manage content across multiple fan sites through a single dashboard. WickEnt is now integrating with its existing clients and is accepting applications from prospective partners. For more information about WickEnt, visit the website. Xem them ... Tin bai cuoi cung Khong con du lieu e load Containerships seen at the port of Haikou, Hainan province. SU BIKUN/FOR CHINA DAILY Global Times-Amid the turbulent external market environment, the promotion of regional economic cooperation between China and South Korea for high-end development depends on their ability to resist external interference disrupting regional industrial and supply chains. China's International Trade Representative and Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen on Friday held talks with South Korean Trade Minister Cheong In-kyo in Beijing, the Ministry of Commerce announced. The two sides exchanged views on promoting the second phase of negotiations for the China-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA), advancing the high-quality implementation of the FTA, and addressing other bilateral economic and trade issues of mutual concern. In the context of a complex and ever-changing international trade environment, this development is not only a positive signal for deepening economic cooperation between China and South Korea but also an important step in the process of regional economic integration. The China-South Korea FTA officially came into effect in December 2015, and it has brought significant economic boosts for bilateral trade cooperation. With the development of the global economic situation, particularly the rise of the digital economy and green economy, both sides believe it is necessary to deepen cooperation and enhance the quality and scope of the FTA, especially in the fields of services and investment. The essence of their economic relationship lies in the synergy of industrial chains and supply chains. Against this backdrop, advancing the second phase of negotiations for the China-South Korea FTA is particularly important, since it is not merely an improvement and upgrade of the existing cooperation framework but also a further exploration of future cooperation potential. China needs South Korea's high-tech products, which are integral to Chinese manufacturing supply chains and China's exports. Similarly, South Korea needs China's market and resources. This complementarity provides broad space for in-depth cooperation in such areas as high-end manufacturing, the digital economy and green energy. Of course, in the process of promoting the high-end development of the industrial and supply chains between China and South Korea, both countries will inevitably encounter challenges. It is essential for the two Asian economies to strengthen communication and enhance their resilience against the disruptions caused by US practices, including the overextension of security concepts and the imposition of reckless sanctions on China's high-tech sectors. This collaboration is crucial for maintaining the stability of their industrial and supply chains and is significant for the healthy development of both countries and the regional economy. As a vital part of the Asian economy, the stability and development of industrial chains between China and South Korea not only affect the economic interests of both nations but also play a crucial role in the process of East Asian economic integration. In this context, the deepening of China-South Korea FTA could lay a solid foundation for advancing negotiations on the China-Japan-South Korea FTA. As three major economies in East Asia, China, Japan and South Korea share increasingly close economic ties and significant cooperation potential. The advancement of the trilateral FTA could contribute to the sustainable growth and transformation of all three economies, injecting new momentum into the stability and development of the regional economy. It was at the Ninth Trilateral Summit Meeting among China, Japan and South Korea held at the end of May that the three countries said they would maintain discussions for speeding up negotiations for a trilateral FTA. In the current international political and economic landscape, the rise of protectionism and unilateralism poses severe challenges to the negotiations and implementation of the China-Japan-South Korea FTA. Nevertheless, the ongoing deepening of trade relations between China and South Korea underscores an undeniable demand for enhanced cooperation within the regional industrial chain, which cannot be easily suppressed. Given this context, there is reason to believe that nations in the region possess the necessary means and capabilities to overcome these obstacles. Forward Montana is hosting a legislative candidate forum from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 2, at the Pub Station, 2502 1st Ave. North, in downtown Billings. The forum will highlight House Districts 43, 45, 46, 47, 48 and 51 and give candidates a chance to meet voters. Voters can also learn about what will be on the November ballot so they may cast an informed vote. All candidates from all six wards have been invited to participate. The 2024 general election is Nov. 5 and all 100 of the state's house districts are up for election. State legislators propose and vote on laws that impact all of Montana and they act as the voice of their district, ensuring their constituents needs are being met by the state. Through these elections Montana voters get a chance to determine who represents them on the state level and to make their voices heard. At Wednesday's event, Forward Montana representatives will ask candidates about their vision for the community, play some fun candidate games and take questions from the audience. "Well ask candidates about their vision for our community, play some fun candidate games, and well have plenty of time for audience questions," Pari Kemmick, Forward Montana senior organizing manager for Eastern Montana, said in a statement. "We will have free food from Rocket Wraps, prizes throughout the night and everyones rst drink is on us. The Pub Station will also have a cash bar open throughout the evening for beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages." To RSVP head to forwardmontana.org/events. For more information about the forum, contact Kemmick at pari@forwardmontana.org Montanans for Election Reform will host two events in Billings on Thursday, Oct. 3, in an effort to give local voters a chance to learn about CI-126 and CI-127 and ask questions about the ballot initiatives. The first event will be an informal drop-in event from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Mazevo Coffee, 819 Grand Ave., where voters can visit with supporters of the initiatives, ask questions, and receive educational materials about CI-126 and CI-127 and how they impact Montana elections. The second event will be an educational town hall from 6 to 7 p.m. at Craft Local, 2501 Montana Ave. with a brief presentation by David Oclander, state lead for Veterans for Montana Voters, followed by a Q&A session. MER staff and volunteers will also be present to help answer questions and discuss the initiatives with voters. CI-126 is an election reform initiative that would open Montanas primaries and create a top four primary system. CI-127 is a related initiative that would require candidates to win a majority of votes in the general election. Both initiatives have now gathered enough signatures to appear on the November ballot. More information about the initiatives can be found at montanansforelectionreform.com. The acrimonious divorce between former Zimbabwe Warriors captain Tinashe Nengomasha and Samantha Mtukudzi, daughter of the late music legend Oliver Mtukudzi, continues to unfold in the courts. The latest chapter in this high-profile case centres on a dispute over the valuation of their Hillside property, a disagreement that has stalled the sale of the family home. The couples divorce was officially finalised in May 2023 by High Court Judge Justice Neville WaMambo, who granted Nengomasha custody of their two minor children. Samantha, who initiated the divorce proceedings in December 2018 citing irreconcilable differences and prolonged separation, had initially sought full custody. However, the court awarded her access to the children every weekend, during public holidays, and for half of each school holiday. The court order mandated the sale of their Hillside residence and an equal division of the proceeds. However, the couple has been unable to agree on a valuation for the property, leading to further legal battles. Nengomasha has filed an urgent chamber application, seeking to prevent Samantha from selling the house, alleging that she is intentionally undervaluing the property to obstruct a fair sale. Adding to the complexities of the already strained situation, Nengomasha accuses Samantha of neglecting their children and failing to meet her court-ordered maintenance payments of US$50 per child, per month. Samantha, in her divorce petition, had also sought a share of the couples assets, including furniture, salon equipment, cars, and gym equipment located in their homes in Harare and South Africa. She also specifically requested custody of their Maltese dog, Alvin Jazz. The courts final decision on the distribution of assets included awarding Nengomasha two vehicles, while Samantha received the salon equipment and the Maltese dog. The initial divorce petition, filed by Samantha in December 2018, detailed the breakdown of the marriage and the long period of separation preceding the legal action. In 2021, she amended her summons to include a request for custody of their pet dog. Nengomasha challenged the divorce, but Justice WaMambo ruled that reconciliation was impossible. The judges decision to grant Nengomasha custody of the children is a significant aspect of the ongoing legal battle. The disagreement over the Hillside propertys value is just the latest development in a series of disputes that have plagued the couples separation. The case highlights the often-complex and emotionally charged nature of high-profile divorces, particularly when children and substantial assets are involved. While Samanthas marriage has ended in a protracted and public legal battle, a stark contrast exists within her family. Her half-sister, Selmor Mtukudzi, is celebrating her 17th wedding anniversary with Tendai Manatsa, son of the late celebrated musician Zex Manatsa. This juxtaposition highlights the vastly different experiences within one family, emphasising the unpredictable nature of relationships and the diverse paths individuals take. The ongoing legal battles between Nengomasha and Mtukudzi continue to attract considerable public attention, given the public profile of both parties and the legacy of Oliver Mtukudzi. Coincidentally, the divorce saga takes a new twist at a time the Mtukudzi family is under public scrutiny following the interview by Selmor and her elder sister Sandra Mtukudzi who recently exposed their stepmother Daisys alleged ill-treatment against them. Breaking News via Email Related Zimbabwe Latest News Nyanga The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) concluded a two-day post-election review conference in Nyanga this week, a gathering that saw heated debate over the 2023 harmonised elections and the path forward for electoral reform. The conference, attended by over 160 stakeholders, including representatives from political parties, churches, embassies, the police, civil society organisations, and constitutional commissions, served as the official launch of preparations for the 2028 elections. ZEC chairperson, Justice Priscilla Chigumba, opened the conference, stating that the review aimed to identify areas for improvement and inform future electoral reforms. She described the conference as an anxious moment for her, expressing relief at its conclusion. The review process, according to ZEC vice chairperson Ambassador Rodney Kiwa, extends beyond the conference itself, with an open invitation to Zimbabweans to submit their contributions to ZEC. While government and quasi-government representatives largely praised ZEC and the police for conducting successful elections, a chorus of dissenting voices emerged from civil society organisations, opposition parties, journalists, and others. Elisabeth Valerio, president of the United Zimbabwe Alliance (UZA), strongly criticised ZEC, accusing it of bias and unfairly disqualifying hundreds of her partys candidates. She also levelled harsh criticism at the police, alleging a pro-ruling party (Zanu-PF) bias. Journalist Tonderai Toneo Rutsito of Techmag directly challenged Police Commissioner Godwin Matanga on the disparity in the treatment of political rallies, questioning why Zanu-PF meetings were consistently sanctioned while numerous CCC meetings and rallies were banned. He also raised concerns about the lack of publicly accessible Presidential results on the ZEC website. Another journalist criticised ZEC for its limited accessibility to the media. The conference also highlighted several key areas needing attention. CCC MP Charles Moyo advocated for the automatic voter registration of all 18-year-olds. Zimbabwe Media Commission senior official Academy Bvumayi Chinamhora urged ZEC to adapt its media strategy to the digital age, acknowledging the declining reach of traditional media and the growing influence of digital platforms, particularly in light of the Starlink licensing. Womens organisations called for stronger measures against political parties failing to meet the 50/50 gender quota, including rejecting their registration. ZEC CEO Utoile Silaigwana attributed many of the criticisms levelled against the commission to shortcomings in the existing electoral law. ZEC only acts within the law and will not do anything that is not provided for in the statutes. Those blaming ZEC should instead convince the legislature to reform the laws, he stated. He also emphasised that enabling Diaspora voting requires legislative changes. ZEC lawyer Tawanda Kanengoni, who presented twice at the conference, highlighted the need for clearer electoral legislation, pointing to numerous ambiguities that disrupt the electoral process. He advocated for the establishment of an Electoral Court to address these issues. The call for an Electoral Court reflects a broader concern about the need for greater transparency and accountability in the electoral process. The lack of transparency in the tabulation of the Presidential vote was a recurring theme, with several participants expressing concern about the lack of readily available information and the need for greater public access to election data. The call for extending voting rights to Zimbabweans living abroad also gained significant traction, reflecting the growing desire for broader participation in the democratic process. The conference served as a platform for airing these concerns and initiating a dialogue on necessary reforms. The coming years will be crucial in determining whether these calls for reform will translate into tangible changes in the electoral system ahead of the 2028 elections. Breaking News via Email Related Zimbabwe Latest News HEBRON -- As a three-man team pushed a drill bit dozens of feet underground, keys to North Dakota's past, present and -- possibly -- its future rose to the surface. Every 5 feet or so, one of the rig workers shoveled small piles of what appeared to an untrained eye to be nothing more than mud into consecutive rows. But for Levi Moxness, a geologist at North Dakota's Geological Survey, the samples were easily recognizable. Moxness knows what he's looking for, which are high concentrations of rare earth elements in some of North Dakota's lignite coal beds. The 17 elements are used across a wide variety of modern electronics and will be needed for building clean energy technologies. Most, however, come from outside of the United States mostly China and federal officials are looking to create a domestic industry around the minerals to shore up supply chains. Exactly where these valuable minerals are and if it might make sense to dig them up both remain open questions. The state Geological Survey has just wrapped up a $500,000, 50-hole drilling effort that could provide some answers. Finding minerals is 'like prospecting' One clue the Geological Survey has for where the rare earths are is how far away a bed of lignite is from white clay. Rare earths once sat on top of the white clay, but excessive heat around 55 million years ago during the 200,000-year "Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum" (PETM) period caused minerals to leach beneath it. Many of these remain scattered in the ground, but some fell into the lignite coal beds, allowing them to remain in concentrated spots. Today, these beds of coal are catching the attention of governments, businesses and scientists. "Rare earths are not actually that 'rare,'" Moxness explained. "If you grind the entire surface of the earth, the rare earth concentration will be on average 180 parts per million." What is rare, however, are the large concentrations that have been found in lignite over the state's past decade of research. Coal formations with more than 300 rare earth parts per million could interest companies. Samples that state geologists have found in lignite outcrops in North Dakota's Badlands indicate that what the state has is much higher. But if a company wants to mine for rare earths in North Dakota, it would also likely need to see those large mineral concentrations across large volumes of coal. Determining where that is exactly, however, is still a bit of a guessing game. "This is like prospecting," said John Mohl of Mohl Drilling, the company that won the bids to work with the state on the project. His son Jason Mohl, who was working on a separate rig nearby, is the company's president. Clues from past drive mineral search efforts A small abandoned lignite coal mine sits near the rare earth search. It was dug before modern mining and environmental regulations went into place in the 1970s. What is left of the mine provided the state a clue of where to look for more coal. But there was not much luck at the day's first stop. As the drill traveled deeper and deeper underground, no coal was coming up. Moxness said that the lack of lignite here is likely due to a river washing it over millions of years ago and leaving other minerals in its place. Whatever rare earths leached from the white clay during the PETM are now spread amongst the clay and other rocks, but not coal. "That is probably why they stopped digging for coal here, too," Moxness said. There is some continuity between the people who dug the now-abandoned mine and the crew looking for rare earths. Despite improvements in technology, many modern and relatively short-term material constraints remain subject to events that took place across geological epochs. The drill got to around 120 feet below the surface without hitting any coal and just as Moxness was ready to call it quits on this hole, one of the drill operators noted a different feeling on the rig, indicating the crew finally hit some lignite. A mud sample that brought up chips of coal confirmed that was the case. Moxness advised to drill just a bit deeper. More coal rose but was not very thick, and its distance from the white clay meant that it was unlikely that any large concentration of rare earths settled there. The crew took a log of the hole using a large metallic rod to measure the density and types of rock underground, but decided against taking a core doing so is a time-consuming process, which in this instance would likely not have provided any useful information on the rare earth hunt. "It's also good to know where the minerals are not," Moxness said. Old and new North Dakota industries While this one spot will likely not be the site of a future rare earths mine, the land already serves as a reminder of both old and new industries for the state and the role that rare earths play. The white clay where the rare earth elements once sat is the same material that the Hebron Brick Co. North Dakota's sole brick manufacturer uses to craft its product. This particular hole was being drilled at one of the company's clay mines. When the drill was not humming, the sound of "moos" from cattle in nearby fields served as an almost immediate replacement. And just a few miles away was a wind farm, where the energy from the wind turning the towers' blades is converted to electricity with the help of magnets that require rare earths for production. The vast majority of these minerals, however, come from outside the U.S. The only commercial rare earth mine in the U.S. is Mountain Pass in southern California. But there, the rare earths are concentrated in hard rock, requiring intense chemicals for extraction. This makes for an expensive and, at times, an environmentally hazardous process. Though operational today, Mountain Pass has gone through numerous owners in recent decades and has struggled to keep the lights on while dealing with environmental issues and competition from China. Whats found in coal seams could be cheaper to extract, according to recent research out of the University of North Dakota, and it could also create fewer environmental risks because the chemicals needed are much more watered down compared with hard rock extraction. A large concentration There was a bit more luck a few miles west of the first site. As the drill bit pierced the ground, the piles of mud that rose to the surface were darker than at the first spot, meaning that the coal at the new location is closer to the white clay, and likely full of rare earths. This time, the crew decided to take a core, using a 10-foot long barrel to pull rock from the earth. After the core got dug up, the team used an X-ray fluorescence (XRF) machine to get a quick estimate of the concentration of rare earths in the rock. The only rare earth element the XRF could pick up was yttrium "Y" on the periodic table but since the elements tend to travel in groups, the parts per million of yttrium can be multiplied by a factor of 10 to get an early sense of the total rare earth concentration. The XRF measurements read 616 parts per million of yttrium, meaning the concentration of rare earths could be higher than 6,000 parts per million, but Moxness said that is probably not an accurate estimate. This coal could just have very high levels of yttrium. Still, he said a conservative estimate of rare earths in the sample would be around 3,000 parts per million. If correct, that is 10 times higher than what the federal Department of Energy has indicated would make mining coal for rare earths economic. The core sample will be shipped to a private lab in Wyoming for more thorough testing. There was just one problem with the sample -- it may be too small to be mined economically. The size of the coal in the core was only about a foot long. The largest sample of coal that the team found with a high rare earth concentration during its September drilling program was about two feet long. While Moxness and other state geologists continued to examine the core, another one got dug up. In the next attempt, the core extracted a much larger sample of coal from the ground -- nearly 6 feet long -- but measurements from the XRF showed it had scant concentrations of rare earths. The distance between this chunk of coal and the white clay was too great for significant levels of rare earths to have ever leached down and concentrated there. Companies might be interested in mining for something like the first sample, Moxness said, but it is much more likely that interest would come if his team is able to find a core that strikes the balance between the concentrations of the first sample and the size of the second. He is hopeful that it is out there. Life for lignite Moxness is not the only one who is hopeful. Lignite has been mined in North Dakota for over a century, but the industry's present makeup is mostly a result of a coal boom that began in the 1960s. Those boom days are past. It is now a tougher time for the industry. Economic and regulatory pressures in recent decades have made it harder to make money operating coal-fired power plants or to build new ones. Mohl Drilling, the Beulah-based company running the rigs, usually works with companies that mine coal for power production, helping them with exploration on land near existing mines. Talk of rare earth mining has brought some excitement to Beulah, said Jason Mohl, the company president. He told the Tribune that his family business has operated in coal country for three generations now. "Everyone's hopeful it might keep the coal industry here longer," he said. A major federal investment could help too. North Dakota is competing with West Virginia for a $124 million federal grant from the Department of Energy made possible through the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which would provide 50% of the costs for building a facility to process the rare earths found in coal waste. None of that will happen overnight. The results of the testing done in Wyoming will be available in a report from the Geological Survey in the next couple of months. If the results end up piquing the interests of private companies, there is still likely a while to go, and a lot of work to be done, before there is any rare earths boom to speak of in North Dakota. "Setting up a brand new mining operation could take about a decade," Moxness said. Two prominent Harare businessmen, Satishbhai Patel (60), director of Honda Centre, and Ebrahim Mahomad (57), director of Union Hardware, are facing charges of US$1.4 million fraud stemming from a complex property deal. The pair were arrested and appeared in court last week, accused of violating section 136 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act chapter 9:23. The alleged victim is Meadow Sweet Investments (Private) Limited, represented by Nyasha Emmanuel Watyoka. The crux of the prosecutions case centers around a propertystand number 3081 in Salisbury townshipmeasuring 1170 square meters. Meadow Sweet Investments purchased this partially developed, double-story property in 2002 from John Dimitriou Mallis and Myrsina Myrtoula Dimitriou. Their intention was to renovate the structure into an office complex. However, when all the directors left Zimbabwe in 2004, the renovation plans were put on hold. The alleged fraud unfolded years later. In 2011, while the property sat idle, Patel and Mahomad allegedly devised a scheme to defraud Meadow Sweet Investments. The prosecution claims they forged a special resolution, falsely representing that Patel was a director of the company and authorized to sell the property on its behalf. They then allegedly created a power of attorney, empowering fugitive Cuthbert Chengeta to transfer the property. Chengeta, acting as conveyancer, transferred ownership to the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA). This transfer, according to the prosecution, was entirely unauthorized. The alleged fraud only came to light in 2023 when Dr. Muchazoreka Richardson Nyamugama, a director of Meadow Sweet Investments, returned to Zimbabwe. Upon inspecting the property, he discovered it had been renovated and was in use by ZERA. Further investigation revealed the fraudulent transfer orchestrated by Patel and Mahomad. A key element of the prosecutions case rests on the alleged inauthenticity of the capital gains tax certificate submitted to the Registrar of Deeds. The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) confirmed that this certificate, crucial for the property transfer, is not in their records. This casts serious doubt on the legitimacy of the entire transaction. The state contends that Patel was never a director of Meadow Sweet Investments, directly contradicting the forged special resolution used to facilitate the sale. The prosecution argues that Patel and Mahomad had no legal right to sell the property and their actions resulted in a US$1.4 million loss for Meadow Sweet Investments. To date, no funds have been recovered. The case highlights the complexities of property transactions and the potential for fraud when proper due diligence is not followed. The alleged forgery of documents, the involvement of a fugitive conveyancer, and the discrepancies in tax records all point to a meticulously planned scheme. The outcome of the trial will not only determine the fate of Patel and Mahomad but also serve as a cautionary tale in the Zimbabwean business landscape. The prosecutions case hinges on proving the fraudulent nature of the documents used to transfer the property and demonstrating the lack of authorization from Meadow Sweet Investments. The authenticity of the capital gains tax certificate is a critical piece of evidence, as its absence suggests a deliberate attempt to circumvent legal processes. The testimony of Dr. Nyamugama, detailing his discovery of the unauthorized transfer and subsequent investigation, will also likely play a significant role in the trial. Breaking News via Email Related Zimbabwe Latest News Worlds oldest cheese found smeared on heads of 3,600-year-old mummies StudyFinds We sold our house for this: Cruise passengers stranded in Belfast before 3-year long trip Belfast Telegraph Climate/Environment Poison PR Lighthouse Reports. The deck: US taxpayers funded a covert campaign to downplay the risks of pesticides and discredit environmentalists in Africa, Europe, and North America. Western NC Open Thread: What do you need/know/want? North Carolina Rabbit Hole Asheville cut off from world; damage estimated $100B in South The Center Square North Carolina Lambert will have a separate post on Helene coming later today. Pandemics Scientists recently uncovered something unsettling in a study of 54 heart tissue samples. The virus behind COVID-19 can creep into heart cells too, stirring up a storm of https://t.co/iPL4dJW5Ir Inflamed from Within: How COVID-19 Ignites Heart Damage China? China unveiled its hydrogen-powered train at a trade fair in Germany. The zero-emission train generates electricity through a hydrogen-oxygen reaction, producing only water as a byproduct pic.twitter.com/jrVNS3ECC8 Zheng Yongnian: Asia-Pacific, destined for world war? The East Is Read Old Blighty European Disunion Email from Athens set to cause von der Leyen, Metsola headaches Euractiv Austerity, corruption, and neglect: How the Greek railway became Europes deadliest Modern Diplomacy. From last year, still germane. *** Austria: Right-Wing FPO Achieves Historic Victory The European Conservative Sahra Wagenknecht wants to coordinate BSW negotiations and break them off if there is no willingness to compromise Die Sachsen. Wagenknecht reiterated in the RND that the state governments must take a clear position on the deployment of US medium-range missiles. Sahra Wagenknechts Party Is a Bad Example for the Left Jacobin First Week of German Border Controls Had Little Effect on Immigration European Conservative Swedens spreading crime epidemic alarms its neighbors Politico War in Lebanon could fuel another European migration crisis Unherd Alberta left-wing politicians to host drag Halloween fundraiser event Two prominent Alberta politicians from the left-wing New Democratic Party are set to host a Halloween drag event to raise funds for the party under its new leadership. The event, scheduled for Oct. 26 and titled "Night of the Living Drag 2: Janis and Brooks' 2nd Annual HallowQueer Fundraiser," aims to raise funds for the NDP under its new pro-LGBTQ+ and pro-abortion leader Naheed Nenshi, who is vying to become the next premier of Alberta. (Related: Queer American Library Association head wants to destroy traditional family values by filling childrens minds with pornography depicting gay people doing gay things.) The event is hosted by Members of the Alberta Legislative Assembly Janis Irwin and Brooks Arcand-Paul of Edmonton. "Hey boo-tiful, Janis Irwin and Brooks Arcand-Paul would love to see you at their second annual Night of the Living Drag fundraiser. Start planning your costumes, and get ready to kiki with ghosts, witches, and fabulous local drag artists and special guest performers," Alberta NDP wrote on their announcement in their official website. "Event is 18+ and capacity is limited. Get your ticket now!" The party will feature drag performances, special guest artists and a lively atmosphere, with attendees encouraged to show off their best costumes. "Night of the Living Drag 2!" Irwin posted on his official account on X. "@sipiysis and I are back for our annual fundraiser on Saturday, October 26th! Featuring incredible local drag artists, special guest appearances, and YOU! Start planning your costumes and get ready to kiki with all of us!" Nenshi to push hardline progressive agenda if elected as Alberta's premier Nenshi, who took over leadership from Rachel Notley earlier this year, is ramping up efforts to expand the NDP's influence in the province by continuing his liberal, pro-LGBTQ+ stance. He has a long history of supporting progressive stances. In 2011, he made history as the first mayor of Calgary, the province's largest city, to serve as a grand marshal for a Pride Parade. He spent the entire parade seated on top of an open-topped red Ford Mustang sporting a purple T-shirt printed with the words "Straight Not Narrow." Since then, Nenshi has proudly supported the LGBTQ+ community as an ally. "It really says that you don't have to be a part of a community in order to support that community," said Nenshi. Up until now, Nenshi has been showing his support for the LGBTQ+ community, while challenging the stance of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's United Conservative Party on social issues. The NDP has been vocally critical of Smith's pro-family policies, particularly those that strengthen parental rights and limit access to gender-affirming care for minors. The party also criticized the new legislation that would curb "extreme forms" of transgender ideology, including banning minors from undergoing gender transition surgeries. Nenshi and the NDP view these stance as discriminatory and harmful to the LGBTQ+ individuals. Head over to Groomers.news for similar stories. Watch this video discussing the dangers of being infected by the so-called "woke mind virus." This video is from the Thrivetime Show channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: GENDER-BENDER INSURRECTION: Get ready for the QUEER CAUCUS of Minnesota to try to transition the entire nation if Harris and Walz steal the election. Prominent LGBTQ activist and president of a university queer organization ARRESTED for downloading child pornography. LGBT queer surgeon in Oregon using high-tech genital surgery ROBOTS to crank out high volume of child sex changes. Call of Trans-Duty? Video game Call of Duty MW2 now influences gamers to be queer, allows loaded weapons to be aimed at civilians in-game. Virgin Atlantic has turned every commercial flight into an LGBT pride parade of cross-dressing queers. Sources include: LifeSiteNews.com AlbertaNDP.ca X.com NationalPost.com Brighteon.com 9th Circuit Appeals Court rules that California concealed carry ban in hospitals is ILLEGAL The Golden State's ban on concealed carry firearms inside hospitals has been deemed illegal by a federal appeals court A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (NCAC) issued a ruling on Sept. 6 that California cannot prohibit concealed carry in hospitals. The ruling was to the Wolford v. Lopez case, in which several plaintiffs sued Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez over concealed carry bans on "sensitive places." The NCAC's decision applies to the whole states of Hawaii and California. Breitbart News columnist AWR Hawkins pointed out that the appellate court magistrates applied precedents established by these three cases in their decision U.S. v. Rahimi, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen and District of Columbia v. Heller. "[The NCAC judges] observed that 'our nation has a clear historical tradition of banning firearms at sensitive places' then differentiated between places that have existed since America's founding and places that are newer," Hawkins wrote. "In other words, places have long existed that are only recently considered to be sensitive. With this approach, the three-judge panel upheld some 'sensitive places' bans while striking enforcement of others." As per the Sept. 6 decision, the said concealed carry bans could be "enforced in bars and restaurants that serve alcohol and in parks." California can also enforce such prohibitions in casinos, libraries, zoos, stadiums and museums. However, the three-judge panel struck down the Golden State's ban on concealed carry in churches, hospitals and public transportation. The Aloha State's ban on concealed carry in banks "or adjacent parking lots" was likewise struck down. (Related: California faces legal battle over new restrictions on concealed carry permits.) California ranks low among 2A-friendly states California Rifle & Pistol Association (CRPA) Director Chuck Michel lauded the NCAC's Sept. 6 ruling, calling it a victory for gun rights. As quoted by the New York Times, the CRPA director claimed that concealed carry bans at sensitive places were "never about safety." They even placed the law-abiding concealed carry permit holder at a disadvantage. The NCAC's decision has had a huge impact on both California and Hawaii. According to Guns & Ammo magazine's 2023 Best States for Gun Owners List, California ranks No. 48 while Hawaii ranks No. 49. "California received low scores for a difficult carry permit environment, restrictions on many semiautomatics and magazines and other miscellaneous statutes," the publication continued. "Despite having some of the nation's toughest gun laws, the state had more mass shootings than any other state across a 50-year survey period, more than Texas and Florida combined." Jose Alberto Nino of Big League Politics also commented on the ruling: "Despite how awful California's laws are the judicial system has occasionally come in handy to rule in favor of gun rights. We can thank former President Donald Trump for making key judicial appointments both at the Supreme Court and at circuit levels that have led to pro-gun rulings." "We should take these victories wherever we can. However, gun owners must be ready to use other means such as lobbying, legislative pressure and even nullification to ensure that our rights are upheld. We can't afford to put all our eggs in one basket as far as strategies for securing freedom are concerned," he added. Head over to SecondAmendment.news for similar stories. Watch former President Donald Trump promising to pay for teachers' concealed carry weapons and training below. This video is from the High Hopes channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Rep. Thomas Massie introduces federal constitutional carry bill. Melissa Red Pill lauds Supreme Court over recent decisions Brighteon.TV. Federal judge rules Illinois' ban on carrying firearms in public transit is UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Senate Dems propose blatantly unconstitutional bill that would shatter the Second Amendment. Garlic festival shooting took place in another "gun-free zone," could have been stopped by citizens, but they were all disarmed. Sources include: BigLeaguePolitics.Substack.com Breitbart.com GunsAndAmmo.com Brighteon.com Democrat delegate to House admits DOJ, FBI have been weaponized against whites, Christians and Trump supporters Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands), the Democrat delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, had a meltdown this week while speaking to the Select Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government about the growing calls for the Department of Education and other federal agencies to be abolished. In her lengthy screed before the subcommittee, Plaskett tried to argue that keeping intact agencies like the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is absolutely necessary to stop Americans who are white, Christian, and / or support Donald Trump for president from achieving their goals. "What is the point of this subcommittee?" Plaskett asked in frustration. "Because it's necessary for the public and the media to hear, to try and provide cover for the eradication for the Department of Justice and the FBI." "We are having these hearings so that you become immune, you become inured to the notion of the removal of the FBI and DOJ so that those agencies are no longer there to serve as a check against white nationalism, great replacement theorists, Christian nationalists, white fragility, fascists, and the twice-impeached convicted felon, former president and would-be dictator Donald Trump." Holy shlit. Democrat delegate to the US House of Representatives accidentally says the quiet part out loud. She admits the DOJ and FBI are weaponized to go after people with opposing views. The DOJ and FBI "serve as a check against white nationalism, great replacement pic.twitter.com/KRIVtAwCkM Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 25, 2024 (Related: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says that after being reelected, Trump will launch RICO investigations into collusion between medical boards, medical journals and Big Pharma.) Will the DOJ and FBI get disbanded under Trump? Plaskett clearly did not realize that she said the quiet part out loud, accidentally, in trying to argue that the DOJ and FBI need to stay. She revealed to the world that the DOJ and the FBI have, in fact, been weaponized against certain Americans in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Perhaps the reason why Plaskett revealed these truths so openly is because she and her ilk no longer fear the wrath of We the People. Or perhaps Plaskett simply does not care what Americans know about these corrupt federal agencies because she is sure they will remain intact regardless. "That was no accident," someone suggested on Twitter / X about Plaskett's open revelations about how the DOJ and FBI operate. "They just know they don't have to hide it anymore." "They don't even hide it anymore," wrote another. "They honestly believe they have the moral right to do it." Others questioned what Plaskett means by "white fragility" seeing as how she and other non-whites seem to be the most fragile when it comes to not getting what they want, politically speaking. Plaskett, by the way, is the same corrupt politician who on live television speaking to MSNBC called for Trump to be shot: This is the same chick that said Trump needs to be SH0T on live TV. She needs to be expelled NOW. pic.twitter.com/QHjWAhd3dC Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) September 25, 2024 "Isn't this the same lady that 'requested' recusal from the Epstein victims' charges against her?" asked another X user about Plaskett. "Isn't this the same lady that 'worked' with Epstein's tax and political fixer?" "Isn't this the same lady that 'accepted' donations from Epstein while knowing of his criminal activities? Isn't this the same lady that 'headed' to close regulatory gaps and provide regulatory authority over digital commodities that were then regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)? By the way ... it is." If you are interested in keeping up with the latest news about Trump's efforts to secure another White House term, be sure to check out Trump.news. Sources for this article include: X.com NaturalNews.com Democrat-supporter Sean Diddy Combs accused of coercing women into multiple abortions Renowned rapper and Democrat-supporter Sean Combs, also known as Puff Daddy or P. Diddy, has recently been arrested and formally charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has also been accused of forcing his girlfriends to undergo abortions He faces a minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum life sentence if found guilty. During the hearing, Combs pled not guilty. However, he was denied bail and was sent to jail immediately while awaiting trial. Combs has been infamous for his sex and drug parties which he called "freak-offs" and abusive behavior. Critics have been questioning how he has been able to get away with all his crimes with victims accusing him of violence and torture during the said gatherings so extreme that they have to be treated intravenously for days afterwards. But the worst of it all is the unborn children he has victimized who would never have a chance to speak up. The non-profit pro-life group Live Action published a report on the numerous women who are accusing Combs of coercing them into repeated abortions. Virginia V., Diddy's ex-girlfriend, said she became pregnant several times and that he pushed her into aborting her preborn children. "I have this period app and it tells me when Im ovulating and stuff and so I told him. I told him that I'm ovulating," she said. So don't do it. But he just did it anyway and then I got pregnant. And he, like okay, just get an abortion. Like, no hesitation. But this time was harder for me because I had been with him for so long and I was, like, really in love with him." Through tears, she added, "Part of me wanted to keep it. But he didn't want it. I only agreed to [the abortion] because he told me to." She also said he offered her $50,000 to abort another baby. Combs is one of the celebrities in recent years arrested for trafficking, who are also known to have forced their victims into abortions. R. Kelly and Ghislaine Maxwell, both notorious sex traffickers were also known to have coerced their victims to have abortions. (Related: Diddy indictment claims rap mogul used his power to build "empire of sex crime.") Combs is a longtime supporter of the Democrats. He campaigned for former President Barack Obama and has been praised by Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris. Diddy supported their abortion agenda. Diddy's 11th victim surfaces as he awaits trial in jail Federal prosecutors have accused Combs of "creating a criminal enterprise" in which he "abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct." His 11th and latest accuser Thalia Graves, who is backed by celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, claimed Combs and his bodyguard Joseph Sherman had sedated, overpowered and tied her up before recording themselves raping her and later distributing the sex tape. Combs's former girlfriend Cassie Ventura was first to blow the whistle. In a lawsuit filed last November, she alleged he had "trapped" her for over a decade in a "cycle of abuse, violence and sex trafficking." A day after the suit landed in court, both parties said they had "amicably" settled the case. Joi Dickerson-Neal, who said Ventura had inspired her to speak out, alleged Combs had "intentionally drugged" and raped her when she was a Syracuse University student in 1991 and had made her a victim of revenge porn by filming the assault. Liza Gardner accused Combs and R&B crooner Aaron Hall of plying her with drinks and forcing her to have sex with them against her will when she was 16 years old. A woman identified only as Jane Doe claimed that Combs, former Bad Boy Records president Harve Pierre and a third person had violently gang-raped her in a New York City studio when she was a 17-year-old high school student. Rodney "Lil Rod" Jones, a producer and videographer who worked on Combs's most recent album, accused the hip-hop mogul of running an illegal racketeering enterprise in which he was forced to procure drugs, solicit sex workers and tape sex acts. He also claimed Combs and actor Cuba Gooding Jr. had groped him without consent. Grace O'Marcaigh, who worked on a yacht leased by the Combs family in 2022, accused the rapper and his son, Christian "King" Combs, of sexual assault. She blamed them for creating an "environment of debauchery" with suspected sex workers and top celebrities aboard. Crystal McKinney claimed she had been drugged and sexually assaulted by Combs following a Men's Fashion Week event in 2003 when she was 22 years old. She also said he had subsequently "blackballed" her in the modeling world. April Lampros, who says she met Combs as a student at New Yorks Fashion Institute of Technology in 1994, detailed "four terrifying sexual encounters" through the early 2000s. Adria English, a former adult film actress who worked with Combs in the 2000s, said he had used her as a "sexual pawn for the pleasure and financial benefit of others" during the "White Parties" he hosted at his homes in New York and Miami. Dawn Richards, who once sang in two Combs-assembled groups including Danity Kane, said she had personally witnessed his violence against Ventura and that he had threatened her life. Representatives for Combs have denied the claims. CancelDemocrats.news has more stories similar to this. Sources include: LifeSiteNews.com LiveAction.org BBC.com DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz admits FBI had plants embedded in crowds during Jan. 6 protests Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael Horowitz has admitted that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had multiple "Confidential Human Sources" (CHS) embedded in the crowd during the Jan. 6 incident at the United States Capitol. Horowitz made this revelation on Wednesday, Sept. 25, while he was testifying before the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. (Related: Supreme Court ruling downgraded January 6 from "insurrection" to trespassing, says legal expert.) During his testimony, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) questioned whether federal assets, including potentially CHS agents, were present on Jan. 6 at the Capitol. Horowitz answered positively, noting that the department is currently working on a review of the Justice Department and the FBI's actions surrounding the Jan. 6 incident. "Do you have evidence of the number of Confidential Human Sources that were operating on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6?" Massie asked. "Our report will include the information in that regard," said Horowitz. Massie pressed Horowitz on "how many" CHS agents were present and on whether there were "more than 100," but the inspector general refused to disclose the information. "I'm not in a position to say that, both because it is in draft form, and we have not gone through the classification review," said Horowitz. "And so, I need to be careful." Horowitz believes the DOJ can make the report public in "the next couple of months," but likely after election day. "I doubt it would be done in time for the election," said Horowitz, adding that he "certainly" hopes it can be completed before inauguration day on Jan. 20, 2025. "What we do know is you're going to expose that there were confidential human sources at the Capitol," said Massie. "Can you tell us today how many went into the Capitol?" "I'll have that information in the report," said Horowitz. "The report, I'm not able to speak to information in there, but just because it's in the draft and we get a response from the department and the FBI, but also because I don't know yet what's classified and not classified." FBI guilty of purging its ranks of conservatives Horowitz was originally meant to testify before the subcommittee regarding how the FBI used its security clearance adjudication process to allegedly punish conservatives and other agents with views contrary to that of the leadership of the FBI. Horowitz denied that the DOJ Office of Inspector General had "made such a finding" regarding the FBI. The case in question involves former FBI agent Marcus Allen, who was suspended for 27 months before being reinstated after his security clearance was revoked following whistleblowing activity. Allen and his lawyer were also there to talk about the alleged lack of due process that DOJ employees are afforded, particularly when they become whistleblowers who speak out regarding alleged wrongdoing within the department. In the face of whistleblowing activity, the DOJ suspends or revokes security clearances and places employees under investigation, sometimes leaving them without pay for months or even years, as is the case with Allen. "It was consistent with policy to allow someone like Mr. Allen to be out of his job on unpaid leave for more than two years and try and fight that process," said Horowitz. Allen first came under fire in September 2021 when he sent a routine internal email to his colleagues and superiors calling into question the decision-making of FBI leadership on Jan. 6. The particular email saw Allen writing that there was "a good possibility the D.C. elements of our organization are not being forthright about the events of the day." Horowitz noted that after Allen was warned by superiors to not send any more emails with even the mildest criticisms and questions regarding leadership, Allen complied. However, the FBI's Security Division then began an investigation on Allen to see if he posed an "insider threat," an investigation that led to his security clearance being revoked in January 2022 and his being suspended without pay indefinitely. The FBI only agreed to reinstate Allen in June 2024 and give him 27 months of back pay. Watch this clip of House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) discussing how liberal bias is driving the weaponization of the FBI and the Justice Department. This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Secret Service's Cheatle and Rowe covered Trump's Jan. 6, 2021 rally, sought intelligence on Proud Boys before deleting all texts did they allow the "insurrection?" EXPLOSIVE: New video shows D.C. police PLANTED J6 pipe bomb that FBI blamed on conservative extremists. More than 300 people who've been prosecuted by Biden for "insurrection" on January 6 could see their felony charges DROPPED. Sources include: InfoWars.com FoxNews.com WashingtonExaminer.com Brighteon.com Israel calls for ethnic cleansing of Shia enemy population in southern Lebanon In order for Israel and its population to feel safe, Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli is calling for the southern portion of Lebanon to be ethnically cleansed of its "Shia enemy population." On Twitter / X, Chikli wrote that he would like to see a buffer zone established near Lebanon's border with Israel but on Lebanon's side, not Israel's, because Chikli believes that Lebanon should not even be considered a real country. Even though "it has a flag and even though it has political institutions," Lebanon "does not meet the definition of a country," Chikli wrote in warlike terms on Elon Musk's social media platform. Beyond the screed, Chikli also shared images of maps questioning the current borders of both Lebanon and Syria, this referencing the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916 that carved up the Levant into two spheres of influence: British and French. "A renewed buffer zone, free of enemy population is the order of the hour and it is the right and most just thing to do both from a security point of view, both from a political and moral point of view," Chikli added. (Related: Did you know that Israel is using artificial intelligence to commit mass genocide in the Gaza Strip?) Israel has many enemies Israel has been at odds with Lebanon for many years. Starting in 1982, Israel decided it was going to occupy south Lebanon which, for the next 20 some-odd years, resulted in ongoing conflicts. The most recent conflict erupted immediately after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel, which sent Israel into a tailspin of war as the Benjamin Netanyahu regime decided that it was time to go in and take over the entirety of Gaza. Hezbollah, which operates in southern Lebanon, joined the fight against Israel after Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were sent to northern Israel as well as into Gaza to wage war on Israel's enemies. Chikli's commentary is par for the course, he also having ties to far-right European leaders including Marine Le Pen. He and Netanyahu seem aligned in supporting a multi-pronged war against Hamas, Hezbollah, and ultimately Iran. Hezbollah has said that it does not want a large-scale war with Israel but will continue its rocket and artillery strikes until Israel and Hamas agree to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Chikli is not the only Israeli leader to call for more military action in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Israeli education minister Yoav Kisch, for instance, appeared on Israeli state television this week to claim that there is no difference between Hezbollah and Lebanon, and that both should be treated as one and the same. "Lebanon will be annihilated," Kisch declared. "It will cease to exist." So far, Israel has killed about 41,000 Palestinians in Gaza, and several hundred more in Lebanon. Jordan, Egypt and Russia have all said in the past week that Israel's attacks in Lebanon clearly point to Netanyahu wanting to drag the entire Middle East into a large-scale regional war. "A state is defined by borders and common governance," wrote someone on Twitter / X in response to Chikli. "A criminally apartheid entity since its inception that still hasn't defined its own borders until today, all while refusing to grant Palestinians a separate state of their own or integrate them, cannot lecture others on statehood!" More related news coverage about the situation in the Middle East can be found at Prophecy.news. Sources for this article include: MiddleEastEye.net NaturalNews.com Israeli missiles target Syrian port city with Russian naval base as fears of global war grow Israeli missiles targeted a Syrian port city that hosts the Russian navy last night, according to reports from the Syrian Army. Al Mayadeen reports that Syrian air defenses intercepted at least two inbound Israeli missiles over Tartous, and multiple explosions were reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The coastal city is situated north of Lebanon and is rarely the subject of Israeli attacks, and one big reason Israel typically avoids targeting it is the fact that Russia has assets and bases in the city and its surroundings. Tartous is also home to the only deep-water port in the Mediterranean for the Russian Navy. The IDF has not commented on the situation, but they rarely issue comments about strikes in Syria. The country is believed to be a major thoroughfare for the passage of Iranian arms to Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. Israel recently attacked Syrian military sites Earlier this month, Israel launched deadly attacks on a number of Syrian military sites, causing at least 16 fatalities. Israeli special forces targeted a top-secret Hezbollah missile production facility in the northwestern part of the country in a commando raid that saw the facility hit with air strikes before being stormed by ground forces, who made their way in by rappelling down from helicopters to seize evidence. The dramatic raids saw them getting inside the facility's reinforced inner rooms buried deep beneath the ground in the side of a mountain, making it impossible to target them with air strikes alone. It is believed that the initial round of Israeli airstrikes preceding the commando raid destroyed at least four Syrian military positions, which include an air defense site, while a follow-up round of strikes hit a building connected to a maze of underground tunnels. The site was used for manufacturing precision-guided missiles for Hezbollah that Israel believes make it easier for the terrorist group to strike targets in Northern Israel. Israel has been carrying out a dramatic offensive against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. So far, at least 500 people in Lebanon have died, including 94 women and 50 children, and there have been more than 1,800 injuries. The latest escalation is spurring concerns that fighting will ramp up throughout the region, especially if Iran enters the fighting in Lebanon directly. World leaders condemn Israels attacks on Lebanon A number of world leaders have gone on the record recently sharing their fears that Israels latest aggression in the region could spark a broader global conflict. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati stated: The continuing Israeli aggression on Lebanon is a war of extermination in every sense of the word and a destructive plan that aims to destroy Lebanese villages and towns. He urged the UN and other influential countries to press Israel to stop. Meanwhile, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement warning that Israels attacks mark a new phase in its efforts to drag the entire region into chaos. They added: The countries that unconditionally support Israel are helping Netanyahu shed blood for his political interests. Qatars foreign ministry took an even stronger stance, unequivocally condemning Israels actions and highlighting their potential global consequences. This reality exacerbates crises, puts the region on the brink of the abyss, and exposes it to more tensions that will have a profound impact regionally and internationally, they noted. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Russia have also weighed in with condemnation. The only western government that has condemned Israels actions in Lebanon so far is Spain, whose foreign ministry called for an end to the spiral of violence. Sources for this article include: ZeroHedge.com NYTimes.com TheCradle.co NYC Covid orgy kingpin Dr. Jay Varma took money from SigaTech pharmaceuticals to push TPOXX monkeypox drug More details have emerged about Dr. Jay Varma, the former public health point man in New York City who Steven Crowder recently exposed for engaging in deviant, high-risk sexual behavior during the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) "pandemic." We now know that while New Yorkers were stuck inside "staying safe," Dr. Varma was accepting cash payments from a pharmaceutical company called SigaTech to push a monkeypox drug called TPOXX on New Yorkers. Dr. Varma also helped to "spin" the company's endeavors to prevent investors from "dumping" the company's "worthless" stock. "We want the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA, to approve our drug specifically for monkeypox and right now it's only considered experimental and they won't approve it based on this study," Dr. Varma explains in the video below. "We also need to keep up the people's belief that the [TPOXX] drug works. So, that's why spinning it in the media is helpful. You can spin them [TPOXX study results] so that people won't, like, dump the stock thinking that the company is worthless." BREAKING: NYCs Covid Orgy Kingpin Reveals He Was Hired by Pharmaceutical Company @SigaTech to Help Sell Monkeypox Drug TPOXX; Details Media Spin Scheme To Ensure Investors Dont Dump Companys Worthless Stock; Says Disease Primarily Impacting Gay Community is Not a pic.twitter.com/TJpzVHAlRn Steven Crowder (@scrowder) September 25, 2024 (Related: Check out our earlier coverage to learn more about the drug-addled sexual escapades of Dr. Varma and other politicians during Covid.) Monkeypox, a gay disease The establishment tried multiple times to get monkeypox, which they rebranded as mpox, to stick, but to no avail. After Covid, the general public is done listening to the government and media lie constantly about the latest "disease threats," recognizing that it is all a sham to destroy the country. Dr. Varma admitted to an undercover reporter that the risk of monkeypox is very low unless you are a homosexual deviant who engages in rampant perversion with other homosexuals. "Honestly, in the United States, the risk [for monkeypox] is very low," he said. "It's only primarily transmitted among gay men. It basically got into the sexual networks of gay men, and a lot of gay men have tons and tons of sexual partners and often don't use condoms. So as a result, it spreads more easily." The fact that Dr. Varma would so openly admit to all of this, even not knowing that he was being recorded, is astounding. It shows a level of untouchable arrogance where the people in charge clearly feel as though they are above the law. "I'm not a big fan of canceling people but this guy deserves everything he gets," wrote someone on Twitter / X about Dr. Varma. "It is truly a case of selling his soul." Another wrote that the time is now to completely overhaul the public health system to put an end to this type of secret corruption and perversion happening right underneath everyone's noses. "We need a total overhaul of our health system, and we should start by getting rid of the FDA," this person suggested. Someone else noted that Dr. Varma is hardly an exception to an otherwise universal rule in America where politicians are easily bought and paid for by the pharmaceutical industry to do whatever the drug pushers tell them to do. "This shows that government officials are paid off to push Big Pharma drugs on the American public regardless of their need or effectiveness," this person said. "This guy is a piece of garbage," added another. "He should lose his license." More related news about the abomination known as public health in the United States can be found at Plague.info. Sources for this article include: X.com NaturalNews.com JBS meat plant in Colorado accused of abusing immigrant workers A major labor union has called on authorities to look into potential abuse and human trafficking involving immigrant workers at the JBS meat plant in Greeley, Colorado. The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union claims that as many as 500 of the plants workers who hail from Haiti and Benin have been subjected to dangerous working conditions, paying inflated rent to live in squalid conditions, being charged inflated fees for transportation and job applications, intimidation, threats and human trafficking. According to reports, some of these violations were carried out by a hiring manager and associate with access to the plant who are not direct employees of the company. UFCW local 7 president Kim Cordova said that although the Haitians and other foreign workers entered the country legally, they quickly became exploited for cheap labor in what could be a human migrant trafficking scheme. The union, which represents roughly 3,300 members at the Greeley facility, went into greater detail about the abuses these individuals were subjected to both inside and outside of their workplace. They cited examples such as up to 50 workers living in a 5-bedroom home with just two bathrooms and being forced to pay up to $120 per week for housing. They added that some of the workers' families abroad were threatened and they were forced to adhere to dangerously high production line speeds. In some cases, the migrants' mail was intentionally withheld from them, including important paperwork and medical bills. They also accused JBS management of conducting sophisticated recruitment schemes on the social media platform TikTok. In addition, some workers may have been pressured to sign agreements that they did not understand due to their lack of English fluency. For example, up to 100 workers said they were asked to waive their rights in connection to workplace injuries, and such injuries were not reported to OSHA as required by law. They have already reported the conduct to a number of regulatory bodies and law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Office of Labor-Management Standards, the National Labor Relations Board and the U.S. Department of Labor. A statement from JBS attempts to position them as innocent in this situation. They insisted: JBS does not charge team members or applicants for any pre-employment services, including transportation, application, pre-hire medical requirements, or housing, nor do we require them to live in any specific location. Union claims JBS was fully aware of abuses However, the union maintains that JBS was fully aware of what was going on despite their protests to the contrary. Cordova said: "The company knew about these tactics and in fact paid for workers to live in squalor conditions at a local motel and turned a blind eye until they were questioned by the press. One of the main individuals involved in this terrible treatment is still employed by JBS." American meat packers have long been using immigrants for roles at carcass disassembling lines as these jobs can be hard to fill. The Greeley facility is a grass-fed kill and processing plant, and the bulk of its workforce are immigrants from places like Latin America, Myanmar and the Horn of Africa. High turnover means the plant needs to bring in new hire groups of dozens of workers each week. This turnover is largely driven by the dangerous working conditions at the plant. Migrant trafficking networks are becoming all too common as the Biden administration continues to keep the borders open and lets foreigners overtake cities like Greeley and Springfield, Ohio. Sources for this article include: ZeroHedge.com Bloomberg.com UFCW7.org On the afternoon of September 29, the Hefei International New Energy Vehicle Exhibition opened. From September 29 to October 5, the 2024 Hefei International New Energy Vehicle Exhibition was grandly held at the Hefei Binhu International Convention and Exhibition Center and Hefei Luogang Park, with professional audiences entering on the 29th and the general public on the 30th. As an annual feast of new energy vehicles, this exhibition plans to feature over 100 brands, more than 1,000 vehicle models, and no fewer than 20 premiere or debut models or technologies. To expand the influence of the exhibition, this edition innovatively adopts a "dual main venue + county-district linked sub-venues" layout. The first main venue is located at the Hefei Binhu International Convention and Exhibition Center, and the second main venue is at Hefei Luogang Park, covering a total exhibition area of over 260,000 square meters. The Hefei Binhu International Convention and Exhibition Center, as the main venue one, will feature a complete vehicle exhibition area, aftermarket service exhibition area, graphic exhibition area, and an automotive user co-creation district. Hefei Luogang Park, as the main venue two, will have a complete vehicle exhibition area and a dynamic display experience area. Additionally, linked sub-venues are set up in Baohe Auto City, Luyang Auto City, Yaohai Auto City, Shushan Auto City, Changfeng Auto City, and Feixi Auto City. During the exhibition, events such as the Sino-Japanese Automotive Industry Cooperation and Exchange Docking Meeting, New Energy Vehicle Industry Docking Event, and special supplier docking meetings for BYD and Volkswagen Anhui will be held. By establishing platforms that facilitate technical exchanges and business cooperation, the aim is to promote industrial upgrading and regional economic development. Source: anhuinews.com Sorry, something doesn't look right. Something seems unusual about your device or browser. Please contact support. EAM Jaishankar arrives in Washington, to hold bilateral talks with Blinken E xternal Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar is set to meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, where a range of bilateral and global issues will be on the agenda. Among the key topics expected to be discussed are the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East. EAM Jaishankar arrived in Washington, DC, on Sunday. This marks his first visit to the US capital since the Modi government was re-elected for a third consecutive term. During his stay, in addition to his meeting with Blinken, the External Affairs Minister will also engage with other high-ranking officials from the US administration, as well as members of the Cabinet. His itinerary includes an interaction with the think tank community, notably a session hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), where he will discuss the future of US-India relations. The CEIP, a globally recognised nonpartisan think tank with a focus on international affairs, operates across various regions, including Europe, South Asia, East Asia, the Middle East, and the US. EAM Jaishankar will join CEIP President Mariano Florentino Cuellar in a conversation focused on the evolving strategic partnership between the United States and India. The think tank underscored India's increasing global strategic importance, particularly in shaping US foreign policy. Citing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to the US in 2023 and his more recent bilateral meeting with President Joe Biden, CEIP highlighted how these interactions demonstrate the growing significance of US-India ties. On September 30, President Biden hosted Prime Minister Modi at his residence in Greenville, Delaware, where both leaders discussed an array of regional and global issues. PM Modi described the talks as "extremely fruitful" in a social media post. Similarly, President Biden expressed his admiration for PM Modi's ability to identify new avenues for cooperation during each of their meetings. In its announcement of the upcoming session, CEIP remarked, "Amidst fast-paced global developments, India's bilateral ties with the United States have grown more extensive. The two countries have deepened partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, as well as on defence innovation and critical and emerging technologies." The event will also address pressing questions about India's role in global leadership and how the two nations can strengthen cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, democracy, security, and trade. EAM Jaishankar arrives in Washington, to hold bilateral talks with Blinken Post your comments Found this article helpful? Spread the word and support us! Ram Charan to be immortalised in wax figure along with his 'paw'rfect partner friend T elugu star Ram Charan, who is gearing up for his upcoming release 'Game Changer', is getting immortalised in a wax figure along with his pupper Rhyme at the Madame Tussauds Museum in Singapore. The artistes from the Madame Tussauds Museum met the actor for the measurements and specifications. A video from their meeting also shows Ram's French Barbet, Rhyme in his company melting the hearts of the onlookers with its curly shiny fur and his antics. Ram can be seen dressed in a collared white sweatshirt, and a pair of black pants. Ram says in the video, "I'm very honoured to join the Madame Tussauds family. It will be unveiled soon. I look forward to being closer to you with my wax figure at Madame Tussauds Singapore". Meanwhile, on the work front, Ram's entry in 'Game Changer' is set to be a grand affair. His entry in the film is marked by the song 'Raa Macha Macha' (the Hindi version is titled 'Dam Tu Dikha Jaa') which features 1,000 folk dancers. The song has been choreographed by Ganesh Acharya. This song is a tribute to India's diverse cultural heritage, showcasing an array of traditional folk dances from various regions of the country. It features unique and visually stunning forms like Gussadi from Adilabad, Chaau from West Bengal, Ghumra from Orissa's Matilkala, Goravara Kunitha from Karnataka, and many others. This vibrant weave of regional art forms is accentuated by the vocals of Nakash Aziz, who lends his vocals to all three language versions of the track--Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi. The lyrics for the song are written by Anantha Sriram. 'Game Changer' is directed by S Shankar, and will see the actor in a triple role. Dil Raju, known for his production excellence, is backing the project under the banner of Sri Venkateswara Creations. Ram Charan to be immortalised in wax figure along with his 'paw'rfect partner friend Post your comments Found this article helpful? Spread the word and support us! Gujarat bird diversity: Devbhoomi Dwarka leads with 456 species, Kutch records 4.56 lakh birds G overnment of Gujarat has released Bird Diversity Report: 2023-24, which reveals that the state is home to an estimated 18 to 20 lakh birds. Forest and Environment Minister Mulu Bera announced the findings and spoke on Gujarat's role as a "paradise" for bird conservation, with an impressive variety of local and migratory species. The report's release coincides with India's preparations for Wildlife Conservation Week, which will be celebrated from October 2 to 8. This week highlights Gujarat's ongoing efforts in wildlife protection and conservation. Several state initiatives, including the 'Karuna Campaign' and mobile veterinary services, have been launched to ensure the care and well-being of birds and other wildlife. Key findings of the report include the discovery that Devbhoomi Dwarka has the highest bird diversity, recording 456 species, while Kutch saw over 4.56 lakh birds from 161 species. Nal Sarovar emerged as a critical bird hotspot, with more than 3.62 lakh birds, further emphasising Gujarat's significant role in bird conservation. Other important areas include Jamnagar, Ahmedabad, and Banaskantha, all contributing substantially to the state's bird population. Minister Bera praised Gujarat's diverse ecosystems, attracting bird enthusiasts from India and abroad. "From the stunning Rann of Kutch to the lush landscapes of Gir National Park, Gujarat's habitats serve as sanctuaries for birds, including the thousands of Greater Flamingos that paint the white desert pink during migration," Bera said. These ecosystems provide year-round shelter and food for local and migratory birds, further solidifying Gujarat's reputation as a bird conservation hub. The report also highlighted the importance of Jamnagar, Kutch, and Ahmedabad as vital bird conservation regions. Wetlands such as Nal Sarovar and Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary play essential roles in supporting bird populations. Nal Sarovar hosts 3.62 lakh birds, making it one of Gujarat's most critical bird conservation sites. The bird survey was conducted in collaboration with the eBird platform, documenting more than 300 bird species based on data from 398 eBird checklists. This extensive survey included contributions from NGOs, universities, and ornithologists, ensuring thorough data collection across Gujarat's regions and wetlands. The report provides detailed data on bird populations across Gujarat's districts. For instance, Kutch recorded 161 bird species with a total population of 4,56,881 birds, while Jamnagar had 221 species and 4,11,552 birds. Ahmedabad contributed significantly, with 256 bird species and 3,65,134 birds. Gujarat bird diversity: Devbhoomi Dwarka leads with 456 species, Kutch records 4.56 lakh birds Post your comments Found this article helpful? Spread the word and support us! MP Guv bats for eradication of sickle cell disease M adhya Pradesh Governor Mangubhai Patel said on Monday that medical counselling regarding sickle cell disease is important, especially in the tribal communities of the state. "If sickle cell patients and carriers marry each other, there is a huge possibility that their children will suffer from the same disease. Therefore, medical counselling before and during pregnancy is very important for the prevention of sickle cell anaemia," the Governor said while addressing the sickle cell anaemia screening camp organised by the Tribal and Health Departments of Madhya Pradesh government at Kamala Nehru Girls College in Bhopal. He advised people to test for sickle cell to protect their children from the genetic disease, especially in the Tribal communities in Madhya Pradesh. The Governor also advised government agencies and private entities working for the eradication of sickle cell disease to bring the patients of this particular genetic disease under regular yoga and exercise in their daily routine. "Now, special treatment facilities are available for newborn babies if sickle cell is detected within 72 hours of birth," Governor Patel said, adding that the Central and state governments are making combined efforts to eradicate sickle cell disease. Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a chronic single-gene disorder causing a debilitating systemic syndrome characterised by chronic anaemia, acute painful episodes, organ infarction, chronic organ damage and a significant reduction in life expectancy. Deputy Director of the National Health Mission (NHM) Dr. Ruby Khan said that more than 72 lakh people have been screened so far and sickle cell screening of one crore people is to be done in Madhya Pradesh. According to reports, at least 27 of the 53 districts of Madhya Pradesh fall into the sickle cell zone, and the pervasiveness of sickle haemoglobin (HbS) fluctuates between 10 per cent and 33 per cent. Some tribal districts of the state namely Dindori, Alirajpur, Anuppur, Shahdol and Chhindwara constitute around 75 per cent of the existing cases of sickle cell anaemia, according to a government report of 2020-2021. MP Guv bats for eradication of sickle cell disease Post your comments Found this article helpful? Spread the word and support us! A study carried out at Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital in New York in collaboration with the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) in Madrid provides important new information about atherosclerosis, a disease in which lipids (cholesterol) and other substances accumulate in plaques on the arterial wall, causing the vessels to harden and narrow, and increasing the risk of severe cardiovascular conditions. The study, published in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), was led by Dr. Valentin Fuster, Director of the Cardiovascular Institute and Physician-in-Chief at Mount Sinai Medical Center and General Director of the CNIC. The study shows that both the burden of atherosclerosis and its progression (growth of plaques or the spread of the disease to new arteries) in asymptomatic individuals is independently associated with the risk of death from any cause. Despite advances in cardiovascular research, it has remained unclear if the risk of death from all causes in asymptomatic individuals can be predicted by monitoring the extent and progression of atherosclerosis, especially in the carotid arteries, which supply blood to the brain. The goal of the new study was to determine the independent predictive value of the burden and progression of subclinical atherosclerosis above and beyond prediction based on established cardiovascular risk factors. The study included 5716 asymptomatic adults with an average age of 69 years (56.7% women) who were examined from 2008 to 2009 as part of the BioImage project, which examined a US population to evaluate factors implicated in atherosclerosis progression. BioImage, led by Dr. Fuster, was the first study to demonstrate the value of 3D echocardiography and other advanced imaging technologies to detect atherosclerotic disease of the large vessels long before the appearance of symptoms. "The long asymptomatic phase of the disease presents a window of opportunity that has not been exploited in the younger population," said Fuster, who is the lead author on the JACC study. The study participants were examined with two imaging techniques. The burden of atherosclerotic plaques in the carotid arteries was measured with vascular ultrasound, which allows detailed visualization of the interior of blood vessels, and calcification of the coronary arteries was assessed by computed tomography. Joint first author Dr. Ana Garcia Alvarez, a CNIC group leader and head of the cardiology service at Hospital Clinic in Barcelona, explained that "Carotid plaque is an accumulation of cholesterol, calcium, and other circulating substances that are deposited in the blood vessel wall. The formation of these plaques can narrow or block the carotid arteries, reducing blood flow to the brain and increasing the risk of a cerebrovascular accident or stroke." A subset of 732 study participants additionally underwent a second vascular ultrasound scan more than 8 years after the initial examination. And all participants were followed up to determine the rate of death from any cause, the main outcome measure of the study. Over the 12.4 years of follow-up, 901 (16%) of the participants died. Carotid plaque burden and coronary artery calcification measured at the start of the study were both associated with death from any cause. Moreover, progression of carotid atherosclerosis provided further prognostic information and was independently associated with all-cause mortality. Vascular ultrasound is a noninvasive and affordable test, and the valuable prognostic information it provides can be used to improve risk stratification and to target lifestyle recommendations for the control of cardiovascular risk factors." Dr. Borja Ibanez, CNIC Scientific Director, cardiologist at Fundacion Jimenez Diaz, and member of the Spanish cardiovascular research network (CIBERCV) The study, concluded Dr. Fuster, demonstrates that detecting subclinical atherosclerosis early and monitoring its progression can improve the prediction and prevention of death from any cause, offering a valuable tool for clinical practice. California voters are considering whether to roll back some of the criminal justice reforms enacted a decade ago as concerns about mass incarceration give way to public anger over property crime and a fentanyl crisis that has plagued the state since the covid-19 pandemic hit. Proposition 36, on the November ballot, would unwind portions of a 2014 initiative, known as Proposition 47, that reduced most shoplifting and drug possession offenses to misdemeanors that rarely carried jail time. Critics say that has allowed criminality to flourish and given those suffering from addiction little incentive to break the cycle. The law also has become a political weapon for former President Donald Trump and other Republican politicians who have tried to tie it to Vice President Kamala Harris to paint her as soft on crime. As California attorney general she took no position on the issue. Much of the Proposition 36 debate has focused on the increased penalties for shoplifting, but the drug policy changes are even more dramatic. In addition to boosting penalties for some drug crimes, the measure would create a new "treatment-mandated felony" that could be imposed on people who illegally possess what are called "hard" drugs, including fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine, and have two or more prior convictions for certain crimes. Those who admit to the new felony would be required to complete drug or mental health treatment, job training, or other programs intended to "break the cycle of addiction and homelessness." Those who complete the treatment program would have their charges dismissed, while failure could bring three years in prison. The measure has opponents, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, warning about renewing a "war on drugs" that once helped swell California's prison population. Supporters counter that stricter penalties are necessary as overdose deaths from fentanyl crowd morgues. They also point to studies showing that more than 75% of people experiencing chronic homelessness struggle with substance abuse or a severe mental illness. We crafted this not to move people into any kind of custody setting, but to incentivize them into treatment," said Greg Totten, chief executive officer at the California District Attorneys Association and a spokesperson for the initiative's supporters. Totten and others cast the measure as a way to revive drug courts, which they say waned in effectiveness after Proposition 47 removed the stick from what had been a carrot-and-stick approach. Drug courts are led by a judge with a specialized caseload, use a collaborative approach to promote rehabilitation, and have been found to be effective in California and nationwide. Participants in California had "significantly lower rates of recidivism," according to a study in 2006 commissioned by the Judicial Council of California: 29% were rearrested compared with 41% of a group who didn't receive treatment. The Center for Justice Innovation, a nationwide research and reform group that grew out of the New York state court system, found that drug court caseloads dropped across California after Proposition 47. Still, advocates who favor decriminalization challenge the idea that the approach is effective and say coerced treatment violates people's rights. Meanwhile, Lenore Anderson, a co-author of Proposition 47, said "we cannot pretend that this sort of feel-good idea that we're going to arrest and incarcerate out of it is going to work. It never has. Proposition 47 led to an increase in property crime, but there is no evidence that changes in drug arrests sparked any increases in crime, found a recent study by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. The latest reform effort leaves many questions, said Darren Urada of the University of California-Los Angeles Integrated Substance Abuse Programs. He was the principal investigator on UCLA's evaluation of an earlier attempt to promote treatment. "When policies are properly implemented, treatment obtained through courts can help people. However, there are a lot of details here that are not clear, and therefore a lot of opportunities for this to go poorly," Urada said. For instance, the ballot measure doesn't say what would happen to someone who enters treatment but relapses, as is common; how long they would have to complete the program; or what would constitute completion for someone in long-term treatment for mental illness or substance abuse. Those details were deliberately left vague so that local experts like community corrections partnerships, which are already established under existing law, could decide what works best in their jurisdictions, Totten said. Totten expects a range of approaches including diversion programs and inpatient and outpatient treatment, and that judges would be guided by the recommendations of treatment professionals. Im hopeful that that will help people who are really struggling with addiction, living on the streets, who engage in petty theft and other crimes in order to support their habit that it will be a doorway into treatment for them, said Anna Lembke, a Stanford University addiction expert. The November ballot measure also would allow judges to send drug dealers to state prisons instead of county jails and boost penalties for possessing fentanyl. It would make it easier to charge someone with murder if they provide illegal drugs that kill someone. The changes could increase California's prison population, currently about 90,000, and its county jail and community supervision population, currently around 250,000, each by "a few thousand people," projects the state's nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office. Opponents of the measure project that the increase would be far higher: 65,000 people, most for drug offenses and most of them people of color. Newsom, one of the initiative's most outspoken critics, argues that the November ballot measure lacks any funding; would reduce the $800 million in Proposition 47 savings, much of which has gone to treatment and diversion programs; and would only aggravate an existing lack of treatment alternatives. "Prop. 36 takes us back to the 1980s," Newsom, a Democrat, said in August as he signed a package of 10 property crime bills that he and legislative leaders tout as an alternative to the broader ballot measure. Yet, illustrating the contentiousness of the debate, the ballot measure has been endorsed by some Democratic leaders, including San Francisco Mayor London Breed, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who often highlight its treatment requirement. This article was produced by KFF Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation. To advance artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and the National Healthcare Group (NHG) are pioneering a new center to bridge the gap between innovative AI technologies and their practical applications in medicine. The new Centre of AI in Medicine (C-AIM), spearheaded by NTU's Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine), aims to revolutionize patient care and inform public health policies through its research activities. The new center will focus on four key clinical domains: mental health, elderly frailty, medical imaging, and cancer screening, to drive its research and innovation efforts. This is in line with Singapore's second National AI Strategy (NAIS 2.0) to encourage the roll-out of AI-driven healthcare solutions and tools. The center was officially launched today by Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Digital Development and Information, Mr. Tan Kiat How. NTU Senior Vice-President (Health and Life Sciences), Distinguished University Professor and Co-Director of C-AIM, Professor Joseph Sung said: "While Singapore has a strong foundation for the safe growth of AI in healthcare, more needs to be done to bridge the gap between technology development and real-world clinical application." "Our unique multidisciplinary research across fields will ensure that AI solutions are not only innovative but also accessible, affordable, and scalable. C-AIM will help build the trust, evidence, and integration needed for widespread AI adoption," said Prof Sung, who is also Dean of LKCMedicine. Senior Deputy Dean of the College of Computing & Data Science, Associate Vice President, Capability Building and Co-Director of C-AIM, Professor Miao Chun Yan said: "In addition to technological advancements, it is crucial to prioritise human-machine interactions to create human centred AI systems that healthcare professionals can trust and use in a natural and intuitive way. This will ensure that AI solutions are both impactful and widely adopted." Ultimately, the patient remains on the centre-stage. The true test for AI is how its deployment in the hospital, clinic or community impacts health outcomes for patients and the population. We would want to see its impact and value in a real-world setting." Professor Benjamin Seet, Group Chairman Medical Board (Research), NHG Leveraging leading expertise in healthcare C-AIM brings together local and international academic and industry partners such as Yale School of Medicine and Olympus Singapore, to engage in multidisciplinary research across fields like medicine, computer engineering, data analytics, social science and ethics, as well as implementation science. The collective expertise of these partners and over 100 researchers and clinicians under C-AIM will enable the centre to effectively study and translate AI solutions into clinical practice, ensuring their clinical relevance and benefit to patients and the wider population. President and Chief Executive Officer of Olympus Corporation, Stefan Kaufmann, said: "I am excited to commence this partnership with NHG and the NTU. We believe that AI technologies have a growing role to play in MedTech and will ultimately assist in elevating the standard of care delivered to patients throughout the world and the Asia Pacific region. Together, we aim to study, accelerate, and achieve breakthroughs to grow our understanding of how to best apply AI in the medical field, as we seek to improve healthcare outcomes at scale with our partners and products." Yale School of Medicine's Deputy Dean for Biomedical Informatics, Chair, Department of Biomedical Informatics and Data Science, Professor Waldemar von Zedtwitz Lucila Ohno-Machado, said: "We look forward to being part of this critical work to increase AI's impact on human health and transform the health care system. In addition to enhancing research and discovery and improving patient outcomes, AI will create more space for humans to be humans. By automating documentation processes and the mechanical aspects of health care, AI will provide more time for listening and interaction between clinicians and their patients." Accelerating AI adoption in healthcare Digital technologies such as generative AI and machine learning have already made significant strides in diagnostics and treatment. For example, AI is used to detect abnormalities in chest X-rays, mammograms, and brain CT scans, and deep-learning models like SELENA+ are used to detect diabetic retinopathy. Despite these advancements, the adoption of AI in clinical practice in Singapore has been slower than in other industries. C-AIM aims to address several key challenges that have hindered the full integration of AI in healthcare. These include the lack of clinical data demonstrating the effectiveness of AI in improving patient outcomes, the uncertainty surrounding the ethical and legal aspects of AI, and the need for evidence that AI can reduce manpower and healthcare costs. To achieve its objectives, C-AIM will conduct AI simulation and implementation studies, allowing healthcare professionals to rigorously test AI tools before they are deployed in real-world settings. Equipped with cutting-edge GPU infrastructure, C-AIM will conduct research for accelerating AI and machine learning applications, while maintaining dedicated research facilities to ensure data privacy. The studies will offer critical insights into how AI can be effectively integrated into clinical workflows, with a focus on addressing the specific needs of local healthcare systems. More information about C-AIM's research projects can be found in Annex A. Creating better healthcare in Singapore By leveraging Singapore's AI capabilities and fostering collaboration across academia, healthcare, and industry, C-AIM is poised to transform the healthcare landscape and position Singapore as a global leader in AI-driven medicine. The launch of C-AIM represents a significant milestone in Singapore's journey toward digital healthcare transformation. As AI becomes increasingly integrated into clinical practice, the Centre's work will ensure that both healthcare professionals and patients benefit from the best that technology has to offer. A study of 641 pregnant women in Ireland found high rates of iron deficiency, particularly in the third trimester, despite being generally healthy and living in a high-resource setting. In a recent study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers studied iron status changes in primiparous females in high-resource settings. They proposed an early pregnancy ferritin threshold that predicts iron deficiency in the final trimester. Background Iron deficiency is common among pregnant women due to the higher iron requirements to ensure fetal development and maternal wellness. Maternal iron deficiency can lead to adverse pregnancy outcomes such as postpartum depression, preterm birth, low birth weight, and small-for-gestational-age birth. It can also impair fetal iron accumulation, resulting in long-term neurodevelopmental effects and an early onset of iron deficiency after birth. However, prospective and well-powered analyses of changing iron levels in pregnancy are limited. The degree of iron deficiency at the beginning that compromises iron status by the end of pregnancy is unclear. A global consensus on pregnancy-specific thresholds for many biomarkers is lacking. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends ferritin <15 g/L, but recent United Kingdom guidelines suggest a threshold of <30 g/L to indicate iron deficiency. About the study In the present prospective cohort study, researchers assessed changes in iron status during pregnancy and identified a ferritin cut-off at 15 weeks to estimate iron deficiency at 33 weeks of gestation. Researchers analyzed data from the IMproved PRegnancy Outcomes via Early Detection (IMPROvED) consortium conducted across Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Participants were recruited individuals from November 2013 to August 2017. The study included primiparous females aged 16 years with singleton, low-risk pregnancies. Participants provided data on height, weight, smoking history, alcohol intake, and nutrient supplementation pre-pregnancy and during early pregnancy to analyze their effects on iron status during pregnancy. Participants provided serum samples during their initial antenatal appointment (between gestational weeks 11 and 13) and at week 15, week 20, and week 33 of gestation. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) assessed serum iron and inflammatory biomarker levels. Iron biomarkers included soluble transferrin receptors (sTfR), ferritin, and total body iron (TBI). Inflammatory markers were -glycoprotein (AGP) and C-reactive protein (CRP). Ferritin levels <15 g/L indicated iron deficiency. Multivariable logistic regressions determined the odds ratios (ORs) for analysis. The study excluded females with anemia or hemoglobin <110 g/L during their initial antenatal visit. Other exclusions were women with moderate-severe hypertension at consultation (above 160/100 mm Hg) and comorbidities like diabetes mellitus, systemic lupus erythematosus, renal disease, sickle cell disease, antiphospholipid syndrome, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Results Among 629 participants, 98% were Caucasian, and 81% were Irish. Multivitamins were consumed by 30% and 56% of participants during pre-pregnancy and early pregnancy, respectively. Over 73% of women took multivitamins comprising 15 to 17 mg of iron. Iron deficiency prevalence increased across pregnancy trimesters. The prevalence rates were 4.50%, 14%, and 51% at gestational week 15, week 20, and week 33, respectively. Using the ferritin cut-off of below 30.0 g/L, the rates in the corresponding weeks were 21%, 44%, and 84%, respectively. Applying the sTfR threshold of >4.40 mg/L yielded prevalence rates of 7.20%, 13%, and 61%, respectively. Compared to using sTfR above 4.40 mg/L, iron deficiency prevalence using ferritin <15.0 g/L was significantly lower at week 33 (61% vs. 51%, OR 0.7). TBI thresholds of<0.0 mg per kg generated deficiency rates lower than those obtained using sTfR or ferritin. Ferritin below 60.0 g/L at week 15 predicted iron deficiency at week 33 [area under the curve (AUC), 0.8]. Iron supplements (as part of multivitamins) consumed in the pre-pregnancy or early pregnancy periods reduced the risk of iron deficiency throughout gestation, including the final trimester (OR, 0.6). Researchers observed a trend toward lower ferritin in pregnant women who smoked in early pregnancy. The final-trimester iron deficiency rates were similar in individuals with CRP 5 mg/L, >5.0 mg/L, and 10 mg/L with AGP of 1 g/L. In women with CRP >10 mg/L, ferritin underreported iron deficiency compared to sTfR. The findings indicate that the current inflammation threshold (CRP >5.0 mg/L) may be unsuitable during pregnancy. Conclusion The study showed that pregnancy significantly impacts maternal iron levels, even among high-resource, iron-supplemented populations. Despite a generally healthy, low-risk cohort, four of five women were iron deficient by the third trimester, with ferritin levels <30 g/L. Early screening for iron deficiency during pregnancy is recommended, with target serum ferritin levels above 60.0 g/L. fIron-containing supplements, typically multivitamins, can protect against iron deficiency throughout pregnancy. In this study, inflammation rates were higher than expected for a healthy population. The impact of high inflammation rates during pregnancy on iron status needs further evaluation. This is Up and Down, where we give a brief thumbs up or thumbs down on the issues from the past week. Up There's now a statewide standard for handling unruly fans at high school sporting events -- a three-game suspension. And a fan who is ejected twice during a school year will be suspended for a minimum of one calendar year. These are just minimum standards, set by the North Dakota High School Activities Association. School districts are free to increase the penalties. The move is drawing praise from Indigenous leaders who have been active in the battle against racial taunting of high school athletes. It sets a statewide standard, but also leaves room for local control. Though the Indigenous leaders note that the question remains how -- and to what extent -- the new policy will be enforced. Down In 2021, a disease commonly known as EHD killed more than 1,200 deer in western and central North Dakota, and prompted about 3,000 hunters to request license refunds. Three years later, the disease has surfaced again in the southwest, mainly in the Dickinson region. The state Game and Fish Department says that so far, reports are scattered -- nowhere near the level of 2021. But the agency is still working to determine the extent of the disease's spread, and asking the public to report deer deaths. Hopefully, there won't be an outbreak this year like there was in 2021. Deer hunting is not only a big tradition in North Dakota -- it's also a multimillion-dollar contributor to the state's economy each year. Up Two men from North Dakota who died in World War II will finally be laid to rest in the near future. Navy Fireman 1st Class Edward D. Johnson, originally from Hurdsfield in Wells County, died on the battleship USS Oklahoma when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Army Pfc. Charles Reiser, of Washburn, was killed June 15, 1944, when he was among Marines on the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean who came under assault from Japanese mortars. Military agencies that work with unidentified soldier remains have finally been able to identify Johnson and Reiser through advancements in technology. Johnson will be buried on Oct. 25 at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. Reiser will be laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on a date to be determined. A rosette will be placed next to both names on the Walls of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific to indicate they have been accounted for. Down Fentanyl-related deaths continue to increase in North Dakota. Reporting by the North Dakota Monitor shows that in 2019, 42% of overdose deaths tested positive for fentanyl. In 2023, the figure was up to 77%. Fentanyl-related arrests in Bismarck have become commonplace. A great deal of the synthetic opioid is brought into the area from Detroit. Authorities say drug traffickers there can make big money in North Dakota. It's sad that the quest for illegal profits takes such a human toll. As Kodi Pinks with the state Department of Health and Human Services told lawmakers recently, Behind this data are actual people. I know that behind these numbers are families and communities that have been directly impacted by these losses. Spiritual beliefs and a historically-based distrust of clinical research may factor into Black patients' decisions about whether to participate in cancer trials, according to surveys of patients treated at two Baltimore medical centers. Findings will be presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting. This cross-sectional, descriptive study found lingering distrust in clinical research among Black patients, despite their self-reported trust in their cancer medical teams. The surveys sought to shed light on what might be contributing to the growing underrepresentation of Black people in cancer trials and identify ways in which researchers might improve recruitment efforts so their findings can be generalizable to more diverse populations. When you offer someone participation in a clinical trial, the conversation has to go beyond the consent form. If we want to improve recruitment of underrepresented people in clinical research, we cannot just talk about trial goals. We have to look beyond that to understand where the patient is coming from and what their priorities are." Charlyn Gomez, lead author of the study and medical student, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore "Our research has identified some really important themes that should be discussed with patients as part of the recruitment process, such as spirituality or faith, as well as recognizing the elephant in the room that is a justifiable mistrust stemming from structural racism and historical practices in clinical trial programs," she said. "But on the positive side, we also found there is trust in the medical care team and perhaps we can build from there." Clinical trials in the U.S. historically have been populated almost exclusively by white, male participants. In 1993, Congress directed the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish guidelines for the inclusion of women and minority populations in all government-funded clinical research so that study populations would more accurately reflect real-world populations. Despite these mandates, however, inclusion of racial and ethnic minority populations in cancer trials has remained low; one study found that among the cancer clinical trials reporting race, only 7.2% of participants were Black, even though Black people make up 14% of new cancer diagnoses. More recently, research shows that the gap in participation between Black and white patients grew even wider among people diagnosed with cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic. Underrepresentation of diverse populations in clinical research can have serious consequences, Gomez said. Seeking to identify key psychosocial factors that may be playing a role, she and her colleagues developed a questionnaire from two previously validated surveys and gave it to patients who completed definitive radiation treatment for curative gastrointestinal, thoracic, gynecological, and head and neck malignancies. Between October 2023 and February 2024, 97 patients 30% of whom were Black were asked if they would participate in a clinical trial and to fill out surveys describing the factors they might consider when making this decision. They were asked to complete the surveys while waiting to see their cancer physicians. There were no differences in insurance coverage, education, employment status, cancer stage or cancer treatments between Black and non-Black participants. And within both groups, at least 90% of participants said they trusted their cancer doctors. Black patients were more than five times as likely to agree with statements that death or illnesses were determined by God's will (55.5% vs.10%; p=0.001) and that God, not research, determined wellness (59.1% vs.11.6%; p<0.001), compared to patients who were not Black. Twenty percent of Black people said they agreed that research harmed minority populations, compared to zero non-Black patients (p<0.001). One-third of Black patients said they felt research would provide information about their health they would rather not know about, compared to 4% of non-Black participants (p=0.037). Black people were 10 times more likely than their non-Black peers to say they felt they individually (20% vs. 2%; p=0.038) and their community (40% vs. 6%; p=0.031) had nothing to gain from participating in clinical research. At least some of that distrust stems from historically unethical research practices that harmed Black people, Gomez said. From 1932 to 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service failed to obtain informed consent or explain the risks of a study of untreated syphilis among Black men in Tuskegee, Alabama. Researchers also withheld penicillin treatment from the 399 study participants with syphilis when it became available in 1945, causing preventable illness and death among study participants and their family members. This led to the creation of the Belmont report, establishing ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human research subjects. Overcoming that justifiable and deeply embedded distrust is imperative to developing cancer treatments that can benefit Black patients, Gomez said. "Physicians need to be more intentional in their efforts to gain the trust of Black patients so they may be better represented in clinical trials. Unfortunately, due to a host of issues such as systemic racism and fewer access points into the healthcare system, we are seeing that Black patients tend to experience poor outcomes with certain cancers. This reality should raise a lot of alarms, because if we're trying to develop new treatments and the patients who need them the most aren't part of the clinical trials testing them, then we're missing a big group of important people." Gomez said the findings might guide the development of training programs for researchers and physicians to help with recruitment efforts. "I think it would be well-received if physicians were trained to address these issues and perhaps incorporate these discussions into their protocols," she said. In light of the weight given to religious and spiritual beliefs, she said it may also be important to include family and community members in discussions about the potential benefit and importance of participating in clinical trials. "Sometimes, patients seek out guidance to help them make that choice, alongside their family and other community members, and it becomes a shared decision-making process." Gomez also said more studies like this one are needed to further explore the factors that may impede participation in clinical research for underrepresented groups. "It's crucial for us to improve the recruitment of Black patients into cancer clinical trials," she said. "But to do that, we have to understand the values and priorities of patients in this underserved population." With a four-year, $3.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), researchers from Case Western Reserve University will study whether certain brain proteins may play a role in the development of Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease is a brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills. According to the Alzheimer's Association, nearly 7 million Americans 65 and older are living with the disease and there are more deaths from Alzheimer's than breast and prostate cancer combined. Previous research has found evidence that Alzheimer's begins when the brain's protective barrier-;called the blood-brain barrier (BBB)-;weakens. This weakening allows harmful substances to enter the brain, which could lead to the onset of Alzheimer's. The NIH-backed study will examine the potential function of epitope (Eph) receptors in Alzheimer's disease. Eph receptors are proteins initially investigated by Bing-Cheng Wang, a professor of pharmacology at Case Western Reserve's School of Medicine, for their role in brain development and cancer. They mediate various cell-to-cell interactions. These proteins, according to Matthias Buck, a professor of physiology and biophysics at the School of Medicine, and his colleagues, may be involved in the BBB's disintegration, which is crucial for protecting the brain from damage during strokes and the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. The new study expands on Buck's 15 years of Eph research. Working with Buck's lab, which is studying a part of the Eph receptor protein using advanced imaging and computational techniques, researchers from Texas Tech University and the University of Tennessee will study how this protein behaves in living cells. And scientists at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center are using crystallography to understand the protein's structure. Federal officials resolved more than a decade ago to crack down on whopping government overpayments to private Medicare Advantage health insurance plans, which were siphoning off billions of tax dollars every year. But Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services officials have yet to demand any refunds and over the years the private insurance plans have morphed into a politically potent juggernaut that has signed up more than 33 million seniors and is aggressively lobbying to stave off cuts. Critics have watched with alarm as the industry has managed to deflate or deflect financial penalties and steadily gain clout in Washington through political contributions; television advertising, including a 2023 Super Bowl feature; and other activities, including mobilizing seniors. There's also a revolving door, in which senior CMS personnel have cycled out of government to take jobs tied to the Medicare Advantage industry and then returned to the agency. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Medicare Advantage fraud "is wasting taxpayer dollars to the tune of billions." "The question is, what's CMS doing about it? The agency must tighten up its controls and work with the Justice Department to prosecute and recover improper payments," Grassley said in a statement to KFF Health News. "Clearly that's not happening, at least to the extent it should be." David Lipschutz, an attorney with the Center for Medicare Advocacy, a nonprofit public interest law firm, said policymakers have an unsettling history of yielding to industry pressure. "The health plans throw a temper tantrum and then CMS will back off," he said. Government spending on Medicare Advantage, which is dominated by big health insurance companies, is expected to hit $462 billion this year. New details of the government's failure to rein in Medicare Advantage overcharges are emerging from a Department of Justice civil fraud case filed in 2017 against UnitedHealth Group, the insurer with the most Medicare Advantage enrollees. The case is pending in Los Angeles. The DOJ has accused the giant insurer of cheating Medicare out of more than $2 billion by mining patient records to find additional diagnoses that added revenue while ignoring overcharges that might have reduced bills. The company denies the allegations and has filed a motion for summary judgment. Records from the court case are surfacing as the Medicare Advantage industry ramps up spending on lobbying and public relations campaigns to counter mounting criticism. While critics have argued for years that the health plans cost taxpayers too much, the industry also has come under fire more recently for allegedly scrimping on vital health care, even dumping hundreds of thousands of members whose health plans proved unprofitable. "We recognize this is a critical moment for Medicare Advantage," said Rebecca Buck, senior vice president of communications for the Better Medicare Alliance, which styles itself as "the leading voice for Medicare Advantage." Buck said initiatives aimed at slashing government payments may prompt health plans to cut vital services. "Seniors are saying loud and clear: They can't afford policies that will make their health care more expensive," she said. "We want to make sure Washington gets the message." AHIP, a trade group for health insurers, also has launched a "seven-figure" campaign to promote its view that Medicare Advantage provides "better care at a lower cost," spokesperson Chris Bond said. Revolving door CMS, the Baltimore-based agency that oversees Medicare, has long felt the sting of industry pressure to slow or otherwise stymie audits and other steps to reduce and recover overpayments. These issues often attract little public notice, even though they can put billions of tax dollars at risk. In August, KFF Health News reported how CMS officials backed off a 2014 plan to discourage the health plans from overcharging amid an industry "uproar." The rule would have required that insurers, when combing patients' medical records to identify underpayments, also look for overcharges. Health plans have been paid billions of dollars through the data mining, known as "chart reviews," according to the government. The CMS press office declined to respond to written questions posed by KFF Health News. But in a statement, it called the agency a "good steward of taxpayer dollars" and said in part: "CMS will continue to ensure that the MA program offers robust and stable options for people with Medicare while strengthening payment accuracy so that taxpayer dollars are appropriately spent." Court records from the UnitedHealth case show that CMS efforts to tighten oversight stalled amid years of technical protests from the industry such as arguing that audits to uncover overpayments were flawed and unfair. In one case, Jeffrey Grant, a CMS official who had decamped for a job supporting Medicare Advantage plans, protested the audit formula to several of his former colleagues, according to a deposition he gave in 2018. Grant has since returned to CMS and now is deputy director for operations at the agency's Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight. He declined to comment. At least a dozen witnesses in the UnitedHealth case and a similar DOJ civil fraud case pending against Anthem are former ranking CMS officials who departed for jobs tied to the Medicare Advantage industry. Marilyn Tavenner is one. She led the agency in 2014 when it backed off the overpayment regulation. She left in 2015 to head industry trade group AHIP, where she made more than $4.5 million during three years at the helm, according to Internal Revenue Service filings. Tavenner, who is a witness in the UnitedHealth case, had no comment. And in October 2015, as CMS department chiefs were batting around ideas to crack down on billing abuses, including reinstating the 2014 regulation on data mining, the agency was led by Andy Slavitt, a former executive vice president of the Optum division of UnitedHealth Group. The DOJ fraud suit focuses on Optum's data mining program. In the legal proceedings, Slavitt is identified as a "key custodian regarding final decision making by CMS" on Medicare Advantage. "I don't have any awareness of that conversation," Slavitt told KFF Health News in an email. Slavitt, who now helps run a health care venture capital firm, said that during his CMS tenure he "was recused from all matters related to UHG." 'Improper' payments CMS officials first laid plans to curb escalating overpayments to the insurers more than a decade ago, according to documents filed in August in the UnitedHealth case. In a January 2012 presentation, CMS officials estimated they had made $12.4 billion worth of "improper payments" to Medicare Advantage groups in 2009, mostly because the plans failed to document that patients had the conditions the government paid them to treat, according to the court documents. As a remedy, CMS came up with an audit program that selected 30 plans annually, taking a sample of 201 patients from each. Medical coders checked to make sure patient files properly documented health conditions for which the plans had billed. The 2011 audits found that five major Medicare Advantage chains failed to document from 12.3% to 25.8% of diagnoses, most commonly strokes, lung conditions, and heart disease. UnitedHealth Group, which had the lowest rate of unconfirmed diagnoses, is the only company named in the CMS documents in the case file. The identities of the four other chains are blacked out in the audit records, which are marked as "privileged and confidential." In a May 2016 private briefing, CMS indicated that the health plans owed from $98 million to $163 million for 2011 depending on how the overpayment estimate was extrapolated, court records show. But CMS still hasn't collected any money. In a surprise action in late January 2023, CMS announced that it would settle for a fraction of the estimated overpayments and not impose major financial penalties until 2018 audits, which have yet to get underway. Exactly how much plans will end up paying back is unclear. Richard Kronick, a former federal health policy researcher and a professor at the University of California-San Diego, said CMS has largely failed to rein in billions of dollars in Medicare Advantage overpayments. "It is reasonable to think that pressure from the industry is part of the reason that CMS has not acted more aggressively," Kronick said. CMS records show that officials considered strengthening the audits in 2015, including by limiting health plans from conducting "home visits" to patients to capture new diagnosis codes. That didn't happen, for reasons that aren't clear from the filings. In any case, audits for 2011 through 2015 "are not yet final and are subject to change," CMS official Steven Ferraina stated in a July court affidavit. "It's galling to me that they haven't recovered more than they have," said Edward Baker, a whistleblower attorney who has studied the issue. "The government needs to be more aggressive in oversight and enforcement of the industry," he said. Senior CMS official Cheri Rice recommended in the October 2015 email thread with key staff that CMS could devote more resources to supporting whistleblowers who report overbilling and fraud. "We think the whistleblower activity could be as effective - or even more effective - than CMS audits in getting plans to do more to prevent and identify risk adjustment overpayments," Rice wrote. But the handful of cases that DOJ could realistically bring against insurers cannot substitute for CMS fiscal oversight, Baker said. "Unfortunately, that makes it appear that fraud pays," he said. Spending surge In December, a bipartisan group of four U.S. senators, including Bill Cassidy (R-La.), wrote to CMS to voice their alarm about the overpayments and other problems. "It's unclear why CMS hasn't taken stronger action against overpayments, despite this being a longstanding issue," Cassidy told KFF Health News by email. In January, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) called for CMS to crack down, including by restricting use of chart reviews and home visits, known as health risk assessments, to increase plan revenues. Cassidy, a physician, said that "upcoding and abuses of chart review and health risk assessments are well-known problems CMS could address immediately." Advocates for Medicare Advantage plans, whose more than 33 million members comprise over half of people eligible for Medicare, worry that too much focus on payment issues could harm seniors. Their research shows most seniors are happy with the care they receive and that the plans typically cost them less out-of-pocket than traditional Medicare. Buck, the spokesperson for the Better Medicare Alliance, said that as the annual open enrollment period starts in mid-October, seniors may see "fewer benefits and fewer plan choices." The group has ramped up total spending in recent years to keep that from happening, IRS filings show. In 2022, the most recent year available, the Better Medicare Alliance reported expenses of $23.1 million, including more than $14 million on advertising and promotion, while in 2023, it paid for a Super Bowl ad featuring seniors in a bowling alley and left viewers with the message: Cutting Medicare Advantage was "nuts." Bruce Vladeck, who ran CMS' predecessor agency from 1993 through 1997, said that when government officials first turned to Medicare managed care groups in the 1990s, they quickly saw health plans enlist members to help press their agenda. "That is different from most other health care provider groups that lobby," Vladeck said. "It's a political weapon that Medicare Advantage plans have not been at all reluctant to use." The Better Medicare Alliance reported lobbying on 18 bills this year and last, according to OpenSecrets. Some are specific to Medicare Advantage, such as one requiring insurers to report more detailed data about treatments and services and another to expand the benefits they can offer, while others more broadly concern health care costs and services. Proposed reforms aside, CMS appears to believe that getting rid of health plans that allegedly rip off Medicare could leave vulnerable seniors in the lurch. Testifying on behalf of CMS in a May 2023 deposition in the UnitedHealth Group suit, former agency official Anne Hornsby said some seniors might not "find new providers easily." Noting UnitedHealth Group is the single biggest Medicare Advantage contractor, she said CMS "is interested in protecting the continuity of care." ARIES Ganesha says the beginning of the month will be good for Aries people. Your child will get some achievement which will make you happy. This month will give mixed results for love life. There will be love between you but there will also be disputes. Your loved ones health may deteriorate. Married people will try to handle life from their side. Your tuning with your spouse will also be good. Now your income will also be good. There will be a situation of salary increase in the job. The second half of the month will be better for business. There may be some problems in the first phase, but in the second phase you will come in contact with some new people, who will provide new work for your business, and your business will grow. Now the expenses will also be higher, which will be very difficult to control. Expenses may increase further in the second phase of the month, but the good thing is that your income will be good. An increase in income will give you a chance to cover your expenses. Can also buy any property. Your stress in the job will increase, but your income will also increase. Invest some money now in investment also, this will benefit you in future. Talking about students, they will have to face many obstacles in their studies. From the health point of view, you do not see any major problem. TAURUS Ganesha says the beginning of the month will be full of ups and downs for Taurus people. The month is good for love life. Time is likely to be even better for married life. Some problems may arise in your career also. Talking about employed people may have to face some problems in their professional lives due to the relationship. Right now you may be overconfident, due to which you will have to suffer in your job, so it would be better that you keep some peace and try to do your work well. Seniors may also get angry with something you say. It would be a good option to protect yourself by giving timely clarification. People doing business are likely to get big benefits from a long journey. You can also get good benefits from the government sector. Talking about students now is a good time. They will be able to perform better in their studies than before. If you want to go abroad then pursuing your hobby will be very beneficial for you. Right now you may have to face health-related problems. Pay attention to your eating habits. GEMINI Ganesha says this month is going to be good for people with the Gemini zodiac sign. Your relationship will be full of love and romance and you will be happy. You will find happiness in your domestic life. Talking about love life now is going to be a good time for you. Your tuning with your beloved will improve and you will spend quality time with each other. Some problems may arise at the beginning of the month. There may be obstacles in your work and the work being done may get stuck. Someones attention may fall on you, which may hamper your work. Avoid doing any work that involves the risk of defamation. Therefore, work with some caution at the beginning of the month. The health of the elders in the family may deteriorate. Talking about married people, their relations with their spouse will be good, which will bring you happiness. Employed people need to behave well with their colleagues so that they can get good benefits. However, your position in the job will be good. People doing business will benefit from business partners and with their cooperation there will be progress in business. The month is going to be better for students. You will be able to achieve good results in your studies, especially in creative and technical education. From a health point of view, you will have to take care of your health now. The second and third weeks of this month will be good for travel. CANCER Ganesha says this month may be a bit expensive for people with the Cancer zodiac sign. In such a situation, now you will have to pay some attention to your financial situation. It will be very important to control uncontrolled expenses, otherwise some problems may occur. Your relations with your in-laws will improve. Married people will enjoy their domestic life to the fullest and will have important discussions with their life partner, which will support their life. This month is good for a love life. You will spend a lot of time with your beloved and will be special to each other. Your intimacy will increase. Employed people may remain very busy in their work, but this busyness can get you a salary increase. Be a little cautious of your opponents. This will be the time for business people to act wisely. Before finalizing any new deal in business, know about all its aspects, otherwise, problems may arise later. Talking about students, right now they will need to pay a lot of attention to their studies. You can take the help of a guru. From a health point of view, you will need to take care of your health now. The second and third weeks of the month will be good for travel. LEO Ganesha says this month will be mixed for people with the Leo zodiac sign. Married people will experience some problems in their domestic life. Your spouses behavior and the way you interact with him/her can be the cause of this problem. To overcome this, work with patience. This month is good for a love life. You will give enough time to your beloved, which will remove the problems between you and increase your closeness. Employed people will get a chance to improve their performance this month. Even your boss will not be able to remain impressed by you. Time will be normal for those doing business. There will be some ups and downs, but you will get through it somehow. To get success in work you will have to work hard. This month is likely to be somewhat weak for students. Your hard work will take you ahead, but if you want to get help from a good friend, you can do so, it will benefit you. This month is going to be weak from a health point of view. You should pay attention to your eating habits, otherwise, you may have to face problems. Mental stress will also increase and your family relationships may also be affected. The second and fourth weeks of the month will be good for travel. VIRGO Ganesha says this month is going to be mixed for people with the Virgo zodiac sign. Married people will feel happy in their domestic life. You will also feel happy with your spouse and you will live a happy life. The day is going to be good for my love life also. You may plan a surprise for your loved one, but you may be a little worried due to their weak health. The month will be good for employed people. You will be successful in maintaining a good position in the eyes of your boss, due to which you will get the blessings of your boss. People doing business may have to face some inconveniences at the workplace. You can create your new office or change the interior of your office. The financial situation will be good, but you should avoid taking any big risks. This month will be good for students. Your hard work will bring you success. You have to take care of your health because health-related problems can trouble you this month. Be careful even while driving. LIBRA Ganesha says this month is likely to be good for people with the Libra zodiac sign. Although married people will experience problems in their domestic life, you will gradually feel better in the second phase of the month. Your tuning with your spouse will be better. Time will be good for a love life, but in between, your beloved will say some things that can break your heart. So you should understand them and talk properly. Employed people may now get a chance to change jobs. You may get a new opportunity, which will help you in getting a good job. People doing business will also get good profits. New avenues of profit will open in business. You can also start a new business. Your income will increase. You will also get income from some sources which you might not have even thought about. Money can also be obtained through some secret methods. You may also get some inheritance. Talking about students, this time will be good for them. You will be successful in concentrating on the subjects and your studies will be good. Your mental health will be poor and your health may also become weak, so you should take care of yourself. Dont consider yourself alone. By spending time with family members, you will be successful in getting out of these problems. SCORPIO Ganesha says this month will prove favorable for you. Married people will enjoy family life. Due to your good tuning with your spouse, the family atmosphere will also be positive and your children will also be happy. This month is a bit weak for my love life. Take care that the distance from your beloved does not increase. If you want, you can go shopping or out with them. At the beginning of the month, you can go on a long journey. Your luck will become stronger, due to which all the work will start getting done. Stuck money can also be recovered. If money is stuck somewhere, you can get it back too. There will be some shortcomings in family life, due to which you will remain troubled, and mental stress will increase. Your financial condition will be good, which will also give you better results. This will improve your financial condition. Employed people will have to focus a lot on their work, otherwise some problems may occur. This month is good for business people. You will also travel in connection with business, the results of which will also be good. You will do a lot to fulfill your ambition and will be successful to a great extent. Talking about students, the month will be good for them. Since your studies are good you will not have any major worries. From a health point of view, you will have to take care of your health now. Stomach disease may cause problems. SAGITTARIUS Ganesha says married people should maintain harmony in their domestic life and avoid considering their life partner as a competitor. Focus on improving your relationship, otherwise, your aggression can spoil your relationship. Time is going to be very romantic for love life. You will try to strengthen your chemistry with your beloved and will also be successful in it. Now you will see an increase in your income. Your income will also increase from many other works. You are likely to get more money than expected, and along with this, you can also repay any old bank loan of yours. This will be a very good time for employed people, you should take advantage of it as much as possible. You may also get a new job offer. People doing business will have to control themselves and concentrate on their work. Move forward by doing your work better without saying good or bad to anyone. This will improve your business. Talking about students, this month is good for them also. By working hard you will get success. take care of your health. Right now, stomach-related diseases and colds may bother you. The second and fourth weeks of this month will be good for travel. CAPRICORN Ganesha says this month will be favorable for Capricorn people. There will be a lot of emotional feelings in the domestic life of married people. You will take care of your spouse as well as family members. With this, your domestic life will become even better and family life will also become better. This month is also good for love life. You might feel close to your loved one. You will open your heart to your beloved. This will solve mutual problems. Your relationship will also become stronger. Now your financial condition will improve. The business will also increase. Whatever business you are doing, you will try to make some new improvements in it and you will also get success in it. Time will be favorable for employed people. Your problems will be reduced. The workload that was on you will now go away. You might be able to do your work better. Talking about students, this month will be better for them. You can get success in any competition also. Stomach and chest-related problems may arise. AQUARIUS Ganesha says this month will be full of ups and downs for Aquarius people. Married people will feel more relief and happiness in their domestic life. You can go on a pilgrimage or a trip with your spouse. Take care of your spouses health during this period. His health may deteriorate. This time can be troublesome for love life. Due to deterioration in mutual coordination, people may get influenced by someone elses words and start fighting among themselves. This month you will get full support from friends. Family life is going to be positive. The beginning of the month will be somewhat weak. Your expenses will also increase. Conditions will start improving from the second half of the month. Employed people need to avoid making any mistakes, otherwise problems on the job may increase. You may also get a new job opportunity in the second phase of the month. People doing business will benefit from their experience. Your work will make you famous in the market. Your goodwill will increase and your pending work will also be completed. You will benefit greatly from the help of an expert. Talking about students, at this time they will work hard for their studies. They will also be able to perform better in higher education. This time will be a little weak from a health point of view. take care of your health. PISCES Ganesha says this month is going to be moderate for you. There will be a reduction in stress in the domestic life of married people. You will work on some new plans with your spouse and focus on improvements in the family. Your beloved will develop good feelings towards you. This will improve your mutual tuning and strengthen your relationship. Employed people may get a good position. Time is also going to be better for those in government jobs. You will also get success in matters related to land and property. This month you can buy a big property. People doing business will get the fruits of their hard work. Your business will grow and you will also get benefits from it. People would love to connect with you. Talking about students, this time will be good for them. You will remain ahead in your studies. You may be counted among learned people. From a health point of view, there is a need to take care of your health now. Some minor problems may bother you. (The author Chirag Daruwalla is the son of Astrologer Bejan Daruwalla) Vidyut, a Bengaluru-based startup specializing in electric vehicles (EVs), has partnered with JSW MG Motor India to launch Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) financing option for several MG electric models, including the MG Comet EV, MG Windsor EV, and MG ZS EV. With this new program, customers can rent the battery, starting at just Rs 2.5 per kilometer, significantly cutting down running costs by up to 40 percent compared to traditional fuel vehicles. Unlike internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles that come with ongoing fuel expenses, the BaaS model allows customers to pay only for the vehicle itself, excluding the battery. This approach lowers the initial cost of acquiring an EV, making it more affordable and convenient for potential buyers. After a financing period of 3 to 5 years, depending on the vehicle model, customers can choose to either continue renting the battery or buy it outright. They also have the option to leave the program anytime by paying the batterys residual value. Xitij Kothi, Co-Founder of Vidyut, shared insights on this partnership, stating, Since its inception in 2021, Vidyut has made significant strides in pioneering this financing model for commercial applications. And now we are excited to extend that same level of innovation to personal four-wheeler vehicles with JSW MG Motor India. Gaurav Gupta, Chief Growth Officer at JSW MG Motor India, praised Vidyuts unique approach, noting, And we are delighted to partner with Vidyut, as one of our financing partners, to introduce BaaS, to address the barrier of incremental upfront cost of owning an EV and reducing the overall running cost significantly. Additionally, MG EV customers can benefit from a guaranteed 60 percent buyback value after three years of ownership, enhancing their ownership experience. Vidyut is also venturing into the sale and financing of used EVs, particularly supporting the resale market for three-wheeled commercial EVs in major cities like Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. Currently operating in over 30 cities across India, Vidyut has collaborated with various OEMs, including Tata Motors, Mahindra, and Euler Motors. The startup has successfully raised $14 million in funding, led by 3one4 Capital and backed by other notable investors. Fintech firm BharatPe has reached a settlement with its former co-founder Ashneer Grover, ending years of acrimonious legal battles and public disputes between the two parties. A BharatPe spokesperson said in a statement as per Moneycontrol that certain shares of Ashneer Grover will be transferred to the Resilient Growth Trust for the benefit of BharatPe and his remaining shares will be managed by his family trust. Both parties decided not to pursue the cases filed, it said, adding, We wish Mr. Grover well. BharatPe continues to focus on delivering industry-leading solutions to its merchants and customers driving growth with profitability. A source close to the company said he will be transferring 1.4% of his holding to the BharatPe board, with the rest 3.5-3.7% going to a family trust, thus keeping him off from the companys cap table. Further, he will also return shares to BharatPe co-founder Bhavik Koladiya. In January 2023, Koladiya alleged that he transferred 1,611 shares of BharatPe (now 16,110 shares) worth Rs 88 Lakh to Grover, but never got paid for these. The matter later went to court and Grover was barred from selling these shares. The move to smoke the peace pipe comes days after Deepak Gupta, a family member of former BharatPe managing director and co-founder Ashneer Grover was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police in the case of alleged misappropriation of the fintech unicorns funds. Deepak Gupta is the husband of Madhuri Grovers sister. Madhuri Grover, the wife of Ashneer Grover, was fired by BharatPe as its Head of Controls. Gupta was arrested on the night of September 19 was supposed to be produced in front of the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court. BharatPe had filed a criminal complaint in December 2022 against 5 accused Ashneer Grover, Madhuri Grover, Shwetank Jain (brother of Madhuri), Suresh Jain (father-in-law of Ashneer) and Deepak Gupta (brother-in-law of Ashneer and Madhuri). The EOW filed an FIR against BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover, his wife Madhuri Jain and their family members Deepak Gupta, Suresh Jain and Shwetank Jain in May 2023 in the Rs 81-crore fraud case. Last month, the EOW had made its first arrest in the case Amit Kumar Bansal was nabbed on the allegation of being one of the members of the non-existing firms that had received payments of Rs 72 crore from the then directors of BharatPe between 2019 and 2021. BharatPe has accused Grover and his family of causing losses to the firm to the tune of about Rs 81.3 crore through illegitimate payments to bogus human-resource consultants, inflated and undue payments through pass-through vendors connected to the accused, sham transactions in input-tax credit and payment of penalty to Goods and Services Tax (GST) authorities, illegal payments to travel agencies, invoices forged by Jain and destruction of evidence. The US Embassy in India has made 250,000 new visa appointments available for Indian tourists, skilled workers, and students. This move is part of a goal set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden to speed up the visa process. These new appointments will help Indian applicants get visa interviews more quickly. The US Embassy announced that these additional slots will enable hundreds of thousands of Indian applicants to secure timely visa interviews, easing travel. For the second consecutive year, the US mission in India has processed over 1 million non-immigrant visa applications. The U.S. Mission to India has opened an additional 250,000 visa appointments for Indian travelers, including tourists, skilled workers, and students. pic.twitter.com/DnPYNNkONN U.S. Embassy India (@USAndIndia) September 30, 2024 US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti said, Im proud that weve kept our promise. Our embassy and consulate teams are working hard to meet the growing demand. Students, Workers and Tourists During this years student visa season, the US Mission processed a record number of applications and made sure every first-time student got an appointment at one of its five consular offices in India. The statement said, We processed record numbers this summer, and all first-time student applicants got appointments. Now, were focusing on reuniting families, helping businesses, and supporting tourism. In 2024, over 1.2 million Indians have already traveled to the US, a 35% increase compared to the same period in 2023. Around six million Indians have a non-immigrant visa, and thousands more are issued daily. Australia to Start Offering Work Visas to Indian Citizens from Oct 1 Under Trade Pact Australia will begin offering up to 1,000 work and holiday visas each year to Indian citizens from October 1, as part of its commitment under the India-Australia interim free trade agreement. The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (AI-ECTA) came into effect from December 2022. During the visit, happy to learn that Work and Holiday visa, a key commitment under India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement will be operational from 1st October 2024 which will facilitate mobility and deepen people-to-people connect, Goyal said in a post on X on Thursday. Under the ECTA, Indian nationals aged 18-30 years can apply for a one-year visa to work, study, and travel across Australia. Australia would annually grant up to 1,000 multiple-entry work and holiday visas for a temporary stay of 12 months to Indian citizens who meet the eligibility requirements under the Australian legislation. The two sides are now negotiating to expand the scope of the existing ECTA to a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). Stocks To Watch On September 30: The markets traded flat on Friday, showing little movement despite favorable global cues. In todays trade, shares of BEL, L&T, PNB, Nuvama Wealth, IDFC, IndusInd Bank among others will be in focus due to various news developments Tata Motors: Tata Motors held a groundbreaking ceremony of its new production facility to manufacture cars and SUVs at Panapakkam in Tamil Nadu. This manufacturing facility will produce next-gen vehicles for Tata Motors and JLR. Nuvama Wealth: Nuvama Wealth Management witnessed a series of block deals on Friday where Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Smallcap World Fund Inc bought shares at a combined cost of Rs 1,235 crore. PNB: State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) has raised Rs 5,000 crore through an issue of equity shares to qualified institutional players. The bank allocated about 48.19 crore equity shares at an issue price of Rs 103.75 per share. Adani Enterprises: Adani New Industries, the green energy components manufacturing arm of Adani Enterprises, is expanding its solar component manufacturing capabilities in India, focusing on solar glass, aluminium frames, and backsheets to strengthen its supply chain for solar cells and modules. ANIL plans to increase its solar cell and module capacity from 4 GW to 10 GW by 2030, alongside setting up facilities for component manufacturing. Hindustan Unilever: HUL is under pressure as it faces competition from smaller FMCG companies and unorganised sector players, particularly in the soaps segment. The company has implemented price cuts to retain market share and is now focusing on premiumisation across its product range. Analysts suggest HULs growth strategy may take time as it adapts to market changes, while e-commerce continues to be a growing avenue for revenue. Reliance Industries, Network18 Media & Investments: RIL has received government approval to transfer licenses for its non-news and current affairs TV channels to Star India, following a merger with Disneys Indian media assets. This strategic move is expected to enhance RILs competitive position against other media giants. The merger, valued at Rs 70,350 crore, is anticipated to finalise in late 2024 or early 2025. Separately, Candytoy Corporate (CTC) has secured a partnership with Reliance Retail to supply confectionery toys, aiming for rapid expansion across 1,400 stores by the end of the fiscal year. NLC India: The company is positioning itself to tap into the critical minerals sector, with plans to achieve a mining capacity of 1 million tonnes annually by 2029-30. This move aligns with the growing demand for critical minerals in renewable energy projects, including solar and wind. The company also aims to significantly boost its renewable energy capacity from 1,431 MW to 10,110 MW by 2030. REC: The state-owned company raised $500 million through green dollar bonds for renewable energy projects. The bonds have a maturity date of September 27, 2029. Zydus Lifesciences: The company has received approval from the US FDA to manufacture generic Enzalutamide capsules, a prostate cancer treatment drug. The drugs US market had annual sales of approximately $869.4 million. Biocon: The company has received four observations from the US FDA after an inspection of its Bengaluru API facility. The company plans to address these findings and does not anticipate any business impact. Larsen & Toubro: L&T plans to expand its real estate business by acquiring land and enhancing pre-sales. The company aims to grow its portfolio significantly while focusing on premium housing. Sterling And Wilson Renewable Energy: Shapoorji Pallonji and Khurshed Yazdi Daruvala divested a 7.14 per cent stake in Sterling And Wilson Renewable Energy for approximately Rs 1,040 crore. IPO listings today: Manba Finance (Mainline), and two SME companies WOL 3D India and Rappid Valves will be listed on the stock exchanges today. GMR Airports: The Supreme Courts recent decision allows GMR Airports to continue operating Nagpurs Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport, following the closure of curative petitions by the Centre and AAI. Alkem Laboratories: The pharma company has refuted claims regarding its products Pan-D and Clavam 625 failing quality tests by the CDSCO. The company asserts that the samples tested were spurious and not manufactured by them. IndusInd Bank: The banks board approved the re-appointment of Sumant Kathpalia as MD and CEO for three years, pending RBI approval. He has focused on strengthening the banks balance sheet and retail deposit growth. Tamilnad Mercantile Bank: The bank is developing a roadmap to enhance its MSME portfolio, including new branch openings and establishing MSME hubs. The bank is working with McKinsey to refine its strategy. Zomato: The companys co-founder and Chief People Officer, Akriti Chopra has resigned from her role. Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) is set to establish a defence manufacturing facility overseas in Casablanca, Morocco. The plant will initially focus on producing Wheeled Armoured Platforms (WhAP) for the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces, with plans to expand its reach across the wider African market in the future. This initiative represents the first significant greenfield defence plant set up by an Indian company abroad. Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) is a fully owned part of Tata Sons and serves as the aerospace and defence division of the Tata Group. TASL functions as both an operating company and a holding company. Kingdom of Moroccos Royal Armed Forces and Tata Advanced Systems sign deal for local production of Wheeled Armoured Platform.Developed in collaboration with the DRDO and Tata Motors, this marks a significant milestone as we expand our footprint overseas as a Defence OEM. pic.twitter.com/6YcXWTFR7S Tata Advanced Systems (Tata Aerospace & Defence) (@tataadvanced) September 30, 2024 Wheeled Armoured Platforms The WhAP was developed in partnership with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and was rigorously tested in diverse African desert environments before being chosen by Morocco. The WhAP is an amphibious infantry combat vehicle built to move across different types of land. It has already been used in small numbers by the Indian Army, including at the Ladakh border. A new factory is expected to produce 100 combat vehicles each year. It should be ready within a year, with the first vehicles expected to roll out in 18 months. The income tax department has extended the deadline for filing of various audit reports for the assessment year 2023-24 to October 7, 2024. The original deadline was September 30. According to tax experts, the deadline extension is applicable to all taxpayers, including individuals and companies, whose income tax deadline is October 31, 2024. Generally, the income tax deadline for salaried individuals or those who do not require audits is July 31, while that for audit-requiring individuals and companies is October 31 every year. The latter individuals and companies usually require submission of tax audit reports by September 30. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has decided to extend the specified date for filing of various reports of audit for the Previous Year 2023-24, which was 30th September, 2024 in the case of assessees referred in clause (a) of Explanation 2 to sub-section (1) of section 139 of the Act, to 07thOctober 2024, the CBDT said in a post on X on Sunday evening. The deadline extension comes following reports of a slow e-filing portal. The CBDTs circular dated September 29, 2024, acknowledged these technical difficulties and invoked its authority under Section 119 of the Income Tax Act to extend the audit report submission date. Many experts welcomed the move, but also cautioned against complacency. What is the Penalty of Not Filing Tax Audit Report? In India, not filing a tax audit report by the due date can lead to penalties under Section 271B of the Income Tax Act. The penalty for not furnishing the tax audit report is generally: 0.5% of Turnover or Gross Receipts: The penalty is 0.5% of the total sales, turnover, or gross receipts of the business for the financial year. Maximum Penalty: The penalty amount can go up to a maximum of Rs 1,50,000. However, if the taxpayer can prove that there was a reasonable cause for not getting the accounts audited, the penalty may be waived off at the discretion of the assessing officer. Who Needs to File Audit Report? A tax audit report must be filed by certain categories of taxpayers in India, based on turnover, gross receipts, or specific conditions. Here are the major categories: 1. Business Turnover Exceeds Rs 1 Crore: Businesses with turnover exceeding Rs 1 crore in a financial year are required to get their accounts audited. Reduced Limit of Rs 10 Crore: The limit is increased to 10 crore if at least 95% of the transactions (both receipts and payments) are done digitally. 2. Professionals Gross Receipts Exceed Rs 50 Lakh: Professionals like doctors, architects, lawyers, etc., whose gross receipts exceed 50 lakhs in a financial year are required to file a tax audit report. 3. Presumptive Taxation Scheme Section 44AD (Businesses): Taxpayers who opted for the presumptive taxation scheme under Section 44AD but declare profits lower than 8% (or 6% in case of digital receipts) of turnover, and if their total income exceeds the basic exemption limit. Section 44ADA (Professionals): Professionals under the presumptive scheme (Section 44ADA) who declare profits lower than 50% of gross receipts and whose income exceeds the basic exemption limit. Section 44AE (Transporters): Transporters opting out of presumptive taxation with lower income declarations may also need an audit if they exceed income thresholds. 4. Other Specific Conditions If there are losses to be carried forward and the taxpayer wants to offset these losses, a tax audit might be needed. If a taxpayer is covered under Section 44AB, which includes those not covered under the above schemes but meeting specific criteria based on income, turnover, or professional receipts. The passage describes significant events from World War II, particularly the early stages of the conflict in 1940, with the Nazi advance and the Blitz on London. Heres the translated passage with historical verification: Translation: "In 1940, World War II broke out in full scale, and Nazi Germany was gaining momentum. In May, Western Europe fell, and the Allied forces retreated to Dunkirk. On September 7, Hitler dispatched over 1,300 planes to indiscriminately bomb London. In a single night, 300 tons of explosives rained down, turning London into a living hell." Historical Verification: 1940 and Nazi Momentum: This aligns with historical facts. By 1940, Nazi Germany had already conquered Poland (1939) and was advancing rapidly across Europe. Western Europe Falls in May 1940: In May 1940, Germany launched a successful campaign through Western Europe. Belgium, the Netherlands, and France fell quickly to German forces. The Battle of France concluded in June 1940. Allied Retreat to Dunkirk: The Dunkirk evacuation (Operation Dynamo) occurred from May 26 to June 4, 1940. Over 330,000 Allied troops were evacuated from Dunkirk, France, as German forces closed in. This was a critical event of the war. Blitz on London (September 7, 1940): This is correct. On September 7, 1940, the Blitz (German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom) began with a large-scale attack on London. More than 1,300 German aircraft bombed the city that night, and approximately 300 tons of bombs were dropped. Destruction in London: The Blitz caused immense destruction. The initial raid on September 7 left parts of London devastated, with fires breaking out across the city and significant civilian casualties. The bombing campaign continued until May 1941. Conclusion: The historical details in the passage are accurate and align with key events from 1940, especially concerning the Dunkirk evacuation and the start of the Blitz on London. Every year, a significant number of young people travel abroad, whether to the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, or Singapore, either for higher education or in search of employment. If you are considering working abroad after completing a B.Tech. from an Indian engineering college, there are several important factors to keep in mind. A B.Tech degree in any stream does not guarantee a job overseas. Jobs abroad are more accessible to those who specialise in certain B.Tech disciplines. In addition to pursuing a B.Tech course, several other factors can enhance your prospects of securing a job abroad. These include undertaking additional courses while in college, acquiring relevant skills, and actively participating in various activities. If your goal is to work abroad after completing a B.Tech course from an Indian institute, its essential to choose the right engineering branch. Furthermore, preparing all the necessary documents in advance will help avoid complications later on. Engineering Courses for Jobs Abroad- These 10 engineering courses are considered the best for securing jobs abroad. If you wish to work overseas, these specialisations offer better opportunities: 1. Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) 2. Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) 3. Mechanical Engineering 4. Electrical Engineering 5. Aerospace Engineering 6. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AIML) 7. Data Science and Analytics 8. Software Engineering 9. Networking and Cyber Security 10. Robotics and Automation Best Countries for Engineers- After completing a B.Tech from an Indian engineering college, these 10 countries are regarded as ideal destinations for finding jobs abroad: 1. United States of America (USA) 2. Canada 3. United Kingdom (UK) 4. Germany 5. Australia 6. Singapore 7. Japan 8. South Korea 9. France 10. Sweden Documents Required for a Job Abroad- If you plan to work abroad, it is essential to prepare the following documents in advance. Doing so will prevent delays and ensure that all formalities are completed smoothly: 1. Valid Passport 2. B.Tech Degree 3. GRE/TOEFL/IELTS Scores 4. Visa 5. Work Permit 6. Professional Certificates (if applicable) Being well-prepared with the right qualifications and documentation will streamline the process and increase your chances of success in securing a job abroad. The Telangana government has released the TS DSC 2024 results today, September 30. The scorecards can be accessed on the official website at tgdsc.aptonline.in. The results were announced after 55 days of the exam. The government will issue the appointment letters at LB Stadium on October 9. A total of 2,79,957 candidates had applied for these DSC exams this time out of which 87.61 per cent appeared. The Telangana government conducted the TS DSC to recruit a total of 11,062 teacher posts. This includes 2,629 school assistant posts, 727 language scholars, 182 PETs, 6,508 SGTs, special education, 220 school assistants, and 796 SGT posts. The TS DSC final answer key has already been issued for all posts including School Assistant, Language Pandit, Secondary Grade Teacher, and Physical Education Teacher. The TS DSC results will be released for all the posts today. TS DSC 2024 Result: How To Check? Step 1: Go to the official website of TS DSC tsdsc.aptonlie.in. Step 2: Click on the Telangana Mega DSC 2024 result link on the homepage. Step 3: Fill out the required information. Step 4: Hit the submit button. Step 5: The TS DSC 2024 result will be released on the screen. Step 6: Download and save the page for further use. The exam was held between July 18 and August 5, 2024, in the Computer Based Test mode. It was conducted at exam centres across Mahaboobnagar, Ranga Reddy, Hyderabad, Medak, Nizamabad, Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, Khammam, Nalgonda, and Sanga Reddy. The total marks in TS DSC are 100 with 80 marks allotted for the written test and the remaining 20 marks are allotted to the marks obtained in TS TET, AP TET, and CTET. In the case of AP TET, scores obtained before June 2, 2014, will only be considered. However, for physical education teachers, the full marks of 100 will be allotted to the written exam only. The age limit for candidates appearing for TS DSC is 46 years. Relaxation of up to five years for government employees, three years for ex-servicemen, 10 years for armed forces, five years for SC, ST, EWS candidates, and 10 years for physically challenged candidates are allowed. Jammu and Kashmir is all set for its third and the largest phase of the assembly elections on Tuesday where the fate of 415 candidates will be decided by 39.18 lakh voters across 40 seats and 5,060 polling stations. The newly formed union territory is witnessing the assembly polls for the first time. The last time the erstwhile state went to polls was in 2014. This time the election is being held in three phases. In a statement, the UTs chief electoral officer (CEO) Pandurang K Pole said different enforcement agencies in J&K have made total seizures worth Rs 130 crore during the ongoing assembly elections till now. The Police Department has made the highest seizure of Rs 107.50 crore followed by CGST with Rs 9.88 crore, SGST/CT with Rs 8.03 crore, NCB with Rs 2.06 crore, Income tax department with Rs 87 lakh and State Excise Department with Ra 50 lakh, it said. In addition, late on Sunday, the J&K election office suspended 23 officials besides disengaging six contractual/adhoc employees for violating model code of conduct (MCC) guidelines, taking cognisance of government employees participation in election campaigning and related political activities. Also, 20 employees against whom there were complaints of acting in a partisan way have been shifted to offices in other tehsils or districts. More than 39.18 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their electoral franchise during the final phase across 40 assembly constituencies in seven districts of the union territory. In the second phase, held on September 25, at least 26 assembly constituencies across six districts of Jammu and Kashmir went to polls. Over 25.78 lakh voters were eligible in the phase held across 3,502 polling stations locking the fate of 239 candidates. Under the first phase, held on September 18, the fate of 219 candidates was determined by over 23.27 lakh voters in 24 assemblies across seven districts of Jammu and Kashmir. 24 seats in Jammu, 16 in Kashmir Of the 40 seats under the third phase, 16 are from the Kashmir division Karnah, Tregham, Kupwara, Lolab, Handwara, Langate, Sopore, Rafiabad, Uri, Baramulla, Gulmarg, Wagoora-Kreeri, Pattan, Sonawari, Bandipora, and Gurez. From the Jammu division, there are 24 constituencies Udhampur West, Udhampur East, Chenni, Ramnagar, Bani, Billawar, Basohli, Jasrota, Kathua, Hiranagar, Ramgarh, Samba, Vijaypur, Bishnah, Suchetgarh, RS Pura, Jammu South, Bahu, Jammu East, Nagrota, Jammu West, Jammu North, Akhnoor, and Chhamb. The voting will take place from 7.00 am to 6.00 pm Also, the voting will continue even after 6.00 pm, if the voters queue is still there in the Polling Station premises to exercise their right to vote, the CEO said. The results for the three phases will be declared on October 8. 169 crorepatis in fray; 67 of 415 candidates have criminal cases The average of assets per candidate contesting in the third phase is Rs 2.76 crore, with at least 169 crorepatis in the fray, according to a report from the Jammu and Kashmir Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). Released earlier this month, the report also said that out of 415 candidates, 67 (16%) have declared criminal cases against themselves. At least 52 (13%) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves, it said, adding that five candidates have declared cases of attempt to murder (IPC section 307). Of the 40 seats, 11 (28%) are red alert constituencies where three or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. The Supreme Court has granted interim protection from arrest for two weeks until the next hearing to Malayalam actor Siddique. The apex court also sent a notice to the Kerala government concerning his appeal against the Kerala High Courts ruling that refused him bail. A bench headed by Justice Bela Trivedi heard the case against Siddique on September 30. The bench asked the victim why it took her eight years to come out to file her complaint. Advocate Vrinda Grover, who appeared for the woman, was asked by Justice Trivedi why it took her time to raise a complaint. Justice Trivedi asked, What were you doing for eight years? What prevented you from filing a complaint for eight years? Justice Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma asked Advocate Grover if she could give a satisfactory, reasonable reply for why the woman took almost a decade to file a complaint. Advocate Grover highlighted the skewed power equations within the industry. She said that the woman was 19 years old when the incident took place. She said, This has to be understood in the larger context. He was the secretary of a very powerful organization He approached her on Facebook in 2014, saying he liked her pictures. She was 19 years old then. Speaking on behalf of Siddique, Mr Rohatgi said that the woman had come for a meeting at a hotel with her parents. He asked the court for protection and mentioned that his client would be available for the investigation. Previously, the Kerala High Court had determined that there were sufficient initial grounds to file a criminal case against the actor. He faced charges under Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) based on a complaint from a female actor after the findings of the Hema Committee came out. The High Court mentioned that his questioning was necessary after evaluating the details of the case, relevant legal principles, and the severity of the allegations made against him. The death of Hassan Nasrallah, chief of Lebanese political and militant group Hezbollah, in a large-scale attack by Israeli forces in Beirut over the weekend is a blow to the Iran-backed group, which has vowed an all-out regional war. Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said killing Nasrallah was a necessary condition for achieving Israels goals in the region. The attack killed 11 people, including a regional commander in Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Abbas Nilforoushan, and injured 108 more. How Hezbollah Grew Under Nasrallahs Leadership Nasrallah assumed leadership of Hezbollah in 1992 at the age of 32, after the assassination of its co-founder Abbas al-Musawi. At that time, the militant group was largely relegated to the fringes of Lebanese society. Over the next 30 years, Nasrallah and his supporters dismantled the sovereign Lebanese government, with no President since 2022, as per a report by TIME. Under Nasrallahs leadership, Hezbollah became one of the most powerful militias in the Middle East, boasting a military force stronger even than the Lebanese army. Funded by Iran, Hezbollah trained troops from Hamas. His organisation also provides social services, as per NPR. Nasrallah led his group into a war that pushed Israeli troops out of southern Lebanon in 2000, ending an 18-year occupation. He was never seen in public for fear of assassination attempts. He also helped the flailing regime of Syrias Bashar-al-Assad, who was trying to suppress a massive uprising that had been sparked by Arab Spring protests of 2011. Hezbollah has been blamed for bombings, attempted bombings and shootings that have killed scores of people around the world. In 1992, a blast in the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires killed 29 people. The terrorist group was suspected to be involved with Iran in the bombing of a Jewish community centre in the Argentinian capital two years later that killed another 85 people, as per NPR. A 2020 report by a London-based think tank, the International Institute of Strategic Studies, estimated that Hezbollah had up to 20,000 active fighters. What About Hezbollahs Future Operations? The attack on Hezbollahs pagers and other wireless devices were primarily intended to cut all communication between different leaders and groups. The attacks convey a clear message that Israel will no longer accept tit-for-tat attacks on its northern border, as per The Conversation. The death may only reinforce a fresh wave of violence, it might also see the involvement of other Hezbollah-aligned players into the region such as the Houthis in Yemen and Kataib Hizballah in Iraq. Hezbollahs succession plans and the process by which Nasrallah may be replaced are not yet clear, but should follow a blueprint that saw his own elevation more than 30 years ago, according to Nick Blanford, a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Councils Middle East Programs and long-time expert of Hezbollah based in Beirut. Impact on Middle East According to Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at the British think tank Chatham House, Iran will be looking for some way to turn the tables and save some face. The axis has not proven effective at providing Iran deterrence against Israel, or a Gaza cease-fire, Sanam wrote, as quoted by NPR. Orna Mizrahi, an Israeli security expert from the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, said Israels successes in degrading Hezbollahs leadership structure and military capabilities could be leveraged to reach a lasting agreement that would force Hezbollah forces back from Lebanons border with northern Israel. The weakened and battered state of Hezbollah provides a short window of opportunity to diminish its strategic capabilities further before civilian harm prompts international pressure on Israel to cease operations, she wrote in an analysis. Simultaneously, Israel must develop a coordinated exit strategy with the US to end the northern conflict, as quoted by NPR. Experts also believe that the Nasrallahs death and the unanticipated degradation of Hezbollah has exposed Iran and its proxies as paper tigers. This means that Arab leaders will now be less fearful of Iran and will evaluate their options accordingly, as per TIME. Meanwhile, the US has authorised the military to reinforce its presence in the Middle East, keeping an eye on Iran and its partners, and if there is an aggression against the Pentagon or its interests, Washington will take every necessary measure to defend our people. A recent Supreme Court ruling penalised the possession and storage of child pornography (Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Material CSEAM) and sought clarification on how various high courts have interpreted the issue. The Madras High Court had earlier this year quashed criminal proceedings against a 28-year-old man who had downloaded two child pornographic videos on his phone. The Chennai Police had filed an FIR under Sections 67B of the Information Technology Act and Section 14(1) of the POCSO Act. The court had said mere possession of such content did not violate the law unless the individual had actively used a child for pornographic purposes. The Supreme Court, however, dismissed the ruling, and concluded that possession of such material amounts to criminal liability. The judges concluded that not only physical possession but also constructive possession meaning the power to control the material, combined with knowledge of that control would fall under Section 15 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, even if the person did not actively produce or distribute the content. Decoding SC Judgment The Madras High Court ruling was challenged by two NGOsJust Rights for Children Alliance and Bachpan Bachao Andolan. The petition said, as quoted by The Times of India, The impugned order gives the impression that individuals who download and possess child pornography will not face prosecution. This will encourage child pornography and would act against the well-being of children. The impression is given to the general public that downloading and possessing child pornography is not an offence and it would increase the demand for child pornography and encourage people to involve innocent children in pornography. The Supreme Court bench, however, observed that the term child pornography misnomer does not capture the full extent of crime and can lead to trivialisation of the crime, as pornography can be seen as a consensual act between two adults. We have said about lingering impact of child pornography on victimisation and abuse of children. We have suggested to Parliament to bring an amendment to POCSO so that definition of child pornography can be referred to as child sexually abusive and exploitative material (CSAEM). We have suggested an Ordinance can be brought in, the Bench said. How to Interpret CSEAM The SC ruled that CSEAM more accurately reflects the reality that these images and videos are not merely pornographic but are records of incidents, where a child has either been sexually exploited or abused. We further forbid the courts from using the term child pornography and instead the term (CSEAM) should be used in judicial orders and judgments of all courts across the country, the court said. The judgment broadens the interpretation of CSEAM laws, which criminalise mere possession of such material, and close legal loopholes previously exploited in court rulings. Reinforces the POCSO Act as a tool to combat online child exploitation, ensuring stricter penalties. Stresses on victim protection, quick content takedowns and advocating for the psychological well-being of child victims. It also calls for tech platforms to report CSEAM cases, enhancing collaboration between law enforcement and online service providers. Key Recommendations to Govt The court recommended replacing child pornography with Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) in all judicial orders and legislations. The court stressed the importance of positive, age-appropriate sex education to prevent harmful sexual behaviour and foster an understanding of consent, helping to deter the consumption and distribution of CSEAM. Social media intermediaries must not only remove CSEAM but also report such content to the local authorities under the POCSO Act. Compliance with the IT Act alone does not absolve their liability. The court suggested raising awareness about CSEAM through public campaigns to destigmatise reporting and increase community vigilance. It emphasized the need for psychological counseling and rehabilitation services for both victims and offenders, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for those involved in CSEAM. What are Constitutional and Legal Provisions Related to Child Protection? Article 15(3): Provides the state with the authority to make special provisions for the protection and welfare of children. Article 21: Right to life and personal liberty, which includes the protection of children from exploitation and abuse. Article 39(e) and (f): Mandates the state to ensure that children are not abused and are provided with opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner, protecting their dignity and freedom. Article 47: Focuses on improving public health, which includes preventing child exploitation and ensuring their welfare. Under POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Section 13: Defines child pornography (now CSEAM) and punishes its production, distribution, and possession. Section 14: Imposes penalties for using a child for pornographic purposes, with increasing severity for repeated offenses. Section 15: Penalises the storage of child sexual abuse material for commercial purposes, ensuring strict consequences for possession or storage. Section 19: Mandates the reporting of offenses under the POCSO Act, making it obligatory for citizens, including tech companies, to report any suspected CSEAM-related activities. Chief Minister Atishi, along with other ministers of the Public Works Department (PWD), on Monday inspected roads in several areas of Delhi. According to an X post by the Chief Minister, she inspected and identified damaged roads across the city and ensured a pothole-free national capital by Diwali. Among the various areas in south and southeast Delhi, visited by the Chief Minister, were Okhla, Modi Mill flyover, Chirag Dilli, Tughalakabad, Mathura Road, Ashram Chowk and its underpass. Atishi, in her X post, mentioned that she found roads in these areas in a dilapidated condition. People have to face problems because of potholes on these roads, she said. The Chief Minister also directed the officials to start the repair work on a war footing and said under the guidance of Arvind Kejriwal, it is our endeavour that all Delhiites get pothole-free roads by Diwali. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) minister Saurabh Bharadwaj and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also inspected roads in east Delhi today morning. Ministers Gopal Rai, Kailash Gahlot, Imran Hussain and Mukesh Ahlawat also inspected roads. Rai inspected roads in northeast Delhi, Gahlot in west and southwest Delhi, Hussain in New Delhi and central Delhi and Ahlawat in north and northwest Delhi. On Sunday, Atishi held a meeting to review the condition of roads in the city and said that all ministers would inspect roads in designated areas for a week to identify those in need of repair. Thirteen districts in Bihar are on high alert after flood-hit Nepal released 10.5 lakh cusecs of water from the Kosi and Gandak barrages. Following this, embankment breaches were reported on Sunday (September 29) from several dams and rivers in the state, particularly impacting districts on the border with the neighbouring country. According to officials, Bettiah, Motihari, Gopalganj, Saran, Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Sitamarhi, Shivhar, Samastipur, Kishanganj, Araria, Purnia, Katihar, Supaul, Saharsa, Madhepura, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Khagaria, Bhagalpur, have been put on high alert. Despite some water levels receding in smaller rivers, the situation remains dire for more than 16 lakh people affected by flooding, with no fatalities reported so far, officials said. #WATCH | Bihar: Several parts of Sitamarhi affected due to floods after the Mandar dam in Belsand Block of Sitamarhi district breaks (Earlier visuals) pic.twitter.com/4PhnPa2hO1 ANI (@ANI) September 29, 2024 The Birpur barrage on Kosi River released 6.61 lakh cusecs of water, marking the highest discharge in 56 years. This level of discharge is unprecedented, as the last recorded maximum was 7.88 lakh cusecs in 1968, said the state water resources department (WRD). #WATCH | Bihar: Water of river Kosi has engulfed many northeastern districts of the state; normal life affected by floods-like situations in Supaul. pic.twitter.com/cSwzylNlWQ ANI (@ANI) September 29, 2024 Similarly, Valmikinagar barrage on Gandak released 5.62 lakh cusecs, the highest since 2003. As a precaution, traffic near Kosi barrage has been halted to ensure public safety. Following heavy discharge of water from these barrages, excess river water entered low-lying areas of West and East Champaran, Gopalganj, Araria, Supaul, Katihar, Purnea and several other districts. #WATCH | Bihar: People of Araria district suffer as flood water enters houses due to a rise in water level in Pramana River. (28.09.24) pic.twitter.com/V5Lh4wQMIv ANI (@ANI) September 29, 2024 Officials further said a breach occurred in the embankment of Bagmati River at Madhkaul village in Sitamarhi, while the Gandak rivers left bank embankment in West Champaran was damaged due to excessive water pressure, resulting in floodwaters entering the Valmiki Tiger Reserve. Due to the unexpected increase in the flow and water level of the Bagmati River, minor seepages on the left and right embankments in Belsand, Parsauni, Bargainia, and Rasalpur blocks of Sitamarhi district, as well as in Piprahi, Puranhiya, and Sheohar blocks of Sheohar district, were reported and immediately repaired, the WRD said. In response to the damage, Nishikant Kumar, executive engineer of the flood control division in Bagaha, was suspended for negligence and failure to coordinate effectively with local authorities. The department stressed on the seriousness of the situation, saying, We are taking all necessary precautions to manage the flood risk. Rescue teams on alert, prepared for any eventuality Water resources minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said teams are monitoring embankments on a 24-hour basis to respond swiftly to any erosion or danger. There is nothing to panic about; our teams are always alert, and we are fully prepared for any eventuality, he told PTI. He said incidents of water flowing above the embankments were also reported from Valmikinagar and Kiratpur in Darbhanga. The water levels of Gandak, Kosi, Bagmati, Burhi Gandak, Kamla Balan and Mahananda, Bagmati and Ganga have has been rising across the state, following continuous rainfall over the past two-three days. Incessant rainfall in the catchment areas of Nepal has led to rivers touching or flowing above the danger level at several places in the bordering districts, he added. An alert has already been sounded for several districts as the IMD predicted heavy rain and warned of flash flood risk in parts of the state. Districts such as West and East Champaran, Sitamarhi, Sheohar, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Siwan, Saran, Vaishali, Patna, Jehanabad, Madhubani and Bhojpur districts are likely to experience heavy rain. These districts are at risk of low to moderate flash floods, the IMD said. #WATCH | Bihar: Flood-like situation witnessed in Muzaffarpur as water enters Bakuchi Power Grid complex in Katra. pic.twitter.com/eY6jxZeFnC ANI (@ANI) September 30, 2024 Current water levels at various gauge sites indicate they are above danger marks, further emphasising the ongoing flood risks in the region. The water level at Jhanjharpur gauge site of Kamla Balan River is recorded at 52.10 metres, which is 2.10 metres above the danger mark, while Gowabari gauge site of the Lalbekia River has reached 72.70 metres, 1.55 metres above the danger mark. In addition, Taiyabpur and Dhegraghat gauge sites of Mahananda River are at 66.81 metres and 37.22 metres, respectively, exceeding danger thresholds by 0.81 metres and 1.57 metres. (With PTI inputs) The Mumbai Police has again summoned BookMyShow CEO Ashish Hemrajani amid a probe into alleged black marketing of Coldplay concert tickets. Hemrajani, along with the companys technical head, was earlier summoned on September 27 but failed to appear before the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW). These summons follow a complaint regarding the sale of purportedly fake tickets for the highly anticipated concert in Mumbai. Coldplay Concert The Coldplay concert in January has been clouded by concerns over ticketing scams on BookMyShow, the official ticketing partner for the event. Hemrajani was earlier summoned by Mumbai police after a preliminary inquiry was initiated in the case. BookMyShow has also lodged a police complaint in connection with the alleged sale of fake tickets for concerts on certain platforms. BookMyShow said it is not associated with any ticket-selling or reselling platforms such as Viagogo and Gigsberg or third-party individuals to resell Coldplays Music Of The Spheres World Tour 2025 in India. On Sunday, officials from BookMyShow went to meet Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis after the EOW summoned them in the Coldplay tickets case. However, they were unable to secure an appointment with him. Ticket aggregator The online ticket aggregator further appealed to people to not fall victim to these scams. Any tickets bought from unauthorised sources will be at the risk of the consumer and can turn out to be fake tickets. This row comes as Coldplay is coming back to India after eight years. The bands concerts are scheduled for January 18, 19 and 21, 2025 in Mumbai. The band will have shows at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Monday reprimanded a petitioner for using the informal yeah in the courtroom. Reminding the petitioner of courtroom decorum, the CJI also said he was little allergic to people saying Yeah, a courtroom report with Bar and Bench stated. Dont say yeah, say yes. This is not a coffee shop, this is a court, CJI Chandrachud said. I am a little allergic to people saying yeah, he further said. This came while the court was hearing a case wherein the petitioner sought an in-house enquiry against a judge for not granting him relief. The litigant, a party-in-person, mentioned a petition in which he had added retired Chief Justice of India Justice Ranjan Gogoi as a respondent. He said that the petition was filed in May 2018. Expressing surprise and dismay at the petition, the CJI told the party, How can you file a PIL with the judge as a respondent? There has to be some dignity. You cannot just say I want an in-house inquiry against a judge. Justice Ranjan Gogoi was a former judge of the Supreme Court. He retired as the Chief Justice of India. You cannot say I want an in-house inquiry against a judge because you did not succeed before the bench. Sorry, we cannot tolerate this. The litigant said that Justice Gogoi had wrongfully dismissed his petition, challenging his termination from service, relying on an illegal statement and that there were gross errors of law in the judgment. Right or wrong, there is a final judgment by the Supreme Court. Your review has been dismissed. Now you have to file a curative, but you say you dont want to file a curative, the CJI told him. WHEN CJI CHANDRACHUD ASKED A LAWYER TO LOWER HIS VOICE On September 9, during a hearing of the Kolkata rape and murder case, CJI Chandrachud reprimanded a lawyer for raising his voice during the hearing and asked him to lower his voice. The controversy unfolded when senior advocate Kapil Sibal presented evidence including videos and photographs to the court, alleging that Bagchi, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, had been involved in throwing stones at a protest related to the case. Bagchi responded by questioning the credibility of Sibals claims, leading to a heated exchange. CJI Chandrachud, addressing Bagchi directly, remarked, Can you first lower your pitch? Listen to the Chief Justice, lower your pitch. You are addressing three judges in front of you, not the large audience who is watching these proceedings on the video conferencing platform. Between the 17th and 18th of the current month, explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies took place in various parts of Lebanon, turning commonly used communication devices into tools for murder. The bombings sparked widespread concern. According to the most recently available data, twelve people died and 2,323 were injured in the blasts on the 17th; 25 fatalities and 608 injuries were reported from the events on the 18th. In response to the incidents, former US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee Edward Snowden remarked, "If an Apple phone came with built-in explosives, the media would promptly recognize today's precedent (the pager explosion cases). There is no justification that can exonerate such acts. This is a crime. Security for every person in the world is compromised as a result." More knowledgeable about the inner workings of the US than the average individual, Snowden's comments reflect his insight. Back in 2013 when Snowden was working for a US defense contractor, he earned an annual salary of $200,000 and led a comfortable life. Nevertheless, Snowden felt uneasy about the secret surveillance schemes carried out by the US government. Ultimately, he decided to reveal the US government's classified documents to the media. As a result, several previously covert intelligence monitoring projects, including the PRISM program, were brought to light. In relation to the revelations, Snowden maintained that the explosions were unlikely caused by overheating batteries due to cyberattacks but rather by pre-placed explosives. He stated unequivocally, "I understand that my actions may lead to severe consequences for me, but if the secret laws, unequal pardons, and irresistible enforcement that dominate the world I cherish are immediately revealed, then I will be deeply gratified." Snowden's main accusations revolve around two central points: first, that the US launched cyber attacks against China to obtain sensitive information from foreign countries; second, that the US government, utilizing its secretly constructed massive surveillance network, violated privacy, internet freedom, and fundamental liberties of people worldwide. Please note that the translation has been adapted to ensure grammatical accuracy in English while maintaining the original meaning. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said India would have given a larger bailout package to Pakistan than sought by Islamabad from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had the neighbouring nation maintained friendly relations with New Delhi. Addressing an election rally in Gurez assembly segment of Bandipora district, Singh referred to the prime ministers development package for Jammu and Kashmir announced in 2014-15 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi ji in 2014-15 announced a special package for development of Jammu and Kashmir which has now reached Rs 90,000 crore. The amount is much bigger than what Pakistan was seeking from the IMF (as bailout package), the senior BJP leader said. Singh referred to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayees famous statement that we can change friends but we cannot change the neighbours. I said, my Pakistani friends, why have strained relations, we are neighbours. If we had good relations, we would have given more money than the IMF, he added. Singh said the Centre gives money to Jammu and Kashmir for development while Pakistan has been misusing financial aid for a long time. It seeks money from other countries to run a terrorism factory on its soil, he added. The defence minister said Kashmir will again become a paradise on earth when Vajpayees dream of restoring Insaniyat, Jamhooriyat and Kashmiriyat in the valley is achieved. Singh said Pakistan, which has used terrorism as a tool against India, has been isolated at the international forums with some of its trusted allies also stepping back. Whenever we have investigated terrorism, we have found Pakistani involvement. Our successive governments have tried to make Pakistan understand that they should stop terror camps but to no avail. Pakistan is frustrated after revocation of Article 370 and is making attempts to revive terror. They do not want democracy to take roots here. (But) India is strong enough that it can take on Pakistan on its soil. If anyone in Pakistan carries out an attack on India, we can crossover and respond, he added. Singh said Pakistan has been isolated now. Even Turkey, which used to support Pakistan, has not made mention of Kashmir at the UNGA, he added. The BJP leader said since his partys government came to power at the Centre, peace has returned to Jammu and Kashmir. The business of terrorism is not going to last very long now, he added. Reiterating the promises made in the BJPs election manifesto, Singh said, As the defence minister, I assure you that if (BJP candidate) Faqeer Mohammad Khan wins, more people from Gurez will be recruited in the Indian Army. He said the biggest demand put forth from Gurez is construction of a tunnel through the Razdan pass that will establish all-weather connectivity with the rest of the country. Electricity is supplied round the clock, internet towers have been installed. Roads have become better and they will be further improved, he added. As the defence minister of the country, I assure you that after polls I will bring the concerned minister here to discuss it, he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that India condemns terrorism in all forms and reiterated the need to ensure the safe release of all hostages held in the Gaza Strip. The Prime Minister in a social media post said that he told his Israeli counterpart that prevention of escalation of hostilities in the West Asia region remains crucial while expressing support for efforts for early restoration of peace. Spoke to Prime Minister @netanyahu about recent developments in West Asia. Terrorism has no place in our world. It is crucial to prevent regional escalation and ensure the safe release of all hostages. India is committed to supporting efforts for an early restoration of peace and Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 30, 2024 Tensions are high in West Asia as Israel has, in recent days, been mounting heavy air strikes in Lebanon against the Axis of Resistance, a network of Iran-aligned militant groups in the region, including in Syria, Yemen and Iraq. An Israeli strike in Beirut Friday killed Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah which has been armed and financed by the Islamic Republic for years. Lebanese authorities say the airstrikes have killed hundreds of people and displaced thousands. Hezbollah began low-intensity cross-border strikes on Israeli troops a day after Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel. Spoke to Prime Minister @netanyahu about recent developments in West Asia. Terrorism has no place in our world. It is crucial to prevent regional escalation and ensure the safe release of all hostages. India is committed to supporting efforts for an early restoration of peace and stability, PM Modi tweeted after his phone call with the Israeli counterpart. PM Modi reiterated that terrorism has no place in our world and said hostages held should be released, referring to hostages captured by Palestinian militant group Hamas and Palestinian Jihad roughly a year ago in the October 7 attack that triggered the war in Gaza and resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which includes hostages killed in captivity. PM Modi recently met Palestinian President and Fatahs leader Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of a United Nations event in New York at the request of the Palestinian side. In that meeting, he pledged Indias unwavering support to the people of Palestine and discussed Indias support to Palestine at the United Nations, according to the government readout of the meeting. Out of 251 people taken hostage that day, 97 are still being held inside the Gaza Strip, including 33, who the Israeli military says are dead. The Prime Minister expressed deep concern at the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza and the deteriorating security situation in the region and reaffirmed Indias unwavering support to the people of Palestine, including continued humanitarian assistance. Israels retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 41,534 people in Gaza, the majority of them women and children, according to figures provided by the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. The vast majority of the besieged Gaza Strips 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once by the war. Mr. Modi emphasised that only a two-State solution would deliver peace, as he called for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine, the release of hostages, and a return to diplomacy and dialogue, the readout further said. The engagements come as India tries to position itself as a broker of peace as conflicts across the world grow. India has also offered its support for efforts to restore peace in Ukraine and PM Modi has met the Ukrainian and Russian Presidents on separate occasions, urging them to resolve issues diplomatically instead of trying to solve them on the battlefield. Last week, a story that generated too much buzz was around the quality failure of many commonly used medicines. The trigger was the mention of widely used medications, including popular antacids, fever reducers, antibiotics and high-blood pressure medications in the monthly drug alert issued by the regulatory authority, Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO). News18 was the first to report the story after awaiting responses from the drugmakers mentioned in the alert list issued by CDSCO, which are still accessible on their website. After more than 24 hours, only two pharmaceutical companies shared the requested comments, while the others either ignored or did not acknowledge the email. As the story gained traction and other media outlets began covering it, almost all drugmakers released statements asserting that the drugs in question were counterfeit and that they did not produce them. ALSO READ | Spurious Batches to Blame, Pharma Firms Say, after Top-Selling Drugs Fail Quality Tests at Govt Labs On Sunday morning, the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) a pharma lobby backed by Indias top drug makers, some of whom were mentioned in the alert list issued a press release venting anger over unfair implications over legitimate drugmakers in producing counterfeit drugs. It said that the lobby will collaborate with the government to strengthen regulations against counterfeit products to protect public health and Indias global standing. SNAPSHOT ON THE STORY According to the Not of Standard Quality (NSQ) alert for August, released by the countrys drug regulation watchdog CDSCO, more than 50 drugs have been declared NSQ or substandard. NSQ alerts are the results of random sampling done by state drug officers every month. The list includes names of top-selling drugs manufactured by big pharma companies in India. Here and here are the lists. HOW ARE DRUG ALERTS ISSUED BY CDSCO? Every month, state drug inspectors pick up samples from offline stores across India. These drugs are tested in government laboratories and their results are published on the government website. Before publishing these results, CDSCO also sends these reports to the makers (pharma companies), instructing them to check the product/control samples. In turn, pharma companies check their samples and submit reports to CDSCO or state regulators. Officials from top pharma companies told News18 that they respond to the government within the timeline of 10-12 days with the test reports. However, it does not guarantee that their name will be taken off the alert list. Despite providing all the details of our investigation, our name still appears in defaulters. Eventually, this tarnishes the brands reputation," an official from a top Mumbai-based pharma company said, requesting anonymity. THE BIGGEST CONCERN IS FAKE DRUGS While the story starts with the fact that drugs manufactured by these big, reputable drugmakers are failing quality tests, it turns out to be a different one. The real concern now is, no one knows who manufactured those drugs and they all are fake. Almost all drugmakers who found mention in the drug alert are now claiming (in their official versions) that their investigations have shown the drugs in question are not manufactured by them and so are fake. This means it is the problem of fake or counterfeit" drugs in the Indian market, which is a much bigger issue to resolve. Unfortunately, for us, as ultimate consumers or patients, the problem remains the same we are still taking pills without knowing if they are dummy, lethal or genuine pills. Before writing the column, I spoke to multiple industry insiders working with top pharma companies across India. A senior executive at a pharma company, which manufactures one of the top-selling pain-relieving medicine brands, explained how they helped the regulator spot the racket manufacturing the fake drugs using their popular brand name. Our drug was manufactured with similar branding and packages. They were selling the pack of drugs at just Rs 10 to retailers. This deal was a win-win for both as there was no investment involved in making fake drugs and, in turn, retailers were earning huge profit margins," the officer explained. The company and regulator, in this instance, worked hand-in-hand and were able to catch the makers near the Uttar Pradesh border with not just one brand of medicine, but many other top-selling, but fake brands. Fake or counterfeit is not a new challenge for India. In 2019, the United States warned India of its growing problem of counterfeit or spurious drugs. In its Special 301 Report on intellectual property protection and review of notorious markets for piracy and counterfeiting, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) blamed India for its growing problem of counterfeit medicines. The USTR report said almost 20 per cent of all pharmaceutical goods sold in the Indian market are counterfeit. OTHER REASONS WHY DRUGS FAIL TESTS Industry officials claim that the storing practices followed by state drug inspectors are not always in line with the protocol. They do not test the samples immediately after picking and hence, they are not very sure how these medicines are stored, eventually, impacting the quality of the sample tested. For instance, an inspector picked up a sample from a retailer kept it in his bag and continued to select more samples across stores in that particular location. The drug continues to be in heat or sunlight, which eventually, leads to the deterioration of the sample," said an official working with a Hyderabad-based drugmaker. Also, industry officials claim that the time when the sample is picked and when the sample is tested varies. Sometimes, regulators send information on our drugs, two to three months after picking the samples. In that case, how can we be sure that they kept the samples in the required condition." Another reason that appeared frequently in my conversation with the pharma industry was the formation of local groups buying from third-party manufacturers and selling directly to doctors. There is a growing trend where several retired company officials join hands with each other and buy medicines from third-party manufacturers. These officials start a business on the premise that they know several doctors locally and can sell these medicines directly to them. These firms can secure licences also for selling medicines, but they dont have strong infrastructure that can guarantee safe storage and supply facility of these drugs. Eventually, when a drug fails, its the company that gets all the blame," an industry veteran told News18. WHAT SHOULD THE REGULATOR DO? CDSCO should change its approach, adopting a method more akin to that of the US FDA, rather than simply posting the results on its website. As CDSCO has been working hard on resolving the problem of poor quality drugs manufactured and exported, it should also begin the hunt against the counterfeit market operating inside the Indian market. Also, when CDSCO informs the drugmakers about such NSQ results, they must ask the company to stop sales from the particular batch under question and send the report of their internal analysis. Both CDSCO and drugmakers must do a joint analysis and go back to tracing the supply chain. The regulator must go deep to understand if the drug is manufactured by the company, how the drug has travelled down the market (tracking supply chain) and if it is fake then how it was injected into the market. Also, while releasing the alert, the CDSCO must mention that only this batch" is found to be NSQ and not all batches. One of the very important practices is to ask the company to recall the questionable batch as such batches continue to prevail in the market which makes this entire exercise futile. Also, it is the responsibility of the regulator to educate the public about the possible actions while releasing the alerts and controlling the panic. They must mention advice in the alerts, similar to the US FDA, that the public must reach out to their healthcare providers for clarification or substitutes. POOR QUALITY DRUGS CAN LEAD TO SEVERE COMPLICATIONS: HEALTH EXPERTS More than half a dozen health experts told News18 that finding poor quality drugs in the Indian market is concerning news for doctors and patients both. Eventually, it means that we are popping fake medicines or medicines of compromised quality. Hence, patients will not recover in time and thus have to be on longer therapies or need to take added doses to manage their illnesses. Also, it will make our bodies resistant against pathogens such as bacteria, fungi and viruses leading to antimicrobial resistance which means medicines will stop working when we are ill. Hence, putting us at risk of severe infections and even death. Sample one of the conversations with Dr Anirvan Karmakar, senior consultant, critical care unit, Narayana Hospital, Howrah, who believes that drug quality failures pose a significant threat to treatment outcomes". ALSO READ | Non-genuine And Spurious: Torrent Pharma about Shelcal 500 Batch That Failed CDSCO Quality Test When these drugs fail to meet quality standards, patients may experience ineffective treatment, prolonged illness, or even harmful side effects. Karmakar believes that this is particularly concerning for vulnerable people, such as the elderly, individuals with chronic conditions, and those with compromised immune systems, as they are more dependent on regular and effective medication for maintaining their health. For these patients, even a minor lapse in drug quality can lead to severe complications, setbacks in disease management, and, in some cases, hospitalisations." He highlighted that frequent drug failures erode patient trust in the healthcare system, making it harder for physicians to ensure compliance. Physicians, too, need to remain vigilant and consider alternative treatments when drug quality concerns arise, ensuring that patient safety and effective treatment remain a priority." In short, it is time for the regulatory agency to intensify their oversight and for pharmaceutical companies to uphold stringent manufacturing standards. Anti-Hindu incidents, such as sacking of a teacher for allegedly insulting Islam and radicals asking the community to leave Bangladesh, have become an everyday affair in the neighbouring country, top Indian government sources told CNN-News18, adding that the propaganda was aimed at spreading panic among Hindus. From Dhaka to Chittagong, hatred is being spread by radicals to create panic among Hindus and impress non-State actors as well as Jamaat. We are watching the situation closely and aim to speak to our counterparts soon to stop this. The incidents have seen an increase just before Durga Puja to stop any Hindu events from being celebrated in Bangladesh, they said. The first incident that hogged headlines was when Shrestha Halder, a professor, was fired from her job after falsely accusing her of insulting Islam. Hindus from Bangladesh are being forced to resign from their jobs or dismissed with false cases. Halder had taken to social media to challenge the Islamists 16 demands regarding Durga Puja. Soon, a video started circulating on social media in which a large number of Jamaat-e-Islami radicals were seen threatening Hindus and asking them to go back to India. In the video, the men can be heard saying that Bangladesh was not Gujarat or Delhi where you show Durga Puja weapons and get away. This is Islamic Bangladesh, not India where you kill Muslim brothers and get away with it. Asking Hindus to leave the country as soon as possible, the Maulvis say: Dont force us to come on the streets and protest. This land belongs to Muslims and no one else. CNN-News18 had reported earlier that Hindus are not receiving any support after the new interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, took over in the neighbouring country. Extremist Muslims are trying to forcibly evict Hindu businessmen by threatening them and using foul language, sources had said, referring to an incident in Dhakas beehive market. Bangladeshi Muslims are also demonstrating on the streets of Dhaka, saying they will not allow Durga Puja in areas where the festival is celebrated every year. Earlier, many puja committees received threat letters while a Durga Puja pandal in Kishore Ganj was destroyed. The minority Hindu population faced vandalism of their businesses, properties and destruction of temples during the student-led violence that erupted after the fall of the Hasina-led government. After unprecedented anti-government protests that peaked on August 5, she had resigned as prime minister and fled to India. In August, thousands of Hindus staged protests in Dhaka and the northeastern port city of Chattogram, demanding protection. The Supreme Court will today hear the case involving the rape and murder of the postgraduate trainee at Kolkatas RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. On September 26, the Calcutta High Court directed the state government to file an affidavit responding to the accusations made in a plea related to the case. The court had observed that the allegations of a threat nexus existing in medical colleges are serious if even one or more of these are correct. In their plea, the petitioners had alleged that they have come across multiple reports regarding the existence of threat culture in state government-run medical colleges and hospitals, sale of answer keys for examinations, bribery, corruption, sexual harassment and abuse of medical students and junior doctors. On Sunday, Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma visited RG Kar Medical College and Hospital to assess the security measures. He also interacted with police personnel and toured the hospitals emergency department. The trainee was found raped and murdered in a seminar hall of the hospital on August 9. On August 15, a mob vandalised the hospitals emergency department, a day after the Calcutta High Court ordered the transfer of the rape-murder probe from Kolkata Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The city police are currently investigating the incident. JUNIOR DOCTORS HOLD TORCH RALLIES On Sunday, junior medics from various government hospitals in West Bengal, along with members of the public, participated in torch rallies across Kolkata, demanding justice for the murdered doctor. The rallies were organised at several key locations, including RG Kar Hospital, Sagore Dutta Hospital, SSKM Hospital, Calcutta Medical College, and Jadavpur in south Kolkata. Participants, including doctors and community members, emphasised the need for justice for the victim and heightened safety measures for medical staff in state-run facilities. On September 27, junior doctors had urged the public to hold protests across the state in solidarity ahead of Mondays Supreme Court hearing. Having returned to work after a month-long agitation, the junior doctors on Saturday expressed their intention to consider resuming total cease work in medical colleges, contingent on the state governments assurances regarding their safety during the upcoming court proceedings. The rallies converged at various significant junctions throughout the city, such as Esplanade, Shyambazar, Park Circus, and Gariahat. Organized by the West Bengal Junior Doctors Front, an umbrella group representing medics from various medical college hospitals in the state, the rallies also highlighted the need to end a threat culture in medical colleges, where students reportedly face intimidation. At Sagore Dutta Hospital, junior doctors conducted a torch and candle march in protest of an assault by outsiders following a patients death on Friday night. The doctors also demanded proper security measures. Every year on September 30, International Translation Day is observed to honour the invaluable contributions of translators and language specialists worldwide. This day is dedicated to recognising the achievements of these professionals who promote international communication, understanding, and collaboration. By facilitating dialogue and fostering mutual comprehension, translators play a crucial role in advancing and strengthening global peace and security. The aim of this special day is to inspire translators to continue their remarkable work. According to the United Nations, International Translation Day provides an opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of language specialists in enhancing international understanding, improving communication, and strengthening national collaboration, as well as contributing to global peace and security. The day also aims to raise awareness of languages that are essential for the advancement of our society and the translation profession. International Translation Day 2024: Theme This year, the theme for International Translation Day is Translation, an Art Worth Protecting: Moral and Material Rights for Indigenous Languages. The theme will address pressing ethical issues such as data collection, copyright and the use of translated works. This years event will highlight the real-world challenges faced by our diverse global community in collecting data and translating Indigenous languages, as well as how these challenges are managed while adhering to industry standards. International Translation Day 2024: History and Significance On May 24, 2017, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution that led to the establishment of this day. Eleven countries signed the resolution, recognising the significance of the work carried out by language specialists. Moreover, September 30 was selected as a day to commemorate these experts because it is also the feast day of St. Jerome, who is credited with translating the Bible. He was a priest from northeastern Italy who translated the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament into Latin. Understanding other peoples languages is essential for preserving cultural diversity and fostering international cooperation and collaboration. Without the support of language experts, it would have been exceedingly difficult to overcome language barriers and maintain effective communication. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, the demand for language specialists and translators is only set to rise. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is rarely seen without her daughter, Aaradhya Bachchan these days. Aaradhya not only accompanies her superstar mother to events in India but also overseas, like the Paris Fashion Week and the IIFA Awards 2024. The duo are often seen cheering and hyping each other up in their public appearances. Aishwarya was recently asked how to be a supermom like her. Listen, you are a mother, and you know best. We are all human beings, we are not gonna sit and advise each other or share with each other. There is no notebook or rulebook were all born with. So you do you, and you are incredible with your daughter. Blessings and love, Aishwarya Rai told NDTV at the IIFA Utsavam 2024 green carpet. Aishwarya dismissed the idea of a universal parenting approach. The actress also seemingly dismissed a question directly about her daughter. During her interaction with the media on the green carpet, Aishwarya seemingly cut off a reporter who questioned her about her daughter, Aaradhya. When the reporter began to say, Aaradhya is always with you. Shes already learning from the best, Aishwarya, throwing her hand in the air, interrupted, stating, Woah, she is my daughter. She is always with me. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan made headlines at the IIFA Utsavam 2024 when she won the Best Actress Award (Tamil) for her role in Ponniyin Selvan: II. The event, held at Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, saw the biggest stars from South Indian and Bollywood cinema gather to celebrate the best of Indian cinema. The actress, who has long been a global icon, was presented the award by veteran actor Nandamuri Balakrishna, marking another milestone in her illustrious career. Aaradhya has often been seen accompanying Aishwarya to high-profile events, including the Cannes Film Festival and Paris Fashion Week earlier this year. The duo has a close bond, with Aishwarya frequently bringing Aaradhya along to her professional commitments. Their joint appearances have sparked admiration and curiosity, as Aishwarya continues to balance her career and motherhood effortlessly. Recently, rumours about Aishwaryas relationship with the Bachchan family have been swirling, particularly after she and Aaradhya made a separate appearance at a high-profile wedding, while Amitabh, Jaya and Abhishek arrived together. Fans have speculated that the actresss dynamic with her in-laws might be strained, especially after her absence from family posts during events like Paris Fashion Week. The much-anticipated trailer for Alia Bhatt-starrer Jigra is finally out. On Thursday, September 26, the makers unveiled the trailer, and it has since then received a thunderous response from the masses, making it one of the most talked-about films. Alia and Vedang play siblings in the upcoming movie, and their chemistry is being praised by the audience. The trailer boasts Alia Bhatt performing high-octane action sequences that left ardent fans spellbound. Soon after the trailer was unveiled, it received shoutouts from prominent celebrities, including her RRR co-star Ram Charan and filmmaker SS Rajamouli. The two reacted to Jigras Telugu trailer and heaped praise for her upcoming home-production action-thriller. Responding to the posts, Alia also expressed thanks to Ram Charan and Rajamouli for their support for her upcoming film. Sharing Jigras theatrical trailer on his X handle, Ram Charan penned a sweet note for his RRR co-star. He wrote, The #Jigra trailer looks absolutely amazing taking you on an emotional rollercoaster! Best wishes to Alia and the entire team for a blockbuster release on October 11th!" The #Jigra trailer looks absolutely amazing taking you on an emotional rollercoaster!Best wishes to Alia and the entire team for a blockbuster release on October 11th! Heres the Telugu trailer!https://t.co/a5AabB24uZ#JigraTelugu #KaranJohar @apoorvamehta18 @aliaa08 pic.twitter.com/oXeWCs4U7V Ram Charan (@AlwaysRamCharan) September 29, 2024 Alia Bhatt responded to the tweet and expressed, Your support means a lot!" Your support means a lot ! https://t.co/gEtfzZm7Vb Alia Bhatt (@aliaa08) September 30, 2024 Alia never ceases to amaze us with her top-notch performances. Here she comes again with #JigraIt looks like an intense and emotional ride! Best wishes to her and the entire team for their release on October 11th!" wrote filmmaker SS Rajamouli, lauding Alia and the films trailer. Alia never ceases to amaze us with her top notch performances.. Here she comes again with #Jigra.. https://t.co/9obUiaBZoe It looks like an intense and emotional ride! Best wishes to her and the entire team for their release on October 11th! Here's the Telugu theatrical rajamouli ss (@ssrajamouli) September 29, 2024 Reacting to the director, Alia commented, Thank you for the wishes Sir, extremely grateful for your love and support." Thank you for the wishes sir, extremely grateful for your love and support https://t.co/Z2AM6YeZWg Alia Bhatt (@aliaa08) September 30, 2024 Coming to the Jigra trailer, it starts with Satya Anand (played by Alia Bhatt) receiving a late-night call informing her that her brother, Ankur Anand (played by Vedang Raina), has been detained in a foreign country. Alia Bhatt, who was visibly confused and worried, asked him if hes done anything wrong and if his blood tests will be clean. The scene then shifts to show Ankur in a courtroom, unable to understand the language, as hes taken into custody. Determined to save her brother, Alia sets off on a mission and pledges to break Ankur out of prison after he is sentenced to death. The trailer then shows Alia travelling to the country where her brother is being held, and she begins her fight to get him released. We can watch Alia in action-packed avatars as she performs daring stunts, evades guards and takes extreme measures to save her brother, who is being tortured in jail. Though she faces several roadblocks at every turn, the movie depicts how she refuses to give up. Directed by Vasan Bala, the action thriller also features Rahul Ravindran, Manoj Pahwa and others in key roles. The film is co-produced by Karan Johars Dharma Productions and Alias Eternal Sunshine Productions. Mark your calendars! The film is all set to hit the theatres on October 11. It will be clashing with Rajkummar Rao and Triptii Dimris Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video. Actor Fardeen Khan is currently abroad shooting his upcoming comedy film Housefull 5. On Monday, the 50-year-old actor takes Instagram to share updates about his life with his fans. raised the temperature by posting a picture of himself flaunting his ripped physique.In the picture, the actor stands against a scenic view of the ocean while leaning against a beam and gazing into the vast expanse of water. Fardeen goes shirtless for the picture, showcasing his transformation into a perfectly toned body. Sharing the picture, he wrote, Somewhere between France and the UK with Nina Simone for company. Many of his industry friends and fans flooded the comments section with their reactions. Riteish Deshmukh wrote, So proud of you, my brother! You truly are an inspirationwhat you have achieved is simply astounding! A week ago, Fardeen shared another post on his Instagram, showcasing his great physique and chiselled jawline. The pictures were taken on the cruise ship where Housefull 5 is being filmed. His post opened with a photo of him engrossed in his phone. The next picture was a selfie of the actor, looking handsome in a black jacket and stylish sunglasses. Posting the snaps, Fardeen wrote, Ocean breeze, sunshine vibes, and the world at my fingertips. #fardeenkhan #housefull5. After his 2010 movie Dulha Mil Gaya, Fardeen Khan took a hiatus from Bollywood. He made a comeback with Sanjay Leela Bhansalis magnum opus Heeramandi in which he portrayed Wali Mohammed. His character received praise and love from the audience. In an interview with news agency PTI, Fardeen opened up about the daunting decision to start a second innings in the industry. He said, It was very daunting making that decision to come back. So much had changed that I had inherent fears and apprehensions. But what kept me going and gave me encouragement was the warmth and love that I received. People who like my work, my audiences, my fans, theyve been consistent with that over the years. Fardeen Khan was last seen in the multi-starrer Khel Khel Mein. Meanwhile, Housefull 5 is scheduled to release in June 2025. Months after Han So Hee and Ryu Jun Yeol parted ways following an intense dating drama, the Gyeongseong Creature star once again found herself amid questions about her tumultuous romance. During a recent press conference, Han So Hee was asked about her relationship with Ryu Jun Yeol, which also involved Hyeri. Choosing to maintain silence on it, the actress gracefully brushed off the questions, stating that her professional and personal matters should not be mixed. It was during the press conference of Gyeongseong Creature Season 2 that the entire cast interacted with the media directly. As she was asked about her relationship with Ryu Jun Yeol being transit love, Han So Hee cleared the speculations with a straightforward response. I dont think my personal affairs should interfere with my public ones. I hope you will enjoy and have fun watching Season 2, she said. While this marks the first time that the actress has spoken on the topic in front of the media, Ryu previously addressed the controversy during the press conference for The 8 Show. I felt it was best to remain silent and endure the criticism rather than attempting to correct the misinformation about my personal life spread on social media, he said in May this year. Han So Hee-Ryu Jun Yeol Dating Scandal According to the Korean media, Ryu Jun Yeol and Lee Hyeri were in an 8-year-long relationship after growing close on the show, Reply 1988. Fans adored the duo, even dubbing them the power couple. However, their sudden breakup news left fans heartbroken. Things only got worse after a leaked picture showed Ryu Jun Yeol with Han So Hee in Hawaii, with many suggesting that their alleged dating timeline coincided with his breakup with Hyeri. Despite denying all the claims made by fans online, Han So Hee was soon seen getting into an Instagram feud with Hyeri, with both actresses taking jabs at each other. Later, while Han So Hee and Ryu Jun Yeol confirmed dating each other, their love was short-lived, even causing some long-lasting career fallouts for the actress. Presently, on the work front, Han So Hee is back with the second season of Netflixs Gyeongseong Creature alongside Park Seo Joon. The producers of Kangana Ranauts film, Emergency, have agreed to make the changes suggested by the Revising Committee. The makers had approached the Bombay High Court with regard to the certification of the film. In a hearing on Monday, Production company Zee Studios lawyer told Bombay HC that they have agreed to the suggested changes by the Revising Committee. They have submitted a format for the implementation of the changes suggested by the CBFC. CBFC will respond to this format and the next hearing on the matter is kept on Thursday, October 3. Emergency was origianlly set to release last month. However, it has been delayed due to non-certification. Last week, Kangana expressed her disappointment over the delayed release. She took to X and deemed CBFCs decision to withhold Emergency certificate illegal. She also reacted to Bombay High Courts order on the delay in clearance of her upcoming film Emergency by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). She shared a post by Live Law and wrote, High court has blasted censor for illegally withholding the certificate of #emergency. Speaking with IANS, Kangana said, Its getting too late. I hope the film comes on time. Otherwise, I am determined to fight for it. I am determined to even go to court to protect my film. To save my right as an individual. You cant change history and scare us by threats. We have to show the history. An almost 70-year-old woman was shot 30-35 times in her house Someone must have killed her. Now you want to show it Because apparently, you think you can hurt someone. But you have to show the history. So how did she die? the actress added. Meanwhile, several people have expressed their concerns about the films release. Earlier this month, Sikh organisations objected to its release. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and the Akhal Takht have also demanded an immediate ban on the film, claiming it tries to character assassinate Sikhs by creating a narrative against them. About Emergency: In the trailer released in August, viewers learnt that Emergency will focus on the Emergency period in the 1980s in India. Kangana, who is starring and directing the film, will be seen playing the role of Indira Gandhi. The film also stars Anupam Kher, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry and Shreyas Talpade among others. While Shreyas Talpade will be seen playing the role of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Anupam Kher will be seen as Jayaprakash Narayan. Late actor Satish Kaushik will also be seen as Former Deputy Prime Minister of India, Jagjivan Ram. Following the release of the Justice Hema Committee report, it has ignited a wave of controversies amid calls for justice within the Malayalam film industry. With the report revealing rampant sexual misconduct, it has drawn a slurry of reactions from many. The Hema Committee controversy even made its way to the IIFA Utsavam green carpet, leaving Malayalam actor Shine Tom Chacko irked. Tom Chacko, who attended the event for a Telugu film, expressed dissatisfaction upon being asked inappropriate questions. Shine Tom Chacko shines at IIFA 2024 awards with best villian award for #Dasara @NameisNani #IIFA2024 @SLVCinemasOffl #Nani pic.twitter.com/cUrgrf5ghe P A V A N (@NameisPavan_) September 27, 2024 As the media asked him for a few remarks about the ongoing turmoil in the Malayalam industry, the actor began by joking about the timeline of events surrounding the controversy and the IIFA. You must ask these to Mrs Hema. Why are you asking that? It is not important here, why are you asking it? Did you come here to learn about the Hema Committee? That is not your right to ask about it, and I am not here to talk about it. Its not the right occasion, he said before walking away from the media. The actor received the Best Villain Award at IIFA 2024 for his performance in Dasara. While he refrained from making any comments at the IIFA event, he has always remained vocal about the issue. Previously, he spoke to the media and asserted that the notion of artists using drugs is not new. I paid attention to the details in the Hema Committee report. Weve always heard that artists are wild and reckless. Is it really new for artists to do these things? Does a person have a market or business? If so, people are interested in them. If not, theres no reason to follow them. After all, this is a business sector, isnt it? he was quoted by Onmanorama as saying. Pointing out that sexual harassment is less prevalent in the film industry compared to other fields, he also stressed the importance of the victims who took the first step against such activities. Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, known for his fearless approach to cinema and outspoken personality, recently opened up about his long-standing friendship with Manoj Bajpayee and their struggles in the early days. In a candid interview with Mukesh Chhabra for Mashable India, Sinha reflected on the challenges that aspiring actors face, citing Bajpayees story as a testament to persistence and passion. Anubhav didnt shy away from addressing the difficulties of breaking into the film industry. Actors are in need of that one opportunity to showcase their talent. But are you preparing yourself for it? he asked. He emphasised that education in the school of life is vital for actors. If you havent read poems, know your history, or understand the politics around you, you cant call yourself a good actor, he added. For Sinha, honing ones craft is essential. Actors spend 85-90 percent of their time searching for an opportunity. Make that 15-20 percent, and instead, spend the rest on improving your craft. Anubhav fondly spoke about actors like Kumud Mishra and Manoj Pahwa, who have become indispensable in his projects. But his bond with Manoj Bajpayee, a name they havent yet collaborated with, was a particular highlight of the conversation. Sinha reminisced about their early days of struggle, when they had very little to survive on. Ive known him since 1989, from the time we had atta for just two rotis, and we used to share one each. Their journey from those difficult days to now being acclaimed names in the industry has only deepened their mutual admiration. Bajpayee recently called Anubhav after watching his Netflix series IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack, expressing immense pride and joy. He called me at night to share his happiness, and then called again the next morning to say it all over again, Sinha revealed. Despite their decades-long friendship, the two have never worked together. He doesnt do my films. I know his logic, and I appreciate it, Sinha admitted. He even offered Bajpayee a role in Bheed, but it didnt materialise. Still, Anubhav continues to be in awe of his friends talent. When I see any good work he does, I feel proud that I know him. Hes the kind of actor youd want in every film, he said. Mithun Chakraborty reacted to being honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. The actor is being honoured for his contributions to Indian cinema over the years. Speaking with ANI, the actor-politican said, I dont have words. Neither I can laugh nor cry. This is such a big thing I could not have imagined this. I am extremely happy. I dedicate this to my family and my fans across the world. #WATCH | Kolkata: On being announced to be conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke award, Actor and BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty says I dont have words. Neither I can laugh nor cry. This is such a big thing I could not have imagined this. I am extremely happy. I dedicate this pic.twitter.com/tZCtwLSyxV ANI (@ANI) September 30, 2024 Union minister for railways, information and broadcasting, electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that Mithun will be honoured with the prestigious award in October. Taking to X, he said, Mithun Das remarkable cinematic journey inspires generations! Honoured to announce that the Dadasaheb Phalke Selection Jury has decided to award legendary actor, Sh. Mithun Chakraborty Ji for his iconic contribution to Indian Cinema. Mithun Das remarkable cinematic journey inspires generations! Honoured to announce that the Dadasaheb Phalke Selection Jury has decided to award legendary actor, Sh. Mithun Chakraborty Ji for his iconic contribution to Indian Cinema. To be presented at the 70th National Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) September 30, 2024 The news of Mithun Chakraborty winning the Dadasaheb Phalke Award comes just months after he was honoured with the Padma Bhushan. The ceremony took place in April and the actor was seen accepting the honour from President Droupadi Murmu. Mithun Chakraborty made his acting debut in 1977 and became one of the few actors who won a National Award with the debut film. The actor embarked on his acting journey with Mrigayaa and became a rage after his 1982 film Disco Dancer released. The film did phenomenal business across Asia, the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa. Mithun Chakraborty will be honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award this year. The actor, who has been in the film industry for almost five decades now, will be presented the award for his contributions to the film indsutry. While fans are celebrating his win, Mithun once confessed that he was ready to give up on everything, including life. In a chat in 2022, Mithun admitted he contemplating ending his life. But he decided he will not go without a fight. I generally dont talk much about this, and also theres no particular phase I want to mention. Lets not talk about those struggling days since it might demotivate aspiring artists. Everyone goes through struggles, but mine was so much. Sometimes I used to think I wont be able to achieve my goals, I even thought of committing suicide, Mithun told ETimes in an interview. I couldnt even return to Kolkata due to some reasons. But my advice is never to think of ending your life without fighting. I am a born fighter and I didnt know how to lose. And, see where I am now, he added. About Mithun Chakrabortys Dadasaheb Phalke Win: Earlier in the day, Mithun Chakraborty spoke with ANI and shared his thoughts on winning the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. I dont have words. Neither I can laugh nor cry. This is such a big thing I could not have imagined this. I am extremely happy. I dedicate this to my family and my fans across the world, Mithun said. PM Narendra Modis Reaction to Mithun Chakrabortys Win: Taking to X, PM Modi reposted the announcement by Union minister for railways, information and broadcasting, electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw, along with his best wishes for Mithun. Delighted that Shri Mithun Chakraborty Ji has been conferred the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award, recognizing his unparalleled contributions to Indian cinema. He is a cultural icon, admired across generations for his versatile performances. Congratulations and best wishes to him, the Prime Minister posted. Mukesh Khanna is best known for playing Shaktimaan on Indian television. When it was reported that the show was being made into a film, headlined by Ranveer Singh, Mukesh expressed his disapproval of the casting. Even after Ranveer personally tried to convince the actor, Mukesh didnt budge. He recently revealed that his aversion towards Ranveer began after the actors nude photoshoot. Speaking to Bollywood Thikana, Mukesh said, Now people know that Ranveer Singh came to convince me to allow him to reprise the role of Shaktiman. I cant hide it also because later people said that I lauded Ranveer and called him a terrific actor. News of Ranveer being confirmed to play Shaktiman started coming but I hadnt agreed to it. He added, I also have a conflict with Sony and I had put up a video clarifying that I havent approved Ranveer to play the role and the reason is thatRanveer sat in front of me that day for 3 hours but ultimately I had to tell him that what needed to be seen on his face wasnt there. He looks playful, like someone who would trick others. Mukesh Khanna mentioned that his aversion towards Ranveer started when the actor posed nude for a photoshoot. Mukesh slammed both Ranveer and his actress wife Deepika Padukone. He said, That photo shoot was the start of my aversion towards him. However, Ranveer told me he didnt actually do it. He said he was wearing underwear and had fired his promotional team. He added, I believed him, but later when I looked back, I remembered his statement to the media, where he said he was comfortable with it. I recall giving a statement, You may be comfortable, but we arent. His wife was also comfortable, according to a statement they gave to the media. She also didnt object. Every wife would object. Dont be so advanced. Ranveer Singh posed nude for Paper Magazine back in 2022. In one of the images, the actor was captured lying naked on a carpet. His pose resembled that of a photoshoot done by the famous 1970s American actor Burt Reynolds. The Mumbai Police booked Ranveer under Indian Penal Code Section 292, 293, 509, and the IT Act. He was charged with hurting the sentiments of women. Namashi Chakraborty, son of the legendary Mithun Chakraborty, recently shared his heartfelt pride and admiration for his father, who has been honored with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award. The announcement was made on the morning of September 30, celebrating Mithuns exceptional contribution to Indian cinema. In an interview with IndiaToday.in, Namashi highlighted his fathers journey as a self-made superstar, emphasizing the magnitude of the honor. He expressed, Feeling extremely proud and honoured. My father is a self-made superstar and a great citizen. His life journey is an inspiration for millions. We are all feeling elated about this magnificent honour. Earlier in the day, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw shared the news on the social media platform X, praising Mithuns enduring legacy. Mithun Das remarkable cinematic journey inspires generations. Honoured to announce that the Dadasaheb Phalke Selection Jury has decided to award legendary actor, Sh. Mithun Chakraborty Ji for his iconic contribution to Indian Cinema. To be presented at the 70th National Film Awards ceremony on Oct 8, 2024, he posted. Mithun Chakraborty himself spoke to ANI about the recognition, expressing his overwhelming joy. I dont have words. Neither I can laugh nor cry. This is such a big thing I could not have imagined this. I am extremely happy. I dedicate this to my family and my fans across the world, the veteran actor shared emotionally. Fondly known as Mithun Da, the legendary actor became a beloved figure in Indian cinema during the 1980s and 1990s. With iconic performances in films like Disco Dancer, Prem Pratigyaa, and Agneepath, Mithun established himself as a versatile actor and a trailblazer, especially with his role as Indias first Disco Dancer. Today, at 74, he continues to contribute to the industry, frequently appearing as a judge on various dance reality shows. Mithun Chakrabortys illustrious career has been marked by numerous accolades, including three National Film Awards and several Bollywood honors. Earlier this year, in January 2024, the Government of India also recognized his contributions by bestowing him with the Padma Bhushan, the countrys third-highest civilian award. This Dadasaheb Phalke Award solidifies Mithun Chakrabortys place as one of the greatest figures in Indian cinema, and his legacy will continue to inspire generations to come. Superstar Rajinikanths recent hospitalisation has sparked concern among fans, but his wife, Latha Rajinikanth, has eased their worries with a reassuring message. The actor was admitted to Apollo Hospital in Chennai on Monday night after experiencing stomach pain. A source from the hospital confirmed that Rajinikanth will undergo an elective procedure under the care of interventional cardiologist Dr. Sai Satish in the cardiac cath lab on Tuesday. When contacted by CNN-News18 for an update on Rajinikanths health, Latha stated, All is well, offering a comforting sigh of relief to his die-hard fans. Social media has been flooded with well-wishes, with fans expressing their hopes for his speedy recovery. One user tweeted, Get well soon, Thalaiva, while another added, Wishing Rajinikanth a speedy recovery. His strength and resilience will carry him through this too. Our thoughts and prayers are with him. Rajinikanth, widely regarded as a cinematic legend, was last seen in the action-packed blockbuster Jailer, which has been celebrated as one of the biggest Tamil films of all time. The film also received the prestigious Best Picture award at the IIFA Utsavam 2024, solidifying Rajinikanths status as a titan in the industry. Before his hospitalisation, Rajinikanth made headlines at the audio launch of his upcoming film Vettaiyan. His appearance was nothing short of spectacular, as he showcased his iconic dance moves, captivating the audience. Directed by TJ Gnanavel, Vettaiyan is set to release on October 10 and has already generated significant buzz following the release of its official preview. This film will mark Rajinikanths 170th cinematic outing, produced by Lyca Productions, with an impressive budget of Rs 160 crore. Filming took place in several stunning locations across India, including Chennai, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram, and Hyderabad, further adding to the excitement surrounding its release. Actor Siddhant Chaturvedi hosted IIFA Rocks 2024 alongside Stree 2s Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday night at Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. The star-studded affair featured several memorable moments, one of which has gone viral. In a video from last night, the co-hosts were seen grooving with the audience, delighting their fans. In the video, Siddhant and Abhishek were shaking legs on Dil Dhadakne Dos song Gallan Goodiyaan. The duo even met with their fans and clicked pictures while dancing to the song. For the event, Siddhant wore a white tuxedo paired with a white shirt and black pants. On the other hand, Abhishek wore a black formal suit. Meanwhile, another moment from IIFA Rocks 2024 has been garnering the attention of the people on the internet, where Siddhant recreates Shah Rukh Khans iconic open arms pose. In a picture shared by the official page of IIFA on their Instagram Stories, the Gehraiyaan actor can be seen standing on the stage with his arms open against SRKs most memorable still from his iconic film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards kicked off its celebrations on September 27 with IIFA Utsavam, followed by IIFA Awards, and the last event of the three-day soiree was IIFA Rocks. In a video shared on the official page of IIFA, Siddhant talked about being an IIFA virgin and shared his excitement about his first hosting duties. He said, This is someones third or fourth time. I am a virgin, an IIFA virgin. This is my first time, and I realised that it was such an honour to be on the same stage with Shahid, with Vicky, with Abhishek, with Kriti, with Ananya, and all of you guys. Ive been a huge fan. Its such an honour that, thanks to IIFA, this is happening. This is actually happening. We are all coming together on one stage as an Indian cinema. Representing! Im very, very excited. In a conversation with Instant Bollywood, the Gully Boy actor opened up about his nervousness on sharing the stage with Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar. Uska excitement se zada nervousness hai. Because Shah Rukh sir aur Karan sir to kamaal ke dono host hai. Bahut natural hai on stage. So, I hope ki mai vo bar at least wahan tak thoda nibhaa paun (I am more nervous than excited because Shah Rukh sir and Karan sir are both amazing hosts. They are very natural on stage. So, I hope I can at least live up to that standard a little), he said. Despite being nervous, he mentioned that he was going to have fun. Siddhant Chaturvedi was most recently seen in Yudhra, co-starring Raghav Juyal and Malavika Mohanan. He will be next seen in Dhadak 2, opposite Triptii Dimri. In recent days, following the introduction of the Waqf Board Amendment Bill in Parliament on 8 August 2024, there has been considerable debate regarding the necessity of this amendment. The majority of discussions have concentrated on further amending the Act rather than considering its repeal. While state oversight of religious institutions, regardless of faith, is generally viewed as unfavourable, the establishment of a statutory body endowed with extensive powers that supersede state authority is inherently undemocratic. Consequently, this article will address not only the justification for the Waqf Amendment Bill but also advocate for the complete repeal of the Waqf Board Act, proposing its replacement with a more democratic alternative. I will commence by examining the recent issue of land encroachment by the Waqf Board in Munambam, located in the Ernakulam district of Kerala. A committee comprising 31 members has been constituted to review the Waqf Amendment Bill 2024. This committee includes 21 representatives from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha. On 28 August 2024, the Joint Committee of Parliament (JPC) on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, sought input and recommendations from the public, non-governmental organisations, experts, stakeholders, and various institutions. The challenges faced by the residents of Munambam were highlighted in two letters addressed to the Committee by the Public Affairs Commission of the Syro-Malabar Archiepiscopal Church and the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council. In these letters, the Church earnestly urged the Government of India to consider the enactment of the new Waqf Board Amendment Bill in light of the difficulties experienced by families in Munambam. The origins of the Munambam issue can be traced back to the British colonial period. Following the decline of Muziris, Cochin (now Kochi) emerged as the principal trading centre in Kerala, benefiting from its advantageous geographical position, which facilitated trade. The vibrant commerce between Cochin and the Western world was further bolstered by the significant presence of Jewish and Gujarati merchants in the area. In 1902, the ruler of Travancore allocated 404 acres of land and 60 acres of waterbody to Abdul Sathar Musa Haji Seth, a merchant who had relocated to Cochin from Gujarat, solely for agricultural development. After India gained independence and Travancore-Cochin became part of the Indian Union, Musa Haji Seths successor, Sidhique Seth, registered this land under document number 875/1923 at the Sub-Registrars Office in Edappally. The land registered to Sidhique Seth included areas traditionally used by the local fishing community. However, on 1 November 1950, this land was transferred to the Management Committee of Farooq College, located in Calicut, Kerala. The title deed explicitly stated that the land was to be used solely for educational purposes, with a provision that it would revert to Sidhique Seths family if this condition was not met. Notably, the term Waqf was included in the deed transfer agreement, referring to the permanent dedication of property for purposes recognised by Islamic law as pious, religious, or charitable. This inclusion led to ongoing legal disputes between the management of Farooq College and the local residents. In 1987, following protracted legal disputes, an agreement was reached between the management of Farooq College and local residents, resulting in the official sale of land to the residents for a substantial sum of Rs 250/- per cent, which was considered exorbitant at the time. Between 1989 and 1993, the Farooq College Management executed and registered over 280 title deeds in favour of the local populace. For more than twenty years, the region experienced no significant issues. However, in 2022, a resident attempting to pay land tax at the village office was denied the opportunity, as the land in question had been designated as Waqf by the Waqf Board. This incident marked the beginning of a series of grievances against the Waqf Board, culminating in widespread protests and more than five pending cases before the Honourable Court. The undemocratic principle of Once a Waqf, always a Waqf has contributed to the current crisis. This situation is not isolated to Munambam; nationwide, the Waqf Board has asserted claims over numerous properties, positioning itself as the third-largest property owner in the country. The introduction of the bill to amend the Waqf Board Act by the Central government marks a commendable advancement. The proposed modifications, particularly concerning the establishment of waqfs, are highly encouraging. According to the bill, only individuals who have practised Islam for at least five years are eligible to declare a waqf, and the individual must possess the property being declared. The provision allowing waqf by user has been removed. Additionally, it stipulates that waqf-alal-aulad must not infringe upon the inheritance rights of the donors heirs, including female heirs. This is a significant step forward, ensuring that women are not marginalised. Numerous cases have arisen where government properties were claimed by the Waqf Board, often leading to legal disputes. The bill clarifies that any government property previously identified as waqf will no longer hold that status. In cases of ambiguity regarding ownership, the area collector will determine and report to the state government. The original act limited court intervention in Waqf Board claims; however, the amended bill removes this restriction. Moreover, the bill abolishes the provisions granting finality to the decisions of the Waqf Tribunal, now permitting appeals to the high court within 90 days. This particular clause, if enacted, could bring significant relief to property owners who currently find themselves vulnerable to Waqf Board claims across India. Not only does this clause enhance the democratic nature of the bill, but it also aligns Islamic regulations with the framework of our constitution. The residents of Munambam can expect relief once this amendment is implemented. The mandatory online filing of deeds under Waqf, as outlined in the amendment, is expected to enhance transparency in the process. It is crucial that the rule of law is applied uniformly across the country, ensuring that all citizens have equal rights under it. What has occurred in Munambam cannot be viewed as an isolated incident. There may be lakhs of families across the country who are subjected to this act and find themselves fighting legal battles against Waqf boards. The Government of India must take immediate steps to verify and digitise all Waqf records to prevent future litigations and illegal claims by the Waqf Board, similar to those seen in Munambam. In a democratic country, there is no place for statutory religious boards. It is high time that the Waqf Act is repealed, and a more equitable legislation introduced to ensure justice for all. Adarsh Kuniyillam is a Parliamentary and Policy Analyst and has the experience of working under various Members of Parliament. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. Canada, with its multicultural ethos, quality education, post-education employment opportunities and inviting immigration policies, was a huge hit with international students, especially the Indians. But, not anymore given the resurgence of Khalistani extremism, intertwined with anti-India and anti-Hindu rhetoric that raised concerns for the Indian diaspora. The situation deteriorated further owing to perceived leniency and, at times, tacit encouragement from the Justin Trudeau-led Canadian government. Reports of hate crimes, targeted attacks on people and Hindu places of worship, vandalism, violence against Indians and racial prejudice have raised concerns and forced Indian students to reconsider their plans to study in Canada. As per the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, 633 Indian students have died abroad in the past five years due to various causes including violent attacks and accidents. Canada with 172 deaths topped the list. This large death toll was primarily due to attacks. These developments have raised concerns about a potential crisis in Canadian colleges and universities as international students, especially Indians, who once flocked to the country in large numbers, now seem to be staying away. Besides safety concerns, there are issues like steep increases in tuition fees and living expenses that forced many prospective students to rethink their decision to study in Canada. Indian students who go to Canada for post-secondary education contribute around CAD 20 billion annually to that countrys economy, according to data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. This estimate is based on the total number of students studying in Canada, their average college fees and living expenditure. As shown in the above graph, the majority of international students in Canada are from India. Not only do they contribute nearly twice as much to the college system financially compared to domestic Canadian students, but their overall contributions also exceed those of the Ontario government. Cultural Diversity The influx of students from various countries enriches the cultural fabric of Canadian campuses and society. This diversity promotes cross-cultural understanding and prepares students for a globalised workforce. But, anti-India and anti-Hindu activities propagated by Khalistani extremists through social media campaigns and public demonstrations have created a sense of insecurity among Indian students, reflecting growing tension within the multicultural fabric of Canadian society. Indian students form one of the largest chunks of the international student population in Canada. They contribute significantly to the countrys cultural diversity. Their acceptance and integration into Canadian society have not only enriched the multicultural landscape but had a profound impact on various aspects of Canadian life including education, community cohesion and cultural exchanges. Acceptance of cultural diversity by Indian students in Canada has significantly shaped the countrys societal discourse. Through their active participation in cultural, academic, and social spheres, they have contributed to a more vibrant, inclusive, and dynamic Canadian society. The impact of their presence underscores the importance of cultural diversity in fostering mutual understanding, innovation and social cohesion. Celebration of Indian Festivals Indian students have introduced and popularised their festivals such as Diwali, Holi and Navratras across Canadian campuses and communities. These celebrations, often organised by Indian student associations, have seen participation from students of diverse backgrounds, fostering cross-cultural understanding and inclusivity. For instance, Diwali events at universities like the University of Toronto and McGill have become major multicultural gatherings, promoting unity and shared experiences among students from different cultures. Contribution to Academics and Services Indian students have contributed to the academic and professional landscape in Canada particularly in STEM fields. Their involvement in research, innovation and entrepreneurship has led to collaborations between Canadian and Indian institutions, promoting cultural exchange and knowledge transfer. The success stories of Indian-origin entrepreneurs and professionals in Canada in areas like the tech industry in Toronto or the healthcare sector in Vancouver reflect the positive impact of cultural diversity on economic growth and innovation. Advocacy and Social Impact Indian students have played an active role in advocacy for multiculturalism and anti-racism initiatives. In response to incidents of racial discrimination, Indian student groups have collaborated with local organisations to promote awareness and foster a more inclusive society. Skilled Workforce Indian students often pursue studies in fields like technology, engineering, healthcare and business that are in high demand in Canada. While studying in Canada, Indian students pay tuition fees, accommodation costs, and other living expenses, contributing significantly to the local economy. Upon graduation, many students from diverse cultural and educational backgrounds enrich the Canadian workforce with unique perspectives and approaches. By gaining specialised knowledge and skills, they not only help to address labour shortages and support sectors critical to the Canadian economy but also contribute through income taxes and other forms of financial support. This diversity fosters innovation and helps Canadian businesses better understand and cater to global markets. Reasons for Decline Safety has become a growing concern for international students, particularly Indians in Canada. Reports of inadequate safety measures on campus & off-campus including insufficient security personnel and emergency response protocols exacerbate concerns. Incidents of violence and crime, particularly in areas with high concentrations of international students, have raised alarm. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs reported about 19 Indian students who were killed overseas during the last five years (2019 to 2024) in attacks with Canada seeing the highest number at nine followed by six in the US. In addition, reports of theft, assault, racial discrimination, hate crimes and vandalism targeting Hindu temples and businesses have increased (due to Khalistani and Islamist threats), reflecting the growing tension within the multicultural fabric of Canadian society. There is a discernible rise in racial discrimination and xenophobic sentiments in Canada creating an unwelcoming environment for international students, particularly those from India, who face verbal and physical harassment. Besides safety & targeted attacks, another negating factor for Indian students is the rise in the cost of tuition. Unlike domestic students, who benefit from subsidised education, international students often face exorbitant fees. According to Statistics Canada, the average tuition fee for international undergraduate students in the 2023/2024 academic year was around CAD 33,623 per year, a stark contrast to the approximately CAD 6,000 for domestic students. Graduate programmes also see a stark difference with international students often paying double or triple the amount paid by their Canadian counterparts. The high cost of living in major Canadian cities such as Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal adds another layer of financial strain for international students. Expenses for housing, food, transportation, other daily expenses and health insurance adding to the overall cost, are significantly higher than in other countries, impacting students overall quality of life. Canadas two-year cap on international student permits, announced as a response to housing shortages and labour market strains, is a politically motivated move that will have detrimental long-term effects on the country. Indian students, who make up nearly 40% of the international student population, are integral to Canadas economy. In 2022, international students contributed over CAD 22 billion, with universities like the University of Toronto relying heavily on this revenuealmost 30% of its student body comprises international students. The cap, expected to result in a 35% reduction in study permits in 2024, will hurt not only universities financially but also local economies that benefit from student spending on housing, food, and services. Moreover, this move contradicts Canadas long-standing strategy of using international students as a talent pipeline. In 2021, over 96,000 former international students became permanent residents, filling key gaps in sectors like healthcare and IT. With the cap, Canada risks losing out on this critical pool of skilled labour to competing nations like Australia and the UK, which have more open immigration pathways. Politically, while the cap might momentarily appease domestic concerns, it risks stifling Canadas economic growth and undermining its reputation as a global education hub. Under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Canadian governments handling of Khalistani extremism has emboldened fanatic elements in the country. This leniency is often attributed to the political landscape in Canada where the Sikh community holds considerable influence, especially in key electoral districts. Trudeaus participation in events organised by Khalistani sympathisers and his refusal to unequivocally condemn their activities has fueled accusations of pandering for political gains. Growing gun violence in Canadas main cities particularly Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, and Montreal is a cause of concern. A study by the Drugs, Alcohol and Violence International (DAVI) in Toronto and Montreal demonstrates significant connections between drugs, weapons and gangs. Based on interviews with 904 male students (grades 912), school dropouts and juvenile offenders, the following are the findings: There is a link between the availability of firearms and drugs in schools and the prevalence of gangs; 18.7 per cent of males in Montreal between ages 14 17 and 15.1 per cent in Toronto have taken guns to school; School dropouts who engage in drug sales are more likely to be involved in gun-related violence. The percentage of indigenous victims continues to be disproportionately high, six times higher than that of non-Indigenous victims nationwide. According to Statistics Canada, it has to do with the continued effects of Indigenous peoples colonisation. Banned terrorist organisation, Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) supports some of the gang members obfuscating the distinction between organised crime and separatist groups. Just days after Trudeaus announcement, another gangster and pro-Khalistan supporter Sukha Duneke was killed in Winnipeg, Canada. Canada has earned an ignominious reputation as a safe haven for terrorists, for extremists and for organised crime. In 1982, the extradition request of Talwinder Singh Parmar, founder of the BKI and mastermind behind the Air India bombing was reportedly refused by the father of Justin Trudeau, Pierre Trudeau. This leads to the question of whether the Canadian government failed to take these signs more seriously and if they could have done more to provide security to prevent harassment, intimidation and possibly the murder of Canadian citizens with migrant backgrounds. A targeted killing is a clear violation of the right to life. The statements of Trudeau and opposition leaders have not helped shape the discourse against terrorism. Crisis in Canadian colleges, characterised by safety issues, Khalistani extremism and other significant challenges has compelled Indian students to reconsider their options. Addressing these issues requires a concerted effort from educational institutions, government bodies and community organisations to create a more inclusive, supportive, and affordable environment. Only through such efforts can Canada reclaim its position as a top destination for global education. Canada is turning into a hub for terrorism & extremism. Canadian governments open support to extremist elements under the garb of freedom of speech tarnished the perception that Canada is a secure place to live in and prosper. Canadas reputation as a safe and friendly destination is in jeopardy due to a surge in hate crimes and violent attacks on Indians. By addressing underlying causes of racism and intolerance and adopting proactive steps to combat hate crimes, Canada can show its dedication to diversity and ensure a safe and respected environment for all its citizens including Indian students. The situation calls for a balanced approach from the Canadian government that respects freedom of expression and association while addressing the concerns of extremism and hate speech. It is imperative for the Trudeau administration to engage with all stakeholders including the Indian government to find a solution that ensures the safety and security of all communities and uphold principles of mutual respect and cooperation in international relations. The author is operations head at Centre for Integrated and Holistic Studies, a New Delhi-based non-partisan think tank. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. In 1847, the British East India Company hired a philologist, Max Mueller, to translate the Vedas specifically to make the Hindu intelligentsia dismiss them as barbaric, backward and fanciful. The hope was that the changed attitude of some influential groups will soon spread throughout Indian society, liberating it from its perceived paganism. Mueller was not a missionary but seemed to have a religious zeal. We realise this intent in his letters. He wrote to his wife: I feel convinced, though I shall not live to see it, that this edition of mine and the translation of the Veda will hereafter tell to a great extent on the fate of India, and on the growth of millions of souls in that country. It is the root of their religion, and to show them what that root is, I feel sure, the only way of uprooting all that has sprung from it during the last 3,000 years. (Oxford, December 9, 1867) Along the same lines, Mueller wrote to the theologian, Chevalier Bunsen: India is much riper for Christianity than Rome or Greece were at the time of St Paul. The rotten tree has for some time had artificial supports For the good of this struggle, I should like to lay down my life, or at least to lend my hand to bring about this struggle I do not at all like to go to India as a missionary; that makes one dependent on the parsons I should like to live for ten years quite quietly and learn the language, try to make friends, and see whether I was fit to take part in a work, by means of which the old mischief of Indian priestcraft could be overthrown and the way opened for the entrance of simple Christian teaching. (August 25, 1856) The disdain for Vedic philosophy with which Mueller embarked on his translation of the Vedas is apparent: The ancient religion of India is doomed, and if Christianity does not step in, whose fault will it be? (Written to the Secretary of State for India, the Duke of Argyll, December 16, 1868) The worship of Shiva or Vishnu and the other popular deities, is of the same, nay, in many cases of a more degraded and savage character than the worship, of Jupiter, Apollo and Minerva; it belongs to a stratum of thought which is long buried beneath our feet, it may live on like the lion and the tiger but the mere air of free thought and civilised life will extinguish it. (Westminster Lectures on Missions, December 1873) Excerpts from Muellers letters express his opinion that the culture of the Aryans brought by earlier European conquest sorely needed replacement. In a communication to the Duke of Argyll, he wrote: India has been conquered once, but India must be conquered again, and that second conquest should be a conquest by education. Much has been done for education of late, but if the funds were tripled and quadrupled, that would hardly be enough A new national literature may spring up, impregnated with Western ideas, yet retaining its native spirit and character A new national literature will bring with it a new national life, and new moral vigour. As to religion, that will take care of itself. The missionaries have done far more than they themselves seem to be aware of. With this mindset, Mueller propounded the famous Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT) in the mid-19th century, based on two main factors: racial eminence and comparative linguistics. Alleging the Vedic peoples European origin, he claimed that a band of tall, fair-skinned nomadic pastoralists from the Russian Steppes, called the Aryans, crossed the Himalayas on horse-driven chariots in 1500 BC. Being a superior race, they subjugated the unsophisticated dark-skinned aboriginals, whom they pushed south of the Vindhyas to become the Dravidians. The colonising Aryan invaders then settled in the north and civilised the land, completely eradicating the local culture. They imposed Sanskrit and the Vedic lifestyle on the natives and were responsible for all ancient Sanskrit literature. According to Mueller, the conquering Aryan race began composing the Vedas soon after their arrival, starting with the Rig Veda, which he dated at 1200 BC. They also formed the Vedic caste system, declaring themselves the upper-caste Brahmins and the natives the lower-caste Shudras. This hypothesis implied that Brahmins and Shudras were of different racial ancestry, and since genetic study was unknown at the time, the supposition was accepted as fact. Then, in the 1920s, Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, dating back to 3000 BC, were excavated. Although the discovery of these highly advanced urban civilisations demonstrated that the indigenous people were far from unsophisticated aboriginals as previously believed, surprisingly, it did little to cast doubt on the Aryan Invasion Theory. Instead, the narrative was neatly amended to fit the new information suggesting that the Indus Valley inhabitants, although evolved, were the peaceful dark-skinned pre-Vedic natives. They fled south when the Aryans, who had a technological edge in the form of horse-driven chariots unknown to the locals, attacked and defeated them. As a result, the prevailing culture was entirely replaced by an imported Vedic one indicating the invaders superiority. The concept of Aryan supremacy fuelled white nationalism in Europe. Hitler notably adopted the false narrative of a master race, along with a distortion of the word Arya and the holiest of Vedic symbols, the Swastika. Finally, in the latter part of the 20th century, when archaeological evidence proved conclusively that no invasion had occurred, the theory was modified to a peaceful migration and then further amended to a trickling in. Despite the many iterations of how the Vedic culture came to India, whether by violent invasion, peaceful migration or people trickling in, the core assertion has remained that in 1500 BC, foreigners replaced the pre-Vedic local culture and language of North India with their own. The claim that the Vedic culture was imported rather than indigenous is still touted, though it is refuted by literature, archaeology and science. Motivating factors for AIT at inception The thought that the language of a subjugated people was the source of most European languages, including English, was abhorrent to imperialists. In his 1650 work, The Annals of the Old Testament, Archbishop James Ussher propounded that the first day of creation was October 23, 4004 BC. Most Christian scholars firmly held this belief during the colonisation of India, and the Vedic civilisation did not fit into this. According to the biblical timeline, a highly evolved people could not have lived thousands of years before the Earth was supposed to have come into existence. Furthermore, the ecclesiastic chronology insisted that God destroyed the whole world by a flood around 2348 BC, so the Vedic civilisation posed a considerable problem. To tie in with biblical events, Mueller fixed the anomaly by ascribing 1500 BC for the Aryan invasion when Sanskrit and the Vedic culture ostensibly came to India. The Aryan Invasion Theory was politically convenient. It served to divide and rule, effectively controlling the natives by justifying British colonisation with an ancient precedent. The concept of invading Aryans was fed to the Indian population through the westernisation of education, beginning with Thomas Babington Macaulays Indian Education Act of 1835. While the theory had apparent advantages for the ruling power, many Indians also embraced it, as it put them on the same racial footing as their rulers. The idea that foreigners displaced native Indians had far-reaching effects. It effectively divided the nation, with north and south Indians believing they were racially, linguistically and culturally distinct from each other. The ancient varna systems meritocracy was also replaced with birth-based caste and Brahmin eminence based on their perceived superior Caucasian ancestry. Excerpts from Priya Aroras book, Rama: A Man of Dharma (Penguin India). Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. The resignation of Arvind Kejriwal, the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), from the post of Delhi chief minister is definitely a smart political move to take on the Opposition, particularly the BJP. In another politically correct move, he appointed its woman face, Atishi Singh, who earlier held various ministries. Her appointment is aimed to send a positive signal towards the women voters. It has to be said that these decisions are taken to meet the short-term goal to return to power in Delhi, the partys stronghold, for the third time. It has to be mentioned that the Delhi assembly polls are likely to be held by February next year. However, these moves cant hide the weakness of the AAP that it faces a credibility crisis. AAP: Reclaiming its corruption-free image Although Kejriwal got bail from the liquor scam, the Supreme Court barred him from visiting his chief ministers office or the Delhi secretariat while out on bail. He was also barred from signing any official documents unless deemed essential and only with prior approval from the Lieutenant Governor. This left him with almost no option but to resign from his post of chief minister. Although through this resignation, Kejriwal is trying to reach out to the people that he has no desire for the post and he isnt corrupt, the AAP knows that the days ahead are going to be difficult. The party has its roots in the anti-corruption movement called India Against Corruption of the last decade. The movement gained momentum as the then United Progressive Alliance government led by the Manmohan Singh government was maligned by various corruption scams. Kejriwal was also part of that movement, which was led by social activist Anna Hazare. The failure to emerge as the national alternative When the AAP was born, it promised that it would be a very different one and become the national alternative of both the Congress and the BJP. Although it is the only party other than BJP and Congress to rule in two states, the party is still far behind achieving its national dream of becoming a real alternative to both BJP and Congress. The worst part is that presently, the party has reduced itself to an ally of the Congress to defeat the BJP in national politics. In Punjab, the momentum that brought the party to power with a big mandate is gradually fading as evident in the Lok Sabha polls. This leaves the party with its stronghold Delhi, which is actually a union territory. However, the AAP and its supporters maintain that it has achieved a lot, citing the party getting the national party status within 10 years of its existence. What they forget is that the AAP isnt the only party to get national party status within such a short period. PA Sangmas National Peoples Party founded in 2012 the same year when AAP was formed achieved the national party status in 2019, at least three years before AAP. While the truth may be bitter for the AAP and its ecosystem, the reality is that the partys so-called image, driven by idealism in its nascent stage, as the alternative in Indian politics has hit the rock bottom with the party allying with its once arch-rival Congress to challenge the BJP in the name of saving federalism and democracy the two essential features enshrined in our constitution. Although the party, which emerged from a socio-political movement, talks about saving democracy, it is another story that the party has failed to nurture inner democracy within itself. It is everything about Kejriwal. Delhis new chief minister Atishi leaving Kejriwals chair empty and claiming herself a proxy ruler similar to Bharat, who ruled Ayodhya in absence of Sri Ram by placing his slippers to the throne, only confirms that the party has no ideological agenda and is completely centred on Kejriwal, whose main ambition is to become the prime minister of the country one day. Reality is that Kejriwal in promoting himself has ensured that the AAP lost contact with the ideals of the socio-political movement from where it was born. As a result, the AAP today is no different from most of the existing political parties, which are run either by an individual or by a family and with almost negligible inner democracy. The Assam Gana Parishad, which also emerged from a socio-political movement in Assam, has at least fared better than AAP when it comes to inner party democracy. Beyond Delhi assembly elections Importantly, it is not the election victories that decide who is corrupt; it is the duty of the court to do so. So, Kejriwals politically smart move, even if it helps to win Delhi for the third time, isnt going to help him in the long run, if the Supreme Court indicts him in the scam. Actually, the ideas of a corruption free and a true political party for the aam aadmi that the AAP preached have taken a hit, especially after the liquor scam. Apart from this, the partys alliance with the Congress at the Centre shows that it has failed to live up to the ideals it preached during the nascent stage. As a result of these two reasons, the party is currently staring at a credibility crisis, which is likely to exacerbate in the near future with the strengthening of the Congress as the main Opposition party in national politics. This is because the AAP rose in Delhi and also in other states whether Punjab or Goa or Gujarat by mostly eating into the traditional and prospective voters of the Congress. The present scenario doesnt project a good prospect for the party. In the near future, the AAP may not be seen as a serious player but just another junior ally of the Congress, if it does not address the credibility crisis that is gradually taking shape. Sagarneel Sinha is a political commentator and tweets @SagarneelSinha. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), on Thursday, approved a $7 billion loan to cash-strapped Pakistan. The country is due to receive the first $1 billion of the loan immediately, with the balance to be paid out over the next three years. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif welcomed the decision and thanked IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva and her team. Pakistan has relied on IMF loans to meet its needs for decades and continued to struggle after years of financial mismanagement. It has taken 24 loans from the IMF since 1958 and is currently its fifth-largest debtor. This is itself an indication of how Pakistans economy has been ailing for decades and continues to be on a downward slide. The IMF has said that the new bailout programme will require sound policies and reforms to stabilise and help make the economy more resilient. On its part, Pakistan has pledged that it would be the last loan from the international lender. As part of the deal, the Shahbaz Sharif government has agreed to a number of unpopular measures, including increasing the amount of tax it collects from people and businesses. It may be recalled that last year, Pakistan was on the brink of defaulting on its debts and had barely enough in foreign currencies to pay for a month of imports. In July 2023, the IMF approved a $3 billion bailout package for Pakistan, and it also received funds from Saudi Arabia and the UAE. At that time, Shehbaz Sharif had said the bailout was a major step forward in efforts to stabilise the economy, and it would bolster Pakistans economic position and help to overcome immediate to medium-term economic challenges. However, Pakistan failed to stabilise its economy, and the common mans miseries have continued to mount. One consequence of the high cost of living is that beggars from Pakistan have been flooding cities in other countries and are found begging on the streets. Saudi Arabia recently asked Pakistan to prevent beggars from misusing Umrah visas to reach the holy cities of Mecca and Medina for begging. This trend of beggars abusing visas to beg in foreign countries also has Pakistan and its genuine Pakistani visa-seekers worried. There is no doubt that Pakistans economy would improve vastly if it had friendly and cooperative relations with India. Trade with India would boost the economy. The trading community of Pakistan has been urging their government in this regard. In 2018-2019, Pakistans annual imports from India totalled around $2 billion, and its exports neared $500 million. Today, there is no formal trade. All goods must be funnelled through a third-country port such as Dubai or Singapore at added costs. In October 2022, Pakistans Finance Minister Ishaq Dar signalled a desire to reopen trade with India. He also said that many in Pakistans business community are keen to resume trade with India. The Sharif family, which controls the ruling Pakistan Muslim League N (PMLN) party, has historically favoured closer ties with India. To a great extent, this is because it relies on the electoral support of the Punjabi trading community, whose interests are served by the border remaining open for commerce. This stance has frequently raised the ire of the countrys powerful military establishment and was a contributing factor in the breakdown of civil-military relations during the 2013-2018 government of Muhammad Nawaz Sharif. India has repeatedly made it clear that a normal relationship with Pakistan is not possible unless it stops the policy of engaging in state-sponsored terrorism against it. Addressing an election rally in Nowshera recently on September 22, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the central government would not engage in any talks with Pakistan until terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir is eradicated. On the same day, while addressing an election rally in Rajouri, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh sent a message to Pakistan, saying, We wish to have good relations with all our neighbouring countries, even with Pakistan. But if they keep encouraging terrorism, how can we have good relations with them? If they give a guarantee that they wont let any terrorism happen in India, we are ready to have talks with them. The question arises: can Pakistans PM Shehbaz Sharif give such a guarantee? Can he take the initiative to end the policy of sponsoring terrorism and start talks with India? Sadly, Pakistan is not a democracy where the elected government decides foreign policy. Rather, Pakistan is run by a Deep State which is an unelected authority and which wields control over all important issues. The Deep State comprises the army and its intelligence wing, the ISI. The army is the final arbiter in politics and perhaps everything else. We have repeatedly witnessed how civilian authority has been systematically humiliated, crushed, and demoralised in Pakistan. Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto tried to exert himself, but he was overthrown and later hanged by Gen Zia-ul-Haq. Nawaz Sharif stood up to Gen Musharraf but he was overthrown in a military coup and placed under arrest. Later on, he had to go into exile. More recently, Imran Khan tried to stand up to Army Chief Gen Asim Munir, but he was summarily overthrown and is still languishing in prison. A hostile relationship with India serves the interests of the Pakistani Generals, for they are able to project themselves as the real defenders of Pakistan. If there is peace with India, the army would have to confine itself to the barracks. However, if there is hostility with India, the army is able to call the shots on the ground that it alone can protect the country. That is why their top military leaders have traditionally opposed the idea of a rapprochement with India because hostility serves their interests. Ever since Pakistan was routed in the 1971 war and lost its eastern part, which became Bangladesh, Pakistani Generals have spoken about taking revenge and bleeding India by a thousand cuts. Being fully aware that an all-out war with India could be disastrous, Pakistani Generals want to destabilise India without actually going to war. They cannot overlook how the adventurous and cocky Musharraf had risked the Kargil war with India, in which Pakistan suffered a crushing defeat. Knowing full well that Indias economic and military strength is much greater and that there is no way Pakistan can win a war against us, Pakistani Generals have based their strategy on carrying out covert warfare. They have tried to achieve this through terrorists who are trained by the Pakistani army and sent across the Line of Control to fight against Indian security forces. Simultaneously, there is an all-out effort by the Pakistani establishment to pass off these terrorists as indigenous Kashmiri freedom fighters. With his government heavily reliant on the army to stay in power following a controversial election, Shehbaz Sharif is unlikely to be able to do anything that would go against the wishes of the Generals. Thus, it is too much to expect that the government of Shehbaz Sharif will be able to end terrorism against India when carrying out terrorist attacks against India has been the Pakistan armys policy for decades and continues to be the same even now. Because of its dominant role within the country, the army has been able to generate untold material benefits for itself, a fact that has become a source of resentment among the common people. This is especially visible in the real estate sector. Defence housing societies have been developed with vigour in many Pakistani cities, and army officers have got large plots of land at throwaway prices. Many Pakistanis feel that the army is misusing its position while also getting distracted from its actual role and functions. Pakistans leading newspaper The Dawn had reported on January 1, 2019, that the then Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mian Saqib Nisar, had said while hearing a case pertaining to a defence housing society: Is it the armys job to develop housing societies? I ask you, the army, and everyone else this: Which countrys army operates housing schemes? The armys job is to protect the countrys borders, not to participate in commercial activities, the judge said, adding, Had the Defence Housing Association done this for our martyrs, it would have been understandable. The Chief Justice then commented: Your name has been stained every time you have gone into housing schemes. It seems that you people run your business by using widows and martyrs as a shield, and you pocket royalties. Another interesting offshoot of the army ruling the roost in Pakistan is the Fauji Foundation, a corporate organisation run by the army. It has been expanded slowly and steadily and has now become one of the largest corporate groups in Pakistan. It is active in several areas such as fertilisers, cement, food, power generation, gas exploration, LPG marketing and distribution, financial services, and security services. The Fauji Foundation is managed by the Pakistan army, with about 85-90 per cent of the positions filled by serving or retired personnel from the three armed forces. The managing director is usually an army General, and the Board of Directors is chaired by the Federal Secretary of Defence, with members drawn from within the army organisation. Naturally, all the plum positions in the Fauji Foundation go to senior Generals who are loyal to the Army Chief. It is cronyism of a sort, which could never have happened if the army had not completely ruled the roost. It is the Pakistanis themselves who have to rectify the situation that exists in their country, though it will be a long haul for them. They have to wake up to the fact that their country is being run for the benefit of a privileged few and that the Generals are right at the top of this list. In this situation, it is difficult to redress public anger over the high cost of living, which is due to the poor state of the economy. Until the stranglehold of the military weakens, Pakistans economy will continue to face serious challenges. The militarys dominance over foreign policy will also ensure that Pakistans attitude towards India continues to be hostile, and we in India have to be prepared to combat the unending challenge of cross-border terrorism. The writer is a retired Indian diplomat and had previously served as Consul General in New York. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. Uttar Pradesh has embarked on a transformative journey in educational reforms, establishing a model that prioritises accessibility, modernisation, inclusion, and holistic development. This evolving narrative reflects significant qualitative and quantitative advancements, with a strong emphasis on integrating technology and aligning educational offerings with market demands. The state has devised a comprehensive framework designed to enhance learning at all levels, catering to the diverse aspirations of its youth and children. The emphasis on inclusivity and social outreach has ensured that marginalised communities receive equitable access to quality education. These initiatives not only redefine educational standards but also foster a vision for a future where every young individual is empowered to reach their full potential and actively contribute to societys progress. Under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Uttar Pradeshs education system has embarked on a transformative journey, characterised by significant improvements in accessibility, inclusivity, and institutional development. This reform is not merely superficial but represents a profound, grassroots overhaul aimed at long-term sustainability and substantial impact. With a dedicated commitment to reshaping the states educational landscape, the administration has reinforced its connection with the people, instilling confidence in its vision. The ongoing efforts under Yogi Adityanaths guidance have rekindled hope for an education system that is both empowered and future-ready. In Indias broader growth narrative, Uttar Pradeshs educational sector stands as a crucial foundational element. Over the past seven years, the state has witnessed a remarkable transformation in its educational landscape, reflecting Chief Minister Adityanaths visionary leadership. This transformation, visible across all educational levels from rural schools to expanding universities extends beyond mere infrastructural and policy changes. It represents aspiration, perseverance, and the promise of a brighter future for millions of children and youth. Central to this educational revival is the understanding that foundational learning is essential for societal progress. The Yogi administration launched Operation Kayakalp to modernise over 130,000 government schools. Once symbols of neglect, these schools have been revitalised with updated infrastructure and digital tools, resulting in a 12 per cent increase in primary school enrollments between 2018 and 2023. This resurgence in attendance reflects the transformation of schools into spaces of opportunity and hope. In addition to physical improvements, there has been a strong emphasis on enhancing educational quality. Mission Prerna, focusing on core learning benchmarks like reading and arithmetic, has led to an 8 per cent increase in rural literacy rates, demonstrating the governments dedication to overcoming entrenched educational barriers in remote areas. The revamped Mid-Day Meal (MDM) program, now monitored in real-time, provides nutritious meals to 1.8 crore children daily. This reform has notably reduced dropout rates by 9 per cent, turning classrooms into vibrant hubs of engagement. As students progress through this revitalised system, higher education opportunities have expanded dramatically. Uttar Pradesh has established 16 new universities and over 250 colleges in underserved regions over the past seven years. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has further energised the states educational ethos, promoting a multidisciplinary approach to prepare students for a rapidly evolving world. A significant aspect of this era is the focus on bridging the education-employment gap. The Skill Development Mission has trained over 1.2 million young individuals, equipping them with skills for emerging opportunities. Initiatives like One District, One Product (ODOP) have fostered entrepreneurial growth, positioning Uttar Pradesh as an emerging economic powerhouse. The states innovative response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the launch of e-Pathshala, a digital learning platform, and the installation of smart classrooms in over 20,000 government schools, has revolutionised traditional teaching methods, making education interactive and engaging for 21st-century learners. Central to this transformation is the states commitment to its teachers. Regular training, especially in digital tools, ensures that educators are well-prepared to guide students through a rapidly changing technological landscape. This focus on teacher development has not only improved classroom instruction but also fostered a future-ready generation of students and teachers. Adityanaths notable achievement includes the implementation of real-time monitoring systems that track student performance, teacher attendance, and school conditions. These digital platforms have enhanced governance, reducing teacher absenteeism by 15 per cent and boosting student performance by 20 per cent, promoting accountability and continuous improvement. Inclusivity remains a cornerstone of Yogi Adityanaths vision. Initiatives like School Chalo Abhiyan have integrated over six million children from disadvantaged backgrounds into formal education. The Mukhyamantri Balika Shiksha Yojana provides scholarships to over a million girls, ensuring financial constraints do not hinder their academic aspirations. An annual allocation of Rs 1000 crore for scholarships for minority and backward caste students further underscores the states commitment to an equitable and inclusive educational environment. Education in Uttar Pradesh extends beyond classrooms and textbooks. It fosters creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship through initiatives like Startup Yatra and university-based incubation centres. With over 500 registered startups, Uttar Pradesh is emerging as a hub of entrepreneurial dynamism, poised to shape the future. Under Chief Minister Adityanaths leadership, Uttar Pradeshs educational revolution is a story of hope, resilience and possibility; the state is at a pivotal moment in its educational evolution, marked by significant reforms. Advances in basic education, mid-day meals, higher education, and technical training signal a major shift in the states educational landscape. Yet, addressing ongoing challenges like inequities and resource inefficiencies is crucial for maximising these reforms impact. With continued effort and innovation, Uttar Pradesh is well-positioned to achieve a new standard of educational excellence and long-term success. The writer is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Delhi. He is also the founder and director of the House of Political Empowerment Research and Innovation Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. The fact that the aboriginals of Bharatvarsh, colloquially known as Bharatvasis, have maintained that their culture is eternal or timeless supports the use of the lexicon involving Sanatan when elaborating on the concepts of the nation-state, civilisation, culture, or religion. In todays day and age, we loosely refer to them as Hindus. Hindus have been fightingincessantlythe foreign powers on one hand, while bearing the wedge of colonial imperialism for over 1000 years. One should also not be taken aback by the fact that, over the course of a civilisation as ancient as ours, there were times when Hindus seemed to shudder, many times dolorous and despondent, but there are also times when we see them reaching a zenith of exuberance. Interesting to point out here that, unlike Hindus, Muslims have an entirely different worldview. From the alleged advent of Islam in 610 AD to this day so far, Islam and the Muslims have never been subjected to a phase of renaissancelike other major religions and societieswhere the cult-turned-religion underwent an ideological revolution and Muslims engaged in introspection. Proselytising since inception, but as a matter of luck, the Muslims were never forced to convert, even in cases where they were vanquished and subjugated on their lands by external aggressors. Christians conquering Islamic Turkeys Ottoman Empire serves as a classical example where Muslims were trounced but they were not forced to convert to Christianity. For Muslims, to this day and age, the mediaeval way of life, jurisprudence and beliefs continue. Some infamous tenetsincongruous and incompatible todayinclude the radicalised and fundamentalist means to sift humanity into two kinds: ones own (believers) and others, infidels (non-believers). One issue that tangentially touches the integrity, sovereignty, communal harmony and equity of justice in our nation is the contentious Waqf Amendment Bill 2024, which is now under the consideration of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), which recently sought public views and opinion on the same. Waqf refers to properties in Islamic law reserved for religious or charitable purposes, with ownership transferred to Allah. A waqif (donor) establishes a waqf (donation) for a beneficiary, and a mutawalli (manager) oversees it. Ownership is irrevocable once designated to Allah as a waqf. In the late 19th century, there was a move to abolish waqfs in India after a dispute over a Waqf property reached the Privy Council of London during the days of the British Raj. The four British judges who heard the case described waqfs as a perpetuity of the worst and the most pernicious kind and declared the Waqf to be invalid. However, the decision by the four judges was not accepted in India, and the Mussalman Waqf Validating Act of 1913 saved the institution of Waqf in India. Since then, no attempt has been made to limit or abolish waqfs. The Waqf Act of 1954, passed, provided a pathway towards the centralisation of waqfs. The Waqf Act of 1995 was enacted to govern the administration of Waqf properties, granting it overriding powers with regards to the Waqf Council, State Waqf Boards, and the Chief Executive Officer. It also established a Waqf Tribunal, acting akin to civil courts, with its decisions being final and binding, making them above any civil court. All this while Hindus were being divested of their personal laws when Hindu code bills were being introduced under the guise of progressive reforms! Interestingly, many countries like Iraq, Turkey, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Tunisia, Egypt, etc., dont have Waqf boards. Nonetheless, not only does India have a Waqf Board to purvey its secular credentials, but these boards have got bigger and stronger since independence. Also, according to an official press release by the Government of India on 13 September 2024, Waqf boards currently control 8.7 lakh properties spanning 9.4 lakh acres across India, with an estimated value of Rs 1.2 lakh crores. India has the largest waqf holding in the world. There are 356,051 Waqf estates and 872,328 immovable properties registered under the Waqf Board, along with 16,713 movable properties. Furthermore, the Waqf Board is the largest landowner in India after the Armed Forces and the Indian Railways. The Waqf, like any other government department, is fraught with plenitude of administrative challenges, including corruption, inept and indifferent officials, misuse of power by mutawallis, and failure by mutawallis to properly maintain accounts of properties. There is also a lack of effective coordination with local revenue authorities, issues related to the removal of encroachments, registration and declaration of Waqf property titles, sweeping powers granted to Waqf boards to claim properties leading to disputes and litigation, low and negligible income from Waqf properties, and the non-applicability of the Limitation Act, which has contributed to creating disharmony among communities. Having delved succinctly into the journey of the Waqf acts and amendments and the historicity of the Waqf Board in modern India, suffice it is to observe that the Waqf has only strengthened in independent India. But the narrative pushed and peddled among the Muslim community is that the fascist Hindutvawadi Modi government will usurp their lands, graveyards, and mosques. There is a certain clique with vested political interests and motives that is pooh-poohing this 40 suggested changes amendment as an anti-Muslim bill to pit the Muslims against the Hindus. Going verbatim to the official government release, The objective of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, is to amend the Waqf Act, 1995, to redress the issues and challenges in regulating and managing Waqf properties. The Amendment Bill seeks to improve the administration and management of waqf properties in India. It aims to overcome the shortcomings of the previous act and enhance the efficiency of waqf boards by introducing changes such as renaming the act, updating the definitions of waqf, improving the registration process, and increasing the role of technology in managing waqf records. The silver lining: the bill does not mandate the abrogation of the draconian Waqf Act but is merely an amendment. Well, seemingly a bummer to both its supporters and the detractors! A true secular ought to embrace this bill. As an Indian with unwavering trust in the Constitution, I present the following questions to the so-called custodians of the Waqf Board: Why does the Waqf Board predominantly represent the interests of Sunni Deobandis, while other significant Muslim communities like Shias, Ansaris, Agha Khanis, Pathans, and Ahmadis are noticeably absent from key committees and decision-making positions within the Central Waqf Council? Is the board actively working to include these groups, or is their exclusion a deliberate oversight? This amendment seemingly is a step towards social justice and the empowerment of long-ignored communities. With the vast resources and properties under the Waqf Boards control, how many hospitals and schools have been established to promote education (shiksha) and health (swaasth)? If these essential services are lacking, where exactly are the Waqf funds and assets being allocated? This amendment is a step towards equity in education and healthcare for Muslims. Members of the Muslim community have raised serious allegations of corruption, mismanagement, and negligence by Waqf Board officials. What mechanisms are in place to address these grievances? Is there a transparent process to hold officials accountable, or are these issues being swept under the rug? This amendment is a step towards promoting transparency, accountability and justice. While some Muslim clerics and politicians publicly express the desire to see a burqa-clad woman as prime minister, why isnt this progressive vision reflected within the Waqf Council? Why are qualified women not being nominated to serve on Waqf boards and the Central Waqf Council? This amendment is a step towards ensuring Muslim women receive their dignity, voice and long-overdue empowerment. Yuvraj Pokharna is an independent journalist and columnist. He tweets with @iyuvrajpokharna. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday slammed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for his distasteful and disgraceful speech at a public meeting in Jammu and Kashmir, in which he made remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Shah said the speech was a bitter display of spite, and Kharge unnecessarily dragged the Prime Minister into his personal health matters by saying he would die only after removing Modi from power. He, however, wished for his long, healthy life so he could live to see the creation of Viksit Bharat by 2047. Yesterday, the Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji has outperformed himself, his leaders and his party in being absolutely distasteful and disgraceful in his speech.In a bitter display of spite, he unnecessarily dragged PM Modi into his personal health matters by Amit Shah (@AmitShah) September 30, 2024 Yesterday, the Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji has outperformed himself, his leaders and his party in being absolutely distasteful and disgraceful in his speech. In a bitter display of spite, he unnecessarily dragged PM Modi into his personal health matters by saying that he would die only after removing PM Modi from power, (sic), he wrote in a post on X. He added: It just shows how much hate and fear these Congress people have of PM Modi, that they are thinking of him constantly. As for the health of Mr. Kharge Ji, Modi Ji prays, I pray and we all pray that he lives a long, healthy life. May he continue to live for many years and may he live to see the creation of a Viksit Bharat by 2047. On Sunday (September 29), Kharge fell ill at an election rally in Jasrota in Jammu. He suffered a syncopal attack but resumed his speech after a brief pause, saying he will not die before Modi is removed from power. I am 83 years old. I am not going to die so early. I will stay alive till PM Modi is removed from power, the Congress leader said. I wanted to talk. But due to dizziness, I have sat down. Please pardon me. Trinamool Congress leader Humayun Kabir has sparked controversy by threatening to mobilise 10,000 people to gherao the protesting junior doctors of Murshidabad Medical College. Kabir, the TMCs Bharatpur MLA in Murshidabad district, made these remarks on Sunday while expressing his dissatisfaction with what he described as the attitude of some junior doctors at the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital in Baharampur, West Bengal. He accused the junior doctors of protesting in air-conditioned rooms while the masses suffers outside. I have come to know that an FIR has been lodged against me for my previous comments against junior doctors who were on cease work earlier this month. I am not scared. Let them take out a rally of 1,000 people. If I am sent to jail for my comments, once I am released I will take 10,000 people to gherao the junior doctors, he stated. Are these people fit to be called doctors?! It will take me two minutes to make them return to their workplace, he said. Kabir made the comments in the backdrop of a proposed cease work by junior doctors starting September 30 afternoon, which aims to give authorities time to respond effectively to their demands for enhanced safety in hospitals and police action to thwart attackers. Repeat offender In response to Kabirs comments, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla strongly criticised him on Monday, calling him a repeat offender and taking aim at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Yet another TMC leader has threatened protesting doctors, and this time its repeat offender Humayun Kabir, Poonawalla stated. VIDEO | RG Kar incident: Yet another TMC leader has threatened protesting doctors, and this time its repeat offender Humayun Kabir. He threatened the doctors by saying, It will take me two minutes to send them back. If the doctors bring a thousand people, Ill bring ten pic.twitter.com/nJezzojfJ9 Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 30, 2024 He further questioned, Is this the language an MLA should use? No action has been taken because West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee does not want justice for the daughter, she wants to erase evidence and hide the truth. Senior BJP leader Dilip Ghosh also weighed in on Kabirs remarks, stating that the irresponsible statements made by Trinamool leaders are aggravating the situation. The situation has come to such pass that the entire system is on the verge of collapse, patients deaths are protested by their aggrieved kin who blame poor healthcare facilities while junior doctors are feeling insecure in hospitals. They are on the streets for safety, he told reporters on Sunday. (With inputs from agencies) Industrial robots have been around us for a while, now reaching full potential amid a massive growth of AI, digitisation, sensing, and automation technologies. According to the World Robotics Report, the annual installations of robots have exceeded half a million across the worlds factories. This takes the total stock of robots to 4.3 million by the end of 2023. Issued by the International Federation of Robotics, the report provides a detailed account of these newly deployed robots. While over 70 per cent of robots are located in Asia, 17 per cent are in Europe, and 10 per cent are in the Americas, primarily in the US. As per the research, in some of the countries that spearheaded the automation effort, there was a substantial pause last year after a quick post-pandemic comeback. China had 5 per cent fewer industrial robots annually in 2022; however, it remained the largest in terms of newly installed industrial robots across the world. With the US making efforts to restore manufacturing, it saw a slight decline in installations in 2023 over the previous year, as did Japan and Korea. While Germany was the only one of the top five automation countries where robot installations spiked compared with 2022, both Italy and France posted declines. The war in Ukraine, tight monetary policy, and the relative weakness of the European automotive industry compared to Chinas are dampening investment, the report said. On Indias part, robot installations increased by 59 per cent to a record 8,510 units in 2023, following the demand from the automotive industry. With an increase of 139 per cent in demand, both car manufacturers and suppliers contributed to the development. Speaking on the same, Marina Bill, the International Federation of Robotics President, said, The countrys robot stocks have almost doubled since 2018. India is one of the strongest growing economies among the Asian emerging markets. With such major changes and growth, while the OECD expects global growth to stabilise, geopolitical headwinds are perceived as a major risk and uncertainty factor. Global robot installations are expected to level off at 541,000 units. Growth is expected to accelerate in 2025 and continue in 2026 and 2027, it adds. A 42-year-old manager working for a finance company has ended his life at his residence in Uttar Pradeshs Jhansi. Tarun Saxena, who had worked for Bajaj Finance for around eight years, left behind a suicide note addressed to his wife. In the note, Saxena revealed that he had been under immense stress due to pressure from his bosses, who were allegedly pushing him to either meet his targets or call it quits. As of now, the family has not filed an FIR. Responding to the incident, the company said in a statement: We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Tarun Saxena and express our heartfelt condolences and full support to his family in this difficult time. Tarun was a loving father, son and a great friend who will be deeply missed by all who knew him. He was with our company for over 7 years and his loss is felt immensely by both us and his family. It added that the company has well-established policies of code of conduct that govern behaviour and conduct at the workplace and any deviation calls for strict disciplinary action. Our people practices are designed to create a culture of fairness, dignity, and respect. Were committed to fostering a workplace environment that values and supports the well-being of our employees, said the statement. Based on allegations, we have relieved the concerned employees of their current responsibilities and placed them on administrative leave, allowing for an unbiased and thorough investigation of the matter. We are also extending our full support to the authorities investigating the matter. We stand in support of Taruns family. Our thoughts and prayers are with them, it further read. House Help Found The Body Saxena, who is survived by his parents, wife Megha, and children Yatharth and Pihu, was found hanging by the house help. He had locked his wife and two children in a different room before taking his life. The house help immediately informed Saxenas cousin, Gaurav Saxena, about the incident. Gaurav, who lives nearby, rushed to Taruns home and unlocked the door to the room where he locked his wife and children before ending his life. The police were also informed of the tragic incident. Tarun Saxena was my elder cousin. He worked as an area manager at Bajaj Finance. The company had been pressuring him to bring in more collections from the market. When he failed to meet the targets, his salary was deducted. As we learnt earlier this morning around 6:00 am, Vaibhav Saxena and Prabhakar Mishra, who are based in Bhopal, held a conference with him and instigated him, following which he died by suicide, India Today quoted Gaurav saying. What Did The Note Reveal? According to NDTV, Saxena in his suicide note mentioned that he and his colleagues were made to pay for the EMIs they could not recover from their area. I am very tense about the future. I have lost my ability to think. I am going. I have not slept for 45 days. I have hardly eaten. I am under a lot of stress. Senior managers are pressuring me to meet targets at any cost or quit, Saxena wrote in his suicide note, reported NDTV. Tarun, who has two children, paid their school fees for the entire year before taking the extreme step. You all take care of Megha, Yatharth and Pihu. Mummy, Papa, I have never asked for anything, but am doing so now. Please get the second floor built so that my family can stay comfortably, the suicide note reads. The outlet further reported that Saxena, in his five-page note, urged his children to study hard and take care of their mother. He also instructed his relatives to help his family in receiving the insurance money. In the note provided to the police, Saxena named his seniors and stated, They are responsible for my decision. He additionally requested that his family file a police complaint against those he had mentioned. Family Yet To File An FIR Jhansis Superintendent of Police, Gyanendra Kumar, stated that Tarun died by suicide by hanging himself with a scarf. A suicide note was found, in which the dead accused his superiors of harassment, pressuring him to meet high recovery targets. If a complaint is lodged by the family, further investigation will be initiated, India Today quoted Kumar as saying. This news piece may be triggering. If you or someone you know needs help, call any of these helplines: Aasra (Mumbai) 022-27546669, Sneha (Chennai) 044-24640050, Sumaitri (Delhi) 011-23389090, Cooj (Goa) 0832- 2252525, Jeevan (Jamshedpur) 065-76453841, Pratheeksha (Kochi) 048-42448830, Maithri (Kochi) 0484-2540530, Roshni (Hyderabad) 040-66202000, Lifeline 033-64643267 (Kolkata) At a condolence meeting held for slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in New Delhis India Islamic Cultural Centre, attendees were heard chanting slogans like America Murdabad along with slogans commemorating the slain Lebanese militant group chief. US President Joe Biden had described Nasrallahs death as a measure of justice for what he called his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis and Lebanese, and said the United States fully supported Israels right to self-defence. The event was also attended by Iranian ambassador to India, Dr Iraj Elahi, and Palestinian envoy to India. Adnan Al-Hija. America Murdabad slogan raised at India Islamic Centre in New Delhi during the condolence meet of Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah Siddhant Mishra (@siddhantvm) September 30, 2024 The videos, accessed by News18 and also going viral on social media, show a speaker criticising the US and Israel for the ongoing conflicts in West Asia. In one of the videos, one man from the audience is seen rallying the rest into cries of America Murdabad (Death to the US). People are heard joining in and chanting the slogans as the prayer meeting proceeds. Hezbollah is not a terrorist group. Hezbollah is a political party. Hezbollah is strong enough to defend itself. We have never denied the support of Iran for Hezbollah, the Iranian envoy, Elahi, told News18. While talking to News18, on the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, Ambassador of Iran to India Dr Iraj Elahi says: The martyrdom of Hassan Nasrullah as a great leader, great politician of Lebanon and well-known man in the world is not a small thing. Its a big loss for all human beings, not just for Muslims, not just for Shias, not just for Lebanese, for all our Arabs. It is a loss for all people in the world. Hezbollah is a political party. It is not a terrorist group. They are calling Hezbollah a terrorist group to justify their massacre, blood shedding and attacks on innocent people and their hostility in the region The main solution is to stop invasion and military attack by Israel We hope that not only India but all countries use their influence on Israel to stop its invasion of Palestine and Lebanon to maintain the peace, added Elahi. Israel killed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in a powerful airstrike in Beirut, dealing a heavy blow to the Iran-backed group as it reels from an escalating campaign of Israeli attacks. The Israeli military said on Saturday it had eliminated Nasrallah in the strike on the groups central command headquarters in Beiruts southern suburbs on Friday. Hezbollah confirmed he had been killed, without saying how. Nasrallahs death is a major blow to both Hezbollah and Iran, removing an influential ally who helped build Hezbollah into the linchpin of Tehrans network of allied groups in the Arab world. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the killing of Nasrallah as a necessary step toward changing the balance of power in the region for years to come. Nasrallah was not a terrorist, he was the terrorist, Netanyahu said in a statement, warning of challenging days ahead. CEASEFIRE UNLIKELY, SAYS PALESTINIAN ENVOY Speaking on the issue of ceasefire, Elahi told News18 that the ceasefire decision will be taken by warring parties Israel and Hezbollah. This issue is between Israel and Hezbollah. But, Iran always has supported the ceasefire and we have called to stop attacks and military operations, he said. Hezbollah and Israel have been fighting a conflict in parallel with Israels war against the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza since Hamas attack on Israel last October 7, in a cross-border confrontation that has sharply escalated in recent days. More than 1,000 people have been killed and more than 6,000 wounded as a result of Israeli attacks in the past two weeks, Gazas Health Ministry said, and about one million Lebanese have been displaced by the strikes, including hundreds of thousands since Friday, Nasser Yassin, the minister coordinating the governments crisis response, told Reuters on Saturday. Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel for almost a year, in support of its ally Hamas in Gaza. Israel and Hamas have been fighting since gunmen from the Palestinian militant group stormed into southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing about 250 hostages, going by Israeli tallies. Most of Gazas population of 2.3 million has been displaced by the war, in which more than 41,500 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health authorities. Palestinian envoy Adnan Al-Hija, who was on stage with the panellists at the condolence prayer meeting, said a ceasefire is unlikely, referring to the war in Gaza. With this (Israeli) government we do not feel this is possible. Even America, which is supporting Israel with the most modern weapons, has called for a ceasefire and this extreme government has not listened, Al-Hija told News18. (with inputs from Siddhant Mishra and agencies) Punjab police has registered three new cases against Pakistans jailed former prime minister Imran Khan following a protest by his party on his call at Rawalpindis Liaquat Bagh area on Saturday. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf: founder was booked on Sunday under the Anti-Terrorism Act along with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and party chairman Barrister Gohar Khan, The Express Tribune newspaper reported. The complaints filed by the New Town and Civil Lines police stations of Rawalpindi also included charges of attempted murder, violations of Section 144 and other terrorism-related offences. According to the charges, the 71-year-old leader incited his supporters to protest against national institutions while issuing directives from Adiala Jail where he has been incarcerated for more than a year. The Punjab government has also raised allegations against Khan and his supporters, accusing them of criticising national institutions, engaging in vandalism, and inciting violence, including stone-pelting. Khans supporters on Saturday allegedly clashed with police during the protest. Hundreds of PTI supporters tried to reach the historic Liaquat Bagh park in the city for the protest called by Khan, but police erected barricades and blocked all major roads. In videos shared by the PTI, protesters were seen attacking the police with stones and bricks and the law-enforcing personnel were seen retreating in haste while being chased by the protesters. Earlier, Khan had given a call for peaceful protest, ahead of which, the provincial government banned public gatherings and closed all major roads leading to the city. Following the clashes, the party called off the protest to avoid any losses. The General Headquarters of the army is located in Rawalpindi and the venue of the protest was hardly a few kilometers away from the GHQ. Khan was arrested on August 5 last year after his conviction in the first Toshakhana corruption case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan. Since then, he has been in jail in different cases. Dozens of Israeli aircraft, including fighter jets and refueling planes, conducted extensive strikes on Sunday on targets belonging to the Houthis in the Ras Isa and Hodeida areas of Yemen. In a video released on Monday, the Israeli military highlighted how this large-scale operation showcased its capability to reach distant targets that pose a threat to the country. The IDF demonstrated how it used the countrys military might to hit power stations and a seaport used for military supplies, nearly 2,000 km away from its homeland. The short video on X also showed the Israeli Air Forces midair refueling operation. WATCH the IAF at work as dozens of IAF aircraftincluding fighter jets and refueling aircraftconducted strikes on military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime in the areas of Ras Isa and Hudaydah in Yemen, the IDF said in a post on X. The strikes came a day after the rebels said they targeted Israels Ben Gurion Airport with a missile. WATCH the IAF at work as dozens of IAF aircraftincluding fighter jets and refueling aircraftconducted strikes on military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime in the areas of Ras Isa and Hudaydah in Yemen: pic.twitter.com/Y6axCJDoHZ Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 30, 2024 Israeli air strikes on Yemen killed four people on Sunday and wounded more than 30, Houthi media reported, after Israels military said it struck targets in the Iran-backed rebels territory including Hodeida. Houthi-controlled Al-Masirah TV said a port worker and three engineers were killed with 33 wounded in an initial toll, adding ambulance and rescue teams were still searching for missing people. Power stations and seaport In a large-scale air operation today, dozens of Air Force aircraft, including fighter jets, refuelling planes, and reconnaissance aircraft, attacked military-use targets of the Houthi terrorist regime in the Ras Issa and Hodeida areas of Yemen, military spokesman Captain David Avraham said in a statement. The IDF (military) targeted power stations and a seaport used for oil imports, a military statement said. In July Israel also hit Hodeida port, causing what a port official said was at least $20 million in damage, after a Houthi drone strike penetrated Israels air defences and killed a civilian in Tel Aviv. Hodeida is a key entry point for fuel and humanitarian aid to war-ravaged Yemen. The sites targeted Sunday were used by the Houthis, who seized the Yemeni capital Sanaa in 2014, to transfer Iranian weaponry to the region and supplies for military needs, the statement said. Regular Houthis Attack The strike was carried out in response to recent attacks by the Houthi regime against the state of Israel, it added, after the rebels said they tried to hit Ben Gurion as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived back from New York. Earlier Sunday the military said an unmanned aerial target approaching Israel over the Red Sea where the Houthis have regularly launched attacks on shipping had been intercepted. Israels Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said no place is too far for the Israeli military to strike its enemies, after he monitored the operation from an air force command and control room about 2,000 kilometres from Yemen. Since November the Huthis have targeted Israel and its perceived interests in stated solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, launching dozens of missile and drone strikes that have disrupted global shipping through vital waterways off Yemen. (With agency inputs) Germanys new citizenship law has imposed stricter requirements for naturalisation process in a bid to tackle rising antisemitism and racism in the country. Under the revised law, people who post slogans like From the River to the Sea on social media may be denied German citizenship. The updated legislation allows foreigners employed in Germany to apply for citizenship after five years, down from eight years. While this change aims to expedite the naturalisation process, it emphasises a commitment to democratic values and historical responsibility towards Jewish life. German Values and Passport A specific clause in the law states that anyone who violates this commitment such as denying the Holocaust or promoting violence against Israel will be ineligible for citizenship, The Jerusalem Post reported, citing German media. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said, If you dont share our values, you cant get a German passport. As per reports, German law incorporates questions about antisemitism and Jewish life into the citizenship test to ensure applicants understand and respect these values. The law also prohibits any actions or statements that undermine the protection of Jewish life in Germany. This includes not only explicit calls for violence but also social media interactions endorsing such sentiments. If a statement coincides with a call for violence against Israel, it will be scrutinised during citizenship interviews. Racism While German states have some autonomy over naturalisation processes, recent practices indicate that they generally follow guidelines set by the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The ministry has made it clear that antisemitic or racist behaviour is incompatible with the principles of a democratic society. The changes come amid rising antisemitic incidents in Germany, which have surged in recent years. Antisemitic incidents in Germany rose around 83% last year, watchdog RIAS said in June. This surge came after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israels military offensive in the Gaza Strip. Around half the 4,782 recorded antisemitic incidents were linked with anti-Israel activism, with many involving a relativisation or denial of the Nazi Holocaust in which 6 million Jews were killed, RIAS said. While antisemitism has been on the rise worldwide, it is a particularly sensitive subject in Germany, where Jewish institutions are under heavy police protection. (With agency inputs) In his first address following the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese groups Deputy Leader Naim Qassem on Monday promised to continue the fight against Israel, asserting that the Iran-backed outfit is prepared for a protracted conflict. During his speech, Qassem said the group is addressing its leadership issue as it prepares for a possible ground invasion of Israel. His address comes in the wake of deadly Israeli airstrikes that targeted dozens of Hezbollah figures in their underground headquarters in Beirut, killing Nasrallah, who led the Iran-backed militant group for 32 years. This marked a pivotal moment in the ongoing tensions between Israel and the Iran-backed group. Qassems address comes a day after the Israeli military said the strike that killed Nasrallah this week also eliminated more than 20 other members of the Lebanese armed group. Relying on new commanders Qassem said that despite the killing of Hezbollahs top military commanders over the past months, Hezbollah now is relying on new commanders. Israel was not able to affect our capabilities, Qassem said. There are deputy commanders and there are replacements in case a commander is wounded in any post. Earlier on Saturday, Hezbollah confirmed Nasrallahs death, and on Sunday said Ali Karake, the groups top commander in south Lebanon, was also killed in the Friday attack. Other names listed by the Israeli military include Abed al-Amir Muhammad Sablini and Ali Naaf Ayoub. Israeli strikes have killed Nasrallah and six of his top commanders in the last 10 days, and have hit what the military says are thousands of militant targets across large parts of Lebanon. Over 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry, and the government says the fighting may have displaced up to a million people. Hezbollah has significantly increased its rocket attacks in the past week to several hundred daily, but most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas. Several people have been wounded in Israel. The bomb that Israel used to kill Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last week was an American-made guided weapon, a U.S. senator said on Sunday. Mark Kelly, chair of the Senate Armed Services Airland Subcommittee, said Israel used a 2,000-lb (900-kg) Mark 84 series bomb, during an interview with NBC. His statement marks the first U.S. indication of what weapon had been used. We see more use of guided munitions, JDAMs, and we continue to provide those weapons, Kelly said, using an abbreviation that stands for Joint Direct Attack Munitions. That 2,000-pound bomb that was used, thats a Mark 84 series bomb, to take out Nasrallah, he said. The Israeli military said on Saturday it had eliminated Nasrallah in a strike on the groups central command headquarters in Beiruts southern suburbs. The Israeli military has declined to comment on what weapons were used in the attack. The Pentagon was not immediately available for comment. JDAMs convert a standard unguided bomb using fins and a GPS guidance system into a guided weapon. The U.S. is Israels longtime ally and biggest arms supplier. The Israeli military said its fighter jets launched fresh strikes on dozens of Hezbollah targets in Lebanons Bekaa region on Monday, as regional tensions soared after the death toll crossed 100 in the Mediterranean country. Israeli Air Force jets attacked dozens of launchers and buildings where weapons were stored in the Bekaa in Lebanon, it said in a statement, adding the sites were linked to the Lebanese group. Israel will continue to attack powerfully, damage and degrade Hezbollahs military capabilities and infrastructure in Lebanon, it added. First attack on the heart of the city The Israeli militarys statement came as its strike on a Beirut apartment block killed four people the first attack on the heart of the city since the outbreak of the Gaza war last year. At least 105 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Sunday, with 359 people wounded, according to Lebanons health ministry. -, . , ., , Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) September 30, 2024 Bombing Killed Hundreds in Lebanon Hezbollah began firing into Israel one day after Hamass October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. Israel has in recent days shifted the focus of its operation from Gaza to Lebanon, where heavy bombing has killed hundreds since last Monday and has displaced over 200,000. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a left-wing group, said three of its members were killed in the strike. The group said in a statement that its military security chief Mohammad Abdel-Aal, military commander Imad Odeh, and Abdelrahman Abdel-Aal were killed. Television footage showed the partially flattened floor of the building targeted by the strike, in the predominantly Sunni neighbourhood of Kola, near the road linking the capital to Beirut airport. Israeli attacks have killed hundreds in Lebanon since last Monday, the deadliest day since the countrys 1975-1990 civil war. Israeli military campaign in Lebanon has sparked fears of an all-out war in the Middle East. Houthi rebels in Yemen Israels military said dozens of its warplanes had also attacked targets of Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on Sunday. Houthi media reports said the strikes had killed four people and wounded 33. The Israel Air Force deployed dozens of aircraft to strike military Houthi targets 1,800 km away from the country in the Ras Isa and Hudaydah regions of Yemen. The Israeli military said these strikes were carried out in response to recent Houthi attacks against Israel. No place is too far Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israel would strike at foes no matter the distance, after the military targeted Houthi rebels in Yemen. Our message is clear for us, no place is too far, Gallant said in a statement issued by his office after he monitored the strikes from an air force command and control room. The intensifying Israeli bombardment over two weeks has killed a string of top Hezbollah officials, including its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Israel has vowed to keep up the assault and says it wants to make its northern areas secure again for residents who have been forced to flee Hezbollah rocket attacks. The United States has urged a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in Lebanon but has also authorised its military to reinforce in the region. US President Joe Biden, asked if an all-out war in the Middle East could be avoided, said It has to be. He said he will be talking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. US Boosts Military Presence Amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the United States announced on Sunday that it is increasing its military presence in the Middle East. In a statement, Pentagon officials said it will enhance defensive air support capabilities and maintain a state of heightened readiness for US forces as tensions rise in the region. Defense analysts say that the killing of Nasrallah could have far-reaching implications for the Middle East as Israel shifts its attention from its nearly year-old war with Iran-aligned Hamas in Gaza to operations against Hezbollah amid fears that strikes in Lebanon could trigger a wider war that draws in Iran. (With agency input) The US is sending an additional few thousand troops to the Middle East to bolster security and to be prepared to defend Israel if necessary, the Pentagon said Monday. The increased presence will come from multiple fighter jet squadrons, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters. It follows recent strikes in Lebanon and the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, a significant escalation in the war in the Middle East, this time between Israel and Hezbollah. The additional personnel includes squadrons of F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16, A-10 and F-22 fighter jets and the personnel needed to support them. The jets were supposed to rotate in and replace the squadrons already there. Instead, both the existing and new squadrons will remain in place to double the airpower on hand. On Sunday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also announced that he was temporarily extending the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and its associated squadrons in the region. The jets are not there to assist in an evacuation, Singh said, they are there for the protection of US forces. Rumours about the whereabouts of the Hamas leader have intensified after reports surfaced that Yahya Sinwar was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. During a recent IDF operational briefing, a photo of Sinwar was displayed with a question mark over his name, suggesting uncertainty about his status. Where Is Yahya Sinwar? The image has led to speculation that it was a subtle message from the IDF regarding Sinwars fate, especially as reports have surfaced in recent weeks indicating that he may no longer be alive. Israeli intelligence experts have expressed concerns that statements attributed to Sinwar in recent weeks may not have originated from him, according to The Jerusalem Post. Sinwar, who has been a primary target for both US and Israeli forces since the October 7 Hamas attacks, is believed to be hiding within Gazas extensive network of tunnels. There are claims that he has adopted disguises, including dressing as a woman, to evade capture. , : @Doron_Kadosh pic.twitter.com/lZ0MR71EOt (@GLZRadio) September 29, 2024 Hamas Defeated This report came as Israeli fighter planes on Sunday targeted Hamas members operating a command center from a building that was previously used as a school in northern Gaza. The army said it took many steps ahead of time to reduce harm to civilians in the strike, including choosing more precise weapons and conducting aerial observations of the site ahead of time. The Hamas terror group systematically violates international law, brutally exploiting civilian institutions and the population as a human shield for terror operations, the IDF said in a statement. Before the Sunday strike, the IDF claimed that the country defeated Hamas militarily across the Gaza Strip and it is now operating as a guerrilla outfit. The Israeli military said Hamas is no longer the same outfit it was before October 7. Its command structure, weaponry, and number of operatives have been severely weakened, with reports indicating that at least half of its members have been killed, The Times of Israel reported. The conflict began when Hamas-led militants entered Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, and taking another 250 hostage in Gaza. More than 41,000 Palestinians have died. Nearly a year into the war, Sinwar has evaded the Israeli military. Despite significant intelligence efforts, including advanced technology and ground operations capability of Israel, his location remains unknown. Notably, the story about the Hamas chiefs picture coincides with the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was targeted in Israeli airstrikes on Saturday in Beiruts Dahiyeh neighbourhood. Nasrallahs killing Nasrallahs killing in a command HQ on Friday came barely a week after the deadly detonation of thousands of booby-trapped Hezbollah pagers and hundreds of radios attacks widely blamed on Israel but which it has not claimed. His assassination was the culmination of a rapid succession of strikes that have eliminated half of Hezbollahs leadership council and decimated its top military command. Israel says it carried out the hit on Nasrallah by dropping bombs on the underground headquarters below a residential building in southern Beirut. This is a massive blow and intelligence failure for Hezbollah, Magnus Ranstorp, a veteran Hezbollah expert at the Swedish Defence University. They knew that he was meeting. He was meeting with other commanders. And they just went for him. Experts believe that after the Hezbollah chiefs death, all eyes will be on Sinwar. (With agency inputs) What are 'inauthentic influencers,' and what's their role in an election where democracy is on the ballot? UPDATE Sep 30, 2024 3:03 PM CDT A man who shot two Jewish men as they left synagogues in Los Angeles last year has been sentenced to 35 years in federal prison. Jaime Tran pleaded guilty in June to two counts of hate crimes with the intent to kill and two counts of using a firearm in a violent crime, KTLA reports. In a news release, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the 30-year-old attempted to murder Jews "after years of spewing antisemitic vitriol." "Vile acts of antisemitic hatred endanger the safety of individuals and entire communities, and allowing such crimes to go unchecked endangers the foundation of our democracy itself," Garland said. Feb 17, 2023 1:23 PM CST A man who was apparently targeting the Jewish community in Los Angeles is now in custody, police say. Law enforcement sources say the man, who allegedly shot two men outside synagogues this week, has a history of animus against the Jewish community and the shootings are being investigated as hate crimes, the Los Angeles Times reports. Both victims, Orthodox Jewish men who were shot after leaving synagogues in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood, survived, KTLA reports. One man was shot in the back Wednesday morning and the second was shot in the arm Thursday around two blocks away from the first shooting. The suspect was described as an Asian man with a mustache and goatee. A former GOP candidate in Florida who lost his primary for a congressional seat to Rep. Anna Paulina Luna has just been charged with threatening to kill a political rival, ostensibly Luna. The Hill reports that William Braddock ran in 2022 in the Sunshine State's 13th Congressional District against Luna, who ended up winning the seat. But according to an indictment unsealed on Thursday, Braddock, now 41, had a year earlier "made several threats to injure and kill Victim 1 and Victim 2," via a phone call, per a DOJ release . Victim 1 was reportedly Braddock's opponent in the primary race, while Victim 2 "was a private citizen and acquaintance of Victim 1." One of the threats involved Braddock warning he would "call up my Russian-Ukrainian hit squad" to get rid of Victim 1, according to the DOJ. NBC News notes that in 2021 court documents, Luna claimed Braddock was stalking her and wished her dead. That same year, Luna was granted a restraining order against Braddock that applied to herself and a conservative activist friend. Braddock suspended his campaign later in 2021, and the DOJ release notes he fled to the Philippines. Braddock has since been deported from the Philippines back to the US and has already made one court appearance in Los Angeles. He's been charged with one count of interstate transmission of a true threat to injure another person, which could bring him up to five years behind bars if convicted. A rep for Luna, 35, wouldn't comment on the case specifically, but they told NBC that Luna, now a congresswoman, has encountered "a growing number of death threats" over the last month or so, amid a "broader and more disturbing issue of violence in the political arena." Local police in Florida are working in tandem with the FBI to investigate the case. (More Florida stories.) For decades, the Koi Nation, a small tribe in Northern California, has sought to establish a casino like many other tribes benefiting from the gaming market. Their chances improved in 2019 when a federal court decision allowed the tribe to find a financial partner, the Chickasaw Nation, to help buy a 68-acre parcel in Sonoma County for $12.3 million. Now, the tribe awaits a decision from US Department of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on whether the land will be placed into trust, paving the way for a $600 million casino and resort. This decision coincides with the US government's ongoing efforts to redress past wrongs against Indigenous peoples by reinstating ancestral lands through a legal process. However, the Koi Nation's project faces opposition, including from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Greg Sarris, chairman of Graton Rancheria, a nearby tribe. Sarris has criticized the Koi Nation for not having a historical connection to Sonoma County and accused them of "reservation shopping." The potential casino near Windsor, approximately 65 miles north of San Francisco, would contribute significantly to the tribe's well-being, providing educational opportunities and better living standards in an expensive region, say advocates. Dino Beltran, Vice Chairman of the Koi Nation's Tribal Council, said, "It has taken us years to be on the same playing field as every other tribe in the United States." story continues below The final decision by Deb Haaland will consider various factors, including local opposition and the potential benefits of tribal economic development and job creation. As California remains the largest tribal gaming market, this new venture could further invigorate the state's competitive landscape. (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP) Get the news faster. Tap to install our app. Access Newser even faster. Click here to install our app on your desktop. X A benefit concert and the construction of 30 new homes are among the many events marking former President Carter's 100th birthday on Oct. 1, reports the AP. The star-studded concert at Atlanta's Fox Theatre earlier in September raised money to support the international programs of the Carter Center, which Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter founded in 1982 with the mission to "wage peace, fight disease, and build hope." The concert airs on Georgia Public Broadcasting on Oct. 1. More on the soon-to-be centenarian: Houses: Thousands of Habitat for Humanity volunteers gathered Monday to build 30 homes in St. Paul, Minnesota, over five days, led by country music giants Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, who worked alongside the Carters for years. The Carters' relationship with Habitat for Humanity stretches back 40 years, to when the couple went to New York City on a build in 1984. The FBI has agreed to pay more than $22 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging female recruits were singled out for dismissal in training and routinely harassed by instructors with sexually charged comments about their breast size, false allegations of infidelity, and the need to take contraception "to control their moods." The payout to 34 women dismissed from the FBI's training academy in Quantico, Virginia, which is still subject to approval by a federal judge, would rank among the biggest lawsuit settlements in the history of the bureau. "These problems are pervasive within the FBI and the attitudes that created them were learned at the academy," said David J. Shaffer, the lawyer for the women, per the AP . "This case will make important major changes in these attitudes." Filed in 2019, the lawsuit contends that female recruits were subjected to a hostile working environment in which they were judged more harshly than their male peers and "excessively targeted for correction and dismissal in tactical situations for perceived lack of judgment" and subjective "suitability" criteria. One of the women said she was admonished to "smile more" and subjected to repeated sexual advances. Another said an instructor leered at her and stared at her chest, "sometimes while licking his lips." "Through passive tolerance," the lawsuit said, "the FBI has intentionally allowed the Good Old Boy Network to flourish unrestrained at the FBI Academy." Men still make up some three-quarters of the bureau's special agents despite efforts to diversify in recent years. Among the provisions of the settlement was that the FBI would offer the plaintiffs a chance to continue training toward becoming agents and "guaranteed placement," for those who pass, in one of their top three preferred field offices. The bureau also has agreed to a review by outside experts who will work to ensure that female recruits face a fair evaluation process. Some of the women have moved on to other careers, Shaffer said, adding "the FBI has deprived itself of some genuinely exceptional talent." Paula Bird, a lead plaintiff in the case who's now a lawyer, said that while the experience has been "disillusioning," she was "pleased that this settlement will bring a measure of justice to the women who were unfairly dismissed." (More FBI stories.) The death toll from Hurricane Helene now stands at 132, and with hundreds still missing, officials expect the toll from what is already America's deadliest hurricane so far this year to rise further. The AP reports that the toll includes at least 40 people in the North Carolina county that includes Asheville. Mike Cayce, the city's fire chief, told CNN that Asheville has suffered a "tremendous amount of wreckage." Cayce said that roads and communications are down and that the city urgently needs food and water. "We need it very quickly. We can't wait any longer," he said. "Our residents have been without food and water now for five days." The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Monday that officials are working to truck water into Asheville, the New York Times reports. The agency said 100 roads in North Carolina have been cleared but around 300 more are still impassable, as are more than 100 in Georgia and a similar number in South Carolina. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Students at Al Noor International School are celebrating the exemplary IGCSE results. These phenomenal results have led to a combined outcome of 60.3% of all students achieving A*, A and B in the Cambridge IGCSE examinations held in June 2024. The school continues to set a benchmark and remains a leader in education in the Kingdom of Bahrain. This outstanding achievement is a testament to the resilience and determination of our talented students and teachers along with the support of our parent body. The school appreciates the dedication of the students and the cooperation from the parents which made this exceptional result an achievable target. We are extremely proud of our students achievements and have been impressed by their determination, diligence and excellent approach to learning that they have imbibed. Once again our commitment to delivering quality education is evident in the results of IGCSE 2023-2024. The following are our 16 high achievers who scored GPA 4. The excellent 2024 results are a reflection of the academic support and ideal learning environment provided by the school. It serves as confirmation that Al Noor International School students have a distinct advantage resulting from the schools focus on excellence and the holistic development of each individual student. The Chairman of the School, Mr. Ali Hasan stated, I am delighted with these world class results. They reflect the efforts of everyone to continually improve the school and achieve our vision and mission. We are a school with a difference and I am proud of the difference that we make to the lives of so many young people and the life chances that we create. Dr. Muhammad Mashood, the school Director, congratulated the students for their hard work and achievement. These results demonstrate the positive impact of our focus on academic management and students performance. We have a clear trend of improvement and look forward to see this continue in the future. The Principal, Mr.Abdulhakeem Dherar Abdulrahman Alshaer, praised the outstanding results obtained by the IGCSE students and mentioned the schools achievements during the past academic year. A Colden man was charged with four felonies after police said he nearly struck two police officers and crashed into four vehicles at a car dealership. Orchard Park Police report receiving a call at 4:22 a.m. Saturday that a man was trying to break into cars at the West Herr Kia dealer on Southwestern Boulevard. Police saw a man trying to take rims and tires off vehicles. Police gave him verbal commands, but he entered his car and tried to flee. That is when he crashed into parked vehicles and almost struck two officers, according to a police news release. The man drove down the road, and when one of the tires fell off the car, he ran into a nearby wooded area. Police set up a perimeter, assisted by the Erie County Sheriffs Office and Town of Hamburg Police. The area was searched with the Sheriffs K-9 unit and the Village of Hamburg Fire Department drone. The man eventually walked out of the wooded area and was taken into custody. He was identified as Joshua Kessel, 29. He was charged with two counts of menacing a police officer, attempted aggravated assault of a police officer and second-degree attempted assault, all felony charges. He also was charged with attempted grand larceny, reckless endangerment, second-degree obstructing governmental administration, fourth-degree criminal mischief, third-degree auto stripping, trespass and multiple vehicle and traffic law infractions. A Curious Conjunction The reason upbringing matters is not because any upbringing is better than another; rather its because different upbringings have various focuses, instill a distinct range of values and provide early exposure to a particular set of skills. The solar conjunction to Mercury stimulates curiosity and helps us learn where others are coming from so we can peaceably and effectively work together. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). If you were in the marketplace or showroom, youd see that youre not doing what everyone else is doing. As you work quietly on your masterpiece, just know that when showtime comes, youll have something truly unique. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). According to exposure therapy, interacting within the scenarios you are most wary of, however unpleasant, is an act of liberation. The theory will prove true for you, though the evidence may take some time to appear. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). A few weeks ago, you were so interested in what a certain someone was doing that you sought next-level knowledge. That interest has waned. Youve moved on to situations that are a better fit, which is worth celebrating. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Among your many obvious talents hides a secret asset -- moxie in abundance. You are, in fact, outrageously gifted with the stuff. Youll soon get an opportunity deserving of its application and youll be off to the races. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Like a master illusionist, youll skillfully guide peoples focus to the vibrant spectacle, giving you the space to manage the behind-the-scenes moves that make the magic happen. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Its especially true today -- there really are no stupid questions. With so much information swirling around, youre bound to miss something if you dont ask. Bonus: Youll be clarifying things for others who were too shy to inquire. ARIES (March 21-April 19). The right tools make a mess easy to handle. Something that looks downright awful might be vacuumed up in a second or rolled over with a lint brush and improved exponentially. Dont add water when all thats needed is a feather duster. TAURUS (April 20-May 20). The reason an activity feels like a grind? Because its a grind. Just remember that youve gained patience and strength from doing the repetitive and difficult things that are required for those committed to producing a superior result. GEMINI (May 21-June 21). A flickering promise seduces you into believing unreasonable things. Its like trying to catch moonbeams in a jar. As elusive as the goal may be, theres something about the chase that will make it worthwhile. CANCER (June 22-July 22). A scene plays out like experimental music; youre caught in a feedback loop, co-creating something raw and real. Theres a familiar feeling to this never-before-heard noise. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). You cant always choose your teachers, and its even less likely youll get to choose your students. The ones who need to learn from you will be drawn in, and the ones who are just trying to pass the class will stick to the back row. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Were you to lavish as much attention on your favorites as you would like, there would be no time left for anything else. If all you can do is send your sweet affectionate thoughts their way, it will accomplish more than you might imagine. TODAYS BIRTHDAY (Sept. 30). It is in the elegance of daily work that you make remarkable transformations happen. Youll set up systems and routines to help you fulfill your beautiful vision. The time you spend in research and planning will pay off because you dare to apply yourself, make mistakes and find out what works. More highlights, cute animals, amazing conversations and four meaningful live events. Gemini and Cancer adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 2, 12, 19, 5 and 40. CELEBRITY PROFILES: In the recently released comedy A Real Pain, Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg play cousins touring Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. Culkin comes from a family of artists, including his siblings Macaulay Culkin and Rory Culkin, and an artistic natal chart, too, with four luminaries in Libra, and the empathetic Pisces moon so many great actors share. A Succession of award-winning roles are predicted for this Libran star. Holiday Mathis debut novel, How To Fail Epically in Hollywood, is out now! This fast-paced romp about achieving Hollywood stardom is available as a paperback and ebook. Visit http://www.creatorspublishing.com for more information. Write Holiday Mathis at HolidayMathis.com. COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM You can see some of the changes now at the Atlantic City Aquarium theres a fresh facade with Pacific Blue-colored walls and orange-painted fish decorations that wrap around the building. But visitors will have to wait until December to explore the dozens of sea creatures awaiting their arrival while supply chain shortages have once again delayed the unveiling of the million-dollar overhaul of the property that began after it shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic. City officials also have held off from opening the building until the entire restoration project is completed. Although the building missed summer crowds eager to see the changes first-hand, Mayor Marty Small Sr. said he hopes in two months, the building can again be the stalwart for school field trips and year-round visitors. Were working to make it the best aquarium it can be, Small Sr. told reports gathered outside the building Monday for an update on the restoration. The aquarium is not a summer thing. Once we get up and open, you have people who have been dying to book school trips from North Jersey, locally and more. The aquarium, which has been considered a low-cost, family friendly amenity, hasnt been open since March 2020, shutting down first during the COVID-19 pandemic. The city-owned facility is managed by the Public Works Department. Everything exhibit-related is overseen by the management of Gardners Basin, the historic recreational area of which the aquarium is a part. Mayor Marty Small Sr. updates the public on the Atlantic City Aquarium target reopening date on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024.Eric Conklin Refurbishing the building was possible through the American Rescue Plan, the pandemic relief act from 2021 that dealt out $1.9 trillion in economic stimulus money. City officials in January anticipated the aquarium being open by July 1, hoping to attract always-important summer crowds eager to see the buildings new features in person. The city missed that deadline because of shortages in supplies, delaying the start of interior work and the reopening to September. With interior and exterior work in their final stages, officials now anticipate the building being fully ready by December. Workers also discovered unexpected damages, increasing the projects scope and adding to its budget, Atlantic City Engineer Uzoma Ahiarakwe said. When we got behind the walls, we saw things no one anticipated, Ahiarakwe said. Inside, touch tanks, which many consider a staple of the aquarium, are being added to the second floor while a new ceiling light show emulates ocean waves from underwater. Southern rays and bamboo sharks are going to call those basins home once theyre completed, Sarita Stroud, the facilitys aquarist, told NJ Advance Media. Dozens of small and large fish, horseshoe crabs, rays and a photo-friendly sea turtle still call the downstairs tanks home. At one point, the aquarium housed about 100 different species of sea life. Its not clear how many species will be inside once the aquarium reopens. Aquarist Satrina Stroud educates visitors at the Atlantic City Aquarium on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, about the belly of a horseshoe crab living in one of the building's touch tanks.Eric Conklin City officials Monday said theyve also secured $1.4 million in grant funds to modernize a set of Gardners Basin bathrooms by the seawall outside the aquarium. Those public restrooms, situated beside a row of docks occupied by boats, are currently closed. Named after John. H. Gardner, the citys mayor-turned-congressman in the 1880s, the basin is a frequently visited recreational location for its bayside views, seating areas and docks for boaters. The Back Bay Ale House restaurant is also there, steps from the aquarium. A loggerhead sea turtle at the Atlantic City Aquarium, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018.Lori M. Nichols | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Gardners Basin is also home to one of the largest commercial fishing fleets on the East Coast, where 70% of the clams served in chowder throughout the United States are harvested. Atlantic City has finished an array of restoration projects to the area, including piling replacement, dredging and installing new lights. Its a gem that most municipalities dont have, Ahiarakwe said. Thank you for relying on us to provide the local news you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. Eric Conklin may be reached at econklin@njadvancemedia.com. A New Jersey man was killed and a baby injured Sunday night when the car they were in slammed into a disabled tractor-trailer on the New Jersey Turnpike in Bergen County, authorities said. The crash occurred shortly after 9 p.m. in the express lanes in Fort Lee, according to New Jersey State Police. The car was traveling in the northbound lanes when it struck the rear of a tractor-trailer, which was disabled at milepost 121.4, state police Sgt. Jeffrey Lebron said Monday. The driver of the car, Justin Veras, 34, of Nutley, was killed in the crash. A 20-month-old passenger was taken to a local hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening, Lebron said. No other injuries were reported. The crash remains under investigation, Lebron said. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. The judge who slashed a $100 million jury verdict over the death of Richard A. Metcalf Jr. was thinking about what a state appeals court might do. Acting State Supreme Court Justice Mark J. Grisanti also was considering how long the legal battle stemming from Metcalfs 2012 death has endured. Grisanti this month reduced the amount of civil damages awarded by the jury a legal step known as remittitur because he found the $100 million verdict to be unreasonably high, according to a court transcript. So the court grants remittitur in hopes that after a decade plus that this matter can somehow be resolved, Grisanti said. If it goes to another jury trial or another judge, thats fine. Its something this court will always think about. But this is a decade-plus matter that needs to be resolved, and that based on case law this court had to remit and not punt this matter to the (Appellate Division) Fourth Department. Thats not something I could have done. Theres been other judges that would have punted this case in the past to the Fourth Department, and when they do a remittal or they talk about it, they say that you are a Supreme Court judge, you have the ability to do it just as we have, Grisanti said. No more, no less. Metcalf, 35, of Depew, died Nov. 30, 2012, two days after deputies inside the Holding Center forcibly removed him from his cell and restrained him face down for about 29 minutes, putting a spit mask and a pillowcase over his head. The state agency that polices local jails later determined that deputies cut off Metcalfs airway. Metcalf had been showing signs of mental health issues in the days leading up to his incarceration and after coming into police custody. In mid-April, the jury determined that five deputies used excessive force, and four of the five were negligent and violated Metcalfs civil rights by being deliberately indifferent to his medical needs. The jurys award followed more than 10 weeks of witness testimony. Grisantis rationale was revealed in a 103-page transcript of a Sept. 19 court proceeding in which the judge ruled that a jurys April award of $95 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages was too high. Grisanti told attorneys the legal standard he applied was whether the jurys award deviated from what would be considered reasonable compensation. Aside from changing the damages award, Grisanti rejected all other legal challenges the defendants attorneys raised in post-trial motions. What can happen next? Richard A. Metcalf Sr., represented by attorneys from the Brown Chiari firm, filed the lawsuit in 2013 against the county and current and former jail deputies over their treatment of his son. At this point, Metcalf Sr. has a number of legal options, according to his attorneys. If he accepts the revised award, the judgment of $20 million would be backdated to when the jury issued its award and interest would accrue from that date. The defendants then have the ability to appeal Grisantis entire ruling. If Metcalf Sr. doesnt agree to Grisantis revised damages award, a new trial on only the damages would be held, with a new jury selected. He has until Oct. 23 to make that decision. Because the plaintiff won at trial for a civil rights claim, federal law allows plaintiffs to ask the judge to have the defendants pay the plaintiffs attorney fees. Those costs already incurred, and likely to grow, will be close to about $10 million, Metcalf attorney Michael Scinta said. Metcalf Sr. also has the ability to appeal the reduction in damages. If the damages award makes it to the Appellate Court, that court may further lower the award, keep it where Grisanti set it or raise it up to the amount of the original $100 million verdict. Prevent it from happening again Three years before Metcalfs death, the Department of Justice sued Erie County and the Sheriffs Office over jail conditions. In 2009, the DOJ found that the county failed to safeguard its inmates civil rights, saying the administrative effort of then-Sheriff Timothy B. Howards Jail Management Division was woefully inadequate, and said it had led to a pattern of serious harm to inmates, including death. In early 2018, the state Commission Correction included the Holding Center and the countys Correctional Facility in a report titled, The Worst Offenders: The Most Problematic Local Correctional Facilities of New York State. While Metcalfs attorneys supplied the judge with examples of cases where damages amounts remained unchanged, Grisanti said he based his reduction on other cases, and he cited several in his ruling. Grisanti cut the jurys award for compensatory damages in each category of state and federal claims, leading to the ultimate total of $19 million for the compensatory claims. Loss of life was trimmed from $45 million to $9 million. For pain and suffering, including fear of impending death, while Metcalf was in the Holding Center, Grisanti cut the $30 million award to $6 million. For pain and suffering for the time Metcalf entered the jail infirmary until his death, the judge reduced the award from $10 million to $2 million. For fear of impending death, Grisanti cut the award from $10 million to $2 million. It was a reduction across the board of 80%. The attorneys for Metcalfs father argued for Grisanti not to alter the jurys award, noting that loss of life damages available under the civil rights code the county and the deputies were convicted of violating were intended for juries to send a message such that similar behavior doesnt get repeated. The amount has to be high enough so that it will prevent it from happening again, Scinta said in court Sept. 19, according to the transcript. Grisantis decision to reduce the jurys award of $5 million in punitive damages to $1 million means that the five current and former deputies each face individual judgments as follows: Matthew Cross, the former jail sergeant who put the spit mask and pillowcase on Metcalf: $300,000 Robert Dee, the incident commander inside the jail who ordered the use of the spit mask: $250,000 Scott Emerling, Edward Kawalek and Robert States: $150,000 each Those figures are based on the jurys determination of the percentage of fault for the excessive force that deprived Metcalf of constitutional rights. Whether the five deputies will be indemnified remains unresolved, according to the court transcript. County Attorney Jeremy Toth declined to comment on Grisantis ruling. Plaintiff attorney Donald Chiari said trial judges usually dont reduce a jury award and typically leave that to be decided at the appellate level. Deference is typically granted to a jury it was a principle Grisanti cited in his ruling and the jurors in this case were diligent, Chiari said. The judge made an 80% reduction across the board on both federal constitutional and state damages alike, even though a reduction requires the application of two separate and distinct standards, Chiari said. The jury diligently fulfilled its civic duty for over two months, deliberated and made their final finding on damages, only to have it taken away and drastically reduced by the court. Two people were rescued Saturday off the coast of Ocean City after the sailboat they were in became disabled in the surf, fire officials said. Firefighters and police responded to a report of a vessel possibly in distress off the 22nd Street area of Ocean City beach at 2 p.m. Saturday, the Ocean City Firefighters Association wrote in a Facebook post about the rescue. Upon arrival, first responders observed a disabled 40-foot sailboat in distress with two people aboard, authorities said. The boat was rapidly approaching the sandbar and getting battered by waves that almost tipped the sailboat over on its side, according to photos of the incident. A water rescue team was launched and made contact with the people onboard. Once the ship was grounded, firefighters rescued the two occupants, authorities said. One individual was transported to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. No further details about the incident were immediately available. A water rescue was commenced off the coast of New Jersey on Saturday for two people stuck in a disabled sailboat.Ocean City Firefighters Association Thank you for relying on us to provide the local news you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Jackie Roman may be reached at jroman@njadvancemedia.com. Parents in one of Middlesex Countys largest school districts are objecting after administrators eliminated bus service for students living closest to its schools. The Perth Amboy district made the busing cuts as it was opening the new, $283 million Perth Amboy High School, the largest school construction project ever funded by the New Jersey Schools Development Authority. The new high school is among the schools impacted by the ending of courtesy busing in the district. Courtesy busing is free buses for students who live too close to schools for state-mandated transportation. School districts are not required to offer courtesy busing for families, but some districts pay for the extra buses for the safety of children and convenience of families. Perth Amboy officials shared their decision to cut courtesy busing with parents in early August. MORE: N.J. is opening one of its most massive high schools ever. Heres a sneak peek inside. Critics of the change marched to the Perth Amboy Board of Education building on Wednesday. They said many children and teenagers in the K-12 district were left with no option other than walking to school along Route 35 and other busy roads. Its really not feasible not to have busing. The kids have to cross a lot of highways and dangerous streets, Pat Paradiso, president of the Perth Amboy Federation teachers union, told NJ Advance Media on Thursday. District officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Victory Bridge at the new Perth Amboy High School in Perth Amboy the opened in August.Ed Murray| For NJ Advance Media Perth Amboy is the latest New Jersey school district to respond to budget problems by reducing or eliminating courtesy busing. Under state law, school districts are required to provide free bus transportation for high school students if they live 2.5 miles or more from their schools. For students in grades K through 8, students are guaranteed free busing if they live 2 miles or more from school. However, some districts provide free courtesy busing funded by the school district for students who live closer. Other districts opt for a paid subscription model in which families pay a fee for courtesy busing. The prices vary by school district. The Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District in Monmouth County was among those that recently busing cuts. The district cited rising enrollment when it announced it would eliminate paid subscription busing for students not eligible for free transportation for the 2024-25 school year and beyond. The vast majority of students in Perth Amboy live less than two miles from school, and are not eligible for mandatory busing, Paradiso said. However, the need for courtesy busing remains because many parents in Perth Amboy do not have access to personal vehicles, she said. Its a city. We dont live in a suburb. Youre walking across a busy highway or a very busy street, Paradiso said. About 50 people attended the rally protesting the busing cuts on Wednesday, she said. Perth Amboy enrolls more than 10,000 students at 14 schools. More than 80% of students are economically disadvantaged and approximately one in four are classified as English Language Learners, according to the district. Nearly 94% of students at the high school are Hispanic. Perth Amboy is among the 31 low-income school districts in which the the taxpayer-funded Schools Development Authority oversees building construction and renovations. Of the $283.8 million in construction costs to build the new high school, about $3.3 million was provided by the school district. 37 1 / 37 New $283 million dollar school holds opening ceremony Please subscribe now and support the local journalism you rely on and trust. Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com. Sing Sing actor Jon-Adrian JJ Velazquez is finally heading home after serving nearly 24 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. He was exonerated Monday morning of his wrongful conviction at the Manhattan Supreme Court by Judge Abraham Clott, according to Variety . Velazquez co-stars alongside Colman Domingo in the highly praised dramatic film, which chronicles the real-life Rehabilitation Through The Arts (RTA) acting program at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. Sing Sing producers Greg Kwedar, Monique Waton, and Clint Bentley praised the decision in a joint statement: Weve seen firsthand the quality of his character, the depth of his soul, and the reach of his kindness. Surely, everyone who watches our movie feels it, too. Now, in the halls of justice, JJ will be afforded what has been so long overdue for him... exoneration for his wrongful conviction. It is yet another step in his powerful journey. A moment he will no doubt use for the betterment of others and to advocate for those still behind the walls. Because thats just who he is. In 1998, Velazquez was wrongfully convicted of the murder of a retired New York police officer. He was sentenced to 25 years to life, even though he did not match the suspect description and had an alibi corroborated by phone records. Velazquez worked with Dateline NBC to investigate his innocence further and the mishandling of the case by the Manhattan District Attorneys office for almost a decade. A 2012 telecast prompted a review by the Manhattan District Attorneys Conviction Integrity Unit. They decided to let the conviction stand. On Aug. 17, 2021, then-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo granted executive clemency. On Sept. 9, 2021, Velazquez was released from the Sing Sing prison after almost 24 years. In October 2022, President Joe Biden apologized to Velazquez on behalf of all society for his wrongful conviction. Velazquez also is a criminal legal reform activist and founding member of Voices From Within. The initiative addresses the epidemic of crime and incarceration directly through the voices of incarcerated people. Related coverage: Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Murjani Rawls may be reached at mrawls@njadvancemedia.com and followed on Twitter at@MurjaniRawls. An all-star cast of Saturday Night Live veterans reported for duty in the shows big season 50 premiere. Their mission: the all-important cold open, this time at the height of election season (watch below). Maya Rudolph made her return as Vice President Kamala Harris, now vying for the presidency. And fellow SNL alum Andy Samberg currently co-starring with Kate Winslet in the movie Lee played Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman from New Jersey (Old Bridge and Matawan). The role of President Joe Biden went to Dana Carvey, who previously played another president, George Bush, on SNL. Comedian Jim Gaffigan, one of the fan favorites to play Tim Walz, stepped into the role of the Minnesota governor and vice presidential candidate with enthusiasm. The part of Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance went to SNL mainstay Bowen Yang as James Austin Johnson reprised the role of Donald Trump. Steve Martin was another favorite to play Walz, but he declined the role when SNL producer Lorne Michaels offered it to him. I wanted to say no and, by the way, he wanted me to say no, Martin told the Los Angeles Times in August. I said, Lorne, Im not an impressionist. You need someone who can really nail the guy. I was picked because I have gray hair and glasses. Gaffigan shared a clip from the cold open on Instagram Sunday. Such an incredible ride, he said and hell be back for more. Carvey shared a photo of part of his costume. Biden wig was brilliant, he said. Thanks SNL. Jim Gaffigan is playing vice presidential candidate Tim Walz this season on "SNL."Will Heath | NBC 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. An increase in full-time freshmen and transfer students have New Jersey City University officials optimistic about the coming years, despite a 6% decline in overall enrollment. The university saw a 3% increase in full-time freshmen in September after a 23% drop last year, from 754 to 580. Meanwhile, the universitys biggest increase this fall comes via transfer students with a 28% spike. The school also witnessed a 31% jump in readmitted students, those who have been out for at least one semester. University spokesman Ira Thor credits NJCUs admissions teams new strategic approach to luring in new students by actively meeting with high school and community college students. The Mets have worked to get to this moment for more than seven months. On Monday, theyll finally learn whether or not they have made the postseason and theyre in total control of the outcome. Ill sign up for that any day. Especially with the way we started the year, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said, via SNY. Before the year, nobody expected us to be in this position and here we are with a chance to do something special, and thats what well do. Well go back at Atlanta, well get that last one and well go from there. BUY METS TICKETS: STUBHUB, VIVID SEATS, TICKETMASTER Sunday was one of the most exciting days in the history of MLBs regular season. With the Mets and Diamondbacks winning must-win games, and the Braves losing, all three teams are tied for the final two Wild Card spots. Now, the Mets and Braves must play a doubleheader at Truist Park in Atlanta on Monday to decide whos in and who theyre playing against when the Wild Card series kicks off on Tuesday. Here are the scenarios for the Mets: If they split, the Mets and the Braves are in. New York would return to Milwaukee to face the Brewers in a best-of-three beginning on Tuesday and Atlanta would face the Padres. If they sweep, the Mets and Diamondbacks are in. New York would travel to San Diego to face the Padres and Arizona would face Milwaukee. If theyre swept, the Mets go home. The Braves would face the Padres and the Diamondbacks would face the Brewers. In short, if youre the Mets, win and youre in. Ideally, New York would win Game 1 on Monday. This would allow them to rest shortstop Francisco Lindor, whos playing through a back injury, in Game 2. The Mets have named Tylor Megill the starter for Game 1 of the doubleheader against the Braves. Megill allowed four runs in his only start against the Braves this season. In that start, he allowed three home runs, the most hes allowed against any opponent this season. Atlanta will roll with right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach, whos 8-7 with a 3.47 ERA and 122 strikeouts in 20 starts this season. Schwellenbach is 2-0 in two starts against the Mets, allowing one run over 14 innings (0.64 ERA) with 15 strikeouts. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription. Manny Gomez may be reached at mgomez@njadvancemedia.com. A New Jersey woman is facing multiple felony charges for her role in an illegal car meetup that wreaked havoc on the city of Philadelphia last weekend, police announced. Alexis Boyce, 20, of Englishtown turned herself into police Friday morning and was charged with causing/risking a catastrophe, riot, fleeing a police officer and related offenses, according to a press statement from the Philadelphia Police Department. No attorney information for Boyce was immediately available. Authorities have announced charges against at least four people, including Boyce, in connection with a series of incidents involving large groups of vehicles engaged in illegal street racing, drifting, and other reckless activities across the city, authorities said. Between the night of Sept. 21 to the morning of Sept. 22, officers responded to multiple locations where crowds ranging from 50 to over 200 vehicles had gathered, police said. The incidents involved drifting, setting off fireworks, starting trash fires, and, in some cases, vandalizing police vehicles, police said. Philadelphia police warned more arrests could be coming. I want the individuals who wreaked havoc on our citys streets over this weekend many of you from outside of this city to know that we will find you and we will prosecute you, Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Esack said in a statement. The PPD, in collaboration with our office, are using every resource at our disposal to ensure that you are held accountable for your reckless, dangerous behavior. Boyces vehicle was recovered from New Jersey and seized as evidence, authorities said. Her vehicle is seen in photos of the illegal car meetup released Thursday by the Philadelphia District Attorneys Office. Police are asking anyone with information regarding these incidents to contact the Philadelphia Police Department at 215-686-8477. Alexis Boyce's vehicle was recovered and is currently in custody of the Marlboro Township Police Department. It is seen here in stills from video of the illegal car meetup.Philadelphia Police Department Thank you for relying on us to provide the local news you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Jackie Roman may be reached at jroman@njadvancemedia.com. Stop us if youve heard this before: The New Jersey State Police have been mishandling internal affairs cases and subjecting officers to racial and gender discrimination, and this pattern of misconduct has become so systemic that Attorney General Matt Platkin has embedded his own team to oversee complaints made to the agencys IA unit and taken over its human resources department. Indeed, the cronyism and perfidy detailed in two new reports last week which triggered the AGs actions -- may not match this departments horrendous misdeeds of the past. But for an institution with a history of racial profiling and using force against minorities -- which has been disgraced by two federal consent decrees and has since sought to improve its practices -- this is yet another alarm bell for Platkin. And his proposed reforms must be imposed with the understanding that failure by NJSP leadership to change the culture must not be tolerated. The reports are straight out of the racialized, old boys playbook, and they are conclusive enough for Platkin to mandate two dozen reforms that address matters such as the NJSPs diversity hiring, its promotions process, sick leave practices, the handling of misconduct investigations, and transparency. All good things. But it took two more scathing reports to bring all this about, and that speaks to a startling lack of oversight from NLSP leadership. One report from the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) an anti-corruption unit that lately has targeted the likes of George Norcross focused on the forces internal affairs unit, known ironically as the Office of Professional Standards. The OPIA found that a lieutenant handling an anonymous letter alleging racism against a Black officer turned it into a witch hunt for the source of the claim instead collecting typewriter samples, fingerprints, and other records. The OPIA concluded that this squandering of state resources would have led to a recommendation to dismiss the investigator, Lt. Joseph Nitti, but he retired last year with a $9,000-per-month pension. The second report, prepared by an independent firm, interviewed 150 officers in its review of the NJSPs hiring and promotional practices. The short, unambiguous summary: Troopers felt unable to voice objections or question their lack of promotion when they believed discrimination was at play. These two reports convinced Platkin that the IA function of the State Police was weaponized against some troopers, while those who were favored by management advanced. Racism, favoritism taint state polices promotions and internal affairs, reports find https://t.co/7WAs8bImn5 via @DanaDiFilippo New Jersey Monitor (@NJMonitor) September 24, 2024 This is a pattern. The NJSP is still under investigation by the US Department of Justice, and it still faces roughly 25 lawsuits by Black, female and LGBTQ troopers who cite a rampant, deep-rooted pattern and practice of discrimination, the second report said. It reflects poorly on the agency, its 3,100 troopers, and its leader since 2017, Col. Patrick Callahan. We wanted to ask why these issues persist, but Callahan cited a need to work through all the recommendations and corrective actions before he could comment. Callahan himself was ordered by Platkin to take charge of the IA unit, and he affirms that he is on board with every other reform including hiring practices that will boost diversity, expanding annual DEI training, and implementing an anti-hazing policy. But he is under the microscope, which is where leaders belong. This alone raises red flags: Callahans agency employs only 174 female officers just 5.6% of its policing staff which is less than half the national average for police agencies. Claims of racial discrimination, meanwhile, never cease. It was just three months ago that NAACP President Richard Smith blasted the NJSP for allowing white supremacy and racial discrimination. . . .to thrive and flourish. Now Smith is calling for Callahan to be sacked, noting that the NJSP is an institution consumed with bias against anyone who does not look like the Colonel, and that reforms will not work as long as the leaders at the top of the State Police remain in office looking for loopholes and workarounds. N.J. State Police has a long and notorious history of discrimination, lawyer says. Will it ever change? https://t.co/on99NydvF7 njdotcom (@njdotcom) September 29, 2024 As public trust craters, the urgency of public access to internal affairs reports and civilian review boards with subpoena power only grows stronger particular now, as this hasnt exactly been a gold star year for the Callahans agency. Count the ways: The NJSP was sued by the Public Defender for slow-walking expungements, which led to 40,000 New Jerseyans having their lives placed on hold, needlessly. A number of state troopers were among the 990 who attended a seminar held by a group of sociopaths known as Street Cop Training, where piles of taxpayer money are spent to learn violent, discriminatory, and illegal law enforcement tactics. And the State Comptroller exposed the NJSPs refusal to address racial disparities in traffic stops and its withholding of information including IA reports for the annual review that is mandated by law. We havent seen overt evidence of misconduct from Callahan himself, but his departments regression is undeniable. So is the superintendents failure to address the NJSPs culture and racist legacy. It might be the most challenging task of leading New Jerseys largest law enforcement agency, but thats the job. The entire state is still waiting to see whether hes up to it. It's great that these two reports were publicly released, but don't think for a minute that they didn't undergo rounds of edits for public consumption. Just open the IA files and let reporters dig into the details CJ Griffin (@CJGriffinEsq) September 25, 2024 Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. Georgias Republican governor praised Democratic President Joe Biden for reaching out to him in the wake of Hurricane Helenes deadly devastation as the state and surrounding areas scramble to recover from the disaster. Former President Donald Trump told a different story when he landed there to survey the damage. The governors doing a very good job. Hes having a hard time getting the president on the phone, Trump told reporters. The federal government is not being responsive. Former President Trump arrives in Georgia: "The Governor's doing a very good job. He's having a hard time getting the President on the phone...The federal government is not being responsive...the Vice President, she's out someplace campaigning looking for money." pic.twitter.com/2evEuyW6VF CSPAN (@cspan) September 30, 2024 It wasnt true. Heres what Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp had to say about Biden and the feds: The president just called me yesterday afternoon. I missed him and called him right back and he just said, Hey, what do you need? And I told him, We got what we need. Well work through the federal process. He offered that if theres other things we need just to call him directly, which I appreciate that, Kemp said. Weve had FEMA embedded with us since a day or two before the storm hit in our state operating center in Atlanta. Weve got a great relationship with them, he said. The death toll surpassed 100 people, with some of the worst damage caused by inland flooding in North Carolina. In addition to being humanitarian crises, natural disasters can create political tests for elected officials, particularly in the closing weeks of a presidential campaign. North Carolina and Georgia, two of the states hit by the storm, are key battlegrounds in Novembers presidential election. The White House announced Biden spoke by phone on Sunday night with Kemp and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, as well as Scott Matheson, mayor of Valdosta, Georgia, and Florida Emergency Management Director John Louk. During a Monday morning press conference, Kemp confirmed he spoke with Biden. Still, Trump escalated his criticism on Truth Social, his social media website, where he said that hes bringing lots of relief material, including fuel, equipment, water, and other things to Georgia. The White House said Harris would visit impacted areas as soon as it is possible without disrupting emergency response operations. She also spoke with Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, and she received a briefing from Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell while she was traveling. FEMA uses the disaster relief fund to coordinate the federal response to major disasters. It pays for debris removal, the repair of public infrastructure and financial assistance for survivors, among other things. The temporary spending bill passed and signed into law last week pumped about $20 billion into the fund and gave FEMA the ability to spend that money more quickly. 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. Could Florida be in play this election? The increasingly red state has appeared to slip from Democrats hands in recent presidential elections. But a new poll showed Donald Trump ahead of Kamala Harris by only two percentage points. According to the Victory Insights survey, Trump leads Harris 47% to 45%. The same poll showed a narrower margin for the GOP candidate in the U.S. Senate race in Florida Rick Scott 45% to Democratic hopeful D. Mucarsel-Powell at 44%. Trump won in Flordia against Joe Biden by a 3.4-point margin. That was larger than the 1.2-point win he garnered against Hillary Clinton there in 2016. Democrats at large, meanwhile, looking to preserve their Senate majority in the face of a difficult election cycle announced last week they were making a multi-million dollar investment in television advertising in Flordia and Texas. They are hoping a Florida referendum on abortion will benefit Democratic candidates on the ballot. Florida law currently bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many women even know they are pregnant. If approved by 60% of voters, the ballot initiative known as Amendment 4 would ensure that abortions are legal until the fetus is viable, as determined by the patients health care provider. But theres good reason to be skeptical of a Harris win in Florida this November. The state has 1 million more Republican registered voters than Democrats. There are 5.3 million active Republican voters compared to 4.3 million active Democratic voters, according to state data from August. About 3.9 million voters dont affiliate with any political party or affiliate with minor parties. Its governor, Ron DeSantis, clinched a 19-point win for his reelection in 2022. 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. The New York Times editorial board has made its endorsement in the 2024 presidential race. In an opinion piece published Monday, the editorial board wrote that Vice President Harris is the clear choice for the White House while ripping former President Trump for not being fit for another term. The New York Times editorial board has endorsed the Democrat candidate in presidential elections since 1960. The editorial board wrote that it is hard to imagine a candidate more unworthy to serve as president of the United States than Donald Trump, adding that he has proved himself morally unfit for an office that asks its occupant to put the good of the nation above self-interest. This unequivocal, dispiriting truth Donald Trump is not fit to be president should be enough for any voter who cares about the health of our country and the stability of our democracy to deny him re-election, the editorial board wrote. For this reason, regardless of any political disagreements voters might have with her, Kamala Harris is the only patriotic choice for president, the board continued. The board praised Harris as a dedicated public servant who has demonstrated care, competence and an unwavering commitment to the Constitution. It also noted that while she may not be the perfect candidate for everyone, her record is better than Trumps. The board touted her policies on the economy, saying she would help Americans better afford the things they need, to make it easier to own a home, to support small businesses and to help workers. The board also noted that Trumps rhetoric, his numerous criminal charges and his conviction in the hush money case has made him unfit for the presidency. They also pointed to the dozens of Republicans who have announced their intent to vote for Harris instead of Trump in November. The Republicans who support Ms. Harris recognize that this election is about something more fundamental than narrow partisan interest. It is about principles that go beyond party, the board wrote. In 2020 this board made the strongest case it could against the re-election of Mr. Trump. Four years later, many Americans have put his excesses out of their minds. We urge them and those who may look back at that period with nostalgia or feel that their lives are not much better now than they were three years ago to recognize that his first term was a warning and that a second Trump term would be much more damaging and divisive than the first, the board continued. Kamala Harris is the only choice, it concluded. The board had endorsed President Biden in the 2020 election, calling him the leader our nation needs now. The race for the White House remains close between Harris and Trump. A recent Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll found Harris narrowly leading Trump in the swing states of Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and North Carolina. The race will likely come down to the battleground states in order for one candidate to clinch 270 Electoral College votes. The daughter of Trump ally Rudy Giuliani is urging Americans to not elect the former president to another term. Caroline Rose Giuliani, the daughter of the former New York City mayor, wrote an essay for Vanity Fair with the headline: Trump Took My Dad From Me. Please Dont Let Him Take Our Country, Too. The former mayor once served as a legal adviser to former President Trump. His daughter said the essay, published Monday, was the most difficult piece Ive ever written. She said that she will be voting for Vice President Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), for the White House in November. As Rudy Giulianis daughter, Im unfortunately well-suited to remind Americans of just how calamitous being associated with Trump can be, even for those who are convinced hes on their side. Watching my dads life crumble since he joined forces with Trump has been extraordinarily painful, both on a personal level and because his demise feels linked to a dark force that threatens to once again consume America, she wrote. Not to disregard individual accountability in the slightest, but it would be naive for us to ignore the fact that many of those closest to Trump have descended into catastrophic downward spirals. If we let Trump back into the drivers seat this fall, our country will be no exception, she continued. She said when her father told her he was considering becoming Trump lawyer, she spent three hours making a vehement case to my father that he not go down this morally perilous path. She said she told him all of my concerns about Trumps open racism, rampant misogyny, and total lack of empathy. Despite voicing her concerns, she said she found out her father decided to be Trumps attorney in a news article the next day. The pit I felt in my stomach then was a warning, but I had no idea how much destruction my father would come to face due to his one-sided fealty to a con-man. Growing up in Gracie Mansion, I always knew I had a privileged life. But a particular set of challenges came along with being Rudy Giulianis daughter, and by that point in my life, I had mostly learned how to navigate them, she wrote. But nothing I have experienced prepared me for the very public and relentless implosion of my fathers life, she added. Her father, a former attorney, was officially disbarred in Washington, D.C. last week for promoting false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. He also filed for bankruptcy after being ordered to pay $148 million in damages to two former Georgia election workers over false claims he spread about them. She concluded her piece by urging Americans to not vote for a third-party and to support Harris. If for whatever reason you choose to sit this election out or lodge a protest-vote for a third-party candidate, make no mistake: you are voting for Donald Trump, she wrote. Take it from me, Trump destroys everything he touches. I saw it happen to my family. Dont let it happen to yours, or to our country.Kamala Harris will guide us into a brighter future, but only if we unite behind her. On November 5th, Ill be voting for that future. For justice, stability, and democracy. And I sincerely hope youll cast your ballot for Kamala Harris, too, she concluded. Weeks after former President Trump and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) started promoting false claims about migrants, a business in the Ohio town of Springfield still said it is receiving threats for hiring Haitian workers. The New York Times spoke with businessman Jamie McGregor, a lifelong Republican, about the recent threats he and his business have faced in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Trump and Vance began promoting an unsubstantiated claim that Haitian migrants in Springfield are stealing their neighbors pets and eating them. McGregor told The Times that he violated his vow to never own a gun due to the threats hes received from speaking favorably about Haitian migrants he employs at McGregor Metal. Haitians make up about 10 percent of his workforce, according to the report. I have struggled with the fact that now were going to have firearms in our house like, what the hell? McGregor said, according to The Times. White supremacists and neo-Nazis left threatening messages at his business, including one that said McGregor can take a bullet to the skull and that would be 100 percent justified, according to The Times. The Times reported that his children and his mother are also receiving threats. Were being hunted like animals, Cameron McGregor, his wife, said to the newspaper. Just two days after the presidential debate last month, FBI agents showed up to McGregors house to tell him to take precautions due to online threats, according to The Times. The newspaper reported that posters of McGregor were taped up near his business with the word traitor written across his forehead. According to The Times, McGregor will not be voting for Trump in November after voting for him in 2016 and 2020. Springfield has been under siege in the weeks since the false dog-eating claims came to light. Public schools have faced numerous bomb threats, as well as local government buildings in the wake of the false claims. The 15,000 to 20,000 Haitian immigrants who have arrived in Springfield over the past several years, in many cases after being recruited to local jobs, have been granted Temporary Protected Status to be in the U.S. legally. More than 30 bomb threats were directed at state and local government buildings and schools, prompting closures, the assignment of additional law enforcement protection and security cameras. Some of the citys Haitian residents have also said they feared for their safety as public vitriol grew, and Mayor Rob Rue has received death threats. Trump is also facing new criminal charges after a nonprofit group representing the Haitian community over the chaos and threats experienced by Springfield since he repeated the false claim during the debate earlier this month. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Authorities are looking for a hit-and-run driver who struck and killed a pedestrian early Saturday in Salem County. A vehicle traveling east on Route 40 in Pittsgrove Township struck Allen Miller Jr., 45, of Vineland, and fled the scene, according to a New Jersey State Police spokesman. Troopers responded to the scene, located just outside of Elmer between Elmer Lake and Dutch Row Road, shortly before 3 a.m. The crash remains under investigation and no additional information is available, police said Monday. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact State Police at 856-451-0101. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. 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. Rumblings about reinvigorating Buffalos now-advisory Fiscal Stability Authority do not surprise. The city is facing current and future budget deficits that may require at least the considered advice of the FSA, commonly known as the control board. But that advice cant be as robust as it needs to be without the full complement of FSA members. As of now, the authority is missing four members, one of them the chairperson. Three of these must be appointed by Gov. Kathy Hochul and the fourth by New York legislature leaders. Whatever happens with the citys fiscal fortunes, these vacancies should be filled. With the authoritys current five members, all must be present for meetings and voting; theres no wiggle room. Moreover, the ability for any such body to have a healthy debate must necessarily decline when there are fewer voices participating. The Fiscal Stability Authority was created in 2003 by the State Legislature after declaring that the city faced a severe fiscal crisis which could not be resolved absent assistance from the State. The board became advisory in 2012, but could go back to control status if it determines a fiscal crisis is imminent or if the city fails to meet certain conditions, such as adopting a balanced budget or paying off its bonds on time. Since 2012, the authority, though not in a control period has still been required to meet its charge of reviewing the mayors four-year financial plans and annual budgets. It has also stepped in with additional advice, which it has already done this year. As The News Deidre Williams reported, the authority considered the possibility of a hiring freeze but then decided such a drastic step was not needed. Instead, it suggested vacancy control, in which vacant city jobs would be left unfilled, if feasible. It also suggested that the Brown administration develop a gap plan to address the citys budget shortfall. But those were just suggestions. In the event that the citys financial picture deteriorates to such a degree that a hard control period is needed, it would be best if the boards current vacancies were filled. That would be an all-hands-on-deck situation. Were such a draconian situation to come about, its not like the authority has a magic wand ready to quickly stabilize Buffalos finances. The last time the reimposition of a control period was even considered was in 2020, when the city was suffering severe pandemic-related financial hardship. But the authority held off, stating that federal help which eventually came was needed. And, as authority Executive Director Jeanette Robe stated back then, in another report by News reporter Williams, our powers are quite limited. Even under a control period we cannot effectuate revenues. What we can do is we could implement a wage freeze. We could implement a hiring freeze. Robe concluded that the authority preferred a collaborative approach. Whether the fiscal cliff many warn of arrives or not there are still many questions marks city government should be ready to meet the challenge. The FSA needs all of its members to assist Buffalo in such an eventuality. Gov. Hochul and legislative leaders, were waiting. News / Africa by Staff Reporter Tragic Encounter at Tavern Leads to Violence Investigation and Apprehension Compelling Evidence Secures Convictions Court Delivers Harsh Sentences Justice Served, But Lives Lost Pretoria, South Africa - The Pretoria High Court has sentenced three Zimbabwean nationals, Edison Ngamiko (38), Amos Hassan Masiya (38), and Edron Panashe Chisanako (39), to life imprisonment for the murders of two teenage girls.The case stems from a horrific incident on February 17, 2023. The three men encountered three young girls, aged 15, 16, and 23, at a tavern in Olievenhoutbosch. The girls reportedly requested money for alcohol, and the men initially provided some. However, a later request for additional money sparked a confrontation. Chisanako allegedly demanded sexual favors from the youngest girl, and when refused, fatally shot the 16-year-old. He then proceeded to shoot and kill the other two girls. Ngamiko, accidentally shot during the chaos, attempted to finish off the surviving victim, who miraculously managed to crawl home and report the crime.Police swiftly responded, discovering the bodies of the deceased girls and arresting Ngamiko within days as he sought medical attention for his gunshot wound. Masiya was arrested later on unrelated charges but linked to the murders. Both men pointed the finger at Chisanako, who was apprehended shortly after. All three pleaded not guilty, with Ngamiko and Masiya claiming Chisanako acted alone.Prosecutor Advocate David Molokomme presented a strong case, including witness testimonies, that established the trio's involvement in the murders. He highlighted the defendants' lack of remorse and their history of violent crimes. A Victim Impact Statement revealed the surviving victim's ongoing trauma, further strengthening the case for severe punishment.Despite pleas for leniency from the defense, Acting Judge Matlapeng imposed life sentences on all three men. He condemned their lack of remorse, the brutality of the act, and their disregard for South African law. He emphasized the court's responsibility to protect society from such violence and deter illegal immigration.The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) hailed the sentences as a crucial step towards justice. This case serves as a stark reminder that violent crimes, especially against women and children, will not be tolerated in South Africa. While justice has been served, the families of the victims are left to grapple with the loss of their loved ones. Tinley Parks Sonya Sgrignoli wants to help people as a nurse. Sgrignoli is a Moraine Valley Community College nursing student who was on hand Sept. 23 for an announcement that the college will receive $1.5 million from the state to help expand the health-care programs at the Southwest Education Center in Tinley Park. The school is also partnering with Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox for clinical education requirements and training opportunities. The idea is to train as many area students as possible, and Sgrignoi is all for it. They get to spread the ability to pursue an education and career to many people in a career that offers care to others who need it, Sgrignoli said. I know that it means an awful lot to me to have the opportunity to be able to put out the good that I want to see in the world. Its amazing to me, honestly. Its really exciting to know that Moraine Valley is expanding because nursing is a very, very critical field," said Stefanie DaCosta of Calumet Park, a nursing student and student trustee on the Moraine Valley board. Its important to all of us. The expansion means there is more affordable prices at the community college rates. With the expansion, Moraine Valley officials say they are prioritizing the establishment of the Basic Nurse Assistant Training certificate program, which is expected to roll out in the fall of 2025. State Senators Michael Hastings (D., Frankfort) and Bill Cunningham (D., Chicago) helped procure the funding for this initiative. Both Silver Cross Hospital and Moraine Valleys nursing programs have been long recognized for their excellence, Hastings said. Silver Cross Hospital has consistently provided outstanding patient care driven by a team of dedicated nurses who exemplify compassion, skill and resilience. Moraine Valley Community College, on the other hand, has nurtured countless nursing professionals through its rigorous and comprehensive nursing programs preparing them to meet the demands of the ever-evolving health care industry. Cunningham pointed out that not only will people benefit from better health-care training, it will help the economy as well. This is an exciting project, and Im happy to play a small part in it, Cunningham said. A lot of good jobs emanate from these health-care facilities, particularly from Silver Cross. We really wouldnt be doing our job as policymakers if we werent ensuring that our people are getting those jobs. They are jobs that people can hold for decades. That is a really important thing to our region. Pamela Haney, Moraine Valleys president, said this is coming at a good time because more students are electing health-care majors. We can expand critical offerings in the growing health-care industry, she said. Moraine Valley is always striving to meet the needs of our students in our health-care program. The fall 2024 enrollment and the Basic Nurse Assistance program is up 11.3% from fall 2023. We have a responsibility to create additional opportunities for students to learn the skills they need to begin a gratifying career that will support themselves and their families. While numbers may be up at Moraine, Silver Cross President and CEO Michael Mutterer said that overall health-care enrollment is projected to decline, so an expansion such as this could help in the long run. Thankfully the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us but the health-care industry, in general is facing a projected shortage of tens of thousands of health-care workers over the next decade, he said. We all have to work together to make sure that we have the industry-leading professionals that we need every single day to fill the roles that are needed. Its an amazing opportunity for us as a health-care organization to partner with them, he added. When health-care career programs grow, everybody wins most importantly our communities that we serve. News / National by Staff reporter Harare's municipal clinics are struggling to provide essential maternal healthcare services due to crippling power cuts, an investigation by NewsDay has revealed. The blackouts, which often last more than 15 hours a day, have severely disrupted operations, putting expecting mothers and newborns at significant risk, particularly in emergency situations.Without access to reliable alternative energy sources such as solar backup, the consequences of power outages have been dire. In some cases, clinics are left unable to power critical equipment such as incubators, oxygen machines, and sterilization units, jeopardizing the lives of both mothers and babies.Nyarai Rutsito (41), a mother who recently gave birth at a local polyclinic, recounted her harrowing experience when the power went out during labor. "I had been in labor for several hours when the electricity suddenly went out," she said. "The nurses told me I needed an emergency Caesarean section because my baby was in distress. But they couldn't put me on oxygen due to the power outage. I was terrified, lying there in the dark, praying they could save me and my child."Rutsito was eventually transferred to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, where she received oxygen in an ambulance. However, she highlighted that the generator at the clinic wasn't working, and there was no functional solar backup.This lack of power infrastructure has had devastating consequences in clinics across the city, especially those like St. Mary's Clinic in Chitungwiza. A midwife, speaking anonymously, revealed that in some cases, staff are forced to use candles or phone flashlights during labor. "It's terrifying, especially in cases of complications," she said, noting that many clinics lack functioning solar systems or lithium batteries.Harare's health services are already under strain due to understaffing and underfunding, making the effects of the blackouts even more severe. Harare mayor Jacob Mafume acknowledged the issue, stating, "We are going to make sure that all our council clinics are backed up with solar units. Babies cannot come out from darkness into darkness."Currently, only two out of four clinics in Chitungwiza have functioning solar backup systems, according to Tafadzwa Kachiko, a spokesperson for the municipality. "We used to have solar power at all the clinics, but the systems at Zengeza and St. Mary's are no longer working. We are working to upgrade these systems."The Harare municipality, with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has begun the process of installing new solar systems at several clinics. So far, 12 polyclinics have received solar backup systems worth $240,000, with additional installations at Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospital and Wilkins Hospital.Health experts, however, stress the urgent need for all health facilities to have consistent power backup systems. Enock Dongo, president of the Zimbabwe Nurses Association, warned that power outages are putting pregnant women and their newborns at risk, while medical expert Johanne Marisa revealed that around 37% of maternal deaths in Zimbabwe are linked to power outages."There is no health institution that should be running without a power backup. Failure to provide alternative energy sources is suicidal," Marisa said.Maternal mortality in Zimbabwe currently stands at 363 per 100,000 live births, highlighting the need for urgent intervention. Local advocacy groups, such as the Combined Harare Residents Association, are also raising concerns about the dire conditions at clinics, calling for increased government support in addressing the power crisis and ensuring uninterrupted access to maternal healthcare services.Efforts are underway to improve the situation. Solar-powered boreholes and lighting systems have been installed at some clinics, and California-based NGO We Care Solar is working with the government to provide solar power to health centers across the country. However, much more remains to be done to safeguard the lives of Zimbabwe's most vulnerable mothers and their children amidst ongoing power challenges. The Northwest Indiana Influential Women Association recognized the "most influential women in Northwest Indiana" at its annual awards banquet. The nonprofit honored 226 finalists selected out of 430 nominees at the 2024 Influential Women of Northwest Indiana banquet at Avalon Manor in Hobart. Each finalist was awarded a medallion. Each year, this event gets bigger and better as we recognize the achievements and talents of women in our region, said Andrea Pearman, executive director of NWIIWA. We had a record-breaking number of attendees to the banquet this year, and I am so thrilled to see so many come out to celebrate and support all those who truly deserve this honor. LaQuisha Jackson of Soulful Kitchen/Hope for the Hungry won an up-and-coming Influential Women of Northwest Indiana award in the arts category. Debra Bolanos of Xel-Ha Escuela de Danza won the award in the arts category. Shaya Wimple of MarlynGrace Boutique won the up-and-coming award in the business category. Rhonda Zaluckyj of Pattis All-American won the influential award. Melissa McLindon with NIPSCO won the up-and-coming award in the construction/manufacturing category. Morgan Davis with the The Blue Phoenix Institute won the influential award in the construction/manufacturing category. In the economics/government category, Robin Arvanitis of the Schererville Town Council won the up and coming award and Julie Wendorf of the Crown Point Community Library won the influential award. In the education category, Roxanna Lugo ORourke of the Hammond Education Foundation won the up and coming award and Gisele Casanova of Purdue University Northwest won the influential award. In the finance category, Shvonne Barber of Horizon Bank won the up and coming award with Katie Craig of BP won the influential award. In the health care field, Kele Ivey of the Methodist Hospitals STAR Center won the up and coming award while Regina Nelson of the Optimal Neuroscience Services won the influential award. In the law category, Courtney Smith of Smith Legal Group won the up and coming award while Amy Nowaczyk of ODrobinak & Nowaczyk PC won the influential award. In the marketing profession, Susan Thompson of Illiana Indoor Billboards won the up and coming award while Christi Hardesty of Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana won the influential award. In the nonprofit world, Brittany Caraballo of Geminus Regional Care Group won in the up and coming category while Sheila Chandler of TradeWinds Services earned the influential award. In service/tourism, Tracee Jury of Steamwhistle Coffee Roasters earned the up and coming award and Jeny Burkhart of The Waxi Taxi received the influential award. In STEM, Rachel Ritter of Powers Health won the up and coming award while Alyssa Nyberg of The Nature Conservancy earned the influential award. Dr. Maria V. Hughes of Purdue University Northwest earned the Overall Up and Coming Woman of the Year, Amy Henningfield of Superior Construction Co., Inc. the Overall Influential Woman of the Year, Maddie Wimple of Madisyns Spread the Love Project the Nonprofit Youth Award and Aida Haigh of NiSource the Supporter of the Year Award. Mayor Angie Nelson Deuitch of the City of Michigan City earned the Community Leader of the Year Award. Andrea Pearman of Diversified Marketing Strategies won the Lifetime Achievement Award. Jerry Davich Metro columnist Follow Jerry Davich Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Sometime between late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, several Harris-Walz campaign signs were stolen from properties across the Region, according to homeowners. They can steal our signs but they cant steal our votes, a Munster resident told me Sunday afternoon. Another homeowner in that town contacted police to file a report. Its not the first police report filed in Northwest Indiana during this contentious campaign season, according to local police departments. Last week, the Valparaiso Police Department had two reports on file for allegations of stolen signs. We wont be bullied, a Valparaiso voter told me Sunday. Stolen signs are nothing new during every campaign season, dating back to the earliest election years and homemade signage. But as this years pivotal presidential election nears Election Day, on Nov. 5, Im hearing from more voters about stolen or missing signs. Most of those signs are in support of Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. In 2020, I heard from more supporters of former President Donald Trump, alleging their campaigns signs and banners were stolen by supporters of President Joe Biden. And so it goes every election year. Campaign signs are important, said Natalia G., who lives in rural Valparaiso. I feel like Democrat signs in rural Indiana give other people the courage to be brave about the Democratic candidates they support. Not all campaign signs are free of charge and heavily distributed by candidates and their supporters. One of my Harris signs was over $40 with shipping, and I have several of them, Natalia G. said. Historically, campaign signs are the least effective but most popular form of campaigning for candidates, especially with local elections where voters may not know candidates names. If voters see the same name again and again in their community, they may cast their vote for that candidate regardless if they know their policies and promises. Politicians may have a greater need to communicate than almost every other profession, but that doesnt mean theyre good at it, said Frank Luntz, a political analyst who authored the book, Words That Work: Its Not What You Say, Its What People Hear. Campaign signs, banners and billboards have the same purpose. Candidates stick them in every possible front lawn, empty corner, or friendly business, quietly planting their names in our collective conscious with hopes that voters will remember them on Election Day. Candidates know that most voters don't do enough research beforehand, or at all, about candidates. (In a future column, I will share local and national resources to help educate and inform voters.) Meanwhile, campaign sign season is heating up in every community. The Harris-Walz sign bandits hit Munster last night. Come on, a Munster woman posted Sunday on her Facebook page. Some comments on that post suggested tagging campaign signs with Apple's geo-tracking AirTag devices to help locate missing signs and possibly the culprit who stole them. Hopefully we can catch them that way, said Leah S., whos been distributing campaign signs in Porter County for Democrat candidates. She attached AirTags to a few signs after reports of stolen signs in Porter County. My neighbor tagged hers as well, she said. We will be watching. Ive read stories of other voters doing this across the country. Its worth the investment to them, they say. Other homeowners are using different tactics to protect their signs, flags and banners. I smear the back of mine with a lot of petroleum jelly sprinkled with blue glitter, so it makes a huge mess in their car when they steal them, Aubrey N. said. Another homeowner said he anchors his presidential campaign signs to ones for local candidates, then wires them together and places his dogs waste around the signs. Ive never heard of such a drastic tactic before. Desperate elections call for desperate tactics, I guess. All my signs were stolen from my yard sometime Friday night or Saturday morning, Vicki L., of Washington Township in Porter County, to!d me Sunday. The metal stands were left behind and my Harris sign was wired to a fence so it was left on the ground. Campaign signs dont vote, as the political adage goes, but they do represent the vote of its owner and possibly offer us a glimpse into the human psyche. Who steals these signs? Who goes to great lengths to protect them? And whos willing to use AirTags or other tracking devices to locate the thief? As Election Day approaches, Im sure I will hear more allegations of wrongdoing from supporters of both presidential candidates. The month of October is looking scarier than usual. GALLERY: The Times Photos of the Week Choi Soon-hwa, an 80-year-old woman from South Korea, recently shocked the world by qualifying as a finalist in the annual Miss Universe Korea competition. Choi, a grandmother of three who turns 81 next month, never dreamed of being in the running to represent her country in the Miss Universe beauty pageant, but thanks to changes made to the contests selection rules, she was able to do just that. Before this year, participants were required to be between the ages of 18 and 28, but due to growing pressure to become more inclusive, Miss Universe scraped the rule, thus allowing pretty much anyone to participate. Apart from the age ban lifting, pregnant women, and women who had children or had ever been married were also allowed to compete. Now, Choi hopes to inspire others by showing that health and vitality can be maintained well into old age. Now that the age restriction has been lifted, I said, I should give it a try. Whether I get through or not, I was determined to try and get this opportunity, Choi said. Looking beautiful on the outside is important, but I think you need to be at ease in your mind as well and know how to respect others. Interestingly, while this is the 80-year-olds foray into beauty pageantry, she has been working as a senior fashion model for years, securing collaborations with magazines like Harpers Bazaar and Elle, as well as commercial campaigns with various Korean brands. It all started at age 72 when one of the patients at the hospital she was working at as a nurse recommended she give modeling a chance. One of my patients told me to try modeling, Choi said. I thought it was nonsense but at the same time, it awoke my old dream of becoming a model, wearing pretty clothes and doing photo shoots. So, I said, Yes, I used to dream of that before, I should try it. Choi Soon-hwa took some modeling classes and practiced her walking during breaks at work, and by age 74 she was making her debut at the Seoul Fashion Week. Becoming a model was like opening a door to a new path for me, so I planned in my mind. I said, I will be successful and work hard When my dream came true, I thanked God and kept working hard. Its so fun and I love it, she told CNN. Today, September 30th, during the final of the Miss Universe Korea pageant, Choi Soon-hwa fell short of her goal of representing her country in the global Miss Universe contest in Mexico, but she gave the other contestants, many young enough to be her granddaughters, a run for their money, just like Alejandra Marisa Rodriguez did in Argentina earlier this year. Yvonne Hanak KEF Media CEO Yvonne Hanak has assumed ownership of the broadcast PR company in the aftermath of the June 6 death of chairman/founder Kevin Foley. Its with a heavy heart that I take this new journey as owner, but with the Foley familys blessing and the support of an incredibly passionate team, Im honored to lead KEF Media into its second generation of ownership, Hanak said. Hanak joined the firm in 2002 and succeeded Foley at the helm in 2023. She called Foley a visionary and promised that KEFs deep, committed bench of experienced communications professionals will continue to honor his legacy with the innovative, customized approach and meaningful results that have been our hallmark for close to 40 years. Foley founded KEF in 1986, following stints at Ketchum and Burson-Marsteller. G7 agriculture ministers have launched a new plan to enhance Africas participation in the OECD seed certification scheme, as part of wider efforts to strengthen agricultural activity and its contribution to economic development. The new G7-OECD Joint Initiative: Strengthening seed certification in Africa launched during a meeting of G7 agriculture ministers in Syracuse on 26-27 September will improve seed quality, boost yields and farmer incomes, and strengthen agricultural productivity across the continent. The OECD Seed Schemes provide an international framework for the certification of agricultural seeds in international trade, facilitating the movement of seeds across borders by harmonising certification standards and procedures. Sound seed certification improves domestic production, helps develop export markets and provides farmers, plant breeders and authorities with reassurance on seed quality. Sixty-two countries participate in the seed schemes, which have been adopted into national legislation in countries worldwide. The G7-OECD initiative aims to boost African countries capacity to effectively certify seeds. Better certification is expected to reduce fraud, strengthen crop yields, and boost the growth potential of the agricultural sector in Africa. The new G7-OECD initiative will expand uptake of the seed certification scheme to up to 14 African countries over a five-year period. Capacity-building activities will improve countries ability to: Meet global OECD Seed Schemes standards. Facilitate access to quality seeds to farmers, including smallholder farmers. Improve farmers and smallholder farmers livelihoods. Facilitate trade and access to new markets. Build an inclusive seed system to achieve national food security and sustainability goals, including resilience to climate change. Better food systems start with better seeds. Since the 1960s, OECD Seed Schemes have been certifying the varietal identity and purity of seed lots destined for international trade, ultimately ensuring farmers can trust the seed they are buying, OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said. This new G7-OECD Joint Initiative, the first of its kind, holds the promise of making a substantial impact on African agriculture, by providing farmers with affordable and accessible seeds capable of responding to the effects of climate change and other unpredictable situations, boosting yields and income for farmers, and ultimately enhancing food security and agricultural productivity across the continent. Further info on the OECD Seed Schemes here. Journalists are invited to contact Lawrence Speer at the OECD Media Office (tel. + 33 1 45 24 97 00). Irish Rail has warned that there is "ongoing disruption" to commuters travelling to and from Hueston Station after train services were suspended between Newbridge and Kildare town. A social media update from the official Irish Rail account said that "'significant disruption to travel from Heuston is expected" this Monday evening, September 30, following an incident on the line. Rail lines between Kildare and Newbridge are closed with "significant disruption on all Heuston Commuter and Heuston Intercity routes", however they are expected to reopen this evening. Update: The line between Sallins and Kildare will reopen shortly. Ongoing significant disruption to travel is expected this evening. Services to begin departing Heuston soon. Update to follow. -CL https://t.co/GQ1EImFLOf Iarnrod Eireann (@IrishRail) September 30, 2024 The 16.25 service from Cork city to Heuston was cancelled, and all trains from Heuston have been held at the station, the national rail provider said in a previous update. It's understood that Irish Rail staff are trying to organise bus transfers where possible. Read Also: Move to Phoenix Park ruled out after 'thuggery' and threats to family home, Taoiseach tells Tubridy The delays are "due to a tragic incident" in Newbridge earlier this Monday afternoon. Emergency services are attending the scene, Irish Rail said. The new Aldi store located on the former Texas site in Tullamore is to open on October 31, in plenty of time for Christmas. Work began on the 1,644 square metre retail store in May of this year and people have been amazed at the progress made to date. The new supermarket is the town's second Aldi store and will create 30 new permanent jobs while up to 50 jobs are being supported during the construction period. Aldi has initiated a recruitment campaign to hire 20 open roles in Offaly. The retailer, marking 25 years in business in Ireland this year, is looking to recruit new team members ahead of the busy Christmas period. A number of the roles will be at Aldi's second Tullamore store, Brian OShea, HR Director at ALDI Ireland, said, ''the new Tullamore store represents an investment of 10.5 million, as ALDI continues to bring its famed value and unbeatable prices to the communities it operates in. The retailer spent more than 23 million with six Offaly-based suppliers last year.Since opening its first store in the country 25 years ago, ALDIs network has grown to 162 stores, and ALDI has invested more than 10 billion with Irish suppliers.'' Meanwhile the site opposite the new store looks forlorn as a massive development planned for the Tesco site was refused by both Offaly County Council and An Bord Pleanala earlier this year. The applicant Cayenne Holdings sought to construct 204 apartments, retail, office and childcare facilities in six blocks ranging in height from 2-13 storeys and all associated development and site works on the former Tesco/Texas site between Patrick Street, Offaly Street and Kilbride Plaza. The development included refurbishment of a protected structure (D.E. Williams House). The Board Pleanala inspector said that the development if constructed would have a ''significant negative impact on the town of Tullamore and would of itself negate the visual amenity and rich streetscape of the town to such an extent that its legacy would overwhelm and smother the established core while irrevocably damaging the townscape.'' This part of the site now remains an eyesore with the old Tesco store in serious disrepair. News / National by Staff reporter Harare magistrate Stanford Mambanje has set October 22 as the trial date for suspended Zimbabwe National Army legal officer Grace Kurasha, who is facing charges of fraudulently acquiring a local bridging certificate from the Council of Legal Education.The bridging certificate is a mandatory requirement for law graduates from foreign universities seeking to practise in Zimbabwe. Kurasha is accused of obtaining this document unlawfully, enabling her to register as a legal practitioner without completing the necessary examinations.Kurasha, who is jointly charged with Huggins Duri, the former executive secretary of the Council for Legal Education, will stand trial after being implicated in the scheme to bypass legal certification procedures.Prosecutor Ngoni Kaseke alleged that in 2020, Kurasha graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Lusaka in Zambia. Upon returning to Zimbabwe, she enrolled for the Bachelor of Procedural Laws programme at the University of Zimbabwe, a bridging course for those who have completed their law studies abroad to convert to Zimbabwean law standards.However, Kurasha reportedly did not complete the course. Instead, she allegedly approached the Council for Legal Education to inquire about obtaining the required certificate without finishing the academic process.At the council, she allegedly met Shorai Mupunga, to whom she reportedly paid US$1,000 in exchange for assistance in obtaining the certificate without sitting for the examination. Mupunga is said to have handed the money to Duri, who then allegedly facilitated the processing of the certificate.The fraudulent certificate allowed Kurasha to apply for admission to the High Court as a legal practitioner on March 23. After submitting the falsified document, she was admitted as a legal practitioner, enabling her to register with the Law Society of Zimbabwe and practise law.The trial, expected to begin in late October, will determine whether Kurasha and Duri were involved in the unlawful acquisition of the legal certification and whether Kurasha's admission to the legal profession was fraudulent. News / National by Staff reporter Harare City Council (HCC) is embroiled in a new scandal following revelations that it has been operating with two town clerks for nearly a year. This shocking development was reported by NewsDay, raising serious questions about the governance and management practices within the council.Town clerk Hosiah Chisango and human capital director Mathew Marara allegedly entered into an "unholy pact" to award themselves lucrative Grade One contracts, which have come under scrutiny for their legality. Reports indicate that Chisango's contract, initially signed for four years, expired in 2023 and was not renewed. According to the Local Government and Public Works Ministry's circular number 86 of 2018, heads of local authorities are allowed to serve a four-year term with the option for one renewal based on satisfactory performance.Sources within the Town House have claimed that Chisango has been operating under what they describe as a "fake contract," raising questions about the legality of his continued role. The presence of two individuals holding Grade One positionsChisango and Mararahas led to confusion, as Marara, holding a Grade One B position, is said to perform similar responsibilities as Chisango."It is not possible to have two Grade One positions in an organization, and Marara has automatically become a parallel town clerk," the sources stated. "They appointed themselves to these positions as part of an unholy pact between the two close allies."Concerns have been raised about Marara's appointment to the Grade One B position, which reportedly did not undergo the required interview process nor receive approval from the Local Government Board. Additionally, both officials have received Toyota Land Cruiser 300 series vehicles as part of their contracts, further fueling suspicions of impropriety.This controversial arrangement is believed to have taken place around the time when former mayor Jacob Mafume was ousted, and sources indicate that the sudden appointments surprised him upon his return to office. Mafume has since reached out to human resources committee chairperson George Mujajati, urging a review of the contracts held by Chisango and Marara."I have asked George Mujajati and his committee to obtain contracts from the two and verify their propriety," Mafume stated. "If there are anomalies, swift action will be taken."Mujajati confirmed the existence of the dual clerk situation but distanced himself from its initiation, claiming the appointments were made during a job evaluation exercise prior to his appointment as human resources chairperson in January. "I am aware of the matter and have approached the Local Government Board for advice," he said.Efforts to reach Marara for comment were unsuccessful, as he declined to respond. Meanwhile, Chisango is facing legal troubles of his own, having been granted bail by the High Court after spending nearly two months in remand prison on tender fraud charges. His presence at Town House has reportedly created a toxic environment, particularly when coupled with Marara's involvement.In a further twist, a commission of inquiry investigating HCC's operations from 2017 to the present has raised questions regarding a US$329,000 compensation payment made to Marara. This payment was awarded for the period he was on suspension over corruption allegations related to residential stands. Marara's suspension, which began in 2020, also involved other senior HCC officials, including Edgar Dzehonye and Tonderai Mukora.As the Harare City Council grapples with these controversies, the need for transparency and accountability in local governance has never been more urgent. The council's ability to address these issues will be critical in restoring public confidence in its leadership and operations. News / National by Staff reporter Zimbabwean youths are being encouraged to take inspiration from their Kenyan counterparts, who effectively leveraged digital media to mobilize for socio-economic change in their country. The call for action comes in light of recent protests in Kenya, where young people demanded President William Ruto address the Finance Bill that proposed significant tax increases.In June, mass protests erupted in Kenya, initially focused on the proposed tax hikes but quickly evolving into broader demands for government accountability and anti-corruption measures. The movement gained momentum through digital conversations among Generation Z, ultimately leading to the dismissal of several Cabinet ministers.At the recent Open Data Summit in Harare, organized by Magamba in partnership with Charm, Kenyan satirist Justine Wanda highlighted the power of digital platforms in amplifying marginalized voices. "Community, language, value systems, and whatever strength you have - whether it's music or any artistic value - can be used to enrich conversations. You never know what could happen," Wanda said.He emphasized that Kenyan youths united to change crucial national discussions and momentarily forced the president to confront their concerns. "We were able to change how we look at information, where it's coming from, and who benefits. Our land, food, and healthcare are under threat, and those issues affect people daily," he added.While Zimbabwe enjoys internet penetration in urban areas, the government has been criticized for suppressing dissenting voices. Law enforcement agencies have recently cracked down on pro-democracy activists, arresting several under suspicions of plotting protests. Critics argue this reflects a shrinking democratic space in Zimbabwe, where freedom of expression is increasingly threatened.Wanda's insights resonate with the challenges faced by Zimbabwean youths, urging them to utilize digital media as a tool for advocacy and social change. By fostering dialogue and collective action through online platforms, young people in Zimbabwe can begin to address pressing socio-economic issues and demand accountability from their leaders, much like their peers in Kenya. News / National by Staff reporter President Emmerson Mnangagwa's governance has come under fire for being increasingly repressive, drawing parallels to the oppressive regimes of late former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith and apartheid South African President Frederik Willem de Klerk. Critics argue that Mnangagwa's intolerance towards political dissent mirrors the historical suppression of freedoms experienced in the region.The 82-year-old Zanu-PF leader has been accused of trampling on the basic rights of political activists since he ascended to power following a military-assisted coup in November 2017. Speaking on the online platform HStv, former legislator Job Sikhala expressed his concerns over the current political climate, likening it to the repressive environments created by Smith and de Klerk in their respective eras."The situation which they have created is no different to the one created by Ian Smith in the 1960s and 1970s when he completely shut down political spaces," Sikhala stated. He emphasized that the current environment resembles the actions taken by the African National Congress (ANC) during the brutal apartheid regime, which forced political activists underground in response to severe repression.Sikhala, who spent nearly two years in remand prison before his release in January, recalled how Smith had banned the operations of the National Democratic Party (NDP), which eventually evolved into the Zimbabwe African People's Union (Zapu). Similarly, he pointed out that de Klerk's government exhibited intolerance towards African nationalism, further stifling dissent."The kind of situation that has been created in our country is that the masses have gone underground, and that is very dangerous. Whatever decisions they make in secrecy could have devastating consequences," he warned. He stressed the importance of maintaining open political spaces to monitor the activities of opponents and foster healthy democratic discourse.Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and opposition parties, including the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) and Zapu, have echoed Sikhala's sentiments, accusing Mnangagwa's regime of systematically stifling dissent. Reports of pretrial detentions, abductions, torture, and killings attributed to the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), military, police, and Zanu-PF youth have been cited as tactics employed to suppress opposition.Sikhala lamented the government's apparent ignorance of the widespread anger among Zimbabweans regarding Mnangagwa's approach. "There is deep-seated discontentment among the citizens of this country that has never been imagined since 1980," he remarked.He concluded by highlighting the prevailing loathing for the current regime, asserting that the ruling party remains oblivious to the escalating dissatisfaction. "The anger and rage against Zanu-PF, they would not know this because they are seated on the pedestal of monarchical power. Zimbabweans loathe this regime." News / National by Staff reporter The relationship between Chinese-owned extractive companies and local communities in Zimbabwe has deteriorated, marked by growing mistrust, suspicion, and a series of reported abuses. A recent report by the Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG), titled "Investments or Plunder: An Assessment of the Impacts of Chinese Investments in Zimbabwe's Extractive Sector," sheds light on the troubling dynamics surrounding these investments, revealing severe consequences for local populations.Launched last Friday in Harare, the report presents compelling evidence of the disregard Chinese investors have shown for the cultural sensitivities of host communities. It outlines shocking accounts of environmental degradation, health hazards, violations of labor rights, and instances of sexual abuse, particularly affecting women working in homes associated with Chinese companies.According to the report, which assessed the environmental, social, cultural, and economic impacts of Chinese investments, local communities have consistently raised alarms over the destructive practices employed by these companies. Farai Maguwu, the director of CNRG, noted the incessant distress calls received from mining communities where Chinese operations are prevalent."Every day, we are receiving distress calls from different mining communities where Chinese are blasting mountains," Maguwu stated. "Our goal is to defend the communities affected by the extractive industry, and the current model being pursued by our friends from the East is not pleasing."Despite China being Zimbabwe's largest trading partner and controlling approximately 90% of the country's mining sector, the report highlights an alarming trend of exploitation. Maguwu criticized the lack of value addition to the country's vast mineral resources, which include over 4,000 gold deposits, platinum, chrome, lithium, coal, and diamonds. He pointed out that minerals are being exported to China for processing, leaving local communities impoverished.The report also raised concerns over the impact of pollution on local water sources, with many communities reporting contamination from harmful chemicals like mercury. Maguwu emphasized that this issue is not merely the concern of CNRG but of all Zimbabweans, as communities see their natural resources exploited with little regard for their well-being.Tracy Mafa, a contributor to the report, highlighted systemic issues in the licensing of Chinese companies, revealing that shoddy registration processes have resulted in the deportation of many workers. She noted that local leaders, including chiefs and politicians, are often bribed to facilitate these operations, undermining the communities' interests."The licensing of Chinese companies was shoddy without proper registration, resulting in hundreds of the Chinese having been deported," Mafa explained. She also pointed out that some villages have been displaced without compensation, leading to increased poverty among the local population.The report documented the dire working conditions faced by Zimbabweans employed by Chinese firms, with many earning less than US$250 per month under abusive circumstances. Workers are subjected to short contracts with no benefits, while incidents of violence, such as a shooting in Shurugwi, have raised alarms about safety in the workplace.Local residents, such as Julia Nyakapoto from Mutoko, expressed frustration over unfulfilled promises made by Chinese companies. "People in my community will die of respiratory problems; roads are not maintained, and there is no respect for workers. We are now poorer than we were before these companies came to our area," Nyakapoto lamented.Pastor Makawa from Shurugwi echoed similar sentiments, stating, "The Chinese came to war with Zimbabweans. Shurugwi might become a desert within six months. We do not want Chinese in Shurugwi anymore."Tashinga Zamba from ZIMCODD emphasized the need for a regulatory framework to attract responsible foreign investment. "We are attracting the wrong investors. There should be a legal framework to decide for us in any sector in terms of regulation," he said.The report raises serious concerns about governance, alleging that Chinese firms exploit the weaknesses of African governments and foster corruption. As the local population continues to face the negative consequences of these investments, calls for accountability and better regulations are growing louder.In response to these issues, Parliament has recently announced that the much-anticipated Mines and Mining Development Bill (H.B.5, 2024) has been transmitted for production and gazetting, indicating a potential shift towards improved oversight of the mining sector. News / National by Staff reporter Two prominent businessmen from Harare, Satishbhai Patel, 60, director of Honda Centre, and Ebrahim Mahomad, 57, director of Union Hardware, have been arrested and charged with fraud amounting to US$1.4 million. They appeared in court last week, facing accusations of contravening Section 136 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act chapter 9:23.The complainant in the case, Meadow Sweet Investments (Private) Limited, represented by Nyasha Emmanuel Watyoka, alleges that the duo conspired to sell a partially developed property located at stand number 3081 in Salisbury township, Harare, without proper authorization.The State's case outlines that Meadow Sweet Investments purchased the land, which had been developed to a double-storey level, in 2002 from John Dimitriou Mallis and Myrsina Myrtoula Dimitriou. The deed of transfer was registered in the name of Meadow Sweet Investments (Pvt) Ltd. Following the acquisition, the complainant intended to renovate the structure into an office complex; however, in 2004, all the directors left Zimbabwe, resulting in no progress on the property.In 2011, with the property lying idle, Patel and Mahomad allegedly devised a scheme to defraud Meadow Sweet Investments. The pair purportedly drafted a special resolution claiming that Patel was a director of the complainant's company, which empowered him to sell the property on its behalf.It is further alleged that they created a power of attorney, granting authority to fugitive Cuthbert Chengeta to transfer the property to the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA). The accused eventually sold the property to ZERA under these fraudulent pretenses.In 2023, one of the directors of Meadow Sweet Investments, Dr. Muchazoreka Richardson Nyamugama, returned to Zimbabwe intending to develop the property. To his shock, he discovered that the site had been renovated and was already in use by ZERA. Upon further inquiry, Dr. Nyamugama found that the property had been transferred into ZERAs name through the power of attorney signed by Patel.The State asserts that Meadow Sweet Investments never authorized the sale and that Patel was never a director of the company as claimed. Additionally, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) indicated that the capital gains tax certificate presented to the Registrar of Deeds during the transfer process was not authentic and was not recorded in their systems.Prosecutors allege that Patel and Mahomad had no legal right to conduct the sale, resulting in a loss of US$1.4 million for the complainant, with no recovery of the funds reported so far.The case highlights significant issues of corporate governance and fraud within Zimbabwes business environment, drawing attention to the need for stricter regulations and oversight in property transactions. As the legal proceedings unfold, it remains to be seen how the accused will respond to these serious allegations. Presidents office releases full list of 107 returned vehicles and their previous users Posted by Editor on September 30, 2024 - 5:51 pm The Office of the President of Sri Lanka has issued a statement regarding vehicles parked near the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo. According to the statement, following the appointment of the new Sri Lankan President, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, 107 vehicles recently returned to the Presidents Office, as per previous directives, are now temporarily parked outside the Secretariat in Colombo under police protection. The vehicles are stationed outside due to insufficient space within the Secretariat to accommodate them, the statement explains. However, it emphasizes that the vehicles are not being displayed for exhibition purposes. These vehicles were not assigned to the permanent staff of the Presidential Secretariat but were allocated to personal staff appointed under Article 41(1) of the Constitution by the former President during his tenure. A complete list of individuals who used these vehicles is provided below. Sri Lanka Navy seizes two Indian boats, 17 fishermen for poaching in local waters Posted by Editor on September 30, 2024 - 8:49 am The Sri Lanka Navy seized two Indian fishing boats and apprehended 17 Indian fishermen who were poaching in Sri Lankan waters during a special operation conducted in the sea area north of Mannar on Sunday morning (September 29, 2024). The Navy continues to conduct regular patrols and operations in Sri Lankan waters to curb illegal fishing practices by foreign fishing boats, considering the impact of these activities on the livelihoods of local fishermen. As part of these operations, the North Central Naval Command spotted a group of Indian fishing boats engaged in illegal fishing in Sri Lankan waters. In response, the Northern Naval Command deployed its Fast Attack Craft, while the North Central Naval Command deployed its Inshore Patrol Craft to drive away the Indian fishing boats poaching in the area north of Mannar. The operation resulted in the seizure of two Indian boats and the apprehension of 17 Indian fishermen who remained in Sri Lankan waters. The seized boats and the fishermen were brought to Talaimannar Pier, where they will be handed over to the Mannar Fisheries Inspector for legal proceedings. Including this operation, the Navy has seized 55 Indian fishing boats and apprehended 413 Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan waters in 2024, all of whom have been handed over to authorities for legal action. Sri Lankan President allocates Rs. 11 Billion for upcoming General Election Posted by Editor on September 30, 2024 - 11:01 am Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has released Rs. 11 billion for the upcoming general election in Sri Lanka. The Commissioner General of Elections, Saman Sri Ratnayake, said yesterday (September 29) that the President had signed the relevant document for the release of Rs. 11 billion, which is expected to cover the total cost of the general election. President Dissanayake dissolved the Parliament of Sri Lanka, effective midnight on September 24, 2024. The general election is scheduled for November 14, 2024, with nominations being accepted from October 4 to October 11, 2024. Following the election, the new Parliament is set to convene on November 21, 2024. Kochi: Foreign tour agents believe Kerala can attract honeymooners worldwide with its pristine beaches, picturesque landscape, and balmy weather. The agents attending the 12th edition of Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) in Kochi highlighted the southern state's potential as a honeymoon tourism destination. Impressed by the state's scope, they said they would promote this fascinating facet of Kerala in their respective countries. According to the foreign tour agents who attended the recently concluded event at the Sagara-Samudrika Convention Centre in Kochi's Willingdon Island, honeymoon packages are the most sought-after product from the states tourism sector, apart from Ayurveda. Veronica Rioseco, a tour agent of Nomades Chile in Chile, who has travelled across India before, is visiting Kerala for the first time to market the states honeymoon destinations. We are focusing on Keralas honeymoon packages and family holiday packages. Normally, South American people go to Golden Triangle (Jaipur, Agra and Delhi) but rarely come to South India. But now the scenario is changing, she observed. Rioseco said the pristine beaches, picturesque landscape, different people, balmy weather and boating through the backwaters of Kerala are ideal for making it a hub of honeymoon destinations. Diego Celma of Incredible Mundo from Spain said most clients are couples and prefer Kerala for honeymoon trips. This has forced him to introduce a special tour package connecting India and the Maldives. After arriving in India, they can spend time in Kerala for honeymoon before proceeding to the Maldives. My package for Kerala also consists of adventure activities like scuba diving, he said. Celma, a regular attendee at KTM, also revealed that the states honeymoon packages have a bigger market in Spain. Peter Foster, a UK-based Those Travel Guys representative, said the sporting and wellness packages are major selling points for Kerala. One of the problems of UK doctors is that they dont recognize holistic therapy and traditional medicine. Most of our clients are interested in spiritual healing and organic food, so the popularity of Ayurveda is growing, he noted. Foster said the young generation of UK doctors is hardly sceptic about Ayurveda, and post-COVID-19, Zoom and Google meetings are helpful for patients to consult with their physicians in India. As a second-time visitor in Kerala, Olga Gabrus from Russia divulged that Ayurveda packages are in great demand in her country, and she wants to promote them there. Of the 808 foreign buyers from 76 countries at KTM 2024, 67 are from the UK, 60 from the Gulf, and 55 from the US. While the buyers from Russia total 34, those from the rest of Europe total 245. There are 41 buyers from Africa; others are from East Asia. Maharashtra (578) tops the domestic buyers, followed by Delhi (340) and Gujarat (263). The buyers at this edition of KTM clocked the highest-ever total of 2,839 (vis-a-vis the standing record of 1,305 in 2018), while the domestic category adds up to 2,035. The expo at the mart will be open for the public on Sunday (September 29) from 2 pm. News / National by Staff reporter Harare traffic enforcement female police officer and her family got a big shock when they woke up on Sunday morning to find an empty coffin dumped inside their yard with blood splashed in it.Police in Hatfield confirmed the mysterious incident in a memo addressed to the Officer Commanding Chitungwiza Police District.Eronia Payesa, aged 42, a Constable at Harare CBD Traffic, resides in New Msasa suburb where the incident happened and later reported to police in Hatfield by her husband Dumisani Mahahani.According to police, the family retired to bed on Saturday night with Tinashe Mahahani, 10, a son to the couple, having been the last to enter the yard at 6.30PM upon his return from school. He did not lock the gate, police said."The complainant and his family retired to bed leaving everything intact," police said, adding that the bizarre gift was discovered by a Lauren Simango, 34, who had woken up earlier than the rest intending to clean the yard.The coffin, according to police, measured 160cm x 57cm, and was dumped at the gate but inside the yard.Police added, "The coffin was opened and discovered that there were some blood splashed inside the coffin."The scene was also attended by detectives from the specialist CID Forensic Unit. Tenured professor, Maura Finkelstein, was terminated from Muhlenberg College following a pressure campaign that seized on an anti-Zionist Instagram repost. Neither her longtime public support of Palestinians, nor the courses on Palestine she taught in her early years at the school prevented Finkelstein from earning tenure in 2021. Following the arduous tenure process, professors are supposed to enjoy lifetime job security and robust safeguards of academic freedom. The bar for dismissal from a tenured academic position is by design meant to be extremely high, requiring justifiable cause. Finkelstein notes that she strongly rejects claims that the term "Zionist" represents Jewish people, and that anti-Zionist Jews like herself oppose the maintenance of Israel as a Jewish-supremacist ethnostate... "Judaism is a religion and Zionism is a political ideology." Former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is running for reelection in an overwhelmingly Democratic district. It's a part of South Florida that faithfully sends her back to Congress every two years. And in part because of her connections, she's a skilled fundraiser. Yet her playbook includes holding "events" inside government buildings in the run up to November. So, it's fair to ask if money talks or swears when it gets mixed with politics, to borrow the words of the poet Bob Dylan. It's also fair to ask if taxpayer money was used for the production of the DWS shindig. That's the takeaway from a recent meeting in Hollywood. Consider: Two prominent national Democrats mounted the dais at Hollywood City Hall on a recent Sunday afternoon to discuss climate change and related policy issues. The Commission Chamber was almost empty, according to a video provided by local gonzo journalist FELDMAN!, who runs Hollywood Beach TV. But his camera caught at least three politicians in attendance. They were: local Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who chaired the meeting, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy, who is seeking a third and final term on Nov. 5. On Sept. 28, Hollywood residents got a mailer showing Wasserman Schultz endorsing Levy's reelection bid. The sparsely attended event happened on Sept. 15, less than two months before the General Election. Levy is running against three candidates, including Catherine "Cat" Uden. She's a former Broward County public-school teacher who works on environmental legislation now. Uden took time off from work to knock on doors up to six hours a day, speaking with residents about unprecedented development, flooding and traffic congestion, among other topics. Eduardo Flores and Peter Hanna are also on the ballot. About 150,000 people live in the coastal city of Hollywood. A city spokeswoman referred questions about the invitation-only meeting to Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz. "That would be a question for the Congresswoman's office as it was her event held at a City facility. It was not a City event," Joann Hussey said. I then asked Hussey if the city footed any of the bill for the Sunday show at City Hall. Hours later, she emailed me to say that I ought to put in a public records request for the answer. According to FELDMAN!, at Hollywood Beach TV, sources tipped him off about the impending meeting several days before it was held. He also got resistance when he contacted the Congresswoman's office for information. But he showed up at Hollywood City Hall on Sept. 15, and was allowed inside. FELDMAN! says he saw city staff operating equipment to broadcast the meeting, possibly on YouTube. The independent reporter broke news of the Sunday City Hall get-together in an online post on Sept. 12. A staffer in the Hollywood office of the Congresswoman confirmed some Hollywood Beach TV information. Michael Liquerman, the staffer, said the meeting was closed to the public but was live-streamed on YouTube. He also took my contact information to give to the communications department in the Congresswoman's Washington, D.C. office. I wanted answers for some follow up questions, including how long did it take to organize the meeting? I also wanted to know why it wasn't open to the public. Equally important, I'm wondering if the Congresswoman will reimburse the city for any costs it incurred to let her run a meeting on city property. Unfortunately, I haven't heard back. And even though the race for Hollywood mayor is non partisan, FELDMAN! says only Democrats and the people they invited were allowed to attend. He also sent me a press release that was apparently written after FELDMAN! started asking questions. The release, from Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz, named fellow South Florida Congressman Jared Moskowitz in connection with the City Hall meeting. So I emailed Moskowitz, who said he didn't attend what the city calls an "event". The up-and-coming Congressman is the son of the late Michael Moskowitz, who was considered a prominent Democratic fundraiser. The presser also said the meeting would start at 1 pm. But a Hollywood friend got an email from a city commissioner 19 minutes after it started, at 1:19 pm. It provided a link to the city's YouTube Channel -- HCTV. So, in other words, why all the secrecy? Why did only some Hollywood residents get the email link after the meeting started? And is it possible political chums Debbie and Josh didn't want supporters of Catherine "Cat" Uden to attend the meeting? After all, she is a well-known advocate who works on environmental legislation. She's also giving her heavily-financed, developer-backed opponent a run for his money. As for FELDMAN!, he wrote this to me in a text message: "I called her Washington, D.C. office when the guy from the Hollywood office wouldn't help me obtain a press invite. Blocking me, a Hollywood resident, from my own City Hall!!!But only a few hours before the event they said I can go." Here is a link to Hollywood Beach TV to watch what FELDMAN! documented on Sept. 15. Prioritize resilience Vote Catherine .Cat. Uden for Mayor of Hollywood on November 5th. Political advertisement paid for an approved by Catherine ... (Image by YouTube, Channel: Cat Uden For Hollywood) Details DMCA Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Does Iran want war? Or is it trying to avoid war? Western officials have long claimed that Iran stands behind instability in the Middle East as it funds Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq, and the Houtis in Yemen. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Monday that Iran does not seek a wider war in the Middle East and that such a conflict would have no winners. "We don't want war. ... We want to live in peace," Pezeshkian told reporters during a visit to New York for the U.N. General Assembly meeting. "We don't wish to be the cause of instability in the region." Pezeshkian called for dialogue to resolve the volatile situation in the Middle East and blamed Israel for stoking tensions and instigating conflict, citing assassinations in Tehran and elsewhere that he said Israel had carried out. Immediately after his inauguration, the visiting political chief of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in an operation in Tehran that was widely attributed to Israel. Iran has vowed vengeance over the killing of Haniyeh. The attack, Pezehskian affirmed, "will not go unanswered," though he cautioned against actions that could be viewed as escalatory on the part of his government as "we do not wish to be the cause of instability in the region" and "everyone loses" if such a war erupts. He argued that Haniyeh's killing and other actions attributed to Israel "were traps laid by Israel in order to cowardly drag us in" to a regional conflict looming over the ongoing war in Gaza. The Iranian president also cast blame on the United States for its repeated promises of peace despite Israel-Hamas negotiations apparently remaining deadlocked. Interestingly, Pezeshkian told reporters that "we are willing to put all of our weapons aside, so long as Israel is willing to do the same". The question is whether this means Iran is willing to shut down its nuclear weapons program, as well as its ballistic missile program - both of which have one purpose only - which is to attack Israel and other western countries. Pezeshkian complained that some countries [the United States and some European countries] have become increasingly involved in regional affairs, asserting that "we cannot have outside actors come in, arm one side to the teeth and prevent the other side from having the means to defend themselves". What this means is that he wants countries to stop arming Israel so that Iran can finally destroy it. But Pezeshkian is smooth. He knows how to say things that sound reasonable. "We know more than anyone else that if a larger war were to erupt in the Middle East, it will not benefit anyone throughout the world. It is Israel that seeks to create this wider conflict," Pezeshkian said. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). INSPIRING VIDEO: We will be free My Take: I learned many things in my nearly five decades of activism as well as being a scientist. Perhaps the most important is that scientific observations on nature and human behaviors help us predict outcomes. For example, it took me years to collect data to summarize symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment in a readable slim book "Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian struggle" (published 2004 ). I explained the two paths available: one based on human rights and international law and the other leads to wars that are not endless but could lead to catastrophic regional and global war. There are no winners in such wars. We know which road governments push for. What people push for and how much they/we succeed in it is up to us. I also learned that no injustice lasts forever and the Palestinian suffering is one of the longest with 8 million refugees and displaced people since 1948. Change is inevitable especially when people push for it (organize, read, know more, struggle, pay a price for activism). I also learned that many of the genocide and holocaust study centers and associations are run by people who challenge genocides with one exception: they support the genocide of Palestinians. I learned that climate, the environment, unfettered capitalism, and militarism are connected to making the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. But I also learned that if we do not work together to stop them (as millions are doing), we are doomed as a global civilization. At the end of September 2023, I sent messages about the ongoing attacks on Al-Aqsa mosque and the continued ethnic cleansing adding: "The above gives the green light to Israeli settlers and soldiers to accelerate their oppression and kill and uproot more Palestinians. It gives the green light to the perpetual liar Netanyahu to spout more lies and racism at the UN but also to simply articulate and graphically show a map erasing Palestine. But Palestine refuses to disappear. The obstacle to fully liquidating us is stubborn resistance (most of it non-armed by the way, see my book). This resistance is emanating from Palestinians and others (including the global movement) despite the attempts to suppress it. We remain hopeful that truth will triumph." B'Tselem also issued a scathing report on the violations ten days before the Gaza Ghetto Uprising. I also showed our achievements in building our oasis of hope/resistance here Outside Perspectives/Media On Palestine: On Lebanon: There is no difference between Hezbollah and Lebanon. Lebanon will be annihilated. It will cease to exist. - Israels Minister of Education From George Galloway, who knows Lebanon well: "I was present in Beirut in 1982 when Isral invaded Lebanon. Neither Hezbollah nor Hamas existed then. It ended in the massacre of thousands of women, children and horses in the Palestinian refugee camps. There were no men. They had sailed for Tunisia by international agreement, the safety of their families guaranteed by the United States. The occupation of Lebanon did not end until 2000 when the Lebanese Resistance drove them from all but the Sheba Farms district. An 18 year reign of terror. The Lebanese will never allow such an occupation to occur again." Media on Lebanon: Stay Human and keep Palestine alive Mazin Qumsiyeh A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home Professor, Founder, and (volunteer) Director Palestine Museum of Natural History Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability Bethlehem University Occupied Palestine facebook pages Personal Institute French This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here. Pentagon expert William Hartung first wandered into TomDispatchin March 2008, less than seven years after this country's Global War(s) on Terror were launched, full-scale disasters that were already costing the American taxpayer a fortune and a half -- or perhaps, given the subject, all too literally an arm and a leg. As he wrote then, "How much, for instance, does one week of George Bush's wars cost? Glad you asked. If we consider the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan together -- which we might as well do, since we and our children and grandchildren will be paying for them together into the distant future -- a conservative, single-week estimate comes to $3.5 billion. Remember, that's per week! By contrast, the whole international community spends less than $400 million per year on the International Atomic Energy Agency, the primary institution for monitoring and preventing the spread of nuclear weapons; that's less than one day's worth of war costs." Only $650 million or so of that weekly sum, he estimated, was "spent on people." So, he wondered, "where does the other nearly $3 billion go?" The answer he offered then: "It goes for goods and services, from tanks and fighter planes to fuel and food. Most of this money ends up in the hands of private companies like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and the former Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown and Root." And knowing about that expense of $3.5 billion a week "and counting" on America's wars, he added sarcastically, "Doesn't that make you feel safer?" Ever since then, Hartung, a Pentagon expert, has focused on this strange reality of ours: no matter how many wars the United States loses, it only pours yet more taxpayer dollars into the Pentagon budget and into the coffers of those giant weapons-making companies of the military-industrial-congressional complex. Even the titles of a few of his pieces over the years catch the grim spirit of his all-too-striking analysis: "There's No Business Like the Arms Business, Weapons 'R' Us (But You'd Never Know It)" (July 2016); "The Urge to Splurge, Why Is It So Hard to Reduce the Pentagon Budget?" (October 2016); "The American Way of War Is a Budget-Breaker, Never Has a Society Spent More for Less" (May 2017); "Merger Mania, The Military-Industrial Complex on Steroids" (July 2019); "America Dominant Again (in Arms Sales), And Again" and Again" And Again" (May 2021); "Fueling the Warfare State, America's $1.4 Trillion 'National Security' Budget Makes Us Ever Less Safe" (July 2022); "Spending Unlimited, The Pentagon's Budget Follies Come at a High Price" (March 2024). And of course, that's just a small dip into the pieces he's written for TomDispatch. Yet, after all these years, what couldn't be more striking today is that, in the same spirit as those older pieces, Hartung focuses (as he so often has) on a different aspect entirely of the Pentagon's distinctly over-funded world, one that, amid all the news coverage in this country, gets little or no attention: how the Pentagon, as he puts it, "goes to school" to enlist American science in the battle to create yet more horrific weaponry. And so it goes, again and again and again. Tom The Pentagon Goes to School The Battle for the Soul of American Science By William D. Hartung The divestment campaigns launched last spring by students protesting Israel's mass slaughter in Gaza brought the issue of the militarization of American higher education back into the spotlight. Of course, financial ties between the Pentagon and American universities are nothing new. As Stuart Leslie has pointed out in his seminal book on the topic, The Cold War and American Science, "In the decade following World War II, the Department of Defense (DOD) became the biggest patron of American science." Admittedly, as civilian institutions like the National Institutes of Health grew larger, the Pentagon's share of federal research and development did decline, but it still remained a source of billions of dollars in funding for university research. And now, Pentagon-funded research is once again on the rise, driven by the DOD's recent focus on developing new technologies like weapons driven by artificial intelligence (AI). Combine that with an intensifying drive to recruit engineering graduates and the forging of partnerships between professors and weapons firms and you have a situation in which many talented technical types could spend their entire careers serving the needs of the warfare state. The only way to head off such a Brave New World would be greater public pushback against the military conquest (so to speak) of America's research and security agendas, in part through resistance by scientists and engineers whose skills are so essential to building the next generation of high-tech weaponry. The Pentagon Goes to School Yes, the Pentagon's funding of universities is indeed rising once again and it goes well beyond the usual suspects like MIT or Johns Hopkins University. In 2022, the most recent year for which full data is available, 14 universities received at least -- and brace yourself for this -- $100 million in Pentagon funding, from Johns Hopkins's astonishing $1.4 billion (no, that is not a typo!) to Colorado State's impressive $100 million. And here's a surprise: two of the universities with the most extensive connections to our weaponry of the future are in Texas: the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) and Texas A&M. In 2020, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and former Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy appeared onstage at a UT-Austin ceremony to commemorate the creation of a robotics lab there, part of a new partnership between the Army Futures Command and the school. "This is ground zero for us in our research for the weapons systems we're going to develop for decades to come," said McCarthy. Not to be outdone, Texas A&M is quietly becoming the Pentagon's base for research on hypersonics -- weapons expected to travel five times the speed of sound. Equipped with a kilometer-long tunnel for testing hypersonic missiles, that school's University Consortium for Applied Hypersonics is explicitly dedicated to outpacing America's global rivals in the development of that next generation military technology. Texas A&M is also part of the team that runs the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the (in)famous New Mexico facility where the first nuclear weapons were developed and tested as part of the Manhattan Project under the direction of Robert Oppenheimer. Other major players include Carnegie Mellon University, a center for Army research on the applications of AI, and Stanford University, which serves as a feeder to California's Silicon Valley firms of all types. That school also runs the Technology Transfer for Defense (TT4D) Program aimed at transitioning academic technologies from the lab to the marketplace and exploring the potential military applications of emerging technology products. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). The new Ford Faults website, launched in August 2024, offers comprehensive insights into over 315,000 consumer complaints and issues reported across 68 Ford vehicle models. Ford Faults Launches New Website to Illuminate Common Vehicle Problems Founded in 1903, Ford Motor Company is a leading innovator in the automotive industry that today has over a century of excellence and has always been famous for making significant contributions to personal and commercial transportation on DIRECTION61:3 CELEBRATES A $100,000 MATCHING GRANT FROM THE MCKINNEY ROTARY CLUB Celebrating Progress Towards $8.5 Million "Launch a Legacy" Capital Campaign McKinney, Texas - September 20, 2024 - Direction61:3 celebrated a key milestone in its "Launch a Legacy" Capital Campaign with a generous $100,000 matching grant from the McKinney Rotary Club. A special check presentation took place on Wednesday, September 4, at 4:00 p.m. on the Direction61:3 main campus, marking a crucial Canberra, ACT - Cash For Cars Canberra is cementing its position as the leading cash-for-cars service in the Canberra region, providing residents with a fast, stress-free, and profitable way to sell unwanted, damaged, or unregistered vehicles. Offering some of the highest payouts in the industry, Cash For Cars Canberra ensures vehicle owners can convert their old or junk cars into cash without the lengthy sales process often associated with private News / National by Staff reporter The recent helicopter crash at Masvingo Airport, which occurred as a presidential chopper was set to fetch President Emmerson Mnangagwa back to Harare, has ignited serious clashes and heightened mutual suspicions between Mnangagwa and Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, according to official sources. The incident has not only fueled political infighting but has also become a focal point in government and ruling Zanu-PF meetings.Following the crash, insiders reveal that tensions have escalated significantly, with Mnangagwa suspecting Chiwenga's involvement. Although Chiwenga was in Bulawayo for separate engagements at the time of the incident, Mnangagwa reportedly believes he should have been present at the President's birthday celebrations at Great Zimbabwe Monuments in Masvingo. The birthday event coincided with the launch of Munhumutapa Day, a symbolic occasion for Mnangagwa, who is seeking to extend his rule to 2030, beyond his constitutional limit of 2028."The issue of the helicopter crash has played out big in government and ruling party meetings after the incident, fueling mutual suspicions and tensions between them," one insider stated. Mnangagwa's frustration is evident as he questions Chiwenga's absence from his birthday celebrations, pointing out that the Vice President has attended events uninvited in the past.Chiwenga, on his part, claims he was not invited, creating a rift that is further complicated by their differing views on the significance of Great Zimbabwe. The Vice President reportedly believes that celebrating birthdays at such a sacred site is inappropriate, highlighting the intertwining of spirituality and politics among Zimbabwe's leaders. "For them, religion and politics have always been intertwined and trade together," the source added.The power struggle between the two leaders has intensified to the point where they reportedly refuse to fly together in a helicopter. Additionally, senior military commanders who typically align with Chiwenga have also shown their support by attending his events instead of Mnangagwa's birthday celebration, indicating a possible shift in loyalty within the military ranks.The Great Zimbabwe venue, revered for its historical and spiritual significance, has further exacerbated the situation. Zanu-PF politicians often seek to leverage religious institutions for political gain, making the perceived desecration of such sacred spaces a serious concern for Chiwenga.Given a series of alarming incidents, including the 2018 Bulawayo bombing, a 2021 helicopter crash in Sandringham, and a bomb scare in Victoria Falls, Mnangagwa's sense of paranoia appears to have deepened. This climate of fear reportedly contributed to his decision not to attend the recent United Nations General Assembly in New York.As tensions mount within Zimbabwe's political landscape, the fallout from the Masvingo helicopter incident continues to loom large, leaving observers questioning the stability of Mnangagwa's administration and the future of Zanu-PF. Q. I am a retired registered nurse, and I find that blood pressures are not taken correctly, whether it is the dentists office, when donating blood, in the family practice office, etc. Practitioners at all levels often fail to follow all guidelines; frequently there are several errors in technique. I often wonder about the point of even measuring blood pressure if it is not done correctly. It is disturbing to think how many people are probably being treated for high blood pressure when it is not even taken correctly in the office of the doctor prescribing the medicine. A. High blood pressure leads to a lot of misery including heart attacks and strokes. Thats why it is critical to measure blood pressure accurately. Here are some guidelines: Patients should be encouraged to empty their bladders before a blood pressure measurement (Hypertension, May 2019). They should be allowed at least 5 minutes to sit quietly in a comfortable chair with their back supported and the arm resting at heart level. The blood pressure cuff must be the right size for the arm. If it is too small, the reading could be falsely elevated. A study of home blood pressure devices reveals that most come with an arm cuff that is too small for many people (Hypertension, Sept. 5, 2024). Taking your blood pressure at home does make sense if you do it properly. You can learn more about measuring and controlling high blood pressure in our eGuide to Blood Pressure Solutions. This online resource is available under the Health eGuides tab at www.PeoplesPharmacy.com. One reader points out why you should measure your own blood pressure: I have 40 years of experience in the medical arena. I am 80 years old, and I take my blood pressure three times a day. I dont believe my blood pressure has ever been taken correctly given all the parameters. My BP is different depending on the time of day. Q. Thank you for writing about the side effects of metformin. I have been on it for at least 15 years, and now I am starting to have trouble with numbness and tingling, usually at night. Horrific leg and foot cramps are depriving me of much-needed sleep. Could metformin be causing these problems? A. Your doctor should be monitoring your vitamin B12 level. Metformin can deplete the body of this crucial nutrient, especially if taken over a long period of time. Symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency include balance problems, weakness, confusion, memory problems, numbness and tingling in hands and feet, burning tongue and depression. Another problem with long-term metformin use is low magnesium (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, June 2024). This could contribute to the nighttime cramps troubling you. Q. I have struggled with itchy scalp. I started using Nizoral shampoo a few years ago. Often, I first wash my hair with Head & Shoulders, then rinse well and shampoo again with Nizoral. This method works well for me to control my itchy scalp. Nizoral is a bit expensive, but its a great product for dandruff. A. You have created an innovative approach to dandruff. Nizoral was once a prescription-only shampoo, but it has been available for years as an over-the-counter product. The active ingredient, ketoconazole, is a powerful anti-fungal compound that helps control the Malassezia yeast that contributes to itchy flakes. Adding another anti-dandruff ingredient, zinc pyrithione from Head & Shoulders, probably creates an especially effective anti-dandruff treatment. * * * In their column, Joe and Teresa Graedon answer letters from readers. Write to them in care of King Features, 628 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803, or email them via their website: www.PeoplesPharmacy.com. Their newest book is Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them. (c) 2024 King Features Syndicate, Inc. How do you judge the quality of a workplace? Ask the experts: The employees. For the 13th year, employee survey firm Energage has partnered with The Oregonian/OregonLive to determine the best places to work in Oregon and southwestern Washington. Its not a popularity contest, and not everyone gets a blue ribbon. A select few are honored based on a scientific survey process. The FBI has agreed to pay more than $22 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging female recruits were singled out for dismissal in training and routinely harassed by instructors with sexually charged comments about their breast size, false allegations of infidelity and the need to take contraception to control their moods. The payout to 34 women dismissed from the FBIs training academy in Quantico, Virginia, still subject to approval by a federal judge, would rank among the biggest lawsuit settlements in the history of the bureau. These problems are pervasive within the FBI and the attitudes that created them were learned at the academy, said David J. Shaffer, the lawyer for the women. This case will make important major changes in these attitudes. Filed in 2019, the lawsuit contends that female recruits had been subjected to a hostile working environment in which they were judged more harshly than their male peers and excessively targeted for correction and dismissal in tactical situations for perceived lack of judgment and subjective suitability criteria. One of the women said she was admonished to smile more and subjected to repeated sexual advances. Another said that an instructor leered at her and stared at her chest, sometimes while licking his lips. Through passive tolerance, the lawsuit said, the FBI has intentionally allowed the Good Old Boy Network to flourish unrestrained at the FBI Academy. The FBI did not immediately comment on the settlement. Many of the allegations in the lawsuit were confirmed in a 2022 internal watchdog report. Men still make up some three-quarters of the bureaus special agents despite efforts to diversify in recent years. Among the provisions of the settlement was that the FBI would offer the plaintiffs a chance to continue training toward becoming agents and guaranteed placement, for those who pass, in one of their top three preferred field offices. The bureau also has agreed to a review by outside experts who will work to ensure that female recruits face a fair evaluation process. Some of the women have moved on to other careers, Shaffer said, adding the FBI has deprived itself of some genuinely exceptional talent. Paula Bird, a lead plaintiff in the case who is now a lawyer, said that while the experience has been disillusioning, she was pleased that this settlement will bring a measure of justice to the women who were unfairly dismissed. The lawsuit came amid a flurry of sexual misconduct claims within the bureau that included several against senior FBI officials who quietly left the bureau with full benefits even after allegations against them were substantiated. Those claims ranged from unwanted touching and advances to coercion. In one case, an FBI assistant director retired after the inspector generals office concluded he harassed a female subordinate and sought an improper relationship with her. -- The Associated Press The munk-yelan saxali marketplace, a Northeast Portland service hub created by the Native American Youth and Family Center, was bathed in orange Sunday in preparation for Orange Shirt Day on Sept. 30. Orange art, jewelry, clothing and decor adorned the small room, a collaboration among Native people from various communities coming together to honor those affected by residential schools. These schools, established by churches and governments in the U.S. and Canada in the early 1800s, operated for more than 150 years with the aim of assimilating Native children into the dominant culture. This often involved forcibly converting children to Christianity, suppressing their languages and traditions and confiscating culturally significant items. The day of remembrance, also known as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, was established in Canada in 2013 and inspired by the story of elder Phyllis Webstad, a survivor of the Canadian residential school system. When she was sent to residential school, she was wearing an orange shirt that her grandma had bought for her, said S.A. Lawrence-Welch (Nehiyaw/Metis), Native marketplace and retail coordinator for NAYA. When in the school, all the kids were stripped down and given different clothes, and she didnt really understand why she couldnt keep this orange shirt. So, for her, it was a symbol of people just not caring about her or her feelings. While the day is not a federal holiday in the United States, Lawrence-Welch said that acknowledging history is an important step in the right direction. On Sunday, Sept. 29, Naya's community hub was flooded in orange to honor the thousands of children affected by residential boarding schools in Canada and the U.S.Chiara Profenna These small movements, these small gestures, are what starts the cycle, said Lawrence-Welch. We need those catalysts to help light that spark to get that fire burning. Here in the United States, its just trickling down right now. Once the fire starts burning, thats when we can start carrying a larger message to both the state and government. The event embodied the sentiment that every child matters, remembering the thousands of children buried in unmarked graves across Canada and the United States. In the U.S. alone, records show that over 350 residential schools once operated. Were not that far from Chemawa, which is the residential school thats just outside of Portland, said Lawrence-Welch. People dont even know that exists. Its a school with a graveyard, and no school should have a graveyard attached. Theres a lot of students that didnt make it home. At the event, Native vendors sold beaded jewelry, art prints and other handmade goods. Tables were set up for community art projects, allowing attendees to create necklaces, spirit paintings, basket weavings and quilt squares, which would come together in a collective community quilt. A medicine table also offered tobacco and cedar for people to use in prayer. A necklace making station was set up at the event for attendees to honor the people in their lives who are survivors or didn't make it home from residential schools.Chiara Profenna This really is a way for people to come together, celebrate our resilience, celebrate our cultures, respectively, from all of our nations and really create a moment of beauty together, said Lawrence-Welch. Many of the attendees and vendors had personal connections to the history of the residential boarding schools, including Oglala Lakota elder Adrian Larvie, who was selling digital prints of his art. As a child, Larvie spent nearly four years in a residential school in South Dakota, where he both witnessed and endured the widespread abuse inflicted upon the Native children forced to assimilate. We resisted early in our lives, Larvie said. We knew, in our little minds, we knew that it was some kind of a prison. When Larvie arrived at the boarding school, just shy of 5 years old, he didnt speak a word of English, which helped him get through the experience, he said. All I knew was Lakota, Larvie said. And the ones that really spoke the language, they got it worse. For Larvie, the journey to healing spanned decades. His time in the residential school left deep emotional scars, including post-traumatic stress disorder and a long battle with addiction, which he described as an attempt to numb the painful memories of his experiences. But through his art, Larvie found a path to healing. His work, which he displayed at the event, is a testament to the resilience of Native communities. Depicting Native people and symbols, his colorful prints are a source of pride. I dont think theres one Native person between Canada and the United States that hasnt been touched by forced assimilation efforts from the church and state, said Lawrence-Welch. This is a place where people who share that common memory can come together and feel safe. The effects of intergenerational trauma caused by the residential school system are still felt by Native families today, making Orange Shirt Day a significant moment for the community. For Larvie, its not just about remembrance, but safeguarding the future. All that we do is protect those grandchildren from that whole history being started over again, Larvie said. We cant let that start over again. Chiara Profenna covers religion, faith and cultural connections. Reach her at 503-221-4327; cprofenna@oregonian.com or @chiara_profenna The Oregonian/OregonLive receives support from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust to bring readers stories on religion, faith and cultural connections in Oregon. The Oregonian/OregonLive is solely responsible for all content. The general election is fast approaching and Oregon journalists are working hard to inform voters. The Oregonian/OregonLives politics team is tackling everything from congressional races to local measures. A particular focus this fall is Portlands new ranked-choice voting system. Jamie Goldberg, who with Betsy Hammond leads the newsrooms politics team, joined Editor Therese Bottomly for a conversation about all of the information were providing prospective voters as we approach the date when ballots go out. --We cover key dates to watch for --We talk about recent concerns regarding ineligible voters --We highlight various tools on OregonLive for readers to find out more Find all of our general election 2024 coverage at oregonlive.com/election-preview All of our coverage on Portlands new system is at oregonlive.com/topic/portland-government The Oregonian/OregonLives interactive map for Portland voters is here. Our video explainer is at here, using donuts to explain the new system. Listen to the full conversation: Hillsboro voters this fall will advise the city whether to add fluoride to the public water supply, weighing in on a mineral thats widely used to strengthen tooth enamel but that opponents say can hurt childrens neurological development. Hillsboro pediatrician Beth Mossman spearheaded the effort to have city residents vote on the addition of fluoride. In June, the City Council approved placing non-binding advisory Measure 34-338 on the November ballot to ask for the communitys opinion on fluoridation. The measure has brought the fight over fluorides health impacts to the forefront. Arguments largely mirror those that erupted in Portland 11 years ago when a similar, highly controversial proposal appeared on the ballot. Voters ultimately rejected it 61% to 39%. Fluoride is added to drinking water in most U.S. water systems to help protect peoples teeth from decay. About 15,000 Hillsboro residents already receive fluoridated water from the Tualatin Valley Water District, which supplies areas east of Cornelius Pass Road and north of U.S. 26. But the remaining 92,000 city residents receive their water from the Hillsboro Water Department, which does not fluoridate the water. Should Measure 34-338 pass, Hillsboro Water Department Director Niki Iverson said her agency would follow the non-binding guidance and fluoridate the rest of the citys water supply, unless regulations change or costs skyrocket. The department would spread the anticipated costs of around $4 million over at least four to five years and delay non-urgent projects to avoid raising rates, Iverson said. In addition to providing water to most Hillsboro residents, the department also serves the communities of Gaston and Cornelius. Organizations including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consider fluoride safe at low concentrations, and in most of the U.S., its added to drinking water at a concentration of 0.7 milligrams per liter. A notable exception is the city of Portland, the largest city in the U.S. without fluoridated water. Opponents of fluoridation point to a growing body of research showing that fluoride can have adverse effects on childrens IQ. And the Hillsboro vote is coming just as anti-fluoridation advocates notched a major win: A federal judge in San Francisco ruled Tuesday that the Environmental Protection Agency must further regulate fluoride in drinking water out of concerns about intellectual development. In Mossmans eyes, adding fluoride to Hillsboros water is crucial for the tooth health of local children, including her patients. Her advocacy group, Healthy Teeth Hillsboro, has raised about $6,500 to support the measure, campaign finance records show. Last summer, Mossman saw two young children whose teeth had deteriorated to the point that their parents had to sell their car to pay for dental care. They lived less than a mile from homes that receive fluoridated water, she said. And if theyd lived across that border, she thinks their teeth wouldnt have deteriorated so much. So I got fired up, Mossman said. I went to the City Council, and I said, Please help me with this. Theres no reason Hillsboro should not be fluoridated. To Mossman, opposing fluoridation is akin to embracing the anti-vaccine movement. Opponents of the measure, however, argue that fluoride poses too great a health risk to countenance. What level of hazardous material do we want to put into any water supply? asked Hillsboro resident Matthew Sztelle, the director of advocacy group Clean Water Hillsboro, which has raised about $5,500 to oppose the measure. Staci Whitman, a pediatric dentist in Portland who works with Hillsboro patients, agreed. She used to support fluoridation, but more than 10 years ago, she dove into the research and changed her mind. She no longer prescribes fluoride supplements for kids drinking non-fluoridated water, she said, because she doesnt think the benefits of fluoride for teeth outweigh concerns that it could reduce childrens IQ. Brain health trumps teeth, Whitman said. No one disputes that at high concentrations, fluoride can have adverse health effects. High, sustained exposure can lead to skeletal fluorosis, a serious bone disease. And a recent meta-analysis by the federal governments National Toxicology Program found an association between higher fluoride levels of 1.5 milligrams per liter or above and lower IQ. It noted, however, that it had insufficient data to draw conclusions about the impacts of drinking fluoridated water at 0.7 milligrams per liter. Jessica Steier, a Massachusetts-based public health scientist and founder of the podcast Unbiased Science, pointed out that the government report looked at fluoride levels significantly higher than whats added to the water in the U.S. She said she does not consider standard fluoridated water a cause for concern: There is absolutely no reason to panic. But Ashley Malin, who researches the effect of fluoride exposure on neurodevelopmental outcomes at the University of Florida, said adverse effects can occur even at 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter. In particular, studies in areas with typical levels of water fluoridation have found associations between higher fluoride levels in pregnant women and lower IQ for their children, she said. There are growing concerns now, particularly about the impacts on child development, Malin said. People are becoming more cautious. Moreover, Malin said research generally shows that fluoride is best at preventing tooth decay when applied topically for example, via a fluoridated toothpaste. She described the evidence for benefits from ingesting fluoride as weaker, though the American Dental Association supports the use of both topically applied and ingested fluoride. Steier said the data are mixed, but pointed to research, including a 2018 federal government-funded study, that showed ingesting fluoride does provide benefits for children. Opponents of fluoridation in Hillsboro argue that taking fluoride should be a question of choice. If individual people want to use fluoride for tooth health, they should take supplements or use fluoride toothpaste rather than putting it in the entire citys drinking water, said Sztelle of Clean Water Hillsboro. But to Mossman, leaving fluoride out of the water supply poses an equity issue. Wealthy parents might be able to take their children to the dentist regularly and provide them with fluoride supplements, but lower-income parents working multiple jobs cant always afford preventative dental care or ensure their kids have access to fluoride. Fluoridation has a long history of contention in the Portland area. Portland voted to fluoridate in 1978 but overturned that vote two years later. In Washington County, Beaverton, Forest Grove and the Tualatin Valley Water District minus the Metzger Water District fluoridate their water. Hillsboro, meanwhile, hasnt voted on fluoridation since the 1950s. In 1952, residents voted in favor of adding fluoride before rejecting that decision in another vote just one year later. A community group pushed for fluoridation in 2002, but faced opposition. No vote took place then, Iverson said, and shes not sure how public sentiment has shifted over the past 70 years. We dont want to make a shift without really getting that information back from the community, Iverson said. Aviva Bechky covers politics and education for The Oregonian/OregonLive. They can be reached at abechky@oregonian.com or on X at @avivabechky. Our journalism needs your support. Subscribe today to OregonLive.com. JERUSALEM (AP) Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon killed dozens of people on Sunday as the Hezbollah militant group sustained a string of deadly blows to its command structure, including the killing of its overall leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Hezbollah confirmed Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of the militant groups Central Council, was killed Saturday, making him the seventh senior Hezbollah leader slain in Israeli strikes in a little over a week. They include founding members who had evaded death or detention for decades. Hezbollah had earlier confirmed that Ali Karaki, another senior commander, died in Fridays strike that killed Nasrallah. Israel says at least 20 other Hezbollah militants were killed, including one in charge of Nasrallahs security detail. Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes and drones carried out deadly strikes across Lebanon on Sunday. Two strikes near the southern city of Sidon, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Beirut, killed at least 32 people, the Lebanese health ministry said. Separately, Israeli strikes in the northern province of Baalbek Hermel killed 21 people and injured at least 47. The Israeli military said it also carried out another targeted strike on Beirut, but did not immediately provide details. Lebanese media reported dozens of strikes in the central, eastern and western Bekaa and in the south, besides strikes on Beirut. The strikes have targeted buildings where civilians were living and the death toll was expected to rise. In a video of a strike in Sidon, verified by The Associated Press, a building swayed before collapsing as neighbors filmed. One TV station called on viewers to pray for a family caught under the rubble, posting their pictures, as rescuers failed to reach them. The Lebanese health ministry reported at least 14 medics were killed over two days in the south. President Joe Biden said Sunday he would speak soon with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and believes that an all-out war in the Middle East must be avoided. It has to be, Biden told reporters at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware as he boarded Air Force One for Washington, though he didnt say when he would call the Israeli leader. Meanwhile, wreckage from the strike on Friday that killed Nasrallah was still smoldering. AP journalists saw smoke over the rubble as people flocked to the site, some to check on what was left of their homes and others to pay respects, pray or simply to see the destruction. In response to the dramatic escalation in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, Hezbollah significantly increased its attacks in the past week, from several dozen to several hundred daily, the Israeli military said. The attacks injured several people and caused damage, but most of the rockets and drones were intercepted by Israels air defense systems or fell in open areas. The army says its strikes have degraded Hezbollahs capabilities and the number of launches would be much higher if Hezbollah had not been hit. Israel strikes Houthi targets in Yemen Also on Sunday, the Israeli military said dozens of its aircraft struck Houthi targets in Yemen in response to a recent attack on Israel. The military said it targeted power plants and sea port facilities in the city of Hodeida. The Houthis launched a ballistic missile attack on Ben Gurion airport on Saturday when Netanyahu was arriving. The Houthi media office said the Israeli strikes hit the Hodeida and Rass Issa ports, along with two power plants in Hodeida city, a stronghold for the Iranian-backed rebels. The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the strikes killed four people and wounded 40 others. The Houthis claimed they took precautionary measures ahead of the strikes, emptying oil storages in the ports, according to Nasruddin Ammer, deputy director of the Houthi media office. He said in a post on X that the strikes wont stop the rebels attacks on shipping routes and on Israel. U.S. warns Hezbollah will work quickly to rebuild Meanwhile, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Israels airstrikes in Lebanon had wiped out Hezbollahs command structure, but he warned the group will work quickly to rebuild it. I think people are safer without him walking around, Kirby said of Nasrallah. But they will try to recover. Were watching to see what they do to try to fill this leadership vacuum. Its going to be tough. Much of their command structure has now been wiped out. Speaking on CNNs State of the Union, Kirby sidestepped questions about whether the Biden administration agrees with how the Israelis are targeting Hezbollah leaders. The White House continues to call on Israel and Hezbollah to agree to a 21-day temporary cease-fire floated by the U.S., France and other countries as world leaders gathered for the U.N. General Assembly last week. Netanyahu adds former rival to his Cabinet Netanyahu on Sunday appointed a former rival, Gideon Saar, to his Cabinet. The move expands Netanyahus governing coalition and helps entrench the Israeli leader in office. Under their agreement, Netanyahu said Saar would be given a spot in the Security Cabinet, the body that oversees management of the ongoing war. Saar had hoped to replace Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, another rival of Netanyahus. But a deal to become defense minister fell through after fighting intensified with Hezbollah. Airstrikes drive thousands from homes in Lebanon Earlier this month, Hezbollah was also targeted by a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies that was widely blamed on Israel. A wave of Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon have killed more than 1,030 people including 156 women and 87 children in less than two weeks, according to Lebanons Health Ministry. Hundreds of thousands of people have been driven from their homes in Lebanon by the latest strikes. The government estimates around 250,000 are in shelters, with three to four times as many staying with friends or relatives, or camping out on the streets. Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group and political party backed by Iran, Israels chief regional rival, rose to regional prominence after fighting a devastating monthlong war with Israel in 2006 that ended in a draw. Kaouk was a veteran member of Hezbollah going back to the 1980s and served as Hezbollahs military commander in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war with Israel. The United States announced sanctions against him in 2020. Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel after Hamas Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies that consider themselves part of an Iran-backed Axis of Resistance against Israel. The conflict has steadily ratcheted up to the brink of all-out war, raising fears of a region-wide conflagration. Israel says it is determined to return some 60,000 of its citizens to communities in the north that were evacuated nearly a year ago. Hezbollah has said it will only halt its rocket fire if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, which has proven elusive despite months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt. News / National by Staff reporter A significant majority of Zimbabweans, six out of ten, believe that elections, political violence, and intimidation are the greatest threats to peace in the country, according to a new report by ZimRights. The report highlights how elections have left deep scars among citizens, with concerns about security, safety, and fairness continuing to plague Zimbabwe's political landscape.The ruling Zanu-PF party has long faced accusations of using intimidation tactics to sway elections in its favor, charges it consistently denies. Nonetheless, the 2023-24 State of Peace report by ZimRights underscores the persistence of these perceptions among Zimbabweans."There were striking similarities between the threats to peace identified in 2022 and those in 2023, with drought and health-related challenges further exacerbating these issues, worsening living conditions for many citizens," the report noted.The survey conducted across the country found that 60% of Zimbabweans view elections, political violence, and intimidation as the biggest threats to peace, while 35% pointed to social and economic challenges, including corruption. A smaller percentage highlighted the lack of social services and rising crime as factors that threaten peace.The sense of insecurity among citizens is stark. According to the survey, 80% of respondents reported feeling either "unsafe and insecure" or "very unsafe and unsettled." Only 17% of respondents indicated they felt "safe and at peace" or "very safe," revealing widespread anxiety across the population.The report also showed that 65.52% of respondents said they do not feel safe from physical harm or violence in their daily lives. Similarly, 68.82% said they feel economically insecure, and 70.97% expressed concerns about the safety of their land and property.A staggering 77.42% of citizens expressed distrust in the government's ability to protect them from harm, with only 6.99% stating they had trust in the authorities. Furthermore, 89.19% believed that people in their community are not treated equally and do not receive equal protection under the law."These damning statistics paint a stark picture, revealing that many Zimbabweans remain trapped in a state of perpetual insecurity," ZimRights stated in the report.The report also underscored how this environment of fear and insecurity significantly undermines citizens' ability to exercise fundamental rights, such as the right to vote. ZimRights argued that this insecurity is deliberately perpetuated by the country's ruling elite to manipulate the populace and undermine free political choices."No meaningful security sector reforms were implemented to end partisan policing and the selective application of the law. This saw continued judicial harassment of political opposition members, activists, and citizens," the report added, questioning the independence and impartiality of the judiciary and its ability to provide equal protection under the law.The State of Peace report serves as a sobering reminder of the enduring challenges Zimbabwe faces, particularly as the nation grapples with its political and economic future. If you've read this far, you are as invested in this city and campus as we are. That's why we are asking you to invest in us. Since 1916, the Daily has served the Norman and OU communities with free independent journalism, with all decisions made locally with no administrative, governmental or corporate influence. We provide Norman with the city's largest reporting staff, drawn from one of the nation's top journalism colleges. Our coverage is routinely honored at state and national levels. And we're advised by a veteran professional staff with a mission to help us build on our legacy as a launching pad for media professionals. OU students pay about $14 in annual fees that help support the Daily. If you find value in our work and are not a student, please consider matching or exceeding that with a one-time or recurring donation. In an era when subscriptions to paywalled news organizations routinely exceed $100 annually, grassroots support from readers like you can collectively make a transformative difference in our organization. A Utah mother of two battling terminal cancer has raised more than $900,000 to plan for her funeral and the trust fund of her children. Erika Diarte-Carr, 30, is a single mother to Jeremiah, 7, and Aaliyah, 5. The Utah resident initially set up a GoFundMe campaign with a goal of $5,000 to cover a funeral service. Over 33,000 donors have banded together for the cause. As of Sept. 29, Diarte-Carr has raised $980,562. The donations will be put into a trust fund for her two children. Getting the Diagnosis On May 7, 2022, Diarte-Carr walked into the emergency room to get treatment for a normal shoulder injury. During surgery, doctors learned she had Stage 4 small cell lung carcinoma, a rare cancer. The shoulder pain was caused by the cancer, which had already metastasized to other parts of her body, including the skeletal system. Her condition improved following treatment. However, she was diagnosed with Cushing's Syndrome in January 2024. Cushing's is a rare hormonal disorder where the body makes too much cortisol or is exposed to too much cortisol. This disorder affects only 40 to 70 people out of every one million, per the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Some of its symptoms include weight gain and high blood pressure. Cushing's can be fatal if left untreated. Stopping Treatments Following Cushing's diagnosis, Diarte-Carr suffered numerous health issues, including losing the ability to walk. She restarted treatment on Sept. 18 but was later told she only has a life expectancy of only three months. Diarte-Carr has since stopped treatment, choosing instead to spend her time with her children. She is now planning her own funeral. "I never expected to have a big funeral service or a lot of people reach out and help me. With the way it's gone, I'm just in shock ... just very grateful for everybody and everything that's been there," she told ABC4. She added that she set up the GoFundMe campaign after her illness left her unable to work for months. Russian individuals who refused to bear children could soon be fined thousands of dollars in a new law making its way through the parliament. The bill is part of Russia's effort to combat its declinining population rate. Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the State Duma and close ally of President Vladimir Putin, revealed the proposal in a Telegram message, adding that legislators are considering completely outlawing a child-free lifestyle. "We have begun to consider a bill banning the propaganda of conscious refusal to have children," he wrote, per translations via Google Translate. "A friendly and large family is the basis of a strong state," Volodin added. Specific Provisions The new bill proposes to fine individuals refusing to have children at least 400,000 rubles or $4,354. This could increase to $8,639 if the person discussing a "childless lifestyle" is an official. The bill will also ban the dissemination of any material that encourages people to live a child-free lifestyle. This includes internet materials, movies, or advertising. The fines imposed on individuals caught sharing these materials will range from $4,000 to nearly $9,000. Companies that disseminate information encouraging "childlessness" will be fined $53,906. READ ALSO : 5 Things to Never Say to a Person Struggling With Infertility The fines are similar to those put in place as part of the country's anti-LGBTQ+ law. That bill, which passed in 2022, criminalized the promotion of materials depicting "non-traditional sexual relations." Behind the Ban In the Telegram message, Volodin noted that childless lifestyles undermined could be contributing to Russia's low birth rate. The country recorded a historically low birthrate in the first six months of 2024, with only 599,600 children born in that period, the New York Post reported. Russia's population is forecasted to shrink by half by 2100, per Business Insider. That report also said the Russia-Ukraine war has further worsened the country's problem with its declining population. The ban also follows other efforts by the parliament to increase its population, including giving one-time incentives to Russian mothers with 10 or more children and changing workplace Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to whether or not a female employee is pregnant. Additionally, employers were also encouraged to offer workers to have sexual intercourse during lunch breaks. A large share of children and teens under 18 who become victims of sexual assault crimes meet their perpetrators online through social media. That is according to a new retrospective study titled "Social Media Facilitated Sexual Assault in Children," the findings of which were presented during the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 2024 National Conference & Exhibition. Researchers evaluated children aged 10 to 18 who received treatment for sexual assault at the Rady Children's Hospital Chadwick Center for Children and Families---a hospital in California---between 2018 and 2023. The study defines "social media-facilitated sexual assault" as cases where the victims and the perpetrators used social media to communicate. Study Finds Children Fall Victim to Online Sexual Assault The study found that 7% of children and teens treated for sexual assault at the hospital during the period analyzed met their perpetrators online. The study looked further into victims who were not related to their perpetrators and found that the share of sexual assault cases increased to 12%. On average, the victims analyzed in the study were aged 13. At least 89% of the sexual assault victims were females, while 13% were males. In contrast, 80% of perpetrators were adult men. Moreover, 60% of the patients analyzed were related to their perpetrator. While there is no data available yet, a follow-up research was conducted by lead study author Dr. Shalon Nienow found that the share of sexual assault cases where the child met their perpetrator online has significantly risen, per CNN. Multiple online platforms were reported. However, Instagram and Snapchat were the most widely used social media platform among the children. Similar Studies on Other Forms of Sexual Assault The retrospective study is not the first to attribute a rise in sexual assaults of children to social media. A separate 2023 research conducted by Voice of Children and KNH Germany found that 38.6% of girls and 32.3% of boys received sexual calls and messages through social media. Furthermore, the study found that 34.1% of girls received inappropriate photos while 6.8% suffered other forms of online harassment and exploitation. Among boys, 29.2% received indecent photos and 6.2% suffered other forms of abuse and exploitation. News / Religion by Gideon Madzikatidze recently in Chipinge The St Luke's Apostolic Ejiwel Jekenishen Church leader, Arch-Bishop (Dr) Phillip Pferedzai has urged indigenous churches to ensure inclusivity of women and girls to complement development amongst communities throughout the country.Speaking during the official opening of the Women's Assembly offices at their Maunganidze headquarters, Dr Pferedzai has commended women for their commitment to prove that they have the capacity to initiate successful projects without close supervision and monitoring from their male counterparts."This state of the art property has been spearheaded by women without supervision or monitoring from their male counterparts. As the church, we have realised that women and girls have the capacity to transform their respective communities on a condition that they are granted permission to contribute towards development," Arch-Bishop Pferedzai said."Resources were solely mobilised from their coffers as Women's Assembly. Our duty was just to observe and they have proven that without their commitment and involvement in life-changing and empowerment projects, we realise stunted growth amongst communities and absolute failure," Arch-Bishop Pferedzai added."As indigenous churches, let us give or empower women and girls to take the lead in all projects or infrastructure-related initiatives. Let us put women and girls in front to realise further development of our communities," Arch-Bishop Pferedzai said.While addressing thousands who were gathered during the same occasion, Mr Charles Maunganidze who is the local village head has expressed his gratitude following the church's contribution towards community transformation."These infrastructures like the one commissioned today helps in unlocking value for our communities. Through these developments, dignity will be added and it attracts development of other related infrastructure," Maunganidze said."When the church empowers women and girls, it helps in reducing drugs and substance abuse and uptake since they have natural expertise in always bringing excellent results," Maunganidze remarks.Meanwhile, Rumbidzai Magweregwede who is the representative and leader of Women's Assembly (under St Luke's Apostolic Ejiwel Jekenishen church has applauded the government of Zimbabwe for its mantra of leaving no one and no place behind which gave them confidence to contribute towards the development of their localities."We gained confidence from the Zimbabwean government's mantra of leaving no one and no place behind. We also realised from the First Lady, Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa who works around the clock in her quest to ensure women and girls are fully empowered," Magweregwede said."It is through some of the skills which we acquired from her Angel of Hope Foundation where we realised that our involvement in community development will complement the country to attain an upper middle income economy by the year 2030," Magweregwede added."We also express our gratitude to the Arch-Bishop who gave us an opportunity to fully participate in the development of our communities independently," Magweregwede further remarks."We need girls to learn from these developments and make sure that they complement where we left since they would ensure Women's Assembly legacy continues when we retire or when they assume church developmental duties or assignments," Magweregwede said.Despite the fact that there had been significant strides in promoting gender equality and womens empowerment, there is still much work to be done to create an enabling environment for women to thrive in the economy.Zimbabwe was and is still implementing programmes to mainstream women in the key economic sectors including mining, agriculture (farming), trade, tourism, among others.Through mining, Zimbabwe has seen legislative and policy reforms that had led to the opening up of the sector, thereby allowing entry of women into small-scale miners.Women throughout the country also played a pivotal role in economic development through the manufacturing of products such as clothing, leather products, furniture and baskets among others A new monitor might be just what you need to take your gaming setup to the next level and nows a good time to make that upgrade because Samsungs fast Odyssey Neo G8 monitor is on sale for $800 on Amazon right now, a $500 drop from its $1,300 MSRP. This 32-inch monitor is sleek and stylish so its going to look great no matter what desk you have, but its also powered by impressive tech. The 1000R curved screen wraps the screen around your field of vision for maximum immersion, bringing the 4K (2160p) resolution to life. The distraction-free matte screen is also great for focus. But the real clincher here is that the Odyssey Neo G8 is built for gamers. It delivers an impressively fast 240Hz refresh rate and 1ms (GtG) response time for smooth and responsive gameplay, which makes all the different in action-heavy games at high frame rates. It also supports both AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync for the ultimate gaming experience. While we havent reviewed this exact model, Amazon buyers praise the monitors beautiful display and amazing colors. The 4K resolution is also appreciated for its crisp and clear visuals. This is one of the best 4K gaming monitors at this price, so get the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 for $800 on Amazon while you can. Save $500 on Samsung's fast 4K gaming monitor Raspberry Pi, in collaboration with Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation, just launched an AI-powered camera module called the Raspberry Pi AI Camera. The module is based on Sonys IMX500 image sensor with an integrated AI accelerator, which means it can do AI-based image processing directly on a Raspberry Pi device without any external processors. The IMX500 image sensor is capable of 12MP images and has two modes: a larger 40563040 resolution at 10 FPS and a smaller 20281520 resolution at 30 FPS. The camera itself has a 78-degree field of view with a manually adjustable focus. The Raspberry Pi AI Camera module is compatible with all Raspberry Pi models (including the Raspberry Pi Zero) via Raspberry Pis camera ribbon cable. You can buy it now for $70 at authorized retailers. Note: If you have a Raspberry Pi 5, you should consider getting the Raspberry Pi AI Kit that was released back in June instead. (The AI Kit is more performant but only works with Raspberry Pi 5, whereas the AI Camera is smaller, cheaper, and more broadly compatible.) In the vibrant landscape of Ghanas industrial sector, the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) stands out as a key arbiter of excellence, honoring companies that exemplify outstanding marketing strategies and innovation. For 2023, B5 Plus Limited has been distinguished with the prestigious title of Marketing Oriented Product of the Year in the Manufacturing category. This accolade highlights B5 Pluss exceptional marketing acumen and strategic vision in the steel manufacturing industry. Company Overview: Established in 2002 by the visionary Chairman Mr. Mukesh Thakwani, B5 Plus Limited has become a pivotal player in Ghanas steel manufacturing sector. Headquartered in Accra, the company specializes in producing high-quality steel products tailored to a wide range of industrial and construction applications. B5 Pluss journey from its early days to becoming one of Africas largest steel manufacturing facilities in Larkpleku Village, Prampramunder the governments 1D1F initiativedemonstrates its commitment to industrial advancement and local development. The facility boasts cutting-edge units including a Rolling Mill, Steel Melting Shop (SMS), PEB Manufacturing, Batching Plant, Oxygen Plant, Tube Mill Factory, Block Factory, Aluminium and Trailer Manufacturing units, Crane Girders, and Weighing Scales. Innovative Marketing Approaches: B5 Plus Limited has excelled in leveraging innovative marketing strategies to enhance its market presence and customer engagement. By embracing advanced digital tools, data-driven insights, and targeted campaigns, B5 Plus has successfully positioned its products and services as industry benchmarks, setting new standards for marketing effectiveness in the manufacturing sector. Commitment to Quality: Quality remains a cornerstone of B5 Pluss operations. Rigorous quality control measures throughout the production process ensure that the company delivers superior steel products that consistently meet and exceed client expectations, reinforcing its reputation as a leader in quality within the steel manufacturing industry. Sustainability Initiatives: B5 Plus Limited is dedicated to sustainability through energy-efficient practices, waste reduction strategies, and eco-friendly packaging. These efforts reflect the company's commitment to environmental responsibility and sustainable development. Community Impact: Beyond its business achievements, B5 Plus is deeply invested in supporting local communities through initiatives in education, healthcare, and infrastructure development. By engaging with stakeholders, B5 Plus fosters socioeconomic growth and community empowerment. Conclusion: Receiving the CIMG Marketing Oriented Product of the Year 2023 award underscores B5 Plus Limiteds exceptional marketing prowess and strategic vision. This recognition celebrates the companys innovative approach, commitment to quality, and impactful community initiatives. It also reaffirms B5 Pluss influential role in shaping the future of steel manufacturing in Ghana and beyond. B5 Plus Limited: Celebrated as CIMG Marketing Oriented Product of the Year 2023 Introduction: In the vibrant and ever-evolving industrial landscape of Ghana, the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) stands as a prestigious authority, recognizing companies that exemplify exceptional marketing innovation and strategic excellence. For 2023, B5 Plus Limited has been honored with the coveted title of Marketing Oriented Product of the Year in the Manufacturing category. This esteemed accolade not only highlights B5 Pluss outstanding marketing expertise but also underscores its strategic brilliance within the competitive realm of steel manufacturing. Company Overview: Since its inception in 2002, founded by the visionary Chairman Mr. Mukesh Thakwani, B5 Plus Limited has grown into a cornerstone of Ghanas steel manufacturing sector. Headquartered in Accra, the company has established itself as a leading producer of high-quality steel products, catering to a diverse range of industrial and construction needs. B5 Pluss journey from its early beginnings to becoming one of Africas largest steel manufacturing powerhouses is marked by its state-of-the-art facility in Larkpleku Village, Prampraman impressive milestone under the governments 1D1F initiative. The companys sprawling facility features cutting-edge production units, including a Rolling Mill, Steel Melting Shop (SMS), PEB Manufacturing, Batching Plant, Oxygen Plant, Tube Mill Factory, Block Factory, Aluminium and Trailer Manufacturing units, Crane Girders, and Weighing Scales. Each unit reflects B5 Pluss dedication to technological advancement and operational excellence. Innovative Marketing Approaches: B5 Plus Limited has redefined marketing within the steel manufacturing sector through its creative and forward-thinking strategies. By embracing advanced digital tools, data-driven insights, and targeted marketing campaigns, B5 Plus has effectively enhanced its market presence and engaged customers in meaningful ways. The companys innovative marketing approach has set new benchmarks in the industry, establishing its products and services as paragons of quality and reliability. Commitment to Quality: At the core of B5 Pluss operations is an unwavering commitment to quality. The company implements rigorous quality control measures at every stage of production, ensuring that each product meets, and often exceeds, client expectations. This steadfast dedication to excellence has reinforced B5 Pluss reputation as a leader in the steel manufacturing sector, solidifying its role as a trusted partner across various industries. Sustainability Initiatives: B5 Plus Limited stands at the forefront of sustainability within the steel manufacturing industry. The companys dedication to environmental stewardship is evident through its implementation of energy-efficient practices, waste reduction strategies, and eco-friendly packaging solutions. These initiatives not only minimize the companys environmental footprint but also reflect a broader commitment to sustainable development and responsible corporate practices. Community Impact: Beyond its remarkable commercial achievements, B5 Plus Limited is profoundly invested in enhancing local communities. The companys contributions extend to education, healthcare, and infrastructure development, fostering socioeconomic growth and empowering communities. Through active engagement with local stakeholders and impactful community initiatives, B5 Plus enriches the lives of residents and strengthens its connections with the communities it serves. Conclusion: The CIMG Marketing Oriented Product of the Year 2023 award is a testament to B5 Plus Limiteds exceptional marketing acumen and strategic vision. This prestigious recognition celebrates the companys innovative approach, steadfast commitment to quality, and meaningful community engagement. It reaffirms B5 Pluss influential role in shaping the future of steel manufacturing in Ghana and beyond. As B5 Plus continues to set industry standards and drive positive change, its legacy as a leader in both manufacturing and marketing excellence remains firmly established. Source: B5 Plus Limited 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 Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) is poised to be crucial in enhancing sustainable financing for housing projects nationwide. This announcement was made by the Minister for Works and Housing, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, during a press briefing in Accra on Monday, September 30, 2024, where he outlined the government's commitment to addressing Ghana's housing deficit, which is currently estimated at 1.8 million units. The Minister explained that there is a need to create innovative financing models to facilitate the construction of affordable housing in the country to close the housing deficit. As a result, the GIIF will collaborate closely with the Ministry of Works and Housing to develop sustainable financial solutions for various housing projects. This partnership aims to support efforts to reduce the housing deficit and ensure that more citizens have access to adequate living conditions. The creation of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF), will help raise sustainable resources for nationwide housing projects which will be very vital to us if we are to bridge the housing gap, he said A key focus of the GIIF will be establishing a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) framework designed to encourage private sector involvement in housing provision. This framework will provide several incentives to attract private developers, such as land grants and tax breaks. In addition to the GIIFs role, Mr Oppong Nkrumah highlighted the importance of the National Homeownership Fund (NHF), established in 2018 to facilitate affordable housing financing. The NHF has partnered with commercial banks to launch the National Mortgage Schemes, which have already enabled the issuance of over 300 mortgages during their pilot phase. The Minister also provided updates on ongoing efforts to address stalled housing projects. The Koforidua Affordable Housing Project, which had previously been halted, is set to resume construction following its handover to the State Housing Company Limited. This project aims to expedite construction while ensuring high-quality standards. Mr. Oppong Nkrumah also confirmed that negotiations are currently underway to handover the Saglemi Housing Project to a Private Developer for redevelopment allowing for the completion and sale of the units without additional government investment. Additionally, he said the District Housing Programme is being implemented to meet the housing needs of public sector workers in rural areas, particularly those affected by the Akosombo Dam spillage. This initiative seeks to secure unencumbered land through partnerships with traditional authorities, helping to eliminate barriers that have historically hindered real estate development. Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman/Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Seventeen people have been killed in a mass shooting in a remote South African town with a manhunt underway to find the perpetrators, police say. Two homesteads in the town of Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape were targeted, police said, with 12 women and one man killed in one location, and three women and one man at a second location. An 18th victim is in a critical condition in hospital, the South Africa Police Service said. The police minister, Senzo Mchunu, is expected to visit the area where the attack occurred. South African media outlets are reporting the victims were relatives and neighbours in Nyathi village, Ngobozana in Lusikisiki. They said the group had been gathered at the houses to prepare to attend a traditional mourning ceremony for a mother and daughter who were murdered a year ago. The victims had been packing goods and presents, including furniture, for the event when the attack occurred on Friday night, according to the media reports. News outlet Dispatch Live quoted local Ingquza Hil mayor Nonkosi Pepping saying: "The gunmen came and shot randomly... This has left the community terrified." South Africa Police Service spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe told Newzroom Afrika that there had been a total of 19 people sleeping in two homes at one of the shooting locations. She said there had been six survivors at one homestead - four women, a man, and a two-month-old child who was uninjured but taken to hospital as a precaution. There were no survivors at the other homestead. Officials have yet to determine the motive or make any arrests. Brig Mathe said: "We have a team of detectives that is already on the ground. We have a team of experts coming in from Pretoria that are descending in Lusikisiki, to investigate, to collect all evidence with the aim of apprehending those [who] are behind these callous attacks." Cabinet member for community safety, Xolile Nqatha, told state broadcaster SABC that he hoped the critically injured man would make a "speedy" recovery, as "his recovery can help us shed more light" on the shooting. He also suggested that the assailants may have been known to the victims. South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. There were more than 27,000 murders in 2022 - amounting to 45 people per 100,000, out of a population of almost 60 million. By comparison, the US rate is six per 100,000. Source: BBC Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A widespread reliance on bottled water is posing significant threats to both human health and the environment, with an estimated 1 million bottles bought every minute worldwide. This alarming figure is expected to increase as demand continues to grow, warn health experts in a new commentary published in BMJ Global Health. While around 2 billion people worldwide rely on bottled water due to limited access to safe drinking water, for the majority, its use is a matter of convenience, according to researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar. This trend has been fueled by marketing campaigns that promote bottled water as being safer and healthier than tap waterclaims the researchers say are misleading. Indeed, up to two-thirds of bottled water in the U.S. is simply repackaged tap water, the authors noted, and recent studies have found cancer causing-chemicals in bottled water in the San Francisco Bay Area. The widespread use of bottled water contributes significantly to pollution; it exposes people to potentially harmful contaminants and also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, lead author Amit Abraham told Newsweek. Harmful chemicals from plastic bottles, such as bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates, can leach into the water, the researchers said, especially when bottles are exposed to sunlight or high temperatures for extended periods. Studies have found contaminants, including microplastics, in up to 78 percent of bottled water samples. Microplastic contamination has been associated with a range of health issues, including oxidative stress, immune system disruption, and changes in blood fat levels. Exposure to BPA, a chemical commonly found in plastics, has been linked to long-term health risks such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. While there are short-term safety thresholds, the long-term effects of these contaminants remain largely unknown, the authors wrote, adding that microplastics can also enter the food chain through bottled water consumption. In addition to health risks, the environmental toll of bottled water is immense. Plastic bottles account for 12 percent of ocean plastic pollution, making them the second most common plastic waste item found in the sea. Only 9 percent of these bottles are recycled, with most ending up in landfills, incinerators or being shipped to low- and middle-income countries, raising ethical concerns about global waste management and social justice. It tends to be lower-income communities that bear the brunt of plastic waste and pollution, and in general, the consumption of these plastic water bottles comes from more affluent sections of society, Abraham said. So often the people who are contributing to the problem do not necessarily suffer the most from the impacts of that problem. Even the process of making the bottles is damaging, with raw material extraction and manufacturing significantly contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. Water itself is needed toobetween 17 and 35 liters for each bottle. Efforts to reduce bottled water use have been implemented in some areas, including initiatives to increase access to drinking water in public spaces and limit single-use plastics. However, the researchers argue that much more needs to be done to curb reliance on bottled water. They call for robust government interventions and educational campaigns to shift public perception. Abraham added, The onus should be on governments and regulatory bodies to rethink their policies. The authors urge governments, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, to invest in safe and reliable tap water infrastructure to address the root cause of bottled water dependency. By prioritizing tap water consumption, we can collectively address the multifaceted challenges posed by [bottled water] and embrace tap water as a cornerstone of environmental responsibility and public health, the researchers suggested. As a piece of advice for consumers who keep emergency water supplies in their homes, such as those facing the oncoming hurricane on the Gulf Coast, Abraham recommends replacing water regularly to avoid leaching of harmful chemicals into the water. Alternatively, non-plastic containers could be used. 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 A former Deputy Attorney General, Dr Dominic Ayine, has condemned the recent clashes between protesters and the police, describing the physical altercations as unacceptable and counterproductive. His comments come after reports surfaced of protesters engaging in fisticuffs with law enforcement during a demonstration organised by the Democracy Hub, leading to arrests and subsequent detention. Speaking in an interview with TV3 on Saturday, September, 28, Dr Ayine emphasised that while the right to protest is protected under the constitution, violence should never be a part of such activities. He stressed that peaceful demonstrations are an essential part of democracy, but the actions of some protesters who resorted to violence undermine the cause they are advocating for. According to him, such behaviour only escalates tensions and complicates the relationship between citizens and law enforcement. The clashes occurred during a three-day protest aimed at pressuring the government to address concerns about corruption, mismanagement, and illegal mining. The event, which saw the arrest of 53 protesters, quickly turned confrontational, leading to physical confrontations between some demonstrators and police officers. Dr Ayine expressed regret over the incident and called for more constructive ways of expressing grievances. "The blocking of traffic is condemnable, the attempt to engage in fisticuffs with police is something that we should condemn. Having said that, I do not think that the activities they engaged in are sufficient reasons you say they should be detained without bail. That is where my concern is. Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman/Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, on behalf of the Forestry Commission, has signed a Letter of Intent with the Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the grant of Thirty Million US dollars ($30,000,000.00) to provide additional/alternative livelihood support to forest fringe communities as an incentive for them to engage in enhanced forest protection, forest restoration and reforestation. This forms part of efforts by the Government of Ghana to achieve the biodiversity and climate objectives under the Resilient Ghana Package launched at COP28 in Dubai, last year. In 2022, at COP 27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, the President of the Republic, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rt. Hon. Rishi Sunak, launched the Forest and Climate Leaders Partnership (FCLP) as a new political forum that brings together governments and partners to work together to implement solutions that reduce forest loss, increase restoration, and support sustainable development. Subsequently, at COP 28 in Dubai, Ghana launched her Resilient Ghana Package for nature, climate, and people, under the FCLP. The Resilient Ghana package includes an integrated system-wide suite of interventions to help halt and reverse forest loss while delivering sustainable development and promoting inclusive rural transformation. It is underpinned by three key pillars, namely nature-based industrialisation and rural development; future-fit green jobs and livelihoods; and scaling climate ambition. At the launch of the Package in Dubai, several countries pledged their support to the Resilient Ghana Package. UAE, the COP28 Presidency, as part of its commitment to contribute funds to target deforestation and biodiversity loss, committed to invest Thirty Million Ghana Cedis (US$30,000,000.00) to enhance Ghanas efforts towards halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030. This was followed by several engagements between the two countries to unlock the necessary funding to support the Package. On the 27th September, 2024, on the sidelines of the United Nation Climate Week in New York, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Hon. Samuel A. Jinapor, MP, on behalf of the Government of Ghana, and the UAE Minister for Climate Change and Environment, H.E Dr. Amna Al Dahak Al Shamsi, in the presence of the UAE Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28 and President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), H.E. Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, on behalf of the Government of UAE, signed a Letter of Intent to provide up to US$30,000,000.00 to implement the biodiversity and climate objectives of the Resilient Ghana Package and REDD+ Strategies. The funds would be used to support programs ranging from targeted interventions within specific geographic landscapes in Ghana to wider ambitions for national level efforts. Speaking after the signing ceremony, Mr. Jinapor reiterated the Government of Ghanas commitment to developing strategies to restore habitats, protect endangered species, and promote resilient ecosystems. He noted that though the challenges were daunting, through collaboration and a shared vision, Ghana can pave the way towards sustainable solutions that benefit not only the country but the entire global community. He expressed his deep appreciation to the Government of the UAE and all those who have been involved in the negotiations and discussions that led to the signing of the agreement, adding that Ghana will develop the necessary strategies to achieve the objectives of the Resilient Ghana Package. On her part, H.E. Amna lauded Ghana for her leadership on forest and nature-based solutions to climate change. Commenting on the partnership, HE Dr Amna Al Dahak stated Our partnership with Ghana is a testament to the UAEs focus on global biodiversity, climate, and development goals.It underscores our commitment to the UAE Consensus which calls for the ending and reversal of deforestation by 2030 and highlights the importance of the protection and preservation of biodiversity. Our investment in Ghana will not only bolster the country's afforestation efforts but will also create a broader positive impact on local communities. By backing a comprehensive set of initiatives aimed at forest protection and enhancement, we aim to strengthen local livelihoods and foster greater community engagement. Deforestation remains one of the major drivers of climate change. Between 2001 and 2015, Ghana lost some 209,034 ha of forests, representing a deforestation rate of about 0.19% per annum. This was driven primarily by agricultural expansion, illegal logging, and small-scale mining. As Ghana is one of the worlds forest-rich countries and 2nd largest producer of (forest-dependent) cocoa, the deforestation rate represented a major challenge for achievement of the Paris Agreement, as well as global supply chains. Ghanas efforts to tackle deforestation have resulted in a 48% improvement in the high forest zone since 2017. Through strategies such as the Resilient Ghana Package and REDD+ Programme, Government seeks to scale up efforts to halt and reverse forest loss and forest degradation by 2030, by the Glasgow Leaders Declaration of Forest Loss and Land Use. Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman/peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Government is on the verge of finalizing negotiations to revive the stalled Saglemi Housing Units, with the project set to be handed over to a private developer for redevelopment in the next 14 days. This significant update was shared by the Minister for Works and Housing, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, during a press briefing in Accra on Monday, September 30, 2024. This progress follows President Akufo-Addos approval of a framework for negotiations with the successful bidder(s) in response to a request submitted by Minister Oppong Nkrumah last month. Originally designed to deliver 5,000 affordable housing units, the Saglemi Housing Project received approximately $200 million in government financing. However, by the time the project was halted, only 1,506 units had been partially completed, with the development deemed uninhabitable due to the absence of essential infrastructure such as water, electricity, and sanitation. A subsequent valuation conducted by the Ghana Institute of Surveyors estimated that an additional $100 million would be required to complete the unfinished units, a sum the government could not provide. Cabinet has directed the Ministry of Works and Housing to explore the possibility of selling the partially completed Saglemi Housing Project to a private sector entity to complete and sell the units without further government investment, and negotiations will be finalized within the next 14 days, he stated. He explained that under the approved framework, the current value of work done at Saglemi will be treated as government equity in the project, while the completion cost will be treated as the equity of the selected partner in a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to be established for the projects completion. Proceeds from the sale of the houses, once completed, will be shared between the government and the private partner according to their stake in the SPV. The Minister confirmed that five firms submitted bids, with two shortlisted for final negotiations: Quarm-LMI Consortium and Broll Ghana Ltd. Mr. Oppong Nkrumahs remarks come as Ghana faces a housing deficit of 1.8 million units, a significant decrease from 2.8 million in 2010. He emphasized the importance of innovative solutions to ensure that all citizens have access to decent and affordable housing. Housing is not just a necessity but a fundamental right, he asserted. A secure, decent, and affordable home is essential to ones well-being, providing a sense of security, dignity, and opportunities for growth and development. In addition to addressing the Saglemi project, Nkrumah discussed ongoing efforts to resolve other stalled housing initiatives across the country. The Koforidua Affordable Housing Project is set to resume construction after being handed over to the State Housing Company Limited. This project aims to expedite construction while maintaining high standards of quality and efficiency, he noted. Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman/Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video CBI Ghana Ltd, manufacturers of Supacem cement, is proud to announce the successful commissioning of a borehole in Koforidua Okorase, Eastern Region. This corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, undertaken in partnership with local distributor Sammar Trading, aims to provide sustainable access to clean water for the community. Adeline Esi Sutherland, Head of Marketing and Corporate Communication at CBI Ghana Ltd explained that the borehole project addresses a critical need in Koforidua Okorase, where water scarcity has long been a challenge. By providing a reliable source of clean water, Supacem is demonstrating its commitment to improving the quality of life in the communities where it operates. "As part of Supacem's commitment to corporate social responsibility, we partnered with our local distributor who identified a need within the community of Koforidua Okorase for sustainable access to clean water. This borehole project aligns with our goal to make a positive, long-term impact on the communities where we operate by providing a solution that will improve daily life and health," she said. The project exemplifies Supacem's dedication to sustainable development. "Just as we produce eco-friendly LC3 cement to reduce carbon emissions in the construction industry, we also aim to minimize environmental impacts in our CSR projects," Ms. Sutherland added. On the choice of a borehole, she stated that it is a sustainable solution which harnesses groundwater, and is less prone to contamination and easier to maintain over time. This makes it a more environmentally responsible choice compared to alternatives like open wells, she noted. Alex Owusu Larbi, CEO of Sammar Trading and Construction Limited highlighted the importance of local partnerships in the project's success. He explained that as a trusted local partner that understands the unique needs of the Koforidua Okorase community his outfit was able to provide guidance in ensuring that the project is rooted in local expertise, which will help with the long-term maintenance and success of the borehole. This has demonstrated very visibly to the people of Koforidua Okorase that Supacem not only seeks to do business within the community but it has their interest at heart, he added. The community has warmly welcomed the initiative. Nana Asare Kumi III, Chief of Koforidua Okorase and Akuapem Ohene, expressed his gratitude, stating, "This borehole project is our way of showing that we care about your health, your well-being, and your future." This project is just the beginning of Supacem's expanded CSR efforts. The company plans to implement similar initiatives in other regions, based on community needs. "We are always looking for ways to give back and create lasting impact," Ms. Sutherland explained. Supacem's commitment to community development goes hand-in-hand with its business growth. The company, which started as a cement importer in 2017 has rapidly evolved into a major local manufacturer and is currently expanding its production capacity from 600,000 tons per year to 1.5 million tons per year by 2025, representing a US$80 million investment and a 150% increase in capacity. This also signals the company's bullish outlook on Ghana's construction sector. As Supacem continues to grow and innovate in the cement industry, it remains dedicated to its role as a responsible corporate citizen, committed to sustainable practices and community welfare. The company recently announced plans to establish the world's largest Flash Calciner plant, which aims to reduce clinker use by 20 percent, significantly lowering the carbon footprint of cement production. By aligning its community development efforts with its core business strategy of sustainability and local production, Supacem appears to be carving out a unique position in Ghana's cement industry. The company's approach of partnering with local distributors like Sammar Trading for CSR projects could also help strengthen its distribution network, a critical factor in the competitive cement market. Source: CBI Ghana Ltd and Supacem 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 Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese village of Zaita (File picture) (AFP via Getty Images) The Foreign Office has issued a travel alert for 19 countries amid fears that conflict in Lebanon could escalate into a wider regional war. British tourists have been warned to remain vigilant in hotspots including Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. Other countries on the list include Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The warning reads: Ongoing hostilities between Israel and Lebanon could escalate quickly and pose risks for the wider region. Monitor this travel advice and other media as the situation is changing fast. Meanwhile, the UK Government has urged an estimated 5,000 British citizens in Lebanon to leave immediately. The Prime Ministers official spokesman said Sir Keir Starmer has been very, very clear that British nationals should leave now, particularly whilst commercial flights are still available. The warning follows the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah by Israel in a rocket strike in Beirut on Friday. Hezbollah responded by saying it is ready to fight should Israel launch a ground offensive, with fears mounting that the escalating hostilities could result in a full-scale regional war. A US official told the BBC's US partner CBS that an invasion into the country could begin as soon as Monday. It came after Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant hinted that a ground invasion of Lebanon could be imminent as he urged troops to use "all the abilities we have" to return displaced residents north of the border. But Hezbollah's acting leader promised the group will fight on following Nasrallahs death. Naim Kassem said: "We are ready for a ground invasion, and we will emerge victorious. Over 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry. The Israeli military on Monday evening declared the areas around the communities of Metula, Misgav Am, and Kfar Giladi in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon as a closed military zone and said entry to the areas was prohibited. It said the decision was taken following a situational assessment. The UK and the US have called on Israel and Lebanon to seek a diplomatic resolution to the violence to allow tens of thousands of displaced Israelis and Lebanese to return to their homes along the border. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told reporters that Washington will continue to work with our partners in the region and around the world to advance a diplomatic resolution. The Middlebelt Coordinator of the 2024 national campaign team of the New Patriotic Party for the general elections, Dr. Nana Ayew Afriye has expressed his deepest satisfaction at the selection of the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Adutwum, as the leader of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumias B24 campaign group. According to the Middlebelt Coordinator of Dr. Bawumias national campaign, Dr. Adutwum possesses all the qualities and skills for the grassroots campaign. Dr. Adutwum is a perfect fit for this role. He has every quality and skill needed for this important role and it will surely help the campaign, Dr. Ayew said. He went on to indicate how this important development will go a long way to help the NPP achieve 85% target in the partys stronghold. I strongly believe that with Dr. Adutwum as the head of B24, we will not get less than 85% of the votes in Ashanti as we have targeted because I know what he can do, he added. The NPP has recently demonstrated through their grassroots campaign activities in the Ashanti Region that they are bent on achieving their 85% target. The Regional Chairman has been sighted in the various constituencies in the partys stronghold canvassing electorates for votes for the NPP as the country goes to the polls on December 7, 2024. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, has expressed his profound gratitude to the Vice President of Ghana and presidential candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party, His Excellency Dr. Mahamudu Bawumi choosing the Minister of Education and Member of Parliament for Bosomtwe Constituency, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum to head his campaign group dubbed B24. Speaking at the official launch of the group in Kumasi on the Friday, 27th September, 2024, the Ashanti Regional Chairman extolled the achievements and enormous contributions of the Education Minister at the grassroots level of the party. According to Chairman Wontumi, Dr. Adutwum is a great asset to the party, particularly when it comes to supporting the activities of the grassroots. Dr. Adutwum is a great asset to the party. He has always supported the activities of the party at the grassroots level, Chairman Wontumi said. The NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman added; I therefore thank the next President of Ghana, His Excellency Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, for this wise decision to appoint Dr. Adutwum as the head of the B24 Campaign group. He really deserves it. The country goes to the polls in three months time and the two leading parties, the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress, are leaving no stone unturned. With the decision of the NPP flagbearer to prioritize the grassroots, the ruling party clearly demonstrates that they are not leaving any room for complacency. 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 Former President John Mahama has issued a stern warning that anyone who causes financial loss to the state in connection with a new $800 million gas processing contract will face the full force of the law. At the dying statues of this government, they are busy signing contracts that are going to bind this nation for many many years to come, Mahama noted. Speaking at a community engagement at Ablekuma West during his phase 3 tour of the Greater Accra Region, Mr Mahama said that the amount involved requires parliamentary approval. He therefore cautioned that if the contract is not presented before Parliament, a future National Democratic Congress (NDC) government will hold those responsible accountable, ensuring they are prosecuted for causing financial loss to the state. This week our spokesperson on energy, John Jinapor gave a caution that there is a contract they want to sign with Ghana Gas for the second gas trail; for 8 years this government has not invested in extra gas, so why is it that they are in a hurry to sign for a contract for the second gas trail, just because they want to commit it, take their 10% and if it takes 5years for the gas to come, they dont care, Mr Mahama indicated. We are warning everybody who is involved in this contract that if there is financial loss to the state they will be held responsible, Mr. Mahama warns. His statement follows a call by the Minority in Parliament earlier this week, urging the Ghana National Gas Company to submit the $800 million gas processing contract to Parliament for proper scrutiny. He continued further that, the NPP government is avoiding sending the new energy contract to parliament because they have set up a Ghanaian company and made it look like an international company as a frontier into signing the dubious contract which will cause Ghana a financial loss. Source: Salaamat Kuukua Paintsil/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 Kwame Afriyie, CEO of GreenShield Hospitals One Thousand Pieces of party T Shirts to the Western North Regional Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, Mr Felix Foster Ackaah in support of Juaboso, Bodi , Suaman and Sefwi Wiawso Constituency. The benefiting constituencies with the exception of Sefwi Wiawso constituency, will receive 200 pieces each, and the remaining 400 pieces will be given to Sefwi Wiawso. Handing over the T Shirt to Mr Ackaah, Dr Kwame Afriyie said, "This is to help reduce the pressure on Parliamentary Candidates for T Shirt during the peak of the campaign" The NDC has no clear-cut message, but the onus lies on the NPP sympathisers to sell the good message of Dr. Bawumia, campaign at every corner of the constituency and make sure that on December 7th 2024, the people will go out in their numbers and cast their vote for Dr. Bawumia so that on 7th January 2025, Dr Bawumia and Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh will be sworn into office as the President and Veep of this country to make bold decision to upgrade Ghana to a better version than to reset Ghana to a default settings. Dr Kwame Afriyie charged NPP sympathisers to in the constituencies to move from door to door, ghetto to ghetto, church to church to ensure that the NPP wins majority in Parliament. He reiterated that the next phase will touch other constituencies. Mr. Ackaah Felix Foster, the Regional Secretary of the New Patriotic Party in the Western North Region, receiving the items thanked Dr Kwame Afriyie for his enormous support and contributions towards the party both National, Regional and Constituency level. He also seized the opportunity to call on party faithful to support the various parliamentary candidates in all forms to ensure that the New Patriotic Party wins the majority seat in Western North Region and Ghana at large and also requested that the Regional Party also need logistics to enable them supervise the campaign effectively. Dr Kwame Afriyie has been an integra part of the New Patriotic Party in Western and Western North. He picked forms in 2022 to contest as National Organiser of the New Patriotic Party but later withdrawn to support for the current National Organiser Lawyer, Henry Nana Boakye, Nana B. Dr Kwame Afriyie is a grassroot man who has been a polling station executive, electoral area coordinator, Regional Patron for Alpha Patriots and Loyal Ladies. He is also a major party financier of the NPP in the Western North Region. Source: Josephine Acheampomaa/[email protected] 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 Ghanaian highlife and Afrobeats artiste, Kelvynboy, has spoken about the attempts he has made to patch up his differences with Stonebwoy. Speaking to Andy Dosty on Daybreak Hitz, he said "I've been trying for years. It is not the first thing I think about when I wake up from bed but when it comes to my issue with Stonebwoy, I wish we thrashed it out." Any time, we've tried I don't think he's ready. But me, I dey, he noted. In 2019, Stonebwoy severed his work relationship with Kelvynboy after the latter had been signed to the Burniton Music Group. A press release from Stonebwoy's Burniton Music Group that announced the separation stated that "Mr Kelvin Brown (Kelvyn Boy) and the Company entered into an agreement dated January 22, 2018, which, to a large extent, governed the relationship between both parties (the Agreement). The Agreement had an initial term of one (1) year, and provided the Company with an option to extend the tenure for a further period of four (4) years (the Option)." It further indicated that the contract extension period under the Agreement did not take effect after the Agreement expired on January 21, 2019. "The above notwithstanding, the Company has continued to work with Kelvyn Boy until now under the terms of the Agreement. Following the audit, the Company has considered the expired status of the Agreement as well as the conduct of Kelvyn Boy during its tenure and has decided not to trigger the Option. Consequently, the Company has decided to release Kelvyn Boy from the Agreement and he has been duly notified of this decision. Accordingly, Kelvyn Boy ceases to be an artiste under the Company and will no longer be associated with the Company and/or the BHIM Nation brand. We wish him success in his future endeavours," the record label noted. Before that, Kelvynboy had apologized to Stonebwoy after the latter had complained that the 'Sugarcane' hitmaker had disrespected him. After the separation, Kelvynboy released hit songs and albums, invading foreign music industries and chalking huge successes. At the moment, he is out with a new song titled 'Man Down' which features Lasmid. 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 Ghanaian actress Beverly Afaglo has expressed deep concern about the increasing rates of smoking, drinking, and casual sex among the youth today. During an interview on Accra FM, she shared her worries about how these behaviours have become all too common among young people. The smoking and drinking is getting out of hand, Beverly remarked when asked what advice she would give to the younger generation. For those of us born in the 80s, when you heard someone smoked, they were seen as a bad influence, she explained. Now, the world is more open, and smoking weed isnt seen as something terribly bad, but young people are getting involved far too early. She lamented how casual smoking and drinking have become part of everyday life for many youths, some even going as far as renting AirBnBs for wild parties, where they engage in reckless behavior, only to wake up the next day with no memory of their actions. As a mother of two, Beverly is also deeply concerned about how discussions around HIV seem to have faded from public view. I worry that HIV awareness isnt loud anymore, she shared. When we were growing up, HIV was in our faceson TV, we saw people getting sick and losing weight drastically, which made us cautious. But todays generation seem unbothered, probably because they know HIV can be managed now. However, she warned that even though medical advancements have made HIV more manageable, contracting the virus can still have serious consequences, particularly when it comes to finding a partner for marriage. Source: Accra 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 Pennsylvania Department of Corrections is hosting a two-day job fair this week at the State Correctional Institution Camp Hill. The job fair will take place from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday at 2500 Lisburn Road in Lower Allen Township. SCI Camp Hill is hiring corrections officer trainees and other positions. The minimum age requirement for a corrections officer trainee is 18. The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections lowered the age requirement this year. Previously, the age requirement for trainee positions was set at 21 years of age. In addition, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has secured a waiver of the Pennsylvania residency requirement for corrections officer job titles at all of the Commonwealths 24 state correctional institutions. The change allows the department to recruit prospective corrections officers from neighboring states. No appointment or registration is required to attend the job fair. All attendees are encouraged to apply for positions prior to their arrival to the job fair. Prospective applicants can visit employment.pa.gov/corrections. Onsite interviews will take place on the day of the job fair for corrections officer trainees. Prospective applicants should bring two forms of identification. In addition to corrections officer trainees, SCI Camp Hill is also hiring counselors and a nursing supervisor, according to the states website. By Stephen Caruso and Kate Huangpu of Spotlight PA Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG As unions, interest groups, and Pennsylvanias richest man pour millions into the critical election for attorney general, the states two other row office races have attracted far fewer dollars in the months leading up to Nov 5. Money doesnt always determine outcomes in these critical-but-low-interest races. In 2020, two virtually unknown Republicans won upsets over better-funded opponents for auditor general and treasurer. Democrats want those positions back, though only one of the partys candidates is outraising the incumbent. In the open contest for attorney general, the Democratic candidate raised millions of dollars over the summer, while wealthy donors and national political action committees bankrolled TV ads to boost his Republican opponent. In the race for treasurer, the outsider Democratic candidate has struggled to build a campaign chest, while the Republican incumbent has scooped up donations from unions traditionally aligned with the other party. In the comparatively quiet race for auditor general, the Republican incumbent has raised far less than the Democratic challenger, who is getting robust support from labor and some wealthy donors. Democratic consultant Anne Wakabayashi noted that even the strongest fundraising in these races pales in comparison to the money the presidential and U.S. Senate elections are attracting. None of them are really raising the kind of money except for maybe the attorney general race that you can launch a very serious statewide media campaign, Wakabayashi said. Missing from the political giving so far is Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, whose campaign account has nearly $5 million on hand. After he cruised to victory in 2022, Shapiros PAC donated $275,000 to the state House Democratic Campaign Committee, but it hasnt made any other contributions this election cycle. Manuel Bonder, who serves as a spokesperson for both Shapiros campaign and administration, told Spotlight PA that the governor has endorsed and campaigned for Democrats in key races all across the Commonwealth, and as he continues to support pro-freedom candidates up and down the ballot this fall, he will be making contributions to help them win in November. The race for attorney general Democratic attorney general candidate Eugene DePasquale raised nearly $3.3 million between May 14 and Sept. 16, the most recent campaign finance cycle. The national Democratic Attorneys General Association contributed nearly half of the total. His opponent, Republican Dave Sunday, reported raising a much smaller amount a little less than $1.4 million but hes getting a significant boost from wealthy donors. Nearly $12 million in statewide TV ads are booked on Sundays behalf through Nov. 5. Sundays campaign spent $1 million for this purpose, while a PAC associated with the Republican Attorneys General Association is independently spending $5.4 million. Another PAC this one almost exclusively bankrolled by Jeff Yass, Pennsylvanias richest person is spending another $5.4 million on ads in cooperation with Sundays campaign. Such spending must be reported as an in-kind contribution. Sundays campaign did not report the Yass-backed ads in its latest finance report. DePasquale accused his rival of trying to hide the association, while Sundays campaign said it received information about the value of the ads too late to include it. While both candidates have raised sizable war chests, they still need to work on blanketing the state with their names and messages, said Sam Chen, a Lehigh Valley-based political consultant who works with Republican clients. He believes Sunday has less name recognition than DePasquale, who previously served in a statewide office as auditor general and won his crowded primary easily thanks to that profile. There is a name deficit that [Sunday] has to make up, and I dont know if hes been super effective, Chen said. The Democratic Attorneys General Association gave DePasquale more than $1.5 million during this campaign finance cycle, both in the form of campaign checks and by funding polling and opposition research. Outside of national dollars, DePasquale leaned on traditional state Democratic funding sources, including organized labor and trial lawyers. Unions including those representing trade workers, government employees, and health care workers donated more than $680,000. Attorneys, either through individual checks, their firms, or PACs associated with their trade groups, gave DePasquale more than $300,000. The rest of DePasquales cash came from individual donors and interest groups. Among the most notable checks were $50,000 from Thomas Hagen, the billionaire chair of Erie Insurance; $25,000 from New York City grocery magnate and occasional GOP mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis; and $8,000 from two relatives of liberal billionaire George Soros. Much of DePasquales reported spending went to media buys. According to political ad tracking data, he bought a little less than $3 million in ads running statewide from June to November. Sundays campaign has spent less. It paid a York-based real estate group $10,000 for reimbursements, the biggest expense this cycle. The campaign also paid the group smaller sums for yard signs and consulting. The race for auditor general The auditor generals race attracted the least cash during the recent campaign finance cycle. Malcolm Kenyatta, a Democratic state representative from Philadelphia, raised more than $491,000, while Republican incumbent Tim DeFoor of Dauphin County brought in just under $68,000. DeFoor has received most of his funds from a mix of establishment Republican sources, including well-connected Philadelphia law firms and Harrisburg lobby shops. His biggest donation was a $10,000 check from Building Together PAC, which has traditionally funded Bucks County Republican candidates and was founded by former SEPTA board chair (and beverage distributor) Pat Deon. DeFoor also received a $5,000 check from Scranton insurance millionaire Charles Volpe and $1,000 from former GOP Gov. Mark Schweiker. Chen said DeFoors finances dont spell disaster, but noted that having less money can make campaigning across Pennsylvania more difficult. Candidates want to be able to blanket the state with their platform, Chen said, but with the amount DeFoor has raised, hell have trouble sustaining his presence. A lot of that can change in this last month, but you want to be spending this money in the last month, not raising it, Chen said. In 2020, DeFoor also raised little money until the final weeks of the election, when he got a $1.2 million boost in outside spending, much of it funded by Yass. DeFoors expenditures were mostly small no significant ad buys, for instance with the biggest payments going toward political consulting from groups like Long Nyquist, which is providing communications and other services for DeFoors campaign. Kenyatta, who has built a national brand as a young, upstart Democrat, raised far more $491,000. This includes a little more than $180,000 from unions for government workers, electricians, and carpenters. Kenyatta also received money from national groups that back young, LGBTQ, and progressive candidates for office. That includes $10,000 from the Human Rights Campaign, $5,000 from the Working Families Party a progressive third party mostly active in urban areas and $5,000 from Vote Save America PAC, which has its roots in a media company founded by Obama administration alumni. Beyond PACs, Kenyatta received money from former Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, as well as from a handful of LGBTQ entrepreneurs and celebrities, including $2,000 from comedian Wanda Sykes. Kenyatta spent $184,000 between May 14 to Sept. 16. The biggest single check $53,000 went to Washington, D.C.-based Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research for polling and research. Much of the rest was on travel, including airfare, gas stations, Uber rides, hotels, and meals across the commonwealth and out of state. The race for treasurer There is a notably different financial dynamic in the race for treasurer. Democratic candidate Erin McClelland won her primary in an upset against the party-endorsed candidate and has since publicly clashed with the establishment. When Shapiro was in the running to be Kamala Harris vice president pick, for instance, McClelland said she did not support him as a choice. State Sen. Sharif Street (D., Philadelphia), the party chair, said he was offended by McClellands remarks. However, McClelland denies any tension with the state party, adding that shes coordinated with them throughout her campaign. Any slight insinuation that there were issues there, that would be incorrect, McClelland told Spotlight PA. She raised just under $90,000 this cycle. Like Kenyatta, her biggest donor was AFSCME, a union that represents municipal, county, and state workers. Also like Kenyatta, much of her $52,000 in campaign spending has covered travel costs like gas, meals, and parking. Her Republican opponent, incumbent treasurer Stacy Garrity, raised almost $450,000 during the same period, showing a wide base of support within and outside her party. Alongside checks from energy companies, real estate tycoons, and business advocacy groups, Garrity received more than $86,000 from trade unions that have historically backed Democrats in statewide elections. Most of that money came from the regional and state chapters of the Laborers International Union of North America, which represents construction workers. Garrity also received support from major figures in her party something McClelland lacked. That includes donations from arch-conservative 2022 gubernatorial nominee and state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R., Franklin). Other notable supporters included perennial Republican power player and chocolate company owner Bob Asher; top GOP lawyer Matthew Haverstick; and 2018 party gubernatorial nominee Scott Wagner. Garrity spent almost $280,000, of which about $120,000 went to three Pennsylvania-based consultants most notably $60,000 to Pittsburgh-based GOP consulting firm ColdSpark for a mix of services, from fundraising to yard signs. Shes also paid $37,000 to McKean Strategies, a company based in the eponymous rural northwestern county, as well as almost $24,000 to the Jenkinstown-based KC Consulting. The day after the reports were filed, Garritys campaign accused McClellands of improperly filing its finance form, citing a repeated donation of $10,000 from IBEW Local #5. If McClelland cant get this right, why should voters trust her to oversee $150 billion in taxpayer money? Jim Tkacik, Garritys campaign manager, said in a news release. McClelland said her campaign initially reported the contribution on an earlier finance report but moved it to the most recent report to reflect when the check was deposited, rather than when it was received. The Pennsylvania Department of State confirmed that the reports were amended. Her campaign was also accused of improperly filing finance reports during the primary, though the Department of State found no laws were violated. McClelland called the accusation by Garritys campaign an effort to deflect from the issues of the race. She added that the large difference between how much her campaign and Garritys raised doesnt bother me at all. McClelland noted that Garrity was significantly outraised and outspent when she won her election against Democratic incumbent Joe Torsella in 2020. Spotlight PAs Katie Meyer contributed reporting for this story. 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. Kelly Monaco has finally bit the dust on General Hospital, as the soap star taped her last episode on Friday, Sept. 27. The news was revealed by Monacos mother, Carmina Monaco, who turned to her Instagram page on Friday to thank fans for their undying support. The fan favorite, who portrayed Sam McCall on the long running ABC daytime soap for more than two decades, was fired back in August in a surprise move that left her blindsided by the decision. When it was announced that Monaco was leaving the soap this fall, her fans began campaigning for the shows producers to reconsider. I want to take this moment to reach out to Kellys incredible fans and express my deepest gratitude for the unwavering love, loyalty, and support youve shown her throughout her time on General Hospital, Carmina Monaco posted on social media. On this final day, just four days shy of the anniversary of her first episode on October 1, 2003, Kelly will close the door of her dressing room for the last time, she continued. This moment is a difficult one, but knowing that she has had such an incredible, devoted fan base has given her strength. Youve stood by her through every twist and turn, celebrating her achievements and providing comfort in the hard times. Your love and dedication have meant more than words can express, not only to Kelly but to all of us who care so deeply for her. Thank you for being there, for believing in her, and for reminding her of the impact shes made. We will always be grateful for you standing with her through it all, she concluded. Manoco first made her debut on the ABC sudser in 2003, after spending three years as Livvie Locke on the spinoff Port Charles. Sam McCall was introduced as a con artist attempting to reverse her familys bad luck. She was the long-lost daughter of attorney Alexis Davis and mob boss Julian Jerome. But the character went on to become a staple for the show. Manoco has shot more than 2,200 episodes of General Hospital and received two Daytime Emmy nominations for her work. Back in August, her fans had set up a Change.org petition titled Retain Kelly Monaco in the Cast of General Hospital, which now has over 16,000 signatures. Fans then took to the #IStandWithKelly campaign directly to the shows studios earlier this month, driving a billboard truck around ABCs Prospect Park studios. Pennsylvania State Police two weeks ago arrested a juvenile who made an online threat to carry out a deadly shooting in a Perry County school district. At the same time, police in Cumberland County arrested another juvenile who had posted threats on Snapchat to carry out shootings at Allen and New Cumberland middle schools. Snapchat was also at the center of an arrest last week in Lancaster County involving a juvenile who police said threatened a middle school. Most school districts across the region have been back in session about six weeks. Already, though, police and administrators have seen a spate of threats of violence mostly focused on mass shootings that have led to lockdowns and cancellation of classes, and have unnerved students, parents, teachers and administrators. The threats in central Pennsylvania, while pervasive, have proved to be false so far, but they are emblematic of the troubling uptick in violent threats against schools that has become a national crisis. In the three weeks since two teachers and two students were killed at Apalachee High School in Georgia, police across 45 states have arrested and charged more than 700 children and teenagers, including at least one fourth grader, for making violent threats against schools, according to a report by The New York Times last week. The report was based on a review of news reports, law enforcement statements and court records. Almost 10% of the individuals arrested were 12 or younger, according to the report. Its not just in central Pennsylvania, said David Holl, director of public safety for the Lower Allen Township Police Department. We can see these all over the country. Some are swatting cases. Some involve specific threats. Essentially, though, every threat has to be taken as real until confirmed otherwise, so it becomes a full response in some cases. Lower Allen police is one of hundreds of local law enforcement agencies in Pennsylvania working in tandem with their school districts to address the threats. The department worked with the West Shore School District to track down the juvenile who targeted two middle schools in a mass shooting threat posted on Snapchat. The juveniles identity has not been released, and charges are still pending. These days police take any threat seriously; and they investigate every one, in most cases, prosecuting to the limits of the law. Its traumatic for kids, Holl said. To think about it their minds. To think I m going to school and I could potentially be a victim. And then they take look at the real world where these things actually did happened. No one wants to put themselves in that kind of environment. Parents certainly dont want to put their children in that kind of environment. Just last week, administrators at Williamsport Area High School turned over to state police a high school student who had brought a handgun to class. With the surge of threats on an uptick, administrators, along with law enforcement, are operating with a zero tolerance for these disruptive incidents. Getting familys involved In the wake of an arrest connected to a social media post threatening a shooting at one of his middle schools last week, Hempfield School District Superintendent Mike Bromirski left no doubt with students and parents of how critical it is to report suspicious activity. Over the past two weeks, weve shared multiple updates with families regarding the online threats schools across our community and beyond have faced, Bromirski said. In these communications, we have emphasized the importance of responsible online behavior and reporting. We have urged parents to discuss with their children the impact of spreading false information. School administrators have also spoken with students, encouraging them to remain vigilant and report any suspicious behavior or potential threats they may encounter online. We must all work together to stop the spread of rumors and threats. For many administrators, it has become a balancing act to foster healthy school environments, even as they endeavor to ensure student safety. Where standardized testing once took priority for many school districts, safety protocols and training have eclipsed just about every other concern of the school year. We spend more waking hours with the kids than their families during the school year, said Mick Iskric, superintendent of the Steelton-Highspire School District. We take safety as a high priority. We want to make sure we are providing a safe environment but also educating kids along the way....allowing them to make mistakes but allowing them to make mistakes under our care so that they can learn from their mistakes and become productive citizens and make good choices. Taking steps to address the threat of violence For Iskric that education this year involves a consideration to ban cellphones in schools after what he said was a rash of alarming behaviors by students on social media. We havent taken a stand yet to ban, he said. But what I truly believe is that we are in the business of education. We have to educate kids on the proper use and with that comes safety and internet safety, the use of our words, what words to use and in what context. Nowadays you have to take everything seriously. School districts across the Commonwealth are mandated by law to carry out a slate of school safety programs and requirements, standards established in 2018 under the School Safety and Security Act also known as Act 44. Schools must assess and evaluate safety and security, and provide training. The anonymous hotline Safe2Say Program was one of the provisions of the law. Since then, the overwhelming majority of schools have put in place robust programs to train faculty and secure buildings from intruders. Almost all have so-called school resource officers which tend to be affiliated with local police departments and usually entail an armed officer stationed at a school or district. The school safety mandate was established in the wake of the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 dead and 17 wounded. The Parkland-inspired mandate requires active shooter intruder training every year within 90 days of the start of the school year. Students are rigorously schooled in the response tactic of: Run, hide, fight. Its real training, Iskric said. When you sit through it and you get smashed in the face with the details of some situations, it has you on pins and needles. You start to think about the possibility of it happening. Its real training that needs to take place. You just dont know..there are nine out of 10 other scenarios not even being taught. Even with security vulnerabilities shored up, though, threats of violence persist. We have to submit fire drills monthly but the last time there was a school fire was back in the 50s...a school fire that resulted in death, Iskric said. We put such emphasis on that from a national and state level lens and do monthly drills, but its left to schools to their interpretations to do safety drills. Like most districts Steelton-Highspire, which has about 1,400 students, conducts the safety drills regularly, sometimes as frequently as monthly. Iskric meets monthly with the Swatara Township Police, which has jurisdiction over the school district. He said that helps to foster a relationship between students, parents and law enforcement. For the time being, though, the safety programs only do so much. Iskrics district is considered a low-income district. The high school does not have metal detectors. Iskric said the district is underfunded to the tune of $11.7 million a year. He has far more pressing expenses than metal detectors. Our high school was built in 1958, he said. Our building has some issues, but its always about pushing BandAids and playing catch up because of the funding issue. Whereas you can go to a school district a little further away and they have all the bells and whistles with the latest camera technology, doors and even traffic safety. For me the magic wand would be to provide proper funding and allow us to do things we need to to keep kids safe. Tracking the threats and the culprits Trying to pin down a definitive number of school violence incidents is a daunting, if not impossible, task. Pennsylvania State Police, during the 2023-2024 school year, logged 87 threats of school violence or shootings across the Commonwealth. That total, however, is only for school threat incidents reported to state police. Local police departments are not mandated to notify state police of school incidents within their jurisdictions. This year, were seeing many of these threats originate from social media and through the use of spoofing devices to make false reports to authorities and schools, said Lieutenant Adam Reed, a PSP spokesman. As law enforcement, we must take each of these seriously and devote the needed resources to ensure the safety of our students, school staff, and communities. We also want students and parents to know that as part of taking these threats seriously, we fully investigate the origins of the threats and will hold those making the threats accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Holl said that while the internet and social media may give perpetrators a false sense of anonymity, investigators almost always identify the offender. They leave footprints, whether they want to or not, Holl said. There is always something there that is potential investigatory information that you can track down. They think they are being anonymous on the internet, but thats not always the case. Last week, Lower Paxton Township Police searched the home of a 13-year-old boy who had posted a picture of a large knife and a black handgun on social media earlier this week, prompting police to also search Linglestown Middle School, in the Central Dauphin School District. The threat was posted to Snapchat, police said. During the search, police recovered the pellet gun and machete that were featured in the Snapchat post. More funding needed to bolster school safety Chris Lilienthal, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association, one of the largest teachers unions, said most members are in agreement that progress has been made in terms of tools available to teachers and staff, such as the anonymous tip hotline. But the more nuanced issues surrounding school safety remain a perennial issue. When we talk to members, when asked about their concerns in school, the answer is almost always resources, counselors, psychologists, resources for buildings and permits for more teachers and support staff, Lilienthal said. When we talk about school safety, we cant talk about that without talking about the underfunding of schools. They go hand in hand. Funding levels for public education have seen historic increases in the two annual budgets passed under Gov. Josh Shapiro. Funding is trending in the right direction, Lilienthal said, but issues persist. The investment in mental health and school counselors comes up a lot. Having the training whether its trauma-informed training or de-escalation techniques, he said. Having the tools to be able to address situations before they become bigger situations. Thats what members are looking for. But when you are living in age of teacher shortages, school professionals shortages, substitute teachers shortages, often teachers dont have that down time to prepare lessons to have mental health breaks of their own. When you factor in the problematic behavior of students living with trauma, its that much more challenging. With hardly a day passing without a report of a threat of violence made to a school district in the region, administrators are beginning to borrow strategies emerging across the country. Officials at the South Western School District, for instance, announced they were considering the possibility of imposing civil penalties on the parents of children who make threats, The Hanover Evening Sun reported. The district recently received a threat from a 12-year-old child in Cleveland, Ohio, who told one of the districts middle schoolers that he was going to shoot our middle and high schoolers the next day. Police were able to track the boy to his home, according to the Sun. This is our notice to parents everywhere, School Board President Matthew Gelazela said in a statement to the Sun. Discuss the serious consequences of online behavior. Monitor your childs online activity. Do it now before you face hundreds to thousands of dollars in civil penalties for failing to do your job as a parent. For Iskric, a 23-year education veteran, the current atmosphere of fear is troubling. I grew up in Steelton, he said. My whole family is from here. Its a tough pill to swallow when you come from a community that was so loving and caring that you now have to close off the outside world to keep kids safe. Thats happening in a lot of our towns ever since threats of violence started in our schools. Thats a tough one to swallow as an educator. Educause Horizon Report: Sustainability Pressures Lead to Increased Cybersecurity Risks Educause recently released the 2024 Cybersecurity and Privacy Edition of its Horizon Report series, forecasting key trends, technologies, and practices shaping the future of cybersecurity and privacy in higher education. Research Report: Generative AI Taking Over SD-WAN Management In a few years, nearly three quarters of network operators will use generative AI for SD-WAN management, according to a new report from research firm Gartner. Research California Passes AI Safety Legislation, Awaits Governor's Signature California lawmakers have overwhelmingly approved a bill that would impose new restrictions on AI technologies, potentially setting a national precedent for regulating the rapidly evolving field. The legislation, known as S.B. 1047, now heads to Governor Gavin Newsom's desk. He has until the end of September to decide whether to sign it into law. Artificial Intelligence World Leaders Sign First Global AI Treaty The United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and several other countries have signed "The Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law," the world's first legally binding treaty aimed at regulating the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Artificial Intelligence Delightful Progress: Kuali's Legacy of Community and Leadership CEO Joel Dehlin updates us on Kuali today, and how it has thrived as a software company that succeeds in the tech marketplace while maintaining the community values envisioned in higher education years ago. Q&A Streamlining Instructional Design with Generative AI As both instructional designers and adjunct faculty members at Northeast Iowa Community College, Shannon Brenner and Jordan O'Connell have a close-up view of generative AI from both perspectives. We talked about generative AI's impact on instructional design and teaching, navigating acceptable use of AI, strategies for helping faculty make the most of AI, and more. Podcast Survey: 86% of Students Already Use AI in Their Studies In a recent survey from the Digital Education Council, a global alliance of universities and industry representatives focused on education innovation, the majority of students (86%) said they use artificial intelligence in their studies. Research Cloud Security Alliance: Best Practices for Securing AI Systems The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), a not-for-profit organization whose mission statement is defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, has released a new report offering guidance on securing systems that leverage large language models (LLMs) to address business challenges. Artificial Intelligence California AI Watermarking Bill Garners OpenAI Support ChatGPT creator OpenAI is backing a California bill that would require tech companies to label AI-generated content in the form of a digital "watermark." The proposed legislation, known as the "California Digital Content Provenance Standards" (AB 3211), aims to ensure transparency in digital media by identifying content created through artificial intelligence. This requirement would apply to a broad range of AI-generated material, from harmless memes to deepfakes that could be used to spread misinformation about political candidates. Policy & Funding Anthropic Announces Cautious Support for New California AI Regulation Legislation Anthropic has announced its support for an amended version of Californias 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. Policy & Funding McGraw Hill Introduces 2 Gen AI Learning Tools Global education company McGraw Hill has added two new generative AI tools to help personalize learning experiences for both K12 and higher ed students, according to a news release. Artificial Intelligence By J. Cameron Anglum Last week, my daughter began life at a new school after our summer move home to Pennsylvania. After a stressful cross-country move, this week we are enjoying our first five-day stretch of uninterrupted school, a relief to her mom and me as we adjust to our new professional lives. While Labor Day caused last weeks shortened four-day school week, for many students and families across the country permanently shortened four-day school weeks are the norm, not a holiday exception. The same may soon be true in Pennsylvania, after Gov. Josh Shapiro approved a policy change last school year shifting the states school instructional requirements from a minimum number of school days to a minimum number of instructional hours. This year, Pittsburghs City Charter High School became Pennsylvanias first to adopt a four-day week, though unlike most of the states schools, City Charter students attend school year-round. Is City Charters four-day week an omen of things to come across Pennsylvanias schools? Lest you brush off this change as an isolated event, permanent four-day school weeks have become a rapidly growing phenomenon in many midwestern and western states as schools strategize tactics to reduce costs and address teacher shortages, especially in rural areas. Both goals are characteristic of many post-pandemic school districts, particularly as federal pandemic school funding expires in the months to come. Approximately 7% of school districts across the country now contain at least one four-day school, a more than eight-fold increase over the past 25 years covering more than half the nations states. We recently moved from Missouri, where 31% of districts now operate four days a week, two-thirds of which have adopted the schedule since the onset of the pandemic. Four-day schools typically hold school longer each of the four days, leaving Friday or Monday for other activities including organized sports, extra-curricular groups and clubs, and tutoring, or out-of-school activities like internships and part-time employment. Teachers might pursue additional professional development or course planning opportunities. These activities often are scheduled inconsistently, however, leaving parents to pull their hair out as they navigate scheduling dilemmas. As parents ourselves, we would find it difficult to adjust to a constant need for fifth-day childcare arrangements, even considering our flexible, worker-friendly job schedules. Individuals employed in more rigid work settings likely would find four-day weeks even more challenging, raising an important income-linked equity concern. Most important of all considerations, however, do shortened, four-day weeks harm student outcomes? Are they even successful in achieving their cost-savings and teacher recruitment aims? Fortunately, unlike during Missouris foray into four-day school weeks beginning over a decade ago, Pennsylvanians now have the benefit of a quickly expanding body of evidence which describes the effects of four-day school weeks. Unlike in other states over the past decade, they may now base their policy decisions on rigorous, systematic evidence rather than isolated anecdotes. Much of this evidence has emerged from the states where four-day school weeks are most prevalent, including Colorado and Oregon, or have grown most quickly in recent years, including Missouri and Arkansas. First, the most recent research evidence indicates that average student academic outcomes suffer under four-day week schedules in both math and reading. These effects are most pronounced in districts with the fewest instructional hours, among girls, and among students located in non-rural areas. Declines in student reading scores may even grow over the years a student attends a four-day school. Second, schools rarely reap significant cost savings when following a four-day week, typically amounting to 1% to 2% of their budgets. Budget savings are minimal, in part, due to what types of line items four-day weeks impact costs like hourly staff, food services, and transportation. Compensation for teachers and administrators constitutes the lion share of school budgets, costs that shortened weeks rarely address. Third, four-day schools have experienced little to no systematic success in reducing teacher exits, despite public opinion data among teachers signaling its appeal in employment decisions. Instead, while some districts may buck national trends, average results point to the status quo in teacher retention. As pandemic and post-pandemic teacher working conditions have worsened, teachers have left their positions far more frequently than in years past, either to move to new districts or states or to leave the profession altogether. Despite this evidence, in many states four-day weeks have spread like wildfire absent supportive data. The Oklahoma state government, for example, effectively banned the school calendar in 2022-23, forcing nearly one in five of the states districts to revert to a customary five-day calendar. Though education leaders nationwide must confront difficult contemporary challenges to balance their budgets and support their teacher workforces, they should exercise considerable caution if they choose to consider addressing these concerns through four-day schedules. As many Pennsylvania education leaders begin such deliberations, they would be well-served to duly consider this evidence from other state settings. J. Cameron Anglum, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the Lehigh University College of Education. A rare roseate spoonbill, typically found in warmer coastal areas, was spotted near Jersey Shore waters this month. Emilee Carton, a Shrewsbury resident who has been an avid birder and wildlife photographer for the past five years, had her first sighting of the pink roseate spoonbill this week. Carton had heard reports of the bird being in New Jersey from other fellow wildlife watchers and on eBird, a bird tracking platform created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon. Last week, when she went out to the wetlands of Union Beach in Monmouth County, she saw the species firsthand and captured photos of it. Seeing the rare aviator was a sign, Carton said, as she had just learned from her doctors that the breast cancer she had previously battled had not returned. The timing couldnt have been better for me as what got me into this in the first place was that right before COVID, I was diagnosed with late stage breast cancer, Carton said. I was a wreck. Miraculously, Im in the clear. The roseate spoonbill, captured in Union Beach by wildfire photographer and birder Emilee Carton.Emilee Carton Other bird watchers reported spotting the roseate spoonbill this month in Cumberland County near East Point Lighthouse, according to a post on Birds of South Jersey, a Facebook group with over 33,000 members. In 2017, the spoonbill was also seen in Cumberland County, with experts attributing the birds northern movement to hurricanes pushing them from the south. Roseate spoonbills pink birds with spoon-shaped bills are most common in coastal Florida, Texas and southwest Louisiana, according to the National Audubon Society. Typically found in small flocks, they feed in shallow waters, according to the conservation organization. The birds were being reported as far north as Connecticut, Maine and Minnesota, outside their usual habitats, in summer 2018, the Society said. Experts have suggested various reasons for these sightings in northern states like New Jersey, including storm fronts pushing them from the south, defective navigation systems, or a desire to explore, according to a report published by the National Audubon Society in 2018. Researchers also speculated that after a successful breeding season, younger birds competing for food and space, might venture out to less-populated areas in search of new habitats, the report said. For Carton, seeing the spoonbill was simply a miracle she still cant believe happened. This bird was my pink ribbon of hope, she said. Aliosha Staes Defies All-French Final Table to Win Winamax Poker Open Ollie Garland Live Reporter Copy link A culmination of four starting flights saw 1,516 hopefuls make their way through the doors of the Banco Casino and onto the felt, competing for their share of the 667,040 prize pool. Three lengthy days of play concluded with Aliosha Staes lifting the trophy and laying claim to the first-place prize of 90,0000; a handsome return on the initial 500 investment to this Winamax Poker Open Main Event, here in Bratislava. Winamax Poker Open Main Event Final Table Results: Place Player Country Prize 1 Aliosha Staes Belgium 90,000 2 Timothe Labassa France 62,000 3 Benjamin Hammann France 43,000 4 Valentin Imperatore France 30,000 5 Dylan Cechowski France 21,660 6 Jonathan Pastore France 16,000 7 Hugo Menant France 12,080 Winner's Reaction As his rail often mentioned, Staes was the only Belgian at the final table. Thats true, but I was mostly the small whale in a shark tank, he joked, holding his big trophy after his victory. The level was very, very, very high. It was the toughest field Ive ever faced. From Day 2 to the end, there were no mistakes, he added. Yet, Staes is far from an amateur player. He often plays at Casino de Namur and was even a professional player for several years. Although he returned to work in IT in 2019, he still plays under the banner of Team Poker One, a team of Belgian players that allows staking for live tournaments. This time, no staking was needed, as a single bullet was enough to win the titlethe biggest of his career. Contrary to what he said, he was far from being rusty. Before Day 3, I had decided to play without holding back, telling myself I wouldnt be afraid to go all in if necessary. I had to stay focused on every hand. Im glad I kept my focus the whole way through. I was in the zone, and it went well, he shared in his post-victory interview. Despite a long seven-hour final table, Staes strangely didnt feel tired. Maybe it was the adrenaline, but I felt good from start to finish. And with a good run on top of that, it was cool. The fatigue will come later, as he will become a father in two months. Babies are expensive, so Ill be able to buy a lot of stuff with 90,000, he joked. It's a beautiful project that will likely keep him away from the poker tables for a few months. In the meantime, he has to land in Belgium tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. to start work at 2 p.m. Action of the Day: Seventeen players returned to the felt early this afternoon with the hopes of etching their name into Winamax history, however, the dream was short-lived for Johnny Andreassen who was the first casualty of the day. Andreassen was on the wrong end of a flopped flush-over-flush collision that saw Dylan Cechowski the beneficiary of his entire stack. Matthieu Lamagnere final tabled the largest live six-max event ever held when he came sixth in the 5,500 MAD Main Event at the 2024 Winamax SISMIX series in Marrakech, but he was denied back-to-back Winamax final tables after Nicolas Plantin sent him to the rail. Final Table Action Valentin Imperatore held the chip lead when the final table of seven was reached, but Cechowski drew first blood, eliminating Menant in only a matter of hands. With an EPT final table, a WSOP gold bracelet, and finishing second place in the WSOP Europe Main Event already amongst his lengthy list of poker results, Jonathan Pastore was certainly one of the most decorated players coming into todays final table. However, Imperatore was on hand to extinguish Pastores hope of adding a Winamax Main Event trophy to his already plentiful poker career, ending his deep tournament run in sixth place. Former PMU Team Pro member Cechowski was certainly known to the remaining finalists as fierce competition. With a near-all French lineup, Cechowskis WPT Prime Aix-en-Provence final table will certainly have been a poignant result fresh in the minds of his opponents. Cechowski couldnt improve upon his WPT Prime fourth-place finish but added another important final table to his ever-growing resume. Poker fans were made to wait for the next elimination a five-hour long dry spell kept viewers of the live stream on the edge of their seat. The departure of Valentin Imperatore came early into the morning as his short stack ran into the aces of Staes. Imperatore told reporters he was ready to sleep in preparation for his early flight tomorrow as he had to be back in school in just two days. After a lengthy short-stacked battle between the final three, a dramatic three-way all-in saw Benjamin Hammann exit in third place to trigger heads-up play. Staes dispatched the last of his six French finalists, Timothe Labassa; his flopped straight had Labassas top pair dead on the turn, ensuring the trophy, title, and 90,0000 were his for the taking. That concludes PokerNews coverage of the Winamax Poker Open here in Bratislava. Stay locked in for future coverage of Winamax tournaments and upcoming events. Share this article Robin Gue Crowned 888poker UKPL Reading Main Event Champion Matthew Pitt Senior Editor Copy link The penultimate stop of the 2024 888poker UK Poker League (UKPL) saw the fledgling tour head to the Grosvenor G Casino in Reading from September 24, and everything was wrapped up six days later. The final champion of the seven-event festival was that of the 560 UKPL Reading Main Event. Robin Gue is that man. The 888poker UKPL Reading Main Event drew in 327 entrants, meaning the top 51 finishers bagged a cash prize. Callum Gordon was one of the first in-the-money casualties, while the likes of Michael Rosaman, Robert Douras, Matthew Davenport, and 888poker's Nick Eastwood all seeing a return on their investment. Eastwood was the 11th place finisher, narrowly missing out on a final table berth. That final table was set after Elliott Lambourne bowed out in tenth. 2024 888poker UKPL Reading Main Event Final Table Results Rank Player Prize 1 Robin Gue 33,030 2 Lorenc Boci 24,580 3 John Bousfield 16,800 4 Dalius Balciunas 10,950 5 Daniel Knapp 7,370 6 Stefan Voudouri 5,230 7 David Buckley 4,250 8 Calogero Morreale 3,580 9 Muhamed Mia 3,030 Final Table Action Muhamed Mia, who finished third in the 888poker UKPL Luton Main Event earlier this year, was the first of the Reading finalists to find themselves void of chips. Mia committed his last four big blinds with king-queen, and John Bousfield called with queen-seven. A seven on the flop halted Mia in his tracks. Eighth place went to Calogero Morreale, who is hunting down the National Poker League (NPL) title. Morreale three-bet all-in for seven big blinds with ace-eight and ran into the dominating ace-king of Lorenc Boci. Surprisingly, there was no eight on the board for the usually hot-running Italian, and he fell by the wayside. Local player David Buckley was the next player heading to the cashier's desk. Buckley looked down at ace-queen of hearts, and promptly moved all-in for his last nine big blinds. Dalius Balciunas called with pocket eights, and it was off to the races. The eights remained best on the flop, and although Buckley picked up a plethora of outs on the turn, the river bricked and he couldn't melt his opponent's snowmen. Stefan Voudouri's live cashes only date back to January 2023, but he already had nine cashes and two final tables under his belt going into the UKPL Reading Main Event. He's added another one to each total, but, unfortunately, couldn't add a victory. He came unstuck after three-betting all-in with king-nine suited after Gue had opened. Gue quickly called with ace-king, the five community cards didn't come to Voudouri's rescue, and he fell in sixth. 888poker LIVE and UKPL Double Header: Your Complete Coventry Festival Schedule The last four-figure prize of the UKPL Reading Main Event went to fifth place finisher Daniel Knapp. His last 14 big blinds were in the middle of the table and his tournament life depended on his pocket fours holding against the ace-queen of Gue. The fours remained true until the appearance of an ace on the river, sending Knapp home with a new career-best score of 7,370. The river came to Gue's rescue again as he sent Balciunas to the rail in fourth. Balciunas looked set for a timely double when his pocket jacks were up against Gue's sevens. Similar to the Knapp elimination, the jacks were best on the flop and turn, but a seven on the river gifted Gue a hand-winning set. Balciunas' impressive run earned him 10,950, the largest recorded live cash of his career so far. Heads-up was set when Bousfield got his last 20 big blinds into the pot with king-queen, and Boci looked him up with ace-jack. Ace-high would have been good enough to win the pot, but an ace on the river made sure Bousfield was gone. The 16,800 that Bousfield won takes him ever closer to $500,000 in live poker tournament earnings. Gue got the job done in the heads-up battle with Boci. Boci was all-in with second pair and a flush draw, but the top pair of Gue faded outs galore. Boci busted in second for 24,580, leaving Gue to enjoy the first live victory of his career and a new personal best score of 33,030. 888poker UKPL Heads to Coventry The final UKPL event of the 2024 season takes place as part of a double-header in Coventry. The 888poker UKPL Coventry event is part of an 11-day series running from October 10-20. October 11 is your first chance to build a stack in the 560 UKPL Coventry Main Event, with additional flights running throughout the weekend before Day 2 on October 13. Date Time Entry Fee Event Oct 10 14:00 200+30 UKPL Opening Voyage 1A Oct 10 18:00 180+20 UKPL Turbo Dash Oct 10 20:00 200+30 UKPL Voyage 1B Turbo Oct 10 20:00 56+9 UKPL Main Event CashOut Sat Oct 11 14:00 200+30 UKPL Opening Voyage 1C Oct 11 16:00 500+60 UKPL Main Event 1A Oct 11 16:00 100+10 UKPL Mini Shot Oct 11 20:00 200+30 UKPL Opening Voyage 1D Turbo Oct 12 12:00 200+30 UKPL Opening Voyage Day 2 Oct 12 14:00 500+60 UKPL Main Event 1B Oct 12 16:00 111+9 888poker LIVE Main Event Cash Out Turbo Sat Oct 12 21:00 500+60 UKPL Main Event 1C Turbo Oct 12 21:00 100+10 UKPL High Roller Cash Out Sat Turbo Oct 13 12:00 500+60 UKPL Main Event Day 2 Oct 13 13:00 1,000+100 UKPL High Roller Day 1 Oct 13 16:00 200+20 UKPL Mid Shot Oct 13 17:00 100+10 UKPL PLO 4/5/6 Oct 13 20:00 111+9 888poker LIVE Main Event Cash Out Turbo Sat Oct 14 13:00 1,000+100 UKPL High Roller Day 2 Oct 14 15:00 200+100+30 UKPL The Mega KnockOut Oct 14 17:00 130+20 UKPL Seniors Oct 14 20:00 111+9 888poker LIVE Main Event Cash Out Turbo Sat Oct 15 12:00 200+200+40 Mystery Bounty 1A Oct 15 15:00 300+30 The Big Shot Oct 15 20:00 200+200+40 Mystery Bounty 1B - Turbo Oct 15 20:00 111+9 888poker LIVE Main Event Cash Out Turbo Sat Oct 16 12:00 800+88 888poker LIVE Main Event Day 1A Oct 16 14:00 200+200+40 Mystery Bounty Day 2 Oct 16 15:00 1,888+112 High Roller Day 1 Oct 16 18:00 180+20 The Rumble Turbo Oct 16 20:00 111+9 888poker LIVE Main Event Cash Out Turbo Sat Oct 17 12:00 1,888+112 High Roller Day 2 Oct 17 13:00 800+88 888poker LIVE Main Event Day 1B Oct 17 17:00 220+30 The Mayhem Oct 17 18:00 100+10 888poker LIVE Main Event Cash Out Turbo Sat Oct 17 21:00 800+88 888poker LIVE Main Event Day 1C Turbo Oct 18 12:00 800+88 888poker LIVE Main Event Day 1D Oct 18 20:00 800+88 888poker LIVE Main Event Day 1E Turbo Oct 18 21:00 100+10 888poker LIVE Main Event Cash Out Turbo Sat Oct 19 11:00 800+88 888poker LIVE Main Event Day 1F Turbo Oct 19 17:00 800+88 888poker LIVE Main Event Day 2 Oct 19 17:00 500+50 The Dragon Day 1 Oct 19 18:00 150+150+30 PLO 4/5/6 Bounty Oct 20 13:00 800+88 888poker LIVE Main Event Day 3 Oct 20 13:00 500+50 The Dragon Day 2 Oct 20 17:00 220+30 Beat the Ambassadors Oct 20 19:00 180+20 888poker LIVE Closer Win a $2,000 Coventry Package Online at 888poker Satellites from $0.01 eventually feed into the $109 buy-in 888poker LIVE Coventry Festival 2024 ME Qualifier, where at least one $2,000 package is guaranteed, with more added for every $2,000 in the prize pool. These packages award their winner: $1,130 (888) buy-in to the 888poker LIVE Coventry Main Event $500 for accommodation $370 for travel expenses 888poker LIVE poker kit Keep Tabs on 888poker MTTs with the PokerNews Online Tournament Calendar The PokerNews Online Tournament Calendar is a free-to-use tool built into the PokerNews website that enables you to find upcoming and in-play multi-tables tournaments on poker sites like 888poker. By using the intuitive filters, you can narrow down your search and find the perfect 888poker tournament for you, your bankroll, and your needs. Share this article After seven opening flights in Event #5: 550 NLH Colossus at the 2024 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) and 2,799 entries, just 16 players remain in contention for the bracelet and the 171,350 first prize. In pole position is Georgios Tsouloftas who bagged up 12,210,000 at the end of Day 2. Sitting in second is William Trumm with a stack of 10,370,000, and those two are well clear of Andrea Ricci who rounds out the podium places in third with 7,160,000 chips. Finishing near the top of the pack seemed unlikely for Trumm, as he was down to less than two big blinds during Level 24 when he was involved in a twelve-minute hand that never even saw a flop. With exactly 100 players remaining and a 210 pay jump awaiting those who could hang on for one more elimination, Trumm folded his way to the higher payout and looked destined to bust soon after. However, the spin-up of the series saw Trumm's stack start to swell after he sent Bogdan Roman to the rail with pocket nines, besting the Romanian player's ace-queen. In the penultimate level, Trumm's stack breached eight figures as he got three streets of value with two pair against Mousa Awad. Top Ten Chip Counts Rank Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds 1 Georgios Tsouloftas Cyprus 12,210,000 76 2 William Trumm Germany 10,370,000 65 3 Andrea Ricci Italy 7,160,000 45 4 Michal Schuh Czechia 6,000,000 38 5 Paul Runcan Romania 5,630,000 35 6 Pascal Pflock Germany 4,975,000 31 7 Hong Pham Viet Nam 4,015,000 25 8 Tomas Krivsky Czechia 3,275,000 20 9 Mousa Awad Romania 3,200,000 20 10 Vito Branciforte Italy 2,910,000 18 Tsouloftas had an excellent last few levels that saw him go from the middle of the pack up to the summit of the counts. First, Jan Krahulik shoved with king-six and ran into the ace-jack of Tsouloftas to depart in twentieth. Then he spiked an ace on the river with ace-queen to bust Daniel Frey, who held pocket queens. Finally, Clayde Terlaan also fell victim to the rampage that Tsouloftas was on to end the day with two tables remaining. Georgios Tsouloftas None of the surviving sixteen players have previously won a bracelet, which means a new entry will be made into the elite club of WSOP gold-strap winners. That feat seems unlikely for Zoltan Vrancsik as he only has 265,000 to play with once Day 3 begins less than two big blinds but with Trumm as motivation, anything can happen. A total of 317 players had made it into Day 2 and well into the money with the likes of Ermanno Di Nicola (270th), Adrian State (243rd), Tobias Peters (187th), Sebastian Langrock (179th), Darius Samual (145th), and Martin Kabrhel (111th) all busting in the opening levels. Remaining Payouts Place Prize Place Prize 1 171,350 8 29,050 2 117,350 9 24,750 3 88,350 10-11 21,650 4 67,850 12-14 19,250 5 53,150 15 8,900 6 42,450 16 7,100 7 34,650 *Top 14 places include a 10,350 WSOPE Main Event ticket There is a mini bubble to deal with when play gets underway as a 10,350 WSOPE Main Event ticket will be awarded to the top fourteen payouts, meaning two unlucky players will miss out on a seat. The payout difference between fourteenth and fifteenth is over double, which will surely be a tense moment. All of the remaining players have locked up a payday of 7,100 for their efforts. Play will resume on Day 3 at 2 p.m. with the blinds kicking off with exactly 15 minutes left in Level 32 80,000/160,000 with a 160,000 big blind ante. The average stack is almost 4,400,000, which is around 27 big blinds. There will be a live stream once play begins which will have a delay. Live updates will be synchronized with the stream to ensure no spoilers are leaked. Be sure to tune into PokerNews from 2 p.m. to catch the conclusion of the 550 NLH Colossus and see who can earn themselves their first WSOP bracelet at King's Resort in Rozvadov. Streamlining Instructional Design with Generative AI As both instructional designers and adjunct faculty members at Northeast Iowa Community College, Shannon Brenner and Jordan O'Connell have a close-up view of generative AI from both perspectives. We talked about generative AI's impact on instructional design and teaching, navigating acceptable use of AI, strategies for helping faculty make the most of AI, and more. New ED Guidelines for Designing Trustworthy AI Tools in Education The United States Department of Education recently released a new guide that seeks to inform ed tech developers as they create AI products and services for use in education. We spoke with Kevin Johnstun, education program specialist in ED's Office of Educational Technology, about the ins and outs of the report and what it means for education institutions. As of 10 a.m. Sept. 30, Sprouts on E. North Street was open in Greenville amid Helene's impact. The first thing you notice stepping inside the new Sprouts Farmers Market at East North Street and Pelham Road is the wall of produce. The rainbow of colors is mesmerizing and aesthetically pleasing. This is the point and a key piece to the Sprouts puzzle. This is our bread and butter, said Courtney Schrauben Haik, senior public relations specialist for Sprouts. Its always at the center of the store. The newest Sprouts store is now open in Greenville at 2435 East North St. This marks the second Sprouts in South Carolina and in the Upstate. The first one in Simpsonville opened in 2018. There are expansion plans for the state, Schrauben Haik said. The market anchors a shopping plaza that includes Oscar Nails, Golden Llama and El Mocajete. Sprouts' space was, for years, occupied by BI-LO. The BI-LO closed in 2021 and the space has been empty since. The Arizona-based specialty market is known for its mostly organic produce selection, along with its vitamins and supplements line, an extensive array of organic produce, grass-fed meats, dairy and even wines. The new store marks a new look for the grocery company, which started as a farmers market stand and opened its first grocery store in 2002. The new design employs a smaller footprint (24,000 square feet versus 32,000 square feet) and more open space to create what Schrauben Haik described as a more intimate feel. The aisles are wider but shorter, and the center of the store is all produce. This makes it all a bit more digestible. We really wanted to make it feel like a farmers market all under one roof, Schrauben Haik said. Sprouts does not offer everything. While youll find toilet paper and organic dog food here, there arent aisles of art supplies or diapers or a pharmacy. And the toothpaste, toiletries and soaps follow the Sprouts tenet of being free of parabens, artificial colors and synthetic fragrance. COLUMBIA Cayce Mayor Elise Parton urged residents of the Riverland Park neighborhood to evacuate Sept. 29 as the already-flooded Congaree River was expected to continue rising. The river level reached 29.8 feet at 6 p.m., already a moderate flood level, and is forecasted by the Southeast River Forecast Center to reach 31 feet by 2 p.m. Sept. 30, major flooding in line with the historic 2015 floods. Cayce police officers touched based with each household in the neighborhood thats impacted by the voluntary evacuation, according to a spokesperson from the city, and the city was working with churches to find shelter for evacuees. "Please don't wait until the last minute to evacuate," Parton said in a video posted online. Cayce's riverwalk and boat landing were already fully under water the afternoon of Sept. 29. Across the river, Columbia and Richland County officials closed parks and boat ramps on the Congaree and Broad rivers, and closed Lost Creek Drive from Pond Oak Lane to Lake Front Drive due to flooding. The flooding comes days after the remnants of Hurricane Helene battered the Midlands in the early morning of Sept. 27, toppling trees and knocking out power across the area. At least 25 people were killed by the storm in South Carolina, including two in Newberry County and three in Saluda County two of whom were volunteer firefighters. Over 37,600 people in Lexington County were still without power as of 5:30 p.m. Sept. 29, according to the sheriff's department. Editor's note: This information was current as of Sept. 30, 2024. For the latest coverage of Helene from across South Carolina, visit Hurricane Wire. Three days after Tropical Storm Helene tore through the Southeast, the death toll in the Upstate continues to rise, services remain strained and hundreds of thousands are still without power. Tree clearing has been slowed as crews wait for utilities to remove dangerous powerlines, with Duke Energy saying it will have to rebuild whole portions of its infrastructure, a task that could leave people without power for a week or beyond. While the rains and winds have dissipated, conditions remain perilous. The Post and Courier's reporters are following the storm. Updates will be provided here as Helene unfolds. See something we should know? Send us an email. Parking lot of Greenvilles Haywood Mall transforms to accommodate utility workers 6 p.m. There are currently close to 6,000 utility workers in South Carolina endeavoring to restore power for hundreds of thousands of residents in the wake of Tropical Storm Helene. Duke Energy, the largest electric provider in the Upstate, has established 10 sprawling encampments across the area, complete with temporary lodging and large dining halls to accommodate that small army of line workers, schedulers, engineers and other workers. One of those settlements is based in the parking lot of Haywood Mall, transforming the usually bustling shopping center into a small city lined with trailers, pallets of supplies and rows of utility trucks. The encampment sprung up there in hours on Friday after Helene wrought devastation on the area and a steady stream of linemen and equipment have been flowing in an out since, against the backdrop of a Macys department store and Grill Marks burger restaurant. The University of South Carolina Aiken recently found a creative way to staff a new security operations center and give students hands-on cybersecurity training at the same time. We spoke with Ernest Pringle, vice chancellor for IT and CIO at USC Aiken, about creating a student-led SOC, helping students put cybersecurity theory into practice, forging regional cybersecurity partnerships, and more. As VP for information technology and CIO at the University of Michigan, Ravi Pendse is committed to fostering a robust data culture that democratizes the use of data to inform decision-making. At the center of that culture is transparency: making sure students, faculty, and staff know exactly what types of data are collected, and how that data is stored, accessed, managed, and shared. Here, we talk about creating a data-aware, privacy-aware ecosystem, data governance challenges, making data visible to students, and more. Gina Breazeale was picking up a couple of meals for some neighbors who could not leave their homes because of the weather. She said she was very grateful for what the church is doing. They needed to use this food so it was a good way for them to use their food and help the community with people who are unable to get out, people who dont have any food that has gone bad, she said. Katrice Walker said the meal was wonderful because she and her family have not been able to have a meal for many days, and said the food giveaway will help the community tremendously. I know this is probably going to give a lot of people just lift their spirits," she said. When you get a good meal that happens." Walker said they might not have electricity at the moment, but they have a house that is still standing. We are grateful that we still have our family, she said. Charlotte and Aubry Sanders were helping to place baked goods on the table. Charlotte said she came because she and her parents wanted to help out, and it gave her something to do while schools were closed. I get to help the community around us and just give out free food so they wont be hungry , Aubry Sanders said. First Baptist Church of North Augusta member Susie Shanlian said even though her place wasnt damaged that much she drove down to the church to help after she saw a message of the meal giveaway on Facebook. We were just so excited to donate our time, love and make sure people who are hungry who cant get a meal, get a meal, she said. The church held another meal giveaway on Monday at noon and served meatloaf. There are also plans to have meals for the rest of the week. Anything we can do to be the hands and feet of Jesus, we want to, Sanders said. As we mark National Newspaper Week 2024, it is crucial to reflect on the role newspapers play in our democracy. Despite the digital revolution and a fast-changing media landscape, newspapers continue to provide the foundation for reliable, well-researched and accountable journalism. This wee Read moreCelebrating trust, accountability and the power of newspapers MANCHESTER, NH (09/25/2024)-- It is with great pleasure that Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) congratulates the following students on being named to the Summer 2024 President's List. The summer terms run from May to August. Read moreSNHU announces Summer 2024 President's List One of Americas founding fathers and John Hancocks successor as president of the Second Continental Congress, Henry Laurens, made his fortune exporting rice, indigo, shipbuilding supplies and deerskins, while importing wine, rum, sugar and enslaved people. Privately, Laurens questioned the morality of slavery. Nevertheless, along with his business partners, he became the largest North American slave importer of his day and one of the wealthiest men in the colonies. Like most every enterprising White man in Charles Town, Laurens aspired to become a planter, eventually acquiring nearly 20,000 acres along the South Carolina and Georgia coasts. Today's Top Headlines Story continues below He also built a grand town house and garden on the southeast corner of East Bay and Laurens streets. In her 1921 book "Historic Houses of South Carolina," Harriette Kershaw Leiding recalls the house featuring colonial carvings, marble mantels, set-in book cases, thick walls, secret doors and, on the upper floor, a wonderful ballroom. Though no reliable documentation exists, oral tradition claims that upon her death, the body of Laurens young sister lay in repose upstairs in the wonderful ballroom. As her body lay near an open window, a storm blew up. When cold rain splashed her face, her eyelids fluttered. She then sat up, recovered and lived for many years afterward. Whether the story is true, Laurens did fear being buried alive. In his will, he directed his son after my decease, he cause my body to be wrapped in 12 yards of Tow Cloth and burnt until it be entirely and totally consumed and then collect my bones, deposit them wherever he shall think proper. As local tensions with Great Britain grew during the 1760s, Laurens was among those who sought a peaceful resolution, hoping to avoid war and a complete break with England. Perhaps, in part, because of his moderate views, an angry mob gathered outside Laurens house to protest the Stamp Act of 1765 which taxed documents ranging from court records to newspapers and playing cards. An untrue rumor had spread that Laurens was hiding the stamps. Syndicated and guest columns represent the personal views of the writers, not necessarily those of the editorial staff. The editorial department operates entirely independently of the news department and is not involved in newsroom operations. One of the biggest challenges in the Charleston region is the difficulty so many have finding an affordable place to buy or rent near their job or anywhere safe in some cases so we welcome two experimental approaches to addressing this important problem. Read moreEditorial: Two new and welcome approaches to Charleston region's housing problem With today's advancements in generative AI, the dream of ultra-personalized learning may not be far off from reality. We spoke with Dr. Kim Round, associate dean of the Western Governors University School of Education, about the potential of technologies like ChatGPT for learning, the need for AI literacy skills, why learning experience designers have a leg up on AI prompt engineering, and more. The use of AI for writing and communication presents an inherent contradiction: Those who can best write with AI will be those who can best write without it, according to Mark Warschauer professor of education and informatics at the University of California, Irvine, and founder of UCI's Digital Learning Lab. We talked about the potential of AI for teaching and learning, overcoming faculty skepticism about AI tools, research questions that should be asked about AI in education, and more. PR-Inside.com: 2024-09-30 14:00:50 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 462 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Dennis Batchelder steps down after eight years of leadershipSAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / AMTSO, the cybersecurity industry's testing standard community, announced today the appointment of Vlad Iliushin as its new President and CEO. Iliushin succeeds Dennis Batchelder, who is stepping down after eight successful years at the organization's helm.Vlad Iliushin AMTSO Board Appoints Vlad Iliushin as New President and CEO"We are thrilled to welcome Vlad Iliushin as AMTSO's new president and CEO. His entrepreneurship, deep expertise, and contributions to AMTSO make him an excellent fit for this role," said Luis Corrons, chairman of the board at AMTSO. "Dennis Batchelder let the board know some time ago that we should start looking for a new leader, and we have been searching for the right candidate since the beginning of the year. We are pleased to continue working closely with Dennis as he remains an integral part of AMTSO, and we extend our sincere thanks to him for his outstanding leadership since 2016. Dennis has left an indelible mark on the organization, and we are pleased to continue working closely with him as he remains an integral part of AMTSO. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors." Iliushin, founder and CEO of ELLIO Technology, has been a member of AMTSO's board since July 2022. He brings over a decade of cybersecurity experience, particularly in fighting mass exploitation attacks, IoT and mobile security, having previously led Avast's IoT Lab and contributed significantly to AMTSO's IoT working group.As AMTSO enters this new chapter, Iliushin will focus on three key objectives:Retention: Ensuring members receive maximum value from AMTSO by enhancing the organization's value offerings. For this, a goal is to gain a deeper understanding of members' evolving needs.Expansion: Broadening the scope of AMTSO's initiatives beyond traditional antivirus testing, expanding new ventures like the VPN and XDR working groups designed to address the rapidly evolving threat landscape.Outreach: Attracting and engaging new members, ensuring continued growth and relevance of the organization in the cybersecurity industry.Iliushin said: "I am honored to step into the role of President and CEO of AMTSO, and I'm excited to collaborate with our members to elevate our community to new heights, building on the strong foundation Dennis has established over the past years. AMTSO began with a focus on fair standards in antivirus testing, but has since expanded to encompass other cybersecurity areas such as XDR, VPN, and IoT security. I look forward to driving this growth further in close collaboration with the board, executive team, and our members. Strengthening and expanding our member base will be key to our future success." Contact InformationMarina Ziegler CMO, AMTSOpr@ amtso.org SOURCE: AMTSOView the original press release on newswire.com PR-Inside.com: 2024-09-30 20:00:49 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 964 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 FDC3 ushers a new era of buy-side, sell-side connectivity as industry leaders surface adoption of the open standard in their financial desktop platformsNEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / The Fintech Open Source Foundation (FINOS), the financial services umbrella of the Linux Foundation, announced at today's Open Source in Finance Forum New York (OSFF NY) that BlackRock'sAladdin platformand Morgan Stanley's Open SourceComposeUIhave successfully achieved FDC3 2.0 Conformance, joining the growing list ofFINOS FDC3 Certified Platforms .Additionally, during OSFF NY opening keynotes, FINOS showcased public statements from leading financial data and analytics vendors like London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) and S&P Global Market Intelligence implementing the FDC3 protocol within customer-facing applications. These firms join the over30 firms publicly listed as FDC3 standard usersand the estimated thousands of internal applications built on the open standard.FDC3(Financial Desktop Connectivity and Collaboration Consortium) is an open standard hosted by FINOS created in 2018 to address desktop application interoperability in financial services and rapidly evolved into a recognized cross-industry connectivity standard."FDC3 has gained significant momentum, as evidenced by these new conformance and adoption results," said Madeleine Dassule, Partner and CIO Infrastructure Platform at Wellington Management, Chair of the FINOS Governing Board and FDC3 Executive Sponsor. "And we're very excited to see innovations such as FDC3 for the Web, and FDC3 Identity and Security, being driven by the open source community." "Having industry leaders like BlackRock and Morgan Stanley now certified by FINOS as FDC3 2.0 Conformant is a major milestone as it will no doubt exponentially grow the network effect FDC3 is already experiencing," said Gabriele Columbro, Executive Director of FINOS. "Paired with adoption from leading financial data platforms, it's hard to overstate what a watershed moment this is in breaking long-standing industry silos and vendor lock-in." A critical step forward in industry interoperabilityThe challenges and resource drain that financial services have faced for years when it comes to financial technology interoperability are being tackled head-on through a commitment to open standards.For BlackRock, the certification process, led by Sitija Sarkar, Tech Fellow, Managing Director and FINOS Board member, ensures that third-party vendor applications adhering to the FDC3 standard can seamlessly interact with Aladdin applications, regardless of the provider. This interoperability is crucial for streamlining workflows and improving productivity."At the heart of fintech innovation is the ability to seamlessly integrate diverse financial systems and open source accelerates this by promoting collaboration and transparency across the industry. BlackRock is proud to achieve FDC3 2.0 Conformance Certification for our Aladdin platform," said Lance Braunstein, Senior Managing Director, Head of Aladdin Engineering. "FDC3 standards will ensure seamless interoperability and workflow efficiency, future-proofing the Aladdin ecosystem for faster, secure, and flexible client value delivery." For Morgan Stanley, Conformance demonstrates the strategic importance the firm places on FDC3. This year alone they have taken on co-maintainer responsibilities of the FDC3 standard and contributed .NET bindings, as well as contributing to FDC3 2.2. It's important to note that the newly certified ComposeUI is itself an incubating Morgan Stanley open source project."Achieving FDC3 2.0 Conformance Certification is a significant milestone for Morgan Stanley and is a step in our journey to enable FDC3 interoperability across our portfolio of applications covering a range of programming languages and platforms," said Brian Ingenito, Executive Director and Distinguished Engineer at Morgan Stanley. "We believe that open standards like FDC3 are essential for unlocking new scenarios and efficiencies in user experience on the desktop for both our employees and our clients." Morgan Stanley is actively engaged with a wide range of FINOS open source project communities alongside FDC3, including Common Cloud Controls, Open Source Readiness, AI Readiness, Architecture as Code, TraderX, BankerX, and Zenith.Also at OSFF NY Morgan Stanley and Wellington Management demonstrated FDC3 cross-firm, highly confidential interoperability use cases, further broadening the reach and applicability of the standard.FDC3 2.2 enables use cases beyond desktop, GenAI supercharges the standardThe FDC3 community has also unveiled the newly adopted FDC3 2.2 specification which will be demonstrated at OSFF NY. Importantly, this includes a protocol allowing FDC3 applications to work in browsers in a standards-compliant way. This is particularly exciting as it opens up the possibility for FDC3 to be used beyond its original remit of the trader desktop to tackle a broader variety of finance and other use cases.In conjunction with its open source nature enabling training of large language models free of IP concerns, FDC3 is solidly set to enable a high productivity development of a new generation of financial workflows based on seamless standard-based connectivity across the industry."Teaching Copilot FDC3 enables new and integrated workflows and future agentic capabilities with best-of-breed desktop apps" said Jared Lambert, Principal Group Program Manager at Microsoft".About FDC3FDC3 (Financial Desktop Connectivity and Collaboration Consortium) is an open standard for desktop application interoperability in financial services. By establishing a universal framework for desktop applications to communicate and share data, FDC3 allows users to integrate multiple tools and platforms in real time without the need for custom integrations. This standard accelerates workflow efficiency, reduces complexity, and fosters innovation, empowering firms to leverage their existing technology ecosystems to deliver faster, more cohesive financial insights and decision-making. The 2.0 version of the standard introduced enhanced features for seamless integration and communication between different applications on financial desktops.For more information about FDC3 and how to get involved, or to learn about joining FINOS as a member, visitfdc3.finos.organd theMember Benefitspage. FINOS also encourages financial institutions and technology providers to pursueFDC3 certificationto enhance sector-wide interoperability.About FINOSFINOS (The Fintech Open Source Foundation) is a nonprofit whose mission is to foster the adoption of open source, open standards, and collaborative software development practices in financial services. I PR-Inside.com: 2024-09-30 09:20:31 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 1029 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 JERSEY / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / Interim Results for six-month period ending 30 June 2024CleanTech Lithium PLC (AIM:CTL)(Frankfurt:T2N)(OTCQX:CTLHF), an exploration and development companyadvancing sustainable lithium projects in Chile for the clean energy transition, is pleased to announce its unaudited Interim Results for the six-month period ended 30 June 2024 ("1H 2024" or "the Period").The Company has made significant progress with the Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS") at the flagship project, Laguna Verde, and seen encouraging results from the Direct Lithium Extraction ("DLE") pilot plant in Chile and will be producing battery-grade lithium carbonate for potential strategic partners to evaluate. The Company is also pursuing a dual listing on the Australian Stock Exchange ("ASX") and aims to be trading on the ASX in Q4 2024.Highlights of the Period:Operational:Health & Safety:Zero-harm safety culture focused on continuous improvement to achieve an injury free and healthy work environment - no LTIs, major incidents or near misses recorded in 1H 2024.Laguna Verde Drilling Programme:Five-well resource drilling programme commenced. Work designed in collaboration with Montgomery & Associates, a leading hydrogeology and resource evaluation consultancy.Programme aims to produce a maiden reserves estimate using modifying factors from the Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS") which is underway and targeted for completion by the end of 2024.DLE Pilot Plant:Operational and producing high quality lithium chloride eluate with low impurities.Eluate is being converted to produce batches of battery-grade lithium carbonate which will be made available to potential strategic partners in Q4 2024 to start product qualification.Inauguration event was held in May 2024 where local communities and government officials were in attendance.Project Licences:CTL entered into a sale and purchase agreement ("SPA"), now taking full ownership of certain Laguna Verde licences that were previously held by way of an option agreementThe licences held in the Salar de Atacama basin, which we understand are located outside the salar area defined as strategic by the Government and have been re-named the 'Arenas Blancas' project, are a potentially very promising opportunity.CEOL Contracts:Expressions of Interest ("RFIs") for a total of five lithium projects have been submitted to the Chilean Government. CTL is very well positioned as the most advanced exploration stage company progressing DLE based projects in Chile.Francisco Basin project has been renamed Viento Andino, in line with the RFI submission, to highlight the project area is outside a national park of a similar name located in the basin.Corporate:Board changes:Executive Chairman Steve Kesler assumed the duties of CEO on an interim basis, following the resignation of CEO, Aldo Boitano in April.The search for a new CEO is well underway and the chosen candidate will be announced in due course.Cash position:The Company's cash position at the period end, including proceeds received from Loan Notes shortly after period end, was 2.1 million.Post-period Highlights:Operational:Pump tests and a reinjection well at Laguna Verde, planned to be undertaken in Q4 2024, will help define the brine extraction and reinjection wellfield design and the sustainable production rate required for the PFS.A plant location study was completed by Worley for the Laguna Verde project and concluded that the DLE and eluate concentration should be undertaken at project site and the purification and carbonation close to Copiapo which is at a lower elevation with good technical support locally available. This latter plant would be expanded in the future to also process concentrated eluate from the Viento Andino project.Completion of the first stage of production of concentrated eluate from the Companys DLE pilot plant which has been shipped for conversion to battery-grade lithium carbonate by process partners in North America.Corporate:ASX Listing:The Company is seeking to dual-list on the Australian Securities Exchange ("ASX"). Although the Company announced an extension to the ASX IPO timetable on 20 September 2024, to allow it to address some procedural matters raised by ASX, the intention remains to complete the IPO before the year end. An associated capital raise is planned to enable completion of the PFS and continuance of other work programmes. Notwithstanding, the Company continues to consider its funding options on an ongoing basis as a part of its normal practice.CEOL Process:The Government has streamlined the CEOL process, announcing an update at the end of Septemberprioritising six salt flats for lithium development including Laguna Verde, the Company's flagship project, as having the most favourable conditions to advance lithium exploration and extraction. CEOL applications to be submitted by 31st December 2024.Local stakeholders:CTL attended a seminar organised by CESCO alongside local indigenous communities. The President of the Colla Pai-Ote community publicly endorsed CTL's Laguna Verde project as the way forward for the lithium industry in Chile, which was widely reported in the Chilean media.CTL's DLE carousel equipment is now installed at the University of Atacama as part of an ongoing partnership. The DLE equipment will be available for research programmes. The long-term collaboration between the University and CTL will help nurture the skills required for fostering the lithium industry in the Atacama region.Steve Kesler, Executive Chairman and Interim CEO, CleanTech Lithium said:"The first half of 2024 has seen significant operational and strategic progress on our lithium projects in Chile. This includes the production of high quality lithium chloride eluate with low impurities from our DLE pilot plant, which has a capacity to produce one tonne per month of lithium carbonate equivalent. A drilling, pump testing and reinjection programme was started at Laguna Verde aimed at updating the JORC resource estimate, providing data for the PFS and developing of a maiden reserve estimate."The Company is also in the process of listing on the ASX exchange, which will support its future development, as it enters potential strategic partner discussions and progresses towards production. Whilst this process has been delayed, the ASX market is well versed in the lithium sector and a meaningful number of the Company's existing shareholders have Australian links."With the PFS well underway and project development ongoing, backed by the strong support from local indigenous communities and aligned with the objectives of Government's National Lithium Strateg PR-Inside.com: 2024-09-30 18:02:41 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 412 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 ST. PETERSBURG, FL / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / Climate First Bank ( www.climatefirstbank.com) , the world's first FDIC-insured digital community bank founded to combat the climate crisis, has temporarily waived some fees on loans and overdraft fees on deposit accounts that were incurred between September 26, 2024, and October 31, 2024.Climate First Bank Details on financial relief for Climate First Bank customers include:The bank will refund any overdraft or non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees incurred on consumer and commercial accounts from September 26 to October 31, 2024.The bank will refund any late fees on consumer loans incurred from September 26 to October 31, 2024."As a community-driven institution, Climate First Bank is committed to providing timely financial relief to those affected by Hurricane Helene," Climate First Bank CEO and Founder, Ken LaRoe, said. "We're saddened to see the challenges that our communities are facing in the wake of such devastation, and we're here to support their rebuilding journey with compassion. We urge anyone who needs support during this difficult time to reach out to us." "As sea levels continue to rise due to climate change, extreme weather events like hurricanes are only going to become more regular," Climate First Bank VP, Director of All Good Things, Lauren Dube, said. "At Climate First Bank, we remain committed to a better future for our people and planet, and we continue to provide banking products that deliver positive outcomes for our environment and communities." About Climate First Bank:Recognized as one of the fastest-growing banks in the country, Climate First Bank is the world's first FDIC-insured, values-based, digital community bank founded to combat the climate crisis. A Certified B Corp, 1% for the Planet member, and operationally net-zerosince it opened its doors in June 2021, the Bank offers a complete, full-service portfolio of simple and easy-to-use traditional banking products powered by technology to meet the expectations of today's consumers. In addition to offering standard banking services, the company places a special emphasis on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and businesses committed to sustainability. Eco-conscious customers will find dedicated loan options for solar photovoltaic (PV), energy retrofits and infrastructure to help combat the climate crisis. The Bank reports annually on its impact in line with corporate social responsibility goals; read the most recent Impact Report here. Member FDIC.For more information, please visit: www.climatefirstbank.com Contact InformationJohn CollinsCollins Strategy Groupjohn@ collinssg.com (917) 496-4587Rachel KentMarketing Directorrachel.kent@climatefirstbank.com 5186693550SOURCE: Climate First BankView the original press release on newswire.com California Governor Vetoes AI Regulation Bill, Calls for More Targeted Approach California Governor Gavin Newsom has rejected Senate Bill 1047, a proposed landmark AI regulation aimed at safeguarding against the misuse of the technology. California Governor Signs AI Content Safeguards into Law California Governor Gavin Newsom has officially signed off on a series of landmark artificial intelligence bills, signaling the states latest efforts to regulate the burgeoning technology, particularly in response to the misuse of sexually explicit deepfakes. The legislation is aimed at mitigating the risks posed by AI-generated content, as concerns grow over the technology's potential to manipulate images, videos, and voices in ways that could cause significant harm. U.S. Department of Commerce Proposes Mandatory Reporting Requirement for AI, Cloud Providers This proposed rule from the department's Bureau of Industry and Security aims to enhance national security by establishing reporting requirements for the development of advanced AI models and computing clusters. PR-Inside.com: 2024-09-30 19:03:37 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 541 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Cydecor Bolsters Technical Capabilities and Expands Mission-Critical Offerings with its Acquisition of Artel. The transaction marks Cydecor's fourth acquisition in the past few years.ARLINGTON, VA / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / Cydecor, Inc., an award-winning veteran-owned business that delivers mission-enabling technology solutions to national security and defense agencies, today announced that it has acquired Artel LLC from TPG, a leading global alternative asset management firm.Cydecor Logo Based in Herndon, Virginia, Artel has served as a trusted provider of network solutions to the U.S. Government for more than 30 years. In addition to delivering global, complex satellite and terrestrial communications solutions, the company offers professional IT services and a full portfolio of Cyber Security/Risk Management services. The company provides and supports terrestrial capacity on five continents, furnishes satellite bandwidth to the DoD, and owns and operates a Network Operations Center (NOC) that provides 24x7x365 mission-critical support.Cydecor is committed to becoming a premier national security leader that delivers mission-enabling technology and solutions to national security and defense agencies. Cydecor has established leading services in several core business and mission areas to include data & analytics, software development, and mission support. The combination of Cydecor and Artel links together solutions and capabilities that enhance the ability to deliver reliable and secure offerings to a more diverse customer set."The acquisition of Artel broadens and deepens our offerings while enhancing our ability to serve as an end-to-end solution provider for national security technology. Artel has a wonderful reputation for delivering excellence to the customer," said Nader Elguindi, President and CEO of Cydecor."We are excited to join the Cydecor family. Their mission focus, domain expertise, attention to partnership, and deep customer relationships will translate to capability that expands Artel's ability to serve the customer with increased access," said Paul Domorski, President and CEO of Artel.Raymond James and Kirkland and Ellis served as Artel's financial and legal advisors, respectively. Rock Hall Partners and Morrison and Foerster served as Cydecor's financial and legal advisors, respectively.About CydecorCydecor is an award-winning veteran-owned business that delivers differentiated innovations in mission systems and business platforms. The company leverages leading-edge secure systems and software development, backed by industry-leading subject matter expertise, and business intelligence to enable decision-support for ever-evolving national security challenges. Cydecor has successfully modernized government systems and transformed the capabilities of its customers by closely aligning its deep mission expertise with advanced technological capabilities that translate into automated and accelerated solutions at scale.About ArtelArtel serves as a leading provider of telecommunications and technology support services delivering cost-effective, on-time, reliable communications services, cybersecurity, and IT solutions. The company delivers terrestrial connectivity and global SATCOM enterprise services, technology support services, and SurgeNet on-demand capability ensuring reliable and secure connectivity worldwide in support of the customer's most mission-critical requirements. Artel links expertise and buying power to design and deliver complex telecommunications solutions worldwide. Its established network presence in the Middle East and Africa regions enables cost-effective, reliable network connectivity throughout Africa, the Middle East, Europe, South Central Asia, and North America.For additional information, please reach out to Joanna Davenport: JDavenport@ Cydecor.com Contact InformationJohn ScottSATCOM, Managerjscott@ artelllc.com 17039278675Related ImagesCydecor LogoArtel LogoSOURCE: ArtelView the original press release on newswire.com PR-Inside.com: 2024-09-30 11:30:23 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 897 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Earthling Security Forms Strategic Alliance with AI-based MSSP Company LegitBytesWASHINGTON, DC / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / Earthling Security, an award-winning managed security services provider, has entered into a strategic alliance with LegitBytes, a leading company with a strong operational presence in the U.S. and global reach. LegitBytes specializes in AI-driven cloud and security management solutions, delivering superior service to its U.S.-based clients while leveraging an international team of experts."This is the beginning of a new era for both organizations, and we are excited for our clients, employees, partners, and shareholders," Yusuf Ahmed, CEO of Earthling, stated. "LegitBytes and Earthling share the same values, beliefs, and commitment to innovation, customer satisfaction, and value creation. The future is bright for our collective organizations and clients!""LegitBytes is excited to become a part of the Earthling family! This is an exciting time for clients and employees as both organizations are looking to provide the best solutions for clients," stated NP Singh, LegitBytes' Managing Partner.Founded in 2017, LegitBytes (formerly CyberoiSystems) has established itself as an innovative IT-managed services provider with a strong presence in the U.S., focusing on automation and artificial intelligence-driven solutions. As a key player in the IT and cloud services space, LegitBytes provides clients a diverse portfolio of managed services across multiple industries in the United States and Europe. With a growing team of 27 employees, the organization has experienced steady expansion and solid growth over the last few years.This strategic alliance and joint venture, the first in Earthling's 15-year history, puts into motion the hyper-growth plans announced at the end of 2023. The combination of LegitBytes and Earthling will be able to serve clients in a greater capacity, not only through more Engineers and technical expertise but also through more service and software offerings."Our combined companies will be able to expand and further the Earthling experience to clients and prospects alike," stated Ahmed. "Great things are to come in the months ahead!"LegitBytes will continue to support and serve customers independently as "an Earthling Company" for the foreseeable future. At the same time, both organizations focus on integrating and expanding their collective portfolios, capabilities, and teams over the next 12 months.Please direct all Media inquiries to pr@ earthlingsecurity.com About Earthling's IA MSSP PracticeEarthling's IA MSSP solutions will leverage LegitBytes' cutting-edge technology and deep industry expertise to deliver top-tier security and cloud operations services. Our AI-driven practices ensure policy-driven and automated patching and security remediation, as well as ensure that vulnerabilities are addressed swiftly and efficiently, minimizing risk and enhancing your security posture. We manage your business environment with precision, ensuring that your organization remains compliant with the latest standards and regulations.Our 24/7/365 Security Operations Center (SOC) offers unparalleled monitoring, detection, and response capabilities, significantly reducing the noise-to-signal ratio to focus on the most critical threats. We tailor our services to fit your specific environment, providing bespoke solutions that include proactive security posture management and expert threat analysis. With our IA MSSP services, you gain an advanced and trusted cybersecurity partner dedicated to protecting your business while enabling growth and innovation.About Earthling's Compliance-as-a-Service offeringEarthling is amongst the first to offer a true Compliance-as-a-Service offering. As a part of this offering, Earthling provides fully managed security services supported by an Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) Library to deploy cloud environments that are fully compliant with the standards that meet the needs of their clients. As a Compliant Managed Security Service Provider (CMSSP), Earthling frees their customers from the costly lift associated with DevSecOps, allowing them to efficiently focus on the important work. Earthling's CMSSP offering can support organizations in any single or multi-cloud environment by automating the implementation of operational compliance controls for various regulatory verticals. Earthling's MSSP service offerings are provided in Amazon Web Services, the Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure, and support a variety of regulatory verticals and compliance standards, including FedRAMP, CMMC, StateRAMP, PCI,d HIPAA, as well as ISO and NIST.About LegitBytes Founded in 2017, LegitBytes is dedicated to delivering proactive and innovative IT solutions to small and medium-sized businesses with a strong operational focus in the U.S. while serving clients globally. The company specializes in providing top-tier IT and cloud services, offering tailored solutions and support across a wide range of industries. LegitBytes employs experts in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, DevOps, project management, and other key areas such as identity and access management, security, and business process optimization. As the AI arm of Earthling Security, LegitBytes will continue driving innovation in security and automation.Key Highlights of the AcquisitionEarthling forms strategic alliance with AI-based MSSP companyAddress market concerns regarding automation and AI InnovationGrowth and Scale of EarthlingExpanding Earthling's MSSP capabilitiesAutomated Evidence CollectionDevSecOpsAbout Earthling SecurityEarthling Security, LLC. is a strategic, end-to-end Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity, and Compliant Managed Security Services Provider (CMSSP) DevSecOps solutions company. Amongst our other certifications, Earthling has also been an accredited StateRAMP and FedRAMP 3PAO since 2012. Earthling's focus is to provide automated, tailored, and strategic business solutions to support and optimize the business mission of our valued clients. Earthling is a comprehensive, compliant, managed security services provider.For more information about us, please visit Earthling's website: www.earthlingsecurity.com Contact InformationYusuf AhmedCEOyaa@ earthlingsecurity.com 2024454959SOURCE: Earthling SecurityView the original press release on newswire.com PR-Inside.com: 2024-09-30 18:36:44 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 1062 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Nonprofit works with partners to provide food, essentials for children, families across 3 CitiesOKLAHOMA CITY, OK / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / Feed the Children, a leading nonprofit committed to ending childhood hunger expanded its Summer Feed & Read program in Oklahoma City as well as adding partner locations in Memphis, Tenn. and Atlanta, Ga. to reach children experiencing food insecurity this summer. The nonprofit worked closely with community partners teaming up with Americold, FedEx and StarKist, to provide nearly 30,000 prepackaged meal kits to children for breakfast and lunch this summer.Feed the Children Summer Feed & Read program Feed the Children provided 8,844 books to children this summer and encouraged enrollment in local summer reading programs.Through this initiative, shelf-stable meal kits were distributed to children during the summer months when they were not able to access school meals. 30 million children rely on school meals, when the school year ends, so does their access to this resource. Feed the Children Summer Feed & Read program helps by providing vital support to families who experience increased food insecurity during the summer months."StarKist is a socially responsible company, and we are proud to partner with Feed the Children for more than 15 years in the fight against childhood hunger," said Michelle Faist, Head of Corporate Affairs at StarKist. "Through our StarKist Cares corporate giving efforts, we're providing children with our nutritious protein products during the summer, when access to school meals is limited. Supporting families in need aligns with StarKist's commitment to helping alleviate food insecurity across the country, and we'll continue working with partners like Feed the Children to make a lasting impact." The nonprofit also provides household essentials like cleaning supplies as well as personal care items that are not covered by SNAP benefits. In addition to meals, Feed the Children provided thousands of pounds of household essential and personal care items as part of the Feed & Read program. By supplying these items, Feed the Children provides parents and caregivers an opportunity to keep more room in their budget for food.One caregiver shared "The program gave my child accessible reading material and healthy snacks and needed toiletries." when talking about Feed the Children's Summer Feed & Read Program.Feed the Children also provided 8,844 books to children this summer and encouraged enrollment in local summer reading programs to keep kids' minds active. Research has shown that young students lose some of their achievement gains - up to one month of school year's lessons - over the summer. This is especially true in literacy when they don't read regularly during the summer. When students fall behind in literacy at an early age, they often don't catch up.In Atlanta, Feed the Children partnered with Fulton County Schools to provide lunch meal kits and encouraged students to track the books and minutes they read though the Atlanta Public Library system and utilize their iReady platform.Additionally, Feed the Children partnered with Americold to provide support for the Summer Feed & Read program at Destiny World Church providing meals and books to children in Atlanta. Americold also sponsored backpacks filled with school supplies to help prepare kids for back-to-school season. Through these partnerships the program provided support to 1,665 students in Atlanta this summer."Americold was proud to partner with Feed the Children this summer by providing meals, books, and school supplies to children in Atlanta, where our company is headquartered. Giving back is one of our values and we're always looking for ways to share our time and resources in support of the communities where we live and work. Food is at the heart of what we do, and we are always honored to support programs that provide food for families," said George Chappelle, CEO of Americold.Feed the Children teamed up with FedEx to provide nearly 7,000 pre-packaged meal kits at the Emmanuel Center and the Vance Avenue Youth Development Center in Memphis. FedEx also supported the Summer Feed & Read program across Oklahoma City. Volunteers helped distribute meals and engage children in summer learning to encourage reading."We are incredibly proud of our collaboration with Feed the Children to make a tangible impact on the lives of thousands of children. As a company we are deeply committed to giving back and making a positive change in the communities where we live and work." said April Britt, FedEx Director of FedEx Global Citizenship.The nonprofit worked with several organizations across Oklahoma City to distribute more than 12,000 meal kits to children this summer. Supporting children locally where Feed the Children is based in Oklahoma City, the organization partnered with Luther Community Service Center, Oklahoma City Public Schools - Spencer Elementary, Del City Church of Christ, Latino Community Development Agency, South Walker Church of Christ, Oklahoma City Indian Clinic, Positive Tomorrows, OKC Dream Center, St. Luke Baptist Church, and YMCA Y Clubhouse at Sooner Haven, Oak Grove and Ambassador Courts.The organization also partnered with the Metropolitan Library System and their "Adventure Begins at Your Library" summer reading program."We are grateful for all our partners and their commitment to supporting children with the food they need to thrive," said Tamara Sandberg, Vice President of U.S. Program Development at Feed the Children. "We are looking forward to being able to deepen our impact on childhood hunger through this program in the coming years." For more information on how Feed the Children helps children across the U.S. and around the world, visit feedthechildren.org About Feed the ChildrenFeed the Children is committed to ending childhood hunger. We believe that no child should go to bed hungry, and so we provide children and families in the U.S. and around the world with the food and essentials kids need to grow and thrive.Through our programs and partnerships, we feed children today while helping their families and communities build resilient futures. In addition to food, we distribute household and personal care items across the United States to help parents and caregivers maintain stable, food-secure households. Internationally, we expand access to nutritious meals, safe water, improved hygiene and training in sustainable living. Responsible stewards of our resources, we are driven to pursue innovative, holistic and child-focused solutions to the complex challenges of hunger, food insecurity and poverty.For children everywhere, we believe that having enough to eat is a fundamental right.%0 PR-Inside.com: 2024-09-30 18:16:55 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 300 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Minnesota Company Continues to Donate Portion of Profits from the Sales of Coffee & Pet TreatsMINNEAPOLIS, MN / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / Continuing their mission of supporting American military families, Founding Fathers Products recently presented American Legion with another significant donation. The presentation took place at American Legion's National Convention with Founding Fathers Products founder, Phil Knutsen and National Commander Seehafer.The donation is the most recent display of the company's ongoing commitment of giving back to organizations such as American Legion. Founding Fathers Products continues to increase distribution and the availability of their products, most recently through a retail and online partnership with Dollar General."We are honored to be able to continue supporting American Legion with our company's continued success," said Phil Knutsen, CEO of Founding Fathers Products. "Our valuable partnerships with reputable retail organizations like Dollar General allow us to continue our mission. They are the reason we're able to give back." Founding Fathers Coffee is currently available at Dollar General, Walmart.com Amazon.com and select retail locations across the U.S. Founding Fathers Pet Treats are also available at Amazon.com and select retail locations. For more information on Founding Fathers Products, visit www.foundingfathersproducts.com About Founding FathersEstablished in 2009 by Minnesota entrepreneur Phil Knutsen, the mission of Founding Fathers is to keep America strong one product at a time by providing the best American-made products aligned with the principles and values that made the United States the greatest country in the world. Founding Fathers Products will donate 50 percent of profits from the sale of its goods to support military troops and their families. For more information, visit www.foundingfatherscoffees.com Contact InformationBruce EvansBEDD Head Mediabruce@ beddheadmedia.com 612-209-4593SOURCE: Founding Fathers ProductsView the original press release on newswire.com PR-Inside.com: 2024-09-30 14:01:59 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 435 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 /Golden Lake Exploration Inc. (CSE:GLM)(OTCQB:GOLXF) ("Golden Lake" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has commenced drilling on its flagship Jewel Ridge property (the "Property"), located in the prolific Battle Mountain-Eureka gold trend of Nevada.The Property is well-located proximal to infrastructure and is immediately adjacent to successful, high-profile exploration programs currently being undertaken by North Peak Resources Ltd. & i-80 Gold Corp. ( IAU.TO) , on their neighboring Prospect Mountain and Ruby Hill properties, respectively.Drill ProgramHD Drilling Services, based out of Winnemucca, Nevada, has been retained by the Company to complete the 1,700-meter drill program. The program will consist of 4 to 5 high-priority drill targets and is anticipated to take 2 to 3 weeks to complete.These high-priority drill targets include Induced Polarization (IP) anomalies generated from 2024 surveys situated within favorable geological & structural settings. Such settings host both Carlin-type disseminated gold deposits and carbonate replacement deposits, which are prominent in the immediate area of the South Eureka Gold Belt, where the Jewel Ridge property is located. Other targets include historic mines yielding high precious and base-metal assays, largely exploited at shallow depth that have seen no historic drilling.Full details of the drill targets can be found on the Golden Lake website at www.goldenlakex.com . Drill results will be released as they become available.Qualified personGolden Lake Exploration's disclosure of a technical or scientific nature in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Don Hoy, P.Geo., who serves as a qualified person under the definition of National Instrument 43-101.About Golden Lake Exploration IncGolden Lake Exploration is a junior public mining exploration company engaged in the business of mineral exploration and the acquisition of mineral property assets. Its objective is to acquire, explore and develop economic precious and base metal properties of merit and to aggressively advance its exploration program on the Jewel Ridge property.Further to the Company's news release of September 13th, 2024, announcing the closing of an oversubscribed private placement, an additional arm's length finder was compensated with finder's fees of $4,600 cash and 92,000 non-transferable finder's warrants. Each finder's Warrant will entitle the finder to purchase one Warrant Share of the Company for a 12-month period after the Closing Date at an exercise price of $0.07 per share.On Behalf of the Board,Mike EnglandCEO, President & DirectorFor Further Information Please Contact:Telephone: 1-604-683-3995Toll Free: 1-888-945-4770Email: info@ goldenlakex.com The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.SOURCE: Golden Lake Exploration Inc. PR-Inside.com: 2024-09-30 14:00:38 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 776 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Company Anticipates Significant Revenue Growth Following Benchmark AcquisitionPEMBROKE PINES, FL / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / Green Leaf Innovations, Inc. (OTCPK:GRLF), a Florida corporation and an emerging growth company specializing in the marketing and distribution of handmade premium cigars, is excited to announce the successful completion of its acquisition of SOFLO Wholesaler Group, Inc.This milestone represents a key benchmark for Green Leaf Innovations, positioning the company for significant growth over the coming year. The SOFLO acquisition adds substantial revenue and assets to Green Leaf Innovations. The product portfolio owned by SOFLO, along with their distribution channels will now be operating under Green Leaf Innovations, strengthening our presence in the premium cigar market both domestically and internationally. Some of the flagship brands manufactured and distributed by SOFLO include EL MAGO CIGARS, MAL.CRI.AO . and EL CUBANO CIGARS among other well established brands.SOFLO Wholesaler Group, Inc., known for distributing the #1 rated cigars among the Top 30 in the industry. SOFLO serves over 400 locations across a variety of sectors including smoke shops, convenience stores, cigar lounges, vape stores, duty-free shops and cigar distributors. The acquisition reinforces Green Leaf Innovations' commitment to expanding its market presence and delivering high-quality products to cigar lounges, smoke shops, and international markets. In 2023, SOFLO reported revenues of $2.3 million with anticipated growth projected for 2024.Roberto Mederos, CEO of Green Leaf Innovations, Inc., commented, "The completion of this acquisition marks a pivotal moment in our company's evolution. SOFLO's reputation as a leader in the cigar industry, combined with Green Leaf's strategic vision, will drive sustained growth and open new opportunities in the premium cigar market. We are thrilled to welcome SOFLO into our family and look forward to the value this partnership will deliver to both our shareholders and customers." Green Leaf Innovations remains focused on delivering long-term value and growth. The company will continue to provide updates and other milestones as it progresses through this transformative period.About Green Leaf Innovations, Inc.Green Leaf Innovations, Inc., a Florida corporation, is an emerging growth company engaged in the Marketing and Distribution of handmade premium cigars. The company strategically imports and exclusively distributes some of the best known premium cigar brands in the Market created by the Mederos family a Third generation Cigar maker with Robert Mederos at the helm who has owned and operated handmade cigar operation in Nicaragua and the US for over 20 years with a rich family history in the craft dating back to the 1800s Cuba, brands such as CUBANACAN, MEDEROS and TABACALERA SERRANO. In addition to it the company also distributes packaged whole leaf Tobacco to cigar lounges, smoke shops, C-stores and vape shops across the United States and soon International Markets.Additional information can be found on our websites http://www.greenleafinnovation.com or follow us on TwitterFor more information, press only:Phone number: (800) 303-6268Email: info@ greenleafinnovation.com Safe Harbor Statement:The information posted in this release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements by use of the words "may," "will," "should," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimate," "project," "intend," and similar expressions. The Company may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in press releases and other written materials, and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate. The Company cautions that these forward-looking statements are further qualified by other factors including, but not limited to, those set forth in the Company's Annual Reports on Form 10-K and its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic and business conditions, effects of continued geopolitical unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, delays in completing various engineering and manufacturing programs, changes in customer order patterns, changes in product mix, continued success in technological advances and delivering technological innovations, shortages in components, production delays due to performance quality issues with outsourced components, and various other factors beyond the Company's control. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any statements in this release, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.Contact InformationRYAN MEDICOMARKETING MANAGERinfo@ greenleafinnovation.com 8003036268SOURCE: Green Leaf Innovations, Inc. PR-Inside.com: 2024-09-30 19:18:36 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 562 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / A new report from activist short seller Viceroy Research has intensified scrutiny on Arbor Realty (NYSE:ABR), a prominent player in structured finance. Viceroy's latest report, "Arbor - September 2024 CLO Update," paints a bleak picture of the company's financial health, alleging widespread distress within its loan portfolio.Hagens Berman urges Arbor Realty Trust, Inc. investors who suffered substantial losses to submit your losses now.Class Period: May 7, 2021 - July 11, 2024Lead Plaintiff Deadline: Sept. 30, 2024Visit: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/ABR Contact the Firm Now:ABR@ hbsslaw.com 844-916-0895Viceroy's September 19 ReportViceroy's latest report details a series of troubling indicators. Despite significant modifications to its CLO book, Arbor's loans remain deeply troubled, with debt service coverage ratios (DSCRs) plummeting to 0.48x. The report contends that federal rate cuts will provide little relief, as even a 200 basis point reduction would only marginally improve underlying investment losses, according to Viceroy.Moreover, Viceroy claims Arbor's net interest spread is under threat due to declining cash interest income rates and the growing prevalence of interest-only loans. Viceroy further points out that the company's origination activity has also slowed to an all-time low, while it continues to pay dividends using principal repayments from its distressed loan book.Arbor's troubles have not gone unnoticed by regulators. According to Bloomberg, Arbor is under investigation by both the DOJ and FBI, and Viceroy claims that the SEC denied its Freedom of Information Act requests on the basis that their release may interfere with enforcement proceedings.Arbor Realty Securities Class ActionThe mounting scrutiny has led to a class-action lawsuit against Arbor Realty. Investors who purchased or acquired Arbor Realty Trust securities between May 7, 2021, and July 11, 2024, are alleging that the company misled them about the health of its loan portfolio. The lawsuit seeks to represent the interests of these investors and is currently pending in the Eastern District of New York.These serious allegations prompted prominent shareholder rights firm Hagens Berman to launch an investigation into potential securities fraud. Reed Kathrein, a partner at Hagens Berman, stated, "We are investigating whether Arbor Realty may have misrepresented the quality of its loan book." If you invested in Arbor and have substantial losses, or have knowledge that may assist the firm's investigation, submit your losses now If you'd like more information and answers to frequently asked questions about the Arbor case and our investigation, read more Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding Arbor should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at 844-916-0895 or email ABR@ hbsslaw.com # # #About Hagens Berman Hagens Berman is a global plaintiffs' rights complex litigation firm focusing on corporate accountability. The firm is home to a robust practice and represents investors as well as whistleblowers, workers, consumers and others in cases achieving real results for those harmed by corporate negligence and other wrongdoings. Hagens Berman's team has secured more than $2.9 billion in this area of law. More about the firm and its successes can be found at hbsslaw.com . Follow the firm for updates and news at @ClassActionLaw.Contact:Reed Kathrein, 844-916-0895SOURCE: Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP PR-Inside.com: 2024-09-30 01:16:07 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 305 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 29, 2024 / The Schall Law Firm, a national shareholder rights litigation firm, announces that it is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Winnebago Industries, Inc. ("Winnebago" or "the Company") (NYSE:WGO) for violations of the securities laws.The investigation focuses on whether the Company issued false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose information pertinent to investors. Winnebago is the subject of an article published by Hunterbrook Media on September 23, 2024. The article, titled: "Grand Deception - Winnebago Muzzles Outcry Over Major Problem That Owners Say Makes RVs Dangerous, Untowable, Worthless," claims that the Company's "best-selling Grand Design RVs" suffer from problems and defects that hinder their value and usefulness. The article claims that the RVs are "experiencing frame failure, potentially affecting thousands of units sold for more than a billion dollars. This defect has led to costly damage and potential safety hazards, and rendered some RVs unroadworthy." The article further claims that "Winnebago has used NDAs, buybacks, and online censorship to silence complaints about frame failure." If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate.We also encourage you to contact Brian Schall of the Schall Law Firm, 2049 Century Park East, Suite 2460, Los Angeles, CA 90067, at 310-301-3335, to discuss your rights free of charge. You can also reach us through the firm's website at www.schallfirm.com , or by email at bschall@ schallfirm.com The Schall Law Firm represents investors around the world and specializes in securities class action lawsuits and shareholder rights litigation.This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and rules of ethics.CONTACT: The Schall Law FirmBrian Schall, Esq.310-301-3335 info@ schallfirm.comwww.schallfirm.com SOURCE: The Schall Law Firm PR-Inside.com: 2024-10-01 00:00:39 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 598 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 ELKHART, IN / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / ITR Concession Co. LLC (ITRCC), the concessionaire and operator of the Indiana Toll Road (ITR), is proud to be a part of October's National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and, in conjunction, is launching the Think Before You Click' Smishing Awareness Campaign. The campaign is designed to educate Indiana Toll Road customers and the general public about the dangers of smishing, a cybersecurity attack that uses fraudulent text messages in an attempt to trick people to click on links that steal personal information or download damaging malware.The National Cybersecurity Awareness Month was an initiative launched in 2003 by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), as a month dedicated towards the public and private sectors working together to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity. The program seeks to help individuals understand the importance of staying vigilant against cybersecurity threats that could disrupt individuals, communities, and businesses through digital means.In light of the recent smishing scams that are impersonating toll road agencies nationwide, malicious actors are sending out deceptive texts claiming to be from the Indiana Toll Road, urging recipients to pay an unpaid toll. ITRCC has taken initial steps through website communications to inform customers that they do not send out text messages asking for sensitive information or payments. To further their endeavors, throughout October ITRCC is partnering with the Indiana State Police and the YMCA of Steuben County to post informative videos on social media that outline key strategies for spotting and reporting smishing texts to an FBI website dedicated to taking down fraudulent websites, IC3.gov . The videos and images will feature practical tips on how to identify suspicious messages and protect personal information.It is critical for the public to remain vigilant. The Smishing Awareness Campaign aims to empower individuals with the knowledge to recognize and report these fraudulent messages."I received a text asking to pay an unpaid toll from the Indiana Toll Road that looked real and was very convincing. Thankfully, I didn't click the link and went to their website to confirm it wasn't legitimate. It's important for everyone to be aware of these scams or else it could lead to a much worse situation," says Tammy B., resident of St. Joseph County area and recipient of a smishing text.In addition to the social media campaign, ITRCC will conduct in-person education briefings at local facilities within the seven counties in which ITRCC operates, as well as distributing informational handouts on how to recognize smishing attempts and what steps to take if a suspicious message is received.The Smishing Awareness Campaign is to encourage everyone to "Think Before You Click." ITRCC is urging the public to be cautious and verify any unexpected or suspicious texts, especially those requesting payment or personal information.For more information on the campaign or to access the educational materials, please visit indianatollroad.org . If you suspect you have received a smishing message, report it immediately to IC3.gov About the Indiana Toll RoadEstablished in 2006, the ITR Concession Company LLC (ITRCC) responsibilities are detailed in the Concession and Lease Agreement with the Indiana Finance Authority, such as the construction, maintenance, repair, and operation of the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road. Headquartered in Elkhart, the Toll Road spans northern Indiana, linking Chicago with the Eastern Seaboard. Designated as part of Interstate 80/90, the Toll Road serves as a vital transportation link in the Midwest.Contact InformationYvette LeyvaCommunications Manageryleyva@ indianatollroad.org 5742614028SOURCE: ITR Concession Company LLCView the original press release on newswire.com PR-Inside.com: 2024-09-30 18:02:31 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 944 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Successful Exclusive Events Celebrate the Start of New York ExpansionNEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / KIMITAKE, the emerging luxury jewelry brand known for its inspiring story of human connections and traditional Japanese craftsmanship, celebrated its New York debut in grand style during New York Fashion Week. Held at the prestigious AMAN New York, the exclusive luncheon and dinner brought together prominent fashion editors, celebrity stylists, and boutique owners, including industry leaders such as Kathryn Hopkins of WWD, Kim Bhasin of Bloomberg, Aaron Royce of Daily Front Row, and Lauren McCarthy, Editor in Chief of Nylon.Beautiful Luncheon Tables Launched in November 2023, KIMITAKE has quickly gained recognition among fashion and jewelry insiders in Los Angeles. The brand has successfully established partnerships with top boutiques in luxury shopping destinations like Beverly Hills, Malibu, and Newport Beach. As KIMITAKE sets New York as its next target market, the dinner and luncheon served as the premier event to showcase the artistry behind the brand's handmade 18K gold and diamond pieces.An intimate dinner at NAMA, the Japanese cuisine restaurant inside AMAN New York, hosted a select group of high-profile guests for an exclusive evening that reflected the brand's elegance and dedication to craftsmanship. Guests indulged in the finest Japanese dishes while enjoying each other's company. The evening fostered meaningful connections among tastemakers and fashion insiders, creating the perfect setting to celebrate the luxury scene that defines KIMITAKE.The second event, a grand luncheon held at the Arva Terrace, welcomed 30 distinguished guests from the fashion industry. Guests enjoyed exquisite Italian cuisine as KIMITAKE's co-founder Takeshi Yokota shared the brand's inspiring story, mission, and charitable donation. The message resonated deeply with many attendees, with one guest remarking,"When choosing a brand, its origin and values matter. KIMITAKE's story will undoubtedly resonate with many. I have wondered how a brand less than a year old has garnered so much support, and today, I found out why." Models draped in KIMITAKE jewelry brought the collection to life, allowing guests to fully appreciate the intricate craftsmanship and unwavering quality firsthand.The luncheon also paid tribute to the brand's deep roots in Japanese tradition, with tables decorated with elegant Japanese folding fans. Each guest went home with KIMITAKE's custom folding fans as well as omamori, a traditional Japanese lucky charm, as keepsakes. The thoughtful touches added to the cultural depth that KIMITAKE embraces.Creative director and costume designer Sam Ratelle remarked, "It was a pleasure to attend KIMITAKE's New York debut, realizing their intention and execution of Japanese tradition in their designs. I particularly loved the new type of pair jewelry ADEVE, a play on Adam and Eve, celebrating human connection." "The collection masterfully blends tradition, culture, and innovation. The pieces are both timeless and wearable for every day,"said stylist Lauren Richardson, reflecting on the unique yet versatile designs.Guests expressed excitement and awe for KIMITAKE's fresh and avant-garde activation, and many are looking forward to the brand's future. The event was a resounding success, with guests praising both the jewelry and the overall experience. As KIMITAKE continues its journey into the New York market, the fashion industry eagerly anticipates the brand's next steps in establishing its place in the U.S. luxury jewelry scene.For more information about KIMITAKE, please visit https://kimitakejewelry.com Media Contact: Takeshi Yokota / press@ kimatake-ny.com Brand Story:In 2018, entrepreneur Takeshi and jewelry designer Kimio met at a mutual friend's birthday party. Takeshi was captivated by Kimio's passion and talent for craftsmanship and became a loyal customer of Kimio's jewelry brand. Recognizing the potential in Kimio's jewelry, Takeshi persistently invited Kimio to start a jewelry brand together. Although Kimio declined for nearly a year, Takeshi's unwavering passion eventually paid off, and in 2020, the two founded a fine jewelry brand in Japan. They opened their flagship store in Omotesando, Tokyo, the trend and luxury hub, which quickly became popular among numerous celebrities.However, in 2022, Kimio became the target of online harassment from a YouTuber who had become a major social issue in Japan. The jointly founded jewelry brand was forced to close due to a baseless scandal accusation, resulting in millions of yen in losses. Meanwhile, Kimio, who had dedicated his life to jewelry design, faced mental health issues. With Takeshi's unwavering support and encouragement, Kimio found the courage to rise again. Together, they worked tirelessly to address the YouTuber's harassment. Their efforts gained significant media attention, bringing the issue to a global audience.This incident deepened the bond between Kimio and Takeshi, reinforcing their realization that no one can live alone. From this experience, they decided to symbolize "human connections" and fuse their identities with the traditions and culture of Japan, launching a new fine jewelry brand, KIMITAKE, in Japan and the USA in November 2023.About KIMITAKE:KIMITAKE expresses the miracle of birth, encounters between people, and new emotions born from them, along with Japanese tradition. No one can live alone. Through interactions and mutual support, trust, friendship, and love are born, forming bonds. This is the unique culture of Japan that cherishes harmony between people, known as "wa no kokoro" (the spirit of harmony). KIMITAKE infuses this tradition and contemporary flair, offering life's beauty and joy with products that are the most elegant and the most exceptional.KIMITAKE offers a range of collections including Birth, Links, and Harmony, complemented by an exclusive service ADEVE as well as a special material Samurai Braided Cord.Contact InformationTakeshi Yokotapress@ kimitake-ny.com 3108765508Related ImagesBeautiful Luncheon Tables Beautiful Luncheon Tables Model Wearing KIMITAKE Jewelry Model Wearing KIMITAKE Jewelry SOURCE: KIMITAKE, Inc.View the original press release on newswire.com Delightful Progress: Kuali's Legacy of Community and Leadership CEO Joel Dehlin updates us on Kuali today, and how it has thrived as a software company that succeeds in the tech marketplace while maintaining the community values envisioned in higher education years ago. Qualified Free Access to Advanced Compute Resources with NSF's Jetstream2 and ACCESS Free access to advanced computing and HPC resources for your researchers and education programs? Check out NSF's Jetstream2 and ACCESS. Learning Engineering: New Profession or Transformational Process? Learning engineering combines theories from the learning sciences with problem-solving approaches from engineering, to create a process that can transform research results into learning action. Here, Ellen Wagner guides an exploration of this transformational process. AI: Familiar Territory or Alien World? Sometimes we feel right at home with AI; sometimes it seems like an alien world. Here, Mark Frydenberg shares some practical advice to help educators find familiar ground as they guide their institutions through AI's disruptive technology changes. Internet2's CLASS: Helping Researchers Move Forward with the Cloud CT asks Amanda Tan, the research engagement program manager for Internet2s Cloud Learning & Skills Sessions program, how CLASS helps the research and education community learn to navigate the quickly changing cloud knowledge base. Toward a Human-Centered Digital Ecosystem: NJIT The New Jersey Institute of Technology just published its 2030 strategic plan, outlining human-centered technology strategies that will build NJIT's unique values into its broader digital transformation. A Fresh Look and a New Home: FLEXspace Joins with HETMA and Readies Its Portal Version 3.0 FLEXspace, the Flexible Learning Environments eXchange will move under the management of HETMA, the Higher Education Technology Managers Alliance, so that both can benefit from synergies between the two nonprofit, community-based organizations. FLEXspace will continue as a free service and release its 3.0 portal version in early spring. Creating Guidelines for the Use of Gen AI Across Campus The University of Kentucky has taken a transdisciplinary approach to developing guidelines and recommendations around generative AI, incorporating input from stakeholders across all areas of the institution. Here, the director of UK's Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching breaks down the structure and thinking behind that process. Presence and Integrity in Online Learning At their best, synchronous online courses are shared experiences, and students are fully present to boost each other's learning. But in the virtual world it takes more than webcams to get us there. Here, Gardner Campbell explains his concept of integrity in online learning and how it can make your students true learning colleagues. From Career Upskilling to Lifelong Learning: A Q&A with 2U's Anant Agarwal CT asks Anant Agarwal about lifelong learning and how edX connects individuals to education whatever their career or life stage. It's Not Kansas Anymore: It's Cinematic Thinking Gardner Campbell explores "cinematic thinking" and the pathways that lead to it. UTRGV and ORNL: Boosting Research While Building a STEM Talent Pipeline The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley has signed an MOU with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to strengthen their research collaborations and establish a program for undergraduate research and education. Here, CT asks UTRGV Senior Vice President for Research Can (John) Saygin how the MOU will be carried out and what its impact may be. 7 Questions with REN-ISAC's Anthony Newman We asked the Research and Education Networks Information Sharing and Analysis Center's recently appointed executive director about today's biggest cybersecurity challenges and his goals for REN-ISAC moving forward. Thinking with Colleagues: AI in Education How will educators cope with the sometimes overwhelming progression of AI in higher education? Drawing from a recent meeting she and her colleagues organized, Ellen Wagner reminds us how brainstorming with colleagues can be one of the most powerful sense-making tools an educator has. PR-Inside.com: 2024-09-30 14:00:34 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 893 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 TAMPA, FL / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) today provided an update on the impact of Hurricane Helene to North American Phosphates operations. The Tampa port, which was closed ahead of the hurricane, was reopened Sunday. Early assessments show limited damage sustained across the facilities. The Riverview facility is currently offline, as it experienced water intrusion caused by the storm surge, and is expected to return to full production capacity in about 10 days as site cleanup and water mitigation are completed.As the recovery continues, Mosaic is pleased to announce all employees are safe and accounted for at this time, and has contributed $300,000 to organizations that are assisting our Florida operating communities with impacts. Mosaic has several programs in place for its affected team members, including an Employee-to-Employee Assistance Fund. This fund will be dispersed to employees who need financial assistance with hurricane recovery efforts in Florida.About The Mosaic Company The Mosaic Company is one of the world's leading producers and marketers of concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients. Mosaic is a single source provider of phosphates and potash fertilizers and feed ingredients for the global agriculture industry. More information on the company is available at www.mosaicco.com Contacts:Investors: Joan Tong, 863-640-0826 joan.tong@mosaicco.com Jason Tremblay, 813-775-4226 jason.tremblay@mosaicco.com Media: Ben Pratt, 813-775-4206 benjamin.pratt@mosaicco.com This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements may include, but are not limited to, statements about proposed or pending transactions or strategic plans and other statements about future financial and operating results. Such statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of The Mosaic Company's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: political and economic instability and changes in government policies in countries in which we have operations; the predictability and volatility of, and customer expectations about, agriculture, fertilizer, raw material, energy and transportation markets that are subject to competitive and other pressures and economic and credit market conditions; the level of inventories in the distribution channels for crop nutrients; the effect of future product innovations or development of new technologies on demand for our products; changes in foreign currency and exchange rates; international trade risks and other risks associated with Mosaic's international operations and those of joint ventures in which Mosaic participates, including the performance of MWSPC, the future success of current plans for MWSPC and any future changes in those plans; risks related to the anticipated value of the Ma'aden shares to be issued in the proposed transaction at transaction announcement and at closing, the expected timing and likelihood of completion of the pending Ma'aden transaction, including the inability to receive the required approval by Ma'aden shareholders and other approvals, including potential regulatory approvals, necessary to complete the transaction; the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the applicable agreement; the risk that there may be a material adverse change with respect to the financial position, performance, operations or prospects of Ma'aden and MWSPC; difficulties with realization of the benefits of our natural gas based pricing ammonia supply agreement with CF Industries, Inc., including the risk that the cost savings initially anticipated from the agreement may not be fully realized over its term or that the price of natural gas or ammonia during the term are at levels at which the pricing is disadvantageous to Mosaic; customer defaults; the effects of Mosaic's decisions to exit business operations or locations; changes in government policy; changes in environmental and other governmental regulation, including expansion of the types and extent of water resources regulated under federal law, carbon taxes or other greenhouse gas regulation, implementation of numeric water quality standards for the discharge of nutrients into Florida waterways or efforts to reduce the flow of excess nutrients into the Mississippi River basin, the Gulf of Mexico or elsewhere; further developments in judicial or administrative proceedings, or complaints that Mosaic's operations are adversely impacting nearby farms, business operations or properties; difficulties or delays in receiving, increased costs of or challenges to necessary governmental permits or approvals or increased financial assurance requirements; resolution of global tax audit activity; the effectiveness of Mosaic's processes for managing its strategic priorities; adverse weather conditions affecting operations in Central Florida, the Mississippi River basin, the Gulf Coast of the United States, Canada or Brazil, and including potential hurricanes, excess heat, cold, snow, rainfall or drought; actual costs of various items differing from management's current estimates, including, among others, asset retirement, environmental remediation, reclamation or other environmental regulation, Canadian resources taxes and royalties; reduction of Mosaic's available cash and liquidity, and increased leverage, due to its use of cash and/or available debt capacity to fund financial assurance requirements and strategic investments; brine inflows at Mosaic's potash mines; other accidents and disruptions involving Mosaic's operations, including potential mine fires, floods, explosions, seismic events, sinkholes or releases of hazardous or volatile chemicals; and risks associated with cyber security, including reputational loss; as well as other risks and uncertainties reported from time to time in The Mosaic Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.SOURCE: The Mosaic Company PR-Inside.com: 2024-09-30 14:01:04 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 1057 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, TO US PERSONS (AS DEFINED IN REGULATION S UNDER THE US SECURITIES ACT OF 1933 (AS AMENDED)) OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, JAPAN, NEW ZEALAND OR THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA OR INTO ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO MIGHT CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OR BREACH OF ANY APPLICABLE LAW.LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / Orosur Mining Inc. ("Orosur" or the "Company") (TSX-V:OMI)(AIM:OMI), announces that it has raised the sum of 835,000 (before expenses) through a placing of 30,035,971 new common shares of no par value ("Placing Shares" or "New Common Shares") at a price of 2.78 pence per Placing Share ("Placing Price"), together with a grant of one unlisted warrant to purchase one additional common share exercisable at US$0.0494 (approximately 3.697p) ("Investor Warrant") for every two Placing Shares subscribed for (together the "Placing"). Completion of the Placing is subject, amongst other things, to admission of the New Common Shares to trading on AIM ("Admission").The Company held cash of US$500,000 (approximately 370,000) as at 27 September 2024, and the additional funds will be used largely to progress the Company's Anza exploration project in Colombia. Work at Anza will include drilling at the Pepas prospect and the engagement of external consultants to examine results from 38,000m of drilling at the APTA prospect to determine if a Mineral Resource Estimate may be developed.Details of the PlacingThe Placing Price represents a discount of approximately 15 per cent. to the closing mid-market price of the common shares on 27 September 2024, being the last trading day prior to the release of this announcement of the Placing.The Placing Shares will, when issued, represent approximately 14.6 per cent of the existing common shares and will represent approximately 12.7 per cent. of the enlarged share capital of the Company.The Placing was undertaken by Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Ltd ("Turner Pope" or "TPI"), the Company's Joint Broker.Placing Agreement, Admission and Total Voting RightsThe Company and Turner Pope have entered into a placing agreement ("Placing Agreement") pursuant to which Turner Pope agreed to use its reasonable endeavours to procure placees pursuant to the Placing. The Placing Agreement contains certain warranties and indemnities given by the Company in favour of Turner Pope. It also contains provisions entitling Turner Pope to terminate the Placing Agreement prior to Admission if, among other things, a breach of any of the warranties occurs.Completion of the Placing is subject, amongst other things, to the 30,035,971 New Common Shares being admitted to trading on AIM and is also conditional upon the Placing Agreement becoming unconditional in all respects and not being terminated in accordance with its terms. Application will be made for Admission. It is expected that Admission will become effective at 8.00am (GMT) on or around 4 October 2024.Following the issue of the 30,035,971 New Common Shares, which on Admission will rank pari passu with the existing common shares, the total number of common shares in issue with voting rights in the Company will be 235,620,423.The above figure of 235,620,423 common shares may therefore be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculation by which they may determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.The Placing is subject to approval of the TSX-V. The Placing Price of 2.78 pence translates to 5.0 Canadian cents at the exchange rate of GBP1=CAD$1.8. No finder's fees have been paid as part of the placing.Principal Terms of the Investor WarrantsThe Investor Warrants are constituted pursuant to a Warrant Indenture by way of deed poll to be executed by the Company.The principal terms of the Investor Warrants are as follows:a) a holder of Investor Warrants will have the right at any time prior to 4 October 2026 upon written notice to subscribe for new common shares on the basis of one new common share for every Investor Warrant held, at US$0.0494 (approximately 3.697p) per new common share, being a premium of 33% to the Placing Price (based on US$1.3362/1.00 conversion rate);b) the Investor Warrants will not be listed or admitted to trading on any exchange, including without limitation AIM or TSX-V; andc) the subscription rights under the Investor Warrants will be subject to adjustment in the event of various corporate actions affecting the share capital of the Company.Broker WarrantsIn connection with the Placing, TPI will be issued with 3,003,597 broker warrants ("Broker Warrants"), the principal terms of which are as follows:a) TPI will have the right at any time prior to 4 October 2029, upon written notice, to subscribe for new common shares on the basis of one new common share for each Broker Warrant held, at US$0.03715 (approximately 2.78p) per new common share;b) the Broker Warrants will not be listed or admitted to trading on any exchange, including without limitation AIM or TSX-V; andc) the subscription rights under the Broker Warrants will be subject to adjustment in the event of various corporate actions affecting the share capital of the Company.Orosur CEO Brad George commented:"We are pleased with the positive response to our Placing at what is an exciting time for Orosur and indeed the gold market in general. The funds will be used to progress our Anza Project, in particular a drilling program at Pepas and the engagement of external consultants to examine the potential of calculating a Mineral Resource Estimate at APTA. Our work programs are ready to go and we anticipate accelerated news flow going forward".For further information, visit www.orosur.ca , follow on X @orosurm or please contact:Orosur Mining IncLouis Castro, Chairman,Brad George, CEO info@ orosur.ca Tel: +1 (778) 373-0100SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP - Nomad & BrokerJeff Keating / Caroline RoweTel: +44 (0) 20 3 470 0470Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Ltd - Joint BrokerAndy Thacker/James PopeTel: +44 (0)20 3657 0050Flagstaff CommunicationsTim ThompsonMark EdwardsFergus Mellon orosur@ flagstaffcomms.com Tel: +44 (0)207 129 1474The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ('MAR') which has been incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announceme PR-Inside.com: 2024-09-30 16:01:22 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 564 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Oregon Historical Society Honorees to be celebrated at Annual Oregon History Makers EventEUGENE, OR / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / The Oregon Historical Society is recognizing Pape for its 85 years of dedication to business innovation and community service at this year's prestigious Oregon History Makers event. This event, which honors individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to Oregon's history, culture, and landscape, will take place on Sunday, October 6 at the Portland Art Museum.Pape Logo Established in 2009, the Oregon History Makers Awards & Dinner is an annual celebration that honors contemporary leaders and organizations making history through scientific discovery and exploration, innovations in business, communications, and the arts, or dedicated community service. This event also aids the Oregon Historical Society in its essential mission to collect, preserve, and interpret Oregon's rich past.As a leader in business and community involvement, Pape is honored to be among this year's distinguished honorees. Alongside Pape, the Oregon History Makers will recognize the transformative technology of Dr. David Huang, the tribal and conservation leadership of Charles F. Sams III, and the pioneering entrepreneurship of Susan Sokol Blosser in the Oregon wine industry.Susie Pape, Board Chair, Jordan Pape, CEO, and Ryan Pape, President of Pape Machinery Agriculture and Turf, express their sincere gratitude: "We are thrilled and honored to be recognized by the Oregon Historical Society. This recognition is not just about our success in the past, but how we build on the past to create a better future for generations to come." They also extend heartfelt congratulations to each of the honorees, "We share this honor with the other amazing honorees, whose remarkable contributions have significantly shaped Oregon's vibrant history and promising future." As a family-owned business instrumental in shaping the infrastructure of the West for four generations, Pape continually sets the standard for excellence within the industries it serves. From farming to forestry, construction to trucking, Pape's commitment to keeping the West moving has remained steadfast. This year's recognition as an Oregon History Maker is a testament to Pape's legacy of innovation, community service, and leadership.In addition to being recognized, Pape is a proud sponsor of this year's Oregon History Makers event. With a rich history of supporting local charities, such as FFA organizations, educational foundations, family centers, churches, children's hospitals, and more, their sponsorship of this event continues their tradition of community involvement.Pape invites the community to celebrate this momentous occasion and support the Oregon Historical Society's vital work in preserving the narratives that define Oregon. Together, we honor the past and build towards an even more dynamic and prosperous future. Table sponsorships and individual tickets are available. For more information about the Oregon History Makers event, please visit the Oregon Historical Society's website at www.ohs.org/support/history-makers.cfm ###About Pape: Pape is the premier capital equipment provider in the West. For over 85 years, Pape has worked to maximize customers' uptime through top-quality equipment, convenient maintenance service, and consistent, quality customer service. This fourth-generation family-owned company is dedicated to providing customers with quality products and unmatched service. As the leading supplier of construction, logging, material handling, landscaping, trenching, and farm equipment, as well as semi-trucks and warehouse products, Pape makes good on providing customers with end-to-end solutions.Contact InformationJennie StockwellAccount Managerjennie@ fpwmedia.com 541-343-1355SOURCE: Pape GroupView the original press release on newswire.com PR-Inside.com: 2024-09-30 20:30:18 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 802 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 New Refrigerated Container Secured to Help Military Families Access Vital Food Resources.PORT HUENEME, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / In a powerful display of community solidarity, the Port of Hueneme, alongside SeaCube Containers and several key partners, has come together to support the Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC) USDA Fleet Reserve Program, which has provided access to critical food resources for military families and veterans for over 40 years. Originally founded in the back of a pickup truck behind the Naval Base Chapel, the program has grown significantly since 1984, providing essential food supplies to active-duty service members, their families, and veterans throughout Ventura County.The program, which distributes 25,000 pounds of fresh, frozen, and liquid foods each month to over 350 families and 2,500 individuals, faced a severe setback when its two refrigerated containers, both over 20 years old, were rendered unusable in December 2023 and April 2024. With refrigeration compromised, the NBVC Fleet Reserve Program was limited to distributing dry and some fresh goods to the military community, affecting hundreds of families in need. In response, representatives from the NBVC Fleet Reserve Program reached out to local community leaders for support.Dry and fresh goods being unloaded for the NBVC military community.The Port of Hueneme answered the call, rallying support from the local community and business partners including Navy League Channel Islands Council, Eskesen Advisory, and SeaCube Containers. Together, these organizations joined forces to ensure that the Fleet Reserve Program could continue its mission to serve military families on the local Navy Base Ventura County.Recognizing the high cost of purchasing a new refrigerated unit, the Port's Chief Commercial Officer, Stacy Lange, contacted business partners in hopes of finding a lower-cost solution. Bill Duggan from Eskesen Advisory, a premier consulting firm for refrigerated freight, connected the Port with SeaCube Containers, who generously donated a brand-new refrigerated container, providing immediate relief for the program. "SeaCube Containers is honored to support the Naval Base Ventura County USDA Fleet Reserve Program. We are proud of our US Navy and our veterans and deeply respect their contributions. No service member, whether active-duty or retired, should ever have to worry about food security. We make this donation with heartfelt gratitude. Go Navy!" said Bob Sappio, CEO of SeaCube Containers.Military Personnel with the newly donated refrigerated container."The leadership at SeaCube, from the CEO Bob Sappio to his team, took action to deliver this needed container and help out the families in the Oxnard area," said Bill Duggan."We are proud to be part of a community that recognizes the importance of supporting our military families," said Port of Hueneme Board President Celina Zacarias. "The NBVC USDA Fleet Reserve Food Program has been a lifeline for service members and veterans for decades, and we are committed to ensuring that it continues to thrive. This partnership is a reflection of our deep gratitude for the sacrifices made by these families, and we are honored to contribute to this vital cause." With the donation of the new refrigerated container, the NBVC Fleet Reserve Food Program will once again be able to provide 25,000 pounds of food each month to hundreds of families and individuals, ensuring access to fresh, frozen, and liquid foods for Ventura County's military community. "We are extremely grateful for the efforts and generosity of the Port of Hueneme, SeaCube, and local community partners that give back to the community," said Holly Walaszek, Food Pantry Coordinator, NBVC Fleet Reserve Program. The Port of Hueneme and its partners are proud to contribute to a cause that upholds the values of service, sacrifice, and community.Forklift transporting the newly donated refrigerated container.About the Port of HuenemeThe Port of Hueneme is one of the most productive and efficient commercial trade gateways for niche cargo on the West Coast. Five locally elected Port Commissioners govern the Port. The Port consistently ranks among the top ten U.S. ports for automobiles and fresh produce. Port operations support the community by bringing $2.8 billion in economic activity and creating 24,997 trade-related jobs. Trade through the Port of Hueneme generates more than $236 million in direct and related state and local taxes, which fund vital community services. In 2017, the Port of Hueneme became the first port in California to become Green Marine certified and was voted the Greenest Port in the U.S. at the Green Shipping Summit.www.portofh.org About NBVC USDA Fleet Reserve Food ProgramNaval Base Ventura County's USDA Fleet Reserve Food Program has been providing food resources to military families and veterans since 1984. Serving active-duty troops, retired service members, and their families, the program distributes 25,000 pounds of food each month to over 350 families, ensuring access to fresh, frozen, and liquid foods throughout Ventura County.PRESS CONTACT Letitia Austin Public & Government Relations Manager laustin@ portofh.org (805) 816-8324SOURCE: Port of Hueneme PR-Inside.com: 2024-09-30 18:03:09 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 453 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 114 Units, in DFW metroplexDALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / September 30, 2024 / Viking Capital, a leader in multifamily real estate investments, is thrilled to announce its latest investment opportunity in the rapidly growing Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metro area. With DFW ranked as the #1 market for domestic migration and population growth over the past two years, Viking Capital is tapping into the region's surging rental demand with a new Build-to-Rent (BTR) asset offering.The Townhomes at BlueBonnet The Townhomes at BlueBonnet Trails is a BTR community with 114 units designed to meet the needs of today's affluent tenant base. These properties combine the comfort and spaciousness of single-family homes - offering features like large square footage, front yards, attached garages, and home offices for the growing work-from-home population - with the investment benefits of multifamily real estate. By offering multiple units, these properties drive operational efficiency and cost savings through economies of scale for property management, while extended lease agreements ensure consistent tenant demand."We're witnessing a new evolution in the rental market, particularly in high-growth areas like DFW," said Chris Parrinello, Director of Investor Relations at Viking Capital. "The Build-to-Rent model combines the best features of single-family homes with the financial advantages of multifamily properties, making this a highly attractive investment for those looking to seize on DFW's explosive growth." As the Sunbelt region continues to grow in population, DFW stands out as a focal point for investors. Demand for high-quality rental homes in this market is at an all-time high, driven by the area's robust job market, strong population inflows, and excellent quality of life. With the region ranked as the #1 market for investor property returns in 2023, Viking Capital's latest offering represents a unique opportunity to capitalize on these dynamics."At Viking Capital, our goal is to provide accredited investors with access to institutional-grade opportunities in high-growth markets," added Chris Parrinello. "This new BTR community offers a chance to invest in a sector rapidly gaining momentum while delivering strong cash-flow potential." Accredited investors are invited to join Viking Capital on October 1st at 7 PM to learn more about this exciting opportunity. This exclusive event will provide insights into the asset's performance potential and Viking Capital's broader strategy for growth in the DFW area.Join us and learn more: https://go.vikingcapllc.com/bluebonnet-trails About Viking Capital Viking Capital is a premier multifamily investment firm specializing in providing accredited investors with access to institutional-quality real estate opportunities. Focusing on delivering risk-adjusted returns and wealth-building opportunities, Viking Capital has a proven track record of success in high-growth markets across the U.S.Contact InformationAshley PenrodDirector of Marketingapenrod@ vikingcapllc.com 2088599720SOURCE: Viking CapitalView the original press release on newswire.com Recurrent coups since 2020 and the decision by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to withdraw from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) reveal the regions deep governance and democracy challenges. ECOWAS struggle to address these crises, along with perceptions of double standards in its handling of military coups vs. constitutional coups perpetrated by elected governments, has damaged the organisations image in West Africa. The decision by ECOWAS heads of state to hold a Special Summit on the Future of Regional Integration in West Africa in 2025 presents an opportunity to resolve these issues. The summit will be inclusive and consultative and aims to strengthen ECOWAS, making it more efficient and reactive. West African leaders also called for a strategic review, including of the relationships between electoral processes, democracy and development. The summit should, however, specifically reflect on how to better respond to coups, manage military transitions, and strengthen democratic governance. This includes the recurrence of coups in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Niger and the prolonged nature of their transitions back to civilian rule. The ability of military leaders to resist pressure from ECOWAS, the African Union (AU), the United Nations and bilateral actors should also be on the agenda. Africa is currently facing a broad crisis of multilateralism. In this context, ECOWAS strategic review should first consider the regional features that led to the recent coups and challenged its ability to effectively respond and support transitions. Three features in West Africa stand out. The first is that the popular support initially shown to the putschists was less about giving them carte blanche than an expression of public dissatisfaction with the performance of the overthrown regimes. The second is the lack of effective responses from ECOWAS and the AU to terrorism since 2012, particularly in the Sahel, and to governance crises stemming from constitutional amendments and controversial third terms. This situation limits both organisations ability to play a decisive role in current and future crises. 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 third is Western partners diminishing influence amid heightened geopolitical competition with Russia. Combined with the sovereigntist stance of military regimes, external actors have little room for manoeuvre in the region. Paradoxically, this has caused the fragmentation of political and security cooperation in West Africa at a time when violent extremism is rising in the Sahel and spreading to Gulf of Guinea countries. New Institute for Security Studies research shows that given the consolidation of current military regimes and the failure of regional and continental coup management approaches, pragmatism is needed to stabilise affected countries. This includes improving specific ECOWAS regulations and institutional practices. ECOWAS will need to refine its tools and procedures when dealing with coups based on its experiences in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Niger. Following the Niger overthrow in July 2023 in particular, the regional body applied an unprecedented array of political, economic and financial sanctions and threatened to intervene militarily. None of these measures worked instead, they consolidated popular support for the military. The creation of the Alliance of Sahel States and the announcement of Burkina Faso, Mali and Nigers withdrawal has fragmented ECOWAS and severely limited its deterrent capability. To build support, it is crucial for ECOWAS to make its Supplementary Act on sanctions clearer and more predictable. Well-defined procedures on the use of force are also needed, along with strategies for carrying out military action while maintaining its strategic and financial autonomy. More broadly, ECOWAS heads of state should restart efforts to revise the Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance. These were initiated in 2015 after the overthrow of Burkina Fasos Blaise Compaore and again in 2021 after the succession of recent coups began. Member states proposed ways to strengthen democracy and governance, including giving ECOWAS additional means to act against the manipulation of constitutions and establishing a standard on term limits for presidents. The timing of the proposals indicates ECOWAS tendency to react rather than prevent crises. The lack of progress suggests that heads of state are more concerned with protecting their power than meeting popular demands for better governance oversight. This largely explains West Africans disillusionment with ECOWAS, which is widely perceived as a union of heads of state more concerned with the interests of leaders than the regions people. The political stakes of ECOWAS reform are high. The commitment of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to the goal of promoting and protecting democratic governance is crucial. But these are the very states whose positions have undermined ECOWAS. Ahead of its 50th anniversary in 2025, ECOWAS remains a key player in regional integration and security cooperation. Becoming more efficient and reforming its ability to manage coups will improve the organisations image in the eyes of West African citizens. Above all, it will help to stabilise a region facing major political and security problems. Aissatou Kante, Researcher, Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Regional office for West Africa and the Sahel Read the full ISS report, Rethinking responses to unconstitutional changes of government in West Africa, here. (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 Nigeria has recorded a decline in Mpox cases, with three confirmed cases reported in week 38, spanning between 16 and 22 September. The number of cases recorded reflected a slight drop from the eight cases reported in the previous week. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) made this known in its latest situation reports (spanning 16-22 September) published on its website on Monday. Although there were no deaths, NCDC said it is essential to note that Mpox remains a concern, particularly with 24 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) recording at least one confirmed case across 54 Local Government Areas this year. Mpox outbreak in Nigeria Mpox is an acute illness that typically begins with fever, severe headache, swollen lymph nodes, back pain, muscle pain, and extreme fatigue. This is followed by a distinctive rash that often starts on the face and progressively spreads to other parts of the body, sometimes appearing on the soles of the feet and palms of the hands. According to the report, since September 2017, Nigeria has reported a cumulative total of 4,997 suspected cases with 1,164 cases confirmed through laboratory testing, representing a confirmation rate of 23.3 per cent. 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 stated that the outbreak has resulted in 17 fatalities. Geographically, the disease has spread extensively across the country, affecting all 36 states and FCT, indicating widespread distribution. Response activities NCDC noted that it is actively coordinating the response to the Mpox outbreak through its National Mpox multi-sectoral and multi-partner Emergency Operation Centre (EOC). This collaborative effort involves various stakeholders to ensure a comprehensive approach. It added that the response encompasses surveillance and reporting of suspected and confirmed cases nationwide, providing guidance and support for case management, conducting public awareness campaigns, and partnering with state governments, health agencies, and partners. For reporting suspected cases, it advised the public can contact the NCDC via its toll-free number, adding that by leveraging its expertise and resources, it aims to reduce the spread of Mpox and protect Nigerians health. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print On Monday, the House of Representatives initiated an investigation into the alleged N15 million bribery of the controversial cross-dresser Idris Okuneye, known as Bobrisky. The hearing, held by the House Committees on Financial Crimes and Reformatory Institutions, began around 2:05 p.m. following the arrival of Martins Otse, also known as VeryDarkMan, and his lawyer, Deji Adeyanju. PREMIUM TIMES reported that VeryDarkMan, through his Instagram page, leaked an alleged audio recording of the crossdresser narrating his six-month jail term experience with a friend. In the leaked audio, Bobrisky alleged that the EFCC collected N15 million from him to drop the money laundering charges against him. He also alleged that he served his prison sentence in a private apartment after his godfather contacted the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service. However, when filing this report, it was noted that Bobrisky, the central figure of the case, was conspicuously absent from the hearing; his lawyer appeared on his behalf, claiming his clients absence due to illness. The lawmakers, in response, asked why Bobriskys lawyer didnt come along with a sick letter to prove that Bobrisky was indeed ill. 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 drama The hearing began with drama as VeryDarkMan refused to address the committee, questioning why Bobrisky had not honoured the Houses invitation. The witness decision not to speak almost caused an uproar in the House, with lawmakers threatening to issue an arrest warrant and possibly compel him to speak. I dont know why I should be here when the person who made these allegations is not present. Bobrisky said in the voice note that there is a godfather. Maybe the godfather told him not to attend. He has disrespected this committee by not showing up, he said. Angered by the witness behaviour, Billy Osawaru, a lawmaker from Edo State, suggested that the House should issue a warrant of arrest against VeryDarkMan for contempt of the House. The lawmaker also moved a motion to that effect. It was not put to a vote by the committee chairman, Ginger Onwusibe (LP), although many members appeared to agree with the proposal. In response to the threat of arrest, VeryDarkMan said he was prepared to be jailed. You are already threatening me with arrest. If you detain me, I will stay in the cell. If Bobrisky is not here, I will not say anything. If I say anything, let me die, he declared, receiving applause from the audience. After over 45 minutes of back-and-forth, and with the intervention of Mr Adeyanju, a compromise was reached. VeryDarkMan subsequently made his presentation, providing evidence to the panel. The session was then adjourned indefinitely after the committee heard several presentations from the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) and the EFCC. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print President Bola Tinubu on Monday reaffirmed his administrations commitment to upholding the independence and sanctity of the judiciary. Mr Tinubu made the pledge while swearing in Kudirat Kekere-Ekun as the 23rd Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Ms Kekere-Ekun, the second female CJN in Nigerias history, was sworn in following her confirmation by the Senate. Four former chief justices of the Federation, including the first female Justice, Aloma Mukhtar, the President of the Court of Appeal, and other heads of the judiciary divisions, witnessed the swearing of Ms Kekere-Ekun. Mr Tinubu underscored the pivotal role of the judiciary in safeguarding Nigerias constitutional democracy. The judiciary is an important pillar constituting the tripod that holds our constitutional democracy. Indeed, the Nigerian judiciary, at various times in history, has proven to be the moderating force ensuring everyone remains in check. Your role as the last hope of the common man serves to sustain our peoples confidence in democracy, knowing well that there is an important arbiter that can always give them redress if they are wronged. 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 For this function, it is important that our judiciary remains truly independent. It is my administrations total commitment to preserve the sanctity of the judiciary, said the President. He said while the presidency and the judiciary may have reasons to interface as complementing components of the same government, under his watch, the government would also be mindful of the clear line demarcating the two arms of government. We will never interfere or abuse the relationship between us as separate organs of government in our democracy. This is important for sustaining our constitutional democracy, the president said. He reiterated his governments dedication to improving judicial officers welfare and working conditions, noting recent decisions to enhance their effectiveness in administering justice. He urged Kekere-Ekun to continue upholding the principles of ethical leadership, fearlessness, and honesty that have defined her career. The Nigerian judiciary needs a leader with these qualities at this time, and I have no doubt that you will set the pace for others to follow, he said. The President lauded Kekere-Ekuns rise as a testament to hard work and an inspiration to women, particularly young girls, in a male-dominated profession. This day has also cemented the judiciary as a self-evolving and progressive institution. I specifically congratulate the Nigerian women. Any girl child can dream big and have her dreams come true. It is worth celebrating, he said. The pocommended the Senate for expediting the confirmation of the new CJN and thanked members of the judiciary for their continued support. Godswill Akpabio, President of the Senate; Tajudeen Abbas, Speaker of the House of Representatives; former Chief Justices of Nigeria, justices of the Supreme Court, senior judicial officers, and members of the Federal Executive Council attended the event. NAN reports that Ms Kekere-Ekun, was appointed Chief Justice following the retirement of Chief Justice Olukayode Ariwoola. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Michael Anugwa, the deputy controller of corrections (DCC) in charge of the Medium Security Custodial Centre (MSCC) in Kirikiri, Lagos State, has said Idris Okuneye, also known as Bobrisky, was transferred to the Maximum Security Custodial Centre because it was discovered that he had some female features, including breasts. Mr Anugwa said this on Monday when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committees on Financial Crimes and Reformatory Institutions probing the N15 million bribery allegation involving the controversial cross-dresser. In response to questions about the allegation that Bobrisky was kept outside the correctional facility in a quid pro quo arrangement, Mr Anugwa said the facilitys Admission Board met to deliberate on the circumstances surrounding the prisoner. He said the decision to grant the prisoner a special arrangement is consistent with international best practices. The official said Bobrisky would have been at risk of being raped by other inmates because of his special features. We discovered that he has a peculiar feature that makes it difficult to place him in a regular facility, he explained. Though male, he had some particular features like breasts. The board had to convene a meeting on the best practice, and we arrived at the decision to place him in protective custody. 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 official added that Bobrisky was later transferred to the Maximum Security Facility for safety. However, he noted that his superior authorised the transfer in his absence. Mr Anugwa also disclosed that the cross-dresser refused to eat the prison ration served and requested a special feeding arrangement, which is permitted under the law. Idris (Bobrisky) refused to eat prison food at the Medium Security Centre and later applied for self-feeding, which is within our laws. He nominated two people, Abiola Okuneye and Moji Okuneye, to bring him food, Mr Anugwa said. My suspension was merely on social media Mr Anugwa, who was reportedly suspended in connection with the bribery saga, described his suspension by the federal government as a mere social media suspension. He shocked the lawmakers by saying he had not been officially suspended because he had not received a letter to that effect. He argued that he would not have appeared before the committee in uniform if he were indeed under suspension. To be sure, a committee member, Patrick Umoh, asked again, Are you on suspension? Mr Anugwa responded, I only saw it on the pages of the newspapers. PREMIUM TIMES had reported the suspension of Mr Anugwa and Sikiru Adekunle, Deputy Controller of Corrections (DCC) in charge of the Maximum Security Custodial Centre (MSCC) in Kirikiri, Lagos State, in connection with the bribery allegations. The Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire, and Immigration Services Board announced the suspension of the officers allegedly involved in the bribery scandal in a statement signed by Jaafaru Ahmed on Thursday. Background PREMIUM TIMES reported that the EFCC arrested and charged Bobrisky in April on six counts of money laundering and Naira mutilation. During his trial at the Federal High Court in Lagos, the judge, Abimbola Awogboro, dismissed the money laundering charges (counts five and six) but sentenced him to six months in prison for Naira abuse. However, a little over a month after his release, Martins Otse, also known as VeryDarkMan, posted on his Instagram page on Tuesday a leaked audio recording of the cross-dresser narrating what transpired during his six-month jail term. In the audio, Bobrisky can be heard discussing with a friend how the EFCC allegedly collected N15 million from him to drop the money laundering charges. VeryDarkMan released the audio after Bobrisky reportedly refused to repay N4 million to one of the people he had approached for the N15 million he allegedly paid to the EFCC. Last week, the House resolved to investigate the saga by mandating that its committees on Financial Crimes and Reformatory Institutions undertake the task. The joint committee summoned the EFCC, NCoS, VeryDarkMan, and Bobrisky to appear before it. The hearing was still ongoing at the time of filing this report. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print What skills will students need for the workforce of the future in an age dominated by artificial intelligence? In addition to basic computer science, data competencies, and the mathematics and statistics behind AI and machine learning, there are a range of social impacts to consider: AI risk, ethics, privacy, questions of bias, etc. We spoke with Dakota State University President Jose-Marie Griffiths about how her institution is preparing students for careers in AI. The Peoples Democratic Party has described as inappropriate, the allocation of N3.5 billion for the rehabilitation and building of schools by the Ondo State Government. The opposition party says the announcement was one of the many campaign promises that would go unfulfilled. However, the All Progressives Congress (APC) disagreed with the opposition party, saying the counterpart funds released at this time were a show of the governments commitment to education. A PDP statement on Monday signed by its Publicity Secretary, Kennedy Peretei, said before schools resumed on Tuesday, 17th September, the government had approximately two months to undertake whatever rehabilitation or renovations were needed in schools. But they waited till after resumption to announce that the sum of N3.5 billion has been approved for rehabilitation and construction of public schools in the state. It is evident that it is another campaign promise that will not be met just like all other campaign promises that are awaiting fulfillment, the statement reads in part. I do not have the figures of students of state-owned tertiary institutions that dropped out of school when the APC government jerked up tuition fees beyond the reach of commoners in the state. Many parents are still in pain due to their inability to send their children to school, due to tuition hike. Candidates of the West African Examinations Council for Senior Secondary Schools had their results withheld because the Aiyedatiwa government refused to pay the Registration fees that all previous governments paid on behalf of parents. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later He said there are primary schools in the riverine areas where Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa hails from that have just two government paid teachers in the entire school teaching Primaries 1-6. Communities employ community teachers through self help to augment and salvage a bad situation, he said. Other allegations PDP further noted that even when the government announced recruitment of teachers, the process was shrouded in secrecy and marred with politics and favouritism. It also alleged that bursaries and grants from Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC) were disbursed through questionable procedures. Indeed, Ondo State is very Unlucky in the area of education with Aiyedatiwa. For a people, who enjoyed free education under the defunct Action Congress (Group) (AG) government in the Western region, and replicated during the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), under Chief Adekunle Ajasin, it will be difficult to swallow this Lucky pill when November 16 comes, PDP spokesman said. APC reacts Reacting to th allegation, APC said contrary to claims of the opposition party, Governor Aiyedatiwa had prioritised education, allocating N3.5 billion for school rehabilitation and construction. This investment demonstrates his commitment to providing quality education for all. Additionally, the APC government has recruited teachers despite the PDPs false allegations of secrecy and favouritism; the recruitment process aimed to address teacher shortages, an APC statement on Monday signed by Steve Otaloro, the partys Director of Publicity, said. He also said contrary to the allegations of the PDP, efforts had been made to support tertiary institutions and address tuition fee concerns and ensure accessibility. The statement reads in part: Governor Aiyedatiwas administration has implemented various initiatives to empower citizens and drive development. The PDPs statement is riddled with inaccuracies and misleading information. Its essential to recognise their motives. The PDP is trailing behind in the opinion polls in the coming governorship election in the state and resorts to baseless allegations. The PDPs desperation stems from their inability to present a credible alternative and resulted in name-calling and lies to confuse the electorate ahead of the November 16 governorship election in the state. Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwas dedication to Ondo States progress is evident. We urge citizens to look beyond the PDPs misinformation and focus on the APCs tangible achievements. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has ordered water-tight security across the country to create a safe and conducive environment for Nigerians to celebrate the independence anniversary on Tuesday. The Police Spokesperson, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, disclosed in a statement on Monday in Abuja. Nigeria will celebrate its 64th independence anniversary on Tuesday. The country gained independence from Britain on 1 October 1960. The federal government has since announced a low-key anniversary celebration. However, Mr Adejobi said as part of the comprehensive plan to ensure a seamless celebration, Mr Egbetokun has ordered the deployment of adequate human and tactical resources to enable a maximum level of security for the independence celebration. He said the police, in synergy with other security agencies, will fortify various designated event venues and the major highways across the country to forestall any threats to lives, property, and the celebration. Additionally, the IGP has directed all personnel deployed for various operations during the celebrations to be courteous and firm in their engagements with members of the public. 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 Adejobi said Mr Egbetoknn felicitated Nigerians on the independence anniversary, noting that Nigerians are urged to reflect on the journey, triumphs and challenges that have shaped our nation, honouring the sacrifices of our founding fathers and the generations that have contributed to our nations growth, unity and progress. The IGP, the statement said, reiterated that the Nigeria Police Force remains committed to safeguarding the nations security, ensuring peaceful coexistence, and upholding the rule of law. We are dedicated to serving our communities with integrity, compassion, and professionalism. As we move forward, let us rekindle our sense of national pride, foster unity, and work together towards a brighter future for all Nigerians. As we commemorate our journey to freedom and self-governance, let us remember our responsibilities to promote peace and respect for the rule of law, he said. #EndBadGovernance protest Meanwhile, Mr Egbetokuns order for tight security action comes as some Nigerians have proposed launching another round of protests to end bad governance in the country. Recall that the EndBadGovernance protest, which was supposed to last for 10 days in August across Nigeria, was forcefully stopped by the government within four days in many parts of the country. The protest called on the federal government to address issues of food insecurity, hikes in petrol prices, and insecurity in standard of living. However, there were several reports of security shows of force and attacks on peaceful protesters and journalists, which subsequently discouraged and ended the protest on the fourth day in many parts of the country. After the August protest was forcefully stopped by the authorities, the government subsequently arraigned some participants, who are currently on bail. Undeterred, some groups and individuals have set Independence Day as another day to demonstrate against the countrys current hardships. According to the organisers, Nigerias 64th anniversary is not worth celebrating, declaring that the Tinubu administration has brought only unprecedented hardship on millions of Nigerians and pushed many into poverty. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said Monday that it would revisit the allegations of funds embezzlement levelled against former Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawalle. The spokesperson for the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, said this while addressing protesters who stormed the commissions headquarters in Abuja to demand the probe of Mr Matawalle, the incumbent Minister of State for Defence. Mr Oyewale assured the protesters that their demands would be relayed to the EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede, adding that the EFCC will do everything within its power to investigate every act of economic and financial crime. The protesters, under the aegis of the APC Akida Forum, had gathered at the EFCC headquarters to lodge a petition, urging the commission to proceed with its investigation of Mr Matawalle. Speaking on behalf of the group at the EFCC headquarters, Musa Mahmud noted that they had confidence in the anti-graft agency especially with the doggedness it demonstrated in its investigation of the alleged corruption cases involving former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello. He also recalled last weeks arrest of former Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State over alleged corruption, while questioning the inaction of the anti-graft on Mr Matawalles case. Mahmud said, We are confident that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has access to all the facts regarding financial crimes in the country. Nevertheless, we believe it is necessary to determine the total funds that the Zamfara State Government received between 2019 and 2023 under Bello Matawalle. 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 are making these efforts because, to our dismay, the former governor appeared on a live TV program, misleading the public by stating that he did not receive anything close to N70 billion during his four-year tenure as governor of Zamfara State. We urge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate this matter in order to uphold its credibility and neutrality in the fight against corruption in Nigeria. Not new case The alleged corruption case involving Mr Matawalle, who was the Zamfara State governor between May 2019 and May 2023, is not new to EFCC. In May 2023, less than two weeks before the end of Mr Matawalles tenure as governor, EFCC announced that it was investigating him over alleged diversion of N70 billion from the Zamfara State Governments treasury. EFCCs then-Director of Public Affairs, Osita Nwaja, made the announcement at a press briefing at the commissions headquarters in Abuja. He said the real issue with Matawalle is that he is being investigated by the EFCC, over allegations of corruption, award of phantom contracts and diversion of over N70 billion. The disclosure came less than 24 hours after Mr Matawalle asked the then-EFCC chair, Abdulrasheed Bawa, to step down and allow the anti-graft agency to beam its searchlight on Nigerias presidency officials and outgoing ministers. After the public spat between him and the EFCC, and with Mr Matawalle later emerging a minister in the cabinet of the new administration of President Bola Tinubu, the matter went totally cold. However, Mr Bellos successor, Governor Dauda Lawal, recently thrusted the matter to public attention, accusing him of sponsoring bandits terrorising the state and a series of corruption. Mr Matawalle has denied the allegations. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) re-affirmed on Monday that peaceful protest is a right of every Nigerian, cautioning against any attempt to clamp down on protesters during the planned 1 October protests in different parts of the country. Many Nigerians have called for a nationwide protest to be held on Nigerias 64th Independence Day Anniversary on Tuesday, in continuation of the hunger protest that was held for 10 days across various states and Abuja in August. The right to peaceful assembly is the cornerstone stone of our liberty and an essential instrument for promoting the values of democracy and good governance, the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Tony Ojukwu, said at a press conference at the commissions headquarters. Protests are legitimate means of voicing dissatisfactions and participating in shaping citizen-centred governance and development outcomes. Mr Ojukwu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who condemned the widespread arrests, harassment, and killing of protesters during the August #EndBadGovernance protest, said the NHRC is keeping an eye on the trials of those unlawfully detained in connection with the protest by law enforcement agencies. He lamented the gross violations of human rights, arbitrary arrests of citizens by law enforcement officers who were yet to be brought to book, and the looting of properties by hoodlums. The NHRC notes with great concern, the clampdown of protesters and the subsequent criminal prosecutions following the August 2024 End Bad Governance Protests across parts of Nigeria. The August protests led to loss of lives and public and private properties, but it is yet to be seen that there have been arrests and prosecution of law enforcement and security agents who were primarily responsible for these violations, he said, adding, The NHRC is concerned about the charges of treason that have been imposed on some of the protesters and have made this known in various forums. We will continue to monitor the situation and the trials. 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 To avert the recurrence of the ugly features of the #EndBadGovernance protest, the NHRC has referred everyone to its comprehensive protest advisory that was issued ahead of the August demonstrations. He vowed that the commission would monitor the activities of the state and non-state actors during Tuesdays protest and ensure accountability. The NHRC will be monitoring the protests across Nigeria and will ensure that state and non-state actors violating the right to protests and other associated human rights will be held accountable, he said. #EndBadGovernance marked by widespread rights abuses PREMIUM TIMES reported how the law enforcement agencies violated the rights of protesters and non-protesters during the #EndBadGovernance protest, despite the advisory issued by the NHRC to guide the conduct of the protest. The police and SSS who shot live ammunition at peaceful protesters and journalists, including PREMIUM TIMES reporters, while they harassed, arbitrarily arrested and detained protesters and non-protesters including minors. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that at least 56 journalists were assaulted or harassed by security forces or unidentified citizens while covering the #EndBadGovernance demonstrations in August. The NHRC asked the police authorities to probe and sanction their officers who attacked journalists during the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protests in Abuja. The police not only ignored such calls but continued to maintain that its operatives acted professionally during the protests. PREMIUM TIMES documented the killing and injuring of people during the protest here. According to the NHRC over 1,200 were detained during the protest. Some have been charged with the allegation of attempting to topple President Bola Tinubus administration. Some of the detainees, including minors who are in jail without charge are minors accused of terrorism by the police. Many have said the ruthlessness demonstrated by the security forces during the #EndBadGovernance protests reflects the authoritarian tendencies that the President Tinubus administration has persistently demonstrated since coming on board last year. There has been a spike in the cases of arrests and harassment of journalists, harassment of labour leaders with dissenting views and other citizens on the flimsiest of excuses since Mr Tinubu came to office last year. PREMIUM TIMES recently published a compelling editorial warning that Mr Tinubus government was sliding towards dictatorship. 1 October protest The planned 1 October protest is a continuation of the #EndBadGovernance protest which took place between the 1 to 10 August. The protests are inspired by the same themes of economic hardship, bad governance, corruption and harsh economic policies, including removal of subsidies, increased taxes and floating of the naira, that have characterised the President Bola Tinubu administration. The protest is planned to coincide with Nigerias 64th Independence anniversary. Groups backing the protest, issued a press statement on Sunday, urging the masses to troop out on 1 October to express their anger against the hardship they have been grappling with since President Tinubu assumed office in May last year. The groups include The Youth Rights Campaign (YRC), Movement for Fundamental Change (MFC), Joint Action Front (JAF), Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), and Yoruba Revolutionary Movement (YOREM). Others are Coalition for Concerned Nigerian Citizens (CCNC), Initiative for a Better and Brighter Nigeria (IBBN), Movement for African Emancipation (MAE), Pan-African Consciousness Renaissance (PACOR-Nigeria), Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR). The organisers of the protest, which some of them tagged, #FearlessinOctober, demand, among others, the release of those detained during the #EndBadGovernance protest, and an end to the anti-poor policies and human rights violations. particularly the freedom of expression and assembly that has been eroded by this present administration. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The people of Kwararafa chiefdom in Gassol Local Government Area of Taraba State on Saturday held a protest against alleged harassment by the traditional ruler of Gassol, Idi Chiroma. The protesters alleged that Mr Chiroma was coercing them to pay him royalties on farmlands and ponds, even when they were not under his chiefdom. They appealed to Governor Agbu Kefas, to stop Mr Chiroma from meddling in the affairs of Kwararafa chiefdom. Some of their placards read: Idi Chiroma must leave our land, Governor Kefas, stop Chiroma from harassing and intimidating our farmers, and Enough is enough of court intimidation, police arrest and detention of Kwararafa farmers. The spokesperson of the chiefdom, Kefas Sabo, said Kwararafa chiefdom was created by law from the Gassol chiefdom. Kwararafa was one of the 47 chiefdoms created by the former governor Darius Ishaku, in 2018, under the Taraba State chieftaincy amendment law 2018, enacted by the Taraba State House of Assembly. The villages of Tella, Dobeli, Dissol, Takai, Sabon gida, Tunga anguli, Dinya, Nafuche, Yaku cholo, Gidan kussa, Nanguru, Yaku shamaki, Madani, Yaku Baba, Yaku Magaji and Garko were all carved out of Gassol chiefdom to form the Kwararafa chiefdom. 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 Unlike all other newly created chiefdoms, who have been enjoying peace and harmonious co-existence with their mother chiefdoms, Chiroma, the chief of Gassol, has declared war against the people of Kwararafa chiefdom, Mr Sabo said. He said shortly after the creation of the chiefdom, Mr Chiroma instituted three suits in the Jalingo High Court opposing the creation, which he lost He said Mr Chiroma also filed 39 other cases in various courts in the state against the peasant farmers of Kwararafa chiefdom. The chief of Gassol has used the police and courts to harass, intimidate, arrest and detain over 30 farmers from different villages under Kwararafa chiefdom, claiming that those villages fall under his administrative domain. The detention became worse from 2023 after his younger brother, Yakubu Chiroma, was elected into the House of Representatives to represent the people of Gassol and Bali, Mr Sabo said. He alleged that Mr Chiroma colluded with officials of the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs to distort the original map of the villages carved out of Gassol chiefdom. We, therefore call on the state governor Agbu Kefas to restrain the chief of Gassol from encroaching into the villages under the Kwararafa chiefdom and to stop him from the reckless use of the police and courts to harass, intimidate, arrest and detention of innocent farmers. When contacted for his reaction to the allegations, Mr Chiroma asked PREMIUM TIMES to speak with Ibrahim Goje, a former senator and an elder in Gassol, on the matter. However, Mr Goje dismissed the allegations of the protesters. According to him, the villages the protesters are claiming are not in their chiefdom. We are going to debunk all the baseless allegations on the chief of Gassol. The law that created the new chiefdoms allocated villages to them, Mr Goje said. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Civil society organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria have called for increased access to information in the countrys Niger Delta region in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2011. The CSOs, under the auspices of the Niger Delta Open Governance Observatory, made the call in a statement issued on 28 September in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, to mark the 2024 International Day for Universal Access to Information. Tijah Bolton-Akpan signed the statement on behalf of the Niger Delta Open Governance Observatory. Mr Bolton-Akpan is the executive director of Policy Alert, a non-profit organisation which promotes good governance and accountability in the Niger Delta region. The Niger Delta Open Governance Observatory is a multi-centre walk-in and digital hub operated by a collective of CSOs led by Policy Alert. The Niger Delta is a broad and complex political and socio-economic system of 194 sub-nationals, comprising nine states and 185 local government areas with shared and sometimes unique development challenges. The public institutions saddled with the responsibility of delivering services to citizens across the region have a responsibility under the law to treat information as a public good by ensuring that citizens have the ability to seek, receive, and transmit information without interference, the statement said. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later The CSOs said the quantum of fiscal flows that enter the Niger Delta region through state governments, local governments, and intervention agencies starkly contrasts with the evidence of development and poor social indicators on the ground. This creates a high demand for access to publicly held information to enable citizens (to) ask the right questions to improve transparency, accountability, and service delivery. READ ALSO:Tinubu appoints new management team for Niger Delta Power Holding However, it is disappointing that eight states in the region are yet to enact a Freedom of Information legislation at the state level, the statement added. The CSOs said they would unveil their findings of the Niger Delta FOI Rankings on 30 September (today) to mark the 2024 International Day for Universal Access to Information. The ranking seeks to assess the compliance level of public institutions with the benchmark of citizens access to public information in the custody of MDAs as stipulated in the FOI Act 2011, the statement said. The theme of this years International Day for Universal Access to Information is Mainstreaming Access to Information and Participation in the Public Sector. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Gassol traditional chiefdom council in the Gassol local government area of Taraba State has denied allegations of land grabbing and harassment levelled against its head, Idi Chiroma, by the people of Kwararafas chiefdom. PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Kwararafa people staged a protest on Saturday against alleged coercion by Mr Chiroma to pay him royalties on farmlands and ponds, even when they were not under his chiefdom. Reacting to the allegations in Jalingo on Sunday, the secretary of the Gassol traditional council, Yunusa Gassol, said the protesters were out to malign and damage the reputation of their traditional ruler and his office. Mr Gassol said the villages in Kwararafa chiefdom were defined in the law establishing the chiefdom. The law that created Kwararafa Chiefdom clearly shows that two districts were carved out, that is, Yaku Shamaki and Kwararafa districts, as well as other villages, while Tella, Sabongida, Takai, Dissol, Nanguru are in Gassol chiefdom. His Royal Highness cannot descend too low to demand royalties from areas outside his domain. The allegations are mere lies aimed at denting the good image of His Royal Highness. Again, his Royal Highness has not instituted any case against anyone from Kwararafa as it was alleged by the mischief makers who are bent on dragging the person of the Chief of Gassol to public disrepute. 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 Chief of Gassol was never a party in all the cases. The stakeholders of Gassol actually went to court to challenge some of the villages carved out of Gassol Chiefdom, and the cases were decided in favour of the Gassol stakeholders. READ ALSO: Taraba community protests alleged harassment by monarch The State government appealed against the judgement at the appeal court in Yola; the appeal court also ended up in favour of the Gassol stakeholders, Mr Gassol said. He also described the allegation of police harassment and intimidation as baseless and false. The Chief of Gassol has not even for once visited the disputed areas or sent anyone to act on his behalf since the creation of Kwararafa Chiefdom, so how can anybody accuse him of harassing or intimidating the people of Kwararafa Chiefdom? he said. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra State has rejected the outcome of Saturdays local elections. Chigozie Igwe, the chairperson of the PDP in Anambra, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Awka. Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission (ANSIEC), on Sunday night, declared chairmanship and councillorship candidates of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance winners in the 21 local government councils and 326 wards. Mrs Osakwe, while declaring the results, described the election as free, fair, credible and peaceful. But the state chairperson of the PDP, Mr Igwe, who described the election as a charade, said the PDP did not boycott the election like other political parties did, adding that his party was in good stead to deplore the election outcome. The PDP chairperson said the party was still studying the details of the election and vowed to challenge it. They gave us one month to prepare for the election; within that period, we sold forms, screened nominees, conducted primary, campaign and met all the conditions. 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 But on election day, ANSIEC sent materials and officials to where they liked, but no result was released anywhere, including the primary school, Nza Ozubulu, where I voted. They conducted a charade in the name of election. So we are rejecting whatever result they released, he said. Mr Igwe said the PDP would ensure that the autonomy of the local government areas in Anambra was not compromised. He said that local government funds should be used for the development of the communities. Local government autonomy has come. We will ensure any chairman who misuses local government money is prosecuted and sent to jail. As the leading opposition party in Anambra, the PDP is going to stand for the people and ensure that the principles of layers of government are respected, he said. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, has called on the #EndBadGovernance protest organisers to cancel it in honour of the nations 64th Independence Anniversary. Mr Jibrin made the call on Monday in a statement made by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ismail Mudashir. Organisers of the protest have scheduled 1 October for the demonstration, a day on which the country will mark its 64th year of Independence. Rather than celebrating the nations Independence, the organisers declared the day National Day of Survival to demonstrate against the policies of President Bola Tinubu due to increasing hardship in the country. In the statement, Mr Jibrin acknowledged that the country is experiencing hardship but urged Nigerians to continue to persevere. He said the reforms introduced by the federal government were not intended to punish Nigerians but to straighten the nations economy. He assured that the country would soon overcome its hardship and other challenges. 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 Fellow Nigerians, happy Independence Day. As we celebrate the 64th Independence Anniversary the liberty from colonial rule, we must remember the enormous sacrifices made by our founding fathers: Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, among others, and recommit ourselves to the ideals they preached including the promotion of national unity, peace, justice and tolerance. Yes, at 64, we face some challenges as a country, but we will overcome them by Gods grace. We will come out stronger. Lets continue to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in actualising his policies and programmes. He has good intentions for the country. We will get it right, he said. Good governance The deputy senate president also assured that the upper chamber, under the leadership of Godswill Akpabio, would ensure legislation that promotes good governance and supports Mr Tinubus administration. Under the able leadership of Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio, the president of the Senate, he said the parliament would continue to work for good governance and support the executive with the necessary legislation to actualise its programmes and policies. Coming from the retreat of the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution held in Kano over the weekend, he said the committee under his chairmanship was working hard to amend the nations constitution to meet the wishes and aspirations of Nigerians, the statement added. Mr Jibrin commended President Tinubu for appointing the members of the Governing Board of the North West Development Commission (NWDC) for its launch, saying this is a further confirmation of the presidents commitment to tackling the challenges facing the North-west geopolitical zone. Together, we can forge a more robust and inclusive constitutional framework for our beloved nation, Nigeria, as we seek to build a brighter future for all our citizens, he said. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Ebonyi State Government on Monday said flight operation at the Chuba Okadigbo Airport Onueke is expected to commence in November. Ngozi Obichukwu, the state commissioner for aviation, said this while briefing Governor Francis Nwifuru during his inspection of the airport facility. The inspection was part of activities to mark the states 28th anniversary. Mrs Obichukwu said the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had inspected the airports runway which, she said, was the only aspect delaying the commencement of flight operations. The 3.1kilometre runway, which can accommodate five aircraft at a time, was asphalted by the present administration in the state. The airport had earlier commenced operations but most aircraft could not cope with the runway due to non-asphalting of the concrete basement used in constructing it. We, however, commenced the asphalting of the runway in October 2023 and completed it on July 8, 2024, she 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 She said the NCAA had inspected the runway and was expected to give approval for flight operations by November. We commend Governor Nwifuru for fulfilling his promise to rehabilitate the runway, which is one of the best in the country. We, however, regret that the engineer who oversaw the rehabilitation of the runway died, she said. Mr Nwifuru applauded the timely completion of the project, noting that there had been many improvements since the last time he visited. Mr Nwifuru, represented by Deputy Governor Patricia Obila, said billions of naira had been spent on the project, and the state was expecting to reap its due reward. This is one of the best airports around the world, and we pray that no life will be lost in the facility. I thank all those who contributed to the realisation of this dream as you have all written your names in gold, he said. He urged the commissioner to submit a proposal to name one of the airports plazas after the projects late lead engineer. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the airport was inaugurated by former President Muhammadu Buhari during the administration of Governor David Umahi. However, flight operations at the facility were suspended due to flaws in the construction of its runway. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, has commended the resilience and sacrifices of Nigerian workers despite what he described as repeated betrayals by the countrys political leadership. In a statement on Monday, marking Nigerias 64th Independence anniversary, Mr Ajaero praised workers for their strength in the face of broken promises, exploitation, and corruption. Despite enduring decades of failed leadership, he called on citizens to maintain hope in the country. We urge downtrodden Nigerians, who have borne the brunt of these betrayals, to continue protesting against injustices within the bounds of the law, Mr Ajaero said. He emphasised that citizens should resist the political elites efforts to subvert democratic norms and values. Mr Ajaeros statement underscored the need for vigilance among the populace, warning that the nations political leaders are unlikely to act in the public interest unless pressured to do so. It should be apparent to the citizenry that the leading political elite are not ready to do the right thing except they are compelled to do so, 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 also cautioned the political class against continuing to undermine democratic institutions, noting that the current state of the country is a direct result of their actions. The consequences of their acts of commission or omission brought us this far. It is time to turn a new leaf. Let it be the beginning of a new low, Mr Ajaero said, calling for a renewed commitment to democratic principles and governance. Read the statement in full THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA Being the text of the goodwill message by the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero on the occasion of Nigerias 64th independence anniversary On the occasion of Nigerias 64th independence anniversary celebration, we congratulate all Nigerians, especially workers for their sacrifice, resilience or robust spirit in spite of serial acts of betrayal of monumental proportions by the political leadership at various times and levels. We urge the downtrodden Nigerians who bear the marks or burden of these broken promises, exploitation and corruption to not give up hope on their country. In light of the fact that their sacrifice has been taken for granted for so long, they should learn to protest within the limits of the law against injustices and subversion of democratic norms, culture and values by the dominant political elite. It should be apparent to the citizenry that the leading political elite are not ready to do the right thing except they are compelled to do so. In the same vein, we would like to sound a note of caution to our political elite whose pre-occupation is to circumvent the principles and practice of popular democracy that undermining of our democratic institutions can no longer be business as usual. The consequences of their acts of commission or omission brought us this far. It is time to turn a new leaf. Let it be the beginning of a new low. Comrade Joe Ajaero President Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Members of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review concluded a two-day retreat in Kano on Saturday after deliberating on three key issues. A member of the committee, Ali Ndume, (APC-Borno) told BBC Hausa Service on Sunday that the issues considered at the retreat are federalism, state police and the local government autonomy. Mr Ndume said while northern lawmakers are not afraid of a return to regionalism as being advocated in some quarters, they would not allow any regions to be cheated in the ongoing constitutional review. He said the northern groups made submissions before the committee, which will then be presented to the house for deliberation. On the issue of local government autonomy, Mr Ndume said while he supported the autonomy, he is, however, mindful of the fact that several local government areas in his native Borno State cannot pay salaries without the support of the state government. However, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, Muntari Dandutse, (APC-Katsina), disagreed with the proponents of regionalism. He said the retreat aimed to correct defects and anomalies discovered in the nations constitution over the years. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later He said: We should not have myopic thinking about ourselves. No section of this country is not blessed. What is important is that we should have good governance, credible and responsible accessibility of the resources that we have because Nigeria is blessed. We have all the comparative advantages that will move this country forward unless, of course, we are not serious and determined, Mr Dandutse said. Also, the Chairman, the Senate Committee on Finance, Sani Musa, challenged the proponents of regionalism to send the bills to the National Assembly to test its popularity. Mr Musa said the establishment of zonal development commissions across the country is not a step towards regionalism but for the social and economic development of the regions. Earlier, In his opening remarks, the chairman of the constitution review committee, Barau Jibrin, said the engagement will submit the suggestions and recommendations to the Senate for further deliberation and approval. As we embark on this critical journey, let us remember the timeless values that make nations great: freedom, equality, and justice. These enduring ideals should guide us through this arduous task. As we consider desirable amendments to our Constitution, I implore that we do so with the utmost care and consideration. Our decisions today will have far-reaching implications for generations to come, and we must ensure that they are in the best interests of all Nigerians, Mr Jibrin who is also the deputy senate president, said. Mr Jibrin said to achieve meaningful reform, senators would synergise with their colleagues in the House of Representatives and collaborate with critical stakeholders, including the executive arm of government, state governors, state assemblies, the judiciary, and civil society organisations, to build consensus on contentious issues. He said attaining collective success hinges on the lawmakers ability to work together seamlessly, sharing ideas and expertise to develop a report to be submitted to the Senate for further legislative actions. This retreat presents a unique opportunity for constructive good-faith dialogue and collective problem-solving, Mr Jibrin said. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Nigerian Army says its troops have eliminated eight terrorists and rescued 40 abducted individuals in a series of coordinated operations across the country. The army, in a post on its official X Handle on Monday, said the recent victories had further tightened the noose around the necks of unrepentant terrorists and their collaborators. The post added that the troops also apprehended a notorious arms courier found with a large cache of ammunition, striking a major blow against arms proliferation by criminal elements. According to the army, troops acting on genuine intelligence on 28 September conducted a strategic stop-and-search operation along the Lafia-Keffi Road in Nasarawa State. This resulted in the arrest of a firearms courier and the recovery of 303 live rounds of 7.62mm (special) ammunition concealed in a bag. The suspect and the vehicle were immediately taken into custody, and further investigations are ongoing to apprehend his accomplices. In another operation in Kaduna State, troops executed precision strikes in the forests near Danmari and Saulawa villages in Birnin Gwari Local Government Area, where one terrorist was eliminated. 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 Additional engagements in Ankwa village of Kachia Local Government Area also led to the annihilation of two more terrorists and the recovery of a locally made firearm, 11 rounds of 7.62mm (special) ammunition, and a motorcycle used by the terrorists, it said. The post also revealed that troops in an encounter with fleeing terrorists at Faayijiwa Fandanari village in Magumeri Local Government Area of Borno, recovered two AK-47 rifles, 61 rounds of 7.62mm (NATO), 51 rounds of 7.62mm (special ) ammunition, hard drugs and various supplies. It said the terrorists abandoned the firearms and ammunition after succumbing to the troops superior firepower. According to the post, further operations in Gwoza Local Government Area resulted in the neutralization of three terrorists near Ashigashiya village, while vigilant troops responding to credible intelligence, pursued and intercepted a convoy suspected of transporting logistics to terrorists at Gubio. Three vehicles loaded with food supplies intended for terrorist camps were seized, and the sum of N2,400 recovered. The efforts in Kukawa Local Government Area yielded another victory as troops, acting on intelligence, intercepted terrorists attempting to relocate abducted victims from Cijin village. The terrorists fled upon sighting the troops, abandoning 38 hostages, including six men, eight women, and 24 children, who were safely rescued by the troops. Meanwhile, in Yobe, troops responding to reports of terrorists extorting civilians staged a successful ambush in Sasawa village in Damaturu Local Government Area. The troops neutralised one terrorist and recovered one AK-47 rifle along with a motorcycle. The Chief of Army Staff has commended the troops for their bravery and relentless fight for peace. He also expressed gratitude to the citizens whose continuous provision of credible information has been instrumental in these successes. The Nigerian Army remains steadfast in its mission to obliterate terrorism and safeguard the lives of all Nigerians, it added. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Local government elections in Enugu, Imo and Anambra Last Sunday, we kicked off the week with reports of the final results of local elections in Enugu, Imo and Anambra states. The elections were held simultaneously on 21 September across the states. In Enugu, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won all the chairmanship and councilorship positions in the 17 local government areas and 260 political wards in the state. In Anambra, the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) won all the chairmanship and councillorship positions in the states 21 local government areas and 326 political wards. Similarly, the ruling All Progressives Congress in Imo State won all the chairmanship and councilorship positions in the states 27 local government areas and 305 wards. PDP national leaderships alleged sabotage, and negligence of the party in Abia Last Monday, we reported that a group within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State accused the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) of deliberately sabotaging and neglecting the party in the state. The group, the Rebranded Abia PDP Forum, said the alleged sabotage and negligence was part of a grand plot with an unnamed opposition party in Abia and a member of the PDPs Board of Trustees to destroy the PDP. 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 group submitted a protest letter to Umaru Damagun, the Acting National Chairperson of the PDP, and other members of the NWC. It gave an instance of the alleged negligence by saying that the PDP national leadership did not intervene during an over 10-month battle to get party member Aaron Uzodike inaugurated as a lawmaker in Abia State. Soludos free education for senior secondary schools in Anambra On Thursday, Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State announced free education for students of senior secondary in public schools in the state. Mr Soludo had, in September 2023, announced free education in public schools in Anambra from nursery to junior secondary schools. The governor, who said he decided to extend the free education programme to senior secondary schools, also announced that his administration would begin paying the N70,000 minimum wage in the state in October. This is months after President Bola Tinubu signed the new minimum wage bill into law. The new law came into existence after the Organised Labour demanded a raise in the countrys minimum wage of N30,000 because of the rising cost of living. Another Nnamdi Kanus squabble with SSS We reported on Friday that the legal team of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), accused the State Security Service (SSS) of blocking the teams access to the IPOB leader. Flanked by three other lawyers in a video clip uploaded on X handle on Friday, Aloy Ejimakor, special counsel to Mr Kanu, noted that the SSSs alleged action violated court orders and the Nigerian Constitution. Before the latest development, the SSS had allegedly prevented some lawyers from seeing the IPOB leader in 2021. A similar incident reoccurred in 2022, about a year later. Deadly masquerade attacks in Enugu On Friday, we reported the death of two people from Oriokpa masqueraders attacks in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State. The Enugu State Government summoned traditional rulers and the president-generals of the communities in the council area over the deadly attacks. The government also ordered an investigation into the activities of the Oriokpa masquerade groups in the area and vowed to prosecute the perpetrators. Before the latest incidents, the Oriokpa masquerades were allegedly involved in a widely condemned attack on a female nurse in April. Ebonyi cholera death toll hits 15 The Ebonyi State Government, on Friday, announced that the death toll from the cholera outbreak in Ndibokote Village in Ezza-Inyimegu Community has hit 15. The community is in Izzi Local Government Area of the state. Steven Nwankpa, the chairperson of Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi, warned the people in the affected community to desist from open defecation practices and other unhealthy lifestyles. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The 78.4 per cent leap in the size of trade conducted on Nigerian stocks last week and the considerable rise in the value of those deals affirm faith the market continues to win itself from investors. Equity trading at the Nigerian Exchange for August was almost a half higher in value than a year ago, according to the bourses Domestic & Foreign Portfolio Investment Report. That said, international investors accounted for only 15.1 per cent of that. It is the third weakest monthly inflow from such investors this year, suggesting that Nigerian stocks are still remotely away from regaining the vibrancy they were noted for among frontier market peers in the pre-pandemic days when foreign participation dominated trade for months. The balance is now shifting in such a way that homegrown interest in shares is helping drive trade, with increasing involvement of big institutional players, especially pension funds. Since the start of the year to this point, domestic participation has been the pivot that has helped the market yield achieve its 31.7 per cent yield. PREMIUM TIMES has assembled some stocks with fundamentals and other potential, adopting key analytical approaches to save you the hassle of randomly picking equities for investment. 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 selection, a product of an analytical market watch, offers a guide to entering the market and taking strategic positions in hopes that equities will increase in value with the passage of time. This is not a buy, sell or hold recommendation but a stock investment guide. You may need to involve your financial advisor before making investment decisions. Beta Glass Beta Glass tops this weeks list for presently trading well below its intrinsic value and close to its lowest price level in 52 weeks, making the stock a potentially good buy for investors seeking cheap stocks that offer value for money. The companys price-to-earnings (PE) ratio is 4.4x, while its price-to-book (PB) ratio is 0.5x. Access Holdings Access Holdings features on this weeks pick for trading significantly below its underlying value at the moment and for trading close to its 52-week low. The PE ratio of the financial services group is 0.9x, while its PB ratio is 0.3x. Prestige Assurance Prestige Assurance makes the cut for currently trading below its intrinsic value and close to its lowest price in 52 weeks. The insurers PE ratio is 1.9x, while the PB ratio is 0.4x. NPF Microfinance Bank (NPF MFB) NPF MFB appears on the list for trading significantly below its fundamental value at the moment and close to its 52-week low. The micro-lenders PE ratio is 6.3x, while its PB ratio is 0.8x. Linkage Assurance Linkage Assurance features on this weeks list because it is currently trading well below its underlying value and close to its lowest price level in 52 weeks. The underwriters PE ratio is 2.9x, while its PB ratio is 0.6x. Wema Bank Wema Bank appears in the pick for currently trading well below its actual value. Its PE ratio is 1x, while the PB ratio is 0.9x. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Justice Kudirat Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun took the oath of office as the 23rd Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) on Monday, with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu reaffirming his administrations commitment to upholding the judiciarys independence and sanctity. Justice Kekere-Ekun, the second female CJN in Nigerias history, was sworn in following her confirmation by the Senate. The ceremony occurred at the Council Chamber of the State House, Abuja. Four former chief justices of the Federation, including the first female Justice, Aloma Mukhtar, the President of the Court of Appeal, and other heads of the judiciary divisions, witnessed it. President Tinubu underscored the pivotal role of the judiciary in safeguarding Nigerias constitutional democracy. The judiciary is an important pillar constituting the tripod that holds our constitutional democracy. Indeed, the Nigerian judiciary, at various times in history, has proven to be the moderating force ensuring everyone remains in check. Your role as the last hope of the common man serves to sustain our peoples confidence in democracy, knowing well that there is an important arbiter that can always give them redress if they are wronged. For this function, it is important that our judiciary remains truly independent. It is my administrations total commitment to preserve the sanctity of the judiciary. 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 While we may have reasons to interface as complementing components of the same government, under my watch, the government will also be mindful of the clear line demarcating the two of us. We will never interfere or abuse the relationship between us as separate organs of government in our democracy. This is important for sustaining our constitutional democracy, the President said. President Tinubu reiterated his governments dedication to improving judicial officers welfare and working conditions, noting recent decisions to enhance their effectiveness in administering justice. He urged Justice Kekere-Ekun to continue upholding the principles of ethical leadership, fearlessness, and honesty that have defined her career. The Nigerian judiciary needs a leader with these qualities at this time, and I have no doubt that you will set the pace for others to follow, he said. The president lauded Justice Kekere-Ekuns rise as a testament to hard work and an inspiration to women, particularly young girls, in a male-dominated profession. This day has also cemented the judiciary as a self-evolving and progressive institution. I specifically congratulate the Nigerian women. Any girl child can dream big and have her dreams come true. It is worth celebrating, he said. President Tinubu also acknowledged the presence of Justice Kekere-Ekuns 89-year-old mother, Wilfred Ogundimu (Nee Savage), and other family members led by Akin Kekere-Ekun, Justice Kekere-Ekuns husband. The president commended the Senate for expediting the confirmation of the new CJN and thanked members of the judiciary for their continued support. Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas, former Chief Justices of Nigeria, justices of the Supreme Court, senior judicial officers, and members of the Federal Executive Council attended the event. Bayo Onanuga Special Adviser to the President (Information & Strategy) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print A Nigerian professor, Monday Igbafe, who teaches at the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, has escaped from his abductors, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). Mr Igbafe was reportedly ambushed on Saturday night at the entrance of his residence in Ekpoma by some gunmen suspected to be kidnappers. The armed men were said to have hijacked his Toyota Highlander and whisked him away to an unknown destination. According to the NAN report, the gunmen took their eyes off the victim. They were more concerned about their escape because of the pressure from operatives of the police division in Ekpoma who were searching the forest for the gunmen. Although the report did not clearly state it, it appeared the professor took advantage of the situation and escaped from his abductors. The police spokesperson in Edo, Moses Yamu, on Monday confirmed Mr Igbafes escape from his abductors. The command is aware of the report. Operatives of the Ekpoma Division mounted pressure on the kidnappers, which led to the escape of the victim. 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 are on the trail of the suspects to ensure that they are brought to book, Mr Yamu, a police superintendent, said. Mr Igbafe is the Benin Zonal Coordinator of the Academic Staff Union of Universities. Abduction for ransom is now one of the dominant crimes across various Nigerian cities. Politicians, entrepreneurs, and anyone with good financial worth, including school children, are easy targets. Twelve medical students from the University of Jos and eight from the University of Maiduguri were kidnapped on 15 August while travelling to Enugu for a convention. The students, who were on their way to the annual Federation of Catholic Medical and Dental Students gathering, were ambushed and abducted in Otukpo, Benue State. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, on Monday, swore in 87 new Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), urging them to uphold the highest standards of accountability, integrity, and professional ethics befitting their esteemed rank. In her address at the event, which also marked the commencement of the new 2024/2025 legal year of the Supreme Court, Ms Kekere-Ekun emphasised the need for a renewed commitment to transparency and integrity, particularly as the judiciary faces growing criticism. This is a new dawn and a new era in the Nigerian judiciary, she said. Over the years, various factors have contributed to the negative image of the judiciary. However, we are determined to change this narrative and make the judiciary a source of pride for all Nigerians. Ms Kekere-Ekun noted the damaging effects of unethical practices like forum shoppingwhere lawyers exploit the system by filing cases in courts they deem more favourableleading to conflicting court orders. She warned that such behaviours would no longer be tolerated: There will be consequences for any act of indiscretion that could bring the judiciary into disrepute. Under her leadership, Ms Kekere-Ekun said, the judiciary would adhere strictly to the principles of honesty and transparency, adding that the professions ethical guidelines must be strictly followed. She lauded the newly sworn SANs, congratulating them on excelling in their legal careers and being deemed worthy of the rank by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC). 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 She called on the new SANs to note that their elevation came with immense responsibilities. Ms Kekere-Ekun, first appointed as the acting CJN in August, was inaugurated by President Bola Tinubu as the substantive CJN earlier on Monday. Hours after her inauguration, he presided over the new legal year ceremony at the Supreme Court, where he delivered her tenure-defining, first official address in her new role. Judicial independence Ms Kekere-Ekun also addressed concerns about the independence of Nigerias judiciary, which many believe only exists on paper. The Nigerian judiciary is largely independent in conducting its affairs and rendering decisions without interference, she said. At the Supreme Court, for instance, our judgments are free from external influence. While the judiciary maintains collaborative relationships with the executive and legislative branches of government, she clarified, this should not be misconstrued as subservience. Last legal years record Reflecting on the 2023/2024 legal year, Justice Kekere-Ekun acknowledged the judiciarys accomplishments, including the Supreme Courts historical appointment of 11 new justices, bringing the Court to its full complement for the first time in years. These appointments provided much-needed reinforcement to the 10 Justices who had been handling the entire workload of appeals, she noted. The Chief Justice also praised the hard work of the judiciary in managing an overwhelming caseload. During the past year, the Supreme Court handled 1,124 cases, delivering 247 judgments and rulings, including 74 political cases. Despite thes successes, she acknowledged the persistent challenges facing the judiciary. Although our journey has not been entirely smooth, the challenges we faced have provided us with opportunities to learn and improve. Call for alternative dispute resolution Ms Kekere-Ekun urged Nigerians to consider alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms to ease the judiciarys burden. Litigating every disagreement and appealing every lost case, no matter how trivial, contributes significantly to the backlog of cases in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, she explained. She also revealed that efforts were being made to operationalise the Supreme Court Mediation Centre in the new legal year to promote ADR methods. Corruption remains a major issue in Nigeria, and Ms Kekere-Ekun reaffirmed her commitment to combating the menace. She said without providing details that the Corruption and Financial Crime Cases Trial Monitoring Committee (COTRIMCO) has expedited the handling of corruption cases in collaboration with anti-graft agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Between January and August, she said, the EFCC secured 2,387 convictions as a result of the contributio ns of COTRIMCO. Judicial salaries and welfare One of the most significant developments in the past legal year, Ms Kekere-Ekun said, was the passage of the amendment of the Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc.) Act, 2024, signed into law by President Bola Tinubu. The Act, which addresses long-standing concerns over judicial officers salaries, was hailed by members of the legal profession. However, the CJN emphasised that more must be done to support retiring and retired judges, many of whom face health challenges without adequate medical care. She called for better healthcare provisions for both serving and retired judicial officers, noting the high rate of post-retirement deaths among judges due to inadequate support systems. Commitment to rule of law Ms Kekere-Ekun also touched on the judiciarys role in upholding the rule of law, which she described as the cornerstone of a functional democracy. She issued a stern warning against disobedience to court orders, calling it a direct affront to democracy and an invitation to anarchy. No individual or institution, irrespective of their standing, will be permitted to treat the judgments of our courts with levity or disregard, she said, emphasising the judiciarys resolve to uphold the sanctity of its rulings. Modernising the criminal justice system Despite the enactment of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) in 2015, Ms Kekere-Ekun expressed concern over its underutilisation. She criticised the practice of arraigning suspects in court without proper preliminary investigations, calling it a major contributor to delays in the justice system. The ACJA provides solutions to these problems if fully implemented, she said, urging law enforcement agencies and prosecutors to comply with the Acts provisions to enhance fairness and transparency, she said. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Ogun State Government has condemned the alleged invasion of Kuto Market in Abeokuta, the state capital by some individuals it described as hoodlums and policemen, purportedly to demolish and reconstruct the market. The Special Adviser to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Media and Strategy, Kayode Akinmade, in a statement on Monday, clarified that the government was not aware of any move to demolish the popular market, describing the development as illegal and unacceptable. Mr Akinmade added that the uniformed men brought by the alleged developer were not from the Ogun State Police Command but were hired from an undisclosed neighbouring state. The government, however, commended the prompt intervention of personnel from the State Police Command for the arrest of two of the uniformed men who were brought to participate in the illegal demolition. Manhunt The government said a manhunt has been launched to arrest the person who hired the uniformed men and hoodlums to foment trouble in the popular market. The government promised that all those involved in the breakdown of law and order in the market would be brought to book. The statement urged the marketers and the youths in the area to remain calm, adding that adequate security measures will be put in place to prevent any attack from land speculators. 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 Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State said the local elections in the state will be held on Saturday as scheduled despite a court order barring it. A Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from releasing voters registers to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC). PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that the judge, Peter Lifu, barred the Inspector-General of Police and the State Security Services from providing security for the elections. The case was instituted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State under the leadership of Tony Okocha, the former chairperson of the party caretaker committee in the state, who was sacked by a court. Justice Lifu held that RSIEC had failed to comply with key provisions of the electoral law, including the requirement to publish a 90-day notice before setting an election date. In an apparent move to reassure the people that the election will be held, Mr Fubara visited RSIEC headquarters in Port Harcourt on Monday, where he met with the commissions chairperson, Adoldphus Enebeli, and other principal officers. During the visit, Governor Fubara insisted that the election would be held on Saturday as scheduled, emphasising that it would be the best election ever in the state. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later This is contained in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Monday by Mr Fubaras spokesperson, Nelson Chukwudi. Our election will be held on the 5th of October, 2024. Im aware that RSIEC told me they already had an order mandating them to conduct the election on the 5th of October 2024, and the security agencies to support them. So, I think with that order, the election will be held. I might not be a lawyer, but I know there is something they call first-in-hand, and since they have the first-in-hand, we will give them all the necessary support for that election to be conducted. And it will be one of the best elections ever conducted free and fair in this State, he said. The governor said he was aware of plans by some misguided fellows to disrupt the activities of the commission and warned those behind the plans to retrace their steps. What is important to me is the interest of Rivers State. It doesnt belong to anybody. I dont care who nominated you but do the right thing, that is what is important to me, because if we make a mistake today, it is going to live with us forever. Nobody has a right to come here. This is Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission. It belongs to Rivers State, and I am the governor. So, if there is anything, let me know, I will come here myself, Mr Fubara said. PDP boycotts polls Governor Fubaras loyalists are contesting the election under the platform of the Action Peoples Party (APP) after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whose platform Mr Fubara became governor said it would not participate in the exercise. Mr Fubaras predecessor, Nyesom Wike, who is the FCT minister, controls the PDP structure in Rivers. Messrs Fubara and Wike have been engaged in a protracted fight over the control of the political structure in the state. Besides PDP, the APC under the leadership of Mr Okocha who was sacked by a court in the state had also said the party will not participate in the election. However, Emeka Beke, whose leadership of the APC in Rivers, was reinstated after Mr Okocha was sacked, said the party will participate in the election. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The crisis between the Osun State Government and a mining firm Segilola Resources Operating Limited, on Monday further degenerated as the government sealed off the companys premises following a court order. A magistrate court, sitting in Osogbo, presided over by Magistrate Olusegun Ayilara ordered the immediate shutdown of the company until further notice. The companys office, located in Iperindo community of Atakumosa East Local Government Area of Osun State, was sealed off on Monday. The shutdown of the mining firm was carried out by court bailiffs in collaboration with armed security personnel, including members of the Police Joint Task Force and operatives of Amotekun Security Corps. The latest development followed a motion ex-parte dated 27 September and filed by the Osun State Government through the Attorney-General of Osun State against Segilola Resources Operating Limited in suit number MOS/M.531/2024. The government sought a court order to seal off all the business premises of Segilola Gold Firm for violation of Tax Audit on Payee, Withholding Taxes and Development Levy, from 2019 to 2023 until the due sum is fully liquidated into Osun State Government Account. However, the management of Segilola Resources Operating Limited has consistently denied the allegations of tax evasion and obstruction, insisting that it has always acted as a law-abiding and transparent corporate entity by fulfilling all its tax obligations. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later In a paid advertorial signed by its Country Manager, Austin Menegbo, and published in some newspapers recently, the company insisted that as a responsible firm, it had always fulfilled its legitimate obligations to the government and the host communities. Court order While issuing the order, the Magistrate, Mr Ayilara declared: The Attorney-General, Osun State is hereby permitted to seal up and lock up all the business premises of Segilola Resources Operating Limited in Osun State for violating Tax Audit on Payee, withholding Taxes and Development Levy from 2019 to 2023 until the due sum is fully liquidated into Osun State Government Account. Also, a press statement signed by the Osun State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, said: After a series of demands, meetings, consultations, and engagements, the company still remained adamant and remorseless in its tax evasion and other violations. The state notes with regret that while some companies make billions of naira in the state, especially in the mining sector, they are not ready to give the state its lawful dues. While the issue of shareholding values due to the acquisition of Osun State interest in Tropical Mines is purely commercial, we will continue to hold the company responsible for all its actions. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Senate Committee on Constitution Review (CRC) has received 37 memoranda from various interest groups in the country. Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele disclosed this in a statement on Monday by his media office to celebrate Nigerias 64th Independence Anniversary. In February, the Senate, Nigerias highest legislative body, inaugurated a 47-member committee chaired by the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, to review the 1999 constitution. The committee recently pledged to conclude the exercise in 2026. It has just concluded a three-day retreat in Kano State. Mr Bamidele said the committee would also revisit 16 constitution alteration bills pending before the 9th Senate while the public hearing on the review would commence next year. We have already received 37 fresh memoranda from different interests nationwide. We are also revisiting 16 constitution alteration bills inherited from the Ninth National Assembly. Before public hearings on the constitution review take off in January 2025, we are open to more memoranda from all interests, he said. What the memoranda say Mr Bamidele listed state police, diaspora voting, local government autonomy, independence of judiciary, gender issues and creation of national council of traditional rulers as what the memoranda the committee received contained. 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 Among others, we have received memoranda on the need to establish state police; adopt diaspora voting; entrench financial autonomy for local government councils; deepen independence of the judiciary; provide special seats for women in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly and create the National Council of Traditional Rulers. More memoranda are welcome. Mr Bamidele called on Civil Society Organisations and other interest groups to submit their memoranda for consideration. He said the review requires the contribution of lawmakers and all interest groups nationwide. Also, he assured that the committee would be fair to all interest groups which come up with their memoranda. The process for the review of the 1999 Constitution is unambiguous as enshrined in Section 9(2)(3). It is a collective approach that requires the input of not (only) the federal and state legislature, but also the contributions of all interests across the federation. As we proceed with the review, we promise not to leave any interest behind in the task of forging a new path for our beloved fatherland. And Nigeria shall be better for it, he said. Addressing what is dividing Nigerians The Senate leader advised Nigerians to see the 64th Independence Anniversary as an opportunity to address the issues that constantly divide them. He urged political, religious, traditional and professional leaders to unite to promote harmony and political stability in the country. After 64 years of political independence and 110 years of corporate existence, the onus now rests upon us all to focus our energy and intellect on what majorly unites us as a federation rather than what will further divide us along our ethno-political and religious fault lines. At this trying time, we must be deliberate to decisively address what easily divides us and heat up our polity in order to build a resilient federation that works for all. It is important for all leaders, political or socio-cultural, religious or traditional, community or professional, to close ranks and come up with a consensus on how to end heinous challenges undermining our collective prosperity, national harmony and political stability. Such a united front has now become imperative at this auspicious time when the review of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) is underway at the National Assembly. There is no better time to review our federal governance structure than now with a view to creating a federation that is more efficient, functional and responsive. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print On Monday, Bilikisu Bala, an EFCC prosecutor, reportedly told a Joint Committee of the House of Representatives that charges of money laundering dropped in the trial of Idris Okuneye (a.k.a. Bobrisky) were lawful and in compliance with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, (ACJA). The committee is investigating corruption allegations against some EFCC and Nigeria Correctional Service officers. Other parties summoned include the Comptroller of Corrections Lagos Command, Ben Freedman; the Secretary of the board, Jaafaru Ahmed, and the Deputy Comptrollers of Corrections in charge of medium and maximum security, Siriku Adekunle and Michael Anugwa. Bobrisky had alleged in a leaked viral audio posted by social media influencer VDM (born Martins Otse) that he offered N15 million as a bribe to some unnamed EFCC officers to drop money laundering charges against him. Premium Times reported in April that Bobrisky was arrested for money laundering and Naira mutilation. During his trial at the Federal High Court in Lagos, the judge, Abimbola Awogboro, dismissed the money laundering charges (counts five and six) but sentenced Bobrisky to six months in prison for Naira abuse. In a letter on Friday, the committee summoned the EFCC chairperson and the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Correctional Service to appear on Monday with all officers involved in the allegation. Bobrisky, the cases central figure, was conspicuously absent from the hearing. His lawyer appeared on his behalf, claiming his clients absence was due to illness. The lawmakers, in response, asked why Bobriskys lawyer didnt bring a sick letter to prove that Bobrisky was indeed ill. Money laundering charges According to a statement issued by the EFCC, Ms Bala, head of the prosecution team that handled Bobriskys trial, told the committee that the charges were dropped based on the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUMLs) disclosure that Okuneyes firm, Bob Express, was not a Designated Non Financial Institution, Business and Profession, (DSNFIBP), and could not be prosecuted for flouting provisions of the Money Laundering Prevention & Prohibition Act, 2022. 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 initially raised six count charges bordering on Naira Abuse and Money Laundering against Okuneye based on his confessional statement that his firm, Bob Express, was not registered with SCUML and was not rendering returns to it. Counts 1-4 were on Naira Abuse, while counts five and six were on money laundering. Okuneyes confession that he didnt register his firm, Bob Express, with SCUML and did not render returns to it informed the money laundering charges initially included in the six-count charges. However, when we wrote to SCUML on the firms status, the Unit responded that it was not a Designated Non-Financial Institution, Business and Profession. We cannot lawfully sustain the charges in all sincerity. We, therefore, dropped them and relied on the four counts of Naira mutilation to which Okuneye had pleaded guilty, she said Zero financial inducement The prosecutor dismissed claims of financial inducement against EFCC officials maintaining that no such thing had happened. There is simply no basis for that. The Administration of Criminal Justice Act, (ACJA) allows the amendment of charges. It is a professional practice. It is laughable for anyone to attribute our decision to monetary issues. Why did we write to SCUML if we didnt want to include the charges? We wrote to be lawfully guided, and when the Unit responded that the firm had not breached any law, what basis should we have retained the money laundering charges? Ms Bala, who appeared before the committee with top management staff of the EFCC, charged the committee to critically look into all the issues raised against the EFCC and make public its findings in the interest of justice. Chief of Staff to the EFCCs Chairman, Michael Nzekwe, who stood in for the Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, restated the seriousness the commission attached to the integrity of its staff. We viewed the allegation of bribery against our officers seriously. Integrity is one of our core values. This is why we are here to place all the facts involved in the trial of Okuneye in the public domain, he said. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, has debunked allegations of absenteeism and poor representation at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 79). On Friday, an X user, Yusuf Hassan, accused the minister of failing to attend two important meetings that had in attendance world leaders and key stakeholders in the digital and innovations sector. Mr Hassan alleged that the ministers absence led to the loss of badly needed grants and support for Nigeria. Half of UNGA was about digital tech, but he barely attended the high-level meetings, the X user wrote of Mr Tijani. I was present in two which he didnt attend and were very important and mobilised huge resources. One pointer was the high-level meeting, with no even representation. The Mastercard CEO & other big investors were at a roundtable which Nigeria was absent & more than 20 other world leaders were present. Our nation considered it a priority to miss that, of which 1.5 billion was committed at the event. We are now rallying with a country director, he said. In a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES, the communications minister explained that the X post was merely an attempt to trend a lie. 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 Tijani explained that not only did he attend more than 30 meetings at the UNGA79, he was also at the Mastercard panel event on Tech Diplomacy and engaged with the Vice Chairman & President of Strategic Growth at Mastercard, Jon Huntsman, who promised to support Nigeria. He noted that ministers attending United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meetings had a packed schedule that spanned several days, making it impossible to stay in one meeting for the entire day. He said they must strategically jump between various sessions to maximise their participation. In a separate message sent to PREMIUM TIMES by an aide to the minister, Mr Bosun said he participated fully in major events and meetings. The minister had over 30 engagements at UNGA, including in the same location /stage that has been referred to. In addition, he engaged with the Vice Chairman & President of Strategic Growth at Mastercard, Amb. Jon Huntsman, following a Mastercard Panel event on Tech Diplomacy. For clarity, with the way UNGA works, the Hon Minister is not expected to sit in one location all through sessions irrespective of whether they are relevant to Nigerias agenda or not. As hes indicated on social (media), we will release our week in review later today and you will be able to see his full participation at UNGA last week, a statement by the Ministers media aide, Henry Osibo, read. A photograph sent to PREMIUM TIMES shows the minister speaking on a panel at the ITU-SDG digital presentation event. Efforts to reach Mr Hassan, who also identifies as a youth ambassador, proved abortive Monday evening as messages sent to his X handle failed to deliver. Mr Hassans post was in response to a separate post made by another X user, Opeoluwa, who raised concerns about the communications ministers relatively low profile at this years UNGA compared to his impressive debut in 2023. Last year UN general assembly, HM Bosun was one of the stars of the event at least amongst the Nigerian delegates. Meetings upon meetings. There was even a road show to promote the tech ecosystem in Nigeria amongst other commitments he got on behalf of the country. This year, there was barely any news from his ministry, you would think he didnt travel to New York. Is HM Bosun overwhelmed? Is this related to the potential cabinet reshuffle? the poster queried. PREMIUM TIMES reported that President Bola Tinubu was set to reshuffle members of his cabinet in coming days. The reshuffle according to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Digital and New Media, Otega Ogra, will be guided by an empirical process using each ministers performance rating. READ ALSO: ITU ranks Nigeria high in digital transformation readiness We also need to realise that the presidents decision to reshuffle is also based on empirical evidence. He said it during the retreat for the ministers that they were going to have periodic reviews, and the decisions that are extracted from these reviews will be used to make that final decision, the presidential media aide said. Political observers believe that the impending shake-up may result in the sack of under-performing ministers and the reassignment of others to improve effectiveness. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print As Nigeria marks the 64th independence anniversary on Tuesday, students of public primary schools in the nations Federal Capital City have had their schools shut against them over the ongoing strike by the teachers. PREMIUM TIMES had reported how the FCT chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) resumed the industrial action following the expiration of a 14-day ultimatum earlier issued by the teachers to the six area councils in the FCT over unmet demands. Visits by PREMIUM TIMES to some of the primary schools in the capital city on Monday revealed that the schools remained deserted by both staff and pupils with the exception of one or two security men found in some schools. At the LEA Primary School, Wuse Zone 2, classrooms were locked, and the compound was deserted, but a security official, who identified himself simply as Baba, said he was unsure when the school would reopen. No teacher or pupil has been coming since the strike started. We havent heard anything about when the strike would end, he said. Meabnwhile, a trader and mother of four, who identified simply as Mrs Mustapha, said her children attend LEA Primary School, Durumi II. She lamented that the children have remained at home while their agemates who attend private schools have resumed new the session. 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 My children have been at home since the strike started. They dont have anything to do, so they just play all day. Its hard because as a trader, I now have to deal with them being home when they should be in school, she said. Teachers demands The strike, which the teachers resumed on 18 September, followed the failure of the local government authorities to implement the agreements earlier reached with the striking teachers. The unresolved demands include the non-payment of the balance of 60 per cent of the 25-month minimum wage arrears, implementation and payment of arrears of the 25 per cent and 35 per cent salary increases, implementation and payment of arrears of the 40 per cent peculiar allowance, payment of arrears of the N35,000 wage award, and continuous implementation of the template on outstanding entitlements of teachers as agreed in 2022. Ministers reaction Worried by the perceived refusal of the local council authorities to fulfil the agreement earlier entered into with the striking teachers, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, threatened to use 10 per cent of the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) due to the six area councils of the FCT to settle the striking teachers. He added that he had invited the chairmen of the area councils and the NUT leaders to address the lingering crisis. Waiting game In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, the FCT NUT Chairman, Stephen Knabayi, confirmed that the strike would continue until the government accedes to the workers requests. He said no meaningful progress has been made since discussions opened with the government and area council chairmen. We had a meeting with the area council chairmen, and they asked us to resume work but theres no way we would resume if our demands remain unmet. There was no agreement during the meeting and there has been no serious commitment from the government to meet our demands, he said. He added that the union is demanding the full payment of wage arrears and other entitlements owed the workers by the six area councils within the FCT. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print As NITDA continues to make significant efforts in enhancing cyber threat awareness, it is equally crucial for individuals to take proactive steps in safeguarding themselves from cyber threats. By adopting the recommended strategies and practices, individuals can significantly reduce their risk and stay cyber-wise. Taking these measures seriously will help in building a safer digital environment for everyone. Recently, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) issued an urgent alert regarding a critical security vulnerability found in the Google Chrome browser. The vulnerability known as CVE-2024-797 was recently discovered by Google and is reportedly being actively exploited by cyber attackers. CVE-2024-797, the name given to this vulnerability, is a type confusion flaw that affects Chromes V8 JavaScript engine. This engine, a crucial component of the browser, is responsible for interpreting and executing JavaScript code, a fundamental language for modern web applications. The vulnerability arises from the browsers incorrect interpretation of data types, which can lead to memory corruption and potentially allow attackers to execute malicious code. The consequences of this vulnerability are severe. If exploited, it could enable attackers to gain unauthorised access to sensitive information, install malware, or even take control of compromised devices. This poses a significant threat to individuals, businesses, and organisations that rely on Chrome for their day-to-day activities. An estimated 3.45 billion internet users globally use Chrome as their browser. Hence, given the widespread use of Chrome and the potential severity of the vulnerability, it is imperative to take proactive measures to protect oneself from exploitation. The first tip in safeguarding against this vulnerability is in updating software regularly. These updates often include patches that fix security flaws, thereby preventing attackers from exploiting them to compromise our systems. Keeping ones software updated regularly is of utmost importance because it ensures the presence of the latest security patches and features that can help protect against emerging threats. 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 To make updating easier, most modern software applications, including Chrome, offer automatic update features. By enabling automatic updates, one can ensure that his software is always up-to-date without requiring manual intervention. Another way of securing a cyber threat is by using strong passwords on online accounts and personal information. A strong password is essential to prevent unauthorised access and protect against potential data breaches. By using complex and unique passwords, the risk of online information breaches can be significantly reduced. One of the most effective ways to create a strong password is to use a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. This makes it much more difficult for exploiters to guess or brute force the password. In addition, it is important to avoid using easily guessable information, such as your name or birthday. Another crucial aspect of password security is to avoid using the same password for multiple accounts, because if one of the accounts is compromised, potentially, other accounts with the same password are at risk as well. It is recommended to use unique passwords for each online service you use. However, managing multiple complex passwords can be challenging, and it is recommended to use password managers to keep track of all passwords being used. Password managers are software applications that store and manage your passwords securely. They allow you to create and store strong, unique passwords for each of your accounts, while providing easy access to them when needed. When using a password manager, it is important to choose a reputable and secure service. Additionally, you should enable the two-factor authentication (2FA) for your password manager account to add an extra layer of security. Another way of staying out of threat on Chrome and other browsers is to activate Ad Blockers. These are software applications that can help protect you from online threats by blocking advertisements and other unwanted content. While primarily used to enhance the browsing experience and reduce distractions, ad blockers can also play a crucial role in security. Many online advertisements are served by third-party networks that may contain malicious codes or track your online activities. By blocking these advertisements, ad blockers can help to reduce your exposure to potential threats. Additionally, some ad blockers can also block tracking cookies and other forms of online surveillance. When choosing an ad blocker, it is important to select a reputable and effective option. There are many ad blockers available, both as standalone applications and browser extensions. It is highly recommended to go with the browser extension. In addition, avoid suspicious websites. The websites you visit can also pose security risks, it is important to be cautious when browsing the internet and desist from visiting suspicious or malicious websites. These websites may contain malware, phishing scams, or other online threats. Some indicators of a suspicious website include unusual URLs, excessive pop-ups, or suspicious content. Be wary of websites that ask for personal information that you should not be providing online, or that offer unrealistic deals or promises. If you are unsure about a website, it is always better to err on the side of caution and avoid visiting it. You can also use online tools to check the reputation of a website before visiting it. In addition to avoiding suspicious websites, it is also important to be mindful of the links you click on. Be cautious of clicking on links in unsolicited emails or messages, as these links may lead to malicious websites. As NITDA continues to make significant efforts in enhancing cyber threat awareness, it is equally crucial for individuals to take proactive steps in safeguarding themselves from cyber threats. By adopting the recommended strategies and practices, individuals can significantly reduce their risk and stay cyber-wise. Taking these measures seriously will help in building a safer digital environment for everyone. Shuaib S. Agaka, a tech journalist, writes from Kano. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print I urge the President to swiftly reassess the National Cybersecurity Programme in line with the nations best economic interests, while prioritising the balancing of privacy, security, innovation, and maintaining public trust through a transparent and accountable governance system. Achieving a collective and sustainable national cybersecurity programme requires civilian-centric institutional leadership, with a stakeholders governance model. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) recently released its 5th Global Cybersecurity Index 2024 (GCI 2024), which assesses countries commitment to cybersecurity based on the frameworks five pillars: legal measures, technical measures, organisational measures, capacity development, and cooperation. Nigeria is categorised within the tier-three nations in the GCI 2024 report, which signifies that the country is experiencing a rise in digital service provisions and increasing online access for the populace, but has failed to integrate cybersecurity measures into its fundamental socio-economic and digital connectivity strategies. Nigeria, among the top five African countries in the 2018 GCI report, has now fallen behind. In the 2024 report, Ghana, previously ranked 11th, has surpassed Nigeria and is now listed among the tier-one countries. This decline in Nigerias cybersecurity performance is a direct consequence of the countrys failure to implement and direct its national cybersecurity programme effectively. The recent government Designation and Protection of Critical National Information Infrastructure Order (2024), which is officially gazetted, is a commendable step. The designation criminalises attacks on any classified infrastructure listed in the Order as a national security offence. Nigeria has implemented various measures to address cybersecurity challenges. These include amending the Cybercrime Act in 2015, enacting the Nigeria Data Protection Act in 2023, creating a national cybersecurity policy and strategy, and establishing a National Cybersecurity Coordination Centre under the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). These efforts have helped the nation achieve the ITU GCI Tier-Three level ranking, which is not very impressive. ITU recognises that the ICT sector has substantially impacted the nations growth in digital services and an increase in the online population. This is reflected in the Q4 2023 report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicating that the ICT sector contributed 16.66 per cent to Nigerias real GDP. This is an increase from the 16.22 per cent recorded during the same period in the previous year. However, there remains a deficiency in the pragmatic integration of cybersecurity within the national economic sectors and developmental objectives. There is an urgent need to reassess the countrys approach and address the nations digital economys weaknesses and inherent vulnerability. There is a misconception about the governance, accountability, and operationalisation of the countrys national cybersecurity, especially given the recent public reaction resulting from the Central Bank of Nigerias directive on the cybersecurity levy. Regrettably, the current national approach repeatedly faces challenges in moving the country forward in this regard. The challenges are apparent within the current institutional arrangement, which is inadequate in legal, technical, and capacity development expertise, and lacks the necessary drive to consistently realise this fundamental national cybersecurity developmental objective over the past years. The existing institutional framework is inadequate, owing to a conservative and regimented operational approach, redundancy, and rigid bureaucratic structures that hinder progress in domestic cybersecurity. Implementing a national cybersecurity programme requires a dynamic and adaptable approach, and such requirements cannot be underestimated, given the swiftly changing landscape of cyber threats. In many countries, a national security agency serves as the authority responsible for overseeing cybersecurity measures. While the role of the security sector in cybersecurity is undeniably critical, it is plausible that security actors may not exhibit the necessary adaptability to govern the cybersecurity ecosystem within the country effectively. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later The Office of the National Security Advisers (ONSA) primary objective in its law is coordinating intelligence activities, such as intelligence collection. This task could potentially hinder the objective of delivering a fast-paced and inclusive domestic cybersecurity programme. The approach would also stifle the countrys cybersecurity developmental initiative, escalate privacy apprehensions, and undermine the necessity for innovation and trust-building. However, the Defence Space Agency (DSA) already provides cyberspace defence capabilities for the military, security, and intelligence entities. It is guided by the statutory mandate to safeguard the nation from existential cyber threats, while overseeing and protecting affiliated security agencies (Defence Space Administration Act, 2016). The DSA framework effectively handles the countrys military and security dimensions of cyberspace from the existential threat perspective. Should the Federal Government continue to use the current security-centric arrangement for the national cybersecurity initiative, the nation would continue to face challenges associated with this decision and waning confidence from the domestic stakeholders. Overly rigorous security measures and a deficit in transparency would obstruct progress in cybersecurity. The Domestic Cybersecurity Programme (DCP) should shift towards a civilian-centric leadership rather than a security intelligence-centric approach. The shared key success factor behind the success of the best-performing African countries listed in the recent ITU GCI One-tier is derived from their role-modelling approach to implementing civilian-led cybersecurity. For instance, Ghana has been acknowledged as the top-tier-performing African country in cybersecurity. The country has integrated a citizen-centric, stakeholders strategy at the core of its efforts to address its cybersecurity challenges. In contrast, Nigerias security-driven approach has demonstrated limited performance, with stunted growth over several years, despite having previously led the way among African nations. Civilian-led leadership would fast-track and transform most aspects of the nations cybersecurity policy and strategy through a multi-stakeholder governance and accountability framework. The approach would redefine inter-agency responsibilities and deliver a better responsive capability. Nigeria should learn significantly from Ghanas approach in fostering cyber capabilities and trust between government and citizens, while mitigating threats effectively. Achieving Nigerias cybersecurity programme requires expertise across civilian sectors. Neglecting these facts is counter-productive and stifles national cybersecurity capability and growth. A security-centric approach to national cybersecurity hinders international cooperation, as other countries would hesitate to collaborate with an intelligence agency based on the deficiency of trust and innovation. The amended Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act 2015 lacks an adequate legal framework to empower the current approach to regulating, enforcing, or overseeing cyber-related breach investigations and cybersecurity development. The country lacks adequate focus and direction in cooperation, technical management and capacity development in implementing overarching cybersecurity regulations for the domestic space. Nigeria is a major digital economy player and cannot afford to maintain its current approach, which has persistently stifled significant investment and research opportunities in cybersecurity. The country should avoid cross-border digital services and data transfer disputes, which may evolve through the trade agreements established under the General Agreement on Trade in Services of the World Trade Organization (GATS) and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). These agreements are designed to facilitate the formation of a unified continental market for goods and services in Africa, including digital products and services. Such frameworks emphasise the necessity of meaningful cyber-diplomacy and regulatory cooperation in addressing cybersecurity-related incidents, rather than depending exclusively on exceptions for intelligence security. Establishing a transparent and accountable civilian-led agency for domestic cybersecurity programmes to oversee local regulation for developing the nations cybersecurity industry in partnership with the private sector with proactive international cooperation is paramount in the current reality. Should the Federal Government continue to use the current security-centric arrangement for the national cybersecurity initiative, the nation would continue to face challenges associated with this decision and waning confidence from the domestic stakeholders. Overly rigorous security measures and a deficit in transparency would obstruct progress in cybersecurity. The public would increasingly express apprehensions regarding possible violations of constitutional privacy rights, coupled with a stagnation in innovation that could have significant consequences for individuals, enterprises, and the country in general. Presently, cybersecurity measures are implemented in silos among public and private sector institutions, and innovations through research and development (R&D) remain stunted. Over 5,000 Nigerian youths are actively pursuing careers in cybersecurity and related academic programmes in various universities and educational institutions. Establishing a thriving cybersecurity industry within an efficient and transparent regulatory framework has the potential to offer promising career prospects for Nigerian youths. Otherwise, the nation faces the risk of these youths being enticed by cybercriminal syndicates, leading to losing their talents within the depths of the dark web. I urge the President to swiftly reassess the National Cybersecurity Programme in line with the nations best economic interests, while prioritising the balancing of privacy, security, innovation, and maintaining public trust through a transparent and accountable governance system. Achieving a collective and sustainable national cybersecurity programme requires civilian-centric institutional leadership, with a stakeholders governance model. This rescoping should be facilitated with immediate intervention from the president. Mr President should set up an expert panel from the government, private sector, technical and professional bodies, and civil society organisations to review and recommend changes to the current cybersecurity governance structure to align national cybersecurity efforts with established laws and best practices. Mr President should consider the following recommendations, which are critically essential in addressing these concerns: Set up an expert panel from the government, private sector, technical and professional bodies, and civil society organisations to review and recommend changes to the current cybersecurity governance structure to align national cybersecurity efforts with established laws and best practices. Issue an executive order to establish a new civilian-led agency to implement a national cybersecurity programme in line with the administrations regulatory and economic development programme. Designate a civilian cybersecurity advisor to provide strategic counsel and direction to the administration in forming an appropriate coordination framework within a national context that is aligned with regional and international standards, while supervising national cybersecurity development initiatives. Request the National Assemblys cooperation in assessing the Amended Cybercrime Act 2015 to establish a thorough unifying framework and institutional arrangement for cybersecurity. The review should facilitate the creation of a holistic national cybersecurity legal framework that considers various measures such as technical aspects, institutional structures, innovative regulations, workforce capacity, and industry advancement, thereby strengthening the countrys capabilities. Direct the implementation of the reforms and clarify the ONSAs role in focusing on cybersecurity for intelligence gathering purposes only, in accordance with its constitutional mandate and National Security Strategy. Ensure that adequate funding and resources are designated for the establishment of a civilian-led cybersecurity agency that operates under a self-sustainability model. This recommendation is strategic to the countrys ownership of its cybersecurity programme. The Presidents review of these recommendations would help to address public mistrust, promote transparency and accountability through co-funding regulatory measures that would attract private sector investments, and stimulate economic growth in the cybersecurity sector. Consequently, new industries would emerge, leading to increased foreign exchange earnings and job opportunities, which would align with the administrations development goals. Segun Olugbile is a pioneer member of the Cybercrime Advisory Council and cybersecurity policy leader. He can be reached through solugbile@gmail.com. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print From 30th September to midnight 1st October at the Round House Theatre in Bethesda, Maryland, I present Lagos will be celebrating Nigerias independence through exhibiting works of standout artists such as Oshioma Okumoya Igwonobe and Peter John Chukwu, as well as musical performances by promising up incoming talents such as Tobby Drillz and O-Slice, alongside a film screening of the works of Daniel Obasi and Mr Shua. Come 1st of October, Nigeria will be celebrating its 64th anniversary as an independent nation. While the various ways the nation has evolved, from being a former English colony to a powerhouse, go without saying; the countrys growing international presence has also become clearer, with Lagos solidifying itself as one of the epicentres in the said evolution. This growing international presence of Lagos goes hand in glove with the continued efforts to showcase the various stories from the region and its residents. With a population that has reached 15,946,000, the abundance of many unique and engrossing stories the region has on offer is simply without question. While the Nollywood film industrys work in bringing further visibility to Nigerias stories is its own achievement. Two good friends have put an effort into giving this achievement a massive international presence, with the founding of the I present Lagos exhibition. An achievement in curation that is not only found on their website, but also through the various lively exhibitions that the company has shown in the United States. At the exhibition, one would be fortunate to find not only various high-quality works of art, but also the two men responsible for bringing the dream of Nigerias further recognition in art to reality its founders, Uche Ezimah and Kukoyi. From 30th September to midnight 1st October at the Round House Theatre in Bethesda, Maryland, I present Lagos will be celebrating Nigerias independence through exhibiting works of standout artists such as Oshioma Okumoya Igwonobe and Peter John Chukwu, as well as musical performances by promising up incoming talents such as Tobby Drillz and O-Slice, alongside a film screening of the works of Daniel Obasi and Mr Shua. This event aims to celebrate the further stories of Nigeria decades later, and also serves as a bridge between the culture cultivated in Lagos and its further life as it spreads along the DMV area. I present Lagos aims are simple: showcasing the various things that add to the vivid atmosphere of Lagos, and championing the artists behind them. Of the many that have been shown at exhibitions, and can be found on their website, one standout work of art by Oshioma Okumoya Igwonobe, who hails from the Edo State, is the captivating Eko 2. Although described as a depiction of All of the Cultural Landmarks of Lagos, it is also a fascinating showcase of Igwonobes expressive style, with colliding colours bringing to life not only the scenic life that Lagos has always embodied, but also the collective vibrance that continues to define Lagos When not promoting these works on their website ipresentlagos, Ezimah and Kukoyi have also put on multiple live exhibits in the DC-Maryland-Virginia area, where not only have people been able to experience these artworks up close, but attendees also got a chance to see a full picture of the degree to which Lagos cultural presence continues to grow. As can be seen through broadcasting music videos from the thriving Afrobeat thats not only made superstars out of the likes of Davido and Wizkid, but has also attracted the attention of international commercial heavyweights such as Usher and Ed Sheeran. When Ezimah and Kukoyi first met in 2015, they not only found that they both shared a mutual passion for art but that it would serve as a strong foundation for their friendship and as the catalyst for their mutual desire to celebrate the many talents that not only call Nigeria home but embody its spirit through their work. Despite how hectic it is for Kukoyi to balance his UK based job with the Avery Foundation with residing in Lagos in a months long process of finding the said artists in the city, Kukoyi and Ezimah often end up overjoyed with the bountiful array of art that visualise their mutual goal of celebrating Lagos. An important goal of our art exhibitions is showing a side of Africa that not only wasnt limited to poverty, but also succeed in capturing the sensational culture of Lagos, its monuments, the community connections, and Hazy recollections of the area that stick with people even when they leave. In showcasing authentic artwork, they capture the often-sensational culture embedded in Lagos, which stands boldly in an era that finds itself moving more towards artificially made art, it also serves as a reminder of the value of the developing cultural exchange between Nigeria and its growing international presence. An exploration that they look forward to showing further, from 30th September to 1st October. The artwork showcases by I present Lagos not only stands as snapshots of a nation, but also a display of the various stories of the people of the nation and the humanity they display as the countrys evolution grows forward right. 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 Of the many that have been shown at exhibitions, and can be found on their website, one standout work of art by Oshioma Okumoya Igwonobe, who hails from the Edo State, is the captivating Eko 2. Although described as a depiction of All of the Cultural Landmarks of Lagos, it is also a fascinating showcase of Igwonobes expressive style, with colliding colours bringing to life not only the scenic life that Lagos has always embodied, but also the collective vibrance that continues to define Lagos, and a confirmation of Igwonobes philosophy that Art is a natural way of life, which doesnt need a reason for its creation. While the two founders use their past success as further motivation in their future aims, as the excitement for their 1st October celebration grows near, they have further aimed for success in their future horizons, from being able to open a physical store to hopefully expanding further to places like Atlanta or New York. Possibilities that seem not far from becoming a reality. A reality not only where the artistic talents of Nigeria are better recognised, but also the countrys growing future as an international powerhouse. In terms of artwork that captures the inner joy in the residence of Lagos, look no further than Miriam Nwosahs Happy People. A phenomenal depiction of an embrace between friends, Nwosh aims to show how a truly priceless presence of Lagos is the moments joy and goodwill between the people, as they continue to strive for a better future. Moments that may be simple and fleeting, but that hold value, and are known to spread far. Another artist who has a commanding presence is Peter John Chukwu, who in his multiple works, shown both at the exhibit and the ipresentlagos website, showcases at times a comic look at the town he calls home, still one particular stand out is, We dey play too much, an art piece that shows the small joy people engage in as they attempt to go about their lives; another reminder of the value of spontaneity as a tool, in not only bringing excitement into daily interactions, but also in valuing lifes many turns. This dedication in capturing the pulse of daily life in Lagos is further shown in the more nocturnal, Sleepless Lights, a subdued work in which Chukwu seeks to show the shared connection within the working-class community of Lagos one that presents the radiance and tenacity of the said community, even when dealing with humble realities. While the two founders use their past success as further motivation in their future aims, as the excitement for their 1st October celebration grows near, they have further aimed for success in their future horizons, from being able to open a physical store to hopefully expanding further to places like Atlanta or New York. Possibilities that seem not far from becoming a reality. A reality not only where the artistic talents of Nigeria are better recognised, but also the countrys growing future as an international powerhouse. The work mentioned in this article can be found and purchased courtesy of the ipresentlagos website, alongside other prestige artwork celebrating the many scenic wonders and community of Lagos. Aramide Olorunyomi is a writer and videographer. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print I urge President Tinubu to build consensus around core areas of concerns to most Nigerians. Indeed, time is ticking fast. The second year anniversary of his administration is just a few months away. This regime should dust the 2014 constitutional conference report and elite consensus around its adoption as a major national issue. Nigeria needs to return fast to the path of strong and competitive regional government. As Nigeria celebrates its 64th independence anniversary, it is important to invite attention to pertinent issues of development in the country. I wish to admit that since its assumption of office on 29 May, 2023, the federal government under the presidency of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has taken decisions that are far-reaching in their consequences. He has demonstrated a rare and tremendous boldness in taken those decisions, key among which are of economic and political significance. The removal of the subsidy on petroleum products has been the most devastating in its social and political consequences, particularly for the social sector. The poorest of the poor, the poor, the lower class and the middle class have experienced crucial downward mobility. Of course, it must be admitted that President Tinubu met a country that was almost in distress when he came in. There were huge debts to be repaid, a large bureaucracy and unwieldy workforce, sundry security challenges, and epileptic power supply. The reason wasnt because the former president was weak or not strong enough. Most of the challenges smack of weak institutions and a governing elite that is essentially unpatriotic. National developments under former President Muhammadu Buhari and also under the current dispensation of President Bola Tinubu remain daunting and apparently insurmountable. If Nigeria, from 1999 to 2015, was governed by a political party which had a conservative orientation that could be argued as the reason for lethargy in governance, how can we explain our current predicaments with development? At the helm of our affairs is a government run by a progressive party. What then is wrong with Nigeria? As a country with the data of consistent low human development indicators, which have been thrown up in its sixty-four years of our existence as an independent nation, we need to urgently focus on the structure-agency relationships. For me, Nigerias 1999 Constitution, as amended, remains an albatross, and an obstacle to the realisation of our full potentials. It fosters a sense of dependency between the centre government and the federating units. It makes the president look like a superman who can accomplish all things. The fate of a country of over 200 million therefore rests on one individual. The number of items in the Exclusive List, and over which only the president can exercise power, is too large for an effective decision making process. Unfortunately, instead of a whole review and elite consensus building around an inevitable revisit of the 2014 constitutional conference, we keep embarking on a frolic journey, indeed a mission akin to reinventing the wheel. Nigeria, under the present constitutional framework, is not working to meet the yearnings of the majority and minority groups. Different agitations have persisted. At a second level, we cannot but be compelled to come to the conclusion that there are indeed limits to the role of individuals in social history. Individuals cannot travel far alone. No matter how strong they appear, they will sooner than later become overwhelmed by social forces. Individuals, no matter how powerful, need to be demystified as mere agents and are not to be substituted for the social forces that they represent. We must desist from exaggerating their importance. Personally, I feel uncomfortable with the portrayal of the Federal Government and its agencies as the most efficient and effective. For example, the reforms that appeared to have paid off in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were of recent origin. There isnt any guarantee that those gains cannot be reversed. Theres no assurance that the SIECs (STATE INDEPENDENT ELECTORAL COMMISSIONS) cannot experience a turnaround and become effective agents of the state. The Nigerian government should desist from policies that can strengthen the grip of the centre on the state administrations. With the natural diversity of Nigeria, a strong Federal Government wont serve Nigerias pluralism very well. Our diversity must be allowed to flourish under a truly federal constitution. Unsustainable reforms that fail to take cognisance of our complexity may outlast any government that put them in place. I urge President Tinubu to build consensus around core areas of concerns to most Nigerians. Indeed, time is ticking fast. The second year anniversary of his administration is just a few months away. This regime should dust the 2014 constitutional conference report and elite consensus around its adoption as a major national issue. Nigeria needs to return fast to the path of strong and competitive regional government. 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 Lai Olurode is a retired professor of Sociology at the University of Lagos. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Kano State Government says it has planted two million under a three million trees planting campaign launched in July to check heat waves in the state. The World Bank facilitated Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) initiative, aims to plant the trees within 365 days. The states ACReSAL coordinator, Dahir Hashim, said the initiative is crucial for Kanos future. He said the project planted two million trees within three months, which will directly address environmental challenges facing the city and its rural communities. We have completed the planting of two million trees across rural areas. Notably, we have rehabilitated 106 kilometres of shelterbeltan essential barrier that protects our soil from desertification, wind erosion, and excessive sunlight, he said. Specifically, Mr Hashim said the achievements include the rehabilitation of the four kilometres by 24 belts of shelterbelt in Yan Bawa in Makoda Local Government Area and fur belts of 2.5 kilometres in Ginzo in the Bagwai Local Government Area. He said the shelterbelts are vital for maintaining soil fertility and combating land degradation. 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 Also, Mr Hashim said they established woodlot plantations in Dunawa and Sabon Ruwa in Makoda LGA to provide sustainable firewood sources for local communities and thereby reduce the need for indiscriminate tree felling. We have engaged in forest conservation and enrichment planting of indigenous species in areas such as Daddarawa, Dajin Kura in Tsanyawa LGA and Dan Soshiya, Kyarana in Kiru LGA and Gwarmai in Ghari LGA, (Formerly Kunchi (LGA), the official said. Mr Hashim said the project also developed a 100-hectare conventional orchard in Kyale at Gabasawa LGA and established individual orchards for over 1,200 farmers in various local government areas. Our efforts to regenerate indigenous species have yielded the recovery of 41,087 trees, with over 59,900 beneficiaries positively impacted so fara number we expect to grow once the final enumeration is completed, Mr Hashim said. He added that the project also restored 21, 261 hectares of degraded land through afforestation efforts in its determination to combat climate change and restoring Kanos landscape. Meanwhile, Mr Hashim said in the urban phase of the initiative, the project rehabilitated two nurseriesone in Kafin Ciri, Garko LGA and another in Mai Nika Gwarzo LGAwith a combined capacity to produce one million seedlings. Both nurseries are now fully operational, equipped with solar-powered boreholes, offices, and other necessary infrastructure. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print APCs Okpebholo wins Edo governorship election The week began on Sunday with the All Progressives Congress (APC) winning the 2024 governorship election in Edo State. Amidst allegations of results alterations, intimidation, and police bias, INEC declared Monday Okpebholo, the APC candidate, the governor-elect. Mr Okpebholo polled 291 667 votes to defeat his major rival, PDPs Ighodalo, who scored 247, 274, while the Labour Party candidate, Olumide Akpata, came third with 22,763 votes. President Bola Tinubu, governors congratulated Mr Okpebholo for the victory, while the PDP and its candidate have rejected the result and vowed to challenge it in court. Pro-Wike speaker makes U-turn, says they didnt defect to APC The pro-Wike speaker, Martin Amaewhule, the speaker of a faction of the Rivers House of Assembly loyal to Nyesom Wike, the FCT minister, last week, said he and 26 others did not defect from the PDP to the APC. The 27 pro-Wike lawmakers seats were declared vacant nine months ago following their defection to the APC. After their defection, they were filmed waving the APC flag and singing President Tinubus solidarity song On your Mandate we shall stand. 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 But addressing reporters in Abuja last week, Mr Amaewhule said he and his colleagues never defected. He claimed that The Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, wants to remove them from office through the backdoor. Also, from Rivers State, we reported that Governor Fubaras loyalists are contesting next months local government election in the state under the platform of the Action Peoples Party (APP). Mr Fubaras loyalists resorted to the APP after the PDP, the party in which Mr Fubara was elected governor, refused to participate in the election following the political rift between the governor and his predecessor, Mr Wike. Members of the PDP executives across all levels in Rivers State are loyal to Mr Wike. To consolidate their grip on the PDP structure in Rivers, Mr Wikes loyalists last week obtained a court order barring PDP national leadership from dissolving the executive committees of the party in the state. Meanwhile, Mr Fubara attacked his predecessor within the week, saying Mr Wike destroyed the civil service in the state while serving as governor. Mr Fubara told the visiting Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack, that he inherited a near-death civil service where workers were last promoted 11 years ago. Away from politics, four school proprietors have been detained in Port Harcourt for alleged involvement in book piracy worth N2.5 million. Addul Babatunde, the director of the Nigerian Copyright Commission, Port Harcourt Directorate, disclosed this to reporters on Friday. Mr Babatunde said the schools were raided to curtail the illicit activities of proprietors, which he said had affected the book trade. Gov Eno loses wife Akwa Ibom residents woke up on Friday to the shocking news of the death of Patience, the wife of the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno. According to a statement from the State Commissioner of Information, Ini Ememobong, the Akwa Ibom first lady died on Thursday at a hospital following an illness. He did not, however, disclose the illness. Nigerians, including President Tinubu, state governors, serving and former federal lawmakers, have sent condolences to the governor. The PDP, the states ruling party, temporarily suspended its political campaigns for next months local government election in honour of the departed first lady. Also, within the week, we reported that Governor Eno set up a committee to monitor the sale of petrol after the price climbed to N2,500 a litre. The price hike followed the withdrawal of services by members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria over an alleged confiscation of trucks by operatives of a Joint Task Force on security. The State Government intervened in the dispute after the NLC directed workers in the state to withdraw services. Navy deploys warships to tackle oil theft Within the week, we brought a report that the Nigerian Navy has deployed 10 warships to boost its efforts in tackling oil theft and other maritime crimes in the countrys territorial waters. Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Naval Command, Saheed Akinwande, who disclosed this on Thursday in Onne, Rivers State, said the federal government has been battling oil theft, sea robbery, sea piracy and illegal foreign fishing. Similarly, the Defence Headquarters on Thursday said troops of Operation Delta Safe destroyed 897 illegal refining sites across the Niger Delta region in the third quarter of the year. Edward Buba, the director of defence media operations disclosed this in a press briefing in Abuja, the nations capital. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Federal High Court in Abuja has again stopped the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from releasing the register of voters for Rivers State to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) ahead of the local government elections scheduled for 5 October. In a ruling delivered on Monday, the judge, Peter Lifu, also barred the Inspector General of Police and the State Security Service (SSS) from providing security for the controversial elections. PREMIUM TIMES had reported that the suit was filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC), which challenged the legitimacy of the election process. Represented by a team of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), including Joseph Daudu, Sebastine Hon, and Ogwu Onoja, the APC argued that the necessary legal procedures leading up to the election had not been observed. Mr Lifu upheld the partys arguments, stating that RSIEC had failed to comply with key provisions of the electoral law, including the requirement to publish a 90-day notice before setting an election date. Failure to adhere to legal requirements The judge noted that RSIECs decision to fix 5 October for the elections without meeting legal prerequisites, such as updating the voters register at least 90 days before the election, constituted a violation of the law. The judge emphasised that INEC could not release the certified voters register until all legal conditions had been met, and RSIEC was prohibited from accepting or using any register provided by INEC for the election. 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 APC had brought the suit against INEC, RSIEC, the Rivers State Attorney General, the Inspector General of Police, and the SSS, accusing the Rivers State government of violating the electoral law by failing to provide the mandatory 90-day notice before the election. The party also contended that the voters register, which should have been updated 90 days prior the election, had not been finalised. After reviewing the case, Mr Lifu concurred with the APC, ruling that RSIEC had flouted electoral regulations and that the actions taken by the Rivers electoral body were illegal and invalid. He nullified all steps and decisions made by RSIEC regarding the local government elections. Mr Lifus ruling also struck down Section 60(2) of the Rivers State Local Government Election Law, which was signed by former Governor Wike in 2018. The section sought to prohibit aggrieved parties from filing lawsuits related to the local government elections. Mr Lifu ruled that this provision was unconstitutional, as it contradicted the Nigerian constitution, which guarantees access to the courts for all citizens. Election is a process, and all steps leading to the conduct of an election must be transparent and adhere to the provisions of the law. The rule of law demands strict compliance with the legal framework, Mr Lifu said. He further stressed that any attempt to circumvent these rules undermines democracy. Background The legal dispute over the Rivers local government elections is rooted in the APCs claim that RSIEC breached both the Electoral Act and the Nigerian Constitution, which require state electoral bodies to give INEC a 360-day notice before conducting an election. This would allow INEC to halt continuous voter registration and update the voters register at least 90 days before the election. In July, the court issued an interim order in favour of the APC, barring INEC from releasing the voters register and preventing security agencies from participating in the elections until the substantive suit could be heard. Broader political crisis The case is part of a broader political feud between Governor Siminalayi Fubara of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with his predecessor and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike. The political tension between the two has stalled local government administration in the state. Governor Fubara dissolved the elected local government chairpersons when their terms expired on 17 June 17 and appointed administrative heads to oversee the councils. In response, 27 state lawmakers loyal to Mr Wike amended the local government administration law to extend the tenure of the chairpersons by six months, effectively stripping the governor of his power to appoint caretaker committees. This political crisis escalated into violence in June when a police officer was killed during a clash between rival factions loyal to Messrs Fubara and Wike in Omuma Local Government Area. The violence prompted the police to take control of the secretariats in all 23 local government areas, preventing the newly appointed caretaker committees from assuming office. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Anambra State has won all the electoral positions contested in the local government council polls held on 28 September. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the elections were conducted in 21 local government councils across 326 council wards of the state. NAN reports that only one female clinched a chairmanship position in the election. Genevieve Osakwe, chair of the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission (ANSIEC), announced the results at the commissions office in Awka on Sunday night. Mrs Osakwe said APGA swept all 21 chairmanship seats and all the councillor positions across the states local government areas, which had been declared at the ward level. This is to affirm the result of the chairmanship and councillorship election held on Sept. 28. The commission carefully collated and analysed the results to ensure that there were no mistakes. All the scores and the parties were announced at the polling units yesterday, we are here today to affirm the results as recorded. 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 Elections were held at all the polling units across Anambra on Saturday, and it was free, fair and credible, she said. She commended the people of Anambra for coming out en masse to cast their votes and thanked the security agencies for ensuring peace and orderliness throughout the process. The elected chairpersons and the LGAs were Chibueze Ofobuike (Aguata), Ifeanyi Chiweze (Anambra East), Fidelis Nnazo (Anambra West), Romanus Ibekwe (Anaocha), ThankGod Anago (Awka North), Chinedu Okafor (Awka South), and Alphonsus Ofumelu (Ayamelum), Others were Chijioke Ozumba (Dunukofia), Chimezie Obi (Ekwusigo), Stanley Nkwoka (Idemili North), Amaka Obi (Idemili South), Anayo Orjiako (Ihiala), Chinedu Ononiba (Njikoka), Echezona Anazodo (Nnewi North) and Chinedu Ezeogidi (Nnewi South). Also elected were Franklin Nwadialu (Ogbaru), Anthony Nwaora (Onitsha North), Emeka Orji (Onitsha South), Casmir Nwafor (Orumba North), Shedrack Azubuike (Orumba South) and Emma Nweke(Oyi). Only agents of APGA were available at the venue of the announcement of the results. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The family of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to release the IPOB leader in honour of the late leader of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu. Mr Kanu, who is facing terrorism charges, has been in detention since he was repatriated to Nigeria from Kenya in June 2021 under controversial circumstances. Mr Iwuanyanwu, the president-general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, died in July this year. He will be buried in November. Release Nnamdi Kanu During a hearing on Tuesday, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja, announced her withdrawal from Mr Kanus trial after the IPOB leader accused her of bias. In a statement issued on behalf of the family, Emmanuel Kanu, a brother to the IPOB leader, said the judges withdrawal from the trial has given an opportunity for a political solution to be adopted in resolving the matter, Vanguard newspaper reported. Emmanuel urged President Tinubu to take advantage of the current judicial reality in Mr Kanus trial to release the IPOB leader. He pleaded with the president to grant Mr Kanu freedom the same way he (Tinubu) freed Yoruba nation activist, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho. 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 request the president to be fair and apply the same universal justice, fairness that was applied to freeing Sunday Igboho who is his tribesman. We pray for the happy repose of the soul of the late Ohaneze President General, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, and ask the President and South-east governors to show respect to the late Igbo leader by releasing Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, he said. Task for South-east governors The family, without evidence, accused South-east governors of blocking Mr Kanus release. Why cant the South-east governors take a cue from other zones who collectively worked for the freedom of their freedom fighters? South-east governors, what are you afraid of? They said. The family asked Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State to show leadership as the chairperson of the regions Governors Forum by leading the efforts to secure Mr Kanus release. Traditional and Religious leaders should create the atmosphere for the coming together of the South-east stakeholders to enable coherence and commonality in going to the president to demand the release of their son, the statement said. Igbos being marginalised Emmanuel also said in the statement that the Igbo-speaking people in the South-east were being marginalised despite being a major tribe in Nigeria. There can never be progress and prosperity when one of the tripods of which Nigeria is built upon is intentionally marginalised and discriminated against, he said. The Igbo tribe has shown good faith in the Nigerian project and it is mostly the Igbo that invests and builds wealth in every part of the nation without contemplating that they are not indigenous to the local environment. The family told Nigerian security agencies not to see Mr Kanus release as a defeat but as a victory for all and in the interest of the entire country. Background The Court of Appeal, Abuja, held on 13 October 2022 that the IPOB leader was extraordinarily renditioned to Nigeria. The action was a flagrant violation of the countrys extradition treaty and also a breach of his fundamental human rights. The court, therefore, struck out the terrorism charges filed against Mr Kanu by the Nigerian government and ordered his release from the facility of the SSS. But the government refused to release the IPOB leader, insisting that he (Kanu) could be unavailable in subsequent court proceedings if released and that his release would cause insecurity in the South-east, where he comes from. The government, through the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, later appealed the court ruling and subsequently obtained an order staying the execution of the court judgement at the Supreme Court. Delivering judgement on the appeal on 15 December 2023, the Supreme Court reversed the acquittal granted to Mr Kanu by the lower court and consequently ordered the continuation of his trial at the Federal High Court Abuja. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State swore in 17 newly elected local council chairpersons and vice chairpersons on Monday, charging them with transforming their areas for the benefit of rural dwellers. The chairperson and their council areas are Jude Chinedu Asogwa, Nsukka; Joel Onyemaechi, Enugu South; Ugo Ukwueze, Igboeze South; Obiora Obeagu, Isi-Uzo; Ibenaku Onoh, Enugu North; Ugochukwu Nwanjoku, Aninri; Eric Odo, Igbo-Etiti; and Akachukwu Eze, Udenu. Others are Uche Ogalla, Igboeze North; Chijioke Ezugwu, Uzo Uwani; Hyginus Agu, Udi; Uche Okoro, Awgu; Belove Dan Anike, Enugu East; John Ogbodo, Nkanu West; Vitals Ndu, Ezeagu; and Sydney Edeh, Nkanu East. Mr Mbah, who performed the ceremony at the Government House, Enugu, before the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Enugu State, Kingsley Udeh, described their emergence as deserved victories. He noted that there were challenges across all sectors, and as such, the state has no tolerance for local government chairperson who would not govern from their council areas. The governor said the talking and campaign, as well as the honeymoon, was over, and it was time for them to walk the talk. What you did here today is executing your own part of the social contract that you have with the people. Those promises that you made to them, this is time for action. 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 time for you to think out of the box on how to creatively generate wealth, employment, and source for money to deal with all the developmental challenges within your council areas, he said. He admonished them to lead a people-focused government by ensuring that people were at the centre of their governance module, as well as nurturing a sense of inclusion to banish feelings of alienation. Governor Mbah also charged them to ensure peace and security in their council areas, saying the state had zero tolerance for crime. Things like potable water, in the 21st century, should be made available for communities, and it is your duty to ensure that every community and home have access to it. Think of other basic amenities like rural electrification and renewable energy. You have to go through pain with them, work with them to develop strategies and solutions to solve their problems. Responding, Sydney Edeh, chairperson of Nkanu East Council, expressed gratitude for the opportunity to serve with the governor. For us to be elected to work under your government is a mark indelible. We are fully charged to serve and will not let you down, Edeh said. Obeagu of Isi-Uzo Council promised that he would deliver on his mandate by meeting the demands of the people. The Peoples Democratic Party, the ruling party in Enugu, won all 17 chairmanship positions and 260 councillorship seats in the state. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Five more people have been confirmed dead in the cholera outbreak ravaging communities in Ebonyi State, South-east of Nigeria. The recent deaths were recorded at the Ndiagu Okpo-Itumo community in the Abakaliki Local Government Area of the state. The Commissioner for Health in Ebonyi, Moses Ekuma, confirmed the latest deaths in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Monday. Mr Ekuma, a medical doctor, said the outbreak had been curtailed with the quick intervention of the state government, development partners and local government officials. He outlined the efforts made by the Ministry of Health, the development partners, and the Abakaliki Area Council, including the stakeholders, to curtail the disease and urged the people not to panic. Mr Ekuma disclosed that the affected people at different activated treatment centres were responding to treatment. So Ministry of Health, in collaboration with WHO, the Council Chairman of Abakaliki Local Government, the Ebonyi State Rapid Response team and other stakeholders moved immediately to that Community, and the outbreak as we speak has been curtailed. 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 So there is no need for Ebonyians to panic. Presently, we have not had new cases. The ones we have now are the ones that are in the treatment centres, Mr Ekuma said. He maintained that cholera is an oral disease, not an airborne one. He advised people to observe personal and environmental hygiene and report suspected cases for prevention and treatment. He reiterated the governments commitment to ensuring the good health and well-being of Ebonyi residents. This brings to 18 the number of deaths recorded in the state from the recent outbreak of the disease. Ten people earlier died in Ndibokote community in the neighbouring Izzi Local Government Area. The death toll would later rise to 13 from the affected patients even as the disease would later spread to three other villages in the area. So far, the disease has spread to three local government areas Ebonyi, Izzi, and Abakaliki all in Ebonyi North District. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Governor Ademola Adeleke has expressed surprise that a major town around Ifeland, Garage Olode, has had no power supply for the past 15 years, consequently directing the Ministry of Energy to take up the issue without further delay. Governor Adeleke who recently passed through the border town was briefed by a group of indigenes named Imole political alliance who narrated how the town and other adjacent villages have been without power supply in the last 15 years. Expressing surprise at the report, the governor called for a thorough investigation with the matter featuring at the last State Executive Council meeting. According to the governor, We must do everything possible to restore power supply. The ministry must interface with Disco and the Federal Ministry of Power to find a lasting solution. We must connect Garage Olode and adjacent communities to the national grid. The town is of critical importance being a major economic zone and a border town. We will explore all options, the governor noted. As a preliminary step, the governor has promised to visit the Federal Minister of Power in Abuja to discuss the completion of a major power project said to be almost 80 per cent completed and which has been abandoned over contractual issues. I will write to the minister ahead of my visit to Abuja. We must not allow the project to waste. If completion is almost 80 per cent, then the federal ministry will be encouraged to ramp up efforts to complete the remaining phases. Article Page with Financial Support Promotion Nigerians need credible journalism. Help us report it. Support journalism driven by facts, created by Nigerians for Nigerians. Our thorough, researched reporting relies on the support of readers like you. Help us maintain free and accessible news for all with a small donation. Every contribution guarantees that we can keep delivering important stories no paywalls, just quality journalism. SUPPORT NOW x Do this later READ ALSO: Nigerian communities get electricity after eight years of blackout I am also directing the ministry to summon the distribution company covering the area. Lets hear from the Disco. What are the challenges? What can be done to restore the power supply? I want to assure my people of Garage Olode and adjacent areas that our administration will break the jinx. We have done it for Obokun areas. We will repeat the feat for Garage Olode and others, the governor promised in a statement. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print LEFLEY WILL SUCCEED PETE CLIFTON WHO STEPS DOWN AFTER 10 YEARS AT HELM NEW EDITOR TO FOCUS ON DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND GROWING VIDEO SERVICES LONDON, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- PA Media today announces the appointment of Jack Lefley as Editor-in-Chief. Lefley will take over from Pete Clifton, who recently decided to step down having led the national news agency's editorial operations since January 2015. New PA Media Editor-in-Chief, Jack Lefley Currently Managing Editor of The Standard, Lefley, 46, will take the reins at PA Media in the New Year. Emily Shelley, CEO of PA Media Group, said: "We've been through a highly competitive selection process featuring some outstanding external and internal candidates and Jack's track record and his vision for PA Media stood out. "He brings together the traditional skills, strong editorial values and frontline experience needed for one of the busiest roles in news, and a detailed understanding of our customer needs." Lefley has had a long and distinguished career at the Standard serving under six editors, rising through the editorial executive ranks since joining as a reporter in 2006. In recent years he has overseen the switch to a 'digital first' approach and the wholesale modernisation of the 200-year-old London title's editorial operations. He said: "Throughout my career I've always been a huge admirer of what PA does and the editorial values of accuracy, impartiality and speed that it stands for. I've relied on PA's journalism as a reporter, a news editor and editor and it's a great honour to be invited to step into Pete Clifton's considerable shoes." "My focus will be on taking PA forward into a new era. That'll mean accelerating digital transformation, maintaining the exemplary editorial standards that define PA, growing the outstanding video services and making the best use of data in our decision making." In July, Pete Clifton,62, announced his intention to step back from full-time work after 43 years in journalism and a decade at the helm at PA. Clifton said: "It has been an enormous privilege to lead PA through so much change over the past decade and maintain its reputation for fast, high-quality newsgathering." "It's the best role in journalism and I know Jack will do a brilliant job maintaining PA's position at the heart of the media landscape in the UK, Ireland and beyond." Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2519201/PA_Media_Jack_Lefley.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2519202/PA_Media_Logo.jpg LONDON and NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Singletrack, the capital markets engagement and research management platform, today announced that expert SaaS leader Meshach Amuah-Fuster has joined Singletrack as CEO. Singletrack is a market-leading CRM platform for sell side bankers, helping teams research, prepare, engage and cultivate deep relationships with clients, ultimately driving efficiency and revenue for capital markets teams. Singletrack CEO Meshach Amuah-Fuster Meshach brings over 20 years of experience working in SaaS companies across a range of verticals, as well as a strong track record as a C-level executive leading high-growth business. Meshach says, "In a climate of opportunity for capital markets organisations embracing data-driven transformation, Singletrack offers true value. We support strong ROI for our customers, and help smart capital markets teams work together more effectively and deliver excellent service for their clients. "I have already seen what a strong team we have at Singletrack. Our people care about each other and about our customers who use our tools every day for mission-critical activities that drive their businesses. The Singletrack platform is truly market-leading, and I'm excited to be part of that story and bring my skills in growing SaaS businesses to Singletrack's next phase of development." Phil Cunningham, Managing Director at Accel-KKR says, "The Singletrack board is excited to welcome Meshach to the company. His experience and proven track record in growing SaaS businesses will help Singletrack continue to deliver product innovation and exceptional service to customers." About Singletrack: Singletrack is the #1 engagement platform for leading independent banks. With offices in London and New York, and over 55 clients around the globe, Singletrack is leading the way in capital markets engagement and research management. Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2517837/Singletrack_CEO_Meshach_Amuah_Fuster.jpg Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2454982/4938604/Singletrack_Logo.jpg The global platform empowers female entrepreneurs with cross-border trade and social commerce skills. BEIJING, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The 5th APEC Women Connect "Her Power" Entrepreneurship Competition is now open for registration , inviting female entrepreneurs of all stages and influencers to showcase their potential and build crucial skills in cross-border trade and social commerce. Co-hosted by APEC Women Connect, DHgate , MyyShop , and The Inner Mountain Foundation , this year's competition introduces exciting new partnerships and opportunities for deeper learning and networking. 5th APEC Women Connect 'Her Power' Entrepreneurship Competition Invites Female MSME Founders and Influencers to Register With this year's slogan of "Her Power Fuels Our Future: Together We Rise," the competition aims to empower women worldwide by equipping them with not only practical business skills in cross-border trade, e-commerce operations, and the digital economy but also fostering inner strength and self-development. Participants will build confidence, resilience, and a growth mindset, gaining access to valuable resources, expert guidance, and a supportive network that encourages both personal and professional growth. Education on new AI technologies will play a significant role in helping participants maximize their business potential while strengthening their ability to navigate challenges and unleash their full potential. The competition offers diverse pathways, enabling participants to pursue entrepreneurial aspirations as sellers, influencers, or business optimizers. It unfolds in three key phases: Phase 1: Learning and Development Participants begin their journey with structured online courses provided by leading industry partners, aimed at building foundational knowledge in cross-border e-commerce, social commerce, and trade. Past courses can be explored here . Phase 2: Practical Application and Experimentation Contestants engage in hands-on exercisesestablishing and managing online stores while gaining practical experience in sales, content creation, and operational strategies on digital platforms. Throughout this process, they will receive guidance and support from DHGATE Group, the Inner Mountain Foundation and this year's partnering brands. Phase 3: Presentation and Recognition Upon completion of the competition, participants are expected to achieve successful store sales, conduct effective live-streaming for product promotion, or choose to submit personal growth stories. They will also submit comprehensive business proposals that showcase their progress, strategic vision, and entrepreneurial acumen. Outstanding participants will be honored at a formal online awards ceremony in December, where they will have the chance to win cash prizes of up to $1,000 USD as well as access to online traffic and premium partnership resources provided by leading cross-border brands. "In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, cross-border e-commerce presents unprecedented opportunities for women entrepreneurs," said DHGATE Group Founder, Chairperson and CEO Diane Wang, who started APEC Women Connect as an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)-endorsed program. "Our 'Her Power' Competition is designed to bridge the gap between potential and success. By offering hands-on experience in operating online stores, leveraging AI for business growth and fostering a supportive global community, we're equipping women with the skills, confidence and connections they need to thrive in international markets. This competition is a testament to our commitment to driving inclusive economic growth and gender equality in the digital age." Recruitment for this year's competition begins on September 26, and the competition activities will culminate in December with an online awards ceremony recognizing the achievements of the participants. The long-term vision for the competition includes fostering a diverse, global community of female entrepreneurs. It aims to provide ongoing support and create growth opportunities that extend beyond the competition. For those with entrepreneurial aspirations, this competition is a chance to connect with others, gain practical experience, and take steps toward achieving business success. Participants can apply by joining The Inner Mountain Foundation's community, registering with DHgate and MyyShop, and engaging in e-learning courses and activities. Live interactive workshops, guest speakers, and mentorship sessions will be provided throughout the competition. For more information about the 5th APEC Women Connect "Her Power" Entrepreneurship Competition, please visit the community platform About APEC Women Connect Founded in 2016, APEC Women Connect is an APEC-endorsed program initiated by Ms. Diane Wang, the China Representative on the APEC Business Advisory Council, Chair of the APEC Women Leadership Forum, Co-Chair of WiBAC of B20 Indonesia, and Founder, Chairperson and CEO of DHgate.com. APEC Women Connect aims to empower women, especially young women, to realize entrepreneurship via digital solutions through inspirational sharing, practical learning, effective recognition, and awards. APEC Women Connect has been included in the annual recommendation to the APEC Economic Leaders for three consecutive years. It has also been included in the annual recommendation to G20 Leaders by B20 for two consecutive years. About The Inner Mountain Foundation The Inner Mountain Foundation, founded in 2023, advocates for focusing on individuals and encouraging them to break through their limiting beliefs, fostering continuous personal growth. This, in turn, influences and inspires those around them, creating a ripple effect that extends from individuals to families, teams, and organizations, ultimately driving a social transformation. We are led by our Founder and Chairperson Diane Wang, who first articulated the principles of Inner Mountain Thinking in her 2024 book, The Inner Mountain. Inner Mountain is committed to inner exploration, community building, and international outreach to find a sustainable path forward for our fragile yet beautiful world. The Inner Mountain Community embodies the co-creative spirit of Inner Mountain. It is an international community dedicated to encouraging people to explore within themselves while inspiring, nurturing, and growing together. About DHgate Founded in 2004, DHgate has become the leading B2B cross-border e-commerce marketplace in China, boasting over 34 million live listings annually. Through their global operations and offices, including in the USA and UK, DHgate reaches millions of people with trusted products and services. As of December 31, 2023, DHgate served more than 77 million registered buyers from 225 countries and regions, connecting them to over 2.6 million sellers in China and other countries. For more information, please visit DHgate.com and follow @DHgate.com . SOURCE DHGATE Group SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Emerging consumer electronics brand ACEFAST is excited to show their latest design at the Global Sources Hong Kong Show in Fall 2024. Acefast look forward to showcasing its latest design and technology with global consumer and tech enthusiast, which also aims to explore industry trends and development during this show. Global Source Hong Kong Show Fall 2024 Products Launch ACEFAST H7: The New Active Noise Cancelling Headphones The ACEFAST H7 features an ergonomic headband with skin-friendly protein leather ear cushions for lasting comfort. It also comes with detachable ear cushions in seven colors, allowing daily style customization. Compact and lightweight, the H7 offers 55 hours of battery life and high-fidelity sound with dual-layer composite diaphragm drivers. Its -35dB hybrid active noise cancellation precisely reduces environmental noise for an immersive listening experience. Even with no battery, the H7 supports USB-Audio; just connect via USB-C and keep listening. ACEFIT Air: Second Generation Open-Ear Earbuds The ACEFIT Air adopts an ear-hook design with a body thickness of just 24.5 mm, making it lighter and slimmer. Its open sound field prevents sound leakage, ensuring a private listening experience. Paired with soft liquid silicone, provides a comfortable, secure fit for various ear types. ACEFIT Pro: Crystal Open-Ear Earbuds ACEFIT Pro, inspired by the Air, retains the crystal series, transparent design with a clear charging case, embossed digital display, and ambient lighting on the earbuds for improved visibility at night, offering a fresh user experience. With an oversized battery capacity of 60mAh, combined with a high-performance Bluetooth chip, ensuring up to 7 hours for listening. More latest products will be showcased at ACEFAST's booth. Event: Global Sources Mobile Electronics Show Date: Oct 18-21, 2024 Location: AsiaWorld-Expo, Hong Kong International Airport, Lantau. Hong Kong Exhibition Hall: #3 Booth: #3A32 About ACEFAST Founded in 2020, ACEFAST is a global company that integrates R&D, design and sales of smart electronic products, with full online and offline coverage through global e-commerce websites and trade channels. It is also a young consumer electronics brand. "Explore the future", insisting on providing reliable and cost-effective products for global consumers. For more information, please contact: Media Contact: Name: Acefast PR Team Email: [email protected] Company: Shenzhen Houshuxia Technology Co., Ltd. Official Website: https://www.acefast.com/ SOURCE ACEFAST HERMOSA BEACH, Calif., Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Clicktripz, a leading innovator in AI-driven travel marketing solutions, today announced the addition of three experienced professionals to its growing team, reinforcing its commitment to the destination marketing space. Each new hire brings extensive expertise from their previous roles within Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs), positioning the company to better serve the needs of tourism professionals and travel marketers worldwide. This strategic move highlights Clicktripz's deep understanding of DMOs' need to communicate authentically with potential visitors, not only on their websites but across the web. It also reflects the organization's continued investment in leveraging AI to elevate destination marketing, providing deeper insights, enhanced engagement, and greater impact for its clients. "We are thrilled to welcome these industry veterans to our team," said Jamie Claudio, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Destination Strategy. "Their insights and expertise will not only enhance our ability to deliver AI-powered solutions tailored to the needs of destinations, but also strengthen our relationships with clients as we continue to expand in this rapidly evolving space." Scott Schult joins the organization as Vice President, Destination Strategy, Southeast, and brings over 20 years of experience in the travel, tourism, and destination marketing industries. As a senior leader, including roles as Chief Marketing Officer for major destination marketing organizations, Scott has led high-performing teams, driven revenue growth, and built powerful partnerships. His expertise spans integrated marketing, digital transformation, and brand development, earning him recognition as one of the Top 25 Minds in Hospitality Sales & Marketing by HSMAI. He has served on advisory boards for eTourism, Simpleview, Brand USA, and Destinations International, highlighting his influence and thought leadership in the industry. "I'm thrilled to join Clicktripz because of its innovative approach and strong commitment to developing impactful AI solutions for the travel industry," says Scott. "I'm eager to contribute by helping destinations reach and convert their ideal customers through our cutting-edge media products and strategic insights." Jackie Saunders joins the organization as Vice President, Destination Strategy, Northeast, and is a seasoned marketing executive with more than 20 years of extensive experience in destination marketing, communications, and strategy. Most recently, she served as the AVP of Marketing at National Harbor, a prominent mixed-use destination just outside Washington D.C., where she was recognized as the 2023 Maryland Tourism Industry Ambassador of the Year. Prior to National Harbor, Jackie was the VP of Marketing for Visit Loudoun, VA, and also spent 12 years with the Canadian Tourism Commission (now Destination Canada), where she led marketing and public relations efforts for leisure, meetings, and travel trade, across the U.S. and supporting global markets. She currently serves on the Maryland Tourism Coalition Board of Directors. "I look forward to bringing my passion for destination marketing to a company that's at the forefront of digital innovation and AI-driven solutions," says Jackie. "This role offers an incredible opportunity to partner with DMOs across the East Coast and Canada, I'm excited to contribute to the company's growth and build lasting partnerships by leveraging Clicktripz's cutting-edge technology" Leah Webster joins the organization as the Client Success Manager with nearly a decade of experience in digital marketing focused on the tourism and travel sectors. She began her career at Visit Boulder, where she gained valuable insights into the workings of a DMO before continuing her journey in destination marketing with key roles at Downtown Raleigh Alliance and Simpleview. "I'm thrilled to join Clicktripz where my passion for digital marketing meets my expertise in helping redefine the way travelers connect with their adventures," says Leah. For media inquiries, please contact: Jamie Claudio SVP, Marketing & Destination Strategy [email protected] I 631.291.0552 About Clicktripz: Founded in 2010, Clicktripz works exclusively in the travel and hospitality space to build AI destination brand ambassadors and deliver high impact custom digital solutions. We are among the world's largest travel endemic ad networks, giving travel brands exclusive access to 100 million travel intenders per month and our direct publisher integrations mean we don't rely on ad exchanges or third party data. We combine destination-specific contextual targeting with large format ad units, which yield the highest engagement rates of any online media channel. All media is performance pricing based, guaranteeing highly qualified new travel audience traffic for travel marketers. For more information, visit www.clicktripz.com SOURCE Clicktripz HONG KONG, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- September 30, 2024, Akeso (9926. HK) announced that its internally developed PD-1/CTLA-4 bispecific antibody, cadonilimab, has received approval from the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for a new indication: cadonilimab in combination with fluoropyrimidine and platinum-based chemotherapy for first-line treatment of patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction (G/GEJ) adenocarcinoma. This is the second indication approval for cadonilimab in China, following its initial approval for marketing in June 2022. The approval of the new indication for cadonilimab combination therapy for first-line treatment of gastric/GEJ cancer is based on the COMPASSION-15/AK104-302 study. In the COMPASSION-15 study, the proportion of patients with PD-L1 CPS < 5 and PD-L1 CPS < 1 in the Intention-to-Treat (ITT) population reached 49.8% and 23%, respectively, which is significantly higher than the data disclosed in previous phase III studies of other immunotherapies for first-line treatment. In November 2023, the interim analysis of the study achieved the primary endpoint of overall survival (OS). The results showed that the cadonilimab combination therapy significantly reduced the risk of death in advanced gastric cancer patients across all PD-L1 expression levels (including those with PD-L1 CPS 5 and <5), extending overall survival benefits and demonstrating notable advantages in objective response and long-term survival. Previous phase III trials of PD-1 inhibitors combined with chemotherapy showed limited or no clinical benefit for patients with low or negative PD-L1 expression. The results of the COMPASSION-15 study were presented as an oral report at the 2024 AACR. In the ITT population, the median overall survival (mOS) for the cadonilimab regimen reached 15.0 months, compared to 10.8 months in the control group, extending overall survival by 4.2 months and reducing the risk of death by 38% (HR=0.62). In the PD-L1 CPS <5 group, the mOS for the cadonilimab regimen was 14.8 months, with a 30% reduction in the risk of death compared to the control group (11.1 months, HR=0.70). For the PD-L1 CPS 5 group, the mOS had not yet been reached, but the risk of death was reduced by 44% compared to the control group (10.6 months, HR=0.56). COMPASSION-15's principal investigator, Professor Ji Jiafu from Peking University Cancer Hospital, stated: " The prognosis for advanced gastric cancer is poor. While currently approved immunotherapy options have improved efficacy compared to traditional chemotherapy, there remains significant potential for enhancement. The cadonilimab combination therapy has substantially increased the objective response rate and overall survival in the general population while reducing disease-related mortality. Remarkably, cadonilimab shows significant overall survival benefits not only in patients with high PD-L1 CPS expression but also in those with low or negative PD-L1 CPS expression. The approval of cadonilimab as a first-line treatment effectively addresses the efficacy gap of PD-1/L1 monoclonal antibodies in patients with low or negative PD-L1 expression, providing a more comprehensive and effective immunotherapy option for advanced gastric cancer. This advancement benefits all patient populations and presents new opportunities for the global development of gastric cancer immunotherapy, carrying important clinical implications. As a clinician, I am enthusiastic about the approval of cadonilimab for advanced gastric cancer. This innovative treatment will offer a superior and more comprehensive immunotherapy option for patients, and I look forward to its impact on optimizing the current clinical landscape for advanced gastric cancer." COMPASSION-15's principal investigator, Professor Shen Lin from Peking University Cancer Hospital, stated: "We are delighted by the successful approval of cadonilimab combination therapy for the first-line treatment of advanced gastric cancer. This regimen offers significant advantages over current immunotherapy options in clinical practice, providing a superior choice not only for patients with high PD-L1 expression but also for those with low or negative PD-L1 expression, who previously lacked effective treatment options. Cadonilimab addresses the limitations of single-target immunotherapy and exemplifies the synergistic mechanism of dual immune therapy with "anti-PD-1 + anti-CTLA-4," thereby filling an important clinical gap in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer. Beyond first-line approval, the phase III clinical study (AK109-301) of cadonilimab combined with pulocimab (AK109, VEGFR-2) for treating advanced gastric cancer that has progressed after PD-1/L1 inhibitor plus chemotherapy has been initiated. There is currently a lack of effective standard treatments for patients with acquired resistance to immunotherapy, and we eagerly anticipate that this new combination regimen will yield improved results in second-line therapy for these patients, ultimately providing clinicians with more effective tools for cancer treatment." Dr. Xia Yu, Founder, Chairwoman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Akeso Biopharma, stated: "We thank all researchers, participants, and patients involved in this clinical study. Their collective efforts have led to the approval of cadonilimab combination therapy for first-line treatment of advanced gastric cancer, introducing a novel bispecific immune therapy combined with chemotherapy. As immunotherapy evolves, global regulators and the medical community are reassessing the real-world benefits of PD-1 therapies across different PD-L1 expression levels in gastric and esophageal cancers. Cadonilimab, a novel bispecific antibody targeting both PD-1 and CTLA-4, is supported by robust evidence demonstrating significant clinical benefits for the entire gastric cancer population. Differentiating from PD-1 monoclonal antibody combinations, cadonilimab also shows substantial advantages for patients with low or negative PD-L1 expression. Akeso will continue to explore the global clinical value of cadonilimab." Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) 2022 statistics, there are nearly one million new cases each year, making it the fifth most common cancer. China accounts for about half of these cases and deaths, with HER2-negative patients representing around 88%. For those ineligible for surgery or with metastatic gastric cancer (including gastroesophageal junction cancer), immunotherapy using PD-1/L1 monoclonal antibodies has shown success in first-line treatment, though survival benefits remain limited. Cadonilimab combination therapy is expected to provide a more effective treatment option. SOURCE Akeso, Inc. STOCKHOLM, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Alejandro Corominas Menendez has been appointed President and CEO of Loomis Europe and Latin America as of January 1, 2025. Currently, Alejandro holds the position as Country CEO of Loomis Spain and Regional Vice President for Loomis Europe and Latin America. Alejandro will report to the President and CEO of the Loomis Group and be a member of the Group Management team. Alejandro Corominas Menendez, born in 1971, is a Spanish citizen who holds a B.Sc. in Economics and Business Administration and has completed the General Management Program at IESE Business School. With extensive experience in the cash management and connectivity solutions industry, he currently serves as CEO of Loomis Spain and Regional Vice President for Spain, Latin America and Turkey, where he has led the company's expansion and success in these regions. His prior role at Boltia, a startup focused on connectivity solutions, underscores his entrepreneurial spirit and capacity to drive innovation. At the same time, Georges Lopez, the current President and CEO of Loomis Europe and Latin America, will take on the newly implemented role of Group COO. Through this new role, Georges will focus on driving operational excellence across our entire organization. The new organizational structure is implemented ahead of the upcoming strategic period 2025-2027. Aritz Larrea, Loomis' President and CEO, says: "I extend my sincere gratitude to Georges Lopez for his valuable contributions to Loomis throughout his tenure leading the European region. He has played a pivotal role in shaping the company into what it is today, and I look forward to continuing our collaboration in his new capacity. Simultaneously, I'm excited to welcome Alejandro to the Group Management team. His profound expertise, leadership style, and deep industry knowledge make him ideal to guide the European and Latin American region as we embark on the next strategic phase. I'm confident that Alejandro will build upon the solid foundation laid by Georges, leading the region to continued success." This press release is also available on the company's website, www.loomis.com. For more information, please contact: Aritz Larrea President and CEO [email protected] +34 650 10 20 23 This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/loomis-ab/r/alejandro-corominas-menendez-appointed-president-and-ceo-of-loomis-europe-and-latin-america,c4044315 The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/51/4044315/3027823.pdf Alejandro Corominas appointed President and CEO Loomis Europe and Latin America SOURCE Loomis AB Entrepreneur and Social Impact Advocate Catharine Montgomery Recognized for Her Commitment to Purpose-Driven Communications WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Better Together's Founder and CEO Catharine Montgomery was named a Finalist in the Best Female Entrepreneur Business Products 10 or Less Employees category in the 21st annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business, positioning her as a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Stevie Award winner. The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honor women executives, entrepreneurs, employees and the companies they run worldwide. The Stevie Awards have been hailed as the world's premier business awards. Better Together Founder And CEO Named Finalist In 21st Annual Stevie Awards For Women In Business Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced during a gala event at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City on Friday, November 8. Nominated women executives and entrepreneurs from around the world are expected to attend. The event will be broadcast on Livestream. More than 1,500 entries from organizations and individuals in 36 nations and territories were submitted this year for consideration in more than 100 categories, including Executive of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, Company of the Year, Startup of the Year, Women Helping Women, and Women Run Workplace of the Year. Better Together's Catharine Montgomery is a Finalist in the Best Female Entrepreneur category. Catharine Montgomery's nomination for the Stevie Awards highlights her commitment to blending advocacy with strategic communication to create meaningful change. Her leadership at Better Together has created initiatives focused on diversity, equity, and social impact within the communications industry. Under her guidance, Better Together has become a driving force for inclusive and purposeful campaigns that contribute to the positive evolution of the industry. This recognition from the Stevie Awards honors Catharine's drive and celebrates the significant impact Better Together continues to make, demonstrating what a purpose-driven communications agency can achieve. Finalists were determined by the average scores of more than 200 business professionals around the world, working on six juries . Their scores will also determine the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award placements that will be revealed at the 21st annual awards dinner and presentations in New York. "In its 21st year, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business received an impressive collection of remarkable nominations," said Maggie Miller, president of the Stevie Awards. "We look forward to recognizing the outstanding achievements of women in the workplace in New York on November 8." "This recognition is a true honor," said Montgomery. "It affirms our mission of focusing on communications campaigns that drive positive change. It also highlights the impact we've achieved as a purpose-driven agency. We will continue to push boundaries by amplifying voices that need to be heard and using strategic communication to create meaningful change." Details about the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and the list of Finalists in all categories are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Women . Press Contact: Lucia Moreno 703-643-4966 https://thebettertogether.agency/ SOURCE Better Together ABU DHABI, UAE, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In less than 50 days, world leaders will convene at COP29 to deliver a reinvigorated vision to accelerate climate action. Over the past week, leaders from the UAE have been in the US for high-level engagements, from the White House in Washington to the United Nations in New York, discussing advancements across climate finance, the UAE Consensus and global commitment to keep 1.5c with reach, clean energy, green technology, nature and biodiversity, transforming food systems, and water resiliency. This lays the groundwork for the COP29 in Baku, which will present a vital opportunity to enhance collective ambitions, elevate more voices, and enable a new era of climate action, building global resilience for all. At COP28 in Dubai, the UAE galvanized 198 Parties to deliver the historic UAE Consensus and pledged to keep 1.5c within reach, accelerating a new era of ambitious climate action. Demonstrating the success of multilateralism and inclusion, the UAE Consensus set the world on a clear path, establishing ambitious targets to enable the world to reach Net Zero by 2050 as well as triple renewables and double energy efficiency by 2030. It also included commitments to end deforestation by the end of this decade, and significant firsts for climate finance, with the fund for loss and damage announced on the first day of COP28. This fund will help some of the most climate exposed nations respond to the impacts of climate change, recognizing the role of credit rating agencies for the first time, and scaling-up adaptation finance to meet evolving demands faced by climate-vulnerable communities. COP28 set about the delivery of a new era in climate action, encouraging voices from across industries, sectors, youth and communities to engage in open conversation to seek new solutions to co-create climate resilience. To ensure continuity, action, and sustained multilateral cooperation, the COP Presidencies Troika also emerged out of COP28, mandating the UAE in conjunction with Azerbaijan and Brazil, as the presidents of COP29 and COP30, to lock in continuity and drive climate action. This 'Roadmap to Mission 1.5c' will transform the UAE Consensus from agreement into tangible, sustained action and bring accountability to the next round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), due by February 2025. His Excellency Abdulla Al Balalaa, Assistant Minister for Energy and Sustainable Affairs at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: "The COP28 ambition looked to revitalize a global approach on climate change priorities. From the UAE Consensus to the Action Agenda, we wanted to bring diverse voices globally to the table and spearhead a new, more inclusive model for how we convene on climate. Together, this defines the challenge as an opportunity to reimagine how we can unite to build global resilience, future-proof our communities, and safeguard our planet for future generations. COP29 is an exciting milestone to continue accelerating action together and co-creating climate resilience, bridging global priorities and capabilities and ensuring that our multilateral partnerships translate into impactful, equitable outcomes." Through the COP28 Presidency's Action Agenda, climate action has been catalyzed across the pillars of: fast tracking a just and orderly energy transition; fixing climate finance to make it more available, affordable, and accessible; focusing on people, nature, lives and livelihoods; and fostering full inclusivity in climate action. COP28 also saw the swift adoption of the fund for loss and damage hosted by the World Bank with 19 countries, committing approximately $800 million pledged to date, including $100 million from the UAE, as well as the UAE's creation of ALTERRA, a $30-billion private investment vehicle to catalyze climate finance in developing economies. All these efforts led to the mobilization of an unparalleled $85.1 billion for climate action and the launch of 11 pledges and declarations, elevating multilateral climate change mitigation and adaptation commitments to new heights. Meeting with H.H. President Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates at the White House in Washington last week, US President Biden described the UAE as 'a nation of trailblazers, always looking to the future,' President Biden referred to the nations' joint efforts: 'growing cooperation in AI, in clean energy, in space, and investing in infrastructure to connect regions...shoulder to shoulder in the same most difficult places.' The UAE plans to invest more than US$163 billion in clean and renewable energy over the next several years to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, pledging to triple the production capacity of renewable energy by 2030. The National Food Security Strategy 2051 aims to develop a comprehensive national system to enable sustainable food production through modern technology. In partnership with the US, the UAE has also launched the global initiative Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate/AIM4C) and committed to investing $16 billion in climate-smart agriculture and food systems to improve agriculture and food security. The initiative has garnered the support of more than 600 state and non-state actors and partners, bringing in more than $17 billion in investments. His Excellency Abdulla Al Balalaa concluded: "As the international community turns to COP29, taking stock of the progress we have achieved against these targets and the gaps that still need to be addressed will be essential for the discussions this year. The UAE Consensus must continue to act as our guiding North Star, serving as an overarching framework to deliver on our collective ambition for transformative climate action, and building a more just and equitable future for all." For more information, please contact: [email protected] Accelerating Action Together The UAE invites all to the collective ambition of a new era of climate action. Building upon our ambitious Net Zero 2050 commitments, global collaborations at COP28 , and the UAE Consensus, we accelerate action together to keep 1.5c within reach to build global resilience and safeguard a more optimistic future for lives, livelihoods, and planet. , and the UAE Consensus, we accelerate action together to keep 1.5c within reach to build global resilience and safeguard a more optimistic future for lives, livelihoods, and planet. Guided by the wisdom and values of those who came before, the UAE is a nation working together to build a climate-resilient economy and safeguard a more just and equitable future for our grandchildren's children. Learn more at www.uaeclimate.com @UAEClimate (FB, IG, LinkedIn) and @UAE_Climate (X) #AcceleratingActionTogether. Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2519547/National_Media_Office_Logo.jpg 7 2024 :, , , , , , , , , , , 1820 . 1886 . 1919 KLM, . 1949 . 1958 , . 1959 , 1. 1986 The Independent. 2003 . The list, which is supported by YouTube, officially recognizes global business leaders who are driving inclusion and equal representation for women in the workplace. BEIJING, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Founder, Chairperson and CEO of DHGATE Group Diane Wang has been named in the The Heroes Executives Role Model List 2024 in recognition of her longstanding commitment to championing women in global business leadership roles. DHGATE Group Founder Diane Wang Featured in 2024 Heroes Executives Role Model List for Supporting Women in Business Launched in 2013 by INvolve, a diversity and inclusion-specialized consultancy and global network, the Heroes Executives List is part of a larger group of Heroes Role Model Lists supported by YouTube that spotlight global business leaders focused on driving meaningful long-term inclusion in the workplace for women, people of color, LGBTQ+ identifying people, and people with disabilities. The Heroes Executive Role Model List in particular is an annual award for leaders who stand up for gender diversity. "It is an honor to be included in the 2024 Heroes Executives Role Model List among such a highly esteemed group of peers dedicated to championing women's rights," Diane said. "During my years of advocacy, I have learned that our voices are our most powerful tools to achieve lasting results, and I hope my words and actions can inspire others to also stand up, speak out and make a difference." Diane launched DHgatenow one of the world's largest cross-border B2B e-commerce platforms and part of Diane's DHGATE Groupin 2004, and has since risen to become a globally recognized figure in digital commerce and women's empowerment advocacy. DHGATE Group prides itself on diversitywomen comprise nearly half of DHGATE Group's employees and management and over 55% of the storeowners on DHgate marketplace. The company uplifts female entrepreneurs and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by advocating for global fair trade, diversity and creativity. In 2023, Diane founded The Inner Mountain Foundation , a global community centered on personal growth and self-exploration through mindfulness and holding space, which encourages like-minded individuals to discover inner strength and break through their limiting beliefs. The Foundation organizes in-person and online community activities and provides training, entrepreneurial resources and funding for women-owned businesses. Currently with chapters in the US and China, a large focus of The Inner Mountain Foundation is to build up local communities of like-minded individuals and connect them internationally, with the aim of driving a social transformation of self-empowerment across the world. Diane's advocacy for women in leadership roles has spanned a very successful entrepreneurial and corporate career spanning more than three decades. She has authored a book recounting her entrepreneurial journey and unique focus titled The Inner Mountain , which is now on preorder and will be published on October 15, 2024 by Forbes Books. The book examines Diane's 'inner mountain' philosophy that The Inner Mountain Foundation is based on, which encourages people to look within to find personal strength, conviction and meaning in their lives and focus on more harmonious, nurturing business practices. In addition to DHGATE Group and The Inner Mountain Foundation, Diane is also prolifically active at championing digital inclusion and leadership for women through numerous global organizations and government initiatives. She is the founder of APEC Women Connect, an international community for female digital entrepreneurs that has trained over 100,000 women entrepreneurs and MSMEs since 2016. AWC co-hosts the annual APEC Women Connect "Her Power" Entrepreneurship Competition, which brings together thousands of female social commerce entrepreneurs every year and provides them with learning resources and support. Registration is now open for the 5th APEC Women Connect Her Power Entrepreneurship Competition - embark on this exciting journey on Circle alongside fellow women entrepreneurs and take the first step toward success!! Diane is also Chair of the APEC Women Leadership Summit, Chair of 50 Cross-border E-Commerce Leaders in China, Co-Chair of the B20 Indonesia Women in Business Action Council, a member of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), a Chinese National Chapter member of the BRICS Women's Business Alliance, and a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General's Business Advisory Group. Among her fellow role models on the list are Martina Cheung, President of S&P Global Ratings; Dame Carolyn McCall DBE, incoming President and CEO of ITV; Kumsal Bayazit, CEO of Elsevier; and Serpil Timuray, CEO of Vodafone Investments and Member of the Group Executive Committee. About DHgate Founded in 2004, DHgate has become the leading B2B cross-border e-commerce marketplace in China, boasting over 34 million live listings annually. Through their global operations and offices, including in the USA and UK, DHgate reaches millions of people with trusted products and services. As of December 31, 2023, DHgate served more than 77 million registered buyers from 225 countries and regions, connecting them to over 2.6 million sellers in China and other countries. For more information, please visit DHgate.com and follow @DHgate.com . About The Inner Mountain Foundation The Inner Mountain Foundation promotes the empowerment of women through education, community, and outreach. We are led by our Founder and Chairperson Diane Wang, who first articulated the principles of Inner Mountain Thinking in her 2024 book, The Inner Mountain. As a global foundation and women's empowerment community, we invest in impact-making educational resources that we seek to make as broadly accessible as possible. Our goal is to focus the work of the Inner Mountain on the soft skills training that we believe helps equip women to be their greatest, most empowered selves across their most wholly integrated life (connecting the self with work, family, community, and legacy). For more information, please visit innermountain.org . SOURCE DHGATE Group SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In the golden glow of autumn, Shenzhen brings all together to convene a grand celebration. On September 27, the Third GMIF2024 Innovation Summit (Global Memory Innovation Forum) has been successfully concluded in Shenzhen. The event was hosted by the Semiconductor Investment Alliance and the Shenzhen Memory Industry Association, co-organized by the Guangdong Integrated Circuit Industry Association and the Shenzhen Semiconductor Industry Association, and organized by JW Insights Consulting (Xiamen) Co., Ltd. and Haitong Securities Co., Ltd. GMIF2024 Innovation Summit With the theme of "AI Leads Memory's New Momentum", this year's summit has brought together leading enterprises from various segments of the memory industry chain, including major wafer manufacturers, memory controller suppliers, module producers, packaging and testing enterprises, equipment and materials manufacturers, and terminal manufacturers, as well as representatives from investment institutions. The event centered around all aspects of key topics such as product innovation, technological evolution, and the collaborative development of the industrial chain, all with the aim of advancing industry cooperation and creating a shared future of success. Accelerating Deployment of AI Applications to Unlock New Growth in the Storage Industry The explosive growth of AI in the new era is reshaping the global semiconductor landscape. The widespread application of AI is driving demand for high-performance, high-computing-power chips, while also creating significant growth opportunities for high-bandwidth, large-capacity, and low-power storage chips. The GMIF2024 Innovation Summit officially kicked off with the welcoming remarks from Mr. Rixin Sun, President of the Shenzhen Memory Industry Association (SMIA). Over the recent years, the exponential growth of AI, 5G, Big Data and Internet has seen a brand-new revolutionizing period in global storage industry. Mr. Sun addressed that the GMIF2024 Innovation Summit turns special attention to the entire upstream and downstream storage value chain that goes beyond just the storage and memory itself. In particular, it unfolds critical areas across the industry, consisting of storage media, solutions, system platforms, testing equipment and more. Mr. Sun affirmed that only through collaboration across the entire industry chain can we continuously drive the advancement of the sector and maintain a leading position in global competition. Xiaofei Zhang, Chief Analyst for Electronics Industry from Haitong Securities, stated that, from the perspective of overall storage market, the HBM3e has exerted impacts on the production schedule of DDR5, and the decline in DRAM prices remains restricted. In the NAND sector, the inventory adjustments at server terminals are entering the final stages; coupled with AI driving demand for high-capacity storage products, prices have continued to rise in Q2. Although the recent increase in NAND prices has slowed, it still exceeds market concerns. Looking ahead, the penetration of AI terminal applications is accelerating, leading to a sustained increase in demand for computing and storage solutions. Yimao Cai, Dean of the School of Integrated Circuits at Peking University, expressed that semiconductor storage, considered as one of the largest segment of the integrated circuit industry, has encountered considerable challenges after stepping into the post-Moore and AI era. On one hand, traditional memory technologies have posed significant limits on the integration density and reliability below 28nm, and there is an urgent need for breakthroughs in underlying technologies. On the other hand, the traditional computing chips are insufficient to satisfy the high-efficiency demands for intelligent equipment, catalyzed by the surging growth in AI computing needs, as the traditional chip hardware incurs high costs and energy consumption. It can be observed that innovations in foundational units and process integration are crucial to the progress of memory technology, and new forms of storage technology are becoming increasingly mature. Prasad Alluri, VP and GM for Client Storage, SBU from Micron Technology, emphasized that "AI is everywhere and AI applications have entered every corner of people's daily lives in all kinds of forms. For instance, smartphone manufacturers have introduced AI capabilities in high-end phones, and the storage capacity of LPDDR 5 has been increased to between 12GB and 16GB to accommodate ever-increasing datasets. In addition, storage technology has evolved to UFS 4.0, which more than doubles power efficiency compared to the previous generation. In the realm of edge devices, autonomous driving will be elevated from Level 0 to Level 5 supported by the enhanced AI technology. Industry experts predict that the bit density required for automotive memory will increase by approximately 30 times, while the non-collision bits in power systems will grow nearly 100 times. None of the enhancements, whether in data centers, edge devices, or memory and storage environments, would be possible without the technological progress we've achieved generation after generation." Yan Li, Vice President of Advanced Technology at Western Digital, pointed out that the 3D NAND flash market is highly competitive and constantly evolving. The number of NAND cells stacked has experienced substantial growth, from 48 layers in 2017 to 64 and 96 layers. Up to date, Western Digital has completed mass production of its 218-layer products; while Micron Technology has already mass-produced its 280-layer products as stated in its keynote. Dr. Yan Li shared her insights that the continuous increase of layers might not be considered as an ideal strategy because large amounts of capitals are required for new equipment as complexity of the products rises. Should the market fail to accommodate these new products and prices start to decline, it could lead to a vicious cycle. Dr. Yan Li then moved on to make some explanations of the trade-offs involved in 3D NAND scaling technology. There are four main vectors to scaling: vertical scaling, lateral scaling, architecture scaling, and logical scaling. Taking its product PC SN5000S NVMe SSD as an example, Dr. Li noted that this model is equipped with cost-effective BiCS6 NAND technology and DRAM-less QLC PCIe Gen4 SSD, and its internal controller and firmware provide a perfectly optimized solution which can be introduced to the market within a shorter time and allowed for quality control. Compared to the previous generation, it offers a 51% improvement in memory density and a 12% increase in layer density. In relation to the mainstream TLC SSD, QLC SSD features enhanced performance and its major metrics are matched with TLC SSD. In consumer and commercial sectors, QLC SSDs are now being widely adopted by PC OEMs. Wallace C. Kou, President & CEO of Silicon Motion, claimed that AI will be the ever-lasting energy and vitality that propel continuous growth in the global market. Storage is regarded as one of the key areas in the artificial intelligence ecosystem, and the market requires more relevant software and applications to make AI edge devices more meaningful and appealing to consumers. Benny Ni, GAR Sales VP at Solidigm, remarked that the company currently possesses leading innovative technologies in the fields of TLC and QLC, enabling it to offer a powerful portfolio of data center storage products and storage solutions that optimize AI storage efficiency. Zhinong Liu, Executive Vice President of UNISOC, signified that in the all-scenario AI computing system, software serves as the "engine", chips as the "foundation", the ecosystem as the "link", and products as the "carrier". The company will continue to strengthen its advanced semiconductor manufacturing platform based on strategy and capability centers, maintain supply chain security, ensure efficient and stable product delivery, and enhance customer satisfaction. Haibing Xie, Director of Application Design in Center, Intel China, mentioned that AI PCs are the best carriers for edge-side AI and will lead the next explosion in the PC industry. The Intel Core Ultra is equipped with powerful AI capabilities, enabling the deployment of "generative AI" on PCs. At present, the company's AI PC chips have shipped 20 million units, and it is expected to reach 40 million units by the end of the year, with projected shipments of 100 million units in 2024-2025. Haiqing Huang, R&D Vice General Manager at Victory Giant Technology, revealed that the AI investment landscape among global tech companies is currently marked by an unparalleled enthusiasm, and the three main application markets, namely the smartphones, PCs, and servers, are bound to experience a welcome upswing brought by the development of AI applications. As of now, there is a constant increase in memory bandwidth, and Victory Giant has been accelerating its product R&D investments to meet the demands of high-performance computing, data centers, AI training, and inference scenarios. The fifth-generation high-performance memory (DDR5) is already in mass production, while the development of the sixth generation (DDR6) and seventh generation (DDR7) products is underway. Sam Sun, Chairman of BIWIN Storage, voiced that the evolving storage industry has brought a bright spot and prominent attention to the testing and packaging sector. This is particularly true as advanced packaging moves towards miniaturization and integration, and technical barriers are progressively becoming higher. The company is deepening its research and development efforts in the integrated packaging and testing layout to enhance its competitive edge. It is anticipated that the Integrated R&D and Packaging 2.0 Strategy will transform the company from a storage product supplier into a comprehensive partner offering wafer-level advanced packaging and testing services. This will provide industry partners with higher-quality in-depth solutions and promote a comprehensive enhancement of customer value. Rui Ding, General Manager, Product Department, Consumer Cloud Platform Business Group at iFLYTEK, declared that the development of large models has transitioned AI from a "tool" to an "assistant", capable of performing a wider range of tasks through more natural conversational forms. In the future, iFLYTEK hopes to collaborate with various industry stakeholders to promote the development of AI technology. Chloe Ma, VP of China GTM for IoT Line of Business at Arm, claimed that the wave of AI is sweeping across various sectors. Generative AI is not only being deployed in the cloud but is also rapidly making its way to the edge, where storage plays a crucial role in AI computing from the cloud to the edge. In response to the innovative demands of the new era of edge AI, Arm is committed to advancing in three major areas: hardware, software, and ecosystem development. Feng Chen, Senior Vice President of Rockchip, mentioned that an increasing number of industries and applications are integrating AI with IoT, making AIoT the optimal pathway for the intelligent transformation of traditional sectors and a key direction for the future development of the IoT. The rapid expansion of the AIoT market is creating opportunities for AIoT chips while also driving greater demands for data transmission, storage, and computing, which poses challenges for chip processing power. Rockchip continues to release new chips to support AIoT applications. Jie Chen, Co-founder and VP of Data Storage Technology at InnoGrit, highlighted that in the AI era, as well as the data age, higher challenges have been presented for storage technologies. Faster and more efficient SSD interfaces will contribute to breaking through storage limitations. The collaborative optimization between InnoGrit's memory controller chips and domestically produced flash memory will enhance the read/write performance and QOS competitiveness of storage products, jointly shaping the future of China's storage industry. Vic Huang, Vice General Manager of QUANXING Technology, noted that the computing architecture of solutions provided by QUANXING is not constrained by the size of large models, which contributes to a significant reduction in the cost of local deployment. The company is focused on a full range of high-end domestic storage products, aiming to complete the "last mile" of AI and striving to become a leader in the era of AI for everyone. Zheng Qiu, Technical Marketing Manager at Montage Technology, remarked that the rapid development of AI has generated immense demand for both computing power and storage capacity. The high-speed and stable data transfer between high-performance processors and large-capacity memory is of utmost importance. In response, "transmission chips" surfaced as a timely solution. Don Hu, Vice President of Marketing at Allwinner Technology, shared insights on the company's industrial layout, technological direction, and industry applications. Mr. Hu introduced Allwinner's exploration in areas such as general-purpose computing power, dedicated computing power, computational expansion, and multi-modal sensing. He also explained how Allwinner gives a full play to the fundamental role played by computing power to provide high-quality chips and services for industries like smart living, smart cities, and smart industries. Lei Hu, Director of Business Management at Applied Materials (AMAT), conducted an in-depth analysis of the technologies involved in high-bandwidth memory, including DRAM chips, logic controllers, and HBM stacks, as well as the additional material engineering processes. He further added that AMAT is capable of providing clients with cutting-edge packaging equipment to empower the elevation of customer value by taking advantage of its strong R&D capabilities to facilitate the advancement of high-bandwidth memory technology. Lee Chee Ping, Senior Director of LAM Research, commented that the AI chip market is flourishing with rapid growth, and the enhancement of AI chip performance requires the essential support of advanced packaging. Moreover, advanced packaging and heterogeneous integration are also the primary methods in the semiconductor industry for optimizing performance, power, form factor, and cost. Youngsuk Kim, Director of DISCO, remarked that from 2023 to 2029, the advanced packaging market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 11%, making 2.5D/3D packaging equipment increasingly important. DISCO has extensive experience in mass production and has closely collaborated with customers during the R&D phase, providing solutions for thinning and cutting HBM and 2.5D-PKG. Mr. Kim then introduced the performance and advantages of various equipment, including DFD6860HS, DGP8761HC, DGP8761, DFL7262, DFL7362, and DFD6362/6363. Focusing on Frontline Technologies to Foster a New and Autonomous Ecosystem The summit also established a dedicated forum, dubbed "Memory Industry Chain Ecosystem Forum", for enterprises across the memory industry chain to further decode memory future trends. An array of leading companies, including Skyverse, Loongson, Like Automation Equipment, Micro-Nano (HongKong), OKN Technology, Maxwell, Attach Point Intelligent Equipment, Tytantest, Maxio, Silergy and Heyan Technology, had gathered to share their insights. Discussions focused on cutting-edge trends, industry pain points, and solutions related to wafer testing, memory packaging, aging testing, product and technology innovation, terminal applications, yield improvement, and cost reduction. Song Zhang, Executive Vice President of Skyverse, observed that it has become the industry trend to identify defects by machines through AI decision-making, aimed at helping customers to locate defects more effectively and further enhance production yield and efficiency. In practical applications, it can be noted that system inspection has demonstrated better results in efficiency and accuracy than manual inspection, which aids to significantly improve production efficiency for the clients. Skyverse will remain dedicated to driving innovation in AI products to provide high-quality solutions for domestic customers in the future. Shan Jiang, General Manager of Guangdong Loongson Electronic Technology, affirmed that Loongson has gained more innovative space for the industry and market through self-reliance and independence. Autonomy has granted Loongson greater freedom, enhanced cost-effectiveness, and a more secure supply chain. Committed to becoming both a contributor and a maintainer of the international upstream community, Loongson aims to achieve independence and compatibility on the global stage at the same time, rather than decoupling or breaking the chain. Simon Ye, General Manager of Like Automation Equipment, expressed that the company's next-generation innovative technology of 2.5D/3D large-size packaging bumping is currently being validated through product development with domestic clients. Steve Pei, CEO of Micro-Nano (Hong Kong) Technology, mentioned that as a professional manufacturer of wafer thickness measurement systems, Micro-Nano now mainly provides the SemDex M1 semi-automatic system and the SemDex A fully automatic system, with over 1,000 units installed globally, placing the company at the forefront of the industry. Ming Zhao, General Manager of OKN Technology, observed that the company has initiated the R&D for PCIe GEN6 based on the GEN5 SSD testing system. With intense competition in the industry, OKN sees this as an opportunity to enhance its internal drive, strengthen its R&D capabilities, and foster product innovation, continuously providing better solutions for its customers. Kuilin Jin, Vice General Manager of Sales at Maxwell Technologies, pointed out that independent R&D is crucial. Through technological innovation, Maxwell aims to achieve the import substitution of key core components, break the foreign technology monopoly and ensure supply chain security. Xiaolong Ouyang, R&D VP at Attach Point Intelligent Equipment (APIE), shared his insights that APIE's one-stop solution has achieved AI Inside applications, supporting the packaging of mature storage chips required for AI, as well as advanced packaging solutions for AI storage chips, including HBM, 2.5D, TCB, and HB. Aaron Xu, CTO of Tytantest, highlighted that through its efforts on forward R&D, domestic manufacturing of complete machines, and validation on self-owned production lines, Tytantest strives to achieve fully automated and self-controllable processes, enabling to develop solutions that better meet customer needs. Huan Ren, Marketing Director at Maxio Technology, confirmed that the company continues to maintain a high level of investment in research and development. Its R&D expenditures have increased from 155 million yuan in 2021 to 380 million yuan in 2023, which have already been translated into several mass-produced products. Among these, the MAP1102 main control chip has exceeded 50 million units shipped. Compared to similar products on the market, Maxio's offerings demonstrate a leading advantage in I/O speed and energy efficiency, as well as a deep understanding and proactive layout in the integration of hardware and software. Leo Cao, Senior Sales Director at Silergy, said that in the storage industry chain, the company possesses several advantages, including highly efficient product integration, extensive experience collaborating with top-tier clients, a wide range of product coverage, supply chain security, and global collaborative research and development. Silergy has achieved a global layout in R&D and service, and stayed true to its mission to prioritize customer needs. Kent Wang, Business Development Manager at Heyan Technology, introduced that the company has gone through three development stages: the basic products of 6-inch dicing machines, upgraded products of 8-inch/12-inch dicing machines, and high-end products such as cutting and sorting machines and de-bonding machines. With rich technological accumulation and industrial experience, the company is capable of providing reliable and stable consistency assurance for customers, supporting customized solutions for different processes, and offering process-related technological innovations to meet advanced packaging demands. After a day of intense intellectual exchanges, the guests gathered for a grand dinner where the GMIF 2024 Annual Awards were presented. Following a rigorous selection process, many companies, including Intel, Micron, GigaDevice, Arm, UNISOC, SIXUNITED, Victory Giant, BIWIN Storage, Solidigm, Western Digital, Rockchip, Allwinner Technology, Weibu Information, Heyan Technology, OKN Technology, Attach Point Intelligent Equipment, iWISEETEC, Tytantest, Hemei Jingyi, Silicon Motion, Maxio, QUANXING, MICROFROM, Konsemi, Silergy, LKAUTO, Maxwell, Skyverse, RORZE, ExTripod Electronics, EPS, InnoGrit, POWEV, KingSpec and more, had been honored with the 2024 Annual Awards, receiving unanimous recognition from the expert judges. In summary, as a grand feast in the global storage field, the GMIF Innovation Summit has successfully held three consecutive sessions and received commendation from the industry. It has now become one of the most influential high-end summits in the domestic storage sector. In the future, the GMIF Innovation Summit will strive for deeper market service and innovative formats, creating a higher-level platform for communication and collaboration. The summit aims to explore more impactful industry events, analyze industry trends and opportunities with an international perspective, and promote mutual benefits within the industry. We look forward to seeing you again next year! About GMIF GMIF (Global Memory Innovation Forum) is the most important annual event of Shenzhen Memory Industry Association (SMIA). The forum aims to build a globally-focused, professional platform for the storage industry to collectively explore new technologies, applications, collaborations, and emerging opportunities. The Third GMIF2024 Innovation Summit is scheduled to be held on September 27, 2024 at Renaissance Shenzhen Bay Hotel. Under the theme of "AI Leads Memory's New Momentum", the summit aims to foster communication and interaction among both upstream and downstream enterprises in the storage industry. By promoting collaboration and complementary growth among industry partners, the GMIF seeks to help participating companies expand their product and brand reach and contribute to a thriving, win-win ecosystem in the global storage sector. For more information about GMIF, please visit https://www.gmif.com.cn/. Media Contact: Ms. Gu, 15064010336, [email protected] SOURCE Shenzhen Memory Industry Association NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- America Makes and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) announced today the availability of a Gaps Progress Report tracking efforts over the last six months by standards developing organizations (SDOs) and others to address the gaps identified in the Standardization Roadmap for Additive Manufacturing, Version 3.0, published by the America Makes and ANSI Additive Manufacturing Standardization Collaborative (AMSC). The progress report provides updates on standards, research, and conformity assessment activities; it also captures suggested modifications to existing gaps and notes additional gaps to be considered for future roadmaps. America Makes is the nations leading public-private partnership for additive manufacturing technology and education. Published in July 2023, Roadmap Version 3.0 identified 141 standardization gaps and corresponding recommendations across the additive manufacturing (AM) lifecycle areas of design; precursor materials; process control; post-processing; finished material properties; qualification and certification; nondestructive evaluation; maintenance and repair; and data. Of the 141 gaps, 54 gaps/recommendations are identified as high priority, 64 as medium priority, and 23 as low priority. In 91 cases, additional pre-standardization research and development is needed. The AMSC was launched in 2016 and serves as a cross-sector coordinating body that works to accelerate the development of industry-wide AM standards and specifications consistent with stakeholder needs to facilitate AM industry growth. Approximately 300 individuals from 150 public- and private-sector organizations supported the development of the recent roadmap, including representatives of U.S. federal government agencies and national laboratories, SDOs, industry, academia, and others. The next gaps progress report is expected to be issued in the fall. To receive future updates, offer suggested edits to the gaps progress report, or get involved in future AMSC activities, email [email protected]. For more information, visit www.ansi.org/amsc. About America Makes America Makes is the nation's leading public-private partnership for additive manufacturing technology and education. America Makes members from industry, academia, government, workforce, and economic development organizations work together to accelerate the adoption of AM and the nation's global manufacturing competitiveness. Founded in 2012 as the Department of Defense's manufacturing innovation institute for AM and first of the Manufacturing USA network, America Makes is based in Youngstown, Ohio, and managed by the not-for-profit National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM). Visit www.americamakes.us to learn more. About ANSI The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance both the global competitiveness of U.S. business and the U.S. quality of life by promoting and facilitating voluntary consensus standards and conformity assessment systems, and safeguarding their integrity. Its membership is comprised of businesses, professional societies and trade associations, standards developers, government agencies, and consumer and labor organizations. The Institute represents and serves the diverse interests of more than 270,000 companies and organizations and 30 million professionals worldwide. ANSI is the official U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and, via the U.S. National Committee, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). For more information, visit www.ansi.org and access the latest news and content on LinkedIn, X, and Facebook. SOURCE American National Standards Institute BEIJING, Sept. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- As dawn breaks over Hangji town in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, the first rays of sunlight spill onto the bustling streets, illuminating the rhythmic hum of toothbrush production lines. In a cozy Beijing hutong, a grandmother beams with delight as she unwraps her brand-new toothbrush, its bristles gleaming with promise. Thousands of miles away, guests at opulent hotels in Dubai indulge in lavish oral care routines, where even this simplest act becomes a luxurious ritual. While on the other side of the globe, in the icy expanse of Antarctica, scientists endure frigid winds, finding small comfort in their trusted toothbrushes amid the stark wilderness. Lives that seem worlds apart are intricately connected by this small yet essential item produced in the small Chinese town of Hangji, known for its toothbrush manufacturing. Nearly one in every three toothbrushes in the world is produced here, Xinhua reported. Hangji has become a global champion in toothbrush production, with local stories of hard work and prosperity passing down through generations. Residents here wield this small item as a tool that connects them to the world, mirroring the dedication of millions of workers over the last 75 years and embodying Chinese people's pursuit of a beautiful and healthy life. The small town also serves as a testament to a dynamic and thriving China, where its people have marched forward in high spirits, embarking on a vibrant journey of pursuing a beautiful and flourishing life while connecting to the world. Returning to hometown When the Global Times reporter entered, Tu Xinye, 37-year-old manager of Shuguang Toothbrush Factory, was instructing his workers to clean the factory's marble sign. The brand, with "Shuguang" meaning "dawn," is part of a cherished legacy from his grandfather and father, symbolizing the resilience and innovative spirit of his family. Established in 1976, it was the first toothbrush factory in the town, witnessing the evolution from manual labor to mechanization, and later, the digital transformation brought about by the internet. Tu has been gaining the attention of netizens in 2020 when he invited his grandfather and father former factory managers to join him for live selling, while sharing the trials and triumphs of the family business. Viewers were captivated by the heartfelt stories of dedication and the pursuit of prosperity that have defined the Tu family's journey in the toothbrush industry. Returning home to inherit the family business was not Tu's initial choice. He pursued a degree in aircraft engine design in the UK, driven by dreams of aviation. However, the relentless efforts of his family to innovate and sustain the toothbrush factory ignited his sense of responsibility. Having observed his father tirelessly seeking market opportunities to provide jobs for local residents, he began to realize that the toothbrush industry was not just a business. It was a lifeline for his hometown. In 2013, Tu decided to return to China and take over the family business. He dropped out of a PhD application, and started from the ground up, working as a factory worker to understand the intricacies of production. Over the last decade, he made efforts with all employees to double the factory's output and expanded its reach to over 40 countries worldwide. Three generations face different challenges in different historical contexts. Tu's grandfather, the first factory manager, faced the challenges of the 1970s' planned economy in China when production was fine, but sales were not. In the early 1980s, as the planned economy began to dissolve and privatization took hold, Tu's father encountered a sudden drop in orders while navigating market complexities. During his childhood, Tu often found himself in the factory, waking up to his parents discussing machine upgrades and strategies to tap into overseas markets, despite a lack of English. However, their commitments to exploration opened doors to international markets and set the factory on a successful path. In recent years, Tu has embraced e-commerce as a new frontier for growth. In October 2019, a leading Chinese e-commerce platform approached his factory to collaborate on a budget-friendly electric toothbrush. The factory invested in research and development, ultimately launching an electric toothbrush costing only 9.9 yuan ($1.4) that sold over 30,000 units in just one day. This success highlighted a growing demand for quality dental care products, even in rural areas, he told the Global Times. "Was it worth investing hundreds of thousands into a workshop environment that consumers could not see? My parents questioned me. But I wanted foreign visitors to see that our production standards were on par with the best in the world," he explained. Tech drives greener future In a small town covering just 40 square kilometers and home to fewer than 40,000 residents, an astonishing economic phenomenon is unfolding, marked by impressive figures. What's behind it is an engine powered by technology and environmental sustainability. In recent years, the toothbrush industry in Hangji has undergone a significant transformation, moving toward standardization and scalability. This shift has inspired a growing number of local youths to learn the craft. Dong Tao, a recent university graduate from Yangzhou, exemplifies this trend. After leaving a large corporate job, he joined Sanfeng Brush Factory, where he started his day at 7:30 am, preparing materials and warming up machines on the production line. Dong finds fulfillment in his role, utilizing his engineering skills and applying his knowledge of WIFI modules and Bluetooth technology to develop new products. He noted that many young graduates are eager to return to their hometowns, leveraging national policies and local technological advancements to carve out new career paths. The factory Dong works for has made attempts at innovation in a recent decade, supplying its toothbrushes to Xuelong 2, a Chinese icebreaking research vessel. Li Yang, the factory's manager, introduced that they tried different ways to develop a toothbrush with bristles measuring just 0.1 millimeters in diameter, designed to prevent gum bleeding in extremely cold conditions. The brush handle is made from polylactic acid, which can biodegrade in as little as three months, minimizing the ecological impact of research activities in polar regions. Driven by technological innovation, toothbrush manufacturers in Yangzhou are increasingly introducing smart toothbrush products. Tan Yuanshuai, the head of Fengyun Intelligent, a subsidiary of Sanfeng Brush Factory, showcased an AI-interactive toothbrush for children that utilizes a smart processor for real-time calculations and feedback, reminding kids to brush missed areas. "The popularity of this toothbrush reflects the growing consciousness and emphasis of Chinese people on healthy and environmental friendly lifestyle," Tan said. Similarly, Zhang Degang, the second-generation owner of Yangzhou Minsheng Brush Factory, highlights how the pursuit of quality and sustainability is reshaping their industry. Over the last decade, he has transformed production facilities to meet international standards, striving for a cleanroom environment akin to those used in chip manufacturing. Zhang said that in the past, they primarily focused on contract manufacturing, but now Chinese brands are becoming increasingly innovative and popular in the world. Zhang's factory also incorporates Chinese cultural elements such as the Grand Canal and Wenchang Pavilion, into the design of the toothbrush handle, attracting overseas customers who have interest in Chinese culture. The synergy of technology and sustainability is revitalizing local economies and inspiring a new generation of young people to pursue careers in their hometowns. Better life through hardworking In 2011, the China Toothbrush Museum, the only special industrial culture museum in the world named after a toothbrush, was established in Hangji. This museum houses over a thousand toothbrush specimens that span more than a thousand years. The story of Hangji reflects a typical narrative of how Chinese people have created a better life through hard work over the last 75 years. Countless small towns in China, which have achieved remarkable success through their advantageous industries, owe their progress to a group of pioneering individuals who are able to endure hardships. In China, 70 percent of China's violins come from Huangqiao township in Jiangsu; 80 percent of freshwater pearls are sourced from Shanxiahu township in Zhejiang Province; and 70 percent of industrial brushes are produced in Yuantan, Anhui Province. These industries have become new engines for China's economy. In a report on the achievements of economic and social development over the last 75 years, released by the National Bureau of Statistics on September 20, it was highlighted that under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China, living standards and quality of life have seen historic improvements. As residents' incomes continue to grow, consumption levels have risen, with notable enhancements in quality and ongoing optimization of consumption structures. Each artisan contributing to these progress writes their glory and dreams into the new journey of national rejuvenation. Today, the vibrant presence of hardworking individuals from various sectors is evident, showcasing a lively and colorful tapestry of life. These ordinary individuals, through their relentless efforts, are striving to increase their incomes and enhance their quality of life. Tu has inherited the legacy of his family's toothbrush factory, "Dawn," along with a pursuit of excellence. His spirit of perseverance, adventurous drive, and practical determination resonate with countless young people striving to find their own "dawn" in the new global landscape. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202409/1320580.shtml SOURCE Global Times NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Debevoise & Plimpton LLP announces that Gordon Moodie, a senior mergers and acquisitions lawyer, is joining its New York office as a partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group and Public Company Advisory Group. A broad-gauged dealmaker and a sought-after advisor to corporate boards, Mr. Moodie will advise the firm's clients, including public companies, boards, special committees and private equity sponsors, on the full spectrum of M&A transactions, including those in the technology and AI sectors and with complex corporate governance aspects. Previously, Mr. Moodie spent ten years as an M&A partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where he led high-profile transactions and advised clients on corporate governance, shareholder activism and capital markets transactions. Mr. Moodie also recently led product development at an artificial intelligence company backed by OpenAI that has developed a secure AI platform for lawyers. Peter A. Furci, Presiding Partner, said, "As the deal market continues to pick up, our clients, especially public companies, have turned to Debevoise for counsel and advice on complex corporate governance matters that can greatly impact a company's trajectory. Gordon's deep and nuanced understanding of these matters, compounded with his 18 years as a deal lawyer, position him to be an exceptional resource to our clients and a powerful addition to our team." Matthew Kaplan, Chair of the Corporate Department, said, "Adding a lawyer of Gordon's caliber to our team reflects our deep commitment to our M&A clients, especially public company clients with complex corporate governance needs. We are confident they will benefit from his counsel as both a proven dealmaker and a thoughtful advisor on the issues facing corporate boards." Kevin Rinker, Co-Chair of the M&A Group, said, "Gordon brings substantial experience and capabilities to our global M&A team, including strong relationships in the technology and AI space, which are key areas of strength for our practice and the firm. Equally important, having worked across from Gordon, we know him to be a collaborative and brilliant lawyer and a person of integrity he will fit right in." Mr. Moodie said "I have long admired Debevoise for its distinctive culture of teamwork and collaboration, the excellence of its lawyers, its strength across M&A and related practice areas and its growth in the vibrant M&A market on the West Coast. Debevoise provides an extraordinary platform for combining my experience in M&A and technology, and I look forward to serving the firm's clients." Mr. Moodie received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, and his Bachelor of Commerce from Queen's University in Canada. SOURCE Debevoise & Plimpton LLP JERSEY CITY, N.J., Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Goya Foods, the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the United States, is providing food donations to families and individuals greatly affected by Hurricane Helene in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. By collaborating with Sweetwater Mission FoodBank and Lara Trump in North and South Carolina, Global Empowerment Mission in Florida, and Atlanta Community Food Pantry in Georgia, Goya will effectively distribute food to communities where it is needed most. "In the face of Hurricane Helene's devastation, Goya stands united with the resilient communities of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, embodying the spirit of compassion and support. Together, we nourish hope and rebuild lives, reminding everyone that even in the darkest times, we can share the light of generosity," said Bob Unanue, the President and CEO of Goya Foods. By collaborating with Sweetwater Mission FoodBank and Lara Trump in North and South Carolina, Global Empowerment Mission in Florida, and Atlanta Community Food Pantry in Georgia, Goya will effectively distribute food to communities where it is needed most. The donated items include essential pantry staples like beans, rice, canned vegetables, broth, and spices, enabling families to cook hearty and nutritious meals. Through its global initiative, Goya Cares, Goya has consistently led the charge in responding to natural disasters and humanitarian crises, contributing millions of pounds of food annually across the United States and around the globe. Recently, Goya has provided food assistance to communities in Texas, Mexico, Maui, California, Turkey, and Syria. To learn more about Goya Foods, please visit: www.goya.com About Goya Foods Founded in 1936, Goya Foods, Inc. is America's largest Hispanic-owned food company and has established itself as the leader in Latin American food and condiments. Goya manufactures, packages, and distributes over 2,500 high-quality food products from Spain, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central, and South America. Goya products have their roots in the culinary traditions of Hispanic communities worldwide. The combination of authentic ingredients, robust seasonings, and convenient preparation makes Goya products ideal for every taste and table. For more information on Goya Foods, please visit www.goya.com. SOURCE Goya Foods HYBRID LIGHTING INSTALLATION AND CUSTOM SPECTRUM DRIVE INNOVATION MONTREAL, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - Sollum Technologies is proud to announce that Greentone, a leading cannabis producer located in Becancour, Quebec, has selected Sollum's advanced LED grow light capabilities to enhance their production. In line with Greentone's objectives, the Sollum team developed a tailored 50/50 hybrid lighting installation combining state-of-the-art Sollum LED fixtures with a legacy HPS technology. This collaboration marks a significant milestone in Sollum's growing portfolio of cannabis producers, highlighting their ability to provide customized dynamic LED lighting solutions. Greentone, a leading cannabis producer located in Becancour, Quebec, has selected Sollums advanced LED grow light capabilities to enhance their production. By choosing to work with Sollum Technologies, Greentone aims to leverage the benefits of both LED and HPS technologies in order to optimize energy efficiency and light intensity. This collaboration marks a significant milestone in Sollums growing portfolio of cannabis producers, highlighting their ability to provide customized dynamic LED lighting solutions. (CNW Group/Sollum Technologies) Known for its innovative cultivation practices, Greentone is also recognized for its dedication to producing high-quality cannabis. The company's cutting-edge techniques ensure optimal growth and quality of their products. By choosing to work with Sollum Technologies, Greentone aims to leverage the benefits of both LED and HPS technologies in order to optimize energy efficiency and light intensity. "Greentone is committed to excellence in every aspect of our cannabis cultivation," said Timothee Gauthier, President and CEO of Greentone. "Sollum Technologies impressed us with their advanced technology and professional approach in developing a custom lighting plan that suits our needs. We are excited to partner with a local company recognized as a leader in dynamic LED lighting, which aligns with our values and supports local innovation." Kassim Tremblay, VP of Global Sales Operations of Sollum Technologies, expressed his enthusiasm about this partnership: "We are thrilled to welcome Greentone as a new client. Their commitment to quality and innovation resonates deeply with our values. This installation, coupled with our custom spectrum solution, demonstrates the flexibility and adaptability of Sollum's technology to the meet the specific needs of cannabis growers." This collaboration represents a significant step for Sollum, with the cannabis industry recognizing Sollum's expertise and commitment to delivering the most advanced solution and exceptional support to its clients. About Sollum Technologies Sollum Technologies designed the only 100% dynamic LED lighting solution that modulates the full spectrum of the Sun's natural light to illuminate closed environments such as greenhouses, research centers and laboratories. Sollum's award-winning, turnkey solution consists of internet of things, AI-powered light fixtures that are controlled by Sollum's proprietary SUN as a Service cloud platform. Sollum's distinctive proposition is a fully scalable cleantech solution that evolves with business needs and multi-zone light management, with each zone benefiting from automatic dimming of an unlimited number of light recipes; this is why it provides unparalleled value in terms of energy savings and, additionally for greenhouse growers, increased productivity, and superior produce quality. Founded in 2015, the company is headquartered in Montreal (Quebec, Canada), where its design, development, and manufacturing activities are concentrated, and has a representative office in Leamington (Ontario, Canada). For more information, visit sollum.tech. 2024 Sollum Technologies. All rights reserved. SUN as a Service, SUNaaS, LED by nature, SF-E2, SF-ONE, SF-MAX, SF-PRO, S.E.A.R.C.H. and the Sollum logo are registered or trademarks of Sollum Technologies SOURCE Sollum Technologies GRINNELL, Iowa, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- On Sept. 28, Grinnell College dedicated Renfrow Hall in honor of 1937 Grinnell graduate Edith Renfrow Smith, honoring her inspiring life of achievement, service, and generosity. Renfrow Hall, located at 1033 Broad Street in downtown Grinnell, Iowa, will serve as a home for students committed to building a stronger, more engaged community. The dedication ceremony not only celebrated this unique space, but also paid tribute to the remarkable legacy of Renfrow Smith, who also received an honorary doctorate from Grinnell College in 2019. Renfrow Smith, who celebrated her 110th birthday in July, is Grinnell College's first Black woman graduate, its oldest living alum, an Iowa African American Hall of Fame member, and a Grinnell High School Hall of Fame inductee. Her legacy of service, coalition-building, advocacy, and aspiration has inspired generations. The dedication weekend offered an opportunity to uplift and celebrate her lifelong commitment to community and equality. The weekend-long celebration honoring Renfrow Smith began on Friday, Sept. 27, with the unveiling of the Rooted in Resilience exhibit, a photo timeline at the Smith Gallery chronicling her life and legacy. Later that morning, the streets of Grinnell were lined with community members for a heartfelt Welcome Parade, celebrating Renfrow Smith's return to her hometown. The afternoon saw the live installation of a stunning wheat paste mural of the Renfrow sisters, led by artist Isaac Campbell. The day closed with a vibrant dessert and dance reception in Grinnell's Central Park. On Saturday, Sept. 28, visitors explored Renfrow Hall, the Katherine Howell Weingart '61 Civic Innovation Pavilion and many exhibits celebrating the Renfrow family legacy, culminating in a powerful dedication ceremony at noon. About Edith Renfrow Smith Born in 1914, grew up in one of the oldest Black families in Grinnell. As the fifth of six children, she was instilled with a deep commitment to education, community, and equality. These values guided her through Grinnell College, where she majored in psychology and became the first Black woman to graduate from the College in 1937. Following her graduation, Renfrow Smith moved to Chicago, where she became a pillar of her community, raised two daughters, and enjoyed a distinguished career as a public-school elementary teacher. Even after her retirement in 1976, she continued to serve others through volunteer work, earning induction into the Chicago Senior Citizens Hall of Fame in 2009. Grinnell College recognized her lifetime of service with an honorary doctorate in 2019, awarded to a standing ovation. Renfrow Hall will feature a permanent display honoring Renfrow Smith's life and contributions. This tribute will ensure that current and future generations of Grinnellians, community members, and visitors will be inspired by her story and continue to uphold her values. Team Renfrow Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant, professor and Louise R. Noun Chair in Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies, founded Team Renfrow in the summer of 2021 with the mission of bringing needed visibility and recognition to Edith Renfrow Smith '37, Grinnell College's first Black alumna. The team, comprising faculty, students, alumni, and community membersincluding Dan Kaiser, emeritus professor of history; Monique McLay Shore '90; Stuart Yeager '82; Feven Getachew '24; Evie Caperton '25; Libby Eggert '25; Hemlock Stanier '25; and Valeriya Woodard '25has worked and continues to uncover and share the rich history of the Renfrow family and other Black Grinnellians, making significant contributions to public history. Their collective efforts will culminate in several events over the weekend that highlight Renfrow Smith's legacy. Assets and Photos About Grinnell College Grinnell College, a private liberal arts college in Iowa founded in 1846, provides individually advised learning for intellectually engaged students to produce graduates who are prepared to navigate the world's complexities and responsibly contribute to the common good. Grinnell enrolls 1,700 students from around the world, who earn bachelor's degrees in a range of disciplines across the humanities, arts and sciences. Grinnell's rigorous academic program and campus life emphasize excellence in education through free inquiry and the open exchange of ideas, a diverse community and social responsibility and action. More information about Grinnell College is available at www.grinnell.edu. SOURCE Grinnell College Household Cleaning Franchise Makes Difference for Children of First Responders VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Home Clean Heroes, a household cleaning franchise dedicated to supporting first responders, is proud to announce the recipients of its annual scholarship program. These scholarships honor the children of first responders who have shown outstanding commitment to academics and community service. The scholarship program is part of Home Clean Heroes' partnership with the First Responders Children's Foundation, which provides financial support to help these children with education, health, and overall well-being. "We're incredibly proud to support the children of our nation's first responders through our scholarship program," says Joe Delatte, Home Clean Heroes brand president. "These young people have shown exceptional dedication, resilience, and a commitment to serving their communities. We're honored to play a small role in helping them achieve their educational goals and make a positive impact on the world." "We are deeply grateful for our partnership with Home Clean Heroes and their commitment to supporting the children of first responders," said Jillian Crane, CEO of First Responders Children's Foundation. "These scholarships not only recognize academic achievement and community service, but also honor the legacy of service and sacrifice these families represent. By investing in the next generation, we are helping them pursue their dreams and build a brighter future for themselves and their communities." The 2024 Winners Sisters Adeline and Paige Benzick each received a $1,000 scholarship, inspired by their father, a detective with the Plano Police Department. Adeline is studying at the University of Oklahoma, while Paige attends Texas A&M University. Both are pursuing nursing careers to continue their family's legacy of service. Aaliyah Brown was awarded a $2,000 scholarship for her academic dedication and community service. Inspired by her father's 17-year career as a Captain with Dallas Fire Rescue, Aaliyah is now majoring in Communication and Legal Studies at the University of Houston. Marie Thomas-Quick, a freshman at Georgia Tech majoring in Mechanical Engineering, received a $4,000 scholarship. Her father, an EMS Lieutenant in Atlanta, suffered a severe injury while assisting a motorist, sparking Marie's interest in neuroscience and medical technology. She aims to use her career to make a positive impact in these fields. Connor Canfield, a freshman at Florida Gulf Coast University studying Exercise Science, earned a $4,000 scholarship for his dedication to law enforcement. Inspired by his father's resilience following a career-ending injury, Connor is driven to serve his community with the same sense of duty. Laird Johnson, a freshman at Lees-McRae College majoring in Wilderness Medicine and Rescue, received a $4,000 scholarship. Inspired by his mother's work as a firefighter, Laird aspires to become a Wildland Firefighter, combining his love of the outdoors with a desire to protect communities. Alexander Salonga, a freshman at Virginia Tech majoring in Advertising, was awarded a $4,000 scholarship for his academic excellence and commitment to making a difference. Inspired by his mother, an EMT, Alexander hopes to use his advertising skills to raise awareness about important societal issues. These scholarships reflect Home Clean Heroes' commitment to empowering the next generation of leaders by recognizing their resilience and supporting their educational goals. As part of its Heroes First initiative, Home Clean Heroes donates a portion of every cleaning to support first responders and their families. If you are interested in obtaining a free estimate or booking a home cleaning service with Home Clean Heroes, visit https://homecleanheroes.com/ or call 844-HEY-HERO. ABOUT HOME CLEAN HEROES Home Clean Heroes is a fast growing, Virginia-based home cleaning franchise company with 18 locations across the country. They support local first responders with every home that they clean. Part of Buzz Franchise Brands, an experienced, financially strong franchisor, Home Clean Heroes is committed to providing convenient, customizable and trustworthy home cleaning services, as well as giving back to the real heroes: first responders. The brand's Heroes First initiative is a national partnership with the First Responder's Children's Foundation, a national philanthropic organization with a 20-year legacy, in which the brand donates $1 of every recurring or one-time service fee collected, among other programs. Home Clean Heroes has earned recognition from Entrepreneur in 2022 as an Emerging Franchise, Franchise Gator as one of the Fastest Growing Franchises and as a Top Emerging Franchise of 2021 and by Franchise Connect Magazine as one of the Top 100 Home Service Franchise Opportunities. For more information, visit https://homecleanheroesfranchise.com/. ABOUT FIRST RESPONDERS CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION First Responders Children's Foundation is a national foundation that provides programs and resources that address the specific needs of first responders and their families. The Foundation focuses on four key areas: Scholarships, Financial Assistance Grants; a Mental Health Resiliency Program; and Community Engagement. The Foundation was founded 23 years ago in response to 9/11 when 800 children lost a first responder parent. Additional information about FRCF can be found at www.1stRCF.org and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @1strcf. Media Contact: Mike Toper (919) 813-6511 [email protected] SOURCE Home Clean Heroes SHANGHAI and NANJING, China and SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 23, in Rio de Janeiro, on the eve of the International Myeloma Society (IMS) Annual Meeting, Dr. Yongke Zhang, Chief Scientific Officer of IASO Biotherapeutics (IASO Bio), along with leading Chinese onco-hematology physicians, including Professor Lugui Qiu from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Hematology Hospital and Professor Jie Jin from the Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, visited the Hematology Center at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) in Brazil. The two parties engaged in in-depth discussions and explored potential collaboration opportunities in the development of innovative therapies for cancer patients. From left to right: in the foreground, Claudia Wu (Shamano Group), Camen S. P. Lima (CancerThera), Jie Jin (Zheijang University), and Hao Mu (Hospital of the Institute of Hematology and Blood Disorders); on the medium level, Lugui Qiu (Peking Union Medical School), Wang Wei (Shamano Group), Francisco Pessine (Institute of Chemistry/Unicamp); in the third plan, Carmino A. de Souza (CancerThera), Celso D. Ramos (CancerThera), Yongke Zhang (IASO BioTherapeutics), Li Li Min (Faculty of Medical Sciences/Unicamp), Maria Carolina S. Mendes (CancerThera), Bruno D. Benites (Hemocentro/Unicamp) and Elvira Correa (CancerThera). (Source of photo: Official website of CEPID CancerThera) During their meeting at the Hematology Center at Unicamp, the Brazilian team presented their progress in improving access to innovative cancer treatments, particularly the Theranostic model actively developed by CEPID CancerThera (the organizer of the visit), and CAR-T cell therapy, developed by the Center for Advanced Therapies (Nutera) in Ribeirao Preto (SP). The Chinese delegation expressed strong interest in Brazil's advancements in these areas, especially in the treatment of hematological malignancies. In turn, the Chinese delegation provided insights into the therapeutic advantages of CAR-T cell therapy which utilizes the patient's own immune cells to target and treat hematological malignancies, offering benefits to those patients failed to 1-3 lines of proteinase inhibitor, immunomodulator and anti-CD38 mab. After the meeting, the delegation toured the lymphocyte collection unit, which is essential for developing CAR-T cell therapies. They also visited the Nuclear Medicine Service of the Unicamp Hospital de Clinicas where they viewedthe well-equipped facilities for patients recovering from bone marrow transplants.The visit paved the way for potential collaborations, with the Chinese researchers underscoring the significance of future partnerships in biotechnology, healthcare, and research institutes. "Their primary interest in visiting us was to understand our involvement in the CAR-T therapy, especially since half of the delegation consisted of hematologists," said Dr. Carmino Antonio de Souza, an onco-hematologist, professor at Unicamp's Faculty of Medical Sciences, and lead researcher at CEPID CancerThera. "We truly value our relationship with Brazil. We have a long history of collaboration in various fields. Now, we are focused on bringing products here and introducing this new CAR-T therapy so that more patients can have access to it. That's our mission," said Dr. Yongke Zhang, Chief Scientific Officer of IASO Bio Therapeutics. IASO Bio dedicated to making curable and accessible CAR-T therapies available to patients in China and worldwide. The company is actively exploring innovative collaboration models with partners across research, technology, clinical, and commercialization sectors worldwide to accelerate the wider clinical application of innovative therapies such as CAR-T. SOURCE IASO Bio If Amanda Chase is going to return to the Virginia state Senate next year, shell first have to defeat felonious allegations that she is no longer a member of the Republican Party. Despite her credentials as an outspoken conservative representing the 11th Senate District for eight years and describing herself as Trump in Heels in March the Chesterfield County Republican Committee informed Chase that she had violated state party rules, effectively relinquishing her membership in the Republican Party of Virginia. Chase argues it was not her but her critics who violated party rules, part of a nefarious attempt by bad actors to settle personal vendettas and spoil her political comeback. After losing reelection in a GOP primary last year, Chase hopes to return to the Senate by replacing John McGuire in the 10th District. McGuire is running for Congress in the commonwealth's 5th Congressional District, and if he defeats Democrat Gloria Witt this November as expected, his seat closer to home will be up for grabs. Multiple Republicans aim to fill the vacancy, seeking their partys nomination for a special election expected to be held in early January. Chase is one of them. By moving from Chesterfield to Appomattox County this year, she now resides in the 10th and would be eligible for the nominating contest. Her eligibility assumes, however, that she is still permitted to partake in party activities. According to an email sent to Republican leadership last week, she is not. This communication serves as formal notice of her current membership status within the Virginia GOP, reads the Sept. 24 email. She is currently barred from participating in any party activities until April 19, 2028. The email was sent by Carey Allen, chairwoman of the 4th District Congressional Republican Committee. Allen told The Daily Progress she sent it because she wanted to inform Appomattox Republicans that Chase is not permitted to join their committee, or any Republican committee for that matter. I dont think we should reward people who dont support Republicans, Allen said in an interview, referring to the original source of the controversy. Last June, after losing to Glen Sturtevant in a GOP primary, Chase is alleged to have asked for the floor during a Chesterfield committee meeting and announced that she would not be supporting Sturtevant in the general election, calling him dishonorable. Allen and others argue that is a violation of the state party rules, which can require members express support for all Republican nominees. Additionally, the rules say that a committee member is deemed to have resigned from the committee if they announce their support for any candidate other than the nominee. A May letter addressed to Chase includes screenshots of social media posts in which Chase alludes to starting a write-in campaign against Sturtevant. The letter concludes she had relinquished her membership in the Republican Party of Virginia. You dont have to go out and raise funds and actively campaign for someone if you dislike them, but you cant stand up and say youre not going to support them, Allen said. Chase is not backing down. In an interview, she told The Daily Progress that Allen and her goons are making baseless accusations to discredit her and hurt her chances for the Republican nomination in the special election. Carey Allen is a liar. She has no integrity. The only thing she has is a vendetta, Chase said. According to Chase, the entire matter is an issue of sour grapes. Chase and Allen backed different candidates in a board of supervisors election. Chases candidate won, and she believes Allen is seeking revenge by damaging her prospects. I am the front runner in this race and they are afraid of me, she wrote in an email to supporters. They know I will win. According to Chase, Allens Sept. 24 email to Republican officials addressed to 5th District Committee Chairman Rick Buchanan was slanderous and outside of Allens purview, in part because Chase now lives in the 5th Congressional District and says she has never lived in the 4th. In a letter of her own, Chase told Buchanan on Friday that Allens allies violated the party plan and illegally kicked me out of the party. The state party plan is not a legally binding document. It is not clear who will ultimately decide Chases fate. Rich Anderson, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Progress. Neither did Jeff Ryer, who heads the 1st Congressional District committee and who both Chase and Allen have been in contact with. This is not the first time Chase has been accused of failing to support a nominee. In 2019, when Chase was a sitting senator running for reelection, the Chesterfield committee found that Chase had been promoting the candidacy of an independent candidate for sheriff. A detailed letter to Chase accused her of funding campaign ads for the independent candidate, launching a social media attack campaign against the Republican nominee and ignoring party members who asked her to stop. These are actions that the Republican Party will not condone, reads the 2019 letter, signed by former Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Jack Wilson and former Chesterfield committee Chairwoman Tara Carroll. It gave her three days to take corrective action by removing certain social media posts and publicly stating she would not support the independent candidate. Three days later, Carroll sent Chase a letter claiming Chase did not do as requested. Since you chose not to take advantage of this opportunity to remain a member of the Committee, the loss of membership is automatic and now in effect, Carroll wrote in a decision that barred Chase from party activities for four years. Chase won reelection anyway, characterizing the ordeal as an attempt to sabotage her campaign. Both then and now, she believes that her political adversaries abused their power. Any time they made an assertion, they never called me, they never asked my side of the story, which is a complete violation of the party plan. They never did an investigation, Chase said. Allen said Chase had 30 days to appeal the most recent decision but never did. And she noted that, in March of last year, Chase signed a pledge vowing to support Republican nominees. The document specifically cites two articles in the party plan that Chase is alleged to have violated. Allen and Chase are looking at the same party plan but reaching very different conclusions. Its not a disagreement over how the party plan is written. Thats pretty clear, Chase said. Shes acted illegally. Shes accusing me of doing things that she herself is doing. Thats how crazy this is. Chase believes the matter will be put to rest on Tuesday night when she expects to be granted membership in the Appomattox GOP. Allen doesnt see how thats possible. In a Friday email to Anderson and other Republican leaders, Allen wrote it was unequivocally the end of the road for Chase. She is fundamentally ineligible to be a member of the party. There are absolutely no grounds for further consideration, Allen wrote. For Allen, the rules are clear. Chase violated them, and party leadership would be giving her a pass if she is allowed to join the Appomattox committee and partake in a special election. Chase is claiming election interference. Its her desire to create enough confusion out there so that people dont think they can vote for me. Thats really what this is, Chase said. Ive not been kicked out of the Virginia GOP. Ive not been legally kicked out of the Chesterfield GOP. Theres no here here. BEIJING, Sept. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China is a momentous occasion, not only for the over 1.4 billion Chinese people but also with global significance and historical importance. Over these 75 years, the journey of Chinese modernization has profoundly transformed China and influenced the world, truly realizing that "our work will be written in the annals of human history." This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Amid a changing international landscape, China has steadfastly maintained an independent and peaceful foreign policy, upholding international fairness and justice. As China increasingly approaches global center stage, it continues to make new and greater contributions to the cause of peace and development for humanity. Seventy-five years ago, when this ancient nation in the East opened a new chapter in its history, the world was just beginning to recover from the devastation of two wars. From a struggling agricultural country, China has evolved into the world's second-largest economy, the world's leading manufacturing power, the top trader of goods, and the holder of the largest foreign exchange reserves. This historical elevation in national strength matches China's significant contributions to global development. From 1979 to 2023, China's average annual contribution to global economic growth reached 24.8 percent, with an average of over 30 percent from 2013 to 2023. For 12 consecutive years, China's outbound direct investment in foreign countries has ranked among the top three globally, holding over 10 percent of the global share for eight years. China's "new three items" - electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and solar cells - are facilitating the globe to accelerate their green and low-carbon transitions, while its infrastructure projects span over 190 countries and regions worldwide. Today, averagely speaking, China engages in approximately 80 million yuan ($11.4 million) worth of trade with the world every minute, invests approximately 112 million yuan abroad every hour, and attracts about 3.377 billion yuan in foreign investment daily. The development of China is intricately linked with global progress, achieving mutual success, and driving the world toward greater progress and prosperity. A great nation with over 5,000-year-old civilization stands majestically in the East, as over 1.4 billion people stride forward on the path to modernization. Such a vast scale itself is one of the main powerful driving forces for the progress of the entire world and human society. The practices of Chinese modernization teaches us that development is the key to solving all problems. China has proposed the Global Development Initiative to support the development and revitalization of countries in the Global South. By the end of 2023, China's direct investment in countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative had exceeded $300 billion. Chinese companies have built the first ultra-high voltage direct current transmission line in the Americas, the first electrified railway, the first digital mine, and numerous infrastructure and livelihood projects in Africa, making an indelible contribution to global infrastructure construction. From "seek knowledge even if you have to go as far as China" to "seek peace even if you have to go as far as China," peace is a valuable public good that China offers to a turbulent world. Over the past 75 years, China has never initiated any war or conflict and has never occupied an inch of another country's territory. In the face of numerous international security challenges, China has proposed the Global Security Initiative. It has mediated the reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran, facilitated a historic reconciliation among Palestinian factions, and promoted a political resolution to the crisis in Ukraine. Today, China has become the second-largest contributor to the UN regular budget, the second-largest contributor to peacekeeping operations, and the largest troop-contributing country among the permanent members of the UN Security Council. China has always been committed to promoting world peace and development. To leave behind achievements worthy of being engraved in world history, a nation and its people must not only be judged by their material accomplishments but also by the amount of spiritual wealth they have contributed. The latter often holds more profound significance than the former. In today's world, where the destinies of nations are closely intertwined, China has proposed the Global Civilization Initiative, advocating cultural exchanges that transcend estrangement, mutual learning that transcends clashes, and coexistence that transcends feelings of superiority. It addresses significant questions, such as how different civilizations can coexist and where human civilization is headed, offering Chinese wisdom and solutions to promote cultural exchanges and the advancement of human civilization. Over the past 75 years, China has demonstrated an uncommon empathy in the political arena of major powers throughout human history. From proposing the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, emphasizing equality and non-interference in other countries' internal affairs, to the new era's initiatives like jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative, building a community with a shared future for mankind, and the promotion of solidarity and cooperation among the Global South, China has advocated that the sovereignty of all countries are equal regardless of size on global arena while showing respect and support for the development of other countries. China has provided the worldview of "shared future" and the methodology of "jointly building and win-win cooperation" for all mankind. This is rare in the history of human civilization and is urgently needed in today's world. The 75-year journey through challenges has underscored the invaluable role China plays in global peace, development and progress. The modernization China has promoted, which embodies justice, openness, mutual benefit, people-first policies, diversity, inclusiveness, eco-friendliness, and peace and security, will only become more significant and valuable to the world as time progresses. SOURCE Global Times MIAMI, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Kaho Partners, LLC ("Kaho") announced today that it has formed Global Flavors Group, a platform to acquire and scale the leading collection of high-quality food manufacturers focused on authentic international cuisine. Global Flavors Group's mission is to bring authentic global flavors to American plates. Kaho is attracted to this industry due to its positive growth tailwinds - driven by the increasing diversity of the US population and growing interest in authentic international flavors - and fragmentation. Kaho has recent, relevant experience in the food manufacturing industry. Kaho acquired Kenny's Great Pies ("Kenny's"), a premier manufacturer of high quality, clean label, cream-based pies and pie fillings, from its founder in 2020. Kaho led major investments in capacity and automation, implemented rigorous data tracking, instilled a culture of excellence and continuous improvement, and significantly expanded the sales organization. During Kaho's hold, Kenny's tripled revenue and quadrupled EBITDA. Kaho sold Kenny's to Dessert Holdings, a portfolio company of Bain Capital, earlier this year. "We are thrilled to launch Global Flavors Group after spending more than a year developing our thesis around US-based food manufacturers that deliver authentic international flavors to American consumers. We have assembled a fantastic team of industry executives who will help us identify opportunities and drive value creation during our hold. We believe that the combination of our industry experience, leadership team, and longer-term orientation will allow us to build a market leader in this growing industry." stated Griffin Horter, Founder of Global Flavors Group and Managing Partner of Kaho. Global Flavors Group is actively looking to acquire food manufacturers with the following characteristics: Cuisine : Hispanic, Asian, Indian, and Mediterranean : Hispanic, Asian, Indian, and Mediterranean Location : Headquartered in the US : Headquartered in the US Size : Less than $10 million of profit FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Griffin Horter ([email protected]) About Global Flavors Group: Global Flavors Group is building the leading collection of high-quality food manufacturers focused on authentic international cuisine. For more information on Global Flavors Group, please visit www.globalflavorsgroup.com . About Kaho Partners: Kaho is a thesis-driven investment firm focused on building market-leading companies through organic and acquisition-driven growth. For more information on Kaho Partners, please visit www.kahopartners.com . SOURCE Kaho Partners LONGUEUIL, QC, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Knowlton Development Corporation, Inc. ("kdc/one"), a global leader in custom formulation, packaging design and manufacturing solutions for many of the world's leading beauty, personal care and home care brands, has agreed to acquire Italian-based Laffon S.r.l. ("Laffon"), a specialist in make-up packaging manufacturing. This acquisition further strengthens kdc/one's packaging capabilities, building on the company's purchase of HCT Group in 2020. Founded in 1982, Laffon has earned a strong reputation for its make-up packaging produced in its highly automated production facility located north of Milan, Italy. This strategic move enables kdc/one to better meet the rapidly evolving market demands of customers who are increasingly looking for partners with regionalized capabilities. Sandra Wisniewski, Global President Beauty and Personal Care at kdc/one, said: "This strategic acquisition significantly enhances our ability to offer innovative packaging solutions, complementing our comprehensive full-service capabilities that include ideation, design, formulation development, and manufacturing." Denis Maurin, President of Sales and Innovation, HCT by kdc/one, stated: "This acquisition marks a new chapter in HCT's journey. We are thrilled to extend our manufacturing capabilities to Europe and look forward to welcoming the talented Laffon team to the kdc/one family." "The addition of Laffon to our business means we can now provide our cosmetics clients with a comprehensive, regional end-to-end solution in Europe, enhancing the agility of our services. Moreover, Laffon aligns perfectly with our commitment to offering highly sustainable packaging solutions." Laffon's technical and automated production facility specialises in injection moulding, decoration, and assembly of components, as well as digital and screen printing. Luca Rossi, Managing Director at Laffon, added: "We are excited to become part of the kdc/one family. This is an ideal move for both parties, as we merge our best-in-class packaging capabilities in the cosmetics industry with kdc/one's comprehensive service offering to the beauty sector." Both Laffon and HCT have made significant investments in sustainable packaging innovations and will continue to do so. Their commitment aims to minimise the environmental impact of their production processes, supply chains, and the products of their brand partners. HCT by kdc/one, which has designed some of the cosmetics industry's most iconic packaging, is leading the way in minimising the detrimental effects of oil-based plastics by creating packaging that is designed to be recycled and promoting the use of recycled plastics, bio plastics and refillable packaging solutions. Likewise, Laffon gives priority to raw materials derived from renewable sources, carries out assessments on the lifecycle of materials used, and utilises the most energy-efficient machines. About kdc/one Headquartered in Longueuil, Quebec, Canada, kdc/one is a trusted global provider of value-added solutions to many of the world's leading brands in the beauty, personal care, and home care categories. The company partners closely with both industry-leading consumer products companies and fast-growing independent brands in the ideation, formulation, design, packaging, and manufacturing of products. The innovative products that kdc/one has helped to develop are sold by its brand partners in more than 70 countries worldwide. About Laffon Laffon S.r.l. provides packaging solutions for a wide array of cosmetic products, such as foundation, blush, and eyeshadow. Founded in 1982 and active for over 35 years in the cosmetics packaging sector, Laffon has made innovative design, combined with technical and production skills, the key to its success. Laffon's manufacturing operations are located in Venegono Inferiore, near Milan, Italy. If you have questions, please contact: Serge Vallieres, [email protected], 438-372-3575 "Thank God I Do" Claims Top Song Honors Essential Music Publishing Named Publisher of the Year NASHVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, tonight honored the songwriters and publishers of Christian music's most-performed songs of the past year at the 47th annual ASCAP Christian Music Awards, an invitation-only celebration in Nashville. Top honors were awarded to the following: Christian Music Songwriter of the Year: Matthew West Christian Music Songwriter/Artist of the Year: Brandon Lake Christian Music Song of the Year: "Thank God I Do," co-written by Nate Ruess and published by Bearvon Music and Warner Chappell Music "Thank God I Do," co-written by and published by Bearvon Music and Christian Music Publisher of the Year: Essential Music Publishing This is the sixth ASCAP Christian Music Songwriter of the Year honor for Matthew West whose most-performed songs are "Any More," "Don't Stop Praying," "Heaven Changes Everything," "Never," "Running Home" and "Strong." In 2023, West received the ASCAP Golden Note Award for artists who have achieved extraordinary career milestones. The five-time Grammy nominee has released 15 albums, had cuts by Casting Crowns, Amy Grant, Scotty McCreery and Rascal Flatts among others, and penned six books. West has been nominated for six Dove Awards; his current Don't Stop Praying Tour runs through November. ASCAP Christian Songwriter/Artist of the Year Brandon Lake penned four most-performed songs including "Fear Is Not My Future," "Praise," "Praise You Anywhere" and "Trust in God." The multi-Grammy-winning artist recently released For the One: A Tour Documentary with Phil Wickham and is currently on his Tear Off the Roof Tour. He is nominated for 16 Dove Awards including Artist of the Year, Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year, and four in the Song of the Year category. Lake was ASCAP Christian Music Songwriter of the Year in 2023. "Thank God I Do," the ASCAP Christian Music Song of the Year, co-written by Nate Ruess and published by Warner Chappell Music and Bearvon Music, was Lauren Daigle's sixth #1 single, peaking simultaneously at #1 on Billboard's Christian Airplay and Christian AC Airplay charts as well as their Hot Christian Songs, Christian Streaming Songs and Christian Digital Song Sales charts. Ruess is a past recipient of the Hal David Starlight Award given by the Songwriters Hall of Fame, is a multiple Grammy winner, and has had cuts by Keith Urban, Pink, Halsey, Kesha, Maroon 5 and Ellie Goulding among others. The ASCAP Christian Music Publisher of the Year Award was presented to Essential Music Publishing. Their most-played songs of the past year are "Any More," "Don't Stop Praying," "Praise," "Praise You Anywhere," "Somebody To You," "Strong," "These Days," "Trust in God" and administered titles "Fear Is Not My Future," "Never," "Rescue" and "Running Home." Essential Music Publishing Vice President Jamie Rodgers accepted the award. Kicking off with a performance from five-time ASCAP Christian Songwriter of the Year Ben Glover, the evening was hosted by ASCAP Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Matthews, Chairman of the Board and President Paul Williams, Vice President of Nashville Membership Mike Sistad and Nashville Assistant Vice President, Strategic Services, Kele Currier in front of an audience of acclaimed songwriters, Christian music stars, and standout music industry creatives. A complete list of ASCAP Christian Music Award winners is available at www.ascap.com/christianawards24 . About ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a membership association of more than one million songwriters, composers and music publishers, and represents some of the world's most talented music creators. Founded and governed by songwriters, composers and publishers, it is the only performing rights organization in the U.S. that operates on a not-for-profit basis. ASCAP licenses a repertory of over 20 million musical works to hundreds of thousands of businesses that use music, including streaming services, cable television, radio and satellite radio and brick and mortar businesses such as retail stores, hotels, clubs, restaurants and bars. ASCAP collects the licensing fees; identifies, matches and processes trillions of performances every year; and returns nearly 90 cents of every dollar back to its members as royalties. The ASCAP blanket license offers an efficient solution for businesses to legally perform ASCAP music while respecting the right of songwriters and composers to be paid fairly. ASCAP puts music creators first, advocating for their rights and the value of music on Capitol Hill, driving innovation that moves the industry forward, building community and providing the resources and support that creators need to succeed in their careers. Learn more and stay in touch at www.ascap.com , on X and Instagram @ASCAP and on Facebook . SOURCE ASCAP - American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers PARIS, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - Mercure Hotels, a brand synonymous with local discovery and exploration, has reached a historic milestone with the opening of its 1,000th hotel. This achievement marks a significant chapter in the brand's storied history, which began in 1973 with a mission to reveal the unique treasures of each destination. Today, Mercure stands as a global ambassador of local discovery, serving travellers with the quality of an international brand while immersing them in the authentic spirit of their surroundings. Mercure Dubai Deira (CNW Group/Mercure Hotels) Mercure Bangkok Surawong (CNW Group/Mercure Hotels) The 1,000th hotel milestone was achieved following the openings of Mercure London Earls Court, (UK) Mercure Chandigarh Tribune Chowk, (India) Mercure Fukuoka Munakata Resort & Spa, (Japan) Mercure Marival Emotions Resort, (Mexico) and Mercure Nantong Renmin Road (China). This year, the brand expanded heavily into China and Japan. Nearly 30 Mercure hotels opened in Greater China, with nine hotels opening in August alone, bringing the brand's footprint to over 180 hotels in the region. In April, Accor opened 11 Mercure hotels in Japan, doubling the brand's presence there. Reaching 1,000 addresses underscores Mercure's commitment to providing excellent service and authentic local experiences to travellers around the world. From its humble beginnings in Saint-Witz, France, Mercure has undergone a remarkable transformation. Acquired by Accor in 1975, the brand quickly expanded, establishing its presence in Europe and beyond. Key milestones include the opening of its first international hotel in Lisbon in 1983, and its expansion into the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Australia in 1994. The brand celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023 by doubling down on its commitment to local discovery. Now, with over 1,000 hotels in 68 countries, Mercure reaffirms its commitment to discovering local around the world. "Mercure has long been a global leader within the midscale segment, and this significant achievement reaffirms its position," said Jean-Yves Minet, Global Brand President, Midscale & Economy, Accor. "Mercure has the ability to place-make a destination. This is part of its strength - maintaining that critical authenticity and local touch but with the impact that comes with a global brand. This significant milestone showcases our effective expansion strategy and ability to meet market demands while maintaining quality and consistency across our portfolio." He added: "This accomplishment is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our teams around the world, as well as the loyalty of our guests and partners who continue to choose Mercure. Our latest openings embody the spirit of the Mercure brand, combining local culture with world-class hospitality." 50 years of Local Discovery At the heart of Mercure's identity is the 'Discover Local' program, designed to deepen guests' connections with the destination. Travelers are invited to explore regional flavours and cultural experiences through locally sourced menus and partnerships worldwide. From the energetic streets of Rio to the historic avenues of Paris, each Mercure hotel serves as a portal to the unique culture of its locale. The name Mercure, inspired by Mercury, the Roman god of travellers, symbolises the brand's dedication to immersing guests in a locally inspired atmosphere. From the historic elegance of Mercure Bordeaux Centre Gare Atlantic, nestled in the heart of Bordeaux's Saint-Jean district, to the oasis of Mercure Maldives Kooddoo, each Mercure address offers a unique blend of local charm and modern comfort. As Mercure celebrates this remarkable milestone, the brand remains unwavering in its mission to connect guests with the authentic essence of their destinations. With new openings continuing to enhance its diverse portfolio, Mercure is poised for even greater achievements, inviting travellers to explore new horizons. Karelle Lamouche, Chief Commercial Officer, Premium, Midscale & Economy brands at Accor, added: "Reaching the milestone of 1,000 properties is a testament to Mercure's enduring appeal and our commitment to providing guests with genuinely enriching experiences. Each Mercure hotel is a portal to the local destination, offering travellers a unique and memorable stay. We are committed to enhancing the guest experience by fortifying the bond between Mercure and our guests, neighbours and hotel owners. We look forward to continuing our journey of discovery and growth together in communities around the world in the years to come." Mercure will host a grand celebration at one of its newest flagship hotels, Mercure Dubai Deira, later this fall to commemorate the achievement. Guests will include Accor and Mercure team members, hotel owners, investors and partners, key suppliers, and industry media. The event will highlight Mercure's commitment to exceptional hospitality and locally inspired experiences. Recent Openings Highlight Global Growth The opening of Mercure's 1,000th property is complemented by several notable new hotels. Recent additions to the Mercure family include: Notes to the Editor: Image Library: Click here Mercure Heritage Toolkit & Mercure Notable Addresses: Click here About Mercure Inspired by Mercury, the Roman god of travellers, Mercure hotels offer far more than just a place to sleep they are a gateway to the destination, a warm invitation to discover and explore the locale. Since its founding in 1973, Mercure has been dedicated to unveiling the treasures surrounding each address, delivering high-quality standards infused with a deep sense of place. Through its "Discover Local" program, Mercure welcomes guests to Feel Local Everywhere be it in Rio, Paris, Bangkok and many other destinations across the globe. Every detail, from the decorative arts to our passion for uncovering local food and drink delights is curated to reflect the unique essence of each destination. Mercure hotels are conveniently located in city centres, by the sea or in the mountains, with more than 1000 hotels in 65+ countries. Mercure is part of Accor, a world leading hospitality group counting over 5,700 properties throughout more than 110 countries, and a participating brand in ALL - Accor Live Limitless a lifestyle loyalty program providing access to a wide variety of rewards, services and experiences. mercure.com | all.com | group.accor.com SOURCE Mercure Hotels ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO) elected three new officers and six new board members to its Board of Directors during its annual member meeting this month. The board's new chair is David Feinberg, senior vice president of risk and insurance programs for New York City-based Justworks. Bill Maness, founder and CEO of Wichita, Kansas-based Syndeo Outsourcing, was elected as the board's new vice chair, and Tara Conger of Chandler, Arizona-based Vensure Employer Services was elected the board's new secretary/treasurer. NAPEO also announced six new industry leaders elected to serve as directors on the association's board for the 2024-25 term: Eric Foster , managing principal and chief risk officer of Jacksonville, Florida -based PEO Velocity by Compass/PRM , managing principal and chief risk officer of -based PEO Velocity by Compass/PRM Angela Hoch , executive vice president of Lakewood, New Jersey -based Hexagon HR , executive vice president of -based Hexagon HR Melissa Kelly , senior director of government relations of Roseland, New Jersey -based ADP TotalSource , senior director of government relations of -based ADP TotalSource Julie Long , chief financial officer of Greenwood, Indiana -based Tilson HR , chief financial officer of -based Tilson HR Chad Parodi , managing director of insurance and PEO of Rochester, New York -based Paychex , managing director of insurance and PEO of -based Paychex Steve Scott , president and chief operating officer of Hollywood, Florida -based Engage PEO "Each of these leaders bring expertise, experience and passion for our industry that will make our Board of Directors and our association even stronger," said NAPEO President and CEO Casey Clark. "I am eager to work with our new and returning board members in our ongoing efforts to support and advance the PEO industry and the small and mid-size businesses we support across the country." About NAPEO The National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO) is The Voice of the PEO Industry. NAPEO's 219 PEO members provide payroll, benefits, workers' comp, regulatory compliance assistance, and other HR services to more than 200,000 small and mid-size businesses employing 4.5 million people. Our members account for more than 90 percent of the industry's $358 billion in revenue. An additional 216 companies that provide services to PEOs are associate members of NAPEO. For more information, please visit www.napeo.org. SOURCE National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO) CLAYTON, Mo., Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Olin Corporation (NYSE: OLN) announced today that on Friday, October 25, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern time, Olin's senior management will review the company's third quarter 2024 financial results. Prepared remarks will be followed by a question and answer period. A press release, including financial statements and segment information, will be distributed after the market closes on Thursday, October 24, 2024, together with the associated slides. CONFERENCE CALL INFORMATION Interested US participants may access the conference call toll free by dialing (877) 883-0383 [Canada callers please dial (877) 885-0477 and International callers, please dial (412) 902-6506], using the pass code 5013086. The call will also be webcast live via the company's website at www.olin.com, accessible under the third quarter conference call icons. Participants should log on to the website 15 minutes prior to the start of the call. Following the event, the webcast will remain available for replay on the company's website for one year. A telephonic replay of this conference call will be available beginning at 12:00 p.m. Eastern time for 7 days by dialing (877) 344-7529 [Canadian callers, please dial (855) 669-9658; International callers, please dial (412) 317-0088], using the pass code of 1931261. COMPANY DESCRIPTION Olin Corporation is a leading vertically integrated global manufacturer and distributor of chemical products and a leading U.S. manufacturer of ammunition. The chemical products produced include chlorine and caustic soda, vinyls, epoxies, chlorinated organics, bleach, hydrogen and hydrochloric acid. Winchester's principal manufacturing facilities produce and distribute sporting ammunition, law enforcement ammunition, reloading components, small caliber military ammunition and components, industrial cartridges and clay targets. Visit www.olin.com for more information on Olin. 2024-14 SOURCE Olin Corporation BEIJING, Sept. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Since the founding of the People's Republic of China 75 years ago, the country, led by the Communist Party of China (CPC), has achieved a remarkable transformation characterized by rapid economic development and long-term social stability. It has embarked on a development path that is well-suited to its own national conditions. All these have been accomplished in a confident, determined and solid manner. Where is the source of China's confidence? How can this confidence inject momentum into the world? The Global Times has selected the opinions of five renowned foreign experts to share their insights. Harold Weldon, Australian writer and China advisor China's self-confidence in its own pathway to modern development, for me, is something that has to be seen from a very personal and practical perspective. From the early beginnings in 1985, I've seen my friends grow in their self-confidence in their various jobs in China, I've watched their children grow up, be educated at wonderful universities and go on to have fulfilling careers in China and overseas. Now, as I get older, I'm seeing a wonderful confidence in the eyes of their grandchildren. I'm reminded of the Confucian idea of self-cultivation, a steady and disciplined effort over time. China's self-confidence, to some, may seem sudden, but that is not the case. It's a result of generations of dedication, education, and development. Every country has the right to pursue its own model for modern development, one that aligns with its history and culture, as well as its hopes and dreams. China's ability to balance innovation with its incredible traditions is key to its national success and its standing on the global stage, particularly in contributing to global stability. I'm also reminded of the quote of the Qing Dynasty scholar Lin Zexu: "The ocean is vast because it admits all rivers." For China on its own "Long March" to development, with its rich history and culture, it can certainly pursue its own model of development, while remaining open to diverse ideas and global collaboration. This represents a balance between self-confidence and inclusiveness. Kin Phea, director general of the International Relations Institute of the Royal Academy of Cambodia Over the past 75 years, China has navigated its journey with increasing confidence. This confidence is rooted in several factors, notably the success of its economic reforms, its unique political system, and its rich cultural heritage. Since the late 20th century, China's economic transformation, especially after the introduction of reform and opening-up in 1978, has been nothing short of remarkable. The country has evolved from an impoverished and agrarian country to one of the world's most powerful nations. China's economic achievements have bolstered its confidence in a development model that combines macro-control efforts with market-driven reforms. The CPC draws its strength from its capacity to uphold stability and effectively manage crises, thereby reinforcing its legitimacy. Additionally, China's cultural heritage significantly contributes to this confidence. With a civilization that stretches back over 5,000 years, the nation draws pride and resilience from its rich history, fostering a belief that it has withstood challenges and will continue to prosper. Moreover, China's expanding technological and military capabilities in recent decades have further strengthened its confidence, enabling the country to project greater influence on the global stage. China's confidence is also bolstered by its long-term strategic vision, exemplified by the "Chinese Dream." This ambition is supported by effective governance, a commitment to innovation, and growing global influence, reinforcing China's belief in its ability to achieve modernization on its own terms. Erik Solheim, former under-secretary-general of the United Nations and former executive director of the UN Environment Programme Strong political leadership with the right ideas is essential. The Chinese leadership introduced the right policies to a nation of hardworking people eager for change, which was key to the transformation. What others can learn from China is the importance of dedicated, development-oriented leadership, a market-based economy, and strong government policy-setting. The confidence in Chinese modernization stems from its historical culture. No other nation or civilization has maintained strength for thousands of years. China has consistently held a strong sense of unity. Whenever there is a risk of China becoming fragmented, there is a desire among the people to restore it as one nation. Additionally, China has developed an efficient political system based on meritocracy. This system made China more efficient than many other civilizations, enabling it to manage a larger state than any other region in the world. Colin Patrick Mackerras, Australian sinologist and emeritus professor at Griffith University China has a rich culture and a long history of achievements, of which it can be very proud. Chinese leaders and citizens feel they can go their own way on big issues. The leadership of the CPC has instilled courage and confidence in the Chinese people. The CPC has provided an underlying purpose and a system of ideas and governance that significantly drives the pursuit of independence. President Xi Jinping has called for building a community with a shared future for mankind. This vision seems very desirable to me and is much better than competing for status. The world is moving toward a multipolar structure, and that is as it should be - if a community with a shared future for mankind is to be achieved. Alistair Michie, secretary-general of the British East Asia Council The core strength of China is that, as a nation, it is built on the foundations of being the longest-continuous civilization in the world. Within the DNA of this civilization is a consistent pattern of learning from the past. This governance model creates exceptional stability and fosters confidence among the Chinese people. The world is marching forward on a path of modernization. China needs to draw on the wisdom of its history and its confidence in its system of governance, guiding all nations toward a future that is both peaceful and sustainable. SOURCE Global Times Partnership's 'Food & Essentials Hubs' provide long-term solutions for unmet needs in communities nationwide PLANO, Texas, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- PepsiCo Foods North America (PFNA) today announced the 30th anniversary of its partnership with Feed the Children in the fight against childhood hunger and the 3.2 million households facing food insecurity across the U.S. The anniversary highlights the transformative impact of their collective efforts on providing long-term, sustainable solutions in the fight against hunger nationwide. Since 1994, the two organizations have expanded their impact to more than 30 communities across the U.S. by providing food, essentials and educational supplies to those in need. Together, PFNA and Feed the Children are committed to driving systemic change by serving students, families and teachers in various communities. Pilot program turned scalable solution Working to address unmet needs across underserved school districts, PFNA and Feed the Children co-created Food & Essentials Hubs, a first-of-its-kind initiative launching resource rooms in Title I schools across the U.S. allowing for consistent deliveries of shelf stable food, hygiene and household items, as well as books and other educational materials. The initiative has served more than 123,000 students and families to date helping combat food challenges for students and families, while reducing stress and stigmatization related to lack of sufficient essential items. Food & Essentials Hubs were created to combat the increase in food insecurity among households with children brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. With food insecurity rising to 13.6% and food pantry usage increasing across most types of U.S. households, PFNA seized the opportunity to help, leveraging its unique position as a global food leader. What started as a pilot program during the pandemic is now a scalable solution to meet the needs of many communities. One of which is Detroit, Mich., where a food and essentials distribution event will be hosted today, benefiting 400 students and families from the Detroit Public Schools Community District. Employee volunteers play a critical role in making these events and resulting impact possible, with more than 36,000 volunteer hours completed by PepsiCo employees to date. Reflecting on what it means for an employer to provide these opportunities, Kenneth Wright, sales director at Frito-Lay and a Detroit Public Schools alumnus, shared, "It makes me proud to work for a company that allows me to give back to my community. I'm incredibly passionate about this annual effort to give back to Detroit students in need because I lived it. Too many communities lack a sense of community the support for each other to thrive and I see how this partnership helps fill the gaps to ensure students have a more successful tomorrow than they did today." The program's success has led to the national expansion of these hubs, and this year will support 370 schools across Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Memphis, Oklahoma City, Orlando and Phoenix. Creating measurable impact Since the Food & Essentials Hubs launch, participating schools have reported a significant increase in student confidence and school attendance. Having access to food and resources not only helps combat hunger, but it also reduces stress, improves grades and increases student engagement specifically: 87.5% of districts felt that the program improved classroom attendance. 75% of districts felt that the program improved classroom behavior. 87.5% of districts felt that the program increased students' self-confidence. "Hunger and food insecurity are often invisible," said Travis Arnold, president and CEO of Feed the Children. "We rarely know what someone else is going through. Through our 30-year partnership with PFNA, we've been able to impact the lives of thousands of children and families. Feed the Children is thankful for this partnership and eager to see what the future holds as we work together to tackle the important issue of childhood hunger in communities across the country." To date, PFNA has contributed over $85 million in both monetary and in-kind donations, resulting in a collective 96,000 hungry children and families served across the nation. For more information on the partnership and its impact to date, please visit https://www.feedthechildren.org/partners/frito-lay/. About PepsiCo PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $91 billion in net revenue in 2023, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient foods portfolio that includes Lay's, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and SodaStream. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales. Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in Beverages and Convenient Foods by Winning with pep+ (PepsiCo Positive). pep+ is our strategic end-to-end transformation that puts sustainability and human capital at the center of how we will create value and growth by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for planet and people. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com, and follow on X (Twitter), Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @PepsiCo. About Feed the Children Feed the Children is a leading nonprofit committed to ending childhood hunger. The organization believes that no child should go to bed hungry, and so it provides children and families in the U.S. and around the world with the food and essentials kids need to grow and thrive. Through its programs and partnerships, the organization feeds children today while helping their families and communities build resilient futures. In addition to food, Feed the Children distributes household and personal care items across the United States to help parents and caregivers maintain stable, food-secure households. Internationally, it expands access to nutritious meals, safe water, improved hygiene, and training in sustainable living. As responsible stewards of its resources, Feed the Children is driven to pursue innovative, holistic, and child-focused solutions to the complex challenges of hunger, food insecurity, and poverty. For children everywhere, the organization believes that having enough to eat is a fundamental right. Learn how you can help create a world without childhood hunger at feedthechildren.org. SOURCE PepsiCo Foods North America OSLO, Norway, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Photocure ASA (OSE: PHO), the Bladder Cancer Company, announces that its partner Asieris Pharmaceuticals (SSE: 688176) communicated that international multicenter Phase III clinical study data for its non-surgical treatment candidate Cevira (APL-1702) for cervical High-Grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion (HSIL) has been published by the 27th Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO) Annual Meeting as a poster, focusing on the analysis of different age subgroups regarding the six-month pathological regression rate and HPV clearance rate. This Phase III clinical trial is a prospective, randomized, double blind, placebo controlled, multi-center clinical study, which has reached its primary efficacy endpoint and exhibited good safety. Furthermore, the study results included the pathological regression rate (defined as the proportion of subjects with a pathological regression to CIN1 or normal tissue) at the 6th month across different age subgroups. Both the "20 and <30 years" subgroup and the "30 and <40 years" subgroup showed an increase of 15% to 20% in the pathological regression rate in the APL-1702 group compared to the placebo control group. No cervical cancer events were reported, suggesting a significant therapeutic potential of APL-1702 in the HSIL population aged 20 to 40 years. Regarding HPV clearance rate, in the "20 and <30 years" age group, the APL-1702 group showed enhancements in the overall HPV clearance rate, HPV16-positive clearance rate, and HPV16/18-positive clearance rate compared to the placebo control group. The patients' number in the "<20 years" and "40 years" age groups were limited, thus the results in these age groups require a validation study with a larger sample size. Overall, APL-1702 not only facilitates the regression from HSIL to LSIL but also demonstrates the ability to induce clearance of high-risk HPV infections. Read Asieris' full media release here: https://asieris.com/asieris-unveils-results-for-the-first-time-at-2024-csco-conference-the-subgroup-analysis-of-pathological-regression-rate-and-hpv-clearance-rate-at-6-months-in-different-age-groups-of-the-non-surgical/ Note to editors: All trademarks mentioned in this release are protected by law and are registered trademarks of Photocure ASA. This press release may contain product details and information which are not valid, or a product is not accessible, in your country. Please be aware that Photocure does not take any responsibility for accessing such information which may not comply with any legal process, regulation, registration or usage in the country of your origin. About Cevira Cevira (APL-1702) is a photodynamic drug-device combination product in development. Based on the principles of photodynamic therapy, the Cevira product aims to use a photosensitizer in combination with light activation to produce a therapeutic effect as a non-surgical treatment of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL) in patients aged 18 years and above, excluding carcinoma in situ. Photocure developed Cevira through Phase I and Phase II trials, and the global rights for development and commercialization were out-licensed to Asieris Meditech Co., Ltd in 2019. In November 2020 Asieris initiated the phase III clinical trial for APL-1702 (Cevira) which achieved its primary endpoint in September 2023, Clinical trial number: NCT04484415. The new drug application for APL-1702 was accepted by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) in May 2024. About Photocure ASA Photocure: The Bladder Cancer Company delivers transformative solutions to improve the lives of bladder cancer patients. Our unique technology, making cancer cells glow bright pink, has led to better health outcomes for patients worldwide. Photocure is headquartered in Oslo, Norway and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE: PHO). For more information, please visit us at www.photocure.com About Asieris Asieris Pharmaceuticals(688176.SH), founded in March 2010, is a global biopharma company specializing in discovering, developing and commercializing innovative drugs for the treatment of genitourinary tumors and other related diseases. For further information, please contact: Dan Schneider President and CEO Photocure ASA Email: [email protected] Erik Dahl CFO Photocure ASA Tel: +4745055000 Email: [email protected] David Moskowitz Vice President, Investor Relations Photocure ASA Tel: +1 202 280 0888 Email: [email protected] Media and IR enquiries: Geir Bjrlo Corporate Communications (Norway) Tel: +47 91540000 Email: [email protected] This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/photocure/r/photocure-partner-asieris-unveils-cevira--apl-1702--phase-iii-subgroup-analysis-by-age-groups-at-the,c4044361 The following files are available for download: SOURCE Photocure SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In the realm of novel tobacco products, ceramic atomization technology has long been a driving force for innovation. As industry titans vie for technological supremacy, the capacity and power limitations of ceramic cores have remained formidable challenges. ICCPP Group, revered as a trailblazer in the atomization industry and the parent company of VOOPOO, has consistently been hailed as a paragon of technological prowess. After three years of rigorous technological refinement, ICCPP proudly unveils the industry's first ceramic mesh core engineered for high-volume e-liquid consumption and elevated power throughput, once again spearheading innovation and charting a new course for the industry! 1=2025: Shattering Limitations, Comprehensive Innovation The GeneTree ceramic Mesh core achieves an unprecedented "1=2025" atomization efficiency breakthrough, setting new benchmarks in core indicators such as atomization capacity and power. The GeneTree ceramic Mesh core can atomize up to 20mL of e-liquid in a single session without performance degradation, surpassing the industry average limit of 14mL by an impressive 42.9%. Power-wise, it supports a maximum output of 25W, far exceeding the common 15W threshold, making it versatile enough for disposable, pod, and open-system devices. Moreover, it has significantly improved nicotine restoration by 78.5% and overall atomization efficiency by 66.7% and can compatibility accommodates 95% of market-available formulations, catering to diverse global market demands. Proprietary Patented Materials: Optimized Structure, Enhanced Stability The GeneTree ceramic mesh core employs high-purity materials with a unique fibrous structure, featuring in 0-shrinkage and high strength. This ensures consistency in mass production and stability under high-temperature, high-wattage conditions. The mesh structure and rounded corners of the GeneTree core optimize heating temperature and distribution. Proprietary automated Mesh pressing technology guarantees production consistency and efficiency. Reaping the Fruits of Perseverance, A Formidable Industry Breakthrough As a game-changing ceramic core that supports high-capacity, high output, it has already been incorporated into vaping products (disposables), rapidly gaining market acceptance and consumer acclaim around the world The launch of the GeneTree ceramic mesh core represents a significant breakthrough in ICCPP's technology, marking a new milestone in technological innovation, user experience enhancement, and quality assurance. ICCPP Group will continue to uphold its core philosophy of prioritizing consumer interests, maintaining its commitment to quality excellence and contributing its wisdom and strength to the global development of the vape industry! SOURCE ICCPP GROUP Polaris delivers consultative and sell-side expertise for multi-million dollar transaction CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Polaris Healthcare Partners, a strategic consulting and M&A advisory firm for group dental practices, today announced the completion of the sale of group dental practice Lakeview Dental Care of New Jersey to The Smilist Dental, a DSO group with over 90 locations nationwide. Lakeview Dental Care has six locations. Owners Drs. Eric Forte and Jonathan Hill engaged Polaris Healthcare Partner for comprehensive services including consulting support to improve and streamline operations and processes, as well as sell-side support to identify, engage, and close with a buyer. "The Polaris team was essential in helping us realize our vision for the next stage of Lakeview Dental Care," said owners Forte and Hill. "By delivering both consultative and sell-side expertise under one roof, we were able to realize additional value and accelerate timelines with the benefit of a single, coordinated team that truly understands the market for group dental practices." "We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Forte, Dr. Hill and the entire Lakeview Dental Care team to the Smilist," said Bill Higgins, Director of Business Development for The Smilist. "We found the Polaris team to be a great partner in running an efficient process." Based on the Polar team's expertise, they were able to help co-owners realize a 30% increase in valuation over a base valuation pre-engagement, resulting in a multi-million dollar deal on an accelerated timeline. The transaction was supported by Burr & Forman and Eide Bailly LLP. "We are grateful to have been selected by the Lakeview team and help them achieve and even exceed their goals," said Diwakar Sinha, Co-Founder & Partner, Polaris. "Group dental practices, whether improving or selling their businesses, benefit from working with a partner who truly understands their business and how to drive maximum value. We are grateful to The Smilist Dental group and their team and partners and their collaborative work to drive a positive outcome for all parties." Polaris' advisors work directly with business owners to guide them through business and financial growth and transactions. Founders and practice owners receive customized advisory services to deliver financial and operational improvements and Polaris' sell-side experts help owners navigate the intricacies of the sales process with tailored support to determine what a successful exit means for each business owner. With experience serving hundreds of group dental practices, Polaris helps group dental practices increase financial flexibility, achieve faster growth, realize financial sustainability and stability, and realize maximum business value. Polaris Healthcare Partners is a strategic consulting and M&A advisory firm that helps group dental practice owners and clinicians unlock potential and create generational wealth. Polaris specializes in organizational growth, mergers and acquisitions, and buy- and sell-side strategies. The company is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. For more information, visit www.polarishealthcarepartners.com or follow them on LinkedIn. You can also subscribe to their podcast, Group Practice Accelerator. About The Smilist The Smilist was founded in 2014 to create a dental organization with a strong consumer brand that offers exceptional patient experiences. Since its founding, The Smilist has rapidly grown to be one of the leading dental support organizations in the Northeast supporting over 90 locations with over 1,600 employees in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. To learn more, visit www.thesmilist.com. SOURCE Polaris Healthcare Partners NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Report on how AI is driving market transformation - The Global Fresh Cranberries Market size is estimated to grow by USD 11.6 million from 2024-2028, according to Technavio. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of almost 5.09% during the forecast period. Growing awareness of benefits of consuming fresh cranberries is driving market growth, with a trend towards advent of smart packaging. However, rising demand for dried cranberries poses a challenge.Key market players include Canneberge Quebec Inc., Cape Blanco Cranberries Inc., Cape Cod Select, Decas Cranberry Products Inc., Fresh Meadows Cranberries, Fruit dOr, Habelman Bros. Co., Honestly Cranberry, Meduri Farms Inc., Michigan Cranberry Co., Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc., Seaview Cranberries Inc., and Wetherby Cranberry Co.. Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global fresh cranberries market 2024-2028 AI-Powered Market Evolution Insights. Our comprehensive market report ready with the latest trends, growth opportunities, and strategic analysis- View your snapshot now Forecast period 2024-2028 Base Year 2023 Historic Data 2018 - 2022 Segment Covered Distribution Channel (Offline and Online), Type (Inorganic and Organic), and Geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa) Region Covered North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Key companies profiled Canneberge Quebec Inc., Cape Blanco Cranberries Inc., Cape Cod Select, Decas Cranberry Products Inc., Fresh Meadows Cranberries, Fruit dOr, Habelman Bros. Co., Honestly Cranberry, Meduri Farms Inc., Michigan Cranberry Co., Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc., Seaview Cranberries Inc., and Wetherby Cranberry Co. Key Market Trends Fueling Growth The fresh cranberries market is witnessing a significant trend with the adoption of smart packaging technology. This innovation allows for effective preservation of freshness and quality in cranberries during shipping and retailing. Smart packaging helps maintain an optimal environment, reducing food wastage and extending shelf life. It also offers tracking capabilities and adds value by providing product and company information. Advanced packaging technologies, such as modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), active packaging (AP), and intelligent packaging (IP), are utilized to preserve fresh cranberries. Carbon dioxide, known for its antimicrobial properties, plays a crucial role in these methods. By implementing smart packaging, the global fresh cranberries market can benefit from increased sales, improved brand image, and reduced spoilage. The Fresh Cranberries market is thriving, with the subgenus oxycoccus of the Vaccinium family, specifically cranberries, being in high demand. These evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines, native to the Northern Hemisphere, are rich in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties due to their phytochemicals. Fresh cranberries are harvested in cooler climates using wet methods in water-filled bogs. Processing industries focus on producing various cranberry products like juices, jams, jellies, sauces, dried cranberries, powders, extracts, cranberry poultices, medicinal teas, and even dyes. Consumers are increasingly interested in these products for their health benefits, which include a high vitamin content. Cranberry farming practices are undergoing sustainable and ethical transformations to ensure a lower risk of damage during harvest and a longer shelf life for fresh cranberries. The market for fresh cranberries is growing, driven by consumer interest and investments in sustainable farming practices. Despite the challenges of firm texture preservation and potential damage during transportation, the Fresh Cranberries market remains a significant player in the food industry. Insights on how AI is driving innovation, efficiency, and market growth- Request Sample! Market Challenges The global fresh cranberries market faces a significant challenge due to the increasing demand for dried cranberries in the dried fruits market. The dried fruits market is projected to expand substantially, fueled by rising awareness of the nutritional benefits of dried fruits, including dried cranberries. Dried cranberries are popularly used in snacks and cereals, making the dried fruits market a major consumer of these berries. Food manufacturers, such as confectioners, bakeries, and dairy companies, purchase dried cranberries for product production. Consumers prefer dried cranberries for their superior preservation properties, leading to increased demand for healthy snacking. Europe , China , Mexico , and Canada are major importers of dried cranberries from the US, which may negatively impact the growth of the fresh cranberries market during the forecast period. , , , and are major importers of dried cranberries from the US, which may negatively impact the growth of the fresh cranberries market during the forecast period. The fresh cranberries market faces several challenges. Cranberries are used for various purposes such as cranberry poultices, medicinal teas, dyes, and evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines. The Genus Vaccinium includes cranberries, and they require cooler climates and water-filled bogs for growth. Harvesting is done through wet methods, increasing the risk of damage and lowering the shelf life. Cranberries have high consumer interest due to their health benefits, including urinary tract health and antioxidant content. However, their firm texture and the need for cooler climates limit their cultivation to the Northern Hemisphere. Cranberries are used in both sweet and savory dishes, and their vitamin content makes them a popular choice for health-conscious consumers. The fresh cranberries market faces competition from processed counterparts, which have a longer shelf life. Sustainability and ethical farming practices are crucial for the fresh cranberries market. Growing investments in advanced agricultural technologies and awareness of cranberry farming practices are essential to meet the high consumption rates. Consumers prefer convenience, leading to increased sales in urban areas through convenience stores, independent retailers, local grocery stores, specialty food shops, and online sales channels. Lingonberries, another popular berry, sometimes compete with cranberries in the market. The fresh cranberries market must adapt to these challenges to maintain its growth. Insights into how AI is reshaping industries and driving growth- Download a Sample Report Segment Overview This fresh cranberries market report extensively covers market segmentation by Distribution Channel 1.1 Offline 1.2 Online Type 2.1 Inorganic 2.2 Organic Geography 3.1 North America 3.2 Europe 3.3 APAC 3.4 South America 3.5 Middle East and Africa 1.1 Offline- The offline distribution of fresh cranberries plays a significant role in the global fresh cranberries market. Traditional retail outlets, farmers' markets, and specialty stores are key sources for consumers to buy fresh fruits, including cranberries. Supermarkets, grocery chains, and local markets have dedicated sections for fresh produce, offering a variety of organic and inorganic cranberries. Walmart Inc, for instance, provides a range of organic fresh produce, including organic cranberries. Farmers' markets offer a direct link between local farmers and consumers, fostering community and supporting local economies. Consumers can inspect the quality of fresh fruits, including cranberries, before purchasing, increasing their confidence. Offline distribution channels prioritize local sources, promoting domestic agriculture and reducing carbon footprint. Locally sourced cranberries have better taste and quality due to a shorter time between harvest and consumption, contributing to the growth of the offline segment and the fresh cranberries market. Download complimentary Sample Report to gain insights into AI's impact on market dynamics, emerging trends, and future opportunities- including forecast (2024-2028) and historic data (2018 - 2022) Research Analysis Fresh Cranberries belong to the Subgenus oxycoccus within the Genus Vaccinium, known for producing edible berries. The vibrant red berries are native to North America and are celebrated for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. These phytochemical-rich berries are prized in the food industry for their use in processing industries, which produce various cranberry products like juices, jams, jellies, sauces, dried cranberries, powders, extracts, cranberry poultices, medicinal teas, and even dyes. Evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines of the Vaccinium genus bear these tart, firm textured berries, typically harvested from water-filled bogs through wet harvesting. Fresh cranberries have a tangy taste and are naturally preserved with citric acid and benzoic acid, while their processed counterparts offer convenience and longer shelf life. Market Research Overview Fresh Cranberries, a subgenus of the Vaccinium genus, are evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines that bear edible red berries. These tart and tangy berries, native to the Northern Hemisphere, are rich in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties due to their phytochemical content. Fresh cranberries are used in various processed products like juices, jams, jellies, sauces, dried cranberries, powders, extracts, cranberry poultices, medicinal teas, and dyes. The processing industries also produce citric acid and benzoic acid from fresh cranberries. Cranberries grow in water-filled bogs, typically in cooler climates, and are harvested through wet harvesting methods. Consumer interest in fresh cranberries and their health benefits, including urinary tract health and vitamin content, has led to high consumption rates. Sustainability and ethical farming practices are increasingly important in the fresh cranberries market, with growing investments in sustainable farming practices and advanced agricultural technologies. Fresh cranberries are used in both sweet and savory dishes, and their market includes convenience stores, urban areas, independent retailers, local grocery stores, specialty food shops, and online sales channels. Lingonberries, another type of edible berry, are sometimes compared to cranberries due to their similar health benefits. Despite their many uses and benefits, fresh cranberries have a lower shelf life and are at risk of damage during transportation and storage. This can make their processing counterparts, such as dried cranberries and processed cranberry products, more convenient for consumers. However, the firm texture and tart flavor of fresh cranberries make them a popular choice for those who prioritize freshness and authenticity in their culinary experiences. Table of Contents: 1 Executive Summary 2 Market Landscape 3 Market Sizing 4 Historic Market Size 5 Five Forces Analysis 6 Market Segmentation Distribution Channel Offline Online Type Inorganic Organic Geography North America Europe APAC South America Middle East And Africa 7 Customer Landscape 8 Geographic Landscape 9 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends 10 Company Landscape 11 Company Analysis 12 Appendix About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. Contacts Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media & Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: [email protected] Website: www.technavio.com/ SOURCE Technavio WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Nonprofit Toxin Free USA filed a lawsuit against Kimberly-Clark Corporation, alleging deceptive marketing of its U by Kotex tampons. Kotex says that it is committed to "safety," and tells consumers, "[w]e prohibit the inclusion of certain substances, including heavy metals such as lead" Toxin Free USA facilitated lab testing of U by Kotex Click Compact Regular Tampons and detected lead in the product. A recent peer-reviewed study on heavy metals in tampons, published in the journal Environment International, detected heavy metals in the products tested. This study prompted Toxin Free USA's investigation into popular tampon products. The presence of lead is especially concerning considering that the product is intended for use inside of the human body. According to health and toxicology experts worldwide, there is no safe level of lead in the human body. The World Health Organization stated, "[l]ead exposure is estimated to account for 21.7 million years lost to disability and death worldwide due to long-term effects on health, including 30% of the global burden of idiopathic intellectual disability, 4.6% of the global burden of cardiovascular disease and 3% of the global burden of chronic kidney diseases," and "even [low blood lead concentrations] may be associated with decreased intelligence in children, [behavioral] difficulties and learning problems." "Lead exposure can result in serious health problems, including reproductive health issues. It's been banned in gasoline. It's been banned in paint. The FDA should immediately ban lead and heavy metals in feminine hygiene products. The presence of lead in U by Kotex tampons, a product regularly used internally, inside the female reproductive system, is shocking," said Diana Reeves, Executive Director of Toxin Free USA. The lawsuit, filed under the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act, seeks to end Kimberly-Clark's deceptive marketing. Plaintiffs are represented by Richman Law & Policy . Read the full Kimberly-Clark/Kotex complaint HERE . GMO/Toxin Free USA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit advocating for a clean, healthy food system and environment, non-toxic consumer products, and educating consumers about the hazards of GMOs, synthetic pesticides and other toxins. www.toxinfreeusa.org Press inquiries contact: Luan Van Le, GMO/Toxin Free USA, 347.921.1466, [email protected] SOURCE GMO/Toxin Free USA HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ho Chi Minh City, a leading center for economic, technological, and scientific development and international gateway of Viet Nam, recently hosted the 5th Ho Chi Minh City Economic Forum (HEF 2024) from September 24-27. The Forum focused on "Industrial Transformation: A New Growth Driver for Sustainable Development in Ho Chi Minh City" and culminated with the inauguration of the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) in Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh engages in dialogue with ministries and delegates attending HEF 2024. The event welcomed nearly 1,500 delegates, including Viet Nam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, government representatives, local leaders, international organizations, experts, and businesses from countries, such as the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and across Europe. During the Policy Dialogue, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized "The industrial transformation in Ho Chi Minh City must be comprehensive, tied closely to the ambition of building a smart city with smart governance. Thus, The City will need to have special independent policies to accelerate industrial transformation." Ho Chi Minh City has already implemented strategies focused on the green economy, digital transformation for businesses, and favorable policies for startups and innovation. City leaders announced their commitment to further accelerate efforts in twin transformation (green hand in hand with digital) and expanding cooperation with international organizations, such as the World Bank and the Fourth Industrial Revolution Center Network of the World Economic Forum. A key focus will be establishing a modern civil service system with incentives to enhance policy implementation. The inauguration of C4IR marks a significant milestone in the cooperation between the Vietnamese government and the World Economic Forum period 2023-2026. As the second C4IR in Southeast Asia and the 19th globally, C4IR Ho Chi Minh City will serve as a key hub for the WEF, connecting Viet Nam with global experts to drive industrial transformation. After five editions of the Ho Chi Minh City Economic Forum, The City is ready to shape the Forum into an independent organization that will support the City's socio-economic development goals. HEF 2024 followed the 2nd Ho Chi Minh City Friendship Dialogue (September 23-24), themed "Industrial Transformation: Experiences and Priorities in Development Cooperation," aimed to strengthen cooperative relationships between Ho Chi Minh City and its sister cities worldwide, while promoting Vietnamese culture and people. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2517455/Caption_Vietnamese_Prime_Minister_Pham_Minh_Chinh_engages_dialogue_ministries.jpg $2.5 Billion of Venture Capital Investment Poured into Virginia in 2023 RICHMOND, Va., Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC) hosted the President of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), VIPC Board members, and local ecosystem stakeholder leaders at Amazon Visitors Landing at Amazon HQ2 in Arlington, Virginia to celebrate Virginia's top 10 national ranking for venture capital investment activity during 2023, as reported by Pitchbook-NVCA's latest Venture Monitor industry data. NVCA reported approximately $2.5 billion of venture capital investment activity during 2023 in Virginia, ranking Virginia the 8th highest state in the country and ahead of other states such as Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Delaware, and Ohio. This is Virginia's highest venture capital national ranking, and the first time Virginia has climbed back into the top 10, in over 15 years according to Pitchbook/NVCA reported data. Virginia Nationally Ranked In The TOP 10 for Venture Capital Investments Post this VIPC President and CEO Joe Benevento, Virginia Secretary of Commerce & Trade Caren Merrick, VIPC Board Chair, Dr. Rita Roy, and President of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), Bobby Franklin celebrate Virginia's success! Virginia Nationally Ranked In the Top 10 for Venture Capital Investment A theme at the VIPC hosted event was Virginia cultivating a culture of growth, opportunity, and collaboration that is contributing to a thriving business environment for entrepreneurs, innovators, startups, businesses, and investors. Virginia's top 10 national ranking for venture capital investment also coincides with Governor Glenn Youngkin recently announcing Virginia being ranked #1 Top State for Business in America by CNBC and Virginia realizing a record 10,000 new high-growth startups launched in the Commonwealth over just the past two years. The President of NVCA delivered a keynote address at the event which was attended by Virginia Secretary of Commerce Caren Merrick, State Senator Saddam Azlan Salim, and local stakeholder leaders representing Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax county economic development authorities; Northern Virginia Black Chamber of Commerce; George Mason University and Virginia Tech Innovation Campus; the Commonwealth of Virginia; and the entrepreneur startup and venture capital community. VIPC President and CEO, Joe Benevento, remarked, "Virginia's top 10 national ranking demonstrates how dynamic high-growth companies in Virginia are offering VCs from across the country compelling opportunities to deploy capital. Capital fuels growth and VIPC looks forward to fostering continued private sector engagement and investment within our thriving entrepreneur ecosystems, including through our new Virginia Invests venture capital partnership initiative." Bobby Franklin, President and CEO of NVCA, commented, "Virginia is asserting itself as a key leader in the venture capital industry. The Commonwealth is not only competing but outpacing other states in attracting investment, thanks to its supportive innovation landscape and growing pipeline of startups." VIPC & Virginia Invests VIPC is Virginia's statewide economic development authority for advancing innovation, technology, commercialization, entrepreneurship, startups, and venture capital investment. Since 2004, VIPC has helped catalyze and leverage over $2 billion of cumulative investment capital from the private/public sector which has supported Virginia-based early-stage companies, technology commercialization, and innovation ecosystems. In May 2024, VIPC launched a new venture capital partnership initiative called Virginia Invests, which is designed to expand access to early-stage capital and catalyze investment from both in-state and out-of-state investment fund networks into Virginia-based startups. VIPC has initially partnered with seven venture capital fund managers who combined have committed to invest at least $100 million in Virginia-based startup companies as well as participate in a number of local entrepreneur ecosystem events and engagements throughout Virginia over the next five years. Two of these fund managers have also relocated their headquarters, or plan to expand new offices, in Virginia. VIPC expects Virginia Invests to attract at least $10 of private sector investment for every $1 committed by VIPC (10:1 leverage). VIPC's Virginia Venture Partners Managing Director, Tom Weithman, stated, "Our top 10 national ranking by NVCA is a testament to Virginia's sustained commitment to a robust innovation and technology landscape which supports the next generation of great companies to launch, grow, and scale here in the Commonwealth." Learn More about VC opportunities and VIPC: www.VIPC.org. About Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC) Connecting innovators with opportunities. VIPC operates as the nonprofit corporation on behalf of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority (VIPA). VIPA / VIPC is Virginia's designated authority for leading innovation and economic development in the Commonwealth of Virginia through research, commercialization, and technology advancement; entrepreneurship, startup, and venture capital growth; and regional ecosystem, innovation network, and industry sector expansion. As part of its operations, VIPC helps attract and catalyze private investment into early-stage startup companies, provides research and technology commercialization grants to universities and entrepreneurs, and offers resource and funding support for entrepreneurial ecosystems, innovation networks, and public-private partnerships at local, state, and federal levelsVIPC's programs include: Virginia Invests | Virginia Venture Partners (VVP) | Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF) | Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Development | Regional Innovation Fund (RIF) | Smart Communities | The Virginia Smart Community Testbed | The Virginia Unmanned Systems Center | Virginia Advanced Air Mobility Alliance (VAAMA) | The Public Safety Innovation Center (PSIC) | Federal Funding Assistance Program (FFAP) for SBIR & STTR | University Partnerships | Startup Company Mentoring & Engagement. For more information, please visit www.VIPC.org. Explore the latest news from VIPC and images from VIPC-supported stakeholder events. Follow VIPC on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn. Contact Angela Costello VIPC, VP of Communications & Marketing [email protected] 757-870-6848 SOURCE VIPC HENDERSON, Nev., Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- VolitionRx Limited (NYSE AMERICAN: VNRX) ("Volition"), a multi-national epigenetics company, has appointed Dr. Ethel Rubin to its board of directors, as an independent director, effective September 30, 2024. Dr. Rubin has also been appointed as a member of the Audit Committee and the Compensation Committee. Dr. Rubin has over 20 years' experience within the life sciences sector, leading healthcare innovation and commercialization strategies for a wide range of organizations from early-stage operations to large global corporate businesses. Dr Ethel Rubin, Independent Director at Volition Early in her career, Dr. Rubin served as Chief Scientific Officer and Operations Officer at BioFortis, Inc. (now Q2 Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of IQVIA) and then as Chief Scientific Officer at CSA Medical, Inc. (now Steris Healthcare), where she played a key role in technology development and commercialization. Ethel then moved to Medtronic, plc., where she held multiple leadership roles spanning external innovation, global clinical strategy and medical affairs. Dr. Rubin later took on a role at BioHealth Innovation, Inc. where she currently serves as Head of Ventures, leading a team of strategy and finance consultants who prepare and connect companies with private capital and support the entrepreneurial and investment programs of the National Institutes of Health. Guy Innes, Interim Chair of Volition, said: "Dr. Rubin has a vast knowledge and understanding of the life sciences industry and we are delighted to welcome her onto the board at Volition. She has contributed towards the launch of over 25 commercial products, including diagnostics, therapeutics and devices, and has been instrumental in driving collaborations and strategic initiatives. Ethel is ideally placed to support us as we commercialize our epigenetic solutions and scale our operations." Commenting on her appointment, Dr. Ethel Rubin said: "I'm delighted to be joining Volition as an independent director. Nu.Q - the company's transformational nucleosome quantification technology - is already commercialized and generating revenue in the animal health sector. The technology has clear potential for clinical utility within human health too, through early detection and monitoring of diseases such as cancer and sepsis. It's an exciting time for the company and I look forward to supporting Volition's board and leadership team." Volition is developing simple, easy-to-use, cost-effective blood tests to help diagnose and monitor a range of life-altering diseases in both humans and animals. For more information about Volition's technology go to: www.volition.com. About Volition Volition is a multi-national company focused on advancing the science of epigenetics. Volition is dedicated to saving lives and improving outcomes for people and animals with life-altering diseases through earlier detection, as well as disease and treatment monitoring. Through its subsidiaries, Volition is developing and commercializing simple, easy to use, cost-effective blood tests to help diagnose and monitor a range of diseases, including some cancers and diseases associated with NETosis, such as sepsis. Early diagnosis and monitoring have the potential not only to prolong the life of patients, but also improve their quality of life. Volition's research and development activities are centered in Belgium, with an innovation laboratory and office in the U.S. and additional offices in London and Singapore. The contents found at Volition's website address are not incorporated by reference into this document and should not be considered part of this document. Such website address is included in this document as an inactive textual reference only. Media Enquiries: Louise Batchelor/Debra Daglish, Volition, [email protected] +44 (0)7557 774620 Safe Harbor Statement Statements in this press release may be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that concern matters that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or projected in the forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "aims," "targets," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "optimizing," "potential," "goal," "suggests," "could," "would," "should," "may," "will" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements relate to, among other topics, the potential uses, benefits and effectiveness of Volition's Nu.Q technology platform. Volition's actual results may differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements due to numerous risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, results of studies testing the efficacy of its tests. For instance, if Volition fails to develop and commercialize diagnostic, prognostic or disease monitoring products, it may be unable to execute its plan of operations. Other risks and uncertainties include Volition's failure to obtain necessary regulatory clearances or approvals to distribute and market future products; a failure by the marketplace to accept the products in Volition's development pipeline or any other diagnostic, prognostic or disease monitoring products Volition might develop; Volition's failure to secure adequate intellectual property protection; Volition will face fierce competition and Volition's intended products may become obsolete due to the highly competitive nature of the diagnostics and disease monitoring market and its rapid technological change; downturns in domestic and foreign economies; and other risks, including those identified in Volition's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, as well as other documents that Volition files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about Volition's business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and, except as required by law, Volition does not undertake an obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances. Nucleosomics, Capture-PCR and Nu.Q and their respective logos are trademarks and/or service marks of VolitionRx Limited and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, service marks and trade names referred to in this press release are the property of their respective owners. Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2519421/VolitionRx.jpg SOURCE VolitionRx Limited The 2024 Arizona Voters' Agenda shows voters are looking for solutions, long-term planning, and leadership that bridges divides PHOENIX, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- As the 2024 general election approaches, Center for the Future of Arizona (CFA) today released the key takeaways from its latest 2024 Arizona Voters' Agenda survey, offering a comprehensive look at what voters expect from candidates and leaders as they prepare to begin early voting, mail in their ballots, and head to the polls. Arizona voters are clear: they want leadership focused on solutions and long-term planning that works across divides to build a brighter future for the state. The findings highlight the common ground across the electorate and offer a roadmap for candidates to engage voters and foster progress. The 2024 Arizona Voters Agenda shows voters are looking for solutions, long-term planning, and leadership that bridges divides. "Arizona voters are looking for leadership that can bridge divides and deliver results," said Dr. Sybil Francis, Chair, President & CEO of CFA. "They want to know how their leaders will address the issues they care about, with concrete plans for Arizona's future." The 2024 Arizona Voters' Agenda, developed by CFA based on two comprehensive surveys conducted in collaboration with HighGround, Inc., highlights policy priorities and voter sentiment. Each election cycle, CFA analyzes the results of these surveys to determine the issues that surpass rigorous thresholds for agreement across political and generational lines, which are central to the Voters' Agenda. Along with insights into voters' outlooks and perceptions, these data illuminate how to align political discourse with the majority of the electorate. What Voters Want: Leadership and Solutions The 2024 Arizona Voters' Agenda surveys show that voters prioritize leaders who focus on plans and solutions over conflict. When selecting a candidate, 65% of voters continue to believe a candidate's position on critical issues or clear plans and solutions matter most, consistent with findings in the 2022 elections. Voters also desire bipartisan cooperation, with 91% of voters concerned about partisanship and divisiveness in politics and 62% preferring candidates willing to work across the aisle. Additional findings highlight an electorate that wants candidates and leaders to better address their priorities: More than half of voters (56%) do not believe elected leaders represent their interests. 60% do not believe current candidates for office are talking about the issues important to them. Read more Contact: Heather Thornton, [email protected], 602.538.2274; Chloe Ranshaw, [email protected], 480.639.8088 SOURCE Center for the Future of Arizona 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 Beirut, Sep 30 : A man, who originally came from Iran, shook the hand of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and managed to smear a substance on him that allowed Israel to track him, according to a media report quoting sources. Due to the fact that the body of the Hezbollah leader was exhumed intact, there are increasing estimates that Nasrallah died as a result of suffocation, in great agony, as reported on Sunday evening by Channel 12 News. It was also reported that as he was in a place without ventilation, the Air Force bombings resulted in gases entering the room, causing him to suffocate to death, Saudi Al Hadath news channel reported. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) informed earlier that 20 more terrorists were killed alongside Nasrallah in the attack on Hezbollah's central headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon. "In a precise attack by the Israeli Air Force and under the direction of the intelligence wing, fighter jets attacked and killed the leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation Hassan Nasrallah, and the commander of the southern front Ali Karaki, one of the senior commanders who remained in the organisation before the attack," it said. "In a precise airstrike carried out by the Israeli Air Force, directed by the Intelligence Directorate, fighter jets struck and eliminated Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation, and Ali Karaki, the Commander of Hezbollah's Southern Front, who was one of the remaining senior commanders in the organisation before the strike." More than 20 other terrorists of varying ranks, who were present at the underground headquarters in Beirut located beneath civilian buildings, and were managing Hezbollah's terrorist operations against the State of Israel, were also eliminated. Among the terrorists eliminated: Ibrahim Hussein Jazini -- Head of Nasrallah's Security Unit Samir Tawfiq Dib -- Nasrallah's long-time confidant and advisor on terrorist activities. Abed al-Amir Muhammad Sablini -- Head of Hezbollah's Force-Build Up Ali Naaf Ayoub -- responsible for coordinating Hezbollah's firepower Beirut, Sep 30 : At least 105 people were killed and 359 injured in Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon, according to the country's Health Ministry. The highest death toll was in the South Governorate, where 48 people were killed and 168 were injured in Ain Al-Delb and Tyre, the Ministry said on Sunday. The attacks come after an air strike on Beirut's densely populated southern suburbs on Friday killed Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Lebanon's Hezbollah group which has engaged in cross-border fire with Israel for almost a year. Hezbollah has said it is acting in support of Hamas militants in Gaza, who attacked Israel on October 7, triggering the war in the Palestinian territory. After Israel turned its focus north from Gaza to Lebanon and cross-border fire escalated, Israeli attacks have killed hundreds since last Monday, the deadliest day since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. Lebanon's Health Ministry said there had been deadly air raids near the main southern city of Sidon on Sunday, while dozens more had died in the east, in the south and in and around Beirut. The Ministry added that Israeli airstrikes caused "severe damage" to Kana hospital in the south. The Baalbek-Hermel region in eastern Lebanon's Beqaa Valley was also hard hit, with 33 people killed and 97 injured, according to the Ministry. There were also heavy casualties in the country's southern Nabatiyeh Governorate, including in the town of Marjaayoun. Israel has said that its intensified strikes on Lebanon this weekend are targeting Hezbollah operatives and facilities, and accuses the militant group of using civilians as "human shields". The strikes have flattened residential buildings and devastated public infrastructure, leading to a deepening humanitarian crisis in the country. Riyadh, Sep 30 : Saudi Arabia is closely monitoring the recent escalation of violence in Lebanon with "great concern," according to the kingdom's Foreign Ministry on early Monday. The Ministry underscored the necessity of safeguarding Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity, Xinhua news agency reported. In light of the ongoing turmoil, Saudi Arabia reiterated its solidarity with the Lebanese people and urged the international community to take decisive action to preserve regional peace and security, warning against the perils of war. The Ministry also announced initiatives to provide medical and humanitarian aid to support the Lebanese people during these critical times. Since September 23, Israel has executed its most extensive military operations against Lebanon since 2006. It also launched airstrikes on Friday evening targeting Hezbollah's headquarters in Dahieh, a southern suburb of Beirut, resulting in the deaths of the armed group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, along with several senior commanders. These attacks mark a significant escalation in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which began on October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched rocket attacks on Israel in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, prompting Israeli retaliatory strikes in southeastern Lebanon. Addressing the 79th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan called for preserving Lebanon's stability and sovereignty per international law and UN Security Council resolutions. "The absence of accountability and punishment despite Israel's ongoing violations of international law and humanitarian law encourages further escalation," he added. Bin Farhan warned that escalation will not bring security or stability to any party. "It signals dangerous consequences instead and increases the scale of violence and war and further threatens security and stability of the region," he said. The top Saudi diplomat said his country has "joined international efforts aimed at establishing an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon to pave the way for a sustainable diplomatic resolution," he added. The US, EU, and several other countries called last week for a temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah to facilitate diplomatic efforts. Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 41,600 people, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack by Hamas last October 7. The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the ongoing Gaza conflict into a wider regional war. Vienna, Sep 30 : The far right won the most votes in an Austrian election for the first time since the Nazi era on Sunday, as the Freedom Party (FPO) rode a tide of public anger over migration and the cost of living to beat the centre-right People's Party (OVP). The pro-Kremlin, anti-Islam FPO won 28.8 per cent of votes, beating the ruling OVP of the Chancellor, Karl Nehammer, into second place on 26.3 per cent, according to near-complete results. The opposition Social Democratic party scored its worst ever result a" 21.1 per cent a" while the liberal NEOS drew about nine per cent. Despite devastating flooding this month from Storm Boris bringing the climate crisis to the fore, the Greens, junior partners in the government coalition, tallied 8.3 per cent in a dismal fifth place. "We've made Austrian history because it's the first time the Freedom Party is Number 1 in a parliamentary election, and you have to think how far we've come," Herbert Kickl said after the party's record showing, which came seven decades after its foundation in the 1950s under the leadership of a former Nazi lawmaker. The party has worked to moderate its image and broaden its appeal, but Kickl remains a provocative and polarising figure, roundly disliked by the other party leaders, who immediately united in rejecting the notion of forming a coalition with him. If Kickl cannot persuade another party to ally with him, it could end the FPO's hopes of forming a government and open the door to a coalition of more moderate parties. Only the OVP has offered any indication it could work with the FPO, but it has ruled out doing so with Kickl, who has given no hint he could step aside to let someone else take charge. Seat projections suggested the OVP and SPO, which ruled Austria for decades together, could just muster a majority without a third party, which had long looked unlikely. Kickl's win was hailed by hard-right parties across Europe, where the far-right has made gains in countries including the Netherlands, France and Germany. That growing support could stoke the risk of divisions inside the European Union over key policy areas like the defence of Ukraine against Russia. Analysts said irrespective of whether Kickl captured the chancellery, Austria was now in uncharted territory. "Kickl has often said that (Hungarian Prime Minister) Viktor Orban is a role model for him and he will stand by him." Kickl, who this year forged an alliance with Orban, opposes providing aid to Ukraine and wants sanctions against Russia withdrawn, arguing they hurt Austria more than Moscow. On Sunday, Kickl said he was ready to talk with all parties over forming a coalition, and President Alexander Van der Bellen, who oversees the formation of governments, urged parties to find common ground in negotiations in the coming weeks. Van der Bellen, a former Greens leader, has voiced reservations about the FPO because of its criticism of the EU and its failure to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Late on Sunday, a few dozen anti-FPO protesters assembled outside the party's election celebrations, one holding a placard reading "Kickl is a Nazi" as police kept them at bay. The Islam-critical FPO wants to stop granting asylum altogether and build a "fortress Austria" preventing migrants from entering. Kathua, Sep 30 : Union Minister of Law and Justice, Arjun Ram Meghwal, has accused the Opposition of misguiding the people of Jammu and Kashmir over Article 370. "They (the opposition) can't bring it again (Article 370). They are just misguiding people; the way they did during the Lok Sabha elections by saying that we (the BJP) will finish the constitution. How can the Constitution be finished? Good governance and development -- these are the two agendas, based on which we are contesting and will win this election," Meghwal told reporters here. While Congress is silent on Article 370, its ally, the National Conference (NC), has promised restoration of the Article in its poll manifesto. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government abrogated Article 370, which gave special status to J&K on August 5, 2019. Meanwhile, addressing a public rally in Gurez in Bandipore area on Sunday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh slammed NC for promising the restoration of Article 370. "Only the Central government has the authority to bring it back. After the removal of Article 370, people enthusiastically participated in the elections. This is the message of change in Jammu and Kashmir. Today, the national flag is being hoisted at Srinagar's Lal Chowk. Today, record numbers of tourists are visiting Kashmir. Kashmir is no longer a terrorist hotspot but a tourism hotspot. Here, two political families only focused on politics. They ruled here for a long time," he said. "Today, the youth here are holding computers, not stones. IIM, IIT, and National Colleges will be established here. NC-Congress and PDP have only looted here. They did nothing for the people, only secured their families," Rajnath Singh added. The high-stakes campaigning for the third and final phase of polling in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections concluded on Sunday evening with voting set to take place for 40 constituencies in the third phase. Of the 40 constituencies, 24 fall under the Jammu division and the remaining in Kashmir. This election marks the first one in a decade and the first since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. New Delhi, Sep 30 : The Supreme Court is set to hear several petitions on Monday regarding the controversy surrounding the alleged use of animal fat in the renowned Tirupati laddus. The issue erupted after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu claimed that animal fat had been used in the laddus distributed as 'prasad' at the Sri Venkateswara Temple during the previous YSR Congress administration, led by Jagan Mohan Reddy. Petitions have been filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and YV Subba Reddy, a Rajya Sabha MP from the YSR Congress Party and former chairman of the the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), both demanding a court-monitored investigation. A bench comprising of Justices B. R. Gavai and K. V. Viswanathan will take up the matter for hearing on Monday. One of the pleas filed by advocate Satyam Singh seeks direction for the constitution of a judicial committee under the chairmanship of a former SC judge or a probe by CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) into the alleged "criminal conspiracy and mismanagement of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Trust." The plea said: "A grave violation of religious customs occurred as investigations revealed disturbing facts that non-vegetarian products, specifically bird meat (kolis), the presence of animal fat, 'lard' (pig fat), fish oil and other impurities were used in the preparation of 'prasadam'." "This act not only violates the fundamental tenets of Hindu religious customs but also deeply wounds the sentiments of countless devotees who regard the 'prasadam' as a sacred blessing. The gravity of this situation cannot be overlooked, as it strikes at the core of our religious practices and beliefs," it added. Further, it said that the recent violation at the Tirumala Tirupati Balaji Temple represents a grave infringement of Article 25 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to freedom of religion. The petition said that the holy Tirumala Tirupati Temple holds immense spiritual significance for Hindus globally and countless devotees visit the sacred site annually to seek blessings and partake in the divine 'prasadam', believed to carry the Lord Venkateswara's blessings. Another plea seeks the appointment of a committee under direct monitoring of the Supreme Court or appointment of a retired SC judge with other experts to conduct an independent inquiry into the allegations of substandard ingredients and animal fat in the ghee in Tirupati Tirumala Temple. Earlier, a letter petition was addressed to the Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud seeking urgent intervention from the Supreme Court in light of recent revelations about the alleged use of animal fat in the preparation of 'prasadam' offered to the deity at the Tirumala Tirupati Temple during the YSCRP rule. Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the adulteration of ghee used for making Tirupati laddu. Earlier, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu announced a probe by SIT into irregularities at TTD, which manages the affairs of Sri Venkateswara temple at Tirumala. CM Naidu added after receiving the report, the state government would take action against those involved in using adulterated ghee for 'prasadam'. Kathmandu, Sep 30 : At least 170 people have died from floods and landslides in Nepal as of now, the country's Home Ministry said in a statement as quoted by media reports. Home Ministry spokesperson Rishiram Tiwari on Sunday provided the latest update on casualties from floods, landslides, and inundation affecting various districts, including the federal capital, The Himalyan Times reported. The Ministry also confirmed on Sunday that 111 individuals have been injured in these calamities, while around 4,000 people have been rescued. Search, rescue, and relief efforts have been intensified with the deployment of security agencies, The Himalyan Times reported. Nepali Army helicopters airlifted 162 people who were injured or stranded in parts of Kavre, Sindhuli, and Lalitpur districts. Relief materials, including food supplies, have been distributed to disaster survivors, and the injured are receiving treatment at government health facilities. "The government is prioritising search, rescue, and relief efforts with full coordination among all concerned agencies. Blocked roads are being cleared, and reconstruction is underway," Tiwari said. Provincial governments, district disaster management committees, and local disaster management units are also collaborating in response to the ongoing crises, the Ministry added. Nepal's hydropower plants and irrigation facilities were badly damaged in floods and landslides triggered by incessant rainfalls in recent days, with an estimated initial loss of 4.35 billion Nepali rupees ($32.6 million). Addressing a press meeting on Sunday, officials at Nepal's Ministry for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation said that disasters spelt by continuous rains on Friday and Saturday had caused an estimated loss of 3 billion rupees ($22.5 million) to hydropower and transmission projects, while river control and irrigation projects suffered an estimated loss of 1.35 billion rupees ($10.1 million). According to the officials, floods had damaged 11 operating hydropower plants with a combined generation capacity of 625.96MW and forced other operating plants to shut down. As a result, 1,100MW in generation capacity was halted, nearly one-third of the total capacity of the country's operating power plants. Fifteen hydropower plants under construction were damaged as well, it was noted. As power plants and transmission lines were damaged, power supply in different parts of the country has been disrupted. "Managing enough power for the country in the upcoming winter could be challenging as it takes time to maintain and repair the damaged power plants," said Kul Man Ghising, managing director of Nepal Electricity Authority. Nepal produces surplus hydropower during the monsoon season, but in the dry season it generates around one-third of the power. The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement that 47 of 80 national highways in Nepal had remained obstructed. Aden : /Jerusalem, Sep 30 (IANS) At least four people were killed and 49 others injured in Israeli airstrikes on Yemen's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, media reported, citing health sources. The Houthi-run al-Masirah TV on Sunday described the attacks as "Israeli aggression," detailing that the port in the Ras Issa area and power stations in the districts of Al-Hali and Al-Katheeb were attacked, Xinhua news agency reported. "Four people were killed, including a port worker and three engineers at Al-Hali electricity power station," the television said, adding that 49 others were injured and rescue operations are still ongoing. Earlier on Sunday, Israel's military said it had conducted airstrikes on Houthi targets in Hodeidah, striking power plants and a seaport which it alleged the Houthis used for transferring weapons, military supplies, and oil. The air raid involved dozens of aircraft, including fighter jets, mid-air refueling planes, and intelligence aircraft, with the targets located around 1,800 km from Israel. A pro-government Yemeni official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua that more than 10 airstrikes targeted key infrastructure, including oil tanks, airport, and other port facilities along the Red Sea coast. Meanwhile, residents said they heard jets roaring overhead, and ambulances were seen rushing through the streets. They added that Houthi fighters have cordoned off the targeted areas. Meanwhile, the Houthi group issued a statement, informing residents in areas under its control that "it has already taken the necessary measures for any emergency and that the fuel supply is stable". The Israeli military said that "the strikes were carried out in response to recent attacks by the Houthis against Israel," referring to two missiles launched toward central Israel from Yemen -- one fired at a military target in the Jaffa area of Tel Aviv on Friday and the other targeting the Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv, on Saturday. Both missiles, intercepted by Israel's aerial defences, caused no injuries. The Israeli airstrikes on Houthi targets expanded its confrontation with Iran's allies in the region after killing Hezbollah's top leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, on Friday in an escalating conflict in Lebanon. Yemen's Houthis have launched sporadic attacks on Israel and disrupted "Israeli-linked" shipping in the Red Sea since November last year, allegedly to support Palestinians in their conflict with Israelis. Jerusalem, Sep 30 : Israeli opposition lawmaker Gideon Saar has joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, the two politicians said. In a video statement, Netanyahu said on Sunday that under the terms of their agreement, Saar would be appointed to his security cabinet, which is responsible for key policy decisions in Israel's ongoing war. According to state-owned Kan TV, Saar, a prominent far-right politician and former rival of Netanyahu, had been in talks over a deal that would have seen him replace Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, another political rival of the Prime Minister. However, the effort faltered last week as Israel intensified its offensive against Hezbollah, Xinhua news agency reported. Saar's entry was widely viewed by local media as an attempt to solidify Netanyahu's coalition government and strengthen his grip on power. Saar's inclusion in the government coalition takes its support in the 120-seat Israeli parliament from 64 to 68, weakening the de-facto veto power that far-right parties have over the cabinet. The move comes as Israel intensifies its attacks on Lebanon, Gaza and across the Middle East in what is increasingly looking like a wider regional war. Saar had been one of Netanyahu's most vocal critics in recent years, but the Israeli Prime Minister suggested that the two politicians have been on the same page since the start of the war on Gaza. Since Monday, Israel has conducted its most extensive attacks on Lebanon since 2006, launching airstrikes on Friday evening against Hezbollah's main headquarters in Dahieh, the southern suburbs of Beirut, during which the armed group's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several other commanders were killed. The heavy assaults mark the latest escalation of the ongoing clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, which began on October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah started launching rockets at Israel in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, prompting Israel's retaliatory artillery fire and airstrikes in southeastern Lebanon. Google announced it will invest THB36 billion (US$1 billion) to build its first data centre and cloud region in Thailand to meet growing demand for connectivity services and foster the development of AI in Southeast Asia. Google said in a blog the data centre will be located in Chonburi province and the cloud region (announced back in August 2022) in Bangkok. When available, the cloud region will enable government arms, SMEs, startups to tap into AI and ML resources. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra (pictured, right) said the projects will accelerate Thailands emergence as a digital hub in Southeast Asia. Shinawatra noted the technology giant had trained millions of Thais in the last five years with digital skills and the latest developments will improve quality of life for all citizens. Google said it had trained over 3.6 million Thais including students, educators, SMEs and software developers across its many development programmes. It is aiming to train another 150,000 people by 2026. Ruth Porat (pictured left), Alphabet and Google President and Chief Investment Officer added the investment will drive economic growth for Thailand. The THB36 billion digital infrastructure projects are expected to contribute around THB140 billion (US$4.3 billion) to Thailands GDP by 2029 and create an average of 14,000 jobs per year from 2025, according to a Deloitte study. Kolkata, Sep 30 : Two crucial hearings will take place on Monday in the ghastly rape and murder of a junior doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in the Supreme Court and a special court in Kolkata. On one hand, the three-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by the Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra will hear the matter at the bench in the second half starting from 2 p.m. The hearing was scheduled for September 27 but was later postponed on Monday. Over 100 advocates representing 42 parties in the case are expected to be present at the apex court on the hearing in the matter. On the other hand, a special court in Kolkata is scheduled to hear the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)'s plea for narco-analysis of Sandip Ghosh, the former and controversial R.G. Kar Principal, and the polygraph test of Abhijit Mondal, the former SHO of Tala Police station under whose jurisdiction the medical college and hospital comes. Legal experts say that the hearings in both the courts in the matter are significant considering the special observations in September, where the judge concerned, while rejecting the bail petitions of Ghosh and Mondal on September 25, observed that if the charges against them are proven then they could be subjected to capital punishment. On that day, the CBI counsel claimed at the special court that the exhibits and evidence in connection with the ghastly rape and murder were changed and tampered with at the Tala Police Station, with Mondal as the erstwhile SHO there. The CBI also made a mention of the explosive claim in the remand letter for Ghosh, and Mondal. "During the custodial interrogation of both the accused persons, new additional facts have emerged to the effect that some false records pertaining to the instant case were created/altered in Tala Police Station," the remand letter read. The two hearings are coming up on Monday amid the cease-work protests by the junior doctors of the state-run College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital in Kamarhati in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district. The doctors went on strike from Saturday following an assault on their colleagues by the relatives of a woman patient, who died in the hospital. Jerusalem, Sep 30 : The Israeli military has said that it killed more than 20 Hezbollah militants of varying ranks in its strikes in Beirut, during which the group's top leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, was also assassinated. According to a statement from the military, among the others killed were Ibrahim Hussein Jazini, director of Nasrallah's security unit, and Samir Tawfiq Deeb, a longtime adviser to Nasrallah, as well as Abd al-Amir Muhammad Sablini and Ali Naaf Ayoub, who were responsible for Hezbollah's force build-up and firepower, respectively. They were located at Hezbollah's central headquarters in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital as Israel launched the strikes, which levelled a multi-storey building, Xinhua news agency reported. Israel continued to pound Lebanon on Sunday with more airstrikes in Beirut and the airport area, targeting Hezbollah's chemical industry expert, according to the Israeli state-owned Kan TV news. The military said its fighter jets also struck southern Lebanon, hitting rocket launchers aimed at Israeli territory, weapons storage facilities, and Hezbollah infrastructure sites. It highlighted that warplanes also launched fresh strikes on 45 sites in southern Lebanon's Kafra area to target the group's weapons storage facilities. Meanwhile, Hezbollah fired about 10 rockets toward the western Galilee and Haamakim areas in northern Israel, with some projectiles intercepted, according to the military. Beirut, Sep 30 : Hezbollah has confirmed that the group's senior leader Ali Karaki, head of the southern front, was killed, along with top leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in the Israeli airstrikes targeting Beirut's southern suburbs. Hezbollah said on Sunday in a statement that Karaki "was martyred with a group of his jihadist brothers in the enemy's criminal raid on Haret Hreik, accompanied by... Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah". On Friday evening, Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes on Hezbollah's main headquarters in Dahieh, the southern suburbs of Beirut, during which Nasrallah and some other commanders of the armed group were killed, Xinhua news agency reported. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has claimed on Sunday that it killed Nabil Qaouk, the commander of Hezbollah's Preventive Security Unit and a member of Hezbollah's central council, in an airstrike on Saturday. It gave no detail on where the strike took place. The IDF said that Qaouk was "considered to be close to the top of" Hezbollah and "was directly engaged in promoting terrorist designs against the State of Israel and its citizens, even in recent days". The US designated Qaouk a global terrorist in October 2020, saying he had represented Hezbollah at events commemorating deceased Hezbollah terrorists as well as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani, who died in a US drone strike in January 2020. The raids flattened several residential buildings, resulting in at least six deaths, 91 injuries, and significant infrastructure damage in the neighbourhood, local media reported earlier. These heavy assaults mark the latest escalation of the ongoing clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, which began on October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah started launching rockets at Israel in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, prompting Israel's retaliatory artillery fire and airstrikes in southeastern Lebanon. Beirut, Sep 30 : Three people of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a residential building in the al Cola area in Beirut. This marked Israel's first attack on the capital since the outbreak of the Hezbollah-Israel conflict on October 8, 2023. Previously attacks concentrated on Beirut's southern suburbs, Xinhua news agency reported quoting the al-Jadeed local TV channel. The densely populated al Cola area has seen an influx of displaced people fleeing Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon. Following the attack, ambulances arrived to transport the wounded, while civil defence teams worked to evacuate residents from the building. The Lebanese army was also deployed to the scene. Tensions between Hezbollah and Israel have escalated after Israel expanded its military operations to Lebanon, aiming to allow Israeli settlers to return to Israel. Hezbollah has announced its entry into a new phase of the conflict, pledging continued support for Gaza. Since October 8, 2023, Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire along the Lebanese-Israeli border, raising fears of a wider regional conflict. New Delhi, Sep 30 : Healthcare industries are pioneering nanotechnology innovation with use in diagnostics, drug delivery, and medical imaging, according to a report on Monday. Nanotechnology has the potential to transform numerous industries with a growing demand for sustainable materials, environmental remediation, faster electronics, and innovative therapies. The report by GlobalData, a data and analytics company, showed that the healthcare and technology sectors are currently at the forefront of innovation witnessing rapid commercialisation. In the technology sector, nanotechnology is enhancing the performance of electronic devices, helping to push forward the next era of advanced computing. "Nanotechnology's commercialisation varies greatly by sector due to a combination of factors. The first is the level of investment in research and development in each sector. Industries such as technology and healthcare have seen faster commercialisation due to high investment," said Isabel Al-Dhahir, Principal Analyst, Thematic Intelligence at GlobalData. "The complexity and regulatory hurdles associated with bringing nanotechnology products to market and mixed consumer perception of nanotechnology products in food and consumer goods can also impact commercialisation rates," Al-Dhahir said. To boost commercialisation of the advanced technology is the gaining of regulatory approvals. This is further complicated by regional divergence in regulation and unclear frameworks. Al-Dhahir noted that "the rapid pace of technological advancements in nanotechnology has outpaced the development of regulatory frameworks, leaving gaps in oversight and enforcement". Further, the report showed that "nanotechnology's potential risks and benefits are still being studied". This makes it more challenging for regulators to establish proper guidelines without sufficient scientific evidence. Despite the challenges, the US, China, and some countries in the European Union are heavily investing in nanotechnology to secure a competitive edge in the global market. They also believe that nanotechnology can drive economic growth, and address critical societal challenges. Bengaluru, Sep 30 : The Karnataka Police have arrested a Pakistani national, who was living illegally in India, and three other foreigners from the outskirts of Bengaluru in the Jigani police station limits. Police sources said on Monday the Pakistani national was residing illegally in an apartment with his wife, who is a Bangladeshi national and has two children. The raid was conducted by the police following the tip-off from the central intelligence agencies. The local police raided his residence on Sunday night and arrested him. The Intelligence Bureau sleuths had gathered information about the Pakistani national following the arrest of a ULFA militant in Bengaluru by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The preliminary investigations have revealed that the Pakistani national left his country following the controversy over religious matters and came down to Bangladesh. He married a woman in Dhaka and sneaked into India with her in 2014. The Pakistani national settled in Delhi and managed to get an Aadhaar card, voter ID and a driving license. He came to Bengaluru in 2016 with his family and has been living quietly since then. More details are yet to emerge regarding the incident. The police have taken up further investigation. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on last Thursday arrested a suspected militant having links with the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) on the outskirts of Bengaluru. The arrested individual has been identified as Girish Bora. He was residing with his family in Jigani Industrial Area near Anekal, on the outskirts of the capital city of Karnataka. Acting on a tip-off about Girish Bora, allegedly linked to ULFA, an NIA team which had come from Assam conducted a raid and arrested him. Sources said that Girish Bora had planted Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) at various locations in Guwahati, and later had left the city. Girish Bora had shifted his family to Bengaluru and settled here. Sources further revealed that the suspected terrorist had planted IEDs at five locations in Guwahati in Assam. New Delhi, Sep 30 : Delhi government ministers on Monday visited various areas to inspect the condition of PWD roads in the national Capital after AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal wrote a letter urging CM Atishi to initiate the road repairing process. As part of this campaign, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot visited Najafgarh to assess areas where the roads were in an extremely poor condition. Minister Gahlot, along with his entire team, inspected the road from Najafgarh to Jharoda Border. aThe condition of roads is very bad because maintenance has not been done properly by the PWD and the rains were also more severe this year," Kailash Gahlot told IANS. "Just like Arvind Kejriwal inspected roads earlier, today the entire Cabinet is doing the same. We walked through several areas to observe the situation first-hand," he added. Kailash Gahlot further informed that repair work would begin in the next few days. He acknowledged that the condition of PWD roads had not been this poor in the past ten years, attributing the deterioration to the heavy rains this year. He assured that PWD officials and workers would begin repair work from October 3, and noticeable improvements in the roads would soon be seen in the national Capital. While he was assessing the situation, a woman riding a scooter on her way to drop her daughter to school, slipped on the damaged road. Witnessing this incident, Minister Gahlot spoke to the mother and daughter, understood their problem, and assured them that the road would be repaired soon. He emphasised that following former Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwalas directions, all broken roads in the area would be fixed promptly, ensuring that such incidents do not recur. Environment Minister Gopal Rai added, "The entire Delhi government Cabinet is inspecting roads in various areas along with officials. As part of this campaign, I am inspecting roads in North-East Delhi. We have instructed the PWD to hold a joint meeting with Metro officials to address the issue of potholes in several locations so that public inconvenience is minimised immediately." AAP Minister Mukesh Ahlawat also commented, saying, "Some roads will be completely rebuilt, while others will require only patchwork. We will evaluate where patchwork is sufficient. For roads in extremely poor condition, complete repairs will be done soon. The excessive rain this year has caused significant damage, leading to these issues." Inspection of roads will be completed within one week. As soon as this inspection is over, the repair work on these 1400-kilometre PWD roads will be started on a war footing. New Delhi, Sep 30 : Digital transformation solutions company UST on Monday announced to expand its presence in India by adding over 3,000 new jobs at its upcoming campus in the country in the next five years. The company, which has set a target of hiring 6,000 employees in the next five years, is geared up to inaugurate its campus in Kochi by December 2027. It currently employs more than 2,800 people at its existing facility in Infopark Kochi. "The company has shown high levels of commitment and determination in setting this goal of having its own state-of-the-art space in the industrial hub of Kerala, and the results will soon show off," said Susanth Kurunthil, CEO, Infopark Kochi. To be completed in three years, the new campus will come up in a nine-acre land at Infopark Kochi Phase 2. The new campus will have space for 4,400 seats with an area of over 6,00,000 square feet, according to the company. The digital transformation solutions firm currently caters to the US, the UK and Asia Pacific (APAC) customers in domains such as healthcare, retail, telecom, financial services/asset management and hi-tech. Krishna Sudheendra, CEO, UST, said that the new campus will not only strengthen UST's presence in the region but also attract more clients and create new work opportunities. According to Alexander Varghese, COO, UST, the strategic location of Kochi aids companies to easily connect and reach out to other IT locations in the country. "With UST's own campus coming up in Kochi, we will be able to add jobs and customers in a big way," said Varghese. Founded in 1999, UST has expanded its presence in India with offices in Hyderabad, Kochi, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi-NCR, Ahmedabad and Hosur. New Delhi, Sep 30 : A plea seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged "criminal conspiracy and mismanagement" of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Trust was mentioned before the Supreme Court on Monday morning. New Delhi, Sep 30 (IANS) A plea seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged "criminal conspiracy and mismanagement" of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Trust was mentioned before the Supreme Court on Monday morning. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing the petitioner, apprised CJI DY Chandrachud that similar petitions are listed before a Bench headed by Justice BR Gavai and requested if the petition seeking constitution of a judicial committee under the chairmanship of a former SC judge may be tagged and heard. The top court is set to hear several petitions on Monday regarding the controversy surrounding the alleged use of animal fat in Tirupati laddus. The issue erupted after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu claimed that animal fat had been used in the laddus distributed as 'prasad' at the Sri Venkateswara Temple during the previous YSR Congress administration, led by Jagan Mohan Reddy. One of the pleas filed by advocate Satyam Singh said, "A grave violation of religious customs occurred as investigations revealed disturbing facts that non-vegetarian products, specifically bird meat (kolis), the presence of animal fat, 'lard' (pig fat), fish oil and other impurities were used in the preparation of 'prasadam'." "This act not only violates the fundamental tenets of Hindu religious customs but also deeply wounds the sentiments of countless devotees who regard the 'prasadam' as a sacred blessing. The gravity of this situation cannot be overlooked, as it strikes at the core of our religious practices and beliefs," it added. Further, it said that the recent violation at the Tirumala Tirupati Balaji Temple represents a grave infringement of Article 25 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to freedom of religion. The petition said that the holy Tirumala Tirupati Temple holds immense spiritual significance for Hindus globally and countless devotees visit the sacred site annually to seek blessings and partake in the divine 'prasadam', believed to carry Lord Venkateswara's blessings. Another plea seeks the appointment of a committee under direct monitoring of the Supreme Court or appointment of a retired SC judge with other experts to conduct an independent enquiry into the allegations of substandard ingredients and animal fat in the ghee in Tirupati Tirumala Temple. Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the adulteration of ghee used for making Tirupati laddus. Earlier, CM Naidu announced a probe by SIT into irregularities at TTD, which manages the affairs of Sri Venkateswara temple at Tirumala. CM Naidu added that after receiving the report, the state government would take action against those involved in using adulterated ghee for 'prasadam'. Patna, Sep 30 : The excessive rainfall in Nepal's catchment areas has caused widespread flooding in several districts of North Bihar, turning many villages into isolated islands. One of the severely affected areas is West Champaran district, where the water from the Harboda River has flooded over a dozen villages in Madhopur and Guanaha Panchayats. Villagers are struggling to cope with the situation and are desperately demanding government aid, which has not yet reached them. In Madhopur Panchayat's ward number 6, flooding has submerged everything under four to five feet of water, making it impossible for villagers to access food for themselves and fodder for their cattle. Ranu Mishra, the representative of the village body, expressed the community's distress, noting that the lack of boats has left them without any means of transportation. "We are pleading with the district administration to at least provide boats if food grains cannot be supplied immediately," Mishra said. The situation highlights the urgent need for government intervention to provide relief, such as food, boats, and other essentials, to ensure that these flood-affected communities receive the necessary assistance to survive. The floodwaters from rivers like the Gandak and Bagmati have inundated multiple regions, causing widespread devastation. In West Champaran's Yogapatti block, Janakpur and Futwaria Panchayats are flooded by the Gandak River, while Gopalganj has seen areas like Jigri Tola, Mungraha, Malahi Tola, and Rajwahi village completely cut off from the mainland due to floodwaters. Farmers, like Ashok Thakur, are facing immense hardship as their paddy, maize, and sugarcane crops have been destroyed. "Rain doesn't usually come in September, and this unexpected downpour has devastated us," Ashok lamented. He emphasized that many farmers had borrowed money for their crops, and the floods had broken their financial stability, making urgent government assistance crucial. The demand for adequate compensation from the government is growing, as farmers have lost not only their crops but also their livelihoods. The situation has been aggravated by the breaching of embankments at multiple locations. In West Champaran's Bagaha block, the Gandak River has broken through embankments, while the Bagmati River has caused breaches in Sitamarhi district, particularly at Bensand block and Runni Saidpur block, where embankments have collapsed in three places. Further breaches were reported in Kharauha, Rupauli, and Madhkaul villages. In Sheohar district, the embankment along the Bagmati River at Tariyani Chhapra has also collapsed worsening the flood impact. The breaking of embankments has significantly contributed to the worsening flood conditions, increasing the urgency for governmental action to repair these structures and provide immediate relief to the affected population. In Darbhanga, the flood situation has worsened after the embankment at Badaul village in Kiratpur block was breached due to the strong water flow from the Kosi River. The breach has caused severe flooding in Kiratpur and Ghanshyampur blocks, with around 25 villages now submerged. Despite efforts by the district administration, including the District Magistrate (DM), Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), and officials from the Water Resource and Disaster Management departments, the embankment could not withstand the powerful water current and broke on Monday morning. Umesh Kumar, the SDO of Darbhanga (Sadar), said they are continuously monitoring embankments and alerting people through loudspeakers to prepare for potential danger. Rajiv Roshan, the District Magistrate of Darbhanga, stated, "The district is on high alert, with clear instructions given to all officers to regularly monitor the embankments and ensure that government aid reaches the flood-affected communities. Food grain and other essential supplies are being distributed in impacted areas such as Bilaur, Ghanshyampur, Taurabora, and other panchayats inundated by the Kosi River floodwaters." Malaysian telco U Mobile said on Saturday it has scored separate deals with Chinese telecoms vendors Huawei and ZTE to explore and develop 5G use cases in Malaysia focused on verticals and the agriculture sector. Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with Huawei in Beijing, U Mobile and Huawei will explore and promote adoption and commercialisation of X2B 5G applications, solutions and intelligent services to Malaysian businesses in vertical sectors including manufacturing, retail and agriculture. To that end, the two companies will test of new technologies such as RedCap, passive-IoT and mmWave to support development of X2B use cases, and will also develop 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) applications to enhance use cases like live broadcast, transportation and Internet of Video Things (which combines things like surveillance cameras, traffic cameras, dashcams and environmental monitoring cameras with big data analytics). U Mobile said it will tap into Huaweis cloud infrastructure in Malaysia as well as its ecosystem of international and local partners to enhance Malaysias X2B landscape. Meanwhile, a sperate MoU between U Mobile and ZTE will see both companies collaborate to develop 5G-powered intelligent agriculture use cases and applications to enable digital transformation of Malaysias agricultural industry. U Mobile and ZTE plan to leverage technologies such as IoT, RedCap, and cloud platforms to support process automation such as autonomous agricultural machinery and machine vision inspection, which could improve efficiency of agricultural operations and enhance productivity levels. The MoU also calls for U Mobile and ZTE to work together to speed up deployment and enhancement of connectivity in rural areas in Malaysia using ZTEs RuralPilot solution which ZTE says is easy to install and uses hybrid power solution involving solar panels and high-performance lithium batteries. For rural areas with no fibre infrastructure, U Mobile and ZTE will explore ways to use CPE-based Smart Relay to extend the backhaul connectivity range for base stations. U Mobile said the rural connectivity solutions will benefit education, healthcare and tourism in those areas, as well as agriculture. U Mobile signed the deals with Huawei and ZTE at their respective offices in Beijing in conjunction with a three-day work visit to Beijing by Malaysian Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil, who attended both signings. During the same trip, Fahmi also witnessed an agreement by Chinese LEO satellite operator Geespace and Malaysian telecoms service provider Altel Communications to establish an R&D centre to develop use cases for direct-to-device (D2D) satellite communications technology in Malaysia. Fahmi also signed MoUs with China's National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) to cooperate in the areas of media and broadcasting, to include exploring ways for Malaysia to leverage AI tech from China in its telecoms, media, broadcasting and film sectors, according to the Bernama news agency. Bhopal, Sep 30 : Following directions from Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, Madhya Pradesh Police has begun an operation against those involved in crimes against women, especially cases related to minor girls. More than 51,000 people involved in crimes against women and girls have been identified from across Madhya Pradesh in the last two days. Of them, 2,469 have been put under "bound over" action and 4,916 accused have been given clear instructions by the police. "Incharges of each police station are directed to carry out searches, meet citizens, women and find out those involved in criminal activities against females. They have been asked to take immediate action," PRO in MP PHQ, Ashish Sharma said. At the same time, cases registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, are pushed for speedy hearing in the courts. "Police will not make any delay in producing evidence, witnesses or anything related with the cases filed under the POCSO Act in order to push for speedy hearing in the courts," Sharma told IANS. The initiative was part of the MP Police's special drive to keep a close watch on those involved in crimes against females, especially those who have a criminal background. A decision in this regard was taken in the wake of growing crimes against females in both rural and urban parts of Madhya Pradesh for the past few months. Also, there have been several cases of rape and murder of minor girls, due to which questions were raised regarding Madhya Pradesh's law and order situation. Madhya Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP), Sudhir Saxena has directed all senior cops to take prompt action against people involved in crimes against females and ensure that they get punished by the courts. DGP Sudhir Saxena has directed the SP to prepare a list of people involved in crimes against women and girls in the last ten years. During the meeting a couple of days ago, DGP Saxena also directed senior cops, including Police Commissioners (CP) of Bhopal and Indore to ensure that the Supreme Court's guidelines regarding the safety and security of children are adhered by all schools in the state. Chennai, Sep 30 : The Chief Minister Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government is in the process of documenting and preserving languages used by the Adi Dravidar and tribal communities of the state and will bring out a policy framework in the next four months. A policy framework is also being created to safeguard languages of the tribal communities in the state. The Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department has been assigned the responsibility of preserving and documenting the rich culture, heritage and languages of the tribal communities of the state. The DMK government has already allocated an initial corpus fund of Rs 2 crore for the preliminary expenses involved in the preservation and documentation. The languages of Toda, Kota, Solaga, Kani and Narikuravar communities will be documented and preserved. Sources in the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department of Tamil Nadu told IANS on Monday that the department has already conducted several rounds of brain storming sessions with anthropologists, linguists, folklore activists and tribal musicians as part of bringing out a policy framework for this comprehensive project. According to the officials of the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department the policy can be expected in the next four months. The officials also said that after taking extensive and in-depth inputs from experts in various areas concerning tribal language, customs and heritage, the department will bring out workable and implementable ideas in the policy. The officials said that the department will explore folklore, stories and other oral traditions of the tribes. They added that once the policy framework is approved, the department will form committees and the process of studying languages will commence. A highly-placed official told IANS that after the policy is finalised the department will collaborate with various institutions working in the field of tribal welfare. He said that the Tamil Nadu government will also try to collaborate with the United Nations (UN), which has declared 2022-2032 the aDecade of Indigenous Languages.a Islamabad, Sep 30 : At least three Iranian border security guards have been killed and several others injured in fresh violence that has erupted in Iran's southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan area, bordering Pakistan's Balochistan province. Four different attacks were reported overnight from different cities along the Pak-Iran border on Monday. "An Iranian border guard was killed and two others sustained injuries in a clash with unidentified armed persons in the Parud intersection of the Rask district of Iran's Sistan-va-Balochistan province," confirmed a source. "Another Iranian Police personnel of the Ranger unit was shot dead by unidentified armed persons in the Khash city of the same province," he added. In another attack, an Iranian Faraja - one of the three components of the Iran Armed Forces - personnel sustained injuries when unidentified armed persons targeted Domak police station in the Zahedan capital city of Sistan-va-Balochistan province in Iran. Similarly, in a separate but parallel attack, an Iranian border security guard was killed in an attack by armed persons, who targeted Makki station in Hirmand city of the same province. Militant group Jaish-ul-Adl (Army of Justice), a Sunni majority group operating along the Pak-Iran bordering areas since 2012 as a successor of the Baloch military group Jundullah, has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The group claims that it is fighting for the rights of Baloch people and wants independence from Iran. It is led by Salauddin Farooqi and is designated as a terrorist organisation by Iran and the United States. Iran claims that Jaish-ul-Adl is based in Pakistan and has criticised Islamabad for not taking action against the group. Islamabad on the other hand, denies any physical presence of the group inside its territory. The Pak-Iran border along the Sistan region has been volatile for some time with militant groups carrying out attacks targeted at the Iranian border security forces. Sistan province, one of Iran's poorest regions, has faced ethnic discrimination. Baloch population, which makes up only five per cent of Iran's population, is also subjected to disproportionate discrimination and violence. Kochi, Sep 30 : Award-winning actor Balachandra Menon has denied allegations made by a former actress, who on Monday filed a complaint before the Kerala Police Special Investigation Team on how she was sexually abused by him in 2007 at a hotel in the state capital city. Menon denied this and stated that he had already given a complaint to the state police chief that this was a false and baseless allegation. The 70-year-old is known in the Malayalam film industry as a multitasker -- a director, producer, writer and actor and has a career spanning more than four decades. He has directed 40 films and acted in over 100 films. The former actress has registered complaints against seven in the film industry. Among those who have been arrested and later released on bail are two-time CPI(M) legislator Mukesh and former AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes) general secretary Edavela Babu. In her complaint before the SIT, she said that in 2007, while shooting Menonas film, aDe Ingotu Nokkiyea, in January, he came into her hotel room and sexually misbehaved with her and threatened that if she didnat cooperate, the scenes of hers, which were already canned, would be deleted and also asked her not to inform anyone. She was afraid to register a complaint then and, hence the delay to come out. The Malayalam film industry has been reeling after the Hema Committee report was published on August 19. A few former actresses revealed their bad experiences and the police were quick to act. By now the police have registered 11 FIRs against various film personalities after a few former actresses revealed to the media how they were exploited. Presently those in the dock include actor-turned-CPI(M) legislator Mukesh, Nivin Pauly, Siddique, Jayasurya, Edavela Babu, Maniyanpilla Raju, directors Ranjith and Prakash, and production executives Vichu and Noble. Mukesh, Ranjith, Raju, Prakash and a few others have already got relief from the courts from being arrested. The SIT on October 3 has to file the action taken status on the Hema Committee Report before the special bench of the Kerala High Court. Mumbai, Sep 30 : The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies on Monday launched a fresh attack on the ruling Mahayuti alliance alleging that it was diverting money from development schemes and ongoing projects to fund the 'Ladki Bahin' scheme for gains in the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections. Mumbai, Sep 30 (IANS) The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies on Monday launched a fresh attack on the ruling Mahayuti alliance alleging that it was diverting money from development schemes and ongoing projects to fund the aLadki Bahina scheme for gains in the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections. Interestingly, BJPas Union Minister Nitin Gadkari also referred to the issue recently, saying that uncertainty looms over funds for other schemes as the aLadki Bahina scheme also has to be provided with money, sparking speculation in political circles. On Monday, Shiv Sena (UBT)as Leader of Opposition Ambadas Danve and MP Sanjay Raut, besides Nationalist Congress Party (SP) Working President Supriya Sule slammed the government for feeding the aLadki Bahina scheme while starving other projects of funds despite purported objections from the stateas finance department. Raut accused the Mahayuti of halting other ongoing schemes to fund aLadki Bahina, which could hit the salaries of state government employees, police or home guards. Sule said that the aLadki Bahina scheme has attracted flak from the finance department, and even the Bharatiya Janata Partyas former supporter, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) President, Raj Thackeray, and it is being pushed through with an eye on the elections. Danve claimed that the governmentas resources for important projects were being routed to the aLadki Bahina scheme to lure womenas votes in the Assembly polls despite objections from many quarters. Raj Thackeray warned a couple of days ago that the scheme would exhaust the state exchequer by January 2025, which could affect the salaries of state government staffers. Earlier, NCP(SP) President Sharad Pawar had frowned at the scheme, Congress President Nana Patole and the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) President Prakash Ambedkar also raised questions on the political intentions behind the scheme in view of the stateas financial condition. Raut said while similar schemes were implemented even in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the Mahayuti has launched aLadki Bahina in Maharashtra solely to bag womenas votes in the upcoming state polls, and there is a competition among the ruling allies Shiv Sena-BJP-Nationalist Congress Party to grab credit for it. Nevertheless, CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar had stoutly refuted the allegations, countering them by saying that the Opposition is worried over its prospects after the massive response to the aLadki Bahina scheme. Kolkata, Sep 30 : A single judge bench of the Calcutta High Court, on Monday, granted permission to around 40 organisations, including some doctors' associations, to conduct rallies on Tuesday between 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. as a protest against the ghastly rape and murder of a woman doctor last month. Kolkata, Sep 30 (IANS) A single judge bench of the Calcutta High Court, on Monday, granted permission to around 40 organisations, including some doctorsa associations, to conduct rallies on Tuesday between 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. as a protest against the ghastly rape and murder of a woman doctor last month. The association chose Tuesday as the day of the protest rally since the two occasions of Mahatma Gandhi's birthday and Mahalaya Amavasya (a significant day in Hinduism for performing rituals to honour ancestors) coincide. However, the proposed rally faced some hurdles as the Kolkata Police issued prohibitory orders over the assembly beyond a certain number of people on a major part of the rally route between Esplanade in central Kolkata and Rabindra Sadan in South Kolkata. Thereafter, the rally organisers approached Calcutta High Courtas single judge bench of Justice Rajarshi Bhardwaj for permission. As the matter came up for hearing on Monday, the counsel for the state government insisted that the rally organisers should give an approximate number of the people participating in the rally. In this counter-argument, the counsel for the petitioner and CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya said that since the subject of the rally involved larger public interest and with common people participating there it was impossible to provide the estimated number of participants in advance. Justice Bhardwaj questioned the state government counsel on how the administration could stop ten lakh people from participating peacefully in the rally and exercising their democratic rights. aProtest is the democratic right of people. How can the administration curb that citing traffic problems as the reason?"Justice Bhardwaj questioned. He advised the state administration to ensure crowd control just as they do during the Durga Puja days when lakhs of people hit the streets of the city for pandal hopping. He also questioned whether any Durga Puja organiser could estimate in advance the number of visitors who would come to their pandals. New Delhi, Sep 30 : Patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) -- a type of cancer of the bone marrow -- are seeing better outcomes with targeted therapies, said experts on Monday. CML is a slow-growing cancer that affects the bone marrow and blood. The US National Institute of Health (US) estimates that 1.2 to 1.5 million people worldwide are living with CML. The cancer has seen a notable rise in India, in recent years, with a typical diagnosis occurring in individuals aged 30-40 years. According to data from Indian cancer registries, CML is the most common type of leukaemia diagnosed in the country. A previous study reported the annual incidence of CML in India to be 0.8 to 2.2 per 100,000 population. Drugs known as tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) that target BCR-ABL protein are the standard treatment for CML. Dr. Tulika Seth, Professor of Haematology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), told IANS that the discovery of TKIs has revolutionised CML care. "In recent years, targeted treatments like TKIs have provided relief for patients, especially when resistance to first-line therapies develops. However, maintaining adherence to treatment and regular follow-ups are essential in managing disease progression effectively," Seth said. Another is Asciminib, a medicine that specifically targets the ABL myristoyl pocket (STAMP). These targeted medicines act directly on the BCR-ABL protein, a genetic mutation that drives the growth of cancer cells in CML. Further, even with these therapies, patients must continue to monitor BCR-ABL levels, Dr. Arijit Nag, Consultant of Clinical Haematology and Bone Marrow Transplant in Tata Medical Center, told IANS. "In my practice, I have seen targeted therapies have revolutionised in the years and helped the management of CML, this does not mean that CML has ceased to be a chronic illness. Follow-up visits are recommended every three months for patients after commencing treatment," Nag said. If CML progresses to advanced stages, resistance can develop due to mutations in the BCR-ABL gene. "This often requires switching to different TKIs or second-line therapies. Additionally, treatment intolerance -- such as fatigue or gastrointestinal issues -- can impact a patient's ability to continue therapy," she noted. Striking the right balance between managing resistance and minimising intolerance requires individualised treatment plans and close monitoring to ensure the best possible outcomes. The key is to regularly monitor BCR-ABL levels, especially in advanced stages of CML, as it guides treatment decisions and allows for timely adjustments to therapy, Seth said According to the European LeukemiaNet (ELN) guidelines, periodic assessments are key to ensuring optimal disease management as the treatment evolves. It is because BCR-ABL levels will determine whether or not the treatment is working, Nag explained. Regular testing helps the patient and physician monitor how well the current therapy is working, and change the practice, if required, to best suit the patient's needs. The experts also called for building a strong support system of adherence, regular monitoring, and family support. This support is crucial, especially as patients progress to later-line therapies. Gandhinagar, Sep 30 : Government of Gujarat has released Bird Diversity Report: 2023-24, which reveals that the state is home to an estimated 18 to 20 lakh birds. Forest and Environment Minister Mulu Bera announced the findings and spoke on Gujaratas role as a "paradise" for bird conservation, with an impressive variety of local and migratory species. The report's release coincides with Indiaas preparations for Wildlife Conservation Week, which will be celebrated from October 2 to 8. This week highlights Gujaratas ongoing efforts in wildlife protection and conservation. Several state initiatives, including the aKaruna Campaigna and mobile veterinary services, have been launched to ensure the care and well-being of birds and other wildlife. Key findings of the report include the discovery that Devbhoomi Dwarka has the highest bird diversity, recording 456 species, while Kutch saw over 4.56 lakh birds from 161 species. Nal Sarovar emerged as a critical bird hotspot, with more than 3.62 lakh birds, further emphasising Gujaratas significant role in bird conservation. Other important areas include Jamnagar, Ahmedabad, and Banaskantha, all contributing substantially to the state's bird population. Minister Bera praised Gujaratas diverse ecosystems, attracting bird enthusiasts from India and abroad. "From the stunning Rann of Kutch to the lush landscapes of Gir National Park, Gujaratas habitats serve as sanctuaries for birds, including the thousands of Greater Flamingos that paint the white desert pink during migration," Bera said. These ecosystems provide year-round shelter and food for local and migratory birds, further solidifying Gujaratas reputation as a bird conservation hub. The report also highlighted the importance of Jamnagar, Kutch, and Ahmedabad as vital bird conservation regions. Wetlands such as Nal Sarovar and Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary play essential roles in supporting bird populations. Nal Sarovar hosts 3.62 lakh birds, making it one of Gujarat's most critical bird conservation sites. The bird survey was conducted in collaboration with the eBird platform, documenting more than 300 bird species based on data from 398 eBird checklists. This extensive survey included contributions from NGOs, universities, and ornithologists, ensuring thorough data collection across Gujaratas regions and wetlands. The report provides detailed data on bird populations across Gujaratas districts. For instance, Kutch recorded 161 bird species with a total population of 4,56,881 birds, while Jamnagar had 221 species and 4,11,552 birds. Ahmedabad contributed significantly, with 256 bird species and 3,65,134 birds. Bengaluru, Sep 30 : Karnataka BJP reiterated on Monday that only the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) could ensure an impartial investigation against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam and that it was not possible for the Lokayukta to probe the matter fairly. Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, BJP state General Secretary P. Rajeev said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was conspiring to protect his wrongdoings which is clear now as he appointed Manish Kharbikar as the Lokayukta Chief on July 25, the day the state legislative Assembly session was adjourned indefinitely. "Chief Minister is trying to safeguard himself which is why he insisted that the investigation be conducted by the Lokayukta," he charged. Rajeev claimed that no other state in India has given additional investigative responsibilities to a Lokayukta police officer. CM Siddaramaiah has set such a bad precedent, he added. The BJP leader emphasized that if a fair investigation is to be conducted, it must be done by the CBI. "I urge complainants to seek a court-ordered CBI investigation. How Lokayukta officers could investigate a case against the sitting Chief Minister and whether they would have the courage to rigorously interrogate him," he questioned. "The Chief Minister, foreseeing that the case against him would either go to the CBI or Lokayukta, weakened the Lokayukta's powers to protect himself. Over 70 cases are under investigation against the Chief Minister. Siddaramaiah altered the rules for CBI investigations to shield corruption as soon as the case was filed," Rajeev pointed out. On July 25, Siddaramaiah issued an order appointing IPS officer Manish Kharbikar as the ADGP of Lokayukta. Rajeev argued that no state in India with a Lokayukta has ever issued such an order. He claimed that not only was Kharbikar appointed as the Lokayukta ADGP, but he was also given additional responsibility as the Chief of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is an alarming move, Rajeev stated. Rajeev stated that the appointment of Kharbikar to the Lokayukta, an autonomous institution, with additional charge as SIT Chief was problematic. "While the Lokayukta operates autonomously, the SIT must report to the Home Minister and the Chief Minister, creating a conflict of interest," he stated. "On the one hand, there is autonomy and on the other hand, there is control," he underlined. "Recent judicial remarks suggested the SIT seemed to be working to benefit certain individuals," he said. "Manish Kharbikar is given charge of the investigations of the Maharshi Valmiki Tribal Welfare Board scam and the cryptocurrency hack scam. In the Valmiki case, the SIT cleared Nagendra's name, despite evidence from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) about financial misuse during the Ballary and Raichur Lok Sabha elections," Rajeev said. Innocent police officers, including inspectors Prashant Babu, Lakshmikant, and Chandradhar, were arrested while no significant recoveries were made in the cryptocurrency case, he stated. New Delhi, Sep 30 : The US Embassy in India on Monday announced that it has opened an additional 250,000 visa appointments for Indian travellers, including tourists, skilled workers, and students. "The recently released new slots will help hundreds of thousands of Indian applicants take timely interviews, facilitating the travel which is the backbone of the people-to-people ties that underpin the US-India relationship," stated the US Mission to India. It also detailed that the Indian Mission has already surpassed one million nonimmigrant visa applications for the second consecutive year. "During our student visa season this summer, we continued to process record numbers, and all first-time student applicants were able to obtain an appointment at one of our five consular sections around India. We are now focused on bringing families together, connecting businesses, and facilitating tourism," the statement added. More than 1.2 million Indians have traveled to the United States year to date in 2024, a 35 per cent increase over the same period in 2023. According to the US Mission, at least six million Indians already have a nonimmigrant visa to visit the United States, and each day, it issues thousands more. The Embassy on Monday highlighted that the United States' "partnership with India is stronger, closer, and more dynamic than any time in history" with the US Senate designating September 30 as a 'US-India Partnership Day', recognising the contribution of the two countries to one another and a relationship that continues to define the 21st century. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden set an ambitious goal to improve and expedite the visa process and I'm proud to say that we have delivered on that promise. Our consular teams at the embassy and four consulates work tirelessly to ensure that we meet the surging demand," US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti said recently. Last week, during his visit to the United States, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that the Indian government will open two new consulates in Boston and Los Angeles. "Last year, I announced the opening of a new Indian consulate in Seattle. I sought your suggestions for two additional Consulates. India has now decided to open two new consulates in Boston and Los Angeles," remarked PM Modi while interacting with the Indian diaspora in New York's Nassau Coliseum. Chinese LEO satellite operator Geespace and Malaysian telecoms service provider Altel Communications have agreed to establish an R&D centre to develop use cases for direct-to-device (D2D) satellite communications technology. Under the deal signed on Friday in Beijing, Geespace a subsidiary of Chinese carmaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group established in 2018 and Altel will establish a study and research centre, as well as a centre of excellence, to accelerate development of D2D satellite solutions for Malaysia. According to the Bernama news agency, Geespace and Altel are working on a proof of concept involving D2D satellite, LEO satellite IoT and high precision positioning that is slated for the second quarter of 2025. At the signing ceremony, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil told Bernama that the ministry sees D2D satellite as a key technology to provide connectivity problems in remote areas. "This R&D centre and centre of excellence will give more Malaysians the opportunity to get involved in this field because there is no denying that this is an exciting new field that can generate income for our country, Fahmi told Bernama. Fahmi said he has asked the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to examine ways to enable the technology to be deployed in the country. Fahmi made the remarks while on a three-day work visit in Beijing from Thursday to Saturday. During the visit, the Communications Ministry signed MoUs with China's National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) for cooperation in media and broadcasting. Those MoUs include exploring ways for Malaysia to leverage AI tech from China in its telecoms, media, broadcasting and film sectors, the report said. Chasing the D2D dollar D2D satellite has become a hot item in the satellite sector in recent months, with operators such as Starlink, Lynk Global and AST Spacemobile planning to offer such services on their LEO satellite networks. Geespace is planning the same for its network, though not in its current phase of deployment. Under its current roadmap, Geespace plans to deploy 72 LEO satellites by 2025 for the first phase of the constellation, which will target connected cars it currently has 30 LEOsats in orbit. The second phase will add another 264 satellites for D2D satellite communications, while the third phase will launch 5,676 satellites for high-speed broadband services. Earlier this year, Viasat, Terrestar Solutions, Ligado Networks, Omnispace and Yahsat formed the Mobile Satellite Services Association to develop a D2D satellite ecosystem using spectrum in the L- and S-bands already allocated and licensed for mobile satellite services (MSS). D2D satellite offerings from Geespace, Starlink, Lynk Global and AST Spacemobile propose to use the same spectrum bands used by MNOs for mobile services, which also enables people to use their existing mobile phones to use D2D services. However, this approach faces challenges such as local regulatory hurdles and interference mitigation. Altel Communications which currently offers enterprise telecoms services such as private LTE, cloud, IoT, edge computing and cybersecurity holds a sizable amount of spectrum in the 900-MHz and 2600-MHz bands. The R&D centre deal between Geespace and Altel follows a Heads of Agreement (HOA) signed by the two companies in October 2023 that was focused on the development and implementation of high technology systems to complement Altels existing spectrum. The announcement of the HOA gave no further details. Ranchi, Sep 30 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Jharkhand on October 2, marking the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, to launch the 'Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan' in Hazaribagh. Ranchi, Sep 30 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Jharkhand on October 2, marking the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, to launch the aPradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan' in Hazaribagh. This initiative aims to uplift tribal-dominated villages and will economically empower the tribal population. Following the launch, PM Modi will also address the concluding rally of the BJP's aParivartan Yatraa, a statewide campaign in Jharkhand. This will be PM Modi's second visit to the state in just over two weeks. On September 15, he inaugurated six Vande Bharat Express trains in Jamshedpur and addressed a BJP rally. The upcoming visit holds significance, as this is the fourth time PM Modi is launching a key national scheme from Jharkhand. Previous launches include the Ayushman Bharat Yojana (2018), Kisan Maandhan Yojana (2019), and the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra in November 2023. The Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan', approved by the Union government on September 18, aims to integrate over 63,000 tribal-dominated villages across 549 districts in 30 states and Union Territories into the mainstream of development. With a proposed budget of Rs 79,156 crore, the scheme targets over 5 crore people from tribal communities. Key objectives include constructing 20 lakh houses, 25,000 km of rural roads and bridges, and providing clean drinking water, gas, and electricity connections. Additionally, 100 tribal market centres, schools, mobile health units, and skill development centres are to be established. The initiative also focusses on preserving tribal culture and traditions at the same time encouraging agriculture and horticulture to boost tribal incomes. Official sources said that after the launch event at Vinoba Bhave University campus in Hazaribagh, PM Modi will also interact with the representatives of 33 tribal groups of the country. In his second event of the day, PM Modi will address the concluding rally of the BJP's aParivartan Yatraa at Gandhi Maidan, Matwari in Hazaribagh. The Yatra, which began on September 20, has covered 76 of the state's 81 Assembly constituencies and was inaugurated by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Sahibganj. Islamabad, Sep 30 : Zakir Naik, the controversial religious figure who is wanted by India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) for his involvement in unlawful activities and promoting religious hatred, arrived in Islamabad on Monday as he began his 15-day tour of the country at the invitation of the government led by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Naik, a wanted fugitive in India, and his son Sheikh Fariq Zakir were given a warm welcome by a number of senior government officials as he landed at the Islamabad International Airport. He was received by Pakistani Prime Minister's Youth Programme Chairman Rana Mashood, Syed Attaur Rehman (Additional Secretary, Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony), Shamshir Ali Mazari (Parliamentary Secretary for Religious Affairs) and several other government officials. Naik is scheduled to stay in Pakistan till October 28, during which he will be holding public gatherings in major cities of the country including Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. During his stay, he will also lead Friday prayers in the country besides holding meetings with senior government officials, including PM Sharif, President Asif Ali Zardari, Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir, Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz Sharif, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti, Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah and various other religious leaders. As per his schedule, Naik will address public gatherings in Karachi on October 5 and 6. Later he will travel to Lahore and hold public gatherings on October 12 and 13, which would be followed by public gatherings in capital Islamabad on October 19 and 20. Naik's public gathering in Lahore will be held at the historical venue Minar-e-Pakistan, Bagh-e-Quaid in Karachi and at Jinnah Stadium in Islamabad. The topic of discussion at these gatherings would be 'The Purpose of Life a" Is it important to learn and understand the Quran?' as he and his son will also hold lectures in all the three cities in separate events. The visit has already raised eyebrows in India as Naik is a wanted fugitive who has been living in Malaysia for many years. He is wanted on charges for spreading religious hate and extremism along with alleged involvement in money laundering cases. In 2017, Bangladesh authorities claimed that one of the attackers on a cafe in Dhaka was inspired by Zakir Naik. The incident had left 22 people dead. While he enjoys widespread support across Pakistan, there are many religious voices from different sects who do not agree with Naik and contradict his standing as a religious preacher. Naik's preferred destination after being asked to leave India was Pakistan. However, he decided to move to Malaysia and reasoned that India would have labeled him as an Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agent had he moved to Pakistan back then. The visit has once again given New Delhi another opportunity to establish its claims that Pakistan continues to welcome and facilitate entities and individuals, who are wanted in India. The Pakistan government has, in fact, provided Naik with a state protocol and his movement in all the three major cities will take place under foolproof security. The visit of Naik has already generated a significant interest and his public gatherings and lectures are expected to be attended by large crowds. "Dr. Naik's visit will be a big event in Pakistan but it will further stretch the ties with India. India has already been claiming that Pakistan is a safe haven for people like Osama Bin Laden, Hafiz Saeed, Dawood Ibrahim and others who have an anti-India agenda. Now with Naik being welcomed in the country, it will further add to India's case and accusations against Pakistan," political analyst Kamran Yousaf told IANS, earlier this month. Mumbai, Sep 30 : Bollywood producer Sanjay Tiwari has presented the evidence after accusing writer-director Raaj Shaandilyaa of appropriating the concept for the recently released 'Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video'. He has claimed that the film's premise closely resembles a script he had registered earlier, prompting concerns over intellectual property and creative ownership in the industry. During the press conference, Tiwari said, "On 27th October 2015, Yusuf and Raaj registered their idea as 'Uthal-Poothal,' but I had mine registered on 28th August 2015, a full two months earlier. The idea is the most crucial element. Once it's there, you can spin a script or screenplay around it, but copying the original idea without permission is a serious issue." "I have been in this industry for 20 years, and I hope Raaj investigates his team. I am certain we have plenty of common people." Sanjay said. Tiwari also mentioned about taking legal action and said, "I will consider moving to the High Court to ban the film if necessary, but I don't want to cause harm to anyone. This is about one person who copies an idea, but filmmaking involves hard work from many." Sanjay has also addressed his interactions with the Screenwriters Association, regarding the whole situation. He said, "I approached them, but I was told to wait until after the film's release to evaluate the situation. Despite having a massive membership, their work culture is beyond deplorable in this digital age." The dispute centers around a work registered by Gulbanu Khan in 2015, titled 'Sex Hai Toh Life Hai...?' Which Sanjay has claimed that the 'Dream Girl' fame director and his team took the main concept from this original piece. 'Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video' starring Rajkummar Rao and Triptii Dimri is all set to hit the theaters on October 11, 2024. The comedy-drama also features Vijay Raaz, Mallika Sherawat, Archana Puran Singh, Mukesh Tiwari, Archana Patel, Rakesh Bedi, Tiku Talsania and Ashwini Kalsekar in pivotal roles. Hitesh Sonik who is best known for the 'Pyaar Ka Punchnama' franchise has handled the background scores while music has been composed by dynamic duo Sachin Sanghvi and Jigar Saraiya. IANS ays/ Patna, Sep 30 : A senior lawyer in Bihar's Muzaffarpur has filed a criminal case against the RJD National President Lalu Prasad Yadav on Monday. The lawyer, Sudhir Ojha, said that he was deeply offended by Lalu's controversial social media post in which he compared Bihar with rape, and criticised the Nitish Kumar government over the state's poor law and order situation. The case has been scheduled for a hearing on October 24 in Muzaffarpur district court. The controversy erupted after Lalu reposted a social media post of his son, Tejashwi Yadav, with the phrase "Bihar = rape" repeated 32 times. Tejashwi's original post listed 20 incidents of rape in the state, with the caption, "Sushasan hopes for relief from Dushasan. Today Draupadi screams," referencing both the state's poor governance and the worsening law and order under the Nitish Kumar government. Lalu Prasad's blunt comparison has forced Ojha to take legal action, underscoring the heightened political tensions and sensitive nature of law and order issues in Bihar. Advocate Sudhir Ojha expressed his deep offence at the post, claiming that it has hurt the sentiments of the people of Bihar. "Lalu Prasad's remarks were a 'bad joke' and asserted that they were made deliberately to gain political mileage, further accusing the former Chief Minister of portraying all people from Bihar as rapists," Ojha said. He filed the criminal case in the court of Additional Judicial Magistrate-5, Muzaffarpur, under various sections of the Bharat Nyay Sahita (BNS) provisions, including Sections 352, 353, 351, 152, and 196. The court has admitted the plea and a hearing has been scheduled for October 24. Lalu Prasad Yadav is already embroiled in multiple cases, including the IRCTC land-for-job case, which is being handled by special courts of the ED (Enforcement Directorate) and the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation). Kolkata, Sep 30 : The Indian Army's Eastern Command on Monday claimed major recoveries of weapons and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in Manipur since September 25. "23 weapons and several IEDs packed with 52.5 kgs of explosives have been recovered from various parts of the state. The operations were carried out by the Army and Assam Rifles, in close coordination with Manipur Police and other security forces operating in Manipur," the army in a statement said. The army said that during intelligence-based operations conducted on September 25, the Assam Rifles and Manipur Police recovered a 7.62 mm Self Loading Rifle (SLR), two 9 mm carbines, a 9 mm pistol, a 0.32 mm pistol, grenades, ammunition and other warlike stores from the general area of Tekcham, Manning and Phainom Village Pine Forest Plantation in the Thoubal district. "A major tragedy was averted when Assam Rifles and Manipur Police detected and neutralized an IED with 10 kgs of explosives, placed under State Highway 18 at Saram in the same district," it added. A senior official also claimed that in another operation launched by the Assam Rifles and Manipur Police on September 27, two .303 bolt-action rifles, a 9 mm pistol, grenades, ammunition and other warlike stores were recovered from the Loiching Ridge in the Kangpokpi district. "A day later, while continuing with their operations, the security forces seized a .303 sniper rifle, a .303 bolt-action rifle, two 9 mm pistols, grenades, ammunition and other warlike stores from the Aigejang Ridge in the same district," he added. On September 25, the Army, Manipur Police and Border Security Force (BSF) raided locations in the Churachandpur district and recovered two large and heavy long-range mortars (Pompi) and grenades. Again, on September 28, the security forces carried out an operation in Songdoi and seized a pistol and single-barrelled gun of Myanmar origin. "In the Imphal East district, troops of the Indian Army detected and diffused three IEDs, weighing nearly 42.5 kg while patrolling the sensitive area. The IEDs were cleverly concealed along the Tumukhong-Hungdum Tangkhul Road, near Maphital Ridge," he added. He said that in the Bishnupur district, the Army, Manipur Police and CRPF launched a search operation in the general area of Phoisenphai village and Kwakta and recovered two Pompi (country-made mortars), two modified carbine sub-machine guns, a single-barrelled rifle, three pistols, a grenade, ammunition and other warlike stores. Kigali, Sep 30 : Rwandan authorities said that they are closely monitoring up to 300 individuals identified as contacts of confirmed Marburg virus cases since an outbreak hit the country. As of Sunday, the Ministry of Health reported that 26 people have contracted the virus, including eight fatalities. During a press conference in Kigali on Sunday evening, Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana did not rule out the possibility of more cases. He said that to mitigate the risk of disease transmission, identified contacts are being isolated in various locations and managed according to their levels of exposure to infected individuals. Nsanzimana urged the public to remain calm, emphasising that ongoing response efforts are focused on contact tracing, expedited testing, treatment, and ensuring the dissemination of accurate information about the disease. "People can continue with their daily activities as there is no ban on any activity as part of the Marburg prevention measures. People should not panic as we have identified all the hotspots of the disease and are taking appropriate action," he said. Reaffirming Rwanda's readiness to contain the outbreak, the minister urged the public to observe preventive measures, while the ministry continues to investigate the origins of the outbreak, Xinhua news agency reported. At the same press conference, Brian Chilombo, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Rwanda, highlighted the country's robust community healthcare system, which facilitates contact tracing and efforts to contain the virus. He noted that the WHO is prepared to provide additional testing equipment, and some experimental treatments, and that a team of seven expert researchers specialising in the virus will arrive in Rwanda in the coming days to enhance the country's healthcare capacity and improve understanding of the disease. The Ministry of Health has advised anyone experiencing symptoms such as high fever, severe headaches, vomiting, muscle pain, or stomach aches to visit their nearest health facility. Hyderabad, Sep 30 : The MPs and MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) began a 24-hour protest here on Monday, demanding the Congress-led Telangana government fulfill the promises made to the farming community. Khammam Lok Sabha constituency in-charge P. Sudhakar Reddy opened the protests at Dharna Chowk, Indira Park. MPs Eatala Rajender, D.K. Aruna, Raghunandan Rao, G. Nagesh, Dharampuri Arvind, and K. Vishweshwar Reddy are participating in the "deeksha". BJP floor leader in Telangana Assembly A. Maheshwar Reddy, Ramarao Patel, Suryanarayana Gupta, P. Harish Babu and other MLAs were also sitting in protest. Speaking on the occasion, Maheshwar Reddy alleged that the Congress had betrayed the farmers by not implementing the promises made in the elections. He said after coming to power, Congress had gone back on the promises. He also slammed the ruling party in Telangana for failing to fully implement a crop loan waiver scheme. Maheshwar Reddy asked Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy if he had forgotten the promises made to farmers or was pretending to have forgotten them. The BJP Legislature party leader alleged that since Congress came to power, more than 1,000 farmers have committed suicide. He reminded Congress that it came to power with the support of farmers. Maheshwar Reddy said that the BJP would stand by the farmers in ensuring they get justice as it has been nine months since the Congress government came to power but has been unable to implement any of its guarantees properly. "The government has cheated the farmers. It has announced giving legal status to the six guarantees but has not even discussed it during the Assembly session," he said. The BJP leader said while the Cabinet has cleared Rs 30,000 crore for loan waiver, the actual expenditure was only Rs 17,000 crore. The promised enhanced financial assistance to farmers under Rythu Bharosa to Rs 15,000 from Rs 10,000 has not been taken up as was another promise to provide monetary aid to the tenant farmers plus Rs 12,000 each for agricultural labour. He stated that the bonus of Rs 500 per quintal was restricted to the fine rice variety alone when most of Telangana does not produce it. Mumbai, Sep 30 : In the run up to the Assembly elections the Maharashtra Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday took a record 38 decisions including seeking the transfer of the Centre's salt pan lands in Mumbai to the state government to accelerate housing schemes for the poor. Mumbai, Sep 30 (IANS) In the run up to the Assembly elections the Maharashtra Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday took a record 38 decisions including seeking the transfer of the Centreas salt pan lands in Mumbai to the state government to accelerate housing schemes for the poor. The state government has written to the Centre urging it to transfer 255.9 acres of salt pan lands through a lease agreement to Maharashtra to push housing schemes for the poor in Mumbai. The state housing department will enter into a lease agreement with the Centre for this purpose. Of the 255.9 acres of salt pan lands, 120.5 acre will be from Kanjur, 76.9 acres from Kanjur and Bhandup and 58.5 acre from Mulund. The state government will collect the land amount from the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) company and give it to the Centre for acquisition. The SPV will bear the cost of rehabilitation of the workers on the salt pan lands. The salt pan lands will be used for rental housing, slum rehabilitation projects, affordable housing and housing for Economically Weaker Sections and the government has fixed the responsibility on the developer of the Dharavi rehabilitation project. Further, the Cabinet also cleared a discount on payment of land premium by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to expedite the slum rehabilitation scheme of Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar and Kamrajnagar in north east Mumbai. MMRDA will have to pay a 25 per cent premium for 14 hectares of land at Kurla as per the ready reckoner rates from sale proceeds after completion of the slum rehabilitation project instead of its payment at the beginning. The Cabinet also gave approval for a subsidy scheme for rearing of indigenous cows citing that Goshalas have very low income and they could not afford to bear the expenses. The government will provide a per day subsidy of Rs 50 per indigenous cow. This scheme will be implemented online by the Maharashtra Goseva Commission. Each district will have a District Goshala Verification Committee. According to the 20th animal census in 2019, the number of indigenous cows has been found to be less than 46.13 lakh and it has decreased by 20.69 per cent compared to the 19th census. The Cabinet also approved a 10 per cent increase in the monthly salary of Rs 15,000 of Kotwals. It was also decided to implement a compassionate policy for Kotwal cadre employees that will benefit 12,793 Kotwals. In case of death while in service, or incapacitation due to serious illness, accident, their heirs will be eligible for compassionate appointment as per the policy of the government. The Cabinet also took a decision to provide a monthly honorarium of Rs 8,000 to Gram Rozgar Sevaks. Those who have worked for more than 2,000 days will be given 1 per cent incentive subsidy of the sanctioned expenditure. Further, the government will pay a monthly transport allowance and data pack allowance of Rs 1,000 for those Gram Rozgar Sevaks who have worked for 2,000 days and those who have worked for more than 2,000 days will be entitled to Rs 2,000 per month. Moreover, the Cabinet also cleared the development of the Multipurpose Port Project at Murbe in Palghar District by JSW Infrastructure Developers. A detailed project report will be prepared on technical issues and also on rehabilitation of fishermen by roping in expert organisations such as the Central Water and Power Research Centre and Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute. The proposed port will be all season and it will mainly handle captive and dry bulk cargo. The project entails an investment of Rs 4,259 crore and it will create 1,500 jobs. Imphal, Sep 30 : The Manipur government extended the promulgation of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) in the entire state, except in the jurisdiction of 19 police stations in seven districts of the Imphal Valley, for another six months with effect from October 1, officials said on Monday. The AFSPA would remain applicable in all the hill districts, which are dominated by tribal communities. However, since 2022, AFSPA has been gradually withdrawn from the valley districts, which are inhabited by the non-tribal Meitei community, due to the "improvement" in the security situation. The seven districts, which are out of the purview of the AFSPA, include Imphal East and Imphal West, where the capital city of Imphal and other important localities fall. Manipur government's Commissioner (Home) N. Ashok Kumar in a notification said that the state government after analyzing the prevailing law and order situation in the state is of the opinion that it is not expedient to have a detailed assessment of the ground as the sister security agencies are preoccupied in maintenance of law and order. ".... it will be premature to arrive at any conclusion or decision on such a sensitive matter without detailed assessment, thereby not appropriate to review the "Disturbed Area" status of the state at the moment," the notification said. It added that the declaration of "Disturbed area" status is very sensitive and may likely attract public criticism and resistance if proper care is not taken. "Keeping in view of the above and the overall law and order situation in the state and the capability of the state machinery, the state government has decided to maintain the status quo on the present disturbed area status in the state of Manipur excluding the areas falling under the 19 police stations for a period of six months with effect from October 1," the notification said. The 19 nineteen Police stations where the AFSPA is not in force include Imphal, Lamphel, City, Singjamei, Sekmai, Lamsang, Patsoi, Wangoi, Porompat, Heingang, Lamlai, Irilbung, Leimakhong, Thoubal, Bishnupur, Nambol, Moirang, Kakching and Jiribam. Meanwhile, the security forces in Manipur continued their search and combing operations to rescue two youths, who were allegedly abducted by armed Kuki militants on Saturday. A police official said that suspected Kuki militants kidnapped three youths belonging to the Meitai community while the Army rescued one of the captives on Sunday and the remaining two still are in the captivity of the extremists. According to the police, the three youths were kidnapped by armed Kuki militants while they were en route to attend an Army recruitment examination at New Keithelmanbi in Imphal West district. All three youths are residents of Thoubal districts. Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Monday said that he asked the Director General of Police (DGP) Rajiv Singh to secure the release of two kidnapped youths. Terming the incident as very unfortunate, the Chief Minister said that of the three youths, one was released while the two others are still in the captivity of militants. Both the Central and state security forces continued their efforts to ensure the safe release of the two youths, he said, adding that the DGP himself had gone to the place and talked with the abductors. "We think that there will be a positive outcome. The abductors have made some demands, but we are trying to release the two youths unconditionally," the Chief Minister told the media. Beirut, Sep 30 : Hezbollah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Monday said that the Iran-backed Lebanese organisation will "emerge victorious" in its ongoing battle and is ready to face the Israeli army's ground attack on Lebanon. "If Israel decides to enter Lebanon by land, the resistance forces are ready to stand against these attacks," said Qassem in what was the first speech from a senior Hezbollah official after the assassination of organisation's Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah in Israeli Air Force's strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, late Friday evening. He stated that despite the elimination of its top leadership, Hezbollah - recognised as a global terrorist organisation by several countries - will "never back down" from its positions. "I am confident that these enemy aggressions will not weaken the nation of resistance and we will definitely win," remarked Qassem. He also announced that the new Secretary General of Lebanon's Hezbollah will be elected soon, along with new Commanders. "The options are very easy and everyone is on the same level and united. If a selection is made, it will be informed and the conditions are being followed up now," Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted Qassem as saying during his speech. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has dismissed media reports about the appointment of a new leader following the assassination of Nasrallah, saying that any speculation about the movement's structure is rejected unless an official announcement is made. "Commenting on news circulating on some media outlets about organisational procedures within Hezbollah's leadership taken after the martyrdom of His Eminence the Secretary General [Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah]a, we are interested in clarifying that the related news is of no importance and can't be relied upon," Hezbollah clarified in a statement, as reported by Iran's Press TV. Genesys, described as a global cloud leader in AI-powered experience orchestration, has announced that it has secured a Unified License Virtual Network Operator (UL VNO) licence in India, obtained under Department of Telecommunications (DoT) guidelines. This makes the companys Genesys Cloud the first global contact centre as a service (CCaaS) platform with a UL VNO license, enabling both domestic and international customers to comply with Indian telecom regulations while accessing secure cloud services and innovative AI solutions for better customer engagement. In 2021, Genesys says it became the first global customer experience (CX) organisation to deliver fully authorised, locally deployed cloud services in India with Genesys Cloud. With the UL VNO license, it adds, it can now offer the full Genesys Cloud CCaaS solution to its customers across the region, expanding its service capabilities in India. Genesys says it can now serve more customers across key sectors like healthcare, financial services and retail. In additin it will be possible to manage e-commerce data and operations within the telecommunications regulatory and legal frameworks of India. Genesys will also be able to work with AppFoundry partners to deliver locally tailored offerings to customers in addition to the existing platform. AppFoundry is a marketplace of solutions offering a curated selection of applications and integrations that elevate customer and employee experiences. Moreover, Genesys points out, global customers will be able to benefit from the strengthened ability of the company to meet Indian compliance requirements, particularly for those customers with agents based in India. In India the Genesys R&D centres in Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore focus on developing advanced technologies such as speech analytics, AI, and cloud, with Chennai being the third-largest R&D centre globally and a key driver of innovation for the companys product portfolio. The company says Genesys Cloud continued to see strong growth in the APAC region in the first half of the fiscal year 2025. Beirut, Sep 30 : The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced Monday that it has successfully eliminated Fateh Sherif, the head of Hamas' Lebanon Branch, in a targeted overnight airstrike conducted by the Israeli Air Force (IAF). "Fateh Sherif, Head of the Lebanon Branch in the Hamas terrorist organisation, was eliminated in a precise IAF strike," the IDF posted on X. The IDF confirmed that Sherif played a key role in coordinating terror activities between Hamas in Lebanon and Hezbollah, as well as recruiting operatives and securing weapons for Hamas in Lebanon. "Sharif led Hamas' power building efforts in Lebanon and worked to promote Hamas' interests in the arena, both politically and militarily," the IDF said after the joint operation with the Shin Bet while reiterating its commitment to neutralising any threats posed to Israeli civilians. Sherif was reportedly also a member of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and headed its Teachers' Union in Lebanon. According to a Times of Israel report, Sherif, employed by UNRWA, was being probed over his political activities. "Fateh Al Sharif was an UNRWA employee who was put on administrative leave without pay in March, and was undergoing an investigation following allegations that UNRWA received about his political activities," the report quoted UNRWA as saying in response to a Times of Israel query. Hamas also confirmed Sherif's assassination, referring to him as a "martyr", praising his contributions to the Palestinian cause and his work in the education sector. Local media reported that Sherif was killed during an Israeli airstrike on the al-Bass refugee camp in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre. This follows a series of attacks on several Hezbollah commanders, including its chief Hassan Nasrallah, by the Israeli military. Israel has significantly escalated its military operations in Lebanon since Monday, conducting its most extensive campaign in the region since 2006. Israeli officials assert that the airstrikes are focused on Hezbollah's weapons depots and infrastructure concealed under civilian buildings as part of their ongoing efforts to neutralise the militant group's leadership and military capabilities. Kabul, Sep 30 : Police have arrested two individuals on the charge of setting fire to a girls' school in Afghanistan's Panjshir province, local media reported Monday. Quoting Provincial Police Spokesman Abidullah Aqab Farooqi, added that the arrested individuals admitted to their crime, confessing both jointly set fire to Bibi Amina Girls School, Xinhua news agency reported quoting the private media outlet Ariana News. However, the firefighters were able to extinguish the fire within an hour, preventing extensive damage to the school building, the official added. Girls from grade seven to university cannot attend classes until further notice in Afghanistan. Hyderabad, Sep 30 : Tension prevailed at the Telangana Bhavan here on Monday as clashes broke out when the Congress workers tried to lay siege to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) headquarters. Protesting against certain remarks made by BRS leaders on social media about state Minister Konda Surekha, the Congress workers reached the Telangana Bhavan, but were stopped by the BRS supporters. There were heated arguments between both groups. Soon this led to a clash, triggering tension in the area. Some of the protestors were chased and thrashed by the other group. Police intervened to disperse the clashing groups and brought the situation under control. The Congress workers were also agitated over the BRS leaders allegedly running a campaign to mislead people about the activities of the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA). The clash between the workers of the two parties took place amid a war of words between the two parties over the governmentas project for the conservation and beautification of the Musi River. A survey by the authorities in Musi River Full Tank Level (FTL) and buffer zone to identify illegal structures had triggered protests by the people who are likely to be displaced. The BRS has extended full support to the residents of the areas along the Musi River. BRS Working President K.T. Rama Rao once again lashed out at the Congress government for planning to demolish the houses and declared that BRS would stand by the poor. Meanwhile, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) staged a protest at Bahadurpura against the proposed move to demolish the structures in Musi FTL and the buffer zone. Carrying AIMIM flags and raising slogans, the AIMIM leaders staged the protest at the office of Mandal Revenue Officer (MRO), Bahadurpura. The protestors were raising slogans of aHYDRAA Hatao Ghar Bachaoa. Police arrested the protestors including four corporators of the AIMIM and shifted them to Falaknuma Police Station. Ambala, Sep 30 : Signalling the Congress in Haryana in united by holding the hands of top party leaders -- two-time chief minister Bhupinder Hooda and MP Hooda and Kumari Selja -- Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday appealed to the voters of the state to cast vote carefully as the ruling BJP has "control over smaller parties and Independents who are seeking to split anti-BJP votes" to pave a way for the party to return to power. Speaking at a public meeting held in Naraingarh, the hometown of Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Rahul Gandhi said the BJP government has created two Hindustans in the country -- "one for the big capitalists, who are only 5 per cent, while on the other hand India is of 95 per cent poor, labourers, farmers, Dalits and backward classes". "The government is taking money out of the pockets of 95 per cent people," the Congress MP said. Rahul Gandhi then set out on the Vijay Sankalp Yatra for Ambala, Yamunanagar and Kurukshetra districts by road. There was tremendous enthusiasm from the public en route. Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi, K.C. Venugopal, former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Hooda, Sirsa MP Kumari Selja and Congress state President Chaudhary Udaibhan were also present with him. At the rally, Rahul Gandhi ensured Hooda and Kumari Selja joined hands on the dais, leaving leaders amused. In his address before embarking on Haryana Vijay Sankalp Yatra, Rahul Gandhi said respect for all sections is necessary within the government, but at the same time their economic upliftment is also necessary. "Every section needs money for education, health and the future of children," he said. He said in 10 years of the BJP, employment has ended in the state. "The youth are compelled to sell their farms and take up to Rs 50 lakh on high interest and go abroad through the 'Dunki' route through forests and sea. Farmers' lands are being snatched in the name of development, but the government never takes the land of capitalists. When three 'black laws' were imposed, farmers were forced to take to the streets," he said. "With a feeling of patriotism, children of farmers, workers and children of the middle class used to go to the border as soldiers. The BJP has cheated them and snatched the permanent jobs and pension of the soldiers in the name of Agniveer," he said. "This is why the Congress has made a manifesto that tells how to give back the money snatched by the BJP government to the public. That is why, when the Congress government is formed, women will be given Rs 2,000 every month, and cooking gas cylinders for Rs 500," he said. "If 300 units of electricity are free, then farmers will be given a legal guarantee of MSP (minimum support price). Permanent jobs will be given to the youth by making 2 lakh permanent recruitments. The poor will be given Rs 3.5 lakh to build homes on 100 square yard plots. Treatment up to Rs 25 lakh will be free," Rahul Gandhi said, listing out schemes announced by the party in its manifesto. He said by conducting caste census, "we want to see how many people are from which caste and how much right they are getting". "Today, out of 90 officers running the country, only three are OBCs (Other Backward Classes). Out of Rs 100 of the budget, only Re 1 is in the hands of a Dalit officer. There is no Dalit CEO in 250 big companies. The BJP is opposing the caste census so that this truth does not come before the public," the Congress MP said. Urging the people of Haryana to vote carefully, Rahul Gandhi said the control of small parties and Independent candidates is in the hands of the BJP. "There is a need to be cautious of them. The electoral battle is directly between the Congress and the BJP," he said. Earlier, the brother-sister Gandhi duo (Rahul and Priyanaka) drove through Ladwa en route to Thanesar. This was their first joint appearance in the poll-bound state. In her speech, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra raked up the Agnipath scheme and MSP on crops. "They (BJP leaders) claim to give MSP on 24 crops but 10 of them are not grown in Haryana. They just gave unemployment and schemes like Agniveer. You go to the border to die or return home to struggle for a job again. What happened to the wrestlers? Our PM did not spare five minutes to meet them when they were on the streets," she said. The 90-member Haryana Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on October 5 and the counting of votes will be taken up on October 8. While the BJP is aiming for a hat-trick this time, the Congress is aiming to come back to power in Haryana after 2014. Bhubaneswar, Sep 30 : The judicial commission headed by retired High Court Justice Chitta Ranjan Dash on Monday began the enquiry into the alleged custodial torture of an Army officer and his wife-to-be by the staff at Bharatpur police station in Odisha during the wee hours of September 15. Speaking to media persons the secretary to the commission on Monday said that Justice Dash enquired about the progress and status of the Crime Branch probe into the case related to the alleged assault on the Army officer and sexual molestation of his fiancee by cops. Justice Dash made the enquiries during the meeting of the commission attended by the state Home Department Secretary, DGP of Odisha Police and other senior officials. He further added that the commission will issue a notification on Tuesday seeking affidavits from the parties involved in the matter, either directly or indirectly. Similarly, other people who know about the incident or have to say anything on the matter can also file affidavits, that can be submitted within 21 days of the issuance of the notification. The commissionas secretary also stated that witnesses will be examined after the submission of affidavits. Meanwhile, polygraph and other medical tests will be conducted on the accused police officials including the ex-Inspector In-Charge (IIC) of Bharatpur police station, Dinakrushna Mishra in Gujarat on Monday. As per reports, the Army officer, attached to 22nd Sikh Regiment in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal and his fiancee had gone to the Bharatpur police station in Bhubaneswar to lodge a complaint against some miscreants over an incident of road rage. An argument ensued between the police and the officer and his fiancee and the Armyman was allegedly beaten by the on-duty police officers while three female cops dragged his woman friend into a cell of the police station. Some male cops including the ex-IIC of the Bharatpur Police station reportedly thrashed and molested her at the police station. The issue sparked widespread furore across the country prompting the Odisha government to set up a judicial commission headed by Justice Dash to enquire into the matter. Bhopal, Sep 30 : In a shocking incident, a girl of UKG Class was allegedly sexually assaulted at a private school in Madhya Pradesh, triggering a massive protest by the parents on Monday. The incident occurred in Ratlam district, over 300 km from the state capital Bhopal. The incident came to light after the girl told her mother about the 'bad touch' by a boy, police said. According to a complaint filed by the victim's mother, the UKG girl complained about pain in her private part on September 27 when she returned home from school. However, the incident was reported on Monday after the police took the victim to the school's room where she was allegedly sexually assaulted by the 16-year-old. According to police, the father of the accused boy is a watchman of the school and the girl was allegedly sexually assaulted in the room allotted for him. "The accused, who is a class 10th student in the same school, took the girl into the room located on the third floor of the building and assaulted her. The accused, who is a minor, has been detained," Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Rakesh Khakha said. The accused boy has been booked under sections 65-ii and 75 (physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the police said. Enraged over the shocking incident, the victim's parents and family members staged a protest on Monday, alleging the incident occurred due to negligence from the school staff. The parents of other students also joined the protest and raised their apprehension about the safety of the children. They also demanded action against the top management of the school, including the director and principal. Police reached the school and whisked away the principal and other staff members from the back door. The parents continued their protest sitting in the school premises, amid tight security from the police till Monday evening. The shocking incident comes over a week after a nursery girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by a teacher at a school in Bhopal. Following that incident, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav directed MP Police to conduct inspections at schools to ensure that the Supreme Court's guidelines regarding the safety and security of children are complied with at schools in the state. Bengaluru, Sep 30 : The Karnataka High Court has issued an interim stay order on the FIR filed by police against Union Finance Minister Niramala Sitaraman, BJP State President B.Y. Vijayendra, former State President Nalin Kumar Kateel, ED officials and others. The single division bench headed by Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order on Monday while looking into the petition filed by former BJP State President Nalin Kumar Kateel and adjourned the hearing of the matter till October 22. Senior counsel K. Raghavan appearing for BJP leader Kateel submitted that the allegations made in the FIR do not come anywhere near the definitions of extortion. He stated that even the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is made as an accused in the case. Senior counsel Prashant Bhushan appeared for the complainant Adarsh Iyer stated that by creating fear of the ED, funds were collected for a political party. This is nothing but extortion, he argued. The bench observed that extortion involves threatening and making money. Those who were extorted will have to file a complaint before the police. However, the complainant has not stated that he was extorted. Besides, Karnataka BJP is planning to file a petition before the High Court seeking quashing of the FIR against Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, state BJP President B.Y. Vijayendra and others, sources confirmed on Monday. The petition will be filed before the High Court by Wednesday (October 2). The FIR was registered at the Tilak Nagar police station following an order from the Bengaluru Special Court for Public Representatives. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah against whom an FIR has been registered with the Karnataka Lokayukta, has demanded the resignation of FM Nirmala Sitharaman while the BJP is vehemently demanding the ouster of Siddaramaiah following the lodging of the FIR. On Saturday, the Karnataka Police registered an FIR against FM Sitharaman in connection with allegations of 'extortion' through electoral bonds. The Tilak Nagar police in Bengaluru filed the FIR as per the directions of the Special Court of MLAs/MPs. FM Sitharaman has been named as the prime accused in the case. The officials of the ED have been named as the second accused while the office bearers of the Central BJP office have been named as the third accused; former Karnataka BJP MP Nalin Kumar Kateel is the fourth accused and state BJP chief Vijayendra is the fifth accused in the case. The state BJP office bearers are named as the sixth accused. The police have booked the FIR under IPC Sections 384 (extortion), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention). Kolkata, Sep 30 : Metro Railway, Kolkata, has announced that it will run overnight services between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade for the benefit of pandal hoppers during the Durga Pujas. This metro link between Howrah and Kolkata, which passes under River Hooghly, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2024. Overnight services will also be run (as in previous years) between Kavi Subhash (New Garia) and Dakshineswar. "On Saptami, Ashtami and Navami, Puja revellers can enjoy services between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade till after midnight. This will provide a big boost to people from Howrah and adjoining districts who wish to visit Durga Puja pandals in Kolkata this year," a senior Metro Railway official said. He added that on Saptami and Ashtami-Navami which fall on October 10 and October 11 (Ashtami and Navami fall on the same day), the first service from Howrah Maidan will start at 1.30 pm in the afternoon. "The last service from Esplanade will be at 1.45 am the next morning. This will give people from Howrah and Hooghly 8-10 hours to go around pandals in Kolkata," a senior Metro Railway official said. He said that the people from Hooghly can travel by suburban trains to Howrah station and take the Metro towards Esplanade from there. From Esplanade, revellers can switch to the Kavi-Subhash -Dakshineswar Metro of the North-South or Blue Line to cover a large number of Puja pandals in north and south Kolkata. "Those wishing to visit pandals in Salt Lake or along VIP Road-Eastern Metropolitan Bypass can avail of the Green Line - 1 service between Sealdah and Salt Lake Sector-V. The first train in this section will start at 1 pm from Sealdah and the last service from Salt Lake Sector-V will be at 11.30 pm," he said. He said that the services along the Blue Line - India's first Metro link - will start at 1 pm from Dakshineswar and continue till 4 am the next morning on Saptami and Ashtami-Navami. He added that the last train from Kavi Subhash to Dakshineswar will start at 3.48 am, giving pandal hoppers from the northern fringes of Kolkata and the district of North 24-Parganas enough time to enjoy themselves without paying too much thought on ways to get back home. "There will be no services between Joka and Majerhat along the Purple Line and Kavi Subhash and Hemanta Mukhopadhyay (Ruby Crossing) on the Orange Line on Saptami and Ashtami-Navami," the official added. Vienna, Sep 30 : Austria's gross domestic product (GDP) contraction for 2023 has been revised to 1 per cent in real terms from the previously estimated 0.8 per cent in February, Statistics Austria said on Monday. Director General of Statistics Austria Tobias Thomas said in a statement that the manufacturing and trade sectors were affected particularly hard. In 2023, Austria's manufacturing sector, including industry and construction, experienced a 2.4-per cent year-on-year decline in real terms, while the trade sector's output decreased by 5.7 per cent. However, the service sectors, such as accommodation and catering services, registered growth. Meanwhile, consumer spending by private households fell by 0.7 per cent in real terms, Xinhua news agency reported. The country also experienced a decline in its foreign trade, with imports falling by 4.6 per cent and exports by 0.4 per cent in real terms. Austria's GDP has contracted for five consecutive quarters, from the second quarter (Q2) of 2023 to Q2 this year, indicating that the country remains in a recession, according to data published by Statistics Austria in early September. Earlier this month, the Austrian National Bank forecast a 0.7 per cent decline in the country's GDP for this year, citing a continued industrial recession and weak consumer spending. Bengaluru, Sep 30 : A court here on Monday adjourned, to October 4, hearing on jailed Kannada superstar Darshan's bail petition in the fan murder case after his counsel sought more time to place his arguments. Bengaluru, Sep 30 (IANS) A court here on Monday adjourned, to October 4, hearing on jailed Kannada superstar Darshanas bail petition in the fan murder case after his counsel sought more time to place his arguments. Senior counsel Sunil, appearing for Darshan, had met him at the Ballary prison earlier after the submission of the charge sheet against him to seek clarification on the murder of the fan, Renukaswamy. The bail petition, filed after the submission of the charge sheet, has said in his bail petition that he is innocent and has been "fixed" in the case. "Barring the major injury on the head, no major injuries were found on the body of Renukaswamy. There is no clarity on his exact time of death. There are contradictions between the statements before the court and the medical reports. There is no evidence to prove that Darshan has committed the crime of murder. The authorities have created evidence against Darshan in the case," the bail petition states. Darshan had admitted to assaulting Renukaswamy, who had allegedly sent obscene messages to his partner Pavithra Gowda, but claimed that he was informed about the victim's death later, according to his 20-page statement mentioned in the charge sheet filed by the police. The 3,991-page charge sheet, submitted to the 24th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's (ACMM) court on September 4, has provided graphic details of how Darshan attacked Renukaswamy who was kidnapped and kept in captivity by his gang, leading to his death. The charge sheet also revealed that Renukaswamy chatted with Pavithra Gowda by creating a fake ID on Instagram under the name Gowtham. He also claimed that he was better than Darshan, the charge sheet stated. Meanwhile, sources confirmed that arrangements are being made by his wife Vijayalaxmi to bring Darshan to Bengaluru from Ballary by helicopter if the court accepts his bail petition. On June 9, Renukaswamy was abducted from Chitradurga and brought to Bengaluru, where he was confined in a shed at Pattanagere and brutally assaulted. Renukaswamy was murdered, and his body was dumped in a drain at Sumanahalli. In connection with this case, 17 people, including Darshan and his partner Pavithra Gowda, were arrested on June 11. Among 17, the court has granted bail to three of the accused. Nokia revealed on Saturday details of last weeks billion-dollar network contract win with Indian telco Vodafone Idea to modernise and expand its 4G network to include 5G upgrades over the next three years. Under the deal, Nokia will deploy equipment from its 5G AirScale portfolio, including base stations, baseband units, and its latest generation of Habrok massive MIMO radios. Nokia added that the 5G AirScale equipment is powered by Nokias energy-efficient ReefShark system-on-chip technology. Nokia will also modernize Vodafone Ideas existing 4G network with multiband radios and baseband equipment that can also support 5G. Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea will also leverage Nokias network optimization and automation platform, MantaRay SON, which uses self-configuring modules to boost network performance and efficiency. Nokia will also provide planning, deployment, integration, and network optimization services under the contract. We are committed to providing a best-in-class 4G and 5G experience to our customers and this new deal with Nokia, who has been our partner since the beginning, will help us to deliver that, said Vodafone Idea CEO Akshaya Moondra in a statement. The Nokia deal is part of the three-year US$3.6 billon megadeal announced last week by Vodafone Idea, which also includes Ericsson and Samsung. Vodafone Idea didnt break down the numbers per vendor, and Nokia didnt provide financial details of the contract in its announcement on Saturday. However, a report from the Economic Times newspaper on Saturday claims the Nokia deal is worth INR135 billion (US$1.6 billion). Cairo, Sep 30 : Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit called on the international community on Monday to support Lebanon in the face of the Israeli offensive and its impacts, particularly the attacks on civilian areas. In a statement, the chief of the Arab League expressed solidarity with Lebanon and its people amid the ongoing crisis. "The Lebanese people have suffered greatly in recent years and need support now more than ever to navigate this serious situation," he said, Xinhua news agency reported. Aboul-Gheit expressed concern over developments in Lebanon, asserting his belief in the Lebanese people's ability to maintain civil peace and avoid sectarian conflict. He also condemned the ongoing series of Israeli attacks in Lebanon, which have resulted in hundreds of deaths and nearly one million displaced persons. Tensions between Hezbollah and Israel have sharply escalated following Israel's shift in military focus from Gaza to the northern front, intensifying clashes that began on October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched rocket attacks on Israel in solidarity with Hamas, prompting retaliatory strikes in Lebanon. Beijing, Sep 30 : US military assistance to the Taiwan region, regardless of the amount, will not sway in the slightest China's resolve to oppose "Taiwan independence" and safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, a Chinese spokesman said on Monday. A statement published on the White House website has announced the US decision to provide military assistance to the Taiwan region worth around 567 million dollars. In response to a related question at a press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said that by providing arms to the Taiwan region, the United States once again seriously violated the 'One China' principle and the three China-US joint communiques, particularly the August 17 Communique. The move, in fact, is aimed at emboldening Lai Ching-te, leader of the Taiwan region, and the Democratic Progressive Party authorities in their obstinate pursuit of "Taiwan independence" and challenge the one-China principle, Lin said, Xinhua news agency reported. This has proved once again that the secessionist activities by the "Taiwan independence" forces supported by the US-led external forces pose the biggest threat to the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and cause the biggest damage to the status quo of the Strait, said Lin. "Taiwan independence" is a dead end, and the US insistence on using military force to support the "Taiwan independence" will only backfire, he said. "We urged the US to earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, and cease arming the Taiwan region with weapons in any form," Lin said. In the August 17 Communique released in 1982, the United States "reiterates that it has no intention of infringing on Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity, or interfering in China's internal affairs, or pursuing a policy of 'two Chinas' or 'one China, one Taiwan'." In the communique, Washington also states that it "intends gradually to reduce its sale of arms to Taiwan." Bengaluru, Sep 30 : In a major setback to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against him in connection with the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) case, sources confirmed. The case is being taken up by the ED after social activist Snehamayi Krishna, one of the petitioners in the MUDA case, filed the complaint. The case will be taken up under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), the sources said. The ED will investigate the money transactions linked to the MUDA case, the sources added. Snehamayi Krishna, the complainant, reacting to the development stated he had lodged the complaint with the ED against CM Siddaramaiah. The ED has given the acknowledgement for my complaint. They will verify the complaint on whether it will come under the PMLA Act, 2001. Snehamayi Krishna has sought an investigation into the misuse of official powers by CM Siddaramaiah in connection with the illegal allotment of 14 sites by MUDA in favour of Parvathy, wife of Siddaramaiah, and huge scam by MUDA authorities and the commission of an offence under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). He had also submitted all the complaints and orders of courts linked to the case. The Governoras sanction for prosecution, FIR filed by Lokayukta, order copy of the Special Court and other documents, have been submitted to the ED. Snehamayi Krishna submitted these documents to the Bengaluru office of the ED on Monday. He also filed a petition before the High Court seeking the investigation of the MUDA case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Karnataka Lokayukta is presently investigating the MUDA scam and preparing to initiate legal action against the accused persons. Meanwhile, the complainant Snehamayi Krishna expressed displeasure over the investigation by the agency which directly comes under the Karnataka Congress government. He said that he has no trust in the Lokayukta investigation and he will approach the CBI and the ED. In the Valmiki Tribal Welfare Board case, the case was initially investigated by the SIT formed by the state government. The ED joined the investigation later and arrested sitting minister B. Nagendra. However, the SIT which submitted its chargesheet to the court does not mention the name of Nagendra in the case. New Delhi, Sep 30 : Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Somnath Bharti launched a scathing attack on the BJP over the law-and-order situation in Delhi. This came after the BJP raised concerns over the deteriorating condition of the city's roads. In response, Bharti shifted the focus to the issue of rising crime in the capital, accusing the party of failing to maintain security. "The BJP has been unable to figure out how to handle the Aam Aadmi Party. Their plan to destabilize AAP by targeting its leaders -- Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, and Sanjay Singh -- has backfired. The BJP believed that by incarcerating these key figures, they could weaken AAP and take control of the capital. However, their efforts have proven futile. Whether its roads under the Public Works Department (PWD) or the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), work is going on, yet the BJP remains silent on the worsening law and order situation," Bharti told IANS. Bharti further alleged that Delhi has become a "den of gangsters" under the BJP's watch and claimed that crime rates in the city have surged, making it one of the most unsafe cities in India, particularly for women. "While the BJP is quick to criticise local development projects, it has failed to address the capital's growing crime problem, leaving it number one in the category of crime," he said. In addition, Bharti accused the BJP of deliberately attempting to disrupt development projects in Delhi by jailing AAP's top leadership. He pointed to what he described as an admission by a senior BJP leader that there was an effort to stall governance in the city. "Now that Kejriwal, Sisodia, and others have been released from jail, the BJP doesn't know how to respond. They are avoiding accountability," he said. Bharti also took aim at Delhi's BJP MPs, accusing them of being "missing in action" and failing to serve their constituencies. "The BJP should be embarrassed that all seven of their MPs from Delhi are absent. They have no involvement with the city's governance, and their lack of action is clear. Instead of questioning AAP, the BJP should focus on addressing the gaps in law and order," he added. Bhopal, Sep 30 : A day after a BJP councillor was beaten up by two women at a public place in Bhopal, accusing him of allegedly misbehaving with them, the opposition Congress hit at the BJP government on Monday. Highlighting the back-to-back incidents of crime against women reported in the state, especially against minor girls, the Congress alleged the BJP government makes the slogan 'beti bachao-beti padhao', however, the reality has been quite the opposite of it. Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Jitu Patwari said the law and order situation is getting worse day by day. "Situation in such that women and minor girls are not even safe at their homes and schools," Patwari said. Highlighting the sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl at school in Ratlam came into light on Monday and the alleged rape of a three-year-old girl by a school teacher in Bhopal last week, Patwari said the Congress will hit the street to raise women's issues. Senior Congress leader Sangeeta Sharma said that the BJP leaders are in a state of "intoxication" of power, which is why, they don't hesitate to misbehave with women. "This is a shameful incident that an elected BJP councillor is being beaten up by women at public place," she said. A video showing BJP councillor (of Bhopal Municipal Corporation) Arvind Verma being beaten up by two women surfaced on social media. However, Verma said that the women are the members of the 'gang' involved in illegal encroachment of government lands. Verma also lodged a complaint at Chunbhatthi police station. Police said a case has been registered on the basis of Verma's complaint, and further investigation was underway. Bengaluru, Sep 30 : The investigation into the arrest of the Pakistani nationals in Bengaluru has revealed shocking facts. An official said that all four arrested persons including two women hailed from Pakistani cities of Karachi and Lahore. "They had managed to obtain Indian passports and indulged in the activity of spreading religion. All accused had taken the identity of Hindus in Bengaluru," he said The arrested are identified as Rashidh Ali Siddakki aka Shankar Sharma, a resident of Karachi in Pakistan; Ayesha aka Asha Rani, a resident of Lahore in Pakistan; Hanif Mohammad aka Rambabu Sharma, a resident of Lahore; Rubina aka Rani Sharma, a resident of Lahore in Pakistan. The police have launched a hunt for Farvez and others. The accused have been presented before the court and taken into police custody for 10 days for investigation. The sleuths of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) have visited the Jigani police station and gathered information about the accused persons. The police have lodged a case against the accused under the provisions of IPC sections 420, 468 and 471. They are also booked under the Passports Act, 1967 Sections 12(1)(B), 12, 1A (b), 12 (2). On September 29, Jigani Police got a tip-off about the Pakistani nationals residing in the Rajapura village near Anagha Layout. Two of their relatives were arrested by the Chennai Police in the case of obtaining passports by giving fake documents. The accused Rashidh Ali Siddakki in the guise of Shankar Sharma and his family members were vacating the house. When inquired Rashidh claimed that he is from New Delhi and residing in the present address for six years. When police questioned him, it was found that all of the accused were in possession of the passports in Hindu names. However, the police found a writing on the wall saying 'Mehdi Foundation International Jashan-E-Younus'. They also found a Muslim religious leader's photo in the house. When questioned, the admitted stated that they are from Pakistan also admitting that those arrested in Chennai are his relatives. Rashidh Ali Siddakki the accused stated that he was from Liaquatabad near Karachi and he is living with his wife and her parents by changing their identities as Hindus. Rashidh stated that he met Ayesha online in 2011 and during the wedding, her family was in Bangladesh. He has also revealed that after suffering at the hands of religious leaders in Pakistan, he had gone to Bangladesh to live with his wife. He was propagating to people to watch the preachings of religious leader Yunus Al Gohar on Alra TV. The accused got money for his spending from the Mehdi Foundation. The foundation has members from all over the world including India. After living three years in Bangladesh, the accused was attacked by local religious leaders and one Parvez from India attached to the Mehdi Foundation contacted Rashidh over the phone and offered to take shelter in India and propagate religion from there. Rashidh had revealed that they came to India through the Malda region in West Bengal by paying agents and reached New Delhi. In New Delhi, the accused persons had got an Aadhaar card, passport, driving license and Pan cards. The Muslim names were changed into Hindu names to avoid trouble. Rashidh had stated to police that he propagated religion. In 2018, he went to Nepal to meet the religious leader and met with Wasim and Altaf. They had requested him to come to Bengaluru to propagate religion. After the consent of the religious leader, he was shifted to Bengaluru in March 2018. All documents and passports are registered at the present address. Rashidh told police he called his family members in Liaquatabad near Karachi and spoke often. The programmes are funded by the Mehdi Foundation. His relatives Mohammad Yasin aka Karthik Sharma, Jainabi Noor aka Neha Sharma and others while returning from Bangladesh were caught by the Chennai immigration authorities. Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara questioned that if they have been staying in India for 10 years, why did not the intelligence agencies and other institutions track them? "Even though the passports were done after much scrutiny, they managed to get them," he said. He said that many from Bangladesh have come to India. "Every day we are nabbing illegal migrants from Bangladesh and deporting them back. They keep on coming. The borders are porous in Bangladesh, the situation has to be tightened at the borders. It is a matter of concern for the Union government and the military," Parameshwara stated. "We have been bringing up the issue of illegal immigrants continuously before the Centre. There are many illegal immigrants living in Bengaluru. We are screening them every day and monitoring the situation every day. We will arrest them and deport them. The information would be given to the Bangladesh High Commission and the Union government. The Centre needs to tighten the security at the borders," he stated. Chandigarh, Sep 30 : Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday pitched for a sustained campaign to make the farmers aware of the paddy straw management to further reduce incidents of stubble burning. Chairing a meeting for preparations regarding crop residue management, the Chief Minister said the farmers must be made aware of the hazards of paddy straw burning through a communication campaign, adding they must be made aware of the provisions of subsidy on straw management equipment. He said farmers must also be informed about the reduction in the cost of managing straw through custom hiring centres. Mann also advocated the establishment of custom hiring centres at panchayats and other common places. The Chief Minister also directed Deputy Commissioners to launch a vigorous campaign to make the farmers aware of the hazards of paddy straw burning. He said it would help transform the war against paddy straw burning into a mass movement. Mann said under the crop residue management scheme 2024-25, the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Punjab had already called for applications from interested farmers in availing subsidies under the scheme through the agrimachinerypb.com portal. The Chief Minister said the government has set a target of distributing 14,000 machines to individual farmers and establishment of 1,100 custom hiring centres. Mann said the usage of the machines and the awareness campaign have led to a significant decrease in fire incidents. He said there has been a reduction of 30 per cent in the number of fire incidents (71,159) in 2022-23 as compared to 76,929 in 2021-22 and a reduction of 26 per cent in the number of fire incidents (49,922) in 2023-24 as compared to 71,159 in 2022-23. Likewise, Mann said a total reduction of 52 per cent in fire incidents has been observed in 2023-24 as compared to 2020-21. Patna, Sep 30 : Bihar Disaster Management Minister Santosh Kumar Suman acknowledged on Monday that the flood situation in Bihar is alarming which is posing a significant concern for the state government. In response to the worsening conditions, the government is considering taking help from the Indian Air Force for rescue operations and distributing food packets to the affected areas. "As of Monday, 29 districts in Bihar are affected by floods and water logging. Among these, 16 districts are impacted by rising water levels in the Ganga and its tributaries, while 13 districts in North Bihar are mainly affected by floodwaters released from Nepal," Suman said. He confirmed that five embankments have already been breached due to the increased water levels in the Ganga and its tributaries till Monday at 10 am. "The state government is on high alert, monitoring the situation closely and working to mitigate the impact of the disaster on affected communities. The situation remains critical, with ongoing efforts to manage the flood crisis," the minister said. Suman has admitted the severity of the flood situation, particularly in North Bihar, where breaches in embankments have resulted in several villages being submerged and isolated. "These villages have essentially turned into islands, completely cut off from the mainland. The magnitude of this natural disaster is unprecedented and has not been experienced in a long time," the minister said. He added that the state government may consider the deployment of Indian Air Force helicopters for rescue operations and the distribution of essential supplies like food to those stranded in remote areas. "The government is arranging an adequate number of boats to assist in relief efforts," the minister said. Suman said that the teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) are working tirelessly under the supervision of district magistrates to provide assistance. Local officials are closely monitoring the embankments to prevent further breaches and damage. He emphasised the importance of public cooperation, urging residents of the affected areas to follow the instructions of disaster management officials to ensure their safety. "The government is actively coordinating with officials to arrange more boats and maintain constant communication with local authorities to address the evolving crisis," he said. New Delhi, Sep 30 : The Supreme Court on Monday recorded an undertaking made on behalf of West Bengal Junior Doctors' Forum (WBJDF) that all doctors in the state are performing emergency and essential duties, including in-patient and out-patient department (OPD) services. A bench headed by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud, which was hearing a suo moto case related to the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hopsital rape-murder, recorded the statement made by senior advocate Indira Jaising, representing the doctors' association. The Bench, also comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, on perusal of the status report filed by the CBI, said that the central probe agency was conducting an investigation into the alleged rape and murder of the trainee doctor and the allegations of financial irregularities in the state-run hospital. The apex court expressed its displeasure over the "tardy" rate of installation of CCTV cameras and other directions contained in its previous orders. Further, it asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the second-highest law officer of the Centre, to place on record the status report prepared by the National Task Force (NTF) before the next date of listing. The matter is likely to be heard next on October 14. The top court had ordered the formation of the NTF to suggest measures for the security of medical professionals across the country, observing that the safety of doctors is the "highest national concern". Further, it asked the NTF to give a hearing to diverse medical associations while formulating effective recommendations relating to the safety, working conditions and well-being of doctors and medical professionals. In the previous hearing, the Supreme Court raised concerns after its attention was drawn to a state government order requiring women doctors not to be employed at night. After the Supreme Court's intervention, the West Bengal government assured the apex court that any conditions which cast a cloud on the basic Constitutional premise of gender equality will not be enforced. Further, it reiterated that no adverse or punitive action should be taken against the doctors who return to work. Taking suo moto cognisance of the rape and murder case of a junior doctor at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, the Supreme Court had termed the incident "horrific," which raises the "systemic issue of safety of doctors across the country". "We are deeply concerned about the fact that there is an absence of safe conditions of work for young doctors across the country, particularly, public hospitals," it had said. New Delhi, Sep 30 : The government on Monday launched the 'Cruise Bharat Mission' to double cruise calls and passengers within five years while creating 4 lakh new jobs. Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, said the aim is to tap the tremendous potential of cruise tourism in the country. The 'Cruise Bharat Mission' will result in over 1.5 million river cruise passengers over more than 5,000 km of operational waterways in the country. It will be implemented in three phases, beginning October 1 this year and running up to March 31, 2029. "The mission aims to create 4 lakhs employment in the cruise sector during this period," said Minister Sonowal. Phase 1 will focus on conducting studies, master planning, and forming cruise alliances with neighbouring countries. It will also modernise existing cruise terminals, marinas, and destinations to enhance the potential of cruise circuits. According to the minister, Phase 2 will concentrate on developing new cruise terminals, marinas, and destinations to activate high-potential cruise locations and circuits. Finally, the third phase will focus on integrating all cruise circuits across the Indian subcontinent, marking the maturity of the cruise ecosystem while continuing the development of cruise terminals, marinas and destinations. The aim is to increase sea cruise passengers from 0.5 million in Phase 1 to 1 million by Phase 3, with corresponding increases in sea cruise calls from 125 to 500. "River cruise passengers will grow from 0.5 million in Phase 1 to 1.5 million by Phase 3. The number of international cruise terminals will expand from 2 in Phase 1 to 10 by Phase 3, while river cruise terminals will increase from 50 to 100," said the ministry. Notably, marinas will grow from 1 to 5, and employment generated will rise from 0.1 million to 0.4 million by the final phase. "Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government is committed to harness the tremendous potential of the 'Blue Economy' of India. Cruise, with its tremendous potential in our country, has remained unexplored for long," said Minister Sonowal. The earlier measures taken by the government have resulted in a remarkable increase of 400 per cent in passenger footfall on cruises since 2014. The migratory crisis and the increase in violence 'are very distressing' for Cuban minors 'I'm interested in recovering a term that has spread, and that is migratory mourning.' A psychologist, a sociologist and a doctor in Migration Studies talk about these issues. The migration crisis and the increase in violence are seriously affecting the development of all Cubans, but their effects are even worse on children and adolescents. DIARIO DE CUBA talked with three experts to inquire about the effects of these phenomena on minors. "The Cuban people are emigrating as a response to the desperate situation in the country," sociologist Helen Ochoa Calvo, a resident of the city of Cienfuegos, told this newspaper. "It is the only solution left for those who can and want to live a dignified life through their work, the regime has left them with no other. There have been heart-wrenching examples of separations of parents and children ever since the triumph of the Revolution, but no crisis has been as distressing as the one we are witnessing. Not only are parents leaving their younger children behind, they're also leaving their older parents." Aurora Garcia Morey, a doctor in Psychological Sciences specializing in working with minors, and a professor at the University of Havana, specified: "Every departure has a negative impact, both on those who stay, and on those who leave. If a child or adolescent who has the structure of a home and a system of life suddenly loses one of the members of that system, of course that can have a negative impact on the emotional level." "That's very upsetting," adds Loraine Morales Pino, a Cuban PhD in Migration Studies residing in Mexico. "You always have to keep in mind that if adults are affected by the migratory processes, just imagine children. Many families have recently migrated. The issue of migration in Cuban minors is one that deserves to be addressed more by academia. In previous statements to DIARIO DE CUBA, Morales defined the set of experiences experienced by minors involved in migration processes. Now she emphasizes that concept: "I am interested in recovering a term that has spread, and that is migratory mourning, which involves the changes that minors experience after migrating or seeing family leave. It is necessary to investigate how children deal with the changes in practices around them, how they leave behind, for example, their grandparents, figures that in Cuba play prominent roles in families. We have to explore how they experience those grieving processes." Regarding the increase in violence and citizen insecurity, Ochoa, the Cienfuegos sociologist, points to the Cuban regime's responsibility: "Cuban families are divided not just by massive emigration. They have been unhappily subjected to a fierce ideological bombardment that makes it very difficult for them to shed the cultural patterns imposed by Communism: double standards, intransigence, intolerance, vulgarity and violence in response to those who think differently." In July the leader of the ruling Communist Party, Miguel Diaz-Canel, acknowledged before the Cuban Parliament the increase in rates of violence and insecurity, as there have been many reports by victims of robberies and murders, many of them minors. Garcia, a psychologist specialized in children, talks about the effects that such events can have on children and adolescents: "When there are tensions or violence, and certain processes in their environment have been handled poorly, logically, children can transmit worrying signals. At times those issues are not handled properly by families. Generally, the experience of violence always generates harm and damage to minors. A child is like a sponge that absorbs everything happening around it. Violence can alter children's interests and way of expressing themselves. The symptoms can vary, and are determined following a psychological evaluation process." Given the current situation, Ochoa upholds the role of the family as a bastion for children and young people: "The role of the family is irreplaceable in the face of the total crisis affecting Cuban society. The State has proved incapable of providing the people with security of any kind. The family, then, becomes the greatest refuge for the transmission of values to forge the citizens of tomorrow." Varanasi, Sep 30 : As the nation gears up to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Swachh Bharat Mission, a model village in Varanasi is garnering everyone's attention because of its high-tech smart Panchayat Bhawan and numerous employment opportunities for women. Rasoolpur village, located in the Pindra development block of Varanasi district has become the talk of town because of its novel and innovative ways of contributing to the Swachhata Mission. The second model village of Varanasi, situated near Rameshwar Tirtha, the third stop of Panchkoshi Yatra of Varanasi, has earned an ISO certificate. Its Gram Panchayat Secretariat is one of the best buildings in the district and also has an alluring auditorium. Built on eight thousand square feet, this Panchayat building has 7 rooms, a store room and a meeting hall. It boasts many modern facilities including the Public Service Room, Revenue Room, Health Room, Library Room, and Village Head Class Secretary Room. The Health Department team is present in the Gram Panchayat Building to provide health services to the villagers. Health-related problems of rural women are also resolved here. To empower women in this model village, a woman has been given employment in all departments of the Panchayat Bhawan. As toilets have been built in every house under the Swachh Bharat Mission, women do not have to go out in the open, due to which women are very happy. Village head Kailash Yadav said that approximately Rs 27 lakh was spent on the construction of the Panchayat building. Highlighting the accomplishments, he said: "The DPRO encouraged us to create a high-tech village panchayat and with community support, we established the second one in the state. Our village has won awards from the Chief Minister and received 29 lakh in funding." Vandana Patel, working at the Jan Seva Kendra, says: "Since I got this job here, I no longer need to go far. Now I can manage my household expenses from here, and also take care of my parents. Listening to people's appreciation feels very good. They often praise the Panchayat Bhawan and Amrit Sarovar built by the village head. Even people from the city visit and say they've never seen a Panchayat Bhawan like this before, and they admire it greatly." Samuh Sakhi, another worker said: "At present, a lot of good work is being done for women. Those whose livelihoods were very basic are now progressing. Today, many women have become self-sufficient. Additionally, community toilets have been built, and every household has been provided with toilets so that women no longer have to go to other places..." Sangeeta Devi, an ANM from the Health Department, said, "It is my responsibility to care for children and their mothers. We provide essential services for women, including child care, health check-ups for mothers, and vaccination facilities." Notably, Rasoolpur village was also awarded the Chief Minister's Award twice and prize money of Rs 29 lakh was given to the model village. Kigali, Sep 30 : Rwanda's Ministry of Health has announced new guidelines to curb the spread of the Marburg virus disease (MVD) following an alarming rise in fatalities. The death toll from the MVD has reached eight, with 26 confirmed cases and 18 individuals currently in isolation and receiving treatment, the ministry said in a statement late on Sunday. In response to the situation, the ministry suggested that people maintain normal business activities while reinforcing personal hygiene measures. According to the statement, citizens are urged to avoid close contact with individuals exhibiting symptoms of the virus, which include high fever, severe headaches, muscle aches, vomiting and diarrhea. To further contain the spread of the disease, visits to hospitalized patients will be prohibited for the next 14 days, with only one caregiver allowed per patient at a time, Xinhua news agency reported. All healthcare facilities are required to implement strict protocols for receiving and managing patients displaying symptoms of the MVD, ensuring full compliance with infection prevention and control measures. In the unfortunate event of a death due to the virus, the ministry has prohibited wakes and home vigils to mitigate the risk of further transmission. Funeral services for those who succumbed to the MVD will be restricted to a maximum of 50 attendees, while open-casket viewings are not allowed in homes, churches or mosques and will only be conducted in designated areas within healthcare facilities, with strict limits on the number of participants. The ministry reassured the public that additional measures will be introduced as the situation develops. During a press conference earlier Sunday, Rwandan Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana revealed that the ministry is closely monitoring more than 300 individuals identified as contacts of confirmed MVD cases. New Delhi, Sep 30 : The fresh parole application from controversial self-styled godman and Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has sparked debate in political circles. The issue assumes significance as it is coinciding with the Haryana Assembly polls to be held on October 5. The new parole application comes after Ram Rahim returned to Sunaria jail in Rohtak district on September 2, following a 21-day furlough, which was his tenth since his incarceration in 2017. He has spent a total of 255 days outside of prison on parole and furlough. Observers are of the view that Ram Rahimas paroles often coincide with elections, whether assembly or parliamentary polls. While Ram Rahimas new application for parole has triggered a massive debate in the political spectrum, the Congress party's silence on the issue has raised eyebrows. Many are questioning whether this reticence is the result of political compulsion. It is suggested that the grand old party may be strategically avoiding opposition to Ram Rahimas request to maintain goodwill with his supporters. The Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda sect, led by Ram Rahim, commands a substantial following in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi, and parts of Uttar Pradesh, which is a reality the Congress party must be aware of. With elections in Haryana set for October 5 and Delhi's elections just a few months away, Congress may be wary of alienating Ram Rahimas supporters. Going back to the past, ahead of the 2024 general elections, the Dera had publicly declared support for the BJP, forming a committee to assist with election duties across ten Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. Political analysts question whether Congress is attempting to woo voters who are loyal to the Dera. Remarkably, key Congress figures in Haryana refrain from commenting on Ram Rahimas parole issue. Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda recently defended the state government when some Sikh organisations and regional parties targeted it over Ram Rahim's parole. He had said the parole was granted according to the law and thus warranted no objection. Ram Rahim is reported to have submitted a new application for a 20-day parole, which is currently awaiting approval from the Chief Election Officer. Hanoi, Sep 30 : The State Bank of Vietnam will continue to take necessary measures to control the gap between domestic and global gold prices at an appropriate level in response to surging gold ring prices in recent weeks, Vietnam News Agency reported Monday. The central bank will coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to carry out inspection on the gold market and trading activities of gold bar enterprises, stores, distributors, buyers and sellers, it said. The bank vows to propose strict penalties on violations, it said, Xinhua news agency reported. The gold ring price in Vietnam jumped to a new historic peak of over 83 million Vietnamese dong (3,378 US dollars) per tael last week. The difference between Saigon Jewelry Company (SJC)-branded gold bar prices and global prices reached 18 million dong (732 dollars) per tael for several times during the first half of 2024. In June this year, the central bank started to sell gold bars directly to four state-owned commercial banks and SJC so that these organizations can distribute them to retail buyers in an effort to stabilize the domestic gold market. Moscow, Sep 30 : Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Monday, calling up 133,000 citizens for military service in autumn, according to a document posted on the country's legal information portal. According to the decree, a total of 133,000 people aged 18 to 30, will be drafted from October 1 to December 31, 2024, Xinhua news agency reported. Conscripts will not be involved in tasks related to the special military operation in the new regions, and will serve at permanent deployment points of military units and formations on the territory of Russia, Deputy Head of the Russian General Staff's Main Organizational and Mobilization Department Vladimir Tsimlyansky said during a briefing earlier on Monday. In July 2023, Russia's lower house of parliament voted to raise the maximum age at which men can be conscripted to 30 from 27. The new legislation came into effect on January 1, 2024. Russia conducts conscription twice a year, in spring and autumn respectively. The autumn 2023 draft saw the enlistment of 130,000 people. All men in Russia are required to do a year-long military service, or equivalent training during higher education, from the age of 18. Kolkata, Sep 30 : A special court in Kolkata on Monday ordered that the former and controversial principal of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata Sandip Ghosh and the former Station House Officer of Tala Police Station Abhijit Mondal will remain in judicial custody till October 4 in connection with the ghastly rape and murder of a junior doctor within the premises of the state-run hospital last month. On Monday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) counsel initially sought three days of CBI custody for Sandip Ghosh and Abhijit Mondal. However, the judge of the special court advised them to explore the possibilities of questioning the duo in judicial custody. Thereafter, the CBI counsel revised the plea and pleaded for 14 days of judicial custody for Ghosh and Mondal along with the permission to question them. The judge of the special court made an observation that, considering the progress of the investigation as to date, the accused duo seemed to be having nothing in their favour. However, at the same time, the court observed that in future the CBI should be more careful about making their applications on this matter. The special court also directed the correctional home superintendent to make arrangements for a special room where the CBI officials could question Sandip Ghosh and Abhijit Mondal. The court also observed that although the counsels of the accused duo would be able to meet their clients, they would not be allowed to be present at the time of questioning. Meanwhile, sources aware of the development said that the investigating officials have come across some more crucial clues in the case for which further questioning of Sandip Ghosh and Abhijit Mondal are required. The main charges in connection with the rape-murder case against Sandip Ghosh and Abhijit Mondal are misleading the initial investigation and tampering with the evidence. The case was being initially probed by the Kolkata Police. However, the investigation was later handed over to the CBI on the orders of the Calcutta High Court. Hyderabad, Sep 30 : A Special Court here on Monday sent Boodati Lakshminarayan, Managing Director of Sahiti Infratec Ventures India Pvt. Ltd. (SIVIPL) to judicial custody till October 14 in a money laundering case. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday arrested him under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The ED said he was presented before the Special Court (PMLA), Nampally, which sent him to judicial custody for two weeks. In December last year, the ED had attached movable and immovable properties worth Rs 161.50 crore belonging to SIVIPL, its Managing Director, B. Lakshminarayan; its former director, S. Purnachandra Rao, their family members and related entities and Omics International Ltd. under the provisions of the PMLA in the case of SIVIPL fraud. In January 2024, the Hyderabad Police registered a case against Lakshminarayana and 21 others for allegedly conspiring to dupe 1,752 customers. The accused had collected Rs 1,119.93 crore from the customers. During the investigation into the complaint filed by M. Yashwanth Kumar and 240 others, police found that Lakshminarayana along with other directors, authorised signatories and the marketing team, lured the victims with the promise of providing high-rise apartments at the Sahiti Sarvani Elite project in Ameenpur village of Sangareddy district. They were booked for alleged fraudulent activities carried out from June 2019 to 2022. According to the complaint, the accused made a 'prelaunch offer' even before acquiring land for the project and obtaining necessary permissions and started collecting deposits from customers in June 2019. Investigations revealed that the accused applied to the HMDA for permission in May and June 2022, and approval was granted on August 1, 2022. The CCS said that after collecting Rs 504 crore for the Sarvani Elite project, the accused initiated several other projects but failed to complete them. The total amount collected from customers for nine projects, including Sarvani Elite, is approximately Rs 1,119 crore. In May, another case was registered against Sahiti Infra and Lakshminarayana following a complaint by a victim. Victims of Sahiti Sarvani Elite had also staged a protest in May, demanding the police to expedite the investigation into what they called the "biggest real estate scam in Telangana". Srinagar, Sep 30 : ECI on Tuesday asked the J&K government to explain why an order of deputation of an army officer to civil police was issued without the prior permission of the commission when the MCC is still in force. J&K government had on Monday issued the order of appointment of Colonel Vikrant Prasher as SSP (Training) and Special (Operation) in J&K police. The ECI order taking exception to this move said to the J&K government today in its letter: "The Commission has observed that the Model Code of Conduct is in force in J&K and as such there is a ban on transfer of officers connected to election is in force. Without going, at this stage into the rationale, process and urgency of posting an Army officer as SSP on the civil side during the period of operation of MCC, the Commission hereby directs that the order shall be kept in abeyance with immediate effect. If the order has been issued executed, the position before the issue of the order shall be restored with immediate effect." The ECI added that the Chief Secretary shall send the compliance report by 11 am on October 1 with an explanation as to why such an order was issued without prior permission of the commission. Vikrant Prasher of the Parachute Regiment has already been cleared by the Ministry of Defence for a two-year deputation to the J&K government. A Shaurya Chakra awardee, Prasher belongs to Udhampur district of J&K and he has distinguished himself in anti-militancy operations. He was earlier posted at the high altitude warfare school (HAWS) in the Gulmarg area of the Valley. --IANS sq/dan Jaipur, Sep 30 : Rajasthan BJP MLA Kirodi Lal Meena on Monday accused All India Muslim Personal Law Board's National General Secretary Maulana Mohammad Fazal-ur-Rahim of selling lands of Waqf Board while submitting fake documents 'considering them as personal property'. "The said bill is being opposed by some Muslim community leaders led by Fazal ur Rahim, National General Secretary of All India Muslim Personal Law Board, who is acting as the biggest advocate inciting Muslims in the country and inciting them to violence," said Kirodi Lal Meena. He added that Fazal ur Rahim has joined hands with Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, former Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot, former Minister Salman Khurshid, Sharad Pawar, Chief Minister M.K Stalin and many others to run a campaign against PM Modi. "They are inciting common Muslims through QR codes across the country so that unrest and instability spread in the country. But Fazal ur Rahim himself has sold the land of Waqf, trust and temples on the basis of fake documents, considering it his personal property. His personal trusts are receiving illegal money from the country and abroad, especially from Gulf countries, and are being invested in anti-national activities," he said. He further accused Fazal ur Rahim of being keen on spoiling the atmosphere in the country at the behest of Congress. "His daughter Sultana is the General Secretary of Jaipur Mahila Congress and his son-in-law Mohammad Shoaib is a member of the State Congress Committee. This clearly shows that he has deep ties with the Congress," he said. He added that Fazal ur Rahim's brother Zia ur Rahim is selling Waqf properties by preparing fake and fabricated documents. "Both, Fazal ur Rahim and Zia ur Rahim have sold 18 to 20 bighas of land of Jamia Hidayat Trust Jaipur and Maulana Abdul Rahim Educational Trust in Jaipur and Ahmedabad for crores of rupees through fake agreements since 2005 and have developed illegal colonies of a particular community on these lands. They have earned crores of rupees by selling the land of tribals in Mumbai," he alleged. He said that four FIRs have been registered in Police Station Jaisinghpura Khor Jaipur from the year 2021 to 2024 against Fazal ur Rahim, Zia ur Rahim and others under Sections 420, 447, 468, 471 and 120B of IPC in connection with the sale of Jamia Hidayat Trust's lands through fake documents. "By using their political influence and managing the regional police station, they do not allow any legal action to be taken against them, due to which their courage has increased so much that despite the stay of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, they sold the Jamia Hidayat Trust, Waqf and Government land," he added. He said that despite the order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court to maintain the status quo, about 900 bigha of government land in Village Kishanpura and Amer has been occupied and sold and people of a particular religion have been settled there. He added that 500 bigha land allotted to Rajasthan Police in Village Kishanpura and Amer has been encroached upon by people of a particular religion and colonies have been developed here. "Our police seem to be sitting with folded hands. Fazal ur Rahim, Zia ur Rahim and their son-in-law Mohammad Shoaib, through their connections in the Congress party, under a well-planned and well-thought-out strategy, have settled illegal colonies of a particular community on government lands as well as temple land, Such a person who is bringing people of a particular religion and settling them in Sadwa, Jaisinghpura Khor and Amer and is involved in anti-national activities by changing the demography by settling Muslims in Hindu populated areas," he said. New Delhi, Sep 30 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched a blistering attack on Congress during several poll rallies in Haryana, claiming that 'Accidental Hindus', raised in a culture like that of Rome, cannot tolerate Ram Temple. "After 500 years long wait, on January 22, 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed a consecration ritual to install Lord Ram Lalla in Ayodhya. Not only the country but also the whole world was thrilled by this, yet the unfortunate Congress, shedding crocodile tears, despised it. This reflected the difference between the culture of 'Ram' and that of 'Rome'," CM Adityanath remarked. He further stated that individuals raised in Ram's culture have fought tirelessly for 500 years for their values, while those influenced by Roman culture cannot accept Lord Ram's return to Ayodhya. CM Adityanath termed such individuals as 'Accidental Hindus', stating that they can never be honest to the country and its people. "Those who do not respect Ram are of no use to us," he added. Reacting to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's 'naach-gaana' at Ram Mandir remark, the CM said, "Those who accuse us of dancing at the temple's inauguration come from a lineage that has spent its life in dance and music." He accused Congress of belittling Hindu sentiments, slamming the Gandhi scion for questioning constitutional institutions abroad. He recalled how the temple was demolished in 1526, leading to centuries of oppression. He stated that the first government of independent India also failed to honour Hindu culture, unlike the current government led by PM Modi, which has resolved a longstanding issue within two years. He highlighted the developmental achievements during the BJP's tenure in Haryana, contrasting them with Congress's past record of corruption and neglect. He reiterated PM Modi's commitment to prioritise the rights of the poor and marginalised over any other group. Mumbai, Sep 30 : Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will unveil a statue of the legendary warrior king, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Kolhapur, during his two-day visit to Maharashtra on October 4-5, party leaders said here on Monday. After reaching Kolhapur on Friday (October 4), he is scheduled to inaugurate Chhatrapati's grand, full-length figurine at Kasba Bawada in the evening, besides several other engagements during his two-day trip to the erstwhile royal kingdom, said Congress Leader in Maharashtra Legislative Council Satej Bunty Patil. That evening, Rahul Gandhi will attend a special cultural programme with a performance by over 2001 artists, besides 1,000 people who shall be present attired in costumes depicting Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, at the Kasba Bawada Pavilion grounds. The mammoth play would highlight the contribution of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to Indian history, the stories of his valour and conquests for the awareness of the new generations, said Patil. On October 5, Rahul Gandhi will visit and pay his respects at the samadhi of the late social reformer Chhatrapati Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj (1874-1922) in Kolhapur, which has recently undergone a major revamp of around Rs 10 crore. Later, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha would participate in and address an Honour Constitution Conference in the presence of 1,000 top political leaders, representatives of scores of non-governmental organisations, religious groups and other invitees, plus interact with the attendees. These events shall be attended by All India Congress Committee General Secretary Ramesh Chennithala, state party chief Nana F. Patole, Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar, Congress Legislature Party Leader Balasaheb Thorat, ex-Chief Ministers Prithviraj Chavan and Sushilkumar Shinde, said Kolhapur MP, Chhatrapati Shrimant Shahu Maharaj. Responding to a question on whether there will be "incoming" from other parties when top party leaders converge in Kolhapur, Patil said that "the Congress is already houseful" ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections. However, he said that those who wish to join the party are always welcome as the Maha Vikas Aghadi is committed to justice for all and progress of the state. Present at the media briefing were Congress legislators Raju J. Awale, Jayshree C. Jadhav, Jayant D. Asgaonkar and other bigwigs from Kolhapur. Hyderabad, Sep 30 : The Telangana government will soon begin a pilot project for issuing 'Digital Family Cards' to all families with field-level inspections in the first week of October. Hyderabad, Sep 30 (IANS) The Telangana government will soon begin a pilot project for issuing aDigital Family Cardsa to all families with field-level inspections in the first week of October. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Monday ordered the officials to take up the process for the issuance of aDigital Family Cardsa at the field level on a pilot basis in all 119 Assembly constituencies in an effective manner. At a review meeting, he suggested selecting one urban and one rural area in each constituency for this pilot project. If a constituency is entirely urban, two wards/divisions should be chosen; if it is entirely rural, two villages should be selected, resulting in a total of 238 areas for field-level inspection, he said. The CM also suggested increasing the number of field visit teams in the wards and divisions, if required, depending on the high density of the population in any particular area. Revanth Reddy conducted a high-level review on issuing the aDigital Family Cardsa at the state secretariat. The officials briefed him on the details of the pilot project which is being taken up soon. The officials said that the selection of villages, wards/divisions for field-level inspection in 119 constituencies has been completed. When the CM enquired about the requirement of time to complete the pilot project, the officials informed that the field visit would be carried out for five days from October 3 to October 7. Revanth Reddy also made it clear that field-level officials should seek the permission of families before taking their photos and taking photos should be optional only. He asked the nodal officers of the old districts to guide the district Collectors regarding the field-level inspection and then only the programme can be conducted in a productive manner. The officials briefed the CM that the process of identification of families has already been completed based on the data of Ration Cards, Pension, Self-Help groups, Farmer Insurance, Insurance, Health insurance, etc. Revanth Reddy also advised the officials to take necessary steps in the name registration and changes, if any, in the compilation of the details of family members. He also instructed the officials to prepare a report on the challenges and productive outcomes of issuing digital cards based on the pilot project. A full-scale field-level inspection will be carried out after discussing the report and rectifying the errors, the CM said. State Ministers Konda Surekha, P. Srinivasa Reddy, Adviser to the Chief Minister Vem Narender Reddy, Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Sheshadri and senior officials of various departments participated. New Delhi, Sep 30 : Under the initiative of Atmanirbhar Bharat, the Indian Army signed the eight procurement contracts through Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) on Monday. According to the Ministry of Defence, QuNu Labs had proposed a 200 km single-hop Quantum key distribution in Open Challenge 2.0 under iDEX. It will replace the algorithm-based encryption systems thus enabling greater security and also optimising manpower commitment. The contract for procurement of 'Generation of Quantum Secure Key (quantum key distribution)' was signed with M/s QuNu Labs. This contract was signed, in the presence of Lieutenant General NC Raja Subramani, Vice Chief of The Army Staff at South Block, New Delhi. MoD Informed that the iDEX was launched by the Prime Minister on 12 April 2018 during Defence Expo India 2018. The aim of iDEX is to create an eco-system to foster innovations and encourage technological development in Defence and Aerospace by engaging Research and Development (R&D) Institutes, Academia, and Industries including MSMEs, Start-Ups, and individual innovators. It also provides them with funding and other support to carry out R&D which has good potential for future adoption by the Indian Defence and Aerospace Organisation. iDEX under the Defence Innovation Organisation has emerged as a front-runner in establishing the right kind of contact with Startups and Innovators and has gained substantial traction in the Defence Startup Community. At present, there are a total of 74 Projects of IA under iDEX including as part of Acing Devp of Innovation Tech with iDEX (ADITI), Defence India Startup Challenge (DISC) & Open Challenge schemes. It involves the handholding of 77 Startups for the development of the latest state-of-the-art solutions for the Indian Army. Indian Army is already carrying out field exploitation of the four delivered equipment from various iDEX schemes. Based on the results of the field exploitation further Spiral Development of the innovative technology will be progressed with the Startups, MoD officials added. Jaipur, Sep 30 : RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will be on a four-day visit to Rajasthan's Baran from October 2. Bhagwat will reach Kota on the evening of 2 October from there he will travel by road to Baran. Chittor Prant Sanghchalak Jagdish Singh Rana said that during this stay, Bhagwat will participate in various meetings of the organisation and will also address the city gathering of volunteers in Krishi Upaj Mandi on 5 October. Earlier, Bhagwat was on a five-day trip to Alwar from September 13 to 17. He reached Alwar by train on September 13. He then went directly to the Sangh office Keshav Kripa. From 14 to 17 September, he had important meetings with the officials and workers of the state executive at the Sangh office. Bhagwat also planted saplings and participated in Mahamritunjaya Yagya. "India is not just a piece of land, but it is Sanatan. India stands with Sanatan Dharma. Our culture is a Yagya-like culture. In Yagya, one has to give from his own side. Whatever one has, it will return from where he is giving," he said. Bhagwat also spoke on the significance of trees and said that trees have given us everything, they should not be destroyed, and hence trees should be planted. "Similarly, we should make efforts for the progress of our brothers in society who are poor, and backward. We should uplift them by giving them whatever we have," he added. Hyderabad, Sep 30 : Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao on Monday accused the Congress government of Telangana of indulging in the "biggest scam in the country" under the guise of Musi River Project. He claimed that the Congress was trying to use the project as a financial reserve for the upcoming elections. Addressing a press conference, the former minister highlighted the "absurdity" of the budget allocated for the project, which has been inflated to Rs 1.5 lakh crore. In comparison, the much larger Namami Gange project for cleaning the Ganges cost Rs 40,000 crore, he said. Questioning the Congress' intentions, he called the proposed expenditure a scam in the making. "If Rs 40,000 crore was sufficient for over 2,200 km long Ganga, why is Congress spending Rs 1.5 lakh crore on 55 km of the Musi river?" he questioned. He further alleged that Congress is prioritising this project for financial gains rather than public welfare. KTR, as the BRS leader is popularly known, accused Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy of turning into a "destroyer" for the victims of the Musi encroachments. He condemned the Congress' bulldozing of poor people's homes without proper rehabilitation plans in place. "Revanth Reddy is playing the role of a tyrant for Musi victims. Families are crying for justice, yet the Congress leadership remains deaf to their pleas. What's more disturbing is that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy is using officers as a shield and letting them take the heat from the public," KTR added. KTR also alleged that the Musi project is being treated as a "reserve bank" by the Congress party to fill its coffers ahead of the next general elections. He accused the party of diverting public attention from its unfulfilled promises and spending Rs 1.5 lakh crore on a project that benefits no one but the Congress. "The Congress has done nothing for the people in the last 300 days of their rule. They have not fulfilled even one of their promises, yet they are spending Rs 1.5 lakh crore on a river beautification project that serves no public interest," KTR said. He condemned the Congress government for failing to address the real needs of the people while embarking on extravagant and unnecessary projects. "You promised homes under Indiramma, but instead, you're demolishing homes. How many more homes will you destroy in the name of development? Stop hiding behind bureaucrats and face the people," he remarked. KTR said that the BRS party's legal team has already challenged the Congress government's arbitrary demolitions in the High Court, which responded favourably. KTR promised that if necessary, the BRS would take the fight for justice all the way to the Supreme Court. "BRS will not allow this injustice to continue. We are ready to stand in front of the bulldozers if needed to protect the homes of the poor," KTR declared. He also emphasised the developmental efforts by the BRS government during its tenure, including the beautification of the Musi river without harming the poor, building sewage treatment plants, and approving the construction of 15 bridges. Mumbai, Sep 30 : In a major decision ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the MahaYuti government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday accorded the status of 'Rajya Mata-Gaumata' (mother of the state) to the desi (indigenous) cows in the state -- a move that has drawn applause from the BJP which is a key MahaYuti ally. The Maharashtra Cabinet also cleared the proposal to provide a grant of Rs 50 per day per desi cow to 'gaushalas'. "This was the demand of many people, including the seers. Today, we have been successful in fulfilling that demand. Cows have been given a new identity of Rajya Mata, Gomata," CM Shinde said while talking about the government's decision to bestow an honourable title upon cows -- considered a sacred animal in Hinduism and is worshipped. "A decision was also taken to provide an allowance of Rs 50 per desi cow. We are committed towards protecting the cows. That's why an important decision was taken in this regard," CM Shinde added. The Maharashtra Cabinet also gave approval for a subsidy scheme for rearing indigenous cows, citing that gaushalas have a very low income, and they could not afford to bear the expenses. Therefore, the government will provide a per day subsidy of Rs 50 per indigenous cow. BAPS Swaminarayan, which works in cultural, spiritual, cow service, de-addiction spheres, was given around 10 acres of land in Dhule district. An official said that the subsidy scheme will be implemented online by the Maharashtra Goseva Commission. Each district of the state will have a 'District Goshala Verification Committee'. According to the 20th livestock census in 2019, the number of indigenous cows has been found to be less than 46.13 lakh and it has decreased by 20.69 per cent compared to the 19th census. Meanwhile, the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government's decision to grant the status of 'Rajya Mata-Gaumata' to indigenous cows has earned the backing and support of the key MahaYuti ally -- the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Welcoming the decision, the BJP termed it a reinforcement of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's legacy. BJP National Spokesperson Prem Shukla emphasised the significance of this decision, stating that it aligns with the ideals of Hindavi Swaraj established by Shivaji. Shukla also criticised the Congress and NCP-SP supremo Sharad Pawar, asserting that such a declaration should have been made years ago. He also highlighted that the ban on cow slaughter was only implemented under the Devendra Fadnavis (BJP) government. "This decision honours the tradition of Chhatrapati Shivaji," he stated. Talking about the importance of cows in Maharashtra since ancient times, Shukla further said that there has been a tradition of protection of cows in Maharashtra since the Vedic period. Cows have always been protected and promoted in many areas of the state including Marathwada, West Maharashtra and Vidarbha. Chhatrapati Shivaji was also described as a protector of cows. --IANS sj-pgh/ Itanagar, Sep 30 : Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday urged the seven Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) of the northeastern region to increase credit disbursement under various government of India flagship schemes such as MUDRA, PM Vishwakarma. The Union Finance Minister while chairing a meeting in Itanagar to review the performance of seven RRBs of the northeastern region said that the focus should be on credit for agriculture, horticulture and allied activities like piggery, goatery, sericulture, fisheries etc. She also directed NABARD to promote FPOs (Farmer Producer Organisations) in the NE region. Out of the 43 RRBs across the country, there are seven RRBs in the northeast region covering the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. Given the crucial role of RRBs in supporting the rural economy, Sitharaman urged RRBs a" with the active support of their sponsor banks a" to increase credit disbursement under various Central government flagship schemes such as MUDRA, PM Vishwakarma, etc. During the review meeting, the Union Finance Minister was apprised of the improvement in the financial performance of the RRBs of the northeast region and their technology upgradation ever since the regular review was initiated in 2022. The Consolidated Capital to Risk (Weighted) Assets Ratio (CRAR) of 15 per cent in Financial Year 2024 is at healthy levels and profitability has improved from losses of Rs 11 crore in FY 2023 to net profit of Rs 205 crore in FY 2024. The Gross Non-Performing Assets (GNPA) have also improved from 15.6 per cent in FY 2022 to 7.3 per cent in FY 2024, an official statement said. Sitharaman also urged stakeholders to hold special State Level Bankers' Committees (SLBCs) meetings involving RRBs to explore the possibility of tapping the potential of horticulture, floriculture, sericulture and animal husbandry in the northeastern states, resolve the issue of availability of land records for extending Agri credit and increasing credit for agri-processing units. The statement said that states were urged to ensure the provision of mobile veterinary units in each district. During the meeting, the central minister emphasised that every eligible person in the northeast region should get covered under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). The Union Finance Minister directed the Department of Financial Services (DFS) to conduct a meeting with the Ministry of DoNER and North Eastern Council to explore the possibilities for extending credit to ODOP vendors of the states. She also advised that all RRBs must devise suitable MSME products that align with MSME activities and leverage their personal and local connections to increase penetration. RRBs, with necessary support from sponsor banks and NABARD, were also directed to open new banking touch points in non-covered areas, especially in the states of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. M. Nagaraju, Secretary, DFS, Chairpersons of seven RRBs and sponsor banks -- Chairman, SBI and Managing Director, PNB, representatives of RBI, NABARD and SIDBI and senior officers of the Finance Ministry and seven northeastern states were also present during the meeting. Patna, Sep 30 : Bihar Water Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary acknowledged that the past 72 hours have been extremely challenging for officials and flood response teams in the flood-affected areas of North Bihar. The minister admitted that the situation has worsened in places like Darbhanga and West Champaran, where floodwaters were reported to be flowing above the embankments, signalling the severity of the crisis. Chaudhary highlighted the unprecedented nature of the flood, particularly in the Kosi River, caused by excessive rainfall in Nepal's catchment areas. "6.61 lakh cusecs of water were discharged from the Kosi Barrage at Virpur on Saturday. This is the largest discharge in 56 years, with the last such instance occurring in 1968 when 7.88 lakh cusecs of water were released. Similarly, at the Valmiki Nagar Gandak Barrage, 5.62 lakh cusecs of water were discharged on Saturday night, marking the highest water release from the barrage since 2003," Chaudhary said. He added that these extreme discharges have contributed to the critical flooding situation across North Bihar, overwhelming existing flood control measures and leaving many areas submerged. Chaudhary's comments underscore the gravity of the situation and the immense challenge posed by the floods in managing the region's water resources. The minister pointed out that the situation in the flood-affected areas worsened unexpectedly due to excessive rain in Nepal. He revealed that at one point, the water at the Kosi Barrage was flowing above the gate, which was described as a high amount of water. The massive discharge of water from the barrage, which caught officials off guard, contributed to widespread flooding in the region. He also admitted that the Bagmati River had breached its embankments at five locations, further aggravating the situation. According to Water Resource Department officials, over 4 lakh villagers have been impacted by the floods in the past three days. The affected districts include West Champaran, Gopalganj, East Champaran, Darbhanga, Madhubani, Sitamarhi, Supaul, Sheohar, Muzaffarpur, Purnea, Araria, Kishanganj, Katihar, Khagaria, and others. In East Champaran's Sugauli block, a ring dam on the Sikrahna River broke near Gorigaon village due to the rising water levels caused by heavy rains in Nepal's catchment area. The dam, built under MNREGA to prevent floods, gave way under the intense pressure of the river, with about 30 feet of the dam collapsing. Shweta Bharti, SDO Sadar of East Champaran, confirmed the incident. She said that engineers and flood control officials were informed of the damage. Immediate repairs are underway, with the Circle Officer and MNREGA Project Officer on-site to coordinate the efforts. The repair work is expected to be conducted as swiftly as possible to contain further flooding. Jodhpur, Sep 30 : Anita, who was trapped in the shackles of child marriage at the age of just four months, finally got freedom from child marriage after suffering for almost 20 years on Monday. Judge Varun Talwar of Jodhpur's Family Court No. 2 gave a historic decision to annul Anita's child marriage. The family court during its verdict in the case of annulment of child marriage, ordered to husband to pay the litigation expenses to the child bride. 21-year-old Anita, daughter of a farmer family resident of a rural area of Jodhpur district, was married as a child at the age of just 4 months. Thereafter, she continued to suffer the brunt of child marriage. Her in-laws were constantly pressuring her to get her 'Gauna' done and send her to her in-laws. Meanwhile, Anita got information about the campaign of one Kriti Bharti of Saarthi Trust Jodhpur to abolish child marriages. Anita met Kriti and expressed her pain. Kriti then filed a case for annulment of Anita's child marriage in Family Court No. 2 of Jodhpur. Kriti Bharti advocated on Anita's behalf in the family court and made the court aware of the facts related to child marriage and age. After which Judge Varun Talwar of Family Court No. 2 gave a historic decision to annul the child marriage that took place 20 years ago when Anita was just 4 months old. Due to the efforts of Kriti of Saarthi Trust, the court has set a new example by giving a decision to the girl bride to get the expenses of the case from her husband. Justice Talwar said that child marriage is not only a vice but also a crime which spoils the future of children. "If the girl or boy does not want to continue the child marriage, then they have the right to cancel the child marriage. To eradicate the evil of child marriage, significant efforts are needed at the society level," Justice Talwar said. Kriti said that after getting Anita's child marriage annulled, better rehabilitation efforts are now being made for her. The aim of my campaign is to ensure that child marriage gets buried in the history books, she said. Anita said, "With the help of Kriti Didi, I have become free from the bondage of child marriage. Now I will stand on my feet and fulfil my dreams." Mumbai, Sep 30 : The Maharashtra Cabinet during a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday approved amendments to the Maharashtra Stamp Act proposing the increase in stamp duty on affidavits, agreements and related documents to Rs 500 from the present Rs 100. The stamp duty on share capital has been increased to Rs 1 crore from Rs 50 lakh. According to the revenue department, the amendments to the Maharashtra Stamp Act will help increase the revenue from the stamp duty and registration to the tune of almost Rs 2,000 crore. The amendment has been proposed on the lines of Karnataka. "Schedule I to the Maharashtra Stamp Act is amended to simplify the charge ability under the various articles and, in general, wherever Rs 100 is provided, it is substituted by Rs 500. Article 4 is amended to charge a minimum stamp duty of Rs 500. An affidavit needs to be executed before government or semi-government departments are brought into the purview of this Article," said the state revenue department note submitted to the Cabinet. Article 10 is amended to increase the stamp duty rate and the maximum limit on share capital and increased share capital. Further, Article 47 is amended to change in minimum stamp duty of Rs 500 and maximum Rs 50,000 the instrument of partnership and to change stamp duty of Rs 500 in case of dissolution of a partnership. Meanwhile, the cabinet also provided relief in stamp duty for rehabilitation of project affected persons of the Colaba-SEEPZ Metro three project. They will have to pay a stamp duty of flat Rs 1,000. The Cabinet also took a decision to reduce the fee charged by the government to various departments for giving guarantees while raising loans. The Cabinet decided not to completely waive but decrease the government guarantee fee which will get relief to various departments while raising the debt. The government at present charges Rs 2 per hundred rupees annually which has now been reduced 50 paise. This revised fee will be applicable from April 1, 2023. Furthermore, the Cabinet, in a bid to push the organ donation and transplantation and increase awareness, gave approval to establish a dedicated critical care department in hospitals and start postgraduate courses in it. For this, 150 posts will be created in 25 government medical colleges. If it will not be possible to start such a course in any government medical college, the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences will provide a twelve-month fellowship in critical care. Similarly, the post of Transplant Coordinator will be created in these colleges. Organ recovery centers will be established in these colleges. India is the third-largest country in terms of annual organ transplants after the US and China. The total number of transplants in the country has increased from 4,990 in 2013 to 12,666 in 2019. PepsiCo has announced Alterno as the winner of its 2024 Greenhouse Accelerator Program in APAC. The program supports sustainable innovation in the food and beverage industry and aims to inspire change through collaboration. The Greenhouse Accelerator is an important initiative within PepsiCos pep+ strategy, which seeks to promote sustainability across the companys operations. By supporting entrepreneurs who focus on reducing waste, improving food security, and addressing climate change, PepsiCo is reinforcing its efforts to work towards a sustainable food system that benefits both people and the planet. Selected from a group of 10 finalists across APAC, including Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Australia, and China, the 2024 Greenhouse Accelerator Program winner, Alterno, was selected for its pioneering approach to reducing carbon emissions across agriculture, industry, and residential heating through thermal energy. As part of their win, Alterno will receive an additional USD 100,000 grant to further develop its solution. This grant will be instrumental in helping them to scale their sand-based battery, which was recently piloted at PepsiCos Foods plan in Vietnam, completing a pellet drying project with a view to trial heating oil next. Winning PepsiCos APAC Greenhouse Accelerator Program 2024 is a pivotal moment for our startup, said Hai Ho, Co-Founder and COO of Alterno. PepsiCos mentorship and resources have helped us sharpen our strategy and accelerate our growth. We look forward to further collaborating with PepsiCo to expand the reach of our solution and contribute to a more sustainable future. The Greenhouse Accelerator Program is designed to be a launchpad for startups that are reimagining the future of business through sustainability. Participants receive personalised mentorship from PepsiCo executives, a USD 20,000 grant, and access to PepsiCos extensive industry network, positioning them to bring their innovative solutions to market faster. Three of the 2024 finalists are based in AustraliaELIoT Energy, Wildfire Energy, and X-Centricdelivering innovative projects that address climate action and promote sustainable agriculture. Captivate Technology, representing New Zealand, brings forward a solution focused on climate action. As Australia advances toward its Net Zero Plan, the government has recognised agriculture and energy as critical sectors for achieving its sustainability goals. Wern-Yuen Tan, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), APAC and Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of PepsiCo, remarked, The APAC Greenhouse Accelerator Program goes beyond celebrating a single winner; it highlights the growing momentum behind sustainable innovation. Through our pep+ strategy, PepsiCo is proud to support visionary entrepreneurs who are helping to build a future where businesses and the planet can thrive. By fostering collaboration, mentorship, and access to resources, were helping to scale innovative ideas that seek to address critical environmental and social challenges. This program represents an investment in the future of our planet, and we look forward to continuing this journey, ensuring these solutions can continue to grow and benefit generations to come. A diverse panel of judges evaluated the startups based on their innovation, feasibility, scalability, and alignment with PepsiCos sustainability goals. The panel included Pariwat Wongsamran, Deputy Executive Director of the Innovation System at National Innovation Agency; Yosavee Niranvichaiya, Senior Investment Manager for Thailand at Circulate Capital; Oranuch Lerdsuwankij, CEO and Co-Founder of Techsauce Investor; Alan Choi, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at PepsiCo APAC; Ashley Brown, Vice President of Supply Chain ANZ and Chief Sustainability Officer at PepsiCo APAC; and Sudipto Mozumdar, GM, IndoChina Foods and CCO for APAC at PepsiCo. In just four months, the 2024 Greenhouse Accelerator Program has launched seven startup pilots within PepsiCos value chain, focusing on Climate Action, Sustainable Agriculture, and Circular Economy, which are tackling challenges like reducing carbon emissions, improving resource efficiency, and fostering circular supply chains. Building on the success of the 2023 cohort, which now has four pilots running at various stages, the 2024 pilots are setting the stage for improved environmental and operational impact. Among last years participants, TURN, a finalist, has successfully partnered with Gatorade to launch the Gatorade x TURN reusable cup, which is currently being piloted with AFLW and AFL clubs in Australia. The initiative is expected to replace approximately 200,000 single-use cups, exemplifying the impact that Greenhouse startups can have on sustainability. Adiona a startup based in Australia, that brings real-time data visibility to delivery operations is already in a second-phase pilot with wheels on the ground, analysing PepsiCos delivery data and proposing efficiency improvements at its Tingalpa plant. These enhancements can potentially reduce the distance traveled and, consequently, help to lower CO2 emissions. Last years GHAC winner, Powered Carbon, has reached multiple business milestones since participation. Powered Carbon has to date provided its low-carbon bio-fertilizer to PepsiCos potato fields across Guangdong, Shandong, Gansu, and Inner Mongolia. Since participating in the Greenhouse Accelerator program, Powered Carbon has not only raised market awareness and attracted the attention of investors but has also enjoyed a six-fold surge in income since August 2023. PepsiCo is exploring a third edition of the Greenhouse Accelerator Program in APAC, set for 2025. To date, startups across the previous 11 editions worldwide have generated a total of USD 200 million in annual revenue, showcasing the programs ability to fuel growth and support the launch of sustainable solutions. Keep up to date with our stories on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Bhopal, Oct 1 : The Centre has approved the repatriation of senior IAS officer Anurag Jain from the post of Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. The development came following the Madhya Pradesh government's recommendation to repatriate him. The Centre has also cleared the way for him to become the next Chief Secretary (CS) of the Madhya Pradesh government. He will replace outgoing CS Veera Rana, whose second term extension (for six months) expired on Monday. "The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet has approved the repatriation of Anurag Jain, IAS (MP-89) Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to his parent cadre on request of the government of Madhya Pradesh," a notification issued late by the Center's Appointment Committee of Cabinet stated. Official sources told IANS that Jain will arrive in Bhopal early on Tuesday and will take charge as the new Chief Secretary (CS) of the Madhya Pradesh government. Anurag Jain was entrusted with one of the most important ministries, the Ministry of Road, Transport, and Highways, for three terms in the Modi government. Ten years ago, Jain also served as Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). He also served as the Vice-Chairman of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). Before that, he served in Madhya Pradesh in several positions, including serving twice as Secretary to former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and as the Collector of Bhopal. Throughout his career, Jain has contributed to various sectors, notably urban development as Chairman of the National Review and Monitoring Committee at RCUES Lucknow, transportation through his leadership of the PM Gati Shakti-National Master Plan initiative, and industry and trade during his tenure at DPIIT. An IIT-Kharagpur graduate with a masteras degree in public administration from Maxwell School, Syracuse University, US, Jainas extensive background positions him as a highly accomplished bureaucrat. Earlier on Monday, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav met outgoing CS Veera Rana and expressed his gratitude for services to the state. "Congratulations to Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh Veera Rana on the completion of her successful tenure and wishes her a bright future. Your service period will always be remembered for the development of Madhya Pradesh, administrative achievements and excellence in work culture," Chief Minister Mohan Yadav stated after a brief meeting with her on Monday. Itanagar, Oct 1 : Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday reaffirmed the Central government's commitment to the development of Arunachal Pradesh and the entire northeastern region, pledging continued financial and administrative support for future projects. Inaugurating five infrastructure projects under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) virtually from Itanagar, FM Sitharaman said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already given top priority to the development of the region, comprising eight states. "The government would continue to provide financial and technical support to the developmental projects of the northeastern states," she said. The five infrastructure projects amounting to over Rs 86 crore, include the upgradation of district hospitals at Khonsa and Changlang, along with construction of roads in Pasighat, flood protection and sheet piling at Deobeel and cluster MIPs in Lower Siang. In his address, Chief Minister Pema Khandu emphasised the unprecedented focus on the northeast region in the Union Budgets since 2014, stating that prior to this, the northeast was rarely mentioned. "Every Central budget now reflects the importance of the northeast region. A budget without the northeast in focus is incomplete," he remarked, and acknowledged the unique challenges faced by the state in terms of infrastructure development but lauded the remarkable progress made under the Central government's support. Khandu noted that the revenue of the state has increased. Highlighting Arunachal Pradesh's vast hydropower potential, the Chief Minister said: "Arunachal would significantly contribute to the national economy through hydropower." He appreciated the Central Government's support in ensuring state equity in hydropower projects. Khandu emphasised the need for upgrading outdated infrastructure across Arunachal Pradesh. He pointed out that many existing structures were of SPT type and called for rapid development and conversion to Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) structures. The Chief Minister stressed the need to improve the state's low Credit-Deposit (CD) ratio and requested continued support from the Union Finance Minister in expanding banking services. He appreciated the establishment of SBI Regional Business Office (RBO) in the state and urged for similar facilities in western Arunachal Pradesh. Khandu also highlighted the difficulties in availing infrastructure loans due to external interventions. Dehradun, Sep 30 : The medical college in Haridwar district of Uttarakhand will become operational soon so that local people will no longer have to travel to other cities for treatment, government officials said. Due to the special efforts of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, the Haridwar Medical College is going to begin operations soon, officials added on Monday. The state government is continuously making efforts towards improving health services in Haridwar. The state government has said in a statement that 100 MBBS seats have been allotted for the medical college in Haridwar during the initial phase which will start functioning soon for which Chief Minister Dhami on Monday expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda. The state government is determined to develop health facilities in Uttarakhand. After establishment of Government Medical College in Dehradun, Srinagar and Haldwani, now this medical college is soon going to be operational in Haridwar as well. Despite being a district situated in the plains, there was a shortage of doctors in Haridwar. Therefore, with the special efforts of Chief Minister Dhami and State Health Minister Dhan Singh Rawat, the construction work of the medical college began in Haridwar. Due to the special efforts of Health Secretary R. Rajesh Kumar, the building used for the construction of the medical college was completed in a short time. Last month, the National Medical Commission team inspected the Haridwar Medical College in which some shortcomings were pointed out, which were later rectified. The construction of this college will benefit lakhs of people living in Haridwar. In the past the people of this district had to travel to AIIMS Rishikesh and various other hospitals in Dehradun for availing of health services, but with the establishment of this medical college the people here will get huge relief in the coming days. "Our government is continuously working to improve the health services of the state. We want to make medical services accessible in the districts located in the hills as well as in the plains. The construction of Haridwar Medical College has been completed rapidly. Certainly, people will benefit hugely from the opening of this hospital in the future. They will be able to receive medical services while staying there," CM Dhami added. Tehran, Oct 1 : Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has emphasised the need to strengthen bilateral cooperation with Russia to counter the West's "cruel" sanctions. Pezeshkian made the remarks in a meeting with visiting Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in Tehran, urging the two sides to accelerate the implementation of joint projects, according to a statement published on Monday on his office's website. He added that the exchange of diplomatic delegations between Iran and Russia would help expand bilateral interactions and relations, calling for regional cooperation within the frameworks of international mechanisms, Xinhua news agency reported. For his part, the Russian Prime Minister expressed his country's willingness to increase interactions with Iran, especially in energy, industry, transportation, agriculture, health and treatment, and culture. Mishustin hailed the "very good" growth in bilateral trade exchanges over the past few months, stressing that the two countries still had great capacities for safeguarding mutual interests. He highlighted the necessity to promote cooperation between Russia and Iran, inviting the Iranian President to attend the upcoming BRICS summit in Russia and sign "the Moscow-Tehran comprehensive strategic agreement". In a related development, First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Aref underscored the Iranian government's commitment to strengthening ties with Moscow. He condemned recent actions by the Israeli regime in Gaza and Lebanon and praised Russia's constructive role in international forums, particularly the United Nations Security Council, where its influence could help mitigate violence against innocent civilians. Aref reiterated the importance of swiftly operationalising signed memorandums of cooperation and enhancing collaboration in all sectors to better resist sanctions from the US and its allies. He emphasised the need for a robust dialogue on critical regional issues, such as the Zangezur corridor and the North-South corridor, cautioning that any shifts in regional geopolitics could lead to tensions exploited by outside actors. The First Vice President also highlighted ongoing infrastructure projects, including the completion of the Sirik power plant and the Bushehr nuclear power plant's second and third units, underlining the significance of a $1.2 billion financing agreement for these endeavours. He called for increased multilateral cooperation with countries like China and participation in regional organisations to bolster both Iranian and Russian interests. With current trade volumes between Iran and Russia reaching $2.5 billion, Aref expressed optimism that further efforts could elevate this figure to reflect the potential both countries possess. He reiterated that strengthening regional mechanisms like BRICS, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and the Eurasian Union would be advantageous for both nations. Finally, Mishustin and Aref agreed on the necessity of finalising a comprehensive cooperation agreement, which they believe could serve as a cornerstone for future collaboration. Aref expressed gratitude for Russia's support of Iran's membership in the Eurasian Union and hoped that necessary arrangements would be made during the upcoming summit in Armenia. As both officials wrapped up their discussions, Mishustin emphasised the historical foundations of Iran-Russia relations, rooted in friendship and good neighbourliness, and expressed a strong desire to elevate bilateral cooperation to new heights, reflecting the aspirations of both nations' leadership. Washington/New Delhi, Oct 1 : External Affairs Minister (EAM), S. Jaishankar met with US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in Washington D.C. and discussed Indo-Pacific Economic Framework alongside high technology cooperation between the two countries. The talks between the two Ministers also covered resilient supply chains, Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, high technology cooperation, semiconductors and business promotion as EAM Jaishankar arrived in the US capital on Sunday. In a tweet, EAM Jaishankar on Tuesday wrote, "Great to see Commerce Secretary @SecRaimondo today in Washington DC. We discussed semiconductors, iCET, critical minerals, trusted partnerships and supply chain resiliency. Value the strides we are making in our tech collaboration and economic partnership." This marks the first visit of EAM Jaishankar to the US capital since the Modi government was re-elected for a third consecutive term. This meeting comes a day before EAM Jaishankar meets his US counterpart Secretary Antony Blinken on Tuesday. Both EAM Jaishankar and US Commerce Secretary Raimondo also discussed the US-India CEO Forum and US-India Commercial Dialogue, two Department of Commerce and Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry-led initiatives that aim to strengthen the US-India trade and investment relationship, said a press statement released by the US Department of Commerce. Both the Ministers also commended the progress made till now under the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) and reiterated their shared commitment to continuing to advance the work to operationalise the IPEF agreements, the statement added. The External Affairs Minister concluded the high-level United Nations General Assembly debate in New York on Saturday (September 28). EAM Jaishankar was in New York from September 18 to 24. IPEF, a group of 13 countries, is a multilateral economic framework. Since its launch in May 2022, IPEF countries have engaged in intensive discussions to scope out each pillar of the Framework. The IPEF was launched jointly by the US and other partner countries of the Indo-Pacific region on May 23, 2022, in Tokyo. During his stay, in addition to his meeting with Blinken on Tuesday, EAM Jaishankar will also engage with other high-ranking officials from the US administration, as well as members of the Cabinet. His itinerary includes an interaction with the think-tank community, notably a session hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), where he will discuss the future of US-India relations. The CEIP, a globally recognised non-partisan think-tank with a focus on international affairs, operates across various regions, including Europe, South Asia, East Asia, the Middle East, and the US. EAM Jaishankar will join CEIP President Mariano Florentino Cuellar in a conversation focused on the evolving strategic partnership between the US and India. The think-tank underscored India's increasing global strategic importance, particularly in shaping US foreign policy. Citing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to the US in 2023 and his more recent bilateral meeting with President Joe Biden, CEIP highlighted how these interactions demonstrate the growing significance of US-India ties. On September 30, President Biden hosted Prime Minister Modi at his residence in Greenville, Delaware, where both leaders discussed an array of regional and global issues. PM Modi described the talks as "extremely fruitful" in a social media post. Similarly, President Biden expressed his admiration for PM Modi's ability to identify new avenues for cooperation during each of their meetings. In its announcement of the upcoming session, CEIP remarked, "Amid fast-paced global developments, India's bilateral ties with the US have grown more extensive. The two countries have deepened partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, as well as on defence innovation and critical and emerging technologies." The event will also address pressing questions about India's role in global leadership and how the two nations can strengthen cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, democracy, security, and trade. Perfect Bound is upending the way independent publishers operate their businesses, and its bringing big innovations to the industry by connecting title management, printing, sales and inventory tracking, royalties and rights management all into one central platform. The startup platform, founded by independent publishers Keith Riegert, CEO of Ulysses Press, and Alyson Forbes, publisher/COO of Catapult Books, has made it its mission to provide a comprehensive, cutting-edge suite of serviceswhich started with their groundbreaking printing marketplacefor publishers of all sizes, allowing them to run their entire publishing company from one centralized spot. Independent publishers typically juggle multiple tools and systems, often at great expense, Riegert says. By managing everything through one intuitive platform with zero startup expense, they can streamline their processes, increase sales opportunities, cut costs, and minimize headaches. The first iteration of Perfect Bound allowed publishers to solicit print jobs from printers on six continentsNorth America, Europe, Asia, and beyondgiving them the freedom to choose whom to work with and how. On the platform, publishers can track revenue, understand margins, and pay bills effortlessly as they create any product imaginable, from paperbacks and hardcovers to board books and decks. Now Perfect Bound is applying the same nimble tech to the rest of the publishing process. Outside of the large, corporate houses, publishers have largely been left o their own devices in setting up systems for every facet of their business operations, Riegert says. That model leads to extraordinary redundancy. Perfect Bound seeks to eliminate inefficiencies, introduce cutting-edge automation, and transform the publishing house into a streamlined business that can operate effortlessly. Riegert and Forbes founded Perfect Bound in 2022, when pandemic delays and closures made it difficult to find viable printing options and fair prices. They were determined to come up with a better way to work with printers and speed up the quoting process. With Perfect Bound, the pair established the first viable two-sided marketplacethink Uber or Lyftconnecting vetted book publishers and printers and allowing them to work directly without a middleman. The companys competitive bidding model allows publishers to create projects using customizable forms and to send requests for quotes to a network of printers in a single click. The printers respond with bids, often within 24 hours, allowing publishers to compare quotes and choose their preferred bid based on factors like price, turnaround time or payment termsa game changer for the industry. To date, Perfect Bounds printing marketplace has moved more than one million dollars in business, the company says. Perfect Bound serves over 160 publishersfrom established houses to emerging starsand 60 of the premier printers around the globe. Perfect Bounds sales and inventory tracking is some of the most advanced in the industry, the company says. It has also revolutionized the complex processes of managing royalties and selling global rights. Furthermore, Perfect Bounds partnership with Jon Malinowskis firm, PubMatch, gives publishers the opportunity to market and sell subsidiary rights around the world and automate royalty payouts, all through one cohesive service. Committed to making the platform a true one-stop shop, in 2023 Perfect Bound partnered with the Vimbly Group to expand the platform. In 2024, PerfectBound partnered with Simon & Schuster to offer distribution services. Perfect Bound is built on a cutting-edge SaaS tech stack developed by our partners at the Vimbly Group, Riegert says. The advanced tech allows publishers to virtually automate various cumbersome manual processes. This means instead of needing a host of corporate divisions, the entire publishing process can be run by a single, centralized team. Their distribution partnership is equally advantageous. Weve partnered with Simon & Schuster to provide distribution services to any publisher using the platform, Riegert says, an opportunity that is critical to building revenue and clout for smaller publishers that have traditionally been locked out of global distribution. The benefits of Perfect Bound are many, but they may come down to profitability, efficiency, and the opportunity for community building. This fall, the Perfect Bound team will exhibit at the Frankfurt Book Fair (Hall 6.0 Booth C43), where they hope to connect with publishers and suppliers and discuss how Perfect Bound can help streamline their operations and create new relationships. Vietnam's Party General Secretary and President To Lam arrived at Chinggis Khaan International Airport in Ulaanbaatar on Monday morning, beginning a state visit to Mongolia at the invitation of President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh. The Vietnamese leader was greeted at the airport by Mongolian Minister of Foreign Affairs Batmunkh Battsetseg, Mongolian Ambassador to Vietnam Jigjee Sereejav, and other officials of the Mongolian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and representatives of the Vietnamese Embassy in the country. During his visit, Lam and senior leaders of Mongolia are scheduled to discuss major orientations and solutions to further strengthen bilateral political trust and cooperation in areas of mutual priorities, especially politics, diplomacy, economy, trade, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges. Mongolia was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam, on Nov. 17, 1954, while Vietnam was the first Southeast Asian country with which Mongolia established diplomatic relations. Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh paid a state visit to Vietnam in November last year. In terms of economy, before 1990, annual two-way trade was only about 2 million RUB equivalent ($21,211 at current exchange rate). In 1996, the two sides signed a bilateral trade agreement, which helped push two-way trade to $6 million in 2008. The figure rose to more than $120 million in 2023, and $65.5 million in the first seven months of 2024. The two countries have regularly maintained the meeting mechanism of the Intergovernmental Committee on Trade, Economy and Science and Technology. To date, 18 meetings of the committee have been held. Progress has been seen in collaboration in culture, tourism, education and people-to-people exchange. The two sides signed the agreement on visa exemption for each others citizens holding ordinary passports in November 2013, creating more favorable conditions for people-to-people exchange activities. Judge strikes down Georgia ban on abortions, allowing them to resume beyond 6 weeks into pregnancy A Georgia judge has struck down the states abortion law, which took effect in 2022 and effectively prohibited abortions beyond about six weeks of pregnancy Indian kiranas are agile enough to face the q-com challenge, but it's going to be a tough fight, notes marketing guru Ambi Parameswaran. IMAGE: A view of a kirana store in New Delhi. Photograph: Mansi Thapliyal/Reuters A Business Standard editorial on August 26, 2024, emphatically stated that the 'e-commerce policy should aim to enhance competition'. As I spoke with experts with deep experience in the e-commerce domain, I realised that there is no single definition of what is broadly called e-commerce. And that taming the e-commerce dragon is well out of the question. At one end of e-commerce is the sale of services conducted entirely through electronic means, with just a few clicks on your mobile phone. You can buy an insurance policy and pay for it all via your smartphone. The same can be said for airline tickets, movie tickets, or hotel rooms. Then there is e-commerce used by brands that sell products. Ola e-bikes, for example, are sold entirely online. You place the order, and the bike gets delivered to your home (Ola is also setting up its own consumer contact points now). And then there are products that are sold both online and offline, and here again, there are many variations. Brands like Nike sell shoes from their own stores as well as from their website and other e-commerce platforms. Consumers can be 'webroomers' (search online, buy offline) or 'showroomers' (search offline, buy online). While Nike is a global player, small brands are also able to sell across the country through the e-commerce medium. They don't have the brand pull of Nike, and not many people would stumble across their offerings without the help of e-commerce platforms. These platforms provide small manufacturers a window to the world. Several I am familiar with say categorically that e-commerce platforms are a great blessing. Even when I probed them about the loss of customer data (since the platforms own the data), they felt the upside was substantial. One person even remarked, "Customer data is overhyped." Big brands don't share this view; Nike, for instance, aims to sell more through its own website and stores to control the entire customer journey. But a small manufacturer of kurtis or agarbattis is less concerned about the loss of customer data. Then comes the kirana merchant, who is facing multiple threats. Two decades ago, it was modern trade outlets. As I argued in an article in the Hindustan Times (January 28, 2024), the Indian kirana is a master of survival. They've adopted digital technologies, UPI payment interfaces, quick delivery, and more. But is there a new threat looming ahead? As an expert told me, the local kirana survived the formidable modern trade thanks to its locational advantage. It was simpler to walk across to the kirana and buy what you needed, while the tortuous drive to the supermarket didn't justify the discounts offered -- unlike US shoppers, who buy discounted groceries monthly from Costco/Walmart and store them in their large homes/garages, urban Indian homes are small. The kirana survived modern trade. Then, about ten years ago, e-commerce platforms and marketplaces arrived. They offered great discounts but had limitations. You needed to be sure of when delivery would arrive. And if you were in the next building chatting with a friend, as most Indians tend to do, you'd miss the delivery. This last-mile or last-minute problem has been solved by quick commerce (q-com) merchants. They offer a limited range of products, but a good variety nonetheless. The discounts aren't at Costco levels, but they promise delivery within 10 or 15 minutes. This model is a winning proposition for densely populated cities. While all q-com merchants are still losing money, they seem to be making an impact. The question remains: Can they get a large enough segment of Indian consumers to switch, and how will the kiranas adapt? As an expert in this domain mentioned, the kirana merchants are inherently inefficient. They survive because they often own the real estate (or pay rents at old rates), and the family runs the shop, so there are no or minimal salary costs. This allows them to operate with low margins despite inefficiencies. Try buying a large pack of liquid detergent from your local kirana, and you might hear excuses like, "The company guy hasn't come yet," or, "The last pack was sold yesterday." That said, I believe the humble Indian kiranas will not give up without a fight. They are seeking government support for their cause, and I wish them all the best. Some savvy kiranas are already evolving -- becoming specialist gourmet shops, mini-supermarkets, or setting up their own efficient delivery systems. Some are even expanding their khata system. Indian kiranas are agile enough to face the q-com challenge, but it's going to be a tough fight. Ambi Parameswaran is a best-selling author, brand coach and founder, brand-building.com Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com 'The rise of ransomware and the rapid evolution of threats demand real-time response and resilience in security operations, which is the way forward.' IMAGE: Kindly note the image has been posted only for representational purposes. Photograph: Kind courtesy Pete Linforth/Pixabay.com Companies will need time to comply with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP) whose rules are to be released, according to Vinayak Godse, CEO, Data Security Council of India. DSCI is a non-profit non-profit organisation set up by NASSCOM and works in cybersecurity and privacy. "Companies will need to overhaul processes and adjust operations", Godse tells Ashutosh Mishra/Business Standard in New Delhi. The DPDP rules are expected any time but a recent report shows that 60 per cent of Indian companies aren't meeting basic compliance. How is compliance with DPDP expected? Compliance with the DPDP Act will indeed take time, much like we saw with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe. Even after the DPDP rules are finalised and the law is enforced, companies will need to overhaul processes and adjust operations. Digital-first companies are better prepared but for others, especially those with legacy systems, it will require starting from scratch on data management. Similar to GDPR, Indian businesses will need to significantly rework their frameworks, processes and technologies to meet the Act's requirements, and that will take time. What are the imminent cybersecurity threats? The scale of digitisation in India, particularly in sectors like digital payments, critical sectors like oil and gas, and manufacturing, has introduced complex security challenges. We are seeing increased exposure of critical infrastructure to cyber threats which is a concern. Emerging technologies like AI, drones, and semiconductors, while offering opportunities, bring new vulnerabilities. The rise of ransomware and the rapid evolution of threats demand real-time response and resilience in security operations, which is the way forward. Financial scams and phishing cause significant financial losses. As the head of DSCI, what solutions do you propose to address this? What we advocate is a systems-thinking approach. We need to reduce the cognitive burden on end-users by minimising their involvement in security decisions, like passwords or OTPs (one-time passwords). By improving fraud management systems and utilising advanced authentication technologies, we can prevent fraudulent transactions in real-time. While awareness and education are crucial, scalable solutions that rely less on user input and more on systemic security are essential to stop this. The RBI (Reserve Bank of India) is also working on alternatives to the OTP mechanism and globally also the dialogue to reduce dependence on OTPs. A recent Gartner report said deepfakes are a problem for enterprises and can cause financial losses. What is your assessment of the risk? The identity verification, management and authentication processes that we devise are definitely facing challenges due to deepfakes, especially in biometric and video or face authentication. However, technology is also maturing. It's becoming harder for deepfakes to bypass face recognition systems. While deepfakes pose a significant challenge, I would say that many AI-based solutions are emerging to manage and counter these threats effectively. You had asked for support for India's cybersecurity sector? Is it something that you see being done as a policy measure? We are advocating for special policy provisions to boost cybersecurity investments, especially in health care and education. We have highlighted the need for policy support for the cybersecurity sector ahead of the (Union) Budget, and while steps have been taken in the right direction, more focused initiatives are needed to spur investments into the sector. These investments will not only strengthen defences but also foster innovation and competition in the domestic cybersecurity market. Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com 'The facility works on Apple's iPhone and everything is damaged -- CNC machines, computers and CCTVs worth crores.' IMAGE: The Tata Electronics Plant in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, which manufactures the Apple AAPL.O iPhone component, September 28, 2024. Photograph: Haripriya Suresh/Reuters The Tata Electronics facility that caught fire on Saturday, September 28, 2024, stayed cordoned off on Sunday. A team of the local police was seen there. Security persons at the plant didn't allow this reporter inside the factory. "Nobody is allowed to come inside unless there is permission from the management," said the security official there. Residents in a sleepy village near Hosur, Tamil Nadu, were woken by a loud explosion on Saturday morning after a massive fire broke out at the unit. The facility, located in Krishnagiri district, makes components for Apple iPhones. While the flames were eventually controlled, the incident has caused significant disruption in its operations and production line. The plant is more than two-and-a-half hours by road from Bengaluru. About 1,500 workers, mainly in the morning shift, were present at the unit when the fire erupted, according to sources. All employees were evacuated, and no casualties or injuries were reported. "There was a big sound -- like that of a bomb explosion -- and there was a lot of smoke as if clouds had come down on the ground," said a resident there. "Suddenly fire alarms started ringing and the security guards asked the employees to move out. It was a scary situation." A few employees had respiratory problems. They were taken to hospital, and are reportedly stable. "Medical staff members came with emergency equipment to check on the people there," said another resident. Several fire-fighting teams from THE Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services (TNFRS) rushed to the site. It took them a few hours to control the blaze. Ten to twelve fire trucks were constantly visiting the facility till Saturday evening. Residents said fumes were likely there inside the facility. Eyewitnesses said top government officials, including the district magistrate, police officers, and MLAs have been coming to the plant since Saturday to take stock of the situation. "There has been an unfortunate incident of fire at our plant. Our emergency protocols at the plant ensured that all our employees are safe," said a Tata Electronics spokesperson. "The cause of the fire is under investigation and we will take necessary action to safeguard the interests of our employees and other stakeholders," added the spokesperson. Forensic investigation The factory may not receive the state government's permission to resume production by Monday. All the employees working at the facility have been told to take off for seven days, according to a few staff members. They said the phones of the employees working in the morning shift perished in the fire. Workers are not allowed to take them inside the factory and have to keep them in the locker. Authorities are reportedly set to begin a forensic investigation into the incident. The fire at the plant began in an area used to store chemicals. Some employees working at the facility said one reason that the fire broke out could be a short circuit in one of the computer numerical control (CNC) machines. It was not working well for the past seven days. "The facility works on Apple's iPhone and everything is damaged -- CNC machines, computers and CCTVs worth crores," said an employee. Tata Electronics is reportedly working to develop 'sophisticated' and complex high-precision machines used to produce the casing of the iPhone. The machinery is suitable for integration into the production lines of contract manufacturers serving global corporations such as Apple. The Tata group is reportedly testing these machines in a staged manner at the Hosur facility. The part of the objective is to grow more of its local capability. Expansion and jobs The Hosur facility is a key part of the group's expansion in electronics, especially collaboration with tech giants like Apple. The fire incident came when Tata Electronics was set to start production at its iPhone assembly plant in Koothanapalli, Krishnagiri. Hosur will be the second iPhone assembly plant for Tata Electronics, following its acquisition of Taiwanese EMS player Wistron's unit, which was in the works for two years. Tata Electronics is expected to invest around Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion) in the Hosur plant. It has invested a similar amount in the component factory that supplies to Apple at the same location. Tata Electronics To Hire 20,000 For iPhone Plant Shine Jacob Chennai IMAGE: When Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw visited Tata's iPhone manufacturing plant at Hosur. Photograph: ANI Photo Tata Electronics is set to hire more than 20,000 people at its new iPhone assembly plant in Hosur soon, bringing the total number of employees at the facility to 40,000, said N Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata Sons, at an event in Tamil Nadu on Saturday. The group currently has over 150,000 direct employees in Tamil Nadu across TCS, Titan, Tata Chemicals, Tata Power, IHCL, and its retail businesses. "In the past three years, we have set up a modern electronics factory in Hosur, Krishnagiri. Currently, 20,000 people are employed there, and more than 15,000 of them are women," Chandrasekaran said. "In another year, 40,000 people will be employed there, doubling the workforce in that facility," the Tata chairman added. In addition to the 150,000 direct employees, lakhs of people depend on the company's entire ecosystem. Chandrasekaran stated. "This is a modern, state-of-the-art factory that will produce very high-end vehicles. For the first time, this new modern platform will be developed by Tata Motors and JLR together," Chandrasekaran said. "Once fully operational, it will create 5,000 direct jobs and will foster an entire ecosystem in this region, generating many more jobs," he added. In the past three years, Tata Group has invested in three major manufacturing units in Tamil Nadu -- Tata Power, Tata Electronics, and Tata Motors. It has also invested Rs 2,200 crore (Rs 22 billion) in the industrial training institutes of Tamil Nadu to skill youth. Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com Samsung India is willing to sign a long-term wage settlement and negotiate directly with its workers for an amicable resolution of the dispute, the companys lawyer said on Friday, terming the ongoing employees strike at the Sriperumbudur plant illegal. Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters Lawyer Anand Gopalan, who is representing Samsung India in the high court of Chennai and the Kanchipuram District Court, said the company would only negotiate with its workers and not with any third-party leaders. According to sources, one of the major bottlenecks in the discussion is that Samsung India Workers Union (SIWU) president E Muthukumar is a veteran trade union leader of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (Citu) and not a company employee. The management has conveyed its willingness to sign a long-term wage settlement with the workers. "However, Samsung India management will negotiate only with our workers and not with a third party, said Gopalan, as the strike entered the 19th day. Samsung India management has indicated that it is ready to sit down with the workers in the presence of officials from the labour department. I want to inform you that the ongoing strike is illegal because the conciliation process regarding the workers demands is in progress. "The workers union is unregistered till today. "Under such circumstances, the management of Samsung India is justified in imposing appropriate action on the striking workers, Gopalan said. The management has been patient and is willing to negotiate with the workers directly, he said, adding that Samsung complies with all laws and regulations in India. Workers at Samsungs factory in Tamil Nadu get all statutory benefits and their wages are far higher than what is prescribed by the government for the electronics industry, he said. On behalf of Samsung India management, I am requesting the workers to call off the illegal strike, return to work, and come forward for negotiations with the objective of resolving all the differences in an amicable manner at the earliest, he added. Nearly 1,500 workers have been on strike at the South Korean groups plant on the outskirts of Chennai on September 9, demanding higher wages, recognition for their union, and better amenities, among others. 'These are just to deflect from the leaked audio tapes of the chief minister which prove his culpability in the ethnic violence against the Kukis that has gripped the state for more than 17 months.' IMAGE: Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh inspects the situation in the hills adjoining Bishnupur-Churachandpur, July 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo "They are likely to create another distraction sometime soon so that media attention remains glued there and away from the chief minister's role," Paolienla Haokip, the Bharatiya Janata MLA from Saikot in Manipur, tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com. What's the situation on the ground right now in Manipur? The state government has withdrawn the claim that 900 Kuki militants were planning to enter Manipur between September 26 and September 28. The (Manipur) DGP (Rajiv Singh) as well as the security advisor (Kuldiep Singh; appointed by the Union government), has said that these reports are not substantiated. The Manipur government is deliberately making such unsubstantiated claims to create panic in the state. These are all just to deflect from the leaked audio tapes of the chief minister which prove his culpability in the ethnic violence against the Kukis that has gripped the state for more than 17 months. If it were a serious intelligence input, do you think it would have been said so publicly? It was just what they call Sumang Leela (playing games; Sumang Leela or courtyard plays is a traditional theatre art in Manipur where men play women and vice versa) in Meitei. This is a drama (the deliberate statement that 900 Kuki militants will attack the borders of districts where Kukis and Meiteis live) to distract the public discourse away from the leaked tapes of the chief minister, wherein he has brazenly admitted and boasted about his role in the ethnic flare up. It's no wonder that they have formally withdrawn it now. If you carefully observe the earlier statement of the DGP and security advisor to the Manipur government Kuldiep Singh also, they did not say that they have credible intelligence input (about an imminent attack by 900 Kuki militants crossing over into Manipur from neighbouring Myanmar). He (the DGP) says this (statement of attack by Kuki militants) comes from the government and it is being verified and had been sent to the concerned (intelligence) agencies for verification. How can a government, without the input of its intelligence agencies, just go about announcing something as sensitive as that? IMAGE: Security personnel during area domination operations in the hills and valley area across Manipur. Photograph: ANI Photo Why would any state government want to do that? What purpose does it serve? With such sensational lies they have successfully diverted all the attention from those (leaked tapes). The leaked audio tapes are a very damning admission (of Chief Minister N Biren Singh). The media should try and focus on what is serious. The media should dig out the truth from these tapes wherein he has admitted to his involvement; (the media should focus) not on this diversionary tactic. If it were a diversionary tactic by the Manipur government, why would they make a U-turn now? Once the intelligence agencies have found no basis whatsoever of the claim other than withdrawing that claim, what else can they do? Will this retraction help reduce panic among the Kukis and Meiteis now, which many reports suggest, have been arming themselves to push back such attacks and launch counter-attacks? Obviously, it will calm the public apprehensions a little. But their objective of trying to completely deflect from the (leaked) audio tapes has been achieved, and if this does not last they are likely to create another distraction sometime soon so that media attention remains glued there and away from the chief minister's role. Be wary of that. What was the ground situation when this so-called intelligence report of 900 Kuki militants was made public and what is the situation now? There are newspaper reports that the Meiteis' and Kukis' village defence committees had prepared themselves for such an eventuality. For us, the Kukis, we know as soon as the announcements came that it is a diversionary tactic. But because the Meiteis are using it as a justification to use violence against us, we have to get prepared accordingly. Aren't there enough paramilitary forces to take care of the law and order situation? I'm asking you this because you said 'we have to get prepared', There are (paramilitary forces on the ground). But sometimes, as you've seen in the past 17-odd months, the state police forces (ally) with the Arambai Tenggol (a militant Meitei organisation) and the valley-based insurgent groups have on occasions breached the buffer zones. Soon after the false claim there has been increased presence of paramilitary forces in the valley as well as hills. Now that this has been debunked, but as a result of the statement made earlier there has been some buildup on both sides; the presence of the paramilitary forces have been enhanced which is a good thing. If your allegation that the state government itself is spreading the rumours that 900 Kuki militants could cross over is true, do you see a chance for peace in Manipur? The establishment is not interested in peace. It's as simple as that. If they are interested in peace they should find out from where did such an irresponsible input come from instead of just withdrawing it. Since 2022 the United States and other G7 members have been working together to finance infrastructure projects that support economic growth all around the world, Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted before a roundtable event on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Speaking of the work of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, he said, Weve been bringing together governments, business, financial institutions to pool our resources, to pool our expertise. The goal, the objective, is to build quality, sustainable infrastructure - from roads to clean energy to fiber optic cables. Were doing this with the highest standards of transparency, labor and environmental protections in partnership with communities, to make sure that were being responsive to their needs. Over the last two years, the United States has mobilized $60 billion to support projects from South America to Southeast Asia to Africa. The Lobito Corridor connecting Angola, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo is one of our biggest projects, Secretary Blinken said. The coalition that weve built includes three African countries, two of our G7 partners, and the Africa Finance Cooperation and African Development Bank. So far, the United States and our partners have committed over $4 billion to Lobito Corridor projects. Together were expanding access to clean energy, the internet, healthcare and were upgrading and building railways, roads, bridges. The results are tangible, he said, including much faster shipments of goods to ports by using trains rather than trucks. Now, for example, multiple international shipments are running every week, including to the United States, bringing copper to help fuel the clean energy transition. Regional shipments will soon include agricultural products to strengthen food supply chains. In January, I had a chance to visit Angola, he said. I heard from CEOs about investments theyre making in the Corridor, like developing solar grids to bring clean, affordable energy to more than a million people. Just moments ago, several members of the group announced new steps forward to build a railway connecting Zambia and the Port of Lobito. Tanzania, noted Secretary Blinken, is also joining conversations about the Lobito Corridor for the first time. This is an incredibly positive endeavor, one thats already showing results, said Secretary Blinken. The possibilities are extraordinary. And the challenge before us is to continue to work to actually realize them. Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh, an accomplished fighter pilot with more than 5,000 hours of flying experience, on Monday assumed charge as new chief of the Indian Air Force, succeeding incumbent Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari. IMAGE: Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari hands over command of IAF to Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh, New Delhi, September 30, 2024. Photograph: Courtesy, IAF_MCC/X Air Chief Marshal Singh was serving as Vice Chief of the Air Force in his previous assignment. Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari retired from service after helming the force for three years. Born on October 27, 1964, Air Chief Marshal Singh was commissioned into the fighter pilot stream of the Indian Air Force in December 1984. In his long and distinguished service spanning nearly 40 years, he has served in a variety of command, staff, instructional and foreign appointments. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College and National Defence College, the air officer is a qualified flying instructor and an experimental test pilot with more than 5,000 hours of flying experience on a variety of fixed and rotary wing aircraft. Air Chief Marshal Singh has commanded an operational fighter squadron and a frontline air base. As a test pilot, he led the MiG-29 upgrade project management team at Moscow. He was also the project director (flight test) at National Flight Test Centre and was tasked with flight testing of the Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas. Air Chief Marshal Singh has taken charge of the IAF amid concerns over delays in supply of LCA Tejas-Mark 1A variant to the force by State-run aerospace giant Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). The officer has held important staff appointments of Air Defence Commander at South Western Air Command and Senior Air Staff Officer at Eastern Air Command. Prior to assuming the charge of Vice Chief of the Air Staff in February last year, he was the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Central Air Command. The Air Chief Marshal is a recipient of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal. Air Chief Marshal Singh is known as a fitness enthusiast who also plays squash. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday termed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a public meeting in Jammu and Kashmir "absolutely distasteful and disgraceful". IMAGE: BJP leader Amit Shah addresses an election rally in Jammu and Kashmir. Photograph: @AmitShah/X Shah said "a bitter display of spite", Kharge unnecessarily dragged the prime minister into his personal health matters by saying that he would die only after removing Modi from power. At an election rally in Jasrota in Jammu on Sunday, Kharge was taken ill as he suffered a "syncopal attack" but resumed his speech after a brief pause, saying he won't die before PM Modi is removed from power. "I am 83 years old. I am not going to die so early. I will stay alive till PM Modi is removed from power," the Congress leader said. "I wanted to talk. But due to dizziness, I have sat down. Please pardon me." Shah hit out at Kharge over his remarks. "Yesterday, the Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji has outperformed himself, his leaders and his party in being absolutely distasteful and disgraceful in his speech. "In a bitter display of spite, he unnecessarily dragged PM Modi into his personal health matters by saying that he would die only after removing PM Modi from power," Shah wrote on X. He said Kharge's remarks showed how much hate and fear the Congress people have for PM Modi and that they are constantly thinking of him. "As for the health of Mr. Kharge Ji, Modi Ji prays, I pray and we all pray that he lives a long, healthy life. May he continue to live for many years and may he live to see the creation of a Viksit Bharat by 2047," the minister said. A fire extinguisher that may have accidentally fallen off a train set off a scare on Sunday when the driver of another passenger train applied brakes after spotting the cylinder-like object on the rail tracks between Govindpuri and Bhimsen stations in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur, according to officials. Image is used for representational purposes only. Photograph: Kind courtesy Abhinav Phangcho Choudhury/Wikimedia Commons "The incident occurred when the train was heading to Lucknow from Mumbai. It had hardly reached Govindpuri station when the driver spotted a cylinder on the tracks at around 4 am on Sunday," Additional Director General (Railways) Prakash D said. The loco pilot immediately passed the information to the control room. The cylinder was later found to be a fire extinguisher, belonging to the railways. The ADG said that the railway officials launched an investigation jointly with the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) and found there was no criminal intent behind the act. The findings further claimed that there is no external or other criminal involvement in this case, ADG added. "In the inquiry report, the railway officials stated that the fire safety cylinder was railway property and it was issued by the section engineer (carriage & wagon) Gorakhpur and it may have fallen from any other train accidentally," said the ADG adding that no FIR has been lodged regarding the matter. The railway officials are on an alert following similar incidents recently. A 16-year-old boy was apprehended for allegedly putting a fencing pillar on the Banda-Mahoba rail track, causing disruptions on Saturday. The driver of a passenger train had to apply emergency brakes to stop the train after he noticed the concrete pillar on the tracks, the police said. Also, the engine of a train hit a stone placed on the railway track in the Bairia area in Ballia on Saturday, officials said, adding that no damage was caused. The RPF has formed a special team to solve the case, and patrolling is being done on the rail route, while police has lodged an FIR, the officials said. RPF Inspector VK Singh told PTI, "We believe that this has been done with the intention of derailing the train. The current conclusion of the team in this case is that some unknown person has placed the stone." On September 8, an alleged attempt to derail the Kalindi Express, heading towards Bhiwani from Prayagraj, was reported when an LPG cylinder was found on the tracks in Kanpur. Just a week ago, an empty gas cylinder was also found on the tracks by a goods train loco pilot near Prempur railway station. Both incidents are being investigated. A day after killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike in Beirut, Israel conducted widespread strikes in Lebanon on Sunday, killing over 100 people. IMAGE: Children walk on the street as displaced people take shelter at a square after fleeing the Israeli strikes, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in central Beirut, Lebanon on September 30, 2024. Photograph: Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters The Israeli Air Force (IAF) also launched airstrikes on military targets in Yemen, specifically targeting Houthi-controlled sites, including power plants and a seaport. Sharing a post on X, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said, 'The IAF struck military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime in Yemen in response to their recent attacks against Israel.' It added, 'The targets included power plants and a seaport, which were used by the Houthis to transfer Iranian weapons to the region, in addition to military supplies and oil.' Meanwhile, Israel's airstrikes on Lebanon on Sunday claimed the lives of at least 105 people and injured 359 others, according to Lebanon's health ministry. The strikes targeted Hezbollah positions across the country, including the southern city of Sidon, areas around Beirut, and Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley. The bombardment followed the assassination of Nasrallah on Friday, which marked a significant blow to the militant group's leadership. Nasrallah's death has further intensified the conflict, as Hezbollah responded with increased attacks on Israel, some of which were intercepted by Israel's defense systems. Lebanese media claimed that Israeli strikes also targeted civilian buildings, resulting in multiple casualties, including medics. Over two days of airstrikes in southern Lebanon, at least 14 healthcare workers were killed, according to Lebanese media. In total, more than 1,000 people have been killed and over 6,000 injured since Israel escalated its attacks on Hezbollah two weeks ago. Sunday's strikes also killed Nabil Kaouk, Hezbollah's deputy head of the Central Council. He was the seventh senior leader from the group killed in the past week. Another senior Hezbollah commander, Ali Karaki, was killed in the same Friday strike that took out Nasrallah. The strikes in Beirut follow a broader Israeli strategy to target Hezbollah infrastructure across Lebanon, a move seen as a retaliation for Hezbollah's continued missile attacks on northern Israel. Hezbollah has carried out counter strikes on cities like Haifa, which forced millions of Israelis to seek shelter. Despite Israel's air superiority and defense systems intercepting many of these missile strikes, the ongoing exchange of fire has significantly raised tensions across the region. The conflict has also triggered a dire humanitarian crisis in Lebanon. Over the past two weeks, more than 1,030 people have been killed, including 156 women and 87 children, according to Lebanons health ministry. The airstrikes and missile attacks have caused massive displacement, with an estimated 250,000 people seeking shelter in public buildings and over a million more taking refuge in the homes of relatives. Israel has also expanded its military operations in Yemen, targeting Houthi-controlled facilities. On Sunday, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) conducted airstrikes against Houthi military targets in Yemens Hodeida region. The strikes targeted power plants and a seaport, which Israel claims were being used by the Houthis to facilitate the transfer of Iranian weapons to the region. The strikes came in response to a Houthi missile attack on Ben Gurion Airport in Israel on Saturday, just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was arriving. Four people were killed, and 29 were injured in the Israeli strikes on Yemen, according to the Houthi-run health ministry. United States President Joe Biden expressed concerns over the escalation and has planned discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. White House national security spokesman John Kirby noted that while Israel's strikes have 'wiped out' much of Hezbollah's command structure, the group will likely attempt to rebuild its leadership. Meanwhile, France has confirmed the death of a second French national in Lebanon following the airstrikes. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot visited Lebanon in an effort to mediate and de-escalate the situation. In an address after Nasrallah's death, Netanyahu labeled him as 'the main engine of Iran's axis of evil'. Netanyahu's remarks also included a broader warning to Iran, stating that no location in Iran or the region was beyond Israel's reach. The Israeli government has made it clear that it will continue to take decisive military action against any threats to its security, including those coming from Iran or its proxy forces. -- with inputs from ANI Union minister Nitin Gadkari has said the Maharashtra government's Ladki Bahin scheme, introduced to provide financial assistance to women, could affect the timely payment of subsidies in other sectors. IMAGE: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde with Union minister Nitin Gadkari, at Reshimbagh ground in Mumbai on August 31, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo Latching onto the Bharatiya Janata Party leader's comments, the opposition Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray said if those in the government were saying the state's economy is in distress, then it is a matter of concern. Under the state government's flagship 'Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana', married, divorced, and destitute women aged 21-65 will receive Rs 1,500 per month, with the annual family income of beneficiaries capped at Rs 2.5 lakh. The scheme, introduced ahead of the upcoming Maharashtra assembly polls, is expected to cost the state exchequer Rs 46,000 crore annually. Addressing a public event in Maharashtra's Nagpur on Sunday, Gadkari said, "It is uncertain whether investors will receive their subsidy payment on time, as the government also has to allocate funds for the Ladki Bahin scheme." He said the entrepreneurs in Vidarbha (region of Maharashtra) should come forward for investment as everything cannot be left to the government. "My opinion is that irrespective of the government, belonging to any party, keep the government at bay. Government is like a 'vishkanya' (poison maiden) as whosoever it goes along with, it will doom them. So do not get into that matter," he said in a lighter vein. "If you are getting a subsidy, take it but again it is not sure when will (one) get the subsidy. With the Ladki Bahin Yojana being started, they have to use the funds, allocated for subsidy, for that work," Gadkari said. This has provided fresh ammunition to the opposition parties, which have been critical of the scheme on the grounds that the ruling dispensation is not following fiscal discipline. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Shiv Sena-UBT MP Sanjay Raut said, "Gadkari made a pertinent statement about this issue. If there is misuse and mismanagement of funds at a time when the treasury is lacking funds and the government is suspending other schemes, does the Union government have some responsibility (regarding the state's plan)?" Notably, BJP MLA Tekchand Sawarkar last week called the Ladki Bahin scheme a 'jugaad' (ploy) to garner women's votes. Latching onto Gadkari's comments, NCP-SP MP Supriya Sule expressed concern over the state's economic situation. Talking to reporters in Pune, she said those in the government and economists have been consistently saying the state is in a financial difficulty. Be it Gadkari, the statements by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray and economists, the people in the government, those close to the government and those who are neutral, they are consistently saying the state's economy is in distress. "If people within the government are saying that the economic state of Maharashtra is in distress, then it is a matter of worry," she said. Sule maintained that NCP-SP state chief Jayant Patil had been saying the same thing but no cognisance of it was taken. "Besides, the finance department when it objects or provides the recommendation, nobody listens, in fact, decisions are forcefully implemented in the cabinet," she claimed. As protests demanding the demolition of illegally constructed mosques rage on in Himachal Pradesh, a Muslim organisation said that there were no illegal mosques in the state but delay in approval of maps in government records was causing a problem. IMAGE: Devbhoomi Sangharsh Samiti members holding march as part of a statewide protest against alleged illegal construction of a mosque at Sanjauli, in Shimla, September 27, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo Hindu outfits that took out a yatra in Kullu demanding the demolition of the mosque were involved in a scuffle with the police on Monday. Amid tight security, protesters of the 'Hindu Dharam Jagaran Yatra' marched from Hanuman temple to Akhara mosque chanting the Hanuman Chalisa. Protesters gathered in large numbers, women included, carrying placards and saffron flags with 'Jai Shri Ram' written on it as they called for the demolition of the mosque in Kullu. Musicians playing local instruments and women in traditional dress dancing to Kullu folk music led the yatra. Besides calling for the demolition of the mosque, the protesters also demanded scrapping of the Waqf Board. They said that if the Kullu mosque is authorised then the administration should show its papers to the leaders of the Hindu outfits. The demand for the demolition of "illegally" constructed mosques began after a scuffle between a Muslim barber and a Hindu businessman in Malyana area in the suburbs of Shimla on August 30 turned into a communal issue. Hindu groups have been demanding the demolition of mosques they say are unauthorised, and are calling for the identification of "outsiders" coming into the state. Meanwhile, Muslim Welfare Committee, Mandi president Naheem Ahmed said on Monday: "No mosque in Himachal Pradesh is illegal but there has been a delay in getting the maps approved and other related processes. We would ourselves remove the structures if found illegal." He said that a meeting of representatives of the Muslim community was held in the Balh area of Mandi on Sunday. It was decided that a state-level committee of the minority community would be constituted and they would meet the chief minister to apprise him of the prevailing situation, Ahmed said. He said that Muslim leaders were of the view that some people are spreading hatred and such practices should be curbed. Every person coming from outside irrespective of his religion should be checked, he added. Earlier, on Sunday, Kullu district authorities said that the mosque at Akhara Bazaar was not illegal. There was a some difference between the area of the mosque in government records and the actual area covered by it, district authorities said, adding that the case for its regularisation was pending with the town and country planning department. The total area of the mosque is 980 square metres, and a deviation of around 150 square metres was found, they said. The Jama Masjid in Kullu is a pre-Independence structure and finds entry in the gazette notification, dated August 15, 1970 of the state government. Earlier on September 11, ten people were injured during a protest demanding the demolition of a portion of a mosque in Sanjauli area of Shimla. Two days later, similar protests erupted in Mandi and water cannons had to be used to disperse protesters. The residents of Kasumpti, Shimla also submitted a memorandum to demolish a mosque in the Kasumpti area. Residents of Sunni and other areas in the state have also made similar demands. Wanted for alleged money laundering charges, controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik has arrived in Pakistan on Monday morning at the invitation of the Government of Pakistan, amid tight security for his lecture series at Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore. According to the Express Tribune, he is set to have public interactions across the country. He is accompanied by his son, Fariq Naik, who is an Islamic scholar and will tour the country with him for the lectures. Upon his arrival at the New Islamabad Airport, he was received by leaders from the top echelons of the Pakistan government, which included the Chairman of the Pakistan Prime Minister's Youth Program, Rana Mashhood and Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Syed Atta-ur-Rehman, as reported by the Tribune. Official sources note that his month-long tour will include meetings with senior government officials and involve participation in various public events. In a post on X, Zakir Naik's team announced, 'On the invitation of the Government of Pakistan Dr Zakir Naik & Shaikh Fariq Naik's Pakistan Tour 2024 Public Talks: Karachi - 5th & 6th Oct Lahore - 12th & 13th Oct Islamabad - 19th & 20th Oct.' Earlier on August 20, while on a visit to India, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that if sufficient evidence is presented in the case related to fugitive preacher Zakir Naik then the country will 'not condone terrorism'. Addressing the 50th Sapru House Lecture the Malaysian prime minister said, "I am talking about sentiment of extremism, of compelling case, evidence that suggest that atrocities committed by an individual, group or factions or parties. These are of concern to us." Zakir Naik is known for his inflammatory speeches and is currently wanted by the National Investigation Agency of the Government of India under a 2016 money laundering case. He is also alleged to have incited people by his hate speech. Naik runs a channel by the name PeaceTV, which is banned across India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka due to its controversial nature and he has also been denied entry into Canada and the United Kingdom because of it. The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Madras high court chief justice to appoint another judge for trial of a case related to Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji, who was granted bail last week in a money laundering case related to alleged cash-for-job scam. IMAGE: DMK leader V Senthil Balaji leaves the ED office after his visit to sign documents, in Chennai, September 26, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo Balaji, 48, was sworn in as minister by Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi on Sunday and was assigned the same key portfolios of 'electricity, non-conventional energy development, prohibition and excise,' which he held previously in the Chief Minister MK Stalin cabinet. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih, which went through the report of a judge of a special court dealing with cases related to members of Parliament and members of Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu, said he has 29 cases with him. The bench said the report submitted by the special judge indicates that he has 29 cases with him. In many cases, the trial has begun while in many others the trial is yet to begin. "The case which is the subject matter of this application has more than 2,000 accused and around 600 prosecution witnesses. Looking at the allegations which have been made at the charge sheet, the case requires urgent disposal. "Considering the number of cases entrusted to the special judge, it would be appropriate that the Chief Justice of Madras high court appoint one session judge to deal with this case," the bench ordered. The bench directed the registry to forward the copy of the order to the Madras High Court registrar general to be placed before the chief justice for necessary action. The bench said the Madras High Court chief justice should entrust the case to the session judge, who is not burdened with other cases and directed the registrar general to submit a report on the next date of hearing. Senior advocates Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Guru Krishnakumar, appearing for complainants, said he was granted bail last week and now he has been made a minister. "Now it is more imperative to transfer the case outside the state. He is now minister. We should have asked the court to impose a bail condition that he should not be made minister," Sanakaranarayanan said. The bench said it is a political aspect in which the court cannot do much. Krishnakumar said Balaji should be removed from the ministership. "You file an application and we will look into it," the bench said and listed the matter for hearing on October 22. The ED had arrested Balaji, representing Karur assembly constituency, on June 14 last year in a money laundering case linked to a cash for jobs scam when he was transport minister during the previous AIADMK regime between 2011 and15. On February 13, the governor accepted Balaji's resignation from the council of ministers. On September 26, the top court granted bail to Balaji, which ended his 471-day incarceration. On September 2, the top court refused to appoint a special public prosecutor for the trial of the case involving Balaji. "As of today, no material is placed on record to show that the said prosecutor is not competent enough. Therefore, as of today, we are not inclined to consider the request for appointing a special public prosecutor," the bench had said. The top court had further said when public prosecutors are appointed to deal with prosecutions against MPs and MLAs pending before the special courts constituted under the orders of this court, "we are sure that the concerned public prosecutors are aware about the nature of the responsibilities entrusted to them". It had said, "Perhaps, the burden on them is greater as the trials before the special courts dealing with the cases of members of Parliament and members of the Legislative Assembly, are being monitored by this court. The prosecutor has to act as an officer of the court." It had sought a report from the assistant sessions judge of the additional special court dealing with the cases related to MPs and MLAs of Tamil Nadu to submit a report on the number of cases before him, including the case related to Balaji. The application filed by victims had sought appointment of special public prosecutor for trial of the case involving Balaji. The Enforcement Directorate had filed a case of money laundering in July 2021 to probe the allegations. Its complaint was based on three Tamil Nadu police FIRs lodged in 2018 and complaints from some of those who failed to get the promised jobs. The agency had said in its charge sheet that the entire recruitment process in the Tamil Nadu transport department during the tenure of Balaji as minister was turned into a "corrupt chiefdom", and the "cash-for-jobs scam" was executed under his authority. Being a public servant, Balaji "misused" his official capacity as the then transport minister and obtained pecuniary benefits by corrupt and illegal means and directly acquired the proceeds of crime that were generated out of a criminal activity related to a scheduled offence, the agency alleged. The Supreme Court on Monday granted interim protection from arrest to Malayalam film actor Siddique in a rape case and directed him to cooperate in the investigation. IMAGE: Malayalam film actor Siddique. Photograph: Courtesy @Sidhique/Instagram A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma issued notices to the Kerala government and the victim in the case and sought their replies within two weeks. The court was hearing a plea moved by Siddique challenging a Kerala high court order that denied him anticipatory bail. "In the meantime, it is directed that in the event of arrest of the petitioner in connection with Crime No.1192 of 2024 of the Museum police station, Thiruvananthapuram, he shall be released on bail, subject to the conditions that may be imposed by the trial court and subject to his joining the investigation and remaining present before the investigating officer as and when called upon to do so, till the next date of hearing," the bench said. The bench asked advocate Vrinda Grover, who appeared in the court on behalf of the victim, about the reason for the delay in registering the complaint against Siddique. The lawyer told the bench that the Justice Hema Committee report, which exposed the shocking harassment and sexual exploitation faced by women in the Malayalam film industry, has to be understood in the larger context. Representing Siddique in the matter, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi said a complaint was lodged in 2024, after a lapse of eight years. Questioning Siddique's conduct, Grover said, "In 2014, the complainant was only 19 years old. He approached her on Facebook and said he liked her picture. In 2016, she was invited to a preview by a superstar. I have given detailed descriptions regarding what happened in the hotel." "This is not a Kerala-centric issue. What prevented women across Hollywood from raising their voice against Harvey Weinstein-like people?" she added. The court then asked, "What were you doing for eight years? What prevented you from filing a complaint for eight years?" Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing in the matter for the Kerala government, opposed the grant of anticipatory bail and said, "there are areas in the society where there is no sunlight and no sanitation". "He has acted in 365 Malayalam movies. It is not possible to talk about such perpetrators by victims," Bhati said, adding that the state government is taking the matter very seriously and 29 cases relating to the Malayalam film industry have been investigated. The high court on September 24 rejected Siddique's anticipatory bail plea in the rape case, saying in view of the seriousness of the accusations, his custodial interrogation is inevitable for a proper investigation of the crime. It said since Siddique's defence was in "total denial of the incident", his potency test is yet to be conducted and there being a "reasonable apprehension" that he may intimidate witnesses and tamper with evidence, "it is not a fit case to exercise the discretionary powers of the court" to grant him the relief. The high court, however, made it clear that the observations made by it in the order shall not be construed as an expression on the merits of the case. Siddique, who was booked for offences under sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), has claimed in his plea that the complainant female actor had subjected him to a "prolonged campaign of harassment and false accusations since 2019". In his anticipatory bail plea before the high court, he had claimed that for the last five years, she repeatedly made unsubstantiated and false claims of sexual misbehaviour, including about "verbal sexual offers" made by him in a theatre in 2016. "But now, she has raised a totally contradictory allegation of a more serious crime of rape at a different place in the same year," Siddique had said in his plea. He had also felt that there was an inordinate delay in lodging the complaint against him. Opposing the anticipatory bail plea, the victim's lawyer had told the high court that the state police was allegedly not conducting a proper probe and had yielded to the actor's influence as it did not arrest him or recover the electronic evidence. It was also contended on the victim's behalf that Siddique's custodial interrogation was necessary as he had committed a "heinous crime". The prosecution too had opposed the anticipatory bail plea by arguing that the probe was at a "nascent stage" and there was "a stockpile of evidence against the petitioner-actor". It had further said if Siddique was granted pre-arrest bail, he would tamper with the evidence and threaten the witnesses in view of "his influence and clout". The prosecution had argued that the actor's "custodial interrogation was necessary to investigate the crime, particularly his potency test, which had to be invariably conducted". Multiple FIRs have been registered against many high-profile Malayalam film personalities following allegations of sexual harassment against various directors and actors in the wake of the revelations in the Justice K Hema Committee report. The committee was formed by the Kerala government after the 2017 actress assault case and its report revealed instances of harassment and exploitation of women in the Malayalam film industry. Following the allegations of sexual harassment and exploitation against several actors and directors, the state government on August 25 announced the establishment of a seven-member special investigation team to probe the charges. 'Though a foreigner on campus, she carried herself with confidence.' IMAGE: Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake appointed Dr Harini Amarasuriya as Sri Lanka's 16th prime minister, September 24, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo Delhi University's North Campus is unusually busy. The roads are littered with pamphlets, the walls plastered with hoardings, and the students are charged with political fervour as the university went to the polls on Friday. While candidates across parties are busy discussing manifestos and debating the issues the university faces, Hindu College is already celebrating a political victory -- one far away from the campus, and beyond even the country's borders. Its alumna, Harini Amarasuriya, has just been sworn in as the prime minister of Sri Lanka. Amarasuriya graduated in sociology from the college in 1994. Her batchmates and professors remember her as a disciplined young woman -- not flamboyant, but not one to be lost in the crowd. "She had something in her personality. She was surely among the toppers, but didn't limit herself to academics," says Achla Tandon, a sociology professor who taught Amarasuriya. Tandon notes that Sri Lanka was struggling with its own problems during that time, which was probably one of the reasons Amarasuriya came to India to study. "Though a foreigner on campus, she carried herself with confidence," she says, adding that this is a personality trait she has often observed in other Sri Lankan students she has taught. "She used to participate in all music contests," recalls film director Nalin Singh who was Amarasuriya's contemporary at Hindu College. "We were conscious of her being a foreigner, but she had friends whom she hung around with. She was not into college politics at all." While the students currently busy with university elections are largely unbothered by the development in the neighbouring country, the Hindu College alumni association is celebrating. Singh says the alumni's WhatsApp group hasn't had a moment's rest since the news broke. "This is the first time that we have such a successful political alumnus internationally," says Ravi Burman, president, Hindu College Old Students Association. The association, Burman says, has already written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra D Modi requesting for a chance to felicitate Amarasuriya with a distinguished alumni award when she visits India. "Hindu has a vibrant system of parliament. We work with the prime minister and the leader of ppposition," says Burman, adding that this frames the public lifeskills of the students. "Such an achievement will definitely boost the morale of all DU students." He says the alumni association believes it can play a role in furthering India-Sri Lanka relations. Tandon hopes the development will draw attention to sociology as a subject in India. "Currently, there are few colleges that offer this degree, and fewer politicians [who pursue it]," she says. "She [Amarasuriya] was a well-acclaimed academic. A PhD holder reaching such heights is a fact that should be highlighted," she adds. Several Indian politicians, including Hardeep Singh Puri, Meenakshi Lekhi and Subramanian Swamy, are alumni of Hindu College. DU students say the university offers good training for politics. "Lately, though, we haven't seen many graduating from university politics to national politics," says Umesh Yadav, a second-year student of Faculty of Law. Amarasuriya's example could be an inspiration. Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com Vladimir Putin will continue to wage his unjust war against Ukraine, said Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a recent UN Security Council Ministerial Meeting on Ukraine. Nonetheless, to end the war, there are two immediate and interrelated steps that the international community must take. First, we must address Russias growing cooperation with North Korea and Iran, he said. Iran has been providing armed drones to the Kremlin since 2022. It built a drone factory in Russia. Just a few weeks ago, it transferred hundreds of short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, and Tehran has trained Russian military personnel in Iran how to operate these weapons. Meanwhile, the DPRK has delivered trainloads of weapons and ammunition to Russia, including ballistic missiles, launchers, and millions of artillery rounds. The second step, said Secretary Blinken, is to find a way to peacefully resolve the conflict. [A]ll of us here have a responsibility to support Ukraines call for a just and lasting peace. A just and lasting peace must affirm the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence. A just and lasting peace must preserve Ukraines right to choose its own path, its own allies, its own future. A just and lasting peace requires Ukraines full participation and assent. A just and lasting peace must support Ukraines reconstruction and recovery, with Russia paying to fix the damage its caused. A just and lasting peace must address both accountability and reconciliation. One of the [UN Security] Councils primary responsibilities is seeking to peacefully resolve conflicts, said Secretary Blinken. But the way the council seeks to end this conflict matters. Other countries have put forward their own proposals some of which fail to distinguish between the aggressor and the aggressed and call on all sides to de-escalate, he said. A proposal along these lines would reward Putins aggression, allow him to rest, re-arm, re-invade Ukraine as he has done time and again. It would also embolden would-be aggressors everywhere around the world. As history teaches us, peace without principle is prologue to more conflict, to more suffering, to more instability, said Secretary Blinken. So, to all nations who want this conflict to end and do it in a way that will endure the quickest way forward is simple: stop those who are enabling and fueling Putins aggression and demand a just peace that upholds the principles of the United Nations Charter. Shiv Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday claimed that Bharatiya Janata Party leaders had been directed in a closed-door meeting to break the Opposition ranks and target himself and NCP-SP leader Sharad Pawar. IMAGE: Shiv Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray speaks after inaugurating a life-size statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Ramtek city in east Maharashtra. Photograph: @ShivSenaUBT_/X Thackeray said the people will decide his political future and not the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. He alleged Union Home Minister Amit Shah had directed BJP leaders in a "closed-door" meeting to "stop" him (Uddhav) and Sharad Pawar politically. "During his recent visit to Nagpur, Amit Shah held a closed-door meeting of BJP leaders where he asked them to split the Opposition ranks and politically stop me and Sharad Pawar. Why speak behind closed doors? He should say this before people," Thackeray said after inaugurating a life-size statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Ramtek city in east Maharashtra. Why does Shah want to finish Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar politically...so that the BJP can loot Maharashtra, he alleged. Thackeray said the BJP snapped its three-decade-old alliance with (undivided) Shiv Sena in 2014 (before assembly elections). "However, Sena managed to win 63 seats," he added. Thackeray wondered if RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat agreed with BJP's "Hindutva" involving breaking other parties and poaching (opposition leaders). "The upcoming elections are not about power but they are crucial to prevent Maharashtra from getting looted," the former chief minister said and appealed to people to ensure a massive victory for Maha Vikas Aghadi and deliver all six assembly segments in Ramtek Lok Sabha constituency. Congress and NCP (SP) leaders Sunil Kedar and Anil Deshmukh shared the dais with Thackeray. Thackeray also slammed Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, alleging that since he became the Chief Minister, many industrial projects from the state have gone to Gujarat. "When I was the Chief Minister, did you hear even a single news that any project from here went to Gujarat? In the last two and a half years, since this Mindhe (Shinde) became Chief Minister, so many industries have gone to Gujarat. Everything is being taken to Gujarat. Mumbai's economic centre has also been taken to Gujarat. We are not just fighting for power, but our fight is against the looting of Maharashtra," Thackeray said. He alleged that in past two years Maharashtra failed to bag projects and industries it should have to neighbouring Gujarat. Notably, Vedanta-Foxconn had inked a pact with Gujarat in September 2022 for a Rs 1.54 lakh crore semiconductor project in Ahmedabad. 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. Remus Preda, Craig Arsenault and Kathy Schirling, from M&T Bank, present a donation of $100,000 to Grace Cottage Family Health & Hospital CEO Olivia Sweetnam and Board Chair Martha Dale for the Townshend hospital's new primary care clinic project on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. The Vermont State Police is seeking information about the destruction of this sign at Valley Catholic Church in Townshend The death toll from a devastating storm that battered the southeastern United States climbed to at least 130 on Monday, as the disaster became a hot topic in an already bitter election campaign, with the White House angrily refuting claims it had been slow to respond. With hundreds still unaccounted for across several southeastern US states and the death toll climbing, President Joe Biden announced he would travel to storm-ravaged North Carolina Wednesday to monitor rescue efforts. Biden also accused former president Donald Trump of spreading lies, after the Republican presidential candidate charged, without evidence, that the federal government was ignoring the disaster brought on by Hurricane Helene and denying help to his supporters. "He's lying," Biden told reporters in the Oval Office, adding that he had spoken to North Carolina governor Ray Cooper "and he told him he's lying. I don't know why he does it... that's simply not true, and it's irresponsible." Later on CNN, Cooper, a Democrat, said when asked about Trump's accusations of Republican victims being ignored: "It makes no difference who you are. If you need help, we are going to provide it. "And if there is ever a time where we all need to come together and put politics aside, it is now." At least 130 people were killed by the storm and associated flooding -- 57 in North Carolina, 29 in South Carolina, 25 in Georgia, 14 in Florida, four in Tennessee and one in Virginia, according to tallies from local authorities and media reports compiled by AFP. Emergency workers continued a grim search for hundreds of people still unaccounted for across the affected states, where torrential rains brought widespread havoc. They also worked to restore water and power supply to the affected areas as well as cell phone service, remove fallen trees, deliver supplies and register people for disaster assistance. - Biden accused of 'sleeping' - With Biden preparing to head to North Carolina, Trump on Monday visited Georgia, another epicenter of the destruction -- and both are among the key swing states where the US election will be decided in just five weeks' time. In the city of Valdosta, Trump vowed to "bring lots of relief material, including fuel, equipment, water, and other things" to those in need. "The federal government is not being responsive," he told reporters. "The vice president, she's out someplace, campaigning, looking for money," he said, referring to his election rival, Vice President Kamala Harris. "We're not talking about politics now," he said later, wearing a bright red "Make America Great Again" hat while standing in the rubble of a furniture store. Harris canceled campaign events to return to Washington Monday for a briefing on the federal response. "Over the past few days, our nation has endured some of the worst destruction and devastation that we have seen in quite some time," Harris said afterwards. "And we have responded with our best, with the best folks who are on the ground and here doing the kind of work that is about rising to a moment of crisis." Responding to Trump's criticism that he was "sleeping" instead of dealing with the storm damage, Biden defended his decision to spend the weekend at his home in Delaware, saying he was working "the whole time." When a major natural disaster hits the United States, the federal government responds at the request of states. A president's role is usually to oversee and coordinate aid, including funding. Scientists say climate change likely plays a role in the rapid intensification of hurricanes, because there is more energy in warmer oceans for them to feed on, and Biden stressed as much Monday. "Absolutely, positively, unequivocally, yes, yes, yes, yes," Biden told reporters in the Oval Office when asked if climate change was to blame for the trail of destruction left by the storm. - Drowned in their homes - The sheriff's office in Pinellas County, Florida published a grim litany of the nine people left dead there so far, almost all of whom were found in their homes. Nearly all appeared to have drowned, it said, while the others were buried under debris. In Georgia, residents faced power cuts, supply shortages, blocked roads and broken communication lines in often mountainous terrain, with Governor Brian Kemp describing the storm as a "250-mile wide tornado." More than 1.6 million households and businesses remained without power on Monday, according to tracker poweroutage.us. Cooper, the North Carolina governor, said Monday that hundreds of roads had been destroyed and many communities were "wiped off the map." "This is an unprecedented storm," he told reporters. "The emotional and physical toll here is indescribable." bur-st/md-sst/jgc Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook. The United States said Tuesday that it was discussing a joint response after Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel, warning Tehran of "severe consequences". Israel vowed it would make Iran "pay" for the attack, which it said saw 180 missiles fired at its territory, most of them intercepted, and pledged to immediately strike "the Middle East powerfully". Tehran, meanwhile, threatened to strike any forces that intervened on its soil on Israel's behalf. President Joe Biden said the US was "fully supportive" of Israel after the missile attack, adding that he would discuss a response with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Asked by reporters what the response towards Iran would be, Biden replied: "That's in active discussion right now. That remains to be seen." - Missiles shot down - Sirens sounded across Israel after Iran unleashed the missiles -- most of which were intercepted by Israeli air defences or by allied air forces. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted "three military bases" around Israeli commercial hub Tel Aviv. Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi posted on social media platform X that Tehran's "action is concluded unless the Israeli regime decides to invite further retaliation". The Revolutionary Guards earlier said the attack was in response to Israel's killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last week as well as the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a Tehran bombing widely blamed on Israel. The Israeli military announced after about an hour that the attack was over. Israeli medics reported two people lightly injured by shrapnel. In the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian was killed in Jericho "when pieces of a rocket fell from the sky and hit him", the city's governor Hussein Hamayel told AFP. It was Iran's second direct attack on Israel after a missile and drone attack in April in response to a deadly Israeli air strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. - 'Severe consequences' - Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters the missile attack was a "significant escalation" by Iran and that "there will be consequences, severe consequences". Netanyahu said late Tuesday that "Iran made a big mistake tonight and will pay for it," warning: "Whoever attacks us, we attack them." Military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari vowed the Israeli air force "will continue to strike (tonight) in the Middle East powerfully, as has been happening throughout the past year". The military subsequently announced it was bombarding Hezbollah targets in Beirut, with a Lebanese security source telling AFP that Israel had hit the city's southern suburbs. UN chief Antonio Guterres led international calls to stem the "broadening conflict in the Middle East", saying in a statement: "This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire." While Iran-backed groups across the region had already been drawn into the Gaza war, sparked by Palestinian group Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, Tehran had largely refrained from direct attacks on its regional foe. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country had exercised its "legitimate rights" and dealt "a decisive response... to the Zionist regime's aggression". Israel, Iraq and Jordan -- which lie between Iran and Israel -- closed their airspace, as did Lebanon before reopening. - US boosts forces - The escalation came after the Israeli military said early Tuesday that troops had started "targeted ground raids" in south Lebanon, across Israel's northern border. The move came despite growing calls for de-escalation after a week of air strikes that killed hundreds in Lebanon. Lebanon's health ministry said later that the latest Israeli strikes had killed a further 55 people in Lebanon on Tuesday. Lebanon's disaster management agency said 1,873 people had been killed since Israel and Hezbollah began trading cross-border fire after the Gaza war erupted on October 7, 2023. Iran has said Nasrallah's killing will bring about Israel's "destruction", though its foreign ministry said Monday that Tehran would not deploy any troops to confront Israel. The Pentagon said the United States was boosting its forces in the Middle East by a "few thousand" troops. - Deadly strikes on Gaza - In Lebanon, the UN peacekeeping mission said the Israeli offensive did not amount to a "ground incursion" and Hezbollah denied that any troops had crossed the border. There was no way to immediately verify the claims, which came as Israel struck south Beirut, Damascus and Gaza. Israel says it seeks to dismantle Hezbollah's military capabilities and restore security to the north, where tens of thousands have been displaced by nearly a year of cross-border fire. The Iran-backed group, which suffered heavy losses in a spate of attacks last month, said it targeted Israeli military bases on Tuesday. In Gaza, the civil defence agency said Israeli bombings killed 19 people on Tuesday. The military said troops opened fire Tuesday on "dozens" of Palestinians in central Gaza they saw as an "immediate threat". At least some were hit, it added. Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,638 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN has described the figures as reliable. - 'Lost my home' - Hezbollah began low-intensity strikes on Israeli troops a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, which triggered Israel's devastating assault on Gaza. The escalating violence in Lebanon has killed more than 1,000 people since September 17, Health Minister Firass Abiad said. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said there could be as many as one million people displaced from their homes in the country, with authorities registering almost 240,000 crossings into Syria since September 23. In central Beirut, Youssef Amir, displaced from southern Lebanon, said: "I have lost my home and relatives in this war, but all of that is a sacrifice for Lebanon, for Hezbollah". Beirut resident Elie Jabour, 27, told AFP that despite opposing Hezbollah "politically... I support them defending the border". burs/rlp/rsc/cwl Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, in hiding since July presidential elections she claims strongman Nicolas Maduro stole, said Sunday her security chief and another staff member had been arrested. It is the second time Machado's security chief Milciades Avila has been detained; the first was two weeks before the July 28 vote the opposition says it can prove its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, won by a landslide. The arrests of Avila and Edwin Moya are the latest in what the opposition says has been a wave of repression following Maduro's questioned reelection to a third six-year term, rejected by much of the international community. "Maduro and his regime committed yet another crime. They have kidnapped two honest men, fathers... whose job it is to ensure our security," Machado said on social media. "Both have fulfilled their responsibilities in an exemplary manner, always aware of the risk that this entailed in the face of a tyranny that today the world qualifies as a corrupt and criminal system," she added. The Foro Penal watchdog had reported 149 "arbitrary arrests," including 135 members of Machado's entourage, in the runup to the vote. Many more have been detained since, and Foro Penal says Venezuela now has the highest number of "political prisoners" in almost 25 years. Venezuela's CNE electoral authority, seen as loyal to the regime, declared a victory for Maduro within hours of polls closing, with 52 percent of votes cast. But most of the international community has refused to accept his win without a detailed vote breakdown, which has not been forthcoming. The opposition published its own tally of polling station-level results, which it says proves Gonzalez Urrutia won two-thirds of the votes cast. The United States says there was "overwhelming evidence" Gonzalez Urrutia, a 75-year-old retired diplomat, had won. He has since taken asylum in Spain after spending weeks in hiding in Venezuela after the vote. Machado, for her part, has come out in public only a handful of times to lead anti-Maduro protests. Twenty-seven people were killed in post-election clashes and more than 2,400 arrested for taking part in protests, charged with "terrorism." mbj/jt/mlr/nro Licensed and Board-Certified Professional Counselor Offers a Lasting Solution to Defeat Mental Strongholds NEWS PROVIDED BY Charisma Media Sept. 30, 2024 LAKE MARY, Fla., Sept. 30, 2024 /Christian Newswire/ -- Licensed and board-certified professional counselor, Kenza Haddock, dives into the three forces that attack mental health: the flesh, the enemy, and the world. As she draws from her knowledge and experience in the field, The Three Enemies of Your Mental Health (ISBN-13: 978-1-63641-368-6) provides biblically sound advice and teaches readers to have victory over spiritual warfare that lasts. Whether the issues presented during therapy sessions with my own patients or consultations with other therapists, about 95 percent of them came down to fighting the battle against what I call the three enemies of mental health, Haddock writes. The Three Enemies of Your Mental Health explains how sneaky attacks from our flesh, the devil and the world can open the door for spiritual battles to rage in our lives. By diving into the power and meaning of each enemy, readers can expose the root problem and prevent future attacks. This book not only provides readers ways to look out for attacks, but also provides a practical approach to navigating their mental health, with the all-encompassing belief that Jesus Christ can fight, and win the battles going on in the mind. The Three Enemies of Your Mental Health published by Charisma House, releases on October 1, 2024, and is available online at MyCharismaShop.com and wherever books are sold. Kenza Haddock, LPCS, BCPC, is a licensed professional counselor supervisor and an accredited clinical trauma specialist with expertise in treating complex mental health conditions through both clinical and biblical methods. A former Muslim, she has spoken at conferences and churches and been featured in numerous news outlets regarding the intersection of Christianity and mental health counseling. Haddock and her husband own Oceanic Counseling Group LLC, an outpatient mental health agency headquartered in South Carolina. She also was a cofounder of the #healSC campaign, which raised awareness about mental health issues and garnered statewide media attention. Keep in touch with Kenza Facebook: kenzahaddock Instagram: @oceaniccounseling Website: https://kenzahaddock.com/ Title: The Three Enemies of Your Mental Health: Gain Lasting Victory Over the Devil, the Flesh, and the World | Release Date: October 1, 2024 | Retail: $19.99 | ISBN-13: 978-1-63641-368-6| E-Book ISBN: 978-1-63641-369-3 | Binding: Trade Paper | Size: 8.25 x 5.5 | Page Count: 208 | Hometown: Myrtle Beach, SC | BISAC Category: HEALTH & FITNESS / Mental Health, RELIGION / Christian Living / Spiritual Warfare, RELIGION / Christian Living / Personal Growth To interview Kenza or for a review copy, please contact don@veritasincorporated.com. SOURCE Charisma Media CONTACT: don@veritasincorporated Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son (Photo: VNA) The Party and State leader and a high-ranking delegation paid state visits to Mongolia and Ireland, attend the 19th Francophonie Summit and make an official visit to France from September 30-October 7, at the invitation of Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, Irish President Michael D. Higgins and French President Emmanuel Macron, respectively. The trip also reflects the importance that the Vietnamese Party and State attach to the traditional friendship with Mongolia, the friendship and multi-faceted cooperation with Ireland and the strategic partnership with France, as well as Vietnams wish to upgrade and deepen cooperative frameworks in alignment with the new situations in and interests of those countries, Deputy PM and FM Son told the press in an interview on the eve of the leaders trip. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son added that through the trip, Vietnam hopes to enhance coordination with countries in addressing regional and world issues, and seek the countries continued support for the overseas Vietnamese community. The Deputy PM said the top leaders state visit to Mongolia holds special significance when the two countries are marking the 70th anniversary of their diplomatic relationship and their ties are at the best stage of development. The Party General Secretary and President of Vietnam will discuss with Mongolian leaders major orientations and measures to further enhance political trust and promote cooperation in fields of priority, particularly in politics, diplomacy, economy, trade, tourism and people to people exchange. He noted that Mongolia has given Vietnam strong support both materially and spiritually during Vietnams struggle for national liberation. The two countries now also support each other in national construction and maintain close cooperation through Party, State, Government and people-people channels. With regard to Ireland, Son noted that this is the first state visit since the two countries established diplomatic relationship. He said leaders of the two countries will talk about measures to promote cooperation in areas where Vietnam has demand and Ireland has advantages, such as high-quality investment, science-technology, innovation, digital transformation, energy transition, education-training, especially tertiary education. The Deputy PM highlighted that Ireland is currently the sixth largest trade partner of Vietnam in the EU, and has made Vietnam a priority recipient of its development assistance, which focuses on education, gender equality, climate change adaptation, support for ethnic minority groups and people with disabilities, and mine clearance. Ireland has granted 250 scholarships for Vietnam under the Irish Aid programme launched in 2009. The two countries are also actively implementing an MoU on cooperation between Vietnams Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Irelands Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. As for France, based on the special ties and the outcomes of the strategic partnership over the past more than 10 years, the two sides will seek ways to elevate the strategic partnership to a new height with more practical benefits commensurate with the potential and the position of both countries in their respective regions and the world as a whole, according to Son. He said the two sides will work to intensify trade and investment ties, deepen joint work in traditional fields like culture, education, science-technology and local cooperation, while expanding the partnership to new and potential domains such as aerospace, renewable energy, high-tech and digital economy. He underlined that the political trust between Vietnam and France has been increasingly strengthened, noting that for the first time ever, a French defence minister had attended the 70-year commemoration of the Dien Bien Phu Victory and affirmed the wish to together with Vietnam shelf the past and look toward the future for peace, cooperation and development. Son also highlighted that France is one of the leading European partners of Vietnam in tourism, trade, investment and ODA, while carrying out many projects that contribute to Vietnams development, modernisation and improvement of living conditions. He went on to say that Party General Secretary and President Lam will deliver an important speech at the 19th Francophonie Summit, wishing to further spread the message about a proactive and responsible Vietnam that is always ready to join hands with the international community to respond to challenges, contributing to a future of peace, friendship, solidarity and sustainable development as targeted by the Francophonie Summit. The Deputy PM said the cooperation between Vietnam and the Francophone community continues to develop, with the Francophone community viewing Vietnam as a model in socio-economic development and the centre of Francophone activities in the region. He affirmed that Vietnam is among members that are pushing for economic cooperation, particularly in digital economy, in the Francophone space. According to Son, there remains ample room for Vietnam to boost collaboration with the Francophone economic space, especially in economics, trade, investment, education-training, agriculture, sustainable development and science-technology. The Deputy PM and FM expressed his belief that the working trip of the Party General Secretary and President will be a success and produce important outcomes, contributing to solidifying the foundations of the relationships between Vietnam and Mongolia, Ireland, France and the Francophone community, and at the same time opening up new room and potential in the cooperation with each country, thus developing the relationships in alignment with the new situation./. US-headquartered security operations platform Anomali has hired former Fastly channel leader Antony Prasad to lead its own channel efforts across Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ). As the vendors first regional channel director for APJ, Prasad will direct Anomalis channel go-to-market strategy and sales strategy in the region from Singapore. He joins Anomali with 24 years of IT experience, with his last role at Fastly as its technical sales and channel leader across Southeast Asia and India for web, API, media, AI/ML, CDN, cloud, networks and cyber security during the last two years. Prior to this, he worked at VMware, Ekahau, BT, Verizon Business, Blue Coast Systems, Riverbed Technology and Cisco. He also had a six-month stint at Temasek Polytechnic teaching a diploma of Infocom over a six-month stint. Antonys extensive experience and proven track record in building successful channel partnerships will be invaluable for Anomali, as we continue to expand our presence in APAC, said Micheal McCollough, Anomali global vice president for channel sales. His leadership will be critical in strengthening our relationships with partners and driving strategic growth, and we are thrilled to welcome him to the team. Whakarongorau Aotearoa/New Zealand Telehealth Services will become an anchor tenant of Microsoft New Zealands new hyperscale cloud region, set to open later this year. The move means the organisations core Spectrum Telehealth System, provided by Valentia Technologies, will be integrated into a single platform hosted in Microsofts region and enable modernisation to a cloud-native and secure zero trust architecture. That would enable nurses, counsellors and support teams to reach more New Zealanders on more platforms than ever and help to retain health data securely in New Zealand. Whakarongorau joins the likes of Fonterra, BNZ, ASB, PwC and the Accident Compensation Corporation in announcing their Microsoft-based cloud shifts. The shift is also expected to enhance Whakarongoraus ability to deliver health services and digital care at a greater scale. Removing friction in systems and processes would accelerate innovation to improve health outcomes, including for those who find it difficult to access in-person services. With the new hyperscale cloud region, were not only scaling our services but transforming the way we provide care into the future, said Mike Mulvaney, CIO of Whakarongorau. 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 on October 7 marked the somber anniversary of the Hamas attack on the Jewish state that killed more than 1,200 people and took some 250 hostages as the Israeli military continued its massive air strikes on Beirut and its incursion in southern Lebanon that aims to destroy the Iran-allied Hezbollah militant group. Israeli President Isaac Herzog led a national moment of silence at 6:29 a.m., the time the attack started, at Kibbutz Reim, the site of the Nova music festival where hundreds of mostly young revelers were killed by gunmen from Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by both the United States and the European Union. In Washington, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris 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. The Israeli military said that during the ceremony led by Herzog, four projectiles were launched from Gaza toward the same Israeli communities targeted at the start of last year's attack. The military said the ceremony was not disrupted. In Jerusalem, relatives of the some 100 hostages still in Hamas captivity, many of whom are believed dead, gathered outside the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 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. 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. 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. The conflict in Gaza is still raging while Israel is now fighting on a second front in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah. Early on October 7, Hezbollah, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, fired rockets into the north Israeli cities of Haifa and Tiberias, causing damage and some minor injuries, Israeli police said. The European Union has blacklisted Hezbollah's armed wing but not its political unit, which holds seats in the Lebanese parliament. Amid the military activity at the individual level, the private lives of civilians throughout the region have been disrupted. In the ancient city of Beersheba in southern Israel, Irena Stein, who left Albania in 1991 to resettle in the country, told RFE/RL's Kosovo Service that life in recent times had been filled with "sadness and pain." "We had several months of rockets. Then, the number of rockets decreased, and we continued with daily life, like someone who goes on with their life after the seven days of mourning with a great pain in the heart," said Stein, who is in her late 60s. "There's this feeling like something might happen, that we should be cautious. But I believe you can't live with fear, so we've continued our lives, always praying to God that nothing happens to us." She said that in Beersheba -- where human activity can be traced to the fourth millennium BC -- things have been calm since rockets were last heard on September 29. But she lamented that throughout Israel, "We suffer from this situation, and the Palestinian people suffer from it, too." "The Lebanese people also suffer...everyone suffers. But as they say, peace must be decided at the highest level." Meanwhile, in a Lebanese mountain village southeast of Beirut, local resident Hadi Zahwe told reporters an Israeli strike on October 6 was "terrifying." "There were children killed, there were children's body parts. This enemy is targeting civilian women and children," he said. Netanyahu has insisted that Israeli forces are targeting terrorist strongholds and that civilian fatalities have been extremely low in the recent military actions. Israel in recent weeks has been bombing Beirut's southern suburbs and has staged a ground incursion into south Lebanon in its drive to wipe out Hezbollah's capabilities and leadership. The Israeli campaign on Hezbollah prompted the group's patron, Iran, to respond by attacking the Jewish state 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 a larger regional conflict. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav 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. "The Iranians did not touch the air force's capabilities. No aircraft were damaged, no squadron was taken out of order," Gallant said in reference to the Iranian missile strike, which caused few injuries and slight damage to two air force bases. "Whoever thinks that a mere attempt to harm us will deter us from taking action should take a look at [Israels operations] in Gaza and Beirut." Israel earlier said it conducted a series of "targeted strikes" on "weapons storage facilities" and infrastructure sites that belong to Iran-backed Hezbollah. Lebanon's official National News Agency said Hezbollah's stronghold in the area was hit by more than 30 strikes. A petrol station and a medical supplies warehouse were hit by the air raids. Video footage showed huge flames and plumes of smoke billowing into the night sky as residents fled their homes in panic with explosions echoing in the background. Many observers said the attacks were the strongest yet of Israel's recent air strikes. Beiruts Skyline Lit Up Amid New Israeli Airstrikes No media source currently available 0:00 0:00:59 0:00 Israel has bombed Beirut's suburbs for days, killing Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and possibly his potential successor, Hashem Safieddine. Security sources have said Safieddine had been out of contact since October 4 after an Israeli air strike near Beirut's international airport that was reported to have targeted him. Hezbollah has not commented on Safieddine. Israel says Nasrallah was killed in a strike on the group's central command headquarters in Beirut on September 27. Two senior Iranian security officials told Reuters on October 6 that Ismail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force -- the overseas arm of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) -- also had not been heard from in recent days since traveling to Lebanon. Statements on October 6 out of the United States -- Tel Aviv's most important ally -- indicated some frustrations with the scope of Israel's military action. "Military pressure can at times enable diplomacy. Of course, military pressure can also lead to miscalculation. It can lead to unintended consequences," a U.S. State Department spokesperson said in a statement. The spokesperson said Washington supported Israeli actions in going after extremist elements but added that U.S. leaders but did not approve of the targeting of civilian infrastructure. Israel says the attacks on Hezbollah are aimed at enabling the safe return of tens of thousands of citizens to homes in northern Israel, bombarded by the group since last October. With reporting by RFE/RL's Kosovo Service and AP The URL has been copied to your clipboard The code has been copied to your clipboard. Austria's far-right, anti-immigration Freedom Party won the country's parliamentary elections on September 29, receiving around 29 percent of the vote. It's the first far-right victory in a national election in postwar Austria. RFE/RL's Andi Mioc was in Vienna, where opposition supporters expressed concern over the Freedom Party's victory. Simushi Liswaniso in his laboratory at Jilin Agricultural University in Changchun, Jilin province. CHINA DAILY Standing beside an experimental field full of rice about to ripen in Changchun, Jilin province, Simushi Liswaniso is looking forward to enjoying the same scene at his hometown in Africa in the future. Liswaniso, 35, an overseas doctoral student from Zambia, began studying at Jilin Agricultural University in Changchun in 2017. In 2016, as an officer of the department of fisheries and livestock, he attended a training course at the China Aid Zambia Agricultural Technology Demonstration Center located in his country. "The one-month course was about goat production techniques for small scale farmers," he said. "The course helped me improve my knowledge on goat production and be able to train the local farmers effectively." Since the establishment of the center in 2009, the university has dispatched over 30 experts and professors to provide training courses on agricultural mechanization, grain and legume seed production, edible mushroom cultivation, vegetable production and pest control. Over 2,000 local students, including Liswaniso, have attended the training sessions. "Food security used to be our biggest challenge," he said. "Traditional farming methods alone could not meet Zambia's growing food demand. "The Chinese technology has updated my previous knowledge and inspired me to pursue further studies in China," he said. So he went to Changchun in 2017. In the laboratory, he learned how to optimize crop growth using advanced technology, and in the field, he discussed crop improvement methods with agricultural experts. "There is a huge difference between the agriculture in Zambia and China," he said, adding that the agricultural system in China is well developed and digitalized while it is still traditional in his country. Learning the technologies is not just about increasing crop yields but also about addressing the increasingly severe challenges of climate change and soil degradation, he said. "The future of agriculture belongs to those who master advanced technologies." In 2020, Liswaniso graduated and enrolled in a doctoral degree program. In 2021, at the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, agricultural development and poverty reduction demonstration village construction became one of the "Nine Major Projects". In 2022, as a project coordinator, Liswaniso participated in the China-Africa Agricultural Development and Poverty Reduction Demonstration Village project in Zambia led by Jilin Agricultural University. Currently, in a village of Lusaka province, technologies for cultivating edible mushrooms and vegetables from China are being applied locally. "The modern machinery and scientific management are helping villagers break away from traditional farming methods, improve food production and create new job opportunities," said Liswaniso. "Life of the villagers is getting better, and I feel immensely proud." Since 2006, Jilin Agricultural University has hosted 40 foreign aid sessions, training over 900 senior agricultural managers from 74 developing countries, with over 400 participants from Africa. Students from African countries such as Nigeria and Kenya gather to learn about techniques such as agricultural management and animal disease prevention and control in the university, hoping to take the knowledge back to their homelands. Last year, the university established an Overseas Technology Academy in Zambia. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Zambia. Jilin Agricultural University was selected for the Ministry of Education's China-Africa 100 Universities Cooperation Program, and is about to launch more extensive agricultural technology promotion initiatives in Africa. "The deepening of agricultural cooperation between the two countries has further strengthened my mission to spread China's agricultural technologies across the vast lands of Africa," said Liswaniso. "I hope I can complete my studies in the summer of 2025 and return to my hometown. I will practice all the skills I have learned in China and also train fellow Zambians for the betterment of my country." Han Junhongcontributed to the story. Editor: WXY Belarus's opposition in exile has welcomed Lithuania's plan to ask the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate alleged crimes against humanity by Aleksandr Lukashenka's regime, saying the process could bring international accountability and hope to Lukashenka's victims. Lithuania's Justice Ministry announced on September 30 that it was referring the "situation in Belarus" to the ICC, listing a litany of alleged crimes against the population by the regime that include persecution, deportations, torture, and "other inhumane acts." "We are grateful to the Lithuanian government for the principled decision and action," the United Transitional Cabinet, an exile opposition group formed in 2022 and led by former presidential challenger Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, said in a statement. "For hundreds of thousands of victims, for all victims of repression, this gives hope. Hope for justice, hope that crimes will not go unpunished." The ICC confirmed that it received Lithuanias referral and said it would examine the request within and to determine if there is a reasonable basis to proceed with the opening of an investigation. Tsikhanouskaya, who fled to Lithuania amid a brutal crackdown after the disputed 2020 presidential election claimed by Lukashenka, added, "The guilty should be brought to international responsibility, the repression should be stopped." Lukashenka's forces jailed and intimidated the opposition and sympathizers and are thought to have jailed thousands of Belarusians amid the ongoing clampdown on dissent. Western governments have refused to recognize Lukashenka's authority, and the former communist-era leader has increasingly relied on Russian President Vladimir Putin to keep his tight grip on power in his country of 9 million. In its appeal to the ICC, Vilnius accuses Lukashenka's regime of a campaign that includes: "serious deprivation of fundamental rights; arbitrary detention, prosecution, and conviction; serious unlawful violence; unlawful killings; sexual violence; physical and mental harm; torture, inhuman and degrading treatment; intimidation and harassment; forced labour; and enforced disappearance among several others." Lithuania has been a leader in the pursuit of international justice and accountability stemming from Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine with Minsk's help, from the ICC to appeals to Eurjust and Kyiv's genocide case against Moscow before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). A request by Vilnius in 2022 prompted the ICC to open proceedings over Russia and Belarus's aggression against Ukraine. The ICC has since issued multiple warrants, including against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his commissioner for children's rights, as well as Russian military commanders and others. Signatories to the ICC's founding treaty, the Rome Statute, are bound to detain suspects for whom the court has issued an arrest warrant if they set foot on their soil, but the court has no enforcement mechanism. Rights groups have previously urged the ICC to investigate Belarus and Russia over the fate of Ukrainian children they say have been forcibly taken to Belarus during Russia's 31-month-old full-scale invasion and are being "reeducated" to turn against their homeland. "Belarusian democratic forces call on the countries participating in the Rome Statute to support the efforts of the Lithuanian side and the common aspiration of all Belarusians -- to ensure justice for hundreds of thousands of victims and bring Lukashenka and his accomplices to justice for the crimes he committed and continues to commit," the United Transitional Cabinet said. 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. WASHINGTON -- The United States must prepare for a "long-term" confrontation with Russia that won't end when authoritarian President Vladimir Putin departs from the political scene, according to a new report by a bipartisan commission. Ukraine's defeat of Russia on the battlefield is critical to winning that confrontation, and Washington should do all it can to ensure Kyiv is victorious, the U.S. Helsinki Commission stated in its September 30 report. 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 commission, which was set up in 1975 to monitor human rights in the Soviet bloc, is composed of 18 lawmakers evenly split between the House of Representatives and Senate as well as three representatives of the executive branch. "There will be no hope for a peaceful and stable Russia while it remains engaged in war and occupation of its neighbors," the commission said in the report. "Ukraine defeating the Russian invaders is a necessary, but not sufficient, step towards not only forcing Russia into significant reflection and reform, but also towards uprooting Russian influence and countering Russian aggression more broadly." The commission's report comes as the future of U.S. military support for Kyiv in its nearly three-year defensive war against Russia is uncertain with a wing of the Republican party, led by presidential candidate Donald Trump, questioning the significant financial commitment. Congress has allocated $175 billion to support Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022, with the majority of the funding spent at home for weapons production and other goods and services. Ukraine would need another large U.S. aid package early next year if it hopes to drive Russian forces from its territory. Trump, who claims to have a good relationship with Putin, has said he will quickly negotiate an end to the war if elected president. With Russia controlling nearly 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, any deal now would likely force Kyiv to make territorial concessions. And without a U.S. or NATO security guarantee, there would be no assurance that Putin wouldn't invade again. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, backs aid to Ukraine but it is unclear how much further she is willing to go than her current boss, President Joe Biden. His administration has been criticized by Ukrainian supporters for slow-rolling military aid to Kyiv, giving it enough to survive but not enough to win. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy traveled to the White House last week to present his "victory plan" to Biden and request permission to strike military targets deep inside Russia with U.S. missiles. The White House did not announce any change in policy following the meeting. The bipartisan report, led by Helsinki Commission Chairman Joe Wilson (Republican-South Carolina), can be seen as an exhortation for whichever party wins the presidency and controls the House of Representatives and Senate next year to continue aid. Wilson is among those Republicans, including Senators Jim Risch of Idaho and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who are ardent Ukraine supporters. Putin, who has been Russia's preeminent leader for nearly a quarter century, has tried to justify his invasion by claiming that Ukraine has historically belonged to Russia. At the same time, he is attempting to rebuild the Kremlin's sphere of influence in the former Soviet space. He has installed people in power in Russia that share his view to ensure his policies continue beyond his time in office. "Until Russia can reckon with its imperial history and present, cease using repression and corruption as tools of power, and build governing institutions that are grounded in respect for democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, Russia cannot be a responsible international actor. We need to be prepared to contest Russia for the long term," the report said. The 68-page report also covers other parts of Eurasia, from the Western Balkans to Central Asia. Russia's war on Ukraine "has motivated Central Asian states to diversify their relations with other countries and seek alternate economic partners and security guarantees, as well as to strengthen regional cooperation," it said. "These changes offer an opportunity for the United States to increase its engagement in the region to counter Russian influence and to support the efforts of Central Asian states to realign their foreign relations." With Moscow "determined to maintain its influence through both overt and covert means," the South Caucasus is "at a pivotal moment in its history, standing on the edge of both opportunity and peril," the report said. The United States "must reassess its approach to the South Caucasus.... For decades, U.S. policy has been based on a relatively simple understanding: Armenia was seen as a stalwart Russian ally, Georgia as a committed pro-Western partner, and Azerbaijan as a multivector state balancing its relations between the West and Russia. However, recent developments have upended these assumptions, revealing a more complex and fluid geopolitical landscape." The commission urged the United States to "adopt a comprehensive, sustained strategy that recognizes the Black Sea as a critical theater of competition. A long-term approach should prioritize building a credible deterrent to Russian aggression, supporting democratic governance and rule of law, and fostering regional cooperation frameworks that limit Russia's ability to exploit divisions and vulnerabilities." In the Western Balkans, meanwhile, "Russia has preyed on internal divisions and flagging U.S. engagement to disrupt the region's integration into Western institutions, including NATO and the EU," it said. "The U.S. should target poisonous, Russia-affiliated actors in the region who engage in corrupt and destabilizing behavior while redoubling our support for regional security, stability, and energy independence." A concert is held to celebrate the 75th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China (PRC), in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 29, 2024. Chinese President Xi Jinping, other Party and state leaders including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi and Han Zheng, as well as retired senior leaders were among the more than 3,000 people who attended the concert. (Xinhua/Ju Peng) BEIJING, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- A concert was held at the Great Hall of the People on Sunday night to celebrate the 75th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Chinese President Xi Jinping, other Party and state leaders including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi and Han Zheng, as well as retired senior leaders were among the more than 3,000 people who attended the concert. The concert featured orchestral music, choral performances, ensemble performances of traditional instruments, piano with a band, and other artistic expressions. It ended with the entire audience singing "Ode to the Motherland." China's National Day is celebrated annually on Oct. 1. A concert is held to celebrate the 75th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China (PRC), in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 29, 2024. Chinese President Xi Jinping, other Party and state leaders including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi and Han Zheng, as well as retired senior leaders were among the more than 3,000 people who attended the concert. (Xinhua/Yan Yan) A concert is held to celebrate the 75th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China (PRC), in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 29, 2024. Chinese President Xi Jinping, other Party and state leaders including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi and Han Zheng, as well as retired senior leaders were among the more than 3,000 people who attended the concert. (Xinhua/Shen Hong) Editor: JYZ Eva Osborne Patrick O'Donovan officially launched Science Week 2024 on Monday and announced Government funding of 809,942 for a variety of events around the country. The Minister for Research, Innovation and Science said the week-long event is now a "much-anticipated" Irish calendar highlight and a great opportunity for people to engage with science and research through fun, engaging and interactive events. The theme of this year's Science Week is "regeneration", with a public call to celebrate our ability to reinvent, rejuvenate and regenerate. Events will take place for people of all ages across Ireland from November 10th-17th, to celebrate science, technology, engineering and maths. Speaking at the launch, Mr ODonovan said: "I am delighted to be able to announce funding of over 800,000 from my department to directly support the hosting of 33 events. Science is vital to our everyday lives from protecting our natural world and creating more sustainable approaches to energy supply, to embracing technological advancements and investigating new solutions to safeguard our health. "For this years Science Week, through the theme of regeneration, we are inviting people to reimagine the way we engage with the world around us and enhance our collective strengths. "There is something for every generation to enjoy in Science Week, with hundreds of events taking place all over the country. Im encouraging everyone to take part in Science Week, by attending a festival or event and getting involved in the stimulating activities on offer during the week. Dr Ruth Freeman, the director of science for society at Research Ireland, said: Science has a profound impact on individuals, society, and the world at large in a multitude of ways. This Science Week, we explore harnessing the power of regeneration and how the decisions we make today will greatly impact future generations. "It is important to take learnings from the past to inform our decisions for the future. and we encourage everyone to get involved in Science Week, whether at your local festival, online on social media, or with friends and family. "Critical to the success of Science Week is the growing community of dedicated volunteers across the country who work tirelessly on delivering stimulating activities each year on top of the 33 newly funded projects we are announcing this year. We are truly thankful for their commitment to passionately promoting science among the general public. Banda Singh Chaudhary Movie Real Story: Arshad Warsi-starrer is based on true events The plot centers around the struggles of a man, played by Arshad Warsi, and his family's fight for survival in challenging circumstances. Banda Singh Chaudhary Movie Real Story Based on True Events: Fans of Bollywood actor Arshad Warsi have much to look forward to as the motion poster of his highly anticipated film Banda Singh Chaudhary was unveiled today. The films trailer is set to release tomorrow, and audiences are eagerly awaiting a first look at this intriguing project. Directed by Abhishek Saxena, Banda Singh Chaudhary has already sparked curiosity among fans, particularly around its premise and whether the story is based on true events. Earlier, the makers had confirmed that Banda Singh Chaudhary is indeed based on real-life incidents. In a statement released a few years ago, the filmmakers revealed, "Banda Singh is a survival story of a man and his family, set in North India and based on true events." However, there remains limited information about the exact story or the real-life incidents that inspired the film, leaving fans speculating about its background. Advertisement The plot centers around the struggles of a man, played by Arshad Warsi, and his family's fight for survival in challenging circumstances. Set against the rugged backdrop of North India, the film is expected to deliver an intense and emotional narrative. With Warsi known for his versatility in portraying a range of characters, fans are excited to see him take on this serious and potentially hard-hitting role. Though details about the real-life inspiration behind Banda Singh Chaudhary are still under wraps, the motion poster has already created a buzz across social media platforms. Fans are now eagerly waiting for the trailer to drop tomorrow, hoping it will shed more light on the storyline and the real events that influenced this project. As Banda Singh Chaudhary gears up for release, the combination of a powerful storyline, Arshad Warsis compelling performance, and Abhishek Saxenas direction is expected to make it one of the most talked-about films in the coming months. Stay tuned for more updates when the trailer is unveiled tomorrow! Advertisement (For more news apart from Banda Singh Chaudhary Movie Real Story Based on True Events, stay tuned to Rozana Spokesman) PAU Hosts Training Session on Improved Rabi Crop Cultivation Practices Dr. Satpal Sharma, a specialist in potato cultivation, discussed new potato varieties, seed marketing, and relevant government policies. PAU Rabi Crop Cultivation Practices: The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) conducted a training program focused on Improved Cultivation Practices for Rabi Crops at Pona village as part of the ongoing Rural Agriculture Work Experience (RAWE) initiative for agriculture students. Dr. Kuldeep Singh, Head of the Department of Extension Education, highlighted the significance of hands-on learning and urged farmers to adopt scientific methods to enhance their profits. Advertisement During the session, Dr. Satpal Sharma, a specialist in potato cultivation, discussed new potato varieties, seed marketing, harvesting techniques, and relevant government policies. Dr. Maninder Kaur, an agronomist, shared insights on wheat cultivation, introducing farmers to new wheat varieties and sustainable management of paddy straw. Extension Scientist Dr. Dharminder Singh encouraged farmers to explore additional income-generating activities such as beekeeping and mushroom cultivation. He also recommended that farmers form cooperatives to reduce operational costs. In her closing remarks, Dr. Lakhwinder Kaur, also an Extension Scientist, urged attendees to engage with agricultural literature. Agricultural development officers Jaswant Singh and Priyanka Pandotra provided further information about departmental activities, while farmers expressed keen interest in the exhibition set up during the event. The program aimed to equip farmers with the knowledge and skills necessary for improved agricultural practices and greater economic sustainability. Advertisement (For more news apart from PAU Rabi Crop Cultivation Practices, stay tuned to Rozana Spokesman) Punjab Attracts Major Investments from Global Companies The policy focuses on enhancing youth employability and creating job opportunities through skills development. Chandigarh News: The positive impact of the Hon'ble government's initiatives is becoming evident in Punjab. Over the past two and a half years, the state has attracted investments worth thousands of crores of rupees, leading to the establishment of approximately 4,000 industrial units. Significant industrial growth is occurring in Mohali, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Fatehgarh Sahib, and Patiala. According to data released by Invest Punjab, there is a concerted effort to promote industry within the state. Both national and international companies are increasingly interested in investing in Punjab. To date, the Punjab Government has witnessed a total of Rs 81,924 crore in investment. Advertisement Notably, the Canadian company Nebula Group has made a significant commitment to the state's economy by planning to establish a food processing plant. In discussions with Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, it was revealed that this facility will source tomatoes, lemons, juice, and potatoes from an area of around 10,000 hectares. The company aims to enhance the shelf life of fresh and frozen food products using ozone technology, facilitating exports while also ensuring partnerships with Markfed and Punjab Agro to support local farmers. Likewise, the renowned company BMW is also investing in Punjab. A plant for manufacturing BMW vehicle parts will soon be established in Punjab, providing employment to thousands of youth. In addition to Nebula Group, companies such as Sun Pharma, J.S.W. Steel, and RPG Group are also poised to expand their operations in Punjab. Chief Minister Mann, during a recent meeting with industry leaders in Mumbai, extended an invitation for further investments in Punjab, emphasizing the government's commitment to providing essential infrastructure, electricity, skilled human resources, and a superior industrial environment. Advertisement Leading tractor manufacturer Sonalika Tractors has announced a Rs 1,300 crore investment to establish two new facilities in Hoshiarpur, including a tractor assembly plant and a high-pressure foundry. Previously, Tata Steel revealed plans for a Rs 2,600 crore investment in Ludhiana, with all necessary permissions secured and construction underway, set for completion by 2025. This project is expected to create 500 direct jobs. In line with its economic development goals, the Punjab government has released the Punjab Industrial and Trade Development Policy 2022, which aims to attract an investment of Rs 5 lakh crore over the next five years. The policy focuses on enhancing youth employability and creating job opportunities through skills development, alongside plans to establish 15 industrial parks throughout the state. Efforts are underway to secure anchor units in various sectors and provide affordable, stable electricity to industries for five years. Statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Defaced in Brampton, Sikh Leaders Demand Swift Action Patrick Brown, Mayor of Brampton, clarified that the incident did not occur within the city limits but joined others in denouncing the act. Maharaja Ranjit Singh Statue Vandalism in Canada's Brampton News: In a disturbing incident, a statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, a highly revered figure in Sikh history, was vandalized in Brampton, Canada. The defacement, reportedly led by Palestinian protester Hosaam Hamdan, has sparked outrage within the Sikh community and prompted leaders to call for immediate action against those responsible. Harmeet Singh Kalka, President of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), strongly condemned the act. "Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ji symbolizes Sikh pride, courage, and unity. This disgraceful vandalism is an affront to the principles of peaceful coexistence and diversity that form the foundation of any civilized society," Kalka stated. He urged Canadian authorities to act swiftly and decisively to prevent such divisive incidents from recurring. Advertisement Manjinder Singh Sirsa, National Secretary of the BJP, also expressed his condemnation on social media, labeling the vandalism "disgraceful." He called for "swift and stern action" by Canadian officials to hold the perpetrators accountable. Patrick Brown, Mayor of Brampton, clarified that the incident did not occur within the city limits but joined others in denouncing the act. "Maharaja Ranjit Singh is a symbol of bravery and leadership in Sikh history. Defacing his statue disrespects Sikh heritage and threatens community harmony," Brown posted on X, expressing hope that those responsible would be brought to justice. The vandalism of this historical figure's statue has stirred emotions and reignited conversations about intolerance and respect for cultural heritage, as Sikh leaders continue to push for swift legal consequences for the perpetrators. Advertisement (For more news apart from Maharaja Ranjit Singh Statue Vandalism in Canada's Brampton News, stay tuned to Rozana Spokesman) Ana Pauker The early days of communism in Romania and their troubled history pe Aeroportul Baneasa inainte de plecare la Conferinta de Pace de la Paris, intretinandu-se cu Ana Pauker si Florica Bagdasar. Eugen Nasta, 30.09.2024, 14:00 Ana Pauker is one of the most conspicuous figureheads in the history of the communist regime in Romania. Ana Pauker played a crucial part in the team that instated the regime of the Communist Party in Romania, between 1947 and 1952. She was also a member of the Petru Groza government, the Communist Partys first government in Romania. Ana Pauker also held positions in the Romanian Communist Partys top-notch hierarchy, as well as in the hierarchy of then the Soviet Unions Communist Party. Ana Pauker was born in the eastern Romanian county of Vaslui, in 1893. Her name was Hana Rabinsohn and she was born into a Jewish family: her grandfather was a rabbi. In France, in 1920, Hana met her future husband, Marcel Pauker, also a Jew. The Bucharest-born Marcel Pauker was a radical communist, and his wife Ana joined him in then the Cominterns activities. Ana Pauker became a Soviet agent; she was arrested in 1922 and 1935. In 1941 she was released from prison and went to the then USSR. While still in prison, in 1938 Stalin had her husband executed on the grounds of Marcel Paukers being a Western spy. During the war, in Moscow, Ana Pauker was the head of the exiled Romanian group of communists, known as the Moscow faction. In 1994, Radio Romanias Oral History Centre interviewed Ana Paukers son-in-law, Gheorghe Bratescu. He took the liberty to quote from a Soviet document, whereby his mother-in-law was appreciated for her qualities but also criticized for her inabilities: Her characterization, dated 1946, among other things, included the following: among the RCP leaders, comrade Ana Pauker is the best prepared, theoretically, having a great influence among party members. That is why she is the one who, in fact and in all respects, leads the activity of the Romanian Communist Partys Central Committee. She is very popular with the Romanian people as a result of her illegal communist activities of the past. Apart from her activity in the position of Central Committee Secretary, she heads the parliaments communist group. She ensures the RCPs collaboration with the other parties of the Democratic Bloc. She plays an active part in the activity of Womens International Anti-Fascist Federation. Nevertheless, comrade Ana Pauker has a major weakness as an organizer. She does not use her influence hard enough, but also her authority, for the strengthening of the party ideologically and in terms of its organization. For Ana Pauker, the end of World War Two and the presence of the Soviet Army in Romania acted as a true launching pad, giving her access to then the political powers top level. Ana Pauker was elected Secretary of the Romanian Communist Partys Central Committee. After the forced abdication of King Mihai I on December 30, 1947, she was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. The early 1950s meant her downfall. In 1952, then the communist leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej began the elimination of the competing groups. Ana Pauker was a member of such a group, which also included her comrade Vasile Luca. Charged with right-wing deviationism and sabotage, the members of the group were given a prison sentence. Lucretiu Patrascu, one of Gheorghiu Dejs avowed opponents, was executed. In 1953, Ana Pauker received a home confinement sentence. In 1954, she was expelled from the Communist Party. She lived until 1960 and earned her keep working as a translator of French and German with the Political Publishing House, yet officially she did not have the right to sign her work. She was a member of the translators team that created the first complete Romanian-language edition of Marx and Engels works. After 1965, then the new leader Nicolae Ceausescu tried to rehabilitate some of the victims of Dej. Gheorghe Bratescu said Ana Pauker was not among them. Gheorghe Bratescu gave us details about her life. Never ever has there been an attempt to do that. Moreover, she did her work at the Political Publishing House in quite abnormal circumstances. She didnt even get her salary from there; it was sent to her through the cleaning woman. The latter dispatched the materials the former was supposed to write, and on that occasion, the salary was being sent to her. As long as Gheorghiu-Dej lived, she was considered the most dangerous person, especially after the killing of Patrascanu. Which explains why, as regards her political activity, it was not until 1968 since her political activity had been spoken of. Moreover, in 1961, one year after she died, all her decorations were withdrawn from her. In other words, even her memory was somehow rated as being dangerous, so there was no such thing as a possible attempt of recovering. 1953 and 1960, paying visits to Ana Pauker were several people, among whom lawyer Radu Olteanu, defender of the communists and anti-fascists in the 1930 trials. But Ana Pauker also had another visitor, a former inmate. With details on that, here is Gheorghe Bratescu once again. She had no problem paying a visit, she was someone who did time with Ana Pauker, her name was Maria Andreescu, she was known as the Little Old Woman. As far as we could see, she also maintained contact with some of the old acquaintances, friends, comrades, admirers of Ana Pauker. When Ana was admitted to the Colentina hospital, then Maria Sarbu came and paid her a visit. And at the funeral, perhaps spurred by this Little Old Woman, that treacherous, opportunistic old man Gheorghe Cristescu participated, he somehow represented the old socialist movement. Ana Pauker was, just like many others, an individual bedazzled by the ideals of a perfect society which, in practice, translated into terror. And she left this world defeated by its harsh reality. Participants compete during the 2024 Head of Shanghai River Regatta in Shanghai, east China, Sept. 28, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Xiang) China has made historic strides in its national economy, leading the world in manufacturing and trade. For many consecutive years, it has contributed over 30 percent to global economic growth. by Rania Aboelkheir On Oct. 1, the People's Republic of China will celebrate its diamond jubilee, marking the 75th anniversary of its founding. Over these 75 years, China has undergone numerous major transformations, evolving into a pioneering model of development across various fields. It has risen from one of the world's poorest nations to an industrial and commercial powerhouse, now holding the position of the world's second-largest economy. The secret to China's success lies in its unique political system, anchored by the National People's Congress (NPC), the highest state authority in China. This year, China celebrated the 70th anniversary of the founding of the NPC and its first session in September 1954. Today, the Congress plays a crucial role in navigating the major transformations China is undergoing, as well as those occurring globally. Its responsibilities include enacting necessary legislation for emerging sectors and updating existing laws to keep pace with developments. At the same time, the system is "an entirely new political system that has grown from Chinese soil" and a great invention in the evolution of political institutions in human history, as emphasized by President Xi Jinping during this year's celebration of the founding of the NPC. In his address, he highlighted the importance of further shoring up confidence in the path, theory, system and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics in developing a whole-process people's democracy. As previously mentioned, China has made historic strides in its national economy, leading the world in manufacturing and trade. For many consecutive years, it has contributed over 30 percent to global economic growth. During my first visit to China to participate in discussions on the strategic plans made by the third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, which aimed at strengthening comprehensive reforms and advancing Chinese modernization, I was struck by the immense efforts China is making at all levels to preserve its achievements. People visit Sanfangqixiang (Three Lanes and Seven Alleys), an ancient block, in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, Oct. 6, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhou Yi) Notably, China's dedication to preserving its rich cultural heritage while striving for technological advancement and environmental sustainability caught my attention. Furthermore, Chinese tech companies are making remarkable progress in offering more sustainable and effective solutions for the future. China has achieved significant milestones in the green and low-carbon transition, becoming a global leader in installed capacity for hydropower, wind energy, solar energy, and biomass energy. All of this has been accomplished within the developmental vision of the CPC, which seeks to secure China's rightful place on the international and regional stage, in line with its historical heritage, economic strength, and political stability. This vision is also reflected in China's global strategy to foster worldwide security, stability, and development for all. China is now a strategic partner to over 120 countries and the world's second-largest destination for foreign direct investment. China's achievements are not confined to its own borders, as it has extended its vision to global development partnerships, creating prosperity for all through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and other initiatives like the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative. As a force contributing to global peace, stability, and progress, China is actively working to build a shared future for humanity. With its historic commitment to international peace, mutual respect in state relations, and respect for national sovereignty and independence, China has taken on more responsibilities in promoting global stability. As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a major contributor to UN peacekeeping efforts, and a supporter of conflict prevention and capacity building, China is playing an increasingly stronger role in enhancing global stability. In tandem with China's diamond jubilee celebrations, Egypt and China are marking a decade since signing their comprehensive strategic partnership agreement. The Global Forum for Future Studies, of which I serve as secretary-general, recently organized a successful seminar in cooperation with the Chinese Embassy in Egypt to celebrate ten years of partnership between the two nations. Under the joint leadership of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, bilateral relations have flourished over the past decade. The two leaders, through their high-level exchanges, have helped shape a comprehensive alignment between China's development vision, as embodied in the BRI, and Egypt's Vision 2030. Editor's note: Rania Aboelkheir is the secretary-general of the Global Forum for Future Studies, an Egyptian think tank. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Xinhua News Agency. Editor: JYZ A new academic year begins A new academic year begins in Romania. studenti sursa foto pixabay com@marcela net Mihai Pelin, 30.09.2024, 13:50 Most academic centres in Romania hosted opening ceremonies on Monday. Attending the festivities, alongside students and teaching staff, were also representatives of central and local authorities. There are also universities, such as the National School for Political and Administrative Studies, which open their gates on October 1, as tradition has it. This year, many high school graduates have chosen business studies, administration and law, engineering, medicine, foreign languages and social assistance studies. The head of the National Alliance of Student Organisations in Romania, Sergiu Covaci, explained that young peoples preferences are quite diverse. In fact, he also explained, the number of youth who choose to go to university is on the rise. In the capital city Bucharest, among the universities that started classes on Monday are the University of Bucharest, the Polytechnic University and the Academy of Economics. Over 14,000 students started a new academic year at the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, including around 3,000 freshmen. The new class of medical students is named after Academy Member Ana Aslan, a notable personality of Romanian and international medicine. At the Gheorghe Asachi Technical University in Iasi (east), the academic year begins with record-high admission figures for the past 20 years. The number of applicants was substantially above the number of seats available, and the total number of students admitted here is over 13,000. Opening ceremonies were also held in military academies around the country, including the Ferdinand I Military Technical Academy, the Carol I National Defence University in Bucharest, the Henri Coanda Air Force Academy in Brasov and the Nicolae Balcescu Land Force Academy in Sibiu (central Romania). Students will have a two-week break around the winter holidays, between Christmas and the New Year, and the first semester ends in late January-early February. After the exam session, the second semester begins, as usual, in February, with a one-week break for Easter. For most students, the semester will end in late May or early June, when the summer exam session begins. The longest and most eagerly awaited break, following the exam session, spreads the entire summer, until the next academic year begins in October. (AMP) The Romanian foreign minister at the UN The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East dominated the agenda of the Romanian foreign minister, Luminita Odobescu, at the UN General Assembly meeting. Photo: mae.ro Bogdan Matei, 30.09.2024, 14:00 Russias attacks on the civilian infrastructure in Ukraine carry on, and consolidating the defence in this country is important, which is an aspect to which Ukraines neighbor, Romania, also contributes with the donation of a Patriot missile defence system, the Romanian foreign minister Luminita Odobescu told the Romanian mass media. The Romanian diplomacy chief last week took part in the UN General Assembly in New York, where she voiced support for the peace plan put forth by the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. She said peace in Ukraine must be a just peace, based on international law and the UN Charter, and one which recognizes the territorial integrity and independence of Moscow-invaded Ukraine. The Romanian official explained that she had also discussed the drone attacks on Ukraines Romanian border with Bucharests Western partners and allies. She also mentioned that a merchant ship carrying Ukrainian grain was recently hit by a Russian missile in the Black Sea. Such attacks affect the security and freedom of navigaton and are flagrant violations of international rules, the Romanian foreign minister emphasised. On the other hand, the security situation in the Middle East is volatile and it is very important that a war affecting the entire region be avoided, Luminita Odobescu pointed out. In the bilateral meetings in New York with political leaders in the Arab worldPalestine, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emiratesshe reiterated that Romania consistently supported a two-state solution. But until that time, a lasting truce in Gaza is crucial, concurrently with the release of all the Israeli hostages kidnapped by the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas, and with continuing humanitarian aid for the civilians in Gaza. Luminita Odobescu emphasized that Bucharest is providing humanitarian aid to Gaza and voiced willingness for Romanian hospitals to treat children from that region, which has been devastated for a year now by a war that has killed over 40,000 and left another 100,000 others wounded. As for a possible spillover of this conflict to Lebanon, Luminita Odobescu said the Romanian diplomatic mission in that country focuses on the Romanian nationals who live there with their families. According to the Romanian official, so far nearly 1,000 Romanian nationals and family members have notified their presence in Lebanon to the Romanian Embassy in Beirut, but no evacuation requests have been received so far. Minister Odobescu reiterated the Romanian authorities call on Romanian nationals to avoid traveling to Lebanon, given the recent security developments in the region. (AMP) Indian shares opened notably lower on Monday amid mixed global cues and signs of escalating geopolitical tensions involving Israel, Lebanon, and Iran. The benchmark S&P/BSE Sensex was down 692 points, or 0.8 percent, at 84,879 in early trade while the broader NSE Nifty index was down 202 points, or 0.8 percent, at 25,976. Among the prominent losers, private sector banks such as ICICI Bank and Axis Bank fell around 2 percent each. PSU stocks were also coming under selling pressure, with Coal India and BEL falling more than 2 percent. Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki India dropped 1-3 percent before unveiling their September sales figures. Metal stocks traded higher after three of China's largest cities relaxed rules for homebuyers and China's central bank revised the mortgage rate pricing mechanism to ease financial pressure on homeowners. Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Hindalco were up between 1.6 percent and 2 percent. Reliance Infrastructure gained 1.3 percent after the Calcutta High Court ordered the release of a Rs 600 crore bank guarantee submitted by the company. Biocon fell nearly 2 percent after the U.S. regulator issued four observations for its Bengaluru API facility. Punjab National Bank declined 1 percent after raising Rs. 5,000 crores via a QIP placement to institutional investors. Welspun Enterprises rose about 1 percent after it was declared the lowest bidder for a Rs. 1,989.9 crore project from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. REC gave up 1.5 percent after raising $500 million through green dollar bonds. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Market Analysis Oil prices were subdued on Monday, after having opened the week on a firmer note earlier in the day following an escalation in Middle East geopolitics over the weekend. Benchmark Brent crude futures edged up 0.1 percent to $71.62 a barrel, while WTI crude futures were marginally lower at $68.15. Brent prices fell around 3 percent last week and WTI fell by around 5 percent despite China launching a significant policy campaign to boost the world's second-biggest and the top oil importer. Beijing's stimulus measures extended China's market rally into a second week, but the long-term effects are still unclear. Oil prices struggled for direction in European trading after the latest set of official and private sector PMI data from China reflected broader weakness in both manufacturing and services. Investors also awaited comments from ECB President Christine Lagarde and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell later in the day for additional clues on the rate outlook. On the positive side, concerns escalated over potential supply disruptions after Israeli military carried out an air raid on target in the heart of Lebanon's capital for first time in years. It is feared that Israel's increased attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthi in Yemen may bring the region one step closer to a much wider conflict involving Iran and the United States. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Market Analysis September saw several notable "firsts" in the regulatory landscape alongside the approval of four novel drugs in the U.S. Among these advancements, two new drugs to treat Niemann-Pick Disease, Type C, a rare genetic disease that results in progressive neurological symptoms and organ dysfunction, were approved by the FDA - IntraBio's Aqneursa and Zevra Therapeutics' Miplyffa. Additionally, the first over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid software device, Hearing Aid Feature, intended to be used with compatible versions of the Apple AirPods Pro headphones, received FDA authorization in the month. Now, let's turn our attention to the upcoming drug approvals of October. Biofrontera Inc. (BFRI) The FDA decision on Biofrontera's request to increase the maximally approved dosage of Ameluz from one to three tubes per treatment is expected on October 4, 2024. Ameluz, a topical gel, is used in combination with photodynamic therapy (PDT) using BF-RhodoLED lamp, a narrowband, red light illumination source, to treat a skin condition called actinic keratosis (warty overgrowths of skin) of mild-to-moderate severity on the face and scalp. As per the current recommendation, no more than 2 grams of AMELUZ (one tube) should be applied in a single session and the application area should not exceed 20cm2. Since many patients have actinic keratoses over large surface areas, the ability to treat these pre-cancerous lesions in one office visit will be more convenient for patients and more efficient for their dermatologists with simultaneous use of three tubes, according to the company. BFRI closed Friday's (Sep.27, 2024) trading at $1.28, up 1.59%. Zealand Pharma A/S (ZEAL.CO) Zealand's investigational drug Dasiglucagon, proposed for the prevention and treatment of hypoglycemia in pediatric patients 7 days of age and older with congenital hyperinsulinism, is under FDA review. The regulatory review is being conducted in two parts - Part 1 relates to dosing of Dasiglucagon up to three weeks, whereas Part 2 relates to the use beyond three weeks. The FDA decision on Part I of the New Drug Application for Dasiglucagon is anticipated on October 8, 2024. For Part 2 of the NDA, the FDA has requested additional analyses from existing continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) datasets, which the company expects to submit in the second half of 2024. Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) Bristol Myers Squibb's applications seeking approval for neoadjuvant Opdivo with chemotherapy followed by surgery and adjuvant Opdivo for the perioperative treatment of resectable stage IIA to IIIB non-small cell lung cancer are under FDA review, with a decision due on October 8, 2024. Non-small cell lung cancer is one of the most common types of lung cancer, representing up to 84% of diagnoses. Between 30% to 55% of non-small cell lung cancer patients who undergo surgery are said to experience disease recurrence. If the proposed indication is approved, the company anticipates that Opdivo will provide a new Opdivo-based treatment option for patients who could benefit from it in the perioperative setting. In the indication of NSCLC, Opdivo is already approved as a single and combination-based therapy for certain patients. Melanoma, Metastatic, Renal Cell Carcinoma, Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Head and Neck Cancer, Urothelial Carcinoma, Colorectal Cancer, Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Esophageal Carcinoma, Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma, and Gastric Cancer are the other indications for which Opdivo has secured . The drug generated sales of $2.4 billion in the second quarter of 2024, compared to $2.1 billion in the year-ago quarter. BMY closed Friday's trading at $50.91, up 1.58%. Amgen (AMGN) Amgen has sought FDA approval for its drug LUMAKRAS for, yet another indication and a decision is anticipated on October 17, 2024. The proposed use involves LUMAKRAS in combination with Vectibix, compared to the investigator's choice of therapy, for treating KRAS G12C-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer. Vectibix, also from the stable of Amgen, is an approved drug for colorectal cancer. LUMAKRAS was granted accelerated approval for the treatment of patients with KRAS G12C-mutated locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, following at least one prior systemic therapy, in May 2021. The drug generated sales of $85 million in the second quarter of 2024, compared to $77 million in the year-earlier quarter. If approved for the expanded indication, LUMAKRAS will need to compete with Bristol Myers Squibb's Krazati, which received accelerated approval for colorectal cancer in June of this year. AMGN closed Friday's trading at $322.67, up 1.12%. Camurus (CAMRF.OB) The FDA will decide whether or not to approve Camurus' Oclaiz, proposed for the treatment of acromegaly, on October 21, 2024. Acromegaly is a rare, slowly progressive disease, typically caused by a pituitary gland tumor that produces excess growth hormone, leading to elevated levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). This causes abnormal growth of bones and tissues, resulting in enlarged hands, feet, facial features, and internal organs. Patients may also experience symptoms such as fatigue, joint pain, headaches, visual disturbances, excessive sweating, and tingling sensations. Oclaiz is a once-monthly, subcutaneous (SC) long-acting depot formulation of the approved somatostatin analogue Octreotide. It is designed to enable easy self-administration, including the option of a pre-filled pen. In clinical trials, Oclaiz demonstrated an approximate five-fold higher bioavailability compared to the currently approved, long-acting, intramuscular Octreotide, according to the company. CAMRF.OB closed Friday's trading at $61.90, up 6.32%. Iterum Therapeutics plc (ITRM) The FDA decision on Iterum Therapeutics' resubmitted New Drug Application for Oral Sulopenem is anticipated on October 25, 2024. Oral Sulopenem is proposed for the treatment of uncomplicated urinary tract infections (uUTI) in adult women. This is the company's second attempt to secure FDA approval for oral Sulopenem in the proposed indication. The U.S. regulatory agency declined to approve Oral Sulopenem in July 2021, requiring the company to conduct at least one additional adequate and well-controlled clinical trial. The company addressed the concerns raised by the FDA and resubmitted the New Drug Application for Oral Sulopenem in April of this year, which is now under FDA review. On September 9, 2024, the FDA's Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee (AMDAC) met to evaluate the overall benefits and risks of Oral Sulopenem for treating uncomplicated urinary tract infections (uUTI) caused by specific susceptible microorganisms in adult women over 18 and discussed the considerations that would be important for medical providers to know to ensure its appropriate use. The FDA Committee recognized oral Sulopenem as an important treatment option for certain patients with uUTI. ITRM closed Friday's trading at $1.05, up 0.96%. PharmaTher Holdings Ltd. (PHRRF.OB) PharmaTher Holdings' New Drug Application for Ketamine, which is under FDA review, is assigned a goal date of October 29, 2024. Ketamine is an essential medicine used for anesthesia and analgesia (pain relief) and has been on the FDA's drug shortage list since February 2018. Upon approval, the company is expected to launch Ketamine in the U.S., under the brand name Ketarx, in the first quarter of 2025. PHRRF.OB closed Friday's trading at $0.20, up 5.79%. Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (LXRX) An FDA panel is slated to discuss Lexicon Pharma's drug candidate Zynquista as an adjunct to insulin therapy for glycemic control in adults with type 1 diabetes and chronic kidney disease on October 31, 2024. Zynquista is an oral dual inhibitor of two proteins responsible for glucose regulation known as sodium-dependent glucose co-transporter types 1 and 2 (SGLT1 and SGLT2). SGLT1 is responsible for glucose absorption in the gastrointestinal tract, and SGLT2 is responsible for glucose reabsorption by the kidney. This is Zynquista's second go-around with the U.S. regulatory agency. The FDA declined to approve Zynquista in March 2019. The company resubmitted its New Drug Application for Zynquista in June of this year and awaits the FDA's final decision, which is due on December 20, 2024. Zynquista was granted marketing authorization in the European Union in April 2019 as an adjunct to insulin therapy to improve glycemic control in adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus. However, the European Commission withdrew the drug from the European Union in March 2022 at the request of Guidehouse Germany GmbH, the holder of Zynquista's marketing rights in Europe, which opted not to sell the product for commercial reasons. LXRX closed Friday's trading at $1.60, up 3.90%. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Gerresheimer AG (GRRMF.PK) lowered its guidance for 2024 and 2025 due to the significantly slower than expected market recovery 2024 and lower anticipated market growth in 2025 in the vial market. The company said its outlook was also impacted by the current flooding at the Morganton vial plant in the United States caused by Hurricane Helene, which will halt production for several weeks. In the 2024 financial year, the company now expects organic revenue growth between 3% and 4% compared to previous estimate of 5% to 10%. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between 415 million euros and 430 million euros, previously 430 million to 450 million euros. Compared to the previous year, adjusted earnings per share for the financial year 2024 is expected to grow between 2 and 8%, compared to previous estimate of 8 to 12%. For the 2025 financial year, the company now expects organic revenue growth between 7 and 10% compared to the previous estimate of 10 to 15%. The adjusted EBITDA margin for the 2025 financial year is expected to be around 22%, compared to previous estimate of above 22%. The mid-term guidance remains unchanged. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News The Health Ministry of Rwanda has reported that at least eight individuals have tragically succumbed to the Marburg virus, a highly contagious and lethal illness similar to Ebola. This announcement follows the confirmation of an outbreak of this serious hemorrhagic fever in the nation. Marburg virus disease (MVD) poses a grave threat, often resulting in severe illness and fatalities and currently lacks any approved vaccine or specific treatment. The disease was first identified in Germany in 1967 and is transmitted to humans from infected animals, primarily fruit bats. It spreads among people through direct contact with the bodily fluids of those infected. Minister Nsanzimana told journalists, "Marburg is a rare disease. We are intensifying contact tracing and testing to help stop the spread." He also stated that the source of the outbreak remains unknown, and symptoms can manifest anywhere from three days to three weeks after exposure. Common symptoms include fever, muscle aches, diarrhea, vomiting, and in severe cases, fatal blood loss. In response to the outbreak, the public has been strongly advised to avoid physical contact. Authorities have identified approximately 300 individuals who were in contact with confirmed cases, and some of them have been isolated for monitoring. Furthermore, the World Health Organization is intensifying its support and will collaborate closely with Rwandan officials to help contain the virus, as stated by WHO's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on the social media platform X. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Oil futures settled flat on Monday despite supply concerns amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, as uncertainty about the outlook for oil demand from China weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended down $0.01 at $68.17 a barrel, coming off the day's high of $69.32 a barrel. Accoring to reports, Israeli military carried out an air raid on target in the heart of Lebanon's capital for first time in years. It is feared that Israel's increased attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthi in Yemen may bring the region one step closer to a much wider conflict involving Iran and the United States. In Chinese economic news, the manufacturing sector in China fell into contraction territory in September, the latest survey from Caixin revealed on Monday with a manufacturing PMI score of 49.3. That's down from 50.4 in August, and it slips beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. Incoming new orders for Chinese manufactured goods declined at the fastest pace since September 2022, attributed to falling underlying demand, heightening competition and subdued market conditions, according to panelists. This included export orders, with softening economic conditions abroad negatively affecting foreign demand. Firms in the investment goods sector recorded the fastest fall in overall new work. The survey also showed that the services PMI came in at 50.3, down from 51.6 in August. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Market Analysis BEIJING, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Sunday that over the past 75 years the Communist Party of China (CPC) has led the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in creating the twin miracles of rapid economic growth and long-term social stability. Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a ceremony awarding the country's highest state honors ahead of the 75th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China. Xi hailed the earthshaking changes that have taken place in China and said national rejuvenation is now on an irreversible historical course. Editor: JYZ Michael Barry By The Division of Communication and Advancement Rhodes University is proud to announce that South African art activist and educator, Michael Barry, will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) (honoris causa) during the Universitys graduation ceremony in Makhanda on 11 October 2024. This prestigious recognition comes as the University celebrates its 120th anniversary, marking more than a century of academic and cultural excellence. Barry's award also coincides with the 50th anniversary of the National Arts Festival, which has solidified Makhandas status as South Africas Creative City. Michael Barrys impact on the South African arts and cultural landscape is profound and far-reaching. Over decades, Barry has used the arts as a platform for social justice, community upliftment, and cultural preservation. His work as an arts activist has empowered marginalised communities, including vulnerable youth, by encouraging them to view the arts as not only a viable career path but also a means of expressing their lived realities. He has played a pivotal role in public art initiatives and community projects, such as Route 67 in Gqeberha and the Helenvale Boy and the Kite public artwork, which symbolises hope, peace, and resilience in communities facing social challenges. Barry's life and career have been shaped by the turbulent times of South Africas apartheid era, particularly his early experiences of forced removals from Fairview, Port Elizabeth. His creative journey began with a Fine Arts Honours degree from the prestigious Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town. He later earned a Higher Diploma in Education and a Masters in Art Education from Nelson Mandela University. Despite the challenges of apartheid, Barry channelled his experiences into his work as both an artist and educator, always driven by the desire to uplift others. Barrys influence extends beyond the canvas. His commitment to community engagement is evident through his roles as a teacher, mentor, and arts advocate. After teaching art at St Thomas Senior Secondary School in Port Elizabeth, where he pioneered creative arts education in the Northern Areas, Barry continued to promote community development through the arts. His work with the Arts & Teaching Initiatives (ATI) and his involvement in numerous heritage and public art projects have had a lasting impact on both the Eastern Cape and South Africa as a whole. Rhodes University Vice-Chancellor Professor Sizwe Mabizela praises Barrys unwavering dedication to the arts, stating: "Social justice, equality, and access to the arts have been the mainstay of his lifelong journey as an artist, arts activist, and arts educator. He has inspired a generation of vulnerable youth to take up the arts as a viable career option, and to use the medium to express their lived realities." This honorary doctorate not only recognises Barrys achievements but also his significant contributions to South Africas cultural heritage. His extensive work in documenting the histories of marginalised communities, particularly those affected by apartheids forced removals, serves as a powerful tool for healing and remembrance. Barrys projects, such as his involvement with the South End Museum and the Northern Areas Heritage, Research, and Interpretive Centre (NAHRIC), exemplify his commitment to preserving and celebrating the stories of displaced people and communities. As a pioneer of public art and cultural activism, Barry has been instrumental in fostering international collaborations between South African and European cultural organisations. These projects have created platforms for young people from diverse backgrounds to connect and engage in meaningful dialogue about culture, history, and identity. His ability to merge art with historical memory and education has made him a compelling artist, scholar, and humanitarian. This years conferral of the honorary doctorate will be a significant moment in Rhodes Universitys history, as it reflects the institutions values of honouring individuals who embody selfless service and a dedication to creating a better society. Barrys ongoing work in communities affected by poverty, violence, and inequality demonstrates his tireless commitment to making a meaningful difference through art. Even in retirement, Barry remains an active force in the arts and continues to teach part-time at Nelson Mandela University, inspiring future generations of artists and educators. Barrys contributions to public art are nationally and internationally recognised, with his works featured in galleries and public spaces. From his involvement in the Helenvale Urban Arts Renewal Project to his leadership roles in initiatives like the Sunday Times 100-Year Heritage Project, Barrys art has transformed both physical spaces and societal narratives. His awards, including the 2018 Eastern Cape Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture Provincial Cultural Award and the Nelson Mandela University Alumni Associations recognition, highlight the impact of his lifelong dedication to the arts. Rhodes University eagerly anticipates honouring Michael Barry at the upcoming graduation ceremony, where he has been invited to deliver a keynote address. His story of using art as a tool for social change and empowerment will undoubtedly inspire the next generation of South African leaders, artists, and cultural advocates. In a year that celebrates both Rhodes Universitys 120th anniversary and Makhandas creative spirit, Michael Barrys honorary doctorate is a fitting recognition of his exceptional contributions to art, culture, and community development in South Africa and beyond. Rhodes University Theatre at the start of #RUPrideWeek2024 By: Lance Myburgh Rhodes University Pride Week 2024 is a central highlight of the RU120 celebrations, showcasing its ongoing commitment to inclusivity and equality as it works toward a more diverse and accepting community. As part of this initiative, Rhodes University hosted a special screening of Hold on 25th September 2024 at Eden Grove Red, a poignant and thought-provoking film exploring themes of identity, love, and belonging. Director David Ikpo and Producer Tshepang Mamaregane were virtually present for a post-screening discussion, where they shared insights into their creative journey, the film's impact, and the critical conversations it has sparked. Hold has garnered significant attention for its raw depiction of human relationships, particularly in Africa. The documentary commemorates two decades of legal recognition of same-sex marriages in South Africa. The film also captures the lived experiences of same-sex couples and sheds some light on the social, political, and economic factors influencing marriage and civil unions. As a result, holding society and states accountable for protecting the rights of same-sex couples. Directed by Nigerian writer, filmmaker, and human rights advocate David Ikpo, the film boldly delves into identity struggles, societal pressures, and personal liberation. Ikpo, known for his debut novel Fimisile Forever, brings his signature sensitivity and narrative depth to the screen, exploring the complexities of gender and sexuality in a world that often challenges the freedom to express them. David Ikpo is renowned for his significant achievements, including his impactful public speaking and engagement at conferences that explore the intersections of law, literature, and human rights. He has received various awards and accolades for his literary and cinematic contributions, underscoring his influential role in the African arts scene. Producer Tsheperange, a visionary in her own right, played a pivotal role in bringing the film to life. With a background in film production and a passion for storytelling, Tsheperang has earned recognition for her commitment to amplifying diverse voices and exploring themes of identity, culture, and resilience. Her role in Hold showcases her talent for curating impactful narratives that resonate on both personal and societal levels. The event, facilitated by Advocate of the High Court and Law Faculty Lecturer Shuaib Rahim, played a pivotal role in the success of the weeks celebrations. In his opening remarks, Rahim highlighted critical factors in the evolution of LGBTQIA+ rights, including collaborations across various sectors, nationwide consultations, and active community engagement. He emphasised the crucial role of legal advocacy and litigation, particularly the efforts of the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality in securing the inclusion of sexual orientation in legislation. Rahim also underscored the profound challenges and sacrifices made in the fight for equality, reminding the audience that many lives were lost in the process. "Every single step, every single right, every single liberty we have was hard-earned. Many people literally lost their lives to ensure this", he stated. After the screening, the audience had the opportunity to engage with Ikpo and Mamaregane in a Q&A session that offered deeper insight into the making of the film. This interactive component enriched the experience, encouraging dialogue around the intersections of politics and personal identity challenges faced by LGBTQIA+. Some of the topics of discussion in this session explored included the influence of close friendships on LGBTQIA+ marriages, the contrast between Queer Joy and Queer Drama, and the crucial role journalism plays in LGBTQIA+ activism. The session also touched on strategies for coping with individual backlash, despite the global progress in breaking down LGBTQIA+ stereotypes and prejudices. Renowned for fostering critical thinking and embracing diverse perspectives, the screening reinforced Rhodes University's commitment to inclusive dialogue and the arts. The university continues to champion creative expression and thought-provoking discourse, with Hold standing as a testament to the transformative power of African storytelling. The film serves as a powerful reminder of cinemas ability to challenge, inspire, and drive change. With the new 2025 Suzuki Access 125, the company will better position it against Activa 125, Jupiter 125, Fascino 125 and new Destini 125 If we take the 2W industry in India, Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd is primarily known for its scooters and is not a popular brand for motorcycles. Most of Suzukis strengths come from its no-nonsense Access 125 family scooter. The company is readying an update for this scooter as suggested by spy shots. Lets take a look. 2025 Suzuki Access Base Model Indias third best-selling scooter, Suzuki Access, has been a successful product for the company in India. With its tried and tested no-nonsense formula, Suzuki has firmly established a stronghold in Indian scooter market. Access 125 is a stark example of this formula and is a sought-after family scooter. In August 2024, Suzuki Access 125 held an 11.29% market share within the top 10 best-selling scooters. Suzuki Access is set to get a major update, which is likely to launch in 2025. Test mules of this upcoming scooter have been spied before in fully loaded avatar with front disc brakes and alloy wheels. For the first time, 2025 Suzuki Access base model has been spied. Suggesting that the recently spied test mules are base variants are attributes like drum brakes at the front and steelies (steel wheels). Alongside Access test mules, we can see Avenis 125 and Burgman Street 125 test mules as well. The latter two scooters are likely to be support vehicles and all these scooters had temporary red registration plates. These test mules are completely wrapped with camouflage and show very little design changes. What are the changes? For starters, there will be a redesigned headlight along with front apron that will distinguish itself from current model. Behind this apron is storage compartment and a circular reflector. We can see new tail section along with a redesigned exhaust heat shield when compared to current model. Feature additions include hazard light, seen with previous spy shots. Upcoming Access is likely to get a fully digital instrument cluster with Bluetooth and turn-by-turn navigation. We hope new Access gets 12-inch wheels at both ends, unlike current model with 10-inch rear wheel. We also expect miscellaneous features like USB charging port, boot light and others. It will retain the same 124cc single cylinder air cooled engine with 8.6 bhp of peak power and 10 Nm of peak torque, mated to a CVT. When launched, it will rival Honda Activa 125, TVS Jupiter 125, Yamaha Fascino 125 and recently launched Hero Destini 125. Source With 18 motorcycles on offer in this segment, Royal Enfield dominates with 82% market share thanks to their 6 motorcycles After taking a look at the 150cc to 200cc segment sales, let us now take a look at the 350cc to 450cc Motorcycle Sales Aug 2024. This segment experienced a slight year-on-year decline of 3.59%, with total sales reaching 75,632 units compared to 78,452 units in August 2023. While some models saw growth, others faced significant declines. 350cc to 450cc Motorcycle Sales Aug 2024 Royal Enfield Dominates Royal Enfield Classic 350 remained the top-selling model, recording 28,450 units, reflecting an 8.93% growth from the previous year. Classic 350 maintained a dominant 37.62% market share. Royal Enfield Hunter 350, however, saw a slight drop of 4.80%, selling 13,481 units but still contributing 17.82% to the total segment sales. Royal Enfield Bullet 350 faced a substantial decline of 42.18%, with 8,660 units sold in August 2024, down by 6,318 units from last year. Meteor 350 also saw a drop of 21.34%, with total sales of 6,785 units, indicating a shift in consumer preference away from these models. Triumph 400 posted a 3.87% growth year-on-year, selling 3,328 units. Bajaj Pulsar 400 entered the market with strong sales of 2,516 units, capturing a 3.33% share. Royal Enfield Guerrilla, a new entrant, sold 2,205 units, further diversifying Royal Enfields offerings in the segment. Royal Enfield Himalayan faced a significant 45.57% decline, with sales dropping to 2,099 units. Jawa Yezdi (Retail) also saw a drop of 13.13%, with 2,058 units sold, reflecting a challenging period for these adventure and retro models. Honda HNess 350 faced the steepest decline in the segment, dropping 52.18%, with only 1,653 units sold. On the other hand, Honda CB 350 contributed 1,459 units in August 2024, and Harley Davidson X440 made its market debut with 885 units sold. KTM 390 saw a 16.84% decline, selling 711 units, while Bajaj Dominar 400 dropped by 15.10%, with 703 units sold. On a positive note, Aprilia RS 457 entered the segment with 415 units sold, and Hero Mavrick also made its debut, adding 170 units. Husqvarna 401 and Kawasaki Eliminator 400 contributed smaller numbers to the segment, selling 48 and 6 units, respectively. Month On Month Comparison In August 2024, the 350cc to 450cc motorcycle segment in India saw a month-on-month growth of 6.22%, with total sales increasing from 71,200 units in July to 75,632 units. Royal Enfield Classic 350 led the segment with 28,450 units sold, marking a 33.11% increase over the previous month. Royal Enfield Hunter 350 experienced a slight decline of 4.33%, selling 13,481 units. Royal Enfield Bullet 350 and Meteor 350 saw decreases of 12.96% and 14.12%, selling 8,660 and 6,785 units respectively. Triumph 400 sold 3,328 units, showing a growth of 7.32%. Bajaj Pulsar 400 faced a decline of 24.67%, with 2,516 units sold. Royal Enfield Guerrilla had a significant increase of 50.10%, selling 2,205 units. Royal Enfield Himalayans sales decreased by 24.20% to 2,099 units, while Jawa Yezdi (Retail) saw a slight drop of 3.43% with 2,058 units sold. Honda HNess 350 and Honda CB 350 showed strong growth, increasing by 25.80% and 44.31%, with sales of 1,653 and 1,459 units respectively. Harley Davidson X440 grew by 8.46%, selling 885 units. KTM 390 and Bajaj Dominar 400 saw sales increases of 19.90% and 21.21%, with 711 and 703 units sold. Aprilia RS 457 experienced a decline of 8.79%, selling 415 units. Hero Mavricks sales dropped by 36.80% to 170 units. Husqvarna 401 increased sales by 37.14%, selling 48 units, and Kawasaki Eliminator 400 entered the market with 6 units sold. Apart from the changes needed for an electric car, the equipment list for Creta EV is largely the same as that of new ICE Creta As part of its electric portfolio expansion plans, Hyundai is readying the new Creta EV. It is expected to be launched in early 2025. Creta EV will take on rivals such as Tata Curvv, MG Windsor and upcoming Maruti eVX and Mahindra BE.05. Creta EV interiors revealed Whats new? As compared to the ICE Creta, the Creta electric has a new steering wheel. It has a 3-spoke design and is a completely circular unit. In comparison, the ICE Creta has a flat bottom steering wheel. While the interiors seem familiar, one can see exclusive CRETA electric badging on the upholstery. Creta EV could get new interior theme options and more dynamic choices for ambient lighting. However, such features are not evident with this specific spy image. Most other features in the front row are largely the same as the new Creta. Some of the key highlights include a curvy dashboard, horizontally placed AC vents and dual 10.25-inch screens for the infotainment and instrument console. The central console of the test mule is still a work in progress setup, but its evident that most of the panel buttons are borrowed from the ICE Creta. Presence of physical buttons on the central console makes practical sense, although the polished interior aesthetics are slightly compromised in the process. Equipment list Creta EV will borrow most of the equipment from the ICE Creta. The latter has dual-tone interiors, leather wrapped steering wheel and gear knob and 8-way power adjustable driver seat. Depending on the variant, upholstery options include fabric and leatherette. Creta EV will get a panoramic sunroof, dual-zone automatic temperature control, front ventilated seats and electric parking brake with auto hold. Gear selector is likely to be on the stalk behind steering wheel, like in Ioniq 5. There will be a rotary dial for selecting traction control modes. Users can access smartphone wireless charger, cruise control, keyless entry, rear AC vent and USB charging ports. A comprehensive range of safety features will be available with Creta EV. The list includes 6-airbags, electronic stability control, vehicle stability management, hill start assist control, rear disc brakes and tyre pressure monitoring system. Hyundai Creta EV will have automatic headlamps, headlamp escort function, day and night IRVM, rear parking sensors and camera and front parking sensors. A comprehensive range of ADAS features will be offered with Creta EV. Creta EV Range, performance While there is no official confirmation, it is estimated that Creta EV will have a range of around 450 km. With an advanced regen braking system, users can expect a good real-world range of around 350 km. Creta EV is expected to be equipped with a 45-kWh battery pack. The electric motor will generate around 138 hp and 255 Nm of torque. Hyundai will ensure that Creta EV delivers a better overall performance than the ICE Creta. BEIJING, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- The year 2024 is meant to be an important year for Chinese doctor Wang Zhenyi. Turning 100 this year, the celebrated medical scientist has been conferred the Medal of the Republic, China's highest national honor, for his outstanding achievements. Wang has loved being a doctor since the first day he put on a white coat, enjoying the sense of accomplishment that comes from curing patients' illnesses. However, in his encounters with leukemia over several decades he had been defeated time after time, becoming overwhelmed by frustration, until one day he was able to claim victory in the battle against his fiercest enemy, acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), a most rare and fatal disease. In 1948, Wang graduated from the medical school of the former Aurora University in Shanghai. He then began his medical career at the Guangci Hospital, now known as the prestigious Ruijin Hospital, affiliated to the Shanghai Jiao Tong University's school of medicine. Back then, Wang had already set himself the ambitious goal of conquering leukemia. The goal was a difficult one, as leukemia, also known as blood cancer, had long been regarded as a tough opponent for doctors. Wang repeatedly experienced the formidable power of this disease. In the middle of the last century, he witnessed about 60 patients dying of the disease in a single year. "As a doctor, it pains me most to see a patient being tortured by illness when there is nothing I can do," Wang said. However, this did not deter Wang, but made him all the more determined to succeed. Each day, after finishing his routine work, Wang spent almost all his spare time in libraries, archive rooms and laboratories, doing research. After years of tireless work and countless trials and errors, an element called all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) came into the picture as a hopeful cure for APL, the most dangerous form of leukemia. At the time, the five-year survival rate for APL was only about 10 percent, and many patients died within just a week of diagnosis, leaving little opportunity for doctors to do anything. In 1986, Wang received a five-year-old girl who was diagnosed with APL and was expected to face the same fate. However, Wang decided to try something different this time, prescribing ATRA therapy. Although Wang and his colleagues had been working on the therapy for about eight years, it was still at the experimental stage, and some felt the move was too bold. But Wang insisted, saying, "I believe in science, and I am confident." Seven days after the treatment, a "miracle" happened. The girl's symptoms improved significantly, and a month later they were completely relieved. That year, Wang and his team treated 24 patients suffering from the disease and 23 of them saw their symptoms effectively alleviated by the treatment without having to resort to chemotherapy. The results did not only mean that the patients were given a new lease of life, but also meant that for the first time in medical history, APL patients and their doctors had an effective weapon in their fight against the disease. Though overjoyed by the results, Wang was not content. He and his students decided to take an even bolder step -- to further develop the therapy by introducing arsenic trioxide (ATO), a well-known toxic element, into the treatment to deal with the relapse of symptoms in some cases. At first, the use of the toxic compound was met with much suspicion. "Some said we were poisoning patients, placing us under great pressure," recalled Chen Zhu, one of Wang's students, who is now an established medical expert and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Nevertheless, the new therapy was proved effective. "After a fourth patient suffering from relapsing symptoms was successfully treated, we knew the therapy worked and were as happy as could be," said Chen. With the new ATRA-ATO combination therapy, the five-year survival rate for APL rose from 10 percent to more than 97 percent, making the dreadful APL essentially a curable form of leukemia. The ground-breaking therapy also won global recognition, offering the promise of considerable financial reward if it resulted in a patented pharmaceutical product. But Wang has decided not to apply for a patent, either for the procedure or its medical composition, in the hope that it will be more broadly available and save more patients. Today in China, a box of 10 ATRA capsules can be purchased at a reasonable price of about 300 yuan (about 43 U.S. dollars), and the expenditure is covered by the country's medical insurance system. "A doctor should put the welfare of patients first," said Wang. "Maybe I could have made a fortune or built up my reputation, but those were of no interest to me. I only wish my patients well." The beneficiaries of the therapy are not limited to China. In 2015, Bernadette Giandomenico, a former APL patient from the United States, wrote to Wang to express her gratitude. "There simply are no words that are sufficient to convey how very grateful I am to you," wrote Giandomenico, a mother of two. "I could say 'thank you' a million times over and I don't believe it would be enough." Over the years, Wang has received a series of honors for his contributions to medicine, including his membership to the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the national science and technology award, China's top award in the sector. Recently, ahead of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the veteran doctor received an early gift for his 100th birthday: the Medal of the Republic, the highest honor one can receive for contributions to the country. However, speaking of his career, Wang made just a brief and modest comment: "I have achieved only one thing in my life -- being responsible for my patients." He said the special work of doctors forces their souls to undergo the test of life and death every day, constantly purifying and elevating them. The tests are still ongoing. After his retirement in 2003, he asked his students to give him "weekly exams" -- submitting difficult cases they encountered each week, after which he searched for solutions and discussed his findings with the students. These discussions were later compiled into several volumes of books, providing valuable learning materials for clinicians. To this day, Wang can still recite the oaths he took when graduating from medical school: "I will treat patients with all my power, be they rich or poor. I will devote myself to scientific research and continue learning as science develops, so as to do greater good for the human race." From Wang's perspective, these words still ring true today. "We must carry on with learning. That's what we're doing right now, and we have never stopped," he said. In 2011, Wang heard from the then five-year-old patient he first treated successfully in 1986. Twenty-five years after her treatment, she was still in good health and about to be a bride. Editor: GSY Li Shulei, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, opens the 2024 China International Confucius Cultural Festival in Qufu, east China's Shandong Province, Sept. 27, 2024. The 2024 China International Confucius Cultural Festival kicked off on Friday in Qufu, Shandong Province, the birthplace of Confucius. (Xinhua/Ding Lin) JINAN, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- The 2024 China International Confucius Cultural Festival kicked off on Friday in Qufu, Shandong Province, the birthplace of Confucius. Li Shulei, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, opened the festival. Guests from home and abroad attending the event said that Confucianism has profoundly influenced China's development and played a positive role in advancing human civilization. The festival is an effective platform for the implementation of the China-proposed Global Civilization Initiative and deepened cultural exchange. It is making increasing contributions to promoting global dialogue on civilization, and to fostering friendship between peoples of various nations, guests said. This year's festival, themed "conversation with Confucius, mutual learning among civilizations," was launched by the provincial government of Shandong, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO. Editor: GSY By Xinhua writers Bai Xu, Yue Yuanyuan and Qiang Lijing BEIJING, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Bai Yaoqin's first photo was taken shortly after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. "It was chilly, and I was wearing a long robe," recalled the 80-year-old grandmother in Beijing. She was just five years old when she posed for the photo with her elder sister, a way they used to express their joy of liberation. As she flipped through her photo albums, she marveled at the big changes in the country reflected in the pictures taken throughout the decades. "The changes are earthshaking," she said. To ordinary Chinese people today, photo-taking has transformed from once a luxurious activity to a common practice. From children to senior citizens, they can easily capture any moment of their life with a click on their phones. The myriad photos since 1949 together bore witness to China's development in the past 75 years. RECORDING A SPECIAL MOMENT Unfortunately, Bai's first photo was lost. However, she managed to preserve her vocational school graduation picture, a black-and-white one taken in 1966 at the Tian'anmen Square. This is her first photo taken outdoors. In the yellowed photo, 42 students, dressed in dull-colored coats and trousers stared at or smiled shyly to the camera, with the short-haired Bai in the first row. "We rarely took photos at that time, but graduation was such a big occasion that we thought the Tian'anmen Square was the most suitable place," she said. The Tian'anmen Square, located at the center of Beijing, holds an important place in the hearts of the Chinese people. Li Jun, a 68-year-old retired photographer from the Da Bei Photo Studio, which boasts a history of 103 years, can still recall the long queues waiting to take photos at the square. "Back then people had no cameras, so having photographers taking a photo at the Tian'anmen Square was the wish of many people," said the shutterbug who started working at the Tian'anmen Square in 1978. He said that back then most Chinese people dressed in simple garments with monotone colors, such as black, white, green and dark blue. According to Li, a small black-and-white photo cost 0.4 yuan (about 0.06 U.S. dollars), including the postage. The customers coming from other parts of the country typically couldn't wait for the photo to be developed, so mailing was necessary. Considering that most Chinese people at that time earned just over 30 yuan a month, the price wasn't insignificant. At the peak season, a photographer could consume about 40 films, which means more than a dozen photographers there took photos for thousands of visitors a day. Traveling was not common at that time. "The customers were mostly on work trips or visiting their relatives or friends in Beijing," he said. There were also passengers transferring in Beijing, who would rush to the square about three kilometers away from the railway station for a quick snap. Li recalled meeting a young soldier whose uniform was drenched with sweat as he ran towards the iconic spot. "He said he only had a couple of hours between the trains but wanted to take a photo," the photographer explained. "I had a long queue of customers waiting, but I couldn't let him down." So he asked one of his colleagues to help the soldier fulfill his wish. TAKING PICTURES A COMMONPLACE In 1978, China launched its reform and opening up, leading to fast growth of the country's economy and marked improvement of the people's livelihood. The saving deposits of urban and rural residents increased from 21.1 billion yuan at the end of 1978 to 380.2 billion yuan at the end of 1988. Before the advent of color photography, Da Bei used to offer services dyeing photos for customers. Customers usually had their black-and-white photos dyed to decorate their rooms, placing them on walls or desks. According to Li Jun, the photographer, they normally asked customers what colors they would like to have for their clothes. Following the adoption of colored film, the photo studio launched a color photograph service in the 1980s, which was welcomed by customers. Li Jiangxia traveled to Beijing in the summer of 1987 from her hometown in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Then 25, she visited multiple tourist attractions in the city and had a picture taken at the Tian'anmen Square. It was a colored photo. Against the backdrop of the blue sky and red Tian'anmen Rostrum, she wore a long white dress. The photo cost her three yuan, one-14th of her monthly salary. "Considering that it was the first time I traveled, the photo was not expensive at all," she said. "After all, I needed something to record my journey." People would go to a photo studio to mark the important moments in their lives, such as birthday celebrations, family reunions and weddings. Meng Jing, 45, had her birthday photos taken in Da Bei each year of her childhood. "It was an inseparable part of my annual celebration," said Meng. As incomes rose, cameras became more accessible to families, making photography increasingly commonplace. Bai Yaoqin also took a photo at the Tian'anmen Square in the early 1990s with her husband, using their own camera. She was wearing a black jacket while her husband was in a long trench coat. Other visitors behind them are seen wearing blue or red down jackets. OPTIONS MORE DIVERSIFIED The following years saw China's economy soar. China's GDP more than doubled in the past decade, rapidly expanding to 121 trillion yuan in 2022 from 59.3 trillion yuan in 2013, with an average annual growth rate of over 6 percent. In the past decade, China's share of the world economy has increased from 12.3 percent to over 18 percent, with its annual contribution to global growth averaging over 30 percent. As people abandoned their pocket cameras for modern options, photography blossomed into a popular hobby among many Chinese people. Meng Jing bought a Nikon D80 digital camera in 2006, four years after she graduated from university. It cost her 10,000 yuan, equivalent to her two months' salary. With this camera, she traveled to many places across the country and overseas tourist destinations to take photos. Today it is no longer just a hobby for young people: at many scenic attractions in China it is common to see many elderly people holding a professional camera, practicing techniques they learned online or from training centers. For their own portraits people have more diversified preferences: Meng used to have her photos taken in studios where she was in evening dresses that feature a Western style. But in recent years she has been fascinated by Hanfu, China's traditional attire. Showing a Xinhua reporter her photos in an elaborate red dress of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), she said: "travel is pretty easy these days. Earlier this year, I went to Luoyang for a weekend specifically to capture these images at various sites." Luoyang, an ancient city in central China's Henan Province, is about 800 kilometers away from Beijing, but the high-speed train ride took her less than four hours to get there. The cost of service, including costume-renting, make-up and a professional photographer was about 400 yuan. This is quite affordable compared with her monthly salary, which now exceeds 20,000 yuan. Li Jiangxia, now retired, enjoys traveling both within China and abroad to countries such as Britain, France and Belgium, capturing photos with her phone. She also loves dancing and has joined a community club. This spring, she bought a set of Hanfu and often shares photos and videos of herself dancing in the dress on her social media account. Seeing people's high demand for Hanfu photos, Da Bei launched the costume-renting and photo-taking service earlier this year. Photographers could go with customers to attractions such as the Temple of Heaven or the Beihai Park to take pictures. "Young people are no longer satisfied with taking photos of a fixed pattern," said Li Liting, chairwoman of the Da Bei Photo Studio. "They would like to have their real happy moments recorded outdoors, rather than posing for photos inside a studio." However, she noted that services for vintage photos, including the black-and-white ones, still remain, with parents coming to take pictures for their children in the same style as their own childhood photos. "Each year I bring my son to Da Bei for his birthday photo, just as what I had 40 years ago," Meng Jing said, adding that she also took her parents there for family photos occasionally. Li told Xinhua that they also consider restoring the dyeing service, so that customers could have more choices for vintage photos. "I believe that no matter how developed the society is and what new technology may come out, photo-taking is an irreplaceable service," she said. "Our photos have recorded the lives of Chinese people in the past decades, and we will continue to do so for their children, in the years to come." Enditem (Xinhua writers Ding Jing and Ren Chao contributed to the story.) Editor: GSY Shares in Stellantis tumbled in Milan on Monday after the Chrysler, Peugeot and Jeep maker became the latest auto manufacturer to scale back vehicle delivery forecasts this year. The Netherlands-based company, which was formed in 2021 from the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group, said it is now targeting no more than 330,000 units of dealer inventory by the end of the year, bringing forward that target from the first quarter of 2025 due to a planned normalisation of inventory levels in the US. The company pointed to North American shipment declines of more than 200,000 vehicles in the second half of 2024, up from earlier guidance of a 100,000 decrease. "Deterioration in the global industry backdrop reflects a lower 2024 market forecast than at the beginning of the period, while competitive dynamics have intensified due to both rising industry supply, as well as increased Chinese competition," Stellantis said. In addition to the lower North American shipments, the company said it was planning on increasing discounts on 2024 and older models, as well as making productivity improvement initiatives that encompass both cost and capacity adjustments. As such, the adjusted operating income margin is now expected to average between 5.5% and 7.0% for the full year, compared with earlier guidance for a double-digit percentage. Meanwhile, industrial free cash flow is now estimated to result in an outflow of 5bn to 10bn, compared with previous expectations of positive cash flow generation. Stellantis's stock was down nearly 13% at 12.68 by 1030 in Milan. A barrage of automakers have reduced guidance in recent weeks owing to falling sales and fierce competition in the market, with Aston Martin also issuing a profit warning on Monday. That followed a similar announcement by Volkswagen last week, and by Mercedes-Benz and BMW over the past month. Stocks to watch Mining technology group Weir said it had won a 25m contract to provide services on the next phase of OCPs Benguerir and Louta greenfield phosphate projects in Morocco. The order will support the continued construction of the Louta project and the trebling of production from the Benguerir project, where Weir has previously provided similar separation and desliming solutions, the company said on Monday. QinetiQ announced on Monday that it has agreed to sell its 407-acre freehold site at Cody Technology Park to a fund managed by Tristan Capital Partners for 112m, retaining a 15-year lease on the portion it occupies. The FTSE 250 firm said the transaction was expected to improve its net debt by about 65m, with minimal impact on underlying operating profit and cash flow. However, a one-off non-cash accounting loss of around 30m will be recognised on completion due to IFRS 16 lease accounting adjustments. Newspaper round-up Britains only remaining coal power plant at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire will generate electricity for the last time on Monday after powering the UK for 57 years. The power plant will come to the end of its life in line with the governments world-leading policy to phase out coal power which was first signalled almost a decade ago. Guardian Almost half of British adults will ration their energy use this winter, a survey has found, as energy bills will rise again by 10% this week. Charities have called on the government to do more to help vulnerable people to heat their homes, with the average household bill scheduled to rise by 149 after the energy price cap increases on Tuesday. Guardian Deloitte cut its UK partners pay packets by 48,000 in the last financial year as it sought to promote more people to its senior ranks. The big four firm said average partner pay was down to 1.012m for the year to the end of May, compared with 1.060m in 2023. It said this reflected the fact it had been increasing its number of people in senior posts, with 80 of its employees promoted to partner over the past 12 months. Telegraph The Government is poised to approve the extension of HS2 into Euston station, despite concerns it could saddle the taxpayer with billions of pounds in extra costs. The move will ensure that the high-speed rail route runs into the centre of London rather than ending at Old Oak Common in the west of the capital. Chancellor Rachel Reeves will reportedly use her first Budget next month to approve funding for the project, which will also include a multi-billion-pound transformation of Euston. Telegraph Instead of the London Stock Exchanges junior market looking forward to celebrating its 30th birthday next year, the City is braced for the threat of a Halloween Nightmare on Aim Street at next months budget. In the run-up to Labours first budget in almost 15 years to be delivered the day before Halloween investors have been spooked by concerns that the Treasury is considering cutting a vital tax relief that has underpinned the Alternative Investment Market (Aim) since shortly after it was launched in 1995. The Times US close Stocks on Wall Street closed in a mixed state on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.33% at 42,313.00. The S&P 500 slipped 0.13% to 5,738.17, and the Nasdaq Composite was off 0.39% at 18,119.59. Playtech posted a strong first-half performance on Monday, with revenue increasing 5% to 906.8m and adjusted EBITDA rising 11% to 243m, driven by robust growth in its B2B division. The FTSE 250 companys post-tax profit on an adjusted basis surged 23% to 105.4m, while net debt narrowed by 9% to 225.5m, resulting in a healthy leverage ratio of 0.5x. It said its B2B segment continued to deliver exceptional results, with revenue up 14% to 382.2m, aided by growth in the Americas, where revenue surged 42%. The division benefitted from a high operating leverage, leading to a 38% rise in adjusted EBITDA to 112.3m. Playtech also made progress in the US and Canada, where revenue increased by over 200% year-on-year, driven by partnerships with major operators such as Rush Street, BetMGM, and DraftKings. In the B2C segment, revenue remained flat at 532.4m, with Snaitech - its largest contributor - posting a slight 1% decline in revenue to 483.6m due to challenging market conditions and customer-friendly sporting results. Despite the challenges, the Snai brand maintained its leading position in the Italian betting market. Playtech recently reached a definitive agreement to sell its Snaitech business to Flutter for an enterprise value of 2.3bn. On completion, expected by the second quarter of 2025, Playtech was planning to return 1.7bn to 1.8bn to shareholders through a special dividend. The company said it also intended to use part of the proceeds to repay 350m in outstanding bonds, further strengthening its balance sheet. Looking ahead, Playtech said it was on track to deliver full-year adjusted EBITDA slightly ahead of expectations, and was set to achieve its medium-term B2B EBITDA target range of 200m to 250m by the end of 2024, earlier than anticipated. The company said its strong balance sheet and cash flow generation provided flexibility for future growth, both organically and through acquisitions. This set of results is further proof of the excellent progress we've made this year, said chief executive officer Mor Weizer. We've executed our strategy to grow and improve the B2B business, delivering broad-based growth with strong contributions across our key markets, high operating leverage and tight cost control. We're also delighted to have agreed a revised strategic agreement with Caliplay, our partner in Mexico, which ensures we are well placed to capture significant growth in the coming years. Weizer said Playtechs plan to accelerate its presence in the US and Canada was already delivering, with revenues trebling in the period. We see a huge opportunity in this market and are pleased to have supported multiple customers with their own growth plans, while also delivering the first major milestone in our partnership with Hard Rock Digital. With US customers now able to experience Playtech-powered games in multiple states, soon our customers outside the US will get the opportunity to play games streamed direct from Las Vegas as part of our new agreement with MGM Resorts. A couple of weeks ago, we announced the sale of Snaitech to Flutter for 2.3bn and our plan to return 1.7bn to 1.8bn to shareholders. Snaitech had been a key part of Playtech's growth in recent years, Mor Weizer said, delivering another solid performance in the first half, despite the impact of customer-friendly sporting results. We are excited about what the future holds for the remaining Playtech business and we see plenty of opportunities ahead of us. We have started the second half of the year well and are on track to be within our B2B adjusted EBITDA medium-term target range in 2024, earlier than expected. With a clear strategy, a strong balance sheet and a great team behind us, we remain very confident in Playtech's future prospects. At 0941 BST, shares in Playtech were down 0.4% at 756p. Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com. QinetiQ Group announced the sale of its 407-acre freehold site at Cody Technology Park (CTP) in Farnborough on Monday, to a fund managed by Tristan Capital Partners, for 112m. The FTSE 250 company said the deal was expected to complete within eight weeks, at which point it would receive a cash payment of 112m and enter into a 15-year leaseback agreement for its current footprint at the site. It said the transaction was expected to reduce its net debt by about 65m, with a negligible impact on underlying operating profit and cash flow due to the loss of rental income from other tenants at the park. While QinetiQ previously managed and maintained the entire site, it would now continue to occupy about a third of the space under the leaseback arrangement, with the remainder of the site housing 96 other tenants, vacant spaces, and common areas. Under IFRS 16 accounting standards, QinetiQ anticipated recognising a one-off, non-cash accounting loss of around 30m on completion. I'm delighted we have found a strategic partner committed to investing in Cody Technology Park and developing its long-term future as a centre of excellence in defence, science and technology in Hampshire, said group chief executive officer Steve Wadey. The sale of the site to Tristan Capital Partners is aligned to our strategic priorities and underscores our commitment to focusing on our core business to deliver for our customers. Wadey said the company remained fully committed to Farnborough as the location of its group headquarters and a major science and technology centre in the UK, and would become the principal tenant on the site. This deal will result in the launch of a programme of investment by Tristan Capital Partners to further develop and modernise the technology park for all current and future tenants, whilst allowing us to invest in the development of the company consistent with our enhanced focus on capital allocation. Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com. Clean-up at Book + Bottle, St. Petersburg, Fla. Helene's deadly path of destruction over the weekend wreaked havoc across the Southeast, from Florida, where the hurricane made landfall, to Western North Carolina, which has been hit by devastating floods, as well as power and cell service outages. Many affected areas are still digging out and assessing post-storm damage. Several independent bookstores in the storm's path checked in on social media to share their situations, along with offering support to their communities and bookselling colleagues, including: North Carolina Sassafras on Sutton, Black Mountain: "Black Mountain has suffered a devastating blow. Sassafras is closed until further notice. Thankfully I've just now talked to our manager Kathleen and assistant manager Debbie. Both are safe. I pray the rest of my staff is too. The town though will take some time to come back. There is no water, food, gas, cell service, wifi or power. The lack of water is the most urgent need. No one can get in or out right now, and the situation is dire. Debbie was able to get to our store last night and said there is some water inside but much less than she anticipated. Sassafras will survive! "I have no idea how long it will take to restore power, fix the roads, and get things to a point where we can open. There has been substantial loss of life and property. There are houses in the road. People are missing. Roads and bridges are missing. Our beloved town needs prayer and help. We can't wait to welcome everyone back to Black Mountain and Sassafras. We anticipate an extended closure. We will need you when we reopen! There are so many areas and towns that will never be the same. I know we are not the only ones. But we will recover, rebuild and come back strong. Until we see you again in person, be well and stay safe!" Belmont Bookshop, Belmont: "Walking up to the shop this morning, we weren't sure what to expect, but we were met with y'all waiting to see if we were open. Well, no power, no problem. We're open!... [Later] The power is back, the lights are on, the Treehouse is open, and the beverages are chilling! Thank you to everyone who came to our dark, ambience-filled shop and for your patience. And thank you to @duke_energy for all your hard work in getting things running again! We made the dark work, but we're happier with the light." Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe, Asheville: "Not much to update. Many of us are scattered around WNC, some can't leave their neighborhoods. When we'll reopen is TBD, stay safe and take care of each other in the meantime. We'll see you soon." Firestorm Books , Asheville: "Our co-op is physically intact and our members are accounted for. We've fared better than many but we're experiencing this crisis physically and emotionally. We're exhausted, largely without power, water, or internet.... We'll continue to act as an in-person resource and information hub, open from noon to 4pm." MacIntosh Books + Paper, Sanibel, Fla. Florida MacIntosh Books + Paper, Sanibel: "This is the only picture I took. Nice try, Helene! We cleaned and cleaned (with a lot of help from our friends!) and I'm happy to report that we'll be reopening next Tuesday, 10/1. It'll take time, but we'll have minimal loss. I'm thankful for so much today. Community, friendship and family. My heart breaks for those who won't have it so easy. We have felt their pain and we have walked their road. Looking forward to helping where I can!" Copperfish Books, Punta Gorda: "Hello, friends! Hurricane Helene came and went, and we hope everyone stayed safe through the storm. It was a reminder of how unpredictable life can be, but there's one constant we can always count on: a great book.... Whether you're unwinding after the storm or just looking for your next escape, we hope you find something you'll love." Blinking Owl Books, Fort Myers: "Hey y'all, Thank you to everyone who has checked in on us and offered their support. It truly means the world to us. Unfortunately, we have confirmation that the shop has flooded as of this evening. We're hoping that we'll be able to get into the shop tomorrow, but that's entirely dependent on the flood waters around the shop receding, as currently the surrounding streets are fully flooded, and those waters are still rising. We'll update you when we know more, but unfortunately, this means that the shop will be closed until further notice. Our thoughts are also with our friends and neighbors tonight, as we know we're unfortunately not the only ones in this situation once again." (Quick Friday update) Book + Bottle, St. Petersburg: "B+B friends, we have weathered the storm and will be open today during normal hours. For those affected by Hurricane Helene we are sending lots of love and are thinking of you at this time! For resources and help please go to @pinellasgov and @stpetefl! If you have the opportunity, please support your local small businesses at this time. And if it is safe for you to come visit us, we'll be happy to be your safe haven during this time!" The Island Bookshop, Venice: "Good morning Everyone. We are here today. We are ok but we know a lot of our neighbors are not. We wish everyone well. We hope to see your faces downtown." The Lynx, Gainesville: "No power? NO PROBLEM! We are still without power at The Lynx, but we came prepared! Books, puzzles, gifts, and more inside today. Fight the power with no power as we close out Banned Books Week! Please note that our cafe service is closed until power returns." Portkey Books, Safety Harbor: "Still no power at the bookstore. If you happen to walk by and see the owl lamp in the window on, text 727-248-0211 to let us know when power is restored.... Update: We have power and are back to normal operations!" Midtown Reader, Tallahassee: "We hope everyone stayed safe during the storm, and our hearts are with those in the community who were affected. We're happy to share that our store made it through without any damage, and our power is back!... We can't wait to see you!" Georgia The Stacks Bookstore, Savannah: "Come grab a book to soothe your power-outage blues. Yesterday we were open until 4 when the lack of AC got to be a little too much for us. We'll likely close early today as well so come see us in the morning!" Righton Books, St. Simons Island: "To our neighbors, we hope you are all doing well in the face of yet another major storm here. For those of you who are not local to St Simons, Hurricane Helene packed quite a punch and 90+% of St Simons Island is without power. Needless to say, we will be closed until the power and internet are restored. At this time (Friday afternoon) we have absolutely no idea when that might be." South Carolina M. Judson Books, Greenville: "If you need a place to charge your things, to caffeinate, to connect to the Internet (yes!), to get out of the house, we're here. We loved taking care of you today, Greenville. We love watching you care for each other." Fiction Addiction, Greenville: "The show must go on! We have a customer bringing us a generator in case our power is still out and Mr. [Nicholas] Sparks will be flying in tomorrow morning as planned. I hope you are all are safe and able to get out of your neighborhoods to attend. If not, we will get your book signed for you and arrange pickup afterward!" Kentucky Plaid Elephant Books, Danville: "Holy moly, y'all!!! I don't even have the words to say thank you to everyone who responded to our bad weather plea yesterday. In a normal week, we might get one or two online orders. This weekend, we've received 36--and counting!! You have officially saved this weekend and I am so grateful. Sometimes, as a small business owner, it feels like you have to always project success and strength. Thanks for letting me be vulnerable with the challenging side of this journey." Tennessee Our Place, Cosby: "Thankful the winds weren't as bad as they predicted, but there's a lot of widespread flooding in the area. Our Place is open today so stop in if you need anything." Virginia Blacksburg Books, Blacksburg: "Looking at the news this morning is heartbreaking. Blacksburg was relatively lucky, but parts of Appalachia are suffering greatly. TODAY, Saturday the 28th, 50% of all proceeds from books on our Appalachian shelf will go to Red Cross hurricane relief efforts in those areas. Please come help us help our neighbors." --- And Binc posted: "Everyone in the path of Hurricane Helene, stay safe! If you are a bookstore or comic shop owner or staff member, and the storm creates a financial emergency, reach out and we'll help if we can. If, as storm season continues, you need to evacuate ahead of a storm and you need help with evacuation expenses, reach out." People seeking help can apply here. Those who want to support Binc in its mission to help can donate here. External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar is set to meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, where a range of bilateral and global issues will be on the agenda. Among the key topics expected to be discussed are the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East.This marks his first visit to the US capital since the Modi government was re-elected for a third consecutive term. During his stay, in addition to his meeting with Blinken, the External Affairs Minister will also engage with other high-ranking officials from the US administration, as well as members of the Cabinet. His itinerary includes an interaction with the think tank community, notably a session hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), where he will discuss the future of US-India relations. The CEIP, a globally recognised nonpartisan think tank with a focus on international affairs, operates across various regions, including Europe, South Asia, East Asia, the Middle East, and the US. EAM Jaishankar will join CEIP President Mariano Florentino Cuellar in a conversation focused on the evolving strategic partnership between the United States and India. The think tank underscored India's increasing global strategic importance, particularly in shaping US foreign policy. Citing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to the US in 2023 and his more recent bilateral meeting with President Joe Biden, CEIP highlighted how these interactions demonstrate the growing significance of US-India ties. President Biden hosted Prime Minister Modi at his residence in Greenville, Delaware, where both leaders discussed an array of regional and global issues. PM Modi described the talks as 'extremely fruitful' in a social media post. Similarly, President Biden expressed his admiration for PM Modi's ability to identify new avenues for cooperation during each of their meetings. In its announcement of the upcoming session, CEIP remarked, "Amidst fast-paced global developments, Indias bilateral ties with the United States have grown more extensive. The two countries have deepened partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, as well as on defence innovation and critical and emerging technologies". The event will also address pressing questions about India's role in global leadership and how the two nations can strengthen cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, democracy, security, and trade. IDFC First Bank: The board has greenlighted the merger of IDFC Financial Holding Company with IDFC, effective September 30. Following that, IDFC will merge with IDFC First Bank on October 1. V Vaidyanathan has been reappointed as Managing Director & CEO for a three-year term, starting December 19, 2024. Punjab National Bank: The state-owned bank raised Rs 5,000 crore via Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP), allocating 48.19 crore shares to institutional buyers at Rs 103.75 per share. Key investors include Citigroup Global Markets, BOFA Securities, and Goldman Sachs. Dr Reddy's Laboratories: Dr Reddy's has invested $620 million into its Swiss subsidiary, Dr Reddys Laboratories SA, through preference shares. The subsidiary issued 6.2 million non-convertible preference shares, each with a face value of $100. Welspun Enterprises: The company has been awarded a Rs 1,989.9 crore project by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the design and construction of an 8.48 km treated water conveyance tunnel. The project is expected to be completed within 93 months. Apollo Hospitals Enterprise: Apollo Healthco has approved a Rs 2,475 crore allotment of preference shares to Advent's affiliate, Rasmeli, securing a 16.9% stake. Following the allotment, Apollo Hospitals' stake in Apollo Healthco will decrease from 94.91% to 78.879%. Asian Energy Services: The company has secured an Rs 82 crore contract from Oil India for 2D seismic data acquisition in the Rajasthan Basin. The project is scheduled for completion in 18 months, boosting Asian Energy's total order book to Rs 1,000 crore. Piramal Pharma: The US FDA issued an Establishment Inspection Report for Piramals Ahmedabad facility, finding no issues and giving a 'No Action Indicated' classification. Jubilant Pharmova: The US FDA classified an inspection of Jubilant HollisterStier General Partnership's Canadian facility as Official Action Indicated' (OAI), affecting a subsidiary of Jubilant Pharma. Tata Motors: Tata Motors Group held a groundbreaking event for a new manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu, committing Rs 9,000 crore. The plant aims to produce 2.5 lakh vehicles annually, with full operations expected over the next 5-7 years. Tata Motors Group held a groundbreaking event for ain Tamil Nadu, committing Rs 9,000 crore. The plant aims to produce 2.5 lakh vehicles annually, with full operations expected over the next 5-7 years. Reliance Industries (RIL) & Network18 Media: RIL has received government approval to transfer non-news TV channel licenses to Star India as part of its merger with Disney's Indian media assets. The merger, worth Rs 70,350 crore, is expected to finalize by late 2024 or early 2025. Biocon: After inspecting Biocon's Bengaluru API facility, the US FDA issued four observations. Biocon is addressing the concerns and does not foresee any significant business impact. REC: REC has raised $500 million through green dollar bonds, set to mature on September 27, 2029. The funds will be used for renewable energy projects. Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy: Shapoorji Pallonji and Khurshed Yazdi Daruvala sold a 7.14% stake in Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy for Rs 1,040 crore. Zydus Lifesciences: Zydus Lifesciences received approval from the US FDA to manufacture generic Enzalutamide capsules for prostate cancer treatment. The US market for this drug is valued at around $869.4 million. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. If youre looking for a job, you just might find one at Walmart. The nations largest retailer recently announced a partnership with Manpower -- a contingent staffing and direct hire agency -- and will soon open job hubs in seven locations across the country. Were thrilled to launch these innovative branch offices inside select Walmart locations, Rajesh Namboothiry, senior vice president of Manpower, said in a press release highlighting the collab. This initiative reflects our commitment to meeting talent where they are, breaking down barriers, and making it easier for job seekers to connect with us. By staying ahead of industry trends, were continuously improving how we attract top talent and create exceptional opportunities for both job seekers and employers. Calling the partnership a one-stop convenience to local job seekers, Manpower noted its job hubs are designed with efficiency and accessibility in mind and will be welcoming to active job seekers or casual shoppers who may want to explore employment options in their area. Two locations are already open in the following cities: Sturtevant, Wisconsin High Point, North Carolina Five other locations are slated to open in before November: Fayetteville, Georgia Humble, Texas Oak Park Heights, Minnesota Dallas, Texas Raleigh, North Carolina We aim to provide products and services in our stores that enhance the shopping experience and contribute to a better quality of life for our customers, Tene Green, Walmart senior director, added in the press release. One of the pathways to a quality life is through employment. PERRY, Fla. The U.S. Southeast grappled Sunday with rising death tolls, a lack of vital supplies in isolated, flood-stricken areas and the widespread loss of homes and property while the devastating toll of Hurricane Helene became more clear and officials warned of a lengthy and difficult rebuild. A North Carolina County that includes the mountain city of Asheville, reported 30 people killed due to the storm, pushing the overall death toll to at least 84 people across several states. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast. Deaths also were reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper predicted the toll would rise as rescuers and other emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding. He implored residents in western North Carolina to avoid travel, both for their own safety and to keep roads clear for emergency vehicles. More than 50 search teams spread throughout the region in search of stranded people. Many people are cut off because the roads are impassable, Cooper said. Supplies were being airlifted to the region around Asheville, a city known for its arts, culture and scenery. One rescue effort involved saving 41 people north of Asheville. Another mission focused on saving a single infant. The teams found people through both 911 calls and social media messages, North Carolina Adjutant General Todd Hunt said. Hurricane Helene roared ashore late Thursday in Floridas Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph (225 kph) winds. A weakened Helene quickly moved through Georgia, then soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains that flooded creeks and rivers and strained dams. There have been hundreds of water rescues, including in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from a hospital rooftop Friday. Several million were still without power Sunday afternoon. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster asked for patience as crews dealt with widespread snapped power poles. We want people to remain calm. Help is on the way, It is just going to take time, McMaster told reporters outside the airport in Aiken County. The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. One community, Spruce Pine, was doused with over 2 feet (61 centimeters) of rain from Tuesday through Saturday. Jessica Drye Turner in Texas had begged for someone to rescue her family members stranded on their rooftop in Asheville amid rising flood waters. They are watching 18-wheelers and cars floating by, Turner wrote in an urgent Facebook post on Friday. But in a follow-up message Saturday, Turner said help had not arrived in time to save her parents, both in their 70s, and her 6-year-old nephew. The roof collapsed and the three drowned. I cannot convey in words the sorrow, heartbreak and devastation my sisters and I are going through, she wrote. Western North Carolina was isolated by landslides and flooding. The state was sending water supplies and other items toward Buncombe County and Asheville, but mudslides blocking Interstate 40 and other highways prevented supplies from making it. The countys own water supplies were on the other side of the Swannanoa River, away from where most of the 270,000 people in Buncombe County live, officials said. Law enforcement was making plans to send officers to places that still had water, food or gas because of reports of arguments and threats of violence, the sheriff said. If you will bear with us and be patient one more day I hate to say that but I know how desperate water is in our community but we are pushing as hard as we can to get them up the mountain, Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder said. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said the federal disaster agency was actively engaged across six states in meeting the requests of governors and state-level responders. She noted the Appalachian regions across North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia presented particular concerns. Criswell toured south Georgia on Sunday and planned to be in North Carolina on Monday. Its still very much an active search and rescue mission in western North Carolina, Criswell said. And we know that theres many communities that are cut off just because of the geography of the mountains, where damage to roads and bridges have cut off certain areas. President Joe Biden on Saturday pledged federal government help for Helenes overwhelming devastation. He also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina, making federal funding available for affected individuals. In Floridas Big Bend, some lost nearly everything they own. With sanctuaries still darkened as of Sunday morning, some churches canceled regular services while others like Faith Baptist Church in Perry opted to worship outside. Standing water and tree debris still covers the grounds of Faith Baptist Church. The church called on parishioners to come pray for our community in a message posted to the congregations Facebook page. We have power. We dont have electricity, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church parishioner Marie Ruttinger said. Our God has power. Thats for sure. In Atlanta, 11.12 inches (28.24 centimeters) of rain fell orver 48 hours, the most the city has seen over two days since record keeping began in 1878. Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday that it looked like a bomb went off after viewing splintered homes and debris-covered highways from the air. In eastern Georgia near the border with South Carolina, officials notified Augusta residents Sunday morning that water service would be shut off for 24 to 48 hours in the city and surrounding Richmond County. A news release said trash and debris from the storm blocked our ability to pump water. Officials were distributing bottled water. With at least 25 killed in South Carolina, Helene was the deadliest tropical cyclone for the state since Hurricane Hugo made landfall north of Charleston in 1989, killing 35 people. Moodys Analytics said it expects $15 billion to $26 billion in property damage. Climate change has exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones sometimes within hours. The iconic Mr. Gs Diner in Paterson, which reopened to fanfare just six weeks ago, will shut down on Sunday following a lawsuit accusing the new owners of using the restaurants longtime name without permission. Litigation over the name of our diner has presented significant operational challenges, which unfortunately prevented our vision for Mr. Gs Diner from coming to fruition, the owners, Yaakoub Hijazi and Vaughn McKoy, said in a statement. If we do re-open, it will be under a new name. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. When the Rev. Lester Figueroa first arrived on Staten Island in the 1990s, he noticed a community that nobody else seemed to see. When it comes to Puerto Ricans and my fellow Latinos, I noticed that Hispanics were the forgotten people in the forgotten borough, he said. On Staten Island, the Hispanic community was different from those in the rest of New York City, and it needed a voice, said Figueroa, founder of the Latino Civic Association of Staten Island, a partner in a Manhattan law firm and the senior pastor at Calvary Assembly of God, Eltingville. We discovered that, in general, the income [among the Hispanic community] was higher than other boroughs, the educational attainment was higher than other boroughs, said Figueroa, 66. There was a greater number of public servants, police, firefighters. He wanted to unify those people, he said. So, in 1993, the Latino Civic Association of Staten Island was born out of his efforts. The stories he heard from the community moved him, said Figueroa, who was born in Puerto Rico and was raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he said he first became acquainted with devastating poverty. Early on, a Spanish-speaking Mexican mom on Staten Island told him shed had to carry her son on her back for more than a mile to find a Staten Island hospital with a Spanish-speaking employee when her sons appendix burst. You expect more of the land of the free and home of the brave, Figueroa said. We expect more from the biggest and most powerful nation in the history of humanity, and at the time, we were expecting more care. How could nobody think of learning the language of this new community in town? Figueroa and civic association leadership met with Staten Islands hospital officials. Eyes were opened. And things changed, he said. Voter registration efforts among members of the Hispanic community soon gave them a voice at the polls, he said. We wanted to unify the community and let the public officials know that there was a voting block that they needed to pay attention to ... We were spread all over the Island; voters, educated, employed, Figueroa recalled. And young people were especially in need, he recalled discovering. Figueroa started a Spanish ministry at the largely English-speaking Calvary Assembly of God Church when he arrived, and today the church offers services in Spanish and in English. (Staten Island Advance/Jason Paderon) Jason Paderon A new ministry In 2001, in addition to his busy career as a partner at the law firm of Borah Goldstein in Manhattan, he was called to the role of minister at the International Christian Center in Eltingville. There, he founded a Spanish-speaking ministry, which still exists today, despite Figueroa moving on to his current role as pastor of Calvary Assembly of God nearly 17 years ago. Compassion for people He has such a genuine compassion for people, said Eileen Howarth, the associate pastor at Calvary, whos worked closely with Figueroa since his arrival at the church, and has been there for 39 years. Hes fighting, always, for the underdog. Hes fighting, always, for peoples rights people who are in need. Figueroa started a Spanish ministry at the largely English-speaking church when he arrived, and today the church offers services in Spanish and in English, and Howarth said the English- and Spanish-speaking communities have blended beautifully together. Hes actually been able to knit both of them together,' she said. When it comes to Puerto Ricans and my fellow Latinos, I noticed that Hispanics were the forgotten people in the forgotten borough, Figueroa said. (Staten Island Advance/Jason Paderon)Jason Paderon Food pantry A food pantry he founded at the church about five years ago, run in coordination with City Harvest, feeds 400 families every other week no questions asked, Figueroa said. And though the South Shore community of Eltingville isnt known for its poverty, Figueroa said many people behind the walls of the big, beautiful homes with Cadillacs parked out front cant feed their families. No questions; We dont care, he said, Our concern is that nobody goes hungry on our watch. Figueroas support reaches far beyond the Hispanic community on Staten Island, according to those who know him. He embraces you, said Michael Pietrosante, an Italian-American from Westerleigh who explained he has benefited from Figueroas guidance. You dont even notice the barriers that society tends to build up. Pietrosante, 33, who now is in the final stages of study to become a minister with the Assembly of God church, said Figueroa was there for his family during his teen years, after Pietrosantes father died of cancer. Hes been a father figure to me, Pietrosante said. He put his wings around me and was there for me. Hes impacted so many. Figueroa speaks with Pastor Allan Del Mar inside Calvary Assembly of God Church on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (Staten Island Advance/Jason Paderon) Jason PaderonJason Paderon Multi-ethnic community All of Latin America is represented at the church, he said, noting that some nations represented include India, China, Korea, Russia and Uzbekistan. The beauty is you get to make friends with people, said Figueroa, whos been married to his college sweetheart, Melba, since 1980, and has two grown children. Weve identified a growing Arabic community, mainly from Syria. Its amazing how fast that community is growing. The outreach is inspiring, and its growing because of the pastors leadership, Howarth said. He doesnt sit behind a desk or tell us what to do, she said. He rolls up his sleeves and hes right there, showing us by his example. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Days after pleading not guilty to federal charges, Mayor Eric Adams made a semi-unadvertised stop on Staten Island Sunday, rallying supporters and underscoring his administrations accomplishments to several dozen gathered at the Mt. Sinai United Christian Church in Tompkinsville. The New York City mayor was indicted by a grand jury Thursday amid a flurry of searches, resignations of top city officials and subpoenas, with the indictment unsealed on Thursday morning by U.S. Attorney Damian Williams of the Southern District of New York. Greeted with cheers and applause at the interfaith gathering, the theme of which was innocent until proven guilty, Adams explained how he hopes those who are going through difficult situations can look toward his current situation and push themselves forward despite obstacles. A defiant, and at times, fiery Adams said in the months since the investigation began, he was told that hed be too distracted to adequately perform his job, but went on to tout said accomplishments throughout the city, including a reduction in crime and unemployment, the growth of small businesses, higher public-school reading and math scores and subway safety, among others. You did not see me lose focus, Adams said. You see me focus on improving the city of New York. So, when people say you need to resign, I said I need to lead and continue to do the work were doing. Im asking the people of this city to let me continue to do this job. Let me continue to bring this city forward like I showed you I could. All the things I ran on, I produced. And if I produced them when the investigation first came about, why would I stop producing now? Let the lawyers deal with the courtroom, Im going to deal with running the city, Adam added. We have so much more work that I need to do. Let me do my job and the justice system do its job. Adams reiterated that hes committed to and loves the city, referring to it as a beacon of light for the country and world to look to as an example. So, Im here today as a humble servant feeling your prayers and inspiration, Adams told the crowd in closing. And as I move throughout the city from town halls, to riding on the subways, to walking the streets, theres a clear sound: Eric keep up the work youre doing. They told me it was going take me five years to turn around this city; we did it in two. And we continue to grow even more. Despite what youre hearing, the noise cannot take place for the numbers the numbers are showing you a successful administration. Im going to continue to do that and walk with my head up. Adams did not field questions from the media members in attendance. FEDERAL CHARGES AGAINST ADAMS UNVEILED LAST WEEK Federal prosecutors unsealed a 57-page grand jury indictment against Mayor Eric Adams last Thursday, making him the first New York City executive charged with crimes in the modern era. The unsealed indictment, which included charges of bribery, conspiracy and fraud, alleged that the mayor took bribes from the Turkish nationals in the form of lavish travel accommodations to nations including Turkey, Hungary, France, China, India and Ghana. The mayor, along with several members of his administration, have been the subject of a federal investigation regarding donations related to his 2021 campaign, with the phones of multiple members of Adams inner circle seized by federal investigators and several individuals in top positions having already resigned their posts. Adams said he has no intention of stepping down and asked New Yorkers to withhold judgement until theyve heard his side of the story. Gov. Kathy Hochul is sending over a dozen soldiers, three helicopters and generators to help those impacted by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and Georgia. 17 National Army Guard soldiers from Rochesters Army Aviation Support Facility #2 will travel to aid the North Carolina National Guard with three CH-47F Chinook heavy lift helicopters, a written statement detailed. In the meanwhile, the four 100 kilowatt generators will make their way to Macon, Georgia. The generators are arriving on Monday via transportation provided by the thruway Authority and the Department of Transportation, the statement said. The U.S. Southeast grappled Sunday with rising death tolls, a lack of vital supplies in isolated, flood-stricken areas and the widespread loss of homes and property while the devastating toll of Hurricane Helene became more clear and officials warned of a lengthy and difficult rebuild. A North Carolina County that includes the mountain city of Asheville, reported 30 people killed due to the storm, pushing the overall death toll to at least 84 people across several states. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast. Deaths also were reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. New York stands shoulder to shoulder with our neighbors in the south as we respond to the devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene, Hochul said. I am proud of our dedicated soldiers that will supply vital resources, including helicopters and generators, to aid in recovery efforts. In times of crisis, we come together as one community, embodying the spirit of solidarity and resilience. We are here to support all those affected, ensuring that no one faces this challenge alone. For seven to 10 days, the soldiers and their aircrafts will be on the ground, the statement specified. This isnt the first time this unit has been sent on a post-hurricane mission, either: In October 2018, the same unit deployed two CH-47s and 11 personnel to Florida following Hurricane Michael. This group of people and equipment is the second being deployed from the Empire State to North Carolina after Hochul sent 16 swift water rescue personnel, two canines and emergency response equipment, on Wednesday. Those personnel are presently working with the Yancy County Emergency Management Office. At the direction of Governor Hochul, the men and women of the 42nd Infantry Divisions Combat Aviation Brigade quickly responded, in less than 24 hours, when the North Carolina National Guard asked for assistance for storm relief. Our soldiers responded by sending three CH-47 heavy lift helicopters and their crews and maintenance team. We are always ready and always there, be it in a combat zone, here at home in New York, or in another state. I am very proud of our service members who never fail to respond when called, Major General Ray Shields said. Associated Press content was used in this report. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Outgoing NYC Schools Chancellor David C. Banks security detail has been hit with 27 tickets, including 18 for speeding in school zones, according to a recent report from the New York Post. The first of these 18 tickets came in 2022, when Banks city-provided Chevy Suburban was caught speeding in Forest Hills, Queens, near the Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Catholic Academy, the Post reported. A young snorkeler who survived a vicious shark attack off the shallow waters off Mangareva, French Polynesia, has decided to turn the teeth that was embedded in his arm into earrings, according to a report in The Mirror. Twenty-year-old Angus Kockott was doing his underwater activity when he was attacked by what was believed to be a grey reef shark last May. The shark bit into his left arm, but thanks to some quick thinking, Kockott grabbed a four-inch knife he used to cut diving lines and stabbed the shark in the gills before managing to escape. The South Africa resident, however, needed to be airlifted to a hospital via a military plane, then endured a six-hour, arm-saving operation. According to the report, the sharks bite severed two major nerves and tendons. He needed to have skin and nerve grafts. The surgeons who performed the procedure needed to remove several of the sharks teeth. Kockott referred to the incident as a defining experience and he says the ordeal will not prevent him from snorkeling again. In fact, he took the teeth that were removed by the doctors and hes planning to make them into earrings. When the shark bit, I didnt have time to panic you just have to act when you have that kind of adrenaline in those situations,' Kockott told The Mirror. At first I felt immense pain. I really thought I would lose my arm. After my nerve graft and skin grafts, its healing well but Im taking it day-by-day. Its been a defining experience in my life and thats why Im getting the teeth made into earrings.' Kockott spent three weeks recovering in Tahiti before returning to his East London, South Africa, home. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. In honor of those who have died, here is a compilation of obituaries posted on SILive. Viewing times and guest books can be seen here. William C. Hnsen, a beloved father, grandfather, great-grandfather and brother, died on Sept. 17. He resided in New York. William spent his later years in Whiting, NJ with his beloved dog Muffin, where he liked to help out his neighbors. Read the full obituary on SILive.com. Stephanie Marie Orr, 47, a lifelong Staten Island resident, passed away on Sept. 15, 2024. Born on Sept. 17, 1976, she was the beloved daughter, sister, fiancee, and aunt. An alumna of St. Joseph Hill Academy and MBCC, Stephanie worked at Staten Island University Hospital and the NYS Court System, never losing her beautiful smile and personality despite facing illness and injuries. Read the full obituary on SILive. Georgiana DiMauro, 91, founder of the Staten Island Chamber Music Players, passed away. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, she settled in Charleston in 1962. A graduate of Tulsa University and Wichita State University, Mrs. DiMauro had an early career as a French Hornist in New York City. She founded the Staten Island Chamber Music Players in 1972, directing and performing with them for over 35 years. Mrs. DiMauro was a 1991 Staten Island Advance Woman of Achievement and received numerous awards for her community service through the arts. Read the full obituary on SILive. Maria M. Hernandez, 83, passed away on Sept. 22, 2024. Born on July 22, 1941, Maria was known for her strong-willed nature, deep faith, and creativity expressed through sewing, knitting, and arts and crafts. She was an active member of her local Pentecostal Church. Maria is survived by her sons Antonio and Wilfred Hernandez, and granddaughters Tabitha and Lauriann (Zoe) Hernandez. Read the full obituary on SILive. Robert Lombardi, 71, passed away on Sept. 11, 2024. Raised on Staten Island, Robert became a successful builder in both New York and New Jersey. A passionate musician, martial artist, and dog lover, Robert devoted himself to his varied interests and family. He is lovingly remembered by his three children, Kim, Blake and Sara. Read the full obituary on SILive. Dr. Michael A. Paglia, 95, a distinguished surgical oncologist who practiced medicine for over 40 years in New York City, died June 27. He was a beloved father, grandfather and family member, a dedicated physician and a friend to many. Read the full obituary on SILive. Generative AI was used to produce an initial draft of this story based on data from Legacy.com. It was reviewed and edited by Staten Island Live staff. ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) A crisis unfolded in western North Carolina as officials rushed to get more water, food and other supplies to flood-stricken areas without power and cellular service Monday, three days after Hurricane Helene ripped across the U.S. Southeast. The death toll from the storm approached 100. At least 94 people across several states were killed. A North Carolina county that includes the mountain city of Asheville reported 30 people killed. Gov. Roy Cooper predicted the toll would rise as rescuers and other emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding. Supplies were being airlifted to the region around the isolated city of Asheville. Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder pledged that she would have food and water to the city by Monday. We hear you. We need food and we need water, Pinder said on a Sunday call with reporters. My staff has been making every request possible to the state for support and weve been working with every single organization that has reached out. What I promise you is that we are very close. Chris Jordan, maintenance manager for Horseshoe Beach, tries to find a water shutoff valve amid the rubble of the destroyed city hall in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)AP Ashevilles water system was severely damaged. Residents walked with buckets to a creek to get water to flush toilets, carefully watching their steps where a wall of water three days before ripped away all of the trees and ground, leaving only mud. Neighbors shared food and water and comforted each other. Thats the blessing so far in this, Sommerville Johnston said outside her home. Officials warned that rebuilding from the widespread loss of homes and property would be lengthy and difficult. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast. Deaths also were reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said Monday that hundreds of roads were closed across western North Carolina and that shelters across the area were housing more than 1,000 people. The governor implored residents in western North Carolina to avoid travel, both for their own safety and to keep roads clear for emergency vehicles. More than 50 search teams spread throughout the region in search of stranded people. A home completely destroyed by fire due to Hurricane Helene is pictured on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Madeira Beach, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)AP One rescue effort involved saving 41 people north of Asheville. Another mission focused on saving a single infant. The teams found people through both 911 calls and social media messages, North Carolina National Guard Adjutant General Todd Hunt said. Video showed a mass of debris, including overturned pontoon boats and splintered wooden docks, covering the surface of Lake Lure, a picturesque spot tucked between the mountains outside Asheville. President Joe Biden described the impact of the storm as stunning and said he would visit the area this week as long as it does not disrupt rescues or recovery work. In a brief exchange with reporters, he said the administration is giving states everything we have to help with their response to the storm. Hurricane Helene roared ashore late Thursday in Floridas Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph (225 kph) winds. A weakened Helene quickly moved through Georgia, then soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains that flooded creeks and rivers and strained dams. A vehicle sits outside of its garage after storm surge from Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Madeira Beach, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)AP There have been hundreds of water rescues, including in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from a hospital rooftop Friday. More than 2 million homeowners and other utility customers were still without power Sunday night. South Carolina had the most outages and Gov. Henry McMaster asked for patience as crews dealt with widespread snapped power poles. We want people to remain calm. Help is on the way, it is just going to take time, McMaster told reporters outside the airport in Aiken County. Begging for help in North Carolina as that help is slow to arrive The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. One community, Spruce Pine, was doused with over 2 feet (61 centimeters) of rain from Tuesday through Saturday. Jessica Drye Turner in Texas had begged for someone to rescue her family members stranded on their rooftop in Asheville amid rising floodwaters. They are watching 18-wheelers and cars floating by, Turner wrote in an urgent Facebook post on Friday. But in a follow-up message Saturday, Turner said help had not arrived in time to save her parents, both in their 70s, and her 6-year-old nephew. The roof collapsed and the three drowned. I cannot convey in words the sorrow, heartbreak and devastation my sisters and I are going through, she wrote. The state was sending water supplies and other items toward Buncombe County and Asheville, but mudslides blocking Interstate 40 and other highways prevented supplies from making it. The countys own water supplies were on the other side of the Swannanoa River, away from where most of the 270,000 people in Buncombe County live, officials said. Law enforcement was making plans to send officers to places that still had water, food or gas because of reports of arguments and threats of violence, the county sheriff said. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell toured south Georgia on Sunday and planned to be in North Carolina Monday. Its still very much an active search and rescue mission in western North Carolina, Criswell said. And we know that theres many communities that are cut off just because of the geography of the mountains, where damage to roads and bridges have cut off certain areas. Biden on Saturday pledged federal government help for Helenes overwhelming devastation. He also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina, making federal funding available for affected individuals. Storm-battered Florida digs out, residents gather for church In Floridas Big Bend, some lost nearly everything they own. Some churches canceled regular services Sunday while others like Faith Baptist Church in Perry opted to worship outside. Standing water and tree debris still covers the grounds of Faith Baptist Church. The church called on parishioners to come pray for our community in a message posted to the congregations Facebook page. We have power. We dont have electricity, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church parishioner Marie Ruttinger said. Our God has power. Thats for sure. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday that it looked like a bomb went off after viewing splintered homes and debris-covered highways from the air. In eastern Georgia near the border with South Carolina, officials notified Augusta residents on Sunday morning that water service would be shut off for 24 to 48 hours because trash and debris blocked the ability to pump water. With at least 25 killed in South Carolina, Helene was the deadliest tropical cyclone for the state since Hurricane Hugo made landfall north of Charleston in 1989, killing 35 people. Moodys Analytics said it expects $15 billion to $26 billion in property damage. Climate change has exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones sometimes within hours. Tropical Storm Kirk forms in the Atlantic and could become a powerful hurricane Tropical Storm Kirk formed Monday in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and is expected to become a large and powerful hurricane by Tuesday night or Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm was located about 700 miles (1,125 kilometers) west of the Cabo Verde Islands with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (70 kph). There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect, and the storm system was not a threat to land. A stop sign can be barely seen above a flooded parking lot after torrential rain from Hurricane Helene caused severe flooding, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Morganton, N.C. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)AP Residents wait in line with gas cans at a Gas Plus gas station in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, in North Augusta, S.C. (AP Photo/Artie Walker Jr.)AP A home completely destroyed by fire due to Hurricane Helene is pictured on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Madeira Beach, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)AP Rescue workers from the Pamlico County rescue team are shown working in the aftermath of Helene the area of Chimney Rock, N.C., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (Pamlico County Special Operations via AP)AP The Riverside RV park was flooded from the overflowing Catawba River after torrential rain from Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Morganton, N.C. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)AP This aerial drone view shows damaged homes and a vehicle collapsed into water after storm surge from Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Madeira Beach, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)AP The sun shines through a hole in a building after storm surge from Hurricane Helene sent tons of sand into homes, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Madeira Beach, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)AP A passerby checks the water depth of a flooded road, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Morganton, N.C. Torrential rain from Hurricane Helene left many area streets flooded. In addition, traffic lights are inoperable due to no power, with downed power lines and trees. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)AP Rescue workers from the Pamlico County rescue team are shown working in the aftermath of Helene the area of Chimney Rock, N.C., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (Pamlico County Special Operations via AP)AP A fortnight ago, Mario Draghi outlined an ambitious and ultra-expensive vision for an integrated Europe that included the pan-European banking union first envisaged more than a decade ago. Within days, a sharemarket raid by an Italian bank on a German rival has underscored how difficult it will be to realise that vision. The former European Central Bank presidents report was requested by the European Commission, which was concerned that the European Union is becoming increasingly uncompetitive with the US and China. UniCredit chief Andrea Orcel (pictured) had a virtual meeting with Commerzbanks new chief executive, Bettina Orlopp, last week. Credit: Bloomberg In 1990, an EU with only 12 states generated 26.5 per cent of GDP. Today, the 27-member union produces only 16.1 per cent of global GDP while the US has held its share at more than 26 per cent and China has grown its share from 4 per cent to about 19 per cent. Draghi (famed for his whatever it takes moment in 2012 that halted a developing European financial crisis) argued that to regain its competitiveness Europe needed to invest up to 800 billion (about $1.3 trillion) a year, or 4.5 per cent of EU GDP, in sectors like defence and technology and pursue much greater integration, including the integration of capital markets and banking envisaged when bank regulation was handed over to the European Central Bank (ECB) in 2014. Virgin Australia will soon be partly owned by Qatar Airways and begin flying to Doha as soon as mid-2025, pending regulatory approvals. Virgin confirmed the Gulf carriers intentions to take a 25 per cent stake in the Australian airline if approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board, and flagged it may soon fly to Doha from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth under a wet-lease agreement with its new backer. Virgin Australia is set to add Qatar Airways to its register and start flying to Doha. Credit: Oscar Colman Under a wet lease, one airline loans aircraft, crew and maintenance to another carrier. The arrangement would require approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Qatar applied to double its number of weekly services between Doha and Australias four biggest cities in 2023 but was rejected by the government despite overwhelming support from the bulk of the tourism industry. It has since applied again. Advertisement Exclusive Eating outFood Classic Portside restaurant to be reborn with striking new look Every wall has been knocked down, every feature stripped out. And, after a research trip to Lebanon, it will boast a heavily revised menu. Heres a sneak peek. Matt Shea September 30, 2024 Save Log in , register or subscribe to save recipes for later. You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Save this article for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime. Got it Share Donna Chang. Blackbird. Boom Boom Room. Iris. Bisou Bisou. Over the past decade, the Ghanem family has steadily built a restaurant empire notable for its quality and variety. Byblos will boast an entirely new look when it reopens towards the end of October. Supplied But the beating heart of the group has always been Byblos, which opened at Portside Wharf way back in 2005, its Middle East-inspired food tapping into the Ghanems Lebanese heritage. Still, when set against the newer restaurants in the group, the flashy riverside spot was beginning to feel a little dated. So, what to do? Ghanem CEO Vianna Joseph reckons the group has spent three years wrestling with that question. Advertisement The exciting Brisbane restaurants and bars still to open in 2024 Theres a lot of sentimentality around Byblos, with it being the original venue that Ghanem Group is built off, and we wanted to give the project the attention it deserved, Joseph says. As a family, weve put a lot of thought into it. Its been a hands-on process [with] lots of discussion and research. The result in late October will be a completely reimagined Byblos. Gone will be the dark, moody and relatively ostentatious flourishes of the original, replaced by a light-filled interior that better connects the venue to the river outside. Diners can expect sand-like textural walls, arched travertine features and marble surfaces to better capture the ancient coastal city of Byblos in Lebanon, after which the restaurant is named. Byblos new design will better connect it with the Brisbane River outside. Supplied Its a complete internal rebuild, Joseph says. Every wall has been knocked down, every doorway has been moved, every feature stripped out, and the floor plan reimagined. Advertisement When you walk into the new Byblos you will think you are in a brand-new restaurant, and essentially, you will be. The menu will be different as well, with Joseph and Ghanem Group directors, Nehme Ghanem and Adonis Ghanem, along with executive chef Jake Nicolson, travelling to Lebanon last year to immerse themselves in the countrys modern cuisine. We really wanted to understand the various parts of Lebanon, from the coastal towns to the mountains, Nicolson says. It was about understanding that, experiencing it. I was keen to get that knowledge to be able to execute the food to the very best of our ability. Were looking to do less of a fusion of Lebanese cuisine and more so take the traditional staples and flavours and elevate them using premium ingredients. Byblos set the benchmark in the early days for Lebanese cuisine and so many great restaurants have followed in our footsteps. But this is an opportunity to do something really special while keeping those core values of the cuisine at heart. For drinks, expect a continuation of Byblos focus on fun cocktails, a broad spirits list and a lengthy international wine cellar. Advertisement Theres a little pressure [in relaunching the restaurant] because Byblos is so iconic, Joseph says. But there is a lot of excitement also, especially now the project is coming to fruition. Byblos is scheduled to reopen at Portside Wharf towards the end of October. Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox. Sign up Since Charlottes parents went public with their 12-year-old daughters suicide last month, the issue of bullying in NSW schools has come under unprecedented scrutiny as parents, schools and students confront the reality that tormentors are more disorderly than ever. Bullying has been growing like a cancer in schools for years. A Programme for International Student Assessment report released last May estimated teenagers in every Australian state and territory experienced disruptive maths classrooms and bullying at greater levels than the OECD average, and the Australian governments Bullying, No Way! campaign found one in four students in years 4 to 9 reported being bullied every few weeks or more often, while one in five young students reported experiencing online bullying in any one year. Charlottes funeral was held last Friday, with her parents reiterating they had raised the issue of bullying with her school, Santa Sabina College in Strathfield, several times. For its part, a school spokesperson said their claims were new or inconsistent with records. Experts say suicide is complex and is rarely attributable to a single factor. Common risk factors for youth suicide are a mental health condition or a physical disability, but bullying, family problems and grief are also risk factors. Family and friends wear pink at Charlottes funeral. Credit: Janie Barrett Of course, bullying affects both public and private school systems. But so far, only private schools have had the temerity to insist parents pay a full terms fees if they withdraw their children due to fears they had become victims of bullying. Further, the Heralds chief reporter Jordan Baker found some schools were also demanding parents sign non-disclosure agreements to protect the schools reputation. The owner of Woolloongabba wedding business The Lussh had no fire insurance before an inferno tore through the heritage-listed building last week. Speaking publicly for the first time since last Wednesdays massive blaze, which engulfed the top floor of the 100-year-old Hubert Street events space, Maree Henry also said the fire could have been prevented. The roof of the popular Lussh wedding venue collapsed in the massive blaze. Credit: Reddit The fire broke out in a neighbouring building, one of several surrounding the venue that had been left derelict and open to squatters and vandals. This was actually the third fire wed had in two months, Henry, the founder of Queensland fashion label DISSH, told ABC Radio Brisbane on Monday. An allegedly corrupt Victorian union boss has been accused of forging close ties to backroom Labor operatives and disgraced union boss John Setka while running a secret slush fund to influence the selection of state and federal ALP candidates and policies. The damning claims about union secretary Diana Asmar and the Asmar gang have been made by the assistant secretary of the Victorian Health Workers Union, David Eden, in a sworn affidavit lodged in the Federal Court that provides a rare glimpse into the underbelly of the Labor movement. Health Workers Union boss Diana Asmar is at the centre of allegations. Credit: Justin McManus Edens claims leave open the possibility that some of the almost $3 million the Fair Work Commission alleges was stolen from the union and its members by Asmar could have been used to fund backroom political campaigns for influence within the ALP. In his affidavit, Eden claims that as a result of his work, he learned that the Asmar gang was a loose collection of individuals in the right faction of the Labor Party that had one common ambition. Spring is in the air, the annual grain harvest is rolling down from Queensland, through NSW into Victoria, and the prospects for farmers and their radiant fields of blossoming canola are taking flight. Once grown almost exclusively for cooking oil, canola is now in hot demand as a source of biofuel. Global biofuel production is forecast to quadruple by 2030, driven largely by demand for clean alternatives for aviation and diesel used in heavy haulage transport. Sam Kelly surveys the canola crop at his Red Hill property at Bowning, NSW. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen But farmer Sam Kelly, of Bowning in NSWs southern tablelands, is far more concerned with the immediate prospects of the weather and what it could do to the 300 hectares he has under crop. Its very nerve-racking, Kelly says, as he sweats on an approaching cold front that could deliver a crucial drop of rain that would boost the health of his canola, improve his yield and significantly boost the price for his harvest. Leading sports commentator Gerard Whateley has remained loyal to Fox Footy and will not cross to Seven for the 2025 AFL season. A source close to Whateley, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told this masthead on Monday that Whateley would not join the list of prominent names heading to Seven ahead of the 2025 season as the host free-to-air broadcaster continues to revamp its coverage. Gerard Whateley will stay with Fox Footy in 2025. Credit: Justin McManus Sevens new head of sport, Chris Jones, has been bold in securing football commentators, including Age columnist Caroline Wilson and Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes from Channel Nine, and former St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt, but Whateley will remain at Fox Footy, despite interest from the network. Whateley remains under contract with Fox for at least two more years. He is expected to continue to host nightly review show AFL 360, but with a fresh partner as News Corps chief football writer, Mark Robinson, will reportedly not return for a 15th year in the role. Ever wanted to time travel? A visit to the Kimberley in Western Australia will take you back almost two billion years. One of the oldest environments on Earth, this prehistoric playground is famed for its rugged terracotta plateaus, winding rivers and ancient gorges, but its coastal beauty is not to be forgotten. The small ship can get you closer to the action. Credit: Seabourn With striking coral atolls, rushing waterfalls and fiery sandstone cliffs that plunge into the turquoise Timor Sea, the Kimberley coastline has no shortage of world-class views. Its little wonder, then, that the 10-day Kimberley Coastal Expedition is one of APTs most popular tours. Book a spot on this all-inclusive cruise and not only will you gain a front-row seat to some of the worlds most awe-inspiring sights, youll also find yourself at the heart of the action. Aboard the ultra-luxurious Seabourn Pursuit, youll weave in and out of the Kimberleys archipelagos, coves and marine parks while daily Zodiac tours allow for close-up exploration of these epic sights including the spectacular King George Falls. Recently launched in 2023, the Seabourn Pursuit was specifically designed for the luxury expedition traveller. Boasting eight impeccable dining experiences, all-inclusive premium beverages, relaxation and wellness spaces, and a 24-person expedition team, theres no better way to explore the Kimberley coast. In just over a week, intensified Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed seven high-ranking commanders and officials from the powerful Hezbollah militant group, including the groups leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The move left Lebanon and much of the Middle East in shock as Israeli officials celebrated major military and intelligence breakthroughs. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Credit: AP The recent strikes in Lebanon and the assassination of Nasrallah are a significant escalation in the war in the Middle East, this time between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanons most powerful military and political force officially listed as a terrorist organisation in Australia and other countries now finds itself trying to recuperate from severe blows, having lost key members who have been part of Hezbollah since its establishment in the early 1980s. SIMPSON BAY:--- Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) is pleased to announce its highly anticipated winter schedule, giving passengers even more destinations to choose from. The new schedule, effective from November 1, 2024, offers additional routes, increased frequency to popular destinations in the USA and Europe, and improved passenger services. Highlights of the winter 2024-2025 schedule New Routes: Passengers can now enjoy direct flights to new destinations, including Delta flights to Minneapolis, Air Canada flights to Montreal, and brand-new Winair flights to St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Barbados. Boutique Business Class airline La Compagnie is also returning to Sint Maarten with a weekly flight from Newark. Increased Frequency: Based on passenger demand, PJIA will increase flight frequency to popular destinations like Paris Charles de Gaulle to which Air France will now fly twice a day, Silver Airlines which will fly to San Juan three times a week, and we welcome Liat 2.0 back with three weekly flights to Antigua, ensuring greater flexibility and convenience for travelers. Enhanced Connectivity: With new partnerships, PJIA is expanding its international reach, connecting passengers with 25 different airline companies to almost 40 Caribbean, American and European destinations with seamless layovers. Expanded Seasonal Flights: Passengers looking for a winter escape can take advantage of our expanded seasonal services to winter resorts and beach destinations across Europe, North America, and the Caribbean with multiple daily flights to many destinations like Miami, New York, Newark, Toronto, Montreal and Paris. Winair will add multiple daily flight options to destinations like St. Barths, Tortola, and Curacao, which is scheduled to fly 10 times per week. Passengers are encouraged to book their tickets early to take advantage of the new offering and ensure their preferred travel dates. GODREJ & BOYCE SHOWCASES FUTURISTIC SECURITY SOLUTIONS AT SECURITY ESSEN IN GERMANY Godrej & Boyce, part of Godrej Enterprises Group s Security Solutions business participated in Security Essen 2024, the leading global trade fair for security in Essen, Germany. This event provided an opportunity for the company to showcase not only its latest innovations in security, but also reaffirm its commitment to sustainability, environmental responsibility, and social welfare. The stand constructed was 100% Carbon neutral and made using recycled material, a first of its kind. At Security Essen, Godrej & Boyce introduced breakthrough products such as the Li-Ion Battery Storage Cabineta fire-protected space for storing and charging lithium-ion batteriesand the E-Cash Gun Safe Locker, designed to safely secure long-barrel weapons, small arms, ammunition, and important documents. Alongside these innovations, the company showcased its durable safes, world-class fire-resistant solutions, advanced vault equipment, and resilient vault room doors, all of which adhere to the highest international security standards. These products not just feature advanced technologies but are certified and listed as per the highest European security standards EN 1143 T2, demonstrating the company s dedication to delivering high-quality, secure, and reliable solutions for its global customers. Our participation at Security Essen is a testament to our commitment to bringing world-class security solutions to the global market. Apart from innovation, sustainability is also one of our core values at Godrej. We are also showcasing the sustainable practices followed at Godrej. This will help us change perceptions about Indian manufacturers in Europe and the rest of the word. By integrating advanced technology and adhering to the highest international standards we aim to address the modern security needs of our customers effectively. To add, our exhibit booth is also made from recycled materials, designed to be 100% carbon neutral. This initiative is a testament to our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint while driving a new standard in both security and environmental stewardship, said Pushkar Gokhale, EVP and Business Head, Security Solutions Business of Godrej & Boyce. Security Essen provided Godrej & Boyce with a platform to engage with industry leaders, partners, and customers from around the globe. Through interactive demonstrations and expert discussions, the company explored emerging trends in security technology and contributed to the dialogue on protecting people and assets in an increasingly complex environment. To know more visit: www.godrejenterprises.com Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2512459/Security_Essen.jpg Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2512458/Godrej_Logo.jpg View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/de/pressemitteilungen/godrejboyce-showcases-futuristic-security-solutions-at-security-essen-in-germany-302262299.html Contact: Minakshi@godrej.com, +91 91529 92274 Original-Content von: Godrej Enterprises Group, ubermittelt durch news aktuell Epic Games sues Google and Samsung over app store San Francisco, Sept 30 (AFP) Sep 30, 2024 Fortnite-maker Epic Games is suing tech giants Google and Samsung, it announced Monday, accusing them of illegally colluding to block competition on Samsung devices. CEO Tim Sweeney said his company would file a claim in a US federal court in California, the same jurisdiction where the company won a years-long legal battle with Google in 2023. He said he would take the fight to authorities in Europe and Asia if necessary, amid his long-running battle to force Apple and Google to open up their smartphone to other app stores. "This is a major global fight, which is ultimately for the right of consumers to get all the benefits of competition and choose freely who they want to do business with," Sweeney told reporters. The latest lawsuit focuses on Samsung's Auto Blocker feature. Epic claims that feature was implemented in coordination with Google to undermine a recent US court decision against Google's app store practices. Following that decision, Epic in August launched its own app store, which allows users to bypass the Google-run store and offer content directly to smartphone users. Epic alleges that Auto Blocker surreptitiously blocks the new app store and others like it by obstructing the ability to install apps from sources other than the Google Play Store and Samsung Galaxy Store. Epic said that in July 2024, Samsung changed Auto Blocker from an "opt-in" feature to the default setting, forcing users to navigate a cumbersome 21-step process to download apps from third-party stores or the web. Epic argues that this move cements Google Play Store's monopoly and violates the jury verdict in Epic's court victory against Google. In that case, a jury found Google's app-store practices, including agreements with phone manufacturers, to be illegal. "Allowing this coordinated illegal anti-competitive dealing to proceed hurts developers and consumers and undermines both the jury's verdict and regulatory and legislative progress around the world," Epic stated in its announcement. Epic, maker of the hugely popular Fortnite video game, is asking the court to prohibit what it calls anti-competitive conduct and mandate that Samsung remove Auto Blocker as the default setting on its devices. As part of Epic's ongoing battles with major tech companies over app store policies and fees, the company previously sued Apple, in a case it mostly lost, and Google, arguing that its app store practices are monopolistic and harm developers and consumers. The new lawsuit comes at a time of increasing scrutiny of big tech companies' market power by regulators and lawmakers worldwide, with new laws passed in Europe, Japan and South Korea limiting the way the giants can do business. Google and Samsung have not yet publicly responded to the lawsuit. arp/bbk/mtp GOOGLE Samsung Electronics California governor vetoes AI safety bill San Francisco, Sept 30 (AFP) Sep 30, 2024 California Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill aimed at regulating powerful artificial intelligence models following pushback from tech giants and critics who argued the law went too far. The bill had faced a barrage of critics, including members of US Congress from Newsom's Democratic party, who argued that threats of punitive measures against developers in a nascent field would throttle innovation. In a statement on Sunday, Newsom acknowledged that SB-1047 was "well-intentioned" but expressed concern that the bill was too "stringent" and unfairly focused on "the most expensive and large-scale models." "The bill applies stringent standards to even the most basic functions -- so long as a large system deploys it," the governor noted. He added, "smaller, specialized models may emerge as equally or even more dangerous than the models targeted by SB 1047 -- at the potential expense of curtailing the very innovation that fuels advancement in favor of the public good." The bill's sponsor, Democratic state Senator Scott Wiener of San Francisco, lamented the "setback," saying it left AI safety in the hands of the tech giants racing to release the technology. Wiener had hoped the bill would set rules for AI giants in Silicon Valley's home state, filling a void left by Washington, where a politically divided Congress struggles to pass legislation. "This veto leaves us with the troubling reality that companies aiming to create an extremely powerful technology face no binding restrictions from US policymakers, particularly given Congress's continuing paralysis around regulating the tech industry in any meaningful way," Wiener wrote on X. The California state bill would have required developers of large "frontier" AI models to take precautions such as pre-deployment testing, simulating hacker attacks, installing cybersecurity safeguards, and providing protection for whistleblowers. To secure the legislation's passage, lawmakers made several changes, including replacing criminal penalties for violations with civil penalties such as fines. However, opposition remained, including from influential figures like Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, also opposed the bill, preferring national rules instead of a patchwork of AI regulations across the 50 US states. At least 40 states have introduced bills this year to regulate AI, and a half dozen have adopted resolutions or enacted legislation aimed at the technology, according to The National Conference of State Legislatures. The bill had gained reluctant support from Elon Musk, who argued that AI's risk to the public justifies regulation, as well as leading AI researchers like Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio. Dan Hendrycks, director of the Center for AI Safety, said that although the veto was "disappointing," the debate around the bill "has begun moving the conversation about AI safety into the mainstream, where it belongs." He added on X that the bill has "revealed that some industry calls for responsible AI are nothing more than PR aircover for their business and investment strategies." Trump to Putin: the key challenges facing Rutte at NATO Brussels, Belgium, Sept 30 (AFP) Sep 30, 2024 Dutch former prime minister Mark Rutte will take the reins as NATO's new secretary general on Tuesday at a perilous time for the Western military alliance. With Russia's war in Ukraine raging through a third year, its leading power the United States set for a crunch election, and China rising, NATO is grappling with major challenges. Here are the key issues set to fill Rutte's in-tray as he enters office: - Trump 2.0? - Looming over the 32-nation alliance is the potential return of former US president Donald Trump to the White House after November elections. The volatile ex-reality TV star reportedly mulled withdrawing the United States from NATO during his first term -- and threatened not to protect allies that do not spend enough on defence. Outgoing NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg was credited with averting a major crisis that could have seen the magnate blow a hole in the alliance. Should Trump be re-elected, Rutte will need all the diplomatic skill he acquired during more than 13 years in charge of the Netherlands to ward off any weakening of Washington's role. European allies will be informally war-gaming options to try to steward Trump and have already been showcasing their increased spending to keep him on board. A victory for Democrat Kamala Harris would reassure NATO in the short term. But diplomats say they expect a gradual US disengagement from Europe as Washington pivots to Asia, whoever is in charge. - Keep Ukraine going - While the threat from Trump may not come to pass, one inescapable reality will be the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine. NATO countries -- spearheaded by the United States -- have provided 99 percent of the foreign military aid that has helped keep Kyiv's forces in the fight since 2022. As the war drags on towards its fourth year, Rutte will have a key role in rallying Kyiv's backers to make sure support does not dry up. Meanwhile, calls for a negotiated settlement are growing louder. NATO at its summit in Washington this summer took over a greater role in coordinating arms deliveries -- but failed to lock-in long-term commitments of support. Kyiv at the same time is also pushing for membership of NATO. The United States and Germany have so far blocked any concrete progress on that front -- but pressure is likely to increase again. Balancing the expectations from Ukraine against the caution of leading allies will be a major task. - Fit to fight Russia? - Regardless of how the war in Ukraine pans out, NATO allies say they are likely to face a threat from Russia for decades to come. Last year the alliance signed off on its most comprehensive defence plans since the end of the Cold War, aimed at stopping any potential attack by Moscow. While officials insist the combined might of NATO could currently defeat a Russian military weakened by the Ukraine war, the Kremlin is already looking to rebuild its forces. Rutte's core task will be to try to make sure NATO is ready while ensuring that tensions do not spill over into a possible nuclear conflict with Russia. Some allies estimate Russia could be prepping for a potential war with the alliance within a decade. That gives NATO countries a shrinking window of opportunity to plug the gaps in key weaponry and personnel they need to put the new plans into action. On top of the list are air defences, longer-range missiles, and making sure there are ample stocks of staples like artillery shells. Western firms were ill-prepared to meet the demands of the full-scale war in Ukraine after decades of underinvestment. Countries have begun ramping up production but Rutte will have to keep the pressure on to make sure industry is fit for purpose -- and allies keep buying what is required. - Money matters - All that will take cash -- and lots of it. A decade after NATO set a target for allies to spend two percent of their gross domestic product on defence, only 23 hit that bar this year. The new NATO boss will have to corral the laggards to make good on the target and make sure others do not slip back. And there are already calls for the alliance to go even further and considerably ratchet up spending beyond the current two percent floor. For notoriously frugal Dutchman Rutte -- who only pushed the Netherlands to the target in his last year in office -- that could be a hard sell. - China threat - Further afield, NATO eyes are also increasingly drawn to another potent rival: China. While the alliance is bound in its founding treaty to the Euro-Atlantic area, Washington has increasingly been pushing allies to pay more attention to the risks posed by Beijing. China's burgeoning partnership with Russia has propelled the threat in the minds of many European allies and seen NATO build up ties with allies such as Japan, South Korea and Australia. But some -- notably France -- remain wary of diverting NATO's attention away from its principal theatre and Rutte will have to perform a careful balancing act. Israel hits apartment block in first strike on heart of Beirut Beirut, Lebanon, Sept 30 (AFP) Sep 30, 2024 Israel carried out an air strike on a Beirut apartment block on Monday, a Lebanese security source said, killing four people in its first such raid on the heart of the city since the outbreak of the Gaza war last year. Israel has turned its focus from Gaza to Lebanon in recent days, carrying out attacks on Iran's regional allies. Strikes on Hezbollah targets killed the Iran-backed group's leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday. Monday's drone attack targeted a "flat belonging to Jamaa Islamiya", a Lebanese Islamist group, the security source said. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a secular left-wing group, said three of its members were killed in Monday's strike on Beirut's Kola district. The group said in a statement that its military security chief Mohammad Abdel-Aal, military commander Imad Odeh, and Abdelrahman Abdel-Aal were killed. The Israeli military said it had launched fresh strikes on dozens of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon's Bekaa region on Monday. Israel "will continue to attack powerfully, damage and degrade Hezbollah's military capabilities and infrastructure in Lebanon", the army said in a statement on Telegram. - 'Largest displacement' - Television footage showed the partially flattened floor of the building targeted by the strike, in the predominantly Sunni neighbourhood of Kola, near the road linking the capital to Beirut airport. AFP journalists reported drones flying over the Lebanese capital throughout Sunday. Israeli attacks have killed hundreds in Lebanon since last Monday, the deadliest day since the country's 1975-1990 civil war. Lebanon's health ministry reported at least 105 people killed in Israeli strikes on Sunday, with 359 people wounded. In the last week, Israeli bombardment has killed more than 700 people, including 14 paramedics over a two-day period, the ministry said. UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said "well over 200,000 people are displaced inside Lebanon" and more than 50,000 have fled to neighbouring Syria. Prime Minister Mikati said up to one million people may have been uprooted, in potentially the "largest displacement movement" in Lebanon's history. - Yemen strikes - Israeli aggression on Lebanon has sparked fears of an all-out war in the Middle East. Israel said it also carried out strikes in Yemen on Sunday, targeting Iran-backed Huthi rebel positions. Huthi media reports said those strikes killed four people and wounded 33. The raids in Yemen came a day after the Huthis said they launched a missile at an Israeli airport, trying to hit it as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was returning from New York. The Israeli military has said its operations in Lebanon aim to eliminate Hezbollah's leadership and capacity to attack Israel. It said the air strike that killed Nasrallah on Friday also "eliminated" another 20 Hezbollah members, including senior leaders. Israel also said another strike on Saturday killed Nabil Qaouq, a member of Hezbollah's central council. Hezbollah has yet to officially announce his death, but a source close to the group said Qaouq had been killed. Analysts told AFP Nasrallah's death leaves a bruised Hezbollah under pressure to respond. - Calls for halt - World leaders have called for a de-escalation to avoid a wider regional conflict. French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot met with Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Lebanon on Sunday night -- the first high-level foreign diplomat to visit since the Israeli strikes intensified -- and said Paris sought "an immediate halt" to Israeli strikes. Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry issued a statement early Monday, calling for Lebanon's "sovereignty and territorial integrity" to be respected. US President Joe Biden -- whose government is Israel's top arms supplier -- said Sunday a wider war "really has to be avoided". Pope Francis, asked about Israeli air strikes on civilians, said a country "goes beyond morality" when defence is not proportional to the attack. In Gaza, the territory's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes Sunday killed several people. Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity. Of the 251 hostages seized by militants, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,595 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN has described the figures as reliable. 100,000 have fled Lebanon for Syria due to Israeli strikes: UN Geneva, Sept 30 (AFP) Sep 30, 2024 Some 100,000 people have fled to Syria from Lebanon due to Israeli air strikes, a figure that has doubled in two days, the United Nations' refugee head said on Monday. "The number of people who have crossed into Syria from Lebanon fleeing Israeli airstrikes -- Lebanese and Syrian nationals -- has reached 100,000," Filippo Grandi said on X. "The outflow continues," he warned. He said his UN refugee agency (UNHCR) was "present at four crossing points, alongside local authorities and (the Syrian Red Crescent) to support new arrivals". The mass displacement into war-torn Syria began a week ago, on September 23, the UNHCR told AFP on Saturday. Israel has widened its attacks in recent days to include Lebanon as well as the Gaza Strip, targeting Iran's regional ally, Hezbollah. Strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon killed it leader, Hassan Nasrallah, on Friday. In the last week, Israeli bombardment has killed more than 700 people in Lebanon, including 14 paramedics over a two-day period, according to Lebanon's health ministry. By Friday, 30,000 people had crossed into Syria, according to the UNHCR. Its representative in Syria, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, said around 80 percent were Syrian nationals and 20 percent Lebanese. "Most are women and children, although some males have crossed. About half are children and adolescents," he told reporters. He stressed the fleeing people were "arriving in a country that has been suffering from its own crisis and violence for more than 13 years, as well as from economic collapse". "People fleeing the bombing arrive in Syria exhausted, traumatised and in desperate need of help." Taiwan ex-air force instructor jailed 17 years for China spying Taipei, Sept 30 (AFP) Sep 30, 2024 Taiwan's High Court on Monday sentenced a former air force officer and instructor to 17 years in prison for "aiding the enemy" over espionage activities carried out on behalf of China. Beijing claims self-ruled Taiwan as its territory and has ramped up military and political pressure on the democratic island in recent years. The two sides split in 1949 after a civil war and have been spying on each other since. Lou Wen-ching, a former instructor at the Air Force Flight Training Command with the rank of lieutenant colonel, was convicted of violating the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces for "rendering aid to an enemy's spy" and delivering "military secrets" to an enemy, the court said. "He was introduced by a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spy surnamed Liu (a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel) to meet with CCP officials abroad," it said in a statement. He "assisted Liu in engaging in espionage activities by providing internal documents of the Air Force (some of which were categorised as confidential) for rewards". The court did not elaborate on what kind of material Lou had passed to China, saying it could only offer a brief explanation as the case involved "defence secrets". It added that Lou's criminal proceeds totalling $5,580 were confiscated. Lou was previously acquitted twice in past rulings by the High Court. Monday's statement did not specify why the court reversed its decision, but said Lou was considered to have "served the purpose of benefiting the enemy", whether his actions were out of "direct or indirect intention". The sentencing on Monday was the latest in a recent string of spying cases. Last month, the High Court sentenced eight defendants to up to 13 years in prison for spying for Beijing for money when they were active-duty soldiers. Hezbollah vows to keep fighting Israel after Nasrallah killing Beirut, Lebanon, Sept 30 (AFP) Sep 30, 2024 Hezbollah vowed on Monday to keep fighting Israel and said it was ready to face any ground operation into Lebanon, after its leader was killed in an air strike that dealt the group a seismic blow. In a televised address, the Iran-backed group's deputy chief Naim Qassem said a new leader to replace Hassan Nasrallah, who enjoyed cult status among his supporters, would be selected "at the earliest opportunity". He also said the group was ready for any Israeli ground offensive, even though Israel's bombardment of its strongholds has in the past week killed a large number of its top commanders and officials. Hezbollah began low-intensity cross-border strikes on Israeli troops a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, triggering war in the Gaza Strip. Israel said earlier this month that it was shifting its focus from Gaza to securing its northern border with Lebanon, in order to allow Israelis displaced since October to return to their homes. It has also not ruled out a ground offensive in order to achieve its goals. Israel's strikes on Lebanon have killed hundreds and forced hundreds of thousands more to flee their homes, and left people across the region fearful of more violence to come. Qassem said Hezbollah would continue "confronting the Israeli enemy in support of Gaza and Palestine, in defence of Lebanon and its people, and in response to the assassinations and the killing of civilians". Warning that any battle with Israel would be long, he said: "We will face any scenario and we are ready if Israel decides to enter by land, the resistance forces are ready for any ground confrontation." On the other side of the border, Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told troops: "The elimination of Nasrallah is an important step, but it is not the final one." "In order to ensure the return of Israel's northern communities, we will employ all of our capabilities, and this includes you," he said. - Beirut strike - Most of Israel's strikes have targeted Hezbollah strongholds in eastern and southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, the group's main bastion. On Monday, a drone strike hit a building in the Cola district in central Beirut, with an armed Palestinian group saying it had killed three of its members. The strike, the first in the centre of the city in years, sparked panic, with 41-year-old resident Mohammed al-Hoss saying "the kids were in shock" after his house was damaged. "We are with Gaza and support the Palestinian cause, but our country cannot cope with us going to war," he said. "Our country is in a wretched state. They (Israel) finished with Gaza and they have come to Lebanon." Lebanon's health ministry also reported the strike, saying it had killed four people and wounded four others. Israel has yet to comment. Palestinian Islamist group Hamas later announced that its leader in Lebanon, Fatah Sharif Abu al-Amine, had been killed along with his wife and two children in another strike on Al-Bass refugee camp in south Lebanon. The Israeli military confirmed it had "eliminated" Sharif in a strike. Lebanon's health ministry said six rescuers affiliated with Hezbollah were killed in an Israeli strike Monday. Around Lebanon, Israeli strikes killed more than 100 people on Sunday, including 45 near the southern city of Sidon, according to the ministry. Lebanon's Health Minister Firass Abiad said Saturday that 1,030 people including 87 children had been killed since September 16. UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi said "well over 200,000 people are displaced inside Lebanon", while more than 100,000 have fled to neighbouring Syria. Prime Minister Najib Mikati said up to one million people may have been uprooted, in potentially the "largest displacement movement" in Lebanon's history. - Yemen strikes - The violence in Lebanon has raised fears of a much wider conflagration in the region. On Monday, the Israeli army said it "successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory". Israel said it also carried out strikes on Sunday targeting Iran-backed Huthis in Yemen that the rebels said killed four people and wounded 33. The raids in Yemen came a day after the Huthis said they launched a missile at Israel's Ben Gurion airport, trying to hit it as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was returning from New York. Iran has said Nasrallah's killing would bring about Israel's "destruction", though the foreign ministry said Monday it would not deploy any fighters to confront Israel. Lebanon began a three-day national mourning period for Nasrallah on Monday, with flags flying at half-mast. In Israel, some had mixed feelings about the Hezbollah chief's killing. "Nasrallah was responsible for the deaths of many Israelis, so it is good news," said Matan Sofer, 24, in the northern town of Rosh Pina. "But do we risk it getting worse, who knows?" - Calls for halt - World leaders have called for a de-escalation. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot met with the Lebanese premier in Beirut Monday, and said his government sought "an immediate halt" in the strikes. He is the first high-level foreign diplomat to visit since the Israeli strikes intensified. US President Joe Biden, whose government is Israel's top arms supplier, said Sunday a wider war "really has to be avoided". In Gaza, AFP journalists said the number of air strikes across the territory has dropped significantly in recent days. Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,615 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN has described the figures as reliable. burs/ser/jsa Lebanese army says soldier killed in Israeli strike Beirut, Lebanon, Sept 30 (AFP) Sep 30, 2024 Lebanon's army said a soldier was killed Monday in an Israeli strike targeting a motorcycle at a checkpoint in the south, the first such announcement since Israel began bombarding Lebanon last week. "A soldier was killed when a drone belonging to the Israeli enemy targeted a motorcycle as it was passing through... the Lebanese army checkpoint" in the Wazzani area close to the Israeli border, a statement on X said. A source close to the army told AFP the strike targeted two Syrian nationals on the motorbike, while the soldier was hit by shrapnel and died of his wounds. It is the second Lebanese soldier announced killed since Israel and Hezbollah began cross-border exchanges of fire in October over the Gaza war. In December, a soldier was killed by Israeli fire on a military post near the country's southern border. lg/dv Russia plans 30 percent defence spending hike in 2025 Moscow, Sept 30 (AFP) Sep 30, 2024 Russia plans to hike its defence spending by about 30 percent next year as it diverts more resources to fund its offensive in Ukraine, draft budget plans published on Monday showed. Moscow has already ramped up its military spending to levels not seen since the Soviet Union era, as it pumps out missiles and drones to fire on Ukraine and pays lucrative salaries to its hundreds of thousands of soldiers fighting on the front lines. The latest planned increase in spending will take Russia's defence budget to 13.5 trillion rubles ($145 billion) in 2025, a document published on the parliamentary website showed. That figure does not include some other resources being directed to the military campaign, such as spending that Russia labels as "domestic security" and some outlays classified as top secret. Combined spending on defence and security will account for around 40 percent of Russia's total government spending, seen at 41.5 trillion rubles in 2025. Before sending the draft budget to Russia's parliament, Moscow trumpeted an increase in investment and social welfare alongside higher military outlays. The "top priority" of the budget is "social support for citizens", Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told a televised government meeting last Tuesday. "The second is the provision of expenditures on defence and security, providing the resources for the special military operation and support for families of those participating in the special military operation," he added, using Russia's official language for its Ukraine offensive. But the figures suggest that military spending has crowded out spending on other areas of the economy. Planned spending on "national defence" is more than twice that allocated to areas Moscow labels as "social policy". German air force to fly out some Beirut embassy staff Berlin, Sept 30 (AFP) Sep 30, 2024 Germany sent an air force plane to strife-torn Lebanon on Monday to fly out some Beirut embassy staff, their dependants and German citizens with medical conditions, the government said. "An Air Force A321 aircraft flew to Beirut today to support the departure of the colleagues and their families," said a joint statement by the foreign and defence ministries. "German nationals who are particularly at risk due to medical circumstances are also being taken on the Bundeswehr aircraft," said the statement, which added that staff of some German partner organisations were also being picked up. Israel has been bombing targets of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Beirut and eastern and southern Lebanon, in strikes that have killed hundreds and forced hundreds of thousands more to flee their homes. The Beirut embassy remained operational to help the estimated 1,800 German citizens in the country, and only non-essential embassy staff and their families were being taken out of the country. "The embassy continues to support the remaining Germans in Lebanon in their departure via commercial flights and other means," the statement added. At the weekend, Berlin raised its alert level for the missions in Beirut, Tel Aviv and Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. A German government spokesman earlier on Monday said that "we are currently at a stage where we support the departure (of citizens) but we are explicitly not in an evacuation scenario." The statement reiterated that "all Germans in Lebanon have been urged to leave the country since October 2023." Hezbollah began low-intensity cross-border strikes on Israeli troops a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, triggering war in the Gaza Strip. Israel said earlier this month that it was shifting its focus from Gaza to securing its northern border with Lebanon, in order to allow Israelis displaced since October to return to their homes. Hezbollah vowed on Monday to keep fighting Israel and said it was ready to face any ground operation into Lebanon, after its leader was killed in an air strike that dealt the group a seismic blow. Israel defence minister says ground troops could join Hezbollah fight Jerusalem, Sept 30 (AFP) Sep 30, 2024 Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday said ground forces could be used against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, adding military operations will go on despite the killing of the group's leader Hassan Nasrallah. Gallant made the comments while speaking to Israeli troops deployed to the northern border where cross-border fire with Hezbollah continued for nearly a year but escalated this month. "We will use all the means that may be required -- your forces, other forces, from the air, from the sea, and on land," Gallant said. "The elimination of Nasrallah is an important step, but it is not the final one". Israel killed Nasrallah on Friday in an air strike on the Iran-backed group's southern Beirut stronghold. Israel had intensified air raids against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon from September 23, when Lebanon's health ministry said at least 558 people were killed, in the deadliest day of violence since Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war. Israeli officials have been hinting at a potential ground invasion into Lebanon, following attacks which decimated Hezbollah's leadership and communications this month. After Hamas Palestinian militants' unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that triggered war in Gaza, Hezbollah began firing at Israeli military positions and communities along the border, in what it called "support" for Hamas. Fighting had been relatively contained until the current escalation. Tens of thousands of Israeli residents were evacuated from their country's northern border area nearly a year ago. "Our goal is to ensure the (safe) return of Israel's northern communities to their homes. We are prepared to make every effort necessary to accomplish this mission," said Gallant. Israel said earlier this month that it was shifting its focus from Gaza to securing the northern border with Lebanon. Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem said Monday the movement was ready to face any Israeli ground operation, and warned that the battle could last a long time. Ukrainian, Hungarian FMs have 'frank' discussion Budapest, Sept 30 (AFP) Sep 30, 2024 Ukraine's new foreign minister held a "frank" conversation with his Hungarian counterpart on "difficult issues" on Monday, against a backdrop of frosty relationship between the neighbouring countries. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been the only EU leader to maintain close ties with the Kremlin since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He has repeatedly stalled efforts to punish Moscow and to aid war-torn Ukraine in its fight against the invading forces. Budapest refuses to approve the release of more than 6.5 billion euros ($7.25 billion) to Kyiv, complaining about discriminatory measures against Hungarian companies. "We had a very frank one-on-one conversation discussing difficult issues, among other things," Andriy Sybiga told reporters after a meeting with Hungary's top diplomat, Peter Szijjarto in Budapest. The negotiations between the two ministers "lasted about an hour, twice as long as planned", according to a statement from the Ukrainian ministry Speaking at a press conference, Sybiga welcomed Orban's first visit to Kyiv at the beginning of July and called for "the development of bilateral relations", saying he could "count on Budapest's support" in its EU integration process. "Our meeting today has convinced me that... there is a mutual and common will to develop neighbourly relations," Szijjarto added. But Hungary's foreign minister also urged Kyiv to refrain from "unilateral, sudden steps" that could "pose a challenge" to the central European country's energy supply. In July, Budapest accused Kyiv of threatening its energy security by barring Russian energy giant Lukoil from using the Ukrainian section of the Druzhba pipeline. Earlier this month, Hungarian energy company MOL made a deal guaranteeing the supply of Russian oil. The two ministers also agreed to accelerate efforts by an intergovernmental working group set up to address a long-running feud over minority rights in Transcarpathia, a western Ukrainian region home to an ethnic Hungarian community. bur-ros/bc Israel threatens 'all means' against Hezbollah after Nasrallah killing Beirut, Lebanon, Sept 30 (AFP) Sep 30, 2024 Israel warned Monday it could send in troops to fight Hezbollah, warning the battle was not over despite the killing of the Iran-backed militants' leader in an air strike. Hezbollah, however, said its fighters were ready to face any ground offensive in Lebanon, even after the seismic blow inflicted by the killing of its chief, Hassan Nasrallah. Israel launched earlier this month a wave of deadly air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds across Lebanon, and on Friday bombed Nasrallah in Beirut. In northern Israel, near the Lebanese border, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said: "We will use all the means that may be required... from the air, from the sea, and on land." He said the killing of Nasrallah "is an important step, but it is not the final one." Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem, in a first televised address since the massive Friday strike, said the armed movement was "ready if Israel decides to enter by land. The resistance forces are ready for any ground confrontation." Hezbollah began low-intensity strikes on Israeli troops a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 which triggered war in the Gaza Strip. The border clashes have rapidly escalated this month, leaving people across the region fearful of even more violence to come. The Israeli strikes continued on Monday, with one of them killing a soldier in south Lebanon according to a military statement -- the first death among Lebanese troops in the current escalation. Israel said earlier this month that it was shifting its focus from Gaza to securing its northern border, and has not ruled out a ground offensive in order to achieve its goals. Israel's strikes on Lebanon have killed hundreds of people over the past week and forced hundreds of thousands more to flee their homes. Hezbollah and other groups launched rockets, drones and some missiles at Israel over the same period, causing some injuries but no deaths. - 'Everyone is afraid' - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused arch-foe Iran, which backs Hamas, Hezbollah and other armed groups, of plunging "our region deeper... into war". "There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach," Netanyahu warned. Iran has said Nasrallah's killing would bring about Israel's "destruction", though the foreign ministry said Monday that Tehran would not deploy any fighters to confront Israel. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called for a ceasefire based on a recent US-French proposal, urging "an end to the Israeli aggression against Lebanon". US President Joe Biden, whose country is Israel's main weapons supplier, on Monday indicated he opposes an Israeli ground operation. "We should have a ceasefire now," he said. Most of Israel's strikes have targeted Hezbollah strongholds in eastern and southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, the group's main bastion. On Monday, an Israeli strike hit a building in central Beirut, with an armed Palestinian group saying it had killed three of its members. The strike, the first in the city centre in years, sparked panic. "Our country is in a wretched state. They (Israel) finished with Gaza and they have come to Lebanon," 41-year-old resident Mohammed al-Hoss said. Another resident, Kahier Bannout, 42, said central Beirut was "supposed to be a safe area -- not a war zone". "Everyone is afraid." In Israel's north, too, some feared a wider war. "Nasrallah was responsible for the deaths of many Israelis, so it is good news" that he was killed, said Matan Sofer, 24, in the town of Rosh Pina. But "we don't know when this is going to end," he said of the violence. Hamas said its leader in Lebanon, Fatah Sharif Abu al-Amine, was killed along with his wife and two children in a strike on Al-Bass refugee camp in south Lebanon. The Israeli military confirmed it had killed Sharif. - 'There is little time' - Lebanon's Health Minister Firass Abiad said more than 1,000 people have been killed since September 17. UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi said "well over 200,000 people are displaced inside Lebanon", while more than 100,000 have fled to neighbouring Syria. Israel said it carried out strikes on Sunday targeting Iran-backed Huthis in Yemen, which the rebels on Monday said killed five people. On Saturday the Huthis said they had launched a missile at Israel. World leaders have called for a de-escalation, while some governments have urged their citizens -- and in some cases, embassy staff or their families -- to leave Lebanon. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, the first high-level diplomat to visit Beirut since the Israeli strikes intensified, on Monday urged Israel "to refrain from any ground incursion", after he had earlier called for a halt in the violence. "There is still hope" for a ceasefire, he said, "but there is little time". US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said diplomacy was the best path forward for the region. Washington "will continue to work... to advance a diplomatic resolution" for the Israel-Lebanon border, and "to secure a ceasefire deal in Gaza" that would free Israeli hostages and ease Palestinians' "suffering", he said. In Gaza, AFP journalists said the number of Israeli air strikes has dropped significantly in recent days. A UN Satellite Centre assessment issued Monday said "two-thirds of the total structures in the Gaza Strip have sustained damage" in nearly a year of war. Children in Gaza, unable to go to school for many months, "are not allowed to have the life of normal children, no education, no play, no joy", UNICEF spokesman for the Palestinian territories Jonathan Crickx told AFP after a mission to the territory. Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,615 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN has described the figures as reliable. burs/ser/ami/it Lebanon army source: troops 'repositioning' after Israel incursion threat Beirut, Lebanon, Sept 30 (AFP) Sep 30, 2024 Lebanon's army is repositioning troops stationed on its southern border, a Lebanese military official told AFP Monday, after the US said Israel had informed it about limited ground operations inside Lebanon. The Lebanese army is "repositioning and regrouping forces" at the southern border following threats of an Israeli incursion, the official said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. Hezbollah's Al-Manar television channel reported "Zionist artillery shelling" near the border areas of Wazzani, the Khiam valley, Alma Al-Shaab and Naqura. Wazzani and Khiam are right across from Metula in northern Israel -- one of three locations the Israeli military declared part of a closed military zone on Monday ahead of possible ground operations against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported "heavy artillery shelling targeting Wazzani". For the past week, Israel has heavily bombed targets in the country's east, south and southern Beirut suburbs, killing hundreds of people and displacing up to one million, according to Lebanese officials. The war follows nearly one year of cross-border exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah that the Lebanese group said is in support of Palestinian ally Hamas, whose October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza. Lebanon army source says troops 'repositioning' away from border Beirut, Lebanon, Sept 30 (AFP) Sep 30, 2024 Lebanon's army is moving troops away from its southern border, a Lebanese military official told AFP Monday, after the US said Israel is conducting limited ground operations inside Lebanon. The Lebanese army is "repositioning and regrouping forces" from the southern border, the official said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. Lebanon's national army is dwarfed by the military power of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement. Hezbollah's Al-Manar television channel reported "Zionist artillery shelling" near the border areas of Wazzani, the Khiam valley, Alma Al-Shaab and Naqura. Wazzani and Khiam are right across from Metula in the north of Israel, where the military on Monday declared a closed military zone including Metula, Misgav Am, and Kfar Giladi. The US State Department later said Israel is "currently conducting" limited ground operations targeting Hezbollah inside Lebanon. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported "continued artillery shelling" on Wazzani and the nearby Marjayoun plain and Khiam "for more than two hours". Last Friday, the Israeli army killed Hezbollah's powerful leader Hassan Nasrallah in a strike on the group's southern Beirut bastion. For the past week, Israel has launched an intense bombing campaign on the country's east, south and southern Beirut suburbs, killing hundreds of people and displacing up to one million, according to Lebanese officials. The war follows nearly one year of cross-border exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah that the Lebanese group said were in support of Palestinian ally Hamas, whose October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza. * FIRST NAME * LAST NAME * EMAIL Your email address * PASSWORD Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number Show * YEAR OF BIRTH You must be at least 18 years old to create an account 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1970 1969 1968 1967 1966 1965 1964 1963 1962 1961 1960 1959 1958 1957 1956 1955 1954 1953 1952 1951 1950 1949 1948 1947 1946 1945 1944 1943 1942 1941 1940 1939 1938 1937 1936 1935 1934 1933 1932 1931 1930 1929 1928 1927 1926 1925 1924 1923 1922 1921 1920 1919 1918 1917 1916 1915 1914 1913 1912 1911 1910 1909 1908 1907 1906 * Required fields I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice CREATE ACCOUNT I'LL TRY LATER Already have an account? SIGN IN By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. That event was terrible enough, with one rally-goer killed and Donald Trump coming within an inch of losing his life. If Trump hadn't turned his head at the right moment, Butler would have become one of the most notorious locations in American history and we'd be living in a different world. At the time, the Secret Service's failure seemed unfathomable and none of the revelations since set out in a report by the Senate Homeland Security Committee make it any better. The security lapses that led to Donald Trump's shooting are staggering, yet how they could've happened remains a mystery. Barney Fife was better organized and more accountable. The Secret Service is given responsibility for avoiding a calamity that would traumatize the nation and derange its politics for years, perhaps decades, to come. Its competence is a matter of the utmost national consequence. Yet the agency was bumbling and slow-reacting, a disaster waiting to happen. Surely, this sort of ineptitude wouldn't be tolerated by Taylor Swift's security detail. The Secret Service, which we expect to be run with a vigor and precision befitting its mission, instead operates as though it's a typical bureaucratic outfit housed within, say, the Health Resources and Services Administration. The Senate report relates "multiple foreseeable and preventable planning and operational failures," as an armed man was permitted to climb atop the roof of the American Glass Research building within 200 yards of where Trump was speaking and get off eight shots. The story of how it happened is muddled by finger-pointing and confusion over who was in charge. Secret Service advance agents didn't know who was responsible for final decisions, and didn't know who determined the security perimeter for the event. State and local law enforcement were responsible for the AGR building because it was outside the perimeter. But advance agents didn't share planning documents with them, and didn't ask for the operational plans of state and local law enforcement. Someone from Butler emergency services warned during a walkthrough that local law enforcement didn't have the manpower to lock down the building. Advance agents did suggest putting large trucks or other heavy equipment between the stage and buildings to block lines of sight, but nothing came of the idea. The local officers and Secret Service agents operated on separate radio channels and the only communications connection between the Secret Service and police communication centers was via cell phone. Some agents' radios had technical problems or didn't work, while the counter-unmanned-aerial system was inoperative at the time Crooks flew a drone over the rally site in the afternoon. Crooks fired his shots at 6:11 p.m. At 5:44 p.m., the Secret Service Security Room got word that local police had spotted a suspicious person with a rangefinder near the AGR building. This should have been a five-alarm event, yet key Secret Service personnel weren't told that local police had observed Crooks and then lost track of him. Three minutes before Crooks fired, a local law-enforcement officer sent a radio alert that someone was on the AGR roof, with the Secret Service security room getting word a minute after that. When a Secret Service counter-sniper saw local police running with their guns drawn toward the AGR building, it didn't occur to him to tell Trump's detail to get him off the stage. He said the police running meant only an "elevated" threat level. The explanation of one top Secret Service officer "I can't put out fires that I don't know exist" should never be acceptable. It could have been worse, but that's not the standard. Given the contents of the Senate report, it's not shocking that the Secret Service allowed another would-be assassin to get close to Trump just two months later. An agency that should fade into the background because the quality of its work can always be taken for granted is instead a national embarrassment. (COMMENT, BELOW) Blog Archive Apr 2010 (22) May 2010 (25) Jun 2010 (8) Jul 2010 (12) Aug 2010 (18) Sept 2010 (19) Oct 2010 (29) Nov 2010 (30) Dec 2010 (18) Jan 2011 (13) Feb 2011 (21) Mar 2011 (23) Apr 2011 (19) May 2011 (31) Jun 2011 (36) Jul 2011 (46) Aug 2011 (26) Sept 2011 (12) Oct 2011 (15) Nov 2011 (17) Dec 2011 (7) Jan 2012 (18) Feb 2012 (4) Mar 2012 (12) Apr 2012 (17) May 2012 (10) Jun 2012 (21) Jul 2012 (8) Aug 2012 (15) Sept 2012 (7) Oct 2012 (17) Nov 2012 (20) Dec 2012 (10) Jan 2013 (58) Feb 2013 (59) Mar 2013 (60) Apr 2013 (98) May 2013 (134) Jun 2013 (203) Jul 2013 (292) Aug 2013 (350) Sept 2013 (363) Oct 2013 (347) Nov 2013 (374) Dec 2013 (437) Jan 2014 (543) Feb 2014 (472) Mar 2014 (525) Apr 2014 (526) May 2014 (470) Jun 2014 (408) Jul 2014 (472) Aug 2014 (522) Sept 2014 (440) Oct 2014 (471) Nov 2014 (496) Dec 2014 (535) Jan 2015 (535) Feb 2015 (520) Mar 2015 (578) Apr 2015 (657) May 2015 (679) Jun 2015 (672) Jul 2015 (727) Aug 2015 (803) Sept 2015 (922) Oct 2015 (919) Nov 2015 (798) Dec 2015 (789) Jan 2016 (781) Feb 2016 (834) Mar 2016 (929) Apr 2016 (864) May 2016 (945) Jun 2016 (1042) Jul 2016 (880) Aug 2016 (1034) Sept 2016 (965) Oct 2016 (918) Nov 2016 (854) Dec 2016 (884) Jan 2017 (879) Feb 2017 (777) Mar 2017 (896) Apr 2017 (872) May 2017 (850) Jun 2017 (851) Jul 2017 (971) Aug 2017 (1040) Sept 2017 (999) Oct 2017 (1144) Nov 2017 (1045) Dec 2017 (838) Jan 2018 (873) Feb 2018 (769) Mar 2018 (885) Apr 2018 (808) May 2018 (827) Jun 2018 (820) Jul 2018 (840) Aug 2018 (854) Sept 2018 (844) Oct 2018 (851) Nov 2018 (870) Dec 2018 (912) Jan 2019 (919) Feb 2019 (827) Mar 2019 (957) Apr 2019 (913) May 2019 (1007) Jun 2019 (934) Jul 2019 (949) Aug 2019 (936) Sept 2019 (910) Oct 2019 (920) Nov 2019 (874) Dec 2019 (908) Jan 2020 (941) Feb 2020 (848) Mar 2020 (898) Apr 2020 (848) May 2020 (822) Jun 2020 (787) Jul 2020 (819) Aug 2020 (858) Sept 2020 (841) Oct 2020 (873) Nov 2020 (811) Dec 2020 (781) Jan 2021 (765) Feb 2021 (716) Mar 2021 (819) Apr 2021 (805) May 2021 (815) Jun 2021 (824) Jul 2021 (830) Aug 2021 (832) Sept 2021 (790) Oct 2021 (754) Nov 2021 (683) Dec 2021 (692) Jan 2022 (694) Feb 2022 (654) Mar 2022 (740) Apr 2022 (745) May 2022 (748) Jun 2022 (701) Jul 2022 (704) Aug 2022 (702) Sept 2022 (699) Oct 2022 (737) Nov 2022 (718) Dec 2022 (692) Jan 2023 (662) Feb 2023 (611) Mar 2023 (692) Apr 2023 (652) May 2023 (696) Jun 2023 (701) Jul 2023 (742) Aug 2023 (737) Sept 2023 (732) Oct 2023 (749) Nov 2023 (751) Dec 2023 (732) Jan 2024 (746) Feb 2024 (687) Mar 2024 (738) Apr 2024 (723) May 2024 (750) Jun 2024 (712) Jul 2024 (756) Aug 2024 (797) Sept 2024 (773) Oct 2024 (181) Baden-Wurttemberg's Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann is currently on a visit to Romania, whose main purpose is to deepen economic and energy policy relations between the two states, but also to promote European integration in the Danube Region, the German Embassy in Bucharest informs. On Monday, Minister-President Kretschmann is scheduled to have bilateral discussions with President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. On the occasion of the meeting with Prime Minister Ciolacu, a Joint Declaration of Intent regarding the expansion of relations between the land of Baden-Wurttemberg and Romania will be signed. The two sides have been collaborating since 2004 within a joint intergovernmental commission, and since 2011 they have been implementing joint projects through the EU Strategy for the Danube Region. Relations have since developed successfully both economy-wise and in many other areas, the cited source states. In the Joint Declaration, both parties reaffirm their support for the Republic of Moldova's path towards EU integration and express their willingness to invite Moldovan government representatives to the meetings of the joint intergovernmental commission. A Declaration of Intent between the two Ministries of the Interior in the field of civil protection will also be signed during the meeting at the Victoria Palace of Government. On Monday, Prime Minister Kretschmann will also meet with representatives of the German minority in Romania, as well as with other partner organizations. The delegation also has a visit to the Dimitrie Gusti National Village Museum on the agenda. In the evening, Prime Minister Kretschmann and his delegation will attend, at the invitation of the president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania, MP Silviu Vexler, a concert of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta. The musical event takes place in the context of the Bucharest meeting of the presidents of the Jewish communities in Europe, the U.S. and Israel, marking the 145th anniversary of the grant of the Romanian citizenship to the first Jews. Accompanying Prime Minister Kretschmann on his Romanian visit are Minister for Food, Rural Affairs and Consumer Protection Peter Hauk; Secretary of State and representative of the state of Baden-Wurttemberg to the EU Florian Hassler; Thomas Blenke - State Secretary for Digitalization and Local Communities with the Ministry of the Interior; State Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector Andre Baumann; and State Secretary in the Ministry of Science, Research and Art Arne Braun, alongside representatives of lawmaker groups in the Parliament of Baden-Wurttemberg and representatives of the business environment. The Ministry of Finance (MF) on Monday borrowed RON 500 million off commercial banks in an issue of benchmark bonds of a residual maturity of 161 months and an average yield of 6.48% per annum, according to data published by the National Bank of Romania (BNR), informs Agerpres. The nominal value of Monday's issue was RON 400 million, and the banks offered RON 2.063 billion. An additional auction is scheduled for Tuesday to borrow another RON 60 million at the yield set on Monday for the bonds. MF has planned for September 2024 to borrow RON 5 billion off commercial banks, to which RON 675 million can be added in additional sessions of non-competitive offers related to bond auctions. The total amount of RON 5.675 billion is RON 25 million lower than the one scheduled for August 2024 of RON 5.7 billion, and it is intended for public debt refunding and government deficit financing. At a meeting with leaders of international Jewish organisations on Monday, Romania's Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said that it is important for policies to prevent and combat anti-Semitism to continue, informs Agerpres. Ciolacu welcomed, at the Government House, leaders of international Jewish organisations gathered in Bucharest on the occasion of the events dedicated to the Meeting of the Rabbinical Council and International Jewish Leaders, as well as the 145th anniversary of the award of the first Romanian citizenship to the Jews in Romania. He pointed to the solidity of the relationship and the continuity of over seven decades of the good relations between Romania and Israel, Romania's closest ally and special and reliable partner in the Middle East. At the same time, the prime minister recalled the excellent cooperation with the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania and with the president of the federation, Silviu Vexler, in terms of efforts to prevent and combat anti-Semitism, according to a governmental press release. "No development or implementation of holistic, effective and sustainable measures, policies or strategies in all relevant areas is possible in the absence of a solid partnership with Jewish communities. It is also important for society as a whole to consolidate what we started by adopting the second National Strategy for Preventing and Combating Anti-Semitism, Xenophobia, Radicalisation and Hate Speech (2024-2027), as well as by introducing the subject History of the Jews. The Holocaust in the compulsory curriculum for the eleventh and twelfth grades starting from the 2023-2024 school year," said Ciolacu. JEFFERSON CITY A southwest Missouri doctor is appealing the loss of his medical license while he awaits trial on multiple sex crime charges connected to the scandals surrounding the states unlicensed Christian boarding schools. David E. Smock, who was charged in late 2021 and 2022 with more than a dozen child sex crimes in two counties, is asking a Cole County judge to intervene in a decision last week by state regulators to revoke his license. Smock, of Stockton, treated students at the now-shuttered Agape boarding school for many years. He remains in custody, and the criminal cases are still in court. His Friday appeal was filed two days after the Missouri State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts voted to uphold a December decision to strip him of his ability to practice medicine. In that ruling, Smock was alleged to be a serious danger to the health, safety or welfare of victim and the public. The revocation bars Smock from seeking a new license for seven years. Evidence relied upon to make the decision included a felony complaint filed against Smock in Cedar County, alleging he exposed his genitals and masturbated in front of a minor. Smocks appeal calls for a judge to review the licensing boards decision, arguing that members did not consider evidence obtained after the conclusion of the December hearing. Smocks arrest came as former students of the boarding schools have said they were subjected to physical restraints, manual labor and the withholding of food and water as punishment. Five Agape staffers were charged in 2021 with low-level felonies of physically assaulting students. Three pleaded guilty to lesser misdemeanors and received two years probation. The cases of two others were dismissed. Agape closed its Cedar County operation in January 2023. Allegations of abuse at Agape and at the nearby Circle of Hope Girls Ranch prompted a state law in 2021 requiring stricter rules for such facilities. The schools are required to register with the state, submit to health and safety inspections and conduct background checks on all employees. Missouri previously had virtually no oversight for religious boarding schools. ST. LOUIS Local and federal law enforcement officials stood next to a table full of guns, photos and cash counters on Monday and touted the dismantling of a South St. Louis drug distribution ring. Over the past two years, 19 people associated with the 55 Boyz gang, including its leader, 27-year-old local rapper Davante Jizzle Buckz Lindsey, have been sentenced in federal court for drug, weapons and money laundering crimes. As of Monday afternoon, just one person awaited sentencing. The gang was one of the largest fentanyl distributors in the city, officials said. Throughout the three-year investigation, authorities seized thousands of fentanyl capsules, $120,000 in cash, two cars, two dozen guns and a 55 Boyz chain bedazzled with roughly 2,500 diamonds. This type of crime has no place in the city of St. Louis or our region, said St. Louis Metropolitan police Chief Robert Tracy. The inquiry began in 2021 when St. Louis police detectives and members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives realized they were looking into the same group: the 55 Boyz. The group was a spinoff of several other local gangs, and its leader, Lindsey, became a prime suspect. He rapped in videos posted to YouTube as Jizzle Buckz in a shirt emblazoned with Interstate 55 Boyz. Federal authorities say he advertised fentanyl sales in text messages, created a network of houses from which to sell drugs and bought a house with fentanyl proceeds, according to court documents. In all, 20 people would face charges in two separate federal cases. Lindsey was sentenced Sept. 9 to 12 years in prison, and another gang leader, Andre Luh Half Pearson, 28, was sentenced to 11 years. Others were sentenced to shorter terms. Sayler Fleming, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, said Monday she was confident the successful prosecutions and prison sentences for Lindsey and others would effectively dismantle the gang. The investigation is ongoing, and officials declined to provide many details about the case. Tracy said some members of the group havent yet been charged, though he wouldnt say how many. As with any investigation, if it starts to grow, we will follow those leads and make sure we hold those people accountable, he said. St. Charles County prosecutors have charged a man with assault after police say he shot his girlfriend in the neck Saturday in the parking garage of the Ameristar Casino. The 27-year-old woman was critically injured and underwent emergency surgery. Authorities did not release an update on her condition Monday. Calvin Hsien Kuang Koong, 50, was held Monday on a $500,000 cash bond. He is charged with first-degree domestic assault, kidnapping and armed criminal action. Koong lives on Redford Court in St. Charles County. The woman, from Malaysia, was shot about 2:30 a.m. Saturday at 1 Ameristar Blvd. A casino security guard caught Koong when he tried to run, authorities said. St. Charles police Lt. Susan Shields said the victim was shot in the parking garage. Police have filed a subpoena for the surveillance footage inside the casino to get a better idea of what happened before the shooting, Shields said. Parking garage video surveillance showed that the woman was in the drivers seat of Koongs vehicle on the structures second level. The drivers door opened, and there was a struggle between the couple, police said. She tried to get out of the car, but Koong pulled her back inside and slammed the door, police said. Koong climbed into the drivers seat while the woman got into the back seat, police said. She then escaped from the back of the car and ran toward the casino entrance but collapsed near a vehicle. Bystanders helped her until medics arrived. Koong tried to drive away but couldnt because the victim had the key fob, police said. He ran off, jumping over a concrete barrier in the parking garage before a security guard caught him. A gun was found in the car. According to court documents, an Ameristar security guard told police that he had encountered Koong in the parking garage and that Koong repeatedly said, I shot her. Officers found Koong, and he said the same to them, police said. Koong told officers that he and the woman were in the car when he found the gun in the drivers side door and tried to put it in the console. He said the woman grabbed it, fearing Koong would shoot her, court records said. Koong then shot the woman, and she got out of the car and ran, police said. He said he couldnt remember certain details because he was intoxicated, police said. In arguing for a high bond, police said Koong was a wealthy and successful businessman who travels frequently to Taiwan. FORISTELL In this place that many have never heard of past the truck stop, the fast-food chains and roadside hotels just off Interstate 70 the signs of big change are everywhere. What were once rolling grassland hills are now fields of new homes. The towns grocery store, a Dollar General, just opened. So did a Mexican restaurant. But thats just the beginning. Two large-scale construction projects, the American Food Groups meat packing plant and Coastal Cold Storage manufacturing plant, are coming and will need hundreds of workers. Foristell, population 550 in 2020, now has more than 800 residents. Next year, that number is expected to grow to 2,700. A decade from now, more than 10,000 could live in this area bordering St. Charles and Warren counties, according to some estimates. Explosive growth is coming to these far reaches of St. Louis western suburbs, regardless of whether the community is ready. It is all happening very fast, said Mary McHugh, who has worked for the past 10 years as the citys treasurer and deputy city clerk. It is very hopping around here. New jobs are fueling much of this. But so is the relatively inexpensive land and a planned widening of I-70, which will make it an attractive location for people who work in nearby Wentzville another growing community. Traffic is already becoming a problem here. And the roads arent yet ready for the expected influx of more vehicles. Other town infrastructure, such as sewer lines, are only available now for a portion of the citys homes. Foristell has a five-person police department and no fire department of its own. A growing population will also demand other community services, such as parks. We dont have a city personal property or real estate tax, said Sandra Stokes, Foristells city administrator and clerk. So unless we ask the voters to pass those taxes, we would not be able to do much more as a city than what we do now. But none of that is slowing development. Ten different large-scale subdivisions adding hundreds of homes are planned, under construction or recently finished. Mercys plans to construct a $650 million, 75-bed hospital in Wentzville also boosted home demand, as home buyers said they were comforted to have a hospital closer to their homes, said Phil Reid, a real estate agent with Westbound Real Estate. Reid recently sold several large tracts of land along I-70 to potential developers, who are waiting to see how interstate widening may impact traffic patterns in Foristell. Kathryn Schellhase, president of the Foristell Chamber of Commerce, said the organization has seen its membership jump to 40 businesses, up from 12 in 2020. And Schellhase, who worked in insurance in Wentzville for 25 years, said she doesnt think the growth is tied to the meat packing plant, which is expected to employ about 1,300 employees. Foristell is going to be a pretty hot corner of the world for the foreseeable future, Reid said. A new Wentzville? St. Charles Countys population grew by nearly 16% to almost 417,000 residents between 2010 and 2023. Neighboring Warren County has grown by nearly 16% during that time, too, to almost 38,000 residents. Foristell is the new Wentzville, Schellhase said. The growth we have seen here is pure westward expansion. The 200-mile, $2.8 billion I-70 expansion project will likely encourage that trend, said St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann. Town leaders are also pushing developers to build on 3- to 5-acre lots, allowing for larger homes and yards at prices more affordable than many parts of the region. Wentzville seems to build on every blade of grass, McHugh said. We dont want that. Neither does Todd Dobbs, who moved with his family to Foristell from Wentzville three years ago. Wentzville had really grown too much, Dobbs said. We live on a one-street subdivision now with about 20 houses, you just dont feel that overwhelming congestion that you do in Wentzville. But with all of this change, we are concerned that Foristell is going to turn into another Wentzville. While Dobbs said is still settling into his new home, he knows that some of his neighbors have already talked about moving away from Foristell due to the impending growth. I really dont know anybody who is happy about all of these changes, he said. St. Charles County Councilman Joe Brazil, who represents southwestern St. Charles County and Foristell on the governing body, said he hopes Foristell doesnt experience the explosive growth that has occurred in Wentzville. The cities are building like crazy, as if it is some kind of badge of honor to be the biggest city in the county, Brazil said. Thats ridiculous especially when the people want stable, smarter and more sustained growth. Thats what Foristell city leaders say they want, too. We cant possibly be as big as Wentzville because we simply dont have as much land to grow on, said Stokes, the city administrator and clerk. Bracing for growth Roger Cox, 73, a retired construction project manager, said he has seen his hometown undergo quite the transformation. Gone are the days when the small town would close down Main Street for a street dance to raise funds for various causes. Now, Main Street which is just outside of his homes front door is a bustling thoroughfare with bumper-to-bumper traffic, and Cox said he feels as if it is only going to get worse. Foristell was always destined to grow, Cox said. And these kinds of frustrations come with it. From her vantage point in City Hall, Stokes said the city has been working behind the scenes to try to be ready for growth as farms turned into subdivisions and shopping centers in St. Peters, Wentzville and OFallon, Mo. As the boom crept closer, she said the city professionalized its staff, hiring a city planner and other employees to help prepare for the new phase in its 147-year history. Even with the planning, she admits that there have been some headaches. Traffic congestion has become particularly bad at the intersections of Veterans Memorial Parkway, Highway W and Highway T, and also at the citys lone access point on and off Interstate 70. Fixing that intersection is incredibly important, Stokes said. She said she hopes when the Missouri Department of Transportation widens the interstate it will address both the nearby intersection and the seriously compromised traffic flow. Then theres the question of additional infrastructure. Sewer service is limited. Other residents rely on the nearby Public Water Supply District No. 2 to provide drinking water and sewer services. Trash pickup is outsourced to a third-party company. Electricity is provided by either Ameren Missouri or Cuivre River Electric Cooperative. And it is not just the city bracing for growth, either. Church leaders from multiple congregations told the Post-Dispatch that they are anticipating a surge of new families in their community and church pews. From a church standpoint, young families and new families are the lifeblood of a churchs future, said Nathan Hessee, pastor at New Life Baptist Church, which sits about a mile from the site of the American Foods Group plant. He said his congregation is actively working to launch ministry programs and initiatives that will engage young adults, families with small children and others. I dont know who they are bringing to this region, and I am excited to meet them. I think thats the thing that excites me the most the potential, he said. Ehlmann, the county executive, said the debate over Foristells future was raging back in the 1980s when he worked as Foristells city attorney. The question back then was: Should Foristell try to merge with Wentzville? he said. But it is going to be up to the people who live there, and the leaders in that community, to decide what kind of community Foristell becomes. Former President Donald Trump recently reissued his loyalty test to religious Americans, declaring he can best protect their freedoms while preemptively blaming members of certain faiths should he lose the presidential election in November. Jews and Catholics can vote for him and ace the test, but those who don't, he says, "need their head examined." If he loses, Trump added, "Jewish people would have a lot to do with the loss." Among the Jewish leaders appalled at Trump's remarks was Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism an umbrella group for more than 800 Reform synagogues in North America. "Your words preemptively blaming Jews for your potential election loss is of a piece with millennia of antisemitic lies about Jewish power," Jacobs said in a social media post. "It puts a target on American Jews. And it makes you an ally not to our vulnerable community but to those who wish us harm. Stop." Trump's speeches for years hewed to divisive "us" versus "them" messaging, but tying those themes to specific religious Americans who oppose him is out of line and even dangerous, according to rhetoric experts, religious leaders and academics. "Non-Jews shouldn't express public opinions about what is or isn't good Judaism and non-Catholics shouldn't express public opinions about what is or isn't good Catholicism," said Steven Millies, a public theology professor at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Asked to respond to criticism from Jewish leaders, Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt sent statements from herself and several of Trump's Jewish supporters. The statements didn't directly address the potential blaming of Jews for a Trump defeat; rather, they depicted Trump as a stronger supporter of Israel than President Joe Biden and Trump's Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. "Jewish Americans and Jewish leaders around the world recognize that President Trump did more for them and the State of Israel than any President in history," Leavitt said via email. "The bottom line is that Kamala Harris and Joe Biden cave to Far-Left extremists and terrorists while President Trump will protect Jewish Americans and put American citizens first." Trump's warnings about Jewish voters were in Sept. 19 speeches to Jewish donors and the Israeli-American Council in Washington. His remarks about Catholics came Sept. 22 in a post on Truth Social. Matthew Boedy, who studies religious rhetoric as a professor at the University of North Georgia, said Trump adopted spiritual warfare rhetoric common in certain Christian circles. "Those who gave him that rhetoric saw Satan or evil as the enemy. Now that enemy is anyone Jew, Christian, Muslim who stands in his way," Boedy said via email, calling it dangerous to democracy and religion. "Trump always makes his religious followers especially Christians choose. They have to choose him over pluralism, over morality, over evangelism," said Boedy, a Protestant. David Gibson, director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Jesuit-run Fordham University, said in past elections, "for a non-Catholic like Trump to be setting himself up as the savior of Catholics, or Jews for that matter, would have been political insanity." "But it's Trump, and conservatives who would attack a Democrat for such language are cheering for the Republican nominee," Gibson added in an email. "There are many reasons, the most obvious is that they like Trump more than they heed their own church." Gibson also suggested Trump's tough stance on immigration, which includes calls for mass deportations, is at odds with Catholic teaching. "Catholics listening to the increasingly Nativist rhetoric on immigration from Trump and even his running mate, JD Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, ought to have their hearts examined if they support that," Gibson said. Professor Jennifer Mercieca, a historian of American political rhetoric at Texas A&M University, said typical politicians seek to connect to voters based on shared policy beliefs, not by demanding religious loyalty. "But Trump isn't a typical politician, and he's very concerned about loyalty," she said. "He divides the world up into 'us' versus 'them' and tries to use those divisions to gain power." "It's especially dangerous to attempt to divide people based upon religious identity," Mercieca, author of "Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump," said. "The kind of language Trump is using here is more like that used by an authoritarian personality cult leader." Trump's recent comment about blaming Jews if he loses came at an event that also featured Jewish megadonor Miriam Adelson, widow of the late casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. She introduced Trump as "a true friend of the Jewish people." Among the pro-Trump statements provided to The Associated Press by Leavitt was one from Ellie Cohanim, who served during the Trump administration as deputy special envoy for combating antisemitism. Trump "is absolutely correct in challenging our assumptions about voting on auto-pilot and failing to comprehend that the Democrat Party, which has been hijacked by its far-left base, is no longer a home for the Jewish people," Cohanim's statement said. In 2020, Trump received about 30% of Jewish Americans' votes compared to 70% for Biden, according to AP VoteCast. Criticism of Trump's recent remarks came from the center as well as the left of the national Jewish community. The American Jewish Committee, a prominent advocacy group, took issue with Trump's suggestion that if 40% of the U.S. Jewish electorate voted for him, "That means 60% are voting for the enemy." "Setting up anyone to say 'we lost because of the Jews' is outrageous and dangerous," the AJC said. "Thousands of years of history have shown that scapegoating Jews can lead to antisemitic hate and violence." "Some Jews will vote for President Trump and some will vote for Vice President Harris," the AJC added. "None of us, by supporting the candidate we choose, is voting for the enemy.'" Rural people don't practice religion more than their urban counterparts, survey shows Rural people don't practice religion more than their urban counterparts, survey shows Profession of a faith tradition does not directly equate to religious service attendance 1. Partisanship 2. Economics Lower income rural people attend services more often than urban people. But higher income urban people attend more often than rural people. 3. Race The percentage of non-white people who never attend is higher than the rate of Black never-attenders, but not as high as the white never-attenders 4. Age 5. Education Having a graduate degree increases religious attendance among rural respondents by 6 more percentage points above those who have a bachelor's degree Army Maj. Michael Stockin, 38, is a doctor charged with molesting soldiers and veterans during medical appointments at Madigan Army Medical Center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington. He faces 47 counts of abusive sexual contact. (Abner Guzman/U.S. Air Force) Three more men filed complaints against the Army seeking $5 million each for failing to protect patients from misconduct by a military doctor facing a court-martial in one of the largest sexual abuse cases in the services history. Army Maj. Michael Stockin, 38, is scheduled for a court-martial in January on charges that he sexually abused 41 patients at Madigan Army Medical Center on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, which is 50 miles south of Seattle. He is scheduled to plead guilty in an agreement with the Army, according to online court records, though the service and Stockins attorney have not said to which charges the agreement applies. Stockin, an anesthesiologist and pain specialist, is accused of 47 counts of abusive sexual contact and five counts of wrongfully viewing another persons private area. If convicted of all charges, Stockin could face a maximum penalty of more than 300 years in prison. The doctor is no longer seeing patients but is not in pretrial confinement as he awaits his court-martial, according to the Army and court documents. The three new complaints filed last week are among 18 administrative complaints about Stockin submitted under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Each claim asks for $5 million in compensation, for a total of $90 million to date. Under federal law, an agency can be sued in federal court only after complaints are filed and rejected. Our civil case is separate and apart from the criminal case, but I will say that if Dr. Stockin pleads guilty, my clients will be grateful to see him held accountable in the criminal case, said Christine Dunn, an attorney with Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, a Washington, D.C., law firm representing the 18 complainants. But from our perspective, the Army is also at fault here, and we hope that the Army will ultimately take responsibility for its role in allowing it to happen. Army Maj. Michael Stockin, an anesthesiologist and pain management specialist, arrived at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., in July 2019. (MDedge News) The Army declined to comment on the complaints filed, citing them as pending litigation. Each claim filed with the Army follows a similar narrative and was written under pseudonyms. The service members and veterans all men accused Stockin of asking them to remove their clothes and then touching their genitalia under the guise of medical treatment. The contact was not medically necessary, Dunn said. One man wrote he went in for neck and back pain and Stockin asked him to disrobe and fondled his groin area. I was confused why Dr. Stockin did not examine any other parts of my body, including my back, the man wrote in the complaint. He blamed the Army, which he said owed a duty of care to patients at Madigan. He said he was instructed to see Stockin after February 2022, which is after the Army has said it barred Stockin from seeing patients. The Army breached that duty by negligently hiring and negligently supervising Dr. Stockin, he wrote. The Armys negligence directly caused me to be sexually assaulted by Dr. Stockin. Another man wrote of a similar experience and said it left him with severe anxiety regarding doctor appointments, including those for his children. Stockin joined the Army in 2013 and was stationed at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and he was deployed to Iraq. He was transferred to Lewis-McChord in July 2019. Army prosecutors and criminal investigators said they have launched inquiries into whether Stockin had abused patients at his earlier posts, but none have been reported. (Tribune News Service) A Louisiana man is the latest former U.S. Army reservist to plead guilty in a fraud scheme that scammed the Army out of more than $100,000, federal prosecutors said. He is one of seven defendants charged in January 2021 in connection with lying about performing honors ceremonies at military funerals, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The man sought reimbursement for purported military honors ceremonies that he never performed between November 2013 and August 2016 and stole $11,378.27, court documents show. At the time, he was stationed as a corporal at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans. A staff sergeant, who is a co-defendant in the case and worked at the base as an Army pay technician, submitted fraudulent payment requests for the man, according to court documents. Now, the man has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft of government funds, the U.S. Attorneys Office said in a Sept. 29 news release. Hes agreed to repay the Army the same amount prosecutors said he stole as part of his plea agreement. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 13, 2025, according to prosecutors. The mans defense attorney didnt immediately respond to McClatchy News request for comment Sept. 30. For active-duty soldiers, retired service members and veterans who have died, families can request military funeral honors, such as the folding of the U.S. flag, to be performed during services, prosecutors said. The staff sergeant who submitted the mans fraudulent requests for reimbursement also submitted payment requests for himself and five other former Army reservists for military funeral honors that never happened, according to the indictment. He was accused of stealing $18,825.83 for himself, the indictment shows. He pleaded guilty to count one of the indictment conspiracy to commit theft of government funds in October 2023 and is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 5, according to court records. Four other defendants pleaded guilty to the same charge and have been sentenced to terms of probation, court records show. They were also ordered to pay restitution as part of their sentences. Two of these defendants worked for the New Orleans Police Department when they were indicted, according to prosecutors. A jury trial is set for Feb. 24 for a seventh former Army reservist who previously pleaded not guilty to all counts against him, according to court records. Hes accused of stealing $13,585.92 from the Army, the indictment says. The man and his defense attorney, Rachel I. Conner, declined McClatchy News request for comment Monday. Attorneys representing the other defendants didnt immediately respond to McClatchy News requests for comment Monday. 2024 The Charlotte Observer. Visit charlotteobserver.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. The crew departs the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 54) for the last time during a decommissioning ceremony Friday in Honolulu. Commissioned in Baltimore, Md., in 1987, Antietam completes its service after 37 years. (Paula Hackbart/U.S. Navy) The Navy celebrated the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Antietams 37 years of service during a decommissioning ceremony Friday at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. Retired Rear Adm. Christopher Moe, who served as Antietams commanding officer from 1997 to 1999, spoke about Antietams history and accomplishments and wished the final crew fair winds and following seas. I was there ... when USS Antietam was commissioned in Baltimore, Md., he said. The ceremony was a magnificent start to 37 years of service that will end today after thousands of young men and women crossed her quarterdeck, anxious to serve this great nation. This is a remarkable ship and of equal importance is a crew who can only do what they do because they have the love and support of the families at home. The ships final commander, Cmdr. Victor J. Garza, reflected on the service of his crew and those who came before him. The soul of Antietam is in her sailors, he said. We bring the heartless steel and iron to life. Today, we lay her to rest. We keep the soul, and until the Navy commissions a fourth USS Antietam, I will be the captain of her soul. We will always be Antietam. CG 54, the USS Antietam, was named for the site of the 1862 Civil War Battle of Antietam in Maryland. The Sept. 17, 1862, Battle of Antietam remains the bloodiest day in American history, with nearly 23,000 casualties, according to the U.S. National Park Service. Although the Union Army suffered heavier losses, the battle was a major turning point in the Unions favor. The first USS Antietam was a screw sloop of war, and construction began in 1864 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The second was an Essex-class aircraft carrier launched Aug. 20, 1944, and commissioned Jan. 28, 1945. The Navy is phasing out its Cold War-era Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers in favor of the newer Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. The USS Cowpens was decommissioned last month in San Diego. In January, Antietam left Tokyo Bay for Hawaii after concluding 11 years of service at the homeport of the U.S. 7th Fleet. It arrived in Yokosuka in February 2013 and swapped crews with its sister ship the USS Cowpens. Antietam regularly deployed with the USS George Washington and USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier strike groups; it also participated in freedom-of-navigation operations and transits of the Taiwan Strait. One deployment included a monthlong relief mission to the Philippines following the widespread devastation dealt by Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013. In January 2017, the Antietam ran aground on shoals in Tokyo Bay just outside Yokosuka. It was anchored near the bases ammunition storage area when it drifted into nearby rocks. Approximately 1,100 gallons of hydraulic fluid leaked into the bay; the Navy ultimately relieved the ships commander at the time, Capt. Joseph Carrigan, due to a loss of confidence in his abilities. Months later, the Antietam incident was largely overshadowed by two separate collisions involving the guided-missile destroyers USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain, which resulted in a combined death toll of 17 sailors. Sailors aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey wave to the Japanese destroyer JS Ariake in the Timor Sea, Sept. 24, 2024. (Gregory Johnson/U.S. Navy) YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan A U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer took part in a joint exercise alongside Australian, Japanese, New Zealand and Philippine forces in the South China Sea over the weekend. Meanwhile, U.S., Japanese and Australian ships also trained together off the coast of northeastern Australia. The USS Howard, homeported in Yokosuka, joined allied warships for a maritime cooperative activity in an undisclosed area of the South China Sea on Saturday, the U.S. 7th Fleet said in a Sunday news release. The exercise included surface operations, deck landings, search and rescue and hoisting, according to the release. The training demonstrated the allies commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific and building our operational skillsets in one of the most dynamic maritime regions in the world, 7th Fleet commander Vice Adm. Fred Kacher said in the news release. Sailors aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Howard shoot a shot line on the focsle during a replenishment-at-sea with the New Zealand navy's HMNZS Aotearoa in the South China Sea, Sep. 28. 2024. (Alexandria Esteban/U.S. Navy) The Howard joined the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney and a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft, the Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami, the New Zealand auxiliary ship HMNZS Aotearoa and the Philippine guided-missile frigate BRP Antonio Luna and corvette BRP Emilio Jacinto. The exercise represents the centerpiece of our approach to a secure and prosperous region where aircraft and ships of all nations may fly, sail, and operate anywhere international law allows, 7th Fleet said in the release. Meanwhile, the guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey, also homeported at Yokosuka, joined the Australian frigate HMAS Stewart and Japanese destroyer JS Ariake for a six-day exercise in the Timor Sea between Sept. 23 and Saturday, according to a separate news release from 7th Fleet on Sunday. The ships trained in formation sailing, combined communication, anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare, electronic warfare, a replenishment-at-sea and subject matter exchanges. Our relationships with Australia and Japan are a cornerstone of security in the Indo-Pacific, Kacher said in the news release. Seamless coordination with the [Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force] and [Royal Australian Navy] serve as an effective deterrent against aggression in the region and promotes our shared commitment to preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific. Seventh Fleet acknowledged Stars and Stripes request for additional information on both exercises Monday morning but did not respond as of Monday evening. Armored vehicles used by Kenyan police rumble through the streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The vehicles are part of the United States more than $300 million in contributions to the U.N.-backed Multinational Security Support mission. (Jose Iglesias) (Tribune News Service) The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously Monday to extend for another year the mandate of the armed security mission helping Haiti fight armed gangs. The 15-0 vote guarantees the presence of the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission in Haiti until October 2, 2025. But it doesnt address a fundamental problem of the struggling effort: money. Washington is so far the largest contributor to the mission, providing over $300 million that has gone toward the construction of a base of operations near the Port-au-Prince airport, armored vehicles, communications equipment and other assistance. A U.N. trust fund set up for contributions had $85.3 million in pledges last week far less than the estimated $600 million a year Kenya has said is required. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said the renewed mandate would put the country on the path to peace and prosperity and sends a strong message to the people of Haiti: The world is standing with you. But she acknowledged the mission faces funding challenges. Additional financial contributions are urgently needed to support this mission in the near-term, and we strongly urge other donors to consider making contributions, she said. The funding shortfall has led to a slow deployment of the 2,500 security personnel the mission is expected to have, and affected the effectiveness of the ill-equipped force in a country where armed gangs control all of major roads out of the capital and have recently begun attacks at sea. To address the money issues, the U.S. had pushed to have the operation transition into a formal U.N. peacekeeping mission, which would guarantee U.N. funding. But during negotiations ahead of Mondays vote both China and Russia opposed the move. Chinas envoy to the U.N. told the council Monday that Beijing opposed transforming the operation into a peacekeeping mission, saying discussion of other options would only interfere with the implementation of the missions mandate. The U.N. has sent multiple peacekeeping operations in Haiti, but the results have never been satisfactory, and the lessons learned have been extremely profound, the Chinese diplomat said. Still, Beijing encouraged other countries to help pay for the existing mission. We note that the mission still has a rather big gap in funding, and that a large portion of the pledged funds has not yet been realized, the envoy added. China calls on the relevant contributing countries to fulfill their commitments as soon as possible and to provide the mission with stable financial resources. A Russian diplomat told the council that Moscow opposes any new structure for the mission, saying that military assistance alone would not fix the countrys problems and pointedly noting the American weapons that have flooded into Haiti. The current mission to Haiti, the Russian envoy said, has only been on the ground for three months and needs more time to expand. Until this happens we believe it is premature to plan any transformations in the international presence, or any changes. Senior Biden administration officials on Monday said their decision to drop mention of transforming the mission into a peacekeeping operation in the draft resolution was due to Haitian Transitional Presidential Council leader Edgard Leblanc Fils strong call last week for a peacekeeping mission. That call now serves as as the hook that the Security Council and the UN can use to start the process to seek this transformation into a peacekeeping operation, an official said. This is typically how it has worked in the past with peacekeeping operations; the host country issues the call, constituting host country consent, and the Security Council works from there. The U.S. will now work with Haiti to begin the more formalized process of seeking a peacekeeping operation, the official said. We look to what the host country wants, what the citizens of that country need. And in this case, both are very clear, that host country has made an explicit call for a peacekeeping operation, a senior administration official said. 2024 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Prosecutors, not police, decide formal charges under Japan's criminal justice system. (Pixabay) CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa Japanese police arrested an Okinawa-based Marine over the weekend on suspicion of assaulting a restaurant employee over an unpaid bill, according to a spokesman for Okinawa Prefectural Police. Police allege the unidentified Marine struck a restaurant worker, 27, across the face with the back of his hand around 4:45 a.m. Saturday in the Matsuyama district of Naha city, the spokesman said by phone Monday. The Marine, 18, is a private first class assigned to Headquarters and Support Battalion at Camp Foster, Marine Corps Installations Pacific spokeswoman 2nd Lt. Kelsey Enlow said by email Monday. She did not identify the Marine. The Marine Corps is cooperating with all appropriate authorities, Enlow wrote. The alleged behavior does not reflect the core values of the U.S. Marine Corps, nor does it represent the conduct of the overwhelming majority of Okinawa-based Marines, she wrote. The Marine visited the restaurant on a previous day and left without paying his bill, according to the police spokesman. The restaurant employee approached the Marine after seeing him in the street Saturday and an argument ensued. The police spokesman declined to identify the restaurant. The Marine had a blood-alcohol content over 0.09%, the spokesman said. By comparison, the legal limit for driving in Japan is 0.03%; and in the U.S., 0.08%. Police responded following a witness report, the spokesman said. The Marine was in custody Monday at the Naha police station. The restaurant worker was not seriously injured. The Marine denies the allegations, according to the spokesman. Some Japanese government officials are required to speak to the media only on condition of anonymity. Assault without injury can be punishable by imprisonment for not more than two years, a fine of not more than 300,000 yen about $2,100 penal detention or a petty fine, according to the Japanese penal code. Since Dec. 11, Marines ages 19 and younger must be on base or in their off-base residence between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. No Marine regardless of age is allowed to be in an off-base drinking establishment between those hours, nor may they drink in public off-base during these hours. An MV-22B Osprey lands abaord the amphibious transport dock ship USS New Orleans during Keen Sword drills in the Philippine Sea, Nov. 18, 2022. (Desmond Parks/U.S. Navy) U.S. and Japanese pilots for the first time will fly Ospreys to Yonaguni Island, the Japanese territory closest to Taiwan, as part of upcoming military drills, according to a spokesman for Japans Joint Staff. The tiltrotor flights are scheduled as part of civilian evacuation drills during the allies annual Keen Sword exercise taking place in October and November across Japan, according to the spokesman. In another first, the U.S. Marines are planning to send a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, to Camp Ishigaki, a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force base on Ishigaki Island, through the civil airport, the spokesman said by phone Friday. We dont know yet how many of them will be transported, he said. Some Japanese government officials are required to speak to the media only on condition of anonymity. Ishigaki and Yonaguni, in the Yaeyama Islands, lie southwest of Okinawa and east of Taiwan. They could become contested ground in the event of a conflict with China. Keen Sword is scheduled from Oct. 23 to Nov. 1, with 12,000 U.S. and 33,000 Japanese troops, 40 vessels and 370 aircraft, according to a Joint Staff news release Thursday. Australian and Canadian military units will also participate. Training is planned at U.S. and Japanese bases, 12 commercial airports and 20 commercial seaports from Hokkaido to Okinawa, with most of the exercise taking place on Okinawa and at Kagoshima on Kyushu, the southernmost of Japans four main islands, the spokesman said. During the training, a Marine MV-22 Osprey and a Ground Self-Defense Force V-22 Osprey are expected to fly to Yonaguni, 67 miles east of Taiwan, the spokesman said. We will conduct an evacuation drill, and the Ospreys are going to be used to evacuate people from the island to Naha, the spokesman said. No civilians will take part in the drill, a spokesman for the Joint Staff said Monday. U.S. and Japanese Ospreys were grounded between December and March following a Nov. 29 crash of a U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command aircraft that killed all eight aboard. The accident investigation found a catastrophic mechanical failure at fault, compounded by a lack of urgency by the crew at the time, according to the accident report. The revolutionary aircraft lands and takes off like a helicopter but flies as a fixed-wing aircraft. Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki, for one, has objected to the Ospreys continued flights over Japan. The U.S. military has said the aircraft is safe to fly but will not operate within its full mission range until 2025. Ground Self-Defense Force Ospreys also are expected to use Naha airport for the first time during the exercise, the Joints Staff spokesman said. They will fly from the airport to Yonaguni or Tokunoshima island northeast of Okinawa for training. Planning is underway for the exercise and an announcement is expected in the coming weeks, 1t Lt. Owen Hitchcock, spokesman for the III Marine Expeditionary Force, said in an email Friday. He would not confirm details from the Joint Staff. For operational security reasons we will not discuss the extent of participation of U.S. forces or locations of operations until the exercise begins, he wrote. Keen Sword, a biennial exercise begun in 1986, is designed to increase combat readiness and improve the working relationship between U.S. and Japanese forces. The exercise comes amid increasing tensions between Tokyo and Beijing. Chinese vessels frequently intrude into Japanese waters near the Senkakus, islets about 105 miles east of Taiwan that are administered by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing and Taipei. A Maritime Self-Defense Force warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait for the first time on Wednesday, according to a Japanese media report. Earlier this month, a Chinese aircraft carrier sailed between Yonaguni and nearby Iriomote, entering the Japans maritime contiguous zone, according to the Defense Ministry. The U.S. and Japan also are increasing their cooperation as China increases its military strength and asserts its claims on maritime territory in the South and East China seas. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin tours Subic Bay during a visit to the Philippines, July 31, 2024. (Alexander Kubitza/U.S. Navy) The Philippines wants to reopen parts of Subic Naval Base by 2028 to accommodate its expanding navy, according to the countrys defense minister. The port and nearby Clark Air Base formed Americas largest overseas military presence before both were damaged in the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo and soon after returned to the Philippines. The Philippine navy is already using part of the former Hanjin shipyard across the bay from where the naval base stood, but it needs a larger facility, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported Wednesday. Manila plans to grow its fleet rapidly as it engages in a test of wills with Beijing over control of stretches of the South China Sea and small islands relatively close to Philippine shores. China lays claim to nearly the entire sea, including features inside the Philippines exclusive economic zone. The two clashed in late August at Sabina Shoal, where Philippine authorities allege a Chinese vessel rammed a Philippine vessel three times. They also agreed to ease mounting tensions at Second Thomas Shoal, where Filipino marines man an outpost on a grounded, rusting warship. A process has begun to acquire part of the old naval base, which is administered by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Philippines Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro told a Sept. 24 hearing of the Philippine Senate, according to the Inquirer. We have identified an area which is suitable for a main operating base, he said. We have gotten presidential approval to pursue the process of acquiring the area and we hope to have it completed by the end of 2028. The Philippine navy needs space for new warships, Teodoro said, according to the newspaper. Aside from Subic, the Philippine navy plans to establish three more forward operating bases in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao, the newspaper reported. In May, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved a $35 billion plan to modernize the countrys military over the next decade. The lions share reportedly will be allocated to the Philippine Navy for the allocation of ten corvettes and frigates by 2028 and possibly several conventional submarines, said Carlyle Thayer, an emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales and a lecturer at the Australian Defence Force Academy. Even before the modernization plan, Philippine defense officials identified the need for improved naval facilities at Subic Bay, he told Stars and Stripes by email Friday. The latest plans for Subic make sense given the Philippines growing navy, Thayer said. Certainly the U.S. Navy would be interested in access to repair and maintenance facilities in Subic Bay, he said. Since at least 2012, U.S. submarines and surface vessels have visited Subic on a regular basis, Thayer said. Reopening the naval base at Subic Bay makes sense, given the tensions with China, former Navy Capt. Jan van Tol, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a nonprofit defense-policy think tank in Washington, D.C., said by email Sunday. Most of the Philippine facilities where U.S. forces have access under the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement are air and ground bases, he said. However, Van Tol said he doubts the U.S Navy has a plan to base ships in Subic Bay. What does make sense from a Philippine perspective, though, given the rising threats from China over Scarborough Shoal and other Philippine claims in the South China Sea, is to improve the facilities at Subic such that they could support Philippine and allied naval operations should that become necessary, he said. U.S. troops march during the Armed Forces Day parade in Seoul, South Korea, Sept. 26, 2023. (Alexander Kelly/U.S. Army) CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea U.S. fighter jets are slated to soar over Seoul on Tuesday for the Armed Forces Day parade, a show of force commemorating the founding of South Koreas military, a year after their appearance was canceled because of bad weather. Roughly 5,000 South Korean troops and nearly 100 pieces of heavy military equipment will pass through downtown Seoul for the annual event honoring the 76th anniversary of the militarys founding, a Ministry of National Defense spokesman said by phone Monday. South Korean government officials speak to the media on a customary condition of anonymity. Over 250 U.S. troops will be participating in the parade; Army Humvees and eight-wheeled Strykers will be parked on display, U.S. Forces Korea spokesman Col. Ryan Donald said by email Monday. Around 300 U.S. troops were part of the parade in 2023. South Korea observes Armed Forces Day on Oct. 1. President Yoon Suk Yeol earlier this month approved of legislation to designate the day as a national holiday just for this year. Despite heavy rain, tens of thousands of bystanders stood on Seouls sidewalks for last years parade of over 4,500 South Korean troops and more than 100 military vehicles, including amphibious assault vehicles and K1A2 tanks. Two Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons and four A-10 Thunderbolt IIs are scheduled to fly over Seoul during Tuesdays parade, 7th Air Force spokeswoman Maj. Rachel Buitrago said by phone Monday. An aerial demonstration of U.S. and South Korean fighter jets for the previous years parade was called off due to inclement weather. An Air Force B-1B Lancer will fly over the capital on Tuesday afternoon, marking its first appearance at the parade, multiple South Korean news outlets reported this week, citing South Korean military officials. Buitrago declined to comment on the bombers reported appearance, citing operational security. A Lancer last flew over South Korea and dropped 500-pound joint direct attack munitions on simulated targets for a drill with South Koreas air force in June. South Koreas military plans to unveil the Hyunmoo-5, the countrys newest intermediate-range ballistic missile, capable of carrying an 8- to 10-ton warhead, during the parade Tuesday, Yonhap News reported Monday. The National Defense Ministry showcased the Hyunmoo-4 ballistic missile during last years parade. South Koreas military previously described the Hyunmoo-class missiles as an integral part of the countrys defense and said it would be used to strike at North Koreas leadership if Seoul is attacked. Pyongyang celebrates its armys founding with displays of military strength on Feb. 8. Leader Kim Jong Un in a speech marking the Norths Army Day said his country will use any means necessary to wipe out enemies that try to use force against the country, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency. Japanese soldiers disarm World War II-era ordnance in Naha city, Okinawa, Sept. 29, 2024, in this screenshot from a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force video. (Japan Ground Self-Defense Force) CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa Japanese troops successfully disarmed and removed a suspected World War II-era bomb from Okinawa prefectures capital city Sunday, according to city and military officials. The 551-pound, unexploded ordnance was discovered Dec. 12 at a sewage system construction site in Naha citys Shuri district. It was defused and moved to a prefecture storage facility until it is detonated at sea on a later day, a spokesman with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force said by phone Monday. The operation required the evacuation of 1,400 people in 470 households and 80 businesses within a 928-foot radius of the bomb, according to the citys website. Members of the Ground Self-Defense Forces 101st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit began the operation at 10:45 a.m., 45 minutes later than scheduled due to the evacuation taking more time, a spokeswoman with Nahas Disaster Prevention Division said by phone Monday. A hole 16 feet deep was prepared to accommodate the shells removal from a narrow site in a heavily populated area, the spokeswoman said. Troops used a crane to move the shell into the hole, then defused it and carried it away, she said. The operation concluded at 11:55 a.m., the spokeswoman said. It just took a little bit of time to start, but the operations finished without any problem, she said. Some Japanese government officials are required to speak to the media only on condition of anonymity. City and fire department officials announced the evacuation plan in August. Approximately 2,000 tons of ordnance remains undiscovered out of 10,000 tons dropped on the island during the Battle of Okinawa, according to the prefectures General Bureau website. Crews disposed of nearly 22 tons of unexploded ordnance between April 1, 2023, and March 31. In June, authorities detonated three shells believed to be left over from World War II on an island just southeast of Naval Base White Beach. We will continue ordnance removing operations to ensure the safety of citizens, the Ground Self-Defense Force spokesman said. Alexander Permyakov, a Ukrainian national standing trial over a car bombing that injured well-known nationalist novelist and ardent Kremlin supporter Zakhar Prilepin, sits in a glass cage in a courtroom prior to a session in the Russian Military Court in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP) MOSCOW A Russian court on Monday sentenced a man convicted over a car bombing that seriously wounded nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin to life in prison. Prosecutors said the May 2023 bombing in the Nizhny Novogorod region was conducted at the direction of Ukraines security services. Prilepin was seriously injured and his driver died in the bombing. The convicted defendant, Alexander Permyakov, is from Ukraines eastern Donbas region and once fought with the Russian-backed separatists there, news reports say. Prilepin was known for his vehement defense of both the Russia-backed eastern Ukraine rebels who rose up in 2014, and of Russias fighting in Ukraine that began in February 2022. Since Russia sent troops into Ukraine, two prominent nationalist figures have been killed. Darya Dugina, a commentator on Russian TV channels and the daughter of Kremlin-linked ideologue Alexander Dugin, died in an August 2022 car bombing that investigators suspected was aimed at her father. Vladlen Tatarsky, a well-known military blogger, died in April 2023, when a statue given to him at a party in St. Petersburg exploded. Russian political activist Darya Trepova was convicted in the case and sentenced to 27 years. She said she was following orders from a contact in Ukraine. Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, speaks to the crowd in a rare public appearance during Ashura, that marks the death of Shiite Islams Imam Hussein, in the suburbs of Beirut, Nov. 14, 2013. (Bilal Hussein/AP) BEIRUT In just over a week, intensified Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed seven high-ranking commanders and officials from the powerful Hezbollah militant group, including the groups leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The move left Lebanon and much of the Mideast in shock as Israeli officials celebrated major military and intelligence breakthroughs. Hezbollah had opened a front to support its ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip a day after the Palestinian groups surprise attack into southern Israel. The recent strikes in Lebanon and the assassination of Nasrallah are a significant escalation in the war in the Middle East, this time between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanons most powerful military and political force now finds itself trying to recuperate from severe blows, having lost key members who have been part of Hezbollah since its establishment in the early 1980s. Chief among them was Nasrallah, who was killed in a series of airstrikes that leveled several buildings in southern Beirut. Others were lesser-known in the outside world, but still key to Hezbollahs operations. Hassan Nasrallah Since 1992, Nasrallah had led the group through several wars with Israel, and oversaw the partys transformation into a powerful player in Lebanon. Hezbollah entered Lebanons political arena while also taking part in regional conflicts that made it the most powerful paramilitary force. After Syrias uprising 2011 spiraled into civil war, Hezbollah played a pivotal role in keeping Syrian President Bashar Assad in power. Under Nasrallah, Hezbollah also helped develop the capabilities of fellow Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq and Yemen. Nasrallah is a divisive figure in Lebanon, with his supporters hailing him for ending Israels occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000, and his opponents decrying him for the groups weapons stockpile and making unilateral decisions that they say serves an agenda for Tehran and allies. Nabil Kaouk Kaouk, who was killed in an airstrike Saturday, was the deputy head of Hezbollahs Central Council. He joined the militant group in its early days in the 1980s. Kaouk also served as Hezbollahs military commander in south Lebanon from 1995 until 2010. He made several media appearances and gave speeches to supporters, including in funerals for killed Hezbollah militants. He had been seen as a potential successor to Nasrallah. Ibrahim Akil Akil was a top commander and led Hezbollahs elite Radwan Forces, which Israel has been trying to push further away from its border with Lebanon. He was also a member of its highest military body, the Jihad Council, and for years had been on the United States wanted list. The U.S. State Department says Akil was part of the group that carried out the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and orchestrated the taking of German and American hostages. Ahmad Wehbe Wehbe was a commander of the Radwan Forces and played a crucial role in developing the group since its formation almost two decades ago. He was killed alongside Akil in an airstrike in Beiruts southern suburbs that struck and leveled a building. Ali Karaki Karaki led Hezbollahs southern front, playing a key role in the ongoing conflict. The U.S. described him as a significant figure in the militant groups leadership. Little is known about Karaki, who was killed alongside Nasrallah. Mohammad Surour Surour was the head of Hezbollahs drone unit, which was used for the first time in this current conflict with Israel. Under his leadership, Hezbollah launched exploding and reconnaissance drones deep into Israel, penetrating its defense systems which had mostly focused on the groups rockets and missiles. Ibrahim Kobeissi Kobeissi led Hezbollahs missile unit. The Israeli military says Kobeissi planned the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli soldiers at the northern border in 2000, whose bodies were returned in a prisoner swap with Hezbollah four years later. Other senior commanders killed in action Even in the months before the recent escalation of the war with Hezbollah, Israels military had targeted top commanders, most notably Fuad Shukur in late July, hours before an explosion in Iran widely blamed on Israel killed the leader of the Palestinian Hamas militant group Ismail Haniyeh. The U.S. accuses Fuad Shukur of orchestrating the 1983 bombing in Beirut that killed 241 American servicemen. Leaders of key units in the south, Jawad Tawil, Taleb Abdullah, and Mohammad Nasser, who over several decades became instrumental members of Hezbollahs military activity were all assassinated. Who is left? Nasrallahs second-in-command Naim Kassem is the most senior member of the organization. Kassem has been Hezbollahs deputy leader since 1991, and is among its founding members. On several occasions, local news networks were quick to assume that an Israeli strike in southern Beirut may have targeted Kassem. Kassem is only top official of the militant group who has conducted interviews with local and international media in the ongoing conflict. The deputy leader appears to be involved in various aspects of the militant group, both in top political and security matters, but also in matters related to Hezbollahs theocratic and charity initiatives to the Shia Muslim community in Lebanon. Meanwhile, Hashim Safieddine who heads Hezbollahs central council, is tipped to be Nasrallahs successor. Safieddine is a cousin of the late Hezbollah leader, and his son is married to the daughter of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was slain in a U.S. drone strike in 2020. Like Nasrallah, Safieddine joined Hezbollah early on and similarly wears a black turban. Talal Hamieh and Abu Ali Reda are the two remaining top commanders from Hezbollah who are alive and apparently on the Israeli militarys crosshairs. Jeffery reported from Jerusalem. This is a locator map for Yemen with its capital, Sanaa. (AP) DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Yemens Houthi rebels claimed Monday they shot down another American-made MQ-9 Reaper drone over the country, with videos purportedly showing a surface-to-air missile striking it. The U.S. military did not immediately acknowledge losing any aircraft. The claimed attack comes as the one-year anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip approaches. The Houthis have targeted ships traveling through the Red Sea over the war as U.S.-led airstrikes pound their positions in Yemen. Thats imperiled a waterway that typically sees $1 trillion of trade pass through it, as well as crucial shipments of aid to war-torn Sudan and Yemen. The Houthis also continue to launch missiles targeting Israel, drawing retaliatory airstrikes from the Israelis this weekend on the port city of Hodeida. The Houthi-run broadcaster Al-Masirah claimed shooting down the MQ-9, hours after video footage circulated online showing the purported missile striking the aircraft over Yemens Saada province. A single image online also appeared to show wreckage of the drone, with pieces resembling that of an MQ-9. The U.S. military did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. General Atomics Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land. The aircraft have been flown by both the U.S. military and the CIA over Yemen for years. Since Houthis seized the countrys north and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the U.S. military has seen Reapers shot down in Yemen in 2017, 2019, 2023 and 2024. The U.S. military acknowledged the Houthis shot down two MQ-9s in September. Houthis have targeted more than 80 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels as well. The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israels campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran. Those attacks include a barrage that struck the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion in the Red Sea. Salvagers have towed away the burning oil tanker, hoping to avoid a catastrophic leak of its 1 million barrels of oil on board. Firefighting efforts onboard the Sounion began last week and the operation has proceeded with promising results as some fires are extinguished and other under control, the Joint Maritime Information Center reported Monday. The center, overseen by the U.S. Navy, also acknowledged the last attack on a merchant ship by the Houthis came on Sept. 2, but the rebels remain a threat. Despite a drop in attacks against merchant vessels over the last two weeks, the Houthis have shown ability and willingness to target U.S. Navy assets and coalition partners, the center said. The Houthis claimed an attack targeted American warships last week. An Iranian worshipper holds up a poster of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, reading in Arabic: At your service Nasrallah during an anti-Israeli rally after Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (Vahid Salemi/AP) DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Iran lost its most reliable ally in the Middle East when an Israeli airstrike killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. But Iran isnt leading the charge to retaliate. Thats put Tehran in a bind: Not responding could see it alienate the militias it relies on in the region. Meanwhile, any possible retaliation risks a wider war as its theocracy faces intense challenges at home. By the grace and power of God, Lebanon will make the transgressing, malicious enemy regret its actions, Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in the wake of Nasrallahs death Friday. But the 85-year-old paramount ruler in Iran gave no mention of his country taking action over the death of a man he once praised as an exceptional face in the world of Islam after the Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006. That reluctance continued into Monday, as Irans Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani told journalists that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Iranian people are not after war but rather peace and stability in the region. Though Kananni added that, any adventurous move or action against our national security or interests and our hands will never be tied, at one point wearing a checkered Palestinian keffiyeh scarf during his remarks. These comments highlight a reticence in responding to Nasrallahs death. Though his leadership of Hezbollah was the crown jewel in Irans decades-long strategy of arming regional militias to counter both Israel and the United States, Iran remains cautious about when or if it will strike back. Thats not to say that it hasnt launched retaliatory strikes during the yearlong Israel-Hamas war thats riven the Middle East and threatens to erupt into a regional conflict. Iran launched an unprecedented direct attack on Israel in April. It even launched a missile strike against sites in Iraq, Syria and Pakistan in January. But those attacks stemmed from direct attacks on Iranian targets, like the suspected Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic post in Syria. Iran I think in its priorities have been very much misunderstood since Oct. 8, said Sanam Vakil, the director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the London-based international affairs think tank Chatham House. There was a misconception Iran would pile in. Instead, it hung back after Hamas another militant group it has armed launched its Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw another 250 taken hostage. Even as millions of Iranians purportedly volunteered online to fight on behalf of the Palestinians, Iran didnt enter the war as an Israeli offensive devastated the Gaza Strip, killing over 41,000 people. In the time since, an increasingly emboldened Israel has attacked Hezbollah, Yemens Houthi rebels and other groups. In marking Nasrallahs killing, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cited a line in the Jewish Talmud fitting that strategy If someone rises up to kill you, kill him first. For Netanyahu, whose political career has revolved around the threat he perceives from Iran, that includes striking back at those Iranian allies Tehran refers to as the Axis of Resistance. Those militias grew in prominence and power in the chaos that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the 2011 Arab Spring and the rise of Yemens Houthi rebels. That created what Irans opponents feared would become a Shiite crescent of influence that Tehran would be able to wield, something Israel may be aiming to roll back. An increasingly emboldened Israel appears to be considering a more expansive plan to confront Iran across the Middle East with the ambition of creating a new regional order, said Julien Barnes-Dacey, the director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the European Council on Foreign Relations. This is a dangerous illusion. Despite Irans current weakness, this will be seen as an existential threat by Tehran and its regional allies. Iran could encourage more asymmetric attacks, targeting Jewish tourists, synagogues or Israeli diplomatic missions as it has done in the past. Netanyahu issued a warning Monday to Iran likely over that risk, saying: There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. Tehran also could weaponize its nuclear program. It already enriches uranium to near-weapons-grade levels after the collapse of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Hard-line voices within Irans theocracy, like its daily Kahyan newspaper, already are calling for a response harsher than its April attack, which caused very little damage. That, however, runs directly counter to the plans of Irans new reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, who campaigned on a promise to get crushing economic sanctions lifted against Iran. Thats grown in importance as energy prices continue to fall and Iran likely sells its oil at a discount due to being locked out of many nations. If nuclear deal commitments are implemented fully and in good faith, dialogue on other issues can follow, Pezeshkian told the United Nations General Assembly last week. Ending the sanctions requires a deal with the West on the nuclear program, something that will become nearly impossible if Iran enters an all-out war with Israel. Relieving that economic pressure remains crucial for Irans domestic stability as well, as authorities remember the months of protests that followed the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini. For the time being it appears the president and the supreme leader, the latter who is abundantly cautious, want to keep the line open to dialogue and negotiations, Vakil said. And to keep that line open, Iran needs someone else to take the lead against Israel. Tehran apparently is content to allow Hezbollah to respond to the Nasrallah killing on its own, and perhaps in concert with the Houthi movement in Yemen, which has recently begun firing some of their Iran-supplied missiles against Israel, the New York-based Soufan Center security think tank said Monday. Jon Gambrell, the news director for the Gulf and Iran for The Associated Press, has reported from each of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Iran and other locations across the world since joining the AP in 2006. An Israeli tank maneuvers in northern Israel near the Israel-Lebanon border on Sept. 30, 2024. (Baz Ratner/AP) JERUSALEM Israeli ground forces crossed into southern Lebanon early Tuesday, marking a significant escalation of an offensive against Hezbollah militants and opening a new front in a year-long war against its Iranian-backed adversaries. The incursion follows weeks of heavy blows by Israel against Hezbollah including an airstrike that killed its longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah and seeks to step up the pressure on the group, which began firing rockets into northern Israel after the start of the war in Gaza. The last time Israel and Hezbollah engaged in ground combat was a monthlong war in 2006. The Israeli military said in a brief statement that it began limited, localized and targeted ground raids against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. These targets are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel, it said. There was no word on how long the operation would last, but the army said soldiers had been training and preparing for the mission in recent months. Israel has said it will continue to strike the group until it is safe for displaced Israelis from border communities to return to their homes. Ahead of the Israeli announcement, United States officials said Israel launched small ground raids inside Lebanon, and Israel declared three small border communities to be a closed military zone, restricting access only to army personnel. There were no reports of direct clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants. But throughout the evening, Israeli artillery units pounded targets in southern Lebanon and the sounds of airstrikes were heard throughout Beirut. Smoke rose from the capitals southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence, shortly after Israel ordered residents of three buildings to evacuate. Israel launches risky phase of fighting Israel has been emboldened by its recent battlefield gains against Hezbollah and appears intent on delivering a knockout blow to its archenemy. But a ground operation marks a new and potentially risky phase of fighting. It also threatens to unleash further devastation on Lebanon, where hundreds have been killed in recent Israeli strikes and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. Hezbollah is a well-trained militia, believed to have tens of thousands of fighters and an arsenal of 150,000 rockets and missiles. The last round of fighting in 2006 ended in a stalemate. Both sides have spent the past two decades preparing for their next showdown. While Hezbollah has built up a formidable arsenal, Israel has invested great sums into training and intelligence gathering. Recent airstrikes wiping out most of Hezbollahs top leadership and the explosions of hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah indicate that Israel has infiltrated deep inside the groups upper echelons. Hezbollah vowed Monday to keep fighting even after its recent losses. The groups acting leader, Naim Kassem, said in a televised statement that Hezbollah would be ready for a ground operation. He said commanders killed in recent weeks have already been replaced. The man widely expected to take over the top post from Kassem is Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah who oversees Hezbollahs political affairs. Israel shifts attention from Gaza to Lebanon Israeli strikes in recent weeks have hit what the military says are thousands of militant targets across large parts of Lebanon. Over 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry. Early Monday, an airstrike hit a residential building in central Beirut, killing three Palestinian militants, as Israel appeared to send a message that no part of Lebanon is out of bounds. Israel declared war against the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip after Hamas cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials. Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on Oct. 8 in solidarity with the Palestinian militant group. Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire almost every day since then, coming close to a full-fledged war on several occasions but stepping back from the brink. In recent weeks, Israels war against against Hamas has scaled back and it turned its focus northward toward Lebanon, stepping up the attacks on Hezbollah. Israeli leaders say they want Hezbollah to implement the U.S. resolution that ended the 2006 war, which required the group to withdraw some 20 miles from the Israeli border. Key setbacks for Hezbollah Hezbollah has suffered key setbacks in recent weeks. Before Nasrallahs assassination, a series of mysterious explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies blamed on Israel killed or wounded hundreds of people, many of them Hezbollah members. And Israeli airstrikes have killed most of the groups senior commanders. But Hezbollah continued to launch rockets and missiles into Israel and is still believed to have thousands of fighters near the Israeli border. Israeli leaders for years have accused Hezbollah of hiding weapons and fighters inside homes and other civilian structures in border villages. Tens of thousands of Lebanese civilians have fled southern Lebanon in recent weeks fearing an Israeli military onslaught. Hezbollah has few air defenses, giving the Israeli air force freedom of action over Lebanons skies. But a ground operation will be much more challenging, with Hezbollah forces embedded and hiding in local communities and familiar with the local terrain. Still, Hezbollahs capabilities are unclear. Its possible Hezbollah is holding back to save resources for a bigger battle. But the militant group might also be in disarray after Israeli intelligence apparently penetrated its highest levels. Some European countries began pulling their diplomats and citizens out of Lebanon on Monday. Germany sent a military plane to evacuate diplomats relatives and others. Bulgaria sent a government jet to get the first group of its citizens out. Israel has a long and bloody history in Lebanon. It briefly invaded in 1978 in a strike against Palestinian militants. It invaded again in 1982 in an operation that turned into an 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon. The stepped-up action against Hezbollah also could raise the risk of a broader region-wide war as Israel confronts a series of foes backed by archenemy Iran. Israel carried out an airstrike in Yemen against the Houthi militia in response to a series of missile strikes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also threatened Iran, warning the Tehran government that Israel is capable of striking anywhere in the Middle East. The United States and its allies including France, which has close ties to Lebanon have called for a cease-fire, hoping to avoid further escalation that could draw in Iran and set off a wider war. But Netanyahu has shown little interest, as his country racks up military achievements against a longtime foe. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, visiting Beirut on Monday, urged Israel to refrain from a ground offensive. He also called on Hezbollah to stop firing on Israel, saying the group bears heavy responsibility in the current situation, given its choice to enter the conflict. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, speaking after meeting with Barrot, said the country is committed to an immediate cease-fire followed by the deployment of Lebanese troops in the south, in keeping with a United Nations Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war but was never fully implemented. Sewell reported from Beirut and Lee reported from Washington. A man walks on rubble at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beiruts southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (Hassan Ammar/AP) JERUSALEM The first apparent Israeli airstrike on central Beirut in nearly a year of conflict struck an apartment building early Monday. It came after Israel hit targets across Lebanon and killed dozens of people, as Hezbollah sustained heavy blows to its command structure, including the killing of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The strike hit one apartment in a multistory building, damaging the structure but not collapsing it, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene. Videos showed ambulances and a crowd gathered near the building in a mainly Sunni district with a busy thoroughfare lined with shops. A Palestinian leftist faction in Lebanon said three of its members were killed in the airstrike. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said in a statement early Monday that its military and security commanders in Lebanon, and a third member, were killed in the attack. The group has not played a significant role in the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Shiite militant group Hezbollah. An official with Lebanons Civil Defense had earlier said that a member of the al-Jamaa al-Islamiya was killed in the strike and that 16 other people were wounded, but the Sunni militant group, which fights alongside Hezbollah, has not confirmed the death of any of its members. Also early Monday, another strike killed a commander with the militant group Hamas, which has a presence in Lebanons Palestinian refugee camps. Hamas said Fatah Sharif and his family were killed in an airstrike on the Al-Buss refugee camp in the southern port city of Tyre. In the past week, Israel has frequently targeted Beiruts southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence including a major strike on Friday that killed Nasrallah but had not hit locations near the city center. Israeli officials had no immediate comment. Earlier, Hezbollah confirmed that Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of its Central Council, was killed Saturday, making him the seventh senior Hezbollah leader killed in Israeli strikes in a little over a week. They include the groups founding members who had evaded death or detention for decades. Hezbollah also confirmed that Ali Karaki, another senior commander, died in the strike that killed Nasrallah. Israel says at least 20 other Hezbollah militants were killed, including one in charge of Nasrallahs security detail. The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least 105 people were killed around the country in airstrikes Sunday. Two strikes near the southern city of Sidon, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Beirut, killed at least 32 people, the ministry said. Separately, Israeli strikes in the northern province of Baalbek Hermel killed 21 people and wounded at least 47. Lebanese media reported dozens of strikes in the central, eastern and western Bekaa and in the south, besides strikes on Beirut. Israel says it targets militants, but the strikes have hit buildings where civilians were living and the death toll was expected to rise. In a video of a strike in Sidon, verified by the AP, a building swayed before collapsing as neighbors filmed. One TV station called on viewers to pray for a family caught under the rubble, posting their pictures, as rescuers failed to reach them. The Lebanese Health Ministry reported at least 14 medics were killed over two days in the south. President Joe Biden said Sunday that he would speak soon with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and believes that an all-out war in the Middle East must be avoided. It has to be, Biden told reporters at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware as he boarded Air Force One for Washington. Meanwhile, wreckage from Fridays strike that killed Nasrallah was still smoldering. Smoke rose over the rubble as people flocked to the site, some to check on what was left of their homes and others to pay respects, pray or simply to see the destruction. In response to the dramatic escalation in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, Hezbollah significantly increased its rocket attacks in the past week, from several dozen to several hundred daily, the Israeli military said. The attacks injured several people and caused damage, but most of the rockets and drones were intercepted by Israels air defense systems or fell in open areas. The army says its strikes have degraded Hezbollahs capabilities and the number of launches would be much higher if Hezbollah had not been hit. A man stands on the rubble of buildings near the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beiruts southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (Hassan Ammar/AP) Israel strikes Houthi targets in Yemen Also on Sunday, the Israeli military said dozens of its aircraft struck Houthi targets in Yemen in response to a recent attack. The military said it targeted power plants and sea port facilities in the city of Hodeida. The Houthis launched a ballistic missile attack toward Israels Ben Gurion airport on Saturday when Netanyahu was arriving. The Houthi media office said the Israeli strikes hit the Hodeida and Rass Issa ports, along with two power plants in Hodeida city, a stronghold for the Iranian-backed rebels. The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the strikes killed four people and wounded 40 others. The Houthis claimed they took precautionary measures ahead of the strikes, emptying oil stored in the ports, according to Nasruddin Ammer, deputy director of the Houthi media office. He said in a post on X that the strikes wont stop the rebels attacks on shipping routes and on Israel. U.S. warns Hezbollah will work quickly to rebuild Meanwhile, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Israels airstrikes in Lebanon had wiped out Hezbollahs command structure, but he warned the group will work quickly to rebuild it. I think people are safer without him walking around, Kirby said of Nasrallah. But they will try to recover. Were watching to see what they do to try to fill this leadership vacuum. Its going to be tough. Much of their command structure has now been wiped out. Speaking on CNNs State of the Union, Kirby sidestepped questions about whether the Biden administration agrees with how the Israelis are targeting Hezbollah leaders. The White House continues to call on Israel and Hezbollah to agree to a 21-day temporary cease-fire floated by the U.S., France and other countries during the U.N. General Assembly last week. Airstrikes drive thousands from homes in Lebanon A wave of Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon have killed more than 1,030 people including 156 women and 87 children in less than two weeks, according to Lebanons Health Ministry. Hundreds of thousands of people have been driven from their homes. The government estimates around 250,000 are in shelters, with three to four times as many staying with friends or relatives, or camping out on the streets. Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group and political party backed by Iran, Israels chief regional rival, rose to regional prominence after fighting a devastating monthlong war with Israel in 2006 that ended in a draw. Kaouk was a veteran member of Hezbollah going back to the 1980s and served as Hezbollahs military commander in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war with Israel. The United States announced sanctions against him in 2020. Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel after Hamas Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies that consider themselves part of an Iran-backed Axis of Resistance against Israel. The conflict has steadily ratcheted up to the brink of all-out war, raising fears of a region-wide conflagration. Israel says it is determined to return some 60,000 of its citizens to communities in the north that were evacuated nearly a year ago. Hezbollah has said it will only halt its rocket fire if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, which has proven elusive despite months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt. Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press reporters Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Israel; Aamer Madhani in Washington; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Jack Jeffery in Jerusalem and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report. Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), speaks during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (Salvatore Di Nolfi, Keystone via AP) GENEVA The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said that the top Hamas commander killed in Lebanon Monday was one of its employees but had no function as he was placed on administrative leave since March. Fatah Sharifs connection to Hamas appeared set to ratchet up pressure on UNRWA, already facing a $80 million funding shortfall this year. Critics have repeatedly blasted the agency, saying it wasnt doing enough to root out Hamas militants from its ranks. The U.N.s internal watchdog has been investigating UNRWA since Israel in January accused 12 of its staffers of being involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which armed militants killed 1,200 people and abducted some 250 others. The allegations led more than a dozen donor countries to suspend their funding, causing an initial cash crunch of about $450 million dollars. Since then, all donor countries except for the United States have decided to resume funding the agency. Hamas said Sharif was killed with his wife, son and daughter in an airstrike on Al-Buss refugee camp, one of 12 dedicated to Palestinian refugees in the country, in the southern port city of Tyre. The Israeli military confirmed it had targeted him. Sharif was not open about his affiliation with the group and its armed wing. Israel has previously alleged the UNRWA has been infiltrated by the Palestinian militant group. Israels diplomatic mission in Geneva posted on X saying that Hamas announced Sharifs death, And guess what was the second job of Mr Sharif? He was a principal, head of @UNRWA teachers association in Lebanon. The mission added: This case proves that there is a deep problem in @UNRWA, the way they do due diligence about who they are hiring. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said he learned in March of allegations that Sharif had been a member of the political party of Hamas and decided to suspend him and launch an investigation from day one. Lazzarini said he hadnt heard Sharif might be a Hamas commander until Monday. So he was suspended, had no function, was not paid and was under investigation, Lazzarini told reporters in Geneva. We are still an agency with due process I mean, respecting due process and the principle of rule of law. So the investigation was ongoing. Lazzarini said he had received a letter from Israeli authorities listing the names of some 100 people allegedly linked to Hamas, and he took it very seriously. But he said Israeli authorities never responded to UNRWA requests for more information so that it might launch investigations into those cases. A list is not proof of anything, he said. A Hamas statement praised Sharif for his educational and jihadist work and called him a successful teacher and an outstanding principal for generations of Palestinian refugees. The UNRWA teachers union and other Palestinian groups had periodically staged protests in front of the U.N. agencys office in Beirut since Sharifs suspension, alleging it targeted him for his political stances. Earlier this month, the union staged a sit-in during a visit to Lebanon by Lazzarini, saying it awaited positive and fair outcomes in the case of his suspension. Israel has been sharply critical of UNRWA and Lazzarinis leadership of it. In July, David Mencer, a spokesman in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government, called the longtime Swiss diplomat one of the bad guys, a terrorist sympathizer, a Jew-killing enabler, a liar. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric responded by saying the comments were reprehensible and threatening. UNRWA has 32,000 staff in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Palestinian territories, including 13,000 in Gaza who provide education, health care, food and other services to several million Palestinians and their families. Its facilities in Gaza, where thousands of Palestinians have sought shelter, have been repeatedly attacked. Lazzarini said 223 UNRWA staffers have been killed in Gaza during the war, a toll that the United Nations says is the highest ever in a single conflict for employees of the world body. The Israeli offensive in Gaza has killed 41,615, according to the Gaza Health Ministry which doesnt distinguish between civilians and combatants. Associated Press Writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report. The New Jersey Air National Guards 119th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron arrives within U.S. Central Commands area of responsibility, bolstering U.S. posture to defend U.S. forces and deter further aggression in the region, in October 2023. (Megan Floyd/U.S. Air National Guard) WASHINGTON The U.S. will send a few thousand additional troops to the Middle East to boost security for American forces and help defend Israel if needed, the Pentagon said Monday. The additional forces include squadrons of F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16, A-10 and F-22 fighter jets and the personnel needed to support them, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said. The jets are not there to assist in an evacuation but ensuring the protection of U.S. forces operating in the region, she added. The deployment follows recent strikes by Israeli forces against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and the assassination of the groups leader Hassan Nasrallah, a significant escalation in the fighting in the Middle East, which includes the war in Gaza with Hamas and launches against and by Houthi rebels in Yemen. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday directed the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to remain in the area controlled by U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East. The USS Wasp Amphibious Ready Group also will continue to operate in the Eastern Mediterranean. Austin also increased the readiness of additional U.S. forces to deploy and maintain a robust and integrated air-defense capabilities, according to a Pentagon statement announcing his orders. The Wasp group deployed to the region June 1 with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, a rapid-response force from Camp Lejeune, N.C. The Navy amphibious group includes the amphibious assault ship, dock landing ship USS Oak Hill and amphibious transport dock ship USS New York. Secretary Austin stressed that the United States is determined to prevent Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from exploiting the situation or expanding the conflict, Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagons top spokesman, said in the Sunday statement. The announcement came two days after President Joe Biden directed the Pentagon to adjust U.S. force posture in the Middle East amid intensifying concern that Israels killing of the leader of Iran-backed Hezbollah could prompt Tehran to retaliate. The U.S. has expanded its forces in the region in the last several months to help defend Israel, as well as protect American and allied personnel and assets. The Defense Department announced last week that it was sending a small number of additional U.S. military personnel forward to augment forces, Ryder said. Three weeks after 200 specialized Kenyan police officers were deployed to Haiti to lead the Multinational Security Support mission, a second contingent of the same size arrived in Port-au-Prince on July 16, 2024. (Johnny Fils-Aime, Miami Herald/TNS) (Tribune News Service) The Biden administration is dropping its push to have the Kenya-led security mission in Haiti transformed into a formal United Nations peacekeeping operation at least for now. Language about any possible transformation of the struggling mission into a United Nations peacekeeping operation has been dropped from the latest draft resolution after the U.S. and Ecuador could not get support from China and Russia. Instead, both countries will seek just the one-year renewal of the mandate of the Multinational Security Support mission, which will go to a U.N. Security Council vote on Monday. If approved the multinational force would be extended until October 2025. During negotiations that started earlier this month, both Russia and China repeatedly opposed the inclusion of any language asking the Security Council to begin planning to transition the security mission into a U.N. peacekeeping operation or to consider the move. The latest negotiated language, seen by the Miami Herald, instead asks that missions mandate, which expires on Wednesday, be extended for a year. It also encourages the mission to accelerate deployment of police officers and for the international community to step up its voluntary contributions. The lack of financial support for the mission has delayed the deployment of up to 2,500 security personnel, and affected its ability to help the Haiti National Police combat armed gangs. Almost four months after the first contingent of Kenyan police officers deployed to Haiti, there are just over 400 foreign security staffers in Haiti, including a small contingent of Jamaican soldiers. The funding problem led the Biden administration earlier this year to pursue the peacekeeping route, because it would guarantee funding for the ill-equipped and underfunded mission. But throughout the negotiations, supporters of the move were blocked by Russia and China, permanent members of the Security Council with veto powers. The countries, which have not contributed to the current mission, argued that conditions on the ground in Haiti are not conducive for a formal U.N. peacekeeping operation and the current mission needs to first reach its full strength. The support of the two countries has always been in doubt. Both countries have opposed past U.N. interventions in Haiti and have used the current crisis to publicly criticize the U.S. policies in the Caribbean nation. Also, while China is the second largest financial contributor to the U.N., it has not shown interest in helping to pay for various causes around the globe. Russia, meanwhile, has repeatedly demonstrated its lack of interest in helping the U.S. deal with international problems, and Haiti is no exception. The U.S. remains the biggest contributor to the multinational security mission, providing over $300 million, and is struggling to get other countries to contribute to a U.N. trust fund that is supposed to help finance the operations. Kenya has said the operation costs $600 million a year. Should the current draft resolution be approved, Russia and China will be able to show support for Haiti by extending the struggling Kenya-led mission but stopping short of helping the U.S., which could once more get stuck with carrying the bulk of the financial burden for another year. 2024 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Soldiers from the 2-116th Field Artillery Regiment pass out food and water to civilians in Perry, Fla., on Sept. 29, 2024. (Sgt. Jalen Thomas/U.S. Army) More than 6,200 National Guard troops from a dozen states are responding the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall last week as a category 4 storm and has left more than 100 people dead. The active-duty military also is contributing to response and rescue efforts by providing personnel, equipment and access to its installations in the region as staging areas. Hurricane Helene hit Thursday in Floridas Big Bend region with wind speeds up to 140 mph before storming across the southeast U.S. and dumping multiple feet of rain in some locations. In its wake, the hurricane destroyed infrastructure, created widespread flooding and cut off power to millions. At least 121 deaths in six states have been attributed to the storm, according to The Associated Press. As of Monday morning, nearly 3,900 members of the Florida National Guard were working with hundreds of tactical vehicles and boats and 11 helicopters to perform emergency response missions in dozens of counties throughout the state, according state and military officials. Troops there have rescued 155 people and 56 animals, while also clearing 1,189 miles of roads. The Guard has distributed 178,404 water cases, 173,176 Meals, Ready to Eat, 2,304 bags of ice, and 7,911 tarps through 34 distributions locations. Other activations included about 1,500 Guard members in Georgia, nearly 600 in South Carolina, about 130 in Tennessee and nearly 50 in Virginia. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp spoke Monday about conditions in his state and some of the lives lost, including a firefighter responding to a call, and three separate instances where trees fell on homes. One falling tree took the life of a mother and her 1-month-old twin boys, he said. U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Stuart Stroubel of the Georgia Army National Guard conducts chainsaw clearance operations in Augusta, Ga., Sept. 30, 2024. About 1,500 Guard members in Georgia have responded in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. (Fernanda Olivas/U.S. Army National Guard) Troops on Monday continued to help clear roads of debris and downed trees so that supplies and utility workers could reach remote areas, Georgia officials said. North Carolina was hit hard with flooding in the western region of the state. More than 700 Guard members were activated and received additional support from Connecticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Ohio, New York, South Carolina and Florida, according to the Pentagon. Across the region, National Guardsmen are supporting state and local response efforts with warehousing support, high-water vehicles, law enforcement support, search and rescue, route clearance, evacuation support, boat rescues and more, Sabrina Singh, the Pentagons deputy press secretary, said Monday. North Carolina Air National Guard troops prepare to haul more than 100,000 pounds of supplies from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in a C17 to western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. (North Carolina National Guard) North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Sunday that the states Guard was airlifting supplies to some of the hardest-hit portions of the state, including the city of Asheville, where the water system was compromised. People are desperate for help and we are pushing to get it to them. Please know that we are sending resources, and coordinating closely with local governments, first responders, state and federal partners, and volunteer organizations to help those impacted by this tragic storm, Cooper said. This is an unprecedented tragedy that requires an unprecedented response. U.S. Northern Command, which is responsible for defense and civil-support missions, sent one unit to Nashville to offer support staff to local officials and another to Orlando to help with federal search-and-rescue coordination, the Pentagon said. The staging of federal units was underway Monday at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany and Robins Air Force Base, both in Georgia, and Fort Campbell in Kentucky. The Civil Air Patrol, an Air Force unit that assists in emergency public service missions, was activated to conduct disaster response and damage assessment in North Carolina and South Carolina, according to the Pentagon. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is providing emergency power planning and response teams to Georgia, as well as teams to inspect dams, levees and bridges in Tennessee and Kentucky. Army engineers were also tasked with assessing local water systems across the southeast where boil water notices were issued, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. President Joe Biden on Saturday pledged help for the devastated states and said he would tour the area this week as long as it did not interrupt rescue or recovery work. Then-President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at the 2018 NATO summit in Brussels. Should the former president win the 2024 election, NATO will likely see a significant pullback of U.S. involvement, according to a Center for Strategic and International Studies report. (NATO) The U.S.-NATO relationship is likely to enter a new era regardless of who wins the White House in November, according to a recent think tank report, which says neither candidate regards the alliance as highly as President Joe Biden. But the differences in approach between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic rival Kamala Harris couldnt be more dramatic, as a Trump win would cause a deep crisis for NATO, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said. The Washington-based think tanks analysis examined the foreign policy implications of potential Trump and Harris administrations on a range of issues, from China to terrorism threats in the Middle East and Africa. But the differences were perhaps most stark when it comes to the American role in NATO and how the U.S. military operates in Europe. A NATO flag is raised aboard the USS Mesa Verde Sept. 18, 2023, during a multinational exercise off the coast of Latvia. Regardless of the outcome of the upcoming U.S. presidential election, the country's relationship with NATO is likely to enter a new era, according to a new report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. (Michele Clarke/U.S. Marine Corps) Should former president Trump return to the White House, NATO will likely see a significant pullback of U.S. involvement, creating a deep crisis inside the alliance, the report said. Should Harris win, the changes will be more subtle. The report, which was released Thursday, cautioned that an abrupt pullback of U.S. forces from NATO would leave European countries in the bloc badly exposed. Europe faces an acute threat from Russia, as well as considerable instability in its periphery, according to the report. It will take many years, if not decades, for Europe to build its own European pillar of NATO to reduce the conventional military demands on U.S. forces. While Harris at the start is likely to continue with the policies of the Biden administration, her presidency would nonetheless represent a postCold War generational shift that involves less attachment to NATO and Europe, report authors Max Bergmann and Sissy Martinez wrote. Biden came of political age during the Cold War and has always seen NATO as central to security issues. While Harris will remain committed, European allies will constantly seek reassurance to an extent that Harris cannot satisfy, the report said. She will likely find it difficult to match Bidens engagement, which has felt deeply personal and rooted in decades of engagement. Meanwhile, the implications of a second Trump term would amount to political whiplash from the Biden era. Trump has rhetorically attacked NATO for decades but now appears to have concrete plans to follow through on reducing U.S. involvement in the NATO alliance, the report said. While a complete exit from NATO is unlikely, policy planners with ties to Trump have suggested concepts such as a dormant NATO that would involve putting the alliance to sleep until its needed at some point in the future. Turning over responsibility for the conventional defense of the Continent to Europeans also would be an expected policy change from Trump, the report said. A U.S. Army paratrooper with the 173rd Airborne Brigade conducts a simulated attack with Italian troops during training at Hohenfels, Germany, Sept. 13, 2024. Regardless of the outcome of the upcoming U.S. presidential election, the country's relationship with NATO is likely to enter a new era, the Center for Strategic and International Studies says in a study released Sept. 26, 2024. (Joskanny Lua/U.S. Army) While the analysis didnt detail how U.S. troop levels in Europe could be cut back, at the end of his first term Trump sought to dramatically reduce force levels in Germany. That plan was canceled by Biden, who sent additional forces to Europe in the aftermath of Russias 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ramped up defense spending in recent years by European nations is unlikely to satisfy Trump and his political allies, who are ultimately frustrated by Europes military dependence on the United States, the report said. Over the years, U.S. opposition to creation of a European NATO pillar meant that an effort that should have begun after the Cold War never got off the ground, the authors said. They urged patience from a potential Trump administration because such an effort will take considerable time. Meanwhile, a Harris administration, should get behind efforts to shift more of the burden to the Europeans, given the challenges that Washington is likely to face in the Indo-Pacific region in the years to come, the report said. The United States insistence on the European Union doing more on defense from generating a common pool of funding to harmonizing Europes fractured defense industrial landscape is critical, according to the study findings. A Russian fighter jet zooms dangerously close to an American F-16 near Alaska in a dramatic video posted online Monday. The Russian Su-35 flew in a manner that was unsafe, unprofessional and endangered all, Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, wrote Monday in a post on X. The conduct was not what youd see in a professional air force. The post was accompanied by a short video taken Sept. 23 from the point of view of the American F-16 fighter jet that was buzzed while flying within the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone. The identification zone is airspace beyond a nations territorial boundary over which it maintains air traffic control for the sake of national security. With the Russian jets wings tipped vertically, the aircraft comes up from behind the F-16 and whisks past the left side of the American jet, which immediately rocked to its side, the 15-second video shows. On Sept. 23, 2024, a Russian Su-35 flew in a manner that was unsafe, unprofessional and endangered all, said Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command. The e (North American Aerospace Defense Command) On Sept. 14, NORAD tracked a pair of IL-38 surveillance aircraft that crossed the Alaskan zone. In July, U.S. and Canadian fighter jets intercepted two Russian bombers and two Chinese bombers flying about 200 miles off the coast of Alaska, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters July 25. In response to Russian and Chinese air forays into the Arctic region, the Alaska-based 11th Airborne Division earlier this month deployed three Army units to the Aleutian Islands, about 1,200 miles west of Anchorage. Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Hilbert, commander of the 11th Airborne, described the deployment of soldiers to Shemya Island as a show of force. As the number of adversarial exercises increases around Alaska and throughout the region, including Junes joint Russian-Chinese bomber patrol, the operation to Shemya Island demonstrates the divisions ability to respond to events in the Indo-Pacific or across the globe, with a ready, lethal force within hours, Hilbert said in a Sept. 13 statement. Hundreds of longshoremen strike together outside of the Virginia International Gateway in Portsmouth, Va., Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (Billy Schuerman, The Virginian-Pilot via AP) PHILADELPHIA Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas began walking picket lines early Tuesday in a strike over wages and automation that could reignite inflation and cause shortages of goods if it goes on more than a few weeks. The contract between the ports and about 45,000 members of the International Longshoremens Association expired at midnight, and even though progress was reported in talks on Monday, the workers went on strike. The strike affecting 36 ports is the first by the union since 1977. Workers began picketing at the Port of Philadelphia shortly after midnight, walking in a circle at a rail crossing outside the port and chanting No work without a fair contract. The union had message boards on the side of a truck reading: Automation Hurts Families: ILA Stands For Job Protection. Local ILA president Boise Butler said workers want a fair contract that doesnt allow automation of their jobs. Shipping companies made billions during the pandemic by charging high prices, he said. Now we want them to pay back. Theyre going to pay back, Butler said. He said the union will strike for as long as it needs to get a fair deal, and it has leverage over the companies. This is not something that you start and you stop, he said. Were not weak, he added, pointing to the unions importance to the nations economy At Port Houston, at least 50 workers started picketing around midnight local time carrying signs saying No Work Without a Fair Contract. The U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents the ports, said Monday evening that both sides had moved off of their previous wage offers. But no deal was reached. The unions opening offer in the talks was for a 77% pay raise over the six-year life of the contract, with President Harold Daggett saying its necessary to make up for inflation and years of small raises. ILA members make a base salary of about $81,000 per year, but some can pull in over $200,000 annually with large amounts of overtime. But Monday evening, the alliance said it had increased its offer to 50% raises over six years, and it pledged to keep limits on automation in place from the old contract. The union wants a complete ban on automation. It wasnt clear just how far apart both sides are. We are hopeful that this could allow us to fully resume collective bargaining around the other outstanding issues in an effort to reach an agreement, the alliance statement said. In a statement early Tuesday, the union said it rejected the alliances latest proposal because it fell far short of what ILA rank-and-file members are demanding in wages and protections against automation. The two sides had not held formal negotiations since June. We are prepared to fight as long as necessary, to stay out on strike for whatever period of time it takes, to get the wages and protections against automation our ILA members deserve, Daggett said in the statement. They must now meet our demands for this strike to end. The alliance said its offer tripled employer contributions to retirement plans and strengthened health care options. Supply chain experts say consumers wont see an immediate impact from the strike because most retailers stocked up on goods, moving ahead shipments of holiday gift items. But if it goes more than a few weeks, a work stoppage would significantly snarl the nations supply chain, potentially leading to higher prices and delays in goods reaching households and businesses. If drawn out, the strike will force businesses to pay shippers for delays and cause some goods to arrive late for peak holiday shopping season potentially impacting delivery of anything from toys or artificial Christmas trees to cars, coffee and fruit. The strike will likely have an almost immediate impact on supplies of perishable imports like bananas, for example. The ports affected by the strike handle 3.8 million metric tons of bananas each year, or 75% of the nations supply, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. It also could snarl exports from East Coast ports and create traffic jams at ports on the West Coast, where workers are represented by a different union. Railroads say they can ramp up to carry more freight from the West Coast, but analysts say they cant move enough to make up for the closed Eastern ports. If the strikes go ahead, they will cause enormous delays across the supply chain, a ripple effect which will no doubt roll into 2025 and cause chaos across the industry, noted Jay Dhokia, founder of supply chain management and logistics firm Pro3PL. J.P. Morgan estimated that a strike that shuts down East and Gulf coast ports could cost the economy $3.8 billion to $4.5 billion per day, with some of that recovered over time after normal operations resume. The strike comes just weeks before the presidential election and could become a factor if there are shortages. Retailers, auto parts suppliers and produce importers had hoped for a settlement or that President Joe Biden would intervene and end the strike using the Taft-Hartley Act, which allows him to seek an 80-day cooling off period. But during an exchange with reporters on Sunday, Biden, who has worked to court union votes for Democrats, said no when asked if he planned to intervene in the potential work stoppage. A White House official said Monday that at Bidens direction, the administration has been in regular communication with the ILA and the alliance to keep the negotiations moving forward. The president directed Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard to convene the alliances board members Monday afternoon and urge them to resolve the dispute fairly and quickly in a way that accounts for the success of shipping companies in recent years and contributions of union workers. Krisher in reported from Detroit. Associated Press journalists Ben Finley in Norfolk, Va., Mae Anderson and Wyatte Grantham-Philips in New York, Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit, Josh Boak in Washington and Annie Mulligan in Houston contributed to this report. In a violation of federal health privacy laws that is under criminal investigation, members of the VA staff accessed the medical records of Tim Walz, left, and JD Vance. (AP) At least a dozen employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs improperly accessed the medical records of vice-presidential nominees JD Vance and Tim Walz this summer, VA investigators found, in a violation of federal health privacy laws that is under criminal investigation. VA officials notified the Vance and Walz campaigns about the breaches after discovering the unauthorized viewing by employees at the agencys massive health care arm, the Veterans Health Administration, according to people familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the ongoing investigation. VA Inspector General Michael Missals office has shared evidence with federal prosecutors on the actions of several employees in the health system, including a physician and a contractor who spent extended time looking at the candidates medical files, according to law enforcement officials, raising investigators concerns about their motives. Like the others, the physician and contractor used their VA computers to get into the records, mostly from their government offices. Investigators are trying to determine whether Walz or Vances health records have been shared as a result of the breach. The motives of those who looked at the information are under investigation, law enforcement officials said. Some employees told investigators that they were simply curious to see Walz and Vances medical records, as both nominees military service has faced scrutiny during the presidential campaign. They are the first veterans on both vice-presidential tickets since the 1996 campaign, when Democrat Al Gore and Republican Jack Kemp were running. The VA employees did not gain access to any disability compensation records, which are held more securely than health records, officials said. We take the privacy of the Veterans we serve very seriously and have strict policies in place to protect their records, VA press secretary Terrence Hayes said in an email. Any attempt to improperly access Veteran records by VA personnel is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. He referred further questions to the Justice Department. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment, as did Missals office, which first investigated the violations. A Walz campaign spokeswoman declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation. A Vance spokesman also declined to comment. Walz, the Minnesota governor running on Vice President Kamala Harris Democratic ticket, served 24 years in the National Guard before retiring to run for Congress. Vance served four years in the Marine Corps before his election as the Republican senator from Ohio and selection as former president Donald Trumps running mate. Vance has said that he received VA medical care for a time after he left the Marine Corps. It is unclear whether Walz used the health system before his election to Congress in 2006, but his medical records from the military are stored in the VA system. The breach, which took place in July and August, was discovered in August during a security sweep of VAs high-profile health accounts, which are periodically monitored by the agency. Missals office found that veterans health records are relatively easy to log into for VA physicians and other medical personnel in the health system of close to 400,000 employees serving more than 9 million registered veterans, a policy designed to ensure quick access for doctors inside and outside VA in an emergency. That contrasts with the benefits division, which distributes monthly disability compensation payments to more than 5 million veterans, and limits access to these records to a small number of employees, and fewer still for the records of high-profile figures, officials said. Shortly after the misconduct by his employees was discovered, VA Secretary Denis McDonough sent a missive to the agencys workforce of more than 450,000 employees to remind them of the rules surrounding veterans privacy. Veteran information should only be accessed when necessary to accomplish officially authorized and assigned duties as an employee, contractor, volunteer, or other personnel, McDonough wrote in an Aug. 30 email. Viewing a Veterans records out of curiosity or concern or for any purpose that is not directly related to officially authorized and assigned duties is strictly prohibited. McDonough noted that any violation of the rules could bring disciplinary action, including possible removal, as well a referral to law enforcement agencies for civil penalties and criminal prosecution. Any employees who are not criminally charged after the incident could still face administrative sanctions, VA officials said. Prosecutors are weighing, among other factors, how long employees were in the files and their intent when they looked at the candidates medical information. Looking at another persons health information without authorization is a violation of the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Unauthorized access or disclosure beyond what is permitted are the most common types of HIPAA violations, which carry criminal penalties of up to $50,000 and up to a year of imprisonment. Security breaches in health records occur frequently as the health care industry is exposed to increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. But criminal prosecutions in individual cases are rare. Razzan Nakhlawi contributed to this report. Veterans can get emergency medical exams with a Department of Veterans Affairs nurse under a new program that aims to keep patients out of non-VA emergency rooms and urgent care centers for treatment of medical problems that require immediate attention. (Stars and Stripes) WASHINGTON Veterans can get quicker emergency medical exams with a Department of Veterans Affairs nurse under a new program that aims to keep patients out of non-VA emergency rooms and urgent care centers for treatment of medical problems that require immediate attention. The VA is rolling out a telehealth emergency care program nationwide that will connect veterans using their cellphones with a VA triage nurse who evaluates their problem and directs them to appropriate care, VA Secretary Denis McDonough said. Veterans can receive an immediate video evaluation, instructions on how to manage minor injuries and illnesses at home and receive follow-up appointments for tests and visits with a provider, the VA said. The initiative, which follows a pilot program with more than 61,000 veterans, is to counter a shift by an increasing number of veterans to get their emergency care at non-VA hospitals and walk-in urgent care centers, the VA said. More than one-third of veterans and their dependents obtain emergency care at non-VA health facilities at a cost to the VA that tops $6 billion per year, the VA said. Costs by the VA to cover community care are projected to rise more than 13% in 2025, as the agency faces a $12 billion shortfall, staffing shortages and criticism by lawmakers about budget management. Marine Corps veteran David Seward, 53, of Pennsylvania said he used an urgent care center after breaking his thumb in 2023. Seward said he is not certain how the VAs telehealth program would have changed his situation because there were no radiologists available at the Pittsburgh VA Medical Center to help him. (David Seward) Marine Corps veteran David Seward, 53, of Pittsburgh said he was directed to non-VA community care in 2023 after he broke his thumb in a woodworking accident at home. He said he contacted the Pittsburgh VA Medical Center, which told him to use a local urgent care center because there were no radiologists to read X-rays needed to diagnose his injury. I was told that they could not get me in to see a radiologist, said Seward, a former lance corporal who served in 1990 and 1991 at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., and Camp Geiger, N.C. They said, Go to an urgent care center and send us the records when youre done. Seward drove to the urgent care center. I was seen right away and showed them my VA card, which they submitted right to the VA, he said. I did not have to pay a dime for service. Nearly 4 million veterans used emergency rooms and urgent care centers in their communities from 2017 to 2023, with the numbers projected to keep rising. The VA is counting on the convenience of the telehealth emergency care program to compete with the popularity of non-VA health care that veterans can access in their communities. Sometimes, youre not sure whether what youre experiencing is a minor emergency or not and tele-emergency care can help you resolve those questions, Shereef Elnahal, VA undersecretary for health, said last week at a news conference. Veterans can call to connect with a clinical triage nurse who evaluates them. Veterans might be advised on how to care for their medical problem at home. Their call also might be routed to a clinician for a video consultation. They could also get appointments for follow-up tests or a visit with their primary care doctor. A nurse could also contact 911 on their behalf for immediate help in cases of life-threatening emergencies. Elnahal said about 60% of calls can be resolved using the phone service. Seward said he is not certain how his care would have been different by using the emergency telehealth program. But he did worry that the process could slow down the time it takes to get care in situations like his when he needed in-person treatment for a painful injury. My thumb was swollen, painful and black and blue, he said. This sounds like another layer of bureaucracy. Some lawmakers have been demanding solutions as the use of community care shifts spending away from VA hospitals and clinics, where there are staffing shortages. This is not sustainable, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said at a committee hearing in the spring that examined the rapid rise of non-VA community care, which more than doubled from 2017 to 2023. Under the Mission Act, which became law in 2018, veterans can seek private care in their communities when they cannot access the VA medical care that they need close to home and in a timely manner. Lawmakers are expected to address the VAs $12 billion budget shortfall when they return after the November election. The VAs request for funds was not included in a stopgap spending measure that Congress passed last week, though lawmakers did adopt an emergency measure to cover a $3 billion shortfall for 2024. Ryan Douglas Bowen (36), of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to 13 charges of burglary A prolific burglar has been warned he may be jailed after admitting involvement in a spate of rural thefts which netted a crime gang more than 70,000 in power tools and vehicles. Ryan Douglas Bowen (36), of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to 13 charges of burglary, one of attempted burglary, four of theft and two offences of criminal damage during a hearing at Antrim Court last Friday. All the offences were allegedly committed with co-defendant Samuel Todd on dates between June and September 2022. Todd (39), also of no fixed abode, is currently on the run, with a warrant for his arrest outstanding. Samuel Todd A detective told a previous court the defendants were part of a crime gang responsible for a spate of burglaries and thefts in rural areas of mid and east Antrim. Buildings and sheds in Clough, Carnlough, Glarryford, and Lurgan were among those burgled, with Bowen often targeting nearby properties on the same night. The majority of the items stolen were power tools, including chainsaws, strimmers, leaf blowers, drills and angle grinders. However, high-value items were also taken, including a boat engine, a Toyota pick-up truck, a trailer, a pressure washer and a diesel tank. The detective said that at a conservative estimate, the victims had lost around 70,000 worth of belongings. In each incident, sheds, outbuildings or vehicles were broken into during the early hours. In some of the incident, after the items were taken, an oil-like substance was sprayed on surfaces to prevent the lifting of fingerprints and other evidence. In one raid, intruders cut a hole through the wall of a farm shed to steal power tools. Applying for Bowen to be released on continuing bail and for the case to be adjourned for a pre-sentence probation report, a defence lawyer said his client had spent just over a year of in custody. Judge Alistair Devlin released Bowen until a sentencing hearing on November 15 but warned him not to take that as any indication he would not be jailed, having regard to the nature and number of the offences. Jason Gumble (30) pleaded guilty to assault and threatening to kill the victim A regular customer at a local shop spat at the manager and threatened to kill him and his family when he was confronted for taking a bunch of flowers without paying. Jason Gumble (30), who had previously gone to his local shop every day for his breakfast roll also ripped the mans face mask off in the attack at the height of the Covid pandemic. Judge John Hughes jailed him for six months after hearing Gumble had been up all night taking heavy drugs and lost his temper. Gumble, of Drumalee Park, North Circular Road, Dublin, pleaded guilty to assault and threatening to kill the victim on November 1, 2021. Dublin District Court heard Gumble went to Centra on Manor Street at 6.45am and attempted to take a bunch of flowers without paying. He had been barred from the shop and when confronted by the manager, he shouted and screamed: Im going to kill you and your family. He spat at the victim, ripped off his face mask and pushed him a number of times before absconding. The court heard Gumble had 129 previous convictions for offences including assault. The only aspect of the evidence he disputed was that he was barred from the store. He clearly lost his temper, defence solicitor Aonghus McCarthy said. At the time, If there was a drug on the streets, Jason was taking it and this led to his behaviour. He might have been up three nights in a row taking drugs and was not thinking straight. Gumble was now clean and had got a construction safe pass. Judge Hughes said the assault followed an intense and heated interaction and it was an appalling set of circumstances. He noted it was during a time when everyone wore face masks. Even if the accused was not barred from the shop, it was not a public place and he did not have any right to be there. The judge sentenced Gumble to nine months in prison, with three months suspended for two years. Brian McCauley, who started Bounce A-Bout in 2003, appeared in court last Tuesday This is the bouncy castle boss facing serious child sex charges. Brian McCauley, who started inflatables business Bounce A-Bout in 2003, appeared at Armagh Magistrates Court on Tuesday charged with a number of offences relating to a child under the age of 13. The 48-year-old from Jubilee Park, Armagh, is accused of intentionally engaging in sexual communication with the child for his own gratification and causing her to watch a video of sexual activity. It is further alleged he sent the child an unwanted sexual image causing her humiliation, alarm, distress or for the purpose of obtaining his own sexual gratification. Offending is alleged to have occurred on March 29, however no other details surrounding the instances were disclosed during the short hearing. McCauley spoke only to confirm his identity and that he understood the charges against him. A police officer aware of the facts of the case told the court all charges could be connected. District Judge Anne Marshall remanded McCauley on continuing bail to return to court on 22 October. Mr McCauley started his business 21 years ago and said previously he did so after spotting a gap in the market after hiring a bouncy castle for one of his childrens birthday parties. However, when contacted by this paper Mr McCauley confirmed the business was now finished but said he wouldnt be able to comment until the case was over. Facebook accounts and other social media links to the business have been shut down. According to an article promoting the business last year, Bounce A-Bout offered a wide range of inflatables including obstacle courses, disco domes, rocknroller, demolition ball, sumo suits, bungee run and a selection of inflatable games. The business also offered items for any party, special occasion or corporate event, from party tents, tables and chairs, lights and heaters. The business expanded recently to include a Fuzzy Bears Mobile Workshop, where staff visited the home or party venue and children were able to make their very own forever teddy bear. We started with just myself but now that my three children have grown up and are able to drive, they are taking on larger roles within the business, which is very much appreciated. For our bigger events and fundays we have a large team of great supervisors, he wrote. What is lovely is that we are now hiring inflatables to the next generation of customers who have been with us during the last 20 years of business. He added: Our business is going from strength to strength, and this is down to the hard work of our staff and the continued support of our customers, from families to local schools, businesses and councils. Our pictures show Harding returning home on Tuesday afternoon after a hard days drive leaving his cherry-red truck parked-up a half kilometre from his Crumlin home Some of the weapons seized in the Garda raid Some of the weapons seized in the garda raid Harding parks up his cab for the day Former Kinahan Cartel gun-runner Jonathan Rocketman Harding has gone into haulage picking up containers from Dublins docks for delivery around the country. Our pictures show Harding returning home on Tuesday afternoon after a hard days drive leaving his cherry-red truck parked-up a half kilometre from his Crumlin home. Harding is understood to be employed by a small, independent Dublin-based haulier. The 52-year-old declined to speak about his criminal past or current circumstances when this newspaper confronted him last January. When we approached him, the ex-con who was freed from Mountjoy Prison prior to Christmas after serving lengthy stints for money laundering and weapons offences responded: No, no, no, before hiding his face behind a piece of paper and running around the corner out of sight. Hardings partner, Carol Davis, stayed loyal to him and visited him during his time in prison, despite receiving a suspended sentence after getting caught up in his money-laundering enterprise. Harding parks up his cab for the day A convicted drug-dealer, Harding was a close pal of Cartel boss Liam Byrne and has been heavily involved in organised crime for two decades. Byrne is awaiting sentence on remand at HMP Belmarsh in the UK on firearms charges, linked to a bizarre plot to exchange information on a weapons cache in return for a reduced sentence for Byrne Organised Crime Gang boss Thomas Bomber Kavanagh. Hardings first major conviction came when he was jailed for six years in 2004 after he was caught with almost 800,000 worth of heroin and cannabis. He got his nickname Rocketman after he escaped charges connected to the 2010 seizure of two loaded rocket launchers in one of the first garda operations mounted against the Kinahan Cartel. The disposable launchers, which were seized along with a cocaine shipment, were capable of being fired from the shoulder and were to be discarded after a single use. Hardings partner, Carol Davis The weapons had been stored by the Cartel in a rented shed at the rear of a block of five industrial units on the Clane Road, at Longtown, Straffan, Co. Kildare. Although he was never prosecuted in relation to that seizure, Harding wasnt so fortunate when he was nabbed by gardai exiting a Kinahan armoury in the Greenogue Business Park on January 24, 2017. Harding and another man were observed by gardai driving a Ford Transit van to a unit in the industrial complex. The pair were later seen leaving the unit in the same van before they stopped at a Texaco service station and were arrested. At the same time, officers entered the unit and found an arsenal of firearms and ammunition later described as being capable of arming a small country. In the upstairs loft area, several loaded firearms were laid out on cardboard on the floor. Jonathan Harding pleaded guilty to possessing nine revolvers There were four loaded revolvers, ready to be used, and an AK47 assault weapon. Gardai also found more guns and ammunition in two cardboard boxes. Several of the firearms were sealed inside bags also containing suitable ammunition. The seizure, which occurred at the height of the Hutch-Kinahan feud, led to the unmasking of the Cartels previously unknown logistics manager Declan Mr Nobody Brady who supervised and was in overall charge of the weapons. He was later jailed for 11 years and six months, with the final year suspended. Harding, who pleaded guilty to possession of nine revolvers, four pistols, a sub-machine gun, an assault rifle and various ammunition magazines as a result of the raid, was jailed for nine years in 2018. A second man, James Walsh, received a nine-year sentence for weapons possession. Some of the weapons seized in the Garda raid The raid also led to gardai launching a separate investigation into Hardings finances. In the five years between 2012 and 2016, more than 470,000 was lodged to five accounts in the name of Harding and his partner, Carol Davis, with more than 422,000 withdrawn. Detective Sergeant Tom Anderson, of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, would later tell the Special Criminal Court that although Harding described himself as a self-employed mobile mechanic, he had no limited company status, nor a trading name. Revenue figures showed he had declared income of just 6,811 for 2014, 22,056 for 2015 and 34,659 for 2016. Harding was arrested and interviewed three times, during which it was put to him that 197,000 had been passed through Ms Daviss accounts over a five-year period. Det Sgt Anderson told the court that Harding had said in interview the woman was definitely not involved in any criminality. Ms Davis told gardai that she had no suspicions about the accounts and was not aware of the money coming in and out of them. Some of the weapons seized in the Garda raid Harding pleaded guilty to five charges of converting, transferring or handling property between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2016, at EBS, Bank of Ireland and AIB accounts, the proceeds of criminal conduct. He was jailed for five years and three months, while his partner and co-accused walked free from court with a suspended sentence. According to sources, prisoners burn holes in the perspex glass of the cell windows and collect packages from the drone Drones are used to deliver drugs to prison. Inset, Wayne Dundon Infamous Limerick crime boss Wayne Dundon is suspected of teaming up with a Kinahan Cartel gunman to use drones to smuggle drugs into the high-security Portlaoise Prison. Despite extensive security measures criminals have been able to organise, the drone deliveries which were caught on security cameras, according to sources. The deliveries have been made to the A Block at the high-security prison where the army have been reducing the numbers of soldiers on rooftop guard duty. The reduction comes as the numbers of paramilitary prisoners has dwindled to a handful. According to sources, prisoners burn holes in the perspex glass of the cell windows and collect packages from the drone which can be guided to an exact location. Drones are used to deliver drugs to prison . Inmates are suspected of using lighters to make an opening in the window but in the past have been known to use the electric element from their kettle. One prisoner suspected of taking the recent drug deliveries, Jordan Keogh, is serving a nine-year sentence after being caught on different occasions with over 170,000, an automatic pistol and ammunition as well as drugs. A garda witness said in court he was the kind of person who does what hes told without asking questions and could do things without thinking through the consequences. Sources said that hole discovered in a cell window was repaired but when it appeared again footage was checked and showed a drone making a few drops. At his trial it was heard how a 5,000 drug debt spiralled to 180,000 leaving him no choice except to do what he was told. He told gardai those involved who would kill or petrol bomb him if he didnt comply. Keoghs sentence was increased from six to nine years at the Court of Appeal as some offences were committed on bail and were connected to serious organised criminality. Those incarcerated in the A Block include infamous gangland figure Wayne Dundon, who is suspected of continually organising drug caches to be smuggled into prison. He was moved to Portlaoise from Mountjoy in 2023 after being involved in a violent disturbance at the Dublin prison in which four prison officers suffered injuries. On his arrival in Portlaoise he was put into solitary confinement after he was suspected of having concealed a metal object on his body. Dundon is considered one of the most volatile prisoners in the system and is regularly caught with mobile phones. During one prison search in 2017 Wayne soiled himself in a bid to frustrate the search team and attempted to drop a mobile phone out of his cell window. He is also suspected of running his drugs business from behind bars and directing gang members in the Limerick area. Another prisoner on the landing where the drugs are suspected to have landed in Kinahan Cartel hit team member Glen Thompson, according to sources. Thompson is serving a 12-and-a-half-year sentence along with his brother Gary for their part in a plot to kill Patsy Hutch. Last August he was one of three of prisoners moved from Mountjoy after contraband was seized there. Locked-up gangsters are constantly vying for control of the lucrative drugs market behind bars where drugs can change hands for up four times their street price. Farhats Bathijevs (55) is also charged with having under his control a false Irish learner driver permit and two false Latvian passports A man has appeared in court charged in connection with the seizure of nearly 1.4 million worth of gold bullion, a large quantity of cash, and suspected cocaine and MDMA. Farhats Bathijevs (55) was allegedly caught with 18kg of gold bullion as well as 400,000 in cash, which was the proceeds of crime, following a search operation in Dublin last weekend. He did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody to appear before Cloverhill District Court on Friday. The accused, with an address at Earlsfort Court in Lucan, appeared before Blanchardstown District Court charged with possessing 134,500 and 265,300 in cash which was the proceeds of criminal conduct at Sentinel Vaults, Waterloo Road, Dublin 4 on September 27, 2024. He is also charged with possessing 18kg of gold bullion, valued at 1,375,218, at the same time and place. Some of the gold that was seized Mr Bathijevs is charged with having under his control a false Irish learner driver permit and two false Latvian passports. Mr Bathijevs is further charged with possession of cocaine and MDMA as well as having the drugs for the purposes of sale or supply at Hillview Grove in Dundrum on September 28, 2024. He was arrested after gardai attached to the Dublin Crime Response Team carried out a two-day search operation last Friday and Saturday of a number of premises in the Dublin area. This morning before Blanchardstown court, Detective Garda Sean McElory gave details of arresting Mr Bathijevs at 6.17pm last Friday. The accused was detained at Ronanstown Garda Station, where he was later charged with the 10 offences. Farhats Bathijevs Gda McElroy said Mr Bathijevs was handed a true copy of each charge sheet and he made no reply to the charges after caution. Defence lawyer Ciaran MacLoughlin said there was no application for bail, and he asked for Mr Bathijevs to be remanded in custody until Friday. Mr MacLoughlin applied for free legal aid, saying Mr Bathijevs was going into custody. Gda McElory said gardai would be seeking a statement of means. Judge David McHugh remanded Mr Bathijevs in custody to appear before Cloverhill court via videolink on Friday. Gangsters who carried out vicious attack linked to murder of top loyalist Bobby Moffett in 2010 This is the man who is fighting for his life after a savage paramilitary assault by a gang of UVF thugs dubbed The Prod Killers, the Sunday World can reveal. Doctors say Paul Ducky Drake is lucky to be alive after he was brutally mutilated by iron bar-wielding loyalists. The masked men responsible are being linked locally to the UVF, which claims to be on ceasefire and sources said they are being branded The Prod Killers because they are linked to the same gang who murdered top loyalist Bobby Moffett in 2010. Full details of the attack only emerged this week following a Sunday World investigation into the shocking assault, which took place two weeks ago. The revelation comes just days after DUP Education Minister Paul Givan announced he had met UVF representatives as part of a delegation from the Loyalist Communities Council. And it also coincides with the forthcoming 30th anniversary of the loyalist paramilitary ceasefires, when UVF leader Gusty Spence publicly stated his organisation had rejected violence. Azamor Street, where the attack took place But today we can reveal that 35-year-old Paul Drake born and raised in the staunchly loyalist Shankill area is languishing seriously ill in hospital. He is still unable to speak as a result of horrendous injuries to his head, limbs and body. Two weeks ago today, he was left for dead in a darkened alley at Azamor Street in the heart of the Shankill. Neighbours in nearby Battenberg Street have told the Sunday World that around 9pm on the night of the attack, they heard blood-curdling yells coming from an entry. The screaming lasted for around 20 minutes. One man told us that after the attackers ran off, residents were too afraid to go to the aid of the unconscious victim and instead they rang the emergency services. At the scene, police found Paul Drake a member of a well-respected family from Argyle Street lying unconscious with deep lacerations to his head and torso. Both his arms and legs had been broken and one of his ankles was smashed to pieces in the Taliban-style assault. We were also told that swelling on Mr Drakes head was so severe it was several days before some members of his family could even recognise him. It was only after swelling on his face reduced a few days ago that surgeons realised a broken bone in his cheek was protruding through the skin. It is believed X-rays taken soon after the attack also revealed serious damage had been done one of Mr Drakes ankles. And it is understood that surgeons have expressed serious concerns about their ability to rebuild it. Senior medical staff only made the decision to take the victim off a ventilating machine three days ago. And it is understood medical experts are now monitoring Paul Drakes condition on a daily basis before deciding if hes well enough to undergo much-needed major surgery. Describing the victims condition, a police spokesman said: Horrific violence has been inflicted on this man that will leave physical and mental scars and trauma that may never heal. Sunday World inquiries around the Shankill this week revealed Paul Drake has suffered from depression in the past and has previously fallen foul of local paramilitaries. We also learned Mr Drake recently crossed swords with the UVF when he took to leaving handwritten notes on the windscreens of cars belonging to senior members of the loyalist terror group. One note which was shown to us earlier this week read: Nice car. I like it, so I wont do it any damage! But apparently the UVF top brass took exception to Drakes eccentricities, believing the notes were challenging their authority and the rule of paramilitary law on the Shankill Road. Blood stains on Azamor Street And at a recent meeting of senior UVF men, a decision was taken to teach Paul Drake a lesson. He was approached by a local representative and ordered to attend a meeting at Azamor Street in the Shankill at 9pm on Sunday, September 15. But as soon as Drake showed up on the quiet cul-de-sac, he was pounced on by a gang of UVF thugs, who set about him with iron bars. Make no mistake, this was a frenzied attack and the people involved enjoyed it, a Shankill Road resident told us. The Drake family came through the Troubles. And everyone knows Paul has had his difficulties ever since his mum died a few years ago. In two weeks time we mark 30 years since the UVF announced its ceasefire and this kind of thing still happens. Its sheer hypocrisy. And if this doesnt go unchallenged, then it will happen again and again. If the UVF had a problem with Paul, then they should have reported it to the police, he said. He added: Is it any wonder they call them The Prod Killers. Police have appealed for witnesses and information about the Azamor Street attack. The PSNI said police were still trying to establish a motive for the horrific violence meted out to Mr Drake, which has left his family in a state of shock and disbelief. A police spokesperson said: A report was received shortly after 9pm on Sunday 15th September that a man, aged in his 30s, was found seriously injured in an alleyway off Azamor Street. Officers attended the scene and the man was located with lacerations to his head and broken arms and legs. Horrific violence has been inflicted on this man that will leave physical and mental scars that may never heal. No good comes from this ever. Shankill Road sources this week claimed some of the men involved in the attack on Paul Drake two weeks ago can also be linked to the murder of Shankill Road man Bobby Moffett 14 years ago. Moffett (43) was shot dead in front of shoppers and children on the Shankill Road in May 2010. Bobby Moffett At first the UVF denied involvement in the afternoon slaughter. But later, the now defunct International Monitoring Commission issued a special report which clearly stated the Moffett murder had been sanctioned by the UVF leadership. Last night, a local Shankill source told us: The attack on Paul Drake is the mirror image of what happened to Paul Quinn at the hands of the IRA in south Armagh in 2007. He added: The UVF has transformed alright into a bunch of Prod killers. Earlier this week, the Sunday World called at the Drake family home in Argyle Street, where we spoke with Pauls father. He thanked us for our concerns regarding his son, but said he was unable to discuss the matter or make a comment. And on Friday morning, we contacted the offices of Action for Community Transformation on the Shankill Road. The government-funded organisation was set up to assist former UVF members transition from paramilitaries into responsible members of civic society. We asked to speak with Harry Stockman, who has previously been involved in ACT meetings and a veteran figure in UVF circles. We wanted to know if he knew anything about the gang which has been dubbed The Prod Killers. But as we waited for Mr Stockman to take our call, the line suddenly went dead. And when we called back, an answering machine informed us the ACT office was closed. The DUPs Norh Belfast MLA Phillip Brett said it was a sickening and horrific attack. There never has been any justification for such brutality and those responsible need to be identified and prosecuted. There should be no hiding place for anyone who is prepared to engage in these kind of actions, he said. But I always said I would go at the very end, and I will. I wont be content until this trial is over Andrea Brannigan will soon come face-to-face with the man accused of the rape and murder of her daughter, Danielle McLaughlin. As she prepares to fly out to India for the conclusion of Vikat Bhagats seven-year murder trial, the bereaved mother has no idea what to expect. Do I want to see that man? No, not really, because I dont know what I will feel. Thats the scary part, I dont know how I will react, she said. I also dont know what the verdict will be. Their justice system is very different to ours, of course. But I always said I would go at the very end, and I will. I wont be content until this trial is over. It has been all-consuming in all of our lives. When it is over, maybe, finally, I can grieve properly for Danielle. On the morning of March 14, 2017, Danielles body was found by a farmer in a field in a remote location in Goa, a part of India popular with tourists. The 28-year-old from Buncrana in Donegal had been raped and murdered. The young woman, on her third trip to India, had been backpacking in the area and had planned to learn and teach yoga while on her travels. Andrea Brannigan and Joleen pictured in their home town of Buncrana, Co Donegal. Photo: Joe Dunne Within hours of the discovery of her body, a 24-year-old suspect a local man named Vikat Bhagat who Danielle knew was arrested. He was charged with the sexual assault and murder of Danielle. The criminal proceedings against him got under way within months, only to be beset by constant delays over the next seven years. Then, out of the blue, Andrea received an email 10 days ago (September 19) that changed everything. It was from the UK embassy and it was good news. The accuseds legal team had been looking for a further extension of the trial and this was rejected. Instead, a decision was made by the High Court of Bombay that the trial must be concluded on or before October 17 and that a verdict will also be delivered by then. I was shocked, I still am. It was a wildly different departure to how the trial has run for these past seven years. Im very nervous of going over, of course I am. Danielle McLaughlin and her sisters Seanne, Joleen and Traigheanach Danielle was the eldest of five girls, who have all been deeply impacted by the loss of their beloved, kind-hearted, free-spirited, older sister, according to her mother. Andreas husband John died in November 2015 as a result of previous exposure to asbestos. This sudden loss was followed by the death of her own father almost exactly one year later. Then, in March 2017, Danielle was murdered. In the space of 16 months, I lost my husband quite suddenly, then my father a year later. Four months after that, Danielle was murdered. It was a very difficult time. Ive tried to be strong for my girls. We also lost a baby girl to cot death 18 years ago. My husband John found that loss very difficult, so in a way I was glad he wasnt alive to see what happened to Danielle. Danielle McLaughlin had worked in India Andrea is in the process of trying to arrange a travel visa to get to India, accompanied by her eldest daughter Joleen (26) and the family solicitor, human rights lawyer Desmond Doherty. She has been told to be available to travel within the next couple of weeks, at a moments notice, as the trial could conclude at any stage before mid-October. The Department of Foreign Affairs has not offered to assist the family with arranging their last-minutes visas, which Andrea said would be a big help. Danielle McLaughlin fell in love with India I thought the Irish embassy might have stepped in to speak to the embassy in India to help with our visas, but they havent. We are trying to arrange it all ourselves. My priority right now is just to get there and see this through. One of Danielles best friends has set up a GoFundMe to help towards the travel costs. Danielle had completed a degree in psychology and sociology in Liverpool and was both an Irish and UK passport holder. She was travelling on a UK passport when she was murdered in India, meaning the UK embassy has been involved in keeping her mother abreast of developments with the trial. Embassy officials will assist the family logistically when they arrive in Goa in the coming weeks. Andrea has some concerns about her personal safety and that of Joleen when they do arrive in Goa. These concerns centre around the accuseds potential wider criminal influence. Vikat Bhagat Bhagat has been disciplined numerous times behind bars; once for allegedly enlisting prison officers to smuggle drugs into jail for him to sell and most recently for orchestrating a riot when there was an attempt to move him to another part of the prison. Police in India describe him as a gang member with convictions for theft. Danielle knew nothing of his criminal past. She had met him the year before when visiting India and had struck up a friendship, according to her mother. Vikat Bhagat is in the Indian mafia, thats why Im worried its not 100pc safe. He is running the jail where he is imprisoned. He is number one in that jail, hes in charge. Hes gotten into trouble a lot and he is a concern for me, what hes capable of, because I have Joleen to consider, Andrea said. She was also a very kind, empathetic, intelligent and just an amazing person The only reason Im going over is to see the end of his trial. The only thing I want to do over there aside from attend court is go to the place where Danielle was found. The farmer who found her, he has set up a memorial for her, which looks lovely. I also want to meet and speak to that farmer, through an interpreter, and say thank you. I am going to bring him something from Buncrana, a painting or a print from this area. And, of course, a six-pack of Tayto and some Cadbury bars. Danielle always said her friends in India loved our crisps and chocolate. Danielle had turned 28 the month before she was killed and had been home in Buncrana for the celebrations. She was excited for her trip to India the following month for the Hindu festival of colours. It was a place she really loved, having previously worked as a volunteer in an Indian orphanage. Her mother hopes the imminent end of Bhagats trial will help her family heal. When the trial does finally end, I hope we can start to remember Danielle in a different way. I dont want her to be just remembered as a victim, which of course she was. She was also a very kind, empathetic, intelligent and just an amazing person. She was also very trusting. I think thats part of the problem. She trusted that man Vikat Bhagat. She thought he was her friend. Danielle McLaughlin on her travels Danielle would see the good in everyone. I always think she would still be here if she wasnt such a trusting person. Andrea is trying not to focus on what the verdict might be. If Bhagat is convicted, then the death penalty is an option, as is life behind bars with hard labour. He could also receive a lesser sentence and walk free from jail, having already spent seven-and-a-half years imprisoned since the murder. It is not up to me to say what I would like the verdict to be. It is in the hands of the judge. I do know that Danielle was very anti death penalty. I imagine that hard labour would be very difficult for a man like him, he would lose a lot of his privileges. If he got sentenced to 10 years he could walk out of court with time served. Danielle McLaughlin had travelled in Goa Im trying not to think about it too much. All I know is that I wont be content until this trial is over. I will have no choice but to accept the verdict. Me and the girls, we need a sense of closure. We need to mourn Danielle properly. It feels like all Ive done these past seven-and-a-half years is talk or email embassies to try and get a handle of whats been going on with the trial. I was never even allowed watch it by video link, even though Bhagat himself was allowed do so sometimes from his jail cell. All I could ever get was written updates. Since Bhagats trial got under way it has run only in fits and starts, hit by various delays and complications in the sluggish Indian justice system. I know how important it is for me to go to India now. I need to go It has been in court on more than 250 occasions. Hearings have sometimes lasted only half-an-hour per day, running once a month. On some occasions, proceedings have been adjourned due to the unavailability of the murder accused from prison, who has repeatedly attempted to frustrate his own trial. Its been going on so long, its hard to believe we are now almost at the end of it, said Andrea. I know how important it is for me to go to India now. I need to go. Andrea did not identify her daughters body when she was repatriated to Ireland. Her remains were sent for another post-mortem examination in Dublin with Marie Cassidy, then State Pathologist, who confirmed the young woman had been sexually assaulted, strangled and beaten to death. Her body was then sent to Belfast, where efforts were made to reconstruct her face. These efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. Danielles killer used a rock on her face, making her unrecognisable. She was identified through her tattoos. Danielle McLaughlin had an adventurous spirit At Bhagats trial in the coming weeks, Andrea will not be afforded the opportunity to address the court in a victim impact statement. She wont get the chance to tell the judge what her daughter meant to her loving family and the impact of her sudden, violent loss. But upon conclusion of the proceedings in India, she intends to reach out to Donegal coroner Dr Denis McCauley. She will request that the coroner holds an inquest into Danielles death, a court process that she could be involved in, for the first time. In many ways, I would like my day in court and the chance to speak in court, for my daughter. I would like this to pave the way for other families whose loved ones die overseas because we face a lot of difficulties and obstacles. I believe it is within the coroners powers to hold an inquest for my daughter. Im really hoping the coroner has the empathy and kindness to do this for me and my family. Empathy and kindness, just like Danielle had. To make a donation please visit gofundme.com/f/danielle-mc-laughlin Employees found the drugs packages inside boxes filled with bananas on Tuesday and alerted authorities. Police seized boxes of bananas after packages of cocaine were discovered inside. Photo: Polizei Monchengladbach Police in Germany have seized 95 kilos of cocaine after Aldi employees discovered drug packages inside delivery boxes. Employees found the drugs packages inside boxes filled with bananas on Tuesday and alerted authorities. Police conducted an investigation, which led to the discovery of a total of 95kg of cocaine with an estimated value of more than 7 million across eleven separate Aldi branches. According to German police, the shipment originated in South America and was transported by boat to the port of Antwerp. Its believed that there was a mix-up when the drugs were mistakenly taken to the supermarket chain's central warehouse in Germany and later distributed to various Aldi stores in Monchengladbach, Duisburg, Krefeld, Viersen, Heinsberg, and Neuss. Police continue to investigate the incident. Earlier this year, six tonnes of cocaine was seized by Ecuadorean cops after the drugs were discovered in a banana shipment The massive haul, which was hidden in 5,630 packages, was discovered at a port near Guayaquil, the countrys prosecutor's office stated in July. Security officers, with the assistance of sniffer dogs, found the stash during a routine inspection of a container stored at Posorja deep-water port, southwest of Ecuadors largest city. The parcels were filled with a white substance that later tested positive for cocaine. The cocaine parcels had been hidden beneath crates of bananas that were destined for export to Europe. It is believed the shipment was destined for Germany. Anti-narcotics officials estimate the street value of the massive cocaine haul at $224 million (204 million) if it had reached its destination. Five people were arrested following the discovery, according to the prosecutor-general's office. A representative of the export company responsible for the shipment was one of those arrested in connection to the drug discovery. Prosecutors allege that he had been present at the inspection and later gave officials the names of four other suspects, including the managers of the banana plantation where the cocaine is suspected to have been added to the fruit shipment, as well as the driver who took the container to the port. Stephen was last seen on the Howth Road in Raheny at around 3.15pm on Monday afternoon, September 23. Gardai are continuing to seek the public's help in their search for 67-year-old Stephen Molloy, who went missing in Dublin last week. Stephen was last seen on the Howth Road in Raheny at around 3.15pm on Monday afternoon, September 23. In recent days, Stephen may have travelled on foot through the Portmarnock, Howth and Killester areas. Stephen is described as being approximately six feet tall with a slim build and balding, white/grey hair. When last seen, he was wearing a black polo t-shirt, dark grey trousers, and black shoes. He usually tucks his trousers into his socks. Gardai and Stephen's family are concerned for his welfare. Anyone with information on Stephen's whereabouts is asked to contact Raheny Garda Station on 01 666 4300, the Garda Confidential Line at 1800 666 111, or any garda station. Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys had called for all welfare rates, apart from the jobseeker allowance for the long term unemployed, to increase by 15 per week Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe and Finance Minister Jack Chambers speak to the media at the Department of Finance, Dublin. Photo: PA A 2bn cost of living package in the Budget could see two double payments of the child benefit paid to parents. The Government leaders agreed a major increase in the cost of living package which will be a series of one off payments announced alongside the Budget at a meeting on Sunday. It was initially projected to be a package of 1.5bn but this has increased to 2bn. There are on going discussions between the Government leaders over the core welfare rates with Fine Gael sources insisting a decision had not been made on increases. However, senior Fianna Fail figures said the Coalition agreed all rates would increase by 12 a week. Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys had called for all rates, apart from the jobseeker allowance for the long term unemployed, to increase by 15 per week. Taoiseach Simon Harris said he instinctively agrees with Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys proposals to increase the pension, carers allowance and disability payments at a higher rate than the jobseeker allowance. Double child benefit and no rise to jobseekers allowance on cards for budget But he also said he understood the view that all rates increased by the same amount in the last four budgets. The Coalition leaders held talks with Finance Minister Jack Chambers, Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe and Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys to put the final touches on Tuesdays Budget. Sources said Ms Humphreys said she would need more money allocated to her in the Budget if she is to increase all welfare rates by the same amount. The figure is expected to be around 20m. Minister Chambers tabled a proposal to extend the Help to Buy scheme to 2029 and the tax on bulk buying of new homes will increase to 15pc. Meanwhile, the Department of Health received funding for 350 new beds in acute hospitals and 160 in community facilities. There will also be funding for two new surgical hubs in Galway and Swords in Dublin. An increase in GP training places is also expected. Housing Minister Darragh OBrien is pushing for a new renovation grant which will see the State provide funding to people who want to refurbish properties above shop fronts in towns and villages. The scheme is expected to be similar to the vacant property refurbishment grant which gives people up to 70,000 to renovate a derelict property. Enterprise Minister Peter Burke was anxiously awaiting the outcome of budget negotiations as he continued to push for the 9pc vat rate to be re-introduced for certain hospitality businesses. With the minimum wage set to increase by 80c, there are concerns in the Coalition for the hospitality and retail sector who hire two thirds of low-paid workers. Mr Burke wants to exclude accommodation businesses from the 9pc Vat reduction and just target the rate at restaurants, bars and hairdressers. Fianna Fail believe Fine Gael are proposing policies, such as the Vat reduction and the exclusion of the jobseeker allowance from welfare hikes, they know will be contested by their Coalition partners as they are playing to their base ahead of the general election. I think they know its not happening but you hear all this stuff and its hard to know whats happening, a senior Fianna Fail source said. However, senior Fine Gael figures insist working voters support their proposals to differentiate between welfare supports. Children and Integration Minister Roderic OGorman secured an addition 1.34bn in his departments budget which will be used to fund extra hours and places in the National Childcare Scheme. The Green Party leader will also use the funding to target expand schemes for disadvantaged children such as Family Resources Centres and the Equal Start programme for younger children. A pilot scheme to provide meals to school children when classes are off will also be funded through Mr OGormans department. Meanwhile, the Green Party secured free public transport fares for under nines as part of the Budget talks which will come into effect in the summer. This is a change thats good for the environment but good for parents pockets also, a Green Party source said. It will save parents money when they are travelling with their kids but will also ease congestion and pollution by encouraging people to use public transport. Its good news all-round. Gardai and emergency services were alerted to a collision involving a car and a jeep on the N4 at Ardcarne, Boyle Two people have been hospitalised following a serious road crash that occurred in Co Roscommon today. At approximately 1.20pm, gardai and emergency services were alerted to a collision involving a car and a jeep on the N4 at Ardcarne, Boyle. A man, aged in his 70s, was rushed to Sligo University Hospital to be treated for serious injuries. A woman, aged in her 40s, was also brought to Sligo University Hospital for treatment of injuries believed to be non life-threatening. No other injuries were reported. Gardai are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed this collision to contact them. Any road users or pedestrians who were in the area at the time between 1pm and 1.30pm and have camera footage (including dash-cam) are asked to make this available to investigating gardai. Anyone with information is asked to contact Castlerea Garda Station on (094) 9621630, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any garda station. The Bookshelf with Ryan Tubridy returns for a second season tomorrow, with the Taoiseach as its first guest. Simon Harris has defended his appearance on Ryan Tubridys podcast this week. The Bookshelf with Ryan Tubridy returns for a second season tomorrow, with the Taoiseach as its first guest. Tubridy was at the centre of a scandal that rocked RTE for a year, after it was revealed that the national broadcaster had underdeclared payments to the former Late Late Show host. The crisis later widened to other governance matters and the controversy around financial mismanagement at the station was seen as a driver behind a fall in TV licence receipts. The broadcaster is now facing a funding crisis and plans to cut 400 jobs over the next five years as part of a new direction strategy. When asked whether he thought appearing on the podcast in light of RTEs job cuts was in bad taste, Harris replied: No, I dont. He added that he agreed to be a guest on Tubridys podcast because he asked me to. Harris told the podcast that he has no intention to move into Farmleigh because it would be very disruptive for his children. Gardai have investigated separate incidents of alleged harassment outside Mr Harriss family home, as well as a bomb threat against the Co Wicklow property. It has raised questions over whether Mr Harris should move to a location with heightened security. There is no official residence for holders of the office but, on occasion, Stewards Lodge on the Farmleigh estate has been used by taoisigh for various reasons. He told the podcast host that the incidents at his home were a form of intimidation and harassment. I think its done to unsettle and unnerve people, and I think its done by people to let you know that they know where you live. Asked by Tubridy about the possibility for an official taoiseachs residence, Mr Harris said: This has been put to me on occasion. The challenge for me apart from loving Greystones is that my kids are of an age where one has just started in the local school, and it would be very disruptive. I dont know where the future brings us in relation to this, but I can see it happening in the future. Mr Harris said he did not believe people would be unsupportive of such a measure, but added: Its not something that Im intending to do. Tubridy now hosts a daily show on Virgin Radio in London that is also broadcast here on Q102. He launched The Bookshelf back in April with David Walliams as his first guest. With trout fishing season opening today, those coming to the Rotorua Te Arawa lakes are being urged to be vigilant in stopping the spread of freshwater pests. Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Regional Council biosecurity officer Te Wakaunua Te Kurapa said its more important than ever that those heading out on the water check, clean, dry and certify their boat and gear. The proximity of the Rotorua Te Arawa lakes to each other means spreading freshwater pests such as catfish or lakeweed can be as easy as not cleaning your boat properly and driving five minutes up the road. In particular, the discovery of the new-to-New Zealand exotic freshwater clams (Corbicula) in the Waikato River last year means its vital people do their bit and follow the rules to protect the lakes that we all love. Under rule 7 of the Bay of Plenty Regional Pest Management Plan (RPMP) all boat ramp users, where checkpoints exist, are required to self-certify that their craft and trailer are free of freshwater pests. From last summer lakeside self-certification at public boat ramps was streamlined with the inclusion of QR codes on signs to complete the form digitally. Biosecurity officers from Te Arawa Lakes Trust working with the regional council will be present for the start of the trout fishing season, daily throughout the peak summer period and every weekend until April, to continue to educate and ensure self-certification compliance. After the discovery of the clams last year, special rules are in place for any boats coming to the Rotorua Te Arawa lakes that have been on the Waikato River in the past 30 days. For access to Lake Okataina, vessels must be thoroughly cleaned at a wash station on Te Ngae Rd before entering the lake. Full details of Controlled Area Notices =in place can be found on the Biosecurity New Zealand website. Check, clean and dry advice Before moving between waterways you must do the following for all gear that comes into contact with water: Check Remove any plant matter and leave it at the site - the river or lake bank - or put it in the rubbish. Dont wash it down any drain. Clean Dishwashing detergent is not effective against gold clams, but hot water is. Wash absorbent material, such as lifejackets or clothing, with hot water above 60C for at least one minute; between 50C and 54C - hot household tap water - for at least five minutes; or above 45C for at least 20 minutes. Alternatively, soak items in a 10% bleach solution. Dry Ensure gear is completely dry to touch, inside and out, then leave to dry for at least another 48 hours before using it. Source: mpi.govt.nz Several Kiwi families said they are okay with their children bunking school to go on holiday early because flights are cheaper. On Thursday - one day before the holidays began - dozens of travellers at Auckland International Airport told First Up they were checking in early for flights to the Pacific Islands, United States and Australia. One woman heading to Rarotonga said she would have to pay at least $500 more if she travelled after school holidays started. Another whanau said their children were skipping two days of school so they could save $2000 on airfares. Meanwhile last week, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced parents who allow their children to take more than 15 days off in a single term face possible prosecution by the Ministry of Education. One mother said she was all for children being in class, but she thought skipping two days was not a big deal. "I'm not the kind of parent that would keep my kid out of school just to make it cheaper on the pocket." But they were not the only ones. One man headed to Brisbane with his family said airfares seemed to go up as soon as holidays began, so he had no choice but to travel early. "It's significantly cheaper. We're also coming back a day after school starts, so we're coming back Monday and that's saved $1400. "It seems that they [airfares] go up dramatically as soon as school holidays start. "It's just price gouging." Another whanau headed to the United States said leaving early was not about the cost but spending extra time overseas. And it was no problem getting their daughter off school early. "I just emailed school that we're taking a couple days off and that's it." Several other travellers also said they too they had no problem getting their children excused from school a couple of days early. "We told them it was happening. They're in primary school, so it's it's ... it's no major deal," one father said. But most families did not like the idea of potentially being prosecuted if their children missed 15 days of school during a term. "I think travel is an education. I wouldn't take them out all the time, but I know my children work hard during the rest of the time. I'm not bothered to take a week here and there to go and travel," said a mother-of-two. Another woman said it was not fair to penalise parents for airlines that made it expensive to travel during the holidays. Air New Zealand has been asked for comment on travellers' concerns that fare rises amounted to price gouging. Education has been seen as dispsensable - Seymour Seymour said not enough people were taking education seriously. "School is open for about 180 days a year, that leaves another 185 days a year for family, cultural events, holidays and anything else that people would like to do. "I I think when people say that school being open 180 days a year is too much and they need to nickel and dime a day here and there for a holiday it shows that education has been seen as dispensable, too dispensable in our society." And although fines were a last a resort, they may just have to be implemented to catch repeat offenders, he said. "You've got to remember that you only get fined as a last resort if you're, if you're chronically absent and you're judged to be more of a won't than a can't. "If you miss a few days a term, you won't fall into the chronically absent category where fines are a possibility. But that doesn't mean that it's okay." -RNZ The duo of Zara Owen and Jaxon Pardoe of Gisborne have claimed the two major titles at the Sticky Johnson Primary School Champs presented by Skullcandy completed in Gisborne today under sunny skies. Zara Owen of Dunedin earnt her first win in the Year 7 and 8 Girls Division title at the event while it was a first win also for Jaxon Pardoe in the Year 7 and 8 Boys Division. In the Year 6 and Below Divisions it was Thomas Owen (Dunedin) and Nami Marsden (Bay of plenty) that claimed the titles in what was a jam-packed weekend of junior surfing action. Just under 100 talented young surfers took part in the event with participants from Ahipara to Dunedin in attendance, having a blast and for the majority, enjoying their first experience at a national event. Competition concluded in fun 1m 1.5m waves at Midway Beach today with beautifully sunny conditions and light sea breezes for most of the event. Gisborne turned on for the groms with idyllic conditions up until late in the evening on both days, which were a contrast to the 2023 edition of the event held in challenging waves at Northern Makorori. In the Year 6 and Below boys, event stand out, Lenny Quinn of Gisborne went head-to-head with Arlo Scorringe of Bay Boardriders, Fergus fletcher of Bay Boardriders and Thomas Owen of South Coast, Dunedin, all with 3 heat wins to their name, it was anyones title to take. Lenny Quinn controlled the lineup for the majority of the heat using his local knowledge to find a number of quality scores. However, with time counting down and pulsing sets Owen found a buzzer beater to take the win in the dying seconds of the heat. Fergus Fletcher placed third whilst Arlo Scorringe following an excellent performance all weekend long placed 4th. For the Year 6 and below girls it was Nami Marsden of Bay of Plenty who surfed with confidence and ability beyond her years. She edged the win in the final over fellow Bay Boardriders members Millie Dyck who placed 2nd , Sieni Ryan in 3rd and Lexi Sanders of Waihi beach finishing in fourth. In the boys year 7 and 8 it was a Bay Boardriders domination in the early rounds with Beau Broadhurst and Haru Marsden the first confirmed finalists of the event. Broadhurst and Marsden went head-to-head early in the afternoon finding waves with plenty of scoring potential. Their patience and competitive experience proved to be critical with both surfers getting the nod over Jordy Elder (South Coast) and Koa Gillespie (Oakura). Semifinal 2 saw a dominant display from the Gisborne local Jaxon Pardoe. Also on form all weekend long he continued his success finding a 7.5 and a 5.5 putting him through to the final where a late flurry of waves saw him jump into first position with 3 minutes remaining. Hot on his heels throughout the event was London Cockerill of New Plymouth. With three heat wins to his name in the early rounds Cockerill continued his momentum exchanging waves with Pardoe finding a 7.8 and a 4.0 . Moving into the final heat of the day, deteriorating conditions challenged Cockerill and Haru Marsden who in his final year of the event left everything out in the water. Beau Broadhurst held on in an edge of your seat finish concluding the event in 2nd place whilst Haru placed 3rd and Cockerill 4th. Jaxon Pardoe took the prestigious title much to the delight of his home town support team. In a nail biting finish to the day, the Year 7 and 8 girls put on a clinic in the deteriorating conditions. Jade Phillips of Ahipara narrowly missed out on a win after Zara Owen clinched her final with a 7.67 on her final wave. Phillips relegated to 2nd place showed dominance all event long winning three of four match ups. In todays final, Charlotte Oswald of Whangamata finished third and Lara Lay of Mangawhai finished in fourth. The top club award went to Bay Boardriders for the 5th time in a row. A special selection of trophies were also handed out courtesy of Sticky Johnson surf wax. Maeva Dyck received an award for standout performance of the event, Thea Tulloch for the best showing of sportsmanship and Lenny Quinn who received the best air award for a punt attempt in the early rounds. The final trophy was awarded to London Cockerill for the best turn of the event displayed in his final heat. Often the first event experience for many, the Sticky Johnson Primary School Champs presented by Skuyllcandy has ignited many careers of the best Kiwi surfers including Olympian Ella Williams (WGM), New Zealand representatives Ava Henderson (Chch) and Kehu Butler (Mnt). The draw, live scores and all other information can be found by searching Surfing New Zealand on www.liveheats.com. Further Information For further information on the 2024 Sticky Johnson Primary School Champs pres by Skullcandy please contact Surfing New Zealands Dan on 021 02672292 or email dan.westerkamp@surfingnz.co.nz Imagery High resolution action images of the surfing will be available to media free of charge upon request. Social Media Keep up with all the action by following @surfingnz on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Partners Generous support from Sticky Johnson and presenting sponsors Skullcandy, has made the Primary School Champs event. The event is proudly hosted by Gisborne Boardriders. Surfing New Zealand is proudly partnered by: Sport NZ Sunbum OSM *Warning: Contains graphic images A Western Bay dog owner is absolutely gutted there wont be a prosecution after his beloved Border Collie was ripped open by two dogs. Paul Gibbs said he was truly disappointed that Western Bay of Plenty District Council has decided not to prosecute the owner of two German Shepherds that he believed attacked his dog, Molly. In December last year, the 13-year-old Border Collie was relaxing on the lawn when two German Shepherds came onto Gibbs Whakamarama property after leaping from a ute at a nearby petrol station. Gibbs said they chased his sons dog up the driveway then came across Molly. He didnt see the attack but was shocked to find her bleeding from the neck. At first he thought someone had put a red collar on his dog, but said after a closer look he realised she was bleeding from horrifying gaping wounds and her neck had been ripped open. She literally had stitches from the top of her neck, right around to the bottom. Molly required two surgeries and needed at least 50 stitches, he said. She also had daily vet visits to check the wounds. The owner of the German Shepherds put them in the ute and was about to drive off when Gibbs attempted to turn off the truck. At this point, Gibbs said the owner bit him. Paul Gibbs said he was bitten on the hand when he attempted to stop the owner of the dogs from leaving his property. Photo / Supplied Molly had healed really well, but she would never be back to her old self, said Gibbs. She sticks around the house a lot more now and has lost confidence, he said. Western Bay of Plenty District Council compliance and monitoring manager Dougal Elvin said the council decided not to prosecute following the attack on Molly. This decision was not taken lightly, but after giving this matter further consideration and seeking legal advice, there was insufficient evidence to successfully prosecute. There are no witnesses to the attack, and it is unknown what dog attacked Molly. Council staff had met with Mollys owner and understood his disappointment at their decision, Elvin said. This has understandably been a very distressing time for him, and something that no pet owner wants to experience. Border Collie, Molly, 10 days after she was attacked in December 2023. Photo / Alex Cairns Gibbs said he would not be able to recover the $5000 in vet costs through the legal process due to the decision. I didnt do anything about it because the council at the start, [said] look, leave it with us. Just about 12 months down the track, they backtrack and so Im left holding the can. Gibbs posted about the attack on Facebook at the time and the owner of the German Shepherds said they would pay the vet costs, but Gibbs said he hasnt heard anything more from them. People who saw his social media post donated around $1500 to the vet for Mollys bills. If the owner of the GermanShepherds had paid the bill, Gibbs said the donated money would be given to other animals in need. A police spokesperson previously confirmed an officer assisted after a dog attack at a Whakamarama property and the matter was referred to animal control. Local Democracy Reporting has attempted to contact the owner of the German Shepherds. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air. October is now dubbed Shocktober for the third year running and Hato Hone St John is on a mission to empower as many people as possible with lifesaving skills as part of its Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation awareness month. This October weve dedicated the entire month to educate as many Kiwis as possible across the motu how to respond to someone having a cardiac arrest. Jacci Tatnell, HHStJ national manager community education, said Aotearoa has some of the worst cardiac arrest survival rates in the world and HHStJ wants to turn that around by enabling New Zealanders to learn its 3 Steps for Life skills to save lives. Knowing what to do in these situations is a necessity, especially when you consider our grim statistics. In New Zealand, seven people every day will have an out of hospital cardiac arrest with only 11% surviving, she said. Mark, whose last name has not been used for privacy reasons, was one of the lucky ones. He is alive and spending Christmas with his loved ones because the 3 Steps for Life were taken when it counted. When ambulance officers arrived at Marks home in May 2023, they knew straight away his life was in danger. He was rushed to hospital under lights and sirens. Within minutes of arrival, his heart suddenly stopped beating. For a few terrifying moments, Mark lay unconscious, his life hanging in the balance. Earlier that evening Mark hadnt been too worried when his chest first felt tight. As a lifelong asthmatic, a bit of difficulty breathing wasnt that unusual. But it didnt go away. Luckily, his wife Julie-Anne called 111. When paramedics arrived, the ECG (Electrocardiogram) showed Mark was having a STEMI (ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction) the most dangerous type of heart attack. He was loaded into the ambulance and the journey to hospital began. However, as the crew were handing him over to the cardiologist at the hospital, things took a sudden turn for the worst. His heart rate went from a normal rhythm to ventricular tachycardia - his heart stopped. Thankfully, the team attached and charged the defibrillator that shocked his heart back into normal rhythm. Mark remembers it felt like falling asleep. I started to drift off. When I woke up, I said to my wife, Oh sorry honey, I didnt mean to fall asleep on you. Thats when she told me Id actually died. A week later, Mark was back at home, his blocked arteries now cleared. But it could have gone very differently. Without his wife calling 111, and the quick response of a nearby ambulance, Mark might have still been at home when his heart stopped beating. Mark is happy to share his story so more everyday Kiwis are equipped with the skills and knowledge to perform the 3 Steps for Life. During Shocktober HHStJ will be teaching as many Kiwis as possible the 3 Steps for Life to empower them with the knowledge and confidence to act quickly in an emergency. They are simple to learn - Step one: Call 111; Step two: Start CPR; Step three: Use an Automated External Defribrillator (AED). Our sessions teach everyone how to perform CPR and use an AED, says Jacci Tatnell. Cardiac arrest is still one of Aotearoas biggest killers. Survival chances dramatically improve the sooner CPR begins, and we want everyone to have the confidence to perform the three steps that can double a persons chance of surviving, Were calling for people to go along to the free 3 Steps for Life CPR training sessions in their community. Click here to find the locations of where these are taking place. Hato Hone St John also encourages people to download the CPR app or join a network of volunteers by registering on the GoodSAM* app to help those suffering a cardiac arrest because every second counts. Join Hato Hone St John this Shocktober and begin the journey to become a nation of lifesavers. The Statistics: - Seven people a day are treated for an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in New Zealand (more than 2000 per year) 32% female, 68% male. - 76% of patients receive bystander CPR. - 6% receive defibrillation by a community responder prior to ambulance arrival. - 23% of patients survive the event (have a pulse on arrival at hospital). - 11% of patients survive. - New Zealand has more than 12,800 people registered as GoodSAM* responders - AED numbers in the community are growing, with more than 13,660 registered throughout the country. That number has been bolstered at marae across New Zealand with gifts of AEDs into vulnerable communities thanks to ASB, with the support of Phillips and Hato Hone St John. In addition, all ASB branches have AEDs. Find more information in the Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest report here. How you can help: - Visit the *GoodSAM website to register as a responder or download the GoodSAM app from the app store. The GoodSAM network of trained volunteers - including doctors, nurses, paramedics and registered first aiders - give life support to people in cardiac arrest while help is on the way. GoodSAM is a free app that alerts trained volunteers that a person nearby could be in cardiac arrest, allowing them to provide basic life support and first aid before emergency services arriving. - Download the Hato Hone St John CPR app. This gives you instructions on how to perform CPR and use an AED (including videos), a timer to help with steady chest compressions and is available. - Download the AED Locations app to find the nearest AED in your area. - Find Shocktober training session locations, dates and times here. Javier Almellones Malaga Monday, 30 September 2024, 10:15 Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace WhatsApp Facebook X (antes Twitter) LinkedIn Telegram Threads This hiking route is in the shape of an inverted 'U' in a very quiet enclave to the south of the town of Antequera in the north of Malaga province. Route data District: Vega de Antequera Municipality: Antequera Difficulty level: Low. From a physical point of view, this is an undemanding route. On the other hand, it can be somewhat more complex in terms of orientation, as there are few signs along the way. It is advisable to take a map or a route app on your mobile phone, such as Wikiloc. It can also be done by mountain bike. Type of route: Linear Approximate duration: 1 hour 10 minutes (one way) Length: 3.9 kilometres (one way). Minimum height: 552 metres Maximum altitude: 633 metres Nearby places of interest: Torcal de Antequera natural park and the historic town centre of Antequera. Zoom The source of the Rio de la Villa River is very close by. J. Amellones How to get to the starting point Zoom By car, access is via the road from Antequera to El Torcal. J. Amellones The starting point of this route is on the Salvador Perena forest road. The best way to get there is on foot from the A-7075 road, which links Antequera with El Torcal. On a sharp bend near the source of the Rio de la Villa, between kilometres 48 and 47, there is a place to leave the vehicle at the height of the La Pasarela stream. From there, following a firebreak, you will have to climb up to connect with the stage of the Gran Senda de Malaga which connects Antequera with Villanueva del Rosario. Continue along this section until you reach the start of the Salvador Perena forest path, which is on the right. This is the starting point of the route. Route description 1From the stone monolith where the name of the Salvador Perena forest path is engraved, continue along a wide track. At first you will head southeast, but shortly afterwards you will turn northeast, crossing a large pine forest. You will gradually gain altitude, which will give you a nice panoramic view of this large forest to the north of the Torcal de Antequera natural site. This is especially true after passing a firebreak. Zoom Monolith where the forest road begins Salvador Perena. J. Amellones 2After the aforementioned firebreak, the track begins to descend and turns southeast and then south again. The path then descends comfortably along a wide dirt track that crosses this splendid pine forest. To do so, you pass by some ruined buildings. There are several sharp bends along this section of the route. Zoom Panoramic view of the public mountain of La Alhajuela. J. Amellones 3After about two and a half kilometres from the start, pay close attention to a narrower path where you have to leave the dirt track. This exit is just before crossing the Arroyo Adelfas, after a sharp bend. From this point onwards, the route must be taken along a narrower, slightly ascending path that runs parallel to the La Pasarela stream. Zoom Point where you have to leave the lane to walk on a narrower path. J. Amellones 4Near the bed of the Arroyo Pasarela you will walk for just over a kilometre at the foot of a thick pine forest. The path ends right at the place where you would start walking on foot to join the stage of the Gran Senda de Malaga between Antequera and Villanueva del Rosario. Zoom Path running parallel to the Pasarela stream. J. Amellones 5This route, although it is not approved or signposted, is very intuitive. It is a good one to do at the start the autumn hiking season, as it runs in an area that is shady first thing in the morning. Zoom Last metres of the proposed route J. Amellones Flora and fauna The main grove on this route is the reforestation pine forest (where a century and a half ago there were vineyards), although there are also cypresses, olive trees, wild olive trees, almond trees and the odd holm oak. There is an abundance of Mediterranean scrub, although there are also palmettos and sarsaparilla among other more unique botanical species. As far as fauna is concerned, you might be lucky enough to see rabbits, hares and even foxes. There is much more variety in terms of birdlife, partly due to the proximity to El Torcal de Antequera natural site and partly due to the lush pine forest on a public mountain. You can see everything from small birds of the forest habitat to some birds of prey. Jennie Rhodes Canillas de Albaida Monday, 30 September 2024, 14:17 Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace WhatsApp Facebook X (antes Twitter) LinkedIn Telegram Threads Twenty-five artists from 12 different countries are participating in the Paseo de Arte' (art walk) in Canillas de Albaida in the Axarquia to the east of Malaga province, as part of the village's semana cultural week, taking place from Thursday 3 to Sunday 6 October. The artists, from countries including Spain, Brazil, Holland, the UK, Canada and Denmark, are exhibiting their work in 13 venues around the village and work ranges from painting using a variety of media, to ceramics and sculpture. Canadian multimedia artist Sue Thwaite is exhibiting work based on inner female strength, inspired by some of her friends experience of cancer during the past year. 25 per cent of the profits from her sales will be donated to cancer research. Nick Hampton is originally from the UK and his lived and worked as a tour guide in the area for many years. His watercolours are inspired by the landscapes around him. Zoom A painting of the Roman bridge in Salares in the Axarquia by Nick Hampton. SUR Dutch artist Marjon Hoogendorn previously worked as a make-up artist in the film industry, helping actors to transform themselves into their on-screen characters. However, a Vedic art course helped her to bring out her creativity in a different way and she now expresses herself on canvas. Sue, Nick and Marjon are just three of the 25 artists who will be exhibiting their work during the art walk. The venues are open from 12 to 2pm and 5 to 7pm from 3 to 6 October. For further information including a downloadable brochure featuring all of the artists and the 13 venues around the village see the Facebook page Los buenos amigos de Canillas de Albaida. Hard copies are also available at each of the venues and in bars and shops in the village. Eugenio Cabezas Torrox Costa Monday, 30 September 2024, 12:39 Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace WhatsApp Facebook X (antes Twitter) LinkedIn Telegram Threads Although he didn't want to pose for the cameras, the Danish artist Anton Jensen was undoubtedly the star of the day on Friday 27 September at the Media Cana beach bar in El Penoncillo, Torrox-Costa on the eastern Costa del Sol. After almost nine months of uninterrupted work, in the mornings, afternoons and even some nights to take advantage of the cooler hours of the summer, this artist has finished his third small castle. Built by hand, with stones from the beach, sand and cement, it is, to date, his largest work, compared to the first two. The first creation stands on a cliff near the village of Lagos and is just 50 centimetres in diameter, and the second one is slightly more than a metre. Maini castle, which even has LED night lighting, has a surface area of more than nine square metres and is about four metres high. It is so big that Jensen even had to use ladders to finish it off. He started at the beginning of January and finished it in August. I have been coming almost every day, but I do it as a hobby, they only help me with the materials, the cement, the sand and the tools, explains the Dane, who has visited dozens of beaches to collect the stones with which he has built his castle. The mayor of Torrox, Oscar Medina, and the owner of the beach bar, Jorge Lopez, were in charge of officially inaugurating the new castle, which has already become a tourist attraction in the area. The mayor highlighted Jensens tenacity and effort. He went on to say, This great castle gives value to the area, along with the other castle of Calaceite, the Tajo de la Virgen, will be an area that will have a great development in the next ten or twenty years, and added that the town hall promote the castle at tourism fairs such as Fitur. It is a monument that is already going to form part of our heritage, he added. This Friday, the hotel and restaurant has organised a party to inaugurate the new castle, which even has its own legend, written by Jensen. The legend alludes to a story of kings, knights and locals. Without any plans or designs, the new castle has come from his imagination, based on looking at many photographs of castles around the world. It has 256 windows, one for each of the days Jensen has worked on it. Zoom The owner of Media Cana, Jorge Lopez, and Oscar Medina, mayor of Torrox officially inaugurate the castle. E. Cabezas I didn't want to make a war castle, with guns and cannons, it's a fantasy castle, from a hundred-year-old sandstorm, Jensen said, alluding to one of the signs on the construction site. His third great little castle has already become a tourist attraction for this Torrox-Costa hotel and restaurant. Owner Jorge Lopez, is delighted with the outcome and offered meals and drinks to Anton while he was working. All the people who come here want to take photos of me, but I don't want to be in the photos, I want them to be taken of the castle, Jensen said. The castle also appeared in the filming in June of the Netflix series Dos Tumbas, with actors Alvaro Morte and Kiti Manver from Money Heist. Lorena Cadiz Mijas Monday, 30 September 2024, 16:21 | Updated 16:35h. Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace WhatsApp Facebook X (antes Twitter) LinkedIn Telegram Threads Mijas council will use traps to control the population of wild boars which is increasing along the Costa del Sol. Town hall used the service for a few months last year and has put out a new contract to tender. Four companies have already shown their interest, with the service costing 150,000 euros for the first year. The contract can then be extended for three years, with a budget of 100,000 euros for each year, according to councillor Marco Cortes. However, it is difficult to fix an exact figure, as the tender specifications state that the company will be paid per animal - a price will be set for each animal that is caught and then slaughtered. Zoom Traps installed at strategic points in the municipality. SUR "At the moment the Junta de Andalucia is giving us two solutions to a problem that is already widespread: the installation of traps at strategic points or hunting with archers. We have avoided the archers and have opted for this option to try to control the population of an invasive species that is growing exponentially, as each year they are capable of multiplying by three or four," Cortes said. The traps will be installed in Calahonda, in Arroyo de la Cala, by the old Club La Costa or on the Carretera de Mijas, among other places. All of these are areas where wild boars are common and, according to town hall, are causing serious problems with their almost daily transit through the urban areas in search of food. "The Local Police are receiving numerous alerts, there are residents who are even afraid to take out the rubbish at night. They are animals that have no veterinary control, that get into any place, including children's areas, that defecate and that can transmit diseases," Cortes said. They also cause damage and can pose a risk to drivers. "They stick to the service lanes of the A-7 and are a serious danger to road safety if they invade the carriageway; they recently caused an accident on the A-7," Cortes added. The town hall said it is a widespread issue in many municipalities and needs help to tackle the problem from other administrations such as the Diputacion or the Junta de Andalucia. Chemical castration However, some have warned the traps are only a "sticking plaster" fix and not a solution to the problem. SOS Cerditos president Lisa Amado Ferguson said the association has been analysing this long-standing problem for four years, and said authorities "have not looked for a solution until the last minute and are thinking in the short term". She proposed another alternative to catching boars, which she believes can be much more effective as it is already being applied in other countries and in other regions of Spain, such as Catalonia, with good results. This is chemical castration. "The technique consists of controlling groups of 100 feral pigs. Some, those that the professionals consider necessary, are eliminated by euthanasia, and others, the smaller ones, are castrated and fitted with an ear tag, which becomes an indication that the animal has been castrated and vaccinated," added Amado, who pointed out that castrated animals become more tame and move around less, which can help to control urban populations. "We are aware that some of them will have to be culled, but it seems to us to be a much more realistic solution than trapping, which only makes the species more endangered and even more likely to reproduce. We already had traps last year and it is clear that this has not improved the problem at all," the president said. Through this organisation, the council asked for a budget from the researchers who are carrying out the chemical castration technique in Barcelona. "We know that they have given them a budget for castration, vaccination, ear tags and the slaughter of a population of 100 animals, which does not exceed 100,000 euros," Lisa Amado said. Meanwhile, the trapping system, where the price is paid for each animal slaughtered, is well over 1,000 euros per animal. Install more drinking fountains Another proposed measure is creating more drinking troughs in the mountains so the animals, given the current drought, are not forced to go down to urban areas in search of water and food. "There are several water troughs in the mountains and this winter we will install more, but it is not a solution to the proliferation of this species," Cortes said. He also appealed to residents not to feed the animals as that only adds to the problem. Pablo Marinetto Malaga Monday, 30 September 2024, 10:53 Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace WhatsApp Facebook X (antes Twitter) LinkedIn Telegram Threads In the heart of Los Alcornocales natural park, right on the border between the provinces of Malaga and Cadiz, is one of those places that captivate with their beauty and are steeped in history. LaSauceda, an old, abandoned forestry settlement, now transformed into an outdoor recreational centre, offers an immersive experience for those seeking an intimate connection with nature and a journey back in time. This abandoned hamlet, located in the municipality of Cortes de la Frontera, is encased in a natural setting that invites you to disconnect from urban life among crags and gorges, forests that seem enchanted and vestiges of a past full of stories, told and untold. May is the most recommended month to visit this place, when spring dresses the ravines in an intense green thanks to the leafy foliage of the cork oaks and gall oaks that carpet the landscape, collecting the humidity that wafts in on the breezes that blow in from the Atlantic. However, it can be visited and enjoyed all year round. Zoom One of La Sauceda's stone cottages where visitors can stay. Diputacion de Malaga Among the bushes, ferns and moss-covered rocks the air is filled with the scent of ash and wild olive trees, an ideal setting for hikers, who can walk along the various trails and paths and immerse themselves in the magical atmosphere of this tiny village. La Sauceda is located at an altitude of about 1,000 metres, serving as the last lookout point in the western end of the Serrania de Ronda before dropping down to Campo de Gibraltar. The area is a haven for those who wish to enjoy the peace and quiet of nature, but it is also a place steeped in history, from the times of Andalusian banditry and smuggling to one of the darkest episodes of the Spanish Civil War. La Sauceda has witnessed important historical events. During Spain's civil war last century, this village had a larger population than Cortes de la Frontera and became a refuge for many families fleeing Franco's repression, especially from the province of Cadiz and the countryside around Jerez (around 1,000). Its rugged terrain was key to halting the advance of Franco's troops from the Strait of Gibraltar towards Seville and Madrid. However, when the Nationalists finally penetrated the area, firstly by bombing La Sauceda, then following through with a ground assault. It was a massacre. Today, near La Sauceda, in the Cortijo de El Marrufo, one of the largest mass graves in Spain was uncovered, the resting place of hundreds of people who were tortured and executed by Franco's troops. Around 30 of those bodies have been exhumed, identified and laid to rest in the small cemetery opposite the entrance to the hamlet. Zoom La Sauceda has restored stone cottages as lodgings with some basic services. Diputacion de Malaga Despite its turbulent past, today La Sauceda has been transformed into a place of reunion with nature. Since 1979 part of the old settlement has been rebuilt, offering visitors a place to spend the night in simple stone cottages that blend in with their surroundings. The cottages allow you to immerse yourself in the wildlife, but be aware that there are only a few hours of sunlight per day, requiring visitors to be prepared to disconnect fully from technology and urban conveniences (no electricity in the cottages, no wi-fi). How to get there Access to La Sauceda is best from Cortes de la Frontera. Drivers should head towards Puerto de Galiz and, on reaching the Venta there, take the C-3331 road towards Jimena de la Frontera until they reach La Sauceda with signage to the outdoor recreation centre. This is a route that, from the very first moment, immerses the visitor in a unique natural environment. J. Falcon San Sebastian Monday, 30 September 2024, 17:18 Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace WhatsApp Facebook X (antes Twitter) LinkedIn Telegram Threads Johnny Depp has been spending a few days in San Sebastian, in the north of Spain to present his second film as a director at the city's International Film Festival, but his most memorable appearance will be his visit to the paediatrics and oncology ward of the Hospital Donostia on Thursday 26 September. He went along as his character Captain Jack Sparrow, the main character in the Pirates of the Caribbean saga. SUR Sparrow used all of the jokes and character traits from the films with the children to the delight of young and old who met the 61-year-old actor. Clash of hands with pirate Jack Sparrow For one little boy, the memory of Depp asking him to fist-bump him repeatedly, "Do it again", will forever live in his mind. "Thank you, my friend," said Johnny Depp in Spanish. Some of the little ones were shy around the actor and some were amazed that he was there with them. Another even asked him where he had left the ship. A logical question when you see the captain of a pirate ship in a hospital. "I had to sell it to buy my missing tooth," replied the actor. It's not the first time that Depp has visited a children's ward in a hospital. He is known to have made several public appearances in hospitals in recent years, and it is believed that he has made many more without the cameras in front of him. Zoom SUR It is well-known that the only condition Depp set in order to play the Jack Sparrow was to have total freedom to build the character as he wished, so that in his natural performance it is difficult to distinguish between him and the actor. With continuous smiles and winks, he was clearly enjoying what will undoubtedly be his most memorable appearance in San Sebastian, a city whose Zinemaldia he has visited frequently in recent years. Alberto Flores Granada Monday, 30 September 2024, 18:02 Opciones para compartir Copiar enlace WhatsApp Facebook X (antes Twitter) LinkedIn Telegram Threads Spain is one of the most popular countries in the world for tourists. In fact, in 2023 it ranked second in the list of most-visited countries with a total of 85 million tourists, with only France ahead, with a total of 100 million tourists. However, culture, gastronomy, historic cities and beach destinations are not always to everyone's taste. This is reflected in the latest article by Zoe Strimpel, a journalist writing for British current affairs magazine The Spectator, who recently published a report with Spain in the spotlight that has caused great controversy. "Spain makes for and awful holiday" is the title of the article in which the journalist claims that it is "the worst country in western Europe". According to Zoe, although Spain may seem like an elegant, romantic and lovely country, the truth is that none of her visits have been great, to the point that "most were downright dreadful". Her article goes on to say, "I would go so far as to say that Spain is the worst country, not in the world, but in western Europe." "I can't think of anywhere in Europe where the food is so bad and yet so hyped". In her article, the Spectator journalist talks about some specific cities that she defines as "dire". This is the case of Magaluf, Marbella and Alicante, which she says are "some of the least appealing on the continent". But she also has bad words for what some consider to be the most elegant: "My trips to Seville, Granada and Cordoba as a child were marred by the stink of drains in every room we slept in." A "disgusting" policy As well as talking about many cities, Zoe also tells the British magazine's readers that politically "Spain is nasty", with a left and a right wing that are "loony" and "with too much power". And then there is the economy, which she claimed is "practically moribund" with "skyrocketing" unemployment. Although British cuisine is rated by many as one of the worst in the world, for Zoe, Spanish cuisine is pretty awful: "I cant think of anywhere in Europe even eastern Europe or the Balkans where the food is so bad and yet so hyped. Am I really to travel a thousand miles for poisonous mounds of oily carbs, those childish vats of paella, the greasy tapas?" she asked. Finally, the journalist also criticises Spanish literature, questioning whether, apart from Cervantes, "is there one?" And she does not miss the opportunity to close her article by talking about bullfighting: "This is not a tradition fit for the modern era, let alone western Europe. So no, you can take your tapas and your pineapple dating and your progressive rage I wont be troubling Spain with my tourism any time soon." Syracuse, N.Y. -- Seven vehicles crashed on Interstate 690 in Syracuse Sunday night after a driver slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting a disabled car, police said. Around 7:41 p.m., a 2022 Toyota was driving east on I-690 when the driver tried to avoid crashing into the disabled vehicle on the side of the highway, Kieran Coffey, a city police spokesperson, said Monday. The crash happened between the Interstate 81 interchange and Exit 14 (Teall Avenue). A 2021 BMW driving behind the Toyota collided with rear of the Toyota, Coffey said. Four other vehicles also crashed, he said. The disabled vehicle was not involved in the crash, Coffey said. Two people were taken to Upstate University Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, Coffey said. No arrests were made and no tickets were issued following the crash, he said. 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 Oasis is coming back to the U.S. and you can get tickets. Definitely, maybe. The reunited 90s rock band announced its 2025 North American tour dates Monday, including concerts in Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles and East Rutherford, N.J. Aint No Rest for the Wicked rockers Cage the Elephant will open for Oasis. Tickets go on sale to the general public Oct. 4 at 12 p.m. via Ticketmaster. Presale registration is available on Oasis website until Oct. 1 at 8 a.m. ET. Due to high demand, fans may want to check resellers like VividSeats, StubHub, TicketNetwork or SeatGeek for tickets. Oasis first announced its reunion last month, ending a 15-year feud between brothers Liam Gallagher and Noel Gallagher. The group will play more than a dozen concerts in the UK next summer, in addition to the North American shows and more tour dates expected to be announced on other continents. There has been no great revelatory moment that has ignited the reunion just the gradual realization that the time is right, the band said in a press release. Yet the timing must be a subconscious influence. This Thursday represents 30 years to the day since their electrifying debut album Definitely Maybe was released, while 2025 will see the equally essential second record (Whats the Story) Morning Glory? reach that same anniversary. Oasis was one of the biggest bands of the 1990s and defined the eras Britpop scene with songs like Wonderwall, Dont Look Back in Anger, Champagne Supernova, Stop Crying Your Heart Out, Live Forever, and Stand By Me. This year is the 30th anniversary of their debut album, Definitely Maybe, and next year will mark 30 years since (Whats the Story) Morning Glory? was released with the Grammy-nominated hit Wonderwall, becoming one of the best selling albums of all time with an estimated 22 million copies sold worldwide. America. Oasis is coming. You have one last chance to prove that you loved us all along, the band said in a statement. Oasis split in 2009 after a tumultuous decade that saw Liam and Noel Gallagher frequently clashing in public and founding members Paul Arthurs (guitar) and Paul McGuigan (bass) leaving in 2000. Liam Gallagher and several Oasis band members continued performing as Beady Eye, while Noel Gallagher formed his own project, Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds. No concerts are scheduled in New York state, but shows on Aug. 24 at Torontos Rogers Stadium and Aug. 31 at MetLife Stadium near NYC are both within driving distance of Syracuse. Oasis tour dates July 4 Cardiff, UK Principality Stadium (SOLD OUT) July 5 Cardiff, UK Principality Stadium (SOLD OUT) July 11 Manchester, UK Heaton Park (SOLD OUT) July 12 Manchester, UK Heaton Park (SOLD OUT) July 16 Manchester, UK Heaton Park (SOLD OUT) July 19 Manchester, UK Heaton Park (SOLD OUT) July 20 Manchester, UK Heaton Park (SOLD OUT) July 25 London, UK Wembley Stadium (SOLD OUT) July 26 London, UK Wembley Stadium July 30 London, UK Wembley Stadium Aug. 2 London, UK Wembley Stadium Aug. 3 London, UK Wembley Stadium Aug. 8 Edinburgh, UK Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium Aug. 9 Edinburgh, UK Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium Aug. 12 Edinburgh, UK Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium Aug. 16 Dublin, IE Croke Park Aug. 17 Dublin, IE Croke Park Aug. 24 Toronto, ON Rogers Stadium Aug. 28 Chicago, IL Soldier Field Aug. 31 East Rutherford, NJ MetLife Stadium Sept. 6 Los Angeles, CA Rose Bowl Stadium Sept. 12 Mexico City, MX Estadio GNP Seguros Sept. 27 London, UK Wembley Stadium Sept. 28 London, UK Wembley Stadium A benefit concert and the construction of 30 new homes are among the many events marking President Jimmy Carter s 100th birthday on Oct. 1. Considering the former presidents long legacy as a philanthropist, its no surprise that he wants any gift-giving to go to other people. The star-studded concert at Atlantas Fox Theatre earlier in September raised money to support the international programs of The Carter Center, which Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter founded in 1982 with the mission to wage peace, fight disease, and build hope. The concert airs on Georgia Public Broadcasting on Oct. 1. Meanwhile, thousands of Habitat for Humanity volunteers gathered Monday to build 30 homes in St. Paul, Minnesota, over five days, led by country music giants Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, who worked alongside the Carters for years, beginning with projects in Hurricane Katrinas disaster area. The Carters relationship with Habitat for Humanity stretches back 40 years, to when the couple went to New York City on a build in 1984. The image of a president of the United States sleeping in a church basement and physically helping rehab a tenement building captured the world, said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. The Carters went on to build homes annually for 35 years. Carter repeatedly said that working with the organization was a way he put his Christian faith into action, Reckford recalled. Cleora Taylor, a medical assistant, met the Carters in August 2018 when they helped build 41 new homes in South Bend and Mishawaka, Indiana. Years later, Taylor recalled how the former president greeted her by name and knew about her children, including her daughter, who was 11 at the time and has autism. It means so much to me that he knew me, said Taylor, speaking from her living room in the home The Carters helped her build, on a street named Carter Court. Hes just such a good, welcoming, humble guy. Im just glad to be a part of a legacy that hes leaving behind. Presidential historian Cassandra Newby-Alexander, professor of Virginia Black history and culture at Norfolk State University, said the strength of Carters legacy is in his morality. Unlike many who claim to care about the disadvantaged, Carter has shown that they and not power or money are his main concern, Newby-Alexander said. I think he has probably done more personally in his post-presidency than anyone else because hes not out there looking for attention, she said. Hes looking to change things. Hes not out there trying to make money for himself. Hes out there trying to live the life of a Christian a true Christian, one who cares about the poor and the homeless and the children. While leadership in philanthropy is often gauged by the size of donations or the heft of assets under management, Carters giving came in the form of his seemingly ceaseless personal effort. From building homes to monitoring elections and pursuing the elimination of a painful but neglected disease, Carter used his stature and presence to rally resources and attention to his causes. In so many ways, he set the standard for how presidents should be in their post-presidency, as someone who is going to continue to do good, someone whos going to continue to positively impact society, Newby-Alexander said. Carters legacy of giving back also includes working to eradicate Guinea worm, a commitment The Carter Center has made since 1986. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had identified the disease as a candidate for eradication after smallpox. Carter took up the mantle, vowing to outlive the last such parasite. To the demise of the worm is the catchphrase, according to Dr. Jordan Tappero, deputy director for neglected tropical diseases at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has given $263 million to The Carter Center since 2000, mostly to support its work on Guinea worm. The number of cases has fallen from 3.5 million when the center started to only 13 known cases in humans in 2022, and now focuses on closing the last mile of infections in several African countries. Even after Carter entered hospice in February 2023, Tappero said, Carter was still contacting his team. He still wants updates and wants to know whats going on because his mind will never stop until the last heartbeat, Tappero said, speaking in March 2023. Carter engaged directly with health ministries and heads of state to muster their commitment to public health interventions, said Steven M. Hilton of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. Since 1991, the foundation said it has committed nearly $50 million to The Carter Center for eradicating Guinea worm and to support its work treating and controlling trachoma, a disease that can cause irreversible blindness. Hilton considers Carter to be a remarkable man with a deeply compassionate heart. I feel fortunate to have witnessed firsthand the strength of his character, including his dedication to seeing enormous humanitarian challenges through to the end, Hilton said in a statement. Tappero draws inspiration from the Carters humility, energy and dedication. If we all had one-fifth of his energy, commitment and passion, he said, the world would be a much better place. Taylor, who lives near South Bend, Indiana, said she saw that commitment firsthand as Carter, 93 at the time, helped her put up a kitchen wall in her four-bedroom home. It was just so amazing that he still was out here, outside at that age, working with us, she said. It made us want to work harder. She still gets emotional thinking about that week, an incredible opportunity for her and her four kids. Not only did I get to meet Jimmy Carter and his wife and his children and hundreds of volunteers, other celebrities, I get to own a piece of the world. I get to own a piece of land, she said. I never thought that I would be able to do something like that, being a single mother. And for them to have to put so much into it, the volunteers and for Jimmy Carter to actually be here? It was amazing for people to care like he cares. Perry, Fla. The U.S. Southeast grappled Sunday with rising death tolls, a lack of vital supplies in isolated, flood-stricken areas and the widespread loss of homes and property while the devastating toll of Hurricane Helene became more clear and officials warned of a lengthy and difficult rebuild. A North Carolina County that includes the mountain city of Asheville reported 30 people killed due to the storm, pushing the overall death toll to at least 84 people across several states. Supplies were being airlifted to the region around Asheville. Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder pledged that she would have food and water into the city which is known for its arts, culture and natural attractions by Monday. We hear you. We need food and we need water, Pinder said on a Sunday call with reporters. My staff has been making every request possible to the state for support and weve been working with every single organization that has reached out. What I promise you is that we are very close. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast. Deaths also were reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. North Carolina governor predicts the death toll will rise as rescuers reach isolated areas North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper predicted the toll would rise as rescuers and other emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding. He implored residents in western North Carolina to avoid travel, both for their own safety and to keep roads clear for emergency vehicles. More than 50 search teams spread throughout the region in search of stranded people. One rescue effort involved saving 41 people north of Asheville. Another mission focused on saving a single infant. The teams found people through both 911 calls and social media messages, North Carolina National Guard Adjutant General Todd Hunt said. Hurricane Helene roared ashore late Thursday in Floridas Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph (225 kph) winds. A weakened Helene quickly moved through Georgia, then soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains that flooded creeks and rivers and strained dams. There have been hundreds of water rescues, including in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from a hospital rooftop Friday. Several million were still without power Sunday afternoon. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster asked for patience as crews dealt with widespread snapped power poles. We want people to remain calm. Help is on the way, it is just going to take time, McMaster told reporters outside the airport in Aiken County. Begging for help in North Carolina as that help is slow to arrive The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. One community, Spruce Pine, was doused with over 2 feet (61 centimeters) of rain from Tuesday through Saturday. Jessica Drye Turner in Texas had begged for someone to rescue her family members stranded on their rooftop in Asheville amid rising floodwaters. They are watching 18-wheelers and cars floating by, Turner wrote in an urgent Facebook post on Friday. But in a follow-up message Saturday, Turner said help had not arrived in time to save her parents, both in their 70s, and her 6-year-old nephew. The roof collapsed and the three drowned. I cannot convey in words the sorrow, heartbreak and devastation my sisters and I are going through, she wrote. Western North Carolina was isolated by landslides and flooding. The state was sending water supplies and other items toward Buncombe County and Asheville, but mudslides blocking Interstate 40 and other highways prevented supplies from making it. The countys own water supplies were on the other side of the Swannanoa River, away from where most of the 270,000 people in Buncombe County live, officials said. Law enforcement was making plans to send officers to places that still had water, food or gas because of reports of arguments and threats of violence, the sheriff said. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said the federal disaster agency was actively engaged across six states, meeting the requests of governors and state-level responders. She noted the Appalachian regions across North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia presented particular concerns. Criswell toured south Georgia on Sunday and planned to be in North Carolina on Monday. Its still very much an active search and rescue mission in western North Carolina, Criswell said. And we know that theres many communities that are cut off just because of the geography of the mountains, where damage to roads and bridges have cut off certain areas. President Joe Biden on Saturday pledged federal government help for Helenes overwhelming devastation. He also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina, making federal funding available for affected individuals. Storm-battered Florida digs out, residents gather for church In Floridas Big Bend, some lost nearly everything they own. With sanctuaries still darkened as of Sunday morning, some churches canceled regular services while others like Faith Baptist Church in Perry opted to worship outside. Standing water and tree debris still covers the grounds of Faith Baptist Church. The church called on parishioners to come pray for our community in a message posted to the congregations Facebook page. We have power. We dont have electricity, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church parishioner Marie Ruttinger said. Our God has power. Thats for sure. In Atlanta, 11.12 inches (28.24 centimeters) of rain fell over 48 hours, the most the city has seen over two days since record keeping began in 1878. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday that it looked like a bomb went off after viewing splintered homes and debris-covered highways from the air. In eastern Georgia near the border with South Carolina, officials notified Augusta residents Sunday morning that water service would be shut off for 24 to 48 hours in the city and surrounding Richmond County. A news release said trash and debris from the storm blocked our ability to pump water. Officials were distributing bottled water. With at least 25 killed in South Carolina, Helene was the deadliest tropical cyclone for the state since Hurricane Hugo made landfall north of Charleston in 1989, killing 35 people. Moodys Analytics said it expects $15 billion to $26 billion in property damage. Climate change has exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones sometimes within hours. New tropical depression in Atlantic could become strong hurricane, forecasters say A new tropical depression in the eastern Atlantic Ocean could become a formidable hurricane later this week, the National Hurricane Center said Sunday. The depression had sustained 35 mph (55kph) winds and was located about 585 miles (945 kilometers) west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands, the center said. It was moving west at 9 mph (15 kph) and could become a hurricane by Wednesday. In the northern Atlantic, Tropical Storm Isaac, with 70 mph (110 kph) top sustained winds, was expected to weaken to a subtropical system about 565 miles (910 kilometers) of the Azores. Tropical Storm Joyce also was weakening in the central Atlantic with top winds of 40 mph (65 kph). SIGN UP FOR THE DAILY JWR UPDATE. IT'S FREE. (AND NO SPAM!) Just click here. I believe Kamala Harris. She told a CNN town hall in 2019, There's no question. I'm in favor of banning fracking. But she said in her September 10 ABC News debate against President Donald J. Trump: I will not ban fracking. That second comment might be the only campaign promise she ever keeps. How could these statements both be true? Kamala 1.0 can do as planned while Kamala 2.0 keeps her word. If voters buy Kamala's act, President Harris could cripple fracking, if not stop it altogether, as she pledged in 2019. And she can do so without banning fracking, as she promised this month. Kamala could leave America's oil and gas industry perfectly free to submit Applications for Permits to Drill. But these APDs could stretch from 30 to 100 pages now to, say, 300 pages under Harris-Walz. Kamala could hike today's $12,515 filing fee per APD to $50,000 nearly quadruple. Why not? She could finance her free giveaways by making frackers pay their fair share to file paperwork. What's the rush? Kamala might ask. According to the Government Accountability Office, For APDs BLM received from May 2016 through June 2019, overall review times decreased from 196 days to 94 days down 52%, mainly under Trump. But with public health, safety, and Earth's delicate climate at stake, why not spend at least six months with each application just in case? The Bureau of Land Management scrutinizes APDs on federal soil. But BLM might miss something. So, each application could traverse other agencies and even Cabinet departments, to double check and confirm that everything is hunky-dory. America cannot be too careful. The Justice Department could certify that no fracker ever has faced a federal criminal indictment, conviction, or U.S. civil complaint. The Labor Department could verify that no fracking company's corporate officers or board members ever violated a federal labor regulation, angered a union boss, overlooked a worker, or forgot to buy flowers on National Secretary Day. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission could ensure that every driller's workforce lacked racial bias and perfectly reflected America's precise demographic profile, per the Census Bureau. If, for instance, Frack-O-Rama, Inc.'s payroll is not 58.4% white, 19.5% Hispanic, 13.7% black, 6.4% of Asian descent, 1.3% American Indian, and 0.3% Native Hawaiian, then this racist enterprise better start explaining Macht Schnell! After this initial scrutiny, frackers with dreams, ambitions, and aspirations better prepare for deeper probes: Environmental impact reports are inescapable: Applicants must prove that they love Mother Nature. Next, Kamala could require that explorers show that they would not disturb the shards of pottery or remains of, say, Nevada's Te-Moak and Winnemucca tribesmen. Likewise the bones of Louisiana's deceased slaves should remain untouched. And how awful if frack, baby, frack pounded dinosaur fossils into dust. Scholars at the Smithsonian museums of the American Indian, African American History, and Natural History could inspect every application and attest that no such horrors would unfold. Despite such reassurances, Frack-O-Rama, Inc. still could be told: The Harris-Walz Administration has determined that your APD requires further study. Please complete, swear, and notarize these 12 new forms, under penalty of perjury. Don't call us. We'll call you. Frackers eventually would learn that persistence is futile. This game-changing technology would run out of steam. Thus, Kamala 1.0 can keep her old commitment to the Center-Left, and Kamala 2.0 can honor her new vows to the Center-Right. This scenario could transpire just as America needs more fossil fuel especially natural gas to generate the electricity to power millions of Kamala-mandated cars and trucks and the square miles of server farms that cryptocurrency, blockchain, and artificial intelligence require to blossom. Before any of this unfolds, however, voters (especially those in frack-friendly Pennsylvania) should ponder what Power the Future's Larry Behrens asked in The Hill: " Vice President Kamala Harris lying about her position on fracking in 2019, or is her campaign lying now?" 2024 Deroy Murdock Calling All Food, Drink & Ingredients Innovators - Join Ireland's Leading Investment Accelerator Programme Food Works, Irelands leading investment accelerator for high-potential food and drink companies, launches recruitment drive for 2025 programme @foodworksirl | #FoodWorks Calling All Food, Drink & Ingredients Innovators - Join Ireland's Leading Investment Accelerator Programme Are you a food or beverage entrepreneur with a vision to disrupt the industry? Do you have a product, food technology solution or ingredient that has the potential to make a global impact? Food Works, Irelands leading accelerator programme for high-potential food and drink companies, is now accepting applications for its 2025 cohort. Combining the resources of Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland and Teagasc, Food Works has been a fundamental driver of innovation in the food sector in the last decade. Food Works helps to drive scale and enables participants to become investor-ready in order to achieve success in domestic and international markets. The ten-month programme offers entrepreneurs the unique opportunity to access expert mentorship and development of an investor ready business plan, connect with potential investors and buyers as well as gain valuable marketing and production insights. Successful applicants in 2023 included Chimac, Reso Health Ltd, Blynk Drinks, Ireland West Distillery - Shaker & Co. Brand, ELEMENT Irish Whiskey, Fire&5th, Mor Taste, SomaTech Limited and FemFuelz- all of whom will complete the programme in the coming months. Speaking about the benefits of the programme, Mary Maguire from Fire&5th said; The Food Works programme has come along at an absolutely critical time in our business. The structure of the programme around the key elements of financial planning, route to market, and marketing strategy has been crucial and has enabled us to articulate a clear and compelling business plan for the future. Kylie ODonoghue from FemFuelz said; Food Works has been an incredible opportunity for us because sometimes when you're in the business its very hard to focus on the business itself. The programme forces you to think outside the box and do all of things you know you should be doing when you are stuck in the day to day. I couldnt recommend it enough for start-ups or anyone who is in business for a couple of years to focus on what you really need to. Food Works was established in 2012 and since then has welcomed over 120 companies through the programme, including hugely successful food and drink brands such as Nobo, Gra Chocolates, Zingibeer, Valentia Island Vermouth and Lismore Food Company, to name just a few. Since the programme began, Enterprise Ireland has invested over 6.67 million in Food Works companies including 21 High-Potential Start-Up (HPSU) and 23 PSSF/CSF investments. Food Works 2025 Food Works runs annually from February to November. Participating start-ups take part in workshops with national and international industry experts across various disciplines such as strategy, finance, manufacturing and marketing. Successful applicants are supported to get investor-ready by developing a comprehensive business plan focussed on scaling internationally. They also receive customised support from business advisors, facilitated peer-to-peer learning and may have the opportunity to receive feasibility grant funding of up to 30,000. The three state agencies, Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland and Teagasc, work jointly to deliver the Food Works programme. Bord Bia provides strategic insight and support, assisting participating companies in their understanding of consumers, competitors, trends, opportunities and both domestic and international markets. provides strategic insight and support, assisting participating companies in their understanding of consumers, competitors, trends, opportunities and both domestic and international markets. Enterprise Ireland focuses on helping entrepreneurs to start and grow their business internationally. It works collaboratively with the High Potential Start-Ups (HPSUs) taking part in Food Works to develop a robust funding strategy to drive growth and supports them to prepare an investor ready business plan. focuses on helping entrepreneurs to start and grow their business internationally. It works collaboratively with the High Potential Start-Ups (HPSUs) taking part in Food Works to develop a robust funding strategy to drive growth and supports them to prepare an investor ready business plan. Teagasc provides technical support to companies in the development of high-quality, sustainable products, processes and packaging solutions. State-of-the-art food centres in Dublin and Cork provide participants with access to facilities, equipment, and specialist expertise. The closing date for applications for the 2025 programme is 29th November 2024. Full details and an application form are available at www.foodworksireland.ie G13BB BHPian Join Date: Jul 2024 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 65 Thanked: 324 Times View My Garage Mahindra Scorpio N Review | My BlackHawk This is probably the most important post for me yet! This is the story of me finally getting my hands on a brand new car after dreaming for about 25+ years and slogging in the IT industry for 4+ years. This is going to be a long post, so please excuse me if it is boring, but I wanted to make this post as detailed as possible. Also, you can directly scroll to the required segment if any of the sections is uninteresting. Background I have been into cars for as long back as I can remember. When I was young, we did not have a car in our family, and neither was my dad an enthusiast, so that is not the root. There was no TV / Social media back then, so that is not the root either. I don't know how, but even before my brain could process anything else, I used to get fascinated whenever I saw a car on the road. At an age when I couldn't even pronounce my own name properly, I used to recognise every damn car on the road. My relatives were blown away and every time someone visited us, they would take me out on the road and ask me to tell the names of the cars visible (I was such a great source of entertainment for them back then lol) Now coming to the car-buying journey, I completed my Engineering in 2020, but as you all know, it was the year of the pandemic. Even though I had three job offers through the college placement, none of them got converted into actual jobs due to the uncertainty caused by COVID-19. After going through the Applying-Interviewing-Rejection cycle for a couple of months, I finally got a job. Even though the job role was good, the pay was peanuts! Nonetheless, I accepted the offer as it was not easy to find a job amidst a pandemic. Even with whatever little salary I was getting, I started saving on a monthly basis from day 1 with just one aim, that is to buy my own car. After almost two years, in April 2022, I got this urge to own the OG Honda Civic, and I went ahead and bought a 2010 Honda Civic (more on it I bought a OnePlus worth 26k with my 1st salary, and even after 3.5 years, I use the same phone with a cracked screen and a broken back cover. I never felt the need to upgrade as buying a new car was more important for me. (Also for me, a phone is just an appliance that is used for calling and some social media, so why fix something if it ain't broke?) So, month after month, I just kept saving and saving with just one motto. Fast-forward to August 2024, after switching to a job with good pay and enough savings for the downpayment, I finally made up my mind to own a brand-new car. Shortlisting The selection process was pretty straightforward. I wanted a safe and fairly reliable car that was fun to drive. We have the 1st Gen Swift at home for city runs (hence the username G13BB) and a 5th gen Honda City ZX MT for corner craving (both belonging to my dad, City is dad's daily driver, Swift is mine). So, I thought of getting an SUV. I wanted an SUV that was practical enough, comfortable and capable of doing long journeys, so Jimny and Thar were out. With a 30-35 lakhs budget (OTR), I had options such as the XUV700, Scorpio N, Safari, Harrier and the Jeep Compass. I never bothered to even check out the Tata twins as their QC and ASS are still a hit or a miss, and the fact that the Tata Nano Twist MT, which we owned from 2014-2021 was not very reliable did not help either. So the Safari and the Harrier were eliminated. So I test drive the XUV700, Scorpio N and the Compass (All diesel). The Compass impressed me the most for obvious reasons: the gearbox was amazing, the steering, even though heavy, was very precise, and the car felt very solid and the most premium out of the 3. But when I realised the cost difference, my brain said, "Welcome back to reality" and I also thought, why not a true blue SUV with 4WD creds? Also, the family suggested a 7-seater, keeping in mind the growing size of our family. Hence the Scorpio N Z8L D MT 4XPLORE was finalised! Safari/Harrier Pros: - Great looks, especially the dark edition with 19 inch alloys! - Loaded with features - Solid build quality - Good ride and handling balance for its size Cons: - Inconsistent QC - ASS is still a hit or a miss - The dashboard layout is a little overdone and not to my liking - Horn pad on the steering wheel and touch controls for AC are a let down - Sole diesel engine on offer which is not the most powerful or refined XUV700 Pros: - Amazing engine and gearbox options with class leading power figures - Solid build quality - Great ride and handling balance Cons: - Non-sliding second row leaves the third row with very little space which literally makes it a 5 seater - Looks can be subjective, but I find the XUV design a little outdated - Glaring feature omissions such as manual dimming IRVM (The car can drive itself, but not dim it's mirror lol) - AWD not available with a manual or a petrol engine Compass Pros: - I still love the looks, doesn't look outdated to me - Gets all the features you would ever need - Solid build quality and the materials feel the most premium of the lot - Great handling, almost sedan like! Cons: - No 4X4 available with a manual gearbox - Engine is far from being refined - Not the most comfortable at low speeds - Severely overpriced, even after the discounts - No cruise control on a car which costs almost 35L OTR Bengaluru Scorpio N Pros: - Wide range of engine and gearbox options - Rugged! Only true blue SUV in my budget - Amazing off-road hardware and software - Ladder frame construction - Surprisingly easy to drive for what is a BOF SUV - Has all the features you would ever need - Solid build quality Cons: - The rear end could've been designed better (Gives me Xylo vibes) - All though the ride and handling balance is very good by SUV standards, at low speeds, there is a lot of jiggle and there is no escaping the fact that it is BOF - Third row is very cramped and doesn't get AC vents or any sort of charging options - Even when the third row is not in use, it tumbles and sits on the boot eating into the boot space. Not the most practical layout as the boot space is limited. - Steering is feather light which is a boon in traffic, but doesn't go well with the size and character of the Scorpio, should've had more heft - Gearbox is clunky and not the smoothest shifting However, I felt the pros outweigh the cons for the Scorpio N and considering the fact that BOF SUVs are a dying breed, I thought it was now or never opportunity for me to own and experience one. Coupled with family's and friend's approval, I finalized the Scorpio N. Hi fellow BHPians!This is probably the most important post for me yet! This is the story of me finally getting my hands on a brand new car after dreaming for about 25+ years and slogging in the IT industry for 4+ years. This is going to be a long post, so please excuse me if it is boring, but I wanted to make this post as detailed as possible. Also, you can directly scroll to the required segment if any of the sections is uninteresting.I have been into cars for as long back as I can remember. When I was young, we did not have a car in our family, and neither was my dad an enthusiast, so that is not the root. There was no TV / Social media back then, so that is not the root either. I don't know how, but even before my brain could process anything else, I used to get fascinated whenever I saw a car on the road. At an age when I couldn't even pronounce my own name properly, I used to recognise every damn car on the road. My relatives were blown away and every time someone visited us, they would take me out on the road and ask me to tell the names of the cars visible (I was such a great source of entertainment for them back then lol)Now coming to the car-buying journey, I completed my Engineering in 2020, but as you all know, it was the year of the pandemic. Even though I had three job offers through the college placement, none of them got converted into actual jobs due to the uncertainty caused by COVID-19. After going through the Applying-Interviewing-Rejection cycle for a couple of months, I finally got a job. Even though the job role was good, the pay was peanuts! Nonetheless, I accepted the offer as it was not easy to find a job amidst a pandemic. Even with whatever little salary I was getting, I started saving on a monthly basis from day 1 with just one aim, that is to buy my own car.After almost two years, in April 2022, I got this urge to own the OG Honda Civic, and I went ahead and bought a 2010 Honda Civic (more on it here (Pre-Worshipped 2010 Honda Civic V MT Review) After 1 year of redlining the VTEC, in May 2023, I had to sell the car (reason mentioned in the same review). Whatever money I got after selling the Civic, I saved and then continued saving.I bought a OnePlus worth 26k with my 1st salary, and even after 3.5 years, I use the same phone with a cracked screen and a broken back cover. I never felt the need to upgrade as buying a new car was more important for me. (Also for me, a phone is just an appliance that is used for calling and some social media, so why fix something if it ain't broke?) So, month after month, I just kept saving and saving with just one motto. Fast-forward to August 2024, after switching to a job with good pay and enough savings for the downpayment, I finally made up my mind to own a brand-new car.The selection process was pretty straightforward. I wanted a safe and fairly reliable car that was fun to drive. We have the 1st Gen Swift at home for city runs (hence the username G13BB) and a 5th gen Honda City ZX MT for corner craving (both belonging to my dad, City is dad's daily driver, Swift is mine). So, I thought of getting an SUV. I wanted an SUV that was practical enough, comfortable and capable of doing long journeys, so Jimny and Thar were out.With a 30-35 lakhs budget (OTR), I had options such as the XUV700, Scorpio N, Safari, Harrier and the Jeep Compass. I never bothered to even check out the Tata twins as their QC and ASS are still a hit or a miss, and the fact that the Tata Nano Twist MT, which we owned from 2014-2021 was not very reliable did not help either. So the Safari and the Harrier were eliminated.So I test drive the XUV700, Scorpio N and the Compass (All diesel). The Compass impressed me the most for obvious reasons: the gearbox was amazing, the steering, even though heavy, was very precise, and the car felt very solid and the most premium out of the 3. But when I realised the cost difference, my brain said, "Welcome back to reality" and I also thought, why not a true blue SUV with 4WD creds? Also, the family suggested a 7-seater, keeping in mind the growing size of our family. Hence the Scorpio N Z8L D MT 4XPLORE was finalised!Pros:- Great looks, especially the dark edition with 19 inch alloys!- Loaded with features- Solid build quality- Good ride and handling balance for its sizeCons:- Inconsistent QC- ASS is still a hit or a miss- The dashboard layout is a little overdone and not to my liking- Horn pad on the steering wheel and touch controls for AC are a let down- Sole diesel engine on offer which is not the most powerful or refinedPros:- Amazing engine and gearbox options with class leading power figures- Solid build quality- Great ride and handling balanceCons:- Non-sliding second row leaves the third row with very little space which literally makes it a 5 seater- Looks can be subjective, but I find the XUV design a little outdated- Glaring feature omissions such as manual dimming IRVM (The car can drive itself, but not dim it's mirror lol)- AWD not available with a manual or a petrol enginePros:- I still love the looks, doesn't look outdated to me- Gets all the features you would ever need- Solid build quality and the materials feel the most premium of the lot- Great handling, almost sedan like!Cons:- No 4X4 available with a manual gearbox- Engine is far from being refined- Not the most comfortable at low speeds- Severely overpriced, even after the discounts- No cruise control on a car which costs almost 35L OTR BengaluruPros:- Wide range of engine and gearbox options- Rugged! Only true blue SUV in my budget- Amazing off-road hardware and software- Ladder frame construction- Surprisingly easy to drive for what is a BOF SUV- Has all the features you would ever need- Solid build qualityCons:- The rear end could've been designed better (Gives me Xylo vibes)- All though the ride and handling balance is very good by SUV standards, at low speeds, there is a lot of jiggle and there is no escaping the fact that it is BOF- Third row is very cramped and doesn't get AC vents or any sort of charging options- Even when the third row is not in use, it tumbles and sits on the boot eating into the boot space. Not the most practical layout as the boot space is limited.- Steering is feather light which is a boon in traffic, but doesn't go well with the size and character of the Scorpio, should've had more heft- Gearbox is clunky and not the smoothest shiftingHowever, I felt the pros outweigh the cons for the Scorpio N and considering the fact that BOF SUVs are a dying breed, I thought it was now or never opportunity for me to own and experience one. Coupled with family's and friend's approval, I finalized the Scorpio N. Last edited by G13BB : 29th September 2024 at 18:04 . Dr.AD Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Bangalore/Pune Posts: 1,895 Thanked: 20,369 Times Re: Photologue from Kashmir Srinagar and Around: We visited several interesting places in and around Srinagar city. That included many gardens (the famous "mogul gardens"), the Shri Shankaracharya Temple, and a couple of old forts and palaces around the city. While I did not find any specially appealing photographic composition in those well-manicured gardens, I found some solo flower shots more appealing, and I have included a few of those below. Shri Sankaracharya Temple was a great place to start our sightseeing trip in the early hours of the day! We loved climbing up (it has around 250 steps to climb) the hill full of lush green trees, the absolutely serene and spiritual ambiance at the top, and the great views of the lake from all around the top of the temple. It is a wonderful place. Unfortunately, it was very hazy and foggy in that early hours, and the photographs from there - especially the telephoto images of the distant views - came out all hazy. Although the views were very scenic to the eyes, the photos do not do justice to that and I decided not to include any of those photos here. Out of the other places we visited, the two places that we liked the most are "Pari Mahal" - a beautiful ancient palace located on the hills with lovely gardens all around and breathtaking views of the lake and the city from the many terraces of the Mahal - and a hilltop fort called "Hari Parbat Fort". Hari Parbat is a proper hill fort and requires a good amount of climbing to reach the top. But is has nicely built steps to climb, and the climb was fun! This fort is under army control, and is maintained immaculately well by the army! Just like Pari Mahal, this Hari Parbat fort also offers breathtaking 360 degree views of the city and the lake areas. Both these places overlook different parts of the city and have contrasting views from the top - while Pari Mahal shows the lush green resorts and golf courses and the plush areas of the city, Hari Parbat shows the views of the congested old city and tightly packed houses. Nevertheless, both views are magnificent! Pari Mahal, one of the nice places we visited around Srinagar: Views from one of the terraces of Pari Mahal: You can see the golf course, the resorts, and the lake from here: Pari Mahal, like most other places in Srinagar, has a well manicured and immaculately maintained garden around it, full of colorful roses and other flowers. As I said, somehow I never felt any garden composition interesting for photography, but found these solo flower shots (especially roses) quite interesting. One of the thousands of beautiful roses we saw in Kashmir: Colorful Dahlia: Red Rose: And an orangish one: Bright pink: Finally, elegant white: Lunch at "Vivanta Dal View": For lunch, we visited the magnificent Taj Vivanta, Dal View hotel. This hotel is famous for breathtaking lake views and a restaurant on the lakeside. And it did not disappoint us. The place, the ambiance, the location, the views, the service, and above all the food, everything was absolutely fantastic! This place was so good that I felt stupid for not choosing this place for stay. Nevertheless, the lunch was a great experience too. This lakeside restaurant would have been ideal for a dinner over sunset views, but somehow we ended up going there for lunch and enjoyed that anyway. Our table with a lake view: Table in the shape of a shikara, with breathtaking views: We got delicious authentic Kashmiri vegetarian food (yes, we are vegetarians!) here at Vivanta Dal View. The chef came to talk to us and made local dishes otherwise not in the menu on our request. The entire food and service experience was absolutely top notch! Nadru Yakhni (lotus stems in a white gravy), Haak Saag (Kashmiri spinach), and Kashmiri Pulao (full of walnuts, raisins and chunks of apple, along with other spices), made to perfection for our lunch: After that sumptuous and relaxed lunch at Vivanta Dal View, where we also spent some time just enjoying the views and the breeze from the open air lakeside location, we continued exploring other places and went to Nishat Garden, one of the most famous mogul gardens in Srinagar. Nishat Garden was thriving with people and activities in that evening hour, and once again, instead of the views of the manicured gardens, I found the street views there more interesting. People having a good time at Nishat Garden in the evening: Dal Lake views in front of Nishat Garden: Hari Parbat Fort: This is a fort at the top of a hill, probably the highest point around the city, and is currently under army control. Army has maintained it immaculately well and has built nice steps to climb atop, with a couple of benches along the way for mid-climb rest. The fort offers breathtaking views from the top. You need a government issued ID card, which is checked by the army personnel, and after making the appropriate entries, they allow you permission to enter and climb up. Climbing up the stairs, with great aerial views all along, and then walking around atop the fort was a fantastic experience! We spent a good two hours here overall, and loved it. Top view of the fort, after climbing up: Views from the side of the fort: Views of the city and the lakes, from the fort (do not miss the cricket ground there, where a local cricket match was going on -which we could see from close later from another location): The crowded and congested old city areas on the other side of the fort: Finally, found this kite flying over the hazy and congested city background an interesting composition that I could not resist sharing here: We visited several interesting places in and around Srinagar city. That included many gardens (the famous "mogul gardens"), the Shri Shankaracharya Temple, and a couple of old forts and palaces around the city. While I did not find any specially appealing photographic composition in those well-manicured gardens, I found some solo flower shots more appealing, and I have included a few of those below.Shri Sankaracharya Temple was a great place to start our sightseeing trip in the early hours of the day! We loved climbing up (it has around 250 steps to climb) the hill full of lush green trees, the absolutely serene and spiritual ambiance at the top, and the great views of the lake from all around the top of the temple. It is a wonderful place. Unfortunately, it was very hazy and foggy in that early hours, and the photographs from there - especially the telephoto images of the distant views - came out all hazy. Although the views were very scenic to the eyes, the photos do not do justice to that and I decided not to include any of those photos here.Out of the other places we visited, the two places that we liked the most are "Pari Mahal" - a beautiful ancient palace located on the hills with lovely gardens all around and breathtaking views of the lake and the city from the many terraces of the Mahal - and a hilltop fort called "Hari Parbat Fort". Hari Parbat is a proper hill fort and requires a good amount of climbing to reach the top. But is has nicely built steps to climb, and the climb was fun! This fort is under army control, and is maintained immaculately well by the army! Just like Pari Mahal, this Hari Parbat fort also offers breathtaking 360 degree views of the city and the lake areas. Both these places overlook different parts of the city and have contrasting views from the top - while Pari Mahal shows the lush green resorts and golf courses and the plush areas of the city, Hari Parbat shows the views of the congested old city and tightly packed houses. Nevertheless, both views are magnificent!Pari Mahal, one of the nice places we visited around Srinagar:Views from one of the terraces of Pari Mahal:You can see the golf course, the resorts, and the lake from here:Pari Mahal, like most other places in Srinagar, has a well manicured and immaculately maintained garden around it, full of colorful roses and other flowers. As I said, somehow I never felt any garden composition interesting for photography, but found these solo flower shots (especially roses) quite interesting.One of the thousands of beautiful roses we saw in Kashmir:Colorful Dahlia:Red Rose:And an orangish one:Bright pink:Finally, elegant white:For lunch, we visited the magnificent Taj Vivanta, Dal View hotel. This hotel is famous for breathtaking lake views and a restaurant on the lakeside. And it did not disappoint us. The place, the ambiance, the location, the views, the service, and above all the food, everything was absolutely fantastic! This place was so good that I felt stupid for not choosing this place for stay. Nevertheless, the lunch was a great experience too. This lakeside restaurant would have been ideal for a dinner over sunset views, but somehow we ended up going there for lunch and enjoyed that anyway.Our table with a lake view:Table in the shape of a shikara, with breathtaking views:We got delicious authentic Kashmiri vegetarian food (yes, we are vegetarians!) here at Vivanta Dal View. The chef came to talk to us and made local dishes otherwise not in the menu on our request. The entire food and service experience was absolutely top notch!(lotus stems in a white gravy),(Kashmiri spinach), and Kashmiri Pulao (full of walnuts, raisins and chunks of apple, along with other spices), made to perfection for our lunch:After that sumptuous and relaxed lunch at Vivanta Dal View, where we also spent some time just enjoying the views and the breeze from the open air lakeside location, we continued exploring other places and went to Nishat Garden, one of the most famous mogul gardens in Srinagar.Nishat Garden was thriving with people and activities in that evening hour, and once again, instead of the views of the manicured gardens, I found the street views there more interesting.People having a good time at Nishat Garden in the evening:Dal Lake views in front of Nishat Garden:This is a fort at the top of a hill, probably the highest point around the city, and is currently under army control. Army has maintained it immaculately well and has built nice steps to climb atop, with a couple of benches along the way for mid-climb rest. The fort offers breathtaking views from the top. You need a government issued ID card, which is checked by the army personnel, and after making the appropriate entries, they allow you permission to enter and climb up. Climbing up the stairs, with great aerial views all along, and then walking around atop the fort was a fantastic experience! We spent a good two hours here overall, and loved it.Top view of the fort, after climbing up:Views from the side of the fort:Views of the city and the lakes, from the fort (do not miss the cricket ground there, where a local cricket match was going on -which we could see from close later from another location):The crowded and congested old city areas on the other side of the fort:Finally, found this kite flying over the hazy and congested city background an interesting composition that I could not resist sharing here: Last edited by Dr.AD : 29th September 2024 at 23:19 . Louis Moinet revives the legendary Valjoux 88 with its Speed of Sound chronograph, blending celebrated mechanics with rare meteorite fragments and a distinctive telemeter scale In the world of complicated watchmaking, few movements have earned the kind of reverence that the Valjoux 88 commands. This iconic calibre, first introduced in the late 1940s, powered some of the most prestigious chronographs of its time. Now, as part of its 20th anniversary celebrations, Les Ateliers Louis Moinet has rekindled this classic movement in its latest creation, the Speed of Sound. Limited to just 20 pieces, this new release not only upholds the Louis Moinet legacy of chronograph excellence, but also incorporates the brands recurring celestial elements in the form of rare meteorite fragments. Its rarely seen telemeter scale, designed to measure the speed of sound, lends the watch its dramatic name. A Legacy of Chronographs For watch enthusiasts, the name Louis Moinet is synonymous with the chronograph. The pioneering watchmaker is widely credited with inventing the worlds first chronograph, the Compteur de Tierces, completed in 1816. This high-frequency monopusher was a marvel of its time, capable of measuring intervals down to 1/60th of a second. Under the leadership of Jean-Marie Schaller, the modern-day Louis Moinet brand continues to honour this legacy, consistently producing chronographs that are as technically impressive as they are visually striking. Until now, the brand has primarily used proprietary movements developed in collaboration with Concepto or relied on the Valjoux 7750 and its derivatives. But with Speed of Sound, the Saint-Blaise watchmaker has resurrected one of the most celebrated chronograph calibres of the mid-20th century: the Valjoux 88. Speed Of Sound Louis Moinet Valjoux 88: A Revered Calibre Developed in the 1940s as an evolution of the Valjoux 72, the Valjoux 88 introduced a triple calendar and moonphase complication to an already impressive manual-winding, column-wheel chronograph. During its heyday, the Valjoux 88 was the preferred movement for brands like Rolex, Breitling and Universal Geneve, powering some of their most iconic timepieces. Now, Les Ateliers Louis Moinet has breathed new life into this iconic movement, showcasing it in Speed of Sound and giving it modern upgrades that preserve its timeless appeal while infusing it with a contemporary twist. Moonphase Modernisation At the heart of Speed of Sounds reinterpretation of the Valjoux 88 is its moonphase display, a feature completely redesigned by the Louis Moinet team. The moonphase now appears on a large, slightly domed disc adorned with a hand-drawn lunar motif, enhanced with luminescent paint that brings the moon to life, glowing softly in the dark with an ethereal light. What sets this moonphase apart is the inclusion of a fragment of the lunar meteorite Dhofar 457, sourced from Oman. This rare piece of lunar history is embedded in the disc and a full moon is indicated when the meteorite fragment aligns with the markers at 3 and 9 oclock. Speed Of Sound Louis Moinet The LM team also chose to streamline the dial by removing the traditional calendar display and 12-hour chronograph counter. This refinement gives the watch a more modern aesthetic while preserving the movements historic integrity. Sight and Sound It is not just the reimagined moonphase that makes this chronograph stand out: It also features a telemeter scale around its dial periphery, a graduation rarely seen on modern watches. Historically used in military timepieces, the telemeter allows the wearer to measure the distance between an event seen and heard, such as a lightning bolt followed by thunder, or the flash of gunfire followed by artillery. Using the known speed of sound 343 meters per second (1,235 kilometres per hour)the telemeter scale converts the time between visual and auditory cues into a precise distance. Rich in Detail Just inside the telemeter, a circular-finished, red gold-treated chronograph seconds scale elegantly encircles the dial, its warm copper tones harmonising with the gilded borders that outline the small seconds, chronograph minutes and moonphase indications. Adding another celestial touch, Aletai meteorite is used to craft the dials of the small seconds and the 30-minute chronograph counter. This meteorite, which began as a massive object that broke apart upon entering Earths atmosphere, was first discovered in China in 1898. Speed Of Sound Louis Moinet Serving as a velvety backdrop to this ensemble is the deep black dial, featuring a swirling guilloche motif meticulously engine-turned by artisan Yann von Kaenel on a traditional rose engine. The intricate pattern interacts with light, flashing brightly at times and retreating into subtle shadows, giving the dial a dynamic, almost mystical quality. Completing the dial are lume-filled, faceted and skeletonised hour and minute hands, while the rhodium-treated applied numerals in a modern typeface stand out in relief, offering a sharp contrast against the textured background. Case and Craftsmanship The Grade 5 titanium case, featuring a smart combination of brushed and polished finishes, houses the movement and dial. At 40.7mm, its compact size and lightweight construction ensure a comfortable fit on the wrist. The mushroom pushers add a vintage touch, while the broad, hollowed lugs lend a more contemporary feel. The case is paired with a black alligator leather strap that is a neat match for the dial. Turning the watch over, the transparent display back reveals the Valjoux 88 in all its glory. The gilded bridges, adorned with delicate floral scroll motifs, are enhanced by expert finishing techniques such as straight-graining, circular graining, polished screws and polished bevels. Crowning this impressive view is the large, slow-beating 2.5 Hz balance wheel. A single mainspring powers the movement, providing a 40-hour power reserve. Speed Of Sound Louis Moinet Cosmic Pearl In describing the vision behind Speed of Sound, Louis Moinet owner and creative director Jean-Marie Schaller has highlighted the ambitious goal of reviving the iconic Valjoux 88 calibre and transforming it into a modern masterpiece, enhanced by the celestial touch of meteorite fragments. "The Speed of Sound was a bold challenge that involved bringing the legendary Valjoux 88 calibre back to life and turning it into a contemporary masterpiece," says Schaller. "The result is a full-fledged work of horological art, combining tried-and-true mechanics with modern technology and avant-garde design. This timepiece takes us all the way from our home in Saint-Blaise to the infinite expanses of the cosmos. It thereby transcends the boundaries of time and space. Limited to just 20 pieces and part of the brands Cosmic Art collection, the Speed of Sound is priced at CHF 50,000. For more details, please visit the Louis Moinet website. What just happened? More robots are entering the US Army, but these aren't early prototype Terminators or anything like that; they're equipment-carrying robots able to haul up to 2,000 pounds of gear. The military says these machines will help reduce the risk of soldiers suffering from fatigue and injuries caused by carrying excessive physical loads. The Army has announced that it has awarded contracts to American Rheinmetall Vehicles and HDT Expeditionary Systems for its Small Multipurpose Equipment Transport Increment II (S-MET II) program. Each company will receive $22 million to build eight prototype military vehicles. The original version of S-MET (pictured), manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems, were delivered to the Army in late 2022. The 16 eight-wheeled, radio-controlled vehicles are capable of moving up to 1,000 pounds of equipment. They can also carry weapons systems, and their uses include evacuating casualties, explosive ordnance disposal, and more. For the successor to S-MET, the Army is requesting several upgrades, the main one being the doubling of its payload capacity to a maximum of 2,000 pounds. Other improvements include making the robot quieter and improving reliability, as well as higher exportable power, which will enable them to, for example, operate unmanned aircraft systems. The new vehicles will also have worldwide grid charging, a dismounted wireless mesh communications network, and modular, open architecture that allows easier and more cost-effective upgrades. Kyle Bruner, project manager for force projection within the Army, said that S-MET Increment II aims to address critical gaps related to the excessive physical burdens faced by soldiers while enhancing operational autonomy through improved recharging capabilities. Following the prototype phase and developmental testing, the Army has a procurement goal of up to 2,195 of the SMET II systems by the end of 2027. The Reg notes that the original S-MET is based on the existing Multi-Utility Tactical Transport, or MUTT, which was also built by General Dynamics. The Army never said why the company wasn't picked to build the latest version of the robot. The advancement of technology within the military has been plain to see over the last few months. The Army signed a $1 billion deal to procure a fleet of Switchblade drones in August, which will be used to defend Taiwan should China decide to invade. The Army is also using AI to upgrade existing missile systems to protect against drone threats. In context: Google is typically the first company to bring the latest version of Android to the masses, followed by Samsung and OnePlus. However, this year, Chinese smartphone vendor Vivo has beaten Google to become the first brand to roll out Android 15. The Vivo X Fold 3 Pro and the Vivo X100 series devices are reportedly receiving stable Android 15, making them the first smartphones to officially get the update. The rollout comes just days after Google released the Android 15 AOSP build, setting the stage for all Android vendors to roll out the latest software to their respective devices. AOSP, or the Android Open Source Project, serves as the foundation for all custom Android skins, such as Samsung's One UI and OnePlus' OxygenOS. My vivo X Fold3 Pro just received Android 15 update. Crazy how Vivo is the 1st major brand to be rolling out this out to their flagships. Not even Google Pixel has stable update yet. Hoping for a just as good of an experience with FuntouchOS 15. Good job @Vivo_India. #Android15 pic.twitter.com/f4oSkKxfy1 Ishan Agarwal (@ishanagarwal24) September 27, 2024 Vivo may not be a well-known brand in North America, but it is one of the largest smartphone vendors globally. Its parent company, BBK Electronics, also owns OnePlus and is among the five largest smartphone manufacturers in the world. The company sells its mobile devices under several prominent brands including Oppo, Realme, iQOO, Vivo, and OnePlus. Even though Vivo is the first to release the Android 15 update, Pixel and Galaxy owners need not despair. Google has confirmed that the Pixel 9 series and other eligible Pixel devices will receive the Android 15 update in October, while Samsung is expected to roll out the update to at least some of its latest premium smartphones before the end of the year. Google devices slated to get the Android 15 update include virtually every Pixel handset since the Pixel 6, including the Pixel Fold and the Pixel Tablet. Samsung Galaxy S21 and newer smartphones are also in line for Android 15, as are newer Z Fold and Z Flip devices. Forward-looking: China is ramping up its ambitious plans to put astronauts on the lunar surface by 2030, and ahead of that, the country has unveiled a sleek new spacesuit for the mission. The lightweight suit is designed to be a blend of modern technology and cultural inspiration. The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) unveiled its lunar spacesuit on Saturday after four years of research and development. According to state broadcaster CCTV, the suit will enable astronauts to walk, climb, drive rovers, and conduct various scientific activities during future missions. The suit is said to be tough and durable, crafted from a fabric designed to protect against heat and lunar dust. Mobility is also a key focus, with special joints at the knees to facilitate movement in the low-gravity environment. In addition to being noticeably slimmer than bulky spacesuits used for previous moonwalks, the Chinese version is packed with advanced technology. The helmet features a panoramic anti-glare visor along with separate long- and short-focal-length cameras. A control console mounted on the chest connects to the suit's key systems, including communications. The designers also put significant thought into the aesthetics, adding red accents to the white suit in just the right places. For instance, red straps along the legs are meant to evoke the fiery trail of a rocket blasting off into space. With the design finalized, CMSA has launched a public contest to name its new lunar suit, aiming for a title that captures a blend of heritage and cutting-edge technology. China is serious about sending its first crewed missions to the lunar surface before 2030. The plan involves launching two Long March 10 rockets one carrying astronauts in a crew capsule, and the other transporting an unmanned lunar lander. The two vehicles will dock in orbit around the Moon, after which the lander will descend, allowing two astronauts to conduct surface activities for a few hours before rejoining their third crewmate for the journey back to Earth. China isn't alone in its renewed push to send humans back to the Moon. NASA is also working toward the first crewed lunar landing since the last Apollo mission in 1972, under the Artemis III program, potentially placing astronauts at the lunar south pole by 2026 or 2027. In just a few years, we could witness the remarkable sight of American and Chinese astronauts exploring different regions of the Moon. This may spark a new scientific rivalry for lunar dominance and usher in a new space race. What just happened? Never one to shy away from a lawsuit against some of the tech world's biggest players, Epic Games is now suing Google (again) and Samsung over an alleged coordinated effort to block Play Store alternatives being installed on Samsung devices. Epic Games highlights Samsung Galaxy's Auto Blocker feature as the "the latest in a long series of dealings in which Google and Samsung have agreed not to compete to protect Google's monopoly power." Auto Blocker and similar features can prevent users from sideloading apps from alternative app stores i.e., not Google's Play Store or Samsung's Galaxy Store on Samsung's mobile devices. Auto Blocker was introduced as an opt-in feature in October 2023, but it became the default setting in July, the month before Epic launched its mobile app store. Samsung says the feature protects users from applications from unauthorized sources and malicious activity, but Epic says defualting the feature to "on" increases the installation process for sideloading apps from 15 steps to 21. "It is not about reasonable measures to protect users against malware," Sweeney told reporters. "It's about obstruction of competition." Epic says that Auto Blocker attempts to undermine the jury's decision in the 2023 Epic v. Google case that found Google had created an illegal monopoly by giving its own store prominence and limiting access for third-party alternatives. Epic says the trial included exhaustive and detailed evidence of Google's schemes to pay Samsung to not compete with the Google Play Store and to block other app stores from trying to compete. "Allowing this coordinated illegal anti-competitive dealing to proceed hurts developers and consumers and undermines both the jury's verdict and regulatory and legislative progress around the world," Epic said. Epic has battled both Google and Apple in the courts over their respective app store practices, especially the commissions these companies take. In the case against Apple, Cupertino retained its control over the App Store and its payment system but was forced to relax its anti-steering provisions, allowing developers to guide users to external payment methods. The penalties against Google for breaking antitrust laws are expected to be announced soon. Epic's App Store arrived on Android devices globally in August, allowing users to once again play the mobile version of Fortnite. But only those in the EU can install the Epic Store on iOS devices, thanks to the regulatory framework provided by the Digital Markets Act that is only enforceable in the European Union. Epic says it has reached over 10 million installations of its mobile app store, meaning it's unlikely to reach its goal of 100 million installs by the end of the year, something Sweeney is blaming on Auto Blocker and other similar features. Epic is asking the court to prohibit Samsung's and Google's anti-competitive and unfair conduct and mandate that Samsung eliminate the Auto Blocker by default and enable competition. The big picture: Starlink has managed to extend coverage of its satellite-based internet service to over 100 countries and territories worldwide in just a few years. The service has also played a role in the Russo-Ukrainian War, as both the Kremlin and Kyiv have sought to leverage the LEO mega-constellation for their own communication needs. According to a report from Ukrainian website Defense Express, Russian drones are now actively using Starlink hardware for "unlimited" communication over Ukraine's territory. This past week, Kyiv's defense forces shot down 28 drones sent as part of Russia's attack on the Kharkiv region, and some Starlink-branded equipment was seen among the wreckage for the first time. The drones destroyed by the Ukrainian military were a Russian copy of the Shahed-136, an Iranian suicide drone designed for long-range attacks. The Geran-2 drone has a maximum operating range of 2,500 km and can carry an explosive warhead weighing 50 kilograms. According to unclassified reports by the US Army, the Shahed-136 can also be employed for aerial reconnaissance missions, although no Geran-2 models with integrated cameras have been identified so far. An unnamed source provided Defense Express with photos taken from a destroyed drone. The photos clearly show a satellite dish with an intact serial number, which could theoretically be used to investigate the origin of the Starlink hardware and who sold it. The Ukrainian website speculates that the Russian Federation is now routinely installing Starlink terminals on its bombing drones after previously experimenting with 4G modems using Ukrainian SIM cards. Typical upload speeds provided by Starlink's satellite internet service can reach up to 20 Mbps, which is more than enough to stream video and other data back to Russian operatives in real-time. Earlier this year, Elon Musk stated that Starlink has no direct or indirect business relationships with Russian entities "to the best of our knowledge." Vladimir Putin's government could, of course, have its own methods and means to unlawfully acquire brand-new Starlink terminals. Musk said that Starlink will not work in Russia, but Ukraine is a different matter. Kyiv has been using the satellite internet service since the beginning of the Russian invasion, and Musk has actively supported the operation despite losing money on it. Russia, and even China, threatened to shoot down Starlink satellites after the company, along with Western military authorities, decided to aid Ukraine's communication efforts with their own funds. Now, the Kremlin is apparently more interested in exploiting the service to better manage communications for sending its bombing drones into Ukrainian territory. Last week saw the landmark declaration by Vice President Kamala Harris towards the cryptocurrency industry where she claimed that the blockchain industry will have a future under her administration, topping CryptoWatch. Moreover, there was also the prison sentence given to former Alameda Research chief Caroline Ellison for her hand behind FTX's downfall and aiding Sam Bankman-Fried. Also, learn more about the latest prices in the cryptocurrency industry and how much it changed in the past seven days, giving you an insight as another week of investments rolls in. VP Kamala Harris Declares Her Crypto Future Vice President Kamala Harris recently declared her stance on the cryptocurrency industry should she win the US Presidential elections this November 2024. According to VP Harris, she will "encourage" the digital assets in her term as the country's leader, and this will also include other kinds of "innovative technologies." As reported by Bloomberg, VP Harris addressed her remarks to Wall Street donors during a New York City fundraiser last weekend, with the Democratic presidential candidate affirming her plans for safe and transparent cryptocurrency operations for America. This has been a question that intently followed VP Harris since she was named as the presidential nominee. It is also known that her Republican rival, Donald J. Trump, has long confirmed his support for the crypto industry, making it one of the significant focuses of his campaign. Read Also: CryptoWatch: Trump and His Sons' World Liberty Financial Launch, eToro's SEC Settlement, Crypto Prices Now Caroline Ellison Gets 2-Year Prison Time The star witness who helped convict and imprison Sam Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison, is now given a two-year prison sentence by the United States government for her crimes that helped defraud FTX customers. This sentence against Ellison took into account her massive help in fighting against Bankman-Fried during his fraud trial. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan regarded that Ellison was fully cooperative during the hearings and her testimony remained consistent throughout, also acknowledging her remorse. Ellison was initially recommended 110 years for her help in defrauding FTX customers and stealing billions from them via Bankman-Fried, but Kaplan, the District Attorneys, and the US considered her sufficient help, lowering it to 24 months. However, despite all of Ellison's help, she was still culpable for what she did against FTX customers and investors. Apart from her 2-year prison time, Kaplan also asked Ellison to forfeit $11 billion as part of her sentence. Top Crypto Prices in the Market Now The top five cryptocurrencies in the market are now seeing a more stable performance after a tumultuous couple of months which was feared would be the industry's end. In CoinMarketCap's latest crypto price list, most digital assets maintained their prices compared to the previous weeks which saw a rally from its low prices. This means cryptocurrencies are seeing better performance now than before when they struggled to increase their prices. Bitcoin (BTC) - Price: $63,681.76 | 0.44 percent increase over the past seven days Ethereum (ETH) - Price: $2,613.35 | 9.98 percent decrease over the past seven days Tether (USDT) - Price: $1.00 | 0.01 percent decrease over the past seven days Binance Coin (BNB) - Price: $573.48 | 2.79 percent decrease over the past seven days Solana (SOL) - Price: $154.58 | 7.93 percent increase over the past seven days Related Article: Crypto Bulls Believe Bitcoin Will Rally After November US Elections, $75k by Year's End? Huawei CEO's Ren Zhengfei's story stands out as one of the most inspiring stories from humble beginnings. He was born on Oct. 25, 1944, to a very meager family of schoolteachers and traveled his way from a small rural town in Guizhou Province to being the world leader in tech giants. Get to know more about him later. Early Life and Education Ren Zhengfei, son of both schoolteachers, grew up in a small mountainous town within Guizhou Province. His thirst for knowledge bridged his rural childhood, and he soon studied at Chongqing Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture in 1963. Upon graduation, Ren joined the civil engineering industry; this would be the foundation for his leadership capabilities. Read Also: Huawei Pura 70 Gets Price Cuts After Strong Sales, 618 Shopping Success Military Career and Engineering Achievements In 1974, Ren Zhengfei entered the Engineering Corps of the military, which remains his life's most crucial career shift. His technical and engineering aptitudes had been applied comparatively well in setting up the Liao Yang Chemical Fiber Factory, wherein he received some notoriety. His dedication to being outstanding in every endeavor earned him a Deputy Director position. Although this post carried responsibilities equivalent to a Deputy Regimental Chief, it did not have a military rank. His accomplishments did not go unnoticed. He was invited to the National Science Conference in 1978. 1982, he attended the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, symbolizing his growing stature in China's technological and scientific circles. Transition into Civilian Life Such was the case in 1983 when the Chinese government announced its plans to disband the Engineering Corps, spelling the end of Ren's military career. He entered into the logistics service base of the Shenzhen South Sea Oil Corporation but was filled with nothingness by reality when working there. He thought something was lacking in his life; there was a void that could only be satisfied by business. The Rise of Huawei Under his leadership, Huawei grew from a small telecommunication company to a telecommunication giant worldwide. In 1988, he took over as the CEO of Huawei, and until now, the same person serves as the CEO. Legacy of Ren Zhengfei The life of Ren Zhengfei is one of resilience and foresight. He began living in a countryside town and now heads one of the world's biggest tech companies. His story reflects a man who never stopped pushing boundaries at every point in life. A few months ago, he visited Sichuan University to search for fresh talents that might catch his attention. Although he has an excellent legacy to leave, some people still think that some of his actions are suspicious. Some claim that he was seen with Li Yundi, a Chinese classical pianist who was detained in 2021 for allegedly hiring a "call girl." Related Article: Huawei Approaches 1 Billion Devices, Challenging Apple Globally as Premium Phone Sales Soar 72% Remote work is becoming increasingly popular in Ukraine. And there's a reason for that some employers are willing to pay their employees 40 thousand UAH of salary for working from home. ADVERTISIMENT For example, a furniture studio is ready to pay a designer from 20,000 to 40,000 UAH. Among the requirements: the ability to create projects based on the Pro 100 and 3D max programs; ability to make product calculations. A software development company is looking for a chat manager for a salary of UAH 15,000 to 40,000. Responsibilities include answering customer questions and providing advice on products and services. An online English school is looking for a teacher. They are willing to pay from UAH 20,000 to 40,000. The requirements include a high level of English (B2 and above). Firing is more common than hiring Soon, the Ukrainian labor market will remain fairly static: neither a sharp increase in vacancies nor a surge in layoffs is expected in the main sectors of the economy. However, there are still companies that intend to change the number of employees. These expectations are negative: they will dismiss employees much more often than they will hire new ones in almost all key areas. ADVERTISIMENT According to the National Bank, the construction sector is the only one where the number of companies planning to lay off employees will not dominate those preparing to expand their staff. At the same time, we should expect an overall increase in the number of employees 13% of companies are going to hire new employees, while only 4% are going to lay off. Another 83% of companies plan to keep the current number of employees. In other industries, the number of companies ready to dismiss employees exceeds the number of those intending to hire new employees. For example, among industrial companies: will retain the current number of employees 78%; Hire new employees 8%; 14% will be laying off employees, which is almost twice as many as those who are ready to increase staff. Among service sector enterprises: ADVERTISIMENT will keep the current number of employees 81%; Hire new employees 4%; 15% will be laying off employees, which is almost four times the number of those who are ready to increase staff. Among trade enterprises: will keep the current number of employees 80%; hire new employees - 4%; 15% will lay off employees, which is almost four times the number of those who are ready to increase staff. Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and in Viber. Do not fall for fakes! Thirty confirmed dead in N.Carolina county from storm Helene: official Washington, Sept 29 (AFP) Sep 29, 2024 Thirty people are now confirmed dead in North Carolina's Buncombe County, home to the tourist hotspot of Asheville, as a result of superstorm Helene, authorities said Sunday, sending the overall US death toll soaring. "We have another devastating update. We now have 30 confirmed losses due to the storm," Sheriff Quentin Miller told a briefing carried by local media. "We're still conducting search operations and we know that those also may include recovery operations." That brought the toll across a large swathe of the southeastern United States to at least 83, according to reports from local officials and media tallied by AFP. Kim Jong Un visits flood-hit areas of N. Korea Seoul, Sept 30 (AFP) Sep 30, 2024 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited flood-damaged areas in the country and ordered swift action to rebuild homes, state media reported on Monday. North Korea experienced a record downpour in late July which killed an unspecified number of people, flooded homes and submerged swathes of farmland in its northern regions near China. Thousands of displaced flood victims were relocated to facilities in the capital while their homes are being rebuilt. Visiting the construction site, Kim ordered workers "to alleviate the pain of the flood victims as early as possible," according to the official KCNA news agency. Photos from KCNA showed Kim walking through the muddy site and speaking with officials in front of partially built structures. This marks his third visit to flood-hit areas, with previous appearances showing him holding children, inspecting damage from a dinghy, and driving through floodwaters in his luxury vehicle. International offers of support have poured in since news of the flooding disaster first emerged, including from South Korea which offered aid via the Korean Red Cross despite the two countries' strained relations. Russian President Vladimir Putin had also offered "immediate humanitarian support" to aid its recovery efforts. Kim has expressed thanks for the offers of help but refused to accept any foreign aid, saying that the country's recovery efforts would be "thoroughly based on self-reliance", according to KCNA. Nepal surveys flood wreckage as death toll reaches 192 Kathmandu, Sept 30 (AFP) Sep 30, 2024 Search and rescue teams in Nepal's capital picked through wrecked homes on Monday after waters receded from monsoon floods that killed at least 192 people around the Himalayan republic. Deadly floods and landslides are common across South Asia during the monsoon season from June to September, but experts say climate change is making them worse. Entire neighbourhoods in Kathmandu were inundated after the heaviest rains in more than two decades, with the capital temporarily cut off from the rest of Nepal after landslides blocked highways. "Our focus is on search and rescue, including people who have been stranded on highways," home ministry spokesman Rishi Ram Tiwari told AFP. "192 people have been reported dead, and another 31 are missing," he added. At least 35 of those killed were buried alive when earth from a landslide careened into vehicles on a highway south of Kathmandu, Nepal Police spokesman Dan Bahadur Karki told AFP. Rescuers in knee-high rubber boots, meanwhile, were using shovels to clear mud from the worst-hit riverside neighbourhoods around Kathmandu, many of them unauthorised slum settlements. The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, a Nepal-based think tank, said the disaster had been made worse by unplanned urban encroachment around the Bagmati River, which courses through the capital. Nepal's army said that more than 4,000 people had been rescued, with helicopters, motorboats and rafts used to bring stranded households to safety. Bulldozers were being used to clear nearly two dozen sections of major highways leading into Kathmandu that had been blocked by debris. - 'All of it is stuck' - Merchants in Kathmandu said that damage to intercity roads had drastically cut the supply of fresh fruit and vegetables into the capital. "The farmers have their produce ready but with the highways blocked, all of it is stuck," Binay Shrestha, who works at one of the city's main produce markets, told AFP. Nepal's weather bureau said preliminary data from stations in 14 districts measured record-breaking rain in the 24 hours to Saturday morning. A monitoring station at the Kathmandu airport recorded about 240 millimetres (9.4 inches) of rain, the highest figure since 2002. The summer monsoon from July to September brings South Asia 70-80 percent of its annual rainfall and is vital for agriculture and food production in a region home to around two billion people. But monsoon rains also bring widespread death and destruction in the form of floods and landslides. Experts say climate change has worsened their frequency and intensity. More than 300 people have died in Nepal in rain-related disasters this year. Trio plead not guilty in UK after Van Gogh soup attack London, Sept 30 (AFP) Sep 30, 2024 Three climate activists on Monday pleaded not guilty to criminal damage after two paintings by Vincent Van Gogh were doused with soup at London's National Gallery. Stephen Simpson, 71, Mary Somerville, 77, and Phillipa Green, 24, -- members of the Just Stop Oil group -- were arrested at the gallery immediately after Friday's incident, and appeared at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court on Monday. The paintings were targeted just hours after two other members of the same group were jailed over a similar incident in October 2022. The gallery said "a soup-like substance" was thrown over "Sunflowers" (1888) and "Sunflowers" (1889) and that three people had been arrested. Prosecutor James Bowker said the frames of the paintings had been damaged and would "likely require lengthy restoration". He told the court that the defendants entered the Van Gogh exhibition at the museum on Friday afternoon, threw soup on the paintings and then took off their coats to reveal T-shirts reading "Just Stop Oil". Phoebe Plummer, 23, and Anna Holland, 22, were convicted in July of criminal damage after pouring tomato soup over the screen protecting the still life masterpiece "Sunflowers" (1888). Plummer was on Friday jailed for two years and Holland for 20 months. Both had pleaded not guilty. The attacks are the latest in a series of protests by the group -- seeking an end to the extraction and burning of oil, coal and gas -- that have prompted an increasingly hard line by the authorities. The French automaker Renault is actively preparing for the presentation of the new Renault 4. It promises to become a bright representative of retro style in the world of electric vehicles. ADVERTISIMENT The prototypes are already being tested on public roads. Autocar has told about it in more detail. Although the car is well camouflaged, you can already see the styling of the 4Ever concept that was shown at the previous Paris Motor Show. The Renault 4 displays clean, square lines, and key design elements include round LED daytime running lights at the front and compact, column-like brake lights at the rear. It is important to note that the two-spotted prototypes represent different versions of the car. The first is a basic hatchback with steel wheels, and the other is a crossover with increased ground clearance, which is equipped with alloy wheels, roof rails, and a U-shaped body covering on the sides. ADVERTISIMENT Release dates Production of the Renault 4 is expected to start next summer after deliveries of the Renault 5 begin. After that, the company will focus on the development of the new Twingo, which is due to appear in 2026. The model will be presented at the Paris Motor Show, which will run from October 14 to 20. Interior and technology The interior of the new Renault 4 will have a dual-screen infotainment system similar to the one in the Renault 5. However, it is likely to feature a unique dashboard design inspired by a classic car. ADVERTISIMENT Technical specifications The Renault 4 will be based on the Ampr Small EV platform, which is also used by the Renault 5, introduced earlier this year. Both electric vehicles will have the same wheelbase of 2.54 meters. It is expected that the model will offer three variants of front-wheel drive powertrains with a capacity of 94, 121, and 148 hp, as well as batteries with a capacity of 40 kWh and 52 kWh. Also, the rear axle of the platform is likely to accommodate a second engine, which opens up the possibility of creating an all-wheel drive version of the Renault 4. Subscribe to OBOZ.UA's Telegram and Viber channels to keep up with the latest developments. It became known that Ford will stop production of the affordable compact crossover Escape. The model will not appear after 2025 in the new generation. But it will be replaced by an electric car. ADVERTISIMENT Journalists Motor1 addressed directly to the automaker for comments on this decision. The company will abandon the Ford Escape crossover, which will disappear from sale after 2025. Even though the vehicle recently underwent an update for the 2023 model year. It is not yet known whether the same fate awaits the Ford Kuga crossover, the European variant of the Escape. The cars are technically almost identical to each other. Therefore, the optimization may affect the Kuga. The cuts will also affect the Ford Edge crossover and the Transit Connect van. These cars will also disappear from the company's showrooms by 2025. Earlier there was information that the company does not see further expediency in the production of cars with internal combustion engines and plans to switch to electric cars. ADVERTISIMENT The successor Escape will definitely be an electric car. Probably, a similar scenario will happen with other models of the company. OPEC+ officials love to make Hollywood film references. Need to bash renewable energy? Gone With the Wind. Attack whoever forecast a peak in oil demand? La La Land. Put oil speculators on notice? Make my day, the one-liner from Dirty Harry. On that very same popular culture vibe, the cinematic reference I think neatly describes the biggest ill afflicting the group now is a movie called The Cheating Game. Since the beginning of the year, the OPEC+ countries that are subject to output caps have pumped together more than 600,000 barrels a day above their self-imposed limits. Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman has made increasing compliance with the output quotas a personal priority. Credit: Bloomberg The overproduction, as OPEC+ calls it (or cheating, as I prefer), last month reached nearly 850,000 barrels a day, about the same as Venezuelas output. The deluge is a key reason why oil prices have fallen so much over the past two months down more than 20 per cent over the last year to around $US72 a barrel and why many in the energy market are increasingly sceptical the cartel can push prices higher in 2025. Oil prices sank further last week after The Financial Times reported through sources that Saudi Arabia was preparing to abandon its unofficial price target of $US100 a barrel for crude. The price of a barrel of the international standard fell 2.5 per cent to $US71.60. Oil prices crept higher on Monday as tensions in the Middle East offset concerns about possible increased supply from Saudi Arabia, with Brent rising to $US72.59 a barrel. Advertisement Eating outSpecials board $4 pizza, free gelato, ramen happy hour: 12 top dining deals to stop you overspending in October Weve rounded up some of Melbournes best dining-out deals for you to try this month. Tomas Telegramma October 1, 2024 Save Log in , register or subscribe to save recipes for later. You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Save this article for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime. Got it Share Think of this edition of Specials Board as a smorgasbord. From cheaper-than-usual pizza and pasta to curry and ramen offers and prix fixe menus worth crossing town for, weve done the rounds to find some of Melbournes best dining-out deals to try this October. Maha East in Windsor. $15 pastas at Maha East, Windsor Maha East the Chapel Street spin-off of Middle Eastern restaurant Maha is dishing up $15 pastas every week until November 6 for its Arabiata collab series. From Monday to Wednesday, a different Melbourne chefs special pasta dish will be on offer, from Navis Julian Hills (October 14-16) to Rumis Joseph Abboud (October 21-23), and more. 36 Chapel Street, Windsor, mahaeast.com.au Advertisement $15 vodka-sauce cotoletta sandwich at Marameo, CBD Saucy is an understatement when it comes to describing this sandwich special at CBD Italian diner Marameo. Available to eat in or take away at lunchtimes throughout October, its all about crisp chicken cotoletta thats been drowned in a velvety vodka-spiked sugo, then topped with a generous amount of stracciatella and spicy salsa verde. 6 Russell Place, Melbourne, marameo.com.au Malvern East wine-diner Riserva is offering a $40 prix fixe lunch during October. $40 prix-fixe menu at Riserva, Malvern East Advertisement Most main courses at Riserva hover around the $40 mark. But if you visit the Malvern East wine-diner for lunch from Wednesday to Sunday, a prix-fixe option lets you order a main (pasta, burger, fishnchips) with a European red or white and a coffee for just $40. 395 Wattletree Road, Malvern East, riservawine.com.au $25 ramen, side and drink at Hakata Gensuke QV, CBD Love a late lunch? Or an early dinner? One of Melbournes favourite ramen joints, Hakata Gensuke, has a mid-afternoon happy hour worth handling your hunger for. On weekdays from 3pm to 5pm, at its QV location only, $25 is all you need to get a select bowl of ramen (perhaps the spicy, numbing tan tan men), a side and a drink. QV Centre, 200 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, gensuke.com.au Advertisement Bar Romantica is serving $30 pizzas on Wednesdays in spring. Eddie Jim $30 pizza and wine at Bar Romantica, Brunswick These days, its not unusual for pizza prices to hit $30. But on Wednesday nights in spring, Brunswicks most romantic pizza joint is turning back the clock. That $30 will buy you not only any pizza from the menu, but also a glass of red or white. 52-54 Lygon Street, Brunswick East, barromantica.com.au Julia Busuttil Nishimura and Pidapipo Laboratorio founder Lisa Valmorbida have created a limited-edition bougatsa (Greek custard pie) gelato. Advertisement Free gelato-topped bougatsa at Pidapipo Laboratorio, Fitzroy Good Food and Good Weekend columnist Julia Busuttil Nishimura is celebrating the launch of her new cookbook by teaming up with Pidapipo Laboratorio on a limited-edition gelato flavour: bougatsa, or Greek custard pie. You can try it for free on Wednesday, October 2, from 5pm to 7pm, on top of a slice of actual bougatsa. 429-431 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, pidapipo.com/pidapipo-laboratorio Look out for classic buffalo wings at JollyGood Diner, Collingwood. $18 for six/$26 for12 wings at JollyGood Diner, Collingwood Advertisement Following the success of its $25 steak frites Thursdays with bottomless fries and condiments Collingwoods American-style diner JollyGood has just introduced wings Wednesdays. From 5pm every hump day, roll your sleeves up for classic buffalo or garlic-and-parmesan wings; theyre $18 for six or $26 for 12, alongside drinks specials. 27 Johnston Street, Collingwood, jollygoodmelbourne.com Early birds can catch the all-you-can-eat pizza at Loueys on Wednesdays. $35 unlimited pizza slices and sides at Loueys, St Kilda Tucked inside St Kilda pub stalwart The Espy, Italo-American eatery Loueys is cheesy in every sense, according to The Ages chief restaurant critic Besha Rodell. Thats particularly true on Wednesdays from 5.30pm, when pizza slices are all you can eat for 90 minutes; as are sides like parmesan fries and wedge salads with anchovy dressing. Advertisement 11 The Esplanade, St Kilda, loueys.com.au $25 lunch special at the Daughters Arms, CBD Daughter in Laws newish sibling a British-Indian gastropub called the Daughters Arms serves playful dishes such as butter-chicken parmas and pork-vindaloo sausage rolls. The best value, however, is at lunchtime during the week, when $25 buys your choice of curry (beef madras, chana masala, chicken tikka masala) with dhal, rice and pappadums. 25 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, daughtersarms.com.au Bar snacks such as prawn tostadas are plentiful during bottomless brunch at Hotel Nacional. Advertisement $75 bottomless brunch at Hotel Nacional, CBD Recently opened on Hardware Lane, this five-level gluten-free Mexican joint, from some of the team behind Repeat Offender and Rufio, has plenty of lures. The latest? Weekend bottomless brunches, where the Mexican-inspired bar snacks are plentiful and the margaritas (regular, spicy or frozen) are unlimited for 90 minutes, for $75 a head. 23-25 Hardware Lane, Melbourne, hotelnacional.co $4 pizzas (when you buy a drink) at Naked for Satan, Fitzroy It can be hard to resist the rooftop view at Brunswick Streets multilevel bar and diner Naked for Satan. But perhaps by touching your hip-pocket nerve, they encourage you to settle in downstairs, where, all day Monday to Thursday, you can get a $4 pizza with any drink purchased (except soda water). Advertisement Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox. Sign up 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. No dish (including the bucatini allamatriciana) costs more than $28, and aperitivo hour means $9 glasses of vino and free snacks at Casta Mariotti. As featured in the October hit list. See all stories . Joining recently opened Italian joints Pastarami and Da Bruno on Swan Street in Richmond, Casa Mariotti is a Roman wine bar by a family from the Italian capital. Brothers Giacomo and Guido Guerrieri have reimagined the two-storey former Grapeshots wine bar. With all its wood, brick and antique balcony, it evokes the classic trattorias in [the Roman neighbourhood of] Trastevere, says Giacomo, a chef with 22 years experience, who cut his teeth in Rome but was most recently at The Union Hotel in Windsor. Dishes at Casa Mariotti are all priced under $30. Jack Carlin Quintessentially Roman dishes rule at Casa Mariotti, such as bucatini allamatriciana; suppli al telefono (rice balls with a molten mozzarella centre); and maritozzi (brioche buns made in house and laden with cream) Giacomos go-to after-clubbing snack in Rome. Islamic and Jewish religious leaders have called for calm before a series of demonstrations planned to mark the one-year anniversary of Hamas October 7 attack on Israel and the subsequent humanitarian disaster in Gaza. On Tuesday the NSW Faith Affairs Council which includes Imam Shadi Alsuleimann, president of the National Imams Council, and David Ossip, president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies released a combined statement after protests in Sydney and Melbourne over the weekend at which some demonstrators waved the yellow flag of the Lebanese group, Hezbollah. Acknowledging the pain many in our community are feeling due to events in the Middle East, the statement urged calm, imploring those who are grieving to find solace in the compassion and understanding of others and to refrain from any words or acts which promote hate and resentment or incite violence. The statement was also endorsed by Dr Ali Al Samail, resident scholar and Sheikh at the Australian Ahl Al Bait Islamic Centre, as well as many religious leaders from across the various faith communities such as the Catholic Church and the Hindu Council of Australia. Loading The intensification of Israels bombing on Lebanon after a year of conflict in Gaza has sparked renewed anger at the rising civilian death toll in both countries. But the presence of some demonstrators waving the flag of Hezbollah a designated terror organisation or holding portraits of its slain leader Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday has also sparked outrage in the Jewish community and among political leaders. Sundays protests were overwhelmingly peaceful, but with further demonstrations planned in Sydney over the weekend to mark October 7, authorities are fearful of an escalation in tensions. Transport staff have declared the first morning commute without the Bankstown to Sydenham train line a success, but are bracing for increased pressure on the bus replacement system when school students return from holidays in two weeks. The approximately 60,000 commuters on the T3 Bankstown Line, now closed to be converted for the metro, woke to a new transport system on Monday. Commuters at Bankstown station on Monday morning. Credit: Nick Moir In place of the double-decker trains was a fleet of fare-free, pink replacement buses, offering a frequent yet slower journey to Sydenham and Lidcombe stations. More than 10,000 commuters used the three replacement bus routes on Monday morning, most of which arrived on time. Police are appealing for help to find a woman and her four children, including a two-week-old baby, missing from Goulburn since Friday. Rochelle Watts, 35, and her four children have been missing from Goulburn since Friday. Credit: NSW Police Authorities have serious concerns about Rochelle Watts, 35, her two sons, aged 15 and 10, and two daughters, aged eight and two weeks. The familys German shepherd, Elsa, is also believed to be with them. Police received concerns for Watts welfare after she was last seen in Goulburn about 2.30pm Friday. Watts is known to spend time in the Goulburn and Tirrannaville areas, but police are also investigating a report the woman and her children may be in Murgon, Queensland. Victoria Police is seeking special legal protection to prevent officers who may have committed crimes while supervising barrister-turned-informer Nicola Gobbo from being prosecuted if they admit to breaking the law while under oath during her compensation lawsuit. The legal move, which is highly unusual for sworn and former serving police personnel to seek, came on Monday the opening day of the trial on Gobbos legal claim against the state of Victoria over allegations her life was ruined and her safety put at risk through negligence and malfeasance in public office by a number of high-profile officers. Nicola Gobbo in 2017. The lawsuit was filed more than three years ago and was recently capped at a potential compensation payout of $1 million by a special law enacted by the Victorian government. Gobbo will testify during the four-week trial but will not appear in court physically due to serious security concerns. Thats all for today, folks. Thanks for joining us. Its been a big day for football fans. Well, West Coast fans at least. What do you think about Andrew McQualters appointment to the Eagles top job? Let us know in the comments below. Making news elsewhere was the revelation that the states public sector workers are paving the way for nine-day fortnights on the back of a new pay offer which was overwhelmingly voted in favour of by the public sector union. The pay jump of 12.5 per cent over three years is less than the 12 per cent pay increase the union was seeking over two years and a push for four-day work weeks also failed. However, under the new agreement workers will be able to work nine-day fortnights, but they will have to work the same number of hours as currently worked in a ten-day fortnight. Meanwhile, the man who kidnapped Cleo Smith from a remote campsite north of Carnarvon has failed in his bid to have his sentence reduced. Cleo was missing for 18 days before finally being found by police alone in a room at a property in Carnarvon on November 3. Her kidnapping by 37-year-old Terence Darrell Kelly sparked one of the biggest police searches in WA history and made headlines worldwide. And a new ad campaign from the state government aims to raise awareness of coercive control and the early signs of abuse. Perth domestic violence survivor and advocate Sheree Schonian joined WA Premier Roger Cook and Family and Domestic Violence Prevention Minister Sabine Winton to officially launch the campaign. Schonian said at 16, she was swept off her feet by her former partner but what followed was 16 years of hell that started with coercive control before building up to physical violence, sexual violence and threats to kill. The mother of two teenagers said a campaign like this would have helped her identify the signs of the insidious practice while they were happening. Thank you again for joining us, tune in again tomorrow as we bring you all the news you need to know. More than one series from the past decades has recently experienced a more or less successful reboot just remember "Gossip Girl" or "Sex and the City." The next in line will be the youth drama "Survival School," also known as "One Tree Hill". ADVERTISIMENT The idea to revive the show came from the original cast members Sophia Bush and Hilarie Barton, who will also become executive producers of the project. They announced the start of work in a joint Instagram post in late August. They were also joined by Danneel Ackles. Currently, the project is at a very early stage of development and does not even have an approximate release date. It is known that the reboot of "Survival School" is to be released on Netflix. The plot of the show is kept secret, but it is already known that it will take place 20 years after the end of the original series. By this time, the main characters and best friends Brooke (Bush) and Peyton (Burton) will have become parents of teenagers themselves and will be going through all the same difficulties, such as first love, self-doubt, and first disappointments, but now from the perspective of adults. ADVERTISIMENT It is not yet known who will become the showrunner and main director of the "Survival School" reboot. But the script, according to available information, was entrusted to Becky Hartman-Edwards. As for the other cast members, it is currently known for certain that another key star of the original youth series, Chad Michael Murray, will not return to the cast. It is also unlikely that fans will see James Lafferty and Bethany Joy Lenz in the show. Lentz said she is open to offers, but no one has approached her with an invitation yet. And Lafferty said that he is now fully focused on working on the comedy show "Everyone Is Doing Great," which he is creating with Stephen Colletti. The original series "Survival School" was broadcast in 2003-2012. During its 9 seasons, it was nominated for Teen Choice Awards more than 20 times and became one of the most popular youth series of the noughties. ADVERTISIMENT Subscribe to OBOZ.UA channels on Telegram and Viber to keep up with the latest events. In a rarely seen show of neighbourly camaraderie, an entire street turned out en masse to watch a home in Wyndham Vale sell for $580,000 at a fairytale auction on Saturday. After the hammer fell, residents lined up to congratulate the young buyers and welcome them to the community, marking a touching moment in a quiet weekend of auction action in which first home buyers ruled. Amid AFL grand final fever, the house 4 Cashmere Court was one of only 129 auctions scheduled in Melbourne on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 64.6 per cent from 65 reported results, while 11 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate. Four bidders raised their hand for the refurbished four-bedroom, two-bathroom Wyndham Vale home, which featured a 712-square-metre block, a modern floorplan and a price guide of $499,000 to $549,000. It had a reserve of $550,000. Chances are, when you travel to Australias remote and not so remote regions, youll end up talking to an Italian. And I dont necessarily mean a tourist, but someone who is taking your coffee order, cleaning your room or pouring you a drink at a bar. Australian hospitality just wouldnt function without the young, international workforce here on Working Holiday visas. Its one of the nicest things about travelling in Australia. Young travellers from around the world head to remote areas of Australia to fulfil their working visa obligations. Credit: Tourism and Events Queensland Over the past few weeks, Ive been to Far North Queensland and the Kimberley, and the entire time Ive been greeted by cheery Italian, Irish, French, Spanish and British accents, with some South African and Belgian thrown in. Most workers are under 30 and working long hours at the hotels and resorts Ive stayed in. In fact, in some places management seems to have left them to run the place, they seem so much in charge. Chisinau: Moldovans are being urged to shun thieves, fugitives and bandits after an exiled pro-Russian business magnate pledged to pay voters to vote no in a referendum on joining the European Union. Infrastructure Minister Andrei Spinus warning underscored the increasingly unruly campaign for the October 20 presidential election in which pro-European incumbent Maia Sandu is seeking a second term. Voters will also take part in a referendum on altering the Constitution to enable ex-Soviet Moldova, one of Europes poorest countries, to press for membership of the 27-nation EU. The country of 3 million is wedged between southern Ukraine, near Odesa, and Romania. Much of Moldovas capital Chisinau has had to be rebuilt repeatedly thanks to the wars and conflicts of the 20th century. Credit: iStock The most vocal opponent of EU membership, fugitive pro-Russian businessman Ilan Shor, offered in a weekend Telegram post to pay voters the equivalent of $42 if they registered for his campaign. Vance, 40, has spoken of Trump, 78, as a kind of father figure, albeit one who can call multiple times in a day and at any hour. Some of those calls from Trump were check-ins and encouragement during the onslaught of criticism over Vances complaints of too many childless cat ladies among American leaders, including Harris. Trump urged Vance to hold his ground and fight through the attacks. Democrats have seized on Vances socially conservative views to paint the Republican ticket as weirdly out of touch, while Trump and his team view him as an ideal messenger to motivate the working-class base of voters they need to win. Vice presidential hopeful J.D.Vance speaks at the US-Mexico border in Hereford, Arizona, in August. Credit: Bloomberg Vance has spoken publicly about another call in which Trump heard him trying to quiet his seven-year-old son, Ewan, and asked to speak with the boy. When Vance put his eldest child on the phone, Trump asked the youngster for feedback on a campaign statement he was preparing. Vance has also hinted, albeit jokingly, at what would be an understandable fear of Trumps demanding style and hair-trigger wrath, while recounting how he initially missed the call when he phoned to offer him the vice president slot. I call him back, he answers the phone and says, JD, you missed a very important phone call and now I might have to pick somebody else, Vance recalled last week in North Carolina. So I almost have a heart attack right there. The Trump-Vance partnership remains, undoubtedly, a fledgling one. The two men first met only a few years ago, when Vance commenced a political career and needed to make amends for his venomous past as a Never Trumper. Long-term security is more of a bug than a feature in any Trump relationship. The former president has treated his closest family and friends mercurially and has a history of dispassionately abandoning longtime allies including his previous running mate, former vice president Mike Pence when it suits his political purpose. Lee Zeldin, a Republican and former congressman from New York who is close with both men, said Trump easily jelled with his running mate thanks in part to personal testimonials from family and longtime advisers who attested to Vances political conversion and reliability. Their trust quickly deepened, Zeldin said, over a mutual affection for economic populism, staunch anti-immigration policy and a restrained approach to international affairs plus a similar instinct for the jugular on the campaign trail. Loading Theyre friends, and they have a very strong relationship, Zeldin said. Theyre more like buddies or confidants who can be frank with each other and enjoy the time they spend together. But while Trump has not publicly crowned Vance as the heir apparent to his red-capped conservative movement, he has never stopped his campaign from describing his running mate that way since joining the ticket two months ago. Senator Vance reinforces President Trumps worldview and shows there is a strong carrier of this movement to fight for American workers and take away the power from the entrenched elites, said Jason Miller, a senior adviser for the Trump campaign. Trump also has a deep respect for Vances willingness to fight for the ticket on television, Miller added. Trump has let Vance freelance in ways he has rarely entrusted to other allies. The two men talk frequently, but Vance does not check each decision with Trump the former president values that as a sign that Vance has confidence and that hes not needy and high maintenance, according to one Trump aide. Loading But the latitude Trump has afforded his running mate has led to some potentially uncomfortable moments, most recently over the Vance-led offensive against Haitian migrants as pet-eating monsters. The attacks drove headlines for days and threatened to make a Trump campaign that has promised to prioritise mass deportations from the White House appear even more radical and extreme. The Haitian migrants who suddenly found themselves the target of baseless claims that they were eating their neighbours pets are not an example of illegal border crossings. They are lawfully living in the United States with temporary protected status, a federal designation to protect people from a country in crisis. But Trump was never remotely upset. Instead, he joined in. In front of a televised audience of 67 million people who tuned in for his debate with Harris, he pushed the attacks even further. Theyre eating the dogs, the people that came in theyre eating the cats, theyre eating the pets of the people that live there, Trump said. Hydrogen Pioneers: BMW Group and Toyota Motor Corporation take collaboration to the next level to offer Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) options for passenger cars.+VIDEO SEE ALSO: The Auto Channel Auto Hydrogen News Archive 1995-Present SEE ALSO: BMW Hydrogen Powered Cars BMW plans to launch its first-ever series production fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) in 2028, thereby offering customers an additional all-electric powertrain option with zero local emissions in a BMW. The BMW Group and the Toyota Motor Corporation are pooling their innovative strength and their technological capabilities to bring a new generation of fuel cell powertrain technology to the roads. Both companies share the aspiration of advancing the hydrogen economy and have extended their collaboration to push this locally zero-emission technology to the next level. The BMW Groups leading development expertise in electric drive technologies is once again demonstrated by its relentless efforts to advance hydrogen fuel cell technology and its embracing of a 'technology-openness' approach in order to provide customers with a range of mobility solutions for the future. This is a milestone in automotive history: the first-ever series production fuel cell vehicle to be offered by a global premium manufacturer. Powered by hydrogen and driven by the spirit of our cooperation, it will underscore how technological progress is shaping future mobility, said Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG. And it will herald an era of significant demand for fuel cell electric vehicles. Koji Sato, President and Member of the Board of Management (Representative Director) Toyota Motor Corporation, said, We are pleased that the collaboration between BMW and Toyota has entered a new stage. In our long history of partnership, we have confirmed that BMW and Toyota share the same passion for cars and belief in technology openness and a multi-pathway approach to carbon neutrality. Based on these shared values, we will deepen our collaboration in efforts such as the joint development of next-generation fuel cell systems and the expansion of infrastructure, aiming for the realization of a hydrogen society. We will accelerate our efforts together with BMW and partners across various industries to realize a future where hydrogen energy supports society." Shared powertrain technology utilized across individual models to offer attractive FCEV options. The BMW Group and the Toyota Motor Corporation will jointly develop the powertrain system for passenger vehicles, with the core fuel cell technology (the individual third-generation fuel cells) creating synergies for both commercial and passenger vehicle applications. The result of this collaborative effort will be utilized in individual models from both BMW and Toyota and will expand the range of FCEV options available to customers, bringing the vision of hydrogen mobility one step closer to reality. Customers can expect the BMW and Toyota FCEV models to maintain their distinct brand identities and characteristics, providing them with individual FCEV options to choose from. Realizing synergies and amalgamating the total volume of powertrain units by collaborating on development and procurement promises to drive down the costs of fuel cell technology. BMW will launch its first hydrogen-powered production model in 2028. After successfully testing the BMW iX5 Hydrogen pilot fleet worldwide, the BMW Group is now preparing for series production of vehicles with hydrogen drive systems in 2028 on the basis of the jointly developed next-generation powertrain technology. The series production models will be integrated into BMWs existing portfolio, i.e. BMW will offer an existing model in an additional hydrogen fuel cell drive system variant. As FCEV technology is another electric vehicle technology, the BMW Group explicitly views it as complementing the drive technology used by battery electric vehicles (BEV) and next to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and internal combustion engines (ICE). A new level of partnership. The BMW Group and the Toyota Motor Corporation can look back on over a decade of trusting and successful collaboration. Building on this, the companies are now extending their cooperation to accelerate innovation of next-generation fuel cell powertrain systems and pioneer this new technology. Shared vision of advancing the hydrogen economy. The pathway to realizing the full potential of hydrogen mobility includes its use in commercial vehicles and the establishment of a refuelling infrastructure for all mobility applications, including hydrogen-powered passenger vehicles. Recognizing the complementary nature of these technologies, the BMW Group and the Toyota Motor Corporation are supporting the expansion of both hydrogen refuelling and battery electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Both companies are encouraging sustainable hydrogen supply by creating demand, working closely with companies that are building low-carbon hydrogen production, distribution, and refuelling facilities. The BMW Group and Toyota Motor Corporation are advocating the creation of a conducive framework by governments and investors to facilitate the early-stage penetration of hydrogen mobility and ensure its economic viability. By promoting the corresponding infrastructure, they aim to establish the FCEV market as an additional pillar alongside other powertrain technologies. Furthermore, the companies are seeking regional or local projects to further drive the development of hydrogen infrastructure through collaborative initiatives. Benefits of hydrogen-powered technology. Hydrogen is recognized as a promising future energy carrier for global decarbonization. It acts as an effective storage medium for renewable energy sources, helping to balance supply and demand and enabling a more stable and reliable integration of renewables into the energy grid. Hydrogen is the missing piece for completing the electric mobility puzzle where battery electric drive systems are not an optimal solution. A new study has shown that children playing with dogs is good for both. According to scientists, this activity leads to a surge in the "hormone of happiness" (oxytocin). ADVERTISIMENT According to the study, the hormone was detected in higher concentrations in children when they interacted with dogs compared to when they played with toys on their own, MailOnline reports. The study involved 55 children aged 8 to 10 years. Oxytocin is the so-called "hug" or "love" hormone associated with social bonding. It is produced in the hypothalamus of the brain and released into the bloodstream, reduces stress and anxiety, and helps people express their emotions. During three separate visits, the children played with their pet dog, a strange dog, and by themselves. Before, during, and after the three games, oxytocin levels were recorded in both the dogs and the children's saliva and urine samples. ADVERTISIMENT After analyzing the results, the researchers found that playing with dogs led to higher levels of the hormone in children compared to playing alone. The researchers report that the effect of increasing oxytocin in children was produced by playing with both their own dog and a stranger. Regarding the results of the analysis in animals, an increase in oxytocin was observed in domestic dogs, while the team in unfamiliar dogs observed the opposite pattern. This means that dogs are positively affected by playing with children if they are familiar with them. "To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first evidence of the effect of affiliative social interactions with dogs on oxytocin concentrations in children," commented Gitanjali E. Gnanadesikan, a doctoral student at the University of Arizona School of Anthropology in Tucson. ADVERTISIMENT The experts used 35 mixed breeds and 19 pure breeds for the study. However, it is worth remembering that one should always be attentive to any breed in the presence of children, especially infants. Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! The U.S. government must abandon the post-Cold War status quo in relations with Russia. It also needs to recognize Moscow as a permanent threat to global security. And this will certainly affect the situation in Ukraine. ADVERTISIMENT This was reported by The Hill. Journalists refer to the call of representatives of the Republican and Democratic parties in the US Congress. "The bipartisan committee responsible for supporting democracy and human rights in post-Soviet countries insists that the United States abandon the post-Cold War status quo in its relations with Russia and call Moscow a constant threat to global security," the report says. The Helsinki Commission's report, which was obtained by journalists, argues that Washington should change its thinking about its approach to Russia, as it has done with China over the past few years, and allocate resources accordingly. It also talks about ensuring Ukraine's victory in its defensive war against Russia, calling for "massive" military and humanitarian aid to Kyiv and allowing the Ukrainian Armed Forces to strike deep into Russian territory with weapons provided by the United States. ADVERTISIMENT It is noted that the policy proposals presented in the report go beyond the Joe Biden administration's commitments to Ukraine and contradict the positions of former President Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, and his allies in Congress. However, the chairman of the Republican Helsinki Committee, Congressman Joe Wilson, denied that Trump could make a deal with Putin. "There's no question in my mind that Donald Trump will see through the insincerity of war criminal Putin," Wilson told The Hill in a brief conversation about the report. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, has previously outlined a continuation of President Joe Biden's Ukraine policy. But while the presidential race will certainly influence U.S. policy toward Ukraine and Russia in the years ahead, attitudes in Congress will also be crucial in determining priorities around the world, the report says. ADVERTISIMENT "I think the main message is that we are abandoning 30 years of misguided policy," said an anonymous congressional representative familiar with the report. As noted, Republican lawmakers are likely to accept the report's conclusion that "the United States must prepare for a long-term struggle, realizing that Russia has a long history of brutal imperialism against its neighbors, Europe, and the world at large." "You don't have to look far to see that every president goes and meets with Putin during the first few months of his or her term," the source summarized. As a reminder, on Thursday, September 26, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. The Ukrainian leader came there specifically to meet with lawmakers from both parties. Earlier, Zelenskyy also met with a bipartisan delegation of the U.S. Congress, when he told American lawmakers about the Ukraine Victory Plan. The President noted that this plan contains concrete steps to strengthen Ukraine without any decisions or pressure from Russia. ADVERTISIMENT Earlier, the White House said it was looking forward to the presentation of Zelenskyy's Victory Plan and wanted to agree on strategic goals with Kyiv for the last four months of Biden's presidency. At least that's what presidential adviser Michael Carpenter said. Only verified information on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! AI can transform lives but poses threat if mishandled Stefania Giannini, Assistant Director General for Education at UNESCO. (PTI) By Gunjan Sharma : NEW DELHI ARTIFICIAL Intelligence is a technology that holds potential to transform human life in profound ways, much like the discovery of fire, but it also poses significant risks if mishandled, said Stefania Giannini, UNESCOs Assistant Director General for Education. In an interview with PTI from Paris, Giannini, who is also the former Minister of Education in Italy, said each technological revolution has had broad social and educational implications, radically changing the way we live and how we learn. She flagged that the digital divide in countries is still very much deep and the new technology, if not driven and supported by the appropriate investments, will widen this divide. Over the course of my career, I have witnessed at least four digital revolutions from the advent of personal computers to the expansion of the Internet, to the emergence of mobile devices and social media and to the rapid and unexpected arrival of generative artificial intelligence (AI) like ChatGPT, she said. Giannini said that each technological revolution has had broad social and educational implications, radically changing the way we live and how we learn. Although not all people and not all countries have felt these technological revolutions in the same way, everywhere the new worlds they create have been sources of both hope and concern, she added. Noting that AI has been compared to the discovery of fire, she said, like fire, AI offers both potential benefits and dangers. It can transform our lives in remarkable ways, at both individual and societal levels from schools to healthcare, work and transportation, but just as fire, if mishandled it can pose great threats, Giannini said. According to UNESCOs Global Education Monitoring Report, technology is never ideologically neutral and new AI models and applications are no exception. AI applications like ChatGPT generate new data from the vast amount of input available online, raising fundamental questions about human knowledge, education and learning, she said. As AI continues to mine our collective intelligence and may soon outpace human capabilities, as experts now argue, we will still have the tools to control and steer technology to benefit humanity, she added. Giannini said that AI cannot be classified as good or bad when it comes to education. She emphasised the need for Governments and international bodies to establish robust frameworks to regulate AI in education as its final users are schools, learners and teachers. Talking about the challenges of the use of AI in the education system, Giannini said, firstly what content and curriculum are appropriate for the digital age. The second pressing issue is the assessment systems. How will we assess learning outcomes? Exams that were once unhackable are now easily hackable with AI applications. This raises tricky ethical questions, which have increased along with heated debate about the future of assessment, as students worldwide use AI for assignments. First-ever Post Graduate Programme in Temple Management launched MUMBAI : In an unprecedented initiative, the online platform, Temple Connect has launched a first-ever Post Graduate Programme in Temple Management (PGPTM) as the first step to professionally manage Indias staggering 32-lakh plus big and small Hindu places of worship. The PGPTM Diploma course with a detailed all-encompassing curriculum, was launched at the University of Mumbai and the autonomous Principal L N Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research, with the maiden batch of 30 students each, and shortly to start at Savitribai Phule Pune University. Next year, this will become a full-fledged MBA programme in temple management and also offer specialisation in various fields. We are in talks with 19 other Government or private educational institutions to launch this course in the next couple of years plus with top global universities to offer this specialised study in the coming years, Temple Connect Founder Giresh Vasudev Kulkarni told IANS. The discussions are on with institutions in Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Goa, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and certain international universities to co-create and offer temple management programmes, barring the religious aspects, he added. Kulkarni said that places of worship have been wonderfully managed for ages, but now with the advancement in technology and knowledge, the PGPTM and the upcoming MBA in Temple Management will be the first steps towards a whole unexplored territory. For starters, the course will cover the total administration, operation, maintenance, financials, etc. for Hindu Mandirs, Jain Derasars, Sikh Gurudwaras and Buddhist Viharas, to help them induct trained manpower equipped with modern-era managerial and technical skills for optimum management of their resources. In the past 21 years since Kulkarni deep-dived into the issue by touring more than 2000 temples, he learnt that India has more than 32-lakh big and small temples, which he has started compiling systematically now, and solicited Prime Minister Narendra Modis support in this huge endeavour. In India, there are 19,101 pin codes, 154,725 post offices, plus Army posts. There are 20 big-small temples per post office. These include the biggest or famous ones that everyone is aware of, or even small temples, plus there are many pilgrimage centres with a temple situated every few metres... All these add up to an estimated more than 3.20 million (32-lakh) temples across the length and breadth of India, said Kulkarni with a smile. Indian temples have different origins, some are owned-run by families, some were set up by the past royals/rulers, many managed by Trusts, Charity Commissionerates or other social-cultural organisations, but all have more or less similar aims and functions, which the Temple Connect courses have covered. The online initiative has digitised 9,864 temple in 58 countries, including the US, Canada, UK, The Netherlands, Australia, the Far East and of course, India, as the Smart Temple Connect project, and the PGPTM could offer the students internships at one or more of these places to help understand the sunrise field better. The six-month course has been curated and developed by Temple Connect, aiming to professionalise temple operations, with technology, sustainability and inclusivity, equip the participants with necessary skills to manage temple ecosystems deploying modern expertise and strategic foresight, added Kulkarni. The diploma course was the outcome of many experts and academics, including Kulkarni, Vice-Chancellor of University of Mumbai Ravindra Kulkarni, Welingkar Institutes Group Director Uday Salunkhe, Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust, Shirdis ex-Chairman Suresh Haware, and more, said Ravindra Sangurde of Mumbai University. The PGPTM has a robust curriculum, with three-months intensive classroom lectures in 20 sessions, three-months practical hands-on internships at some renowned temples in India or abroad, all guided by a faculty of seasoned professionals having substantial practical experience in temple operations, plus some temples offering scholarships to the students. The students get a unique opportunity of practical exposure to temple management, ranging from administrative functions to community engagements to spiritual stewardship, and lucrative employment opportunities. On successful completion of the course, they will be awarded a diploma from the concerned varsity or institution, Kulkarni said. Flood alert sounded in Bihar following heavy discharge of water from barrages PATNA : THE Bihar Government has sounded an alert for floods in northern, southern and central parts of the State following heavy discharge of water from Birpur and Valmikinagar barrages on Sunday, officials said. The embankment of the Bagmati river in Madhkaul village in Sitamarhi district broke on Sunday, which is being repaired, they said. Due to this incident, villagers have been evacuated to safer places and the repair work is onNo casualty has been reported so far, Richie Pandey, District Magistrate (DM), Sitamathi, told reporters. Due to heavy discharge of water from Birpur barrage, seepage was also reported from the Kosi Eastern embankment near Gopalpur on Saturday night, which was repaired by the engineers of the Water Resources Department (WRD). A total of 6.61 lakh cusecs of water was released from Birpur barrage on Kosi river till 5 am, the highest in 56 years. According to the latest bulletin by the State Water Resources department, the last time the maximum water discharged from this barrage was 7.88 lakh cusecs of water in 1968. It may aggravate the condition of over 16.28 lakh people in 13 districts, who were already affected by inundation following heavy rain, officials said. Similarly, 5.62 lakh cusecs of water was released from Valmikinagar barrage on Gandak till 10 pm on Saturday. This is the highest water discharged from this barrage after 6.39 lakh cusecs released in 2003. Traffic movement has been stopped near the Kosi barrage as a precautionary measure. The teams of the Water Resources Department are monitoring the embankments on a 24x7 basis so prompt action can be taken as soon as any erosion or danger is detected. Three superintending engineers, 17 executive engineers, 25 assistant engineers and 45 junior engineers of the department are working on a 24x7 basis and they are always alert. There is nothing to panic at all, Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Bihar Water Resources Minister, told PTI on Sunday. The water level of rivers Gandak, Kosi, Bagmati, Burhi Gandak, Kamla Balan and Mahananda, Bagmati and Ganga-- has been rising across the State, following continuous rainfall over the past two-three days. Incessant rainfall in the catchment areas of Nepal has led to rivers touching or flowing above the danger level at several places in the bordering districts, said the Minister. Following heavy discharge of water from these two barrages, the excess river water entered low lying areas of West and East Champaran, Gopalganj, Araria, Supaul, Katihar, Purnea and several other districts, officials said. An alert has already been sounded for several districts of Bihar as the IMD predicted heavy rain and warned of flash flood risk in parts of the State. Districts such as West and East Champaran, Sitamarhi, Sheohar, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Siwan, Saran, Vaishali, Patna, Jehanabad, Madhubani and Bhojpur districts are likely to experience heavy rain. These districts are at risk of low to moderate flash floods, it said. The State disaster management department asked the administration of the districts to remain on alert and take preventive measures in the wake of the forecast. Around 13 districts situated along the Ganga, including Buxar, Bhojpur, Saran, Patna, Samastipur, Begusarai, Munger and Bhagalpur, are already experiencing a flood-like situation, and nearly 13.5 lakh people living in low-lying areas have been affected by rising water levels of rivers, following torrential rainfall, officials said. A large number of people from the affected districts have been evacuated and brought to relief camps, they said. Higher-ups attend Peace Committee meet to celebrate upcoming festivals peacefully Collector Deepak Saxena, SP Aditya Pratap Singh and other senior officers chairing Shanti Samiti meeting. Staff Reporter : Shanti Samiti meeting was organised to discuss arrangements for upcoming festivals Durga Utsav, Punjabi Dussehra, Vijayadashami, Guru Nanak Jayanti and Diwali at Police Control Room. The meeting aimed to encourage citizens to celebrate these festivals with traditional enthusiasm, peace and communal harmony. Collector Deepak Saxena (IAS) and Superintendent of Police, Aditya Pratap Singh (IPS) chaired the meeting while MLA Lakhan Ghanghoria and other members were present. Officers informed about the historical significance of Durga Utsav and Dussehra processions in district, which are renowned across the country for their cultural importance and grandeur. During the meeting, members discussed increasing security in sensitive areas, ensuring adequate water and lighting arrangements, maintaining uninterrupted power supply and proper upkeep of procession routes. The committee members emphasized over the importance of safety and cleanliness at religious sites and immersion points, as well as traffic management. They also assured their cooperation to maintain law and order during the festivals and demanded to take strict action against elements attempting to create disturbances. Besides this, a suggestion was made to prohibit Garba celebrations on the 7th, 8th and 9th days of the festival. The committee praised the joint initiative by religious committee leaders and the administration to conduct idol immersion on a single day. Collector Saxena appreciated the suggestions made by committee members and thanked them for their support during previous festivals like Ganesh Utsav and Eid Milad-un-Nabi. He emphasized the need for festival committees to ensure that public life is not disrupted. Special attention was assured for womens safety, with additional police presence near temples. At the outset, Collector Saxena outlined the administrative arrangements being made for the festivals and instructed officials from the municipal corporation and electricity department to inspect the routes for the Dussehra procession and managing the low-hanging power lines. SP, Aditya Pratap Singh assured committee members that stringent security measures would be implemented during the festivals. He encouraged Durga Utsav committees to install CCTV cameras around pandals for enhanced security. He also instructed the implementation of the suggestions made in the meeting and directed that discussions be held with idol organizers, Garba organizers and DJ operators in the presence of relevant authorities. The meeting also covered arrangements for the Punjabi Dussehra celebration and programs for Guru Nanak Jayanti. India most sought-after for Rotary Youth Exchange Rotary International President-Elect Mario Camargo during media interaction in city on Sunday. (Pic by Satish Raut) Staff Reporter : Youth from across the world showing keen interest in knowing Indias rapid economic growth to $4 trillion economy. -Rotary International President-Elect Camargo Transforming landscape and upwards trajectory of Indian economy is now a focus of in-depth study world-wide and Rotary International is no exception, said Rotary International President-Elect Mario Camargo. Elaborating on success of the organisation, Camargo added, The flagship Youth Exchange programme of Rotary International sees more interest for visit to this ancient land. On a two-day visit of the city, the veteran Rotarian compared the economies of Brazil, which he represents and that of India, saying earlier, their economy was twice the size of India. Now Indian economy has quadrupled to $ 4 trillion while Brazil numbers are constant at $2 trillion, he pointed out while answering querry as to top destinations for Youth Exchange programme. Youth from across the world showing keen interest in knowing Indias rapid economic growth to $4 trillion economy, he said while interacting with newspersons on sidelines of Youth Exchange meet at Hotel Radisson Blu on Sunday, he elaborated on Rotarys scope, its focus areas and future goals. Having travelled the world, Camargo was knowing whats changing around, as he mentions that most Indians might not be knowing as to what has changed in their neighbourhood, but for those coming frequently, the fast change is simply dazzling. On top of that with India having lifted 400 million people out of poverty, next only to China, and the projections point to a rosy future. For Rotary, one of the key areas of focus is India indeed, especially for youths of Brazil. Even otherwise, India is now second biggest donor to Rotary Foundation, a philanthropic venture of Rotary International, next only to USA at $33 million. So now apart from one of the biggest recipient of funds for community projects, Rotary India is also a major contributor. So everyone is interested to know how the change has occurred, the factors that led to it and also study its impact on education and people of the country. As to Rotary vision, the International President-Elect was firm that the organisations steadfast commitment to world peace is unwavering as it supports eight core areas including fighting diseases, combating hunger, eradication of polio, fighting illiteracy, and other pressing engagements. On post-polio scenario, he outlined several of ongoing corporate programmes, one of which might get taken up for replication on global scale. Rotary, Camargo mentioned, runs Peace Universities where it funds Youths education and they in turn contribute to various international agencies in common endeavour to foster close knit relationship among different communities world-wide. He added in near future India to might get one such centre. Since its inception, Rotary has seen through 2 world wars and many local conflicts, its ethos always centered around peaceful engagement, providing aid to communities in distress, building strong foundation for thriving inter-connectivity between different groups and culture. Talking about the engagement of youth, Camargo was quite frank to admit that average age of Rotarian world-wide is on higher side and this necessitates engaging young population into the clubs. Just like family or business, Camargo emphasised on a elaborate succession plan as part of its commitment to future endeavors. Though he added that there is no readily available solution but for the brand Rotary to survive and thrive, participation of Gen Next is needed on more wider scale building upon the Rotary Youth Exchange programme as Camargo himself is product of the same venture. Yes, definitely pandemic, the COVID-19 left a deep impact on humanity, he stated while speaking about emergence of technology saying when all hope was lost, it kept open communication challenges in those critical times. But Camargo was quick to add that digital connect is okay but face-to-face contact is most important to make lasting impact. And summing up he stated emphatically, Rotary thrives when in danger and it is first to response in time of crisis. Rotary International Directors T N Subramanian from Mumbai and Anirudh Chowdhury from Kolkata along with Rotary District 3030 President Rajinder Singh Khurana were also present during the media interaction. The car market offers a wide range of models to suit every taste and budget. However, not all cars that have an average price look like that. ADVERTISIMENT Some cars, thanks to their design and characteristics, can easily compete even with the luxury segment. GO talks about three models that are as good as expensive vehicles. 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The only thing this car lacks in order to be no different from incredibly expensive and luxurious models is air suspension and massage seats. ADVERTISIMENT Subscribe to the OBOZ.UA channels in Telegram and Viber to keep up with the latest events. Israel kills another highranking Hezbollah official JERUSALEM : THE Israeli military said Sunday that it killed another high-ranking Hezbollah official in an airstrike as the Lebanese militant group was reeling from a string of devastating blows and the killing of its overall leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The military said Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollahs Central Council, was killed on Saturday. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah, and it was not known where the strike took place. If confirmed, he would be the seventh senior Hezbollah leader slain in Israeli strikes in a little over a week, including founding members who had evaded death or detention for decades. The Israeli military said it carried out another targeted strike on Beirut later on Sunday, with details to follow. Hezbollah meanwhile confirmed that one of the seven, Ali Karaki, died in Fridays strike that killed Nasrallah. The Israeli military had earlier said that Karaki was killed in the airstrike, which targeted an underground compound in Beirut where Nasrallah and other senior Hezbollah figures were meeting. Hezbollah has also been targeted by a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies that was widely blamed on Israel. A wave of Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon has killed at least 1,030 people including 156 women and 87 children in less than two weeks, according to Lebanons Health Ministry. Hundreds of thousands of people have been driven from their homes in Lebanon by the lastest strikes. The Government estimates that around 250,000 are in shelters, with three to four times as many staying with friends or relatives, or camping out on the streets, Environment Minister Nasser Yassin told The Associated Press. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets and missiles into northern Israel, but most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas. No Israelis have been killed since the latest wave of strikes on top Hezbollah leaders began on Sept. 20. Kaouk was a veteran member of Hezbollah going back to the 1980s and served as Hezbollahs military commander in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war with Israel. He often appeared in local media, where he would comment on politics and security developments, and he gave eulogies at the funerals of senior militants. The United States had announced sanctions against him in 2020. Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel after Hamas Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies that consider themselves part of an Iran-backed Axis of Resistance against Israel. Israel has responded with waves of airstrikes, and the conflict has steadily ratcheted up to the brink of all-out war, raising fears of a region-wide conflagration. Israel says it is determined to return some 60,000 of its citizens to communities in the north that were evacuated nearly a year ago. Hezbollah has said it will only halt its rocket fire if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, which has proven elusive despite months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt. Economic growth, social development possible only where rule of law is upheld: President Murmu New Delhi, Sep 30 (PTI) President Droupadi Murmu on Monday said that economic growth and social development are possible only where the rule of law is upheld. Without maintaining law and order, ensuring justice and protecting citizens' rights, progress becomes a meaningless term, she said addressing a group of Indian Police Service (IPS) probationers, who had called on her at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. "One category of crime I would like to highlight here is crimes against women. While it is a complex phenomenon with its roots deep in a sick mindset as well as sickening social prejudices, it is, first of all, a crime. Therefore, fighting it requires action at many levels, but the first response comes from the police force," Murmu said. She said that police officers working on these cases are expected to have exceptional sensitivity, empathy for the victim besides utmost commitment to the task of ensuring justice. The president said police officers working on cases of crime against women are "expected to have exceptional sensitivity and empathy for the victim and utmost commitment to the task of ensuring justice". She said law and order is not only the bedrock of governance but also the very basis of the modern state, and asked the officers to be efficient, sympathetic, fearless as well as friendly. Murmu said police officers' roles become more crucial as India aims to scale new heights in the years to come. "Economic growth and social development are possible only where the rule of law is upheld. Without maintaining law and order, ensuring justice and protecting citizens' rights, progress becomes a meaningless term," the president said. She asked the police officers to be tech-savvy and stay a step ahead of the criminals. Maintenance of law and order, crime prevention and detection as well as other aspects of policing have benefited from advances in technology, the president said. "The flip side, however, is that criminals and terrorists too have resorted to using technology. When cyber-crimes and cyber warfare are rising around the world, you will be expected to be tech-savvy and stay a step ahead of the criminals," Murmu said. The president expressed happiness over the rise in the number of women officers in the IPS. "I am told that in this batch there are 54 lady officers out of the total strength of 188. At 28.72 per cent, it is a sharp jump from last year's numbers as well as the average of recent years," she said. Murmu said that the role of lady officers goes much beyond addressing gender-based crimes. "Their increasing numbers can change the overall character of policing for the better, improve the police-community relations, and will prove beneficial to the nation too," the president said, addressing the IPS probationers of the 76 Regular Recruits (2023) batch. She also advised the officers to make yoga a part of their routine and not ignore their mental well-being. "I have spoken about the great responsibilities placed on your shoulders. These can sometimes be too stressful. I would like to offer you a word of advice in this regard. "Never ignore your mental well-being. Make yoga, 'pranayama' and relaxation techniques part of your routine from now, and they will help you do your job better," Murmu said. "The S' in IPS' stands for service", she said, and added that "one watchword above all is to serve the nation and its citizens". Staff Reporter : Cement-mixer overturns on car after colliding with container A horrific accident occurred at the Jamtha T-point on Wardha Road late Saturday night. A cement-mixer truck first collided with a container. Following this, the mixer truck overturned onto a car. Four people in the car had a narrow escape, but the driver of the container died during treatment. The deceased was identified as Ramlal Chauran (50), a resident of Rajasthan. Hingna Police have registered a case based on the complaint of Swapnil Subhashrao Hulke (33), a resident of Diwan Layout, Manewada. Swapnil had gone to a restaurant on Wardha Road on Saturday night with three friends in his car (MH-49/CD-9412) for dinner. After dining, they left to return to the city around 3.30 am. Swapnil needed to take a U-turn at the Jamtha T-point, while the container truck, driven by Ramlal (KA-41/D-4415), also had to make a U-turn towards Wardha. Both vehicles were waiting at the turn for the way to clear when the driver of the cement mixer truck (TS-22/T-9423), came towards Nagpur and collided forcefully with the front of the container. The impact was so severe that the cabin of the container was uprooted. The mixer truck then went out of control and overturned onto Swapnils car, which was at the opposite end of the truck. The truck landed on the bonnet of the car. Swapnil and his friends escaped with minor injuries. There was a traffic jam on Wardha Road following the incident. The police were informed, and Hingna Police arrived at the scene. Ramlal and the injured driver of the mixer truck were sent to AIIMS hospital for treatment, but Ramlal died during treatment. Removing the vehicles from the road after the accident proved to be very difficult, as both trucks were heavily loaded. Even after employing two cranes, the trucks would not budge. After considerable effort, the vehicles were finally removed from the road, but it took several hours, which affected traffic on Wardha Road. The police have registered a case against the driver of the mixer truck, but he has not yet been identified due to his injuries. PMAY over nullah in Kalkheda! WHOS LAND IS IT? The wall painted at the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana showing the Khasra number 9 (which is designated for a (nullah) at Kalkheda. By Naman Atolia : After missing deadlines in construction and approvals from the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), the infamous Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) project has again embroiled into controversies. This time, the under-construction PMAY project in Kalkheda (a village in the Neelbad locality of the city) has landed into arguments as the land boasted by the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) to be the area of the project is not allotted on the corporations name, as per the land archives record The Hitavada received. Moreover, the land claimed by the corporation has been scheduled to be utilised for nullah (drain), aggravating the situation further. With an individual visiting the PMAY project at the site, he/she gets to see a wall painted with the colours of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) stating, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and the Khasra numbers of the project, 108 and 09. Interestingly, the Khasra number 09 here is not allotted to the corporation rather is on the name of the State Government. What worsens the situation is the fact that the project here is allocated for the cause of nullah (drain) in the village. As per the land records, the land has an area of 0.5100 hectares. As per the Patwari of the village Rohit Yadav, no other land in the entire village is owned by the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC). The corporation had requested for a land with a Khasra number 128 but no decision was made in this regard, he said. Significantly, the land (as per land archive records) has an area 18.37 hectares and is a Government land and is designated as a pastureland. With this, significant questions have risen up pertaining to the fact whether the corporation wants to refute its own rules. Earlier talking to The Hitavada encroachment officer of the corporation, Shailendra Singh Bhadauriya had committed to resolve the issues relating to encroachment on drains but this action by the corporation poses questions whether the corporation just wants to save its tarnishing image and anyhow hand over the project to the public neglecting all the rules and plight of the denizens. Shubham, the site engineer of the project, told The Hitavada that he is not aware of such a thing. On being asked about the thing, he seemed confused. Anything in this matter could be only said after looking at the site map. Ironically outside his office, is the painted wall where the Khasra numbers have been mentioned. The land on which the PMAY project is being built (Khasra number 108) spreads across an area of 10.2400 hectares and is named by the Commissioner, Bhopal Municipal Corporation. As per information, the PMAY project in Kalkheda was proposed at a 50 acre land to be built in two phases. With the first phase on the ground, the second phase still waits for the approval of authorities to come out of paper. Shayad ye wahi hoga (Maybe it will be the same again). The site engineer said to make him aware of the information. But, the statement made by the engineer refutes the information by the Patwari that no other land belongs to the BMC in the village leading to further questions. This project is also important from the perspective that the project may accommodate the illegal residents of Bhadbhada slums whose 386 houses were razed in February this year. The project was passed in the time of KVS Choudhary, the then Municipal Commissioner of the corporation. With this, the village Kalkheda has come into light again. Before, the village was in limelight as the Suraj Colony, as proposed by the former chief minister of the state, Shivraj Singh Chouhan had suddenly disappeared. Prasad Laddoos issue emerges at many temples of State By Bhavana Aparajita Shukla : Controversy erupts in Ujjain Shri Mahakaleshwar temple, at Salkanpur Vindhyavasni Beejasan Devi temple Amid a raging row over the alleged use of animal fat in the laddoos given as prasad at the renowned Tirupati temple in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, Prasad Laddoos row erupted in the State too. Congress is up in arms over Shri Mahakaleshwar Prasad matter. Opposition party claimed that minister has first tasted the prasad before it was being offered to God. In another incident at Salkanpur Vindhyavasni Beejasan Devi temple, devotees have been complaining that the laddoos are smelling and tasting different so a ban should be imposed on the supplier. At Shri Mahakaleshawar temple, during an inspection, Skill Development and Employment Minister Gautam Tatwal visited the temple and he took ingrediates of prasad from the cook. After tasting it, he gave him the left over that was mixed with the prasad. Congress took on X saying, temple kitchens have strict hygiene protocols. This act of minister is a blow to peoples faith. In Ujjain, Congress says it is a highly objectionable. Notably, at several places in State people, right wing organisation and opposition are raising the issue of prasad at various prominent temples of the State. Some organisations in the State even demanded that Hindu temples and places of worship should be handed over to society rather than be controlled by the governments. Notably, at famous Khajarana temple in Indore, Salkanpur temple near Bhopal, Shri Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain, Maa Sharda temple in Maihar and some others district collectors are heading the temple management committee. Some organisations stand came after Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Pawan Kalyan, called for the constitution of Sanatana Dharma Rakshana Board to manage the affairs in temples, countrywide. While at Salkanpur Vindhyavasni Beejasan Devi temple, trust Chairman Mahesh Upadhyay told media that devotees have been complaining that the laddoos are smelling and tasting different so a ban was sought. The trust managing a famous temple dedicated to Vindhyavasni Beejasan Devi has submitted a memorandum to the Collector of Sehore seeking a ban on the laddoos being sold by a self-help group on the premises. We want a ban on the sale of these laddoos on the temple premises, Upadhyay said. On this, Sehore Collector Praveen Singh admitted that a memorandum has been received recently. A meeting was held between the trust and the self help group members. The issue is almost settled. Temple is patronised by thousands of people, who climb more than 1,000 steps to reach there. A grand fair is held during Navratri. While in Indore, devotees have a sigh of relief as one doesnt have to worry about the quality of laddoos as the Prasad here got BHOG (Blissful Hygienic Offering to God) certificate. A team of officials conducted inspection. Eat right at place of worship: BHOG (Blissful Hygienic offering to God ) encourage places of worship to adopt and maintain food safety and hygiene in preparation, serving and sale of prasad along with training of food handlers for basic food safety and hygiene. Certificate is being issued by the FSSAI. Sub-Engineer, Special Gang In-charge of municipal corporation suspended Staff Reporter : Mahakal areas security officer Platoon Commander Dilip Bamaniya also suspended As per the instructions of Ujjain Collector Neeraj Kumar Singh, for negligence in removing temporary encroachment in the area around Mahakaleshwar temple, Ujjain Municipal Commissioner Ashish Pathak has issued an order suspending Principal Deputy Engineer Municipal Corporation Gopal Boyat and Special Gang In-charge Manish Bali with immediate effect. At the same time, Mahakal temples security officer Platoon Commander Dilip Bamaniya has also been suspended. As per the order issued, Principal Deputy Engineer and Special Gang In-charge Municipal Corporation were entrusted with the responsibility of removing temporary encroachment from the entire Mahakal area. Due to negligence towards work, two persons died in the said accident and other persons were also injured when the wall fell on the businessmen who were doing business by making temporary encroachment near the wall near Mahakal temple on Friday. Due to which, due to negligence, Chief Deputy Engineer Municipal Corporation Boyat and Special Gang Incharge Municipal Corporation Bali are suspended with immediate effect. September 30 is a day that combines a wealth of cultural, historical and religious events. It is a date that is marked by several holidays, each of which has a special meaning for certain groups of people. ADVERTISIMENT At the same time, this day has witnessed numerous historical events that have influenced the course of world history. Read more about this in the OBOZ.UA article. Feast of St. Gregory, Bishop of Great Armenia One of the most important religious holidays of this day is the celebration of the Holy Martyr Gregory, Bishop of Great Armenia. Gregory the Illuminator, as he is often called, was a key figure in the introduction of Christianity and played an important role in the conversion of the Armenian people to the new faith in the fourth century. It was on his initiative that Armenia became the first state to officially adopt Christianity as the state religion in 301. Therefore, the Armenian Apostolic Church is still called the Gregorian Church in honor of this saint. International Translation Day ADVERTISIMENT September 30 is also International Translation Day, dedicated to the professional activities of translators who ensure mutual understanding between different cultures and peoples. This day was not chosen by chance - it coincides with the death of St. Jerome, who translated the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into Latin. This translation is called the Vulgate and is still the official biblical text of the Roman Catholic Church. Orange Shirt Day Another important holiday that is celebrated on September 30 is Orange Shirt Day, known in Canada as a day of remembrance for children who have suffered violence and discrimination in the residential school system for indigenous peoples. It honors the victims of colonial policies that aimed to assimilate Indigenous peoples in Canada by separating children from their families and cultures. ADVERTISIMENT All-Ukrainian Day of Libraries Every year on September 30, Ukraine celebrates the All-Ukrainian Library Day, a holiday that honors not only libraries as centers of knowledge, but also librarians - those who preserve and enhance the cultural and scientific heritage of the country. It was established "...taking into account the great contribution of Ukrainian libraries to the development of national education, science and culture and the need to further enhance their role in society...". Significant events on September 30 2022 - Russia annexes parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions of Ukraine. 2015 - the beginning of Russia's intervention in Syria. ADVERTISIMENT 2005 - the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, which led to the "cartoon scandal." 1992 - The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine registers the Association of Researchers of the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933. 1990 - A rally under the slogan "No to the New Union Treaty!" was held in Kyiv on the square near the Republican Stadium with the participation of almost 300,000 people. 1954 - the first nuclear submarine Nautilus was commissioned in the United States. 1946 - the first sentences against Nazi criminals are announced at the Nuremberg Tribunal. 1939 - The Government of Poland in Exile is established in Paris, which later moved to London. 1929 - the British BBC service broadcasts for the first time. 1876 - The Kyivska Staryna magazine first published a biography of Hryhoriy Skovoroda. ADVERTISIMENT Subscribe to OBOZ.UA channels in Telegram and Viber to keep up with the latest events. Press Release September 29, 2024 Marikina City father battles kidney disease with the help from Bong Go's Malasakit Center initiative Life had been a daily battle for James Umpad, a 33-year-old father from Marikina City. Diagnosed with Stage 5 kidney disease, he often found himself on the brink of despair, his body weakened by illness, and his spirit burdened by the financial strain that comes with long-term treatment. Yet, through it all, one constant source of comfort and survival for James came in the form of an initiative he never expected to depend on so deeply--Senator Christopher "Bong" Go and the Malasakit Centers. James recalls how his health problems began in 2018. At first, it was just persistent back pain and occasional nausea, but as time went on, the symptoms worsened. By 2020, his hemoglobin levels had plummeted, and his creatinine shot up dangerously, leading to multiple emergency hospital visits. "Nakakatakot po talaga ang gastusin, lalo na pag halos araw-araw may kailangan kang bayaran para sa gamot at sa ospital," James explained. For someone who had always been a provider, relying on his income to take care of his family, the medical bills became unbearable. It was during one of his frequent hospital admissions, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, that James was introduced to the Malasakit Center at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute in Quezon City--a one-stop shop dedicated to helping Filipinos in need, especially when medical expenses become overwhelming. "Kung walang Malasakit Center, hindi ko po alam kung buhay pa ako ngayon," James shared candidly, reflecting on how the assistance he received helped ease the crushing burden of hospital bills. "Ayan po ang nagpapalakas sa akin--'yung anak ko, asawa ko, pamilya ko, at Malasakit Center na tumutulong." Malasakit Centers aim to support impoverished patients in reducing their hospital costs to the least possible amount. Go is the principal author and sponsor of Republic Act No. 11463 or the Malasakit Centers Act of 2019, which institutionalized the Malasakit Centers program. As of now, 166 Malasakit Centers are operational across the country, poised to assist with patients' medical expenses. The DOH reports that the Malasakit Center program has already provided aid to nearly 12 million Filipinos. Beyond the financial relief, the Malasakit Center gave James something even more valuable--time. Time with his family, time to continue fighting his illness, and time to hold on to his dreams of seeing his children graduate. "Gusto ko pa po silang makasama ng matagal... Ang alam ko po sa sakit na ganito, talagang magastos po," James admitted. His eyes well up with emotion as he speaks of his desire to see his children through school and to spend more years with the people he loves most. Go, affectionately called "Mr. Malasakit" by the communities he serves, designed the Malasakit Centers to provide fast and accessible financial aid to Filipinos facing health crises. These centers aim to help ease the burden of medical costs by streamlining assistance from government agencies under one roof. For people like James, it is a vital source of support, especially during times when every peso counts. "Hinding-hindi ko po sasayangin yung pagkakataong ibinigay nyo po sa akin. Magtatrabaho po ako para sa Pilipino. At iyan po ang pwede kong i-alay sa inyo, ang aking bisyo sa pagseserbisyo," Go emphasized, reassuring people like James that the government stands by them in their times of need. James remains thankful every day--not only for the chance to keep fighting but for the system that allowed him to do so. He is one of many whose lives have been touched by the Malasakit Center. His story is a testament to the power of community support, kindness, and, as James himself says, "malasakit sa kapwa." A car is not only an important purchase, but also a serious investment. It is important to look for a model that will retain its value over time. Value for money is the key. Drivers pay attention primarily to cars that are not too expensive and do not require constant repair costs. Of course, fuel economy plays an important role. ADVERTISIMENT Experts told us which affordable models will be a reliable investment. GOBankingRates talked to industry experts to find out which brands are best to choose in 2024. Toyota Toyota is consistently a leader in the ranking of affordable and reliable cars. These models are traditionally at the top of the bestseller list. "In general, Toyota is always the best choice for buyers looking for affordable cars. Firstly, the manufacturer offers the widest range of affordable cars on the market, and some are even equipped with very economical hybrid powertrains. The second advantage is Toyota's consistent record of reliability across several generations of different models, which minimizes maintenance costs," said Evaldas Zabitis, automotive expert at CarVertical. Jamie Mitry, sales and service manager at Cumberland Hill Auto, added that spare parts for these cars are first-class and maintenance is affordable. ADVERTISIMENT Brian Moody, executive editor at Kelley Blue Book, recommended the Toyota Corolla, a longtime favorite among budget-conscious buyers. It is a top choice due to its impressive fuel efficiency and reliable performance. Ford For decades, Ford has been known as an affordable iconic American brand thanks to its rugged trucks and practical family cars. In 2024, Ford continues to be a top choice for buyers. There is a stereotype that Ford is a rather expensive brand. In fact, the manufacturer offers a surprising number of high-quality and affordable lower-level cars. "For example, the Ford Maverick, one of the brand's smaller trucks, offers impressive payload and torque, and comes with a hybrid engine option for improved fuel economy," said Nigel Tunnicliffe, co-founder and CEO of Coastline Academy. Honda ADVERTISIMENT Honda has long been synonymous with reliability and affordability, and the brand's 2024 lineup will save you money in the long run. "Honda offers a diverse lineup of cars at a competitive price range. The cars have high safety ratings and good fuel efficiency, which reduces long-term costs," said Tunnicliffe. The brand also offers a range of electric and hybrid vehicles, which, despite their higher initial cost, offer tremendous fuel savings over their lifetime. Honda, as a brand, maintains a high resale value. Mazda Despite the fact that Mazda is often in the shadow of the larger automotive giants, the manufacturer has carved out a niche for itself as a brand that provides affordable driving. Even the most affordable Mazdas are far from basic vehicles. Mazda offers a choice of exquisite, well-designed cars with luxury elements, which makes them a very profitable investment. ADVERTISIMENT Subscribe to the OBOZ.UA channels in Telegram and Viber to keep up with the latest events. Fall in love with a new pet during Fall National Empty the Shelters campaign Biotricity, Inc. (OTCMKTS:BTCY Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 227,800 shares, a decrease of 21.7% from the August 31st total of 291,100 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 40,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.6 days. Biotricity Price Performance Shares of BTCY stock traded down $0.03 on Friday, hitting $0.25. 66,387 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 75,328. The company has a 50 day moving average of $0.46 and a 200 day moving average of $0.90. The stock has a market cap of $5.41 million, a P/E ratio of -0.19 and a beta of 1.35. Biotricity has a 12 month low of $0.24 and a 12 month high of $2.22. Get Biotricity alerts: Biotricity (OTCMKTS:BTCY Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The company reported ($0.49) EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $3.20 million for the quarter. Sell-side analysts predict that Biotricity will post -1.43 EPS for the current fiscal year. About Biotricity Biotricity, Inc, a medical technology company, provides biometric data monitoring solutions in the United States. The company focuses on delivery of remote monitoring solutions to medical, healthcare, and consumer markets, including diagnostic and post-diagnostic solutions for lifestyle and chronic illnesses. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Biotricity Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Biotricity and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Azul S.A. (NYSE:AZUL Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of Hold from the nine analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $6.59. Several research firms have weighed in on AZUL. Hsbc Global Res raised Azul to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. HSBC cut Azul from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $2.70 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Azul from a buy rating to a neutral rating and decreased their price target for the company from $6.70 to $4.00 in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Azul from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Azul from $10.00 to $4.50 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 19th. Get Azul alerts: Get Our Latest Stock Report on Azul Institutional Inflows and Outflows Azul Stock Performance A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Azul by 35.9% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 10,649 shares of the companys stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 2,812 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Azul during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Inspire Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Azul by 20.1% during the 2nd quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 22,463 shares of the companys stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 3,764 shares during the last quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Azul by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 27,341 shares of the companys stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 2,380 shares during the period. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Azul in the 4th quarter valued at $214,000. Institutional investors own 0.82% of the companys stock. NYSE AZUL opened at $3.24 on Monday. The stocks 50 day moving average price is $3.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.33 and a beta of 1.97. Azul has a 52 week low of $2.02 and a 52 week high of $11.26. Azul (NYSE:AZUL Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The company reported ($1.23) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.63). The business had revenue of $800.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $791.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.81) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Azul will post -1.39 EPS for the current year. Azul Company Profile (Get Free Report Azul SA, together with its subsidiaries, provides air transportation services in Brazil and internationally. As of December 31, 2023, the company operated approximately 1,000 daily departures to 160 destinations through a network of 300 non-stop routes with an operating fleet of 183 aircraft and a passenger contractual fleet of 189 aircraft. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Azul Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Azul and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG (OTCMKTS:PBBGF Get Free Report) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,762,300 shares, a decrease of 24.1% from the August 31st total of 2,321,100 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 0 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently days. Deutsche Pfandbriefbank Price Performance Shares of PBBGF remained flat at $5.25 during trading hours on Friday. Deutsche Pfandbriefbank has a 1-year low of $5.25 and a 1-year high of $5.25. The stocks 50-day moving average is $5.20 and its 200-day moving average is $5.07. Get Deutsche Pfandbriefbank alerts: Deutsche Pfandbriefbank Company Profile (Get Free Report) Featured Stories Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG provides commercial real estate and public investment finance in Europe and the United States of America. It operates through Real Estate Finance and Non-Core segments. The Real Estate Finance segment provides financing for professional real estate investors, which includes professional national and international real estate companies, institutional investors, and property funds to financed properties comprising office buildings, properties for residential use, retail, and logistic properties, as well as hotel business. Receive News & Ratings for Deutsche Pfandbriefbank Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Deutsche Pfandbriefbank and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX Get Free Report) and SPX Technologies (NYSE:SPXC Get Free Report) are both construction companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, dividends and institutional ownership. Analyst Recommendations This is a summary of current recommendations for Quanex Building Products and SPX Technologies, as provided by MarketBeat.com. Get Quanex Building Products alerts: Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Quanex Building Products 0 0 1 0 3.00 SPX Technologies 0 2 1 0 2.33 Quanex Building Products presently has a consensus target price of $38.00, suggesting a potential upside of 37.38%. SPX Technologies has a consensus target price of $141.00, suggesting a potential downside of 11.34%. Given Quanex Building Products stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Quanex Building Products is more favorable than SPX Technologies. Profitability Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Quanex Building Products 6.88% 14.68% 9.90% SPX Technologies 5.53% 19.20% 8.90% Volatility and Risk This table compares Quanex Building Products and SPX Technologies net margins, return on equity and return on assets. Quanex Building Products has a beta of 1.27, indicating that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SPX Technologies has a beta of 1.22, indicating that its stock price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Institutional and Insider Ownership 97.5% of Quanex Building Products shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.8% of SPX Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of Quanex Building Products shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.5% of SPX Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term. Valuation and Earnings This table compares Quanex Building Products and SPX Technologiess top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation. Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Quanex Building Products $1.08 billion 0.85 $82.50 million $2.44 11.34 SPX Technologies $1.74 billion 4.23 $89.90 million $2.05 77.58 SPX Technologies has higher revenue and earnings than Quanex Building Products. Quanex Building Products is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SPX Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. Summary Quanex Building Products beats SPX Technologies on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks. About Quanex Building Products (Get Free Report) Quanex Building Products Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides components for the fenestration industry in the United States, rest of Europe, Canada, Asia, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North American Fenestration, European Fenestration, and North American Cabinet Components. It offers flexible insulating glass spacers, extruded vinyl profiles, window and door screens, and precision-formed metal and wood products, as well as cabinet doors and other components for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the kitchen and bathroom cabinet industry. In addition, the company provides various non-fenestration components and products, including solar panel sealants, trim moldings, vinyl decking, fencing, water retention barriers, and conservatory roof components. It sells its products to OEMs in the building products industry through sales representatives, direct sales force, distributors, and independent sales agents. Quanex Building Products Corporation was founded in 1927 and is based in Houston, Texas. About SPX Technologies (Get Free Report) SPX Technologies, Inc. supplies infrastructure equipment serving the heating, ventilation, and cooling (HVAC); and detection and measurement markets worldwide. The company operates in two segments, HVAC and Detection and Measurement. The HVAC segment engineers, designs, manufactures, installs, and services package and process cooling products and engineered air movement solutions for the HVAC industrial and power generation markets, as well as boilers, heating, and ventilation products for the residential and commercial markets. It offers its products under the Marley, Recold, SGS, Cincinnati Fan, TAMCO, Ingenia, Berko, Qmark, Fahrenheat, Leading Edge, Patterson-Kelley, Weil-McLain, Williamson-Thermoflo, INDEECO, Heatrex, AccuTherm, Brasch, Spectrum, BannerDay PipeHeating, and Solar Products brands. The Detection and Measurement segment offers underground pipe and cable locators, inspection and rehabilitation equipment, and robotic systems under the Radiodetection, Pearpoint, Schonstedt, Dielectric, Riser Bond, Cues, ULC Robotics, and Sensors & Software brands; transportation systems under the Genfare brand; communication technologies products under the TCI and ECS brands; and obstruction lighting products under the Flash Technology, ITL, Sabik Marine, Sealite, and Avlite brands. The company markets its products through independent manufacturing representatives, third-party distributors, and retailers, as well as direct to customers. The company was formerly known as SPX Corporation and changed its name to SPX Technologies, Inc. in August 2022. SPX Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Receive News & Ratings for Quanex Building Products Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Quanex Building Products and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha held talks with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto. The main topic of the dialogue was Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine and ways to achieve a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace. ADVERTISIMENT In particular, the parties discussed the Peace Formula and bilateral relations between Kyiv and Budapest. Sybiha said this at a press conference following the talks with Szijjarto. The minister emphasized the need to develop Ukrainian-Hungarian relations on the basis of mutual respect, understanding of each other's national interests, and perception of Ukraine as a future member of the EU and NATO. The Ukrainian Foreign Minister emphasized that he had a very frank one-on-one conversation with Szijjarto, as well as meaningful consultations in an expanded format. Sybiha noted that the topic of restoring Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as punishing Russia for the atrocities committed against Ukrainians, was raised. The Ukrainian minister added that he had informed his Hungarian counterpart about the situation at the front and in the temporarily occupied territories. He also thanked Hungary for its support of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, the adoption of 14 packages of EU sanctions against Russia, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Sybiha also noted Szijjarto's participation in the first Peace Summit and Hungary's accession to the joint communique. ADVERTISIMENT "For Ukraine, one of the key priorities is integration into the EU. The opening of accession negotiations was an important step in this context. We look forward to Hungary's continued support on this path, both during the current EU presidency and in the future. In particular, in support of the opening of negotiating clusters in parallel," the Ukrainian Foreign Minister said. During the talks, Sybiha and Szijjarto coordinated the next steps in the development of border infrastructure, which will facilitate the establishment of trade and economic relations between Ukraine and Hungary. According to the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, the parties agreed to hold a regular meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission by the end of this year. ADVERTISIMENT "We continue to actively work on the development of the legal framework that will help strengthen cooperation and create new opportunities for interaction in areas of common interest. I am grateful to our Hungarian partners for their mutual commitment to constructive dialogue and the development of a pragmatic and predictable neighborhood policy," Sibiga said. The news is updated... Chemed Co. (NYSE:CHE Get Free Report) Director George J. Walsh III sold 400 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $597.47, for a total transaction of $238,988.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,046 shares in the company, valued at $1,819,893.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Chemed Price Performance Shares of NYSE:CHE opened at $599.04 on Monday. The companys fifty day moving average price is $574.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $575.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.24, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.44. Chemed Co. has a one year low of $497.36 and a one year high of $654.62. Get Chemed alerts: Chemed (NYSE:CHE Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $5.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $5.59 by ($0.12). Chemed had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 29.21%. The firm had revenue of $595.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $599.20 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.71 EPS. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Chemed Co. will post 21.77 EPS for the current year. Chemed Increases Dividend Institutional Inflows and Outflows The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. This is a positive change from Chemeds previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Chemeds dividend payout ratio is currently 10.76%. Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new stake in Chemed in the first quarter worth $1,064,000. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Chemed by 6,288.9% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 50,600 shares of the companys stock valued at $32,482,000 after acquiring an additional 49,808 shares during the last quarter. Cim LLC purchased a new stake in Chemed during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,328,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Chemed by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 41,336 shares of the companys stock worth $26,535,000 after acquiring an additional 1,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American National Bank & Trust Co. VA purchased a new position in Chemed in the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,122,000. 95.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. About Chemed (Get Free Report) Chemed Corporation provides hospice and palliative care services to patients through a network of physicians, registered nurses, home health aides, social workers, clergy, and volunteers primarily in the United States. The company operates in VITAS and Roto-Rooter segments. It offers plumbing, drain cleaning, excavation, water restoration, and other related services to residential and commercial customers through company-owned branches, independent contractors, and franchisees. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Chemed Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Chemed and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Nxera Pharma Co., Ltd. (OTCMKTS:SOLTF Get Free Report) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,006,700 shares, a decline of 16.6% from the August 31st total of 2,405,300 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 20,067.0 days. Nxera Pharma Stock Performance OTCMKTS SOLTF opened at $9.15 on Monday. Nxera Pharma has a 52-week low of $8.22 and a 52-week high of $13.43. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.74. Get Nxera Pharma alerts: Nxera Pharma Company Profile (Get Free Report) Read More Nxera Pharma Co, Ltd. develops and sells biopharmaceutical products in Japan, Switzerland, the United States, Bermuda, and the United Kingdom. Its product portfolio products include Ultibro/Breezhaler and Seebri/Breezhaler for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Enerzair and Breezhaler for the treatment of asthma; ORAVI, a novel formulation for the treatment of oropharyngeal candidiasis; and PIVLAZ for the treatment of cerebral vasospasm indications. Receive News & Ratings for Nxera Pharma Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Nxera Pharma and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. P/F Bakkafrost (OTCMKTS:BKFKF Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 46,800 shares, a growth of 15.6% from the August 31st total of 40,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 468.0 days. P/F Bakkafrost Price Performance OTCMKTS BKFKF traded down $0.39 on Monday, reaching $55.58. The company had a trading volume of 200 shares, compared to its average volume of 306. P/F Bakkafrost has a 1-year low of $41.79 and a 1-year high of $64.30. The companys fifty day moving average is $53.36 and its 200-day moving average is $55.66. Get P/F Bakkafrost alerts: P/F Bakkafrost Company Profile (Get Free Report) See Also P/F Bakkafrost, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells salmon products in North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia, and internationally. It operates through seven segments: Fishmeal, Fish Oil and Fish Feed; Freshwater FO; Freshwater SCT; Farming FO; Farming SCT; Services; and Sales & Other. Receive News & Ratings for P/F Bakkafrost Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for P/F Bakkafrost and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of Moderate Buy by the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $81.46. A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group in a report on Friday, September 13th. They issued a hold rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Public Service Enterprise Group from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Public Service Enterprise Group from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Public Service Enterprise Group from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Get Public Service Enterprise Group alerts: View Our Latest Stock Report on Public Service Enterprise Group Public Service Enterprise Group Trading Up 0.9 % Shares of NYSE:PEG opened at $88.25 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.96 billion, a PE ratio of 24.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.60. Public Service Enterprise Group has a 1 year low of $53.71 and a 1 year high of $88.86. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $81.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.49. Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.64 by ($0.01). Public Service Enterprise Group had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 16.12%. The company had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. The businesss revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Public Service Enterprise Group will post 3.67 EPS for the current fiscal year. Public Service Enterprise Group Announces Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Public Service Enterprise Groups dividend payout ratio is 66.48%. Insider Transactions at Public Service Enterprise Group In related news, EVP Tamara Louise Linde sold 19,127 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.26, for a total value of $1,535,133.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 67,524 shares of the companys stock, valued at $5,419,476.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Ralph A. Larossa sold 1,378 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.69, for a total transaction of $111,190.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 148,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,014,095.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Tamara Louise Linde sold 19,127 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.26, for a total value of $1,535,133.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 67,524 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,419,476.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 30,068 shares of company stock valued at $2,406,965. Company insiders own 0.57% of the companys stock. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PEG. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 127.9% during the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,390 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group during the second quarter worth approximately $422,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $6,675,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $101,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Public Service Enterprise Group by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 125,717 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $9,265,000 after acquiring an additional 4,837 shares in the last quarter. 73.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Public Service Enterprise Group Company Profile (Get Free Report Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, operates in electric and gas utility business in the United States. It operates through PSE&G and PSEG Power segments. The PSE&G segment transmits electricity; distributes electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers; and appliance services and repairs to customers through its service territory, as well as invests in solar generation projects, and energy efficiency and related programs. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Public Service Enterprise Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Public Service Enterprise Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Singapore Airlines Limited (OTCMKTS:SINGY Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 500 shares, a growth of 25.0% from the August 31st total of 400 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 99,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.0 days. Singapore Airlines Trading Up 0.8 % Shares of OTCMKTS:SINGY opened at $10.22 on Monday. Singapore Airlines has a 1 year low of $8.62 and a 1 year high of $10.99. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.77. Get Singapore Airlines alerts: Singapore Airlines Increases Dividend The company also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 2nd were paid a $0.5132 dividend. This is a boost from Singapore Airliness previous dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 2nd. Singapore Airliness payout ratio is presently 117.21%. Singapore Airlines Company Profile Singapore Airlines Limited, together with subsidiaries, provides passenger and cargo air transportation services under the Singapore Airlines and Scoot brands in East Asia, the Americas, Europe, Southwest Pacific, West Asia, and Africa. It operates through The Full-Service Carrier, The Low-Cost Carrier, and Engineering Services segments. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Singapore Airlines Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Singapore Airlines and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. The fighting in Vuhledar continues, and the Ukrainian 72nd Brigade continues to hold its ground in extremely difficult circumstances. However, Ukrainian units will likely be forced to retreat from Vuhledar over time due to excessive threats. ADVERTISIMENT This was reported by Serhii Zhurets, director of the Defense Express information and consulting company, on the Espresso TV channel. Despite the reports of some foreign media about the alleged withdrawal of Ukrainian units from Vuhledar, Zhurets notes that the situation is different. "The fighting continues in Vuhledar. The 72nd Brigade is holding this section of the frontline in extremely critical conditions," emphasized the military expert. The main problem in this area is the enemy's attempts to flank the area from the east and west. The enemy's fire control over the important logistics artery between Bohoyavlenka and Vuhledar is particularly threatening. This road, which is the main way to supply Ukrainian troops in the region, is under enemy fire, which creates serious risks for further combat operations. ADVERTISIMENT "It is now more than 1 km from Bohoyavlenka to the mines seized in the Vodyane area, which allows the enemy to keep this supply line under fire control. This creates significant risks for our brigade's combat operations," noted the military expert. Zhurets also noted that, according to most military experts, Ukrainian units will likely be forced to retreat from Vuhledar over time due to excessive threats. However, some foreign journalists suggest that it is possible to hold the city, provided that there is stable logistical support. "I think the risks are much greater, so we need to gradually wind down this defense and continue to move to other lines of defense. Our General Staff is well aware of this, but in many parts of the frontline, wherever we face similar situations, we see that our soldiers are holding the line to the last," summarized Zhurets. ADVERTISIMENT As a reminder, on September 24, Russia announced that its army had launched an assault on Vuhledar. During the assault, the occupiers are using a huge number of anti-aircraft gunships and aircraft, which allows them to advance. Western media, including Forbes, claimed that a Ukrainian brigade of about two thousand people was "under the threat of encirclement in the city." The very next day, on September 25, the Land Forces stated that Vuhledar was not currently surrounded, but that there was an advance by the occupiers. Meanwhile, the ISW said that the Russians could capture the city. However, they noted that even if Russian troops capture Vuhledar, it is unlikely to provide them with a significant operational advantage for further attacks in the western part of Donetsk region. Although, according to the Russian command, the offensives near Vuhledar and Pokrovsk are mutually reinforcing and are intended to stretch Ukrainian forces on a wider front in the Donetsk region. ADVERTISIMENT Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber . Do not fall for fakes! A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has directed the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) to proceed with the local government council elections scheduled for October 5. Ruling on Friday, Justice I. P. C. Igwe ordered RSIEC to use the 2023 Voters Register for the elections. In the suit marked PHC/2696/CS/2024, filed by Action Peoples Party (APP) against RSIEC, the Rivers State Government, and the Governor of Rivers State, the court also emphasized the importance of conducting elections within three months to fill vacant council positions, as mandated by the Supreme Court. The court declared that the Rivers State Government and Governor are bound by Section 7, subsection 1 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN) 1999, as amended, to ensure that local government councils are run by democratically elected officials. Additionally, the court ordered the Police, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Army, and other security agencies to provide adequate security during and after the polls to prevent security breaches. The court order read: THAT in view of Section 7 subsection 1, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN) 1999 AS AMENDED, Section 5 (A) of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission Law- No 2 of 2018, the Decision of the Supreme Court of Nigeria Delivered on the 11th day of July, 2024 in Suit No. SC/CV/343/2024: Attorney-General of Federation Vs Attorney-General of Abia State and 35 Ors.and expiration of the tenure of the former Democratically elected Local Government Councils in Rivers State on the 17th day of June 2024, the Defendants are bound to conduct Election into the Local Government Councils in Rivers State within the shortest possible time in order to comply with aforesaid Judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. THAT it is further declared chat in view of Section 5 (a) of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission Law No 2 of 2018, Section 9(1) (a), (4) to (6) of the Electoral Act, 2022 and the exigencies of the decision of the Supreme Court of Nigeria delivered on the 11th day of July, 2024 in Suit No SC/CV/343/2024: Attorney-General of the Federation VS Attorney-General of Abia State & 35 Ors, the 1st Defendant is entitled to utilize the National Register of Voters for the 2023 General Elections compiled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) pursuant to Section 9(1)(a), (4) to (6) of the Electoral Act, 2022, already in custody of the 1st Defendant to conduct Election into the 23 Local Government Councils of Rivers State. THAT it is also declared that in view of the decision of the Federal Government of Nigeria following the said Judgment in Suit No SC/CV/343/2024 Delivered on the 11th day of July, 2024 to the effect that all states without Democratically elected Local Government Councils in place should conduct Elections into their respective Local Government Councils within three (3) months from the date of the aforesaid Judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the defendants are bound to conduct elections into Local Government Councils in Rivers State on or before the expiration of the said three (3) months period, on the 5th day of October, 2024 and to take all necessary steps towards the conduct of the said Election, including sale of forms to candidates and their parties including the Claimant who is interested in sponsoring candidates for offices in the Local Government Councils. THAT an order of mandatory Injunction be and is hereby issued compelling the 2nd and 3rd Defendant by themselves, or by their agents, privies, servants or representatives and proxies to make adequate provision for election into the Local Government Council in Rivers State and to ensure that the affairs of the Local Government Councils in Rivers State are Conducted by Democratically Elected Local Government Councils. THAT it is further ordered that mandatory injunction be and is hereby issued compelling the 1st Defendant to conduct election into Local Government Councils of Rivers State on the 5th Day of October, 2024 or on any other date fixed by the 1st Defendant in accordance with its Electoral Guidelines in order to comply with the aforesaid Judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and to take all necessary steps towards the conduct of the said Elections including sale of forms to candidates and their parties, including the Claimant who is interested in sponsoring candidates for offices in the Local Government Councils. THAT an order of mandatory injunction be and is hereby further issued directing or commanding the 1st Defendant to utilize the National Register of Voters for the 2023 General Election compiled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) pursuant to Section 9 (1) (a), (4) to (6) of the Electoral Act, 2022 to conduct Election into the twenty-three (23) Local Government Councils of Rivers State. THAT the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, the Nigeria Army and all other Security Agencies and Paramilitary Organizations are hereby ordered to provide adequate security and ensure maintenance of peace, law and order during and after the Election. This development comes amid controversy surrounding the planned elections. The All Progressives Congress (APC) had earlier approached the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking an order to restrain INEC from releasing voters registers to RSIEC, but the court reserved judgment on the matter. In September 2024, there was not a single night in Ukraine when Russia did not attack our regions with Iranian-made Shahed-136/131 kamikaze drones. The occupiers launched a record number of such attack UAVs in a month 1331. ADVERTISIMENT Of these, Ukrainian air defense shot down 1110 enemy drones, which is 83.39%. The statistics were collected by the author of the popular Telegram channel "Mykolaiv Vanek," which anonymously informs Ukrainians of important information about the fighting. "The absolute record for mopeds launched in September is 1331. The number of mopeds launched in July + August (426 and 793 respectively) has been broken," the author wrote. In his opinion, no matter what they say about the "Gerbera" (a UAV that Russian troops position as a "junior series of Shahed-136"), the vast majority of drones launched by the occupiers are Iranian "Shaheds." Moreover, they are almost the latest version with Chinese bells and whistles and other components. "For example, in our Mykolaiv region, there were no "Gerberas" at all," Vanek noted. ADVERTISIMENT According to the above data, in September 2014, the Ukrainian Defense Forces shot down 85% of Russian X-101/X-555/X-55 missiles launched from Tu-95MS bombers, i.e. 17 out of 20. In addition, the defenders of the sky neutralized all three "Iskander-K" missiles launched by the enemy in a month (100% of the damage). In addition, the author says that in September, massive shelling took place only at the beginning of the month. At the same time, the enemy made "mediocre attempts" to hit various targets with "Kinzhal" air defense missiles. Russia used 11 TU-95MS, seven TU-22M3, and seven MiG-31K aircraft in its air attacks on Ukraine. ADVERTISIMENT According to Vanek, the Ukrainian Defense Forces set an absolute record for the month in terms of targets downed by mobile fire groups (over 50%); aviation; and electronic warfare targets downed. "This is very good, given that the target mopeds are then "processed" and sent back (no details here, we don't send them in the form of mopeds)," the author of the post states. He also noted the unusually low hit rate of the "Shahed." However, he emphasized that Russia is expected to accumulate missiles for the winter period. Electricity and water supply remain among the enemy's planned targets (as more than 85% of drones allegedly tried to hit such facilities). It is also clear that soon, Ukraine will face further attempts by the Russian Federation to hit its energy and critical infrastructure. "I would like to sincerely thank all the soldiers of the military police, pilots, and other specialists for their anti-moped work every night. Without these fighters, the situation with electricity would have been catastrophic, just imagine the disaster that so many mopeds could have caused. We keep the line!" Mykolaiv Vanek summarized. ADVERTISIMENT As OBOZ.UA reported earlier, according to analysts, Russia has increased production of "Shaheds" in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone (Tatarstan). According to the aggressor's plan, 6,000 of these drones were to be produced there by September 2025, but the Russians managed to achieve this figure a year earlier. In addition, the Russian invaders installed Starlink terminals on the "Shahed." This allows the enemy to control attack drones with unlimited range. Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! Texas A&M has a strong foundation for new degrees in space engineering. The college offers the Human Systems Integration and Bioastronautics graduate certificate program to prepare engineering, human physiology and medical professionals to address the growing challenges of civil and commercial human spaceflight. The college is working toward a new space engineering degree, which could be available as soon as Fall 2025. Through rigorous academic curricula and hands-on experiences, students will cultivate the skills necessary to shape the future of space travel, exploration and colonization. Sounding Union Home Minister Time to make Delhi act | Union Home Minister Amit Shah has been sounded on the abduction and still being held in captivity of two youths by Kuki armed militants-A statement given to the media by the president of Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee K Meghachandra quoting Chief Minister N Biren straight after a joint meeting of Congress MLAs and ruling MLAs at the Chief Ministers Secretariat on September 29. All it needs to secure the release of the two abducted youths is a word from Union Home Minister Amit Shah-This is from the president of the All Manipur United Clubs Organisation (AMUCO). Read the two statements, both coming from different entities, and what emerges are some very clear points. Facts which have been the reality all these months and that is Imphal does not have much means at its disposal when it comes to dealing with the Kuki armed groups. Hence pressuring Delhi to act and do what is needful becomes all that more important. It is also important to question whether the Security Advisor and the DGP, men picked by Delhi but appointed under an order passed by Raj Bhavan, are answerable to the State Government or not. Why this question has been raised should be clear in the backdrop of the fact that just some time back, a hue and cry was raised to reinstate Chief Minister N Biren as the Chairman of the Unified Command and a memorandum was submitted to the Governor amidst this call. What the memorandum was all about is not very clear to the media, but that it was submitted when the demand to restore the Chairmanship of the Unified Command was at its peak, makes it all that more significant. The question of whether the one youth, out of the three previously abducted, were rescued by the Assam Rifles or was handed to them hangs heavy in the air. If he was rescued, as initial report seemed to suggest, then from where was he rescued ? This is a point which only the Assam Rifles can tell and common sense says that the three would have been kept in somewhat close proximity. Or were they kept separately when the said youth was rescued ? And how intensive is the search conducted by the security forces ? All questions at the moment, but the very fact that these questions have been raised should underline the fact that there are just too many loose ends. And definitely the Government cannot afford to have too many loose ends while dealing with a matter as sensitive as the abduction of two youths. Not unexpectedly the social media is rife with comments and opinions and this seems to have been topped by the video footage of the two abducted youths pleading with the Chief Minister to do the bidding of the abductors and save their lives. The said video footage has also gone viral on the social media and experts could be at work to find out if anything may be detected from the video footage to work out the location of the two youths. However as things stand now, that is three days after the three youths went missing on September 27 evening, there is nothing to indicate that the Government is anywhere near locating or tracing them. This is where the assertion of AMUCO that all it needs is a word from the Union Home Minister to secure the release of the two youths in captivity becomes relevant and very important. And as the matter has been highlighted to Amit Shah himself, one wonders whether Delhi has made any effort to reach out to the abductors. A task that does not sound all that difficult for a Government which has steadfastly stuck to the Suspension of Operation pact with the Kuki armed groups. Imphal has to do the prodding and Delhi has to act fast and much will depend on how Chief Minister N Biren and his men are able to make the Centre respond to the tragic story that is being scripted on the soil of Manipur. The task before the Government is immense but this is what comes along with being in power and how people perceives the BJP will depend a lot on how it is able to cope with the challenges of the time. And now is the biggest challenge. To talk about Truman Capote is to start a multi-dimensional, multi-layered conversation, which includes talking about a horrific crime (the murder of the Clutter family), an inaugural novel (In Cold Blood) and a writer whose personal legend arguably grows even more than his literary consideration. The author, born a century ago in New Orleans, Louisiana, and who died 40 years ago in a very sorry state, left his mark on literature with works such as Breakfast at Tiffanys, Other Voices, Other Rooms or Answered Prayers, but above all he bequeathed the myth of his audacity and his self-destruction, the yin and yang of creation, magnified by films such as the one starring Philip Seymour Hoffman in 2005, the documentary The Capote Tapes, or the series Feud. His ambition was his passport. First, to escape the rural and abandoned environment in which he found himself when his mother left him in the care of relatives in Louisiana. Then, in New York, the mecca of a writer and aspiring high society candidate, and to turn his particular style of dress, his flute-like voice, and his open homosexuality into daring distinctive features of his character. Later, to proclaim to the four winds his intention to invent the genre of the nonfiction novel, which he realized with In Cold Blood. And, finally, to air wherever anyone wanted to listen, the creation of a work, Answered Prayers, which he considered would be akin to what Marcel Prousts In Search of Lost Time had been, and which, on the contrary and in the few chapters he managed to write, was to finish him off. Great challenges that competed on a daily basis with the alcohol and drug addictions that accompanied his talent. But lets take it one step at a time. Truman Capote is now firmly established in New York society and in literature after successes such as Breakfast at Tiffanys, as well as well-received scripts and stories. His intelligent, caustic conversation, his fame and his grace, have made him the guest that everyone wants. He counts writers, celebrities, and artists among his friends. He is the person who changes the course of a party. Pure success and glamor, a guaranteed added value. And that is Truman Capote when, after reading the news published in The New York Times on the morning of November 16, 1959, in a column on its front page (Rich farmer, three members of his family, murdered), decides to leave his comfort zone and travel, loaded down with his peculiar wardrobe of an eccentric rich man from New York, to the real, rural and not at all refined America of Holcomb, Kansas. Truman Capote posing in 1981 in Los Angeles. Harry Langdon (Getty Images) Capote has chosen to go back to an environment more similar to that of his renegade childhood. And he has chosen a complicated crime. That is to say, when we analyze the murders we find (above all) gender crimes, crimes of revenge, commission, hate, spite, or alienation. Crimes that respond to an attempt at possession and an intention to cause harm. The murder of the Holcomb farmer, his wife, and his children, on the other hand, displays no motive or preconceived plans, but a macabre repetition of horror, room by room, until all the members of a family have been killed and the money the perpetrators were hoping for has not been found. And these are the most difficult crimes to understand and explain. The gratuitous violence deployed by Holcombs murderers was the hook for Capote, who decided to sow in his reconstruction the great seed of a genre that was going to change things, at least as far as labeling is concerned. By labeling it as a nonfiction novel, Capote inaugurated a genre that in reality already existed in previous books such as Operation Massacre, by Rodolfo Walsh, or Hiroshima, by John Hersey, says Leila Guerriero, the author of nonfiction works such as her most recent publication, La llamada. It also generated an ambiguity, because the idea of novel and nonfiction leads to confusion. But there is an enormous achievement in Capote, and that is to have set his eye on a killing, a murder that would not have transcended as, for example, that of the Manson Family in [Roman] Polanskis house. He chose the story, discovered the tremendous force of how to tell it, and transformed it into something completely universal that speaks of existence and human misery, social classes, gossip, and small-town prejudices. The book marked a path. Eduardo Lago, a specialist in American literature, recognizes the impact that In Cold Blood had and believes that it was part of a movement that was developing at that time in the United States. He did not create it, but rather he joined what other great authors of the so-called New Journalism were doing, from Tom Wolfe to Norman Mailer, Gay Talese and others (no one remembers Joan Didion or Janet Malcolm when talking about this). He was just one more, but In Cold Blood remains a masterful achievement worthy of being reread and celebrated. The story is well-known: after travelling to Holcomb and deciding to turn the case into a novel, Capote became obsessed to the point of developing a strange relationship of dependence on one of the murderers, and waiting with a sinister narrative sense for them to be executed to provide an end to the book. That is why it was eventually published in 1966, seven years after the crime, despite the desperation of his editors. Slow-burn journalism. Pure literature. And the rest is legend: his enormous success, but also his anguish, his collapse, his loss of confidence as a writer and his growing addictions, which he unashamedly paraded. As the writer Rodrigo Fresan, a great connoisseur of American literature, says, the character was finally able to become the person in a self-destructive nonfiction of himself, in the same line that F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway or David Foster Wallace also followed. [J.D.] Salinger saved himself by disappearing, he notes. Lago points to the ultimate reason for this masterful achievement, which is that he managed to connect with the core of inexplicable violence that has plagued the soul of the United States since its birth as a nation and persists in the continuous collective killings. This is a sick society, as evidenced by the possibility of Trump winning again. Capote captures this scourge in his novel. His protagonists are victims of an inextricable social evil. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener as Truman Capote and Harper Lee in the film 'Capote' (2005). Reuters Martin Caparros, also a prominent nonfiction author, confesses that he never finished In Cold Blood. It bored me, but I was always impressed by the foundational role attributed to it and which evidences North American cultural hegemony. The author cites the aforementioned Operation Massacre (1957) or Gabriel Garcia Marquezs The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor (1955). I am not saying that Capote copied them nor probably knew them but I am surprised that we continue to attribute to him, along with Mailer, Wolfe and company, the creation of a way of telling stories that had already been marvelously realized in Namerica and continued to be so. In short: I believe that Operation Massacre and The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor influenced our generations of chroniclers much more than In Cold Blood, with apologies. And a pinch of pride. Both Fresan and Caparros consider Music for Chameleons (1980), the final work Capote published during his lifetime, based on loose pieces previously published in Andy Warhols Interview magazine, to be his greatest legacy. It is a kind of artistic-existential summa as well as a writing manual that is much more effective (and economical) than so many literary workshops, says Fresan. But it was Answered Prayers, the great work of Proustian ambition that he never finished, that finally brought Capote down. Abandoned by the elite that had previously embraced him after he aired their dirty laundry in those few chapters, Capote was left isolated, disconcerted. He was a predator of his contemporaries, says Leila Guerriero. And he paid for it. Ultimately turned into a caricature, drunk on the sets and expelled from the high society to which he believed he belonged, Capote was finally found dead in the apartment of a friend in Los Angeles. It was August 25, 1984. He did not live to see 60. When explaining the strange relationship he developed with the murderer Perry Edward Smith, a young man as unfortunate as he himself had been, Capote said: Its as if Perry and I grew up in the same house. And one day he stood up and went out the back door, while I went out the front. And that house is, without a doubt, literature. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition West Bengal Pradesh Congress(PCC) president Shubhankar Sarkar faced a rebuff from protesting junior doctors when he visited Sagar Dutta Medical College today, with the doctors raising slogans demanding that he should leave the college immediately. A strike is ongoing at Sagar Dutta Medical College following incidents of harassment of doctors and healthcare workers after a patients death. Shubhankar claimed he had gone to stand by the doctors, workers, and students as a common man. However, due to the strong rebuff from the students, he had to leave the college campus. The students have made clear they will not allow any political leaders inside the college. Meanwhile, police security has been increased at Sagar Dutta Hospital. After a meeting on Saturday, 12 additional constables were deployed for security, along with four officers. Previously, there were 28 police personnel. Now, the total number of police deployed for security has risen to 44. From Sunday, the additional police officers will be stationed at Sagar Dutta Medical College. Despite the increased police security, the protesting doctors remain unconvinced. They stated that even with police presence, a nurse was assaulted inside the hospital. However, the police were not seen taking effective action during the incident. After the rape and murder incident at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, junior doctors had staged a prolonged protest in front of Swasthya Bhavan demanding security in hospitals. Following a prolonged standoff, there was a meeting with chief minister Mamata Banerjee. In that meeting, the state government assured the doctors of ensuring hospital safety. This issue was also discussed during a hearing in the Supreme Court, where Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asked the state government what steps had been taken to ensure the safety of doctors in hospitals. However, despite this, an unfortunate incident occurred at Sagar Dutta Medical College. Advertisement As a result, the junior doctors have once again called for a strike. The Supreme Court hearing is scheduled for Monday, and until then, they remain firm in their decision to continue the strike. Among the demands raised during the protests over the RG Kar incident, ensuring the safety of doctors and healthcare workers in hospitals was one of the key issues. After a series of continuous meetings, the doctors eventually withdrew their strike. Amid this, there was an allegation of harassment of healthcare workers at Sagar Dutta Medical College following the death of a patient. In protest against this incident, junior doctors have now called for a strike at all medical college in the state starting Monday afternoon. A junior doctor stated, We have repeatedly said that the healthcare infrastructure needs to be improved, but nothing has been done. Even after the Supreme Courts directive, we havent seen any goodwill from the government. After a patients death at Sagar Dutta, an attack took place. We have called for a relay torch march on Sunday evening. After the sudden demise of the CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury earlier this month, the party will now function through the collective leadership of the exiting politburo with Yechurys predecessor Prakash Karat acting as the politburo coordinator. The next permanent General Secretary will be selected at the next party congress scheduled to be held at Madurai in Tamil Nadu in April next year. A decision to function through collective leadership of the existing politburo was made at the partys politburo meeting on Saturday. On Monday, the partys central committee cleared that proposal and also selected Karat as the politburo coordinator during the interim period till the next party congress. Advertisement The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) now in session in New Delhi, has decided that Comrade Prakash Karat will be the coordinator of the politburo and the central committee, as an interim arrangement until the 24th Party Congress to be held in April 2025 at Madurai. This decision was taken due to the sad and sudden demise of the sitting General Secretary of the CPI-M, Comrade Sitaram Yechury, a statement issued by the party on Sunday afternoon read. As per the partys constitution, any decision of the party politburo is subject to the final clearance of the central committee. On Saturday only, a politburo member from West Bengal pointed out that the partys constitution does not allow having the post of a working general secretary. There is nothing called interim in our party. The new central committee and the politburo will be selected at the next party Congress in Madurai next year. There only the new party General Secretary will be selected, he said. Yechury was the first existing General Secretary to die before the end of his term. He was supposed to be replaced at the Madurai party congress as he would have completed his third term in office. The Andhra Pradesh government has constituted a 16-member Consultative Forum in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to address issues relating to industry, trade, and investment and to act as a catalyst for promotion of investment climate, industrial growth, skill and entrepreneurship development and infrastructure development. To be headed by Minister for Education, Information Technology (IT), Electronics and Real-Time Governance Nara Lokesh, the panel will hold consultations, network and establish linkages between various stakeholders in the government and industry. The Chief Secretary will be the Vice Chairman of the Consultative Forum, with three representatives from the CII, Andhra Pradesh State Council. Advertisement According to the Government Order (GO) issued by the Industries and Commerce Department, the Chairman of CII, AP State Council will be a member convenor of the Forum. The Vice Chairman and Secretary of CII, AP State Council will be the members. Principal Secretaries of various departments and the Chief Executive Officer of Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board (APEDB) are the members of the panel. The GO mentions that the establishment of APEDB was a significant step towards creating a favourable investment climate by streamlining processes and offering a single point of contact for investors. It has been actively playing the role of a catalyst for promoting public and private investments to achieve the vision of becoming the most preferred global destination by 2050. To fully realise the states economic potential and overcome the challenges, the government has decided to enhance its approach by involving the private sector more directly. To this end, it has partnered with the CII to build a consultative forum. This collaboration aims to leverage the expertise and resources of private enterprises, ensuring a more inclusive and dynamic economic environment, reads the GO. By fostering public-private partnerships and engaging in continuous dialogue with industry leaders, Andhra Pradesh seeks to address existing gaps and drive sustainable economic growth. Further, it is essential to have more diversification and high adoption of advanced technologies for broader industrial growth, it added. The government hopes that the partnership with CII will help diversify the industrial base by promoting sectors like renewable energy, IT hardware, biotechnology, and high-precision manufacturing. This will reduce the states reliance on a few industries and foster broader economic growth. During a special plenary session at the fourth CII Southern Regional Council meeting last week, Lokesh pronounced that Andhra Pradesh aspires to be among the top three industrialised states and to make rapid strides in IT, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and MSME sectors. The AAP leadership in Delhi including Chief Minister Atishi and cabinet ministers and other senior leaders on Monday took to the streets and conducted an inspection of the roads under PWD, and said that the government aims to make Delhi potholes free by Diwali. CM Atishi and senior leader Manish Sisodia led the city-wide inspection, vowing immediate road repairs. The CM visited South and South-East Delhi for the inspection of roads, and speaking to reporters later, said that, For 2 days continuously, I inspected the roads in different parts of the city along with the AAP supremo and former Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal. During the inspection, I found that the roads of Delhi are in dilapidated condition and are broken at many places. Arvind Kejriwal gave a letter on this subject in the Delhi Assembly and requested to repair the roads as soon as possible. She further informed that all her ministers are on the ground, as they have taken responsibility for different districts across the city with regard to roads. As the Chief Minister, I have taken the responsibility of South and South-East Delhi. Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj has taken the responsibility of East Delhi. Minister Gopal Rai has taken the responsibility of North-East Delhi. Minister Kailash Gahlot has taken the responsibility of West and South-West Delhi. Minister Imran Hussain has taken the responsibility of Central and New Delhi. While Minister Mukesh Ahlawat has taken the responsibility of North and North West Delhi, she mentioned. Advertisement Meanwhille, Sisodia taking to social media platform X, said that along with Saurabh Bharadwaj and PWD officials, he inspected the road near Mother Dairy in East Delhi, and added that the condition of the same is not good.He assured that the road will be pothole free in the next few days. He alleged that the BJP conspired to stop the work in Delhi to trouble the people of the city. During a media interaction in Patparganj constituency ,Sisodia stated, Following Arvind Kejriwals instructions, Saurabh Bharadwaj and I inspected some roads in Delhi and saw that many roads were in poor shape. In some places, construction has been ongoing, and roads have been dug up for 7-8 months. Many roads have worn out and some potholes were left open on them. We will fix this and repair the roads. He further said that now that Kejriwal is back all the pending work will be finished quickly . Similarly, the first time cabinet minister Mukesh Ahlawat paid a visit to Outer Delhis Mundka area and then to Kiradi and Sultanpur to take stock of the situation of roads on ground. He inspected the Rohtak Road and said that it has suffered a lot of damage due to continuous rain for the last one and a half months. According to him, in Mundka area, the part of Rohtak road, which is a major connecting road to Haryana, the water was continuously overflowing on the streets due to broken drains. The party leader Jasmine Shah, who accompanied Ahlawat to inspect the roads, said that based on directions of Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi government has taken up the pending works of repair and construction of PWD roads on war footing. A delegation of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) on Monday met with the University Grants Commission (UGC) joint secretary over the scholarship disbursal. The delegation conveyed to the UGC official that junior research fellowship (JRF) schools have not received their fellowship amount since the May month of this year while the amount was displayed on the Scholarship and Fellowship Management (SMFP) portal. Furthermore, the delegation claimed that non-NET schools have also not received a fellowship amount for months and also demanded an extension in the deadline for claiming all the pending arrears till August 2024, which is 8 October as of now. Advertisement After meeting with the Joint Secretary, the students said that UGC has assured them that the arrears claimed in the 1-8 August window will be released in a couple of days along with the previous months fellowship amount. Additionally, the UGC assured students that the deadline for claiming pending arrears which is October 8 will be extended. The student union claimed that the Non-NET fellowship is a university-level issue, that would be solved by the respective universities. Three fraudsters were arrested by a team of Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) for duping people on the pretext of installing Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) pumps, the police said on Monday. According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (IFSO) Special Cell Hemant Tiwari, the arrested accused are identified as Amit, Amrendra, and Amar Singh. Amit, who is the mastermind of the syndicate, used to forge registration and allotment documents while Amrendra collected cash from the victim and Amar Singh, a former employee of the Ministry of Petroleum, posed as a facilitator. The matter came to light when the police received a complaint from a victim who had lost Rs 2.39 crore to the fraudsters who promised him the installation of a CNG pump on his land. Advertisement The complainant said in 2021 while doing research on the petrol and CNG pump allotment process online, he was approached by two individuals, Amrendra and Amit Pandey, who introduced themselves as coordinators and agents of Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL). They lured him with the promise of getting a CNG pump installed with minimal formalities and also issued forged documents, including a registration certificate, bank account details, and an invoice with a GST number to the victim. The police verified the forced documents and traced them to the accused with the help of SIM cards before arresting them. Investigation into the matter is underway to find possible connection with other such conspirators and to the IGL, said the police. Ranveer Singh is over the moon with excitement after stepping into fatherhood, and he couldnt contain his joy when he was spotted by paparazzi recently. The Bollywood actor, known for his infectious energy and fun-loving personality, made his first public appearance since becoming a dad at the United in Triumph event, hosted by the Ambani family at their luxurious residence, Antilia, in Mumbai. The event celebrated Indias sporting achievements, bringing together 140 Olympians and Paralympians under one roof. Beaming from ear to ear, Ranveer couldnt help but share his happiness with the photographers, exclaiming with a huge grin, Baap bann gaya re! (Ive become a father!). Advertisement Ranveer Singh and his wife, Deepika Padukone, welcomed their baby girl on September 8, 2024, and the couple broke the news with a touching Instagram post. Welcome Baby Girl 8.9.2024. Deepika and Ranveer, the post read. While theyve kept a relatively low profile since the arrival of their daughter, its evident that the new parents are soaking in the joy and challenges of parenthood. Deepika, known for her grace and poise both on and off the screen, recently gave her followers a lighthearted glimpse into her life as a new mother. She reshared a humorous Instagram reel that perfectly encapsulates the chaos of adjusting to a newborns routine. The reel shows a woman navigating a hilariously messy morning, attempting to eat while barely keeping her eyes open, and ultimately falling asleep mid-bite a scenario many new parents can relate to. View this post on Instagram A post shared by (@deepikapadukone) Deepikas Instagram bio now cheekily reflects her current priorities: Feed. Burp. Sleep. Repeat. On the work front, Deepika was last seen in the sci-fi film Kalki 2898 AD, and fans are eagerly awaiting her next collaboration with Ranveer in Rohit Shettys much-anticipated Singham Again, which is slated for a Diwali release. Ranveer will reprise his iconic role from Simmba, and the couples on-screen chemistry is sure to light up the silver screen once again. In addition to Singham Again, Ranveer has a packed schedule with exciting projects. He recently announced a new film featuring an ensemble cast that includes Sanjay Dutt, R. Madhavan, Akshaye Khanna, and Arjun Rampal. He will also take on the lead role in Farhan Akhtars highly anticipated Don 3. Malavika Mohanan is on a roll, following her impressive performances in Thangalaan and Yudhra. The talented actress is now gearing up for her next venture, Sardar 2, which she describes as a different and challenging role. During a recent #AskMalavika session on social media, a fan inquired about her upcoming Tamil project. Malavika replied enthusiastically, Sardar 2! and its also a very different and challenging role for me in this one which has been very exciting! Sardar 2! and its also a very different and challenging role for me in this one which has been very exciting! https://t.co/BY1ctZaAMV Advertisement Malavika Mohanan (@MalavikaM_) September 28, 2024 In Thangalaan, Malavika took on a physically demanding role that required her to engage in extensive training, including Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and combat techniques. The hard work paid off, earning her praise for her dedication and performance. With the success of Thangalaan still fresh in the minds of audiences, her transition to Sardar 2 promises to showcase her versatility as an actress. The announcement of her role in Sardar 2 coincided with a special moment for Malavika, as she shared her excitement with her followers, stating, Best start to my birthday week! So excited to announce my next project in Tamil! That too with this fantastic team! Cant wait to get started on this one! Beyond Sardar 2, Malavika is also ready to star alongside Prabhas in the upcoming horror comedy The Raja Saab, marking her Telugu debut. In 2023, she released the Malayalam romantic drama Christy and later appeared in Thangalaan, which was initially ready for a January release but came out on August 15 for Independence Day. Following this, her Hindi film Yudhra, featuring Siddhant Chaturvedi, is has already hit theaters on September 20, 2024. A five-year-old girl was raped allegedly by the minor son of her schools watchman in the Ratlam city of Madhya Pradesh two days ago. The matter came to light today after the child developed fever and was having severe pain in her private parts. When her mother enquired, the child told her about the incident. The parents lodged a complaint with the police and the minor boy was arrested. Advertisement According to police officials, the victim studies in the Upper KG (UKG) section of a private school and the accused was also a student of Class X in the same school. The child told her parents that the boy took her to his fathers room located on the third floor of the school when there was nobody else there. He then allegedly raped her. The boys father is the watchman of the school. According to Ratlam Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Rakesh Khaka, a medical examination of the child confirmed rape. He said the boy has been arrested and booked under the POCSO Act and Sections 65 (2) and 75 of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS). Madhya Pradesh Congress Chief Jitu Patwari slammed MP Chief Minister and Home Minister Dr Mohan Yadav over the incident and the continuous horrific cases of rapes of girl children across the state. Patwari alleged that one girl child is raped everyday in MP. He charged that the MP BJP government was completely insensitive towards the safety of minor girls. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman and other BJP leaders on Monday slammed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for unnecessarily dragging PM Narendra Modi into his personal health matters, with his remarks that he would die only after removing PM Modi. The remarks show the hate and fear Congress and its leaders have for the prime minister, they pointed out. Yesterday, the Congress President, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji has outperformed himself, his leaders and his party in being absolutely distasteful and disgraceful in his speech. In a bitter display of spite, he unnecessarily dragged PM Modi into his personal health matters by saying that he would die only after removing PM Modi from power, the home minister wrote in a post on X. It just shows how much hate and fear these Congress people have for PM Modi, that they are thinking of him constantly, he added. Shah further prayed for a long and healthy life for Mr Kharge. Advertisement As for the health of Kharge Ji, Modi Ji prays, I pray and we all pray that he lives a long, healthy life. May he continue to live for many years and may he live to see the creation of a Viksit Bharat by 2047, he said. The scathing statement from the Home Minister came a day after Kharge, while addressing a rally in Jammu and Kashmir, said he is 83-year-old but wont die until Modi is removed from power. I am 83 years old. I am not going to die so early. I will stay alive till PM Modi is removed from power, Kharge has said. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also castigated Kharges remark. In a post on X, she wrote,Aptly said, Union HM Amit Shah. The leadership of Congress never loses any opportunity to display their hate towards PM Modi. This speech of Mallikarjun Kharge is one such instance. We join in praying for the long life of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. We wish he lives to see Viksit Bharat India@2047. In Begusarai, Bihar, Union Minister Giriraj Singh said, Narendra Modi will remain in the hearts of people for thousands of years, no matter who lives or dies BJP leader Nalin Kohli said, With regard to Kharge jis desire to say that Im going to live as long as I can so that I evict Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the position of Prime Minister. That is for the people of India to decide. The people of India have already blessed PM Modi to serve the country in 2014, 2019 and now in 2024 Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi spoke to the Congress president and enquired about his health. Kharge reportedly suffered a syncopal attack during the rally and almost fainted. He was helped by his security and other leaders present at the stage.He was in J and K, campaigning for the assembly elections. The third and last phase of voting will take place tomorrow. The U.S. multinational Apple has removed almost a hundred VPN applications in Russia, dozens more than the Kremlins censorship body officially reported. Virtual private networks (VPN) allow Russian citizens to bypass the governments ban on accessing certain sites, in particular media outlets by Russian journalists in exile, Western newspapers, including EL PAIS, and foreign social networks. The U.S. company whose phones are still sold in Russian stores despite the firm officially leaving the market due to the invasion of Ukraine has removed a total of 98 VPNs, 60 of them in the last three months, according to the GreatFire project. By unilaterally restricting access to these essential tools without transparency or due process, Apple is complicit in enabling government censorship, Benjamin Ismail, director of the App Censorship Project at GreatFire, said in a statement. In May, Apple announced that it had removed 12 apps in total from the App Store in 2023 at the Kremlins request, while the Russian federal service responsible for monitoring and blocking the internet in Russia the omnipresent Roskomnadzor reported that 25 VPNs had been removed by the company at its request. However, GreatFires investigation reveals that the multinational recently removed dozens more apps in several sweeping rounds, especially between July and August. The removals were concentrated on specific dates, suggesting coordinated actions by Apple potentially exceeding Roskomnadzors requests and not voluntary withdrawals by VPN developers, Roskomsvoboda, a free internet platform in Russia that is a partner in the GreatFire project, said in a separate statement. The group says CyberGhost VPN and ExpressVPN were among the major apps that were secretly removed. Previously, other well-known VPNS such as Proton, Red Shield and NordVPN had been officially removed. According to Roskomsvoboda, only China surpasses Russia when it comes to restricting applications that allow users to get around government censorship. Ismail notes that Apple App Censorship Project has failed to explain why it deviated from its own standards and policies, which recognize the critical importance of an open society in which information flows freely and state that hand in hand with the privacy of our users is our commitment to freedom of information and expression. Apple, Microsoft and Google remain in Russia Software and hardware from major Western technology companies are still being sold in Russia, despite Moscows promises that they would be replaced by Russian products and the fact the firms themselves said they were leaving the market in solidarity with Ukraine. Everything is imported, or via the pirate market, and although subscriptions cannot be renewed within the country due to the blockade of the financial system, they can be renewed through accounts abroad. The tech companies do not sell their services directly, but there are signs that they are operating in a gray area within Russia. Browsers continue to offer advertising tailored to users based on their geolocation and searches; and Google, for example, did not close access to the AdSense and BiqQuery advertising networks in Russia until August of this year. In fact, EL PAIS has verified that new Gmail accounts could be created in Russia until just a few weeks ago: only now does it reject the use of a Russian phone as a means of validation. Where the Kremlin censors one VPN, another one appears, although in Apples closed system it is more complicated. Russia is one of Apples biggest markets in the world, along with the United States. According to Globalstats, 26% of Russians use iPhones, and the sanctions have not hampered the countrys interest in the Californian company. Although Apple no longer sells its products in Russia, in response to the invasion of Ukraine, Apple phones, tablets and all kinds of accessories continue to arrive in massive quantities with the companys knowledge through resale from third countries, namely Turkey, China and Central Asian nations. The Russian government legalized smuggling at the start of the war, calling the scheme parallel imports. However, prices in Russia are much higher than in the rest of the world due to the import problems caused by the sanctions. For example, the new 256-gigabyte iPhone 16 Pro is on pre-sale at one of the countrys main technology chains MVideo for 165,999 rubles, which is about $1,780 at the current exchange rate. Thats around $400 more than the recommended price, a 33% markup. However, demand is up 15% compared to the previous generation, a resale company told Reuters. The Kremlins use of VPNs and censored networks This double game extends to control of the internet. The Russian government has banned access to foreign social networks, including X, Facebook and Instagram; the latter have been declared extremist organizations, so using them theoretically entails prison sentences. However, Russian official bodies and many personalities close to the Kremlin continue to use these social networks via VPN. Moscow claims that using VPN apps is not a crime, while simultaneously cracking down on the networks. I am unaware of any penalties, Putins spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied in April to the umpteenth question from Russian journalists about the risk of using VPNs secretly, everyone uses them. Efforts are being made by Roskomnadzor to block certain VPN services, the Kremlin press chief added. These efforts will continue, in fact, in order to reduce the possibility of getting around the blocking [of banned resources]. Peskov himself admitted in April 2022 that he had a VPN installed on his cell phone. Well, of course. Well, why not? This is not prohibited, said the Russian presidents spokesman. Weeks earlier, the Russian government had banned access to Instagram within Russia, following criticism of the army and Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Bucha massacre in Ukraine and other similar atrocities. Today, however, Instagram remains one of the most popular social networks in Russia, with most users posting about their idyllic life rather than the war in Ukraine. The issue is that, since it has been declared an extremist organization, legally any interaction with Instagram could be considered a crime, despite the Kremlins assurances that this is not the case. Pro-Russian outlets use social media platforms to spread their message abroad and among Russians who still access the networks with VPNs. This list includes the state-funded Russia Today, which was banned by Meta after U.S. reports linking the outlet to the Russian Secret Service, and the Kremlin itself. Peskov acknowledged last week that the government uses social media to spread pro-Russian propaganda in the West. We are using all available resources to disseminate information about the presidents work, Putins spokesman said when asked why the Kremlin has resumed posting videos on its YouTube channel despite the fact that the platform has been slowed down but not banned by Roskomnadzor, to such an extent that it does not work without the use of VPNs. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh, an ace fighter pilot, on Monday took charge as the new chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF), succeeding Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari on his retirement. Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari handed over command of Indian Air Force today. On the occasion, he paid homage to the departed brave hearts at the #NationalWarMemorial in the morning before undertaking the traditional walk through at the Vayu Bhawan. He was presented a ceremonial Guard of Honour as the parting salute by the Air Warriors of IAF, the IAF wrote in a social media post on X. Born on October 27,1964, Air Chief Marshal Singh was commissioned into the fighter pilot stream of the IAF in December 1984. During his long and distinguished service spanning nearly 40 years, he has served in a variety of Command, Staff, Instructional and Foreign appointments. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College and National Defence College, the Air Officer is a Qualified Flying Instructor and an Experimental Test Pilot with more than 5,000 hours of flying experience on a variety of fixed and rotary wing aircraft. Advertisement During his career, he has commanded an operational fighter squadron and a frontline air base. As a test pilot, he led the MiG-29 Upgrade Project Management Team at Moscow, Russia. He was also the Project Director (Flight Test) at National Flight Test Centre and was tasked with flight testing of the Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas. He has held important staff appointments of Air Defence Commander at South Western Air Command and Senior Air Staff Officer at Eastern Air Command. Prior to assuming the charge of Vice Chief of the Air Staff, he was the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Central Air Command. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has sharply criticized Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge for his comments questioning the development of semiconductor industries in Assam. In a public address, he posed a direct question to Kharge, asking, Is Assam not a part of India? This came after Kharge raised concerns about the northeastern state hosting such industries. Sarma expressed strong disapproval of Kharges remarks, stating, If an industry is coming to Assam, why is he opposing it? Such comments are not only uncalled for but insensitive. He stressed the importance of promoting national unity in fostering economic growth across all regions, urging political leaders to avoid making divisive statements. Drawing attention to Kharges political influence, the CM added, When your father holds the position of president of a national political party, your responsibilities increase. He should be more sensitive and refrain from making comments that create discord. Advertisement The Assam CMs comments highlighted the need for equitable development across India and called for greater collaboration between states to ensure balanced industrial progress. Accusing Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy of following the examples of BJP governments in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh doling out bulldozer justice, BRS leaders have sought the intervention of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi to put a stop to the demolitions of the house of poor and middle class people under Musi Riverfront project and HYDRAA. Meanwhile, the Congress workers today tried to storm BRS headquarters, Telangana Bhavan in Banjara Hills for offensive posts on social media platforms by the BRS. BRS MLA from Siddipet and former minister T Harish Rao today wrote a letter to Gandhi, seeking intervention while referring to the High Courts observation on demolitions by HYDRAA. Advertisement He wrote, The bulldozer has become a symbol of your chief minister Revanth Reddys unbridled power continuously undermining civil rights with arrogance. Harish Rao alleged that the bulldozer was used to establish a rule of fear under the pretence of HYDRAA and Musi Riverfront projects, and targeting the homes of poor and middle class who have lived in these areas for decades with legal documentation. This bulldozer policy has become the face of the Telangana Congress governments cruelty. The rule of law-one of the foremost political ideals that establishes the supremacy of law in modern society is being disregarded by your partys chief minister, complained the former finance minister. He then went on to add, However, much like the BJP has misused bulldozers against the poor and middle class in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Assam and Maharashtra the Congress appears to be following their lead in Telangana. Meanwhile, BRS working president KT Rama Rao also referred to the Gandhi siblings while attacking the demolitions by the Congress government. When Musi river victims are crying, where are your Supreme leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi? Where are they now? They did a lot of acting during the elections. The BRS leader further accused the Revanth Reddy government of raising funds for elections through the Musi project. Revanth asked what will be the return on investment in Kaleshwaram. We want to ask you what is the return on investment in Kaleshwaram. We want to ask you what is the return on investment on your Musi River project? Rahul Gandhi said Kaleshwaram is an atm for BRS. Then what is this ? Is this your reserve bank? Isnt this the biggest scam in the country? said KT Rama Rao. Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF) Daljit Singh Chawdhary undertook a two-day visit to Manipur on September 28-29 to assess the law and order situation arising from the ongoing ethnic violence between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities. During a comprehensive review, DG Chawdhary evaluated the operational readiness of BSF troops stationed across the violence-stricken state, focusing on the 400 km unfenced border shared with Myanmar, a significant area for cross-border smuggling and insurgency. During his visit, Chawdhary met with BSF personnel and lauded their efforts to restore regional peace. He conducted a Sainik Sammelan at the BSFs sub-headquarters CI (Ops), addressing officers and troops to encourage their continued dedication. Advertisement A detailed briefing by Additional Director General Ravi Gandhi and discussions with other senior officials like Inspector General Sanjay Kumar Misra provided Chawdhary with deeper insights into the challenges the force faces on the ground. Amid heightened security concerns, Chaudhary visit included a tour of BSFs training facilities in Churachandpur where he inaugurated a new training shed and interacted with trainees. These engagements underscored the importance of maintaining a well-prepared and motivated force as ethnic tensions continue to flare, threatening the fragile stability in Manipur. Additionally, the porous Myanmar border, infamous for trafficking and insurgent activity, has been a significant concern for security agencies as they grapple with maintaining peace in this sensitive region. The recent surge in violence necessitated border management and the BSFs involvement in securing the region is crucial to stabilising the situation. This visit by DG Chawdhary reaffirms the commitment of the BSF to support law enforcement in Manipur to curb violence and secure the states borders. President Droupadi Murmu, while addressing the 10th Convocation Ceremony of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences (ABVIMS) on Monday, said doctors provide a healing touch to ailing humanity and only they can make a difference between life and death. She told the young doctors You have taken on a big responsibility. In our country, doctors are treated as gods because they take care of peoples health. Please remember there should be a healing touch with the medicines you prescribe, she said. Drawing attention to cases of violence against doctors and other health functionaries, the President said there is need for patients and patient caregivers to remain calm during difficult times, stating that no doctor wants their patients to suffer. During the Covid pandemic, doctors and nurses performed their duties with dedication to save lives, and as a country, we will always be grateful to them, the President said, urging the medical fraternity and related institutions to prioritize womens health. She highlighted that the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana has assisted women in accessing healthcare services. Advertisement She noted the achievements in the healthcare sector during the last 10 years and said the number of medical institutions has increased, and the number of PG seats has doubled. New AIIMS have been established, and undergraduate courses have been introduced in these institutions. The President said Two honourable and great men have been associated with this hospital and institution: Dr Ram Manohar Lohia and Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. For both of them, the nation came first. She said,They gave new dimensions to our society and country. I believe and hope that the people associated with this institution and hospital will follow the same direction and their footprints. She also presented degrees to students of ABVIMS, including 36 Super Specialty students. Speaking on the occasion, Health and Family Welfare Minister J P Nadda congratulated all students and emphasized that ensuring the highest standards of medical education is a top priority for the government.The students and scholars present here are our Human Resource capital for building a better future, he stated. The minister said that professional education is a privilege that only a few are fortunate to receive, noting that Government spends about Rs 30-35 lakh per medical student per year for providing such professional education. He encouraged the students to efficiently apply their talent, skills and knowledge towards improving the healthcare system in the country. Situation of doctors in India is entirely different from those of the western countries. The huge footfall at hospitals in India is not comparable with most of the countries across the globe. Not many can understand and comprehend the kind of patient care, research and innovations our doctors are involved in, he said. On the occasion, Mr Nadda released the first edition of ABVIMS journal, Sanhita during the occasion and presented the first copy to the President. Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), Niti Aayog; Mr Apurva Chandra, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; and Dr (Prof) Ajay Shukla, Director, ABVIMS were present. In a major breakthrough, 56 years after an IAFs AN-12 aircraft crashed on the Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh, frozen bodies of four soldiers of the Indian Army were recovered from the wreckage by an Army team in Indias longest-running search and recovery operation. A defence spokesman said on Monday that three of these bodies recovered on September 29 were intact and remains of the fourth were found on the snowbound mountain. One of these bodies has been identified as that of Malkhan Singh (Pioneer), who was identified by a voucher found in his pocket which was confirmed with the help of documents obtained from Pioneer Records Office. Narayan Singh, a sepoy from the Army Medical Corps (AMC), was identified by his paybook found on his person. He hailed from the village Kolpadi, Chamoli Tehsil in Garhwal, Uttarakhand. His next of kin is his wife, Basnati Devi. After years of uncertainty, his family can now finally lay him to rest with the dignity and honour he deserved. Body of an unidentified soldier has also been recovered. While documents recovered from his body have not conclusively identified the individual, details of the next of kin were found. His wife, Parvati Devi, and father, Netram, were notified of the discovery. The fourth one recovered was that of Craftsman Thomas Charan, Corps of Electronics and Mechancial Engineering. (EME). His remains were identified, with further confirmation through his paybook. He hailed from Elanthoor, Pathanamthitta district in Kerala. His next of kin, his mother Eleama, has been informed of the discovery, said the spokesman. The search mission to trace remains of the killed soldiers, led by the Dogra Scouts of the Indian Army in collaboration with representatives of Tiranga Mountain Rescue, is part of the larger Chandra Bhaga Mountain Expedition. Advertisement The tragedy dates back to 7 February 1968, when an IAF AN-12 aircraft, carrying 102 passengers, went missing after taking off from Chandigarh and encountering severe weather conditions near the Rohtang Pass. For decades, the wreckage and remains of the victims remained lost in the icy terrain. It was only in 2003 when mountaineers from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering, Manali, discovered the wreckage, sparking multiple expeditions over the years by the Indian Army, especially the Dogra Scouts, who have been at the forefront of search missions in 2005, 2006, 2013, and 2019. Despite the treacherous conditions and unforgiving terrain, only five bodies were recovered by 2019. However, the Chandra Bhaga Mountain Expedition has now recovered four additional bodies, bringing renewed hope to the families of the deceased and the nation. The expedition has once again demonstrated the Indian Armys relentless determination to bring closure to families, even after half a century. The Dogra Scouts of the Indian Army, renowned for their expertise in high-altitude operations, have led this mission with exemplary courage, battling through extreme weather conditions and hostile terrain to recover the remains of their fallen comrades. The search for the remaining mortal remains of the passengers continues as the expedition, ongoing from September 25 to 10 October 10 2024, persists in its noble mission. As the nation honours the courage of those who served and the persistence of those who search, this expedition will forever remain a chapter of sacrifice and determination etched in the annals of Indias history, the spokesman added. Renowned engineer and climate activist Sonam Wangchuk claimed on Monday that he, along with 150 padyatris (foot marchers), has been detained by police at the Delhi border. Wangchuk had been leading a peaceful march to highlight climate concerns and raise other demands on behalf of people of Ladakh. In a late-night social media post, Mr Wangchuk, who started his Chalo Delhi Climate March from Leh on September 1, said, I AM BEING DETAINED along with 150 padyatris at Delhi border, by a police force of hundreds, some say 1,000. Many elderly men and women in their 80s, and a few dozen Army veterans. He further voiced his concern about the uncertain situation they were facing: Our fate is unknown. We were on a most peaceful march to Bapus Samadhi In the largest democracy in the world, the mother of democracy Hai Ram! I AM BEING DETAINED along with 150 padyatris at Delhi Border, by a police force of 100s some say 1,000. Many elderly men & women in their 80s and few dozen Army veterans Our fate is unknown. We were on a most peaceful march to Bapus Samadhi in the largest democracy pic.twitter.com/iPZOJE5uuM Sonam Wangchuk (@Wangchuk66) September 30, 2024 Advertisement The Delhi Chalo Climate March was organized by the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), which have been pushing for several key demands, including statehood for Ladakh, the extension of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, an early recruitment process along with the establishment of a Public Service Commission for Ladakh, and separate Lok Sabha seats for the Leh and Kargil districts. Wangchuk and the protesters came to Delhi in hopes of urging the central government to resume talks with Ladakhs representatives regarding their four-point agenda. The talks between the Centre and Ladakh representatives had abruptly ended in March this year, without any resolution. Earlier this year, Wangchuk had also staged a 21-day hunger strike in Ladakh to support these demands. The spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, on Sunday, highlighted Indias efforts in providing support to different countries in times of crisis through its Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations in the first 100 days of Prime Minister Narendra Modi 3.0 government. Sharing a post on X, Jaiswal said, India Vishwabandhu, a friend to the world. Extending a helping hand during humanitarian situations. Take a look at Indias Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Operations in the first 100 days of the Government. Sharing a video, Jaiswal elaborated on Indias HADR operations during the first 100 days of the government. He added, Kuwait (provided support during the fire incident in June); Papua New Guinea (assistance of supplies in June); Haiti (medical supplies in July); El Salvador (relief materials in August); Syria (anti-cancer drugs in August); Ukraine (four BHISHM cubes in August); Advertisement Chad (essential life-saving drugs, antibiotics and general medicines in September); Lao PDR (emergency flood relief assistance as part of Operation Sadbhav in September); Malawi (consignment of rice in September); Myanmar (relief material and ration as part of Operation Sadbhav in September); Namibia (consignment of maize and rice in September); Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (sleeping bags and hygiene products in September); Vietnam (relief goods as part of Operation Sadbhav in September); Zambia (shipment of maize in September); and Zimbabwe (consignment of rice in September). Notably, India has been among the first responders in providing HADR to impacted countries. Operation Sadbhav is part of Indias broader effort to contribute to HADR within the ASEAN region, in line with its longstanding Act East Policy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday spoke to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and inquired about his health as he had fallen ill while addressing a poll rally in J&Ks Kathua district. PM Modi spoke to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge Ji and enquired about his health, the Prime Ministers Office said. While addressing a huge gathering on the last day of the campaign for the third and final phase of the state Assembly elections, Kharge fell dizzy on stage and several party leaders rushed to support him. Advertisement The Congress President also underwent a preliminary medical examination to ascertain the reason for dizziness after addressing the poll rallies. However, the Congress President criticised PM Modi in Kathua, saying that Congress will restore J&K statehood. We will fight to restore statehood. I am 83 years old, I am not going to die so early. I will stay alive until Prime Minister Narendra Modi is removed from power, the Congress President said. Alleging that PM Modi did not give anything to the countrys youth in the last 10 years, Kharge said: Can you believe in a person who cannot bring back your prosperity in 10 years? If a BJP leader comes in front of you, ask them if they brought prosperity or not. Campaigning for the third and final phase of polls in J&K, to be held on October 1, ended on Sunday evening. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the recent developments in West Asia, and said that terrorism has no place in our world. PM Modi spoke to the Israeli Prime Minister as tensions in the Middle East increased following Tel Avivs assassination of Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah. In a post on X, the Prime Minister said: Spoke to Prime Minister @netanyahu about recent developments in West Asia. Terrorism has no place in our world. It is crucial to prevent regional escalation and ensure the safe release of all hostages. India is committed to supporting efforts for an early restoration of peace and stability. Advertisement Following Nasrallahs death, Netanyahu had issued a warning to Irans Ayatollah regime, asserting that those who target Israel will face consequences and that no location in Iran or the Middle East is beyond Israels reach. He called Nasrallah as the main engine of Irans axis of evil and added, Nasrallah was not just another terrorist; he was the terrorist. He was the axis of the axis, the main engine of Irans axis of evil. He and his people were the architects of the plan to destroy Israel. He was not only operated by Iran; he also frequently operated Iran. The Iran-backed Hezbollah sustained a string of deadly blows to its command structure, including the killing of its overall leader, Hassan Nasrallah, as part of a wave of increasingly brazen Israeli strikes meant to undercut the groups capacity to attack its territory. Before Nasrallahs killing, Netanyahu brushed off a ceasefire proposal brokered by the US and France that called for a 21-day pause in fighting across the Israel-Lebanon border, infuriating American officials who had been led to believe that he was on board. Israel informed the US that it was launching its major operation in Beirut only after it was underway again, to the frustration of some American officials. Tens of thousands of Israelis and Lebanese have been forced to evacuate near the Israel-Lebanon border as Hezbollah has launched near-daily rocket volleys at Israel over the past 11 months and Israel has countered with its own strikes. The far-right government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has proposed a new security decree that would criminalize non-violent protests that block roads and resisting a police offer in prison or in a migrant reception center. The opposition has dubbed the legislation anti-Gandhi for targeting the forms of peaceful resistance advocated by the Indian civil rights leader. The law approved by Congress on September 18, and just needs to be passed by the Senate, where the government wants it to be on the top of the agenda. The security decree creates up to 20 new criminal offenses or aggravating circumstances and increases prison time for offenders. For example, cutting off roads or railways as a form of protest will be a criminal offense punishable by up to two years in prison even if the action is nonviolent. Until now, this kind of protest which is often carried out by unions and environmentalists was punished with an administrative sanction. Italys main trade union, CGIL, said that it is a disgrace to introduce rules designed to indiscriminately punish those who express their disagreement with the government or demonstrate to defend a job. Participating in road or railway blockades can lead to a month in prison, but if it is done in a collective mobilization, a person could face between six months and two years. Whats more, the security decree introduces an aggravating factor, which increases the penalties by up to a third. In view of the recent protests against the Messina Strait bridge and high-speed trains, a defendant will receive a longer prison time if their actions were aimed at preventing a public work or a strategic infrastructure from being completed. The punishment for the crime of causing property damage during a protest if there is violence to persons or threats will also be increased from 1.5 years in prison to six. On the other hand, police officers will be able to carry weapons without a license when they are off duty, such as a revolver, pistol or long gun. Demonstration by Italian unions CGIL and UIL in Rome against the security decree of Giorgia Meloni's government. Joan Mas Autonell (EFE) The decree also criminalizes passive resistance as a method of protest in prisons and in migrant reception centers. Anyone who participates in a revolt through acts of violence or threats or resistance to the execution of orders given, in groups of three or more people, faces between one and five years in prison. The move comes amid growing protests in Italys prisons over the poor state of the facilities, which are run-down and overcrowded (61,840 inmates for 46,929 places). So far this year, 72 inmates have killed themselves. Whats more, under the new decree, pregnant women and women with children under one-year-old, will no longer be exempt from having to go to prison. If the decree is approved, these women will be sent behind bars. This rule is aimed at female pickpockets, who are repeatedly caught but suffer no further consequences. The new rules also consider crimes in or near a railway or metro station or inside the carriages an aggravating factor a move that comes in response to the high crime rates on subway and train station in Rome and Milan. The decree takes aim too at squatters: anyone who occupies a property or prevents the owner from accessing it will face between two and six years in prison. An emergency procedure is established for evicting the property and will be carried out automatically if the owner is unable to due to age or illness. The security decree has also sparked controversy for ending the 2016 law that legalized so-called light cannabis, with less than 0.2% THC. The new rules will put it on the same level as other cannabinoids. The problem is that since the 2016 law was passed: there are now 800 companies that grow cannabis light and 1,500 that operate in the business. They have a turnover of 500 million and employ 11,000 people. It was supposed to be a growing sector, but it has come under attack from the League the right-wing political party that forms part of Melonis government which wanted to prohibit even the drawing of a marijuana leaf for advertising purposes, a proposal that was eventually dropped from the decree. The League also proposed for chemical castration for rapists and pedophiles. Matteo Salvinis populist party has managed to get at a technical commission approved to study the possibility of chemical castration for convicted sex offenders, provided they voluntarily accept the procedure. Under the plan, they could receive suspended sentences in exchange for hormone-blocking treatment. It is a measure that is applied in Russia, Poland and some Scandinavian countries, but there is debate about its effectiveness. Italys Democratic Party (PD), the rest of the opposition parties and several legal experts have argued that it is unconstitutional and anachronistic to apply corporal punishment. It is not likely that this will go beyond the commission, but it is a sign of how the League has been able to influence public debate. Another key issue of the party is reinstating compulsory military service. Last week, the group made two parliamentary proposals. Melonis security decree has been met with unusually strong opposition from the countrys judiciary. Fabrizio Vanorio, a public prosecutor from Naples, warned: It provides for technically fascist rules. If approved, it would return Italy to an authoritarian criminal law similar to that of the Mussolini years or, to give a more modern example, yo that of Orbans Hungary. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Pointing out that criminals and terrorists have also resorted to using technology, President Droupadi Murmu on Monday asked police personnel to become tech-savvy and stay a step ahead of criminals. She was addressing a group of Indian Police Service (IPS) probationers which called on her at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The President said that among the various All-India Services, the IPS has a critical importance of its own. Law and order is not only the bedrock of governance; it is the very basis of the modern State. In simple terms, one can also say that in many places and many situations, the police personnel will be the face of the state for the fellow citizens, and they will be their first interface with the administrative machinery of the state, she said. Advertisement The President said that as India aims to scale new heights in the years to come, the role of IPS officers becomes all the more crucial. Economic growth and social development are possible only where the rule of law is upheld. Without maintaining law and order, ensuring justice and protecting citizens rights, progress becomes a meaningless term. President Murmu was happy to note the sharp jump in the number of women IPS officers in recent years. She said their increasing numbers can change the overall character of policing for the better, improve the police-community relations, and will prove beneficial to the nation too. The President said that maintenance of law and order, crime prevention and detection as well as other aspects of policing have benefited from advances in technology. However, the flip side is that criminals and terrorists too have resorted to using technology. When cyber-crimes and cyber warfare are rising around the world, IPS officers will be expected to be tech-savvy and stay a step ahead of the criminals, she added. The President said that great responsibilities placed on the shoulders of IPS officers could sometimes be too stressful. Therefore, they should never ignore their mental well-being. She told them to make Yoga, Pranayama and relaxation techniques part of their routine. She also advised them to remember that the S in IPS stands for service. She said that their one watchword above all is to serve the nation and its citizens. The Supreme Court on Monday granted interim protection from arrest to Malayalam actor Siddique in a rape case lodged against him by an actress. A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma issued notice on his plea challenging the September 24 order of the Kerala High Court dismissing his anticipatory bail plea. The top court stated that the interim relief is for two weeks and is subjected to conditions set by the trial court and his cooperation with the investigation. Actor Siddique has filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court after the Kerala High Court dismissed his plea for anticipatory bail. Senior lawyer Mukul Rohtagi appeared before the apex court for Siddique. Advertisement During the hearing, Rohtagi argued that the survivor filed a complaint against the actor eight years after the crime. Senior advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for the victim, opposed the anticipatory bail plea. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the state of Kerala, also opposed the grant of anticipatory bail. There are some cases when there is no sunlight or sanitation. He has acted in 365 Malayalam movies. It is not possible (for victims) to talk about such perpetrators. The SIT of senior officers was constituted, Bhati said. The Kerala High Court on September 24 dismissed the anticipatory bail application filed by Malayalam actor Siddique in a case relating to sexual assault of an actress. Siddique has been charged with offences under Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on a complaint by the actress. Dismissing the anticipatory bail plea moved by Siddique, the single bench of Justice CS Dias said the complaint of the actress is serious and there is prima facie evidence of the actors involvement in the case. Amidst speculations and uncertainty, the voters are geared up for the third and a decisive bout of polling on Tuesday for the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir assembly that will have a truncated five years term for the first time after a gap of 49 years. There is no visible wave in favour of any party but the large number of independent candidates and hardliners such as the Jamaat-e-Islami and Awami-Ittehad-Party (AIP) of Engineer Rashid in the fray have made the election exciting and they are expected to play spoilsport for the mainstream parties in Kashmir. This third and the final phase of polling will be a deciding factor for the government formation and this is the first election after the abrogation of Article 370 on 5 August 2019. Advertisement The UT is now governed by the J&K Reorganisation Act that has reduced the term of the Assembly to 5 years from 6 years that the J&K legislature enjoyed since 1976 when the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution was enacted under the rule of Indira Gandhi. However, J&K did not revert to the 5 years term even after the Janata Party government at the centre in1978 brought the 44th Amendment to restore the pre-1976 term of the Parliament and state assemblies. The new Act has brought the J&K Assemblys term at par with that of other assemblies in the country. The main contenders in these elections include the National Conference (NC), Congress, BJP, Peoples Conference, Apni Party and AIP. J&K does not have a history of pre-poll alliances and this is after 37 years that the election is witnessing a pre-poll alliance between the NC and Congress, otherwise post-poll pacts have generally helped in government formation. In 1987, the NC-Congress alliance won 66 seats in the Assembly. NC won 40 seats of the 45 it contested, and Congress got 26 out of 31. The PDP and BJP after winning 28 and 25 seats respectively in 2014 joined hands to form a coalition government that collapsed mid-way in June 2018 when the latter withdrew support to the then CM Mehbooba Mufti. The NC got 15, Congress 12 seats and the PDP-BJP coalition was described as coming together of the North and South Poles. In 2002, the l NC was the single largest party but it did not stake a claim for government formation. The PDP, Congress and Panthers Party formed a coalition government with PDPs Mufti Mohammad Sayeed serving as the Chief Minister for the first three years and Congresss Ghulam Nabi Azad for the next three years. The election saw a major boycott on the appeal of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat as a result of which the Kashmir division had a voting percentage of 3.5%. NC got 28 seats, PDP 16, Congress 20, Panthers Party 4 and BJP 1. However, following the 2008 election, NC agreed on a coalition with Congress and their leader, Omar Abdullah became the states youngest-ever Chief Minister at 38. The seat share in the election was; NC 28, PDP 21, Congress 17, BJP 11 and Panthers Party 3. The new assembly will have a strength of 114 seats out of which 24 seats would be deemed vacant for the Pakistan-Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK). Another 5 seats have been reserved for nomination from various categories. The Delimitation Commission, formed after the abrogation of Article 370, reorganized the seats, increasing the assembly count from 107 to 114. Six seats were added in Jammu and one in Kashmir. Thus, compared to the 83 seats in 2014, this time elections will take place for 90 seats. I first read Fyodor Dostoevskys, Crime and Punishment while still in school and inadvertently fell for the protagonist Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov for his intellectual intensity. Years later, today, I question the nonchalance with which I, and no doubt most readers of this psychological thriller which is considered one of the greatest novels of all time in world literature sided with the protagonist, who was an anti-hero by virtue of being on the wrong side of the law. Of course, the justification that the fictional Raskolnikov offers not only to those who come to know about his misdeed but also to his own conscience, is that his victim was a cruel and cantankerous pawnbroker who was, in her dealings, merciless and remorseless. Dostoevsky was himself in penury, with a debt that he found difficult to pay back when he wrote the novel and his empathy lay very much with his main character. Vicariously the reader was supposed to, if not downright expected to, identify with his predicament. Dostoevskys protagonist is however by no means a standalone example of a literary or cinematic character who has legitimate justification or who earns the empathy of readers and audiences in spite of their so-called wrongdoing. Books, films, plays, etc. galore, in which characters who have committed offences because they were driven to it by adverse circumstances or in self-defence or for a cause (like a freedom fighter) get the readers/viewers sympathies. One of our contributors, Gautaman Bhaskaran, has written for todays pages about Laapataa Ladies, the film by Kiran Rao, which is an Oscar entry from India. Though ostensibly about mistaken identities, the filmmaker actually also touches subtly, satirically (and sweetly) on the issue of punishment and crime (though compared to Raskolnikovs, Raos protagonists wrongdoing is a trivial theft which is later established to be a false allegation. Nevertheless, Raos protagonist too lands in prison or at least the police lock-up. Advertisement The discussion about crimes and their punishment is dealt with in an opinion piece this week by our contributor, Prof. Deepa Majumdar. However, she discusses serious crimes, and the nature of the punishments which is a topic of debate and discussion the world over. The eastern part of South Asia and the western part of Southeast Asia are termed Western Southeast Asia by many native communities, i.e., the geographical areas of Bangladesh, Bhutan, North-East India, and Myanmar. If one is keen on the geopolitics of South Asia and Southeast Asia, one must be aware of the on-going civil war in Myanmar from 2020, where Kuki-Chin-Zo militant groups play a huge role in anti-government armed coalitions, the news of enduring ethnic clashes between Meitei (an indigenous animist tribe) and Kuki-Chin-Zo militant groups from 2023, and the Bangladesh governments own counter-separatist operation against Kuki-Chin-Zo militant groups. Now, armed clashes and tensions have started between Nagas Militant Groups and Kuki-Chin-Zo Militant Groups in Myanmar, Manipur, and Nagaland. And the recent exile Prime Minister of Bangladesh talks of external powers trying to create a new Christian state in this region using the Kuki-Chin-Zo community just before her exile and after. The actual definition of this community is a little vague. They are known as Kuki in most parts of India, Chin in Myanmar, and Mizo in Mizoram. Not much is mentioned about this community in the local histories of the region before the arrival of the British Empire in the 16th century. It is said that the British Empire had used them as potters and paid mercenaries to counter or control the local kings and tribes of the region. They practise and follow the American Baptist Church. Some part of this community also claims itself as a Jew of the Bnei Menashe sect and settles in the new claimed land of Israel. First, they settled in present-day Mizoram (Lushai Hills) and Chin State (in Myanmar) in the 16th century. Later, Political Agent to Manipur (1830-1840s), Colonial William McCulloch allowed and helped them to settle in present-day Manipur, Assam, and Nagaland by providing funds and guns against the wishes and concerns of indigenous communities. In 1859, the Kuki-Chin-Zo community invaded the Chittagong Hill Tracts of present-day Bangladesh and uprooted masses of Buddhist Chakma tribes villages. In 1860-61 and 1880-91, they invaded Tripura, resulting in uprooting 15 Tripuri villages and their places, and they started to settle in the occupied area. Advertisement In Bangladesh, Kuki-Chin-Zos militant groups called Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF) and Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA) are waging war against the Bangladesh Government for an independent Kuki-Chin State. This KNF and KNA are allied with the Peoples Defence Force (PDF), the armed wing of the National Unity Government (NUG) in Myanmar. KNF trains various Islamic terrorist groups in the region. In Bangladesh, Kuki-Chin-Zo militant groups are known for their disturbance to peace and development, drug trafficking, extortion, and armed trafficking. It is alleged that the United States, EU, Japan, and other western countries support the NUG in the current ongoing civil war, and all the Kuki-Chin-Zo armed militant groups are part of the PDF coalition. Kuki National Army (KNA) of Kuki National Organisation (KNO) is working to create a separate Kuki state from India and Myanmar. KNA has its present headquarters in Churachandpur and Chandel Districts of Manipur and is presently working with the Government of India under a Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement. KNA and Chin National Army of Chin National Front are also part of the PDF coalition. Myanmar Buddhist monks like Ashin Wirathu said Kuki-Chin militants groups are engaging in collective drug trade and genocide of other communities. In Assam during the early 2000s, the Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA) and KNA went to Karbi Anglong and started an ethnic clash against the Karbi tribes. Various Karbi villages were removed from the map, and the Kuki-Chin population in the area increased to 30,000 from just 2,000 in the next few years. Another subgroup of Kuki-Chin-Zo Militants group, Hmar Peoples Convention-Democracy (HPCD), uprooted many Dimasa tribal villages in Cachar District of Assam in 2003. Indigenous Naga Christian communities faced the most wrath of the Kuki-Chin-Zo community since their arrival in the region. In the so-called Kuki Rebellion of 1917-1919, Kuki hooligans burnt down more than 40+ Naga villages and killed more than 300 innocent villagers with their guns in Manipur. And during the 90s, from 1992-1999, the Kuki-Chin-Zo community humiliated and defeated the Naga and chased them out of various districts of Manipur completely. Those districts are Chandel, Churachandpur, Pherzawal, and Tengnoupal, which included the famous town of Moreh and were semi-chase-out from the remaining hill districts. Again, in June 2024, Nagas NSCN-IM and KNA started war in various parts of Myanmar, and the KNA seemed to have the upper hand, killing many Naga Army members, including a captain. It is reported that in various parts of Nagaland, Kuki illegal migrants got more populated than various indigenous tribes. Kuki-Chin-Zo population increased from 17,204, representing 7.78 per cent of the population of Manipur in 1891, to 448,214, representing 15.70 per cent of the total population of Manipur in 2011. In 1891, there were only 73 Kuki-Chin-Zo villages in Manipur, but in 2024, there are more than 1878 Kuki-Chin-Zo villages in Manipur. In 2008, the Government of India (GoI) under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) signed the SoO with 25 Kuki-Chin-Zo armed militant groups and allowed them to set up camps across Manipur. The GoI also pays Rs 6,000 every month to every member of these armed militant groups. This also led to an explosion of cadres of these armed militant groups. They are also allowed to intermingle freely with the Indian Armed Forces as part of the so-called peace process. These 25 militant groups, empowered by the SOO agreement, started illegally planting poppy plants in 13,122 acres of land in reserved forests, according to Narcotics and Affairs of Border (NAB) India, which is about 80 per cent of all illegal poppy plantations in Manipur. From the poppy plant, they produce opium and heroin and sell it to youth of indigenous tribes at discounted rates and across the globe at market rates. With this money, the Kuki-Chin-Zo militant groups armed themselves with state-of-the-art weapons. In the ongoing civil war from 3rd May 2023, between the indigenous Meitei tribe and Kuki-Chin-Zos narco-terrorist groups, indigenous Meitei tribes were completely chased out of Chandel, Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, Pherzawal, and Tengnoupal districts and from many villages in Jiribam district and from many foothills of remaining districts of Manipur. In Meghalaya, the native tribe communities of the state conducted a sit-in protest against the Kuki-Chin-Zo at Shillong, citing the conditions of other tribes at the hands of them and also starting legal procedure against them. From 1859-2024, the Kuki-Chin-Zo community defeated the Chakma, Dimasa, Karbi, Tripuris, Nagas, and Meitei tribes in the region. They also got the upper hand against the Myanmar government and are currently fighting with the government of Bangladesh. But with the Government of India, they seem to be working together or allegedly under the SoO Agreement of 2008, which NSCN-IM also claimed. The concern of the ex-Bangladeshi Prime Minister is very likely feasible, and there is a high probability of creating a new Christian independent state of Kuki-Chin-Zo in Western Southeast Asia. The writer is assistant professor, security management, Jharkhand Raksha Shakti University A total of 148 people have been confirmed dead in monsoon rain-induced landslides and floods in Nepal by Sunday afternoon, police said. The disasters have left 101 injured and 55 others missing, Nepal police said in a statement, noting 3,661 victims have been rescued so far, reports Xinhua news agency. Thirty-five bodies have been recovered from three passenger buses buried in a landslide in Jyaple Khola of Dhading district in central Nepal, Nawaraj Adhikari, spokesperson for District Police Range Kathmandu, told Xinhua. Advertisement Different security teams have been mobilised for the search, rescue and clearing of the blocked highways, the Home Ministry said in a statement. Most of the major highways across the country have remained obstructed due to landslides and floods caused by incessant rainfalls from Friday till Saturday, leaving hundreds of people stranded, police said. Acting Prime Minister and Minister for Urban Development Prakash Man Singh was chairing an all-party meeting to seek support for the rescue and relief efforts. Six people died, including a six-month-old baby and a one-year-old toddler, and another child was injured in a fire that razed a house in the Philippine capital before dawn on Sunday, the Bureau of Fire Protection said. Fire Officer Roderick Andres said the fire broke out on the second floor of a four-story house in the Tondo district of Manila City at 3:50 a.m. local time, as reported by Xinhua news agency. He said the victims were asleep when the fire erupted, trapping them inside the building. A child was injured after jumping out of the window to escape. Advertisement It took firefighters over an hour to put out the fire. The bureau is looking into the cause of the fire. At least two persons were confirmed dead and three others injured due to a road accident in eastern Afghanistans Khost province, local police said. The accident occurred when two passenger vehicles collided on the outskirts of the provinces Nadir Shah Kot district, along the highway linking the capital Kabul with eastern provinces, provincial police spokesman Tahir Ahrar told Xinhua news agency. Road accidents are prevalent in Afghanistan due to poor road conditions, reckless driving, challenging terrains, overloading, overtaking, and speeding. Advertisement Some 2,000 people lost their lives and about 6,000 others were injured in 4,270 road accidents in Afghanistan over the past year, official data showed. Humberto Ortega Saavedra participated in only two major guerrilla operations in his lifetime, and both went very wrong. The first was in 1967, when a Sandinista commando unit attempted to attack the convoy of dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle in Managua. Ortega Saavedra was arrested. The second was in 1969 in Alajuela, Costa Rica, when he devised and led a plot to try to free Carlos Fonseca Amador, a hagiographic figure of Sandinismo, from prison. Again, everything failed and not only was he arrested, he was seriously wounded by two .38 and .45 caliber bullets: one went through his chest, grazing his heart, and the other, the larger round, hit his right shoulder. It paralyzed him and he began to bleed to death. He was saved at the San Juan de Dios Hospital in San Jose, but he lost the use of his hands and fingers. The aftereffects proved fatal for his life as a guerrilla. He was left unfit for combat, something that was decisive for his political and military career: he became an insurrectional and warlike strategist that led him to become the head of the Sandinista Popular Army (SPA), after the Somoza dynasty was overthrown in 1979. He became an unavoidable and feared Sandinista figure in the following decade, and the first military chief in democracy who was key to the professionalization of the armed forces in the 1990s. Ortega, a man of many credentials more shadows than lights, say his detractors died in the early hours of September 30 in Managua at the age of 77 while being held captive by his older brother and sister-in-law, President Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. The day before his death, the Nicaraguan army issued a statement in which they reported that the retired general experienced a sudden deterioration in his condition with cardiogenic shock. Ortega Saavedras house was surrounded by a police contingent hours after he gave an interview to journalist Fabian Medina, published in Infobae, in which he issued some criticisms that embittered the presidential couple. He said that his older brother, as leader of the authoritarian regime, has no successors, a suggestion that, like a precise arrow, hit the bulls-eye of the family succession plan that is being pushed, above all, by his sister-in-law. Without Daniel there is no one, because, with everything, Daniel is the only leader, historically, who still retains the credits of that struggle [the Nicaraguan Revolution]. Without Daniel, I see it as being very difficult that there could be two or three that would come together. Much less one in particular, and more difficult still within the family. Sons who have not had the accumulated experience of a political struggle, Ortega Saavedra said, referring to his nephew Laureano Ortega Murillo, who the presidential couple is promoting as a successor to the dynasty. Although co-president Murillo occupies the first line of constitutional succession, she has worked hard to shape her son Laureano, the current presidential advisor for investments and de facto foreign minister in charge of the relations of his parents regime, primarily with Russia and China. Three weeks after his captivity began, Ortega Saavedra was rushed by the police to the Military Hospital with symptoms of having suffered a heart attack. On May 28, 2024, on national television, Ortega called his brother a traitor. Ortega Saavedra is not the first historic Sandinista leader to die in the captivity of the presidential couple, that is, at the hands of the state. Before him was Commander Hugo Torres Jimenez, a retired general, who collapsed in the El Chipote prison due to lack of adequate medical attention for a 73-year-old man with chronic illnesses. Torres Jimenez was transferred to a hospital, but it was too late for him to recover. A complicated relationship with his sister-in-law Sources close to the Ortega Saavedra family told EL PAIS that Murillo and her brother-in-law have always had a troubled relationship, even before the Sandinista revolution triumphed in 1979. The then-first lady during the revolutionary period did not get along with her brother-in-laws wife, a Costa Rican named Ligia Trejos, who was more dedicated to her children and had less of a public profile than Murillo. Although the animosity was mutual, sources close to the Ortega Saavedra family recall that Murillo disdained Trejos and Humberto for their opulent lifestyle. Rosario spoke contemptuously to Humbertos children; she criticized them even for the clothes they wore, says the source close to the presidential family. She used these things to question Humberto politically and weaken the relationship he had with Daniel, because the brothers did have a political connection. Although he is the younger brother, the former head of the military always had a certain influence on the president. Despite their differences, Daniel Ortega used to take into account the military, political or diplomatic considerations of his younger brother. As a military man, Humberto is very pragmatic and has always seen Rosario as crazy, impulsive, violent and aggressive. But it is not only because of her emotional position; Humberto is a realist. He knows the internal antipathies that her leadership has always generated, the source said. Murillo has always seen her brother-in-law as a competitor to her husbands power and, consequently, her own. Dora Maria Tellez, Commander Two, a legendary former Sandinista guerrilla and political exile, told EL PAIS that the relationship between the co-president and her brother-in-law was never good, but that it became even more strained as she gained power. However, I dont think at the end of the day it has that much to do with personal animosity, but rather it is a matter of political competition, she said. Ortega and Murillo see in Humberto a competitor, someone annoying, who does not submit to their control, who is not subject to them, said Tellez. He can say anything, as he has done. So this siege against Humberto the same siege as against thousands of Nicaraguans is to silence him. Humberto is a voice outside the country that has gotten out of hand. A brilliant strategist In a conversation with former guerrilla Monica Baltodano, collected in Memorias de Lucha Sandinista (Memories of Sandinista Struggle), Tellez asserts that Ortega Saavedra was brilliant in strategic analysis, but he has never had balance in his considerations. He is very extremist and that is what always deteriorated his capacity for analysis. He went from railing against the bourgeoisie to becoming one of them. It is a totally contradictory thing. Humberto Ortega Saavedra was born in 1947 and in his youth, following in the footsteps of his brother Daniel, he joined the anti-Somoza struggle clandestinely. The brothers were not founders of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), but years later they would become two of the main figures of the insurrection and the revolution. After unsuccessfully attacking Somozas convoy and leaving prison, the young Ortega Saavedra went to Cuba for military training, where he underwent several operations that partially restored the mobility in his hands. On the island he became very close to Fidel Castro. Former Sandinista guerrillas agree that he was the pet of the Cuban dictator. During this period, Ortega Saavedra fully developed his military facet. In 1977, after the operations known as Victorious October against National Guard barracks, the Sandinista Front was divided into three factions: the Proletarians, the Prolonged Popular War (GPP) and the so-called Terceristas. The Terceristas faction was led by the Ortega Saavedra brothers. At this point in history, the sources consulted by EL PAIS agree that Humberto was key in formulating a strategy of insurrection in the cities, contrary to the GPP faction, which preferred to fight against Somoza in the mountains. The Terceristas strategy was very successful, but above all, they gained international prominence due to actions such as the 1978 assault on the National Palace that weakened the Somoza regime. Humberto was perceived as a skilled, shrewd man, with enormous influence among the Terceristas. Humberto also had the vision of opening up politically, of broad alliances with all anti-Somoza sectors, including non-pro-socialist formations. That was a success. That opening also allowed them to approach anti-Somoza governments such as those of Panama, Venezuela, and Costa Rica. That broad policy allowed the formation of the Group of 12, a former guerrilla who worked with Ortega Saavedra in the 1980s told EL PAIS. The former guerrilla, who requests anonymity for fear of reprisals, says that when the Sandinista factions united and overthrew the Somoza dictatorship in 1979, many of the Sandinista leaders were afraid of Humberto. That is why they decided that Daniel Ortega would head the National Reconstruction Board on behalf of the Sandinista National Directorate. In 1984, Humbertos older brother was elected president of Nicaragua, while he remained as head of the Sandinista Popular Army. At that time, the brothers became the two most powerful men in Nicaragua. The war between the Sandinistas and the Contras, the anti-revolutionary guerrilla group financed by Washington, soon broke out. These were bloody years for Nicaragua, with serious mutual violations of human rights between the two sides. It was more than war, it was a fratricidal conflict. At that time, Ortega Saavedra was the main military strategist along with General Joaquin Cuadra, second in command of the SPA. The main wound that Nicaraguans never stopped holding Ortega Saavedra responsible for was the imposition of the Patriotic Military Service (SMP), better known as the mandatory military service for all men between the ages of 18 and 40. Thousands of young people were murdered, at the same time that the Sandinista Revolution committed atrocities against civilians and women while the leadership lived an opulent life, far removed from the austerity they demanded from the people. In an interview with the newspaper La Prensa, Ortega Saavedra justified the SMP as a measure when voluntary military service was insufficient to repel the United States war of aggression. Retirement and withdrawal from public life In 1990, when the Sandinista revolution lost power at the polls to former president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, Humberto Ortega Saavedra kept his position as head of the army. Antonio Lacayo, minister in the presidency of Barrios de Chamorro, advised her to keep the military chief in order to carry out a political transition, which ended up being overly hasty. Military sources consulted for this article also agreed that Ortega Saavedra was a general obsessed with the professionalization of the army. As such, he was key in reducing the number of soldiers, removing the Sandinista surname from the Armed Forces and turning it into a body attached to the Political Constitution. He was an important interlocutor during the transition, says a military source. In 1994, Barrios de Chamorro retired Ortega Saavedra, who devoted himself to writing memoirs and political assessments, while developing a facet as a businessman that he always disavowed. The origin of his fortune has always been questioned and many point out that he amassed it with the illegal sale of weapons in the 1980s, or in the Pinata of the 1990s, the distribution of public assets that the Sandinistas carried out when they lost power in 1990. Ortega Saavedra, apart from his exquisite tastes, was a man who considered himself an intellectual. He lived away from public life from 1994 until his death, splitting his time between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, except when he gave interviews. He expressed his political point of view in a somewhat convoluted way, although after his brother returned to power, he became more critical of the authoritarian drift of the Sandinista leader and his wife. In 2021, in an interview with Andres Oppenheimer on CNN, the retired general defended political prisoners and said that they were not terrorists, as his brothers government claimed. Sources close to the retired general who maintained contact with EL PAIS until the day before he was placed under house arrest stated that he was already feeling very ill and that was why he decided to give the interview to Medina, criticizing the dynastic succession, fully aware that he could suffer reprisals. I think he decided to sacrifice himself close to the end. It seems to me that Humberto perceived it as one of his last great contributions toward finding a way out for Nicaragua, said the source. The feminist and former Sandinista revolutionary Maria Teresa Blandon has a different view following the death of Ortega Saavedra: With the death of Humberto, the most important figure of the war of the 1980s is gone, as is everything that this wound, the biggest wound in Nicaragua, meant. He was the lord of war, she told EL PAIS from exile in Costa Rica. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Recently, the government of Karnataka came up with a comprehensive Global Capability Centres (GCCs) policy, becoming the first state in the country to do so. The policy aims to attract the establishment of 500 new GCCs in the state and create 3.5 lakh new jobs by 2029. The GCCs are expected to generate an economic output of $50 billion in Karnataka by 2029. Experts with whom THE WEEK spoke feel this policy will leverage Karnatakas robust talent pool, thriving startup ecosystem, and strong infrastructure. "The policy has a focus on skilling, which will be driven by initiatives like the 'Nipuna Karnataka' programme for advanced skill development in AI, ML, and emerging tech. The vision is to expand employment opportunities beyond Bengaluru to Tier-II and Tier-III cities through the 'Beyond Bengaluru' initiative. They plan to invest in infrastructure in those cities and build collaboration with local academia, making it possible for companies to set up GCCs there, remarked Aditya Narayan Mishra, the CEO and MD of CIEL HR. This GCC policy aims to make Karnataka a leader in AI and innovation, enhancing job opportunities across sectors such as IT, R&D, retail, BFSI, and healthcare. This will open up hiring in diverse roles such as AI engineers, data scientists, R&D specialists, software developers, cybersecurity analysts, digital transformation managers, business intelligence analysts, customer experience managers, and global delivery leaders, further solidifying Karnatakas position as a global innovation hub, Mishra said. GCCs in India have grown beyond just providing back-office support. They now play a major role in the tech industry, acting as important tech hubs closely connected to their parent companies. These centers act as valuable resources for companies aiming to boost their competitiveness, simplify operations, and tap into a wide range of talents worldwide. As companies deal with the challenges of globalisation, GCCs are essential in reshaping operations and helping them achieve long-term success. GCCs are not just outsourcing centers; they are a key part of a company's overall strategy. By centralising important functions like research and development, IT services, customer support, and finance, companies can improve efficiency, reduce costs, and easily scale up their operations. These centers allow businesses to access specialised skills, cutting-edge technologies, and innovative methods that may be hard to find or costly in their local markets. In addition, GCCs help promote better collaboration between various regions, encouraging a culture of knowledge sharing and ongoing improvement. Currently, there are around 1,600 GCCs in India, and this number is expected to increase to 1,900 by next year. The market size of the sector has expanded to $60 billion, up from $19.6 billion in 2014-15, showing an annual growth rate of 11.4 per cent. Between 2018-19 and 2023-24, the GCCs created over 6,00,000 new jobs, increasing the total workforce to more than 1.6 million. According to the latest Economic Survey, GCCs are expected to generate $121 billion in revenue by 2030. This is about 3.5 percent of India's current GDP, with $102 billion anticipated from exports. Investing in developing employees' skills is no longer just about growing talent; it has become essential for businesses. Keeping a company's workforce updated with the latest industry knowledge, technologies, and best practices helps maintain a competitive advantage. It helps retain the best employees and gives the workforce more power, making them more productive, creative, efficient, and adaptable. GCCs are prioritising reskilling and upskilling employees in cutting-edge technologies like automation and robotics, including drone delivery and automated medical procedures. These innovations offer promising solutions for everyday challenges. Additionally, advancements in edge computing and virtual reality have the potential to streamline processes and enhance user experiences. These efforts are crucial not only for challenging and developing tech-savvy employees but also for ensuring a skilled workforce capable of achieving organisational objectives. Leadership development programmes are being designed to nurture future leaders who will drive transformation and growth within the organisation, said space and aerospace expert Girish Linganna. GCCs are working with educational institutions through their Campus Outreach Committee to identify courses employees can take beyond regular training programmes. They also support continuous learning by reimbursing higher education expenses, as outlined in their reimbursement policy. This approach helps enhance adaptability, change management, and strategic partnerships. GCCs are focusing on retaining top performers, who are receiving salary increases 1.6 to 1.8 times higher than the average. Currently, Gen Zthose born from 1997 onwardmakes up about 20 per cent of the workforce, while millennialspeople born between 1981 and 1996constitute 70 per cent. This tech-savvy Gen Z generation is growing quickly and will soon represent nearly half of the tech workforce, collaborating with millennials, added Linganna. Industry is also upbeat about the kind of job creation this policy will bring in the state and are eagerly gearing up for the same. Karnataka's thriving IT ecosystem, characterised by the presence of numerous prominent GCCs, has significantly contributed to the state's overall office real estate landscape. Bengaluru's dominance in the GCC sector is attributable to its exceptional talent pool, robust technological infrastructure, and dynamic start-up culture. With a staggering two million-strong tech workforce, the city has firmly established itself as India's undisputed technology capital. Bengaluru accounts for over 40 per cent of the country's total GCCs. The new policy, coupled with strategic interventions, is poised to strengthen the GCC ecosystem further, thereby attracting both occupiers and investors to the state. Moreover, this policy can potentially create opportunities beyond Bengaluru, accelerating development in other regions of Karnataka. The policy announcement aligns favourably with the prevailing growth momentum and will foster a resilient ecosystem that seamlessly integrates real estate and talent, said Ram Chandnani, managing director, advisory and transaction services, CBRE India. Sensex, Nifty plunged on Monday morning as Asian markets opened in negative territory with Japan's Nikkei index declining around 5 per cent. Tumbling blue chip stocks like ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries combined with foreign fund outflows also contributed to the bearish trend. The BSE Sensex tanked as low as around 1.2 per cent to 84,591.58 before noon while Nifty plummeted around 1.1 per cent to 25,895.40. Among the 30 stocks in Sensex basket, the major laggards were Tech Mahindra, Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank and UltraTech Cement. The stocks that withstood the bears included Tata Steel, JSW Steel, NTPC, Titan, Hindustan Unilever and Asian Paints. Tokyo benchmark index, Nikkei 225, saw around 5 per cent dip on Monday while Seoul also was in the red. On Friday, Sensex tanked 0.31 per cent to close at 85,571.85 while Nifty slumped 0.14 per cent to 26,178.95. The eighth edition of the India-Kazakhstan joint military exercise, KAZIND-2024, which seeks to enhance the military capabilities of both sides to undertake counter-terrorism operations in a sub-conventional scenario, under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, began at Surya Foreign Training Node of Auli in Uttarakhand on Monday. The 8th edition of Exercise #KAZIND from 30 September to 13 October 2024. A joint military exercise between #India and #Kazakhstan, is scheduled to be held at the Surya Foreign Training Node, Auli, #Uttarakhand. #JaiHind #IndianArmy pic.twitter.com/Qz82odvDun (Defence) (@DefenceEncoder) September 25, 2024 The event, which will go on till October 13, will focus on operations in the semi-urban and mountainous terrains. ALSO READ: France submits 'best and final price' for 26 Rafale Marine jets to be procured for Indian Navy The aims of the joint exercise include achieving a high degree of physical fitness, rehearsing and refining drills for operations at the tactical level and sharing of best practices. Tactical drills to be rehearsed during the exercise include joint response to a terrorist threat, setting up of a joint command post, establishment of an intelligence and surveillance centre, securing of helipad/ landing site, combat free fall, special heliborne operations, cordon and search operations, employment of drones and counter-drone systems among others. Joint Exercise KAZIND-2024 will enable both sides to share best practices in tactics, techniques and procedures of conducting joint operations. It will facilitate developing inter-operability, bonhomie and camaraderie between the two armies, the defence ministry said in a statement. READ MORE: Sidelined by India, Tata-made Wheeled Armoured Platform combat vehicles find a taker in Morocco The Indian side will be represented by a battalion of the KUMAON Regiment of the Indian Army, along with other arms and services, as well as personnel from the Indian Air Force, while the Kazakhstan contingent will be represented mainly by personnel from Land Forces and Air Borne Assault Troopers. The joint exercise between the two countries has been an annual event since 2016. The last edition of the event was held at Otar in Kazakhstan. In 2006, after 34 days of war with Israel, Hassan Nasrallah the leader of Hezbollah who was found dead on Sunday admitted in an interview that, if he could go back in time, he would not have ordered the surprise attack on a military patrol that sparked the conflict. We did not think, even 1%, that the capture would lead to a war at this time and of this magnitude. You ask me, if I had known [...] that the operation would lead to such a war, would I do it? I say no, absolutely not. If this is what he thought after a conflict that ended in a moral victory and a surge in popularity for Hezbollah, who were celebrated for facing such a superior enemy, it is hard to imagine what Nasrallah, if he were alive, would think after the 11 days in which Israel has dealt the group its most crushing defeat. A blow that is a reminder of a reality that is often clouded amid fear and rhetoric: Israels military and technological superiority is indisputable. As is the support of the United States The Lebanese militia was also unknowingly infiltrated to its very core. Meanwhile, its main supporter, Iran, watched from a distance as the conflict descended into an open war against Israel (and perhaps Washington, which mobilized aircraft carriers) that it neither wants nor can win. The result has placed in Israel in what may be its best strategic position in almost a year. Just two weeks ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to have run aground in Gaza, with no direction other than preserving his power, the ongoing devastation and the search for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Today, he once against appears all-powerful. And unpunished: his army has killed almost twice as many Lebanese people (more than 1,000) in 11 days as in the previous 11 months, and a higher proportion of civilians. He has also forced the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, who are now sleeping in schools, apartments and even streets and parks in Beirut. Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs following an Israeli airstrike on Saturday. WAEL HAMZEH (EFE) Hezbollah, just as in 2006, did not expect the conflict to go so far. The attack on October 7, 2023, caught it as much by surprise as it did the Hamas political leadership in exile. But when the Israeli army began to bomb Gaza in retaliation, it felt obliged to open a new front, in defense of its ally and Irans strategy. On October 8, it fired rockets at the Shebaa Farms since 2006, the United Nations has been calling for negotiations to resolve the dispute over this territory, which Hezbollah claims and began an exchange of cross-border fire. In his addresses, Nasrallah described the actions as a triumph for Hezbollah, because they forced Israel to divert military resources from the Gaza Strip and evacuate 67,000 civilians. As Israel continued to bomb Gaza, so did Hezbollah. In waves that intensified, and targeted areas that were increasingly further away from the border. The fighting only stopped during the week-long ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, in November 2023. Both sides crossed red lines, but continued to adhere to unwritten rules: Israel responsible for 80% of the shelling killed militants with fairly precise strikes and Hezbollah only targeted military targets. Only when a bomb (apparently by mistake) killed 12 minors in the Golan Heights (Syrian territory occupied by Israel) did Netanyahu go after Hezbollahs number two, Fuad Shukr. Unsustainable situation The situation proved unsustainable. In Israel, displaced people were increasingly demanding that Hezbollah be crushed so they could return home. In its measured and belated response to Shukrs killing, Hezbollah made all too clear its fear of open war, either out of strategy, weakness or a mixture of both. Its missiles and drones did not stop Israels deadly attacks in Gaza, and its fear of all-out war became a sign of weakness, in the words of analyst Joseph Daher, a professor at the European University Institute in Florence and author of the book Hezbollah: The Political Economy of Lebanons Party of God. Israel smelled blood. Months earlier, it had introduced explosives into the thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies ordered by the party-militia and decided that now was the time to strike: Gaza was no longer in the spotlight, the U.S. was focused on the elections, and the new president of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian, looking to the West to renegotiate the sanctions and the nuclear dossier. The Mossad detonated the devices remotely over two days, to increase the impact and confusion. Hezbollah lost hundreds of men, lines of communication and confidence. Since then, Hezbollahs top leaders have been killed one after the other. The most recent victim was Nasrallah, who had survived previous assassination attempts, was not using electronic devices and had barely seen people in the last two decades. The moral blow to his followers is so great that on Sunday, some were claiming that he was still alive and that Hezbollah was planning a dramatic strike. Funeral procession of Hezbollah militants, this Friday in Beirut. ABBAS SALMAN (EFE) Israels 11-day Israeli lightning offensive has left Hezbollah facing its most difficult moment in four decades of history, Daher says by telephone. Israeli warplanes have gone from causing sonic booms over Dahieh the Hezbollah stronghold on the outskirts of Beirut where Nasrallah was killed to scare the population, to bombing it every few hours. Israeli warplanes are also flying over the main entry points, such as Beiruts civilian airport, ports and the border with Syria. Even in the Christian district of Achrafieh, the constant buzz of Israeli drones could be heard on Sunday. Just like in Gaza. Hezbollah has survived other assassinations. Like the killing of Abbas al-Musawi, Nasrallahs predecessor, in 1992. Or the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a car bomb in Damascus in 2008. But it has never suffered such a serial decapitation of military and political leaders, says Daher. Does this mean that this is the end of Hezbollah? No [] It can continue to act politically and militarily. Abed Kaananeh, an expert at Tel Aviv Universitys Middle East Department and author of an essay on Hezbollah, elaborates: It was a big blow. Not just for those who support him. He was much more than just the secretary general of Hezbollah. For many people in the Arab world, he represented the resistance to Israel. But it does not mean the end of Hezbollah or the war in the north. In Israel, where journalists celebrated Nasrallahs assassination live on television, Kaananeh calls for caution. It is too early to gauge the groups ability to plan retaliation. It needs a few days to understand how to react. And, above all, how the Israelis were able to infiltrate so deeply. They need it to be able to protect the next leader, he says. Daher recalls that Hezbollah considered a terrorist group by the U.S. and the EU, which combines pragmatism with an Islamist concept of resistance that leaves no room for surrender preserves a good part of its arsenal, including guided missiles. The shockwaves of these 11 days will be felt throughout the Middle East, especially in Iran. For 11 months, it kept its pieces in motion (some more unruly, others less so) on the geopolitical chessboard. The attacks against Israel from different points helped Tehran achieve its main objective: Improving its strategic position in terms of negotiations with the West, says the expert. A billboard with a picture of Hassan Nasrallah in Tehran on Sunday. Majid Asgaripour (via REUTERS) Without aspiring to have the same power as the alliance between Israel, the United States and much of Europe, it was the ace that Iran had up its sleeve, o hide or pull out at will: a combination of militias in Iraq and Syria, the Houthis in Yemen, Islamic Jihad in the West Bank, and, of course, the jewel in the crown: Hezbollah. Iran needs to carefully calculate when to use this card, because the threat of doing so is part of its deterrent power. Today, Hezbollahs powder has been severely damaged, which leaves Tehran in a delicate spot. Daher explains: Hezbollah is not just a puppet of Iran. It has its own autonomous interests, too. But if one loses, the other loses too. The fact that Hezbollah has been weakened also leaves Iran weakened. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Even as the Indian Army has decided to go with a limited number of India-made Wheeled Armoured Platform (WhAP) combat vehicles, Morocco has signed a deal with Tata Group for the manufacture of the WhAP 8x8 in the country with a minimum 35 percent indigenous content. There have been reports that while the Indian Army inducted WhAP, jointly built by Tata and DRDO, into Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF) in Kashmir in what the CRPF claimed was part of the efforts to improve operational efficiency, the ministry of defence is more keen on inducting Stryker infantry combat vehicle (ICV) made by US-based General Dynamics Land Systems. ALSO READ: France submits 'best and final price' for 26 Rafale Marine jets to be procured for Indian Navy According to media reports, Tata is set to build nearly 150 combat vehicles for Morocco's defence forces, to be supplied over three years. "The contract has been signed between the Indian firm and Morocco for building 150 of these vehicles for their armed forces," news agency ANI quoted defence sources as saying. Morocco intends to scale up the indigenous content upto 50 per cent eventually. For the past few months, trials for the WhAP vehicles have been going on in the northwest African nation. READ MORE: In historic defence deal, India's Small Arms Factory to export 2,000 machine guns to Europe Designed for optimised survivability, all-terrain performance and increased lethality, WhAP 8x8, the flagship product of Tata Advanced Systems, is incorporated with critical technologies like an integrated power pack with automatic transmission, floatation and propulsion. According to the company, the modularity and scalability capabilities of WhAP help this platform to be easily customised to cater to various missions and operating conditions, including navigating through muddy or slushy terrains. The 24th International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA), which was held at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, may have been a glitzy affair, but Kannada filmmaker Hemanth M. Rao described the experience as a massive inconvenience and disrespectful. Rao, who was nominated in the Best Director (Kannada) category, said, The whole IIFA experience was such a massive inconvenience and extremly disrespectful. I've been in this business for over a decade and this wasn't my first stint at award shows. It's always been a case where the winners are flown in and hosted for the event. The Sapta Sagaradaache Ello director said he waited till 3am, only to find out that there was no award for him. He also highlighted the fact that the nominees for the awards were not mentioned before announcing the winner. Sapta Sagaradaache Ello is a two-part film that follows the story of two lovers Manu and Priya. In the first film, Side-A, the two are put to the test when Manu makes a wrong choice that puts him behing bars. In Side-B, the second part of the film, Manu is released from prison and he tries to build a new life for himself, but Priya still seems to loom in the back of his mind. ALSO READ: Sapta Sagaradaache Ello' is a force of its own no need for pan-India release Rakshit Shetty The films gained positive reviews scoring a whopping 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, following which Rao bagged the Best Director award at the 69th Filmfare Award South for the film. Rao rose to fame with his directorial debut Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu, for which he won the Gollapudi Srinivas Award for Best First Time Director. Tamil movie Ponniyin Selvan: II bagged several awards at the IIFA Utsavama part of the three-day eventceremony honouring the south Indian film industry. However, Rajinikanth-starrer Jailer won the Best Picture award. Actress Sunita Rajwar is living a dream. Having become a household name thanks to the immensely popular Gullak web series, Sunita's happiness knew no bounds when, last Thursday, United Kingdom chose Hindi film Santosh as its official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the Academy Awards 2025. Sunita stars alongside Shahana Goswami in the film, directed by British-Indian director and documentarian Sandhya Suri. Besides the fact that the film is exceptional, I have a good and interesting role in it, she told HTCity in an interview. And it feels great that along with Sandhya and the main lead, Shahana, my name is also being mentioned. ALSO READ: Why did UK send Hindi film Santosh as its official entry for Oscars 2025? Sunita, who has been in the industry for more than two decades, called the experience surreal. Along with Gullak, Sunita starred in films such as Urf Ghanta, Aanchhi, and more recently, a supporting role in Stree 2. Sunita says she is happy to break away from stereotype. I have said no to so many projects of late because everyone has been approaching me to play a character similar to Bittu ki mummy (her character in Gullak). Amidst all this, to get such a great news is amazing. When asked if she was concerned about the release of the film in India, she said that people often admire how Hollywood and Iranian films feel so real and how they are made, but when it comes to their own films, they are much more critical. The film is too real. A lot of films face problems ahead of their release in India. At times, even the audience takes time to accept certain kind of films. I would like Santosh to get a release in India so that people watch a good film and see all our hard work, she said. The film had its world premiere at Cannes 2024, in the Un Certain Regard section, which translates to a certain look, primarily aimed at films that offer a different perspective to the audience. The thriller drama is about a Hindu widow who inherits her husbands job as a police constable in a rural town in north India. She is asked to probe the rape and murder of a low-caste girl while being caught up in institutional corruption. The film also stars Kushal Dubey and Sanjay Bishnoi. The final nominations for the 97th Academy Awards will be announced on January 17, 2025. The Supreme Court on Monday granted Malayalam actor Siddique protection from arrest for two weeks in connection with a sexual assault case filed by an actress. The plea was heard by a bench comprising Jusctice Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma. The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Kerala government over his challenge to the high court decision to dismiss his bail. This comes after Kerala High Court Justice CS Dias rejected his plea seeking anticipatory bail, citing materials on record indicated his prima facie involvement. It added that the seriousness of the allegations required custodial interrogation for an investigation. The allegation by the actress had forced Siddique to resign as the general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA). Following this, she registered a formal complaint with the police. The FIR was lodged under IPC sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation). Siddique is among one of the actors who were accused of sexual assault or harassment by women in the Malayalam movie industry. These came following the release of the Justice Hema Committee report, which brought to light the explotations faced by female artistes in Mollywood. The alleged detention of two Meiti youngsters by village volunteers in Kuki dominated Kangpokpi district in strife-torn Manipur has worsened the security situation and widened the trust deficit between the Centre and the people of the tiny northeastern state. As Manipur sees no end in sight to violence, there is clamour for an early political solution by bringing both sides together for peace talks. However, there are no talks but only negotiations for now between the village volunteers of various civil society organisations in Kangpokpi, the state administration and local police as the former refuses to free the detained till their twin demands are met. The first demand is to shift the Kuki prisoners lodged in Imphals Sajiwa jail to Churachandpur jail. These Kuki prisoners had been arrested for various crimes before violence gripped the state last year and they continue to remain lodged in the central jail in Imphal. Security officials said no accused can be shifted from one jail to another without the order of the court. If the court allows to shift them, the state government and police can consider making necessary security arrangements to shift them, sources said. The village volunteers will have to approach the court earliest by Tuesday . The second demand relates to the release of those Kuki prisoners who have been granted bail but continue to remain in jail in the Valley, owing to the unrest and divide between the Hills and the Valley in the last one year. While some Kuki prisoners have been released on bail amidst tight security arrangements, at least ten remain in jail despite being granted bail, sources said. The detentions and negotiations have added a new dimension to the worsened security situation in Manipur. The last few times people strayed on either side was resolved peacefully with the help of locals, explained an official, but this time the matter has taken a critical turn involving state authorities. This isnt all. The pot is boiling in the Valley where people are demanding strict police action in the criminal cases lodged in the detention of the youth. The inability of the political establishment, both at the Centre and the State, to bring the two sides to the talking table is making the security situation fragile. Incidentally, both Kuki and Meiti groups are demanding the removal of security advisor Kuldiep Singh and DGP Rajiv Singh as they feel no relief is coming from the government. Instead, the deployment of central forces has led to more unease and suspicion on both sides. What made matters worse recently was the sharing of an uncorroborated intelligence input by the security officials only to retract it later. The input reportedly shared with the chief ministers office warned about entry of 900 trained Kuki militants from Myanmar allegedly to carry out attacks in the Valley on September 28. However, as the unsubstantiated input led to panic within the public, both the security adviser and the DGP retracted the input saying there is no basis currently to believe in any such input. However, the demand for their removal is picking up steam again. Questions are being raised over centralisation of power with the security advisor to the chief minister, causing further unease among different agencies and armed forces. The absence of a full-time governor in Manipur is also raising eyebrows. At the moment, Lakshman Prasad Acharya, the governor of Assam, holds additional charge of Manipur but security officials point towards the need for a full time governor with experience of serving in the northeast. Meanwhile, protests continue in both Valley and Hills as Meiti organisations demand removal of senior officers for failing to restore peace and normalcy while the Manipur Tribals' Forum in Delhi (MTFD) are upset over the portrayal of the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar community as using drone warfare and highly sophisticated weaponry. They claim such allegations are part of a larger narrative aimed at justifying the state's militarization. It is a fact that multiple security agencies have boots on the ground in Manipur, including Indian Army and central armed police forces besides intelligence agencies. But for long lasting peace, there is a unanimous view that the solution has to come from New Delhi in the form of peace talks at the earliest. "Even in my seven-year-old mind, I thought what a strange thing to be doing," a 54-year-old Prem Sargam said as he recounted her harrowing childhood at spiritual guru Oshos ashrams. In a recent interview with The Times, Sargam narrated how children at the ashram were exposed to sexual acts at a very young age. Sargam accompanied her mother and joined Oshos ashram in Pune at the age of six. They were reportedly inspired by the change life at the ashram had brought to her father, who had abandoned them to join the ashram in Pune. Sargam said she was forced to change her name, wear orange robes and adopt a philosophy that viewed children as obstacles to parental sexual freedom, NDTV reported. "It was considered normal for children to talk about sex and watch adults engaging in sexual activities regularly," Sargam told The Times. Sargam said she was exposed to sexual acts at a very young age, when she was six years old, and Sargam and her friends were coerced into performing sexual acts with grown men. "Between the age of seven and 11, I and my friends were coerced into performing sexual acts on grown men living in the commune. We knew something wrong was going on even then," Sargam added. Sargam said she had been part of three Sanyasin communities or ashrams during her time with the cult and she was even sent alone to an ashram in Suffolk under the pretext of boarding school. Sargam said she by the time she had turned 12, she had endured rape over 50 times. "The other message of sannyasin teaching, both unlawful and shattering, was quickly assimilated by those joining the cult. This philosophy normalised paedophilia within the cult," NDTV quoted Sargam as saying. Osho alias Rajneesh, the controversial spiritual guru from India was also known as Sex Guru for emphasising sexual freedom. The Uttarakhand Film Vikas Parishad is creating a film resource directory that will list talented individuals and institutions associated with film production in the state on a single platform. Various talents film producers, directors, actors, actresses, musicians, choreographers, lyricists, writers, camerapersons, photographers, technicians, spot boys, film production houses, studio owners and line producers, will be able to list themselves on this directory through a publicly available Google form till October 31, 2024. This is an extension of the states film policy released earlier this year to both generate employment and promote tourism in the state. The policy also offers grants to films made in local languages and dialects. It puts into place a single window system for all clearances regarding the making of films in the state. One of the important aims of the policy is to set up cinema halls, multiplexes and mobile cinema halls in hard-to-access, hilly terrains. Another important step is to develop a curriculum for cinematic studies for a new institute and also for existing universities and institutes of higher education in the state. The directory will be a unified resource for those who want to make films/content in the state. The film policy offers a grant of 30 per cent or Rs 3 crore (whichever is lesser) of the film/content production cost, to such films which are shot 75 pc in the state. Films that are shot in hitherto unexplored locations will be eligible for a five per cent additional grant. An additional five per cent can be availed by using the real names of locations used for filming. Also, if one or more of the five actors cast in a movie shot in Hindi or any of the languages listed in the Eight Schedule of the Constitution of India, Rs 10 lakh of their remuneration shall be provided by the states film development council. In addition, if film crews stay in state-run hotels/guest houses they will be eligible for a 50 per cent discount. Students who gain admission to prestigious film institutes (like the one in Pune) will get scholarships ranging from 50 to 75 per cent. The state has also instituted the Uttarakhand Film Award and is scouting for a brand ambassador for its film policy. In more trouble for Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the Enforcement Directorate on Monday booked him, his wife and some others in a money laundering case linked to the MUDA land allotment case, taking cognisance of a recent state Lokayukta FIR, official sources said. The ED has pressed sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to book Siddaramaiah in its enforcement case information report (ECIR), the equivalent of a police FIR, they said. According to the procedure, the ED is empowered to summon the accused for questioning and even attach their assets during the investigation. There was no immediate reaction from the chief minister or any other leader from the Congress on the ED action. Siddaramaiah, 76, had last week asserted he was being targeted in the MUDA issue as the opposition was "scared" of him. He also reiterated that he would not resign following the court ordering a probe against him in the case as he has done no wrong and asserted that he would fight the case legally. Siddaramaiah, his wife B M Parvathi, brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy and Devaraju -- from whom Swamy had purchased land and gifted it to Parvathi -- and others have been named in the FIR registered by the Mysuru-located Lokayukta police establishment on September 27. The FIR was lodged after a special court in Bengaluru last week ordered a Lokayukta police probe against Siddaramaiah in the case. The order of the special court judge came following the Karnataka high court upholding the sanction granted by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot for a probe against the senior Congress leader on allegations of illegalities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA). In the MUDA site-allotment case, it is alleged that compensatory sites were given to Siddaramaiah's wife in an upmarket area in Mysuru, which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land that was "acquired" by MUDA. The Lokayukta FIR has been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 120B (criminal conspiracy), 166 (public servant disobeying law, with intent to cause injury to any person), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 426 (mischief), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 340 (wrongful confinement) and 351 (assault). Meanwhile, Snehamayi Krishna, one of the complainants against the chief minister in the MUDA case, also lodged a fresh complaint with the ED in Bengaluru. "I had filed a complaint with the ED through email on Friday. Today I personally handed over my complaint to the ED officers," Krishna told PTI. In his complaint, Krishna alleged that the allotment of 14 sites to Siddaramaiah's wife by the MUDA is derived from "criminal activity". Such offences relate to "scheduled offences" under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and the allotment of sites constitutes "proceeds of crime" under the PMLA, Krishna claimed. In a separate development, police on Monday said that Krishna was booked after a woman alleged that he threatened her in a property dispute. According to police sources, the 30-year-old woman, a resident of Nanjangud in Mysuru district, alleged Krishna had threatened her and her mother on July 18 with dire consequences, asking her to stay away from a dispute with her in-laws regarding a property over which her late husband has a share. The FIR was registered on August 21. Krishna has termed the charge as "fake" and demanded that police investigate the matter thoroughly to find out where he was at the time of the alleged incident. As Haryana enters the last leg of campaigning ahead of polling on October 5, the two main parties the BJP and the Congress are beset with the challenge posed by rebel candidates contesting against the official candidates. Despite some intense efforts to make the rebel candidates withdraw or announce their support for the official candidates, the former had not relented. Both parties have expelled over 30 such candidates. When the votes are counted on October 8, the performance of these candidates would decide the outcome of final tally. Most of the seats are facing multi-cornered contests, as apart from the ruling BJP and its main rival, the Congress, the INLD-BSP and JJP-ASP alliances are also in the fray. This has made main parties sweat for the last-minute voter outreach. During the 2019 assembly elections, there were 25 out of the 90 seats where the victory margin was less than 5,000 votes, including 10 where the margin was below 2,000. This shows that this time, the contest may be even sharper as rebels from both parties are contesting in one-third of the total seats. The stakes are running high for the BJP which had changed its chief minister six months ago to fight the anti-incumbency of its 10-year-rule. Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini got six months to govern. Less than a week to go before the polling, the BJP expelled eight rebels from the party for six years after they filed nominations as independents. The prominent among them being former minister Ranjit Chautala. He is the brother of former deputy PM Devilal. There was even a rebel candidate against Saini from Ladwa seat, Sandeep Garg. He has also been expelled. The other prominent candidates are Naveen Goyal who is contesting from Gurgaon, Kehar Singh Rawat from Hathin and former MLA Devendra Kadyan, Zile Ram Sharma from Assandh seat, Radha Ahlawat from Meham, former minister Bachan Singh Arya from Safido. The countrys richest woman candidate Savitri Jindal, who joined the BJP early this year, too, is contesting as an independent from her family seat of Hisar, from where she had won twice, and earlier also represented by her husband. Her son, Navin Jindal, is currently Lok Sabha MP from Kurukshetra, who too had joined BJP ahead of the general elections. The Congress which registered its resurgence in the state as it won five out of the 10 Lok Sabha seats is facing the rebel trouble. Like Hisar, Ambala Cantt seat offers an interesting contest. Chitra Sarwara is contesting as an independent here, while her father, a four-time MLA, is contesting as an official Congress candidate from the neighbouring Ambala city seat. The Congress expelled 10 rebel candidates from the party on September 29, including Sarwara. A day earlier, it had expelled 13 leaders. The high number of rebels are a problem for the parties. They can cause an upset in a close contest, a BJP leader said. This means that the BJP will now be relying on its cadre, booth workers, and even the RSS volunteers to reach out to the voters and the supporters of the rebel candidates so that the votes dont get divided. Its a tall order. How much these candidates impact the outcome will be known on October 8. Hundreds of people took to the streets in Lucknow on Sunday evening to protest the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike. The demonstrations were staged between Chhota Imambara and Bada Imambara. The protesters, holding black flags and torches, raised slogans against the US and Israel. Many of them were also seen holding portraits of the Hezbollah chief, terming him as a martyr. READ: PM Modi should put pressure on Israel to end 'bloodshed' in Middle East: Omar Abdullah According to reports, the call for protest was given by Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad. He has declared a three-day mourning for Nasrallah's death and also asked people to hoist black flags atop their houses. "Israel has proved that it is the biggest terrorist in the world. This great martyrdom will not go in vain and Israel will soon be destroyed," Jawad was quoted as saying by PTI. "His great services and achievements will not be forgotten. He will always remain alive in people's hearts," Jawad said. READ: Hassan Nasrallah killing sparks protests in J&K; Mehbooba Mufti, Ruhullah cancels poll campaign Israeli strikes have killed Nasrallah and six of his top commanders and officials in the last 10 days. The IDF claims to have hit thousands of militant targets across large parts of Lebanon. Nasrallahs killing had also sparked protests in Jammu and Kashmir with hundreds of people taking to the streets in Srinagar and Budgam. People's Democratic Party (PDP) supremo Mehbooba Mufti had cancelled her poll campaign, while National Conference (NC) urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to put pressure on Israel to stop the bloodshed in Palestine and Lebanon. Press Release September 30, 2024 'Palugaw ni Bong Go' continues in Malasakit Centers in support of patients and frontliners Senator Christopher "Bong" Go, continues to push for feeding programs in hospitals equipped with Malasakit Centers across the country. The senator emphasizes how these feeding initiatives serve not only to nourish the body but, more importantly, to alleviate the burdens faced by patients and their watchers during some of the most challenging times in their lives. The feeding program was initially rolled out after Senator Go observed firsthand the struggles of many Filipino families trying to access medical services, especially in provincial areas. Despite the significant assistance provided by Malasakit Centers in covering medical expenses, many patients and their families still face difficulties in securing daily necessities like food, which is vital for both patient recovery and the well-being of their companions, as well as for the welfare of medical frontliners. "Hindi madaling magkasakit, at lalo pang nagiging mabigat ang sitwasyon kung hindi sapat ang pambili ng pagkain," Go said. "Bagamat tulong-tulong na tayo para sa libre at abot-kayang serbisyong medikal, nakikita ko pa rin na marami sa mga pasyente natin at kanilang mga pamilya ang nagkukulang sa pang-araw-araw na pangangailangan, kaya naman itinutuloy natin ang mga palugaw na ito," he expressed. During medical treatment, patients often have a family member or friend who remains by their side, providing physical and emotional support. For these individuals, the feeding program not only eases financial burdens but also allows them to focus more fully on providing care. By offering free and nutritious meals, the program ensures that watchers are not forced to leave the hospital in search of food, thus maintaining their presence during crucial times when patients need them the most. Senator Go's Malasakit Teams have been actively conducting feeding programs across numerous hospitals nationwide. From September 24 to 28, hospitals like Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) Hospital and Diagnostic Center and Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital, both in San Fernando City, Pampanga; Philippine Children's Medical Center, East Avenue Medical Center, National Children's Hospital, Veterans Memorial Medical Center, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Philippine Orthopedic Center, all in Quezon City. There were also meal distributions at Ospital ng Paranaque; Las Pinas General Hospital; Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital and San Lazaro Hospital, both in Manila City; and Biliran Provincial Hospital in the town of Naval, providing relief to hundreds of families. The program aims to meet immediate hunger needs while giving watchers the peace of mind that they will have a meal at the hospital itself. In a time when every peso counts for those dealing with serious health conditions, the feeding program addresses an often-overlooked part of patient care: the supporters who play a key role in the patient's recovery process. Senator Go emphasized, "Hindi lamang mga pasyente ang kailangan nating alagaan, kundi pati na rin ang mga kasama nilang nag-aaruga at nag-aalaga sa kanila. Malaking bagay na may libre silang makakain habang nasa ospital." With over 166 Malasakit Centers now operating nationwide, the feeding program is a complement to the services offered by these centers, which focus primarily on subsidizing medical costs. The comprehensive support offered by combining medical aid and direct food assistance aims to lessen the many stressors faced by Filipino families when a loved one falls ill. Senator Go reiterated that his mission to serve the Filipino people goes beyond legislative work--it also involves addressing the small, yet critical, aspects of public welfare. He added, "Bilang inyong lingkod, sisikapin ko po na wala sanang magugutom habang nag-aalaga ng kanilang mahal sa buhay sa ospital. Hangga't kaya natin, tuloy-tuloy ang suporta natin." By ensuring that patients and their families receive food assistance, Senator Go strengthens the overall healthcare experience that Malasakit Centers provide. This not only eases the heavy burden on poor families but also fosters an environment where both patients and their caregivers can focus more effectively on healing and recovery. Since its inception in 2018, the Malasakit Center, a one-stop shop for government medical assistance, has provided a much-needed lifeline to almost 12 million Filipinos. Go is the principal sponsor and author of the Malasakit Centers Act of 2019. Three Spanish words have recently crept into the American lexicon: Tren de Aragua. While reports of the Venezuelan criminal gangs presence in the United States have been trickling in for some time, over the last few months, mentions of the organization by Republicans blaming the immigration policy of President Joe Bidens administration for the gangs activity have placed it at the forefront of the political conversation, against the backdrop of an imminent presidential election in which immigration is one of the key issues. With incidents reported from Texas to New York and from Florida to Colorado and GOP-aligned media giving it intense coverage often exaggerated and without real evidence Tren de Aragua, also known as TDA or simply the Venezuelan gang, has become the abstract favorite villain of the countrys conservative voices. However, according to the information available, security forces still know very little about its activities and level of organization. The news and social media frenzy over Tren de Aragua began less than a month ago, when images began circulating allegedly showing gang members armed with assault rifles forcing their way into homes in a residential building in Aurora, Colorado. Headlines on more conservative publications and channels claimed that the gang had taken over the town, which is part of the Denver metropolitan area. Former president and Republican candidate Donald Trump also echoed the story in the presidential debate in which he faced Kamala Harris, using exactly the same expression. In response, local police denied that the Venezuelan gang had taken over the city, or even some of its buildings, although they admitted that there was a presence of suspected members of Tren de Aragua. In Denver, the gang has been held responsible by authorities for several robberies and assaults on luxury stores that have resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses, and one homicide. Alleged members of the Tren de Aragua enter an apartment building in Aurora, Colorado with assault weapons, in a video that went viral on social media in September 2024. RR SS The narrative Trumpism is pushing fits neatly into the broader story regarding immigration and crime that the Republican candidate is selling. The former president repeatedly claims Venezuela and other countries that change by the day is emptying its prisons and asylums and sending criminals and the mentally ill to the United States. Trump has never provided any proof of this beyond saying that crime is down in Venezuela, and that assertion is based on unverified data from the Maduro regime. Nor is there any external evidence to support his claims. But the growing presence of Tren de Aragua, even if it is a drop in the bucket of recent Venezuelan immigration, provides some support, however circumstantial, to his xenophobic alarmism about the supposed connection between new migrants and crime. In July, the Biden administration imposed sanctions on the gang, placing it on a list of transnational criminal organizations that includes El Salvadors MS-13 and the Italian Camorra, and offering a $12 million reward for the arrest of its three known leaders. In September, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott declared Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization and ordered the state department of public safety to create a task force to pursue the gang wherever it was known to be present. In the border city of El Paso, a hotel was shut down because of persistent criminal activity. Police have said the situation was exacerbated by the presence of Tren de Aragua, though they were not the only ones named. And just last week, Abbott announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of gang members. The name of the gang, which was created in the Tocoron penitentiary in the state of Aragua in Venezuela, has also been mentioned on Capitol Hill. Eleven Republicans led by Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, the vice president of the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on September 20 calling for a coordinated strategy by the Biden administration to confront the gang. The administrations weak enforcement of immigration laws allows gangs, like Tren de Aragua, to control routes and exploit migrants en route to the border, the letter stated. In cities like Chicago and New York, the gang has been accused of crimes such as sex trafficking which it carries out across almost the entire continent drug trafficking, assaults on police, robbery, extortion and, as Republican senators claim, the exploitation of migrants. A recent article in The New York Times, citing confidential sources from the NYPD, describes what is known about the presence of Tren de Aragua in the metropolis that has received the largest number of migrants in recent years. There, according to the police, the gang has focused on stealing cell phones, robbing luxury goods, and trafficking tusi, a pink synthetic drug. Governor Greg Abbott signs a proclamation declaring the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua an international terrorist organization on September 16 in Houston, Texas. Kirk Sides (Getty Images) In interviews conducted by security forces with detainees suspected of being members of Tren de Aragua, the gangs strategies have been outlined. For now, it is known that they usually reconnect with other members in shelters for immigrants although people currently in the reception centers say they have not noticed the presence of the gang and they communicate through private WhatsApp groups. They also report that there are several identifying marks: tattoos of watches, anchors, crowns, or verses with the word warrior; Jordan brand sportswear; and, for reasons that are not clear, an Albanian flag on social media. While these are all advances in the intelligence needed to take on a criminal organization, at this point basic information such as its size or level of coordination, both within the United States and internationally, remains a mystery. On the surface, the crimes attributed to Tren de Aragua in the U.S. do not appear to be connected to its leadership in Venezuela. There is also no indication that they are related to each other, but there is concern that they may, sooner rather than later, begin to organize across different states. In May, a federal investigation uncovered a sex-trafficking operation spanning Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Florida, and New Jersey. It followed the modus operandi used by Tren de Aragua from Chile to Mexico: Venezuelan women forced into prostitution to pay off debts to human traffickers. The gangs foray into a wide range of criminal activities has also raised the risk of confrontations with rival groups. There have already been reported clashes with former members who call themselves the Anti-Tren, as well as with other established gangs like MS-13, as well as occasional alliances. Tren de Aragua, however, seems to be generating more fear than other criminal groups because in addition to having appeared in a context in which its name is being used for electoral purposes of its level of violence and lack of scruples. For Tren de Aragua, anyone is a valid victim and no criminal activity is off-limits. Venezuelan migrants near the border with Colombia, in February 2019. Fernando Vergara (AP) A look at Venezuela also offers little certainty about Tren de Aragua. A year ago, the authorities in Caracas claimed it had dismantled the gang after regaining control of the Tocoron prison; but since then, news about its activities in various Latin American countries has been constant. In April, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil declared that Tren de Aragua is an international media fiction. More recently, Diosdado Cabello, considered the second-in-command of Chavismo, accused TDA of being behind an alleged assassination attempt backed by the opposition and the United States to kill Nicolas Maduro after the July elections. In this context of non-existent cooperation with Venezuela, the U.S. police have increased their inspection protocol to detect possible members of Tren de Aragua at the border, with close scrutiny of cell phones or tattoos and more in-depth interviews. Meanwhile, since the name of the gang appeared in headlines and conversations in the U.S., Americans walk around in fear and suspicion of any Venezuelan migrant. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition The Supreme Court on Monday directed IIT Dhanbad to give admission to a dalit youth who had narrowly missed the deadline for paying the deposit fee. The top courts order came as a major relief to 18-year-old Atul Kumar who had gone pillar to post to secure his hard-earned seat. The court took its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to direct the prestigious institution to admit Atul to the BTech course. It observed that a talented student like the petitioner who belongs to a marginalised group should not be left out. We direct that candidate is granted admission to IIT Dhanbad and let him be in the same batch to which he would have been granted admission if the fees would have been paid, said a bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. The court also noted that this was the petitioners last chance to secure admission, since only two attempts were permissible. All the best! Acha kariye (do well), said CJI Chandrachud as the hearing concluded. Many doors knocked Atul, the son of a daily wager, hails from Titora village in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. His parents had failed to deposit Rs 17,500 as the acceptance fee by June 24, the deadline for depositing the requisite fees for blocking the seat. The petitioner claimed that he had logged in at 4.45 pm at the portal after arranging the funds, but the portal was closed at 5 pm and the payment was not processed. Having denied the seat, Atul initially approached the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and the Jharkhand Legal Services Authority. While the NCSC expressed its inability to help him, the JLSA advised him to approach the Madras High Court as the JEE test was conducted by IIT-Madras. The high court asked him to approach the apex court. Whats Article 142? Article 142 of the Constitution gives discretionary powers to the Supreme Court to pass an order for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it. The top court had made several orders invoking this provision, including those in the Union Carbide case and Cleansing of Taj Mahal. However, in recent years, many of such verdicts from the apex court drew criticsim from various quarters who labelled them as judicial overreach. Karnataka has rejected the sixth draft notification of the Kasturirangan report that proposes the demarcation of eco-sensitive areas (ESA) in the ecologically fragile Western Ghats. The state cabinet has decided to reject the draft in toto citing opposition from the locals and the elected representatives from the 11 districts in the Western Ghats region in the state. Meanwhile, Kerala has submitted draft proposals for consideration by the Centre's expert committee to exclude residential areas from the ecologically sensitive areas. Karnataka's Parliamentary Affairs minister H.K. Patil said that the state was rejecting the report after deliberations and it was consistent with their earlier stance. Interestingly, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre had expressed their willingness to reconsider the panels recommendations in the wake of the devastating landslides in Shiroor (Uttara Kannada) and Wayanad in Kerala. Khandre, who had chaired the cabinet sub-committee, was in favour of reducing the ESA limit from the proposed 20,668 sq km to 16,114 sq km. The Karnataka government has already notified and protected 16,632 sq km of forest land in the form of sanctuaries, national parks, and eco-sensitive zones. The remaining area has about 1,533 homes, villages, and other human dwelling units and we need to protect the rights and livelihood of people living here, Khandre had said while indicating that the state cabinet would decide on a resurvey before implementing the Kasturirangan report. We must learn lessons from Wayanad and Shirur. The government will take a re-look at the report to prevent incidents of landslides. The Kasturirangan report identified 1,576 villages in ESA, the high-powered committee has pegged the number of villages at 1,490. A re-survey might be needed, said Khandre, adding that the previous Bommai government too had opposed the fifth draft notification. The sixth draft notification issued by the Centre on July 31 sought to declare over 56,800 sq km of the Western Ghats spread across six states of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat, as ESA. The notification was issued shortly after the Wayanad landslide in Kerala, and after the National Green Tribunal, on July 29, 2024, directed the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to finalise a timeline to demarcate and declare the Western Ghats areas as ESAs. Meanwhile, conservationists allege that the government could have averted landslides and floods by implementing the Kasturirangan report earlier. The people fear eviction from their homes. However, the report only restricts harmful industries, mining and activities that damage the environment. Conservation is no longer a matter of choice but compulsion. But the subsequent governments have failed to recognise the urgency of implementing the report despite a spate of disasters like floods and landslides in the region. First, it was the UPA government which constituted the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) headed by ecologist Madhav Gadgil in 2010, to study the impact of population pressure, climate change and development activities in Western Ghats. But after WGEEP submitted its report in August 2011 (made public only in May 2012), it was forgotten, as states dubbed it as anti-development. Soon, MoEF constituted another high-level working group (on August 17, 2012) headed by space scientist Dr K. Kasturirangan to revisit the WGEEP report. While, the Gadgil report had declared the entire Western Ghats region (1.64 lakh sq km) as ecologically sensitive, further grading it as ecologically sensitive zones ESZ I, II and III, based on their fragility, the Kasturirangan report proposed demarcation of the region only as natural landscape (37%) and the remaining 63% as cultural landscape (owing to human settlements and agricultural fields). The natural landscape was declared as a no-development zone, and a total of 4,156 villages Goa (99), Gujarat (64), Karnataka (1576), Kerala (123) Maharashtra (2,159) and Tamil Nadu (135) were declared as ESA villages. The Karnataka government had agreed to notify only 153 out of 1,553 villages and stated such antagonism would only defeat the conservation efforts. In its reply (dated April 24, 2015), the state government mentioned public outrage as the reason for dropping the villages from the ESA list. Kerala seeks exclusion of residential areas Keralas draft proposals for excluding residential areas and denoting only forest areas under the ecologically sensitive areas have been submitted for consideration by the Centre's expert committee. The high-level working group (HLWG) under the chairmanship of Kasturirangan had identified a 13,108 square kilometre areawhich is the total area of 123 villages in Keralato be put under the ESA. In December 2013, the centre sought suggestions from the state governments on modifications in the boundary of the ESA as identified by the HLWG on the basis of physical verification. A three-member committee formed by the Kerala government under the leadership of Oommen V. Oommen identified 9993.7 sq. km of 123 villages as an eco-sensitive area of Kerala. Out of which 9107 sq. km. was identified as forest area and the remaining 886.7 sq. km as non-forest area. The Union Ministry of Forests and Environment accepted this recommendation and listed 9993.7 sq. km as the ESA of Kerala in the first draft ESA notification of 2014. In the latest draft notification also, 9993.7 sq km is the area put under ESAs, though the number of ESA villages has risen from 123 to 131. This was because some of these villages were divided. After detailed discussions, the state government decided in 2018 to recommend ESA only for protected forest areas and reserve forests, excluding inhabited areas, plantations, water bodies and isolated forest areas. Subsequently, Kerala State Remote Sensing and Environment Center submitted the report identifying 8656.46 sq. in 92 villages. Later, at the district level, monitoring committees conducted inspections and the extent of ESA was fixed as 8,711.89 sq km in 98 villages. The Kerala CMO recently said that the Union government was alerted that the final report would be submitted after incorporating the changes. The sixth draft notification was released by the Union government just a day after the Wayanad landslides. The Kerala government has plans to bring the landslide-prone areas of Wayanad under the ESAs. According to the draft notification, 13 villages in Wayanad are identified to fall under the ecologically sensitive area. According to the draft notification, all new and expansion projects of building and construction with a built-up area of 20,000 square metres and above and all new and expansion townships and area development projects with an area of 50 hectares and above or with a built-up area of 1,50,000 square metres and above shall be prohibited in the Eco-sensitive Area. Kottappadi, a village identified for building a township to rehabilitate the landslide victims, is one of the 13 ESA villages in the draft notification. Meanwhile, there is a petition in the Kerala High Court challenging the draft notification issued to include 131 villages from Kerala in the environmentally sensitive zone. The HC has sought an explanation from the central government, and the case will be considered on October 4. Security forces on Monday extended the ongoing search operations to new areas in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua and Rajouri districts to hunt down terrorists following recent encounters in the region, officials said. While a policeman and a terrorist were killed and two police officers injured in a fierce gunbattle in remote Kog-Mandli forest village in Billawar tehsil of Kathua district on Saturday evening, a brief exchange of fire took place between terrorists and security forces in Manial Gali in Thanamandi area of Rajouri district on Sunday evening. A massive search operation is going on for the third day in Kathua with cordon extending to over a dozen other villages near the scene of Saturday's encounter, the officials said. They said at least three more foreign terrorists of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) are believed to be hiding in the forest belt. In Rajouri, the officials said the terrorists fled after a brief encounter with security forces at Manial Gali in Thanamandi area Sunday evening. The operation was called off late Sunday and resumed and extended to new areas early this morning, the officials said. They said there was no fresh contact with the terrorists so far. Meanwhile, slain head constable Bashir Ahmed was laid to rest with full honours at a graveyard near his Jammu residence after a wreath-laying ceremony late Sunday evening. J-K Director General of Police, Operations and Security, Nalin Prabhat, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Jammu zone, and all personnel paid homage to the fallen cop. Family members of the policemanhis wife, two sons and a daughterwere present at the wreath-laying ceremony at the police headquarters and were seen being consoled personally by the DGP. Officers of central paramilitary forces also paid rich tributes and laid floral wreaths on the mortal remains of the deceased. South actor Minu Muneer, who had accused seven Mollywood celebrities of sexual midconduct following the release of the Hema Committee report, made fresh allegations against actor-director Balachandra Menon. Talking to a television channel, Minu Muneer claimed that Menon asked her to watch him engaging in sexual acts with other women. The fresh row erupted only days after national award winner Balachandra Menon had filed a complaint with the Kerala DGP and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan against an actor and her lawyer. The 70-year-old Mollywood icon had accused the female actor and her lawyer of threatening him with bogus sexual assault allegations. According to Menon, ahead of the female artist accusing him of misconduct via Facebook, her lawyer had made contact. Calling on the personal number of Balachandra Menon's wife, the lawyer threatened him, the actor alleged. ALSO READ | Rape case: Malayalam actor Siddique should undergo potency test, Kerala HC finds no reason to doubt complainant "Her lawyer threatened me over the phone that three allegations of sexual misconduct would be made against me very soon. He called me on my wife's number on September 13. The following day, the actor made a Facebook post against me," Balachandra Menon was quoted as saying in the complaint by Manorama Online. In the interview with India Today, Minu Muneer claimed that Menon wanted her to watch him having sex with three women. The incident happened in Menon's room in 2007 and other men were watching, she said. When she walked out of the room, Menon insisted that she remained and watched, Muneer added. FULL REPORT | Malayalam actress raises shocking allegations against Jayasurya, Edavela Babu, Mukesh and Maniyanpilla Raju Based on Minu Muneer's complaint, actor Edavela Babu, a former office bearer of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (A.M.M.A) was arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT). Babu would be released on bail as he has already obtained anticipatory bail from the Ernakulam Sessions court. With two courts giving their ruling in favour of an investigation into the alleged MUDA land allotment scam involving Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his family members, English playwright and poet William Shakespeares famous line Caesars wife must be above suspicion is reverberating in the public space in Karnataka. If the ruling Congress is defending its chief minister refusing to step down to face a probe, the BJP-JDS are demanding the CMs resignation on moral grounds. A mass leader, Siddaramaiah (76), who carved his political path on the socialist ideology, is facing the toughest dilemma of his life. Last August, when the opposition parties launched a Mysore Chalo padayatra over the MUDA scam, Siddaramaiah made an emotional speech at a massive rally in Mysuru, his home turf, claiming he had had no blot in his four decades-long political career. But, with the trial court ordering Lokayukta probe into the MUDA scam, where CMs wife has been allotted 14 residential sites in a prime location in Mysuru as land loser's compensation, and the CMs refusal to step down has once again triggered a debate on the probity in public life. If Siddaramaiah sporting an expensive Hublot watch was ridiculed by his own party leaders like MLC B.K Hariprasad, the opposition parties allege that he had weakened the Lokayukta and created an anti-corruption bureau (ACB) to save himself and his corrupt partymen. Incidentally, the Lokayukta report had led the BJPs first Chief Minister of Karnataka, B.S. Yediyurappa, step down in 2011. ALSO READ | MUDA case: Lokayukta police register FIR against Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah Siddaramaiahs own claims of being corruption-free are now under attack as he had undermined the Lokayuktas authority (by stripping it of its investigative powers) and constituted the ACB in 2016, during his first stint as the chief minister. The move had caused a huge furore as Karnataka Lokayukta, by then, had built a strong reputation as a credible and effective anti-corruption watchdog under Justice N. Venkatachala, who carried out raids and lashed out at corruption in public life in a big way and Justice Santosh Hegde, who had exposed rampant illegal mining in the state and named three chief ministers in his report that eventually changed the political landscape of the state (in 2011). Then, Siddaramaiah had defended his decision citing a bribery racket that was run by then Lokayukta Bhaskar Rao. The incident forced us to create a separate wing for investigation of corruption cases. ACB exists in many states including Gujarat, Siddaramaiah had reasoned. In August 2022, a two-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court, which heard a batch of petitions from social activists, ruled the Siddaramaiah governments decision to create the ACB as null and void. The court, while restoring the investigative powers of the Lokayukta, also mandated the immediate transfer of all pending cases from the ACB to the Lokayukta, which led to the dissolution of the ACB. The court had observed that the ACB was established by means of an executive order and not a statute and it had no legs to stand. The creation of ACB was a transgression by an executive administrative order to usurp the powers of the Lokayukta". The Constitution of ACB itself is shaky and cannot perform the duty of the police as it is controlled by the chief minister. On the other hand, the Karnataka Lokayukta Act has been in force since January 15, 1986 and the ACB was created only to defunct the Lokayukta and, ACB has not registered any criminal case against any minister, MP, MLA, or MLC, since its inception, the court had noted. Ironically, Siddaramaiah is today facing a Lokayukta probe in the MUDA case. Complying with the order of the Special Court for Peoples Representatives led by Justice Santosh Gajanan Bhat, the Mysuru Lokayukta police has filed an FIR, where Siddaramaiah is the accused no. 1, his wife M.Parvathi A2 and his brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy A3. BJP MLC C.T. Ravi alleged that Siddaramaiah was not a clean politician as he claims to be. There were 65 cases filed against him by the Lokayukta and he had defanged the Lokayukta by creating the ACB to hide the truth about him. He got himself a clean chit in 15 odd cases through ACB and 50 cases are still pending inquiry. Now, he is opposing a CBI investigation in the MUDA case, mocked Ravi, referring to details accessed by RTI activists. Kuruba strongman Siddaramaiah, emerged as a mass leader and an undisputed Ahinda leader (holding sway over the minorities, dalit and backward classes) after he parted ways with the Janata Dal Secular and JDS patriarch H.D. Devegowda in 2006. His elevation to the chief ministers post by the Congress party in 2013 has earned him enough adversaries within the party too. However, the man who dons spotless white kurta, panche (dhoti) and a silk stole, finds himself fighting a taint that can perhaps be erased only with a clean chit. The lawyer-turned-politician today finds himself in a legal entangle that has pushed the Congress high command into the big dilemma of replacing Siddaramaiah and face the backlash from Ahinda voters or face the ignominy of siding with a CM facing corruption charges. Former Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde said, Two courts have ruled that there is a need for investigation against the chief minister. Legally, the CM need not step down to face the probe. But my personal opinion is that the chief minister should resign and face the probe as public morality demands it. The Lokayukta is an independent body, but one cannot overlook the fact the investigating officers can't remain independent if the CM continues to hold his post during the investigation. Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday condemned Israels military operations in the region, saying the country has turned both Palestine and Lebanon into gas chambers. In an interview with the news agency PTI, Mufti also called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the biggest terrorist after Adolf Hitler. "Hitler set up gas chambers to kill people but Netanyahu has turned Palestine and Lebanon into gas chambers where they are killing people in thousands," she said. >> Hassan Nasrallah killing: Hundreds hold anti-Israel protest in Lucknow Noting that the International Criminal Court has given a verdict against Netanyahu, Mufti said there has not been enough condemnation of his actions in Palestine and Lebanon. The former chief minister also criticised Indias relations with Israel, saying the country has stood by Palestine since the times of Mahatma Gandhi. "We have stood by Palestine since the times of Mahatma Gandhi. Having ties with a regime and supplying weapons and drones that are being used to kill people, I think, is a wrong decision," she said. >> PM Modi should put pressure on Israel to end 'bloodshed' in Middle East: Omar Abdullah Earlier, Muftis tweet terming Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah as a martyr had drawn sharp reactions from the BJP. Asked about it, the PDP chief said the saffron party should look at the "outpouring" in the country against the killing. "What do they (BJP) know about the long struggle of Nasrallah for the people of Palestine? They should see how many people are coming out in Kashmir, Lucknow, and other parts of the country and raising slogans for the martyr. They should realise how wrong their thinking is," she said. >> Hassan Nasrallah killing sparks protests in J&K; Mehbooba Mufti, Ruhullah cancels poll campaign Jammu and Kashmir, where assembly elections are underway, has been witnessing protests against the killing of Nasarallah in an Israeli strike, with hundreds of people taking to the streets in Srinagar and Budgam. On Sunday evening, Lucknow also witnessed anti-Israel protests with scores of people, holding portraits of Nasarallah, staging demonstrations between Chhota Imambara and Bada Imambara. Junior doctors at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital voiced their discontent after Mondays Supreme Court hearing, presided over by a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, related to the rape and murder case of a trainee doctor as well as the alleged financial misconduct at the institution. Earlier, they had said they would decide whether to resume their strike depending on what the West Bengal government informed the court about safety and security in hospitals. This statement came after an alleged attack on doctors and nurses at Kolkatas College of Medicine & Sagore Dutta Hospital by the family members of a deceased patient. On Monday, the state sought additional time to improve the safety and security infrastructure in hospitals, including CCTV cameras installation and construction and renovation of toilets. The state said that it was trying to complete these works by October 15. Dr Aniket Mahato, a leading face of the movement, told THE WEEK after the Supreme Court hearing, The discussion about safety and security measures of the doctors in hospitals were satisfactory. But overall, we are not satisfied by how the hearing turned out. The junior doctors will hold a meeting to decide whether to resume their strike after ending it on September 20. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the State of West Bengal, informed a three-judge bench, which included Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, that doctors had only partially resumed their duties, focusing solely on emergency and essential services, and were not attending to out-patient (OPD) and in-patient departments (IPD). Senior advocate Indira Jaisingh, representing the doctors, refuted this claim, asserting that essential services include IPD and OPD. The court noted her statement and observed that the doctors are performing and shall perform duties, including in IPD and OPD. Junior doctors, meanwhile, expressed their dissatisfaction about the absence of any updates from the CBI regarding the investigation. The central agency did submit a status report, but the specifics were not revealed. The apex court bench allowed the agency to proceed with the investigation, noting that significant leads had emerged. Dr Debdut Bhadra of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital said to THE WEEK, We still dont know anything about the investigation. We are not sure if everyone has been arrested or not. In such a scenario how can we feel safe at our workplace? Senior advocate Karuna Nundy, representing the doctors, informed the Supreme Court that several individuals named in the CBIs writ petition, accused of misconduct and covering up the crime, were still holding positions in the hospital. Advocates Nundy and Jaisingh demanded that these individuals be either suspended or placed on leave. The state expressed its willingness to take appropriate action if the CBI provided preliminary information. The Supreme Court, on Monday, came down heavily on Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu over his public claim that ghee containing animal fat was used in preparing Tirupati laddus during the previous Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government in the state and said there was no conclusive evidence to substantiate such a claim. Further, the apex court asked the chief minister to respect the religious sentiments. A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan, hearing a batch of pleas seeking a probe into the alleged use of animal fat in making of the laddus in the popular Hindu shrine, asked what was the need to go to press at all when the CM himself had ordered an investigation into this. "There are some disclaimers in the lab report. It is not clear, and it is prima facie indicating that it was rejected ghee, which was subjected to test. If you yourself have ordered investigation, what was the need to go to press," the bench asked the chief minister. ...some press reports also show that the chief executive officer of the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam had also made a statement that such an adulterated ghee was never used. The petitions have been filed seeking various prayers including an independent enquiry and directions for regulating the affairs of the religious trusts and specifically the manufacture of prasadam, the court observed. At least the gods should be kept away from politics, the apex court said, and added that it was a matter of sentiments of lakhs of devotees. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu over phone on Monday as the security situation in the Middle East worsened. In a post on X, Modi said he spoke to Netanyahu about the recent developments in the region and highlighted the need for de-escalation. "Spoke to Prime Minister @netanyahu about recent developments in West Asia. Terrorism has no place in our world. It is crucial to prevent regional escalation and ensure the safe release of all hostages, he said. Spoke to Prime Minister @netanyahu about recent developments in West Asia. Terrorism has no place in our world. It is crucial to prevent regional escalation and ensure the safe release of all hostages. India is committed to supporting efforts for an early restoration of peace and Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 30, 2024 Tensions have escalated in the region after Israel launched airstrikes against Lebanon-based Hezbollah and killed many of its top leaders, including its chief Hassan Nasrallah. Modi, however, did not mention any specific incident in his post, but maintained that India is committed to supporting efforts for an early restoration of peace and stability. Hezbollah has been attacking Israel ever since the later launched its military operations in Gaza following the October 7 attack. The crisis has widened with Israel opening multiple war-fronts, launching airstrikes on Hezbollah and Houthis in Yemen. On Monday, Netanyahu, in a televised address, issued a warning to Iran, saying there was nowhere in the Middle East beyond Israel's reach. The killing of Nasrallah had its reverberation in India, too, with protests being held in various states. In Jammu and Kashmir, where assembly elections are underway, hundreds of people took to the streets in Srinagar and Budgam, prompting the political leaders to condemn the Israeli action. National Conference leader Omar Abdullah urged Modi to put pressure on Israel to end the bloodshed in Palestine and Lebanon, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti called Netanyahu as the biggest terrorist after Hitlar. Mufti also criticised Indias renewed ties with Israel, noting that New Delhi had always stood by Palestine. Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) has claimed that its air defence system intercepted a surface-to-surface ballistic missile launched at central Israel from Yemen on Saturday evening. Interestingly, the missile was reportedly targetting Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plane as it was about to land at Ben Gurion airport, BREAKING: MORE THAN 10 ROCKETS HIT TEL AVIV AFTER IRON DOME FAILURE The Iron dome failed to intercept the rockets, more than 8 direct impacts caused material damage and the ignition of fire. No deaths. pic.twitter.com/mKrhtba1Kx Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) May 26, 2024 Triumphing for the oppression of the Palestinian people, and in response to the crimes of the Zionist enemy in Gaza and Lebanon The missile force in the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out an operation targeting what is Israeli called "Ben Gurion", Jaffa Airport, during the arrival pic.twitter.com/FNof4kewFM | Nasruddin Amer (@Nasr_Amer1) September 28, 2024 The leader of Yemen-based Houthis claimed the missile was aimed and timed to coincide with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus landing in Israel after returning from New York. The missile was fired soon after Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi vowed that the death of Nasrallah "will not be in vain" and the "resistance won't be in vain" in response to the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an IDF airstrike in Beirut on Friday. Netanyahu's plane 'Wing of Zion' landed in Israel some 35 minutes before the missile triggered sirens. According to the IDF, though the missile was shot down outside the country's borders by the Arrow long-range missile defence system, its remains fell inside the country's borders causing the sirens to sound in Central Israel. Meanwhile, dozens of Israeli planes rained havoc on power plants used by the Houthis in western Yemen to retaliate to the ballistic missile attacks on Israel. Houthi-run health ministry claimed at least four people were killed and 29 wounded in airstrikes on Yemen's port of Hodeidah. The IDF fighters struck targets in Lebanon, Gaza Strip, and allegedly in Syria on Sunday in a multifront war. An IDF statement that "over the past year, the Houthis have been operating under the direction and funding of Iran, and in cooperation with Iraqi militias in order to attack the State of Israel, undermine regional stability, and disrupt global freedom of navigation." Israel on Sunday vowed to keep up its assault with IDF military chief of staff Herzi Halevi stating it would keep hitting Hezbollah hard. More drones were sent to Beirut and reports emerged that it hit an apartment building in Beirut, killing two residents. Official sources in Lebanon claimed that over 1,000 people have been killed and over 6,000 wounded in the past two weeks. It added that a million people - a fifth of the population - have fled their homes. Mount Everest is growing by a few millimetres every year. This is hardly surprising, as the entire Himalayan mountain range is doing so. Dinosaurs still roamed the Earth when the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates began to raise it. But the worlds highest mountain is between 238 meters (compared to K2) and 822 meters (compared to Shishapangma) taller than the other eight-thousanders. Now, Chinese and British geologists believe they have found the reason for this geological anomaly. According to the scientific journal Nature Geoscience, the Arun River, which runs around the mountain, is eroding its base, lightening its mass and raising it higher than its neighbouring peaks. The Arun River helps lift Mount Everest through a process called isostatic rebound, says Jingen Dai, a geologist at the China University of Geosciences and the main author of the paper. If you think of the Earths crust as a flexible surface floating on denser material below, the mantle, when the river erodes and drags huge amounts of rock from the valleys, its like taking weight off this floating surface; just as a ship rises higher in the water when its load is removed, the land responds by slowly rising upward, Dai explains. This rebound effect has been observed in areas of the planet covered by large masses of ice, such as Greenland, which are melting at an accelerated rate. In a process called isostasy, the geosphere tends toward gravitational equilibrium. There, the causal agent would be the loss of water that goes to the sea; on Everest, this role would be played by the erosive force of the river. In the case of the Arun, as it carves deeper valleys, the surrounding land, including Mount Everest, rises in response. This uplift is a way for the Earth to maintain balance, compensating for the mass removed by river erosion, the Chinese geologist concludes. For millennia and millennia, Everest rose at the same rate as the rest of the Himalaya range. At that time, the Arun flowed along the northern slope, on the Chinese and Tibetan sides, and from east to west. But about 69,000 years ago (a short period in geological terms), the river changed its course to the south, becoming trapped by the network of another larger river, the Kosi. Luis Carcavilla, a researcher from the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME), says that the river made a 90-degree turn, going north-south, excavating one of the deepest gorges in the world. In this process, called fluvial incision, and given its elevation and trajectory, the Arun causes great erosion at the base of Everest. What they [the authors of the new research] are saying is that this very narrow canyon and this very anomalous route that goes west to east and suddenly north to south could have something to do with the rise of Everest, he says. According to calculations by Chinese geologists, who insist that tectonics remains the main factor, rivers are responsible for up to a third of the difference in height with neighbouring mountains. Panoramic view of Everest and the Himalayan range from Tibet. W. Mason Fuller Francisco Moral, a geologist from Pablo de Olavide University, who did not participate in the research, points out what could have happened: A small river, north-south, when it captures another river, west to east, greatly increases the size of the basin, its flow. If before we had a river that, lets say, had a watershed of 10 km, when the capture occurs it can go up to 80 km. We are multiplying the watershed by eight. From that moment on, the flow increases and the erosive capacity increases. According to the studys calculations, the Arun has in this time receded some 700 meters downstream. That erosion in the riverbed and downslope removes huge amounts of geologic material. As a consequence, we have less weight in that area of the crust, and around that gorge there is a typical uplift of the riverbed and the slope. The conclusion, supported by several models and the geological record, would be confirmed by the fact that the two other mountains closest to Everest, Lhotse and Makalu, are also rising at a faster rate. Isostatic rebound of the worlds fourth- and fifth-highest peaks would have increased in height by a similar amount to Everest. In fact, the second, located closer to the Arun River, would be experiencing a slightly higher rate of uplift. Carcavilla, from the IGME, points out that in the last two decades, research has been carried out on external geological processes, such as rain, glaciers [] that influence or can trigger certain internal processes. Some of them are better studied, such as isostatic rebound due to melting ice. But fluvial incision or glacial erosion is more recent, he says. The geologist recalls that these processes and their impact are very difficult to quantify. But it is also important to try: In fact, there are studies that maintain that the area of the Himalayas that rises the highest is the one where the monsoon is most intense, because it produces more erosion and that produces more rebound. And the fate of a third of the worlds population depends largely on the monsoon. How long will Everest continue to grow in height? Neither the authors of the study nor the geologists consulted can say for certain. There are many factors involved. Some are recounted by the Chinese researcher Dai: The ongoing tectonic collision, which remains the main driver of uplift; the isostatic rebound caused by river erosion; and glacial erosion at high altitudes, which gradually wears away the summit. The interaction of these processes (tectonic uplift, isostatic rebound and erosion) will determine its final height. But his colleague Carcavilla points out that Everest is already at its limit. In the past, there could only have been mountains this high on one occasion in the 4.5 billion years of Earths history. The lithosphere has a limit to how much it can hold before it collapses, he notes. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition After Israeli military killed Iran-backed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, Sunni states in the Arab world have maintained silence on the issue. This has brought forward the rift among Arab countries over historical Sunni and Shia ideologies as well as geopolitical equations in the region. While Iran and its allies in Iraq and Syria have condemned the assassination of Nasrallah, the Gulf countries led by Saudi Arabia and other Arab League nations have taken a different stance. Syria and Iraq have declared a three-day mourning period Though the Arab League designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation in 2016, it was retracted earlier this year. Saudi Arabia has stated that the situation in Lebanon is of "grave concern", urging the preservation of the sovereignty and regional security of the country. However, it did not mention anything about Nasrallah or Hezbollah, which is a non-state player. Egypt, which has been critical of Iran and its proxies, rejected any violation of Lebanon's sovereignty but did not mention Nasrallah. Bahrain and the UAE, which have normalised their relations with Israel, have opted to keep silence. Qatar has also kept mum on the issue. LuaLua TV, a pro-Iranian Bahraini channel, aired videos of demonstrators mourning for Nasrallah, saying the government attacked those who took part in the march. Bahrain Mirror, run by the opposition, said a Shia cleric was detained for condoling Nasrallah's death. Hezbollahs deputy leader Naim Qassem on Monday said that the group is well-prepared for any ground invasion by Israel. While vowing to continue the fight, Qassem said Hezbollah is only using a fraction of the groups capabilities to attack Israel. Qassem also said that the commanders killed will soon be replaced. "In our hierarchy, we have deputies for all commanders. We have other alternatives in case the leader was killed or got injured," said Qassem. He also added that Hezbollah's secretary general will be appointed sooner. After Nasrallah died in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut, his cousin Hashem Safieddine is likely to be appointed as the Hezbollah chief. Until then, Qassem will continue to head the group. Amid intensified strikes against the Hezbollah group, defence minister Yoav Gallant has hinted that Israel intends to mount a ground invasion of Lebanon. Gallant had said, We will use all of our capabilities." Gallant added the returning Israelis to their homes in the north was IDFs prime mission. "That is what we will do, and we will deploy whatever is needed- you, other forces, from the air, from the sea, and from the land," he said. With Israel continuing its airstrikes on Lebanon, its assault on Gaza also continues. In Lebanon, 1,000 people were reportedly killed, with 6,000 more wounded, and one million people displaced from their homes. Also, Qassem accused Israel of "committing massacres and crimes against the civilians." He also said that though there are pains, everyone must know that we love martyrdom. Qassem also boasted Hezbollah's reach into Israel and ability to target places like Haifa. We are all there in the field, despite the loss of some leaders and Hassan Nasrallah the main target, and despite the aggressive attacks against all the civilians in Lebanon, despite the sacrifices and the actions...We will stay there. We will continue facing the Israeli enemy in support of Palestine and Gaza and in defence of our Lebanese people," said Qassem. Qassem also said, We are strong enough, and we will turn the Israelis mad because they will never, ever be able to reach and hit and hurt our military capabilities. As Hezbollah and allies reel over the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, the Israeli Defence Forces on Sunday posted a picture of the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar marked with a question mark. The cryptic photo with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi in the foreground raises questions about the fate of the Hamas chief, who reportedly is unreachable now. Sinwar took over as Hamas chief in Gaza after Israel took out the then-chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July. Halevi, in a video statement, was briefing about Israel's operation on the Houthi terror group in Yemen when a photograph was seen in the background showing the diagram of Hamas's leadership in Gaza, according to The Jerusalem Post. The image had a question mark over Sinwar's name. It is unclear whether the IDF was uncertain about Sinwar's whereabouts or whether the armed forces were sending a subtle message about targetting him. Spotted: Yahya Sinwar running away and hiding in his underground terrorist tunnel network as Gazan civilians suffer above ground under the rule of Hamas terrorism. There is no tunnel deep enough for him to hide in. pic.twitter.com/KLjisBFq1f Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) February 13, 2024 The prolonged incommunicado status of Sinwar has also triggered speculations that he could be dead. However, there is no evidence to claim so. Many believe that the statements released in Sinwar's name over the past few weeks were not actually written by him. Hamas had recently released a statement calling on Arab nations to "leave the box of silence and act" against Israel for the sufferings of the Lebanese people. While the IDF recently stated that it could neither confirm nor deny reports on Sinwar's death, Israel's Security Agency disputed this theory, believing that Sinwar is still alive. Meanwhile, other local media reports from Israel claim that Israel had the opportunity to eliminate Sinwar but decided not to proceed in doing so due to fear of harming the hostages in Hamas' captivity. Though the country got details regarding Sinwar which would aid in his assassination, the leadership decided it was too risky as the hostages were somewhere near the same area. Unconfirmed reports claim that Sinwar had surrounded himself with hostages as human shields. Ram Ben-Barak, a former deputy director of the Mossad, recently told The Guardian that Israel was very careful with what they were doing because of the hostages. "I believe if there were no such restrictions, we would have found him easier," Barak added. It is also said that Sinwar moved back to the Gaza Strip after learning about the Israeli airstrike that killed Nasrallah. Viewed of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. As Ukraine enters its third wartime holiday season, the countrys Jewish community faces unprecedented challenges. Amid intensifying combat across all fronts, severe power outages, and sanitation crises, a massive military mobilization has swept up many Ukrainian Jews. In a groundbreaking move, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine (FJCU) is bringing Rosh Hashanah observances directly to Jewish soldiers on the front lines. FJCU volunteers have crisscrossed the 620-mile front over the past fortnight, delivering custom holiday kits to troops. These packages include Ukrainian-translated prayer books, traditional skullcaps, pocket Psalms, and an array of holiday essentials from honey to Sabbath candles. Practical items like canned goods and hygiene supplies are also included, alongside informational materials about the holidays. In an unprecedented initiative, the FJCU distributed 35 shofars across various military positions. At each location, a Jewish soldier was trained to sound the traditional rams horn, ensuring that the iconic Rosh Hashanah trumpet will echo across the battlefield for the first time. The soldiers response was overwhelming, reports Rabbi Yaakov Sinyakov, who spearheaded the military outreach. It reinforced their connection to their faith and heritage, even in the midst of conflict. The FJCUs efforts extend beyond the front lines. Working with Chabad emissaries in 30 Ukrainian cities, theyve dispatched similar holiday kits to 51,000 Jewish households nationwide, reaching communities in 169 locations across the country. Rabbi Meir Stambler, FJCU chairman, noted that despite the ongoing war, synagogues across Ukraine are expected to be filled for Rosh Hashanah services. Were also providing festive meals for thousands, he added. Our deepest hope is that this new year will usher in peace, prosperity, and ultimate redemption, leaving the hardships of the past behind. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) 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. 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. 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. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Meets with Bipartisan US Senate Delegation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today (Monday, 7 October 2024), at the Prime Ministers Office in Jerusalem, met with a bipartisan delegation of US Senators led by Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Prime Minister Netanyahu: I deeply appreciate the visit by Senators Graham and Blumenthal on this day of commemoration, October 7th. It was the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, but unlike the Holocaust, we fight back. Were fighting like lions with the support of the American government and the American people, and its representatives here. I want to thank you both for your stellar support for Israel throughout the war. US Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT): Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. Were honored to be with you and we appreciate your giving us this opportunity to speak with you on this really agonizingly difficult day for your country and the people of Israel and all of us in the United States who feel so deeply that it was an absolutely abhorrent inhumane attack on the Jewish people. Were here to say we have Israels back and Israel has the right to defend itself. US Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC): The reason people were killed on October 7th was they were Jewish. Weve seen this movie before. We dont want to see any more of those movies. Living in their own homeland. You said something that really struck me. No one should be a refugee in their own country. Theyre going back to the north, folks. Theyre going back to these kibbutzes. Whatever it takes to get your people back in their homes, you do it. To my friends in France, youve got this ass backwards. You should be doubling down on helping Israel, because the people that want to destroy Israel also want to destroy the French people. I get that. He gets that. Youre fighting our fight. Were going to help you with your military needs. The Twin Towers fell not because of a hurricane, because radical Islamist terrorists killed 3,000 of us on a single day. And they would kill all of us if they could. If Iran ever got a nuclear weapon, they would use it. The question would be who would they use it against first. Me? You? Saudi Arabia? We can never let that happen. So were going to help you. Also attending the meeting were the Prime Ministers Foreign Policy Adviser, Dr. Ophir Falk, the Prime Ministers Spokesperson, Dr. Omer Dostri, and the Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs North America Desk, Dor Shapira. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) The IDF on Sunday published photos of F-15i fighter jets taking off from Chatzerim Airbase on Friday to fly to Beirut and eliminate Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The fighter jets dropped bunker-buster bombs on the Hezbollah headquarters in Dahieh, flattening six buildings above the bunker compound where Nasrallah was hiding. The video below shows the crater in the ground formed by the attack: (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) How has Israel pulled off such stunning and far-reaching operations in Lebanon in the past two days, culminating with the elimination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday? The New York Times revealed details about Nasrallahs elimination, saying that Israeli intelligence had successfully penetrated Hezbollahs inner circle. The paper notes that within a few weeks, Israel decimated the senior and mid-level ranks of Hezbollah, leaving the organization reeling. This success, it stated, is a direct result of Israels decision to invest significant effort in intelligence on Hezbollah following the Second Lebanon War in 2006. The 34-day war ended with a ceasefire brokered by the UN, allowing Hezbollah, despite heavy losses, to regroup and prepare for the next conflict with Israel. Israel has spent the years since 2006 bolstering its intelligence capabilities. Unit 8200, Israels signals intelligence agency, developed advanced cyber systems to better intercept Hezbollahs cell phones and other communications, and formed new teams within combat units to ensure that valuable information was rapidly relayed to the Air Force and soldiers. Israel also started deploying more drones and launched a highly advanced satellite over Lebanon to photograph Hezbollah strongholds and document even the smallest changes in structures that might, for instance, reveal a weapons cachean effort that one former Israeli intelligence official described as Sisyphean. In the last week, the Israeli Air Force struck many of these targets. Additionally, Unit 8200 and its American counterpart, the National Security Agency, forged stronger ties, deepening the Israeli governments understanding of mutual adversaries like Iran and Hezbollah. Israel took advantage of its proximity to Lebanon to insert covert undercover commando forces deep into the country to execute sensitive intelligence missions. Most significantly, former US and Israeli officials say that Israels daring to carry out audacious operations sets it apart from other intelligence agencies. [The report did not mention the fact that Israel has no choice but to be daring and audacious, standing alone in the world in the sheer number of vicious enemies it faces, surrounded by hostile Arab countries suffused with radical Islamic jihadism, and facing constant attacks even from its own Arab citizens.] They understand this has been and will be a protracted conflict, said Chip Usher, a former top C.I.A. Middle East analyst who has worked extensively with Israeli intelligence. They are putting in capabilities to serve their needs for the long term. The secrets of their success come down to a couple of factors. They have a fairly defined target deck. That makes it easier for them to bring a tremendous amount of focus to what they do. Theyre in a shadow war with Hezbollah and Iran. And theyre extraordinarily patient, he added. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he does not personally care about the Palestinian issue during a meeting earlier this year, The Atlantic reports. The conversation, which took place in January in al-Ula, Saudi Arabia, occurred amid ongoing discussions about Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Israel. According to the report, the Crown Prince expressed that while he might not have personal investment in the Palestinian issue, many young Saudis do care. Seventy percent of my population is younger than me, he reportedly told Blinken. For most of them, they never really knew much about the Palestinian issue. And so theyre being introduced to it for the first time through this conflict. Its a huge problem. Do I care personally about the Palestinian issue? I dont, but my people do, so I need to make sure this is meaningful. However, a Saudi official has since described this version of the conversation as incorrect. Publicly, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said that Saudi Arabia will not normalize ties with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state. The Kingdom will not cease its diligent efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, he said in a recent address before the Shura Council in Riyadh. The report further revealed that the Crown Prince expressed concerns to Blinken about the personal risks of pursuing a normalization deal with Israel, citing the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat as an example of the potential dangers involved. Despite official talks about normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, the report highlights significant public opposition, with over 90% of Saudis reportedly favoring cutting ties with Israel during the early stages of the Gaza war. Meanwhile, there have been reports of crackdowns on Palestinian solidarity in Saudi Arabia, including arrests related to social media posts and the wearing of Palestinian keffiyehs in Mecca. Prince Turki al-Faisal, another senior Saudi royal, recently dismissed claims that Palestinian solidarity is restricted in the kingdom, stating, What I see of the Saudi press, whether written or on television or in social media, is full support for Palestine and no restriction on expressing support for Palestinians. He also voiced skepticism about normalization with Israel, saying that the current Israeli governments stance on Palestinian statehood made such an agreement unlikely. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) UTJ MK Yitzhak Pindrus spoke from the Knesset podium on Sunday and said Moodys decision to lower Israels credit rating was due to the budget cuts to yeshivos. Moodys on Friday downgraded Israels credit rating two notches to Baa1 from A2. According to Pindrus, the cost of the rating downgrade is 350 million shekels. The actual amount that will be affected by the downgrade and the cost of credit is of 350 million shekels, not seven billion, Pindrus said. Theres a midrash about Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai who convinced his nephews to give tzedaka. By year-end, the minister came and asked them for a tax and jailed them. The family came to Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and told him about it. Rabbi Shimon replied: Check how much they actually gave in charity. For the amount they gave, they wont have to pay tax. On the difference they will.' Do you know what 350 million shekels is? Pindrus asked. Thats the amount you cut from the yeshiva world; you will have to pay that amount. It should be noted that the decision to cut the funding to yeshivos was not made by the current government but by Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara and the Supreme Court. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) Jason Brown decided to give his own meaning to John Kennedys famous saying Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country after listening to Michelle Obamas speech at the Democratic National Convention on television. The idea came to him when the former first lady recalled what the mother of Kamala Harris who could become the first female U.S. president used to tell her daughter: Dont sit around and complain about things: do something. Speaking from his home in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska, Brown said that after hearing those words, he went to the garage, found a can of blue paint, and, by instinct, spray-painted a thick blue dot on a campaign yard sign. The result of that eureka moment could make U.S. history: it could win Harris the presidential election against Donald Trump on November 5. The district that includes Omaha is in southeastern Nebraska, a deeply Republican state that is also the unlikely birthplace of Harris vice-presidential candidate, the progressive Tim Walz. This district has voted Democratic in the presidential elections twice since 1992: in 2020, when Joe Biden won the White House, and in 2008, when Obama won. As a result, it is seen as a blue dot in an ocean of red. This difference also points to the broader tensions that define U.S. politics: the conflict between urban and rural America. Blue-dot sign in support of Democrats, in an Omaha yard. Carlos Rosillo The first blue-dot yard sign now waiting to become a museum piece, Browns joked was the beginning of a blue measles that spread first through the neighborhood, which is predominantly Democratic, and then through the rest of Omaha. At first we made 10, then another 10. When we asked for 100 more white rectangles, we thought we would have too many left over, said Ruth Huebner-Brown, Jason Browns wife. On the day of EL PAIS visit, the couple estimated that they had made about 2,500 posters. On Friday, Huebner-Brown said in a text message that they had distributed 7,800 locally, and that they were ready to make the leap beyond the citys borders. The success of the initiative is due to the exceptional nature of Nebraska: together with Maine, it is the only state in the United States that in presidential elections does not award all its electoral votes (five, in this case) to the winner, who takes only two. The other three are distributed among the different congressional districts into which the state is divided. In November, two are projected to go to the Republican Party. The third District NE-2, which includes Omaha is the only one that is contested. And that is why, in this corner of America, there is a lot of debate about what could happen at the election. If Harris were to win in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin the three swing states that form the so-called Blue Wall , and if Donald Trump, as the polls indicate, were to win most of the electoral votes of the Sun Belt Arizona, Nevada and Georgia , then Omaha could be the crucial blue dot that would give the Democrats victory. If, in that case, the city of Nebraska were to vote for Trump, the tiebreaker would be in Congress, by virtue of a bizarre system that favors the Republicans. The latest poll published by The New York Times and Sienna College gives Harris a considerable eight-point lead in the NE-2 district. Anticipating what was coming, Nebraska Republicans tried in April to end the split electoral system, so that the winner in the state takes all the electoral votes. But the proposal did not have enough backing in the state capitol. The initiative was recently resurrected, with a plan that involved Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen calling a special session of the unicameral legislature to seek a qualified majority that would justify changing the rules. But the plan was thwarted by GOP senator Mike McDonnell an Omaha firefighter and former Democrat who said in a statement that he did not think it opportune to make such sweeping changes 43 days from Election Day. Trump reacted to the news on his social network, Truth: I LOVE OMAHA, and won it in 2016. Looks like Ill have to do it again!!! Candidate Tony Vargas The politician who is working hardest to undermine Trumps ambitions is a 40-year-old Latino of Peruvian descent named Tony Vargas. A state senator from Nebraska, Vargas is running for Congress in Washington as a Democrat. This is the second time that the former school teacher born and raised in New York has run for office. In 2022, he lost by 5,856 votes to Republican Don Bacon, who is seeking reelection. Tony Vargas, Nebraska state senator, during an interview in Omaha, Nebraska, on September 9. Carlos Rosillo Vargas is convinced that this time will be different, and the polls which he is leading by up to four points seem to suggest he is right. We have knocked on tens of thousands of doors, 10 times more than two years ago; we have increased the number of phone calls 15-fold; the number of volunteers has increased by 500%; and we have raised more money than any candidate in the history of this city, Vargas told EL PAIS in a cafe in Omaha. If he succeeds, he will become the first Latino representative in Washington from a state where 15% of the population is Hispanic, a figure that is projected to reach 25% by 2040. Bacon doesnt care about the problems of our community, hes just a weak and self-interested politician incapable of saying no to Trump, said the Democratic candidate. A pro-Trump election sign in the front yard of a home in western Omaha. Carlos Rosillo But, unfortunately for Vargas, the district he hopes to win extends beyond Omaha. After the 2020 census, it was redrawn to include a portion to the west of the city that votes Republican, a suburb where, instead of blue dots, yards display pro-Trump signs and messages waning that trespassers will be shot. Asked if he is feeling under pressure because the future of the United States may be in his hands, Vargas replied: My mother felt more pressure, she had to work several jobs to make ends meet. Democracy in this city and in the whole country is at stake, so Im not going to complain if I have to get up every day at dawn to help out at home [he is the father of two children] and then campaign until night. It doesnt worry me. Un simpatizante republicano en la sede del partido en Omaha. Carlos Rosillo The Republican Partys campaign in District NE-2 is more discreet than Vargas. This could also be seen in the partys relationship with the international press. EL PAIS visited the groups headquarters in Omaha, but was told by a man in a MAGA hat to go back to where they had come from. Requests for an interview about the Republican campaign in Nebraska made at the national, state and local levels of the conservative party were also unsuccessful. Meanwhile, the Browns have been continuing to make blue-dot yard signs to get the message out. When EL PAIS visited, production was in full swing, with three volunteers helping to spray-paint the signs. A five-gallon can was cut in half and used as a template. Cars stopped in front of the house to pick up the campaign signs so quickly, there was barely enough time for them to dry in the late-summer sun. The suggested donation was $10. Karen Conn, Democratic supporter, at her home in Oman, Nebraska. Carlos Rosillo Tim and Karen Conn, a married couple who live across the street, have also helped meet the growing demand. They are fans of Led Zeppelin and vintage cars and have set up their own blue-dot factory. Tim Conn, a bit of a handyman, has invented an original drying system reminiscent of the racks used to hang paintings in a museum storeroom. The Browns have put their lives on hold to devote themselves full-time to what they call the Blue Dot Movement. Frankly, we cant think of anything more important than this mission were on, said Karen Conn. And if such dedication does not help Harris win the White House, they hope at least that it will serve to start a conversation. The electoral college is antiquated: it comes from a time when representatives from each territory had to go to Washington by horse-drawn carriage to communicate what their people had decided. That no longer makes sense, said Ruth Huebner Brown (according to a Gallup poll, 60% of Americans support abolishing the electoral college, a change that would require a more than improbable amendment to the Constitution). In the Midwest, we are very proud of our origins, added Jason Brown. But Nebraska is not a very well-known state, except for [the billionaire] Warren Buffett and Bruce Springsteens album Nebraska. That is why I am doubly happy, because our blue dots have put Omaha on the map. The electoral map. Literally. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition HaGaon HaRav Yehuda Aryeh Dinner, the Rav of the Divrei Shir kehilla in Bnei Brak, shared a story in his weekly shiur. HaRav Dinner began by addressing the constant nissim seen in Eretz HaKodesh in recent weeks and months. How fortunate we are, how good is our portion, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu protects us like a father protects his son and shields us from all evil, HaRav Dinner said. We see nissim with our own eyes how the enemies try again and again to harm us, chas vchalilah, and their schemes fail. Many times, they themselves end up getting killed by the various explosives and missiles they prepare to launch at Eretz Yisrael. This is something that doesnt happen anywhere else in the world, and only Am Yisrael, the beloved children of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, are privileged to have such divine and miraculous protection. There was a story about an officer in the army whose hand was injured After undergoing surgery in the hospital, he returned to battle and injured his hand again. They recommended that since this injury was more complicated, he should fly abroad for surgery with top specialists. The officer decided to to visit the home of HaGaon HaRav Yitzchak Zilberstein to consult with him and receive a bracha. The officer asked if this might be a hint from Shamayim that he injured the same hand twice. HaRav Zilberstein told him to check his mezuzahs. The officer had his mezuzahs checked and it turned out that one of them was missing the word your hand. When HaRav Zilberstein heard this, he immediately instructed him to replace all the mezuzahs with kosher and mehudar ones, and added that since he found what he needed to be metakein, he no longer needed to fly abroad; he could have the surgery here in the country, and everything would be fine. And indeed, the officer was treated in the country and recovered. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) The Hamas terror group announced on Monday morning that its representative in Lebanon, Fateh Sherif Abu Al-Amin, was killed in an IDF strike in the city of Tyre in the south of the country. According to the statement, he was killed in an attack on his home in the Al-Bass refugee camp in southern Lebanon. Abu Al-Amin, also known as Fateh Al-Sherif, was the chairman of the UNRWA teachers organization in Lebanon. Hamas described him as the movements leader in Lebanon and a member of the leadership abroad. According to the National News Agency in Lebanon, this is the first time the Al-Bass refugee camp has been attacked. Later on Monday, the IDF and Shin Bet confirmed his elimination, saying in a joint statement: Fateh Sherif, the head of the Lebanon branch of the Hamas terrorist organization, was eliminated in a precise IAF strike. Sherif was responsible for coordinating Hamas terror activities in Lebanon with Hezbollah operatives, as well as Hamas efforts in Lebanon to recruit operatives and acquire weapons. He was also an accredited UNRWA member and the head of the UNRWA Teachers Union in Lebanon. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) IDF special forces have been carrying out small targeted raids into southern Lebanon in preparation for a possible larger ground operation that could begin as early as this week, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The raids, which include entering Hezbollah tunnels along the border, were also previously carried out in past months as part of the IDFs efforts to root out Hezbollahs operations along the border. The report quoted Amir Avivi, a former senior Israeli military official who continues to be briefed by defense officials, as saying that a ground incursion by Israel is imminent and that the raids are part of the preparation. The IDF has made a lot of preparations for a ground incursion, Avivi said. Overall, this always includes special operations. This is part of the process. According to Avivi, Hezbollah currently seems so weakened that Israel would now actually have to consider how far its forces should go in Lebanon. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant seemed to confirm the report early Monday afternoon when he spoke to troops in northern Israel, saying that the elimination of Nasrallah was a very significant step but it wasnt everything. Were going to use all the capabilities we have, and if someone on the other side doesnt understand what we mean by capabilities, its all the capabilities. Youre part of this effort and we trust you that youre capable of accomplishing what is necessary. Last week, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi HaLevi told troops that the airstrikes against Hezbollah are being conducted in preparation for a ground operation in Lebanon. We are preparing the process of a maneuver, which means your military boots, your maneuvering boots, will enter enemy territory, Halevi told soldiers at the northern border. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) The US is preparing for a possible Iranian retaliatory strike on Israel following the elimination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Irans Quds Force commander Abbas Nilforoushan, who was killed in the same strike, CNN reported on Sunday evening. Iran has vowed to avenge Nilforoushans killing, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi stating on Sunday that the aggressor Zionist regimes horrible crime of eliminating Nilfouroushan will not go unanswered. The report quoted a US official as saying that the Biden administration is concerned that Iran is preparing to attack and is working with Israel to prepare for a possible strike, including changes in US military posture. The official did not provide further details. Last week, US troops were deployed to Cyprus. Additionally, the U.S.S. Wasp is deployed in the eastern Mediterranean and the Navy has also dispatched the U.S.S. Harry S. Truman to the area. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) In a direct message to the people of Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged them to resist their regimes oppressive rule and expressed hope for a future where Iran and Israel could be at peace. The statement, delivered on Monday, marked a shift from Netanyahus usual focus on Iranian leadership to a more personal appeal to Iranian citizens. I speak a lot about the leaders of Iran. Yet at this pivotal moment, I want to address you the people of Iran. I want to do so directly, without filters, without middlemen, Netanyahu said at the start of his statement, addressing what he described as the regimes deepening involvement in regional conflicts. Every day, you see a regime that subjugates you, makes fiery speeches about defending Lebanon, defending Gaza. Yet every day, that regime plunges our region deeper into darkness and deeper into war, he said, referencing Irans military support of Hezbollah and Hamas. If it cared about you, it would stop wasting billions of dollars on futile wars across the Middle East. It would start improving your lives, Netanyahu said, encouraging Iranians to imagine a future where the countrys wealth is invested in education, healthcare, and infrastructure. Netanyahu also warned that Irans regime was leading the country towards greater peril, highlighting Israels reach across the region in confronting Iranian proxies. Ask Mohammed Deif. Ask Nasrallah. There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country, he declared. The prime minister expressed optimism about a future in which Iran and Israel could coexist peacefully, asserting that the current Iranian regime would not last. When Iran is finally freeand that moment will come a lot sooner than people thinkeverything will be different. Our two countries, Israel and Iran, will be at peace, he said, envisioning a future marked by global investment, massive tourism, and brilliant technological innovation. Netanyahu ended his message with a direct call to the Iranian people to resist the control of a small group of fanatic theocrats and pursue a brighter future. You deserve better. Your children deserve better. The entire world deserves better, he said. The people of Iran should know Israel stands with you. May we together know a future of prosperity and peace. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has voiced his opposition to an Israeli ground operation into Lebanon, stating that such a move would not provide a long-term solution to the ongoing conflict with Hezbollah. Olmert, who led Israel during the 2006 invasion of Lebanon, emphasized the need for coordinated efforts with international allies to weaken the militant group. Speaking on the current situation in northern Israel, Olmert called for joint coordination between Israel, the United States, the United Nations, and the Lebanese government to push Hezbollah away from the Litani River in southern Lebanon. This will not resolve all the issue(s), but it will open up for an opportunity to build up the necessary political powers and the military powers within Lebanon, which may change the balance there, Olmert said. Olmert believes that through diplomatic and military collaboration, Hezbollahs influence in southern Lebanon can be reduced, allowing for a shift in the power dynamics within Lebanon. He stressed that a military-only solution would not address the root causes of the conflict. The former prime minister also commented on Israels ongoing war in Gaza, suggesting that the country has achieved its primary objectives and should now consider a ceasefire. There is nothing more that is worth the cost of fighting in the south, particularly the danger to the lives of the hostages, which are still alive and which we may have brought back as part of an agreement to ceasefire in the south, Olmert told CNN. In 2016, Olmert became the first ex-head of government in the country to be jailed after being convicted of bribery and obstruction of justice. The charges stemmed from his time as trade minister, as well as his tenure as mayor of Jerusalem between 1993 and 2003. Olmert, who served as prime minister from 2006 to 2009, resigned from office when police recommended multiple charges against him. In 2014, he was convicted of accepting bribes related to a property development project during his time as mayor. Additionally, Olmert was found guilty of fraud, breach of trust, and obstructing justice in other separate trials. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) The IDFs long-awaited incursion into Lebanon to root out Hezbollah from the border with Israel is underway, coming on the heels of thunder-and-lightning operations by Israel that has killed and injured thousands of terrorists, and decimated its military command. The IDF announced Monday night it has initiated limited, localized, and targeted ground raids against Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon. The raids, which began several hours ago, focus on specific locations near the border that pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel. The IDFs operations are based on precise intelligence and target Hezbollahs terrorist infrastructure in villages close to the border. These raids are part of a broader strategy laid out by the General Staff and Northern Command, for which IDF troops have been training and preparing in recent months. In addition to ground forces, the Israeli Air Force and IDF Artillery are providing support with precise strikes on military targets in the region. The raids are being conducted as part of Operation Northern Arrows, a coordinated effort to neutralize threats from Hezbollah while combat continues in Gaza and other arenas. The decision to initiate these operations was made by the political echelon, and the IDF has emphasized that they will continue to assess the situation as the operation unfolds. The military remains committed to achieving its war objectives, ensuring the defense of Israeli citizens, and facilitating the safe return of northern Israels residents to their homes. YWN reminds our readers to remain mindful of the fog of war, as an overwhelming amount of conflicting and false information is bound to surface during in the coming hours and days. In the chaos of war, particularly in the early hours and days, details often shift rapidly, and initial reports can be inaccurate or misleading. It is crucial to stay cautious and verify information before sharing or drawing conclusions. To ensure our audience receives the most reliable updates, YWN has a dedicated team of reporters, writers, and editors working around the clock, as we have for the past 21 years. As the situation continues to evolve, YWN will keep you informed both here on our website and through our WhatsApp channels. Join the official YWN WhatsApp status Join an official YWN WhatsApp group Tens of thousands of American citizens living in Israel are being encouraged by Gedolei Yisroel to register to vote in the upcoming US presidential election. Many of these individuals, including students, and olim (immigrants), often dont prioritize voting or fail to register. Leaders of the Jewish community, including prominent Gedolim and world leaders, recognize the importance of American Jews in Israel making their voices heard. They fear that without a strong show of support from this demographic, future US administrations may relegate Israels interests to secondary status. A coalition has been formed to promote voter registration among American citizens in Israel. The campaign aims to demonstrate to US presidential candidates that Americans living in Israel value their support for the Jewish state. Time is of the essence, as registration deadlines are looming. The coalition urges Americans in Israel to register to vote without delay, emphasizing that they can still decide on their preferred candidate later. By registering, American citizens in Israel can ensure their voices are heard and demonstrate to US leaders that support for Israel is a critical issue. The Gedolim Cannot Stress How Important It Is To Register! Dont Stay Silent. R Chaim Yeshaya, at the peak of his life, traveled to Kerestir to pray at the gravesite of the holy tzaddik, Rabbi Yeshayale of Kerestir. On the way, the car was involved in a terrible accident. The car was struck by a truck, injuring several passengers including R Chaim Yeshaya. Shortly after he lost consciousness. For a week and a half, he fought for his life. Jews everywhere prayed for his recovery But there was a decree from Heaven! Dear Jews The widow cries out, Help me! Have mercy! Shares of Dycom Industries, Inc. (NYSE:DY Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of Buy from the seven research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $199.57. Several brokerages recently commented on DY. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Dycom Industries from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. B. Riley upped their price objective on Dycom Industries from $205.00 to $208.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Dycom Industries from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Dycom Industries from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Dycom Industries from $198.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Get Dycom Industries alerts: Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Dycom Industries Insiders Place Their Bets Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dycom Industries In related news, VP Jason T. Lawson sold 856 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.48, for a total value of $149,354.88. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 6,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,210,367.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink . Corporate insiders own 4.28% of the companys stock. A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ironwood Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Dycom Industries by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ironwood Investment Management LLC now owns 14,625 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $2,468,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Dycom Industries by 50.4% in the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 194 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Somerset Trust Co raised its holdings in Dycom Industries by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Somerset Trust Co now owns 4,448 shares of the construction companys stock worth $751,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Dycom Industries by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. now owns 2,675 shares of the construction companys stock worth $384,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in Dycom Industries by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 8,145 shares of the construction companys stock worth $1,375,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.33% of the companys stock. Dycom Industries Price Performance NYSE DY opened at $192.84 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $182.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $166.09. Dycom Industries has a 52 week low of $78.42 and a 52 week high of $199.77. The stock has a market cap of $5.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 3.44, a quick ratio of 3.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Dycom Industries (NYSE:DY Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 21st. The construction company reported $2.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.20 billion. Dycom Industries had a net margin of 5.37% and a return on equity of 22.28%. The companys revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.03 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Dycom Industries will post 8.02 EPS for the current year. About Dycom Industries (Get Free Report Dycom Industries, Inc provides specialty contracting services to the telecommunications infrastructure and utility industries in the United States. The company offers engineering services to telecommunications providers, including the planning and design of aerial, underground, and buried fiber optic, copper, and coaxial cable systems; wireless networks in connection with the deployment of macro cell and new small cell sites; and program and project management and inspection personnel. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Dycom Industries Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Dycom Industries and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. GAP (NYSE:GAP Get Free Report) is one of 15 publicly-traded companies in the Family clothing stores industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare GAP to related businesses based on the strength of its profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, dividends, institutional ownership and valuation. Volatility and Risk GAP has a beta of 2.35, suggesting that its stock price is 135% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, GAPs competitors have a beta of 2.17, suggesting that their average stock price is 117% more volatile than the S&P 500. Get GAP alerts: Earnings & Valuation This table compares GAP and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation. Gross Revenue Net Income Price/Earnings Ratio GAP $15.17 billion $502.00 million -0.79 GAP Competitors $10.66 billion $637.10 million 10.73 Profitability GAP has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its competitors. GAP is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry. This table compares GAP and its competitors net margins, return on equity and return on assets. Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets GAP 5.05% 28.89% 6.92% GAP Competitors 3.12% -376.16% 6.89% Analyst Recommendations This is a summary of recent recommendations for GAP and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com. Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score GAP 0 3 0 0 2.00 GAP Competitors 359 2138 2392 31 2.43 GAP presently has a consensus price target of $27.00, suggesting a potential upside of 26.05%. As a group, Family clothing stores companies have a potential upside of 9.52%. Given GAPs higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe GAP is more favorable than its competitors. Dividends GAP pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. GAP pays out -2.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, Family clothing stores companies pay a dividend yield of 1.4% and pay out -173.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Institutional and Insider Ownership 73.0% of shares of all Family clothing stores companies are owned by institutional investors. 12.5% of shares of all Family clothing stores companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth. Summary GAP competitors beat GAP on 8 of the 15 factors compared. About GAP (Get Free Report) The Gap, Inc. operates as an apparel retail company. The company offers apparel, accessories, and personal care products for men, women, and children under the Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta brands. Its products include adult apparel and accessories; and fitness and lifestyle products for use in yoga, training, sports, travel, and everyday activities for women and girls. The company offers its products through company-operated stores, franchise stores, websites, and third-party arrangements. It has franchise agreements to operate Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta stores and websites in Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. The Gap, Inc. was incorporated in 1969 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Receive News & Ratings for GAP Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for GAP and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW Get Free Report) and Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON Get Free Report) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations. Insider and Institutional Ownership 83.4% of Smurfit Westrock shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.7% of Sonoco Products shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Smurfit Westrock shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Sonoco Products shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term. Get Smurfit Westrock alerts: Dividends Smurfit Westrock pays an annual dividend of $1.21 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Sonoco Products pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Smurfit Westrock pays out 101.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Sonoco Products pays out 52.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sonoco Products is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio. Profitability Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Smurfit Westrock 1.36% 7.13% 2.67% Sonoco Products 5.57% 20.10% 6.73% Analyst Recommendations This table compares Smurfit Westrock and Sonoco Products net margins, return on equity and return on assets. This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Smurfit Westrock and Sonoco Products, as provided by MarketBeat. Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Smurfit Westrock 0 2 3 0 2.60 Sonoco Products 1 0 2 0 2.33 Smurfit Westrock presently has a consensus target price of $57.80, indicating a potential upside of 15.39%. Sonoco Products has a consensus target price of $58.00, indicating a potential upside of 6.99%. Given Smurfit Westrocks stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Smurfit Westrock is more favorable than Sonoco Products. Risk & Volatility Smurfit Westrock has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sonoco Products has a beta of 0.68, meaning that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Earnings & Valuation This table compares Smurfit Westrock and Sonoco Productss top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation. Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Smurfit Westrock $12.46 billion 1.03 -$22.40 million $1.19 42.09 Sonoco Products $6.61 billion 0.81 $474.96 million $3.96 13.69 Sonoco Products has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Smurfit Westrock. Sonoco Products is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Smurfit Westrock, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. About Smurfit Westrock (Get Free Report) Smurfit Westrock Plc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, distributes, and sells containerboard, corrugated containers, and other paper-based packaging products in Ireland and internationally. The company produces containerboard that it converts into corrugated containers or sells to third parties, as well as produces other types of paper, such as consumer packaging board, sack paper, graphic paper, solid board and graphic board, and other paper-based packaging products, such as consumer packaging, solid board packaging, paper sacks, and other packaging products, including bag-in-box. It also produces linerboard and corrugated medium, paperboard, and non-packaging grades of paper, as well as converted products, such as folding cartons and corrugated boxes, and other products; recycled paper-based packaging products; and packaging machinery. The company primarily serves food and beverage, e-commerce, retail, consumer goods, industrial, and foodservice markets. Smurfit Westrock Plc was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. About Sonoco Products (Get Free Report) Sonoco Products Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells various engineered and sustainable packaging products in North and South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company operates Consumer Packaging and Industrial Paper Packaging segments. The Consumer Packaging segment offers round and shaped rigid paper, steel, and plastic containers; metal and peelable membrane ends, closures, and components; thermoformed plastic trays and enclosures; and high-barrier flexible packaging products. The Industrial Paper Packaging segment provides paperboard tubes, cones, and cores; paper-based protective packaging products; and uncoated recycled paperboard products. It also offers various packaging materials, including plastic, paper, foam, and other specialty materials. Sonoco Products Company sells its products in various markets, which include paper, textile, film, food, packaging, construction, and wire and cable. The company was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Hartsville, South Carolina. Receive News & Ratings for Smurfit Westrock Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Smurfit Westrock and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. KB Home (NYSE:KBH Free Report) Wedbush reduced their FY2024 EPS estimates for shares of KB Home in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, September 25th. Wedbush analyst J. Mccanless now anticipates that the construction company will post earnings per share of $8.48 for the year, down from their previous estimate of $8.54. Wedbush currently has a Neutral rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for KB Homes current full-year earnings is $8.38 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for KB Homes Q2 2025 earnings at $2.27 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $3.15 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $2.49 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $2.79 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $11.07 EPS. Get KB Home alerts: Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of KB Home from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of KB Home from $78.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of KB Home from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of KB Home from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of KB Home from a sector perform rating to an underperform rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $77.27. KB Home Stock Performance KB Home stock opened at $85.94 on Monday. The firms fifty day moving average price is $82.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.65. The stock has a market cap of $6.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.81. KB Home has a fifty-two week low of $42.11 and a fifty-two week high of $89.70. KB Home (NYSE:KBH Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 24th. The construction company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.06 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.73 billion. KB Home had a net margin of 9.43% and a return on equity of 15.66%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.80 EPS. Institutional Investors Weigh In On KB Home A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of KB Home during the 2nd quarter valued at about $575,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of KB Home during the 2nd quarter valued at about $691,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of KB Home by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 23,097 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $1,621,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares in the last quarter. Invst LLC lifted its position in KB Home by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Invst LLC now owns 12,547 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $846,000 after acquiring an additional 751 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning lifted its position in KB Home by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 23,662 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $1,661,000 after acquiring an additional 4,096 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.09% of the companys stock. KB Home Announces Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 8th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 8th. KB Homes payout ratio is 13.23%. KB Home Company Profile (Get Free Report) KB Home operates as a homebuilding company in the United States. It operates through four segments: West Coast, Southwest, Central, and Southeast. It builds and sells various homes, including attached and detached single-family residential homes, townhomes, and condominiums primarily for first-time, first move-up, second move-up, and active adult homebuyers. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for KB Home Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for KB Home and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. John Bean Technologies Co. (NYSE:JBT Free Report) Zacks Research lifted their FY2026 earnings per share estimates for shares of John Bean Technologies in a report released on Wednesday, September 25th. Zacks Research analyst S. Deb now forecasts that the industrial products company will earn $5.76 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $5.75. The consensus estimate for John Bean Technologies current full-year earnings is $5.18 per share. Get John Bean Technologies alerts: John Bean Technologies Stock Performance JBT opened at $97.82 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a PE ratio of 5.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $91.59 and a 200-day moving average of $93.99. John Bean Technologies has a 52-week low of $82.64 and a 52-week high of $109.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.54. John Bean Technologies Dividend Announcement John Bean Technologies ( NYSE:JBT Get Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.24 by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $402.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $432.67 million. John Bean Technologies had a return on equity of 9.67% and a net margin of 36.66%. The businesss revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. John Bean Technologiess dividend payout ratio is presently 2.13%. Hedge Funds Weigh In On John Bean Technologies Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of John Bean Technologies by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 8,900 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $845,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of John Bean Technologies by 162.1% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 249 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its holdings in John Bean Technologies by 113.2% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 324 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its holdings in John Bean Technologies by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 13,400 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $1,273,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in John Bean Technologies by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 16,000 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $1,520,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.92% of the companys stock. John Bean Technologies Company Profile (Get Free Report) John Bean Technologies Corporation provides technology solutions to food and beverage industry in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. It offers value-added processing that includes chilling, mixing/grinding, injecting, blending, marinating, tumbling, flattening, forming, portioning, coating, cooking, frying, freezing, extracting, pasteurizing, sterilizing, concentrating, high pressure processing, weighing, inspecting, filling, closing, sealing, end of line material handling, and packaging solutions to the food, beverage, and health market. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for John Bean Technologies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for John Bean Technologies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Chubb Limited (NYSE:CB Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of Hold from the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $274.70. Several analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Chubb from $266.00 to $286.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Chubb from $285.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America increased their price target on Chubb from $257.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Chubb from $304.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on Chubb in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an overweight rating and a $349.00 target price for the company. Get Chubb alerts: Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on CB Chubb Trading Down 0.1 % Chubb stock opened at $289.57 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Chubb has a 12 month low of $204.15 and a 12 month high of $294.18. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $278.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $264.72. The firm has a market cap of $117.58 billion, a PE ratio of 12.85, a P/E/G ratio of 5.74 and a beta of 0.66. Chubb (NYSE:CB Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $5.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.04 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $13.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.04 billion. Chubb had a return on equity of 15.77% and a net margin of 18.14%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.92 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Chubb will post 21.21 earnings per share for the current year. Chubb Dividend Announcement The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Chubbs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.16%. Insider Transactions at Chubb In related news, CEO Evan G. Greenberg sold 30,318 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.60, for a total value of $8,780,092.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 553,664 shares in the company, valued at $160,341,094.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Chubb news, CEO Evan G. Greenberg sold 30,318 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.60, for a total transaction of $8,780,092.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 553,664 shares of the companys stock, valued at $160,341,094.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Evan G. Greenberg sold 30,537 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $287.25, for a total value of $8,771,753.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 583,982 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $167,748,829.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 86,636 shares of company stock valued at $24,874,208 over the last three months. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Chubb Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Chubb by 44.4% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,713,331 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $1,739,625,000 after purchasing an additional 2,064,730 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Chubb by 6.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,997,092 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $2,849,677,000 after buying an additional 685,677 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Chubb during the 1st quarter worth approximately $165,932,000. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in shares of Chubb by 198.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 779,345 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $176,126,000 after purchasing an additional 518,535 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Chubb by 14.8% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,543,763 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $918,294,000 after purchasing an additional 457,881 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.81% of the companys stock. Chubb Company Profile (Get Free Report Chubb Limited provides insurance and reinsurance products worldwide. The company's North America Commercial P&C Insurance segment offers commercial property, casualty, workers' compensation, package policies, risk management, financial lines, marine, construction, environmental, medical risk, cyber risk, surety, and casualty; and group accident and health insurance to large, middle market, and small commercial businesses. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Chubb Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Chubb and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Jinxin Technology (NAMI) expects to raise $9 million in an initial public offering (IPO) on Friday, October 4th, IPO Scoop reports. The company will be issuing 1,900,000 shares at $4.00-$5.00 per share. In the last twelve months, Jinxin Technology generated $53.5 million in revenue and $11.8 million in net income. The company has a market cap of $291 million. Craft Capital Management, WestPark and R.F. Lafferty & Co. served as the underwriters for the IPO. Jinxin Technology provided the following description of their company for its IPO: (Incorporated in the Cayman Islands) We are an innovative digital content service provider in China. Leveraging our powerful digital content generation engine powered by advanced AI/AR/VR/digital human technologies, we are committed to offering our users high-qualityA digital content services through both our own platform and the content distribution channels of our strong partners. We currently target K-9A students in China, with core expertise in providing them digital and integrated educational content, and plan to further expand our service offerings to provide premium and engaging digital contents to other age groups. We were the largest digital textbook platform and a leading digital educational content provider for K-9A students in China, both in terms of revenue in 2022, according to Frost & Sullivan. We collaborate with leading textbook publishers in China and provide digital version of mainstream textbooks used in primary schools and middle schools. Our digital textbooks primarily cover Chinese and English subjects used in K-9A schools in China. We also create and develop digital self-learningA contents and leisure reading materials in-house. Our AI-generatedA content technology enables our comprehensive digital contents to deliver an interactive, intelligent and entertaining learning experience. Textbooks have been the primary teaching instrument for most children. Access to an advanced and intelligent version of textbook is becoming a rising demand, particularly among K-9A students who are at early stage of learning and forming an efficient learning style. There are currently over 150A million K-9A students in China while the digitization rate of textbook remains relatively low. Since our inception in 2014, we have built expertise in creating digitized, interactive and intelligent textbooks that we believe improve K-9A studentsa learning experience. Previously, CDs were the most common learning equipment used by K-9A students to assist with studying textbook in China. We are committed to replacing outdated learning materials and equipment with our intelligent, interactive digital products and resources, and eventually cultivate a fresh and innovative learning style. We are authorized by major Chinese textbook publishers to digitize their proprietary textbooks, and design and develop the digital version. Besides digital textbooks, leveraging our deep insights in Chinaas childhood education sector and our technological strength, we also provide digital self-learningA materials and digital leisure reading materials, catering to the evolving and diversified needs of potential users. We have strong in-houseA content development expertise in digitized materials, amusement features, video and audio effects as well as art design. Our products and contents are imbued with the rich operational know-howA and deep understanding of Chinaas childhood education sector, which we believe make our digital contents highly compelling to our users. We distribute digital contents primarily through (i) our flagship learning app, Namibox, (ii) telecom and broadcast operators and (iii) third-partyA devices with our contents embedded. We launched our interactive and self-directedA learning app Namibox in 2014, to provide users an integrated entry point to our digital textbooks, self-learningA materials and leisure reading materials. Users can access various free contents, subscribe to advanced contents and choose to become premium members through our membership programs. In addition, we partner with all mainstream Chinese telecom and broadcast operators to tap into their large user base. Our partnered telecom and broadcast operators broadcast our various programs to end users through their respective platforms, distribute our educational contents to interested users and share certain percentage of revenues with us. Through networks of our partnered telecom and broadcast operators, individual users gain easy access to our digital contents through TVs or mobile devices. Furthermore, we cooperate with well-knownA hardware manufacturers, such as manufacturers of digital pads and intelligent TVs, and pre-installA our programs in such devices directly. The integrated distribution channels empower us to increase our brand awareness in a cost-efficientA manner, grow our user base sustainably and improve our contents continuously based on usersa real time feedbacks. Our business has evolved significantly since inception and we have never stopped reimagining and innovating our products and digital contents. We are doing this not only to cater to, but influence, the learning habits and lifestyles of our users, to fulfill their goals and enrich their lives. With innovative and high-qualityA educational contents, we have built a trusted and well recognized brand, as well as a large user base throughout China. Since our inception, our Namibox app has amassed over 79A million cumulative downloads and more than 39A million registered users as of DecemberA 31, 2023. The high-frequencyA interactions we have with users and our unique access to a large amount of mission-criticalA learning data further provide us deep insights in K-9A education sector. Fueling all of these great achievements are our technologies. We deploy advanced digitization technologies, AI technologies and big data analysis to provide superior user experience. We also deploy advanced AI technologies that power various teaching and voice assessment tools, all to improve the learning effectiveness for children. Leveraging our proprietary digital content generation engine, we are able to consistently refine and upgrade our educational contents, as well as to intelligently recommend content to our users, continually improving user experience. We have realized steady growth with healthy financial performance since inception. Despite negative impacts caused by regulatory changes in the online education industry in 2021, our registered users increased from 29.9A million as of DecemberA 31, 2021 to 35.3A million as of DecemberA 31, 2022, and further to 39.5A million as of DecemberA 31, 2023. In addition, we recorded net income of RMB55.1A million and RMB83.5A million (US$11.8A million) in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Note: Net income and revenue are for the year that ended Dec. 31, 2023. (Note: Jinxin Technology Holding Company unveiled the terms for its IPO 1.88 million American Depositary Shares orA 1,875,000 ADS at a price range of $4.00 to $5.00 to raise $8.46 million, according to an F-1/A filing dated Aug. 19, 2024. Each ADS represents 33.75 million ordinary shares. Background: Jinxin Technology filed its F-1 on Aug. 10, 2023 about five months after submitting its confidential IPO documents to the SEC on March 24, 2023.) . Jinxin Technology was founded in 2014 and has 93 employees. The company is located at Floor 8, Building D, Shengyin Building, Shengxia Road 666 Pudong District, Shanghai 201203 Peopleas Republic of China and can be reached via phone at +86 21-5058-2081 or on the web at http://www.namibox.com/. Receive News & Ratings for Jinxin Technology Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Jinxin Technology and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. GAP (NYSE:GAP Get Free Report) and TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX Get Free Report) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership. Institutional and Insider Ownership 91.1% of TJX Companies shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of TJX Companies shares are owned 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 GAP alerts: Profitability This table compares GAP and TJX Companies net margins, return on equity and return on assets. Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets GAP 5.05% 28.89% 6.92% TJX Companies 8.56% 63.19% 15.45% Risk & Volatility Valuation and Earnings GAP has a beta of 2.35, meaning that its stock price is 135% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TJX Companies has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. This table compares GAP and TJX Companiess top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation. Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio GAP $15.17 billion 0.53 $502.00 million ($27.20) -0.79 TJX Companies $55.62 billion 2.39 $4.47 billion $4.03 29.16 TJX Companies has higher revenue and earnings than GAP. GAP is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than TJX Companies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. Dividends GAP pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. TJX Companies pays an annual dividend of $1.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. GAP pays out -2.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. TJX Companies pays out 37.2% 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. GAP is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio. Analyst Recommendations This is a summary of current recommendations for GAP and TJX Companies, as provided by MarketBeat.com. Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score GAP 0 3 0 0 2.00 TJX Companies 0 3 13 0 2.81 GAP presently has a consensus price target of $27.00, suggesting a potential upside of 26.05%. TJX Companies has a consensus price target of $126.76, suggesting a potential upside of 7.88%. Given GAPs higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe GAP is more favorable than TJX Companies. Summary TJX Companies beats GAP on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks. About GAP (Get Free Report) The Gap, Inc. operates as an apparel retail company. The company offers apparel, accessories, and personal care products for men, women, and children under the Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta brands. Its products include adult apparel and accessories; and fitness and lifestyle products for use in yoga, training, sports, travel, and everyday activities for women and girls. The company offers its products through company-operated stores, franchise stores, websites, and third-party arrangements. It has franchise agreements to operate Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta stores and websites in Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. The Gap, Inc. was incorporated in 1969 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. About TJX Companies (Get Free Report) The TJX Companies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an off-price apparel and home fashions retailer in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. It operates through four segments: Marmaxx, HomeGoods, TJX Canada, and TJX International. The company sells family apparel, including footwear and accessories; home fashions, such as home basics, furniture, rugs, lighting products, giftware, soft home products, decorative accessories, tabletop, and cookware, as well as expanded pet, and gourmet food departments; jewelry and accessories; and other merchandise. It offers its products through stores and e-commerce sites. The TJX Companies, Inc. was incorporated in 1962 and is headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts. Receive News & Ratings for GAP Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for GAP and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. RPM International Inc. (NYSE:RPM Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of Hold from the eight brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $122.22. Several analysts have commented on RPM shares. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of RPM International from $136.00 to $134.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of RPM International from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $120.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on RPM International from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Vertical Research raised RPM International from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $126.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on RPM International from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Get RPM International alerts: Read Our Latest Research Report on RPM International RPM International Stock Down 0.8 % RPM International stock opened at $122.93 on Friday. The firms 50 day moving average price is $117.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $113.54. The firm has a market cap of $15.83 billion, a PE ratio of 28.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.00. RPM International has a twelve month low of $88.84 and a twelve month high of $125.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.97. RPM International (NYSE:RPM Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.56. RPM International had a return on equity of 26.80% and a net margin of 8.02%. The business had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. RPM Internationals quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that RPM International will post 5.51 EPS for the current fiscal year. RPM International Announces Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 17th were issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 17th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. RPM Internationals dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.40%. Insider Transactions at RPM International In other news, VP Matthew T. Ratajczak sold 1,452 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.79, for a total transaction of $171,031.08. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 24,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,866,890.81. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Frank C. Sullivan sold 57,083 shares of RPM International stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.06, for a total transaction of $6,625,052.98. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,039,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $120,590,982.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Matthew T. Ratajczak sold 1,452 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.79, for a total transaction of $171,031.08. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 24,339 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,866,890.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. Institutional Trading of RPM International Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of RPM. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in RPM International by 14.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 808 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in RPM International by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 3,833 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock valued at $456,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Summit Financial LLC lifted its holdings in RPM International by 5.9% in the second quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 2,514 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock valued at $271,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of RPM International by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 5,491 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $653,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Motley Fool Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in RPM International by 8.1% during the first quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 2,631 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $313,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.95% of the companys stock. About RPM International (Get Free Report RPM International Inc manufactures and sells specialty chemicals for the industrial, specialty, and consumer markets worldwide. It offers waterproofing, coating, and traditional roofing systems; sealants, air barriers, tapes, and foams; residential home weatherization systems; roofing and building maintenance services; sealing and bonding, subfloor preparation, flooring, and glazing solutions; resin flooring systems, polyurethane, MMA waterproof, epoxy floor paint and coatings, concrete repair, and protection products; fire stopping and intumescent steel coating, and manufacturing industry solutions; rolled asphalt roofing materials and chemical admixtures; concrete and masonry admixtures, concrete fibers, curing and sealing compounds, structural grouts and mortars, epoxy adhesives, injection resins, polyurethane foams, floor hardeners and toppings, joint fillers, industrial and architectural coatings, decorative color/stains/stamps, and restoration materials; insulated building cladding materials; and concrete form wall systems. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for RPM International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for RPM International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (NYSE:IHG Free Report) by 6.3% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 58,321 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 3,431 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc.s holdings in InterContinental Hotels Group were worth $6,179,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Scotia Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of InterContinental Hotels Group by 259.2% in the 4th quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 36,567 shares of the companys stock worth $3,334,000 after purchasing an additional 26,386 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of InterContinental Hotels Group by 65.2% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 484 shares of the companys stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in InterContinental Hotels Group by 41.3% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 632,644 shares of the companys stock valued at $57,546,000 after buying an additional 185,045 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in InterContinental Hotels Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,163,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in InterContinental Hotels Group by 130.0% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 36,288 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,834,000 after buying an additional 20,511 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 15.09% of the companys stock. Get InterContinental Hotels Group alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of InterContinental Hotels Group from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, InterContinental Hotels Group currently has a consensus rating of Hold. InterContinental Hotels Group Trading Up 0.4 % Shares of NYSE IHG opened at $113.17 on Monday. InterContinental Hotels Group PLC has a 1-year low of $70.06 and a 1-year high of $114.20. The company has a market cap of $18.29 billion, a PE ratio of 23.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a 50-day moving average of $101.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $102.09. InterContinental Hotels Group Increases Dividend The company also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be paid a $0.532 dividend. This represents a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This is an increase from InterContinental Hotels Groups previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.30. InterContinental Hotels Groups dividend payout ratio is presently 21.63%. InterContinental Hotels Group Profile (Free Report) InterContinental Hotels Group PLC owns, manages, franchises, and leases hotels in the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Greater China. The company operates hotels under the Six Senses, Regent, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Vignette Collection, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Hotel Indigo, voco, HUALUXE, Crowne Plaza, Iberostar Beachfront Resorts, EVEN, Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn, Garner, avid hotels, Atwell Suites, Staybridge Suites, Iberostar Beachfront Resorts, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, and Candlewood Suites brand names. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IHG? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (NYSE:IHG Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for InterContinental Hotels Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for InterContinental Hotels Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF (NYSEARCA:TCAF Free Report) by 39.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 194,655 shares of the companys stock after selling 125,173 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.43% of T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF worth $6,114,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TCAF. WASHINGTON TRUST Co increased its position in T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF by 78.6% during the second quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 875 shares of the companys stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the period. Annapolis Financial Services LLC bought a new position in T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF during the second quarter worth about $78,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. increased its position in T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF by 16.7% during the first quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 3,501 shares of the companys stock worth $106,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the period. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. bought a new position in T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF during the first quarter worth about $114,000. Finally, PCG Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF during the second quarter worth about $214,000. Get T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF alerts: T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF Stock Down 0.1 % Shares of T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF stock opened at $33.15 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74 and a beta of 0.93. T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF has a 12-month low of $23.95 and a 12-month high of $33.30. The firms 50-day moving average price is $32.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.07. T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF Profile The T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF (TCAF) is an exchange-traded fund. The funds investment portfolio concentrates primarily on large cap equity. TCAF is an actively managed fund that pursues higher quality stocks of US large-cap companies that are perceived to have above average potential for capital growth. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TCAF? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF (NYSEARCA:TCAF Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. KYODO NEWS - Sep 30, 2024 - 23:06 | All, Japan A Japanese hospital said Monday it has performed a living kidney transplant between a same-sex couple, a procedure typically limited to patients with a family member donor. While there have been previous cases of living kidney transplants being conducted between same-sex couples, it is believed to be the first time such a procedure has been publicly disclosed in Japan, according to Kyoto University Hospital. Takashi Kobayashi, a professor at the university who performed the surgery, said that the case could "become a valuable precedent for patients who have given up (on getting a living transplant) because they are a sexual minority." "We hope this can become a beacon of hope for patients who have given up on getting a transplant," the same-sex couple said in a statement. The ethics guidelines of the Japan Society for Transplantation limit living donors to spouses, blood relatives within six degrees of consanguinity, and in-laws within three. Non-related donors must be approved by the medical institution's ethics committee on an individual basis. Marriage equality remains unrecognized by the Japanese government. Given that the donor in this case was considered a third party, the hospital's ethics committee conducted a thorough review before proceeding. Documentation, such as results from psychiatric evaluations confirming the voluntary nature of the donation and the couple's partnership oath, were submitted to the ethics committee. The procedure was also approved by the Japan Society for Transplantation's ethics committee in January. "I believe the declaration under the partnership system became strong evidence to confirm free will and prove that their relationship was equivalent to that of a married couple," said Kobayashi. According to the hospital, the couple had been living together since March 2019, with their partnership oath accepted by the Kyoto city government in August 2023. The woman was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure around 2022 and required dialysis starting in January this year. The surgery was performed in May, with both individuals in good condition and already returned to daily life. While there are ethical concerns over performing surgery on a healthy donor, living organ transplants are more common in Japan than transplants from a brain-dead or cardiac-arrest donor, according to the Japan Society for Transplantation. Related coverage: Japan's organ network voided donor intentions of mentally disabled Next Japan PM to face pressure on protection of LGBT rights Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lowered its stake in shares of Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC Free Report) by 22.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 792,670 shares of the asset managers stock after selling 223,393 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LPs holdings in Moelis & Company were worth $45,068,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moelis & Company by 27.0% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 293,529 shares of the asset managers stock worth $16,690,000 after purchasing an additional 62,444 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Moelis & Company by 49.4% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 51,275 shares of the asset managers stock worth $2,915,000 after acquiring an additional 16,965 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the second quarter worth about $113,000. Choreo LLC acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the second quarter worth about $259,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Moelis & Company during the second quarter worth about $515,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.53% of the companys stock. Get Moelis & Company alerts: Insider Transactions at Moelis & Company In other Moelis & Company news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 495 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.29, for a total transaction of $34,298.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,372 shares of the companys stock, valued at $649,385.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Kenneth Shropshire sold 495 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.29, for a total value of $34,298.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,372 shares of the companys stock, valued at $649,385.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Joseph Simon sold 6,723 shares of Moelis & Company stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.00, for a total value of $430,272.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,526 shares of company stock worth $830,133. Insiders own 6.40% of the companys stock. Moelis & Company Trading Down 0.4 % NYSE MC opened at $68.93 on Monday. The stocks 50-day moving average price is $65.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.94. The company has a market cap of $5.16 billion, a PE ratio of -362.79 and a beta of 1.33. Moelis & Company has a 1 year low of $38.58 and a 1 year high of $71.34. Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The asset manager reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $264.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $227.90 million. Moelis & Company had a return on equity of 4.38% and a net margin of 1.38%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 47.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.04) EPS. Research analysts forecast that Moelis & Company will post 1.08 EPS for the current fiscal year. Moelis & Company Dividend Announcement The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th were paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. Moelis & Companys payout ratio is -1,263.16%. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades MC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a market perform rating and issued a $60.00 target price (up previously from $54.00) on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Moelis & Company from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a sell rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Moelis & Company from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Moelis & Company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moelis & Company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $59.33. Read Our Latest Report on Moelis & Company About Moelis & Company (Free Report) Moelis & Company operates as an investment banking advisory firm. It offers advisory services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations and restructurings, capital markets transactions, and other corporate finance matters, as well as strategic, capital structure, and private funds advisory. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Moelis & Company Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Moelis & Company and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP trimmed its stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG Free Report) by 8.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,411,038 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 1,463,446 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.11% of Lloyds Banking Group worth $44,821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Lloyds Banking Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Interchange Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Lloyds Banking Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Lloyds Banking Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Intergy Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Lloyds Banking Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. 2.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Lloyds Banking Group alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes A number of research firms recently issued reports on LYG. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, July 5th. UBS Group restated a neutral rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of Lloyds Banking Group from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. They set a hold rating for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $2.75. Lloyds Banking Group Trading Down 0.9 % Shares of LYG opened at $3.14 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $49.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.26 and a beta of 1.35. Lloyds Banking Group plc has a 1-year low of $1.88 and a 1-year high of $3.18. The firms 50 day simple moving average is $3.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.48. Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Lloyds Banking Group had a net margin of 12.40% and a return on equity of 10.34%. The firm had revenue of $9.55 billion for the quarter. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lloyds Banking Group plc will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Lloyds Banking Group Increases Dividend The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th were issued a dividend of $0.0546 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. This is a boost from Lloyds Banking Groups previous semi-annual dividend of $0.05. Lloyds Banking Groups payout ratio is 26.32%. Lloyds Banking Group Company Profile (Free Report) Lloyds Banking Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of banking and financial services in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates in three segments: Retail; Commercial Banking; and Insurance, Pensions and Investments. The Retail segment offers a range of financial service products, including current accounts, savings, mortgages, motor finance, unsecured loans, leasing solutions, and credit cards to personal customers. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Lloyds Banking Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Lloyds Banking Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Aviva plc (OTCMKTS:AVVIY Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 27,300 shares, a decline of 6.5% from the August 31st total of 29,200 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 36,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.8 days. Analyst Ratings Changes Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Aviva to a strong-buy rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Get Aviva alerts: View Our Latest Report on AVVIY Aviva Stock Down 0.6 % Aviva Cuts Dividend Shares of AVVIY stock opened at $13.26 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firms 50-day moving average is $13.02 and its 200-day moving average is $12.57. Aviva has a 52-week low of $9.25 and a 52-week high of $13.58. The business also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $0.2854 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. About Aviva (Get Free Report) Aviva plc provides various insurance, retirement, investment, and savings products in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, and internationally. The company offers life insurance, long-term health and accident insurance, savings, pension, and annuity products, as well as pension fund business and lifetime mortgage products. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Aviva Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Aviva and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Renaissance Technologies LLC decreased its holdings in TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE:THS Free Report) by 42.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 86,800 shares of the companys stock after selling 64,003 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLCs holdings in TreeHouse Foods were worth $3,180,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pullen Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of TreeHouse Foods by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 21,186 shares of the companys stock worth $776,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its position in TreeHouse Foods by 1.3% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 44,042 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,715,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of TreeHouse Foods by 6.0% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 10,227 shares of the companys stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its position in shares of TreeHouse Foods by 2.3% in the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 36,945 shares of the companys stock worth $1,354,000 after buying an additional 846 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of TreeHouse Foods by 304.7% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,291 shares of the companys stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 972 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.81% of the companys stock. Get TreeHouse Foods alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes Several research analysts have recently weighed in on THS shares. Barclays upped their target price on shares of TreeHouse Foods from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of TreeHouse Foods from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of TreeHouse Foods from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of TreeHouse Foods from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $40.00. TreeHouse Foods Stock Performance NYSE THS opened at $42.04 on Monday. TreeHouse Foods, Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.28 and a twelve month high of $44.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $40.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.94. The stock has a market cap of $2.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.39 and a beta of 0.22. TreeHouse Foods (NYSE:THS Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $788.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $784.10 million. TreeHouse Foods had a negative net margin of 0.41% and a positive return on equity of 5.42%. TreeHouse Foodss revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that TreeHouse Foods, Inc. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Insider Activity In other TreeHouse Foods news, EVP Kristy N. Waterman sold 3,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.34, for a total transaction of $127,020.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,784 shares of the companys stock, valued at $879,994.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. TreeHouse Foods Profile (Free Report) TreeHouse Foods, Inc manufactures and distributes private brands snacks and beverages in the United States and internationally. The company provides snacking products, such as crackers, pretzels, in-store bakery items, frozen griddle items, cookies, and candies; and beverage and drink mixes, including non-dairy creamer, coffee, broths/stocks, powdered beverages and other blends, tea, and ready-to-drink-beverages. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding THS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE:THS Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for TreeHouse Foods Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for TreeHouse Foods and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Nuveen ESG Mid-Cap Growth ETF (BATS:NUMG Free Report) by 80.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,941 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 3,986 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV owned about 0.10% of Nuveen ESG Mid-Cap Growth ETF worth $382,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Nuveen ESG Mid-Cap Growth ETF by 272.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 86,081 shares of the companys stock worth $3,829,000 after acquiring an additional 62,949 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Nuveen ESG Mid-Cap Growth ETF by 14.8% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 167,303 shares of the companys stock worth $6,995,000 after purchasing an additional 21,524 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nuveen ESG Mid-Cap Growth ETF in the 1st quarter valued at $861,000. Virtu Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Nuveen ESG Mid-Cap Growth ETF by 151.0% in the 2nd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 26,632 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,113,000 after acquiring an additional 16,021 shares during the period. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in Nuveen ESG Mid-Cap Growth ETF by 30.7% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 61,627 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,741,000 after purchasing an additional 14,489 shares during the last quarter. Get Nuveen ESG Mid-Cap Growth ETF alerts: Nuveen ESG Mid-Cap Growth ETF Stock Up 0.2 % NUMG stock opened at $44.80 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $405.42 million, a P/E ratio of 28.36 and a beta of 1.22. Nuveen ESG Mid-Cap Growth ETF has a 52-week low of $26.00 and a 52-week high of $31.52. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $42.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.52. Nuveen ESG Mid-Cap Growth ETF Company Profile The Nuveen ESG Mid-Cap Growth ETF (NUMG) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the MSCI TIAA ESG USA Mid Cap Growth index. The fund tracks an index composed of mid-cap US companies with growth characteristics that also meet certain environmental, social, and governance criteria. NUMG was launched on Dec 13, 2016 and is managed by Nuveen. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Nuveen ESG Mid-Cap Growth ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Nuveen ESG Mid-Cap Growth ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Oxford Industries, Inc. (NYSE:OXM Free Report) by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,359 shares of the textile makers stock after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADVs holdings in Oxford Industries were worth $336,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Oxford Industries during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Natixis acquired a new position in Oxford Industries during the first quarter worth approximately $109,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Oxford Industries during the first quarter worth approximately $137,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in Oxford Industries during the first quarter worth approximately $140,000. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Oxford Industries in the first quarter worth $209,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.16% of the companys stock. Get Oxford Industries alerts: Oxford Industries Trading Up 0.5 % OXM opened at $86.44 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.63. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.00 and a beta of 1.53. Oxford Industries, Inc. has a twelve month low of $74.95 and a twelve month high of $113.88. Oxford Industries Dividend Announcement Oxford Industries ( NYSE:OXM Get Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 11th. The textile maker reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $3.00 by ($0.23). Oxford Industries had a net margin of 1.92% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The firm had revenue of $419.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $438.16 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.45 earnings per share. Oxford Industriess revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Oxford Industries, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. Oxford Industriess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 108.50%. Insider Buying and Selling at Oxford Industries In other Oxford Industries news, EVP Scott Grassmyer sold 1,495 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.77, for a total transaction of $129,721.15. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,428 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,727,007.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 5.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades OXM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Oxford Industries from $92.00 to $65.00 and set a sell rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Oxford Industries from $101.00 to $91.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group dropped their price objective on shares of Oxford Industries from $110.00 to $86.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Oxford Industries presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $90.40. View Our Latest Analysis on Oxford Industries Oxford Industries Company Profile (Free Report) Oxford Industries, Inc, an apparel company, designs, sources, markets, and distributes products of lifestyle and other brands worldwide. The company offers men's and women's sportswear and related products under the Tommy Bahama brand; and women's and girl's dresses and sportswear, scarves, bags, jewelry, and belts, as well as children's apparel, swim, footwear, and licensed products under the Lilly Pulitzer brand. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Oxford Industries Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Oxford Industries and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG Free Report) by 11.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 930,775 shares of the oil and gas producers stock after buying an additional 93,780 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 1.01% of National Fuel Gas worth $50,441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 1.0% during the first quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 21,743 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $1,168,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management increased its stake in National Fuel Gas by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 4,182 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its position in National Fuel Gas by 0.5% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 53,460 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $2,873,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Mcintyre Freedman & Flynn Investment Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 0.5% during the first quarter. Mcintyre Freedman & Flynn Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 61,486 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $3,303,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. Finally, WNY Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of National Fuel Gas by 0.9% during the first quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 33,421 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $1,795,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.96% of the companys stock. Get National Fuel Gas alerts: Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NFG shares. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on National Fuel Gas from $80.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a sector outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of National Fuel Gas from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of National Fuel Gas from $64.00 to $62.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. National Fuel Gas Trading Up 2.8 % National Fuel Gas stock opened at $60.61 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. National Fuel Gas has a 12-month low of $45.32 and a 12-month high of $61.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.03 and a beta of 0.62. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.22 and a 200 day moving average of $56.24. National Fuel Gas (NYSE:NFG Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The oil and gas producer reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $417.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $540.62 million. National Fuel Gas had a net margin of 16.42% and a return on equity of 14.80%. The businesss quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that National Fuel Gas will post 5.04 earnings per share for the current year. National Fuel Gas Dividend Announcement The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. National Fuel Gass dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.87%. Insider Activity In other news, General Counsel Michael W. Reville sold 1,700 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.77, for a total transaction of $103,309.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 8,203 shares of the companys stock, valued at $498,496.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.55% of the companys stock. National Fuel Gas Company Profile (Free Report) National Fuel Gas Company operates as a diversified energy company. It operates through four segments: Exploration and Production, Pipeline and Storage, Gathering, and Utility. The Exploration and Production segment explores for, develops, and produces natural gas and oil. The Pipeline and Storage segment provides interstate natural gas transportation services through an integrated gas pipeline system in Pennsylvania and New York; and owns and operates underground natural gas storage fields. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for National Fuel Gas Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for National Fuel Gas and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Amalgamated Bank decreased its position in shares of Victorias Secret & Co. (NYSE:VSCO Free Report) by 35.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,785 shares of the companys stock after selling 13,066 shares during the period. Amalgamated Banks holdings in Victorias Secret & Co. were worth $420,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Victorias Secret & Co. in the second quarter worth about $2,486,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Victorias Secret & Co. by 13.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 917,017 shares of the companys stock worth $16,206,000 after buying an additional 109,013 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new stake in shares of Victorias Secret & Co. in the second quarter worth about $1,427,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Victorias Secret & Co. by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 156,257 shares of the companys stock worth $2,761,000 after purchasing an additional 10,765 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Victorias Secret & Co. by 1,925.3% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 8,790 shares of the companys stock worth $155,000 after purchasing an additional 8,356 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.29% of the companys stock. Get Victoria's Secret & Co. alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several research firms recently weighed in on VSCO. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Victorias Secret & Co. from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Victorias Secret & Co. from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a sell rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price target on Victorias Secret & Co. from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Victorias Secret & Co. from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays raised Victorias Secret & Co. from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and upped their price target for the company from $23.00 to $25.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Victorias Secret & Co. currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $23.60. Victorias Secret & Co. Price Performance NYSE:VSCO opened at $26.04 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a PE ratio of 20.03 and a beta of 2.13. Victorias Secret & Co. has a 12 month low of $13.62 and a 12 month high of $30.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.27. The companys 50-day moving average price is $22.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.97. Victorias Secret & Co. (NYSE:VSCO Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Victorias Secret & Co. had a net margin of 2.25% and a return on equity of 44.06%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Victorias Secret & Co. will post 1.98 EPS for the current fiscal year. About Victorias Secret & Co. (Free Report) Victoria's Secret & Co operates as a specialty retailer of women's intimate, and other apparel and beauty products worldwide. It offers bras, panties, lingerie, casual sleepwear, and athleisure and swim, as well as fragrances and body care; and loungewear, knit tops, activewear, and accessories and beauty under the Victoria's Secret, PINK, and Adore Me brands. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding VSCO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Victorias Secret & Co. (NYSE:VSCO Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Victoria's Secret & Co. Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Victoria's Secret & Co. and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,400,000 shares, a decrease of 6.4% from the August 31st total of 8,970,000 shares. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,570,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades ALLY has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays cut their price objective on Ally Financial from $44.00 to $36.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Ally Financial from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Ally Financial from $49.00 to $40.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Ally Financial from $45.00 to $37.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ally Financial from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Two equities 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 companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $41.38. Get Ally Financial alerts: Read Our Latest Stock Report on ALLY Institutional Inflows and Outflows Ally Financial Stock Performance Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ally Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $702,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ally Financial in the second quarter valued at $233,000. Quarry LP increased its position in Ally Financial by 311.4% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,510 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 1,143 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in Ally Financial by 2.7% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 60,728 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $2,409,000 after purchasing an additional 1,598 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ally Financial by 597.3% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 131,183 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $5,204,000 after purchasing an additional 112,369 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.76% of the companys stock. NYSE:ALLY opened at $34.97 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $39.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 1.40. Ally Financial has a 12-month low of $22.54 and a 12-month high of $45.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. Ally Financial (NYSE:ALLY Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.33. Ally Financial had a net margin of 10.26% and a return on equity of 8.37%. The firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Ally Financial will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year. Ally Financial Dividend Announcement The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. Ally Financials dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.98%. About Ally Financial (Get Free Report) Ally Financial Inc, a digital financial-services company, provides various digital financial products and services in the United States, Canada, and Bermuda. The company operates through Automotive Finance Operations, Insurance Operations, Mortgage Finance Operations, and Corporate Finance Operations segments. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Ally Financial Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Ally Financial and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lowered its position in Invesco S&P MidCap Momentum ETF (NYSEARCA:XMMO Free Report) by 34.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,813 shares of the companys stock after selling 1,510 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADVs holdings in Invesco S&P MidCap Momentum ETF were worth $321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in XMMO. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Invesco S&P MidCap Momentum ETF by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 4,531 shares of the companys stock worth $516,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. PFG Advisors grew its stake in Invesco S&P MidCap Momentum ETF by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 4,495 shares of the companys stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Invesco S&P MidCap Momentum ETF by 114.2% during the 2nd quarter. Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc. now owns 242 shares of the companys stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. American Trust raised its stake in shares of Invesco S&P MidCap Momentum ETF by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. American Trust now owns 7,387 shares of the companys stock worth $848,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. Finally, TFB Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Invesco S&P MidCap Momentum ETF by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 7,722 shares of the companys stock worth $840,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Get Invesco S&P MidCap Momentum ETF alerts: Invesco S&P MidCap Momentum ETF Stock Performance NYSEARCA XMMO opened at $119.89 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a PE ratio of 19.24 and a beta of 1.12. Invesco S&P MidCap Momentum ETF has a 52-week low of $74.39 and a 52-week high of $121.49. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $116.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.34. Invesco S&P MidCap Momentum ETF Profile The Invesco S&P MidCap Momentum ETF (XMMO) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the S&P MidCap 400 Momentum (USD) index. The fund tracks an index of S&P 400 MidCap stocks selected by momentum and weighted by market cap and momentum. XMMO was launched on Mar 3, 2005 and is managed by Invesco. Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding XMMO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Invesco S&P MidCap Momentum ETF (NYSEARCA:XMMO Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Invesco S&P MidCap Momentum ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Invesco S&P MidCap Momentum ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Kho Guik Lan, principal of Chung Hwa Middle School, speaks during a celebration of Brunei Teachers' Day in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, Sept. 28, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Meng) BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- A celebration of Brunei Teachers' Day was held at the country's largest Chinese school in capital Bandar Seri Begawan Saturday. The celebration ceremony in Chung Hwa Middle School featured an award presentation and art performances by students. Over 50 teachers, including two from China, were presented with the "Teacher Brilliance Award." Kho Guik Lan, principal of Chung Hwa Middle School, said in her speech that teachers are also the inheritors of educational culture and bear the important responsibility of passing on the outstanding traditional Chinese culture. "Through classroom teaching and various campus activities, we share the spirit of Chinese culture with generations of students at Chung Hwa Middle School, helping them absorb and appreciate this culture," she said. Brunei has eight Chinese schools, with around 5,000 students in total. Chung Hwa Middle School has more than 2,000 students, making it the largest Chinese school in Brunei. Students perform during a celebration of Brunei Teachers' Day at Chung Hwa Middle School in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, Sept. 28, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Meng) Driehaus Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF (NYSEARCA:KSA Free Report) by 25.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 200,783 shares of the companys stock after selling 68,270 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC owned about 1.07% of iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF worth $8,156,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its stake in shares of iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 12,654 shares of the companys stock worth $514,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF during the first quarter worth about $45,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF by 4.3% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 37,230 shares of the companys stock worth $1,512,000 after acquiring an additional 1,528 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF by 17.9% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 10,225 shares of the companys stock worth $452,000 after acquiring an additional 1,554 shares during the period. Finally, Vanderbilt University grew its holdings in iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF by 1.5% during the second quarter. Vanderbilt University now owns 121,974 shares of the companys stock worth $4,955,000 after acquiring an additional 1,827 shares during the period. Get iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF alerts: iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF Trading Down 0.0 % Shares of KSA opened at $43.31 on Monday. iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF has a 12 month low of $36.21 and a 12 month high of $45.10. The stocks 50 day moving average is $41.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.15. The firm has a market cap of $809.90 million, a P/E ratio of 17.50 and a beta of 0.58. About iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF The iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF (KSA) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the MSCI Saudi Arabia IMI 25-50 index, a market-cap-weighted index of Saudi Arabian firms covering 99% of the market cap spectrum. KSA was launched on Sep 16, 2015 and is managed by BlackRock. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding KSA? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF (NYSEARCA:KSA Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in shares of International Game Technology PLC (NYSE:IGT Free Report) by 21.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,816 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 2,424 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLCs holdings in International Game Technology were worth $283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in shares of International Game Technology in the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. General Partner Inc. purchased a new position in International Game Technology in the first quarter worth $45,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in International Game Technology by 1,633.6% in the second quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,219 shares of the companys stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 2,091 shares during the last quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of International Game Technology by 100.9% during the 2nd quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,310 shares of the companys stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of International Game Technology by 156.7% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,321 shares of the companys stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 44.33% of the companys stock. Get International Game Technology alerts: International Game Technology Stock Performance Shares of NYSE IGT opened at $21.73 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.00. The stock has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.70 and a beta of 1.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57. International Game Technology PLC has a 12 month low of $18.90 and a 12 month high of $31.85. International Game Technology Dividend Announcement International Game Technology ( NYSE:IGT Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.06 billion. International Game Technology had a net margin of 4.89% and a return on equity of 19.95%. The firms revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that International Game Technology PLC will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. International Game Technologys dividend payout ratio is presently 76.19%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of equities research analysts have commented on IGT shares. B. Riley reiterated a buy rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of International Game Technology in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of International Game Technology from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of International Game Technology from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $28.67. Read Our Latest Report on International Game Technology About International Game Technology (Free Report) International Game Technology PLC operates and provides gaming technology products and services in the United States, Canada, Italy, The United Kingdom, rest of Europe, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Global Lottery, Global Gaming, and PlayDigital. The company designs, sells, operates, and leases a suite of point-of-sale machines that reconciles lottery funds between the retailer and lottery authority; provides online lottery transaction processing systems; produces instant ticket games; and offers printing services, such as instant ticket marketing plans and graphic design, programming, packaging, shipping, and delivery services, as well as iLottery solutions and services. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IGT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for International Game Technology PLC (NYSE:IGT Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for International Game Technology Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for International Game Technology and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SKM Free Report) by 20.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 38,321 shares of the Wireless communications providers stock after buying an additional 6,380 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLCs holdings in SK Telecom were worth $802,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SKM. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in SK Telecom by 40.4% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 51,122 shares of the Wireless communications providers stock valued at $1,070,000 after purchasing an additional 14,701 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in SK Telecom by 64.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 62,780 shares of the Wireless communications providers stock valued at $1,314,000 after acquiring an additional 24,538 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in SK Telecom by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 85,690 shares of the Wireless communications providers stock valued at $1,727,000 after acquiring an additional 2,240 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in SK Telecom by 22.7% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 55,161 shares of the Wireless communications providers stock worth $1,155,000 after acquiring an additional 10,209 shares during the period. Finally, Caprock Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of SK Telecom in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $396,000. Get SK Telecom alerts: SK Telecom Stock Down 0.5 % Shares of NYSE:SKM opened at $24.34 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $10.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.77. SK Telecom Co., Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $19.42 and a fifty-two week high of $24.58. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $23.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.77. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth SK Telecom ( NYSE:SKM Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter. SK Telecom had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 6.52%. The firm had revenue of $3.22 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts predict that SK Telecom Co., Ltd. will post 2.29 earnings per share for the current year. Separately, StockNews.com upgraded SK Telecom from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Read Our Latest Research Report on SKM SK Telecom Profile (Free Report) SK Telecom Co, Ltd. provides wireless telecommunication services in South Korea. The company operates through three segments: Cellular Services, Fixed-Line Telecommunications Services, and Other Businesses. The Cellular Services segment offers wireless voice and data transmission, Internet of Things solutions, platform, cloud, smart factory solutions, subscription, advertising and curated shopping under T Deal brand name, and metaverse platform-based services, as well as sells wireless devices. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding SKM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SKM Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for SK Telecom Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for SK Telecom and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Hsbc Holdings PLC decreased its position in shares of National Bank Holdings Co. (NYSE:NBHC Free Report) by 83.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 18,432 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 96,106 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLCs holdings in National Bank were worth $711,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in National Bank by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 19,000 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $742,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its position in shares of National Bank by 1.4% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 33,069 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,193,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of National Bank by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 126,304 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $4,932,000 after acquiring an additional 492 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in National Bank by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,450 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $269,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in National Bank during the 2nd quarter worth $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.65% of the companys stock. Get National Bank alerts: Insider Activity at National Bank In other National Bank news, insider Valerie D. Kramer sold 725 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.17, for a total transaction of $29,123.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,398 shares in the company, valued at $417,687.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Valerie D. Kramer sold 725 shares of National Bank stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.17, for a total transaction of $29,123.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,398 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $417,687.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO G. Timothy Laney sold 49,763 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.64, for a total transaction of $2,121,894.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 272,126 shares of the companys stock, valued at $11,603,452.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 103,192 shares of company stock valued at $4,431,998 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the companys stock. National Bank Trading Up 0.7 % Shares of NBHC stock opened at $41.37 on Monday. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $41.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a PE ratio of 11.89 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. National Bank Holdings Co. has a 1-year low of $28.38 and a 1-year high of $46.51. National Bank (NYSE:NBHC Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $99.31 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $102.96 million. National Bank had a net margin of 21.40% and a return on equity of 10.44%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that National Bank Holdings Co. will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year. National Bank Dividend Announcement The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. National Banks dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.18%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of brokerages have recently commented on NBHC. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of National Bank from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded National Bank from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Piper Sandler cut National Bank from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and upped their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Hovde Group lifted their price objective on shares of National Bank from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of National Bank from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $46.40. Get Our Latest Report on National Bank About National Bank (Free Report) National Bank Holdings Corporation operates as the bank holding company for NBH Bank that provides various banking products and financial services to commercial, business, and consumer clients in the United States. It offers deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts, including fixed-rate and fixed maturity time deposits. See Also Receive News & Ratings for National Bank Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for National Bank and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Zuora, Inc. (NYSE:ZUO Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 22,617 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $225,000. Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Zuora by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 36,648 shares of the companys stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 1,402 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its position in Zuora by 25.0% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,945 shares of the companys stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 1,590 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Zuora by 18.6% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 18,218 shares of the companys stock valued at $166,000 after buying an additional 2,851 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Zuora by 12.8% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 26,615 shares of the companys stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 3,029 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Zuora by 9.2% in the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 38,872 shares of the companys stock valued at $386,000 after acquiring an additional 3,260 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.02% of the companys stock. Get Zuora alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of equities analysts have commented on ZUO shares. Craig Hallum cut Zuora from a buy rating to a hold rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $12.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $13.00 target price on shares of Zuora in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of Zuora in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Zuora has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $11.86. Insider Buying and Selling In other news, insider Andrew M. Cohen sold 3,861 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.71, for a total transaction of $33,629.31. Following the sale, the insider now owns 148,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,294,654.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Andrew M. Cohen sold 3,861 shares of Zuora stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.71, for a total transaction of $33,629.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 148,640 shares in the company, valued at $1,294,654.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Tien Tzuo sold 114,825 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.05, for a total value of $1,039,166.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $57,485.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 301,833 shares of company stock valued at $2,719,755 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 8.62% of the companys stock. Zuora Trading Up 0.1 % NYSE:ZUO opened at $8.70 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $8.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.23. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.23 and a beta of 1.72. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90. Zuora, Inc. has a 12 month low of $7.05 and a 12 month high of $10.85. Zuora (NYSE:ZUO Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 21st. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.09. Zuora had a negative net margin of 10.60% and a negative return on equity of 12.54%. The business had revenue of $115.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $112.63 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.12) earnings per share. Zuoras quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Zuora, Inc. will post -0.06 EPS for the current year. About Zuora (Free Report) Zuora, Inc provides a monetization suite for modern businesses to help companies launch and scale new services and operate dynamic customer-centric business models. The company offers Zuora Billing that allows customers to deploy various pricing and packaging strategies to monetize their recurring revenue streams, bill customers, calculate prorations when subscriptions change, and automate billing and payment operations; Zuora Revenue, a revenue recognition and automation solution that accounting teams use to manage their complex revenue streams; Zuora Payments to provide payment orchestration services for companies looking to operate globally; and Zephr, a digital subscriber experience platform that helps companies orchestrate dynamic experiences that increase conversion, reduce churn, and nurture ongoing subscriber relationships. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ZUO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Zuora, Inc. (NYSE:ZUO Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Zuora Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Zuora and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. (NYSE:IIPR Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,191 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $239,000. Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of IIPR. Pinebridge Investments L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Innovative Industrial Properties during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $763,000. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in Innovative Industrial Properties by 124.4% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 101,373 shares of the companys stock worth $10,496,000 after acquiring an additional 56,200 shares in the last quarter. Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Innovative Industrial Properties in the 1st quarter worth about $2,046,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Innovative Industrial Properties by 75.7% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 19,573 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,027,000 after purchasing an additional 8,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its position in shares of Innovative Industrial Properties by 1.4% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 24,540 shares of the companys stock worth $2,541,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.58% of the companys stock. Get Innovative Industrial Properties alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades IIPR has been the topic of several research reports. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Innovative Industrial Properties from $115.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Wolfe Research raised Innovative Industrial Properties to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Innovative Industrial Properties from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Innovative Industrial Properties currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $130.00. Innovative Industrial Properties Price Performance Shares of IIPR opened at $135.82 on Monday. Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.08 and a 12 month high of $138.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 18.06 and a quick ratio of 18.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $123.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $112.17. The company has a market cap of $3.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.83 and a beta of 1.35. Innovative Industrial Properties (NYSE:IIPR Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.08 by ($0.64). The firm had revenue of $79.79 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $77.18 million. Innovative Industrial Properties had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 52.73%. The firms revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.26 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current year. Innovative Industrial Properties Dividend Announcement The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $1.90 dividend. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.60%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Innovative Industrial Propertiess dividend payout ratio is presently 133.33%. Innovative Industrial Properties Company Profile (Free Report) Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc is a self-advised Maryland corporation focused on the acquisition, ownership and management of specialized properties leased to experienced, state-licensed operators for their regulated cannabis facilities. Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, commencing with the year ended December 31, 2017. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IIPR? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. (NYSE:IIPR Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Innovative Industrial Properties Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Innovative Industrial Properties and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Amalgamated Bank lowered its stake in Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PARR Free Report) by 8.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,301 shares of the companys stock after selling 1,461 shares during the period. Amalgamated Banks holdings in Par Pacific were worth $412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Par Pacific by 215.1% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,166 shares of the companys stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 796 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Par Pacific during the second quarter worth $43,000. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Par Pacific by 41.7% during the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 3,400 shares of the companys stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Par Pacific during the second quarter worth $104,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Par Pacific by 141.3% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 5,930 shares of the companys stock worth $150,000 after purchasing an additional 3,472 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.15% of the companys stock. Get Par Pacific alerts: Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PARR. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Par Pacific from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. cut shares of Par Pacific from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Par Pacific from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Tudor Pickering raised shares of Par Pacific to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Par Pacific from $40.00 to $29.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $30.00. Par Pacific Trading Up 1.6 % Shares of NYSE:PARR opened at $17.86 on Monday. The companys 50-day moving average price is $21.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $17.06 and a one year high of $40.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a PE ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.99. Par Pacific (NYSE:PARR Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.36. The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.82 billion. Par Pacific had a net margin of 5.43% and a return on equity of 26.40%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.73 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. will post 1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year. About Par Pacific (Free Report) Par Pacific Holdings, Inc owns and operates energy and infrastructure businesses. The company operates through Refining, Retail, and Logistics segments. The Refining segment owns and operates refineries that produce gasoline, distillate, asphalt, and other products primarily for consumption in Kapolei, Hawaii, Newcastle, Wyoming, Tacoma, Washington, and Billings, Montana. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PARR? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PARR Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Par Pacific Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Par Pacific and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Riley Exploration Permian, Inc. (NYSE:REPX Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 7,212 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $204,000. A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of REPX. CWM LLC grew its position in Riley Exploration Permian by 1,191.7% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,240 shares of the companys stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,144 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank acquired a new stake in shares of Riley Exploration Permian during the second quarter worth $39,000. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in Riley Exploration Permian by 38.6% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,815 shares of the companys stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 1,062 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Riley Exploration Permian by 785.9% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,571 shares of the companys stock worth $151,000 after acquiring an additional 4,055 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Global Investments acquired a new stake in Riley Exploration Permian in the second quarter worth $252,000. Institutional investors own 58.91% of the companys stock. Get Riley Exploration Permian alerts: Riley Exploration Permian Trading Up 1.9 % NYSE REPX opened at $27.02 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Riley Exploration Permian, Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.27 and a 52 week high of $34.90. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $27.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.86. The company has a market cap of $582.12 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.49 and a beta of 1.34. Riley Exploration Permian Announces Dividend Riley Exploration Permian ( NYSE:REPX Get Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.74 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $105.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.62 million. Riley Exploration Permian had a return on equity of 25.74% and a net margin of 23.95%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Riley Exploration Permian, Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 25th were given a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 25th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.33%. Riley Exploration Permians payout ratio is 29.27%. Analyst Ratings Changes Separately, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Riley Exploration Permian from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. View Our Latest Research Report on REPX Insider Buying and Selling at Riley Exploration Permian In other news, CEO Bobby Riley sold 15,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total value of $420,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 366,658 shares in the company, valued at $10,266,424. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.90% of the companys stock. About Riley Exploration Permian (Free Report) Riley Exploration Permian, Inc, an independent oil and natural gas company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in Texas and New Mexico. The company's activities are primarily focused on the Northwest Shelf and Yeso trend of the Permian Basin. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding REPX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Riley Exploration Permian, Inc. (NYSE:REPX Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Riley Exploration Permian Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Riley Exploration Permian and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of nVent Electric plc (NYSE:NVT Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 800 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $61,000. Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of nVent Electric by 15.5% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 75,323 shares of the companys stock worth $5,684,000 after acquiring an additional 10,135 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in nVent Electric by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 410,902 shares of the companys stock worth $31,479,000 after purchasing an additional 25,482 shares in the last quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID raised its holdings in nVent Electric by 85.1% during the 1st quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID now owns 116,629 shares of the companys stock worth $8,794,000 after buying an additional 53,633 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its stake in nVent Electric by 4.7% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 190,240 shares of the companys stock valued at $14,344,000 after buying an additional 8,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in shares of nVent Electric by 18.0% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 306,319 shares of the companys stock worth $23,099,000 after buying an additional 46,748 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.05% of the companys stock. Get nVent Electric alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on NVT. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on nVent Electric from $88.00 to $82.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of nVent Electric from a sector weight rating to an overweight rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of nVent Electric from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $86.50. Insider Activity In related news, EVP Lynnette R. Heath sold 8,242 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.26, for a total transaction of $496,662.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 30,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,833,832.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Lynnette R. Heath sold 8,242 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.26, for a total transaction of $496,662.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 30,432 shares in the company, valued at $1,833,832.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael B. Faulconer sold 20,004 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.34, for a total transaction of $1,267,053.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,766 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,251,978.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. nVent Electric Stock Up 0.2 % Shares of NYSE:NVT opened at $70.92 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.77 billion, a PE ratio of 20.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 2.17. The companys fifty day moving average is $66.77 and its 200-day moving average is $73.41. nVent Electric plc has a 52 week low of $45.60 and a 52 week high of $86.57. nVent Electric (NYSE:NVT Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $880.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $892.89 million. nVent Electric had a return on equity of 17.21% and a net margin of 16.59%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that nVent Electric plc will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. nVent Electric Announces Dividend The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. nVent Electrics payout ratio is presently 22.16%. nVent Electric Profile (Free Report) nVent Electric plc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, markets, installs, and services electrical connection and protection solutions in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Enclosures, Electrical & Fastening Solutions, and Thermal Management. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding NVT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for nVent Electric plc (NYSE:NVT Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for nVent Electric Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for nVent Electric and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lessened its position in shares of Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS Free Report) by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,847 shares of the companys stock after selling 607 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorados holdings in Cars.com were worth $174,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CARS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cars.com by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,216,683 shares of the companys stock worth $123,983,000 after buying an additional 81,645 shares during the last quarter. Greenvale Capital LLP increased its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Greenvale Capital LLP now owns 4,628,403 shares of the companys stock valued at $87,801,000 after purchasing an additional 90,222 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Cars.com by 25.0% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,153,942 shares of the companys stock valued at $36,972,000 after purchasing an additional 430,654 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Cars.com by 19.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,078,757 shares of the companys stock worth $21,252,000 after buying an additional 175,094 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Cars.com by 50.3% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 615,408 shares of the companys stock valued at $10,573,000 after buying an additional 205,871 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.15% of the companys stock. Get Cars.com alerts: Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, CEO Thomas Alex Vetter sold 17,674 shares of Cars.com stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.23, for a total value of $339,871.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 598,934 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $11,517,500.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. Cars.com Stock Performance NYSE:CARS opened at $16.72 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 2.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Cars.com Inc. has a 52 week low of $14.82 and a 52 week high of $21.24. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.16. Cars.com (NYSE:CARS Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.06). Cars.com had a return on equity of 6.70% and a net margin of 3.51%. The firm had revenue of $178.89 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $181.51 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cars.com Inc. will post 1.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CARS shares. B. Riley dropped their target price on Cars.com from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Cars.com from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Cars.com in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Cars.com from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and decreased their price target for the company from $25.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on CARS About Cars.com (Free Report) Cars.com Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a digital automotive marketplace that connects local car dealers to consumers in the United States. The company offers a suite of digital solutions that creates connections between individuals researching cars or looking to purchase a car with car dealerships and automotive original equipment manufacturers. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Cars.com Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Cars.com and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. DAMASCUS, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Israeli attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon, including killing Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and other senior figures, have ignited wide concerns over a looming overall escalation across the Middle East, experts said. The assassination of Nasrallah, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York, reflects not only a calculated show of power but also a broader strategy that could destabilize the whole region, said Mohammad Nader al-Omari, a Damascus-based Syrian analyst and international relations expert. The Israeli army continues airstrikes on targets in Lebanon in attempts to assassinate leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas. On Monday, three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a residential building in the al Cola area in central Beirut, marking Israel's first attack on the capital center since 2006, according to the Guardian. The same day the leader of the Hamas movement in Lebanon, Fateh Sherif, was killed along with his wife and two sons in an Israeli raid on his home in the center of the Rashidieh camp in southern Lebanon, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua. According to al-Omari, two scenarios might emerge from now. The first, and more likely, is that Israel will expand military operations to restore its deterrence, which has been significantly weakened since the blow to its security dominance on Oct. 7, 2023. The second scenario involves leveraging the Israeli campaign in Lebanon to invite U.S. and French mediation, to secure a favorable diplomatic outcome for Israel in both Lebanon and Palestine. "The Israeli government, under Netanyahu, is driven by a right-wing ideological agenda that seeks to consolidate the vision of a Greater Israel," al-Omari said. "Netanyahu is capitalizing on what he views as a strategic military success to justify broader regional military action," he added. Netanyahu's speech at the 79th United Nations General Assembly reiterated his administration's commitment to extending Israeli military campaigns, including a direct warning to Iran. "Netanyahu is trying to rebuild Israel's deterrent image and take advantage of domestic support by amplifying the narrative of victory, which risks dragging the region into a broader conflict," al-Omari said. "The U.S. backing emboldens Israel to push forward with its agenda, especially as the Biden administration seeks to shore up its foreign policy credentials ahead of the 2024 presidential election," he added. Youssef Diab, a political analyst from the Lebanese University, regarded the death of Nasrallah as "a turning point" in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, as it will result in a void at Hezbollah's leadership level. The assassination will also have a significant influence on the conflict between Israel and Iran, a primary backer of Hezbollah, he told Xinhua. "All eyes are directed to Iran and what it will say after this big event," he said. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei last Saturday called on all Muslims to mobilize their resources and facilities and stand by the Lebanese people and Hezbollah in the fight against Israel, according to a message published on his website. He added Israel could not inflict any important harm on Hezbollah's strong structure. Hezbollah's deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem, said on Monday that the group would continue to defend Lebanon and support Gaza despite losing Nasrallah and many commanders. "Hezbollah's Islamic Resistance will go ahead with confronting the Israeli enemy in support of Gaza and Palestine and in defense of Lebanon and its people," Qassem said during his first televised speech following Nasrallah's death. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed deep concern over the escalating situation in Beirut, urging relevant parties to "immediately return to a cessation of hostilities." "This cycle of violence must stop now, and all sides must step back from the brink," Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the secretary-general, said in a statement last Saturday. "The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel, as well as the wider region, cannot afford an all-out war," the statement said. Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Kennametal Inc. (NYSE:KMT Free Report) by 35.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,332,993 shares of the industrial products companys stock after buying an additional 606,477 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP owned approximately 2.97% of Kennametal worth $54,798,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its position in shares of Kennametal by 0.9% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 69,376 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $1,730,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Kennametal by 1.5% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 45,515 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $1,135,000 after acquiring an additional 684 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its position in Kennametal by 198.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,058 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 704 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in Kennametal by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 16,069 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Kennametal by 46.7% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,049 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 970 shares in the last quarter. Get Kennametal alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on KMT shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kennametal from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Saturday, September 21st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Kennametal from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price objective on Kennametal from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $24.17. Kennametal Stock Up 1.1 % KMT opened at $26.40 on Monday. Kennametal Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.08 and a 1 year high of $27.04. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $25.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 2.41. The company has a market cap of $2.08 billion, a PE ratio of 19.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.65. Kennametal (NYSE:KMT Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $543.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $532.72 million. Kennametal had a net margin of 5.34% and a return on equity of 9.17%. The businesss quarterly revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Kennametal Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year. Kennametal Announces Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. Kennametals dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.26%. Kennametal Profile (Free Report) Kennametal Inc engages in development and application of tungsten carbides, ceramics, and super-hard materials and solutions for use in metal cutting and extreme wear applications to enable customers work against corrosion and high temperatures conditions worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Metal Cutting and Infrastructure. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Kennametal Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Kennametal and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its stake in CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS Free Report) by 8.3% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,653,045 shares of the pharmacy operators stock after purchasing an additional 126,930 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LPs holdings in CVS Health were worth $97,553,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CVS. Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in shares of CVS Health by 0.8% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 19,225 shares of the pharmacy operators stock worth $1,410,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division boosted its holdings in CVS Health by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 22,268 shares of the pharmacy operators stock valued at $1,776,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Garland Capital Management Inc. grew its position in CVS Health by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Garland Capital Management Inc. now owns 60,810 shares of the pharmacy operators stock worth $3,591,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Silverlake Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in CVS Health by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Silverlake Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,203 shares of the pharmacy operators stock worth $894,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, Plimoth Trust Co. LLC lifted its position in CVS Health by 0.4% in the second quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC now owns 46,637 shares of the pharmacy operators stock valued at $2,754,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.66% of the companys stock. Get CVS Health alerts: CVS Health Price Performance Shares of NYSE CVS opened at $61.38 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.87. CVS Health Co. has a fifty-two week low of $52.77 and a fifty-two week high of $83.25. The company has a market capitalization of $77.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.53. CVS Health Dividend Announcement CVS Health ( NYSE:CVS Get Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.10. CVS Health had a return on equity of 12.72% and a net margin of 1.98%. The business had revenue of $91.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $91.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.21 earnings per share. The firms quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that CVS Health Co. will post 6.51 EPS for the current fiscal year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 21st. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.33%. CVS Healths dividend payout ratio is currently 46.75%. Analyst Ratings Changes CVS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and issued a $68.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of CVS Health from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of CVS Health from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a neutral rating and issued a $62.00 target price on shares of CVS Health in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on CVS Health from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $72.10. Check Out Our Latest Report on CVS CVS Health Profile (Free Report) CVS Health Corporation provides health solutions in the United States. It operates through Health Care Benefits, Health Services, and Pharmacy & Consumer Wellness segments. The Health Care Benefits segment offers traditional, voluntary, and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CVS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for CVS Health Co. (NYSE:CVS Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for CVS Health Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for CVS Health and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its holdings in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA Free Report) by 10.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,868,735 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 265,411 shares during the period. Corteva accounts for approximately 1.9% of Brandes Investment Partners LPs holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Brandes Investment Partners LP owned approximately 0.41% of Corteva worth $154,691,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Corteva in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Corteva in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Corteva by 2,522.2% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 472 shares of the companys stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 454 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT raised its holdings in Corteva by 77.2% in the first quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 505 shares of the companys stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. Finally, Ironwood Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Corteva by 106.1% during the first quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management Inc. now owns 544 shares of the companys stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.54% of the companys stock. Get Corteva alerts: Corteva Trading Up 1.0 % Corteva stock opened at $58.58 on Monday. The companys fifty day moving average price is $55.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 1.17. Corteva, Inc. has a one year low of $43.22 and a one year high of $59.08. The company has a market capitalization of $40.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.15, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.77. Corteva Increases Dividend Corteva ( NYSE:CTVA Get Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $6.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.15 billion. Corteva had a return on equity of 7.30% and a net margin of 5.31%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.60 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a $0.17 dividend. This is a positive change from Cortevas previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. Cortevas payout ratio is currently 86.08%. Analyst Ratings Changes A number of analysts recently weighed in on CTVA shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Corteva from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a buy rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Corteva in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Argus downgraded shares of Corteva from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. OTR Global reaffirmed a negative rating on shares of Corteva in a report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Corteva from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $61.94. Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Corteva About Corteva (Free Report) Corteva, Inc operates in the agriculture business. It operates through two segments, Seed and Crop Protection. The Seed segment develops and supplies advanced germplasm and traits that produce optimum yield for farms. It offers trait technologies that enhance resistance to weather, disease, insects, and herbicides used to control weeds, as well as food and nutritional characteristics. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Corteva Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Corteva and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Pinnacle West Capital Co. (NYSE:PNW Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 199,641 shares of the utilities providers stock, valued at approximately $15,249,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. owned 0.18% of Pinnacle West Capital at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in Pinnacle West Capital by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,059 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Pinnacle West Capital by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 794 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Pinnacle West Capital by 70.6% during the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 481 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Pinnacle West Capital by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 21,724 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $1,659,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SFE Investment Counsel boosted its position in Pinnacle West Capital by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 18,430 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $1,408,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.51% of the companys stock. Get Pinnacle West Capital alerts: Insider Transactions at Pinnacle West Capital In related news, EVP Robert Edgar Smith sold 4,950 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.80, for a total transaction of $424,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,397 shares in the company, valued at approximately $548,862.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.23% of the companys stock. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth PNW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised Pinnacle West Capital from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays cut their price target on Pinnacle West Capital from $81.00 to $78.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Pinnacle West Capital from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Pinnacle West Capital from $78.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Pinnacle West Capital in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a buy rating and a $104.00 price target for the company. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with 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 an average price target of $80.54. Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on PNW Pinnacle West Capital Trading Down 0.2 % NYSE PNW opened at $88.27 on Monday. Pinnacle West Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $65.20 and a 12 month high of $91.57. The company has a market capitalization of $10.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The firms fifty day moving average price is $87.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.65. Pinnacle West Capital (NYSE:PNW Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.21 billion. Pinnacle West Capital had a return on equity of 9.75% and a net margin of 12.65%. The businesss revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Pinnacle West Capital Co. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Pinnacle West Capital Company Profile (Free Report) Pinnacle West Capital Corporation, through its subsidiary, provides retail and wholesale electric services primarily in the state of Arizona. The company engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity using coal, nuclear, gas, oil, and solar generating facilities. Its transmission facilities include overhead lines and underground lines; and distribution facilities consist of overhead lines and underground primary cables. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PNW? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Pinnacle West Capital Co. (NYSE:PNW Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Pinnacle West Capital Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Pinnacle West Capital and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE Get Free Report) had its target price increased by analysts at KeyCorp from $46.00 to $47.00 in a research note issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an overweight rating on the utilities providers stock. KeyCorps target price suggests a potential upside of 6.70% from the companys previous close. Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Barclays upped their target price on FirstEnergy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $44.55. Get FirstEnergy alerts: Read Our Latest Analysis on FirstEnergy FirstEnergy Trading Up 1.0 % Shares of FE stock opened at $44.05 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.32, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $42.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.22. FirstEnergy has a twelve month low of $32.18 and a twelve month high of $44.97. FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.56. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.47 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 12.12%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 41.4% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 187,964 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $7,259,000 after acquiring an additional 54,990 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,335,364 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $51,572,000 after purchasing an additional 67,469 shares in the last quarter. CCM Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,867,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,317,521 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $50,422,000 after buying an additional 42,484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 214.5% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 73,567 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $2,841,000 after buying an additional 50,176 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the companys stock. About FirstEnergy (Get Free Report) FirstEnergy Corp., through its subsidiaries, generates, transmits, and distributes electricity in the United States. It operates through Regulated Distribution and Regulated Transmission segments. The company owns and operates coal-fired, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, and solar power generating facilities. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for FirstEnergy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for FirstEnergy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Profund Advisors LLC lessened its position in Crane (NYSE:CR Free Report) by 26.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,426 shares of the conglomerates stock after selling 511 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLCs holdings in Crane were worth $207,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Crane by 150.6% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 218 shares of the conglomerates stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in Crane during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Crane by 29.9% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 487 shares of the conglomerates stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Crane in the second quarter valued at approximately $123,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in shares of Crane during the second quarter valued at approximately $159,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the companys stock. Get Crane alerts: Crane Stock Down 0.8 % Shares of NYSE:CR opened at $157.40 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.00 billion, a PE ratio of 42.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.77. Crane has a 1 year low of $82.57 and a 1 year high of $162.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $151.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $145.05. Crane Announces Dividend Crane ( NYSE:CR Get Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The conglomerate reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.06. Crane had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. The business had revenue of $581.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $568.33 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Crane will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current year. The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were given a $0.205 dividend. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Cranes dividend payout ratio is currently 21.98%. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Crane from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Crane from $157.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $155.00. Get Our Latest Stock Report on Crane About Crane (Free Report) Crane Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells engineered industrial products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Aerospace & Electronics, Process Flow Technologies, and Engineered Materials. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CR? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Crane (NYSE:CR Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Crane Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Crane and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by KeyCorp from $121.00 to $125.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an overweight rating on the utilities providers stock. KeyCorps price target would suggest a potential upside of 7.79% from the companys current price. A number of other brokerages have also commented on DUK. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $117.07. Get Duke Energy alerts: Check Out Our Latest Report on DUK Duke Energy Price Performance Shares of NYSE DUK opened at $115.97 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $113.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $104.71. The firm has a market cap of $89.50 billion, a PE ratio of 29.14, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. Duke Energy has a 1-year low of $83.06 and a 1-year high of $118.31. Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.16. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 14.29%. The company had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $6.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. Duke Energys revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Duke Energy will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Insider Activity at Duke Energy In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $61,365.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares in the company, valued at $2,259,617.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Duke Energy Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. bought a new position in Duke Energy during the second quarter worth about $201,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Duke Energy by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 5,302 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $531,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $557,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,907,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $12,749,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the companys stock. About Duke Energy (Get 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. See Also 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. Point72 DIFC Ltd decreased its position in shares of IDT Co. (NYSE:IDT Free Report) by 30.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 980 shares of the utilities providers stock after selling 425 shares during the quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltds holdings in IDT were worth $35,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of IDT by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 13,805 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $522,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of IDT by 53.2% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,797 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of IDT by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,332 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of IDT by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 12,647 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $479,000 after buying an additional 635 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in IDT by 3.4% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 26,833 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $964,000 after buying an additional 891 shares in the last quarter. 59.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get IDT alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets Separately, StockNews.com raised IDT from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Insider Activity at IDT In other IDT news, EVP Joyce J. Mason sold 7,570 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.25, for a total value of $281,982.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,996 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $484,101. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Eric F. Cosentino sold 800 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.24, for a total transaction of $29,792.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 551 shares of the companys stock, valued at $20,519.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Joyce J. Mason sold 7,570 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.25, for a total transaction of $281,982.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,996 shares in the company, valued at approximately $484,101. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,870 shares of company stock valued at $329,880 in the last 90 days. 15.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. IDT Price Performance IDT stock opened at $38.43 on Monday. IDT Co. has a 1 year low of $21.64 and a 1 year high of $41.58. The stock has a market cap of $973.78 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.45 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.45. IDT Announces Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.05 dividend. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. IDTs payout ratio is 14.29%. IDT Company Profile (Free Report) IDT Corporation provides communications and payment services in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through Fintech, National Retail Solutions, net2phone, and Traditional Communications segments. The company operates point of sale, a terminal-based platform which provides independent retailers store management software, electronic payment processing, and other ancillary merchant services; and provides marketers with digital out-of-home advertising and transaction data. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IDT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for IDT Co. (NYSE:IDT Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for IDT Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for IDT and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT Free Report) by 98.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 67,427 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock after buying an additional 33,502 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLCs holdings in Federal Realty Investment Trust were worth $6,808,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in FRT. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust by 571.1% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 642,446 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $64,868,000 after buying an additional 546,711 shares during the period. Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust by 1,553.3% during the 4th quarter. Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC now owns 207,700 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $21,403,000 after buying an additional 195,137 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,731,109 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $1,300,101,000 after buying an additional 193,740 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust by 311.0% during the 1st quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 212,129 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $21,663,000 after buying an additional 160,519 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust by 29.6% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 407,585 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $42,002,000 after buying an additional 93,048 shares during the period. 93.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Federal Realty Investment Trust alerts: Federal Realty Investment Trust Trading Up 0.7 % Shares of FRT opened at $114.38 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.24. Federal Realty Investment Trust has a one year low of $85.59 and a one year high of $118.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $113.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.67. Federal Realty Investment Trust Increases Dividend Federal Realty Investment Trust ( NYSE:FRT Get Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.68 by ($0.36). Federal Realty Investment Trust had a net margin of 24.69% and a return on equity of 10.07%. The business had revenue of $295.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $293.61 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.67 EPS. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Federal Realty Investment Trust will post 6.81 EPS for the current fiscal year. The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. This is a positive change from Federal Realty Investment Trusts previous quarterly dividend of $1.09. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. Federal Realty Investment Trusts dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 156.58%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth FRT has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Federal Realty Investment Trust from $112.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Federal Realty Investment Trust from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Federal Realty Investment Trust from $120.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Mizuho increased their price target on Federal Realty Investment Trust from $104.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Federal Realty Investment Trust from $112.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a sector outperform rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $122.85. Get Our Latest Report on Federal Realty Investment Trust Insider Transactions at Federal Realty Investment Trust In other news, CEO Donald C. Wood sold 30,292 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.17, for a total value of $3,519,021.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,637 shares of the companys stock, valued at $771,020.29. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Donald C. Wood sold 5,937 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.47, for a total value of $691,482.39. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Donald C. Wood sold 30,292 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.17, for a total value of $3,519,021.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,637 shares in the company, valued at $771,020.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the companys stock. Federal Realty Investment Trust Company Profile (Free Report) Federal Realty is a recognized leader in the ownership, operation and redevelopment of high-quality retail-based properties located primarily in major coastal markets from Washington, DC to Boston as well as San Francisco and Los Angeles. Founded in 1962, Federal Realty's mission is to deliver long-term, sustainable growth through investing in communities where retail demand exceeds supply. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding FRT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Federal Realty Investment Trust Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Federal Realty Investment Trust and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC Free Report) by 30.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 48,839 shares of the basic materials companys stock after purchasing an additional 11,535 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Banks holdings in FMC were worth $2,811,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in FMC in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its position in shares of FMC by 114.3% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 568 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FMC in the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of FMC by 56.9% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 678 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of FMC during the 1st quarter worth about $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.86% of the companys stock. Get FMC alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades FMC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on FMC from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Redburn Atlantic raised FMC from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on FMC from $68.00 to $62.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of FMC from $81.00 to $79.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of FMC from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $68.47. FMC Stock Performance Shares of FMC stock opened at $66.08 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.48. The stock has a market cap of $8.25 billion, a PE ratio of 7.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.85. FMC Co. has a 1 year low of $49.49 and a 1 year high of $68.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $62.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.71. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.08. FMC had a return on equity of 7.52% and a net margin of 33.97%. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.50 EPS. FMCs revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that FMC Co. will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. FMC Dividend Announcement The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.51%. FMCs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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. Recommended Stories 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. An aerial drone photo shows bullet trains at a train depot in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, Sept. 6, 2016. Strategically positioned in central part of the country, Henan has been serving as a national hub of transporation for ages. The past decades saw the province building a modern transportation network consisting air flights, railways, highways, water channels and all sorts of ports. It is now rapidly extending its role to areas of cross-border logistics, investment, and trade to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. (Xinhua/Li An) This photo shows bullet trains parked at a train depot in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, Sept. 6, 2016. Strategically positioned in central part of the country, Henan has been serving as a national hub of transporation for ages. The past decades saw the province building a modern transportation network consisting air flights, railways, highways, water channels and all sorts of ports. It is now rapidly extending its role to areas of cross-border logistics, investment, and trade to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. (Xinhua/Li An) A bullet train runs on a bridge in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, Aug. 17, 2017. Strategically positioned in central part of the country, Henan has been serving as a national hub of transporation for ages. The past decades saw the province building a modern transportation network consisting air flights, railways, highways, water channels and all sorts of ports. It is now rapidly extending its role to areas of cross-border logistics, investment, and trade to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. (Xinhua/Li An) A bullet train departs from Zhengzhou East Railway Station in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, Dec. 1, 2019. Strategically positioned in central part of the country, Henan has been serving as a national hub of transporation for ages. The past decades saw the province building a modern transportation network consisting air flights, railways, highways, water channels and all sorts of ports. It is now rapidly extending its role to areas of cross-border logistics, investment, and trade to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. (Xinhua/Li An) Airport staff members load a cargo plane at Xinzheng International Airport in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, Dec. 30, 2021. Strategically positioned in central part of the country, Henan has been serving as a national hub of transporation for ages. The past decades saw the province building a modern transportation network consisting air flights, railways, highways, water channels and all sorts of ports. It is now rapidly extending its role to areas of cross-border logistics, investment, and trade to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. (Xinhua/Li Jianan) A container is lifted at Zhoukou Central Port in Zhoukou, central China's Henan Province, June 28, 2022. Strategically positioned in central part of the country, Henan has been serving as a national hub of transporation for ages. The past decades saw the province building a modern transportation network consisting air flights, railways, highways, water channels and all sorts of ports. It is now rapidly extending its role to areas of cross-border logistics, investment, and trade to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. (Xinhua/Li Jianan) An aerial drone photo shows Zhoukou Central Port in Zhoukou, central China's Henan Province, June 28, 2022. Strategically positioned in central part of the country, Henan has been serving as a national hub of transporation for ages. The past decades saw the province building a modern transportation network consisting air flights, railways, highways, water channels and all sorts of ports. It is now rapidly extending its role to areas of cross-border logistics, investment, and trade to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. (Xinhua/Li Jianan) A drone photo shows an inter-city train in trial operation in Xuchang City, central China's Henan Province, Sept. 8, 2022. Strategically positioned in central part of the country, Henan has been serving as a national hub of transporation for ages. The past decades saw the province building a modern transportation network consisting air flights, railways, highways, water channels and all sorts of ports. It is now rapidly extending its role to areas of cross-border logistics, investment, and trade to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. (Xinhua/Li Jianan) An aerial drone photo shows a China-Europe freight train pulling out of Putian Station in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, July 18, 2023. Strategically positioned in central part of the country, Henan has been serving as a national hub of transporation for ages. The past decades saw the province building a modern transportation network consisting air flights, railways, highways, water channels and all sorts of ports. It is now rapidly extending its role to areas of cross-border logistics, investment, and trade to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. (Xinhua/Li Jianan) A China-Europe freight train is pictured at Putian Station in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province, July 18, 2023. Strategically positioned in central part of the country, Henan has been serving as a national hub of transporation for ages. The past decades saw the province building a modern transportation network consisting air flights, railways, highways, water channels and all sorts of ports. It is now rapidly extending its role to areas of cross-border logistics, investment, and trade to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. (Xinhua/Li Jianan) Airport staff members unload a cargo plane at Xinzheng International Airport in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, Aug. 1, 2023. Strategically positioned in central part of the country, Henan has been serving as a national hub of transporation for ages. The past decades saw the province building a modern transportation network consisting air flights, railways, highways, water channels and all sorts of ports. It is now rapidly extending its role to areas of cross-border logistics, investment, and trade to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. (Xinhua/Li Jianan) A staff member loads a cargo plane at Xinzheng International Airport in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, Aug. 1, 2023. Strategically positioned in central part of the country, Henan has been serving as a national hub of transporation for ages. The past decades saw the province building a modern transportation network consisting air flights, railways, highways, water channels and all sorts of ports. It is now rapidly extending its role to areas of cross-border logistics, investment, and trade to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. (Xinhua/Li Jianan) A drone photo shows a container being lifted at Zhoukou Central Port in Zhoukou, central China's Henan Province, Sept. 17, 2023. Strategically positioned in central part of the country, Henan has been serving as a national hub of transporation for ages. The past decades saw the province building a modern transportation network consisting air flights, railways, highways, water channels and all sorts of ports. It is now rapidly extending its role to areas of cross-border logistics, investment, and trade to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. (Xinhua/Li Jianan) An aerial drone photo shows a bullet train running on a bridge in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, Dec. 8, 2023. Strategically positioned in central part of the country, Henan has been serving as a national hub of transporation for ages. The past decades saw the province building a modern transportation network consisting air flights, railways, highways, water channels and all sorts of ports. It is now rapidly extending its role to areas of cross-border logistics, investment, and trade to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. (Xinhua/Li Jianan) A bullet train departs from Zhengzhou East Railway Station in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, Dec. 8, 2023. Strategically positioned in central part of the country, Henan has been serving as a national hub of transporation for ages. The past decades saw the province building a modern transportation network consisting air flights, railways, highways, water channels and all sorts of ports. It is now rapidly extending its role to areas of cross-border logistics, investment, and trade to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. (Xinhua/Li Jianan) A drone photo shows unmanned road rollers operating at a section of an expressway along the Dabie Mountains in central China's Henan Province, April 11, 2024. Strategically positioned in central part of the country, Henan has been serving as a national hub of transporation for ages. The past decades saw the province building a modern transportation network consisting air flights, railways, highways, water channels and all sorts of ports. It is now rapidly extending its role to areas of cross-border logistics, investment, and trade to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. (Xinhua/Li Jianan) An aerial drone photo shows a bullet train running on a bridge in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, May 30, 2024. Strategically positioned in central part of the country, Henan has been serving as a national hub of transporation for ages. The past decades saw the province building a modern transportation network consisting air flights, railways, highways, water channels and all sorts of ports. It is now rapidly extending its role to areas of cross-border logistics, investment, and trade to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. (Xinhua/Li An) A bullet train runs on a bridge in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, May 30, 2024. Strategically positioned in central part of the country, Henan has been serving as a national hub of transporation for ages. The past decades saw the province building a modern transportation network consisting air flights, railways, highways, water channels and all sorts of ports. It is now rapidly extending its role to areas of cross-border logistics, investment, and trade to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. (Xinhua/Li An) A drone photo shows cargo vessels berthed at a port in Huaibin County, central China's Henan Province, June 5, 2024. Strategically positioned in central part of the country, Henan has been serving as a national hub of transporation for ages. The past decades saw the province building a modern transportation network consisting air flights, railways, highways, water channels and all sorts of ports. It is now rapidly extending its role to areas of cross-border logistics, investment, and trade to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. (Xinhua/Li Jianan) Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Trane Technologies plc (NYSE:TT Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,275 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,735,000. Trane Technologies comprises about 1.6% of Hershey Financial Advisers LLCs holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TT. GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Trane Technologies by 157.1% in the first quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 90 shares of the companys stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in Trane Technologies in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Trane Technologies during the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its position in Trane Technologies by 63.2% during the second quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 111 shares of the companys stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Trane Technologies in the second quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors own 82.97% of the companys stock. Get Trane Technologies alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In TT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Trane Technologies from $334.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Trane Technologies in a research report on Friday, September 6th. They issued an overweight rating and a $425.00 price target for the company. Stephens reissued an equal weight rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Trane Technologies in a report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Trane Technologies from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Trane Technologies from $315.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $343.54. Insider Activity In other news, CEO David S. Regnery sold 29,450 shares of Trane Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.25, for a total value of $9,460,812.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 132,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,708,902.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO David S. Regnery sold 29,450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.25, for a total value of $9,460,812.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 132,946 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $42,708,902.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Raymond D. Pittard sold 1,805 shares of Trane Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.65, for a total value of $593,213.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 83,517 shares in the company, valued at $27,447,862.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.38% of the companys stock. Trane Technologies Trading Down 0.7 % NYSE TT opened at $383.95 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $86.91 billion, a PE ratio of 41.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.01. Trane Technologies plc has a 1-year low of $184.02 and a 1-year high of $391.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $349.69 and a 200-day moving average of $329.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Trane Technologies (NYSE:TT Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $3.08 by $0.22. Trane Technologies had a return on equity of 33.97% and a net margin of 12.33%. The firm had revenue of $5.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.68 earnings per share. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Trane Technologies plc will post 10.87 EPS for the current year. About Trane Technologies (Free Report) Trane Technologies plc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, sells, and services of solutions for heating, ventilation, air conditioning, custom, and custom and transport refrigeration in Ireland and internationally. It offers air conditioners, exchangers, and handlers; airside and terminal devices; air sourced heat pumps, auxiliary power units; chillers; coils and condensers; gensets; dehumidifiers; ductless; furnaces; home automation products; humidifiers; indoor air quality assessments and related products; large and light commercial unitary products; refrigerant reclamation products; thermostats/controls; transport heater products; variable refrigerant flow products; and water source heat pumps. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Trane Technologies plc (NYSE:TT Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Trane Technologies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Trane Technologies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week low on Monday . The company traded as low as $9.12 and last traded at $9.17, with a volume of 102680 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $9.18. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ARI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. BTIG Research started coverage on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in a research note on Friday, July 19th. They issued a neutral rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $10.25. Get Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance alerts: Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Price Performance Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Cuts Dividend The company has a quick ratio of 54.21, a current ratio of 54.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.76. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $10.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.34. The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.89%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finances payout ratio is -128.21%. Insiders Place Their Bets In other Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance news, Director Scott Prince sold 4,935 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.12, for a total transaction of $49,942.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 81,154 shares in the company, valued at $821,278.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.68% of the companys stock. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ARI. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the second quarter valued at about $43,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the first quarter worth about $56,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the second quarter worth about $59,000. Quest Partners LLC raised its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 7,689.4% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 9,581 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 9,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hollencrest Capital Management raised its position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 100.0% in the first quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 10,000 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.43% of the companys stock. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Company Profile (Get Free Report) Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that originates, acquires, invests in, and manages commercial first mortgage loans, subordinate financings, and other commercial real estate-related debt investments in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp boosted its position in shares of Quanta Services, Inc. (NYSE:PWR Free Report) by 2.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,811 shares of the construction companys stock after acquiring an additional 428 shares during the quarter. Quanta Services comprises about 1.8% of Chase Investment Counsel Corps portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Chase Investment Counsel Corps holdings in Quanta Services were worth $5,287,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PWR. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Quanta Services in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Private Ocean LLC purchased a new position in Quanta Services in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in Quanta Services during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Cambridge Trust Co. purchased a new position in shares of Quanta Services in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new stake in Quanta Services in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. 90.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Quanta Services alerts: Quanta Services Stock Performance Shares of PWR stock opened at $296.74 on Monday. Quanta Services, Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.74 and a 1 year high of $306.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market cap of $43.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.51 and a beta of 1.01. The stocks 50-day moving average is $266.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $263.66. Quanta Services Announces Dividend Quanta Services ( NYSE:PWR Get Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The construction company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $5.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $5.51 billion. Quanta Services had a return on equity of 16.29% and a net margin of 3.59%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.47 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Quanta Services, Inc. will post 7.82 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be given a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.12%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. Quanta Servicess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.98%. Analyst Ratings Changes A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Truist Financial reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $319.00 target price (up from $305.00) on shares of Quanta Services in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Northland Securities raised their price objective on Quanta Services from $264.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. B. Riley upped their target price on shares of Quanta Services from $286.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Quanta Services from $299.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Quanta Services in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a hold rating and a $256.00 price target on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $286.69. Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on PWR Insider Buying and Selling at Quanta Services In other news, CEO Earl C. Jr. Austin sold 130,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.21, for a total transaction of $34,087,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 593,402 shares in the company, valued at $155,595,938.42. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Earl C. Jr. Austin sold 130,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.21, for a total transaction of $34,087,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 593,402 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $155,595,938.42. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Gerald A. Ducey, Jr. sold 15,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.93, for a total value of $3,868,950.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,490,297.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 202,357 shares of company stock valued at $53,115,572 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.10% of the companys stock. Quanta Services Company Profile (Free Report) Quanta Services, Inc provides infrastructure solutions for the electric and gas utility, renewable energy, communications, and pipeline and energy industries in the United States, Canada, Australia, and internationally. The companys Electric Power Infrastructure Solutions segment engages in the design, procurement, construction, upgrade, repair, and maintenance of electric power transmission and distribution infrastructure and substation facilities; installation, maintenance, and upgrade of electric power infrastructure projects; installation of smart grid technologies on electric power networks; and design, installation, maintenance, and repair of commercial and industrial wirings. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PWR? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Quanta Services, Inc. (NYSE:PWR Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Quanta Services Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Quanta Services and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Garde Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG Free Report) by 4,900.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 43,550 shares of the restaurant operators stock after purchasing an additional 42,679 shares during the quarter. Garde Capital Inc.s holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill were worth $2,728,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CMG. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in Chipotle Mexican Grill during the second quarter worth $25,000. Riverview Trust Co boosted its stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 4,900.0% during the second quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 400 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the period. RiverPark Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 4,900.0% during the second quarter. RiverPark Advisors LLC now owns 400 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the period. Archer Investment Corp purchased a new position in Chipotle Mexican Grill during the second quarter worth $25,000. Finally, Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group boosted its stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill by 4,900.0% during the second quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 400 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the period. 91.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Chipotle Mexican Grill alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes Several research analysts have commented on CMG shares. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a buy rating and set a $67.00 target price on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from $74.60 to $67.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, July 4th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a buy rating and issued a $69.00 target price on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen 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 price target of $62.36. Chipotle Mexican Grill Price Performance NYSE CMG opened at $57.34 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $78.75 billion, a PE ratio of 61.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a fifty day moving average of $54.53 and a 200 day moving average of $81.36. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.37 and a 1 year high of $69.26. Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The restaurant operator reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Chipotle Mexican Grill had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 44.01%. The companys revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $12.65 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. will post 1.08 earnings per share for the current year. Insiders Place Their Bets In other Chipotle Mexican Grill news, Director Robin S. Hickenlooper sold 1,790 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.38, for a total value of $100,920.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 41,510 shares in the company, valued at $2,340,333.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Curtis E. Garner sold 17,394 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.68, for a total transaction of $951,103.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 358,300 shares of the companys stock, valued at $19,591,844. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robin S. Hickenlooper sold 1,790 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.38, for a total transaction of $100,920.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 41,510 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,340,333.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 34,934 shares of company stock worth $1,918,589. Company insiders own 1.02% of the companys stock. Chipotle Mexican Grill Company 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 Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CMG? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG Free Report). 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. EP Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Invesco California AMT-Free Municipal Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:PWZ Free Report) by 0.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 760,405 shares of the companys stock after selling 939 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC owned approximately 2.21% of Invesco California AMT-Free Municipal Bond ETF worth $18,759,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Invesco California AMT-Free Municipal Bond ETF during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Invesco California AMT-Free Municipal Bond ETF during the second quarter worth approximately $89,000. Comerica Bank increased its stake in Invesco California AMT-Free Municipal Bond ETF by 63.7% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 6,668 shares of the companys stock worth $166,000 after acquiring an additional 2,594 shares during the period. Southland Equity Partners LLC bought a new position in Invesco California AMT-Free Municipal Bond ETF during the 1st quarter worth $247,000. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Invesco California AMT-Free Municipal Bond ETF in the 1st quarter valued at $285,000. Get Invesco California AMT-Free Municipal Bond ETF alerts: Invesco California AMT-Free Municipal Bond ETF Trading Up 1.0 % NYSEARCA:PWZ opened at $25.24 on Monday. Invesco California AMT-Free Municipal Bond ETF has a fifty-two week low of $22.57 and a fifty-two week high of $25.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $24.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.81. About Invesco California AMT-Free Municipal Bond ETF The Invesco California AMT-Free Municipal Bond ETF (PWZ) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in investment grade fixed income. The fund tracks an index of insured investment-grade, tax-exempt debt issued by California or any US territory with at least 15 years remaining to maturity. PWZ was launched on Oct 11, 2007 and is managed by Invesco. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PWZ? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Invesco California AMT-Free Municipal Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:PWZ Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Invesco California AMT-Free Municipal Bond ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Invesco California AMT-Free Municipal Bond ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Valero Energy Co. (NYSE:VLO Free Report) by 1.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 171,523 shares of the oil and gas companys stock after selling 2,513 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC owned about 0.05% of Valero Energy worth $26,888,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in Valero Energy during the second quarter worth $27,000. Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new position in Valero Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Valero Energy in the first quarter valued at $33,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Valero Energy during the 1st quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Valero Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. 78.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Valero Energy alerts: Valero Energy Price Performance Shares of NYSE VLO opened at $135.97 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $144.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $154.61. Valero Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $119.88 and a fifty-two week high of $184.79. The firm has a market cap of $43.56 billion, a PE ratio of 6.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Valero Energy Announces Dividend 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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.60 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $34.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.97 billion. Valero Energy had a net margin of 4.25% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The firms revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Valero Energy Co. will post 10.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were given a $1.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $4.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. Valero Energys payout ratio is currently 21.20%. Analyst Ratings Changes A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Valero Energy from $149.00 to $131.00 and set a sell rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Piper Sandler cut Valero Energy from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and cut their target price for the stock from $169.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Valero Energy from $171.00 to $165.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Valero Energy from $165.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a sector outperform rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Valero Energy from $165.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Valero Energy has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $168.07. View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Valero Energy Valero Energy 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. Read More 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. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. trimmed its position in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM Free Report) by 80.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,542 shares of the companys stock after selling 14,348 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.s holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $359,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Philip Morris International by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 136,556,344 shares of the companys stock valued at $12,511,292,000 after purchasing an additional 481,636 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Philip Morris International by 1.5% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 111,247,656 shares of the companys stock valued at $10,192,510,000 after buying an additional 1,684,992 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Philip Morris International by 3.1% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 60,217,039 shares of the companys stock valued at $5,517,085,000 after buying an additional 1,800,864 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 16.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 13,234,478 shares of the companys stock worth $1,341,050,000 after acquiring an additional 1,856,551 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,126,737 shares of the companys stock worth $1,234,963,000 after acquiring an additional 77,820 shares during the last quarter. 78.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get Philip Morris International alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Philip Morris International from $120.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Philip Morris International from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Philip Morris International from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Philip Morris International from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a sell rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Philip Morris International from $125.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $119.14. Insider Transactions at Philip Morris International In other news, insider Massimo Andolina sold 9,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.35, for a total transaction of $1,038,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 85,629 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $9,877,305.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Wilde Frederic De sold 20,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.01, for a total transaction of $2,260,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 158,447 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $17,906,095.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Massimo Andolina sold 9,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.35, for a total value of $1,038,150.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 85,629 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,877,305.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders. Philip Morris International Price Performance Shares of NYSE PM opened at $120.62 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $187.51 billion, a PE ratio of 23.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.55. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $119.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $105.72. Philip Morris International Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $87.23 and a fifty-two week high of $128.22. Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $1.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $9.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $9.19 billion. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 113.32% and a net margin of 9.41%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.60 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.45 EPS for the current year. Philip Morris International Increases Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be issued a dividend of $1.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.48%. This is a boost from Philip Morris Internationals previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. Philip Morris Internationals payout ratio is 105.47%. Philip Morris International Company Profile (Free Report) Philip Morris International Inc operates as a tobacco company working to delivers a smoke-free future and evolving portfolio for the long-term to include products outside of the tobacco and nicotine sector. The company's product portfolio primarily consists of cigarettes and smoke-free products, including heat-not-burn, vapor, and oral nicotine products primarily under the IQOS and ZYN brands; and consumer accessories, such as lighters and matches. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Philip Morris International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Philip Morris International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Ovintiv (NYSE:OVV Get Free Report) had its price objective dropped by research analysts at Evercore ISI from $60.00 to $54.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an outperform rating on the stock. Evercore ISIs target price points to a potential upside of 40.92% from the companys previous close. Several other brokerages also recently commented on OVV. Bank of America reiterated a neutral rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Ovintiv in a research note on Friday, June 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Ovintiv from $60.00 to $51.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Ovintiv from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Ovintiv from $52.00 to $51.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Ovintiv from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ovintiv has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $58.67. Get Ovintiv alerts: View Our Latest Analysis on Ovintiv Ovintiv Trading Down 0.1 % Shares of Ovintiv stock traded down $0.05 during trading on Monday, reaching $38.32. 1,008,961 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,080,546. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Ovintiv has a 1 year low of $36.90 and a 1 year high of $55.95. The firm has a market cap of $10.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.23 and a beta of 2.62. The stocks fifty day moving average is $42.11 and its 200 day moving average is $47.18. Ovintiv (NYSE:OVV Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.02. Ovintiv had a return on equity of 18.28% and a net margin of 18.56%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.53 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ovintiv will post 5.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ovintiv Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ovintiv by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,055,344 shares of the companys stock worth $1,456,072,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024,931 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Ovintiv by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,844,632 shares of the companys stock valued at $180,194,000 after purchasing an additional 142,296 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ovintiv by 114.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,027,292 shares of the companys stock worth $141,889,000 after purchasing an additional 1,618,556 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Ovintiv by 1,560.9% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,451,240 shares of the companys stock worth $63,738,000 after purchasing an additional 1,363,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Ovintiv by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,005,797 shares of the companys stock valued at $52,201,000 after buying an additional 17,206 shares in the last quarter. 83.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Ovintiv Company Profile (Get Free Report) Ovintiv Inc, together with its subsidiaries, explores, develops, produces, and markets natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids in the United States and Canada. The company operates through USA Operations, Canadian Operations, and Market Optimization segments. Its principal assets include Permian in west Texas and Anadarko in west-central Oklahoma; and Montney in northeast British Columbia and northwest Alberta. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Ovintiv Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Ovintiv and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. China Merchants Bank Co., Ltd. (OTCMKTS:CIHKY Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,400 shares, a decline of 8.3% from the August 31st total of 4,800 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 53,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.1 days. China Merchants Bank Price Performance OTCMKTS:CIHKY traded down $0.26 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $24.73. 343,600 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 57,617. China Merchants Bank has a one year low of $15.57 and a one year high of $25.55. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $20.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.36. The company has a market capitalization of $126.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.32 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Get China Merchants Bank alerts: China Merchants Bank (OTCMKTS:CIHKY Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter. China Merchants Bank had a net margin of 29.97% and a return on equity of 13.68%. The business had revenue of $11.84 billion for the quarter. About China Merchants Bank China Merchants Bank Co, Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking products and services. It operates through Wholesale Finance Business, Retail Finance Business, and Other Business segments. The company offers current, demand, time, call, savings, notice, and renminbi accounts. Its loan products include personal commercial real estate, consumption, housing, and car loans; loans to finance for studying abroad; micro-business loans; mortgage loans for equipment; joint guarantee, special guarantee, and housing mortgage loan; bank acceptance, discount, liquid capital, and fixed asset loans; and loans for vessels. Read More Receive News & Ratings for China Merchants Bank Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for China Merchants Bank and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Core Alternative Capital decreased its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS Free Report) by 12.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 79,283 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 11,264 shares during the quarter. Morgan Stanley makes up 1.5% of Core Alternative Capitals holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Core Alternative Capitals holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $7,706,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Teewinot Capital Advisers L.L.C. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 40.0% in the second quarter. Teewinot Capital Advisers L.L.C. now owns 555,925 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $54,030,000 after buying an additional 158,886 shares in the last quarter. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth about $2,122,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 101,929 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $9,906,000 after acquiring an additional 3,777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silver Lake Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $528,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Morgan Stanley alerts: Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total transaction of $106,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares in the company, valued at $10,225,710.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.54, for a total transaction of $4,261,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 442,522 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $47,146,293.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total value of $106,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Insiders have sold 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370 over the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MS shares. Oppenheimer downgraded Morgan Stanley from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. JMP Securities reissued a market perform rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $101.73. Read Our Latest Research Report on MS Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.5 % Shares of NYSE MS opened at $104.11 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $69.42 and a 1 year high of $109.11. The company has a market capitalization of $169.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $97.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 10.17%. The company had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $14.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share. The firms quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 earnings per share for the current year. Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanleys previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanleys payout ratio is 67.40%. 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. Further Reading 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. An African scholar has applauded China's whole-process people's democracy, hailing it as a cornerstone for China's economic and social progress. #GLOBALink Core Alternative Capital decreased its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO Free Report) by 10.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 121,961 shares of the utilities providers stock after selling 13,632 shares during the quarter. Southern accounts for 1.9% of Core Alternative Capitals investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Core Alternative Capitals holdings in Southern were worth $9,461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Vista Capital Partners Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 1.4% during the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 8,743 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $678,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,048 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $702,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,926 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $1,080,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 2.1% during the second quarter. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,352 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $493,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 2.0% in the second quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 6,595 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $512,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the companys stock. Get Southern alerts: Insider Buying and Selling In other Southern news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the companys stock, valued at $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,845 shares of company stock valued at $2,266,455 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.18% of the companys stock. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They issued a hold rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Southern from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $86.60. View Our Latest Report on SO Southern Trading Up 1.3 % NYSE:SO opened at $90.10 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $79.66. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $61.56 and a 12 month high of $90.85. The company has a market capitalization of $98.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.28, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.52. Southern (NYSE:SO Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $6.10 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year. Southern Announces Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Southerns payout ratio is currently 74.42%. Southern Profile (Free Report) The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. The company also develops, constructs, acquires, owns, and manages power generation assets, including renewable energy projects and sells electricity in the wholesale market; and distributes natural gas in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee, as well as provides gas marketing services, gas distribution operations, and gas pipeline investments operations. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding SO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Southern Company (NYSE:SO Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Southern Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Southern and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. People fleeing from Lebanon are seen at the Jdeidat Yabous border crossing on the Syrian side of the Syrian-Lebanese border near Damascus, Syria, Sept. 30, 2024. More than 52,000 Lebanese citizens have fled to Syria since the escalation of Israeli military action in Lebanon last week, local media reported on Monday. (Photo by Monsef Memari/Xinhua) DAMASCUS, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- More than 52,000 Lebanese citizens have fled to Syria since the escalation of Israeli military action in Lebanon last week, local media reported on Monday. The Al-Watan Online, citing a source from Syria's General Directorate of Migration and Passports, stated that alongside the influx of Lebanese refugees, approximately 125,000 Syrians have also returned to their homeland during the same period. On Monday alone, 3,500 Lebanese and 16,000 Syrian returnees crossed the border, although the official emphasized that these statistics are not yet final. The rising tensions and conflict in Lebanon have compelled many Lebanese families to seek refuge in Syria, while displaced Syrians living in Lebanon are choosing to return to their war-torn country amid deteriorating conditions. Tensions between Hezbollah and Israel have sharply escalated following Israel's shift in military focus from Gaza to the northern front, intensifying clashes that began on Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched rocket attacks on Israel in solidarity with Hamas, prompting retaliatory strikes in Lebanon. Press Release September 30, 2024 A Quezon City mother's struggle with stage 4 cancer and the lifeline provided by Bong Go and the Malasakit Centers Florencia de Guzman, at 55 years old, has faced more trials in recent years than many experiences in a lifetime. Diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer in 2021, she stands as a testament to the power of hope, faith, and the importance of timely support from the Malasakit Center program--an initiative championed by Senator Christopher "Bong" Go. Florencia, a mother of three, recalled the day her world changed. What began as a seemingly ordinary day at work took a turn for the worse when she stumbled while walking. "April 2021 po, naglalakad po ako dito sa trabaho namin. Natalisod po ako... umuwi ako sa amin, hindi na ako makatayo," she said, recounting the incident that prompted her to seek medical attention. It was during what seemed like a routine check for a minor injury that the doctors recommended further tests. The results were devastating: Florencia was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. The news hit her hard, but her immediate thoughts were not for herself--they were for her children and the fear of what might happen to them if she was not there. "Natakot po ako noon dahil sabi ko, mamamatay na ako. Paano 'yung mga anak ko?" she shared. Determined to fight for her family, Florencia requested the doctors to do whatever they could to help her. Treatments were grueling, requiring regular PET and CT scans--both of which are prohibitively expensive. This is where the Malasakit Centers at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute in Quezon City came in, offering her a lifeline in her darkest moments. "Maraming, maraming salamat po sa Malasakit dahil natulungan na rin po nila ako nung magpa-PET scan sa National Kidney," she said with immense gratitude. With each PET scan costing a significant amount, the assistance she received through the center proved invaluable. "Malaking tulong po sa akin 'yun dahil ang mahal po ng PET scan. Every six months po, nag-PET scan ako. Every three months, CT scan na hindi ko naman po kayang suportahan dahil may mga gamot pa po akong mahal na hindi ko po naiinom," Florencia explained. Malasakit Centers are one-stop shops aiming to support impoverished patients in reducing their hospital costs to the least possible amount. Go is the principal author and sponsor of Republic Act No. 11463 or the Malasakit Centers Act of 2019, which institutionalized the Malasakit Centers program. As of now, 166 Malasakit Centers are operational across the country, poised to assist with patients' medical expenses. The Department of Health reports that the Malasakit Center program has already provided aid to nearly 12 million Filipinos. "Senator, talagang maraming salamat sa inyo. Nandiyan po kayo lagi na tumutulong sa amin," she said. "Ako po 'yung naniniwala doon sa sinasabi ni Senator Bong Go na ang pagtulong po sa kapwa ay (serbisyo) n'yo rin sa Panginoon. Kapit na kapit lang po ako sa Itaas. Para sa mga anak ko na lang to, sir," Florencia added. Florencia's battle with cancer continues, but she fights knowing she is not alone. With every scan and every treatment, she holds on to hope--not just for herself, but for the future she wants to see for her children. Go, on the other hand, emphasized his unwavering commitment to serving those in need, vowing to continue his mission of public service. "Magta-trabaho at magsi-serbisyo po ako sa ating kapwa Pilipino. Hindi ko po sasayangin 'yung tiwalang binigay n'yo po sa akin," he stated firmly, highlighting the core values that drive the Malasakit Centers--compassion and dedicated service for every Filipino. BEIRUT, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- A Lebanese army soldier was killed on Monday following injuries sustained in an Israeli drone attack in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese official and military sources. The sources told Xinhua that an Israeli drone fired an air-to-surface missile at a motorcycle carrying two individuals near a Lebanese army checkpoint along the Wazzani-Sarda axis, east of southern Lebanon. "This resulted in the injury of a Lebanese army soldier stationed at the checkpoint, as well as serious injuries to the two Syrian riders on the motorcycle," the sources said. The soldier was identified as Youssef Abdel Aal from the southeastern town of Halta. A Lebanese Red Cross vehicle transported the three injured individuals to Marjeyoun Governmental Hospital, where the soldier's condition suddenly deteriorated during surgery, and he subsequently died, according to Hospital Director Mo'nes Kalakesh. In a separate incident, two Syrians were killed when their motorcycle was struck by an air-to-ground missile from an Israeli drone at the intersection of the Khiam-Marjeyoun road, the military sources reported. Also on Monday, the Lebanese Health Ministry's Public Health Emergency Operations Center updated that Israel's attacks on Ain Ed Delb, east of southern Lebanon, on Sunday resulted in 45 deaths and 70 injuries, while attacks on Hermel, in eastern Lebanon, on Sunday night killed 12 and injured 20. Since Sept. 23, Israel has intensified airstrikes across Lebanon, culminating in a significant strike on Friday in the southern suburbs of Beirut that reportedly killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and many of his associates. This escalation has intensified ongoing clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, which began on Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza, prompting retaliatory Israeli artillery fire and airstrikes in southeastern Lebanon. Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2024. (Xinhua/Liu Bin) BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Monday called for expanded practical economic and trade cooperation with Vietnam when meeting with Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien. He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that under the strategic guidance of the leaders of the two countries, bilateral economic and trade cooperation has enjoyed a sound development and achieved fruitful results in recent years. He said the two sides should implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, consolidate and expand practical cooperation on trade, investment, communications and cross-border infrastructure connectivity, jointly maintain the stability and smoothness of the industrial and supply chains, and continuously promote the development of China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. Nguyen Hong Dien said that Vietnam is willing to work with China to deepen bilateral economic and trade cooperation, tap cooperation potential and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. A reception celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) is held in Tehran, Iran, Sept. 28, 2024. (Xinhua/Shadati) TEHRAN, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy in Iran hosted a reception on Saturday to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The event, held on Saturday in Tehran, drew nearly 500 attendees, including Chinese Ambassador to Iran Cong Peiwu, senior Iranian officials, diplomatic envoys, and representatives from the Chinese community in Iran. In his address, Cong emphasized the significant achievements of the PRC over the past 75 years across various fields. He also praised the strong partnership between China and Iran, highlighting that it is founded on shared historical experiences and nurtures deep friendships. More than 53 years of diplomatic ties between China and Iran have led to continuous exchanges and cooperation, benefiting both countries and enhancing regional stability, the Chinese ambassador added. Cong further stated that his travels across Iran have strengthened his belief that the two countries, which have historically learned from one another along the Silk Road, are now mutually enriching each other through their high-quality collaboration on the Belt and Road Initiative. He also reiterated China's commitment to collaborating with Iran to promote the spirit of the Silk Road and strengthen bilateral relations. Rasoul Mohajer, Iran's deputy foreign minister for Economic Affairs, read a congratulatory message from Iranian Vice President Shina Ansari, who extended warm wishes on this significant anniversary. The message said that in the past 75 years, China has achieved "great, steady, and significant accomplishments," benefiting not only its own people but also the international community. The Iranian diplomat also highlighted that China has offered an independent development model that encourages other nations to utilize their domestic resources and establish their own development paths based on their unique principles and strengths. He concluded by asserting that regardless of the evolving international landscape, the commitment of the leaders of both countries to enhance bilateral relations will pave the way for a "shared and bright" future, marking a new chapter in their long-standing friendship. Chinese Ambassador to Iran Cong Peiwu speaks at a reception celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Tehran, Iran, on Sept. 28, 2024. (Xinhua/Shadati) Rasoul Mohajer, Iran's deputy foreign minister for Economic Affairs, speaks at a reception celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Tehran, Iran, on Sept. 28, 2024. (Xinhua/Shadati) This photo taken on Sept. 30, 2024 shows a residential building damaged by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon. Three people of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a residential building in the al Cola area in Beirut, al-Jadeed local TV channel reported.(Xinhua/Bilal Jawich) BEIRUT, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Three people of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a residential building in the al Cola area in Beirut, al-Jadeed local TV channel reported. This marked Israel's first attack on the capital since the outbreak of the Hezbollah-Israel conflict on Oct. 8, 2023. Previously attacks concentrated on Beirut's southern suburbs. The densely populated al Cola area has seen an influx of displaced people fleeing Israeli airstrikes in southern and eastern Lebanon. Following the attack, ambulances arrived to transport the wounded, while civil defense teams worked to evacuate residents from the building. The Lebanese army was also deployed to the scene. Tensions between Hezbollah and Israel have escalated after Israel expanded its military operations to Lebanon, aiming to allow Israeli settlers to return to northern Israel. Hezbollah has announced its entry into a new phase of the conflict, pledging continued support for Gaza. Since Oct. 8, 2023, Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire along the Lebanese-Israeli border, raising fears of a wider regional conflict. This photo taken on Sept. 30, 2024 shows a residential building damaged by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon. Three people of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a residential building in the al Cola area in Beirut, al-Jadeed local TV channel reported.(Xinhua/Bilal Jawich) This photo taken on Sept. 30, 2024 shows a residential building damaged by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon. Three people of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a residential building in the al Cola area in Beirut, al-Jadeed local TV channel reported.(Xinhua/Bilal Jawich) This photo taken on Sept. 30, 2024 shows vehicles damaged by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon. Three people of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a residential building in the al Cola area in Beirut, al-Jadeed local TV channel reported.(Xinhua/Bilal Jawich) BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing trade-in program for home appliances has led to a surge in sales revenues which topped 33.5 billion yuan (4.78 billion U.S. dollars) since August, the latest data from the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) showed. Since the ministry beefed up support for the program in August, around 5.11 million consumers have benefited from the program for which the central government has provided more than 6.4 billion yuan in subsidies for consumers, the MOC said on Monday. MOC data showed that green and smart home appliances are favored by consumers, with products labeled with top-level energy efficiency accounting for 92.53 percent of the sales revenues during the period. Chinese regions such as Hubei Province as well as Shanghai and Chongqing municipalities have expanded the categories of home appliances eligible for subsidies according to local conditions, incorporating green and intelligent products such as water purifiers, dishwashers and sweeping robots, the ministry said. Meanwhile, online and offline market sales are both booming, with sales of eight major categories of home appliances in the online and offline markets surging 44.9 percent and 47 percent year on year, respectively, the ministry said, citing data from third-party data companies. In the next step, the ministry will continue to encourage various regions to speed up the implementation of subsidy policies and guide home appliance manufacturers as well as distribution companies to seize the consumption boom periods such as the National Day holiday and "Double Eleven" so as to make a greater impact on consumption growth under the trade-in program, it said. China's week-long National Day holiday, which begins on Oct. 1, will be marked by a surge in travels and growth in retail sales. Meanwhile, the "Double-Eleven" festival, also known as the "Singles' Day" shopping festival, is a Chinese version of Black Friday when discounts and sales promotions are usually offered for consumers in the month of November. BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. military assistance to the Taiwan region, regardless of the amount, will not sway in the slightest China's resolve to oppose "Taiwan independence" and safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, a Chinese spokesman said on Monday. A statement published on the White House website has announced the U.S. decision to provide military assistance to the Taiwan region worth around 567 million dollars. In response to a related question at a press briefing, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said that by providing arms to the Taiwan region, the United States once again seriously violated the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, particularly the August 17 Communique. The move, in fact, is aimed at emboldening Lai Ching-te, leader of the Taiwan region, and the Democratic Progressive Party authorities in their obstinate pursuit of "Taiwan independence" and challenge the one-China principle, Lin said. This has proved once again that the secessionist activities by the "Taiwan independence" forces supported by the U.S.-led external forces pose the biggest threat to the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and cause the biggest damage to the status quo of the Strait, said Lin. "Taiwan independence" is a dead end, and the U.S. insistence on using military force to support the "Taiwan independence" will only backfire, he said. "We urged the U.S. to earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, and cease arming the Taiwan region with weapons in any form," Lin said. In the August 17 Communique released in 1982, the United States "reiterates that it has no intention of infringing on Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity, or interfering in China's internal affairs, or pursuing a policy of 'two Chinas' or 'one China, one Taiwan'." In the communique, Washington also states that it "intends gradually to reduce its sale of arms to Taiwan." BEIRUT, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The leader of the Hamas movement in Lebanon, Fateh Sherif, was killed along with his wife and two sons in an Israeli raid on his home in the center of the Rashidieh camp in southern Lebanon at dawn on Monday, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua. Lebanon's National News Agency reported earlier that an Israeli raid targeted a Palestinian refugee camp near the city of Tyre, noting that this marks the first time the camp has been targeted since the onset of the strikes against Lebanon. In a statement, Hamas affirmed that Fateh Sherif joined "the leaders and martyrs that preceded him, after a lifetime and journey full of service to the people of Palestine, their legitimate struggle, and their just cause." Confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel have sharply escalated after the latter announced a shift in military focus from the Gaza Strip to the northern front. This has intensified the ongoing clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, which began on Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched rocket attacks on Israel in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, triggering Israeli retaliatory fire and airstrikes in Lebanon. BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping on Monday said Chinese people will score more remarkable achievements and make greater contributions to the noble cause of peace and development of humanity. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a reception held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. China's National Day falls on Oct. 1. JAKARTA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia has commenced its inaugural export of canned tuna, manufactured by PT Pasifik Masami Indonesia in Banyuwangi, East Java, and destined for Canada on Monday. "The overall export is valued at 10 million U.S. dollars and is scheduled to take place over the next six months," said Marine Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono. Trenggono suggested that Indonesia strengthen measured fishing to improve the upstream sector and support the fisheries industry in order to meet both domestic and overseas demands. In addition to Banyuwangi, other places, such as Papua's Biak Regency, have the potential to export canned fish, including tuna production. Sherly Indrawati, marketing director of PT Pasifik Masami Indonesia, revealed that her company has a capacity to produce up to 70 tons of canned tuna and precooked tuna loin each day. The company targets both domestic and international markets, including Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, North America, and Oceania. In Belarus, a new phase of combat readiness inspections for military units and formations began on September 30. This is according to the Ministry of Defense of Belarus, which shared the news on Telegram, seen by Ukrinform. Tthis phase focuses on testing the readiness and ability of the Air Force and Air Defense units to carry out their tasks. The inspections will gradually intensify, involving all military training ranges of the Belarusian Armed Forces for the completion of training and combat missions, according to the ministry's statement. Personnel, including reservists called back from reserve, will be tasked with completing a full range of activities, including the preparation of weapons, military, and specialized equipment for use, as well as deployment to designated areas. As reported earlier, the situation on the Belarusian-Ukrainian border remains under the control of Ukraines Defense Forces, with Belarusian troop movements occurring deeper within their own territory. The debates under urgent procedures and a resolution concerning persons missing due to Russian aggressionmilitary prisoners and civilianswill be central topics. Finding solutions for the prompt release of all Ukrainians in captivity, as well as a resolution marking the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor, are among the issues on the Ukrainian agenda for the autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which begins on Monday in Strasbourg. As reported by an Ukrinform correspondent, the Ukrainian delegation is also organizing an event during the session on the topic of "Torture and deaths of Ukrainian military prisoners and unlawfully detained civilians in Russian captivity." This event will feature testimonies from former prisoners, including Nariman Dzhelal, Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, and Mykyta Shastun, a Ukrainian defender who survived the tragedy in Olenivka. On Tuesday, the first thematic meeting of the Network for the Assistance of Ukrainian Children will take place. This will also be the first session for the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, who is scheduled to speak before the Assembly participants. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, Gabrielius Landsbergis, will present his address as the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Debates will be held, and a resolution will be adopted on the topic of propaganda and freedom of information in Europe, along with the ceremony for the Vaclav Havel 2024 Prize, which honors outstanding human rights defenders from around the world. The ceremony will feature a speech by the 2022 prize laureate, Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was recently released from a Russian prison. It is noteworthy that a resolution regarding the release of Ukrainian military prisoners has been registered in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and a document concerning civilian hostages is also being prepared. This was announced by Maria Mezentseva-Fedorenko, Deputy Chair of the Committee on Ukraine's Integration with the EU and Head of the Ukrainian Delegation to PACE. Ukraine's Victory Plan, initiated by President Volodymyr Zelensky, will be presented to the Ukrainian public omitting some sensitive details. The head of the President's Office, Andriy Yermak, said this on the air of the national telethon, Ukrinform reports. "This is the President's Plan, and certainly, as he promised after the pitch to the U.S. President, to partners, I think it will be presented to Ukrainians. But, of course, there are parts that are so sensitive they will remain closed. And not because there are any secrets. This is our country, you know, and today, in the good sense, were a family in which there can be no secrets, especially in times of war. But still, its not only we but the enemy who hear everything that becomes public," Yermak said. It is important to see this plan come to life on enemy soil, and to see it in the performance of our military. According to Zelenskys Office chief, citizens will understand the need to keep some details of the Victory Plan out of public eye. As Ukrinform reported earlier, on September 26, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting with his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, presenting him Ukraines Victory Plan. Later, he met with Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, whom he also briefed on the details of the Victory Plan. On September 27, in New York, Zelensky pitched the Victory Plan to Donald Trump, the presidential nominee from the Republican Party. Buzz, Sheikh Hasina could leave India for Russia When will Sheikh Hasina leave India for Russia? It would be extremely difficult to determine the time Monday September 30, 2024 5:16 PM , Saleem Samad [Yunus with ICC prosecutor Karim Khan QC (Image posted by Karim Khan QC via @IntlCrimCourt.] Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus met with International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan QC at the United Nations General Assembly in New York last week. Taking to Twitter (X), Karim Khan QC said: Common visions to strengthen ICC cooperation ensure accountability for crimes committed against the Rohingya. The ICC in The Hague (Den Haag) is hearing the war crimes and ethnic cleansing committed by Myanmar troops against the Rohingya Muslims after they were declared illegal migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and dubbed as Bengali (meaning they are not Myanmar nationals). It is not known whether Yunus discussed ICCs support for strengthening the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal. The ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been implicated in crimes against humanity for the deaths of more than a thousand students and protesters during the Monsoon Revolution in July and early August. The Interim Government, led by micro-credit inventor Dr Yunus, told audiences in New York that he would like to see former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina be extradited and brought to justice if she has committed crimes. Why shouldnt be? If she committed crimes, she should be extradited and brought to justiceShe should be facing justice too, he said while responding to a question at The New York Times Climate Forward Event. Earlier, he reiterated to an Indian media that Delhi should deport Hasina to face the music of justice for the deaths of thousands of protesters in less than 35 days of the Monsoon Revolution. The number of times Yunus mentions extradition of Hasina, South Block in New Delhi is having hiccups. The worrisome seasoned officials and politicians in Delhi have kept their lamps burning regarding the future status of Hasina living in exile in a safe house at Ghaziabad Hindon Air Base near Delhi. A high-profile defence correspondent in Delhi said she is in a safe house for security reasons. Indian Intel believes that she has external threats and is forced to live in seclusion. She is living incommunicado at the air base and unable to meet her daughter Saima Wazed, who has been the South East Asian regional director for the World Health Organisation since 1 November 2023 and is based in New Delhi. Saima, in her tweet, admitted that she wanted to hug her beloved mother but was unable to do so due to preoccupation and hectic conferences in the South East Asian region. Does anybody believe her excuse? Similarly, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, despite his best intention to meet his beleaguered mother in Delhi, has not been given diplomatic clearance to arrive in Delhi. None of the ruling BJP politicians or officials of the Indian government has paid courtesy calls to Hasina, except for Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor of India. He was at the air base when she arrived in Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is yet to meet her. External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, while briefing the all-party meeting, said: We received a request for a short stay. Ousted Hasina has always given the impression that China, Russia, and of course India, are all-weather friends of Bangladesh. The three countries have always lent their shoulders to Hasina, despite appalling human rights records, fraudulent elections in 2014, 2018 and 2024, money laundering, bank loot, poor accountability of elected rogue politicians and politicisation of democratic institutions. The time-tested friends unfortunately did not react to the autocratic regime. Delhi, Beijing and Moscows silence encouraged Hasina to become an iron lady a Frankenstein. She has brutally cracked down on opposition, dissidents, critics, journalists and even netizens. Now that her long stay in India is likely to dent its bilateral, regional and global relationship, Delhi has to find a reasonable argument for not extraditing Hasina to Bangladesh authorities for her trial. Delhi knows very well that if Hasina faces a politically motivated trial for the deaths of students, the court will hand down the death penalty. The Interim Government will not take any risk in keeping her alive. However, the trial is not expected soon. The Yunus administration will wait until United Nations Human Rights Commission Chief Volker Turk, who took responsibility for deploying a UN team of experts to probe into the killing of the protesters during the student revolution, gets the report from the team. Bangladesh will have to wait for the UN fact-finding mission to submit its report to begin the much-talked-about trial. It is very rare for China to give shelter to exiled leaders from other countries. Then it leaves with two other all-weather friends India and Russia. With Dr Yunuss hectic parleys with world leaders at UNGA, India read the pulse that it would be difficult to provide a credible excuse not to extradite Hasina. Thus the best alternative would be to send her to Russia, where she will be safe and secure, several officials of the Indian National Security Council (NSC), who are privy to the issue, have confided with this journalist. Russia has a history of ignoring international calls for extradition. For India, it will be difficult to absorb diplomatic and international pressure. So the only country for Hasina to live happily ever after would be Russia. Well, when will Hasina leave India for Russia? It would be extremely difficult to determine the time. However, the NSC officials guess that the balls will begin to roll when Bangladesh will officially seek her extradition. A top official in the Chief Advisors Office, who declined to be quoted, said it would be too early to comment on what Bangladesh should do if Hasina is shifted to Russia. [The writer, Saleem Samad, is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad. First published in the Northeast News, Guwahati, India on 30 September 2024.] Follow ummid.com WhatsApp Channel for all the latest updates. Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic. Disputed Legacy of Hassan Nasrallah Israel and Hassan Nasrallah have a very long history of acrimonious relationship that incidentally has nothing to do with Palestine Monday September 30, 2024 12:26 PM , Raqif Makhdoomi [Mourners in Kashmir after assassination of Hassan Nasrallah.] The Muslim world laments for the dead of a Lebanon Cleric and the General Secretary of Hezbollah, a Shia Islamist political party and Militant Group. Hassan Nasrallah born on 31 August 1960, got killed on September 27, 2024 as a result of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut. Nasrallah finished his studies in Tyre and afterward a Shia seminary in Baalbek. He later joined Amal Movement - a Lebanese political party and a former militia group affiliated with the Shia community of Lebanon. The Amal, which means hope, was founded by Musa Al-sadr and Husseini in 1974 as the Movement of the deprived. The party is led by Nabih Berri since 1980. Nasrallah joined Hezbollah, which was formed to fight the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. After a brief period of religious studies in Iran, Nasrallah returned and became the leader of the Hezbollah after his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi, was assassinated by an Israeli airstrike in 1992. The 1982 Lebanon war is also called the second Israeli invasion of Lebanon, which began on June 06, 1982, when Israel intruded Southern Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war. The civil war in Lebanon was between the Lebanese Christians and Muslims, and Israel had a role to play. The aim of the invasion by Israel was to end the Palestine attacks from Lebanon, destroy the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and most importantly install pro-Israel Maronite Christian Government. Israel and Hassan Nasrallah have a very long history of acrimonious relationship that incidentally has nothing to do with Palestine. Its Israel that made Hassan Nasrallah what got killed for. We cant blame Nasrallah for being what he was. The invasion by Israel led to the creation of Hezbollah. The question is to be asked to Israel, for the deadly invasion of Lebanon which took place not once but twice. [Mourners in Kashmir after assassination of Hassan Nasrallah.] The first Invasion took place in 1978 and the second one in 1982. Defending home land is a right. And Hassan Nasrallah rightly did his job for which he shouldnt and wont ever be called a terrorist. A person or army that invades any country or a piece of land is an aggressor and is in real sense a terrorist. And the role of terrorist is widely played by Israel which is hailed by another aggressor called the United State of America (USA). We have been hearing the very old and famous music from the West, where they claim to be so called protectors of Human Rights and Democracy. But as it is rightly said: The only country where USA sees threat to Democracy is the country that has or discovers GOLD. The reason why USA becomes interested is only because of the gold. The USA walks in a country thats fully developed and walks out leaving behind ruins, malnutrition, poverty, homeless people, orphans, and handicapped people, and then proudly calls it an operation that restored the democracy, while the only aim of that operation was to steal the gold and fill up its own gold reserves. Nasrallah has been a potential leader of Hezbollah. He has great role to play in the upgradation of the Hezbollahs arms strength and weapons power. Under Nasrallah's leadership, Hezbollah acquired rockets with a longer range, which allowed them to strike at northern Israel. After Israel suffered heavy casualties during its 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon, it withdrew its forces in 2000, which greatly increased Hezbollah's popularity in the region, and bolstered Hezbollah's position within Lebanon. However, Hezbollah's role in ambushing an Israeli border patrol unit leading up to the 2006 Lebanon War was subject to local and regional criticism. During the Syrian civil war, Hezbollah fought on the side of the Syrian army against what Nasrallah termed "Islamist extremists". He has also promoted the "Axis of Resistance", an informal coalition of Iran-backed militias focused on opposing Israel and the United States. Following Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel , he opted to engage in the conflict, initiating attacks on Israel, which resulted in a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that impacted both sides of the border. On September 27, 2024, the Israel Occupation Forces announced that its air force had struck Hezbollah's main headquarters in Beirut with the goal of assassinating Nasrallah. Hezbollah confirmed his death the following day. The assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Hezbollah, is being seen as a major setback for the militant organization, which is fighting alongside Hamas against the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine. Nasrallah had faced assassination attempts before being assassinated on 27th of September. On October 15, 2008, an Iraqi news source reported that Nasrallah had been poisoned the pervious week. But he was saved by Iranian doctors who went to Lebanon to treat him. But this was termed as propaganda by Nasrallah in an Interview on 25 October 2008. He called it psychological warfare by Israel and USA. The legacy of Hassan Nasrallah is a mixed one. Where he has a huge respect for his role in the Lebanon and Palestine, on the same hand he is being criticized for being part of Bashar al-Assad regime. Bashar al-Assad, whos the 19th President of Syria, is involved in the mass genocide of Sunni Muslims in Syria. Hes accused of killing hundreds of thousands of Sunni Muslim civilians, especially the innocent Syrian Sunni children. While actively participating in the genocide of Sunni Muslims in Syria, on 25 May 2013, Nasrallah announced that the Hezbollah is fighting in the Syrian civil war, and justified it by saying that Hezbollah is fighting Islamic Extremists and pledged that his group will not allow Syrian extremists to control the areas bordering Lebanon. Interestingly, the claims that Hezbollah had been fighting in Syria are same of Israel for fighting in Palestine. Nonetheless, condolences poured in from across the world soon after the assassination of Nasrallah on Sept 27, 2024. Jammu and Kashmir, which is due for third phase of elections, after ten years of gap and for the first time after abrogation of Article 370, saw unprecedented scenario as the politicians like Mehbooba Mufti, former Chief Minster of Jammu and Kashmir, cancelled all her campaigns as a mark of protest. It was followed by a similar move by National Conference Member of Parliament representing Srinagar Ruhullah Mehdi. While Hassan Nasrallah leaves behind a Disputed Legacy, it remains to be seen whats next for Hezbollah. [The writer, Raqif Makhdoomi, is a law student and a Rights Activist. Views are personal.] Follow ummid.com WhatsApp Channel for all the latest updates. Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic. There's more to Tirupati Laddu controversy than meets the eye The Tirupati laddu controversy is more than just a religious issue - it is a flashpoint in the ongoing battle for control over religious institutions and the identity of Southern India itself Monday September 30, 2024 7:16 PM , T Navin In recent years, Southern India has emerged as a key focus for Hindutva forces seeking to expand their influence beyond traditional strongholds. Earlier it had tried to utilize Sabarimala issue in Kerala and Senghol symbolism in Tamil Nadu. Historically, states like Andhra Pradesh have remained relatively free from communal divide. However, the recent controversy surrounding the Tirupati laddu issue has revealed an attempt to stir religious sentiments and polarize communities in the Telugu-speaking states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. At the heart of this issue lies a broader strategy aimed at consolidating the Hindu vote and reducing state control over temple management. Tirupati Laddu Controversy Tirupati, home to the famous Lord Venkateshwara temple, has long been a centre of Hindu devotion. The Tirupati laddu, an iconic prasadam offered to the deity, recently became a focal point of controversy when a report allegedly by NDDB CALF laboratory stated that there is animal fat in prasadam. This was linked to a switch in supplier of the ghee supplied from Nandini Ghee (Brand of Karnataka Dairy Cooperative) to AR Dairy Foods. This change was allegedly undertaken during the regime of former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy who comes from Christian background. He was also stated to have made his uncle YV Subba Reddy, a Christian Chairman of TTD, which manages the temple. N Chandra Babu Naidu and Pavan Kalyan initially brought up the issue of adulteration. This was later seized by Hindutva forces to portray these decisions as anti-Hindu, playing on the fact that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is a Christian. The controversy was strategically framed to suggest that Jagan Reddys government was undermining Hindu traditions by enabling the appointment of non-Hindus to temple-related positions, as well as by allowing a change in the vendor responsible for a key religious offering. Issue of the presence of Beef tallow based on the report was brought up to stir emotions, though it is still a matter of technical contestation. TTD as a matter of fact had pointed out that what came out in the reports is on the basis of rejected ghee and not the ghee used for preparation of laddu. A Tool for Polarization The Tirupati laddu issue is being utilized as a strategic tool by Hindutva forces to polarize religious communities, specifically Hindus and Christians. By framing Jagan Reddys decisions as part of a broader anti-Hindu agenda, the controversy seeks to consolidate the majority around their religious identity. This narrative plays into the larger strategy of depicting the previous government as one that prioritizes other religions at the expense of Hindu practices, effectively positioning Jagan Reddy as the other. This form of identity politics, where the religious background of political leaders is brought into question, has proven effective in other parts of India, and now it appears it want to use this traction in Andhra Pradesh. The ultimate goal seems to be not just political gain but also social and religious consolidation of the Hindu community. Corruption and Religious Management: A Broader Issue While concerns about corruption and adulteration in temple matters are legitimate and deserve scrutiny, its important to recognize that such issues are not unique to the Tirupati temple. Corruption in religious institutions is a pervasive issue across the country. For instance, the collapse of six statues representing the Saptarshis at the Mahakal Lok Corridor and leaks in the newly built Ayodhya Temple after heavy rains have also raised concerns about the management of religious sites. In addition, products from prominent brands like Baba Ramdevs ghee have been found to be adulterated, raising health risks for consumers. Transparency and accountability in religious management need to be definitely ensured. However, these issues are being selectively amplified in the Tirupati context to serve a communal agenda. Push for Control Over Temples Beyond the immediate controversy, the Tirupati laddu issue has reignited a long-standing debate over the control of Hindu temples. Hindutva proponents are increasingly calling for temples to be managed exclusively by Hindus, free from state intervention. There have been suggestions to establish a Sanatana Board to oversee temple operations and ensure that management aligns with Hindu principles. This push is part of a broader agenda to transfer control from the state to religious bodies, ostensibly to protect the sanctity of temples. In Southern states, temple operations have traditionally been managed by state-run Endowment Departments or religious trusts. These bodies often allocate a portion of temple funds to socially beneficial activities such as providing free meals for devotees, funding healthcare services, or supporting educational initiatives. This system ensures that temple wealth is used for the public good, rather than being concentrated in the hands of religious elites. However, as the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) continues to penetrate various institutions across India, there are concerns that any move to transfer control of temples from the state to religious boards could pave the way for RSS-affiliated individuals to penetrate and dominate temple management. This would not only shift the balance of power but could also influence how temple resources are allocated, with the risk of prioritizing Hindutva ideology over social welfare. Larger Agenda The controversy surrounding the Tirupati laddu issue is emblematic of a larger agenda being pursued in Southern India. By stirring religious sentiments and positioning Hindu identity against perceived threats, Hindutva forces are working to expand their base in states like Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, which have traditionally been more secular in their political alignments. The goal is not just short-term political gain but a long-term reconfiguration of religious and social power structures, with an emphasis on consolidating Hindu identity and diminishing state oversight of religious institutions. Also Read: Beef in Tirupati Laddu and Curious Silence of Cow Vigilantes As this narrative unfolds, it is crucial for political and civil society actors to recognize the dangers of communal polarization. While addressing legitimate concerns about corruption, adulteration and transparency in temple management is important, these issues should not be used as a cover to push a divisive religious agenda that undermines the social fabric of the region. The Tirupati laddu controversy is more than just a religious issue - it is a flashpoint in the ongoing battle for control over religious institutions and the identity of Southern India itself. The secular regional parties despite the alliance with the BJP need to be aware of the same. [T Navin, is an independent writer.] Follow ummid.com WhatsApp Channel for all the latest updates. Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic. BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism Zhang Zheng expressed the hope that mainland residents will soon be able to travel to Taiwan Island for tourism. Zhang made the remarks at a press conference on Monday in response to an inquiry from Taiwan media about the follow-up to the ministry's recent decision to resume travel for residents of east China's Fujian Province to Kinmen. "We hope that the Taiwan authorities will facilitate the smooth operation of tourist exchanges across the Taiwan Strait, in line with the common interests of people on both sides," Zhang said. He added that while some mainland tourists have already visited Mazu and Kinmen, many more are expected to visit during the upcoming National Day holiday, which starts on Tuesday. Kinmen, an island located off the coast of Fujian Province, received its first tour group from the mainland in more than four years on Sept. 22. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Moscow is ready to assist Georgia, Abkhazia, and Tskhinvali in "normalizing relations" if there is mutual interest. Lavrov made this remark during a press conference after the 79th session of the UN General Assembly.He praised the Georgian government for its "honesty about the past," referencing GD founder Bidzina Ivanishvili's recent suggestion of apologizing to Ossetians for the 2008 war, which he attributed to the previous UNM government rather than Russia.Lavrov emphasized the inevitability of contact between Georgia, Abkhazia, and Tskhinvali due to their proximity, stating: "They [Abkhazia and Tskhinvali] are neighbors of Georgia, some kind of contacts there are inevitable anyway. If there is interest on all sides to normalize these relations, to ensure non-aggression agreements. we will be ready to help if the parties are interested."A Singapore court has ordered a unit of Credit Suisse to pay $742.7 million to Bidzina Ivanishvili, according to a report by Bloomberg on September 19. This follows a previous May 2023 ruling in which the court initially awarded Ivanishvili $926 million, later reducing the sum to avoid double compensation.This case stems from the actions of Patrice Lescaudron, a private banker who was convicted in 2018 for operating a fraudulent scheme. Lescaudron had diverted funds from Ivanishvili's accounts to cover significant losses in the portfolios of Russian clients.In a related ruling, a Bermuda court last year ordered Credit Suisse to pay Ivanishvili $600 million in damages. Credit Suisse has stated that the Singapore court's decision is not final and plans to continue appealing the case. GAZA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- At least six Palestinians were killed on Monday in an Israeli airstrike targeting a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to Palestinian medical sources and eyewitnesses. Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli aircraft struck a home in the Mufti area north of the camp, completely destroying it. Medical sources indicated that the airstrike resulted in six deaths and several injuries, with the wounded transported to hospitals. The Israeli army has yet to comment on the incident. Also on Monday, Palestinian journalist Wafaa Ali Al-Adini was killed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, as stated by the government media office in Gaza. This incident raised the total number of journalists killed by Israel since last October to 174. Israel's large-scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza began in response to a Hamas incursion across the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, which resulted in approximately 1,200 deaths and about 250 hostages taken. The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza has now reached 41,615, according to a statement from Gaza-based health authorities on Monday. A tenured University of Pennsylvania law professor has been suspended for what school officials called a history of derogatory remarks against minority groups. The Faculty Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility announced sanctions against Amy Wax on Tuesday for occasional discriminatory statements she made against people based on their race, sex, gender, ethnicity and immigration status. This includes a one-year suspension with half-pay, the loss of her designated chair, and the inability to represent UPenn in public engagements, among other things. "The faculty Hearing Board concluded that you engaged in 'flagrant unprofessional conduct' that breached your responsibilities as a teacher to offer an equal opportunity to all students to learn from you," university Provost John L. Jackson Jr. wrote in a public reprimand to Wax. Students from the National Black Law Students Association, the National Asian Pacific American Law Student Association, and the North American South Asian Law Students Association issued a unified letter in April 2022 calling for accountability as well. The controversial comments in question go as far back as 2017, when Wax said she had never seen a Black student graduate in the top quarter of their Penn Law class. Following a 2018 online petition calling for the school to seek legal action against Wax for her remarks, the university announced she would no longer be teaching a first-year course. Then at the National Conservatism Conference in 2019, Wax said the U.S. should favor Western immigrants at the National Conservatism Conference. "Embracing cultural distance, cultural distance nationalism, means in effect taking the position that our country will be better off with more whites than non-whites," BuzzFeed News reported Wax saying, which led to backlash from students. In another interview with Fox News in April 2022, Wax disparaged Indian Americans who criticize the United States, saying, "They climb the ladder, they get the best education, we give them every opportunity, and they turn around and lead the charge on 'we're racist, we're an awful country.'" According to ABC News, Wax has also made homophobic statements, including "commenting in class that gay couples are not fit to raise children" and telling students that "women, on average, are less knowledgeable than men." In May 2023, the committee determined Wax made "sweeping and derogatory generalizations" about minority groups over the years and recommended sanctions, which Wax opposed. However the committee denied her appeal on Tuesday, and interim President J. Larry Jameson confirmed he would respect this "final decision" and impose the sanctions proposed. While Penn's sanctions represent significant action against a tenured faculty member, students have previously pushed for Wax's removal. In 2022, a third-year law student told ABC News that Wax shouldn't be allowed on the school campus to interact with other students during the investigation into her controversial remarks. "We really need to fire Amy Wax," another law student said. An Indiana University student is facing rape and strangulation charges after allegedly assaulting two women at a campus fraternity house in the same week. He's the third student accused of sexual assault charges since the school year started about a month ago. Noah Apgar was taken into custody on Tuesday and is facing a slew of felony charges, including five counts of rape, one count of strangulation and a criminal confinement charge. Dave Pascarella, director of communications for Sigma Alpha Epsilon, where Apgar was a member, said in a statement, "Upon learning of the alleged incident, SAE immediately suspended the member and began working with the University administration." "Sigma Alpha Epsilon denounces all acts of sexual violence. Violence in any form does not represent the fraternity's values as defined by our creed, The True Gentlemen," he added. Apgar is the third male student at Indiana University to be arrested and charged in connection with sexual assaults since late August, according to the student-run television channel. Gregory Gabler, 18, was arrested earlier this month on rape charges, while 18-year-old Jackson Arnold was detained during welcome week after a female student reported that he repeatedly touched her sexually. Arnold is facing three counts of sexual battery. According to IU's 2023 Security and Public Safety Report, there were 38 recorded rapes on the IU Bloomington campus in 2022, with five reported off campus, for a total of 43. This was an increase from 2021, when there were 24 reported rapes on campus and seven off campus, for a total of 31. LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Sep, 2024) Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Measures Professor Ahsan Iqbal has said that future economy depends on technology that has to be introduced in every sector to compete with the world. He said that the youth skilled in technology are a valuable asset of the country, preparing the youth to increase digital exports is the top priority of the government, under the vision 2025 and 2030, the government is taking steps to provide the latest knowledge to the youth. He expressed these views while addressing a ceremony organized in honor of newly admitted students at the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Narowal Campus at Narowal on Monday. The Federal Minister explained, "Future economy depends on technology, the whole world has come a long way in the IT sector, our new generation has to come forward in this vital field." "Pakistan stands at a critical juncture where it cannot afford to lag behind in adopting the latest technology, we have to introduce technology in every sector to compete with the world," he stressed. Ahsan Iqbal said that modern technologies have the potential to revolutionize industries, enhance decision-making processes and create new economic opportunities. He also emphasized the need to equip the youth of the country with modern skills so that they not only earn good resources for themselves but also help them to play a key role in the socio-economic development of the country. In order to face the challenges and take full advantage of emerging technologies, he said, "We need to focus on artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain technology, open source intelligence, quantum computing, cyber security, digital media literacy, infrastructure development and education. Indeed, our youths have the potential to take Pakistan forward through digitalisation." Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal said that the youth skilled in digital technology are the valuable asset of the country and the architects of our future, preparing the youth for increasing digital exports is the first priority of the government. He said that the roadmap of Vision 2025 was chalked out keeping in mind the emerging technologies. He mentioned, the journey of development after 2018 was blocked by the so-called transformation, development is not possible without political stability. He emphasized the need for e-governance and digitization of all public services, asserting that the government is determined to bring digital transformation in the country. "In today's era, no country can develop without innovation and investment in various sectors of the economy. I want to say to the people related to technology that they should make their children educated in IT so that the country can progress towards development," he suggested. He also answered the questions by people related to the industry from Narowal district. The UET Narowal Vice Chancellor Shahid Munir also addressed the event and answered the questions of the students. KHARTOUM, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on Monday denied an accusation by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of bombing the residence of its ambassador in Khartoum. "The SAF asserts that it does not target the headquarters of diplomatic missions, United Nations agencies, or voluntary organizations, and does not turn them into military bases or loot their assets," the statement said. The SAF held the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) responsible for carrying out the attacks, adding that the SAF only "targets areas where the militia (RSF) is present, which it is within its right to defend the Sudanese nation." Earlier on Monday, the UAE Foreign Ministry strongly condemned what it termed "the heinous attack that targeted the residence of the UAE head of mission in Khartoum by a Sudanese army aircraft." The attack resulted in extensive damage to the building, the ministry said, urging the Sudanese army to assume full responsibility for "this cowardly act." The RSF has not yet commented on the SAF's accusation or the attack itself. The SAF launched a significant offensive on September 26 against the RSF in the capital, Khartoum, marking its most substantial effort in months to regain control of the city, according to military sources and witnesses. Since April 15, 2023, Sudan has been embroiled in a violent conflict between the SAF and the RSF, resulting in approximately 20,000 deaths, thousands of injuries, and the displacement of millions of people, according to the latest estimates by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. (@ChaudhryMAli88) MULTAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Sep, 2024) Chairman Senate Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani stressed the imperative need to accelerate development work in South Punjab. He said this while during a meeting with Additional Chief Secretary Fuad Hashim Rabbani at Circuit House, here on Monday. The meeting was also attended by Member of the National Assembly Syed Ali Musa Gillani and former MPA Syed Mujtaba Gillani. Gilani stressed that thorough oversight of ongoing projects was essential to ensure timely completion. Winning public confidence hinges on efficient public service delivery and prompt resolution of pressing issues, Gilani maintained. The Chairman Senate further stated the need for permanent appointments in key institutions, urging that recommendations be forwarded to the Punjab Government. Gillani also directed enhanced security arrangements at the regions revered shrines, particularly Qila Kohna Qasim Bagh. He wished the removal of encroachments around the historic site to facilitate road expansion and improve traffic management. Reflecting on his tenure as Prime Minister, he recalled that plazas were constructed in Shaheen Market and Ghanta Ghar to relocate traders displaced by anti-encroachment measures. However, he added that the plan had not been fully implemented. The Chairman Senate also highlighted his role in securing a $10 million grant from the Italian government for the preservation and restoration of Qila Kohna Qasim Bagh and its ancient walls. He stated the delays in utilizing these funds and suggested for the projects swift completion. During the meeting, Additional Chief Secretary Fuad Hashim Rabbani provided a comprehensive briefing on ongoing projects and outlined new initiatives in South Punjab, assuring the Chairman Senate of steady progress. PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Sep, 2024) Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ali Amin Gandapur on Monday appeared before the Peshawar High Court (PHC) where he was summoned in a missing persons case. Chief Justice PHC, Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim during hearing a case of missing person summoned the Chief Minister for his comments that how a person is rearrested once his or her bail is confirmed by the court. The CJ PHC said it was a total violation of the courts order. The court also questioned the SHO concerned if he rearrested the missing man after he secured bail from the courtupon which the SHO said he was not responsible for this specific arrest as he was not there at that time. However, the court said police could not keep itself at distance from such cases and issued summon orders for the Chief Minister before allowing a break in the hearing. After the break, the Chief Minister KP, Ali Amin Gandapur appeared before the Peshawar High Court (PHC) and said he himself was against such practices. He told the court that the provincial government was going to introduce amendments in the Police Act. A committee was being formed and a focal person from the government side will be deputed at the court-level. The Chief Minister also assured the court that legislation will be made in the provincial assembly to defy the rearrest of those securing bail from the courts. The Chief Justice PHC in his remarks said everything should be done within the ambit of law. The court then allowing time to the provincial government, adjourned the hearing for 21st October. APP/vak ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Sep, 2024) Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday urged all the political parties to come forward for making Pakistan an economically powerful state. All the political parties including Opposition should sit together to steer the country out of the present challenges, he said while talking to a private television channel. Commenting on judicial reforms, he said constitutional amendment and judicial reforms are imperative to strengthen the system and resolve thousands of the cases of the people pending in the lower and upper courts. He said judicial reforms is essential to provide speedy justice to people. In reply to a question about future of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI), he said PTI has been involved in May 9 riots and attacks on security institutions. He said that the cases of PTI would be tackled in the courts and they will decide the future of founder of the party. To a question about participation of Shehbaz Sharif at world highest forum and absence of deputy prime minister there, he said PM Shehbaz Sharif has played vital role while highlighting the important issues at the UN forum. High level delegation from Malaysia and China are visiting Pakistan for important discussions, and the deputy prime minister should stay here to tackle all the official matters, he stated. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Sep, 2024) Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is scheduled to arrive here on Wednesday for a three-day official visit to Pakistan from October 2-4, on the invitation of Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif. He will be accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising ministers, deputy ministers and senior officials, according to a curtain-raiser issued by the Foreign Office. During the visit, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will meet Prime Minister Shehbaz wherein the two sides will discuss a wide-ranging agenda to further strengthen Pakistan-Malaysia ties in diverse fields including trade, connectivity, energy, agriculture, halal industry, tourism, cultural exchanges and people-to-people contacts. They will also discuss regional and global developments. Pakistan and Malaysia enjoy strong bilateral ties anchored in history, culture and faith. This visit provides an important opportunity to further strengthen Pakistan-Malaysia relations. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Sep, 2024) The National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) of Pakistan has been elected to the Bureau of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) for a four-year term. "GANHRI is closely linked to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which supports the National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) through technical assistance, capacity-building, and advocacy," an NCHR news release said on Monday. The GANHRI Bureau serves as the management committee of GANHRI, which is the global body of NHRIs. Tasked with implementing the decisions of the GANHRI General Assembly, the Bureau ensures smooth operational management and strategic direction between General Assembly meetings. Additionally, it oversees the work of GANHRIs various subcommittees and working groups, which report to the Bureau, and reviews key issues, including statements to United Nations human rights bodies. This achievement is a prestigious recognition of NCHRs dedication to human rights, marking a significant milestone for both Pakistan and the broader Asia Pacific region, NCHR Chairperson Rabiya Javeri Agha said. According to the news release, NCHR Pakistan as part of the Bureau would work closely with other elected representatives from Africa, the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region, each of whom were selected from 'A'-status accredited NHRIs. "These institutions, like NCHR Pakistan, have met the stringent requirements set by the Paris Principles, ensuring their independence, impartiality, and effectiveness in promoting and protecting human rights. Election to this role is only open to NHRIs with A-status accreditation, highlighting the credibility and impact of Pakistans human rights work on the international stage. " Throughout its four-year term, NCHR Pakistan, with the support of the Asia Pacific Forum (APF) Chairperson and Secretariat, would act as a key advocate for the regions NHRIs in discussions at the Bureau. The NCHR would not only represent the views of APF members but also play a pivotal role in reviewing and making decisions on GANHRIs subsidiary bodies, the news release added. "One of the most important responsibilities will involve providing input on the outcomes of the Sub-Committee on Accreditation, a body critical for ensuring that NHRIs meet international standards of independence and effectiveness. "By representing the Asia Pacific region on this global platform, NCHR Pakistan will actively contribute to shaping international human rights policies and dialogues, including its involvement in high-level discussions with UN human rights mechanisms. "This election solidifies NCHRs position as a leader in human rights advocacy, furthering its mission of promoting justice, equality, and dignity for all." NCHR Pakistan has also been nominated to the Governance Committee of the Asia Pacific Forum (APF). "This dual recognition marks a huge honor for Pakistan, further elevating its role within the global human rights community," the news release said. Rabiya Javeri Agha, in her comments, said: Our achievements are not a destination, but simply milestones in our ongoing commitment to human rights. Despite the numerous human rights challenges Pakistan faces, NCHR has been working tirelessly both domestically and internationally to ensure we fulfill our mandate and institute meaningful change within the system. We are dedicated to bringing human rights conversations to the forefront of the global agenda. KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Sep, 2024) Pakistan Navy and Qatar Emiri Navy on Monday conducted a bilateral exercise, Asad Al Bahr-III, in the North Arabian Sea. The Qatar Emiri Naval Ship AL KHOR participated in the exercise alongside Pakistan Navy Ships PNS SHAMSHEER and PNS ASLAT, a Pakistan Navy news release said. During the bilateral exercise, operations including Maritime Interdiction Operations, Search and Rescue, and Air Defence exercises were conducted. Aim of the exercise was to work out interoperability while handling various challenges in regional Maritime arena. Conduct of bilateral exercise like Asad Al Bahr-III will not only help in harnessing interoperability with respect to joint operations between both regional Navies but also mushroom avenues of bilateral defence ties. Conduct of joint exercises with regional Navies is a manifestation of PN's resolve of handling traditional and nontraditional challenges in Maritime domain so as to ensure safety and security of seafarers in the region. (@ChaudhryMAli88) HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Sep, 2024) The Sindh Agriculture University (SAU), Tandojam has successfully completed its state of the art greenhouse project, generously funded by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA). Situated near the Faculty of Crop Protection, this advanced facility is designed to support groundbreaking research on climate adaptive and off season crops, fruits, vegetables and other plant species well suited to Sindhs unique environmental conditions. According to a press release, a delegation from TIKA, led by Haleel Ibrahim Basaran and Fatima Aziz, visited the newly completed greenhouse on Monday. During the visit, the delegation observed the active experiments being conducted within the facility. Haleel Ibrahim conveyed the deep connection between Turkia and Pakistan, referring to the greenhouse as a "gift from the Turkish people," and expressed optimism that it would become an essential hub for agricultural research benefiting experts, faculty and students at SAU. This collaboration between TIKA and SAU is set to open new avenues for research and innovation in agriculture sector, with far-reaching benefits for both students and the broader farming community in Sindh, he added. Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences Dr. Aijaz Ali Khooharo outlined the Primary research focus of the greenhouse, emphasizing its role in studying crop growth and adaptation under diverse climate conditions, including off-season cultivation. He expressed hope that the research outcomes will provide critical insights that can significantly enhance agricultural productivity in the province, aiding farmers in tackling the challenges posed by climate change. Dean of the Faculty of Crop Protection Dr. Manzoor Ali Abro delivered a detailed briefing on the greenhouse's significance, praising the visionary leadership of SAU Vice Chancellor Dr. Fateh Mari in driving the university toward modernization in both education and research field. Dr. Abro also commended TIKAs unwavering support, which has been vital in realizing this project. Dr. Muhammad Imran Khatri also spoke on the occasion. Dr. Imtiaz Nizamani, Dr. Mehmood Leghari, Dr. Arfan Ahmed Gilal, Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim Khaskheli and others were also present at the event. (@Abdulla99267510) CJP Isa has announced verdict while accepting ECPs appeal against LHC decision on Punjab Election Tribunals ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-Sept 30th, 2024) The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) on Monday nullified the Lahore High Court's single bench decision dated June 12, 2024 regarding the Punjab election tribunals. Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa of the Supreme Court announced the verdict while accepting the Election Commission's appeal against the Lahore High Court's decision. The court ruling stated that when there is a dispute between constitutional institutions, a cautious approach should be adopted. The court held that the Lahore High Court's decision cannot be presented as judicial precedent in any forum. The Supreme Court larger bench issued a unanimous decision, with Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Aqeel Abbasi adding additional notes while agreeing with the judgment. The Supreme Court also nullified the Registrar High Court's notification of the judges' tribunal appointments dated June 12. The Hague, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Sep, 2024) Gabon and Equatorial Guinea faced off Monday at the International Court of Justice, hoping to resolve a decades-old scrap over the sovereignty of three disputed islands in potentially oil-rich waters. The two West African nations have been squabbling over the 30-hectare (74-acre) island of Mbanie and two smaller low-lying islets, Cocotier and Conga, since the early 1970s. Unlike most contentious cases that come to the ICJ in The Hague, the two countries eventually agreed to send the thorny issue to the judges to find an amicable solution. The dispute dates all the way back to 1900, when then colonial powers France and Spain signed a treaty in Paris setting out the borders between the two countries. Gabon argues that a later treaty signed in 1974 -- the Bata Convention -- gives it sovereignty over the islands. But Domingo Mba Esono, Vice Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons of Equatorial Guinea, disputed the validity of this document. He told the court Gabonese officials suddenly produced this treaty at a meeting between the two countries in 2003, taking Equatorial Guinea "completely by surprise". "None of them had seen or heard of this supposed convention. Moreover, the document presented was not an original but was only an unauthenticated photocopy," said Esono. The delegation from Equatorial Guinea questioned the legitimacy of the document and insisted Gabon present an original version, he said. "Since then, which has been more than 20 years, Gabon has not presented anything," said Esono. (UroToday.com) The 2024 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) annual meeting held in Washington D.C., between September 29 and October 2 was host to the session EDU 16 - Management of Unfavorable Intermediate-Risk Prostate Cancer: Role of SBRT, Brachytherapy and Androgen Deprivation Therapy. Dr. Neil Desai discussed the role of ADT and Genomic Risk Stratification for Patients with Unfavorable Intermediate-Risk Prostate Cancer. Dr. Desai began by presenting the case of a 62-year-old gentleman with an elevated PSA of 6 ng/mL, a normal digital rectal examination (cT1c), who underwent a prostate biopsy. His biopsy revealed grade group 3 prostate cancer in 3 out of 12 cores, and he was deemed to have unfavorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer. According to the NCCN/DAmico risk stratification, this patient could be treated with observation or radiation therapy (RT) and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for 4 to 6 months. This remains a challenging scenario, and patients and clinicians often struggle with decision-making due to conflicting opinions and competitive pressures. Determining whether to administer ADT and deciding on the modality and intensity of RT, can be difficult. There are various risk-stratification tools available, such as CAPRA, STAR-CAP, different imaging modalities, and even genomic or artificial intelligence classifiers, to assess the patient's risk. We often consider patient-specific variables such as the baseline quality of life, and comorbidities, and aim to optimize the patient before treatment. We are now adding genomic/AI classifiers, and we have competition pressures, so we need to integrate these tools into our clinical practice. The NRG Oncology/Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 0815 study randomly assigned 1,492 patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer to dose-escalated RT alone versus dose-escalated RT with short-term ADT (6 months). For this trial, RT modalities included external-beam RT alone to 79.2 Gy or external beam RT (45 Gy) with a brachytherapy boost, with a median follow-up of 6.3 years. Short-term ADT resulted in significantly reduced PSA failure, PCSM, and distant metastasis rates. However, this trial did not improve OS rates but did show an improvement in metastasis-free survival, which is often used as a surrogate endpoint for OS.1 Based on this data, we used short-term ADT in patients treated with radiation and unfavorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer. Dr. Desai polled the audience if they use advanced risk classifiers to inform ADT use in unfavorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer. The majority of the auditorium (46%) answered they dont use these tools. We dont have reliable clinical risk factors to predict metastasis. Dr. Desai discussed that tossing a coin gives an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.5, which is not much different from the PSA (~0.6), clinical stage (~0.6), Gleason score (~0.6), NCCN risk stratification (~0.6), or CAPRA risk score (~0.6). For the past decade, we have been basing decisions on whether to add ADT to RT on these risk factors for patients with favorable and unfavorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer. As prostate cancer treatment advances, we face more options, which can lead to more complex decision-making. For a patient with prostate cancer, we now have to choose among conventionally fractionated RT (CFRT), moderately hypofractionated radiotherapy (MHRT), stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), micro-boost, brachytherapy boost, and proton radiotherapy. Additionally, we must decide the duration of ADT (short vs. long), consider intensification with androgen receptor pathway inhibitors (ARPIs), and determine whether to include PET/CT PSMA in our diagnostic algorithm to guide treatment. There is a lot of nuance from patient to patient, which requires a careful assessment of absolute risks and calls for personalized treatment plans. Dr. Desai engaged the audience with a poll regarding what they deemed a significant reduction in the absolute risk of 5-year metastasis through short-term androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). The results revealed that 66% of participants considered a reduction of greater than 5% to be worthwhile, while nearly a third believed that a reduction of more than 10% constituted a meaningful benefit. Different tools can be used as advanced risk classifiers for prostate cancer. These include mRNA classifiers such as Decipher, Prolaris, and Oncotype DX GPS. Another exciting, emerging tool is multi-modal artificial intelligence (MMAI) classifiers. mRNA classifiers Prolaris is a panel of cell cycle progression (CCP) genes measuring cancer proliferation. The primary outcome of interest for this risk classifier is the 10-year risk of prostate cancer mortality. The Oncotype DX prostate biopsy test calculates a genomic prostate score (GPS) based on genes from four different pathways involved in prostate cancer. The Decipher test is a clinical-grade high-density microarray that detects RNA expression levels, using 22 RNA expression-based genomic markers prognostic for metastatic progression. The genomic signatures for all these tests have been developed and validated, with most evidence to date describing the Genomic Classifier signature that predicts metastatic progression of localized disease. Shockingly, there was minimal overlap in signatures and development of these mRNA classifiers. The NCCN recommends the Genomic Classifier (Decipher) to guide treatment, and the CAPRA-CCP score has been validated with Prolaris. The signatures are outlined in the figure below: The NCCN principle of risk-stratification using advanced tools for localized prostate cancer, describes in detail, each one of this genomic classifiers. MMAI Classifier The MMAI prognostic model was developed using pathology images, NCCN variables (combined Gleason score, T-stage, baseline PSA), age, Gleason primary, and Gleason secondary scores, which were assembled from a unique dataset comprising five large multinational randomized phase III clinical trials of men with localized prostate cancer (NRG/RTOG-9202, 9408, 9413, 9910, and 0126). All patients received definitive external RT with or without the pre-specified use of ADT. Data from all five clinical trials were split into training (80%) and validation (20%) sets.2 The MMAI model consistently outperformed the NCCN risk groups across all tested outcomes, including distant metastasis at 5 and 10 years, biochemical failure at 5 and 10 years, prostate cancer-specific survival, and overall survival, when comparing the performance results for the validation set. We have advanced risk classifiers including three RNA expression genomic signatures (Decipher, Prolaris, Oncotype DX GPS) and the MMAI prognostic model. All of these classifiers have different prognostic endpoints and varying levels of evidence, but they have generally improved prognostication, especially for distant metastasis, achieving an AUC of around 0.8. This is significantly superior to the other risk factors mentioned earlier. The Decipher GC signature has a Simon level of evidence IB for guiding the addition of short-term ADT to RT in intermediate-risk prostate cancer. This is based on the NRG/RTOG 0126 phase III randomized trial post-hoc analysis, which demonstrated the independent prognostic effect of GC on biochemical failure, secondary therapy, distant metastasis (DM), prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM), metastasis-free survival (MFS), and overall survival (OS). Patients receiving RT alone with low GC scores had 10-year DM rates of 4%, compared with 16% for those with high GC risk. Therefore, the NCCN guidelines recommend that RT alone should be considered for patients with a low GC score and NCCN intermediate-risk disease. The addition of short-term ADT should be considered for patients with a high GC score, given their increased risk of DM and the significant benefit of short-term ADT on DM, even with dose-escalated RT or brachytherapy boost.3 MMAI models also have a Simon-level IB as predictive biomarkers to estimate the benefit of short-term ADT with radiotherapy and long-term ADT with radiotherapy. Additionally, they serve as prognostic biomarkers to estimate the risk for distant metastasis and death from prostate cancer.2,4,5 The principles of advanced risk stratification as summarized by the NCCN guidelines are outlined below: Dr Desai mentioned he sees two major applications of mRNA classifiers for patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer: De-intensification by omission of short-term ADT with RT Intensification of ADT with RT De-intensification by omission of short-term ADT with RT Lower Decipher GC and Prolaris CCP scores in patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer demonstrate low distant metastasis risks with RT alone, raising the question of whether it is necessary to add ADT to RT in these patients. Dr. Desai mentioned that a low Prolaris score is associated with a 3-4% risk of distant metastasis, and a low Decipher score has shown that RT alone might be sufficient in an ongoing randomized controlled trial. Intermediate Risk Prostate Cancer Intensification of ADT with RT Patients with unfavorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer and Decipher GC intermediate/high-risk scores have a higher risk of distant metastasis and often behave like high-risk prostate cancer. There is mixed data on the benefit of extending ADT from 6 months (short-term) to 18 months (long-term), but mostly no one uses long-term ADT in unfavorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer nowadays. This approach requires novel intensification strategies or better patient selection. Dr. Desai discussed the TROG 03.04 RADAR trial, which explored 6 or 18 months of ADT in addition to 66, 70, or 74 Gy of external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) or 46 Gy of EBRT plus high-dose-rate brachytherapy boost (HDRB). Almost a third of the patients in this trial had unfavorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer. The trial showed that 18 months of ADT significantly improved metastasis-free survival and biochemical progression-free survival as illustrated below. There is an ongoing randomized controlled trial, the NRG-GU010: GUIDANCE study, Parallel phase III randomized trials of genomic-risk stratified unfavorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer to inform de-intensification and intensification (NCT05050084). Briefly, this study uses the Decipher score (<0.4 or 0.4) to randomize patients to RT alone, RT with short-term ADT, or RT with short-term ADT plus darolutamide. The study design is outlined below. This trial aims to shed light on this important clinical dilemma. MMAI Use in STADT Selection: Predictive Marker? All the previous biomarkers are prognostic biomarkers, and we are looking for predictive biomarkers. MMAI has predictive value for determining the benefit of adding short-term ADT to radiotherapy for intermediate-risk prostate cancer patients. The MMAI model was trained using data from the phase III NRG/RTOG randomized clinical trials 9202, 9413, 9910, and 0126, using a 67th percentile cutoff for positive versus negative results. The MMAI was validated in the NRG/RTOG 9408 trial in patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer to assess its ability to inform the addition of short-term ADT to RT.4 The data unequivocally showed that using the MMAI model significantly informed the decision to use short-term ADT. Patients with a positive MMAI predictive model who received short-term ADT had a significantly lower 15-year risk of distant metastasis and prostate cancer-specific mortality. Guiding RT intensity RT dose intensification trades cancer control versus toxicity and benefits only a minority of patients. There is emerging Data for Classifier prognostication and prediction of radiation therapy intensity. Using the predictive performance of a 24-gene post-operative radiation therapy outcomes score (PORTOS) in the SAKK 09/10 phase III randomized trial of dose-intensified salvage radiotherapy after radical prostatectomy (64 Gy vs. 70 Gy) to the prostatic fossa, the PORTOS score was found to be predictive of response to higher radiation doses. Patients in the higher PORTOS group exhibited significantly improved clinical progression-free survival rates with dose escalation to 70 Gy compared to 64 Gy (HR: 0.19, 95% CI: 0.05 0.70, p=0.01).7 Similarly, in an analysis of the RTOG 0126 trial (CFRT 70.2 Gy vs. 79 Gy), there was a significant interaction based on Decipher low versus high-risk scores, particularly in patients with high-risk profiles regarding distant metastasis-free survival. Notably, patients with lower risk did not benefit from the intensification of radiation therapy.8 Dr. Desai concluded his presentation with the following key takeaways: Management of unfavorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer is becoming increasingly heterogeneous, both in terms of the patient population and the management options available. Advanced risk classifiers serve as critical level setters empowering patients with actionable information to facilitate more informed clinical decision-making. Resulting serial visits can be used to solidify discussions on ADT/RT with our patients. Engagement with pathology and vendors is essential for ensuring efficient, collegial workflows and mainly regarding on how to reduce financial toxicity for patients. Presented by: Neil Desai, MD, Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX. Written by: Julian Chavarriaga, MD Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) Clinical Fellow at The University of Toronto, @chavarriagaj on Twitter during the 2024 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) annual meeting held in Washington D.C., between the 29th of September and the 2nd of October. References: by Wen Tsui SACRAMENTO, the United States, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- A contentious bill on artificial intelligence (AI) safety was vetoed on Sunday in the U.S. state of California, drawing both praise and criticism from various stakeholders in the tech industry and advocacy groups. California Governor Gavin Newsom on Sunday vetoed Senate Bill 1047 (SB1047), also known as the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act, just one day before the deadline. The bill, introduced by California State Senator Scott Wiener, would require large AI models to undergo safety tests to reduce the risks of "catastrophic harm" before their public release. The bill would also hold developers liable for severe harms caused by their models. Governor Newsom, in a letter to state Senate members, explained his decision to veto the bill, emphasizing the importance of regulating the AI industry responsibly. Newsom criticized the bill on several grounds, saying that it "magnified the conversation about threats that could emerge from the deployment of AI" and risked "curtailing the very innovation that fuels advancement in favor of the public good." The vetoed bill, which the state legislature overwhelmingly passed in August, had garnered support from AI safety advocacy groups, labor unions, some enterprisers and Hollywood stars who called for safe and responsible AI development. However, it faced strong opposition from numerous members of Congress and major AI companies, including Google, Meta, and OpenAI, who warned that the bill could stifle innovation and potentially undermine California's and U.S. competitiveness in the AI field. Senator Wiener, the bill's author, expressed disappointment at the veto, calling it "a setback in oversight of massive corporations." The Center for AI Safety Action Fund echoed this sentiment, describing the veto as "an unnecessary and dangerous gamble with the public's safety." Teri Olle, director of Economic Security California Action, pointed to the influence of big tech companies on policymaking, suggesting that the bill's failure demonstrates "the enduring power and influence of the deep-pocketed tech industry" to maintain the status quo. On the other hand, Newsom's decision has been welcomed by businesses and some leading experts in the AI research field. The California Chamber of Commerce praised the veto in a social media post, arguing that the bill would have stifled AI innovation and put California's position as a global innovation hub at risk. Fei-Fei Li, co-director of Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence and a critic of SB1047, supported the governor's decision. She emphasized that AI regulation should be based on "scientific evidence to determine how to best foster innovation and mitigate risks." Governor Newsom also announced on Sunday that his administration had enlisted Li and other leading AI experts to help the state create workable protections for AI deployment. (UroToday.com) The 2024 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) annual meeting held in Washington D.C., between September 29 and October 2 was host to the session EDU 16 - Management of Unfavorable Intermediate-Risk Prostate Cancer: Role of SBRT, Brachytherapy and Androgen Deprivation Therapy. Dr. Daniel Spratt discussed SBRT for Unfavorable Intermediate-Risk Prostate Cancer. Dr. Spratt began his presentation by noting that when we think about risk stratification in prostate cancer, the first things that come to mind are the NCCN risk categories or DAmico risk stratification. However, the classification of intermediate-risk prostate cancer into favorable and unfavorable categories is relatively new. This division first occurred in 2013. Dr. Spratt mentioned that it all started with Dr. Desai in the residents' room, where they discussed the observation that some patients within this risk group exhibit more aggressive behavior. This led to the proposal of the new classification, which serves as a prognostic factor. Unfavorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer is often associated with a poor prognosis. As shown below, having Gleason grade group 3 (HR 3.49) or 2 intermediate risk factors (HR 2.40) are associated with an increased risk of distant metastasis. Similarly, having unfavorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer is associated with an increased cumulative incidence of prostate cancer-specific mortality compared to favorable intermediate-risk disease (p=0.013). These findings were confirmed through a secondary analysis of NRG Oncology's RTOG 9408 (NCT00002597), a randomized clinical trial of 1,068 intermediate-risk prostate cancer patients who were treated with radiotherapy with or without 4 months of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Patients with unfavorable intermediate-risk had a higher risk of distant metastasis (HR 2.36; 95% CI, 1.44 to 3.89; P = .001) and prostate cancer-specific mortality (HR, 1.84; 95% CI, 1.29 to 2.62; P = .001). Furthermore, in patients with favorable intermediate-risk disease, ADT did not improve distant metastasis or prostate cancer mortality. However, in patients with UIR, ADT improved distant metastasis (HR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.28 to 0.83; P = .008) and prostate cancer-specific mortality (HR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.26 to 0.60; P < .001), as shown in the curves below.1 Currently, there are numerous radiotherapy treatment options for patients with unfavorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer, including brachytherapy and external beam radiation therapy (EBRT). EBRT can be delivered as protons or photons, with photons being used in image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT). The fractionation schemes within these categories can vary, including conventional fractionation (~40 fractions), moderate hypofractionation (~20 fractions), or ultra-hypofractionation (~5 fractions), which is commonly referred to as stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). The evolution of radiotherapy treatment options for unfavorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer has been remarkable over the last 40 years. Starting in the 1980s with 2-dimensional radiotherapy, treatments were delivered in 45 fractions over 9 weeks, and there was a 10-30% risk of bothersome genitourinary and gastrointestinal toxicity, including a high risk of rectal bleeding. Today, we can treat patients with SBRT in just 5 fractions over 1-2 weeks, with only a 1-2% risk of bothersome toxicity. The NCCN guidelines recommend SBRT as a treatment option for nearly all risk categories, including unfavorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer. This recommendation is based on the HYPO-RT-PC phase 3 randomized non-inferiority trial involving 1,200 patients with intermediate and high-risk prostate cancer, which compared conventional fractionation (78Gy in 39 fractions of 2Gy) to ultra-hypofractionation (42.7Gy in 7 fractions of 6.1Gy). Notably, what is considered modern-day SBRT typically involves around 5 fractions, but this trial paved the way for further studies to explore and refine these approaches.2 The PACE B trial 5-year outcomes, presented at the ASTRO meeting in 2023, was an international phase 3 randomized controlled trial comparing SBRT with conventionally fractionated or moderately hypofractionated RT in patients with low-risk (10%) and intermediate-risk (90%) prostate cancer. The SBRT trial scheme involved 5 fractions of 8Gy (CTV 40Gy) and 5 fractions of 7.25Gy (PTV 36.25Gy). The results showed no significant difference in event-free survival between the two groups, although there was a trend suggesting that SBRT might be slightly better. Urinary toxicity was higher in the SBRT group, with grade 2 or worse genitourinary events in 5.4% of SBRT patients compared to 3.7% in the conventional fractionation RT arm, although this difference was not significant (p=0.28). There were no significant differences in bowel toxicity. Overall, both treatment approaches exhibited very low grades of overall toxicity.3 Notably, while the PACE B trial had an almost perfect trial design, a closer examination reveals some shortcomings. Specifically, the urethra contouring was not required, and many patients lacked MRI imaging to delineate the urethra, which was only constrained to "if visualized." The goal was to keep V44 Gy below 20% if the urethra was contoured. Consequently, it is likely that many patients received hotspots of 120% or greater, translating to doses of 48 Gy to the urethra, equivalent to approximately 121 Gy EQD2 (Equivalent Dose in 2 Gy fractions). This could explain the higher genitourinary toxicity observed in the trial. A systematic review and meta-analysis indicated excellent cancer control with stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) but noted higher toxicity rates. The estimated rates of late grade 3 genitourinary (GU) and gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity were 2.0% (95% CI, 1.4%-2.8%) and 1.1% (95% CI, 0.6%-2.0%), respectively. Additionally, an increasing dose of SBRT was linked to improved biochemical control (P = .018) but also correlated with worse late grade 3 GU toxicity (P = .014). However, Dr. Spratt contends that SBRT is not inherently associated with higher toxicity, attributing the observed adverse effects primarily to a lack of dose constraints in the prospective series included in the meta-analysis.4 Dr. Spratt mentioned we could use SBRT in three different treatment modalities to treat prostate cancer: Traditional SBRT: Treat the whole prostate to the same dose Micro-focal boost: Whole prostate treated to full dose and dominant nodule boosted to high dose Focal boost and de-escalation of whole gland: Whole prostate treated to lower dose, and dominant nodule boosted to high dose (This is where the field is probably moving towards) Micro-focal boost: Whole prostate treated to full dose and dominant nodule boosted to high dose In a phase 1a/b trial evaluating 36.25 Gy delivered in 5 fractions to the prostate, a focal boost dose escalation was applied to the dominant intraprostatic nodule, with doses of 45 Gy, 47.5 Gy, and 50 Gy, all given in 5 fractions. The results indicated no grade 3 or higher toxicity reported, and the treatment was well tolerated among participants.5 Focal boost and de-escalation of whole gland Dr. Loblaws and colleagues assessed the feasibility of delivering a focal boost to the prostatic nodule while de-escalating the whole gland dose in patients with intermediate-risk and high-risk prostate cancer. The treatment regimen included a dose of 35 Gy to the prostate, 25 Gy to the pelvis, and a dose escalation to 50 Gy for the dominant intraprostatic lesion, all given in 5 fractions. The results indicated very good urinary quality of life and bowel quality of life. Additionally, acute grade 2 toxicity, late toxicity appeared to be comparable to a cohort that did not receive a focal boost.6 The FLAME 2.0 trial enrolled patients with intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer who were treated with SBRT, delivering 35 Gy in 5 fractions to the whole prostate gland, with an iso-toxic boost of up to 50 Gy to the intraprostatic lesion using a semi-weekly (BIW) schedule compared to the prior weekly (QW) hypo-FLAME schedule. No grade 3 genitourinary (GU) or gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity was observed. Patients treated on the QW schedule experienced significantly less grade 2 GU toxicity (34.0%, p = 0.01). While this trial was randomized, it primarily aimed to compare different radiotherapy schedules.7 Dr. Spratts Protocol Dr. Spratt presented a case of a patient with unfavorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer (cT1C, iPSA 6.1 ng/mL, GG3 with 4/13 cores). In his clinic, all patients with unfavorable intermediate-risk must ideally undergo an MRI prior to prostate fusion biopsy. They also receive a PSMA PET/CT scan and a 22-gene genomic classifier (Decipher) test. If they are participating in a trial, they additionally get MMAI as a predictive biomarker for ADT. Their treatment protocol includes: CTV to PTV: 3mm Margin Pelvic lymph nodes are not routinely covered They use 7 mm margins into the rectum with no spacing The SBRT dose is 37.5 Gy/5 fraction to PTV and 40 Gy/5fraction to SIB The Urethra D1cc <40 Gy/5fraction He noted that he prefers to treat the dominant nodule to the whole dose (Full dose to the SIB) Dr. Spratt conclude his presentation by discussing future directions in SBRT include the FORT trial, a randomized phase II study investigating MR-guided prostate stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) administered in either 5 or 2 fractions for localized prostate cancer. The randomized HERMES trial, which compares 2 and 5-fraction magnetic resonance imaging-guided adaptive prostate radiation. Recently, an interim toxicity analysis from this trial reported acute grade 2 genitourinary (GU) toxicity in 1 (10%) patient in the 5-fraction group and 2 (20%) patients in the 2-fraction group, with no grade 3+ GU toxicities observed, recommending continuing recruitment to reach 23 participants per group.8 Additionally, the NRG-GU005 trial (NCI-2017-01398) is a phase III randomized study comparing SBRT (5 fractions of 7.25 Gy) to hypofractionated intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) (28 fractions of 2.5 Gy) in patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer, with disease-free survival (DFS) as the primary outcome. Results from these studies are eagerly awaited. Presented by: Daniel Spratt, MD, Radiation Oncologist at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center, Beachwood, OH, United States of America Written by: Julian Chavarriaga, MD Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) Clinical Fellow at The University of Toronto, @chavarriagaj on Twitter during the 2024 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) annual meeting held in Washington D.C., between the 29th of September and the 2nd of October. References: Christian Bitzas, one of the founders of Laramie-based Uplink Robotics, holds one of the inspection devices produced by the company. Uplink Robotics won the UW College of Business annual John P. Ellbogen $50K Entrepreneurship Competition and has benefited from UWs IMPACT 307 business incubator, which are among the programs that helped UW earn the Innovation and Economic Prosperity university designation. (UW Photo) In recognition of the University of Wyomings strong commitment to economic engagement, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) has designated UW as an Innovation and Economic Prosperity (IEP) university. The national designation acknowledges public research universities working with public- and private-sector partners in their states and regions to support economic development through a variety of activities, including innovation and entrepreneurship, technology transfer, talent and workforce development, and community development. Were delighted to receive this designation, says UW President Ed Seidel. The university takes seriously its role as an innovation and economic engine for Wyoming. Becoming an IEP university illustrates both success in our existing programs and a commitment to lift our performance even higher. Economic development is a major pillar of universities work, says APLU President Mark Becker. From talent development to pathbreaking research to entrepreneurship and beyond, institutions have a central role to play in economic development. Were pleased to recognize the University of Wyoming for its commitment to engaging its community around these issues to advance regional economic development. UW received the designation after an independent panel reviewed the institutions application, including an internal review and analysis of its economic engagement activities conducted with outside stakeholder input. APLUs Commission on Economic and Community Engagement, which manages the designation process, is a national leader in efforts to help public research universities plan, assess and communicate their work in regional, national and global economic development and community engagement. The commissions Economic Engagement Framework includes tools for university self-assessment, metrics determination and economic impact analysis. President Seidels exciting vision for UWs role in catalyzing innovation and entrepreneurship at UW and across the state has invigorated UWs commitment to support economic prosperity through place-based innovation and increased research enterprise, says Parag Chitnis, vice president for research and economic development. The IEP designation application involved hard work by a broad UW team that collected internal and external feedback to identify our innovation successes and to prepare thoughtful plans for future improvements. As part of the self-study conducted with external stakeholders that was central to the designation application process, UW identified areas of institutional strength in economic engagement and described programs in these areas. Officials also identified areas for growth and improvement for the universitys economic engagement enterprise and developed an improvement plan. This work demonstrated a commitment to continuous learning and improvement in this kind of engagement vital to universities and their regional partners. UWs application to APLU noted collaborations with public and private partners, including community colleges, the Wyoming Business Council, the Wyoming Economic Development Association, the Wyoming Innovation Partnership and state legislators. Activities of units of UWs Research and Economic Development Division, as well as other parts of the university, have included: -- Startup challenges by IMPACT 307, UWs business incubator program that provides resources and support for entrepreneurs to thrive. -- Regular trainings conducted by the Wyoming Small Business Development Center Network, which offers business expertise to help Wyoming residents think about, launch, grow or reinvent their businesses. -- The UW College of Business annual John P. Ellbogen $50K Entrepreneurship Competition, in which students formulate original business ventures and work with a network of organizations, entrepreneurs and community investors. -- The College of Business Bachelor of Science in entrepreneurship and Venture Master of Business Administration degree programs, which encourage students to work with local startups and businesses on business and capital plans. -- UWs College of Law practicum, which pairs students with local companies to address simple legal needs. -- The Wyoming Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer Initiative, which works to connect small businesses and innovators with innovative technologies to federal government research and development funds through workshops, webinars and mentoring. -- The Wyoming Outdoor Recreation, Tourism and Hospitality Initiative, which supports Wyomings second-largest economic sector by developing partnerships with industry and community leaders to provide experiential learning for students, professional development for the workforce and outreach services to Wyomings tourism industry. -- UWs Center of Innovation for Flow through Porous Media, which has begun a public-private partnership for research aimed at revitalizing legacy oil fields in Campbell, Converse and Johnson counties under the Wyoming Gas Injection Initiative. -- The School of Energy Resources, which directs and integrates innovative energy research and academic programs at UW and bridges academics and industry through outreach programs. -- UWs Manufacturing Works, which provides technical assistance programs and guidance to manufacturing businesses across the state. Illustrating UWs commitment to lifting its performance, the university recently created its Office of Industry and Strategic Partnerships, a collaborative venture between UWs Research and Economic Development Division and the UW Foundation to establish partnerships between the university, industry and nonindustry partners to foster innovation and economic impact. UW is now one of over 80 higher education institutions designated as IEP universities. Applications for the designation are evaluated by a panel of reviewers representing other universities and regional and national partners. Scoring was based on a range of criteria emphasizing universities development of their economic engagement enterprise; their planning efforts for economic engagement; strategic communications about these efforts; and participation in encouraging economic engagement among peer institutions. About the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities APLU is a research, policy and advocacy organization dedicated to strengthening and advancing the work of public universities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. With membership of more than 250 public research universities, land-grant institutions, state university systems and affiliated organizations, APLUs agenda is built on the three pillars of increasing degree completion and academic success, advancing scientific research and expanding engagement. Vietnam Briefing has developed into a premium source for insight on doing business in Vietnam. It publishes business news concerning foreign direct investment into Vietnam, including the most important tax, legal and accounting issues. The Vietnam Briefing Magazine was first published in 2009, and is contributed to by investment professionals based in Vietnam. BRATISLAVA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Slovakia registered a record trade surplus of 4.5 billion euros (5.04 billion U.S. dollars) last year, the country's Statistics Office reported on Monday. In 2023, Slovakia's exports grew by 5.5 percent year-on-year to 108.4 billion euros, while imports fell by 3.1 percent year-on-year to 103.9 billion euros. Exports to other European Union (EU) members grew by 2 percent year-on-year, accounting for 77.4 percent of Slovakia's total exports. Imports from the EU rose by 1.1 percent year-on-year, making up 64.9 percent of the country's total imports. (1 euro = 1.12 U.S. dollar) As Israel continues to launch airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, China is stepping up its efforts to play the role of peacemaker in the Middle East, issuing statements of condemnation, but Beijings actions are also exposing the limits of its ability to de-escalate tensions, analysts say. Beijing wants to create an impression that it is pushing for greater peace and stability in the Middle East, but Im not sure what all the statements amount to, said Ian Chong, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore. After Hezbollah confirmed Saturday that its long-time leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike that took place in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, China's Foreign Ministry reiterated Beijing's concern over the escalating conflict and urged all sides, especially Israel, to take steps to cool down the situation. China opposes the infringement on Lebanons sovereignty and security, opposes and condemns any action against innocent civilians, and opposes any move that fuels antagonism and escalates regional tensions, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement released Sunday. The ministry statement added that said since the escalating tension between Israel and Hezbollah is a spillover of the Gaza conflict, the priority now is to implement relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions, end the fighting in Gaza as soon as possible, and earnestly safeguard peace and stability in the Middle East. Sundays statement follows Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yis meeting with his Lebanese counterpart last Monday on the sidelines of U.N. meetings in New York. During his meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, Wang also stressed Beijings support for Lebanons efforts to safeguard its sovereignty and security and called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. In recent months, China has sought to play a bigger role in the Middle East as its trade and diplomatic ties with the region expand. Earlier in July, Beijing brokered meetings that led to reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions. In March 2023, Beijing helped broker a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran to reestablish diplomatic ties between the long-time rivals. Chong said that while brokering the reestablishment of diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia and reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions were low-hanging fruits for China, it remains unclear what Beijing may do to tackle more complicated regional issues, such as escalating tension between Israel and Hezbollah. It depends on what Beijing is willing to do [regarding the current conflict], and I suppose they could try to lean on Tehran, which they supposedly have good relations with, he told VOA by phone, adding that it is unclear how far they can get with Iran on issues related to the Middle East. Leveraging conflict against US As part of the attempt to present itself as a peacemaker in the Middle East, some observers say China is focusing on depicting Israel and the United States as aggressors in the ongoing conflict while portraying themselves as siding with the victims. They are painting this narrative that Israel and the U.S. are on the side of injustice and hegemony, and China is on the side of fairness and justice, Tuvia Gering, a non-resident fellow at Atlantic Councils Global China Hub, told VOA by phone. In comments to Chinese state media, some Chinese analysts have argued that it is the U.S. that allows, tolerates, or even instigates the escalation of the crisis in the Middle East. The United States has been pushing for a cease fire between Israel and Hezbollah to avoid further escalation of the conflict and a wider war in the region. Chong said the ongoing conflict in the Middle East may help to amplify Beijings preferred narrative that Washington and its allies are creators of instability, particularly among some developing countries. The current situation in the Middle East certainly opens up opportunities for those narratives to perhaps take hold, especially in parts of Africa, Latin America and Asia, he told VOA. However, he adds, while China may gain some leverage through this tactic, it needs to put forward something more concrete, such as a tangible peace plan to capitalize on the sentiment. While China seeks to leverage the crisis in the Middle East against the U.S., Chong said the continued escalation of the conflict could also mean more economic pressure for Beijing, as well. China is the worlds largest importer of oil and after Russia, the Middle East is a key source of energy imports for Beijing to keep its economy running. If there is a wider conflict within the Middle East, at a minimum, it may affect energy prices and supplies, which could add to some of Chinas ongoing economic woes, he told VOA. However, since its primary trading partners in the Middle East are wealthier countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council and Iran, accounting for more than $300 billion in 2023 in exports and imports, some experts say the impact of the ongoing conflict on Chinas economic interests is likely to be limited. I would imagine the current situation is very worrying for China and many other countries, but so long as the conflict is primarily limited to Israel dealing with different proxies and militias in its immediate surroundings, I dont necessarily think that it would translate into a direct threat of Chinese interests, Mohammed Alsudairi, a lecturer in politics and international relations at the Australian National University, told VOA in a phone interview. Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers has been in China on a landmark visit to stabilize his countrys relationship with its biggest trading partner. The trip, the first by an Australian treasurer to Beijing in seven years, is a sign that bilateral ties are improving after years of mistrust. But frictions persist, including tensions in the South China Sea. Chalmers' two-day trip to China has been aimed at repairing ties with Australia's largest trading partner, damaged by disagreements over trade and geopolitics. In Beijing, Chalmers has discussed boosting economic ties with his Chinese hosts. The Australian treasurer has been upbeat about prospects for the Chinese economy, despite its recent slowdown. He told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Monday that Canberra and Beijing can do more to boost trade. There could not have been a more important time for us to restart our strategic economic dialogue with China," he said. "The Chinese authorities announced some quite substantial steps when it comes to supporting growth in the Chinese economy. Last week, China said it carried out a rare test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile into international waters, prompting anger in neighboring countries. Defense officials in Beijing insisted the test firing that involved a dummy warhead was a routine part of its annual training. Chalmers said Friday that he had voiced his concerns about the launch to Chinese government officials. Australias shadow foreign affairs minister Simon Birmingham told local media that the Canberra government must continue to urge Beijing to show restraint. The message of regional and global stability, and the role China can play by not undertaking aggressive military postures in the South China Sea, is important for the economy, Birmingham said. Australia's center-left government has made the stabilization of ties with China a priority since it came to power in May 2022. But it must balance its key commercial relationship with China with growing security ties with its traditional allies. The Canberra government says the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine pact is on track and will endure for decades after a meeting of Australian, American and British defense ministers in London last Thursday. The 2021 trilateral accord is considered by analysts to be a response to Chinas growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region. It will give Australia the technology and hardware to build, run and maintain nuclear-powered submarines. Beijing has insisted the security pact undermines peace and stability. Western North Carolina residents faced a "post-apocalyptic" landscape Monday in the wake of Hurricane Helene, with hundreds of people still missing and residents struggling amid flooded roads and a lack of basic services. More than 100 deaths across a half-dozen states have been attributed to the powerful storm that slammed into Florida's Big Bend region late Thursday before cutting a destructive path through Georgia and into the Carolinas. As many as 600 people remain missing, U.S. Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall said at the White House, though she noted that the numbers could vary as responders reach more locations. The death toll was likely to rise, officials said. Residents in devastated communities found themselves isolated by flooded roads and a lack of running water, power and cell phone service. In mountainous Buncombe County, which includes the popular tourist destination of Asheville, 35 people have died, the county sheriff said at a news briefing. The county was set to begin distributing food and water to residents later in the day. Some supplies had to be airlifted to the region with most major routes blocked by mudslides and flooding. "They're running out of gas for ATVs that are helping the rescue, they're also running out of gas for the chainsaws," said Colleen Burns, 58, whose house is near Burnsville, in neighboring Yancey County. "We desperately need gas." Elsewhere in Yancey, the storm snapped century-old trees around the home of Taylor Shelton, 44. It took her husband two days with a chainsaw to cut a passage through the felled trees in their driveway and the nearby road so they could drive themselves and their three children out of the darkened house. 'Unbelievable' With no phone service, they relied on a neighbor who works as an EMT and had a walkie-talkie to help them determine which back roads out of the mountains were passable. "The devastation is unbelievable," she said in a phone interview. They were attempting to drive back home Monday to pick up their dog and two guinea pigs and leave out food for the cat and the chickens. Their car was loaded with coffee, donuts and diapers for their neighbors. "It looks like 'War of the Worlds.' Very, very big trees are down everywhere," she said. "We saw houses that are just washed away." She has still not been able to reach her husband's parents, who live in the nearby town of Burnsville, which was also badly hit. Lake Lure, around 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Asheville, was covered with floating debris from homes and businesses washed away by mountain streams that surround the lake, a video posted on X by Charlotte City Councilman Tariq Bokhari showed. "It's hard to describe never seen anything like this, post-apocalyptic," he wrote. "It's so overwhelming. You don't even know how to fathom what recovery looks like, let alone where to start." Some 2.1 million homes and businesses were without power Monday, according to the website Poweroutage.us. "The lack of communication is concerning," North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said Monday in an interview with CNN. "We know that there are people missing, and we know that there's going to be significant fatalities at the end of this and our prayers and our hearts go out to these families." Cooper, who said he had not heard from his son and daughter in 72 hours, added that local officials and rescue workers were performing door-to-door welfare checks in many communities. In Buncombe, officials said they are conducting checks of 150 "priority" households that include elderly residents or residents with medical problems. Biden to visit The National Guard and emergency workers from 19 states have been deployed to help, along with Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel. Cooper said the rugged terrain in the mountains of western North Carolina makes it almost impossible to traverse with landslides and flooding. "So we're depending a lot on air power, helicopters with hoist capacity to get supplies in," he said. President Joe Biden said he would visit North Carolina later this week and may ask Congress to return to Washington for a special session to pass supplemental aid funding. "There's nothing like wondering, 'Is my husband, wife, son, daughter, mother, father alive?'" Biden said at the White House. "Many more will remain without electricity, water, food and communications, and whose homes and businesses are washed away in an instant. I want them to know we're not leaving until the job is done." Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris cut short a campaign trip in Nevada on Monday to take part in briefings in Washington on the hurricane response and will visit the region when doing so won't impede response efforts, a White House official said. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump traveled to Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday to visit a furniture store that was heavily damaged in the storm. Helene struck Florida's Gulf Coast on Thursday night as a major Category 4 hurricane, triggering days of driving rain throughout the South and destroying homes that had stood for decades. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said Monday that at least 25 people in his state had died, including a firefighter responding to emergency calls during the storm and a mother and her 1-month-old twins who were killed by a falling tree. Damage estimates ranged from $15 billion to more than $100 billion, insurers and forecasters said over the weekend. Botswanas High Court has confirmed four presidential candidates will run in the countrys general elections next month. Among them is incumbent President Mokgweetsi Masisi, who is seeking a second and final term. By law, presidential candidates in Botswana must provide proof to the chief justice that they have the required number of supporters to be eligible to run. The High Court verified four out of five possible candidates had the required support. The presidential candidates will be Masisi; Duma Boko, leader of the opposition coalition Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC); Dumelang Saleshando of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP); and Mephato Reatile from the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF), according to Chief Justice Terrence Rannowane. Biggie Butale, from a smaller opposition group the Botswana Republican Party, failed to meet the requirements. Masisi, addressing party supporters outside the High Court, said Monday that he is confident of victory. We have completed the nomination process inside the High Court, he said. We are all equal before the law, but politically we are more superior to them. Let us now go out and show them (the opposition) that we are bigger than them. Boko told reporters that his party will not stand for a rigged election. In 2019, Boko and his party claimed the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) stole the election. If the election is free and fair, we will accept the outcome. But if things do not go well, like what happened in 2019, we will reject the results, he said. We warn those organizing the election that they should not attempt to rig the election. We urge every voter who is committed to a democratic process to be on guard and ensure that there are no irregularities. The UDC enters the Oct. 30 polls without the BCP party, which quit the coalition last year, citing differences in the opposition alliance. BCP spokesperson Mpho Pheko said her party is well organized heading into the countrys 13th general election. For the BCP, 2024 presents the best opportunity to change government in Botswana, Pheko said. So, completing this nomination process presents a lot of excitement and a lot of hope. Hope that Batswana heard our message. We are the first party to complete the manifesto, to complete the primary elections, to complete the nomination process. We hope that Batswana can see that this is a party that is very serious about them as a people. Pheko used the word Batswana, which collectively refers to all citizens of Botswana. The president is elected indirectly by parliament in Botswana, with recent efforts to introduce direct voting rejected following nationwide consultations. As China prepared to mark its National Day holiday, it used the occasion to once again call for reunification with Taiwan and to flex its military might. On the eve of National Day Monday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping reiterated his view that reunification was inevitable and essential for fulfilling goals of national rejuvenation. Just one day earlier, China carried out multiple missile firings that put Taiwans military on alert. "It is an irreversible trend, a matter of justice, and it is in accordance with the popular will. No one can stop the march of history," Xi said in his remarks. Since its establishment on Oct. 1 in 1949, the Peoples Republic of China or PRC has never ruled Taiwan, but it views the democratically governed island as its own territory and has vowed to bring the island under its control, by force if necessary. On Tuesday, China will mark 75 years since the Communist Party defeated Kuomintang Nationalist forces, ending a bloody civil war. The Nationalists fled to Taiwan, which after decades of one-party rule by the Kuomintang eventually became a thriving democracy. According to public opinion polls in Taiwan there is very little support for unification with China, regardless of whether it is as soon as possible or in the future. "Taiwan is sacred territory for China. People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have blood ties, and these family ties will always be stronger than others," Xi said. Xis call comes just one day after Taiwans Defense Ministry detected multiple waves of missile firings within Chinas interior. Earlier last week, Beijing also test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile into international waters, a drill the likes of which China has not conducted since the 1980s. On Sunday, U.S. President Joe Biden approved $567 million in military support for Taiwan, the largest aid package America has granted the island. The funding will aid Taiwanese military education and training and allow for the speedy delivery of military articles, according to a statement from the White House. Some material for this report was provided by Reuters and Agence France-Presse. The closure of media outlets and jailing of journalists has become a reality in Hong Kong as the government there cracks down on the press in the name of national security. Some Hong Kong journalists exiled to other countries are trying to push back against the threats to press freedom from overseas. VOAs William Yang reports from Taipei. Camera: Katie Tam, Jonathan Spier In a celebration fit for a centenarian, the historic Fox theater in Atlanta recently hosted dozens of musical acts and thousands of guests for a concert celebrating the 100th birthday of Georgias one-time governor, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Its a way to be together and I think thats who he is fundamentally, said Jason Carter, who said he believes the concert, featuring some performers that also campaigned for his grandfather in the 1970s, is a unifying and bipartisan way to celebrate what one documentary film director calls the Rock n Roll President. Its one of those fundamental human connections that brings people together across geographies, across culture, across any sort of racial dividing lines, Jason Carter told VOA during a press event ahead of the performances. Youll have both Democrats and Republicans here tonight. Despite the many speakers, actors, musicians and former presidents who sent video tributes, the one person noticeably absent from the celebration was Jimmy Carter himself. He remains in hospice care at his home 240 kilometers south of Atlanta. Its a 600-person village in the middle of nowhere, and all of his other work at the end of the road in Africa, Mali, South Sudan, has been in those same kinds of 600-person villages, Jason Carter said. He feels a kinship there and he feels a connection and the way that he marks this moment is by being at home. Jason Carter said his grandfather will watch the concert broadcast on Georgia Public Television, as he celebrates his historic milestone birthday in Plains, Georgia, not far from where his story began, at the Wise Sanitarium, where on October 1, 1924, Lillian Carter, then a nurse at the facility, gave birth to the first U.S. president to have been born in a hospital. The facility is now called the Lillian G. Carter Nursing Center. But the only reason he was born in a hospital was because his mother was working that day, Jill Stuckey, a Carter family friend, told VOA. Stuckey serves as superintendent of the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site in Plains which includes Carters preserved Depression-era boyhood farm, the old Plains High School where Carter studied and the railroad depot Carter converted into his campaign headquarters in his successful 1976 White House bid. After the hospice announcement nearly a year ago, I didnt think wed be at this point, Stuckey said during an interview with VOA, standing next to a replica of the famous Resolute Desk from the White House Oval Office, now a big draw for tourists who visit Plains High School. Stuckey said Plains celebrates its famous neighbor every day, but this historic birthday is marked by serving others. Were naturalizing 100 new citizens in his honor. Thanks to the secretary of the Navy, were having four F-18 jets flyover. She said another, smaller birthday concert in the Plains High School auditorium is also meant to help the community celebrate the man who rose from being a local peanut farmer to president of the United States. He definitely deserves a lot of fanfare, because hes definitely the greatest person Ive ever met in my life, she told VOA. Carters milestone is a bittersweet occasion in Plains, though, its the first Carter has spent since his wife, Rosalynn, died last November. Seventy-seven-and-a-half years of marriage, to be without your partner, your soul mate you know its very, very tough times, said Stuckey, Its tough times on him, but on all of us that knew her, that loved her, the family members. Carters birthday celebration, which began at the Fox theater in September and ends in Plains October 1, brought his large extended family together, including his great-grandson, Charlie Carter, who hinted it may not be the last time such a gathering occurs. No maybe his 101th? Jimmy Carter also holds the record for the longest post-presidential career. After departing the White House in 1981, he and Rosalynn founded the Atlanta-based global nonprofit Carter Center, which fights neglected tropical diseases, promotes peaceful conflict resolution, and monitors elections around the world, causes which led to Carter winning the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize. Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has urged Muslims to stand by Lebanons Hezbollah militia "with their resources and help," but analysts say its unlikely that Iran will retaliate directly on Israel for the airstrike that killed its prime regional ally, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, and his lieutenants. Analysts say that Iran will continue to depend on its regional proxies to fight Israel because it wants to avert a direct Israeli hit on the country. Ahron Bregman, Middle East security professor at Kings College London, told VOA that Israel has sent a very clear message to Iran with its Sunday attack on its other proxy, Yemens Houthi rebels, even as it continued to bombard Lebanon. He said the distance between Israel and Yemen is not dissimilar to that of Iran, giving a strong warning to Tehran. Its a big force because you need airplanes to refuel the attacking airplanes. You have to send aircraft to rescue. Its a big operation. The Israelis sent a message to Iran. Look, what we did yesterday to Yemen, we can do it to you. We can hit your oil refineries and even attack your nuclear facilities, said Bregman. Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, "the fate of this region will be determined by the forces of resistance, with Hezbollah at the forefront. The statement was taken to mean that Hezbollah is responsible for avenging the death of its leader Hassan Nasrallah. Sanam Vakil, the director for the Middle East program at Londons Chatham House think tank, told The New York Times that Iran is completely checkmated by Israel at this moment. Vakil added, Khameneis statement is indicative of the gravity of the moment and the caution; he is not publicly committing to anything that he cant deliver. Ali Vaez, Iran Project director with the International Crisis Group, quoted by Saudi Arabias Arab News said, Iran is going to stand behind, not with, Hezbollah. Tehrans forward defense strategy has always been based on projecting power beyond its borders and deterring, not inviting, strikes against its own territory. Nicholas Heras, of the Washington-based New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, told VOA that Khamenei has misjudged Israels military aims, including the strong weakening, if not destruction of Hezbollah, the repopulation of northern Israel and the decoupling of Lebanon from Gaza. The Iranians, theyve underestimated Israel. And in order for Irans strategy of using so-called proxies to create a ring of fire around Israel it requires the Israelis to be deterred. The Israelis are doing the opposite. And so, if Iran cant reestablish deterrence, a major part of its strategic doctrine in the Middle East disappears. he said. Meanwhile, Hezbollahs deputy and now acting leader, Naim Kassem, has vowed to carry on the fight with Israel, despite the killing of the militias top commanders. He said Hezbollah members are ready to fight and defend Lebanon against a possible ground offensive by Israel. DAMASCUS, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Syrian air defenses intercepted "hostile targets" west of the capital, Damascus, on Monday, according to local media. Sham FM reported that explosions were heard in the areas of Qura al-Assad, al-Dimas, and the Qudsaya suburb, attributed to the army's response to a hostile target, likely a drone. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights noted that an Israeli drone conducted an airstrike on an unidentified target located between al-Dimas and Qura al-Assad, along the Damascus-Beirut highway. This strike coincided with the activation of Syrian air defense systems aimed at countering the drone, said the Britain-based war monitor. On Sunday, an Israeli drone targeted a villa associated with the Syrian army's Fourth Division near Yaafour in the Damascus countryside, employing highly explosive missiles. No casualties have been reported. The Observatory indicated that the villa was often visited by leaders of Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran will not deploy forces to Lebanon or Gaza to confront Israel, its foreign ministry said Monday, as Israeli strikes target its allies in the region. "There is no need to send extra or volunteer forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran," said foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani, adding that Lebanon and fighters in the Palestinian territories "have the capability and strength to defend themselves against the aggression." Israel has in recent days been launching heavy airstrikes in Lebanon against the so-called "axis of resistance," a network of Iran-aligned militant groups in the region, including in Syria, Yemen and Iraq. An Israeli strike Friday on Beirut killed Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that Iran has armed and financed for years. "We have not received any request in this regard from any side. On the contrary, we are informed and are sure that they do not need the help of our forces," Kanani told reporters in Tehran. Kanani nonetheless vowed that Israel "will not remain without reprimand and punishment for the crimes it has committed against the Iranian people, military personnel and the resistance forces. Also Monday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visited Hezbollah's office in Tehran "to pay tribute" to Nasrallah, according to the government's website. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all matters of the state, has vowed that Nasrallah's death "will not be in vain," and First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said it would bring about Israel's "destruction." Iran has also vowed to avenge the killing of Abbas Nilforushan, a top commander of the Quds Force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' foreign operations arm, who died alongside the Hezbollah leader. Israel increases its attacks in Lebanon as it targets Hezbollah militants and leadership. The US is set to increase its presence in the region. Russia attacked Ukraine, including Kyiv, with drones and Ukraine struck a Russian weapons depot. The right-wing is ascendent in Austria as Jens Stoltenberg says farewell. A look at Chinese investment in the US and its impact on American politics and aid groups are blocked from entering war ravaged Sudan as millions on the brink of starvation are eating leaves to survive. Hurricane Helene leaves devastation in the US southeast, and its the end of the road for coal in England. Officials from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are meeting for the fourth time in less than two years to find ways to more effectively fight transnational crimes around the Lake Victoria area. Some of the crimes are nature-related, such as illegal fishing, tree cutting and charcoal production. In other cases, criminals take advantage of porous borders to sell drugs and conduct human trafficking. In 2021, the police organization Interpol rescued 121 people trafficked in and around Lake Victoria. Speaking to reporters at the port city of Mombasa, Kenya's interior ministry principal secretary, Raymond Omollo, said the parties were looking to close gaps in policing and surveillance, while also improving social and economic relations of communities living in the lake region. "So we are looking at how to coordinate better, how to build capacities, how to have a common understanding with the communities around the lake and also who benefits from the use of the lake on how to manage those resources better while at the same [time] trying to minimize, eradicate a crime that we know is common in the lake," Omollo said. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) launched the Lake Victoria project in December 2022. The worlds second-largest freshwater lake covers 60,000 square kilometers and is a source of livelihood for at least 40 million people in East Africa. Uganda's assistant commissioner for migration, Marcellino Bwesigye, told conference attendees that keeping Lake Victoria safe is important for his country. "Lake Victoria is Uganda's ocean. So, we are looking forward to working together, especially to learn about the good practices that you have from the coast," Bwesigye said. Authorities have documented illegal fishing in the lake, driven by rising demand for Nile perch, as well as charcoal harvesting and timber smuggling. Sharon Dimanche, IOM Kenya's chief of mission, said authorities need to partner with communities to fight organized crime in the region. "If the border communities are not informed, if they really don't know what we need to focus on, then it becomes a bit challenging to combat any of these transnational organized crimes because they are there and they know what is happening and they know some strange faces that are coming in their communities. So it's important that we link them up, they have a good relationship with law enforcement agencies," Dimanche said. The meeting in Mombasa ends Wednesday. On a quiet May morning, two months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the homepage of Kremlin-owned news website Lenta.ru was flooded with anti-war and anti-government articles. The articles disappeared from the webpage within the hour, but because of the effort of internet archivists, they can still be viewed separately today. This is one of many examples of the Russian governments attacks on free media, one that activists and archivists hope to counter. Since Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, almost all independent media has been banned or blocked, and journalists are frequently imprisoned over trumped-up charges, according to Reporters Without Borders. To preserve over two decades of independent Russian journalism, exiled journalists and activists teamed up with PENs Freedom to Write Center to create the Russian Independent Media Archive, or RIMA. There is no freedom to write if there is no freedom to read, Liesl Gerntholtz, director of PENs Freedom to Write Center, told VOA. Currently, the website houses over 6 million documents from 98 outlets, starting from the year 2000 when Russian President Vladmir Putin first came to power. Co-founders Anna Nemzer, Ilia Veniavkin and Serob Khachatryan began the project around the time of the Ukraine invasion. The restrictive anti-war censorship laws that followed threatened press freedom and journalist safety in Russia, Nemzer told VOA. More than 1,500 journalists fled the country after the invasion and 22 were imprisoned at the end of last year, according to data from the Committee to Protect Journalists. I remember thinking: how can we help these people? Nemzer told VOA. We couldnt help them relocate; we couldnt help them avoid prison if they stayed in Russia, but we thought the least we could do was save archives of their work. At the time of the invasion, Nemzer was on a business trip outside of her home in Moscow, and she remains exiled today. Nemzer hopes the archive will protect work that is or might be deliberately erased by the government. The main audience for the archive is journalists, academics and researchers who may not have access to relevant documents when they write about Russia. Gerntholtz of PEN sees this archive as the first draft of history, she told VOA. But Nemzer also believes she is doing a service for the archived independent journalists, both in and outside Russia, by preserving their work. PENs Freedom to Write Center agreed to help develop the project because of these shared views the organization sees media archiving as a natural extension of protecting the reporters themselves, Gerntholtz told VOA. Gerntholtz added that the organization is concerned about Russias crackdown on free expression that has only intensified after 2022. Free expression in Russia has been at risk for a really long time, Gerntholtz told VOA. We've seen more writers and artists who've been jailed for anti-war expression. We've seen civilian and professional journalists jailed for their activism journalism. She cited the April 2024 arrests of journalists Konstantin Gabov and Sergey Karelin as an example of the Russian government silencing anti-corruption reporting. They were arrested on extremism charges for their work for late Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. Even before the invasion, a huge attack on journalists was already underway, Nemzer told VOA. She saw Russias government declare many independent media outlets as undesirable organizations and prosecute her peer journalists under foreign agent charges. The Kremlin passed the undesirable-organization law in 2015, giving the government the power to shut down foreign and international organizations. However, critics say this law is a way to target government-critical news outlets. More than 175 organizations have been declared undesirable. Because of these crackdowns, Nemzer faced many hurdles in archiving decades of material. Mastering the technology to construct the archive to the scale it is today was especially challenging, and it is still a work in progress, she told VOA. The co-founders collaborated with the worlds largest internet archive, the Wayback Machine, to use the technology to create a special archived collection. The Wayback Machine archives over a billion URLs a day, according to its director, Mark Graham. RIMA has been able to access their collection efforts to preserve not just written articles, but also video and audio journalism. Material published on the web is not permanent or persistent, Graham told VOA. The reliability of the access to that information going into the future is uncertain. Among the millions of stories archived in RIMA, over 50,000 come from exiled independent news source The Moscow Times. Since the Ukraine invasion, The Moscow Times and its staff have faced nothing but challenges, Alexander Gubsky, longtime publisher of the Times, told VOA. The staff had to relocate from Russia to Amsterdam within two weeks because of the Russian governments hostile policies toward journalists, according to Gubsky. They want to shut us up, Gubsky said. We tell the truth, and they cannot allow the truth. Preserving the work of targeted individuals and outlets is one of the main reasons why Nemzer of RIMA helped create the archive, she told VOA. However, Gubsky told VOA that the Times has an archive of their own work on their website, and prefers that curious readers turn their attention there. He said that while RIMA is an interesting project, the Times owns the copyright for all their own articles, and their primary source of income is from licensing and syndication. Graham of the Wayback Machine told VOA that the organization responds to legitimate requests from rights holders regarding the distribution of their material. He added that archiving public articles falls under fair use. RIMA is set up to facilitate a kind of exploration in a way that you simply can't do if all you have is access to a few individual websites, Graham said. As RIMA continues to expand, Nemzer already has her sights set on the future. She hopes to take advantage of evolving artificial intelligence to help sort the archive. Nemzer also aims to create similar projects for other countries with leadership that suppresses media and has already talked to journalists from Belarus, Afghanistan and Iran. Writers play a particular role in challenging autocracy, in exposing human rights abuses and speaking truth to power, Gerntholtz said. And journalists are crucial to challenging powerful people and governments. A British judge on Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal will step down after his term ends on Monday, the city's judiciary said, the fifth foreign justice to leave the bench this year. Judges from common law jurisdictions are invited to sit as non-permanent members in the former British colony's top court. Their presence has long been considered by authorities as a sign of international confidence in Hong Kong's justice system, which is separate from mainland China's opaque, party-controlled legal system. However, the judiciary has seen an unprecedented exodus this year, with Nicholas Addison Phillips being the latest to leave the bench. The 86-year-old has "indicated recently that he did not wish to have his term of appointment extended upon its expiry on 30 September 2024 due to personal reasons," the judiciary said in a statement on Monday. Authorities in Hong Kong have enacted two national security laws to quell dissent since huge, and at times violent, pro-democracy protests were quashed in 2019. The latest came into force in March, drawing criticism from Western nations, including Britain and the United States, about the legislation further curbing freedoms in Hong Kong. Two senior British judges resigned from Hong Kong's top court in June. One of them, Jonathan Sumption, 75, wrote an opinion piece in The Financial Times that he had resigned because "rule of law is profoundly compromised." The other, Lawrence Collins, 83, cited Hong Kong's "political situation" as the reason for his resignation. The other two who declined to extend their terms, an Australian judge in March and a Canadian judge in July, cited old age and personal reasons for their resignations. Phillips, a former chief justice of the United Kingdom's Supreme Court, has served for 12 years since he joined the court in 2012. The judiciary thanked him for his "support for the rule of law in Hong Kong during his tenure." It said on Monday that "despite the departure of some (non-permanent judges) in recent years, an overwhelming majority of the serving and departed (judges) have publicly reiterated their continued confidence in judicial independence in Hong Kong." Six foreign judges will remain on the Court of Final Appeal following Phillips's departure. Hong Kong had five overseas judges sitting in its top court when the city was handed back to China in 1997. The bench gradually expanded to 15 members in 2019 and 2020 before downsizing for four consecutive years. The Taliban said Monday that their security forces had killed and captured several key members of a regional Islamic State affiliate for plotting recent terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, alleging that the suspects had crossed over from Pakistan. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson, listed the claims and so-called successes against Islamic State-Khorasan, or IS-K, locally known as Daesh, in a formal statement without providing evidence to support them. The assertions came after the countrys three immediate neighbors and Russia jointly urged the de facto Kabul government this past Friday to take visible and verifiable actions against transnational terrorist groups, including IS-K, on Afghan soil. Mujahid said the IS-K operatives in question had been involved in several recent attacks in Afghanistan. They included a suicide bombing in the Afghan capital earlier this month and a May gun attack in the central city of Bamiyan, he added. Both attacks resulted in the deaths of at least ten people, including three Spanish tourists, with IS-K claiming credit for them at the time. The Taliban spokesperson said that IS-K insurgents had established new operational bases and training camps in the Pakistani border provinces of Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after fleeing Afghan counterterrorism security operations. From these new bases, they continue to orchestrate attacks, both within Afghanistan and in other countries, he claimed, noting that some of the arrested individuals had recently returned to Afghanistan from the Daesh Khorasan training camp in Balochistan. Islamabad has not immediately responded to the Talibans allegations, which came two days after neighboring Pakistan, China, and Iran, along with Russia, at a meeting in New York this past Friday, urged the Taliban to eradicate bases of IS-K and other transnational terrorist groups in Afghanistan. The ministerial meeting warned that these Afghan-based terrorist entities continue to pose a serious threat to regional and global security. According to a joint statement released after the huddle, the participants recognized the Taliban's efforts in combating IS-K. They called on de facto authorities to take visible and verifiable actions in fulfilling the international obligations and commitments made by Afghanistan to fight terrorism, dismantle, and eliminate all terrorist groups equally and non-discriminatory and prevent the use of Afghan territory against its neighbors, the region, and beyond, the statement stressed. It identified the groups in question as IS-K, al-Qaida, Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement, ETIM, which opposes China, anti-Iran Jaish ul-Adl, and the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, TTP, as well as the Baloch Liberation Army, BLA, both waging attacks on Pakistani security forces and civilians. The United Nations, in a recent security assessment, also described TTP as the largest terrorist group in Afghanistan, with several thousand operatives, noting that IS-K activities in the country are also turning into a significant regional threat. It noted that the group had intensified cross-border attacks in Pakistan since the Taliban regained power three years ago and is being facilitated by the de facto Afghan rulers. A new report issued Monday documented nearly 1,000 deaths of civilians and security forces in Pakistan during the first nine months of 2024. The Islamabad-based independent Center for Research and Security Studies stated that most of the fatalities resulted from attacks by TTP and BLA-led insurgents. Pakistani authorities have consistently urged Kabul to extradite TTP leaders and militants to Islamabad for trial for instigating deadly violence in the country. The Taliban has rejected Pakistani and U.N. allegations, saying they are not allowing any foreign groups, including TTP, to threaten other countries from Afghanistan. The United States has designated TTP and BLA as global terrorist organizations. A Thai court Monday approved the extradition of a human rights activist to his native Vietnam, where rights groups say he faces a high risk of torture and cannot be guaranteed a fair hearing from his countrys courts. Y Quynh Bdap says he fled to Thailand in 2018 to evade arrest for his human rights work on behalf of the Montagnards, a predominantly Christian group of ethnic minorities who live in Vietnams central highlands. Thai police arrested him in Bangkok in June at Vietnams request. Vietnam wants Bdap back for his alleged role in fomenting a riot last year that left nine people dead, including four police officers, according to state media. Bdap says he had nothing to do with the riot. A Vietnamese court convicted him on related terrorism charges in absentia in January and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. Vietnams government has also labeled his group, Montagnards Stand for Justice, a terrorist organization. Bdaps lawyer, Nadthasiri Bergman, said the judge ignored Thailands anti-torture law, which forbids deporting people to countries where they may face torture, claiming it was up to the government not the courts to enforce. The government has 90 days to decide whether to carry out the extradition request now that the court has approved it, unless Bdap and his lawyer appeal the verdict. Bergman said they would appeal, and that the 90 days would then begin only after the appeals process is over, should they lose again. If Bdap is ultimately forced back to Vietnam, Bergman said her client would be at serious physical risk, adding that the threat had been corroborated by the United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR. Although Thailand does not legally recognize refugees, the UNHCRs team in Thailand had granted Bdap one of its own refugee cards after assessing his claims. So long as he has [U.N.] refugee status, it means that he cannot go back to his home country, the country that he fled, because there is an existing and imminent threat to his life, said Bergman. A spokesperson for the Thai government could not be reached for comment. Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch in Thailand, called Mondays decision by the court shocking and disappointing for ignoring both the countrys international obligations and its own law against refoulement. Vietnamese authorities have a long record of mistreating political dissidents, especially those who are on the wanted list like Y Quynh Bdap. So, there are concerns that he will be mistreated in custody of Vietnamese authorities; that includes torture, that includes enforced disappearance, he told VOA. In May, Human Rights Watch published a detailed report alleging Thailand had made itself increasingly dangerous for foreign asylum-seekers over the past decade by engaging in an informal swap mart with its neighbors, forcibly returning each others dissidents regardless of whether they may be arrested, tortured or killed back home. The passage of Thailands anti-torture law in 2022 raised hopes that the practice might wane. Sunai, though, said Bdaps case was the first major test of the laws refoulement clause, and that Thailand had failed. Not only [does] the court decision today put the life of Y Quynh Bdap in danger; it also sets a very dangerous precedent, he said. Now, basically, repressive foreign governments can seek cooperation with Thai authorities to hunt down and extradite dissidents who live in exile in Thailand because Thailand cannot ensure their safety. He said countries backing Thailands current bid for a rotating seat on the U.N.s Human Rights Council should use their support as leverage to urge the government not to follow through with Bdaps extradition. Several of the U.N.s independent rights experts have also urged Thailand to reject Vietnams extradition request. At least three police officers were killed in separate attacks by jihadists and gunmen in Iran's southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province, state media reported Monday. One of Iran's poorest regions, Sistan-Baluchistan on the border with Pakistan has long been plagued by unrest involving drug-smuggling gangs, rebels from the Baluchi minority and Sunni extremists. "A border guard was killed a few hours ago in a clash with gunmen in Hirmand in Sistan-Baluchistan province," the official IRNA news agency reported. A separate attack on law enforcement in the same region Monday left another border guard killed and two others wounded, IRNA said. The news agency also reported that a member of the police special force was killed in the town of Khash, also in Sistan-Baluchistan. The Pakistan-based Sunni jihadist group Jaish al-Adl, or Army of Justice in Arabic, claimed responsibility for the last two attacks in a message on Telegram. The group has claimed responsibility for several attacks in recent months, including a Sunday raid that killed a policeman in the same region. Donald Trump railed against immigrants in the country illegally in an often-graphic speech in Pennsylvania on Sunday, his fourth campaign stop in a month in what has become the presidential campaign's most hotly contested state. The Republican presidential candidate called some categories of immigrants "vicious" over 10 times during his nearly two-hour address in Erie and described several violent incidents. While there is no nationwide data on crimes committed specifically by undocumented immigrants, research shows they do not commit crimes at a higher rate than people born in the U.S. Trump's speech was short of new policy details ahead of Election Day on Nov. 5. Trump believes immigration is a winning campaign issue, and he has at times said he believes immigration weighs on voters' minds more than other major topics, such as the economy. "They call them of the worst order," Trump said of immigrants who had committed violent crimes. "Charged with or convicted with heinous crimes, including child predators, drug dealers, vicious gang members, sadist thugs and people that deal in women." At one point, he suggested he would condone a burst of police violence. "One rough hour, and I mean real rough. The word will get out and it will end immediately," he said. It is hardly the first time that Trump has unleashed a tirade against undocumented immigrants in his bid for the White House. In June 2015, in the speech announcing his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the 2016 election, Trump accused Mexico of sending rapists and other criminals to live in the United States. Trump's rally Sunday in Erie came one month to the day after his vice presidential running mate, U.S. Senator JD Vance, held his own event there. Trump is due to hold another rally in western Pennsylvania, on Oct. 5. The former president notably did not repeat his debunked claims that Haitian immigrants have eaten household pets in Springfield, Ohio. He did briefly refer to the community of Charleroi, Pennsylvania, which he has described as being overwhelmed by Haitians. Charleroi had a population of about 4,000 in the 2020 Census. Local officials say there has been an influx of about 2,000 immigrants, including some Haitians, in recent years, drawn by work at a local food processing plant, according to NPR. All eyes on Pennsylvania Many allies and advisers to Trump believe Pennsylvania is the most important of the seven battleground states that will ultimately decide the election. Of those seven, Pennsylvania is the most populous and has the most votes in the Electoral College, which in turn determines the presidential election winner. "If we win Pennsylvania, we win," Trump said Sunday. Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump have already spent hundreds of millions of dollars on ads in Pennsylvania, more than the total spent in any other state and more per capita. Erie County is one of two Pennsylvania counties that favored Trump in the 2016 election against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton before favoring President Joe Biden against Trump in 2020. Trump narrowly won the state and the presidential election in 2016, before losing both in 2020. This time around, polls show that Pennsylvania is again competitive. Trump's next rally in Pennsylvania, on Oct. 5, will take place in Butler, about 160 km south of Erie and the site of a failed assassination attempt on Trump in July, when a bullet grazed the former president's ear. Ukraines military said Monday it shot down 67 of 73 Russian aerial drones launched in overnight attacks targeting areas across Ukraine. In addition to the drones, Ukraines air defenses also shot down one of three Russia missiles. The intercepts took place over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Sumy, Vinnytsia, and Zhytomyr regions, the Ukrainian air force said. Officials in Dnipropetrovsk said Monday that drone and artillery attacks damaged at least 10 homes. Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said air alerts were active in the Ukrainian capital for five hours, but that air defenses intercepted all attacks directed at Kyiv. Russias Defense Ministry said Monday it destroyed two Ukrainian aerial drones, both over the Belgorod region that sits along the Russia-Ukraine border. Vyacheslav Gladkov, Belgorods governor, reported one person killed and another injured in the Ukrainian attacks. Some information for this story was provided by Reuters At 3,800m on Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, Waliguan Baseline Observatory monitors the global atmosphere since 1994. Its "Waliguan Curve" tracks CO2 levels annually, showcasing China's dedication to global climate governance. #GLOBALink Ukraine's new foreign minister held a "frank" conversation with his Hungarian counterpart on "difficult issues" on Monday, against a backdrop of a frosty relationship between the neighboring countries. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been the only EU leader to maintain close ties with the Kremlin since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He has repeatedly stalled efforts to punish Moscow and to aid war-torn Ukraine in its fight against the invading forces. Budapest refuses to approve the release of more than $7.25 billion to Kyiv, complaining about discriminatory measures against Hungarian companies. "We had a very frank one-on-one conversation discussing difficult issues, among other things," Andriy Sybiga told reporters after a meeting with Hungary's top diplomat, Peter Szijjarto, in Budapest. The negotiations between the two ministers "lasted about an hour, twice as long as planned," according to a statement from the Ukrainian ministry. Speaking at a press conference, Sybiga welcomed Orban's first visit to Kyiv at the beginning of July and called for "the development of bilateral relations," saying he could "count on Budapest's support" in its EU integration process. "Our meeting today has convinced me that ... there is a mutual and common will to develop neighborly relations," Szijjarto added. But Hungary's foreign minister also urged Kyiv to refrain from "unilateral, sudden steps" that could "pose a challenge" to the central European country's energy supply. In July, Budapest accused Kyiv of threatening its energy security by barring Russian energy giant Lukoil from using the Ukrainian section of the Druzhba pipeline. Earlier this month, Hungarian energy company MOL made a deal guaranteeing the supply of Russian oil. The two ministers also agreed to accelerate efforts by an intergovernmental working group set up to address a long-running feud over minority rights in Transcarpathia, a western Ukrainian region home to an ethnic Hungarian community. The union representing U.S. dockworkers has signaled that 45,000 of its members will walk off the job at midnight, kicking off a strike likely to shut down ports across the East and Gulf coasts. The coming work stoppage threatens to significantly snarl the nation's supply chain, potentially leading to higher prices and delays in goods reaching households and businesses if it drags on for weeks. That's because the strike by members of the International Longshoremen's Association could cause 36 ports which handle roughly half of the goods shipped into and out of the U.S. to shutter operations. ILA confirmed over the weekend that its members would hit the picket lines at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. In a Monday update, the union blamed the United States Maritime Alliance, which represents the ports, for continuing to to block the path toward an agreement before the contract deadline. The Ocean Carriers represented by USMX want to enjoy rich billion-dollar profits that they are making in 2024, while they offer ILA Longshore Workers an unacceptable wage package that we reject," ILA said in a prepared statement. ILA longshore workers deserve to be compensated for the important work they do keeping American commerce moving and growing." ILA also accused the shippers of gouging their customers" with sizeable price increases for containers over recent weeks. The union said that this will result in increased costs for American consumers. The Associated Press reached out to a USMX spokesperson for comment. If drawn out, the strike would force businesses to pay shippers for delays and cause some goods to arrive late for peak holiday shopping season potentially impacting delivery of anything from toys or artificial Christmas trees, to cars, coffee and fruit. A strike could have an almost immediate impact on supplies of perishable imports like bananas, for example. The ports that could be affected by the strike handle 3.8 million metric tons of bananas each year, or 75% of the nations supply, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. Americans could also face higher prices as retailers feel the supply squeeze. If the strikes go ahead, they will cause enormous delays across the supply chain, a ripple effect which will no doubt roll into 2025 and cause chaos across the industry," noted Jay Dhokia, founder of supply chain management and logistics firm Pro3PL. Dhokia added that East Coast ports aren't the only ones at risk for disruption, as concern leading up to the strike has already diverted many shipments out West, adding to route congestion and more pressure on demand. Impacts will also be felt internationally particularly in places like the United Kingdom, he said, where the U.S. is its largest trading partner. ILA members are demanding higher wages and a total ban on the automation of cranes, gates and container-moving trucks used in the loading or unloading of freight. The coming strike by the ILA workers set to impact ports from Maine to Texas will be the first by the union since 1977. West Coast dockworkers belong to a different union and arent involved in the strike. If a strike were deemed a danger to U.S. economic health, President Joe Biden could, under the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, seek a court order for an 80-day cooling-off period. That would suspend the strike. All eyes are on what, if any, action the administration might take particularly just weeks ahead of a tight presidential election. But Biden has signaled that he will not exercise this power. During an exchange with reporters on Sunday, Biden said no when asked if he planned to intervene in the potential work stoppage. Because its collective bargaining, I dont believe in Taft-Hartley, he said. At a briefing Monday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated that the administration had never invoked Taft-Hartley to break a strike and are not considering doing so now." She added that top officials were still urging both parties to return to the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith. In the U.S. election, vice presidential candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz meet Tuesday for their first, and only, debate. VOA Correspondent Scott Stearns looks at what to expect when the candidates meet in New York. JOHANNESBURG Seventeen people, including 15 women, were killed in two mass shootings that took place near each other in a rural town in South Africa, police said Saturday. A search was under way for the suspects, national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said in a statement. The victims were 15 women and two men, she said. One other person was in critical condition in the hospital. The shootings took place Friday night in the town of Lusikisiki in Eastern Cape province in southeastern South Africa. Video released by police showed that the shootings occurred at two houses in the same neighborhood, which is a collection of rural homesteads on the outskirts of the town. Twelve women and a man were killed in one house, and three women and a man were killed in the other house, police said. Four women, one man and a 2-month-old baby survived. A manhunt has been launched to apprehend those behind these heinous killings, Mathe said. Local media reported that the people were attending a family gathering at the time of the shooting, but the motive for the killings remains unknown. Police minister Senzo Mchunu told media on Saturday that a team of detectives and forensic experts had been deployed. We have full faith and confidence in the team that has been deployed to crack this case and find these criminals. Either they hand themselves over or we will fetch them ourselves, Mchunu said. South Africa, a country of 62 million, recorded 12,734 homicides in the first six months of this year, according to official crime statistics from the police. Thats an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the biggest cause of deaths in those cases. Mass shootings have become increasingly common in recent years, sometimes targeting people in their homes. Ten members of the same family, including seven women and a 13-year-old boy, were killed in a mass shooting at their home in the neighboring KwaZulu-Natal province in April 2023. Firearm laws are somewhat strict in South Africa, but authorities have often pointed to the large number of illegal, unregistered guns in circulation as a major problem. Photo: Bruce Glikas/WireImage Gavin Creel, one of the most prominent musical-theater actors of his generation, died September 30, his partner, Alex Temple Ward, confirmed. He was 48. Creel was diagnosed with cancer in July 2024 and underwent treatment for rare and aggressive sarcoma, per a release. He is survived by Ward and two sisters, Heather and Alyson Creel. Born in 1976, Creel was raised Methodist in Findlay, Ohio. I would read stories that left me thinking, Oh my God, Im fucked. I cant be gay, even though I want to look at those boys, and God is a man in a pulpit telling me that homosexuality is a sin and those people go to hell, Gavin told the Daily Beast in 2023. He came out at 25, around the same time that his theater career started taking off. Gavin first burst onto the Broadway scene in 2002 playing Jimmy Smith in Thoroughly Modern Millie, opposite fellow rising star Sutton Foster. The role earned him his first Tony nomination, Best Leading Actor in a Musical. He received his second nomination, in the same category, for Hair in 2009. He finally won a Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical in 2017 for his work in Hello Dolly!. He dedicated the award to the University of Michigans musical-theater department, his alma mater. In 2023, Creel performed an autobiographical show, Walk on Through, about falling in love with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, billing himself as a museum novice who learned to love art. In it, he worked through his relationships with men, with religion, and with art. I had a really hard time during the writing of it, during my life during the pandemic, losing everything that I thought gave me my identity, the actor told TheaterMania in 2023. And I said, Im gonna write this piece to try to heal and let go and find a way forward, and I think Im on that path. Im finally owning it, and its terrifying to put it on stage, and yet, this is the theater that I want to make, if Im lucky enough to get to create more. Photo: Ole Hagen/Redferns Kris Kristofferson actor, songwriter, and outlaw country star has died. He was 88. According to a statement released by his family, Kristofferson died peacefully on Saturday, September 28 at home, located in Maui. Were all so blessed for our time with him. Thank you for loving him all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, know hes smiling down at us all, the statement continued. Kristofferson was born in 1936 in Brownsville, Texas. The family moved often, due to his fathers career in the Air Force, eventually settling in San Mateo, CA. Kristofferson wrote his first song I Hate Your Ugly Face, at 11 years old. Kristofferson had a military career like his father, until a trip to Nashville on leave reinvigorated his passion for music. He started writing songs like Sunday Morning Coming Down and Me and Bobby McGee, making friends with the folks who popularized them like Johnny Cash and Janis Joplin. According to Cash, Kristofferson won his favor by landing a helicopter in his yard. Kris came right into the control room at Columbia sweeping up and slipped his tape to June, who gave it to me. I put it with a big pile of others that had been given to me. I think I was guilty of throwing some of Kris songs into Old Hickory Lake, he said. I didnt really listen to them until one afternoon, he was flying a National Guard helicopter and he landed in my yard. I was taking a nap and June said, Some fool has landed a helicopter in our yard. They used to come from the road. Now theyre coming from the sky! And I look up, and here comes Kris out of a helicopter with a beer in one hand and a tape in the other. Despite starting his career in Nashville, Kristofferson eventually became associated with the outlaw country sound that was in many ways a rejection of Nashvilles polish. In 1985, he joined Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson in the outlaw country supergroup the Highwaymen. Besides his work in music, Kristofferson became an acclaimed actor. He played the falling country star to Barbra Streisands rising diva in the 70s version of A Star Is Born the version Bradley Coopers take is most indebted to, stylistically. Kristofferson won a Golden Globe for his performance. He also appeared in Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Alice Doesnt Live Here Anymore, the Blade trilogy, and the video game Fallout: New Vegas. Kristofferson officially retired from music in 2021. His last album, The Cedar Creek Sessions, was released in 2016. He is survived by his wife Lisa, eight children, and seven grandkids. Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images News of actor and country star Kris Kristoffersons death broke Sunday, September 29. He was a Rhodes Scholar in Oxford, a defensive back, a bartender, a Golden Gloves boxer, a gandy dancer, a forest firefighter, a road crew member, and an Army Ranger who flew helicopters, an obituary from PR service Essential Broadcast Media read. He was a peacenik, a revolutionary, an actor, a superstar, a sex symbol, and a family man. He was commissioned to teach English at West Point, though he gave that up to become a Nashville songwriting bum. Barbra Streisand posted a tribute to her A Star Is Born co-star on Instagram, writing The first time I saw Kris performing at the Troubadour club in L.A. I knew he was something special. She recalled playing with him as recently as 2019. My thoughts go to Kris wife, Lisa, she wrote, who I know supported him in every way possible. Fans remembered Kristofferson for his deeply held values, which he upheld multiple times at performances. The story of Kristofferson standing by Sinead OConnor in her post-SNL nadir was widely shared on social media. OConnor was getting booed at a Bob Dylan tribute show, and Kristofferson was reportedly asked to get her off stage. He refused, and told OConnor Dont let the bastards get you down. Heres Kris Kristofferson talking about a Bob Dylan tribute concert at MSG in 1992 where Sinead OConnor was getting booed after ripping up a photo of the Pope on SNL and he was asked to get her off the stage. He refused. Dont let the bastards get you down. RIP to an icon pic.twitter.com/57hkHte6EM Mike Beauvais (@MikeBeauvais) September 29, 2024 Kristofferson was tributed by those who knew and admired him across the many disciplines he touched. Reba McEntire called him a gentleman, kind soul, and a lover of words. Travis Tritt called him an inspiration, and Mike Flanagan praised his acting work: LONE STAR is my personal favorite. More remembraces of Kris Kristofferson are gathered below. Kris Kristofferson on losing work for supporting Palestine: if thats the way it has to be, thats the way it has to be pic.twitter.com/fHlyZimhXU noah kulwin (@nkulw) September 30, 2024 What a gentleman, kind soul, and a lover of words. I am so glad I got to meet him and be around him. One of my favorite people. Rest in peace, Kris. pic.twitter.com/Qeqs44e4KZ Reba McEntire (@reba) September 30, 2024 Sad to hear of Kris Kristoffersons passing. He was an inspiration to me and I was fortunate to get to know him on the set of Outlaw Justice that we filmed in Spain in 1998. My heartfelt condolences go out to Kriss wife Lisa and all of his family, friends and fans. pic.twitter.com/9ahARfnNLD Travis Tritt (@TravisTritt) September 29, 2024 Very sorry to hear that Kris Kristofferson has passed away. Amazing career; his brilliant work in LONE STAR is my personal favorite. pic.twitter.com/YyLfwYsJyK Mike Flanagan (@flanaganfilm) September 29, 2024 an epic human with the biggest heart you will be so, so missed. rest easy, my friend. #kriskristofferson pic.twitter.com/VUcUz3KFta leann rimes cibrian (@leannrimes) September 29, 2024 Loved this man, his talent, his mind and his beautiful heart. Journey well, my friend.#KrisKristofferson pic.twitter.com/DBypO6hKrj Melissa Etheridge (@metheridge) September 29, 2024 The greatest actor/musician of all time. RIP Kris Kristofferson. pic.twitter.com/f6wN46MoeE Will Menaker (@willmenaker) September 29, 2024 Rest in Peace Kris Kristofferson pic.twitter.com/7VRBUC3rAn Muppet History (@HistoryMuppet) September 29, 2024 This post has been updated to excise a story that could not be verified. Chinese electric vehicle (EV) technology is neither a threat nor a danger, but a development opportunity, Hungarian Minister for National Economy Marton Nagy said in a recent interview with Xinhua. Our sophomore episode of The Penguin puts us through the first real phase of Oz Cobbs plan to take over the Falcone empire. If youre coming into this thing looking for a quality Sunday-night HBO crime show, the proceedings will prove efficient, if not underbaked. But where Inside Man may come off as paying thin gangster-cosplay lip service to its The Sopranos/Boardwalk Empirebaiting HBO time slot, The Penguin continues to make inspired use of the comic-book IP torch its been tasked with carrying. Sofia Falcone is still reeling from her brothers death and finds herself in a waking nightmare, which is exacerbated by the weird hypnosis therapy administered by Julian Rush, her hot doctor on loan from Arkham. Its unclear why shed willingly meet with a shrink from her Arkham days, unless, of course, theres some benefit to her future an angle to work on this guy. Youre safe, Rush admonishes, but Sofia knows there is no safety when youre the daughter of an imploding crime family. Meanwhile, Oz slams a bottle of Pepto in the rain outside Blackgate, prepping his mind (and quivering microbiome) for another tricky meeting with Salvatore Maroni. Sal is already in conference with his wife and current underboss, Nadia (Shohreh Aghdashloo), when Oz drops in with his next proposal, and Sal is none too pleased about having his hand forced to take the fall for Albertos death. But Sal is openly wearing his ring around the old cell block, and the credit for Albertos death is imbuing the Maroni family with a were back, were SO back energy. With the Maronis in, the plan is simple Oz acts as an inside man and helps the Maronis boost the Drops. The Falcones are moving their Drops to the new locale of operation in Robbinsville via FEMA truck as cover (Drops sitting pretty inside barrels of emergency water). The route to Robbinsville is a straight shot; no highways, all neighborhoods. The Maronis can waste everyone in the lead car and truck but leave the follow car be. Thats where Oz is supposed to be safely nestled, except on the night of the move, Johnny Viti demands the Penguin as he pointedly calls Oz in front of his entire crew ride in the truck with the product. This is where some of the seams of this show start to become more pronounced. Then again, so do some of its strengths. On one hand, the mini action sequence of the Maroni guys crashing the Drop transport, with Oz talking and shooting his way out of the danger zone, is rife with the type of shoddy editing and flat photography that so many IP-friendly, vaguely prestige cable shows seem hell-bent on wallowing in. On the other, the staging, humor, and cracker-jack characterization at the moment demonstrate how well this show toes the line between grit, pulp, and dark-comic buffoonery, befitting even Batmans campiest iterations. After the Maronis robbery fails, thanks largely to Oz killing off their men to keep his cover, the Falcones meet up to debrief and find out how the transportation went to shit. Oz is there, too, casting blame on Vitis route for the hijacking. But Oz didnt do shit to protect the Drops, Viti argues back. And thats where Sofia chimes in. Justice is what matters, and that is what her brother deserves, she urges. Whats more, theres clearly a rat in their outfit, working with the Maronis from the inside. Luca Falcone (Scott Cohen), Carmines brother and reigning head of the family, is leading the situation with temperance (or weakness, as its received by just about everyone in the room). He ends the meeting and gives Oz and Sofia the cold shoulder. Once dismissed, Oz catches Sofias ear and, in barely hushed tones, tells her hes willing to set aside that whole tying him up naked and almost killing him thing from the last episode if she is. Sofia doesnt buy it, but she doesnt seem to suspect Oz of being the rat either. Finally, he points out he owes her for his role in her stay at Arkham with just enough genuine remorse in his voice and eyes to leave a lasting mark on Sofias sympathies. In the meantime, Sofias going to make some moves on her own. She starts with Detective Wise a particularly dependable informant for her father. Wise isnt having it at first, but a fat stack of bills and a bottle of Drops gets him to listen Sofia needs to know how the Maronis had the info on their Robbinsville transport, and fast. The next day, at Albertos funeral, Oz finds Sofia and makes one last Hail Mary to get on her good side. This is another chance for Farrell to monologue with the mouth and the eyes in equal measure, cloaking a strategically placed lie inside an emotional flow of truth. We didnt have a service for my brothers. My ma said she didnt want to deal with the pity, Oz divulges. Finally, after about a month, Ozs mother got herself up and took her little Oswald to a jazz club on the East Side. We danced all night. Its how we celebrated them, Oz says. Id like to think it was me, I dont know. She died a few years back, I never asked. The point, other than making Sofia think that Ozs mother is dead, is its a helluva lot more fun to dance than to deal with the pain of loss head-on. Its better to get weird with your feelings and pop off with some strategic, albeit animated, carnage. Back at the Falcone mansion where the rest of the memorial is being held, Detective Wise brings Sofia a captive Ervad, the Maronis capo and point man on the Robbinsville hijacking. Hes sedated, but hell talk soon. The only thing to do right now is get him into the basement for safekeeping. Meanwhile, Oz is called in by Nadia Maroni to answer for Ervads capture. Nadia puts the blame for Ervads capture on Oz, inflating his position with Luca, but Oz argues this move must be Sofia acting on her own. Oz also manages to demonstrate some additional value with the photos in his jacket pocket of Johnny Viti hooking up with Lucas wife. (My JACKET POCKET! I dont know why, but that delivery had me howling!) Nadia is satisfied enough, but she still wants the Maronis man back. So Oz hatches a new scheme to frame Viti as the rat, tasking Victor with planting the stolen family jewels in Vitis car while he finds Ervad in the basement and instructs him to drop Vitis name. Alas, Victor gets caught trying to make the slip and bolts when questioned by Vitis guard. Oz improvises fast, stabbing Ervad right in the heart so hes good and dead by the time Sofia and Luca get down to the basement to question him. Oz now needs someone else to pin as the rat. Castillo (Berto Colon), Sofias right-hand man, will do. When all the men are gathered to find out which one killed Ervad, Oz instigates a scuffle with Viti and plants the knife and diamonds on Castillo when he tries to intervene. Sofia demands a gun to shoot Castillo on the spot, but Luca asserts his dominance and shoots Castillo himself before dismissing the room. Ozs improvised B-plan works, jewels safely stashed in Castillos apartment in time for the Falcones to find them. Now Sofia doesnt know who she can trust other than Oz. Shes ready to dance, team up with Oz, and take over the family. The series of events that got her here were entertaining but, again, thin and perfunctory from the vantage point of a solid HBO crime series. Its an episode strung together with a series of mob-story tropes some flat, some executed with enough panache to at least be coherent. At the end of it all, it stretches credulity that Sofia would drop her suspicions of Oz quite so easily. But with a twin-inflamed sense of aggrievement secured between Oz and Sofia, were well set up for vintage Gotham City folie a deux. Next week: The Penguin and the Hangman take on Gothams aging fathers of organized crime!! Under the Plum Hood If my sons a nothing, what am I? says Ozs mom. I have been and reckon I will continue to be a defender of The Penguins broadly drawn elements, but mostly as they serve the shows somewhat successful blend of pulp, grime, and genuine camp as theyve always co-existed in the Batman oeuvre (in the context of the modern comic-book IP industrial complex, its even been easier to forget that DC stands for Detective Comics). Ozs mom is one of those broadly drawn elements that has me a little worried going into the rest of the series. Deirdre OConnell is delivering a well-calibrated performance, which undoubtedly plays to the strengths of where Farrell is taking his. But theres something about their scenes that feel disjointed from the rest of the show, and they dont add much to the A-story beyond letting you know that Oz is lying about his mom to Sofia. That said, Im open to something more illuminating between Oz and his ma down the road. While were on the subject of broadly drawn stuff that doesnt work, whats up with the FALCONES = FASCISTS protest signs outside Albertos funeral? Like, I get that Sofias release from Arkham was a little extrajudicial, but why would anyone be using the F-word like that?? A small detail, but a weird and amusing one nonetheless. Though no stranger to taking it on the chin from the bosses, Oz seems to take it out on Victor whenever his ego is hit hardest. After losing the chance to frame Viti, he also suffers the indignity of Viti ordering him to clean up the mess. He forces Victor down in the pit, horizontal and face-to-face with the fresh corpses of Castillo and Ervad. Lay down where you belong. You want to survive? You gotta adapt; you gotta be quick. Whatever Carmine threw at me, I delivered on. Every goddamn time! You understand what Im saying? Looks like one of the ticking time bombs of this show will be how many of Ozs trauma-response freak-outs Victor will take before his loyalties break another way. Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti continue to have a blast with these characters. And while were on the subject of elements of this show being fit for Adam West/Batman, can we all just take a moment to appreciate Sofias red pantsuit and zebra-print jacket look as she strides into the Falcone family meeting the next day? From The Hills of California, at the Broadhurst Theatre. Photo: Joan Marcus The last time Jez Butterworth and Sam Mendes rode into Broadway on the back of a big-boned new play, smothered in five-star reviews and Olivier awards, there were geese, and babies, and bunnies. This time, theres no livestock, only a broken jukebox and an out-of-tune piano in an old guesthouse in the north of England a place called Seaview where there is no sea view. Whereas The Ferryman had death in its name yet packed the stage with warm-blooded lifeanimals and children, drink and dance and harvest festivitiesThe Hills of California acts as its reverse image. The title, taken from the Johnny Mercer tune, is all glowing, crooning mid-century dreaminess, a life of sunny days and glamorous blue Pacific nights. But those hills are as distant and untouchable as the horizon, and the play they loom over is heavy with death. The result is that Butterworthwho puts plays together like machines, calibrated for passion or pathos at the pull of a certain leverhas less to hide behind. The sheer exuberant maximalism of The Ferryman went a long way toward obscuring, even at times absolving, the shows overdependence on some pretty trite types and twists. In The Hills of California, Butterworths calculations are exposed. Hes cooking with the same stock, but the soup has gotten unappetizingly thin. The tricky thing about this kind of craftsmanship is that it turns a play into a set: It looks solid and handsomely decorated, its shaped like a house and even comes pretty close to feeling like a house, but the backs of its walls are just so many unpainted flats and sandbags. It has the shape of profundity, but too often the shape only, and while its meant to provoke heartfelt gasps and nods, even tears at precisely engineered moments, it can leave you feeling like Ben Stiller in Mystery Men. Mendess directorial brain seems stuck in Hollywood these days, and his approach to Hills is shockingly lazy: When characters reach big, important speeches, they turn downstage and deliver them straight out to that misty spot above the audiences heads. Emotional sequences are underscored by similar strains of brooding music, the shows Official Pensive Moment refrain, from composer Nick Powell; and between the plays second and third acts (theres already been an intermission after Act One), Mendes can think of nothing better to do than to bring the house lights halfway up for a couple of minutes while stagehands wander on to move props and the audiences attention wanders with them. He pulled this exact same lack-of-trick in The Ferryman, and he got an Olivier and a Tony for it. Thats unacceptable. Do something with the stage. Build a transition, for Dionysuss sake. Mendess blase direction and Butterworths overripe dramatics are doubly frustrating because theyre weighing down a bunch of fine actresses, turning what might be (and what will surely be called) a great play for women into a slice of formulaic melo-trauma. Hills is aiming for a kind of Gypsy-meets-Chekhov-in-Blackpoolits possibly not the luckiest coincidence that it arrives in New York just before Audras Mama Roseand in scenic designer Rob Howells rendering of Seaview, a turntable rotates to show us two eras. When were in the public parlor, complete with dilapidated tiki bar and sad Formica tea tables, its 1976. Spin to the kitchen, or the private parlor, as the formidable lady of the house calls it, and its 1955. That lady is Veronica Webb (Laura Donnelly), red-lipped and cinch-waisted, as coiffed and charismatic as Gene Tierney, and determined that her four daughters are going to be stars. Shes trained them into a singing group a la the Andrews Sisters, and theyve grown up in awe of both her strict discipline and her grand visions for their future. Theres naive Jill (Nicola Turner and then, in adulthood, Helena Wilson), excitable Ruby (Sophia Ally and Ophelia Lovibond), and fretful Gloria (Nancy Allsop and Leanne Best); and thenplayed by Lara McDonnell as a teen and by Donnelly in a pointed piece of double-casting as an adulttheres Joan. Joans mums favorite, Wilsons Jill tells a visiting nurse named Penny (TaRea Campbell). Not favorite Mum always used to say. Glorias Gran, youre your dad, Rubys Ruby. But Joan is me. In 1976, Jill haunts the public parlor like a glum ghost, no longer a sweet little kid but an an antsy, mousy 32-year-old with a secret cigarette habit. Shes the carer, the one whos stuck around, and upstairs her dynamo of a mother is dying. Gloria and Ruby arrive soon enough, dragging husbands and humdrum lives from elsewhere in Britain, but Joan is the real phantom no one in the family has seen her for twenty years. Shes in America, the sunny dreamland, where her sisters imagine shes pursuing a real music career. But shell be here, Jill insists. Its imperative. Butterworth neatly sets up various pins of mystery and misery so that he can knock them down when the time is right: Why did Joan disappear? Why is older Gloria burning with vitriol for the sister she once loved and looked up to, the sister who let her share a contraband cigarette and assured her she was hip as fuck when she was a sweaty, nervous kid? What stopped the Webb Sisters from pursuing musical glory? And why does Veronica seem as riddled with guilt as with cancer? Its not hard to see the answers to plenty of this stuff coming even when theyre shocking in shape, theyre not revelatory. They slot into place and keep the machine churning without really making us feel a weird irony, given how much heavy feeling there is up onstage. Wilson, Lovibond, Best, and Donnelly are all strong actors, but Butterworth and Mendess broad strokes have a tendency to render them shrewish (Bests Gloria), inconsistent (Lovibonds Ruby, whose amorphous character shifts to do whatever Butterworth needs it to do in a given moment), or even flat-out wooden: Although Donnelly nails Veronicas manicured blend of tenacity and desperation, her return in the shows third act as Joan is little more than a caricature. In she slouches, with hair like the Runaways and Penny Lanes jacket from Almost Famous. She chain-smokes and talks in an unvarying dull vocal fry. She is disillusionment embodied, a fatuous cartoon of American worldliness. This nuance-free deadpan isnt just grating to listen to; it entirely obscures the characters humanity, robbing the plays final movement of whatever catharsis it might have. It leaves us with only two possible interpretations, neither good. Either Mendes and Donnelly have wildly miscalculated an acting choice, or theyve really decided that childhood trauma and rock-and-roll living have reduced the character to a hip, hardened husk. But if thats the case, whence Joans insistence that life is random, as full of beauty as suffering? (The donkey takes a dump. Roses grow, she declaims more than once again, its shaped like a meaningful thought.) And whence the rays of golden dawn that start to creep in through Seaviews windows after the sisters long dark night of the soul? Its warm out, says Penny, arriving in the wee hours, and the suns barely in the sky Its going to be another lovely day. Poor Penny the dependable Black woman in a house of white ladies rehashing their childhood wounds. In both time periods, Campbell plays the help: the nurse in 1976 and, in 1955, a maid actually named Biddy. Shes the kind of character who appears to have nothing but enthusiasm for working for the ladies of Seaview. Dont worry, Mrs. Webb, she says, promising Veronica that she wont let anyone disrupt an audition that the girls are doing for a big-time American agent (David Wilson Barnes as a cool, cruel customer). Ill guard that door with my life. Whatever 1955 might really have looked like, no American playwright in their right mind would write a role like Penny/Biddy now. And no playwright and director without vast resources would add multiple actors to an already huge ensemble only to use them in one tiny scene each (Max Roll, Ellyn Heald, and Cameron Scoggins all flash by in roles that could easily have been doubled, like plenty of other parts in the cast). But in The Hills of California, all this is part and parcel with a general reliance on old building blocks and underinterrogated gestures. Although the singing by both sets of Webb Sisters is tuneful and sweet, and there are the seeds of something more truly affecting in their story, the world theyre inhabiting is a kind of trompe-lil illusion. If, as Veronica instills in her girls, a song is a place to be somewhere you can live, then so too is a play. But you cant live in a facade. One strong push and the wall comes down. The Hills of California is at the Broadhurst Theatre through December 22. Photo-Illustration: Vulture The leaves are starting to change as the air begins to chill, and that means its nearly time for us Vultures to migrate over to sunny Los Angeles for the biggest celebration of pop culture around: Vulture Festival, sponsored by Bulleit and Paramount+. This year, weve got Henry Winkler returning to teach his wildly successful acting class, and our very first award for a writers room the Roomy Award will be presented to the writing staff of Abbott Elementary. Well be reuniting with The Skeleton Twinss Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader for a long talk, and Julio Torres is coming to chat about colors. The cast and creator of Youre the Worst are reuniting, and well be doing a comfy pajama-party brunch with the creator and cast of The Sex Lives of College Girls. Paramount+ will also be offering a special advance screening of its new series Landman, starring Billy Bob Thornton, Jon Hamm, and Demi Moore. Between events, well be partying in the Lot with Chain, a pop-up concept that deconstructs and reconstructs chain-restaurant classics. Theyll be bringing exclusive Jack in the Box menu items that you cant get anywhere else, which should help you understand how urgently you need to get tickets. This will sell out, folks! Get your tickets here! The Roomy Award Goes to: Abbott Elementary Photo-Illustration: Vulture Every great show starts with a room full of talented writers, and we at Vulture are proud to honor the writers room of Abbott Elementary with our very first award specifically for writers rooms: the Roomy Award. Showrunner Quinta Brunson and her fellow scribes will be joining us for a discussion about doing great work in a great room. The Skeleton Twins Reunion With Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader Photo-Illustration: Vulture Its been ten years since Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader starred in the comedy drama The Skeleton Twins, and what better way to celebrate than talking to them both. Join us for an onstage reunion of two friends as we look back on their years of collaboration, culminating in a true indie classic. The Winkler Method: A Henry Winkler Acting Class Photo-Illustration: Vulture You already know that Henry Winkler played acting teacher Gene Cousineau in HBOs hit comedy Barry, but did you know that in real life, he also teaches an acting class at Vulture Festival? Thats right, this Emmy Award winner and best-selling author will return this year for his fifth annual acting class. Mr. Winkler will offer what hes learned in his 50 years of practicing the craft of acting, sign copies of his book Being Henry, and imbue you with the insights gained in his long career as a producer, director, and proud SAG-AFTRA member. Come learn, feel, and, just maybe, grow. Julio Torress Favorite Colors Photo-Illustration: Vulture Comedian Julio Torres joins us for an in-depth discussion about that which colors our lives: color. Warm colors, cold colors, hot colors, bold colors, all of it will be up for discussion in this exploration of the Fantasmas creator, director, and stars work and life. The Best Youre the Worst Reunion in History Photo-Illustration: Vulture Its been ten years since Jimmy and Gretchen had their first meet-not-so-cute, and were getting the cast of our favorite dysfunctional love story, Youre the Worst, together to celebrate. Series creator and showrunner Stephen Falk will join stars Aya Cash, Desmin Borges, Kether Donohue, and Chris Geere for a little trip down memory lane. So wash your legs and get your tickets, because sleepy bitches dont get to go to fun reunions. The Best Comedy Show in L.A. Tonight Photo-Illustration: Vulture Its not Vulture Festival without a comedy show, and this year weve got Joel Kim Booster hosting a star-studded lineup of some of the Los Angeles areas best funny folks: Naomi Ekperigin, Beth Stelling, Chris Fleming, and Aparna Nancherla! This will be the best comedy show in L.A. on that particular night, so get tickets now because they will sell out! Landman Sneak Peek Photo-Illustration: Vulture Join us for a special advance screening of Paramount+s new original series Landman, starring Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton. Co-created by Oscar nominee Taylor Sheridan and Christian Wallace, Landman is set in the proverbial boomtowns of West Texas and is a modern-day tale of fortune-seeking in the world of oil rigs. Based on the notable 11-part podcast Boomtown, the series is an upstairs-downstairs story of roughnecks and wildcat billionaires fueling a boom so big, its reshaping our climate, our economy, and our geopolitics. The drama premieres Sunday, November 17, exclusively on Paramount+. JOB ADVERTISEMENT The Embassy of the Republic of Zambia in Rome is looking for suitably qualified person to fill the following vacancy: UTILITY DRIVER RESPONSIBILITIES Driving Members of Staff to official assignments Driving official delegations visiting Rome Delivering and collecting mail to and from various offices Use of standard maps/GPS to find safe and faster routes to destinations Ensure cars are well cleaned and maintained Timely reporting of any observed faults on all cars Any other duties that maybe assigned from time to time REQUIREMENTS Must possess a Certificate/Diploma in a relevant field At least three years proven experience as a driver Must possess a valid drivers licence with a clean record Must be fluent in Italian and English Must possess good oral and written communication skills Must be able to work on weekends and for long hours when need arises Must be professional and have a polite disposition Must possess a valid Italian stay permit Applications must be submitted by email to: info@zambianembassy.it and must be addressed to: The Ambassador Embassy of the Republic of Zambia ROME Applicants are invited to submit applications and CVs with traceable references by Monday, 14th October, 2024. HANOI, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The State Bank of Vietnam will continue to take necessary measures to control the gap between domestic and global gold prices at an appropriate level in response to surging gold ring prices in recent weeks, Vietnam News Agency reported Monday. The central bank will coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to carry out inspection on the gold market and trading activities of gold bar enterprises, stores, distributors, buyers and sellers, it said. The bank vows to propose strict penalties on violations, it said. The gold ring price in Vietnam jumped to a new historic peak of over 83 million Vietnamese dong (3,378 U.S. dollars) per tael last week. The difference between Saigon Jewelry Company (SJC)-branded gold bar prices and global prices reached 18 million dong (732 dollars) per tael for several times during the first half of 2024. In June this year, the central bank started to sell gold bars directly to four state-owned commercial banks and SJC so that these organizations can distribute them to retail buyers in an effort to stabilize the domestic gold market. Gordon Deegan Dublin City Council has granted planning permission to convert a permitted seven-storey office development in Dublins docklands into a 496-bed space tourist hostel. The planning authority has given the green light to Patrick Crean's Marlet Group for the scheme at Martin's Terrace, Dublin 2 and adjoining lands at the corner of Macken Street and the newly realigned Hanover Street East, despite local concerns that the scheme would result in an over-concentration of tourist accommodation in the area. The decision now paves the way for one of Europes largest tourist hostel operators, the Berlin-headquartered a&o, to establish its first tourist hostel in the Irish market. A planning report lodged on behalf of applicants and Marlet subsidiary, Prime GP4 Ltd by planning consultant, Kevin Hughes of Hughes Planning and Development Consultants confirmed that the a&o chain is to operate the tourist hostel. Last year a&o accommodated 6.1m tourist bed nights in the most successful year yet for the business. Mr Hughes contended that from a practical perspective, the tourist hostel will contribute much more to the vitality of the area throughout the day compared to an office building whilst also ensuring increased activity within the immediate area at night. He said that the proposed hostel will assist in alleviating pressure on the hospitality sector following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions. Mr Hughes states that while there are 24 tourist accommodation and seven student accommodation facilities within 1km of the subject site, the proposed tourist hostel will not result in an over-concentration or proliferation of tourist accommodation in the immediate area. a&o was founded in Berlin in 2000 and operates 41 properties, including three pipeline properties in European city centres. The 41 properties comprise 8,200 rooms and 28,000 beds. The firm has hostels in gateway cities such as Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam and Edinburgh. The Council has granted permission despite Dublin Bay South TD, Chris Andrews TD stating that "the last thing the inner city community needs is another hostel or hotel". In a joint objection with Cllr Kourtney Kenny (SF), Deputy Andrews argued that the proposed tourist hostel will result in an over-concentration or proliferation of tourist accommodation in the immediate area. On behalf of Pearse Square Residents Association, Helen Murray echoed the concerns over tourist accommodation, stating that the addition of a large hostel further exacerbates this issue, potentially leading to imbalances in the local community and services. Ms Murray said that the presence of a large tourist hostel with ancillary bar/cafe/restaurant is likely to generate increased noise and disturbance, especially during late hours. This is particularly concerning given the mixed nature of the area, which includes residential properties. In another objection, William Crowley and Shonagh Hurley said: The introduction of a tourist hostel can alter the social dynamics of our community. The constant turnover of guests may lead to a sense of instability and reduce the sense of community cohesion that we currently enjoy. Sean McCarthaigh The Labour Court has overturned a finding that the operator of a direct provision centre had discriminated against an employee who had been mocked by work colleagues over his English accent. Coolebridge, a company which operates a number of direct provision centres, appealed a ruling by the Workplace Relations Commission that it should pay compensation of 3,500 to general assistant, Chris Murray, for discriminating against him on grounds of race. The Labour Court upheld the appeal by Coolebridge after Mr Murray confirmed that he could not identify a comparator and could not identify acts of discrimination based on his race over the relevant period. Consultants for Coolebridge successfully argued that Mr Murray had failed to establish a prima facie case that he had suffered discrimination. The company had not attended and was not legally represented at the original WRC hearing in November 2023. Mr Murray had told the WRC that he enjoyed the work at one of the companys direct provision centres based in Inchicore and felt rewarded by his interactions with service users who were international refugees seeking protection and asylum. The WRC heard that he began work in the centre in July 2022, where he worked 12-hour shifts at the rate of 12 per hour. Mr Murray explained that he is an Irish national but, because of his upbringing, speaks with an English accent. He claimed his work colleagues took pleasure in teasing him about his accent and would refer to him as the Protestant". Mr Murray said the name-calling was a continuous running joke amongst staff members. He claimed the mocking continued until his employment was terminated in May 2023. The WRC ruled that he had been treated less favourably than his co-workers on the grounds of race and had been further victimised by his employers failure to address the issue when Mr Murray had complained about it. However, the finding has been reversed following Coolebridges appeal to the Labour Court. By Cillian Sherlock, PA The Tanaiste has signalled a 12 increase to weekly pension payments as he dismissed reports of Coalition rows on social welfare as mischief and a phony war. Micheal Martins comments come amid reports that Fine Gael had been seeking a 15 increase to pension payments alongside a lower hike for the jobseekers allowance. Both Taoiseach Simon Harris and his Fine Gael deputy leader, Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys, had publicly argued that it did not make sense to spend significantly more on jobseekers allowance at a time when the economy is at near full employment. On Monday, Mr Martin said a 12 hike had been priced in for months and added that there had been no disagreement on differentiating the social welfare payments among leaders during budget negotiations. Micheal Martin meets dog handler Mick O Sullivan and dogs Max and Archie (Niall Carson/PA) He said: Genuinely, I think theres been a bit of mis-spin here, a bit of mischief going on. Because this only surfaced in the media. It hadnt surfaced in any meetings that I attended prior to my reading about it in the media. He said the 12 figure had been stitched in since the Summer Economic Statement set the expenditure framework for the budget. There was never a 15 (rise) tabled ever at any meeting I attended. So I think theres a phony sort of spinning stuff going on about this and I think its completely overplayed. Mr Martin said throughout the four years of the Government, there had always been agreement that the same level of increases would apply to the pension and jobseekers allowance. Taoiseach Simon Harris and Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys (Brian Lawless/PA) He said he had questioned his Government colleagues on where the spinning came from, reiterating that there was no substance to the reports. He added that he was bemused by newspaper reports of a potential 15 hike in the pension. In an apparent reference to Tuesdays budget and the looming general election, the Fianna Fail leader said: Maybe it is the cycle were in. Pressed on whether he was accusing Fine Gael of spinning budget lines to the press, Mr Martin told reporters: I dont know who is doing it, but I think you know, maybe, because it's being spun to you guys. Amid the potential for two, double, child benefit payments before Christmas, Mr Martin was also asked if he had conceded that there would be no additional increase to the core rate of child benefit. He said he had always said there would be significant measures for children in the cost-of-living package, adding: The discussions are still under way in respect of a number of measures around children. Mr Martin was speaking at the opening of the new headquarters for Dublin Civil Defence in Cherry Orchard, Dublin. This new purpose-designed facility comprises more than 1,800 square meters of space on a 1.1-acre site. It will serve as a vital hub for Dublin Civil Defence, the largest in the country with more than 200 volunteers, supporting its mission to provide voluntary emergency services to communities across the city and county. On Thursday, September 19, on a balmy evening aboard the Dunbrody Famine Ship, a group of people gathered as Waterfords esteemed diplomat Dan Mulhall was inducted into the Irish America Hall of Fame. Now retired, Mr Mulhall joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 2001 and is former Irish Ambassador to the USA, as well as serving this nation in embassies in Berlin, London and Malaysia. The latter was mentioned by Walter OLeary, proposer of the honour for Mr Mulhall, who said: His diplomatic, organisational and above all his humanitarianism was universally recognized in the aftermath of that appalling tsunami which struck South East Asia on December 26, 2004, killing tens of thousands of people. In America, despite the changed political landscape, Mr Mulhall ensured that Irish interests were secured throughout the time of the Trump administration. Dan Mulhall is inducted into the Irish America Hall of Fame. Pictured, from left, Deputy Mayor of Waterford, Cllr Adam Wyse, Mary Frances Ryan, Editor, Waterford News & Star, Eamonn McEneaney, former Director of Waterford Treasures Museums, and his wife Ann, Dan Mulhall, Ann Cusack, Granville Hotel, and Walter O'Leary, proposer of the honour. Indeed, as Mr OLeary points out: Dan succeeded in ensuring that Irish interests were greatly advanced across all spectrums of endeavour. Irish/American relationships became stronger than ever; and there was a great positivity about Ireland and all things Irish at this time. This was a remarkable achievement against a backdrop of constant change and political uncertainty. Hailing from the Yellow Road in the heart of Waterford city, since his retirement, Mr Mulhall has been Global Distinguished Professor in Irish Studies at Gluxman Ireland House; Parnell Fellow at Magdalene College Cambridge and has also taught at Harvard Institute of Politics. Speaking at the event, Deputy Mayor of Waterford, Cllr Adam Wyse, described the setting of the Dunbrody Visitor Centre in New Ross, a place so deeply tied to the Irish emigrant story as fittingly, the perfect setting for todays celebration of an extraordinary Irishman and his contributions to Irish-American relations. Describing Mr Mulhall as an exemplary diplomat, a proud Irishman and a cherished cultural ambassador, he said the Waterford mans name would now join the ranks of those who have played pivotal roles in shaping the bond between Ireland and the United States a bond forged by history, kinship, and a shared vision for the future. He noted that Mr Mulhalls influence stretched far beyond diplomatic circles. He has been a bridge between Irish culture and the wider world, a passionate advocate for Irish literature, poetry and history. "Whether reciting the works of WB Yeats or James Joyce, he has shown a unique ability to make the richness of Irish culture accessible and alive for global audiences. Congratulating Mr Mulhall, he said: You are an inspiration, and it is an honour to recognise your lifetime of achievements here today. The Irish America Hall of Fame is an entity created by Irish America Magazine, which recognizes extraordinary figures within the Irish American community, who have had a profound effect on the Irish in America and strengthened the bonds between our respective countries. Mr OLeary concluded the ceremony stating: I suggest that Dan Mulhall has achieved and indeed surpassed this test and as such I am greatly privileged to propose that author, essayist, orator, historian, academic and above all diplomat extraordinary, Professor Dr Daniel Mulhall be inducted into the Irish America Hall of Fame. A delighted Dan Mulhall then took to the helm of the ship to accept the accolade, thanking those present for "extending this great honour to me". During 44 years in the Department of Foreign Affairs, he said: "You end up shaking a bunch of hands for hours on end at these receptions." With his wife Greta beside him at the entrance to the various embassies on all those occasions, he said: "She deserves this induction as well." He continued: "You shake hands, you talk to people, you give a speech and the one thing you hope is that something good will come of this, something will happen that will be productive for Ireland, that will produce benefits for our country... "I'm delighted to hear that (at) one of my receptions that formidable American university president was sufficiently taken by her meeting with me that she went off and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Walter and what was then WIT, and presumably I hope there's been lots and lots of Americans happily living here in Waterford and enjoying the delights of Waterford." Irish America On the subject of Irish America, Mr Mulhall said Irish people get confused when they hear an American saying 'I'm Irish'. "Irish Americans call themselves Irish," he explained, something that has endured since the great migration of some six million people from Ireland in the second half of the 19th century. A cohesive community formed across the Atlantic Ocean, borne out of discrimination - causing the Irish to "band together, to protect themselves and to look after their interests", which "eventually became powerful in the way it could deliver benefits for Ireland", Mr Mulhall explained. "They gathered around the parishes... that's how this Irish identity developed," he said. "Irish Americans have an extraordinary commitment to Ireland," he continued, outlining the doctors, professors, architects, scientists that have all descended from those Irish who first landed on American shores, as well as those who rose to "high office". The lobbying power that resulted was reflected in incidences such as Charles Stuart Parnell being welcomed to address Congress. "The British had to consider the impact of Irish America on Britain's relations with the United States after the First World War when America became the most important power in the world. "Irish America continues to be a huge asset to Ireland. We must always cultivate that connection." Posing for photos after the unveiling of his official Hall of Fame photograph, Mr Mulhall did what he does best, exchanging a personal word with each of those gathered, as he did countless times in the embassy in Washington. He has done and continues to do Ireland, the South East, and Waterford in particular no small amount of service. An imminent ban on the rehoming of XL bully dogs from shelters has been postponed until February of next year following concern from animal welfare charities. XL bully dogs in local and national shelters faced being euthanised this week when the new laws were due to come into effect. From October 1, 2024, these new regulations planned to prohibit the importing, breeding, selling and re-homing of XL Bully type dogs and from February 1, 2025 it will be illegal to own an XL Bully dog without a Certificate of Exemption. A comment from Waterford City & County Council this week clarified that the ban on rehoming the animals has been postponed. XL Bullys which are in the care of animal welfare charities and shelters on 1 October will be permitted to be rehomed or exported subject to strict criteria until 1 February 2025. Speaking after a cabinet meeting last week, the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD said: "I am bringing these regulations into force in the interest of public safety following a number of horrific attacks by XL Bully dogs. "I am concerned that if we do not take action now, the number of these dogs in the country will grow and my fear is that these attacks will become more frequent. "While I know not everybody will agree with the ban, my ultimate priority is to protect public safety." Speaking to the Waterford News & Star, ISPCA CEO Dr. Cyril Sullivan said that he has worked with the department to alter the legislation. I have been pushing for the optimum animal welfare position for all shelters through this process. What's effectively been proposed is a ban on an animal because of its shape. "We feel that proper ownership of these animals would mean that a ban is not necessary, so we were pushing as much as we could. The minister thankfully has listened to us and were delighted that a number of items have been added. Dr. Sullivan said that along with expanding the rehoming process to February 1, the original proposal that there would be a fee of 120 on dog owners for a certificate of exemption has now also been scrapped and will now be free. This certificate will be unique to each XL Bully type dog and owner. It will specify the dogs licence details, microchip details, neutering details, age and description. Dr. Sullivan added that while the new development is a positive, dog shelters across Waterford and nationally still risk an influx of dogs being abandoned. Our concerns is that there will be a surge in the abandonment of these animals. A number of measures have been taken by the minister that has helped but there is still a risk to it, not just after February, but from now until February 1 when people are trying to put everything together such as neutering etc. Particularly with the older dogs it can be more costly. Dr. Sullivan pleaded with Waterford XL Bully type dog owners to get a certificate of exemption. Any owner found to be in breach of the regulations may have their dog seized and euthanized in a humane manner and the owner will be subject to a fine of up to 2,500, or imprisonment of a term of up to three months, or both. He has also asked locals to consider rehoming dogs from shelters before February 1. Waterford Chamber of Commerce elected Kevin Doolin as incoming President at their AGM at the Granville Hotel last night. Mr Doolin is the current Executive Director of the Walton Institute at South East Technological University (SETU) and has been involved in Waterford Chamber for a number of years. Waterford Chamber said he was an active voice in terms of lobbying, particularly around equitable funding for SETU and creating a vibrant city centre. Speaking at the AGM, Mr Doolin said: It is a great honour for me to be nominated by the board and endorsed by the members to serve as Chamber President. "For the year ahead I want to focus on Waterford as a City of Innovation. Within my own work in Walton Institute at SETU, the innovation there is mind-blowing and world-renowned. "But innovation isnt just about technology and new discoveries, it can be seen in retail, tourism, housing and education. We need to be thinking outside the box, looking at ways to make our city better for everyone and I am looking forward to many meaningful engagements in this regard. I want to see the Schools of Pharmacy and Nursing become a reality during my tenure, I want to watch the North Quays grow into a catalyst for economic growth and we need to get the airport over the line. "As the old adage goes, lots done, more to do and Im excited to get started." At its Diaspora Dinner, Waterford Chamber of Commerce emphasised the message that Waterford is open for business and seeking investors. The event gathered more than 90 business leaders connected to Waterford at The Dunmore in Rathmines and was sponsored by EY, the Waterford Local Enterprise Office, and Waterford Chamber Skillnet. President of SETU, Prof Veronica Campbell was in attendance at the event, alongside Independent Waterford TD, Deputy Matt Shanahan; Sean McKeown the Chief Executive of Waterford City and County Council; Ronan Mulligan of Mulligans Pharmacy, and Collette Devey, EY Ireland Chief Risk Officer. Waterford Chamber President Niall Harrington opened the evening by outlining the citys potential for growth and the importance of investment for revitalising the city centre. He highlighted Waterford's catchment area of over 634,000 people within an hours drive, suggesting this presents various development opportunities. Our population has risen by 12% making Waterford the fastest growing regional city and this is achieved by the creation of new jobs and the provision of new homes, be it social, affordable, or private, Mr Harrington said. He also mentioned rising tourism numbers, citing attractions like Waterford Greenway and the House of Waterford Crystal, which has led to a shortage of hotel accommodation. The delivery of the additional funding into Waterford Airport is an absolute must for our region and a key ingredient to our tourism and business sector growth. Harrington expressed optimism regarding the emerging infrastructure projects, including the North Quays and the Sustainable Transport Hub. Following Harrington, architect Hugh Wallace presented the design of the North Quays development, which is anticipated to significantly impact the South East region. Economist, and Waterford native, Jim Power provided an overview of the local economy and introduced a panel of speakers from various sectors, emphasizing the collaborative efforts among stakeholders in Waterford. Guests, including estate agents and retailers, networked during the event, discussing the potential for promoting Waterford and the surrounding region. After the event, Gerald Hurley, CEO of Waterford Chamber, described the event as a huge success and said: We were delighted to welcome such a strong and influential audience and we know many of the business contacts in the room have now gone away considering Waterford and the South East as a real alternative to Dublin. BEIRUT, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Hezbollah will continue to defend Lebanon and support Gaza despite losing its Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah and many commanders, said Sheikh Naim Qassem, deputy leader of the group, on Monday. "Hezbollah's Islamic Resistance will go ahead with confronting the Israeli enemy in support of Gaza and Palestine and in defense of Lebanon and its people," Qassem said during his first televised speech following Nasrallah's assassination by Israel. He characterized Israel's belief that brutal massacres would help achieve its goals as delusional. He assured that Israel has not been able to penetrate Hezbollah's military capabilities, noting that "Zionist claims in this regard are just a dream that will never come true." Qassem emphasized that Hezbollah will select a new secretary general as soon as possible, vowing if Israel initiates a ground operation in Lebanon, the fighters of the Islamic Resistance will confront it and defend Lebanon. Since last Monday, Israel has intensified airstrikes across Lebanon, culminating in a significant strike on Friday in the southern suburbs of Beirut that killed Nasrallah and many of his companions. The family of Roy Butler, who died aged 23, days after getting the Covid-19 vaccine, have waited more than three years to learn the truth of their son's death. At every stage they have had to place their trust in the medical and pharmaceutical professionals that their son's best interests are being served, including in death. The inquest evidence told of the harrowing last days of Roy's life. Text messages he sent to friends, and the heart-rending evidence of his own parents, tell of how seriously ill this young man became so rapidly. He had gotten the vaccine, like so many thousands of people from Waterford, in the hope of moving forward with his plans to enjoy a holiday in Dubai. It was a perfectly normal, human decision to make - and one that so many of us took, on trust. It is incredibly difficult to hear numbers in the millions of those for whom the vaccine had no repercussions. For the Butler family all that really matters is their son's story. It would be the same for anyone in similar circumstances. The small numbers are real people, real lived experiences, real heartbreak. In this case, it is absolute devastation for the Butler family from the O'Reilly Road on Waterford's Cork Road. The photos of Roy reflect a young man so full of life, energy and vitality. As his mother describes, he was a "perfectly healthy young boy" before the vaccine. "He was perfect, he got this injection, then he wasn't perfect." Ciara Davin, BL, barrister for Roy's family has called for a verdict of misadventure. She said that on the balance of probabilities Mr Butler's intracerebral haemorrhage was caused by the vaccine. "All I'm asking is to apply common sense. There was a link between him getting vaccinated and suffering a catastrophic brain bleed." The Coroner's Court in Cork saw numerous witnesses give evidence, all experts in their fields, from Johnson and Johnson, the pathologst, those medical professionals who looked after Roy, and others. The evidence was detailed and complex, as referred to by Coroner Philip Comyn, who will deliver his verdict later this week. Our thoughts are with Roy Butler's family and friends at this time. None of them would have wanted to be enduring this nightmare. They have waited with such dignity throughout the past number of years to allow due process take place. All that can be hoped for is that, as it finally reaches its conclusion, the truth of Roy's death, in the fullest way possible, can be broached and recorded. Perhaps that truth will always remain in the words Roy shared directly to his family and with his friends. He was his own best advocate, and his inquest, if anything, by recording that for all time has at least honoured his voice. He may not have understood what was happening to him - the responsibility to explain why remains with the experts, who we would like to think would have the answers three years on. The winner of this year's Molly Keane Creative Writing award has been announced. This year's winner is Sophie Treacy from Stoneyford, County Kilkenny, for her moving story 'Out of Eden'. Sophie is a law graduate of Trinity College Dublin and the University of Oxford. She enjoys literature of all forms, particularly poetry, literary non-fiction and translated fiction. She is currently writing a PhD thesis on the role of human dignity in international human rights law. Sophie received a cash prize of 250 plus a writing course under the auspices of the Molly Keane Writers Retreat in Ardmore to the value of 300. 'Out of Eden is the 27th winner of the Molly Keane Creative Writing Award run by Waterford City & County Councils Arts Office. The story was announced as the winner of this year's competition on Culture Night by acclaimed author and movement therapist Lani O'Hanlon. Writers from across the country entered the competition, which has been running annually since 1998 to celebrate the rich literary life of the late Molly Keane. Molly lived in Ardmore, Co. Waterford, until she died in 1996. Mollys writing career started at a young age to "supplement her dress allowance", and at the age of 18, the first of her numerous novels and plays were published under the pseudonym M.J. Farrell. Molly married into the Keane family of West Waterford but her husband, Bobby, died at the age of 36 in 1946. She moved to Ardmore, Co. Waterford, where she lived until her death. Molly ceased writing until 1981 when Good Behaviour was published under her real name. It became a publishing sensation and was well received as a masterpiece of black comedy, for which she was shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize in 1981. 'Out of Eden' can be viewed on YouTube. Hunter declined to reveal how much Model paid for 276-286 Johnston Street. At the time of listing it was expected to sell for around $14 million, but other recent deals on the strip suggest a range of between $15-18 million. Records show the 1693 square metre site last changed hands in 2001 for $2.55 million. Down the road, Amber Property Group bought 422-430 Johnston Street in 2022 at $9070 sq m, and a deal for the old Tarantos shoe shop site at No.288-296, across the street from Models site, was struck at around $10,700 a square metre. JLLs Radisich, who did the deal with Tom Noonan and Jarrod Herscu, declined to comment on the price. Red light Meanwhile, Amber Property Group has switched the lights to red on its plans for a high-rise retirement project near the Yarra River. The 2428 sq m site at 422-430 Johnston Street, on the corner of Trenerry Crescent, is back on the market just two years after Amber paid $22.02 million for the single-level showrooms. 422-430 Johnston Street, Abbotsford, Melbourne. Credit: We are currently focusing on larger projects and the sale of this site will enable us to allocate resources effectively to those developments, Amber chief Rachael Brady said. The company is currently building a new $250 million 18-level hotel in Geelong. Construction costs and land tax is putting many development sites back on the market. JLLs Radisich, Josh Rutman, Mark Stafford and MingXuan Li are selling the site. The Johnston Street skyline is changing fast, with new buildings, including DCFs New Johnston on the rise. The majestic Tarantos shoe shop on the corner of Lulie Street was quickly demolished after settlement a few months ago. Nice discount A local investor snared 410 Lonsdale Street for $6.8 million this week at a nice discount from the five-level buildings original $8 million $9 million quote. It was third-time lucky for the vendors, who had paid $4.85 million in 2009 but missed the market peak for CBD property deals when they put it back on the market in 2021 and 2022. 410 Lonsdale Street. Formerly PRD House, the 978 sq m B-grade building is on a 209 sq m site and has three basement car parks. Cushman & Wakefield agents Daniel Wolman, Anthony Kirwan, George Davies, Leon Ma and Raphael Favas got the transaction done. Bank boozer Pub yields may have been reset this week by the bumper $10.7 million sale of the Fargo & Co venue in Richmond. A private local investor beat a clutch of rivals, including a party from Sydney, to buy the Swan Street property, which has a 10-year lease to Australian Venue Co. The price, only slightly higher than Charter Halls purchase of nearby Harlow, reflected a 4.4 per cent yield much sharper than the 5.9 per cent yield paid for Harlow. Fargo & Co at 214-216 Swan Street, Richmond Eight bids were made for 214-216 Swan Street, a former historic State Savings Bank building which was sold by the Commonwealth Bank in 2014 for $3.31 million. AVC pays about $500,000 a year in rent for the two-storey 542 sq m building. Stonebridge agents Nic Hage, Rorey James, Kevin Tong and Max Warren did the deal. And in Balaclava, another former Commonwealth Bank building at 282-284 Carlisle Street sold at auction for $4 million after a six-pronged contest which reflected an even sharper 4.25 per cent yield. An off-shore investor snapped up the 325 sq m corner property which is leased to the Commune Group-owned Moonhouse. 282 Carlisle Street, Balaclava. Fitzroys Chris Kombi, Tom Fisher and Ben Liu handled the auction. Luxury cars Luxury car dealer Srecko Lorbek has snapped up the old Beaurepaires site on Kings Way, South Melbourne for a new Lorbek Luxury Cars showroom. Lorbek is planning to build a new multi-level glass showroom on the 763 sq m site at 162-174 Coventry Street, dedicated to the sale of electric cars. He has two other dealerships, one in Port Melbourne and a second in Rushcutters Bay, Sydney but he is keenest on the Kings Way site which is exposed to 30 million car trips a year. This is an awesome addition to the Lorbek property portfolio. Its a really strategic site, Lorbek told Capital Gain. Srecko Lorbek outside his new purchase on Kings Way. He sells 75 per cent of cars online but said showrooms are important for marketing and servicing. Its because of our sites that people know who we are. Loading It will be a fully electric building with EV charging infrastructure and powered by our GET system. The transaction was handled by Stonebridges James, Dylan Kilner and Chao Zhang, with Premier Commercials Jason Perry. James said four unconditional offers were made for the property on the busy road. It really was the perfect time to buy because theres not really any competition from developers, he said. Lorbek and the agents declined to reveal the price, which is believed to have come in at more than $6 million. Next door is 210 Kings Way, a five-level office building which previously housed a Mercedes-Benz and Rolls-Royce showroom on the ground floor. That building was once owned by former bankrupt mining magnate, Joseph Diamond Joe Gutnick who was recently banned by ASIC from running companies until 2028. It last sold in 2018 (by investor Barry Norman) to a Chinese-capital backed investor for $32 million. And in 2019, online retailer Rus Kogan paid $8.088 million for a three-storey office building down the road at 100 Park Street, which is on a 517 sq m parcel of land. Margie Woods is a fashion designer best known for her label, Viktoria & Woods. Here, the 50-year-old talks about her relationship with her father, her fond memories of her maths teacher, and finding love again after divorce. Margie Woods: It took a while before I was ready to date again, but I fell into it relatively easily, which surprised me. Credit: Peter Rae My maternal grandfather, Massie, was a teacher before he migrated to Australia in 1967 and spent his working life at Ford Motors in Melbourne. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents as a child while my parents worked long hours, and got to know him well. He was a quiet, reserved man who enjoyed reading. He did this weird thing where hed put a Teddy Bear biscuit in my bowl of cereal at breakfast as a surprise. He passed away when I was 16. My dad, George, is one of seven children. He migrated to Australia at 20 in search of a better life and new opportunities. Nobody from his family came with him and I didnt really know that side of the family. He met and married my mum, Mona, when he was 31 they met through Mums brother. Dad is 10 years older than her. I had a strange relationship with my dad. Im the eldest of four girls and was treated differently to my sisters, probably because I was a bit of a ratbag whod sneak out of the house. Dad worked a lot of night shifts in factories, then owned businesses and worked seven days a week. The problem isnt globalisation (London is in the same boat in struggling to expand its sharemarket) its Americanisation. The US dominates more than 60 per cent of the global sharemarkets an increase of about 20 per cent since 2008. Cambridge-founded chipmaker Arm and Germanys Birkenstock are the most recent home-grown success stories to snub their national exchanges for the premium and prestige of listing in New York. However, it doesnt seem unreasonable that major companies founded in Australia should still call Australia home and list locally. It just requires concerted effort. The recent success of Guzman y Gomez, might tempt prospective IPOs away from the private markets, where all the fun is being had, but there remains a task to convince prospective IPOs who are considering US listings to stay on the home team. The ASX says there is no shortage of demand from companies mulling floats. However, like a mirage, this demand seems to move further away the closer we get. But with the rate-cutting cycle under way, increased certainty on the economic front means this time might be different. As a capital markets system, we need to do more work on selling the advantages of listing on the ASX over other exchanges, says James Posnett, head of listings at the ASX. There is an opportunity for us to do more and target the companies that dont meet the threshold for the S&P 500 to list here instead. There is no shortage of successful Australian companies that asset managers and retail investors would jump at the opportunity to buy, and thanks to our superannuation system, there is no shortage of institutional capital looking for places to deploy its cash. Guzman y Gomez floated on the ASX in in June. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer An IPO is only tapping into the market once. The ability to raise further funds quickly and easily once listed is very appealing if a companys wishing to pursue expansion and growth opportunities, points out Posnett. Tom Cowan, of TDM Growth Partners, the firm that brought Guzman y Gomez to the public markets, is also a true patriot. History would suggest that the ASX is a wonderful place to list fast-growing businesses, and while there is always an enticing aspect to the US, the benefits of a local ASX listing far outweighs this, says Cowan. The co-founders of Atlassian, which listed in the US in 2015, cited the size and maturity of the US markets as the main reasons the company listed offshore instead of in Australia. Cowan points to a range of perceived advantages to listing on the ASX over the US exchanges, such as a potential valuation premium, relatively greater media coverage, lower costs, a faster listing process and what he calls the opportunity to be a big fish in a small pond. A vibrant and expanding public capital market is the foundation of a good Western democracy. If Canva chose to list on the ASX, it would immediately take the title of Australias largest technology company and fill the hearts of Australian investors with pride, and in doing so, would no doubt inspire others to follow. However, money talks, and Canvas valuation is too high, its liquidity needs too great, and the investor base for tech stocks in the US is more sophisticated. Quoting shares in US dollars instead of Australian makes it much easier to attract talent with equity. But there are a few tweaks that could make the ASX more attractive. The reality is that we cant compete with Americas tech dominance. We should be playing to our strengths in mining and healthcare and rebuild out the lost utilities sector for those juicy dividends. A quick whip-round of my industry contacts produced an IPO Christmas list of iconic Australian companies investors would jump at, including Bunnings, Kmart, Cotton On, Visy, Hancock Prospecting, Snowy Hydro and Sydney Metro. The retail investors and the liquidity you get from a listed stock is incredibly powerful, and theres still a deep pool of capital available for that, David Di Pilla, managing director of HMC Capital, told The Australian Financial Review. The London Stock Exchange is facing a similar shrinkage problem. In the past 20 years, UK-listed equities have gone from accounting for 11 per cent of the global equity market to less than 4 per cent (Australias is 2 per cent). The British financial regulator has been tinkering with regulations including introducing dual-class structures, where founders shares represent greater voting power, in an attempt to lure back companies as there has been a significant increase in the number and proportion of IPOs that feature a dual-class shares structure. Australias is one of the few markets which ban dual-class listings; perhaps its a manifestation of our iconic tall-poppy syndrome, shunning the entrepreneurship of the founder-led business. We know were an outlier globally in not permitting dual-class listings, and it is something we could consider in close consultation with ASIC and the market, says Posnett. Canva is a high-profile example of an Australian company choosing to list internationally. Of course, there is always the opportunity to cut more red tape and make listing cheaper and even faster. The social credibility and eclat of being public needs to outweigh the burden of the extra paperwork and governance requirements. The chairman of Harvey Norman is the latest in a string of founders to bemoan some of the disproportionate requirements and red tape required by the ASX to remain listed. After this meeting, McPhersons friendship with Bragg became shaky as he became difficult to contact, but the pair eventually reconnected. The group allegedly tried unsuccessfully to recruit another freight mover with Wymap Group, but he shied away and went overseas. According to the crown, a drug importation was planned via a Qantas flight on June 10, but this did not work out. Officers swooped on their suspects at an airport freight terminal. Cain allegedly called Bragg that morning and said a mate had come around last night were not on. Bragg allegedly responded that he was f---in gone and told his partner on the phone that it was the worst day of his life. Bragg was fired from Wymap Group on the day of that failed job, but McPherson arranged for him to be employed with Jets Transport. On August 31, Cain met Haoucher at Southpoint shopping centre in Hillsdale and discussed a Plan B, with Haoucher allegedly saying, The way Im looking at it, weve lost three hundred grand. Cain allegedly expressed concern about being caught, to which Haoucher allegedly said somebody congratulated Cain when we done [sic] the first one. The cocaine was found wrapped in bags inside the van. From then on, the group largely discussed plans over Threema, an encrypted messenger application, with the crown accusing Haoucher of using the handle Deniro and Cain of using Wally Lewis. Haoucher allegedly messaged Cain about his plan to arrange a new partner in Dubai with a proven track record and work experience out of joburg [sic]. He allegedly said he was working all weekend to make it happen. Ahmed Haouchar On September 23, the group organised a dummy run, with a freight container containing an empty black shoulder bag unloaded from a Qantas flight at Sydney Airport, placed on the baggage carousel and left uncollected. The bag was eventually taken to an unclaimed baggage area and seized by the AFP. The next day, Haoucher allegedly told Cain they were locked in for next week, to which Cain responded: Brilliant. Your [sic] the man, we make a good team. But the next week, the job fell apart. Their associates working from Johannesburg were concerned about freight changes that meant the container might land in Sydney with a broken seal. Using coded language about horse-racing, Bragg allegedly confirmed with Cain the smuggling would still go ahead. But yeah mate the vet and everyone else completely cleared it, he allegedly said. Police seized several mobile phones following the bust. The exit team in South Africa would not risk it, however, and Haoucher told Bragg it wasnt happening. Ok very disappointed, Bragg allegedly responded, before passing on the bad news to Cain, saying theyve scratched the horse. Soon enough, the seal issue had been fixed and they were on for next weekend. At midday on October 7, El-Mustapha sat in a white van at the front of the Qantas Freight International Terminal. As their cargo arrived, the crown alleges Bragg drove McPherson to the freight container on the tarmac, put it on a tug and drove it to the Qantas freight terminal. McPherson allegedly removed several bags containing the cocaine and placed them into the white van with El-Mustapha a short time later. Just as El-Mustapha began reversing the van, the men were surrounded by AFP vehicles and were arrested. Having seized their phones, police messaged Haoucher and Cain purporting to be their associates, luring the former to Rushcutters Bay Park and latter to Braggs Coogee home and arresting them. The Crown alleges Bragg and Cain shared a phone and the Threema handle Wally Lewis to communicate with Haoucher, but Cains defence team argued there was no evidence Cain used the phone. Justice Natalie Adams granted Cain strict bail, noting the relatively strong prosecution case but also his solid family support, with his partners sister offering a $300,000 surety to secure his release. Cain must wear a GPS electronic monitoring device, abide by a 6am-9pm curfew, report to police twice a day, not go near international departure points and not possess more than one mobile phone. Haoucher, who was bailed to a rehabilitation facility in December, is a brother of Bilal, a notorious gangster believed to have been arrested in Lebanon last year as part of a different alleged criminal syndicate. The grieving parents of a 24-year-old West Australian man who was fatally shot by Queensland police have used the second anniversary of his death to demand an independent investigation. Darren and Nicola Gilbert sent a letter to Premier Steven Miles last week demanding justice for their son Luke. Today the anniversary of his death, and the official start of the Queensland election campaign they went public with their plea. Luke Gilbert was shot by two officers after they stopped him in Airlie Beach. He was carrying a knife on his belt, which a Coroners inquest heard he unclipped to show the officers. Luke Gilbert and mother Nicola. Credit: Facebook After his death, his parents said their son used the knife as a tradie. They have consistently argued there was no justification for the young man being shot three times. Following Israels use of exploding pagers to attack Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon, Joyce said the penny dropped for so many people that there is a capacity remotely to create massive pain, massive hurt. Alastair MacGibbon is calling on Australia to follow the US and ban Chinese-made vehicle technology. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer People have got to start asking the questions like, if you can update the software, if you can track these vehicles, if theyre made in China, if there was a malevolent purpose behind it from a totalitarian state, what might be the consequences of that? he said on Sky News on Sunday morning. God forbid there was ever a war, but if there was, it would start basically online and in space. Within those two things, you could create complete and utter chaos, he said. However, opposition transport spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie said we wont be banning EVs. The US proposal would ban Chinese software in 2027 and then hardware in 2029. Beijing has responded by urging the US to stop overstretching the concept of national security, stop its discriminatory suppression of Chinese companies and uphold an open, fair and non-discriminatory business environment. The Australian government has banned Huawei on multiple occasions over national security concerns. Credit: AP This is an issue that may affect nearly all new Chinese car models sold in Australia: most released now are considered connected with onboard network hardware for internet access, which shares data with devices inside and outside the vehicle. The Albanese government is watching closely, and Alastair MacGibbon, co-founder of Australias largest cybersecurity firm CyberCX, is urging our government to quickly follow suit. When you strip back the concerns of the US government this is not about whether something is manufactured in China, but whether it requires a constant connection with China to function, MacGibbon says. China is a surveillance state that conducts information gathering on people and organisations outside of China to advance its own interests. China has form in this area last year the UK government discovered a tracking device in a Chinese-made component of a government vehicle. Such a move to ban an entire countrys technological infrastructure wouldnt be unprecedented in Australia. The Gillard government banned Huawei from building infrastructure underpinning the National Broadband Network in 2012, and the Turnbull government in 2018 barred the company from constructing Australias 5G network. MacGibbon served as Turnbulls cybersecurity adviser at the time. He says the decision to ban Huawei from Australias 5G hinged on whether a government in a place such as China could direct information to be gathered or could shut down devices remotely in a time of conflict. Any form of continuous connectivity would notionally allow this, he says. The Australian government has been more forward-leaning on technology in critical infrastructure and used by government, but we havent had a mature conversation about threats in consumer devices. Chinas dominance in connected consumer technology like electric vehicles will only grow, and we will be on the wrong side of history as a country if we dont act now. Tilla Hoja, a China analyst with defence think tank the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), agrees, and says the Australian government should never relinquish control of its governing power to foreign actors on something as important as roads. Loading The Chinese government rapidly accelerated their sensor manufacturing business in recent years to decouple from Western supply chains. Such technologies often have dual-use capabilities, and have been reported to be feeding Chinese surveillance capabilities, Hoja says. By allowing Chinese-made smart vehicles, you effectively would be allowing Chinese cross-border surveillance capabilities into your country, which might pose a serious national security issue. It would be an extension of the Chinese authoritarian state into Australia, which would threaten our democracy. Imagine the situation if the Chinese government could identify a cohort of people based on personal information collected, and then disable them strategically and remotely to cause a national crisis. Not everyone is as convinced that a fast blanket ban would be the right option, however. The Albanese government is right to be concerned about such threats but what to do with them is more complicated when talking about one of Australias most important trading partners, according to Gabby Fredkin, head of data and insights at Australian research firm ADAPT. While banning certain technology sounds convenient, its a blunt instrument with huge economic and political consequences, Fredkin says. The worst-case scenario [cars being disabled remotely] is an extremely remote possibility, though threats to the security of Australian drivers data deserve our full attention. David Smitherman, chief executive of Australian BYD distributor EVDirect, said in a statement that data was not collected from Australian BYD owners on how they drove or used their vehicle. You can drive your BYD independently without the use of the app, he said. We want to be really clear about this: BYD does not have the ability to take control of any vehicles sold in Australia, remotely. In light of the US viewpoint on Chinese hardware and software in connected vehicles, we echo the general managers view insofar that we respect local regulations in every region, but does not detract from our other market growth plans. For Fredkin, there are no perfect answers, and our government is in a tough spot. BAGHDAD, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a Shiite militia group, claimed responsibility on Monday for a series of drone and missile attacks targeting Israeli sites. In an online statement, the group reported firing al-Arqab cruise missiles at "a vital site in Israel" and launching three drone attacks, two of which targeted locations in Haifa and its northern port. The group did not specify the targeted sites or report any casualties. These attacks followed recent Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, which reportedly resulted in the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Since the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has conducted multiple strikes against Israeli and U.S. targets in the region to show support for Palestinians in Gaza. The group has intensified its operations amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon. Ratcliffe-on-Soar: In many ways, coal was the commodity that made Britain. It drove politics, an empire and trade. It powered the Industrial Revolution and created the worlds first coal-fired economy. It was the industry that made almost all others possible. And culturally, the 1980s miners strike the biggest industrial dispute in the post-war period and a turning point in the history of British coal mining still casts a long shadow over the UK. Narrow boats waiting for renovation stand in a marina yard next to the eight giant cooling towers of Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire. The power station, operated by German-owned Uniper, is the last coal-fired station in the UK. Credit: Getty Images On Monday, the UKs last remaining coal-fired power station will be turned off for good, drawing to a close Britains 142-year reliance on the fossil fuel to produce electricity. It will be done with surprisingly little fanfare nor sentimentality. Home to the worlds first coal-fired power station, the Holborn Viaduct power station in London in 1882, the UK will be the first G7 country to stop using coal for power generation, one year earlier than first set out by the previous Conservative government in 2015. The death of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollahs secretary-general for more than 30 years, is the latest in a series of stunning blows that Israel has landed on the militant group in the past few weeks. The organisations security has been thoroughly penetrated and many of its senior and mid-level commanders have been killed, along with hundreds of its fighters in the year-long attritional air campaign waged by Israel. Nasrallah came to the position after the killing of Abbas Musawi and his family in an Israeli airstrike in 1993, and he will be replaced. Israels leadership decapitation strategy has killed a large number of Hezbollahs senior military commanders but they, too, will be replaced. Lebanese and Palestinian men hold portraits of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as they shout slogans during a protest against his assassination in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon. Credit: AP There is no doubt that the organisation is badly damaged; the replacement leadership will also be under Israeli pressure and it will need to learn quickly or meet the same fate as their predecessors. But these types of conflicts arent won simply by killing the leadership. While the organisations former leadership will not be mourned by most inside Lebanon, nor by many regional countries, the true extent of Israels success will become more apparent in months and years ahead. Hezbollah remains the most consequential political grouping within Lebanon, albeit with the implicit, and at times explicit, backing of its armed militia. On Friday, on the outskirts of Lebanons capital of Beirut, the leaders of Hezbollah filed into their bunker 20 metres underground to meet with the Iranian general responsible for arming and directing them. Some Hezbollah commanders had a complaint in mind, according to reporting by the Wall Street Journal. Hezbollah is the worlds most heavily armed non-state military force, according to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Illustration by Dionne Gain. Credit: Iran has spent billions of dollars over decades helping arm it with an estimated 150,000 rockets and missiles. Yet the terrorist army does not make its own decisions. It is a creature of the ayatollahs in Iran. Its chiefs swear loyalty to the Supreme Leader of the Shia theocracy, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. And, on Friday, some Hezbollah commanders reportedly were smarting under the restraints hed imposed on them. The World Customs Organizations (WCO) first workshop on the use of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) for Border Security was delivered from 2 to 12 September 2024 in Abidjan, Cote dIvoire for five West African Customs administrations. The principal aim of the workshop was to provide the participating WCO Members with the knowledge required to produce GEOINT. The use of GEOINT to assist in the management of fragile border areas is an element of the WCO Fragile Borders Action Plan. The workshop was officially opened by Colonel Major Bahin Lejeune from the Cote dIvoire Customs who described the workshop as an excellent opportunity to improve Customs control using cartographic or mapping technology. The Project development partners were also represented at the opening ceremony with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the German Embassy in Abidjan, representing the German Federal Foreign Office and German Customs, providing opening comments. Three participants from each of the Customs administrations of the West African countries of Cote dIvoire, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Ghana joined the two-week workshop. They received one week of advanced training in the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to develop GEOINT, followed by a second week focused on the use of GEOINT to plan and support Customs operations. The participants learned how to source relevant geographic data from a range of sources and how to then use a GIS to store, visualize, analyze and interpret this data. The participants used this knowledge with general border control scenarios to develop GEOINT Use Cases with support from experts from the private sector and WCO Colibri Project. This included the use of specific border control scenarios from their home Administrations with a focus on fragile border areas. The Director, Regulation and Disputes, of Ivorian Customs lieutenant Tia NDri Yves Roland formally closed the workshop, thanking the WCO Secretariat, the Project development partners and the officials from all five Customs administrations for their enthusiastic participation and active collaboration. The JICA Programme Officer for the West Africa also participated in the closing ceremony. This activity was a collaborate effort of the German-funded West Africa Security Project (WASP) and the WCO/JICA Joint Project, that demonstrates how new technology can be used to achieve better controls in fragile border areas. At the end of the workshop, the participants were encouraged to further develop these use cases when they return to their home Administrations, with further support to be provided by the two Projects. On September 30, the Tbilisi City Court ruled inadmissible three appeals against the Central Election Commission's (CEC) decision to open only a limited number of polling stations abroad. This decision came despite requests from emigrants to increase the number of polling stations in cities like Spain, Italy, France, and the U.S.The appeals were initiated by the United National Movement, represented by Tamar Kordzaia, the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, and former judge Beso Alavidze. ISFED lawyer Rati Tinikashvili criticized the ruling, stating, "The [Court's] rulings question the principles of elections such as universality and equality," and indicated plans to appeal to the Appeals Court.Opposition member of the CEC, Ana Kobakhidze, claimed the decision deprives 90% of immigrants of their voting rights and expressed concerns about the adequacy of existing polling stations. She stated there is no legal recourse left to address the issue and called for a meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for clarification.Kordzaia condemned the ruling as politically motivated, asserting that all branches of government are complicit in fulfilling "Bidzina Ivanishvili's task."Kakha Kaladze, the Mayor of Tbilisi and General Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, has stated that he no longer keeps his finances in European banks, citing a lack of trust due to their alleged treatment of former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili.In response to a journalist's question about why he no longer holds funds in European banks, Kaladze referred to Ivanishvili's experience as a key reason. "Don't worry about my finances. The reality is in front of you-look at the attitude of foreign banks towards Bidzina Ivanishvili-they robbed him. A person who has won all kinds of lawsuits will not get their money back. This is a political decision," said Kaladze.He added that such treatment has undermined his own confidence in European banks. "Why should I keep my money there? What is their attitude towards Bidzina Ivanishvili, and what did they do to him, right? They robbed him, in the full sense of the word, and why should I trust them? Of course, I don't trust them," he concluded. BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, leaders from various countries have expressed their hopes to deepen friendly cooperation with China and make joint contributions to global sustainable development. Congratulating China on its remarkable development achievements in the past 75 years, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that the Serbian side is sincerely joyful over these achievements, and is confident in China's development prospects. Faced with a complex international situation, the peoples of Serbia and China have always shared common philosophies and are committed to developing friendly relations, allowing the solid friendship between the two countries to continue to shine, Vucic said. Pointing out that the practical cooperation between the two countries in various fields has yielded fruitful results, Vucic said he believes more cooperative projects will be implemented in the future for the benefit of the two peoples. "China is a stabilizing force in international affairs and an important driving force for global economic growth," said Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, adding that under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people have achieved national independence. Over the past 75 years, China has continuously promoted technological development and innovation, contributing Chinese wisdom to the improvement of the world's political, economic, and cultural landscape, Zardari said. China has clear development goals and remarkable achievements in the fields of economy, infrastructure, technology, and manufacturing, which have attracted worldwide attention, said Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides. Emphasizing the deep friendship between Cyprus and China despite geographical distance, Christodoulides said that the Cypriot side sincerely appreciates China's long-term support on the Cyprus issue and is unwaveringly committed to the one-China policy. The Cypriot side firmly supports the development of EU-China relations and is ready to work with China to further advance Cyprus-China and EU-China relations, he said. Maltese President Myriam Spiteri Debono said that since Malta established diplomatic relations with China, the two countries have maintained friendly relations, mutual trust, and strong bilateral development, adding that the Maltese side looks forward to further enhancing cooperation with China for the benefit of the two peoples. Noting that the Pakistan-China friendship is "unbreakable," Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the two countries firmly support each other on issues involving their core interests. Pakistan is ready to deepen cooperation with China in the fields of energy, agriculture, mining, information technology, and people's livelihoods, promote interaction between businesses of the two countries, support the high-quality development of Pakistan's economy, jointly build an "upgraded version" of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and promote the construction of a closer Pakistan-China community of shared future in the new era, Sharif said. Kyrgyz Prime Minister Akylbek Japarov said that China has embarked on a successful path of modernization, and the cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is uniting more and more countries. Currently, Kyrgyzstan is undergoing large-scale economic reforms to improve the well-being of its people, and China's experience is of great significance for Kyrgyzstan, Japarov said, adding that Kyrgyzstan hopes to further strengthen friendship and cooperation with China, which will create new opportunities for the prosperity and development of both countries. China's poverty alleviation efforts have provided valuable lessons for "Global South" countries, said Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Edward Davis, praising China's adherence to its own development path and its efforts to promote common development of the world. Over the 27 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Bahamas and China, bilateral cooperation has yielded fruitful results in various fields, said Davis, adding that the Bahamian side is ready to work hand in hand with China to promote the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and jointly voice the concerns of developing countries on important issues. President of the National Assembly of Thailand Wan Muhamad Noor Matha said that over the 49 years of diplomatic relations between Thailand and China, the two countries' relations and cooperation have continuously deepened. This year, the two countries signed the visa-free agreement, marking an important milestone in bilateral relations, and it is believed to promote closer exchanges in trade, investment, tourism, and other fields between the two countries, said Matha. Thailand is willing to cooperate more closely with China, and use the strong bond of Thai-Chinese relations to enhance the well-being of Thailand, as well as regional countries and peoples. China has achieved a level of development that the world admires, said Speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly Laszlo Kover. In recent years, China-Hungary economic and trade cooperation has been continuously deepened, and it is believed that bilateral exchanges and cooperation will continue to flourish, said Kover. Luis Redondo, president of the National Congress of Honduras, spoke highly of China's achievements in modernization and commended China's contributions to world peace and development. He reiterated the firm adherence to the one-China principle and expressed willingness to deepen the relationship between Honduras and China for the benefit of both peoples. Redondo also expressed willingness to work together with China to promote high-quality BRI cooperation, implement the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, and contribute to the great practice of building a community with a shared future for mankind. BEIRUT, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon is ready to implement UN Resolution 1701 to ease tensions on its southern border with Israel, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Monday. Mikati, speaking after meeting Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, said Lebanon was willing to deploy its army south of the Litani River in coordination with UN peacekeepers. The announcement comes in response to international calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Mikati added. Resolution 1701, passed in 2006, ended a 33-day war between Israel and Hezbollah. It called for a cessation of hostilities, Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, and bolstering the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to monitor the ceasefire alongside the Lebanese army. The resolution established a demilitarized zone between the Lebanon-Israel border and the Litani River, permitting only the Lebanese army and UNIFIL forces to bear arms in the area. Israel has accused Hezbollah of violating the resolution and deploying troops south of the Litani River. On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant suggested the Israeli military was preparing for a ground offensive to remove Hezbollah from the border area. Since Sept. 23, Israel has intensified airstrikes across Lebanon, culminating in a significant strike on Friday in the southern suburbs of Beirut that reportedly killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and many of his associates. This escalation has intensified ongoing clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, which began on Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza, prompting retaliatory Israeli artillery fire and airstrikes in southeastern Lebanon. A new policy brief released Monday by several UN agencies highlights the devastating impact of recent Israeli attacks on Lebanon's economy. Poverty rates are projected to soar to 94 percent in Nabatieh Governorate and 87 percent in South Governorate, both areas severely affected by the destruction. The brief emphasizes that "ending the conflict and addressing its root causes is crucial for the well-being of the people in the region and the stability of the entire area." By Jonathan McCambridge, PA The new 340 million (408 million) Grand Central Station in Belfast is contributing to serious traffic congestion in the city, Stormonts Infrastructure Minister has said. John ODowd dealt with a number of questions in the Assembly from MLAs who complained about traffic chaos in the city. The Sinn Fein minister said his officials are reviewing traffic problems from the weekend to see if lessons need to be learned. Stormont Infrastructure Minister John ODowd dealt with a number of questions from MLAs about traffic problems in Belfast (Rebecca Black/PA) Mr ODowd pointed to the new public transport hub as well as a major resurfacing scheme at the Sydenham Bypass and suggested rural MLAs would wonder what political representatives from the city are complaining about. Grand Central Station, which officially opened earlier this month, will become the largest integrated transport hub on the island of Ireland, replacing the Europa Bus Centre and the former Great Victoria Street Station. It is set to become operational in phases. While buses are already operating, train services are expected to start later this year. During ministerial question time at Stormont, DUP MLA Phillip Brett referred to traffic chaos in our city centre at the weekend. A major resurfacing project began at the weekend on the Sydenham Bypass in east Belfast, one of the citys main arterial routes. DUP MLA Jonathan Buckley said the traffic problems are not just down to roadworks (Liam McBurney/PA) Mr ODowd said: The traffic chaos you refer to at the weekend is the result of a 3.2 million road improvement scheme being carried out in Belfast. I suspect people in rural Fermanagh and rural Tyrone and elsewhere are aghast that people are complaining they are getting 3.2 million spent in their area. But DUP MLA Jonathan Buckley said the issues were not just caused by roadworks. He said: Can I ask the minister to explain in detail what his departments plans are to alleviate the serious congestion concerns? The minister responded: There is serious traffic congestion in Belfast in the mornings and during the evening rush-hour. Part of it is as a result of a 340 million investment in a new Grand Central Station, part of it is the result of the 3.2 million that is being spent on upgrading the Sydenham Bypass. The reason why some of it is happening is because we are making investment in our infrastructure for the economic wellbeing of us all. He added: I have asked my officials to monitor the Belfast situation closely to see if there is interim measures we can take while the work in and around Grand Belfast Central Station is going ahead, to see if there are changes to lighting operations or streetlighting operations that we could take that would help alleviate the traffic in and around it. I accept there are always circumstances where public transport is not suitable, but when you are sitting in traffic perhaps one question we need to ask is this Could we use public transport? When you are sitting in traffic, you are the traffic. DUP MLA David Brooks said east Belfast is particularly affected by the traffic problems, which he said he believes are caused by poor traffic management. Mr ODowd said: I am looking at your rural colleagues as they look with envy upon Belfast receiving its 3.2 million roads improvement, its 340 million bus and rail station. Your rural colleagues are going What are you complaining about? I do accept there has been traffic congestion in Belfast city centre. We are reviewing it and if lessons need to be learned from the weekend, they will be learned moving forward. But we are resurfacing a major artery into Belfast. It needs upgraded, it needs resurfaced and that is why we are doing it. Mr Brooks said some residents in the Sydenham area felt they were locked into their streets at the weekend. COMMUNITY NOTES: BALLYHAUNIS - WESTERN PEOPLE (OCTOBER 1 EDITION) Barbara Rick, a recent and frequent visitor to Ballyhaunis, has one of the bigger jobs on American television while also attending reunions of the American arm of the Morley family. Barbara Rick is the head writer for the third hour of Good Morning America on the ABC network. Ive been a journalist and documentary filmmaker all my life... and have written a few screenplays as well, said Barbara whose late maternal grandparents were both from the wider Ballyhaunis area. Celia Kedian (Brackloon) and John Morley (Aghamore) were brave young teenagers in search of a better life when they came to America aeons ago and met in New York City at a St Patricks Day Dance, she explained. Allegedly on the subway, on their way home that night... thats the lore anyway. Imagine the shock they got when they realised they were both from the same tiny Mayo town! Weve had a number of Morley reunions over the past 50 plus years, the last one about a decade ago. Our cousin Cele McCauley used to know the family history inside out but unfortunately she passed away a few years ago... [we] really miss her and her wealth of family knowledge. The latest family reunion took place September 7th in Hempstead, New York, organised by Barbaras cousins Carol FitzGerald Walsh, Joan Fitzpatrick and others. Their late moms, Rose and Mary, were sisters... their youngest sister Joan, my late mom, was the baby of the Morley family. My mom used to sing Molly Malone to us on our way home from family gatherings in Astoria, Queens and her rendition of Danny Boy was renowned. Barbara visited Ballyhaunis this summer. Her work has also taken her to Ireland. In the 1980s, while working at WNBC-TV in New York City, we hired my cousin Enda Morley to be our fixer on a trip covering John Cardinal OConnors journey to Knock, Belfast, and Dublin for peace. Mayor Ed Koch was there in Knock, too. Endas grandfather Michael Morley and my grandfather John Morley were brothers. Enda and his wife Mary have been to our home in Throggs Neck in the Bronx a couple of times and weve hosted their children, siblings, and other extended relatives over the last few decades. Back in the summer of 1993, I took Creative Writing & Irish Literature courses at the University College Galway while going through a divorce and I was carted around the country with care to hear Sharon Shannon, Mary Black, and the Saw Doctors with the Morleys of Mayo and slowly healed my broken heart. Enda and his sisters and brothers have taken me many times to the remains of the cottage where our grandfathers lived as children. Its one of the most gorgeous spots on the planet, rich in birdsong and the shade of ancient trees. Long ago it was known as the Valley of Birdsong.. and its hallowed ground to me. My husband and I visited there with the Morleys back in 2016 and Mary and Enda took me there again on this latest visit in July of 2024. I was invited to take a couple of pebbles from the old chimney for my grandnieces in the US, a reed of connection to their great-great grandfather who passed away in the 1960s. Barbara got her Irish citizenship a few years back and has a dream to purchase a modest writers cabin in the countryside where I could escape from time to time to do my own creative writing. Her cousin Merrilyn Finn, who moved to Ballyhaunis from New York several years ago, is a popular and active member of several local community groups, including Ballyhaunis Language Cafe, Tidy Towns and is a board member at the Family Resource Centre. My deep and abiding connection to our family and the hills of Mayo, the stories, and the music has been one of the bright joys of my life, said Barbara. MANILA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Typhon Mid-Range Capability missile system, brought to the Philippines under the pretext of military exercises earlier this year, has overstayed, creating a precarious situation for the Southeast Asian archipelago and threatening the strategic stability of Asia-Pacific, Filipino experts have warned. The United States and the Philippines said recently that they have no immediate plans to withdraw the missile system, despite some countries' firm opposition to its deployment. In April, the U.S. Army transported the missile system to the northern Philippines as part of their joint military drills, the first time the United States has deployed a mid-range missile system overseas and in Asia-Pacific since the end of the Cold War. Filipino experts have called for the withdrawal of the missile system, accusing the United States of exacerbating tensions in the region and increasing the risk of misjudgment. REGIONAL STABILITY AT RISK Anna Malindog-Uy, vice president of the Manila-based think tank Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute, voiced her strong disagreement in a written interview with Xinhua about the United States' "provocative" deployment and retaining of the missile system in the Philippines. "The U.S. deployment suggests an offensive strategy rather than mere defense," she said. "The risks of an arms race, diplomatic rifts, and military escalation are real and evident, making this a critical issue for Filipinos to call for transparency and accountability from Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr." Echoing Malindog-Uy's remarks, Wilson Lee Flores, a columnist for The Philippine Star, a local newspaper, told Xinhua that it is "unfortunate" that the mid-range missile system has been kept in the Philippines, stressing the need to "maintain the ASEAN region as a demilitarized zone of peace and stability." "This deployment is unfortunate and worrisome because it might trigger an unhealthy arms race throughout Asia and increase geopolitics tensions among major countries and regional countries," he said. The current Philippine government has given the United States the green light to use nine military bases across the country to store military hardware and equipment, alongside launching a series of joint military exercises, which would jeopardize the hard-won regional peace and stability, experts have warned. "The growing U.S. military presence not only undermines the Philippines' sovereignty but also raises the specter of the country as a strategic target in any potential military confrontations involving U.S. adversaries," Malindog-Uy said, expressing her concern that the Philippines is cast "as a tool, if not a pawn, in the broader U.S. containment strategy against China." RIGHT PATH TO GO Many Filipino experts have cautioned about the danger of aligning too closely with the United States, urging the country to resist external interference in its dialogue with China and not to deviate from ASEAN's guiding principles. Lee said that "the ideal path" for the Philippines is to maintain pragmatic and strategic neutrality concerning China-U.S. relations and to pursue an independent foreign policy that avoids siding with one country against another. In a recent interview with Xinhua, Lucio Blanco Pitlo, president of the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies, and Aaron Jed Rabena, a research fellow at the Manila-based think tank Asia Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, highlighted the significance of a recent meeting in Beijing between heads of the China-Philippines Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on the South China Sea, noting that both sides engaged in candid and in-depth discussions about their maritime issues. The experts also stressed the importance of continued diplomatic communication. Malindog-Uy called for the removal of the U.S.-linked missile system in the Philippines as soon as possible, urging the government to adopt a balanced approach that considers defense needs, national security, independence and sovereignty, and regional peace and stability. She advised the Marcos administration to focus on effective diplomacy and communication. The year is 1782. The American Revolution was coming to an end and Moravian Bethlehem found itself the center of attention. Aristocratic French army officers, imbued with the spirit of the Enlightenment, had come to marvel at the wonderful town with its many industries. BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland recorded an estimated 95 million inbound tourist arrivals in the first nine months of this year, marking a 55.4 percent increase year on year, an official of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said on Monday. This figure equals to 93.4 percent of the inbound tourist arrivals for the same period in 2019, Zhang Zheng, vice minister of culture and tourism, told a press conference. Zhang said that the ministry has been working with relevant authorities to optimize visa and customs policies, accelerate the recovery of international flights, enhance payment facilitation, and improve the overall quality of services for inbound tourists. To facilitate payments for inbound tourists, the government has mandated that major tourist attractions accept various payment methods, including foreign bank cards, QR codes and cash, according to Miao Muyang, an official in charge of cultural and tourism development at the ministry. It is estimated that from January to September this year, domestic visitors made 4.29 billion trips and spent 4.32 trillion yuan (about 616 billion U.S. dollars) on tourism, up by 16.8 percent and 17.1 percent, respectively, from the same period of 2023, according to the ministry. Fakugesi African Digital Innovation Festival 2024 When: Thursday, 03 October 2024 - Saturday, 05 October 2024 Where: Off campus Wits Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct Start time: 9:00 Enquiries: Visit https://fakugesi.co.za/ for tickets, programme, awards. Cost: Book tickets at https://www.quicket.co.za/events/250400-fakugesi-festival-2024-untilunlocked/#/ Africas biggest creative digital innovation festival celebrates the exciting expansion of African digital creativity. The annual Fakugesi African Digital Innovation Festival celebrates young Pan-African talent in the digital sphere to its fullest. It is rooted in showcasing and developing skills in technology, art and culture in Africa. This year Fakugesi #UntilUnlocked celebrates the exciting expansion of African digital creativity. Visit the Festival website: https://fakugesi.co.za/ Fak'ugesi has something for everyone: conferences, workshops, talks, exhibitions, hackathons, music and digital art performances. Buy your tickets here. A highlight is the annual Fakugesi Awards, which honours innovators for outstanding creative achievements in immersive video, digital art, music, video games, design and animation. The Award winners will be announced on 4 October 2024. There are times when words are all we have Gurnah Nobel Laureate Professor Abdulrazak Gurnah delivers the annual Nelson Mandela Memorial Lecture. In remembering the impact of Madibas humanity, Gurnah championed words, story and literature as tools to build solidarity and strengthen the ideals of finding common ground. The 22nd annual Nelson Mandela Memorial lecture was co-hosted by Wits University on 28 September. It marked both celebration of lessons embodied in Madibas legacy as well as a moment to reflect on Mandelas connection to Wits, including being at one-time a law student at the university. This years lecture was delivered by Zanzibar-born British author Abdulrazak Gurnah. In 2021 Gurnah was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. His work includes his most recent book Afterlives, as well as Memory of Departure, Paradise, Gravel Heart and Admiring Silence. Gurnah was till his retirement, a professor of English literature and taught at the University of Kent. Gurnahs books have been lauded for using the power of storytelling to piercingly explore themes of colonialism, war, oppression, displacement and the experiences of loss, collective trauma and the human condition of heartbreak. This year the Nelson Mandela Foundation chose the theme Realising Our Shared Humanity. The Foundations theme to Gurnah was to reflect on an ideal that a sense of shared humanity means being committed to championing justice even if it goes against the interests of the rich or powerful, or even our own. Gurnah addressed a packed Linder Auditorium and a global online audience, beginning by highlighting the connecting points between the country of his birth and South Africa, and how South Africa first came to be part of his awareness as a 12-year-old schoolboy in Zanzibar in 1961. It was the year of our election and it was a time of unprecedented excitement as the politics of decolonisation were approaching a climax But I remember crowding at the classroom windows watching as men chased each other up and down the street in front of the school, wielding clubs and throwing stones. This would become a regular and regrettable event for us and other African nations - when mistrust would make citizens suspicious of the rulers. What we did not know though allowed us to feel only the excitement. Part of the excitement was also because the politics and the campaign were continental, indeed global, he said. Gurnah said just the year before the Republic of Tanzania came into being with the unification of Zanzibar and Tanganyika, the horrors of the Sharpeville Massacre from the bottom of the continent in South Africa reverberated to his island home. The year 1960 though was also the year Albert Luthuli was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. And one year after Tanzanias independence Mandela visited the East African country, leading to the establishment of an ANC office in Dar es Salaam. 1962 though was also the year Mandela was arrested, signalling a brutal new turn in the Struggle and by 1964, Madibas incarceration would begin and span 27 years. Tanzania adopted Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika as national anthem with Kiswahili translation. And in a more prosaic way I came to know about South Africa because of a sense of solidarity that arose out of the decolonisation activities that led to boycotts of South African products. Suddenly South African orange juice disappeared from store shelves, as did various tin jams and fruits South Africa had sailed into my vision and has remained there since then, Gurnah said. Decolonisation, he said, shrunk the world, allowing dread realities to be recognised, to be made real and for solidarities to form. He added: War in Algeria, apartheid in South Africa, and the Civil Rights Struggle in the United States all seemed part of us. This solidarity derives in part from a shared experience of oppression under colonialism and racism, and I think it has endured and strengthened in the decades since then. That global endurance, Gurnah said, sustained South Africas long struggle to end apartheid. And he said a thread is pulled through this history to the present with South Africas decision to bring a case against Israel to the International Court of Justice in December 2023. Words will not rebuild destroyed schools and hospitals or end detentions or continued injustices taking place in the world, he said. But there are times when words are all we have - words and sympathy and understanding of our comparable experiences, our shared humanity. Gurnah said literature was the key he found as a teenager to open the doors to deeper understanding. He paused at the writings of South Africans, like Peter Abrahams Mine Boy, that he said was a revelation and gave him a real inkling of South Africa in the late 1960s. Literature, he said, is using the vitality of story, of song, of dance to establish the very existence of human community. Literature, he went on, broaden minds, transmits news as information, perspectives and inklings and ultimately gives pleasure - a most human of experiences. Literature tells us about what we do know. It reassures us that our understanding of the world is shared, that how we feel is also felt by others, he said. As he concluded, Gurnahs reminder was for struggles that still continue; of the unfinished work and therefore the need still to retrace the footsteps of giants like Madiba. Not everything has turned out well. What we have come to understand is that the consequences of colonialism are still with us and the consequences are various but there is no option but to continue in hope that patience and resolution will enable a better future, he said. Gurnahs memorial lecture marked the 25 year anniversary of the Nelson Mandela Foundation and a changing of the guard with Foundation stalwarts Professor Njabulo Ndebele, chairman of the Foundation and Verne Harris, director of archive and dialogue at the Foundation both retiring this spring. Ndebele in his remarks spoke of the transitions at the organisation in the 25 years of existence. He said: We have been though often painful processes of deep renewal that went on within the foundation, which have honed our social justice focus, reaffirmed our moral compass, deepened and anchoring in the legacy for which we carry such an intimidating responsibility. Wits University continues its responsibility to ensure Madibas legacy is upheld. It is through partnership, including with the Foundation, also in holding in trust archival material and working on digitising Madibas letters, notes and other works. Vice-Chancellor Professor Zeblon Vilakazi said in his remarks: Nelson Mandela's journey is one of that intersects with the history of this great institution as he first walked in the halls of Wits University as a law student in the 1940s. We take pride in the fact that this university remains a custodian of many of the most significant records of his life. Our archival holdings include over 2 000 items that are related to Nelson Mandela, serving as a critical and invaluable resource and a wellspring for scholars, historians and activists alike, Vilakazi said. Wits University awarded an honorary doctorate to Mandela in 1991. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Hitachi, Ltd. (OTCMKTS:HTHIY Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 205,500 shares, a growth of 42.1% from the August 31st total of 144,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 366,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.6 days. Hitachi Price Performance HTHIY traded down $3.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $52.55. 125,716 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 204,818. The company has a market cap of $121.83 billion, a PE ratio of 15.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.82. The stocks 50-day simple moving average is $46.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.52. Hitachi has a 1 year low of $23.04 and a 1 year high of $56.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Get Hitachi alerts: Hitachi (OTCMKTS:HTHIY Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The conglomerate reported $2.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.28 by $2.15. Hitachi had a net margin of 7.21% and a return on equity of 11.90%. The business had revenue of $14.19 billion during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hitachi will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. About Hitachi Hitachi, Ltd. provides digital system and services, green energy and mobility, and connective industry solutions in Japan and internationally. It operates through seven segments: Digital Systems & Services, Green Energy & Mobility, Connective Industries, Automotive System, Hitachi Construction Machinery, Hitachi Metals, and Others. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Hitachi Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Hitachi and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Kansai Paint Co., Ltd. (OTCMKTS:KSANF Get Free Report) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 878,400 shares, a drop of 20.3% from the August 31st total of 1,102,100 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 0 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently days. Kansai Paint Trading Up 0.9 % Shares of KSANF traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $17.55. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $16.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.97. Kansai Paint has a 1 year low of $13.93 and a 1 year high of $17.55. Get Kansai Paint alerts: About Kansai Paint (Get Free Report) Featured Articles Kansai Paint Co, Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells paints and coatings in Japan, India, Asia, Africa, Europe, and internationally. The company offers decorative coatings for protecting exterior and interior of buildings; automotive refinish coatings for dents and scrapes; and industrial coatings that are used in agricultural machinery, special-purpose vehicles, exterior building materials, metal products, beverage cans, and precoated metals used in metallic building materials and home appliances. Receive News & Ratings for Kansai Paint Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Kansai Paint and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Mesa Royalty Trust (NYSE:MTR Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,700 shares, a drop of 21.0% from the August 31st total of 18,600 shares. Approximately 0.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 9,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.5 days. Mesa Royalty Trust Stock Down 0.5 % MTR stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $5.76. The company had a trading volume of 4,690 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,197. Mesa Royalty Trust has a one year low of $5.60 and a one year high of $18.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.74 million, a P/E ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 0.57. The stocks 50-day simple moving average is $6.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $8.47. Get Mesa Royalty Trust alerts: Mesa Royalty Trust (NYSE:MTR Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The energy company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Mesa Royalty Trust had a net margin of 76.94% and a return on equity of 28.92%. The firm had revenue of $0.31 million during the quarter. Mesa Royalty Trust Cuts Dividend Mesa Royalty Trust Company Profile The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.0018 dividend. This represents a $0.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. Mesa Royalty Trusts dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.31%. (Get Free Report) Mesa Royalty Trust owns overriding royalty interests in various oil and gas producing properties in the United States. It holds interests in properties located in the Hugoton field of Kansas; and the San Juan Basin field of Northwestern New Mexico and Southwestern Colorado. The company was founded in 1979 and is based in Houston, Texas. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Mesa Royalty Trust Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Mesa Royalty Trust and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Medical Facilities (OTCMKTS:MFCSF Get Free Report) and National HealthCare (NYSE:NHC Get Free Report) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, earnings and risk. Analyst Ratings This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Medical Facilities and National HealthCare, as provided by MarketBeat. Get Medical Facilities alerts: Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Medical Facilities 0 0 0 0 N/A National HealthCare 0 0 0 0 N/A Dividends Valuation and Earnings Medical Facilities pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.4%. National HealthCare pays an annual dividend of $2.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Medical Facilities pays out 110.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. National HealthCare pays out 46.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. National HealthCare has raised its dividend for 9 consecutive years. This table compares Medical Facilities and National HealthCares gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation. Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Medical Facilities N/A N/A N/A $0.94 10.65 National HealthCare $1.18 billion 1.62 $66.80 million $5.26 23.58 National HealthCare has higher revenue and earnings than Medical Facilities. Medical Facilities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than National HealthCare, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. Profitability This table compares Medical Facilities and National HealthCares net margins, return on equity and return on assets. Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Medical Facilities N/A N/A N/A National HealthCare 7.74% 6.39% 4.47% Institutional and Insider Ownership 25.4% of Medical Facilities shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.4% of National HealthCare shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.8% of National HealthCare shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth. Summary National HealthCare beats Medical Facilities on 10 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks. About Medical Facilities (Get Free Report) Medical Facilities Corporation, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates specialty hospitals and ambulatory surgery center in the United States. The company's specialty hospital offers non-emergency surgical, imaging, diagnostic, and pain management procedures, as well as other ancillary services, such as primary and urgent care; and ambulatory surgery centers offers scheduled outpatient surgical procedures. Medical Facilities Corporation was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. About National HealthCare (Get Free Report) National HealthCare Corporation engages in the operation of services to skilled nursing facilities, assisted and independent living facilities, homecare and hospice agencies, and health hospitals. Its skilled nursing facilities offer licensed therapy services, nutrition services, social services, activities, and housekeeping and laundry services, as well as medical services prescribed by physicians; and rehabilitative services, such as physical, speech, respiratory, and occupational therapy for patients recovering from strokes, heart attacks, orthopedic conditions, neurological illnesses, or other illnesses, injuries, or disabilities. The companys medical specialty units comprise memory care units and sub-cute nursing units that provide specialized care and programs for persons with Alzheimers or related disorders; and assisted living facilities offer personal care services and assistance with general activities of daily living, such as dressing, bathing, meal preparation, and medication management. Its independent living facilities offers specially designed residential units for the active and ambulatory elderly and provide various ancillary services for residents, including restaurants, activity rooms and social areas; and behavioral health services to both adults and geriatric patients with psychiatric, emotional, and addictive disorders. In addition, the companys homecare agencies assist those who wish to stay at home or in assisted living residences but still require some degree of medical care or assistance with daily activities; hospice agencies that provides hospice and palliative care; and operates pharmacies, as well as managed care insurance solutions. Further, it offers management, accounting, and financial services; and leases its properties to third party operators. The company was founded in 1971 and is based in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Receive News & Ratings for Medical Facilities Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Medical Facilities and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Public Security on Monday announced that 313 Chinese nationals suspected of cross-border telecom fraud have been transferred from Myanmar to China. This is the result of a joint law enforcement operation between Chinese and Myanmar police aimed at cracking down on telecom and online fraud in northern Myanmar. A total of 870 suspects involved in cross-border telecom fraud were arrested during the operation, comprising 313 Chinese and 557 Myanmar nationals, the ministry said in a statement. In March, Chinese and Myanmar police conducted their first joint law enforcement operation in the Muse region of Myanmar, arresting over 800 telecom fraud suspects. The ministry said it will strengthen law enforcement cooperation with Myanmar police and conduct regular joint operations to combat telecom and online fraud involving Chinese nationals in northern Myanmar. In May, the ministry said 49,000 criminal suspects of telecom and internet fraud had been handed over to China's custody by Myanmar since July 2023. Bank of Georgia Group PLC (OTCMKTS:BDGSF Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,600 shares, a growth of 15.0% from the August 31st total of 4,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 46.0 days. Bank of Georgia Group Price Performance BDGSF remained flat at $54.00 on Monday. Bank of Georgia Group has a 1 year low of $45.76 and a 1 year high of $67.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a PE ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.82. Get Bank of Georgia Group alerts: Bank of Georgia Group (OTCMKTS:BDGSF Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The company reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $352.64 million during the quarter. Bank of Georgia Group had a return on equity of 30.79% and a net margin of 50.16%. Bank of Georgia Group Company Profile Bank of Georgia Group PLC, through its subsidiaries, provides banking and financial services with focus on the Georgian and Armenian markets. It operates through Retail Banking, SME Banking, Corporate Investment Banking, and BNB segments. The Retail Banking segment offers consumer loans, mortgage loans, overdrafts, credit cards, and other credit facilities; funds transfer and settlement services; and handles customers' deposits for individuals and legal entities. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Bank of Georgia Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bank of Georgia Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Mastech Digital (NYSE:MHH Get Free Report) and Caldwell Partners International (OTCMKTS:CWLPF Get Free Report) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and earnings. Insider & Institutional Ownership 18.4% of Mastech Digital shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 8.7% of Caldwell Partners International shares are held by institutional investors. 48.6% of Mastech Digital shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth. Get Mastech Digital alerts: Valuation & Earnings This table compares Mastech Digital and Caldwell Partners Internationals gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation. Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Mastech Digital $190.19 million 0.62 -$7.14 million ($0.65) -15.54 Caldwell Partners International N/A N/A N/A $0.09 9.20 Profitability Caldwell Partners International has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Mastech Digital. Mastech Digital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Caldwell Partners International, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. This table compares Mastech Digital and Caldwell Partners Internationals net margins, return on equity and return on assets. Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Mastech Digital -2.10% 4.53% 3.52% Caldwell Partners International N/A N/A N/A Analyst Recommendations This is a breakdown of current ratings for Mastech Digital and Caldwell Partners International, as provided by MarketBeat. Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Mastech Digital 0 0 0 0 N/A Caldwell Partners International 0 0 0 0 N/A Summary Mastech Digital beats Caldwell Partners International on 5 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks. About Mastech Digital (Get Free Report) Mastech Digital, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides digital transformation IT services to large, medium-sized, and small companies in the United States. The company operates through Data and Analytics Services and IT Staffing Services segments. It offers data management and analytics services, including project-based consulting services in the areas of master data management, enterprise data integration, big data and analytics, and digital transformation by using onsite and offshore resources. In addition, the company provides a range of IT staffing services in the areas of data management and analytics, cloud, mobility, social, automation, business intelligence/data warehousing, web services, enterprise resource planning and customer resource management, and e-business solutions. Further, it offers digital transformation services, including digital learning services; and cloud-based enterprise application across sales, marketing, and customer service organizations. The company provides its services across various industry verticals, such as financial services, retail, healthcare, manufacturing, government, telecommunications, and transportation. The company was formerly known as Mastech Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Mastech Digital, Inc. in September 2016. Mastech Digital, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. About Caldwell Partners International (Get Free Report) The Caldwell Partners International Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides candidate research and sourcing services in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and other European countries. The company offers retained executive and board search solutions; professional search; on-demand talent acquisition augmentation solutions; and talent strategy and assessment tools. The company offers its services under the Caldwell and IQTalent brand names. It serves real estate, consumer and commercial banking, academic, non-profit, social enterprise, culture, retail, financial services, industrial, insurance, life science, healthcare, private equity and venture capital, professional services, and technology sectors. The Caldwell Partners International Inc. was founded in 1970 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Receive News & Ratings for Mastech Digital Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Mastech Digital and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 564,500 shares, a growth of 27.2% from the August 31st total of 443,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 314,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days. Currently, 1.7% of the companys shares are short sold. Matson Stock Up 1.3 % Shares of MATX stock traded up $1.87 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $143.80. The company had a trading volume of 60,623 shares, compared to its average volume of 280,318. Matson has a 12 month low of $82.68 and a 12 month high of $144.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $132.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $122.56. The company has a market cap of $5.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.03 and a beta of 1.07. Get Matson alerts: Matson (NYSE:MATX Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The shipping company reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.26. Matson had a return on equity of 13.87% and a net margin of 10.41%. The company had revenue of $847.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $861.68 million. On average, research analysts expect that Matson will post 11.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Stephens increased their price target on Matson from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Matson from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Get Our Latest Analysis on MATX Insider Activity In related news, CEO Matthew J. Cox sold 7,500 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.37, for a total transaction of $1,000,275.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 222,897 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,727,772.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Matson news, SVP Richard S. Kinney sold 1,615 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.62, for a total value of $215,796.30. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,973 shares in the company, valued at $1,065,352.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Matthew J. Cox sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.37, for a total value of $1,000,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 222,897 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,727,772.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 87,592 shares of company stock valued at $11,389,694 in the last ninety days. 2.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Institutional Trading of Matson A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Matson during the second quarter valued at approximately $759,000. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Matson by 98.5% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 8,906 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $1,166,000 after acquiring an additional 4,420 shares during the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Matson by 57.8% during the second quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 101,000 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $13,228,000 after acquiring an additional 37,000 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Matson by 1.9% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 19,923 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $2,609,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Matson by 126.5% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 240,117 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $31,448,000 after acquiring an additional 134,092 shares during the last quarter. 84.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Matson Company Profile (Get Free Report) Matson, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of ocean transportation and logistics services. It operates through two segments, Ocean Transportation and Logistics. The Ocean Transportation segment offers ocean freight transportation services to the domestic non-contiguous economies of Hawaii, Japan, Alaska, and Guam, as well as to other island economies in Micronesia. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Matson Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Matson and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Net One Systems Co., Ltd. (OTCMKTS:NONEF Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 205,100 shares, an increase of 53.9% from the August 31st total of 133,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 0 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently days. Net One Systems Stock Performance Shares of Net One Systems stock remained flat at $13.64 during trading on Friday. The firms 50 day simple moving average is $13.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.64. Net One Systems has a 1-year low of $13.64 and a 1-year high of $16.87. Get Net One Systems alerts: About Net One Systems (Get Free Report) See Also Net One Systems Co, Ltd. provides information platform solutions and services in Japan. The company offers information and communications technology, and virtual desktop infrastructure solutions. It also provides telecommunication networks, such as carrier Ethernet, IP/MPLS networks, mobile network infrastructure, and SDN/NFV for telecom operators; and installation planning, operational support, and computer network system optimization. Receive News & Ratings for Net One Systems Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Net One Systems and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of Moderate Buy from the four ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $39.00. SEM has been the subject of several research reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Select Medical in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Select Medical in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. They set a buy rating and a $42.00 price target on the stock. Get Select Medical alerts: Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Select Medical Institutional Investors Weigh In On Select Medical Select Medical Stock Performance Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SEM. Foster & Motley Inc. lifted its position in shares of Select Medical by 3.1% in the second quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 12,147 shares of the health services providers stock valued at $426,000 after buying an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Select Medical by 6.6% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,563 shares of the health services providers stock worth $198,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Select Medical by 2.0% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 30,544 shares of the health services providers stock valued at $1,071,000 after purchasing an additional 593 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Select Medical by 528.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 767 shares of the health services providers stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Select Medical by 52.8% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,983 shares of the health services providers stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 685 shares during the period. 89.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Shares of SEM opened at $34.67 on Wednesday. The firms 50 day moving average price is $35.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. Select Medical has a twelve month low of $21.28 and a twelve month high of $40.50. The firm has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.51, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.42. Select Medical (NYSE:SEM Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The health services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.74 billion. Select Medical had a return on equity of 17.50% and a net margin of 3.91%. Select Medicals revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.61 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Select Medical will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year. Select Medical Announces Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. Select Medicals dividend payout ratio is presently 23.81%. Select Medical Company Profile (Get Free Report Select Medical Holdings Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates critical illness recovery hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals, outpatient rehabilitation clinics, and occupational health centers in the United States. It operates in four segments: Critical Illness Recovery Hospital, Rehabilitation Hospital, Outpatient Rehabilitation, and Concentra. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Select Medical Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Select Medical and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM Get Free Report) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 26,000,000 shares, a decline of 15.6% from the August 31st total of 30,820,000 shares. Currently, 0.5% of the companys shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 16,330,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Stock Down 4.7 % TSM opened at $177.97 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $923.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 2.21. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $167.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $159.40. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing has a one year low of $84.95 and a one year high of $193.47. Get Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing alerts: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The semiconductor company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $20.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.33 billion. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing had a return on equity of 25.54% and a net margin of 37.85%. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturings revenue for the quarter was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Increases Dividend Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.4871 per share. This represents a $1.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 12th. This is an increase from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturings previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturings dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.71%. TSM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their target price on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $168.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $150.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $130.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a positive rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $200.00. Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on TSM Institutional Trading of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in the second quarter worth about $25,000. LifeSteps Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in the second quarter worth $27,000. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 181 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 16.51% of the companys stock. About Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (Get 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. See Also 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. BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Monday warned Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities that no matter how much weaponry they purchase from the United States, the determination of solving the Taiwan question and realizing national reunification is unshakable. Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made the remarks in response to a media inquiry about a new U.S. decision to sell arms to Taiwan. Chen stressed that China firmly opposes military contact between the United States and Taiwan in any form as well as U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. "We urge the United States to strictly abide by the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, stop arming Taiwan and stop sending any wrong signals to 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces," Chen said. Xi Jinping straightens the ribbon on a flower basket during a ceremony to present flower baskets to fallen heroes at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2024. Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Party and state leaders including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi and Han Zheng on Monday attended the ceremony. The event was held to mark Martyrs' Day, observed one day prior to National Day. [Xinhua/Wang Ye] BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Party and state leaders on Monday attended a ceremony at Tian'anmen Square in central Beijing to present flower baskets to fallen heroes. The event was held to mark Martyrs' Day, observed one day prior to National Day. This year, the country celebrates the 75th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China (PRC). At around 10 a.m., Xi and other leaders Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi and Han Zheng arrived at the square. They were joined by representatives from all walks of life. Among the more than 2,400 flower-bearing attendees were veterans, relatives of martyrs, recipients of national medals and honorary titles, role models, students and children. As the ceremony started, all attendees sang the national anthem, followed by a moment of silence in tribute to the heroes who sacrificed their lives for the liberation of the Chinese people and the development of the PRC. Nine large flower baskets, with ribbons that read "Eternal Glory to the People's Heroes," were placed in front of the Monument to the People's Heroes. Xi and other leaders approached the foot of the monument, where he straightened the ribbons on the baskets before leading other officials in a walk around the monument to pay their respects. The ceremony was presided over by Yin Li, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Beijing's Party chief. Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Party and state leaders including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi and Han Zheng attend a ceremony to present flower baskets to fallen heroes at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2024. The event was held to mark Martyrs' Day, observed one day prior to National Day. [Xinhua/Xie Huanchi] Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Party and state leaders including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi and Han Zheng attend a ceremony to present flower baskets to fallen heroes at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2024. The event was held to mark Martyrs' Day, observed one day prior to National Day. [Xinhua/Li Xueren] Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Party and state leaders including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi and Han Zheng attend a ceremony to present flower baskets to fallen heroes at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2024. The event was held to mark Martyrs' Day, observed one day prior to National Day. [Xinhua/Wang Ye] Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Party and state leaders including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi and Han Zheng attend a ceremony to present flower baskets to fallen heroes at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2024. The event was held to mark Martyrs' Day, observed one day prior to National Day. [Xinhua/Shen Hong] Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Party and state leaders including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi and Han Zheng attend a ceremony to present flower baskets to fallen heroes at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2024. The event was held to mark Martyrs' Day, observed one day prior to National Day. [Xinhua/Yin Bogu] Xi Jinping walks around the Monument to the People's Heroes to pay tribute during a ceremony to present flower baskets to fallen heroes at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 30, 2024. Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Party and state leaders including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi and Han Zheng on Monday attended the ceremony. The event was held to mark Martyrs' Day, observed one day prior to National Day. [Xinhua/Yin Bogu] (Source: Xinhua) Editor: Wang Shasha Senedd rejects calls to reverse disastrous 20mph policy The Senedd shot down calls to scrap the 20mph speed limit policy Senedd members voted 37-14 against the Conservative motion which urged the Welsh Government to repeal the disastrous default 20mph policy. Natasha Asghar, who was told off moments earlier for describing 20mph as a blanket policy, criticised ministers for trying to downplay public sentiment. The Conservatives shadow transport secretary said a recent YouGov poll found that seven out of ten people still oppose the default 20mph policy. She welcomed a more sensible, pragmatic approach from Ken Skates, who took over as transport secretary in March, but cautioned that much change has yet to come to fruition. Public outcry She reiterated that nearly 470,000 people signed a record-breaking petition against the policy which has been in place for more than a year. Ms Asghar, who represents South Wales East, said implementation of 20mph has cost more than 33m and claimed it will result in a 9bn hit to the Welsh economy. She said: I make no apology for promoting common-sense politics, 20mph where its needed around schools, hospitals, places of worship and high streets. It is regrettable that it has taken a public outcry on such a large scale for the guidance to be even looked at or changed. She told the Senedd: Give the people what they want, allow their voices to be at the forefront of this policy that affects their day-to-day lives and please scrap this. Revisionism Peredur Owen Griffiths, who also represents South Wales East, criticised remarkable revision in the Senedd, claiming there was initially cross-party support for 20mph. Oh no, there wasnt, said Janet Finch-Saunders, the Tory MS for Aberconwy. Elin Jones, the Senedds speaker or Llywydd, intervened, saying: Come on [we] can do better than a pantomime please. Plaid Cymru shadow transport secretary pointed out that 20mph has been introduced by Conservative councils in England. He told the debating chamber or Siambr there has been a significant fall in road casualties, according to statistics for January to March. But he criticised the Welsh Governments implementation, saying it fueled a divisive debate and eroded trust in the countrys relatively new democracy. Confetti cannon Lee Waters, the former deputy minister who introduced 20mph, said the policy is in achieving its aim, with data showing average speeds are down. The Labour MS for Llanelli said: Casualties are down by 32%, which is the single most effective road safety intervention that has been made. And lives have been saved: six fewer deaths in the first six months compared to the year before. Now, the Conservatives say that the policy has been disastrous. I think that these are results that we can be proud of. Has our approach been perfect? No, it has not. Mr Waters argued there is little practical difference between the policy and the Tories position, saying: The difference is purely about politics. Its purely about opportunism. He said Tory proposals would cost the public purse more: Far from a bonfire of regulations, their common-sense approach is a confetti cannon of red tape splurged across Wales. The real difference between us is that we are saving lives before politics. Condemnation Newport East MS John Griffiths maintained that the default 20mph policy is the right one as he welcomed the Welsh Governments review. The Labour backbencher pointed out that an insurance company, esure, is reducing policy premiums by 50 for customers in extensive 20mph areas. He said: Its estimated that if 20mph was rolled out right across the UK in the way that it has been in Wales, that would result in some 1.4 billion-worth of savings for motorists. Mark Isherwood, the Tory MS for North Wales, said: To say that the indiscriminate 20mph speed limit has been unpopular would be an understatement. His colleague Janet Finch-Saunders criticised a distinct lack of consultation. What was intended to improve road safety and reduce emissions has instead sparked widespread frustration, condemnation and opposition, she warned. Right roads Responding to debate on behalf of the Welsh Government, Ken Skates said police data unequivocally shows accidents reducing on 20 and 30mph roads. The transport secretary rejected suggestions that ministers are not listening, saying 10,000 people have identified routes and helped shape the next steps. Mr Skates said: We know that there is more that we can do. We have listened and we have worked together. Now, over the next few months, well begin to see changes ensuring that the right speeds are set on the right roads. Following the debate on September 25, Plaid Cymrus amendment was also voted down, 41-10. The Welsh Governments amended version of the motion was agreed, 27-24. By Chris Haines, ICNN Senedd reporter Wrexham University aiming to become CPD centre for Counsellors in North Wales Wrexham University is working towards becoming a centre for continuing professional development (CPD) for Counselling professionals in North Wales. In a bid to ensure Counsellors in the region and those working towards qualifying as a Counsellor are equipped to provide high quality professional help and support to their clients, the institution is currently working towards becoming a centre for CPD excellence. In order to do this, the University is introducing a number of Counselling related short courses, including: Active Listening Introduction to Counselling Certificate in Counselling Supervision Online and Telephone Counselling The new short courses are all linked to the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) requirements. The University recently held a Counselling CPD launch event, which saw Counsellors from across the region hear all about what courses and support are available to them, in order to further enhance their professional practice. At present, Wrexham University provides a Diploma of Higher Education in Counselling, which prepares students to work with adult clients. Professor Mandy Robbins, Associate Dean for Research at Wrexham University, said: We are enormously proud of our Counselling offering here at the University and now we are keen to go that step beyond by becoming a centre for CPD for Counselling professionals and those working towards qualifying here in North Wales. Currently, professional guidance states that Counsellors must complete at least 30 hours of CPD every 12 months, in order to keep their theoretical and practical knowledge and skills up to date. This ensures they continue learning more about their discipline and are staying up to speed on any new legislative requirements. There is currently limited CPD provision in North Wales for Counsellors, which is why we are keen to plug that gap and ensure that professionals have access to the learning and development opportunities that they need, this in turn, supports our local community, who access these services. BELGRADE, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- A Serbian government delegation boarded Air Serbia's inaugural direct flight to Guangzhou, China on Sunday evening, following a ceremony at the Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. The event was attended by Serbia's Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Goran Vesic, Minister of Tourism and Youth Husein Memic, Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Li Ming, and Air Serbia CEO Jiri Marek. Leading the delegation, Vesic highlighted that the new direct flights operated by Air Serbia and China Southern Airlines symbolize "a significant contribution to the steel-clad friendship between the two peoples." He also congratulated China on the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, noting the importance of the growing economic and overall ties between the two countries. "Economic relations between Serbia and China are becoming increasingly significant. Since July 1, the free trade agreement between our two countries has been in effect, and we expect even more businesspeople to come here," Vesic said. Li said the flight is a significant achievement in bilateral cooperation, calling it "an air bridge" between the two nations. He noted that the new route would bring substantial benefits, citing an 84 percent increase in Chinese tourists visiting Belgrade in the first quarter of this year. Marek said the day was exceptional for the airline, both countries and the entire region. "By adding Guangzhou to our network, we are expanding our presence in China." "Guangzhou is one of the largest commercial and industrial centers in China, and we believe these direct flights will be of great interest to the business community across Europe," Marek said. The new direct flights between Belgrade and Guangzhou's Baiyun International Airport will operate four times a week -- two by Air Serbia and two by China Southern Airlines, according to Vesic. The World Socialist Web Site had the following conversation with a Royal Mail delivery worker in Scotland who is a member of the Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee (PWRFC). Their name has been withheld to protect against victimisation. The discussion focussed on the experience of postal workers on the ground and the devastation of jobs, terms and conditions resulting from the pro-company agreement last July. This cemented the partnership of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) Postal Executive with Royal Mail, ending the year-long national dispute to pave the way for a brutal restructuring agenda over the past year. It serves as a reply to the fraudulent performance by CWU General Secretary Dave Ward at the Labour Party conference this week. His speech was an attempt to falsify the record and suggest that the union was in a fight against the stitch up of Royal Mail by its current business leaders and the regulator Ofcom. A Royal Mail postal worker delivering mail, May 2024 The Labour Party conference passed the CWU motion on Critical UK Infrastructure The Future of Royal Mail. This claims that the Starmer government will guarantee stronger contractual obligations to protect jobs and the mail service and prevent asset stripping by billionaire Daniel Kretinsky and his private equity firm EP Group in the 3.5 billion takeover of the Royal Mail (and parent company International Distribution Services). These worthless assurances aim to neutralise the opposition of postal workers to the next phase in the race to the bottom. This is why the meetings over the past months on the takeover have been held in private by Kretinsky and EP Group, the CWU and the Labour Partywhich before taking office signalled its in-principle support for the buyout. The CWUs call for a new business and ownership model under the sole ownership of EP Group is in line with Labour governments pledge to be the most pro-business in history. It preserves the privileged status of the CWU bureaucracy as corporate enforcer using the building blocks of the sellout agreement to transform the mail service into an Amazon-style parcel business with sweatshop conditions to match. *** Postal workers in Scotland on delivery have been among the worst affected by the later start and finishing times of up to 90 minutes since June this year. What has been the impact? At our delivery office the finishing time averaged out at around 2pm during the week and just after 1pm on a Saturday. The CWU also agreed to longer hours in the High Period of Christmas to 39 hours a week, so you are looking at around 3.30pm or 4pm on weekdays when you get back to the delivery office and you still have work to complete and around 2.40pm on a Saturday if you dont take a break. Many people with young children took this job because it allowed them to pick them up from school. That has gone now. Your job is delivering parcels, that is what the CWU means when it talks about growing the business. You have no life outside of work including on Saturdays when in the past you could meet up with friends and family and socialise. Every day is a constant battle to complete your work. You cannot say what time you will finish; they have added about 15 percent to the workload. It is like the gig economy. This is a stark reminder of what the CWU signed away in its agreement with Royal Mail. It is only set to get worse, from what we hear. What starts out as rumours becomes a fact. It is a softening-up exercise by the union and management. So many people are looking to leave, and new entrants are being treated even worse as part of the two-tier workforce. Royal Mail is burning through staff. On top of the lesser pay and terms they have to work Sunday as mandatory. But now at local level they are being told they cannot take a day off during the week but can work Sunday as overtime, as if this is some great favour to make some extra pay! The new entrants have been leaving because they cannot believe the stress and workloads. Martin Walsh was elected CWU (postal) deputy general secretary with just 10 percent of the vote last November. That is what postal workers thought of his defence of the sellout agreement, but he claimed the CWU would re-connect with members in the workplace. That is one of the biggest lies he has told. To call themselves the communication union is a sick joke. The CWU is re-connecting with members by drip feeding the company line, leaving them even more stressed about their future. Walsh held a meeting with the CWU reps in Scotland a few weeks ago in Perth. There was no workplace report back at our delivery office. The CWU rep has just told us bits and pieces as individuals about information which is critical to our wellbeing in the workplace. There is nothing in writing. We are being told that the My Performance App to monitor individual productivity as part of the agreement will now be moved from the PDA (hand-held trackers) to our mobile phones through the Royal Mail People App. This intrusive company app is what we now have use to order new uniform, sort out annual leave, days off and even to view our pay slip. If you want a printed pay slip you now need to make an individual request. It is not uncommon to be underpaid for the hours you work, so you need to check it. There is no human contact anymore with HR or a manager on these issues. We are only a hop, skip and a jump away from the platforms gig economy workers use. We are facing walks that will increase from around 4 hours 15 minutes to 5 hours plus per day. We have been told that Saturdays will only be for parcels and First Class and everything else will be carried over to the Monday, Tuesday. This is being planned for early next year and has been tied in with the Kretinsky take-over. The CWU is just echoing management talking points. Ward at the Labour Party spoke about defending the USO. What has been the role of the CWU regarding the deliberate rundown of the mail service? It was only the members who have tried to keep the service going in a losing battle to try and ensure people get their important mail, like hospital appointments. This is in the face of the union selling us down the river. The USO is just a term the CWU throws around. Now they are talking about suspending a large part of the mail on Saturday. We were the ones saying throughout the dispute the company was coming for the mail service. The members have never received a reply from the CWU about action to prevent management prioritising parcels over mail, in violation of the USO obligation. The union hierarchy talk about protecting the USO, but they dont give a damn and allowed postal workers to be victimised by management. With the deal last year the CWU took the first chance they got to throw away the service for a parcel delivery network. They cannot talk to the ordinary members about defending the USO, that is garbage. When Walsh talks about any growth in the service it is increased parcel delivery between 2 to 6pm. That is a massive clue about what they think about the USO. They are singing from the same hymn sheet as Royal Mail-IDS. How demoralising is that for postal workers looking for a way to defend their jobs, conditions and the mail service? What do you think of the CWUs role with Labour in the Kretinsky take-over? The CWU are in cahoots with the Labour government, waving through this take-over. That is the mood music. I see them as partners in crime and there is no hope of anything good coming out of this. It will be worse for the workers. Ive heard Labour saying they will not discourage investmentthis is how they are presenting the takeover by a billionaire asset stripper. From Rachel Reeves on down they are entirely pro-business. That tells you all you need to know and is bad news for us, whatever so-called provisos are agreed with Kretinsky on the takeover. As for Ward claiming to be some great opponent of privatisation, what a farce! When we were preparing to strike over two years ago to defend our terms and conditions, we were told by the CWU that we had to think of the shareholders, that Royal Mail was not a service but a private company. Who comes first in any PLC? It is the shareholders and their dividends. That was always the priority for the CWU, and it has got worse. We have a large TV in our canteen which churns out company propaganda via its news channel RMTV. It is like 1984. It constantly flashes up the share price to enforce the message this is what matters. It is not subliminal, it is in your face. I encourage all postal workers to get involved with the Post Workers Rank-and-File Committee. You have a chance to hear from Royal Mail workers across the country to get support and find out there are many others who feel the same way and want to fight. Anyone looking for a voice will find it in the committee, you will be more than welcome. At our last Zoom meeting we had greetings from the Canada Post Rank-and-File Committee and the level of exploitation they face. This made a big impression and brought home how postal workers are in the same fight. It will be a big realisation for peopleit was for me. It is not just in the UK; other rich and developed countries are treating their workers like dirt because the unions in every country have fallen into line with the employers and governments. It is a global problem which needs a global solution. We need to stick together as brothers and sisters all over the world On Saturday, September 28, 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a first-ever outbreak in Rwanda of the deadly Marburg virus. It is the fourth largest Marburg outbreak documented in modern history. Local health authorities have confirmed 26 cases with six deaths thus far. Cases have occurred across seven of the countrys 30 districts. The survivors are presently in isolation receiving treatment, while 161 people who have been identified through contact tracing are being monitored. This negative stained transmission electron micrograph (TEM) depicts a number of filamentous Marburg virions, which had been cultured on Vero cell cultures, and purified on sucrose, rate-zonal gradients. Note the viruss morphologic appearance with its characteristic Shepherds Crook shape; Magnified approximately 100,000x. [Photo: CDC / Dr. Erskine Palmer, Russell Regnery, Ph.D. via Wikimedia Commons] Rwandas Ministry of Health had informed the public and the international health authorities on Friday of these developments. The statement said, Marburg virus disease (MVD), a hemorrhagic fever, has been confirmed in a few patients in health facilities in the country. Investigations are being carried out to determine the origin of the infection. Enhanced preventive measures are being implemented in all health facilities. Contact tracing is underway, and cases have been isolated for treatment. The countrys health minister, Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, told reporters on the same day via a video statement posted on X, We are counting 20 people who are infected, and six who have already passed away due to this virus. The large majority of cases and deaths are among healthcare workers, mainly in the intensive care unit. The following day, addressing the public, Dr. Nsanzimana told Rwandans on video: I want to emphasize that people can continue with their daily activities. There is no prohibition on any activities. What we ask is that people who have symptoms, specifically high fever, severe headaches, muscle aches, fatigue, diarrhea and vomiting, if you experience these symptoms dont ignore them. These are the main symptoms indicating the onset of this virus. Do not continue your daily activities. Instead, call 114 or visit the nearest health center. People should not panic as we have started identifying the hotspots of the disease and are taking appropriate action. We cannot implement guidelines that hinder peoples livelihoods. There is no cure for the disease and supportive care in health facilities means access to intensive care units with healthcare providers well versed in maintaining strict isolation controls. Mainstays of care include pain control, balancing fluids and electrolytes, antibiotics and antifungals as deemed appropriate, and anticoagulation to prevent or control disseminated intravascular coagulation. Such measures are resource intensive and can quickly overwhelm healthcare facilities in poor countries even with just a few cases. Marburg virus disease is a viral hemorrhagic fever that has similar clinical symptoms to infection with the Ebola virus. Even with supportive care, fatality rates range from 24 to 88 percent. The incubation period after exposure lasts a week on average, but can be between two to 21 days, underscoring the importance of immediate public health efforts to trace all contacts. The initial phase of the infection (days one through five) is accompanied by high fevers (104 degrees Fahrenheit) with severe headaches, chills, extreme fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and horrible sore throat. Additionally, red and purple discolorations cover the entire body. Abdominal cramping, red inflamed eyes, and malaise are experienced by most. By week one to two, patients are listless in bed out of weakness. They also suffer from shortness of breath, swelling, and marked eye redness. They can suffer from central nervous symptoms such as delirium, confusion and aggression, which places caregivers in danger of secondary infection. The infected also manifest bloody stools and hemorrhaging from mucosal surfaces and blood draw sites. While fatal cases will continue into coma, convulsions, multiorgan failure accompanied by diffuse coagulopathy, metabolic disturbances, shock and lastly death in this period, those who survive and enter the convalescence phase will have generalized aches and pains, liver dysfunction, muscle weakness, and possibly psychosis. Transmission of Marburg virus disease is not well understood but can occur through exposure to one species of fruit bats or through consumption of bush meat. The infection can be spread between people via contact with body fluids through unprotected sex or broken skin. The source of the infection in Rwanda remains to be determined. The majority of cases confirmed have been among healthcare workers in and around the capital city, Kigali, with a population of 1.2 million and an airport well-connected to domestic and international destinations. The WHO has announced that it is assisting with medical supplies and mobilizing expertise to assist with public health containment measures to end the outbreak quickly. As the report noted, A consignment of clinical care and infection prevention and control supplies is being readied and will be delivered to Kigali in the coming days from WHOs Emergency Response Hub in Nairobi, Kenya. Additionally, WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr. Matshidiso Moeti said that efforts to bolster cross-border measures with bordering countries is underway. These developments come on the heels of recent Public Health Emergency of International Concern declaration with the clade 1b mpox outbreak centered in the neighboring country of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where promised funds and vaccinations have been slow to materialize as the virus rampages across the country. In particular, the previous year, Tanzania, a neighboring country to its east, had reported its first-ever outbreak of Marburg virus disease in nine human cases, with six deaths. At the same time, Equatorial Guinea, which lies on the western coast of the continent, nearly 3,000 kilometers away, reported 40 human cases of Marburg virus disease and 35 deaths. Given its continuing emergence across central Africa and in densely populated cities, it will be only a matter of time, as the mpox pandemic demonstrated in 2022, that these highly virulent diseases may quickly erupt as a global infectious disease crisis. Marburg virus disease continues to be classified by the WHO as a neglected tropical disease as there is limited research, funding, and any attention given it as compared to other infectious diseases. As the authors of a 2023 report on Marburg in Africa stated bluntly: Lack of commercial incentives for drug development and limited investments in MVD vaccine development have hindered the progress. In view of this, the global health agencies, governments, and nongovernmental organizations may prioritize MVDspecific research and development. Strengthening the surveillance and diagnostic capacities in particularly the endemic regions may aid in expeditious detection and response and could also potentially prevent an outbreak from ramifying. As another study on Marburg in sub-Saharan Africa from last year explained, the continent has in the last decade experienced a 63 percent increase in zoonotic diseases, a majority of these caused by emerging deadly viruses like Ebola and Marburg. These have already placed considerable strain on the regions healthcare systems and overall quality of life for its population. The COVID pandemic has only exacerbated these developments, which are a product of uncontrolled capitalist exploitation and urbanization of the continent without the creation of the social infrastructure to address the growing needs of the population, including protection from deadly viruses emerging from the rain forests and other undeveloped regions. The World Socialist Web Site denounces Saturdays murder of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, along with hundreds of civilian residents of Beirut, by Israel and the United States. The massive bombardment that killed Nasrallah is a clear violation of multiple international laws of war, including prohibitions on assassination and indiscriminate bombings of civilian areas. People check the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) [AP Photo/Hassan Ammar] With Nasrallahs murder, the imperialist powers are demonstrating that they will stop at nothing in their quest to reimpose shackles on the former colonies. Nasrallah served as secretary-general of Hezbollah since 1992. The group was formed as an Islamic Resistance against Israels occupation of Southern Lebanon between 1982 and 2000, inspired by the 1979 Iranian Revolution. During Israels 2006 invasion of Southern Lebanon aimed at crushing Hezbollah, the group mobilized widespread popular support, forcing Israel and the Bush administration to accept a UN-backed ceasefire that was widely seen as a debacle for Israel. Now, Israel has seized upon the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas to exact bloody revenge for this embarrassment. On Saturday, Israeli F-15 warplanes dropped 85 bombs, the majority of which were US-provided 2,000-pound bunker busters, onto an underground compound where Nasrallah was meeting with other leaders in the center of Lebanon. The strikes completely obliterated multiple high-rise apartment complexes. The attack leveled at least four large buildings in two locations and caused heavy damage to an area spanning 1,000 feet, reported the Washington Post. One video, filmed from a window, shows at least four distinct columns rising above the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh. The plumes appear to be dozens of feet wide and high, billowing above the buildings below. Screams are audible in the background. The attempt of the White House to distance itself from the attack was not only absurd from the beginning but was quickly contradicted. Israel rapidly published footage of Israeli jets taking off with the bombs underneath their wings, sending a clear and deliberate signal that this massacre was made in the USA. US President Joe Biden quickly and publicly endorsed the murder of Nasrallah, declaring, His death from an Israeli airstrike is a measure of justice for his many victims. Biden added, The United States fully supports Israels right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and any other Iranian-supported terrorist groups. He also said he directed my secretary of defense to further enhance the defense posture of U.S. military forces in the Middle East region to deter aggression and reduce the risk of a broader regional war. The repeated claims by the Biden administration that it is seeking a ceasefire, de-escalation and a peaceful solution to the Middle East crisis are simply wartime disinformation, aimed at facilitating the White Houses real goal of inflaming a regional war targeting Iran. Netanyahus government, funded and armed by the United States, is not an independent actor but functions as Americas proxy. Critically, Netanyahu ordered the murder of Nasrallah from New York City, the day he delivered a warmongering tirade at the United Nations General Assembly threatening war with Iran. There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach. And that is true for the entire Middle East, he menaced. Netanyahus speech at the United Nations bluntly explained the role of the Gaza genocide and Israels murder campaign in Lebanon as part of a US-led drive to reorganize the Middle East. Netanyahu centrally referenced a map he displayed one year ago at the United Nations on September 22, 2023, three weeks before the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas. The map showed Israel encompassing all of the Palestinian territories, as part of a geopolitical framework with the US-aligned Middle Eastern states of Egypt, Sudan, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, in a sort of Israeli empire. Netanyahu said, This is the map I presented here last year. Its a map of a blessing. It shows Israel and its Arab partners forming a land bridge connecting Asia and Europe. He then held up a second map identifying Lebanon, Iran, Syria and Iraq. Now look at this second map. Its a map of a curse. Its a map of an arc of terror that Iran has created and imposed from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean. He said that Israel is committed to removing the curse. He declared, With American support and leadership, I believe this vision can materialize much sooner than people think. The New Middle East outlined by Netanyahu is a critical component of the global war drive of US imperialism, including the war against Russia in Ukraine and the US military buildup in the Pacific targeting China. Nasrallahs murder took place as the US is on the verge of approving strikes by NATO weapons deep inside Russia, in the face of threats by Russia to respond by using nuclear weapons. All over the world, US imperialism is deliberately crossing every red line that had previously restrained its conduct of global war. The declaration of the Israeli pilot who took part in the murder, We will reach everyone, everywhere, is, in fact, the slogan of US imperialism as it seeks to reconquer the world through force. Every war crimeterrorism, assassination and even genocideis being normalized. The killing of Nasrallah is only the latest in a series of murderous bombings and assassinations orchestrated by Israel targeting Hezbollah and other allies of Iran. On September 17 and 18, Israel triggered the detonation of thousands of bombs that it had smuggled inside communication devices used by Hezbollah leaders. Just more than a week ago, Israel killed senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil in Beirut. These events came just two months after Hamass political bureau chief, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed by Israel in Iran. In the middle of an ongoing rampage by Israel against Hezbollahs senior members, how could its leader hold a high-level meeting in Beirut? Nasrallah believed that the US and Israel would not dare to carry out such a massive strike in the Lebanese capital. This miscalculation was based on a bankrupt political perspectiveone that is shared by the governments of Lebanon, Syria and Iran. The response of the regimes of the Middle East to the Gaza genocide and assault on Lebanon is a demonstration of the bankruptcy of bourgeois nationalism. Some, like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, are key allies of the United States as it facilitates Israels Gaza genocide and the colonial carve-up of the Middle East. Others, like Iran, endlessly proffer compromises with the imperialist powers in an effort to strike some sort of negotiated settlement that leaves them intact. They are desperate to find an accommodation with Israel and the United States, because they are terrified of the revolutionary implications of any serious struggle against them. In his 1927 document, The Chinese Revolution and the Theses of Comrade Stalin, Leon Trotsky explained that the principal concern of the bourgeoisie in the backward countries is the preservation of its wealth and privilege against the working classes. It is a gross mistake to think that imperialism mechanically welds together all the classes of China from without. ... The revolutionary struggle against imperialism does not weaken, but rather strengthens the political differentiation of the classes. The Iranian, Syrian and Lebanese ruling classes are no more capable of conducting a systematic struggle against imperialism than was Chiang Kai Shek in China. A revolutionary alternative can only be built on the foundation of Leon Trotskys Theory of Permanent Revolution. The settlement of accounts with Zionism, the vicious attack dog of American imperialism, cannot be achieved except through the development of a movement of the working class in the Middle East and throughout the world. The movement against war must be animated by the perspective of international socialism, aimed at ending the obsolete nation-state system that is inseparably bound up with imperialist war and colonialism and replacing it with socialism. Join the Boeing Workers Rank-and-File Committee. To get more information, text (406) 414-7648, email boeingworkersrfc@gmail.com or fill out the form at the end of this article. Boeing workers on the picket line in Everett, Washington The strike by 33,000 Boeing workers has entered its third week, with no sign that the determination of the rank and file is softening. On the contrary, the potential beginning of a strike tonight by 45,000 East Coast dockworkers has the prospect of transforming their struggle into part of a broader offensive by the working class against exploitation. I believe they [the dockworkers] want a fair share the same as us, right? a Boeing worker from Everett, Washington, told the WSWS. At the same time, the corporate ruling class is continuing to search for ways to shut the strike down, in cooperation with the bureaucrats of the International Association of Machinists. Last Friday, the IAM met in closed door sessions with representatives from Boeing alongside a federal mediator. The IAM had unsuccessfully sought to ram through an 11th hour deal which workers rejected by 95 percent, forcing a strike. Since then, a group of Boeing workers have founded the Boeing Workers Rank-and-File Committee, in order to campaign for democratic control over the strike and to link up with other key sections of the working class. The International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees, to which the Boeing committee is affiliated, has issued its own statement urging dockworkers to form a committee of their own. Boeing workers have already been joined on strike by 5,000 Textron Aviation workers in Wichita, Kansas, and by 500 Eaton aerospace workers in Jackson, Michigan. Like Boeing, Textron is a key US military supplier, while it also produces civilian Cessna and Beechcraft brand aircraft. In a significant escalation, the company announced it will cut off strikers health insurance starting Monday. The IAM bureaucracy has said that it will only provide assistance to those who have significant health conditions and cannot temporarily go without health insurance, despite the union holding over $300 million in assets. The union negotiating committee acting like they are trying so hard for the union members is BS, a striking Textron worker in Wichita, Kansas, told the WSWS. When a coworker asked what the union was asking for when they said we were far apart, they were told that they couldnt have that information. How do we know what the committee is saying to Textron leaders? It should be all out in the open, every bit of it! The companys reduction of health benefits under the rejected contract was a central point of opposition by workers, the worker said. They are making tons of profit, and stocks are soaring. They got new government contracts, five years and $10 billion worth of backlog, executives make anywhere from $3 million all the way up to $35 million. And the fact they want to make cuts from anything from the people in the factory doing all the hard work is a slap in the face. Thats why people came out of the woodwork to vote down the contract and to strike. The situation at the Eaton plant, a short drive from Detroit, center of the US auto industry, remains extremely tense. On Saturday night, one picketer was killed and several wounded when the picket line was struck by a motorist. Press reports have suggested the driver was impaired. An Eaton worker sent the following statement of solidarity with the Boeing strike: Boeing workers are not only fighting for their own families, but theyre fighting for the future of younger employees there. So, the more we give up, the dimmer our future gets. The cost of living goes up, and basically, we turn into the poor working class. The working poor. You know, the American dream was getting a house and two cars and a nice family. You cant even afford the house and one car, even with both parents working and the education, you know, money for the education system, everything else. So, corporations are just sucking that up, feeding their stockholders. Here at Eaton, they want to use the money they save from getting rid of our pensions to start an electric vehicle battery division. That should be going to pay for my retirement. That should be going for paying for the future of our people. So thats why I dont agree with it. Thats why Ill stay out here every day until I have to. We literally hold peoples lives on a plane Joe, a Boeing worker at the Everett, Washington plant, spoke about the out-of-control cost of living. Ive lived in this state [Washington] for 40 years and Ive seen the difference. I bought my house for $150,000 and if I sell, I cannot buy a new one [as a similar home would cost] 800 grand right now or $900,000. Among workers, there is growing awareness of the connection between their strike and the US-sponsored wars. Boeing is a major military contractor, providing warplanes and weapons to both the US military and its proxies around the world, including Ukraine and Israel. Every time theres a war, theres always going to be someone to profit off of it, especially defense contractors, you know, the military-industrial complex, Boeing worker Ivan said. Theyre the people who basically benefit from war. Everyone else does not, not the people whore on the front line on both sides, really. Of course, Russia is in the wrong for starting the invasion [of Ukraine] in the first place, especially with the kind of stuff they accuse Ukraine of. But at the same time [Russians] also are against this invasion. The Ukrainian people are not Nazis, he said, but I dont respect those who are Nazis, or, those who support [them]. One figure that I know is Stepan Bandera. He was a Ukrainian fascist insurgent who was active during World War II and he was responsible for massacring Polish people in western Ukraine and he was also very controversial. Bandera is hailed as a national hero by the government of Ukraine. My own dad doesnt like him too; I remember from childhood I was asking who he was and my dad just said, He killed a lot of people. Hes not a good person. But thats not all Ukrainians [who support Bandera], thats more like the more ultra-nationalist Ukrainians are the ones who hate Russians in particular. A non-union Boeing employee also wanted to speak with reporters. I think Boeing could end this in two weeks if they were interested in doing so [This strike] is also the straw that broke the camels back on all of the other labor-relation problems. For instance, I know you were talking to people out here who talk about the companys emphasis on speed and a lack of quality, creating a culture of fear on the line where folks dont feel safe to speak up about safety issues. I am not in the IAM, Im a non-union member, but Im just here to stand with my IAM co-workers, who I see as my friends and my neighbors. Im not sure the negotiators do. Rosa, another Boeing worker, said, We literally hold peoples lives on a plane. I feel like that has a bigger impact. We should get paid as much as we do for making the planes, making all the parts that have such a big impact. She spoke at length on the constant pressure to sacrifice safety. I know that where I work, they tend to rush things along. Another issue is that from what Ive noticed is that people who have been around the longest, as soon as they leave, they are bringing in new people that are not able to obtain the knowledge that they need to actually build the plane. They tell them to slap a band-aid on and say good enough. Boeings [response is] just find a way to make it work, just make it work even though our machines barely function. We have to find little hacks and whatnot to try and hopefully get it right, but were wasting a lot of parts. Were losing a lot of people that can fix machines, were losing a lot of knowledge, and we just dont really want to invest much into it. At least thats what it feels like to me, and Ive seen a lot of lack of knowledge and a lot of loss of more experienced workers over the years. Safety is a big issue right now, especially with the lack of knowledgeable people. The banks of the Swannanoa river overflow an effect of Hurricane Helene, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Asheville, N.C. [AP Photo/Erik Verduzco] The death toll from Hurricane Helene stands at 66 dead across five states. This number is certain to rise as the wind and flood waters from Florida to Ohio begin to recede over the coming days, and more bodies are found. Ten people are confirmed dead in Buncombe County, North Carolina, where the city of Asheville, the largest in the region, is located. We have biblical devastation throughout the county, said Ryan Cole, an emergency official for Buncombe County. This is the most significant natural disaster that any one of us has ever seen. At least 1,000 people are reported missing in the southern Appalachian areas of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee after the giant storm dumped upwards of three feet of rain on the region. There are at least 11 reported deaths in Florida as of Saturday, with 17 dead in Georgia and another 23 in South Carolina. One death was reported in Virginia. As much of the affected area in the state is impassable due to flooding and mudslides and hundreds or thousands are without power and communications, this number is sure to rise precipitously in the coming days as recovery continues. Already social media is filling with pictures of loved ones who are missing, many of whom were known to be fleeing ahead of massive torrents of flood water plummeting down the steep slopes of the Smoky Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains into the valleys below. The first Category 4 hurricane to land in Floridas Big Bend Region brought record storm surges, in some cases, such as in Tampa Bay, breaking the record set by Hurricane Idalia only 13 months ago. The storm quickly intensified over the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday from a Category 1 storm to a massive Category 4 storm in less than 24 hours before slamming into Florida and then hurtling northward into Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee. The rapid strengthening of Helene and the huge volumes of water it swept up and then dropped like a series of bombs on countryside far from the Gulf of Mexico were entirely predictable, given the analysis of climate change made by countless scientific and meteorological studies. Yet nothing has been done to prepare ahead of time. While capitalist politicians murmured insincere condolences and offered prayers for the dead and missing, and the White House announced that President Joe Biden would visit the storm-ravaged region, residents of Asheville and many other hard-hit area told the corporate media they had received no aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and little from state authorities. Socialist Equality Party candidate for US president Joseph Kishore issued a statement condemning what he termed the gross negligence of both the Democratic and Republican parties in the face of the catastrophic devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. The destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene is not simply the result of a natural disaster but of a decades-long failure by the ruling class to provide for the most basic social needs. Emergency warning systems were inadequate, and there was no coordinated plan for mass evacuations. Roads, bridges, dams and leveesbasic components of social infrastructureare crumbling from decades of neglect. This left many communities vulnerable to the full force of the storm, with little in the way of protection. The absence of an adequate emergency response is not accidental but the result of the subordination of all social needs to the interests of the wealthy. For decades, both Democratic and Republican administrations have systematically cut funding for disaster preparedness, infrastructure, and public services, while funneling trillions of dollars into war and bailing out the banks. Under these conditions, millions of working people are left to fend for themselves in the face of disasters like Hurricane Helene. The devastation On Friday, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper closed all roads in the western part of the state. Currently, over 400 roads remain closed. The Tennessee Department of Transportation is warning motorists to avoid travel in the area as all roads are considered hazardous. The devastation to the transportation system in the region alone is immense. A large section of eastbound Interstate 40, the only major transportation artery through the Smoky Mountains connecting Tennessee to North Carolina, collapsed into the Pigeon River close to the Tennessee/North Carolina border. US Route 74, the North Carolina highway that connects the cities of Asheville, Charlotte and Wilmington to the Atlantic seaboard, is completely inundated by flood water. Interstate 26 is washed out at Exit 40 on the border between North Carolina and Erwin, Tennessee. In Tennessee, a video captured the moment the Kisner Bridge on Highway 107 in the town of Afton succumbed to the racing waters of the Nolichucky River. Airlift operations are underway to rescue residents cut off by the flooding and damage to secondary and tertiary roads. In Tennessee, 54 people were rescued from the roof of Unicoi County Hospital as the town was quickly overcome by the flood waters from the Nolichucky River. Supplies are being airlifted into Asheville, North Carolina, which has been isolated by flood and storm damage from Helene. The citys historic Biltmore Village was inundated by flood waters. Residents took refuge on rooftops to escape the rising waters of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers. Power, communications and water systems infrastructure have been decimated by wind, mudslides and flooding. More than 700,000 in the region are without power, and cell phone service west of Interstate 77 is poor to nonexistent, according to local media. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which manages river systems in Tennessee and parts of North Carolina, estimates water levels reached 8 feet over the record elevation. While the walls of both dams managed to withstand the immense pressure of the rising water, the extent of the damage to the structures is just emerging. Early Sunday afternoon, Laura White, superintendent of the Greeneville Water Commission, announced that Greene County residents could run out of water by the end of the day. According to officials, two intakes with four pumps on the Nolichucky River, from which water for the area is being pumped out, were submerged and destroyed by massive flooding. According to CNN, seven water plants across North Carolina are closed, and 17 water plants reported having no power, impacting at least 70,000 households. Chief meteorologist of AccuWeather Jonathan Porter told Reuters that damage estimates for Helene could be between $95 billion to $110 billion, making it one of the costliest storms in US history. Where were the warnings? According to a study by the American Meteorological Society, the southern Appalachian Mountains is one of six flash flood hotspots in the United States. The areas steep terrain, combined with heavy rains fed by the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, make flooding a persistent danger. In the last 10 years, 230 people have died in nearly 20 federally declared flooding disasters in Appalachia, the Appalachian Citizens Law Center reported last May. The Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains, where Helene hit, have been experiencing persistent drought conditions since 2022, according to Drought.gov. Counties in the areas most affected by the tropical storm were designated abnormally dry by the U.S. Drought Monitor. Under normal storm conditions, heavy rain in this terrain would cause mudslides and flash flooding due to loose soil and weakened vegetation from a drought. Hurricane Helene was another matter entirely. Brian McNoldy, a climatologist at the University of Miami who tracks ocean heat, told Vox the Gulf of Mexico is the hottest it has been in the modern record with surface temperatures close to 90 degrees. While it is almost common knowledge that warm surface temperatures of ocean waters fuel hurricanes, what caused Helene to intensify from a Category 1 to a Category 4 hurricane in less than 24 hours on Thursday was the warm water beneath the surface. Ben Kirtman, director of the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies, told Vox when the water is warm even below the surface the hurricanes winds can increase 35 miles per hour or more in less than 24 hours as happened with Helene. Additionally, the warmer atmosphere caused by climate change can hold up to 7 percent more moisture. This is why rainfall rates of hurricanes have been increasing, Tom Knutson, a senior scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations (NOAA) Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab, explained to the Hill. Forecasts for the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains on Thursday, while dire, warned residents to expect rainfalls far below what actually fell. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park forecasted 4-5 inches of rain on the Tennessee side of the park and 6-9 inches on the North Carolina side through Friday. According to local news outlets, a record 17.3 inches fell on Asheville, 24 inches fell in Mitchell County, northeast of the city. Yancey County, also north of Asheville, received 30 inches of rain. The question remains, given the rapid intensification of rain-laden Helene and drought conditions in the region, why was there not more of an effort to evacuate people in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee before the storm moved in on Friday? Climate change in the US, as elsewhere, is driven by human activity and an economic system which prioritizes profit over environmental sustainability and human welfare. Despite the increasingly visible effects of climate change, capitalist governments are failing to take adequate steps to mitigate these long-foreseen disasters. Instead of investing in environmental protection and disaster management, the US has diverted vast sums to the military to fund its imperialist missions in Russia, China and the Middle East. US President Joe Biden, in an X message posted on Thursday, congratulated Sri Lankas new president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)/National Peoples Power (NPP), declaring: I look forward to working with you to advance peace, security, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific. US President Joe Biden and Sri Lanka President Anura Kumara Dissanayake [Photo: AP/Evan Vucci/Facebook Sri Lanka President's Media Division] Bidens comment has nothing to do with peace, security or prosperity which the aggressive US-led confrontation and war drive throughout Asia against China is rapidly undermining. Rather it is a declaration that the new government in Colombo has to continue Sri Lankas integration into the Pentagons war plans. Significantly the JVP/NPP leader responded promptly, thanking Biden for his kind good wishes, adding: Sri Lanka under my leadership will be working closely with the US for strengthening our long-standing friendly relations. I also reiterate my governments commitment to a peaceful, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region. What Dissanayake is pledging to continue are the close military ties with US developed by successive governments in Colombo, particularly his predecessor the well-known US-stooge Ranil Wickremesinghe. Sri Lanka already has two military agreements with the USthe Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) and the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) which allow US military access to the countrys facilities, including sea and air ports and the presence of US military personnel, respectively. The US is pushing Sri Lanka to enhance the SOFA. The JVP, founded on an eclectic mix of Castroism, Maoism and Sinhala populism, has long ago abandoned the armed struggle, jettisoned its anti-imperialist demagogy and integrated itself into the Colombo political establishment. Over the past two years, Dissanayake and JVP/NPP leaders have had extended talks with US ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung. While the JVP/NPP has kept silent on these discussions, Chung expressed her confidence on a future JVP/ NPP government, saying that it was a significant party that resonated with the public. From the left: US Embassys political officer Matthew Hinson, Ambassador Julie Chung, JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake and JVP Propaganda Secretary Vijitha Herath, during the meeting at the JVP head office on 19 October, 2023. [Photo: X/Twitter @anuradisanayake] Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated Dissanayake on September 22 on his win, saying, Sri Lanka holds a special place in Indias Neighborhood First Policy and that he is looking forward to working closely with Colombo. India is Washingtons chief strategic partner in South Asia as the US steps up its preparations for war with China. It also has its own ambitions to become a significant regional power and regards Sri Lanka as part of its neighborhood or sphere of influence. India is also a member of the anti-China Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a de facto US-led pact involving Japan and Australia as well. Dissanayake and JVP/NPP leaders visited India several times prior to the presidential election and met with top officials, including Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, to reassure the Modi government that its interests would be protected if the party took power. They also met with Indias ambassador in Colombo, Santos Jha, who was the first among foreign envoys to congratulate Dissanayake. China has also congratulated Dissanayake. President Xi Jinping praised the new president, saying Beijing was ready to work with President Dissanayake to carry forward the traditional friendship. He also expressed confidence in a more fruitful high-quality Belt and Road cooperation (BRI)Chinas flagship infrastructure to integrate with the global economy. China is the largest bilateral creditor to Sri Lanka and has been involved in 300 projects in Sri Lanka since 2000 involving $US20 billion. One of Chinas main projects was the strategic Hambantota port on the southern tip of the island close to major shipping routes connecting East Asia with Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Sri Lankas closer alignment with the US and India jeopardizes these investments. In his address to the nation after being sworn into office, Dissanayake stated: Our country needs international support. Therefore, it is our expectation to deal with each state in the most advantageous way for the country, regardless of the divisions of power in the world. Far from simply balancing between different powers, the Dissanayake regime will continue the pro-US line followed by Wickremesinghe. The JVP/NPP election manifesto clearly tilted towards India and thus US imperialism. It declared that the party would not allow the use of Sri Lankan land, sky or the sea for any activity that will threaten the region, including India. Dissanayakes foreign policy orientation was also underscored by his reappointment of Aruni Wijewardane as the Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairsthe post he held under Wickremesinghe. During the two years from 2022 that Wickremesinghe was in office, the JVP/NPP made no objection or criticism of his pro-US policies. These included banning Chinese research ships coming to Sri Lankan ports after Washington and New Delhi vehemently opposed such visits and this years dispatch of a Sri Lankan warship to the Red Sea as part of the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian to defend shipments to Israel from attack by pro-Palestinian Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Israeli regimes genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and now its barbaric military attacks in Lebanon, are part of a widening war in the Middle East backed by the US and its allies. At the same time, the US and its allies are ramping up the war against Russia in Ukraine and preparations for war with Chinathree fronts in a rapidly emerging and potentially catastrophic global war. During the presidential election campaign, Dissanayake and the other establishment candidates were completely silent on this existential threat to humanity, keeping the masses in the dark. The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) warned of the grave dangers and campaigned to unite workers and youths in Sri Lanka with their class brothers and sisters in South Asia and worldwide to build an international anti-war movement based on socialist policies. As a part of that campaign, we demanded: The publication of all secret agreements with the US such as ACSA and SOFA! The abrogation of all defence agreements with the imperialist powers and other countries, including India! The SEP insists that the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism, and its reactionary division of the globe into rival nation states, through the struggle of the working class is the only way to prevent a third world war and nuclear conflagration. The House of Lords International Relations and Defence Committee has issued its report, Ukraine: a wake-up call. Published September 26, it proposes measures by which the UK and Europe can take the additional steps needed to take on Putins Russia and its ally, China. It cites the war in Ukraine as an illegal and unprovoked invasion that is supposedly a product of a failed deterrence strategy, rather than deliberate provocation by the NATO powers. The committee then warns that our Armed Forces lack the mass, resilience and internal coherence necessary to maintain a deterrent effect and sustain prolonged conflict [emphasis added]. Lord De Mauley, who chairs the committee, welcomes the incoming Labour government under Keir Starmers promised Strategic Defence Review, but insists that the government must commit to spending more on defence and spending better. Noting that Labour has not yet committed to increasing military spending to 2.5 percent of GDP, the committee makes clear that even doing this is not enough. What is required is an increase in Army size and readiness, a plan for Homeland defence to prevent Russia targeting critical national infrastructure, Defence industry preparedness requiring an end to years of underinvestment and Public engagement in national defence, learning from models like the Scandinavian total defence approach. Ukraine: a wake-up call [Photo: House of Lords] The report proposes a global effort to counter Russian (and Chinese) influence, especially in the Global South. It invokes the need for European security, welcoming Sweden and Finland assuming NATO membership. But this is declared inadequate given a geopolitical shift, with China, Iran and North Korea providing support to Russia, thus raising the prospect of increased collaboration between countries who are in competition with or outright hostile towards the international order and the West. Under the designation global insecurity the report identifies the war in Ukraine, Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and the war in Gaza (which could yet spill over into a wider regional conflict) alongside Chinas assertive behaviour in the South China Sea. The Lords report complains: President Putin has been given, until recently, free rein to control the escalation narrative by invoking the spectre of nuclear war and attempt to divide NATO and deter Western support for Ukraine. This, the report states, is not just empty rhetoric, but must be met not by retreats but re-establishing credible deterrence in the UK and across Europe. This includes both nuclear and conventional deterrence. Under the heading Building Mass, the report leads with the imperative for the ruling class to increase the size of the British Army. Decades of defence cuts have reduced the army to under 73,000 troops, with plans not reversed following Russias invasion of Ukraine While size is not the only measure of capability, we are concerned that the Army cannot, as currently constituted, make the expected troop contribution to NATO. We therefore question whether the British Army is prepared to meet the growing threat posed by Russia to European security. The report calls for involving the whole of society in the UKs security and defence, given the heightened threat environment. Politicians and military figures must avoid mention of conscription as a part of this process due to its arousing popular opposition, which happened to the former head of the British Army, General Sir Patrick Sanders, when he introduced the idea of a citizen army in January 2024. An alternative model is provided by Finland and Swedens concept of total defence ... which involves all sectors of the government, the economy and civilian population in defence planning and is well embedded in the national psyche. Finland, for example, has a small regular armed force, but can mobilise a large number of troops quickly due to its comprehensive national defence strategy, which includes significant civilian involvement, including from a large pool of reserves Sweden has a wide range of voluntary defence organisations linked to this effort. Mobilising the civilian population involves proselytising for the emotional aspects of national defence. Calling for strengthening the defence-industrial complex, the report states: A resilient industrial base underpins Defences credibility as a fighting force. Our evidence consistently showed that the UKs defence industry is unprepared for high-intensity, prolonged conflict due to decades of budget cuts and reduced industrial capacity since the end of the Cold War. The production of munitions must be massively scaled up, with the report citing an eight-fold increase in artillery ammunition by BAE Systems but complaining that this was from a low base. A key area for stepped-up production is of high-end weapons, insisting that precision-guided munitions and advanced drones offer significant advantages in terms of accuracy and effectiveness. In Crimea what really made a difference were British Storm Shadow and French SCALP cruise missiles. Among other measures to strengthen the armed forces is the chilling recommendation that While the UK does have a maritime missile capability in the Tomahawk land attack cruise missile, further investment is required to enable the Royal Navy to be deployed offensively and better project lethality. There is an extended section on the need for military cooperation with Europe post-Brexit, but also with non-EU allies such as Japan and South Korea. This appeal is made citing Russias relations with Iran and North Korea, but above all the role of China as a key decisive enabler of Russia. The report warns that those abstaining on UN resolutions against Russia were countries in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asiai.e., within what is often referred to as the Global South. It rails against Russias exploiting grievances against the West and relying on the Soviet Unions historical support for decolonisation to forge closer partnerships as a narrative that resonates particularly in Africa and Asia, where the central story explaining the past couple of centuries is the struggle of national liberation against colonial power and exploitation. It cites Russias new Foreign Policy Concept, adopted in March 2023, for devoting a distinct section to Africa for the first time and talks about a polycentric world in opposition to Western neo-colonialism. Moscow also hosted its first Russia-Latin America conference last year. But the chief concern is clearly the deepening Sino-Russian relationship, with Presidents Putin and Xi Jinping declaring that their countries friendship had no limits and there were no forbidden areas of co-operation. The war has only brought these two countries closer together, particularly in the economic sphere hitting record levels in each year since the invasion of Ukraine. The UK warmongers are pleased that The threat of an increasingly prominent Sino-Russian strategic alignment has been recognised by NATO members. In a NATO communique published at the Washington Summit in early July 2024, member countries labelled China a decisive enabler of Russias war against Ukraine through its no-limits partnership with Russia and its large-scale support for Russias defence industrial base. The committee boasts that the UK has pledged 12.7 billion in support to Ukraine, of which 7.6 billion is in military assistance, and has provided both lethal and non-lethal weaponry, including tanks, air defence systems and long-range precision strike missiles as well as training close to 40,000 Ukrainian troops. Various examples are cited of military cooperation with Europe, but this is not seen as enough. The great fear of the British imperialist ruling class is that the US is increasingly pivoting to the Indo-Pacific to counter its main competitor, China, raising concerns of a pivot away from Europe at a time when war has returned to the continent. There are also uncertainties over what a potential Trump or Trumpian administration would mean for European security, with fears it could result in disengagement and embolden Russia. Questions on US support extend beyond the situation in Ukraine, with broader implications for the future of the [NATO] Alliance. Refocusing the UKs security priorities towards Europe has acquired a new urgency to mitigate against the risk of a less Europe-focused USIn the very early days of this Government, the new Foreign Secretary, the Rt Hon David Lammy MP, met with key European counterparts in Germany, Poland and Sweden. Prime Minister Keir Starmer made rapprochement with Europe a priority at both the European Political Community Meeting in Oxfordshire and at the NATO Summit in Washington. At the NATO Summit, President Joe Biden welcomed Starmers intention to establish closer relationships with Europe. There is praise in this regard for the Joint Expeditionary Force, the coalition of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, led by the UK, focused on security in the High North, North Atlantic, and Baltic Sea region which is designed to complement NATO. But a far more drastic turn may be necessary as part of developing a comprehensive strategy that takes account of the potential for a deepening Sino-Russian relationship, particularly in critical areas for UK security, such as the Arctic The United States has long been a cornerstone of European security, but it is also reasonable to expect a gradual shifting of US priorities, regardless of the outcome of the forthcoming US election. The trajectory of a re-focus towards the Indo-Pacific region is clear. As we continue to rely on the vital yet evolving partnership with the US, the Government and its European allies must visibly increase their preparedness by committing more resourcesboth human and financialtowards our collective security. BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- On the morning of September 29, a ceremony was held to confer national medals and national honorary titles in the Golden Hall of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chinese president, and chairman of the Central Military Commission, presented medals to recipients of the national medals and national honorary titles and delivered an important speech. Xi emphasized that a great era calls for heroes and nurtures heroes. When heroes emerge generation after generation, the cause of the Party and the people will flourish forever. Party committees and governments at all levels should care for and cherish heroes and role models, and promote the whole of society to respect, learn from, and strive to become heroes. He hoped that those being honored would cherish the honor, work harder, and strive for greater glory. Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi, and Han Zheng attended the ceremony, and Cai Qi presided over the event. At about 9 o'clock, the honorees of national medals and national honorary titles took the concierge car to the Great Hall of the People from their residence, escorted by a convoy of motorcycles. Outside the east gate of the Great Hall of the People, honor guards were standing on both flanks, and children cheered warmly. The honorees walked the red carpet and went into the Great Hall of the People. Relevant leading officials from a working committee on Party and state medals and honorary titles were there to welcome their arrival. The atmosphere in the Golden Hall of the Great Hall of the People was solemn and warm. The designs of Medals of the Republic, the Friendship Medal and the medals of national honorary titles shone on a large red background board. In front of the board, 18 bright five-star red flags were erected on both sides, and 18 guards of honor stood with guns in a heroic and gallant manner. At 9:58, accompanied by joyful music, Xi, along with winners of national medals and national honorary titles, walked into the hall, and all in the hall stood up and gave them warm applause. At 10 o'clock, the trumpeter of the military band blew the ceremonial horn, and the ceremony began. "March of the Volunteers" was played and the national anthem was sung. Cai Qi read out a decree of the President of the People's Republic of China, which was signed by Xi. The presidential decree said that in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, for the purpose of honoring eminent people who have made outstanding contributions to the building and development of New China and carrying forward the national spirit and the spirit of the times, and in accordance with the decision made by the 14th National People's Congress Standing Committee at its 11th session, Wang Yongzhi and three other people are awarded the Medal of the Republic; Dilma Rousseff is awarded the Friendship Medal; and Wang Xiaomo and nine other people are awarded national honorary titles. Two flag bearers held high the national flag, while three honor guards, carrying the Medals of the Republic, the Friendship Medal, and the medals for the national honorary titles, walked in resolute strides to the ceremony site. Amidst the majestic melody of "Salute to the Heroes of the Motherland," Xi presented medals to recipients of national medals and honorary titles, warmly shaking hands with them and offering his congratulations. The entire venue erupted in enthusiastic applause. Young pioneers presented beautiful flowers to the exemplary models and saluted them to express their respect. Amidst enthusiastic applause from the entire assembly, Xi delivered an important address. On behalf of the CPC Central Committee, the National People's Congress, the State Council, and the Central Military Commission, he first extended heartfelt congratulations and profound respect to the heroes and exemplary figures awarded the Medal of the Republic and national honorary titles, as well as to the international friend bestowed with the Friendship Medal. Xi pointed out that over the 75 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the CPC has united and led people of all ethnic groups nationwide to accomplish two feats: rapid economic development and long-term social stability. The great motherland has undergone tremendous changes, and the country has embarked on an irreversible historical journey to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Throughout this grand journey of development, a galaxy of heroes and exemplary figures have emerged across various sectors. Those honored today are outstanding representatives among them. Their exemplary deeds and significant contributions will be eternally inscribed in the annals of the Republic. Their loyalty, dedication and modesty are worth learning from by the entire Party and people of all ethnic groups across the nation. Xi stressed that China is now in a crucial period for building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation on all fronts through Chinese modernization. He said that the whole Party and people of all ethnic groups across the country should learn from the examples of heroes and role models, strive forward in unity and forge ahead with tenacity to form a mighty force for jointly building a strong China. Xi also emphasized the need for people to have the ambition of making the country greater, cherish the ideal of making the country strong and prosperous, have the aspiration to strive for people's happiness, be loyal to the country, and do their bit for the country. He called on the Chinese people to integrate their personal careers into the overall national development, and realize personal value and exhibit life's worth in fulfilling duties for the country and serving the people. Xi also encouraged the Chinese people to hone their skills for building a strong country, meet the new requirements for the development of the times, learn new knowledge and master new skills, bring passion and dedication to their jobs and become masters of whatever work they engage in, and work hard to become experts in whatever they do or whatever business they start. To make greater achievements for building China into a strong country, the Chinese people were urged to proactively seize their time and shoulder historical responsibility as masters of the country to forge ahead while coping with difficulties in pursuit of excellence. They were called on to strive for extraordinary achievements at ordinary posts, and continuously make progress in overcoming challenges and difficulties in development and reform, as well as in safeguarding social harmony and stability. Xi pointed out that over the past 75 years, there have been many old friends and good friends across the world who have worked together and weathered storms together with the Chinese people, and Dilma Rousseff, who was awarded the Friendship Medal today, is a prominent representative of them. The Chinese people will never forget those international friends who have made remarkable contributions to China's development, and to enhanced friendship between the Chinese people and the peoples of other nations. The Chinese people are willing to join hands with people of all countries to safeguard world peace, push forward shared development, promote the building of a global community of shared future, and create a better future for the humanity. Xi stressed the need for the Chinese people to jointly open up a brighter future, and jointly create a new history. He also called on the Chinese people to unite as one, and make proactive endeavors with focus on well-defined goals, jointly writing an even more splendid chapter for the People's Republic of China. At the ceremony, Huang Zongde, winner of the Medal of the Republic, and Dilma Rousseff, winner of the Friendship Medal, delivered speeches on behalf of all the laureates. After the ceremony, President Xi and other leaders with the laureates had a photo taken together. Members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee in Beijing, some vice-chairpersons of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, state councilors, the president of the Supreme People's Court, the procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, some vice-chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and members of the Central Military Commission attended the ceremony. Present at the ceremony were also leading officials of central authorities and Beijing Municipality, representatives of the laureates' relatives and units they work for, representatives of previous honorees, diplomatic envoys of relevant countries to China, officials and representatives from all walks of life, totaling about 1,000 people. JERUSALEM, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Israel confirmed on Monday the killing of Fateh Sherif, the leader of Hamas in Lebanon, during an Israeli raid in southern Lebanon. A joint statement from the Israeli military and the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security agency, indicated that the Israeli Air Force targeted Sherif, citing his role in coordinating Hamas's military and political activities in Lebanon, including recruitment, weapon acquisition, and facilitating the group's efforts in the region. The statement also mentioned Sherif's involvement in coordinating with Hezbollah. According to Lebanese military sources, Sherif was killed alongside his wife and two sons during the attack on their home in the Rashidieh camp early Monday. Lebanon's National News Agency reported that this operation marked the first targeting of the camp since the escalation of strikes against Lebanon. In a statement, Hamas expressed that Sherif had joined "the leaders and martyrs that preceded him," honoring his commitment to the Palestinian cause. Tensions between Hezbollah and Israel have sharply escalated following Israel's shift in military focus from Gaza to the northern front, intensifying clashes that began on Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched rocket attacks on Israel in solidarity with Hamas, prompting Israeli retaliatory strikes in Lebanon. An Israeli tank patrols near the northern Israeli border with Lebanon, on Sept. 30, 2024. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned on Monday of an impending new phase in Israel's offensive against Hezbollah, amid reports of planned ground operations in Lebanon. (Ayal Margolin/JINI via Xinhua) JERUSALEM, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned on Monday of an impending new phase in Israel's offensive against Hezbollah, amid reports of planned ground operations in Lebanon. "The next phase of the war against Hezbollah will start soon and bring a significant change in the security situation," Gallant told local authorities near the Israel-Lebanon border, adding it would allow Israel's northern residents to return home. Israeli media reported military build-up along the border, with Channel 12 suggesting preparations for a ground attack. Senior officials have previously hinted at plans to establish a "buffer zone" between Lebanon and Hezbollah. The Washington Post, citing U.S. security officials, reported that Israel had informed the White House of plans for an imminent, limited ground campaign in Lebanon. Since Sept. 23, Israel has intensified airstrikes across Lebanon, culminating in a significant strike on Friday in the southern suburbs of Beirut that reportedly killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and many of his associates. This escalation has intensified ongoing clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, which began on Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza, prompting retaliatory Israeli artillery fire and airstrikes in southeastern Lebanon. An Israeli tank patrols near the northern Israeli border with Lebanon, on Sept. 30, 2024. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned on Monday of an impending new phase in Israel's offensive against Hezbollah, amid reports of planned ground operations in Lebanon. (Ayal Margolin/JINI via Xinhua) An Israeli fighter jet flies toward Lebanon in a military mission, as seen from an airbase in central Israel, on Sept. 30, 2024. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned on Monday of an impending new phase in Israel's offensive against Hezbollah, amid reports of planned ground operations in Lebanon. (Photo by Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua) An Israeli fighter jet flies toward Lebanon in a military mission, as seen from an airbase in central Israel, on Sept. 30, 2024. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned on Monday of an impending new phase in Israel's offensive against Hezbollah, amid reports of planned ground operations in Lebanon. (Photo by Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua) An Israeli fighter jet flies toward Lebanon in a military mission, as seen from an airbase in central Israel, on Sept. 30, 2024. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned on Monday of an impending new phase in Israel's offensive against Hezbollah, amid reports of planned ground operations in Lebanon. (Photo by Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua) SEOUL, South Korea (AP) An 81-year-old model fell short in her bid to become the oldest Miss Universe contestant after competing in the South Korean pageant against much younger rivals. Dressed in a beaded white gown, the silver-haired Choi Soon-hwa strutted across the stage and performed in a singing contest at the Miss Universe Korea pageant held Monday at a hotel in South Koreas capital, Seoul. She missed out on the crown but did take home the best dresser award. Han Ariel, a 22-year-old fashion school student, won the contest and will head to Mexico City for the Miss Universe pageant in November. Choi, a former hospital care worker who began her modeling career in her 70s, was announced as a Miss Universe Korea finalist earlier this month along with 31 other contestants. Even at this age, I had the courage to grab onto an opportunity and take on a challenge," Choi told The Associated Press hours before Monday's pageant. I want people to look at me and realize that you can live healthier and find joy in life when you find things you want to do and challenge yourself to achieve that dream. It would have been impossible for Choi to compete in the pageant a year ago as Miss Universe had limited the participation to women between 18 and 28. The age limit, which had long drawn criticism, was lifted this year ato make the competition more modern and diverse. Organizers of the Korean pageant also removed the swimsuit competition and eligibility requirements related to education, height and foreign language abilities to open the contest to more women. What about crowd size? 43ft nude Trump statue erected along Las Vegas highway Donald Trump has made his mark on Las Vegas in the form of a 43ft, nude statue. A naked statue of the former president, titled Crooked and Obscene, was erected in a fenced-in lot next to Interstate 15 north of Las Vegas, Nevada, on September 28. A 43ft naked statue resembling Donald Trump is erected in a fenced-in lot near Interstate 15 north of Las Vegas, Nevada on September 28. (AFP via Getty Images) The statue resembles a frowning Trump and has arms attached to strings, allowing them to be moved around like a puppet. It is made of foam-covered metal rebar and weighs about 6,000 pounds, according to The Wrap. The piece is a a bold statement on transparency, vulnerability, and the public personas of political figures, the creators, who have not been identified, told the outlet. A 43-foot-tall naked statue resembling Donald Trump is displayed in a fenced-in lot near Interstate 15 north of Las Vegas, Nevada, September 28, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images) The creators hope to inspire discussions around transparencyor lack thereofin politics, challenging viewers to think critically about political influence, according to a press release. This isnt the first time that Americans have experienced naked statues of the GOP nominee. In 2016, five nude Trump statues popped up in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Seattle. The project was dubbed The Emperor Has No Balls by creators Indecline, a group that describes itself as an activist art collective. The Independent has contacted Indecline regarding the latest work. The statue was installed just over a month before the hotly contested presidential election. Much like Trump himself, who has been zig-zagging the country on campaign stops, the project is expected to travel to other cities. Dates and locations have not yet been announced, according to The Wrap. Nearly seven decades ago, actor James Dean died in a fateful crash in a quiet part of San Luis Obispo County where Highways 41 and 46 meet. The short-lived movie stars legacy on and off the silver screen has endured since the Sept. 30, 1955, crash, forever enshrined in San Luis Obispo County at the Cholame Y. Deans life and death on the highway have been memorialized at the Y since 1977, when Japanese businessman and James Dean fan Seita Ohnishi spent $15,000 to erect a memorial marker near the site of the crash. Now, as Dean fades into the memory of American popular culture, an effort to upgrade and update the 1977 memorial is getting underway. James Dean memorabilia collector Neil Sheehan is organizing an effort to restore the 1977 memorial to the famed movie star who died east of Cholame in a 1955 car wreck. Japanese businessman Seita Ohnishi spent $15,000 in 1977 to erect a memorial to the young star, and after 47 years, it could use some restoration. Neil Sheehan, a James Dean memorabilia collector, is spearheading the restoration effort. Bearing a tattoo of Deans likeness on one arm and depictions of the California Highway markers for Highways 41 and 46 formerly Highway 466 on the other, Sheehan is no stranger to studying and preserving Deans legacy. Sheehan has collected James Dean memorabilia since college and recently loaned his extensive collection to the James Dean Museum in Fairmont, Indiana. He said its important to uphold the legacy of one of the most influential actors of the 1950s. People ask that question all the time Why are you a Dean fan? and Why would this be important? and I think it means different things to different people, Sheehan said. I dont know if its important to memorialize James Dean as the person, because I dont think people knew who he was, but I think the characters that he played are impactful. James Dean memorabilia collector Neil Sheehan at left, is organizing an effort to restore the 1977 memorial to the famed movie star who died east of Cholame in a 1955 car wreck. He talks to Ben Higgins director of agricultural operations at Hearst Corp which owns the Jack Ranch property around Cholame. Memorial has seen wear and tear over four decades Ben Higgins, director of agricultural operations at Hearst Corp., has worked with Sheehan over the course of the past year to get the memorial updated. Hearst owns the Jack Ranch property around Cholame, including the land on which the memorial sits, and has served as the memorials de facto steward since its installation, Higgins said. James Dean memorabilia collector Neil Sheehan is organizing an effort to restore the 1977 memorial to the famed movie star. Memorial at lower right. The star died east of Cholame in a 1955 car wreck. The site has been bypassed by a road upgrade to Highway 41/46 that aims to prevent collisions like Deans. Since 1977, Hearst has completed minor upkeep, including maintaining the land, picking up trash and cleaning up the occasional bit of vandalism, Higgins said. Still, over its 47-year history, the memorial has simply worn down, with letters going missing from the sign and the materials wearing down from being touched and observed by hundreds of thousands of visitors, he said. Given that volunteer interest in maintaining the memorial has faded over the years, we are very grateful to Mr. Sheehan for his interest in maintaining and repairing the memorial, Higgins said. Higgins said that as Caltrans continues construction of the long-awaited flyover interchange project at the site of the Y which will allow northbound traffic to pass over Highway 46 onto Highway 41 the memorial will be less visible and accessible from the highway. James Dean memorabilia collector Neil Sheehan is organizing an effort to restore the 1977 memorial to the famed movie star who died east of Cholame in a 1955 car wreck. He has several tattoos of Dean like this one on his arm. As construction has ramped up in recent months, the Jack Ranch Cafe another Hearst Corp. property that shares a border with the memorial sign has closed completely, Higgins said. Once construction has finished, the cafe and memorial will be accessible by a driveway connecting the newly aligned highway to the site, he said. Repairs could enhance memorial Sheehan said hes visited the memorial site around half a dozen times by now and noticed the signages deterioration in recent years. While he didnt know exactly how much it would cost, Sheehan said he plans to pay for all repairs out of his own pocket. There will be some minor additions to the memorial, but Sheehan said he intends to keep the site essentially as is, maintaining Ohnishis monument in its original form. James Dean memorabilia collector Neil Sheehan, right, is organizing an effort to restore the 1977 memorial to the famed movie star who died east of Cholame in a 1955 car wreck. He talks to Ben Higgins, director of agricultural operations at Hearst Corp., which owns the Jack Ranch property around Cholame. Were probably going to put up a new plaque, with some help from Marcus Winslow, Deans cousin, and some people from the James Dean Museum, just to update people since its been there for 50 years, on new things about Dean, Sheehan said. Well put a new plaque up there, a new lighting security system, redo some landscaping, and itll just be an ongoing maintenance project that Ill be in charge of to make sure that it doesnt fall back into disrepair. Sheehan said repairs will likely be complete by this time next year in time for the 70th anniversary of Deans death. I would hope by this time next year that everythings completely done, and new fans that come for the actual 70th anniversary of his death will see a brand new, completely redone or refurbished site that looks like the original from 1977, with just an extra plaque there, Sheehan said. CCTV: Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the General Debate of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Can you share more details with us? Lin Jian: On September 28 local time, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi attended the General Debate of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN Headquarters in New York, and delivered a statement entitled Building on Past Achievements and Forging Ahead Together Toward a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind. Foreign Minister Wang Yi noted we are facing a changing and turbulent world and meanwhile, we are also embracing a world full of hope. The security of all countries is tied together, the development of all countries is deeply integrated, each civilization has its own strengths and countries should all enjoy sovereign equality. The United Nations embodies the aspirations of people across the world for lasting peace and common prosperity, and bears witness to the glorious journey of the international community coming together in pursuit of progress. The role of the UN should be strengthened, not weakened. Foreign Minister Wang Yi elaborated on the significance of Chinese modernization to the world. He pointed out that the Peoples Republic of China will soon celebrate the 75th anniversary of its founding. Over the past 75 years, no matter how the world changes, Chinas dedication has not changed. It is dedicated to pursuing happiness for the Chinese people and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. It is also dedicated to human progress and world harmony. In the course of seeking its own development, China has kept in mind the common interests of the whole world, generating new opportunities for the world through its own development. The Third Plenum of the 20th CPC Central Committee made an important decision on further deepening reform comprehensively to advance Chinese modernization. It set in motion a new journey where China joins hands with the world in common development and progress. Chinese modernization will contribute robustly to world peace and stability, to the common development for all, to improving global governance, and to the advancement of human civilization. Every step in Chinas development is an increase in the force for peace. China does not only care about its own development. We are ready to develop hand in hand with all countries. China believes that different civilizations should respect and learn from one another, and jointly contribute to the progress of human civilization. Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated Chinas proposal on improving global governance and noted that President Xi Jinping has put forth the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative in recent years. They carry Chinas wisdom for resolving various difficult issues confronting humanity, and bring impetus from China for improving global governance. Chinas proposal is to put development at the top of the global agenda, uphold the equity and openness of the international system, stay firmly committed to a path of green, low-carbon and sustainable development, and support the UNs role as the main channel for global AI governance. China maintains that all countries right to independently choose their path of human rights development should be respected. No country should impose its own will on others. Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated Chinas stance on the Taiwan question and stressed that Resolution 2758 once and for all resolved the issue of the representation of the whole of China, including Taiwan, in the UN, and made clear that there is no such thing as two Chinas, or one China, one Taiwan. On this matter of principle, there is no gray zone or room for ambiguity. Foreign Minister Wang Yi also made clear Chinas position on hotspot issues, including the Ukraine crisis, the question of Palestine, the issue of Afghanistan and the Korean Peninsula. Nikkei: The new president of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan Shigeru Ishiba mentioned the Shenzhen incident in an NHK program and expressed disapproval over Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokespersons comment that Similar cases may happen in any country, saying that this should not be overlooked and that this incident will have an impact on Japan-China relations. What is your comment? Lin Jian: Let me say again that we regret and are saddened by this tragic incident. It is an individual case and is under investigation in accordance with the law. We hope Japan can view the case in a calm and rational way. I want to stress again that the Chinese government never allows any illegal or violent activities, and China will as always protect the safety of all foreign nationals in China. We hope and believe individual cases will not affect the exchanges and cooperation between China and Japan. Nikkei: In the same program, President Ishiba also mentioned the importance of interaction and communication between the leaders of Japan and China. What is your comment on this? Lin Jian: China and Japan are close neighbors and important economies in Asia and the world who share extensive common interests and broad space for cooperation. China is open to dialogue and exchange with Japan at various levels. We hope Japan will work with us and play a constructive role to improve and develop our relations. NHK: Shigeru Ishiba will take office as Japans Prime Minister tomorrow and form his Cabinet. Its reported that he will probably choose trusted followers for foreign minister, defense minister, and other important positions. Media comments say that this shows he attaches importance to diplomatic and security safeguards, which is the first step to realizing an Asian NATO. Whats your response to the personnel appointment in Ishibas Cabinet? Second, Ishiba is expected to attend the leaders meetings on East Asian cooperation in Laos next month. Is China willing to hold a meeting between the two leaders? Lin Jian: On your first question, relevant personnel appointment is Japans internal affairs. China has no comment on that. We hope that Japan will abide by the principles and common understandings reached in the four China-Japan political documents, have an objective and right perception of China, take a positive and rational China policy, take concrete efforts to comprehensively advance the strategic relationship of mutual benefit, and work with China to promote the sustained, sound and steady development of China-Japan relations. On your second question, I have no information to share. China News Service: We noted that on the margins of the UN General Assembly, Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced visa-free policy to Portugal, Greece, Cyprus and Slovenia. Could you share more details with us? Lin Jian: To further promote cross-border travel, China decided to expand its visa waiver program and extend the visa-free policy to ordinary passport holders from Portugal, Greece, Cyprus and Slovenia on a trial basis. From October 15, 2024 to December 31, 2025, ordinary passport holders from these four countries can be exempted from visa to enter China and stay for no more than 15 days for business, tourism, family visit and transit purposes. In that spirit, we encourage relevant countries to offer more visa facilitation measures to Chinese nationals. AFP: Taiwans defense ministry said on Sunday that it was on heightened alert after detecting multiple waves of missile firing in Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang. Does China have a comment on this? Lin Jian: Taiwan is a province of China and there is no such thing as Taiwans defense ministry. This is not a question about Chinas foreign affairs either. Phoenix TV: The White House announced on its website the decision to provide around US$ 567 million military assistance to Chinas Taiwan region. Whats Chinas comment? Lin Jian: The US again provides weapons to Chinas Taiwan region, which seriously violates the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, especially the August 17 Communique of 1982. The move is in fact emboldening Lai Ching-te and the DPP authorities as they cling to the stance of Taiwan independence and make deliberate provocations on the one-China principle. This once again shows that the separatist moves for Taiwan independence and connivance and support for such moves from US-led external forces are the biggest threat facing cross-Strait peace and stability and cause the greatest disruption to the real status quo in the Taiwan Strait. Let me be clear, Taiwan independence separatism is a dead end and what the US has done to assist the Taiwan independence attempt by arming Taiwan will only backfire. We urge the US to earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, and stop arming Taiwan in any form. No matter how many weapons the US provides to the Taiwan region, it will never weaken our firm will in opposing Taiwan independence, and safeguarding Chinas national sovereignty and territorial integrity. ********************************************* During the National Day holiday, there will be no regular press conference from October 1 to 7. The press conference will resume on October 8. During the holiday, questions can be submitted to the Spokespersons Office via fax, email or WeChat. Happy National Day Holiday! CAIRO, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit called on the international community on Monday to support Lebanon in the face of the Israeli offensive and its impacts, particularly the attacks on civilian areas. In a statement, the chief of the Arab League expressed solidarity with Lebanon and its people amid the ongoing crisis. "The Lebanese people have suffered greatly in recent years and need support now more than ever to navigate this serious situation," he said. Aboul-Gheit expressed concern over developments in Lebanon, asserting his belief in the Lebanese people's ability to maintain civil peace and avoid sectarian conflict. He also condemned the ongoing series of Israeli attacks in Lebanon, which have resulted in hundreds of deaths and nearly one million displaced persons. Tensions between Hezbollah and Israel have sharply escalated following Israel's shift in military focus from Gaza to the northern front, intensifying clashes that began on Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched rocket attacks on Israel in solidarity with Hamas, prompting retaliatory strikes in Lebanon. John Ashton, an actor known for his role as John Taggart in the "Beverly Hills Cop" film series, has died at 76. Ashton, who was born in Massachusetts and raised in Connecticut, died on Sept. 26, according to an obituary provided to USA Today by his representative. According to his obituary, Ashton "passed away peacefully" in Colorado. A cause of death was not provided. Ashton starred alongside Eddie Murphy in the "Beverly Hills Cop" franchise, which released its first two installments in 1984 and 1987. He reprised his role for a third film that premiered earlier this year. Here's what to know. US actors Judge Reinhold (L), Eddie Murphy (C) and John Ashton (R) attend Netflix's premiere of "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F" at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, California, June 20, 2024. (Photo by Valerie Macon / AFP) (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 776159921 ORIG FILE ID: 2157942986 John Ashton, 'Beverly Hills Cop' actor, dies at 76 John Ashton, a film and television actor with New England roots, died last week at the age of 76. "John was a loving husband, brother, father, and grandfather who will be deeply missed by all who knew him," an obituary provided to USA Today said. Ashton was known for his role as John Taggart in the "Beverly Hills Cop" film franchise, most recently starring in "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F" earlier this year. He appeared as Det. Sgt. Taggart in the franchise's first two films, which were released in 1984 and 1987, respectively. In the latest installment that was released this year, Taggart was promoted to police chief. The films star Ashton alongside Eddie Murphy and Judge Reinhold. Going back to this one was like a family reunion we just fell right back into it, Ashton said about the latest movie in an interview with Nerds of Color earlier this year. Actor John Ashton's roots in Massachusetts and Connecticut Before he played a cop in California, John Ashton was a local in New England. He was born on February 22, 1948, in Springfield, Massachusetts, and raised in Enfield, Connecticut. He graduated from Enfield High School before studying theatre arts at the University of Southern California. In a 2020 interview with MovieJunk, Ashton said he grew up in a "pretty rough town" and got into acting because he was a delinquent in high school. "My mother was going to send me to military school to straighten me out and stuff and the director of my high school theater group stopped me in the hall and asked me if I wanted to be in this play and I said, 'Yeah, sure'," Ashton said. Ashton began his acting career with small film roles in the 1970s before appearing in the "Beverly Hills Cop" films in the 1980s and again in 2024. He was also known for roles in the films "Some Kind of Wonderful" and "Midnight Run." Additionally, he had recurring television roles on "Dallas" and "Hardball." This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: John Ashton, 'Beverly Hills Cop' actor from Connecticut, has died Ludacris Says Hes on 'Water Quest' After Alaska Glacier Sip, Aims to Be 'Most Hydrated Motherf*cker on Earth' Ludacris has been on a very special quest as of late. Over the weekend, Luda gave fans an enthusiastic update on all things aqua, noting that his personal water quest remains ongoing following his much-discussed glacier water sampling in Alaska last month. At the time, Luda even went so far as to jokingly bring Soulja Boy into the conversation in response to a caption from Complex that dubbed him the first rapper to taste fresh glacier water in Alaska. In his latest clip, the Ludaversal artist and Fast X actor showed off his current assortment of water options, noting that hes still looking to match the experience he had in Alaska. Let me tell yall something, he said in the Instagram -shared video, as seen above. Yall think this whole glacier water adventure is over? Ha! Its never over. Let me tell you what Ive been doing since I left Alaska. Trying to find every water around the world to compare. I got volcanic water from Hawaii, from Galapagos, thermal water from Italy, we talking about Australian Alps water, Canada iceberg water, Icelandic water, still Alaskan glacier water. Luda continued, tucking in a nice summation of his aquatic aim here that I will now proceed to use in my headline, I will not stop until I am the most hydrated motherfucker on Earth. Its not a game. You think its a game? Ha! Its never a game! But seriously, hydration is key to a healthy life, making Luda's goal of becoming the most hydrated motherfucker on our planet not only an admirably aspirational endeavor but also one from which we should all take inspiration. If you're one of those sickos who says things like But I dont like the taste of water, then consider this for further encouragement to hop aboard the drinking-water-constantly train: Taking in the right amount of water on a daily basis can quite literally lead to a longer and healthier life . After all, nothing screams Washed with a capital W quite like visible dehydration and an overall lack of self-care. Related Ludacris Throws Out First Pitch With Comically Large Arms at Braves Game Ludacris Provides Update After Concern Over Him Drinking Glacier Water Watch Ludacris Descend From Top of Mercedes-Benz Stadium for Performance at Falcons Game This weekend, an American lawyer married a princess. Like a real-life The Prince & Me, Princess Theodora of Greece wed Matthew Kumar, a Los Angeles-based attorney on Saturday at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens. Theodora wore an off-the-shoulder wedding gown with a foldover top and embroidery throughout. The gown was designed by Celia Kritharioti, whose brand is the oldest couture house in Athens, founded in 1906. The princess, of course, wore a tiarain this case, one that once belonged to Princess Margaret of Connaught, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria and niece of England's King Edward VII. Milos Bicanski - Getty Images The tiara traces back to Margaret and her husband Prince Gustaf Adolf, second in line to the Swedish throne. The couple fell in love in Egypt and announced their engagement in Cairo. The Khedive of Egypt then gave the bride the diamond Cartier tiara as a wedding present in 1905. It was later passed down to Margarets daughter, Princess Ingrid of Sweden, who ended up marrying the future King Frederik IX of Denmark. The Greek royals began wearing the tiara in 1964, when Ingrids youngest daughter, Princess Anne-Marie, married King Constantine II of the Hellenes. Now Theodora is the seventh royal bride to wear this headpiece, called the Khedive of Egypt Tiara. Theodoras veil, too, is a family heirloom. It also belonged to her ancestor, Princess Margaret of Connaught. Its made from antique Irish lace. Milos Bicanski - Getty Images Princess Theodora and Kumars wedding has been a long time coming. The pair got engaged in 2018 and have had to postpone their wedding twice. First, in 2020, the wedding was delayed due to the pandemic and then, last year, delayed again when Theodoras father, King Constantine II, died. Finally, the couple was able to have their Greek Orthodox ceremony in Athens, with a number of royal guests. Theodoras paternal aunt, former Queen Sofia of Spain, attended, as did former Queen Anne-Marie of Greece. The brides brothers, Crown Prince Pavlos and Prince Phillipos, were both groomsmen. The Crown Princes daughter, Princess Maria-Olympia and Arrietta Morales de Grecia, Theodoras niece, were bridesmaids. The Greek royal family released a statement about the wedding prior to the big day. It read , The couple's desire to have their wedding in Athens reflects their love for Greece, the strong ties they maintain with the country and their desire to share Greek culture and hospitality and identity with their guests. You Might Also Like Dwight The General Manfredi has been representing himself in court since Tulsa King returned for Season 2 a big gamble, even for someone who spends a lot of time in a casino. Oklahoma v. Manfredi finds Dwight learning his fate re: the legal and penal systems (and has Manfredi practicing his closing argument in front of a group of very stoned associates at Even Higher Plane). Youll recall that his alleged crime was bribery of a federal agent, AKA ATF agent Stacy Beale, with whom he had a complicated relationship in Season 1. More from TVLine So, how does Dwights day in court go? Hes clearly a hit with the jurors, who chuckle at his jokes even when the judge and opposing counsel object. Then Dwight calls Stacy as a witness, giving everyone in the room a brief overview of their meeting, hook-up and her freak-out when she realized the difference in their ages. We were friends, Stacy? We confided in each other? he asks, and she agrees that they did. And you ultimately took a bullet that was meant for me? Again, she did. So, he reasons, the million-dollar flash drive which the government cant prove is from him mightve just been a way of one friend saying thank you to another, right? She testifies that he didnt ask her for anything in exchange for the alleged million bucks, and thats that: There are no closing arguments (so why did we see Dwight practicing at the top of the hour?), and the jury retires to deliberate. tulsa-king-season-2-episode-3 In the hallway, Dwight finds Stacy, who is not in a good way. Just so you know this is goodbye. Im being transferred to Anchorage, she informs him. He apologizes for how everything went down, but she seems unmoved. Your life, my life, no matter what, are failures, she says flatly. Pretty soon, the verdict is in. Though Dwight has acted like he has complete faith that hell go free, he still hands Tyson his watch, jewelry and money before court is called to session (in case he gets taken into custody immediately after). But the gesture turns out to be unnecessary: Dwight is found not guilty on all 18 counts of bribery of a federal agent, and he is free to go! Hey, give my best to Thresher, Manfredi tells the U.S. Attorney before leaving to attend his victory party at the casino. Elsewhere in the episode: * Thresher makes contact with Armand, whos still in a huge financial hole thats only about to get bigger: Hes agreed to give his wife whatever she wants in their divorce. So when Cal hands him $30,000 Who knows? Thresher remarks, Maybe one day, youll help me. Armand thinks hes gotten extremely lucky. The windfall helps him make his late $10K payment to Dwight, though he lies and says the money is from a lucky bet. tulsa-king-season-2-episode-3- * Bevilaqua and his associate, Carl, visit Dwight to demand that he fall in line under their organization while hes in Tulsa, which they claim is under control of the Kansas City mob. Dwight disagrees, so Bevilaqua says hell send Carl back with another offer in a few days. All along, and thanks to that episode-ending phone call last week, it seems like Goodie is about to be a critical part in Dwights undoing. But when Carl shows up during Dwights party Goodie and Bigfoot stop him from shooting Dwight, then Goodie stabs him to death. They leave his body, wrapped in plastic, in Bevilaquas driveway as a message. tulsa-king-season-2-episode-3 * Dwight and Margaret flirt, dance and spend the night together. Now its your turn. What did you think of Episode 3? Sound off in the comments! Best of TVLine Sign up for TVLine's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. From French press to fancy lattes these eight shops and cafes in Iowa City are a must-try Iowa City is where students, creatives, and professionals come together. Whether looking for an escape from work-from-home life or the best place to catch up with an old friend, there is an abundance of coffee shops in Iowa City to choose from. All serve quality brews and excellent ambiance, along with must-try specialties. Here are eight coffee shops and cafes to try out in Iowa City. Press Coffee is pictured Tuesday, April 16, 2024 in Iowa City, Iowa. Press Coffee Tucked away on Dodge Street, Press Coffee is a hospitable coffee shop specializing in French press coffee. The establishment has all the regular charm of a typical cafe, with plenty of cozy couches, board games, and even bountiful patio space. Press Coffee is seamlessly intertwined with the community of regular customers, from welcoming local artists and displaying their art to hosting a local LGBTQIA+ group to discuss their experiences. Location: 1120 N Dodge St., Iowa City Contact: presscoffeeco.com or @presscoffee_ic Orders are prepared at Fix! coffee shop Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024 in Iowa City, Iowa. Fix! Coffee Located in the Chauncey Building, Fix! Coffee serves gourmet, no-fuss coffee and espresso drinks. From the standard drip coffee to a perfectly balanced latte, Fix! Coffee prioritizes taste with its simple and straightforward menu. With plenty of windows and a view overlooking downtown Iowa City, Fix! Coffee is an ideal place to escape work-from-home life or the coursework grind with its ample seating options. Location: 404 E College St., Suite 202, Iowa City Contact: chaunceyfix.com or @fixcoffeeic More: A variety of concerts are coming to Iowa City this fall, from indie rock to modern bluegrass Wild Culture Kombucha is pictured at 210 N. Linn St. Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024 in Iowa City, Iowa. Wild Culture Wild Culture is a faultless getaway for night owls brave enough to drink coffee in the evening. Located in the northside neighborhood, Wild Culture serves up in-house brewed kombucha and inventive and classic coffee drinks, from their espresso sunrise to classic lattes. During the afternoon, students can be found working on homework, but in the evening, Wild Culture turns into a homey community gathering spot with its inspired cocktails, which include the iconic espresso martini. Location: 210 N Linn St., Iowa City Contact: @wildculture.iowacityor 319-351-3737 Daydrinks summer toast and Ca Phe Sua De (sweetened condesned milk, espresso and milk) are pictured at the coffee shop Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024 in Iowa City, Iowa. DayDrink While the Downtown DayDrink location closed earlier this year, the location on Bowery, where the New Pioneer Food Co-op was located in the 1970s, is a thriving hub. The quaint shop has a straightforward menu of coffee classics, from the specialty hand press to espresso favorites like americanos, while also flaunting clever house specialties, like the Bam Bam, which is made with fruity pebble-infused milk and espresso. Location: 518 Bowery St, Iowa City Contact: daydrink.coffee or @_daydrink More: The ultimate Iowa City game-day guide of places to eat, drink and root for the Hawkeyes A general view of Prairie Lights exterior photographed Monday, Dec. 18, 2023 in downtown Iowa City, Iowa. Prairie Lights Cafe Prairie Lights might be best known as Iowa City's favorite bookstore, but the cafe on the upstairs level rivals the bookshop's selection of books with its creative and classic coffee and tea options. Whether you prefer it like Ernest Hemmingway super strong or like Voltaire with a bit of chocolate melted in or you are more keen on Agatha Christie's tea-only philosophy, Prairie Lights has dozens of options to satisfy. With views overlooking Dubuque Street, Prairie Lights Cafe is a thriving hotspot for remote workers and students alike. It is hard not to be inspired at the cafe of Prairie Lights. Location: 15 S Dubuque St., Iowa City Contact: prairielights.com or @prairielightsbooks Cortado is pictured at 26 S. Clinton St. Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024 in Iowa City, Iowa. Cortado Cortado in the downtown corridor might be the perfect spot for those looking to satiate an appetite and get their coffee fix. With a coffee menu of classics like lattes, the establishment also offers, of course, cortados and in-house creations like the oatmeal cookie latte. Cortado boasts a hardy Mediterranean menu, with items ranging from a grilled halloumi sandwich to a smoked salmon bagel. Location: 26 S Clinton St., Iowa City Contact: cortadoic.comor @cortadoic More: Iowa City prepares to drop hourly meter rates by 75 cents, says free bus system will continue Mamitas Coffee is pictured at 224 S. Linn St. Friday, April 19, 2024 in downtown Iowa City, Iowa. Mammitas Mammitas Coffee offers a unique blend of coffee, flowers, and pastries in downtown Iowa City. The establishment opened in 2020 and serves horchata and dulce de leche. However, Mammitas Coffee is more than just a Latin-inspired coffee shop it also boasts a unique food menu. The establishment serves up Cuban sandwiches, breakfast chorizo burritos, and pastry varieties like tres leche and pastelitos de guavas a puff pastry filled with a sweet guava paste. Location: 224 S Linn St., Iowa City Contact: 319-569-1067 or @mammitascoffee More: How to request an absentee ballot and vote by mail in Iowa for the 2024 general election From regulars to newcomers there is something on the menu for everyone at DeLuxe. DeLuxe Cakes and Pastries DeLuxe Cakes and Pastries celebrated 20 years of serving Iowa City last fall, but the bakery is more than just a spot for a croissant or a celebratory cake. The bakery also has a robust coffee menu from cappuccinos to dirty chai lattes a chai latte with an added shot of espresso. DeLuxe is where regulars, newcomers, and students come together to demonstrate the strength of community while indulging in baked goods and good coffee. Location: 812 S Summit St, Iowa City Contact: deluxeiowa.comor @deluxeiowa Jessica Rish is an entertainment, dining and business reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. She can be reached at JRish@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rishjessica_ This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Where to find the best coffee and lattes in Iowa City As Halloween approaches, many revelers are eager to elevate their costumes with makeup but arent sure how to achieve their desired looks. While envisioning a face painted hauntingly white, intricately marked with swirls of black paint, hollow eye sockets and adorned with red petal flowers, they end up with makeup that feels dry, coverage that looks uneven and fades quickly. However, with the right tools and a bit of practice, anyone can bring their Halloween vision to life. Whether you're leaning toward creative glam or venturing into special effects and fantasy looks, Delaware-based makeup artists Daysla Ixtli and Chyna "Chy" Gibbs have expert tips to help you nail your spooky transformation. Tips for achieving a creative glam for Halloween Gibbs, a Dover native with over a decade of experience, specializes in creative glam. This style amplifies traditional glamorous makeup by incorporating bold colors, unique shapes and eye-catching details to achieve distinctive and standout looks. Chyna Gibbs, a makeup artist from Dover, specializes in full glam makeup. She shared valuable tips on how to elevate your Halloween makeup with a touch of glamour. She offers practical advice for those attempting creative glam at home: Keep it simple: Start with the foundation of the look, then add details and finishes. Maintain a clean, organized workspace to prevent product mixing and spillage. Have makeup wipes on hand for quick fixes and corrections. "Creative glam is popular because its achievable and washes off at the end of the night," Gibbs advised. Products to achieve these looks can be found in local stores and online. Some retailers offer specialized products and complete kits for specific looks, making it easier than ever for Halloween partygoers to transform into their envisioned creature of the night. Taking it to the next level with fantasy makeup For the brave souls looking to take their Halloween transformation to the next level, special effects and fantasy makeup offer a world of eerie possibilities. Examples of special effects makeup include creating a witch with a large, bumpy nose using prosthetics or aging a person with thicker, grayer eyebrows using special FX paint. While it may sound daunting, Gibbs assures that with the right approach, almost anyone can achieve movie-quality results. It just depends on what the look is, how much time you have, and possibly your budget as well, she said. Ixtli, a fantasy makeup artist, believes her journey demonstrates that creativity can flourish in anyone. She discovered her passion for makeup in 2020 while experiencing postpartum depression during the pandemic. I used to watch a lot of artists doing this, and I'm like, 'Maybe I could try,' Ixtli said. What began as a hobby has now become her profession. A sought-after makeup artist, Ixtli styled models for Delawares first Pride fashion show, Express Yourself, organized by City Pride Delaware and Nuestras Raices Delaware in June. She predicts that Beetlejuice-inspired looks will be trending this Halloween, thanks to the new movie release. While classic spooky costumes like fairies, witches, and skulls remain popular, Ixtli offers insight into this year's hottest Halloween makeup trends: Horror film villains: Pennywise, Friday the 13th characters Pop culture: Barbie, Bratz dolls Group costumes: Coordinated couples and family looks HOT TRENDS: 2024 Halloween costume ideas: Beetlejuice, Raygun, Cowboys Cheerleaders and more Whether aiming for glamorous gore or fantastical flair, experts say enjoy the process. This is Halloween. Youre supposed to have fun with it. Even if youre going for a creepy look and it ends up not going right, you still had fun and youre still going to laugh it out, Ixtli said. From enchanting princesses, sinister clowns or elaborate sugar skulls, theres no shortage of hauntingly beautiful styles to explore in preparing for spooky transformations. Expert insights for Halloween makeup shopping For those seeking guidance on perfecting their Halloween makeup, Gibbs emphasizes the importance of doing your homework and practicing. However, finding the right products can be challenging in certain areas, especially when it comes to special effects makeup. Delaware isnt big on special FX, so we dont have many in-store options, Gibbs said. She recommends exploring platforms like YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and TikTok for tutorials and inspiration to improve your skills and get creative ideas. Many tutorial videos provide a detailed list of required products and tools in their descriptions, simplifying the process of gathering the necessary materials. These descriptions often include information on where to purchase products online from retailers with fast delivery. Chyna Gibbs, a makeup artist from Dover, specializes in full glam makeup. She shared valuable tips on how to elevate your Halloween makeup with a touch of glamour. Many local stores will carry options that can work as well as professional-level body paints. Ixtli suggested that for a classic white paint witch look, choose a shade slightly lighter than your natural skin tone. "For girls that want a glam look, just buy one or two shades lighter than your tone of makeup, or just a concealer, Ixtli said. Ixtli emphasized the importance of using high-quality products and recommended water-activated makeup due to its easy application and hypoallergenic formulations. When mixed with some water some popular professional makeup brands maintain a thick texture ensuring smoother, longer-lasting results while keeping the application process simple and manageable, Ixtli advises. She cautioned its always wise to perform a small patch test on your arm before applying any makeup to ensure safety. Whether you choose a creative glam or special effects look for Halloween, applying the right potions and lotions is sure to leave a lasting impression that will leave everyone spellbound! You can contact reporter Anitra Johnson at ajohnson@delawareonline.com. This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware makeup artist tips to perfect your Halloween makeup look If you live in one of the states where Costco doesn't sell alcohol, you may not have had the opportunity to check out the warehouse store's lower-cost liquor. However, if you have had the option of perusing the boozy aisles of the store that Julia Child loved you may have wondered who's distilling the spirits being sold with a Kirkland label. When it comes to the Kirkland Signature Vodka, one thing is for sure -- it isn't Grey Goose, which dispelled the myth that it either produces or privately labels the product. There are two Kirkland Signature brand vodkas on the shelves at Costco -- one is American, and one is French (because they really do taste different). The answer to the question of who makes the Kirkland Signature French Vodka lies right on the label. Distillerie de Gayant, owned by the family-run Terroirs Distillers, is listed as the bottler. The distillery's location in northern France is not far from Grey Goose's Picardy-based distillery, which could account for some similarity in the flavors of the two brands. It's a little harder to crack the code on Kirkland Signature American Vodka's maker. That bottle's label points to Fairmont Ltd. in Mira Loma, California, as the bottler. However, a Certificate of Label Approval/Exemption (COLA) from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau indicates that the Kirkland Signature brand of vodka is registered to LeVecke Corporation, also in Mira Loma, California, suggesting that Fairmont Ltd. may just be LeVecke's trade name. Read more: The Best American Vodkas, Ranked Details About LeVecke Corporation bottle of Kirkland signature vodka - The Image Party/Shutterstock The company's production of the Kirkland Signature American Vodka was also publicly confirmed in 2023 when its president, Joe LeVecke spoke out about the product following a recall due to flavor issues. Additionally, since LeVecke Corporation is the only business linked to Kirkland brand vodka in the COLA database, it's possible that it is responsible for the distribution of the French vodka as well. LeVecke Corporation is family-owned and has been in the business of wholesale distribution and bottling for over seven decades. With an eye on sustainability, the company forms partnerships with others that work hard to minimize pollution and also takes care to recycle and use recycled products. The American vodka that Levecke makes is popular with consumers for reasons beyond its price point. Smooth and neutral, it can be served up straight or easily shaken or stirred into your cocktail of choice. It also comes in a large format (1.75 liters), so there's no need to keep running back to the store for more. In addition to the Kirkland Signature American Vodka, LeVecke is involved with the production of a wide array of alcoholic beverages including spirits, wines, beers, and ready-to-drink products. It's also responsible for the Signature Eggnog Liqueur and Kirkland Signature Golden Margarita, both of which won SIP Awards in an international competition in 2024 alongside many of the company's other products, including Kirkland Signature American Vodka. Want more food knowledge? Sign up to our free newsletter where we're helping thousands of foodies, like you, become culinary masters, one email at a time. Read the original article on Food Republic. The Toast to the Animals fundraiser hosted by the Jacksonville Humane Society is scheduled for 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday at EverBank Stadium. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< The 26th annual event will feature food and drinks from local vendors and attendees will have the chance to bid on more than 100 silent auction items, including a getaway to Guayabo Animal Rescue located in Guayabo de Bagaces, Costa Rica. Tickets are $150 and available via The Jacksonville Humane Society website or by calling 904-493-4566. Tickets will also be available at the door. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] Read: No agreement made in Florida Blue, Baptist negotiations as contract expires Monday Read: DirecTV to acquire Dish Network for $1, assume debt [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live. What the port strike means for Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and other cruise lines When most people board a cruise ship, they give very little thought to all the work that goes into getting that ship ready to sail. In addition to the thousands of crew members working onboard, there are also hundreds of workers based on land doing their part to get ships ready to sail. Longshoremen are the unsung heroes of the industry. They do a lot of the hard work needed to make your vacation happen and many passengers don't even know they exist. Related: Carnival Cruise Line takes a controversial stand on tipping "A stevedore, longshoreman, docker or dockworker is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes," according to Salary.com. Those workers, who are represented by the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) , are poised to strike on Oct. 1. "With 36 hours to go before the end of the ILA-USMX contract tomorrow evening, the 85,000 members of the International Longshoremens Association, joined in solidarity by tens of thousands of dockworkers and maritime workers around the world, will hit the picket lines at 12:01 am on Tuesday, October 1, 2024 and strike at all Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports from Maine to Texas," the ILA posted on its Facebook page on Sept. 29. Want the latest cruise news and deals? Sign up for the Come Cruise With Me newsletter. Longshoremen want more money The ILA has made its position very clear. "United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) refuses to address a half-century of wage subjugation where Ocean Carriers profits skyrocketed from millions to mega-billion dollars, while ILA longshore wages remained flat. ILA unity remains strong and is growing," the union shared. A strike will mean that cargo ships will land and won't be unloaded. That could have some very noticeable repercussions for all Americans. "The people will support you in the short term. But when empty shelves from shortages and higher prices come into play, they will turn on you. Think about those who need the construction materials to rebuild from Hurricane Helene, the people who need life-saving medications, or those who will face possible layoffs in industries such as lumber and pharmaceuticals," posted Troy William Campbell in response to the ILA Facebook post. He does not support the strike because of the wide-ranging effects it could have. "Food prices are already too high; this strike will make it worse. Exports will also be impacted by stopping American companies from exporting their products to other countries. I will not support a strike that will hold the economy hostage," he added. Many commenters, however, support the union. "Currently on strike against Boeing with my union brothers and sisters myself. I wish the ILA all the best and hope they are offered a fair contract quickly," Alicia JJ shared. Be the first to see the best deals on cruises, special sailings, and more. Sign up for the Come Cruise With Me newsletter. Will the strike impact cruisers? While the strike will impact grocery store shelves and other needed areas, the ILA has two areas it will still serve. The ILA has a "No Strike Pledge" for US military cargo. "Our U.S. Military knows that the ILA will conduct military load-out operations even if there is a strike by ILA," the union shared. Cruise passengers also have nothing to worry about, according to ILA President Harold Daggett. "ILA Longshore workers will continue to work Passenger Cruise vessels at all ILA ports, to not inconvenience the tens of thousands of Americans who have booked trips in advance," he said. "We understand that many families plan and pay for cruise vacations on passenger ships more than a year out, and we dont want them to be disappointed or inconvenienced in any way. ALSO READ: Top travel agents share how to get the best price on your cruise Daggett also noted that his union has suffered along with the cruise industry and wants to support it. "For almost three years during the worst of the pandemic, the cruise ship industry was shut down, and our ILA rank-and-file members handling passenger cruise vessels lost a lot of manhours, he explained. Are you taking a cruise or thinking about taking one? Visit our Come Cruise With Me website to have all your questions answered. Most Wanted fought hard down the stretch, even being passed slightly by E J Won the Cup, but when all was said and done, he prevailed to win the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby on Sunday evening at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla. Most Wanted gave his trainer Brad Cox his fourth win in the race. That victory for Cox moved him out of a tie with Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Famer Donnie Von Hemel with three apiece. Cox, currently No. 3 in the country in the trainers standings by money earned, had won the Oklahoma Derby three years in a row from 2019-2021 with Owendale, Shared Sense and Warrant. Von Hemel won the Derby with Clever Trevor and Queens Gray Bee in 1989 and 1991, respectively, back when the race was called the Remington Park Derby and was held in the spring. Von Hemels last trip to the winners circle in this race came in 2007 with Going Ballistic after the races name was changed to the Oklahoma Derby and switched to the fall. Jockey Florent Geroux won the race for the second time, having guided home Owendale for Cox in 2019. Geroux and his mount Sunday, Most Wanted, were both surprised when E J Won the Cup approached them in the stretch after they had taken an easy lead. When I got into the stretch, he was just trying to figure some things out, Geroux said. When (jockey) Mike (Smith) joined me on the lead (with E J Won the Cup), my horse turned his ears and threw his head up in the air. When (Most Wanted) was able to look (E J Won the Cup) in the eyes, you could tell my horse gave me an expression like he knew he was ahead of us. At that point, with about a sixteenth of a mile to go, Most Wanted re-broke, taking back the lead as the two horses approached the wire. E J Won the Cup, ridden by Horse Racing Hall of Famer Mike Smith, couldnt make up that lost ground as Most Wanted dug in and the winner hit the finish line one length ahead of his competitor. Smith was riding at Remington Park for the first time since he rode here regularly in 1988, the year the track opened. I can barely remember a thing about riding here when I was that young, Smith said, and after looking at his picture from 1988 with a bouffant hair-do and pencil thin moustache, he laughed. I had a little hair then and a moustache, yes, but all thats gone now like my memories here. I didnt even remember there was a zoo across the street. Most Wanted and Smiths mount, E J Won the Cup, were at each other like a couple of lions fighting over raw meat at the zoo. In the end, Most Wanted, wanted it most. Geroux made some pretty good excuses for Most Wanted, who is now four-for-four in his career for owners Gary and Mary West, who also bred him in Kentucky. It was his first time (to race) under the lights, first time shipping this far, first time around two turns, he said. He had a lot to think about. All he had to think about afterward was taking his picture in the winners circle. The winner covered the distance of 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.46 on the fast track, earning $240,000 for the Wests. After four starts, the 3-year-old son of Candy Ride (ARG), out of the Distorted Humor mare Beach Walk, has banked $519,553. He is going to be a very interesting horse moving forward, Geroux said. Most Wanteds other three wins came in Kentucky, against maidens at Churchill Downs on June 21, then two more at Ellis Park against first-level allowance horses on July 21 and then taking his first stakes win in the $275,000 Ellis Park Derby on Aug. 11 before coming to Remington Park. Most Wanted was sent off as the 4-5 wagering favorite and paid $3.60 to win, $2.10 to place and $2.10 to show. E J Won the Cup (2-1) was only a head in front of third-place finisher Indispensable (7-1). The rest of the order of finish was Dimatic (9-2) fourth, Flat Hanby (24-1) fifth and Mena (55-1) sixth. Canada Gate and Society Man both were pre-race scratches. Most Wanted set virtually all the interior fractions with Dimatic in the early going, taking turns bobbing heads past the poles. They were :23.60 for the first quarter-mile, :47.48 for the half-mile, 1:11.30 for three-quarters of a mile and 1:36.47 at the mile. Most Wanted is beginning to look a lot like his sire (dad) Candy Ride (Arg), who was undefeated and retired at six-for-six in his career, including graded wins in San Isidro in South America and two graded stakes in North America. Candy Ride ended his career with a trip to the winners circle in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar in California. The victory for Cox and Geroux gave them training and riding doubles respectively on Sunday, as they also won the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks with Alpine Princess in the race prior to the Oklahoma Derby. Remington Park racing continues next week, returning to the regular Wednesday-Saturday live schedule, Oct. 2-5, with first post time of 6:30 p.m. CDT nightly. Remington Park has provided more than $357 million to the state of Oklahoma general education fund since the opening of the casino in 2005. Located at the junction of Interstates 35 & 44, in the heart of the Oklahoma City Adventure District, Remington Park presents simulcast racing daily and non-stop casino gaming. The 2024 Thoroughbred Season continues through Dec. 13. The Oklahoma Classics Night of stakes racing for top Oklahoma-breds takes place on Friday, Oct. 18. Must be 18 or older to wager on horse racing or enter the casino gaming floor. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information. ANKARA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) has "neutralized" Lokman Ismail, a senior member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), in an operation in northern Iraq, Anadolu Agency reported on Monday. Ismail, a Syrian national codenamed "Siyar Muhtar," had been active in the PKK for approximately 30 years. According to the report, Ismail received training from Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed head of the PKK, and participated in armed activities in Turkiye from 1996 to 2004. He relocated to the Zap region in northern Iraq in 2004 for further training in PKK camps. Ismail was reportedly responsible for ordering a car bomb attack in 2019 that targeted two vehicles in Turkey's southern Adana province. The MIT identified Ismail's location and carried out a precision strike in northern Iraq near the Turkish border, Anadolu reported, without disclosing the timing of the operation. Turkish authorities frequently use the term "neutralize" to indicate that individuals have either surrendered, been killed, or captured. The PKK is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the United States, and the European Union, having waged a rebellion against the Turkish government for more than three decades. Since 2019, Turkiye has conducted a series of cross-border military operations into the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq to target PKK hideouts. People are microdosing Ozempic and doctors have a surprising stance on whether its healthy People are microdosing Ozempic and doctors have a surprising stance on whether its healthy People who want to be teeny-tiny are taking a pint-sized shot of Ozempic. Microdosing the weight-loss drug is becoming increasingly common, according to doctors and its not always a bad thing. Its basically a tailored approach to dosing Ozempic to meet the needs of the individual, board-certified family physician and obesity medicine specialist Dr. Britta Reierson told USA Today. Now, where we get concerned is when this is happening without any guidance from a medical professional. Weight loss drugs like Ozempic have spurred a frenzy in Hollywood and beyond despite reports of adverse side effects, resulting in shortages of the medication and, in turn, the creation of off-brand dupes. Now, patients are flocking to specialists to get a prescription for the medication to take in smaller doses, boasting their progress online. Clinicians have revealed that an influx of patients want to microdose their Ozempic prescriptions. alones stock.adobe.com Neurosurgeon and longevity expert Dr. Brett Osborn told USA Today that he even microdoses weight loss medication, explaining that it can be helpful for those who lost a significant amount of weight on the standard dose and want to keep off the pounds with less of the drug. The medications are not to be stopped, he said. You just keep the gas pressed, albeit smaller amounts, and that weight loss will be maintained. Microdoses of Ozempic are a tailored approach to taking the weight loss drug based on the individual, but experts are concerned patients will try to microdose at home without consulting their doctors. Christopher Sadowski Dr. Aria Vazirnia, a lipedema surgeon with the Advanced Lipedema Treatment Program at The Roxbury Institute, blames social media for the piqued interest in drugs like Ozempic, even among people who dont necessarily need it. I think a lot of it has to do with social media, he told USA Today. Its been with the celebrity scene People have been talking about it in podcasts. So theres a lot of interest in it. Obesity medicine specialist Dr. Alexandra Sowa, the founder of SoWell, said that shes seen an influx in people requesting microdoses of the once weekly jab. She suspects the uptick could, in part, be connected to Ozempic shame, a term coined to describe the stigma surrounding the use of the medication as a weight loss aid. Often in managing weight, theres so much stigma and bias from both the clinician side and the patient side that often peoples brains want to try to tell them that they can outsmart the system, she told the outlet. Theyll feel better about the fact that theyre on a medication if they go to a smaller dose, and, really, what we need to get to the root of is, lets make this patient feel whole from the beginning, that theres nothing wrong with using a medication, she continued. Additionally, the sky-high costs of the weight loss drugs could be causing some cash-strapped users to be rationing their supply without appropriate medical guidance. Experts are now concerned that patients with Ozempic prescriptions will try to microdose at home, which could cause an adverse reaction, warned Osborn. Patients should always consult with their doctors before taking new medications or changing dosage. Do not ever blame this on the medication. It is not the medications fault, he says. The burden is on us as physicians to be able to modulate the dose. Prince Harry talks about Lilibet in seventh appearance without Meghan in seven days Prince Harry has revealed that he has at least six spare versions of one of his three-year-old daughter Lilibets favourite toys. The Duke of Sussex, 40, returned to London for the WellChild Awards, which honours seriously ill children, and met many of the young recipients, their parents and celebrity ambassadors including Beverley Knight and Oti Mabuse after the ceremony on Monday. He was reunited with Noah Nicholson, six, and admired a photograph of their first meeting five years ago at Sheffield Childrens Hospital, noting that he was still clutching Raffy, the same giraffe toy attached to a soft blanket. The comforter toys are known in the US as loveys. He said: Is this the same one? No way. Every parent has a spare. Ive got at least six spare. He added: My daughter Lili has these loveys. Noah Nicholson, aged six, attends the WellChild Awards - Chris Jackson/Getty Images Beverley Knight (centre) and other guests at the Wellchild Awards - Chris Jackson/Getty Images The Duke later presented an award to Noah and gave a speech to the children and parents gathered for the ceremony at the Royal Lancaster Hotel. As he saluted the little legends gathered before him, he said: Keep being you. Youve got this, and weve got you. There was laughter and applause as someone in the crowd yelled: Weve got you too. The Duke has been patron of WellChild since 2007 and makes a point of attending its annual award ceremony. He said: The WellChild Awards is an event that never fails to inspire me, the stories of young people who battle against the odds, living lives filled with medical procedures, hospital stays, endless appointments, that remind us all of the strength of the human spirit. As a parent, I know a little about the emotional roller coaster of parenting, but when I hear about the care that many of you, mums, dads or family members provide, the level of round the clock care that you offer, the skills you had to learn, the battles for support that you fight every single day, I am truly in awe. You are all incredible, and your love and dedication are nothing short of heroic. The Duke presented an award and delivered a speech at the annual ceremony - Chris Jackson/Getty The Dukes brief return to the UK fell in the middle of a hectic fortnight in which he is criss-crossing the globe, without the Duchess of Sussex, to promote his own charitable interests. The award ceremony came after five high profile speeches in New York last week on behalf of his various charities, as well as a star turn in a skit on US comedy show The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Last week, the Duke made an appearance on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon The Duke then flew back to California to be reunited with the Duchess and their two children, Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three, before flying to London this weekend. He did not stay at a royal residence and was not expected to meet with his father, the King, who is in Scotland, or his brother, the Prince of Wales. After the award ceremony, he was due to head to southern Africa, where he will visit Lesotho two decades after his first visit, which was made during his gap year, to promote Sentebale, the charity he founded in 2006. At an event on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last week, he described the country as a home away from home. He said the tiny landlocked nation, and its Royal family, had been a pillar of strength for him personally over the last 20 years and had welcomed him with open arms and such kindness. Subsanador was bright and alert the morning after his thrilling win in Saturdays GI, $1 million California Crown Saturday at Santa Anita. Hes doing great. All is well, Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella said from his stable office Sunday. In the inaugural California Crown going 1 1/8 miles, Subsanador and Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith prevailed by a head in a three-way photo with Grade I winners National Treasure and Newgate. It was the second stakes win in a row for Subsanador, who arrived in the U.S. from his native Argentina late last year. Last month at Monmouth Park, the 5-year-old horse by Fortify was a comfortable winner of the GIII Philip H. Iselin going 1 1/16 miles. We saw a lot of courage yesterday, Mandella said. He was in tight. We hadnt had him in that position before, so it was really nice to see him fight that hard. According to Daily Racing Forms Brad Free, Subsanador, runner-up National Treasure and Newgate all earned 102 Beyer Speed Figures. Also with the California Crown victory, Subsanador earned an automatic berth to the $7 million Breeders Cup Classic Nov. 2 at Del Mar. Thats the plan, Mandella said of going in the 1 -mile Classic. Subsanador, a Group 1 winner on turf in Argentina, improved his overall record to 17: 9-2-1 with $1,003,124 in earnings. He made his first two starts in the U.S. for trainer John Sadler, including finishing second by a head to Newgate in the G1 Santa Anita Handicap March 3. Subsanador was then sold privately to Qatar-based Wathnan Racing and transferred to Mandella. Mandella, who is in his fifth decade training at Santa Anita, also offered his thoughts on the first-ever California Crown Day at Santa Anita. They put on a hell of a show, Mandella said. It might take a year or two to introduce, but I think it can be a success. I was sure impressed with the effort they made. It turns out that hitting the snooze button is not that bad for you. Here's why you should stop, but also don't stress about it. A 2022 sleep study found that 57% of participants hit the snooze button regularly. A neuroscientist explains how hitting the snooze button can fragment your last minutes of sleep. She also explains how then being late can raise your cortisol levels and make you more stressed. At 6:45 a.m., your first alarm goes off, and you press the snooze button. 6:54 a.m., your second alarm goes off, and again, you hit snooze. Then again, every nine minutes until you realize you can't press the snooze button anymore or you'll be late for work. A 2022 Sleep study found 57% of participants fell into this category of snoozers, but how can that impact our minds and bodies? Hitting the snooze button fragments your sleep According to Emily McDonald, a neuroscientist based in Florida, waking to multiple alarms disrupts the later phases of sleep, such as REM sleep and slow wave sleep (deep sleep). "Let's say you start your day with 30 minutes of snoozing your last 30 minutes of sleep was poor-quality interrupted sleep. So, pressing snooze once or twice may not be the worst thing, but more than that is not advised due to its effects on cognition and mood," McDonald told Business Insider. "If the first alarm sounds and jolts you out of slow wave sleep (deep sleep) or REM, pressing snooze allows you to re-enter into a lighter stage of sleep (N1 or N2) before having to fully wake up," McDonald said. She explains that sleep inertia is a transition period from sleep to wakefulness that is characterized by impaired performance and drowsiness. Research has found snoozers are more likely to feel drowsy when they wake up but that they're also more likely to be night owls, which probably also lends to the feeling of drowsiness. Cristina Garcia, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona and owner of the Center for Sleep and Psychological Wellness, LLC, agrees with this. She says that setting multiple alarms can cause us to feel more sleep inertia, which will make the whole waking-up process harder emotionally and mentally. "Assuming you don't fall back to sleep between each alarm, then what you're doing is teaching yourself to ignore your alarms and instead hang out in bed awake. This is a no-no from a sleep hygiene perspective and probably from a family/job/school/productivity perspective, too," Garcia told BI. You shouldn't hit snooze for a long time McDonald also notes that every time your alarm clock startles you awake, your body releases cortisol a hormone produced by your adrenal glands in response to stress. Studies have found this can impact your blood pressure and heart rate. Research has also found that an elevated cortisol level can stimulate appetite, meaning that stress can lead to fat and sugar cravings. For McDonald, it's really the amount of time that you snooze that determines the amount of sleep you are disrupting. So in her opinion, snoozing for a long time is not advised. "Studies show that immediately after waking up, snoozers experience a slight improvement in alertness, but this effect disappears after about 40 minutes. Meaning that it really does not impact your day to press snooze a couple of times," McDonald said. Despite there being a lack of evidence to suggest that snoozing is harmful to the brain, McDonald does not recommend setting multiple alarms, or snoozing more than once. She explains that it's not the best habit to have if you want to set yourself up for a productive day. "A morning routine is critical for a relaxed nervous system, focus, productivity, and staying on track toward your goals. If you snooze your alarm for an extra 30 minutes of sleep, then rush around your home to get ready for whatever you have to get to in the morning, you start your day activating the stress response," McDonald said. Garcia agrees with this, saying that if your goal is to sleep better, then disrupting the last portion of your sleep is not going to help. "Instead, decide on how much time you really actually need to get ready, then set your alarm accordingly and maybe choose a different sound and make it louder. Next, include at least one enjoyable experience in your morning so that your morning routine is a bit more attractive and motivating. Then, test it out and adjust as needed. Sometimes working with a professional here is a great way to get additional support, ideas, and accountability," Garcia said. Read the original article on Business Insider GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) The city of Grand Rapids is being awarded a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerces Economic Development Administration to support firefighter workforce development. Grand Rapids Fire Department breaks ground on new station in 3rd Ward The grant will be used to construct a five-story firefighter training facility, which is expected to go on a site near Alpine Avenue on the West Side. Its expected to create 300 jobs, a release said. State budget commits $35 million to new GRFD buildings The department of commerce said the grant will be matched with $1.5 million in local funds. The U.S. Economic Development Administration is proud to partner with the city of Grand Rapids as it builds a strong workforce, Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Cristina Killingsworth said in a release. This project will tackle a firefighter shortage throughout West Michigan and provide realistic training scenarios to ensure the safety of local residents and businesses, securing hundreds of good-paying union jobs over the next decade. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. The German Foreign Office said on Monday it estimates that some 1,800 German nationals are currently in Lebanon as the country faces a massive escalation in the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia. A Foreign Office spokesman said that about 1,800 people have registered on the ministry's crisis preparedness list ELEFAND. The system enables Germans abroad to be quickly informed by German representatives in acute situations and included in possible crisis measures such as evacuations. Following almost a year of cross-border skirmishes, Israel launched a large-scale aerial campaign on targets across Lebanon last week. Hundreds have been killed and tens of thousands displaced in Lebanon amid the fighting, according to Lebanese authorities. The international community is urging de-escalation amidst continued Israeli strikes and Hezbollah retaliations, but efforts for a ceasefire have so far been rejected by both sides. The German government's crisis team assessed the situation in Lebanon on Friday and Saturday, the spokesman said. He said the Beirut airport was still open, although with drastically restricted flight operations, as well as the airport in Tel Aviv. The ministry is assisting German nationals to leave the country, although he added that "we are not explicitly in an evacuation scenario." The Foreign Office has raised the crisis levels for German missions in Beirut, Tel Aviv and Ramallah in the West Bank. This means that family members of the deployed staff will gradually be evacuated and the number of personnel will be reduced, he said. MESA, Ariz. - Officials with Mesa Police say an investigation is underway following a deadly shooting involving one of their police officers. Per a statement, the incident happened just after 2:00 a.m. on Sept. 29, in a residential neighborhood south of 104th Street and Main. "The incident began when a Mesa Police officer attempted to stop a male riding a bicycle near Broadway Road and Cheshire Avenue. The male failed to comply with the officer's commands and fled northwest along a canal," read a portion of the statement. "The officer located the male a short distance away in an empty wash along the canal. The male produced a weapon and pointed it at the officer. That is when the officer-involved shooting occurred." Tune in to FOX 10 Phoenix for the latest news Police say the suspect, identified as 37-year-old Edward Johnson, was given emergency first aid by Mesa Fire and Police crew at the scene. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died. "The officer involved was not injured and police are not looking for anyone else," read a portion of the statement. "The East Valley Critical Response Team (Chandler PD) is leading the investigation." Investigators say Johnson had an outstanding warrant for a probation violation on a drug charge in Pinal County. VALENCIA COUNTY, N.M. (KRQE) The Valencia County Sheriffs Office was involved in a shooting in Los Lunas, according to New Mexico State Police, which is investigating the incident. The sheriffs office said they were called to Thomas Rodriguezs home in the 100 block of La Ladera around 3 p.m. on Sunday for a report of gunshots. Deputies spoke with neighbors who said Rodriguez was shooting a rifle into the air. Story continues below Deputies tried to make contact with Rodriguez, but they said he refused to come out of his home, so deputies left to initiate the court process to remove guns from the home. They were then called back to the home for an altercation between Rodriguez and his neighbor, 51-year-old Michael Gabaldon. Gabaldon told deputies that Rodriguez almost ran him over. Rodriguez refused to come out of his home and speak to deputies, according to the Sheriffs Office. Deputies then filed felony charges against Rodriguez for the incident. VCSO was called to the home for a third time around 10:30 p.m. Sunday for reports of shots fired. According to State Police, deputies arrived and said they saw one person firing a gun in the direction of a home. That was when a VCSO deputy opened fire and hit Gabaldon, who died from his wounds. Deputies said they saw Rodriguez run inside his home, and thats when law enforcement called in SWAT teams to take him into custody. A SWAT standoff took place overnight and he surrendered to authorities around 11 a.m. He was taken to the Valencia County Detention Center, where he was booked on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Online court records showed that Rodriguez had a criminal history dating back to 2003, and he was arrested in 2023 for shooting at a neighbors house. That case was dismissed without prejudice. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Up To 1 Million In Lebanon May Be Displaced By Israeli Attacks, Prime Minister Says Lebanons prime minister warned on Sunday that up to a million people in the country may currently be displaced by Israels deadly attacks, which has no end in sight despite world leaders cautioning against the escalation out of fear it could turn into an all-out regional war. After convening an emergency government meeting, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that while he still wants to pursue a diplomatic solution to the fighting between Israel and militant group Hezbollah, the government must immediately address the mass killing and displacement in Lebanon by the Israeli military. The prime ministers video statement said that officially there are more than 118,000 displaced people staying in at least 778 shelters in Lebanon as of Friday, when Israeli forces rapidly escalated their massive assault in Beirut and its residential surroundings. Israel said the blasts killed more than 20 Hezbollah members on Friday, among them the groups veteran leader Hassan Nasrallah. These people are being provided with basic needs like shelter and food, but estimates that the number of displaced people is much higher than this, Mikati said. It could reach up to one million people. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Azmi Mikati speaks during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the Middle East regarding Israeli attacks into the country. Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images The current forced displacement particularly from Beiruts suburbs in the south and from the Bekaa Valley in the east is the largest in Lebanese history, he said. The displacement numbers dont include the more than a thousand people killed in the last two weeks by Israeli forces, over a 100 of which were just from Sunday, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The estimate of one million forcibly displaced people would make up a fifth of Lebanons entire population. More than 70,000 people have outright fled Lebanon, mostly into Syria out of fear that the Israeli military will launch a potential ground invasion, according to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), who said the situation for civilians impacted by the strikes is dire straits. Mikati, who less than a week earlier pleaded with the U.N. to protect Lebanese sovereignty, said on Sunday that his government is trying to address the many humanitarian issues that come with the mass migration of forcibly displaced people, including food, water, medical assistance, sanitation and shelters problems that the countrys Palestinian neighbors have been dealing with for almost a year now. Lebanon is in a state of complete upheaval at the moment, Cyril Bassil, a Lebanon-based member of aid group CARE International, said on Thursday. Tens of thousands of displaced people are seeking shelter across different areas in Lebanon, mostly at schools-turned-collective shelters to accommodate the droves of people with nowhere else to go. This massive and unprecedented displacement is putting immense pressure on an already debilitated water and electricity infrastructure in areas witnessing this influx and that were not necessarily equipped to receive large numbers of displaced people, he continued. A man and young boy shelter in Martyrs' Square after being displaced by Israeli airstrikes on Sunday in Beirut, Lebanon. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that an estimated one million people have been forcibly displaced in the country by Israel's attacks. Carl Court via Getty Images More than 1,400 Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian refugees are now sheltering in at least seven facilities belonging to UNRWA, the U.N. agency largely responsible for assisting Palestinian refugees. But most of the schools serving as shelters are already full, and hospitals are overwhelmed with casualties, leaving some families to sleep in their cars or on the streets, according to Doctors Without Borders. Everyone is scared and worried, and no one knows where to seek safety, Maram Sukkariyeh, the groups health promotion supervisor, said on Thursday. Teams of health care workers are delivering water, blankets, mattresses and hundreds of hygiene kits, while offering psychological first aid to address deteriorating mental health, she said. France and the U.S. have been engaged in efforts to secure a 21-day temporary cease-fire to allow for negotiations with Israel a decision that aligns with Mikatis stated position that Lebanon has no other choice but to pursue a diplomatic solution. It is certain that the Lebanese government wants a cease-fire, and everyone knows that Netanyahu went to New York based on the premise of a cease-fire, but the decision was made to assassinate Nasrallah, Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary said on Sunday, according to Al Jazeera. Netanyahu on Friday echoed the rhetoric hes used in Israels ongoing military offensive in Gaza, telling the U.N. that his military is continuing to strike Hezbollah with all [their] strength, and we wont stop until we achieve all our objectives. Speaking to reporters, President Joe Biden said on Sunday that he would talk to Netanyahu and that all-out war in the Middle East has to be avoided. But despite the U.S. publicly urging a diplomatic approach to Lebanon, the Biden administration is still boosting air support and troop readiness and more notably, is continuing to unconditionally send Israel billions of dollars in American weaponry. Every hour, I get messages from my family in Lebanon, asking when the American-funded bombs will stop, Abbas Alawieh, a Lebanese American who co-founded the pro-Palestinian Uncommitted voter movement, said on Sunday. Not only is this administration sending more bombs aimed at them and other civilians, theyre also helping Netanyahu cover up his crimes. Its despicable. Chinese Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu (L), South Korean Minister of Environment Kim Wan-sup (C), and Japanese Minister of Environment Shintaro Ito sign a joint communique at the 25th Tripartite Environment Ministers Meeting among China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea (TEMM25) in Jeju, South Korea, Sept. 29, 2024. (Xinhua/Yao Qilin) JEJU, South Korea, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The 25th Tripartite Environment Ministers Meeting among China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea (TEMM25) took place here on Saturday and Sunday to discuss environmental issues of common concern including climate change, marine and biodiversity protection. The annual meeting was attended by delegations led respectively by Chinese Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu, South Korean Minister of Environment Kim Wan-sup, and Japanese Minister of Environment Shintaro Ito. The three ministers introduced their environmental policies and the latest developments, and exchanged views on regional and global environmental issues. In his keynote speech at the opening ceremony, Huang noted that this year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of China-South Korea-Japan cooperation. At the Ninth Trilateral Summit Meeting held in Seoul in May, a series of consensuses were reached including cooperation on sustainable development and coping with climate change, which has offered direction and injected new impetus for the three countries to further deepen environmental cooperation. The South Korean side introduced its policies and measures on addressing climate change, circular economy, air pollution control, and natural ecosystem protection, while the Japanese minister elaborated on Japan's progress and measures in addressing climate change, biodiversity protection, circular economy, marine litter control, and air pollution control. During the conference, the ministers presented the TEMM environment awards to three winners from China, South Korea, and Japan for their outstanding contributions to trilateral environmental cooperation. The three countries also reviewed the implementation of the Tripartite Joint Action Plan on Environment Cooperation 2021-202), adopted new priority areas, and signed a joint communique. The annual meeting has been held in rotation among China, South Korea and Japan as the highest level environmental cooperation platform in Northeast Asia since its launch in 1999. This photo taken on Sept. 29, 2024 shows a scene of the 25th Tripartite Environment Ministers Meeting among China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea (TEMM25) in Jeju, South Korea. (Xinhua/Yao Qilin) 1 seriously injured in pedestrian crash in East El Paso 1 seriously injured in pedestrian crash in East El Paso EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) A person suffered serious injuries after a crash involving a vehicle and a pedestrian early Monday morning, Sept. 30, in East El Paso, according to El Paso Police. Police say their Special Traffic Investigations unit responded at around 2 a.m. to 1441 N. Zaragoza Rd. in regards to the crash. One person was transported with serious injuries. Police did not specify who was injured. No further information has been released. This story will be updated once 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 KTSM 9 News. Some 100,000 have fled Lebanon to Syria amid Israeli strikes, UN says A Syrian refugee family drives on motorcycle along Sidon-Beirut, as they flee from Rmeileh in south Lebanon to Beirut. Thousands of families fled southern Lebanon for areas in the capital Beirut and Mount Lebanon, following the expanding Israeli attacks. Marwan Naamani/dpa Since the beginning of Israel's massive aerial campaign on Lebanon which was launched last week, some 1,000 people have fled the country to neighbouring Syria, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Monday. Some 60% of them are believed to be Syrian refugees that previously fled to Lebanon amid the civil war that broke out in their home country in 2011. Some 40% are estimated to be Lebanese, the Geneva-based agency said. Following Israeli bombardment of Beirut, which killed the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, on Friday, the number of refugees arriving at the north-western border crossing near the Syrian city of Homs has doubled, according to the UN. Most people are fleeing across the border crossing some 70 kilometres south-west of Beirut near Damascus, it said. Many people spent several days waiting at the border crossing, before Syria waived the exchange of $100 "normally required of each Syrian when entering Syria," the UN said. That rule has now been lifted for one week, helping to ease the situation, according to the statement. "UNHCR and its partners continue to scale up assistance for the new arrivals, distributing relief items, food, and water, among others, to those arriving at the border crossings," it said. Some 60% of those crossing the border are minors, according to the UN. About 1.5 million Syrian refugees were estimated to be living in Lebanon before the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalated last week. 12 Responds: Will I get heating assistance this year? EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) If you are a Rhode Island Energy customer you may be curious if you will receive heating assistance this year. The company said not to assume you will if you did last year, and that you have to re-certify every year to get the discounted rate. 12 Responds: Rhode Island Energy customers report issues with new website To be eligible, you have to be a residential customer whose name is on the bill and the head of household. Additionally, you have to be receiving social security or be eligible for the Low Income Home Assistance Program (LIHEAP) or other programs like Medicaid or food stamps. Customers need to submit either an acceptance letter from a qualifying agency or a photocopy of their valid benefit card to AccountProtections@RIEnergy.com. 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. 13-year-old accused of suffocating 8-year-old cousin indicted, will be tried in adult court MEMPHIS, Tenn. A 13-year-old accused of suffocating her 8-year-old cousin in a bunk bed at their grandmothers house in Humboldt, Tennessee was indicted Monday by a Gibson County grand jury and will be tried in adult court. LaQuvanah Parson of Columbia, South Carolina is charged with First-Degree Murder and Tampering with Evidence. The victim was 8-year-old Demeria Hollingsworth of Nashville, Tennessee. Parsons case was transferred to adult court after a transfer hearing Sept. 24. Original Story: 12-year-old girl charged with murder, accused of suffocating 8-year-old cousin in bed On July 15, just before 2:10 p.m., Humboldt Police Department officers say they responded to a home on Mitchell Street where they found Hollingsworth in an upstairs bedroom. She was pronounced dead at the scene, police say. According to the District Attorney, video evidence shows Parson, who was 12 at the time, suffocating the 8-year-old with bedding, then cleaning up the blood from the victims face and repositioning the body. Demeria Hollingsworth was asleep in bed when she was violently attacked by her cousin Parson. We will continue to work to seek justice for Demeria and hold Parson accountable for taking her life. This is a very difficult case for everyone involved, and we ask that you especially keep the family of Demeria in your thoughts and prayers, said Frederick H. Agee, District Attorney General. The victims mother said the girls were staying with their grandmother in Humboldt for the summer. She says the issue stemmed over an argument over an iPhone. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. "Theyve Never Seen Anything Like This Before": 15 Photos That Show How Badly Asheville, North Carolina Was Hit By Helene 1.On Sunday, President Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration for North Carolina following devastating and historic rainfall and flooding caused by Hurricane Helene. Sean Rayford / Getty Images 2.Helene was a Category 4 hurricane that made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region on Thursday. According to the New York Times, its impact extended into Tennessee and caused 600 miles of destruction. Sean Rayford / Getty Images 3.One of the areas hit hardest was Asheville, a city in western North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains. Melissa Sue Gerrits / Getty Images 4.Asheville is located in Buncombe County, and according to CBS News, officials reported on Monday that 35 people have died in the county as a result of Helene. Melissa Sue Gerrits / Getty Images 5.According to an Associated Press report from Saturday, the city became isolated after the storm destroyed roads and caused major power outages. Sean Rayford / Getty Images 6.On Sunday, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety reported 280 "state-maintained roads" in the region were closed. Sean Rayford / Getty Images 7.The AP also reported on Monday that supplies were being airlifted to isolated regions of western North Carolina. Sean Rayford / Getty Images 8.National Weather Service meteorologist Doug Outlaw told the Asheville Citizen Times on Sunday that western North Carolina saw record rainfall of 17.31 inches over the past three days. Melissa Sue Gerrits / Getty Images 9.Helene's impact set a new September rainfall record for the area in just three days, up from the previous 13.71 inches in 2004. Sean Rayford / Getty Images 10.Asheville is home to two notable rivers, the French Broad and the Swannanoa, both of which are reported to have flooded. Sean Rayford / Getty Images 11.The Citizen Times reported that, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Swannanoa River, which runs through Biltmore, "crested" at 26.1 feet on Friday. This is reportedly six feet above the previous record of 20.7 feet. Here's what the Swannanoa River looked like on Sunday: Sean Rayford / Getty Images 12.Biltmore Village, an area of the city near the famed Biltmore Estate, was among the regions that experienced damage. Sean Rayford / Getty Images 13.On Monday, Biden spoke to reporters at the White House about Helene's devastation, saying he planned to visit affected areas so long as he wouldn't disrupt relief efforts. Sean Rayford / Getty Images 14.Biden did not specify the affected areas he may visit. Sean Rayford / Getty Images 15."This is [a] historic storm. It's devastating. They've never seen anything like this before," he said, per Deadline. Sean Rayford / Getty Images Recovery resources for Asheville can be found here. If you're interested in donating, the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund is accepting donations here. KANSAS CITY, Mo. An 18-year-old man from Adrian, Missouri, is currently in custody and faces multiple criminal charges after investigators say he shot and killed his father Saturday night. According to arrest reports, Carter J. Curtis faces one count of first-degree murder and one count of armed criminal action for allegedly shooting his father with a rifle. Court records said that on Saturday, Sept. 28, just after 11:20 p.m., deputies with the Bates County Sheriffs Office went to a home in Adrian, Missouri, after receiving a call from a male subject claiming to have killed his father. Suspect accused of shooting, paralyzing man, kidnapping two victims in Lees Summit The subject, later identified as Curtis, originally did not give his location to the dispatcher, the sheriffs office said. However, deputies were able to get the location of the victim and the shooting. According to court records, an officer arrived at the home just after 11:30 p.m. and was met with two women in the driveway who were screaming, he has never been violent. The officer then went upstairs into the kitchen where they found 41-year-old John McMurphy face down on the floor with a gunshot wound to the head. Within about two minutes of finding McMurphy, deputies found Curtis about one block away from the shooting. He was taken into custody. Court records said that at the time of the shooting, the wife of the victim claimed to have been awakened by the sound of a gunshot. She told law enforcement she then got up and walked into the hallway where Curtis was standing with a rifle. The wife told deputies he then handed her the weapon and said, I already called 911, and I had to do it. Curtis is being held in a Bates County Jail on a no bond warrant. 18-year-old dies, three teens injured in Johnson County, Missouri crash The case is being investigated by the Adrian Police Department, the Bates County Coroners Office and the Bates County Sheriffs Office. I want to thank everyone for their fast response to this incident. I take pride in working together to put the safety and security of this community first, Adrian Police Chief Chris Dillon said. At this time, we still have a lot of investigation to continue but we can assure the community there is no additional danger relating to this incident. We would like to offer our condolences to the family and friends affect by this tragic event. We have no further information at this time. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. MARSHALL COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) The Guntersville Police Department (GPD) says an 18-wheeler that caught fire is blocking traffic Monday afternoon. According to GPD, the 18-wheeler struck a guardrail and caught fire on Highway 79 near Pine Island Circle. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) said the fire started at around 3:30 p.m. and has blocked all lanes on AL-79 for an undetermined amount of time. ALEA said troopers from the Highway Patrol Division will continue monitoring the situation and providing 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 WHNT.com. (This story was updated to add new information.) More than 180 people got sick in a salmonella outbreak during a Royal Caribbean International cruise that ended Friday. Among 2,172 passengers on the lines Radiance of the Seas ship, 180 reported being ill along with three crew members, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Their main symptoms were abdominal cramps, diarrhea, headache and muscle aches. The ship was on an Alaska cruise at the time. The sailing left from Vancouver, Canada, on Sept. 20, according to CruiseMapper. The health and safety of our guests, crew, and the communities we visit are our top priority, a Royal Caribbean spokesperson told USA TODAY in an emailed statement. To maintain an environment that supports the highest levels of health and safety onboard our ships, we implement rigorous cleaning procedures, many of which far exceed public health guidelines. The ship also made announcements about the outbreak and encouraged good hand hygiene and case reporting, among other steps, the CDC said. The news marks the second outbreak on Radiance of the Seas this year, after nearly 70 people got sick with norovirus in April. The CDC has logged 10 outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness on cruises that met its threshold for public notification in 2024. Norovirus was listed as the causative agent in every instance but three. Cruise ship medical facilities: What happens if you get sick or injured (or bitten by a monkey) The illness is frequently associated with cruise ships, but those comprise only 1% of all reported outbreaks. There's not something special or unique about cruise ships, Dr. Sarah E. Hochman, a hospital epidemiologist and the section chief of infectious diseases at NYU Langone Healths Tisch Hospital, told USA TODAY in April. It's really any type of congregate setting, but it's also happening out in the community on a much smaller scale among households and household contacts. It just doesn't come to the attention of public health as much as it does for larger congregate settings. Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@usatoday.com. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 180+ Royal Caribbean guests, crew sick in salmonella outbreak 2 deputies among tragic deaths in NC mountains from Helene flooding 2 deputies among tragic deaths in NC mountains from Helene flooding RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) Officials said Sunday that two of the North Carolina deaths from Helene in the state were deputies in two separate mountain counties. The North Carolina Sheriffs Association said that the two tragic deaths were from significant flooding and hazardous conditions in the mountains. The deputies who died were with the Macon County Sheriffs Office and the Madison County Sheriffs Office, the N.C. Sheriffs Association said in a news release. MORE: How to donate and assist Helene victims and survivors across the Carolinas The deputies died in raging flood waters, the statement said. We ask that you keep the families, friends, and colleagues of these deputies as well as the entirety of Western North Carolina in your thoughts and prayers during this unfathomable and difficult time, the N.C. Sheriffs Association said. Macon County Sheriffs Office said that Deputy Jim Lau, courthouse security officer, was missing on Friday around 11:30 a.m. MORE: Damage is unimaginable in Chimney Rock after images show half of village wiped out A search effort was initiated that afternoon by multiple emergency service agencies; an on-foot search, drone search and multiple swift-water rescue teams were called in, Macon County officials said. His body was recovered on Saturday. No information about the Madison County deputy was released as of Sunday afternoon Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News. 3 ex-officers did not testify at their trial in Tyre Nichols' death Rev. J. Lawrence Turner, left, leads a prayer vigil with the mother and stepfather of Tyre Nichols, RowVaughn Wells, second from right, and Rodney Wells, right, outside the federal courthouse during the trial of three former Memphis police officers accused of killing her son Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) Lawyers for three former Memphis officers rested their cases Monday without calling them to testify in their own defense against charges that they violated Tyre Nichols civil rights in a beating that proved fatal following a 2023 traffic stop. Attorneys for Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith told a jury that they were not calling any more witnesses. Michael Stengel, Haleys lawyer, John Keith Perry, Beans attorney, and Martin Zummach, who represents Smith, each called their own police use-of-force experts in previous days of testimony in an attempt to justify the officers actions during the traffic stop and beating. The trial is now in its fourth week. Zummach had said in opening statements that Smith would testify in his own defense. Smith did not take the stand. On Monday, Zummach questioned Jared Zwickey, who spent 50 years law enforcement and was called as an expert witness. Zwickey said he analyzed video and he showed the jury excerpts of Smith and Bean hitting Nichols when they caught him after he ran from the traffic stop. Zwickey testified that Smiths actions were consistent with Memphis police and national policing standards and training. The five officers charged in Nichols' death were part of the the Scorpion Unit, which looked for drugs, illegal guns and violent offenders. It was disbanded after Nichols death. Two of them Desmond Mills and Emmitt Martin pleaded guilty and testified for prosecutors. Smith, characterized as Scorpion Unit Ones team leader, said, hit him, during the beating. Prosecutors have called witnesses who said that statement went against department policy and training in the context of Nichols beating. Zummach asked Zwickey if that statement was appropriate in the Nichols situation. Itd be appropriate if the officer needed help, Zwickey said. Another witness, former Memphis officer Mark Wojcicki, said he supervised Smith when Smith was on a criminal apprehension unit in 2020. Wojcicki, who is now a church pastor, called Smith a high level, highly professional officer and a good, honest man. Under cross-examination by prosecutor Kathryn Gilbert, Wojcicki agreed that a good officer would not use excessive force. The officers used pepper spray and a Taser on Nichols, who was Black, during a traffic stop, but the 29-year-old ran away, police video shows. The five officers, who also are Black, then punched, kicked and hit him about a block from his home, as he called out for his mother. Nichols died Jan. 10, 2023, three days after the beating. An autopsy report shows Nichols the father of a boy who is now 7 died from blows to the head. The report describes brain injuries, and cuts and bruises on his head and elsewhere on his body. Prosecutors have maintained officers employed the street tax or run tax against Nichols because he ran from the traffic stop. Haley, Bean and Justin Smith pleaded not guilty to federal charges of excessive force, failure to intervene, and obstructing justice through witness tampering. The five officers also have been charged with second-degree murder in state court, where they pleaded not guilty. Mills and Martin are expected to change their pleas. A trial date in state court has not been set. ___ Associated Press reporter Jonathan Mattise contributed from Nashville, Tennessee. BAGHDAD, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a Shiite militia group, claimed responsibility on Sunday for a series of drone and missile attacks targeting Israeli sites. In separate statements, the group reported launching two drone attacks on key locations in the southern port city of Eilat, deploying a swarm of drones against two separate targets in Israel, and firing missiles at two other sites. The group did not specify the targeted locations or report any casualties. These attacks followed recent Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, which resulted in the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Since the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has conducted multiple strikes against Israeli and U.S. targets in the region to demonstrate its support for Palestinians in Gaza. The group has intensified its operations amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon. JEFF DAVIS, Ga. (WSAV)The District Attorney Brunswick Judicial Circuit announced Wednesday that two men have been convicted for the murder of a Hazlehurst teen. District Attorney (DA) Keith Higgins said that on Wednesday a Jeff Davis County jury found Daimon Smith, 20, and Jermon Rountree, 19, of Hazlehurst, Ga., guilty of Felony Murder, two counts of Aggravated Assault, two counts of Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony and five counts of Violation of Street Gang and Terrorism Prevention Act. The jury acquitted both defendants of one count of Violation of Street Gang and Terrorism Prevention Act, the DAs Office said. The evidence presented at trial showed that the defendants were associated with a criminal street gang in Hazlehurst that refers to itself as Money Over Banging (MOB) and that MOB is a hybrid street gang that is mostly composed of Rollin 60s Crips but has some members who are either Gangster Disciples or Bloods, the DAs Office said. Up to $10,000 reward for information about firearm theft They said that on Oct. 14, 2022, Malik McRae, 18, was at the residence of a friend with a group of other teenagers when Smith, Rountree and other members of the street gang came to confront McRaes friend about a social media post about one of their gang members that he had reposted on Snapchat. After walking into the yard of the residence, the DAs Office said that Smith began arguing with McRaes friend and another teenage guest and demanded that they come into the street to fight. When Smith and the other gang members refused to leave, an occupant of the residence retrieved a gun from inside the house and began firing into the air. Having obtained a handgun from one of his fellow gang members, Smith then fired toward several teenagers who were running back to the residence, and as McRae was running, he was shot and killed the DAs Office said. They also said that another teenager who was running with McRae was shot. Violent criminal street gangs are the greatest threat to the safety of everyone who lives, works, and raises a family in our community, DA Higgins, who prosecuted the case for the State said. The District Attorneys Office is committed to do everything we can to combat these gangs and hold their members fully responsible for the crimes they commit. Sentencing will be held on a future date that has not yet been determined. The DAs Office said that Smith and Rountree face a possible maximum punishment of up to life imprisonment without parole, plus an additional 90 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. 2 men seriously injured after vehicle crashes into woods along Route 3 in Plymouth Two men were seriously injured after the vehicle they were riding in veered off Route 3 and crashed into the woods in Plymouth on Sunday night, officials said. Firefighters responding to a report of a single-vehicle crash with entrapment on the southbound side of the highway just after 8 p.m. found a mangled vehicle in a wooded area, according to the Plymouth Fire Department. The driver of the vehicle was left trapped in the wreckage and it took about 20 minutes for firefighters to free him using hydraulic extrication tools. He was taken via ambulance to a landing zone at Elmer E. Raymond Jr. Memorial Park on Long Pond Road and then flown to a Rhode Island hospital. The passenger in the vehicle was also seriously injured and taken to South Shore Hospital in Weymouth. The names of the two victims havent been released. State police are assisting Plymouth police with an investigation. 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 MADERIA BEACH, Fla. - Hurricane Helenes widespread aftermath is also affecting the Pinellas school system. One faculty member lost their life, and hundreds of teachers suffering flood damage. Now, two schools, Gulf Beaches Elementary and Madeira Beach Fundamental K-8 schools are temporarily shut down, suffering major electrical damage. "This is unprecedented. The biggest piece isweve had classrooms flood before, water main broke, thats really easy to fix. Its the electrical system that was inundated with seawater. The electrical system is 20 feet from the intercoastal so its just gonna take a long time to repair," said Kevin Hendrick, Pinellas County Schools superintendent. "Gulf Beaches Elementary School will move to Disston Academy in Gulfport. Disston Academy has a small enrollment on its campus of about 70 students and will move to Lealman Academy. The schools have similar themes, and they will be able to co-exist for the foreseeable future," Hendrick says. "Madeira Beach Elementary students will attend Walsingham Elementary School and will attend from 11:40 am to 4:40 pm on a modified double session. Madeira Beach Middle Schools students will attend Osceola Fundamental High School from 12:10 to 5:10 again on a modified double session. Maderia Beach Fundamentals principal told FOX 13 its a good plan. "This plan allows students to remain together with their classroom teacher with their school intact. And it allows families to return, to come back. The biggest challenge is the logistic piece and getting students to two locations, but they are close to each other," said Chris Ateek, Madeira Beach Fundamental Principal. The county will hold two parents meetings on Monday night about the plans. READ: Pinellas County schools to reopen Monday except for three schools, superintendent says The principal says he will welcome students back with positivity following the devastation. "I will tell the students the same thing I would tell them on the first week of school, we are learning together, we are easing into this transition," said Ateek. "We know that this plan will inconvenience some but relocating is a great impact on students, families and staff, but we will get through this together," said Hendrick. They hope to have displaced students back in their new schools by Oct. 2. More information about these temporary changes can be found at the Pinellas County Schools website. STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 13 TAMPA: 2 Ukrainian soldiers, community come out for Ukraine fundraiser in Scranton 2 Ukrainian soldiers, community come out for Ukraine fundraiser in Scranton SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) Some people in Scranton are standing with Ukraine every step of the way during the eastern European countrys war with Russia. A church and community organization gathered Sunday afternoon for a fundraising meal. It showed support for Ukraine and honored two of that countrys soldiers who nearly lost their lives on the front lines. Two Ukrainian soldiers, who stood for their country on the front lines in the war with Russia, stood to a standing ovation inside St. Vladimir Ukrainian church in Scranton. Sunday was an emotional day for Diann Wolfe. She is a member of this church that partnered with Rotary District 74-10 International Service Committee to bring the soldiers to northeastern Pennsylvania. This luncheon helped raise money for Ukraine and showed support for the soldiers. And thats what we wanted this event to be about, about supporting our fellow humans under distress and knowing that they arent alone, said Rotary District 7410 International Service Committee member Lara Alexiou. VFW holds 2nd Craft and Vendor event in Kingston And we have to be grateful for this real hero. This real hero, St. Vladimir Ukrainian Catholic Church Father Myron Myronyuk added. Ukrainian Soldiers Vadym Khuts and Roman Zabavin spoke to 28/22 News through translator Stanislav Demochko. Hes grateful to United States as a country for the people of Scranton this area for organizing this event all the humanitarian aid that was sent to Ukraine and also the military aid that is helping stop this Russian horde from destroying our nation and all the free world, Vadym explained. Vadym volunteered the first days of the war and became a soldier in March 2022. He was wounded on the front lines in the spring of 2023 after an artillery shell exploded in front of him. He ended up losing an arm and a leg. Hes very thankful to everyone that is contributing to every individual to every organization and its not just personal gratitude. Its gratitude on behalf of the armed forces of Ukraine and everybody who is serving. They are very thankful to be here, today, Roman stated. Roman was drafted into the military in February 2023 and immediately started serving in Bakhmut, one of the hot spots during that time of the war. That summer a grenade that fell one meter from him took both his arm and leg. I look at these young men and I see my son because if he was there he would have to fight, said St. Vladimir Ukrainian Catholic Church member Jean Stasyszyn-Pedley. Fighting in a war nearing its one-thousandth day. The most important thing America can do for Ukraine is send weapons and only defeat will stop this evil from approaching us and who has the aim of eliminating our nation and our people, Vadym said. The rotary says it expects to surpass its goal of raising more than $50,000. All of the proceeds will go toward a pediatric hospital in eastern Ukraine. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. After 2 women die in ambush outside Hardin courthouse, what can Kentucky do better? A memorial in the parking lot of the Hardin County Justice Center, where Erica Riley and her mother Janet Rylee were killed on their way to a domestic violence hearing. Erica Riley was seeking protection from the man who shot them and later killed himself. The photo was taken Sept. 22, 2024 in Elizabethtown. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony) If you or someone you know has experienced domestic violence, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. You can also contact any of Kentuckys 15 domestic violence programs. This story also discusses suicide. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 988. Georgia Hensley feels like shes been screaming in a padded room for too long about gaps in the way Kentucky protects survivors of domestic and intimate partner violence. Now that two women are dead in her town, suddenly theres two or three people at the tiny window on the door listening to those concerns, said Hensley, the CEO of SpringHaven, which helps survivors of intimate partner violence in Kentuckys Lincoln Trail District. It truly has been like begging for help and no one was listening and thats abhorrent, Hensley said. It should not take the death of a woman and her mother and the severe injury of her father for all of us to begin talking about the issues that we needed to be discussing anyway. A month after a woman and her mother were gunned down in the parking lot of the courthouse in Elizabethtown on the day of her emergency protective order (EPO) hearing, advocates who work to end intimate partner violence told the Lantern the state can and should do more to protect survivors. That includes, they say, passing a Crisis Aversion and Rights Retention Orders (CARR) bill, which would establish a process for temporarily removing guns from people at risk of hurting themselves or others. In other words, a red flag law. In 1994, Congress barred anyone who is subject to a domestic violence protective order or who has been convicted of the crime of domestic violence from possessing or buying a gun or ammunition. The United States Supreme Court upheld that law this year, saying it is constitutional to disarm a person in those circumstances. Kentucky is not among the 32 states that have enacted their own laws and protocols to separate domestic abusers from guns, even temporarily. As a result, protection for victims varies across the state, said Darlene Thomas, the executive director of GreenHouse17, a Fayette County-based nonprofit working to end intimate partner violence. The violent deaths in Elizabethtown, Hensley says, should spur action. The community is enraged, she said. Citizens are enraged. And our officials need to be listening. What happened in Elizabethtown? In early August, Erica Riley asked the court system to protect her from a man with whom, police say, shed had a relationship. A judge granted her request, issuing an emergency protective order (EPO) on Aug. 8 and scheduling a hearing to consider extending the order. On the morning of the hearing, Aug. 19, Riley arrived at the Elizabethtown courthouse, family by her side. The man in question, Christopher Elder, 46, was there too. Jeremy Thompson, the Elizabethtown police chief, said that Elder shot Riley and two others in an ambush type style in the parking lot right before 9 a.m., when the hearing was scheduled. Riley died there, police say, the day before she was to turn 38. Her mother, Janet, later died at the hospital, police say. Erica Rileys father was also injured and hospitalized, but has since been released, according to a police spokesman. Within hours of the shooting, police publicly named Elder as their suspect. He led police on a multi-county, 100-mile car chase. After a standoff in a parking lot in Christian County with at least nine first responder agencies, he shot himself at 11:15 CST, according to Kentucky State Police. Elder was airlifted to Vanderbilt Hospital and died that day. Domestic violence, guns a lethal combination While the Elizabethtown shooting got widespread attention, the key details arent uncommon. The majority of murder-suicides (62%) in the United States have an intimate partner component, the nonprofit Violence Policy Center said in a 2023 report. Almost all of those 95% were a man killing a woman and 93% of those involved a gun. Most female homicide victims were killed by a current or former male partner, according to research published in the National Library of Medicine last year. That same research showed victims of intimate partner violence are five times more likely to die if their abuser has access to a gun and 1 in 8 convicted perpetrators of intimate partner violence admit they used a gun to threaten someone. In 2022, about half of Kentucky women 45.3% and around 35.5% of men had experienced intimate partner violence or threat of it in their lifetimes, the Lantern has reported. In 2023, that number decreased to 44.5% of women and 32.9% of men. When police respond to a domestic violence or adjacent situation, they are required to file a form called a JC-3. Of the roughly 41,000 Kentucky JC-3s filed in 2023, 97 involved a gun. Hundreds more 399 involved terroristic threatening. Research shows when abusive partners have access to guns, theyre more likely to kill. A 2023 paper published in the National Library of Medicine found victims were five times more likely to die when a firearm is involved. Advocates who work to end intimate partner violence told the Lantern that Kentucky needs a way to remove weapons from the hands of domestic violence perpetrators. Unfunded mandate Even though the Supreme Court says its constitutional to disarm people who are the subject of domestic violence protective orders, thats basically an unfunded mandate in Kentucky, said Thomas with GreenHouse17. Our systems throughout the commonwealth are having to figure out who gets them, who collects them, who stores them, who marks them for storage, she explained. How do people get them back? When do they get them back? Whats the process for people to get their weapons back when theyve been removed? Theres no funding in Kentucky to carry out the federal law, Thomas said, which results in an uneven application across the state. Some courts will sometimes ask the sheriffs to go confiscate the weapons. Sometimes theyll tell a person, you have to turn those weapons over to your attorney or to the sheriffs department, she said. All the systems are a little different by how they do it, but the federal law says they have authority to help see that weapons are not in the hands of abusers, right? How they go about doing that can look very different county to county, judge to judge, situation to situation. Based on existing laws, any firearm Elder had should have been removed from his possession at the time he was served, said Hensley, who is also an attorney. Its unclear if the gun used in the August shooting was registered to the suspect. No official information about the gun and how it was obtained is available, a police spokesman told the Lantern. The way that most sheriffs departments serve those petitions and request for firearms is simply theyll knock on the door, (say), Here you go, sir. Do you have any firearms in the house? And if the perpetrator says, No, thats it, Hensley explained. Whether or not a police officer has the legal ability to enter the home and search for those weapons is a complicated question, Hensley said. I would probably argue, as an attorney: no, she said. One exception could be if the petitioner told authorities that the alleged perpetrator did have access to weapons. Still, she said: truthfully, thats an uphill legal battle. They would really need to obtain a warrant or see something. Leaving is dangerous. It doesnt need to happen alone. Leaving an abusive situation when its often most dangerous for survivors is difficult, but doesnt have to happen alone. In Elizabethtown, Hensley organized a court escort volunteer service after Rileys death. I dont have any faith in the legislature or in our leadership to get that done, so Ive done it, she said. And is that something that a nonprofit should be forced to do? Probably not. But is it something that were going to do? Yeah, it is. It is because safety is the most important thing. Still, survivors sometimes must enter a courthouse or go through a door at the same time as an abuser or sit together in a waiting area, advocates say. But there are simple and inexpensive solutions to those physical barriers, said Angela Yannelli, the CEO of ZeroV (formerly known as the Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence), such as bringing in the parties at different times and through different entrances and having a designated space for petitioners to wait separate from respondents. Its also currently up to a judges discretion if they hold domestic hearings over Zoom, Hensley said. But its a policy she says the General Assembly should codify. Doing so could lessen some of the physical stress of a hearing, she said. But, there are downsides. These cases can often be difficult to determine, and so much of it is based on body language and a determination of who you believe, she said. And some of that is very difficult to do via Zoom. While there are safety gaps, the state has a lot working in its favor: a robust network of violence prevention programs and researched-backed primary prevention, which involves educating children and other community members about intimate partner violence, said Christy Burch, the CEO of the ION Center for violence prevention in Northern Kentucky. Theres barriers to staying. Theres barriers to leaving, Burch said. When I think about that preparation to leaving or making a big change there, reach out to your local program. We are here. You dont have to walk that journey alone. Could a red flag law help? Sen. Whitney Westerfield, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sponsored CARR in 2024 but hes leaving the Republican-controlled legislature after deciding not to run for reelection this year. His co-sponsors for CARR were all Democrats. One of them, Louisville Sen. David Yates, is working to build support from colleagues in the Senate to carry the bill with him in 2025, a Senate Democrats spokesman said. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention reports that people dealing with suicidality are more likely to live if they lose access to guns and other lethal means temporarily, until intense feelings pass. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 988. Aurora Vasquez, the vice president of State Policy & Engagement with Sandy Hook Promise, a national nonprofit that works to end gun violence, said temporary removal is key to defuse the situation. Its often painted as though CARR is producing a permanent loss of Second Amendment rights, she said. But the goal with CARR, she said, is to give people help in the moment they need it most, so that they dont lose their Second Amendment rights. We cant collectively as a society and Kentucky certainly should not, given that it has a robust gun culture should not look away from the fact that gun owners sometimes need help, and its okay, Vasquez said. As human beings, we all sometimes need help, right? Being a firearm owner does not exclude us from that. Theres no way to know if CARR could have saved Erica Rileys life, Yannelli said. What we do know is that getting firearms out of the hands of an abuser will save lives, she said. Thomas with GreenHouse17 agreed. Weapons escalate situations and not deescalate them, she said. I think CARR protections would help our law enforcement and our communities feel a little safer with temporary gun removal for somebody thats experiencing an episode of some kind. Know the signs of intimate partner violence and how to get help Experts who spoke with the Lantern said while every relationship looks different, and patterns of abuse can vary, there are some warning signs. Being aware of them can prepare people to help curb abuse. Those include but arent limited to: Name calling in a way that undermines self esteem. Loss of a persons ability mentally or physically to make their own decisions. Loss of financial autonomy. Isolation. All movements are monitored. Physical assault. Fear of assault. Fear for the safety of children or pets in the home. To get help: Call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. Contact any of Kentuckys 15 domestic violence programs, which can offer legal connections, temporary housing, resources for pets, counseling, food and more. If you think someone else is experiencing intimate partner violence, advocates say you can: Check in with the person you think is being hurt. Believe them. Offer to be part of a safety plan if the suspected victim needs support to leave. Offer to help call authorities if needed. Directly intervene, but only if you can do so safely. Cause a distraction. If you see someone yelling or harming someone else, you can pretend to have dropped something or be lost to help the parties involved focus on something else. Delegate intervention to someone with more resources or authority, like a security guard, police officer or faith leader. Normalize the conversation about ending intimate partner violence by discussing it openly with family and friends. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE 3 California firefighters hurt in crash while heading to help Hurricane Helene victims WASKOM, Texas (KTAL/KSHV) Three members of a California fire and rescue team were injured in a crash while driving to the East Coast to help with Hurricane Helene relief efforts. The San Diego firefighters were traveling in their Ford F-350 truck when they were involved in a collision on Interstate 20 near the border of Texas and Louisiana around 2:45 a.m. Sunday. Monica Munoz, a spokesperson for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD), said the injured firefighters were flown to a hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana, for treatment. The remaining crew members were sent to Waskom, Texas, to await further instructions. The news of this crash is devastating. We are doing everything we can to offer support to our department and those team members and their families who were part of this deployment, said SDFD Assistant Chief James Gaboury. The cause of the crash remains under investigation. PHOTOS: Helene brings flooding, damage as storm barrels ahead Authorities said the crew is part of a 48-person task force that left San Diego for North Carolina early Friday evening. Team members include water rescue personnel from several fire departments in San Diego County, an emergency room doctor, as well as a civilian structural engineer and a mechanic with the City of San Diego Fleet Services. San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 getting ready for Hurricane Helene relief mission (Source: City of San Diego) San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 getting ready for Hurricane Helene relief mission (Source: City of San Diego) San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 getting ready for Hurricane Helene relief mission (Source: City of San Diego) San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 getting ready for Hurricane Helene relief mission (Source: City of San Diego) San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 getting ready for Hurricane Helene relief mission (Source: City of San Diego) San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 getting ready for Hurricane Helene relief mission (Source: City of San Diego) San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria released the following statement: Our prayers are with these three brave firefighters, their families and loved ones, as they are being treated in Louisiana. Weve seen the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene, and we know how critical it is to have water-rescue specialists responding to disasters like this one. These first responders put their own lives on the line every day, here at home and around the country when called. They embody the courage, bravery and service that defines our San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria At least 84 people across several states have died in the wake of Hurricane Helene, including 30 people in a North Carolina county that includes the mountain city of Asheville. The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina, and Gov. Roy Cooper predicted the death toll would rise as rescuers and other emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads and failing infrastructure. More than 50 search teams have been looking for stranded people in the region. The Associated Press contributed to this story. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11. 3 California firefighters hurt in crash while heading to help Hurricane Helene victims WASKOM, Texas (KTAL/KSHV) Three members of a California fire and rescue team were injured in a crash while driving to the East Coast to help with Hurricane Helene relief efforts. The San Diego firefighters were traveling in their Ford F-350 truck when they were involved in a collision on Interstate 20 near the border of Texas and Louisiana around 2:45 a.m. Sunday. Monica Munoz, a spokesperson for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD), said the injured firefighters were flown to a hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana, for treatment. The remaining crew members were sent to Waskom, Texas, to await further instructions. The news of this crash is devastating. We are doing everything we can to offer support to our department and those team members and their families who were part of this deployment, said SDFD Assistant Chief James Gaboury. The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians without power following Helene Authorities said the crew is part of a 48-person task force that left San Diego for North Carolina early Friday evening. Team members include water rescue personnel from several fire departments in San Diego County, an emergency room doctor, as well as a civilian structural engineer and a mechanic with the City of San Diego Fleet Services. San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 getting ready for Hurricane Helene relief mission (Source: City of San Diego) San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 getting ready for Hurricane Helene relief mission (Source: City of San Diego) San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 getting ready for Hurricane Helene relief mission (Source: City of San Diego) San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 getting ready for Hurricane Helene relief mission (Source: City of San Diego) San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 getting ready for Hurricane Helene relief mission (Source: City of San Diego) San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 getting ready for Hurricane Helene relief mission (Source: City of San Diego) San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria released the following statement: Our prayers are with these three brave firefighters, their families and loved ones, as they are being treated in Louisiana. Weve seen the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene, and we know how critical it is to have water-rescue specialists responding to disasters like this one. These first responders put their own lives on the line every day, here at home and around the country when called. They embody the courage, bravery and service that defines our San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria At least 84 people across several states have died in the wake of Hurricane Helene, including 30 people in a North Carolina county that includes the mountain city of Asheville. The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina, and Gov. Roy Cooper predicted the death toll would rise as rescuers and other emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads and failing infrastructure. More than 50 search teams have been looking for stranded people in the region. The Associated Press contributed to this story. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News. Three members of a California search and rescue team were injured in a vehicle crash Sunday morning as they were driving cross-country to support Hurricane Helene relief efforts in North Carolina. The three people injured were part of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments (SDFD) 48-person Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8. The cause of the crash is under investigation, according to a press release from the city of San Diego. The three firefighters left Friday from San Diego and were together in a F-350 truck when the crash happened at 2:45 a.m. CST. The members were on East Highway 20 at the time, near the border of Texas and Louisiana. The three injured members were transported by air helicopter to Louisiana State University Hospital in Shreveport, La., the press release said. Assistant Fire Chief Jim Gaboury told local reporters that the three firefighters were in various conditions ranging from moderate to critical, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The local news outlet said the names of the injured were not released but that they were identified as a battalion chief and two captains. The news of this crash is devastating. We are doing everything we can to offer support to our department and those team members and their families who were part of this deployment, Gaboury said in a press release. The remaining task force members were sent to Waskom, Texas, and were told to await further instructions about the mission, according to the press release. Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall briefed President Biden on the ongoing recovery efforts, including on the tragic car accident involving the three firefighters, according to the White House. The President expressed his gratitude to all first responders, including the brave team that was traveling across country to support emergency response operations and is praying for their full recovery, the White House press office said in a statement. Our prayers are with these three brave firefighters, their families and loved ones, as they are being treated in Louisiana, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said in the press release. Weve seen the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene, and we know how critical it is to have water-rescue specialists responding to disasters like this one. These first responders put their own lives on the line every day, here at home and around the country when called. They embody the courage, bravery and service that defines our San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, Gloria continued. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Three San Diego, California, firefighters were seriously injured in a vehicle crash on their way to assist with Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, officials confirmed. Authorities said the crash happened early Sunday at 2:45 a.m. local time on East Highway 20 near the Texas-Louisiana border. The three San Diego Fire Department (SDFD) personnel members are receiving medical care in Louisiana, the City of San Diego said in statement Sunday. MORE: Multiple people killed after small plane crash in North Carolina: NPS The injured firefighters were taken by air ambulance to Louisiana State University Hospital in Shreveport, officials said. The cause of the crash is currently under investigation. A San Diego Fire Department engine is driven along the coast at La Jolla's Windansea Beach as on a warm summer day on July 2, 2023 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images) (Kevin Carter/Getty Images) "Our prayers are with these three brave firefighters, their families and loved ones, as they are being treated in Louisiana," San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said in a statement. "We've seen the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene, and we know how critical it is to have water-rescue specialists responding to disasters like this one. These first responders put their own lives on the line every day, here at home and around the country when called. They embody the courage, bravery and service that defines our San Diego Fire-Rescue Department," Gloria said. The firefighters are members of the SDFD's Urban Search and Rescue California Task Force 8 and were traveling to North Carolina to assist in relief efforts from the impacts of Hurricane Helene. MORE: Florida residents pick up pieces after Hurricane Helene destroys homes The task force, which left San Diego on Friday, includes 48 people from multiple agencies, according to the statement. The remainder of the task force team members were sent to Waskom, Texas, where they are awaiting further instructions, officials said. "The news of this crash is devastating. We are doing everything we can to offer support to our department and those team members and their families who were part of this deployment," City of San Diego Fire-Rescue Assistant Chief James Gaboury said in the statement. 3 California firefighters seriously injured in crash responding to Hurricane Helene: Officials originally appeared on abcnews.go.com 3 children taken away after unresponsive parents arrested on drug, neglect charges LAS VEGAS (KLAS) The parents of three young children were arrested on charges including drug possession, child abuse and child neglect after officers found the adults passed out in a car, police said. Officers from the Bullhead City (Arizona) Police Department said they had to bang on the car windows and yell to wake up the parents late Thursday night. The children, a 3-year-old and two 6-year-olds, were sleeping in the back seat and had easy access to the drugs, according to police. Officers said drugs believed to be cocaine and drug paraphernalia with burnt residue were near the children. Shawn Lee Martin, 49, and Melisa Renee Richman, 32, were booked into the Mohave County Jail in Kingman, and the three children were placed into protective custody, police said. Martin and Richman were no longer in custody on Monday, according to jail records. Officers responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle near the intersection of U.S. 95 and Miracle Mile, where they found Martin and Richman unresponsive due to being under the influence of drugs. Bullhead City is across the Colorado River from Laughlin, Nevada, about an hour and a half south of Las Vegas. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. KIGALI, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda's Ministry of Health has announced new guidelines to curb the spread of the Marburg virus disease (MVD) following an alarming rise in fatalities. The death toll from the MVD has reached eight, with 26 confirmed cases and 18 individuals currently in isolation and receiving treatment, the ministry said in a statement late on Sunday. In response to the situation, the ministry suggested that people maintain normal business activities while reinforcing personal hygiene measures. According to the statement, citizens are urged to avoid close contact with individuals exhibiting symptoms of the virus, which include high fever, severe headaches, muscle aches, vomiting and diarrhea. To further contain the spread of the disease, visits to hospitalized patients will be prohibited for the next 14 days, with only one caregiver allowed per patient at a time. All healthcare facilities are required to implement strict protocols for receiving and managing patients displaying symptoms of the MVD, ensuring full compliance with infection prevention and control measures. In the unfortunate event of a death due to the virus, the ministry has prohibited wakes and home vigils to mitigate the risk of further transmission. Funeral services for those who succumbed to the MVD will be restricted to a maximum of 50 attendees, while open-casket viewings are not allowed in homes, churches or mosques and will only be conducted in designated areas within healthcare facilities, with strict limits on the number of participants. The ministry reassured the public that additional measures will be introduced as the situation develops. During a press conference earlier Sunday, Rwandan Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana revealed that the ministry is closely monitoring more than 300 individuals identified as contacts of confirmed MVD cases. 3 men shot outside album release party in northwest Atlanta Atlanta police are investigating a triple shooting in northwest Atlanta. Investigators said the shooting happened outside an album release party. Channel 2 Action News is live at the scene off Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway at a shopping plaza. Our cameras spotted a heavy police presence along with caution tape blocking off the area. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Police said three men were shot in the parking lot. They are currently being treated at Grady Memorial Hospital. No one has been arrested in connection to this shooting. TRENDING STORIES: [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: CHICAGO Chicago police are looking to identify three suspects in connection with a downtown knife attack. Police said the attack happened at around 12:31 a.m. on Sept. 15 in the 400 block of North Michigan Avenue near the Chicago River. Chicago man arrested for trafficking 16-year-old victim The three suspects pictured above reportedly attacked a 27-year-old man with a knife before running off, according to investigators. Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines Police described the suspects as three Hispanic males between the ages of 15-25. They stand about 57 to 511 in height and weigh anywhere from 140-200 pounds. Anyone with additional information may leave an anonymous tip at cpdtip.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 WGN-TV. Three protesters charged at a pro-Palestinian demonstration at UNC-Chapel Hill in April accepted plea bargains Monday in a court hearing in Hillsborough. The deferred-prosecution agreements require them to perform 24 hours of community service and pay court costs. The district attorneys office has agreed to dismiss their second-degree trespassing charges if they meet those requirements and stay out of trouble for six months. All 40 people charged with misdemeanors stemming from April 30 and May 8 campus protests, including UNC students and area residents, have been offered deferred prosecution or a conditional discharge requiring them to perform community service. More than half have decided to take their cases to trial before an Orange County District Court judge in December or at a future, undetermined date, their attorneys have said. Others have not decided yet whether to accept plea bargains, defense attorney Gina Balamucki said. Any who are found guilty can appeal their cases to Superior Court for a jury trial, she said. Most of the protesters were charged with trespassing after refusing police orders to end a four-day Gaza solidarity encampment on April 30 at Polk Place, outside UNCs 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 and charged with assault on a government official, impeding traffic, disorderly conduct and resisting a public officer. South Building was defaced with red paint and graffiti during 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. People gather to share statements at the Peace and Justice Plaza outside the courthouse regarding the charges against pro-Palestine protesters and broader beliefs about the war on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. More protests after summer break Demonstrations resumed after students returned in August for fall-semester classes, resulting in damage to town and UNC buildings. The Chapel Hill Courthouse on East Franklin Street was spray painted with anti-police and anti-prison graffiti during an Aug. 24 march through downtown organized by the group Triangle Stop Cop City. On Sept. 19, roughly 150 protesters entered buildings and disrupted classes on UNCs campus, resulting in more vandalism and spraypainted graffiti, including at the NROTC Naval Armory building. The demonstrators are protesting the war in Gaza, which has killed over 40,000 Palestinians and displaced nearly 2 million others since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 Israelis and taking another 250 people hostage. The war expanded to Lebanon in September, with thousands more killed or injured by exploding communications devices and rocket strikes traded between Israel and the terrorist group Hezbollah. On Saturday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah became the latest casualty. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected a 21-day cease-fire plan. The pro-Palestinian protesters have asked UNC to disclose and divest from investments in companies that support Israel and end study-abroad programs to Israel, in addition to other demands. STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. (FOX 2) - A multi-car crash on Saturday left two teenagers critically injured. At around 6:36 PM, Sterling Heights Police and Fire Departments responded to reports of a collision between two vehicles at the intersection of 18 Mile Road and Pickett Ridge Road. Upon arrival, emergency responders found an Orange Mustang and a Silver Ram pickup involved in a severe crash that resulted in a fire. Bystanders rushed to assist the occupants trapped inside the burning Mustang, where two 17-year-old residents of Sterling Heights. The preliminary investigation revealed that the Mustang was traveling westbound on 18 Mile Road when it lost control, veering into oncoming traffic and colliding with the eastbound Ram pickup. The impact ignited a fire, complicating rescue efforts. The Mustang's driver and passenger were transported to a local hospital, where they remain in critical condition. The two occupants of the Ram pickup, both 25-year-old residents of Washington Township, were admitted with non-life-threatening injuries. Authorities are urging anyone who witnessed the crash to come forward with information. Witnesses can contact Officer K. Archer of the Traffic Safety Bureau at 586-446-2920. 4 people injured in Russian attack on Kharkiv Oblast, among them volunteers photo On the evening of 30 September, the Russian military struck the town of Ivashky in Kharkiv Oblast using an FPV drone, injuring four people. Source: Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office on Telegram Quote: "According to the investigation, on 30 September at around 18:05, the enemy assaulted the village of Ivashky in the Bohodukhiv district using an FPV drone. Two volunteers, men aged 24 and 62, were injured. A 55-year-old woman and a 17-year-old boy developed an acute stress response." Details: A car was also damaged by the impact. Photo: Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office Support UP or become our patron! 5 sought for armed robbery at 69th Street Red Line station CHICAGO Mass Transit Detectives are asking for the publics help in finding five people responsible for an armed robbery at the Red Lines 69th Street station. Chicago police said the robbery happened just after 9:30 p.m. Saturday. According to investigators, a 19-year-old woman was on the mezzanine when the suspects approached her with a handgun and forcefully took her property. 54-year-old man critically shot while driving on South Side Police described the suspects as five males around 18 years of age. Anyone with information is asked to call the CPDs Mass Transit Section at 312-745-4447. Anyone with additional information may leave an anonymous tip at cpdtip.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 WGN-TV. Up to 5,000 salmon 'may have escaped' from farm The Ulster Angling Federation fear the escaped fish may pose a threat to the wild salmon population [Getty Images] Up to 5,000 farmed salmon may have escaped from a site in Glenarm, County Antrim, according to the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera). It said a "rip in the net of a farmed salmon cage" had been found on Sunday evening. A local angling group said it feared the escaped salmon could pose a threat to the long-term health of the wild salmon population. A Daera spokesperson said its staff were "currently assessing the situation and any actions that need to be taken". Salmon 'under severe threat' Gary Houston, chairman of the Ulster Angling Federation, told BBC News NI that there was a danger that the escaped salmon will reproduce with the wild population. He said that could reduce the fitness of the offspring, resulting in a lower survival rate. Mr Houston said that salmon populations in Northern Ireland were "under a severe threat of extinction from farm escapes, pollution and poor in-river and sea survival". "Farmed salmon are treated with a variety of antibiotics and anti-sea lice chemicals", said Mr Houston. "While these antibiotics and chemicals are usually withdrawn before the fish are slaughtered, the escaped salmon will not have gone through this withdrawal period, and thus may be unfit to eat," he said. A spokesperson for Daera added that the salmon farming business had repaired the cage and divers were now servicing and inspecting the remainder of cages in both Glenarm and Red Bay. Speaking to BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme, Mr Houston encouraged Daera to recapture the escaped fish. "They should be going out and catching those salmon, most of them will hang about those salmon nets. "It shouldn't be that difficult for them," he added. CHICAGO A 54-year-old man is in critical condition after being shot while driving on the citys South Side. The shooting happened around 6:30 a.m. Monday on the 7800 block of South Greenwood in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood. Police said the man told authorities he was driving when an offender opened gunfire. The man sustained gunshot wounds about his body and was transported to the University of Chicago Hospital in critical condition. Shooting leaves man wounded, ends in crash, trail of debris on Lower West Side, Chicago police say No other injuries were reported. No one is in custody at this time. Area Two Detectives are investigating. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Six people are getting help from the Red Cross after a fire forced them out of their apartments. Crews from West Pierce Fire & Rescue were dispatched to an apartment complex at 5420 Boston Avenue Southwest in Lakewood at 5:45 p.m. on Sunday. One person was transported to the hospital with burns and smoke inhalation, according to West Pierce Fire spokesperson Jenny Weekes. They were stable at the time they were being taken to the hospital. Four of the buildings eight units were damaged by fire, smoke, or water. Weekes said the cause of the fire was electrical. Firefighters are on scene of an apartment fire at 5420 Boston Ave SW in Lakewood. One patient was transported in stable condition due to burns and smoke inhalation. Six people have been displaced and the Red Cross is providing assistance. Cause is under investigation. A 6th death reported in Greenville, thousands still without power in Helene SC aftermath A sixth Greenville County resident has died as a result of Tropical Storm Helene, the Greenville County Coroners Office reported. James Walker Parrish, 47, died at Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital Sunday, where he was taken after his motorcycle collided with a car Friday. Deputy Coroner Shelton England said Parrish swerved to avoid a fallen tree. The cause of death was pending Monday morning. Schools, government offices and some stores remained closed. Duke Energy reported Sunday power has been restored to some 15,000 customers in Greenville County, but hundreds of thousands remain in the dark. Many took to social media to criticize the company, especially when the company announced it would be Friday before power would be restored in most places. The company said in some areas in its North and South Carolina coverage it would be longer because some lines needed to be rebuilt. Seems like a problem their (sic) reacting to the storm instead of being prepared, one said on Instagram. About 2,000 repairmen from around the country came into Greenville County to help restore power. Jason Hollifield, storm director for Duke Energy in the Carolinas, said the company began monitoring the storm when it was identified and prepared well in advance for its impact. We have over 11,000 storm workers who are committed to doing everything possible to restore service as quickly and safely as possible, he said. Were also bringing in thousands of additional resources to help with power restorations in the hardest hit areas. Twenty Greenville Parks & Grounds cleaned up roadways, parking lots and trails, allowing Falls Park downtown to reopen. All other parks remain closed, the city said. A shelter was opened at Hillcrest High School in Simpsonville for the general population and a medical needs shelter is open at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. In neighborhoods around Greenville County, residents worked together to cut up fallen trees and get them out of roadways. Several people with power offered their homes for charging phones, showers and rest. One man said his wife was making soup and everyone was welcome. Just bring a bowl, he said. Another said he was grilling thawing food and invited anyone who wanted to come. Walmart on Woodruff Road in Greenville County offered showers and a place to wash clothes and distributed water in partnership with Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, WYFF reported. Walmart, Sams Club and the Walmart Foundation are committing an initial $6 million for hurricane relief efforts, including donations of food, water, essential supplies and grants to organizations providing relief, the company said on its website. Walmart also announced it would match customers donations to the American Red Cross up to $2.5 million. Crisis Cleanup was offering free assistance by volunteers to cleaning up trees, tarp roofs and clean debris, Greenville County Emergency Management said. The number is 844-965-1386. In all, 11.53 inches of rain fell in Greenville during the storm and the Reedy River near Falls Park and Unity Park peaked at 16.19 feet, compared to its normal just over 1 foot. Greenvilles primary concern was downed trees with some people reporting a dozen or more trees down in their yard, some on houses, some barely missed. Falling trees were responsible for four other deaths. Learnda Palmer, 56, and Charles Dean III, 59, died of traumatic asphyxiation when trees fell on their homes. Moreno Maddox, 68, and Aaron Lance, 40, were struck by a falling tree while outside their homes. They each died of a head injury. Ceresa Butler, 54, died in a fire believed to be storm related. BERLIN, Sept.30 (Xinhua) -- Germany's Federal Ministry of Defence said on Monday that an Air Force A321 aircraft flew to Beirut to evacuate German citizens from Lebanon amid rising concerns in the region. The Federal Foreign Office has warned against travel to Lebanon, advising German nationals to leave the country. According to a government statement, the German Embassy in Beirut will stay open, but family members of staff and non-essential personnel are being flown out. Moreover, the German Embassy in Beirut is also coordinating with the remaining German citizens to facilitate their departure via commercial flights and other available means. Monday's flight will prioritize the evacuation of citizens facing medical risks, the ministry added. 7 Counties in 7 Days: A cross-country road trip to 7 key places in the battle for president 7 Counties in 7 Days: A USA TODAY Network trip across America to speak with voters and election officials about their hopes, concerns, fears and expectations for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in an unprecedented presidential election. Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona. Though 50 states will vote, these seven battlegrounds likely will determine whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris is the next president of the United States. But which way will they swing? The USA TODAY Network team traveled to seven counties one in each swing state whose voters will play a pivotal role in determining whether former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris wins their state and, ultimately, the presidency. Join us for 7 Counties in 7 Days: our cross-country trip across America as we talk to voters and election officials about their hopes, concerns, fears and expectations for the two candidates in a presidential race like no other. Richmond County, Georgia Georgia being heavily targeted by both presidential campaigns and Richmond County may hold important clues to whether Trump or Harris can prevail. Election officials fear they may get another razor-thin outcome. Cabarrus County, North Carolina Recent polling shows Trump and Harris in a tight race in North Carolina, a state Democrats haven't won since 2008. In Cabarrus County, voter registration has surged in the past decade, with people of color leading the way. Erie County, Pennsylvania In 2020, Erie County became one of just 25 counties out of 3,143 nationwide to "boomerang" from Obama to Trump to Biden. Now, with many voters looking to the Keystone state as the key to victory in 2024, Erie County Republicans have cut into Democrats voter registration edge. Oakland County, Michigan Oakland County, is the richest county Michigan and its population of 1.3 million makes it so large that it has more people than eight states. Abortion rights has been a key issue in the county, where 64% of voters approved a 2022 ballot initiative to enshrine reproductive rights in the state constitution. Waukesha County, Wisconsin Waukesha County, Milwaukee's immediate neighbor to the west, is the third-most populous county in the state, and the only red county in the top three, trailing the Democratic strongholds of Milwaukee and Dane counties. Democrats are working to cut into the Republican advantage in the county. Washoe County, Nevada Washoe County, home to Reno, has a reputation of being the most politically divided region of the state. Washoe County has a diverse political makeup: 32% of its registered voters are Republican, 30% Democratic, 30% nonpartisan and 8% some other party such as Independent American, Libertarian or Green. Maricopa County, Arizona Joe Biden became the first Democrat since Bill Clinton to win Arizona in 2020. Biden won the county by about 49,000 votes in 2020. While Democrats have pressed heavily on abortion rights, Republicans have sought to make political gains on border security. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Meet 7 swing counties that could decide America's next president 911 services in Lyon County hit by outage, people urged to use email or landlines LYON COUNTY (KSNT) People in need of emergency services in a northeast Kansas county may have to use some older forms of communication to get the help they need Monday amid a nationwide cell outage. The Lyon County Emergency Communications Center posted to social media on Sept. 30 stating that Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile customers are experiencing outages with their services. Many cell phone users reportedly have no service whatsoever or are stuck in SOS mode. If you need to contact 911, or our non-emergency number please attempt to reach us from a land line, or by email at info@lcecc.org (If you are are able). Lyon County Emergency Communications Center social media post excerpt Verizon told 27 News it is experiencing a loss of service in numerous locations nationwide. More than 100,000 outages were reported across Verizons service area in the U.S. on Sept. 30 at the peak of the issue. A cause for the problem has yet to be identified. Retention bonus approved for Shawnee County dispatchers For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNT 27 News. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization in June 2022 ended federal abortion rights. (Photo:John Partipilo) Editors note: This five-day series explores the priorities of voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as they consider the upcoming presidential election. With the outcome expected to be close, these swing states may decide the future of the country. Dr. Kristin Lyerlys placenta detached from her uterus when she was 17 weeks pregnant with her fourth son in 2007. Her doctor in Madison, Wisconsin, gave the devastated recent medical school graduate one option: to deliver and bury her dead child. But she requested a dilation and evacuation abortion procedure, knowing it would be less invasive and risky than being induced. And she couldnt fathom the agony of holding her tiny dead baby. But Lyerlys doctor declined, giving her a direct window into the many ways Americans lack real choice when it comes to their reproductive health decisions. At the time of this miscarriage, Lyerly was getting a masters degree in public health before beginning her residency. She was able to get a D&E at the same hospital by a different doctor. As an OB-GYN, she soon would learn how much abortion is stigmatized and limited throughout the country, but also regularly sought after and sometimes medically necessary, including among her many conservative Catholic patients in northeastern Wisconsin. And then, on June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ended federal abortion rights, prompting states such as Wisconsin to resurrect dormant abortion bans from the 19th and 20th centuries. Lyerlys job changed overnight. She stopped working as an OB-GYN in Sheboygan and moved her practice to Minnesota. She became a plaintiff in a lawsuit over an 1849 Wisconsin feticide law being interpreted as an abortion ban, which has since been blocked. When a congressional seat opened up in a competitive Wisconsin district this year, the 54-year-old mother of four joined the post-Dobbs wave of women running for office to restore reproductive rights, which this election cycle includes another OB-GYN and a patient denied abortion care. Lyerlys decision to run is emblematic of the nationwide backlash against the Dobbs decision, which altered the reproductive health care landscape, with providers, patients and advocates turning to the ballot box to change the laws to restore and broaden access. Wisconsin is among seven swing states expected to determine the countrys next president and federal leaders. And in many ways theyre being viewed as referendums on how much the right to have an abortion can move the needle in a tight presidential election. What weve seen in every election since the Dobbs decision is that abortion is at top of mind for voters and its not just helping voters decide who or what to vote for. Its actually a turnout driver, said Ryan Stitzlein, vice president of political and government relations at national lobbying group Reproductive Freedom for All. The group is investing in down-ballot races in conservative districts such as Lyerlys, buoyed by cash and momentum from Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris reproductive-rights-focused campaign. Anti-abortion money is also flowing through the swing states, led by lobbying groups Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and Women Speak Out PAC. Some of their messaging, adopted by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and many GOP candidates, often paints Democrats as champions of infanticide, focusing on the rarest and most controversial type of abortions, those performed in the third trimester. But aside from that rhetoric, many Republican candidates have been quiet on an issue that for years motivated their staunchest supporters. SBA Pro-Life America declined an interview for this story but shared a press release outlining the organizations strategy trying to reach 10 million voters in Montana, Ohio and all of the battleground states except for Nevada. The group endorsed 28 House candidates total this cycle, and a fifth of them are in North Carolina. One of North Carolinas endorsed candidates in a toss-up race is Republican GOP challenger Laurie Buckhout, who does not mention her abortion stance on her campaign website, and did not return a request for comment. Our field team is talking to persuadable and low propensity pro-life voters to urge them to cast their votes against the party that endorses abortion in the seventh, eighth and ninth months, said SBAs national field team director Patricia Miles in the press statement. But throughout this election cycle, polls in the swing states have shown bipartisan support for abortion rights, especially when voters are educated about what abortion bans do. Voters in more than half of the states expected to determine the presidential winner have, to varying degrees, lost access to abortion. And abortion-rights activists across these states told States Newsroom they are determined to protect that access, or to get it back. Arizona sees backlash after GOP upholds Civil War-era abortion ban In Arizona, the Dobbs decision resurrected a Civil War-era ban that allowed abortions only to save a pregnant patients life. Legislators repealed the law, but abortion-rights supporters fought for more certainty. This fall, Arizonans will vote on a proposed ballot measure that would protect access until fetal viability, around 24 weeks of pregnancy. Now, two of the judges who upheld the abortion ban Justices Clint Bolick and Kathryn King are up for reelection, in races infused with national cash by groups such as RFA and Planned Parenthood. Also on the ballot is Proposition 137, which would give lifetime appointments to state judges. The Republican-initiated measure has garnered controversy in part because it is retroactive to this years election, so if approved, any retention bids would be nullified even if the majority votes to unseat the judge. Ballot organizers turned in more than 800,000 signatures, double the required number, and overcame opponents legal challenges to qualify the abortion-rights ballot measure, Proposition 139. Abortion is legal up to 15 weeks of pregnancy, but there are many state restrictions that the Arizona Abortion Access Act would eliminate, such as a ban on any abortions sought for fetal genetic abnormalities and a blocked law from 2021 granting personhood status to fertilized eggs. Recent deaths reignite controversy over Georgias abortion ban This month, ProPublica reported on the deaths in 2022 of two Georgia women who suffered rare complications after they obtained mifepristone and misoprostol for early-term medication abortions. Both were trying to navigate a new state law that banned abortions at about six weeks of pregnancy and threatened medical providers with up to a decade in prison. In one case, doctors at an Atlanta-area hospital refused for 20 hours to perform a routine dilation and curettage, a D&C, to clear the patients uterus when her body hadnt expelled all the fetal tissue. In the other, a woman who had ordered the pills online suffered days of pain at home, fearful of seeking medical care. Both women left children behind. Georgias law permits abortion if the patients life is at risk, but medical providers have said the laws language is unclear, tying their hands and threatening the health of patients who have high-risk pregnancies. Their cases, which a state medical review committee found to be preventable, have galvanized activists in the state. Harris spoke at length about the women, Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller, at a recent campaign event in Atlanta. She blamed their deaths on Georgias law, calling it the Trump abortion ban, because the former president appointed three justices hed promised would overturn Roe v. Wade. This is a health care crisis, and Donald Trump is the architect of this crisis, Harris said. Understand what a law like this means: Doctors have to wait until the patient is at deaths door before they take action. Youre saying that good policy, logical policy, moral policy, humane policy is about saying that a health care provider will only start providing that care when youre about to die? Trump has not commented on the deaths. He has repeatedly said this year that abortion access should be left to the states. He has dismissed the idea of a federal abortion ban, but during the presidential debate, he refused to say whether he would veto such legislation. At a recent rally in North Carolina, Trump addressed our great women (a demographic hes trailing among), saying, you will no longer be thinking about abortion, because it is now where it always had to be, with the states, and with the vote of the people. Abortion was a driving concern in this springs qualifying process for Georgias 2024 legislative elections the first opportunity for aspiring state lawmakers to jump on the ballot in response to their states severe abortion restrictions. Melita Easters, the executive director and founding chair of Georgia WIN List, which endorses Democratic women who support abortion rights, was already calling this years general election Roevember back when President Joe Biden was still the partys nominee. But Easters told States Newsroom that having Harris on the ticket instead has elevated the issue of reproductive freedom even more and has breathed new life into down-ballot campaigns. Easters said she is especially encouraged after a Democratic state House candidate in Alabama who ran on abortion rights flipped a Huntsville seat during a special election in March. Michigan Democrats continue betting on abortion after 2022 successes Michigan was one of the earliest states post-Dobbs to show that abortion rights could be a strong election-winning issue. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has vowed to prioritize reproductive freedom. (Photo: Getty Images) Months after the Supreme Courts ruling, Michiganders overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure to protect abortion rights in the state constitution; reelected Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who vowed to prioritize reproductive freedom; and voted for Democratic majorities in both chambers, giving the party a legislative trifecta for the first time in 40 years. In 2023, the legislature repealed a 1931 abortion ban that was still on the books and passed the Reproductive Health Act, expanding abortion access in the state. This year, state and national abortion-rights groups have campaigned in toss-up congressional districts across Michigan, warning that a federal ban would supersede the states protections. State judicial races, meanwhile, have attracted millions of dollars, as they could determine partisan control of the Michigan Supreme Court. Democrats secured a slim 4-3 majority on the state Supreme Court in 2020 after Republican-nominated justices controlled the court for most of the last few decades. Nevada reproductive rights activists hope ballot initiative improves turnout In Nevada, abortion remains legal through 24 weeks and beyond for specific health reasons. In 2023, the states Democratic-led legislature passed a law shielding patients and providers from out-of-state investigations related to abortion care; it was signed by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo. Seeking to cement these rights in the state constitution, reproductive health advocates mobilized a ballot initiative campaign, which they hope will drive voter turnout that would affect the presidential and down-ballot races. Constitutional amendments proposed through an initiative petition must be passed by voters twice, so if voters approve Question 6 in November, they will have to approve it again in 2026. In the states closely watched U.S. Senate race, Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen currently edges Republican Sam Brown, who has had inconsistent positions on abortion and reproductive rights but opposes the abortion-rights measure. National anti-abortion groups Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and Students for Life of America have notably not focused on Nevada in their campaign strategies. Growing Latinx voting bloc in North Carolina In North Carolina many Democrats are campaigning in opposition to a 12-week abortion ban that the Republican-majority legislature passed last year after overriding Democratic Gov. Roy Coopers veto. In a high-profile race for governor, Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein faces Republican opponent Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who has previously said he believes there is no compromise on abortion, according to NC Newsline. The lieutenant governor is now facing calls to withdraw from the race over comments made on a pornography website years ago, and Stein has started racking up endorsements from prominent state Republicans. With older folks, the messaging that weve tested that has worked is: We dont want politicians to have a say in what we do with our bodies. Iliana Santillan, El Pueblo Iliana Santillan, a political organizer who supports abortion rights, has focused on mobilizing Latinos, a growing voting bloc in the state. The executive director of progressive nonprofit El Pueblo and its political sister group La Fuerza NC told States Newsroom shes talked to many young women motivated to secure their own reproductive rights, including her college-age daughter. She said the Latinx community faces additional reproductive care barriers such as language and transportation, with undocumented immigrants scared to cross state lines without a drivers license. Santillan also said theres a misconception that all Latinos are against abortion because theyre Catholic, when in reality opposition to abortion skews among older voters. With older folks, the messaging that weve tested that has worked is: We dont want politicians to have a say in what we do with our bodies, Santillan said. Motivated voters in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, with its 19 electoral votes, is the largest swing state and considered essential to win the White House. In a poll conducted this month by Spotlight PA and MassINC Polling Group, abortion ranked as the fifth most-important concern in the presidential race for likely voters, with 49% naming it as among their top issues. The issue is far more important to Democrats, however, with 85% calling it a top issue compared with 17% of Republicans. Among those who arent registered with either major party, 49% called it a top issue. In 2022, voters surprised pundits by sending enough Democrats to the state House to flip it blue. Voters were responding to the Dobbs decision, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro told Pennsylvania Capital-Star at a recent Harris campaign event. Shapiro also won in 2022, and so far his administration has supported over-the-counter birth control pills and ended the states contract with a network of anti-abortion counseling centers. He said his administration would not defend a current state law that prohibits state Medicaid funding from being used for abortions. Abortion isnt protected under Pennsylvanias state constitution, but it remains legal up to 24 weeks gestation, and clinics there have seen an influx of out-of-state patients. Wisconsin abortion services resume After more than a year without abortion access, reproductive health clinics in Wisconsin resumed abortion services in September 2023, shortly after a judge ruled that the 1849 state law that had widely been interpreted as an abortion ban, applied to feticide and not abortion. A state Supreme Court race a few months earlier saw Justice Janet Protasiewicz win in a landslide after campaigning on reproductive freedom. Seven months later when Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher announced his resignation, Lyerly threw her hat in the ring, running as the only Democrat in the 8th District. She now faces businessman Tony Wied. Although in the past it was considered a swing district, it has leaned conservative in recent election cycles. With the redrawn maps and national support, Lyerly said its a competitive race. We have the potential to really fix, not just reproductive health care, but health care, Lyerly told States Newsroom. Bring the stories of our patients forward and help our colleagues understand, build those coalitions and help to gain consensus thats going to drive forward health care reform in this country. Wieds campaign website does not mention abortion or his policy proposals related to health care, though the words Trump-endorsed appear prominently and abundantly throughout the site. Wied hasnt said much about the issue beyond it should be a state issue, but the two are scheduled to debate this Friday night. His campaign declined an interview. Currently the only OB-GYNs who serve in Congress oppose abortion. If Lyerly wins in November, she would not only change that (potentially alongside Minnesota Sen. Kelly Morrison) but also could help flip party control in the U.S. House of Representatives. Most Wisconsin voters oppose criminalizing abortion before fetal viability, according to a poll this year by the University of Marylands Program for Public Consultation. Patricia McFarland, 76, knows what its like to live without abortion access. For more than 50 years, the retired college teacher kept her pre-Roe abortion a secret, having grown up in a conservative Irish Catholic family like many of her suburban Milwaukee neighbors. McFarland told States Newsroom she has been politically active most of her life, but the Dobbs ruling dredged up the physical and emotional trauma from the illegal procedure she had alone in Mexico City. Now, McFarland rarely leaves home without her Roe Roe Roe Your Vote button, engaging anyone who will talk to her about the dangers of criminalizing pregnancy. The mother and grandmother said shes been canvassing and doing informational sessions with her activist group the PERSISTers, as well as the League of Women Voters. As she has warned fellow Wisconsities about the federal power over their reproductive freedom, she said the enthusiasm for abortion rights in her state is palpable. For women my age, McFarland said, we dont want our grandchildren to lose their ability to decide when to become a mother. Georgia Recorders Jill Nolin contributed to this report. Lawyers for New York City Mayor Eric Adams asked a federal judge Monday to toss out the extraordinarily vague bribery charge against him. In a 25-page filing, Adams attorney Alex Spiro argued that prosecutors failed to prove the mayor took bribes when he allegedly pressured the citys fire department to open a Turkish consular building without a safety inspection. The indictment in this case alleges a bribery scheme that does not meet the definition of bribery and indeed does not amount to a federal crime at all, Spiro wrote. The Adams attorney cited a recent Supreme Court ruling that made it more challenging to prosecute public officials for corruption. In June, the justices ruled 6-3 in favor of an ex-Indiana mayor who challenged a bribery conviction on the same charge Adams now faces, arguing prosecutors failed to show a quid pro quo agreement. Spiro contended that prosecutors similarly failed to allege any specific exchanges or conversations between Adams and a Turkish official where they entered into such a deal. That was not a drafting oversight. The zealous prosecutors who secured the indictment would have alleged that kind of specific agreement if they had any evidence to support it, Spiro wrote. But they do not, and they know that Adams never entered into any such agreement. Adams is accused of accepting improper valuable benefits over the span of a decade from wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish government official who was seeking to influence him. Prosecutors say that, eventually, the Turkish official prompted Adams to pay back the benefits by facilitating the expedited opening of a new Turkish consular building, which would have failed a fire safety inspection at the time. The mayor allegedly pressured the New York City Fire Department to open the building, which resulted in a fire department official being told he would lose his job if he didnt acquiesce. The bribery charge is one of five counts Adams faces, which also include wire fraud and solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national. He pleaded not guilty on all counts last week, vowing to fight the charges and refusing to resign. In the Monday filing, Spiro called the rest of the indictment equally meritless and said the other charges would be litigated in the future. But with respect to bribery, the deficiencies in the governments case are clear on the face of the indictment, the mayors attorney wrote. In this circumstance, the federal rules entitle Adams to a swift dismissal of the 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 The Hill. Salisbury added to list of Vermont towns at elevated risk of EEE The Vermont Department of Health has added Salisbury to the list of high-risk towns in Vermont where health officials strongly recommend limiting evening outdoor activities. High-risk towns now include Alburgh, Burlington, Colchester, Salisbury, Sudbury, Swanton and Whiting. Health officials have also announced that an Addison County horse has died after it tested positive for Eastern equine encephalitis, or EEE, last week. New Yorks first human case of EEE since 2015 has died The horse, which was tested on Sept. 23, was unvaccinated. EEE spreads through the bite of an infected mosquito. The virus is rare but can cause serious and life-threatening illness in people and some animals. Most people infected with EEE virus do not develop symptoms, the health department said. About 5% of infected people develop severe disease with encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain. Severe EEE disease is fatal in about one-third of people. The first human case of EEE in Vermont since 2012 was reported in Chittenden County 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 ABC22 & FOX44. In address to Iran, Netanyahu says nowhere in Middle East out of Israel's reach (Corrects paragraph 5 to say Nasrallah was killed on Friday not Saturday) JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Iranians on Monday that there was nowhere in the Middle East beyond Israel's reach, three days after Israel's military killed the leader of Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Netanyahu, speaking in English in a 3-minute-long video released by his office in which he said he was addressing the Iranian people, blamed the Iranian government for plunging the Middle East "deeper into war" at the cost of its own people. "There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country," Netanyahu said. He said the Iranian government was bringing Iranians "closer to the abyss". Iran and Israel would be at peace when Iran is "finally free", which he said would "come a lot sooner than people think". Referring to Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah, killed on Friday in Israeli airstrikes on Beirut, Netanyahu said that "puppets" of the Iranian "regime" were eliminated every day. Israel has ramped up attacks on militant targets in Lebanon against Hezbollah, the best armed of militant groups across the Middle East aligned with Iran. (Writing by Alexander CornwellEditing by Gareth Jones and Peter Graff) UPDATE 10/2 5:00 P.M. ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) Appalachian Power is continuously working on restoring power to those affected by Hurricane Helene. Situation An army of approximately 7,360 workers from 30 states as far as Nebraska are rebuilding Appalachian Powers energy grid and restoring service to customers impacted by Hurricane Helene on Friday. In addition to the thousands of crew members working on the ground, helicopter patrols continue to assess and identify damage in hard-to-reach areas. Workers are committed to working safely around the clock to restore power to customers in several Southwest Virginia and Southern West Virginia communities. As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, 37,350 customers remain without power. Restoration Estimates Due to extensive damage in some areas, Appalachian Power updated estimated restoration times (ETRs) on Tuesday, Oct. 1. Wednesday, Oct. 2, 6 p.m. for the Christiansburg and Grundy, Va., areas. Some outages in Grundy, Va., will extend into Thursday, Oct. 3. Wednesday, Oct. 2, 11 p.m. for the Kingsport, Tenn., area. Wednesday, Oct. 2, 11 p.m. for the Clintwood, Lebanon, and Tazewell, Va., areas. Some outages in Lebanon and Tazewell will extend into Thursday, Oct. 3. Thursday, Oct. 3, 6 p.m. for the Glen Lyn, Va., area. Thursday, Oct. 3, 11 p.m. for the Bluefield, W.Va., area. Thursday, Oct. 3, 11 p.m. for the Bluefield; Gate City; Glade Spring; Roanoke; Woodlawn; Wytheville, Va., areas. Customers are encouraged to view the companys outage map or sign up for outage alerts for information on their specific outage. Restoration may extend further in isolated instances where extensive repairs are needed. Weather Weather remains favorable for restoring electric service. Downed trees and flooded areas may impact restoration efforts. Crews will continue to work as safely and quickly as possible. Hydro: Byllesby/Buck Appalachian Power proactively initiated the Emergency Action Plan (EAP) for the Byllesby/Buck Hydro Electric Facility on Friday, Sept. 27. The plan was activated for a Potential Failure due to the lack of visibility of our facility as water flows on the New River continued to rise. The Potential Failure at Byllesby/Buck was lifted on Saturday, Sept. 28. The Non-Failure Emergency was lifted on Sept. 30. River conditions have started to return to normal, and an inspection of our Byllesby/Buck Hydro facility has shown no issues. We will work to coordinate further inspections of the facilities in the coming weeks. Both Buck and Byllesby Powerhouses are down and inoperable now due to maintenance stemming from the high waters brought on by Hurricane Helene. We will provide more information as it becomes available. Hydro: Niagara Appalachian Power warns all boaters to stay clear of Niagara Dam on the Roanoke River in Vinton. The debris brought on by the heavy rains broke the floating boat barrier that keeps boaters away from the dam. Hydro: Claytor We are aware of the large amounts of debris at our Claytor Hydro facility and are coordinating clean-up activities with the Friends of Claytor Lake. For More Information Customers can subscribe to Appalachian Power outage alerts to receive specific information about outages affecting their accounts via text message and/or email. To sign up, please visit Appalachian Power alerts. A snapshot of current outages is available anytime by visiting Appalachian Powers Outage Map. UPDATE 10/2 1:00 P.M. ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) Appalachian Power is working on the largest storm restoration in its history. AEP has a total of 7,000 personnel working to restore and rebuild electric grids and power to customers impacted by the devastation of Hurricane Helene. Restoration Estimates Due to extensive damage in some areas, Appalachian Power updated estimated restoration times (ETRs) on Tuesday, Oct. 1. Wednesday, Oct. 2, 6 p.m. for the Christiansburg and Grundy, Va., areas. Wednesday, Oct. 2, 11 p.m. for the Kingsport, Tenn., area. Wednesday, Oct. 2, 11 p.m. for the Clintwood, Lebanon, and Tazewell, Va., areas. Thursday, Oct. 3, 6 p.m. for the Glen Lyn, Va., area. Thursday, Oct. 3, 11 p.m. for the Bluefield, W.Va., area. Thursday, Oct. 3, 11 p.m. for the Bluefield; Gate City; Glade Spring; Roanoke; Woodlawn; Wytheville, Va., areas. Customers are encouraged to view the companys outage map or sign up for outage alerts for information on their specific outage. Restoration may extend further in isolated instances where extensive repairs are needed. How to help victims of Hurricane Helene Weather Weather remains favorable for restoring electric service. Downed trees and flooded areas may impact restoration efforts. Crews will continue to work as safely and quickly as possible. Hydro: Byllesby/Buck Appalachian Power proactively initiated the Emergency Action Plan (EAP) for the Byllesby/Buck Hydro Electric Facility on Friday, Sept. 27. The plan was activated for a Potential Failure due to the lack of visibility of our facility as water flows on the New River continued to rise. The Potential Failure at Byllesby/Buck was lifted on Saturday, Sept. 28. The Non-Failure Emergency was lifted on Sept. 30. River conditions have started to return to normal, and an inspection of our Byllesby/Buck Hydro facility has shown no issues. We will work to coordinate further inspections of the facilities in the coming weeks. Both Buck and Byllesby Powerhouses are down and inoperable now due to maintenance stemming from the high waters brought on by Hurricane Helene. We will provide more information as it becomes available. Hydro: Niagara Appalachian Power warns all boaters to stay clear of Niagara Dam on the Roanoke River in Vinton. The debris brought on by the heavy rains broke the floating boat barrier that keeps boaters away from the dam. Hydro: Claytor We are aware of the large amounts of debris at our Claytor Hydro facility and are coordinating clean-up activities with the Friends of Claytor Lake. For More Information Customers can subscribe to Appalachian Power outage alerts to receive specific information about outages affecting their accounts via text message and/or email. To sign up, please visit Appalachian Power alerts. A snapshot of current outages is available anytime by visiting Appalachian Powers Outage Map. The following areas are currently experiencing power outages: Amherst Fewer than 5 Appomattox 0 Bedford 8 Bland 708 Botetourt 170 Buchanan 566 Campbell 11 Carroll 3,857 Craig Fewer than 5 Danville 0 Floyd 178 Franklin 346 Galax 139 Giles 118 Grayson 5,380 Henry 0 Lynchburg 21 Martinsville 0 Montgomery 43 Nelson 9 Patrick 172 Pittsylvania 0 Pulaski 10 Radford 0 Roanoke County 221 Roanoke City 111 Salem Fewer than 5 Wythe 499 UPDATE 10/2 9:37 A.M. ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) Appalachian Power is still working to restore power to customers impacted by Hurricane Helene. Storm Response Efforts Appalachian Power planned for outages from this storm by having all employees and business partners on alert and prepared to work. Appalachian Power crews began restoring power to several critical customers in its service territory as soon as it was safe. A workforce of 7,000 employees and contractors remain dedicated to storm restoration work, including mutual assistance crews from 21 states as far as Wisconsin. Hundreds of line and forestry crews continue working in the hardest-hit areas of Gate City; Glade Spring; Grundy; N. Holston; Saltville; Sugar Grove; Taylors Valley; Whitetop and Woodlawn, Va. As work finishes in one area, crews are shifted to other areas to join those already deployed there. Restoration Estimates Due to extensive damage in some areas, Appalachian Power updated estimated restoration times (ETRs) on Tuesday, Oct. 1. Wednesday, Oct. 2, 6 p.m. for the Christiansburg and Grundy, Va., areas. Wednesday, Oct. 2, 11 p.m. for the Kingsport, Tenn., area. Wednesday, Oct. 2, 11 p.m. for the Clintwood, Lebanon, and Tazewell, Va., areas. Thursday, Oct. 3, 6 p.m. for the Glen Lyn, Va., area. Thursday, Oct. 3, 11 p.m . for the Bluefield; Gate City; Glade Spring; Roanoke; Woodlawn; Wytheville, Va., areas. Customers are encouraged to view the companys outage map or sign up for outage alerts for information on their specific outage. Restoration may extend further in isolated instances where extensive repairs are needed. Weather Weather remains favorable for restoring electric service. Downed trees and flooded areas may impact restoration efforts. Crews will continue to work as safely and quickly as possible. Situation Appalachian Power has restored power to 81%, or 229,900, customers who lost power in the wake of Hurricane Helene. With an additional 1,000 personnel arriving this morning, Appalachian Power will have 7,000 workers dedicated to restoring power. Fallen trees and difficult access remain a challenge in the hardest-hit areas of Southwest Virginia and Southern West Virginia. As of 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, 52,100 customers remain without power. Hydro: Byllesby/Buck Appalachian Power proactively initiated the Emergency Action Plan (EAP) for the Byllesby/Buck Hydro Electric Facility on Friday, Sept. 27. The plan was activated for a Potential Failure due to the lack of visibility of our facility as water flows on the New River continued to rise. The Potential Failure at Byllesby/Buck was lifted on Saturday, Sept. 28. The Non-Failure Emergency was lifted on Sept. 30. River conditions have started to return to normal, and an inspection of our Byllesby/Buck Hydro facility has shown no issues. We will work to coordinate further inspections of the facilities in the coming weeks. Both Buck and Byllesby Powerhouses are down and inoperable now due to maintenance stemming from the high waters brought on by Hurricane Helene. We will provide more information as it becomes available. Hydro: Niagara Appalachian Power warns all boaters to stay clear of Niagara Dam on the Roanoke River in Vinton. The debris brought on by the heavy rains broke the floating boat barrier that keeps boaters away from the dam. Hydro: Claytor We are aware of the large amounts of debris at our Claytor Hydro facility and are coordinating clean-up activities with the Friends of Claytor Lake. For More Information Customers can subscribe to Appalachian Power outage alerts to receive specific information about outages affecting their accounts via text message and/or email. To sign up, please visit Appalachian Power alerts. A snapshot of current outages is available anytime by visiting Appalachian Powers Outage Map. UPDATE: 10/2 9:23 A.M. ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) The impacts of Hurricane Helene continue to be widespread, which includes thousands of people still without power throughout the region. Appalachian Power is still working to restore service to customers and has released a summary of the restoration process. Situation AEP said their crews grew from 5,000 to 6,000 on Tuesday in efforts to restore power to people in communities still without power. They are expecting an additional 1,000 workers to work around the clock to restore electric services to the hardest-hit areas. As of 9:00 p.m. Tuesday, a total of 53,200 customers remain without power. Restoration Estimates Wednesday, Oct. 2, 6 p.m. for the Christiansburg and Grundy, Va., areas. Wednesday, Oct. 2, 11 p.m. for the Kingsport, Tenn., area. Wednesday, Oct. 2, 11 p.m . for the Clintwood, Lebanon, and Tazewell, Va., areas. Thursday, Oct. 3, 6 p.m. for the Glen Lyn, Va., area. Thursday, Oct. 3, 11 p.m. for the Bluefield; Gate City; Glade Spring; Roanoke; Woodlawn; Wytheville, Va., areas. Customers are encouraged to view the companys outage map or sign up for outage alerts for information on their specific outage. Restoration may extend further in isolated instances where extensive repairs are needed. Hydro: Byllesby/Buck Appalachian Power proactively initiated the Emergency Action Plan (EAP) for the Byllesby/Buck Hydro Electric Facility on Friday, Sept. 27. The plan was activated for a Potential Failure due to the lack of visibility of our facility as water flows on the New River continued to rise. The Potential Failure at Byllesby/Buck was lifted on Saturday, Sept. 28. The Non-Failure Emergency was lifted on Sept. 30. River conditions have started to return to normal, and an inspection of our Byllesby/Buck Hydro facility has shown no issues. We will work to coordinate further inspections of the facilities in the coming weeks. Both Buck and Byllesby Powerhouses are down and inoperable now due to maintenance stemming from the high waters brought on by Hurricane Helene. We will provide more information as it becomes available. Hydro: Niagara Appalachian Power warns all boaters to stay clear of Niagara Dam on the Roanoke River in Vinton. The debris brought on by the heavy rains broke the floating boat barrier that keeps boaters away from the dam. Hydro: Claytor We are aware of the large amounts of debris at our Claytor Hydro facility and are coordinating clean-up activities with the Friends of Claytor Lake. UPDATE 10/1 3:24 P.M. ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) The impacts of Hurricane Helene continue to be widespread, which includes thousands of people still without power throughout the region. Appalachian Power is still working to restore service to customers and has released a summary of the restoration process. AEP officials say that people should treat all downed lines as if they are LIVE and to stay away to avoid harm. If you see a downed line you can call 911 and 1-800-956-4237 to make a report. Situation AEP said they are continuing to bring outside personnel to the area to assist the workforce of over 5,000 currently working to restore power. Hundreds of line and forestry crews are working to clear downed trees, and power lines, and identify areas that need repairs to the electrical grid. As of 1 p.m. Tuesday, 77,400 customers remain without electric service. Hydro: Niagara Appalachian Power warns all boaters to stay clear of Niagara Dam on the Roanoke River in Vinton. The debris brought on by the heavy rains broke the floating boat barrier that keeps boaters away from the dam. Hydro: Claytor We are aware of the large amounts of debris at our Claytor Hydro facility and are coordinating clean-up activities with the Friends of Claytor Lake Customers without power who are on life support systems or need uninterrupted electric service for health reasons should make alternate arrangements. Be aware of scammers and remember that Appalachian Power will never request upfront payment or a reconnection fee in return for restoring your service. Follow all recommended precautions if using a personal generator. Never use a generator inside your home, garage, crawl space, other enclosed areas or anywhere exhaust fumes can enter enclosed spaces. Never connect a generator to your homes circuits. Plug appliances directly into the generator. Flooding occurred in many areas throughout our service territory. Be cautious and remember to turn around; dont drown. Find additional safety tips at AppalachianPower.com/Safety. Restoration Estimates Due to extensive damage in some areas, Appalachian Power will update estimated restoration times (ETRs) extending past tonight, Tuesday, Oct. 1, at 11 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1, 4 p.m. for the Roanoke, Va., area. Tuesday, Oct. 1, 8 p.m. for Beckley, Hico, Pineville and Welch, W.Va. Tuesday, Oct. 1, 11 p.m. for Kingsport, Tenn., and the areas of Bluefield, Glade Spring, Glen Lyn, Grundy, Floyd, Lebanon, Tazewell, Woodlawn and Wytheville, Va. Most customers without service will have power restored before the above estimates. Customers are encouraged to view the companys outage map or sign up for outage alerts for information on their specific outage. Restoration may extend further in isolated instances where extensive repairs are needed. Storm Response Efforts Appalachian Power planned for outages from this storm by having all employees and business partners on alert and prepared to work. Appalachian Power crews began restoring power to several critical customers in its service territory as soon as it was safe. A workforce of 5,000 employees and contractors remain dedicated to storm restoration work, including mutual assistance crews from 21 states as far as Wisconsin. Several hundred additional field personnel are arriving today through Wednesday to aid in restoration. Hundreds of line and forestry crews continue to work in the hardest-hit areas of Bluefield; Damascus; Grundy; Fries; Independence; Lebanon; Sugar Grove; Tazewell and Whitetop, Va. As work finishes in one area, crews are shifted to other areas to join those already deployed there. For more information, customers can subscribe to Appalachian Power outage alerts to receive specific information about outages affecting their accounts via text message and/or email. To sign up, please visit Appalachian Power alerts. Roanoke Fire & EMS gives updates surrounding Hurricane Helene A snapshot of current outages is available anytime by visiting Appalachian Powers Outage Map. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. The Air Force on Friday awarded Lockheed Martin a $3.2 billion multiyear contract for air-to-ground and anti-ship missiles, as part of a Pentagon effort to maximize weapons production through multiyear procurements. The sole-source contract is for AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASM) and AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) and will include foreign military sales to Japan, the Netherlands, Finland and Poland. The Pentagon in 2023 proposed using multiyear procurement authorities which are usually used for buying ships or aircraft to buy munitions, which it hoped would allow industry to expand its production capacity. Defense officials said at the time this was intended to deter China and strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base, but arming Ukraine against its invasion by Russia has also taxed U.S. weapons stockpiles. The plan included a strategy called a large lot procurement pilot program. This contract will allow Lockheed to increase the number of JASSMs and LRASMs it can produce each year, Lockheed said in a statement Multi-year procurements of critical munition systems like JASSM and LRASM are a key anti-fragility measure to increase industry resilience and ensure operations can be ramped more quickly going forward, Lockheed said. Lockheed will build the missiles in Orlando, Florida, and is expected to finish the work by the end of July 2032. The Air Force is providing $1.5 billion in missile procurement funds and $2 million in operations and maintenance funds at the time of the award, and the Navy is providing $176 million in its own weapon procurement funds. The Pentagon is also obligating another $752 million of FMS funds for the contract. The JASSM is a cruise missile designed to allow aircraft to strike ground targets while keeping a safe distance away from enemy air defenses or other hostile aircraft. The LRASM, based on the JASSMs design, is intended to penetrate enemy air defense targets to take out ships from standoff range. Also on Friday, the State Department approved a possible $405 million sale of up to 100 Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missiles-Extended Range and related equipment to Australia. Selling these missiles to Australia, a key ally in the Pacific, would help support the U.S.s foreign policy and national security objectives, the State Department said. Australia would be able to suppress or destroy land- or sea-based radars used by enemy air defenses with those Northrop Grumman-made missiles and improve allied aircrafts ability to survive a conflict, according to the State Department. Seattle airport is using a special cleaning technology to eradicate traces of PFAS. Washington will require the state's 11 commercial airports to remove their PFAS products and replace them by fall 2025 - and Seattle is one of the first to try a special cleaning technology. Angelika Warmuth/dpa Taxiing jet engines groaned on the tarmac, their fumes filling the Port of Seattle's firetruck bays on an early summer day here. Snaking hoses connected tanks and filters in a complex cleanup operation. Over six days, the system flushed a toxic substance from a firetruck as the department became one of the first in the nation to begin to remove firefighting foam concentrates laced with "forever chemicals." For decades, per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, or PFAS, have been used in foams to put out the highest-intensity petroleum-fueled fires especially important in saving lives amid catastrophe at airports, military bases and fossil fuel refineries. But the chemicals have left a deadly legacy. PFAS manufacturers knew the product was toxic yet concealed it for decades. The firefighters who were often covered in the foams during training exercises or fire responses, however, only learned of their harm to people and the environment in recent years. As a wave of state and federal legislation and rule-making phase out the chemicals and offer safer alternatives, Sea-Tac says it's the first US airport to use a cleaning technology. Washington will require the state's 11 commercial airports to remove their PFAS products and replace them by fall 2025. The problem? They can't just literally dump toxic chemicals. And some argue something more than water is needed to clean equipment. For some local firefighters who have lived through the PFAS era, and lost friends and colleagues along the way, the new requirements are a victory. "It's a little too late for some of my friends," said former Port of Seattle fire union President Thomas Sanchez. "I'm super happy for the people who are there. Maybe they'll have a little more longevity." "Should have been a warning" After pouring 5-gallon buckets of yellow PFAS concentrate into their firetrucks' tanks, firefighters' hands would feel like they were covered in a "Teflon"-like film, Sanchez recalled. The substance on their skin would repel water and wouldn't easily wash away, he said. They trained with it until they were soaked in the white frothy liquid. Covering rookie firefighters in the foams was a rite of passage for some time. "Everybody used it," Sanchez said of the foam. "If you were in the fire service, you had foam on your truck." Firefighters were assured these foams were safe, biodegradable and did not pose a risk to the environment. Then, people started getting sick. Harry Evans was a Sea-Tac firefighter for 28 years. He was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 1993. He retired from the Port of Seattle Fire Department three years later. By 2006, the cancer spread to his pancreas and intestine. Evans served alongside Gilbert Smith Jr. and was routinely exposed to PFAS foams during training, including quarterly pit fires. Just seven months after his retirement from the Port of Seattle, Smith, a 31-year retired veteran of the Sea-Tac crew, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He died of the disease in 2015. He was 60. In 2016, less than a year after Smith's death, a third Sea-Tac firefighter, Alvin Vaughn, had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He died last Christmas at 61. Smith and Vaughn are now considered to have died in the line of duty. Port of Seattle Fire Chief Randy Krause and his firefighters have had their blood tested, and many of the results, including his own, show elevated levels of different kinds of PFAS. "Firefighters are handling buckets of the stuff, and they're being exposed to it," Michael White of the Washington State Council of Firefighters, testified to the Legislature in support of a 2018 bill to restrict the substances. He said he had "become an expert at watching my brothers and sisters get cancer." Meanwhile, 3M DuPont, Chemours and other manufacturers knew and concealed the toxicity of the chemicals for decades. The strongly bonded fluorocarbons were "completely resistant to biodegradation," according to a Jan. 9, 1978, internal 3M memo written by chemist Eric Reiner. Other 3M studies documented the firefighting foam's toxicity to fish, plant life and at high levels to laboratory animals that included Rhesus monkeys. 3M later confirmed the findings of independent researchers who in the 1970s found PFAS to be widespread in blood-bank samples, according to documents made public in federal court, and recently reported by ProPublica and The New Yorker. By 1998, a company researcher had recommended a "safe" level of PFOS in the blood that was lower than that found in 3M population studies, court documents show. "There should have been a warning to us," Sanchez said. "But nobody ever said it was bad for you." "Put a little soap in there" Inside the truck bays at Sea-Tac last month, contractors used a power drill to whip up a bucket of a solution with a honey-like consistency known as PerfluorAd. The solution is comparable to an organic dishwashing soap containing plant-based-oleic acid, like found in vegetable oil said David Fleming, the founder of TRS, a Washington-based company contracted to clean the trucks. Five commercial international airports in the US have phased out their PFAS foams, Krause said. But Sea-Tac is the first to use a cleaning technology. Some others have just used water, he said. "If you put the dishes in the dishwasher and you use cold water, do they come out clean? They don't," Krause said. "If you put in warm water, they may get a little bit cleaner, but you need the solution. So I put a little soap in there and it cleans it. We are doing that." The solution used in the process at Sea-Tac has been used in airports in Europe. The Federal Aviation Administration, as well as the Defense Department, still required airports to have PFAS products on hand until fall of last year, even as airports in Europe, Canada and Australia have moved to alternative foams. It costs about $50,000 to $70,000 to clean each truck with this method, compared with over $1 million to purchase a new truck. Sea-Tac is cleaning out and transitioning five trucks to the new foams. Officials have also invited King County Airport to bring their trucks in for cleaning. The solution is mixed with water and heated before being circulated into the tank and pipes on the truck, and then through a series of filters. The PerfluorAd basically binds with the PFAS to pull it from the tank and pipes through a process called flocculation. It comes out as a jellylike substance and is diverted through filters which leave behind a PFAS sludge. Remaining water and solution are filtered through liquid granular activated carbon. Treated water is stored in a large tank to be recycled through the process, or discharged into the sewer. The King County Wastewater Division approved the sewer discharges. A representative from the Ecology Department also visited the site to observe the cleaning process. Krause has been waiting for this moment for more than a decade. He took the job as Port of Seattle fire chief in 2010 and has long been eager to rid the department of every last drop. He testified before the Legislature in favor of a bill that, after passage, restricted most in-state sales of the foams and required fire departments to stop training with the concentrate. The bill was opposed by the Firefighting Foam Coalition and another industry group, the FluoroCouncil, formed by the American Chemistry Council. Krause purchased a PFAS-free alternative that Sea-Tac crews tested in 2019. After the September 2023 approval of other materials by federal agencies, Sea-Tac moved forward with training with the other products, and then purchased one of the approved products. Joey Pierotti, president of the Port of Seattle fire union, is satisfied with the new product. He says it requires a bit more effort to put out a fire, but he considers it a worthy trade off. "Our original tactic was you hit [the fire] with this [PFAS-laced] foam and it pretty much killed it. Now it's a little bit lengthier of a process, but still does the same job," he said. "I think it's a pretty good trade for long-term career health versus a little bit more work." Seattle airport, like others around the world, is cleaning up traces of PFAS. In Washington, workers are using a solution made by Sea-Tac that staff say is a little like adding dishwashing soap to water to flush out the remains of the toxic substances. Angelika Warmuth/dpa Worldwide, officials are trying to eradicate the toxic remains of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) but it is complicated. Here, an aeration tank at a wastewater treatment plant - the trouble is that PFAS also find their way into rivers, lakes and seas via sewage treatment plants. Corinna Schwanhold/dpa NORTH OGDEN, Utah (ABC4) A base-jumper from Alabama tragically died after base-jumping in a wingsuit in the area of Willard Peak in Weber County on Friday, Sept. 27. Jonathan Bizilia, 27, had reportedly gone to the peak around 2 p.m. with a friend. A short time later, the friend called emergency services when Bizilia did not check in after his jump. The friend was able to provide crucial information, such as jump locations and flight routes. The Weber County Sheriffs Office, in partnership with the Box Elder County Sheriffs Office and the Department of Public Safety, launched a search and rescue effort to find Bizilia that lasted approximately two hours. Woman dead, child hospitalized after Davis County pursuit ends in rollover crash The search lasted about two hours before a Department of Public Safety helicopter found Bizilia about one mile northwest of Willard Peak in extremely rugged terrain. Authorities said Bizilia had unfortunately crashed during his descent and died on the scene. Bizilias body was recovered by the Department of Public Safety helicopter through a hoist. We offer our deepest condolences to his family and friends during this challenging time, the Box Elder County Sheriffs Office said in a statement. No further details were immediately provided. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah. UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Amid escalating regional violence and reports of an imminent Israeli invasion of Lebanon, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday is deeply concerned over the humanitarian impact on civilians. "The secretary-general remains deeply concerned about the humanitarian consequences of the events that are unfolding in Lebanon," said his chief spokesman, Stephane Dujarric. "He continues to reiterate his call for de-escalation, a cessation of hostilities." Dujarric said Guterres and his senior staff are in contact with regional UN representatives who continue to engage with all actors and all parties to appeal for diplomatic avenues to be given space. On the peacekeeping end, UN peacekeepers monitoring the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, remain in position. However, the spokesman said that while the peacekeepers remain in their area of responsibility, the intensity of fighting prevents their movements and ability to undertake their mandated tasks, such as going out on patrols. Dujarric said civilians continue to bear the brunt of the escalation of violence with a devastating human toll that keeps growing, prompting UN officials to prepare a new Flash Appeal for humanitarian funding, expected to be announced on Tuesday. It will mobilize additional resources for Lebanon to meet the growing needs of about 1 million people impacted by the increasing crisis. No target amount has been announced. "In the meantime, we, along with our partners in Lebanon are working closely with the Lebanese government to assess the needs and to support the response," Dujarric said. The World Food Programme said it recently reached more than 65,000 people in shelters with food assistance. The UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said it opened seven emergency shelters, for more than 1,400 individuals and continues to provide critical health, sanitation and protection services to those who need it. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said 100,000 people have fled Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon to Syria. They are primarily Lebanese and Syrian nationals. UNHCR is at four crossing points on the Syrian side of the border, alongside local authorities and the Syrian Red Crescent, to support new arrivals. The agency and its partners continue to provide core relief items to civilians, such as mattresses, blankets, sleeping mats, kitchen sets, jerry cans and solar lamps. Dujarric said the United Nations notes with concern the claim by the Houthis that they launched missiles and drone attacks on Tel Aviv and Ashkelon in Israel in recent days. It is also concerned about the airstrikes in and around the port of Hodeidah on Sunday, which Israel claimed responsibility in response to previous Houthi attacks on Israel. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it is concerned about the possible humanitarian impact in Yemen of the airstrikes on Sunday on infrastructure in the Red Sea ports of Hodeidah and Ras Issa, which serve as a lifeline for millions of people across the country. OCHA warned that disruption to the flow of imports could have dire consequences for Yemen's population. Most imports of necessities -- including food and fuel -- arrive in Yemen through Hodeidah and Ras Issa. The United Nations is working to verify reports of civilian casualties. "The humanitarian community in Yemen is assessing the impact of the strikes, as well as priority areas for the response," OCHA said. "Our partners are currently supporting initial medical needs of people directly affected." On the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Gaza and the West Bank, OCHA warns that without unimpeded humanitarian access, aid organizations are unable to adequately prepare for the impending rainy season, when people's needs grow further. The office said that rain and flooding will only worsen the already dire living conditions in Gaza, raising the risk of health hazards, and may prompt further displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. "Many of the 215 temporary learning spaces serving nearly 34,000 children in Gaza stand to be severely affected by flooding," OCHA said. "The UN and its humanitarian partners have developed a Winterization Plan to address the most critical needs of more than 2.1 million people in Gaza during the rainy season, which will be their second, given that we are close to the first year mark of the conflict." The plan targets more than 850,000 people across nearly 50 neighborhoods in flood-prone areas. It requires 242 million U.S. dollars to improve shelter conditions, provide warm clothing and blankets and redirect floodwaters away from critical infrastructure and dumping sites, among other interventions. However, OCHA said the plans could only be realized with the unimpeded entry of necessary humanitarian items into Gaza, adequate fuel and the facilitation of safe humanitarian movements between warehouses and distribution points. BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) A 14-year-old Albion student was arrested Sunday after allegedly making a school threat over the social media app Snapchat, the Orleans County Sheriffs Office announced. Their investigation determined the threat was made over a week ago. The student was charged with Making a Terroristic Threat, a felony. While this incident is concerning, the Sheriffs Office wants to reassure the community that swift action was taken to address the situation, and we encourage parents and guardians to have open discussions with their children about the seriousness of threats and the importance of reporting any concerning behavior, Chief Deputy Jeffrey Gifaldi said in a statement. The student was taken into custody without incident and was released to their parents on an appearance ticket. Latest Local News * * * Nick Veronica is a Buffalo native who joined the News 4 team as the Digital Executive Producer in 2021. He previously worked at NBC Sports and The Buffalo News. You can follow Nick on Facebook, Twitter and Threads. 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 News 4 Buffalo. Albion teen charged with felony after being linked to Snapchat threat ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) A 14-year-old student of the Albion School District was arrested Sunday, accused of making a threatening post on Snapchat over a week ago while chatting with friends. The nature of the threat or what it entailed was not detailed by authorities. According to deputies in Orleans County, the investigation began after the post was reported to local law enforcement. The Orleans County Sheriffs Office announced its been working with the school district to ensure the safety of students. Talking to children about safety The teenager was charged with making a terroristic threat, a Class D felony, before being released on an appearance ticket, as per New York State law. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to RochesterFirst. Restaurant owners Cathy Nguyen and her brother Swadee have a long and fond shared history with Miracle Mile in Coral Gables. When they were kids, their mother Chi Chu took them and their four siblings to wander department stores like J. Byrons and Woolworths, where Swadee liked to buy tropical fish. They also went to movies at the Miracle Theater. In 1986, Chu opened the Thai restaurant Lotus Garden at the nearby Publix shopping center. In 1997, the family moved the restaurant to 318 Miracle Mile on the western end of the street. Both spots boasted a fish tank, a tribute to young Swadees passion. Now, the Nguyens have closed the unassuming neighborhood spot, echoing the all-too-common laments about the higher costs that have doomed neighborhood restaurants around Miami. The numbers just werent there, Cathy Nguyen, 57, said. My brother and I kept it going, but its not that simple anymore. Nguyen is reluctant to blame any one element for the closing, saying that she and her brother, who have been running the business, were struggling financially. They didnt want to pass costs on to their guests I cant remember the last time we raised our prices, she said which meant absorbing the higher prices of food and insurance. Problems like parking were an issue, too: longtime customers had to park too far from the restaurant, resulting in a drop in business. The changing face of the Coral Gables restaurant scene, which has exploded over the past few years, played a part, too, Nguyen believes. It seems to me the whole idea of Miracle Mile is small shops, small mom-and-pops, she said. But its been going corporate lately. Sometimes good food is not enough anymore. People like shiny and new. And even corporate restaurants struggle. The exterior of the Lotus Garden restaurant, now closed on Miracle Mile after 38 years. The restaurants final day of service was Sunday, Sept. 29, when long-time patrons showed up for one last order of curry or Pad Thai and to pay tribute to a spot that fed generations of Coral Gables families. So many people we met at the restaurant came out to support us, Nguyen said. It was so humbling. I just want my mother to get all the credit. Her mother first opened the restaurant as a way to feed and employ her kids, Nguyen said. We were all in high school or going to University of Miami, so this was a way we would have a job and a meal, she said. She hardly spoke any English, but she told us, Go to the bank and get a cashiers check. Were opening a restaurant tomorrow. All six of the Nguyen children, who all attended Miami Senior High School, worked at the restaurant at one time or another, running food or working in the kitchen (Nguyen discovered she liked cooking best). Their mother decided to stop cooking when she was 80 but still insisted on coming to the restaurant every day. Nguyen set up a lounge chair in the kitchen and worked under her mother supervision. She wanted to be in the middle of every little thing, she said, laughing at the memory. Shed say, Why do you to it that way? Her mother passed away three years ago, making the decision to close even more difficult. Saying goodbye to a place she has worked since she was 19 has been heartbreaking, Nguyen said, but hopes that she and her brother will find a new space to reopen once they have moved out of the Miracle Mile spot. This is the first time Ive been unemployed since I was 13, she said. My brother is like, What are we going to do with ourselves? But well figure it out. My mom cooked until she was 80, so Ive got a good 20 years to go. A 72-year-old American pensioner on Monday pleaded guilty in a Moscow court to mercenary-related charges, admitting he was paid to fight for Ukraine against Russia, according to state news agency RIA Novosti. Yes, I agree with the indictment, the man, identified by Reuters as Stephen James Hubbard, reportedly said at the hearing. The prosecutor in the case alleged that Hubbard signed a contract in February 2022 with a territorial defense unit in Izyum, a city in eastern Ukraines Kharkiv region, that paid at least one thousand dollars per month. That month, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, later illegally annexing four of the countrys regions. Russia Jails American Woman for 12 Years Over $50 Donation to Ukraine Charity The prosecutor further alleged that Hubbard underwent combat training, was given weapons, and participated in armed conflict. He was detained by a Russian serviceman in April 2022, RIA reported. The maximum punishment under the criminal code used to charge him is 15 years imprisonment. RIA reported last week that Hubbard, a Michigan native, moved to Ukraine in 2014. The Moscow Times pointed to a May Facebook post by a woman originally from Michigan named Tricia Hubbard Fo who said her brother, Stephen James Hubbard, was kidnapped by Chechen soldiers in Ukraine nearly three years ago, alleging they beat him on video. In an interview with Reuters, Fox said her sibling had worked overseas for decades as an English teacher, including in Cyprus and Japan. She denied that he was a mercenary and said he was too old for war. He is so non-military, Fox told the news agency. He never had a gun, owned a gun, done any of that...Hes more of a pacifist. She reaffirmed that hed moved to Ukraine in 2014 and lived with a woman there for a time, relying on a small pension. In May 2022, a video began circulating on Telegram featuring an interview with a man identifying himself as Stephen James Hubbard, according to RIA. The state news agency said the circumstances in which that interview was filmed are unknown. A spokesperson for the United States embassy to Russia in Moscow told The Moscow Times last week that it was aware an American citizen was in detention, but offered no additional comment. Arrests of Americans by Russian authorities have become more and more common as relations following Putins full-scale invasion of Ukraine have sunk relations between the two countries back to Cold War lows. Earlier this year, 33-year-old Russian-American Ksenia Karelina was sentenced to 12 years in prison for donating $50 to a Ukrainian-American charity. Russia freed wrongfully detained American reported Evan Gershkovich and others in August in the largest prisoner swap deal since the Cold War era that also sent a Russian assassin back to Moscow. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. The Biden administration on Monday toughened asylum limits for undocumented immigrants by making it harder for the federal government to lift them. In June, President Joe Biden issued am executive order that generally barred people who cross the U.S.-Mexico border and southern coastal states from requesting refugee protections until authorities registered a seven-day consecutive average of less than 1,500 encounters with undocumented migrants for a week. That policy has been in place since. But on Monday, the federal government announced that authorities now would have to register a week-long average of 1,500 encounters or less for 28 days straight to lift it. That means the ineligibility on seeking asylum for undocumented immigrants crossing unlawfully will likely be around for longer and the parameters to lift it will be harder to meet. The federal government has said that the policys purpose is to improve the operating capacities of the overloaded U.S. immigration system. On Monday, immigration officials said the change was meant to ensure that the policy responded to sustained trends and not short-term changes. Customs and Border Patrols seven-day-average has fallen to under 1,800 encounters a day since the June policy was put in place, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The policy also comes as immigration continues to be a cornerstone of the presidential election. While Biden is no longer running against former President Donald Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris has had to respond for her role in the current administrations record on border safety and immigration. She has taken a harder line on immigration policy in speeches and ads and visited the border over the weekend. There are exceptions to the asylum limits, including for lawful permanent residents, unaccompanied children, victims of severe trafficking, and people with visas, appointments on the Customs and Border Protection app CBPOne, or other legal permissions to enter. People facing a medical emergency or a threat to their life or safety will also be exempt. If the policy is lifted, the government can reactivate it if it hits an average of 2,500 encounters for a straight week. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Monday that the action has been taken in parallel with other Administration actions that have both increased enforcement and delivered to asylum seekers safe and lawful pathways to humanitarian relief that cut out the ruthless smuggling organizations that prey on the vulnerable. To curb irregular immigration, the Biden administration has rolled out a series of policies to increase legal paths to the U.S., such as a parole program that allows Nicaraguans, Haitians, Venezuelans and Cubans to come for two years as long as they pass background and health checks. It has also resumed family reunifications for Cuba and Haiti and expanded those programs to Colombia, El Salvador and Honduras. But it has also taken steps to reduce the flow of undocumented immigrants showing up at the border, such as entering an agreement with Mexico so the neighboring country takes back up to 30,000 deportees from Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua every month. Mayorkas emphasized that the Biden administration has made these decisions because of a lack of congressional action, an assertion he has repeatedly made before. He said the immigration system is broken and that Congress must give his department and other immigration-related agencies more resources, personnel, and tools. The Department of Homeland Security said in a press release Monday that the original interim rule had significantly reduced the average of daily encounters and sped up deportations. It also said it would follow its commitments and obligations to asylum under international law. But experts and advocates have said that the U.S. is effectively banning asylum under the measure and violating both federal and international law. They also fear that people with legitimate claims to asylum will not be able to receive protections to which they are entitled. Amy Fischer, the Director of Refugee and Migrant Rights at Amnesty International USA, said the U.S. is presenting a false choice to people fleeing for their lives by forcing them to remain in Mexico in dangerous situations waiting for an appointment at the border or cross unlawfully and face a higher likelihood of deportation. The Biden administration is clinging to policies of cruelty when there are solutions on the table that can both solve the issues at the border and provide meaningful relief for cities like Springfield, New York, Chicago, and Denver without human suffering and with respect for human rights and dignity, Fischer said. The Biden administration must immediately end the asylum ban and the border shutdown, and restore access to asylum at the border. Amid rash of school threats, authorities encourage reporting while warning of penalties for sharing Authorities say students should report threats they see on social media, but shouldn't share them. (Getty Images) Students who see a school threat on social media should report it to authorities, but those same authorities want students to know that sharing threats on social media could be treated as a crime punishable with prison time. Think about what youre doing before you hit send or share, because any perceived threat is going to be taken very seriously, said Rob Monson, executive director of the School Administrators of South Dakota. He added that schools will always err on the side of safety if a threats seriousness is unclear, given the potential consequences of not taking a threat seriously enough. Need to get in touch? Have a news tip? CONTACT US South Dakota schools and law enforcement agencies responses to recent threats have involved locking down schools, evacuating buildings and launching investigations involving multiple law enforcement agencies. We will investigate every little thing that happens, Monson said. Kids need to understand that cops are getting called, and there are criminal repercussions. These are potential acts of terrorism. In South Dakota, making a bomb or firearm threat to a public school is a felony. The maximum sentence for anyone prosecuted as an adult including minors, who can be charged as an adult in some circumstances is 10 years in the penitentiary and a $20,000 fine. A surge in threats South Dakota has not suffered any fatal school shootings other than accidents and suicides, according to a database maintained by Everytown for Gun Safety and other online databases. But a school principal was injured in a 2015 shooting at Harrisburg High School, and a custodian was shot and injured at Enemy Swim Day School in 2018. The current school year began with a school shooting in Georgia that claimed four lives. In the weeks since then, South Dakota schools have suffered a rash of threats and actions treated as threats. They ranged from bomb threats scribbled on bathroom stalls to social media posts depicting firearms aimed at students. On Sept. 14, a bomb threat at Spearfish High School led to the evacuation of the building and the postponement of a volleyball game. No device was found. A social media post shared by a Stagebarn Middle School student on Sept. 13 in Summerset later determined to be non-credible prompted officials to place all schools in the Meade School District on secure status. In Sioux Falls, police investigated two non-credible social media threats this month. A third took place Monday, when Sioux Falls Police responded to Washington High School after receiving a false report of an active shooter, which was determined to be a hoax. One of the more alarming incidents so far this school year occurred in Sioux Falls on Sept. 11, which resulted in a 15-year-old being taken into custody for making terroristic threats and possessing a weapon on school grounds. Thinking twice Following the Sept. 13 incident, Meade County Sheriff Pat West said in a press release that the widespread use of social media has made it easier for people to share inappropriate content, including threats of violence. Unfortunately these incidents are becoming all too common, he said. The world of social media and the problems associated with these different platforms allow for the exchange of too many inappropriate messages and photos. West said REPORT, DONT SHARE should be the advice moving forward. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Rapid City Area Schools Acting Superintendent Cory Strasser shared the same sentiment. He said social media rewards content that gets attention, so its not hard to understand why an impulsive teen might share something shocking. Sometimes kids seek attention, and this is a way to do that, Strasser said. Strasser added that schools need help. Report it when you see these threats, he said, as well as communicating with students that these things are inappropriate, shouldnt be done, and explain the consequences. The states role Threats to schools are handled at the local level, said Brad Reiners, spokesperson for the state Department of Public Safety, in a statement. But the state plays a role. Reiners said the state Office of Homeland Security, through its School Safety Center, provides free training and resources for schools to identify threats and provide intervention. Additionally, he said the South Dakota School Safety Center works with school administrations and staff, mental health professionals, law enforcement and community leaders to provide a holistic approach to school safety. And he said the state Safe2Say tip line (1-844-373-7233) provides a way for individuals to report threatening or concerning behaviors. Meanwhile, the South Dakota Fusion Center helps local agencies detect threatening social media posts and track the source to identify potential offenders. The South Dakota Department of Education declined an interview request for this story. The Governors Office sent a statement reiterating Reiners comments. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE (FOX40.COM) Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law Monday that will allow Amsterdam-style cannabis cafes starting next year, the bills author said. The law allows businesses to sell non-cannabis food and drinks and sell tickets to concerts and other performances. In the Netherlands, Amsterdams cannabis cafes thrive as a part of the citys unique social structure, and capitalizes on the social nature of cannabis through coffee, food, and live music all opportunities that are currently illegal under California law, Hanley said. AB 1775 will allow cannabis retailers to diversify their business and move away from the struggling and limited dispensary model by selling non-cannabis-infused foods. State Superintendent Tony Thurmond on new school cell phone ban law The bill goes into effect on January 1st but local jurisdictions must also approve of and license the business. Assemblymember Matt Hanley said his bill will help legal cannabis businesses compete with black market sellers in the state. Right now, our small cannabis businesses are struggling to compete against illegal drug sellers that dont follow the law or pay taxes, Haney said. In order to ensure the legal cannabis market can survive and thrive in California, we have to allow them to adapt, innovate and offer products and experiences that customers want. Cannabis cafes are going to be a huge part of the future of cannabis in our state and help to beat back the illegal drug market. Newsom vetoed a similar bill last year that was also authored by Haney, saying he supported creating the cafes but thought it would undermine the states long-standing smoke-free workplace protections. The new law requires local jurisdictions to consider whether the business has adequate ventilation and filtration systems in place. The law also protects a workers right to wear ventilation masks, such as an N95 mask, in areas of the business where cannabis is smoked. I commend the author for incorporating additional safeguards, such as expressly protecting employees discretion to wear a mask for respiration, paid for at the expense of the employer, and requiring employees to receive additional guidance on the risks of secondhand cannabis smoke, Newsom said in a message announcing the signing of the bill. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Dona Ana Community College makes Niches list of top schools EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) Dona Ana Community College (DACC) has been ranked as one of the best community colleges and online colleges nationwide in 2025. The college ranked No. 14 out of 229 for best online colleges in America and ranked No. 64 out of 755 for best colleges in America, according to Niche, a website that connects colleges and schools with students and families. DACC also ranked No. 62 out of 377 for best Hispanic-serving institutions in America, according to Niche. According to Niche, DACC ranked as the second-best online college and third-best community college in New Mexico. Niche ranks the schools by gathering data from the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation and reviews from current and former students, according to DACC. For more information on DACCs ranking compared to other institutions nationwide, you can visit Niches website here. For more information about DACC, you can visit their website 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 KTSM 9 News. An Iranian worshipper holds up a poster of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, reading in Arabic: "At your service Nasrallah" during an anti-Israeli rally after Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Iran lost its most reliable ally in the Middle East when an Israeli airstrike killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. But Iran isnt leading the charge to retaliate. That's put Tehran in a bind: Not responding could see it alienate the militias it relies on in the region. Meanwhile, any possible retaliation risks a wider war as its theocracy faces intense challenges at home. By the grace and power of God, Lebanon will make the transgressing, malicious enemy regret its actions, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in the wake of Nasrallah's death Friday. But the 85-year-old paramount ruler in Iran gave no mention of his country taking action over the death of a man he once praised as "an exceptional face in the world of Islam after the Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006. That reluctance continued into Monday, as Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani told journalists that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Iranian people are not after war" but rather peace and stability in the region. Though Kananni added that, any adventurous move or action against our national security or interests and our hands will never be tied, at one point wearing a checkered Palestinian keffiyeh scarf during his remarks. These comments highlight a reticence in responding to Nasrallahs death. Though his leadership of Hezbollah was the crown jewel in Irans decades-long strategy of arming regional militias to counter both Israel and the United States, Iran remains cautious about when or if it will strike back. That's not to say that it hasn't launched retaliatory strikes during the yearlong Israel-Hamas war that's riven the Middle East and threatens to erupt into a regional conflict. Iran launched an unprecedented direct attack on Israel in April. It even launched a missile strike against sites in Iraq, Syria and Pakistan in January. But those attacks stemmed from direct attacks on Iranian targets, like the suspected Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic post in Syria. Iran I think in its priorities have been very much misunderstood since Oct. 8, said Sanam Vakil, the director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the London-based international affairs think tank Chatham House. There was a misconception Iran would pile in. Instead, it hung back after Hamas another militant group it has armed launched its Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw another 250 taken hostage. Even as millions of Iranians purportedly volunteered online to fight on behalf of the Palestinians, Iran didn't enter the war as an Israeli offensive devastated the Gaza Strip, killing over 41,000 people. In the time since, an increasingly emboldened Israel has attacked Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthi rebels and other groups. In marking Nasrallah's killing, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cited a line in the Jewish Talmud fitting that strategy "If someone rises up to kill you, kill him first." For Netanyahu, whose political career has revolved around the threat he perceives from Iran, that includes striking back at those Iranian allies Tehran refers to as the Axis of Resistance. Those militias grew in prominence and power in the chaos that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the 2011 Arab Spring and the rise of Yemen's Houthi rebels. That created what Iran's opponents feared would become a Shiite crescent of influence that Tehran would be able to wield, something Israel may be aiming to roll back. An increasingly emboldened Israel appears to be considering a more expansive plan to confront Iran across the Middle East with the ambition of creating a new regional order, said Julien Barnes-Dacey, the director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the European Council on Foreign Relations. This is a dangerous illusion. Despite Irans current weakness, this will be seen as an existential threat by Tehran and its regional allies." Iran could encourage more asymmetric attacks, targeting Jewish tourists, synagogues or Israeli diplomatic missions as it has done in the past. Netanyahu issued a warning Monday to Iran likely over that risk, saying: There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. Tehran also could weaponize its nuclear program. It already enriches uranium to near-weapons-grade levels after the collapse of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Hard-line voices within Iran's theocracy, like its daily Kahyan newspaper, already are calling for a response harsher than its April attack, which caused very little damage. That, however, runs directly counter to the plans of Iran's new reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, who campaigned on a promise to get crushing economic sanctions lifted against Iran. That's grown in importance as energy prices continue to fall and Iran likely sells its oil at a discount due to being locked out of many nations. If nuclear deal commitments are implemented fully and in good faith, dialogue on other issues can follow, Pezeshkian told the United Nations General Assembly last week. Ending the sanctions requires a deal with the West on the nuclear program, something that will become nearly impossible if Iran enters an all-out war with Israel. Relieving that economic pressure remains crucial for Iran's domestic stability as well, as authorities remember the months of protests that followed the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini. For the time being it appears the president and the supreme leader, the latter who is abundantly cautious, want to keep the line open to dialogue and negotiations, Vakil said. And to keep that line open, Iran needs someone else to take the lead against Israel. The Iranian leadership is prepared to accept a humiliating retreat in the face of Israeli strikes in the short term to safeguard the regime in the long run, and this explains Tehrans lack of retaliation so far, said Alex Vatanka, the director of the Iran Program at the Washington-based Middle East Institute. ___ EDITORS NOTE Jon Gambrell, the news director for the Gulf and Iran for The Associated Press, has reported from each of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Iran and other locations across the world since joining the AP in 2006. By Andrew Gray and Anthony Deutsch BRUSSELS/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - - NATO's next boss, Mark Rutte, will need all the coalition-building skills he honed as Dutch prime minister to hold the Western alliance together amid war in Ukraine, fears over Moscow's next move and political uncertainty in Washington. Rutte takes over on Tuesday as secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from Norway's Jens Stoltenberg - the first time in a decade that NATO's top job will change hands. Much now rests on Rutte being able to forge consensus within the 32-member alliance. Its ability to safeguard the nearly 1 billion people under its protection depends not only on military might but also on political unity. Challenges abound for Rutte: a possible return of NATO-sceptic Donald Trump as president of the United States - the alliance's predominant power - as well as calls from eastern European allies for more reinforcements to protect against Russia, and pleas from non-member Ukraine for more military aid. NATO officials and diplomats expect Rutte to maintain Stoltenbergs priorities rallying support for Kyiv, pushing NATO countries to spend more on defence, and keeping the U.S. engaged in European security. Having governed for 14 years to become the Netherlands longest-serving prime minister, Rutte, 57, is an experienced hand on the world stage. But while personally affable - he has sometimes been a blunt critic of other governments, telling Hungary to respect LGBTQ rights or leave the European Union and questioning the rule of law in Romania and Bulgaria. In his new job, Rutte will need the skills he developed as a coalition-forger and manager who led four Dutch governments. "The fact that he is so experienced in finding ways to go forward, compromises, persuading people, convincing people, connecting to people - I think that will come in very, very useful," said Kajsa Ollongren, a former Dutch defence minister who served under Rutte. Ollongren and others describe Ruttes leadership style as extremely driven and hands-on, which may come as something as a shock to a hierarchical organisation like NATO. "He will never think: Oh, well, I can leave this until tomorrow," Ollongren told Reuters. Ollongren said Rutte could combine courtesy with firm messages, such as when he contradicted Trump during a live press conference or when he shook Russian President Vladimir Putin's hand for so long during a visit to Amsterdam that Putin was forced to see protesters with rainbow flags. EASTERN APPROACH Rutte's coming of age as an international politician came in 2014 after Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a Russian missile system over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 passengers and crew, including 196 Dutch citizens. He promised to hold accountable those responsible. In his new job, Rutte will be under pressure from NATO members in eastern Europe to prove he understands their desire for more protection from Russia and can deliver for them. "One test for him will be: What is NATO's ambition vis-a-vis the eastern flank and especially the strengthening of the eastern flank?" said Peter Bator, who served as Slovakias ambassador to NATO until earlier this year. Since Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine, NATO has doubled to around 10,000 the troops deployed to its eastern members, on top of those countries' national forces. It also says hundreds of thousands more could be deployed quickly. But eastern countries want more troops and weapons especially air defence systems, which means persuading western members to move more of their own assets east. As NATO makes decisions by consensus, the power of a secretary-general depends on coming up with policy ideas and persuading national leaders to support them. The job, said Oana Lungescu, a former NATO spokesperson, is about "not just reaching the lowest common denominator but also moving the alliance forward". "Thats where the magic comes in between being the secretary and being the general," said Lungescu, now at defence think-tank RUSI. MORE DEFENCE SPENDING NATO officials and diplomats say Rutte may have to temper his characteristically Dutch fixation on fiscal frugality. At an EU summit in June, Rutte clashed with other leaders when he and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz strongly opposed joint borrowing to fund defence spending. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said other leaders "loudly reminded" Rutte that he would soon be NATO boss and should do everything to make sure governments did not skimp on defence. NATO estimates 23 of its 32 members will meet its goal of spending 2% of GDP on defence this year with the Netherlands only now reaching a target that was set a decade ago. Many NATO officials argue spending will need to increase further perhaps to 2.5% of GDP or more for extra troops and arms to fulfil a massive revamp of the alliance's defence plans. "This is a challenge for him - to persuade the member states to invest more in their own defences and much faster, to procure capabilities that go far beyond the existing ones," said Bator. (Additional reporting by Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam; Editing by Gareth Jones) UNGA President Philemon Yang (C and on the screens) delivers concluding remarks during the General Debate of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters in New York, on Sept. 30, 2024. The General Debate of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) concluded on Monday, with UNGA President Philemon Yang calling on Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah to urgently conclude a ceasefire. (Xinhua/Li Rui) UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The General Debate of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) concluded on Monday, with UNGA President Philemon Yang calling on Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah to urgently conclude a ceasefire. In his concluding remarks, Yang said the world has seen an extremely dramatic escalation of violence between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon in the past few days, warning that escalation risks causing war in the entire Middle East region. "As we speak, peace in the Middle East is hanging delicately on a shoestring! There is pervasive tension and uncertainty in the region," he said. "The world must not allow an all-out war to happen in this volatile region," he stressed. Yang called on all those with influence on the parties to demand an immediate ceasefire and dialogue, and urged all states supplying weapons to the region to desist from such actions and "give peace a chance." Emphasizing that negotiations and diplomatic solutions must take precedence over brutal force, he said the Charter of the United Nations instructs that member states settle their disputes peacefully, so as not to endanger international peace and security. During the last day of the General Debate, many speakers denounced Israel's military actions in Gaza and Lebanon, and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. In his statement, Syrian Foreign Minister Bassam Sabbagh condemned Israel's aggression against the Palestinian people, stressing "the need to hold Israel accountable for the war crimes it is committing." Valdrack Ludwing Jaentschke Whitaker, minister for foreign affairs of Nicaragua, warned that the world is not on a journey to peace. "We denounce and condemn the genocide that the government of Israel and its 'First World' allies have committed, commit and continue to commit" against the people of Palestine and the people of Lebanon, he said. A total of 193 leaders delivered speeches during the General Debate that started on Sept. 24, including 71 heads of state, 42 heads of government, 6 vice presidents and crown princes, and 8 deputy prime ministers. UNGA President Philemon Yang (C and on the screens) is seen during the General Debate of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters in New York, on Sept. 30, 2024. The General Debate of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) concluded on Monday, with UNGA President Philemon Yang calling on Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah to urgently conclude a ceasefire. (Xinhua/Li Rui) UNGA President Philemon Yang delivers concluding remarks during the General Debate of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters in New York, on Sept. 30, 2024. The General Debate of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) concluded on Monday, with UNGA President Philemon Yang calling on Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah to urgently conclude a ceasefire. (Xinhua/Li Rui) UNGA President Philemon Yang (L) delivers concluding remarks during the General Debate of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters in New York, on Sept. 30, 2024. The General Debate of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) concluded on Monday, with UNGA President Philemon Yang calling on Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah to urgently conclude a ceasefire. (Xinhua/Li Rui) UNGA President Philemon Yang (C and on the screens) delivers concluding remarks during the General Debate of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters in New York, on Sept. 30, 2024. The General Debate of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) concluded on Monday, with UNGA President Philemon Yang calling on Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah to urgently conclude a ceasefire. (Xinhua/Li Rui) The People's Republic of China flag and the Hong Kong SAR flag are hoisted on the Court of Final Appeal in the Central District in Hong Kong, China, on October 28, 2020. A total of five foreign judges have now resigned from the court this year. Photo by Jerome Favre/EPA-EFE Sept. 30 (UPI) -- A British judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal has resigned, making him the latest foreign justice to leave the apex court this year, according to reports. Nicholas Addison Phillips, 86, is stepping down due to "personal reasons," the judiciary told Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post in a statement. "He indicated recently that he did not wish to have his term of appointment extended upon its expiry on 30 September 2024 due to personal reasons," it said. The statement acknowledged Phillips' "valuable contribution" to the court, while assuring the public that his absence will not affect the day-to-day dealings of the judiciary. Phillips has served as a non-permanent judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal since 2012, according to his official biography published on the judiciary website. With his resignation, five foreign top court judges have stepped down this year, including two -- Judge Lord Jonathan Sumption and Judge Lord Lawrence Collins, both British -- who cited the political situation the former British colony. Sumption, in announcing his resignation in an Financial Times op-ed in June, had said Hong Kong was "becoming a totalitarian state" where, "the rule of law is profoundly compromised in any area about which the government feels strongly." Collins, who resigned the same week as Sumption, had said he was stepping down "because of the political situation in Hong Kong" but maintained that "I continue to have the fullest confidence in the court and the total independence of its members." Their resignations came after 14 pro-democracy activists were convicted on conspiracy to commit subversion charges under a draconian national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020, and weeks after the release of a report from the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation that said foreign judges in the former British colony were providing "legitimacy to Beijing's crackdown on political freedoms." After Sumption and Collins announced their resignations, Hong Kong Watch issued a statement saying overseas judges in the former British colony "must reconsider their role given the deteriorating rule of law in the city." "To serve in a judiciary that is losing its independence is to lend prestige to a system that continues to lose its legitimacy -- the remaining judges from the UK and Australia should immediately follow suit and resign," said Benedict Rogers, chief executive officer of Hong Kong Watch. Hong Kong's once celebrated freedoms have been under attack by Beijing since 2020, when the Chinese Communist Party enforced a new national security law on the city in response to widespread pro-democracy protests a year earlier. The new law criminalized secession, sedition, subversion, terrorism and working with foreign agencies to undermine the national security of the People's Republic of China in Hong Kong. Broadly defined, the new law empowered law enforcement and the legal system to target pro-democracy politicians and activists, many of whom were arrested or fled overseas. After the announcement of Phillips' resignation, Rogers on Monday published a single-word statement: "Good." SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) Another Red Flag warning has been issued for much of South Dakota Monday. The South Dakota Department of Public Safety issued a Red Flag Warning across much of South Dakota until 8 p.m. Monday. SD native sings at pinning ceremony in Philippine Sea Map of Red Flag warning Strong winds, high temperatures and low humidity create an environment where fire danger is critical. South Dakota residents are asked not to use anything with an open flame or anything that can throw sparks. Other tips to avoid wildfires include properly discarding cigarettes, keeping vehicles off dry grass, obeying burn bans and avoiding power tools that throw sparks. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Another tropical storm may form this week as disturbance moves into Gulf of Mexico NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) The National Hurricane Center is warning residents on the Gulf Coast to monitor the forecast for another tropical system that may develop near the same area Hurricane Helene formed last week. A broad area of low pressure over the western Caribbean Sea is producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms. Environmental conditions are forecast to support gradual development, and a tropical depression or tropical storm could form by midweek. The chance of formation is up to 50 percent over the next seven days. The system is anticipated to move northwest into the Gulf of Mexico later in the week. From there, it is too early to tell where the system may eventually go or how strong it may be. Forecast model projections are likely to fluctuate significantly between different models and from one update to the next until the system actually begins to form. Because of this uncertainty, there is currently little to no confidence in any specific outcome at this time. The National Hurricane Center says residents in the northwestern Caribbean and along the U.S. Gulf Coast should keep a close eye on its progress. Meanwhile, tropical activity is heating up across the Atlantic. The National Hurricane Center is currently issuing advisories for Tropical Storm Isaac, located several hundred miles northwest of the Azores, Tropical Storm Joyce, situated over the central Atlantic, and newly formed Tropical Depression Twelve in the eastern Atlantic. These systems are not expected to be an issue for the United States. 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. Alabama House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, endorses Democratic 2nd Congressional District candidate Shomari Figures on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024 in Montgomery. Figures faces Republican nominee Caroleene Dobson in the November election. (Alander Rocha/Alabama Reflector) Alabama House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, endorsed Democratic nominee Shomari Figures for Alabamas 2nd Congressional District Monday in Montgomery. Daniels, who ran against Figures in the primary and runoff for the Democratic nomination for the district, called this election the most consequential election in American history and urged voters across the political spectrum to get behind Figures, saying hes the most qualified to to address issues in the district, including health care access, economic disparities, and gun violence. This election, more than any other election, will be a stress test of our enduring strength of our Constitution. This election will also test our faith in the public servants and institutions charged with safeguarding our free and fair elections in Alabama, Daniels said. Figures faces Republican nominee Caroleene Dobson, an attorney, in the November election. Figures said he was happy to have the endorsement of such an instrumental figure here in the Democratic Party in the state of Alabama. We all, at the outset, understood the collective obligation and the collective effort and the collective need to get this seat into Democratic hands when we have the opportunity in November, Figures said. Daniels said he is confident Figures can deliver federal resources to the region, pointing to Figures experience in Washington, D.C. The 2nd Congressional District, redrawn last year, includes Montgomery and stretches from Mobile County in the southwest corner of the state across the southern Black Belt to the Georgia border. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) The Anthony Spano Foundation announced on Monday the creation of a new memorial fund dedicated to preserving local industrial heritage. The Thomas E. Leary Memorial Fund of $25,000 aims to aid archival collections, documents, artifacts, and other initiatives related to labor, business, technology and more by funding non-profits in these sectors. Leary was a history professor at Youngstown State University, and through his consulting firm, Industrial Research Associates, he provided research and mitigation services to various organizations. He was also the Director of Interpretation at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Societies. Toms dedication to preserving industrial heritage was unparalleled, Elizabeth Sholes, wife of Thomas E. Leary, said in a news release. The establishment of this fund is a fitting tribute to his legacy, ensuring that future generations will continue to learn from and appreciate the rich history of our industrial past. For more information, visit the foundations website. The Anthony Spano Foundation is a nonprofit organization and fiscal sponsor that seeks to positively affect the lives of individuals and families 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 WKBN.com. Image courtesy Republican Voters Against Trump A group formed by anti-Trump Republicans is spending big in the closing weeks of the election to convince Republicans in the Grand Canyon State to support Vice President Kamala Harris. Republican Voters Against Trump on Monday announced plans to spend $2.4 million in Arizona as part of a $15 million blitz in battleground states to pay for billboards and TV ads featuring first-person testimonials from former Donald Trump supporters who now back Harris, the former presidents Democratic opponent. The billboards feature local Arizona voters declaring Im a former Trump voter. Im voting for Harris. The TV ads, meanwhile, are a series of 15- to 30-second testimonials from voters speaking directly to the camera about why they now oppose Trump and support Harris. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX This campaign is the capstone of the 2024 Republican Voters Against Trump campaign, and the final major ad push ahead of the November election. Many swing voters are going to be making up their minds in the coming weeks, and its critical that we let them know whats at stake, said Sarah Longwell, Executive Director of Republican Voters Against Trump. You can repudiate him without renouncing your deeply held conservative values. Were here to help establish a permission structure for right-leaning swing voters to do the right thing and vote their conscience. Arizona is largely viewed as a toss-up in the presidential race, though recent polls show that Trump has reversed some of the gains that Harris made after she entered the race replacing President Joe Biden, who ended his candidacy after a disastrous debate performance in late July. According to the polling average compiled by FiveThirtyEight, which analyzes polls, Trump holds a slim one-percentage-point lead over Harris in Arizona. For Harris to win in Arizona, and in other battleground states, she must attract support from disaffected Republicans who dont like Trump. Democrats in the Grand Canyon State did exactly that in 2022, when they won most of the statewide contests, including governor, attorney general, secretary of state and U.S. Senate. That was also key in 2020, when Biden upset Trump and won Arizonas 11 electoral votes by only about 11,000 votes. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE By Maya Gebeily, Timour Azhari and Phil Stewart WASHINGTON/BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Lebanese troops pulled back from the border with Israel late on Monday as a ground invasion by Israel looked imminent, just days after Israel killed the head of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in an escalation of regional tensions. Israeli strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs, a security source said, with a Reuters reporter witnessing a flash of light and a series of loud blasts about an hour after the Israeli military warned residents to evacuate areas near buildings it said contained Hezbollah infrastructure south of the Lebanese capital. A U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity told Reuters the positioning of Israeli troops suggested a ground incursion of Lebanon could be imminent. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told local council heads in northern Israel that the next phase of the war along Lebanon's southern border would begin soon, and would support the aim of bringing home Israelis who have fled Hezbollah rockets during nearly a year of border warfare. He also told troops: "We will use all the means that may be required your forces, other forces, from the air, from the sea, and on land. Good luck." Lebanese troops pulled back about five kilometres (3 miles) from positions along Lebanon's southern border with Israel, a Lebanese security source told Reuters. A Lebanese army spokesperson did not confirm or deny the movement. Lebanon's army has historically stayed on the sidelines of major conflicts with Israel, and in the last year of hostilities has not fired on the Israeli military. Israel declared the areas around the communities of Metula, Misgav Am, and Kfar Giladi in its north near the Lebanon border as a closed military zone. U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Israel had told the U.S. it is conducting limited ground operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon near the border. Washington so far has had little success urging Israel to rein in its assaults on Hezbollah or on the Hamas militia in Gaza. Israel last week rejected a proposal by the U.S. and France calling for a 21-day ceasefire on the Lebanon border to give time for a diplomatic settlement that would allow displaced civilians on both sides to return home. U.S. President Joe Biden again called for a ceasefire on Monday. "I'm more worried than you might know and I'm comfortable with them stopping," Biden told reporters when asked if he was comfortable with Israeli plans for a cross-border incursion. "We should have a ceasefire now." HEZBOLLAH SAYS IT IS READY TO FACE LAND INCURSION Friday's assassination of Hassan Nasrallah - the most powerful leader in Tehran's "Axis of Resistance" against Israeli and U.S. interests in the Middle East - was one of the heaviest blows in decades to both Hezbollah and Iran, and followed two weeks of intensive airstrikes. Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem, in a first public speech since Nasrallah's death, said that "the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement." Nasrallah built Hezbollah - created by Iran in 1982 to fight Israel - into Lebanon's most powerful military and political force, with a wide reach across the Middle East. Now it must replace a leader who the West branded a terrorist mastermind but who to millions of supporters was a hero who stood up to Israel. Qassem said it would "choose a secretary-general for the party at the earliest opportunity". He said Hezbollah had continued to fire rockets as deep as 150 km (93 miles) into Israeli territory. "We know that the battle may be long," he said. "We will win as we won in the liberation of 2006," he added, referring to the last big conflict between the two foes. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hezbollah's main backer, Iran, that "there is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country". In a three-minute video clip in English that he addressed to the Iranian people, he accused their government of plunging the Middle East "deeper into war" at the expense of its own people, whom it was bringing "closer to the abyss". Israeli airstrikes have eliminated several Hezbollah commanders but also killed about 1,000 civilians and forced one million to flee their homes, according to the Lebanese government. At least 95 people were killed and 172 wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon's southern regions, the eastern Bekaa Valley, and Beirut in the past 24 hours, Lebanon's health ministry said early on Tuesday. Rescuers stood on a flattened building. "We are rescuing these people, pulling out the living, the torn apart, and the martyrs," said one, Mazin al-Khatib. ASSASSINATIONS OF PALESTINIAN MILITANT LEADERS Israel has also assassinated leaders of the Iranian-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza war, one of them - its political leader Ismail Haniyeh - as he was visiting the Iranian capital in July. Hours before Qassem spoke, Hamas said an Israeli airstrike had killed its leader in Lebanon, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, along with his wife, son and daughter in the city of Tyre. Abu el-Amin had worked for the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA before being suspended in March. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini told reporters it had not known of his purported Hamas role. Another faction, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said three of its leaders had died in a strike in Beirut's Kola district, the first Israeli attack so close to the city centre. The Israeli attacks on militant targets in Lebanon are part of a conflict stretching from the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the occupied West Bank to Iranian-backed groups in Yemen and Iraq. The escalation has raised fears that the United States and Iran will be sucked in. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said Tehran would not let any of Israel's "criminal acts" go unanswered, referring to the killings of Nasrallah and an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps deputy commander who died in the same strikes. (Reporting by Maya Gebily, Laila Bassam, Ali Sawafta, Yomna Ehab, Mohammed Al Gebaly, Emma Farge, Elwely Elwelly, Dmitry Antonov, Jana Choukeir, Tala Ramadan, Joseph Campbell, Clauda Tanios, Alistair Smout, Maayan Lubell, Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali, and Humeyra Pamuk; Writing by Michael Georgy, Kevin Liffey and Michael Martina; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Angus MacSwan and Rosalba O'Brien) Hurricane Helene made landfall in the southeastern United States on Thursday, September 26, 2024, and tore a path northwards that ended up stretching 600 miles across four states. By Monday, the death toll was over 100 and a heartbreaking number of communities were taking stock of significant damage; some had been outright destroyed. The mountain bike community has deep roots in the regions affected: from exemplary trails advocacy organizations to manufacturing giants like Industry Nine, so much of North America's MTB heart and soul lives in Appalachia. At this point, the true scale of Helene's impact has yet to be measured, but it is obvious the toll will be high. Explore Brevard, the official tourism site for Brevard, North Carolina, a mountain biking hot spot destination, stated on their social media today that "All of our public lands are also closed until further notice. This includes the Blue Ridge Parkway, Pisgah National Forest, DuPont State Recreation Forest and Gorges State Park." Land managers, they added, are still assessing damage, roads remain closed, communication and power outages persist, and "resources are stretched thin, here and across the region." The organization is asking the public to "refrain from travel for non-emergency purposes," including refraining from recreation-based travel to the region. View the original article to see embedded media. Pisgah Area SORBA, the IMBA chapter dedicated to maintaining trails in the Pisgah Ranger District area, similarly stated in a social media post that "the devastation, damage, and loss our community is witnessing is unimaginable," adding that "when the timing is appropriate, we will communicate planned restoration efforts as we coordinate with our land managers. Right now, please help take care of each other." Trail advocates in Knoxville, Tennessee, state that while they escaped the worst of the storm's power, they have yet to fully assess trail systems a bit further afield, especially out towards the Great Smoky Mountains, where they expect the damage to increase significantly. And Asheville, North Carolina-based retailer Industry Nine announced through their social media channels that they are currently focused on prioritizing "the safety of our families and our staff," thanking their followers for their patience as they manage an ongoing lack of "power, water, WiFi and cell coverage" in their western North Carolina region. View the original article to see embedded media. As residents struggle to absorb the weekend's true costs - emotional, physical, and financial - information about how to help from afar may feel currently limited. National and international organizations like the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and Americares are currently accepting Hurricane Helene relief donations; Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina said on Sunday that one of the best ways to help his state was to donate to the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund. And The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina is accepting donations specifically earmarked for recovery efforts related to Hurricane Helene. Bike Magazine knows that community care and local advocacy are how most of the real work gets done in times of both calm and crisis; we will update our readers as we can with ways they can further help - from monetary funding to sweat equity volunteering - in the months to come. Please feel free to contact us if you know of organizations or relief efforts worth sharing and amplifying. In the meantime, know that our hearts ache for Appalachia. "Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Archaeologists digging through a French cliffside located a 200-year-old message in a bottle. Amidst much speculation, the team opened it to find a message from another archaeologist digging at the site200 years ago. The archaeologist was the first to explore the ancient location, and was notable in the area for his work. The idea of a message in a bottle that you might toss out to sea or bury in the earth is an inherently romantic onea bid for connection with a far-off friend, whether that far-off be physical or temporal. A group of students recently experienced the latter, and connected with a 200-year-old predecessor via a recent discovery in France. The message and its vessel were discovered atop cliffs at an old Gaulish village near the port of Dieppe as a team of studentsvolunteering in an emergency effort as erosion chips away at the sites historydiscovered a small glass flask inside an earthenware pot. Inside the glass bottle was a note. It was an absolutely magic moment, said Guillaume Blondel, head of the town of Eus archaeological service, according to the BBC. We knew there had been excavations here in the past, but to find this message from 200 years ago it was a total surprise. After the team speculated about the potential of the notes contents, they carefully extracted the paper and found: P.J. Feret, a native of Dieppe, member of various intellectual societies, carried out excavations here in January 1825. He continues his investigations in this vast area known as the Cite de Limes or Caesars Camp. An archaeologists message to future archaeologists. Sometimes you see these time capsules left behind by carpenters when they build houses, Blondel said. But its very rare in archaeology. Most archaeologists prefer to think that there wont be anyone coming after them because theyve done all the work. Feret is credited as the first archaeologist to sift through the village. He wanted to dismantle an ancient theory which spoke of a Carolingian presence, said Blondel, according to a translation from French-language Actu. He was the first to excavate and discover elements attesting to the Gallic presence. The initial find was made by a history student in Caen named Pierre, Actu reported. Pierre saw the top of a strange object in a trench, and after the team ensured it wasnt a bomb from World War II, they removed the pot. This pot was covered with a small, glazed cup, Blondel said. And we saw a white glass object protruding from it. The glass bottle was a vial, like the kind women once wore around their necks filled with smelling salts. The note was inside, rolled and tied with string. Apart from the 200-year-old message, the students also discovered plenty of 2,000-year-old artifactsmostly pieces of potteryas they searched for evidence of Gallic occupation. Along the way, they found a love letter to their line of work. You Might Also Like Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin announces a lawsuit against Google and YouTube on Monday, September 30, 2024 at his Little Rock office. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate) Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed a consumer protection lawsuit Monday against Google, YouTube and their parent companies, accusing the digital behemoths of intentionally targeting children with addictive and harmful content. The complaint, filed in Phillips County Circuit Court, is the latest in state officials ongoing efforts to regulate social medias impact on minors, such as a 2023 social media age verification law currently blocked by a federal court. Griffins 40-page suit alleges that YouTube amplifies harmful material, doses users with dopamine hits, and drives youth engagement and advertising revenue through its many programs, including the youth-oriented YouTube Kids. The platform takes advantage of the undeveloped capacity for self-regulation in minors still-developing brains, making them particularly vulnerable to chasing the stimuli of social media, e.g. YouTube notifications and likes, the complaint states. YouTube lawsuit YouTubes addictive power over Arkansas youth is devastating and has resulted in the State of Arkansas being forced to pour millions of dollars into expanding mental health and other services for young people living here, the complaint states. Griffin emphasized during a news conference Monday morning that he meant to discuss addiction in a clinical way, not in a colloquial way. Were not talking about it in the loose way that you may say, That food is so good Im addicted to it. It is something more sinister than that, Griffin said. Google is the managing member of YouTube. The other two defendants are Googles parent company, XXVI Holdings, and its parent company, Alphabet Inc. In addition to a jury trial and monetary damages, Griffin asks the court to order the defendants to disgorge and forfeit all profits that resulted from their alleged misdeeds and to fund prevention education and treatment for excessive and problematic use of social media. Griffins complaint accuses the defendants of violating the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which generates fines of up to $10,000 per violation. Defendants led users and the parents of young users to believe their social media platforms were safe for use by young people, including through the release of the YouTube Kids product, the complaint states. The complaint also accuses the companies of unjust enrichment for monetiz[ing] the screen time of Arkansas citizens and of being a public nuisance under state law for creating a mental health crisis. Other state action Since taking office last year, Griffin and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders have both attributed mental health problems among children, such as depression, body dysmorphia and suicidal ideation, to frequent social media use. Sanders and Education Secretary Jacob Oliva have advocated for limiting students use of cell phones in schools, and lawmakers have directed $7 million to school districts for the resources to lock up students devices during class time. Earlier this month, Griffin and 41 other attorneys general signed a letter to federal lawmakers asking them to require a surgeon general warning on all algorithm-driven social media platforms citing the risk of addiction. Griffin is the sole plaintiff in Mondays complaint against YouTube. He told reporters that the lack of progress and the pace of lawsuits with multiple attorneys general as plaintiffs frustrates him and he hopes for a quick resolution. He is also the sole plaintiff in a March 2023 lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, in Cleburne County Circuit Court. Similarly to Mondays lawsuit, last years complaint accuses the defendants of targeting minors with harmful content, profiting from engagement with said content and deceiving users into believing the platform is safe. A circuit judge denied TikToks motion to dismiss the case in May, and the case is set to go to trial in September 2025, according to court documents. When asked why his office has filed its complaints in different counties statewide, Griffin said he had individual reasons for doing so, but revealing them would not be smart in litigation. The 2023 social media age verification law, Act 689, would require parental permission for minors to access certain websites, but YouTube is one of the exceptions. Attorneys for NetChoice, the nonprofit trade association for large tech companies that brought the lawsuit, said the law was not narrowly tailored. U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks agreed in his order issuing a preliminary injunction, while acknowledging the importance of protecting minors online. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE JERUSALEM, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Israel's military on Monday night called on residents of three areas in Beirut's southern suburb to evacuate "immediately" ahead of planned bombings, as Israeli forces began a ground offensive in southern Lebanon. "For your safety and your family's safety, you must evacuate the buildings immediately to a distance of at least 500 meters," Avichai Adraee, an Israeli army spokesperson, said on social media platform X. He released a map of buildings in three areas of the Dahieh suburb, warning that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) "will act against them forcefully" because they are located near Hezbollah facilities. Meanwhile, in a post on X, Daniel Hagari, the IDF's chief spokesman, urged the public not to spread unconfirmed reports about the army. "In recent hours, there have been many reports and rumors about IDF activity on the Lebanese border. We ask that unverified information about the forces' activities not be shared, for the security of our troops," he said. Earlier in the day, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement that Israel had informed the United States that it launched "limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border." LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin is taking on an additional big-name social media player. Griffin said his office has filed a lawsuit against Google and its parent and associated companies in Phillips County on Monday. The lawsuit claims the companies have created web-based applications that are insidiously addictive for young users. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin says private schools accepting public funds arent subject to FOIA Griffin stressed in announcing the lawsuit that the type of addiction created by Google, YouTube, corporate entity XXVI Holdings and parent company Alphabet is something more sinister than the casual addiction attributed to food, for example. Google has deliberately designed and marketed YouTube to exploit and addict young users, contributing to a mental health crisis in Arkansas, Griffin said. The majority of children aged 13 to 17 report using YouTube every day. Griffin described dopamine hits as something engineered into the companys products to keep young people engaged. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin says private schools accepting public funds arent subject to FOIA The attorney general continued that the long-term effects are the same as those in earlier lawsuits filed by the state against social media companies behind TikTok, Facebook and Instagram. One of the gravest public health threats to children in the United States today is the soaring rate of mental and behavioral health disorders, including depression, self-harm, body dysmorphia and increased suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide, Griffin said. This increase in mental health problems among children is the result of calculated efforts by social-media companies like YouTube to attract and addict youth to their platforms and to grow revenues without regard for the harmful effects that these companies know exist. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin warns about price gouging and rebuilding scams after the storms The suit claims the companies violate the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and asks for unspecified monetary damages. Some of the money, if awarded, would be used to create a fund to provide prevention education and treatment for excessive use of social media, according to the lawsuit. Griffin said the suit was filed in Phillips County as a calculated maneuver by his office but did not disclose the reasoning behind the calculation since it would inform opposing counsel. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin files brief supporting return of Confederate monument to Little Rock park Griffin concluded by saying a more significant announcement would follow. Stay tuned, well have a lot more on this in the coming days, Griffin said. Early Monday afternoon a representative from Google reached out to KARK 4 News with the statement, saying in part that the company looks to provide its young users with a safer, healthier experience while pushing back against the charges from the attorney general. Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work. In collaboration with youth, mental health and parenting experts, we built services and policies to provide young people with age-appropriate experiences, and parents with robust controls. The allegations in this complaint are simply not true. Jose Castaneda, Google Spokesperson Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. The Arkansas House of Representatives on June 17, 2024. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate) Seven of the 54 contested races for seats in the Arkansas House of Representatives this November are open, meaning no incumbent is running. All 100 seats in the Arkansas Legislatures lower chamber are up for election every two years. Each representative served about 30,000 constituents. Republicans currently hold supermajorities in both the House and Senate. There were 82 House Republicans and 18 House Democrats as of January 2023. Men outnumber women in the House three to one, and all but nine representatives are white. According to a 2020 constitutional amendment, lawmakers can serve 12 consecutive years with the opportunity to return after a four-year break. Term limits were previously capped at 16 years over ones lifetime. The Arkansas Legislature referred the amendment to the voters, who overwhelmingly approved it. All lawmakers receive an annual salary of $44,356 and 65.5 cents per mile they travel to and from the capitol. Those who live within 50 miles of the Capitol receive $59 per diem, and those who live further away receive $155. State representatives convene in the north chamber of the Capitol and work alongside the Senate and the governor to create laws and establish a state budget. House members also hold seats on a wide range of committees, which handle topic-specific matters including agriculture, commerce, education, public health and ethics. Rep. Brian Evans, R-Cabot, will become Speaker of the House in January if he defeats his Democratic opponent, Tom Bartole, in November. House Speaker Designate Brian Evans, R-Cabot (left) and outgoing Speaker Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado (right) address reporters in the Houses north gallery shortly after the speakership election on Thursday, May 9, 2024. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate) In addition to presiding over the House, the Speaker is third in line to be the acting governor, after the lieutenant governor and Senate president pro tempore, if the chief executive is unable to perform their official duties. Evans won the chambers support with 91 votes in May to become Speaker Designate; he has served in the House since 2019. Current Speaker Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, is running for reelection against Democrat ODell Carr but decided not to seek a fourth term as speaker. Republican Rep. Howard Beaty of Crossett will become House Majority Leader in January, while Democratic Rep. Andrew Collins of Little Rock will become Minority Leader. Both are running unopposed for reelection. Both parties also have legislative whips, who are responsible for ensuring that members of their party participate in meetings and vote in line with the partys values. Republican Rep. Stetson Painter of Mountain Home will be House Majority Whip, and Democratic Rep. Denise Garner of Fayetteville, will be House Minority Whip. Both are also running unopposed. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Democrats Tracy Steele of House District 72 and Glenn Barnes of District 65 are the only unopposed non-incumbent candidates. Steele will succeed Rep. Jamie Scott, D-North Little Rock, who is running unopposed for the Senate. Barnes will succeed current House Minority Whip Vivian Flowers, a Democrat running for mayor of Pine Bluff. Of the 54 contested House races in November, two have more than two candidates. Rep. Harlan Breaux, R-Holiday Island, faces Democrat Rick Delaney and Libertarian Dakota Logan in North Arkansas District 6. In Jonesboro, Republican Rep. Jack Ladyman faces Democrat David McAvoy and Libertarian Eric McGee for the District 32 seat. Libertarian candidates are running in five other races, and four are facing incumbents Republican Reps. Austin McCollum of Bentonville, Jeremiah Moore of Clarendon, DeAnn Vaught of Horatio and Democratic Rep. Ashley Hudson of Little Rock. The remaining race has Republican Dolly Henley and Libertarian Tammy Goodwin vying for Southwest Arkansas District 88 seat. Six other contested races have no incumbent candidates: Republican Nick Burkes faces Democrat Jacob Malloy in Benton Countys House District 14. Republican Brad Hall and Democrat Ryan Intchauspe are running for House District 24 in Crawford and Washington counties. Republican Alyssa Brown and Democrat Tom Nowlin are running for House District 41 in Cleburne and Stone counties. Republican Paul Childress faces Democrat Teresa Dannaway in Saline Countys District 83. Two Democrat-held Delta seats are up for grabs Democrat Jessie McGruder faces Republican Robert Thorne in District 35, and Democrat Lincoln Barnett faces Republican Tammi Northcutt Bell in District 63. The city of West Memphis is split between the two districts. Burkes is the son of first-term Rep. Rebecca Burkes, R-Lowell, who faces a rematch against her 2022 opponent, Democrat Rey Hernandez. Two other freshman Northwest Arkansas Republicans, DeAnna Hodges of Springdale and Mindy McAlindon of Centerton, also face rematches from their 2022 opponents, Diana Gonzales Worthen and Kate Schaffer, respectively. Ladyman is one of four GOP incumbents who fended off primary challengers in March. The others are Reps. Frances Cavenaugh of Walnut Ridge, Steven Walker of Horseshoe Bend and Cindy Crawford of Fort Smith. Walker faces no opposition in November. [2024 Voter Guide: The candidates, the ballot measures, and the tools you need to cast your vote.] Additionally, Little Rock Democratic Reps. Fred Allen, Denise Jones Ennett and Joy Springer all defeated primary challengers and are unopposed in the general election. Early voting begins Oct. 21, and Election Day is Nov. 5. The Legislature will convene at noon on Jan. 13, 2025 for the start of the 95th General Assembly. Learn more about Arkansas general election with the Advocates 2024 Voter Guide. CALDWELL, Ohio (WCMH) A person is under arrest after allegedly making violent threats against a Noble County high schools homecoming dance. According to a social media post by the Noble County Sheriffs Office, it received information about an armed person making violent threats against the dance at Caldwell High School, which was held Saturday night. Watch: Arrest made after threat against Noble County homecoming dance Noble Countys sheriff and all on- and off-duty deputies responded to the school, with a mutual-aid request made to all available law enforcement to respond as well. Buckeyes stay at No. 3 in new rankings following dramatic Week 5 At the school, students and staff were escorted from the building to their vehicles. Everyone was cleared from the scene safely, the sheriffs office posted. The sheriffs office identified a person of interest, who was taken into custody. The suspects identity or the charges they are facing were 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 NBC4 WCMH-TV. ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. A St. Charles County Circuit Court judge signed an arrest warrant for a Kirkwood man charged with a weekend shooting. According to the St. Charles County Police Departments probable cause statement, the shooting happened shortly before 11:30 p.m. on Sept. 28 at a local gas station. Police said surveillance video from the gas station shows two men, one of whom was later identified as Rashawn L. Galloway (age not provided), approached the service station window. Three other men, including the victim, were also at the window. Police said the two men got into an argument and Galloway turned and walked away towards a vehicle parked at a gas pump. Galloway then reached into his waistband, took out a firearm, and began shooting at the victim. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News The victim was shot in his right arm and torso. Galloway and another person got into their vehicle parked at the pump and drove away, police said. The vehicle was later found at a home in Alton, Illinois, police said. Galloway was not at the residence at the time. The St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorneys Office charged Galloway with first-degree assault, armed criminal action, and unlawful use of a weapon. At present, police said Galloway is on probation for possession of firearms and drugs. As a result, the U.S. Marshals Service has an active full extradition warrant against him. Galloway is also suspected in multiple shootings in Alton. Anyone with information on Galloways whereabouts is asked to contact their nearest law enforcement agency. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. BALTIMORE Three different versions of Alexandria Wingate appear in a trio of purple paintings the Baltimorean started while a fine art student at Morgan State University. In one, shes accessorized her Halloween costume with expressive pins after being diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus, an autoimmune disease that commonly causes joint inflammation and skin rashes, among other symptoms. In another, she shows off a bruise on her arm that engulfs a wolf bite, a nod to the Latin origin of the diseases name. And in the third, finished this year after a residency in Cape Cod, her pose is modeled after a young Angela Davis, intended to convey Wingates tiredness of being told shes being strong in her battle for her health. She said the painting was inspired by her father saying his daughter rather than someone like Davis, bell hooks or Toni Morrison is his superhero. So its fitting that shes clad in a mask that looks like a purple butterfly, the symbol for lupus, to show that its a part of her identity. It was something that I felt like I could never talk about, said Wingate, 25, who graduated from Morgan State last year and also goes by the creative alias Diosa Dria. I never felt like this disorder was ever trying to uplift me. Ive always been ashamed of it because it never made me feel like a normal kid. But as I got older, I couldnt allow it to make me a victim anymore. More than a decade after being diagnosed with lupus, Wingate has been searching for a living kidney donor since her yearslong battle with lupus-induced kidney disease resulted in end-stage renal disease earlier this year, necessitating dialysis. Her call for a healthy candidate with Type O blood (O- preferred) is being spread via flyers posted around Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and on social media. Growing up in Northeast Baltimore, Wingate began drawing with colorful pens when she was just 4 years old. It was during her senior year at Baltimore Design School, where she graduated in 2017, that she got into painting, a practice she said makes her feel monumental. I feel like Im creating a legacy for myself, she said. Not only for myself but for my family and for other little girls who have ever felt like they couldnt pursue an art career. Her journey with lupus also started when she was young. Before being diagnosed at age 11, Wingate recalled always feeling tired. Sores in her mouth made it painful to eat, and she was losing weight, she said. She also presented with a butterfly rash across her face, a common feature of lupus. Eventually, Wingate got her diagnosis at The Johns Hopkins Hospital where she continues to receive care. Her rheumatologist, Dr. Andrea Fava, is a physician-scientist in the Division of Rheumatology at Johns Hopkins and the director of lupus translational research. He said that lupus usually comes in flares and ranges in severity and the presentation of symptoms, which can include chest pain when breathing deeply and profound fatigue. I dont have two lupus patients who are the same, he said. Its rare to be able to tell the exact cause of a patients case, though Fava said genetics and environmental factors both play a part. Worldwide, at least 5 million people have a form of lupus, according to the Lupus Foundation of America. Its more prevalent in people of non-European ancestry, Fava said, and women are nine times more likely than men to have lupus. Though historically a cure hasnt existed, he said a new treatment borrowed from oncology is offering hope. Lupus can cause damage in any organ in the body where theres inflammation, though kidney involvement is the most common severe manifestation among the internal organs, Fava said. Lupus nephritis, a type of kidney disease caused by lupus, is also more common in patients of non-European ancestry. Every time you have a bout or a flare of inflammation in the kidney, some of the kidney becomes permanently lost, Fava said. Wingate, who was diagnosed with lupus nephritis in 2018, said her management of lupus involves medication, blood labs and talk therapy. She also started dialysis in April after acute kidney damage led to end-stage renal disease, and said shell have to continue it for the rest of her life until she finds a donor for a kidney transplant. Fava said that the majority of patients with lupus nephritis dont feel different than normal when theyre diagnosed and that the condition requires more aggressive treatment than for symptoms like mild joint pain. If someone with lupus nephritis gets to the point of needing a kidney transplant, its unlikely lupus nephritis will return in the transplanted kidney, Fava added. Wingate said shes close to making it onto a transplant waiting list and that a transplant from a living or deceased donor would make her feel more confident going back to school for an MFA. Shes already started looking into programs. The honesty and the growth in the work that Wingate creates stands out to her mentor Eric Briscoe, coordinator of the Visual Arts Program at Morgan State. Ive seen her experiment, he added. Briscoe taught Wingate in a few of his classes, including the one in which she painted the first two of her purple self portraits, after catching COVID-19 landed her in the hospital and triggered a lupus flare. From his point of view, the paintings prompt questions rather than giving everything away. You dont have to hit people in the mouth with your concept. You dont have to put everything in a single painting, he said. So we separated out what her concerns were about certain things. And it actually informed me quite a bit about lupus in particular. I definitely love the progress of the piece, the connection between them, he added. Theyre changing; theyre evolving. Talking about her love of painting self portraits, Wingate recalled insight she gleaned from Briscoe: The subject you know the best is yourself. Deep down, I felt like this needs to come out. This story needs to be told just for the sake of representation, she said. Im rewriting my own story and my own perspective. Find out ways you can help Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images Asheville, North Carolina is as beloved for its award-winning food scene as it is for its natural beauty. Anyone who has ever visited the city knows that there is a delicious abundance of dining options here, from barbecue, to filipino fare, to Spanish tapas, and everything in between. And many of these places are run by people deeply invested in their community beyond the food world. That local pride is still on full display after Hurricane Helene. Asheville and the greater Western North Carolina area took a massive hit from the powerful storm, which left many businesses without electricity, water, and usable roads. Others have lost their buildings altogether. And although many chefs and restaurant owners are finding themselves in this terrible situation, they, along with other members of the food community, are already rallying to help their neighbors in need. Related: Hurricane Helene Leaves Catastrophic Damage Across Several States: Heres How To Help Global disaster relief organization World Central Kitchen has partnered with local chefs including Meherwan Irani (Chai Pani, Botiwalla Asheville), Katie Button (Curate, Curate Tapas Bar), John Fleer (Rhubarb), Tom LaFauci (Twisted Laurel), and Collyn McDonald (Bears Smokehouse BBQ) to make and distribute free hot food. Currently, meals are being offered at Bears Smokehouse every day at 12:00 PM. We are devastated by the damage inflicted on our beautiful city, the entire Western North Carolina region, and beyond, the restaurant wrote in a recent Instagram post. Together we will rebuild and heal. We invite everyone to join us in this effortbecause together we are stronger. Other local restaurants, like All Day Darling, are making the most of whatever food and ingredients they have left after the storm. Chef Jacob Sessoms and his team cooked for about 1,500 people. According to the Asheville Citizen Times, Flour passed out free biscuits, Rosetta's Kitchen & The Buchi Bar set up a soup kitchen, and brewery Terra Nova Beer Co. is letting residents fill containers with water. Related: Meherwan Irani On The Deep Connection Between Food And Community Chef William Dissen of The Market Place donated all of his food to World Central Kitchen, and is urging people to reach out to their local congresspeople to request that federal aid be sent to the area. "This is the worst flood of our lifetimes. Its truly decimated our region. We are out of water and power and there is no cell or internet. Im on the courthouse steps using their wifi, he says. Roads in and out of Asheville are closed or washed away, and communication is minimal. Please send prayers. We will need your help to rebuild. How To Help The American Red Cross, Mercy Chefs, North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund, World Central Kitchen, and many other organizations are seeking donations to assist impacted areas. Click here for more information and how to donate. Related: North Carolinas Historic Biltmore Estate And Village Close Due To Major Flooding For more Southern Living news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on Southern Living. Asheville and other mountainous towns in western North Carolina were devastated by historic flooding brought in by Hurricane Helene . Since the beginning of the storm, the area has seen between a foot and two feet of rainfall. Sheriff Quintin Miller said there were at least 30 deaths in Buncombe County, which includes Asheville. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper predicted the toll in the county would rise as rescuers and other emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding. In the county, more than 1,000 names have been added to a database of people who haven't been in contact with friends or family, the county manager said at a news briefing Sunday . Cooper implored residents in western North Carolina to avoid travel, both for their own safety and to keep roads clear for emergency vehicles. More than 50 search teams spread throughout the region in search of stranded people. RELATED: Helene aftermath: Social media pleas turn tragic as death toll climbs Asheville, NC flooding Asheville, a hub of tourism and arts with about 94,000 residents, was unusually still after floodwaters swamped neighborhoods known for drawing visitors including Biltmore Village and the River Arts District, which is home to numerous galleries, shops and breweries. Footage filmed by Peter Burg, some of it with a drone, shows entire city streets covered by extensive flooding in the River Arts District. Authorities were rushing to airlift supplies and restore communications and roads in Asheville and surrounding areas but flooding has cut off access. Fuel, food, and water are in short supply, causing tensions to run high in Buncombe County. Local media report arguments breaking out at gas stations and lines "miles long" for fuel. When asked about the delay in supplies and tensions at open gas stations, the Buncombe County sheriff said supplies are delayed because many roads have been destroyed. The Sheriffs Office is considering posting deputies at gas stations. RELATED: Tennessee hospital floods, forcing 'dangerous' helicopter rescue Hurricane Helene aftermath Hurricane Helene roared ashore in Floridas Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane late Thursday with winds of 140 mph. From there, it quickly moved through Georgia and soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains. More than 80 people have been killed in total. Several million people were without power as of Sunday afternoon. One Asheville, North Carolina resident sounded the alarm as his community battles the devastation left by Hurricane Helene, detailing the "apocalyptic weekend" as the death toll continues to rise while millions are left without power and water. "It's been an incredibly apocalyptic weekend for all of us here," Asheville resident Gregory Harrison said. "Almost no gas. There is almost no cell service. There's limited power. There is limited food. There are people who are trying to find potable water to feed their families, to have water for their kids." Hurricane Helene: Fox Weather Meteorologist Rescues Woman From Car During Live Shot As Floodwaters Rise Officials in Asheville are still trying to rescue residents who have been trapped by the historic flooding over the weekend, which has left many without access to power, running water and cell service. As of Sunday morning, the North Carolina National Guard (NCNG) activated more than 500 soldiers and airmen and more than 200 vehicles and aircraft, including hoist and emergency aviation assets as well as high-water response vehicles. Heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on Sept. 28, 2024, in Asheville, North Carolina. The NCNG reported that it completed 16 air missions, resulting in the rescue of 119 citizens and 11 pets. It said the largest single mission saw the rescue of 41 people north of Asheville in Bumcombe County. Read On The Fox News App "Our air assets have moved more than 34,000 pounds of cargo, including food, water, and medical supplies to distribute. In the past 48 hours, we have been augmented by personnel and air assets from Connecticut, Maryland, Ohio, Iowa, Florida, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania," the post continued from NCNG. Buncombe County communications director Lillian Govus urged people in surrounding areas to avoid coming to the affected communities to maximize search and rescue efforts. "Right now, we need people to not come here," Govus told Lawrence Jones. "We are still in an active search and rescue phase. We have active flooding now. Like you said, it will take just a little bit of rain and we'll have more landslides, more mudslides." "One of our interstates, I-40, which is the main interstate that takes you all the way to the beach from Asheville, that interstate is closed because the top of a mountain has actually slid down and covered that entire interstate," she continued. "We have a little narrow pathway, and that is just for our emergency vehicles." Videos: Hurricane Helene Produces Record Storm Surge Along Florida's Gulf Coast Govus said her community is no longer recognizable after the deadly storm. "I live out in Black Mountain. What is there now does not resemble anything of the community where I lived before," Govus said. "Homes are completely gone. Power lines are destroyed. The poles are snapped in half and dangling on other places." "Houses are completely washed away. We don't have running water, and so that's a really big public health crisis for us right now," she continued. Appalachian State University student Laci Hentschel said she was one of the lucky residents who has power, water and cell service, but said she knows people who lost everything following Helene's devastation. "My apartment was luckily one of the ones that we're better off, so we have power, water and Wi-Fi," Hentschel told Todd Piro during "Fox & Friends First" on Monday. "However, the water is still undrinkable, but sadly, it's just really sad to see all of my fellow mountaineers that their apartments just didn't fare as well in all this weather." "I know people that lost everything they have and are now trying to get back on their feet," she continued. "It's just really sad to see all of that, but I'm glad that our community can come together and lift each other up and do what we can for each other in this time of need." Another Asheville resident, who owns an art studio that was luckily spared, said she moved to North Carolina after Hurricane Ian in hopes of evading another catastrophic storm. "I came from Florida after Hurricane Ian. I thought this is the area to be safe and this is not safe," she said. "They said this could happen, but it was hard to believe," she continued. On Sunday, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra declared a public health emergency (PHE) for North Carolina to address the health impacts of Hurricane Helene. The public health emergency declarations followed President Bidens emergency declarations for Florida, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. Public health emergency declarations give the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services health care providers and suppliers greater flexibility in meeting the emergency health needs of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. Fox News' Stepheny Price contributed to this report. Original article source: Asheville residents battling 'apocalyptic' aftermath of Hurricane Helene after deadly flooding, landslides TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WMBB) Attorney General Ashley Moody is warning Florida residents to be aware of price gouging, disaster scams, and fraud in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. As Floridians are recovering from Hurricane Helene, it is important to remain vigilant for scams and price gouging. Unfortunately, it is now when people are left vulnerable from a catastrophe that bad actors may swoop in to exploit Floridians with contractor fraud, debris-removal scams and more. Please make sure that all services are legitimate before signing a contractcheck out our Scams at a Glance: After the Storm resource for additional tips to avoid falling victim to disaster-related scams, Moody said. The price gouging hotline remains activated for consumers to report allegations of extreme price increases, as well as scams related to the ongoing recovery efforts. Moody is telling Florida residents affected by the storm to make sure that all services are legitimate before signing a contract. Anyone who suspects price gouging on storm-essential items can report it to the Florida Attorney Generals Office by using the no scam app, visiting myfloridalegal.com, or calling 1-866-9-NO-SCAM (1-866-966-7226). Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. WASHINGTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) Eight people were arrested in Washington County, Tennessee on Saturday for alleged looting in flood-impacted areas. WCSO: 8 jailed for alleged looting in flood zone On Monday, First Judicial District Attorney General Steven Finney issued a statement, saying he was deeply troubled to learn that looting had occurred in the area after the natural disaster. I want to assure the people of the First Judicial District that my office will aggressively prosecute any person charged with looting, theft or any other crime related to this disaster to the fullest extent possible, Finney said. This will not be tolerated. Any applicable enhancements to criminal offenses which occur that are related to this disaster will also be pursued. Finney also called attention to Tennessees laws on price gouging after catastrophes such as the recent flooding. Those laws require supplies like food, water and fuel to stay affordable and available. Washington County, TN leaders provide update as receding waters reveal damage Anyone who suspects price gouging is taking place should report it to the State of Tennessee at the Division of Consumer Affairs or submit a report online. Finney said in the statement that he has been encouraged by the responses of volunteers and first responders as rebuilding efforts begin in the region. This is a difficult time for everyone, Finney said. The thoughts and prayers of myself and my staff are with those affected. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. GENEVA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- An expert with the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) has called for stronger regulations to prioritize artificial intelligence (AI) safety. Michael Wade, director of IMD's TONOMUS Global Center for Digital and AI Transformation, made the remarks in an interview with Xinhua as IMD has recently unveiled a new "AI Safety Clock." The clock was designed to assess growing risks posed by Uncontrollable Artificial General Intelligence (UAGI). Drawing inspiration from the "Doomsday Clock," experts at IMD's TONOMUS Global Center for Digital and AI Transformation have set it at 29 minutes to midnight. Their extensive analysis of AI sophistication and regulations placed the clock just beyond medium risk, Wade noted. The expert called for stronger multinational regulations and urged organizations to prioritize AI safety to prevent the clock from inching closer to midnight. IMD created the clock following a comprehensive analysis of technologies and announcements from over 3,500 companies and governments worldwide. The clock involves ongoing monitoring and evaluation of both quantitative and qualitative factors, and its position is updated tri-annually or adjusted as needed based on assessments. Wade said, "Effective, joined-up regulation can constrain the worst tendencies of new technologies without losing their benefits, and we call on international actors and tech giants alike to act in all of our best interests." (WHTM) Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry is warning Pennsylvanians of sextortion cyber fraud incidents that are growing throughout the state. A release from the Attorney General warns residents that if they received an email with an image of their home or street with an alarming message, they may have been targeted by a trending cybercrime involving criminals threatening to post explicit images or videos of their target. The cyber fraud, referred to as sextortion, involves a demand from the criminal for the target to pay to not have the alleged explicit materials publicized. The fraud can also involve blackmail over a targets browsing history, per the release. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Breaking News The release says the criminals likely do not have any of the materials they claim to have. Pennsylvania State Police warning public of potentially fatal sextortion scams Photos of a targets home or street can easily be obtained via Google Maps. While most criminals are lying about having personal, explicit materials, it is possible they may not be. It is important to be vigilant about what you share on social media, by text message, or by email, as criminals can use that information to threaten targets. Cybercriminals often coerce a potential victim to pay through a cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, and provide a QR code or link to the criminals Bitcoin account to transfer the money. The release urges anyone who receives this or a similar threat to NOT scan the code and DO NOT communicate with the cyber-criminal. The release provides some tips on how to keep yourself safe from sextortion scams: When speaking to someone online, search their name to see if its been reported to have been used in a prior crime or if its the name of a famous person. Never send compromising or explicit images of yourself to anyone, no matter who they are or who they say they are. Search the internet for one or two sentences from the email to confirm it is actually spam. No matter what the email threatens, do not respond and delete the email. Do not open attachments or click links in emails from people you do not know. Doing so leaves you vulnerable to identity theft and malware. Never send money or buy a gift card , or do anything to comply with the demands in the email. Do a security check on your computer and install security software. Enable two-factor authentication on your important accounts. Change passwords often , and consider getting a password manager to ensure your passwords are strong and unique. Cover your webcam when not in use to give you peace of mind. Check to see if your email was compromised in a security breach and change passwords as necessary. Never answer your phone unless you recognize the number. If it is a legitimate call, the person will leave a voicemail. If you or someone you know believes they are a victim of phishing, sextortion, or financially motivated sextortion, please report the activity to law enforcement immediately. You can report cyber crimes to the FBI by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or by visiting ic3.gov. You may also submit a complaint to the Office of Attorney Generals Bureau of Consumer Protection online, by emailing scams@attorneygeneral.gov, or by calling the office at 1-800-441-2555. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. OPELIKA, Ala. (WRBL) A undocumented noncitizen man has been arrested by Opelika police in connection with the deadly wrong-way crash that killed Dr. Malcolm Goodchild, a prominent Columbus surgeon, on Interstate 85 earlier this month. Dr. Goodchild On September 30, 2024, authorities arrested 41-year-old Armin Rubido Gomez Lopez after he was discharged from Piedmont Columbus Regional Hospital. Gomez Lopez has been charged with Reckless Murder stemming from the September 7 crash on Exit 62 on I-85. Gomez-Lopez had a previous DUI conviction in Lee County, a misdemeanor. According to investigators, Gomez Lopez was driving a Toyota 4Runner the wrong way on the northbound exit ramp when he collided head-on with a Tesla driven by Dr. Goodchild. The impact was so severe the Tesla caught fire, and Dr. Goodchild, 50, was airlifted to Piedmont Columbus Regional Hospital, where he later died from his injuries. Dr. Goodchilds wife was in the passenger seat, she was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and has since been released. Gomez Lopez, who sustained serious injuries in the crash, was hospitalized for several weeks before his arrest. He is now being held at the Lee County Detention Center, where he awaits an Aniahs Law hearing, which will determine if he remains in custody without bail due to the serious nature of the allegations. The Opelika Police Departments Traffic Homicide Investigation Unit is continuing its investigation into how Gomez Lopez ended up driving the wrong way on the interstate. Witnesses and anyone with additional information about the crash are urged to contact the Opelika Police Department at (334) 705-5200 or the Secret Witness Hotline at (334) 745-8665. Anonymous tips can also be submitted through the Opelika Police Mobile App. Dr. Goodchild was a well-known general and trauma surgeon in Columbus, with privileges at several local hospitals. His death has left a profound impact on both the medical community and the patients he cared for throughout his career. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. The CEO of Aurigny said an investigation into "ableist" comments allegedly made by some of his staff would be completed this week. The company said it launched the probe after it received an anonymous email making the allegations two weeks ago. Aurigny CEO Nico Bezuidenhout said he expected the investigation, which began on 11 September, would be concluded before the end of the week. "That investigation is in progress at the moment and I expect it will be completed in the next week," he said. "I'm not directly involved with it as it is being run by our HR department." Following news of the investigation the Guernsey Disability Alliance published an open letter which stated it was "shocked, saddened and disappointed" to hear of the alleged remarks. The organisation offered to give assistance and guidance to those carrying out the investigation. Follow BBC Guernsey on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk. Related internet links This story was updated to add new information. Austin-area serial killer Raul Meza Jr. will spend the rest of his life in prison without any chance of freedom after he pleaded guilty to two murder charges Monday. During an emotional and, at times, tense hearing in the 390th Travis County state District Court, Meza pleaded guilty to capital murder with the intent to commit sexual assault in the 2019 death of 65-year-old Gloria Lofton in Austin and to murder in the 2023 slaying of 80-year-old Jesse Fraga in Pflugerville. Meza was previously convicted of murder in the 1982 sexual assault and strangulation of 8-year-old Kendra Page outside an Austin elementary school. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison and was released after 11 years. Meza was sent back to prison in 1994 for a parole violation but was released in 2002. He was on parole until 2016. Serial killer Raul Meza Jr. arrives for his sentencing at the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center on Monday. Meza was charged with capital murder in the 2019 death of 65-year-old Gloria Lofton in Austin and with murder in the 2023 slaying of 80-year-old Jesse Fraga in Pflugerville. Sonia Houston, Lofton's daughter, read a statement Monday before Travis County District Judge Julie Kocurek, who oversees the 390th District Court, stating that all the families were displeased with the plea deal, as they wanted District Attorney Jose Garza to seek the death penalty. "A lifetime in jail will not be equal to the pain that we have all experienced," Houston said. "We want to go to trial so all the atrocities can be publicly aired and addressed. ... By accepting this plea, we are giving Raul exactly what he wants." Kocurek said Meza's plea deal was a rare case in which a person pleaded guilty to the maximum sentence of a charge, as usually a plea is a reduced sentence, especially in cases in which there are multiple charges. Ultimately, she said, there was no more she could do if Garza decided not to seek the death penalty. I know it doesn't help your pain," Kocurek said to Houston. "This will ensure he never walks on the streets of our community again. A member of the public could be heard saying "amen" after Kocurek addressed Houston. Tracy Page, Kendra's sister, broke down and cried in the courtroom gallery after the interaction. Faith, Kevin and Tracy Page hold photos of Kendra Page after the sentencing of serial killer Raul Meza Jr. on Monday. Meza waived his right to appeal, meaning the cases will not be open for post-conviction litigation, a statement from the district attorneys office said. Prosecutors asked to dismiss a charge of unauthorized use of a vehicle. Our hearts continue to break for the Lofton and Fraga families. We hope this outcome continues to help them with their healing process, a statement from Garza said. As a result of this outcome, Mr. Meza will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole and will never threaten our community again. We are grateful to our prosecutors and law enforcement partners who worked tirelessly on these cases and secured justice for the victims families and our community. Police have previously accused Meza of being a serial killer who might be involved in as many as 10 other homicides. Police issued a warrant for Meza's Google information to link him to a possible 2018 cold case homicide, along with two others in San Antonio that Meza said he committed in 2018 and 2019. Kevin Page, brother of Kendra Page, hugs Sonia Houston, daughter of Gloria Lofton, at the sentencing of serial killer Raul Meza Jr. An internal memo from the Austin Police Department showed that investigators made missteps with DNA evidence linking Meza to the 2019 slaying, and if that had not happened, they might have prevented him from killing Fraga, according to previous reporting by the American-Statesman. After Meza accepted the plea agreements, Kocurek asked him if he was apologetic. Meza said he didn't see a use, other than for the public to "ostracize" him since he had admitted he was guilty. "I think its too late, Meza said. "What's the use if a person will not accept it? Kocurek addressed Meza, telling him that he had been "terrorizing" Austin for far too long and that this plea would ensure he would be stopped. Meza's attorney, Russell Hunt Jr., sought to get Meza protective custody in prison since he was a "known gang member." Kocurek said she would make a note but that she would not request he get protection and would leave that decision up to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice if it determined he was a gang member. Judge Julie Kocurek sentences serial killer Raul Meza Jr. on Monday at the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center. Someone in the courtroom gallery muttered "thank you" after Kocurek said she wouldn't request he get this protection. Two members of the Fraga family, Carlos Garcia and Oscar Mota, and Lofton's two daughters, Christina Fultz and Houston, addressed Meza from the witness stand after he accepted the plea deal. Lofton's daughters railed against APD for its "poor" investigation and the "inept" district attorney's office for accepting the plea. "Raul, you're not some mastermind of a killer," Fultz said from the witness stand. "You prey on the weak and the innocent children and elderly, and you are the quintessential lowest, most despised kind of killer." Monday's hearing also provided some closure for members of the Page family, but Kevin Page, Kendra's brother, said he also wanted Meza to face the death penalty. "He's pure evil," Kevin Page said. "The whole idea of him being able to eat three meals a day and breathe air when our loved ones are 6 feet under, and the pain and suffering he put every one of our family members through. It wasn't just murder, it was torture for each victim. He deserves no air. He deserves nothing." This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin-area serial killer Raul Meza Jr. to serve life in prison MELBOURNE, Australia As Australias military adjusts to recommendations contained in last years Strategic Defence Review, there is a demand for lighter vehicles better suited operations in coastal areas. First out of the gate in what could be a shopping spree for such rides was manufacturer Polaris, announcing earlier in September that the company had won a contract for DAGOR light vehicles. The A$22 million (US$14.6 million) deal entails several variants in support of joint missions worldwide, with an undisclosed quantity to be delivered within two years, Polaris said in a statement. These DAGOR variants cover tactical transport, expeditionary reconnaissance and cargo missions. Australian Army special forces are the likely recipient of these diesel-powered vehicles. Michael Cannell, a sales and operations manager at Polaris Australia, told Defense News of increased regional interest in all-terrain vehicles in the past two years. Cannell said: Were proud to provide this capability for Australian personnel. The DAGOR all-terrain vehicle will allow teams to move faster, carry more and significantly reduce combat fatigue by navigating complex terrain otherwise covered on foot. At Land Forces 2024 in Melbourne, held Sept. 11-13, Polaris also exhibited an MRZR-A vehicle, a bare-bones, ultra-light ride that comes in variants with seats for two or four occupants, according to the companys website. Brigadier Doug Pashley, commander of the Australian Armys Darwin-based 1st Brigade, told Defense News about the formations metamorphosis from a mechanized, heavy brigade. As part of our transition to a littoral brigade, were experimenting with a lot of mobility options, he said. That includes Supacat HMT Extenda vehicles ordinarily utilized by special forces, since theyre probably a bit more regionally relevant than some of the heavier stuff that weve had in the past year, Pashley said. The brigade is also toying with lighter vehicles like the Polaris MRZR. Were really lucky we can draw lessons from other forces that have been leading the way in terms of developing littoral capabilities, both the U.S. Marine Corps and the Royal Marines, Pashley explained. Both have procured some light mobility vehicles, so were keen to leverage lessons from them. Polaris is not the only company seeking to cash in on changing Australian and regional requirements. Also at Land Forces 2024, local company Bale Defence debuted its RTV6 rough terrain vehicle. This six-wheeled RTV6 joins existing RTV2 and RTV4 4x4 vehicles in its range. Bale Defence delivered 19 two-seater RTVs to the Australian Army in 2014-15, and special forces later ordered dozens of upgraded RTV2s for US$6.2 million in 2021. Martyn Jones, Chief Operating Officer at Bale Defence, lauded the RTV6s 1.5-ton payload capacity. Such vehicles are ideal for carrying remote-controlled weapon stations, surveillance systems and counter-drone systems, he said. Supacat was also at Land Forces 2024, unveiling its Medium Utility Vehicle (MUV) based on a Toyota Hilux platform. Both 4x4 and 6x6 configurations are available, the MUV being the fruit of collaboration between Supacats British and Australian arms. Matthew Grech, a sales executive at Supacat, told Defense News the MUVs target clientele is special operations forces, but other applications include troop carriers, weapons carrier and utility tasks. Austria entered uncharted territory Monday after the far right scored a historic national election win, with parties facing an uphill task to form a new government. The far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) under Herbert Kickl has rapidly regained ground lost in a string of corruption scandals, winning 28.8 percent in Sunday's vote, according to near-complete results. The FPOe beat the ruling conservative People's Party (OeVP) into second place on 26.3 percent, and the left-wing Social Democrats (SPOe) into third on 21.1 percent. But so far all parties have refused to work with Kickl because of his radical proposals. "Winner -- and what now?" said the daily Kurier's main headline with a photo of Kickl giving a thumbs-up. A vocal critic of the European Union and its sanctions against Russia for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Kickl's abrasiveness has left him isolated among Austrian lawmakers. Uncertainty over what would happen next dominated Austria, as Kickl's FPOe could end up being sidelined like some of its far-right allies in Europe. "Times are changing," Dutch far-right firebrand Geert Wilders wrote on X after Austria's election results were announced, listing 11 European countries where nationalist parties were "winning". In neighbouring Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban hailed "another win for the #Patriots". French far-right leader Marine Le Pen expressed "delight" at the "groundswell that carries the defence of national interests, the safeguarding of identities and the resurrection of sovereignties". - 'Tough and turbulent' talks - With Sunday's victory ahead of the OeVP, Kickl surpassed results bagged by his predecessors Joerg Haider and Heinz-Christian Strache. Apart from a few hundred protesters, the far-right win did not trigger major demonstrations. "We were expecting it, so we're neither totally shocked nor delighted," Isabella, a Viennese who declined to give her surname, told AFP. Austria's Kronen Zeitung tabloid noted that "something revolutionary hangs in the air", warning that coalition talks would be "tough, long and turbulent". Talks to form a new government in Austria on average take at least two months. The immediate focus was on President Alexander Van der Bellen, who will choose the politician tasked with forming a government. "Traditionally, he hands over the mandate to the party that comes first," said Andreas Eisl, a researcher at the Jacques Delors Institute. Having voiced past reservations about Kickl, Van der Bellen on Sunday promised to make sure a government is formed that respects the "foundations of our liberal democracy", stressing that it will need the majority support of 92 MPs. The programme of the future government could include "a preamble" on "respecting EU policies and treaties", according to university professor Kathrin Stainer-Haemmerle. But tasking the FPOe is symbolically charged: it would be a first since 1945 for a party founded by former Nazis and led by a man who has called himself the future "Volkskanzler", the people's chancellor, as Adolf Hitler was termed. However, Van der Bellen could go back to the conservatives, even after their historic defeat. "It's a real challenge," said Eisl, noting that the president risks becoming a target of criticism, including by Kickl, who has already slammed what he sees as a "denial of democracy" in the face of his victory. - Three-way coalition - If conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer is asked again he could opt to team up with the the far right, as his party did in 2000 and 2017. But the conservatives have become more cautious over dealings with the scandal-ridden FPOe, and Kickl does not appear to be inclined to step aside to enable coalition talks, Eisl said. According to the expert, a three-party coalition led by the OeVP with the Social Democrats (SPOe) and the liberal NEOS (9.2 percent) could emerge. The infighting-plagued SPOe's leader Andreas Babler on Monday said he was concerned about the "massive shift to the right", stressing that he "stands ready" for preliminary talks. According to the daily Der Standard, Nehammer might drag out talks with other parties before turning to the FPOe. It would not be the first time the conservative party had "flipped sides", said Eisl. bg-anb-kym/sbk As jubilant Austrian far-right supporters celebrated their party's historic win in Sunday's national elections with beers, they knew forming a government would not be easy. "It's a real success... (but) I predict that no matter who forms the government, we will certainly not have one before Christmas," Erik Berglund, a 35-year-old waiter, told AFP. Led by sharp-tongued Herbert Kickl since 2021, the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) had been tipped to narrowly beat the ruling conservatives but Sunday's results -- with the party getting around 29 percent -- were even slightly better than expected. Like other party supporters around him in traditional Austrian dress, Berglund credited Kickl the "most competent leader". But he said it would now be up to the other parties to decide if the FPOe head can become chancellor. "It will certainly be a very, very exciting time," he added as electric blue light -- the FPOe colour -- illuminated the restaurant in downtown Vienna where the party was celebrating. - 'Mountain climber' - Chancellor Karl Nehammer, whose conservatives came second in the elections, has already said he would not form a coalition government with Kickl. Other party leaders have also rejected him. "I am a mountain climber, but the bag that I have been given is not light," the sporty Kickl told his cheering supporters. As supporters watched the vote night unfold on private television rather than public broadcaster ORF, which the FPOe has accused of being biased, they booed whenever other parties' representatives appeared onscreen. Hilmar Kabas, an FPOe member since the 1960s, said other parties' "weakness" was the main reason that propelled the far right to victory. But supporters wearing "Team Kickl" parkas also rattle off other reasons, such as asylum seeker applications deemed too many, a slumping economy and the high cost of living that has seen far-right parties across Europe gain ground. But if no one is willing to form a coalition under Kickl, it's better to stay in the opposition, Kabas said. "It is not the other parties that decide for us," he added. - 'Beacon in our night' - A loden-clothed activist from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was also among the crowd, having come specially from Bavaria state in neighbouring Germany to celebrate with his "friends". "Germany is looking toward Vienna tonight," he said, declining to give his name. With him, he brought a gift for Kickl: a small blue lighthouse engraved with his name because "he is a beacon in our night". Outgoing lawmaker Petra Steger said President Alexander Van der Bellen must now give the mandate to Kickl to form a government "respecting the voters". "That's how it works in a democracy," she said. Having expressed reservations about Kickl a few months ago, Van der Bellen promised after the results were announced he would make sure a government is formed that respects the "foundations of our liberal democracy". Not far from the FPOe celebration, in front of parliament, a few hundred people gathered to say "no to Kickl", leader of a party formed by former Nazis. "Nazis out", they chanted. "Unfortunately, it was to be expected that the FPOe would be in the lead, but it is quite sad (to have this result), because somehow we have learned nothing from history," Juliana Hofmann, a 19-year-old student, told AFP. bur-bg-jza/rsc The global wave of Right-wing populism first emerged in Austria, almost precisely 22 years ago. In 1992, the then-leader of the hard-Right Austrian Freedom Party (FPO) Jorg Haider initiated a public referendum called Osterreich zuerst, or Austria First. Haider and his party demanded an end to mass immigration, more money for police and law enforcement, and a cap on non-German speaking pupils in state schools. Whether consciously or unconsciously, Right-wing populists from Trump to Farage have been following in Haiders footsteps but he was ahead of them by at least two decades. After being killed in a car crash in 2008, Mr Haider could not witness the ultimate triumph of his former party, which came in first with 28.8 per cent of the vote in yesterdays federal elections. For 80 years, every Austrian election was either won by the conservative Peoples Party (OVP) or the Social Democrats (SPO); since 1945 for more than half the time they have governed together, in what has become known as a Grand Coalition. They might end up governing together yet again, but it would be a coalition of the losers, with nothing grand about it. Gone are the days where those two parties could monopolise almost 70 per cent of the vote, and yesterdays results of 26.3 per cent for the OVP and 21.1 per cent for the SPO are disasters of historical proportions. As expected, the triumph of the FPO immediately led to the Freedom Party being maligned as Nazis and Putin stooges. But this entirely ignores why voters moved to the Right in such huge numbers. Among FPO voters, polls are showing that 45 per cent based their decision on the partys programme, 11 per cent said that there is no alternative, and 9 per cent say that the FPO represents my interests. And what those interests are has changed little since the 1992 referendum: An end to immigration and a policy that puts Austria first. The coalition government of the conservatives and Greens (who also went down 5.6 percentage points, leaving them with a disappointing 8.3 per cent of the overall share) has been an abject failure in many respects: Measured as GDP per capita, the Austrian economy has shrunk by 1.7 per cent during its tenure, making the country the worst performer among all EU member states. In the city of Vienna, in state schools up to 70 per cent of pupils do not speak German as their first language. Teachers are at breaking point; instead of educating children, they are forced to be social workers. Younger voters shifted to the FPO most dramatically: the party is now the most popular choice both among voters under 34 and among voters aged of 35 and 59. The FPOs success can be attributed to three main factors. Firstly, their strong stance on migration. As a nationalist party unafraid to discuss remigration, theyve always had substantial support from those favoring closed borders over open ones. Secondly, the Covid policies of the ruling Conservative-Green coalition, which have been some of the strictest in Europe. Under Herbert Kickls leadership, the FPO positioned itself as a vocal critic of these policies, further fueled by the governments harsh rhetoric about an epidemic of the unvaccinated and the near-implementation of a compulsory federal vaccine mandate. Even though Covid is now a distant memory for many, a segment of the population ardently opposed to those policies now supports the FPO. Lastly, voter mobilisation played a crucial role. With a voter turnout nearing 80 per cent, it appears that many former non-voters were drawn to the FPO. Additionally, a growing sense of pessimism, with six out of ten Austrians dissatisfied with the countrys direction, contributed to their rise. The FPO approach has been much criticised for being receptive to conspiracy theories and for taking a lenient stance toward Vladimir Putin. These criticisms are not without foundation, as the FPO has proposed some controversial measures, such as cutting financial support for Ukraine to address budget shortfalls. Nevertheless, it remains uncertain whether these positions have negatively impacted their voter base. What is clear, however, is that the Nazi-argument is difficult to maintain for what is increasingly becoming the party of the young. Whatever old Nazis are still around, they are more likely to vote for the OVP or the SPO at this point, so the idea that it is only elderly reactionaries who cast their ballot for the Freedom Party is obviously false. But there is more: The Greens and the Social Democrats had some strong regional showings, especially in the more affluent parts of both Vienna and the wider country, but in working class districts the FPO made its most significant gains. The Austrian Left, like its counterpart in Germany, is increasingly becoming the party of the wealthy, while the Right is absorbing the working-class vote. In the long run, this will spell the end of the Social Democratic movement in the German speaking parts of Europe, because you cannot be a working-class party in name and a woke-class party in your programme forever. People will eventually catch on to the internal contradiction, as Marx would have said. As the generation of over 60-year-olds is slowly dying out, so will the Social Democrats. Despite its success, the FPO will most likely not find itself in government anytime soon, because the positions that make them popular with the voters, also make them party-non-grata for potential coalition partners. Given the final results, a return of the Grand Coalition is possible, albeit with the slimmest of possible majorities. More likely is an inclusion of the liberal party as a third member, marking yet another first in Austrian politics, a three-party coalition. It is far from certain that excluding the FPO, the strongest party in parliament, from governing will weaken them. Historically, the FPO has thrived in opposition. A triple-coalition would be unprecedented and unstable the Social Democrats have moved significantly Leftward, complicating potential partnerships with Right-of-center liberals and conservatives. A coalition formed solely to exclude the FPO, without a clear plan or cohesive program, risks further alienating voters. This could backfire and potentially boost the FPOs support to over 30 per cent in the next elections. The same voter disillusionment on immigration, law and order, and multiculturalism that has turned the FPO into Austrias largest party are witnessed across Europe. Dont be surprised if the populists start winning closer to your home soon. 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. CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) A former paraprofessional for a Cumberland County school district is accused of assaulting a non-verbal, autistic elementary school student. While working as an aide at East Pennsboro School District, Jessica Piper, 36, of Enola, allegedly assaulted the student over the course of the 2023-24 school year, according to charging documents from East Pennsboro Township Police. Piper was a paraprofessional employed through Substitute Teacher Service and she was the students aide during the school year, the charges show. District officials said she was let go immediately once officials were told about the investigation. Ms. Piper was removed from her position once we were formally notified of the investigation pending allegations of misconduct, a statement from the district reads. Fulton County parents charged after boy hospitalized with near fatal injuries According to police, they got a report in May about Piper allegedly grabbing the child by the neck and pushing him to the ground to make him pick stuff up. Police also alleged Piper would also cover the childs mouth to prevent him from making noise and she would restrain him with her hands. Police were told that Piper was seen hitting and holding her hand over the students mouth by witnesses and that it was not done in a gentle manner, police said in the charges. Piper was also witnessed squeezing his face while yelling at him and shoving the back of his head, police said. When told about the bruises, one witness told police they were not shocked because there was no way there couldnt have been bruises, the charges show. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now WHTM Morning Weather The childs mother also noticed them coming home with apparent fingerprint bruising around his arm and jawline, police said. Piper faces a felony charge of endangering the welfare of children and a misdemeanor charge of simple assault. She is out on unsecured bail set at $10,000 and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Oct. 23. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, says that after his visit to the US he expects concrete actions from Ukraines partners for strengthening the strategy and implementation of the Victory Plan. Source: Zelenskyys evening address to Ukrainians Details: Zelenskyy stated that he had just ended a meeting following the results of his visit to the US. He talked to the Ukrainian military, the government and the Office of the President. Quote: "Our teams both Ukrainian and American are already working on everything we discussed in New York and Washington, and we are already preparing for the upcoming Ramstein meeting. This will be a special Ramstein, and our partners will receive all the details and arguments from our side on how to ensure results in the coming months both at the front and in diplomatic work." More details: Zelenskyy noted that it was necessary to unite the force of weapons and of diplomacy as they are "always effective when working together". Quote: "This is exactly how we should implement the Victory Plan. We are also expecting concrete actions from our partners to strengthen our strategy. This applies to all our partners our strength lies in the fact that the free world is defending itself." Background: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy intends to personally request further arms supplies from Western partners during a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, also known as the Ramstein format, to keep fighting against Russia. The Ramstein format meeting will be held on 12 October. Support UP or become our patron! NRB President & CEO Statement on Hurricane Helene NEWS PROVIDED BY National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) Sept. 30, 2024 WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2024 /Christian Newswire/ -- Troy A. Miller, president & CEO of the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), has issued a statement on the impact of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and Virginia. The following statement is attributable to NRB president & CEO Troy A. Miller: "We are praying for all those destabilized by the devastating floodwaters of Hurricane Helene. NRB members including relief workers, chaplains, and volunteers are working around the clock to deliver information, resources, and comfort to these communities impacted by the tragic loss of life and destruction of homes and infrastructure. "This hurricane once again highlights the crucial role of local radio as a lifeline in times of crisis. Local radio broadcasters have been delivering critical updates and messages of encouragement nonstop, even as power lines and cell towers fail. We commend their outstanding public service and once again urge lawmakers to act now to protect AM radio." To interview Miller, please contact presscenter@nrb.org. About NRB NRB is a nonpartisan, international association of Christian communicators whose member organizations represent millions of listeners, viewers, and readers. NRBs mission is two-fold: To protect the free speech rights of our members to speak Biblical truth by advocating those rights in governmental, corporate, and media sectors; and to foster excellence, integrity, and accountability in our membership by providing networking, educational, ministry, and relational opportunities. Learn more at www.nrb.org. About the NRB Convention The annual NRB International Christian Media Convention is the largest nationally and internationally recognized event dedicated solely to assisting those in the field of Christian communications. The dynamic and award-winning Exposition consists of hundreds of organizations and is an active marketplace for those seeking products and services to enhance their organization. The next Convention will be held February 24-27, 2025, at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center, Grapevine, Texas. For more information, go to www.nrbconvention.org. SOURCE National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) CONTACT: Noelle Huizenga, 202-891-7843, presscenter@nrb.org BUDAPEST, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Both Hungary and Ukraine are interested in strengthening their neighborhood relations, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said here on Monday. Speaking during a joint press conference after a meeting with his recently appointed Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Sybiha, Szijjarto reiterated Hungary's pro-peace stance on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, stressing that a diplomatic solution is the only way to end the suffering of millions. "Hungary supports all initiatives aimed at achieving peace as soon as possible," he said, adding that Hungary continues to offer humanitarian assistance, having welcomed over 1.4 million refugees from Ukraine since the conflict began. Szijjarto also spoke about Hungary's involvement in Ukraine's post-war reconstruction, saying that the country is ready to play a significant role in rebuilding efforts. "We are not just talking; we are already participating in restoring educational, healthcare, and administrative institutions," he said. On the energy front, Hungary has supplied over three billion cubic meters of gas to Ukraine and now serves as Ukraine's largest source of electricity imports. "During the summer, 45 percent of Ukraine's electricity imports came from or through Hungary," the Hungarian minister also said. While praising cooperation, Szijjarto said that mutual respect and goodwill must underpin the relationship between the two nations. "We respectfully expect Ukraine to restore the rights of the Hungarian national community, especially in terms of access to their mother tongue," he said, confirming that Hungary has presented a detailed proposal to Ukraine on this matter. Sybiha spoke of the importance of strengthening Ukraine's relations with its Western neighbors, particularly Hungary. He presented Ukraine's focus on securing peace and advancing its goals of joining the European Union (EU) and NATO, noting that discussions with Szijjarto were held in a spirit of mutual respect and focused on key national interests. Sybiha also invited Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to visit Kyiv. Sybiha expressed gratitude for Hungary's support in maintaining Ukraine's territorial integrity amid the conflict, as well as its humanitarian aid. He appreciated Hungary's help in training military doctors, demining efforts, and the establishment of a bilingual school aimed at preserving Ukrainian identity in Hungary, which he visited during his trip. Sybiha also thanked Hungary for its participation in international peace efforts and hoped for its ongoing support, especially during Hungary's EU presidency. Sign up for The Agenda Them's news and politics newsletter, delivered to your inbox every Thursday. This article contains descriptions of alleged stalking and sexual harassment. Fiona Harvey, the woman who reportedly served as inspiration for Martha in Netflixs Baby Reindeer, will be allowed to sue the streaming platform for defamation following a ruling from a judge. Harvey filed a $170 million suit against Netflix on June 6, alleging that the show amounted to defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, gross negligence, and violations of privacy. In the series, Martha is depicted sexually assaulting Donny Dunn (the autobiographical character played by Richard Gadd) in an alley, and violently attacking him in a pub, smashing a glass bottle over his head and gouging his eyes with her thumbs, per court documents. However, Harvey did not do these things in real life. Even so, within a few days of the series airing, viewers were able to identify Harvey as the inspiration for Martha by finding a post on Gadds Facebook profile that contained the phrase hang my curtains, echoing a line in the show. Subsequently, Harvey claimed that she was inundated with threatening and harassing messages, which caused her to suffer severe emotional distress, according to court documents. Though Baby Reindeer billed itself as a true story, Netflix executives admitted in July that Harvey had never been convicted of stalking, though Martha is presented as a convicted stalker in the show. In real life, however, Gadd obtained a First Instance Harassment Warning against Harvey but did not press actual criminal charges. The Controversies Around Netflixs *Baby Reindeer*, Explained The hit streaming show is now the subject of a $170 million defamation lawsuit, among other allegations. Netflix made a motion to dismiss the lawsuit at the end of July. But in a decision issued Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, judge Gary Klausner ruled that Harvey would be allowed to continue her lawsuit against the streamer. Klausner wrote that there is a major difference between stalking and being convicted of stalking in a court of law, and that there are major differences between inappropriate touching and sexual assault, as well as between shoving and gouging anothers eyes. While plaintiffs purported actions are reprehensible, defendants statements are of a worse degree and could produce a different effect in the mind of a viewer, the judge said. The Sunday Times reported in June that Netflix requested to include the disclaimer, This is a true story, even though Gadd expressed concerns about that claim. In a document that Gadd submitted to the court earlier this month, he stated that while Baby Reindeer was emotionally true, it is not a beat-by-beat recounting of the events and emotions I experienced as they transpired. Gadd also wrote that Harvey stalked him for three years, from 2014 to 2017, constantly hanging around the pub where he worked. He also alleged that there was a particularly intense period of time when Harvey often attempted to touch me in inappropriate (and sometimes sexual) ways. She also reportedly sent Gadd thousands of emails, hundreds of voicemails, and a number of handwritten letters which often included sexually explicit, violent, and derogatory content, hateful speech, and threats. Get the best of whats queer. Sign up for Thems weekly newsletter here. Originally Appeared on them. The claim that Walz "abandoned" his National Guard unit right before he would have been deployed to Iraq is a subjective allegation leveled by a small number of former National Guardsmen and Minnesota political activists. Having served in the Guard for 24 years, Walz was free to retire when he did. Walz has never claimed to have served in a combat role in war. Such allegations are based on a single misstatement and are undercut by his consistent transparency about not seeing combat in other interviews. Walz served as a command sergeant major, but did not retire at that grade because he did not complete the required training. The Guard has said, on numerous occasions, that it is accurate for Walz to state that he has served at that rank. In the days leading up to the Oct. 1, 2024, vice presidential debate between Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. JD Vance, some Republicans placed renewed focus on a series of old attacks about Walz's service in the National Guard. Largely, these attacks focus on three allegations: He "abandoned" his National Guard unit right before he would have been deployed to Iraq. He has lied about serving "in war." He has lied about the rank at which he retired. Walz has faced these allegations from the same small group of local politicians and former Minnesota National Guardsmen in virtually every election he has participated in since his first campaign for Congress in 2006. In 2018, when he was running for governor of Minnesota, two former members of Walz's unit wrote an open letter that went viral then, and which resurfaced in 2024: When the nation called, he quit. He failed to complete the United States Army Sergeants Major Academy. He failed to serve for two years following completion of the academy, which he dropped out of. He failed to serve two years after the conditional promotion to Command Sergeant Major. He failed to fulfill the full six years of the enlistment he signed on September 18th, 2001. He failed his country. He failed his state. He failed the Minnesota Army National Guard, the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion, and his fellow Soldiers. And he failed to lead by example. Shameful. Background Walz served in the Army National Guard for 24 years, joining the Nebraska Guard at age 17. He underwent basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, that year, in 1981. He returned for his senior year of high school while drilling with his unit. Service in the National Guard involves an initial period of training, then a commitment of one weekend a month and two weeks a year of exercises and training. Walz became an artillery specialist and helped train soldiers on the use of field artillery weapons. He met his wife and moved with her to Minnesota in 1996, continuing his teaching and military careers in parallel. With that move, he transferred to a National Guard outfit based near his new job 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery Unit, or the 1-125th FA. He rose through the ranks, as he described in a 2009 Library of Congress interview: I taught sixth-grade history for a while teaching in Nebraska. That's where I met my wife, and she moved me back to Minnesota . I said as far as guard units, you're able to transfer to ones. And they found me one near my hometown in Mankato, Minnesota, where I was moving with my wife that was a field artillery unit in St. James, Minnesota. So I joined the 1st [Battalion] of the 125th Field Artillery, which was part of the 34th Division, the Red Bulls, and became part of that division artillery and then moved through the ranks, everything from gunnery sergeant, chief of the firing battery, a first sergeant and then eventually being the sergeant major for the battalion. Domestically, the battalion was involved in several natural-disaster responses: tornado cleanups, flooding disasters, and Yellowstone wildfires. Though Walz's initial commitment to the Guard ended in 2001, he re-enlisted following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. After Sept. 11, the 1-125th participated in overseas deployments, though not in combat roles. Walz and his unit provided "force protection" at Air Force bases in Italy, demobilizing in early 2004. Upon his return from that deployment, Walz was promoted to command sergeant major, making him the most senior enlisted member of the 1-125th. In early 2005, Walz announced his run for U.S. Congress. When he began his campaign, he was enlisted and considered the possibility of campaigning while on active duty or facing deployment, but later decided to retire to focus on the run. At the time, he was 41 and had a 4-year-old daughter. Walz 'Abandoned' His Unit? The allegation that Walz "abandoned" his unit originated, in large part, from the National Guardsman who went on to take Walz's place as command sergeant major in the 1-125th and who co-wrote the aforementioned open letter. Centrally, this line of attack alleges that Walz's congressional run allowed him to avoid combat. Walz announced his run for Congress in February 2005, before the March 17, 2005, announcement that the 1-125th would potentially be deployed to Iraq. While Walz did announce his intention to run before that announcement, it is certainly possible he knew his unit was likely to see action in Iraq based on increased mobilization of National Guard troops for the War on Terror and due to his senior rank. At the time of the mobilization announcement, Walz said he was still considering remaining enlisted during his campaign. Ultimately, he decided to retire. Though it is unclear when he filed his decision to retire, May 17, 2005, was his last day with the Guard. His unit deployed in March 2006. The suggestion that a possible future combat deployment played a role in his decision to retire is speculative, and pushed in large part by that small but vocal group of former members of the 1-125th. Others who served with Walz disagree, saying he had every right to retire when he did. As the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported, for example: Joseph Eustice, a 32-year veteran of the guard who led the same battalion as Walz, said the governor fulfilled his duty. "He was a great soldier," Eustice said. "When he chose to leave, he had every right to leave." Eustice said claims to the contrary are ill-informed and possibly sour grapes by a soldier who was passed over for the promotion to command sergeant major that went to Walz. Like Walz, Eustice said that he also left in the middle of a six-year re-enrollment because members are free to leave at any time after their initial six-year stint. "If you choose to re-up, you can walk in any day and be done," Eustice said. Other former members of the unit who remember Walz have also spoken highly of him, as reported by Minnesota Public Radio in 2022: Jeff Bertrang outranked Walz in the unit and retired as a brigadier general. Now the New Ulm schools superintendent, Bertrang has a fond recollection of Sgt. Walz. "His willingness to learn and to inspire others, he had a go-get-em' attitude," Bertrang said. "It wasn't sit back and wait to see what happens." They spent time stationed together in the far reaches of Norway, where Guard troops trained with NATO allies, doing drills in the snow in 30-below-zero temperatures. Bertrang said Walz was good at putting his colleagues at ease and demonstrated an appreciation for varying viewpoints and differing backgrounds, all of which could transfer to politics. The Minnesota National Guard, which could have blocked his retirement, had no objections to his leaving at the time he did, an official with the Guard told The Washington Post in August 2024. Walz Lied About Serving 'in War'? In describing his time in the military, Walz has never claimed to have served in any combat role. He makes this point explicit in nearly all published interviews on the subject. Speaking during his 2009 Library of Congress interview about his unit's deployment in a support role during Operation Enduring Freedom, for example, Walz described some of his men's disappointment at their noncombat assignment: We were under the assumption we could fire artillery [during Operation Enduring Freedom]. That's what we had trained for. All of us, first and foremost, were infantry and all of us did need to provide whatever was required of us. So we ended up providing part of the base security for Air Force bases. And I think in the beginning, many of my troops were disappointed. Some conservative outlets, such as the Washington Free Beacon, have argued that Walz's statements about his deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom misleadingly suggest he claimed to have served in Afghanistan. Walz has never made such a claim, though, and he has always described his 2003 deployment as one that supported security operations at U.S. Air Force bases in Europe. The closest thing to a statement made by Walz suggesting he is a combat veteran comes from a 2018 statement he made as governor of Minnesota when he advocated for tighter gun-control legislation: "We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are only carried in war." The Harris campaign recently shared the statement on X and other social media platforms. Gov. @Tim_Walz: I spent 25 years in the Army and I hunt. Ive been voting for common sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks. We can research the impacts of gun violence. We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, pic.twitter.com/3IVaXi2RP2 Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 6, 2024 Walz's phrasing here is inaccurate, as he did not carry weapons "in war." Though he was exposed to enough percussive power from the artillery he trained on, and taught others how to use, to require ear surgery later in life, he did not handle those weapons of war in an actual war. On Aug. 9, 2024, a Harriz-Walz campaign spokesperson told The Washington Post that Walz "misspoke," explaining: In making the case for why weapons of war should never be on our streets or in our classrooms, the Governor misspoke. He did handle weapons of war and believes strongly that only military members trained to carry those deadly weapons should have access to them, unlike Donald Trump and JD Vance who prioritize the gun lobby over our children. His language in this instance was imprecise and potentially misleading, but it requires a literal reading of a rhetorical point about gun violence to cast this statement as his claiming the status as combat veteran in light of his transparency on the topic elsewhere. Walz Lied About His Rank? The dispute about Walz's rank is, at its core, a semantic one. When Walz was promoted to command sergeant major on Sept. 17, 2004, his promotion was conditional on his completing certain training. It is not uncommon for such promotions to precede the required training. He began, but did not complete, training for this role at that time, as described by the military-focused media outlet Task and Purpose: The course Walz failed to complete was a 750-hour course in the Army's Sergeants Major Academy, which would have included 86 hours in residence at Ft. Bliss, Texas. Completing the course is mandatory for E-9s, though completing the training after being promoted is not uncommon. Regardless, Walz served for seven months as command sergeant major. When he decided to retire, he left without completing that training. As a result, his official retirement rank is a step lower. The demotion occurred after he left, and it was administrative, not punitive. The change primarily affects Walz's military-retirement package. The Minnesota National Guard has regularly stated that it is appropriate for Walz to say he "served as" command sergeant major. Capt. Holly Rockow, a public affairs officer for the Minnesota National Guard, told Minnesota Public Radio in 2018 that it "is legitimate for Walz to say he served as a command sergeant major." Walz's opponents take umbrage with Walz saying he is a retired command sergeant major due to this demotion. On Aug. 8, 2024, the Harris campaign, which had originally described Walz as a "retired command sergeant major" on its website, changed the language to more accurately state that he served at the rank of command sergeant major. The Bottom Line A minority of veterans from the 1-125th, as well as political activists, begrudge Walz for retiring in 2005 before a long deployment in Iraq, and for using the phrase "retired as" a command sergeant major. The National Guard accepted his retirement without issue at the time and has stated that he did "serve as" a command sergeant major. Despite characterizations to the contrary, Walz has never explicitly claimed to have served in combat. Walz served honorably in the National Guard for 24 years, and served (but did not retire) at the highest rank possible for an enlisted man. As a soldier he participated in disaster-relief deployments domestically and provided security assistance at European U.S. Air Force bases during Operation Enduring Freedom. Sources: "Army National Guard." Goarmy.Com, http://www.goarmy.com/content/goarmy/en/explore-the-army/army-structure/national-guard.html. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024. Assessing Claims about Tim Walz's Military Service - The Washington Post. 9 Aug. 2024, https://web.archive.org/web/20240809132937/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/08/09/assessing-claims-about-walz-service/. Britzky, Jeremy Herb, Haley. "Vance Reopens Line of Attack into Walz's Military Record as Two Veterans Now Vie to Be Vice President | CNN Politics." CNN, 7 Aug. 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/07/politics/tim-walz-military-record-vance-attack/index.html. "'Citizen Soldier' Walz Honed Leadership in Uniform." MPR News, 3 Oct. 2018, https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/10/03/tim-walz-national-guard-career-minnesota-governor-race. Coolican, J. Patrick. Tim Walz's Campaign for Minnesota Governor Aims to Bridge the Great Divide. 14 Oct. 2018, https://www.startribune.com/tim-walz-s-campaign-for-minnesota-governor-aims-to-bridge-the-great-divide/495297961. History of the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery. https://minnesotanationalguard.ng.mil/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/1st-battalion-125th-field-artillery-history.pdf. Nieberg, Matt White, Patty. "The 'Swift Boating' of Tim Walz Has Begun. What Is the Truth?" Task & Purpose, 7 Aug. 2024, https://taskandpurpose.com/news/swift-boat-walz/. "Paid Letter: The Truth About Tim Walz." West Central Tribune, 2 Nov. 2018, https://www.wctrib.com/community/letters/the-truth-about-tim-walz. Ross, Chuck. Tim Walz Falsely Claimed He Served in Afghanistan. When a Local Vet Called Him Out, His Office Did Nothing. 7 Aug. 2024, https://freebeacon.com/elections/tim-walz-falsely-claimed-he-served-in-afghanistan-when-a-local-vet-called-him-out-his-office-did-nothing/. Senator JD Vance Campaigns in Shelby Township, Michigan | C-SPAN.Org. https://www.c-span.org/video/?537607-1/senator-jd-vance-campaigns-shelby-township-michigan. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024. Tim Walz Congressional Biography. https://www.congress.gov/115/meeting/house/105558/witnesses/HHRG-115-HA00-Bio-WalzT-20170215.pdf. "Timothy James Walz Collection." Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.69125/. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024. Ray Holmes with his rescue hen Norma Collier. He has registered six birds but opposes penalties for backyard keepers [BBC] People who keep pet chickens are being urged to register them ahead of a legal deadline designed to prevent fresh outbreaks of bird flu. Owners who fail to do so by Tuesday risk being fined or even imprisoned, though officials have stressed any punishment would be "proportionate". Farmers say registration is "vital" to protect the poultry population, but some backyard keepers have branded it "bureaucracy gone crazy". Jorge Martin-Almagro, the governments deputy chief veterinary officer, warned against complacency about avian influenza, despite a lack of recent reported cases in captive birds. It follows the largest outbreak on record in the UK, with more than 360 cases confirmed and millions of birds culled between October 2021 and February this year. Derek Smith says he makes no profit from the four eggs his rescue hens lay each day [BBC] Ray Holmes has registered the six rescue hens he keeps on an allotment in Hessle, East Yorkshire. But he objects to the prospect of backyard keepers being penalised should they fail to follow his example. "We have got wildlife flying over," he said. "There are geese flying over in a morning now. Who knows what is dropping from the sky?" It is a sentiment shared by Derek Smith, a fellow allotment holder who owns four hens. "I get four eggs a day," he said. "It is not worth a potential 2,500 fine if I have filled the form in incorrectly. It's bureaucracy gone crazy." James Porter, who has one of the largest flocks in Lincolnshire, believes registration is crucial [BBC] However, James Porter, a Lincolnshire farmer who produces seven million chickens for Sainsbury's each year, said it was "absolutely vital" to register. Thanks to strict biosecurity measures, his flocks have never caught the disease, but he said he had watched fellow farmers suffer. About one million birds were culled in Lincolnshire following an outbreak in December 2021. Mr Porter, who has a flock of 880,000 birds, added: "I know the effect these diseases can have on people's livelihoods. "When their whole flock is taken out most of them never come back from that. 'Top priority' In May this year, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs declared the UK free from cases of avian influenza in kept birds. However, Mr Martin-Almagro confirmed bird flu was present in the wild bird population. He said "mapping" the location of all captive birds was a "top priority". The register has been designed to allow government vets to rapidly deal with any future outbreak, as opposed to wasting resources locating keepers. Officials have stressed advice and guidance will be provided to individuals who fail to register, with formal enforcement action being taken only in cases of repeated non-compliance. Avian influenza is caused by a virus that infects birds and sometimes other animals, such as foxes, seals and otters. The major strain is a type of the virus known as H5N1. It emerged in China in the late 1990s. The virus has, in very rare cases, infected humans and scientists say the current risk to people is low. However, earlier this year experts warned the virus was spreading to cattle and decimating wildlife around the world. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. More on this story Related internet links Both the owner and operator of the Dali container ship that crashed into Baltimores Francis Scott Key Bridge in March, causing its collapse, are under a flurry of new legal claims. Already prepping for likely strike action across the East and Gulf Coast ports, members of three Baltimore-area local branches of the International Longshoremens Association (ILA) are suing Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Private Limited for their role in the deadly accident. More from Sourcing Journal The incident, which resulted in the deaths of six construction workers, closed off access to the Port of Baltimore for more than two months, effectively shuttering operations at its terminals and keeping many of its 2,200 dockworkers out of work without a paycheck. In a class-action lawsuit, the longshoremen are arguing that the Singaporean companies should compensate them for wages lost while the port was closed in the aftermath of the disaster. The parties have not listed a dollar amount in damages. Nearly six months later, shipping traffic in the Port of Baltimore has still not returned to pre-disaster levels, attorneys for the ILA wrote in their claim. Claimants incomes were and continue to be entirely dependent on the flow of cargo vessels in and out of the Port of Baltimore. During a news conference Thursday, three dockworkers who are plaintiffs in the case explained how the port closure impacted them. I would estimate at this time last year, I had approximately 3,500 hours. This year I am close to 1,500, said plaintiff Alonzo Key, a longshoreman of 21 years. Anthony Wynn, another plaintiff who returned to the profession in January, was hoping to hit the 400 hours to qualify for ILA union membership. But he believes he didnt reach that quota by the Sept. 30 contract year deadline due to the ports closure. Hours worked is important to the longshoremen, as their pick of working schedule and future job placement is based exclusively on seniority. Everything we obtain is acquired through hours, said the third plaintiff and 12-year port veteran Ryan Hale. In the wake of the bridges collapse, Maryland had to step in to help impacted employees who could no longer work. In April, the state opened a support program that provided temporary cash assistance to eligible port workers who lost income and work hours due to the Key Bridge collapse. The program doled out $430 every week to those who worked at the Port of Baltimore at least 25 times or made at least $5,000 dollars between Jan. 1 and March 26. The union workers followed multiple parties that have filed legal action against both companies. Baltimore mayor Brandon Scott and the citys council filed their own complaint alleging criminal negligence in the accident back in April, while the U.S. Department of Justice is seeking to recover $103 million in losses and damages from the owner-operator duo. These suits both allege that the companies knew that the 985-foot Maersk-chartered vessel was unseaworthy to float in U.S. waters ahead of the voyage to the country. That was followed by another lawsuit from Maryland attorney general Anthony Brown on behalf of the state and all of its agencies. Brown said the damages stem from the cleanup, the cost to build a new bridge, lost toll revenues after the collapse, environmental damage to state waters, increased wear and tear on local roads, among other factors. The families of multiple victims, as well as local businesses and insurance companies, have also filed claims against the parties. These suits have since been consolidated with the citys lawsuit into one extensive liability case. Grace Ocean and Synergy filed a court petition soon in the days after the collapse seeking to limit their legal liabilitya routine procedure for cases litigated under U.S. maritime law. Their joint filing seeks to cap the companies liability at roughly $43.7 million. A Maryland court will ultimately decide who is responsible for the accident, and how much that party owes. Federal investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board concluded the Dalis electrical and mechanical systems were improperly maintained and configured in a way that violated safety regulations and norms for international shipping. These problems are believed to have resulted in multiple power losses that ultimately led to the accident. As a result, none of the four means available to help control the Dalithe vessels propeller, rudder, anchor or bow thrusterworked when they were needed to avoid or even lessen the impacts of the allision. Afrer being stuck amid the wreckage of the collapse for months before it could be refloated, the Dali departed Norfolk, Va., on Sept. 19. The container vessel is en route to Chinas Port of Ningbo and is expected to reach the mega logistics hub by early November. SPRINGFIELD, Mo. Bass Pro Shops is hosting a hiring event next month in preparation for the holiday season. The national hiring event will be on Oct. 9 and 10 at Bass Pro Shops and Cabelas retail locations across the U.S. and Canada from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The company is hiring for seasonal, part-time and full-time roles in local retail and restaurant locations and will be conducting on-site interviews. Springfield restaurant health code violations, Sept. 23-27 Potential applicants are encouraged to apply in advance by visiting basspro.com/careers. Applicants for most available positions must be at least 18 years old, with some food service positions open to those 16 years of age or older. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Belarus begins combat readiness inspection of its Air Force and air defence units On 30 September, the Belarusian Defence Ministry commenced the next phase of inspections for its Armed Forces, specifically targeting the readiness of the Air Force and air defence units. Source: Belarusian Defence Ministry; Belaruski Hajun, an independent Belarusian military monitoring media outlet Quote from the Defence Ministry: "The inspection measures are set to progressively intensify, involving all training and combat ranges of the Armed Forces." Details: Belaruski Hajun reports that the inspection is expected to involve two anti-aircraft missile brigades, two air surveillance brigades, five anti-aircraft missile regiments and three air bases. It is also planned to call up reserve conscripts to be engaged in the inspection. Background: In March-April 2024, Belarus launched an inspection of the combat readiness of the 120th Air Defence Missile Brigade. On 3 September, the Belarusian Defence Ministry began military exercises in the Hrodna and Brest districts bordering Poland and Lithuania, which will last until the end of September. On 26 August 2024, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry reported that Ukrainian intelligence agencies had information that Belarus had concentrated significant forces in the Gomel Oblast near Ukraine's northern border. Over more than two years of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed President of Belarus, has repeatedly claimed that NATO could attack Belarus. This "threat" has led Belarus to conduct numerous military exercises near the borders of other countries and to deploy Russian nuclear weapons on its territory. Support UP or become our patron! FILE - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko attends a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on May 8, 2024. (Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool Photo via AP, File) TALLINN, Estonia (AP) Belarusian human rights activists Monday accused the government of pressuring political prisoners who have been pardoned by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko and forcing them to cooperate with authorities. During the past three months, Lukashenko has pardoned 115 activists who were convicted for taking part in the protest against his rule. Those pardoned were a small fraction of more than 1,300 political prisoners in Belarus, according to the Viasna human rights center. They include the groups founder and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and Polish newspaper journalist Andrzej Poczobut, whose release Poland is seeking. At least six political prisoners have died behind bars, Viasna said. Viasna and other rights groups said Monday that those amnestied were barred from leaving the country and forced to take part in propaganda videos. Andrei Stryzhak of the BYSOL rights group said that some of the amnestied had their phones infested with software intended to spy on the opposition. We categorically condemn the authorities' pressure on the former political prisoners, he said. Viasna representative Pavel Sapelka said the Belarusian law enforcement agencies have threatened those amnestied with repeat conviction or reprisals against their relatives to force them to cooperate with the authorities. In 2020, Belarus was rocked by its largest-ever protests following an election that gave Lukashenko a sixth term in office but was condemned by the opposition and the West as fraudulent. According to Viasna, 65,000 people have been arrested since the protests began and hundreds of thousands have fled Belarus. The Belarusian Defense Ministry announced on Sept. 30 a new stage of inspection of its Armed Forces' military units, with a focus on the air force and air defense troops, according to the statement. The combat training tasks will involve all training areas of the Belarusian Armed Forces. During the inspection, military conscripts from the country's reserves will be called up, the ministry said. Two anti-aircraft missile and two radio-technical brigades, five anti-aircraft missile regiments, and three air bases may be involved in the inspection, according to the monitoring group Belarusian Hajun. Minsk is Moscow's closest ally and hosts Russian troops and missiles, but has so far not been 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. 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, "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." Read also: At Chornobyls edge, Ukrainian soldiers brace for a potential threat from Belarus (Photos) Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Residents of the Villa Vie Residences' Odyssey Celebrate the news that the ship will be departing Belfast after four months [Pacemaker] There were shouts, clapping and cheers of "hip, hip hooray" as it was announced that a cruise ship stranded in Belfast for the last four months would finally leave on Monday night. Villa Vie Residences' Odyssey, which was being outfitted in Belfast, should have departed in May but was delayed as it needed repairs. Some 125 passengers boarded the cruise liner at about 20:00 BST on Monday and it left the port just after 23:30, slightly later than its scheduled departure time of 23:00. Cruise ship chief executive Mikael Peterson said the hold up had been related to administrative paperwork. In the dark and rain, the Odyssey slipped out of the port quietly. There was no sign of any passengers on deck. They stayed inside in the heat on a cold Belfast night. Many passengers talked in recent days about the warmth of their welcome in Belfast during their elongated stay. However, as the cruise ship gradually gathered speed down Belfast Lough, there was bound to be considerable relief on board that sunnier cities lie ahead. 'Absolutely ecstatic' After Mr Peterson's announcement, one passenger ran outside to see the ship in the repair yard, from where its funnels are visible and shouted: "There's smoke." Speaking to BBC News NI before boarding, another man said he was "absolutely ecstatic". When put to him that he has had a long wait for the ship to set sail, he said: Heres how I calculate it; its exactly four and a half months since we said we were leaving, which is half a pregnancy and its a beautiful baby. He said he was uncharacteristically speechless to see the ship pull into the dock. Im in love with this moment, he said. Another woman said she felt excitement but not excitement because its been such a long thing coming, its more like about time. She said she has loved Belfast but is looking forward to experiencing some warm weather. I love the city, love the people but I dont like the weather, she said. Later, passengers made their way up the gang plank in the rain at Belfast cruise terminal. There were shouts of "Goodbye Belfast" and waving as they disappeared on to the Odyssey for their round the world cruise which, for many, will last for years. Cruise ship CEO Mikael Peterson announced that the odyssey will be leaving Belfast on Monday night [BBC] Passengers of the Odyssey had been living in hotels and rental accommodation in the city while the vessel was made seaworthy. The ship anchored off the coast of Northern Ireland overnight, and is expected to set sail again on Tuesday. More than 100 passengers waved goodbye to Belfast [PA Media] 'We're going to party' On Sunday, some passengers celebrated what they hoped would be their final night in the city by taking in the sights on a beer bike tour. Lesly Curtis, who lived in Seattle before embarking on the cruise, said she knew Belfast so well that she has been helping other tourists with directions. "The blessing of the delay has really been a lot of us have been here," she said. "I have been here pretty much for four and a half months and weve all gotten close. Weve run all over the place," Lesly said. She was staying at a hotel but planned to spend Monday getting ready for the departure. "Im going to go to my cabin, be glad to be there, and were going to party," she said. Lesly Curtis is looking forward to departing and having a "party" [BBC] 'Today is the day' Becky Cressy, who is from "sunny, sunny Florida", left with one souvenir, an umbrella. "We are just excited to start this and get going and wave goodbye to Belfast, but you guys have been amazing and were going to miss it," Becky said. She attended a local church in Belfast over the past four months. "Theres been really good days, and not so good days and just going there and meeting them, having their support, has meant a lot," she said. Becky and her husband are cabin owners so might be travelling on the ship for a while. "Im there for 15 years," she said. "Ive committed to three and a half [years] to my husband, but let's see if we love it, Ill be on for fifteen." Becky and her husband are cabin owners so could spend 15 years on the ship [BBC] 'Belfast has been home' Holly Hennessey, from Florida, has been travelling with her six-year-old Siamese cat, Captain. Since they have been in Belfast they have had to move six times, staying in hotels, an apartment and an Airbnb. Holly said she has been living a "normal life" while in Northern Ireland. "Belfast has been home for me. I had to make it home. I couldnt go anywhere because of Captain, so I know shopkeepers by name; I have found a church that I love going to," she said. Captain the cat is excited to move out of his hotel room, Holly says [PA Media] "Im very excited, but when we get on that ship, I will be ecstatic. It is the life Ive dreamed of living, to actually live aboard a ship and actually have my little buddy here with me," Holly said. Holly said Captain was also excited to move out of the hotel room. "Everybody wants to know Captain. The Europa joked that theyre going to add him to the list of their most famous guests," she added. 'Staying warm' Angela Theriac said the delay was all part of the "journey". "Its definitely been part of the adventure, finding exciting things to do in the waiting," she said. She is travelling with her husband, Stephen. "Were originally Floridian so the memories will be staying warm, a lot of cuddling to stay cosy, but Steve always says he loves the humour, and loves the banter with the locals," she said. Stephen said there was "super excitement about sailing" and they are leaving with "wonderful memories". Amy Thedinger preparing to board the Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship at Belfast Port's Cruise Ship Terminal earlier on Monday [PA Media] Why was the cruise ship stuck in Belfast? Villa Vie Residences' Odyssey arrived at Queens Island in the Northern Ireland capital to be outfitted before it was scheduled to leave on 30 May for the first leg of its cruise. But until Monday 30 September, the ship was stuck in Belfast due to problems with its rudders and gearbox. The vessel had some final inspections to pass this week before it was signed off to sail. The unexpected layover in Belfast has cost the company millions of pounds. More on this story The HGTV star recalled how the affected areas in North Carolina and Tennessee were part of his and wife Erins "love story" while sharing ways to help Sara Kauss/FilmMagic; Sean Rayford/Getty Images Ben Napier (left) and some of the flood damage in North Carolina as a result of Hurricane Helene (right) Ben Napier is reflecting on the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene in a region close to his heart. The HGTV star, 41, opened up about his personal connection to the areas in North Carolina and Tennessee worst hit by Hurricane Helene. Though he lives in Mississippi with his wife Erin Napier and their two daughters, the woodworker recalls fond memories of his childhood trips to the Great Smoky Mountains and the role they played in his love story with Erin in an Instagram post on Sunday, Sept. 29. Growing up, the Smokies of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee were heaven for my brothers and me. The first vacation I can remember was to this part of our great country. I went to church camp at @lakejunaluska every summer, and continued as a youth minister, he writes in the caption. Related: Florida Student, 21, Goes Viral Documenting How She Sheltered on Campus from Hurricane Helene The gallery begins with a throwback photo of Ben and Erin smiling in their college days, followed by another shot of old photographs in which he tags his relatives. Additional scenes highlight the peaceful landscape with views of the water and endless mountains. Ben continues, This place is a part of mine and @erinapiers love story." He also includes a note that hes sharing links to relief efforts in his Instagram Stories, which include organizations like Manna Food Bank, Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry, and Mountain Projects, among others. Related: 4-Year-Old Girl and a Firefighter Among Hurricane Helene Victims Identified, as Death Toll Continues to Rise Ben Napier/Instagram Ben Napier's old photos from his trips to the Great Smoky Mountains Helene first hit Florida as a category 4 hurricane on Thursday, Sept. 26 before creating a path of destruction through five more states, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Virginia. As of Monday, September 30, there have been over 100 confirmed fatalities, CNN and NBC News report. North Carolina has seen the worst number of fatalities with a death toll of 42, which could rise as rescue crews continue searching the area. Communities in Western North Carolina have especially been hit with severe flooding, as a number of areas are covered in several feet of water. At least 2 million people in the affected areas are without power as a result of the storm, according to NBC News. 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. Sean Rayford/Getty Images Damage from flooding in North Carolina as a result of Hurricane Helene Regarding ways to help with Hurricane Helene relief efforts, the Weather Channel suggests financial donations are the best way to support the affected communities. "While donations of clothing, food and bottled water inevitably rush in, aid organizations say they can create logistical nightmares," the outlet reported. "A financial contribution to a reputable organization, on the other hand, can be funneled to wherever and whatever need is greatest." Trustworthy organizations include the Red Cross, Florida Disaster Fund and the Salvation Army. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. BEIRUT, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli army targeted Beirut's southern suburbs with seven strong airstrikes Monday night after sending warnings to residents in the area to evacuate, al-Jadeed local TV channel reported. TV footage showed heavy black smoke rising from the areas targeted by the airstrikes, with a strong sound heard in the city. The local TV channel said one of the airstrikes targeted an area in the Dahieh suburb close to the Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport. Israel has intensified its airstrikes across Lebanon since last week, marking the most extensive Israeli military action in the country since 2006. Israel's Security Cabinet on Monday night approved "the next phase" of the military operation in Lebanon. In early August, economist Michael A. Clemens published a paper highlighting the consequences of and potential policy responses to South Koreas birth dearth. Clemens starts with the observation that the countrywhich has the lowest fertility rate in the worldfaces an unprecedented economic crisis driven by rapid population aging. He writes that the once-dynamic Korean economy is widely expected to shrink as the countrys population ages and the workforce is hallowed out, leading to a steep rise in the number of elderly dependents per worker. I read the paper with interest, looking for lessons for the United States, which has experienced a sustained decrease in births that has brought our national fertility rate to historic lows for our standards. On the same day I came across Clemens study, the New York Times published a piece titled, Stop Panicking about the Birthrate. It was a striking juxtaposition. The Times piece suggested that todays low birth rates largely reflect rising incomes and education levels, as well as women having access to modern contraception. Both of these factors, the article posits, make it easier for women to achieve their desired (low) level of childbearing. And as evidence that low fertility rates likely will not lead to the types of challenges some worry about, the piece offered the observation that Nordic countries with below-replacement fertility have not devolved into chaos. Reading both Clemens study and the Times piece on the same day, I noticed a pattern thats come up in recent years, as I have been studying the economics of declining fertility rates. While researchers continue to examine the causes and consequences of fewer birthsand sound the alarm about potential negative effectsmany writers continue to insist that people just need to calm down. As a June essay in the Washington Post put it, A lot of women dont want 2.1 kids. (Note that 2.1 is the benchmark replacement fertility rate, which is the approximate number of children per woman needed for a population to naturally reproduce.) But these positions need not be at oddsboth things can be true. Many women might not want two or more kids (and in fact, my colleagues and I conclude that shifting priorities account for the widespread decline in births). That is a perfectly respectable and fine choice for any individual or couple to make. Still, an aging population with fewer children poses serious social and economic challenges that a forward-looking society should take steps to address. Our task is therefore twofold. On one hand, we need to recognize that any individuals decision or ability to have a child is highly personal and needs to be handled with tact, and to talk about a falling birth rate in a way that does not threaten or bemoan the advances women have made in society. On the other, rather than dismiss any worries as merely alarmist, we should have a serious conversation about the potential problems of an aging and shrinking population. The policy challenges of a declining birth rate. Consider Social Security. The social insurance program is financed by current workers paying for the benefits of current retirees. In turn, its fiscal sustainability depends on having more young people than old people in society. But recent projections by the Social Security Administration assume that U.S. women are going to have 1.9 children over their lifetime. If they instead end up having an average below 1.9 childrenarguably a better guess, given recent trendsthen the government will either have to cut the amount of Social Security benefits paid out or raise more in taxes than currently projected. Moreover, an increasingly childless society is one in which an increasingly large number of people will age alone, without adult children to care for them. As a tragic warning of what this might lead to, Japans police agency reported that almost 40,000 people died alone in their homes there during the first half of 2024. Nearly 4,000 of those people were discovered more than a month after they died. The United Nations reports that Japan, which in 2022 had a fertility rate of 1.26, currently has the worlds oldest population, reflecting decades of very low birth rates. This is the kind of scenario we should prepare forand guard against. An elderly person moves down a staircase alongside a young woman who carries a child in her arms in Tokyo on October 1, 2022. (Photo by David Mareuil/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) In addition, low fertility in the U.S., combined with falling fertility around the world, increases the likelihood of both a less dynamic workforce and fewer productive advances, both of which contribute to improved living standards. Worrying about the impact a shrinking working-age population might have on innovation and economic growth is not a greedy capitalist posture: Economic growth and productivity are good. There is more that can and should be done to promote widespread prosperity, but having fewer workers and a smaller economic pie is not the way to help more people. Nor is a falling birth rate the solution to our climate crisis. Simply put, the timelines dont align. Immediate declines in births have only small near-term impacts on the size of the total populationand therefore on cumulative carbon emissions over the next few decades. Reducing the number of babies born is not going to meaningfully change the earths temperature any time soon. On the flip side, improvements to the climate crisis are more likely to arise from technological innovations, and it is people who generate ideas that spur innovation that results in more advanced technology. The same is true for medical and other advances that lead to better living standards around the globe. Having fewer young peopleand as a consequence, a less dynamic and innovative workforceis not a promising path toward technological breakthroughs on decarbonization, or the search for a cure for cancer, or any of the other exciting developments that a dynamic workforce might bring about. Even as some downplay the negative effects of a declining birth rate, all of these factors illustrate that it is of national interest and policy consequence. Possible worlds. None of this means that any individual woman is making a mistake by not having more kids, of course. It is understandable that conversations about the birth rate invoke strong sensitivities. Some people are uncomfortable with any suggestion that peoples personal choices about childbearing are somehow problematic for society. I certainly agree that it is nobodys personal problem to help solve a societal challenge by having a child they might not want to have. Absolutely not. But rather than insist that we dont need to worry about a low fertility rate, we should at least consider a few possibilities. If below-replacement fertility in the U.S. is the result of fully informed adults making choices consistent with them living their best lives, then what, if any, steps should we take to counteract potential negative consequences? If the current low-fertility regime does in fact reflect what people want, then we should accept this as the new reality and change our programs and policies accordingly. Most immediately, we will need to reform our social insurance systems, which were designed decades ago when the ratio of workers to elderly dependents was much higher. We will also need to increase the number of working-age immigrants legally admitted to the U.S. in order to fill jobsincluding as elder care providersand propel economic dynamism. Businesses will need to make capital investments to maintain overall productivity with fewer available workers. And this is just for starters. We need to be thinking broadly about this scenario and the best path forward. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the total fertility rate in the U.S. was 1,616.5 births per 1,000 women in 2023, a decline of 2 percent from 2022. (Photo via Getty Images) But consider an alternative scenario: If American society were a bit differentor more likely, a lot differentwould more people, more women especially, want to have more kids, or have kids at all? There is reason to suspect that the prevailing regime of below-replacement fertility in the U.S. and other high-income countries is at least partially the result of constraints or costs on women that keep some, or even many, from having as many children as they might otherwise like to have. This suggests that if policies were more family friendly, if men were more helpful with household chores, if marital norms were more egalitarian, if social messaging were more celebratory of family life, then people might choose to have more children. This flips the proposition from the Times piece on its head. While the very high rates of fertility among women in the past reflected, to some extent, constraints on womens autonomy and choices, perhaps the very low rates of fertility among women in the 21st century reflect, to some extent, a different set of constraints. What is the natural rate of fertility or childlessness that maximizes human happiness? I dont think we know. Pro-natalist, pro-women common ground. We should at least consider that perhaps human happiness would be even greater if our society were more family and child friendly, if gender roles were more egalitarian, and if more people felt empowered to choose to have children. Sure, in such a scenario, the improved finances of our social insurance programs and potentially a more productive workforce would be nice bonuses. But even observers who are inclined to set aside such economic considerations should, out of an interest in human happiness and womens agency, be committed to that line of thinking. Such observers should be open to the possibility that so-called pro-natalist policies might actually lead not just to more babies but to greater overall happiness, includingor perhaps especiallyfor women. There should be common ground between pro-natalists and champions of womens empowerment. Both groups should favor policies and institutions that would make it more financially viable for people to have and raise children, and for more women to pursue both a career and motherhood. For instance, policies like child tax credits, paid parental leave, and child care subsidies would be a way for society to share in the responsibility and cost of raising children. Such policies would make life easier for parents, and they might even alleviate constraints such that some people on the margin of having a child or another child might decide to do so. And we should be honest and recognize that, based on existing evidence, its not clear that a package of incremental pro-natalist policies would substantially increase birth rates. But by increasing the disposable income available to parents with children or by making it easier for them to access affordable, high-quality child care, raising children would feel somewhat more affordable and the struggles of combining work with raising children would be somewhat ameliorated. For instance, evidence suggests that increased payments through the Earned Income Tax Credit improve maternal mental health and that paid family leave improves maternal and child well-being. Yet it is not uncommon for people to react negatively to the idea of any sort of pro-natalist policy agenda. At worst, there is a tendency to describe it as coercive toward women or even as a harbinger of some sort of Handmaids Tale horror scenario. Such policies are no more coercive than college tuition subsidies that financially nudge people toward attending college by making it more affordable. I dont think Ive ever heard someone object to such policies on the grounds of them being coercive to people who might not want to get more schooling. The nature of individual choices, in part, has led us to our present below-replacement fertility paradigm. We should accept itif it does in fact reflect what women want. But we should also keep the alternative scenario above in mind and consider that our low birth rates might reflect a different set of constraints. Either way, we should not blithely declare that falling birth rates are of no real consequence, or even something to be celebrated. An increasingly aging and childless culture poses problems for individuals, families, and nations. Why would we choose to ignore them? 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. The Biden administration announced Monday it will expand its asylum restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border, cementing tougher standards that will cut off access to protections for many migrants. Mondays rule finalizes an earlier policy that cut off access to asylum for those who crossed in between ports of entry if border figures ticked above a 2,500 average over the course of a week. But while the interim policy put in place in June would allow asylum processing to restart once border crossings averaged 1,500 over seven consecutive days, the new rule enacts a much tougher standard, requiring that metric be sustained for 28 straight days. Its a standard that officials from the Department of Homeland Security said is designed to avoid volatility at the border. However, border crossings have yet to decrease below the official threshold for seven days, much less for a 28-day period. By upping the standard even as the lower one was never met, officials are raising questions about the permanence of a policy promoted as a crisis response to be used only during periods of high border traffic. Yet officials said Mondays measure would serve as a buffer for any dips in border traffic, noting that the seven-day average under the policy since the summer kickoff is about 1,800 crossings per day. This increase ensures that the drop in encounters is a sustained decrease and not the result of a short-term change, such as a short-term holiday downturn or a decrease due to an extreme weather event, an official told reporters. Officials also set the bar for acceptable border crossing levels through a historical, prepandemic lens, rather than as a product of the 2021-2024 period of increased regional migration. If you look back to encounters before the pandemic, you will see a number of months where the level of encounters was below this threshold, an administration official told reporters on a call Monday. We do think that this threshold is attainable, and that as outlined in the rule, it kind of represents the capacity point at which or under which point the immigration system is resourced to appropriately manage and respond to the level of encounters were seeing on the border. Still, the restrictions, which severely limit migrants access to asylum protections, have been kept in place since the initial proclamation. In practice, the Biden administration restrictions reflect some of the more stringent measures proposed in the failed bipartisan Senate border security deal, which was panned as enshrining violations of international law. The June rule was also subject to similar criticism. The Rule flouts domestic asylum law and the United States obligations under the Refugee Convention, and will face immediate legal challenge in the courts, wrote representatives of civil rights and immigration law organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, in response to the executive measure. Under the Refugee Convention, it is illegal to punish asylum seekers for illegally crossing a border a point highlighted in policy guidance issued Friday by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. The Refugee Convention says the very nature of being a refugee often means that people have to use irregular manners of entry to find safety in another country, right? said Heidi Altman, director of policy at the National Immigrant Justice Center. And you cant punish a person governments cant punish a person for having had to do that because its part and parcel of the nature of flight from persecution. And in this recent guidance, the United Nations has clarified that precluding someone from asylum eligibility because of their manner of entry is a manner of punishment that the convention prohibits. Administration officials dismissed those claims, including allegations that complicating access to asylum is a violation of the U.N. Convention Against Torture, an international human rights treaty in place since 1987. Both the interim final rule and the final rule uphold our international obligations and commitments to not return noncitizens who could be persecuted or tortured, an administration official told reporters. I do want to be clear that asylum remains available to individuals who, while these measures are in place, are using lawful pathways and processes, as well as to individuals who meet the exceptions, those who find themselves in certain exceptionally compelling circumstances, unaccompanied children, said the official, adding that the measures would be lifted when the lower border encounter thresholds were met. While exceptions for unaccompanied minors remain in place that is, minors will be processed according to asylum law regardless of their form of arrival those minors will now count toward the number of encounters used to determine whether the 28-day threshold is being met. Thats a change from the original June proclamation, when minors were excluded from the count for the seven-day threshold. The Biden administration does have other pathways for migrants to seek asylum, including at ports of entry for those who have secured appointments under the CBP One app. Theyve also allowed citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua to enter the country on a temporary, two-year basis, if they are able to secure a U.S.-based financial sponsor. Still, advocates say those limited programs do little to counter a change in border management vision from one of human rights protections to a threat mindset. I think what happened today is not just its not just a tweak or a change or a finalization of some its not just like a process step. Its a historically significant marker, because whether theyll admit it or not, its the administration saying, Were making these sweeping asylum restrictions on the border permanent for as far as the eye can see, we are standing against what the international community has said all governments must do in a cooperative manner to protect refugees and were going to continue standing there, said Altman. So its a fundamental shift in the way the United States asylum system works, and it is normalizing a road that the Trump administration put us on. Updated at 3:37 p.m. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Biden should allow Storm Shadows to be fired into Russia, says US agency Joe Biden with Sir Keir Starmer at the White House earlier this year. The British Prime Minister is said to privately back the use of Storm shadow missiles in Russian - Ting Shen/Bloomberg Joe Biden is under pressure from an influential government agency to allow Ukraine to fire Storm Shadow missiles into Russia. The US Helsinki Commission described loosening restrictions on the use of long-range missiles as common sense, and said doing so would help Kyiv to prevent Russian strikes on civilian targets. Mr Biden has been resisting pressure from Ukraine and the UK to overturn a de facto veto on attacks into Russia using British-made Storm Shadow missiles. While Sir Keir Starmer, the British Prime Minister, has privately backed the move, the missiles reliance on a classified US targeting system means the president must sign off on any decision. The US has provided Atacms, a ground-launched ballistic missile, to Ukraine, but has prevented them from being used in cross-border strikes into Russia. Decisions about how Ukraine conducts its military operations are ultimately theirs to make. Ukrainian command understands that they depend on Western weapons and funds and are unlikely to do anything that would risk losing this vital support, the Helsinki Commission, an independent government agency, stated in its latest report published on Monday. Accepting that they know best how to defend themselves, and giving them permission to do so, will strengthen mutual trust and Ukraines sense of agency. Ukraine has shown through its drone strikes deep into Russia that its priority is slowing down Russias advance however possible. We should trust Ukraine to use US-provided weapons to pursue this goal and prevent more horrific Russian missile strikes on civilian targets. Ukraine must be allowed to strike any legitimate military targets in Russia, and we should encourage our allies like France and Germany to adhere to these same common-sense principles. Mr Biden has been reluctant to allow Western long-range missiles to be used for strikes inside Russia amid fears it could prompt Moscow to launch lethal attacks on European and American military bases. Use of the Storm Shadow missile to hit targets within Russia is seen as crucial to help Ukraine turn the tide of the war - alxpin The Helsinki Commission, however, claims in its report that US decision makers had overstated threats of retaliation from Moscow. Make no mistakeRussia will continue to brandish its nuclear weapons to deter other countries from supporting Ukraine and to threaten Ukraine directly. Though none of these threats have been borne out after the crossing of many Russian red lines over the years, these threats do affect the foreign policy considerations of other states, including US allies, its report said. These fears cannot simply be dismissed and must be assuaged with sound reasoning. It is useful to remember that Russia uses the nuclear threat because it is the only remaining vestige of its Soviet superpower statusif indeed the Soviet Union was even a superpower in the first place. Vocal supporter The bipartisan agency, also known as the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, was set up to handle post-war affairs in Europe. It is considered influential on foreign affairs and security issues, and has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion. Its report comes at a key juncture, with Ukraine appealing for more aid for a plan it hopes could end the war in the coming months and amid the prospect of a Donald Trump election victory. Congressman Joe Wilson, a Republican, said that Russia poses one of the greatest threats to the US in his foreword to the report. He said Moscow was responsible for corralling both Iran and China into adopting more belligerent policies to the West. Rather than viewing Russia as a state in transition or, worse, a fellow great power, the United States must prepare for long-term contestation, understanding that Russia has a centuries-long history of violent imperialism toward its neighbours, Europe, and the world more broadly, Mr Wilson wrote. Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraines president, has described long-range strikes as a key pillar of his Victory Plan to end the war. Ukrainian military officials have described how the missiles could be used to destroy vital logistical routes used by Russia to ship weapons, ammunition, fuel and water to the front lines in Ukraine. It is hoped that without receiving the necessary supplies, Russian forces would be unable to sustain their positions and vulnerable to counter-attacks. However, Kyiv has only been granted permission to launch its Western missiles at targets within Ukraine, including occupied Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. 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. Biden approved Taiwan's biggest security package yet. China says the military aid won't deter it. Biden approved Taiwan's biggest security package yet. China says the military aid won't deter it. President Joe Biden on Sunday approved $567 million in defense aid for Taiwan. It is the largest aid package that US has ever sent to Taiwan. China responded, stating the move violates the one-China principle. President Joe Biden on Sunday said the US will send Taiwan its largest-ever security package amid rising tensions with China. The $567 million in aid will be used for "defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Taiwan," the White House said. The figure is nearly double the amount the US sent in a previous $345 million package last year. China struck a defiant tone in response to the aid. "No matter how many weapons the United States supplies to Taiwan, it will never weaken our firm will in opposing Taiwanese independence, and safeguarding China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said in a press conference. Lin also said the move "seriously violates" the One-China principle, which is the diplomatic acknowledgment that there is just one Chinese government. China has repeatedly criticized US support for Taiwan, which it claims is Chinese territory and not a separate state. The island declared its autonomy from the mainland in 1949 when nationalist rebels fled there after the Communists won the civil war. But with China growing increasingly powerful, China's leader, Xi Jinping, has placed seizing back control of Taiwan as a key priority. Phil Davidson, the former US Indo-Pacific commander, said in 2021 that China may invade Taiwan by 2027. Spotting Chinese attack The scale of Chinese military activity around Taiwan is believed to be getting larger, as previously reported by Business Insider. In May China carried out two-day drills near Taiwan, which included a fleet of nearly 50 ships and bombers that carried out mock attacks. The drills "looked like a rehearsal" for an invasion, Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific region, said at the time. He added that the US had been prioritizing deterrence in the region. Speaking to reporters earlier this month , Taiwan's defense minister said it will become harder to spot early signs of a Chinese attack due to its growing military activity. "The scale of [China's military] activity is getting larger and larger, and so it is harder to discern when they might be shifting from training to a large exercise, and from an exercise to war," Wellington Koo said, per the Financial Times. The US response For decades, the US has adopted " strategic ambiguity " toward Taiwan, declining to say outright whether it would come to Taiwan's aid if China attacked. There has been a shift in tone in recent months. Rather than Biden has repeatedly suggested the US would respond militarily if China declared war on Taiwan. War in Taiwan could have a steep global cost. Bloomberg Economics estimated in January that it would cost around $10 trillion, equal to about 10% of global GDP. As BI's Tom Porter previously noted, Biden is treading a line between not aggravating China's nationalist president and providing Taiwan with the weapons it needs to potentially fend off China's vast military. Xi is also trying to find a balance given it remains dependent on Western markets and American investment. Jim Hoare, a former British diplomat and China expert, told BI that the package could "hardly be a surprise" to China, considering that US support for Taiwan has been consistent over the years. "China may stage more 'provocations' around Taiwan as they have been doing regularly in the last few years," said Hoare, "but economic links with the US are vital for China's economy so I doubt they will do much more." Read the original article on Business Insider PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) President Joe Biden has approved federal disaster assistance to the Commonwealth of Virginia in the wake of Hurricane Helene, FEMA announced on Sunday. This is due to emergency conditions resulting from Helene beginning Sept. 25 and continuing. The Presidents action authorizes FEMA to coordinate all disaster relief efforts to alleviate the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population and to provide appropriate assistance to save lives, to protect property, public health and safety and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe, a release states. Timothy S. Pheil has been named the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected area. 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. Jimmy Carter, pictured in 2023, is the longest living former president (ASSOCIATED PRESS) President Joe Biden sent a heartfelt birthday message to Jimmy Carter the day before the former president turned 100. Put simply, Mr President, I admire you so darn much, Biden wrote on Monday. Carter, the longest-lived president in the countrys history, hit the milestone on Tuesday. The 39th president has recently started talking about politics again after Kamala Harris took over the Democratic ticket and he plans to vote for her, according to his eldest grandson Jason. Your hopeful vision of our country, your commitment to a better world, and your unwavering belief in the power of human goodness continues to be a guiding light for all of us, Biden wrote in a touching message. The former president, pictured in 2015, turned 100 on Tuesday (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) Biden called Carter one of the most influential statesmen in our history, pointing to his commitment to resolving conflicts, advancing democracy, preventing disease, and so much more, like his work at the Carter Center and Habitat for Humanity. Biden continued: Its transforming the lives of people not only at home but around the world. The Democrat praised Carter as always being a moral force for our nation and the world...Thats why I supported you so early, alluding to his 1976 endorsement for Carter. Youre a voice of courage, conviction, compassion, and most of all, a beloved friend of Jill and me and our family, Biden added. The president also remarked on how this will be the first year that his beloved wife, Rosalynn Carter, will not be there to celebrate with him. Its bittersweet, but we also know shes always with you. Shes in your heart; shell never go away, the president wrote. Then senator Joe Biden with Carter at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in 2008 (AP) The former first lady died in November 2023 at the age of 96, just two days after entering hospice care. Jimmy Carter has been in hospice care since February 2023. The former president has long defied the odds as the average length of stay in hospice care is 97 days and the median is 18 days, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization data from 2020. Jason Carter shared an update on the former presidents health in June. Carter is no longer awake every day and experiencing the world as best he can as he continues through this process after losing his wife. As of late, the fierce Democrat seems reinvigorated by politics namely the prospect of defeating Donald Trump in November. In August, Carter reportedly told his son Chip: Im only trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris. Early voting begins in his home state of Georgia on October 15. Biden did the right thing by stepping aside: Hillary Clinton (NewsNation) Hillary Clinton believes President Joe Biden made the correct decision to step aside for Vice President Kamala Harris in the race for the White House. All the signs pointed to Biden being former President Donald Trumps opponent for the entirety of the 2024 election cycle before a disastrous debate performance in July saw him hurtle toward the exit. After denying he would step down, Biden ultimately relented and said he would not run for reelection, leading to Harriss ascension. Live: Helene devastates Southeast, with nearly 100 dead across 6 states Once that debate happened, he could not recover and he did the right thing, Clinton told BBC Radio 4s Today program Monday. The 2016 presidential candidate also criticized Trumps promise of mass deportation if he is reelected for a second term. President Joe Bidens dire debate performance in June led to him rescinding his pursuit for reelection (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images). He is going to have a military presence to achieve his goals, Clinton said. If you look a certain way, if you talk a certain way, you will be subject to these Draconian measures. As for the Democratic Party, Clinton admitted that they werent without flaws, even suggesting that some might support Trump because the economy doesnt work for them. Dad makes 30-mile trek through Helene debris to walk daughter down the aisle I think our problem is frankly we are not the most effective messengers, she said of her party. About what we see and what were trying to do to address these real and legitimate concerns that people have. I recognize and accept my share of the responsibility. With 35 days until Election Day, The Hills DDHQ polling average has Harris ahead by 4.2 percentage points nationally based upon 217 polls. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NewsNation. Men on a four-wheeler pass a storm damaged house along Mill Creek in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Sept. 30, 2024 in Old Fort, North Carolina. According to reports, at least 90 people have been killed across the southeastern U.S., and millions are without power due to the storm, which made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on Thursday. The White House has approved disaster declarations in North Carolina, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia and Alabama, freeing up federal emergency management money and resources for those states. (Photo by Sean Rayford | Getty Images) WASHINGTON President Joe Biden pledged Monday that the federal government would help people throughout the Southeast recover from the devastation of Hurricane Helene and its aftermath, and said he expects to ask Congress for emergency funding in the weeks ahead. Im here to tell every single survivor in these impacted areas that we will be there with you as long as it takes, Biden said in brief remarks from the Roosevelt Room in the White House. Biden said he plans to travel to North Carolina later this week, once his motorcade and other presidential travel requirements wouldnt get in the way of recovery efforts. Im committed to traveling to impacted areas as soon as possible, but Ive been told that it would be disruptive if I did it right now, Biden said. We will not do that at the risk of diverting or delaying any of the response assets needed to deal with this crisis. Biden said he didnt know how much money his administration would request Congress provide for recovery efforts, but didnt rule out asking lawmakers to return to Washington, D.C., before their six-week election recess ends on Nov. 12. Emergency declarations have been issued by Biden for the affected states, enabling disaster assistance. Helene, which is on track to become one of the deadliest hurricanes in the countrys history, made landfall in Florida last week before leaving a trail of devastation and destruction in its wake. The Associated Press reported Monday the death toll has risen to at least 107, including 30 reported deaths in the North Carolina county that includes Asheville. Residents throughout the Southeast, including those in Georgia, South Carolina, western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee were hit by some of the worst flooding and wind damage. Many communities are completely destroyed and lack access to clean drinking water, functioning grocery stores, electricity and cell phone service. Roads and bridges that should have allowed residents to drive to pick up supplies, or stay with friends or family, have been completely washed out by the hurricane, leaving many people stranded without necessities. The high water also destroyed many peoples homes and vehicles, making disaster recovery even more complicated throughout the region, but especially in rural areas where people often live far away from town. Senators appeal for help North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis posted on social media Sunday afternoon that the state is in desperate need of assistance. Entire communities in Western North Carolina have no power, no cell service, and remain in severe danger from flooding, Tillis wrote. First responders (are) doing the best they can with what they have, but the devastation is incomprehensible. WNC needs all the help it can get and it needs it now. North Carolina Republican Sen. Ted Budd released a written statement Saturday after a call with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, North Carolina Emergency Management, the National Weather Service and the American Red Cross. It is clear that the damage in Western North Carolina is catastrophic, Budd wrote. There is no doubt that the road to recovery will be long and difficult, but we will marshal all available resources to assist the region, including public, private, and charitable. We are all in this together. Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff released a statement Sunday that hed surveyed storm damage and spoken with FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell. The statement said Ossoff discussed the importance of communicating to Georgians the full range of recovery resources and programs that will be available upon the States completion of damage assessments. Florida Republican Rep. Kat Cammack said on C-SPAN on Monday that the hurricane not only destroyed peoples homes and businesses but devastated farms throughout the region. The agricultural damage there is tremendous, Cammack said. They saw winds of nearly 100 miles an hour. And so were looking at catastrophic losses inland as well as on the coast. Its really devastating. President Joe Biden will travel to North Carolina on Wednesday to see firsthand the devastation wrought over the weekend by Hurricane Helene, a storm that ripped through the Southeast with unexpected ferocity, leaving over 100 people dead and 600 still unaccounted for across 10 states. Biden announced his plans to visit the storm-battered state on Monday as he repeatedly briefed the press about the emergency response to the storm, vowing to deploy the federal resources necessary for as long as it takes to help communities recover. He also addressed claims by his predecessor, Donald Trump, that disaster aid was being withheld from Republican-leaning areas of the state by the Democratic governor of North Carolina a key battleground in the November election. Hes lying, and the governor told him he was lying. The governor told him hes lying. Ive spoken to the governor, spent time with him, and he told him hes lying, Biden said during a video conference call with Cooper and others in the Oval Office. The president added: Thats simply not true, and its irresponsible. REALITY CHECK: Biden says Trump is lying about Cooper, NC Helene response. Heres whats really happening. Biden told Cooper during the video conference call seen by reporters in the room that he planned to land in Raleigh for a meeting with the Emergency Operations Center on Wednesday, followed by an aerial tour of the damage. He will try to make similar trips to Florida and Georgia, he said. Thank you, Mr. President, we appreciate the resources that are coming our way, Cooper said, noting that FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell was in North Carolina. This has been a devastating storm, as you know, and were grateful to have had Administrator Criswell here on the ground all day today, making sure we serve assets into the area to get people food and water and get power back on. And obviously, we are grateful to the search and rescue teams as well. READ MORE: Helenes North Carolina death toll is rising, but incomplete. What we know so far The Category 4 hurricane made landfall in Florida on Thursday. But inland, mountainous Appalachian communities with little experience dealing with hurricane conditions faced a perfect storm in Helene, which barreled through the Gulf of Mexico and Floridas Big Bend with enough speed, breadth and intensity to bring devastation deep into the Southeast. Soldiers assigned to the Connecticut, Maryland and North Carolina National Guard work to distribute food and water to local first responders in Avery County. Biden said that over 3,600 personnel had already deployed to the region, including 1,000 officials from FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers, to help restore cell service as quickly as possible, hopeful that many of those who remain unaccounted for are still alive. FEMA is also working with Starlink, a satellite internet company owned by Elon Musk, to install receivers across Western North Carolina in the coming days, hoping to boost communication capabilities. Two million people remain without power, officials said. Ive directed my team to provide every, every available resource as fast as possible to your communities to rescue, recover, and to begin rebuilding, Biden said. READ MORE: Apocalyptic damage: Helene kills at least 30 in Western NC, severs power, water, roads This is an historic storm. Its devastating. Theyve never seen anything like this before, he added. All-of-government response Towns in Western North Carolina, southern Georgia and rural Kentucky are still faced with flooding from the storm, forcing FEMA and the Defense Department to airlift supplies like meals, fresh water and tarps to those hardest hit. Power is still down in many communities that, because of the damage, remain largely inaccessible and practically isolated. RELATED CONTENT: A new storm could form in the Caribbean this week. Florida should watch it The crisis has prompted an all-of-government response from the Biden administration. On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas canceled planned travel to Mexico to focus on the emergency response. At the White House on Monday, the presidents homeland security adviser, Liz Sherwood-Randall, told reporters that the administration understands that there are 600 who are either lost or unaccounted for. Thats the number were tracking right now, she said. Unfortunately, we know that the first information is often wrong. Soldiers assigned to the N.C. National Guard 2nd Battalion, 104th Aviation Regiment airlift stranded citizens from Avery County to Hickory. U.S. National Guard aviation crews from Connecticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Iowa are supporting the N.C. National Guard. FEMA officials have said that rainfall totals in North Carolina, in particular, were absolutely extreme and exceeded expectations. The Department of Health and Human Services has declared a public health emergency throughout much of the Southeast warning of threats to the regions water systems. READ MORE: Hurricane Helene left thousands without power in Kentucky. How long until its back on? Biden said he spent hours on Sunday speaking with local leaders, including Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, Cooper of North Carolina, and local officials in affected regions of Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee. I want them to know: Were not leaving until the job is done, Biden said. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, where the storm first made landfall, told reporters at a news conference on Monday that he missed a call from Biden while he was on a plane Sunday. He did not say whether he attempted to call the president back. See photos and video from Helenes devastation in the mountains of western NC For now, Florida has the situation handled, DeSantis said, encouraging federal officials to direct resources to North Carolina. Election-eve storm Trump, who is running again for the presidency this year, has criticized the federal response and attempted to tie his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, to the fallout in battleground states. The former president visited Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday, to survey the damage. Later that afternoon, Harris visited FEMA headquarters in the afternoon to thank federal personnel there for working around the clock to expedite care to emergency zones. She said she plans on traveling to the region as soon as possible but as soon as possible without disrupting any emergency response operations, because that must be the highest priority and the first order of business. Entire neighborhoods have been destroyed, major roads have been blocked or damaged, leaving entire towns inaccessible at this very moment, Harris said. To everyone who has been impacted by this storm, and to all of those of you who are rightly feeling overwhelmed by the destruction and the loss: our nation is with you. We will continue to do everything we can to help you recover and to help you rebuild, she added, no matter how long it takes. Miami Herald reporter Ana Ceballos and Lexington Herald-Leader reporter David Catanese contributed reporting. People stand near the power station of the Hodeidah port destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Hodeidah, Yemen, on Sept. 30, 2024. The Yemeni government on Monday condemned recent Israeli airstrikes on the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port city of Hodeidah. According to the Houthi-run Ministry of Health, the Israeli strikes on Hodeidah resulted in five deaths and 57 injuries, with many in critical condition. (Photo by Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua) ADEN, Yemen, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Yemeni government on Monday condemned recent Israeli airstrikes on the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port city of Hodeidah. In a statement released by the state-run Saba news agency, the government also issued a stern warning to both Israel and Iran, urging them "to refrain from using Yemeni territory as a proxy battleground." The statement denounced Israel's Sunday airstrikes against Hodeidah as "a violation of Yemen's sovereignty and a contravention of international laws and conventions." In the statement, the Yemeni government expressed deep concern over the potential escalation of the already dire humanitarian crisis gripping the war-torn nation. According to the Houthi-run Ministry of Health, the Israeli strikes on Hodeidah resulted in five deaths and 57 injuries, with many in critical condition. People inspect the power station of the Hodeidah port destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Hodeidah, Yemen, on Sept. 30, 2024. The Yemeni government on Monday condemned recent Israeli airstrikes on the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port city of Hodeidah. According to the Houthi-run Ministry of Health, the Israeli strikes on Hodeidah resulted in five deaths and 57 injuries, with many in critical condition. (Photo by Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua) People inspect the power station of the Hodeidah port destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Hodeidah, Yemen, on Sept. 30, 2024. The Yemeni government on Monday condemned recent Israeli airstrikes on the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port city of Hodeidah. According to the Houthi-run Ministry of Health, the Israeli strikes on Hodeidah resulted in five deaths and 57 injuries, with many in critical condition. (Photo by Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua) People walk past oil tanks damaged in Israeli airstrikes in Hodeidah, Yemen, on Sept. 30, 2024. The Yemeni government on Monday condemned recent Israeli airstrikes on the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port city of Hodeidah. According to the Houthi-run Ministry of Health, the Israeli strikes on Hodeidah resulted in five deaths and 57 injuries, with many in critical condition. (Photo by Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua) People inspect the power station of the Hodeidah port destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Hodeidah, Yemen, on Sept. 30, 2024. The Yemeni government on Monday condemned recent Israeli airstrikes on the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port city of Hodeidah. According to the Houthi-run Ministry of Health, the Israeli strikes on Hodeidah resulted in five deaths and 57 injuries, with many in critical condition. (Photo by Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua) People walk among the rubble of the power station of the Hodeidah port destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Hodeidah, Yemen, on Sept. 30, 2024. The Yemeni government on Monday condemned recent Israeli airstrikes on the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port city of Hodeidah. According to the Houthi-run Ministry of Health, the Israeli strikes on Hodeidah resulted in five deaths and 57 injuries, with many in critical condition. (Photo by Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua) People stand near the power station of the Hodeidah port destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Hodeidah, Yemen, on Sept. 30, 2024. The Yemeni government on Monday condemned recent Israeli airstrikes on the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port city of Hodeidah. According to the Houthi-run Ministry of Health, the Israeli strikes on Hodeidah resulted in five deaths and 57 injuries, with many in critical condition. (Photo by Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua) Biden says he will talk to Netanyahu as Israel pummels Sunni terror targets in Beirut President Biden said on Sunday that he intended to talk to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu imminently, shortly before the Israel-Hamas war intensified in Lebanon. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched an airstrike on the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Sunday evening, marking the first time the Israeli military implemented an airstrike on the central part of the city amid the yearlong Israel-Hamas war. The IDF targeted Al-Jamaah al-islamiyah, a Sunni terrorist group different from Hezbollah, which is Shi'ite. Speaking from Dover Air Force Base earlier that afternoon, Biden confirmed to reporters that he planned to speak with Netanyahu. The conversation took place hours before the airstrike began. Israeli Military Says Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah Killed In Beirut Strike President Biden said he intended to speak to Netanyahu as Israel's attacks against Hezbollah intensified on Sunday. "Yes, I will be talking to him," the Democrat said. "And I'll tell you what I say to him when I talk to him." Read On The Fox News App When asked about avoiding an "all-out war" in the Middle East, Biden said the U.S. has "to avoid it." "We really have to avoid it," Biden said. "We have already taken precautions relative to our embassies and personnel who want to leave." "And, but, we're not there yet, but we're working like hell with the French and many others to avoid [more] war." The Associated Press first reported the airstrike on Sunday evening, citing witnesses in central Beirut. The airstrike came the same weekend that the IDF systematically targeted Hezbollah, a Lebanese terrorist group that supports Hamas. Israel-hezbollah War: Netanyahu 'Did Not Even Respond' To Us Cease-fire Deal, Pledges To Fight 'Full Force' The IDF had only targeted south Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, before Sunday's strikes. Dozens of people in Lebanon were killed by the IDF over the weekend, including Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The Israeli military also confirmed that Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollahs Central Council, was eliminated by IDF forces. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for further comment. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Original article source: Biden says he will talk to Netanyahu as Israel pummels Sunni terror targets in Beirut By Jeff Mason and Stephanie Kelly WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday he has spoken with the governors of Georgia and North Carolina after the states were affected by Hurricane Helene, which has killed more than 100 people, wiping out communications and leaving millions without power. Biden said he told North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper he would visit the state later this week, and he expects to be there by Wednesday or Thursday. He added he "may have to request" that Congress returns for a special session to pass a supplemental funding package to help those affected. He said there are reports of 100 dead, with 600 people unaccounted for after the hurricane. "We will be there with you as long as it takes," Biden said. "The Biden-Harris administration will be there until the job is done." Emergency responders in North Carolina were racing on Monday to try to reach people who remain unaccounted for three days after Hurricane Helene ripped through the southeastern United States. (Reporting by Jeff Mason and Stephanie Kelly; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) Biden was right to stand aside in critical election, Clinton says Hillary Clinton has told the BBC that Joe Biden was right to stand aside in the US presidential election after his stumbling debate performance against Donald Trump earlier this year. "Once that debate happened, he could not recover and he did the right thing," she told Radio 4's Today programme. She also said Democrats had not been effective in telling Trump supporters what they were doing to address their economic concerns. In 2016, the former US secretary of state was unexpectedly defeated by Trump, who now faces Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in November's election, which polls suggest is extremely tight. She said she saw Joe Biden a week before the debate and saw no reason then why he should step down but that all changed. Clinton also said the future of democracy is at stake in this election and called on Harris to "defeat Donald Trump to break the fever that he has caused in our political system". "The two candidates have presented extremely different agendas for where they want to take our country," Clinton said in the BBC interview, which came as she promotes her new memoir. Trump has rejected the notion that he is a threat and said the real threat comes from the Democratic Party. The election, Clinton said, would have repercussions far beyond the US including "whether or not we continue supporting Ukraine, whether we can get some kind of workable resolution in the Middle East and so much else". Trump has previously indicated that he would cut US aid for Ukraine. After meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in New York on Friday, the former US president said he had "a very good relationship" with both Zelensky and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. We both want to see a fair deal made," Trump said. The war, he added, "should stop and the president (Zelensky) wants it to stop, and Im sure President Putin wants it to stop and thats a good combination. Clinton, who served as secretary of state in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2013, also criticised Trump's promise to begin a mass deportation of illegal immigrants if elected. "Let's start with one million, his vice-presidential pick JD Vance said of the plan in August. That's where Kamala Harris has failed. And then we can go from there. "He is going to have a military presence [in US cities] to achieve his goals," Clinton said on Monday. "If you look a certain way, if you talk a certain way, you will be subject to these Draconian measures." [BBC] More on the US election When asked what drives Trump's support, she told the BBC that "people support him for different reasons" including feeling "overlooked" and "unseen" or that the "economy doesn't work for them". "I think our problem is frankly we are not the most effective messengers," she said of the Democratic Party. "About what we see and what were trying to do to address these real and legitimate concerns that people have. I recognise and accept my share of the responsibility." The expectation upon politicians to be entertaining or outrageous in a social media age makes it harder to "do the hard, boring work of actually getting things done," she added. Polling suggests Trump is more trusted on the election's biggest issue, the economy. The election will be held on 5 November and the new president will take office in January. Polls are currently very tight in the seven states considered as crucial in the contest, with just one or two percentage points separating the two candidates. Clinton, 76, was the first woman nominee for president from a major political party when she ran against Trump in 2016. Her husband, Bill Clinton, whom she married in 1975, was president from 1993 until 2001. Biden urged Lebanon truce, US official says Israeli incursion could be imminent U.S. President Biden delivers remarks on the response to Hurricane Helene, at the White House By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden called for a ceasefire in Lebanon on Monday but a U.S. official said Israeli troop deployments suggested a ground incursion against Hezbollah militants could be imminent. Asked about reports that Israeli ground troops were preparing to move into southern Lebanon, Biden told reporters that he was "comfortable with them (Israel) stopping." Several top aides reinforced Biden's call for a ceasefire by urging a diplomatic resolution to the violence to allow tens of thousands of displaced Israelis and Lebanese to return to their homes along the border. Washington "will continue to work with our partners in the region and around the world to advance a diplomatic resolution," Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a State Department conference. But a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the positioning of Israeli troops as observed by the United States suggested a ground incursion into Lebanon could be imminent. The official declined to comment further or to provide details on the posture of Israeli forces. The U.S. call for de-escalation follows two weeks of Israeli airstrikes and assassinations of Hezbollah commanders, including the Iran-backed group's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, on Friday. Israeli officials say they will do what is necessary to return some 70,000 citizens evacuated from northern Israeli communities after Hezbollah on Oct. 8 began rocket strikes in support of a Hamas assault on Israel from Gaza the previous day. Speaking to troops deployed along Israel's northern border, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant hinted at a looming ground incursion. "We will use all the means that may be required your forces, other forces, from the air, from the sea, and on land. Good luck," Gallant said. The Biden administration fears the killing of Nasrallah and further Israeli military action could ignite a wider regional conflict. The U.S. envoy to the United Nations urged continued diplomacy to halt the violence in Lebanon and Gaza. "We want to find a path to peace, so that Palestinians and Israelis have safety and Lebanese and Israelis living on the northern border find security and safety as well," U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters. (Reporting by Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali Michelle Nichols and Doina Chiacu; Writing by Jonathan Landay; Editing by Caitlin Webber, Don Durfee and Howard Goller) BANGKOK (AP) Indonesian shrimp farmer Yulius Cahyonugroho operated more than two dozen ponds only a few years ago, employing seven people and making more than enough to support his family. Since then, the 39-year-old says the prices he gets from purchasers have fallen by half and he's had to scale back to four workers and about one-third the ponds, some months not even breaking even. His wife has had to take a job at a watermelon farm to help support their two children. It is more stable than the shrimp farms, said the farmer from Indonesias Central Java province. As big Western supermarkets make windfall profits, their aggressive pursuit of ever-lower wholesale prices is causing misery for people at the bottom end of the supply chain people like Cahyonugroho who produce and process the seafood, according to an investigation by an alliance of NGOs focused on three of the world's largest producers of shrimp provided to The Associated Press ahead of its publication on Monday. The analysis of the industry in Vietnam, Indonesia and India, which provide about half the shrimp in the world's top four markets, found a 20%-60% drop in earnings from pre-pandemic levels as producers struggle to meet pricing demands by cutting labor costs. In many places this has meant unpaid and underpaid work through longer hours, wage insecurity as rates fluctuate, and many workers not even making low minimum wages. The report also found hazardous working conditions, particularly in India and parts of Indonesia, and even child labor in some places in India. The supermarket procurement practices changed, and the working conditions were affected directly and rapidly, said Katrina Nakamura of Sustainability Incubator, who wrote the regional report and whose Hawaii-based nonprofit led the research on the industry in Vietnam. Those two things go together because they're tied together through the pricing. Tubagus Haeru Rahayu, the director general of aquaculture for Indonesias Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, said he was surprised by the reports findings and had already reached out to people in the industry to investigate the price pressures. If there is pressure like that, there will definitely be a reaction not only in Indonesia but in Vietnam and India too," he told the AP in an interview at his Jakarta office. Indian and Vietnamese officials refused to comment. Supermarkets linked to facilities where exploited labor was reported by workers include Target, Walmart and Costco in the United States, Britain's Sainsbury's and Tesco, and Aldi and Co-op in Europe. Switzerland's Co-op said it had a zero tolerance policy for violations of labor law, and that its producers receive fair and market-driven prices. Germanys Aldi did not specifically address the issue of pricing, but said it uses independent certification schemes to ensure responsibly sourcing for farmed shrimp products, and would continue to monitor the allegations. We are committed to fulfilling our responsibility to respect human rights, Aldi said. Sainsbury's referred to a comment from the British Retail Consortium industry group, which said its members were committed to sourcing products at a "fair, sustainable price and that the welfare of people and communities in supply chains is fundamental to their purchasing practices. None of the other retailers named in the report responded to multiple requests for comment on the report, titled Human Rights for Dinner. In Vietnam, researchers found that workers who peel, gut and devein shrimp typically work six or seven days a week, often in rooms kept extremely cold to keep the product fresh. Some 80% of those involved in processing the shrimp are women who rise at 4 a.m. and return home at 6 p.m., with the exception of pregnant women and new mothers who can stop one hour earlier. The work day for peelers consists of standing in a refrigerated and disinfected room and working extremely rapidly with a knife while taking care not to make a mistake, researchers said. Wages are generally not disclosed ahead of time and are based upon production. Sometimes workers make minimum wage, but frequently they do not. The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers issued a statement calling the allegations in the report unfounded, misleading and detrimental to the reputation of Vietnams shrimp exports. It cited government labor policies in a four-page statement but did not specifically address the findings, and did not respond to queries. After food supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission reported earlier this year that some grocers have used the situation "as an opportunity to further raise prices to increase their profits, which remain elevated today. The demands for lower wholesale shrimp prices combined with rising production costs and an oversupply means farmers often must sell their products under cost just to keep operations going, the Sustainability Incubator analysis found. Cahyonugroho said he's stuck selling his shrimp at the price offered by middlemen who then sell it to factories for processing. He can't scrape together the startup costs needed to sell directly to factories or markets to earn more. The opportunity is there, he said, but you need a lot of capital if you want to jump into something like that. The middlemen who buy the shrimp obfuscate the true sources of shrimp that appear in Western supermarkets, so many retailers may not be following ethical commitments they've made about procuring shrimp. Only about 2,000 of the 2 million shrimp farms in the major producing countries of India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Ecuador, Thailand and Bangladesh are certified by either the Aquaculture Stewardship Council or the Best Aquaculture Practices ecolabel. "With the yield from most certified shrimp farms being very small, it is mathematically impossible for certified farms to produce enough shrimp per month to supply all of the supermarkets that boast commitments to purchasing certified shrimp, the report said. Ideally, supermarkets should pay higher wholesale prices and ensure that the extra money makes it all the way down the supply chain, Nakamura said. U.S. policymakers could use antitrust and other laws already in place to establish oversight to ensure fair pricing from Western retailers, rather than adding punishing tariffs on suppliers for labor violations, she said. Awareness about the trends hurting suppliers is growing. In July, the European Union adopted a new directive requiring companies to identify and address adverse human rights and environmental impacts of their actions inside and outside Europe. Britain's Groceries Code Adjudicator office published a deep dive into views of suppliers about the conduct of supermarkets, saying they had chosen to conduct warfare with suppliers. Higher wholesale prices don't have to mean higher prices for consumers, Sustainability Incubator said. Prices to farmers would be at least 200% higher than today if the shrimp sold in Global North supermarkets was made at minimum wage rates and in compliance with applicable domestic laws for labor, workplace health, and safety, the report said. This would not necessarily mean higher consumer prices, because supermarkets are already profiting at existing consumer prices. Researchers from the Corporate Accountability Lab found that Indian shrimp industry workers face dangerous and abusive conditions and that highly salinated water from newly dug hatcheries and ponds, tainted with chemicals and toxic algae, are contaminating surrounding water and soil. Unpaid labor prevails, including salaries below minimum wage, unpaid overtime, wage deductions for costs of work and significant debt bondage, the report found. Child labor was also identified, with girls aged 14 and 15 being recruited for peeling work. In Indonesia, three non-profit research organizations found that shrimp workers' wages have declined since the pandemic and now average $160 per month, below Indonesia's minimum wage in most of the biggest shrimp-producing provinces. Shrimp peelers were found to be routinely required to work at least 12 hours per day to meet minimum targets. Still, given widespread poverty most workers said they're happy to have their jobs, said lead researcher Kharisma Nugroho of the Migunani Research Institute. Its exploitation of the vulnerability of the workers, because they have a lack of options, he said. Theyre paid the minimum wages but they have to work 150% of the normal, he told the AP. Can they live? Yes. Can they move? Yes. Do they make a complaint? No. Theyre still there. The regional report compiled more than 500 interviews conducted in-person with workers in their native languages, in India, Indonesia and Vietnam, supplemented with secondary data and interviews from Thailand, Bangladesh and Ecuador. After the Indonesia country report was issued recently, government officials asked to meet with the authors, and Nugroho said they showed a genuine willingness to improve the situation. Vietnamese officials have also engaged with Sustainability Incubator to talk about the findings. Government and industry intervention has already helped in Thailand, which has been criticized after the AP exposed serious labor abuses in the shrimp industry in the past. That, however, has led to higher prices for Thai shrimp, leading some buyers to shift sourcing to India and Ecuador. Ecuador has an industrial approach to shrimp farming unlike the smaller, often family-run operations in Southeast Asia and is now the world's largest exporter of shrimp. It has the lowest prices, followed by India; China, which wasn't included in the report; then Vietnam and Indonesia. But with the demand for lower wholesale prices, while Ecuadors exports rose 12% in volume in 2023, they fell 5% in value. Indias exports rose 1% but dropped nearly 11% in value. Meantime, with their relatively higher prices, Vietnam's exports were down 25% in 2023 in volume Indonesia's dropped 9.5%. Labor exploitation in shrimp aquaculture industries is not company, sector, or country-specific, the report concluded. Instead, it is the result of a hidden business model that exploits people for profit. ___ Associated Press writer Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report. ___ This version has corrected the spelling of a researcher's name to Katrina, not Katrin. ___ This story was supported by funding from the Walton Family Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Kalle Benallie ICT The Navajo Nation is largely a desert, but some say its even a food desert. There are 13 grocery stores on the Navajo Nation which spans 27,000 square miles of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. And in the western area of the reservation, in Tuba City, Arizona, there is one grocery store within a 75 mile radius. Navajo citizen Starlena Nez, 33, would like to see a different future for the generations. She and farmers in Kerley Valley, just outside Tuba City, are working together as the Bikooh Agricultural Cooperative to provide future generations access to healthy food and a prosperous economy with the hope of having an organic grocery store, slaughterhouse and farmers market on the Navajo Nation. I would like to see this 50 years from now when Im old. I like to see an organic grocery store and know where the food source is at, know that there is no food pesticides and know that my grandkids wont get sick because they have to take diabetes medication, Nez said. Nez, 33, is the executive director of the Miss Western Navajo Organization who is partnering with Bikooh Agricultural Cooperative. A study released in February 2021 by the Native American Agriculture Fund found 49 percent of the American Indian and Alaska Native population experienced food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Navajo citizens dealt with grocery stores being emptied out and people bulk buying items at border towns. Initiatives like Seeds and Sheep were launched to help families grow their own food. But Bijiibah Begay, community organizer and liaison for the farmers, said that even after the help they received from charitable organizations during the pandemic, they still needed help. The Bikooh Agricultural Cooperative was created as a co-op business in order for it to be locally owned, own their assets and be locally controlled for the people. Eight families make up the co-op. This grocery store represents an opportunity for us to be who we are as traditional people. If we can control our food, we can control our lives. We get to say what we want to move forward with and what we dont. Its about self determination, being able to feed ourselves and not having to negotiate around food, Begay said. Susie Martin, secretary for Bikooh Agricultural Co-op, recently, within the past few years, began farming again because of food price inflation and to show the younger generations its importance. The food (has) gone up. We need to get back into farming and get young kids, other people, get connected with their traditional stuff and be able to start farming again, she said. Martin, Navajo, grew up west of Tuba City. Farming and ranching has been in her family for generations. Farmland is sacred to us. We recognize through generations, our grandparents are telling us our garden, our corn field is a holy and sacred place, she said. Bikooh Agricultural Co-op hopes it will boost economic development and growth, address health disparities across the nation, support and promote agriculture, food sovereignty, food security, cultural traditions in tribal food systems such as the cultivation of corn, a sacred crop for the Navajo people that's used in ceremonies and traditional dishes. Robert Miller, professor at Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law in Phoenix, said hes fully behind this idea. Hes been writing about economic development issues and advocating for the development of private sector economies on reservations for 25 years. The number one thing we need in Indian Country is private sector jobs, and an economy. We need to make our own goods and services and sell them on our reservations to keep our money on the reservation, Miller, Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, said. He describes it as a basic issue in economics called leakage and the contra of it as the multiplier effect. The leakage in the economy on the Navajo Nation is people have to drive to border towns like Gallup, New Mexico or Farmington, New Mexico to grocery shop. He said they lose about $200 million in sales tax from Navajo Nation consumers buying products from retailers in border towns around the Navajo Nation reservation. This leakage is our money leaving the reservation and we dont spend it in our communities, Miller said. The opposite of that is the multiplier effect. An economist says that every dollar should stay in a city or county for like five times to get spent four, five, six times before it spins off and leaves the area. The multiplier effect from Bikooh Agricultural Co-op would be from employing Navajo citizens to selling to Navajo citizens, creating financial abundance. This is a win-win situation for the Navajo economy and Navajo people, he said. For over 40 years around 1.5 million acres, which Tuba City sat in the middle of, was banned from development. It was enacted in 1966 by Robert L. Bennett, commissioner of Indian Affairs, as a result of the land dispute between Navajo and Hopi people. Homes, businesses, roads and schools could not be developed. Structural maintenance and the construction of gas and water lines were also prevented. There were two exceptions to the ban that were allowed: the placement and development of water wells, which had to be approved by both tribes, and development could only occur in administrative safe zones Tuba City and Moenkopi, Arizona. In 2006, the Navajo Nation and Hopi tribe settled the dispute in the Navajo-Hopi Intergovernmental Compact. It wasnt until 2009 when the ban was lifted by President Barack Obama. Federal funding could be now used to rehabilitate the area. Theres no economic development within that whole time. So theres no water infrastructure, theres no electricity, theres no roads. Theyre deprived of all of that, Starlena Nez said. Farmers in Kerley Valley have to work on the water infrastructure of the land by digging irrigation lines by hand to create flood irrigation. Rose Marie and Daniel Williams in Kerley Valley, Arizona. (Photo courtesy of Danielle Williams) Farmland in Kerley Valley in Arizona. (Photo courtesy of Danielle Williams) Farmers working in Kerley Valley, Arizona. (Photo courtesy of Danielle Williams) The Navajo Nation has different plans for the farmland On July 3 the Navajo Nation Resources and Development Committee approved the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority to build a surface use lease for 7.4 acres of Navajo Nation land located within Kerley Valley, Coalmine Canyon, Arizona to be used for a wastewater treatment facility. The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority is a tribally-owned enterprise that operates electric, communications, natural gas, water, wastewater and generation and off-grid residential solar services for the Navajo people. Legislation sponsor and Council Delegate Otto Tso said the facility is to accommodate growth of Tuba City. The Tuba City community is made up of people from many chapters. This project is based on the anticipated growth of Tuba City, the school district, and possibly a new hospital. This sewer treatment plan has been proposed since 1980, Tso said in a press release. ICT could not reach Tso for comment. Rex Kontz, deputy general manager of the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency raised concerns over the already existing Tuba City facility. Kontz said utility authority will bring the site into compliance with the federal Clean Water Act. The current site faces violations stemming from total suspended solids, pH and ammonia levels, and proximity to Moenkopi Wash, Delegate Claw said. For far too long, weve taken the word of enterprises. We need to ensure that this project will be in compliance and that NTUA is abiding by federal regulations. Nez said the wastewater treatment facility puts the communities at risk and farmers want it to be moved elsewhere. Danielle Williams family have been farming in Kerley Valley for generations. Her parents are farmers and founded the Bikooh Agricultural Co-op. Her mother Rose Marie Williams is the president of the co-op. Williams, Navajo, said the facility will impact them negatively culturally and economically. Its very disheartening because it disrupts whats currently been built there. It greatly impacts the environment and the other issue is not everyone has access to farming, not everyone has accessibility to farmland, she said. And she said its inevitable that it will contaminate soil or water. Should anything happen in terms of leak or any kind of irregulation when its built its not a matter of if something happens, its a matter of when something happens, she said. Williams said they plan to protest the approval of the facility and create more awareness to the local community. She added that it seems like a backdoor process. A process that wasnt a full on due process through a legislative process that it should have been, she said. They also dont reject the facility, just the location of it. We dont object to having a wastewater facility being built, we just dont want it on farmland. There are other locations where it can be built, Williams said. Our stories are worth telling. Our stories are worth sharing. Our stories are worth your support. Contribute today to help ICT carry out its critical mission. Sign up for ICTs free newsletter. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) A nonpartisan group will be putting up billboards in El Paso reminding people to vote. The billboards are also designed to spell out exactly when Election Day is. The fall general election falls on Nov. 5 this cycle. Starting on Oct. 7, El Paso residents will see new billboards that are designed to combat misinformation and voter suppression ahead of the Nov. 5 general election, the national voter mobilization group VoteAmerica said. The billboards are designed to provide accurate, essential information, right when they need it most, the group said in an announcement. Shockingly, the single best predictor of whether or not someone will vote on Election Day is if they know when Election Day is. Yet most voting materials omit or bury the date. A mock-up of the billboards that will go up in El Paso. Courtesy of VoteAmerica Starting on Oct. 7, El Paso residents will see new billboards on the streets designed to combat misinformation and voter suppression ahead of the election, the group said. VoteAmericas messages are simple: There will be record high turnout this year; early voting in Texas starts October 21. The election is on November 5, 2024. The billboards are part of a $7 million, 10-state campaign spearheaded by VoteAmerica. These billboards are also a critical line of defense against misinformation. If VoteAmerica does not buy these lucrative election-year ad spaces, they could be weaponized as a voter suppression tactic, the group said. The billboards will be up from Oct. 7 through Election Day. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News. The Bishops farewell was marked by a packed cathedral in Suffolk [Keith Mindham ] An Anglican bishop said he was "delighted" to have accepted a senior leadership position in the Church of England but would be sad to leave his county. Hundreds of people across Suffolk gathered at St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, to bid farewell to the Right Reverend Mike Harrison, Bishop of Dunwich. Bishop Harrison first took up his role in 2016 but after eight years he is moving on to become the Diocesan Bishop of Exeter. He said: "While I am delighted and excited to be the next Bishop of Exeter it will be with considerable sadness that I leave the people and county of Suffolk after eight years as the Bishop of Dunwich." Bishop Mike Harrison (centre) with the Right Reverend Martin Seeley (right) and the Very Reverend Joe Hawes [Keith Mindham] Before accepting the role in Suffolk, Dr Harrison had been the director of mission and ministry in the Diocese of Leicester for ten years. "I was not familiar with Suffolk before arriving in February 2016, but the hospitality, creativity and good humour of so many in my time here means I will leave with deep gratitude and affection for the diocese and county," Bishop Harrison added. The former management consultant and social worker was the 10th Bishop of Dunwich, and he focused on growth in the Church of England during his tenure. The Right Reverend Martin Seeley, Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, said Bishop Harrison has been his right hand for many years. He said: "Mike is warm and outgoing with a deep spirituality as well as a creative intelligence." Bishop Seeley added Bishop Harrison is also a "fine teacher, preacher and pastor, he is ideally equipped to lead the community in Devon". A spokesperson for the cathedral said Bishop Harrison spent his first Christmas in Suffolk visiting inmates of HMP Highpoint near Newmarket. In 2017 he joined Bishop Seeley in an 70-mile pilgrimage over 11 days, where they walked from Dunwich to Bury St Edmunds to meet communities and learn more of the challenges they face. Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. More on this story The Black fugitive who inspired Uncle Toms Cabin and the end of US slavery Photograph from 1900 shows dilapidated log cabin with African American man sitting outside reading in the vicinity of Asheville, North Carolina. (Library of Congress) In or around 1825, John Andrew Jackson was born enslaved on a plantation in South Carolina and trained to spend his life picking cotton. But instead of living a life as a slave, he escaped bondage and became an influential anti-slavery lecturer and writer. He also had a key role in Harriet Beecher Stowes celebrated novel Uncle Toms Cabin, which historians have argued helped trigger the Civil War by its depiction of the subhuman treatment afforded Black men and women. As a scholar of the lives of enslaved people and their writings, I have researched the life of Jackson for years and still remain puzzled by his obscurity from most histories of slavery in America. In my biography of Jackson, A Plausible Man, I detail his remarkable life. North to freedom In early 1846, Jacksons wife and daughter were sold to another South Carolina plantation. Heartbroken and furious, he was determined to earn money and buy his familys freedom. Jackson waited until Christmas Day and took a bold step he escaped on horseback. He found work on the docks in Charleston and eventually hid between cotton bales aboard a boat heading to Boston. Once there, Jackson started speaking at abolitionist meetings across Massachusetts to raise money to free his wife and child. But before he could raise the necessary amount, President Millard Fillmore signed into law the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which would impose harsh penalties on anyone who assisted runaways. Even though Jackson was living in a supposedly free state, he was in terrible danger of being returned to enslavement under the new law. Jackson decided to flee again, this time to Canada. Along the way, abolitionists directed Jackson to sympathetic homes in Maine. A chance meeting One such home belonged to the stuffy Thomas C. Upham, a professor of mental and moral philosophy at Bowdoin College. He had told his friends that while slavery was a grievous wrong, the Fugitive Slave Act was nonetheless the law and should be obeyed. But when Jackson knocked on his door, Upham immediately put aside his scruples. Harriet Beecher Stowe, circa 1880. (Library of Congress) Upham invited him in and offered food and encouragement. Because Upham couldnt put Jackson up for the night, he directed Jackson to his neighbor, Harriet Beecher Stowe a friend who had long been frustrated with the otherwise kindly professors timid politics. Stowe was a little-known writer at the time, living as a faculty wife of a Bowdoin College professor. When Jackson came to her threshold, she, too, broke the law. She opened the door and welcomed him in. Jackson entertained her children, told her of his heartbreak and accepted money, food and clothing from her before leaving the next morning. Although she never used Jacksons name, she later wrote of this incident, noting that her visitor was a genuine article from Ole Carliny State a reference to a popular minstrel song that Jackson was to later append to his own memoir. The little woman A few weeks later, Stowe began drafting Uncle Toms Cabin. It had a familiar scene. The novels heroine, Eliza, a Black fugitive, knocks on the door of a U.S. senator who had previously promised to adhere to the fugitive slave laws. But when faced with a terrorized person at his doorstep, the senator allowed his heart to lead instead of his head. Like the real professor Upham, the fictional senator and his wife defied the law. Scene from stage production of Uncle Toms Cabin, 1901. (Library of Congress) Art always arises from a myriad of influences, and other individuals or experiences certainly inspired Stowes writing. But aside from this scene that clearly drew upon Uphams meeting with Jackson, this encounter took Stowe from the broader debate of anti-slavery politics to the immediacy of direct action. Published in 1852, Uncle Toms Cabin galvanized abolitionists across the country and became the second-bestselling book in the U.S. during the 19th century. Only the Bible ranked higher. A decade later, when Stowe visited the White House in November 1862, President Abraham Lincoln supposedly told her: So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war. A life on the run While Stowe was drafting her novel, Jackson was crossing the U.S.-Canada border. He moved from Maine and settled in St. Johns, New Brunswick, for a few years. But his desire to have a broader influence in the anti-slavery movement led him to sail off to Liverpool, England, with an endorsement letter from Stowe herself. Over the next decade, Jackson lectured across Britain, as many Black abolitionists did, including Frederick Douglass. During this time, Jackson wrote his 1862 memoir, The Experience of a Slave in South Carolina, in which he wrote of his encounter with Stowe. During my flight from Salem to Canada, I met with a very sincere friend and helper, who gave me a refuge during the night, and set me on my way. Her name was Mrs. Beecher Stowe. She took me in and fed me, and gave me some clothes and five dollars. She also inspected my back, which is covered with scars which I shall carry with me to the grave. John Andrew Jackson It was only until after the Civil War ended in 1865 that Jackson sailed back to the U.S. from Britain. He continued to lecture and raise money, this time for relief supplies for destitute freedmen in South Carolina. He collected money to start an orphans home, a church and a home for Black elders without families to care for them. Few of these projects ever fully materialized, but newspapers and correspondence with government officials document his relentless advocacy. Jacksons audacious life ended at some point in the very early 20th century. Before he died, his actions had become legend among the people who knew him in the Black community. One of his neighbors remembered him with admiration. In the 1930s, an interviewer asked Jake McLeod, an elderly Black sharecropper, about his memories of Jackson. Don know how-come he run away, McLeod said, but dey didnt catch up wid him till it was too late. Susanna Ashton, professor of English, Clemson University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. (Photo Illustration by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images). If you spend enough time on social media, the odds are good: You will either block someone or be blocked; you will delete comments you dislike, and others may delete your comments. As we approach Election Day, those social media exchanges will only increase as voters discuss their concerns and candidates seek more support. But what if the deleted comment or blocking occurs on a social media account belonging to a government official, candidate for office, or governmental agency? Under those circumstances, the First Amendment is a powerful shield to protect not only your speech, but also the right of the people to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Freedom of speech and to petition the government are protections upheld since before there was a United States, all the way back to the Magna Carta in 1215. Even on social media, our rights are protected. However, it is important to note that a social media post on your neighbors account is not necessarily protected by the First Amendment, even if your neighbor is a government official or candidate for office. Social media is like the public square in a small town. In this public square, people can preach the gospel or campaign for office. Members of this expansive community can praise the new shopping center, exhibit their talent for art or singing or dance, or complain about that new tax to fund development. Though many social media providers are private actors entitled to their own editorial discretion, when the account holder on a platform is a government agency, official, or a candidate for office, the First Amendment demands that they allow posters to speak, even if that speech is disagreeable or contrary to their preferred speech. Accordingly, the government official, candidate, or government agency is prohibited from deleting comments or blocking someone from accessing the social media account at issue. Simply disliking a comment or perspective is insufficient grounds for the official, candidate, or agency to silence the poster by deleting their comment or blocking them. In short, if you or someone you know has been blocked on a government or candidates account or had comments deleted, your First Amendment rights may have been infringed. But what can you do about it? First, it is important to document that comments have been deleted or someone has been blocked. So long as the comment was not a threat of violence, harassment, or otherwise exempt from constitutional protection, your speech is protected. Second, it may be helpful to notify the governmental actor or candidate that they have violated the First Amendment and request that they reverse course. Sometimes, governmental actors are unaware of their obligation not to delete comments or block others for merely disagreeing or posting disagreeable content or a difference of opinion. Finally, consider filing a complaint with the ACLU of South Carolina. As we approach yet another important election, it is vital that people take advantage of their constitutional right to petition their government and potential elected officials and debate the issues they desire as they see fit. Each time the government or a candidate for public office infringes on the rights of those it is sworn to represent, democracy loses. AMMAN/RIYADH, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Jordan and Saudi Arabia on Monday expressed their support for Lebanon as Israel intensified its attacks on the country. Ayman Safadi, Jordan's deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs and expatriates, reaffirmed Jordan's unwavering support for Lebanon on Monday. He made the remarks in a phone call with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, during which he condemned the recent Israeli attacks against Lebanon, according to a statement by the foreign ministry. Upon directives by King Abdullah II of Jordan, Safadi said Jordan will provide all possible assistance to Lebanon in facing the consequences of the war, and support its efforts to reach an immediate ceasefire. He emphasized the necessity for the international community to act immediately to achieve an immediate ceasefire, implement Resolution 1701, and support Lebanon. Jordan, under the directives of the King, has sent two aid planes to Lebanon and continues to send all possible assistance to help Lebanon and its people, the statement added. Also on Monday, Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah discussed recent developments in Lebanon with his Lebanese counterpart. In a phone call with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, the Saudi foreign minister highlighted the kingdom's support for the security and stability in Lebanon. Saudi Arabia highlighted on Sunday that it is closely monitoring the recent escalation of violence in Lebanon and urged the international community to take decisive action to preserve regional peace and security, warning against the perils of war. A photo taken from the top of Bluestone Dam looking toward the city of Hinton, W.Va. (Army Corps of Engineer | Courtesy photo) With the arrival of water from North Carolina and Virginia resulting from Hurricane Helene, the levels of a Southern West Virginia lake will be higher than usual for the next several weeks, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a news release Monday. Bluestone Lake crested Sunday evening at 1493.7 feet, up from its summer levels of 1410 feet, the Army Corps said. Bluestone Dam helps regulate water from a 4,600 square-mile basin drained by the New River, which starts in North Carolina and crosses Southwestern Virginia before coming into West Virginia. Flash flooding from Hurricane Helene devastated communities in the southern United States, particularly in Western North Carolina. The death toll from the storm had reached at least 121 by Monday, with more expected as emergency officials reached cut off areas, according to reporting by the Associated Press. Bluestone Dam is located directly upstream from the city of Hinton, the county seat of Summers County. Hinton city manager Cris Meadows told West Virginia Watch Monday morning that there were no flooding issues in the city. The dam did what it was supposed to, Meadows said. Unfortunately when it does that, there is a lot of debris behind it that will have to be dealt with at some point. The dam is designed and continues to reduce flooding to several downstream communities, including Hinton, Thurmond, Kanawha Falls, Montgomery, Cabin Creek, Charleston, St. Albans, Winfield, Buffalo and Point Pleasant, the Army Corps said. It also reduces flood risks to communities along the Ohio River. Dam operations did not have an impact on flash flooding upstream in Western North Carolina and Southwestern Virginia, the Army Corps said. The lake was at 1493.6 feet Monday afternoon and falling slowly, the Army Corps said. We do not anticipate opening the crest gates on top of the dam, the release said. Huntington District Dam Safety personnel remain on-site to monitor the performance of the dam through this event. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX At a time when few Latinos worked in broadcast news, Bob Navarro became a news writer in Los Angeles at KNXT-TV Channel 2 on The Big News. The year was 1967 and, as Navarro recalled decades later, "When I first came to 'The Big News,' there was a woman reporter, a woman writer, no woman on the desk, no woman producer. That was it. There was an African American, but no Chicanos. I was the first one." Navarro later became an on-screen reporter, one of a handful of Latino reporters appearing on Southern California airwaves in the 1970s. Navarro, who was honored with a military service at the Los Angeles National Cemetery Columbarium on Sept. 12, is being remember by former colleagues as a barrier breaker who pushed for insightful, stereotype-free coverage of the Latino community. He died in North Hollywood on Aug. 21 at the age of 92. Bob was always one of the friendliest and nicest guys in the news business, a business in which he experienced racism and intolerance, said Joe Saltzman, a professor of journalism and communication at USC. But through it all, he never lost his smile, his sense of who he was. Born Robert Navarro on March 15, 1932, in El Paso, he grew up in South Los Angeles but did not complete high school. He served in the Army before attending broadcasting school in Los Angeles, according to Felix Gutierrez, a professor emeritus of journalism at USC. Navarros career took him to Las Vegas and later to the news writer job at KNXT-TV Channel 2, now known as CBS Los Angeles. Read more: 'The Trick Is Not to Bore People' His claim to fame was the quality of his work and his dedication to journalism, said Gutierrez. He became familiar to thousands of Angelenos by hosting a weekly interview with his own name in the title, Bob Navarro's Journal . He touched on all sorts of topics on the show, but an episode in 1997 captured his presence a composed, bespectacled reporter in a crisp gray suit asking piercing questions. Jumping into the hot-button issue at the time, he guided a tense conversation with people offering differing views of Proposition 227, a statewide measure that restricted bilingual education in California. The dialogue was emblematic of the in-depth and tough discussions that appeared on his show. Away from work, Gutierrez noted, Navarro encouraged aspiring journalists to make opportunities for themselves and realize their potential. Navarro was one of the founding members of the California Chicano News Media Assn., an organization created in 1972 that advocates for diversity in journalism and accurate portrayals of the Latino community. It was a particularly fraught time for Latinos, who faced racism in the struggle for equal representation. We weren't integrated throughout, nor was our language, nor was our culture, Gutierrez recalled. Navarros stints at broadcast television stations which included KPIX in San Francisco and Southern Californias KCET, KTLA, KCAL and KNBC made strides to change that narrative. Navarro made the switch to Spanish-language networks when Frank Cruz hired him in 1986 as news director of KVEA-TV, a current Telemundo outlet. Cruz, a co-creator of Telemundo and Navarros close friend, said the journalist led the charge on bringing stories to Spanish-speaking audiences that accurately reflected their daily lives. In his coverage, Navarro rejected notions that Latinos were a monolithic community. We've got to do in-depth coverage stories on the Latino community and all aspects of it, Cruz said. We didnt want to do stereotypical stories. Read more: COMMENTARY : The Day the Latino Beacon Died Navarros near four-decade-long tenure in journalism included coverage of the Chicano Moratorium, which culminated in an August 1970 march that drew up to 30,000 demonstrators. He recalled seeing the bloody remains of Chicano journalist Ruben Salazar, who was killed by a tear gas projectile fired by a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy at the Silver Dollar Bar that day. Navarro did not return to the Silver Dollar Bar until 20 years later, writing in The Times that he had long struggled to accept Salazars death. It took an act of denial to make me go in, he wrote about the locale, and it took an act of God to keep me there. Time and again my eyes would slide over to that spot on the floor where the beacon came crashing down. Navarro left reporting in the early 1990s to take up a position as KCBS director of editorials. Diversity in newsrooms had come a long way from when he began, but even then, Navarro remarked that underrepresented groups needed to have a seat at the table in leadership positions. He encouraged his friends who taught journalism to push their students to strive for quality journalism and find the stories no one tells about people that look like me, according to Saltzman. I wish Bob could visit my USC classes today so he could see how diverse they are with faces that not only look like his but look like so many other cultures, Saltzman said. It would have brought one of those patented Navarro smiles to his face. Navarro was preceded in death by his wife, Carmel. 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. UPDATE 10/1 5:25 P.M. BLACKSBURG, Va. (WFXR) The boil water effect is still in place for the Towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg, Virginia Tech, and Montgomery County Public Service Authority Waterworks. This afternoon, water levels have been stabilized at the New River Valley Regional Water Authority. Wytheville Water Treatment Plan operating at half capacity from power outages However, there are key steps in the process of lifting the boil water advisory including the following: First, all water supply lines must be flushed, meaning existing water in the lines will be emptied through a variety of outlets to include fire hydrants and flushing valves. The Authority and its members have to complete two rounds of testing on the water supply systems. Each round of testing takes up to 24 hours to complete After the water testing is finished, the VDH determines if the water is safe for consumers. Finally, once the VDH says the water is safe, then the boil water advisory will be lifted. Many tests will be conducted over the next two to ensure that the water is safe to use. The water boil advisory is anticipated to be lifted over the weekend and advises residents to keep boiling their water until further notice. WFXR will update you as new information is released. BLACKSBURG, Va. (WFXR) The Blacksburg Police Department has issued a boil water notice for customers. BPD is advising the Town of Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Virginia Tech, and Montgomery County Public Service Authority Waterworks. Do not drink tap water without boiling it first. Failure to do so can lead to stomach or intestinal issues. The Virginia Department of Health recommends residents boil tap water before drinking or cooking purposes until further notice. This is due to the flooding on the New River creating dangerous water quality. Water turbidities have exceeded 1.0 NTU. VDH says that boiling water kills bacteria and other organisms that may be in the water and residents should bring tap water to a rolling boil for approximately 1 minute. If you cannot boil your tap water. 1. An alternative method of purification for residents who do not have gas or electricity available is to use liquid household bleach to disinfect water. The bleach product should be recently purchased, free of additives and scents, and should contain a hypochlorite solution of at least 5.25%. Public health officials recommend adding 8 drops of bleach (about teaspoon) to each gallon of water. The water should be stirred and allowed to stand for at least 30 minutes before use. 2. Water purification tablets may also be used by following the manufacturers instructions. 3. Potable water is available at the following locations: local grocery and convenience stores. For more information call: Waterworks contact Caleb Taylor, 155 Walton Rd. Radford, VA 24141, 540-639-2575. Students at Virginia Tech will be notified via VT Alerts when the boil water advisory has been lifted. Students who may have questions can contact the Residential Well-Being at dsafacilities@vt.edu. Research faculty who use large amounts of water in their work may contact Environmental Health and Safety at 540-231-3600. For general boil water information you can visit the VDH website. WFXR news will update residents on when the boil water advisory lifts. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. An audacious raid on Dutch vaccines, a "manly pep talk" with Prince Harry and near-death from Covid -- excerpts from the memoir of former UK prime minister Boris Johnson are entertaining Britain's political class. But at the Conservatives' annual get-together in Birmingham, central England, activists appear not to be paying too much attention to their former party leader, focusing instead on the battle to find the next one. "I haven't heard much about Boris in this conference," 21-year-old Tory member Dillon Hughes told AFP. "I don't know if people are avoiding it but I think people are trying to move past the Johnson era and are kind of moving forward and looking into a bright a new future within the party." Johnson's memoir, "Unleashed", hits shelves on October 10 and pledges what he calls the "unfiltered truth" about Brexit, Covid and the Conservatives. It charts his rise in politics to become London mayor, before leading the "Leave" campaign during the 2016 Brexit referendum, to becoming Tory leader in 2019 when he secured a landslide general election victory. Johnson was ousted in disgrace by colleagues fewer than three years later following a series of scandals, particularly the illegal Covid lockdown-breaking parties at Downing Street. - Dutch raid - Extracts released from the book so far include Johnson claiming that he considered launching an "aquatic raid" on a warehouse in the Netherlands to retrieve Covid vaccine doses during a supply row with the European Union. Johnson, 60, admitted the plan was "nuts". But he said he discussed it in March 2021 with senior military officials, who advised it would not be possible to achieve undetected and was also likely to raise questions with the NATO ally. Johnson also writes that he feared for his life -- or as he put it, that he "might have carked it" -- while in intensive care with Covid, had it not been for the "skills and experience" of his nurses. He spent several days in intensive care in April 2020 and wrote that on his admission, he "started to doze but didn't want to sleep - partly in case I never woke up". Another excerpt claims that he tried -- unsuccessfully -- to persuade Prince Harry and wife Meghan not to leave the UK and move to the United States in early 2020. There was "a ridiculous business... when they made me try to persuade Harry to stay. Kind of manly pep talk. Totally hopeless," Johnson writes, according to the excerpts serialised in the right-wing Mail newspapers. - Paper talk - Eyebrows have been raised over the timing of the drip-feed of revelations, just as the Conservatives meet to hear pitches from four MPs vying to be the party's next leader. Party member Peter Young, 60, acknowledged that with the conference in full swing, the timing was apt for Johnson to release his book. But the spectre of the so-called "Big Dog" of Downing Street was not hanging over the gathering, he added. "I don't think it matters terribly that the book is issued. It's not being discussed. Will I read it? Probably not, but I might do one day," he said. Laura Weldon, a former Conservative candidate, suggested the memoirs were really just a focus for newspapers and political journalists. "Boris is a character and Boris is somebody who the media adore. And so if Boris took the bins out, I'm sure it would be a front-page story," she said. "I haven't really heard many people talk about it, say, outside of the media, so the (party) members are looking forward not backwards to Boris." Conservative Party - Yesterday's man - Johnson, with his mop of unbrushed white hair and fondness for ancient historical references, is widely regarded as one of the most charismatic politicians in recent British history. But he divides opinion like few others. To many supporters he remains a hero for taking Britain out of Europe in 2020, and for attracting less well-off voters to the party. "He'll always be someone that the members will love," Jonathan Rich, a 58-year-old Tory party supporter, told AFP. Hughes, the 21-year-old activist, said Johnson -- educated at the elite private school Eton College and at Oxford University -- "really had a voice for the working class" and had "inspired" him to join the Conservatives. "But I don't think now is the time for him to come back," Hughes added. "And I don't think he should ever come back really." Young agreed. "He's not here and he's not standing and he's not part of the conversation. And I think the party has buried him, rightly or wrongly, so that's history now," he said. pdh/phz/gil Boston police identify young man killed in weekend shooting Authorities on Monday released the name of a young man who was shot to death in Boston over the weekend. Officers responding to a report of a person shot in the area of 849 Cummins Highway in the citys Mattapan neighborhood just after 1 a.m. on Sunday found a 23-year-old man suffering from gunshot wounds, according to the Boston Police Department. The victim, Mitchell Felix Duru, of Jamaica Plain, was pronounced dead at the scene. No arrests have been made in connection with the shooting. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Boston Police Homicide Unit at 617-343-4470. Anonymous tips can be called into the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1-800-494-TIPS or shared via text by sending the TIP to CRIME (27463). An investigation remains 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 The family of an 8-year-old boy who was airlifted from a cruise ship due to a medical emergency was able to resume their family vacation when their ship docked in Los Angeles. Daniel Jiang was rescued from the Royal Princess last Tuesday about 20 miles off the coast of Northern California near Eureka. Daniel was on a two-week trip from Vancouver to Hawaii with his mother and brother when he began to feel sick, according to a report in Good Morning America. As the boys condition worsened, it was eventually discovered he was suffering from appendicitis which would require emergency surgery. Far from their next stop and with foggy conditions proving to be challenging for the crew of the Royal Princess, the U.S. Coast Guard was called to the scene to airlift Daniel and his family to a hospital so he could undergo emergency appendix surgery. The entire rescue was caught on video and shared by the Coast Guard online. The Royal Princess is seen in the distance as a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter flies to the ship to evacuate a child experiencing a medical emergency on Sept. 24, 2024. (U.S. Coast Guard) Daniel Jiang, 8, is rescued from the Royal Princess and loaded into a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter to be taken to a hospital for appendicitis surgery on Sept. 24, 2024. (U.S. Coast Guard) U.S. Coast Guard rescuers medevac the family of a child experiencing a medical emergency on Sept. 24, 2024. (U.S. Coast Guard) Daniels surgery was a success and on Saturday, after he was given the medical all-clear, he and his brother and mother were able to continue their cruise to Hawaii by re-boarding the Royal Princess in Los Angeles. Coincidentally, the resumption of their cruise also coincided with Daniels birthday. A spokesperson for Princess Cruises says the Jiang family was greeted with an outpouring of excitement and warm wishes from the crew when they stepped back onto their cruise ship. Daniel Jiang poses alongside his mother, brother and crewmembers of the Royal Princess after rejoining their cruise on Sept. 26, 2024. (Princess Cruises) A crewmember of the Royal Princess hands flowers to the mother of Daniel Jiang, who was rescued from the cruise ship for emergency surgery. The family returned to their cruise in Los Angeles on Sept. 28, 2024. (Princess Cruises) Video shared by Princess shows the crew of the ship greeting Daniel and his family, providing them with gifts and serenading him with a birthday song. Daniel and his family are currently en route to Honolulu aboard the Royal Princess. They are scheduled to arrive Friday, according to CruiseMapper.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 KTLA. A new negative advertisement from Republican Mike Braun digitally altered the campaign signs at this Jennifer McCormick rally to say "No Gas Stoves!" The version sent to telesivions "mistakenly" omitted the legally mandated disclaimer at the bottom of the screen, according to Braun's campaign. (Screenshot from Braun advertisement) UPDATE: The Braun campaign has now removed the altered stove signs from the rally picture in a third version of the ad now airing. A new ad from Republican Mike Brauns gubernatorial campaign uses a digitally altered photograph of his opponent in a negative campaign advertising push. Braun, Democrat Jennifer McCormick and Libertarian Donald Rainwater are vying to succeed Gov. Eric Holcomb as governor and will all appear on the November ballot. McCormicks campaign team called for Braun to immediately pull the ad, saying it violates the principles of transparency and integrity voters deserve in campaign advertising by changing the text on the signs in voters hands. Brauns team is so desperate to distract voters that theyve stooped to using heavily doctored images. Disclaimer or not, its just dishonest, said McCormick campaign manager Kelly Wittman. Indiana has a law in place for a reasonHoosiers deserve the truth, not deep fakes and dishonesty. Politico reporter Adam Wren first broke news of the $1 million buy, which could test a new state law regarding disclosures around digital alterations in campaign messaging. The original version of the ad circulated to television stations mistakenly omitted a required disclaimer that labeled the advertisement as altered, according to the Braun campaign. The hopelessly liberal ads are in compliance with HEA 1133. An earlier version was mistakenly delivered to TV stations and is being replaced with the correct version. Mike Braun is the first candidate to comply with this new law, which requires a disclaimer for any alteration from an original image, even though his opponent has altered his appearance in her paid advertisements without a disclaimer, said Josh Kelley, a senior advisor for the campaign. In the negative advertisement, which had already circulated without the disclaimer, McCormick stands in front of a crowd surrounded by No Gas Stoves! signs. The original photo of the South Bend event features just under three dozen people holding McCormick campaign signs with no mention of gas stoves. Yes. Ive seen the ad, McCormick posted on X following its release. No. I dont care what type of stove you use. I am focusing on real issues like womens reproductive freedoms, education and good paying jobs. My opponent is apparently focused on stoves The claim appears to stem from McCormicks support for the United States Climate Alliance, which has called for increasing the use of electric models in new buildings where possible. According to the group, which cites a report from sustainability organization RMI, electrifying stoves improves indoor air quality and can help reduce asthma rates while also eliminating the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. Next phase of the governors race The Braun campaign didnt comment on the negative strategy, which marks a new stage in the governors race following the news that Inside Elections dropped the races rating from Solid Republican to Likely Republican last week. Braun and McCormick will face each other on the debate stage twice this week, once on Fox59 on Wednesday, and again on Thursday, this time with Rainwater on WISH-TV. The decision came following a new poll paid for by the Democratic Governors Association that found McCormick trailing behind Braun by just three points. McCormicks strengths in the release came down to her ability to better consolidate her partys support and her lead among independent voters. Rainwaters campaign also draws from Brauns base, weakening his support. We are under no illusions about Indianas Republican-leaning electorate, the briefing read. But McCormick runs ahead of (Democratic presidential nominee Kamala) Harris, and is more popular than her, while Braun runs behind (Republican presidential nominee Donald) Trump, and is less popular than him. Indianas near-total abortion ban as well as Brauns own anti-abortion stance also appeared to hurt his chances in this particular poll. However, other polls show Braun with a more commanding lead, including an Emerson College survey from earlier this month that put Braun ahead by 11 points. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Satellite images from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), showed 80 percent of Brazil affected by smoke last week (EVARISTO SA) (EVARISTO SA/AFP/AFP) With as much as 80 percent of Brazil under a blanket of smoke from historic wild fires, face masks last used during the coronavirus pandemic are coming out again. South America's biggest country has for weeks been choking on pollution along with much of the rest of the continent battling extreme drought and record fires. Millions of hectares of forest and farmland have burnt in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru. The Amazon basin, usually one of the wettest places on Earth, is experiencing its worst fires in nearly two decades, according to the EU's Copernicus observatory. And last week, satellite images from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), showed 80 percent of Brazil affected by smoke. "I am a smoker but I've been coughing more than usual," student Luan Monteiro, 20, told AFP in the port of Rio de Janeiro. Indeed, experts say that inhaling smoke from the fires has effects comparable to smoking four or five cigarettes a day. Air pollution can worsen bronchitis and asthma, and the risk is greater the longer the exposure, according to pediatrician Renato Kfouri, vice president of the Brazilian Immunizations Society. In one of the biggest hospitals in the capital Brasilia, the number of patients treated for respiratory problems in recent days was more than 20 times higher than usual. - 'I put on my mask' - In Brasilia, which has seen 160 days without rain, homemaker Valderes Loyola said she had bought a fan she uses to blow over wet towels and buckets of water to try and add some moisture to the dry air. "When I go out, I put on my mask," the 72-year-old told AFP. Sao Paulo, Latin America's biggest metropolis, for several days last week was ranked the worlds most polluted city by Swiss-based monitoring firm IQAir. At least 40 percent of residents of Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte, and 29 percent in Rio de Janeiro say their health was affected "very much" by pollution, according to pollsters Datafolha. Internet searches for "air quality" reached record levels in Brazil in recent days, according to the Google Trends tool, which also reported an increase searches for "humidifier" and "air purifier." Experts warn about outdated air quality monitoring in Brazil, and a dearth of emergency plans to deal with smoke pollution. Less than 2.0 percent of municipalities have air monitoring stations, Evangelina Araujo of the Instituto Ar pollution think tank told AFP. And only one in five can detect the fine particles found in smoke that should trigger health warnings. Authorities blame human activity for most of the recent fires in Brazil -- where they are often linked to land clearing for agriculture. Neighboring Bolivia on Monday declared a national disaster due to forest fires affecting most of its Santa Cruz department, where authorities said 7.2 million hectares have burned since last week. rsr/app/nn/mlr/dw Breeder who tried to create enormous trophy sheep jailed in US Arthur Schubarth breeds sheep and goats for hunting ranches, where customers pay to shoot captive animals (YURI CORTEZ) (YURI CORTEZ/AFP/AFP) A man who tried to breed enormous hybrid sheep using genetic material from endangered animals so he could sell them to trophy hunting ranches has been sentenced to six months in prison, the US Department of Justice said Monday. Arthur Schubarth, 81, illegally imported parts of the world's largest species of sheep from Kyrgyzstan, which he used to create cloned embryos in the United States. The resulting embryos were then implanted in ewes on his Montana ranch, resulting in the birth of a genetically pure Marco Polo argali, an endangered species that can weigh more than 300 pounds (135 kilograms) and has horns more than five feet (1.5 meters) wide. Schubarth then used semen from this specimen to impregnate various species of sheep in an effort to create never-before-seen hybrids, with the goal of breeding even larger sheep. He hoped to sell the resulting animals to "canned" hunting ranches, facilities where customers pay to shoot captive animals, and where bigger animals can command higher prices. "Schubarth's criminal conduct is not how Montanans treat our wildlife population," said US Attorney Jesse Laslovich. "Indeed, his actions threatened Montana's native wildlife species for no other reason than he and his co-conspirators wanted to make more money. "Schubarth's greed drove their conspiracy to bring to Montana parts of the largest sheep in the world from Kyrgyzstan. "Such actions to create hybrid animals are as unnatural as they are illegal." Schubarth, whose ranch breeds and sells mountain sheep, mountain goats and other ungulates primarily for game ranches, admitted one count of conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act, and one of substantively violating the Lacey Act at an earlier hearing. The Lacey Act prohibits interstate trade in certain wildlife and is used by authorities to combat wildlife trafficking. In addition to his prison sentence, Schubarth was ordered to pay a $20,000 fine to the Lacey Act Reward Fund, a $4,000 payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and a $200 special assessment. hg/aha A newspaper ad from 1941 announcing an auction - a time when goods were frequently sold that had previously been owned by Jews and other victims of Nazi persecution who were either deported or emigrated. Sina Schuldt/dpa Up until a year ago, the basket, made of rattan and varnished wood, was just used as a rubbish bin for discarded pieces of paper. It looked good in the office of Bremen's top finance official and no one thought to wonder where it had come from. Then it turned out that the bin had probably been stolen from Jews and others as they fled persecution from the National Socialists. Decades later this is not 100% certain, says Gundula Rentrop, who, as a museum educator, researched the history of Bremen's finance department until her retirement. Her suspicion that the bin had been stolen was enough and it was banished from the finance official's office to the department's basement, where it joined other items thought to have a tortured past. A cellar full of suspicious items The basement is protected by a heavy door strong enough to protect anyone inside from a gas leak - itself a relic of the war years. Inside are piles of files, a living room cupboard, a display cabinet, two worn upholstered chairs, a cloth napkin and now, the wastepaper basket. "These are all suspect items," says Rentrop, glancing around the room. "The furniture is very unusual for offices. Some items still have haulage stamps on the back." The furniture is thought to be Nazi-looted property, taken from deportees and people who fled the regime by sea. Before the belongings of the persecuted were auctioned off at absurdly low prices, authorities, universities and museums would have picked out any special items such as jewellery, Rentrop says. "The furniture didn't even appear in lists or records." There were only a few official papers left anyway, as the Nazis removed almost everything. "Only archive fragments remain in Bremen," says Rentrop. A few lists of emigrants' luggage, records of auctions and the confiscation of assets - some even note potatoes. Bremen's finance department first began to look into its history ten years ago. A research group from the University of Bremen, led by historian Jaromir Balcar, analysed what was left and created an exhibition. Special role of the harbour cities Even though only around 1,300 Jews lived in Bremen in 1933, the Hanseatic city played a key role in the plundering of the persecuted, as the research shows. "As a traditional port of emigration to overseas, Bremen was the central port of call for Jewish victims of persecution from all over the Reich alongside Hamburg," says Balcar in his book Robbery by Official Decree." He is researching Hamburg's role for an exhibition slated for early 2025. "This is where the final act of their robbery took place, which continued even after the victims had left the country." After the outbreak of war, goods taken from the emigrants piled up in the harbours. Researchers at the German Maritime Museum - Leibniz Institute of Maritime History in Bremerhaven - estimate that there were around 6,000 to 7,000 items of cargo in Bremen and Hamburg - the property of 4,000 to 5,000 emigrant families. First comprehensive database on Nazi-looted property Researchers Kathrin Kleibl and Susanne Kiel from the Maritime Museum are trying to gain an overview of the suspected loot. They are analysing thousands of documents, compiling research results and have been publishing the details in the LostLift database since September of last year. Almost 3,400 items are already listed - as far back as possible from the time people left their homes until the items are auctioned off. There is also information on around 6,600 parties involved - from the families affected as well as the haulage companies, bailiffs and buyers involved. "What we are doing should have happened much earlier," says Kiel. Initially, many people kept quiet to avoid being confronted with their own guilt and to avert possible claims. But even now, more than 80 years later, the researchers often get nowhere with their research. "Many are afraid to finally bring out the dirt that has always been swept under the carpet and clean it up," she says. Looted goods still in many flats and houses today She is convinced that looted furniture can be found not only in the cellar of the tax authorities, but in many people's living rooms. If their own home was bombed out, Germans were even entitled to the confiscated property of the victims. Kiel says the aim of the project is not to return the furniture that was seized back then but also to document the injustice done, and analyse it scientifically. Anyone who discovers a suspected item in their home can contact Oldenburg's State Museum of Art & Culture - anonymously if desired, says researcher Marcus Kenzler. "The aim is to transfer potential Nazi-looted property from the protected private sphere to a public space so that it can be displayed, seen and possibly recognized," he says. The museum borrows the object for five years, records it in a database and, in the best-case scenario, returns it to the original owners. Keeping the memory alive So far, there is great interest, he says, though the museum has only recorded 10 objects so far, including a tea service and decorative plates. People are still inhibited, as families fear for their reputation. But the time and personnel resources for the project are also scarce, he says. So Kenzler is placing his hopes in new collaborations, with one under way with the Jever Castle Museum and talks in process with the East Frisian State Museum in Emden and Cloppenburg Museum Village. In Bremen, ever since her retirement, Rentrop has been recording and cataloguing the historical documents of the finance department in the state archives. Tracking down the expropriations is mainly an effort carried out by volunteers. But they bring energy to the project and next hope to set up a memorial on the banks of the Weser river, cycle tours to auction sites and guided tours of the Reich House, still the name of Bremen's Finance Department building. Gundula Rentrop, a museum educator, shows pieces of furniture of unclear provenance that are stored in the basement of the Bremen tax office. The items may originally have been confiscated from Jews or other victims of Nazi persecution, who were deported or emigrated. Sina Schuldt/dpa A gardener works in the Pakistan-China friendship forest in Gwadar, Balochistan province, southwestern Pakistan, on Sept. 15, 2024. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal) by Misbah Saba Malik, Deng Kaiyin GWADAR, Pakistan, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- As the sea breeze swept through a vibrant forest just a few yards away from the bustling Gwadar Port, here in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, Muhammad Iqbal called out firmly from a corner, instructing his subordinates to water the plants carefully, making sure not to trample the delicate saplings. For the 57-year-old fellow, who has been working with the port for the last 16 years, this friendship forest is not just a collection of greenery but a personal labor of love. As one of the pillar projects of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the Gwadar Port has been operated by China Overseas Port Holding Company (COPHC) since 2013. Launched in 2013, CPEC, the flagship project of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, is a corridor linking the Gwadar Port in southwest Pakistan's Balochistan province with Kashgar in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which highlights energy, transport, and industrial cooperation in the first phase, while in the new phase expands to fields of agriculture and livelihood, among others. "This place was once barren, with nothing but dust blowing around all day," he recalled. "One day, a Chinese manager from COPHC told me that they were going to transform this land into a forest, and that is how it all began." "We have selected tree species suitable for local climate with wind-breaking and sand-fixing functions for the greening project," said Wang Ruilei, who was in charge of greening at COPHC, adding that after joint efforts from both sides, more than 4,000 trees have been planted in the friendship forest in Gwadar. The once-empty plot has now blossomed into a lush sanctuary, and the seedlings that Iqbal planted are now grown into strong trees providing beautiful scenery and fresh air to the people of Gwadar. "As per our observation, the maximum ground temperature in a year used to reach 52 degrees Celsius, but now it is around 43 degrees Celsius," said Wang, "I am proud to say that I can feel the improvement of the local climate brought by the forest." The forest has seen Chinese ambassadors to Pakistan and foreign ambassadors from countries like the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and the European Union to Pakistan plant trees during their visits to Gwadar, and each tree stands as a symbol of growing diplomatic ties between Pakistan and these nations. Bilal Javed, Iqbal's subordinate who joined him a year ago, has been assigned the most crucial responsibility of nurturing the plants the dignitaries had planted. "Iqbal is meticulous about these plants," Bilal said, adding that "they represent memories of our foreign guests, and we must ensure they flourish -- just like Pakistan's relations with China and these countries." The 27-year-old said that the forest also motivated him and many other young people of Gwadar to replicate the good work and plant trees at their homes. "Before this forest, this area used to be dusty and warm, but with all this greenery, the air feels cleaner and fresher," Bilal said, taking a deep breath as the breeze rustled the leaves of the trees overhead. As a key component of the Chinese Ambassador's Green Employment Plan Project, the forest has helped promote local employment and increased farmers' income in Gwadar. In a conversation with Xinhua, Allah Buksh, another forester in the forest, said the trees and shrubs planted in the forest have provided a large amount of feed for the sheep farm. "Chinese staff has also taught local farmers techniques such as cuttings, grafting, scientific weeding, and fertilization to increase crop yields," he added. The transformation of this once-desolate land into a flourishing forest has not only beautified the port area but has also sparked a green movement, making Iqbal plan to expand the forest of the kind to other parts of the city. "The Chinese workers not only planted the trees and covered the cost of water tankers to irrigate the plants, but also frequently visited to ensure the forest's upkeep. I hope that they will further expand this good work," Iqbal said. As each tree in the friendship forest grows, it serves as a living testament to the enduring bonds between Pakistan and China, besides promoting environmental stewardship in the region. Gardener Muhammad Iqbal checks a plant in the Pakistan-China friendship forest in Gwadar, Balochistan province, southwestern Pakistan, on Sept. 15, 2024. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal) Gardeners take care of plants in the Pakistan-China friendship forest in Gwadar, Balochistan province, southwestern Pakistan, on Sept. 15, 2024. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal) A gardener is seen in the Pakistan-China friendship forest in Gwadar, Balochistan province, southwestern Pakistan, on Sept. 15, 2024. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal) An aerial photo taken on Sept. 15, 2024 shows a view of the Pakistan-China friendship forest in Gwadar, Balochistan province, southwestern Pakistan. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal) An aerial photo taken on Sept. 15, 2024 shows a view of the Pakistan-China friendship forest in Gwadar, Balochistan province, southwestern Pakistan. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal) Six employees of the New York City Department of Education used federal funds to take their children and grandchildren on trips, including to Disney World. The money came from a program aimed at giving homeless children incentives to increase their grades and attendance. The educators listed homeless students going on the trips and forged parents' guardians' signatures, but they took their own children and grandchildren instead, according to a report by the Special Commissioner for Investigation for the school system. The department says none of the employees are currently with the school system, but it isn't clear how many of them were punished. None were referred for possible criminal charges. The post Brickbat: The Most Magical Place on Earth appeared first on Reason.com. LONDON (Reuters) - Britain on Monday said that all sides should seek de-escalation and a ceasefire after Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, reiterating that the region needs to pull back from the brink. "We are ironclad in our support for Israel's right to self-defence," a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said. "But our very clear message now is, on all sides, (for) all parties to show restraint." Israel has hit Lebanon with a two-week wave of attacks, eliminating Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and several commanders but also killing around 1,000 Lebanese and forcing 1 million to flee their homes. Hezbollah has pledged to confront any Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon. "We want to see all sides step back from the brink," he said. "Any further escalation must be avoided. A ceasefire will provide the space necessary to find the political solution that is necessary to secure peace in the region." Starmer and other government ministers have also called on British nationals to leave Lebanon on commercial flights while it is still possible. The spokesperson said that the government was working on all contingency planning needed in relation to the situation in Lebanon. "What we're focused on at the moment is securing extra spaces on commercial flights for those who do want to leave, and obviously reiterating our calls for those (people) to leave and to register their presence with us and book the first available flights," he said. (Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by William James and Kate Holton) Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) said in a Sunday interview she thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin respects former President Trump. Look, there is a reason that President Putin only invaded Ukraine under Obama-Biden, and then again, under Biden-Harris, Britt told Fox News Sunday anchor Shannon Bream. The world respects President Trump. And I believe that Vladimir Putin does as well. Britts comments follow a Friday meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, with the former president indicating that he could help end the Russia-Ukraine war very quickly. Were going to work very much with both parties to try and get this settled, Trump said to reporters while with Zelensky. We have a very good relationship, and I also have a very good relationship as you know with President Putin. And I think if we win, I think were going to get it resolved very quickly, Trump added. In her interview on Fox News Sunday, Britt noted the Trump-Zelensky meeting and said the former president understands the importance of standing firmly with our allies. And you look at what Joe Biden has done, and Kamala Harris, slow-walking resources to Ukraine, and their disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, disastrous withdrawal, has created a ripple effect across this globe where people do not respect us, Britt added. Britt also said that people will respect the United States upon Trumps return to the presidency. When reached for comment, the Harris campaign directed The Hill to a release from this week which noted previous comments by Trump about NATO in which he said he wouldnt protect countries in the alliance if they were delinquent in payments to the security alliance and the former president calling Putin smart in the past. One of the presidents of a big country stood up, said, Well, sir, if we dont pay and were attacked by Russia, will you protect us? Trump said at a rally in February. I said, You didnt pay, youre delinquent. He said, Yes, lets say that happened. No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. In a statement in the release, Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein said Trump wont say he wants Ukraine to win the war because hes rooting for Vladimir Putin. He cozies up to dictators because he wants to be one, Finkelstien continued in the statement. Vice President Harris understands that the American people stand on the side of freedom, democracy and rule of law. She knows that if America walks away from Ukraine, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv with his eyes on the rest of Europe and our NATO allies. The Hill has reached out to the White House, vice presidents office, and former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obamas office for comment. Updated at 8:41 pm 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. MANHATTAN, N.Y. (PIX11) People from all over the world, the country, and the city visit Times Square. They may not agree on politics, but they can start a conversation with a song. More Local News Broadway Votes is a new effort to register people to vote and engage in the election process. It uses songs and shows to establish common bonds. On Sunday in Times Square, some Broadway favorites made the connection. As a melody from the show and upcoming movie Wicked echoed along 7th Avenue, people stopped to listen. Signs encouraged people to vote and to be informed about election dates and issues. Nelini Stamp co-founded it as a non-partisan initiative. For the first time, theyre taking to the stage in Times Square. Singing is a great way to meet people where they are and not feel like pushing a conversation, Stamp said. This season, they are also coordinating speeches at the end of some Broadway performances inside theaters to encourage voting. Early voting starts in some states out west within the next week. In New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, its closer to election day. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) A plastics factory in Brookings is now the sole owner of a partner facility in China, according to a company news release from Monday. Falcon Plastics in Brookings now has full ownership of Poly-Cast, a partner facility in Suzhou, China. Falcon co-owned the China facility with Viking Plastics but bought all of Vikings shares, according to the release. Sanford breaks ground on GSS senior community Falcon provides custom plastic molding. The Poly-Cast facility has been a key component of Falcon Plastics international presence, the news release said. The full ownership will allow Falcon to provide seamless service across global operations, according to the release. Falcon Plastics was established in 1975. According to its website, it has locations in Brookings, Madison, Lexington, Tennessee, Tigard, Oregon, and the location in China. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. BROOKLYN, N.Y. (PIX11) Turkish officials tried to give now-Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso a trip and gifts, he told PIX11 on Monday in the wake of Mayor Eric Adams bribery indictment. Adams is accused of accepting bribes, some from Turkish officials, in the form of lavish trips and illegal campaign donations starting when he became Brooklyn borough president in 2014, according to federal prosecutors. Adams has been charged with bribery, solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national and wire fraud. Delete all messages: Docs reveal Mayor Eric Adams clumsy bribery coverup On Monday, Reynoso told PIX11 News that Turkish officials tried a similar ploy with him, but he did not accept. Representatives of Turkey tried to take care of a trip for Reynoso, who was elected borough president in 2021 after serving as a City Council member, he said. The Turkish consulate also sent him eight gold-plated, porcelain tea sets that his general counsel returned, Reynoso said. Those are just things that a consulate should know they shouldnt be doing with elected officials here in New York, Reynoso said. At that point, we didnt know there was any of this stuff happening. At the time, Reynoso thought it could have been an oversight. Now, he thinks they were trying to curry favor. Looking back I definitely thought it was an intro into building a good relationship with me through gifts and so forth, Reynoso said. It seems like the mayors office gave them an opportunity in the past, and they tried to take that with me as well. Its just we didnt get hooked. Reynoso, like many other elected officials, has called on Adams to resign. On Monday, he reiterated he does not intend to run for mayor. Adams has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to fight the charges. He has said he will not resign. Emily Rahhal is a digital reporter from Los Angeles who has covered New York City since 2023. She joined PIX11 in 2024. See more of her work here and follow her on Twitter 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. Turkish government officials offered to fly Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso to Istanbul for free a few months after he took office in 2022 but Reynoso told the Daily News on Monday he turned down the airplane ticket and returned another lavish gift they sent him out of legal and ethical concerns. The revelation about Reynosos interactions first reported by PIX11 comes on the heels of federal prosecutors last week indicting Mayor Adams, Reynosos Brooklyn BP predecessor, on charges that he solicited and accepted more than $100,000 in business class airline tickets and other luxury gifts from Turkish nationals. The feds allege the freebies amounted to bribes as Adams accepted them, both while borough president and mayor, in exchange for doing political favors for the Turkish government, including helping it resolve building safety issues at its Manhattan consulate. In an interview with The News, Reynoso said representatives from the Turkish consulate came to his Borough Hall office in March 2022 to talk about issues related to Brooklyns Turkish diaspora. They met with me and just talked about wanting to take me to Istanbul, saying, You should come out, and I said if Im on vacation and decide Turkey is where I want to go, I can check in with you when Im there, he said. They said, no, no, we can take care of it.' Reynoso, a former City Council member, said he rejected the offer because he had long been taught public officials like himself were under ethics laws prohibited from accepting gifts worth more than $50 from foreign government officials. I knew these gifts were a lot more expensive than that, he said. But the Turkish officials tried again the next day, when Reynoso said someone from the consulate came back to his office wanting to gift him eight gold-plated porcelain tea cups. Reynoso said his general counsel at Borough Hall promptly returned the tea set to the consulate. The decision I made was an individual one that speaks to my leadership in Borough Hall, Reynoso said. Adams has pleaded not guilty to the corruption charges. In a press conference Monday, Alex Spiro, Adams lead attorney in the criminal case, was asked about Reynosos gift rejections. Im glad he didnt take the porcelain set. If he had, it would not have been a federal crime, Spiro told reporters. TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) The owners of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will donate $1 million to help with relief efforts from Hurricane Helene across the Tampa Bay area. The Glazer family said the money will be given to local nonprofits that are helping those impacted the most. Hurricane Helene: At least 11 killed in storm-related incidents across Tampa Bay The flooding caused by Hurricane Helenes storm surge has been devastating to many throughout the state and specifically in our Tampa Bay community, Darcie Glazer Kassewitz, chairman of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Foundation and Glazer Vision Foundation, said in a statement. There are many areas throughout our community that will require time and additional resources in order to begin the recovery. We offer our full support to those who have been impacted and are extremely thankful for the heroic and brave efforts of the many first responders and utility workers who have been working tirelessly to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our community during this difficult time. The Tampa Bay Rays and Tampa Bay Rowdies also announced they would be contributing $1 million, with initial donations to United Way Suncoast, Feeding Tampa Bay, Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce and the City of St. Petersburg. In the coming days and weeks, we will continue coordinating with City emergency management, collaborating with community organizations and supporting and activating volunteerism among our staff and within our community to help meet the needs of our area and residents, the teams said in a joint statement. The Rays and Rowdies have the same owner. Clearwater Beach businesses cleaning up from sand and storm surge, visitors urged to stay away Helene made landfall Thursday night in the Big Bend area of Florida as a Category 4 major hurricane. The storm brought devastating storm surge to the Tampa Bay area. At least 100 people across the southeast have been confirmed dead due to Helene, including 11 in the Tampa Bay 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 WFLA. Bugs and 'bubble breaths': How new teacher training peers into the mind of a 4-year-old Consider the humble lump of pink Play-Doh. To a parent, it's a quick toddler playtime activity. But ask an early childhood educator about Play-Doh, and it's a science experiment, an opportunity for sensory exploration, a fine motor skills activity, and an introduction to color mixing, all rolled into one squishy blob. "We could do so much with two jars of Play-Doh and an hour," said Kaitlin Fullerton, who has been a preschool teacher and director for 14 years. "An educator of older children would look at that very differently. When California launched its historic expansion of public education in 2020 with the addition of a new grade level TK, short for transitional kindergarten a key component was missing: teacher training to understand how the 4-year-old brain learns. The existing credential programs prepared teachers for math and literacy instruction in the wide expanse of kindergarten through 8th grade and all but excluded the state's newest and youngest students. Four- to 5-year-olds are very different from 12- to 13-year-olds," said Deborah Stipek, an education professor at Stanford University. "The development of TK brought home that we werent really preparing teachers to teach little kids," though much is at stake when it comes to a child's earliest years in school. Beginning next year, the state will require elementary school teachers in TK classrooms to have the equivalent of 24 units of early childhood education or development credits, about eight classes. And in a major effort aimed at improving the consistency of early childhood education, the state is also introducing a new credential for teachers who want to specialize in transitional kindergarten through third grade. For parents who are considering TK, the enhanced training means their child's first experiences in public school will probably be steeped in joyful, play-based lessons designed to help the state's youngest learners develop social skills and a love of learning, and lay the early foundations for literacy and math in environments that look little like a traditional classroom. For veteran child-care providers, who are among the lowest-paid workers in the economy, the new credential stands to increase their earning potential as full-fledged teachers. In California, 98% of child-care workers are women, and more than half are people of color. "I get at least 10 emails a day from people in the community asking when is this coming? said Valerie Helgren-Lempesis, a CSU East Bay education professor who is setting up the schools new program. This credential is going to equalize the field for women of color and immigrant women who have a [bachelor's] degree and are already working in early childhood." Credential candidate Kaitlin Fullerton speaks with classmates at San Jose State University in September. (Loren Elliott / For The Times) For Fullerton the credential will also recognize her deep understanding of young children and the magical learning potential of Play-Doh. "I think sometimes in child care, the teachers get overlooked," she said. "By bringing [preschool] in and making it a part of the school system, it brings a new level of respect." Read more: L.A. child-care industry in tailspin, hit with disruption as transition kindergarten grows What do 4-year-olds need to know? In 2016, when the states TK program was last evaluated, researchers found that teachers spent 59% of their classroom time on didactic instruction, which means imparting information and instructions to students rather than encouraging independent thinking and play. Not the best way to teach squirmy 4-year-olds, experts said. This academic focus in TK and kindergarten, Stipek said, is partly a consequence of the way teachers are being educated. "Theyre prepared to teach disciplines like math and literacy. But 4-year-olds learn through play and developing social-emotional skills." Read more: Preschool? Transitional kindergarten? Is there a difference? Parents are stressing out Instead of being taught their letters and numbers from a teacher standing at the front of the class, young children in a well-run classroom should be playing games and exploring materials to learn in joyful and imaginative ways, according to a recent report on preschool curriculum by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. But this takes careful planning and know-how, Stipek said. Take a math lesson on simple addition for the 4-year-old brain. "You might have a small group of kids with a bunch of little colored bears. Then you tell a story and say, 'OK, you have eight bears, and the bears are going for a walk in the forest and two more join them. How many bears do you have?'" Stipek said. "Now that's a little different from doing a worksheet." Ideally, a math lesson would also be integrated into a larger classroom theme, said San Jose State child and adolescent development professor Maria Fusaro. A teacher might pick a theme such as trees. Students might then learn the names of various trees from picture books (literacy), observe them in nature (science), count and compare different leaves (math, science) and then draw pictures of them (art). "We want schools to be joyful places for children," she said. And not just in TK Fusaro said she hopes the new credential will help push play-based learning up to third grade as well. Up close with California's future teachers In September, a group of 20 eager students sat down for a class on child development at San Jose State University, the first college to launch a credential for preschool through third grade. Most are women of color, and almost all have had previous experience teaching at preschool or child-care centers. For those who already have a bachelor's degree, earning this credential is the key to doubling their earnings in public schools. Read more: Low pay. Fewer leadership roles. Black and Latina child-care workers deal with racial barriers Professor Danielle Mead sat at the front of the room, wearing a collared dress patterned with little strawberries. Behind her, a slide read "Social and Emotional Development" a major focus of this credential, and of most preschool programs. Young children have not yet learned to control their reaction when something happens, she explained. When another child takes a toy out of their hands, for instance, it can trigger a meltdown. "A lot of times when kids start to have those big feelings, it's really hard to make the effort to stop. It requires a lot of practice and a lot of support," she said. The class focuses on mindfulness practices geared to little ones, which a growing body of research suggests can improve young children's learning, in addition to their social and emotional skills. Take deep breathing. How do you explain this technique to a child? "Call it bubble breathing," Mead said, putting on a podcast in which Sesame Street muppet Abby Cadabby teaches children how to use bubble breaths to calm themselves. "All you have to do is imagine there's a giant bubble in your belly," the character said. "Put your hands on your belly like you're holding the bubble." The students take turns describing the mindfulness activities they've used with children in the past smelling flowers, morning yoga sessions for tots. The program at San Jose State is a collaboration among the departments of child and adolescent development, teacher education, and special education. The new credential is supposed to focus on holistic development in which children learn how to manage their emotions, build healthy relationships and show empathy, in addition to learning academics setting it apart from previous credentialing programs. "I can teach anybody the ABCs. But, you know, we've all met plenty of adults who don't know how to share," Fullerton said. "A great concern in the early childhood community was that TK would bring a more academic focus to preschool than is appropriate for these learners," said Mary Vixie Sandy, executive director of California's Commission on Teacher Credentialing. "This credential enables us to blend developmental and play-based learning with the academic expectations of schooling in ways that benefit children and don't force them into learning experiences that are not appropriate for them." Sandy said she hopes the new credential will one day be offered at all 80 institutions in California that currently offer teacher credential programs. New respect for preschool teachers An estimated 12,000 to 15,000 additional teachers are needed to staff TK classrooms, the Learning Policy Institute said in 2022, though many of those slots are likely to have been filled already. The new credential represents an opportunity to bolster that pipeline with longtime preschool teachers like Fullerton, as well as college students who know they want to teach young children. Fullerton's 'aha!' moment came last year, when her twin 4-year-olds watched Disney's "A Bug's Life" in their TK class, and the school administration described it as "a science lesson." "If I were teaching about bugs, I would have brought in plastic bugs for the children to explore, or taken magnifying glasses outside, she said. The class was taught by a former first-grade teacher with a traditional kindergarten through 8th grade credential. I've been doing it for so long, and I was feeling frustrated as a parent not seeing what I wanted for my kids," said Fullerton, who is enrolled in the San Jose State program. Teaching TK would be life-changing financially for her, she said. Even with more than a decade in the field, Fullerton was earning $30 an hour as the director of a preschool in Morgan Hill just $10 more than when she started as a teacher. But with a credential, she could earn $68,000 to $100,000 a year plus generous benefits. But it's also about respect, said Fullerton, who still looked shocked as she recalled how her son's elementary school teacher once referred to her as a "glorified babysitter." That was the moment where it was like, 'Oh, this work is not respected by a lot of people,'" she said. But, she said, "I think most parents look up to their children's elementary school teachers. You're trusting them, literally, to teach your child the foundational skills." High stakes for early education Most states already have an early childhood credential, and the idea had been under discussion in California for years before it was included as a recommendation in Gov. Gavin Newsoms 2020 Master Plan for Early Learning and Care. Amanda Le looks over class notes at San Jose State University. (Loren Elliott / For The Times) "I've been a higher education teacher-educator for close to 30 years in California, and we've been waiting for this credential for that long," said Shireen Pavri, assistant vice chancellor of educator and leadership programs at the CSU chancellor's office. It's the first time the state has added a new credential since 2010. The stakes couldn't be higher. Third grade is a crucial year for reading and literacy, yet in 2023, just 43% of California's third-graders met or exceeded the standards in English language and arts; 45% met or exceeded the standard in math. The numbers are even grimmer for low-income students and students of color: Only 23% of low-income children, 27% of Black children and 32% of Hispanic children were reading at grade level. The first few years of elementary school, Pavri said, present a real opportunity to equalize learning for young children. "Some kids are able to read and write full sentences when they start kindergarten, and then there are kids who have never been exposed to a picture book," she said. Read more: A guide to early learning: Back to school edition But only if the teaching strategies are effective. Young children should be "getting their hands dirty and using art and play and sand and other kinds of engaging, active ways to stimulate young kids to learn," Pavri said. "We will have failed if we still see our youngest learners sitting at their desks, on their own in rows and completing worksheets." So far, the state has approved seven PK-3 credentialing programs, including San Jose's and another at Fresno State and Dominguez Hillsthat will launch in the spring. Pavri said 14 more CSU campuses are in the process of developing PK-3 credentialing programs. This article is part of The Times early childhood education initiative, focusing on the learning and development of California children from birth to age 5. For more information about the initiative and its philanthropic funders, go to latimes.com/earlyed. 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. BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown will resign from his position leading the city to become Western Regional Off-Track Bettings next president and CEO, he announced Monday in a press conference. His resignation will be effective sometime in October, WIVB News 4 has learned. Last week, WROTB approved a three-year contract for Brown after members voted to offer him the position earlier this month. OTB contract for Byron Brown approved, would step down as mayor Brown said his decision to resign was not easy, but felt the time was right to take up a different role. Im proud of how far weve come since I first took office as mayor, Brown said. Our community is now experiencing a wave of investment and confidence like never before. He then spoke about the city seeing its first population increase in 70 years, having the most diverse workforce in its history, and reaching record development. Looking back: Biggest moments in Byron Browns tenure as Buffalo mayor To officially accept the job with WROTB, Brown must obtain a gaming license from New York State. WROTB chairman Dennis Bassett said they hoped that the process could be sped up so Brown could obtain the license as early as this week. He appears to have gotten his wish. As of Monday, the Gaming Commissions website now lists Brown on its page of racing licenses. His occupation is listed as Track Mgt. His license expires on Sept. 25, 2025 and is expected to be renewed annually. The states Gaming Commission website shows Byron Brown as having obtained a horse racing license. The approved contract Brown calls for a salary of $295,000 on an annual basis, with incentives for a second and third year. Buffalo Common Council president Chris Scanlon, who represents the South Park, Hopkins-Tifft and Seneca-Cazenovia neighborhoods in South Buffalo, will become acting mayor until a general election in November 2025. As for whos currently eyeing the position, sources told News 4 back in September that former City of Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield plans to run for mayor. News 4 reached out to former mayoral candidate India Walton, who won the Democratic primary election in 2021. She said she wont be on the ballot next fall. I dont feel like theres a mandate from the community for me to run for office, Walton said. I think that people appreciate the work that Ive been doing behind the scenes. Ive been working on full systems and policy work and civic engagement, and Im happy doing that. Who is Chris Scanlon? A look at Buffalos potential acting mayor With Scanlon taking office as acting mayor, Brown said Buffalos future will be in good hands. Scanlon said hes ready to lead the city in Mondays press conference. I could not be more humbled or more honored to lead the City of Buffalo, a city that I love so dearly, a city in which my wife and I chose to raise our family in, he said. I want every resident in every corner in this city to rest assured knowing that we will work every day to ensure that you are well served and well represented. When asked about some of his priorities for the city, Scanlon mentioned affordable housing, public safety, good schools and the health and wellbeing of Buffalo residents. Brown, 66, is the longest-serving mayor in the City of Buffalos history. First taking office in January 2006, he will step down in the midst of his fifth term. He will succeed current WROTB President Henry Wojtaszek, who recently accepted a six-figure buyout from the board and will retire on Dec. 31. Watch WIVB News 4s Ask the Mayor interview from Monday with Jacquie Walker and Don Postles in the video player below. Latest Local News Aidan Joly joined the News 4 staff in 2022. He is a graduate of Canisius College. You can see more of his work here. Patrick Ryan is an award-winning reporter who has been part of the News 4 team since 2020. See more of his work here and follow him on Twitter. Dillon Morello is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has been part of the News 4 team since September of 2023. See more of his work here and follow him on Twitter. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. TEHRAN, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian emphasized on Monday the need to strengthen bilateral cooperation with Russia to counter the West's "cruel" sanctions. Pezeshkian made the remarks in a meeting with visiting Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in Tehran, urging the two sides to accelerate the implementation of joint projects, according to a statement published on his office's website. He added that the exchange of diplomatic delegations between Iran and Russia would help expand bilateral interactions and relations, calling for regional cooperation within the frameworks of international mechanisms. For his part, the Russian prime minister expressed his country's willingness to increase interactions with Iran, especially in energy, industry, transportation, agriculture, health and treatment, and culture. Mishustin hailed the "very good" growth in bilateral trade exchanges over the past few months, stressing that the two countries still had great capacities for safeguarding mutual interests. He highlighted the necessity to promote cooperation between Russia and Iran, inviting the Iranian president to attend the upcoming BRICS summit in Russia and sign "the Moscow-Tehran comprehensive strategic agreement." OREGON, Ill. (WTVO) A Byron woman has been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol after authorities said she flipped her car and became trapped inside the vehicle late Sunday night. According to the Ogle County Sheriffs Office, Shaunda Thompson, 35, was traveling north on River Road in a black Kia Sorento when she failed to negotiate a curve, crossing the center line and plowing into the ditch and heavy brush and trees, with the car coming to rest on its roof about 10 yards off the roadway. Police said multiple airbags deployed in the crash and the car was considered totalled. Thompson was evacuated from the scene to a hospital for treatment, and her current condition is unknown. She was arrested for Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol, and cited for Improper Traffic Lane Usage and Failure to Reduce Speed to Avoid an 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 MyStateline | WTVO News, Weather and Sports. Cabinet Secretary Simon Case has announced he will step down by the end of the year on health grounds. The top civil servant had been undergoing medical treatment for a "neurological condition" over the last 18 months. In a statement he said "whilst the spirit remains willing, the body is not," adding that the decision was "solely to do with health and nothing to do with anything else." A recruitment process for the next cabinet secretary has begun. His role is already being advertised on the civil service website, with a salary of 200,000. Mr Case, 45, informed Sir Keir Starmer on Monday morning of his decision. He began his role in September 2020, after being appointed by Boris Johnson, and is now serving his fourth prime minister. In his letter announcing his resignation, he said it had "been an honour to serve two sovereigns, four prime ministers and over 120 cabinet ministers in this role". He went on to say "the world is changing fast and so must the civil service". He has at times been a controversial figure, facing scrutiny over his role in the Downing Street Partygate scandal and over messages he exchanged with ministers during the pandemic. More recently there have been reports of tensions at the heart of No 10 between Mr Case and the prime minister's chief of staff, Sue Gray. Mr Case, who was was initially put in charge of the Partygate inquiry after the first reports about parties in government offices emerged in 2021, was replaced by Ms Gray after it emerged a gathering had taken place in his own office in December 2020. Mr Case told MPs he had not received a fine himself, and no-one else had been fined for the event held in his office. He also told colleagues in private that Boris Johnson could not lead the country at the height of Covid pandemic, adding that the former PM made governance "impossible". In a letter leaked earlier this month, Mr Case said the previous Conservative governments failure to hold a spending review in its final years in office had contributed to uncertainty over the public finances. He denied allegations by the Conservatives that the new governments claims to have inherited an economic "black hole" were bringing the civil service into "disrepute". In October last year, Mr Case announced he was taking time off because of a private medical matter, and he was widely expected to leave the civil service in the coming months. A Cambridge graduate with a PhD in political history, Mr Case ascended through the ranks of the civil service after joining in 2006. He held roles in the UK's intelligence agency, GCHQ, and in the Royal Household on the way to the top job. He was part of the team involved in the Brexit talks but left in 2018 to become Prince William's private secretary - a job which left him negotiating a very different exit as Prince Harry and his wife Meghan sought to step back from life as senior royals. At the age of 41, he became the youngest cabinet secretary in more than 100 years. The cabinet secretary is the most senior civil servant and involves advising the prime minister, leading implementation of the government's policies and managing other high-level civil servants. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill prohibiting private nonprofit colleges from granting admission advantages to students whose parents donated or attended the same school on Monday. The law impacts a few private universities that still consider family connections in admissions. USC, Stanford, Claremont McKenna and Harvey Mudd colleges were among those that still embraced the practice, according to the Los Angeles Times. In California, everyone should be able to get ahead through merit, skill, and hard work. The California Dream shouldnt be accessible to just a lucky few, which is why were opening the door to higher education wide enough for everyone, fairly, Newsom said in a statement. California State universities and the University of California system dont practice legacy admissions, the latter having done away with the practice in 1998. Though California has made legacy and donor admissions illegal, there is no specific punishment for universities violating it, according to the bills current text, aside from Californias Department of Justice posting the names of the independent institutions of higher education that violate the prohibition on its internet website by the next fiscal year. An earlier version of the bill would have forced colleges to pay money matching the amount they received in Cal Grant payments if the rules were violated. Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), who authored the bill and spoke with the L.A. Times before Newsom signed it, said the legislation was weaker than initially planned but hoped that lawmakers would build on it in the future. The issue of legacy admissions attracted renewed opposition after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that race-based affirmative action in college applications is unconstitutional. California now joins Maryland, Virginia, Illinois and Colorado in banning legacy admissions. The new law goes into effect Sept. 1, 2025. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA. The California Dream shouldnt be accessible to just a lucky few, which is why were opening the door, said Gov. Gavin Newsom Getty USC A new law has been signed in California that bans private, nonprofit colleges and universities from giving special preference to students with "personal connections." legacy and donor preferences during the admissions process at private nonprofit colleges and universities. In a press release published Monday, Sept. 30, California Gov. Gavin Newsoms office announced AB 1780 had officially been signed into law. The bill, written by Assemblymember Phil Ting, a Democrat representing San Francisco, was proposed after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in June 2023 restricting the use of race in college admissions. Proponents of the new law said the goal is ensure that factors like wealth or personal relationships do not unduly influence admissions decisions, according to Newsoms office. The new law means that students who have parents that previously attended a specific private, nonprofit school will not have an advantage in the admissions process over students with no parental connection to the institution. Schools that will be impacted by the change include the University of Southern California, Stanford University and more. In a statement, Newsom said those who attend these schools should be able to get ahead through merit, skill, and hard work. The California Dream shouldnt be accessible to just a lucky few, which is why were opening the door to higher education wide enough for everyone, fairly, Newsom added. 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. Ting thanked the governor for supporting his bill, saying in a statement, If we value diversity in higher education, we must level the playing field. That means making the college application process more fair and equitable. He added, Hard work, good grades and a well-rounded background should earn you a spot in the incoming class not the size of the check your family can write or who youre related to. I thank the Governor for agreeing with me and supporters of AB 1780 that every student deserves a fair shot at their dream school. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Stanford University California is now the second state to prohibit legacy and donor preferences at private institutions, according to The Los Angeles Times. Maryland become the first earlier this year. Maryland and three other states Colorado, Illinois and Virginia have banned the practice at postsecondary institutions Many public colleges and universities in California, including the University of California and California State University, banned legacy admissions decades ago, according to the L.A. and New York Times. Related: Felicity Huffman Breaks Silence on College Admissions Scandal: I Felt Like I Had to Give My Daughter a Future Schools that violate Californias new admissions law, which goes into effect on Sept. 1, 2025, will be required to publicly release details about those who have benefited from legacy and donor admissions, though individuals students will not be identified. In a statement to The Los Angeles Times, USC said they will comply with the law, while in a separate statement a spokesperson said Stanford "will be continuing to review its admission policies" until the law goes into effect. (Neither USC nor Stanford immediately responded to PEOPLE's request for comment.) For the past five years, six private universities in California have been reporting legacy admission preferences for the classes being enrolled at their institutions under state law, according to the L.A. Times. The 2019 law, which Ting authored, was penned following the Varsity Blues scandal, in which parents of students participated in a pay-to-play system in hopes of getting their children admitted to some of the countrys most elite schools. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law to protect the privacy of brainwave data on the same weekend he vetoed a controversial bill intended to curb abuses by powerful generative artificial intelligence models (JUSTIN SULLIVAN) (JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/Getty Images via AFP) A new California law extends consumer privacy protection to brainwave data gathered by implants or wearable devices. Governor Gavin Newsom over the weekend signed into law a bill amending the California Consumer Privacy Act, the state's spin on the GDPR in Europe, to classify "neural data" as protected personal information along the lines of precise geolocation, genetics and biometrics. Neurorights Foundation medical director Sean Pauzauskie called the Califoria law "an enormous victory" for patients suffering from mental health disorders as well as for consumers simply looking to enhance their lives with new technologies. The NGO co-sponsored the bill with a state senator. "The essential privacy guardrails it ensures should only boost confidence in all varieties of these revolutionary neurotechnologies, the great majority which are based in California," Pauzauskie said in a release. California is the second state to extend data protections to brainwaves, on the heels of Colorado putting in place a law requiring privacy safeguards along the lines of what is done for fingerprints. The California law sends "a clear signal to the fast-growing neurotechnology industry" to protect people's mental privacy, NeuroRights Foundation general counsel Jared Genser said in a release. Genser argued for a national brainwave data privacy law. Protections under the California law include the right to know what brain data is being collected, limit its disclosure, and to be able to opt-out or have it deleted. The law applies to devices capable of recording or altering nervous system activity, whether they be implanted or worn, the NGO said. The potential for devices to tap into how people feel or think has raised concerns they could be used to manipulate feelings or thoughts. "In the coming years, the sensitivity of neural data will increase alongside surging investments...resulting in increased resolution of brain scans and larger datasets of brain data being collected," the NGO predicted. "Meanwhile generative artificial intelligence will continue accelerating the ability to accurately decode these scans." Billionaire Elon Musk with his Neuralink startup is among those striving to link brains and computers. Musk envisions Neuralink implants going beyond restoring sight to the blind to giving people infrared or ultraviolet vision or letting them share concepts with others telepathically. "We want to give people superpowers," Musk said. "Not just that we're restoring your prior functionality, but that you actually have functionality far greater than a normal human." gc/jgc In a rare victory for liberty in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom refused to sign into law Senate Bill (S.B.) 961, which would have required every passenger vehicle after the 2030 model year to beep each time its driver goes more than 10 miles per hour above the speed limit. Unfortunately, Newsom did not cite regulatory overreach but interference with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as his reason for passing on the bill. In a Saturday press release, Newsom expressed concern that California-specific vehicle rules "would create a patchwork of regulations that undermines [NHTSA's] longstanding federal framework." Appealing to federal rulemaking is an odd tack for Newsom to take considering the governor touted California's "17 bills covering the deployment and regulation of GenAI technology" yesterday. Sen. Scott Wiener (DSan Francisco), the author of S.B. 961, was none too pleased by Newsom's refusal. In his own Saturday press release, Wiener described Newsom's veto as "a setback for street safety at a time Californians are feeling extremely unsafe." While Californians may feel unsafe, their sentiments are unsupported by the data on traffic deaths. There is no crisis of pedestrian vehicle deaths, despite the NHTSA's claim to the contrary. The agency's proposed rule aims to establish new "performance requirements to minimize the risk of head injury" in head-to-hood collisions, set to take effect two years after the final rule's publication in the Federal Register. Yet per-capita pedestrian deaths have steadily decreased from 35 per million in 1975 to 23 per million in 2022. The trend for all motor vehicle crash deaths reflects the trend in pedestrian deaths, as Insurance Institute for Highway Safety data show. In 1975, there were 20.6 deaths per 100,000 people; in 2022, the most recent year for which there are data, there were only 12.8 per 100,000. Wiener described Newsom's rejection of the bill as resigning Californians to "a completely unnecessary risk of fatality." It's worth noting that this risk is lower than the one posed by falls, which claimed 46,653 American lives in 2022. There were 42,514 motor vehicle crash deaths in 2022. Wiener appeals to similar requirements imposed by the European Union to justify his proposed regulation, but he shouldn't. The E.U.'s nanny state is not worth emulating. But not all of Wiener's arguments are so bad: He hails Wisconsin "passing the first seatbelt mandate in 1961" as an instance of a state taking the legislative lead to address an issue of public concerni.e., federalism. Newsom and Wiener are fun house mirror reflections of one another: Newsom was right to veto the helicopter-parent bill, but wrong to resist the federalism he embraces in other instances. Wiener was wrong to support the bill's passage, but right to embrace a state-based regulatory framework. The post California Gov. Gavin Newsom Vetoes Car Speed Alarm Bill appeared first on Reason.com. SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a pair of proposals Sunday aiming to help shield minors from the increasingly prevalent misuse of artificial intelligence tools to generate harmful sexual imagery of children. The measures are part of California's concerted efforts to ramp up regulations around the marquee industry that is increasingly affecting the daily lives of Americans but has had little to no oversight in the United States. Earlier this month, Newsom also has signed off on some of the toughest laws to tackle election deepfakes, though the laws are being challenged in court. California is wildly seen as a potential leader in regulating the AI industry in the U.S. The new laws, which received overwhelming bipartisan support, close a legal loophole around AI-generated imagery of child sexual abuse and make it clear child pornography is illegal even if it's AI-generated. Current law does not allow district attorneys to go after people who possess or distribute AI-generated child sexual abuse images if they cannot prove the materials are depicting a real person, supporters said. Under the new laws, such an offense would qualify as a felony. Child sexual abuse material must be illegal to create, possess, and distribute in California, whether the images are AI generated or of actual children," Democratic Assemblymember Marc Berman, who authored one of the bills, said in a statement. AI that is used to create these awful images is trained from thousands of images of real children being abused, revictimizing those children all over again. Newsom earlier this month also signed two other bills to strengthen laws on revenge porn with the goal of protecting more women, teenage girls and others from sexual exploitation and harassment enabled by AI tools. It will be now illegal for an adult to create or share AI-generated sexually explicit deepfakes of a person without their consent under state laws. Social media platforms are also required to allow users to report such materials for removal. But some of the laws don't go far enough, said Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon, whose office sponsored some of the proposals. Gascon said new penalties for sharing AI-generated revenge porn should have included those under 18, too. The measure was narrowed by state lawmakers last month to only apply to adults. There has to be consequences, you don't get a free pass because you're under 18, Gascon said in a recent interview. The laws come after San Francisco brought a first-in-the-nation lawsuit against more than a dozen websites that AI tools with a promise to undress any photo uploaded to the website within seconds. The problem with deepfakes isnt new, but experts say its getting worse as the technology to produce it becomes more accessible and easier to use. Researchers have been sounding the alarm these past two years on the explosion of AI-generated child sexual abuse material using depictions of real victims or virtual characters. In March, a school district in Beverly Hills expelled five middle school students for creating and sharing fake nudes of their classmates. The issue has prompted swift bipartisan actions in nearly 30 states to help address the proliferation of AI-generated sexually abusive materials. Some of them include protection for all, while others only outlaw materials depicting minors. Newsom has touted California as an early adopter as well as regulator of AI technology, saying the state could soon deploy generative AI tools to address highway congestion and provide tax guidance, even as his administration considers new rules against AI discrimination in hiring practices. A California bill seeks to regulate the development of AI models, though critics say the measure can threaten innovation in the nascent field (Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV) (Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/AFP) California Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill aimed at regulating powerful artificial intelligence models following pushback from tech giants and critics who argued the law went too far. The bill had faced a barrage of critics, including members of US Congress from Newsom's Democratic party, who argued that threats of punitive measures against developers in a nascent field would throttle innovation. In a statement on Sunday, Newsom acknowledged that SB-1047 was "well-intentioned" but expressed concern that the bill was too "stringent" and unfairly focused on "the most expensive and large-scale models." "The bill applies stringent standards to even the most basic functions -- so long as a large system deploys it," the governor noted. He added, "smaller, specialized models may emerge as equally or even more dangerous than the models targeted by SB 1047 -- at the potential expense of curtailing the very innovation that fuels advancement in favor of the public good." The bill's sponsor, Democratic state Senator Scott Wiener of San Francisco, lamented the "setback," saying it left AI safety in the hands of the tech giants racing to release the technology. Wiener had hoped the bill would set rules for AI giants in Silicon Valley's home state, filling a void left by Washington, where a politically divided Congress struggles to pass legislation. "This veto leaves us with the troubling reality that companies aiming to create an extremely powerful technology face no binding restrictions from US policymakers, particularly given Congress's continuing paralysis around regulating the tech industry in any meaningful way," Wiener wrote on X. The California state bill would have required developers of large "frontier" AI models to take precautions such as pre-deployment testing, simulating hacker attacks, installing cybersecurity safeguards, and providing protection for whistleblowers. To secure the legislation's passage, lawmakers made several changes, including replacing criminal penalties for violations with civil penalties such as fines. However, opposition remained, including from influential figures like Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, also opposed the bill, preferring national rules instead of a patchwork of AI regulations across the 50 US states. At least 40 states have introduced bills this year to regulate AI, and a half dozen have adopted resolutions or enacted legislation aimed at the technology, according to The National Conference of State Legislatures. The bill had gained reluctant support from Elon Musk, who argued that AI's risk to the public justifies regulation, as well as leading AI researchers like Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio. Dan Hendrycks, director of the Center for AI Safety, said that although the veto was "disappointing," the debate around the bill "has begun moving the conversation about AI safety into the mainstream, where it belongs." He added on X that the bill has "revealed that some industry calls for responsible AI are nothing more than PR aircover for their business and investment strategies." arp/des A new law banning legacy and donor admissions at private California universities, including USC and Stanford among the handful of schools that admit a significant number of children of alumni or donors was signed Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said the action will promote equal educational opportunities. "In California, everyone should be able to get ahead through merit, skill, and hard work," Newsom said in a statement. "The California Dream shouldnt be accessible to just a lucky few, which is why were opening the door to higher education wide enough for everyone, fairly." The law affects a small number of private institutions in the state that consider family connections in admissions. Others that currently embrace the practice include Santa Clara University and Claremont McKenna and Harvey Mudd colleges. The legislation takes effect Sept. 1, 2025, and requires universities to file an annual report beginning in June 2026 to the Legislature and Department of Justice that documents whether they are following the law or if they have given preference in admissions to students with alumni or donor ties. The report must compare legacy and donor admission rates to other admissions. The attorney general's office then will have the option of pursuing charges against violators. USC indicated Monday that it will comply with the law. In an email, the university said: All admitted students meet our high academic standards through a contextualized holistic review that values each student's lived experience, considers how they will contribute to the vibrancy of our campus, thrive in our community, benefit from a USC education and fulfill the commitments of our unifying values." Stanford "will be continuing to review its admissions policies" until the law is in effect, a spokeswoman said in response to emailed questions from The Times. She did not reply to a question about whether that meant the university might drop its consideration of legacy and donor status before the law went into effect. Santa Clara is "committed to fair and equitable admissions practices in compliance with all state and federal requirements," a spokeswoman said, adding that "legacy status alone has never been determinative of a students admission." A spokeswoman for Harvey Mudd said the college would be "happy to comply with this new legislation" and did "not anticipate it will have a significant impact on our admission process." A representative from Claremont McKenna did not respond to requests for comment Monday. California State University and the University California do not give preference in admissions to children of alumni or donors. Some private colleges, including Pomona and Occidental, have discontinued the tradition in recent years. The issue of preferential admission treatment based on family status and wealth attracted renewed opposition after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that race-based affirmative action in college applications is unconstitutional. Read more: California lawmakers pass bill banning legacy and donor college admissions Virginia and Illinois banned legacy admissions this year at their public colleges and universities. Colorado similarly targeted public institutions with its own ban three years ago. Although the California law makes legacy and donor admissions illegal, it does not specify any punishment or fines for universities that violate it. An earlier version of the bill, whose author was Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), called for strict penalties that would force colleges to pay amounts matching what they receive in Cal Grant payments. The grant program is the states main tuition subsidy for low-income students and amounts to millions of dollars at many schools. "If we value diversity in higher education, we must level the playing field," Ting said in a statement Monday. "That means making the college application process more fair and equitable. Hard work, good grades and a well-rounded background should earn you a spot in the incoming class not the size of the check your family can write or who youre related to." Despite financial penalties being removed from the legislation, Ting said in an interview he believed it would strongly promote "greater access" to higher education. He said he considered the law to be more significant than those elsewhere because of its scope in a state with several high-profile, selective institutions that currently consider family and donor status in admissions. Ting noted that Maryland also banned such admissions this year, but its most selective school Johns Hopkins University already retired the practice several years ago. Read more: California effort to crack down on legacy and donor admissions could hit USC, Stanford Giving one example of the need for the law, Ting pointed to a 2023 Harvard study that found that legacy admissions were a significant part of why students from families in the top 1% of income those making more than $611,000 a year were five times more likely than less-affluent peers to gain admission to the eight Ivy League schools as well as the University of Chicago, Duke, MIT and Stanford. An association that represents the five California schools that currently use legacy and donor admissions, the Assn. of Independent California Colleges and Universities, said Monday that its members were "compliance-driven" and would follow the law. As private institutions, we have been clear that we are uncomfortable with the state dictating admission practices in our institutions, and the precedent it sets. We have also been clear throughout the discussions on this bill that we welcome the opportunity to help ensure people have confidence in an admission process that is equitable for all," said the group's president, Kristen Soares. Under a 2019 state law of which Ting also was the author, universities were required to provide an annual report to the state on legacy or donor admissions. The law which expired in 2023 was prompted by the Varsity Blues scandal, which revealed pay-for-play admissions for children of celebrities and other wealthy Americans at elite U.S. schools. In 2023, USC said it offered admission to 1,791 undergraduate applicants who were relatives of donors or alumni, or about 14.5% of admitted students. At Stanford, the number was 295, which represented about 13.6% of admitted students. At Santa Clara University, it was 38. Claremont McKenna and Harvey Mudd colleges each reported offering admission to 15 students who had legacy or donor connections. In their 2023 reports, each of the five institutions said that admitted students with legacy and donor connections met their admissions standards. Dozens of other private universities that submitted information to the Assn. of Independent California Colleges and Universities, which sends its data to Sacramento, reported that alumni or donor ties were not considered in any of their applicant evaluations. 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. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a bill into law Friday barring employers from holding mandatory anti-union meetings in the workplace. The legislation makes California the latest and largest state to outlaw what are known as captive audience meetings. At least eight other states, all Democratic-leaning, have passed similar bans with the support of labor unions. Newsom said in a statement that the legislation guarantees the right to work without fear of retaliation. California has a rich history of standing up for workers rights, and this bill continues that tradition making sure employees have the freedom to make their own decisions without coercion, he said. Employers hold captive-audience meetings when trying to persuade workers not to unionize, often in the weeks ahead of a union election. Many companies hire outside consultants and pay them more than $3,000 per day to lead the meetings and combat the organizing effort. Although workers are typically told they can vote however they want, the information is almost always slanted heavily against the union. Like legislation in other states, the California bill still allows employers to hold anti-union meetings, but they cant force workers to show up under threat of punishment attendance must be voluntary. The same goes for any meeting where the employer communicates their opinions on religious or political matters. When companies violate the statute, the law enables workers to pursue damages in court. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said the legislation guarantees the right to work without fear of retaliation. via Associated Press Several other states are considering similar legislation. The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, estimates that 60 million workers could soon be protected by such bans. But the laws face legal challenges from employer groups, with lawsuits already filed in Connecticut and Minnesota. The groups argue that the bans conflict with federal labor law and violate employers First Amendment rights. The National Federation of Independent Business alleged that the Minnesota law has already chilled employers free speech. While states pursue their own bans, theres also a push to outlaw captive-audience meetings at the federal level. The National Labor Relations Board, which oversees private-sector union elections, has generally allowed employers to require workers to attend anti-union meetings over the years. However, the agencys current general counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, has argued in memos and cases that the mandatory nature of such meetings violates workers rights. The board has not yet ruled on the issue, and a decision against employers is almost certain to wind up in federal court. Abruzzo, appointed to her post by President Joe Biden, told HuffPost in an interview last year that captive-audience meetings are inherently coercive. There is a threat, she said. Its inherent because these workers are economically dependent upon their employer. They have no true ability to exercise their right to refrain without fear of some sort of reprisal. Related... NICOSIA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Arab countries ambassadors in Cyprus said they held an "emergency meeting" in Nicosia on Monday to discuss a joint plan to support Palestine and Lebanon. "The purpose of the meeting was to mobilize efforts and discuss a joint action plan in support of Palestine and Lebanon in order to exert diplomatic pressure for an end to Israeli aggression and a ceasefire in both Palestine and Lebanon," a statement by the embassy of Palestine said. The meeting came as reports suggested that Israel may be preparing a land operation in southern Lebanon following air and missile strikes which killed several leaders of Hezbollah and other organizations. The eastern Mediterranean island received over 60,000 people who left Lebanon during the 2006 war. It has also facilitated the evacuation of people fleeing other conflict areas, such as Sudan. Foreign Ministry spokesman Theodoros Gotsis said on Monday that Cyprus is at its "maximum state of readiness" for a potential evacuation of European Union and third country nationals from Lebanon. Four stabbings were reported in Long Beach, California, over the weekend in a nine-hour period, according to police. Long Beach Police said the department has bolstered its presence in the aftermath of the stabbings that happened Saturday night and early Sunday morning, according to City News Service. "The LBPD will have additional police presence today, including patrol officers and Neighborhood Safety Bike Team officers, to engage with residents and businesses," the Long Beach Police Department said in a statement to Fox 11 on Sunday. The first stabbing happened at about 6:20 p.m. Saturday in the 2000 block of East Pacific Coast Highway, where police said an argument led to a fight in which a man was stabbed several times in his upper body. The suspects fled the scene before police arrived at the scene. California Teen, 17, Previously Tried As A Minor For Double Murder Charged In Another Killing After Release Four stabbings were reported in Long Beach, California, over the weekend in a nine-hour period. The victim was hospitalized and was listed in stable condition. Read On The Fox News App The next stabbing was reported at about 2 a.m. Sunday morning, when officers responded to the 5100 block of Second Street in Belmont Shore after two men were involved in a physical altercation that escalated. The suspect stabbed the victim in the upper body, and the victim was rushed to a hospital in critical condition. Police said the suspect fled the scene before officers arrived. Another attack occurred at about 2:20 a.m., after which officers responded to a local hospital regarding two victims who had been admitted to the facility for stab wounds. The preliminary investigation revealed that two women were in a physical altercation in the 200 block of Pine Avenue downtown with another woman who allegedly stabbed each victim in the upper body. The two victims were listed in stable condition. The stabbings happened between 6 p.m. Saturday and 3 a.m. Sunday. Officers probed the area but were unable to find a crime scene. Police said the fourth stabbing was reported at around 3 a.m. in the 5100 block of Second Street. While this was the same location as the second stabbing, police said the two attacks do not appear to be connected. The victim was outside in a dispute with a group of women that escalated when one female suspect punched the victim before a second female suspect stabbed the victim in the upper body, police said. The victim transported herself to a hospital in stable condition. California Mafia Member On Death Row Fatally Beaten By Other Inmates In Prison Information on the suspects and the motives in the stabbings remains under investigation. Anyone with information regarding any of the stabbings is urged to contact the police department. Original article source: California police report 4 stabbings over 9-hour window in Long Beach (FOX40.COM) California State Universities will begin accepting applications for the fall 2025 term on Tuesday. With just one application, students can apply for admission to any of the CSUs 23 universities through the Cal State Apply systemwide portal. The priority application period closes on Dec. 2, according to the CSU website. Sacramento State announces plans for new stadium With 23 universities and thousands of degrees to choose from, the CSU offers more choices and connections than any other public higher education institution in the nation, said April Grommo, CSU assistant vice chancellor for Strategic Enrollment Management. Low tuition and fees coupled with robust financial aid make the CSU a more accessible and affordable pathway to earning a four-year degree for students from all socioeconomic backgrounds. As the nations largest and most diverse four-year public university system, the CSU awards more bachelors degrees each year than any other institution in the country, according to a CSU press release. The latest rankings from The Wall Street Journal affirm that CSU is a national leader in promoting social and economic mobility through higher education. Yelp names Sacramento-area Mexican food spot among top 25 in U.S. CSU said it is one of the most affordable university systems in the country. Robust financial aid programs allow the majority of CSU students to graduate without student loan debt, CSU said. More than 60 percent of CSUs undergraduates have their tuition fully covered by grants and non-loan aid, and approximately 80 percent receive some form of financial aid. Interested students can apply for fall 2025 admission through calstate.edu. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX40. A measure signed into law by California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday now requires California K-12 students to be taught about the impact on California Native Americans during the Spanish Colonization and Gold Rush Eras in California public schools. The legislation (AB 1821) was authored by the first and only California Native American elected to the legislature, Assemblymember James C. Ramos (D-San Bernardino). It was one of seven tribal-related measures Newsom approved today on California Native American Day. I am pleased that Gov. Newsom approved AB 1821; it is another step forward in the path toward writing a new chapter in the states relationship to California tribes. For far too long Californias First People and their history have been ignored or misrepresented. Classroom instruction about Spanish Colonization and Gold Rush periods fails to include the loss of life, enslavement, starvation, illness and violence inflicted upon California Native Americans. Ramos said. Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians Chairman Isaiah Vivanco said, We thank Assemblymember Ramos for authoring AB 1821 to ensure that a more complete and accurate history of our state is taught. Any teaching of the Spanish colonization and Gold Rush eras should include the impact on Californias Native Americans. During those devastating periods, Native Americans endured great loss of life, enslavement, and other perils. Those truths are often absent from instruction about Californias history and the nations westward expansion. Omitting this history erases the truth of Native Americans presence on this land and through silence perpetuates the injustices of those eras. That is why AB 1821 is an important step in the telling of our states history and its First People. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond stated, I am proud to have co-sponsored AB 1821 by Assembly Ramos, and to see this important legislation become law. This legislation will help ensure curriculum on Californias Spanish Mission and Gold Rush eras accurately captures the treatment and impact of Native Americans during these significant eras in state history. This initiative supports Californias diverse students to be seen, heard, and understood in their instructional materials, and to foster a deeper appreciation for our Native communities history and cultures. Chairwoman Lynn Valbuena of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians stated, AB 1821 will create a more relevant and accurate curriculum when students learn about the Spanish colonization and Gold Rush periods in Californias history. We are thankful Governor Newsom has signed this bill into law so that California students can learn the true history and culture of tribes during those periods. Late last year, a poll released by the Institute of Governmental Studies showed strong support to require California schools to incorporate teaching about Native American tribes history and culture. An overwhelming 80% of respondents were in support of a requirement such as AB 1821. 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 California sues Catholic hospital after it refused an emergency abortion to a mom whose life was in danger California AG Rob Bonta filed suit on Monday against a hospital for failing to provide an emergency abortion (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) A Catholic hospital in Northern California is facing a lawsuit by the states attorney general after it reportedly refused to perform an abortion on a woman whose pregnancy was not viable and whose life was in danger. Anna Nusslock was already in severe crisis when she and her husband Daniel arrived last February at Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, according to the suit, which AG Rob Bonta filed Monday in Humboldt County Superior Court. A doctor examined Nusslock, who was 15 weeks pregnant with twins, and told her they would not survive, the suit explains. Without a dilation and evacuation procedure, or, what is commonly known as an abortion, Nusslock was also at risk of death, the complaint contends. However, it goes on, Providence refused to allow Annas doctors to treat her, as the hospitals policies prohibited them from terminating a pregnancy so long as they could detect fetal heart tones. The only exception was if the mothers life was at immediate risk, a high threshold that Anna apparently did not yet reach. Only at some poorly defined point in the future, when Anna was close enough to death, would Providence permit her doctors to intervene. Until then, Anna and her physicians could do nothing but wait, worry, and hope. Anna Nusslock was already in severe crisis when she and her husband Daniel arrived last February at Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, California. But, doctors refused to provide an abortion, a lawsuit contends. The abortion debate has been raging across the country since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade (AFP via Getty Images) Painted into a corner, the Nusslocks were forced to drive to a nearby facility that was not bound by religious restriction but not before a nurse at Providence handed them a bucket and some towels in case something happens in the car. Twenty minutes later, Nusslock was rushed into surgery at Mad River Community Hospital, where doctors saved her life. Bereft of the twins Nusslock and her husband had been hoping for, she is now mired in grief, according to the complaint. In a statement issued Monday to coincide with the filing of the lawsuit, Bonta said California is the beacon of hope for many trying to access abortion care following the Supreme Courts repeal of Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a womans right to terminate a pregnancy. Yet, Bonta said, It is damning that here in California, where abortion care is a constitutional right, we have a hospital implementing a policy thats reminiscent of heartbeat laws in extremist red states At the California Department of Justice, we will use the full force of this office to hold accountable those who, like Providence, are breaking the law. A Providence spokesperson said in an email on Monday evening to The Independent that it is deeply committed to the health and wellness of women and pregnant patients and provides emergency services to all who walk through our doors in accordance with state and federal law. We are heartbroken over Dr. Nusslocks experience earlier this year, the statement said. This morning was the first Providence had heard of the California attorney generals lawsuit, and we are currently reviewing the filings to understand what is being alleged. Because this case is in active litigation and due to patient confidentiality, we cannot comment on the matter. As part of our pledge to delivering safe, high-quality care, we review every event that may not have met our patient needs or expectations to understand what happened and take appropriate steps to meet those needs and expectations for every patient we encounter. California provides a vital backstop for women unable to access abortion care in their home states, AG Rob Bonta said (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) Providence violated Californias Emergency Services Law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, and the Unfair Competition Law, according to Mondays lawsuit. It says the three combine to create a crucial backstop ensuring continued abortion-related healthcare services are available to women while the federal rules surrounding access to the procedure remain uncertain. Bonta on Monday moved for a preliminary injunction that would prevent hospitals from denying women prompt abortion care. His office called this especially critical because Mad River Community Hospital next month will be shuttering its labor and delivery unit, leaving Providence as the only provider offering these services in the entire county. As Bontas statement says, The next person in Annas situation will face an agonizing choice of risking a multi-hour drive to another hospital or waiting until they are close enough to death for Providence to intervene. SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) Evacuation orders and warnings were in place Monday for Southern California residents near a wildfire that is largely contained after the blaze flared up over the weekend. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department told residents of Seven Oaks to leave the small mountain community following a sudden surge in the Line Fire on Sunday afternoon. Sheriff's officials on Monday ordered residents in nearby Angelus Oaks to evacuate, and warned those in the Boulder Bay area along Big Bear Lake to be prepared to leave. As of Sunday, the Line Fire was spread over 62.6 square miles (162.13 square kilometers) and 83% contained, with 1,176 personnel assigned to fight the blaze, according to the San Bernardino National Forest. At its height, the blaze threatened more than 65,000 homes. A California man pleaded not guilty on Sept. 17 to starting the Line Fire on Sept. 5. Justin Wayne Halstenberg, 34, of Norco, California, was charged with 11 arson-related crimes, according to court records. Temperatures are expected to spike this week across California. Dry, hot winds in the northern part of the state prompted Pacific Gas & Electric to preemptively cut power Monday to about 1,200 customers in Butte and Shasta counties. The utility routinely cuts electricity service in areas where weather conditions increase the risk of fires. North Myrtle Beach top officials declined multiple requests for comment following the potential removal of former city manager Mike Mahaney two weeks ago. Since they voted to place him on paid administrative leave on Sept. 19, the City of North Myrtle Beach has also failed to release his personnel file and top officials have not returned repeated phone calls and emails asking for an explanation. As of Monday morning, North Myrtle Beach has yet to publicly release the file despite multiple requests to do so from different media outlets. Not releasing Mahaneys personnel file is a direct violation of South Carolina Freedom of Information Act laws. Arguably, in the governance of a city, is no more important a figure to learn about concerning the performance of their public duties than that of a manager, South Carolina Press Association attorney Taylor Smith previously said. Consequently, the publics interest in the right to learn those public activities is highly frustrating when efforts to get records of their job performance are denied by the city. It is a bastardization of the understanding of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to think that it would be an unreasonable invasion of personal privacy to understand what a public employee does in the performance of their public duties. In an email sent to Mayor Marilyn Hatley, Mayor Pro Tem JO Baldwin, Clarence Bubba Collins, Ray Trey Skidmore, Harry Hank Thomas, Nicole Nikki Fontana and Jon Fred Coyne on Sept. 23 asking for further explanation and comment on why the city withheld Mahaneys file, there was only one reply from Councilman Thomas. I will ask why the delay, his email said. Thomas did not respond to the response explaining that the appeal was after a time period to see if the records would be released and did not provide further comment on the matter. Multiple calls to Hatley went unanswered last week. The calls and voicemails prompted Hatley to direct the citys Public Information Officer, Lauren Jessie, to reach out via email. Mayor Hatley mentioned you had left her a voicemail and requested I reach out to you so that you would receive a quicker response. How can I help you?, her email last Monday said. The response to the above message asked for Hatley to call The Sun News to discuss the FOIA denial and the states open records law. That email went unanswered by Jessie or Hatley. Hatley has yet to comment publicly on the FOIA denial or Mahaneys departure as of this morning. After the Sept. 19 meeting that placed Mahaney on paid administrative leave pending his permanent termination, Hatley told reporters that she would not provide comment on the matter as she walked away from her seat in the council chambers room. State law allows for Mahaney to request a public hearing about his termination. He waited until the last day he was eligible to submit a request for that hearing, Tuesday, Sept. 24, to do so, according to Jessie. Mahaney Public Hearing Regarding S.C. Code 5-13-70, his written request said, according to a copy of it provided by Jessie to The Sun News via email. Please consider this my written request to City Council for the above. Please respond tomorrow morning acknowledging receipt of this email. Thanks in advance for your assistance in this matter. A date has not yet been set for the public hearing as of Monday morning. State law outlined in S.C. Code 5-13-70 dictates that the hearing must be held within 20 to 30 days of the written request, meaning that it must happen sometime in October. Cambodian freelance journalist Mech Dara in Siem Reap, Cambodia on Feb. 21, 2021. Mech Dara was arrested on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024 while driving with his family to the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. (AP Photo/Jack Brook) PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) Cambodian freelance reporter Mech Dara, noted for investigative reporting in a country with limited press freedom, was arrested Monday, a leading local human rights organization and a journalists association said. Known especially for investigating online scam centers, Mech Dara's arrest followed posts he made about a rock quarry that local officials denounced Monday as an attempt to foment dissent. Mech Dara managed to send an SMS message to the rights group Licadho saying he was being arrested by military police before his phone was seized, said Am Sam Ath, a Licadho spokesperson. The Associated Press was not immediately able to confirm the arrest, news of which circulated Monday night after government offices were closed. However, CamboJA News, a project run by the independent Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association, published details of the incident, citing unnamed members of Mech Daras family. CamboJA on its Facebook page also reported that military police spokesperson Eng Hy confirmed the arrest, saying it had been carried out with a warrant, but did not give the cause or say where Mech Dara had been taken. A family member whom CamboJA did not name said Mech Daras car was stopped at a toll booth at the entrance to the expressway to Phnom Penh when police arrived in a military vehicle and five other cars. The relative said the authorities cited an arrest warrant, but did not show the document. The relative said Mech Daras phone was seized and that his family members were asked to stay in their car and remain silent. The police action may have been related to two images Mech Dara posted on his Facebook page of a quarry operation and of the revered mountain Ba Phnom, which has a Buddhist pagoda, in the southeastern province of Prey Veng. His post may have implied that the sacred mountain wastatephotos@ap.org s being destroyed, which appears not to be the case. On Monday, the Prey Veng provincial administration issued a statement rejecting his post, and accused him of wanting to cause social disorder or confusion, which can be prosecuted as a criminal offense. The province also called on the Information Ministry to take legal action against him. Mech Dara previously worked as a journalist for the Cambodia Daily and the Phnom Penh Post, two once-vibrant English-language newspapers forced to shut down under government pressure, and the V oice of Democracy radio and website, which was closed by the government last year. Mech Dara is best known for his reports in the past few years about human trafficking connected to online scam operations. The activity involves tricking people into signing up for what they believe are legitimate jobs in Cambodia, only to then keep them in virtual slavery in compounds often housing casinos as well, where they they go online to target people around the world. In a scam known as pig butchering, scam operators slowly build up a relationship of trust with their targets, often involving romance, before convincing them to hand over large amounts of money for fake investments. The practice has been going on for several years, based mostly in Cambodia and Myanmar, and recently has drawn heightened law enforcement attention in the United States, where people have been cheated out of millions of dollars. The U.S. State Department honored Mech Dara as a 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report Hero for his work exposing the problem. The Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders in its latest report ranked Cambodia 151st out of 180 in its international press freedom index. The main broadcasters and the few remaining newspapers generally toe the government line. Many subjects are impossible to cover, such as political opposition, corruption and deforestation, said the group. Despite the growing number of online media outlets, few provide balanced reporting. Only a few independent Cambodian media, broadcasting from abroad, provide quality news coverage. - Associated Press writer Peck reported from Bangkok. A prominent Hungarian campaigner who attempted to change the law on euthanasia, and shifted public opinion in the process, has died aged 47. Human rights lawyer Dr Daniel Karsai rose to public prominence after being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal form of motor-neurone disease, in 2021 and launching his campaign. He led cases in domestic and European courts in an attempt to legalise assisted dying, which is strongly opposed by the ruling centre-right party. Helping someone to die at home or abroad carries a prison sentence of one to five years in Hungary. Dr Karsai campaigned to legalise active euthanasia, in which a physician gives a patient a lethal drug. While he lost each case, he won significant popular support. According to one survey by the Median agency, two thirds of the Hungarian public now support euthanasia despite opposition from the government and the church, and a tradition of social conservatism in the country. Realising he would not be to able change the law in his own lifetime, Dr Karsai gave frequent updates on his condition and thoughts. "Let me be clear I don't want to die today and I don't want to die tomorrow", he told an audience in Budapest in October 2023. "But it is possible that I will be in a physical state where there is nothing but suffering. "And when there is only suffering, then no one can philosophize any longer." Top government officials had expressed compassion for Dr Karsai. "We stand with him, we sympathise with him, we wish him much strength", Prime Minister Viktor Orban told reporters in December 2023, adding "and if he allows us, we will also pray for him". But Orban and his governing Fidesz party refused to change the law - something only they had the power to do due to their large parliamentary majority. The Ministry of Justice insisted that the right to life, enshrined in the constitution of 2011, was inviolable. In June 2024, the European Court of Human Rights - Mr Karsai's former workplace - ruled in favour of the Hungarian governments argument that the denial of euthanasia was not an infringement of his fundamental rights as a Hungarian citizen. In September, the European Court of Justice also ruled against him. Within hours of Dr Karsai's death, the Hungarian Chamber of Physicians announced a memorial prize in his name "to support the aims of individuals and organisations fighting for dignity at the end of life". A play partly written by Dr Karsai, One Perfect Day, premiered in June in Budapests 6SZIN theatre. A book of his Facebook posts and other writings and public remarks will be published in October, and a documentary film chronicling his last years will be released in 2025. His support team and family are expected to continue his campaign. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, left, and Marc Benioff, chief executive of Salesforce, meet during the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco on Sept. 17. (Bloomberg / Getty Images) Backstage at one of the largest artificial intelligence conferences in the world, Gov. Gavin Newsom listened to two leaders in the field debate opposite views of a high-profile bill on his desk to protect Californians from the technology. Honestly, I take advantage of opportunities like this, Newsom said recounting the exchange later during an interview at the Salesforce conference in San Francisco in mid-September. I just watched them, and I was like, Here we go. Should I sign it, or should I not? Then absolutely, absolutely not and back and forth." The scene offered a peek into Newsom's deliberations on regulating the tech industry, including an explosion of AI companies, and the forces seeking to influence him during bill-signing season at the state Capitol. The Democratic governor vetoed the AI bill a week after the conference, adding to criticism that he sides too often with Meta, Google and other power players in an industry he's admired and been friendly with throughout his career. As a supervisor and then mayor of San Francisco, Newsom had a front-row seat to the tech boom of the 1990s and forged political and personal ties to the titans of a California industry that funnels billions into the state economy. The guest list to his 2008 wedding in Montana included Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore and other A-list business types. He's also an entrepreneur at heart whose own irritation over a city regulation, which required him to install a mop sink in his carpeted wine shop, partially motivated his interest in government. Now as governor, Newsom said he seeks to balance his desire to preserve Californias role as the vanguard of technology against his job to shield society from potential harm, particularly around artificial intelligence. The approach is that he wants to be at the forefront, that he thinks somehow regulations, even smart regulations, thwart that effort to go fast, said Lorena Gonzalez, the leader of the California Labor Federation. His favorite word is 'innovation.'" Gonzalez represents labor unions in California that are concerned artificial intelligence will replace jobs. There's also a distrust of Silicon Valley giants that profit off content produced by other people. Newsom described his own philosophy on governing tech to a room full of conference attendees during a talk with Salesforce Chief Executive Marc Benioff, the godfather of his oldest child. Read more: Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoes AI safety bill opposed by Silicon Valley I want to maintain our dominance. I want to maintain our innovation, Newsom said at Salesforce's conference, Dreamforce. At the same time, you feel a deep sense of responsibility to address some of those more extreme concerns that I think many of us have even the biggest and strongest promoters of this technology have and that's a difficult place to land. The public also appears torn. Last year, the Pew Research Center said 52% of Americans were more concerned than excited about AI in their daily lives. Siding with Big Tech Prompted by slow movement from the federal government, California legislators heeded a call this year to do more to regulate AI. But there's a divide about the best way to move forward. Under Senate Bill 1047, Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) sought to put among the first sweeping restrictions on the industry to prevent the technology from being misused to conduct cyberattacks on critical infrastructure. Proponents, who include Elon Musk and the Center for AI Safety, say that the bill was necessary to prevent catastrophic disasters. Pioneers of artificial intelligence have warned about the danger of AI surpassing human intelligence and losing control over the technology if government fails to act. The proposal was opposed by some of the largest tech companies in the world, including Meta, which owns and operates Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other products. Facebook and Google collectively spent nearly $800,000 to lobby the Legislature, governors office and state agencies on SB 1047 and dozens of other policies from January through the end of June. ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Democratic congressional leaders, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), expressed concerns that the bill could stifle innovation in California. Days before he vetoed the bill, Newsom said the legislation created its own weather system of interest in California and beyond. Its one of those bills that come across your desk infrequently, where it depends on who the last person on the call was in terms of how persuasive they are, Newsom said. Its divided so many folks. Newsom in his veto message said the legislation, while well-intentioned, could give the public a false sense of security about the new, rapidly developing technology. SB 1047 does not take into account whether an AI system is deployed in high-risk environments, involves critical decision-making or the use of sensitive data," Newsom's veto message stated. "Instead, the bill applies stringent standards to even the most basic functions so long as a large system deploys it. I do not believe this is the best approach to protecting the public from real threats posed by the technology. Read more: Mark Hamill, Jane Fonda, J.J. Abrams urge Gov. Newsom to sign AI safety bill Perhaps anticipating criticism of the veto, Newsom on Sunday also announced that his administration has enlisted leaders in the field to help the state create workable protections for the deployment of AI, focusing on analyzing its capabilities and risks. Newsom vowed to work with state lawmakers on the issue in the next legislative session. Teri Olle, director of Economic Security California Action, which co-sponsored SB 1047, said Newsom's veto forfeits a promising opportunity to put responsible guardrails around AI development. The failure of this bill demonstrates the enduring power and influence of the deep pocketed tech industry, driven by the need to maintain the status quo a hands-off regulatory environment and exponential profit margins," Olle said in a statement. "The vast majority of Californians, and American voters, want their leaders to prioritize AI safety and dont trust companies to prioritize safety on their own. Many leaders and members of actors guild SAG-AFTRA, including President Fran Drescher, signed a letter urging Newsom to sign SB 1047. On Sunday, SAG-AFTRA said the union will continue to work toward a safer and more ethical AI world. "While the promise of AI is yet to come, the dangers of AI are already being experienced," a union spokesperson said in a statement. "To avoid inevitable catastrophes that come with unchecked tech, the time to ensure AI safety through regulation, including accountability and transparency, is urgent." Newsom and Democrats in the Legislature also came under fire this year when they shelved a bill that would have required Google and Meta to pay news outlets for distributing their content. Instead, lawmakers struck a controversial compromise between Google and newspaper publishers that is expected to result in the company and the state spending $250 million over five years to fund programs to research artificial intelligence and support local journalism. The funding is a fraction of the money the companies could have been on the hook for under the bill. The deal split the newspaper industry. Publishers supported the agreement, while labor unions representing journalists opposed the plan and were not involved in the negotiations. Newsom was a party in the deal and agreed to provide taxpayer dollars to support the journalism initiatives. The agreement, and the omission of unions at the negotiating table, prompted Gonzalez to publicly state that Newsom is "enamored" with tech. It would be helpful to have somebody with as much power as he has to really explore how supporting working people in technology changes, and empowering them, can also coexist with tech changing," she said of Newsom. Gonzalez and the powerful Teamsters union have been at odds with the governor over legislation to regulate autonomous trucks. Newsom vetoed a Teamsters-backed bill last year that would have required a human operator in any vehicle over 10,000 pounds. The union tried a repeat of the bill this year, and the legislation met a similar fate. In his veto message released Saturday, Newsom said he offered several amendments to the bill that were not accepted. Read more: California lawmakers are trying to regulate AI before it's too late. Here's how The governor said California must balance the state's strong worker protection laws with its status as a leader in technological innovation: "We reject that one aim must yield to the other, and our success disproves this false binary." The Teamsters released a statement after the veto was announced saying the "vast majority of Californians oppose unregulated, unaccountable driverless cars and trucks on our roads." "A regulatory framework that ignores this reality does not benefit the people of California the millions who want good middle-class jobs and safe streets, the people that our state government is bound by duty to serve. Such a framework only benefits a handful of billionaires in the tech industry," the union said. The state released draft regulations last month that could allow for testing of driverless trucks on state highways. Technology companies and their billionaire chief executives have been some of the most generous donors to Newsom's campaigns. More than a half-dozen tech executives and investors gave more than $100,000 each to his campaign against the recall, including former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt; Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings; DoorDash co-founders Andy Fang and Stanley Tang; former Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer; former Twilio Chief Executive Jeffrey Lawson; and Silicon Valley angel investor Ron Conway, among others. A long-standing interest In an interview in August, the governor cited his 2013 book, "Citizenville: How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government," as an example of his approach to technology. The governor begins the book by retelling a story about a visit from the president of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, when Newsom was mayor. Newsom writes that he was eager to tell the president about the city's exciting new tech initiatives, such as paying parking meters with cellphones. The president was unmoved. Estonia had been doing that for years, as well as paying for parking tickets, property taxes and other government fees. They had free Wi-Fi, too. Newsom describes the moment as a "wake-up call" to the reality that San Francisco wasn't on the forefront of technology, but actually lagging behind. He goes on to call government's delay in implementing new technologies "a big problem" in the book. Under Newsom, the state has developed guidelines for public agencies to assess and safely use AI, hosted a summit on the topic with Stanford University and UC Berkeley and announced agreements to implement new technologies within government. Dee Dee Myers, director of the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, described the governor as "congenially imaginative." "He grew up in a community where there was a lot of technology and a lot of energy around it, and a lot of belief that you could make these things work," Myers said. "You could take and create something where it didn't exist before. He believes that we can harness some of this energy and these ideas to solve problems and to improve the quality of life for people, whether it's just better regulation for his mop sink or AI that could help us manage our resources better." Tussles with the industry Todd OBoyle, senior director of technology policy at tech industry group Chamber of Progress, said he doesn't see Newsom as "too close to the tech community." There have been plenty of issues where tech wishes he might have gone a different direction. I think the reality is that tech is a major industry in the state of California," O'Boyle said. "The governor is very mindful that a number of his constituents do work in tech, and that a healthy tech sector is great for the California economy and the California budget and critical to paying for Californias social safety net." The governor's aides also reject the suggestion that he's too slow to regulate. "He thinks we have to have smart regulations and we have to have a thoughtful process of regulation that balances different interests," Myers said. "So, I don't think anybody else in the country would say that California has failed to regulate. That's not our brand." Newsom's office pointed to legislation he endorsed to protect children from social media. The governor signed a bill this year to limit the ability of companies to provide addictive feeds on applications to minors and to restrict notifications to children's phones during the school day and at night. Senate Bill 976 was opposed by the Chamber of Progress, which counts Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta, TikTok owner ByteDance, Amazon, Google and Apple as its members. NetChoice, a national tech trade association, also opposed the bill. He's had other tussles with the industry. Citing violations of the 1st Amendment, NetChoice sued to block a bill Newsom signed in 2022 that sought to require businesses that offer online services to provide privacy protections for children. The governor, who has four children, was angry over the lawsuit and expressed his frustration with tech executives directly for trying to prevent the bill from taking effect. Newsom's relationship with Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, founder of SpaceX and executive chairman of X, has also soured as the tech leader shifted to the right and threatened to move his companies to other states in response to California's policies. When Musk tweeted a doctored video that altered Vice President Kamala Harris' voice, giving the false impression that she called herself a "diversity hire," Newsom pledged to make it illegal to manipulate a voice in an ad. On stage with Benioff at Dreamforce, Newsom signed into law several bills that seek to stamp out altered content. "It was just wrong on every level malicious intent behind these deepfakes impacting elections," the governor said before pulling out his pen. 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. Carly, now 15, was sentenced to life in prison on Sept. 20 after being convicted of first-degree murder, attempted murder and tampering with evidence Lauren Witte/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Carly Gregg Less than a week after Carly Greggs conviction for killing her mother, the Mississippi teenagers father is speaking out. Prosecutors said then 14-year-old Carly fatally shot her mother, 40-year-old high school teacher Ashley Smylie, with a .357 Magnum pistol on March 19 after they got home from school, according to The Clarion Ledger, WLBT, and WJTV. In an exclusive interview with WLBT published Sept. 26, Carly's father, Kevin Gregg, recalled how he felt after learning of Ashleys murder. "Ashamed, embarrassed, angry, upset, very sad, he told the outlet. I loved [Ashley Smylie] too. We were married for almost a decade. Northwest Rankin High School Ashley Smylie Related: She Killed Her Mom and Invited Friend to See the Body. Here's What a Psychiatrist Said Carly Gregg Was Thinking Dr. Andrew Clark, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and expert witness, previously told the court the teenager dealt with symptoms of depression and was prescribed medication that made her feel numb in the past, The Clarion-Ledger reported. Clark also testified that Carly heard voices, which were getting worse before the shooting, and that she had a history of self-harm. During closing arguments, WAPT reported that State Attorney Michael Smith told the jury the teenager was aware of her actions at the time of the shooting, a sentiment her father also agrees with. 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. That girl knew right from wrong, Kevin recently told WBLT. That girl is not insane. That was a very dumb defense if you asked me, but I wasnt involved. Nobody ever called me. Moments after the shooting, Mississippi state prosecutor Kathryn White Newman said the teenager invited her friend over. When Carly answered the door, she asked the friend, Are you squeamish around dead bodies? before leading the friend to her bedroom, where Carly's mother was dead on the floor from three gunshots, CourtTV and WAPT reported, Later, the teenager lied in wait in an apparent ambush designed to shoot and kill her stepdad, Heath Smylie, when he arrived home, prosecutors said, per the outlets. Related: She Killed Her Mom': Inside Disturbing 911 Call Made by Carly Gregg's Stepfather After Teen Shot Him Heath testified during the trial that the gun went off in my face before the door was open, referring to when he arrived home, per ABC7. After wrestling the gun away from Carly, he called 911. She killed her mom," he reportedly said in the call. Carly then fled but was later arrested near the home. Carly, now 15, was sentenced to life in prison on Sept. 20 after being found guilty by a Rankin County, Miss., on all counts including first-degree murder, attempted murder and tampering with evidence, according to The Clarion-Ledger, WAPT and WLBT. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes on the border area in southeastern Lebanon, on Sept. 30, 2024. Israel's Security Cabinet on Monday night approved "the next phase" of the military operation in Lebanon as Israeli ground forces reportedly launched artillery and tank fire into southern Lebanon. (Photo by Taher Abu Hamdan/Xinhua) JERUSALEM, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Security Cabinet on Monday night approved "the next phase" of the military operation in Lebanon as Israeli ground forces reportedly launched artillery and tank fire into southern Lebanon. "The ministers of the Security Cabinet approved the next phase of the Israel Defense Forces' operations in Lebanon," read a statement released on behalf of the cabinet, without specifying further details. U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller stated earlier Monday evening that Israel had informed the United States of "limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border." Lebanese media reports and video footage on social media showed tank fire, artillery, and flare bombs being launched into southern Lebanon. Meanwhile, three rockets were fired from Lebanon toward Shtula, a moshav in northern Israel. The rockets landed in open fields, according to a statement released by the Israeli military. Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes on the border area in southeastern Lebanon, on Sept. 30, 2024. Israel's Security Cabinet on Monday night approved "the next phase" of the military operation in Lebanon as Israeli ground forces reportedly launched artillery and tank fire into southern Lebanon. (Photo by Taher Abu Hamdan/Xinhua) Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes on the border area in southeastern Lebanon, on Sept. 30, 2024. Israel's Security Cabinet on Monday night approved "the next phase" of the military operation in Lebanon as Israeli ground forces reportedly launched artillery and tank fire into southern Lebanon. (Photo by Taher Abu Hamdan/Xinhua) Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes on the border area in southeastern Lebanon, on Sept. 30, 2024. Israel's Security Cabinet on Monday night approved "the next phase" of the military operation in Lebanon as Israeli ground forces reportedly launched artillery and tank fire into southern Lebanon. (Photo by Taher Abu Hamdan/Xinhua) Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes on the border area in southeastern Lebanon, on Sept. 30, 2024. Israel's Security Cabinet on Monday night approved "the next phase" of the military operation in Lebanon as Israeli ground forces reportedly launched artillery and tank fire into southern Lebanon. (Photo by Taher Abu Hamdan/Xinhua) Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes on the border area in southeastern Lebanon, on Sept. 30, 2024. Israel's Security Cabinet on Monday night approved "the next phase" of the military operation in Lebanon as Israeli ground forces reportedly launched artillery and tank fire into southern Lebanon. (Photo by Taher Abu Hamdan/Xinhua) Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes on the border area in southeastern Lebanon, on Sept. 30, 2024. Israel's Security Cabinet on Monday night approved "the next phase" of the military operation in Lebanon as Israeli ground forces reportedly launched artillery and tank fire into southern Lebanon. (Photo by Taher Abu Hamdan/Xinhua) Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes on the border area in southeastern Lebanon, on Sept. 30, 2024. Israel's Security Cabinet on Monday night approved "the next phase" of the military operation in Lebanon as Israeli ground forces reportedly launched artillery and tank fire into southern Lebanon. (Photo by Taher Abu Hamdan/Xinhua) Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes on the border area in southeastern Lebanon, on Sept. 30, 2024. Israel's Security Cabinet on Monday night approved "the next phase" of the military operation in Lebanon as Israeli ground forces reportedly launched artillery and tank fire into southern Lebanon. (Photo by Taher Abu Hamdan/Xinhua) They have all been unfounded, but multiple threats made on social media since the start of the school year have wreaked havoc on time and resources in Chambersburg Area School District. "The amount of time, energy and effort, the State Police, the local police, our police and our people are spending chasing down threats that are not credible, copycats, replications from other states, from other places, is getting to the point of frustration," Superintendent Chris Bigger said at the Tuesday, Sept. 24, school board meeting, as part of a longer statement about the issue. Just over a month into the school year, CASD has had "three different types of social media threats that occurred over a period of three days," none of which were found to be credible, district spokesperson Brian Miller told the Public Opinion. The front of Chambersburg Area Senior High School The district recently notified the community of a threat reported on Sept. 10 via the Safe to Say platform. It took district police and State Police about four hours to determine it carried no actual risk. Across the nation, threats of violence tend to hit schools in waves set off by headline-grabbing school shootings, USA TODAY reported. In Florida alone, 13 students were arrested in the span of a few days earlier this month for making threats after a 14-year-old armed with an AR-style weapon killed two classmates and two teachers at a Georgia high school. One of the threats investigated in CASD in recent weeks resulted in a student being criminally charged, Miller said. In an update about the Sept. 10 threat, the district took a hardline against those making threats: "We will file charges and exclude students from school who weaponize social media and cause such disruptions or incite fear." Parents should talk to kids about impact of words In his statement Tuesday, Bigger asked parents and caregivers to talk with students about how their words, no matter where they speak or type them, can have serious consequences. "A threat made as a joke in passing or a comment can result in significantly altering the student's life," he said. "As we continue to do everything in our power to keep students and staff safe, we ask you to engage in tough conversations with your children." Since officially taking over as superintendent last November, Bigger has frequently expressed support for limits on screen time and restricting social media use for minors. He encouraged parents to take a proactive approach to help students be more responsible citizens online and in real life. "One, no student under the age of 13 should be on social media. I will continue and we will continue to advocate for legislation to raise that age to 16 or older even," he said. "Secondly, monitor the social media activity of your children. And third, limit the content through settings on the app and limit overall screen time on devices to one hour for elementary, two hours for middle school and three hours for high school." Planning underway: Grade realignment, new positions, capital projects coming for Chambersburg school district Q&A with new CASD superintendent: Chris Bigger aims to be relatable, go back to basics CASD, police to share more about threats CASD will use multiple outlets to notify families and the community at large of any credible threat, Bigger wrote in the post about the threat on Sept. 10. In his statement before the school board, he noted the district is working with local police agencies to develop a formal statement about threats. "We will communicate more of the formalities of when we communicate a threat, how we communicate a threat and under what circumstances, but I do ask the community for your patience," he said. "We only get further if we do it together." Report threats or other concerning posts or statements at safe2saypa.org or call 1-844-SAF2SAY. Amber South can be reached at asouth@publicopinionnews.com. This article originally appeared on Chambersburg Public Opinion: Threats put strain on time, resources in Chambersburg school district AMES, Iowa An Ames man has been charged after police say he left his cat locked in a hot vehicle for multiple days, resulting in the cats death. On September 19 at around 4:48 p.m. the Ames Police Department responded to a report of an animal locked inside of a vehicle in the 1100 block of Scott Avenue. According to court documents, responding officers, as well as animal control personnel, found a vehicle that was locked and had all of the windows rolled up. Officers also noted that there was a foul odor emitting from the vehicle and several flies could be seen flying around on the inside, court documents state. Woman hit by U-Haul truck in Des Moines When officers opened the vehicle they found a deceased cat inside of a pet carrier that was covered by a blanket, court documents state. Officers noted that the temperature inside the car at the time was 105 degrees. According to a criminal complaint, the cats owner, 20-year-old Christian Michael Hansen, told officers that he left the cat inside the vehicle for two days without food and water and said he didnt check on the cat during that time. Hansen also told officers that when he did finally check on the cat he found the cat dead, the complaint states. The cat is believed to have been dead inside the vehicle for about a week before being discovered by law enforcement and animal control. Hansen was arrested on Friday and charged with animal neglect with serious injury or death. He is currently being held at the Story County Jail on a $1,000 cash/surety bond. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for October 8. Latest Iowa 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 who13.com. CBS News is the latest network under the spotlight as it prepares to host the vice-presidential debate between Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The debate on Tuesday, being led by outgoing "CBS Evening News" anchor Norah O'Donnell and "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan, will face intense scrutiny, particularly after the fury sparked by ABC News for its partisan handling of the first presidential debate between former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. The network's past coverage suggests Vance, like Trump, may enter a one-against-three political showdown. Cbs' 60 Minutes Accused Of Editing Exchange Between Desantis, Reporter Pushing Pay For Play Narrative CBS News will be under the spotlight this week as it hosts the highly-anticipated vice-presidential debate. Perhaps the greatest example of CBS News' liberal bias was in 2020 when Trump famously sparred with "60 Minutes" veteran Lesley Stahl over the Hunter Biden laptop scandal just days before the election. Trump insisted at the time that then-candidate Joe Biden was "in the midst of a scandal." Read On The Fox News App "He's not," Stahl gleefully replied. "Of course he is, Lesley," Trump sternly doubled down. "No, c'mon," Stahl continued to reject the president's claim, before lecturing him, "This is '60 Minutes' and we can't put on things that we can't verify." CBS News eventually went on and verified the infamous laptop in 2022. Cbs Tarred And Feathered For Admitting Existence Of Hunter Biden's Laptop Two Years After New York Post Report Veteran CBS News correspondent Lesley Stahl famously said the Hunter Biden laptop couldn't be verified during her "60 Minutes" interview with then-President Trump. When Hunter Biden initially accepted the plea deal with his father's DOJ, Brennan suggested that Republicans "move on" from the growing controversy tainting the president, who at the time was seeking reelection. "The deal has infuriated many congressional Republicans who were holding their own hearings. And I wonder after this plea happens if you would advise your party to move on?" Brennan asked then-2024 presidential candidate Chris Christie. Christie flatly responded "No, I wouldn't." "The conduct here by the U.S. Attorney in Delaware and by the Justice Department, just can't be justified," Christie told Brennan. "It does not take five years to investigate two misdemeanor tax counts and to dismiss a gun charge, and we need to know what they were investigating, and why these are the charges they concluded to. This is not just any person. This is the son of the President of the United States. When justice needs to be equal, it needs to be equal, and it doesn't appear to me that this is the way to do it." Norah O'donnell Exiting 'Cbs Evening News' Brennan attempted to push back by pointing out that the prosecutor, U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware David Weiss. was a Trump appointee, but Christie insisted it "doesn't matter," adding it was "incompetent and inexplicable." That plea deal was ultimately tossed by the judge overseeing the case after it crumbled under scrutiny. For the past several years, among the biggest stars at CBS News has been Gayle King, co-host of "CBS Mornings." However, before joining the network, she donated a combined $9,000 to Harris' 2010 bid for California attorney general, according to Open Secrets . King's past support for the VP hasn't stopped CBS News from not only allowing her to repeatedly interview Harris over the 2024 presidential campaign despite the apparent conflict of interest, but also singing Harris' praises. "When I hear people say I will vote for Kamala Harris because she is a Black woman, she is so much more than that. Shes so uniquely qualified to be president of this country," King said during CBS News' coverage of the DNC convention last month. King did not disclose to viewers that she was a Harris donor. CBS News host Gayle King previously gave thousands of dollars to Kamala Harris' 2010 bid for California attorney general. In September 2023, CBS News was caught editing an unflattering exchange Harris had with Brennan during an interview. In a preview clip that aired on "CBS Mornings," Brennan was seen asking Harris about age being a factor in the upcoming election with her then-elderly running mate. "You're 58 now. If you win the second term, as you and the president are running to do, he would be 86 at the end of it," Brennan said before the camera quickly cut to Harris' facial expression. Brennan immediately continued, "The Wall Street Journal had a poll showing two-thirds of Democrats say Joe Biden is too old to run again. Are you prepared to be commander in chief?" "Yes I am, if necessary," Harris responded before defending Biden's fitness as president. However, what aired on "CBS Mornings" was actually not how the conversation unfolded between Brennan and Harris, as the network acknowledged later in the day. Cbs Admits To Incorrectly Kamala Harris Interview Clip, Omitting Gop Attacks On Her CBS News acknowledged it "edited incorrectly" an exchange "Face The Nation" host Margaret Brennan had with Vice President Kamala Harris. Initially left on the cutting room floor was Brennan grilling Harris about the criticism she received from GOP presidential candidates. "You're 58 now. If you win the second term, as you and the president are running to do, he would be 86 at the end of it. And we are seeing Republican candidates hone in on you, in particular, as the next up for that job," Brennan told the vice president. " Nikki Haley says a vote for Joe Biden is a vote for President Harris. Chris Christie, 'I want to be clear that I pray every night for Joe Biden's good health, not only because he's our president, but because of who our vice president is.' Ron DeSantis, 'Harris is Biden's impeachment insurance. People know if she were president, batter the doors. As bad as Biden did, it would get worse.' How do you respond to all of that?" While the incorrect version of their exchange was seen by the millions of "CBS Morning" viewers, the corrected version was featured on CBS' little-watched streaming network and on social media. The interview later aired in full on "Face the Nation." "A previous version of this clip was edited incorrectly," CBS News acknowledged on both platforms. Both Brennan and O'Donnell appeared to chastise Trump following July's assassination attempt, suggesting his own rhetoric led to the fatal shooting in Butler, PA. "He is recovering from these injuries now, this was a traumatic event, no doubt, for him," Brennan said during CBS News' breaking news coverage after Trump released a statement on social media. "But I did notice there was no call for lowering the temperature, condemning all political violence, and really trying to signal to his supporters as well not to retaliate or have any kind of escalation here." Brennan later clarified that the statement was "not meant as a critique, but rather an observation." However, O'Donnell struck a similar tone during an interview with former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from the RNC Convention the following week, as the two of them discussed how "hot" political rhetoric has gotten in recent years. "Does Donald Trump bear some responsibility for that? Does he need to change his rhetoric?" O'Donnell asked. "This is a man that came less than an inch from losing his life and the question is you're worried about him?" an astonished McCarthy reacted. Last month, Brennan ran cover for Harris after Trump began accusing his Democratic rival of being a "communist." "And a new line of false attack on Vice President Harris," Brennan told viewers in her "Face the Nation" intro before playing a clip of Trump telling rallygoers "Kamala went full communist." "We'll tell you why that's wrong," Brennan added. Click Here For Media And Culture News CBS News anchors Margaret Brennan and Norah O'Donnell are set to co-moderate the vice-presidential debate between Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. In what might be a preview of what to expect at Tuesday's debate, Brennan got testy with Vance during his late June appearance on "Face the Nation." He was yet to be tapped as Trump's running mate. Vance took a swipe at the media for not fact-checking Biden following the June 27 presidential debate, something Brennan took immediate offense to. "You know, I lost track, sir," Brennan interjected. "I've been told the media is on every single side of this and everything's our fault, but let's get back to the candidate you're here to talk about." The Media Research Center found on Monday that CBS News is "wildly slanted" in favor of Harris-Walz. "During the two months from July 21 (when President Biden left the race) through September 27, our analysts reviewed all 346 minutes of campaign coverage (161 stories) on the CBS Evening News and its Saturday/Sunday twin, the CBS Weekend News. We found that coverage of Vice President Kamala Harris has been extremely positive (84%), while coverage of former President Donald Trump has been lopsidedly negative (79%)," MRC contributing editor Rich Noyes wrote. Fox News Digital reached out to CBS News for comment, but did not immediately hear back. Original article source: CBS News casts a long shadow of anti-Trump bias ahead of its vice-presidential debate CDC says Maryland, and most of the nation, has had fewer overdose deaths in 2024 A staffer at Charm City Care Connection, a Baltimore organization that provides Naloxone and sterile needles to drug users, with the goal of preventing drug overdoses, hands out information. Photo courtesy of Charm City Care Connection. The number of Marylanders dying from overdoses fell over the past year, mirroring a national trend but lagging behind the nation on the pace of the decline, according to recent federal data. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data estimates that 2,348 Marylanders died of an overdose from April 2023 to April 2024, down from 2,506 deaths the year before, a 6.16% drop. Overdose deaths in the U.S. during the same period fell 10%, according to current estimates. Still, the gains left state health officials and substance use researchers optimistic that the states opioid crisis might be improving. Theres a lot to be hopeful for right now, said Special Secretary of Overdose Response Emily Keller, who leads the Maryland Office of Overdose Response. Becky Genberg, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who focuses on epidemiology, said that understanding why overdoses are decreasing will take time, and could be due to many factors such as people having access to opioid reversal agents and avoiding more lethal drugs on the market. This isnt final data. The way that overdose data is measured, theres sort of a time lag, Genberg said. But when you consider it in the context of all of the other things that we know and thinking about other data points that might lend themselves to suggest that, maybe, this is real. At the same time, I think we need to remember that almost 100,000 people are still dying from overdose in this country. So its not like, problem solved, right? she added. The data comes as the nation continues to grapple with the evolving battle against synthetic opioids and other illicit drugs that are leading to the untimely deaths of thousands of Americans, including residents in Maryland. In a May press release, the CDC said that the number of overdose deaths had been rising since 2018 and only began to decrease in 2023. There were an estimated 107,543 drug overdose deaths in the United States during 2023 a decrease of 3% from the 111,029 deaths estimated in 2022. This is the first annual decrease in drug overdose deaths since 2018, the CDC said then. The more-recent estimates suggests the trend continued into 2024, although the changes varied widely by state, with nine states and the District of Columbia actually posting increases in overdose deaths during the period. From state to state we would expect to see variations, just given that drug markets are different, Genberg said. You might think about how there might be different state or even local jurisdiction policies that might be related to access to harm reduction or other things that might be helpful in terms of the prevention of overdose. I think with more research we could try to unpack why we see these changes in different places at different rates, but its hard to say exactly what is driving it without doing that work, she added. Keller, with the Maryland Office of Overdose Response, speculated that larger cities can struggle to reduce overdoses. I think weve made great strides. I do think Maryland has some large cities, like Baltimore city for example, that have had their fair share of problems, she said. The CDC data has a separate data for New York City, which showed a 6.44% reduction in overdose deaths, similar to Maryland. California also showed a 5.26% reduction in overdose deaths. Nebraska posted the biggest percentage drop in overdose deaths, going from 218 death to 153, a 29.8% decrease. It was followed by North Carolina, which fell 22.9%, from 4,470 deaths in 2023 to 3,448 in 2024. The state with biggest percentage increase in overdose deaths is Alaska, which posted a 41.8% increase, from 275 deaths in 2023 to 390 in 2024. Oregon rose 22.3%, from 1,542 overdose deaths in 2023 to 1,886 a year later. But the overwhelming majority of states saw overdose deaths decrease. As far as why are we seeing reductions? I dont think we know that yet, Genberg said. I think there are a lot of potential reasons. She noted that more people who use drugs may be aware of the presence of fentanyl saturating the drug market and may be changing their behavior to use more safely. If you talk to people who use drugs, or people who work with people who use drugs, I think a lot of people have adapted their strategies for drug use to keep themselves and keep others safe, given how potent the drugs are in the marketplace right now, Genberg said. They might be using less or using slower. Using when someones around to help that could be part of it. At the same time, I think we need to remember that almost 100,000 people are still dying from overdose in this country. So its not like, problem solved, right? Becky Genberg, associate professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Keller says that part of the challenge is keeping up with the ever-changing drug landscape. Its ever-evolving for sure, she said. I mean, for a long time we were looking at this as a prescription pill opioids and heroin crisis. We are still seeing that, but its evolved now into illicit fentanyl, which is playing into the overdose crisis. Fentanyl is much more deadly than heroin was. We are also seeing the presence of fentanyl in other drugs like cocaine for example. So, its not just people who primarily use heroin or fentanyl in the past. Now we have people who have used cocaine that has fentanyl in it that they werent aware of. Fentanyl is being mixed with xylazine, which is causing other issues like horrific wounds and whatnot, Keller said. Xylazine is a respiratory depressant that is used as a sedative for animals, and is also used in euthanizing dogs. It is not approved for human use. However, it can enhance and extend the effects of opioids and is often used in combination with illicitly manufactured fentanyl or other drugs. While opioids are not the only source of overdose deaths, they are a major contributor. According to the states overdose dashboard, there were at least 1,934 overdose deaths from September 2023 to August 2024. Of those, 1,669 deaths involved opioids and 1,545 included fentanyl. There were 962 overdose deaths that involved cocaine, 335 that involved alcohol, and 138 that involved heroin, according to the dashboard. A single overdose death can involve multiple substances, the department notes. Keller believes that part of the reason overdoses have gone down in Maryland is recent state efforts to prevent overdoses by providing free fentanyl test strips and naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal medication. Genberg agrees that increased access to naloxone has likely contributed to overdoses decreasing overall. We have done a really good job of getting naloxone most people know it as Narcan, the brand name but naloxone is our best tool for reversing opioid overdoses and saving lives, Keller said. So we want to make sure people have universal access to it and that they know how to respond to an overdose so that they can save a life. She believes using local data to tailor state resources and programs to specific regions will continue to bring overdoses down. Its definitely not for a lack of effort, and I think with all the very targeted outreach that we are doing and the measures were putting in place, she said, like tailoring to ZIP-code level data, like partnering with all of the jurisdictions and creating a collaboration plan were going to see Maryland just continue to get better. Theres a lot of great work going on, and one death is too many, Keller said. PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) Singing, dancing, cooking, and educating. That was the excitement shared between friends and family for Manual High Schools Hispanic Heritage Month. It brings a sense of comfort, honestly. Not a lot of schools do this, and Im glad that we do, said Alexandra Ocampo, a Manual senior. The high school hosted its week of Hispanic Heritage from Sept. 23 to 27, sharing pride in the culture. Its really fun to watch them just really get involved with celebrating their culture, said Kristen Bailey who teaches English as a Second Language. I just like seeing the spark and the light in their eyes this time of year. While Hispanic Heritage Month takes place from Sept. 15-Oct. 15, Latino students prepared since Sept. 20 to put on an event that the community will never forget. Some schools are extremely strict about cultural preferences, so Im happy that Im allowed to do this. And Im excited to see people see what we do, said senior Juan Rivera. The program, led by students, put on a night of culture Sept. 25. It included traditional Latino clothing, a community dinner with popular Hispanic cuisine, a student-led presentation and cultural music. We serve families food, there are informational vendors that come in with Spanish resources, resources for our families that dont speak English. And then we have a kid led program, said Bailey. The United States is a melting pot, and I feel like the celebrations at public schools should reflect that. It was all things Hispanic Heritage, and two students said they were grateful they had the opportunity to share it. I feel lucky because not everyone has the opportunity to have my position and to be where Im at right now, said Rivera. Ocampo explained, It allows me to show my culture to my school and especially as a minority school. I think its really important to show to others. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. How central, western Massachusetts is helping those recovering from Hurricane Helene SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) As people in the southeast continue to recover from Hurricane Helene, western Massachusetts is lending a helping hand. Why does rain have a smell? Hurricane Helene made landfall last Thursday as a category 4 hurricane and left nearly 100 people dead with widespread damage. The American Red Cross provides relief and support for families and communities recovering from a disaster, and volunteers were already on the ground last week. The American Red Cross of Massachusetts told 22News that they have already sent volunteers to Florida to help the victims of Hurricane Helene. Red Cross volunteers are managing the many shelters created to help those in the path of the hurricane and making sure those who are displaced have a safe place to sleep and food to eat. Volunteers are also out in the communities impacted providing relief efforts and helping families assess the damages. The organization says that for anyone looking to support the storms victims, the best way to help is to donate to a charity of their choice. Another Massachusetts organization is sending down volunteers as well. The Massachusetts Task Force 1 is a specialized rescue organization that is one of 28 federal emergency management agencies urban search and rescue task forces across the United States. They are equipped by FEMA to handle structural collapse. The organization is composed of highly trained firefighters, technical rescue technicians, medical professionals, canine handlers, engineers, physicians, and civilians across New England. The task force has the ability and training to conduct search and rescue operations in collapsed structures, assess the damage and provide feedback to officials, shut off utilities to houses and buildings, and provide structural and hazard evaluations for buildings to support disaster relief. The Massachusetts Task Force 1 also can perform search and rescue in a water environment. Members of the task force got called to travel down to North Carolina to conduct search and rescue operations where the state received its highest rainfall total of 29 inches. There are 150 members on the task force and 67 are currently helping out on the ground in North Carolina. 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. April McLaughlin, a Chandler woman who was arrested and faces charges accusing her of neglecting 55 dogs, was indicted on fraud charges on Monday, a year after police originally seized the dogs. The investigation, led by the Chandler Police Department, revealed that McLaughlin allegedly used her nonprofit, an organization for special needs dogs, to solicit over $47,000 in cash and supplies under false pretenses. Detectives also alleged that she had stolen more than $160,000 from her elderly mother and racked up over $20,000 in charges on her mother's credit card. According to authorities, the funds were reportedly used for personal expenses, like home costs, flights and dining. "We have always been working on this case, months and months of work, to bring forward these charges and justice for victims," said Rachel Mitchell, the Maricopa County Attorney. McLaughlin is accused of deceiving dog owners and rescue groups nationwide to acquire animals needing specialized care, according to police. She allegedly misrepresented the availability of veterinary services, therapies and foster homes for the dogs. McLaughlin was indicted on seven felonies related to fraudulent activity: Fraudulent schemes Theft (two counts) Aggravated identity theft Willful concealment of fraudulent schemes Theft from a vulnerable adult Unlawful use of a power of attorney Theft of credit card or obtaining a credit card by fraudulent means McLaughlin was also indicted on 24 other charges and 77 misdemeanors related to neglect of 55 dogs. Tracey Miller, Arizona Humane Society director of field operations, attends a press conference at the AHS Sunnyslope Campus in Phoenix as she holds a cart with a dog reunited after being seized from April McLaughlin's home on Jan. 16, 2024. "Initially, we were able to make the animal abuse charges more quickly, and so we went on those," Mitchell said. "That gave police additional time to secure the records that they needed to bring forth this case." Though some charges have the potential for probation or jail time, Mitchell said the county is "absolutely" pursuing prison time as an outcome because of the "totality of the circumstances." After multiple complaints of alleged animal abuse, Chandler police got a search warrant in September 2023 for McLaughlin's home where she ran the organization. Police and the Arizona Humane Society seized more than 50 special needs animals, many of which required medical attention. During the search, officers noted that many of the dogs did not have access to water and the home was covered with urine and feces. They also found five dead dogs in a freezer. The Arizona Humane Society took custody of the dogs, and the last dog was reunited with her former rescue group in January, according to an email from the Humane Society, after the court dismissed McLaughlin's appeal to have some of the dogs returned to her. "Our organization occasionally receives updates on the wellbeing of some of the dogs, which always warms our staffs' hearts and provides a reminder of the need to continue in our mission to advocate for the voiceless," said Jennifer Armbruster, a spokesperson for the Humane Society. McLaughlin, who also goes by Sydney McKinley, will remain in custody as the legal proceedings continue. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Chandler dog hoarding suspect indicted in theft of $160K from mother Who is in charge of East Tennessee Hurricane Helene flood response? More than 150 people are still unaccounted for in East Tennessee following the flooding that devastated the region, and two people are confirmed dead one in Johnson County and one in Unicoi County. There are unconfirmed reports of other deaths in the northeast counties hardest hit. Those include Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Johnson and Unicoi counties, all of which are designated for emergency state and federal aid. Major roads and bridges are damaged or destroyed, according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation, including a collapsed portion of Interstate 40 near the Tennessee-North Carolina border. As East Tennessee grapples with the effects of historic flooding there are hundreds of workers and thousands of volunteers working to search, rescue and clean up. But who is in charge? Who is leading rescue and recovery efforts in East Tennessee? The state, more specifically, Gov. Bill Lee is in charge of the states natural disaster response. He signed an executive order Sept. 27 declaring a State of Emergency in order to help provide relief. President Joe Biden authorized federal funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency the same day. Who is coordinating? The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency is coordinating the response by a number of agencies, including the Departments of Commerce and Insurance, Health, Human Service, Military and Transportation, as well as the Tennessee Highway Patrol. TEMA provides resources as requested by counties. Those local emergency management officials in each county are listed here. Local emergency management officials coordinate with elected officials in their communities and provide information up the chain to the state. What does FEMA funding mean? Once the federal government signed off on Tennessees request for assistance, FEMA authorized direct federal assistance (75% federal funding with 25% state funding) for Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Johnson and Unicoi counties. Similar funding has been approved for Hawkins and Washington counties. Who else is helping? Tennessee Bureau of Investigation The TBI has established a hotline (800-824-3463) to coordinate reports of missing persons in flood damaged areas. Tennessee National Guard Some 50 engineering specialists from Trentons 230th Engineer Battalion and Knoxvilles 134th Air Refueling Wing of the Tennessee National Guard are in Johnson City to help restore critical infrastructure and remove debris, according to the Tennessee National Guard. Tennessee Highway Patrol State Highway Patrol officers were some of the first rescuers to provide assistance to those stranded atop a hospital in Unicoi County last week, and they're continuing to help with traffic, welfare checks and searches. They have also been working with the TBI to collaborate on reunification of family members. I need immediate assistance what do I do? The state has requested anyone needing immediate assistance call contact their local emergency management agency. The full list is in the link above, and here are the contacts for the hardest-hit counties that have been designated for emergency assistance by the state and federal governments. Carter Billy Harrell, director Elizabethton-Carter Co EMAEmail: harrellb@cartercountytn.govPhone: 423-542-1888 Cocke Joseph Esway, director Cocke County EMAEmail: emadirector@cockecountytn.govPhone: 423-613-1772 Greene Heather Sipe, director Greeneville-Greene Co EMAEmail: Heather.Sipe@greenecountytn.govPhone: 423-798-1729 Hamblen Chris Bell, director Morristown-Hamblen EMAEmail: cbell@co.hamblen.tn.usPhone: 423-581-6225 Johnson Jason Blevins, director Johnson County EMAEmail: ema@johnsoncountytn.govPhone: 423-727-2507 Unicoi Jimmy Erwin, director Erwin-Unicoi Co CDEmail: jimmyerwinema@gmail.comPhone: 423-743-1850 Tyler Whetstone is an investigative reporter focused on accountability journalism. Connect with Tyler by emailing him at tyler.whetstone@knoxnews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @tyler_whetstone. This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Who is in charge of East Tennessee Hurricane Helene flood response? BOARDMAN, Ohio (WKBN) A report was taken and charges are being considered in the case of a person making a false report of a robbery at knifepoint. Read next: Statewide burn ban begins Oct. 1 Officers were called about 12:13 p.m. Sunday to a home on Salinas Trail where a male told them he had been robbed at knifepoint leaving a dollar store on Route 224. He said that a man walked up to him as he was leaving the store, brandished a switchblade and demanded money and his cellphone. The alleged victim said that he ran away to his friends house on Salinas Trail where he called police. Officers became skeptical when the alleged victim could not describe the robber and his story kept changing, according to the police report. Officers said the alleged victim finally admitted to lying about the robbery to prank his friends into thinking he had been robbed. Four Boardman police units were dispatched to the call and a search was conducted for the alleged suspect. The alleged victims mother showed up and police told her that charges would be considered. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Charlotte restaurants, businesses come together for Helene relief effort. You can help. As thousands of people are picking up the pieces from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, several businesses around Charlotte are working to support those affected by the storm across the state. Along with several nonprofit organizations accepting donations to provide food, water and other emergency supplies for victims, local restaurants, bars, boutiques and other businesses that have set up fundraisers and donation drop-offs to give back to the communities around North Carolina heavily hit by the storm. Here is a list, and we will update it on our website at CharlotteFive.com as we learn more: Location: 125 Winona St, Charlotte, NC 28203 Arrichions yoga and circuit training studio in Charlotte will be hosting a special donation-based mystery stone class Oct. 5 at 10 a.m. with proceeds going to Red Cross of North Carolina. The studio is asking for a $15 minimum donation for the class open to all members and nonmembers. Location: 301 W John St #5356, Matthews, NC 28105 At Artisan Vegelato, 10 percent of all sales will be donated to Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee hurricane relief. Location: Multiple Blaze Pizzas Asheville team members have been affected by the storm, and the team is launching a GoFundMe to help them. The pizzeria has been part of the Asheville community for 10 years and has ties to Charlotte and entrepreneur Jimmy Sierra is the franchise owner for Blaze Pizzas in the Charlotte, Gastonia and Asheville markets. GoFundMe details are incoming and well update this story online at CharlotteFive.com when they are available. In the meantime, if you want to drop supplies off for team members in need at any Charlotte-area Blaze Pizza between now and 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 4, the team will be driving to Asheville and can take them along. Feel free to drop them off after Friday as well and they will be delivered during a future trip. Location: 300 Camp Rd, Charlotte, NC 28206 Through Oct. 5, you can drop-off essential supplies for Operation Airdrop at Camp North End events and participating businesses, including: Black Moth Bars Bolton and Menk Canteen Current Nostalgia Dupp and Swat Fresh Produce Good Postage Grow Hardy Boy Records MacFly Fresh Passero Rent Eboards Room Service Seemingly Overzealous Soul Miners Garden Thats Novel Books Wily Windy OConnor Art & Home You vs Yourself Location: 1824 Statesville Ave #100, Charlotte, NC 28206 The Canteen at Camp North End is able to purchase supplies at a wholesale rate. Venmo donations to @good-company-noda and owners Joey Hewell and Scott Lindsley will use the money to purchase supplies and take it to people who need it in Western North Carolina. Location: MLK Jr. Blvd side of Truist Field, 404-420 W Martin Luther King Jr Blvd On Thursday, Oct. 3 from 7 a.m.-7 p.m., the Charlotte Knights and iHeartMedia Charlotte will receive items for those in Western North Carolina. These items will be given to Operation Airdrop and Next Level Disaster Relief. Bring: sports drinks (powdered packets), hydration packs (powder form), baby wipes, diapers (children and adult), baby formula, bug spray, sunscreen, plastic utensils, manual can openers, trash bags (13 gallon or contractor bags), nonperishable food items, cleaning supplies, plastic sheeting/tarps, toothbrushes, toothpaste, toiletries/sanitation items, pet food (dog and cat), hand sanitizer, sanitizer wipes, feminine hygiene products and heavy duty work gloves and socks (all sizes, unopened). Use the ballpark side of MLK Jr. Blvd. to drop off items. Location: 5555 Concord Pkwy S, Concord, NC 28027 Charlotte Motor Speedway is collecting essential items, including bottled water and non-perishable food, for victims in the N.C. mountain areas. Items can be dropped off at the speedway Oct. 2 from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. to be distributed the following day. Location: Multiple Coffee Republic is collecting donations at any of its North Carolina locations, including Huntersville, Denver, Mooresville, Cornelius, Matthews and Ballantyne. Suggested items include baby formula, childrens medicine, diapers, pet food, flashlights, batteries and more. Location: 4310 Sharon Rd, Charlotte, NC 28211 The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar in Charlotte will be collecting donations until Thursday, Oct. 3 to deliver to victims in Western North Carolina. The restaurant is accepting nonperishable food, pet food, cleaning supplies, toiletries, tarps, plastic utensils, sunscreen and more. Location: Several locations in the Charlotte area Duckworths, The Cellar at Duckworths and Link & Pin are donating 5 percent of total sales across all Duckworths and Link & Pin locations to Hearts With Hands beginning Wednesday, Oct. 9. Additionally, The Loft at Duckworths will also be donating 5 percent of total sales, beginning Thursday, Oct. 10. Location: 16925 Birkdale Commons Pkwy F, Huntersville, NC 28078 EeZ Fusion & Sushi in Birkdale Village is accepting donations until Thursday, Oct. 3 for victims in western North Carolina. The Lake Norman restaurant is collecting nonperishable food, cleaning supplies, toiletries and more. Location: 3227 N Davidson St, Charlotte, NC 28205 The Evening Muse and Tosco Music are donating all the money from open mic nights on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 to hurricane relief in Western North Carolina. Bring items to donate as well when you come out for open mic. Location: 248 N Main St, Mooresville, NC 28115 At Fred and Junes Books, 10 percent of in-store sales this week will be donated to the N.C. Relief fund. Location: 12 Union St S, Concord, NC 28025 Goldberry Books is accepting essential supplies to be delivered to victims Burnsville, Marion, Hendersonville, and Black Mountain. Nonperishable foods, cleaning supplies, trash bags, toiletries, pet food, feminine hygiene products and more can be donated through Oct. 3. Location: 1713 Central Ave, Charlotte, NC 28205 At GoodVets Charlottes Plaza Midwood location, drop donations of pet items, including pet food, collars, leashes, carriers, blankets and first aid or human needs, including nonperishable human food, blankets, feminine hygiene products, water and first aid. Great Wagon Road Distilling Co. NoDa and local breweries Location: 610 Anderson St, Charlotte, NC 28205 Great Wagon Road Distilling Co., in partnership with other Charlotte-area breweries, is collecting supplies for victims in Western North Carolina. Water, first aid supplies, toiletries and other essential items can be dropped off at the following locations in addition to its NoDa location: Triple C owner Chris Harker loads up cans filled with water at the brewery. The water will go to help victims of Hurricane Helene. Location: 5342 Docia Crossing Rd Suite B & C, Charlotte, NC 28269 Grow Cafe is collecting money and items including nonperishable food, sunscreen, children and adult diapers and more. Drop off your donations at the cafe for them to be distributed to families in need after Hurricane Helene. Location: 2017 N Davidson St, Charlotte, NC 28205 Location: 3100 N Davidson St # 103, Charlotte, NC 28205 The week of Sept. 30, The Happy Camper is donating a percentage of all online and in-store sales to nonprofits supporting storm victims impacted by Helene. Location: 1501 Queens Rd, Charlotte, NC 28207 At Higher Grounds by Manolos, 10 percent of all sales will be donated to Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee hurricane relief. Location: 2100 N Davidson St, Charlotte, NC 28205 The Hobbyist is accepting donations through Oct. 4 to be delivered to families in need in Western North Carolina. The NoDa bars team is requesting batteries, flashlights, diapers, baby wipes, baby food, canned goods, bottled water, pet food, feminine products and toiletry items. Location: Online The owner of Homewurk, an online Charlotte-based clothing brand, has created a special Carolina sweatshirt with 100% of proceeds benefiting nonprofits working to support storm victims. When purchased online, shoppers will be able to allot donations to Samaritans Purse or Brother Wolf Animal Rescue. Location: 13624 Providence Rd, Weddington, NC 28104 The Hunter Farm in Weddington has set up a donation bin to collect items for storm victims in Western North Carolina. You can drop off water, protein bars, diapers, baby formula, sports drinks powder, blankets and ready to eat meals at the front desk to be given to Fleetwood Volunteer Fire Department in Ashe County to distribute. Location: 8301 Magnolia Estates Dr, Cornelius, NC 28031 Jacks Corner Tap has set up a trailer outside of its space to gather donations for storm victims impacted by Helene. The Lake Norman bar is accepting nonperishable food, water, medicine, toiletries, blankets, towels, cleaning supplies and more. Location: 630 Brawley School Rd, Mooresville, NC 28117 For the weeks to come, there will be drop-off bins set up at Joshs Farmers Market in Lake Norman to be sent off to storm victims. The farmers market team is requesting food, bottled water, contractor-size trash bags, blankets, first aid supplies, feminine hygiene products, diapers and baby clothes, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, paper towels and more. Location: 129 W Trade St, Charlotte, NC 28202 Noble Food & Pursuits is collecting donations to support its efforts of providing chef-prepared meals through its non-profit restaurant, The Kings Kitchen to those impacted by the storm. Donations can be made online at giving.myamplify.io//app/giving/eGiving-499683. Location: 1753 Triangle Cir, Denver, NC 28037 Lake Norman Brewery is accepting donations to be delivered to Ashe County through Oct. 3 at 10 p.m. The local Denver spot is requesting contractor-size trash bags, shovels, brooms, gloves, non-perishable food, bottled water, first aid supplies, toilet paper, paper towels and more. Location: 601 S Kings Dr AA, Charlotte, NC 28204 Mama Ricottas is collecting essential items for storm victims through Oct. 3 at 11 a.m. The Midtown restaurant is accepting nonperishable food, pet food, hand sanitizer, feminine products, toiletries and more. Location: 4405 Central Ave, Charlotte, NC 28205 At Manolos Bakery, 10 percent of all sales will be donated to Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee hurricane relief. Location: 1401 Central Ave, Charlotte, NC 28205 The team behind Midwood Smokehouse has set up a donation site at its Plaza Midwood location.The restaurants team is requesting hydration packets, baby wipes, diapers, bug spray, sunscreen, plastic utensils, manual can openers, trash bags, nonperishable foods and more be dropped off before Oct. 3 at 11 a.m. Location: 6010 Kenley Ln suite c, Charlotte, NC 28217 McLaren Charlotte car dealership has set up a donation drop-off for storm victims in North Carolina and neighboring states. Essential items like food, water and first aid kits can be dropped off anytime from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Location: 11941 Ramah Church Rd, Huntersville, NC 28078 Location: 166 N Main St, Mooresville, NC 28115 Murto Made is collecting donations at both of its distilleries during operating hours or via its GoFundMe. Items include gas (for peoples generators) and nonperishable food items. NoDa Brewing Co. and other local breweries NoDa Brewing Co., Birdsong Brewing, the NC Brewers Guild and other local breweries are coming together to can drinking water to make regular shipments to the mountains, according to WCNC. Local breweries in the mountains will distribute the water from there. Location: 5010 Carmel Center Drive Charlotte, NC 28226 OpenTap is accepting donations for Western North Carolina folks affected by Hurricane Helene. Items include: Hygiene products, bottled water, baby formula, nonperishable food, baby food and toilet paper. Location: 413 Dalton Ave Suite B, Charlotte, NC 28206 On Thursday, Oct. 3, at Petty Thieves Brewery, three different comedy houses will host a show to raise money for Asheville charities: Acting Out Studios, Queen City Comedy and Charlotte Comedy Theater. All proceeds will benefit the disaster relief effort from Hurricane Helene. Tickets are $20, with the option to add an additional donation. Location: 1440 South Tryon St, Charlotte, NC 28203 Asheville-based PIE.ZAA has set up a GoFundMe to gather supplies and support rebuilding efforts for storm victims around the mountain area. The local pizza restaurants online fundraiser can be accessed online at gofundme.com/f/together-we-rise-help-asheville-recover. Location: 2452 Park Rd Unit D, Charlotte, NC 28203 Location: 16641 Birkdale Commons Pkwy Suite 210, Huntersville, NC 28078 Location: 7211 Waverly Walk Ave B-3, Charlotte, NC 28277 After its Asheville location was damaged in the storm, PlantHouse announced its accepting donations at all of its Charlotte-area locations to be transported to Western North Carolina. The teams are requesting water, toothbrushes, toothpaste, baby formula, diapers, clothing, wipes, blankets, flashlights, pet food and more. Location: 920 Belmont Ave, Charlotte, NC 28205 Queen City Animal Hospital is gathering supplies to help pets in need after Hurricane Helene. Items in need include dog/cat/small mammal/reptile dry food, plastic or aluminum bowls, crates/cat carriers and cat litter. Please dont bring liquids or chemicals, as the plane is unable to transfer those. Suffolk Punch Brewing and SouthPark Mall Location: 4400 Sharon Rd Space G23D, Charlotte, NC 28211 Via The Independence Fun, people can drop supplies off at Suffolk Punch Brewing at SouthPark now until 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 2. Suffolk Punch Brewing SouthPark is offering a 10% discount (one per family) on any purchase for those who donate bottled water, non-perishable food, PPE, cleaning supplies, hygiene items for adults and children diapers and wipes, childrens books and toys, or items such as sleeping bags, can openers, solar device chargers, flashlights, batteries, buckets, shovels, and rakes. Location: Multiple Summit Coffee has been personally touched by the tragedy of Hurricane Helene: Its cafe in Ashevilles River Arts District is gone. This week, the coffee shop will give 100% of proceeds from all online coffee orders to a fund for that team from the River Arts District. Location: 115 E Innes St, Salisbury, NC 28144 At Titas Cake House, 10 percent of all sales will be donated to Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee hurricane relief. Location: 3726 Monroe Rd, Charlotte, NC 28205 Vaulted Oak Brewing is collecting donations for the Asheville Humane Society as well as Brother Wolf Animal Rescue, which has lost all of its buildings, vehicles and resources and has 137 foster animals to care for. Add your donation to your tab and Vaulted Oak will split the total to help the two organizations. Location: 1532 East Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28203 Location: 717 Atando Ave Suite G, Charlotte, NC 28206 Vestique will be collecting nonperishable supplies at its warehouse and flagship store in Charlotte until Friday, Oct. 4 to be delivered to victims western North Carolina. The boutique team will be collecting bottled water, non-perishable food, contractor-size trash bags, blankets, first aid supplies, feminine hygiene products, diapers, hand sanitizer, toilet paper and paper towels. Location: 1222 Central Ave, Charlotte, NC 28204 Winnies Boutique in Plaza Midwood is accepting essential items to be delivered to Western North Carolina and affected communities in South Carolina. Along to taking drop-off donations, the local boutique will also be donating all proceeds from its Carolina t-shirts and tank tops to charitable organizations. Location: 1444 Harding Pl, Charlotte, NC 28204 West Kept Secret is hosting a donation-based class on Oct. 3rd with all proceeds benefiting Operation Airdrop. The class begins at 8:30 a.m. Location: 131 E John St Suite A, Matthews, NC 28105 White Ducks Matthews location is raising money to give to MANNA FoodBank in Asheville. Each dollar you donate will enter you into a raffle at the restaurant, with prizes including a $100 gift card, merch and more. The raffle will run through Oct. 8 and winners will be announced on Oct. 9. Location: 13209 Carowinds Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28273 Location: 200 N Dobys Bridge Rd, Fort Mill, SC 29715 Location: 8356 Charlotte Highway, Indian Land, South Carolina The Wing King Cafe will be collecting supplies for storm victims at all three of its locations around the Charlotte area through Oct. 5. Nonperishable food items, toiletries and other essential supplies will be accepted for victims in the North Carolina mountain areas. Location: 1440 S Tryon St UNIT 110, Charlotte, NC 28203 Location: 416 E 36th St STE 100, Charlotte, NC 28205 Wooden Robot is asking for supply donations to bring to shelters in Western North Carolina. The breweries are seeking emergency supplies, including water, baby needs, hydration packets, toiletries, new socks and underwear the things you notice first when theyre gone, the team stated on Instagram. Daily trips will be made to Asheville area with donations. Donations can be brought to either of Wooden Robots locations or to other local dropoff spots: Location: 1331 Central Ave #101, Charlotte, NC 28205 YAFO Kitchen is collecting donations for Western North Carolina storm victims at its Plaza Midwood restaurant. Essential items can be dropped off anytime before Oct. 3 at 11 a.m. Did we miss a local business providing support to storm victims in North Carolina? Let us know at charlottefive@charlottefive.com. Swannanoa residents share rolls of toilet paper on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. The remnants of Hurricane Helene caused widespread flooding, downed trees, and power outages in western North Carolina. BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Major Chinese cities including the Chinese capital of Beijing and the cities of Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen have adjusted their real estate policies, with a slew of measures unveiled to boost local property markets. Beijing on Monday announced to lower the threshold on non-locals to buy real estate in the downtown area. According to a circular jointly issued by six municipal departments on Monday night, non-Beijing residents will be allowed to purchase homes inside the city's fifth ring road if they have a record of paying social insurance or individual income tax in the city for at least three years -- down from five years as was previously required. The new policies to take effect on Tuesday will also lift the housing purchase restrictions in Tongzhou District, where the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center is located, to allow the district's homebuying rules to comply with the city's unified property market policy. Under the new rules, homebuyers will face less financial pressure, as the minimum down payment ratio for individual commercial mortgages is reduced from 20 percent to 15 percent for first-home purchases, and from 30 percent to 20 percent for second homes. For families with more than two children in Beijing, the amount of housing provident fund loan limit will be raised by 400,000 yuan (about 57,083 U.S. dollars), the circular said. The city of Guangzhou in south China's Guangdong Province has lifted restrictions on buying properties. Starting on Monday, qualifications for purchasing a home will no longer be reviewed and there will be no restrictions on the number of homes purchased by families and single individuals with or without local household registration in the city, according to a circular issued by the general office of the municipal government on Sunday night. In Shanghai, the minimum down payment ratio for individual commercial mortgages will be reduced from 20 percent to 15 percent for first-home purchases, and from 35 percent to 25 percent for second homes, according to a circular issued Sunday. Commercial banks will be guided to lower existing mortgage rates to further reduce mortgage interest expenditures for home buyers. Non-Shanghai residents will be allowed to purchase homes outside the outer ring road if they have a record of paying social insurance or individual income tax in the city for at least one year -- down from three years as was previously required, the circular said. The new measures will take effect on Tuesday. With the reduction of the down payment, homebuyers will face much less financial pressure, said Sun Jinhua, a real estate agent with eight years of industry experience. "Since late Sunday, I have been receiving a large number of inquiries, with many non-local buyers tending to act in response to the new policy," Sun said. Zhang Shaonan, who graduated and started working in Shanghai last year, said that upon learning about the relaxed restrictions on home buying, he plans to purchase an apartment outside the outer ring road. "Since I no longer have to wait for at least three years to be eligible to buy an apartment in Shanghai, I have decided to buy a home and settle down first," said Zhang, who is a non-local. Also on Sunday, the city of Shenzhen in Guangdong Province announced measures such as reducing the down payment ratio and optimizing district-specific home purchase restrictions. The latest measures follow a Thursday meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, which underlined the need for efforts to reverse the real estate market downturn and stabilize the market. Xu Shaoliang, a Guangzhou-based real estate agent, said ever since the meeting, he has received more inquiries and visits from clients. "The potential buyers are primarily motivated by their basic needs or a desire to improve their housing situations, with far fewer looking to invest," Xu said. He believes that under these favorable policies, the real estate market will see positive changes. Cui Guangcan, director of the real estate and urban development center at the Shanghai Normal University, noted that the new round of policies focuses further on the demand side, especially on the diverse and evolving housing needs of residents. "The various measures adopted by multiple departments to optimize housing policies will help meet reasonable housing needs and improve the housing conditions of the people," Cui said. TAHLEQUAH, Okla. Two local Cherokee Nation veterans were honored with the Medal of Patriotism. Cherokee Nation recognized Charles Alvin January of Colcord and David Tevebaugh of Miami during the September meeting. Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., Deputy Chief Bryan Warner, and Secretary of Veterans Affairs S. Joe Crittenden acknowledged the mens service and sacrifices to their country. Each month, the Cherokee Nation recognizes Cherokee service men and women for their sacrifices to demonstrate the high regard the tribe holds for all veterans. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, Native Americans, including Cherokees, are thought to have more citizens served per capita than any other ethnic group. Charles January I appreciate receiving this award. I was glad to serve my country. Charles January Standing left to right: Secretary of Veterans Affairs S. Joe Crittenden, Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., Charles Alvin January, Speaker of the Council Mike Shambaugh and Deputy Chief Bryan Warner. January joined the U.S. Army in March 1968 and completed his basic training at Fort Polk and deployed to Vietnam on Sept. 15, 1968. While in Vietnam, January was with the A company, where he served as a radio operator for six months and helped with various field repairs. He also spent five and half months as a Jeep driver and bodyguard for the commanding officer at the forward operating base. January returned to the States on Aug. 29, 1969, and went to Fort Sam Houston in Texas and, for six months, helped to train medics. He was honorably discharged on March 25, 1970. January was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Army Commendation Medal with 1st Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Good Conduct Medal. David Tevebaugh Standing left to right: Secretary of Veterans Affairs S. Joe Crittenden, At-Large Councilor Dr. Julia Coates, Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., David Tevebaugh, At-Large Councilor Johnny Jack Kidwell and Deputy Chief Bryan Warner. Tevebaugh joined the U.S. Army in March 1969 and attended his basic training and advanced individual training at Fort Polk. He then served with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam and was promoted to Specialist (E4) before being sent to Scofield Base in Hawaii. With only 18 months of service, he was promoted to sergeant. Tevebaugh was honorably discharged on Dec. 26, 1976, with the rank of staff sergeant. Tevebaugh was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal. Thomas Carter of Ada was also honored. He was deployed to Vietnam in October of 1970 and assigned to the 36th Engineers Battalion in Vinh Long province, where his unit was primarily in charge of clearing and providing roads for troops and equipment moving. The unit was stalled when he arrived due to a delay in receiving machine parts, so he fabricated a new fuel pump from a disabled vehicle and fixed the equipment himself. Due to his work, he received a promotion to Sergeant. Carter was honorably discharged on December 8, 1975. Carter was awarded the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal. I am more than honored to be here, said Carter. I am so grateful, and I really dont have the words to express that gratitude. Thank you. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNF/KODE | FourStatesHomepage.com. CHICAGO A Chicago man is facing multiple felony charges after he allegedly trafficked a 16-year-old victim who had been reported missing downstate. The Cook County Sheriffs Office said on Wednesday, the FBI contacted them after images of the victim, who was reported missing out of Woodford County, were found on the websites Megapersonals and Skipthegames. Man killed, sister pistol-whipped while delivering pizza in Calumet City An investigator posing as a sex buyer arranged a meeting with the victim on Friday afternoon at a motel in Cicero. When the victim arrived at the motel, detectives moved in and got them to safety while taking 30-year-old Tervon Moore into custody, according to investigators. The victim was taken to a local hospital for evaluation. The sheriffs office said investigators later learned that Moore had the victim engage in sex acts, posted ads on the websites named above, arranged dates with Johns, and collected the payments, taking half of the proceeds for himself. Chicago police alert Kenwood area residents about machete-wielding suspect slashing car tires On Saturday, Moore was charged with involuntary servitude of a minor, trafficking for labor/benefits and trafficking for labor/recruits. Moore appeared in court Sunday and was ordered detained at the Cook County Jail pending 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 WGN-TV. CHICAGO - Chicago police warned residents of a recent string of armed robberies and carjackings in neighborhoods across the city this weekend. At least eight armed robberies were reported between 2 a.m. Saturday and 5 a.m. Sunday. In each incident, two to four masked offenders robbed the victims of their property, including their cars, at gunpoint or broke into businesses by shattering the front windows. The crimes happened at the following times and locations: On Sept. 28 at 2:20 a.m. in the 8100 Block of South Calumet On Sept. 28 between 3 a.m. and 3:10 a.m. in the 8400 Block of South Stony Island Avenue On Sept. 28 at 5:40 a.m. and 5:55 a.m. in the 2100 Block of South Archer Avenue On Sept. 28 at 6:03 a.m. in the 2400 Block of North Clark Street On Sept. 28 at 6:48 a.m. in the 900 Block of West Diversey Parkway On Sept. 29 at 2:49 a.m. in the 6300 Block of West Irving Park Road On Sept. 29 at 3:57 a.m. in the 1700 Block of West 87th Street On Sept. 29 at 4:18 a.m. in the 9900 Block of South Western Avenue Anyone with information about these incidents is asked to contact the Bureau of Detectives Area Two at (312) 747-8273. CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) The Chicopee Chamber of Commerce hosted members of the business community to share their struggles with workforce development. Chicopee to open 1976 bicentennial time capsule in celebration of American Revolution anniverasary State and local officials met with business leaders Monday morning to listen to their workforce development struggles and successes. One business, Chicopee Industrial Contractors, is having trouble with Massachusetts new emissions legislation that was just passed making it harder for them to haul their equipment with their diesel trucks. Im a little proactive. I just went out and bought two trucks. Am I happy about that? No, that is an expense that I really was not ready to do at this time, but trying to make it so that I can survive in my business, said President & CEO Carol Campbell of Chicopee Industrial Contractors. Other businesses are having trouble competing with state jobs. There are similar jobs titles and roles for individuals employed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and then by private providers, like Sunshine Village, and the pay is often drastically different, sometimes by up to 30 percent, said Executive Director Gina Kos of Sunshine Village. Sunshine Village, a organization that helps people with disabilities lead rich, meaningful lives, has already seen three employees leave to take state paid jobs. Businesses shared their struggles with many aspects of workforce development but there were also some successes shared with the Chamber and even one organization vowing to help be a part of the solution. Just this past year, we did something pretty bold. We made community college universally free for anybody who doesnt have a degree. That is a game-changer here in Massachusetts. STCCs enrollment is up 28 percent over last year, said State Senator Jake Oliveira. We just want to be a part of the solution. We want to partner with you to ensure that we have the workforce for this region to continue to be able to continue to compete, said Director of Career Services J Marshall at Elms College. Many of the legislators said businesses should reach out with issues and concerns as they begin to gear up for the next legislative session. 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. CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) The Chicopee Chamber of Commerce hosted members of the business community to share their struggles with workforce development. Memorial ride to honor late Chicopee Police Officer Many state and local officials met with business leaders to listen to their workforce development struggles and successes, with some possible solutions for the delegation. One struggle that was mentioned multiple times was the education system and why many think it is failing our youngest generations. Carl Ingram, the Director of Career and Technical Education for the City of Chicopee handles all of the technical programs and he said recruiting teachers back from the workforce is hard for them. From our point of view, finding non-traditional routes for these educators to come into the business. recruiting and retaining teachers is so vital these days for young people and their growth said Ingram. Other topics mentioned were how the newest Massachusetts emissions legislation will impact one business, the falling literacy rates, affordable housing vs. workforce housing, minimum wage compared to a living wage, and how state-paid jobs are hurting private companies. State Senator Jake Oliveira highlighted this years new legislation making community college free for those who dont have a degree. 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. Child Among 5 Dead in Plane Crash Near Wright Brothers Memorial in North Carolina All five passengers aboard the single-engine airplane died, a spokesperson for the National Park Service confirmed Joe Sohm/Visions of America/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty The Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devils, N.C. A child and four adults died in a plane crash near the Wright Brothers National Memorial in North Carolina. The National Park Service (NPS) announced on Saturday, Sept. 28 that a single-engine airplane crashed into a wooded area near the Wright Brothers National Memorial First Flight Airport in the town of Kill Devil Hills around 5 p.m. local time. According to the NPS, eyewitnesses said the plane was "attempting to land at the airport" before it crashed and caused a fire that was extinguished by the Kill Devil Hills Fire Department and other local departments. There were five passengers aboard the plane, including one minor, when it crashed. "There were no survivors," a NPS spokesperson confirmed to PEOPLE. The agency said it plans on releasing names in the "coming days." Related: 15-Year-Old Girl and Teacher Among 4 Killed in Vermont Plane Crash: 'Unimaginable Loss' A spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) which is investigating the incident confirmed to PEOPLE that the plane was a Cirrus SR22 airplane that attempted to land on the airport's runway 21. "It was a multi-leg flight, with the last departure from Dare County Regional Airport," the NTSB said, noting that the plane did not land on its first runway approach. "The crash occurred during the second approach. There was a post-crash fire." "Two NTSB investigators arrived at the accident site Sunday to document the airplane wreckage, which will then be moved to a secure facility for further evaluation," the department added. NTSB Aviation Accident Investigator Ryan Enders said, per NBC affiliate WAVY-TV, that the airplane "made a left turn and impacted trees adjacent to the left side of the runway" during its second attempt. The NTSB is asking witnesses to contact them with surveillance video or other information pertaining to the crash. The federal agency also noted that a preliminary report is expected within 30 days of the crash. The First Flight Airport remains closed and is set to reopen on Tuesday, Oct. 1 at 9 a.m., per the NPS. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. (Bloomberg) -- Chile President Gabriel Boric unveiled the 2025 budget proposal with a 2.7% increase in spending and a strong focus on fighting crime, a topic that represents voters top concern heading into an election year. Most Read from Bloomberg The administration will boost security at international border crossings and increase expenditures to combat organized crime within jails, Boric said in a televised speech late on Sunday. Roughly 1,300 new police officers will be deployed nationwide, bankrolled by new funds from recently approved legislation against tax evasion, he said. The modest spending plans will cut Chiles structural budget deficit to 1.1% of gross domestic product next year, Finance Minister Mario Marcel said in a interview with Radio ADN on Monday. The shortfall will narrow from an estimated 1.9% of GDP this year, allowing public debt as a percentage of GDP to stabilize after increasing for 17 years, Marcel added. Other priorities outlined on Sunday by Boric include a reduction in waiting lists for the nations healthcare facilities, fulfilling the governments pledge of constructing 260,000 new housing units and also spending more on culture. The budget proposal will now be submitted to Congress for approval. The spending plans will consolidate progress in public security, as well as economic and social security, and we will have new resources to go further, Boric said. The announcement comes days after lawmakers approved legislation that clamps down on tax evasion and combats informality in the economy. The measures will raise an extra $1.2 billion next year, or about 0.4% of GDP, Marcel said Wednesday. But some economists have expressed skepticism over the estimates, saying they are unrealistically high. The new tax evasion bill will gradually increase government revenue, Marcel said during the radio interview Monday, and that incremental increase is taken into account in next years budget. While Chilean laws prevent him from serving two consecutive terms, Boric has little room for maneuver ahead of 2025 elections. His personal approval rating stands at just 35%, while 58% disapprove of his management, according to a Cadem poll published this month. The survey identified reforms related to security and addressing crime as the most important for the future of the country. (Updates with comments from Marcel starting in the third paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Chinas new space suits are ready for take off. The country just unveiled the next-gen suits that its taikonauts will wear on its landmark lunar mission. The design, which the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) revealed over the weekend, plays an integral part in the nation reaching its lofty goal of launching its first crewed mission by 2030, CNN reported. More from Robb Report The red-and-white garb can safeguard the moonwalker from extreme temperatures, in addition to debris particles and harmful UV radiation, according to the developers. The garment, with a slimmer look and increased mobility, also features a built-in long and short-range camera, a control console, and an anti-reflective helmet visor to block the suns glare. In terms of aesthetics, the suit is based on traditional Chinese armor: The stripes on the upper portion are inspired by the silk ribbons worn by the Flying Apsaras in ancient Dunhuang fresco art, while those on its lower half are meant to resemble rocket launch flames. China reveals the new space suits that will be worn for its upcoming moon mission. Unlike low-Earth orbit missions, astronauts will be in a harsh natural lunar environment during lunar extravehicular activities, said Wu Zhiqiang, deputy chief designer of astronaut systems at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center, speaking to CCTV. Complex environmental factors such as high vacuum and low gravity, lunar dust and lunar soil, complex lunar surface terrain, high and low temperatures, and strong radiation will have a significant impact on work and protection. Back in February, CMSA revealed the name of the spacecraft that will take Chinese astronauts to the moon. Mengzhou, which translates to Dream Vessel in English, will be the official crew spaceship, while the lander is named Lanyue, or Embracing the Mooninspired by a 1965 poem from Chairman Mao Zedong. If and when the mission is complete, China will establish itself as the second country to put astronauts on the moon. It also has plans to build a research base near the lunar south pole by 2040. So far, the China National Space Administration successfully completed the first mission to collect rock and soil samples from the far side of the moon and return them to Earth. Meanwhile, NASA presented suits for its upcoming Artemis III mission to the moon in March of last year. The latest space gear prototype, created in collaboration with Axiom Space in Houston, will be worn during the Artemis programs first crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17. The month-long mission, which has been subject to delays, is currently targeting a September 2026 launch. SpaceX has also been in the space suit game, debuting a sleek new look for the astronauts on its successful Polaris Dawn mission. Best of Robb Report Sign up for RobbReports's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. From the Wanderland on The Dispatch Theres almost a surprising bit of good news in there if you squint: As hard as it is to believe, Eric Adams is the first sitting mayor of New York City to be indicted on federal charges. Id have thought hed be the fifth or the sixth or something. New York, our greatest city, is also our exemplary city, both at its best and at its worst. For 20 glorious years, New York showed the lesser American cities what a real urban renaissance looked like, with an economic boom and a complementary cultural revival. A generation of young people whose parents had prioritized getting the hell out of Brooklyn or Upper Manhattan moved into the city and turned around neighborhoods that once had been bywords for urban dysfunction. And then, for most of the past decade or so, New York showed the rest of the country how easy it is to piss away all those hard-won gains. Say what you will about the pathetic figure Rudy Giuliani has become or the weird-rich-dude obsessions of Mike Bloomberg, for a couple of decades there you could ride the subway after midnight without feeling the need for Kevlar or some kind of psychiatric SWAT team. Mayor Adams is accused of (blah blah blah, innocent until proven guilty, yadda yadda yadda) accepting favors from the Turkish government, gifts and benefits amounting to bribes for favorable treatment of businesses connected to the regime of Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish government itself. The allegations include a straw-donor scheme for laundering foreign money into Adams mayoral campaign. If the indictment is accurate, the whole thing was conducted with hilarious incompetence and pettiness. Longtime observers of American municipal politics will not be entirely shocked by the suggestion that a mayor applied some political pressure on behalf of a campaign donor. That happens all the time, and it is rarely prosecuted as a crime. A bribery charge requires a quid pro quo, and it is the pro that is the problem even when the quid and the quo are caught on tape or matters of public record: You can easily prove that the donation was made and that the favor was done, but proving that the favor was done in exchange for the donation is difficult unless somebody was dumb enough to put it in writing or to allow himself to be recorded describing the bribe. The case against Adams is a little easier to make, because those foreign donations would be illegal in the first place and would require an illegal coverup. Another way of saying that is that what Adams is accused of is in no small part only a more extreme version of business as usual in American municipal government. There are things that can be achieved as readily through noncriminal means as through criminal ones, and whether a given municipal official chooses criminal or noncriminal means often is simply a pragmatic calculation. If you are a clique of corrupt education bureaucrats who want to keep teachers from getting docked for poor performance, you can either cheat on the standardized tests like they did in Atlanta and elsewhere (which is fraud) or you can just gut performance-based compensation programs like they did in New York (which is politics, not crime). The mutually enriching revolving-door relationship between elected office, public-sector unions, and politically connected businesses in states such as California is gross and immoral, but most of it isnt anything you could charge as a crime. Theres a lot of obvious corruption in politics at all levels, but not all of it is criminal: You can take petty bribes like Bob Menendez did, or you can set up a foundation like the Clintons did and use it to pay your private-jet bills, an especially enticing proposition if you can count on a political ally such as Barack Obama to quash any investigation into possible financial wrongdoing. If Adams is in trouble for doing illegally that which he might have done legally, his real crime isnt corruptionit is stupidity. But theres a lot of that stupidity to go around: In municipal governance writ large (local government per se, police departments, public schools, and quasi-public agencies) there have been dozens and dozens of corruption charges and convictions over the past several decades. Adams may be the first New York mayor indicted, but over the years the feds have convicted mayors from Newark (more than one of them), Hoboken, Secaucus, Jersey City, Camden, Atlantic City, Gloucester, Passaicand thats just New Jersey!to say nothing of Miami Beach, Compton, Providence, Bridgeport, all the way down to White Castle, Louisiana. You could fill a cell block with the Chicago aldermen who have gone down on federal charges (at least 26 of them), and set up another one for the Philadelphia judges and city councilmen, the Clark County (meaning Las Vegas) county commissioners, the Boston school-committee members, etc. If past is prologue, we can expect 4 out of 10 Illinois governors to go to the pokey. I prefer a policy of subsidiarityof distributing both the responsibility for mitigating social problems and the resources to work on those problems to the most local and intimately connected institutions: We begin with family, friends, and civil society, and then move on to government, beginning with government at the local level. Subsidiarity is the right policy most of the time (but not usually for national defense or international relations, which is why our constitutional architecture reserves these to the national government) but the fact that it is close enough to keep an eye on doesnt keep local government clean or smart. There is plenty of incompetence at the local leveltyranny, too. There are real American citieslookin at you, San Bernardinothat have long been governed by the most useless, weedy thickets of human vegetation you could imagine. New York doesnt have to be oneit chooses to be. Conflating the Sacramental and the Sentimental I spent a fair bit of a recent episode of The Remnant shouting at Jonah Goldberg, meaning shouting at the dashboard of my truck, and wanting very much to throttle Sam Harris. Harris seems like a nice enough guy. He once sent me a gift basket out of the blueI was never quite sure what for. I dont want to drop bombs on him but. I dont care that Harris is an atheist. Some of my best friends are atheists (Hey, Charlie!) and many are somewhere on the atheism spectrum: atheist, agnostic, Episcopalian. I do care that Harris sometimes talks like his head apparently is entirely full of mush and insists on talking as though he is ignorantthough he isntof so many of the basic issues of religion, a subject about which he speaks and writes a great deal. Ill limit myself to one example here. Harris argues that science offers a better way of doing things than religion does because science can self-correct, whereas religionin this case, hes talking about Christianitycannot do the same, because its practitioners regard its founding documents as inerrant by definition, so these cannot be changed in light of new facts. He offers as an example the trials and executions of supposed witches, which is, in fact, a terrific example in that it illustrates precisely the opposite of the point that Harris is trying to make. Like most atheists in the Western world, Harris has an essentially Anglo-Protestant sensibility (Christopher Hitchens could have been a very happy Anglican) and, as such, he connects witch trials such as the ones we had in New England some centuries ago to the Bible. But, as anybody familiar with the history of magic in the Anglo-Saxon world would be happy to tell youand as Harris seems to know without understanding the significance of the factthe folk characters we call witches have almost nothing to do with the sorcerers and diviners and such of the Bible, though of course biblical injunctions against these were cited in witchcraft statutes, notably in Alfred the Greats lawbook. We dont have very much in the way of relevant records of the pre-Christian era in the British Isles (and not especially good records of Britain pre-Norman Conquest, for that matter) but it is very likely that our Puritans Anglo-Saxon forebears had witches on the brain a thousand years or more before the birth of Christ. Belief in witches and witchy characters is widespread across many cultures, as Harris himself notes. The focus on Scripture is an admirable part of many Protestant traditions, and one that my fellow Catholics would do well to learn from, but the Bible did not create Christianityit was quite the other way around, and whole generations of Christians came and went before there was any such thing as the Bible as we know it today. As Christianity spread, it absorbed certain flavors from the terroir in which it was planted. British culture did not get its belief in witches and witchcraft from British ChristianityBritish Christianity got its beliefs about witchcraft from British culture, from pre-Christian, pagan sources from which Christian culture has drawn so much (like Christmas trees and Easter eggs). The oldest surviving charms from the British Isles arent directed at seeking the aid of Satanthey petition Woden, because they were invented by people who had never heard of Christianity, and their original authors (I mean the authors of the underlying source material) probably lived long before Jesus did. Harris concedes that belief in magic and witchcraft is something close to a cultural universal but does not consider how this fact makes an irrelevancy of his claiman overblown claimabout the role of foundational documents, and attitudes toward those documents, in the public lives of religiously informed cultures. (Religiously informed culture is another way of writing culture.) Ive had this experience before. I like Bill Maher, who is in real life a much more gracious man than the character he plays on television, but I also think that a guy who made a whole film about the implausibility of religious claims ought to have taken the time to learn something about them. I remember a conversation I had with him in which he was surprised to learnand was very skeptical of the claimthat the kind of biblical literalism associated with American Evangelical Protestantism is a relatively new phenomenon, and that the Jewish sages of old and Christian scholars of the Middle Ages took a distinctly different approach to the interpretation of Scripture, as indeed do contemporary thinkers in many different branches of Christian thinking. The notion that all of humanity is descended from two original parents, for example, is far from universally held and probably is a minority opinion among Christian intellectuals. That doesnt mean that these thinkers demote the Bible to the position of folklore, only that they do not treat Scripture as a kind of magic in literary form. Christian scholars even have a word for the quaint superstitious belief prevalent among certain American Christians that one can simply crack open a Bible and expect to be directed to a solution for any of the modern worlds particular problems and dilemmas: bibliomancy, which, as the word suggests, is a form of magical thinking. Science really is more useful than religion in the sense that a pipe wrench is more useful than a bouquet of roses if you are trying to fix a pipe. Non-overlapping magisteria is how Stephen Jay Gould described the situation: different instruments for different things. The question of fact is distinct from the question of what to do about the fact. Which brings us right back to the issue of witches and witchcraft: As C.S. Lewis very amusingly argued, the error at work in those long-ago witch trials wasnt a moral error at all, but an error of fact. Lewis argues that if there really were people doing what witches were accused of doingusing diabolical powers to kill their neighbors or to make them ill, to cause miscarriages, to cause crop failures, etc.then they would be more deserving of severe punishment than practically any other class of criminals: quislings, he called them, a serious charge against the backdrop of World War II. The problem wasnt the moral judgment but the misjudgment of fact. The witches of the Anglo-Saxon tradition are not real but are characters from the popular imagination. And, contrary to Harris claims and expectations, American Christianity did correct that error. The last execution of a supposed witch in the United States happened before there was a United States, way back in 1692. Lesson learntand not because somebody published an important paper in Nature in 1693. Europe learned, too, if a bit more slowly: The Swiss executed a supposed witch in 1782 and the Prussians in 1811, though it is important to note that in neither case was the condemned executed foror even charged withwitchcraft, that having ceased to exist as a criminal offense long before those cases. Of course, in another sense the witch trials never really ended, we just stopped calling them witch trials when they mutated into the Satanic-daycare cases of the 1980s and 1990sand it bears noting that the ritual-abuse panic was brought to us with a big assist from Harris idol of choice, the scientific consensus, kicked off by a graduate of the McGill University medical school and carried forward by psychiatrists working from approximately squat in the way of real evidence. Medical science, one of the most relevant branches of science for many people, remains absolutely full of quackery in our time, and, as with the case of religion, the quackery gets quackier as it approaches political power, which is why we see things like the Affordable Care Act entrenching the status of pseudoscientific medicine like chiropractic and acupuncture. The scientific consensus in favor of eugenic homicide and sterilization, depending on how you look at it, lasted either until about the day before yesterday in the historical record or endures still today. The last execution of a supposed witch in what is now the United States was nearly three and a half centuries agowhile the most recent eugenic homicide conducted under the auspices of science was probably about three and a half minutes ago. Harris and others of his stripe ought to have the courage of their convictionsand spare us the mushy-headed nonsense about spiritual depth and self-transcendence and the sacred and the rest of the New Age goo he so often traffics in. If we take the scientific view as the controlling view, setting the limits of realityand there is an excellent case for doing so!then there is no such thing as spiritual depth or spiritual anything, because there is no such thing as spirit, only a kind of cultivated emotionalism with its origins in neurochemical processes. There is no self-transcendence because the notion of transcending the self is in that situation literally meaningless, there being no state or situation to transcend into or towardwe are in that case talking about nothing more than moods. There is no such thing as the sacred, only the sentimental. All the psychedelics in the world arent going to change that. (Take it from one who knows.) Harris argues that the secular world needs to develop better offerings to mark hallmark events such as marriage and deathbut why would there be such a thing as marriage at all in the rationalists ideal world? And why would we mark death, which should be understood as simply another ordinary biological event, no more significant than passing gas? Why wouldnt we instead try to educate people out of their irrational belief that these events have some transcendent (that word again!) significance? One suspects that so many of these crusading atheists turn either to numbing hedonism (Hitchens and his Johnnie Walker) or to pseudo-spiritual malarkey one step removed from the horoscope page (Harris and his mindfulness) because they cannot bear to live in the world they are constructing for themselves. That is intellectual cowardice. You buy the ticket, you take the ride. And its not like we need some gooey new philosophy to deal with the situation: Marcus Aurelius had this figured out 2,000 years ago: You live the life you have, doing your best to do your duty as a reasonable man, then you die, at which point there will either be an afterlife or annihilation, and, for the purposes of living your daily life, it doesnt much matter which, because your legacy will fade and everybody who ever knew you will be dead soon enough, your progeny will die out, and your name will be forgottenso theres no point in getting very attached to the world, which isnt very attached to you. That isnt a despairing nihilism, or, at least, it doesnt have to beMarcus version of Stoicism is a perfectly adequate philosophy for living a decent life while were waiting around for the heat death of the universe. Its a better philosophy than the default mental setting of the median meathead meandering about these fruited plains. I did not know Christopher Hitchens (I encountered him only oncein church, strangely enough) but I read most of his sophomoric writing on religion, and I never was convinced that he was an atheist at all. It wasnt that he didnt believe in Godit was that he was angry at God and (much more understandably) at Gods supposed representatives on Earth, like a grown man who never got over the teenaged boys inevitable disappointment by his father, his discovery that his church is full of imperfect people and at least a few active hypocrites, the revelation that many of his teachers are just killing time waiting for their pensions, etc. Hitchens was a brilliant man in many other ways, but, on that subject, he wasnt Diogeneshe was a permanent adolescent. Harris, by contrast, is a guy with one foot in scientism and one foot in the guru gameand, really, wasnt one Timothy Leary enough? (Terence McKenna in his time already was a redundancy.) If youre an atheist, go be a happy atheist. But shovel that happy horsest somewhere else. Words About Words How do you pronounce Nazism? I mean: How do you pronounce Nazism? The most common way among modern Americans, I think, is: not-zee-is-em, four syllables. But people who speak a more precise English often say: nots-is-em, three syllables. For comparison, think about Sufism: Here, most people use the more correct-sounding (to my ear, I mean) soof-is-em, three syllables, while some people use the clumsier-sounding soof-ee-is-em, four syllables. Nazi is from the German Nationalsozialist. The sozialist part of that word was sometimes abbreviated sozi, which literally means social but was understood in context to mean socialist, which gave rise to Nati-Sozi and thence to Nazi. With the -i already on there, it was naturalto many English writersto just drop the -sm on the end. But that wasnt the universal practice, and you can find literature from the 1930s and 1940s that spells the word Naziism. The German is Nazismus, three syllables, not not-zee-is-mus. So I suppose that argues for the three-syllable version in English. And then theres the vowel issue: Most of us say not-zee, but in the 1930s and 1940s, you hear English speakers more often saying nat-zeeor na-zee, as Winston Churchill did. People who learned the word during the war years often maintained that pronunciation throughout their lives, which would sometimes be jarring in conversation. More Wordiness Washington Post headline: Tampa region emerges as epicenter of Floridas death toll from Helene. To repeat: The epicenter is not the center. Thats why theres an epi- on the front of the word. Earthquakes have epicenters; hurricanes do not. Somebody should tell the Washington Post. Slate Is Edited by Dumb People: A Series A headline: Well, This Letter From a Billionaire Conservative Kingmaker Is Downright Chilling! The article is about Leonard Leo, the head of the Federalist Society. Leo isnt a billionaire. Hes a lawyer and a nonprofit executive. One of the organizations he runs has more than $1 billion in assets that it can use to make grants. Leo is no more a billionaire than the fellow who administers the endowment at Princeton is. Slates other take is that Leo is a scary Catholic maniac. (Youll not be surprised to learn that Opus Dei comes into the conversation.) Maybe. But the reason his fund has more than $1 billion in assets to do things with is that it received a very large gift from Barre Seid, a Jewish businessman from Chicago who also donates to pro-Israel causes, orchestras and operas, and to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, among other worthy causes. Real life isnt The Da Vinci Code. But taking any meaningful account of the facts would get in the way of the story being told in this case. Journalism: How does it work? The article and headline were corrected after I sent mywhat, 54th?email to Slate, which sometimes corrects its errors and sometimes tries to brazen through them, which is always a mistake. I should start billing these incompetents. Economics for English Majors My old National Review colleague Rich Lowry writes about the situation in Springfield, Ohio: The New York Times reports that consultations began to take three times as long at the local community health center. The head of the clinic told the paper, We lost productivity. We had huge burnout of staff. It hired six Haitian Creole speakers, and annual spending on translation services increased from $43,000 in 2020 to $436,000. Rich isnt wrong about the numbers, but it is worth pointing out that that $436,000 is less than 2 percent of the institutions budget. So, real money, but not an extraordinarily heavy institutional lift, either. Scale matters. Proportion matters. In Other Economic News Writing in That August Journalistic Institution, Oren Cass has offered up another headache-inducingly stupid article in defense of industrial policy, in this case insisting that tariffsbecause Donald Trump loves tariffs, and somebody has to act as his apologistare a useful policy in that they address an externality. Tariffs address a different externality. The basic premise is that domestic production has value beyond what market prices reflect. A corporation deciding whether to close a factory in Ohio and relocate manufacturing to China, or a consumer deciding whether to stop buying a made-in-America brand in favor of cheaper imports, will probably not consider the broader importance of making things in America. To the individual actor, the logical choice is to do whatever saves the most money. But those individual decisions add up to collective economic, political, and societal harms. To the extent that tariffs combat those harms, they accordingly bring collective benefits. Cass is involved in the usual motte-and-bailey stratagem, of course. The question isnt making things in Americait is making these things in America at this price. The idiotic chorus of We dont make things in America anymore! has never been louderand, incidentally, it has never been more untrue: In 2023, the export of U.S.-manufactured goods hit an all-time high at more than $1 trillion; investment in manufacturing facilities hit an all-time high earlier this year; total manufacturing output is at record levels. We make all sorts of high-end things in the United Statesairliners, Teslas, etc.and we make a lot of low-tech stuff too: You can buy an American-made T-shirt from James Perse, if you are so inclined, though it might cost you a couple hundred bucks. There are other made-in-the-USA options at a more reasonable price, too. The question isnt whether American firms can manufacture a $200 or $50 T-shirt in the United Statesthe question is whether we are going to deprive poor people of the option of buying a $5 T-shirt made in Bangladesh on the theory that Oren Cass consumer preferences should be made mandatory. More generally: We arent having an argument about whether we shouldand certainly not about whether we canmanufacture things in the United States, a country that accounts for about 16 percent of all manufacturing on Earth, in wild disproportion to its share of world population. The question is whether we should do political favors for lumber companies and microchip manufacturers, asking American consumers to pay higher prices in order to make profitable businesses more profitable and to subsidize their access to the U.S. market. (One reason to manufacture in the United States is to be close to American workers and American capital; another reason is to be close to American consumers, which matters more for some products than for others.) Cass effort to intellectually sanctify Trumpist anti-intellectualism notwithstanding, this isnt a question of national priorities at allit is a question of political favors and cronyism. Donald Trump most of the time is (contrary to his nature) something approaching honest about that, that it is mainly a matter of favor-trading. We dont grow a hell of a lot of bananas in the United States. And, yet, we are just covered up with bananas. Plentiful, cheap, delicious bananas. We get those bananas from places that are better suited to banana cultivation than Idaho is. I dont think Oren Cass probably dreams of a world in which his children have the opportunity to work on an American banana plantation. If you blockade someone elses ports, it is considered an act of war. Cass et al. would have us blockade our own ports, in order to protect Americans fromwhat? Abundance and low prices? The potential loss of jobs working in flip-flop factories now that were losing the flip-flop race to Vietnam or wherever? It was dumb and dishonest back when the English land barons (a lot of them literal barons) were trying to protect their markets from the nefarious French while hungry Englishmen were going without bread because of high prices. If you want to define externality that vaguely, you have a case for regulating everything. Trump et al., being totalitarians at heart, are okay with that. But Americans traditional seven-letter answer to Washington busybodies who want to boss them around, unprintable in this space, is the right one most of the time. Elsewhere You can buy my most recent book, Big White Ghetto, here. You can buy my other books here. You can see my New York Post columns here. Please subscribe to The Dispatch if you havent. You can check out How the World Works, a series of interviews on work Im doing for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, here. In Conclusion I have written a great deal about actors and acting over the years, and the art remains a mystery to me. The death of Maggie Smith raised the question in my mind once more: How does this work? There are a million people, millions of people, who could have delivered Maggie Smiths lines in any of her performances, but no one who could do it quite like her. What was it? It isnt really a matter of facial expression, or tone of voice, or the inflection in the delivery, or anything you could really isolate. We dont have good words for whatever it is. Its probably related to understanding faces, at least in part, and we dont have good words for that, either: Think of the face in this world that is most precious to you, and then think of how you would try to describe that face to someone who never had seen it. It doesnt matter how articulate you are, you couldnt describe the face well enough that the person would know what that face actually looks like. My own view is that the fundamental human tragedy is that we are all trapped in our bubbles of radical subjectivity (thinking of the key, each confirms a prison), and the spaces between us are mysterious and dangerous places. Thats why shared experiences, and the performers who raise them to the state of art, are so powerful. People who can cross those interpersonal chasms or play in the spaces between us are rare and sort of magical. Even a very limited actor (say, a guy like Jason Statham, who can really do only the one thing) or musician (Hank Williams) has a kind of mysterious quality that is impossible to really explain. Maggie Smith, of genuinely beloved memory, had an unusual set of gifts and an admirable commitment to her workand, fitting to the role for which she probably is most famous, a touch of magic too. 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. CHICKASHA, Okla. (KFOR) The City of Chickasha is hosting a four day clean-up event from October 16-19 in a effort for residents to take advantage of clearing their properties from unwanted items. We are excited to offer this free service to our residents, said Assistant City Manager Rachel Bernish. Weve listened to your feedback over the last couple of years and incorporated tire and hazardous waste disposal to meet the needs we were hearing about. OKCPD officer taken to hospital after wreck on Kilpatrick Turnpike City officials say, residents can take advantage of free roll-off dumpsters as well as be allowed to dispose of tired and hazardous waste for the first time during one day of the event. Tire and hazardous waste disposal will be available on Saturday only, October 19 from 8:00 a.m. to noon, at Public Works. Hazardous waster to be accepted includes: anti-freeze motor and gear oils, batteries cleaners, corrosives fluorescent lights aerosol and oil-based paint pesticides and batteries Smoke detectors electronics medical waste *latex paint will not be accepted, until the paint is dried completely then it can be disposed According to the City of Chickasha, refrigerators set to be disposed must have Freon removed by a technician with a certificate of proof. A copy of your City of Chickasha water bill is required to be shown at the gate. Tire and hazardous waste disposal is available only for those with a residential water account. The Community Development Department says, a dump ticket will be provided for those who live in Chickasha city limits but do not have a water bill due to ongoing work or code violations. To request a ticket, please call (405) 222-6010 or stop by City Hall during business hours. LOCATION: 502 N. Genevieve St. Chickasha, Oklahoma Time: 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Date: Wednesday, October 16 through Friday, October 18, Time: 8:00 a.m. to noon, Date: Saturday, October 19, *The bulk waste, tire and hazardous waste disposal will be located just to the north of Public Works, and limb drop off is just south of the facility. There will be signs at the road to help direct traffic. * For more information contact info@chickasha.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 KFOR.com Oklahoma City. JERUSALEM, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Israel's military on Monday declared towns near its northern border with Lebanon a "closed military zone," amid preparations for a possible ground campaign against Hezbollah. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) declared the military zone in the towns of Metula, Misgav Am, and Kfar Giladi, noting that entry to the area is prohibited. The northern Israeli border communities are across from the Kfar Kila village and the town of Marjayoun in southern Lebanon. The decision was made "following a situational assessment," said the IDF in a statement. Israel's Channel 13 TV news reported that the move was intended to distance the Israeli civilian population from the area ahead of a ground operation. City officials confirm state's third-ever locally transmitted case of dangerous mosquito-borne virus: 'Cases are on the rise globally and in the United States' California has now seen its third confirmed case of mosquito-borne dengue unrelated to travel. After confirmed dengue cases in Pasadena and Long Beach, the Los Angeles County Department of Health recently reported a new case in Baldwin Park. What's happening? As the Los Angeles Times reported, the new dengue case was transmitted locally and not carried in from another place where dengue is prevalent. An LA County Department of Public Health spokesperson commented: "Dengue cases are on the rise globally and in the United States." Health officials reported that the newly infected person is recovering from dengue but did not disclose specific details about their symptoms for patient privacy. Why is the spread of dengue important? All around the world, mosquitoes have become much more than just a nuisance, causing itchy bites that disappear in a few days. Due to extreme weather patterns and climate shifts that impact insect populations, mosquitoes are now substantial human health risks, spreading deadly diseases where they never existed before. Dengue has never been common in Los Angeles or elsewhere in California. Dengue is a major cause for concern because its symptoms include severe muscle pains, headaches, rashes, high fevers, and even death due to organ failure and internal bleeding. Mosquito-borne illnesses are causing government officials to declare epidemics after hundreds of new cases are reported and overwhelming hospitals with severely ill patients, and there are not enough medical professionals to care for them. Do you worry about getting diseases from bug bites? Click your choice to see results and speak your mind Since mosquitoes thrive in hot weather and our planet's temperatures are steadily rising, the risks of mosquito-borne illnesses such as dengue are only expected to increase in the coming months and years. What's being done about mosquito-borne diseases? To control local mosquito populations that could carry dengue, the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District is using additional treatments and addressing breeding sources. The district is ramping up its control and surveillance efforts with truck- and backpack-mounted treatments to reduce mosquito risks. The Los Angeles Department of Public Health released a statement, saying: "While the potential risk for widespread dengue virus transmission in Los Angeles County remains low, these cases highlight the presence of infected mosquitoes locally and underscore the importance of preventive measures to control the spread of this virus." Whether you live in Los Angeles County or elsewhere, you can protect yourself against disease-carrying mosquitoes by using insect repellent, removing any standing water around your home, and ensuring that doors and windows have screens to prevent the insects from entering your house. Mosquito-repellent plants like lemongrass, basil, mint, lavender, and marigolds can also help keep mosquitoes away and protect you from disease. 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. PRINCETON, WV (WVNS) Much of southern West Virginia and Virginia are still cleaning up from the hurricane. In Princeton, there is still quite of debris around the city. Princeton City Park is currently closed due to multiple trees downed in the park. Best tools and supplies to have on hand for a power outage Herald Goins, a Princeton resident said his power has been out due to a tree that fell from his next-door neighbors property. The tree is now obstructing the road and the power line is leaning dangerously by the road. The storm hit here the day before yesterday and I was looking out my window at the tree as it fell. I was praying that it would not hit my house or my building and it missed every one of them, said Goins. We still have a lot to do, still a lot in the alleys and somea lot of Main Streets a lot of brush cleanup still yet to do, said Chris Nash, a Street Department Employee of Princeton Public Works. Nash said it will take time to fully clean up all the damage this storm has caused. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WVNS. Sen. Raj Mukherji speaks at a rally in Trenton on Sept. 30, 2024, in support of the Climate Superfund Act, which would require fossil fuel firms to pay for economic damages borne of climate change. (Courtesy of Food & Water Watch) A coalition of climate groups rallied in Trenton Monday to urge the passage of a bill that would require companies that have produced fossil fuels since 1995 to pay for economic damages borne of climate change. They said investment is needed to ensure the state reaches its ambitious climate goals of drawing 100% of its power from renewable sources by 2035 as storm systems grow more severe and more economically damaging. New Jersey has already seen worse effects than other places. By 2050, we could face sea levels a foot higher than today, and 240,000 New Jersey homes could either be underwater by then or battered by climate-driven storms, Sen. Raj Mukherji (D-Hudson) told the roughly 50 rallygoers. The rally came as parts of the South are struggling to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Helene and its aftermath. The New Jersey bill would require firms that mined fossil fuels or refined crude oil, or their corporate successors, to pay damages to the state if the Department of Environmental Protection finds they were responsible for more than 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions since 1995. The Treasury would determine the total amount of money to be recouped through damages by calculating the effect greenhouse gas emissions have had on residents health, the states natural resources, and flooding risks, among other factors. Our planet is in crisis, and we must act now to protect the health and well-being of our communities, said Sen. Britnee Timberlake (D-Essex). Firms fined under the proposal would face strict liability, meaning the program would not consider the intent of a given polluter when determining fines, and would pay damages to the state proportional to their emission impact. Ray Cantor, deputy chief government affairs officer for the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, which opposes the bill, warned retroactively imposing liability on fossil fuel producers would be fundamentally unfair. Its dealing with products that are really not banned. Theyre legal products, and moreover, theyre essential for our way of life. Otherwise, legislatures and agencies would ban them now, he said. Money collected from the fines would flow into a dedicated fund that would pay for climate resilience projects and could be invested to earn interest before their disbursal. The bill, which has not reached committee hearings in either chamber since being introduced earlier this month, would allow fined firms to pay damages as a lump sum or in installments over nine years, with the first years payment equal to 20% of their total liability and 10% in subsequent years until the fine is paid. Its unclear how much revenue the law would generate or what level of fines businesses can expect. A similar proposal in New York that awaits Gov. Kathy Hochuls signature would assess $75 billion in fines over 25 years, but New Jerseys proposal adopts a separate structure that would leave the programs total fines unknown for some time. Vermont, which approved a nearly identical law in May, is still drafting a methodology to apply penalties on fossil fuel producers. New Jerseys bill would give the Treasury two years to figure out its own framework. Cantor warned that customers would end up paying for any costs the bill would levy on businesses. Any charge you do, however they come up with a formula, is only going to be passed onto consumers, so we end up paying for this at the end of the day, he said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned of an October surprise that will distort and pervert Vice President Harris. There will be concerted efforts to distort and pervert Kamala Harris, who she is, what she stands for, what shes done, Clinton said during an interview with Firing Line host Margaret Hoover. She pointed to the 2016 pizzagate conspiracy theory that surrounded the end of her presidential campaign against Donald Trump. I mean, look, I mean, the crazy story about me running a child trafficking operation out of a basement of a pizzeria, Clinton said. The comment evoked laughter from the crowd. Pizzagate, as the child sex trafficking conspiracy became known, resulted in a North Carolina man opening fire on a Washington, D.C., pizza parlor in 2016. Dont laugh, Clinton told the crowd. It was a huge story. And it got one young man in North Carolina to get in his car with his, you know, assault rifle and drove up to liberate these nonexistent children and shoot up a pizzeria in Washington, D.C. This is dangerous stuff. It starts online often on the dark web. It migrates. Its picked up by the pro-Trump media. Its then reported on by everybody else, which makes sure it has about 100 percent coverage, and people believe it, Clinton said. She warned that ahead of this years election, the digital airwaves will be filled with misinformation that can take on a life of its own. Clinton argued that the press needs a consistent narrative about the danger that Trump poses to the country in the coming weeks. She warned that foreign actors like Russia, Iran and China may fuel disinformation on social media, seeking to influence the election. She said she believes a story about Harris is coming. So, I dont know what its going to be, she said of the October surprise. But it will be something, and well have to work very, very hard to make sure that it is exposed as the lie that 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 The Hill. CLT racks up new flights to variety of destinations From the Caribbean and Canada to across the U.S., Charlotte Douglas International Airport has picked up a wide variety of new flights this year. American Airlines adds another European flight at CLT Among those additions is a nonstop, year-round route to a new international airport in Mexico. American Airlines Group Inc. in late March started a once-daily flight from CLT to Tulums Felipe Carrillo Puerto International Airport, which opened to all travel on March 28. American also launched several seasonal flights from Charlotte Douglas this year to destinations out west, in Canada and the Caribbean. The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline is by far CLTs dominant carrier. Another carrier thats been especially active this year at CLT is Frontier Airlines. The ultra-low-cost airline based in Denver has added 10 routes at the Charlotte airport. Read the full story on CBJs website here for a roundup of new flights at CLT. Aboard an aging Boeing 707, thousands of feet above the Red Sea, I don a set of high-tech 3D goggles and stare at the small TV monitor recessed in a bank of retro dials and switches. Saudi Arabias amber desert slides by to my right, Egypts coast to my left, then a monstrous F35 fighter jet fills the tiny screen. I am with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) the first foreign journalist to be taken on a combat mission more than a thousand miles from Israel aboard a fighter jet refuel tanker. Israel has been engaged in an escalating war since Hamas October 7 attack last year not just in Gaza, but in Lebanon with Hezbollah, which began attacking Israel October 8; in Yemen with the Houthis, who have launched long-range attacks at Israels main population centers; even in the Syrian and Iranian capitals. Israels response to those attacks have killed nearly 42,000 in Gaza and more than 1,000 in Lebanon. Deadly bombing campaigns in Yemen have destroyed critical infrastructure in a war-torn country that has for years been one of the worst humanitarian cases in the world. Israels invitation to join this mission came with no detail about the planes destination. As I climb the planes rickety steps, I have no idea where I am going or what this IDF flight will reveal about military operations. Israeli Air Force security regulations are so tight neither I nor Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, the IDF spokesman accompanying me, are allowed to bring our cellphones aboard. Neither am I allowed to bring a camera or photojournalist. Except for the cockpit, I have access to the more than 50-year-old former commercial airliner, and its commanders, under the condition that they not be named. Even without a camera, this access is the only up-close opportunity to scrutinize and speak with those on the front lines of Israels several-front war. In its new guise as an Israeli tanker, signs remain of the aircrafts past life, a reminder of its age. The overhead call buttons depict a woman sexism long since banished from our skies. In all other ways, the aircraft is unrecognizable from its heyday carrying fare-paying passengers. The seats are stripped out, its long body fitted with huge, pressurized fuel tanks, essential for Israel to project its firepower. Flying 1,200 miles (1,500 kilometers), the refueling mission I discover I am joining is the IDFs longest-range combat mission since a 1985 raid on Tunis. Shoshani reminds me of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus words to the United Nations General Assembly the day before. There is no place that the long arm of Israel cannot reach, Netanyahu said, referring to Iran and the wider Middle East. For more than an hour and half, Israeli F35 fighter jets, each worth more than $100 million, close in behind the 707 tanker, nudging toward its trailing fuel pipe. The squadron commander, a 15-year refueling veteran, stares through his 3D goggles, merging two camera images. He jockeys the two long levers beside his seat and steers the nozzle toward the gas-hungry fighter jets fuel port. No part of this is easy, he tells me. The biggest challenge, he says, is making sure they load enough fuel, and timing the mission to the minute, so the F35s arrive on target with a full tank at precisely the moment their intelligence tells them its the best time to attack. When he shows me a map of the mission, I realize we are on the way to Hodeidah Port in Yemen, controlled by Houthi rebels, backed by Iran. Shoshani tells me the reason for this mission, is that over the past two weeks the Houthis have fired three long-range missiles, all intercepted near Tel Aviv. Starting with attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, the Houthis say they are acting out of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Their flag bears the phrases: Death to Israel, A Curse Upon the Jews. But experts say the popular fight in the name of Gazas Palestinians has also helped the group build support in Yemen and gain international acclaim. The Houthis claim that their most recent attack, launched late Saturday, targeted Netanyahu as he arrived back from New York at Ben Gurion International Airport just outside Tel Aviv. An impact in this area could have caused huge civilian casualties and is the reason why, 16 hours later, this mission was deployed. As the last of the F35s decouple from the fuel feed, the squadron commander visibly eases in his seat, pushes back his goggles, and stretches his shoulders. Each jet is on the nozzle for about 3 minutes, requiring intense focus. We begin circling, waiting for fighter pilots to deliver their payloads. Any attack from the ground could cost them vital fuel as they try to evade being shot down and require a refill to get back to base. Twenty minutes later were headed north, no top-ups needed. I ask the lead pilot on the tanker, a reservist veteran aviator, about the challenges of such a mission and his feelings when civilians are killed. We dont want to kill civilians, he tells me, and we use all the intelligence we have to avoid it. I point to the high death tolls in Gaza and Lebanon from Air Force strikes. We are targeting the Houthis, he tells me, they are firing missiles at our civilians, endangering them. By the time we land, safely back in southern Israel, news of the strike is out. The Houthi TV channel is showing images of huge plumes of fire and smoke from Hodeidah Port. Airstrikes in Hodeidah, Yemen. - CCTV The IDF says they targeted power plants and a seaport in the areas of Ras Issa and Hodeidah, adding the Houthis use the port to transfer Iranian weapons to the region, and supplies for military needs, and thus also oil. According to Houthi officials, the F35s I saw being refueled struck a power station and fuel store in Hodeidah, killing a port official and three engineers. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi released a statement after the strike: We know how to reach very far, we know how to reach even farther, and we know how to strike there with precision. This is not a message; it is an action. An action that carries a message with it, Halevi said. On the flight, Shoshani told me the message was for Iran too, a warning that while Israel is bracing for retaliatory strikes from Hezbollah in Lebanon, they want the groups sponsor, Iran, to stay out of the fight. This embed wasnt just an object lesson in the lengths Israel will go to to punish its enemies, but real-time evidence that dormant adversaries are emerging from the shadows, and Israels war to thwart them is becoming regional. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com The Colchester Police Department believes a medical emergency is likely to blame for a deadly crash. The incident took place just off of Shore Acres Drive. Douglas Loso, 56, of Colchester was driving south at 12:00 noon Sunday in a U.S. Postal Service mail truck. Investigators say he slowly drifted off the roadway into a wooded area and struck several trees. When first responders arrived at the crash scene, they say Loso was unconscious and was not breathing. He died at University of Vermont Medical 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 ABC22 & FOX44. Cold front to bring rain, cool temperatures to Michigan this week Michigan is in for more rain and clouds early this week, off the heels of a wet weekend as Hurricane Helene swept across the eastern U.S. While Monday is looking to be dry and partly sunny, don't put the umbrellas away just yet. More: Michigan cider mill, apple orchard season begins: Find 1 near you on our list Approaching cold front Tuesday is expected to start out with fog, at a 30% chance of patchy fog, according to the National Weather Service in White Lake. The day will see highs in the 70s, before cooler conditions prevail. A cold front will move into the region Tuesday, bringing rainy conditions in the afternoon. Expect a 60-70% rain forecast, with scattered showers and potential thunder, NWS said. Temperatures will drop to the mid to upper 40s overnight Tuesday into early Wednesday, the NWS said. More: Michigan gas prices jump up another 10 cents a gallon Another mild day under partly sunny skies today, with rain showers returning tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/tPbZtf9BnK NWS Detroit (@NWSDetroit) September 30, 2024 Warming back up Wednesday will see cooler temperatures, with highs in the mid to upper 60s expected, the NWS said. Metro Detroit will warm back up before long, returning to highs in the 70s Thursday, per the NWS. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Cold front to bring rain, cool temperatures to Michigan this week Former Washington Gov. Dan Evans crossing a creek in the Cascades. (Courtesy of Gary Smith) The last vestiges of the golden age of governors passed with the death of former Washington Gov., Dan Evans. He died on Sept. 20 just four weeks shy of his 99th birthday. Evans was the last living member of what the press called the Three Musketeers Govs. Cecil Andrus of Idaho, Tom McCall of Oregon and Evans of Washington. I call that period when their terms overlapped the golden age of governors because all three men are considered by many as the greatest governors of their respective states. In fact, in 1983 the National Governors Association named Evans one of the 10 most outstanding governors of the 20th century. What is most significant about the Musketeers is that all three achieved their remarkable success by collaborating with the lawmakers of the opposite party Republicans McCall and Evans reached across the aisle to Democratic legislators and Democrat Andrus with Republican lawmakers. Andrus friendship with Republican Gov. Phil Batt is something of a legend in our state. Cecil D. Andrus sculpture at park near Idaho Capitol In his 1973 inaugural address, Evans summed up what could also have been McCall and Andrus governing philosophy: I would rather cross the aisle than cross the people. In other words, Evans, the pragmatist, knew that he needed Democratic support to get anything done. Just as McCall and Andrus needed bipartisan support in their states. Jodi Sandfort, dean of the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, put it this way for the Seattle Times: His legacy of coming together for the greater good, despite party lines, has inspired and will continue to inspire public servants and the Evans School community. But it is not only the bipartisanship they practiced in their individual states that sets them apart from many of todays political leaders it was how they worked together, Republicans and Democrat, for the betterment of the entire Pacific Northwest. The Musketeers relied on each other to solve the mutual problems that faced the people of the Northwest. Evans told me in an interview two years ago that they regularly talked together on the telephone to problem solve. Evans said the key to their relationship was that they liked each other. They were really good guys, and I enjoyed being with them. But I think the states we represented helped. The Northwest states were not quite as partisan as some of the states in the Midwest and the East. It also helped that all three governors had shared values. They believed in strengthening education and preserving the most beautiful natural areas in their respective states. All three were also avid outdoors people and spent considerable time in the backcountry of their states. When he was in his mid-90s, Evans led a hike into the Olympics in celebration of a new wilderness area named in his honor. Today Evans is remembered for expanding Washingtons community colleges, protecting the states pristine natural areas, and creating the nations first Department of Ecology. Andrus is remembered for creating state-supported kindergartens and fighting for the preservation of the White Cloud Mountains which today bear his name as Idahos newest wilderness area. McCall was famous for passing the first bottle bill in the country to help stop litter and for protecting the beautiful Oregon beaches. What is even more remarkable than their bipartisan work on issues was how they helped each other politically something you would never see in todays polarized politics when many politicians shy away from even being photographed with someone from the opposite party. In 1974, when Andrus was seeking re-election to a second term, Tom McCall traveled to Boise and announced that he was endorsing the Democratic governor for re-election. And in 1983, when Evans was engaged in a special election to succeed Democratic Sen. Scoop Jackson, he received a call from Andrus who said he wanted to endorse Evans for the U.S. Senate. In my interview, Evans recalled that phone call from Andrus. I was surprised because it was almost unheard of for a Democratic leader to endorse a Republican in a circumstance like that, but he did. Then, in 1986 when Andrus was running for a third term, he called Evans and asked for his support. At first Evans was reluctant, telling Andrus that it was tough to do so because he was a sitting Republican U.S. senator, while Andrus was between offices when he endorsed Evans for the Senate. But, after a few minutes, Evans told Andrus, What the hell. You should be elected. And Evans gave his endorsement which may have helped Andrus win re-election to a third term by only 3,635 votes. By now you are probably thinking when Andrus, Evans and McCall served as governors it was the good old days, and you might be right. But Evans told me that even when he was governor there were heated debates and disagreements on policy. The big difference was that the fights ended when the session quit, and you had personal contacts and friendships across the aisle, he said. And now its gotten much different. Its if youre not part of my crowd, youre the enemy, instead of just a member of a different party. But Evans natural optimism came through in our interview. I think that somewhere along the line well have some leaders who are determined to get back to at least having responsible relationships personally and still following some very different paths politically. Praise for Evans has poured in from Republicans and Democrats alike. Washington Senate GOP Caucus Chair Judy Warnick told the Seattle Times that when Evans was governor it was a sort of golden age for the state. It was, she said, when state government rose to meet its challenges, wisdom prevailed, and Washington made significant progress. The accomplishments of the Evans administration remain impressive nearly 50 years after he left office. Current Washington Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee wrote on social media, Its difficult to think of another Washingtonian who ever had such a positive impact in so many realms as Dan Evans. We all, no matter our party, can feel fortunate for the progress he led during each of his three terms as governor. The truth is that Andrus, McCall and Evans probably could not have gotten elected without the support of voters from the opposite party. Almost certainly, Andrus could not have become the only candidate elected to four terms without Republican support in ruby red Idaho. Part of their success was a result of their willingness to collaborate with members of the opposite party and to focus on the real issues that affected the lives of their people. Perhaps Evans summed up the philosophy of the Three Musketeers best when he wrote in the Seattle Times two decades ago, There are no Republican schools or Democrat highways, no liberal salmon or conservative parks. It is true that we may never see the likes of Andrus, Evans, and McCall again. But in these politically polarized times when progress is often paralyzed and the credibility of politicians is a record low, we can only hope that Evans is right, that leaders will come along who will work across the aisle to address the real problems our people face. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Boston Globe/Getty Images This story was written by Teen Vogue's 2024 Student Correspondents, a team of college students and recent graduates covering the election cycle from key battleground states. Last spring, pro-Palestine campus protests, encampments, and demonstrations reached a fever pitch across the country. Many of the protests resulted in students facing legal and academic repercussions. And as students began returning to campus this fall semester, the arrests began again. Shortly after classes began for University of Michigan students on August 28, university police shut down a pro-Palestine die-in, where students and community members were demanding that the university divest from various weapons manufacturers tied to the ongoing violence in Palestine. Four protesters, who the university said were not students, were arrested. University spokesperson Colleen Mastony told Teen Vogue, The university has been clear that we will enforce our policies related to protests and expressive activity and that we will hold individuals accountable for their actions. A few weeks later, Michigan State attorney general Dana Nessel announced misdemeanor and felony charges against 11 protestors who participated in the UMich spring encampment. The TAHRIR Coalition at the University of Michigan decried the charges in a statement, accusing the state AG of bypass[ing] local prosecutor Eli Savit in an effort to secure harsher criminal penalties following previous felony charges, ongoing academic disciplinary actions, and hiring bans. The decision was also condemned by Palestinian American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). These were only the first among several examples of alleged campus protest and protester suppression, including, on September 21, Harvard threatened disciplinary action over a silent study-in hosted by the student group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine. And at Cornell, grad student Momodou Taal may be deported after being suspended for participating in a protest at a campus career fair that featured defense contractors. As demonstrations persist into the new academic year, more than 30 universities and colleges are implementing new policies that affect everything from masking to distributing literature, per a Mother Jones investigation. The regulations restrict students' ability to protest and exercise free speech. Other institutions face lawsuits involving allegations of both antisemitism and Islamophobia. Heres whats happening on campuses nationwide. Whats happened since the spring? More than 3,000 people were arrested at pro-Palestine campus protests and encampments in spring 2024, and while charges were dropped for many students, some are still facing legal repercussions or awaiting court decisions. Those in legal limbo may also be unsure of the future of their academic careers. Some colleges withheld degrees and others continue to enforce other disciplinary measures. Some campus organizers at schools like Arizona State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison are leading community campaigns for legal defense to support students and community members facing legal action. These efforts have persisted throughout the summer with groups at the University of Wisconsin-Madison packing the court for their peers' hearings, raising money for bail funds, and leading public pressure movements to get charges dropped. The University of South Florida expelled one student and suspended another following spring encampments. Students are fighting to appeal the decision with Students for Democratic Socialism Tampa Bay and continuing to organize in solidarity with Palestine. In response to a request for comment from Teen Vogue, a spokesperson from USF said they were unable to comment on the decision to expel one student and suspend another due to student privacy laws, adding, Any student who is accused of violating university policy may be subject to sanctions from the university for violating the USF student code of conduct. In New Haven, close to 50 protestors, including Yale students, were arrested and charged with trespassing during April demonstrations demanding the university divest from genocide. Those arrested are now facing ongoing legal battles. At the beginning of the semester, there were calls to have the charges dismissed, a push that was recently shut down at Princeton University. Beyond academic and legal challenges, students may also be navigating the trauma of experiencing violence whether at the hands of police or counter-protestors. At many demonstrations and encampments, police were called in to break up protests, leaving some students injured and some hospitalized. New protest policies limit students Last spring, University of California campuses saw pro-Palestinian protests from San Diego to Davis to Santa Cruz. In total, UC campuses saw over 500 arrests and many student suspensions. At UCLA, police failed to intervene for three hours as counter-protesters violently attacked students, according to the Washington Post. (UCLA did not respond to the Posts request for comment.) In anticipation of students returning to campus, UC president Michael V. Drake instituted new policies for every UC campus that prohibit blocking access to university buildings, forbid masking to conceal identity, and ban setting up tents or campsites on university grounds. On August 27, in response to the new policies, UAW 4811, a union representing more than 48,000 UC academic workers, issued a Demand to Bargain with UC administrators. According to a press release issued by UAW 4811, the proposals have a significant and consequential impact on the terms and conditions of employment for members of UAW bargaining units. Mask bans similar to the one now enforced on UC campuses have also been criticized for endangering disabled people and hindering these communities from enacting their First Amendment right to organize. Other institutions like the University of Virginia are making similar updates to their guidelines, prohibiting setting up tents and masking to evade identification. Students and faculty condemned these updates, telling the school newspaper, the Daily Progress, that they were implemented with little input from the campus community. New policies enacted to limit protests take many different forms. The University of Wisconsin-Madison updated its protest policy, prohibiting all expressive activity within 25 feet of university facility entrances. Expressive activity may include everything from the distribution of literature to chalking. Free speech expert Howard Schweber told The Daily Cardinal the updated policy is extremely problematic, clearly unconstitutional. Students and faculty at Columbia University noticed new attempts to keep protests at bay at the beginning of the fall semester. The spring encampments at Columbia and the occupation of a campus building renamed by students as Hinds Hall to honor six-year-old Hind Rajab, a young girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza helped inspire other encampments and occupations all over the country. Gates that have historically been open to anyone are now guarded and only those with Columbia IDs are granted access, as reported by Reuters. The site of the Palestine Solidarity Encampment now features signs prohibiting camping. Columbia University students face heightened security as new academic year begins Anadolu/Getty Images Columbia University students face heightened security as new academic year begins Anadolu/Getty Images Nonetheless, most days students from Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) sit outside tabling and speaking to new and current students. On September 3, as many students began to arrive on campus, protestors chanted and addressed passersby resulting in two arrests; Columbia declined to comment to the Intercept, "citing the fact that they occurred off-campus by a few feet and instead referred [the matter] to the NYPD." At nearby New York University, police pepper-sprayed protesters and arrested over 120 demonstrators, including faculty, during an April protest, per a statement from the NYPD to Teen Vogue. Now, NYU is welcoming students back to class with updated guidelines on conduct. One of the guidelines is a nondiscrimination and anti-harassment policy ("NDAH") that bans discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender identity, disability, or other protected identities. In their updated version, NYU added a clause to include criticism of Zionism or the belief that Jews deserve their own state in their ancestral homeland as violating the NDAH policy. The addition reads, Using code words like Zionist' does not eliminate the possibility that your speech violates the NDAH policy. NYU Faculty for Justice in Palestine released a statement saying they are alarmed by NYUs updated student guidance and expectations. They claim the new guidelines troublingly equates criticism of Zionism with discrimination against Jewish people and legitimize far-right and ethnonationalist ideologies under the guise of protecting students from racial discrimination. Unprecedented lawsuits pending Jewish and Palestinian students are suing their universities regarding fallout from the handling of pro-Palestine protests at schools including the University of Texas at Austin, Columbia University, and the University of California Irvine during the 20232024 academic year. A federal judge ruled that Harvard must face a lawsuit filed by Jewish students for purported indifference while students allegedly were facing harassment from pro-Palestine protests. A spokesperson for Harvard told ABC News that the university will continue to take action and address the root causes of antisemitism on campus. In response to a request for comment from Teen Vogue, a spokesperson said, We appreciate that the Court dismissed the claim that Harvard directly discriminated against members of our community. The lawsuit comes eight months after a group of Palestinian students filed a civil rights complaint against Harvard alleging the university had failed to protect them from discrimination on campus. Stay up-to-date with the politics team. Sign up for the Teen Vogue Take Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue More great activism coverage from Teen Vogue: John Ramirez, Warlock Turned Evangelist, Unmasks the Schemes of the Devil and Unveils the Insights Needed to Rupture the Enemy's Grip on Your Life NEWS PROVIDED BY Charisma Media Sept. 30, 2024 LAKE MARY, Fla., Sept. 30, 2024 /Standard Newswire/ -- As a former high-ranking satanic priest, John Ramirez knows firsthand how the devil operates. Now a God-fearing believer, he is ready to release upon the world several undeniable truths: the evil schemes playing out right beneath many believers' noses as well as the shut eyes and ears happening in many complacent churches. In his book, Exposing the Devil's Playbook, John Ramirez seeks to unlock the spiritual handcuffs crippling believers before the devil sets foot on the battlefield of their lives (ISBN-13: 978-1-63641-377-8). "Th[is] is the spiritual condition of the church today. We think we know. We hope we know. But do we really know the spiritual warfare that we face and the spiritual warfare that is ahead of us?" Ramirez posed. Exposing the Devil's Playbook will not only strengthen your spiritual sight but also equip you with the strategies and weapons to defeat the devil. A spiritual war has been waged over your soul. Are you willing to fight the good fight of faith? Can you even see the enemy? John Ramirez's hope for this book is to help you "know the adversary, the devil, is not only a defeated loser and a defeated foe, but he is [also] always under our feet, looking up toward us as we are on our journeys to fulfill our purposes and destinies." The devil knows, in the long span of eternity, he has already lost to the Kingdom of God. If that is the case, then why is spiritual warfare such a big deal? Why else but to drag us down with him into the pits of hell? Be alert! The devil is out to steal, destroy, and kill. Through this spiritual warfare journey, you will triumph over your enemies! John Ramirez is an internationally known evangelist, author, and highly soughtafter speaker who teaches believers around the globe how to defeat the enemy. A former high-ranking satanic priest, he has shared his powerful testimony of being miraculously saved on It's Supernatural, The 700 Club, TBN, Daystar, and more. Learn more at johnramirez.org. Reach out to Ramirez Facebook: @JohnRMinistries YouTube: @JohnRamirezMinistries Instagram: @johnramirezministries Title: Exposing the Devil's Playbook: Powerful Spiritual Warfare Strategies to Equip You for Battle | Release Date: October 1, 2024 | Retail: $21.99 | ISBN-13: 9781636413778 | E-Book ISBN: 9781636413785 | Binding: Trade Paper | Size: 6 x 9 x .56 | Page Count: 208 | Hometown: New York, NY | BISAC Category: RELIGION / Christian Living / Spiritual Warfare, RELIGION / Christianity / Pentecostal & Charismatic, RELIGION / Christian Living / Spiritual Growth To interview Ramirez or for a review copy, please contact sspiewak@freshimpactpr.com. SOURCE Charisma Media CONTACT: sspiewak@freshimpactpr.com NAIROBI, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Kenya Wildlife Service, a state corporation mandated to conserve and manage the country's wildlife, on Monday unveiled its strategic plan for 2024 to 2028, outlining a comprehensive roadmap to enhance wildlife protection across the country. Rebecca Miano, cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, addressed journalists in the country's capital of Nairobi, emphasizing the plan's focus on a science-led, data-driven approach. "The strategy calls for the enhancement of the wildlife economy, reduction of biodiversity loss, improved community engagement, and more access to benefits from wildlife conservation," Miano said. Miano highlighted the blueprint's ambition to position Kenya as a global leader in sustainable tourism, advocating for the wildlife economy as a crucial engine for growth. The plan is designed to ensure that local communities benefit directly from diverse conservation efforts. Miano was echoed by Silvia Museiya, principal secretary of the State Department for Wildlife, who said that the strategic plan serves as a platform to address biodiversity loss, improve community involvement, and guarantee that all Kenyans share in the benefits of wildlife conservation. "The plan will enhance the management of human-wildlife coexistence, promote equitable sharing of conservation benefits, and implement science-driven approaches to increase wildlife populations and safeguard critical ecosystems," she noted. Museiya also assured that the government is committed to developing well-considered frameworks to ensure that benefits derived from sustainable wildlife resource use are shared effectively. Additionally, she pledged to review existing laws and regulations to improve coordination and governance within the wildlife sector. COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) Colleton County School District has announced an e-learning day for Monday, September 30, 2024, as power outages continue to affect 21% of the countys residents. The decision was made out of concern for the safety and well-being of students, staff, and families while the districts Buildings and Grounds team continues to assess the condition of school facilities. In addition to remote learning, the district will offer bagged breakfast and lunch meals for all students. The meal distribution plan is as follows: Car Riders : Parents can pick up meals from their childs school between 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. If a family has children at multiple schools, meals can be picked up from Colleton County Middle School during the same hours to avoid multiple trips. Bus Riders: Meals will be delivered to students regular bus stops between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. The school district will continue to provide updates on its website and social media platforms by 4:00 p.m. each day. Families are encouraged to stay informed and practice safety protocols during this period. The delay in communicating these plans was due to the logistical coordination required to ensure students are fed. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. MONTROSE, Colo. (KDVR) On Sept. 23, Seth Ryan, the district attorney for the 7th Judicial District announced his resignation, citing difficulties in hiring and retaining attorneys. After extensive reflection and considered deliberation over the past several months, I, Seth D. Ryan, have decided not to accept a second term as District Attorney for the Seventh Judicial District, he wrote on Monday in his official resignation letter. Charlie Blackmon ends career after spending 14 years with Colorado Rockies Ryan held the elected title for four years but has spent 17 years in the office under various roles, including deputy district attorney, chief district attorney and assistant district attorney. FOX31 sat down to talk with Ryan about his decision to leave, which included trying to manage a large district thats also economically diverse. It encompasses Montrose, Delta, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Ouray and San Miguel Counties, Ryan said. Thats been both interesting and a challenge as well in my career as a district attorney, both deputy and the elected, to kind of balance those communities. He said balancing those communities on a slim staff has taken its toll. I cant continue staffing our court dockets across the district and adequately supervise my staff, so its really been a vicious circle, Ryan said. Ive been asking my employees, especially my attorneys to take on herculean efforts. Take on the duties of one-and-a-half, two attorneys so that by the time we get help several months later, theyre burned out and they are looking to do something else. The shortage of attorneys could be blamed on many different reasons. Since COVID and post George Floyd and the social justice movement thats been around, its really had an impact on the number of young attorneys who want to come out and be prosecutors, Ryan said. It is no secret attorneys have been dealing with a high rate of burnout. According to a 2023 Bloomberg Law study, most attorneys feel burned out almost half the time at work. Young attorneys between the ages of 25 and 34 felt the most burned out at work at 58%. I see that myself that theres a lot of stress in the job, Ryan said. Were asking our people who are willing to be prosecutors to take on a lot of work and that eventually takes its toll on people. RTD increases downtown loop frequency after monthslong reconstruction project Not only has burnout increased, but there have also been fewer students graduating with law degrees. A study published by the Statista Research Department showed a steady decline in law graduates in the United States from 2013 to 2019. Between 2020 and 2022, that number climbed a bit but then dropped again by 2023. Even then, Ryan said hiring the ones who have graduated can be a challenge. People, especially young attorneys, want to be in the big cities. Recruiting them and convincing them to come out to our beautiful part of the state can be difficult as well, Ryan said. Ryan said his last minute in office will be on Oct. 31 at 5 p.m. I have truly cherished my 17 years at the District Attorneys Office and the people I have worked with, most especially my loyal staff who have exhibited unwavering support and made tremendous sacrifices during these past few years, Ryan wrote. I thank them for working tirelessly with integrity, respect, and in collaboration. I am proud of the work I have accomplished during my career as a prosecutor, zealously promoting justice for the most innocent victims in our communities. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 and other labor groups rallied against the proposed $24.6 billion merger between grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons outside the Denver City and County Building on Sept. 30, 2024. (Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline) Colorado grocery workers joined labor advocates and elected officials outside Denver city hall on Monday to rally against a proposed $24.6 billion merger between the nations two largest supermarket chains, as a two-week trial in the states antitrust case against the deal got underway inside. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser in February sued to block the merger between grocery giant Kroger, which operates King Soopers and City Market stores in Colorado, and Albertsons, which operates the Safeway brand. Weisers suit alleges that the deal violates state antitrust laws and would inflict substantial harm on Colorado consumers and workers. When these CEOs promise not to shut stores if the mega-merger goes through, do we believe them? Ramon Zuniga, treasurer for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, asked the crowd on the steps of Denvers City and County Building. When they promise not to lay off workers if this mega-merger goes through, do we believe them? When they promise lower prices if the merger goes through, do we believe them? No, we dont. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Kroger, which is based in Ohio and operates more than 2,700 grocery stores nationwide, first announced plans in 2022 to acquire the Idaho-based Albertsons, which operates more than 2,200 locations. One of the largest retail mergers ever proposed, the deal has been staunchly opposed by labor unions and consumer advocates who fear that the consolidation could lead to higher prices and decreased wages and bargaining power for workers. Earlier this year, the companies detailed a divestiture plan in which they propose to sell 579 locations nationwide including 91 Safeway stores in Colorado to New Hampshire-based C&S Wholesale Grocers, in a bid to allay antitrust concerns. But critics of the plan have painted C&S, a supplier that currently operates just 23 retail locations nationwide, as a struggling company with shaky finances, unequipped to operate 579 newly acquired stores as an effective competitor to the merged Kroger-Albertsons behemoth. Carol McMillian, a King Soopers employee and a member of UFCW Local 7 for more than 20 years, said Monday that she feared the Kroger-Albertsons deal would lead to a repeat of the horror story that grocery workers experienced following the 2015 merger between Albertsons and Safeway. There were store closures, there were job losses, there were communities that were devastated, McMillian said. There were other businesses that were also destroyed. There were large empty buildings left in the wake of the devastation. Weisers lawsuit echoes those fears, arguing that the terms of the 2015 merger, which included the divestiture of 168 stores to the small regional grocery chain Haggen, utterly failed to ameliorate the anticompetitive effects of the (Albertsons) acquisition of Safeway. Haggen went bankrupt within months of the divestiture sale, (Albertsons) bought back many of the stores, and many other stores soon shuttered, including 20 stores in Colorado, the states lawsuit says. It similarly calls the Kroger-Albertsons plan an effort to offload the companies worst-performing and least desirable stores, which demonstrates that Kroger does not want to face a strong competitor post-merger. Kroger and Albertsons executives have defended their merger plan as a necessary step to help traditional grocery stores compete with big-box retailers like Walmart and delivery services like those provided by Amazon, pledging that it would lead to lower prices and more choices for consumers. In a statement, a Kroger spokesperson called Weisers lawsuit an effort to prevent Colorado shoppers from saving more than $40 million in lower prices at Albertsons stores as a result of the merger. Albertsons prices are 10-12% higher than Krogers prices and the only way to bring those prices down for Colorado customers is through the additional purchasing power Kroger will have when combined with Albertsons, the spokesperson said. In addition to Weisers lawsuit in Denver District Court, the merger has been challenged by the Federal Trade Commission. A three-week trial in that case concluded in the U.S. District Court of Oregon earlier this month. Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson has also sued to block the merger. The terms of Krogers proposed acquisition expire on Oct. 9, after which the parties could renegotiate or exit the deal. In a statement released last week, Weiser said his lawsuit had resulted from a yearlong investigation and 19 listening sessions held in communities across the state, calling the proposed deal bad for shoppers, workers, suppliers, and farmers. Nearly two years since the companies announced the merger, we finally have the chance to prove in court why this deal would be bad for Colorado and the country, Weiser said. Editors note: This story was updated at 9:53 a.m., Oct. 1, 2024 to include a statement from a Kroger spokesperson. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Colorados most accessed bills: These bills are being watched by the public DENVER (KDVR) Colorado bills are constantly being introduced and revised in order to potentially become laws, but some are of higher interest than others. These new Colorado laws go into effect in 2024 While several laws go into effect every year, many proposed bills wont make it past being introduced. However, certain bills have captured the publics attention. Colorados most accessed bills The Colorado General Assemblys website provides a list of the states most accessed bills. According to the General Assembly, most accessed means bills that have gained recent popularity. The assembly keeps a score of bills that are being clicked on, giving it a ranking that changes based on how often its accessed over time. The assembly said that these highlighted bills are of current interest to site visitors, rather than the most clicked-on bills in history. The list includes one lost bill and two laws that were the most popular by the end of September. Lost: Prohibits abortion after 22 weeks While House Bill 20-1098, Prohibition On Abortion After Twenty-Two Weeks, is one of the most accessed bills, it never went into effect. The bill was introduced in 2020 and aimed to prohibit abortion after 22 weeks except in limited circumstances. If found guilty, the person would be subject to a class one misdemeanor, which the rejected bill said may only be a fine with no jail time. The bill was lost a month later. Law: Consumer protections for AI According to the general assembly, people are clicking on Senate Bill 24-205, Consumer Protections for Artificial Intelligence, which went into effect this May. The act requires a developer of a high-risk artificial intelligence system, for example, a bank that uses AI, to disclose when using AI, describe the data used to train the AI, implement a risk management system and take other measures to protect the customer. The technology is literally changing on a weekly basis: AI industry pushes back on Colorado bill While the bill was passed into law, it will go into effect after Feb. 1, 2026. Law: 2023-24 state budget The Senate Bill 23-214, 2023-24 Long Bill, refers to the states executive, legislative and judicial departments payment expenses in 2023-24. In short, its funding for state departments, also known as the state budget. For the year, the operating budget was set at $40,533,777,133, which has since been revised as Gov. Jared Polis signed the 2024-25 state budget to help fund schools, investments in public safety and new housing. While some of these bills are in the past, like the abortion bill that was shot down in 2020 and the state budget for the previous year, theyre still popular on the General Assemblys website, as they provide a peek into Colorados history. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Colorado search and rescue crew heading to North Carolina after widespread flooding DENVER (KDVR) Colorado Task Force 1, which was deployed to the southeastern United States to assist with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, will head to Ashville, North Carolina, to assist the area after widespread flooding hit the city. CO-TF1 is one of 28 Federal Emergency Management Agency task forces that specialize in urban search and rescue. The task force first arrived in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on Friday before they headed to Pinellas County, Florida, which is near Tampa. Colorado Task Force 1 deployed to assist with Hurricane Helene relief The group spent Saturday conducting search operations in several neighborhoods that were under mandatory evacuation orders. Nine people died, according to the Pinellas County Sheriffs Office, and some have been publicly identified. Colorado Task Force One conducted search and rescue operations in Pineville County, Florida (Credit: West Metro Fire Rescue) Colorado Task Force One conducted search and rescue operations in Pineville County, Florida (Credit: West Metro Fire Rescue) Colorado Task Force One conducted search and rescue operations in Pineville County, Florida (Credit: West Metro Fire Rescue) Colorado Task Force One conducted search and rescue operations in Pineville County, Florida (Credit: West Metro Fire Rescue) West Metro Fire Rescue, which sponsors the task force, shared that many people were trapped inside homes by floodwaters. At least nine people who did not evacuate died, according to a post shared by WMFR. The Pinellas County Sheriffs Office confirmed that number. WMFR said the task force is headed to Asheville, North Carolina, and should arrive there by Sunday evening. Ashville suffered widespread flooding that damaged roads and cut off power and cell phone service to the city, which had an estimated population of around 93,000 people. 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 FOX31 Denver. COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) Columbus is creating a commission to help its immigrant and refugee community have better engagement with city government. The Commission on Immigrants and Refugee Affairs has been in the works for three years, according to Councilmember Lourdes Barroso de Padilla. She said the city is expecting 2 million more people will move to the region over the next 20 years, and the number one driver of that growth is immigrants and refugees. Students say theyre fed up with bathroom policy at Columbus Whetstone High School A fact sheet from the council said that nearly 185,000 immigrants or 8.7% of the population live in central Ohio. From 2014 to 2019, the region saw a 6.4% population increase, with immigrants contributing to 26.4% of that growth. Of the regions immigrant population, 23.7% have lived in the U.S. for less than five years, the fact sheet claimed. This is yet another strategy, this commission, to ensure that we have the infrastructure in place to address the challenges that will arise with population growth, Barroso de Padilla said in a city hearing on the commission. The commission will consist of 15 members appointed by the council, all of whom must be immigrants, refugees, or first-generation Americans. One spot will also be reserved for someone under the age of 25 to emphasize youth representation. The groups goal will be to advise the city on issues of common concern to immigrants. Barroso de Padilla said the commission would be responsible for recommending board seats and commissions throughout the city and could serve as an advisory group for issues such as housing, transportation, public safety, and budget allocations. This commission may be new for Columbus, but its not the first of its kind in Ohio. How to register or update your voter registration for this Novembers election A commission of this type is not something that is new or has not occurred in other parts of Ohio, Christopher Maitland from the councils Legislative Research Office said in the hearing. Under Gov. [John] Kasich, the State of Ohio established the Office of Opportunities for New Americans and the New Americans Advisory Committee. Immigration has been a hot-button issue in Ohio as of late, with former President Donald Trump and his running mate Sen. JD Vance giving a national spotlight to false claims about Haitian migrants in Springfield. An out-of-state nonprofit is now bringing criminal charges against the pair for their role in spreading the disinformation. Barroso de Padilla said the timing was purely coincidental, though she used the events in Springfield to make a point. No one is going to argue that we dont have a broken immigration system, Barroso de Padilla said. Since the founding of this country, immigrants have been coming here and making this country better. That is often the dialogue that is left out of the conversation and then what it does is what happens in Springfield. It sets forth a dangerous narrative that is dangerous for everyone in the community. Barroso de Padilla emphasized her belief that immigrants and refugees are a positive addition to a community. As a first-generation American herself, she said immigrant, refugee, and migrant affairs were one of the platforms that got her elected. Arrest made after threat against Noble County homecoming dance When you look at cities like a Springfield, across the country we see that immigrants are boosting the economy because theyre adding people to the country, Barroso de Padilla said. A city like Columbus that relies on income tax to fund city services, having more people is helpful. If approved next week, the Commission on Immigrant Affairs will begin work in 2025. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer subpoenaed the Department of Homeland Security for records related to Democratic vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walzs alleged connections to the Chinese Communist Party, Fox News Digital has learned. Comer, R-Ky., who announced last month that his committee launched an investigation into those alleged "longstanding" ties, is seeking records including intelligence reports, documents, and communications from Homeland Security. Fox News Digital reviewed the subpoena, directed to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. House Oversight Investigating Walz Over 'Longstanding Connections' To China The subpoena comes after a whistleblower notified the committee of the existence of a non-classified, Microsoft Teams group chat among DHS employees, as well as additional intelligence reports, that allegedly contain information regarding Walzs alleged connections to the CCP. "The committee has recently received whistleblower disclosures informing the Committee of serious concern among Department of Homeland Security personnel regarding a longstanding connection between the CCP and Minnesota Governor Timothy James Walz," Comer wrote in the subpoena cover letter to Mayorkas. Read On The Fox News App The non-classified Microsoft Teams group chat is titled "NST NFT Bi-Weekly Sync," and allegedly contains information relevant to Comers probe. House Oversight Committee officials told Fox News Digital that information regarding Walz and China have been memorialized in both classified and unclassified documents under the control of DHS. "Specifically, through whistleblower disclosures, the Committee has learned of a non-classified, Microsoft Teams group chat among DHS employeestitled NST NFT Bi-Weekly Syncthat contains information about Governor Walz that is relevant to the Committees investigation," Comer wrote. "The Committee has also learned that further relevant information regarding Governor Walz has been memorialized in both classified and unclassified documents in the control of DHS." Comer is subpoenaing Mayorkas for all documents and communications in the Microsoft Teams group chat from July 1, 2024, to present, as well as any uploaded or embedded attachments and documents referring to or relating to Walz or his gubernatorial office or staff. Tim Walz Wouldn't Call For Tiktok Ban On Government Devices Even Though Over 75% Of Other States Did Comer is also subpoenaing all intelligence information reports and regional intelligence notes from November 2023 to present related to Walz. Comer, last month, revealed that Walz has "engaged and partnered with" Chinese entities, making him "susceptible" to the CCPs strategy of "elite capture," which seeks to co-opt influential figures in elite political, cultural and academic circles to "influence the United States to the benefit of the communist regime and the detriment of Americans." Comer has pointed to reports that Walz, while working as a teacher in the 1990s, organized a trip to China for Alliance High School students. The costs were reportedly "paid by the Chinese government." Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, during a hearing in Washington, D.C., on March 20, 2024. Comer is investigating Walzs 1994-created private company named "Educational Travel Adventures, Inc.," which coordinated annual student trips to China until 2003 and was led by Walz. The company reportedly "dissolved four days after he took congressional office in 2007." Comer said Walz has traveled to China an estimated "30 times." "In its investigation, the Committee has highlighted the importance of U.S. officials being cognizant of CCP political and psychological warfare efforts that seek to threaten national security," Comer said last month. Comer then pointed to Walzs time in Congress, noting he served as a fellow at the Macau Polytechnic University a Chinese institution that characterizes itself as having a "long-held devotion to and love for the motherland." "At the time he disclosed serving as a Macau fellow, Mr. Walz also had significant credit card debt," Comer said last month upon launching the investigation, noting that in 2019, Walz headlined the 27th National Convention for the U.S. China Peoples Friendship Association in Minnesota. "Governor Walz spoke alongside the president of the Chinese Peoples Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, which, a year later, the Department of State exposed as a Beijing-based organization tasked with co-opting subnational governments, including efforts to directly and malignly influence state and local leaders to promote the PRCs global agenda," Comer said. Walz Appointee With Apparent Ccp Ties Could Expose Potential Veep's National Security Weakness, Lawmaker Says Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz Comer said Walz himself has "admitted that he does not fall into the category that China necessarily needs to be an adversarial relationship." "Despite bipartisan efforts to identify and defeat CCP unrestricted warfare against America, Governor Walz continues problematic engagement with concerning entities and individuals," Comer wrote. Comer also pointed to a March 2024 meeting Walz had with Consul General Zhao Jian to discuss "China-U.S. relations and sub-national cooperation." Comer, in his letter to Mayorkas Monday, said his committee's investigation of the CCP began long before Walz became the Democratic vice presidential nominee, and said it is focused on understanding "the extent of the CCPs infiltration and influence campaign and to identify legislative reforms to combat CCP political warfare targeting prominent Americans for elite capture." "In particular, if a state governor and major political partys nominee for Vice President of the United States has been a witting or unwitting participant in the CCPs efforts to weaken our nation, this would strongly suggest that there are alarming weaknesses in the federal governments effort to defend the United States from the CCPs political warfare that must be urgently addressed," Comer wrote. "Along those lines, the Committee is currently considering legislative solutions to ameliorate deficiencies it already has identified among government agencies strategies to combat CCP political warfare." Original article source: Comer subpoenas DHS for records relating to Walz's alleged ties to Chinese Communist Party Colonel Ivan Vinnik, commander of Ukraine's 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade currently defending the embattled town of Vuhledar in Donetsk Oblast, has been transferred, the brigade confirmed on Sept. 29. According to Operational Command "North," Vinnik was transferred "for the purpose of promotion and to transfer combat experience." It was not announced who would replace him. Vinnik was appointed commander of the 72nd Brigade in August 2022. Under his command, the brigade has defended Vuhledar for more than two years. Russian forces have been trying to capture the town since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. "Since the summer of 2022 till today, I have had a long and difficult journey. But it was not difficult, because I did not overcome it alone. I had a loyal and motivated team by my side," Vinnik said in a post on Facebook. "I thank each and every one of you for your patience, willpower and strength. Thank you for listening, hearing, talking and offering suggestions. Thank you for our joint struggle. "Thank you for being by my side. I really appreciate it! I am honoured to be a part of the Black Cossacks, and the bond that has been formed between us will remain forever." The reshuffle comes at a time when fierce fighting for Vuhledar is still ongoing. The front-line town lies about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of occupied Donetsk and roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of the administrative border with Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Russian troops had not reached the outskirts of Vuhledar as of Sept. 25, Donetsk Oblast Governor Vadym Filashkin. A day later, the brigade refuted reports that it was retreating from the town and released a video from the town. The crowd-sourced monitoring website DeepState claimed on Sept. 29 that Russian troops trying to gain a foothold in high-rise buildings on the outskirts of Vuhledar. The Kyiv Independent could not verify these reports. "The loss of Vuhledar would be not only a morale blow for Ukraine since this city has resisted plenty of assaults since 2022, but also a very serious development that can potentially threaten the security of the entire southwestern portion of Donetsk Oblast not yet occupied, along with the threat to Pokrovsk's southern flank," Federico Borsari, a fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), told the Kyiv Independent earlier this month. Read also: What the fall of Vuhledar would mean for Russias war in Ukraine Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Both houses of Congress have approved the IMPACTT Human Trafficking Act (S.670) and it's now awaiting President Joe Biden's signature. The bill would provide "self-care" services to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) staff exposed to victims of human trafficking. On its face, there's nothing wrong with providing additional psychological support for federal agents who work with trafficking survivors. But HSIa division of Immigration and Customs Enforcementhas quite a questionable record when it comes to "helping" trafficking victims. At times, HSI has been known to subject suspected victims to potentially traumatizing experiences. And much of the "human trafficking" work the agency does just involves plain old prostitution stings. HSI's Human Trafficking 'Help' Check the fine print on state and local cops' sex sting excursions and you'll frequently see HSI listed as a partner, particularly when these prostitution stings target Asian massage businesses. At best, these stings tend to be dubious uses of resources and authoritymarshaling the power of Homeland Security to, say, arrest a few dozen men looking to pay a consenting adult woman for sex or arrest people with "escort service violations" and random outstanding warrants. At worst, they put people vulnerable to violence and sexual exploitation in more precarious positionsby helping arrest sex workers and saddling them with court fees and criminal records, for instance, or helping seize the assets of immigrant sex workers and masseusesand even subject suspected trafficking victims to sexual encounters under false pretenses. HSI agents had at least 17 sexual encounters with Asian massage workers in Mohave County, Arizona, in 2018, for instance. Dubbed "Operation Asian Touch," these excursions were billed as a way to investigate human trafficking. Women arrested for performing paid sex acts with HSI agents or informants may wind up deported afterward. This is not to say that HSI never helps investigate cases of actual violence and exploitation involving prostitution. But in covering this area for a decade, I've encountered countless cases of HSI offering dubious or even dangerous "help" to human trafficking victims and immensely fewer instances of the agency actually seeming to stop abuse. Whatever good HSI does on the sex trafficking front, it's pretty incidental to the ample operations that simply target sex workers, massage workers, and their customers. What the IMPACTT Human Trafficking Act Would (and Would Not) Do The IMPACTT Human Trafficking Act, from Sen. Gary Peters (DMich.), was co-sponsored by two Republicans (Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford and Texas Sen. John Cornyn). The first thing it would do is establish in HSI an Investigators Maintain Purposeful Awareness to Combat Trafficking Trauma (IMPACTT) program to "provide outreach and training" to HSI employees who have been "exposed to various forms of trauma in working with victims of human trafficking." The training might include "self-awareness training" on recognizing things like burnout, "compassion fatigue," and "vicarious trauma," along with education on "mechanisms for self-care and resilience." I don't know about you, but I find it a little bit amusing and also immensely eyeroll-worthy to see social media self-help tropes like "self-care"and "burnout" creeping into federal legislation. At least this bill isn't all about providing resilience training for the poor HSI agents forced to bust immigrant women for prostitution. It would also create a formal HSI victim assistance program to "provide oversight, guidance, training, travel, equipment, and coordination to Homeland Security Investigations victim assistance personnel" and recruit more forensic interview specialists and victim assistance specialists. "Currently, only the largest HSI field offices have a victim assistance specialist, but this legislation would ensure that every HSI office with a human trafficking or child exploitation task force would have a survivor assistance specialist to carry out this important work," said Rep. Glenn Ivey (DMd.) during a September 23 House floor debate about the bill. The efficacy of these specialists is debatableI often see press about prostitution busts make nods to the victim services specialists HSI had on hand but nothing to indicate these specialists helped in any substantial way or even found any victims to help. Still, they're theoretically there to offer kinder, gentler, trauma-informed interactions with potential victims, and that can't be a bad thing. The victim assistance program would also be tasked with offering material support. One of the few tangible things that the IMPACTT bill stipulates is that the victims assistance program will "purchase emergency items that are needed to assist identified victims in Homeland Security Investigations criminal investigations, including food, clothing, hygiene products, transportation, and temporary shelter that is not otherwise provided by a nongovernmental organization." Of course, "no additional funds are authorized to be appropriated for the purpose of carrying out this Act," which is sort of telling. I'm not saying HSI needs any more money for these purposes. But bills geared toward throwing more cops and more enforcement at a problem tend to have large budget increases attached so it seems worth pointing out that the expansion of victims' services isn't getting a commensurate boost. More Sex & Tech News "Four lawsuits. Several failed attempts to raise the threshold to pass constitutional amendments. One unprecedented attempt to decertify a ballot measure. Despite this succession of failed GOP efforts to torpedo Amendment 3 over the past 18 months, abortion will remain on Missouri's Nov. 5 ballot," reports the Missouri Independent. Rep. Lauren Boebert (RColo.) has introduced a bill that would require all owners and employees of massage businesses and wellness spas to be fingerprinted and undergo background checks. Don't forget that the people fighting to take all sorts of books off library shelves are the same people who are "pushing laws that restrict consensual and legal online porn through inequitable age verification laws," writes Michael McGrady at Techdirt. Today's Image Sparks, Nevada | 2022 (ENB/Reason) The post Congress Passes Bill Backing 'Self-Care' for People Pursuing Prostitution Stings appeared first on Reason.com. Tim Sheehy prepares to debate U.S. Sen. Jon Tester on campus at the University of Montana in Missoula, Mont., Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (Ben Allan Smith/The Missoulian via AP) BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) Montana Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy acknowledged Monday that derogatory remarks he made last year about Native Americans were insensitive. But Sheehy rejected his opponents call to apologize, during a contentious debate in a race thats emerged as pivotal for control of the Senate. Three-term incumbent U.S. Sen. Jon Tester had challenged Sheehy over remarks last year in which the Republican told a group of laughing supporters about bonding with all the Indians ... while theyre drunk at 8 a.m., while working cattle at a ranch on the Crow Indian Reservation. Yeah, insensitive, responded Sheehy, a former U.S. Navy SEAL. I come from the military as many of our tribal members do. You know, we make insensitive jokes and probably off color-jokes sometimes. Sheehy then tried to shift the discussion to the immigration crisis but Tester kept pressing him. Tim, the statement you made degrades Native Americans across this country, Tester said. Youre a big guy, just apologize. Will you apologize for opening the border?" Sheehy retorted. The acrimonious exchange, during the debates closing minutes, underscored the growing tensions between the two campaigns as the contest enters its final stretch. They are each jockeying for support from a small contingent of moderate Republican and Independent voters in the state who are considered crucial to victory in November. Sheehy sharply criticized Tester over his ties to lobbyists, who have donated more heavily to the Democrat this election cycle than to any other member of Congress, according to the non-partisan group OpenSecrets. While I was fighting in Afghanistan, he was eating lobbyist steak in D.C.," Sheehy said. Tester in turn accused Sheehy of wanting to outlaw abortion, even as the Democrat linked his own campaign to a voter initiative that would enshrine abortion as a right under the state Constitution. I want to see Roe reinstated, Tester said of the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade that has allowed some states to sharply restrict abortions. My opponent, on the other hand, feels exactly the opposite. He feels he's more entitled to make that decision than the women are. Tester is the last remaining Democrat to hold high office in Montana and the race is on track to be the most expensive in state history. Republicans party leaders including former President Donald Trump handpicked Sheehy in hopes of toppling Tester, a 68-year-old farmer. Republicans need to gain just two seats in November to take the Senate majority when a new Congress convenes next year. They are widely considered to have a lock on one, in West Virginia, meaning Montana could make the difference. Montana has seven Indian reservations and almost 70,000 Native Americans, representing about 7% of its total population, according to U.S. Census data. Its a voting bloc thats long been considered Democratic-leaning. Montana Republicans in recent years have courted tribal leaders hoping to gain their support in elections. Tribal leaders were highly critical of Sheehy's derogatory comments about Native Americans that emerged in audio recordings published by Char-Koosta News, the official publication of the Flathead Indian Reservation. Sheehy did not respond when the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council asked him to apologize in early September. The council represents 11 tribes and First Nations in the U.S. and Canada. Sheehy later downplayed the comments during a Fox News interview in which he suggested the audio was from years ago and had been edited to make him sound like somebody I'm not. But he did not deny the authenticity of the recordings on Monday. Trump won Montana by about 17 percentage points in 2020. Seeking to capitalize on the former president's popularity in the state, Sheehy has frequently sought to lump Tester with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. The Republican's objective is to highlight public dissatisfaction over the administrations struggles to stem illegal immigration on the southern border. Democrats on the Hill refused to hold the administration accountable for the largest mass migration in the history of this country, Sheehy said in response to a debate question about the border. Seeking to blunt the attacks, Tester skipped the Democratic National Convention last month, declined to endorse Harris and avoids mention of her on the campaign trail. He's opposed the administration over tighter pollution rules for coal plants and pressed it to do more on immigration. Look, I'll be the first person to tell you that President Biden has not done a good job on the southern border, Tester said Monday. WELLINGTON, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Antarctic-related activities contributed nearly a quarter of 1 billion dollars to New Zealand's economy last year, according to a report on Monday, highlighting substantial economic benefits and underscoring the strategic importance of Antarctica to New Zealand. The biennial report, produced by Lincoln University and supported by the Christchurch Antarctic Office, said Antarctic-related activities based in New Zealand continue to be a significant economic driver, contributing 229.3 million NZ dollars to the national economy last year. The study covers National Antarctic Programs, tourism, fishing, education and research and Antarctic heritage, among other industry sectors. Christchurch of the South Island serves as New Zealand's Antarctic hub, among five Antarctic Gateway cities around the world, said Antarctica New Zealand Acting Chief Executive Jordy Hendrikx. "Christchurch has been used as a deployment port to Antarctica for more than a century," Hendrikx said, adding that it's an important part of the city's history, with Antarctic-related activities generating 158.3 million NZ dollars in the Canterbury region. David Tayler, head of the Christchurch Antarctic Office, said the city's connection with Antarctica is an opportunity for innovation, research and climate awareness. The Antarctic community supports more than 3,000 full-time jobs in Canterbury, with over 800 firms supplying goods and services to the National Antarctic Programs, which delivers significant economic impact, Tayler said. Enditem (1 NZ dollar equals 0.64 U.S. dollar) The embattled mayor of a suburban Chicago town already under investigation for the alleged misuse of municipal funds, including $40,000 worth of Amazon purchases in a single day is now being thrown out of her home, according to an eviction notice filed in Cook County Circuit Court. Dolton, Illinois, Mayor Tiffany Henyard and live-in boyfriend Kamal Woods were notified September 18 that they were $3,350 in arrears on their rent and must either pay up or vacate the premises, the notice said. Reached on Monday by The Independent, landlord Genetta Hull declined to comment further on the situation. Tiffany Henyard is facing battles from multiple angles (Thornton Township) The couple pays $2,400 a month for the apartment, NBC Chicago reported . Their payments are not egregiously late, and it is not known why Hull moved so quickly to evict, according to WGN . Henyard, who earns $300,000 a year as mayor, also serves as supervisor of Thornton Township, where Woods makes $100,000-plus as youth director, according to the nonprofit Illinois Answers Project . Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was tapped to investigate allegations that Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard misused taxpayer funds (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) This is a claim brought under false pretenses, Henyards attorney Beau Brindley told WGN of the eviction proceedings. I dont believe proof of missed payment can be produced. This is being driven by other motives and is not a complaint brought in good faith. Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is heading up a probe into Henyards spending; Dolton is more than $3.5 million in the red, according to CBS News Chicago , a burst of seemingly outsized spending Amazon was just one of a plethora of improprieties Lightfoot last month announced she had found . Henyard has also allegedly spent thousands in taxpayer cash on hair and makeup and other personal perks . Heynard is also accused of billing the city for $67,000 on out-of-town travel during a five-month span in 2023. In April, FBI agents visited Dolton City Hall to execute a search warrant. However, it remains unclear what they were looking for or who exactly they are investigating. The Village of Dolton, once an area of natural prairie and home to Potawatomie, Sac, Illini, and Miami Indians has now grown into a bustling suburban community of over 23,000 residents, Doltons official website tells visitors . The village was founded by George Dolton who settled in the area with his family in 1835 and began running a ferry company with another resident of the area, J.C. Matthews. In 1866, the village built its first post office and Andrew Dolton, son of George Dolton, served as its postmaster. After a contentious debate, the Village of Dolton became incorporated on December 28, 1892. Henyard, according to the village site, was elected in February 2021 with 82 percent of the vote after serving eight years as village trustee. She made history as the first woman mayor of Dolton, as well as the youngest ever. As a life-long resident of Dolton, Mayor Henyard is passionate about Dolton and continues to live in the community where she grew up, her bio reads . A court date for Henyard and Woodss eviction proceeding has been set for October 22. CORY, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) Even with the rain, Sunday drew the biggest crowd of the weekend at the Cory Apple Festival. The event is put on every year by the Cory Fire Department. Of course there are fresh apples, but the fields were also full of food vendors, classic cars, and the annual parade. All the money raised from the weekend goes to the fire department to fund their day-to-day operations. However, the fire department says the money doesnt only benefit them, but the entire community. All the funds go to the fire department, so that helps us be able to upgrade equipment and hoping to upgrade buildings here before too long. Then that benefits the whole community, so it benefits everybody. Glen Neiswinger Fire Chief Cory Vol. Fire Dept. The fire department says despite Friday being a rainout and Saturday having a limited number of people, Sundays turnout made the festival a success. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to MyWabashValley.com. 'You couldn't ask for a better kid.' 18-year-old shot and killed in Beech Grove BEECH GROVE Makayla Sue Bauman recently graduated high school and had plans to go into the medical field. She loved to draw, read, go shopping and hang out with her friends like most teen girls. But more than anything, her mother said, she was willing to learn new things and her intelligence and kindness were a superpower. "You couldn't ask for a better kid," Jennifer Bauman said about her daughter. "Makayla brought so much joy. She was a good girl who didn't deserve this." Makayla Bauman, 18, graduated from Indiana Digital Learning School in May. She had plans on becoming an anesthesiologist. "She always wanted to help people," her mother said. "That was her passion. She always had a lot of friends and teachers loved her. She had a little brother, he's 15. They were so close, they were best friends." The two were hanging out when Bauman said people were trying to rob her son. Makayla Bauman, 18, was shot in near an apartment complex in Beech Grove on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. 'Nobody deserves this:' Man, 65, slain at Housing Authority complex in downtown Indianapolis Makayla Bauman, 18, dead after shooting in Beech Grove On Sunday, Sept. 29, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police responded to a report of a person shot in the 5900 block of Riva Ridge Drive. When officers arrived, they found Makayla Bauman shot. She was taken to Eskenazi Hospital in critical condition. The shooting was preliminarily believed to have occurred within Beech Grove's jurisdiction more than a mile away in the 5400 block of Sagebrush Avenue. Beech Grove Police Department took charge of the investigation with Indianapolis Metropolitan Police assistance. According to Beech Grove Police, Bauman left Sagebrush Avenue and went to Riva Ridge Drive before officers arrived. A SWAT unit was called to Sagebrush Avenue shortly after the shooting to make sure no suspects were hiding in apartments in the area. Makayla Bauman and her brother fled the complex in a vehicle after the attempted robbery and discovered she'd been shot while en route to their home less than 2 miles away. "They didn't know she was shot until after they got out of the apartment complex," said Jennifer Bauman. Her son was driving. "My son was just trying to make it to where she could come home to me to help them." Makayla Bauman, 18, was believed by police to be shot in the 5400 block of Sagebrush Avenue on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. The 18-year-old died in the hospital. Bauman believed her daughter was going to go far in life because she was smart and kind. "I just spoke with her yesterday," Bauman said. "I was already having a bad day and was upset about something else. She laid in my bed and just rubbed my back and told me everything was going to be OK." Beech Grove Police have not named any suspects in the investigation, but Jennifer Bauman said her son knew at least one person involved because they went to the same school. The family has created a GoFundMe to help with her funeral expenses. Police are asking anyone with information on the shooting to contact investigators at 317-782-4934 or policeinfo@beechgrove.com. Jade Jackson is a Public Safety Reporter for the Indianapolis Star. You can email her at Jade.Jackson@IndyStar.com and follow her on X, formally Twitter @IAMJADEJACKSON. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Makayla Bauman dies in shooting at Beech Grove apartment complex Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado (R) and presidential candidate of the opposition Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia give a press conference after the National Electoral Council (CNE) declared former President Maduro the winner of the presidential elections. Jeampier Mattey/dpa The 2024 Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize was awarded on Monday to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Addressing the assembly remotely from Venezuela, Machado said she was "deeply moved, honoured and grateful" to be the first Latin American to win the distinction. "I want to dedicate this recognition to the millions of Venezuelans who, every day, embody Havel's values and ideas some without even realising it," she said. Machado said her movement had demonstrated "the victory of democrats over dictatorship" in Venezuela's recent elections. "Today our struggle continues, because the truth persists until it prevails," she added. Machado was not permitted to stand in the July elections as she has for years been banned from holding public office in her country. PACE reported that she had gone into hiding in August, declaring that she feared for her life, her freedom, and that of her fellow citizens. Edmundo Gonzalez stood in her stead before fleeing to Spain after a warrant was issued for his arrest. He is widely believed to have beaten President Nicolas Maduro, who refused to stand aside. There have been protests all round the world in response to Maduro's election without detailed results being presented. The prize, which is worth 60,000 ($66,000) is awarded every year "to honour outstanding civil society action in defence of human rights in Europe and beyond." Previous winners include Osman Kavala, who is in prison in Turkey, and Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was released by Russia in a prisoner exchange in August. 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 2200 block of N 1st Street Theft of Property A scooter worth $400 was reported stolen. 1900 block of Portland Avenue Theft of Motor Vehicle A vehicle was reported stolen. 2700 block of Hickory Street Theft of Property $940 worth of cash was reported stolen. 4300 block of Southwest Drive Theft of Property A cellphone worth $600 was reported stolen. 5500 block of N 9th Street Assault Family Violence A suspect was arrested for assault family violence in north Abilene. 1600 block of N 15th Street Assault Family Violence An assault family violence report was taken in south Abilene. 3700 block of Ridgemont Drive Theft of Property A cellphone worth $740 was reported stolen in south Abilene. 1700 block of Palm Street Burglary of Habitation A playstation, TV, iPad, diapers, and clothing were reported stolen during a burglary. 1300 block of Cedar Crest Drive Assault Family Violence An assault family violence report was taken in north Abilene. 8000 block of Scooter Court Assault An assault report was taken in south Abilene. 2900 block of N 2nd Street Assault Family Violence A north Abilene man was arrested for assault family violence 2600 block of Buffalo Gap Road Robbery A report for robbery was taken in south Abilene. 3100 block of S 27th Street Criminal Mischief A criminal mischief report was taken in south Abilene. 1200 block of Chestnut Street Assault Family Violence Police responded to an assault call in south Abilene where a victim reported she was assaulted by her boyfriend. 2200 block of Plymouth Rock Road Theft of Property Tools worth $250 were reported stolen. 2500 block of Nonesuch Road Stalking A victim reported her ex-boyfriend was stalking her at her residence. 1300 block of Sunset Drive Assault Family Violence A report was taken for assault in south Abilene. 1100 block of Portland Avenue Burglary of Building A victim reported his home was burglarized. 3200 block of Pine Street Aggravated Robbery A victim reported she was robbed at gunpoint at a north Abilene motel. UNDISCLOSED LOCATION Assault Family Violence An assault family violence arrest was made in north Abilene. 500 block of Palm Street Assault Family Violence An assault report was taken in south Abilene. 3100 block of Melinda Lane Assault Family Violence Police responded to a domestic disturbance in north Abilene were a suspect is accused of assaulting her husband. 200 block of Arnold Boulevard Criminal Mischief Police responded to reports of criminal mischief at a south Abilene trailer park. 2400 block of Buffalo Gap Road Criminal Mischief A victim reported criminal mischief at her property. 700 block of ES 27th Street Assault Family Violence A suspect was arrested for assault family violence in south Abilene. 3500 block of Cedar Run Road Theft of Firearm Abilene police responded to a call for service in south Abilene where items were stolen from a vehicle. Arrests Amado Benavides Warrant Kermit Wilson Warrant Amado Benavides Driving While Intoxicated Otis Letman Possession of Controlled Substance Joseph Mitchell Assault Family Violence Jerale Badon Warrant Darrell Willmon Public Intoxication, Possession of Controlled Substance Stephanie Smith Public Intoxication Alexander Perez Warrant Adrian Vargas Assault Family Violence, Evading Arrest Nikolas Treider Driving While Intoxicated Logan Thorne Public Intoxication Austin Hennesay Driving While Intoxicated Slater Bethel Possession of Controlled Substance, Public Intoxication Kevin Starr Possession of Controlled Substance Rogelio Gonzalez-Zeremeno Public Intoxication, Immigration Hold James Hanna Warrant, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia Freddie Flores Manufacture Delivery Controlled Substance, Warrant Emilio Fernandez Public Intoxication Randy Lynn Possession of Controlled Substance, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia Jared Bowen Driving While Intoxicated Allison Medrano Assault Family Violence Samantha Ngin Assault Family Violence Michael Holmes Warrant Ruben Cisneros Resist Arrest Search or Transport, Public Intoxication Bellami Nyamushaka Disorderly Conduct Aixa Szeszol Assault Family Violence Hannah Deleon Public Intoxication Randall Williams Possession of Marijuana Albert Hernandez Public Intoxication Raymond Roberts Warrant Daniel Carr Driving While Intoxicated Andrew Howard Public Intoxication, Resist Arrest Search or Transport Johnette Curtis Public Intoxication Gary Strickland Aggravated Assault Deadly Weapon Mya Campbell Assault Family Violence William Reynolds Driving While Intoxicated, Unlawful Carrying of Weapon James French 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. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams speaks about a drug trafficking case during a press conference at Federal Plaza in New York, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith) A network of illegal drug sellers based in the U.S., the Dominican Republic and India packaged potentially deadly synthetic opioids into pills disguised as common prescription drugs and sold millions of them through fake online drugstores, federal prosecutors said Monday. At least nine people died of narcotics poisoning between August 2023 and June 2024 after consuming the counterfeit pills, according to an indictment unsealed in federal court in Manhattan. The indictment charges that the leader of the enterprise, Francisco Alberto Lopez Reyes, orchestrated the scheme from the Dominican Republic, directing co-conspirators to set up dozens of online pharmacies that mimicked legitimate e-commerce sites. The sites lured customers into buying synthetic opioids in some cases methamphetamine disguised as prescription drugs such as Adderall, Xanax and oxycodone. The counterfeit pills were sold to tens of thousands of Americans in all 50 states and to customers in Puerto Rico, Germany and Slovenia, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said at a news conference announcing the indictment. The websites the defendants made and the pills they distributed looked very real," he said. But they were not. Williams said 18 people including Lopez Reyes have been charged with crimes including participating in a narcotics trafficking conspiracy resulting in death. It was not clear whether Lopez Reyes had a lawyer who could comment. No attorney was listed in online court records. Authorities said the fake pills were manufactured in New York using fentanyl smuggled from Mexico. Members of the enterprise ran basement pill mills in the Bronx and Manhattan, where they used custom molds to press powdered narcotics into pills at rates of up to 100,000 pills every 12 hours, prosecutors said. Law enforcement officers raided one pill mill in Manhattan on May 31, 2023, and seized more than 200,000 pills as well as bricks, bags and buckets filled with powdered narcotics, according to the indictment. Prosecutors said that after the orders were delivered, the conspirators bombarded customers with calls and texts urging them to buy more drugs. One customer had to block 30 phone numbers to stop the aggressive marketing. One victim, a 45-year-old Army National Guard veteran identified as Holly Holderbaum, purchased what she thought were oxycodone pills in February 2024, according to the indictment. Holderbaum received the pills in the mail on Feb. 20 and died five days later with 46 of the counterfeit pills by her bedside, prosecutors said. The pills were made of fentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl, an analog of fentanyl, and Holderman's cause of death was acute fentanyl intoxication, prosecutors said. Recent years have seen a surge in fentanyl deaths, including among children, across the U.S. The most recent figures from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that more than 78,000 people died from overdoses involving synthetic opioids between June 2022 and June 2023, accounting for 92% of all opioid overdose deaths during that period. Anne Milgram, the administrator of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, who joined Williams at Monday's news conference, called fentanyl the most addictive and deadly drug threat that we have ever faced as a nation. Fentanyl is cheap, Milgram said. It is easy to make, and even tiny amounts can be highly addictive and deadly. HARRISBURG, Pa. (WKBN) The Pennsylvania Attorney General is warning everyone about a new cybercrime where scammers may send you a picture of your home in an email and then try to extort money from you. Read next: Verizon hit by nationwide outage Monday, impacting thousands of users The cyber fraud is referred to as sextortion and involves a demand for money or the criminal will publicize alleged explicit materials about you. The fraud can also involve blackmail over a targets browsing history. Its likely the criminals dont have any of the materials they allege, and a persons house can easily be found on Google maps. However, it is possible that the criminal has obtained some personal, sensitive information, which is why its imperative to be careful what you are posting on social media, sending in a text message or by email. Like other scams, the cybercriminal will want money or personal information to steal your identity. They may ask for payments in Bitcoin or cryptocurrency and will provide a QR code or link to transfer the money. Do not scan the QR code or communicate with the cyber-criminal. Tips to Keep Yourself Safe From Sextortion: When speaking to someone online, search their name to see if its been reported to have been used in a prior crime or if its the name of a famous person. Never send compromising or explicit images of yourself to anyone, no matter who they are or who they say they are. Search the internet for one or two sentences from the email to confirm it is actually spam. No matter what the email threatens, do not respond and delete the email. Do not open attachments or click links in emails from people you do not know. Doing so leaves you vulnerable to identity theft and malware. Never send money or buy a gift card , or do anything to comply with the demands in the email. Do a security check on your computer and install security software. Enable two-factor authentication on your important accounts. Change passwords often , and consider getting a password manager to ensure your passwords are strong and unique. Cover your webcam when not in use to give you peace of mind. Check to see if your email was compromised in a security breach and change passwords as necessary. Never answer your phone unless you recognize the number. If it is a legitimate call, the person will leave a voicemail. If you or someone you know believes they are a victim of phishing sextortion or financially motivated sextortion, immediately report the activity to law enforcement. You can report these kinds of cyber crimes to the FBI by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or by visiting ic3.gov. You may also submit a complaint to the Office of Attorney Generals Bureau of Consumer Protection online by emailing scams@attorneygeneral.gov, or by calling the office at 1-800-441-255. When filing a complaint, be sure to include the email or other form of contact from the potential cyber-criminal. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. (WJET/WFXP) Presque Isle played host on Sunday, Sept. 29, to Eries walk to end hunger. The 49th annual Erie County Crop Hunger Walk was held at the state park. It raises funds to address hunger issues locally and worldwide. Organizers hoped for 300 or 400 participants representing 45 to 50 groups. Even 49 years into the journey, the event still gathers a strong crowd. EmergyRace held throughout Erie Obviously, there are still lots of hungry people out there and soup kitchens and food pantries are all busier than ever. So the needs still exist, said Jim Haas, coordinator of the Erie County Crop Hunger Walk. And I think the folks who come out to this really like working together as a community. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News Haas said he hopes to raise $75,000 through the event. He said that of the more than 50 crop walks in Pennsylvania, Eries walk consistently ranks number one. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. CTU stages walk-in at schools to push for more federal funds CTU stages walk-in at schools to push for more federal funds CHICAGO The Chicago Teachers Union members staged a walk-in Monday at several schools to push for more federal funds for schools. CTU said they wanted to focus on schools that desperately need resources. Chicago Public Schools is in the midst of a financial crisis. The district is trying to find a way to address a massive budget hole for next school year. It is trying to find a way to pay for a new CTU contract, all of this with federal COVID-relief funds expiring Monday. A walk-in and show-and-tell for the CTU. One teacher is teaching students in four grades at Mollison Elementary in the Bronzeville neighborhood. It is a challenge, its like an uphill battle. As soon as you take two step forward, you take three steps backwards. So we just need a lot of support, said teacher, Kelly Crawford. Mayor Johnson asks CPS CEO Pedro Martinez to resign: report Another walk-in took place at Benito Juarez High School in Pilsen, the alma mater of CPS Chief Pedro Martinez. Were here demanding that leadership, like CEO Pedro Martinez, get up everyday just like our parents, strap on his boots, get to work and fully fund our schools. Because if he is not knocking on the door of the state, the feds, and demanding the money that we need to fully fund our schools, then he is not doing his job and he must step aside, said teacher, Hilario Dominguez. Under the Federal American Rescue Plan, CPS received nearly $3 billion to help students recover from the pandemic. It used that money to pay salaries, to save schools from cuts, and to start new programs. It was perhaps the greatest infusion of funding that we have seen in public schools throughout this country. We are saying, more of that please, said CTU President Stacy Davis Gates. The Board of Education approved a nearly $10 billion budget for next school year, with a projected shortfall of $500 million. That budget will be amended once theres a new CTU contract. Martinez rejected Mayor Brandon Johnsons proposal to take out a loan to help pay for the contract and other costs. The Chicago Sun-Times reported last week, CPS is considering staff furloughs and programming cuts. While CTU leaders called on Gov. JB Pritzker and legislative leaders to find ways to adequately fund schools, Martinez visited a Rogers Park school for an event marking the final day of National Literacy Month. Johnson has asked Martinez to resign, but Martinez has made it clear hes not leaving. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. This article was originally published in Chalkbeat. Bronx Principal David Liu did not notice an abrupt change in attendance when students returned to in-person learning three years ago after pandemic campus closures. Instead, the problem became clearer to him as the year progressed. Students and staff at Gotham Collaborative High School became fatigued by five-day school weeks. Child tax credits and supplemental unemployment benefits also began to wane , forcing parents back into the workplace and requiring students to take on more responsibilities at home. The grind of what school was started to hit students at different times of the school year, he said. Thats when chronic absenteeism became kind of more like this slowly growing thing in our school. Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Now, the school has begun to crack the code on chronic absenteeism, a problem challenging school districts across the country . Administrators implemented a data system to better track students attendance and leverage staff and community organizations to counsel those at risk of chronic absence. The school even offers incentives to get students to show up, such as early-morning breakfast raffles or day trips. Schools across New York City have introduced new initiatives to address the longstanding issue. Some have started to use restorative justice as a guiding principle in group interventions that target chronically absent students, rather than resorting to more punitive measures. Increasingly, schools are enlisting other students to encourage their friends to attend school regularly. Most districts, including New York City, consider a student chronically absent if they miss at least 10% of the school year, whether those days are considered excused, unexcused, or part of a suspension. With a 180-day academic calendar, that is 18 missed days of school. The citywide chronic absenteeism rate stood at about 25% before the pandemic. Once students returned to in-person learning in 2021, the citys share of chronically absent students jumped 15 percentage points. While schools have made progress to lower that rate over the years, citywide chronic absenteeism still hasnt returned to what it once was. Nearly 35% of public school students were chronically absent last school year, according to data recently released in the Mayors Management Report . Though higher-poverty schools began closing the gap on chronic absenteeism in 2022-23, that gap still hovered about 14 percentage points higher than their counterparts. As a result, more and more schools have found themselves addressing issues that exist beyond the schools environment, such as students access to health care, child care, and transportation . That is why some teachers and school administrators say tackling chronic absenteeism is so challenging it often requires a deeper knowledge of the students and families that they serve. In its 2022-23 Comprehensive Education Plan , Gotham Collaborative cited not knowing our students well as the root cause of the schools chronic absence problem. And while data collection often serves as a first step to addressing chronic absenteeism, creating plans that lead to improvement requires people, said Kim Nauer, an education fellow at The New Schools Center for New York City Affairs who has looked at how poverty contributes to chronic absence . Every single one of those numbers needs to be a kid and a name and a parent and a person attached to them, she said. Otherwise youre not going to make progress in any sustained way. Like robocalls [are] useless. Using data to target specific student groups Gotham Collaborative High School, which served a little over 300 students last school year, had already viewed chronic absenteeism as an issue worthy of intervention before the pandemic. The schools pre-pandemic chronic absenteeism rate was already higher than the average, at about 56%, and it then grew to 61% in 2020 when the pandemic forced school closures across the city. During the 2022-23 school year, however, the high schools rate of chronically absent students dropped to roughly 29%, its lowest in years. Tackling the issue has taken years of targeted work and has relied on a data system the school created, grouping students into four buckets according to their absences. Each group receives certain interventions depending on the severity of their record. Those are provided through several support teams that might include peer mediator ambassadors, school counselors, and a social worker. Sometimes intervention looks like an in-depth, individualized assessment of a student and their needs, or a home visit with a student and their family. But other times it may look like a school social for students who feel that they dont have a strong network of friends, or an early-morning breakfast raffle. Addressing the needs of students whose attendance and academic performance didnt raise warning flags was critical, Liu said. Before introducing the new system, he said, the school identified only a small selection of students those who came in the least, or about half of the school year, and those who had near-perfect attendance. Changing their focus helped shift the school toward lower instances of chronic absence, he believes. This was a main aha moment for us, he said. These are our students that are coming 80% of the time, four out of five times a week, they might be B-average students. It sparked a lot of conversations about how do we show them that what theyre doing is not meeting what they can be doing and their potential? Many schools with a high share of chronically absent students use some variation of Gotham Collaboratives data tracking system. New York City schools receive weekly automatic reports that list students who have missed five or 10 school days. Schools can also print additional reports that show all students who have missed school five or 10 times, or chronically absent students from the previous school year. The reports are most effective when schools create workflows to immediately address what they are seeing in the data, said a spokesperson for the education department. Hedy Chang, director of Attendance Works, a national and state initiative to address the issue, also noted that early intervention is important. When she and other researchers began studying chronic absence using the current, widely adopted 10% rule, she said one of its main purposes was to serve as an early-warning metric. So if a student misses two days of school in a month, she said, that should alert teachers and staff that a student is in need of support. I dont want you to wait til 17 days to notice that things are a challenge, Chang said, in reference to annual absences. Or even in the first month, if its 10 days, thats a problem. Using peer-to-peer support to overcome chronic absenteeism Researchers like Chang and Nauer often examine chronic absenteeism among younger students because it is more representative of families circumstances. A 5-year-old, for example, isnt missing school on their own accord, Chang said. But for teens, chronic absenteeism comes with its own set of complexities. Liu has noticed that some of his students may miss school due to working long hours or having to bring younger siblings to and from school. Some may choose not to show up to avoid conflict with friends, he said. And because the conversations that staffers have with students inevitably look different than those that students might have with people closer to their age, Liu is now focusing on tapping students ability to deeply connect with their peers to curb chronic absence. Every year we get older, but the kids stay the same age, he said. So every year the staff gets one year removed from being generationally, culturally relevant. At The International High School for Health Sciences where all students are newly arrived immigrants students may also grapple with other hurdles that affect engagement, such as learning English for the first time, or preparing for standardized tests unfamiliar to them, according to administrators at the school. Yet the high schools chronic absenteeism rate during the 2022-23 school year fell to 29.5%, nearly cutting its rates from the previous two years in half. In 2018, the school began using restorative justice a practice that the school has used in lieu of other disciplinary measures since it opened over 10 years ago to address chronic absenteeism, administrators say. A chronically absent student typically in their final year of high school sits down with a group of their closest friends, a teacher that they have a strong relationship with, and the assistant principal. The group discusses the students strengths, reasons for why they dont show up at school, and how others in the group can support them moving forward. International High School also receives extra support from staff at Queens Community House, the schools community-based partner. Now in its third year, the partnership is funded through NYC Community Schools, a grant-based program that extends to about a third of the citys more than 1,500 schools. Queens Community House provides services such as tutoring outside of regular school hours particularly during Regents season and events that range from self-care workshops to game nights. Communicating with families, however, is one of its primary functions, said the schools Community Schools Director Lizbeth Mendoza. The framework for a lot of these conversations is building relationships, she said. So Im actually the person that sends out the message letting a parent or guardian know that their student was absent at the end of the day. At the High School for Teaching and the Professions in the Bronx, groups of older mentors and younger mentees start pairing together in October. The mentors, typically 11th or 12th graders, receive training in their own classes on how to support their mentees, whether that be through engaging in activities together or talking through the mentees experiences. They go in and they really create this bond, said Principal Roberto Hernandez. And what I found within the last two years was a sense of ownership that our mentors are having for their mentees. This sense of commitment has trickled into other areas of focus for the school, like attendance, Hernandez said. For some students, it has also created a sense of commitment to the school at large: Two of the high schools guidance counselors are former students. Now that the school has a designated guidance counselor for every grade level, Hernandez said it is easier for the administration to connect with individual students. Its not just teaching, its getting to know them and letting them get to know you, and they love it, he said. And I think thats all contributing to where we are today. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters. COLOMBO, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's total exports for August 2024 were recorded at 1.4 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 4.67 percent compared to the corresponding month of last year, according to the country's Export Development Board on Monday. Quoting data from Sri Lanka Customs, the EDB said the merchandise export performance in August 2024 amounted to 1.1 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 4.18 percent compared to the corresponding month of 2023. This was mainly due to the increase in earnings from the export of apparel and textiles, tea, rubber-based products, coconut-based products, spices and concentrates. After a gap of two years, apparel and textiles exports surpassed the 500 million U.S. dollars mark in August 2024. The estimated value of services exports for August 2024 was 318.77 million U.S. dollars, increasing 6.49 percent over the corresponding period of 2023. Cutting food waste would lower emissions, but so far only one state has done it Kay Masterson has always wanted to make her Boston-area restaurant more sustainable, partnering with an organic farm to get some vegetables close by and offering reusable containers for customers' takeout. When Massachusetts was weighing whether to block restaurants from dumping food waste into landfills, her restaurant started composting without waiting on a law. Right away, there were challenges: $3,000 a year for bins and pickup. Busy dishwashers could contaminate an entire bag of compostable materials by missing a single butter packet. And customers in the habit of just chucking their leftovers needed signage to get uneaten food into the right place. Masterson's operation figured out those problems, but she knows not everyone will. Whats hard is knowing that the restaurant industry is such a difficult industry, its been such a challenging few years. Our costs are constantly going up, Masterson said. People give up. The difficulty of cutting food waste has spoiled several states attempts to ban it, and only one Massachusetts has actually succeeded, according to a study this month in the journal Science. Massachusetts did it by building one of the most extensive composting networks in the country, inspecting more often, keeping the rules simple and levying heavy fines on businesses that dont comply, the study found. That matters because food waste contributes over half the planet-warming methane emissions that come from landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Ioannis Stamatopoulos, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin and one of the study's authors, said organic waste laws in the other key states examined California, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont appeared to have little effect. I was surprised by how extreme the results were," Stamatopoulos said. To get a picture of how a states waste ban was working, the researchers corresponded with state agencies and filed public record requests to gather information about what was sent to a landfill or burned in the years before and after legislation was phased in. Then they used statistics to predict the amount of waste that should have been generated, and compared that to reality. Ning Ai, an associate professor of urban planning and policy at the University of Illinois Chicago who wasn't involved in the study, had reservations about making too much of its findings due to the imperfect data. She said she thinks food waste bans can be effective, but said they shouldn't be the only way states try to cut back on waste. States can redistribute food that may be past its expiration date but is still OK to eat, or divert food headed to landfills to animals instead, for example. Weslynne Ashton, a professor of environmental management and sustainability at the Illinois Institute of Technology who also wasn't involved in the study, was more impressed, calling it a very comprehensive analysis on a very complex problem. I think what they demonstrate is that having a policy is fine, but unless you have the infrastructure and the incentive and a way to enforce compliance, then youre not really doing anything, Ashton said. That's something state waste management officials know firsthand. Rhode Island, for instance, first instituted its commercial waste ban in 2016. Private interests subsequently invested significantly in an anaerobic digester, a facility used to convert food waste into biofuels, that could take in food diverted from landfills. But they had a harder time converting peoples behavior. Rhode Island is now working on an updated solid waste management plan slated for completion by 2026. I think without investment in education and enforcement, you will get so far, said David McLaughlin, who works on sustainability initiatives including organics diversion at the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. I think that needs to be a part of it. And thus far it hasn't been." The researchers also found California to be one of the states whose effort to cut food waste failed. California depends on local governments to meet food waste diversion goals. About two years ago after the time period the study evaluated the state started evaluating jurisdictions. If they aren't complying, the state makes a plan to make them do so. But penalties on businesses themselves are up to the discretion of the local government, and fines for businesses that aren't complying could only take effect starting this past January. California is also one of the only states to have passed legislation targeted at food waste from individuals as well as commercial sources. About 60% of food waste in landfills comes from commercial sources, but the other 40% comes from households, the researchers said. Ashton, the IIT environmental management professor, thinks cracking down on businesses who refuse to change their behavior could be more important than enticing change by providing outreach, resources and education about reducing food waste. Unfortunately, I think the threat of enforcement and fines it is very effective, she said. ___ This story has been corrected to show that investment in the Rhode Island anaerobic digester came from private interests, not the state. ___ Follow Melina Walling on X, formerly known as Twitter, @MelinaWalling. ___ 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. The lithographs signed by Salvador Dali were discovered in a London garage (BENJAMIN CREMEL) (BENJAMIN CREMEL/AFP/AFP) Eleven lithographs signed by the Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali sparked an auction battle on Monday after being stored and forgotten in a London garage for about 50 years. The prints, which were found as the seller cleaned up his lock-up in the upmarket Mayfair area, had been bought in the 1970s at an art gallery closing down sale for 500. Chris Kirkham, associate director of auction house Hansons Richmond, said each lot exceeded its guide price of between 500 to 700 ($670 to $935). The most sought-after -- an abstract colour lithograph of nude figures, a limited edition print signed by the artist himself -- was sold for 4,900. Dali's 1929 portrait of French poet Paul Eluard sold for a staggering 13.5 million at Sotheby's in London in 2011. But Kirkham told AFP that demand for the lithographs, even at a lower price, had been "exceptional", with worldwide interest. "They sort of tick a lot of boxes. You've got a heavyweight artist that has an enduring appeal. They're vibrant and colourful which makes them commercial and I think they're probably fit in anyone's home," he said. "And they're nice and big, and they're decorative, so they've got a good mixture of things." The sale was an example of how online bidding had allowed more private buyers a chance to buy art at competitive prices, he added. "We have one lady that bought three today," he said. "She saw them from the advertisements and she just wants them for her home on the wall which is great which is nice because previously 10 years ago auctions would only really sell largely 80 to 90 percent to trade, then they would resell them." video-phz/jwp/ach Yesterday morning, as she lay in her hospital bed recovering from a hysterectomy, the news on BBC breakfast made Jenny Lears* blood turn cold. The segment described how some women treated by Newson Health, a series of private clinics helmed by Dr Louise Newson, the celebrity menopause doctor, had been prescribed alarmingly high levels of HRT leading to complications including the womb lining thickening, which can be a precursor to cancer, heavy bleeding and severe mood swings. The Care Quality Commission (CQC), Englands health watchdog, is now looking into information of concern raised by allegations from more than a dozen women, which feature in a BBC Panorama documentary, The Menopause Industry Uncovered, which aired on Monday night. Last year, the British Menopause Society removed Dr Newson from its register of specialists, as aspects of her practice were incompatible with established guidance. It has not been made clear whether she will ever be reinstated. Newson Health says that Dr Newson has previously requested evidence as to why the decision was taken to remove her accreditation over a year ago, despite her completing all required training and exceeding other requirements. Unfortunately, she is yet to receive a satisfactory response. Lear, 45, now fears she could be among that group allegedly given high and potentially damaging doses. Originally, she had sought help at a Newson clinic when she was 42, for hot flushes and mood swings, and was prescribed a high dose of oestrogen one that later she claims rang alarm bells with her GP. I felt stuck between a rock and a hard place, she says of trying to decide between the varying guidance of NHS and private practitioners. The pain in her pelvis, she says, was so intense that I was struggling day to day to just even function. I was quite unstable emotionally at that point. So she continued on four pumps of oestrogen gel each day (Menopause Support UK says the normal starting point is one or two pumps daily), returned to private care, and was told by a Newson Health clinician that her pain was being triggered by the thickening of her womb lining (a condition called adenomyosis), for which a hysterectomy was the most suitable treatment. (The NHS advises that a hysterectomy can cure adenomyosis, but will only be considered if all other treatments have failed and you do not want to have any more children.) Less than 24 hours after her surgery, Lear discovered that Dr Newson, who has rubbed shoulders with high-profile menopause advocates such as Davina McCall, Lorraine Kelly, Penny Lancaster and Mariella Frostrup, was under the microscope after a number of patients at her clinic (such as Rachel Osmond, who features in the documentary) spoke up about being prescribed what they consider to be excessive doses of HRT. Dr Newson (front left) alongside Mariella Frostrup, Carolyn Harris MP, Penny Lancaster and Davina McCall demonstrating against prescription charges for HRT in 2021 - Steve Parsons/PA Archive As such, Lear is entering her recovery with a singular goal: To help me understand whether all of this heavy bleeding and thickening of the womb, and all the pelvic pain Ive had that came on since Ive started having HRT, has been caused [by the dosage], she says. Ultimately, the question I need to answer is: have I just had a hysterectomy because Ive had too much HRT? Following the allegations made in the documentary, the CQC said in a statement that were in contact with [Newson Health] about those concerns. Were currently following up to understand if there are any risks to people using the service and if further action is warranted. Rachel Osmond, a former patient of Dr Newsons, told Panorama that her oestrogen dose was increased to three times the licensed level - BBC In response, Newson Health said that it had addressed all points raised by the CQC and has not been notified of any resulting concerns. Newson Health is confident in the quality of care it provides and maintains a CQC Good rating. Still, the allegations have shattered Dr Newsons superhero status, and begun her 34-date national tour on particularly sour footing. In recent years, she has become an ardent campaigner for more women to be prescribed HRT. She believes the current prescribing rates are completely inadequate (around two million women in the UK take it), and are, in her view, equivalent to medical gaslighting. Praise for Dr Newson has rarely been less than emphatic. Hailed as the medic who kickstarted the menopause revolution, her specialist clinic in Stratford-upon-Avon calls itself the largest in the world, with a waiting list of 10,000. She has also opened a handful of other clinics across Britain, from Harrogate to Bournemouth. Dr Newsons menopause support app has been downloaded more than one million times; she hosts a weekly podcast; and her Definitive Guide to Perimenopause and Menopause became a bestseller after being released (and endorsed by Joe Wicks and Holly Willoughby) last year. Excessive levels of HRT can lead to complications including thickening of the womb lining, which can be a precursor to cancer, heavy bleeding and severe mood swings - Svetikd/E+ In spite of her celebrity status, these allegations have ushered in a dark cloud. The Panorama documentary notes that menopause has become a multibillion-pound global industry (Dr Newson charges 295 per appointment), in part fuelled by what many describe as a dearth of support from the NHS. An investigation by The Mail on Sunday found that NHS specialists prescribe oestrogen above the recommended dose to around 1 per cent of patients, while sources close to Dr Newsons clinic say as many as one in five of its patients are prescribed HRT above this level. When The Telegraph asked about high-dose prescriptions, Newson Health said that it utilises a wealth of clinical experience and data, as well as the best available scientific evidence, to treat every patient on an individualised basis and provide the best possible menopause care. HRT involves replenishing oestrogen levels in the body, along with progesterone to keep the lining of the womb thin, to reduce the risk of womb cancer, explains Dr Aarthi Sinha, a GP and ambassador for the Issviva menopause platform. Oestrogen is generally safe, but risks can include increased incidence of womb and breast cancer, blood clots and higher blood pressure, all of which become more likely the higher the dose and the duration of the treatment. Paula Briggs, the chairman of the British Menopause Society, says, The way some people are using HRT at the moment feels out of control. In the 30 years that Ive been treating menopausal women, Ive never known anything like this. Paula Briggs, chairman of the British Menopause Society, says HRT use is out of control One woman who sought help from Dr Newson (prior to her mainstream fame) says she began treatment on the highest licensed dose of Evorel (an oestrogen patch), at which point I started to deteriorate I was starting to feel really anxious, she recalls. It was getting worse rather than getting better. When she raised these concerns with Dr Newson at her three-month review, her prescription was doubled; a year on, I started to unravel mentally and ended up suicidal, and then started to bleed, but then I started to flood. So it started to just literally fall out everywhere. A further visit to her GP where she was asked, What are you doing on all this HRT? then led to them insisting that she be checked for cancer, and her dosage lowered. When she later asked Dr Newson for her medical notes, the patient says there was no explanation as to why she had been started on such a high dose, or why it had been doubled and that her efforts to raise a complaint have failed to receive a response in writing. Im just not getting anywhere, they just ignore you. Its just awful really, really, really, really awful. The company responded to the allegations by saying, In respect of patient confidentiality, Newson Health would not comment on individual cases. Consistent with national recommendations, Newson Health approaches the decision to prescribe HRT with each patient on an individualised basis. For now, it is for the watchdog to conclude whether there is more to be done. But suffice to say that those in the audience of Dr Newsons shows will likely be seeing their menopause messiah in a different light. *Name has been changed 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. On a day when isolated nations get their say at the UN, North Korea reups condemnation of US UNITED NATIONS (AP) North Korea condemned the United States and its allies Monday for stirring up military confrontations still further" by engaging in war games in the Asia-Pacific region and talking unceasingly about regime change in the diplomatically isolated nation. U.N. Ambassador Kim Song said North Korea was taking unspecified steps to defend itself better. The words from Kim, while sharp, did not appear to represent any notable departure from Pyongyang's usual rhetoric. He spoke on the final day of the U.N. General Assembly's high-level meeting of world leaders a day when some of the world's most diplomatically isolated nations took the rostrum alongside a diverse roster of leaders from nations like Canada and the United Arab Emirates. Kim said the United States, trying to dominate world affairs, was not acting fairly to the community of nations and was misusing the ostensibly multilateral United Nations for its own ends. They are stirring up military confrontations still further, Kim said, accusing Washington of hypocrisy another common charge from North Korea. Who has developed and used nuclear weapons for the first time in human history? ... Who is talking unceasingly about the end of a regime of a sovereign state? He added: The United Nations is misused for the political aims of an individual country. Such realities should no longer be tolerated and allowed. As he spoke, a lone U.S. diplomat intently scrawled notes on paper. Asked later for a response, the U.S. State Department said it was the North with its own nuclear weapons program that was raising the temperature of discord surrounding the Korean Peninsula. There are a number of valuable discussions we seek to have with the DPRK, including on reducing the risk of inadvertent military conflict on the peninsula, the State Department said in a statement, using an abbreviation for the Norths formal name, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. But instead of engagement in such discussions, we have seen a marked increase in the scope and scale of DPRK provocations, which have only served to raise regional tensions and increase the risk of accident or unintentional escalation, the statement said. North Korea is responding to U.S.-South Korea drills U.S. and South Korean troops held a large-scale exercise last month aimed at strengthening their combined defense capabilities against nuclear-armed North Korea, which again accused the allies of practicing an invasion. The annual summertime exercise came amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula as the pace of both North Koreas weapons demonstrations and the U.S.-South Korea combined military exercises have intensified. At the time, the North released a statement calling the exercises provocative war drills and said they justified Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. In a rebuttal later in the assembly hall, a South Korean diplomat called the North's claims groundless and said its pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles was the root of the tensions. It is our duty, like any member state, to protect the lives and safety of our people from the DPRK's military threat by maintaining a robust South Korea-U.S. combined defense and deterrence posture, deputy U.N. Ambassador Sangijn Kim said. The U.S. State Department said the military exercises were routine and defensive in nature. Kim's speech resembled his previous one at the same lectern last year, when he said the United States was trying to provoke a nuclear war. He also said that Pyongyang was bolstering its defenses to match the hegemony it says threatens it. We continue to increase our war deterrence capabilities," Kim said. The 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice instead of a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula divided and technically still in a state of war. Some players weren't there to speak Notably absent from the 190 speakers who addressed the assembly over six days: representatives from Myanmar and Afghanistan, both of which are in U.N. limbo after new regimes took over in recent years. Afghanistan wasn't totally absent from the debate Monday. Irish Foreign Minister Sean Fleming demanded a non-negotiable commitment to gender equality there. And Canada's foreign minister criticized the ruling Taliban for their restrictive policies toward women and the impact such laws have on Afghan society. The Taliban," Melanie Joly said, cannot make international law disappear through simple decrees. On a morning peppered with denunciations of hegemony, Burkina Fasos top diplomat said the U.N.s treasured concept of multilateralism broad-scale decision-making that gives all countries a voice on the issues facing the planet is exhausted, its reputation neutered, time and time again, by predatory actions by certain member states who have decided that they are the masters of the world. The harmony and cohesion of our world is at stake, Foreign Minister Karamoko Jean Marie Traore said. Wed like to appeal to the powers of our world to prioritize an inclusive global governance which is rid of hegemonizing visions. And if we can do that, the U.N.s glory will again be restored. Less powerful nations criticize U.N., West Syrian Foreign Minister Bassam Sabbagh, who represents another relatively isolated nation, also said the U.N.'s brand of multilateralism has stopped working if, he said, it ever had. He cited what he called terrorist crimes of Israel since Hamas attacked Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel responded swiftly and fiercely in Gaza. Israel says it is only defending itself. Chaos is spreading, Sabbagh said. All that has happened has revealed the true intentions of the collective West. The United States has prevented the (Security) Council from fulfilling its responsibility to confront threats to international peace and security. Said the United Arab Emirates' foreign minister, Shekh Shakhboot Nahyan al-Nahyan, on the same topic: Even wars have rules. Meanwhile, the foreign minister of Nicaragua, Valdrack Ludwing Jaentschke Whitaker, said small nations like his would never back down even in the face of major powers. To our invaders, those interventionists that are dressed in sheepskin, that have the faces of wolves," he said, "we are peoples rich in culture, resources and community models. We are rich in values that have been disowned, distorted, slandered or worn down. We will not allow ourselves to be converted into needy beggars. ___ See more of APs coverage of the U.N. General Assembly at https://apnews.com/hub/united-nations DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) Since opening in 1959, Dayton Barber College has put thousands of students to work. We have been the first and leading barber college in the Dayton area, and we offer an accredited program to all of our students. We are privately owned, says Director Malisa Helenberger. Its a year-long program, and they enroll students weekly. Sometimes theyll come here, and their grandpa went here, and their dad went here. And sometimes we have brothers here, states Helenberger. So many people think they got to grow up, and their parents tell them they got to get the job. And this is not a job. This is a career to find something that you absolutely love. For nearly 20 years, Mike Long has been one of the instructors giving students hands-on experience. I tell these guys its a great profession because you get to schedule your job around your life instead of your life around your job, states Long. Check out Skills 2 Succeed! Students work on real clients. Getting ready to graduate, Parker Liette says what he wanted to do wasnt always clear-cut. Before barber school, I was actually going to be an engineer. I was going to go to college, says Liette. Dayton Barber College fast-tracked his career. I would have started my career at like 23. Now Im starting it at 19, so its kind of cool. I mean, by the time I could have gotten out of college, Im already going to be making six figures, says Liette. For Sarah Orick, its a passion she gets paid for. It doesnt feel like a job at all. I mean, I get to work my hands, I get to create things. I get to make people feel really good about themselves, states Orick. Making people feel good, students get the experience they need to enter an ever-growing industry. Click here for more information. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDTN.com. DC police identify man killed in shooting near Nats Park during game WASHINGTON (DC News Now) The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has released the name of the man who was shot and killed near Nationals Park just minutes after the first pitch on Friday. Police identified the man as 28-year-old Marc Butler Jr., of no fixed address. 1 dead, 3 injured after shooting in Southeast DC On Sept. 27, just before 6:45 p.m., D.C. police officers were called to the 1300 block of South Capitol Street, Southwest, after gunshots were heard in the area. As officers canvassed, they were flagged down for a man with gunshot wounds. Responders took the man, Butler Jr., to the hospital, where he later died. Anyone with information is asked to call MPD (202) 727-9099 or text the departments tip line at 50411. Tips can remain anonymous. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. When is the deadline to vote in Indiana? How to register for the 2024 presidential election Time is winding down to register to vote in the Nov. 5, 2024, General Election. About 66.5% of Hoosiers are registered to vote, making for one of the lowest showings in the country, according to KKF, the health policy research organization formerly known as The Kaiser Family Foundation. Here are key deadlines for Indiana residents to register to vote for the 2024 General Election. For information, visit indianavoters.in.gov. Marion County voting stickers sit Tuesday, May 7, 2024, on a table inside Stanley Strader Park, formerly Bethel Park, on the Indianapolis' southeast side. Indiana 2024 voter registration deadlines In-person at local election office: Oct. 7, close of business. (Certain military voters and their family members may have until noon on Nov. 5. ) Online: Oct. 7 (Online registration requires a valid Indiana driver's license or state-issued ID card.) By mail: postmarked by Oct. 7 Indiana 2024 absentee ballot deadlines Request ballot: Must be received by Oct. 24, 11:59 p.m. Return ballot by mail: Must be received by Nov. 5, close of polls Return ballot in person: Nov. 5, close of polls 2024 early voting in Indiana Early voting (in-person absentee voting) takes occurs Oct. 8 - Nov. 4 How to check your Indiana voter registration status An Indiana resident can check the status of their voter registration at indianavoters.in.gov. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Election 2024: Indiana voting registration deadlines. What to know An Israeli strike hit residential buildings sheltering displaced Lebanese people in the village Maaysrah, north of Beirut An Israeli strike hit residential buildings sheltering displaced Lebanese people in the village Maaysrah, north of Beirut By Timour Azhari and AbdelHadi Ramahi MAAYSRAH, Lebanon (Reuters) - The Amro family household in Lebanon's lush Keserwan mountains had become a refuge for families who wanted to stay outside the line of fire of creeping war in the country's south. By Sept. 25, more than 50 people from three families had gathered in two buildings at the centre of Maaysrah, a Shi'ite Muslim village in the heart of the Christian mountains never attacked by Israel throughout its wars with Lebanon and therefore thought to be safe. On that day, just after 11 a.m., Israeli warplanes struck the location, killing 16 people - two men and 14 women and children - according to family members, local officials and medical sources. More than 30 people were wounded, about half of them children. The buildings included the residence of a Hezbollah fighter who was killed in battle in August, and a former fighter who had lost a leg in battle was there at the time, but no active combatants were present, local officials said. The attack is part of a broader pattern of Israeli airstrikes that have resulted in growing civilian casualties amid an expanding scope of operations, according to Lebanese health ministry figures. Officials close to Hezbollah claim these attacks amount to collective punishment aimed at turning the group's Shi'ite Muslim support base against them. Responding to inquiries, the Israeli military said in a statement it operates "in strict accordance with international law [and] takes all feasible precautions in order to mitigate harm to civilians". It said that Hezbollah embeds military infrastructure in civilian areas and that Israel attempts to evacuate civilians before attacks. The statement did not specifically address the Maaysrah strike. Hezbollah denies placing rockets in civilian areas. Recent strikes have resulted in high civilian casualties, including one on Ain Delb near southern Sidon on Sunday that killed 45 people, many of whom were displaced from other areas, according to the Lebanese health ministry and local officials. Israeli strikes across Lebanon have killed more than 1,640 people in just under a year of fighting, the majority in the past two weeks, including 104 children and 194 women, according to government figures. About 50 Israel soldiers and civilians have been killed in the same time in Israel, according to Israeli officials. Lebanon does not provide a breakdown of civilians and combatants. FIRE AND SCREAMING Many of those gathered in Maaysrah had fled months back, leaving the southern bordertown of Houla to stay with their relatives amid an expansion of the second front opened by Hezbollah against Israel on Oct. 8, the day after the Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war. Others had arrived in the hours before the attack, fleeing areas where they had first sought refuge as the conflict turned to war and Israel struck Lebanon with an unprecedented ferocity. Ali Koteich was in fitful sleep in one of the rooms when he heard a whistle and felt a huge blast. "I got up and opened the door and there was nothing anymore, the walls were on the floor and there was fire and people and screaming," the teenager, who sought refuge there months back, told Reuters. "There were more than 12 kids, and we started to remove pieces, some other pieces, some were whole, some had parts missing. Some burned," he said at Maritime Hospital in coastal Jbeil where relatives were being treated. His grandmother and niece died, his parents and siblings were wounded. Maaysrah Mayor Zuhair Amro said the buildings with six apartments included the residence of Ali Amro, the Hezbollah fighter killed in Houla in August. Tuesday's strike killed his widow and two of his young children, Zuhair Amro said. "The aim is to wipe the family off of the civil registry," he said, denying Hezbollah had any military infrastructure that posed a threat to Israel in the area. "They want to destroy families like they did in Gaza," he said. Israel did not comment on this assertion. WORST SCENARIO In the paediatrics section of the Jbeil hospital, 4-year-old Qassem Hussein lay in a bed with cuts and burns on his arms and face and a fractured thigh. He will need surgery, doctors said. His father was killed. His mother was in the intensive care unit. "I have no words," said an aunt sitting by his side, hard eyes trained on the child. "We can't take this anymore." Several people remain in critical condition, including an 11-year-old child "who arrived with his brain coming out of his head," doctor Dany Kattar said. "It's the worst scenario I saw in my life... I saw tears in the eyes of my staff," Kattar said. (Reporting by Timour Azhari and Abdelhadi Ramahi; Editing by Angus MacSwan) Cattle roam in a pasture near Killdeer in southwest North Dakota. (Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor) A North Dakota rancher and a partner are poised to pay about $15.7 million for a beef marketing company that became a Ponzi scheme and owes millions of dollars to investors. Wylie Bice of Killdeer says he expects to close on the purchase of Agridime, now doing business as American Grazed Beef, in a couple of weeks. But he added that his business, Sheer Marketing LLC, already has been buying calves in North Dakota and other states to process into steaks and other cuts of beef next year. American Grazed Beef sells beef and other products directly to consumers through its website. A court hearing to approve the sale is Oct. 7. Objections can be made until Oct. 2, according to an update posted on the Agridime website Wednesday. The update comes from court-appointed receiver Stephen Fahey, who has been overseeing Agridime operations since federal investigators labeled it as a Ponzi scheme. A court recently confirmed that Agridime acted as a Ponzi scheme, raising money from new investors to pay off previous investors, eventually leading to the companys financial collapse. A complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission that was unsealed in December 2023 alleged that Texas-based Agridime had raised at least $191 million from more than 2,100 investors in at least 15 states. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The North Dakota Securities Commission has said North Dakota investors are owed about $40 million, more than any other state where Agridime operated. Bice is among those who are owed money by Agridime, which promised high returns on investments in the cattle industry without having to do any of the work. There also are ranchers who delivered cattle to Agridime but were never paid. Fahey said the $15.7 million purchase price may change as the company continues to sell frozen beef under the American Grazed Beef name. The purchase agreement also includes the new owners giving 20% of the profits from the company over five years to the receiver to help pay off investors who are still owed money. Bice said it may be years before they begin to collect at least some of what they are owed. The purchase includes the companys frozen meat supply, the companys equipment, and land in Kansas and Illinois. Bice said the land and some other assets will likely be sold. The company will work with feedlots in Kansas and a meat processor in Texas. It will have warehouse space in Kansas and Texas. Bice does not expect to move any business operations to North Dakota. But he said he already has bought calves from producers in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Minnesota and other states. Just buying from the old customers, Bice said, referring to ranchers that sold to Agridime. He said an initial goal will be to build up cattle processing again so that by next year the company is processing five to six semi-loads of cattle a week, with each load holding 37 to 40 head of cattle. He said he has been impressed with the marketing and direct sales part of the business, with sales up about 38% since the beginning of the year. For now, he said the only partner in the business will be Randy Quarne in Texas. Bice and Quarne had previously operated a trucking business together. Bice said there may be an opportunity for others to buy shares of the business down the road. We need to run it a couple of years, just to see what it will do, Bice said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE People toss buckets of water out of a home as the streets and homes are flooded near Peachtree Creek after hurricane Helene brought in heavy rains over night on Sept. 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Hurricane Helene made landfall late Thursday night as a category 4 hurricane in the pan handle of Florida and is working its way north, it is now considered a tropical storm. (Photo by Megan Varner | Getty Images) Hurricane Helene has killed at least 15 people in Georgia, including a first responder, and others were still trapped inside of buildings midday Friday in the hardest-hit areas. At this time, this has been a deadly storm, Gov. Brian Kemp said during a briefing Friday. When we ask people to stay off the roads and be patient, its because we are trying to get to people. Its a very dangerous environment, and one of our finest has lost his life trying to save others. Kemp said there are multiple structures where people are trapped inside. In Valdosta, 115 buildings have been identified that were heavily damaged, some with people still inside as of midday Friday. Well have to literally cut our way into situations like this, he said. Kemp declined to provide details about the states fatalities, other than to say they were all in the storms path. Next of kin is still being notified, he said. The states death toll had reached 15 as of Friday evening, said the governors spokesman, Garrison Douglas. The first responder who died was a part-time assistant fire chief in Blackshear named Vernon Leon Davis who was killed when a tree fell on his truck, Jacksonville-based First Coast News reported. He had been clearing downed trees and power lines. The death toll from the storm was approaching 100 people throughout the region, according to the Associated Press. I had to get out and see what was going on in my community and yall, it has been devastating, U.S. Rep. Rick Allen, an Augusta Republican, said at a Friday press conference in Augusta, adding that a dear friend had been killed by a tree that fell on their home. Helene barreled through Georgia during the night and left about 1 million locations without power in the state. The storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane at a little after 11 p.m. in Taylor County, Florida, with 140-mph winds. It remained a hurricane until 5 a.m. Friday about six hours after landfall, said Ken Graham, director of the National Weather Service. At six hours, it was still a hurricane, doing quite a bit of damage into Georgia as well, Graham said. The tropical storm force winds were sustained all the way to upstate South Carolina, which is really just amazing, the extent of the winds in the storm. At several times, the tropical storm force winds extended 350 miles or so away from the center, which is pretty staggering. Preliminary analysis shows as much as 11 inches of rain in parts of the affected area, including Georgia. The full scope of the storm was still being assessed in Fridays daylight, but Kemp said that initial reports suggest the damage will likely be worse than Hurricane Michael, which devastated the states agriculture industry in 2018. We know its one of the widest wind fields ever in the Atlantic, which made it a statewide event for us here in Georgia. Weve got a lot of work to do. Weve got a lot of damage to assess, Kemp said. Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said Friday that east of I-75 were seeing significant damage to agriculture in all commodities. Kemp urged people to stay home if possible while crews work in the storms aftermath and warned Georgians not to become complacent as the skies clear. For people in the metro area, it is still very dangerous out there. The loss of life that weve seen, a lot of it has been by falling trees because of saturated ground, and even though the winds are starting to die down, theres still trees literally falling, he said. To illustrate the point, Kemp said a tree fell across the driveway at the governors mansion shortly after he left for the state operations center. In north Georgia, the risk of flooding also remains as the states waterways continue to rise for the next day or so. Georgia Recorder reporter Ross Williams contributed to this report. This story was originally produced by the Georgia Recorder 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. KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The surge of Chinese tourists visiting Malaysia showcases strong affinity for Malaysia and speaks strongly of the close people-to-people ties between the two countries, a Malaysian official with the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC) told Xinhua on Monday. From January to August 2024, Malaysia has welcomed 2,285,785 Chinese tourists, representing a significant 160 percent growth compared to the same period last year, said Lee Thai Hung, deputy director general of Tourism Malaysia, an agency under MOTAC. "This surge in arrivals from China is a clear indication of the strong bonds between our nations, especially with the introduction of visa-free entry for Chinese travelers to Malaysia, effective Dec. 1, 2023 until Dec. 31, 2026," he said. "For half a century, Malaysia and China have enjoyed a relationship built on mutual respect, shared interests, and cultural affinities. Our diplomatic ties have paved the way for extensive cooperation in various fields, including trade, education, and tourism," Lee said. Lee explained that the signing of two key agreements to promote cooperation in tourism and cultural fields between Malaysia and China in June 2024 opened a new chapter in related areas and paved the way for the multinational nomination to inscribe the element of lion dance on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. "For the tourism industry, we will strengthen cooperation in areas such as promotion and marketing, increased air connectivity, business tourism, and the development of community-based and eco-tourism initiatives," he said, adding that the continued growth of Chinese tourists will play a crucial role in achieving the goals of Visit Malaysia 2026 campaign and further strengthening the economic ties between Malaysia and China. "As we celebrate our 50 years of diplomatic relations, let us look forward to many more years of fruitful cooperation and cultural exchange," Lee said. RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) Countless homes, businesses and roadways were washed away in North Carolina during the wrath of Hurricane Helene and now 56 lives have been lost, according to a Monday afternoon update from Buncombe County officials. Buncombe County has reported 40 deaths in their county alone. On a national level, over 130 deaths have been reported in total to CBS as of Monday night. Later Monday afternoon, President Joe Biden announced that he will visit the state Wednesday for a briefing and an aerial survey of the damage in Asheville and surrounding areas, according to the Associated Press. Biden will first be in Raleigh for a briefing from state and local officials, the AP said, before taking an aerial tour of Asheville. PREVIOUS: Unprecedented tragedy: 35+ now dead in NC; new video shows I-40 destruction Governor Cooper also surveyed the damage from above Monday in the Asheville area and gathered with state and federal leaders from FEMA, NCDOT, NCDPS, NCDHHS and NC Emergency Management. The group came together to assess storm damage and ongoing response efforts in the western portion of the state where more than 450,000 customers remain without power. This is down from the peak of more than 1 million. Travel remains dangerous, according to Governor Coopers office, with more than 400 roads closed in the region. NCDOT is asking people to refrain from unnecessary travel to or in western North Carolina. The focus is on restoring primary roads and access to communities that have been isolated by damage, a release said Monday. 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 CBS17.com. PERRY, Fla. (AP) Authorities struggled to get water and other supplies to isolated, flood-stricken areas across the U.S. Southeast in the wake of Hurricane Helene as the death toll from the storm rose. A North Carolina county that includes the mountain city of Asheville reported 30 people killed due to the storm, and several other fatalities reported in North Carolina Sunday pushed the overall death toll to at least 91 people across several states. How to help victims of Hurricane Helene Supplies were being airlifted to the region around the isolated city. Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder pledged that she would have food and water into Ashville which is known for its arts, culture and natural attractions by Monday. We hear you. We need food and we need water, Pinder said on a Sunday call with reporters. My staff has been making every request possible to the state for support and weve been working with every single organization that has reached out. What I promise you is that we are very close. Boats sit after being pushed ashore by floodwaters from Hurricane Helene on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson) Residents clean contents of their home after flooding from Hurricane Helene on Davis Island Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson) People move debris from a damaged home in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephen Smith) Dennis Johnson cleans out debris from his mother-in-laws heavily damaged home in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Destruction is seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephen Smith) Frankie Johnson, left, and her husband, Mark Johnson, talk with fellow resident Charlene Huggins, right, amid the destruction in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Tammy Bryan, left, hugs fellow resident Jennifer Lange amid the destruction in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Elsie Hicks looks at the destruction of the home she has loved in for 25 years, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Ashlie Salliotte, left, hugs Janet Sams, right, at Sams flood-damaged home along River Road, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Newport, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) Joe Daum looks at the remains of a friends home that burned during Hurricane Helene on Davis Island Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson) Vehicles move slowly around trees that have fallen after of Hurricane Helene moved through the area, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Valdosta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart) Officials warned that rebuilding from the widespread loss of homes and property would be lengthy and difficult. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast. Deaths also were reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. North Carolina governor predicts the death toll will rise as rescuers reach isolated areas North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper predicted the toll would rise as rescuers and other emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding. He implored residents in western North Carolina to avoid travel, both for their own safety and to keep roads clear for emergency vehicles. More than 50 search teams spread throughout the region in search of stranded people. One rescue effort involved saving 41 people north of Asheville. Another mission focused on saving a single infant. The teams found people through both 911 calls and social media messages, North Carolina National Guard Adjutant General Todd Hunt said. President Joe Biden described the impact of the storm as stunning and said he would visit the area this week as long as it does not disrupt rescues or recovery work. Hurricane Helene roared ashore late Thursday in Floridas Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph (225 kph) winds. A weakened Helene quickly moved through Georgia, then soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains that flooded creeks and rivers and strained dams. There have been hundreds of water rescues, including in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from a hospital rooftop Friday. More than 2 million homeowners and other utility customers were still without power Sunday night. South Carolina had the most outages and Gov. Henry McMaster asked for patience as crews dealt with widespread snapped power poles. We want people to remain calm. Help is on the way, it is just going to take time, McMaster told reporters outside the airport in Aiken County. Begging for help in North Carolina as that help is slow to arrive The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. One community, Spruce Pine, was doused with over 2 feet (61 centimeters) of rain from Tuesday through Saturday. Jessica Drye Turner in Texas had begged for someone to rescue her family members stranded on their rooftop in Asheville amid rising floodwaters. They are watching 18-wheelers and cars floating by, Turner wrote in an urgent Facebook post on Friday. Injured cat rescued from NE Ohio highway by trooper gets fur-ever home But in a follow-up message Saturday, Turner said help had not arrived in time to save her parents, both in their 70s, and her 6-year-old nephew. The roof collapsed and the three drowned. I cannot convey in words the sorrow, heartbreak and devastation my sisters and I are going through, she wrote. The state was sending water supplies and other items toward Buncombe County and Asheville, but mudslides blocking Interstate 40 and other highways prevented supplies from making it. The countys own water supplies were on the other side of the Swannanoa River, away from where most of the 270,000 people in Buncombe County live, officials said. Law enforcement was making plans to send officers to places that still had water, food or gas because of reports of arguments and threats of violence, the county sheriff said. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell toured south Georgia on Sunday and planned to be in North Carolina Monday. Its still very much an active search and rescue mission in western North Carolina, Criswell said. And we know that theres many communities that are cut off just because of the geography of the mountains, where damage to roads and bridges have cut off certain areas. Biden on Saturday pledged federal government help for Helenes overwhelming devastation. He also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina, making federal funding available for affected individuals. Storm-battered Florida digs out, residents gather for church In Floridas Big Bend, some lost nearly everything they own. With sanctuaries still darkened as of Sunday morning, some churches canceled regular services while others like Faith Baptist Church in Perry opted to worship outside. Standing water and tree debris still covers the grounds of Faith Baptist Church. The church called on parishioners to come pray for our community in a message posted to the congregations Facebook page. We have power. We dont have electricity, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church parishioner Marie Ruttinger said. Our God has power. Thats for sure. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday that it looked like a bomb went off after viewing splintered homes and debris-covered highways from the air. In eastern Georgia near the border with South Carolina, officials notified Augusta residents Sunday morning that water service would be shut off for 24 to 48 hours in the city and surrounding Richmond County. A news release said trash and debris from the storm blocked our ability to pump water. Officials were distributing bottled water. With at least 25 killed in South Carolina, Helene was the deadliest tropical cyclone for the state since Hurricane Hugo made landfall north of Charleston in 1989, killing 35 people. Moodys Analytics said it expects $15 billion to $26 billion in property damage. Climate change has exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones sometimes within 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 Fox 8 Cleveland WJW. Candidates to represent Maine in the U.S. Congress will soon take the debate stage, starting this week. Clockwise from top left: U.S. Sen. Angus King, Demi Kouzounas, David Costello, Jason Cherry, Ron Russell, Ethan Alcorn, Austin Theriault, U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree. (Official candidate photos) Debates for Maines three federal races kick off this week, starting with a series of face-offs for the two candidates vying to represent Maines 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Incumbent U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat, will take the stage with Republican state Rep. Austin Theriault Thursday night for a debate hosted by WGME-TV and the Bangor Daily News. This is the first in a series of three debates the candidates will have over the course of the next week and a half. While 2nd District voters will be able to see at least one debate before in-person absentee voting starts Oct. 7, candidates for the 1st Congressional District and the U.S. Senate wont debate until weeks after absentee voting is underway. While each television station and its partners have their own policies for hosting debates, Jon Small, the news director for WABI in Bangor, said televised debates start as a discussion among newsroom leadership about which races are rising to the top in a given election year. This year, that was the House race in the 2nd District. In a perfect world, I would do debates for all the races, Small said, but he noted that they take extensive planning and resources. Even if a race doesnt get a debate, Small said the station airs candidate profiles and other election information that can help viewers stay informed about who is running. Partnerships with other stations such as WAGM in Presque Isle also help resources go a little further because they can share content. Details about CD2 debates The other two 2nd District debates are scheduled for next week. NEWS CENTER Maine and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce will co-host one on Oct. 7 and WABI-TV and WAGM-TV will host the final face-off on Oct. 9. Golden outlined half a dozen terms for the debates including that each will last one hour without a live audience and no more than two moderators. Each candidate will be given two minutes for an opening statement and again for a closing argument with the order determined by a coin toss. The terms also emphasize a substantive debate, saying that it should focus on local and national issues such as the economy, immigration, national defense and civil and personal rights and freedoms. Goldens conditions also prohibit any rapid-fire or yes-or-no questions. Details about CD1 debates Republican candidate for Maines 1st Congressional District Ron Russell said NEWS CENTER Maine invited him to debate incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree at 7 p.m. on Oct. 17. Russell said hed like to have more than one debate, if possible, and said its horrible that the debate is scheduled after in-person absentee voting starts, given that it has the potential to influence who a voter selects. Theres a good chance that the folks I really need to reach Democrats and unenrolled may have already voted by the debate, Russell told Maine Morning Star. Russell said he reached out to Pingrees campaign about a month ago to see if the congresswoman would be interested in scheduling two or three debates. Russell is hoping the mid-October debate will provide a chance to talk about the issues that are first and foremost on Mainers minds and Americans minds, such as the economy, border security and education. Similar to some of the Senate candidates, it is not yet clear if independent candidate Ethan Alcorn will be able to participate because he only received 4% in the September Pan Atlantic Research poll. Pingrees campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Details about the Senate debates Last June, Democratic candidate David Costello challenged incumbent independent U.S. Sen. Angus King and the other two Senate contenders, Republican Demi Kouzounas and independent Jason Cherry, to a series of five 90-minute debates across the state. He suggested they start in July. Ive always thought its important to have as many town halls, debates, public forums as possible to really inform voters, Costello said. Costello had wanted the debates to begin months before in-person absentee voting, but now the candidates arent expected to debate until late October, just days before the election. Costello told Maine Morning Star the first of the two Senate debates is scheduled for Oct. 28 with WGME and the Bangor Daily News. The Maine State Chamber of Commerce is hosting the second one with NEWS CENTER Maine on Oct. 30 at the Augusta Civic Center. NEWS CENTER Maine did not respond to a request from Maine Morning Star for this story. Its still unclear which challengers will be able to square off with King at either debates. Costello said each debate has a required polling threshold to participate. While he knows hell be able to join in the first debate, which has a lower requirement, he said he is still waiting to hear about the second one because he met the requirement in one poll but is a couple percentage points shy in others. According to information candidates shared with Maine Morning Star, the polling thresholds are 5% for the WGME debate and 10% for NEWS CENTER Maine. Costello argued that he should be allowed to participate regardless of his polling numbers because hes representing one of the two major parties and received more than 54,000 votes in the Democratic primary. Cherry told Maine Morning Star he will likely be eliminated from both debates because he did not meet the polling requirements. The highest Cherry has polled thus far was 3% in an August poll from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. Amanda Post, news director for WGME in Portland, confirmed that as of Monday everyone except Cherry has qualified for the debate. However, she said that could change up to and including the day of the event if new polling emerges. Kouzounas did not respond to a request for comment, but she has polled between 23% and 33% in three polls since April enough for her to qualify for both debates. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE (File/Getty Images) If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting 988. When Pooja Mehtas younger brother, Raj, died by suicide at 19 in March 2020, she felt blindsided. Pooja Mehta, a mental health advocate, with her younger brother, Raj, who died by suicide in March 2020. Rajs death came in the midst of decades of unsuccessful attempts to lower suicide rates nationwide. Weve done a really good job at developing solutions for a part of the problem, Mehta says. But we really dont know enough. (Provided by Portia Eastman) Rajs last text message was to his college lab partner about how to divide homework questions. You dont say youre going to take questions 1 through 15 if youre planning to be dead one hour later, said Mehta, 29, a mental health and suicide prevention advocate in Arlington, Virginia. She had been trained in Mental Health First Aid a nationwide program that teaches how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illness yet she said her brother showed no signs of trouble. Mehta said some people blamed her for Rajs death because the two were living together during the COVID-19 pandemic while Raj was attending classes online. Others said her training should have helped her recognize he was struggling. But, Mehta said, we act like we know everything there is to know about suicide prevention. Weve done a really good job at developing solutions for a part of the problem, but we really dont know enough. Rajs death came in the midst of decades of unsuccessful attempts to tamp down suicide rates nationwide. During the past two decades federal officials have launched three national suicide prevention strategies, including one announced in April. The first strategy, announced in 2001, focused on addressing risk factors for suicide and leaned on a few common interventions. The next strategy called for developing and implementing standardized protocols to identify and treat people at risk for suicide with follow-up care and the support needed to continue treatment. The latest strategy builds on previous ones and includes a federal action plan calling for implementation of 200 measures over the next three years, including prioritizing populations disproportionately affected by suicide, such as Black youth and Native Americans and Alaska Natives. Despite those evolving strategies, from 2001 through 2021 suicide rates increased most years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Provisional data for 2022, the most recent numbers available, shows deaths by suicide grew an additional 3% over the previous year. CDC officials project the final number of suicides in 2022 will be higher. In the past two decades, suicide rates in rural states such as Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming have been about double those in urban areas, according to the CDC. Despite those persistently disappointing numbers, mental health experts contend the national strategies arent the problem. Instead, they argue, the policies for many reasons simply arent being funded, adopted, and used. That slow uptake was compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a broad, negative impact on mental health. A chorus of national experts and government officials agree the strategies simply havent been embraced widely, but said even basic tracking of deaths by suicide isnt universal. Surveillance data is commonly used to drive health care quality improvement and has been helpful in addressing cancer and heart disease. Yet, it hasnt been used in the study of behavioral health issues such as suicide, said Michael Schoenbaum, a senior adviser for mental health services, epidemiology, and economics at the National Institute of Mental Health. We think about treating behavioral health problems just differently than we think about physical health problems, Schoenbaum said. Without accurate statistics, researchers cant figure out who dies most often by suicide, what prevention strategies are working, and where prevention money is needed most. Many states and territories dont allow medical records to be linked to death certificates, Schoenbaum said, but NIMH is collaborating with a handful of other organizations to document this data for the first time in a public report and database due out by the end of the year. Further hobbling the strategies is the fact that federal and local funding ebbs and flows and some suicide prevention efforts dont work in some states and localities because of the challenging geography, said Jane Pearson, special adviser on suicide research to the NIMH director. Wyoming, where a few hundred thousand residents are spread across sprawling, rugged landscape, consistently ranks among the states with the highest suicide rates. State officials have worked for many years to address the states suicide problem, said Kim Deti, a spokesperson for the Wyoming Department of Health. But deploying services, like mobile crisis units, a core element of the latest national strategy, is difficult in a big, sparsely populated state. The work is not stopping but some strategies that make sense in some geographic areas of the country may not make sense for a state with our characteristics, she said. Lack of implementation isnt only a state and local government problem. Despite evidence that screening patients for suicidal thoughts during medical visits helps head off catastrophe, health professionals are not mandated to do so. Many doctors find suicide screening daunting because they have limited time and insufficient training and because they arent comfortable discussing suicide, said Janet Lee, an adolescent medicine specialist and associate professor of pediatrics at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. I think it is really scary and kind of astounding to think if something is a matter of life and death how somebody cant ask about it, she said. The use of other measures has also been inconsistent. Crisis intervention services are core to the national strategies, yet many states havent built standardized systems. Besides being fragmented, crisis systems, such as mobile crisis units, can vary from state to state and county to county. Some mobile crisis units use telehealth, some operate 24 hours a day and others 9 to 5, and some use local law enforcement for responses instead of mental health workers. Similarly, the fledgling 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline faces similar, serious problems. Only 23% of Americans are familiar with 988 and theres a significant knowledge gap about the situations people should call 988 for, according to a recent poll conducted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness and Ipsos. Most states, territories, and tribes have also not yet permanently funded 988, which was launched nationwide in July 2022 and has received about $1.5 billion in federal funding, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Anita Everett, director of the Center for Mental Health Services within SAMHSA, said her agency is running an awareness campaign to promote the system. Some states, including Colorado, are taking other steps. There, state officials installed financial incentives for implementing suicide prevention efforts, among other patient safety measures, through the states Hospital Quality Incentive Payment Program. The program hands out about $150 million a year to hospitals for good performance. In the last year, 66 hospitals improved their care for patients experiencing suicidality, according to Lena Heilmann, director of the Office of Suicide Prevention at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Experts hope other states will follow Colorados lead. And despite the slow movement, Mehta sees bright spots in the latest strategy and action plan. Although it is too late to save Raj, addressing the social drivers of mental health and suicide and investing in spaces for people to go to get help well before a crisis gives me hope, Mehta said. Whats the status of SCs suicide lifelines? Since 2022, when 988 launched nationwide, South Carolinas two 988 call centers one each operating in Greenville and Charleston have received millions in state and federal funds. Federal grants have brought in more than $8 million to support and expand the states 988 program, as part of a $1.5 billion effort nationwide. That includes nearly $2.8 million in the federal fiscal year that just ended Sept. 30, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The state Department of Mental Health is set to continue receiving funds from that grant through 2026. The federal aid is aimed at improving the number of calls, texts and chats South Carolina call center workers answer, as opposed to routing them to a different state. As of May, South Carolina call centers were answering 77% of calls to 988, according to health policy organization KFF, which tracks the numbers nationwide. That was up from 67% of calls answered in-state a year before, according to numbers included in the federal grant. In the 2023-24 state budget, legislators allocated an additional $4 million to the two call centers. That recurring annual designation, which will continue indefinitely, came after a one-time payment of $1.3 million in the previous budget. That money helped open the second call center in Charleston in 2023 to accompany the existing center in Greenville. Legislators also gave the Greenville center, run by Mental Health America of Greenville County, an extra one-time payment of $1 million last year. Other programs are also in place in an effort to reduce the number of suicides in the state. Last year, the state Medicaid agency awarded $45.5 million across 13 hospitals to build specialized emergency units for people having a mental health crisis. The specialized units are meant to help with overcrowding in the hospitals other emergency rooms and reduce wait times for people in need of psychiatric help, according to the agency. And the mental health agencys Office of Suicide Prevention trains faith leaders, school staff, realtors, government employees and anyone else interested how to identify signs that someone might be considering suicide. The idea is to have someone who can connect a neighbor, churchgoer, student or other person in the community with resources if they realize they might be having a crisis, according to the agencys website. People who dont need immediate help but want to talk to a counselor can also fill out a questionnaire on the offices website, which can then connect them to a mental health professional if needed. _By SC Daily Gazette reporter Skylar Laird Cheryl Platzman Weinstocks reporting is supported by a grant from the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation. KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFFan independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF. Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, holds up a can as his wife Usha Vance, second right, looks on at Sup Dogs restaurant during a campaign stop in Greenville, N.C., Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly said JD Vance visited a doughnut shop in Georgia in September; he visited in August. The article has been corrected. Originally moved Sept. 26. - - - Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. Presidential campaign trails are paved not just with rallies and glad-handing and stump speeches, but also with food. At diners, state fairs and deli counters, the people seeking the highest office in the land often make their case against the backdrop of burgers and pancakes and waffles and ice cream. Most of these kinds of stops are seen as easy wins, creating lighthearted, humanizing moments and memes that will be shared on social media feeds. They can, though, sometimes go very wrong. In August, Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance had a memorably awkward exchange at a Georgia doughnut shop, where the clearly uncomfortable employee asked not to be filmed and Vances ordering skills were mocked for seeming robotic. When they go well, campaign experts say, such stops can serve a few fundamental purposes. Simply put, food is the most relatable medium, says David Urban, who advised the 2016 and 2020 campaigns of former president Donald Trump. People in America connect through food, says Urban, a managing director at BGR Group. And so when they turn on the local news and they see their friends and their neighbors and they see a candidate eating where they eat, they think, Hes like me, shes like me, right? That creates a sense of connectivity. Although many of these interactions might look casual, a lot goes on behind the scenes to pull them off. To start, picking the right spot is crucial. Advance staffers, the people who travel ahead of the candidate, are usually tasked with identifying potential venues. Typically, campaigns look for iconic establishments. One of the goals of a campaign is to personalize and localize your appeal, says Kevin Madden, a senior partner at the Penta Group who was a spokesman for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romneys 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. So one of the best ways to do that is to showcase identifiable local food landmarks. Thats how Vance found himself last month ordering cheesesteaks at the legendary Pats King of Steaks in Philadelphia and takeout Italian at the beloved Tenutas Deli in Kenosha, Wis. (Both made headlines, although they mostly focused on his attempts to make jokes that landed oddly.) A campaign also might look for businesses whose owners stories jibe with the candidates messaging. On her recent visit to Savannah, Ga., Kamala Harris made stops at Dotties Market and at chef Mashama Baileys acclaimed restaurant, the Grey, both small businesses owned by Black women. If a candidate visits a chain, it usually has some specific resonance: Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz last month visited a Raleigh location of Cook Out, where Gov. Roy Cooper suggested that the two order milkshakes, a specialty of the beloved Tar Heel State-based company. And Trump earlier this year met with Black students at a Chick-fil-A location in Atlanta, where the chain is headquartered. A few cautionary tales in the annals of campaign-trail eating haunt advance staffers nightmares. Democratic nominee John F. Kerry in 2003 infamously ordered Swiss cheese on his cheesesteak at Pats in Philadelphia instead of the customary Cheez Whiz or provolone, a misstep that some say helped doom his bid by reinforcing his image as an out-of-touch elitist. Then theres the tamale that may have swung the 1976 race. Gerald Ford was running for a second term as president against Jimmy Carter, when, during a visit to San Antonio, he bit into a tamale without first removing its corn husk wrapping. Lone Star voters were aghast. I am convinced that it was that gaffe with the tamale that cost him the state of Texas, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who was then living in Texas, reportedly said. Carter won Texas and Carter won the presidency, and it may have been a tamale that did it. Campaign veterans say the best way to avoid such gaffes is to make sure a candidate has a local with them to explain the mores and traditions. That might be a friendly mayor or congressperson, or even the owner of the establishment they are visiting. (Several noted that Vance lacked a wingman on that ill-fated doughnut run.) I would never stick my candidate alone somewhere, says Robby Mook, whose campaign-trail experience includes Howard Deans 2004 run as well as Hillary Clintons in 2008 and 2016, the latter of which he managed. Nobody expects them to be from a place theyre not from, and so having somebody local with you makes it more fun and more interesting, and someone to tell you about what youre doing. You have to have a sherpa, agrees one longtime Democratic presidential advance staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to represent any campaigns. Thats somebody to have a conversation with as youre walking around, somebody to ask, Whats your bestseller, what should I order, how long its been open, whatever else. Most candidates opt to order takeout, a strategy that is only partly about keeping the always tight schedule on time. Its also about not eating in front of a phalanx of cameras. Madden says he tried to steer candidates away from potentially embarrassing shots. I would say, We might want to stay away from the corn dog station, he says. You look at all the photos of the Iowa State Fair and people eating corn dogs, its not the most flattering look. Eating in front of reporters (and regular folks with phones) offers opportunities for other gaffes, too, such as when in 2011, former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin - who was then contemplating her own presidential run, complete with a bus tour - ate pizza with a knife and fork. In a strange twist, her guide for that visit to a pizza shop in Times Square was none other than Trump, well before his more recent presidential ambitions. (Trump also got dinged for choosing a generic, touristy chain instead of one of New Yorks revered slice purveyors, with comedian Jon Stewart noting that other locations included one in Terminal 4 of the Phoenix airport.) As the veteran campaign consultant says: Its just the rules: No funny hats. No eating. Many such drop-ins are called OTRs - or off-the-records - in campaign parlance, meaning they arent necessarily listed on the candidates daily schedule thats shared with the media and the public. Sometimes it means the press pool traveling with the candidates doesnt know the destination until pulling up. Proprietors typically have more of a heads-up. Security is far more rigorous these days than in more freewheeling times, when campaign veterans remember popping into establishments 20 minutes before the candidate arrived to allow Secret Service to secure the area. Bill Penzey, the owner of Penzeys Spices, whose Pittsburgh location Harris visited this month, said someone from her campaign got in touch with him the day before. They asked him to keep the news close to the vest, he said. They said if we pull up Saturday afternoon and theres a whole lot of protesters outside, and theres 8,000 people excited to see her standing outside the store, well have to drive by, its just too massive. He notified the locations manager the next day, and he said Secret Service came about an hour and a half before Harris arrived and screened people who would be in the store when she got there. In ever-more-divisive times, its also not a given that an establishment wants a visit from a political candidate, for fear of potentially alienating half its customer base, experts say. In the case of Penzeys, the Harris campaign had reason to think they would be greeted warmly: Bill Penzey is an avowed fan of Harris and regularly calls out Republicans. Such stops might be lighthearted, but they can serve a serious function. Madden says visits to eateries along the campaign trail can act as a sort of crucible for a candidate. If they cant make it through the gantlet of diners in key primary states, there might be a problem thats bigger than a silver-dollar pancake. It exposes people and their flaws sometimes, he says. Not being able to make small talk in New Hampshire diners tracks pretty closely with your ability to win the state. But unlike a visit to, say, a manufacturing plant, the point isnt to labor over policy points, Mook says. They should actually be a fun break for the candidate and a chance for them to experience the local culture and the local food, he says. Its not some micro-targeted messaging thats going to change the race. Related Content Meet the United Auto Workers members who could swing the election Delta Air Lines to launch five more new nonstop routes from Austin in 2025 AUSTIN (KXAN) Delta Air Lines will launch five new nonstop routes from Austin in the new year, the airline announced Monday. First up will be service to Panama City, Florida, beginning March 9. Flights to Indianapolis and Memphis will start May 7, while flights to San Francisco and Tampa will launch June 8. All of the new routes will operate year-round with daily flights. The Panama City, Indianapolis and Memphis routes will be operated by SkyWest as Delta Connection on Embraer 175 aircraft. The San Francisco and Tampa routes will be on Deltas Airbus A220-300 aircraft. The announcement comes after Delta previously said it would launch nonstop AUS-New Orleans service beginning Feb. 27. The airline also launched four new routes from Austin this year: Nashville, McAllen, Midland/Odessa and Harlingen. The new flights mean Delta will have the second-largest market share at AUS based on the number of daily departing flights. Delta has made its commitment to Austin known, and these new routes and the 55 peak-day departures planned for Summer 2025 reaffirm that, said Joe Esposito, senior vice president for network planning. This is on top of the already 20% seat capacity increase we put into service in April connecting Austin to new destinations in major corporate and leisure markets both within Texas and outside the state onward throughout our global network. AUS Data Hub: Passenger totals, busiest months and new flights in 2024 Three of the new routes launched by Delta Indianapolis, Memphis and Tampa were previously served by American Airlines, which has cut more than 30 routes from AUS over the past year. The announcement means Delta will be the only airline offering direct service to Memphis. The Indianapolis route is also served by Allegiant Air and Southwest Airlines. Panama City is served by American and Southwest. San Francisco is served by Alaska Airlines and United Airlines, while Tampa is served by Southwest. Were incredibly excited to join Delta in celebrating these new routes, said Ghizlane Badawi, CEO of Austin-Bergstrom. Delta has been making significant investments to connect Austin and Central Texas with more choices, greater convenience, and enhanced connectivity. Theyre a valued airport and community partner and we look forward to supporting their continued growth at AUS. Delta has seen large passenger growth at Austin-Bergstrom in recent months. The airline flew more than 1.8 million passengers in and out of AUS between January and July this year, a 23.5% increase over the same time period last year. At the same time, Americans passenger totals have fallen 16%. The airline is the third-largest operating at AUS in terms of passenger traffic, behind Southwest and American. Delta accounted for 14.5% of all passengers between January and July. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. By next April, the carrier will be the second largest airline in Austin by seats. benedek/Getty Images Sixth Street music and entertainment district in downtown Austin, Texas Delta Air Lines is on a roll in Austin with plans to add five new routes next year. The airline will add a daily flight to to Panama City, Fla. on March 9 and then to Indianapolis and Memphis starting May 7, Delta confirmed to Travel + Leisure on Monday. Flights from the Texas city to both San Francisco and Tampa will follow on June 8. Delta has considered Austin a focus city or a base that is smaller than a hub but still of elevated importance to the airline since before the pandemic but only recently began expanding there again. This year, the airline has added new nonstop flights from Austin to Harlingen, McAllen, Midland-Odessa in Texas, as well as to Nashville. Delta added flights to Orlando and Las Vegas in 2023. Delta has made its commitment to Austin known, and these new routes and the 55 peak-day departures planned for summer 2025 reaffirm that, said Joe Esposito, senior vice president of network planning at Delta, in a statement. The carrier connects Austinites to major corporate and leisure markets both within Texas and outside the state onward throughout our global network. The airline that considers itself a premium carrier offering fliers free inflight WiFi and other perks is expanding just as its Texas-based competitor, American Airlines, pulls back in Austin. American will end seven routes from Austin by January. However, that doesnt mean the competition isnt stiff in the booming Texas capital. Southwest Airlines flies nonstop to Indianapolis, Panama City, and Tampa; Alaska Airlines and United Airlines to San Francisco; and discounter Allegiant Air to Indianapolis as well, according to Cirium Diio schedules. But the growth is paying off for Delta. By next April, the carrier will be the second largest airline in Austin by seats, surpassing American and trailing only Southwest. For more Travel & Leisure news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on Travel & Leisure. Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon listens as former Democratic congressional candidate Ann Ashford endorses him. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner) OMAHA Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon secured the endorsement Monday of Ann Ashford, a former Democratic candidate for his House seat and widow of former Rep. Brad Ashford, whom Bacon defeated in 2016. Ashford said she supported Bacon partly because outside groups advertising in congressional campaigns keep trying to label candidates like Bacon and her late husband as extreme when she says they are centrists. She lauded Bacons crossover votes for infrastructure funds, the Respect for Marriage Act and legal changes to help participants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. She and Bacon said their two families became friends after the 2016 race. They grew closer when Brad Ashford faced a brain cancer diagnosis. He died in 2022. Im tired of seeing politics twist things and try to turn someone just because they have the name of a different party behind them into some kind of evil being or an extremist, she said. Because Dons not an extremist. Competitive race Her decision disappointed some Democrats who said it might help Bacon amplify congressional ratings crediting his work across party lines. Others said they werent surprised. Nebraska Democrats have long argued that Bacon is more partisan than he portrays himself. Outside ads running on Bacons behalf have made similar arguments about Bacons opponents. Bacon said that he was grateful to have her support and that his relationship with the Ashfords is based on years of respect. He said he saw how hard they worked to secure donor help to build a new Veterans Affairs clinic in Omaha. We dont always agree, but we do know this, Bacon said. We have trust, and trust is always based on character. History of Ashford endorsements Brad Ashford himself endorsed Bacon in 2020, the last time Bacon faced a re-election fight in a presidential election year. Ashfords move angered Democrats, particularly local progressives. At the time, some questioned whether he did so partly to punish Democratic nominee Kara Eastman for criticizing Ann Ashford during their primary battle in 2020. Ann Ashford did not endorse Eastman after the primary. Bacon won his rematch against Eastman that year by 5 percentage points. Now Bacon faces another rematch, this one against his 2022 opponent, State Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha. Ashfords endorsement comes at a pivotal point in Nebraskas most competitive congressional race, as polling on both sides repeatedly indicates a race within the margin of error. Democrats respond Meg Mandy, a Vargas campaign spokeswoman, said the endorsement cant cover up the fact that Bacon votes again and again the way Donald Trump tells him to to remain in office. She said Bacon has voted to raise taxes on the middle class, block Medicare from negotiating lower prescription costs and backs a nationwide ban on abortion with no exceptions. Nebraska Democrats interviewed said they do not expect her endorsement to carry much weight within the partys base. Some said it could help Bacon on the margins. Nebraskas 2nd District is the red states most evenly divided among Republicans, Democrats and registered nonpartisans. Both Bacon and Vargas are targeting those unaffiliated voters. How Ashford balances endorsement with beliefs When questioned, Ashford acknowledged the disconnect between her beliefs as a Democrat with her endorsement in a race that might decide which party controls the House of Representatives. She criticized the U.S. Supreme Courts decision on Roe v. Wade that sent the decision on the future of abortion rights back to the states but said Nebraskans will get to decide on that issue in November. Bacon previously supported a proposed federal constitutional amendment banning abortion with no obvious exceptions. He has said since he supports exceptions for the life of the mother. Presidential politics Ashford called herself a Harris-Bacon voter, saying she planned to support Vice President Kamala Harris for presidentover former President Donald Trump. Political observers in 2020 noted that Bacon outperformed Trump in the district, crediting his victory margin to voters siding with President Joe Biden. Bacon on Monday acknowledged his continued support for Trump but said, there are a lot of things I dont defend with the former president. Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb said no endorsement could cover how extreme Don Bacon has become. She said hes endorsed Trump three times. Kleeb also criticized Bacon for signing onto a delegation letter seeking to change Nebraskas system of awarding Electoral College votes to winner-take-all. Democrats are focused on building an opportunity economy for all Nebraskans without the chaos of Trump and his cronies, she said in a statement. The Nebraska Republican Party had no immediate comment on the endorsement. Bacon said he would continue to work to represent all of his constituents, including those who disagree with him. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein (left) and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speak to reporters at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro in Greensboro, North Carolina on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline) GREENSBORO A duo of Democratic governors from up north met with North Carolina voters on Sunday, touting Attorney General Josh Stein and Vice President Kamala Harris as campaign surrogates visiting the Tar Heel State. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro spoke with Democratic supporters in Burlington in the morning before later appearing with Stein at an event at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. And later, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore headlined a press conference blasting Trump and Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. Shapiro, formerly a frontrunner in the Democratic vice presidential sweepstakes, said he saw echoes of his 2022 race in Steins contest against Robinson. Obviously, were both named Josh, but we also ran against in my case ran against, in his case running against a really dangerous extremist, Shapiro told NC Newsline in Burlington. Shapiro ran against state senator Doug Mastriano, who was a leading voice in support of overturning 2020s election results in Pennsylvania. I dont want to dwell on his opponent, Shapiro said, joking that I actually havent been following the race for the last two weeks. And he said it would be a disservice to Stein to whom he was a peer as an attorney general to focus only on Robinsons controversies past and present. Moore, who won his first term in 2022, sought to tie Robinson to former President Donald Trump, as Republicans have increasingly seized on the battleground states gubernatorial race. Extremists like Donald Trump and Mark Robinson are one and the same running to push their Project 2025 agenda and raise costs for millions of working families across our country, Moore said. The Democratic governors visits are a stark contrast to out-of-state Republican leaders, who have effectively abandoned Robinsons campaign. All four neighboring GOP governors have distanced themselves from or unendorsed Robinson, and the Republican Governors Association has halted ad spending. Hurricane recovery and relief continues west of campaign events Just to the west, disaster relief efforts continue in North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Helene. Stein held a moment of silence and brief prayer in Greensboro. We pray for the power line workers, cell service workers, the transportation workers who are working day and night to try to reconnect people who are disconnected from all of us, Stein said. And we pray for their success and their safety. Steins office has urged North Carolinians to alert them of potential price gouging or other concerns as recovery continues. And he said hed been in touch with local leaders in the western part of the state. Asked by NC Newsline whether his campaign had considered pausing events in the midst of recovery efforts, he said their lead priority was making resources and information widely available. Were putting out as much constructive information as we can about where folks who are affected need to reach out to find out that their power is back on, what roads are open, where to go for resources if theyre in need, said Stein. Robinson said the situation in western North Carolina was far worse than I could have ever imagined. I am urging Governor Cooper to deploy as many National Guardsmen as possible, Robinson said on social media. The need for human and mechanical resources cannot be understated. The storm has thus far led to 11 deaths in North Carolina, and officials expect that number to rise. Please know that we are sending resources and coordinating closely with local governments, first responders, state and federal partners, and volunteer organizations to help those impacted by this tragic storm, Gov. Roy Cooper said Sunday. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, is far less accustomed to the national spotlight than JD Vance - Reuters/Erica Dischino Democrats are reportedly nervous about how Tim Walz, a self-professed bad debater, will fare in his only televised head-to-head with vice-presidential rival JD Vance on Tuesday night. The Minnesota governor is understood to be worried about letting down Kamala Harris with a poor performance and making her regret selecting him as her running mate for the 2024 campaign. While he has had a lengthy career in politics, the 60-year-old is far less accustomed to the national spotlight than Mr Vance, 40, who frequently appears on TV and honed his debating skills during his Ivy League education. Mr Walz is said to have confessed to being a poor debater during the vetting process to be selected as the Democratic vice-presidential candidate. He also revealed that he had never used a teleprompter. Ms Harris was said to have been impressed by the humility he displayed in his frank admissions about his inexperience on the national stage. He was selected in part in the hope that his folksy, down-to-earth persona and connection to the Midwest would appeal to the American heartlands where the Democrats are desperately trying to reclaim ground. JD Vance frequently appears on TV and honed his debating skills during his Ivy League education - Shutterstock/David Muse However, Mr Walzs aides and allies told CNN that he has been fretting about disappointing Ms Harris as he intensively prepares for the debate. Insiders insist that there are genuine nerves among Democrats that go beyond mere strategic expectation management. Campaign staffers said that Mr Walz has frequently returned to the point even as he regularly works late into the night and over multiple weekends to prepare. Democrats who know the Minnesota governor well have publicly conceded the format does not suit his skill set. Hes just not a lawyer-debater type. Its not like he was dreaming of debates when he was in first grade, Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota senator who has known Mr Walz for almost two decades, told CNN. Aides say that Mr Walz is confident in the Harris campaign platform and strategy, but fears he will not effectively articulate their message on stage. Vice-presidential debates rarely alter the trajectory of White House races, but with Ms Harris and Donald Trump unlikely to face each other again, Tuesday night comes with added scrutiny as probably the last major televised event before Nov 5. To prepare, Mr Walz has enlisted the help of Pete Buttigieg, the US transportation secretary and a former Democratic presidential candidate. Mr Buttigieg has been impersonating Mr Vance in mock debate sessions. The pair share some biographical details: both are Midwesterners of a similar age, veterans and educated at Ivy League institutions before enjoying a rapid rise into front-line politics. Pete Buttigieg has been impersonating Mr Vance in mock debate sessions - Bloomberg/Tim Rue Mr Vance, an Ohio senator, has been practicing with the aid of Tom Emmer, a Republican congressman who represents a district in Mr Walzs home state of Minnesota and has reportedly been imitating the governors folksy demeanour in their mock sessions. The Republican candidate is expected to hammer his opponent, who is also a veteran, over claims that he embellished his military record. Mr Walz came under fire for claiming he carried weapons in war, despite never seeing active combat, and later said he had misspoken. He was also accused by fellow former service members of shirking a deployment to Iraq, although others in his unit contended his decision to withdraw from the US national guard was made before the call to deploy came. Meanwhile, Mr Walz will attempt to provoke Trump, who will be watching along on TV, by pointing out Mr Vances past criticism of the former president and claiming that it shows a divide on the GOP ticket. The 90-minute debate will be hosted by CBS News in New York at 9pm Eastern Time (2am BST). In a departure from the presidential debate between Trump and Ms Harris, the two candidates microphones will remain on for the duration, although the network said that it reserved the right to mute them. 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. HANOI, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam earned more than 1 billion U.S. dollars from exporting 203,000 tons of pepper in the first nine months of this year, up 46.9 percent in value year on year, local media VnExpress reported on Monday, citing the General Department of Vietnam Customs. In September alone, the country's pepper exports hit 125 million dollars with an average export price of 6,239 dollars per ton -- the highest in the past eight years. Experts predicted that domestic pepper prices are likely to continue the upward trend amid surging demand for the upcoming Lunar New Year. In the long term, Vietnam's pepper output is expected to decline in the 2025 crop due to the impact of droughts, VnExpress reported. Vietnam's pepper export earnings reached 912 million dollars last year, according to the Vietnam Pepper and Spice Association. The Democratic National Committee and Democratic Party of Georgia filed a lawsuit Monday to block Georgia's controversial ballot hand-count rule from going into effect in the upcoming presidential election. Three Republican members of the election board passed the rule Sept. 20 over the objections of their two colleagues and the advice of Republican Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr. The rule requires three separate individuals in each of Georgia's voting precincts there are 2,400 precincts, according to Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to hand count the ballots before the county deadline to certify election results. The hand-counters must ensure they each arrive at the same totals and that those totals match figures generated by machines. A poll manager must correct any inconsistency "if possible" and document it. "If the Hand Count Rule is allowed to go into effect, the general election will not be orderly and uniform large counties will face significant delays in reporting vote counts," and "election officials will struggle to implement new procedures at the last minute," the lawsuit states. The suit also argues the hand-count rule jeopardizes the security of ballots. Georgia has become a critical swing state in the last several elections, flipping blue in the 2020 presidential election for the first time since 1992. Both the Harris and Trump campaigns have been investing resources into their campaigns on the ground in places like Richmond County, which leans blue but maintains a few conservative pockets. However, a second parallel battle is playing out across the state: The fight over the election process itself. The state election board members who have been praised publicly by former President Donald Trump as pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency, and victory" didn't immediately respond to requests for comment, nor did Carr, the state attorney general. The rule's supporters say it will strengthen public confidence in the reported results and doesn't change the requirement for Georgia's counties to certify their results by Nov. 12. "These rules ensure chain of custody on election night so that there are no missing ballots," said board member Janice Johnston, one of the three members behind the rule, at a public meeting Sept. 24. In a letter to the board ahead of its Sept. 20 vote, Carr said the state legislature hadn't legally authorized the board to pass the rule. He also said it's generally a bad idea to pass new rules about how to conduct elections so close to Election Day. Raffensperger also advised against the proposal, and has referred to a number of the board's last-minute election changes as "a mess." What do Democrats want the courts to do? Democrats are arguing the hand-count rule violates Georgia's election laws, exceeds the board's authority to pass rules, and runs afoul of basic limits on the power of agencies. "The Hand Count Rule is so improper on its face that both Georgias chief elections officer and chief law enforcement officer felt compelled to speak out in opposition prior to the Rules adoption," Democrats said in their lawsuit. Democrats are asking a trial court in Atlanta, Georgia's Fulton County to declare that the rule exceeds the board's authority and block it from going into effect. In a statement released in support of the lawsuit, Harris-Walz Principal Deputy Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks said "Democrats are stepping in to ensure that Georgia voters can cast their ballots knowing that they will be counted in a free and fair election. Democrats have also sued the board over two rules passed in August, one requiring county election boards to conduct a "reasonable inquiry" before certifying results, and the other allowing local election officials to examine election-related documentation before certification. That case is going to trial before a judge on Tuesday. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Democrats sue Georgia election board over last-minute hand-count rule Denver weather: Not as hot Monday, but warm week still ahead DENVER (KDVR) After the city saw its 64th day of 90 degrees or hotter high temperatures, Denvers weather will begin to cool down on Monday. However, temperatures are likely to stay warm for a while according to Pinpoint Weather, Colorados Most Accurate Forecast. One big feature of the forecast is the continued dry conditions. This will likely worsen the drought the Denver metro is seeing. FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up for weather alerts from the Pinpoint Weather team Weather tonight: Another mild and breezy night Temperatures Sunday night are anticipated to fall to around 60 degrees again in metro Denver, with 50s likely elsewhere. This will be about 15 degrees warmer than normal. Winds will be a bit breezy from the south at 10-20 mph. Weather tomorrow: Not as hot and still sunny Temperatures Monday in northeast Colorado will not be as warm as the past couple of days. A dry cold front looks to move in during the early afternoon and should cap temperatures in the upper 70s and lower 80s for the day. FOX31 Weather: View the latest Denver forecasts, maps and radar However, southeast Colorado will again see temperatures return to the middle 90s. Winds will remain breezy as they blow from the northeast 15-25 miles per hour in the afternoon. Looking ahead: No rain and continued warmth Temperatures will dip further on Tuesday to near seasonal values, but still warmer than normal, in the upper 70s. Winds will remain occasionally breezy. Denver jumps back to nearly 90 degrees on Wednesday and may set yet another record-high temperature. Temperatures moderate for the second half of the work week in the lower and middle 80s, still quite warm for early October. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. (WKRG) Deputies are looking for a missing woman who was last seen Sunday night. According to a Facebook post from the Escambia County Sheriffs Office, theyre looking for 45-year-old Londrieka Shenae Wilson. The post says she may be in danger. She was last seen at 8 pm Sunday night. Deputies say she was driving east on Olive Road in a gray 2015 Dodge Charger with Florida tag number 143IXY. Anyone with information on where Wilson might be is asked to contact deputies in Escambia County Florida. The post does not say why she may be in danger. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. KANSAS CITY, Mo. The Jackson County Sheriffs Office was searching for a missing 9-year-old boy from Sibley, Missouri Monday morning. The sheriffs office said Liam Smith was found safely a couple of hours after asking for help finding him. According to deputies, Smith was last seen in the area of North Buckner Tarsney Road and Santa Fe Street less than a half-mile east of downtown Sibley at about 6:45 a.m. Monday. He was described as a 9-year-old white boy with brown hair and blue eyes. At the time of his disappearance, he was wearing a gray tank top, black or gray shorts, and blue/white Converse shoes. 18-year-old dies, three teens injured in Johnson County, Missouri crash He was previously found wading in the Missouri River, near Homers Landing at 32301 East Atherton Sibley Road. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. Deputy Didn't Return from Lunch After Hurricane Helene. His Body Was Found in River the Next Day Jim Lau, who worked as a Macon County courthouse security officer, is one of two North Carolina officers who have died in the wake of Hurricane Helene Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images Heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Two deputies have died in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene caused significant flooding and hazardous conditions in the western portion of the state, including a courthouse security officer whose body found found after he failed to return to work from lunch. The North Carolina Sheriffs' Association announced Sunday, Sept. 29, that two deputies were tragically killed in raging flood waters triggered by Helene, which made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on Thursday, Sept. 26. One deputy worked for Macon County and the other worked for Madison County, according to the statement shared on Facebook. We ask that you keep the families, friends, and colleagues of these deputies as well as the entirety of Western North Carolina in your thoughts and prayers during this unfathomable and difficult time, the state sheriffs' association said. Sean Rayford/Getty Images Heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Jim Lau, a courthouse security officer, was identified as one of the victims, according to a separate statement from the Macon County Sheriff's Office. "This is one of the most difficult releases we have ever had to make," read a statement shared on social media. "On September 27 at 11:30 A.M., a 911 call came in about truck in the river on Fulton road, with witnesses saying they they saw someone in truck before it went underwater," they wrote. "It was soon realized that one of our courthouse security officers, Jim Lau, hadnt returned to work from lunch and his truck matched description of the truck that was seen in the river." After a search, his body was found in a river early on Saturday, Sept. 28. Jim was very liked and respected within our department, the sheriffs office said. He was known to be a hard worker, dependable, and he jumped in wherever help was needed. His absence will truly be felt in our agency. The Madison County Sheriffs Office has not released information about the second deputys death. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Officials said more than 100 people have died after Helene slammed into southeastern portions of the United States on Thursday, Sept. 26. Buncombe County, located near both Macon and Madison Counties, is one of the areas hit hardest by Helene, with at least 35 people death and an estimated 600 people missing, per multiple reports. Related: 4-Year-Old Girl and a Firefighter Among Hurricane Helene Victims Identified, as Death Toll Continues to Rise North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper expects the death toll to continue to rise as rescue and recovery efforts continue in the state and across the south in the days following Helene, according to the Associated Press. President Joe Biden has approved funds for disaster relief for 25 counties in North Carolina including Macon, Madison and Buncombe as well as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, according to a press release from Cooper. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. DeSantis on Helene recovery: 'We have what we need right now' TALLAHASSEE, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday said that Florida has so far gotten the support that it needs from the federal government after Hurricane Helene tore through the state just days ago, and that President Joe Biden should not plan a visit to the state to help with the recovery. DeSantis said during a news conference Monday morning in hurricane-ravaged Steinhatchee that he would rather see Biden go to North Carolina, where parts of the state have been ravaged by the storm. Helenes heavy rainfall and powerful winds left at least 100 people dead across several states, hundreds missing and washed out dozens of crucial roadways particularly in North Carolina, with some areas only accessible by air. We have what we need now, DeSantis said. I think most of the effort should be in Western North Carolina right now because you still have active rescues that need to take place. Biden approved Florida's major disaster declaration on Saturday, opening billions in federal disaster aid through the Federal Emergency Management Agency for both the state and residents who were impacted by the Category 4 storm. On Monday, Biden said Congress may need to come back to approve more disaster funding, and pledged to tour the impacted areas once his visit wouldn't be an impediment. Im committed to traveling in impacted areas as soon as possible, but Ive been told that itd be disruptive if I did it right now," he said in Washington. "We will not do that at the risk of diverting or delaying any, any of the response assets needed to deal with this crisis. My first responsibility is to get all the help needed to those impacted areas. In Florida, DeSantis launched a program called Operation Blue Ridge, which will fly Florida residents who were left stranded in North Carolina by the hurricane to safety. Rescuers in Florida can use boats instead of vehicles to help residents, but the area of North Carolina that was hit by the storm is hundreds of miles away from any coastline. I just really think the federal government should focus on that, DeSantis said. Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses the media on Sept. 30, 2024, in front of a demolished Roy's Restaurant in Steinhatchee following Hurricane Helene. (Screenshot via the governor's X) Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida has what it needs to clean up after Hurricane Helene and that the federal government should instead focus relief efforts on North Carolina, where search and rescue missions continue following catastrophic flooding. Florida, we have it handled, DeSantis said during a news conference Monday in Steinhatchee, on the Big Bend coast. We got approved for the individual assistance things we wanted. We have what we need. Now obviously, there may be additional things that well ask for in the future. It depends on how things shake out. But I think most of the effort should be in western North Carolina right now, because you still have active rescues that need to take place. The governor announced Sunday that the state was sending resources to North Carolina and Tennessee to address flood damage and conduct rescue missions. Included in the efforts are two Florida State Guard search and rescue teams and two teams from the Florida National Guard in Chinook helicopters. Additionally, the state is sending water, Starlink ground stations, high water vehicles, airboats, shallow-draft boats, trucks, and teams from the Florida Department of Transportation. Were running rescue flights. Were happy to do it, DeSantis said. But I know the federal government has more assets than the state of Florida has, so there should not be anybody left behind in those communities. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has issued major disaster declarations in Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia that authorize individual and public assistance. FEMA and the Small Business Administration are there to help the residents whose homes and businesses were literally destroyed, washed away, or blown away, Biden said Monday. And, the federal search and rescue teams have been working side-by-side with state and local officials and partners in very treacherous conditions to find those who are missing and will not rest until everyones accounted for. The Associated Press has counted 107 people who were killed by the storm across six states, 30 of them in one North Carolina county. According to NBC News, 12 people died in Florida in the storm. I think in North Carolina, whatever fatalities have been reported, I think thats probably just scratching the surface of whats possible if we dont get people in there and get them out to safety, DeSantis said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX DeSantis said Florida has focused on stabilization and providing relief for Floridians who have been affected by the storm, but that North Carolina needs immediate assistance. Particularly when you get up into the mountainous terrain of western North Carolina, and as damaging as you see around here, its important to acknowledge that they are in really dire straits right now, DeSantis said. When you have roads totally washed out, bridges totally gone, you have whole communities that have basically been wiped off the map, because its very rugged terrain. DeSantis said President Joe Biden called him Sunday but they were unable to talk because the governor was in the air at the time. According to PowerOutage.us, 116,740 customers were without Florida Monday morning. In North Carolina, that number was 455,056. According to the Florida governors office, 2.3 million customers here had their power restored. Business assistance DeSantis hosted the news conference at Roys Restaurant, which will need to be rebuilt following the hurricane. In the meantime, the restaurant would like to do business out of a donated a food truck, but bureaucracy was slowing the opening, the governor said. I dont have time for bureaucracy. We dont have time for red tape, he said. DeSantis announced that the Department of Business and Professional Regulation has issued an emergency order allowing businesses devastated in Hurricane Helene and want to be creative can stay in businesses. Ron DeSantis directs state agencies to lift bureaucracy on restaurants and businesses that is standing in the way of getting temporary operations back up to keep communities served and fed, DeSantis communications director Bryan Griffin explained on X. Resources available The state is offering more than 30 point-of-distribution sites providing food, water, tarps, and more in areas with the most damage. A full list of the 35 sites is on the Florida Division of Emergency Management website. The governor pointed people toward floridadisaster.org, the crisis cleanup line (1-844-965-1386), and to Hope Florida, an organization connecting Floridians to private, nonprofit, and government resources. Urban search and rescue teams will complete missions Monday, according to Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Department of Emergency Management. The state reported Monday morning that those teams have rescued 13 survivors. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Large numbers of Americans are giving up on Christianity. The trendlines are unmistakable. Fewer people are going to church. The number of people who say they have no religious affiliation has risen. The "nones" are the biggest religious group now, outnumbering both evangelicals and Catholics. For some, walking away from religion is easy. But for a lot of people, especially those who once counted themselves in the ranks of the evangelicals, it can be a lot harder. The evangelical identity can be all-consuming, shaping not just how a person prays, but how they identify, how they vote and how they live their daily life. So it's no surprise that an online community of ex-evangelicals exvangelical has formed, giving those who have walked away a space to process their experience, move into a new life, and, often, warn other Americans about the political threat looming from this subset of Christianity. In his new book "Exvangelical and Beyond: How American Christianity Went Radical and the Movement That's Fighting Back," podcast host Blake Chastain goes beyond recounting his own journey out of the Christian right, and into the larger story of how that community even came to be. He chronicles how white evangelicalism is not an ancient tradition, as its proponents often assume, but an American phenomenon. The faith, he argues, exists as much to justify racism and unbridled capitalism as it does to praise Jesus. Chastain spoke with Salon about his story and why evangelicalism needs to be understood more as an identity than a theology. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Let's start with the most basic question: Why write about ex-evangelicals, and why at this point? The last eight or 10 years have illustrated longer-term issues within American Christianity. One outcome is that many people are disaffiliating from their churches, their belief systems, and their communities. In particular, people are leaving white evangelicalism, due to the inherently political nature of those spaces. Exvangelicalism isn't a complete belief system, like evangelicalism is. In many ways, though, it's a mirror of it and is in dialogue with evangelicalism. People who use the term "exvangelical" or "ex-evangelical" to describe themselves had a formative experience within evangelicalism. They no longer identify with that belief or belong to those communities. The thing that is distinct over the last decade or so is the maturation of social media. Far more people can share their individual experiences than ever before. Whereas in the past, to tell a story of deconstruction or de-conversion you had to write a book. Now you can start an Instagram page, a TikTok page, a podcast, or a YouTube channel. What I hope to do with my book is show a history of people both trying to reform evangelicalism from within and people who have not been able to do that and have had to leave. They're our predecessors to today's online ex-evangelical movement. Want more Amanda Marcotte on politics? Subscribe to her newsletter Standing Room Only. It feels to me that the rise of exvangelicals came out of the ashes of the New Atheist movement, which imploded because so many New Atheist leaders were replicating the racism, sexism, and reactionary politics of the white evangelical church. But that's a rabbit hole. The larger question is how does being an exvangelical differ from being a critic of right-wing religion? It's distinct in that it's a bit more specific. The thing that makes exvangelicalism is it's specifically speaking about the evangelical traditions, the particular presentation and orientation of that faith and speaking directly to that. You can see examples of similar movements from other faith traditions. There is a very active "ex-mo" or ex-Mormon community online. You can see other spaces that are more broadly ex-Christian. In this book, you don't seem too interested in the theological discourse about what constitutes evangelicalism. Instead, you write about evangelicalism as a socio-political phenomenon. Why do you center the politics and white identity politics of evangelicals, and not so much their theological beliefs in things like the rapture? Conservative evangelicals decry identity politics, but they also take part in them. You can see through different surveys that have been done, especially since 2016, that there's a drift of what the word "evangelical" means. Many people who have not participated in a local evangelical church or community self-describe as "evangelical." It's a desire to affiliate with Donald Trump, the GOP, or general conservatism. It's drifted for those theological markers. But even before that, scholars for years have argued that theology is not necessarily the defining characteristic of evangelicalism. Whiteness, capitalism, and power helped to develop an evangelical industry. The theology takes a back seat. That may not be the case for every single person that uses the term "evangelical." But conservative white evangelicals act in a particular way, and that deserves our attention. It deserves to be criticized within those terms, as much as whether they live up to their espoused theological beliefs. Even after nine years of Trump's non-stop campaign for president, I still see a lot of pundits who seem baffled by the fact that the vast majority of white evangelicals support Donald Trump. Why is it so hard for them to understand it? From an outsider's perspective, it's still common to underestimate the degree to which political conservatism permeates mass evangelical culture. That is why, in my book, I look at prior attempts to moderate evangelical spaces, which evangelicals have rejected for the past 40 to 50 years. The groups that maintain the most power are on the conservative side, whether from a theological or political perspective. There are progressive evangelical spaces and people. But they do have a difficult road. They've been steadfastly pushed out. With such an uphill battle, people burn out. That often means they leave evangelicalism and become, exvangelical or move on to another spiritual community. The entrenched conservativism has been built up for decades within evangelical spaces. It just seems de facto for evangelicals to align themselves with the GOP. A lot of evangelicals talk about their faith as if it is this deep tradition going back thousands of years. But, as you detail, it's relatively new and cannot be disassociated from the history of the United States. Certainly, there's an assumption that evangelicalism was this immutable thing passed down from the time of Jesus to today. That's the result of beliefs in things like biblical inerrancy, this idea that the Bible had no textual errors. It created a rift between those more conservative communities and the more moderate and even liberal ones. That's why a lot of more progressive forms of Christianity today don't have much dialogue with evangelical partners. And evangelicals often aren't in dialogue with people from other faith communities. Take the teaching of "the rapture." That is a recent development. John Nelson Darby popularized that idea in the 19th century. That's a blink of an eye, compared to the 2000-year history of Christianity. But it did train American Christians to feel dread about the future and this idea that Jesus is going to be coming back soon. It's created a pessimism, a belief we should focus on converting people, not social welfare and reform. Its proponents in the 19th century opposed those who espoused the gospel of improving society for everyone. They emphasize just evangelism because Jesus is coming. We're still living with the consequences. In this book, you deal with the misconception that the Moral Majority and larger Christian right development in the late 20th century was due to abortion. You argue it was really more about race. Why is that? This has been documented by a lot of scholars and journalists. One significant piece was a 2014 article by Randall Balmer, who is an evangelical historian. As a millennial who was raised in the eighties and nineties, I assumed that the politically active Christians that I saw were primarily motivated by restricting abortion access, and that was the animating issue that brought evangelicals into the political sphere. But when you look at the historical record, you find that figures like Billy Graham called abortion a Catholic issue. After Roe v. Wade was initially announced, the Southern Baptist Convention affirmed it as a good development. What drew evangelicals into politics was actually a federal lawsuit against the fundamentalist school Bob Jones University. They threatened the tax-exempt status of the university for failing to integrate racially in the seventies. It was then that Paul Weyrich, who founded the Heritage Foundation, saw an opportunity to align with evangelicals. He was a conservative Catholic, but he saw an opportunity to generate animosity and motivate evangelicals to rally to conservative causes. It's distressing to learn what motivated those initial leaders and subsequently influenced all these other people in your life was racism. It can make you curious about what else needs to be learned about evangelical history. Both the evangelical and exvangelical movements are very online. They often encounter each other. You write that, in your experience, most evangelicals can only deal with a strawman version of exvangelicals. Can you say more about what you mean by that? Evangelical leaders could reach out to exvangelical commentators, who would happily accept a reasonable request for public conversations. Instead, they characterize ex-evangelicals as people who simply wanted to leave because they wanted to sin, or because there was some fleeting online social clout. That feels disingenuous. Instead of listening to what we have to say or speaking to us directly, they'd rather criticize a theoretical person. They don't want the perspective of someone who can, with examples, explain why they left. Ironically, we have insights they could benefit from. We can tell them why their beliefs are harmful. But they don't wish to hear that. There's not much you can do to encourage that dialogue any further. These dialogues have to happen at a remove. I mean, didn't you want to sin a little bit? (Laughs) I didn't believe that what they called a sin was a sin. Update: The Israeli military says it has begun a "limited, localized" ground operation against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. Read the latest here. Beirut, Lebanon Israel expanded its airstrikes on Iran-backed groups in Lebanon and beyond over the weekend, launching raids thousands of miles away on Yemen's Houthi rebels. The strikes came amid growing concern that Israel's nearly-yearlong war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon could spiral into a broad regional conflict, drawing in Iran and even the U.S. to back their respective allies. A U.S. official confirmed to CBS News on Monday that Israel has notified the U.S. that it intends to launch a limited ground incursion into Lebanon, which the official said could begin within hours. "As of right now, I can say there are no major ground activities in Lebanon," Israel Defense Forces spokesman Major David Baruch told reporters in Israel Monday afternoon. One of his colleagues, Capt. Ardam Ittah, quickly added: "But all options are on the table." The Israeli attack on Houthi targets in the Yemeni port city of Hodeida came after months of U.S. and British strikes against the group a joint response to the rebels' regular rocket, drone and missile attacks on international military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea. Israeli forces hit the Houthis just a couple of days after they assassinated Hezbollah's longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah with a massive airstrike on Friday. A man mourns people killed in an Israeli strike in the village of Ain Deleb, near the southern Lebanon city of Sidon, Sept. 30, 2024. / Credit: Aziz Taher/REUTERS After that strike, Israeli forces continued pounding purported Hezbollah and Hamas targets across Lebanon's south and east all weekend, but the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, the Hezbollah stronghold where Nasrallah was killed along with another senior commander and two other high-ranking members of the group, has borne the brunt. The well-armed group's surviving deputy leader Naim Qassem vowed Monday that Hezbollah would carry on despite its near decapitation via airstrikes and before that, exploding pagers and walkie-talkies "facing the Israeli enemy to support Gaza and Palestine." He accused the U.S. of offering Israel "limitless support" for it to carry out "massacres" in Lebanon and Gaza and then claimed Hezbollah had fired even more weapons at Israel, and deep into the country since Nasrallah was killed. But Hezbollah's incessant drone and rocket fire is virtually wiped out by Israel's advanced air defenses before it reaches any targets. There have been civilians injured over the last couple of weeks but in Lebanon's capital, entire residential buildings have been flattened. CBS News went to see the aftermath of one Israeli strike Sunday on the edge of Dahiyeh. A five-story building was reduced to rubble. It was still smoldering as another massive boom reverberated in the distance, underscoring the unpredictable security situation for Lebanese civilians as Israel carries on, determined, it says, to push Hezbollah many miles away from its border to stop the cross-border attacks. / Credit: Getty/iStockphoto Israel has assassinated at least five Hezbollah commanders over the past week alone, and 19 in just a few months dealing a major blow to the U.S.-designated terrorist group. Hezbollah ramped up its attacks on Israel a day after Israeli forces launched their first airstrikes on its Hamas allies, in immediate response to Hamas' Oct. 7 massacre. Hezbollah has acknowledged losing more than 30 operatives in recent weeks, including many of its senior leaders, but the ferocity and pace of the Israeli strikes in Lebanon has also taken a massive toll on Lebanese civilians. At least 1,000 people have been killed in just two weeks 105 on Sunday alone. According to Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati, the strikes have displaced almost 1 million people from their homes, most of them fleeing southern Lebanon for Beirut of other locations further north. Some of those displaced families, including many with young children, have come to Beirut's iconic Blue Mosque, desperate to find safety. The place of worship has become a refuge for people who told CBS News they'd rather sleep in the courtyard's surrounding the building, out in the open, than go back to their neighborhoods amid Israel's bombardment. Samar al-Attrash is among those who have found sanctuary outside the mosque. She fled her home in Dahiyeh with her husband and their three children, and little more than the clothes on their backs. CBS News correspondent Imtiaz Tyab (right) speaks with Samar al-Attrash as she sits with her husband and their three young children on the steps of Beirut's Blue Mosque, to which they fled seeking shelter amid Israeli bombing near their home in the southern suburb of Dahiyeh, Sept, 28, 2024. / Credit: CBS News "We have nowhere to go to but here," the mother told us. "We are very scared and we can't go back to Dahiyeh at all until the situation gets better." "I told my kids it's scary and that we can't go home," she said. "I'm only telling [them] a little at a time so I don't traumatize them." President Biden reiterated his warning on Sunday that an all-out regional war must be avoided, but as he spoke, CBS News correspondent Chris Livesay and his team reported that tanks and armored vehicles were massing on the Israeli side of the country's northern border with Lebanon. A photo provided by the Israel Defense Forces shows Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, in black, meeting Israeli forces near the country's northern border with Lebanon, Sept. 30, 2024. / Credit: IDF handout On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant paid another visit to Israeli troops waiting for orders near the border, telling them killing Nasrallah was, "an important step, but it is not the final one." "We will employ all of our capabilities," Gallant told the Israeli troops, "and this includes you." It was another clear signal that Israel is preparing for ground operations in Lebanon which have the potential to spark fighting even deadlier than anything seen since Oct. 7. Despite the body blows dealt by Israel, Hezbollah's deputy leader claimed Monday that the group's "military capabilities are solid," that it "will continue along the same path" it has been on for months - and that it is ready for a war with Israel. Caitlin Clark, Napheesa Collier on WNBA's success in watershed season | 60 Minutes In Finland, classes in recognizing fake news, disinformation Ina Garten: Recipe for success EAST UNION TWP., SCHUYLKILL COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) A father is being charged with murder of the third degree after killing his son during an argument, police stated. John Francis Gustites, 67, of Sheppton, has been charged after investigators say he had an argument with his son over a vehicle that then escalated. According to Pennsylvania State Police, on September 28, troopers were called to Franklin Street in East Union Township to help in a death investigation that happened that morning. Gustites was taken into custody and interviewed by troopers where he stated around 8:30 a.m. he was woken up by his son, John Andrew Gustites, chasing one of their cats. As stated in the affidavit, Gustites went to the victims room to take the cat, and his son demanded that Gustites give him the familys car. Death investigation at construction site in Hanover Twp. An argument over the vehicle continued, prompting Gustites to enter his sons bedroom with a .357 Magnum Revolver, according to court documents. The victim grabbed a Philips-Head screwdriver and approached Gustites when the gun went off, troopers stated. State police said Gustites didnt remember pulling the trigger and claimed he didnt call EMS until he watched religious videos throughout the day, which eventually led him to call police. Through further investigation, detectives learned that the victim suffered one gunshot wound to his face and the bullet was discovered in the wall of the victims bedroom. Along with third-degree murder, Gustites faces reckless endangerment, simple assault, and aggravated assault. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PAhomepage.com. KABUL, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Afghan security forces have captured those related to attacks on government employees in capital Kabul and foreign tourists in central Bamiyan province, Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman of the Afghan caretaker government, said on Monday. The captives, including a Tajikistan national who was planning a suicide bombing, were arrested during military operations conducted by security personnel on the outskirts of Kabul and eastern Nangarhar province, Mujahid posted on his social media platform X account. Without providing details about the number of arrested insurgents, the official said security forces had found a suicide vest, two arms, and a quantity of ammunition from their hideout. Subsequently, two insurgents were killed and several others were arrested during operations launched in relevant areas of Kabul and northern Faryab province, Mujahid said. Four people, including three Spanish nationals, were killed, while seven others, including four foreign tourists, were wounded in a shooting attack in Bamiyan province in May. President Volodymyr Zelensky's victory plan will be made public but some parts will remain secret, the head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak said on Sept. 29. Zelensky presented the five-point victory plan to his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden at the White House on Sept. 26. He also discussed it with presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris and members of Congress. The plan includes military and diplomatic components, including Ukraine's invitation to join NATO, but the full details of the peace framework have not yet been publicized. The goal of the plan is to strengthen Ukraine's future negotiating position and push Russia to make a just peace, Kyiv has said. Speaking on national TV, Yermak said the plan will be presented to Ukrainians without some "sensitive" details to prevent information from leaking to Russia. "Everything that becomes public is heard not only in our country, but also by the enemy. That is why some details of this plan are classified. But it is important to see the implementation of this plan on enemy territory," he added. While Zelensky was in the U.S. last week, reports emerged that the White House was concerned the plan lacks a clear strategy to win against Russia Following the visit to the U.S., presidential spokesperson Serhii Nykyforov said that Washington took the plan "constructively." Read also: What we know about the victory plan Zelensky presented to Biden Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Devastated family outraged after drunk driver who decapitated LI flower girl Katie Flynn is released from prison The drunken driver who decapitated 7-year-old flower girl Katie Flynn and also killed her familys hired chauffeur after a Long Island wedding has been released from prison sparking outrage from the victims kin. Martin Heidgen, 43, who served 19 years behind bars for second-degree murder in the July 2, 2005, wrong-way horror on the Meadowbrook Parkway in Freeport, walked out of prison Wednesday after being granted parole, the state Department of Correction and Community Supervision confirmed Sunday. For the families of little Katie and slain limo driver Stanley Rabinowitz, the system failed. Martin Heidgens blood-alcohol content was over three times the legal limit when he killed Katie Flynn and Stanley Rabinowitz in 2005. AP Katie had been a flower girl at her aunts wedding in Bayville in 2005 when she was killed by Heidgen 19 years ago. James Messerschmidt This liberalism is a bullet into the back of the families who suffer the loss of their loved ones, Joyce Rabinowitz-Schuster, who was previously married to the driver, said in an email to The Post. There is no accountability in New York state anymore. Murder should be 25 years minimum. Crime is rising in NYS because of these dismissive attitudes and it must stop, she wrote. My family and the Flynns and Tangney families [Katies maternal grandparents] realize this crime every day and the hundreds of other friends and family members of the victims involved in this murder, Rabinowitz-Schuster said. Shame on the parole board who released a murderer. Heidgen, who was 24 at the time of the fatal wreck, had driven his pickup truck the wrong way for nearly 3 miles when he slammed head-on into the limo as it returned from an idyllic beachfront family wedding in Bayville. His blood-alcohol content was more than three times the legal limit when he crashed, authorities said. In the limousine were Katie, her little sister, Grace, 5, their parents, Neil and Jennifer Flynn, and Jennifers parents, Denise and Chris Tangney, a retired Nassau County cop. The wedding was for Jennifers sister. In a statement to Newsday, which first reported Heidgens release, Katies parents said the parole boards decision to release their young daughters killer has had a profound impact on the family. The crash on the Meadowbrook Parkway in Long Island killed the familys wedding limo driver as well. Seth Gottfried Heidgen, then 24, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 19 years to life behind bars. New York Post We asked that the public may know our sadness and feel our pain, Jennifer Flynn told the outlet. Katie was murdered as a 7-year-old girl; where her murderer lives, imprisoned or paroled, makes no difference in our lives. We realize that our news cycle is over, but it is our hope that your readers think of us and that we influence their choices. Heidgen was sentenced to 19 years to life after being convicted on two counts of murder, three counts of first-degree assault and tampering with physical evidence, state officials said. The convict tried to appeal the verdict after being imprisoned but was shot down. A spokesman for the state DOCCS said Sunday that a parole board granted Heidgen conditional release Aug. 13 and that he was cut loose Wednesday. Stanley Rabinowitz was driving the familys rented limo when he was killed along with the 7-year-old. Obtained by NY Post The terms of his release include remaining in the state unless given permission to leave. Heidgens lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post but in a statement to Newsday said his client remained haunted by the tragedy. Both Marty and his family are grateful to the parole board of recognizing that it is appropriate for Marty to be released on parole and allow him to re-enter society and become a productive and constructive member of our community, the lawyer, Stephen LaMagna, told the outlet. He is and remains forever remorseful for all of the pain he has caused to so many and continues to pray for them and their families, LaMagna said in the statement. Headshot of Jon Allison from Root Inc. (Graphic by WEWS/Morgan Trau.) Gov. Mike DeWine has appointed former Gov. Bob Tafts top aide to the retired teachers pension fund. Jon Allison, a Columbus-based attorney, will replace controversial leader Wade Steen. The new pick for the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) comes in a time of transition. There has been constant fighting, two board resignations and allegations of both a public corruption scheme and mishandling of funds. As of this week, there has been a dismissal and two senior staff resignations. Who is Allison? Allison served as the chief of staff for Taft from 2003-2006 after working in state government for years. Most recently, he has been the chief administrative officer for Root Inc., a car insurance company, after serving as their general counsel. He led the legal work for Roots IPO, three equity financing rounds and three debt facilities and debt refinancings, his public LinkedIn stated. Jon oversees Roots legal, human resources, and claims and customer service organizations, including transactions, litigation, regulatory compliance, and government affairs, his bio on Root Inc. said. He was EVP for business development and integration at CareSource, a nonprofit that provides Medicaid, Medicare and other health care programs. Throughout the years, he served on boards for the Ohio Chamber Health Benefits Program, Root Reinsurance Company, Sequent Midwest Business Health Fund and the Ohio Lottery Commission. We have reached out to Allison for comment. Uphill battle The new appointee has an uphill battle. He is replacing Steen, the divisive leader of the reform movement. In short, reformers want to switch to index funding, while status quo individuals want to keep actively managing the funds. Recent elections have allowed the reform-minded members to have a majority of the board. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Allison will more than likely be a status quo member, as that the DeWine team had told us previously the governor was looking for someone with beliefs closer to his. It would be an understatement to say that Steen and the governor did not get along. Originally appointed by John Kasich, Steen is an outspoken reformer. He was reappointed by DeWine, but the governor asked him to resign in 2023. Steen refused, so DeWine removed him. DeWine cited Steens alleged poor attendance at board meetings as reasoning. Steen filed a motion in Ohios 10th District Court of Appeals demanding to be reinstated and he was. He returned to his job in April 2024. But in May, DeWine spokesperson Dan Tierney told me that there was another reason why the governor wanted to remove Steen. We were concerned that Mr. Steen was seen as advocating for a very particular investment firm in a way that a fiduciary board member it just didnt seem right, Tierney said. It almost seemed like Mr. Steen was trying to tip the scales in favor of this particular company that didnt agree with the administration. Also in May, Attorney General Dave Yost filed a lawsuit to remove Steen and Chair Rudy Fichtenbaum, stating they are participating in a contract steering scheme that could directly benefit them. Yost started the investigation after documents prepared by STRS employees alleged that the men had been doing the bidding of investment firm QED. Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook. This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) Gov. Mike DeWine has ordered flags to be lowered in honor of a first responder. According to DeWine, flags across the state have been ordered to be placed at half-staff to honor Troy Bernhard, who served his community as a firefighter and paramedic in northwest Ohio. Honoring friends, loved ones by walking at Hospice of Dayton Flags at all public buildings in Wood County, as well as state buildings in Columbus and anywhere else across the state that chooses to show their respect. The flags are asked to be remain at half-staff until sunset on Oct. 5, the day of Bernhards funeral. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. A Lebanese man stands among rubble, debris and smoke that is still billowing from the site of the massive Israeli air strike that killed pro-Iranian Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburb. | SANDRO BASILI/OLA NEWS/SIPA/Newscom The Abraham Accords, the U.S.-sponsored alliance between Israel and several Arab states, were supposed to get the United States out of the Middle East. At least, that's what many conservative proponents argued. In 2020, neoconservative writer Michael Doran argued in Tablet magazine that the accords were an agreement to "step up and bear more of the burden so that America can step back." Two years later, the hawkish Washington Institute for Near East Affairs claimed that the accords were allowing Washington "to gradually withdraw from the Middle East to focus its efforts and resources on the Pacific Ocean, the rise of China, and the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine." Sen. J.D. Vance (ROhio) has even made this strategy a large part of his foreign policy pitch. A few months before being nominated as former President Donald Trump's running mate, Vance told the antiwar Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft that "combining the Abraham Accords approach with the enduring defeat of Hamas" will ensure that "Israel, with the Sunni nations, can actually police their region of the world. That allows us to spend less time and less resources in the Middle East." That's not how former Trump administration official Jared Kushner, a key architect of the accords, sees it. Over the weekend, he posted an essay to social media arguing that the United States should build on the "Abraham Accords breakthrough" by backing an Israeli war in Lebanon, and hinted that the time is ripe for a wider U.S. war. "Iran is now fully exposed," he wrote, adding that "it's not only Israel's fight." Of course, the Trump administration has never pretended that the Abraham Accords were meant to allow U.S. disengagement; then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo bragged about unlocking more "defense cooperation." The Biden administration itself promised a permanent U.S. military commitment to Abraham Accords member Bahrain in order to entice Saudi Arabia to join the alliance. But Kushner's essay moves the goalposts from a defensive commitment to an offensive one. It's now hard to pretend that the vision is anything less than a regime change campaign on the scale that old-fashioned neoconservatives could only dream of. Kushner wrote his essay in response to the Israeli assassination of Hezbollah commander Hassan Nasrallah. Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia backed by Iran, had been engaged in a low-grade border war with Israel for the past year. Israel decided to assassinate Nasrallah after he kept demanding an end to the Israeli war in Gaza in exchange for a ceasefire in Lebanon, an Israeli official told NBC. The Israeli army is now beginning a ground incursion into Lebanon, after the Biden administration reportedly talked Israel out of a full-on ground invasion. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hinted at even larger plans, calling Nasrallah's assassination "Operation New Order" and stating that the fall of the Iranian government "will come a lot sooner than people think." Nasrallah's assassination "is significant because Iran is now fully exposed. The reason why their nuclear facilities have not been destroyed, despite weak air defense systems, is because Hezbollah has been a loaded gun pointed at Israel," Kushner wrote. "The right move now for America would be to tell Israel to finish the job. It's long overdue. And it's not only Israel's fight," he added. Kushner added that Iran is the "main issue between Lebanon and Israel" and brought up Hezbollah's role in killing U.S. Marines in 1983, during the last U.S. military intervention in Lebanon. That incident, of course, demonstrates exactly why Kushner's vision might not go as planned. In 1982, before Hezbollah existed, Israel invaded Lebanon to root out Palestinian guerrillas. Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon envisioned an operation aimed at "transforming Lebanon into a reliable ally," assassinating Palestinian leadership, expelling Palestinians, and eventually overthrowing the government of Jordan, according to Rise and Kill First by Ronen Bergman. After Israeli forces stormed Beirut, the Lebanese capital, they successfully installed their ally, Bachir Gemayel, as prime minister and forced the Palestine Liberation Organization to withdraw from the country. (U.S. Marines were sent to oversee the Palestinian withdrawal.) But Gemayel was assassinated by one of his own countrymen, and a new militia called Hezbollah emerged to fight both the Israeli and U.S. presence. Kushner's reference to Iranian nuclear sites points to another, greater danger. As of this spring, the U.S. government believes that Iran could build a nuclear bomb within several months but has not yet made the decision to do so. The Israeli attacks on Hezbollah and the hints that more is coming have almost certainly changed Iran's calculations. It's a given that any military campaign against the Iranian nuclear program would require direct U.S. involvement, since Israel could not do it alone, as former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and retired Israeli military analyst Danny Citrinowicz point out. Iranian nuclear facilities are hardened and scattered throughout the country; only the United States has enough aircraft, air bases within range, and bunker-busting bombs to hit all of these sites. The U.S. president may very soon face a choice between allowing Iran to build a nuclear bomb or bombing Iran, a prospect that suits Kushner, Pompeo, and Netanyahu well. The question for Trump and Vance is whether they support this vision, too. The post Did the Abraham Accords Pave the Way for Total War? appeared first on Reason.com. Most judges in Michigan are easily reelected in part because Michigans constitution lets judges do something that no other candidates can do. It lets judges tell each voter, right on the ballot, that theyre incumbents Hey, Im already a judge, so just vote me back in. That's a huge advantage. Still, for one judge in metro Detroit this fall, incumbency might not be enough. Southfield District Judge Debra Nance was first elected in 2012 with 62% of the vote. She was reelected in 2018 with more than 89%, after facing just a write-in challenge. This year, Nance is up against a strong challenger, who will be listed on ballots. The challenger is an experienced magistrate who has ruled on numerous cases for six years in the same courthouse where Nance sits. This opponent also has experience as a deputy court administrator, something Nance lacks. Judge Debra Nance, of 46th District Court in Southfield, is shown in a 2013 photo as she sentences a drunken driver. Nance is known for taking costly overseas trips at public expense, citing the trips educational and networking value. Perhaps more important than the challengers strengths, however, is Nances seeming defect. Nance has been accused of something very serious for a judge the sin of not always telling the truth. The key allegation is that she lied under oath while being questioned on two occasions by investigators of the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission, the state agency that disciplines judges. That allegation hasnt been proven. But now, adding concern, Nance has not been forthright about the JTCs investigation in her campaign talk. Nance did not respond last week to phone messages left for her at her court chambers. With two local interviewers, Nance skirted the subject of the JTC investigation, in both cases saying this: I have never been disciplined or reprimanded as an attorney or judge, and after 12 successful years on the bench, Im proud that no attorney, no litigant and no member of my community has ever filed any issue regarding my conduct, on or off the bench, and thats a fact. Yet, what is a fact is that someone in another community filed a complaint, after which Nance was questioned about it, and the result was a formal complaint issued by the JTC. Most recently, Nance misrepresented the status of the investigation in a questionnaire sent to her by the League of Women Voters. She said on the questionnaire that the JTCs complaint had been dismissed. Not so. The JTC has scheduled a hearing for February in Farmington Hills District Court. Nance could say to voters and to the media that whether she lied nine times while under oath, as JTC lawyers allege, is still to be decided. She also could say that even if the formal complaint is decided against her, any mistruths were spoken away from her courtroom and didnt affect anyones legal case. The outcome might be the proverbial slap on the wrist by the usually lenient Michigan Supreme Court. Its justices make the ultimate decisions on discipline for judges, ranging from mere letters of warning to more serious reprimands, up to suspensions for as long as a year and even, in very rare cases, removal from the bench. But a key decision about Nance must come much sooner from the voters in her courts district, which encompasses Southfield, Lathrup Village, Franklin, Bingham Farms and Beverly Hills. Those voters must decide whether there is reason to believe that Nance was not truthful while under oath, and also whether she continues to be evasive as she campaigns. Then, they must decide whether thats enough to vote her out of office, especially since her opponent is well-qualified. Nance is accused of making false statements under oath to commission investigators on two occasions, more than a year apart. Such investigations are notoriously lengthy. Although the incident that triggered the investigation occurred in 2019 at a judges conference on Mackinac Island, and inside a bike-rental shop on the island, the conclusion of the investigation wont occur until well after this falls election. To parry insinuations about her integrity, Nance couldve been scrupulously honest when she answered the questionnaire of the League of Women Voters. Instead, as the Leagues moderator tactfully pointed out, her response was misleading. You said in your questionnaire that that complaint had been dismissed, said moderator Michael Schloff, a lawyer based in Troy and a volunteer with the League of Women Voters. Nances full assertion on the questionnaire, which is still online at the Leagues Oakland County website, was that a judge had dismissed the complaint. Actually, a JTC investigator called a special master, not a judge, had only recommended that it be dismissed. That matter is still pending with the JTC, Schloff went on, in the forum held on Sept. 12 at the Southfield Public Library. Schloff asked Nance to explain her misleading response on the questionnaire. She didnt. Instead, she insisted she had said and done nothing wrong. One of the worst situations in life is being charged with something youve never done, Nance told the audience of about 40 people. She said the experience of being a target of the JTC would make her a better judge. Nance finished by saying, as she has in other campaign talks: I have never done anything I wasnt proud of. After the forum ended, Schloff continued being tactful while talking to the Free Press about his concern with Nances response. The idea that a judge dismissed this no, thats not true, he said, as he walked out of the forum. Four days later, on Sept. 16, the JTC met in Detroit, then issued an 18-page decision requiring Nance to appear on Feb. 3 at 9:30 a.m. in Farmington Hills District Court, where evidence is to be taken in support of the charges. At that hearing, Nance will be allowed to continue to assert, as she has for nearly two years, that she did not lie. Robin Dillard-Russaw, running for judge in Southfield's 46th District Court, poses inside the Southfield Parks & Rec Pavilion on Sept. 25, 2024 before speaking at a forum held by Kappa Alpha Psi, a historically Black fraternity. Dillard-Russaw's opponent did not appear. Her opponent in the judicial race in 46th District Court is Robin Dillard-Russaw, who has been careful not to voice direct criticism of Nance. At the League of Women Voters forum, Dillard-Russaw said only that she would bring integrity back to the 46th District Court. Her website goes further. It displays news stories about Nance and says, Nances ethics problems undermine public trust in our courts. Its time to vote no on Nance. In a phone interview this week, Dillard-Russaw said she prefers referring voters to news articles that are critical of Nance rather than doing the criticizing herself. One of those articles was a May 3 article from the Free Press that said expense ledgers obtained from numerous courthouses in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties show that Nance has spent far more money than other judges on travel expenses, taking costly annual trips to overseas legal conferences in destinations such as Ghana, Dubai and South Africa, at a cost for each trip of as much as $4,800. The cost of the overseas conferences was in addition to the expense of Nance's trips to legal conferences in Michigan, such as the annual multiday conference on Mackinac Island that many Michigan judges attend. More: Embattled Judge Kenneth King completes training, heads back to bench in traffic court In the course of knocking on doors and speaking to community groups, Dillard-Russaw said, The community appears to be aware of Nances integrity problem. Nance has said that those conferences taught her how legal systems work in other countries. The JTCs investigation could take much of next year to conclude. This year, it will be the ballot box in November, and a ballot that lists Nance as an incumbent district judge, that decides whether she remains on the bench in Southfield. Contact Bill Laytner: blaitner@freepress.com. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Southfield judge said charge against her was dismissed but it wasn't (WHTM) Pennsylvanias counties that populate the Susquehanna Valley are home to some of the states richest history, with some predating the United States entirely. So, how long have these Midstate counties been around, and how did they get their names? Adams Adams County, home to one of the American Civil Wars most important battlegrounds in Gettysburg, was created from part of York County in 1800. According to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the county was named after John Adams, the second president of the United States, and the current president at that time. Its not to say Pennsylvania lacks creativity, but this wont be the only county on this list named after an American historical figure. Cumberland First acquired from Native Americans in 1736, Cumberland County was considered a part of Lancaster County. It wasnt until 1750 that Cumberland County was officially created, according to Cumberland County. The County added that it was named after Cumberland, England, with its first settlers originating from that region. How did these Pennsylvania cities get their names? Dauphin Dauphin County, home of the Pennsylvania State Capitol, was once a part of Lancaster County until 1785. Dauphin County was named after the Dauphin, a title given to the eldest son of the King of France, for Francess contribution to the American Colonies during the Revolutionary War, according to The Origin of certain place names in the United States. Franklin Franklin County, once part of Lancaster County in 1729, then York County in 1749, and Cumberland County in 1750, officially became Franklin County in 1784, according to Franklin County. It was named after the Founding Father and face of the $100 bill, Benjamin Franklin. Fulton Fulton County, the youngest county on this list, separated from Bedford County in 1850. Fulton Countys separation from Bedford was unique in that a state senator who initially opposed the separation eventually agreed, but only if he got to pick its name. Fulton County was initially going to be named Liberty County, but the Senator proposed that it be named Fulton after the steamboat inventor and Pennsylvania native Robert Fulton, according to Fulton County. Juniata Juniata County, named after the Juniata River that flows through it, was separated from Mifflin County in 1831. According to Juniata County, an average of only 57 people populate every square mile of the county. Lancaster Lancaster County, known today for its art scene and farmers markets, officially became a county in 1729 following its separation from Chester County, according to the Pennsylvania State Archives. Originally, Lancaster County covered a large section of the Susquehanna Valley area before other counties were established. Like Cumberland County, Lancaster County was named after the City of Lancaster in England. Lebanon Lebanon County was created from parts of Dauphin and Lancaster County in 1813, with minor boundary revisions occurring in 1814 and 1821, according to the Lebanon County Historical Society. Lebanon County got its name from Old Lebanon Township. The county says Germans initially settled there, and over 42% of residents today still claim German descent. Mifflin Established in 1789 from parts of Northumberland and Cumberland County, Mifflin County was named after Pennsylvanias first Governor, Thomas Mifflin. Mifflin County is also home to Amish and Mennonite communities that still speak Pennsylvania Dutch. Perry Perry County broke off from Cumberland County, becoming its own in 1820. Perry County is most well known for its exceptional nature and hunting areas. According to Perry County, it was named after Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the American Hero of the naval engagement with the British on Lake Erie during the War of 1812. York York County gained official recognition as a county in 1749 when it separated from Lancaster County. As for how York County got its name? Its complicated. The exact origin of the name is unclear, but it is either named after the Duke of York, a patron of the Penn family, or for the City of York in England, according to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. The City of York in York County held the second Continental Congress in 1777, sparking a debate among historians about whether York was the first Capitol of the United States. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. A lawyer for a new Sean Diddy Combs accuser claims that shes been contacted about the sale of one of the Diddy tapes, specifically a pornographic video featuring the embattled hip-hop mogul, indicted last week on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges, and someone more high-profile than the rapper and Bad Boy founder. There already have been tapes leaking around Hollywood being shopped around but one particular person contacted me to shop a particular video they were in possession of and to contact the person who was in the video to see if they were interested in purchasing the video before it became public knowledge, Ariel Mitchell-Kidd said Friday on NewsNations Banfield. I can tell the video was pornographic in nature. This was in his Atlanta home, and it does seem the person isnt looking into the video. To me, it doesnt seem like that person knows theyre being videotaped. More from The Hollywood Reporter Mitchell-Kidd also said she was contacted a few weeks ago by a new client who claims Combs raped her in 2018 and filed a police report at the time. She called me and told me about her assault and her escape, Mitchell-Kidd said. She was at a friends house who had industry ties, and Diddy decided to come to the house. Mitchell-Kidd claims her client learned Combs was planning on sex trafficking her when he arrived. It led to her being served a drink. She started to feel woozy. Combs sexually assaulted her with an inanimate object, Mitchell-Kidd said. And then directed another gentleman to sexually assault her while he watched and pleasured himself. Mitchell-Kidd said her client was able to escape, running into the street, which was witnessed by a neighbor. These allegations come as Combs remains behind bars as he awaits his trial after he was indicted earlier this month on three counts of directing a vast criminal enterprise through which he allegedly assaulted and trafficked women with the aid of his business empire from at least 2008. Hes been accused of engaging in a pervasive pattern of abuse that involved coercing women to participate in highly orchestrated sexual encounters with male sex workers who were allegedly transported across state lines and internationally. His bail was denied after he pleaded not guilty to the charges, due to concerns he could flee the country. Combs last week was hit with yet another lawsuit, at least the 10th brought against the rapper after Cassie Ventura sued him in November 2023 in a lawsuit that sparked a federal investigation into sex trafficking and racketeering. This time Combs was sued in New York federal court for allegedly drugging and raping a woman in 2001. The accuser claimed she was sexually assaulted by Combs and his bodyguard. It was also reported last week that Combs is staying in the same unit of Brooklyns Metropolitan Detention Center as Sam Bankman-Fried, the crypto mogul convicted of fraud. After Diddy was arrested on Sept. 16, his lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, issued the following statement: We are disappointed with the decision to pursue what we believe is an unjust prosecution of Mr. Combs by the U.S. Attorneys Office. Sean Diddy Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man and proven philanthropist who has spent the last 30 years building an empire, adoring his children and working to uplift the Black community. He is an imperfect person but he is not a criminal. To his credit Mr. Combs has been nothing but cooperative with this investigation and he voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges. Please reserve your judgment until you have all the facts. These are the acts of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court. Agnifilo has not yet responded to The Hollywood Reporters request for comment on Mitchell-Kidds claims about the video and new accuser. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Sign up for THR's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. HOUSTON - A Houston lawyer says he's been contacted by thousands of people who say they were victimized by Sean "Diddy" Combs. Attorney Tony Buzbee says 3,285 people have reached out to him claiming to be victims of Sean Combs. Buzbee says after some vetting, he now represents 120 people who will bring individual civil lawsuits against P Diddy, 60 males and 60 females, including 25 children. SUGGESTED: Harris County woman claims Diddy violently sexually assaulted her at Bad Boy studio in 2001 Some of the accusations are extremely disturbing. "The youngest victim at the time of the occurrence was 9-years-old. We have an individual who was 14-years-old," Buzbee said. "Most of these events and incidents occurred at parties, typically at after parties, New Year's Eve parties, album release parties, Fourth of July parties, something they call a puppy party, a white party. Although several of these events happened at auditions." "Some of this behavior occurred at private residences of people that we all know. Some of this behavior occurred at hotels that we're all familiar with. You should know that more than 55% of the victims filed reports reported this conduct to police or hospitals...many who did in fact seek medical treatment were drug tested and drugs were found in their system. Weird drugs. Drugs you've probably never heard of. One in particular that continues to pop up is xylazine or "tranq", which, based on our research, is known as a horse tranquilizer," Buzbee said. According to the attorney, all the children had been auditioning for Combs. "All seeking either TV or some sort of music career with promises of we're going to make you a star. Instead, basically did things to them such that they don't want to have anything to do with the entertainment industry ever again. This individual, who was 9-years-old at the time, was taken to an audition in New York City with Bad Boy Records...this individual was sexually abused allegedly by Sean Combs and several other people at the studio, in the promise to both his parents and to him, of getting a record deal. Another instance, another minor told, allegedly by Sean Combs, that he would make him a star, but he needed to visit in private...allegedly Mr. Combs made the victim perform oral sex upon him. An individual, 15-years-old at the time was drugged and then taken into a private room, all in the presence of Mr. Combs, where a female minor was raped," says Buzbee. "It was not your fault. You were victimized by a group of powerful people that operated for 30 plus years," says Attorney Andrew Van Arsdel, who's working with Buzbee. "The day will come when we will name names, other than Sean Combs, and there's a lot of names. It's a long list already. Because of the nature of this case, we're going to make damn sure we're right before we do that," says Buzbee. Several of the 120 people Buzbee is representing have spoken with the FBI. Buzzbee's 120 clients are from 25 states. Most are from California and New York, which is where Buzbee says the alleged attacks usually occurred. FOX 26 Houston is now on the FOX LOCAL app available through Apple TV, Amazon FireTV, Roku, Google Android TV, and Vizio! Buzbee says most were given a drink and later woke up with severe damage to private areas of their body, and they couldn't remember what happened. "The biggest secret in the entertainment industry, that really wasn't a secret at all, has finally been revealed to the world," adds Buzbee, who says the civil suits won't stop at individuals. "But also, include corporate entities who ultimately profited off of this culture and behavior. I'm looking at banks, pharmaceutical companies, hotels." The attorney says his clients tell him alleged victims were threatened and often paid off. "Many of these individuals were paid cash, and we know many of these individuals involved, whether they were being assaulted and abused, or witnessing other people being assaulted and abused, and then paid and threatened and told to leave. Typically, they were paid $10,000 in cash and told to leave." Co-counsel Andrew Arsdale from the AVA Law Group also announced the sexual assault hotline number, 1-800-200-7474, and explained the process for witnesses or victims to report their experiences confidentially. According to Buzbee, of the 120 people he's representing, 62% are Black, 30% are white, and the remainder are Hispanic or Asian. We should point out the people standing with Buzbee are part of his team and not alleged victims. Diddy Is No Longer On Suicide Watch While In NYC Prison As 'He Is Focused And Very Strong' Sean "Diddy" Combs is no longer on suicide watch after being placed under strict supervision amid his stay in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center. The embattled rapper is also said to be getting visits from his family members as he prepares for his upcoming trial in October. Diddy's lawyer also recently shared that the rapper has been very optimistic about his situation and has a "strong resolve." Diddy Is No Longer On Suicide Watch MEGA According to People Magazine, law enforcement sources have confirmed that Diddy is no longer on suicide watch and is being allowed visits from his loved ones. The music producer, who was arrested on September 16, is being held at the MDC jail in Brooklyn after being denied bail twice for being a "danger" to society and a flight risk. "He is focused and very strong," a lawyer for Combs told the news outlet. "He is concentrating on his defense and preparing for his trial. It was earlier reported that the "Finna Get Loose" rapper has been placed under surveillance just in case he attempts to commit suicide while awaiting trial. An insider at the time told People that the decision was made for "preventative measures as Diddy is in shock and his mental state is unclear." Diddy Is 'Remarkably Positive' And Has A Strong Resolve MEGA In a clip from TMZ's "The Downfall of Diddy: The Indictment," Diddy's lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, revealed how the rapper has been holding up in jail. Agnifilo shared that the embattled music mogul has remained upbeat as he seeks to prove his innocence on the sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution charges he's been slammed with. "His state of mind is actually remarkably positive," Diddy's attorney told the news outlet after he was when reminded that his client could spend more than a year behind bars before even reaching trial. "I spend several hours with him every day. His resolve is strong, he's engaged, he's focused on his defense," Agnifilo explained. "He is so focused on trying to right his wrong that it's actually giving him a form of strength and a form of confidence that I think is going to get him through a difficult time." The Feds Have Their Sights Set On Diddy's Alleged Co-Conspirators MEGA With Diddy in jail and awaiting trial, law enforcement agents are reportedly ramping up their probe and intend to go after those involved in his "freak offs" as the case progresses. According to the L.A. Times, top legal counsels shared that authorities are pursuing the case with the same playbook they used to take down the likes of famous crime bosses, James "Whitey" Bulger and John Gotti. "They are very much treating this matter like a mobster case ... and articulating various roles that different people played in supporting the conspiracy," federal defense counsel Louis Shapiro told the news outlet. Shapiro, who isn't directly linked to the highly-publicized case, also noted that the government has already interviewed more than 50 witnesses and served 300 warrants. Another former federal prosecutor, Neama Rahmani, said, "If I were a celebrity who participated in one of Combs' freak-offs, I would be shaking in my boots. At best, they're a witness in a case that is very likely going to trial. At worst, they're a co-defendant. Diddy Will Testify In His Case, Lawyer Reveals MEGA During his appearance on the TMZ docuseries, Diddy's lawyer, Agnifilo, noted that the rapper plans to testify in his own trial in order to tell his story of "love" and "heartbreak." Agnifilo acknowledged that the move might be a gamble as it would open the Grammy winner up to being cross-examined and asked several shocking questions. However, he believes Diddy is seemingly in the best position to defend himself in court. "He has his story, and he has a story that I think only he can tell in the way he can tell it in real-time," Agnifilo said. "And it's a human story. It's a story of love. It's a story of hurt. It's a story of heartbreak." The lawyer added, "I mean, when he describes that relationship, the word he uses more than any other word is heartbreak. He was heartbroken; she was heartbroken." If Diddy ends up testifying, he would likely face questions from prosecutors about the recent viral hotel surveillance clip that saw him physically assault his ex-girlfriend, Cassandra "Cassie" Ventura. The Rapper's Lawyer Said The Feds Are Just Trying To Ruin A 'Successful Black Man' MEGA Agnifilo further criticized the arrest and charges brought against Diddy, claiming that it is an example of the federal government's long-standing hostility toward successful Black individuals. He told TMZ, "They start making this case as a takedown of a successful Black man. This is the government scrutinizing his business, scrutinizing his taxes, he does everything right." Agnifilo questioned the motives behind probing into Diddy's personal life, adding: "What's the last vestige? We are going to go into his bedroom because maybe we don't like the way he is having sex." The lawyer, a former Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, also highlighted Diddy's achievements as a respected Black businessman, saying that society has unfairly painted him as a "monster." Sean "Diddy" Combs remains optimistic in the Brooklyn Jail where he's being held despite his highly-publicized legal woes and prison stay. His lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said that the "Bad Boy For Life" rapper's "resolve is strong" and that he's "focused on his defense." Diddy's case has now seemingly entered a new phase as reports suggest law enforcement is going after those who took part in his alleged "freak-offs" that involved women being drugged and assaulted. Diddy Remains 'Remarkably Positive' Behind Bars MEGA In a new clip from TMZ's "The Downfall of Diddy: The Indictment," Diddy's lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, opened up about how his client is holding up in jail. Agnifilo disclosed that the embattled music mogul has maintained an upbeat outlook as he seeks to prove his innocence on the sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution charges he's been slammed with. He's currently being held at the notorious Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center, which has been known for its harsh living conditions and dangerousness. "His state of mind is actually remarkably positive," Diddy's attorney told the news outlet after he was when reminded that his client could spend more than a year behind bars before even reaching trial. "I spend several hours with him every day. His resolve is strong, he's engaged, he's focused on his defense," Agnifilo explained. "He is so focused on trying to right his wrong that it's actually giving him a form of strength and a form of confidence that I think is going to get him through a difficult time." Diddy Was Placed Under Suicide Watch MEGA The music producer was placed under suicide watch just hours after he was arrested on Monday, September 16, by Homeland Security at the Park Hyatt Hotel in New York City. According to People Magazine, a source noted that the decision to place him under suicide watch was made for "preventative measures" as he was in shock and his mental state was "unclear" at the time. However, his lawyer, Agnifilo, rebutted the speculations about Diddy's mental health. "We see him every day and he has come to terms with the fact that this is where he is for now. We are trying to get this matter to trial as soon as possible," Agnifilo said, per TMZ. "There's an adage that we have in my office: 'Don't tell me what I did wrong, tell me what I do next.' And that's where he is," the attorney added. Feds Target Those Involved In Diddy's 'Freaks Offs' MEGA While Diddy awaits trial, law enforcement agents are reportedly ramping up their probe and now appear to be going after those involved in his "freak offs" as the case enters a new phase. According to The L.A. Times, top legal counsels shared that authorities are pursuing the case with the same racketeering playbook they used to take down the likes of John Gotti and James "Whitey" Bulger. "They are very much treating this matter like a mobster case ... and articulating various roles that different people played in supporting the conspiracy," federal defense counsel Louis Shapiro told the news outlet. "If I were a celebrity who participated in one of Combs' freak-offs, I would be shaking in my boots. At best, they're a witness in a case that is very likely going to trial. At worst, they're a co-defendant," former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani said. More Names May Come Out In The Coming Weeks MEGA Diddy has been hit with several sexual assault lawsuits from different women since he was arrested and jailed. Mr. Shapiro, who isn't directly linked to Diddy's case, told the L.A. Times that the government has already interviewed more than 50 witnesses and served 300 warrants. According to the news outlet, several witnesses have had meetings with federal prosecutors concerning the case, and at least one sex worker is billed to testify in a potential grand jury proceeding. Prosecutors have maintained that the possibility of others being charged remains active. "I can't take anything off the table. Anything is possible," said Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, announcing the indictment. "Our investigation is very active and ongoing." Diddy has already been denied bail twice since he was arrested. He has, however, managed to talk to his mom and children, who were reportedly left distraught by his allegations. A Very 'High Profile Person' Was Seen In An X-Rated Tape Filmed At Diddy's Atlanta Home MEGA On Friday's episode of Banfield on NewsNation, Ariel Mitchell-Kidd, an attorney representing one of Diddy's accusers, made a startling revelation regarding who might have been present during the rapper's alleged "pornographic" acts. She claimed that "one particular person contacted [her] to shop a particular video," adding that it was "pornographic" in nature. One of the individuals in the video was allegedly a "high-profile person" whom Diddy was linked to. Mitchell-Kidd also suggested that the act was most likely recorded at Diddy's Atlanta home. From what she observed, she noted that the person being filmed seemed unaware that they were being recorded. "It does seem like the person isn't looking into the video. To me, it doesn't seem like that person knows they're being videotaped," the attorney added, per the Daily Mail. Whoever the high-profile person was, Mitchell-Kidd opted not to share that detail, leaving plenty of room for speculation. Diddy Taken Off Suicide Watch as Fam Visits Him in Hellhole NYC Jail Sean Diddy Combs appears to be settling in to his hellhole prison digs. The disgraced musician has been taken off suicide watch and has been visiting with family who traveled to meet him inside the infamous Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, People and Fox News reported. An attorney for Combs, 54, has insisted that his client was never actually suicidal but put was put on watch because its standard for big-name celebs who are taken into federal custody. The New York facility, which is plagued by rampant violence and is known to have poor care for detaineeseven by jail standards, will be Combs home as he awaits trial after a judge denied him bail twice this month. The Metropolitan Detention Center, a federally ran facility in Brooklyn, has become notorious for its violence and poor treatment of detainees. Reuters Early reports suggested Combs first days behind bar were hellish, with him potentially being so scared and paranoid that hed avoid jail grub, a News Nation article claimed. Diddys attorney, Marc Agnifilo, labeled that article as BS. He told the Daily Beast in a statement last week that his client was doing quite well under the circumstances. Agnifilo has regularly spoke with journalists since Combs was arrested on human trafficking charges on Sept. 16. The attorney has repeatedly asserted that his client is in good spirits in lock up and has gone to great lengths to justify some of the oddities of Combs indictment. That included Agnifilo claiming Combs had hordes of baby oil at his mansion because he lived near a Costcoa claim the bulk grocer has since debunked. In court, Agnifilo emphasized just how dangerous the Metropolitan Detention Center is and asked a judge to not force Combs to call the facility home. The facility has previously housed R. Kelly and Ghislaine Maxwell, and is currently home for the disgraced crypto CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Diddys attorney, Marc Agnifilo, has insisted his client doing quite well behind bars, despite him being housed in a federal detention facility thats infamous for poor treatment and violence among detainees. Brendan McDermid/Reuters Several courts in this District have recognized that the conditions at Metropolitan Detention Center are not fit for pre-trial detention, Agnifilos motion read. Just earlier this summer, an inmate was murdered. At least four inmates have died by suicide there in the past three years. Peoples report did not specify which of Combs loved ones have paid him a visit. Hes the father of seven children, ranging in age from his 33-year-old stepson Quincy Brown to his one-year-old tot, Love Sean Combs. Diddys loved ones have remained largely mum since his arrestneither speaking out to condemn the disgusting allegations leveled against the music mogul nor showing him explicit support publicly. Everything to Know About Diddys Kids as Brood Sticks by His Side People reported on Sept. 23 that, to that point, Combs had only briefly spoken to his seven children who were in collective shock. The lone comment from the Combs family came via four of his children, who released a joint statement last week to shoot down unsubstantiated rumors that the rapper had anything to do with the untimely death of their mother, Kim Porter, who died from pneumonia in 2018. Combs is staring down a sentence between 15 years and a lifetime behind bars if hes found guilty. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Polish Americans have emerged as a tranche of voters being courted ahead of the US presidential election (RYAN COLLERD) (RYAN COLLERD/AFP/AFP) In Pennsylvania, a crucial state in the race for the White House, Democrats are trying to appeal to the large Polish diaspora by emphasizing Russian President Vladimir Putin's military threat to Europe. But in the Polish-American community outside Philadelphia, many immigrants whose families fled communism prefer Republican Donald Trump. Jolanta Gora, who arrived in the United States 32 years ago, said her heart aches over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and she believes Trump, with his transactional approach and tough posture, is best equipped to help settle the conflict. "I think that Trump is the only person who can actually negotiate with Putin to end this war," said Gora, a fiftyish administrator at a physician's office. Earlier this week, Polish President Andrzej Duda paid a visit to a Polish-American Catholic shrine in Doylestown near Philadelphia and unveiled a monument to Poles who fought the communist regime. Trump, an ally of the conservative Polish leader, had also been slated to appear but the plan fell through. Duda urged attendees to cast their ballots in the November 5 vote, but Gora, who came to the unveiling with a friend, needed no reminding as she waved a "Trump 2024" flag. "I do remember the old times in Poland, when I grew up and the communist government was ruling our lives. We don't want this in Pennsylvania. We don't want this in America," Gora told AFP. "That's why, as a Polish-American citizen, I'm voting for Trump." - Targeted advertising - In an election likely to be decided by a razor-thin margin in a handful of key states including Pennsylvania, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris is not overlooking the Polish-American community, making sure to appeal to them during her debate with Trump earlier this month. "Why don't you tell the 800,000 Polish-Americans right here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would give up for the sake of favor, and what you think is a friendship, with what is known to be a dictator who would eat you for lunch?" Harris said. One Harris campaign ad appears to specifically target Polish-American voters. The 30-second clip published on social media features an excerpt from a speech in which then-president Trump tells a NATO ally that if it doesn't contribute more, the United States won't protect it from Russia. "No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want," he says. Then, a voiceover says that Harris will "defend our brave allies for their freedom." "That is really the first time that a presidential candidate has done direct targeting to the Polish community," said Maureen Pikarski, a Polish-American lawyer who helped create the ad campaign. - 'Very concerned' - In 2020, Joe Biden beat Trump in Pennsylvania by roughly 80,000 votes. Today, the estimated eight million Polish-Americans in the US appear evenly split between Harris and Trump, Pikarski said. Dominik Stecula, a political science professor at Ohio State University who studies the Polish diaspora, said the candidates are not aiming to lock in the entire Polish-American vote but to win over as many independents as possible. "It's just a strategy... to secure a few more voters in the key electoral parts of the country and, even within the states, the very specific counties that are very important," Stecula said. That is crucial in the so-called swing states which are expected to play a decisive role in November, including Wisconsin, where 7.7 percent of the population is of Polish ancestry, in Michigan, with 7.2 percent, and in Pennsylvania, with 5.5 percent. Timothy Kuzma, president of the Polish Falcons of America, a diaspora organization, said he was moved by Harris's debate performance. "We are very concerned about what's happening in Ukraine," Kuzma told AFP. "It's important to Poles, because they don't want a Russian-controlled Ukraine sitting on their border." Kuzma was happy to see Harris single out the Polish-American community in her speech. "In a state like Pennsylvania, where you have a large Polish population," a swing of even 5,000 votes can make a difference, he added. "So it can be an enormous game changer." ube/ev/md/bbk Humberto Ortega, the dissident brother of Nicaraguan strongman Daniel Ortega, died Monday in a military hospital, the army said. The retired army general, 77 -- whom the president accused of treason -- suffered cardiorespiratory arrest in the early morning hours and could not be resuscitated, an army statement said. In May, police said they had set up a "medical care unit" at Humberto Ortega's home, a move interpreted by Nicaraguan media in exile as meaning he was under house arrest. That came after he gave a media interview in which he said the president lacked a successor, and that his circle of power would collapse when he died. A week later, the president accused his brother of having committed treason by decorating a US soldier in 1992. In June, Nicaraguan press outlets operating in exile reported Humberto Ortega was transferred from his home to a military hospital with apparent heart trouble. The Ortega brothers became estranged in the 1990s due to political differences. They were both guerrillas in the Sandinista movement that initially took power in 1979 after toppling the US-backed Somoza family dictatorship. After the movement's rise to power, Humberto Ortega headed up the army, while his brother headed the junta and later served as elected president from 1985 to 1990. Daniel Ortega returned to power in 2007, and has since engaged in increasingly authoritarian practices, quashing presidential term limits and seizing control of all branches of the state. Nicaragua has jailed hundreds of opponents, real and perceived, since then and shuttered more than 3,500 religious and other non-governmental organizations. Most independent and opposition media now operate from abroad. apg/fj/mlr/dw Does Dade Phelan have the votes to keep his job as Texas House speaker? It depends on how you count. Renzo Downey is the lead writer of our premier politics newsletter, The Blast, which delivers exclusive reporting, nonpartisan analysis and the first word on political moves across the state. Subscribe today. The race for speaker of the Texas House has narrowed, pitting Beaumont Republican Dade Phelan, who has held the gavel since 2021, against Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, who has emerged as the challenger designated by a group disillusioned with House leadership. Earlier this month, during a private meeting of Republican House members and nominees, four other speaker challengers dropped out and endorsed Cook and 48 attendees committed to supporting him over Phelan. Assuming all 48 of those Republicans win their respective November elections and cast a vote for House speaker in January, that would mean a majority of House Republicans dont support Phelan. Phelan says he has the votes to be reelected to a third term as speaker. Critics say he cant win without the support of the Republican caucus. So whats the deal? There are two key thresholds at play. The first is the most important: With 150 members, it takes at least 76 votes to become House speaker. The breakdown of the membership is 86 Republicans and 63 Democrats, plus one vacancy. But this balance could change slightly this November. The other notable threshold that comes into play is a vote that happens before the full House selects its speaker. House Republicans, according to their bylaws, will vote to endorse a candidate in a caucus election before the session begins. Republicans are expected to support that nominee once the speaker vote comes to the House floor though it hasnt always played out that way. Why are we talking about next years House speaker now? Selecting the House speaker, who presides over the lower chamber and has tremendous control over what bills see the light of day, will be one of the first action items of its members when they convene in January. The speaker race typically takes off in the fall, but the quest to replace Phelan by his critics got started before the last legislative session even ended. Critics blamed Phelan for the Houses impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton and for the deadlock between the House and Senate on property taxes, the border and education. That included the Houses ultimate failure to pass Gov. Greg Abbotts school vouchers measure in November. Paxton, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and former President Donald Trump endorsed Phelans primary opponent in an attempt to oust the speaker, buoyed by millions of dollars spent by organizations from outside his district and outside the state. Between the flanked attacks from Abbotts and Paxtons respective camps, nine Republicans lost their primaries, and Phelan and seven others were forced into primary runoffs. Soon after, Phelans first speaker challenger launched his campaign, accusing Phelan of dysfunctional leadership. Although Phelan survived his primary runoff at the end of May, six of the seven others lost theirs, and Phelan picked up a second speaker challenger. Despite Phelans victory, the incumbent members defeats and close calls sent the signal to many surviving Republicans that conservative grassroots activists were fed up with the direction of the Texas House. The two Republicans openly challenging Phelan marked the official start to the race for speaker, but things accelerated this month when three more Republicans entered the race. However, that group has since coalesced around Cook. Does David Cook have the votes to be speaker? Cooks claim to the gavel rests on his confidence that he can secure the Texas House Republican Caucus endorsement. The caucus bylaws call for the group to meet in December to choose an endorsed speaker candidate, who must receive the support of at least three-fifths of the caucus a number that will fluctuate based on the November election results but is likely to be in the 50s (If nothing changed, the number would be 52 members). Cook on Friday named 46 of his 48 supporters. The 46 named supporters are mostly made up of the Republican House members and nominees who signed a pledge in May saying they would not support a speaker who would give committee chairmanships to Democrats, effectively aimed at Phelan. Two signers of the May letter arent named in Cooks list of supporters: nominees Pat Curry of Waco and Hillary Hickland of Belton. Two of Cooks supporters didnt sign the May letter: Rep. James Frank of Wichita Falls, who dropped his speaker challenge to back Cook, and Rep. Matt Shaheen of Plano, who told The Dallas Morning News this summer that he was supporting Phelan. The process of selecting a speaker of the House should always be done with a high standard of due diligence and should never be taken lightly. That is why I firmly believe Mr. Cook is the leader that Texas needs at this point in history, Shaheen said in a statement. David has been a trustworthy friend who will lead the Texas House with honor and integrity. Cooks list also includes two nominees, Don McLaughlin and Steve Kinard, who are running in battleground districts currently represented by Democrats. Even if they flip both districts and no other seats change parties, Cook would be at least five votes shy of securing the three-fifths support of the caucus, assuming his supporters are right about the current strength of his support. However, thats much closer than Phelan is to getting support from three-fifths of the caucus, and Cooks supporters believe there is a segment who would leave Phelan and support Cook in the name of party unity. Frank says Cook is respected on both sides of the aisle, calling him a thoughtful and engaged leader. We must put a fractured chamber back together so that we can efficiently and effectively lead our state, and most of the caucus believes that requires a change at the top, Frank said to the Tribune. [Cook] has the support of a majority of our Republican colleagues, making him the current frontrunner to win the Republican caucus nomination and take this unified block of members to the floor. After winning the caucus vote, Cook would have to convince the GOP Phelan loyalists to support him on the floor. Frank says that pitch will include reminding Republicans of their common ground, but it could also include reminding them of the blowback they could face during the 2026 primary for voting against the Republican majority. Cook wouldnt have to convince every Republican, but hed have to convince enough to get to 76. Its unlikely his strategy would involve courting Democrats to support him, as he committed to blocking them from committee chairmanships. Dade Phelans path to reelection Phelans camp says theyre confident he has the votes. The path to the speakership is a matter of simple math, Phelans spokeswoman Cait Wittman, said to the Tribune. As he stated last Friday, Speaker Phelan has the clear majority votes needed to be the speaker today and will have the clear majority support needed to become speaker again come January. Phelan did not provide The Tribune with the list of members that support him. Phelans list of Republican supporters is believed to include key committee chairs and those facing the toughest reelection contests. Rep. Jared Patterson of Frisco reiterated his support for Phelan after Cook published his list of supporters. Results matter and the two most conservative sessions in the history of our great state didnt happen until Dade Phelan became Speaker of the Texas House, Patterson posted on social media. As one of the top conservatives during the most conservative sessions weve ever seen, Im proud to support his reelection as Speaker of the Texas House. Phelan has a couple paths to victory. First, he could attempt to break Cooks hold on the Republican majority by convincing them that he is the only candidate who could get to 76 votes on the House floor and win the endorsement of the caucus. Given the anti-Phelan sentiment within the party, that might be a difficult path for him. Phelan could also simply choose to move forward with his bid for the speakership without the party endorsement. The House rules do not restrict which members can be nominated for speaker, so once the vote comes to the floor, anyone can be put forward for consideration. Phelan has the support of an inner circle of loyal GOP lieutenants, and he would likely have the support of most, but not all, of the 60-plus Democrats. Phelan has been the only Republican speaker candidate this cycle who would continue the longstanding practice of appointing Democrats to committee chairmanships as part of a bipartisan leadership team. The combination of a minority of Republicans plus Democrats would likely get Phelan to 76 votes but winning with a majority of Democrats would incite the wrath of the far-right and inflame accusations that hes indebted to the minority party. It would also require Republicans to violate the GOP caucus rules that call on them to vote for the endorsed candidate on the House floor. However, the caucus bylaws have no provision for punishing members should they vote for another speaker candidate. Republican Reps. Nate Schatzline, Bryan Slaton and Tony Tinderholt voted last year for Tinderholt on the House floor with no official repercussions. Phelans camp did not respond to a question about whether he would still take his reelection bid to the House floor if he lost the endorsement of the GOP caucus. What about the Democrats? Phelans most sure fire path to retaining leadership relies on Democratic support. And thats not necessarily a sure thing. Democrat Ana-Maria Rodriguez Ramos officially filed to become a speaker candidate earlier this month. Although she doesnt have a path to victory, her candidacy shows that Democrats arent completely united behind Phelan. And Democrats may be motivated to help Phelan over Cook because it gives them a better shot at retaining committee chairmanships, which give them some control over what bills will make it to the floor for a vote. Even though the anti-Phelan bloc has coalesced behind Cook as their preferred candidate, theres still time for others to enter the race. There could still be another candidate better positioned to cleanly get to 76 votes. Texas law calls on the secretary of state to preside until the election of the House speaker. However, if the secretary of state is absent, the attorney general would preside, which could leave Paxton, Phelans No. 1 political rival, with the gavel as Phelan fights on the floor to retain his speakership. The Texas Tribune answering reader questions about 2024 elections. To share your question or feedback with us, you can fill out this form. Donald Trump Evokes The Purge After Saying One Really Violent Day of Policing Would End Crime During a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday, the former president suggested that "extraordinarily rough" police enforcement would "immediately" stop crime in America Justin Sullivan/Getty Former President Donald Trump suggested that one real rough, nasty and violent day could effectively end crime. While speaking at a rally in Erie, Pa., on Sunday, Trump, 78, expressed concern over crime in the United States, which he claimed is at a level weve never seen. Its rampant. Its rising, Trump said, adding, We have to let police do their job, [even] if they have to be extraordinarily rough. In 2023, America saw one of its lowest violent crime rates in 50 years, though shoplifting rates have been on the rise in 2024. Related: Fact Check: Trump Claims U.S. Crime Is 'Only' Going Up, Despite Steep Drop in Violence During Biden Presidency ALLISON DINNER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Discussing thefts from drug stores, where he claimed people are stealing air conditioners and carrying out refrigerators on their back, Trump proposed that his solution would require just one day. If you had one day, like one real, rough, nasty day If you had one really violent day, he stated regarding police action to eliminate crime. One rough hour and I mean real rough the word will get out and it will end immediately, you know? It will end immediately. Shortly after Trumps comments, The Purge began trending on X, as people drew comparisons to the plot of the horror film series in which all crime is legal for one night each year. He's just describing the premise of The Purge. https://t.co/zBnd919IDa The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) September 29, 2024 The way he watched The Purge and sat there like you know what we should try this, one X user said. Hes just describing the premise of The Purge, another added. This isnt the first time the former presidents comments have been compared to The Purge. In 2016, shortly before Trump was elected, the third film in the franchise, The Purge: Election Year, was released. The films tagline, Keep America Great, echoed Trumps campaign slogan and the commercials drew parallels to his advertisements, featuring the line, I purge to keep my country great. Related: What Is Project 2025? Inside the Far-Right Plan Threatening Everything from the Word 'Gender' to Public Education When asked about Trumps comments, a campaign official said he was clearly just floating in jest, per Politico. Steven Cheung, the campaigns communications director, added in a statement, President Trump has always been the law and order President and he continues to reiterate the importance of enforcing existing laws. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. At a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday, former President Donald Trump suggested "one rough hour" of law enforcement would deter retail theft. After falsely claiming crime is up in the U.S. under President Joe Biden, mostly due to migrant crime, Trump brought up seeing stores in New York City and San Francisco locking up their merchandise behind glass doors. "See, we have to let the police do their job. And if they have to be extraordinarily rough --" Trump trailed off as his rally crowd cheered. Trump went on to claim, without evidence, that people are walking out of stores with items like air conditioning units and refrigerators "on their back," "And the police aren't allowed to do their job," he said. MORE: Trump calls for Harris to be 'impeached and prosecuted' at Pennsylvania rally "They're told if you do anything, you're going to lose your pension; you're going to lose your family, your house, your car. The police want to do it. The Border Patrol wants to do it. ... They're not allowed to do it because the liberal left won't let 'em do it," he said on stage. "You know, if you had one day, like, one real rough, nasty day with the drugstores as an example, where when they start walking out with--" Trump continued before pivoting to retail crime in San Francisco, falsely claiming his opponent in the presidential race -- Vice President Kamala Harris -- was responsible for reclassifying felony theft as misdemeanors if under $950, even though it was a proposition approved by California voters. Trump, who said he recently had a tenant end a lease due to retail theft, said things are "so bad." MORE: Republican Jeff Flake endorses Kamala Harris, says 'she's ready' for the job "One rough hour -- and I mean real rough -- the word will get out, and it will end immediately, end immediately. You know, it will end immediately," he said. Donald Trump suggests police being 'extraordinarily rough' would end retail theft originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Donald Trump told the rally in Erie, Pennsylvania that police arent allowed to do their job - Dustin Franz/AFP Donald Trump has suggested that allowing the police to be extraordinarily rough for an hour would end crime. The Republican presidential candidate claimed that one real, nasty day would put an immediate stop to criminality, in comments that drew comparisons with the horror film The Purge. The Trump campaign insisted that he was not making a serious policy suggestion and was speaking in jest. Trump told a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania on Sunday: We have to let the police do their job. And if they have to be, extraordinarily rough. And you know, the funny thing with all of that stuff, look at the department stores... you see these guys walking out with air conditioners, with refrigerators on their back. The craziest thing. And the police arent allowed to do their job. Theyre told if you do anything, youre gonna lose your pension, youre gonna lose your family, your house, your car. Trump continued: You know, if you had one day, like one real rough, nasty day... One rough hour, and I mean real rough, the word will get out and it will end immediately. End immediately. You know, itll end immediately. Several commentators claimed that Trump was endorsing The Purge, a dystopian film in which murder and violence are made legal for 12 hours every year to release public aggression and tackle crime rates and unemployment. Trumps comments were compared with the film The Purge, in which laws are suspended for a 12-hour period every year - Alamy A campaign official said afterwards that the former president was clearly just floating it in jest. Nevertheless, crime has become a key battleground in the election with Trump frequently invoking his law and order credentials, and his rival Kamala Harris talking up her time as a prosecutor. According to polling from the Pew Research Centre, 51 per cent of voters give Trump the edge on law enforcement and criminal justice issues, compared with 47 per cent for Ms Harris. This is despite the fact that the Republican was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records in his New York hush money trial earlier this year. President Trump has always been the law and order president and he continues to reiterate the importance of enforcing existing laws, Steven Cheung, the campaigns communications director, told Politico. Otherwise its all-out anarchy, which is what Kamala Harris has created in some of these communities across America, especially during her time as [California] attorney-general when she emboldened criminals. 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. Trump tours Valdosta damage, claims Biden unavailable, but Biden and Kemp say they spoke Sunday Former President Donald Trump visited Valdosta to survey the damage left by Hurricane Helene, accusing the Biden administration of not doing enough to help. Channel 2s Richard Elliot reported that Trump criticized President Biden for being unavailable to speak with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, but both Kemp and the Biden administration said both men did speak by phone Sunday night. Trump emphasized the need for national unity during times of crisis. In a time like this, when a crisis hits, when our fellow citizens cry out in need, none of that matters. Were not totally about politics now. We have to all get together to get this solved, Trump said. Channel 2 Action News was there as Trump arrived in Valdosta, greeted by the citys mayor and other officials. His motorcade went through parts of the hurricane-damaged area, with a stop at the Lowndes County Emergency Management Agency. He later went to downtown Valdosta, urging the country to come together to help those in need. RELATED STORIES: But that differed from his tone at the airport, where Trump criticized the Biden administrations response. They have to focus over here. Its too big. This is a really bad one, and the governor is doing a good job, but hes having a hard time getting the president on the phone, Trump said. Both Kemp and the Biden administration denied this, stating the two had spoken by phone on Sunday regarding the federal response. The Biden administration also pointed out that the federal emergency declaration had been signed the previous week. Atlanta State Sen. Jason Esteves criticized the visit, suggesting it was more about photo opportunities than recovery efforts. Local officials shouldnt have the burden of trying to execute recovery efforts while also catering to a presidential campaign that only wants photo opportunities, Esteves said in a statement. Despite the controversy, Trump highlighted the efforts of Franklin Grahams Samaritans Purse, which brought truckloads of supplies, including water and a tanker full of gasoline, to the affected area. RELATED NEWS: Fire crews will be at York Minster to practise rescuing casualties [NYFRS] Firefighters embarking on a training exercise at York Minster sought to reassure residents all was well at the cathedral. Plumes of "cosmetic smoke" will be used in the exercise between 18:00 and 21:00 BST, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (NYFRS) said. The exercise will simulate "a fire with a number of casualties needing to be rescued", a spokesperson said. On 9 July 1984 the south transept of York Minster was gutted by flames after lightning struck the roof, resulting in one of the worst cathedral fires in modern times. More than 100 firefighters tackled the 1984 blaze which is thought to have been started by a lightning bolt [BBC] The blaze caused more than 2.25m of damage and it took more than four years to repair and restore the minster. Speaking about the training exercise, the NYFRS spokesperson said: "You might see what looks like smoke issuing from the roof of York Minster later this evening. "No need to panic. "Its just cosmetic smoke being used as part of a training exercise." The fire service said the exercise would help crews "test their skills and be prepared if an emergency like this were to happen". Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here. More on this story Related internet links VIENNA, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- The first results from Austria's parliamentary election held here on Sunday showed that the far-right Freedom Party is leading the national vote and set to secure its first-ever general election win. The Freedom Party is projected to win 29.1 percent of the vote, well ahead of the ruling conservative People's Party with 26.2 percent of support, according to a projection published by Austrian broadcaster ORF and news agency APA shortly after the polls closed at 5 p.m. local time. This marked a significant gain for the Freedom Party compared to the general election in 2019 when the party garnered 16.2 percent of support. The People's Party, however, received a major blow, as it received 37.5 percent of the vote in the previous election. Sunday's historic victory testifies to the ever-growing strength and popularity of the Freedom Party, which won over 25 percent of the vote in Austria's European Parliament election in June and came first in a nationwide ballot for the first time. The party has tapped into voter anger over Austria's lingering economic woes, migration crisis and COVID-19 restrictions in its election campaign. "Voters have spoken with authority," leader of Freedom Party Herbert Kickl said on ORF after the projection was released, adding that the country must reconnect with people's needs. Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said at a press conference that the job of his People's Party is "to figure out why radicalized people are getting more votes than those of us who represent centrist strength and reason." The ORF/APA projection put the Social Democratic Party firmly in third place in Sunday's election with 20.4 percent of the vote, down from 21.2 percent in the 2019 election. Andreas Babler, chairman of the Social Democratic Party, expressed disappointment in one of the party's worst results in a general election. Also among the losers is the Greens, which, according to the first projection, came down to 8.6 percent from 13.9 percent in 2019. The Greens was part of the outgoing coalition government with the People's Party. The liberal NEOS party is projected to run neck-and-neck with the Greens with 8.8 percent of the vote, slightly better than its performance in the previous election. Around 6.35 million people were eligible to vote in Sunday's general election, where 183 delegates would be chosen for Austria's National Council, the lower house of the country's parliament. UNCLEAR COALITION PROSPECT No party has secured an absolute majority in Sunday's election, which opens the door to coalition talks. Even with its historic win, it is uncertain whether the Freedom Party will be able to find coalition partners to govern. Before the election, all other major parties had repeatedly ruled out joining a government led by the Freedom Party. Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen also expressed reluctance to appoint Kickl to lead the country. Regarding the coalition options, Kickl said on Sunday night that "Our hand is outstretched in all directions." However, Christian Stocker, secretary general of the People's Party, said on Sunday night that his party remains opposed to a coalition with the Freedom Party under Kickl's leadership. Analysts say to thwart a Kickl chancellorship, the People's Party could join forces with the Social Democrats and a third party, NEOS or the Greens, to form an unprecedented three-party coalition. Out-of-state students living in Emory University's dorms need to register at the addresses of individual buildings according to the secretary of state's office, despite information provided by the school's Emory Voter Initiative. John McCosh/Georgia Recorder When students at Emory University registered to vote this year, they were faced with two main campus options for guidance: The Emory Votes Initiative, a university-administered program for nonpartisan voter education, or Emory Young Democrats, a student-run club and chapter of the Young Democrats of Georgia. Georgias Young Republicans dont have a chapter at Emory. While the administrations initiative advised students to list the universitys campus-wide address on registration forms, Young Dems said to list individual residential dorm addresses. For students who chose to register based on the schools advice and listed the general campus address, that choice could remove them from the rolls per Georgia law. The basis of many Georgia voter challenges including the Sept. 17 lawsuit against DeKalb County, where registered Emory students vote is that there is not a resident living at the address the voter listed on their registration, University of Georgia Political Science Professor Charles Bullock said. College voters in Georgia, many of whom will vote for the first time this November, face a unique set of hurdles to ballot box access as advocacy groups scramble to get people registered before Georgias Oct. 7 deadline. Aside from conflicting information on residential addresses, most college students also move to new dorms every year, which requires a voter registration update. Depending on the number of campus residence halls, even moving within a campus from one dorm to another could require re-registering. Students without a Georgia ID or drivers license must also register using a paper application. College student voters, including those who re-register from other states to vote in Georgia, could play a critical role in the November election. In the 2020 presidential race, Georgia was decided by about 12,000 votes as Democrat Joe Biden narrowly defeated GOP incumbent President Donald Trump. We have at least that many out-of-state students in Georgia, so if they all were to register and all vote the same way, it could even affect the outcome of the election, Bullock said. Georgia is once again expected to be closely contested and is considered one of seven swing states in the country that will likely decide who winds up in the White House starting in January. Though unlikely, this means that if all 16,019 students at Emory University voted the same way, Emory voters could well exceed that 2020 margin. Emorys administration voter initiative trained students and faculty to register people, asked professors to post links to the program on their course pages and distributed flyers with materials directing students to use the general campus address rather than their individual dorm addresses and list their specific mailbox as the mailing address. Robert Sinners, Communications Director for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told the Georgia Recorder in a statement that state law requires each voter be registered at the address at which they reside. Since the student is moving from one address to another, they must update their Voter Registration Address to reflect their new address of residency, he said. The reason why this is important is because districts (especially Municipal, State House, State Senate, etc.) may cut through a particular college campus or street. Moving a few blocks away could change the ballot that you receive in November. He added that updating voter registration to reflect a current residential address is standard for any Georgian who moves within an apartment complex or down the street. Tereza Lewis, associate director of Emorys initiative, said the program has been having students fill out registration forms with the Emory campus address. In response to Sinners information on residential addresses, Lewis said the program is currently working with the state and in the two counties where dorms are located to find a viable solution and clear messaging for all Emory students. At Georgia State University, student organizations like the schools chapter of Young Democrats register people through the universitys office of civic engagement so that everyone goes through the same process. When explaining to students which address to register with, Political Director of GSU Young Democrats Sarah Forberger describes the difference between school and dorm addresses to potential voters. It is their residential address, and so, they dont live at the headquarters of Georgia State University, she said. Lewis said that the administration and Emory Young Democrats have had some communication, although the school cannot work with them in full because the university is nonpartisan. In the past month, Emory Young Democrats have registered more than 750 people to vote, spreading the word about updating registrations with new dorm addresses and registering voters for the first time through on-campus tabling, events and social media. Were trying to be in places where people are already and create spaces where people can come to register to vote, said Khushi Niyyar, Emory Young Democrats Voter Registration Director. Last week, the group held one of their signature events, Peach Jam, where local Atlanta bands and vendors came to Emory and Young Dems tabled, registering over 100 new voters. Conservative groups like Greater Georgia, a non-profit founded by U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler, have also been registering students to vote on college campuses across Georgia. Caitlin ODea, spokesperson for Greater Georgia, wrote in a statement to the Georgia Recorder that Greater Georgia has tabled at college campuses including Kennesaw State University, Clark Atlanta and Georgia Southern University over the last few months, encouraging students to register to vote or check their registration online. The group also hands out information on the economy and answers questions on conservative policy, she said. Were working tirelessly to get them registered to vote, because as one of our states fastest-growing demographics, they have tremendous power to make a change and restore prosperity and opportunity to their generation, and generations to come, ODea said. For smaller Georgia schools like Valdosta State University, Morehouse College and Spelman College, re-registering each year for dorm changes isnt as much of a challenge since the campuses are small enough that individual dorms do not have their own unique addresses. But the three colleges and Emory do have one challenge in common: registering out-of-state students on paper. Kim-mya Thomas, president of Valdosta State University Young Democrats said she noticed that some students seemed apathetic about changing their registration from the home where they lived before the fall semester started to Lowndes County. They felt like it was too much trouble for them, like the process was too complicated for them, especially having to do it on paper, she said. Especially when our generation is so technology based, were not used to having to fill out forms on paper. Hudson Osborne, President of College Democrats of Georgia, encountered similar problems at Morehouse, where he also runs the schools College Democrats chapter. We have almost half a file cabinet full of these paper [forms] and nobody wants to take them, he said. Morehouse College Democrats has hosted live workshops to hand out forms and walk students through registration. External Vice President for Spelman Democrats, Ariana Levin, said her group has had a similar strategy, hosting live events and reaching students via social media. The Online Voter Registration tool is built for voters with Georgia licenses and IDs, Sinners said. All voters without Georgia licenses or state-issued IDs, not just students, must complete a paper application, he added. Student leaders on college campuses across the state are making one last push for registration ahead of Oct. 7. Across campuses, enthusiasm for the election is high with Novembers contest between Trump and Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris around the corner. Jackson Weeks, Political Director of GSU Young Democrats alongside Forberger, noted that college students themselves are pushing for registration. When were tabling, he said, we have a bunch of people come up to us and ask us to register them to vote, which shows how enthusiastic a lot of people on campus are about this election. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX "Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane, and has since gained strength and continued to travel across the Southeast, bringing devastating winds and flooding that have now taken the lives of dozens of Americans. Western North Carolina has felt the worst of it, as extreme floods have washed away homes and buildings, damaged roads, and largely cut off power. Some residents have had to be evacuated from their houses via helicopter. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said on Saturday that supplies were being airlifted to that part of the state. Authorities say at least 35 people in the state have died, while dozens remain missing. Below, a list of organizations you can donate to, to help those in need in North Carolina. North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund donations will go to nonprofits working to meet the immediate needs of storm victims such as food and water, cleaning supplies and other emergency supplies. All of the donations made will go to disaster relief. DONATE HERE Operation Airdrop provides rapid relief to communities impacted by natural disasters, such as Hurricane Helene. Founded in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, the nonprofit mobilizes volunteer pilots and different aircraft to deliver essential supplies to areas cut off from traditional aid routes. Our mission focuses on delivering essential supplies, hot meals, and support to communities affected by the storm, they say. Apart from monetary donations, they accept pilot volunteers, on-the-ground volunteers, and supply donations. DONATE HERE World Central Kitchen is on the ground in four states impacted by the storm, serving meals to those in need. By partnering with organizations on the ground and activating a network of local restaurants, food trucks, or emergency kitchens, WCK serves comforting meals to survivors of disasters quickly and effectively. We know that good food provides not only nourishment, but also comfort and hope, especially in times of crisis, they say on their website. DONATE HERE American Red Cross is on the ground distributing meals and supplies to communities affected by the storm. DONATE HERE The Salvation Army is providing emergency aid, food, drinks, emotional and spiritual care, and long-term recovery services to survivors and rescue workers affected by the storm. DONATE HERE Samaritans Purses thousands of volunteers provide emergency aid to victims of tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, floods, and other natural disasters in the United States. They currently have a presence in five locations where Hurricane Helene has caused destruction. DONATE HERE Baptists on Mission is responding in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in the mountains of western North Carolina. Weve set up feeding units at First Baptist Boone and Biltmore Baptist in Arden. In addition, were setting up recovery sites in Boone, Spruce Pine, Hendersonville and Marion, a message on their website states. They are asking for volunteers and taking item donations here. DONATE HERE You Might Also Like Rockets are intercepted on the sky by the Israel-Lebanon border. Ilia Yefimovich/dpa The Islamist Hezbollah militia has continued its rocket attacks from Lebanon into northern Israel, the Israeli military reported on Monday, with an Israeli gas platform in the Mediterranean Sea one apparent target of a drone attack. A rocket alarm rang out in the city of Safed on Monday. The army radio reported that several rockets had been fired at the city from Lebanon. There were initially no reports of injuries or property damage. The army also said that an Israeli missile boat had intercepted a drone flying over Israeli waters in the Mediterranean Sea. Army radio reported that the drone seemed to be targeting Israel's Karish gas platform. Some 35 missiles were fired from Lebanon at Galilee and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the Israeli military said. Police said the incident happened on Rochdale Road [Google] A woman has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by careless driving after a man was hit and killed by a car. The 45-year-old, described by police as a pedestrian, was hit as he lay in the road in Collyhurst, Manchester, just before 22:00 BST on Sunday. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said the 46-year-old woman failed a roadside drugs test and was arrested after the incident on Rochdale Road. The force appealed for information and dashcam or mobile phone footage. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk and via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230. Related links Driver in Sandy Springs shot on GA 400 during road rage incident A driver was shot during a road rage incident on Georgia 400 on Monday morning. Sandy Springs police told Channel 2 Action News that a driver was shot several times by another driver near Windsor Parkway exit. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The injured driver has been taken to Grady Memorial Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police have not said what led to the road rage. Officers are continuing to investigate this shooting. TRENDING STORIES: [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: MILWAUKEE - Tens of thousands of Milwaukee area drivers have licenses that are suspended or revoked, but an effort to restore their driving privilege is running into roadblocks. It is a little-known program you are already paying for. Federal highway data shows drivers who have had a license suspended or revoked are four times more likely than valid drivers to end up in a fatal crash. In other words, licensed drivers are safer drivers. In Wisconsin, however, license suspensions are not always the result of dangerous driving. For some, the greatest offense may be driving while poor. 'They just piled up on me' For 44 years, Donta Williams never had a driver's license, but that does not mean he didn't drive. "I mean you have to be able to commute to work," Williams said. "If you have children, you have to be able to pick them up from school." SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News When Williams finally decided to get legal this year, he encountered a problem. "It snowballs. One ticket rolls, and it keeps rolling, and keeps rolling, and they just piled up on me," Williams said. Jay Tucker is a Community Reintegration Services administrator for Wisconsin Community Services, which runs the Driver's License Recovery program. The license Williams had never gotten was officially "suspended" by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation for unpaid traffic fines. "That's a financial obligation," Williams said. "It's just hard to just accomplish and achieve those payments because you have so many other bills." It seemed like an impossible task until Williams discovered the Center for Driver's License Recovery and Employability, a taxpayer-funded program inside the Student Resource Center at Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) in downtown Milwaukee. An essential credential "A driver's license is essential," said Clarence Johnson, who is the President of Wisconsin Community Services, the non-profit that runs the center. "Having a driver's license is a work credential," said Jay Tucker, Community & Reintegration Services Manager for WCS. "Youre hard-pressed to be anywhere and not need a valid driver's license." According to WisDOT, 21,977 Milwaukee County drivers have suspended or revoked licenses. That's 3.7% of all licensed drivers in the county, but those drivers are involved in 22% of the county's fatal crashes. "When more people have licenses, its safer for our entire community," said Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, who has budgeted tens of millions of dollars to reengineer city streets in ways that make reckless drivers more difficult and less dangerous. "Were making investments all across Milwaukee," Johnson said. Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson says businesses that need workers with a valid license should consider contributing to the program Mayor Johnson plans to hire police officers in the coming year and to fill three full recruiting classes at the Police Academy. He is hoping that will help on the enforcement end; something the Milwaukee Common Council's Public Safety Committee called for two weeks ago. "We want to see some accountability," said Milwaukee Alderman Scott Spiker to representatives of the Milwaukee Police Department during a hearing on unlicensed drivers. "We want to see a sense of urgency." But Heather Hough, Chief of Staff to Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman, said the problem is complex. Dangerous or destitute? "I do want to make a distinction between operating without a license and reckless driving," Hough said. "Because they are not one and the same." Nearly half of all license suspensions in Wisconsin are imposed; not for driving dangerously, but for failure to pay a fine. Advocates for economically-distressed residents say they are not looking to give a break to drivers who are thumbing their nose at the system, but rather those who are simply driving while poor. "You are almost put in a situation where you have no other alternative but to drive," Williams said. The license recovery program was first established in 2007 to help Milwaukee's poorest citizens eliminate a barrier to employment. Seventeen years later, it remains free for Milwaukee County residents who meet income guidelines. Devising a plan "We're just navigating, doing all the footwork for them," said Taffie Foster-Toney, one of the program's case managers. Foster-Toney screens applicants, then refers them to an attorney from Legal Action of Wisconsin, who assesses the situation and helps the driver to come up with a plan. "Are there six courts involved? Is there one court involved? Is there any money coming in?" said Sarah Lund, Legal Action attorney. "You present options, and then you talk to them about whats realistic." Some clients cannot afford to pay their traffic fines, but they are not aware that community service may be an option instead. That is what Donta Williams did to work of his debts. Donta Williams cleans graffiti off of a building on the campus of Holy Redeemer Church "I took care of all my tickets in Milwaukee County through community service," Williams said. Ive taken care of tickets in Dodge County through community service." While lawyers negotiate with courts to reduce fines or find alternatives, case managers keep participants on track. One client tolds Foster-Toney on the phone that his next payment was not due until the 20th of the month. "I said, Today is the 20th. Like, you need to pay. Its today.' Sometimes I feel like a counselor." Everybody has a budget Before anyone is allowed to graduate from the program, they are required to take a course in financial literacy. "You've got to figure out, Where is this going to come from? Where is that going to come from?" said Kenyetta Taylor, who took the class in August. "I'm probably not going to be smoking every day now," Taylor said. "I'm probably going to cut it down." Taylor said she needed a valid license, so relatives would trust her to borrow their cars. "My mom didnt want me to drive her truck. My dad didnt want me to drive his truck because I didn't have a license," Taylor said. The program works. From 2021 through 2023, 59% of the people who enrolled in the program ended up getting a valid license. In 2023 alone, the success rate hit 67% meaning two out of every three people who entered the program left it as legal drivers. "It's really a tremendous resource thats not as well known as we need it to be," Johnson said. FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX6 News app for iOS or Android For the President of WCS, that presents a conundrum. He would like more people to know about the program. He is just not sure he can help them. A bump in the road "The demand exceeds the capacity that we have," Johnson said. "Weve had to scale it back." Nearly 4% of licensed drivers in Milwaukee County are suspended or revoked, but they account for 22% of fatal crashes Tax audits show that over the past eight years, the Center for Driver's License Recovery and Employability has brought in an average of $340,000 in revenue each year. It's a mix of public and private funding, with the biggest source coming from the City of Milwaukee. A $150,000 annual gift from the city's Community Development Block Grant funds. "My administration, we put into this," Mayor Johnson said. "If there are businesses out there that want their employees to be able to travel safety to work, then wed like them to look at contributing to this effort as well." At the current funding scale, the program is helping an average of 107 drivers per year to restore a valid license or get one for the first time. They offer guidance and direction to another 270 people each year who don't formally enroll. But with such a small staff, Johnson says, there are limits. "We could serve more people if we had more funding," Johnson said. "It feels amazing," Williams said. Earlier this year, Williams completed the license recovery program. "Proud owner of my first license," Williams beamed, as he plunged a hand into his pants pocket to fish out the evidence. "Listen, I'm proud to show it to the whole wide world." When it comes to making Milwaukee roads safer, the license recovery program may be a small drop in a very large bucket. For Donta Williams, "It feels so amazing to just drive, its a weight off my shoulder." It's priceless. While the program's budget has remained relatively unchanged over the past eight years, one source of funds appears to have dropped off significantly. Milwaukee County used to contribute up to $30,000 per year to the center. But from 2021 to 2023, IRS audits show the county's contribution plummeted to between $700 and $1,600 each year. A spokesperson for the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services, Jill Lintonen, said "underfunding" is not the issue. Each year the county's Child Support Services division makes $20,000 available for license recovery services through the Milwaukee Fatherhood "FIRE" program. That program aims to keep fathers involved in the child support system engaged in their children's lives. Between 2021 and 2023, few participants in the FIRE program applied for license recovery assistance, meaning only $3,800 was spent from an available pool of $60,000. Because of our inquiry, Lintonen said the county intends to meet with its FIRE program partners to ensure eligible fathers are informed of the program's free services. Lintonen's full statement "The Drivers License Recovery Program actively presents their services to all FIRE program participants. This ensures that everyone eligible has the opportunity to engage with the program. The FIRE program partners are responsible for referring eligible FIRE participants to WCS for drivers license recovery services, whether they are in need of these services or voluntarily choose to participate. Milwaukee County Child Support Services (CSS) greatly values its relationship with WCS and the Driver's License Recovery Program, and is committed to working together to serve the community through this important service. Participation is voluntary and all participants are informed of this verbally and in writing during the enrollment process. CSS will meet with FIRE grant partners to ensure that eligible participants are fully aware of and referred to the Drivers License Recovery Program, that there are no barriers or misunderstandings about the referral process that might be affecting participant engagement, and how CSS can better facilitate referrals to fully utilize the allocated funding. To reiterate, underfunding by Milwaukee County is not the issue here, as the funds have been made available and remain fully allocated for the program's use. To enroll in the license recovery program, you must: Be a Milwaukee County resident Have income less than 200% of the Federal Poverty Level Have a suspension or revocation in Wisconsin; and Do not have an active or pending drunk driving case For more information about the program, call 414-297-6407, or visit the Center for Driver's License Recovery and Employability at MATC downtown: 700 W. State Street, Milwaukee Student Resource Center (S Building) Room S215 Fewer people came forward for their flu vaccine last year and if the same happens again the UK could be in for a worse winter, health officials are warning. There were at least 18,000 flu-related deaths over the last couple of years, despite being relatively mild flu seasons, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). Free flu shots are offered each year by the NHS to people most at risk from getting very sick with flu, also known as influenza. While uptake among older people in England remained high last year, only one in every three pregnant women got vaccinated. Among people with long-term health conditions, uptake was about four in 10, compared to five in 10 the year before. Vaccinations for two and three-year-olds were also down slightly, with just over four in every 10 getting protected. It follows concerns from NHS England over a possible "tripledemic" of flu, Covid and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). People can catch these common viruses all year round, but flu is especially common in winter. Most make a full recovery from influenza, but it can be serious and even deadly. Some years are worse than others for flu infections and fatalities. In the 2017 to 2018 season, there were 22,500 excess deaths associated with flu. It is not clear how bad this year might be. Northern hemisphere nations, like the UK, look to southern hemisphere ones, like Australia, to predict what could be coming. Australia's winter flu season looks to be ending and data reveals that it was similar to recent ones. Southern Africa and some countries in South America - Chile, Ecuador, and Uruguay - had high levels of flu though. The vaccine is updated regularly to make sure it is the best possible match, because of the constant evolving nature of influenza viruses. People are offered a free NHS flu vaccine if they are: aged 65 or older have certain long-term health conditions are pregnant live in a care home are the main carer for an older or disabled person, or receive a carer's allowance live with someone who has a weakened immune system Some people will have already received an invitation, and most eligible adults will be able to get the flu vaccine from 3 October Children are offered an up-the-nose spray flu vaccine. People can have the flu vaccine at the same time as other jabs such as those for Covid and shingles. It is not usually given at the same time as the RSV vaccine, but you can have them together if a doctor or nurse thinks it is needed. Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, UKHSA deputy director of immunisation, said: "As winter approaches we see many dangerous viruses circulating in our communities including flu, which can tragically kill thousands of people every year. Getting vaccinated ahead of winter is by far your best defence. If youre pregnant or have certain long-term health conditions, you are at greater risk of getting seriously ill. Older people and young infants with flu are also much more likely to get hospitalised. So if you or your child are offered the flu, Covid or RSV vaccines, dont delay in getting them. Please speak to your nurse or doctor if you have any concerns." Those eligible for an autumn Covid booster include adults aged 65 or over, care home residents, staff, front-line health and social care workers, and people in clinical risk groups, including pregnant women. A former officer faces multiple charges after Durham police say he assaulted a community member while on duty. Rayshawn Taylor is charged with first-degree kidnapping, sexual servitude and sexual battery, according to a news release. Taylor, whose age was not released, was arrested Monday morning in Mebane, the release stated. The Durham Police Department received a complaint Aug. 21 alleging Taylor had sexually assaulted a community member during an interaction on duty, police said. He was placed on administrative duty that same day and resigned Aug. 22, before the departments internal investigation ended. Based on the preliminary investigation, the decision was made to open a criminal investigation into the incident which was initiated by the Durham Police Departments Criminal Investigations Division, the release stated. Investigators also contacted the FBI due to the nature of the allegations and the fact that Taylor was acting in his official capacity when the alleged incident occurred, according to the release. Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry also asked the State Bureau of Investigation to look into the alleged assault, the release said. In a brief press conference Monday, Capt. Randall Packard said Taylor was hired in January 2014 and was a corporal assigned to uniform patrol in the North Durham area when he resigned. Taylor previously served as a patrol officer in the community services division and worked in the special victims unit of the criminal investigations division, according to Packard. Chief Patrice Andrews said any cases involving Taylor in his capacity as an officer will be reviewed by the Durham County District Attorneys Office. We are here as guardians of our community, and this badge is power that the community has bestowed upon us to do all things good and righteous and just, Andrews said. And if we cant do that, then yes, we need to be held accountable. But our community can trust and believe that when officers step outside of those lines, then this department will hold that officer accountable and be transparent along the way, she continued. Andrews declined to describe the alleged assault, citing the open investigation and the victims privacy. We want to make sure that we are also keeping our victim in mind as we speak about this case, she said. Its important that we are not retraumatizing our victim that has been so brave to come forward, she said. Investigators searched Taylors home Monday, and the FBI investigation is ongoing, police said. He was booked into the Durham County jail Monday. Anyone with information in the case or who believes they may have been a victim is asked to contact Cpl. I. Harton with the Special Victims Unit at 919-560-4440 ext. 29332. This story will be updated as more information is released. PARIS The Netherlands secured spending of about 1 billion ($1.1 billion) on Dutch companies as part of its multibillion-euro purchase of four attack submarines from Frances Naval Group, the Dutch Ministry of Defence said. Dutch State Secretary of Defence Gijs Tuinman and Naval Group CEO Pierre Eric Pommellet signed the contract for four submarines at the Royal Netherlands Navy home port of Den Helder on Monday, the ministry said in a statement. That follows a memorandum of understanding between the Dutch and French governments on knowledge sharing and user rights, and an industrial cooperation deal that foresees around 1 billion in spending with Dutch companies as well as continued involvement of Dutch research institutes. Naval Group is 62% held by the French government, with French defense firm Thales owning 35% of the shipbuilder. The Netherlands in March disclosed a budget of 5.65 billion to replace its aging Walrus-class submarines, including a delta to operate the future vessels over their 30-year lifespan as well as a project-risk reserve. Naval Group is set to deliver the first two of the four submarines by 2034, with the new vessel a conventionally-powered variant of its Barracuda class. We are going for state-of-the-art submarines that serve the Dutch security interests and those of NATO and Europe to the maximum, Tuinman said in a post on X , formerly Twitter. He said the new submarines will allow the Netherlands to show our teeth and if necessary, bite hard. Dutch involvement in the new submarines will include hydraulic systems, air-conditioning systems, acoustic cladding, detection devices, sonar, composite structures and water-making equipment, according to Tuinman. The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs didnt immediately respond to phone calls and text messages regarding the details of the offset agreement. The submarines are a strategic capacity and will be equipped for intelligence gathering, as well as cruise missiles, the state secretary said. Tuinman said the Netherlands is investing in its underwater capacity because credible deterrence is the best defense, and war is prevented by preparing for the possibility of conflict. The Netherlands plans to equip the new subs with Tomahawk cruise missiles for a land-strike capacity, something the current Walrus class lacks, in addition to torpedoes. The deal is a major step for the naval cooperation between France and the Netherlands, French Ambassador to the Netherlands Francois Alabrune said in a post on X . The Netherlands had requested proposals in November 2022 from Naval Group, Germanys ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems and Swedens Saab Kockums in cooperation with Dutch shipbuilder Damen. France operates a nuclear-powered version of the Barracuda class, and in 2020 the country estimated the cost of the program to build and operate six submarines in the class at 10.4 billion, up from 8.6 billion in 2010. Eamonn Holmes hits back at Phillip Schofield saying he is 'glad to have thrown him under the bus' Eamonn Holmes hits back at Phillip Schofield saying he is 'glad to have thrown him under the bus' GB News star Eamonn Holmes has hit back at Phillip Schofield over his TV comeback, saying he is 'very proud to have thrown him under the bus. Schofield departed ITV in May 2023 in the wake of secret affair revelations, after leaving This Morning that same month. Speaking in a new Channel 5 show, Phillip Schofield: Cast Away, the former This Morning presenter claimed he was thrown under a bus, and criticised some former colleagues - who he did not name - for not showing loyalty. Told about Schofields comments on Monday's edition of his GB News show, Holmes made his feelings clear, saying: 'Well if I'm one of the people who threw him under the bus I'm very proud to have done it... This man is addicted to fame, absolutely addicted to fame. He later added that Schofield deserved to be in exile. Speaking on the Channel 5 reality series, which sees him spend ten days alone on a small island off the coast of Madagascar in his first return to a TV series since leaving ITV, the media personality said there was "no toxicity" on This Morning at the time, and his allegations were about the "same handful of people with a grudge against me or the show who seem to have the loudest voice". He addressed the claims of toxicity again during the series second episode, saying at first it was "utter bollocks", before saying that "there wasn't (toxicity) when I was there". "I found out after I left that there are a few people in there that might be a little bit toxic," he added. "I never saw it ... when (you're) on the telly, you don't see stuff like that, you're protected from it, people don't tell you, so I had no clue." Schofield also said that morning TV has a lot of "amazing" people, before taking aim at what he called "three shits". He called two of them cowards - one for not defending him over "queuegate", and the second for not "stepping up" over another matter, which he did not clarify. The final person, he said, was "just brand-orientated". This has been interpreted as being an attack on then co-host Holly Willoughby. Alongside Willoughby, Schofield faced a backlash over claims the pair skipped the queue for the late Queen Elizabeth II's lying in state. They were defended by the chief executive of ITV, Dame Carolyn McCall, who stressed the pair had been attending as members of the media to film a segment for This Morning. Schofield was also upset that there was "absolutely no loyalty shown" to him during the furore over his affair, despite his 20-plus years on This Morning, and added: "I know what I did was unwise, not sensible, but is it enough to absolutely destroy someone, literally destroy someone?" When he was dropped by his talent agency YMU on the same day he resigned from ITV after more than three decades with the company, he says he was "suicidal". An external review, carried out by Jane Mulcahy KC on behalf of ITV found the channel made "considerable efforts" to find out the truth about an alleged affair between Schofield and a runner in 2019, but was not able to find evidence about the rumours. Schofield "reluctantly declined" to take part in the probe because of "the risk to his health", the report in December 2023 said. Ms Mulcahy said that for the period she reviewed, she could not find evidence of a "toxic" culture, and urged ITV to help junior employees who think speaking out will have a "detrimental impact on their careers". Phillip Schofield: Cast Away airs at 9pm on Monday on Channel 5, and will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday at the same time. ATHENS, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Two men lost their lives during a major wildfire burning in the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece, Greek police said on Monday. The victims, aged 35 and 40, were locals who were assisting as volunteers the firefighters battling the flames near Xylokastro town, Anastasios Giolis, deputy governor of Peloponnese, told Greek state broadcaster ERT. A firefighter was also injured during firefighting efforts against a front extending to about 20 kilometers between Xylokastro and Akrata town along the national highway connecting Athens to Patras port in the northern part of the peninsula, a Fire Brigade spokesperson said. The wildfire broke out Sunday and was fueled by strong winds of up to eight on the Beaufort scale blowing in the area expanded despite the mobilization of some 350 firefighters who were supported by nine water-dropping helicopters and aircraft, he added. By Monday morning, residents of five villages were alerted to evacuate and the firefighters had managed to control the fire, he said. Greece suffers from many wildfires every summer due to high temperatures, heatwaves linked to climate change and arsonists. Five people have lost their lives in wildfires in Greece since the start of the wildfire season in May. Stadium High School received major seismic modifications in the mid-2000s, according to Jeff Rogers, Director of Environmental Health and Safety for Tacoma Public Schools. But the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction lists the school as having no seismic retrofits. (Grace Deng/Washington State Standard) Hundreds of public schools across Washington are located in areas where they could suffer damage in a major earthquake. But more than a decade after the state set out to evaluate school seismic risks, the information is difficult to access and harder to verify. In the last school year, more than 378,000 students attended schools with buildings constructed before the adoption of modern seismic codes and that have no risk evaluations or retrofits, according to data from the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction obtained through a public records request. The majority of seismic risk data collected by school districts and the state is not shared with the public. An additional 167,000 students attended schools already assessed as having high or very high seismic risks, based on their locations and building conditions. Compiling the school seismic data is aimed at determining the scope of vulnerabilities across the state to prioritize building improvements and to inform emergency planning. Other states are further ahead. California, Oregon and Utah published school seismic inventories in 2002, 2007 and 2022, respectively. The Washington Legislature has favored a more incremental approach that Gov. Jay Inslee said could take decades to complete. Slowly we get more money and slowly we get more information, said Scott Black, program development manager at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, which is overseeing the data project. Multiple school districts provided records of seismic evaluations and upgrades theyve made to their buildings that have not been recorded as retrofits in the state data. Asked why the database does not recognize their upgrades as retrofits, some districts said they were viewing a different version of the data. Meanwhile, district-level reports show estimates for how badly school buildings could be damaged in a quake and hazard information missing from the statewide data. Number one, you cant see all the information, and number two, all the information may not even be in there. And that should be required, said DaleAnn Baker, a parent and engineer who helped the Stanwood-Camano School District work on a hazard mitigation plan. Black attributed inconsistent and missing data to districts not updating their records. But an analysis showed 160 building evaluations from the $3.4 million School Seismic Safety Project are also missing from the database, despite a legislative requirement for the agency to upload those results. This is likely a mistake in the data that needs correction, Black responded. Quake risks Washington has dozens of active fault lines including the regions largest active fault the Cascadia subduction zone. A major quake in the subduction zone could cause moderate or complete damage to about 2,000 Washington schools, according to a 2022 report from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But the state agencies that lead school seismic assessments use different methods for determining hazard levels at school campuses. The Department of Natural Resources estimates that 70% of K-12 schools in Washington are located in high seismic risk areas, based on national hazard models. The hazard is the likelihood and severity of ground motion at a site: how hard the ground shakes and how often that happens, said Alex Steely, the departments assistant director of Geologic Hazards and Mapping. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction categorizes only 28% of the states roughly 2,025 schools as having high seismic hazards. The office reduces the threat level for campuses that are likely to have stronger soil types. Black said this approach to determining hazard levels is not very common. Despite these risks, there is no state law requiring school districts to conduct seismic evaluations. And due to the secrecy of the data that does exist, school communities may be unaware of risks that are already recorded. Conducting structural evaluations of Washington schools to assess earthquake safety has been a long-running state goal. However, timelines for completion, set by a state task force and the Emergency Management Division, have passed, with evaluations completed for less than half of older schools. A 2019 legislative proposal for mandatory evaluations did not move forward. Cale Ash, a member of a seismic safety advisory committee to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, said public visibility into the database would benefit families. Lets say one of your children is about to go to a new school. Well, you would have a chance to look at and actually have some information around the earthquake safety of that school, Ash said. Greater public access to seismic risk data can also help to spur building upgrades, according to Brian Terbush, earthquake and volcano program coordinator at Washingtons Emergency Management Division. While it sounds scary to know that your building is dangerous in an earthquake, in a lot of ways thats one of the important ways to actually get the community to help apply for these grants to fund [retrofits], Terbush said. Plans are underway to incorporate the school data into a state inventory of unreinforced masonry buildings, which are known for dropping bricks onto neighboring buildings and streets during earthquakes. Having a sense of where these buildings might be is really important for emergency response. It helps us plan ahead, said Terbush. But first the state will have to find these dangerous buildings. The schools database could not be incorporated into a prior such inventory due to lack of construction type information, which is still missing for hundreds of older buildings statewide, and shows inconsistent information for Seattle Public Schools compared to the districts list of unreinforced masonry buildings. Randy Newman, school facilities director at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, said maybe data will be shared once more information is collected. Tracking seismic upgrades After the 2001 Nisqually earthquake struck the Puget Sound region, the Edmonds School District set out to better protect vulnerable schools. Over the next nine years, the district completed seismic retrofits at 18 schools. But according to the state data, the district has no retrofits. Crystal Springs Elementary in Bothell received a seismic upgrade after a 2010 evaluation called for anchoring the walls to the roof, adding nails to plywood walls and bracing storage racks and file cabinets, according to documents from the Northshore School District. The school, built in 1956, is now undergoing an expansion, but has no evaluations or retrofits in the state data. The Department of Natural Resources called for a survey of school districts to collect information on past seismic upgrades for the database, starting with large, well-funded districts. But five years later, the survey was never done. Some districts provide seismic data to the state through a voluntary grant program tied to building condition assessments that are required to apply for construction funds. But the retrofit field is not required, and not all districts complete the assessments. A lot of them dont really want to do that if theyre not getting funding, Black said. The Edmonds, Bellevue, Northshore and Bellingham school districts are among 163 districts and state-tribal education compact schools with no seismic evaluations or retrofits in the state data, although all four districts provided retrofit records for this story. Omitting retrofits from the state data can lead to higher risk ratings for schools, as the state estimates that many high risk buildings would be deemed low risk with a retrofit. Jeff Rogers, Director of Environmental Health and Safety for Tacoma Public Schools, said districts will often appoint someone to update their records following construction projects, But a lot of times it doesnt happen because a project manager has never been told, hey when youre done with your upgrading, you need to provide this information to [the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction]. Missing information is also due to variable interpretations about what qualifies as a retrofit. Tina Christiansen, a spokesperson for Seattle Public Schools, said upgrades may not be marked as retrofits when they are part of full renovations or affect only portions of a building. There is not a partial retrofit or upgrade option, said Christiansen, adding that the district couldnt verify how the upgrades were categorized in the state database. The School Seismic Safety Project, which evaluated one in eight school buildings, did not make these distinctions. Within the reports, the terms seismic upgrades, retrofits and structural upgrades are used interchangeably and generally mean the same thing, said Loyd Travis West, a geophysicist at the Department of Natural Resources. But more than 50 seismic and structural upgrades recorded in project reports are not listed as retrofits in the state data. Seattle Public Schools updated its list of seismic improvements to distinguish between building renovations and replacements in response to questions for this story, but continues to list additional retrofits that were not found in the state data. Seismic upgrades totaling $16 million in the Bellingham School District are also missing from the data, despite the districts assertion that the projects were added. Taine Wilton, director of capital projects for the Edmonds School District, noted that building condition assessments, which the district completes, are not about checking if the buildings meet code requirements or testing how they would withstand extreme forces including wind, rain, seismic, or fire. Seismic safety experts say that comprehensive evaluations of buildings and ground conditions are the best way to identify vulnerable schools, compared with satellite imagery or construction drawings alone, as schools often have multiple wings constructed in different years. The safety of buildings is highly dependent on structural materials, so I think that on-site work is very valuable, said Ash. Steely echoed the call for evaluations, saying, The more fully we know which structures are built to withstand ground shaking, and the site conditions at that school that either increase or decrease the shaking, the better we as a state can plan for upgrades and mitigation measures. (Getty Images) A Crittenden County judge ordered local election officials to conduct early voting at one of three contested West Memphis locations, according to an order filed Monday. Were thrilled, said Attorney Jennifer Standerfer, who represented two east Arkansas voters who sued over the lack of an early voting site in Crittenden Countys most populous city. We wanted one early voting location in West Memphis the election commission wasnt going to give us any. WestMemphisEarlyVotingOrder9.30 Circuit Court Judge Chris Thyers order, filed Monday morning, nevertheless cited confusion caused by different statutes covering day-of polling sites and early voting sites. In a court hearing last week, Frank Barton, the chair of the Crittenden County Board of Election Commissioners, testified that he did not intend to hold early voting in West Memphis. Standerfer filed the suit against Barton and election commissioners Anita Bell and James Pulliaum on Sept. 19. On behalf of West Memphis voters Shirley Brown and Lavonda Taylor, Standerfer argued local election officials were abusing their power by refusing to prepare early voting sites, despite having designated locations. Thyers ruling sided with both parties. Repeating similar pleas from a hearing last week, he also asked both sides to appeal his ruling to the Arkansas Supreme Court for clarity on statutory construction. This court certainly appreciates the deep water it has been thrown into and only hopes one or both of these parties appeal this decision so that this court and future litigants may know what this enigmatic statute [about early voting polling sites] means, Thyer wrote. Standerfer said Monday she had no intention of filing an appeal. Attorney Joe Rogers, who represented the county election commissioners, was not immediately available on Monday. Thyers 26-page order details his decision to require early voting at the Seventh Street Church of Christ in West Memphis, but not at a local library that commissioners couldnt agree on or the First Baptist Church, which previously served as an early voting polling site in 2022. Clearly, the election commission needed some help and guidance from the court, Standerfer said. Our purpose in this was twofold: One was to preserve early voting access to West Memphis citizens, and the second was to make sure that there was transparency and oversight. At recent meetings, election commissioners considered a West Memphis library as an early voting location but failed to come to a unanimous decision about its designation, which is required by state law. Democratic member Pulliaum voted against it twice, and though chair Barton was later told Pulliaum would vote in favor of the library if he called another meeting, Barton said he had no intention of doing so. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX It is not this courts prerogative to order the commission to continue to hold multiple meetings until they can agree upon some suitable place, Thyer said in his order. Thyer also said he found the plaintiffs argument to conduct early voting at the library while it also considered the site an unsuitable location makes very little sense. To this court, this seems to be a particularly self-defeating example of circular logic, he said in his order. Regarding the First Baptist Church in West Memphis, which served as an early voting site in 2022, Thyer found that election commissioners were not required to prepare it as such for this years general election. Previous testimony from Barton questioned whether a state statute about designating a polling site included early voting locations. Barton said he believed day-of sites and early voting locations had different establishment requirements because they were in separate statutes. While one statute says day-of sites would revert back to locations designated in previous years, the same process wasnt outlined for early voting, Barton previously testified. Plaintiffs argued that the relevant statute does not have language that limits polling sites to day-of locations. Thyer said he found both to be reasonable interpretations of the law; however, the best (or safest) reading of these statutes is to read them separately and to read them as dealing with distinct subject matters, objects and purposes. Thyer found the final contested West Memphis polling site, the Seventh Street Church of Christ, to be appropriately designated by County Clerk Paula Brown in a letter to the election commissioners. Letter from Paula Brown, Crittenden County Clerk Defendants argued that Brown could only conduct early voting in the courthouse. The Crittenden County Courthouse is currently, according to Thyers order, in a bad state of disrepair. The building is not easily accessible for those who are handicapped or have mobility issues, Thyer said. A ramp to the basement, which has a small elevator that would take residents to the location of early voting, is only usable when it is not raining because it floods. [Defendants] claim that is not a significant problem based on the presumption that it will not rain every day of early voting, Thyer said in his ruling. Essentially, counsel would have this court believe that the Arkansas Legislature and all defendants care so little about the elderly, infirm or handicapped citizens in Crittenden County that their only opportunity to early vote is when it does not rain. The courts guess is that most, if not all, the actual elected officials in Crittenden County do not share counsels view. Though Barton previously testified that he believed the clerk did not have the authority to designate an early voting site outside of the county courthouse in the seat of Marion, Thyer found Brown acted appropriately. Early voting starts Oct. 21. In addition to the Seventh Street Church of Christ, early voting will be available in Marion. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE LISBON, Ohio (WKBN) An East Liverpool man is set to receive his sentence on Dec. 2 after pleading guilty to charges in his rape case. Joseph Goss, 41, pleaded guilty on Sept. 24 to two amended charges of rape, first-degree felonies; and gross sexual imposition, a third-degree felony, as part of a plea agreement. Sentencing in the case is set for 2 p.m. Dec. 2, according to court records. Goss was charged following a secret indictment in July. The indictment states that Goss raped a child, who is now 13, from January 2022 to March 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 WKBN.com. Who says Whitehall cant innovate? Last week Energy Department officials told us that a heat pump generates three times more energy than it consumes. Under the laws of thermodynamics, this is impossible as is a perpetual motion machine. Teenagers taking their science GCSE know that energy cannot be either created or destroyed. I can confirm, as I tested this on mine. But sadly, whats happening inside the Energy Department is no joke. On Sept 25, the Department pushed new nuclear energy generation even further into the distant future. Bureaucrats are holding a beauty contest to approve a new generation of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) for cheap, reliable, dispatchable energy. The latest stage saw officials reduce the number of candidates from five to four. But in doing so, they did something very odd. They rejected the one most likely to plug a working reactor into the grid the quickest. NuScale Power Rolls-Royces former SMR partner did not meet the criteria for the SMR competition, as it had already begun production and did not need support getting to market. In other words, it didnt need subsidies and was the most ready. NuScale also held recognised regulatory approval for its design, which it secured in the US. So it seems SMRs will not be supplying electricity to the UK grid by 2030 after all. The nuclear roadmap outlined by the previous government just six months ago pledged to deliver 3GW to 7GW every five years from 2030 to 2044. But with Sir Humphrey Appleby now involved, we learn that a final investment decision, after very many stakeholder meetings, will be taken by 2029. Dont expect an SMR to deliver electricity before 2035, says Simon Bowen, the chairman of the Great British Nuclear quango. Knock yourself out, lads. Whats happened is that two policies have become entangled. One is to get spades in the ground as soon as possible, to help the UK keep the lights on. The other is a development programme to create new reactor designs suitable for export. Thats fine, but the second has been allowed to derail the first, which is what happens when the Treasury gets involved. Its historically hated nuclear power and so has insisted on a lengthy beauty contest. They then made sure the process was encumbered by red tape, something in which were world leaders. Tender documents were weighted down by huge assurance terms and conditions, making it quite hard to respond quickly, says one person familiar with the process. That meant it was delayed just long enough for the decision to arrive on Ed Milibands desk. And Miliband shows no interest in nuclear at all, large or small. It makes his beloved wind and solar energy look bad, something Dale Vince, one of Labours biggest corporate donors, is sensitive about. Vince is a patron of the Stop Hinkley campaign, showing up at protests. Miliband has barely mentioned nuclear on his feed and there is no nuclear minister. As such, were entitled to ask: for whose benefit is British energy policy being made? Dale Vince is one of Labours top corporate donors and a vocal critic of Hinkley - Hollie Adams/Bloomberg The bad news doesnt end there. Conservative ministers published a plan for alternative routes for new nuclear projects earlier this year, which showed commendable joined-up thinking. It quietly helped restart the UKs enrichment programme, so we would not be dependent on Russia for uranium. Well have our own fuel supply by 2030. And it acquired two sites including Wylfa in Anglesey, Wales, the location of two former Magnox reactors, for new, large-scale reactors as well as SMRs. But Miliband is willing to let Wylfa go. I asked the Energy Department about the status of these initiatives, but didnt get an answer. The Treasurys prejudices about nuclear energy seem increasingly out of date, just as capital is flooding in again. The rejected SMR bidder NuScale didnt need subsidies, just permission, and last week 14 banks and financial institutions pledged to provide enough finance to triple global nuclear capacity by 2050. Tech giants such as Microsoft, which is reviving the Three Mile Island plant, are going it alone. The UK should by now be developing fourth-generation nuclear technologies, with gigawatt plants alongside complementary technologies such as SMRs. Its now almost a decade since George Osborne, free of the coalition, pledged that the UK would lead in SMRs. Now the world is going big, we cant even do small. Given the looming energy apocalypse that we face, this strategy looks suicidal. The UK already pays the highest prices for electricity in the OECD, and our industry pays 46pc more than the median of our competitors. And long before 2030, we will lose 4.7GW of the nuclear production we have today. Instead of leading the nuclear revival, Whitehall is using it to create a make-work scheme. Theres a name for this: what a former Nasa boss called a self-licking ice cream cone, which he defined as a self-perpetuating system that has no purpose other than to sustain itself. So the country that most urgently needs cheap, reliable, low-cost, baseload energy is trying very hard to ensure it doesnt get built. This is a national scandal. Last year, Ed Miliband serenaded some wind turbines with a ukulele. Like Benjamin Button, he seems to be getting more immature as the years go by. At this rate, it wont be long before hes able to sit his Physics GCSE. Id suggest stocking up on candles and paraffin heaters now. 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. ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) The City of Abilene has decided to temporarily stop putting fluoride in the water in response to a recent ruling on its safety. A federal court in California ruled earlier this month that the Environmental Protection Agency must address potential health risks caused by fluoride, which may cause the agency to issue new guidelines for fluoride levels in public drinking water supplies. City Manager Robert Hanna and Mayor Weldon Hurt recently met and decided that a temporary suspension of fluoridation of Abilenes water supply was the best response to the ruling and will do no harm until they can discuss the matter with the public. This temporary suspension began Monday, September 30. Abilenes water had a fluoride level of 0.7 parts per million, which is the level recommended by the American Dental Association for improving public dental health. Council members will discuss the City of Abilenes water fluoridation practices during their upcoming meeting Thursday, October 3. No further information is available at this time. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTAB - BigCountryHomepage.com. Election Day is coming: How to watch 2024 Indiana governor's race debates this week Hoosiers can hear from candidates running for governor during two debates on local television stations this week, just days before Indianas voter registration deadline of October 7. The first debate, hosted by Fox59 and CBS4, is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday and will feature Republican Mike Braun and Democrat Jennifer McCormick. The second debate, from WISH-TV, will air Thursday at 6 p.m. and include Braun, McCormick and Libertarian Donald Rainwater, according to the station. A recent independent poll from Emerson College and The Hill shows Braun leading McCormick by 11 percentage points. The back-to-back debates land just a month out from the general election on Nov. 5 and days from the start of early voting on Oct. 8. The last day to register to vote in the Hoosier State is Oct. 7. Heres how to watch the debates this week. Fox59/CBS4 debate When: Wednesday, Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. What candidates are participating: Republican Mike Braun and Democrat Jennifer McCormick Where can I watch?: According to FOX59 and CBS4, interested viewers can watch the debate live on air and on each stations website. The debate will also be aired on: WEHT in Evansville WTWO in Terre Haute WANE in Fort Wayne WDRB in Louisville, Kentucky WBND in South Bend WGN, a Chicago station, for Northwest Indiana communities WISH-TV debate When: Thursday, Oct. 3 at 6 p.m. What candidates are participating: Republican Mike Braun, Democrat Jennifer McCormick and Libertarian Donald Rainwater Where can I watch?,: According to WISH-TV, the one-hour debate will be aired live in the following places: WISH-TV in Indianapolis WFFT-TV in Fort Wayne WSBT-TV in South Bend WLFI-TV in Lafayette WEVV-TV in Evansville WTHI-TV in Terre Haute WRJK-TV in Chicago WMYO-TV in Louisville Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at brittany.carloni@indystar.com or 317-779-4468. Follow her on Twitter/X@CarloniBrittany. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana's 2024 governor's race: How to watch debates this week Tech billionaire Elon Musk said Sunday that former President Trump must win the election in November if America wants to preserve its democracy. Very few Americans realize that, if Trump is NOT elected, this will be the last election, Musk posted on the social platform X. Far from being a threat to democracy, he is the only way to save it! he continued. Musk outlined a theory whereby Democrats, he said, are expediting the process for residents who immigrated illegally to the U.S. to become citizens and gain legal voter status. Musk suggested those new voters would support Democrats in elections, and, according to him, Democrats would eventually dominate American politics. Let me explain: if even 1 in 20 illegals become citizens per year, something that the Democrats are expediting as fast as humanly possible, that would be about 2 million new legal voters in 4 years, Musk wrote. The voting margin in the swing states is often less than 20 thousand votes. That means if the Democratic Party succeeds, there will be no more swing states!! Musk, who has endorsed Trumps campaign, accused President Biden and Vice President Harris of flying asylum-seekers directly into swing states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and Arizona to accomplish a similar goal. The Hill has contacted the White House, the Harris campaign and the Trump campaign in response to Musks comments. Immigration has taken a renewed central focus in the campaign. This weekend, Trump ratcheted up his attacks against Harris on immigration and called for her to be impeached over the matter. Kamalas Illegal Migrants. Its the biggest crime story of our time. She should resign or be IMPEACHED! Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday. He reiterated a similar sentiment while campaigning in Erie, Pa., on Sunday, saying at one point that hundreds of people have been murdered because of her action at the border, and thousands more will follow in rapid succession. She should be impeached and prosecuted for her actions. Trumps attacks followed Harriss visit to the southern border on Friday. Harris has sought to position herself as tough on the border and has criticized Trump for the collapse of the bipartisan border bill. But Donald Trump doesnt want to fix this problem. He talks a big game about a lot of things, Harris said at a Nevada rally in August. But he talks a big game about border security, but he does not walk the walk. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Elon Musk's battle with Brazil over content on X may be drawing to a close as soon as he pays the last bill Elon Musk's battle with Brazil over content on X may be drawing to a close as soon as he pays the last bill Last week, Elon Musk's X agreed to comply with orders from Brazil's Supreme Court. Reuters reported Friday that the Brazilian courts hit X with one last fine of $1.8 million. Experts told BI that the monthslong battle will finally end once the legal bills are paid. It looks like Elon Musk's battle with Brazil's Supreme Court over content moderation concerns on X may finally be drawing to a close, a week after the social media platform agreed to comply with orders from Brazil's high court. There's just a matter of the outstanding bills. Reuters reported on Friday that the Brazilian court hit X with one last fine of $1.8 million added to existing fines of $3.4 million over a brief period when access to X was temporarily available again for Brazilian users despite being banned in the country. The outstanding $5.2 million worth of fines must be paid before access to the site can be reinstated in full across the country. Representatives for X did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. Two experts in international corporate law told BI that settling the outstanding fines may finally end the fight over court orders that Musk argued amounted to censorship. The back-and-forth between Musk and Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes became contentious as it dragged on for the majority of this year. Musk repeatedly lobbed personal insults at de Moraes and refused to comply with orders to remove accounts on the platform that de Moraes said had been methodically spreading misinformation supporting ousted far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro . In response, de Moraes banned X from operating in Brazil, threatened to arrest its legal representative in the country, and ordered the seizure of $3 million from frozen financial accounts belonging to X and SpaceX's Starlink to settle fines levied against the social media platform. With the latest $1.8 million fine, de Moraes is "making a final demand on Elon Musk," Sergio Botinha, an international business lawyer in Brazil, told Business Insider. "He's making Elon Musk dance now," Botinha said. "And he's saying, 'Well, you had defiance, but you've fulfilled the orders now. You have a legal representative, but there are these details that you still have to do, and if you do it paying the fines and giving up on your appeals I will free X in Brazil.'" Botinha said that, while it's impossible to say whether de Moraes has responded particularly harshly toward Musk due to the personal attacks the billionaire directed at him, the judge has knowingly attracted controversy with his handling of the challenges with Musk and he's not likely to let up now. If Musk continued to challenge de Moraes, it would be "illogical," Botinha added. Greg Barnett, an American lawyer who helps US clients solve business and legal problems in Brazil, agreed that Musk's saga of challenging de Moraes is likely over. "I say that because X has rehired the law firm they had before, it has removed X accounts that Moraes had ordered it to remove, and everything suggests that X is willing to comply in order to be able to operate again in Brazil," Barnett said. The choice to comply now, after months of pointed refusal, probably isn't a coincidence, Barnett added. "You're going to have an election in Brazil coming up pretty soon," Barnett noted. "And I can only imagine that X is going to want or Musk is going to want to be able to reach users in Brazil, so there's an extra incentive to do it now." Read the original article on Business Insider Member of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) Daniel Halemba takes part in the Bavarian state parliament's act of remembrance for the victims of National Socialism organized by the Bavarian state parliament and the Bavarian Memorials Foundation. Peter Kneffel/dpa The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) will allow an embattled and controversial regional politician, Daniel Halemba, to remain in the party as part of a settlement over expulsion proceedings. Halemba, 23, has been under criminal investigation over allegations that his right-wing university fraternity in Wurzburg, Teutonia Prague, used banned Nazi symbols and members had allegedly used the Nazi greeting "Sieg Heil." He is also facing an investigation into suspicion of incitement, money laundering, coercion and property damage. He has adamantly denied any criminal conduct, although fellow lawmakers in Bavaria lifted his parliamentary immunity to allow the investigation to move forward. AfD party colleagues had accused him of violating rules and initiated expulsion proceedings against him. Halemba went to an arbitration court to defend himself against expulsion, a case that resulted in the settlement. An AfD party spokesman told dpa on Monday that Halemba would be banned from holding office for 18 months and will be stripped of all possible party offices with immediate effect. "However, the Federal Executive Board reserves the right to revoke this settlement by October 26, 2024," the spokesman said. Halemba was first elected to the Bavarian state parliament in October 2023. The general secretary of Bavaria's centre-right Christian Social Union (CSU) party, Martin Huber, blasted the decision. The CSU has long been the dominant force in Bavarian state politics. "The fact that Daniel Halemba is allowed to remain in the AfD despite incitement of the people, SS memorabilia and the 'Sieg Heil' is inconceivable," Huber said, referring to the allegations against Halemba. Huber charged that the decision shows how "right-wing extremism and National Socialism are part of the AfD. The AfD is a disgrace for Germany." ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) An emergency landing at an airport in New Mexico led to an unexpected act of kindness. A United Airlines pilot went out of his way to cheer up the passengers on the flight. It just stopped me in my tracks, said Tanya Stamos, one of the passengers on the flight. Stamos was heading home on a United Airlines flight back in early September traveling from San Francisco, California, to Houston, Texas, when her travel plans took a turn. We were in the air, I dont know, probably 30-40 minutes, and then all of a sudden the captain gets on and asks if theres, you know, any healthcare professionals any nurses or doctors, said Stamos. New Mexico DOJ pressures the state to crack down on illegal fencing on public waters Because of a medical emergency, the plane landed somewhere Stamos had never been before, New Mexico. We were going to wait about 40 minutes and head out, and then they said that we had to get off. We didnt know what was happening, but the stewardess, the flight attendants, ran out of flight time. So, we had to wait. It turned into a seven-hour layover for the passengers at the Albuquerque International Sunport, but Stamos said their thoughts were with the man who was taken in the ambulance. Its very interesting when you sit there, and you start talking to people and everybodys stories of where they have to go. You know, they got to get home for this, got to get home for that, but everybody just kind of stopped and was thinking, We hope this gentleman is okay, said Stamos. The passengers were given vouchers for food, but because of the time, not many places were open. Things started to look up when the pilot of the flight put in a call to a local restaurant, ordering pizza for all 150 passengers. It was seriously 30 pizzas and what I was saying is he stood up there while everybody got pizza. Everybody got pizza. He served the people that were working around us and then he ate, and Im like, you know what? Thats a true leader, said Stamos. The flight arrived in Texas late that night, and as Stamos left the plane, all she could do was show her gratitude to the pilot. 2024 pet mayor of Corrales announced; all funds heading to animal services I shook his hand and said, Thank you very much for everything, said Stamos. In a cheesy ending, she said, Its always those small acts of kindness that matter the most. United Airlines said in a statement, We love to see our pilots go above and beyond for our customers when the unexpected happens. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. LOS ANGELES, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- SpaceX's Crew-9 Dragon spacecraft autonomously docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday. The spacecraft was launched on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the U.S. state of Florida on Saturday, and docked with the ISS at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time (2230 GMT) on Sunday. The mission, codenamed "Crew-9," carries NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to ISS. It is NASA's ninth commercial crew rotation mission with SpaceX. The Crew-9 members will conduct more than 200 science investigations involving blood clotting studies, moisture effects on plants grown in space, and vision changes in astronauts, according to NASA. The spacecraft is expected to return to Earth next February with the Crew-9 astronauts, as well as NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore who flew to the station in June aboard the malfunctioning Boeing Starliner and have been stranded in space ever since. ANSONIA, Conn. (WTNH) Emergency safety work was set to begin at the Coe Pond Dam Monday, according to the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments (NVCOG). Officials said the construction will last about two weeks as crews focus on enlarging a notch in a concrete spillway, which will lower the water level in Coe Pond by about three feet. Worsening floods and deterioration pose threats to US dam safety The work was deemed necessary after an engineering report in March determined the dam is in poor condition and if problems were not addressed, posed an immediate threat to public safety, with the potential for loss of human life and property damage, according to NVCOG. Coe Pond Dam is part of the Kinneytown Dam Hydroelectric Facility, a federally-regulated facility currently owned by Kinneytown Hydro Inc. Nonprofit names Farmington River as 6th-most endangered in the country NVCOG said they are working to acquire the non-operational dam facility with hopes of ultimately removing the dam to restore the river to its natural course and ecosystem. More information on the project can be found on the NVCOG 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 WTNH.com. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) said Sunday he expects Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), the GOP nominee for vice president, to hold his opponent, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), accountable on the debate stage on Tuesday. Emmer, who has played Walz in debate prep with Vance, said he thinks the Ohio senator has the advantage on the issues over Walz going into the debate, in an interview with Martha Raddatz on ABC Newss This Week. Hes going to do a great job, Emmer said in the interview about Vance. I can tell you, hes got the issues on his side, Martha. He could talk about the economy that Donald Trump fixed and that Harris and Biden broke. He can talk about the border that Trump fixed, and they broke. He can talk about peace and stability around the world, which they dont even have a clue. Once he understands that Tim Walz is just going to try and deflect and go into this folksy whatever, hell hold him accountable. I think JD will do a great job, Emmer added. Emmer defended Vance when Raddatz pointed out Vances unfavorable numbers are higher than Walzs, saying, I think JD is very likable, and I think hes well liked. And I dont buy into these snapshot polls that are being done for a specific reason. Emmer said he has known Walz for years and thinks once people get to know who he is and what his policies are, theyll see hes more radical than Kamala Harris. People do not like him once they get to know him. And JD will expose that on Tuesday, Emmer continued. Emmer would not detail the extent of his debate prep with Vance, instead saying, The debate is on Tuesday night, so Ill let your viewers decide that when asked whether theyve had any mock debates. Im not going to get ahead of JD and the team. If they want to talk about exactly what we did, when we did it, how many times, they can do that, he added. For me, I did my job or have been doing my job in helping JD see what it is hes going to be dealing with on Tuesday night. Emmer described the way he prepared to play Walz in debate practice. Ive known Tim, oh, probably since he was first elected almost 20 years ago. And I worked with him directly for four years. I spent the last month just going back, all of his old stuff to get his phrases down, his mannerisms, that sort of thing. My job was to be able to play Tim Walz so JD Vance knows what hes going to see. The debate will take place five weeks before Election Day: on Tuesday, Oct. 1. CBS News will host the debate, moderated by CBS Evening News anchor Norah ODonnell and Margaret Brennan of Face the Nation. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Writer Saralee Terry Woods with former Gov. Winfield Dunn. (Photo: Saralee Terry Woods) Winfield Dunn, governor of Tennessee, was a giant of a man. I dont say that because he was tall and lit up every room he entered, but because he had all of the makings of an incredible human being. My earliest memory of Dunn was when he came to Scott County, Tennessee, in 1970 to speak to the Oneida Kiwanis Club. He was running for governor in a crowded Republican primary. My mother came back from the meeting energized and excited. She said Dunn was going to win and we were all going to help. Daddy George A. Terry was the one who had been elected to the state legislature, but Mother was the politician in the family. My father was no longer in elected office and we were excited when Gov. Dunn appointed him to work in the newly created Tennessee Department of General Services, which oversees spending with private contractors. Dunn also established the Department of Economic and Community Development which recruits jobs to Tennessee. But the most important Dunn accomplishment, in my opinion, was the expansion of kindergarten to every Tennessee county. Official portrait of Gov. Winfield Dunn in the Tennessee Capitol, painted by Martin Kellogg. I had the honor of working for Dunn as his executive assistant when he ran for governor again in 1986. I decided in 1985 that it was time for me to leave my job in state government, where Id been hired right out of graduate school to work in planning. I learned if I wanted to make a difference I needed to work for a politician from the ground up, which meant to immerse myself in a political campaign. There were rumors that Dunn was considering another run for governor. Winfield and his wife, Betty, were beloved in our home because when Gov. Dunn hired my father, Mother was able at long last to move back to her Nashville hometown and Daddy was offered a job that he loved. I did not tell my parents I was going after a job to work for Dunn, but go after that job I did by reaching out to every prominent Republican I knew. Some of those people are no longer around but I was grateful that Tom Garland, Tom Beasley and Ted Welch picked up the phone and gave my efforts credibility with Dunn. I finally had an interview with Dunn in his private business office in the spring of 1985. He said he needed someone to staff his unofficial office to plan his campaign and that it was down to another person and me. Imagine how quickly I turned in my resignation letter at the state and jumped into an unforgettable experience. Working with Gov. Dunn was an energizing experience. He came to work every day happy with the opportunity of making a difference in Tennessee. I traveled with him and Betty all over the state: They both were smart, informed, compassionate and had a sense of humor that was contagious. The big difference in working for Dunn versus other politicians is that others would ask, Who are these people and how long do I have to stay and shake hands? With Dunn, it was a struggle to get him to leave an event and stay on schedule. He would start by greeting everyone working in the kitchen and then get to the folks who had donated money. After 15 months of barbecue or chicken and peas, depending on which part of the state we were in, he set an example on how to concede an election with class when he lost the race for the governor in 1986 to Ned Ray McWherter. What people may not know is that Dunn became a good friend to McWherter. These two leaders put the people of Tennessee first and found ways to work together. Dunn also became friends with John Jay Hooker, the Democrat whom Dunn defeated for Governor in 1970. He visited Hooker in hospice and held his hand as he lay dying. I stayed in touch with Gov. Dunn through the years. He was so funny when he said he was not interested in meeting my husband, Larry Woods, a professor and an attorney. That might have been because Larry brought legal cases against the Dunn administration. Dunn was gracious when he did meet Larry and the two of them became good friends because of their love of books, their aspirations to do good things and because they both liked to laugh. Winfield and Betty Dunn never stopped helping people. Dunn took the time out of his schedule to come to my fathers funeral and to honor the life of my brother-in-law, Frank Woods, when Frank died. There are thousands of compassionate acts carried out by Dunn that we will never hear about. The state of Tennessee will miss him. His passing is truly the end of statesmanlike leadership and kindness to all. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX California has changed since 2008 when it comes to attitudes about same-sex marriage, and thats all to the good. Despite voting overwhelmingly for Barack Obama for president that year, the states electorate also passed Proposition 8, a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Of course, those were different times. Even Obama said at the time that marriage was between a man and a woman. It didnt take long for him and the California electorate to acknowledge that marriage is a right that is fundamental to all people. A district judge ruled in 2010 that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional and in 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to overturn that decision, ruling that the people appealing proponents of the measure lacked standing. The state of California refused to defend Proposition 8. By that time, a USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll had already found that 58% of Californians believed that same-sex marriage deserved legal protection. Read more: L.A. Times electoral endorsements for 2024 November election In other words, had Proposition 8 remained in force, Californians almost certainly would have brought the issue to the ballot again and voters almost certainly would have kicked that ugly constitutional amendment to the curb. But because the measure had been defeated in the courts, there was no rush to remove it from the state Constitution. Until now. The nationwide rumblings against protection for LGBTQ+ people along with cruel legislation in some states have been growing, just as they had against abortion rights before Roe vs. Wade was overturned. The U.S. Supreme Court has shown itself to be capricious and political, ignoring legal precedent time and again to carry out an agenda of extreme conservatism as well as protection for former President Trump in ways that defy the rules of democracy. Read more: Endorsement: No on Proposition 36. California shouldn't revive the disastrous war on drugs That means same-sex marriage could be subjected to the same ideological attack. Same-sex couples need official protection, which Proposition 3 on the Nov. 5 ballot would guarantee them. It would repeal Proposition 8s wording and affirm marriage as a basic right in California so that whatever the courts may rule, those marriages will continue to be recognized in the state. Thats the practical rationale to support Proposition 3. But there is an ethical and moral reason to remove it from the California Constitution as well: Though Proposition 8 has no force in the state, its abhorrent language is a reminder of less tolerant and understanding times. Proposition 3 is one way to say that the state recognizes its mistake and has learned better. A September poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found that 68% of likely voters support the measure. Opponents have tried to chip away at that support by suggesting the broad language of Proposition 3 could lead to would-be polygamists or pedophiles attempting to overturn existing laws against multiple or child marriages. Dont be fooled by that. No constitutional right is without exceptions; despite 1st Amendment freedom of speech, its still illegal to commit slander or libel, or yell Fire in a crowded building. Even if there were such lawsuits, which is doubtful, the courts have the authority to deny any such challenges when there is a compelling interest to keep current laws in place. Proposition 3 gives Californians an opportunity to formally renounce a wrongful moment in our voting history and step forward to positively affirm that bigotry toward same-sex couples has no place in our state or its Constitution. 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. Energoatom orders additional protection for Rivne Nuclear Power Plant only at end of September, media reports Ukraine's state nuclear energy agency Energoatom signed on Sept. 25 a contract worth Hr 509 million ($12.3 million) for the design and construction of a protective structure at the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant, Ukrainian investigative media outlet Nashi Groshi reported on Sept. 30. The outlet noted that the agreement was concluded only after President Volodymyr Zelensky told the U.N. Security Council on Sept. 24 that Russia was preparing to target three Ukrainian nuclear power plants and that the infrastructure around the plants was not properly protected. The protective structures around the plants include U-shaped structures that shield large transformers from drones and shrapnel damage in the event of an indirect missile hit, Nashi Groshi said. Energoatom signed the contract via Prozorro, Ukraine's electronic public procurement system, designed to increase transparency and competition in the bidding process, Nashi Groshi reported. The outlet also said that the contract itself was not published on Prozorro, so details about how many and how large the structures that are to be built under this new contract will be are unknown. For comparison, Ukrainian state grid operator Ukrenergo recently signed contracts worth Hr 98 million ($2.3 million) and Hr 120 million ($2.9 million) for structures that protect one transformer, Nashi Groshi reported. Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the former head of Ukrenergo, said in an interview with Suspilne after his recent dismissal that more than 60 of the company's facilities have these types of protective structures. According to Kudrytskyi, these structures helped Ukrenergo recover from a mass Russian attack on Aug. 26. Russia launched nine coordinated attacks against Ukraine's electricity infrastructure between March and the end of August, striking facilities in 20 oblasts. According to an International Energy Agency (IEA) report, Ukraine's electricity shortage could reach 6 gigawatts this winter due to the attacks, which is about one-third of the expected peak demand. This summer, the power shortage was 2.5 GW when Kyiv was already experiencing long blackouts. There are three operating nuclear power plants on Ukrainian-held territory: the Rivne and Khmelnytskyi plants in the country's west and the Pivdennoukrainsk plant in the south. Russia's regular attacks cut off power to the units, putting their safety in jeopardy. According to the Energy Ministry, nuclear generation currently accounts for up to 60% of the country's electricity consumption. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe's largest nuclear power station, has been under Russian occupation since March 2022. Read also: 3 energy infrastructure facilities struck in overnight Russian strikes, Ukrainian PM says Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. The Energy Department on Monday announced it has finalized a $1.5 billion loan to restart a shuttered Michigan nuclear power plant. The loan guarantee will restart the Holtec Palisades nuclear plant in Covert Township, which shut down in 2022 after five decades of operation. The reboot will mark the first for a nuclear reactor after the removal of its fuel. The Biden administration is also awarding $1.3 billion through the Department of Agricultures Empowering Rural America program to two rural electric cooperatives, which will discount electricity passed on to their members through emissions-free sources, such as the Holtec plant. The administration projected the restarted Palisades plant, which still must go through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing approval process, will provide power until at least 2051 once brought back online. The administration estimated it will create or keep up to 600 local jobs, and the company has signed an agreement with 15 trade unions, according to the department. Nuclear power is Americas largest source of carbon-free of electricity, supporting hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs across the country and will play a critical role in tackling the climate crisis and protecting public health and the environment from its impacts, said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, a former Michigan governor, in a statement. Under President Biden and Vice President Harris leadership, DOE and our partners across the federal government are working around the clock to ensure this vital source of clean electricityand the vibrant workforce it supports continues to power our nation for generations to come. Nuclear power largely fell out of favor during the Cold War amid anxieties about the potential for accidents, but policymakers in recent years have revisited it as a renewable and emissions-free power source. The announcement comes shortly after the news that the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, the site of a partial meltdown in 1979, will reopen to power Microsoft data centers. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Enjoy a night of Latin jazz, Selena and more at Estrellas y Sinfonicas WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) On Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, the Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestras concert will bring you a unique experience. Its a celebration of Hispanic heritage, community, and the powerful connection of music and dancea night under the stars, which is Estrellas y Sinfonicas. After over 100 hours of volunteer work at Travis Park, the stage is set to bring the jazz ensemble, University of North Texas mariachi group, and Zavala International Dancers. People can hear Latin jazz, and classics from Los Angeles Azules and Selena. The Zavala dancers will be dancing to the mariachi music with the support of the jazz ensemble. Ish Duran said the vision between the symphony, Zavala and Potencia plans to bring out the Hispanic culture for everyone to enjoy. Hispanic culture is a part of the city culture. It is who we are as a city. Were very represented here in Wichita Falls, especially in North Texas, Duran said. The collaboration between these [three] organizations coming together, having that one, unifying project that were working on, is its going to be a beautiful thing. Travis Park, located at 806 Travis Street, will host the event. Its the same park where Loco for Cinco and Los Muertos is usually held. Tickets can be found on the Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra website. 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. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government passed several relief packages totaling more than $193 billion in aid for K-12 schools. These funds expire on Sept. 30, 2024. The bottom line: Most of the money is obligated, spent and reimbursed, and there are no plans to pass any additional aid packages. Therefore, states and school districts must find new funding streams or scale back considerably on vendor contracts and other initiatives that are dependent on ESSER funding. By one estimate, ESSER had made available $40 billion to $60 billion in new government funding to education contractors by 2023, with 40% spent on vendors and the rest on personnel and labor. The amount spent by states and districts to cover COVID contracts could be much higher. Anticipating the end of their ESSER funding, districts such as Boston Public Schools have moved contracting expenses once covered by federal relief funds onto their general budgets. With the help of a contract database called govspend.com, I have been tracking national and regional patterns in what districts paid vendors to do before, during and after the pandemic. In my forthcoming book, Private Ends, Public Means: Contemporary Dynamics in Educational Privatization, I identify several lessons from this large-scale experiment in federally subsidized education contracts. First, ESSER-funded vendors helped school districts meet unique conditions but sometimes overlooked equitable access. At one level, vendor contracts supported public schools under emergency conditions in their mission of equal educational opportunity. One example is food service contracts that provided free lunches for pick-up when school cafeterias were closed. Contracts also arguably helped with continuity of instruction, which is another core responsibility of states and districts. Seven out of 10 traditional school districts used ESSER funds to purchase software during the pandemic and 9 out of 10 bought hardware, according to a study conducted by the Office of the Inspector General. Related ESSER Post-Mortem: How Did Districts Spend $190B in Federal Funds? Did It Work? These purchases made sense, given the quick pivot to remote learning. However, the pressure to spend quickly and with limited oversight may have contributed to redundancies (too many devices) and equitable access issues (wifi hotspots that did not function in areas without broadband or were not strong enough to provide students with stable video and audio). When the next emergency hits schools, public money will presumably once again be up for grabs, particularly for those with the fastest hands. What mistakes were made in areas of educational equity? How can the private sector do better when the next emergency hits? Second, with physical schools closed, large urban districts spent hundreds of millions of dollars on technology such as iPads, Chromebooks, laptops and software licenses to keep classes in session. Then, they used ESSER funds for repairs, upgrades and parts to keep the devices running. The spending spiked at the outset of the pandemic but still remained higher than pre-pandemic levels once schools reopened. Post-pandemic, vendors are looking for ways to get resource-strapped districts to buy more devices, simply to maintain profit margins. Its up to districts to exercise good management by pressing pause and reassessing. There are at least two ways to approach this. First, districts should reassess whether vendor contracts are based on evidence of impact. During the pandemic, companies with minimal track records increased sales at record pace. For example, one small, relatively unknown business specializing in chat-based tutoring saw its annual revenues explode from less than $100,000 before COVID to nearly $3 million by March 2022. This company signed contracts in nearly half the states and showed little sign of slowing once schools resumed in-person instruction. But the strong evidence base around high-impact tutoring specifies that services must be delivered in person, not remotely. The bar should never be lowered for public school students when it comes to equal access for quality instruction. Related Making Districts and Providers Mutually Accountable for Student Success Third, its time to commit to transparency and ensure that the public has the information about and input into vendor contracts particularly those addressing learning loss post-pandemic. That may mean reining in the use of noncompetitive bidding that state and local procurement policies allow during emergencies. In cities such as San Diego, noncompetitive bidding may have helped questionable vendors get contracts without proper vetting. It also means requiring potential bidders to provide evidence of impact for high-needs student populations. I have been analyzing school board meetings across disparate regions of the country and found limited opportunities for public comment even on million-dollar purchases. Materials required by state or local law to help the public and school board make informed decisions, such as descriptions of how a digital product or service works, often are missing from the public record. Contracts commit taxpayer resources and are pivotal in shaping the quality of government-funded services. All stakeholders in education have the right to adequate and accurate information in all stages of contracting, from the bid to the contract to the decision on whether to renew. These are principles of performance-based contracting to which districts across the country have committed. Fourth, account for the hidden costs for families of maintaining or eliminating certain types of vendor contracts. In my conversations with purchasing officers, I keep hearing that connectivity which districts made significant investments in during COVID is on the chopping block. Further, there are no plans to upgrade or replace older laptops and iPads that were loaned to students. Its the lower-income kids whose families will bear these costs. As districts assess which contracts to renew and which to ditch, they must be guided by principles of equitable access to high-quality digital content. Low-income families may not be at the table when ed tech contracts are cut, but they shouldnt be expected to absorb costs interpreted narrowly as district savings. During the pandemic, districts and states contracted with vendors to meet the unique needs of this emergency. Now that the public health crisis has passed and COVID funds are largely spent, its time for districts to reassess how vendor contracts support public schools in their core mission and to raise the bar for ensuring that purchased services and products directly address widening educational inequalities. NEW YORK New York City Mayor Eric Adams is not going down without a fight. The mayors private attorney representing him in a federal criminal case that includes accusations of bribery, favor trading with Turkish officials and illegal campaign contributions convened a press conference Monday to assail federal prosecutors and detail his effort to get a portion of the case immediately dismissed. The public show of force, which occurred in the office of Alex Spiros white-shoe Manhattan law firm, Quinn Emanuel, served as a sign of just how firmly Adams is dug in and portends a protracted and public brawl between City Hall and the U.S. attorney for the Southern District in New York that could have national political repercussions. [Ive] never responded to these little press conferences. But this is different, Spiro said, referring to a briefing last week, when Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams unveiled a 57-count indictment against the mayor. They have forgotten to tell the people of New York the truth about what is going on here. Thats what Im here to do. Earlier in the day, Spiro filed a motion to dismiss bribery charges against Adams. Those charges, according to the five-count indictment, are predicated on the mayor allegedly accepting more than $100,000 worth of free travel perks facilitated by officials in the Turkish consul generals office, a Turkish Airlines manager and others. In exchange, prosecutors allege, Adams pressured officials in the citys fire department to fast-track the opening of the Turkish Embassy in Manhattan in the fall of 2021 when he was the Democratic nominee for mayor despite fire safety concerns. Spiro argued Monday those actions do not constitute a quid-pro-quo bribery scheme. This is not sufficient for federal criminal liability, he said. There is no contemporary exchange of this for that. For starters, Spiro argued, legal precedent set in a U.S. Supreme Court case requires criminal prosecutors to establish a gift was exchanged for an official promising a specific government action. In this case, Spiro said, Adams accepted what he termed gratuities from Turkish officials years before the Turkish Consulate was even constructed. Therefore, he argued, there is no way the freebies could have been provided for the specific fire safety situation. Instead, he portrayed the wining and dining of Adams as run-of-the-mill and legal offerings meant to more generally curry favor with elected officials. Courtesies to politicians are not federal crimes. Congressmen get upgrades, he said. They get corner suites. They get better tables at restaurants. They get free appetizers. They have their ice tea filled up. Turkish officials also offered perks after the interactions with the fire commissioner. However, Spiro argued that Adams did not pressure the FDNY leader in the fall of 2021. His call to then-Commissioner Dan Nigro constituted normal outreach on behalf of a constituent to check on the status of an important project, Spiro said. As for the other charges in the indictment which relate to Adams 2021 campaign accepting illegal straw donors and illegal foreign contributions Spiro said the mayor did not know about any illicit cash. Instead, he argued, any verboten donations were collected by the mayors former liaison to the Turkish community, Rana Abbasova, who Spiro said will be the governments key, and in his view flawed, witness. The litigator, who stood at a lectern and breezed through a slide show, laced into the Department of Justice for what he deemed over-the-top searches for evidence and predicted that once the bribery charge was thrown out, the rest of the case would crumble. After [the bribery count] falls away, the matching donations issue falls away, and without a crime, so does a conspiracy, Spiro said. And thats where this will end. Federal prosecutors who declined to comment on Spiro's comments see it differently. This was a multiyear scheme to buy favor with a single New York City politician on the rise: Eric Adams, William said at a press conference of his own Thursday. The indictment outlines trips around the globe where Adams and those close to him were offered travel perks. Williams office is conducting several other probes into potential City Hall corruption. FBI agents have raided the homes or seized the cell phones of at least six top administration officials and members of the police department this month. Since then, the schools chancellor resigned, the police commissioner was forced out and the mayors lead city attorney abruptly quit. During the International Forum on Carbon Pricing held in Baku, Orkhan Nazarli, Head of the State Tax Service under the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan, met with Margaret Cotton, Deputy Division Chief, Revenue Administration II, Fiscal Affairs Department, International Monetary Fund, Azernews reports. At the meeting, Nazarli emphasized Azerbaijans commitment to expanding relations with the IMF. He noted the importance of the IMFs support for various projects aimed at improving the business environment and fostering public-private sector partnerships. The forum, co-organized by the Organization of Intra-European Tax Administrations (IOTA) and Azerbaijans State Tax Service, was highlighted as a significant platform for discussing critical issues. A key topic discussed was the support for the "green" economy and the acceleration of the transition to low-carbon business solutions, which is a primary focus for many countries. In this context, implementing decarbonization efforts while maintaining economic stability and promoting fairness in the business environment is of great interest to the international community. The importance of investigating carbon pricing and tax mechanisms was also underlined. Nazarli shared that Azerbaijans tax authorities have been conducting analyses and studying international practices in this area. The discussion also included the potential for strengthening partnerships with the IMF, focusing on applying tax instruments to foster a sustainable and competitive economy, improving the business environment, and enhancing public-private sector cooperation. The parties exchanged views on the priorities for future cooperation, the progress made in promoting international relations between tax authorities, and upcoming prospective projects. In this article, we will discuss the 15 easiest countries to immigrate to from India. You can skip our detailed discussion and see the 5 Easiest Countries to Immigrate to from India. According to a National Foundation for American Policy analysis of USCIS data, over 1.2 million Indians, including dependents, are waiting in the first, second, and third employment-based green card categories, based on approved I-140 immigrant petitions as of November 2, 2023. According to the numbers quoted by Statista, In 2020, nearly 17.8 million people emigrated from India, while approximately 4.5 million people immigrated to the country. Emigration from India has grown significantly over the last few decades. READ ALSO: 20 Countries with Highest Indian Population in the World and 20 Best Countries to Study Abroad for English Speakers Indian Migration Trend India tops the list of origin countries for the worlds migrants, a trend that has continued for over a century. According to Pew Research Center in 2020, 17.9 million international migrants traced their roots back to India, surpassing Mexico's 11.2 million and Russia's 10.8 million. As per The Economic Times Indian migrants are spread worldwide, with the largest populations in the UAE (3.5 million), the U.S. (2.7 million), and Saudi Arabia (2.5 million). Despite being the largest source, India's 17.9 million migrants in 2020 represented only 1.3% of all Indians born by that year. In contrast, the UK's 4.7 million migrants made up 7.6% of its population, and Mexico's 11.2 million migrants accounted for 8.2%. According to the report by The Hindu, India was the top country receiving remittances in 2010 ($53.48 billion), 2015 ($68.91 billion), and 2020 ($83.15 billion). In 2022, remittances crossed the $100 billion mark, reaching $111.22 billion. As per Migration Policy Institute globally, the United States is the second most popular destination for Indians living abroad, after the UAE (3.5 million). Other top destinations are Saudi Arabia (2.5 million), Pakistan (1.6 million), Oman (1.4 million), and Kuwait (1.2 million). The Economic Times also added that in the U.S., the largest share of Indian immigrants lived in California (20%), followed by Texas (11%) and New Jersey (10%) as of 2015-19. New York and Illinois together had another 13%. The U.S. cities with the most Indian immigrants were the greater New York, Chicago, San Francisco, San Jose, and Dallas metro areas, making up about 35% of Indians in the country. Indian-Origin Executives Leading Global Giants Numerous influential Indian figures in tech leadership have made significant impacts on the industry. Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Alphabet Inc. ( NASDAQ:GOOG), guides the company with creativity and a clear vision, constantly pushing boundaries and fostering innovation. Satya Nadella, a prominent figure in Silicon Valley, leads Microsoft Corporation ( NASDAQ:MSFT) in reshaping how the world interacts with technology. Parag Agrawal swiftly rose to become CEO of Twitter Inc. ( NYSE:TWTR), leveraging the platform's legacy to drive innovation and connectivity. Since 2007, Shantanu Narayen has been a pivotal leader at Adobe Inc. ( NASDAQ:ADBE), championing creativity and spearheading innovation. Arvind Krishna, a beacon of tech leadership at International Business Machines Corporation ( NYSE:IBM), utilizes his background from IIT Kanpur to steer the company's future. These leaders are at the forefront of technological advancement and smart business practices, shaping the world for future generations. Their achievements highlight the global influence of Indian professionals and the growing trend of Indian immigration. On September 24, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) CEO Sundar Pichai delivered a lecture titled "The AI Platform Shift and the Opportunity Ahead" at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) as part of their Presidents Lecture Series (Google Blog). In his talk, Pichai emphasized the transformative impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on various sectors and highlighted the vast opportunities it presents for innovation and societal advancement. During the lecture, Pichai discussed how AI is accelerating scientific discoveries, enhancing access to information, and driving economic progress. He also addressed the challenges associated with AI, such as the potential for deepfakes and the importance of implementing balanced regulations to ensure AI benefits are equitably distributed. This event at CMU aligns with Pichai's ongoing efforts to promote AI education and responsible innovation. Notably, CMU has a longstanding relationship with Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), having hosted the company's first Pittsburgh office and collaborated on various research initiatives. While we acknowledge the potential of GOOG 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 GOOG but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. Now, let's explore our list of the easiest 15 countries for migration from India. 15 Easiest Countries to Immigrate to from India Anton_Ivanov/Shutterstock.com Methodology To determine the 15 easiest countries to immigrate to from India, we started with a list from Insider Monkey's article on the 16 Easiest Countries to Get a Residence Permit. From there, we ranked these countries based on the percentage of Indian expats living in each one derived from data published by the Ministry of External Affairs India. This approach gave us a clear picture of where Indians are successfully moving to and settling down. By combining the ease of obtaining a residence permit with existing Indian communities, we provide a practical and relatable guide for those considering immigration. 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). 15 Easiest Countries to Immigrate to from India 15. Costa Rica Overseas Indians: 1,050 Costa Rica is a great option for Indians looking to immigrate because it offers an easy path to getting a residence permit. With just a $150,000 investment in property or business, you can settle down in this beautiful country. If you're interested in forestry projects, the investment is even lower at $100,000. The initial residence permit is valid for two years and is renewable as long as you maintain your investment. Although the application process takes about nine months, the benefits of living in Costa Rica make it well worth the wait. With its stunning natural beauty, friendly locals, and vibrant culture, Costa Rica provides a welcoming environment for Indian immigrants. 14. Latvia Overseas Indians: 3,000 Latvia is an excellent choice for Indian immigrants due to its fast and affordable residency program. For a minimum investment of just 60,000 (approximately US $65,400) in a Latvian company that pays 40,000 annually, you can secure a residency permit. This is one of the lowest-cost routes to residency in Europe. The application approval time is quick, taking only 1-3 months, and once approved, you can travel to Latvia within three months to obtain your five-year residence permit. Latvia's vibrant culture, rich history, and strategic location in Europe make it an attractive destination for Indian immigrants looking for new opportunities and a high quality of life. 13. Cyprus Overseas Indians: 14,979 Cyprus is a fantastic option for Indian immigrants seeking an easy-to-obtain residence permit. The minimum investment is modest at 300,000 (approximately $327,000), which can be made in property, business, funds, or securities. The application process is one of the fastest, taking only about two months. Beyond the straightforward and quick residency process, Cyprus offers a high quality of life with beautiful weather, stunning landscapes, and a vibrant culture. Its strategic location at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa also makes it an appealing destination for business and travel. 12. Panama Overseas Indians: 15,000 Panama is an ideal destination for Indian immigrants looking for a quick and straightforward path to residency. It offers two attractive visa options: the Qualified Investor Visa and the Active Investor Visa. The Qualified Investor Visa requires a minimum investment of just US $100,000 in a company with a forest registry under the Ministry of Environment, granting a two-year temporary residence with a processing time of only four months. Alternatively, the Active Investor Visa, or Panamas Business Investor Residency Permit, requires a US $160,000 investment in a new or existing business, creating at least five full-time jobs for Panamanian citizens and involving the investor in daily operations. With its fast processing times, diverse visa options, and vibrant economy, Panama provides a welcoming environment for Indian immigrants seeking new opportunities. 11. Montenegro Overseas Indians: 16,000 Montenegro is an appealing choice for Indian immigrants due to its fast-growing economy and enticing residency program. The government encourages investment by offering flexible options with no minimum value specified. You can either acquire real estate or invest in a legal entity. This process involves creating and registering a legal entity in Montenegro, opening a bank account, renting or purchasing office space for business, and securing residential property for personal use. The annual costs for operating the company are estimated to be around US $3,240. With its booming economy, beautiful landscapes, and welcoming environment, Montenegro provides an excellent opportunity for Indian immigrants seeking a new start. 10. Austria Overseas Indians: 16,500 Austria is an attractive option for investors seeking residency permits due to its well-developed infrastructure and high standard of living. Under Austrias Residence by Investment program, investors must have 40,000 (approximately US $43,600) in liquid funds, which increases with the size of the family. Additionally, they need to provide proof of a permanent residential property (owned or leased), have private healthcare insurance, and possess documented German language skills. The application process is efficient, typically taking 1-3 months. 9. Greece Overseas Indians: 35,000 Greece is a popular destination for Indian immigrants, with a significant overseas Indian population of 35,000. Its Golden Visa program is renowned in Europe for its flexibility and affordability. Investors can make various types of investments, starting from as low as 250,000 (approximately US $272,000) in real estate to as high as 800,000 (approximately US $872,000) in corporate or government bonds. The residence permit is renewable every five years, with an application processing time of 2-4 months. 8. Spain Overseas Indians: 67,592 Spain presents itself as the easiest country for Indians to migrate to, offering a multitude of attractive features. The Golden Visa program stands out, providing a streamlined pathway to Permanent Residency (PR) through real estate investment or other economic activities. Additionally, Spain's family reunification programs encourage the settlement of Indian families, fostering a supportive environment. With a high quality of life, a pleasant Mediterranean climate, and captivating cultural attractions, Spain offers Indian expats a fulfilling experience. Moreover, the accessibility of the Spanish language, with its similarities to English and opportunities for immersion, facilitates integration and communication, further enhancing the migration process for Indians. 7. Portugal Overseas Indians: 103,682 Portugal, with an overseas Indian population of 103,682, is known for its easy and flexible Golden Visa Program. Investors can choose from various options, with the minimum requirement being a 200,000 (approximately US $218,000) investment in artistic production or cultural heritage restoration in low-population density areas. The application process usually takes 4-15 months, granting the investor the right to reside, work, and study in the country. 6. Thailand Overseas Indians: 150,000 Thailand, home to 150,000 overseas Indians, offers the Elite Residency Program, an exceptional option for expats and investors. The program provides four membership options: Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Reserve. The Gold card has the minimum investment requirement of THB 900,000 (approximately US $26,000). This five-year privilege entry visa application can be processed in 1-2 months, making it a quick and affordable route to residency. 5. Italy Overseas Indians: 206,503 Italy, with 206,503 overseas Indians, offers a lucrative choice for investors due to its large EU market and various investment options. The minimum investment required is 250,000 (approximately US $272,000) in innovative start-ups. The country processes residency applications in 1-2 months, providing a fast and straightforward route to obtaining a residence permit. 4. Mauritius Overseas Indians: 894,848 Mauritius, with a substantial overseas Indian population of 894,848, offers attractive Residency by Investment programs. The Permanent Residency program requires a minimum investment of US $375,000 in a designated real estate project. Applications are processed in about 2-3 months, granting a 20-year renewable permanent residency permit. For a less costly option, the Active Investor Visa requires a US $50,000 investment in a Mauritius business, with the residence permit being renewable based on business performance. 3. Malaysia Overseas Indians: 2,914,127 Malaysia beckons with a cozy lifestyle and excellent living standards. Indians, forming the second-largest minority after the Chinese, call Malaysia home, mainly in peninsular Malaysia and primarily of Tamil descent. The primary group of Indian immigrants in Malaysia and Singapore predominantly consists of Tamils. Malaysia hosts the third-largest Indian expatriate community globally. For those seeking a new home away from home, Malaysia is an enticing option. 2. Canada Overseas Indians: 2,875,954 Indians are moving in record numbers to Canada's friendly shores as its appeal as a place to immigrate keeps growing. Canada has emerged as one of the top destinations for Indian migrants due to its outstanding quality of life and strong demand for skilled work. With a whopping 2,875,954 overseas Indians now calling Canada home, the majority being persons of Indian origin, it's no wonder Canada shines bright as a beacon of opportunity and promise. 1. The United Arab Emirates Overseas Indians: 3,568,848 The United Arab Emirates (UAE) stands out as a leading developed nation globally, renowned for its abundant job opportunities. Over time, a substantial number of Indians have relocated to this Gulf country, with a steady stream of migrants persisting. Ranking second in hosting Indian migrants, the UAE is a top destination for those considering migration. 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. 15 Easiest Countries to Immigrate to from India is originally published on Insider Monkey. When the Supreme Courts Republican-appointed majority curbed the use of federal bribery law against state and local officials this past term, Justice Ketanji Brown Jacksons dissent called the absurd and atextual reading of the statute one that only todays Court could love. Eric Adams might love it, too. Ask Jordan questions during his Reddit AMA on Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET, where he will discuss the biggest cases of the Supreme Courts next term. On Monday, New York Citys first indicted sitting mayor moved to dismiss the federal bribery charge against him, citing that recent Supreme Court precedent, called Snyder v. United States. Just three months ago, the Supreme Court rebuked the Justice Department for adopting an unfathomable interpretation of the federal-program bribery statute, the Democratic mayors lawyers wrote in their trial court motion, citing the Snyder case. Yet here goes the Department again, they argued, surmising that: It appears that after years of casting about for something, anything, to support a federal charge against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, prosecutors had settled on a theory that depended on the Departments longstanding view that Section 666 [the bribery law at issue] criminalizes gratuities, including gifts meant to curry favor with governmental officials but not linked to any specific question or matter. When the Supreme Court rejected that interpretation in June, prosecutors simply added a few vague allegations and called their theory bribery a far more serious offense than gratuities [a quote from the Snyder opinion]. Arguing that the governments makeover doesnt work, Adams lawyers wrote: The indictment does not allege that Mayor Adams agreed to perform any official act at the time that he received a benefit. Rather, it alleges only that while serving as Brooklyn Borough President not Mayor, or even Mayor-elect he agreed generally to assist with the operation or regulation of a Turkish Consulate building in Manhattan, where he had no authority whatsoever, in exchange for travel benefits (e.g., upgrades to vacant business-class seats and a car ride to a restaurant). They concluded the 25-page filing by writing: In short, the bribery count in the indictment suffers from the same fundamental legal problems that have long plagued the Justice Departments aggressive targeting of prominent public officials: a sweeping view of federal statutes that criminalizes routine conduct and replaces measured ethics rules with the blunt force of federal criminal law. The consequence is a lack of fair notice to defendants and the kind of highly selective enforcement on display here. Now, this is the type of argument that the Supreme Court has embraced in recent years not just in the Snyder case but also in a string of appeals dating back at least to the 2016 ruling in favor of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell that narrowed corruption-related prosecutions. Its too early to know whether Adams, who has pleaded not guilty, will be able to successfully harness that judicial skepticism to get out of his indictment, which were all still digesting. But however heavy-handed the defense argument sounds, its the sort of claim that Adams lawyers would be foolish not to make, given the state of the law and the Supreme Court. The Justice Department will get to respond to Adams motion, and federal prosecutors will likely disagree with both the defendants understanding of the law and how it applies to the facts of his case. (Adams motion only concerns the bribery allegation, and we should expect him to separately challenge the other charges in the indictment, including those related to allegedly illegal campaign contribution dealings.) Indeed, prosecutors probably arent too surprised at Adams argument. At least they shouldnt be. In strategizing the case, they likely will have considered the charges against the backdrop of how they would fare on an inevitable appeal if theres a conviction. But however damning the allegations against the mayor may seem, the justices seemingly stand ready to save white-collar defendants from charges that might possibly be seen as criminalizing politics, however shady that politics is. The Deadline: Legal Newsletter returns Oct. 4. Subscribe for expert analysis on the top legal stories of the week, including updates from the new Supreme Court term and developments in Donald Trumps legal cases. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com How Eric Adams indictment could cost Democrats their shot at winning back the US House Big Apple Mayor Eric Adams corruption case could derail Democrats push to win back suburban congressional seats critical to controlling the House of Representatives, political strategists say. Adams scandal reminds the voters of what they despise about Democrat-controlled New York City, including its chaos, a political consultant noted. It cant be good for Democrats. Part of the red wave in the suburbs is driven by what they see in New York City the homeless, migrant crime and chaos. Thats why theyve been voting Republican, said a Democratic strategist who has worked for congressional candidates and former Dem President Bill Clinton. Long Island does not want to become New York City, he said. Big Apple Mayor Eric Adams corruption case could derail Democrats push to win back suburban congressional seats. REUTERS At stake in November is control of the House, where Republicans have only the narrowest lead. There are currently six House races in the New York suburbs or exurbs rated competitive by the Cook Political report four are held by Republicans, and two by Democrats. Crucially, these districts are part of the New York City media market where the Adams scandal is likely to dominate the airwaves for weeks leading up to the Nov. 5 election. Long Island Republican congressional candidate Mike LiPetri is hammering Democratic incumbent Rep. Tom Suozzi for once being considered by Adams to serve as a deputy mayor. Tom Suozzi made millions of dollars trading stocks in Congress, violated the STOCK Act [governing financial disclosures] 300 times, and now, his old buddy Eric Adams is going down in an alleged bribery scandal, LiPetri told The Post. New York House races could determine whether the GOP or Dems control Congress. NY Post composite No wonder the duo considered working together in City Hall, he said of Suozzi and Adams. We deserve better than these career politicians who only look out for themselves its time for a fresh start, said LiPetri, who is running in District 3, which stretches from Nassau Countys North Shore on Long Island through parts of Queens. Suozzi declined comment on LiPetris broadside while issuing a statement which stopped short of calling on Adams to resign. Its sad that yet another public official has been indicted. People are losing faith, but I am confident in our system of justice, and I know that by following our long established process, that in the end justice will be served, Suozzi said. Republican Rep. Marc Molinaro, who is running for re-election in Hudson Valleys battleground 19th District in a rematch against Democrat Josh Riley, said the Adams scandal is definitely a campaign issue. In a state run by one political party for so long, this culture of incompetence and corruption needs to have people fighting back, Molinaro said. Republican pollster John McLaughlin claimed the Adams indictment also might spark usually Democrat-backing black voters to vote for Donald Trump for president, too. Democratic incumbent Rep. Tom Suozzi was criticized for once being considered by Adams to serve as a deputy mayor. Jasper Colt-USA TODAY Black voters may believe that Adams is being railroaded by the Harris-Bidens Department of Justice, after the mayor criticized the White Houses handling of the border crisis, McLaughlin said. Adams made his assertion of the possible political payback despite some of the allegations against him dating back years, to when Adams was Brooklyn borough president and before the citys current migrant crisis. Four local Democratic House candidates have called on Adams to resign, sensing their GOP opponents would try to hang the scandal around their neck. Republican Rep. Marc Molinaro, who is running for re-election in Hudson Valleys battleground 19th District in a rematch against Democrat Josh Riley, said the Adams scandal is definitely a campaign issue. CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images Josh Riley, Molinaros Democratic rival, immediately threw Adams overboard. Upstate New York is facing serious issues, and the last thing we need is more corrupt downstate politicians compounding the problems, exporting their chaos, and abusing the publics trust, Riley said in a statement. Eric Adams should immediately resign. Democrat Laura Gillen, who is running against first-term GOP Rep. Anthony DEsposito in southern Nassau Countys 4th District, jumped on the bandwagon, too. If you abuse your power youve got to go, she said. Lets clean house in New York City and Washington D.C. and elect ethical leaders who are focused on their constituents, not themselves. Lefty tx-Congressman Mondaire Jones, who is running against first-term Rep. Mike Lawler in Hudson Valleys 17th District, said, It is a sad day for New Yorkers and the American people to see the Mayor of New York City indicted. Eric Adams should resign. Republican Rep. Nick Lalota represents Suffolk Countys 1st District on Long Island. AP Democrat John Avlon, who is running against freshman Republican Rep. Nick Lalota in Suffolk Countys 1st District on Long Island, said, I believe in putting principle over partisan politics. A Democratic crook is as bad as a Republican crook. While everyone is entitled to a presumption of innocence before being judged by a jury, Mayor Adams should step aside for the good of all New Yorkers & there should be a special election, Avlon said. NEW YORK CITY (PIX11) Mayor Eric Adams met with senior administration officials Monday, just hours before his lawyer is expected to address his historic indictment. Over the weekend, Adams reiterated he would not resign, and his schedule remained full Monday morning. At 8 a.m., Adams met with senior administration officials before speaking at a graduation ceremony for the Department of Sanitation. Mayor Adams indictment: Timeline of federal investigations Adams will then make a public safety and infrastructure announcement in Queens, shortly before his lawyer, Alex Spiro, is expected to speak on his indictment. Monday evening, Adams will visit a church in Corona. Over the weekend, Adams visited a church in the Bronx, where many gathered for a rally in his support. You havent seen me lose my focus, so when people say I need to resign, I say I need to reign, Adams said Sunday. Adams remains in the public eye just days after his historic indictment on federal bribery charges. Many elected officials have called for the mayor to resign, but he maintains his innocence. On Friday, Adams pleaded not guilty to the historic charges. Adams attorneys urged a federal judge Monday to dismiss the bribery charge, accusing prosecutors of leveling an extraordinarily vague allegation that does not rise to the level of a federal crime. In the motion filed Monday morning, the mayors attorneys described the bribery charge one of five counts he faces as meritless, arguing that zealous prosecutors had failed to show an explicit quid pro quo between Adams and Turkish officials. Emily Rahhal is a digital reporter from Los Angeles who has covered New York City since 2023. She joined PIX11 in 2024. See more of her work here and follow her on Twitter 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. Eric Adams has the SCOTUS supermajority to thank as he challenges his bribery charge Eric Adams has the SCOTUS supermajority to thank as he challenges his bribery charge The New York City mayor has begun formally challenging last week's bribery and fraud indictment. His arguments in Monday's motion to dismiss amount to this: SCOTUS lets me do it. A recent Supreme Court decision helps Adams by requiring a specific quid-pro-quo to prove bribery. In his first formal attack on last week's sweeping public corruption indictment, New York City Mayor Eric Adams takes aim at what his lawyer says is the weakest of the five federal charges: bribery. Adams' argument? It's not bribery if the US Supreme Court lets you do it. In a court filing on Monday, Adams attorney Alex Spiro cites a groundbreaking June SCOTUS decision as reason enough to toss the bribery count. The decision is Snyder v. United States. It says handing a politician a bag of money is essentially A-OK under federal law, so long as there is no specifically stated quid-pro-quo. In Adams' case, the Turkish officials who gave him $100,000 in upgraded flights and luxurious hotel stays never specifically linked those perks to a specific request for something in return, Spiro argues. And these were gratuities, not bribes, the lawyer says. At a press conference after the motion was filed, Spiro compared Adams' $100,000 in flights and accommodations to perks like a hotel room upgrade or a good table at a restaurant, which are regularly extended to politicians. "The indictment does not sufficiently allege that Adams agreed to accept benefits in exchange for performing an official act," Spiro wrote in Monday's 25-page motion . It's the first time Snyder a case named for an Indiana mayor who took $13,000 from a truck company is being cited as a defense in a major public corruption prosecution. It makes perfect sense for Adams to cite it, said Michel Paradis, an attorney who teaches national security and constitutional law at Columbia Law School. "Snyder will be helpful to Adams principally in really putting the government to its proof on the quid-pro-quo elements of the case," Paradis said. Prosecutors were "clearly cognizant of Snyder in how [they] framed the indictment, to show the kind of close nexus between the quids and the quos that the Court now insists upon," he added. Federal prosecutors say Adams enjoyed nearly a decade of globe-circling Turkish Airlines trips. They say that in return, Turkish officials asked for a few small favors from Adams, including that he not mention the Armenian genocide, and that he sever ties with a particular community center. They also say Turkey asked Adams for a large favor, one that Adams granted: in 2021, the then-leading mayoral candidate leaned on city fire officials to bend the rules and approve occupancy for a Midtown skyscraper that held the Turkish consulate. The indictment quotes an unnamed Turkish official telling an Adams staffer that because Turkey had supported the soon-to-be mayor, it was now "his turn" meaning Adams' to support Turkey by getting the consulate opened. "I know," the feds say Adams responded when told by the staffer that Turkey saw this as "his turn" to reciprocate. Spiro says in his filing that the travel perks Adams enjoyed are the kind of gifts that constituents or foreign dignitaries routinely give, to show their appreciation or gain access to a politician. Snyder in a majority opinion written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh and joined by the current conservative supermajority's five other justices broadens the definition of "gratuities" and limits the definition of "bribes." (In addition to Spiro, Adams is represented by Avi Perry and William Burck. Burck is on the board of Fox Corp, clerked for Anthony Kennedy, and, according to the New York Times, is a friend of Kavanaugh.) In this new, post-Snyder world, the feds must prove that a politician clearly knew that cash or goods are being offered as payment for an official act, and that the official act was taken specifically in response to that offer. Critics of the SCOTUS ruling feared it would open the door to politicians freely taking handouts. "Adams will argue that the Turkish government gave him things out of gratitude for his past friendliness toward Turkey's interests," merely as a "thank you," Paradis told Business Insider. Meanwhile, "the government will argue that Turkey gave him goodies, and he accepted those goodies, on the understanding that he would continue to use his political position for Turkey's benefit," the constitutional law expert said. "Prior to Snyder, the government would not have had to show such a tight connection between the bribes and the expectation that Adams would do things for them in the future," Paradis added. "Now they do, which is why the indictment puts a lot of emphasis on the consulate and the Armenian genocide allegations." Federal prosecutors have yet to respond to the motion to dismiss. The Justice Department and Spiro didn't immediately return requests for comment for this story Monday afternoon. Adams has pleaded not guilty to the indictment, which also charges him with illegally accepting campaign contributions from Turkish officials and others via straw donors. If convicted on all counts, he faces a maximum of 45 years in prison. Read the original article on Business Insider EU foreign ministers call for no further escalation in Lebanon EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell speaks at the last day of the 60th Munich Security Conference (MSC) at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof. Tobias Hase/dpa An emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers held online to discuss the worsening situation in Lebanon ended with an appeal for calm and for international humanitarian law to be upheld. "Any further military intervention would dramatically aggravate the situation and has to be avoided," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said, speaking via videolink. "The European Union renews its call for an immediate ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel," Borrell said. "The voice of diplomacy should speak and to be heard by all," Borrell added. (Bloomberg) -- European Union foreign ministers will hold crisis talks via video conference Monday afternoon to discuss the situation in the Middle East. Most Read from Bloomberg The ministers will address the state of play following Israels assassination of Hezbollahs leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday in Beirut and Israeli air strikes across Lebanon since then, according to a statement from the office of the EUs foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell. Iran, which backs Hezbollah, has so far shown little rush to retaliate for Nasrallahs death. President Masoud Pezeshkian stopped short of pledging a direct and immediate attack on Israel, and in his international debut at the United Nations last week tempered his remarks. President Joe Biden said Sunday that he would speak soon with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as fears of an all-out war were mounting. The FT reported earlier on the EU meeting. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. PARIS The European Union officially opened its defense-innovation office in Kyiv earlier this month, as the bloc seeks to boost cooperation between the Ukrainian and European defense industries. The office is part of Europes defense industrial strategy adopted in March, and one role will be connecting the blocs startups and innovators with Ukraines defense industry and armed forces, the European Commission said in a statement on Friday . The office also aims to strengthen Ukraines integration into the European defense-equipment market. The office may help Ukrainian defense firms and startups gain access to EU funding as they develop military technology to help the country fight off Russias invasion, with financing one of the main hurdles to ramping up Ukraines weapon production . For EU defense firms and startups, the hub in Kyiv may help them tap into Ukraines battlefield experience and find partners in a country at the cutting edge of military drone development. Ukraine has become a world leader in drone technology, with annual production capacity of up to 3 million drones, the countrys Minister of Defence Rustem Umerov said in a Sept. 20 post on Facebook , on the occasion of the innovation office opening. European drone makers havent waited for the EU office to establish their footprint in Ukraine, with Latvias Atlas Aerospace setting up an R&D office in Kyiv last year and Germanys Quantum Systems opening a factory and a development hub in the country in April. Ukraine has more than 1,100 innovators in defense technology, including more than 500 working on unmanned aerial vehicles, more than 160 developers of robots, at least 150 firms working on AI applications and more than 110 on electronic-warfare tools, according to Brave1, a defense-tech collaboration platform set up by the Ukrainian government. The country is holding a defense-tech investment summit in Kyiv later this week to court international investors, bringing together officials, military and manufacturers. The summit is probably one of the few such events to advertise the availability of safe and fully equipped shelters available across the city to ensure the well-being of attendees, as the Ukrainian capital continues to face a threat of Russian missile attacks. The EU in December already opened an office in Kyiv for its research and innovation program Horizon Europe , which at that time had been funding more than 120 projects in Ukraine. Separately, Denmark on Monday announced plans to set up a defense-industry hub in Kyiv, saying that will strengthen the opportunity for Danish companies to cooperate more directly with Ukraines defense firms. The hub is expected to be up and running before the end of the year, the Danish Defence Ministry said in a statement . The situation in Ukraine clearly shows that wars are not only won on the battlefield, but to a large extent also in industry, Danish Minister for Industry and Business Morten Bdskov was quoted as saying in the statement. With the new hub, we are laying the stepping stones for new development cooperation and increased trade, so that Denmark can continue to contribute to Ukraines fight for freedom. Meanwhile, Denmark placed an order with Rheinmetall for 16 of the companys Skyranger 30 mobile air-defense turrets and ammunition for more than 100 million ($112 million). The turrets are scheduled for delivery in 2027 and 2028, with additional vehicle equipment for an 8-wheeled platform that will be used by the Danish armed forces, the company said in a statement on Monday. The Skyranger turret with its 30mm revolver cannon and airburst munitions is particularly suitable to counter drones, according to Rheinmetall. The Danish order follows a first purchase by Austria, with Germanys Bundeswehr also buying the system, the company said. For the Bundeswehr, the Skyranger will take the role previously filled by the Gepard air-defense systems, which had already been taken out of the Germany inventory before being sent to Ukraine . The European Union has decided to introduce a thematic sanctions framework dedicated to hybrid threats from Russia. Source: European Pravda, citing Rikard Jozwiak, Brussels correspondent of Radio Liberty, on Twitter (X) Details: The journalist said EU ambassadors will agree on a new thematic sanctions regime targeting Russian hybrid threats on 2 October. It will be formalised next week. Quote: "No names yet but will be added in future," the journalist shared. He also noted that there was initially an intention to introduce a general sanctions package, but it was ultimately agreed to focus on Russian threats. Previously: The EU has imposed a significant number of sanctions against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine. These sanctions cover various sectors of activity and are aimed at exerting economic pressure on Russia to halt its military actions. The sanctions target financial, energy, trade, transport, visa and personal areas. Background: On 24 June, the EU Council adopted the 14th package of economic and individual restrictive measures against Russia, which, for the first time since Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine, includes sanctions against Russian gas. Germany had hampered the sanctions package by expanding measures that would have required EU companies to ensure their clients could not resell sanctioned goods to Russia. Additionally, there were media reports that the Hungarian government had agreed to the 14th package of EU sanctions, which provides for restrictions on supplies of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) in exchange for assurances that no current or future measures will threaten the Paks II Nuclear Power Plant, which Russian state-owned company Rosatom is building. Support UP or become our patron! Chinese electric cars, like these waiting to be shipped for export, are at centre of trade tensions with the EU (-) (-/AFP/AFP) EU member states are expected to vote on whether to slap hefty tariffs on imported electric cars from China on Friday, European diplomats said on Monday. The European Commission, in charge of EU trade policy, plans to levy additional duties of up to 36 percent on electric vehicles imported from China but the issue has divided the bloc. Brussels announced its plans in July for the tariffs -- on top of current duties of 10 percent -- after an anti-subsidy probe found Chinese state subsidies were unfairly undermining European competitors. The tariffs would become definitive for five years after a vote by the EU's 27 member states that must take place before the end of October. That vote is now planned for October 4, EU diplomats told AFP. One diplomat said the hope now was that talks "can continue after the adoption of the rates". Eleventh-hour talks took place in Brussels when China's commerce minister Wang Wentao visited earlier this month but no solution was found to avoid duties. The EU wants to level the playing field to protect its automotive industry, which provides jobs to around 14 million people in the bloc. Germany, and most recently Spain, have criticised the tariffs, which they fear could lead to a trade war with China, but EU states including France and Italy support them. Beijing has already bared its teeth in anger at the duties, launching probes into European brandy, some dairy, and pork products imported into China. It also filed an appeal with the World Trade Organization over the tariffs last month. It is unlikely that enough EU states will vote against the tariffs to force the commission to reverse course. At least 15 countries -- representing 65 percent of the EU population -- would need to oppose the tariffs to stop them becoming definitive. raz/ec/lth Sadiq Khan has been urged not to impose Londons congestion charge on electric vehicles - Stefan Rousseau/PA A former Top Gear presenter has urged Sadiq Khan not to go ahead with plans to impose Londons congestion charge on electric vehicles (EVs). Quentin Willson, who co-presented the hit motoring show in the 1990s, has written to the Mayor of London urging him not to impose the daily charge on EVs next year. The 15-a-day congestion charge is imposed on all vehicles that drive within an area of central London bounded by Park Lane, Islington, the Tower of London and Vauxhall Station. Electric vehicle drivers can register for a complete exemption, although the exemption period currently ends on Christmas Day next year. The plan was confirmed by The Telegraph on July 2, two days before the general election. The 15-a-day congestion charge is imposed on all vehicles that drive within an area of central London - SWNS In his letter to Mr Khan on Monday, Mr Willson, who is the founder of pro-EV campaign group FairCharge, said: Id like to discuss extending TfLs Congestion Charge Cleaner Vehicle Discount for electric cars and vans beyond 2025. I fully appreciate that the CC is intended to reduce congestion, but it is manifestly better to have more vehicles sitting in traffic queues in London that dont emit [nitrous oxide gases] and [particulate matter] at pedestrian level, than those that do. While I understand the EV exemption carries a cost implication, the longer-term public health benefits to Londoners from lower NOx and PMs must far outweigh this. TfL is expected to announce this week that income from the congestion charge dropped by 12.2 million over the last year, down from 358.1 million to 345.9 million in the 12 months to March. A draft version of its annual report for this year, seen by The Telegraph, suggests the transport authority made a profit of 138 million for this year. Jack Cousens, head of roads policy at the AA, said: Its somewhat ironic that EV drivers will be gifted a lump of coal in their stockings next Dec 25. Businesses, cabbies and drivers who have already changed their vehicles to greener options to improve air quality will now face a new financial burden. There is still time for the mayor to have a Scrooge-like epiphany, honour Christmas, and try to keep it all the year, and reverse his decision. Money from the congestion charge is kept by TfL and spent on delivering the Mayors Transport Strategy, it said in last years annual accounts. The current exemption for EVs, the Cleaner Vehicle Discount (CVD), will end on Dec 25 2025. It does not apply to the ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) or low emission zone (Lez) schemes which impose extra taxes on road vehicles driven in London with the charge being based on their so-called tailpipe emissions. Broadly, the older and more polluting the vehicle is, the more the driver has to pay under Ulez and Lez. Failing to register for the CVD leaves motorists open to penalties of 180. TfL previously claimed it had announced the Christmas Day 2025 end date for EV exemptions when it first introduced the plans in 2018, having mentioned it in passing in a statement about exemptions for taxis and minicabs. A spokesperson for the transport authority said: The mayor and TfL have taken world-leading action to tackle the triple threats of air pollution, congestion and climate change. The Congestion Charge Cleaner Vehicle Discount has been phased to reflect changes in vehicle technology since its introduction in 2019 following public consultation. It remains in place until the end of 2025, when it will end in order to maintain the effectiveness of the congestion charge, which is in place to manage traffic and congestion in the heart of London. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. In this article, we will look at the 20 states with the lowest gas taxes in the US. If you want to skip our detailed analysis, go directly to the 5 States with the Lowest Gas Taxes in the US. Gas Taxation in the US: An Analysis The gas taxes in the US function as a user fee to fund the construction and maintenance of the roads. Gasoline taxes vary from state to state, mainly the state with higher gasoline prices will have a higher gas tax. Like other taxes, gas taxes impact the lives and finances of most Americans. Considering the current economic situation and high inflation, taxes are a burden for people who live paycheck to paycheck. The states in the US impose gasoline taxes in different ways, including sales taxes, taxes on gasoline retailers, and excise taxes per gallon purchased at the pump. These gasoline taxes gets transfer onto consumers through increased fuel prices. The federal government imposes a tax of $0.183 per gallon on gasoline and levies $0.243 per gallon on diesel fuel. In addition, the US federal government charges a leaking underground storage tank fee of $0.01 per gallon on both gas and diesel. The US has an average gasoline price of around $3.22 per gallon, which is quite lower than the average gas price of $5 per gallon globally. The US is the top natural gas-producing country in the world in 2024 and that is why it has one of the lowest gasoline prices in the world. This year, the Biden administration announced a pause on new licenses to export LNG to review and assess domestic energy security, raising consumer costs, and damaging the environment. The pause has created opportunities for countries including Canada and Mexico to explore the market and fill the natural gas vacuum left by the US. The gas price in the US has plunged due to weak demand and increased supply since the fall of 2023. According to the report of the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the reduced prices of crude oil and natural gas during the first quarter of 2024 have led to a 12% drop in cash from operations for the US oil producers compared to Q1 2023. The financial reports of 36 publicly traded oil companies show that the companies suffered from reduced prices of crude oil and natural gas. During Q1 2024, the natural gas price dropped 26% year over year and reached the lowest average monthly inflation-adjusted price since at least 1997. On September 12, Reuters reported that analysts are anticipating gasoline prices to drop below $3 per gallon for the first time in over three years. Analysts expect the gas prices to fall as soon as next month, shortly before the US presidential elections. Story continues Lately, the rise of electric vehicles has affected the gas tax revenue. The overall improvements in vehicles have also minimized the gas taxs ability. Therefore, many states are considering changing their gas taxes with vehicle miles traveled (VMT), while some states are exploring options for environmental or carbon taxes. Imposing environmental taxes could help in reducing the consumption of gasoline that generates emissions. California is one of the states with the highest gas taxes in the US and is looking for a carbon tax which is being considered through the Low Carbon Fuel Standard in 2025. California government agencies are expecting a $0.12 rise in carbon tax, taking the expected carbon tax to $0.47 per gallon. The US oil and gas companies are some of the largest crude oil and gas producers in the world. Now, lets take a look at one such gasoline producer in the US. READ ALSO: 40 Richest People in the World Who Came From Poor Families and 12 Countries With Best Moodys Credit Rating For Sovereign Bonds. An Leader in the Oil and Gas Space Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) is a leading American multinational energy corporation mainly specializing in oil and gas. The energy and petroleum company is based out of California and has a presence in more than 180 countries. CVX ranks on our list of the 10 Undervalued Wide Moat Stocks to Buy According to Analysts. Market experts believe that Chevron has strong franchise and supply chain capabilities. Considering its position, CVX is expected to deliver increased returns and margin expansion as a result of an oil-leveraged portfolio and the next phase of growth. The company is planning to complete its merger with Hess in Q3 2024. Moreover, Chevron is also focused on the TCO project in Kazakhstan and it plans for a potential concession extension in the future. During the second quarter of 2024, Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) expanded its global portfolio. The company increased its global production by 11% year over year. Chevron established collaborations in Namibia, Brazil, Equatorial Guinea, and Angola to enhance its exploration base and expand its acreage position. During Q2, the company increased its net oil-equivalent production in the US by 353,000 barrels per day, year over year. In Q2 2024, the company posted revenue of around $51.8 billion, exceeding estimates by $453.45 million and up by 4.67% year-over-year. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) is also making progress in clean and renewable energy. In May 2024, the company successfully operated a gas turbine on a 60% hydrogen fuel blend, significantly reducing emissions. Moreover, Chevron has a 16.5 MW wind farm that can power over 13,000 homes each year. CVX has huge potential in the clean energy industry, which makes it one of the most undervalued blue chip stocks to buy according to analysts. Over the past two years, Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) has returned over $50 billion to shareholders, which accumulates around 18% of its market capitalization. CVX has a dividend yield of around 4.48%, as of September 28. CVX is also ranked on our list of the best stocks for beginners with little money according to analysts. While we acknowledge the potential of CVX as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that under the radar AI stocks hold great 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 CVX but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. Now, lets take a look at the 20 states with the lowest gas taxes in the US. 20 states with the lowest gas taxes in the US Aerial view of an oil and gas rig in the Permian Basin. Our Methodology To compile our list of the 20 states with the lowest gas taxes in the US, we obtained data from the Tax Foundation. The states with the lowest gas taxes in the US are ranked in descending order of their gas tax rate per gallon, as of 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). 20 States with the Lowest Gas Taxes in the US 20. Tennessee Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon: $0.27 Tennessee has a gas tax rate of $0.27 per gallon and the average gas price in the state is around $2.77 per gallon, as of September 28. The state and federal excise tax rate combined is around $0.45 per gallon. Tennessee ranks among the 20 states with the lowest gas taxes in the US. 19. Massachusetts Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon: $0.27 Massachusetts has a state gas tax rate of $0.27 per gallon and it is one of the states with the lowest gas taxes in the US. Massachusetts has an average gas price rate of $3.09 per gallon, as of September 28. 18. New York Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon: $0.26 New York has some of the highest taxes in the US, however, the state has one of the lowest gas taxes in the country. New York has an average gas price of $3.26 per gallon, as of September 28. 17. Missouri Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon: $0.25 Missouri has an average gas price of $2.85 per gallon, as of September 28, and imposes a gas tax of around $0.25 per gallon. Missouri has one of the lowest gas taxes and gas prices in the US. 16. Kansas Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon: $0.25 Kansas charges a gas tax of around $0.25 per gallon, similar to that of Missouri, Connecticut, and Arkansas. The average gas price per gallon in Kansas is around $2.88. Kansas ranks among the states with the lowest gas taxes in the US. 15. Connecticut Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon: $0.25 Connecticut ranks 15th among the states with the lowest gas taxes in the US. Connecticut has a gas price of $3.09 per gallon, as of September 28. The state imposes a gas tax rate of $0.25 per gallon. 14. Arkansas Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon: $0.25 Arkansas has an average gas price of $2.83 per gallon, as of September 28, and charges a gas tax of $0.25 per gallon. Arkansas has an below-average state gas tax rate. 13. Wyoming Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon: $0.24 Wyoming charges a gas tax of around $0.24 per gallon and ranks among the states with the lowest gas taxes in the US. The average gas price per gallon in Wyoming is around $3.27 per gallon, slightly higher than the average US state gas price of $3.22. 12. New Hampshire Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon: $0.24 New Hampshire imposes a state gas tax rate of $0.24 and the ongoing average gas price in the state is around $3.02, as of September 28. New Hampshire ranks 12th among the states with the lowest gas taxes in the US. 11. Nevada Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon: $0.24 Nevada has a gas tax rate of $0.24 per gallon which is lower than the average US state gas tax rate of $0.32. The state has an average gas price of $3.94 per gallon and ranks among the states with the lowest gas taxes in the US. 10. North Dakota Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon: $0.23 North Dakota ranks 10th among the states with the lowest gas taxes in the US. North Dakota has a gas tax rate of $0.23 per gallon and the state has an ongoing average gas price of $3.12 per gallon, as of September 28. 9. Delaware Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon: $0.23 Delaware has an average gas price of around $3.18 per gallon, as of September 28. Delaware imposes a gas tax rate of $0.23 per gallon. 8. Louisiana Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon: $0.21 Louisiana is one of the states with the lowest gas taxes in the US. The state charges around $0.21 per gallon as gas tax. As of September 28, Louisianas average gasoline price was almost $2.76 per gallon. 7. Texas Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon: $0.20 Texas has a gas tax rate of $0.20 per gallon which is one of the lowest in the US. The state has an average gas price of $2.74 per gallon and ranks seventh among the states with the lowest gas taxes in the US. 6. Oklahoma Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon: $0.20 Oklahoma charges a gas tax of around $0.20 per gallon and ranks among the states with the lowest gas taxes in the US. The average gas price per gallon in Oklahoma is around $2.80, quite lower than the average US state gas price of $3.22. 5. New Mexico Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon: $0.19 New Mexico ranks fifth among the states with the lowest gas taxes in the US. New Mexico has a gas tax rate of $0.19 per gallon and the state has an ongoing average gas price of $3 per gallon, as of September 28. 4. Hawaii Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon: $0.19 Hawaii ranks among the states with the lowest gas taxes in the US. The state imposes a gas tax of $0.19 per gallon. As of September 28, the average gas price in the state is around $4.6 per gallon, the second highest among the US states. 3. Arizona Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon: $0.19 Arizona ranks third among the states with the lowest gas taxes in the US. Arizona has a gas price of $3.32 per gallon, as of September 28. The state imposes a gas tax rate of $0.19 per gallon, similar to that of Hawaii. 2. Mississippi Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon: $0.18 Mississippi charges around $0.18 per gallon as gas tax. As of September 28, the state has an average gas price of around $2.69 per gallon, the lowest among the US states. Mississippi ranks second among the states with the lowest gas taxes in the US. 1. Alaska Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon: $0.09 The state that levies the lowest gas tax rate is Alaska, which imposes a gas tax of around $0.09 per gallon. However, Alaska has one of the highest average gas prices which is around $3.66 per gallon, as of September 28. Alaska ranks first among the states with the lowest gas taxes in the US. 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 was originally published on Insider Monkey. HERNANDO, Miss. A former school resource officer with Hernando Police has been arrested on charges of rape and sexual battery, District Attorney Matthew Barton said. Hosie Porter turned himself into authorities Monday and was in custody, Barton said. Porter resigned from the Hernando Police Department after an accusation made from an event that happened last week, Barton said. Porter was last assigned as a school resource officer, but the accusation involved an adult. There was no reason to believe any child had been harmed, Barton said. Hernando restaurant closes, owner steps down amid backlash for ordering officer to leave Hernando Police said they were made aware of the assault allegation Sept. 24. They say they immediately notified the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, and placed the officer on administrative leave until his resignation Monday. The assault allegedly occurred while Porter was on duty, police said. Of Porters arrest, Hernando Mayor, Chip Johnson issued a statement to social media. It reads in part: This is a situation that I have never encountered, and it is deeply disturbing to me, the police department, and to the citizens of Hernando. I know that you have so many questions and, quite frankly, so do I. While we all want answers immediately, we will have to be patient and let the MBI continue their work and then see if an indictment is handed down by a grand jury. We are all hurting together. Chip Johnson, Hernando Mayor Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Charles Scott Bell, an ex-husband of killer Jennifer Ann Hall a respiratory therapist who last year was convicted in the deaths of two patients, but who was long suspected in the deaths of as many as nine has been arrested in Johnson County on a charge of indecent liberties with a child under age 14. Bell, 46, who is also listed as being a private security officer for the company Taps KC, was married to Hall between 2008 and 2012. He was arrested Thursday afternoon by the Merriam Police Department on a warrant issued out of Leavenworth County. He was booked in the Johnson County jail on Thursday and remained there Monday pending a $250,000 bond. No attorney was listed for Bell. Attempts to reach his employer were unsuccessful. Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson reserved comment on the case other than to say that the charge against Bell, at this point, refers to a single victim who is now 18 years old, but who was 14 or younger when the alleged crime occurred. All I can say is that he is innocent until proven guilty, Thompson said. He added, This case does not appear to have any connection to Miss Hall. Bells arrest, posted on social media by his sister Suzie Hartford-Bell, spurred hundreds of comments on Facebook and TikTok. Hartford-Bell, from Overland Park, told The Star that she has no doubt that her brother is guilty of what he is being accused. She is confident, she said, that there are more victims than the one at that center of the current charge. Hartford-Bell claims that her brother sexually abused several young girls over the decades, including a relative who is not the focus of the current indictment. I just want to do what I can to stop this from happening to anyone else, Hartford-Bell said. Jennifer Ann Hall In August 2023, Bells former spouse, Hall, was sentenced to 18 years in prison. She had been living in Overland Park. The couple had had a tumultuous relationship. Hall pleaded guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the 2002 deaths of two of her patients, Fern Franco, 75 and David Wesley Harper, 37. Both had been patients at Hedrick Medical Center in Chillicothe, located in Livingston County, where Hall worked for approximately six months from December 2001 to May 2002. In that short period, the hospital which typically averaged one code blue cardiac or respiratory arrest event each year logged 18 among Halls patients. They also logged nine medically suspicious deaths. The booking mug shot of Jennifer Hall after her arrest on May 12, 2022. A respiratory therapist, Hall pleaded guilty in 2023 of killing two of her patients in 2002 at a hospital in Chillicothe, Mo. Hall was placed on administrative leave on May 21, 2022. Tissues samples from Fern Francos remains, obtained by a search warrant, revealed the presence of both morphine, which suppresses respiration, along with the drug succinylcholine, a paralytic used to relax skeletal muscles as during intubation. Hall for years was rumored to have been an angel of death, a figure of speech used broadly to describe medical professionals tasked with healing, but who instead purposefully kill their patients. In 2010, the families of five patients who died filed wrongful-death suits against the hospital accusing Hall of being a serial killer who poisoned their loved-ones. The Missouri Supreme Court, however, ruled that the lawsuits could not go forward because the statute of limitations had expired on bringing a civil case. In 2012, Livingston County Prosecuting Attorney Adam Warren pledged to reopen a criminal investigation. Twenty years after the deaths, Hall, who was living in Overland Park, was criminally charged on May 4, 2022 with the first-degree murder of Franco. Her arrest at an Overland Park hotel in May 2022, came nearly 20 years to the day of Francos death. The following February, she was charged also charged with first-degree murder in David Wesley Harpers death. Hall, in April 2023, accepted a plea deal in Livingston County Court to two counts of first-degree manslaughter and one count of second-degree assault. Hall is currently serving her time at the Womens Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Corrections Center in Vandalia, Missouri. Andrew RT Davies has been Welsh Conservative leader since 2021, in his second stint in the role [Senedd Cymru] A Conservative former cabinet minister has cast doubt on whether Andrew RT Davies should lead the Tories into the next Senedd election. Stephen Crabb warned that the 2026 vote would be "tough" for the party, and that it "probably" needed a leadership "refresh". "If the party needs to change in order to survive, it's harder to do that when you always have the same personalities in place," said Crabb, who was in the cabinet as Welsh secretary and also work and pensions secretary. The Senedd Tory leader refuted Crabb's comments, saying he was "up for the fight in 2026". Davies is currently on his second stint as leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd: his first ran from 2012 to 2018, and he returned in 2021. He has been under pressure in recent months after he was accused of "Islamophobic race-baiting" by a Muslim group, and over inappropriate language from one of his politicians. Speaking to James Williams on BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, Crabb warned that the Conservatives were not well positioned for the next Senedd election in 2026. "I think it's going to be a tough Senedd election. Reform will be looking to build on the gains they've made electorally... there was an awful lot of people voting for Reform in July." He said the party had not been "good enough at providing alternative policies". Asked if Davies was the right leader for the next Senedd election, Crabb said: "I don't like making it about personalities." But he added: "If you're asking me do I think there needs to be refresh of the Welsh party and the Welsh leadership, probably yes. "If the party needs to change in order to survive, it's harder to do that when you always have the same personalities in place." He ruled himself out of standing in the 2026 Senedd election: "I spent the last couple of months pursuing other options. "I think to do that, you've got to do it with a single mind and not with one foot stuck in the past." Andrew RT Davies told BBC Wales he is still the right person to lead the Welsh Conservatives into the next Senedd election. He refuted Stephen Crabbs comments and said he was up for the fight in 2026. Asked if he was the right man for the election, he said: Very much so. Im up for making that change agenda resonating in communities across the whole of Wales. He added: I never need to look over my shoulder because Ive got a mirror to look in all the time [to see] whose behind me. Because politics is always about making sure that no one gets too close to you, otherwise the knife might go in. One former MP said it was "not a time for further turmoil and infighting" in the party. Asked if she agreed with the suggestion from former Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb that Andrew RT Davies should go, the former Tory MP for Wrexham Sarah Atherton said: "We need to prove to the country that we are unified and cohesive going forward." The Welsh Conservatives' Senedd group chairman, Sam Kurtz, said he and the Senedd group had "full confidence" in Davies. "I think we're working tirelessly to come forward with a plethora of policies that will be attractive to all voters in Wales in 2026," the Member of the Senedd for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire added. 'War on woke' The discussion comes after former Downing Street PR chief Guto Harri said the Conservatives in the Senedd needed "new leadership" . He said they were not just "there to draw a pay cheque". Crabb was MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire until the summer general election, when he lost his seat, as did all other Welsh Conservatives. He had served as chairman of the Commons' Welsh Affairs Select Committee, and in frontbench roles under David Cameron and Theresa May. The former MP spoke as his party met in Birmingham for its annual UK party conference, amid a leadership contest to replace former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Crabb said it had been clear the party was going to suffer a "massive defeat in July" because of a "huge loss of trust in the Conservative government". He hoped the next Tory leader would "occupy the centre ground". "Culture wars, the war on woke," he said, "isn't the thing that's going to persuade somebody languishing on a hospital waiting list that they'll see public services improve." Separately on Monday, UK Tory leadership contender Tom Tugendhat promised that he would include a Conservative Senedd member in his shadow cabinet, alongside others from the Scottish Parliament and councils in England, if he was to win. The border crisis is emerging as a hot issue for the House seat in the Hudson Valleys 17th District, and Dem ex-Congressman Mondaire Jones prior extreme lefty positions on it could come back to haunt him. Jones backed lax borders and criminal-migrant amnesty during his previous stint in Congress before calling for tougher border security measures during his comeback bid to topple first-term Republican Rep. Mike Lawler in the district, which includes parts of Westchester and Rockland counties, records show. While in office, Jones promoting the No Border Wall Coalition that demanded the removal of military personnel from the US-Mexico border region and advocated for the take-down of barriers such as razor wire. Former New York Rep. Mondaire Jones signed a letter promoting the No Border Wall Coalition while in office. Seth Harrison/The Journal News / USA TODAY NETWORK The continued military presence at the border threatens your vow to restore Americas moral and strategic standing on the international plane, said a March 8, 2021, letter sent to President Biden and co-signed by Jones. In a Facebook post just weeks earlier, Jones also had blasted the US Supreme Court for letting former President Trump get away with building a wall to help secure the border as well as impose a ban on immigration from Muslim countries. He voted against Republican-sponsored amendments to stop gang members and sex offenders from obtaining a path to citizenship, too including migrants from the Tren de Aragua gang that is currently terrorizing residents of New York. Jones also previously blasted funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and called the border-control agency a racist institution whose agents commit unimaginable cruelty along the border. The cruelty is the point. And the fact that the House of Representatives, controlled by Democrats, gave $1.4 billion to #ICE is cause for soul-searching. We have got to do better as a party, Jones said in a June 6, 2019, statement on X when he first ran for Congress. Jones wrote a Facebook post while still in office blasting the Supreme Court for letting former President Donald Trump get away with building the border wall. Omar Ornelas / USA Today Network / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images On February 3, 2021, Jones, who is black, said, Were just three days into #BlackHistoryMonth and ICE has already sent planes full of Black people to Cameroon and Haiti in defiance of @POTUS executive order. ICE is a racist institution. He supported legislation to limit deportations and give immigration judges more discretion in proceedings, which critics claimed encouraged catch and release policies. On his website, Jones now says he supports the bipartisan Senate border security deal that would bolster border security and hire more border agents. But Lawyers campaign claimed Jones is changing his stripes to hide his pro-open borders, pro-amnesty record. Jones has previously called Immigration and Customs Enforcement a racist institution. James Breeden for the New York Post Mondaire Jones was ranked as one of the most radical politicians in the entire 117th Congress because of his extreme record. Mondaire supports Sanctuary Cities and amnesty for sex offenders and gang members while opposing border wall funding, said Lawler campaign spokesman Chris Russell. He also called for defunding ICE and attacked federal immigration officers as racists. Mondaires votes and rhetoric created the current mess at our border, and hed make it even worse should he get back to Congress, the Lawler rep added. Jones campaign spokeswoman Shannon Geison responded, Mondaire supports the Senate bipartisan border security bill which would take meaningful steps towards fixing our border crisis. He also supports comprehensive immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who live here and have committed no crimes. He believes that ICE plays an important role in keeping our border secure and Americans safe. Unlike Mike Lawler, Mondaire supported record levels of funding for border security while in office and will continue to advocate for more resources when he returns to office. On his website, Jones slammed Lawler for rejecting a proposed border deal that never passed the House and didnt make it to a vote in the full Senate. Jones is seeking a comeback to Congress after two years in the political wilderness. Migrants at the border wall near Jacumba Hot Springs, California on June 10, 2024. James Breeden for the New York Post After redistricting in 2022, Jones decided to relocate and ran for the House seat in the 10th District, which covers lower Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn. He lost in the Democratic primary to now-Rep. Dan Goldman. Jones then shifted back to the 17th District this year to take on Lawler, who defeated ex-Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, former chair of the House Democrats campaign arm. This years 17th District outcome could help decide which political party controls the House of Representatives next year. The Cook Political Report rates the race a toss-up. Adam Britton was sentenced in August to more than 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to 56 charges of bestiality and animal cruelty 60 Minutes Australia/YouTube (2) Adam Britton (left); Britton's ex-wife Erin Content warning: This story contains graphic details of animal abuse. The former wife and former business partner of a renowned British zoologist now convicted of bestiality is speaking out months after he was sentenced Adam Britton, 53, was sentenced in August in an Australian court to more than a decade behind bars after pleading guilty to 56 charges of bestiality and animal cruelty The woman, identified as Erin, said of Britton's lawyer, When she told me bestiality, my brain was like 'Denial, no,' and hearing that information is the most awful thing you could ever hear about your partner. It was so shocking, and I felt sick" The former wife and former business partner of a renowned British zoologist now convicted of bestiality is speaking out months after the man was sentenced. Adam Britton, 53, was sentenced in August in an Australian court to more than a decade behind bars after pleading guilty to 56 charges of bestiality and animal cruelty, the BBC reported at the time. Britton also admitted to four counts of accessing material depicting child abuse, per the outlet. Now, his ex-wife is speaking out about the horrors of learning about his crimes and the numerous questions that arose for her following his arrest in 2022. The woman, identified only by her first name Erin, spoke with 60 Minutes Australia, saying, I cannot comprehend still how somebody can be so depraved, so evil. Hes just destroyed my entire life. X Adam Britton (center) Related: Zoologist Who Appeared on NatGeo, BBC, Sexually Abused Dogs and Recorded Abuse in 'Torture Room' In one part of the show, Erin is seen returning to her former home in the outskirts of the Australian city of Darwin, where she lived with Britton, and where authorities believe he filmed the torture of the dogs, per 60 Minutes Australia. The home was raided early in the morning of April 22, 2022, per the show, when Erin way away on a work trip, she said. Erin only learned about her then-husband's crimes when she spoke with his lawyer, who showed her screenshots of his abuse. When she told me bestiality, my brain was like 'Denial, no,' and hearing that information is the most awful thing you could ever hear about your partner," she recalled. "It was so shocking, and I felt sick." She mentioned on the show that at the time he was arrested, the couple had been living in separate rooms in their home and were not involved romantically for years. Britton's abuse spanned several decades while he worked with animals around the world, all the while harboring "sadistic sexual interest" in them, the BBC reported in August, citing unspecified court documents. Evidence generated during the investigation also revealed he had been sharing videos of his animal torture in online forums, where he claimed he loved hurting dogs and that he began molesting horses at the age of 13, per the court documents reported on by the publication. The known count Britton's victims is 39 dogs that he tortured to death, according to the aforementioned court documents. He accessed the dogs by connecting online with people giving away their pets, before taking custody of the pets and abusing them in a "torture room" he built, which was equipped with recording devices, per the BBC's report. An investigator who spoke with the Australian show said they found several kinds of weapons that Britton used in his torture, including knives, tools, wooden objects and saws. 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. In a letter he allegedly wrote to Erin while awaiting his sentencing, Britton asked Erin to send books about dog domestication, she says in the show, sharing a glimpse of one of the letters. "This messes with my head," she mentioned on the show. "Really, really disturbing." Meanwhile, at his sentencing in August, Britton said he "deeply regret[s]" his actions, the BBC reported. If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. An excessive heat warning continues to be in effect as Las Vegas experiences triple-digit temperatures. According to the Country Herald, the warning has been issued for the region until 8 p.m. PDT (11 p.m. ET) on October 1. The report further stated that the temperature may exceed 100F, which is why residents are advised to limit outdoor activity. The warning continues to remain operational after it was issued last week. Extreme Las Vegas heat will continue to hit triple digits until Tuesday After last weeks weather report, excessive heat warnings remain in effect in Las Vegas and surrounding areas. Country Herald also reported that the daytime temperatures can go up to 104F on Monday and Tuesday. Moreover, the National Weather Service (NWS) stated that there are higher chances of heat-related issues as the heatwave continues. Las Vegas and surrounding areas, including Boulder City and Northeast Clark County, are experiencing temperature hikes from 102F to 108F. The NWS also issued safety suggestions for people in the city to protect themselves from the excessive heat. Residents are further advised to drink plenty of fluids amid heat waves to prevent dehydration. They should also stay in air-conditioned rooms and check up on neighbors and relatives. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) advises individuals working outdoors to take frequent breaks and stay away from the sun. Any resident overcome by heat should be moved to a cooler and shaded location. Since heat stroke is deemed an emergency, residents who seem to be affected should seek immediate medical attention by calling 911. The heatwave is reportedly expected to reduce by Tuesday evening. Earlier, a similar heat warning was issued for Las Vegas Valley, warning residents of triple-digit temperatures. While the excessive heat warning was expected to last until 8 p.m. on September 29, it has now been extended to October 1. The post Excessive Heat Warning Continues as Las Vegas Endures Triple-Digit Temps appeared first on Mandatory. Health hacks and medical marvels feature prominently on social media, with homemade remedies and concoctions touted as miracle cures despite their lack of scientific backing. Videos circulating in Nigeria claim a natural recipe of banana peels and other domestic household ingredients is the best way to whiten teeth. However, experts warned that while some ingredients may help brighten teeth, the effects would be temporary and potentially harmful in the long term. Best natural recipe for whitening teeth at home, reads a Facebook post published alongside a video on September 9, 2024. The 50-second clip, which received over 1.4 million views, was shared by an account called Natural Health Tips. It features a narrator in the form of a doctor created with artificial intelligence (AI). The top half of the split screen shows a montage of different sets of teeth that slowly turn from yellow to white. Screenshot of the false Facebook video, taken on September 16, 2024 The AI-generated character credits a mixture of banana peels, salt, lemon, and toothpaste for the brighter smiles. I finally found the best recipe to whiten your teeth at home in one minute, he says. Similar variations of the teeth-whitening claim have been saved and shared tens of thousands of times on various social networks, especially TikTok. However, dental practitioners told AFP Fact Check that the alleged advice was dangerous and the benefits limited. Harmful effects There are no benefits, but the danger lies in the acidity of the lemon juice which will demineralise the tooth enamel and cause tooth erosion, said Joy Shackleton, the department head of prosthodontics at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa (archived here). She told AFP Fact Check that tooth erosion can lead to tooth sensitivity and thinning of the enamel, which could see the tooth appearing darker or more yellow. The above-mentioned ingredients can have some effect on teeth brightening, but it is important to understand how they work and their potential drawbacks, said Zunaid Vally, who runs the department of odontology at the University of Pretoria (archived here). Describing how each ingredient works, Vally said banana peels for instance can help to remove superficial stains and may provide a slightly brightening effect. However, this is minimal and temporary. Meanwhile, the gentle use of salt can remove surface stains, too, but overuse can lead to enamel wear if applied too aggressively or frequently, especially if used in a paste form. I would not advise patients to use these ingredients or similar [ones] long-term to whiten their teeth. Instead, have your teeth professionally cleaned every six months and seek professional advice, Vally added. Screenshot of Vallys breakdown of each ingredient and its limitations Both experts warned about the dangers of following medical advice on social media. Non-medically trained individuals may offer advice that can be misleading or even harmful. It is therefore important to cross-reference any medical information with reputable sources, Vally said. He noted that social media can be a starting point to raise awareness but shouldn not replace professional medical advice. Safe teeth brightening Before undertaking any teeth-whitening procedures, Shackleton said patients should be know that existing crowns and fillings will not bleach like the enamel on tooth surfaces. Treating any tooth or gum disease is also advisable before whitening products are applied. There are tooth whitening procedures that can be done in-office by dental practitioners, and this is the quickest way to achieve results, Shackleton said. Dentists can also supply products for at-home use though results may take longer. AFP Fact Check has verified numerous health-related claims over the years that you can read here. (Bloomberg) -- Droughts, downpours and fires from Asia to the Americas are stoking worries about crop harvests, pushing up prices for food staples that could eventually flow through to higher grocery bills. Most Read from Bloomberg The Bloomberg Agriculture Spot Index which includes nine major products had a monthly gain of more than 7%, the most since Russias invasion of Ukraine sent markets soaring in early 2022. While it remains far from that years peak, the rally comes as farms from Brazil to Vietnam and Australia battle both flooding and overly dry weather, threatening sugar, grain and coffee. We have recently seen a confluence of worse weather conditions that have pushed prices higher, as the supply uncertainty means buyers are willing to pay more, said Michael Whitehead, head of agribusiness insights at ANZ Group Holdings Ltd. That marks a turnaround from earlier this year, when food prices were largely kept in check by healthy supply and flagging demand in key markets like China. If the rebound continues, it could feed into prices in supermarket aisles, said Dennis Voznesenski, associate director of sustainable and agricultural economics at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The agricultural index tracks the staples used to feed livestock, sweeten beverages and bake bread. Smaller crops like cocoa essential for chocolate makers have also rallied in 2024 after shortfalls from West Africa, and weather disruptions sent vegetable costs spiking in some countries. Wheat futures in Chicago climbed in September on concerns that poor weather in major exporters could further pinch global stockpiles that are already headed for a nine-year low. Australian fields have faced threats from both dryness and frosts, and a lack of rain in the Black Sea region is restraining plantings for next years crop. Meanwhile, soybean futures had the biggest monthly gain in two years as top grower Brazil grapples with its worst drought in decades. The arid conditions which have restrained the early sowing pace are expected to persist in some areas, forecaster Maxar said in a note Friday. Fires also broke out in the nations sugar-cane fields, pushing futures for the sweetener up about 16% this month. Arabica coffee climbed to the highest since 2011 as the poor weather there impacts trees during the crucial flowering period, too. The usually cheaper robusta coffee variety has also been hit by bad weather, making it now almost as expensive. Drought in Vietnams coffee belt, followed by heavy rain as the harvest nears, has hurt output in the major grower. And elsewhere in Southeast Asia, palm oil supplies are tightening as trees age, pushing futures to a five-month high and a rare premium against rival soybean oil. All that means more pain across the supply chain from farmers grappling with coffee bean theft to consumers stumping up more for burgers. And hedge funds are betting on further gains, increasing net-bullish bets on sugar, soybean meal and cocoa as of Sept. 24, government figures show. Drought across much of northern and central Brazil will likely continue to threaten crops in the agricultural heavyweight, analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. said in a report last week. Plus, traders are monitoring tensions across the Middle East and Black Sea and how the outcome of the upcoming US election impacts trade relations with China, according to Whitehead. Theres a reasonable degree of volatility that the markets arent asleep to, he said. Keep one eye on the sky and the other eye on the politics. --With assistance from Michael Hirtzer. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Through the Eyes of a 6-Year-old Child, Orange Became a Symbol of an Indigenous Movement The orange shirt was chosen because of something that happened to Phyllis Webstad on her first day at a residential school when she was only six years old. (Photos/Courtesy of Orange Shirt Society) Phyllis Webstad, a tribal citizen of the Stswecemc Xgattem First Nation, is a prime example of how one person can make a difference and create an Indigenous movement across North America. Editors Note: This story was published in observance of Orange Shirt Day in 2021. Native News Online is republishing it again this year. Webstad is the force behind the Orange Shirt Day movement that is commemorated each year on Sept. 30 to remember Indigenous people who attended Indian residential schools in Canada and Indian boarding schools in the United States. The color orange was chosen because of something that happened to Webstad when she was only six years old. It was Sept. 30, 1973, the first day she attended St. Josephs Mission Residential School in British Columbia. Her grandmother had bought Webstad a brand-new shiny orange shirt to wear, adding to the young students first-day-of-school excitement. 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. Unfortunately, when Webstad got to school, the orange shirt was taken from her, and it was never given back. I didnt understand why they wouldnt give it back to me, it was mine! The color orange has always reminded me of that and how my feelings didnt matter, how no one cared and how I felt like I was worth nothing. All of us little children were crying, and no one cared, Webstad said. She never forgot the loss that turned into a hurt to her heart. In 2013, Webstad was asked to return to St. Josephs as an Indian residential school survivor. She convinced other survivors to buy orange t-shirts as a way to remember those who attended the residential schools in Canada. She formed the Orange Shirt Society. Wearing orange shirts are a symbol of defiance against those things that undermine childrens self-esteem, and of our commitment to anti-racism and anti-bullying in general, Webstad explains. The Orange Shirt Society is not all about defiance though. Orange Shirt Day is also an opportunity for First Nations, local governments, schools and communities to come together in the spirit of reconciliation and hope for generations of children to come, Webstad said. September 30 was chosen as the primary day of remembrance because it is around that time of the year that Indigenous children were taken from their homes and sent to residential schools. It was also chosen because it is an opportunity to set the stage for anti-racism and anti-bullying policies for the coming school year, Webstad explains. Since 2013, the Orange Shirt Day has morphed into days of reflection throughout Canada and the United States. Orange has become a color for women jingle dress dancers. Todays Orange Shirt Day has a more serious tone, following the revelation in late May that the remains of 215 children were discovered in a mass grave at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Since then, thousands of other bodies have been found at residential schools throughout Canada. Every child matters has become a mantra for t-shirts and rally signs. Two years ago, for the first time, Canada celebrated Truth and Reconciliation Day on Sept. 30, 2021. But to many, Sept. 30 will always be known as Orange Shirt Day because of the difference Phyllis Webstad made in the creation of an Indigenous movement. 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 Kansas Reflector's Facebook page was shut down by Meta in April. The social media giant has now targeted the League of Women Voters of Lawrence-Douglas County. (Illustration by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) After Facebook shut down Kansas Reflectors page in April, we quickly received apologies from Metas spokesman and assurances that our content was not being targeted by the social media giant. It was all a mistake, he said. Nearly six months later, that sounds like a fib. A whopper. A taradiddle. Not because of how Meta has treated Kansas Reflector: Since our plight made national news, we have been able to post without issue. However, scarcely a week goes by without us receiving a message from a reader unable to share one of our stories or an advocate whose online presence has been somehow targeted. The latest, and perhaps most outrageous, example was the suspension of the League of Women Voters of Lawrence-Douglas Countys page on Facebook. Sonja Czarnecki, president of the league chapter, contacted me and other local news media outlets earlier this month after Facebook axed the page for violating community standards and highlighting impersonation. Czarnecki had no idea what was going on or why. The nonprofit, nonpartisan group encourages civic participation and voting. One could scarcely imagine a more benign bunch. The Lawrence Journal-World published a story about the suspension Sept. 17. Miraculously, the page was restored by the next day. This experience has been unnerving, Czarnecki told me late last week. It was a stark reminder that Meta is a private company, not a democracy where folks are entitled to due process and knowledge of the charges when accused. I never found out any more information about why our pages had been suspended, or why they were put back. I dont know which of the three strategies I tried simultaneously was effective (contacting the press, leaving daily voicemail messages with a guy at Meta, getting LVW-US national staff involved). An Ohio chapter of the group faced a similar takedown in April, but we dont know anything else about the Lawrence case. Social media plays a large role in our lives, yet it can be difficult to track exactly how platforms such as Facebook interact with individual users. We only know if the company issues a statement (vanishingly rare) or someone reaches out to us. We just cant tell otherwise. Czarnecki added: Mainly Im worried that it will happen again. In reporting after Kansas Reflectors takedown, editor Sherman Smith discovered the cause was likely unrefined artificial intelligence deployed by the company. The companys AI is designed to remove inappropriate or spammy content, based on extensive programming. But as anyone who has worked with Chat GPT knows, such programs routinely hallucinate. Those working at Meta likely cant explain their AIs choices. They simply clean up the aftermath. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, speaks directly to victims and their family members during a Jan. 31, 2024, Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C. More worryingly, the platforms indifference or outright hostility to content from civic groups and the news media seems to stem from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerbergs disenchantment with politics. The AI may actually represent a desire to shut down political discussion. His preference, according to more than a dozen friends, advisers and executives familiar with his thinking, has been to wash his hands of it all, the New York Times reported last week. Zuckerberg apparently feels burned by the reaction of those on the right to his previous activism and has been expressing more libertarian ideas. That includes a hostility to regulation that restricts business, an embrace of free markets and globalism and an openness to social-justice reforms but only if it stops short of what he considers far-left progressivism, wrote the Times Theodore Schleifer and Mike Isaac. Listen, Im sorry Zuckerberg had his precious feelings hurt. People can be mean. Life can be challenging in ways that we dont expect. The rest of us, however, dont have $196 billion to fall back on when the going gets rough. We also dont have a bevy of communications professionals at hand to spread our message. What we have, for better or worse, is an array of social media platforms, many of them owned and directed by the Meta CEO. We can look for other options and make other connections, but that will take time and energy and effort to redirect our audiences. In the meantime, Zuckerberg faces no consequences for harming civil debate through such takedowns. As Tim Murphy of Mother Jones pointed out, in a trenchant response to the Times piece, Zuckerberg hasnt actually rejected politics. Someone with his reach and power cant possibly do so. Zuckerbergs efforts to discourage political activism among Meta employees (per the piece) mirror his own efforts to discourage political content on the platforms he controls, such as Facebook and Instagram. Attempting to mute or disincentivize political speech is, of course, a political act, and it betrays an ominous worldview, Murphy writes. In that sense, at least, he and (fellow tech tycoon Elon) Musk arent so different; theyre collectively building a digital public square where you can find everything but reported, factual news. Zuckerberg has made it clear that he is frustrated with specific kinds of political speech including criticism of him. In other words, hes become a conservative comfortable with authoritarianism. So what do we do? Here at Kansas Reflector, we have taken a number of proactive measures in the past five months. We have repeatedly encouraged readers to subscribe to our daily newsletter. We have stepped up our town halls, during which we meet readers face to face and answer their questions. We also now post regularly at Bluesky, the decentralized Twitter alternative. At the same time, we have largely stopped posting to Instagram and Threads, two Meta-controlled platforms. Dont worry were still on Facebook, for the foreseeable future. Czarnecki likewise points Women Voters of Lawrence-Douglas County supporters to alternative platforms. We have our website, and our monthly newsletter to members, and we try to accept every invitation we can to do tabling events locally, she said. But like all organizations these days, we still rely on social media to get information out to the public about voting and educational events like our Civic Engagement 101 series (next one Oct. 3) and candidate forums (next one is Oct. 6). Both the league and Kansas Reflector understand we cant rely on a private business to prioritize the public good. But concerned citizens need to know that as well. Unless they take their eyes elsewhere, Meta wont feel the pressure to change. 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. In this article, we will list and explore the 25 least affordable countries in the world. You can skip our detailed discussion and see the 5 Least Affordable Countries in the World. The cost of living in a country can vary significantly due to a variety of factors, making some places notably more expensive than others. Economic conditions, real estate prices, taxation, the cost of goods and services, currency strength, regulatory environments, lifestyle preferences, geopolitical factors, and the level of infrastructure and development all determine why some countries are so costly to live in. READ ALSO: 28 Embargoed and Sanctioned Countries by the US and 20 Countries with the Most Skilled Labor Forces in the World. Expensive Havens: Why Some Countries Demand More Economically, countries with higher GDP per capita and average incomes often experience a higher cost of living due to increased demand for goods and services, which drives up prices. Inflation also plays a major role, as countries with high inflation rates tend to see continuous increases in the prices of everyday goods and services, further impacting the cost of living. According to the IMF, the projected outlook anticipates the world economy to sustain a growth rate of 3.2% throughout 2024 and 2025, mirroring the pace observed in 2023. Although there is a slight uptick expected for advanced economies, with growth forecasted to increase from 1.6% in 2023 to 1.7% in 2024 and 1.8% in 2025, this will be counterbalanced by a modest deceleration in emerging market and developing economies, where growth is anticipated to ease from 4.3% in 2023 to 4.2% in both 2024 and 2025. Looking ahead, the global growth forecast for five years from now, at 3.1%, stands at its lowest level in decades. Furthermore, global inflation is predicted to gradually decrease from 6.8% in 2023 to 5.9% in 2024 and 4.5% in 2025. Real estate and housing costs are another major factor, especially in highly desirable locations where demand for property exceeds supply, leading to elevated prices. According to the Migration Policy Institute, the scarcity of affordable housing is rapidly evolving into a worldwide crisis. As per the UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, approximately 1.6 billion individuals, constituting a fifth of the global population, currently endure inadequate housing and essential services. Alarmingly, projections suggest this figure could escalate to 3 billion by 2030. Taxation and the provision of public services contribute as well, as high tax rates can result in increased prices for goods and services as businesses pass on these costs to consumers. Additionally, the cost of social services and welfare programs, funded by taxes, can add to living expenses. Other factors include the cost of goods and services influenced by import taxes, tariffs, and shipping expenses, as well as production costs such as labor and materials. Currency strength also factors in, as a strong national currency can make imported goods cheaper but may attract international buyers, driving up local prices. The regulatory environment, lifestyle preferences, urbanization levels, geopolitical stability, and infrastructure development all further impact the overall cost of living in a country. Story continues In highly developed and advanced countries, well-established infrastructure underpins urban life and economic activities. Caterpillar Inc. ( NYSE:CAT), as a leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, provides the machinery needed for building and maintaining infrastructure. As global demand for resilient infrastructure grows, Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) remains integral to meeting these needs, supporting economic growth worldwide. On Aug. 13, Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) announced a major expansion at its Lafayette, Indiana large engine facility, marking its largest investment since opening. The project will enhance production capacity for new engines and aftermarket parts by adding a new building, upgrading existing equipment, and installing new machinery. This expansion is expected to create 100 new jobs to meet increasing customer demand. While we acknowledge the potential of CAT 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 CAT but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. With this context, let's move on to our list of 25 least affordable countries in the world. 25 Least Affordable Countries in the World RossHelen/Shutterstock.com Methodology To identify the least affordable countries worldwide, we analyzed the cost of living as our primary metric, supplemented by personal income tax rates as a secondary metric. Cost data for a single person, including expenses for housing, food, and transportation, was sourced from livingcost.org. Personal income tax rates were obtained from PwC and Trading Economics to assess the financial burden on individuals. Using these metrics, we aim to provide a comprehensive perspective on affordability, capturing both everyday living costs and the impact of taxation. Note: We excluded Israel and North Korea from our list due to geopolitical tensions and the complex political scenarios in these countries. 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). 25 Least Affordable Countries in the World 25. Germany Cost of Living: $1581 Tax: 45% Germany offers a high standard of living, but it comes with a substantial cost. With a cost of living at $1581 and a tax rate of 45%, it remains one of the less affordable countries despite its strong economy and excellent public services. 24. Seychelles Cost of Living: $1608 Tax: 15% Known for its stunning beaches and luxury resorts, Seychelles has a cost of living of $1608. The tax rate is relatively low at 15%, but the high cost of imported goods contributes to its ranking. 23. Turkmenistan Cost of Living: $1668 Tax: 10% Turkmenistan's cost of living is $1668 with a tax rate of 10%. Despite its rich natural gas reserves, the country remains less affordable due to limited economic diversification and high prices for consumer goods. 22. Austria Cost of Living: $1743 Tax: 55% Austria combines a high quality of life with a steep cost of living at $1743 and a significant tax burden of 55%. Its well-developed social services and infrastructure come at a high price. 21. Qatar Cost of Living: $1870 Tax: - Qatar's cost of living is $1870 with no income tax. The country's wealth from oil and gas industries drives up living costs, particularly for housing and luxury goods. 20. United Arab Emirates Cost of Living: $1906 Tax: - With a cost of living at $1906 and no personal income tax, the UAE is known for its high expenses related to housing, education, and healthcare, driven by its status as a global business hub. 19. Denmark Cost of Living: $1923 Tax: 55.9 Denmark has a high cost of living at $1923 and one of the highest tax rates at 55.9%. Denmark has a stable and developed economy with a strong GDP growth rate. It is one of the most advanced economies in the world, with a high standard of living. The country's generous welfare state and high wages contribute to its high expenses. 18. Norway Cost of Living: $1924 Tax: 39.6% Norway's cost of living is $1924 with a tax rate of 39.6%. Known for its high wages and strong social security system, the country also has high prices for goods and services. 17. Netherlands Cost of Living: $1945 Tax: 49.5% The Netherlands has a cost of living of $1945 and a tax rate of 49.5%. The high standard of living and comprehensive public services come with significant living expenses. 16. New Zealand Cost of Living: $1950 Tax: 39% New Zealand's cost of living is $1950 with a tax rate of 39%. Its remote location leads to higher prices for imported goods, contributing to its ranking. 15. Canada Cost of Living: $2042 Tax: 33% Canada's cost of living is $2,042 with a tax rate of 33%. The country's vast size and high quality of life contribute to these high living costs, especially in cities like Toronto and Vancouver, which are particularly expensive. However, more affordable living options can still be found in other areas across the country, but they may not offer the same amenities and opportunities as the major cities. 14. Vanuatu Cost of Living: $2066 Tax: - With a cost of living at $2066 and no income tax, Vanuatu's expenses are driven by its remote location and reliance on imports for many goods. 13. United Kingdom Cost of Living: $2183 Tax: 45% The UK has a cost of living of $2183 and a tax rate of 45%. High housing costs, especially in cities like London, significantly impact overall affordability. 12. Luxembourg Cost of Living: $2200 Tax: 42% Luxembourg's cost of living is $2200 with a tax rate of 42%. Known for its financial sector, the country also has high prices for housing and services. 11. Australia Cost of Living: $2293 Tax: 45% Australia's cost of living is $2293 with a tax rate of 45%. High wages and strong social services are balanced by expensive housing and consumer goods. 10. Bahamas Cost of Living: $2295 Tax: - The Bahamas has a cost of living at $2295 with no income tax. The high cost of imported goods and luxury lifestyle contribute to its ranking. 9. Liechtenstein Cost of Living: $2315 Tax: 22.4% Liechtenstein's cost of living is $2315 with a tax rate of 22.4%. Its small size and wealthy population drive up prices for housing and services. 8. United States Cost of Living: $2433 Tax: 37% The US has a cost of living of $2433 and a tax rate of 37%. While wages can be high, so are costs for healthcare, education, and housing. The USA has the largest economy in the world, driven by a combination of diverse industries, technological innovation, and consumer spending. Key sectors include technology, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and agriculture. 7. Ireland Cost of Living: $2438 Tax: 40% Ireland's cost of living is $2438 with a tax rate of 40%. Its booming tech industry has led to high housing costs, particularly in Dublin. Ireland is known as a tech hub, hosting the European headquarters of many multinational. 6. Iceland Cost of Living: $2518 Tax: 35% Iceland's cost of living is $2518 with a tax rate of 35%. Its remote location and reliance on imports make everyday goods expensive. Iceland's economy is diverse and resilient, with key sectors including fisheries, renewable energy, tourism, and technology. The country's small, open economy has shown excellent growth, supported by a high standard of living and low unemployment rates. 5. Hong Kong Cost of Living: $2614 Tax: 15% Hong Kong provides an exceptional quality of life, highlighted by its extraordinary cityscape, top-tier healthcare services, and highly efficient public transportation system. However, it faces challenges such as high living costs and limited living space. 4. Switzerland Cost of Living: $2896 Tax: 11.5% Switzerland's cost of living is $2896 with a tax rate of 11.5%. Despite high cost of living, the country's sound economy, low crime rates, and stunning natural landscapes make it an attractive place for residents and expatriates. 3. Singapore Cost of Living: $3000 Tax: 24% Singapore has a cost of living at $3000 with a tax rate of 24%. Its status as a global financial hub drives up housing and living costs. While the high cost of living and expensive housing market can pose challenges, the country's high salaries and excellent social services often offset these concerns, making it a desirable location for both residents and expatriates. 2. Cayman Islands Cost of Living: $3374 Tax: - With a cost of living at $3374 and no income tax, the Cayman Islands are known for their high cost of imported goods and luxury lifestyle. The financial services sector accounts for over half of the Cayman Islands' GDP. 1. Monaco Cost of Living: $6538 Tax: - Monaco's cost of living is a staggering $6538 with no income tax. The tiny principality's opulent lifestyle and limited space drive up housing and living expenses. Monaco's economy is robust, with key sectors including tourism, finance, real estate, and gambling. 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. 25 Least Affordable Countries in the World is originally published on Insider Monkey. Former President Donald Trump has escalated his long-running assault on the integrity of US elections as the 2024 presidential campaign enters its final stretch, using a new series of lies about ballots, vote-counting and the election process to lay the groundwork to challenge a potential defeat in November. Nonpartisan democracy experts say theyre seeing many of the same warning signs that were blinking red before Election Day four years ago, when Trump flooded the zone with election lies and conspiracy theories that he amplified after losing to Joe Biden. His campaign of deception culminated in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. The threats have not abated; they have only increased, said Lindsay Daniels, a senior director at the nonpartisan Democracy Fund, which works to strengthen US democracy. We saw a lot of activity in 2020 around peddling false claims and frivolous lawsuits. We are already seeing signs now, stage-setting, that these things may be attempted again. Trump has made at least 12 distinct false claims over the last two months that raise baseless doubts about the validity of a potential victory by Vice President Kamala Harris. (Recent polls suggest the race is very close, and Trump could certainly still win.) Trump, who wrongly insists the 2020 election was marred by massive fraud, said at a debate in June that he will accept the 2024 results regardless of who wins if its a fair and legal and good election. A majority of Trump supporters in battleground states like Michigan, Arizona, and Pennsylvania now say theyre not at all confident or only just a little confident the results will be accurately tallied, according to recent CNN polling. Trump has lied about the legitimacy of the vote counts in key states, the reliability of mail-in and overseas ballots, the size of Harris crowds at rallies, and more. Heres a fact check of these and other claims. False claim: Harris can only win through cheating For months, starting long before any votes were cast in the 2024 general election, Trump repeatedly claimed that he already has enough votes to win and simply needs to ensure Democrats dont cheat insinuating that the only way he could possibly lose is through fraud. Trump said at an August rally in Arizona: The only way they can do anything is if they cheat like hell, and weve been victims of that. We dont need the votes, we just want to make sure that they dont cheat. He said at an August rally in North Carolina: Our primary focus is not to get out the vote, its to make sure they dont cheat, because we have all the votes you need. And in a Friday speech in Michigan, he said, If I lose - Ill tell you what, its possible. Because they cheat. Thats the only way were gonna lose, because they cheat. Facts First: This is nonsense. Its obviously entirely possible that Harris could legitimately win the presidential election. While its also entirely possible that Trump wins legitimately, he could not possibly know for sure at the time of these comments that he already had all the votes you need. False claim: It was unconstitutional for the Democrats to replace Biden with Harris Trump has repeatedly claimed the fairness of the 2024 election was tarnished because Biden dropped out of the race in July and Harris subsequently became the Democratic presidential nominee. In August, he called Harris ascension an unconstitutional coup and claimed Bidens Presidency was Unconstitutionally STOLEN from him by Harris. Facts First: Trumps claims are false. There was nothing unconstitutional or unlawful about Biden dropping out and Harris then being chosen by Democratic delegates as the partys presidential nominee. Biden quit the race before he had become the official Democratic nominee the party makes the official nomination at its convention, which hadnt happened yet. That means Biden dropped out before his name was placed on any state ballots. CNN spoke in July with election authorities in 48 states, and not a single state authority, Republican or Democratic, said there were any legal issues with Harris getting on the general election ballot in place of Biden after she was formally nominated in August. She did not end up facing obstacles getting on the ballot in any state. And while Biden certainly faced heavy Democratic pressure to leave the race after his poor performance in a debate against Trump in June, the decision to drop out was his alone; he could have kept running if he had chosen to do so. In other words, the candidate switch was the product of politics, not a forcible takeover. False claim: Voting by non-citizens is a widespread problem in US elections Trump and his allies have repeatedly raised concerns that the 2024 election will be tarnished by widespread voting by non-citizens and undocumented immigrants. Republicans put this issue front and center in April, when Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled legislation to require all voters across the country to prove their citizenship. Efforts to pass the bill fizzled earlier in September amid disunity within the Republican caucus. Further fanning the flames, billionaire Trump supporter Elon Musk has championed the conspiracy theory that Democrats are importing voters so they can create a one-party state. At the presidential debate earlier this month, Trump similarly accused Harris and Democrats of plotting to tip the election with illegal voters. Our elections are bad, and a lot of these illegal immigrants coming in, theyre trying to get them to vote, Trump said. They cant even speak English. They dont even know what country theyre in practically. And these people are trying to get them to vote. Facts First: This specific Trump claim is false, and its also generally untrue to claim that voting by non-citizens is a widespread problem plaguing US elections. There is simply no evidence to back up that claim; its already illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections, and the various safeguards already in place are working effectively to stop it from happening en masse. Both liberal and conservative think tanks have found only a tiny number of examples of non-citizens voting in elections where they are ineligible. The right-wing Heritage Foundations database of confirmed fraud cases lists less than 100 examples of non-citizens voting between 2002 and 2022, amid more than one billion lawfully cast ballots. Further, nonpartisan experts on election law say such cases are almost always caught, thanks to layers of identity verification built into the registration and voting process. Here is CNNs previous fact-check debunking false claims about non-citizens voting widely in federal elections. And here is CNNs breakdown of the underlying data in key states, showing how Republicans have massively inflated the size of this problem. Trump has a long history of blaming electoral losses on undocumented immigrants. When he won the presidency in 2016, he lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million and to explain this away, he concocted the lie that millions of non-citizens had voted illegally. False claim: The US Postal Service admitted it is a poorly run mess In a social media post in mid-September, Trump claimed that the US Postal Service admitted that it is a poorly run mess that is experiencing mail loss and delays at a level never seen before and asked how can we possibly be expected to allow or trust the U.S. Postal Service to run the 2024 Presidential Election? Facts First: Trumps claim is false. Theres no evidence of the USPS ever admitting that it is a poorly run mess. Reacting to Trumps comments at a September 19 press conference, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said, My response is like my response to everyone who says were not prepared for the election it is that theyre wrong. DeJoy became postmaster general in June 2020 after being selected by the bipartisan USPS Board of Governors, whose members were all appointed by Trump. DeJoy has touted the fact that in 2020, USPS delivered 99% of all mail ballots within one week. The National Association of Secretaries of State, an umbrella organization that represents election officials from both parties, started raising alarm bells earlier this month with a sharply worded letter to DeJoy expressing ongoing concerns about the postal services ability to deliver election mail in a timely and accurate manner. In response, DeJoy said the USPS was undertaking extraordinary measures to make sure all mail ballots are delivered on time, including designated lines at post offices for people with ballots, extra deliveries and collections by letter-carriers, after-hours drop-offs to election offices, and keeping processing facilities open longer. Asked by CNN for proof of the supposed USPS admission that it was a poorly run mess, a Trump campaign spokeswoman responded with two news articles that were not evidence. The articles were about the recent letter that the election officials sent to DeJoy which didnt originate from USPS and wasnt an admission of anything. Trump has continued raising unfounded doubts about mail-in voting, predicting in a recent interview with a right-wing radio host that USPS will lose hundreds of thousands of ballots, maybe purposely. There is no evidence of the USPS ever losing ballots on this scale, though isolated mishaps have occurred and been remedied in past election cycles. Furthermore, most mail-in ballots are trackable these days, with tracking tools offered in almost every state. False claim: There is no identity verification for overseas and military voters Trump rolled out a new lie in late September about military and overseas voting. For this tiny slice of the national electorate, voters can receive and submit ballots over email, because they are civilians who live abroad or servicemembers that are stationed overseas. These are often called UOCAVA voters, from the acronym for the federal law that set up this system: the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, which passed with bipartisan backing and was signed by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1986. The deadline for states to send out UOCAVA ballots was September 21. In a social media post two days later, Trump baselessly accused Democrats of using this program to CHEAT in the election. They are going to use UOCAVA to get ballots, a program that emails ballots overseas without any citizenship check or verification of identity, whatsoever, Trump claimed. Facts First: Its not true that UOCAVA ballots are sent to people with no verification whatsoever of their identity. These special ballots are only sent to registered voters who request them, and states require people to verify their identity when registering. David Becker, founder and executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research, who regularly advises state and local election officials from both parties, blasted Trump on social media for actively spreading false information about a bipartisan program. Military and overseas ballots have gone out to registered, verified voters (as required by law) and they are secure, Becker wrote the day after Trumps claim. I can tell you election officials of both parties take great pride in giving military and overseas voters a secure voice in our election, and its unfortunate to see a candidate spread lies about that process. Democrats Abroad, an arm of the Democratic Party, condemned Trumps absurd rant in a statement to CNN, and said UOCAVA ballots are only sent to people whose registration have been confirmed and validated by their local elections office. False claim: Harris spied on Trumps campaign Trump launched a new attack on Harris after news broke over the summer that Iranian hackers breached some Trump campaign email accounts and sent some of the stolen materials to journalists and Democratic campaign operatives. THE FBI CAUGHT IRAN SPYING ON MY CAMPAIGN, AND GIVING ALL OF THE INFORMATION TO THE KAMALA HARRIS CAMPAIGN. THEREFORE SHE AND HER CAMPAIGN WERE ILLEGALLY SPYING ON ME, Trump posted on Truth Social in mid-September. Facts First: Trumps claim that the Harris campaign spied on him is baseless. Iran did breach the Trump campaign, but theres no evidence anyone from the Harris campaign was involved in the breach, solicited hacked materials, or weaponized these materials in any way. The Harris campaign condemned Irans unwelcome and unacceptable election interference. The federal government announced in August that Iranian hackers successfully targeted the Trump campaign, and that they also attempted to breach the Biden-Harris campaigns. US intelligence agencies later disclosed that the Iranian hackers sent unsolicited messages containing some of stolen Trump materials to some people associated with the Biden campaign. This included a few individuals who are currently involved with Harris campaign, her team told CNN. Despite Trumps claims, there is no evidence the Iranian hackers provided the Harris campaign with all of the information they stole. The US spy agencies said an excerpt of some stolen material was provided. More importantly, the US spy agencies said there is currently no information indicating those recipients replied to the hackers. The Harris campaigns condemnation of Iran and refusal to use the stolen material is a stark contrast to how Trump embraced Russias hack-and-leak against his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign. Even after the US announced that the leaks were part of a Kremlin plot to interfere with the US election, Trump and his campaign built a strategy to capitalize off Russias illegal actions and used the emails to attack Clinton on a near-daily basis. False claim: Californias vote counts are dishonest Trump has wrongly claimed for years that US vote counts are plagued by major fraud. In the last month, he has even declared that he would win Democratic-dominated California if there was an honest vote count. (Californias large population means that a candidates vote totals there have a significant influence on the national popular vote which Trump has baselessly cast doubt on for years, even when he won the presidency in 2016.) Trump said in September that if I ran with an honest vote counter in California I would win California, but the votes are not counted honestly. In late August, he said, If Jesus came down and was the vote counter, I would win California, okay? Facts First: This is fiction. The votes are counted honestly in California, as they are in every other state. Trump loses California because it is an overwhelmingly Democratic state that no Republican presidential candidate has carried since 1988. Trump lost the state in 2020, fair and square, by more 5 million votes and more than 29 percentage points. Its ridiculous to suggest that fraudulent vote-counting was responsible for a margin that large. Like several other states, California conducts post-election audits to verify the accuracy of the vote count. These audits use mathematical models and statistics to access the accuracy of the overall tally based on random samples of ballots. False claim: Election officials use early voting to commit fraud Trump has encouraged his supporters this year to make use of early voting. But at a rally in Pennsylvania last week, he suggested that the lag time between when an early ballot is cast and Election Day is used by nefarious actors to fraudulently manipulate the count. Now we have this stupid stuff where you can vote 45 days early. I wonder what the hell happens during that 45 Lets move the see these votes, weve got about a million votes in there, lets move them, were fixing the air conditioner in the room, right? No, its terrible. What happened the last time was disgraceful, including right here. But were not going to let it happen again, Trump said. Facts First: This is another phony narrative. There is no indication that there was any counting fraud involving early ballots in 2020, in Pennsylvania or anywhere else. Early ballots are securely stored in election offices until they are counted. People who interfere with ballots during this period are subject to prosecution. False claim: Trump won Minnesota in 2020 Trump declared in March and May that he won Minnesota in the 2020 election. At a Minnesota rally in July, he claimed, If they dont cheat, we win this state easily, Okay? They cheat. He added, Theyre the most crooked. They cheat. They cheated in the last election, and theyre going to cheat in this election, but were going to get them. Facts First: Trumps claims are false. He lost Minnesota by more than 7 percentage points in the 2020 election, fair and square, and he can certainly lose the state legitimately in 2024. The state hasnt chosen a Republican for president since 1972, and Trump has consistently trailed in opinion polls against Harris whose running mate is the sitting Minnesota governor, Tim Walz. False claim: A large percentage of mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania are fraudulent Pennsylvania is one of the most important swing states in the 2024 election. Trump claimed in a social media post in September that an election expert interviewed by right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson had suggested a large percentage of mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania are fraudulent. An interview by Tucker Carlson of an election expert indicates that 20% of the Mail-In Ballots in Pennsylvania are fraudulent. Here we go again! Where is the U.S. Attorney General and FBI to INVESTIGATE? Where is the Pennsylvania Republican Party? We will WIN Pennsylvania by a lot, unless the Dems are allowed to CHEAT, he wrote. Facts First: There is no valid basis for the claim that 20% of mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania or any other state are fraudulent. This claim appears to be based on a flawed 2023 poll by a right-wing pollster, not the discovery of any actual problems with ballots in Pennsylvania or anywhere else from 2020, 2022 or this year. The 2020 election was fair and secure in Pennsylvania, as it was in the rest of the country, according to officials from both parties who affirmed the results. There was a tiny smattering of voter fraud in the state in 2020 some of it committed by Trump supporters but not even close to enough to have affected the outcome. Pennsylvanias Department of State said in a September email to CNN: Voting by mail is safe and secure, and no evidence exists of widespread mail voting fraud in Pennsylvania. Mail ballot fraud has been proven to be exceptionally rare. Claims of systemic voter fraud are devoid of any supporting evidence and have consistently been rejected by judges, government agencies, and election experts across the political spectrum. So what was Trump referring to? Trump and his campaign didnt specify what interview he was talking about. But in April, Carlson interviewed someone who spoke of a 2023 poll conducted by a right-wing firm, Rasmussen Reports, that has itself promoted false election claims. Among likely voters in that poll who said they had been absentee or mail-in voters in 2020, 21% claimed to have filled out a ballot for a friend or family member and 17% claimed they had voted in a state where they were no longer a permanent resident. There are lots of reasons not to treat this poll as evidence of mass fraud in Pennsylvania. First, this was a national poll, not a Pennsylvania poll. Second, the pollster is viewed skeptically by many polling experts. Third, people making claims to a pollster about their past behavior does not prove that they actually did what they said. Fourth, as FactCheck.org pointed out earlier this month, its legal to fill out a ballot for a voter with disabilities who has asked for the assistance so someone saying they filled out someone elses ballot isnt necessarily a confession of fraud. Fifth, as FactCheck.org also noted, the wording of the residency question was ambiguous enough that people could have thought it was asking about legal behavior such as having voted in 2020 in a different state from the one they currently lived in three years later. False claim: Harris fabricated an image to inflate her crowd size Since 2020, various Trump supporters have claimed that Bidens unimpressive crowd sizes are proof that Bidens 2020 vote total, about 81 million, was fraudulently inflated. (Trump earned about 74 million votes in 2020.) In August, Trump launched an attack on Harris crowd sizes. He claimed on social media that Harris should be disqualified from the race because, he claimed, she had faked an image of a large crowd at her rally at a Michigan airport. He wrote: There was nobody at the plane, and she A.I.d it, and showed a massive crowd of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDNT EXIST! He also wrote, This is the way the Democrats win Elections, by CHEATING - And theyre even worse at the Ballot Box. She should be disqualified because the creation of a fake image is ELECTION INTERFERENCE. Anyone who does that will cheat at ANYTHING! Facts First: Trumps claims are false. Harris did not create a fake image of the Michigan crowd using artificial intelligence or anything else. As genuine photos and videos showed, and reporters on scene confirmed, she had a real crowd of thousands of people at the airport event. The false claim that the Harris campaign was pushing fake images of this Michigan crowd had been circulated by some far-right influencers before Trump adopted it. Asked by CNN in August why he made the false claim, Trump said he cant say what was there, who was there and could only speak about his own large crowds. But he made another false claim about Harris crowds at the presidential debate against Harris in September, wrongly saying, People dont go to her rallies. False claim: Biden or Harris orchestrated Trumps legal cases Trump has repeatedly claimed this year that all of the legal cases against him, including local and state cases, were all orchestrated by Biden for the purpose of election interference, to help Democrats win the election. In July, when Biden dropped out of the race and Harris became the Democratic candidate, Trump began claiming she was the one behind the cases. Facts First: These claims are false. There is no evidence that Biden personally orchestrated any of these cases. Trump never presented any evidence for that claim, let alone for suddenly making the vice president the target of the claim after months of directing it at the president. There is no sign that either Biden or Harris had any role in bringing charges against Trump in Manhattan, New York (where Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records) or Fulton County, Georgia (where an election subversion case against Trump is on hold over a battle about whether the district attorney should be disqualified). Those prosecutions have been led by elected local prosecutors, both Democrats, who do not even report to the federal government. Trumps two federal criminal cases, one about election subversion and one about Trumps retention of classified documents after his presidency, were brought by a special counsel, Jack Smith. A judge dismissed the classified documents case in July, but Smith is appealing. Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, a Biden appointee, but that is far from proof that Biden orchestrated the prosecutions and certainly not proof that Harris did. Garland has said he would resign if Biden ever asked him to take action against Trump, but expressed confidence that Biden would never put him in that position. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com A new ad by a North Carolina Democrat says Republican candidate for state House Melinda Bales could be the deciding vote for a total abortion ban if elected. Bales said she wouldnt support one. The $30,000 online ad, called Trust, was paid for by the campaign of Beth Helfrich, Bales Democratic opponent running in north Mecklenburgs House District 98, according to a spokesperson for the North Carolina Democratic House Caucus. Women in the video say Bales, the former mayor of Huntersville, is funded by the same people as Mark Robinson, a fact that makes them scared for the future of reproductive rights in the state. Bales, however, told The Charlotte Observer in an email that although she is personally pro-life, she would not vote in support of a total abortion ban if elected. I dont trust politicians like Mark Robinson, like Melinda Bales, women in the ad said. Bales is funded by the same people as Mark Robinson. Bales could be the deciding vote for a total abortion ban. Birth control and IVF are at risk, that scares me. Melinda Bales scares me. Bales and Robinson connection Since a bombshell CNN report dropped this month, alleging Lt. Gov. Robinson made racist, sexist and other inflammatory remarks on a pornography website over a decade ago, Democrats have said Robinson is indicative of the GOP as a whole. Bales, like some other Republicans including Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, condemned the comments Robinson allegedly made. The reported allegations against Mark Robinson are extremely troubling if proven to be true. They are certainly not my values, Bales said. My campaign is and always has been about the people of this district, not about who should be governor. Robinson has made numerous remarks about restricting abortion, including in a widely circulated Facebook Live video from 2019. Abortion in this country is not about protecting the lives of mothers, Robinson said in the video. Its about killing the child because you werent responsible enough to keep your skirt down. Helfrichs ad points out Bales and Robinson have a financial backer in common. The ad refers to significant donations made to Robinsons and Bales campaigns by Ericka Cain, a donor who contributed the maximum amount, $6,400, to both campaigns. Cain is a benefactor to the Cain Center for the Arts in Cornelius and has donated to numerous campaigns of anti-abortion Republicans. It would be fair to assume that, given her pro-life donors monetary enthusiasm as well as her admission to being pro-life personally, she would vote with the Republicans in the State House against Choice, Josh Artis, a spokesperson for the North Carolina Democratic House Caucus, said in an email to The Observer. Bales, however, says otherwise. Bales stance on abortion Bales identifies herself as personally pro-life, on her website and in an email to The Observer. She said that although she has never been faced with the decision over whether to have an abortion, she sympathizes with her friends and family who have. Because of these conversations, I do not believe that there is a perfect solution, but I do believe the answer lies somewhere between 12 and 20 weeks, she wrote. The important piece to me is ensuring that the exceptions for rape, incest, the life of the mother and child remain the law of the land. Following a law that took effect in July 2023, abortion is illegal after 12 weeks of pregnancy in North Carolina. There are exceptions for cases of rape and incest, allowing abortions up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. The legislation was supported by every House Republican present for the vote. Bales said although she would not have advocated for the current law, she finds it to be a balanced choice. It is a complicated issue with many different opinions, she said. The current law seems to find a balance between the extremes on both sides. Helfrich, however, is not so content with the current law. In the ad and in a statement to The Observer, she said she is running to expand abortion rights. Access to safe and legal abortion is a fundamental aspect of reproductive healthcare and personal freedom. I support legislation that affirms our right to make informed decisions about our health privately and without government interference because we all deserve the dignity and freedom to make our own healthcare decisions, Helfrich said. As a representative, I will fight to restore abortion access and protect birth control and IVF, so that women not legislators are in charge of their own lives. The debate rematch between Orange-Osceola state attorney candidates Andrew Bain and Monique Worrell on Sept. 20 was as fiery as the first and came with new claims that raised questions of accuracy, while rehashing older ones made a week earlier. The Orlando Sentinel reviewed a number of them for which evidence could be found. Two earlier claims also are being revisited as the campaigns offered more data to support their points, although some of them still remain questionable. The Sentinel asked each campaign to support statements their candidates made in response to a series of questions at their most recent debate at the Citrus Club in downtown Orlando. What follows is our review of that material. Worrell: Bain allowed serial rapist released on bond In the latest debate, Worrell made a brow-raising claim: Under Mr. Bains administration, people get out and they are serial rapists and get caught in South Florida for committing another rape. Worrell said she did not raise the issue to blame Bain. Instead, she argued that prosecutors often get blamed for criminal behavior thats not their responsibility something she argues has happened frequently to her at the hands of Bain and also Gov. Ron DeSantis, who suspended her from office. Thats no more Mr. Bains fault than it was my fault when those things happened under my administration, she said of the rape case. Worrells campaign confirmed later that she was alluding to the case of Vincent Laing, who was arrested in Orange County last year shortly after Bain assumed office accused of raping a woman at knifepoint. She recounted what happened accurately. Laing was released from jail in February on a $125,000 bond after his lawyer successfully argued he was entitled to bail. As prosecutors did not argue to keep him behind bars, a judge allowed Laing to live with his sister in West Palm Beach, where he was arrested again for a similar crime, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office. Bain at the time told reporters his office pushed for a $250,000 bond, but court records show prosecutors did not request a so-called Arthur hearing, which would have given them the opportunity to argue Laing should remain jailed. In comments to WESH, Bain said, Arthur hearings require some proof, evidence or presumption greater than what the Constitution says, which is something above and beyond a reasonable doubt. So we didnt have that evidence at the time to hold the Arthur hearing. Laing remains jailed in Palm Beach County without bond. Mandatory minimum sentences While the Sentinel conducted a review of the two candidates first debate on Sept. 11, it was not exhaustive. One key claim from Bain that Worrell sought minimum mandatory sentences in only one case of someone convicted of a felony being in possession of a firearm could not be explored until after publication. Bains campaign manager Robert Gammons did not offer evidence to support the charge. Worrells campaign provided a list of 11 such cases to debunk the only one claim, the records for which were reviewed by the Sentinel. Of the 11, seven of the defendants received mandatory minimums, a fact clearly stipulated in the sentencing memos. The sentences in the remaining cases also appear to have met the statutory three-year-minimum for felons possessing firearms the sentences ranged from three years to 15 but the memos didnt indicate a minimum was sought, nor did there appear to be indication the minimums had been waived. Asked about the seemingly faulty record-keeping, Keisha Mulfort, Worrells campaign manager, said there is no way to classify this other than a clerical/human error. Gammons did not respond to a question about Bains seemingly false claim on the mandatory minimums issue. Violent crime rates Another claim by Bain the Sentinel revisited was that violent crime rates in his jurisdiction dropped during his time in office. As the Sentinel previously reported, this could not be confirmed using publicly available databases maintained by the Florida Department of Health, which sourced violent crime rates from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Still, Gammons sent a link to a department database of homicide rates as evidence but the latest year for which that data was available was 2022, before Bain took office. Gammons also offered news stories by WFTV reporting drops in crimes this year in Orlando and Orange County, which are policed by two of the largest law enforcement agencies in the region. Violent crime figures published by the Major Cities Chiefs Association, which includes the City of Orlando, showed with the exception of robberies a decrease in total violent offenses from 2022 to 2023, with Bain taking over for Worrell in August 2023. A midyear report published in August by MCCA demonstrated a continued reduction in the number of violent crimes committed in the first six months of 2024 compared to 2023, both in Orlando and elsewhere in the U.S. This all suggests Bains claim may well be true, although the evidence is not comprehensive. While OPD and the Orange County Sheriffs Office are supportive, publicly accessible data elsewhere in Orange and Osceola counties remains scant. That data comes as public-private partnerships, like Orlandos community violence intervention initiative and diversion programs by Bain and Worrell, bear fruit in the regions crime prevention efforts. That said, as the Sentinel previously reported regarding Worrells own claim she oversaw the regions lowest violent crime rate in more than a decade, its not without caveats namely expert analysis that prosecutors are but one piece of the puzzle for crime reduction. Regardless of the numbers, Bains camp argues hes better suited for the position. Victims do not care about low crime rates, they only care about someone being there willing to fight for them, Gammons said. State Attorney Bain has built his career fighting for victims and this community and there is no one better suited for the position than him. Factbox-Which countries have pledged aid to Lebanon as conflict worsened? Aftermath of an Israeli strike, in Ain Deleb Aftermath of an Israeli strike, in Ain Deleb By Jana Choukeir and Tala Ramadan DUBAI (Reuters) - Israeli attacks on the Hezbollah group in Lebanon have killed more than 1,000 people and wounded 6,000 in the past two weeks, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Around a million people have fled their homes seeking safety in other parts of Lebanon or in neighbouring Syria, sheltering mostly in schools with few supplies. Below are some of the countries that have pledged or provided humanitarian aid to Lebanon as the Israel-Hezbollah conflict worsened in the last few days. EUROPEAN UNION The European Union announced 10 million euros ($11.2 million) in humanitarian aid on Sunday to help people in Lebanon affected by the escalating hostilities. The funding is intended to help provide protection, food assistance, shelter and healthcare, the European Commission said in a statement. SAUDI ARABIA Saudi Arabia has announced aid for the Lebanese population including medical assistance, state news agency SPA reported. "The Kingdom has reiterated its commitment to standing by the Lebanese people as they face the challenges arising from the current circumstances, stressing the importance of addressing the humanitarian repercussions," SPA added. EGYPT Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Sunday he had ordered the immediate dispatch of emergency medical and humanitarian aid to Lebanon. During a phone call with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Sisi reiterated Egypt's continued support for Lebanon on all levels. JORDAN The Jordanian armed forces sent a cargo plane on Sunday carrying humanitarian aid for the Lebanese army to assist in addressing the difficult conditions the country is experiencing. CANADA Canada is contributing $10 million in humanitarian assistance for civilians in Lebanon, International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen said in a statement on Saturday. FRANCE Visiting Lebanon on Sunday to oversee a delivery of humanitarian aid, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said it contained 12 tons of medical equipment to be used to treat 1,000 seriously injured people. "We will always stand by the civilians", Barrot added. TURKEY A Turkish aircraft arrived in Lebanon last Wednesday carrying medical aid and supplies to support the Lebanese health sector, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan pledged to provide Lebanon with an urgent relief aid package worth $100 million on Monday, the state news agency reported. The initiative was part of the country's continuing efforts to support Lebanon through its current challenges, "underscoring the nation's unwavering commitment to assisting the Lebanese people," it said. ($1 = 0.8944 euros) (Reporting by Jana Choukeir and Tala Ramadan, Editing by Timothy Heirtage) UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -United Nations peacekeepers were deployed to patrol Lebanon's southern border with Israel in 1978 after Israel invaded south Lebanon. The mandate for the operation - known as the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon or UNIFIL - is renewed annually by the 15-member U.N. Security Council. Following a month-long war between Israel and Lebanese militants Hezbollah in 2006, the mandate for UNIFIL was expanded when the council adopted resolution 1701. WHAT IS THE BLUE LINE? The Blue Line is a U.N.-mapped line separating Lebanon from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israeli forces withdrew to the Blue Line when they left south Lebanon in 2000. Any unauthorized crossing of the Blue Line by land or by air from any side constitutes a violation of Security Council resolution 1701. WHERE DO PEACEKEEPERS OPERATE? The area of operations for U.N. peacekeepers is marked by the Litani River in the north and the Blue Line in the south. The mission has more than 10,000 troops from 50 countries and about 800 civilian staff, according to its website. WHAT DOES RESOLUTION 1701 MANDATE? It allows peacekeepers to help the Lebanese army keep the area of operations free of weapons or armed personnel other than those of the Lebanese state. That has sparked friction with Iran-backed Hezbollah, which effectively controls southern Lebanon despite the presence of the Lebanese army. Hezbollah is a heavily armed militant group that is Lebanon's most powerful political force. The peacekeeping mission is also directed by resolution 1701 "to take all necessary action in areas of deployment of its forces and as it deems within its capabilities, to ensure that its area of operations is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind." HOW DO PEACEKEEPERS DEAL WITH VIOLATIONS OF RESOLUTION 1701? The peacekeeping mission is required to report all violations to the U.N. Security Council. The U.N. secretary-general reports to the council every four months - "or at any time as he deems appropriate" - on the implementation of resolution 1701. According to UNIFIL's website, peacekeepers take preventive measures when monitoring the Blue Line, which includes the airspace above it, through coordination, liaising and patrolling to prevent violations. Whenever there is an incident "UNIFIL immediately deploys additional troops to that location if needed to avoid a direct conflict between the two sides and to ensure that the situation is contained," according to the UNIFIL website. The mission also liaises with the Israeli and Lebanese military "to reverse and bring an end to the situation without any escalation." VIOLATIONS The U.N. secretary-general has regularly reported violations of resolution 1701 by both sides. A November 2022 report to the Security Council said that "the continued self-acknowledged maintenance of unauthorized weapons outside state control" by Hezbollah and other armed groups was a "persistent, grave violation." The same report also said "continued violations of Lebanese airspace by Israeli aircraft and uncrewed aerial vehicles remain of deep concern." U.N. peacekeepers' freedom of movement has also been regularly impeded, according to U.N. reports. The most recent report to the council by the secretary-general in July cites all the same issues. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Howard Goller) FAIRFAX, VA Fairfax County residents will have two opportunities in October to provide feedback on a resolution that would eliminate duplication and result in the county being governed by a single zoning ordinance. At its Sept. 24 meeting, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution by Supervisor Kathy Smith to repeal Chapter 112.1 and the suppression clause of Chapter 112.2. of the County Code. The Sully supervisor chairs the board's land use policy committee. The resolution cleans up language in the code that came about due to the circuitous route the county had to take to modernize its zoning ordinance. In a nutshell, heres how Fairfax County ended up with two identical zoning ordinances: 2016 : Fairfax County begins the process of updating its zoning ordinance for the first time since 1978. March 17, 2020 : Fairfax County declares a state of emergency due to COVID-19 pandemic. Jan. 28, 2021 : The modernized zoning ordinance, also known as zMOD (Chapter 112.1), reaches the planning commission, which defers its decision until March. March 3, 2021 : Planning commission votes to recommend the board of supervisors adopt zMOD. March 5, 2021 : Four county residents file an injunction in Fairfax County Circuit Court seeking to prevent the board of supervisors from voting on zMOD at its March 9 meeting. Their argument was that the governors order authorizing use of electronic meetings during the pandemic did not include public hearings. As such, the public did not have adequate opportunity to comment on the proposed ordinance. March 9, 2021 : During an emergency hearing in Fairfax County Circuit Court, the injunction was denied. Later in the day, the Board considers zMOD but defers the vote until March 23. March 12, 2021 : The circuit court released its written decision. March 22, 2021 : Four residents file objections to the court order. March 23, 2021 : Board approves zMOD. May 4, 2021 : Circuit court dismisses motion by four residents. Since the board approved zMOD in March, the motion was moot, according to the court. Feb. 7, 2023 : Fairfax County cancels declaration of local emergency originally enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. March 23, 2023 : Virginia Supreme Court voids zMOD, finding that the county violated open meeting rules. May 9, 2023 : Board readopts zMOD as Chapter 112:2. This includes new language added for clarity; amendments made between the adoption of 112:1 and court action voiding it; and a clause saying that while both versions of zMOD were in effect, 112.1 would supersede 112.2. This was added due to the possibility of 112.1 being ultimately validated. October 2023 : Fairfax Countys petition for rehearing before the supreme court is denied. April 2024 : Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed legislation that both houses of the Virginia General Assembly passed unanimously providing legislative relief to localities that conducted meetings electronically during the pandemic. July 25, 2024 : Board of supervisors incorporates the amendments made to 112.2 into 112.1, making zMOD officially the governing zoning ordinance as of July 1, 2024. Sept. 10, 2024 : Supervisors vote to amend both 112.1 and 112.2, adding new permissions and use standards for data centers. In effect, both ordinances are identical. Sept. 24, 2024: Smith submits resolution to repeal Chapter 112.1 and the supersession clause adopted along with Chapter 112.2 on May 9, 2023. It was never my intention nor, I believe, the boards to maintain parallel zoning ordinances in perpetuity, Smith said, introducing the resolution. Even with the alignment of Chapters 112.1 and 112.2, having two ordinances can be confusing and create uncertainty. Some of the uncertainty stems from ongoing disputes over Chapter 112.1 and the effect of the 2024 state legislation. For a period, there were good reasons for having parallel ordinances, but I believe the time has come to return the county to a single ordinance. Fairfax County residents will have two opportunities to comment on Smiths resolution: Planning Commission Public Hearing : Oct. 16, 2024, at 7:30 p.m., at the Fairfax County Government Center, 12000 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax, VA 22035. Board of Supervisors Public Hearing: Oct. 22, 2024, at 4:30 p.m., at the Fairfax County Government Center, 12000 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax, VA 22035. Fairfax Leaders Aim To Erase Duplicate Zoning Ordinance In County Code originally appeared on the Reston Patch STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. (PIX11) Faith leaders gathered at the Mount Sinai United Christian Church Sunday to show their support for Mayor Eric Adams. Adams pleaded not guilty to federal bribery charges on Friday, firmly denying allegations that he accepted overseas travel, campaign cash, and other perks from foreign interests. More Local News Adams reassured churchgoers his commitment to his job remains intact despite the investigation. You havent seen me lose my focus, so when people say I need to resign, I say I need to reign, said Adams. The clergy led by Bishop Victor Brown thanked the mayor for the work he has done on critical issues, including public safety, affordable housing, homelessness, and quality of life, among others. The bishop added, Our purpose wasnt to mount the platform of guilt or innocence, but more so to affirm his right as all of us have the right to due process. Churchgoers like Sondra Bogatz-Hall along with her family showed up to side with the mayor. I think hes entitled to due process just like our former president was, said Bogatz-Hall. I stand behind him. Im in 100% support. The clergy requested the public not rush to judgement, stating the mayor is innocent until proven guilty. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PIX11. Visitors to Signal Hill are silhouetted by the blazing sun during a hot September day in 2022. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) For a minute there, it felt like fall. But even as October kicks off, the cool weather reprieve is ending, California is going to see temperatures climb into the extreme range again, forecasters say. "There is some potential for record-breaking heat," said Todd Hall, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. Highs in some areas on both ends of the state could soar into the triple digits. Temperatures this week in Southern California are expected to be about 10 degrees above normal, according to the weather service. Parts of Los Angeles County will begin to see high temperatures starting Tuesday, with Wednesday the hottest day of the week, Hall said. Similarly, temperatures from inland parts of the Bay Area into the Sacramento Valley could reach the triple digits by Wednesday, bringing along with them dry wind gusts and an elevated risk of fast-moving wildfires. In response, Pacific Gas & Electric has warned many of its customers that the utility could cut their power Monday and Tuesday to avoid sparking any new blazes. Some of California's deadliest and most destructive blazes have been started by the utility's equipment in last 10 years. PG&E said it could cut power to customers in the following counties as part of a Public Safety Power Shutoff: Alameda, Butte, Colusa, Contra Costa, Glenn, Humboldt, Napa, Shasta, Sonoma, Tehama and Trinity. Those same counties could face another power shutoff Tuesday, the utility warned. Read more: Staff shortage at U.S. Forest Service hampers Southland wildfire response, locals say Last October, the state faced a heat wave that drove temperatures across Southern California 15 degrees above normal and brought record heat to Northern California. Hall said that after the heat peaks on Wednesday, cooler temperatures should arrive later in the week for the Southland. Woodland Hills is expecting a high of 105 degrees on Wednesday, and Burbank could see 97, Hall said. The weather service issued an excessive heat advisory beginning Tuesday through Wednesday evening for the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys, with temperatures reaching as high as 106. Other parts of Southern California will also face triple-digit temperatures. Ojai is expected to hit 105 on Tuesday and Wednesday, while residents in Paso Robles could see temperatures reach 108. San Luis Obispo will see temperatures as high as 100 on those days as well. Hall advised residents to be cognizant of the hot weather and avoid outdoor activity, or confine their activity to the early morning hours. There is also an elevated fire risk with the rising temperatures, Hall said. But there are no high winds in the forecast that could drive the fire risk even higher. Firefighters are still working on fully containing three Southern California wildfires. The Airport, Bridge and Line fires started near the beginning of September and have been burning for weeks. Read more: These hiking trails are closed because of the Southern California wildfires The Airport fire in Orange and Riverside counties has burned 23,526 acres and is 95% contained. Authorities have made daily progress, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. The Bridge fire in L.A. and San Bernardino counties has burned 54,878 acres and is 97% contained. The most active fire remaining is the Line fire in San Bernardino County, which was 83% contained but had a significant flare-up on Sunday, as the Victorville Daily Press reported. The county Sheriff's Department issued an evacuation order Sunday afternoon for the community of Seven Oaks. Cal Fire said the Line fire was still burning actively in Bear Creek on Sunday and producing a lot of smoky conditions because of dried-out fuels. Relative humidity in the fire area was expected to range as low as 12%, with winds gusting to about 15 mph. Cal Fire said it had strengthened the containment line on the ridge and had at least 10 helicopters working in the area. 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. Families of Gaza hostages call on UK government to 'do more' The families of the hostages standing outside the door of Downing Street [BBC] The families of hostages held in Gaza say they feel let down and have called on the government to do more to free their relatives. They held a news conference in London, along with the relatives of other British-Israelis murdered on 7 October, following a memorial event at Downing Street. Earlier, they met Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy. Lawyers for the hostages said the families had received a message of support from the King and Queen. Sir Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy met families of hostages held in Gaza in Downing Street [BBC] One of the relatives, Steve Brisley, said it felt like the cold-blooded brutal murders of his family - all three who were British citizens - have been forgotten. His British sister Lianne and UK-Israeli nieces Noiya and Yahel Sharabi were murdered on 7 October. His brother-in-law Eli is still a hostage. It was an act of terrorism he said. It is 51 weeks since my family was torn apart, 51 weeks since Eli was taken... I call on my government to do better, to do more, to bring them home. At Monday's news conference, along with the other hostage families, he called on the UK government to table their own UK plan to get their relatives released - and on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a deal to free the hostages. The relatives also expressed concern that if Israel launched a limited ground incursion into Lebanon it would take away the focus from trying to free the hostages. They said it was time for the UK government to take a more hands-on approach on working to free their family members who are still being held in Gaza. A statement issued by the Foreign Office said: Their Majesties have asked us to convey that they continue to keep you and all hostage families in their special thoughts and offer their prayers for your strength and endurance during such a dreadfully difficult and agonising time for you. Steve Brisley, Ayelet Svatitzky, and Sharone Lifschitz called on the government to do more to bring home their relatives [BBC] Ayelet Svatitzkys British-Israeli brothers, Nadav and Roi Popplewell, were killed. She said a month ago she had "stood in front of my brothers graves and said my final goodbye". Nadav was taken hostage, forced to record a video while held and his body was recovered from Gaza in August. "My mum who just turned 80 lost both her sons. She is dealing with that trauma and the trauma of being kidnapped from her home. "I am here pleading to everyone not to forget what happened on 7 October, not to forget the 101 hostages. Sharone Lifschitz is British-Israeli. Her father, 84-year-old Oded, is still being held. Her mother Yocheved was released last October. Ms Lifschitz said the families had had a fruitful meeting with the prime minister. I think the British government can and should do more... we are still in the 7th of October [and] we are fighting for their lives. "I dont know if my father is dead or alive we want the British government to see the hostages with British links as their problem. George Gascon holds a press conference at the Hall of Justice discusses charges filed on Lamont Campbell, the man accused of hijacking a metro bus and killing a passenger in Los Angeles. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times) The suspect in the fatal shooting of a Metro rider during a bus hijacking in South Los Angeles has been charged with a dozen crimes and could face up to 90 years in prison, prosecutors said. The family of the man killed during the incident last week honored his memory over the weekend and called for reforms to the system to protect passengers. Anthony Rivera, 48, was on his way home from his night shift as a parking attendant at Dodger Stadium when a man with a gun boarded the bus about 12:45 a.m. Wednesday and shot him. The alleged gunman, 51-year-old Lamont Campbell, held the bus driver, Rivera and another passenger hostage for more than an hour, according to authorities. Police chased the bus around downtown before a SWAT team stormed it and arrested Campbell. There were no other serious injuries. On Sunday, friends and family met at a park in Rosemead to honor Rivera. "We demand more safety for passengers on those buses because what happened to him was an event that should have been preventable," Rivera's cousin Marylou Mulero told news station KTTV-TV. She added that he was a "great man, and he did not deserve to go the way he did." Campbell was charged Monday with 12 counts, including murder, carjacking, kidnapping during a carjacking, assault with a semiautomatic handgun, attempted murder, and robbery. Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascon said during a news conference Monday that Campbell had an extensive criminal record. Gascon condemned the violence on the region's public transportation system. The actions of a few should never threaten the safety and security of thousands who will depend on this essential service, Gascon said before directing his comments to the general public who use public transportation. I know that you may be experiencing increased fear as a result of the many reports regarding violence in Metro. Know that I see you, I hear you, and I will do everything that I can to ensure your safety." If convicted of his crimes, Campbell would face up to 90 years in prison, according to officials. County Supervisor Janice Hahn said that if Campbell is "found guilty, he will spend the rest of his life in prison for the pain and suffering that he caused. Hahn, who also chairs the Metro Board, said "Campbells hijacking of a Metro bus and murder of a passenger just trying to get home from work sent shock waves through the city." Officials offered their condolences to Rivera's family and commended bus driver Dennis Contreras, who drove at gunpoint until police managed to disable the vehicle and arrest Campbell. The official motive behind the hijacking has not be revealed, but Gascon confirmed that Campbell was on the bus for 13 minutes before he shot Rivera and hijacked the bus. Police sources who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation said Rivera was killed during an attempted robbery. At the beginning of the hijacking, calls flooded in to 911 dispatchers as the bus driver activated a panic button that alerted police and triggered emergency messages on the exterior of the bus. The bus had been recently equipped with a barrier that allowed the driver to maintain control of the vehicle, a safety measure that officials said likely helped prevent further tragedy. Such barriers are expected to be installed on all Metro buses by the end of the year. City leaders acknowledged the hijacking as an example of the challenges they face in keeping passengers safe amid a series of violent incidents on Los Angeles public transit systems. Just four months ago, Mayor Karen Bass called for beefed-up security on transit lines following a rash of violent clashes. Bass acknowledged the hijacking at a news conference last week, saying the city would explore new ways to detect weapons and protect both riders and drivers on public transit. I want to say unequivocally that what happened ... will not be tolerated. It has no place in Los Angeles and the individual who was arrested must be held fully accountable, Bass said. At Sunday's event honoring Rivera, some of his family wore Dodgers jerseys and others wore black T-shirts with a picture of him in his high school ROTC uniform standing next to his mother, Teresa Flores. "I say, 'Why, God, why?'" Flores said while surrounded by her family, news station KABC-TV reported. "I just miss him dearly," she said. "There's so much I want to say and I just can't. I'm just dumbfounded they took my son. ... He'll always be with me, he's my heart." Family members said Rivera was heading home after working at Dodger Stadium. "All he wanted to do was just get home safely, but he never made it home," Rivera's cousin Sarah Beck told the news station. The family have started an online fundraiser to help pay for funeral expenses. Elizabeth Mulero, 58, is 10 years older than her cousin and remembers when he came home from the hospital as a newborn. "The first day he came home I held him, I fed him," Mulero told The Times. "I just miss him terribly." She described Rivera growing into a big boy and a big man; she described him as a "teddy bear." Rivera was cordial, always apologizing to his family for slamming a door too hard, she said. He loved to sing karaoke and watch comic book movies and the Dodgers. Although he wasn't a big fan of sports, he was proud when he got a job working as a parking lot attendant, because his entire family are Dodgers fans. He was also human and "got into his bad ways with bad people," Mulero said. He was most recently living at a halfway house. In the last few years, his family gave him an ultimatum: Either get sober or lose his family. "He overcame a lot of adversities to get where he was," Mulero said. In the last two years, Rivera got clean and spent more time with his mother. He bought her a walker and an electric scooter. They watched comedies together and gossiped about the actors as though they were all friends. Rivera was married multiple times but had no children. Growing up as an only child, all he ever wanted was to be a father, Mulero said. "He left this earth still wanting a baby," his cousin said, her voice breaking. "He deserved to have somebody to love him unconditionally as well, and he never got that. So, I'm glad he's in a place where he knows that he was loved and he doesn't have to befall any of those negative things anymore. He's at peace and he's with God." Campbell, the alleged hijacker, is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 29. 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. Dividends offer investors an incredible strategy to building long-term wealth, especially when those dividends are reinvested. Not only do the following stocks all offer a dividend yield exceeding 5%, they all have their own reasons to be held forever. Let's dig in. Heating up Global renewable energy is on fire right now, in a good way. Global annual renewable capacity additions jumped by nearly 50% in 2023, which was the fastest growth rate over the past two decades. It was also the 22nd consecutive year that renewable capacity additions set a new record -- this is a trend investors can get behind. Those statistics leave a company like Clearway Energy (NYSE: CWEN) poised to benefit in the years ahead as renewable energy continues to boom. Clearway Energy is one of the largest owners of clean energy generation assets in the U.S. market and its fleet comprises roughly 9,000 MW of net owned generating capacity across 26 states. Those assets include wind, solar, energy storage assets, and environmentally sound natural gas generation facilities. Not only does the Federal Reserve rate cut enable Clearway to more affordably fund acquisitions, the company has multiple investments in renewable energy projects lined up. The company also offers incredible transparency around its dividend, which boasts a yield of 5.5% currently, with a 5% to 8% target growth rate through 2026 and a payout ratio between 80% to 85%. As renewable energy continues to boom, Clearway is a stock you can hold forever while reinvesting its robust dividend. Acquisition and 5G Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) is the largest American telecommunications business by revenue, and the company makes its living primarily off internet and phone subscriptions, as well as equipment sales. But a recent move brings a little more into the fold. Early in September, Verizon announced it had entered into an agreement to acquire Frontier in an all-cash transaction valued at $20 billion. It's a strategic move that will bring in one of the largest pure-play fiber internet providers and will expand Verizon's fiber footprint significantly. The acquisition will also increase scale with 2.2 million fiber subscribers, and management believes it can generate at least $500 million in annual run-rate cost synergies. The reason investors can hold Verizon forever, however, has more to do with its work in 5G. The barriers to entry are so high in the industry that Verizon is likely to remain one of only three companies to boast a nationwide 5G network. Verizon recently increased its dividend, which marked the 18th consecutive year the company's board approved a quarterly dividend increase. Currently Verizon's dividend yield sits at a juicy 6%, and with its acquisition and work with 5G, the company can be held forever. Story continues EV woes Ford Motor Company's (NYSE: F) upside is almost addition by subtraction. While its Ford Blue and Ford Pro divisions are busy printing out profits, Ford's model e unit, responsible for electric vehicles, is doing the opposite and is projected to lose up to $5.5 billion in 2024 alone. The iconic automaker isn't sitting by letting losses mount, however, and has delayed as much as $12 billion in EV investment. Management was spending 40% of capital expenditure on EVs, but that has been slashed down to 30%. Ford has canceled a line of EV SUVs, minimized plans of a battery factory, and attacked the cost structure of its EVs with a "skunkworks" team aiming to develop a low-cost platform targeting prices around $25,000. The auto industry's transition to a future of EVs has been slower than anticipated, and losses might drag on longer than investors would like. But eventually if Ford just breaks even with its model e division, it'll be a huge boost to the bottom line and its ability to increase dividends going forward. The automotive industry is cyclical and also going through an EV revolution, and investors would be wise to hold a stock like Ford long term as it works through its headwinds and reverses EV losses. At current prices Ford's dividend sits at a yield of 5.7%, and often offers investors supplemental dividends when it has extra cash. Buy and hold These three stocks give investors a way to play the booming renewable energy industry, own limited access to the future of 5G, and profit as automakers bring down the prices of EVs. All three companies offer dividend yields that exceed 5%, and they are certainly stocks you can hold forever. Should you invest $1,000 in Ford Motor Company right now? 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The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 3 High-Yield Dividend Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever was originally published by The Motley Fool GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) Its been nearly six months since the owners of Grand Rapids restaurant La Huasteca said they were forced out of the building. (The landlord) gave us 30 days to move out. Weve been looking for a place to move in for the last almost six months. So its been hard, restaurant owner Salvador Oliveros said. Forced to move, Mexican restaurant finds support from GR community Oliveros and his family are originally from Mexico but moved to Grand Rapids in 1999. After high school, Oliveros became passionate about cooking. I started working in some Italian restaurants, American restaurants, and then after that, we had the opportunity to open our own Mexican restaurant (La Huasteca) and that was open for about eight years, he explained. The former site of La Huasteca is located at 1811 Plainfield Ave. near Ann Street. The loss of La Huasteca though, only added to the grief Oliveros was already feeling. Last year, on September 11, we lost our son, Iker. He was only nine years old. And then, as you can imagine, that was extremely difficult for us, Oliveros said, fighting back tears. Its still really hard to think about it. And then, after dealing with that loss, five, six months later, the landlord decided to basically kick us out, you know? So theres like, one thing after another. An undated courtesy photo of Iker Oliveros. An undated courtesy photo of Iker Oliveros. An undated courtesy photo of Iker Oliveros. An undated courtesy photo of Iker Oliveros. An undated courtesy photo of Salvador Oliveros father. In the span of two years, Oliveros lost his father, son and livelihood. Its been hard, Im not going to lie. Its been extremely, extremely hard dealing with my loss of my son and then, like I said, the restaurant, but the most important was losing a son, Oliveros said. He was the best. He was always happy. Always running around. He loved to be in the restaurant. He loved helping, talking to customers. Its those customers, along with family and friends who have been helping him through. Theyve been supporting a lot, text messages, calling, Hey, how you guys doing? If you need anything else, if you need anything, let us know. Hang in there. Hopefully, you get a new location soon. Everybodys saying, As soon as you open, were going to be there supporting you guys,' he said. Oliveros has been able to supplement some income through catering and selling tamales at the Creston Farmers Market, but the process of finding a new location took much longer than he anticipated. We used all of our savings, all of our credit cards, he admitted. A new location recently became available on the corner of Coit Avenue NE and Dale Street, but after finally finding a new place, Oliveros doesnt have the money to open. Since many of La Huastecas customers knew Iker, they wanted to support his family in any way possible. Chef Jenna, well-known owner of Amore, helped the family get a GoFundMe set up, which has raised more than $8,500 as of Monday afternoon. Oliveros plans to use the money toward a deposit on the new location and the first months rent. The Oliveros are getting closer and closer to opening, but the restaurant will no longer be known as La Huasteca. Its going to be Ikers Tacos. I talked to the family and we all felt like its the right decision to honor our son, the boys father explained. A beautiful way to remember him to walk in in the restaurant and see his face every day. A new logo designed for Ikers Tacos. (Courtesy) Chef Jenna Arcidiacono, owner of Amore Trattoria Italiana, helped get a new logo designed for the restaurant, which incorporates Ikers face and tacos, which he loved. Chef Jenna. Shes the best. Shes a really, really good friend Shes part of our family, Oliveros said. The family plans to put a frame next to the logo inside the restaurant where every customer who helped in any way can sign their name. All this is going to happen because of them. Without their support, this will never happen. So theyre helping making our dream come true, and thats like we couldnt ask for anything else. Thats just like, the best way to honor our kid, he said. The new site of Ikers Tacos is on Coit Avenue NE near Dale Street NE. Oliveros hopes to sign a lease on the building the first week of October but said he is still in need of some support. Any small donation will help us to make this come true and I just want (supporters) to know that once we open this is all because of them, for helping, he said. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com. DEMOTTE, Ind. Family members of a northwest Indiana father who passed away days after police responded to his home following calls for help during a medical emergency say body camera footage released last week doesnt tell the full picture of the police response. I want to see the full footage, Rhyker Earls aunt, Miracle Gawlinski, said during a late Monday morning press conference. As a witness to this tragic night, I know theres more footage out there somewhere. There is footage of me screaming, pleading, hes blue, take his pulse, screaming so loud that people outside heard it. Earl, 26, died Sept. 10, two days after Jasper County deputies and emergency medical technicians were called to his DeMotte, Ind., home following a series of epileptic episodes that day. According to family members and a lawsuit, deputies took Earl to the floor during the encounter and handcuffed him with his face in a pillow. Newly released body camera video shows law enforcement encounter with Indiana man who died after medical call Gawlinski said the video that was released Friday is missing moments from the night of Sept. 8, including footage that should show her running out of the house screaming you just killed him and other footage that should show an officer putting his dirty boot on Earls back. Rhyker Earl 26-year-old Rhyker Earl, a father of two, who was prone to having seizures died after an encounter with the police during a medical call for help, family members said. (Image shared with WGN) 26-year-old Rhyker Earl, a father of two, who was prone to having seizures died after an encounter with the police during a medical call for help, family members said. 26-year-old Rhyker Earl, a father of two, who was prone to having seizures died after an encounter with the police during a medical call for help, family members said. The family says Earl was given multiple shots of what appear to be sedatives and became unresponsive before being taken to a hospital. He was eventually removed from life support on Sept. 10th after tests confirmed he had no brain activity. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the Earl family, said the incident should be a teachable moment for America. His family believes that this tragedy was caused by a failure of duty, a lack of training, and a lack of compassion, Crump said. Weve got to make sure that law enforcement knows how to interact with people having medical crises. Jasper County Sheriff Pat Williamson has refuted the claim that responding deputies restricted Earls breathing and said the pillow placed beneath his head was for his own protection. Autopsy results are pending. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. CHICAGO A murder investigation is underway by police after a Chicago woman was found shot to death in the East Side neighborhood Saturday morning. The victims family identified her as Sierra Evans and said she was a beloved sister, daughter, and aunt, who loved everyone. She turned 19 just days before her life was violently ripped away. According to the Chicago Police Department, officers responded to the scene in the 9500 block of South Avenue N around 9:30 a.m. It was a 911 call from a neighbor that brought police to the area, but its believed the shooting took place much earlier. Police said Evans suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. I had to be strong, Jose Vasquez told WGN, describing the heartbreaking moment he found the victim while going outside to his garage to feed neighborhood cats. Vasquez said he has a heart condition and while he couldnt physically help, he knew he needed to at least get someone there. Vasquez said he did his best to relay information to dispatch and expressed how sorry he was to see how the victim lost her life. One dead, one in critical after an early morning shooting in Normal When asked whether anything appeared out of the ordinary, neighbor Claudia Romo said she was gone most of the day prior due to working a double shift, but when she arrived home late at night, nothing raised a red flag. It was so dark. My alleys always dark, its never lit. I hardly ever look sideways because I cant see anything anyway, said Romo. In the morning, I woke up to 10 million squad cars surrounding my house. It was extra scary. Romo said she was told to keep any children inside due to a crime scene investigation right outside her home. She claimed officers at the scene told her it is believed the shooting may have happened late Friday night. If I would have been home, I probably would have been able to save her, but I wasnt because I stayed at work and I worked a double, so I feel kind of guilty, said Romo. She was a whole baby, 19 years old, her whole life ahead of her. She hasnt even lived a quarter of her life and its already gone. According to Romo, investigators collected evidence from her yard after several bullets went through the fence. On Sunday morning she came outside to lay a candle and pay her respects to the woman whose story has left her heart shattered. Its something I feel like I had to do, said Romo. I hope they find whoever did it because thats not right. No matter what the person did, they never deserved to be gunned down like that, especially not that young. Family members of Evans said she had dreams she hoped to accomplish and wanted to have children of her own one day. Theyre pleading with anyone who has information to help them get justice, to come forward to police. 24-year-old Elgin resident shot and killed in Streamwood overnight, police say Its not believed there were any other 911 calls, including for shots fired, aside from the neighbor who found the victim, forcing investigators to piece together a timeline to determine when everything allegedly happened. Up until a week ago, the city utilized ShotSpotter, which alerted officers to incidents of gunfire and approximate locations almost instantaneously, regardless of whether a 911 call was made. The technology, which also served the area where Evans was shot and killed, was decommissioned city-wide after the mayor declined to sign a new contract, a move largely opposed by a majority of aldermen, including 10th Ward Alderman Peter Chico. Chico, in a statement to WGN, extended his condolences to the Evans family. I am saddened by this tragic incident. This was a young woman who had her life ahead of her. My heart goes out to her family, and I will be working with the Chicago Police Department going forward. No arrests have been announced and area detectives are investigating. Anyone with information is asked to contact Chicago police or submit a tip anonymously at CPDTip.com. A GoFundMe has been set up to help with burial expenses. For more information you can visit the link 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. Family's easement will have a profound impact on land preservation in Florida: 'Forever benefiting both people and nature' Thanks to a $350,000 grant from the Bishop-Parker Foundation, the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast is poised to enter into an easement agreement with the Garst family that will protect 58 acres of land in Florida's East Manatee County. As detailed by the Bradenton Herald in June, property owner Bunny Garst made the land available for the foundation to purchase in honor of her late husband, Claflin Garst Jr. Unfortunately, as the Herald noted, the surrounding area has been increasingly losing animal habitats to construction, but the easement will help ensure that a variety of wildlife from Florida burrowing owls to gopher tortoises and frogs will continue to have a home. Because of the sale's easement status, Garst and any future owners will be able to live and ranch on the land. However, developments will be limited, protecting water quality for Bradenton and Tampa Bay area residents, as well as supporting native plants and wildlife. In particular, the longleaf pine trees on the property are crucial habitats for endangered species. "Once the conservation easement is in place, the land will remain undeveloped, forever benefiting both people and nature," Conservation Foundation spokesperson Sam Valentin told the Herald in an email. As the news publication pointed out, this isn't the first time Garst has taken action to preserve Florida's ecosystems. In 2022, she sold more than 14 acres to the Conservation Foundation as part of another easement agreement honoring her late husband. At the time, the foundation highlighted how the sale also benefited residents by offering flood protection, with natural habitats limiting rain and surface water runoff from storms, which have become more intense as global temperatures have warmed. Now, with another 58 acres set for protection, the Conservation Foundation believes continued land management efforts could pave the path for further restoration initiatives, including the reintroduction of native species, per the Herald. Do you think America does a good job of protecting its natural beauty? Click your choice to see results and speak your mind While the organization didn't cite specific potential projects, restoration efforts elsewhere have yielded exciting results. In Oregon, for example, a threatened fish species is thriving after 30 years of action to protect it from an invasive species that was outcompeting it for resources. At the time of the Herald's report, the easement was expected to be final over the next few months. While none of the parties involved has disclosed the total sale amount, the donation from the Bishop-Parker Foundation was the securing factor. "Ned and Patty Bishop and Mary Parker greatly valued Manatee County's waterways and natural features," Wendy Deming, the nonprofit's CEO, said in a statement published by the Herald. "The environment was an integral part of why they lived here, so the foundation wants to do all it can to protect Manatee County's shorelines and natural lands." 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. Austrians went to the polls on Sept. 29, handing victory to the far-right, anti-migration Freedom Party (FPO). The party gained 29% of the vote, its best result to date. Founded in 1956 by Anton Reinthaller, a former Nazi SS officer, the party has long been climbing into the country's mainstream, taking part in three right-wing governments as a junior coalition partner, most recently in 2017. Under the current leadership of Herbert Kickl, a controversial figure in Austrian politics, the party supported lifting sanctions imposed against Russia. Kickl has also repeatedly spoken against providing Ukraine with military aid, arguing that Austria's policy of neutrality should be preserved. Kickl said he was willing to seek chancellorship, and would serve as a "Volkskanzler" or "Chancellor of the People" a term used in Nazi German to refer to Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. The results mark the latest win for the far-right, Kremlin-friendly parties in Central Europe. The Austrian election came just weeks after Ukraine-skeptic parties made gains in state elections in eastern Germany and a year after Robert Fico won Slovakia's election on an anti-Ukraine, populist platform. Read also: Opinion: Europe faces 3 choices in combating the far-right surge Kickl's European allies As the election results became clear, the FPO's victory was lauded by the far-right across the continent, such as Alice Wiedel, who heads Germany's Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, and Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV). French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said she was "delighted" with the FPO's win, while Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban congratulated Kickl, posting on social media that the results were "another win for the patriots." FPO is part of a grouping in the European Parliament called Patriots for Europe, formed in June 2024 by Kickl, Orban, and former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis. Protest in front of the Austrian parliament building following Austrian parliamentary elections on Sept. 29, 2024 in Vienna, Austria.(Christian Bruna/Getty Images) Other European parties, including the Netherlands' PVV and France's National Rally, joined the grouping shortly before the European Parliament elections in July. The grouping went on to win 84 seats in the 720-seat European Parliament. The FPO's gains at Austria's legislative level are "worrying," Andreas Umland, an analyst at the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies, told the Kyiv Independent. There are now three neighboring countries, namely Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia, where a Ukraine-skeptic party has become the largest political force. These parties could be characterized as "pro-Russian, either ideologically or strategically," Umland said. Austria's neutrality complex The far-right parties across Europe differ in terms of ideology, but they are united by the one shared belief that Kyiv should not receive military support, Sebastian Schaeffer, the director of the Vienna-based Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe, told the Kyiv Independent. Their rhetoric follows typical Kremlin narratives, such as needing peace above all else and that supporting Ukraine prolongs the war, Schaeffer said. In Austria, however, neutrality is a particularly important topic. Austrians value the narrative of their own post-World War II neutrality to such an extent that it's practically "become a myth in itself," according to Schaeffer. Austria is not a member of NATO, and a poll in May 2023 showed that 60% of Austrians are against becoming a member of the alliance. The poll also found that 21% of Austrians considered EU support for Ukraine in the face of Russia's invasion "not important at all." While the FPO primarily campaigned on an anti-immigration platform, the party has long presented itself as the political force that will ensure Austria's "neutrality" in the face of threats to global security. FPO lawmakers left the Austrian parliament building in March 2023 when President Volodymyr Zelensky came to give a speech, showing signs advocating for "peace" and "neutrality." "We are neither on the Russian nor the Ukrainian side," Kickl said, referring to FPO MPs as "neutrality advocates." Read also: Ukraine-skeptic parties win big in German state elections, tilting political landscape in Russias favor Relations with Russia The FPO's track record suggests otherwise. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Kickl has opposed military aid to Kyiv and Ukraine's accession to the EU and argued sanctions against Russia do more harm to Austria than good. In 2016, the FPO became the first and only party in Europe to sign a partnership agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party. In 2018, Kickl visited Moscow while holding the position of Austrian Interior Minister. Although Kickl claimed in 2021 that the partnership agreement with United Russia had expired, Schaeffer believes the ties between the FPO and Russia remain intact. The first interview that Kickl gave following the vote was not to the Austrian state broadcaster but to a new local outlet called Auf 1, which describes itself as "alternative, independent television." "It's one of the worst conspiracy theory-spinning media that is out there," Schaeffer said. "It's fairly clear that they need money to exist." "I would bet almost all my savings that this is being funded through the channels that date back to the partnership agreement," Schaeffer said. "I think they are continuing to cooperate." If proven, it would not be the first case of a Moscow-backed media network seeking to influence European politics. In March, the Czech authorities announced Viktor Medvedchuk, a Kremlin-linked former Ukrainian oligarch, and Artem Marchevskyi, a media manager who used to work at one of Medvedchuk's TV channels, were behind an outlet called Voice of Europe. Voice of Europe reportedly centered around the promotion of pro-Russian narratives and paying Kremlin-friendly politicians ahead of the European Parliament elections. The question remains whether the FPO will be able to influence Austria's policies toward Ukraine on a legislative level. With a projected 56 seats in a 183-seat parliament, the FPO will have to form a coalition in order to rule. "I think the FPO will not become a governmental party, as far as I have understood," Umland said. "There will most probably be a coalition of the other parties against the FPO, like what we see in the regional parliaments in eastern Germany." "There, the AfD is the strongest, but other parties have teamed up to exclude them," Umland said. In the same way, mainstream Austrian party leaders have already signaled they are opposed to forming a government with the FPO. The ruling center-right Austrian People's Party came second with 26% of the vote, while the Social Democrats, who are firmly against the FPO, came third with 21%. The two parties have enough seats to form a coalition. The liberal NEOS party and the Greens were also able to hold seats, and have also ruled out working with FPO. Kickl said he is open to forming a government with "each and every one" of the parties in Austria's parliament. It's unlikely that anyone would agree. Read also: Is Telegram, Ukraines most popular messenger app, a Russian Trojan horse? Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Berlin Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPO) emerged Monday as the winners in national parliamentary elections, marking a first victory for a far-right Austrian party since World War II. The Freedom Party, led by Herbert Kickl, secured 29.2% of the vote, topping the center-right Austrian People's Party with 26.5% and the Social Democrats with 21%. The far-right win reflects a broader European trend of rising popularity for nationalist, anti-immigration parties, fueled by public frustration over issues including inflation, the war in Ukraine and rising migrant populations. Kickl's party has drawn widespread attention for its anti-immigrant, nationalist rhetoric, with the party campaigning on a vow to seal the country's borders to create "Fortress Austria." Lead candidate of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) Herbert Kickl celebrates with supporters at the FPO election evening party following Austrian parliamentary elections, Sept. 29, 2024, in Vienna, Austria. / Credit: SeanGallup/Getty The Freedom Party has promised a crackdown on immigration, including the forced "remigration" of non-Austrian nationals and stricter control over asylum laws. Kickl, a former interior minister, has also been critical of Austria's participation in international sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. The party leader has promised to lead Austria as a "Volkskanzler," or chancellor of the people a term used by the German Nazi party to refer to Adolf Hitler. His campaign leaned heavily on nationalist sentiment, with promises to restrict immigration and distance Austria from European Union policies on Ukraine and Russia. The results of Austria's vote largely mirror the trend seen in recent elections in neighboring Germany, where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party made significant gains. The AfD won big in rural areas in Germany's state elections, taking more than 30% of the vote in the states of Thuringia and Saxony. Despite its victory, the Freedom Party did not win anywhere near enough of the vote to form a new government on its own, so it will need to find partners to build a governing coalition. That is certain to prove a challenge. Austria's other major parties, including the center-right FPO and the Social Democrats, have already said they will not form a coalition with the far-right, raising doubts about the path to power for Kickl's party. Without a coalition partner, the Freedom Party may struggle to build the necessary majority in parliament to for the next government. The same situation is faced by the AfD in Germany, where the party's rise has been met with firm opposition from the established parties, making it difficult for them to participate in government. The election results also highlight the decline of the center-right in Austria, which has been in power in various coalitions for the last decade. Current Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who led the People's Party to second place on Sunday, saw his party lose significant ground compared to its 2019 results, as many Austrians appeared to blame the center-right movement for Austria's economic challenges and some controversial policies, including a temporary COVID vaccine mandate. Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Social Democrat SPD also saw their popularity wane in the recent state elections in the eastern states of Saxony and Thuringia. Kickl's ascent has not been without controversy, including allegations during his tenure as interior minister that the FPO was involved in the 2019 "Ibiza Affair," a corruption scandal that brought down the Freedom Party's last coalition government with the center-right. But he has, since then, helped rebuild the party's reputation much like the AfD in Germany, in part by positioning it as a defender of national sovereignty and staunch critic of the EU. Both Kickl and his counterparts in Germany now face major hurdles in converting their electoral success into governance. Caitlin Clark, Napheesa Collier on WNBA's success in watershed season | 60 Minutes In Finland, classes in recognizing fake news, disinformation Ina Garten: Recipe for success The FBI has agreed to pay more than $22 million to settle a sexual discrimination lawsuit that alleged female academy recruits were singled out and harassed. I think this is an extraordinary settlement and one that may make a real change in the culture of the FBI, David J. Schaffer, an attorney for the women, said Monday. The sexist attitudes that women experience throughout the Bureau start from the beginning. The payout will go to 34 women who were dismissed from the FBIs Quantico, Va., training academy. Its still subject to approval by a federal judge, The Associated Press reported. The lawsuit, filed in 2019 in Washington, D.C. district court, alleged female recruits in the FBI were subjected to hostile work environments as well as outdated gender stereotypes and suffered retaliation or other types of harassment based on their gender. The women were judged more harshly than male colleagues, were excessively targeted for correction, were dismissed in tactical situations for having a perceived lack of judgment, and were forced to resign under pressure or constructively discharged, the lawsuit alleged. The suit covered two groups of women: new agent trainees and intelligence analyst trainees. Mondays settlement focuses on the agent trainees who were dismissed from the bureau after passing a series of academic and training tests, while their male counterparts were not. The class action settlement Monday primarily focused on the subjective decision making that led to new agent trainees being dismissed at higher rates than men, lead attorney Christine Webber said. Intelligence analyst trainees said they were harassed by instructors with comments about their breast size, needing to take contraception to control their moods, and false allegations of infidelity. One woman was told to smile more and was the subject of several sexual advances, and another woman said an instructor stared at her chest while sometimes licking his lips, the AP reported. The lawsuit said the FBI allowed the Good Old Boy Network to flourish unrestrained through passive tolerance. Most instructors were male, the lawsuit said, who had no guidance and were able to dismiss an agent at their choosing. The year after the lawsuit was filed, an investigation from the AP identified several senior FBI officials in sexual misconduct claims. A 2022 report from the Office of the Inspector General evaluated gender equity in the FBIs training for new agents and found female trainees were dismissed at rates higher than males and there was a disparity of treatment that led to underrepresentation. The FBI later installed a 24/7 tip line and pledged to take more action against agents who have committed misconduct and to help accusers. Schaffer said Monday that the FBI will hire an industrial organizational psychologist, independent of the agency, to review its evaluation processes and find underlying biases to change training for female recruits long before they become agents. He also said former Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) deserves a lot of credit for the settlement and for her work getting the House Judiciary Committee to open an investigation. Paula Bird, a lead plaintiff in the case, said in a statement she is pleased that the settlement will bring a measure of justice to the women who were unfairly dismissed from the FBI. Bird said she hopes the bureau will implement changes that will give women a fair shot in the future. Webber said the settlement will allow the plaintiffs the option to be reinstated at the FBI, if they choose. I hope that moving forward, well be seeing more women entering training knowing that they will have a level playing field and more women becoming special agents. And I think that will be all for the betterment of the FBI, Webber said. In a statement to The Hill, the FBI said it cannot comment on pending litigation but said our people are our most important asset. We have taken significant steps over the past five years to further ensure gender equity in the training and development of all our trainees. This includes revisions to our trainee evaluation processes and additional training for Training Division personnel. Updated at 12:52 p.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. A federal judge Monday overturned Georgias heartbeat law banning abortion essentially after six weeks of pregnancy. In a 26-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Robert McBurney declared the law an unconstitutional violation of womens privacy and equal protection rights. This dispute is fundamentally about the extent of a womans right to control what happens to and within her body, McBurney wrote. The baseline rule is clear: a legally competent person has absolute authority over her body and should brook no governmental interference in what she does and does not do in terms of health, hygiene, and the like. The Republican-controlled General Assembly passed the Living Infants and Equality (LIFE) Act in 2019 banning abortion in Georgia after a fetal heartbeat is detected. The law included exceptions for rape, incest, and medical emergencies, defined as a life-threatening condition or threat of irreversible physical impairment to the mother. But federal courts blocked the law from taking effect until 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. The reproductive rights group SisterSong filed a lawsuit challenging the law and won an initial ruling by McBurney in November 2022 declaring the ban unconstitutional. However, the Georgia Supreme Court reversed McBurneys decision a year later and remanded the case back to Fulton County Superior Court, leading to Mondays decision. McBurney ruled that Georgias law governing abortion must revert to where it stood before lawmakers passed the heartbeat legislation in 2019, which based the right to abortion on the viability of the fetus, typically between 23 and 24 weeks. Abortion has been among the most hotly contested issues of this presidential election year. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, traveled to Atlanta Sept. 20 to put the blame for the deaths of two Georgia women in 2022 on the U.S. Supreme Court for overturning Roe v. Wade. Amber Thurman and Candi Miller died after taking abortion medication left them with some fetal tissue remaining in their uteruses. Doctors worried about running afoul of Georgias abortion ban delayed caring for Thurman for 20 hours, while Miller sought to treat herself rather than see a doctor because of the same concerns. While Harris has called for codifying the Roe v. Wade ruling into federal law, former President Donald Trump the Republican nominee has supported leaving the abortion issue to the states. Fewer vets will be on the November ballot for Congress this year Fewer candidates with military experience are running for Congress this fall than in 2022, and the total number of veterans in the House and Senate next session could fall to its lowest level since World War II, according to an analysis of candidates by Military Times. But veteran representation in the halls of the Capitol is expected to remain much higher than in the public at large. Currently, about 6% of the U.S. population has served or is serving in the military. In comparison, about 18% of House and Senate lawmakers spent time in the ranks. Advocates say thats good news, since veterans bring important perspectives to key issues facing congressional responsibilities. Here are all the veterans running for Congress in 2024 That type of lived experience is invaluable when it comes to national security debates, said Allison Jaslow, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Its essential to have a decent amount of veterans in office to protect the military, track veterans issues first-hand. There are plenty of civilians who do good work on issues like mental health and veterans care, but individuals who have lived it are more likely to engage thoughtfully on them. Fewer veteran candidates In 2022, 196 candidates with military backgrounds won primaries for House and Senate races. Of that group, 97 17 Senate candidates and 80 House hopefuls won their races. This year, the number of primary winners who are veterans is down almost 10%, to 181. The smaller pool means the number of November election victors is also likely to drop. Veteran representation in Congress peaked in the 1970s, when the number of veterans in both chambers reached 400. But after the introduction of the all-volunteer military force, both the number of veterans in America and the number running for Congress dropped steadily. In 1980, more than 29 million veterans were living in the United States. Today that total is less than 18 million. That population change is largely to blame for the decrease in congressional numbers. In 1986, the number of veterans who won congressional elections fell below 300 for the first time in almost four decades. It dropped below 200 for the first time in 1996. In 2014, it fell below 100. The 116th Congress, which began in 2021, opened with 91 veterans among its members, the lowest total since the end of World War II. Depending on the outcome of races this year, the total for next years Congress could slip below that benchmark. Even as the totals have dropped, the number of younger veterans mounting and winning congressional bids has grown in recent years. In 2018, 54 veteran candidates started their military careers before 1980, versus 44 who joined the military after 2000. This year, 55 veteran candidates started after 2000, against 38 who signed onto military service before 1980. Of the 75 candidates this cycle with a combat zone deployment, 62 of them served in Iraq, Afghanistan or both. Breaking down the number of veterans in the 118th Congress Understanding the military About 70% of the candidates with military experience are running as Republicans. Thats slightly higher than in recent years, with GOP candidates usually averaging about 65% of the field. But Jaslow who served with the Army in Iraq said some of the shared political background of those candidates can blunt the partisan divide between the major parties. These are people who have already sacrificed and served on behalf of their country, she said. House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill. a Marine Corps veteran himself said his panels work depends on that first-person perspective. There are non-veterans on the committee too, but if youre a disabled veteran, or a decorated veteran, there is a different understanding, he said. The combat veterans on the committee in particular have always been a great help, because they have had to maneuver the Veterans Affairs health care system themselves. Theres just so much more wisdom thats available from their experiences. Ten of the committees 25 members are military veterans. Two are among the seven women veterans serving in the House and Senate. With Trump pick, JD Vance is first post-9/11 vet on major party ticket The presidential factor Not included in the list of congressional candidates are the two vice presidential nominees Democrat Tim Walz and Republican JD Vance both of whom served in the military. Vance enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduating high school and served a four-year stint as a combat correspondent, during which he escorted civilian press and wrote articles for a military news service. He deployed to Iraq in 2005. Walz served 24 years in the Minnesota National Guard, deploying to Europe in support of overseas operations in Afghanistan. His departure from the military months ahead of his units deployment to Iraq has become a point of contention on the campaign trail. This year marks the first time since 2004 that both major party presidential tickets have included a candidate with military experience. In that race, it was the presidential hopefuls themselves, Republican George W. Bush and Democrat John Kerry. Having two candidates who are both veterans and both post-9/11 veterans, thats an exciting moment for our country, Jaslow said. And it sends a message. Whether that veteran vice president will have fewer veteran colleagues in Congress or a larger caucus to work with will be decided by voters on Nov. 5. WASKOM, Texas (KTAL/KSHV) Three members of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 were hospitalized after a crash in East Texas Sunday. Authorities said the crew was part of a 48-person team heading to North Carolina to support Hurricane Helene relief efforts. Around 2:45 a.m., their F-350 reportedly crashed on I-20 near the border of Texas and Louisiana. Monica Munoz, a representative for the city of San Diego, said all three SDFD members were flown to Oschner LSU Health Hospital for treatment of their injuries. The remaining team members were sent to Waskom, Texas, to await further instructions. Our prayers are with these three brave firefighters, their families and loved ones, as they are being treated in Louisiana, said Mayor Todd Gloria. Weve seen the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene, and we know how critical it is to have water-rescue specialists responding to disasters like this one. These first responders put their own lives on the line every day, here at home and around the country when called. They embody the courage, bravery and service that defines our San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 getting ready for Hurricane Helene relief mission (Source: City of San Diego) San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 getting ready for Hurricane Helene relief mission (Source: City of San Diego) San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 getting ready for Hurricane Helene relief mission (Source: City of San Diego) San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 getting ready for Hurricane Helene relief mission (Source: City of San Diego) San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 getting ready for Hurricane Helene relief mission (Source: City of San Diego) San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 getting ready for Hurricane Helene relief mission (Source: City of San Diego) Task Force 8 left San Diego for North Carolina early Friday evening. Team members include Type III water rescue personnel from SDFD, Carlsbad, Chula Vista, El Cajon, La Mesa, Rancho Santa Fe, San Marcos and Santee fire departments. Joining them is an emergency room doctor, two firefighters from the Riverside Fire Department, a civilian structural engineer and a mechanic with the City of San Diego Fleet Services. Child killed, another seriously injured in Claiborne Parish crash SDFD Fire Chief Robert Logan and Deputy Chief Steve Lozano left San Diego early Sunday morning, heading to Shreveport, Louisiana. The news of this crash is devastating. We are doing everything we can to offer support to our department and those team members and their families who were part of this deployment, said SDFD Assistant Chief James Gaboury. The cause of the crash 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 KTALnews.com. By Brendan Pierson (Reuters) - A Missouri mother and her lawyers this week will aim to convince a jury that Abbott, Reckitt's Mead Johnson and St. Louis Children's Hospital are responsible for a severe intestinal illness that she says her premature son got from the companies' formulas after he was born at the hospital. The closely watched trial in St. Louis, Missouri state court, which begins with jury selection on Monday, is part of sprawling litigation that has already resulted in verdicts of $60 million against Reckitt and $495 million against Abbott. Close to 1,000 similar cases are still pending nationwide. Plaintiffs argue that giving cow's milk-based formula to premature babies - especially the smallest ones, born weighing less than about 1,500 grams or about three pounds - greatly increases their risk of developing necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). That condition has an estimated fatality rate of more than 20%. They also say the companies had a legal responsibility to warn about that risk, but failed to do so. Both companies said in statements that the lawsuit's claims are not supported by evidence and that their products are essential for premature babies. St. Louis Children's did not respond to a request for comment on the litigation. Large verdicts in the two cases that have so far gone to trial have raised alarm among doctors who fear losing access to products they depend on to feed babies. Abbott and Reckitt are the only companies selling the formulas at issue, which are specialized products used in newborn intensive care units. In a July investor call, Abbott CEO Robert Ford suggested that they might become unavailable because of the litigation. Reckitt also said it was considering "strategic options" for its formula division. The products for premature babies are not big sellers, bringing Abbott only about $9 million and Reckitt less than $1 million annually, according to company spokespersons. "I would say there's a genuine panic," said Jonathan Davis, who is Chief of Newborn Medicine at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. Doctors say the benefits of breast milk for premature babies on a wide range of measures including lower rates of NEC have been known for years, and are reflected in hospital feeding practices. But, they say, formula remains vital to feed babies when the mother's or donated breast milk is unavailable or insufficient. "I would love if every mother could give me breast milk. They can't," said Jill Maron, chief of pediatrics at Women & Infants Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. "If I don't have access to these products, babies will die." Story continues 'MESSAGE OF FEAR' Tor Hoerman, a lawyer who represents the plaintiff who won the $495 million verdict and others, said doctors are responding to a "message of fear" pushed by the manufacturers, who were unnecessarily suggesting that the products might be withdrawn. "Nobody is requesting that the product be pulled from the market," Hoerman said. Instead, he said, the companies "could put a simple warning about risk" on the formulas' labels. At the upcoming trial, plaintiff Elizabeth Whitfield will urge the jury to find that the companies and the hospital were negligent under Missouri law. She says her son, who was born at less than 28 weeks in August 2017, developed NEC the following month as a result of being fed formula and required surgery to remove part of his intestine. Whitfield's son, like many NEC survivors who have surgery, "continues to suffer from permanent and severe injuries," according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit and others like it are separate from cases over allegedly contaminated formula from an Abbott factory in Michigan. There are no allegations that the premature baby formula was contaminated. The science around NEC, breast milk and formula feeding remains unsettled. A recent report from a U.S. National Institutes of Health working group said that current evidence "supports the hypothesis that it is the absence of human milk rather than the exposure to formula that is associated with an increase in the risk of NEC." The manufacturers say that a label warning that formula can cause NEC would be unsupported. And because doctors are already aware of the research, they say, a label would not change anything. Several neonatologists interviewed by Reuters said they worried that a warning label could make parents believe formula was unsafe even when it was the best available option. The NEC Society, a patient-led organization devoted to fighting the disease, has said that formula is sometimes necessary and that lawsuits are not part of its strategy. "What I would love for everyone to focus on is how we increase equitable access to mother's milk and pasteurized donor milk," said NEC Society Director Jennifer Canvasser, who founded the organization after losing her own son to the disease. (This story has been corrected to fix Jonathan Davis' title to Chief of Newborn Medicine at Tufts Medical Center, in paragraph 9) (Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Anna Driver) BROOKSVILLE, Fla. (WFLA) A Firefighter was sent to the hospital after Fire Rescue responded to a mobile home fire in Brooksville. Hernando County Fire Rescue responded to reports of a mobile home on fire at the 1200 block of Sunshine Grove Road just after 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, according to Hernando County Fire Rescue. Firefighters arrived on the scene to find heavy fire through the roof of the mobile home. When working to get the fire out, Fire Rescue had a difficult time gaining entry through the windows and doors that were obstructed. Wrong-way driver strikes Hillsborough deputy nearly head-on on Skyway Bridge: FHP According to Hernando Fire Rescue, a large amount of ammunition inside the home made it difficult for firefighters. Fire Rescue got the fire under control within an hour of arriving on the scene. One officer was transported to a local hospital for a medical-related issue, no other injuries were reported, Fire Rescue 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 WFLA. For the first time in a decade, Cirque du Soleil returns to State College STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (WTAJ) For the first time in over 10 years, Cirque du Soleil is turning State College on its head with its 2025 tour. With what they call OVO, Cirque du Soleil will return to State College with a newly revised high-energy and high-acrobatic production. The show will be held at the Bryce Jordan Center from March 26 to March 30. The company touts that OVO will explore beauty, biodiversity, contrasts and vibrancy as only Cirque du Soleil can do. Three new acts were recently added to the show in 2022 that will delight audiences of all ages. Events coming to Bryce Jordan Center to end 2024 Those in charge said that OVO is a headlong rush into a colorful ecosystem, full of life in a non-stop riot of energy and movement. OVO means egg in Portuguese. Its a timeless symbol of the life cycle and birth of numerous insects, underlying the thread of the colorful show. 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. Cirque Club pre-sale starts Monday at 10 a.m. General public on-sale begins on October 7, 2024. Tickets for OVO are available online at cirquedusoleil.com/ovo. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Five Americans have been arrested in a sweep launched by Venezuelas socialist regime to dismantle what the government claims is mercenary force assembled by the CIA and Spains intelligence service to topple strongman Nicolas Maduro. According to regime officials and regime-affiliated news outlets, more than 40 people have been arrested so far in connection to the alleged plot, which also include a Czech and two Spanish citizens. A very important group of foreign hitmen and mercenaries have been captured and are in the hands of the Venezuelan justice system and there is full evidence that the CIA and the Spanish CNI (Center for National Intelligence) are against peace in Venezuela, Maduro said in a televised event. Maduro officials had reported earlier this month that four Americans had been arrested, but news outlets controlled by the regime announced late last week that a fifth U.S. citizen had been detained in Barinas state. In the past, the regime has used the Americans it has held in custody as bargaining chips to be exchanged for concessions from the U.S. government. Last week, the State Department issued a new advisory warning Americans not to visit the South American country. Do not travel to Venezuela due to the high risk of wrongful detentions, terrorism, kidnapping, the arbitrary enforcement of local laws, crime, civil unrest, poor health infrastructure, the advisory said. Venezuelan officials claim they have also discovered 400 rifles that were meant to be used against the regime. Among those arrested is Navy SEAL Petty Officer First Class Wilbert Joseph Castaneda, who was arrested late August and is being accused of heading the network organized to overthrow the regime. The identities of the four other Americans arrested have not been made public. Newly appointed Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello earlier this month accused Castaneda of being in charge of organizing different cells that were to be trained with the weapons as part of CIA and CNI plot. The accusation was refuted soon after by the U.S. government. Any claims of U.S. involvement in a plot to overthrow Maduro are categorically false. The United States continues to support a democratic solution to the political crisis in Venezuela, the State Department said in a statement after the initial arrests were announced. Since Maduro assumed the presidency in 2013, his regime has denounced more than two dozen different plots to topple or assassinate him, often as a prelude to massive arrests. Besides the 40 people arrested in relation to the latest alleged plot, more than 2,000 others have been detained by the regime after the unrest created by the announcement that Maduro had won the presidential election held in July with close to 52% of the vote. The Venezuelan opposition claims that its presidential candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, was the real winner of the vote, and published the official vote tallies showing that Gonzalez had won by a margin of more than 2-1. Most of the international community agrees that the regimes announcement does not look credible and has urged Maduro to present the official tallies confirming his claim that he won, but he has so far failed to do so. JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) Five Northeast Tennessee school systems will remain out at least through Oct. 4, their leaders announced Sunday. Additionally, Elizabethton City Schools and most colleges and universities are closed for at least part of the week. Dad walks nearly 30 miles through flood debris to walk daughter down the aisle Johnson, Carter, Unicoi, Greene and Washington counties all of which received devastating flood impacts Friday will be out at least Monday through Friday. East Tennessee State Universitys classes are canceled through Wednesday, and Tusculum University will hold all classes online through at least Oct. 15. Milligan and Emory & Henry universities and TCAT-Elizabethtons campuses wont have classes on Monday. Elizabethton Schools will remain closed through Wednesday. Elizabethton High School is serving as a command center for flood relief efforts. All the decisions are subject to extension depending on circumstances, and at least two school superintendents made it clear students could be out for even longer. Unicoi County was entering its pre-scheduled fall break Monday, but Superintendent John English said he wasnt sure at this point whether classes would resume Monday, Oct. 7 in the extremely hard-hit county. I would say its unlikely well be ready a week from tomorrow to resume school, but we would want our students to know that they are our priority and we want to get back in front of them as soon as we possibly can and we look forward to that, during a Sunday morning news conference. Flood victims recount river rescues and attempts English said many schools are being utilized as command centers and shelters. He said getting students back in the classroom will be a process, and therell be a lot of factors that go into that in terms of accessibility and power. Johnson County Superintendent Mischelle Simcox said shell meet with the countys road superintendent and sheriff late this week to reassess the current one-week closure. The safety of our students and our citizens is our top priority, she told News Channel 11. Greene County has a fall break starting Oct. 7. Superintendent David McClain said that with the disruption of water service, a longer hiatus remains possible. He said the destruction of the main bridge by which many students reach Chuckey-Doak High School and Chuckey Elementary will complicate transportation to those two schools indefinitely. This is a 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 WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather. FLASHBACK: Walz doubled down on support for government-run health care during gubernatorial campaign Minnesota's Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who is currently running to be the next vice president of the United States, once said in a gubernatorial debate that he supports "single-payer health care," also known as "Medicare-for-all." "I think that's probably the path where we end up," Walz said in a 2018 debate while running for governor when asked, "Are you for single-payer?" "And I say that because, be very clear about this, there were no protections for preexisting conditions before the ACA," Walz continued. "A vote for the ACA was the first time in this nation's history we had those protections and making sure people have that protection, making sure they were covered, and then making sure we were focused on preventative care, people were finally getting that under the ACA, we started to see health outcomes improve and that's the real key to driving down insurance premium prices." Walz went on to say "let's be very clear" that there is "no market in health care." Minnesota Gop Leader Sounds Alarm On Walz Trying To 'Bamboozle' Rural Voters: 'Bernie Sanders In Flannel' Tim Walz expressed support for single-payer health care in a 2018 debate. "Because markets by nature would be a failure if someone didn't have it, there's not going to be, you cannot simply shrink a pool to the sickest people and say that's where we are going to manage them when they're in crisis. That's not the way to go about this. The way to go about this is making sure everybody has that preventative care, making sure everybody has that access on the front end, you start to drive down prices. The ACA did that." Read On The Fox News App Walz's opponent, Republican Jeff Johnson, then pressed Walz on the issue. "I'm not sure what your answer was. Do you support single-payer health care?" "Yes," Walz said. "That was the answer I just gave you." Walz Blasted For Huddling With George Soros' Son At Nyc Luxury Apartment: 'Billionaire Nepo Baby' Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during the International Association of Fire Fighters Convention on August 28, 2024, in Boston. Johnson interjected, "Are you for it?" "Yes," Walz said. "I'm going to push for not paying twice as much as any other industrialized nation. Getting half for it. I'm making sure that the 14 top nations that get the best returns at the least cost make sure you cut out that piece that is simply payer getting between people and their doctors." When Johnson countered that "single-payer" means "everybody loses their insurance" and "forced on to one government plan," Walz countered, "We can do better." Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at a campaign rally in Savannah, Georgia, Aug. 29, 2024. The comments from Walz come under the backdrop of Vice President Kamala Harris supporting "Medicare-for-all" when she ran for president in 2019. However, in August, her campaign claimed she will not push the subject of single-payer or "Medicare-for-all" during the campaign. In 2019, Fox News spoke to Harris in the hallways of Capitol Hill, asking about her plans for providing health care. "How important is it to your health care plan to get rid of private insurance companies? Because there is some confusion about that," Peter Doocy asked Harris on Jan. 30, 2019. "Im glad you asked. Yeah. So, the bottom line and the most important is that everyone have access to health care," Harris said. "That is the goal. That is the purpose for me supporting the policy of Medicare-for-all. "If Congress votes in a way that reflects the values and desires of the American people, then Congress will vote for a policy that gives everyone access to health care," she later said. Her proposed solution was to provide "Medicare-for-all" because "Medicare works" and "its popular." "'Medicare-for-all' will cover all medically necessary services, including emergency room visits, doctor visits, vision, dental, hearing aids, mental health, and substance-use disorder treatment, and comprehensive reproductive health care services," Harris wrote. "It will also allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices." Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign for comment but did not receive a response. Fox News' Greg Wehner and Peter Doocy contributed reporting. Original article source: FLASHBACK: Walz doubled down on support for government-run health care during gubernatorial campaign A number of roads have been flooded following severe weather conditions in Devon [Axminster Fire Station] Motorists have been urged not to drive through floods by a fire service after several vehicles became stranded. Axminster Fire Station said two vehicles got stuck at Weycroft Bridge and vehicles were stranded on Trafalgar Way and in Whitford. Devon and Cornwall Police said the road at Weycroft Bridge had been closed due to the flooding. Axminster resident Gurjeet Bains said fields had flooded and conditions were "bleak". Devon County Council urged motorists to find alternative routes after flooding was reported on the A3052 Boshill Hill in Colyford, Whitford Road in Musbury, and Station Road in Broadclyst. It comes a day after severe weather left two trains "stranded" in Dawlish and Teignmouth. On Monday, National Rail said the disruption had since been cleared. However, Great Western Railway said an obstruction on the track between Westbury and Castle Cary was causing delays for trains travelling between the South West and London. A small yacht was blown onto the tidal road, blocking traffic at Aveton Gifford. Officials said the owners were reported to have been made aware and were planning to remove the boat at the next high tide. 'Fields look like a seafront' Speaking to BBC Radio Devon, Ms Bains said it looked like several inches of water had fallen in Axminster. "The back of my house overlooks fields and it looks like a seafront due to the flooding," Ms Bains said. "Normally when I look out of my window I can see cattle in the fields. "There is no way they will be there today unless they're good swimmers." 'Fast-flowing' flood On its Facebook page, Axminster Fire Station said it had received several calls between 03:51 and 05:30 BST to flooding rescues. It said a crew was called out to Weycroft Bridge after a van became stuck in "fast-flowing" flood water. The fire station added: "Unfortunately, while crews were conducting a rescue on the occupant, a second vehicle entered the flood water and, after floating, came to rest at the rear of the initial vehicle. "Crews then recommitted to the flood water to walk the second person to safety." A police spokesperson added: "The road is expected to remain closed until at least lunchtime." The road by Weycroft Bridge was closed due to flooding [Axminster Fire Station] Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said on social media: "Please don't risk driving through flood water." A fire service spokesperson said no injuries had been reported from any of the incidents. A number of flood alerts and warnings have been issued by the Environment Agency. Follow BBC Devon on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk. More on this story Related internet links Florida Democrats get infusion of cash from DNC as voting by mail is set to begin Leon County School Board candidate Jeremy Rogers and Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried prepare to cast early ballots for the 2024 Florida Primary election on Aug. 12, 2024. (Jay Waagmeester/Florida Phoenix) As supervisors of elections begin mailing out ballots for the 2024 general election this week, Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried announced Monday that the party is getting more financial help from national Democratic Party interests. Whether that can make a difference as the voting is about to begin remains a question, 36 days before Election Day. The Democratic National Committee is making a $400,000 contribution to the state party to help with organizational infrastructure and put more boots on the ground to elect Democrats, Fried said on a Zoom conference call. This investment shows the partys commitment of fighting for Florida, she said, giving praise to DNC Chair Jamie Harrison for showing confidence in the Democrats electoral chances. Because of his leadership, Democrats all across the country will now have the resources to compete, up and down the ballot. Fried noted additional promises of outside help from national Democratic Party-aligned organizations, such as the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committees (DSCC) decision last week to make a multimillion dollar investment in television advertising for the partys hopeful for U.S. Senate, former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. The Phoenix asked the DSCC last week exactly how much money they were investing in Mucarsel-Powell and followed up Monday by asking when the ad(s) would begin running. They did not return either request for comment. The Democratic Campaign Congressional Committee (DCCC) announced last week that they were adding Pinellas County Democratic congressional candidate Whitney Fox to their red to blue program, indicating the national party believes Fox is competitive against Republican incumbent Anna Paulina-Luna in Floridas 13th Congressional District. Fox is the only Democrat from Florida the DCCC has chosen for that program, designed to provide fundraising and organizational assistance to Democrats nationwide trying to flip Republican-held seats. It wont be easy, as Luna won the district by 8 percentage points in 2022. Republicans upbeat Meanwhile, Frieds counterpoint, Republican Party of Florida Chairman Evan Power, continues to play down the Democrats efforts, pointing to the more than 1 million-voter advantage the Republican Party enjoys over the Democrats in registration in the state. I think Nikki Frieds trying to sell a comms strategy to make herself look more powerful, Power told conservative talk-show radio host Drew Steele on Monday. But if you look into the numbers lets dig into the numbers. We have a million-fifty thousand more registered Republicans. Nows the time were going to have to turn them out. And we are going to turn them out. In a separate press release, Power dismissed the outside-Florida money from Democrats attempting to boost Mucarsel-Powell. No amount of New York and California farm money will be able to cover for the fact that Mucarsel-Powell is unknown in many of Floridas counties because she rarely ventures outside of big cities, he said. Senator Scott has visited all 67 counties and knows the local leaders Florida voters trust. Florida voters will turn out to reject the failed policies Democrats have forced our nation to endure over the last four years. A survey of 808 registered voters in Florida by Public Policy Polling on behalf of Clean and Prosperous America taken on Sept. 25-26 shows Scott with a three-point lead over Mucarsel-Powell, 47%-44%. The same survey shows Donald Trump with a four-point lead over Kamala Harris in the Sunshine State, 50%-46%. The survey had a margin of error of +/- 3.5%. A former Republican congressional candidate in Florida has been charged with threatening to send a Russian-Ukrainian hit squad to kill his political opponent during their 2022 primary race. William Robert Braddock III, who was recently deported back to the U.S. from the Philippines to face charges, made his first court appearance Thursday in Los Angeles, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday in a press release. The 41-year-old faces one count of interstate transmission of a true threat to injure another person, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Anna Paulina Luna is seen during a 2020 Donald Trump campaign rally. Luna was campaigning for the U.S. House of Representatives when she was allegedly threatened by her rival, William Robert Braddock III. via Associated Press Current Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R) had accused Braddock of stalking her and wanting her dead during their highly contentious campaign battle to fill the Clearwater-area seat of then-Rep. Charlie Crist (D), who announced plans to run for governor instead of seek reelection. In one phone call with an acquaintance of his opponent on June 8, 2021, Braddock allegedly threatened to call up my Russian-Ukrainian hit squad and make Luna disappear, according to the Justice Departments press release (which didnt identify Luna by name). And in a recorded call obtained by Politico, Braddock allegedly told a conservative activist that he was willing to kill Luna for the good of the country. I really dont want to have to end anybodys life for the good of the people of the United States of America, he said. That will break my heart. But if it needs to be done, it needs to be done. Luna is a fucking speed bump in the road. Shes a dead squirrel you run over every day when you leave the neighborhood. Braddock moved to the Philippines amid an investigation into the threats, the Justice Department said. The FBI and St. Petersburg Police Department were investigating the case, with assistance from the Justice Department and U.S. Marshals Service, as well as the Philippine Department of Justice and its immigration bureau. A spokesperson for Lunas office told HuffPost Monday that they are unable to comment on the indictment but that Luna has faced a growing number of death threats within the past month. Female members of Congress are disproportionately targeted for stalking, violence, and harassment compared to their male counterparts. This alarming trend points to a broader and more disturbing issue of violence in the political arena, they said in a statement. Attempts to reach an attorney for Braddock were not immediately successful. Related... As Florida communities begin to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Helene, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday made clear his focus is not just on helping the state he is also invested in devoting state resources to those impacted in North Carolina and Tennessee. Florida, we have it handled, the governor said at a news conference in Steinhatchee, one of the many coastal towns ravaged by the storm, which made landfall as a Category 4 storm late last week. The comments came two days after President Joe Biden approved Floridas disaster declaration, which frees up federal funding to supplement state and local recovery efforts. FEMA has also opened 3 disaster recovery centers in Florida. With that, DeSantis said the state has what it needs and that the Biden administration should focus its efforts on North Carolina, where rescue efforts remain underway and the death toll is likely to rise. As bad as it is to see a restaurant hammered or see homes [in Florida], you dont want loss of life, DeSantis said. That is the one thing we cant rectify. Charles Webb and his wife Dana Webb in front of their rental home in which a tree came crashing down during Hurricane Helene in Steinhatchee, Florida, on Friday. Floridas death toll from Hurricane Helene is at 13 as of Monday, according to officials and news reports. Eleven of those people died in the Tampa Bay area. DeSantis said the state may need additional help from the federal government depending on how things shake out, but for now he believes North Carolina should be the focus. So much so that DeSantis is also devoting state resources to help the Appalachian region amid Floridas own recovery. So far, according to DeSantis office, the state is sending a number of resources, including 10 trucks with water, more than 100 Starlink satellites to help with internet connectivity, three airboats, an aircraft and search and rescue teams. He is also sending infrastructure damage assessment teams and temporary bridge materials, as well as project and contract management teams with the Florida Department of Transportation. Some of the devastation in Lansing, North Carolina after Helene tore through Western North Carolina in 2024. DeSantis added that his administration plans to rescue Floridians stuck in North Carolina if there is demand for that. Florida has rescued people from Haiti and Israel in the past with the help of contractors, who have been paid millions in state funds for their efforts. The governors office did not respond when asked if it had received any rescue requests as of Monday. We stand by to do more as we have resources that are not being used for our recovery efforts here in the state of Florida,the governor said on Sunday. Swannanoa residents walk through devastating flood damage from the Swannanoa River on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. The remnants of Hurricane Helene caused widespread flooding, downed trees, and power outages in western North Carolina. DeSantis public schedule over the weekend does not show any communication with North Carolina officials. The governors public schedule also does not show any communication with President Joe Biden. DeSantis told reporters on Monday that Biden called him on Sunday but he missed his call. I was in the air when President Joe Biden called so I wasnt able to talk to him yesterday, he said. DeSantis office did not respond when asked if they had been able to reconnect. Cayce, South Carolina experiences severe flooding as water from Hurricane Helene flows down the Congaree River from North Carolina on Monday, September 30, 2024. As Florida communities begin to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Helene, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday made clear his focus is not just on helping the state he is also invested in devoting state resources to those impacted in North Carolina and Tennessee. Florida, we have it handled, the governor said at a news conference in Steinhatchee, one of the many coastal towns ravaged by the storm, which made landfall as a Category 4 storm late last week. The comments came two days after President Joe Biden approved Floridas disaster declaration, which frees up federal funding to supplement state and local recovery efforts. FEMA has also opened 3 disaster recovery centers in Florida. With that, DeSantis said the state has what it needs and that the Biden administration should focus its efforts on North Carolina, where rescue efforts remain underway and the death toll is likely to rise. As bad as it is to see a restaurant hammered or see homes [in Florida], you dont want loss of life, DeSantis said. That is the one thing we cant rectify. Charles Webb and his wife Dana Webb in front of their rental home in which a tree came crashing down during Hurricane Helene in Steinhatchee, Florida, on Friday. Floridas death toll from Hurricane Helene is at 13 as of Monday, according to officials and news reports. Eleven of those people died in the Tampa Bay area. DeSantis said the state may need additional help from the federal government depending on how things shake out, but for now he believes North Carolina should be the focus. So much so that DeSantis is also devoting state resources to help the Appalachian region amid Floridas own recovery. So far, according to DeSantis office, the state is sending a number of resources, including 10 trucks with water, more than 100 Starlink satellites to help with internet connectivity, three airboats, an aircraft and search and rescue teams. He is also sending infrastructure damage assessment teams and temporary bridge materials, as well as project and contract management teams with the Florida Department of Transportation. Some of the devastation in Lansing, North Carolina after Helene tore through Western North Carolina in 2024. DeSantis added that his administration plans to rescue Floridians stuck in North Carolina if there is demand for that. Florida has rescued people from Haiti and Israel in the past with the help of contractors, who have been paid millions in state funds for their efforts. The governors office declined to say on Tuesday how many rescues state personnel have conducted or how many requests for rescues the state has received. His office, however, pointed to a social media post that shows state personnel responded to one life-threatening situation involving a mother and her 1-year-old baby. During a joint mission with @MyFWC near Alexander, North Carolina, the Florida State Guard Special Missions Unit responded to a life-threatening situation involving a mother and her 1-year-old baby. Our team stabilized the mother and baby, cleared a landing zone for a helicopter pic.twitter.com/YnVX6nXW9z Florida State Guard (@FLStateGuard) September 30, 2024 We stand by to do more as we have resources that are not being used for our recovery efforts here in the state of Florida,the governor said on Sunday. Swannanoa residents walk through devastating flood damage from the Swannanoa River on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. The remnants of Hurricane Helene caused widespread flooding, downed trees, and power outages in western North Carolina. DeSantis public schedule over the weekend does not show any communication with North Carolina officials. The governors public schedule also does not show any communication with President Joe Biden. DeSantis told reporters on Monday that Biden called him on Sunday but he missed his call. I was in the air when President Joe Biden called so I wasnt able to talk to him yesterday, he said. DeSantis office declined to say if the governor and Biden had been able to reconnect. Biden said late Monday during a videoconference with North Carolinas governor, FEMAs administrator and others that he would be traveling to Georgia and Florida as soon as possible to survey damage. Cayce, South Carolina experiences severe flooding as water from Hurricane Helene flows down the Congaree River from North Carolina on Monday, September 30, 2024. Insiders who bought Alicanto Minerals Limited (ASX:AQI) stock in the last 12 months were richly rewarded last week. The company's market value increased by AU$3.0m as a result of the stock's 17% gain over the same period. In other words, the original AU$242.0k purchase is now worth AU$362.4k. Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. See our latest analysis for Alicanto Minerals Alicanto Minerals Insider Transactions Over The Last Year In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Interim Executive Chair Raymond Shorrocks bought AU$100k worth of shares at a price of AU$0.04 per share. That means that even when the share price was higher than AU$0.027 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. We always take careful note of the price insiders pay when purchasing shares. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock if insiders have bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. While Alicanto Minerals insiders bought shares during the last year, they didn't sell. The average buy price was around AU$0.018. It is certainly positive to see that insiders have invested their own money in the company. But we must note that the investments were made at well below today's share price. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below! There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. If investing in lesser known companies is your style, you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them). Insiders At Alicanto Minerals Have Bought Stock Recently Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider buying at Alicanto Minerals. Not only was there no selling that we can see, but they collectively bought AU$142k worth of shares. This makes one think the business has some good points. Does Alicanto Minerals Boast High Insider Ownership? Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Alicanto Minerals insiders own about AU$3.2m worth of shares. That equates to 16% of the company. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders. Story continues So What Do The Alicanto Minerals Insider Transactions Indicate? The recent insider purchases are heartening. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. However, we note that the company didn't make a profit over the last twelve months, which makes us cautious. When combined with notable insider ownership, these factors suggest Alicanto Minerals insiders are well aligned, and that they may think the share price is too low. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. When we did our research, we found 6 warning signs for Alicanto Minerals (3 are a bit unpleasant!) that we believe deserve your full attention. Of course Alicanto Minerals may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Gov. Ron DeSantis discussed Hurricane Helene recovery with residents of Hudson in Pasco County on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (Screenshot/Florida Channel) Gov. Ron DeSantis discussed Hurricane Helene recovery with residents of Hudson in Pasco County on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (Screenshot/Florida Channel) Update: The DeSantis administration has released details about the resources its sending to North Carolina and Tennessee, where the Helene storm system has caused widespread flood damage. Therell be two airborne Florida State Guard search and rescue teams each comprising a pilot and eight crew, plus two similar units from Florida National Guard flying Chinook helicopters. Hes sending a hazard-management team from the Florida Division of Emergency Management with 42,550 gallons of water and 100 Starlink ground stations to restore communications in isolated areas. A fixed-wing aircraft is being dispatched, plus law officers from the Florida Department of Department of Law Enforcement and Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission with high-water vehicles, airboats, shallow-draft boats, and 44 trucks. Teams from the Florida Department of Transportation will assist in damage assessment, cleaning out damaged buildings, inspecting bridges and building temporary crossings, and assessing other damaged infrastructure. The complete list for Operation Blue Ridge is here. Even as post-Helene cleanup continues in Florida, the DeSantis administration is sending state air assets and satellite earth stations to areas of North Carolina where the storm caused catastrophic damage that isolated communities. You had major, major devastation. Fortunately, our rescue operations were conducted and we dont have the demand for that right now, DeSantis said during a news conference mid-Sunday morning in Hudson, in Pasco County. The North Carolina Department of Transportation reports that I-40 and I-26 are impassable in multiple locations and that all roads in Western North Carolina should be considered closed. (Photo: NCDOT) He noted that lots of Floridians spend their summers in the North Carolina and Tennessee mountains, where flooding has ripped out major highways and bridges. You go there over the summer, half the people there are from Florida, the governor said. If any remain there and need evacuation, he offered to send state assets to help. Florida state government performed similar missions during recent chaos in Haiti and following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. We stand by to do more, as we have resources that are not being used for our recovery efforts here in Florida, DeSantis said. The assistance will include Starlink ground stations to aid in communication to communities cut off by torrential flooding. DeSantis didnt give precise numbers of the air and satellite equipment hes sending. The governor spent much of Saturday reviewing storm damage in communities in Floridas Big Bend, where Helene barreled on shore Thursday night, wiping buildings from their foundations. On Sunday, he toured damaged Pasco County homes damaged by storm surge. He noted that area suffered little wind damage but entire neighborhoods had been flooded. At least seven deaths have been reported in Florida and 64 nationally. State response Ahead of the storm, DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 61 of Floridas 67 counties, allowing advance deployment of state resources to the threatened areas. On Saturday, President Joe Biden declared a national emergency in Floridas Charlotte, Citrus, Dixie, Franklin, Hernando, Hillsborough, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lee, Levy, Madison, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Sarasota, Taylor, and Wakulla counties. Federal and state assistance available includes temporary housing and home-repair grants and low-cost loans to individuals and business owners. Volunteers are available to help homeowners muck out their homes. Additional details of the states response are available here. DeSantis noted that the National Hurricane Center has identified a low-pressure system in the Caribbean that could organize into a tropical depression by midweek. The agency expects the system to move toward the northwest and said that interests in the northwestern Caribbean Sea and along the U.S. Gulf Coast should monitor its progress. DeSantis noted that projections for its movement remain mixed. Know its out there. Understand that this is something that could potentially have some level of impacts in Florida, he said. The thing is, here, if theres even moderate impacts, when youre already going through this, thats going to exacerbate cleanup in Florida, he added making removal of debris all the more important. (Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and X.) Forecasters urge South MS to watch system in Caribbean that could enter Gulf of Mexico A tropical system could form again in the Gulf of Mexico this week, days after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida and killed more than 100 people as its floodwaters raged through the southeast. Coastal towns in Floridas Big Bend are flattened. Mountain cities in North Carolina are drowned. But this week, forecasters asked weary Gulf Coast residents to watch a large area of low pressure over the southwestern Caribbean Sea. Forecasts show it could develop in the Gulf of Mexico through the weekend. Some news was good: Strong winds high in the atmosphere could stifle the systems future strength. But forecasters also said the system could develop in roughly the same spot as Helene, which could again send a storm toward the northeast Gulf Coast. It is still too early to know the final destination or intensity, Alabama meteorologist James Spann wrote on social media. He said some storm models show the system could near Florida. But again, Spann said, we simply dont know how it plays out at this point. The National Hurricane Center is watching an area of low-pressure in the Caribbean Sea that has a 40 percent chance of development within seven days. Forecasters are also watching four systems in the Atlantic. None are immediately expected to near land. South MS monitoring system It is unclear if the system would impact the Mississippi Coast. The National Weather Service in Slidell said it was still in a monitoring phase. The National Hurricane Center said the system had a 40 percent chance of developing within seven days. Forecasters had decreased its development chances slightly since the weekend. The system was creating thunderstorms on Monday in the southwestern Caribbean Sea. It could slowly develop this week over the northwest Caribbean Sea and near the southern Gulf of Mexico in a few days, forecasters said. The National Hurricane Center urged residents along the northwest Caribbean and U.S. Gulf Coast to watch the system. Any development would likely begin late this week, forecasters said. In a Monday newsletter, Florida meteorologist Michael Lowry said the system could become a tropical depression or weak tropical storm that may reach the northern Gulf Coast or Florida. But he said it would likely stay broad and messy. For now, Lowry wrote, development isnt a slam dunk. The system is in the Central American Gyre a large low-pressure area that forms over Central America in the spring and fall. It creates storms and spin from the eastern Pacific into the Caribbean, and can unleash hurricanes and tropical storms near the end of hurricane season. Forecasters said another system could form in the Gyre on the west side of Mexico. That system could move east of Mexicos Yucatan Peninsula this week and may merge with the Caribbean system by the weekend, Lowry said. Another area of low pressure, seen in yellow, in the Central American Gyre may move east of Mexicos Yucatan Peninsula this week. It could merge with another low-pressure area in the Caribbean Sea by the weekend, forecasters said. Busy Atlantic The National Hurricane Center is watching four more systems in the Atlantic. Tropical Storm Isaac will soon dissipate, forecasters said, and will not threaten land. It peaked as a Category 2 storm in open water. Tropical Depression Joyce is also in the open Atlantic and not expected to strike land. It was a tropical storm over the weekend but will also likely dissipate soon because of wind shear, forecasters said. Tropical Storm Kirk formed Monday morning and could strengthen this week over the open Atlantic, the National Hurricane Center said. Kirk between Africa and the Caribbean Islands and could become a major hurricane next week. But forecasters said it will turn north and is unlikely to impact land. A disturbance off the coast of Africa also has an 80 percent chance of formation in seven days. After a very unusual lull, Lowry said, the Atlantic is now firing on all cylinders. Forever chemicals are being found everywhere. What about in Tacomas TAGRO fertilizer? Theres growing concern about the dangers associated with a class of chemicals so long lasting in the environment that they carry the nickname, forever chemicals. The chemicals, which number in the thousands, can be found in a variety of household sources and can make their way into municipal sewage systems. Including Tacomas. The city, like others, treats and processes its sewage sludge into fertilizer for homes and agricultural use. Because the chemicals, collectively called PFAS, cant be removed from the sludge, called biosolids, the industry is coming under increased scrutiny, bans and lawsuits. Tacoma, one of the first cities in the nation to create a biosolid fertilizer program called TAGRO, has long marketed its products as safe. But, are they? What are PFAS? PFAS (which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) have no safe levels, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). They are suspected of increasing certain cancer rates and causing birth defects. In Tacoma, the PFAS found in wastewater mostly enter from residential sources, according to the city. Theyre used in nonstick cookware, waterproof clothing, computer equipment, stain-resistant carpeting and numerous other products. Some manufacturers have voluntarily phased out their use. They are no longer used, for instance, in grease-resistant food packaging like microwave popcorn bags. Everywhere chemicals Those who study the presence of human-made or human-placed chemicals and compounds have a common through line: If you go looking for something, youll probably find it. Whether its artificial sweeteners in mountain streams, caffeine in Puget Sound or PFAS in wastewater, the essence of people is spread everywhere on the landscape, according to Joel Baker, a University of Washington Tacoma professor and researcher who studies environmental contamination. We can detect insanely small concentrations of stuff in the water, Baker said. So if you look hard enough, you find things ... a lot of this stuff is so ubiquitous. The question is, does it matter that its there? Scrutiny A recent New York Times story revisited the issue of PFAS, looking at a lawsuit against a major manufacturer of biosolids and claims of deaths of livestock which grazed on fields where the product was used. In 2022, the state of Maine banned the use of sludge on agricultural land after inspectors found high levels of contamination. For years, the EPA has championed the use of biosolids as both a way to reduce sludge transported to landfills and as a way for home gardeners and agriculture to reap the benefits of a nutrient-rich and cheap fertilizer. Now, the EPA is taking another look at PFAS in both drinking water and biosolids. In April, it issued new regulations for the chemicals in municipal water supplies. The renewed spotlight on PFAS comes in part from the increasing ability to detect the chemicals in the environment. Tacoma is at the forefront of that detection ability, say the city officials who supervise it. An employee loads a truck at the TAGRO facility in Tacoma, Washington, on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. Water supply PFAS, which are human-made, are found in most municipal water supplies. Heres where Tacomas story takes a turn for the better. The citys water supply is virtually PFAS-free. Thats because the city gets the bulk of its water from the Green River watershed. I think all of us just have to take a deep breath and realize that these things are present at low concentrations, Baker said. Even if completely banned today, it would probably take decades for the chemicals to work their way out of residential use, he said. In the home, where most PFAS reside, consumers can look for products that carry PFAS-free labeling. Driven by consumer concern, some manufacturers are producing PFAS-free products from clothing to wall-to-wall carpeting. There might be some trade-offs, so maybe your carpet is not quite as stain resistant, Baker said. TAGROs History TAGRO first began as a liquid supplement that was sprayed on hay fields. We could double the production of a farmers hay field, said Dan Eberhardt, the citys biosolids supervisor. In 1991, the city switched to a solid fertilizer by mixing in sawdust, bark and sand. The program was pioneering. Theres probably not a month or so that goes by that we dont get a call from somebody saying, How did you guys do that? Eberhardt said. Today, all the solid matter produced by the wastewater treatment plant becomes TAGRO. Liquid effluent, cleaned and purified, is piped into Commencement Bay. Without TAGRO, the city would have to rely on an alternative disposal method that could include dumping in landfills, incineration or even barging the material out to sea. Sivmeng and Sam Kuoch of Tacoma pick up a trailer load of TAGRO topsoil mix to use on their garden at the TAGRO facility in Tacoma, Washington, on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. TAGRO products Three TAGRO products are currently produced. The regular TAGRO mix makes up 40 percent of the production volume. A topsoil mix accounts for 36 percent and the remaining 22 percent is potting soil. Slightly more than 98 percent of TAGRO by weight is used by residential customers. The rest, 1.4 percent, goes to agricultural use. The use of biosolids as a fertilizer is a net win, Baker said, because they have to go somewhere, and they reduce the need for chemical fertilizers in both home and agricultural use. But you always need to have your radar up a little bit, he said, referring to testing. Urban waters At the citys Center for Urban Waters, Baker and other UW researchers study PFAS and numerous other contaminants in the environment. Its also where testing of both Tacomas water supply and effluent takes place. The environmental laboratory there tests industrial discharge, landfills and Thea Foss Superfund sites. It also tests soil moved due to industrial activity. The lab periodically tests TAGRO for PFAS and heavy metals. All routinely fall in acceptable levels, according to government guidelines. One area not tested: the agricultural lands that have been the recipient of TAGRO products, according to Tiffany Ryan, an environmental services manager. PFAS testing analytical results for samples collected between Sept. 11, 2023 and Nov. 16, 2023. Quality control data are included with the sample results. Testing for PFAS In 2019, before the EPA mandated testing for PFAS, Tacoma began its own testing program. We could see the writing on the wall, Ryan said. The city recently purchased a $400,000 machine that is technically known as a liquid chromatography triple quadrupole mass spectrometry device. Its users just call it an LC triple quad. The device, about the size of a large copy machine, uses liquid chromatography to separate and analyze chemical compounds. Its like a Ferrari that we have in our laboratory right now, Ryan said. The futuristic-looking collection of tubes, tanks, buttons, vials and screens can find PFAS in minute amounts. What once took weeks and required sending the samples out of state can now be done in a day or two. The machine is also being used to test for 6PPD, a chemical additive that helps vehicle tires last longer. Its now being studied as an environmental hazard that can harm salmon. We are doing the good work to beneficially reuse a waste stream that otherwise would go to other sources that we would not be beneficial, said Kurt Fremont, an environmental services manager. Outside testing In 2019, the city hired Canadian residuals consulting firm Sylvis to test TAGRO products. Residuals refers to the waste or byproducts produced by municipal wastewater plants, pulp mills, food waste and other processes. It its findings, Sylvis characterized TAGROs PFAS levels as very low. They fall below all science-based benchmarks, and most additional indicator guidelines or regulatory benchmarks for soils that are currently available for comparison, the companys report stated. While noting that research and regulatory levels for PFAS continues to evolve, PFAS concentrations observed are not likely to pose any acute or chronic environmental or health concerns for TAGRO users with regards to the use of TAGRO products; health risks have not been observed at the low concentrations of PFAS which are present in TAGRO products. Top-grade potting soil at the Tagro facility in Tacoma, Washington, on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. Oversight While the number of chemicals that qualify as PFAS are in the thousands, only eight are regulated. Tacoma tests for those and 32 others, according to Ryan. Of those total, 33 are below detectable levels in Tacomas sludge before its processed and mixed into TAGRO, according to Ryan. While most of Tacomas wastewater PFAS come from residential sources like toilet paper, dental floss and lipstick, it doesnt mean the city is ignoring commercial sources, which have their own pretreatment protocols. About 40 Tacoma industrial customers get their wastewater pre-treated and are monitored by the business operations and environmental services departments. Based on the industry, we have an idea of whos most likely (to produce PFAS), and were partnering with other municipalities as well, who have had really good success in identifying who their sources of PFAS are, Ryan said. The state Department of Ecology closely monitors the citys biosolids program including onsite inspections. An annual report is filed with the EPA, according to Fremont. Not forever? Its clear the people who manage TAGRO are proud of their product. We have class A, exceptional quality biosolids, which is really hard to meet, Eberhardt said. Most other municipalities have what they call class B, so theyre not allowed to distribute that to the general public. It all has to go to agricultural land. But, those same managers say they want to stay ahead of any new regulations and concerns that could affect their industry. They are already looking at experimental processes to destroy PFAS before they leave the wastewater plant. The hope is that forever chemicals just might not be forever, after all. Rep. Wendy Thomas, a Merrimack Democrat, speaks in Merrimack on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. Thomas attributes her breast cancer to the high levels of PFAS in her blood. (Claire Sullivan | New Hampshire Bulletin) Merrimack has paid a steep price to clean up PFAS pollution in its public drinking water. A lawmaker said Friday she hopes that doesnt mean the town will miss out on funds from massive lawsuit settlements from manufacturers of the forever chemicals. Rep. Rosemarie Rung, a Merrimack Democrat, pointed out that in New Hampshire those settlement funds will be directed to the Drinking Water and Groundwater Trust Fund, which will provide loans and grants to public water systems where levels of PFAS, a class of harmful man-made chemicals, are above standards. In 2019, voters approved the Merrimack Village District to spend $14.5 million to filter four public wells contaminated with PFAS. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, a French manufacturer that emitted PFAS from its Merrimack facility, agreed to foot filtration for two other public wells. I think the fair thing to do would be that Merrimack Village District should be able to get money from that fund to cover that cost that the ratepayers committed to years ago, Rung said. You know, weve set the example about how to get out there and address a problem head on and dont wait, and take the leadership, and it seems as though thats not being acknowledged. Rung hopes those distributing settlement funds will be fair to us and use some of that money to cover that cost. The state is expected to get upwards of $65 million in the next two to three years as the result of settlements with manufacturers of PFAS and aqueous film-forming foam, also known as AFFF. The money was one of many issues addressed at a Friday morning press conference of Democratic lawmakers and citizen activists concerned by PFAS pollution in the state. They celebrated wins in the legislative session but also acknowledged the long path ahead to root out the chemicals that break down at an extraordinarily slow pace. PFAS are linked to numerous health problems high cholesterol, weakened immune systems, some cancers, and more and can be found in almost all humans. The scene of the press conference, a Merrimack park along the Souhegan River, illustrated that even in a state revered for its natural beauty, the harmful, man-made chemicals are ubiquitous. Beneath a canopy of trees, sunlight streaming through the wet leaves, lawmakers and residents held signs with slogans like people over polluters and stop the source. Look around at this beautiful, beautiful, beautiful town, said Laurene Allen, co-founder of Merrimack Citizens for Clean Water. We have many, many parks, we have many, many natural resources, and who would guess that its all contaminated with the most persistent of all endocrine disruptors, PFAS? One bill passed this session aims to stem the flow of PFAS-laden products into the state. House Bill 1649, approved by Gov. Chris Sununu in August, will ban certain products with intentionally added PFAS from sale in the state starting in 2027. The chemicals are often found in everyday products, used to make things stain- or water-resistant. The ban will include cosmetics, carpets, feminine hygiene products, products for young children, and more. The use of the chemicals in so many corners of society has spread the contamination far and wide. Constantly, PFAS are being discovered where they shouldnt be: food, drinking water, lakes and rivers, soil, freshwater fish, seafood, ocean spray, breast milk, and even the blood of newborns, said Rep. Karen Ebel, a New London Democrat who was the prime sponsor of the bill. Why? Because these harmful forever chemicals are used in just about everything you can imagine. Though Sununu approved the product ban, which also created strict liability for PFAS polluters, he shot down House Bill 1415, which wouldve created liability for PFAS facilities and had a much stricter standard than the bill he signed. He cited concerns from the New Hampshire Business and Industry Association over the conflicting standards. The prime sponsor of that bill, Rep. Nancy Murphy, a Merrimack Democrat, said there would be an attempt to override the veto when lawmakers convene Oct. 10. I will likely refile HB 1415 and hope that our next governor will stand up for New Hampshire citizens and prioritize people and planet over polluter profits, she said. Many of those at the press conference Friday spoke to the issue not just in political terms, but personal ones. Rep. Wendy Thomas, a Merrimack Democrat who got a bill passed this session to notify property-buyers about possible PFAS pollution, has breast cancer she attributes to the high levels of PFAS chemicals detected in her blood. Her husband had a quadruple bypass at age 55. She said dogs in town are put down all the time because of cancer. This stuff is very, very bad, she said. If you consume it long enough, youre going to get sick. "Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." There are so many reasonsnormal, non-scary reasonswhy we forget things, whether its the name of that dog-walking neighbor, or our friends birthday, or where we parked our car. Sometimes were moving at too fast a pace, multi-tasking all the way. Or maybe our lives are full of too much stress and too little sleep. Of course, there are more serious and definitely scary-to-consider reasons why people become forgetfuland those are the ones we worry about. The fear is understandable, given the constant flow of news about dementia, as well as our own possible experiences with loved ones. To understand more about memory, memory lapses, and cognitive dysfunction, heres a look at how a memory is created in the brain, as well as whats happening when a persons recall starts to slip. How a memory is formed Lets say you walk in the door and put your keys down next to the coffeepot. When you do thatwhen you have any experiencea certain pattern of activity happens in specific neurons (or nerve cells), and specific neurons are activated, says neuroscientist Tara Tracy, Ph.D., assistant professor and a specialist in neurological decline at the Buck Institute. The strength of those neurons activity will affect how well you remember it later. In order to form a memory, there needs to be a strong activation of the neurons, and then there needs to be a plasticity effectmeaning, there needs to be some kind of little change in the brain. (Plasticity refers to the brains ability to make new neural pathways, and change the ones that already exist, in response to changes in your behavior and environment.) But maybe when you drop those keys next to the coffeepot, theres a lot going on in your mind: Youre thinking, I have to gas up the car when I go out again, and whoa, this floor needs washing, and did anyone pick up the dry cleaning? while youre simultaneously putting away the groceries and glancing at a text. In that case, says Tracy, theres a good chance that the neurons were only weakly activated. Then, its much more likely that youre going to forget later where you left your keys, she says, because a weakly activated neuron will not encode the information as well in the brain. There wont be that plasticity effect when the neurons are only weakly activated. This is something that Tracys lab at the Buck Institute is focusing on: the little change in the brain that allows the memory to encode. We think this is happening at the synapses, the connections between neurons, she says. When the neurons get activated during an experience, synapses within a certain region of the brain will start to strengthen. And that strengthening is what we think encodes the memory. Lifestyle and memory How you go about your days and nights can have a definite impact on your memory. For example: Sleep is seen to be critical to how our brains store memories, though researchers arent entirely sure why; those quiet hours seem to give the brain the chance to consolidate memories, as well as to clear toxins and waste products. Exercise, especially when its moderate to vigorous, was found in a large, long-term study to improve memory as well as overall cognition. Exercise helps your brain form more connections between neurons, among other things. The CDC recommends 150 minutes of moderate activity a weekand points out that short bouts of movement add up. Stress has been shown in multiple studies to affect how our brain stores and retrieves memories. When youre under high stress the body releases the hormone cortisol, which affects parts of the brain involved in the processing of memory. When cognition declines Some loss of cognitive functionage-related cognitive declineis normal at a certain point, says Tracy. Everyone experiences it as they get older, to some degree or another. According to Mayo Clinic, another stage is mild cognitive impairment, in which people may have issues with memory, finding the right words, or impaired judgment, but they usually can go about their usual life. They, or their loved ones, may notice that theyre not able to track conversations or the plot of a film as well as they used to, or they may get disoriented even in places they know well or are more forgetful than they previously were. Theres no single cause for mild cognitive impairment, and it may get better or worse over time. When it comes to dementia, Alzheimers disease is the most common form, accounting for 60-80% of cases, according to the Alzheimers Association. Scientists around the world are working to prevent and treat it. Tracys lab at the Buck Institute is studying memory loss from Alzheimers disease and frontotemporal dementia. Everybody experiences normal age-related cognitive decline, not just people with a disease, she says. And so the question is, what are the underlying mechanisms of cognitive aging versus Alzheimer's disease? Are they the same or different? Theres overwhelming evidence, Tracy points out, that Alzheimers disease is driven by toxicity in the brain caused by a build-up of two proteins, beta-amyloid and tau. This build up doesnt necessarily happen in many people who just have age-related cognitive decline, she says. That suggests that the mechanisms are different in each. There are similarities, however. Our research is suggesting that in age-related cognitive decline, and especially in Alzheimers disease, the neurons can still be activated in the early stages of memory loss, but the synapses cant encode, she explains. There still is neural activity but the synapses cant encode it. Thats a separate mechanism." Alzheimers disease is a progressive disease, Tracy points out; people can live with it for five to ten years, sometimes longer. In the early stages peoples lifestyle can really be affected, but they probably still remember their family members and can do some thingsits not severe dementia, she says. When it gets to the later stages, when it is severe dementia and people cant remember family members, at that point theres neuron lossthe neurons are dying. Theres little or no neuron activity to even start the process of encoding memory. This underlines the importance of the work of those scientists around the world who are focusing on Alzheimers disease and other forms of dementia, including the work in Tracys lab. What were most interested in are the early stages of disease, she says, because thats when we think its the most treatable. Theres hope in the scientific community that the future will bring deeper knowledge, so that this heartbreaking disease can be treated, and perhaps even prevented. You Might Also Like John Jay Hoffman was interviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 26, 2024, at the Statehouse in Trenton to become an associate justice on the state Supreme Court. (Photo by Mary Iuvone for New Jersey Monitor) The New Jersey Senate unanimously confirmed former state Attorney General John Jay Hoffman to the state Supreme Court Monday. Hoffman, 59, will fill the seat left vacant by Justice Lee Solomon, who retired last month after reaching the age of 70, the states mandatory retirement age for judges. The demeanor of a judge, the heart of a judge, is so very important to everyone in the courtroom. I know of no one who has a bigger heart or is more sensitive to mankind and man than John Hoffman, Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Union) said following Hoffmans confirmation vote. Hoffman, a former federal prosecutor, began his career in public service as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice before joining the U.S. Attorneys Office in New Jersey in 2004. He joined the state comptrollers office as director of investigations in 2010 before departing for the state attorney generals office two years later. Gov. Chris Christie nominated him to lead that office in 2013. He held that post until 2016, when he left to become general counsel at Rutgers University. Hoffmans confirmation maintains the high courts tradition of partisan balance. Though he is registered as an unaffiliated voter, Hoffman served in a Republican administration. He went through a very rigorous screening process, as you all know, said Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-Union). Mr. Hoffman not only came through with flying colors, but he did so with grace and dignity like he did with all of his other jobs and is truly a public servant looking to serve the public and truly sacrificing the opportunity to make lots and lots of money in the private sector. In New Jersey, judges are given a seven-year term after their initial confirmation and can sit until the age of 70 if they are later renominated and confirmed. In a statement, Gov. Phil Murphy called himself incredibly pleased by the Senates action. As demonstrated by his unanimous confirmation today, John has earned universal respect on both sides of the aisle for his honesty, integrity, and intellect, Murphy said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Former Bed Bath & Beyond location is getting a new tenant. Heres when the store will open After filing for bankruptcy, Bed Bath & Beyond closed its Modesto store in June 2023. The building has been vacant since. Now, another retailer is moving into the space. Burlington soon will have a second Modesto location at 3900 Sisk Road. Burlington is scheduled to open March 28, 2025, according to its website. It will sit between a T.J. Maxx and a Ross. The company was established over 50 years ago as Burlington Coat Factory, selling off-price coats out of a factory building in Burlington, New Jersey, according to the website. Now called Burlington, the stores sell low-priced and brand-name womens, mens, kids and baby apparel and accessories, home decor items and more. Modestos first location is next to a Safeway at 2001 McHenry Ave., Suite 202. Its hours are Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to midnight, Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. It is unknown whether the Sisk Road store will have the same hours. Burlington in, Big Lots out While Burlington is moving into Sisk Road Center, another major retailer is moving out. Big Lots announced in July that its shuttering some stores due to loss of sales, meaning, the 3900 Sisk Road store will be closing on an unannounced date. City of Modesto Community & Economic Development director Jessica Hill previously told The Modesto Bee the city is working with commercial brokers to figure out what Modesto may be lacking and what residents want, in order to help facilitate what will go into the Big Lots building next. Ultimately, any deal will be made between the property owner and the business, Hill said in July. Former cadet captain says he found USB drive loaded with child porn on the ground Wearing a plaid shirt and glasses, Adrian Schmid silently took notes at a small table throughout the majority of the judge-alone trial. He provided his testimony to the Superior Court of Justice last week. (Sketch by Lauren Foster-MacLeod - image credit) WARNING: This story contains details of alleged sexual abuse that some readers may find disturbing. A former air cadet captain has denied touching two young boys who slept over at his house regularly and claimed he'd found a USB drive containing thousands of deleted child pornography images lying on the ground. At the start of his trial in mid-September, Adrian Schmid, 49, pleaded not guilty to eight charges. They include two counts of sexual interference, two counts of invitation to sexual touching and one count of making sexually explicit material available to a person under 16. He's also facing one count each of making, accessing and possessing child pornography. The offences are alleged to have occurred between August 2019 and June 2022. The allegations involve three children, two of whom are brothers. The identities of the witnesses and youths involved are protected under a publication ban. Schmid's trial has lasted roughly three weeks. It was expected to wrap up by the end of this month, but closing submissions have now been pushed back to Oct. 10. Family grew to trust Schmid Schmid sat silently taking notes at a small table through most of the judge-alone trial, which started with Justice Pierre Roger hearing testimony from the father of one of the complainants. The man, who also cannot be identified, described how Schmid grew closer to his family in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. A person walks toward the main entrance of the Ottawa Courthouse on Elgin Street in September 2022. Schmid's trial has been taking place at the Ottawa Courthouse on Elgin Street, seen here in September 2022. (Matthew Kupfer/CBC) "Adrian was a single party of one, so during COVID we included him in our group," the father testified in mid-September. The man described how Schmid gained the family's trust and would regularly host two of his sons for sleepovers at his house. The man grew to consider Schmid a close friend, and said he and another son helped him renovate his house. On Schmid's birthday, the family baked him a cake and delivered it to his door. "We trusted him more because he was a member of the cadets he was a member of the military," the father said. "I guess we assumed that he had a higher purpose, so he's more responsible," the man testified, describing his family as "very trusting to begin with." Boy says he was 13 when abuse began The man told the court his two boys seemed to enjoy going for sleepovers and would ask to go, at least at first. But after the older boy came forward with allegations of horrific abuse by Schmid, police asked the father to identify photos of his youngest son standing naked in the bathtub the man had helped install. The father of one of the boys was asked by police to look at photos he identified in court as being of his youngest son, standing naked in the bathtub he had helped install. A photo of a bathroom entered as evidence in the trial. Court heard that police had asked the boys' father to identify photos of his youngest son standing naked in the tub. (Scan of court exhibit) The court also heard from the older of the two brothers, who was 13 when the alleged abuse began, and whose statement to police was played during the trial. The youth said Schmid would start by touching his lap and penis before moving his hand underneath his clothes. Sometimes gripping the hand of a family member next to him, the youth testified that Schmid would first instruct him to masturbate in front of him, then he would masturbate the youth. The youth identified sex toys that he said Schmid used on him, and said Schmid would show him pornography involving both teens and grown men. He also described incidents of penetrative anal intercourse and oral sex. The youth alleged Schmid said on at least one occasion, "Remember, I'm teaching you." He told police Schmid also warned him not to tell anyone or he'd come to regret it. Crown lawyer Aquilas Kapend also presented text messages between Schmid and the youth from October 2021 involving a marker messages that, the youth testified, led him to believe Schmid wanted him to insert the writing utensil into his own anus. "Try going almost all the way in," Schmid texted. "Go slow and you should feel a second set of muscles. Push past those and angle towards you [sic] stomach. You could also use your middle finger." In another text exchange months later, Schmid appears concerned about their messages. "We need to come up with a password or phrase so that if you text me like last night I will know it's you and not someone using your phone," he wrote. Questioned under cross-examination During cross-examination by defence lawyer Bruce Engel, the youth testified he couldn't remember many of the details of what had transpired, especially during their early alleged encounters. The youth told court he didn't think his younger brother had been subjected to the same physical abuse, and was often in bed upstairs when it occurred. But he said a third unrelated boy would sometimes stay over at Schmid's house. In a written statement to police, the youth said Schmid instructed him to touch and masturbate the other boy. He testified that while he didn't want to do these things, he felt he couldn't disobey. "I was scared to say no," the youth said. During cross-examination, Engel suggested that the early encounters with Schmid had never happened and questioned other details of his story. Those included timing of both the youth's statement to police and when the family met with a lawyer, as well as whether the youth knew the other younger boy had made allegations about both him and Schmid. Several devices were seized from the home of Adrian Schmid. This photo was part of a booklet of images from the investigation and entered as an exhibit. A DVD copy of the movie "The Hangover Part II" is in the background. Several devices were seized from Schmid's home. This photo was part of a booklet of images from the investigation and entered as an exhibit. (Scan of court exhibit) 3rd child also testifies That third child would provide his own testimony, speaking of numerous situations he described as inappropriate and pointing the finger at both Schmid and the first youth. Only 10 years old at the time of his police statement, the third child said he wondered why Schmid, in one instance, had touched his penis and asked if he was ready for sex. "His exact words were asking, 'Was I ready to have that?' And it made me feel really uncomfortable,'" the boy told police. In court, he said Schmid watched without intervening as the other underage complainant performed an inappropriate sexual act on him. Nor did Schmid intervene, he said, when the older boy stripped naked and sat on the couch after being told they would be taking showers. You're just twisting this completely out of context, out of proportion - Adrian Schmid, speaking to the Crown He also recalled an incident where Schmid offered to teach him about condoms. "I found it kind of strange [that] out of all people in the world that would teach me how to use those kinds of things, it'd be him," he said. The lawyers did not explore deeply incidents between the two boys where Schmid wasn't present. The Superior Court of Justice also heard from one police officer who testified that more than 11,000 images and 140 videos of child pornography were recovered from a USB drive taken from Schmid's house. The files which showed youths engaging in a wide range of graphic sexual acts had been deleted, but police were able to recover them after their seizure. In all, four devices taken from Schmid's house included files later classified as child pornography. Schmid denies allegations Last week, Schmid pushed back against the testimony of the two young boys and said they lied. He denied any touching took place or that he invited any sexual touching. While he agreed the sex toys were his, Schmid testified he didn't know how one boy's DNA wound up on them. "No idea," Schmid said, claiming that while a detective said the toys were seized from under the sink that's not where he stored them. A total of four devices taken from Adrian Schmids house included files later classified as child pornography. Four devices taken from Adrian Schmids house included files later classified as child pornography. Some of 49-year-old's search history results on other devices, as well as his text conversations with one of the youths, also came under scrutiny during the trial. (Scan of court exhibit) Schmid did recall an incident when one of the boys got naked and sat on the living room couch. But in his retelling, Schmid instructed the boy to get dressed and later spoke to him about the inappropriate behaviour. He also said he didn't bring up the incident with his parents because the boy asked him not to. Schmid said his text about needing a secret code was in response to a shocking text of a sexual nature from the older boy. Schmid testified that he didn't believe it was really one of the boys who'd sent it, but after determining it was, he told the boy he wasn't going to engage. But Schmid said he believed a code would be good for future use, in case someone else was fooling around with the youth's phone. The Crown gave a different reason why Schmid wanted a code: so he wouldn't get caught texting a minor inappropriately. As for the text message about the marker, Schmid said it came after a frank conversation he had with the youth and the youth's father about why someone might explore that part of their body. The cadet leader told the court he believed himself to be a mentor-like figure and was providing how-to information to the teenager. But Kapend asked Schmid why he was texting a 15-year-old about these topics at all. "You're just twisting this completely out of context, out of proportion," Schmid said. "It's the intent of my text messages that you're twisting." Said USB drive was found 15 years ago Schmid also testified that he'd found the USB drive with more than 11,000 images on the ground outside roughly 15 years ago. After plugging it into his computer and realizing it contained child pornography, Schmid said he deleted the files. This photo, which CBC News has obtained a scan of, was part of a booklet of images from the police investigation and entered as an exhibit. One of the boys who testified against Schmid said his younger brother was not subject to the same physical abuses he claimed, saying his brother was often in bed upstairs. This photo, which CBC News has obtained a scan of, was part of a booklet of images from the police investigation and entered as an exhibit. One of the boys who testified against Schmid said his younger brother was often in bed upstairs and wasn't subjected to the same abuse he allegedly faced. (Scan of court exhibit) He said in a rush he later used it, believing it had been wiped, for his own documents. Schmid couldn't account for the other child pornography images on his hard drive, but said all three boys had access to it and they weren't always supervised. Nor did he explain how other illegal images ended up on an older phone he kept downstairs. In his account, the photos of one of the underage boys naked in the bathroom were from a video he filmed of the boy blowing bubbles. Schmid said the reason his browsing data included searches for keywords like "young teen boys" was because he was looking for websites with young-looking participants but who were actually of age. During her cross-examination, Kapend drilled down on those search results, with Schmid admitting he's attracted to males who look younger than 19. "That's what I'm looking for, but I'm doing it in a way that's legal," Schmid told her. "These sites are all legal websites." 'I did nothing with those two boys' Under fire by the Crown, Schmid spoke of a possible set-up by the family of the third boy, but didn't explain why certain files appeared on his computer before meeting the child. Kapend asked Schmid if the close relationship he'd fostered with one of the boys constituted a conflict of interest, given he was an air cadet captain. She also asked whether he was familiar with the term "grooming." Schmid said he wasn't. "I did nothing with those two boys," Schmid testified at the end of his cross-examination. Schmid has been held in custody for the past 27 months since his arrest. A spokesperson for the Canadian Armed Forces told CBC News that Schmid was released from its reserves force in January 2023. A former case worker of the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital testified Monday in the trial challenging Missouri's restrictions on gender-affirming care (Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent). The former caseworker whose account of her time working at a pediatric gender clinic in St. Louis jumpstarted the legislative push to outlaw gender-affirming care for minors testified in defense of Missouris restriction on Monday. Jamie Reed, who for four and a half years worked as a case manager at the Washington University Transgender Center, was the first witness called by the state in the two-week trial over the constitutionality of the law. Reeds public statements and sworn affidavit about her experience at the clinic were the genesis for Missouri lawmakers prioritizing the ban and spurred broad investigations by the Missouri Attorney Generals Office into practitioners statewide. Reed testified as a fact witness, meaning she couldnt speak as an expert but could provide insight into her experiences working at the Transgender Center. Many of Mondays questions gravitated toward the records she kept and later shared that contained information on the centers patients. Under the 2023 law, health care providers cant prescribe new gender-affirming care medications to minors or refer them for surgery, and the states Medicaid program is barred from paying for gender-affirming medical care for any age. Transgender Missourians, their families and health care providers filed a lawsuit in July 2023, calling the law unconstitutional because it discriminated against transgender people. Last week, plaintiffs called witnesses that testified that their medical record numbers and treatment information were listed in a document that Reed shared with Attorney General Andrew Bailey and at least one reporter. When asked Thursday about his daughters information being shared, J.K. (who testified using his initials as a pseudonym) said he never consented to the information being spread. Its confusing and mystifying, he said. I dont know why this person would share our information. I have no idea what this person is up to. He didnt interact with Reed, he said, apart from getting an email after an appointment with follow-up information from her. But somehow, his daughters information was in Reeds table. Elliott, a college student who went to the Transgender Center as a teenager and testified using only their first name, said Friday that Reed was never in appointments with them. Elliott is terrified that the attorney general has information related to their medical care. I dont know what theyll do with that information, Elliott said. I dont think its any of (the states) business that Im trans. Elliott also thought Reeds affidavit, which was released to the public, described them in a paragraph that was so specific friends and family could identify them. I was extremely upset (when I read the affidavit), Elliott said. I didnt think it was an accurate representation of the care I received at Wash U. There was a line I thought could represent me, and if so, I am angry that I was used without my permission. Reed testified on Monday that this part of her affidavit was describing multiple patients. Other paragraphs talking about a patient were also a compilation of more than one person, she said. The affidavit was based on medical records, patient visits and firsthand knowledge she testified. Reed didnt dispute that Elliotts information was shared in a 23-page document that listed patients medical record numbers instead of names. She didnt consider this private health information protected by federal law because someone would need a key with names alongside medical record numbers to identify patients. She sent this data to Bailey after a subpoena, she testified, but she also sent it to a New York Times reporter. Plaintiffs attorney Gillian Wilcox asked about the 300 pages sent to the reporter. Reed said she sent redacted documents that contained no (private health information). Reed, for part of her time at the Transgender Center, tracked patients she was concerned about on a red-flag list. She called it that because red flags at the beach mean to proceed with caution, she testified. There were 27 patients on the list, identified by name instead of medical record number. Reed says she monitored them with a nurse at the center who shared concerns with Reed that too many children were receiving cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers. Reed sent this list to Bailey in early February 2023 at the time of her affidavit, she said. Other records she sent to Bailey include emails compiled from her Washington University email account, a list of therapists the center often referred patients to and copies of referral letters from therapists. Reed told The Independent previously that she redacted names in the referral letters. This was not asked in court Monday. Wilcox asked about a letter Reed sent Bailey in April 2024, long after she ended her employment with the Transgender Center. The letter shared information from the centers schedule that Reed believed showed the center was accepting new patients, despite public statements that it would not. Reed currently works as executive director of the LGBT Courage Coalition, a nonprofit that advocates against gender-affirming care for transgender youth. She recently traveled to the American Academy of Pediatrics convention in Florida to help volunteers educate pediatricians on gender-affirming care. A press release on the groups participation described it as a peaceful protest, but Reed did not characterize the demonstration as a protest. She wouldnt answer whether she supported gender-affirming care for adults or not, though she had indicated support in prior testimony. She cited changes in (her) personal life. At the beginning of questioning, she testified that her spouse was detransitioning, or stopping testosterone treatments. Sunday evening, her spouses perspective was published in The Free Press, the same website that launched Reed as a whistleblower in February 2023. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX EAST GRANBY, Conn. (WTNH) A woman was found guilty of committing health insurance fraud on Thursday in East Granby, according to the chief states attorneys office. Granby man arrested after 30 shots fired during neighbor dispute Karen Gaston, 43, was the CEO of Elegant Clinical Corporation, a vocational program for disabled adults that was based in East Windsor. The attorneys office said that while in that role, Gaston falsely billed Medicaid $52,648 for the fraudulent billings of nine individuals. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 25 in Hartford. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's stimulus plans to fill consumer pockets to meet its 2024 growth target breaks away from a decades-old policy playbook, but making household demand a sustainable driver of development instead of investment is a long path paved with tough choices. Reuters reported last week that Beijing plans to issue sovereign bonds worth about 2 trillion yuan ($284 billion) this year, in part to subsidise consumer goods purchases and child support, effectively transferring funds to households. That marks a shift towards stimulating consumption that many economists have called on Beijing to pursue for more than a decade, warning that China may otherwise grind towards a prolonged period of low growth as seen in Japan in the 1990s. "It's monumental - a landmark event that the policy mindset has reversed," said Tianchen Xu, an economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit. The tension lies in a growth model from the 1980s that many economists say has relied too heavily on investment in property, infrastructure and industry at the expense of consumers. Economists say this model has created overcapacity in infrastructure and manufacturing and led to a staggering and unsustainable debt surge since the global financial crisis as investment returns dwindled. While this year's consumer-focused efforts are likely to be enough to bring China's 2024 growth back to about 5% after below-forecast data in the past several months cast doubts over that target, they hardly change the long-term outlook. China's household spending is less than 40% of annual economic output, some 20 percentage points below the global average. Investment, by comparison, is 20 points above. Closing that gap cannot happen overnight. It took Japan 17 years to raise the consumption share of its economic output by 10 percentage points from its bottom in 1991, says Michael Pettis, senior fellow at Carnegie China. The latest fiscal effort "isn't really part of a real structural rebalancing", Pettis said. "Rebalancing will require a shift in the economic model that will reverse decades of explicit and implicit transfers in which households have subsidised investment and production." STRUCTURAL ISSUES The current socioeconomic policy architecture is built to prop up investment, not consumption. For decades, households have been squeezed by low deposit rates, weak labour rights and farmer land rights contributing to low incomes, and a frail social safety net. The tax system incentivises high investment and low wages. Story continues China taxes capital gains at 20%, lower than the 30% in India and 37% in the United States. China's upper personal income tax band is among the world's steepest, at 45%. Businesses, especially in strategic industries, get frequent tax exemptions and other incentives from both central and local governments. Supporting strategic sectors, or what Beijing calls "new productive forces" such as electric vehicles, green energy or robotics, are part of efforts of technological advancement that China sees as vital for national security. Re-imagining the policy playbook to empower consumers would require a major coordinated effort from authorities over many years, analysts say. Not to mention the risks. "The 'correct' way to rebalance the economy towards consumption would be to stop subsidizing manufacturing companies with the money of households," says Juan Orts, China economist at Fathom Consulting. "What that would result in is a shrinking size of the manufacturing sector, leading to a sharp drop in investment and therefore a recession," added Orts. Orts, however, predicts that China is more likely to opt for a protracted period of rebalancing, leading to "Japanification". To fund this year's last-ditch fiscal efforts, Beijing is expected to issue more debt, rather than alter the mechanisms of income distribution between business, government and households. "The central government can probably fund fiscal transfers for a few years more," Carnegie China's Pettis said. "But if Beijing doesn't transform the growth model, the imbalances will continue to build, in which case China risks facing the same problem in the future as it does now, only without a clean central-government balance sheet to help it manage potential disruptions." (Reporting by Reuters staff, Graphics by Kripa Jayaram; Writing by Marius Zaharia; Editing by Himani Sarkar) Jeff Flake, U.S. ambassador to Turkiye, speaks at Crossroads of the World International Trade Summit at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City on Thursday, May 23, 2024. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News Jeff Flake, the former U.S. senator from Arizona and U.S. ambassador to Turkey, announced his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday morning. Flake a Republican who served six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and one in the U.S. Senate described himself as a conservative Republican, but said endorsing the Democratic candidate was a matter of putting country over party. I believe that we dont have to agree on every issue or policy, but that we should use the political process created by our Founders to debate and to persuade, not to disparage or to demonize, Flake said in a video posted to X. Flake served for over two years as the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, a post he concluded on Sept. 1. He represented the U.S. there during a number of major incidents in the region: Russias invasion of Ukraine, the expansion of NATO and the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. Flake returned to the U.S. this month, where he plans to be a guest lecturer at Brigham Young University and Arizona State University, Punchbowl News reported. Flake is registered to vote in Utah. Ill be supporting Kamala Harris for President and Tim Walz for Vice President. Ive served with Kamala in the U.S Senate. Ive also served with Tim in the House of Representatives. I know them. I know first of hand of their fine character and love of country. I would pic.twitter.com/xn0OM4rcqk Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) September 29, 2024 In May, he told the Deseret News his time abroad reinforced the idea that America needs allies abroad. We need alliances. We need friendships, he said. Flakes time in Turkey also taught him the importance of a U.S. president that will strengthen those allies, he said in his video Sunday. Having spent the past three years overseas as a United States ambassador, I have seen up close that we have very real enemies abroad, Flake said. We also have vital and indispensable allies. I want to support a presidential candidate who understands and appreciates the difference. During an interview on ABC Sunday, Flake noted that former President Donald Trumps position on Ukraine is a key reason Flake would not support him. It was really stark watching the debate the other day and hearing the former president not be able to even cheer for Ukraine, said Flake. Thats a big issue for me. Flake served in the U.S. Senate with Harris and in the U.S. House with Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president. Both have fine character and a love of country, Flake said. In 2016, Flake refused to endorse Trump, the GOP nominee. In 2020, Flake endorsed Biden. In choosing a president, Flake said it is essential to choose someone who respects the wills of the voters and would never attempt to use the powers of the presidency to overturn an election after having been turned down by the voters. When asked on Sunday on ABC News if his endorsement would help sway Latter-day Saint voters in Arizona a demographic both Harris and Trump have targeted in recent weeks Flake demurred. I can only speak for myself and where I am, he said. After all, in times like these, there is nothing more conservative than putting country over party, Flake said. Flake joins the ranks of other high-profile Republicans who have endorsed Harris, including former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. A former Hernando Police school-resource officer is in custody for allegations of sexual assault after being placed on administrative leave. Hosie Porter turned himself in to law enforcement officials on Monday morning on charges of sexual battery and rape. Porter worked as a school resource officer with the Hernando Police Department until the attack was reported last week. DeSoto County DA Matthew Barton said the accusation involved an adult and that no children were harmed. It is unclear where the incident occurred. Barton said the charges were the result of a "detailed and thorough" collaborative investigation with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. Captain Kyle Hodge released a statement Monday afternoon on behalf of HPD. "On Tuesday, September 24th, 2024, the Hernando Police Department was made aware of an allegation made against one of our officers for an assault that took place while on-duty," the statement read. "The information was immediately passed along to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation." HPD said Porter was placed on administrative leave, but resigned the day of his arrest. Jacob Wilt is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal. You can reach him at jacob.wilt@commercialappeal.com. This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Former Hernando school resource officer charged with rape Former homeless hostel to be turned into flats Willow Walk was used as a hostel for homeless people until 2022 [LDRS] A former city centre hostel that housed homeless people for more than a century is set to be converted into flats. Willow Walk in Cambridge permanently shut in 2022, having been set up in the late 19th Century as a Church Army lodging house. Cambridge City Council approved plans last week to convert the building into nine flats, including seven studios and the rest as two-bedroom homes. The proposals by Ridley Godfrey (Holdings) Limited said there was no longer any demand to use the property, built in 1817, as a hostel. The hostel on Willow Walk offered accommodation for homeless people in the city for many years [Capturing Cambridge] The site operated from the late 1800s until the 1980s, when it shut for a period for refurbishment. It closed two years ago when Cambridgeshire County Council began a "streets to home" initiative, focusing on smaller and community-based accommodation rather than bigger hostels. The developer said it had "tested the appetite from the market" and specialist housing providers to consider using it as a hostel again. Planning officers who assessed the application said the proposal would bring the building back into use and create new homes. They said two of the proposed flats fell below the recommended space standards, but considered it unreasonable to refuse the application on this point alone. Officers also highlighted there would be space in the basement for doing laundry and drying, which could be used by all occupiers. Planning officers said the flats would provide an "adequate level of residential amenity for future occupiers". Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. More from Cambridgeshire Related internet links (Bloomberg) -- Most Read from Bloomberg The administration of Mexicos incoming President Claudia Sheinbaum plans to name a former top finance official from the nations capital for a key role negotiating trade ahead of the scheduled review of the countrys agreement with the US and Canada. Sheinbaum and incoming Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard plan to name Luis Rosendo Gutierrez Romano as deputy secretary for international trade, according to people familiar with the plan, who asked not to be named without permission to speak publicly. In that role, Gutierrez Romano is poised to lead an area responsible for the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the four-year-old pact thats up for evaluation and potential changes in 2026. Representatives for Sheinbaum and Ebrard didnt immediately respond to requests for comment. Gutierrez Romano served as treasurer of Mexico City when Ebrard was mayor of the nations capital from 2006 to 2012. In that job, he worked for then local Finance Minister Mario Delgado, another close Ebrard ally, who most recently led the ruling Morena party and from Tuesday will be Sheinbaums education minister. Earlier in his career, Gutierrez Romano worked at the Trade Ministry, now known as the Economy Ministry. The USMCA was negotiated and signed under US President Donald Trump and in 2020 took the place of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement that he had condemned. Under its terms, the deal must be evaluated after six years to address conflicts and possibly update its rules. Since the pact took effect, the nations have clashed on topics ranging from rules for car production to Mexicos nationalist energy and corn policies, as well as its treatment of foreign investors. --With assistance from Alex Vasquez. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Former President Trump speaks on immigration, economy in Erie ahead of Nov. election ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA (WJET/WFXP) With Erie being a critical county in a key swing state, the former president used his campaign resources to bring his platform to Erie County. With the November election just around the corner, former President Donald Trump took his campaign to Eries Bayfront Convention Center on Sunday. Supporters showed up to the Bayfront as early as 5 a.m., hoping to get a good seat to cheer on their candidate. Im expecting it to be a big event and for Trump to say something unexpected. He always says something unexpected, said Rafaela Gomez, merch vendor. Donald Trump speaks in Erie, Pennsylvania Im just expecting a lot of energy out of him, and Im just expecting him to say what hes been saying about how hes going to change the country for the better, said Sean Ryan, Trump supporter. I cant wait to get in there. Im excited. Ive never been to one, so Im excited to be able to see President Trump, said Melissa Fisher, a Trump supporter. People of all backgrounds and ages came to support the former president, even Trump impersonators. But inside, the rally had even more energy. Erie Democrats hold freedom rally ahead of Donald Trumps visit Im very excited. Every Trump rally is always exciting, the atmosphere, the love, the fellowship, everyone is just amazing, Gomez added. Trump eventually took the stage after 2 p.m. to an erupting applause from the crowd. He spent a lot of time discussing the border and illegal immigration, saying many illegal migrants are criminals. On day one of my new administration, the invasion ends and the deportations begin. Get em out, said Donald Trump. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News Trump also took the stage to criticize his political opponent Kamala Harris. Kamala has openly acknowledges that she is the worstr vice president in history, and as president, she would be much worse than that. She would be a disaster, said Trump. And the presidential candidate echoed the importance of the upcoming election for the country. This is the most important election. I think this will be the most important election of them all, he added. Next on Trumps campaign schedule, The former president will be revisiting Butler, Pa., after surviving an assassination attempt there in July. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. A former UNC-Chapel Hill business professor is suing the university for retaliation after his contract was not renewed this summer, a move that followed administrators recording the professors classes without notice to him. Larry Chavis, who worked as a clinical professor in the Kenan-Flagler Business School for 18 years, filed the federal lawsuit Thursday. In the complaint, he alleges the university used unlawful and unconstitutional employment practices against him in violation of the First Amendment. He also alleges the university ended his employment in retaliation for his public criticisms of the university after he learned that business school administrators had recorded several of his lectures this spring and for his comments regarding discriminatory practices at the business school. The timing of Chavis firing creates a clear inference that the exercise of his First Amendment speech rights and his denunciation of discriminatory conduct caused UNC to end Chavis 18-year career at the business school, the lawsuit states. Chavis, a contract-based employee who was not on the tenure track, received a letter on April 22 from Christian Lundblad, senior associate dean for faculty and research at the business school, informing him that the school had received reports of concern regarding Chavis class content and conduct. In the same letter, which Chavis posted publicly to his LinkedIn account, Lundblad informed Chavis that administrators had recorded and reviewed several of his class sessions earlier in April. For the first time in my career, Im pretty shaken, Chavis LinkedIn post read. He added: I pray Ill still have a job at the end of this process. The revelation of his classes being recorded generated conversation and concern around the university, as well as media coverage, throughout the spring. Chavis continued to post and speak publicly about the situation throughout much of that time. Lundblad told Chavis at some point in the spring that his contract would be renewed for multiple years, the lawsuit states. But on June 10, the lawsuit states, Chavis received a letter from Kenan-Flagler Dean Mary Margaret Frank saying his contract set to expire on June 30 would not be renewed. No reason was ever given, according to a press release from Wukela Communications, which announced the lawsuit Monday. The university is aware of the lawsuit, but due to this pending litigation, were unable to comment further at this time, a UNC spokesperson said in a statement to The News & Observer Monday. History of speaking out This spring wasnt Chavis first time speaking out against the university or the business school. Chavis, who is a member of the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina, previously described what he believed to be the universitys and Kenan-Flaglers challenges with diversity and inclusion in news stories and opinion pieces dating back at least to 2022, about two years before his classes were recorded. Chavis also spoke out internally, to other faculty and leadership, at the business school about such issues, including pay disparities for himself and other faculty of color. Chavis, who in 2022 was promoted from associate to full clinical professor, contends that he was passed over for leadership positions in the college because he had been outspoken about his opinions on such issues. The University of North Carolina system has done much to silence Larry Chavis. He has been denied promotions he earned, he is paid less than rookie professors fresh off a PH.D, and his classes were secretly recorded, attorney Artur Davis said in the press release. When the suppression didnt work, they finally fired him. The lawsuit also argues that recording Chavis classes could be a violation of North Carolina law, which requires one party within a conversation to consent to being recorded. The university did not have a formal policy on recording classes prior to the incident involving Chavis classes, but the universitys provost has since committed to developing a policy on recording classes in the wake of the incident. Chavis is requesting a jury trial, as well as relief for economic damages such as lost wages and attorneys fees. Chavis posted a copy of the lawsuit to LinkedIn Monday, writing: Sometimes, in order to move forward, individually and collectively, we have to look backward. These Fort Worth ISD preschoolers are going to school at community child care centers. Why? The Fort Worth Independent School District is continuing to offer pre-K options beyond its elementary campuses at community-based child care centers. This school year, five Head Start sites around the district are serving 3- and 4-year-old students through a partnership that officials hope can expand to serve more families and include more site locations. The Fort Worth ISD school board recently approved a contract with PreK Today, a program managed by nonprofit Child Care Associates, to serve 153 of its youngest students this school year at child care centers mostly located in the southeast Fort Worth area. The free pre-K option is available to eligible families whose children were already enrolled or qualify for the federal Head Start program, which provides child development services to low-income families. The dual-enrolled students receive the district curriculum by teachers who are employed by Child Care Associates. Other children who are not Fort Worth ISD students are in the same classrooms and receive the same instruction. Each classroom has 15-20 children, records show. The partnership also allows for a full year of care beyond the school year, according to Child Care Associates officials. Naomi Hernandez, 3, plays while attending pre-K at The Morris Foundation Child Development Center on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. Fort Worth ISD and PreK Today partnered this school year to provide pre-K to Fort Worth ISD students at community-based Head Start centers. Amanda McCoy/amccoy@star-telegram.com This is kind of a one-year pilot partnership with Fort Worth ISD to explore and expand community-based pre-K delivery with the hope that it can lead to greater participation and sustainability in the future, said PreK Today Director Amity Halstead. Fort Worth ISD has been formally partnering with child care centers and early childhood organizations for a handful of years, but this partnership replicates a similar model the district has implemented with the Ella McFadden Early Learning Center at the downtown Fort Worth YMCA. Olayinka Moore-Ojo, the districts executive director of Early Learning, said the agreement with Child Care Associates is a pivot from its model with the nonprofit from last school year, where staff from both entities would be teaching together in the partnership classrooms. Now, its Child Care Associates staff who are solely teaching students. Three-year-olds play at stations while attending pre-K at The Morris Foundation Child Development Center on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. Fort Worth ISD and PreK Today, managed by Child Care Associates, partnered this school year to provide pre-K to Fort Worth ISD students at community-based Head Start centers. Amanda McCoy/amccoy@star-telegram.com Its not exactly a swap, because we have different facilities, and also because the model is different, Moore-Ojo said. What is consistent is that were continuing to provide a partnership that provides families with opportunities to quality child care and early childhood education experiences for their children. The program sites are: The Morris Foundation Child Development Center (2701 Moresby St.) North Fort Worth Head Start and Child Development Center (901 NW 30th St.) Rosedale V Head Start and Child Development Center (4244 E Rosedale St.) The Studio at Riverside (2400 E First St.) Blanche Head Start and Child Development Center (2900 Stalcup Road) At the Morris Foundation center on Tuesday, a classroom of pre-K 3 students were floating among various focus areas with options to paint, make a Play-Doh creation, experiment with water and role play as a parent caring for a newborn. Naomi Hernandez built a castle for her mini plastic sharks, who were protected by a square wall made of one layer of wooden blocks. She and her classmates school day would span a full day of 7 hours, which is beyond state requirements that call for a half-day for 3-year-olds. The child care center location allows for children to stay longer depending on their parents work day, and the family can pay tuition or utilize a state subsidy for the additional hours of care. Teacher assistant Candice Franklin helps children as they play at a station while attending pre-K at The Morris Foundation Child Development Center on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. Amanda McCoy/amccoy@star-telegram.com Eligible children must meet at least one of the following criteria to qualify for pre-K at these sites and in general in the state of Texas: Be unable to speak and comprehend English Be educationally disadvantaged, or be eligible for the national free or reduced-price lunch program Be experiencing homelessness Be the child of an active-duty member of the military, or be the child of a member who was injured or killed during active duty Be currently in or previously in the conservatorship of the Department of Family and Protective Services Be the child of a person eligible for the Star of Texas Award as a peace officer, firefighter or emergency medical first responder. The award honors those who have been seriously injured or killed while in the line of duty. The PreK Today contract spans from Aug. 28 to June 30 next year, and Child Care Associates officials are hopeful for the possibility of a contract renewal that would expand the program to more families and additional child care centers. The district is paying PreK Today 90% of the allotted average daily attendance for each enrolled student, which would be a maximum of $600,000 for the duration of the contract, according to records. Our community is clear. In Fort Worth, we need to do many things differently to achieve the high-quality education our children deserve, Kara Waddell, president & CEO of Child Care Associates, said in a statement. Child Care Associates has always stood as a bridge between formal K-12 education and the 0-5 early learning system. In Texas, we didnt design PreK to work in community-based programs and gave all the resources to schools. That needs to change. Were thrilled that FWISD has recognized the value of community-based early learning. The 24-25 partnership with PreK Today is a step in the right direction. Genesis Hair, 3, plays while attending pre-K at The Morris Foundation Child Development Center on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. Fort Worth ISD and PreK Today partnered this school year to provide pre-K to Fort Worth ISD students at community-based Head Start centers. Amanda McCoy/amccoy@star-telegram.com Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath came to Fort Worth in April to participate in a panel discussion alongside Mayor Mattie Parker, Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Bryan Daniel and Waddell to discuss early childhood education issues. Among them was pre-K partnerships. Morath encouraged school districts to partner with private child care programs to provide early learning on their behalf beyond providing it in-house, noting that the outcomes of the 0-5 system are the beginning of (the K-12 system). But only a handful of Texas school districts have successfully implemented this model due to its complicated logistics, he said. The Austin Independent School District was highlighted as a successful example of bridging the gap between the K-12 system and the early childhood sector on a large scale. Waddell also testified in August to the House Committee on Public Education about these partnerships, urging policymakers to view pre-K as more than a standalone good. Were going to have to look at zero-to-five services as a kind of balanced ecosystem, and this is a way to do that, she said. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., joins Virginia Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland, in Louisa County on June 5, 2024, to support his bid to represent Virginia's 5th Congressional District. (Charlotte Rene Woods/Virginia Mercury) In a sign of deepening divisions among Republicans in Virginias 5th Congressional District, at least four members of the districts 37-member GOP Committee, including the vice chair, were ousted over the weekend, and another resigned after refusing to sign renewed loyalty pledges for state Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland, the partys nominee. The four purged members and the resignee were among 25 Republican officials who in early June signed an open letter urging former President Donald Trump to reconsider his endorsement of McGuire, advocating instead for Trumps support of U.S. Rep. Bob Good, R-Farmville, the incumbent. Jim Herring, who has served as the committees vice chair for two years and the former chair of the Goochland County GOP, told members in an email Sunday that the Republican Party of Virginias decision to demand the renewed pledges was unwarranted, unprecedented and unauthorized. After consulting with Chris Marston, the RPVs official legal counsel, other attorneys and past Republican officials, his belief was confirmed, Herring wrote in the email, which was obtained by The Mercury. In fact, it is very similar to the actions of prosecutors against Donald Trump. They make up allegations, find a politically weaponized judge, and then convict him knowing that all of this will probably be overturned on appeal, Herring wrote. McGuire has been a source of contention within the party since he announced his bid for Congress just one week after winning his seat in the 10th state Senate District last year particularly among those backing Good, who went on to lose to McGuire in the June 18 primary election by a mere 366 votes out of more than 62,000 cast. Even after McGuires narrow victory was confirmed by a recount, which Good requested, and an additional review of the results, some Republican hardliners in the district have refused to accept the former Navy SEAL as their partys nominee, instead turning to social media to launch a write-in campaign on behalf of Good, who has not publicly supported this effort. At a Sept. 14 meeting of the executive committee of the RPVs State Central Committee, the partys 80-member governing body in Virginia, Jeff Ryer, chairman of the 1st Congressional District Committee and the spokesman for the Trump campaign in Virginia, expressed concern that McGuire lacked fulsome support in the 5th District, RPV Chair Rich Anderson said in a phone interview Monday. Consequently, Ryer made a motion for the committee to require a renewed loyalty pledge from the 25 party officials who had signed the letter to Trump. Its an affirmation statement, I dont call it a loyalty statement, Anderson said. It just reaffirms that they will support the eventual nominees that would come out of these contests, whether they are a primary or a party run process. And with all the contention down in the 5th District because of a hotly contested race, a number of our congressional district committee chairs were concerned that perhaps not all were going to support McGuire. But in his email to committee members, Herring, the former vice chair, alleged that top party officials decided to dictate to the 5th District Committee members who had signed the Trump letter that they would have to sign a loyalty oath or get kicked out of the Republican Party. This decision was NOT brought to the (whole) State Central Committee for review or approval, and most were not even aware of this action, Herring wrote, adding that the committee then agreed to send a letter to those affected and set a deadline by which they had to return their signed pledges for Sept. 27 at 5 p.m. The form they sent in their letter was similar to the loyalty oaths they had required before, with the exception of one part the naming of specific candidates you pledge to support. To my knowledge, this action has not been done before, at least in the over four decades that I have been involved, Herring wrote. Ryer said Monday that he made the motion to ask for the renewed pledges because based on several news accounts it had become apparent that what he believed to be a false narrative was developing that leaders in the party were not fully supportive of our nominees. Ryer pushed back against allegations that the loyalty pledges had been used to force 5th District Republicans on the record in an effort to get them removed from the party as a punishment for asking Trump to reconsider his endorsement. It was my hope and the hope of the executive committee that all who had signed the June 6 letter would fulfill their previously professed pledge to support all our nominees, as required by the party plan, Ryer said, adding that he had made his motion solely in the capacity of his role as the 1st District chair and a longtime member of the State Central Committee. But Rick Buchanan, the chairman of the 5th District GOP Committee, in an email to Anderson and State Central Committee leadership sent after the deadline had passed on Friday afternoon pointed out that members had already signed similar pledges of support earlier this year, as a requirement under the RPVs party plan to attend mass meetings and conventions. Although he immediately forwarded the request for the renewed affirmations to the entire committee, Buchanan also said that no member of the State Central Committee had reached out to him directly or any of the districts 24 unit chairs to inquire about the necessity of this action as a remedy, suggesting that the distrust between the two fractions was based on miscommunication. Hearsay and assumption lead directly to dysfunction. The truth can only be found by going straight to the source, and the SCC and RPV have yet to reach out to develop an understanding. Mr. Chairman, this is not the way to work together as brothers in our political fight against our common enemies, Buchanan wrote. Singling out Republican officials from the 5th District for supporting the candidate we felt was the best candidate in a primary is more than an overreach, Buchanan said in the email. This action is pay-back for sending the letter to President Trump. Though some question the veracity of the letter, we firmly stand behind everything the letter says. Buchanan declined to comment for this story Monday. In their letter to Trump, the districts top GOP officials had hailed Good, the chairman of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, as a champion of America First policies by introducing legislation to codify policies defunding chain migration and requiring that immigrants are self-sufficient. During his time in Congress, Good also offered multiple bills that would build upon Trumps regulatory relief for businesses across the country, the party officials wrote. We the undersigned leaders of the 5th District Republican Congressional Committee strongly urge President Donald Trump to reconsider his endorsement of Congressman Bob Goods opponent in the Republican Primary, they concluded. After receiving the request for his renewed loyalty pledge, at least one 5th District Committee member Glenn Mozingo of Cumberland County handed in his resignation on Thursday. I am writing to advise that I will not sign the pledge form that was enclosed with your letter dated September 16, 2024, and I am resigning as a member of the Cumberland County Republican Committee with immediate effect. I understand that my membership on the 5th District Congressional Committee will lapse as well, Mozingo wrote in an email to RPV Executive Director Ken Nunnenkamp which was obtained by The Mercury. Mozingo wrote that he wasnt aware of any reservations among 5th District Committee members regarding their loyalties to Trump or Hung Cao, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate. Consequently, it is apparent that this is a transparent attempt to coerce each committee member to publicly go on record in support of John McGuire, which I will not do. Although he signed the pledge, James Hankins, another 5th District vice chair, also lashed out against RPV leadership. On a personal leave I feel insulted by being asked to sign this, Hankins wrote in an email to Anderson. I am signing this form this one time. If I am ever asked to do this again, I will resign from all posts I hold with the Republican Party and I will never raise another dollar for the 5th. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Four vehicles damaged by fire in Liberty Station parking lot Four vehicles damaged by fire in Liberty Station parking lot SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) Four vehicles in a Liberty Station parking lot were damaged by fire Sunday afternoon, police say. Officers with the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department responded to calls for a fire at 4:30 p.m. Sunday outside the Corvette Diner on Historic Decatur Rd in Liberty Station. SDFD task force members injured in crash on way to NC for Hurricane Helene relief efforts According to authorities, a Nissan Xterra caught fire for unknown reasons and spread to three other nearby vehicles. Firefighters were able to get the fires knocked down in around 20 minutes. No injuries were reported. San Diego Police were on the scene and had the area blocked off. According to SDFD, a preliminary investigation shows nothing suspicious, however it remains under investigation. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News. CLEVELAND (WJW) Cleveland Magazines Best of Cleveland list is back, and FOX 8 is honored to have received your votes! FOX 8 won Best Morning News. Our Wayne Dawson won Best Male Anchor, and Natalie Herbick won Best Female Anchor. List: 47 more Big Lots stores to close, including in NE Ohio Cleveland Magazines Best of list celebrates the city every year. Click here to see more from this years vote. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW. Apple (AAPL) had been counting on new artificial intelligence features to make the iPhone 16 a major hit. But presale estimates point to a more muted early response than Apple had hoped. Apple needed the iPhone 16 to be a big seller after years of sluggish iPhone sales. Long gone are the years when loyal Apple fans would line up to trade in their device on a near-annual basis, and the company hasnt given consumers a big reason to upgrade since adding 5G connectivity with the iPhone 12. Its been hoping that a suite of new software features that weave AI throughout would be a hit. But despite several splashy launch events, its not clear if Apple has successfully made the case to consumers just yet. Apple sold just an estimated 37 million units in the first weekend of iPhone 16 pre-sales, down more than 12% compared to the same period last year, according to a blog post from Ming-Chi Kuo, an Apple analyst with TF International Securities. In particular, demand for the higher priced iPhone 16 Pro devices were down sharply year-over-year compared with the iPhone 15 launch. One week after pre-sales began, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives pegged pre-sales only slightly higher than Kuos estimate at roughly 40 million units. CFRA Research technology analyst Angelo Zino also said the first weekend of preorder sales data pointed to a year-over-year decline. Perhaps more than the number of devices customers bought during presale season, Apple may need to worry about which phones in the iPhone 16 lineup consumers are opting for, given that the upgrades to the standard devices make them comparable in many ways to the Pro models. Analysts say there appears to have been greater demand for the lower priced iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus devices than the Pro and Pro Max, which could affect the average selling price and overall iPhone sales revenue. In the first weekend of presales, Apple sold 9.8 million iPhone 16 Pros and 17.1 million iPhone 16 Pro Max devices, down 27% and 16% year-over-year, respectively, according to Kuo. By comparison, sales of the standard iPhone 16 and the Plus were up slightly compared to the iPhone 15. The issue, Zino said, is that the base iPhone models might simply be too good. Given that this is largely a software upgrade cycle, my concern is that there were a greater mix of sales in the lower price iPhone 16 than the higher price devices, Zino said. When you look at the standard devices, they got a really great upgrade in terms of their cameras and internal processors. Kuo also reported shorter delivery lead times for the iPhone 16 Pro models 1-2 weeks for the iPhone 16 Pro during first weekend pre-sales compared to the iPhone 15, which saw customers waiting 3-4 weeks for their devices. He pointed to the fact that the iPhone makers highly touted AI Apple Intelligence features arent even available on the devices yet (theyre set to begin rolling out in beta next month along with iOS 18.1), as well as the companys ongoing struggle with increased competition in China. Story continues You need to wait for word of mouth to trickle through the consumer base over the next couple of quarters, before consumers will see the value of the new technology, Zino said. The pre-sale response may indicate that the promise of integrated AI features alone is not enough to spring Apple from its iPhone rut. Theres only so much that Apple can physically do to improve the iPhones camera or adjust its screen size, and software updates that many consumers already feel iffy about are likely a harder sell. And for all but the most devoted Apple fans, analysts say that most customers probably dont yet deeply understand why the AI features would be worth an upgrade. To be sure, it is still early days for the iPhone 16, and more have been sold since the devices became available on shelves on September 20. Whats more, the measurements that analysts use to estimate presales dont necessarily tell the whole story. Many consider lead time, the delay between when consumers order their devices and when they will be delivered, to be a key indicator of demand. The logic goes: the more people who order iPhones, the longer the wait will be. Lead times are shorter for the iPhone 16 than they were last year, but that may actually be a positive sign that Apple has improved its supply chain, allowing it to produce more phones, more quickly, according to Canalys Analyst Lex Chiew. CFRAs Zino added that Apple may have also boosted supply ahead of the launch, given the pressure it faced to drive a large upgrade cycle with the iPhone 16. Another positive signal: T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert told CNBC after the first week of presales that the carrier had sold more iPhone 16s than it had with the iPhone 15 last year. Apple wont share any details on iPhone sales numbers until it reports earnings next month, and even then, the data will only include seven days of presales and 10 days of regular sales. But most analysts still expect the iPhone 16 to prove a winner in the coming months despite a possible slow start, especially heading into the all-important final three months of the year. Its all about a monster holiday quarter and the supercycle begins for iPhone 16 in our view, Ives told CNN in an email. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) Member of Parliament Marine Le Pen speaks to media as she arrives at a court house for a trial on suspicion of embezzlement of European public funds. Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/dpa French far-right leader Marine Le Pen appeared in court in Paris on Monday, as she and other French right-wing nationalists faced accusations of receiving finances for fake staff in the European Parliament. In addition to long-time National Rally party leader Le Pen, her father and party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen is also among the 28 defendants accused of embezzling public funds. Marine Le Pen has always denied the allegations, which relate to the years 2004 to 2016, and which are directed against both the National Rally party and former elected officials and assistants. "We have not violated any political rule or any rule of the European Parliament," Le Pen said in court before the formal trial proceedings began. The case concerns the possible fictitious employment of assistants to several French members of the European Parliament. The central allegation is that Le Pen's party received money from the European Parliament for parliamentary assistants who were actually working for the party itself. The case is said to involve a sum of almost 7 million ($7.8 million). Le Pen paid back 330,000 to the European Parliament a year ago. However, her party emphasized that this was not an admission of misconduct. The affair has dogged Le Pen and her party for years. If found guilty, the defendants could face heavy fines and prison sentences of up to 10 years. If convicted, the defendants could also be declared ineligible for five years, which could put the brakes on Le Pen's candidacy in the next presidential election in 2027. French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) Member of Parliament Marine Le Pen speaks to media as she arrives at a court house for a trial on suspicion of embezzlement of European public funds. Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/dpa French far-right leader Marine Le Pen appeared in court in Paris on Monday, as she and other French right-wing nationalists faced accusations of receiving finances for fake staff in the European Parliament. In addition to long-time National Rally party leader Le Pen, her father and party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen is also among the 28 defendants accused of embezzling public funds. Marine Le Pen has always denied the allegations, which relate to the years 2004 to 2016, and which are directed against both the National Rally party and former elected officials and assistants. "We have not violated any political rule or any rule of the European Parliament," Le Pen said in court before the formal trial proceedings began. During the reading of the charges, she responded: "I will answer all the questions asked of me." The case concerns the possible fictitious employment of assistants to several French members of the European Parliament. The central allegation is that Le Pen's party received money from the European Parliament for parliamentary assistants who were actually working for the party itself. The case is said to involve a sum of almost 7 million ($7.8 million). Le Pen paid back 330,000 to the European Parliament a year ago. However, her party emphasized that this was not an admission of misconduct. The affair has dogged Le Pen and her party for years. If found guilty, the defendants could face heavy fines and prison sentences of up to 10 years. If convicted, the defendants could also be declared ineligible for five years, which could put the brakes on Le Pen's candidacy in the next presidential election in 2027. The court case is viewed as a major setback in efforts to normalize the party. These legal proceedings come at a time when the National Rally is stronger than ever. While the right-wing nationalists were considered frontrunners in the early parliamentary elections in June, they ultimately finished in third place. Le Pen is credited with moderating the party's previous radical positions, making it more appealing to mainstream voters. The trial is expected to continue until the end of November. The News Frances far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen will stand trial alongside 26 others on Monday over alleged misappropriation of European Union funds to pay party staff, almost a decade after an investigation was first launched. Le Pen and her co-defendants could face jail sentences of up to 10 years if found guilty, as well as a $1.12 million fine. They have consistently denied the charges. SIGNALS The National Rally may be able to weather the storm Sources: Politico, The Guardian, AFP, The Wall Street Journal A guilty verdict could slap Le Pen with a five-year ban on running for public office, and scupper her hopes of unseating Macron at Frances next presidential election in three years time, Politico reported. But the trial itself may not damage her popularity, and could even as with US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump prove to be a boon: The National Rally has consistently described the investigation as a form of persecution, The Guardian noted, a framing that lets them cast themselves as the victim, a political scientist told AFP. However, a conviction with a lighter sentence could still damage the party, which has sought to detoxify its far-right reputation in recent years, The Wall Street Journal noted. French far-right party leader Marine Le Pen arrives at the courthouse in Paris for the opening of her trial on charges she and other Rassemblement National party officials allegedly used European Parliament funds to pay for parliamentary assistants and then put them to work on party political tasks. The trial is expected to run through November 19. Photo by Julien Mattia/EPA-EFE Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen was on trial in Paris on Monday on charges of abusing European Parliament funds by hiring aides provided at taxpayer expense for party matters. Le Pen, who hopes to make a fourth run for president in 2027, is among high-ranking party officials prosecutors allege employed assistants and put them to work for the party rather than for National Rally's more than two dozen MEPs representing the interests of their constituents in the 717-seat legislative body. EP counsel, which accuses the party of running a scheme of creating sham parliamentary assistant posts and then appointing mostly senior party operatives to fill them, is seeking to claw back more than $3.3 million. Le Pen resigned as president of the then-National Front in 2017 to run for president of the country but is being prosecuted because she was in charge when many of the alleged offenses took place with prosecutors alleging that one of the "parliamentary aides" was, in fact, a bodyguard to Le Pen and her father and party founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen. The elder Le Pen, 96, is among 24 other defendants in the case. "The European Parliament's lawyers believe that, in this case, the Parliament has suffered both financial and reputational damage," the Parliament's press service told Politico. National Rally has already repaid $1.1 million but insists that the payment was not an admission of any wrongdoing. If convicted, the 56-year-old could be fined $1.1 million, sent to prison for 10 years and possibly banned from running for public office for 5 years which would put paid to her presidential ambitions. Le Pen denies the charges and as she arrived at the court insisted she and her colleagues had not broken any rules. Party spokesman Laurent Jacobelli said the defense would show there was "no system to embezzle money from the EU." "We are going to prove that it is possible to be an assistant to a European parliamentarian and get involved in the life of the National Rally," he said. The party claims the issue is a misunderstanding arising from a culture gap between Paris and Brussels over the definition of what role is understood to be a party employee -- demonstrated by the fact a party in President Emmanuel Macron's coalition was fined for the same thing earlier in the year and several party officials given suspended prison time or fined. National Rally heavily defeated Marcron's Renew grouping 30-13 in European Parliament elections in June that saw the far-right make big strides in France, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, and to a lesser extent in Germany and Romania, prompting Macron to call a snap election. The New Popular Front leftist coalition won the most seats -- but not an outright majority -- producing a stalemate only resolved by the replacement of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal from Macron's Renaissance Party, with the right-wing Republicans' Michel Barnier on Sept. 5. By Juliette Jabkhiro PARIS (Reuters) - Marine Le Pen, the leading figure of France's far-right National Rally (RN) party, went on trial on Monday accused of misappropriating EU funds and said she was confident she would prove she did nothing wrong. Le Pen, the RN itself, and 24 others - party officials, employees, former lawmakers and parliamentary assistants - are accused of using money destined for work at the European Parliament to pay staff who were working for their party, which at the time was called the National Front. Le Pen and the other accused say the way they used the money was legitimate and that the allegations show too narrow a definition of what a parliamentary assistant does. "I approach this trial with great peace of mind," Le Pen told reporters as she arrived at the criminal tribunal in Paris. The trial could potentially be damaging for Le Pen, who, if found guilty, risks being barred from public office for several years for accusations she denies. But if it clears her of wrongdoing, the trial, which comes almost a decade after initial investigations started, could also help Le Pen further polish her image and that of her party ahead of the 2027 presidential election. "We have seen in the case of Trump how he gathered strength and support through all his trials," Eurointelligence analysts wrote in a note, referring to U.S. court cases involving former President Donald Trump. "It can also pitch national interests against European ones. The base of staunch Le Pen supporters could grow." Le Pen, who lost to Emmanuel Macron in the second round of France's presidential election in 2017 and 2022, is widely seen as a frontrunner in 2027. EXPENSES The European Parliament has estimated the damage at 3.5 million euros ($3.92 million), its lawyer Patrick Maisonneuve said. EU lawmakers are allocated funds to cover expenses, including their assistants, but are not meant to use them to cross-fund party activities. Le Pen and her party, which argues for 'France first' policies on issues ranging from immigration, energy markets and agriculture, reject the allegations. RN lawmaker and party spokesman Laurent Jacobelli told Reuters last week that was what at stake was "a different understanding, as a French party, of what an assistant role is, compared with the European Parliament's understanding," Marine Le Pen is facing charges both for her role as party leader and as an EU lawmaker at the time, for allegedly hiring fictitious assistants herself. If found guilty, Le Pen and other defendants could face a potential jail sentence of up to 10 years and a one million euro ($1.12 million) fine. In addition, those like Le Pen who were elected officials at the time of the alleged offences risk being barred from public office for up to 10 years. Those who were not elected officials could be barred for up to five years. Jean-Marie Le Pen, 96, was also among the accused, but, at the start of the proceedings, the judge said that, for health reasons, he and one another accused were not fit to stand trial and would be judged separately at a later stage The trial will last until November 27. ($1 = 0.8941 euros) (Additional reporting by Elizabeth Pineau and Tassilo Hummel, writing by Juliette Jabkhiro and Ingrid Melander; editing by William Maclean) French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Monday urged Israel not to send ground troops into Lebanon, calling on Israel and armed group Hezbollah to immediately agree to a ceasefire. "I urge Israel to refrain from any ground incursion and to cease fire. I call on Hezbollah to do the same and refrain from any action that could destabilise the region," Barrot told reporters in Beirut. He called on the sides to agree to a truce put forward at the United Nations. "It is still on the table. There is still hope, but there is little time," Barrot said. Paris and Washington, joined by Arab, Western and European countries, called last week for Israel and Hezbollah to agree an "immediate 21-day ceasefire" and to "give diplomacy a chance". Israel dismissed the plan, increasing its strikes on Lebanon's south, east and Beirut's southern suburbs and on Friday killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The escalation comes on the heels of nearly one year of cross-border fire with Israel that Hezbollah says is in support of ally Hamas, whose October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza. Since mid-September, Israeli strikes across Lebanon have killed more than 1,000 people, authorities said. cf/at/lg-aya/ami From Asheville, N.C., to Valdosta, Ga., communities hit hard by Helene struggle to cope Communities are reeling in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which unleashed historic amount of rain and flooding as it tore across the Southeast, leaving dozens of people dead and millions without power. Western North Carolina was particularly hard hit, as Helene inundated rivers, washed away roads and cut off communications and cellphone service, complicating rescue efforts. Below is a roundup of local news reports from storm-stricken communities in several states. Our hearts are broken A view of Asheville, N.C., in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. (Mike Stewart/AP) In Buncombe County, N.C., alone, there have been at least 30 storm-related deaths, and more are feared. "Our hearts are broken," Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller said on Sunday night. "We ask that folks give our community the space and time to grieve this incredible loss." Hundreds of people have been reported missing in western North Carolina. In Asheville, N.C., record floodwaters from the Swannanoa River overwhelmed the city, causing catastrophic damage. Destruction everywhere you look A partially submerged van in the Swannanoa River, Asheville, N.C. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images) On Sunday, people outside the emergency room at HCA Healthcares Mission Hospital in Asheville were waiting for word on family members. Shawn Hensley, 47, of Black Mountain, N.C., told the Asheville Citizen Times that his 65-year-old mother arrived at the hospital the night before because she was running low on oxygen. Hensley and his neighbors had to use a chainsaw to clear a tree blocking his car so he could get out of Black Mountain, N.C., east of Asheville. It looks like Mother Nature just stomped all over that little town, Hensley said. Its just destruction everywhere you look. A river with debris from Chimney Rock, N.C., flows into Lake Lure. (Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) The Swannanoa River crested at more than 26 feet, 8 feet higher than whats considered flood level, and 6 feet higher than the previous record. "It was really surreal," Syd Yatteau, who lives near the Swannanoa River, told USA Today. "Like, at the beginning it was all fun and games. Just watching the water be where it was." Think Katrina, except in the mountains and with helicopters In Hickory, N.C., a group of civilian volunteers known as the Carolina Emergency Response Team used helicopters to airlift supplies to areas cut off by the storm. Think Hurricane Katrina, except in the mountains and with helicopters, not boats, Chad Walton, one of the groups organizers, told WSOC-TV. Thats pretty much where were at right now. The group said it has 20 helicopters. It looks like hell A damaged building in Valdosta, Ga. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images) In Georgia, at least 25 people died, Gov. Brian Kemp said Monday, as the storm cut a path of destruction he likened to a 250-mile-wide tornado. In Valdosta, Ga., 100-year-old trees fell on top of houses, and several downtown buildings were destroyed. It looks like hell," Bill Parmelee, a longtime resident of Valdosta, told NBC News. In Florida, where Helene came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane late Thursday, some people who evacuated their homes in low-lying areas were allowed back to survey the damage after the floodwaters receded. The remnants of hotel in Cedar Key, Fla., decimated by Hurricane Helene is seen Friday. (Stephen Smith/AP) In Pinellas County which saw a record storm surge from Helene more than 19,000 homes were damaged, officials said, and more than 10,000 were deemed uninhabitable. Mercy Roberg and Scott Lant, a local couple, were seen taking in the sunset at Madeira Beach on Saturday. Asked by a Tampa Bay Times reporter why they were doing that, Roberg replied: To remind ourselves why we live here. Fugitive wanted in Alabama arrested in New Rochelle: police Fugitive wanted in Alabama arrested in New Rochelle: police NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. (PIX11) A fugitive wanted in Jefferson County, Alabama, was apprehended in New Rochelle on Wednesday, the New Rochelle Police Department announced Monday. Nana K Gyapong, 25, of McLeansville, North Carolina, was wanted on a full extradition warrant. More Local News Gyapong is accused of two human trafficking charges in Alabama, police say. The FBI Safe Streets Task Force was informed that Gyapong was in the area of Nardozzi Place. New Rochelle Police were notified and responded to the scene where they took Gyapong into custody around 10:39 a.m. Gyapong was charged with two counts of fugitive from justice. Ben Mitchell is a digital content producer from Vermont who has covered both local and international news since 2021. He joined PIX11 in 2024. See more of his work here. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert C. I. McBurney has struck down Georgias six-week abortion ban. (Stanley Dunlap/Georgia Recorder) A Fulton County judge has ruled that Georgias six-week abortion ban is unconstitutional under the state constitution, allowing abortions to be performed again in Georgia as before the law took effect. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert C. I. McBurney released his long-awaited ruling Monday on the broader question at the center of a lawsuit filed in 2022: Does the Georgia Constitutions protections for liberty and privacy include a right to an abortion? McBurney has concluded that it does to a point. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX A review of our higher courts interpretations of liberty demonstrates that liberty in Georgia includes in its meaning, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices, McBurney wrote. That power is not, however, unlimited, he added. When a fetus growing inside a woman reaches viability, when society can assume care and responsibility for that separate life, then and only then may society intervene. McBurney had previously ruled that Georgias abortion law should be thrown out because it was unconstitutional when passed in 2019, which was three years before the U.S. Supreme Court ended the federal right to an abortion. But the Georgia Supreme Court overturned McBurneys ruling last year. Georgias law bans most abortion once fetal cardiac activity is detected, which is about six weeks into a pregnancy and before most women know they are pregnant. Under the ruling, abortions in Georgia are once again allowed up to about 22 weeks. This is a developing story. Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com. Follow Georgia Recorder on Facebook and X. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE GALLERY: Service Brewing Company hosts Beer and Yoga in support of Edel Caregiver Institute SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) The Service Brewing Company held a beer and yoga day on Saturday, Sept. 28, to support the Edel Caregiver Institute. Take a look at some of the photos from 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 WSAV-TV. Yerevan, Armenia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - Armenia is rapidly emerging as a powerhouse in the digital realm, and the inaugural Armenia Digital Awards underscored this transformation. Hosted by the E-Commerce & Digital Marketing Association (ECDMA) on September 27th at the prestigious Radisson Blu Yerevan, the event celebrated the nation's most innovative and impactful digital projects, attracting over 100 industry leaders, professionals, and media representatives. The evening was a testament to Armenia's vibrant digital ecosystem and its commitment to fostering innovation and excellence in the digital landscape. Armenia Digital Awards A Night of Innovation and Excellence The Armenia Digital Awards 2024 was more than just an awards ceremony; it was a convergence of the brightest minds in Armenia's digital sector. The event featured dynamic presentations, engaging panel discussions, and vibrant networking opportunities, all aimed at highlighting the significant strides Armenia has made in digital transformation. Eugene Mischenko, President of ECDMA and a seasoned expert in e-commerce and digital transformation, emphasized, "This event is a testament to the incredible talent and innovative spirit driving Armenia's digital economy. We are not just celebrating winners; we are inspiring the next wave of digital pioneers." The venue was abuzz with energy as attendees shared insights, discussed emerging trends, and forged new collaborations. The Armenia Digital Awards provided digital entrepreneurs, marketers, developers, and innovators a platform to showcase their work, gain recognition, and connect with potential partners and investors. Showcasing Armenia's Finest Digital Achievements The awards recognized excellence across various categories, reflecting Armenia's digital ecosystem's diverse and robust nature. Each category highlighted different aspects of digital innovation, from web design and mobile applications to groundbreaking digital solutions and media excellence. Best Website of the Year: HyurService.com, a leading platform for booking accommodations and tours in Armenia, emerged as the winner, revolutionizing Armenia's tourism sector with its user-friendly interface and visually appealing design. The platform's ability to attract tourists and boost the local economy underscores the critical role of a robust online presence in today's digital age. Best Website in Financial Services: Ardshinbank.am and Evoca.am. Ardshinbank.am, Armenia's largest bank, secured the Best Website in Financial Services award, highlighting its commitment to digital transformation and providing a seamless online banking experience. Similarly, Evoca.am, a leading digital bank known for its innovative and customer-centric approach, showcased its dedication to offering a modern and intuitive online banking platform, earning recognition in the same category. Story continues Best Mobile App of the Year: AMIO Mobile, Amio Bank's mobile banking app, took home the top prize, setting new standards in mobile banking with its secure and convenient solutions. The app's ability to provide users with seamless banking experiences on-the-go highlights the importance of mobile applications in today's fast-paced digital world. Best Mobile Payment App: EasyWallet, a popular mobile payment app, was recognized for its user-friendly and secure platform, reflecting the growing adoption of mobile payment solutions in Armenia. The app's ease of use and robust security measures have made it a favorite among consumers, driving the shift towards cashless transactions. Best Digital Innovation: AETIS, a platform for protecting intellectual property, received recognition for its innovative approach to safeguarding creative works. By providing creators and innovators with the tools to protect their intellectual property rights in the digital age, AETIS is leading the charge in ensuring that Armenia's creative talents are protected and nurtured. Best Innovative Advertising Solution: 8K.am for its exceptional ability to blend creative thinking with advanced technology in developing highly effective advertising campaigns. As a comprehensive solution for purchasing out-of-home (OOH) advertising, 8K.am simplifies the process, making it as easy as buying internet banners. Best Q-Commerce Service: Yandex Go, a service offering fast and convenient delivery of groceries and essential items, won in its category. This recognition highlights the growing trend of quick commerce and the increasing demand for rapid delivery services in urban areas, showcasing Armenia's adaptability to global consumer trends. Impact on Citizens' Quality of Life The Armenia Digital Awards not only celebrate technological advancements but also emphasize how these innovations significantly enhance the quality of life for Armenian citizens. Digital initiatives have improved access to essential services, enhanced communication, and fostered a more inclusive society. E-government platforms like Roadpolice.am and Workpermit.am have streamlined public services, making them more accessible and efficient for citizens. These platforms exemplify how digital solutions can enhance governance and public administration, promoting transparency and accountability. By simplifying processes such as traffic management and work permit applications, these digital tools reduce bureaucratic hurdles, save time for citizens, and ensure more efficient service delivery. These digital solutions demonstrate the profound impact that technology can have on everyday lives, fostering a more connected, efficient, and equitable society. Driving Global Excellence with ECDMA Global Awards Building on the success of the Armenia Digital Awards, ECDMA is thrilled to announce the launch of the ECDMA Global Awards, an international competition designed to recognize and celebrate digital excellence worldwide. This global platform invites innovators, entrepreneurs, and digital leaders from around the globe to showcase their achievements and gain international recognition. The ECDMA Global Awards aim to bridge the gap between regional and global digital markets, providing participants with opportunities to expand their reach, connect with international peers, and attract potential investors. By highlighting outstanding digital projects from diverse regions, the awards seek to foster a global community of digital innovators committed to driving positive change through technology. Early Bird Submission Now Open Don't miss the chance to be part of a global celebration of digital innovation. Early Bird submissions for the ECDMA Global Awards are now open and will close on November 15th, 2024. Participants can showcase their digital achievements on a global stage, connect with international peers, and gain unparalleled exposure. The submission process is straightforward, with categories spanning web development, mobile applications, digital marketing, e-commerce, and more, ensuring that a wide range of digital projects can be recognized. Impact of Armenia's Digital Transformation Armenia's digital transformation has profoundly impacted its economy and society. Over the past decade, the country has seen a significant increase in digital startups, investment in technology infrastructure, and the adoption of digital services across various sectors. Armenia's digital economy has been experiencing significant growth, contributing increasingly to the nation's GDP and creating numerous jobs in the tech sector. Satenik Kazaryan, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Armenia Digital Awards, played a pivotal role in promoting the Armenia Digital Awards and raising awareness about the event. "I'm passionate about the power of digital marketing to transform businesses and drive economic growth," said Satenik Kazaryan. "I'm thrilled to have contributed to showcasing the incredible talent and innovation within Armenia's digital landscape." Future Vision: Building a Thriving Digital Ecosystem The Armenia Digital Awards is just the beginning. ECDMA envisions a future where Armenia becomes a leading hub for digital innovation in the Eurasian region. By continuously supporting digital initiatives, fostering collaboration among industry stakeholders, and advocating for favorable policies, ECDMA aims to create an environment where digital businesses can thrive and compete on a global scale. Future initiatives include regular workshops, training programs, and networking events designed to equip digital professionals with the skills and knowledge needed to excel in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. ECDMA also plans to collaborate with international organizations to bring global best practices to Armenia and other developing countries, ensuring that the country remains at the forefront of digital innovation. Comprehensive Support for Digital Innovators ECDMA is committed to providing comprehensive support for digital innovators through various programs and services. This includes mentorship opportunities, access to funding and investment resources, and platforms for showcasing digital projects. By nurturing a supportive ecosystem, ECDMA helps digital entrepreneurs overcome challenges, scale their businesses, and achieve sustainable growth. About the E-Commerce & Digital Marketing Association (ECDMA) The E-Commerce & Digital Marketing Association (ECDMA) is a global association dedicated to fostering the growth and development of the e-commerce and digital marketing industries worldwide. Through initiatives like the Armenia Digital Awards and the upcoming ECDMA Global Awards, ECDMA aims to build a vibrant community of digital professionals, promote knowledge sharing, and advocate for policies that support the burgeoning digital economy. With a mission to drive digital innovation, ECDMA collaborates with industry leaders, government bodies, and educational institutions across the globe to create a cohesive and forward-thinking digital landscape. The association's efforts have positioned ECDMA as a key player in the international digital market, attracting investments and talent from around the world. Sincere Words of Gratitude The organizers of the Armenia Digital Awards 2024 express their deep gratitude to all those who contributed to the success of this inaugural event. Special thanks go to the esteemed jury members, participating companies and individuals, media partners, and dedicated volunteers who played a crucial role in bringing the vision of the awards to life. Join Us in Shaping the Future of Digital Innovation The Armenia Digital Awards 2024 and the accompanying Digital & Ecomm Evn Conference mark a significant step forward in the development of Armenia's digital ecosystem. ECDMA is committed to building on this success by continuing to support the growth of the digital industry in Armenia and promoting its achievements on the international stage. As Armenia continues to lead in digital innovation, ECDMA invites the global community to participate in this exciting journey. The ECDMA Global Awards promise to be a significant event in the digital calendar, offering opportunities for networking, collaboration, and recognition. Whether you're an established leader or an emerging innovator, the ECDMA Global Awards provide a platform to elevate your digital initiatives and drive meaningful impact. For More Information and to Submit Your Entry: https://awards.ecdma.org Armenia Digital Awards About E-Commerce & Digital Marketing Association E-Commerce & Digital Marketing Association (EDMA) is a professional organization founded in 2023, dedicated to connecting, educating, and empowering professionals within the global e- commerce and digital marketing community. With a mission to accelerate the growth and success of the industry, EDMA offers a platform for networking, professional development, and thought leadership. It emphasizes collaboration, education, innovation, and integrity to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. EDMA stands out for its commitment to establishing professional standards and fostering a diverse and inclusive environment within the e-commerce and digital marketing sectors Press Inquiries E-Commerce & Digital Marketing Association https://ecdma.org Eugene Mischenko em@ecdma.org 3072162411 To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/225105 Last week the Gambling Commission attempted to deflect the contents of two credible reports detailing the explosion of gambling on the black market in this country. An explosion fuelled by its misguided affordability checks on punters. The commission naively responded to these reports, stating that it had an extremely active specialist black market team. But that, quite frankly, is about as reassuring as the Met Police telling us they have a successful burglary squad. The reports, which were accepted without challenge by all interested parties, reveal the scale of illegal gambling in the UK has completely blindsided the politicians in Westminster. It is now estimated that 4.3 billion is wagered with illegal gambling operators compared with 2.8 billion in 2020. And yet, if one was to believe the rhetoric from the Gambling Commission, one would think there was barely a problem. In a spout of denial, it gleefully reported that since April, the team has issued over 750 cease-and-desist notices and over the same period the commission has referred over 78,000 URLs with 50,000 of these removed this is a tenfold increase in comparison to the whole of 2023-24. There are two ways one can interpret these numbers. The first, which appears to be the belief of the Gambling Commission, is that it is doing a terrific job and it is on top of the problem. The other view would be that the problem has increased twenty-fold since 2023-24. But focusing on how many illegal bookmakers have been taken down is looking at the problem from the wrong end. What is much more effective is to give punters fewer reasons for wanting to bet on the black market in the first place. Affordability checks are thus a disaster. Think of them as a billion-pound marketing campaign for illegal gambling. Increasing the tax on gambling, which looks right up this governments street, will also backfire. One of the reports estimated that illegal gambling will already cost the Treasury 335 million in lost taxes over the period of this government. If it raises betting tax, it will actually increase that number, rather than its tax receipts. The dreaded law of unintended consequences. Cheltenham insults bedrock of sport as it turns back on amateurs Speaking of which, Cheltenham hammered a very large nail into the coffin of old-fashioned steeplechasers a few years back when it changed the conditions of the National Hunt Chase. The whole point of one of the oldest races in the calendar was that it gave horses who were bred to win chases and not hurdles a chance to race against each other on the biggest stage. But as soon as Cheltenham allowed horses who had won a hurdle race in previous seasons to take part in the race, it effectively made it a race for the big yards second-string three-mile novice chasers. A Brown Advisory for the slower staying novice chasers. Cheltenham has now added insult to injury by opening that race up to professional riders, which will effectively rule out the British amateurs from getting decent rides in it. Over a longer period of time, it will also dilute the presence of the popular Irish amateurs who are more akin to assassins than jockeys. And just to make sure the injury was hammered home, Cheltenham consulted every Tom, Dick and Harry before it made this unwelcome change, but not the Amateur Jockeys Association (AJA), which will have considerable insight into the race and the consequences of mucking about with it. One of those consulted was Ed Chamberlin, the presenter of ITV racing. On Friday he asked Jon Pullin, a spokesman for Cheltenham, whether the AJA had been consulted. Pullin did not answer the question and, predictably, Chamberlin did not press him before he bowled him a soft follow-up question. There are many talented amateur riders performing in point-to-points around the country. Having a chance to ride at the Festival is a big deal for them, and their inclusion in jump racings showpiece event added a nuance to the occasion. These are men and women who come from grass-roots National Hunt racing stock. So it is ironic and sad that Cheltenham is eroding not only the type of horses that steeplechasing should be all about, but also the people who have traditionally been the bedrock of the sport. 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 four men - seen here dressed in civilian clothing - were ordered to pay compensation to the victim [Ronald Sonyo] A court in Tanzania's capital has sentenced four men to life imprisonment for the gang rape and sodomy of a girl under the age of 18 in a case which caused outrage in the country. Among the convicts are Clinton Damas, a soldier with the Tanzania People's Defence Force, and Praygod Mushi, a prison officer. The other two convicts are Nickson Jackson and Amin Lema. In addition to the life sentences, the four men have each been ordered to pay 1m shillings ($370; 275) to the victim. A fifth suspect - a senior policewoman suspected of ordering the sex attack - is to be tried separately in October. The case has triggered shockwaves in Tanzania, which is a highly conservative society. Outside the Dodoma Resident Magistrate's Court on Monday, the men's defence lawyer, Godfrey Wasonga, said they were dissatisfied with the ruling, claiming that some legal provisions had been violated. But several activists, celebrities, and human rights defenders have praised the court's judgment on social media. A video of the gang-rape began circulating online in August, and soon afterwards police urged the public not to forward the footage so as "to avoid torturing the victim and her family". The East African nation is struggling to deal with a surge in gender-based violence, with many cases going unreported, according to local media. "Ignoring these issues will only lead to their increased occurrence in our society," warned the Legal and Human Rights Centre last month. In recent weeks a police commander, Theopista Mallya, was removed from her post following controversial comments in which she linked the victim to sex work. Additional reporting by Wycliffe Muia and Natasha Booty More BBC stories on Tanzania: [Getty Images/BBC] Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica BBC Africa podcasts Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a controversial bill that establishes siting and design standards for industrial warehouses that, according to supporters, would better protect the health of nearby residents. The legislation comes as developers have converted large swaths of property along Inland Empire freeways into a logistics corridor for e-commerce, connecting goods shipped into Southern California ports with online shoppers across the nation. Although proponents of the developments say they bring jobs and infrastructure improvements, many residents living in the shadow lament the pollution, traffic and neighborhood disruption. Beginning in 2026, Assembly Bill 98 will prohibit cities and counties from approving new or expanded distribution centers unless they meet specified standards. New warehouse developments will need to be located on major thoroughfares or local roads that mainly serve commercial uses. And warehouses will need to be set back several hundred feet from so-called sensitive sites such as homes, schools and healthcare facilities. Additionally, if a developer demolishes housing to make way for a warehouse, the bill will require two new units of affordable housing for each unit that is destroyed. The developer will have to provide displaced tenants with 12 months rent. Assemblymember Juan Carrillo (D-Palmdale), co-author of the legislation, previously described the measure as a very delicate compromise that resulted from lengthy negotiations among a group that included labor, health, environmental and business representatives. While some labor organizations supported the bill, environmental, community and civic groups statewide objected to the secrecy in which the bill was crafted in the final days of the session and said it fails to hold warehouse developers to higher standards. Several cities also opposed the legislation, which, according to an analysis by the Senate Appropriations Committee, requires general plan updates that could result in one-time costs for cities and counties ranging from tens of millions to potentially hundreds of millions of dollars. The League of California Cities is committed to fixing this "costly, burdensome bill" during next year's legislative session, President Daniel Parra said in a statement Sunday. "AB 98 is a massive unfunded mandate that will harm our cities, stifle job growth, and threaten the economic lifeblood of communities throughout California," he said. Environmental advocates are especially concerned about the bills setback requirements for projects involving warehouses 250,000 square feet and larger that are within 900 feet of homes, schools, parks or healthcare facilities. In those cases, the bill requires that truck loading bays are located at least 300 feet from the property line in areas zoned for industrial use and 500 feet from the property line in areas not zoned for industrial use. Warehouses would also need to comply with design and energy efficiency standards. Advocates argued the bill would simply enshrine current warehouse development practices into law and undermine local efforts to advocate for the much bigger setbacks recommended by state agencies. In a 2022 report on best practices for warehouse projects under the states environmental laws, the state attorney generals office recommends locating warehouse facilities so that their property lines are at least 1,000 feet from the property lines of sensitive sites such as homes and schools. It cites the state Air Resources Board , which in 2005 estimated an 80% drop-off in pollutant concentrations at approximately 1,000 feet from a distribution center. In a statement issued Sunday, environmental groups and community organizations called on the governor and Legislature to work with them next year to get "real protections for our communities." "This is disappointing for our communities who will have to bear the brunt of weak standards," said Andrea Vidaurre, co-founder and policy analyst for the Peoples Collective for Environmental Justice in San Bernardino. This article is part of The Times equity reporting initiative, funded by the James Irvine Foundation, exploring the challenges facing low-income workers and the efforts being made to address Californias economic divide. 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. Gavin Newsom signs Paris Hilton-backed bill to crack down on Troubled Teen facilities Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert! NEWSOM SIGNS PARIS HILTON-BACKED BILL A bill backed by celebrity heiress Paris Hilton to provide greater transparency of troubled teen youth residential facilities is now law, after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 1043 on Friday. The bill, by Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, is intended to protect children and young people from being subjected to improper use of restraints and isolation. Children and teens especially those in the care of the foster system should never be subjected to improper use of restraints, or isolation while they are meant to be receiving treatment, Newsom said in a statement. Hilton herself is a survivor of the troubled teen industry, and in a statement she thanked the governor for signing the bill. With his support, California is taking a major step toward protecting vulnerable youth by making these facilities more transparent, she said. In a statement, Grove said that her legislation underscores Californias commitment to transparency and protecting at-risk children. It has been a privilege to work alongside one of the most incredible advocates, Paris Hilton, to make a positive impact on the lives of vulnerable children in California, she said. QUOTE OF THE DAY Believe it or not, we dont all hate each other. One of my most memorable moments early in my career I just got done speaking against a bill I thought was a crazy, anti-parent bill. A Dem colleague who I have a lot of respect for says to me I love you, JP. But youre crazy. True. - Assemblyman Joe Patterson, R-Rocklin, via X. Best of The Bee: Gavin Newsom signs bill formally apologizing for Californias role in chattel slavery, via Andrew Sheeler . Trump says if elected president hell get gas prices under $2 a gallon. Is that possible? Via David Lightman . Is California community college accessible? Report, students identify barriers in affordability, via Emma Hall . CalPERS PPO plans are changing administrators in 2025. Why some members are nervous, via William Melhado . Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoes California bill to track homelessness spending. What he said, via Nicole Nixon. Nearly a year of devastating war has left Gaza's 2.4 million people enduring a humanitarian tragedy, with children in the besieged territory the most vulnerable, a UNICEF official told AFP in an interview. Jonathan Crickx, the UN agency's spokesman for the Palestinian territories, has returned this month from a week-long mission to Gaza, still heavily impacted even as Israel shifts its military focus to Lebanon. He talked to AFP about the plight of Gaza's children, who have not had a single day of education since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7. "You see children who are not allowed to have the life of normal children, no education, no play, no joy," Crickx said. "The faces of these children are... so sad." Most children he saw in the war-battered Palestinian territory were helping their family as they no longer had classes to attend. "So, you see a lot of children carrying these dirty yellow plastic jerrycans" with up to 25 litres of water, he said. "I've seen children pushing these jerrycans with a broken wheelchair, trying to bring water, which is one of the major issues... in the Gaza Strip." Crickx said it was heartbreaking to see children, some as young as five or six, trying to find food for their families. They are "walking in huge piles of garbage and trying to get whatever they can," he said. "These children are extremely impacted by the violence and the bombings and insecurity they have been through for a year." - 'They want to go to school' - Crickx vividly remembers his conversation with Ahmad, a 10-year-old Gazan boy who lived with his family in a displacement camp in southern Gaza. The boy's uncle had died a horrific death, Crickx said. Ahmad "was saying things that a 10-year-old should not tell you, how the body was in pieces, how the head was far away", he recalled. "This is extremely intense and difficult to hear from a 10-year-old child." Many children in Gaza have lost at least one of their parents, said Crickx. Exact figures are unavailable, "but the frequency at which we meet with those children is very high," he said. UNICEF estimates that there are 19,000 children who are unaccompanied or have been separated from their parents, he said. On top of that, not a single school is functioning across Gaza, he said, and 85 percent of all school buildings have been destroyed by the fighting. "You have the entire population of school-aged children who didn't attend a single hour of class in the past 12 months," Crickx said. "What is really striking is how they want to go to school, how they want to play with their friends, how they want to see their teachers... education, learning give hope." - 'Terrible recipe' for disease - UN agencies and aid groups have warned of the spread of preventable disease and other health risks compounded by the war. "With a very high level of density of people, extremely bad hygiene conditions, high temperatures, too little access to a bathroom, it's the perfect, terrible recipe for the emergence of diseases," Crickx said. Many children are sick and need treatment, but most hospitals across Gaza are not functioning. "This situation is really leading to children not getting the proper treatment that they need," Crickx said. He said he had met four children in northern Gaza's Kamal Adwan hospital who were suffering from cancer or heart problems. "These children actually need an immediate medical evacuation (or) they will not make it," he said. crb/bfi/mj/jd/crb/ami Residents of an entire Georgia county were asked to shelter in place after a fire and ongoing chemical release erupted at a plant east of Atlanta on Sunday. The shelter-in-place recommendation for residents of Rockdale County, population 93,570, was valid through midnight, the county said in a statement. As an associated chemical reaction continued to send a gaseous plume over the area Sunday night, residents near the plant in Conyers, Georgia, were under mandatory evacuation orders. A sprinkler head malfunctioned after 5 a.m. at the BioLab plant, causing a mixture with a water-reactive chemical, Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel said. Deputies say multiple roads in Rockdale County, Ga., were closed Sunday because of a fire at the BioLab facility on Old Covington Highway. There was a small fire on the roof, McDaniel said. The exact cause of the fire was under investigation, but the chief said at an afternoon news conference that the sprinkler system, and then firefighters, may have exacerbated the chemical reaction by putting water on it. "Weve been firefighting with water," McDaniel said during the update, "but the water is also aggravating the chemical." Indicating the material involved in the release was yet to be confirmed, officials declined to name the chemical. Operator KIK Consumer Products said in a statement that it was responding to the incident. It said Clorox-branded pool-cleaning products are produced at the facility. The brands lineup includes bacteria and algae-eliminating products made with chlorine, according to Clorox. Chlorine is unstable and, when released, can create a gaseous and toxic plume, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. It also reacts with water and other chemicals, the CDC says. As personnel were taking the product out of the facility, at about noon, the fire reignited, McDaniel said. It took another three or four hours to get it under control, she said. "We now have it out," the chief said. Though the flames are out, the chemical reaction will continue to produce a plume for "several days," McDaniel said. The fire department was still working to remove the material from the building, the chief said earlier. Asked in the afternoon if Hurricane Helene and its aftermath may have helped spark the fire and chemical reaction, the chief said it was too early to tell. Sharon Webb, director of the Rockdale County Emergency Management Agency, said that until officials know for sure what's in the plume, residents should stay put. "Right now it is a precaution, until we get a reading about what the actual plume is," she said. McDaniel explained how residents should shelter in place: Well tell people to ... keep your doors and windows closed, McDaniel said. Any event, the wind shift, this thing can change really quickly." Videos on social media showed smoke billowing above the plant. No injuries have been reported outside the facility. Likewise, KIK said in its statement that no injuries were reported among its employees at the facility. "Our team is on the scene, working with first responders and local authorities to assess and contain the situation," it said. "As always, the safety of our community remains our top priority." Rockdale County officials told residents living between Sigman Road and Interstate 20 to evacuate Sunday morning. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com A fire broke out at a chemical plant just east of Atlanta on Sunday, prompting officials to ask residents in the area to evacuate. At around 5 a.m., a sprinkler head malfunctioned at the BioLab plant in Conyers, causing a mixture with a water reactive chemical, Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel said. Deputies say multiple roads in Rockdale County, Ga., were closed Sunday because of a fire at the BioLab facility on Old Covington Highway. There was a small fire on the roof, which has been contained, but at that time, right now, there are no other issues, McDaniel said. The fire department is working to remove the material from the building and the water source, McDaniel said at a news conference Sunday. Officials, who did not say what kind of chemical was released, advised people to shelter in place and said the situation could change quickly. Well tell people to shelter in place, keep your doors and windows closed, McDaniel said. Any event, the wind shift, this thing can change really quickly. But once again, shelter in place, windows and doors closed. Videos on social media showed smoke billowing above the plant. In a statement, manufacturer KIK Consumer Products said it is responding to the incident. KIK produces household and pool products, including Clorox water treatments for pools and spas and Comet cleaner items for the home. "Our employees are accounted for with no injuries reported," the manufacturer said. "Our team is on the scene, working with first responders and local authorities to assess and contain the situation. As always, the safety of our community remains our top priority." Rockdale County officials told residents living between Sigman Road and Interstate 20 to evacuate Sunday morning. Those living north of Sigman Road were advised to shelter in place. Churches in the area were advised to cancel services. It was not clear whether any residents were injured. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com A judge in Georgia has once again blocked the state from enforcing a ban on abortion at roughly six weeks of pregnancy, concluding that state law criminalizing care is unconstitutional. The 26-page opinion, from Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, ordered that abortion access must be regulated as it was before Georgia lawmakers passed the states anti-abortion law in 2019. That ban under the states LIFE Act was effectively blocked by Roe v Wade, which the Supreme Court struck down three years later in 2022. Mondays ruling will allow Georgia abortion patients to seek care past six weeks of pregnancy for now potentially turning the state into a crucial refuge for access in the South, where every state has outlawed most forms of abortion care at any point in a pregnancy. Providers told reporters after the ruling that they anticipate expanding care access immediately. Judge McBurneys stunning order notes that most women are completely unaware or at best unsure whether they are pregnant at six weeks, or roughly two weeks after a missed period. He compares the states anti-abortion law to the violent misogynist regime in Margaret Atwoods best-selling novel, The Handmaids Tale. Abortion rights demonstators rally outside Georgias state capitol in Atlanta in May (AP) Women are not some piece of collectively owned community property the disposition of which is decided by majority vote, he wrote. Forcing a woman to carry an unwanted, not-yet-viable fetus to term violates her constitutional rights to liberty and privacy, even taking into consideration whatever bundle of rights the not-yet-viable fetus may have. Judge McBurney wrote that it is not for a legislator, a judge, or a Commander from The Handmaids Tale to tell these women what to do with their bodies during this period when the fetus cannot survive outside the womb any more so than society could or should force them to serve as a human tissue bank or to give up a kidney for the benefit of another. The case is now likely headed to the Georga Supreme Court, which had previously upheld the states ban. A footnote in the ruling oberves that there is an uncomfortable and usually unspoken subtext of involuntary servitude swirling about this debate, symbolically illustrated by the composition of the legal teams in this case. It is generally men who promote and defend laws like the LIFE Act, the effect of which is to require only women and, given the socio-economic and demographic evidence presented at trial, primarily poor women, which means in Georgia primarily black and brown women to engage in compulsory labor, i.e., the carrying of a pregnancy to term at the governments behest, the judge added. The ruling comes just two weeks after an investigation by ProPublica chronicled the deaths of two Georgia women who were not able to access abortion care in the state after the Supreme Court overturned Roe. These cases have revived scrutiny of Georgias abortion ban and similar anti-abortion laws across the US in the wake of Roes end, and the wave of litigation from abortion patients, providers and civil rights groups that has followed. The judges ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective and others against the state shortly after Governor Brian Kemp signed the measure into law in 2019. Judge McBurney had previously ruled that the law was unconstitutional in 2022, but that decision was reversed by the Georgia Supreme Court. Abortion is banned at all stages of pregnancy, with only limited exceptions, in more than a dozen Republican-controlled states. Abortion also is outlawed past six weeks in Florida and South Carolina, while others have imposed other restrictions and barriers to care in a constantly evolving and legally confusing map for abortion access. We are encouraged that a Georgia court has ruled for bodily autonomy, SisterSong executive director Monica Simpson said in a statement. At the same time, we cant forget that every day the ban has been in place has been a day too long and we have felt the dire consequences with the devastating and preventable deaths of Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller, she added. For years, Black women have sounded the alarm that abortion bans are deadly. While true justice would mean Amber and Candi were still with us today, we will continue to demand accountability to ensure that their lives and the lives of others who we have yet to learn of were not lost in vain. A Georgia judge on Monday struck down the states six-week abortion ban. Fulton County Superior Judge Robert McBurney quoted liberty in a ruling that rejected the controversial ban outlawing abortion after six weeks, before many people know they are pregnant. Abortions in the state will now be allowed until 22 weeks, as they were before the reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022, when Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed into law the six-week ban. McBurney had some choice words for politicians in his ruling, writing, It is not for a legislator, a judge, or a Commander from The Handmaids Tale to tell these women what to do with their bodies during this period when the fetus cannot survive outside the womb any more so than society could or should force them to serve as a human tissue bank or to give up a kidney for the benefit of another. He added, our higher courts interpretations of liberty demonstrates that liberty in Georgia includes in its meaning, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices. The state law prohibited abortions after six weeks, based on the misleading notion that a heartbeat could be detected in an embryo around that time. In reality, an embryo does not have a heart at six weeks, let alone cardiac activity. A fetus is also not viable outside the body till much later in a pregnancy. McBurney got the chance to rule on the law after it was sent back to Fulton County court by the state Supreme Court last year. Georgias restrictive abortion ban killed at least two women since its passage and caused Georgias monthly abortion totals to drop by roughly half. This story has been updated. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) led Georgias congressional delegation Monday in asking the White House for a disaster declaration in the state in the wake of Hurricane Helene. In the letter, signed by Ossoffs colleague Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and the states 14 representatives, the delegation noted that a disaster declaration would free up federal disaster funding in the state following the storm. We write to convey full support for Governor Brian Kemps request for an expedited major disaster declaration for the counties in the State of Georgia significantly impacted by Hurricane Helene, the members wrote in the letter. We encourage your team to promptly consider Governor Kemps request for a major disaster declaration, and we stand ready to work with you and your Administration to support these critical recover efforts in Georgia. The storm, which made landfall last week in rural Florida, has killed more than 100 people across multiple states, which Kemp (R) said Monday includes at least 25 Georgians. Much of the attention has focused on its impact on North Carolina, where it devastated much of the western part of the state and caused widespread flooding even in mountainous areas. The federal government has issued a disaster declaration for North Carolina. In remarks Monday, Kemp said he and the president had spoken Sunday night, saying He just said, hey, what do you need? And I told him, we got what we need, well work through the federal process. He offered that if theres other things we need, just to call him directly, which I appreciate. Biden also suggested in remarks Monday that he was considering calling Congress back for a special session after the continuing resolution passed last week to keep the government open did not include disaster funding. The Hill has reached out to the White House 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. By Yadarisa Shabong (Reuters) -Aston Martin warned of lower annual profit and cut its production forecast on Monday on supply chain challenges and dogged weakness in China, sending shares as much as 28% lower and raising questions around its future ambitions. The British luxury carmaker joined other European peers in flagging a difficult environment in China, the world's largest car market. Aston Martin had stopped manufacturing old models, and a ramp-up in production of fresh models was expected to drive growth and cash flow from the second half of this year. "Near perfect execution was required to meet the company's ambitious 2024 plan. However, it has become clear that we need to take decisive action to adjust our production volumes for 2024," new CEO Adrian Hallmark said in a statement. Hallmark joined Aston Martin as CEO in September from British rival Bentley and was tasked with reviving the group's fortunes. "We believe the new management team will now have to work hard to rebuild confidence around near-term financials, execution and business potential from here on," analysts at JPMorgan said in a note. The warning raises questions around Aston Martin's future ambitions, what can be delivered as a standalone business and as a result its fundamental valuation, they said. Aston Martin said it no longer expects to achieve positive free cash flow in the first half and that it was cutting its 2024 wholesale volumes target by about 1,000 vehicles to address the issue. A growing number of late component arrivals due to disruption at several of its suppliers meant more cars were taking longer to complete and deliveries were getting delayed, Aston Martin said. Aston Martin shares fell as much as 28% to their lowest since November 2022. Sales in China were already on the decline for Aston Martin. The group said in July it would launch its next-generation sports cars in China, hoping to turn around its fortunes in the key market. Stellantis on Monday also warned on profits and Volkswagen cut its 2024 outlook on Friday, while Mercedes-Benz this month lowered its full-year profit margin target for the second time in two months. (Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza, Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Jan Harvey) In the wake of Hurricane Helenes destruction, Donald Trump is eager to spread rumors about President Joe Bidens inaction. The problem is, at least one Republican politician on the front lines is willing to call Trump out on his lies. On Monday, Trump visited Georgia, one of the six states seriously hit by the natural disaster, and claimed that while Governor Brian Kemp was doing a very good job, he was having a hard time getting the president on the phone. I guess theyre not being responsive, the federal government is not being responsive, he continued. Theyre having a very hard time getting the president on the phone. He wont get on it. While its true that the federal response to the hurricane leaves much to be desired, Trump was stretching the truth when he said that Kemp hadnt heard from Biden. Just a few hours earlier on Monday, Kemp told press that Biden called yesterday afternoon and asked the Georgia governor what further support his state needed. Biden last week also declared a state of emergency in Georgia, approving federal disaster assistance for the state. Has Trump told Gov. Kemp, who said this today? "The President just called me yesterday afternoon." "And he just said hey, what do you need?" "He offered that if there's other things we need, just to call him directly, which, I appreciate that." https://t.co/ABiE0AE0GS pic.twitter.com/Y9WcwULJes Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) September 30, 2024 As Trump tours Georgia and North Carolina, Republicans continue to slam Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for not showing face in disaster zones. But perhaps while roads remain closed and many remain without power, its a better use of resources for the federal government to provide actual disaster relief, rather than divert resources for a tour bus. At least, thats what many residents in Georgia thought about Trumps publicity stunt Monday. Sadly, I have come to realize that many of our ostensible leaders be they spiritual, political or pedagogical are failing our state. In an ideal world, children will grow up to receive an education that will serve them throughout life not necessarily make them wealthy but content and sufficiently affluent to lead a fulfilled life. Is this expectation still a reasonable one? Recent events, including the tragic shooting in Barrow County, have brought close attention to our schools and especially to parents and students. Are social media to blame for emotional problems? What about childhood trauma? Many of our leaders, instead of stepping up to confront todays issues, place their own children in a private academy and instead of leading turn their backs on painful and complex issues, declaring This is not the right time. Our nation is gaining a reputation for rage. An international magazine that my family subscribes to recently had a cover with the caption How ugly will it get? Who knows? Already the results of the upcoming election are threatened to be contested. In a society where truth is a word that no longer holds meaning, we should not be surprised. Teachers are already underpaid and often subject to verbal abuse from both students and parents. In recent days we have learned that they are also susceptible to gunfire just a fact of life, politicians say. With venom coming from the mouths of politicians (ostensibly our leaders) is it any wonder that young persons are emotionally disturbed? What scares me the most is not bullets that come from the barrels of guns but rather the vitriol and vituperation that pours from the mouths of not just politicians but the partisans in seemingly any dispute, however inconsequential. If education is to be successful and our future depends upon it it is essential that students learn to capture the best that has been known and thought out of the onslaught of information that pours down upon us. In just a matter of generations we have gone with increasing rapidity from the Agricultural Age to the Industrial Age to the Digital Age, and we are now confronting the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Do the virtues and values of the past still hold value? During Macons recent Bicentennial Celebration, I read Master Slave Husband Wife, a celebrated work recounting Ellen and William Crafts dramatic escape from slavery right here in Macon. Just days ago, I started reading James Oglethorpe: Father of Georgia, the latest work by Dekalb County CEO Michael Thurmond. A few days before that I heard a presentation by former Google VP Matthew Stepka titled How AI is transforming education and the human experience. We can hope our graduates will realize it is their duty to continue to pursue knowledge when they step forth into the world. . Currently, Georgia is suffering from a dearth of leadership. Does the governor truly believe that now is not the time to address guns in schools? I was timid in my youth, but life took me to an Armored Cavalry squadron. It was there that I learned the Prayer of St. Francis (to comfort others rather than to be comforted). From a philosophy major I learned the Kantian Categorical Imperative (will you approve of something if that means it becomes a universal practice?) Most importantly, I learned from a kindly colonel that the highest form of leadership is leadership by example. Its clear to me that many of Georgias leaders would benefit from a few years in uniform. As my son-in-law is fond of saying, Semper Fidelis. Larry Fennelly can be reached at larney_f@hotmail.com. A German military aircraft returned from Beirut to Berlin on Monday evening with staff from the German Embassy, along with their families and personnel from German intermediary organizations. The aircraft landed in the evening with around 110 passengers on board, the Foreign Office confirmed. Earlier, the Foreign Office and Defence Ministry jointly announced that "additionally, particularly vulnerable German citizens, primarily those with medical needs, are being transported on the Bundeswehr aircraft." Following almost a year of cross-border skirmishes, Israel launched a large-scale aerial campaign on targets across Lebanon last week. Hundreds have been killed and tens of thousands displaced in Lebanon amid the fighting, according to Lebanese authorities. The international community is urging de-escalation amidst continued Israeli strikes and Hezbollah retaliations, but efforts for a ceasefire have so far been rejected by both sides. The Foreign Office had raised the crisis levels for German missions in Beirut, Tel Aviv and Ramallah in the West Bank over the weekend. The embassies will remain operational but non-essential staff are to be flown out. The ministry said that all Germans in Lebanon have been urged to leave since October 2023 when the war in Gaza began. Germans remaining in Lebanon will continue to receive support from the embassy for their departure through commercial flights and other means, it said. Earlier, the Foreign Office has said it estimates that some 1,800 German nationals are currently in Lebanon as the country faces a massive escalation in the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia. A Foreign Office spokesman said that about 1,800 people have registered on the ministry's crisis preparedness list ELEFAND. The system enables Germans abroad to be quickly informed by German representatives in acute situations and included in possible crisis measures such as evacuations. A government spokesman said the Beirut airport was still open, although with drastically restricted flight operations, as well as the airport in Tel Aviv. Heavy smoke of Israeli air raids billows from the southern Lebanese border town Khiam. Stringer/dpa A German military aircraft has been dispatched to Beirut to facilitate the departure of staff from the German Embassy, along with their families and personnel from German intermediary organizations. The Foreign Office and Defence Ministry jointly announced on Monday that "additionally, particularly vulnerable German citizens, primarily those with medical needs, are being transported on the Bundeswehr aircraft." Following almost a year of cross-border skirmishes, Israel launched a large-scale aerial campaign on targets across Lebanon last week. Hundreds have been killed and tens of thousands displaced in Lebanon amid the fighting, according to Lebanese authorities. The international community is urging de-escalation amidst continued Israeli strikes and Hezbollah retaliations, but efforts for a ceasefire have so far been rejected by both sides. The Foreign Office had raised the crisis levels for German missions in Beirut, Tel Aviv and Ramallah in the West Bank over the weekend. The embassies will remain operational but non-essential staff are to be flown out. The ministry said that all Germans in Lebanon have been urged to leave since October 2023 when the war in Gaza began. Germans remaining in Lebanon will continue to receive support from the embassy for their departure through commercial flights and other means, it said. Earlier, the Foreign Office has said it estimates that some 1,800 German nationals are currently in Lebanon as the country faces a massive escalation in the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia. A Foreign Office spokesman said that about 1,800 people have registered on the ministry's crisis preparedness list ELEFAND. The system enables Germans abroad to be quickly informed by German representatives in acute situations and included in possible crisis measures such as evacuations. A government spokesman said the Beirut airport was still open, although with drastically restricted flight operations, as well as the airport in Tel Aviv. Heavy smoke of Israeli air raids billows from the southern Lebanese border town Khiam. Stringer/dpa German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Lithuania's Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, deliver a press statement at the "Courage for the Future" congress of the Green parliamentary group in the Bundestag. Joerg Carstensen/dpa German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called the slain leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah militia a "terrorist and murderer" on Monday, as fears grow about a further escalation of violence in the Middle East. She made the comments on the sidelines of a Green party meeting in Berlin. Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut late last week. Speaking to public broadcaster ARD on Saturday, Baerbock called the situation in the Middle East "extremely dangerous" after the killing of Nasrallah, and also criticized Israel's actions. "There is a risk of destabilizing the whole of Lebanon. And that is in no way in Israel's security interest," Baerbock told public broadcaster ARD. A lawmkaker from the opposition Christian Democrats demanded she resign for her comments on Israel. In recognition of Germany's history in World War II, senior German politicians have generally expressed strong support for Israel's actions, although worldwide criticism is growing of the war in Gaza and increasing attacks on Lebanon. The secretary general of the conservative Christian Social Union, Martin Huber, said however that Baerbock was "engaging in an unspeakable reversal of the roles of perpetrator and victim and casting doubt on Israel's right to self-defence." Annalena Baerbock german Foreign Minister, and Gabrielius Landsbergis, Foreign Minister of Lithuania, speak at the Green parliamentary group's congress on "Courage for the Future". Joerg Carstensen/dpa German foreign minister says Russian disinformation is particularly aimed at young people German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has warned of the risk of disinformation and attempts to influence the federal election scheduled for September 2025, especially from the Russian Federation. Source: a statement by the German Foreign Minister cited by n-tv, as reported by European Pravda Details: Baerbock said at the Green Future conference in Berlin that "the impact of disinformation campaigns is enormous". There is a "very elaborate system" here that targets young voters in particular, she added. Baerbok also drew attention to certain social media algorithms that specifically encourage hatred and hate speech. "If we don't get this under control, we'll end up in the hands of fake news," she warned. Background: The FBI recently said that Germany has been one of the main targets of Russian disinformation campaigns for at least two years. Investigation data has also been published showing that a company from the Russian Federation has been promoting the pro-Russian party Alternative for Germany on social media. Support UP or become our patron! Annalena Baerbock, German Foreign Minister, has supported the idea of the West to provide Ukraine with long-range missiles for self-defence, although Chancellor Olaf Scholz opposes such a move, fearing an escalation of the war. Source: Annalena Baerbock on the air of the ARD TV channel, quoted by DW; European Pravda reports Details: Baerbock stressed that she has always said that long-range missiles play an important role, especially for overcoming the mine zone in the east of Ukraine. When asked about the possibility of supplying Kyiv with other types of weapons from Germany, she stressed that she had already made her opinion on this clear, but Scholz had a different position. Baerbock said that in a democratic coalition, if the partners cannot agree on one item, they cannot support it, referring to the supply of long-range weapons to Ukraine. She added that in such cases, the Americans, the British, and the French take responsibility. She also reiterated her support for Germany's continued military assistance to Ukraine. Baerbock argued that this support is especially important given the possibility of Donald Trump's return to the White House after the election. Background: Germany has consistently refused to supply Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, even after the UK, France and the USA provided their long-range weapons. In particular, on 21 September, Scholz once again rejected calls for the supply of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. The Times has written that the United States and the United Kingdom are likely to grant Ukraine permission to use Storm Shadow missiles to strike Russian territory, but this decision may remain a secret to preserve the element of surprise for the Russian side. Later, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that a decision on lifting restrictions on Ukraine's use of Western long-range weapons against military targets in Russia could be made by the beginning of winter. Support UP or become our patron! German-Iranian Nahid Taghavi is pictured with an anklet after her temporary release from the notorious Ewin prison in Tehran. The imprisoned German-Iranian Nahid Taghavi has been granted a furlough by Iranian authorities and was released from Iran's notorious Ewin prison on Saturday, according to her family. -/Mariam Claren/dpa The imprisoned German-Iranian Nahid Taghavi has been granted a furlough by Iranian authorities and was released from Iran's notorious Ewin prison on Saturday, according to her family. Taghavi's daughter, Mariam Claren, said that her mother is being required to wear an ankle monitor and is not allowed to go more than a kilometre from her home in Tehran during the temporary reprieve. Claren said her mother, who has been imprisoned since October 2020, was last granted a furlough in January before being taken back to prison in February. At that time, she was released for health reasons but similar conditions were also imposed. "We accept nothing less than her unconditional release and return to Germany," Claren wrote in a post on X. "Thanks to everyone who is working with us on this." Taghavi, an architect, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by an Iranian court for allegedly "leading an illegal group," among other charges. Human rights activists accuse the Islamic Republic of Iran of holding foreigners as hostages in hopes of freeing Iranian officials convicted abroad. Tehran has denied those allegations. Participants in a protest against the AfD's election party and its right-wing policies have gathered at Potsdam's main railway station. State elections will be held in Brandenburg on Sunday. Kay Nietfeld/dpa A group of German lawmakers from across the political spectrum are considering backing a motion to potentially ban the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). Germany's Constitutional Court has the power to consider whether a political party is a threat to the country's democratic order and the rule of law, and can take steps including an outright ban on the party. But only members of Germany's parliament are allowed to ask the court to launch such proceedings. For months, there has been growing public debate in Germany over whether such steps should be taken against the anti-immigration AfD. According to the Welt newspaper and Spiegel magazine, significantly more than the 37 lawmakers required for such a motion are together weighing whether to take action against the AfD. The lawmakers come from the centre-right CDU/CSU bloc, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the hard-left Die Linke (The Left). In their draft motion, the lawmakers are also reportedly calling for the AfD to be excluded from state funding. Dpa has learned that the lawmakers plan to present the motion to parliamentary groups sometime after October 8. In the court proceedings, opponents of the AfD would have to prove that the party is aggressively working to undermine Germany's democratic constitution. Such steps have been taken against small fringe political parties before, but never against a party with such high levels of voter support. The AfD won its first-ever regional election in the eastern state of Thuringia earlier this month, and is expected to make gains in next year's national elections as well. Germany's domestic intelligence agency has classified the AfD as a suspected extremist party. Critics warn that proceedings would be very lengthy and the outcome before the Constitutional Court would be uncertain. Delegates walk in front of the logo of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) patry, during the party's conference in Magdeburg. Carsten Koall/dpa A group of German lawmakers from across the political spectrum are considering backing a motion to potentially ban the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). Germany's Constitutional Court has the power to consider whether a political party is a threat to the country's democratic order and the rule of law, and can take steps including an outright ban on the party. But only members of Germany's parliament are allowed to ask the court to launch such proceedings. For months, there has been growing public debate in Germany over whether such steps should be taken against the anti-immigration AfD. According to the Welt newspaper and Spiegel magazine, significantly more than the 37 lawmakers required for such a motion are together weighing whether to take action against the AfD. The lawmakers come from the centre-right CDU/CSU bloc, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the hard-left Die Linke (The Left). In their draft motion, the lawmakers are also reportedly calling for the AfD to be excluded from state funding. Dpa has learned that the lawmakers plan to present the motion to parliamentary groups sometime after October 8. In the court proceedings, opponents of the AfD would have to prove that the party is aggressively working to undermine Germany's democratic constitution. Such steps have been taken against small fringe political parties before, but never against a party with such high levels of voter support. The AfD won its first-ever regional election in the eastern state of Thuringia earlier this month, and is expected to make gains in next year's national elections as well. Germany's domestic intelligence agency has classified the AfD as a suspected extremist party. Critics warn that proceedings would be very lengthy and the outcome before the Constitutional Court would be uncertain. Sahra Wagenknecht, the leader of the upstart populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), sharply criticized the plan. Wagenknecht, who holds a mix of left-wing economic positions and right-wing anti-immigration views, broke from Die Linke earlier this year to found her own party. "This really is the stupidest motion of the year," she told the news portal t-online. Instead of taking the legitimate concerns of AfD voters seriously, she said, they wanted to "finish off the unwelcome competitor" with a ban. A senior SPD politician, Gesine Schwan, also expressed criticism. "A ban proposal now would be politically counterproductive," Schwan told the Tagesspiegel newspaper. She said it risks driving even more voters who are sceptical of pluralistic democracy "into the arms of the AfD." Roderich Kiesewetter of the centre-right opposition Christian Democrats (CDU), on the other hand, spoke positively of the effort. He said that a sensitive discussion on how to deal with the AfD is necessary in parliament. Azerbaijan is taking significant steps in the energy transition process, according to Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov, who spoke at the "Baku Climate Action Week," Azernews reports. "One of the 14 key initiatives included in the action agenda of the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) is the establishment of the Climate Finance Action Fund (CFAF). We believe this fund can play an important role in addressing the existing gaps in climate finance. The capital for the fund is expected to come mainly from fossil fuel-producing countries and companies involved in oil, gas, and coal production," Jabbarov said. He emphasized the importance of investing in climate action for developing countries and small island states, highlighting Azerbaijan's belief that resource-rich nations should take the lead in combating climate change. "This initiative could have significant benefits in bridging the gaps in climate finance. With an initial capital raising of US$1 billion and at least 10 donor countries joining the fund, we believe this will be a key topic of discussion at COP29," the minister added. Jabbarov also addressed the pressing need to develop a "green economy" in response to global climate changes, decreasing natural resources, and increasing demand. He warned of the potential economic consequences of climate change: "According to the calculations of the World Bank, as a result of the effects of climate change, global GDP will decrease by 1.5-5% annually until 2050. Climate change disrupts the ecological balance and negatively affects biodiversity. These factors once again emphasize the importance of taking urgent measures to mitigate the wide-ranging effects of climate change." WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The new draft of the "Basel Endgame" bank capital hikes still has problems, in particular around how the rule would assess banks' market risks, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Vice Chair Travis Hill said at a Washington event on Monday. The FDIC, Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have been working together to re-draft the rules after intense industry pushback, but divisions among some key officials have delayed a move to formally re-issue the new draft for public feedback, Reuters and other media outlets reported earlier this month. Those reports, said Hill, who holds one of five votes on the FDIC board, voiced concerns about the process and substance of the Basel re-proposal, citing a person familiar with the matter. Hill appeared to confirm those reports on Monday, noting that while the new draft had significant improvements, including by more closely tailoring banks' capital requirements to their riskiness, the draft "still has problems." In particular, he said it over-capitalizes risks posed by fluctuations in the market to the point of making banks' trading activities "uneconomical." He added that he did not know when the regulator would vote on re-proposing the rule. (Reporting by Michelle Price; Editing by Mark Porter) German minister agrees not to say populist party is funded by Kremlin Robert Habeck German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, speaks in the plenary session of the German Bundestag. In the 188th session of the 20th legislative period, the members of the Bundestag will discuss the adoption of a law to reduce bureaucracy, the limitation of illegal immigration, the new Film Promotion Act and the adoption of a law against the trade in "junk real estate", among other things. Anna Ross/dpa German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck has agreed to no longer accused the upstart populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) party of being bought by the Kremlin after the party took legal action against him in court. Habeck, a Green, had levelled the accusations against the BSW, as well as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), during a state election campaign in August. The BSW vehemently opposes German military aid for Ukraine, and has been accused by some critics of echoing Russian propaganda in its rhetoric. According to the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, Habeck said during a speech in Dresden in August that to "allow yourself to be paid for your opinion, to buy votes on the internet, to build up troll armies, to have your opinion bought: That's disgusting, and it's not proper, and we know that AfD and BSW are paid the same way." The BSW took legal action over the comments. Habeck has now signed the corresponding cease-and-desist declaration, a Green Party spokeswoman said on Monday. Sahra Wagenknecht, the founder and namesake of the BSW, posted on X: "Lies have short legs. (...) It's good that the courts have stopped this spread of fake news." According to the Greens, Habeck's statement referred to questions about funding for the BSW and the fact that the BSW "has not provided the promised transparency as to where the money actually comes from." During his speech, Habeck, the leader of the Greens, acknowledged that the government is not doing everything correctly on Ukraine. "But," the Suddeutsche Zeitung quoted Habeck as saying, "nobody is completely bought - unlike the AfD and BSW." German minister agrees not to say populist party is funded by Kremlin Robert Habeck German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, takes part in the plenary session of the German Bundestag. In the 188th session of the 20th legislative period, the members of the Bundestag will discuss, among other things, the adoption of a law to reduce bureaucracy, the limitation of illegal immigration, the new Film Promotion Act and the adoption of a law against the trade in "junk real estate". Anna Ross/dpa German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck has agreed to no longer accused the upstart populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) party of being bought by the Kremlin after the party took legal action against him in court. Habeck, a Green, had levelled the accusations against the BSW, as well as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), during the election campaign in the eastern German state of Saxony in August. The BSW vehemently opposes German military aid for Ukraine, and has been accused by some critics of echoing Russian propaganda in its rhetoric on the issue. According to the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, Habeck said during a speech in Dresden in August that to "allow yourself to be paid for your opinion, to buy votes on the internet, to build up troll armies, to have your opinion bought: That's disgusting, and it's not proper, and we know that AfD and BSW are paid the same way." The BSW took legal action over the comments. Habeck has now signed the corresponding cease-and-desist declaration, a Green Party spokeswoman said on Monday. According to the spokeswoman, Habeck had "exaggerated a little too much" at the campaign event. Sahra Wagenknecht, the founder and namesake of the BSW, posted on X: "Lies have short legs. (...) It's good that the courts have stopped this spread of fake news." According to the Greens, Habeck's statement referred to questions about funding for the BSW and the fact that the BSW "has not provided the promised transparency as to where the money actually comes from." The Greens have urged the BSW to provide more transparency about how the upstart party finances its election campaigns. During his speech in Dresden, Habeck, the leader of the Greens, said that people are certainly allowed to disagree with the current German government's stance on supporting Ukraine. He also acknowledged that the government is not doing everything correctly on the issue. "But," the Suddeutsche Zeitung quoted Habeck as saying, "nobody is completely bought - unlike the AfD and BSW." He added that everyone knows "that many of them are paid from Moscow and Beijing." The Russian government under President Vladimir Putin has long been trying to influence opinion in Germany. However, according to the newspaper, there is no concrete evidence of payments by Russian agencies or intermediaries to the BSW. This also applies to a group set up by the BSW, the BSW e.V. association, which is not subject to political campaign finance regulations but passes on donations to the party. Several AfD politicians who are suspected of having received money from Moscow have also denied the allegations. (Bloomberg) -- German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock expressed support for Ukraines request for long-range Taurus cruise missiles, putting herself at odds with Chancellor Olaf Scholz who has ruled out sending the weapons over fears it could trigger direct conflict with Russia. Most Read from Bloomberg Asked about the Taurus issue in an interview with Bloomberg TV in New York, Baerbock, a member of the Greens party, said Germanys military support for Ukraine continues to focus on air-defense systems to protect critical infrastructure. With winter approaching, the need to shield Ukraines energy facilities is becoming increasingly urgent as Russias attacks intensify. We are a democracy, we dont have unity in our coalition, so this is why we are not delivering Taurus, Baerbock said. Asked if she personally backed sending the weapons, she added: Obviously. While Germany is the second-biggest donor of weapons to Ukraine after the US, Social Democrat Scholz has repeatedly rebuffed pressure to supply Taurus missiles. He argues its range of 500 kilometers (311 miles) means it could be used to strike at targets deep inside Russia, potentially drawing Germany directly into the conflict. At the same time, the ruling coalition recently authorized the government in Kyiv to use weapons it supplied to target Russian territory and missile facilities close to the Ukrainian border. Asked about the Taurus issue at Mondays regular government news conference in Berlin, Scholzs chief spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit, said the chancellors position hasnt changed. A spokesman for the defense ministry said Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who belongs to Scholzs SPD, also remains opposed. Baerbock blamed Russias war on Ukraine in part for Germanys current budget constraints, which have forced the government to broadly rein in outlays while maintaining its pledge to meet NATOs goal of spending 2% of gross domestic product on the military. The governing alliance is being forced to spend billions of our budget which could have otherwise been invested in the modernization of the countrys manufacturing base, she said. But because our security is threatened, we have to invest a lot not only in supporting Ukraine, but also in our own self-defense, she added. --With assistance from Michael Nienaber. (Updates with spokesmen comments in seventh paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Many residents of the Gila River Indian Community were allowed to return to their homes on Sunday as officials worked to get the Fall Fire under control. The large fire, first reported on Sept. 28, is roughly 407 acres, burning salt cedar and mesquite in the Salt River bottom. The cause of the fire is unknown. Additional crews responded to the scene Monday morning. The fire is now at 50% containment, according to the Gila River Fire Department. Arizona Public Service restored power to nearby homes over the weekend after fixing downed power poles. Officials hope to have an update on containment later on Monday. Residents living west of Santa Cruz Road were asked to evacuate last week, but can now return home. Around 14,000 people live in the Gila River Indiana Community, according to 2020 Census data. Officials credit much of the fire's growth to nearby wind gusts. On Saturday, the fire threatened around 10 homes when the evacuation order went into effect. It currently burns near the crossroads of Old Well Road and Cemetery Road. On Sept. 28, a Type 1 helicopter and an air tanker were ordered to suppress the fire and a temporary flight restriction was put in place in the area. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Gila River residents evacuated over Fall Fire allowed to return home The sacred painting was taken from the Chapel of Magdalene College in Cambridge [Cambs Police] A gilded icon has been stolen from a University of Cambridge college church. The sacred painting of the Virgin and Child was taken from the Chapel of Magdalene College in the city between between 24 and 25 September. It depicts the Virgin and Child with two archangels, is painted on a wooden board measuring about 35 x 25cm (14in x 14in) and 2.5cm (1in) thick, and has a gold-leafed background and a red border. The Dean of Chapel, the Reverend Sarah Atkins, said the church was open to members of the public and "the icon vanished from its place beside the altar", but they hoped it would be returned. The icon was donated to the chapel by Prof Eamon Duffy in 2009 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his election as a fellow. It was created by Dom Anselm Shobrook, a noted icon-writer and monk of the Anglican Benedictine monastery at Alton in Hampshire, and, as it was a gift to the college, Ms Atkins said she was unable to put a specific value to the artwork. She said: "I was saddened to discover the icon vanished from its place beside the altar, and all that this means for those for whom it has been a beloved part of the chapel and a treasured aid to prayer. "As a place of worship, the chapel is open to the public for prayer and reflection and we are glad to welcome those who pass by, as well as members of the college, to step inside to sit in its peace, or to services with our excellent choir. "This comes with a risk, as so many places of worship know. But remaining open is not only a matter of principle but an act of trust in the kindness of strangers - perhaps that same kindness might yield the whereabouts of the icon in time. PC Emily-Jayne Matthews, from Cambridgeshire Police, said: "The icon holds great value to those who are connected with it. "We would like to hear from anyone who was in the area at the time and may have seen anything suspicious. "We would also like to hear from anyone who may have seen the item for sale or may know of its whereabouts." Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Related internet links Police previously said the majority of people at the protest gathered "in a peaceful manner" [BBC] A 13-year-old girl has been sentenced for her part in a violent protest at a hotel housing asylum seekers. The girl, who cannot be named because of her age, was filmed punching and kicking a glass door at Potters International Hotel in Aldershot, Hampshire, on 31 July. The teenager had previously admitted using or threatening violent behaviour which would cause people to be fearful for their safety. District Judge Tim Pattinson, sitting in a youth court at Basingstoke Magistrates' Court, imposed a 12-month referral order. This means the girl will have to engage with the Hampshire Youth Justice Service in a programme of rehabilitation, reparation and education. The court heard the girl's parents had been at the protest but left, leaving her with a friends parents, who then joined the smaller violent gathering. Mr Pattinson asked the girl to consider how those inside the hotel would have felt. "Probably quite scared," she said. The judge said: "What you and the other people did must have caused them to be absolutely terrified. Therefore, it is a serious and very nasty offence. "I want you to think carefully about how the people inside the hotel must have felt, being surrounded and threatened by a mob of violent and aggressive people, which included you." Mr Pattinson said a number of adults in the group had been handed custodial sentences, and if the girl had been 18 she would have been jailed too. He also imposed a surcharge of 26 and costs of 85 which her mother will have to pay, but he told the girl: "I want you to repay your mother as soon as you can." The judge said he was satisfied the girl was sorry and said his focus was on her rehabilitation. There were outbreaks of violence in a number of towns and cities across England and in Northern Ireland, including Plymouth, Sunderland, Belfast, Rotherham, Manchester and London. It followed the fatal stabbing of three girls in Southport - with unrest fuelled by misinformation online. You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. More on this story Related Links ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) A gathering Sunday honored the lives of those who served in the military and died while on active duty. Its part of an annual endeavor in Pittsford: The Gold Star Wreath Laying. The event was open to the public, with Gold Star families in attendance. Participants included the Gates Keystone Police Pipes and Drums and the Patriot Guard Riders of New York. In honor of their beloved, Gold Star families were invited to place a photo of their loved ones at a remembrance table. To show them that were here to support them in every way, and it can be a very emotional time because it brings up the loss, said Mary Anne-Zani, chaplain for Blue Star Mothers Rochester chapter. But were celebrating that these brave men and women have come into the branches of the military and right away they really sacrificed their lives. The event was sponsored by Blue Star Mothers of America. Its a nonprofit group composed of mothers within the Rochester area who now have or have had children in military service. And to further honor these families and their loved ones, New York State landmarks have been lit gold marking 90 years since the day was first commemorated in 1936. The Fairport Lift Bridge was among the landmarks shining a golden light in their memory. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Gov. Beshear: Incident management team sent to assist with disaster recovery in North Carolina LEXINGTON, Ky. (FOX 56) Emergency personnel in Kentucky are being deployed to assist with disaster recovery efforts in North Carolina, where victims have reportedly lost belongings and loved ones amid floods. Search underway for missing girl last seen in Estill County Gov. Andy Beshear posted on social media Sunday that Kentucky Emergency Management has sent an incident management team to North Carolina to help with disaster recovery in the area. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: Thank you for living out our Kentucky values by helping those in need, Beshear said in his social media post. First responders also joined a team of emergency personnel from Ohio earlier this week, which reportedly traveled to Orlando, Florida to help disaster victims, according to the Lexington 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 FOX 56 News. California Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed SB 1047, a sweeping artificial intelligence safety bill, arguing that it is not the best way to deal with the looming threats and opportunities presented by AI. In a statement explaining the decision to veto the bill, Newsom noted that 32 of the top 50 AI companies are based in California, and that the bill would really focus on only the largest companies, which would potentially undercut any safety benefits. More from The Hollywood Reporter While well-intentioned, SB 1047 does not take into account whether an AI system is deployed in high-risk environments, involves critical decision-making or the use of sensitive data, Newsom wrote in his letter explaining the veto. Instead, the bill applies stringent standards to even the most basic functions so long as a large system deploys it. I do not believe this is the best approach to protecting the public from real threats posed by the technology. He also noted that he had signed many bills that focus or touch on risks associated with AI (earlier this month, for example, he signed bills backed by SAG-AFTRA regulating AI performance replicas). This year, the legislature sent me several thoughtful proposals to regulate Al companies in response to current, rapidly evolving risks including threats to our democratic process, the spread of misinformation and deepfakes, risks to online privacy, threats to critical infrastructure and disruptions in the workforce, Newsom said Sunday. These bills, and actions by my administration, are guided by principles of accountability, fairness and transparency of Al systems and deployment of Al technology in California. SB 1047 was a hot button bill, opposed by Silicon Valley but backed by many in Hollywood, including J.J. Abrams, Jane Fonda, Pedro Pascal, Shonda Rhimes and Mark Hamill. However, it also garnered opposition from connected power players like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who argued that federal legislation should step in and fill that safety gap. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Sign up for THR's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Gov. Hochul declined to comment Monday on the MTA capital plan, hinting that maybe it could shrink, when asked by reporters how the massive investment in transit repairs and upgrades should be funded. The transit agency proposed a $68.4 billion five-year capital plan earlier this month, and said it will need to find additional funding sources for $33 billion of that plan. That comes atop the errant $15 billion missing from the current capital plan, which was expected to be funded from congestion tolling. Asked where the state expected to find $48 billion toward the MTA big-ticket projects many of which involve repair and replacement of aging infrastructure and equipment Hochul demurred. Theres not been a final number associated with the MTA capital plan, she told reporters at an unrelated briefing. I would suggest that we examine the normal course of business that theres a proposal, its approved by the MTA board, it goes to another board, that it goes to the Legislature, so there is still a process to know what the final numbers are. It does not make sense for me to comment on specifics that are related to that, she added. Regarding the $15 billion in projects that relied on congestion pricing, Hochul said her decision to stop the program which would have tolled drivers a base rate of $15 to enter Midtown or lower Manhattan was temporary. I suggest that everyone realize that the word temporary means temporary, she said. The comments came after a New York Supreme Court judge ruled Friday that two legal challenges against the governors pause which Hochuls administration had sought to dismiss could go to trial. Asked for her reaction to the ruling, Hochul said, Im assessing my legal options as we speak. Chris Demonbreun Photography / Getty Images/iStockphoto Living on a lake is a dream for many people. Imagine sipping your morning coffee as the light glistens off the water what could be better? Not much! GOBankingRates dove into the deep end of lake town real estate. Forget about those overpriced coastal hotspots the focus is on prime lakefront property that wont require you to sell a kidney (or two). Check Out: 3 Best States to Buy Property in the Next 5 Years, According to Experts Consider This: How To Get Rich in Real Estate Starting With Just $1,000 According to real estate experts, these lake towns are where you should be dropping your anchor in the next five years. Earning passive income doesn't need to be difficult. You can start this week. Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri: Not Just for Party Cove Anymore First up, were heading to the Show-Me State, where Lake of the Ozarks is showing us the money. Yancy Forsythe from Missouri Valley Homes sang its praises louder than a speedboat with a busted muffler. Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri is getting really popular because of its year-round activities and affordable lakefront homes, Forsythe said. Whether you love boating, fishing or just relaxing by the water, theres always something to do at Lake of the Ozarks. In other words, its like the lake equivalent of that overachiever in high school it does everything, and it does it well. And unlike that overachiever, it wont cost you an arm and a leg to get in on the action. Be Aware: 10 Worst Cities To Buy Property in the Next 5 Years, According to Real Estate Agents Coeur dAlene, Idaho: More Than Just a Pretty Face In Idaho, Coeur dAlene is proving its a great place to invest in lake side living. Coeur dAlene, Idaho has beautiful scenery and lots of tourists, which makes the real estate market here keep growing, Forsythe explained. Its a perfect spot for people who love outdoor adventures like hiking and swimming. If you think a perfect day involves sweating it out on a hiking trail and then cooling off with a dip in crystal-clear waters, Coeur dAlene might just be your personal nirvana. And with a growing real estate market, your investment might look as good as those mountain views. Lake Tahoe, California/Nevada: The Belle of the Ball Ah, Lake Tahoe. Its like the Beyonce of lake towns its, frankly, pretty perfect. Forsythe broke down what makes it amazing: Lake Tahoe, California/Nevada is always in demand with vacationers, and since there arent many homes on the waterfront, its a place where property values stay strong. The stunning blue waters and mountain views make it a dream location for many. Story continues In other words, buying property in Lake Tahoe is like investing in a vintage Chanel bag it never goes out of style, and itll probably be worth more in a few years. The only con? Just dont expect to find any bargains here. Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: The Midwests Best-Kept Secret In Wisconsin, Lake Geneva is serving up some serious charm. Lake Geneva, Wisconsin is the hidden gem of the Midwest and a favorite getaway spot with great real estate opportunities, because its close to big cities like Chicago and Milwaukee, Forsythe shared. Lake Geneva has lots to offer and its a great spot for people needing a weekend retreat or a permanent home. Plus, with its proximity to major cities, you can have your lake and eat your deep-dish pizza too. Win-win! Lake Norman, North Carolina: Where City Meets Serenity Heading south, we find Lake Norman making waves in North Carolina. Forsythe explained why its catching investors eyes. Lake Norman, North Carolina homes are becoming more valuable as North Carolina becomes more popular. Plus, you get the best of both worlds with lake life and city convenience. Its great for people who want to enjoy the outdoors without being too far from a busy city, according to the expert. Its a gorgeous location, and the price is right now is the time to strike if those are your ideal things. Traverse City, Michigan: The Cherry on Top When it comes Michigan lakeside property, Thomas Brock, CFA, CPA and expert from Annuity.org, raved about Traverse City. I am a big fan of Traverse City, Michigan, he said. Situated on Lake Michigans Grand Traverse Bay, Traverse City offers an impressive combination of small-town charm, excellent schools, a burgeoning food and wine scene, and an incredibly scenic environment. Brock added, If you are looking for relatively affordable real estate, stable economic conditions and year-round activities, take a look at Traverse City. So, its got lakes, cherries, wine, and affordable real estate? Sounds like the Michigan equivalent of hitting the jackpot! Finger Lakes, New York: The Affordable Alternative to the Hamptons Were heading to New York, where Seamus Nally, CEO of TurboTenant, pointed us towards a hidden gem:. One lake town area that could be a great place to buy in these next few years is Finger Lakes, New York, he said. 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. It is the ideal lakefront location if a lake house is what you are looking for in a vacation rental or a vacation home for yourself. While there are certainly properties there that are very expensive, there are also many on the less-expensive end, so there are options. In other words, you can get your New York lake house without having to rub elbows (or compete for real estate) with the Kardashians. What a win! More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: The Best US Lake Towns To Buy Property in the Next 5 Years, According to Real Estate Agents ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) Help is on the way for folks facing devastation in the South after Hurricane Helene unleashed its wrath. How Helene became the near-perfect storm to bring widespread destruction across the South More than 60 people are dead and hundreds more have been reported missing. Homeowners in impacted communities are left picking up the pieces, and millions have been left without power. Sunday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that her office will be sending resources from agencies to aid people in areas hit hardest. Heres how you can help victims of Hurricane Helene Seventeen soldiers from the Army National Guard, three heavy life helicopters and four generators are on the way, according to Hochul. The bulk of these resources, namely the soldiers and the aircraft, are coming from Rochester. Theyre based at Army Aviation Support Facility #2 and are expected to be there for a little over a week about seven to ten days, Hochul announced, adding that its the same unit that was deployed in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael. (Photo/New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services) (Photo/New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services) (Photo/New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services) Hochul said the soldiers and helicopters are headed to South Carolina to aid the North Carolina National Guard, and the generators are going to Georgia. WATCH: Videos show severe flooding, damage from Helene In the announcement Sunday, Hochul said the allocation of resources was part of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Florida is sending rescue missions and supplies to Floridians stranded in western North Carolina experiencing widespread destructive flooding that resulted in dozens of deaths, blocked roads and blacked-out power and phone service. Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered the start of what he's calling "Operation Blue Ridge" on Sunday, mobilizing teams to provide airlifts for people left stranded, with food, water and other supplies to those in need. DeSantis said the operation is similar to one he ordered to extract Floridians from Israel following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks last year and from Haiti earlier this year when that country was wracked by political unrest. If we can bring people back from Israel by the hundreds when Hamas is raining rockets down, we should be able to get some helos into the Blue Ridge mountains and get some people out of there, DeSantis told reporters in Steinhatchee on Monday. The move comes amid the states own recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which left at least 11 dead, including at least nine in Pinellas County, which was hundreds of miles away from where the storm made landfall. Helene inflicted damage on a broad stretch of Floridas Gulf Coast, from the Big Bend region down to the Tampa area and even Southwest Florida experienced storm surge. He missed a call from President Joe Biden, DeSantis said, because he was in the air viewing damage in Florida. But DeSantis said the federal governments recovery efforts should be concentrated on western North Carolina: There should not be anybody left behind in those communities. Although Florida may ask for more federal assistance in the future, the state is handling most of its needs right now, the governor said, including delivering travel trailers to those whose homes were swept away by the storm, and setting up pods in affected counties to dole out food, water and other needed supplies. Meantime, Florida is sending a range of emergency response personnel and materials to North Carolina. That includes 100 Starlink mini kits to provide internet, a telecommunications emergency response task force, an all-hazards incident management team, nine Florida State Guard personnel, eight National Guardsmen, two Chinook helicopters, 14 Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents and transportation personnel to help clear roads and assess bridges. Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at grohrer@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: DeSantis orders rescues for Floridians stranded in North Carolina An estimated 12 people die every day while waiting for a kidney transplant. At least some of those deaths are preventable, and monopoly government contractors shoulder most of the blame. "Monopolies don't work and government-funded monopolies are even worse," says Jennifer Erickson, a former Obama White House staffer who now works as a senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists. On the new season of Reason's podcast Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Erickson explains how Congress' good intentions produced a flawed system that has resisted reform for decades. In the 1980s, when the development of immunosuppressant drugs made organ transplants more workable, Congress passed a law creating about 50 regional monopolies where organ procurement organizations (OPOs) would have the exclusive right to collect donated organs and match them with needy recipients. Overseeing the regional monopolies is a national contractor, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). Many of those OPOs don't do their job very well. A 2019 report by the public health nonprofit Organize found that just six of the regional OPOs managed to collect at least 50 percent of the donatable organsthat is, organs from deceased individuals who had agreed to be donorswithin their territory. All told, more than 17,000 kidneys (as well as thousands of other organs) are going to waste each year instead of finding their way to dialysis patients who need a replacement. That's a tremendous opportunity cost. And because there's no competition between OPOs, if you're unlucky enough to need an organ and you live in an area where there's a poor-performing OPO, you might never get one. Increasing the number of available donated kidneys would save lives and also save taxpayers a lot of money. According to a report from the University of Pennsylvania, full utilization of the organ donor system would mean $13 billion in taxpayer savings and 25,000 lives saved or improved. A 20 percent improvement over the status quo would mean 6,000 lives bettered and $2.6 billion in savings. Because there is no competition, underperforming OPOs have little incentive to improve. Federal oversight has been lacking: In 2012, Alabama Organ Center executives were convicted of scamming taxpayers by artificially inflating their costs and pocketing kickbacks. The organization changed its name to Legacy of Hope but never lost its exclusive contract. The problems don't stop there. The same law that created the regional monopolies also made organ donation expenses fully cost-reimbursed by insurance companies and the federal government. OPOs thus have no incentive to control costseven when those costs have little or nothing to do with their core mission. OneLegacy, the OPO with a monopoly in southern California, got dinged by an inspector general report after it spent $327,000 on Rose Bowl tickets and other events in 2006. Some of those costs were billed to taxpayers via Medicare. At a 2021 Senate hearing, the president and CEO of the Nevada Donor Network admitted that the group has season tickets for the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders and the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights and spent money on multiple board retreats to California wine country. There is some hope that things could improve. New federal rules proposed during the Trump administration and implemented by the Biden administration mean that, for the first time in 40 years, poor-performing OPOs could lose their lucrative contracts. "The federal government has to replace failing organ procurement organizations with high performers that are serving American people, and they have to do it now," says Erickson. "We should never be in a situation where there's this kind of unaccountable monopoly. There needs to be open, fair, competitive contracting, and if someone new comes in and they fail the American people, they should be kicked out too." New developments in medical technology could also improve the supply problem for Americans who need a new kidney. In March, the world's first gene-edited pig kidney was successfully transplanted into a human. But we'll still need human donors for the foreseeable future. Americans are a generous bunchthe overwhelming majority of us support organ donation and are willing to be donors when we die. Government contractors should not be the bottleneck preventing that generosity from being realized. The post The Government Monopoly on Donated Kidneys Is Killing Americans appeared first on Reason.com. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks at the start of the "Jobturbo" round table in the Federal Chancellery. Kay Nietfeld/dpa Some 266,000 Ukrainians had found a job in Germany by July, a rise of 71,000 on the year, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said during a Job Turbo discussion round in Berlin on Monday. Taking the eight most important countries of origin for asylum-seekers, 704,000 people were in employment, also up 71,000 on the year, he said. "Job Turbo has contributed to this rise since October 2023," Scholz said, describing the initiative by Labour Minister Hubertus Heil as a success. Heil's programme is aimed at finding jobs for refugees quickly. According to his figures, some 192,000 Ukrainians were in full employment during April, with a further 48,000 in part-time jobs. The aim is to provide jobs not only to Ukrainians but to others, and that the jobs should not be mainly low-level work. In November, Heil said that 400,000 refugees had completed integration courses or were about to do so and would be ready for the labour market. Scholz called for "maximum pragmatism" from all sides. "I can image how difficult it is to start from the bottom in a strange country, and possibly also in a completely new area of work," he said. He paid tribute to German companies, hospitals, childcare centres and homes for the elderly for employing refugees who had not mastered German. Heil pledged to maintain the effort. He has for months been pressing for obstacles to the integration of Ukrainian refugees on the German labour market to be dismantled. Professional skills had to be acknowledged more quickly, he said, along with more accommodation in conurbations and an expansion of childcare. Heil called on companies not to wait until Ukrainians spoke better German. (L-R) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Hubertus Heil and CEO of the Federal Employment Agency Andrea Nahles take part in the "Jobturbo" round table in the Federal Chancellery. Kay Nietfeld/dpa German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks at the start of the "Jobturbo" round table in the Federal Chancellery. Kay Nietfeld/dpa RICHMOND, VA (WVNS) A Federal Emergency Declaration was approved to help support southwest Virginia after Tropical Storm Helene swept through the region. According to the Governor of Virginias website, an announcement was made by Governor Glenn Youngkin stating that the request for a federal emergency declaration for Public Assistance, Emergency Protective Measures, and Direct Federal Assistance to help with recovery efforts in parts of southwest Virginia was approved. OUTAGE UPDATE: More than 117,000 Appalachian Power customers without power across Appalachia The areas included in the declaration are: Tazewell County Grayson County Smyth County Washington County Wise County Wythe County City of Galax Other counties, such as Giles County and Pulaski County, could be added to the list after damage assessments and the FEMA process is complete. Hurricane Helenes impacts were felt across Southwest Virginia and the impacts are heart wrenching. Immediately, we went to work to request additional federal assistance on top of the state and local assistance that we are already providing. Thank you to President Biden, Senator Warner, Senator Kaine, and Congressman Griffith for their support and continued coordination to provide assistance to Virginians in need. I visited some of the impacted counties to reiterate that we are praying for all affected Virginians and were working to restore power, communications, water, and cell phone coverage immediately. State and local officials are coordinating to ensure that key essentials such as water and food are available to those that need it. As we begin the recovery process, Virginians in need can go to VAemergency.gov or dial 211 for help. At the state and local level, we will remain continually engaged to ensure Virginians get the support and help that they need in the aftermath of this powerful storm. I am proud of Virginia first responders for their assistance, the grit and resilience of Virginians and together, we will get through this. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin Verizon users report outages on Monday Additional information about resources, as well as various actions taken in Virginia to deal with the effects of Tropical Storm Helene, can be found on the Governor of Virginias 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 WVNS. NORTHEAST ALABAMA (WHNT) Governor Kay Ivey (R-AL), has announced that over $3 million in state funding is being awarded to various cities and counties throughout the state for road and bridge projects on Monday. The funding is made available under the Alabama Department of Transportations (ALDOT) Annual Grant Program created by the Rebuild Alabama Act. The Rebuild Alabama Act was overwhelmingly passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor Ivey in 2019 requiring ALDOT to establish an annual program that sets aside at least $10 million off the top of the states share of gas tax revenue for local projects. Part of the funding is on the way to benefit roadways and bridges in DeKalb and Jackson counties. Download the WHNT News 19 App to stay updated on the go. Sign up for WHNT News 19 newsletters to have news sent to your inbox. In DeKalb County, Dilbeck Road from Church Avenue NW to SR-75 will be resurfaced in Rainsville. This project received $225,000 in state funding for completion. In Jackson County, a full-depth reclamation of Kimberly Drive will take place in Woodville. Additional roadways including Robinson Lane, Cedar Crest Drive, Mountain View Drive, and Kimberly Circle will also be resurfaced as a result of the funding. Woodville received $300,000 in state funding along with a $50,000 local match to get the projects completed. From day one of the Ivey Administration, I have made clear to the people of our state that improving Alabamas roads and bridges is a top priority, and I am proud we continue delivering on that promise, said Governor Ivey. Our work is not done, and we will continue delivering results in all 67 of our counties. More than $15 million in state transportation funds has been awarded through the application-based program during the 2024 fiscal year. All projects are required to move forward within one year of the awarding of funds. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) Georgia Governor Brian Kemp along with other local and state leaders in Augusta Monday addressing recovery efforts following hurricane Helene. Governor Kemp says hes been traveling around the state, assessing damages, speaking to local leaders and working to deliver aid to affected areas. He said he spoke to President Biden who offered resources, and he submitted an expedited emergency declaration to be approved by the federal government. He says FEMA has acknowledged it and he believes itll be approved quickly. In the meantime, theyll still be working 24/7 to restore water, power repairing damages and clearing roadways. We will not waiver until we get everything put back together. It may take us a while but just know this team will work 24-7 to get your power back on to get road clear to get water operating. Make sure that were getting our state back to normal. This is obviously gonna be a very long recovery, but we will not waiver in that recovery. You can go to gema.Georgia.Gov for additional information and resources, and well have more from Governor Kemp and state leaders coming up at 4,5, and 6. ALSO ON WJBF: Georgia Governor Brian Kemp speaks with Brad Means on local recovery efforts after Helene Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) Multiple fire departments from the Grand Strand and Pee Dee are heading to different counties to help after Hurricane Helene ravaged the Upstate last week. The Myrtle Beach Fire Department spent Sunday clearing debris from roadways in Greenville County for emergency vehicle access. North Myrtle Beach Fire Rescue has sent multiple crews to the Upstate for assistance. Howe Springs Fire Rescue / Facebook South Carolina State Fire / Facebook North Myrtle Beach Fire Rescue / Facebook North Myrtle Beach Fire Rescue / Facebook The first crew of four personnel left for Greenville County on Friday, while a second crew of five personnel left on Monday morning. Conway police said Monday afternoon it was sending officers to Union. Theyve got a lot of trees down, a lot of road still blocked, North Myrtle Beach Deputy Fire Chief Billy Floyd said. So thats what theyve been spending the majority of their time on during the day is getting those trees cleared so that, you know, emergency vehicles can go through, the utility companies can get access to where they need to replace lines and try to open up some of that local traffic around for those citizens that are still there, have a way to kind of get around as they need to. 20 Myrtle Beach Fire Department staff members between Task Force One and Task Force Two have been sent to the Upstate. Deputy Chief Vince Bettinazzi said Task Force One will work with federal teams and teams in North Carolina and Georgia, while Task Force Two helps with rescues in Pickens County. Bettinazzi said the last time they deployed Task Force Two was during Hurricane Matthew in 2016. He said people had more time to prepare and evacuate compared to Helene. It was definitely worse than probably they predicted or anticipated, he said. So, theyre definitely seeing people that are trapped or isolated and cut off. And youre definitely seeing a lot of rural North Carolina, Upstate South Carolina, where once the roads and bridges are gone, theres not much that they can do as far as just hopefully get some relief to these people as fast as they can. In the Pee Dee, personnel from Howe Springs Fire Rescue, Hannah-Salem Friendfield Fire District, Windy Hill Fire District, Olanta Fire Department and Sardis Timmonsville Fire Department left at 6 a.m. on Monday to support efforts in Greenville and Pickens County. Georgetown County is also offering assistance. The county sent its parks and recreation director Beth Goodale and recreation manager Jason Walters to Saluda County. It also sent emergency manager Brandon Ellis to Aiken. Georgetown County Fire and EMS Assistant Chief Aaron Bostic was deployed to Spartanburg and 911 manager Joseph Williamson was sent to the State Emergency Operations Center in Columbia. The county is also offering assistance out of state, with a team from Midway Fire Rescue being deployed to assist the Blacksburg Volunteer Fire Department in Virginia. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said earlier Monday afternoon that at least 29 people in the state were killed as a result of Helene. * * * 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. * * * Gabby Jonas joined the News13 team as a multimedia journalist in April 2024. She is from Columbus, Ohio, and graduated from Kent State University in May 2023. Follow Gabby on X, formerly Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, and read 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 WBTW. Tuesdays vice presidential debate between Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance is being framed as the battle of the everyman but its more like a contrast between the Minnesotan who wears his heart on his sleeve and the Ohioan who exchanged his heart for power. The first time I met Vance was Nov. 9, 2016, on the set of Good Morning America. It was the day after the election. Donald Trump was to become president, and Vance told me he was not happy about it. In fact, earlier in the year Vance had compared Trump to Hitler. That morning in New York, Vance told me Trump didnt care about poor white people, but just used them to win. Vances former dislike for his current running mate is well documented, though the reasons for his new position are less transparent. Its important for Vance to explain his shift in politics and the timeline of his decision to run for Senate in 2021 . This debate is his chance. Read more: Granderson: Tim Walz took a stand when queer kids needed an advocate After the success of his bestselling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, Vance started a pair of charities in Ohio. They folded without having much effect in part because his anti-MAGA messaging was not resonating in the area. So just as Vice President Kamala Harris needed to explain her changing views on fracking, Vance needs to explain how he went from thinking he was queer growing up, to being an ally as an adult, to calling the LGBTQ+ community groomers during his campaign. When Vance and I connected back in 2016, it wasnt about Trump. I told him I had read his memoir and appreciated his voice and perspective. We agreed compassion for those different from us was what the country needed at that moment more than ever before. Read more: Granderson: At the debate, Trump confessed he's unfit and unprepared Today, the guy is not only hurling insults at people who dont have children and at Haitian immigrants as Trumps running mate, but also is introducing anti-LGBTQ+ bills in the Senate as one of the young faces of the far right. What happened to the compassion, Vance? To these folks, povertys the family tradition, he wrote about the community he grew up in. Their ancestors were day laborers in the Southern slave economy, sharecroppers after that, coal miners after that, and machinists and mill workers during more recent times. Americans call them hillbillies, rednecks or white trash. I call them neighbors, friends and family. Read more: Granderson: Harris changed this election. This election changes America Something happened to Trumps running mate after tech investor Peter Thiel started investing millions in his career, and its important we know what. Back in 2016, Vance and I talked about our shared experiences of poverty growing up and seeing the devastation of drug addiction in our communities. We exchanged contact information and kept in touch. Im not saying we became best friends, but like many other people, I thought I knew him and he was not the same man who is taking the debate stage against Walz on Tuesday. America needs to know why Vance flipped from criticizing Trump over healthcare cuts to joining the attacks. And why he no longer believes his running mate is Americas Hitler. Especially given Trumps continual affinity for dictators and moments of antisemitism , such as saying, if I don't win this election the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens. And dont just take my word for it. Sofia Nelson befriended Vance at Yale Law School in the fall of 2010. After graduation, the two remained close enough to sign off emails with Love. In 2016, Vance shared an excerpt of Hillbilly with Nelson, now a public defender in Detroit, because he was proud it included a prominent progressive lesbian. When Nelsons friendship with Vance became public, a spokesperson said Vance shifted his political views after he became a father in 2017. Nelson, who is transgender, said Vance didnt shift until he decided that was the best way to win votes in Ohio, which is my view as well. Before running for office, Vance questioned his sexual orientation in his memoir, experimented with drag in college and brought Nelson baked goods after they had top surgery. It was only during his Senate run when Vance started calling queer people groomers and opposing same-sex marriage. If Walz is expected to clarify past remarks during Tuesdays debate, then Vance should be expected to explain why the shift away from LGBTQ+ allyship coincided with his run for office. Because it looks political, not authentic. Its heartbreaking to see somebody you respected and cared about turn on you and your neighbors, especially in the context of knowing thats not who he was, Nelson told the New York Times. Trump vs. Hillary Clinton brought out the worst in many Americans in 2016, and Vance and I were booked together on GMA to talk about healing. The last thing I said that day, with Vance nodding in agreement next to me , was: This is a candidate that was endorsed by the newspaper of the KKK, so as racist things happen, it would be helpful for the national conversation if he addresses it. We know how the story goes from here. At least when it comes to Trump. What we dont know is what happened to Vance between 2016 and 2021. On Tuesday, we all need to find out. @LZGranderson 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. Gunman who wounded 2 Jewish men in pair of shootings outside Los Angeles synagogues gets 35 years in prison A man who shot two Jewish men outside a pair of Los Angeles synagogues last year was sentenced Monday to 35 years in prison, federal prosecutors said. Jaime Tran, 30, pleaded guilty on June 3 to two counts of hate crimes with intent to kill and two counts of using, carrying, and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, the Justice Department said. "After years of spewing antisemitic vitriol, the defendant planned and carried out a two-day attack attempting to murder Jews leaving synagogue in Los Angeles," said U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. "Vile acts of antisemitic hatred endanger the safety of individuals and entire communities, and allowing such crimes to go unchecked endangers the foundation of our democracy itself." Jewish Democrat Suing Harvard Over Antisemitism Chastises His Party For Inaction, Endorses Trump Tran was accused of shooting both men at close range from moving cars as they were leaving religious services at synagogues in Los Angeles' Pico-Robertson neighborhood, which is predominantly Jewish. He told investigators that he looked for a "kosher market" and decided to shoot someone nearby because he believed there would be Jewish people around the area. Read On The Fox News App On Feb. 15, 2023, he shot a man wearing a yarmulke as he was leaving religious services at a synagogue before fleeing in his car. The next morning, he shot a second Jewish victim, also wearing a yarmulke, as he was leaving a synagogue. Tran was arrested a day later after a witness reported seeing someone shooting a firearm behind a motel. He told investigators that the shootings would have continued had he not been arrested, prosecutors said. The shooting raised fears among the city's Jewish community after authorities said the victims were targeted because of their religious clothing. Harvard Slammed For 'Smoke And Mirrors' Antisemitism Response: 'They Actually Make Things Worse' Jaime Tran, 30, pleaded guilty to shooting two Jewish men outside Los Angeles synagogues last year. At the time, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the "terror" of the two shootings was "felt all across Los Angeles." She noted that antisemitism was on the rise in L.A. and across the country, saying fighting hate crimes "in all forms" is a priority in her administration. In a statement, the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles said it "appreciates todays sentencing" of Tran while thanking law enforcement and prosecutors. Prosecutors said Tran became obsessed over his "antisemitic hatred" for years leading up to the February 2023 attacks. In 2018, Tran left graduate school after making antisemitic comments about other students. From August 2022 to December 2022, his antisemitic statements included messages to former classmates such as "I want you dead, Jew," and "Someone is going to kill you, Jew." Tran described himself as a "ticking time bomb" and maintained social media accounts with the handle "k1llalljews." In November 2022, Tran emailed two dozen former classmates a flyer that stated "EVERY SINGLE ASPECT OF THE COVID AGENDA IS JEWISH." Tran was prohibited from purchasing firearms because of previous mental health holds, authorities said. In January 2023, Tran asked someone in Phoenix to buy two firearms for him. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass speaking. Tran selected the firearms he wanted and paid approximately $1,500 in cash to the third party, who then purchased them. Law enforcement identified the person, who has now pleaded guilty to illegally selling Tran the firearm used in the shootings. Messages retrieved from his phone revealed that Tran had asked multiple people to purchase firearms for him and had offered to pay more if no background check was performed, prosecutors said. Fox News Digital's Brie Stimson contributed to this report. Original article source: Gunman who wounded 2 Jewish men in pair of shootings outside Los Angeles synagogues gets 35 years in prison By Allison Lampert and Tim Hepher (Reuters) - Boeing's two-week-old strike has forced aerospace supplier Pathfinder Manufacturing to furlough 14 out of the company's 54 employees, and CEO Dave Trader fears he may need to send more home if the stoppage grinds on. Pathfinder runs a project to attract new recruits to the aerospace industry, and trains them alongside skilled workers at its facility yards away from Boeing's Everett jet factory outside Seattle, the largest manufacturing building in the world. Besides the 14 workers, the strike has sent high school students training for aerospace careers at Pathfinder back to their regular classrooms, in a double blow to a sector struggling for skilled labor. "We want to keep them on, so were trying to help them the best that we can, but at the same time Im trying to keep this company afloat," said Trader, 60, who has led Pathfinder through most of its 33-year existence. Some 30,000 machinists downed tools in Boeing's West Coast factories on Sept. 13, halting production of the best-selling 737 MAX and older 767 and 777 wide-body programs. The company's supply chain is now fretting about how to retain thousands of workers set to be furloughed in the coming weeks during the planemaker's first strike in 16 years. Of nine suppliers contacted by Reuters, five said they had begun placing workers on furlough or holding off on investments. A separate strike at aerospace group Textron highlights broader labor market pressures in the aerospace industry. Pathfinder is covering the costs of the 14 workers' health care benefits to help retain them when orders rebound. "We want them back and were trying to give them that carrot to get them back," Trader said. Unlike other CEOs, Trader is also a fundraiser, since Pathfinder combines paid contractual work with a nonprofit "Work Force Development Center" where high school students and adults with disabilities in the Puget Sound area learn high-tech aerospace skills. Boeing recently visited Pathfinder as part of a routine inspection. "Their biggest concern was when we start doing these stand-bys (furloughs), how easily are we going to be able to get people back," Trader said. CASH SQUEEZE Boeing put most white-collar staff on rolling furloughs and said it would freeze most parts orders except on the 787, made in South Carolina. The company and its suppliers are also reeling from a series of crises including a MAX safety grounding after two fatal crashes; a global slump in air travel during the pandemic; and a quality crisis compounded by output curbs placed on Boeing since the blowout of a door plug in January. Story continues Experts say Boeing is caught between the pressing need to save cash now and the conflicting need to preserve the ability to raise output and generate cash quickly after the strike. This would mean spending money on parts to keep suppliers' factories humming. Until recently, Boeing had pledged to take as much inventory from suppliers as possible to keep supply lines "hot" or active. But Boeing's ability to support suppliers is fading. The company's credit rating is hovering at close to junk status, and its defense arm has been losing as much as it used to make. Boeing CFO Brian West has said the strike would make it harder to stabilize its supply chain. Boeing union officials were not available for comment. RECOVERY CUT SHORT At the opposite end of Boeing's colossal Everett factory complex from Pathfinder, New Tech Industries makes specialized tooling, with Boeing accounting for 85% of its business. A backlog of orders will keep its machines running into next year, said co-owner Carmen Evans. "But currently, we aren't getting new orders placed, so I may feel that in a few months." New Tech, based in Mukilteo, Washington, has struggled to return to full staffing since the pandemic shook manufacturing worldwide and started a drift toward retirement or flexible jobs. An earlier 737 production halt following crashes in 2018 and 2019 also left its mark. New Tech went from 38 employees to 25. "So it kind of sucks that we were just getting into a good spot, and now we're like what's going to happen," Evans said. The company has put off plans to renew two machines - just the type of investment Boeing will need suppliers to make if it is to chase European rival Airbus, which has vaulted ahead of Boeing to become the world's biggest plane maker, outproducing Boeing two to one. "I'm not going to try to grow things right now until this gets resolved," Evans said. Some local Boeing suppliers are preparing pitches to serve Airbus, but experts say that will not help them immediately. One European supplier said it takes on average 18 months to get on a new Airbus program even when the partners know each other. Also, Airbus has struggled to boost its output to take advantage of Boeing's stumbles. For hundreds of small suppliers around Puget Sound, the unrest merely reflects a pause in the war for skills. "Having seen some of the other strikes, I've seen what's happened after the strike is over," Trader said. "At the end of the day everyone is going to start hiring like crazy, because they're going to want to ramp up." (Reporting By Allison Lampert in Montreal and Tim Hepher in Paris; Editing by Dave Gregorio) Kenyan President William Ruto has pledged that the police deployment to Haiti would be completed by January, bringing the total personnel to 2,500 (Clarens SIFFROY) (Clarens SIFFROY/AFP/AFP) The UN Security Council extended on Monday its authorization of the multinational policing mission in crime-ravaged Haiti, but without any call to transform it into a UN peacekeeping mission, as floated by Port-au-Prince. The resolution, adopted unanimously, expressed "deep concern about the situation in Haiti including violence, criminal activities and mass displacement," and came as the World Food Programme warned half of the country's population now faces acute hunger. The UN said on Friday that more than 3,600 people have been killed this year in "senseless" gang violence ravaging the country. The extension on the Kenyan-led policing mission seeking to assist the Haitian national police in taking back control of areas under gang control will last until October 2, 2025. Though it is operating with the UN and Haitian government's blessing, it is not a UN-run force. Kenya's envoy to the UN, Erastus Lokaale, called for the security force to "rapidly" deploy the full "2,500 personnel up from the current 410 officers." Several months after the Council's first green light in October 2023, Kenya began deploying its first contingents this summer. Last week, Kenyan President William Ruto pledged that the full deployment would be completed by January. - Pushback from Russia, China - But with the mission hobbled by a chronic lack of funding, Edgard Leblanc Fils, the head of transitional council governing Haiti, told the General Assembly last week he "would like to see a thought being given to transforming the security support mission into a peacekeeping mission under the mandate of the United Nations." Such a move would allow it to raise necessary funds, he said, echoing a recent proposal from Washington. Haiti's UN ambassador Antonio Rodrigue reiterated Leblanc Fils's call and said that shifting the mission into a peacekeeping force would "create the conditions necessary for free and fair elections in the near future." The country has not held polls since 2016. The first version of the Security Council's extension resolution, drafted by the United States and Ecuador, called for planning to begin for transitioning the Kenyan-led mission to a full-blown UN peacekeeping operation. But after fraught negotiations which were marked by opposition from China and Russia, according to diplomatic sources, the adopted text makes no reference to such a shift. Instead the resolution "encourages the MSS mission to accelerate its deployment, and further encourages additional voluntary contributions and support for the mission." Washington welcomed the extension, but said it remained open to transforming the operation into a full UN peacekeeping mission. "We have seen the MSS mission make tangible progress, but we still have significant work ahead," said US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield. "The United States stands ready to heed Haiti's (peacekeeping transformation) call, and we would urge those who have voiced skepticism in this regard to accord proper value to the perspective and consent of the host government." A senior US administration official called on "anyone who would voice opposition to this type of peacekeeping operation... to explain how they are putting the interests of the Haitian government and the Haitian people first." China and Russia pushed back, with Beijing stressing that "the UN has sent multiple peacekeeping operations in Haiti." "The results have never been satisfactory," said China's representative to the Security Council Geng Shuang. The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, which deployed from 2004 to 2017, was tarnished by accusations of sexual abuse by peacekeepers and the force's introduction of cholera to the country, which killed some 10,000 people. Guinea, ruled by a junta since a putsch in 2021, offered on Saturday to contribute 650 police officers to the mission. The WFP said Monday that 5.4 million Haitians "struggle to feed themselves and their families every day, representing one of the highest proportions of acutely food insecure people in any crisis worldwide." "Out of these, two million are in the grips of emergency levels of hunger," it added. abd-gw/nro Attorney FritzGerald Tondreau, who helps with immigration issues at Konbit Neg Lakay in Spring Valley, N.Y., shows intimidating videos of gang hostages and enemies being killed or beaten in Haiti. As a new wave of immigrants fleeing chaos arrives, many are moving beyond New York and Florida to find jobs and housing. (Tim Henderson/Stateline) Fortified with work authorizations and a new freedom, Haitian immigrants are moving out of their longtime strongholds in Florida and New York, often finding good jobs while remaining wary of how they will be received in new places in the Midwest and South. This movement helps explain why Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, have become embroiled in the presidential election. For several weeks, Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees Donald Trump and J.D. Vance have spread untrue rumors about Haitian immigrants in the city eating their neighbors cats and dogs. Until recently, we were counting Haitians in the dozens, said Leonce Jean-Baptiste, who helped launch the Haitian Association of Indiana in 2008. The associations aim: just making sure that our children would know there is such a thing as Haitian culture, that their parents come from a very strong, very rich culture and ethnic background, he said. Now, the association has its hands full helping new arrivals with housing and learning the ways of the Midwest, Jean-Baptiste said. Immigrants are coming to fill factory jobs in Indiana, a trend that started in the pandemic. Here in Indiana, in Ohio, in the Midwest in general, the manufacturing industry was desperate for labor and so it was a perfect kind of marriage, Jean-Baptiste said. Haitians were looking for jobs, they might have lost a low-paying job in a hotel in Florida, they cant access government benefits because theyre not citizens, and here they can do better. With more Haitian immigrants free to work legally anywhere because of work permissions granted under the Biden administration, many moved from off-the-books jobs in Florida or New York to factory work in states such as Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Virginia. Those states had some of the most significant increases in Haitian immigrant population between 2019 and 2023, the most recent estimates available from the American Community Survey, according to a Stateline analysis. In that time, the Haitian immigrant population in Indiana increased eightfold, to 12,465; almost fourfold in North Carolina, to 7,752; more than doubled in Texas, to 7,010; more than tripled in Ohio, to 5,264; more than doubled in Virginia, to 6,342; and nearly fivefold in South Carolina, to 2,569. Meanwhile more established strongholds where the most Haitian immigrants live are seeing less growth: New York (up 5%), Florida (up 1%) and Massachusetts (down 1%). The situation in New York is that the cost of living and the cost of housing is shutting out the new Haitians. They are moving where there are jobs and there is housing I know people who have gone to North Carolina, South Carolina, said Francois Pierre-Louis, a Haitian-born professor of international migration studies at the Queens College campus of the City University of New York. Those staking out new territory in the Midwest tend to be more established immigrants who already know enough English to get by, Pierre-Louis said. To be able to move to the hinterlands, you have to have a level of cultural understanding of the U.S. to be comfortable, he added. Its always been a struggle In Florida and New York, where about two-thirds of the countrys Haitian immigrants still live, more established immigrants with their own memories of discrimination are helping new immigrants get established. Mayor Alix Desulme of North Miami, Florida the city with the highest concentration of Haitian Americans, about 38% in recent years recalls being taunted as a boy when he arrived in Brooklyn, New York, by people who falsely believed Haitians were spreading AIDS. Im an immigrant and I am a Black man. These things do not go away, said Desulme. Were in a state, Florida, where the governor would like immigrants to go elsewhere. Its always been a struggle for us as a people, but we came to this country for a better life. Dr. Pierre Arty, a Brooklyn psychiatrist born in Haiti, said politically motivated denigration of Haitians has an impact that hes trying to mitigate in his work with new immigrants for Housing Works, a Brooklyn nonprofit. It happened in the 1980s with AIDS and its happening again with false narratives about pet-eating, he said. We have social media with quick distribution of false information, negative memes about Haitians and offensive jokes. It can foster inferiority complexes and shame as opposed to pride for being part of this community, Arty said. This fosters dehumanization and resurrects historic Black tropes of us being less than animals, he said. Imagine what this can do to the psyche of children when other people make fun of them. Growth in Haitian immigrant communities since mid-2023 is hard to gauge, but clearly has continued in some states. Clark County, Ohio, where Springfield is located, saw an increase in Medicaid enrollment by people with Haitian backgrounds, based on their choice of Haitian Creole language, from about 3,000 in mid-2023 to almost 8,000 in July 2024. The number dropped to about 7,200 in August, according to the countys Department of Job & Family Services. The number of immigrants in the community is likely much higher since not all of them have Medicaid, and the Medicaid numbers will likely continue to drop as more get jobs, said the departments director, Virginia Martycz. Here in Indiana, in Ohio, in the Midwest in general, the manufacturing industry was desperate for labor and so it was a perfect kind of marriage. Haitians were looking for jobs. Leonce Jean-Baptiste, Haitian Association of Indiana In Indiana, Jean-Baptiste thinks the number of Haitian Americans and other immigrants has increased to 30,000 from the roughly 14,000 counted by the American Community Survey last year, based on contacts to his organization and social service reports based on names. A little more mobility In New York, as in Florida, an established community is helping new immigrants get settled before moving on to areas with more jobs and more affordable housing. The work authorization is a ticket to a little more mobility, said Daniel Jean-Gilles of Nyack, New York, where he is part of a wave of earlier Haitian immigrants trying to support newcomers. I see a lot of new faces here. They come and stay here with family and friends while they wait for work authorization and then they can move around and get that job. I hear about people moving to North Carolina, Arizona for jobs. Housing and jobs are very limited here. They have to go where the jobs are, said FritzGerald Tondreau, an immigration attorney and child of Haitian immigrants who works in Spring Valley, New York. Tondreau showed videos of brutal beatings and executions by gangs in Haiti, posted by the gangs to intimidate enemies and families of hostages, and said gangs have set up roadblocks demanding money on major roads. This affects every facet of life in Haiti and makes it very untenable, he said. Work authorization is available to many Haitian immigrants, either as part of the federal temporary protected status for unauthorized immigrants or because of humanitarian parole for those waiting for asylum hearings if they crossed the border legally and dont have a serious criminal record, said Julia Gelatt, associate director of the immigration policy program at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. Many Haitian immigrants are taking advantage of a new federal program that allows them to travel directly from Haiti if they have a sponsor willing to support them during temporary humanitarian parole. Temporary protected status, first granted to Haitian immigrants when their nation was deemed too dangerous for return in 2010 because of earthquakes, is now held by an estimated 200,000 Haitian immigrants, second in number only to Venezuelans. The status was recently extended until 2026 by the Biden administration and could theoretically end, but thats not likely, Gelatt said. The Trump administration tried to end temporary protected status for Haiti and some other countries, but the policy was blocked by lawsuits until the Biden administration reversed it. The bottom line, Gelatt said, is that many new Haitian immigrants are protected from deportation and are able to work legally for the time being, but few have a path to permanent legal residence and citizenship. This temporary status affects their sense of integration, their willingness to invest in their futures in the United States, she said. They can never be sure that theyll get to stay. Over decades in the United States, without a clear path to citizenship for many, Haitian immigrants have learned to make peace with uncertainty. The thing is to wait a long time and be good citizens and stay under the radar, said Pierre-Louis. And most Haitians are good citizens. They go to church and they work. They want to work. Theyre not here begging for anything. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Attorney FritzGerald Tinder, who helps with immigration issues at Konbit Neg Lakay in Spring Valley, N.Y., shows intimidating videos of gang hostages and enemies being killed or beaten in Haiti. Attorney FritzGerald Tondreau, who helps with immigration issues at Konbit Neg Lakay in Spring Valley, N.Y., shows intimidating videos of gang hostages and enemies being killed or beaten in Haiti. As a new wave of immigrants fleeing chaos arrives, many are moving beyond New York and Florida to find jobs and housing. (Tim Henderson/Stateline) Fortified with work authorizations and a new freedom, Haitian immigrants are moving out of their longtime strongholds in Florida and New York, often finding good jobs while remaining wary of how they will be received in new places in the Midwest and South. This movement helps explain why Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, have become embroiled in the presidential election. For several weeks, Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees Donald Trump and J.D. Vance have spread untrue rumors about Haitian immigrants in the city eating their neighbors cats and dogs. Until recently, we were counting Haitians in the dozens, said Leonce Jean-Baptiste, who helped launch the Haitian Association of Indiana in 2008. The associations aim: just making sure that our children would know there is such a thing as Haitian culture, that their parents come from a very strong, very rich culture and ethnic background, he said. Now, the association has its hands full helping new arrivals with housing and learning the ways of the Midwest, Jean-Baptiste said. Immigrants are coming to fill factory jobs in Indiana, a trend that started in the pandemic. Here in Indiana, in Ohio, in the Midwest in general, the manufacturing industry was desperate for labor and so it was a perfect kind of marriage, Jean-Baptiste said. Haitians were looking for jobs, they might have lost a low-paying job in a hotel in a Florida, they cant access government benefits because theyre not citizens, and here they can do better. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE With more Haitian immigrants free to work legally anywhere because of work permissions granted under the Biden administration, many moved from off-the-books jobs in Florida or New York to factory work in states such as Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Virginia. Those states had some of the most significant increases in Haitian immigrant population between 2019 and 2023, the most recent estimates available from the American Community Survey, according to a Stateline analysis. In that time, the Haitian immigrant population in Indiana increased eightfold, to 12,465; almost fourfold in North Carolina, to 7,752; more than doubled in Texas, to 7,010; more than tripled in Ohio, to 5,264; more than doubled in Virginia, to 6,342; and nearly fivefold in South Carolina, to 2,569. Meanwhile more established strongholds where the most Haitian immigrants live are seeing less growth: New York (up 5%), Florida (up 1%) and Massachusetts (down 1%). The situation in New York is that the cost of living and the cost of housing is shutting out the new Haitians. They are moving where there are jobs and there is housing I know people who have gone to North Carolina, South Carolina, said Francois Pierre-Louis, a Haitian-born professor of international migration studies at the Queens College campus of the City University of New York. Those staking out new territory in the Midwest tend to be more established immigrants who already know enough English to get by, Pierre-Louis said. To be able to move to the hinterlands, you have to have a level of cultural understanding of the U.S. to be comfortable, he added. Its always been a struggle In Florida and New York, where about two-thirds of the countrys Haitian immigrants still live, more established immigrants with their own memories of discrimination are helping new immigrants get established. Mayor Alix Desulme of North Miami, Florida the city with the highest concentration of Haitian Americans, about 38% in recent years recalls being taunted as a boy when he arrived in Brooklyn, New York, by people who falsely believed Haitians were spreading AIDS. Im an immigrant and I am a Black man. These things do not go away, said Desulme. Were in a state, Florida, where the governor would like immigrants to go elsewhere. Its always been a struggle for us as a people, but we came to this country for a better life. Dr. Pierre Arty, a Brooklyn psychiatrist born in Haiti, said politically motivated denigration of Haitians has an impact that hes trying to mitigate in his work with new immigrants for Housing Works, a Brooklyn nonprofit. It happened in the 1980s with AIDS and its happening again with false narratives about pet-eating, he said. We have social media with quick distribution of false information, negative memes about Haitians and offensive jokes. It can foster inferiority complexes and shame as opposed to pride for being part of this community, Arty said. This fosters dehumanization and resurrects historic Black tropes of us being less than animals, he said. Imagine what this can do to the psyche of children when other people make fun of them. Growth in Haitian immigrant communities since mid-2023 is hard to gauge, but clearly has continued in some states. Clark County, Ohio, where Springfield is located, saw an increase in Medicaid enrollment by people with Haitian backgrounds, based on their choice of Haitian Creole language, from about 3,000 in mid-2023 to almost 8,000 in July 2024. The number dropped to about 7,200 in August, according to the countys Department of Job & Family Services. The number of immigrants in the community is likely much higher since not all of them have Medicaid, and the Medicaid numbers will likely continue to drop as more get jobs, said the departments director, Virginia Martycz. In Indiana, Jean-Baptiste thinks the number of Haitian Americans and other immigrants has increased to 30,000 from the roughly 14,000 counted by the American Community Survey last year, based on contacts to his organization and social service reports based on names. A little more mobility In New York, as in Florida, an established community is helping new immigrants get settled before moving on to areas with more jobs and more affordable housing. The work authorization is a ticket to a little more mobility, said Daniel Jean-Gilles of Nyack, New York, where he is part of a wave of earlier Haitian immigrants trying to support newcomers. I see a lot of new faces here. They come and stay here with family and friends while they wait for work authorization and then they can move around and get that job. I hear about people moving to North Carolina, Arizona for jobs. Housing and jobs are very limited here. They have to go where the jobs are, said FritzGerald Tondreau, an immigration attorney and child of Haitian immigrants who works in Spring Valley, New York. Tondreau showed videos of brutal beatings and executions by gangs in Haiti, posted by the gangs to intimidate enemies and families of hostages, and said gangs have set up roadblocks demanding money on major roads. This affects every facet of life in Haiti and makes it very untenable, he said. Work authorization is available to many Haitian immigrants, either as part of the federal temporary protected status for unauthorized immigrants or because of humanitarian parole for those waiting for asylum hearings if they crossed the border legally and dont have a serious criminal record, said Julia Gelatt, associate director of the immigration policy program at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. Many Haitian immigrants are taking advantage of a new federal program that allows them to travel directly from Haiti if they have a sponsor willing to support them during temporary humanitarian parole. Temporary protected status, first granted to Haitian immigrants when their nation was deemed too dangerous for return in 2010 because of earthquakes, is now held by an estimated 200,000 Haitian immigrants, second in number only to Venezuelans. The status was recently extended until 2026 by the Biden administration and could theoretically end, but thats not likely, Gelatt said. The Trump administration tried to end temporary protected status for Haiti and some other countries, but the policy was blocked by lawsuits until the Biden administration reversed it. The bottom line, Gelatt said, is that many new Haitian immigrants are protected from deportation and are able to work legally for the time being, but few have a path to permanent legal residence and citizenship. This temporary status affects their sense of integration, their willingness to invest in their futures in the United States, she said. They can never be sure that theyll get to stay. Over decades in the United States, without a clear path to citizenship for many, Haitian immigrants have learned to make peace with uncertainty. The thing is to wait a long time and be good citizens and stay under the radar, said Pierre-Louis. And most Haitians are good citizens. They go to church and they work. They want to work. Theyre not here begging for anything. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX This report was first published by Stateline, part of the States Newsroom nonprofit news network. Its supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org. Follow Stateline on Facebook and X. Halle Bailey took the stage at Kamala Harris' fundraiser in Los Angeles on Sunday, leaving fans in awe. This event marked the first campaign fundraiser led by Harris since she was named the Democratic nominee. Proceeds from the evening benefitted the Harris Victory Fund, which supports Harris campaign as well as the Democratic National Committee and state parties. By performing at Kamala Harris event, its clear that Halle Bailey is expressing her strong support for the Democratic nominee ahead of the upcoming election. Halle Bailey Delivers 'Masterful' Performance For Kamala Harris View this post on Instagram A post shared by Halle Bailey (@hallebailey) In a video clip shared to her social media account, Bailey showed off her incredible vocals as she sang her song, "Angel." Some might hate, and they wait on your fall, they dont know theres a grace for it all," she captioned the post, which is a lyric from her song. "omg omg pinch me, I came straight off the plane from Paris to sing for our beautiful vice president @kamalaharris," she added. "Thank you for inviting me, it was an honor to sing today." Halle Bailey Fans Gush Over Her Performance MEGA Fans immediately flooded the comments section, expressing their support for the actress. "MIC WAS ON!! So beautiful!" one user wrote. "The Vocals are MASTERFUL!!!" another chimed in. "What an INCREDIBLE Moment!" a third expressed. "Queens supporting queens," someone else said. Alanis Morissette also performed at the event. Kamala Harris Steps In As Democratic Nominee MEGA Shortly after President Joe Biden announced he would be stepping down as the Democratic nominee in the upcoming election, current Vice President Kamala Harris stepped up to the plate. With the support of 99% of all participating delegates in the virtual roll call, Vice President Harris has historic momentum at her back as we embark on the final steps in officially certifying her as our Partys nominee, DNC Chair Jaime Harrison and DNCC Chair Minyon Moore said in a statement. We thank the thousands of delegates from all across the country who took seriously their responsibility throughout this process to make their voices and the voices of their communities heard," they added. "As we prepare to certify the nomination alongside Convention Secretary Rae, we know that we are all a part of an important piece of history. Kamala Harris L.A. Fundraiser Pulls In More Than $28 Million MEGA Vice President Harris' first appearance at a Los Angeles fundraiser since she became the Democratic nominee was filled with Hollywood celebrities. The downtown event was a resounding success, reportedly raising over $28 million, according to Deadline. Every four years we say this is the one. This here is the one, Harris told the crowd, per Deadline, at the JW Marriott hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Emmy winner and Oscar nominee Sterling K. Brown, along with Keegan-Michael Key, were among the speakers at the event. This is the most important election of our lifetime, for real, Key emphasized in his remarks before Harris took the stage. Other notable attendees included music legend Stevie Wonder and pop star Demi Lovato. I look around this room and there are people who have been with me here every step of the way," Harris said during the event, per The Hollywood Reporter. I know whos here and so many of us have been involved every four years, and every four years we say, This is the one; this heres the one. This is probably the most important election in our lifetime, and its probably the most important in the life of our country. Actors And Actresses Show Up To Support Kamala Harris MEGA The event also saw appearances from actress Jessica Alba, comedy icon Lily Tomlin, and "Watchmen" showrunner and longtime Democratic donor Damon Lindelof, accompanied by his spouse, Heidi. The ballroom also featured a mix of agents and industry publicists, including Disneys Kristina Schake, former WBTV spokesperson Jeff Tobler, Alison Rou, Scott Rowe, AppleTVs Rita Cooper Lee, CAAs Michael Mand, and Kelly Bush Novak. Notably, attorney Gloria Allred was among the attendees as well. This race is as close as it could be and we are the underdog, friends, Harris said. And Im running like the underdog. Harris' campaign events coincide with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz's preparations to debate Trump's running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, on Tuesday. A New Hampshire woman has been arrested in connection with a crash earlier this month that killed a dog and injured a woman who was out with that dog. Bethany Belmonte, 39, of Merrimack, is charged with vehicular assault and negligent driving, police said in a statement on Monday. On Sept. 11, Bedford Police officers responded to Route 101 in the area of the Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire for a report of a pedestrian who was struck by a motor vehicle. When officers arrived, they found a woman lying in the breakdown lane of the highway with an injured dog lying next to her. Both the woman and the dog had been struck by a vehicle. The victim, a 37-year-old New Boston woman, was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, while the dog died while being transported to a local veterinary center. A subsequent investigation found that Belmonte fell asleep while driving, and drifted off the side of Route 101, where she struck the woman and dog. Bedford Police obtained an arrest warrant for Belmonte on Tuesday, Sept. 24. She turned herself in to Bedford Police, where she was booked and released on personal recognizance bail. Belmonte is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 29 in Merrimack District Court. 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 What happened to LaRosa's Pizzeria in Louisville? Here's what we know This story has been updated with new information. Less than two years after opening its first Louisville location, LaRosa's Pizzeria has closed. The Cincinnati-based miniature chain came to Louisville in early 2023 with a much-anticipated spot in the Springhurst Shopping Center off of Westport Road. LaRosa's closed its lone Louisville location in late September. A Google search for LaRosa's, 10641 Fischer Park Drive, shows it is "permanently closed" and the location has been removed from the company website. Its last day of business was Sunday, Sept. 29, the company confirmed in a statement. "Unfortunately, over time, Springhurst sales did not consistently meet expectations and we made the difficult decision to close its doors," according to the statement. "When LaRosas Springhurst opened in January 2023, we received an outpouring of support and excitement from the Louisville community, and we are thankful to everyone who made us feel welcome. The local enthusiasm for our pizzeria was heartwarming, and it has been a pleasure to serve the Louisville area," the statement continued. "We truly appreciate our LaRosas Springhurst Team Members for their hard work and dedication to serving our guests." More: 'Taste of New York in Louisville:' New pizza shop in Clifton area serves slices of 'magic' The franchise, which is celebrating 70 years in business, has several locations in North Kentucky, the Cincinnati area, and across Ohio. LaRosa's offers more than 40 menu selections, including pizza, calzones, chicken wings, hoagies and pasta dishes. Reach food and dining reporter Amanda Hancock at ahancock@courier-journal.com. This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: LaRosa's Pizzeria Louisville: Popular pizza chain closes By Trevor Hunnicutt and Tim Reid LAS VEGAS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The aftermath of Hurricane Helene interrupted the campaigns of presidential rivals Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on Monday after Harris cut short a campaign trip to fly back to Washington and Trump visited a storm-hit city in the battleground state of Georgia. Democratic Vice President Harris plans to visit the southeast region "soon," according to an official who declined to be identified. The hurricane was responsible for the deaths of over 100 people in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia, while millions more faced power outages and destroyed roads. There were no immediate details on when Harris would visit or where she would go. Republican candidate Trump visited Valdosta, a city in the swing state of Georgia, where he thanked local leaders and first responders for their response to the hurricane and pledged "complete solidarity" with those who lost loved ones, homes and businesses. Democratic President Joe Biden said he told North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper he would visit the state later this week, and expects to be there by Wednesday or Thursday. Harris on Sunday flew back to Washington earlier than planned from Las Vegas, Nevada, where she was on a campaign trip, to take part in briefings at the headquarters for emergency management agency FEMA. In remarks after the briefings, Harris called the devastation "heartbreaking." We will continue to do everything we can to help you recover and to help you rebuild no matter how long it takes," Harris said. She spoke with Cooper, a Democrat, and reached out to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, both Republicans, to discuss their needs, according to the official. North Carolina and Georgia are among a handful of swing states that will likely decide the White House race between Harris and Trump. Harris' campaign has announced campaign stops in two other battlegrounds, Pennsylvania and Michigan, on Wednesday and Friday, respectively. Vice presidential candidates Tim Walz, a Democrat, and JD Vance, a Republican, will debate on Tuesday. More than 3,300 federal personnel have been deployed as part of the hurricane response, including on search and rescue efforts and restoring power, Biden administration officials have said. (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Tim Reid; Editing by Kim Coghill and Rosalba O'Brien) Vice President Harris is cutting her campaign swing on the west coast short to return to Washington, D.C., for a briefing on Hurricane Helene. A White House official said Harris will depart Las Vegas on Monday morning, canceling planned campaign stops, to head back to the nations capital. Harris will visit Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) headquarters for a briefing on the impacts of Helene and updates on the federal response, the official said. Harris on Sunday spoke with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) about the aftermath of the storm and reached out to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R). Harris is expected to visit affected areas as soon as it is possible without disrupting emergency response operations, a White House official said. The vice president late last week traveled to Arizona and spent the weekend holding fundraisers in California before holding a rally in Nevada on Sunday night. Former President Trump, the GOP nominee, is expected to visit Georgia on Monday for a briefing on the storm. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, bringing with it devastating winds and rainfall. At least 91 people have been killed across several states, The Associated Press reported. President Biden has spoken with state and local officials in North Carolina, Georgia and Florida, and the federal government has deployed thousands of workers to help provide resources and coordinate the response to the storm. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Vice President Kamala Harris will end her West Coast campaign swing early and travel from Las Vegas to Washington, DC, on Monday morning to be briefed on the ongoing impacts of Hurricane Helene at the FEMA Headquarters, according to a White House official. The vice president is expected to be briefed on the federal actions taken to support emergency response and recovery. It comes as the Southeast grapples with widespread devastation after Helene made landfall last Thursday as the strongest hurricane on record to slam into Floridas Big Bend region. At least 100 people have been killed, with power knocked out for millions. While the hurricane made landfall in Florida, it has been the devastating flooding in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee that has been the focus of rescue efforts in recent days. The Appalachian Mountain areas of both states have been inundated with unprecedented rainfall that has left thousands cut off and isolated, leaving first responders with a difficult task in getting to those who need help. North Carolina is a key state for Harris and Democrats in the fall as the vice president attempts to flip a state that has gone for Republicans in each presidential election since 2008. Her opponent, Donald Trump, has already attacked her and President Joe Biden for continuing on with their weekend plans as the devastation in the state became clear. The former president also continued on with his regularly scheduled campaign rallies, despite that criticism. Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, was previously scheduled to make two campaign stops in Nevada on Monday before diverting her plans. We stand with these communities for as long as it takes to make sure that they are able to recover and rebuild, Harris said during a rally in Las Vegas. On Sunday, Harris was briefed by FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell while traveling on Air Force Two from California to Nevada. She also spoke with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and reassured them that the Biden administration will stand with the impacted communities throughout their recovery. Harris intends to visit impacted communities as soon as possible without disrupting emergency response operations. We will provide whatever help they need in the days and weeks ahead, she said in Las Vegas. Trump is expected to visit Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday, where he will receive a briefing on the devastation and facilitate the distribution of relief supplies. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) Vice President Kamala Harris held a rally Sunday night with supporters in Las Vegas. Donald Trump was in Pennsylvania, where his comments are drawing new scrutiny. Both Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump spent the weekend campaigning in states that could determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. They may have been in different states, but their topic was the same, border security. Vice President Kamala Harris told supporters in Las Vegas she is all in. Well, folks, its time to turn the page, said Harris. Harris focused much of her West Coast campaign trip on securing the southern border and slamming former President Trump on tanking a bill that she says would have addressed border concerns. He thought that that bill, if passed, would hurt him, and hed prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem. Thats not the kind of president we want, said Harris. She also challenged Trump to another debate. I think he should debate again. The American people have a right to hear us discuss the issues, said Harris. Harris walked a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday and called for tougher migration laws. Theres something wrong with Kamala, said Trump. Trump is facing scrutiny, from his Republican allies for his latest round of attacks on Harris. Joe Biden became mentally impaired, said. But lyin, Kamala Harris. Honestly, I believe she was born that way, said Trump The vice-presidential candidates, Sen. JD Vance and Gov. Tim Walz will face off in their first and only debate Tuesday 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 DC News Now | Washington, DC. Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, walks onstage with campaign signs reading 'Vamos!' (Let's Go! in Spanish), during a campaign rally at the Expo at World Market Center on Sept. 29, 2024 in Las Vegas. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) At a Sunday rally in Las Vegas, Vice President Kamala Harris accused former President Donald Trump of fanning flames of fear around immigration, warned of the dangers of a Trump second term, and urged people to make a voting plan ahead of the election. Harris campaign stop at the World Market Center in downtown Las Vegas came roughly two weeks after Trump held a rally at the same location. Trump used his speech at the World Market Center to stoke fears about immigrants, adding to a laundry list of anti-immigrant remarks, which include spreading lies about the Haitian community in Ohio. He continues to fan the flames of fear and division, Harris said on Sunday. Voters have ranked immigration as a top issue in this election. Recent polling by UnidosUS, which surveyed Latinos in Nevada and other battleground states, showed immigration reform and border security among top priorities, with voters favoring policies that provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Harris said tackling the complexities of immigration is serious and you know Donald Trump wont solve it. Trump has also promised mass deportation if elected to a second term. When he was president, he did nothing to fix our immigration system, she said. Harris also pointed to earlier this year when Congress was working on a bipartisan deal around immigration, which among other things would have given President Joe Biden the authority to shut down any asylum requests. She said Trump tanked the bill because he thought it would hurt his campaign. The bill died after Trump came out against it. We must have comprehensive immigration reform, strong border security and an earned pathway to citizenship, Harris said. Harris said there are hard-working immigrants who have been here for years, including our Dreamers, referring to immigrants who arrived in the United States with their families when they were children. This was Harris second visit to Nevada since replacing Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate and the first since her debate with Trump earlier this month. The rally came a few days from the anniversary of the 2017 mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip. What happened on 1 October proves that smart gun safety is just common sense, she said. Harris used the event to connect Trump to Heritage Foundations Project 2025 a 900-page proposal that sets forth a sweeping conservative agenda if Trump is elected. It is a detailed and dangerous blueprint for what he will do if elected again as president, Harris said. She also pushed back against his efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Trump attempted to repeal the law during his presidency. He has not provided any details on what health care policy he would put in its place. During the debate with Harris, he told moderators he had concepts of a plan. We can laugh at many things but the consequences of this are quite serious, Harris said Sunday. Since her August rally, Harris has rolled out more economic proposals around addressing the housing crisis, which include building 300,000 units nationwide. On Sunday she also talked about what she deemed an opportunity economy that calls for $25,000 in down payment assistance for homebuyers and small businesses, a $50,000 tax break, and $6,000 for new parents during the first year of their childs life. The Harris campaign said 7,500 people attended, compared to the estimated 6,000 the Trump campaign said attended during his visit Sept. 13. (NewsNation) Both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have paused campaigning for the 2024 election to focus on Hurricane Helene. Trump, the Republican nominee for president, spoke in Valdosta, Georgia, which saw damage from the storm. Democratic nominee Kamala Harris has cut her campaign visit to Las Vegas short to return to Washington for briefings. Millions of people from Florida to Virginia were without power Monday, days after Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, reaching up to 140 mph wind speeds. It killed more than 100 people across six states. Search and rescue crews are searching for those unaccounted for. In Georgia, Trump said that despite the election, when people need help, you have to pitch in, calling it the American spirit. He also plans on going to North Carolina, another area that was badly affected. Over the weekend, Trump criticized Harris for holding fundraising and campaign events during Helene. Why was Asheville hit so hard by Helene? At the beginning of a rally in Las Vegas Sunday, Harris said, We will stand with these communities for as long as it takes to make sure that they are able to recover and rebuild. President Joe Biden addressed Helene as well Monday, saying he is committed to traveling to areas the storm hit, but hes been told it would be disruptive to do so now. We will not do that at the risk of diverting or delaying any of the response assets needed to deal with this crisis, Biden said. My first response was to get all the help needed to those impacted areas. I expect to be there later this week. Biden approved major disaster declarations for the states of Florida and North Carolina. Lawmakers in Georgia have asked the president to promptly consider one for their state as well, NewsNation partner The Hill reports. How to donate and assist Helene victims and survivors A major disaster declaration means that people impacted can immediately access funds and resources, but there is still concern over getting assistance to those areas. On Monday night, Biden spent two hours on the phone speaking with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and other officials. Kemp said at a news conference in Augusta that they would work in a bipartisan way on disaster relief in this state with our federal, state and local partners. Cooper said the devastation in western North Carolina was unprecedented. 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 NewsNation. VALDOSTA, Ga. (AP) Donald Trump repeatedly spread falsehoods Monday about the federal response to Hurricane Helene despite claiming not to be politicizing the disaster as he toured hard-hit areas in south Georgia. The former president and Republican nominee claimed upon landing in Valdosta that President Joe Biden was sleeping and not responding to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who he said was calling the president and hasnt been able to get him. He repeated the claim at an event with reporters after being told Kemp said he had spoken to Biden. Hes lying, and the governor told him he was lying, Biden said Monday. The White House previously announced that Biden spoke by phone Sunday night with Kemp and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, as well as Scott Matheson, mayor of Valdosta, Georgia, and Florida Emergency Management Director John Louk. Kemp confirmed Monday morning that he spoke to Biden the night before. The president just called me yesterday afternoon and I missed him and called him right back and he just said Hey, what do you need? And I told him, you know, weve got what we need, well work through the federal process, Kemp said. He offered if there are other things we need just to call him directly, which I appreciate that." In addition to being humanitarian crises, natural disasters can create political tests for elected officials, particularly in the closing weeks of a presidential campaign in which among the hardest-hit states were North Carolina and Georgia, two battlegrounds. Trump over the last several days has used the damage wrought by Helene to attack Harris, the Democratic nominee, and suggest she and Biden are playing politics with the storm something he was accused of doing when president. Biden is defiant about spending time at his beach house While the White House highlighted Biden's call to Kemp and others, the president faced questions about his decision to spend the weekend at his beach house in Delaware, rather than the White House, to monitor the storm. I was commanding it, Biden told reporters after delivering remarks at the White House on the federal governments response. I was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday and the day before as well. I commanded it. Its called a telephone. Biden received frequent updates on the storm, the White House said, as did Harris aboard Air Force Two as she made a West Coast campaign swing. The vice president cut short her campaign trip Monday to return to Washington for a briefing from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Trump, writing on his social media platform Monday, also claimed without evidence that the federal government and North Carolinas Democratic governor were going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas. Asheville, which was devastated by the storm, is solidly Democratic, as is much of Buncombe County, which surrounds it. The death toll from Helene has surpassed 100 people, with some of the worst damage caused by inland flooding in North Carolina. Biden said he will travel to North Carolina on Wednesday to get a first-hand look at the devastation, but will limit his footprint so as not to distract from the ongoing recovery efforts. During remarks Monday at FEMA headquarters, Harris said she has received regular briefings on the disaster response, including from FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, and has spoken with Kemp and Cooper in the last 24 hours. I have shared with them that we will do everything in our power to help communities respond and recover, she said. And Ive shared with them that I plan to be on the ground as soon as possible without disrupting any emergency response operations. When asked if her visit was politicizing the storm, she frowned and shook her head but did not reply. Trump partnered with a Christian charity to bring supplies The Trump campaign partnered with the Christian humanitarian aid organization Samaritans Purse to bring trucks of fuel, food, water and other critical supplies to Georgia, said Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaigns national press secretary. Leavitt did not immediately respond to questions about how much had been donated and from which entity. Samaritan's Purse also declined to address the matter in a statement. Trump also launched a GoFundMe campaign for supporters to send financial aid to people impacted by the storm. It quickly passed its $1 million goal Monday night. Our hearts are with you and we are going to be with you as long as you need it, Trump said, flanked by a group of elected officials and Republican supporters. Were not talking about politics now, Trump added. Trump said he wanted to stop in North Carolina but was holding off because access and communication is limited in hard-hit communities. When asked by The Associated Press on Monday if he was concerned that his visit to Georgia was taking away law enforcement resources that could be used for disaster response, Trump said, No. He said his campaign instead brought many wagons of resources. Katie Watson, who owns with her husband the home design store Trump visited, said she was told the former president picked that location because he saw shots of the business destroyed with the rubble and said, Find that place and find those people. He didnt come here for me. He came here to recognize that this town has been destroyed. Its a big setback, she said. He recognizes that we are hurting and he wants us to know that, she added. It was a lifetime opportunity to meet the president. This is not exactly the way I wanted to do it. Trump campaign officials have long pointed to his visit to East Palestine, Ohio, the site of a toxic trail derailment, as a turning point in the early days of the presidential race when he was struggling to establish his footing as a candidate. They believed his warm welcome by residents frustrated by the federal governments response helped remind voters why they had been drawn to him years earlier. Trump fought with Puerto Rico and meteorologists while president During Trumps term as president, he visited numerous disaster zones, including the aftermaths of hurricanes, tornadoes and shootings. But the trips sometimes elicited controversy such as when he tossed paper towels to cheering residents in Puerto Rico in 2017 in the wake of Hurricane Maria. It also took until weeks before the presidential election in 2020 for Trumps administration to release $13 billion in assistance for the territory. A federal government watchdog found that officials hampered an investigation into delays in aid delivery. In another 2019 incident, Trump administration officials admonished some meteorologists for tweeting that Alabama was not threatened by Hurricane Dorian, contradicting the then-president. Trump would famously display a map altered with a black Sharpie pen to indicate Alabama could be in the path of the storm. ___ Fernando reported from Chicago, and Amy reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York, Chris Megerian and Aamer Madhani in Washington, and Will Weissert in Las Vegas contributed to this report. As the death toll and devastation from Hurricane Helene soars in the southeast, both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are being briefed by officials on Monday, as the destructive storm is smack in the middle of the White House race with just over five weeks until Election Day. Trump made a stop in Valdosta, Georgia, to receive a briefing on the devastation, assist with relief distribution, deliver remarks, and take a few questions from reporters. "I've come to Valdosta with large semi-trucks, many of them, filled with relief aid. A tanker truck filled up with gasoline, a couple of big tanker trucks filled up with gasoline, which they can't get now. And we'll be working to distribute it throughout the day," Trump highlighted. Harris headed back to Washington, D.C., on Monday morning, cutting short a western campaign swing. The White House said the vice president would travel to Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters once she arrives in the nation's capital, where she will be briefed on the impact of the hurricane and the federal response to support rescue and recovery efforts. Head Here For The Latest Fox News Reporting On Helene's Havoc Over 120 people have been killed by Helene since the hurricane made landfall in Florida late Thursday before tearing a path of destruction through the interior Southeast. The storm sparked millions of power outages and billions of dollars in property damage as it smashed through the southern Appalachian Mountains and into the Tennessee Valley. Read On The Fox News App Scenes From The Storm's Path Of Destruction Among the hardest hit states were North Carolina and Georgia, two of the seven key battlegrounds whose razor-thin margins decided President Biden's 2020 election victory over Trump and are expected to determine the outcome of the 2024 showdown between Harris and Trump. Trump at a Sunday rally in battleground Pennsylvania took aim at the administration and Harris over the storm, accusing the president of "sleeping" at his beach house in Delaware as the storm blasted the Southeast. And speaking with reporters as he arrived in Valdosta, the former president charged that "the federal government is not being responsive." Trump was briefed by FEMA as well as state and local officials. And he toured a furniture store heavily damaged by the storm. But after criticizing the federal storm response minutes earlier, Trump said in remarks to a larger crowd assembled that "at a time like this when a crisis hits, when our fellow citizens cry out in need, we're not talking about politics now. We all need to get together and get this solved." Biden returned to the nation's capital on Sunday afternoon to monitor federal relief efforts. The White House noted that over 3,300 federal workers have been deployed to support storm response efforts in the impacted states, and at least 50,000 personnel from across the country and Canada are responding to the massive power outages in affected areas. Biden told reporters the federal government is giving states "everything we have" to assist with their response to the storm and that "we're not leaving until the job is done." Check Out The Latest Fox News Polling In The Harris-trump Showdown Biden said he would tour the storm-damaged areas later this week as long as his presence on the ground would not hamper rescue and recovery efforts. "I'm committed to traveling to the impacted areas as soon as possible, but I've been told that it would be disruptive if I did it right now. We will not do that at the risk of diverting or delaying any of the response assets needed to deal with this crisis," he told reporters on Monday. Trump, at his Sunday rally, attacked Harris for attending "fundraising events with her radical left lunatic donors" in California this weekend. He argued that Harris "ought to be down in the area" where the storm caused destruction. On Monday, Trump repeated the dig, saying "the vice president, she's out someplace campaigning looking for money." The White House said Harris spoke Sunday with the governors of Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina and that "the Vice President intends to visit impacted communities as soon as it is possible without disrupting emergency response operations." In a Saturday statement, Harris said that she and the president "remain committed to ensuring that no community or state has to respond to this disaster alone." The response by elected officials to natural disasters can vastly impact their political fortunes on the campaign trail. Trump faced criticism early in his White House tenure as Puerto Rico struggled to recover from a powerful storm. The then-president was criticized for throwing paper towels to the crowd as he stopped by a relief center during a storm-related visit to the island. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub. Original article source: Harris-Trump showdown: Hurricane Helene in eye of the campaign storm Vice President Kamala Harriss polling in the key battleground state of Michigan is underwater, a Democratic state representative has warned. Senate candidate Elissa Slotkin has voiced growing concerns about the vice presidents chances of clinching the Wolverine State just weeks from the presidential election. Im not feeling my best right now about where we are on Kamala Harris in a place like Michigan, Slotkin said alongside New Jersey Senator Cory Booker at a fundraising event last Wednesday, according to a video obtained by Axios. We have her underwater in our polling. Despite Slotkin insinuating Harris is struggling to buoy her lead, the vice president has garnered a marginal 3-point lead over former president Donald Trump in Michigan, according to an analysis of the states presidential polls. Slotkin made remarks during the Democratic National Convention on August 22 in Chicago (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) Trump won Michigan in the 2016 election against then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton but lost narrowly to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election. The state is seen as a key battleground in the 2024 election, with it being a must-win for either partys chances to secure the White House. The Independent has contacted Slotkins spokesperson for more information. Its commonplace for campaigns to downplay their standing in the polls to create a heightened sense of urgency, and drive more votes. Polls also show Slotkin with a wider lead over her opponent, former representative Mike Rogers in the states senate contest. Holding on to Democratic senator Debbie Stabenows seat is critical for the Democrats to maintain control of the upper chamber. Kamala Harris spoke at Northwestern High School in Detroit earlier this month (REUTERS) Recent polling conducted by The New York Times/Siena College places Slotkin five points ahead of her Republican rival Rogers with the Democrat leading 47 percent to 42 percent. However, Republican internal polling shows that the candidates are neck-and-neck, a source told Axios. A recent poll from AtlasIntel has Trump leading Michigan 51 percent to Harriss 47 percent. It comes as a GOP super-PAC has poured millions of dollars into Rogers campaign as the Republicans desperately try to flip the seat. Senate Leadership Fund, which is affiliated with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, has donated $22.5 million to Michigans senate contest with the funds anticipated to be spent on television, radio and digital ads. So far in the senate race, Slotkin has spent more than an estimated $10 million on ads, while Rogers has split advertising costs with the National Republican Senatorial Committee and has spent about $2.7 million. The cash injection constitutes part of the PACs $67.5 million in new spending on advert space in Senate races in the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, according to the Wall Street Journal. [Source] The Harris-Walz campaign recently launched digital ads in Las Vegas, Nevada, to engage Filipino American voters ahead of Filipino American History Month. The ads, which celebrate "Pinoy Pride" and highlight Vice President Kamala Harris' support for the Filipino community, were displayed in high-visibility areas around the Pinoy Pride Festival starting on Sept. 27. The campaign underscored its continued outreach efforts to Filipino and Asian American voters, emphasizing their significant role in Nevada, where Asian Americans make up about 10% of eligible voters. The campaign had previously opened a field office in Las Vegas Asian American community and organized cultural events to connect with voters, including a Kamayan Feast, Karaoke for Kamala, and "Spam and Boba" nights. Earlier this month, Minnesota First Lady Gwen Walz also met with locals celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival at the restaurant Xiao Long Dumplings. Download the NextShark App: Want to keep up to date on Asian American News? Download the NextShark App today! Hartford Healthcare: Partnering with ReadyCT for simulated training for students Hartford Healthcare: Partnering with ReadyCT for simulated training for students HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) Hartford Healthcare and ReadyCT continue to create new pathways to build the future workforce in Connecticut. Aspiring healthcare students from high schools across the state will have an opportunity to experience real-time simulated training on Monday. Vice President of Human Resources and Workforce Planning at Hartford Healthcare Melanie Tucker joined Good Morning Connecticut at 9 a.m. live from the LIFE STAR helipad at Hartford Hospital, to talk about the training program. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) New Haven Police are investigating a suspicious incident at a garage Sunday morning that left one person dead. At 1:50 a.m., police officers were flagged down to 213 Crown Street, the location of Crown Street Garage. Officers were informed that someone fell from the parking garage. New Haven Fire Department was on scene for a separate incident and immediately began live saving procedures while police established a crime scene. The victim, a 23-year-old Manchester resident, was rushed to Yale New Haven Hospital where they were pronounced dead. The cause of the fall is unknown at this time. Anyone that may have witnessed the incident or has information that could be related is asked to call (203) 946-6304 or to leave an anonymous tip at (866) 888-8477. 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 WTNH.com. Head of Russian FSB agents group sentenced to life imprisonment for adjusting fire on Zaporizhzhia Two residents of Zaporizhzhia, who helped arrange Russian strikes on the city, have been sentenced. Source: Security Service of Ukraine (SSU); Office of the Prosecutor General Details: The resident (head) of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agent group operating in Zaporizhzhia received a life sentence. His accomplice was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The Office of the Prosecutor General reports that since September 2022, the detainees have been leaking information to the FSB about the locations of critical infrastructure and Ukraine's military industry facilities, the deployment and movement of units of the Ukrainian defence forces and their military equipment, and the aftermath of a missile attack by the Russian military on the city's infrastructure. To fulfil the Russian tasks, using the coordinates received from their curator, they conducted reconnaissance in the area of Zaporizhzhia and its suburbs to identify places for future caches of enemy weapons. These hiding places were planned to be used in the preparation and carrying out of terror attacks. The SSU reports that in the spring of 2023, the detainees prepared a number of terrorist attacks against the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the SSUs special forces who were performing combat missions on the southern front. The convicts transmitted information to the Russian special service via a messenger app, deleting the messages after that. SSU counter-intelligence officers detained the convicts during a special operation in Zaporizhzhia in early May 2023. The materials of the criminal proceedings confirmed that the Russians used the intelligence from this agent group during the missile attack on Zaporizhzhia, which resulted in the deaths of a lot of people. Following a public prosecution by prosecutors of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast Prosecutor's Office, two Ukrainian citizens were found guilty of treason (Art. 28.2, Art. 111.2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The court sentenced one of them to life imprisonment and the other to 15 years behind bars with confiscation of property. The defendants will be kept in custody until the verdict takes effect. Support UP or become our patron! In 2019, a desire to disconnect from the world for a while turned into a life-changing journey for two women in the remote reaches of Svalbard, Norway. Female citizen scientists Hilde Falun Strom, a Norwegian polar explorer and a resident of Svalbard, and Sunniva Sorby, a part of the first womens trek to the South Pole in 1990, spent 19 months in solitude in Svalbard. RELATED: How the fastest-warming place on Earth copes with rapid glacial melt Their mission was to document and collect scientific data on behalf of NASA, Polar Bears International and other organizations, as well as to connect with people from around the world on topics related to climate change. Falun Strom and Sorby, who started a non-profit group, Hearts In The Ice, set out to see the calving glaciers for themselves and to learn and discuss solutions for our changing planet. The pair quit their jobs and left everything behind in order to take on this new, life-changing trip. Norway glacier/Getty Images-1327251915/Rixipix (Getty Images-1327251915/Rixipix) In 2023, Jaclyn Whittal, a meteorologist at The Weather Network, spent time in Norway on an expedition to document the effects of climate change in the northern European country, and to share the 19-month journey of Sorby and Falun Strom. "It's hard to measure time up there because we have no point of reference to anything that anyone in our connected world would be familiar with because we are untethered, we are remote," Sorby told Whittal. "We are 140 kilometres from the closest town. Our neighbours are wildlife and our backyard is ice, snow, light and mountains." Fastest-warming place on Earth is the 'epicentre for climate change' Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, situated north of mainland Europe. It is considered to be the fastest-warming place on Earth. Getty Images: Polar bear in Norway's Svalbard archipelago. Credit: Patrick J. Endres/Getty Images (Getty Images/Patrick J. Endres) "With a melting rate of four times the average of other Arctic locations, and a place where glaciers can be seen crumbling almost daily, we must protect this place in the world," said Whittal. Svalbard is considered to be the epicentre for climate change, according to Heidi Sevestre, a glaciologist, because of how fast the locale is warming and the rapid loss of sea ice. "A few decades ago, you would find sea ice here most of the year." Overwintering in a uninsulated cabin What began as a seven-month journey ended up finishing as a 19-month trek, with the COVID-19 pandemic prohibiting transportation to pick them up at Bamsebu. For nine months of their stay, the pair did so while overwintering in an uninsulated hut named Bamsebu, a historic trappers cabin on the shore of the Van Keulen Fiord. That was a feat never before done by two women without the accompaniment of men. Bamsebu/Hearts In The Ice (Hearts In The Ice) "Nineteen months felt like a really long time," said Sorby. "We have two solar panels on the outside of the hut and a huge windmill to power our needs so that we can have connectivity, and send emails every now and again." Falun Strom, a member of the Explorers Club, has been accustomed to the outdoors her whole life, and the thought of overwintering in a remote cabin has always been intriguing to her. "I really wanted to do something different in my life. I really wanted to make a change," said Falun Strom. Hilde Falun Strom and Sunniva Sorby/Hearts In The Ice Hilde Falun Strom, left, and Sunniva Sorby, right. (Hearts In The Ice) Sorby is also familiar with the outdoors having been on numerous cold-weather expeditions. Not only was she a part of the first womens trek to the South Pole in 1990, she has visited the polar desert in Antarctica dozens of times since. She has given lectures on ships to educate people about the unique locales on Earth, and the importance of protecting them. Hearts In The Ice springs into action Part of the job for Falun Strom and Sorby while in Norway was to obtain phytoplankton samples to see how and if there was activity in this part of the world, particularly during the polar night, which is 24 hours of darkness. "You have these two incredible women, who have their own accomplishments, who are also so passionate about sharing the story of regular people getting involved in the solution," said Allison Cusick, a biological oceanographer at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Sunniva Sorby and Hilde Falun Strom/Hearts In The Ice Sunniva Sorby, left, and Hilde Falun Strom, right. (Hearts In The Ice) Falun Strom and Sorby's prolonged visit to Svalbard also included an educational component. The pair partnered with Exploring By The Seat Of Your Pants - a Canadian organization that connects explorers to classrooms virtually. With their lessons while there, they reached more than 100,000 students around the world. The women discussed their citizen science work with the media, other scientists and classrooms. Another key citizen science project they were involved with was monitoring ice, ocean temperatures and thickness, and even wildlife with drones. "Probably one of the most powerful things we did was to record wildlife, document what we were seeing around us because there was plenty of wildlife here," said Sorby. The types of thermal cameras that were used are beneficial for recording objects that are relatively cooler or warmer than their surrounding environment. Norway glacier/Getty Images-1776622592/Krzysztof Flasza (Getty Images-1776622592/Krzysztof Flasza) Falun Strom and Sorby launched Hearts In The Ice to "deepen our understanding of climate change and how powerful individual action can be," according to a description on the website. "You matter more than you think. We're in a world where it's so depressing. Don't stop believing that you really have an impact that you can make through your voice or through your personal actions," said Sorby. Whittal learned a great deal from her Svalbard trip, whether it was the calving glaciers, the ocean currents and how they continue to warm, or the power of interpersonal relationships. "It takes an army, all of us, to make changes to better the world that we live in. Most of all, I learned the importance of relationships and the power of friendship, trust and bravery," said Whittal. WATCH: Melting Point: The Fastest Warming Place on the Planet Click here to view the video Jaclyn Whittal was elected a fellow of the Explorers Club in 2023. You can also check out the first episode of the Melting Point documentary, here. Stay tuned for additional coverage on Jaclyn Whittal's trip to Norway, coming soon to The Weather Network. With files from Jaclyn Whittal, a meteorologist at The Weather Network. Thumbnail courtesy of Hearts In The Ice. Follow Nathan Howes on X, formerly known as Twitter. By Kylie Madry MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Brazilian planemaker Embraer views Mexico as a prime market for its Super Tucano and C-390 defense aircraft, the company's head said on Monday. Embraer CEO Francisco Gomes Neto said that the planemaker, the world's third-largest, was in active talks with Mexico's government and had brought a C-390 to the country for demonstration flights. The C-390 is known as a multi-mission aircraft, and competes with Lockheed's C-130. "We believe it can be a great solution for Mexico," Gomes Neto told Reuters during a visit to Mexico ahead of incoming President Claudia Sheinbaum's inauguration. The executive did not say how many of each aircraft it was looking to sell to Mexico. If Mexico were to tie up a purchase of the lighter Super Tucano aircraft, which Gomes Neto highlighted for its use as a training aircraft or for border surveillance, it would join a number of other Latin American countries firming up orders in recent months. Gomes Neto said that it was also eyeing business jet sales in Mexico, the world's third-largest market for such aircraft. "We expect to grow our fleet in Mexico by 11% in the next two years," he said. Embraer tied up a $750 million order in June for 20 E2 jetliners to Mexico's military-run commercial airline Mexicana. Gomes Neto shrugged off concerns from analysts about the stability of the deal, considering Mexicana's alleged failure to pay back a U.S. contractor. "We are working with Mexicana very closely, we really want this operation to be a great success to show the market how good the aircraft is," he said. The executive also said that Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena had met with the firm earlier this year in Brazil and that "she was very positive about the future of Mexicana." "Embraer is looking for a win-win situation in doing business with Mexico," he added. (Reporting by Kylie Madry in Mexico City) Schools will be closed Tuesday, making the second day this week that area flooding has forced students to stay home. Staunton, Augusta County and Waynesboro schools all announced Monday evening that they would be closed Tuesday, Oct. 1. "Local roads continue to be flooded and more rain is anticipated overnight," Staunton City Schools said in an email. "Therefore, Staunton City Schools will be closed for students and staff tomorrow, October 1. Thank you." Augusta County and Waynesboro followed shortly after, both making the announcement on social media and in messages sent to families. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch caused by excessive rainfall until 11 p.m. Monday. The watch is for portions of central and western Virginia. Excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations, according to the National Weather Service. The alert said that creeks and streams may rise out of their banks. More: Waynesboro closes parks to clean flood damage More: Who's running for Waynesboro School Board? Find out more about the candidates. Patrick Hite is a reporter at The News Leader. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Connect with Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@newsleader.com and on Instagram @hitepatrick. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com. This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County schools closed again Tuesday, Oct. 1 In the aftermath of Hurricane Helenes destruction in Western North Carolina, concerns have emerged about whether residents affected by the storm will be able to cast their ballots in the November election. Disruptions to the postal service, destruction of polling places, missing or damaged IDs and more could all pose challenges to voters with only 36 days left until the election. This is all a cascading series of disasters, Gerry Cohen, a member of the Wake County Board of Elections, said. Disruptions to postal service On Sunday, the U.S. Postal Service announced it had temporarily suspended services in much of Western North Carolina, including any areas with ZIP codes starting with 286, 287, 288 and 289. It also listed 39 post offices whose operations would be suspended until conditions are safe. These closures could present challenges to voters in Western North Carolina seeking to vote by mail. So far, nearly 250,000 North Carolinians have requested an absentee ballot for this years election. Nearly 10,000 requests have come in from Buncombe County, which was severely impacted by Helene. Corinne Duncan, Buncombe Countys election director, said the countys main focus now is life, safety and basic needs. Personal safety of election services staff is currently our top priority, Duncan said in an email. We are working to account for all staff and board members. Some are stranded due to road blockage. She added, however, that the post office is running and election staff were able to drop 200 ballots in the mail on Monday. Phone lines for several of the counties hit hardest by Helene were down on Monday as The News & Observer attempted to contact board of elections offices. The absentee voting period has already been reduced this election. While mail-in ballots were supposed to be sent to voters on Sept. 6, most were delayed another 18 days by a court order after third-party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sued to get his name off the states ballot. Most absentee ballots went in the mail just a few days before Helene hit Western North Carolina. I suspect if these things were in peoples mailboxes Thursday and Friday, a lot of these counties, you can see stuff just completely washed away, Cohen said. In addition to that, voters now have a shorter deadline to get their absentee ballots in. State lawmakers passed a bill last year that requires all mail-in ballots to be received by the county board of elections office by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day. Previously, any ballots that came in within three days after the election would still be counted, so long as they were postmarked by Election Day. Voters concerned about postal delays can deliver their absentee ballot in person at their county board of elections office. A voter who has requested an absentee ballot may also choose to vote in person instead, so long as they do not return the absentee ballot. Polling places for early voting Flooding and destruction may make polling places unusable as election workers prepare to begin in-person early voting on Oct. 17. Duncan said that Buncombe County has not yet completed site assessments at polling locations. The facilities where election staff work, however, were not damaged but are currently without access to water. Changes to a countys early voting plans can still be made, but state law sets out certain limitations. Previously, the executive director of the State Board of Elections could exercise emergency powers to respond to the impact natural disasters might have on elections. Last year, however, state lawmakers stripped the director of that power and instead gave it to the State Board of Elections itself. That board is currently comprised of three Democrats and two Republicans, who would have to use these emergency powers in an open meeting. There also isnt much time left to make changes to early voting sites. State law requires all early voting sites within a county to be open for the same number of days. That would appear to make any changes to polling sites difficult after Oct. 17. Having usable polling sites isnt the only concern for counties conducting early voting. With many residents displaced by Helene, counties may have difficulty staffing polling sites. Its gonna have a likely enormous impact if all these polling places have been washed away and early voting sites are not available and poll workers are not available, Cohen said. So I dont know what the solution is, but theres not much time to figure it out. Voter ID For the first time in North Carolinas history, voters will have to present photo identification to vote in a presidential general election. However, state law provides an exception to this requirement for voters affected by natural disasters. Anyone affected by Helene can fill out an affidavit, either in-person at a polling place or via absentee ballot, saying that they have been a victim of a natural disaster and are unable to produce their ID. They will then cast a provisional ballot, which will be reviewed by the county board of elections before being accepted. What can be done to help? Counties could face heavy financial burdens as they attempt to recover polling places, fix damaged equipment and prepare for voting after Helene. This also comes after counties were forced to foot the bill to reprint millions of ballots following the state Supreme Courts decision in Kennedys lawsuit allowing him to withdraw his candidacy. Cohen said the legislature, which will be back in session next week, should reimburse counties for those costs. A law passed last year prohibits the use of any private donations for election administration. Counties are also still accepting volunteers to work the polls during early voting and Election Day. State grants flexibility to election workers facing closures, power outages In an emergency meeting on Monday, the State Board of Elections voted to give local election workers greater flexibility in processing absentee ballots in the coming weeks, as western counties reel from Helenes impacts. Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell said 14 of the 22 western counties contacted by the board reported that their elections offices are currently closed and could be for several more days. Our hearts really do go out to these people that we consider elections family, she said. ... At this time, many of them still dont have contact with family members. Theyre facing damages, some total losses at their own personal properties, and so we are trying to be as responsive as we can to what their needs are. County election boards are typically required to meet every Tuesday to receive and process absentee ballots, but the state boards resolution will allow them to reschedule those meetings. Brinson Bell also said the state is currently in the process of creating a webpage to answer questions about the hurricanes impact on elections. Under the Dome Get the latest news about North Carolina politics from The News & Observer's award-winning team. Get the free digest sent to your inbox by signing up here. (NewsNation) Helene caused indescribable destruction across the Southeast, killing more than 130 people across six states. Now, search-and-rescue crews urgently search for those unaccounted for. From Florida to Virginia, tens of thousand remained without power Monday night days after Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, reaching up to 140 mph wind speeds. The system was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone Saturday, with catastrophic flooding a concern as its remnants scattered rain throughout the Northeast on Monday. Rescue crews continue to work tirelessly to reach areas that have been isolated by the storm. How to donate and assist Helene victims and survivors Helene wreaks biblical devastation At least 133 are dead following Helenes sweep that inundated Floridas Big Bend Region, trapped thousands in Asheville, North Carolina, and stirred up tornadoes as it moved eastward. Communities were left underwater as floods washed away houses and cut off towns from relief efforts. President Joe Biden said he will visit Hurricane Helene-impacted areas this week as long as it does not disrupt rescue and recovery operations. He approved emergency declarations for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Biden was briefed again Sunday evening about the impact of the devastating storm. In a brief exchange with reporters, he described the storms impact as stunning and said his administration is giving states everything we have to help with recovery efforts. Debris of damaged houses are seen after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Horseshoe Beach, Florida, on September 28, 2024. At least 44 people died across five US states battered by powerful storm Helene, authorities said on September 27, after torrential flooding prompted emergency responders to launch massive rescue operations. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images) OLD FORT, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: Keepsakes belonging to Terry Wilson lay outside his mothers home in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Old Fort, North Carolina. Wilson said their beloved dogs ashes were found after the flooding. According to reports, more than 60 people have been killed across the South due to the storm, and millions have been left without power. North Carolina has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: Flood damage is strewn across a road in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. According to reports, more than 60 people have been killed across the South due to the storm, and millions have been left without power. North Carolina has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) TAMPA, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 29: A view of a home that was destroyed by fire as a result of storm surge as Hurricane Helene passed off shore in the Davis Islands neighborhood on September 29, 2024 in Tampa, Florida. Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 storm Thursday night in Floridas Big Bend with winds of up to 140 miles per hour and storm surges that killed at least 64 people in several states. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/Anadolu via Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: A van is partially submerged in the Swannanoa River in the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. According to reports, more than 60 people have been killed across the South due to the storm, and millions have been left without power. North Carolina has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) OLD FORT, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: Vehicles damaged from flooding and debris are seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Old Fort, North Carolina. According to reports, more than 60 people have been killed across the South due to the storm, and millions have been left without power. North Carolina has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) OLD FORT, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: A man views the removal of debris on Catawba Avenue in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Old Fort, North Carolina. According to reports, more than 60 people have been killed across the South due to the storm, and millions have been left without power. North Carolina has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) The intersection of Main and Whaley streets is closed due to flooding as Hurricane Helene hits Columbia, South Carolina, on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (Joshua Boucher/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) RUTHERFORDTON, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: Downed trees on a home in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Rutherfordton, North Carolina. At least 90 people have been killed across the southeastern U.S. due to the hurricane, according to published reports, which made landfall as a category 4 storm on Thursday. Millions are without power, according to the reports. The White House declared major disasters in North Carolina and Florida, freeing up federal emergency management money for those areas. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) FLETCHER, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: People wait in line for gasoline in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Fletcher, North Carolina. At least 90 people have been killed across the southeastern U.S. due to the hurricane, according to published reports, which made landfall as a category 4 storm on Thursday. Millions are without power, according to the reports. The White House declared major disasters in North Carolina and Florida, freeing up federal emergency management money for those areas. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) FLETCHER, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: People wait on others to pump gasoline in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Fletcher, North Carolina. At least 90 people have been killed across the southeastern U.S. due to the hurricane, according to published reports, which made landfall as a category 4 storm on Thursday. Millions are without power, according to the reports. The White House declared major disasters in North Carolina and Florida, freeing up federal emergency management money for those areas. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) TREASURE ISLAND, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 28: In this aerial view, boats are piled up in front of homes after Hurricane Helene hit the area as it passed offshore on September 28, 2024 in Treasure Island, Florida. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Floridas Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) TREASURE ISLAND, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 28: In this aerial view, fallen trees and debris line the beach after Hurricane Helene hit the area with high surge waters as it passed offshore on September 28, 2024 in Treasure Island, Florida. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Floridas Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) TOPSHOT David Hester inspects damages of his house after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Horseshoe Beach, Florida, on September 28, 2024. At least 44 people died across five US states battered by powerful storm Helene, authorities said on September 27, after torrential flooding prompted emergency responders to launch massive rescue operations. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images) ST. PETE BEACH, FL SEPTEMBER 28 Hurricane Helene left this store in shambles in the Pass-A-Grille community of St. Pete Beach, FL, on Saturday, September 28, 2024. (Ted Richardson/For The Washington Post via Getty Images) North Cove, N.C. SEPTEMBER 28: Hurricane Helene caused flooding on the North Fork Catawba River in McDowell County that washed out a bridge on Highway 22 in North Cove, N.C. on Sept. 28, 2024, disconnecting communities and isolating them from already limited resources. (Photo by Julia Wall for The Washington Post via Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: A flood-damaged road is seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. According to reports, more than 60 people have been killed across the South due to the storm, and millions have been left without power. North Carolina has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) OLD FORT, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: Two vehicles lie upended from flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Old Fort, North Carolina. According to reports, more than 60 people have been killed across the South due to the storm, and millions have been left without power. North Carolina has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) TAMPA, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 29: An aerial view of a home that was destroyed by fire as a result of storm surge as Hurricane Helene passed off shore in the Davis Islands neighborhood on September 29, 2024 in Tampa, Florida. Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 storm Thursday night in Floridas Big Bend with winds of up to 140 miles per hour and storm surges that killed at least 64 people in several states. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/Anadolu via Getty Images) OLD FORT, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: Keep sakes belonging to Terry Wilson lay outside his mothers home in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Old Fort, North Carolina. Wilson said their beloved dogs ashes were found after the flooding. According to reports, more than 60 people have been killed across the South due to the storm, and millions have been left without power. North Carolina has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) OLD FORT, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: Keepsakes belonging to Terry Wilson lay outside his mothers home in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Old Fort, North Carolina. Wilson said their beloved dogs ashes were found after the flooding. According to reports, more than 60 people have been killed across the South due to the storm, and millions have been left without power. North Carolina has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) Vice President Kamala Harris announced she would cut a campaign trip in Nevada short to meet with FEMA officials in Washington on Monday. Biden plans to land in Raleigh on Wednesday and embark on an aerial tour of Asheville so as not to interrupt access to help there. He will then travel to Georgia and Florida. The president and I have told state and local leaders we will provide whatever help they need in the days and weeks ahead, Harris said. Former President Donald Trump also promised to survey Helenes damage. He is expected to hand out supplies in Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday. Florida fishing community devastated over hurricanes: Boat captain Biden gives federal relief update In an address from the Oval Office on Monday, Biden expressed his sympathy for the millions displaced by Hurricane Helene. I want to express condolences to all the families to all the families whose loved ones have died or are missing. And to the survivors, I want you to know the administration is going to be there, and we just talked about this, until we finish the job, Biden said. Its going to take a hell of a time and a serious amount of assets, he added. He said, with federal support, North Carolina has reopened 220 roads to help responders reach those in need, with thousands deployed in communities to help search and rescue, power restoration and debris removal. That includes Department of Defense helicopters to bring food, water and supplies to communities like Asheville, which has been isolated since Helene first swept across the state. The administration has also deployed 30 of Elon Musks Starlink receivers with 10 more on the way to western North Carolina in hopes of getting cell service restored. Harris, Trump pause campaigns to respond to Hurricane Helene Gov. Roy Cooper, D-N.C., thanked the administration for the aid, pointing out water will be critical for affected cities like Asheville. Weve talked about a lot of resources that we need. Medical, making sure that we are getting additional helicopters for land bridges, search and rescue, Cooper said. Its how to transport supplies, Biden said, that is causing delays in aid: Its hard to get it from Point A to Point B. Its hard to get in if some of these roads are wiped out, communities are wiped out. Theres no ability to land. They need things immediately, and theyre getting things immediately, Biden added. Helene devastates Asheville, North Carolina In North Carolina, floodwaters rendered cell service and local roads useless in the states largest mountain city, Asheville. On Sunday, officials reported that 30 people were killed due to the storm. An additional five deaths were reported Monday, bringing the total number of fatalities in the Asheville area to 40. Supplies were airlifted to the region. Sources told NewsNation on Sunday that there were no plans yet for public distribution of food and water due to delays in supply relief. There were hourslong lines for bottled water at the few open grocery stores. Mayor Esther Manheimer told NewsNation her city badly needs resources in the wake of Helene, saying the area has hit a point of desperation. It has been frustrating in terms of how long it takes to get something like this up and running when were cut off from the world. I understand that. I think, generally speaking, people have been patient to a point, Manheimer said. But I think now, people are feeling afraid. They need resources. They need help. There was significant damage to water infrastructure and treatment facilities and Duke Energy reported some power substations were entirely underwater. Officials have said it could take weeks for full services to be restored. North Carolina National Guard Brig. Gen. Charles Morrison confirmed that more than 700 airmen and soldiers, 250 vehicles and 22 aircraft are helping provide relief in the state and they will stay until the mission is finished. Some rescue efforts include saving 41 people and an infant in one mission north of Asheville. The teams were finding people through both 911 calls and messages on social media, North Carolina Adjutant General Todd Hunt said. Ive seen houses float down the river, Ive seen campers float down the river, Ive seen automobiles float down the river, one resident told NewsNation. ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Damage from flooding in the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Floridas Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Residents make phone calls in their neighborhood after heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: Mary Grace and her dog, Marley, walk around the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. According to reports, more than 60 people have been killed across the South due to the storm, and millions have been left without power. North Carolina has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Storm damage near the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Floridas Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Residents make phone calls in their neighborhood after heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Heavy rains from Hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Heavy rains from Hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Colton Dion prepares to paint a plein air documentation of the damage to the Arts District near Downtown after heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Residents of Asheville view damage to the Arts District near Downtown after heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Heavy rains from Hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) RUTHERFORDTON, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: An abandoned car sits on a previously flooded Coxe Road on September 28, 2024 near Rutherfordton, North Carolina. Several damaged vehicles littered Coxe Road after water had receded in the area. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Residents gather at Fire Station number 6 to access WiFi and check emergency information after heavy rains from Hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Cell service and internet had been down for over 48 hours. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Residents gather at Fire Station number 6 to access WiFi after heavy rains from Hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Cell service and internet had been down for over 48 hours. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: Mary Grace and her dog, Marley, walk around the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. According to reports, more than 60 people have been killed across the South due to the storm, and millions have been left without power. North Carolina has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: Tire tracks on a mud caked street in the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. According to reports, more than 60 people have been killed across the South due to the storm, and millions have been left without power. North Carolina has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: A storm-damaged U-Haul truck and trailer are seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. According to reports, more than 60 people have been killed across the South due to the storm, and millions have been left without power. North Carolina has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: Mary Grace and her dog, Marley, walk around the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. According to reports, more than 60 people have been killed across the South due to the storm, and millions have been left without power. North Carolina has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: Flood damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. According to reports, more than 60 people have been killed across the South due to the storm, and millions have been left without power. North Carolina has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: A van is partially submerged in the Swannanoa River in the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. According to reports, more than 60 people have been killed across the South due to the storm, and millions have been left without power. North Carolina has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: A flood-damaged road is seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. According to reports, more than 60 people have been killed across the South due to the storm, and millions have been left without power. North Carolina has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: A storm-damaged U-Haul pickup truck sits along a flooded waterway in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. According to reports, more than 60 people have been killed across the South due to the storm, and millions have been left without power. North Carolina has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: Flood damage is strewn across a road in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. According to reports, more than 60 people have been killed across the South due to the storm, and millions have been left without power. North Carolina has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 29: Police patrol in the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. According to reports, more than 60 people have been killed across the South due to the storm, and millions have been left without power. North Carolina has been approved for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Fallen trees in front of a home in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Floridas Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: A broken utility pole in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Floridas Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Fallen trees in front of a home in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Floridas Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: A fallen tree on a home in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Floridas Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Men inspect the damage from flooding in the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Floridas Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Flood damage inside a building in the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Floridas Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Storm damage in the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Floridas Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: A Duke Energy lineman works on a line the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Floridas Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: A van flows in floodwaters near the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Floridas Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: A sign commentating the flood of 1916 lies on the ground next to a flooded waterway near the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Floridas Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Storm damage in the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Floridas Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Storm damage in the Biltmore Village in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Floridas Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: A woman uses cell service in a particular spot after heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Cell service and internet were mostly unavailable throughout the area, leaving people unable to contact employers, loved ones, and employees. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Residents make phone calls in front of homes obscured by downed trees after heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Residents of Asheville view damage to the Arts District after heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Military personnel prepare to enter a helicopter on September 28, 2024 near downtown Asheville, North Carolina. At the time of writing the Sheriffs office reported 64 individuals unaccounted for. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: James Patton, right, makes phone calls in front of him home obscured by downed trees after heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Residents make phone calls in their neighborhood after heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Heavy rains from Hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA SEPTEMBER 28: Heavy rains from Hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) Asheville received 13.15 inches of rain. Combined with rainfall from a different storm in the days immediately prior to Helene, the area received 17.31 inches of rain over three days, far surpassing the previous record of 13.71 for the entire month of September. At least five tornadoes across the state were confirmed, according to NewsNation local affiliate WNCN. One, an EF-3 that tore through Rocky Mount, injured 15 people and destroyed a shopping center with winds of 140 mph. I was looking out over here and I just started seeing like a giant dust bowl. And all the leaves, like, around here started circulating on the ground, a resident told WNCN. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was among U.S. officials who deployed National Guard soldiers to North Carolina, as well as three heavy lift helicopters and generators to support Helenes recovery efforts. Preliminary 3.2 magnitude earthquake strikes near Malibu Helene in Florida Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis rapidly deployed recovery assistance to counties along Floridas Gulf coast and other states affected by Helene, including North Carolina and Tennessee. By Monday night, SR789/Gulf Drive in Bradenton, Florida, was cleared and temporarily repaired, DeSantis announced. Floridas emergency response team has successfully completed 974 missions and is actively fulfilling 1,500 more, DeSantis said Monday morning. Some residents returned to their communities Sunday, three days after Helene first made landfall in Florida. At least 11 people died in the state, NewsNation local affiliate WFLA reported. Many of the reopened communities, including Longboat Key, still have curfews, water boil advisories and only partial power. At nearby Anna Maria Island, residents must show proper documentation and ID in order to access their now-destroyed homes. DeSantis said by the end of Monday, all state roads would be open. He also noted that Florida rescue crews who werent needed in the state were being sent to Western North Carolina to assist with rescue and recovery efforts. Waves crash against a building ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Helene in Cedar Key, Florida, on September 26, 2024. Parts of Florida face unsurvivable conditions when Hurricane Helene hits later Thursday, the US weather service said, warning that howling wind will drive destructive waves and storm surge as high as 20 feet (six meters) onto the low-lying coast. Residents heeded mass evacuation orders and fled ahead of the incoming hurricane projected to be one of the largest Gulf of Mexico storms in decades. (Photo by Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP) (Photo by MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images) TREASURE ISLAND, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 28: A boat lays on the shoreline after Hurricane Helene hit the area with high surge waters as it passed offshore on September 28, 2024 in Treasure Island, Florida. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night in Floridas Big Bend with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Image shot by NewsNation photographer Maurice Moran of destruction in Keaton Beach, FL Image shot by NewsNation photographer Maurice Moran of destruction in Keaton Beach, FL Image shot by NewsNation photographer Maurice Moran of destruction in Keaton Beach, FL A capsized boat washes ashore as Hurricane Helene churns offshore on September 26, 2024 in St. Peteersburg Florida. ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 2: A capsized boat washes ashore as Hurricane Helene churns offshore on September 26, 2024 in St. Peteersburg Florida. Already a Category 3 storm, Helene was expected to gain further strength before making landfall this evening on Floridas northwestern coast. Flash flood warnings extend to northern Georgia and western North Carolina. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 26: Tanner Flynn stands in shallow water near crashing waves as Hurricane Helene passes offshore on September 26, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Florida. Helene is forecast to become a major hurricane, bringing the potential for deadly storm surges, flooding rain, and destructive hurricane-force winds along parts of the Florida West Coast. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 26: People are splashed by churning surf from Tampa Bay as Hurricane Helene passes offshore on September 26, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Florida. Helene is forecast to become a major hurricane, bringing the potential for deadly storm surges, flooding rain, and destructive hurricane-force winds along parts of the Florida West Coast. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) ST. PETE BEACH, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 26: In this aerial view, vehicles drive through a flooded street as Hurricane Helene churns offshore on September 26, 2024 in St. Pete Beach, Florida. Later today, Helene is forecast to become a major hurricane, bringing the potential for deadly storm surges, flooding rain, and destructive hurricane-force winds along parts of the Florida West Coast. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) ST PETE BEACH, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 26: Waves from the Gulf of Mexico crash on shore as Hurricane Helene churns offshore on September 26, 2024 in St. Pete Beach, Florida. Later today, Helene is forecast to become a major hurricane, bringing the potential for deadly storm surges, flooding rain, and destructive hurricane-force winds along parts of the Florida West Coast. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) STEINHATCHEE, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 27: Members of law enforcement use a special vehicle in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 27, 2024 near Steinhatchee, Florida. Hurricane Helene made landfall nearby last night as a Category four. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) STEINHATCHEE, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 27: Floodwaters at Steinhatchee Rivergate in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 27, 2024 near Steinhatchee, Florida. Hurricane Helene made landfall nearby last night as a category four storm but has weakened as it moves inland. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) STEINHATCHEE, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 27: People walk down a street with a dog in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 27, 2024 near Steinhatchee, Florida. Hurricane Helene made landfall nearby last night as a category four storm but has weakened as it moves inland. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) STEINHATCHEE, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 27: Members of law enforcement use a special vehicle in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 27, 2024 near Steinhatchee, Florida. Hurricane Helene made landfall nearby last night as a category four storm but has weakened as it moves inland. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) STEINHATCHEE, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 27: Emergency responders share information in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 27, 2024 near Steinhatchee, Florida. Hurricane Helene made landfall nearby last night as a category four storm but has weakened as it moves inland. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) CRAWFORDVILLE, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 26: Utility crews repair a line damaged by an outer band of Hurricane Helene on the morning of September 26, 2024 near Crawfordville, Florida. Hurricane Helene is forecasted to make landfall nearby along the gulf coast this evening. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) Charles Starling, a lineman with Team Fishel, is pelted with rain as he walks by a row of electrical line trucks staged in a field in The Villages, Florida, on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. Thousands of the trucks are staged by Duke Energy in preparation for damage from Hurricane Helene. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) ST PETE BEACH, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 26: A road is empty of traffic as Hurricane Helene churns offshore on September 26, 2024, in St. Pete Beach, Florida. Already a Category 3 storm, Helene was expected to gain further strength before making landfall this evening on Floridas northwestern coast. Flash flood warnings extend to northern Georgia and western North Carolina. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) A man and his dog are rescued by the Coast Guard on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, near Sanibel Island, Florida, during Hurricane Helene. (Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard) GULFPORT, FL SEPTEMBER 26: A boat washed ashore as storm surge affects Gulfport, Fla. as Hurricane Helene passed through the Gulf of Mexico to the West on September 26, 2024. (Photo by Thomas Simonetti for The Washington Post via Getty Images) It was shocking driving in and seeing all the piles of sand, and seeing how much sediment was moved by the surge. Its shocking to see what has happened, resident Chad Bannick said. Worst Ive ever seen. We had sandbags over a foot high, and the water came in up to 2 feet in our house and took everything out, another neighbor said. The entire community in Taylor County, Florida, still does not have power. Andrew Morgan, the countys emergency management public information officer, said crews have worked tirelessly to clear 90% of all major roads, and once the roads are clear, they can begin fixing power lines. Were going to continue to just move forward and clear out the debris and keep searching, and well get back to where we were before this, Morgan said. Hurricane Helene rescues stretch resources Helene in Georgia Helene was the most destructive hurricane in Georgia history, Georgia Power determined on Monday. The Georgia Emergency Management Agency confirmed 25 people had died in the state as of Sunday. This storm spared no one, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Monday, explaining that a 27-year-old mother and her one-month-old twin boys were killed by a fallen tree. Intense flooding has left multiple counties under water boil advisories and without power Sunday, a constant refrain for the Peach State since Helenes arrival. Within 48 hours, Atlanta received a record 11.62 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Services Weather Prediction Center data. Valdosta, Georgia, was directly hit. A 135-year-old shopping mall, which housed over 50 businesses, was torn apart brick by brick. The owner told NewsNation that rebuilding is not an option. One Georgia resident, Aaron Jameson, told NewsNations Mills Hayes that Helene has impacted his community more than 2023s Hurricane Idalia. MORROW, GEORGIA SEPTEMBER 27: Victoria Coffee, stands in her bedroom door where a tree protruded through the wall in the home she shares with her sister Molly Coffee in Morrow, Georgia on Friday, September 27, 2024. It doesnt feel like tragedy, it feels like we are very lucky, said Molly Coffee about the late-night incident. Photo by David Walter Banks ATLANTA, GEORGIA SEPTEMBER 27: Dan Murphy hugs his colleague after bringing his canoe to rescue them from their flooded home as the streets are flooded near Peachtree Creek after hurricane Helene brought in heavy rains overnight on September 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Hurricane Helene made landfall late Thursday night as a category 4 hurricane in the panhandle of Florida and is working its way north, it is now considered a tropical storm. (Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images) ATLANTA, GEORGIA SEPTEMBER 27: An apartment at Peachtree Park Apartments can be seen flooded after hurricane Helene brought in heavy rains overnight on September 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Hurricane Helene made landfall late Thursday night as a category 4 hurricane in the panhandle of Florida and is working its way north, it is now considered a tropical storm. (Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images) ATLANTA, GEORGIA SEPTEMBER 27: A tree crew works to remove a tree on a house in Buckhead after hurricane Helene brought in heavy rains overnight on September 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Hurricane Helene made landfall late Thursday night as a category 4 hurricane in the panhandle of Florida and is working its way north, it is now considered a tropical storm. (Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images) ATLANTA, GEORGIA SEPTEMBER 27: An apartment at Peachtree Park Apartments can be seen flooded after hurricane Helene brought in heavy rains overnight on September 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Hurricane Helene made landfall late Thursday night as a category 4 hurricane in the panhandle of Florida and is working its way north, it is now considered a tropical storm. (Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images) ATLANTA, GEORGIA SEPTEMBER 27: A tree and power line lay across a road in Buckhead after hurricane Helene brought in heavy rains overnight on September 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Hurricane Helene made landfall late Thursday night as a category 4 hurricane in the panhandle of Florida and is working its way north, it is now considered a tropical storm. (Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images) MORROW, GEORGIA SEPTEMBER 27: Sisters Molly Coffee, left, and Victoria Coffee, right, work to clean up their home after a tree fell on their house and protruded through their living room and Victorias bedroom in Morrow, Georgia on Friday, September 27, 2024. It doesnt feel like tragedy, it feels like we are very lucky, said Molly Coffee about the late-night incident. Photo by David Walter Banks An aerial picture taken on September 28, 2024, shows storm damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Valdosta, Georgia. At least 44 people died across five US states battered by powerful storm Helene, authorities said on September 27, after torrential flooding prompted emergency responders to launch massive rescue operations. (Photo by John Falchetto / AFP) (Photo by JOHN FALCHETTO/AFP via Getty Images) TOPSHOT An aerial picture taken on September 28, 2024, shows storm damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Valdosta, Georgia. At least 44 people died across five US states battered by powerful storm Helene, authorities said on September 27, after torrential flooding prompted emergency responders to launch massive rescue operations. (Photo by John Falchetto / AFP) (Photo by JOHN FALCHETTO/AFP via Getty Images) ATLANTA, GEORGIA SEPTEMBER 27: A car is submerged in the floodwaters in the Buckhead neighborhood in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend region as a category four hurricane, and has brought flooding inland as the storm system moves over Georgia, heading into the Carolinas. (Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images) ATLANTA, GEORGIA SEPTEMBER 27: Floodwaters at the Buckhead neighborhood in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Floridas Big Bend region as a category four hurricane, and has brought flooding inland as the storm system moves over Georgia, heading into the Carolinas. (Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images) ATLANTA, GEORGIA SEPTEMBER 27: The streets are flooded near Peachtree Creek after hurricane Helene brought in heavy rains over night on September 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Hurricane Helene made landfall late Thursday night as a category 4 hurricane in the pan handle of Florida and is working its way north, it is now considered a tropical storm. (Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images) ATLANTA, GEORGIA SEPTEMBER 27: People toss buckets of water out of a home as the streets and homes are flooded near Peachtree Creek after hurricane Helene brought in heavy rains over night on September 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Hurricane Helene made landfall late Thursday night as a category 4 hurricane in the pan handle of Florida and is working its way north, it is now considered a tropical storm. (Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images) A car in a flooded street is seen after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 27, 2024. Hurricane Helene weakened on September 27 hours after it made landfall in the US state of Florida, with officials warning the storm remained extremely dangerous as it surged inland, leaving flooded roads and homes in its wake. (Photo by Richard PIERRIN / AFP) (Photo by RICHARD PIERRIN/AFP via Getty Images) A car in a flooded street is seen after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 27, 2024. Hurricane Helene weakened on September 27 hours after it made landfall in the US state of Florida, with officials warning the storm remained extremely dangerous as it surged inland, leaving flooded roads and homes in its wake. (Photo by Richard PIERRIN / AFP) (Photo by RICHARD PIERRIN/AFP via Getty Images) A car in a flooded street is seen after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 27, 2024. Hurricane Helene weakened on September 27 hours after it made landfall in the US state of Florida, with officials warning the storm remained extremely dangerous as it surged inland, leaving flooded roads and homes in its wake. (Photo by Richard PIERRIN / AFP) (Photo by RICHARD PIERRIN/AFP via Getty Images) A watch for children sign is seen on a flooded street after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 27, 2024. Hurricane Helene weakened on September 27 hours after it made landfall in the US state of Florida, with officials warning the storm remained extremely dangerous as it surged inland, leaving flooded roads and homes in its wake. (Photo by Richard PIERRIN / AFP) (Photo by RICHARD PIERRIN/AFP via Getty Images) City workers mesure the level of a river after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 27, 2024. Hurricane Helene weakened on September 27 hours after it made landfall in the US state of Florida, with officials warning the storm remained extremely dangerous as it surged inland, leaving flooded roads and homes in its wake. (Photo by Richard PIERRIN / AFP) (Photo by RICHARD PIERRIN/AFP via Getty Images) ATLANTA, GEORGIA SEPTEMBER 27: A tree and power line lay across a road in Buckhead after hurricane Helene brought in heavy rains overnight on September 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Hurricane Helene made landfall late Thursday night as a category 4 hurricane in the panhandle of Florida and is working its way north, it is now considered a tropical storm. (Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images) ATLANTA, GEORGIA SEPTEMBER 27: An apartment at Peachtree Park Apartments can be seen flooded after hurricane Helene brought in heavy rains overnight on September 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Hurricane Helene made landfall late Thursday night as a category 4 hurricane in the panhandle of Florida and is working its way north, it is now considered a tropical storm. (Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images) ATLANTA, GEORGIA SEPTEMBER 27: An apartment at Peachtree Park Apartments can be seen flooded after hurricane Helene brought in heavy rains overnight on September 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Hurricane Helene made landfall late Thursday night as a category 4 hurricane in the panhandle of Florida and is working its way north, it is now considered a tropical storm. (Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images) ATLANTA, GEORGIA SEPTEMBER 27: Brandon Walton and his daughter sit on their steps after just moving back into their home last night following a fire on New Year as the streets are flooded near Peachtree Creek after hurricane Helene brought in heavy rains overnight on September 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Hurricane Helene made landfall late Thursday night as a category 4 hurricane in the panhandle of Florida and is working its way north, it is now considered a tropical storm. (Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images) Residents have lined up at the few open gas stations to get fuel, water and, potentially, food. Everything is pretty much down. They got a lot of food trucks kicking up, but most everybody Ive seen is pretty much outdoor grilling and stuff, Jameson said. Kemp toured Valdosta on Saturday. The winds were really, really strong and picked up a lot of trees motorcycles, cars were moving around, said Valdosta resident Vonquez Garland. Houses were shaking. Its a lot of oak trees completely out of the ground. When I woke up, there was stuff everywhere. I aint never seen anything like this, not since the last time (Hurricane Idalia in 2023), but this one was worse, said Valdosta-area resident Rodrick Steward. At least two died from a suspected tornado in Georgia. How climate change is intensifying storms like Helene Helene in South Carolina Two dozen deaths across seven South Carolina counties have been confirmed by local coroners offices, NewsNations local affiliate WSPA reported. Gov. Henry McMaster corroborated that number on Sunday, telling officials there were 25 confirmed deaths so far. Those include the death of a security officer at the Macon County courthouse and a deputy from Madison. A man in Spartanburg County died after running a generator inside his home, while another person died after their vehicle became submerged in the extensive floods. Maj. Gen. Todd Hunt with the North Carolina National Guard told WSPA that more than 500 National Guard soldiers have completed 100 rescue operations in western North Carolina. The intersection of Main and Whaley streets is closed due to flooding as Hurricane Helene hits Columbia, South Carolina, on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (Joshua Boucher/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) Two trees rest on a car on Trenholm Road near the intersection with Churchill Circle after Hurricane Helene hits Forest Acres, South Carolina, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (Joshua Boucher/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) As of this morning, our soldiers and airmen have conducted numerous rescues. And a lot of those have been air rescues, Hunt said Sunday. Of those we rescued over 119 citizens of NC and their pets. Search and rescue crews logged 252 hours of flight time on Friday and Saturday. They continued on Sunday. Even as the rain and winds have subsided, the challenges for people there increases. People are desperate for help and we are pushing to get it to them, a massive effort, Cooper said at Sundays press conference. Nearly 750,000 customers remained without power in the impacted areas Monday morning, with provider Duke Energy warning customers to expect multi-day outages. Many upstate schools closed operations Monday. Elderly Florida woman refuses to leave home amid Helene Helene in Tennessee One of the hardest hit areas, Unicoi County, was the site of a dramatic rescue Friday when 54 people were saved from the roof of a hospital. Officials said Sunday that 73 people remained unaccounted for in Unicoi. Emergency management in the county confirmed deaths following flooding in the county Saturday, though a spokesperson clarified during a Sunday news conference that no official flooding deaths have happened. The countys wastewater treatment plant remains inoperable and has added to the flooding, with wastewater flowing directly into waterways. Depression may form, could resemble Helene: NHC Helene in Virginia On Sunday, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkins office reported 70 rescues across the state in the wake of Helene and one confirmed death. Flooding, dangerous storms and deadly tornadoes ransacked the southwest portion of the state. Weve immediately started the initial damage assessment process necessary to request a federal disaster relief declaration and I will immediately make that request once this work is completed. The grit, courage, and perseverance of Southwest Virginians will guide us through this difficult time, Youngkin said during a visit to Damascus on Saturday. Theres a lot of work ahead, but together, I know Southwest Virginia will rebuild stronger than ever. May God continue to be with everyone affected, and may we continue to uplift and support one another in this time of need, he added. CA fire crew crashes en route to help hurricane victims Analyzing Helene Helene was recorded as the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Floridas Big Bend region, and it was the third hurricane to hit the area in 13 months, according to the Weather Channel. The Category 4 hurricane is estimated to have brought historic storm surge, peaking at an estimated 10.33 feet in Cedar Key, Florida. Parts of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina saw upward of a foot of rain, and nearly 30 inches were recorded near Busick, North Carolina, the Weather Channel reported. Virginia also experienced heavy rainfall and severe flooding. Each governor declared a state of emergency to receive federal assistance. Multiple deaths across those states have been attributed to drowning, while some were the result of downed trees or other hurricane-related incidents, like carbon monoxide poisoning from generators. Some of the worst destruction occurred in the storms center in Floridas Big Bend region and South Georgia. Inland cities like Atlanta and Asheville were not shielded from the storms impact, with flooding trapping residents and leaving them isolated from contact. AccuWeather has increased its estimate of the total damage and economic loss from Hurricane Helene from $145 billion to $160 billion. 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 NewsNation. The death toll from Hurricane Helene has risen to over 100 people across six states as officials scramble to get water, food and supplies to the most impacted areas, CBS News reported Monday morning. Helene first touched down in Florida on Thursday and ripped its way through Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina, where the devastation has been most severe. In North Carolina alone, 42 people have died, 30 of whom were in Buncombe County, which includes Asheville, a city home to nearly 100,000 people. Supplies have been slow to reach the county, with mudslides and flooding blocking interstate highways, The Asheville Citizen Times reported. More than 400 roads in North Carolina are still closed and Asheville mayor Esther Manheimer is urging residents to prepare for a long-term water outage, WLOS News 13 reported. The category 4 hurricane is already one of the deadliest storms in American history, just behind Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Ian in 2022. There have been hundreds of water rescues and evacuations across the southeast, including over 100 rescues In North Carolina. The Red Cross has opened more than 140 shelters to temporarily house over 2,000 people, the organization told the BBC. Its still very much an active search and rescue mission, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told the Associated Press. On Sunday, President Joe Biden declared Hurricane Helene a major disaster in North Carolina and ordered federal aid to supplement state, tribal, and local recovery efforts. "I am deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by Hurricane Helene across the Southeast, Biden said in a statement. As the storm continues to track north, Vice President Harris and I remain focused on life-saving and life-sustaining response and recovery efforts. The White House said Biden intends to visit impacted areas this week, provided it does not interfere with recovery efforts. After Helene: Which Northeast Florida, Southeast Georgia schools are open following the storm? As communities across Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia recover from the impact of Hurricane Helene, school districts are announcing their reopening plans. While some schools will welcome students back as early as Sept. 30, others remain closed or undecided, leaving many families awaiting further updates. The following is a list of school districts that are open and closed after Helene. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< Northeast Florida : Duval County Public Schools : Reopening Sept. 30 Clay County District Schools : Reopening Sept. 30 St. Johns County School District : Reopening Sept. 30 Nassau County School District : Reopening Sept. 30 Putnam County School District : Reopening Sept. 30 Baker County School District : Reopening Sept. 30 Bradford County School District : Reopening on Sept. 30 Columbia County Schools : Reopening Oct. 1 Union County School District: Reopening Sept. 30 [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] Southeast Georgia: Camden County Schools : All schools will reopen Tuesday, October 1. Glynn County Schools : After an assessment of all schools, school operations will resume on Wednesday, Oct. 2. Charlton County School System : Charlton County Schools will re-open for students and staff on Tuesday, Oct. 1. Ware County Schools : All Ware County schools will be closed for the rest of the week, with a reevaluation scheduled for Friday, Oct. 4 to determine if it is safe to reopen next week. Pierce County School District : Closed until further notice. Brantley County School System: Schools will still be closed Tuesday. Power is back at all seven schools and schools are being evaluated for safety and an opening date will be announced after that. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live. Former President Donald Trump is making a campaign stop Monday to survey a hurricane-torn area. But its the battleground state of Georgia thatll have his attention. The Trump campaign announced shortly after he left the stage at a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Sunday that the former president planned to receive a briefing about Hurricane Helene in Valdosta, Georgia, and then distribute relief supplies and speak with reporters. Onstage, Trump had said that Vice President Kamala Harris ought to be down in the area where the storm hit. Hes not the only one planning to survey the damage. Later Sunday, President Joe Biden told FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell that he planned to visit impacted communities this week as soon as it will not disrupt emergency response operations, but didnt specify which state. Then, the White House on Sunday night alerted the press pool that Harris would also do a visit once it was possible to do so without disrupting the emergency response. We will stand with these communities for as long as it takes to make sure that they are able to recover and rebuild, she said onstage at a campaign rally in Las Vegas. The role of consoler in chief is a rite of passage for elected officials. How they respond to natural disasters and other similar crises can make or break their political futures, as well as give them opportunities to show leadership or unity. But its still an open question whether Florida will be on the receiving end of a presidential candidate visit when two electoral swing states Georgia and North Carolina are also among the states most affected by the hurricane. At least 13 people in Florida have been confirmed killed and Helene marked the third hurricane in just over a year for the Big Bend area. Tampa Bay is still contending with overwhelming storm surge. But unlike in some other past hurricanes, where Florida bore the brunt of the storm, damage across the Southeast United States has been devastating. Presidents (and presidential hopefuls) dont just visit disaster sites in politically important states. But a visit to Floridas impacted areas by Trump or Harris would go beyond just supporting storm recovery. It would speak volumes about whether they see Florida as truly in play in November. Karoline Leavitt, spokesperson for the Trump campaign, said the campaign didnt have anything to share about Florida at this time and the Harris campaign pointed Florida Playbook to the White House, which didnt respond. Biden visited Florida roughly one week after Hurricane Ian hit in 2022, alongside Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida first lady Casey DeSantis. In 2023, Biden visited Florida three days after Hurricane Idalia hit, but DeSantis said the timing would be too disruptive to the recovery efforts. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) took the meeting with Biden instead. The storms handling and the issues around it are already playing into the 2024 campaign. Trump criticized Harris for holding fundraising events in California over the weekend when big parts of our country have been devastated by that massive hurricane. (Trump was also on the campaign trail in Michigan and Pennsylvania.) The Harris campaign hit back on social media, highlighting a clip from Sundays rally in which Trump mocked climate change. Biden approved a major disaster declaration on Sunday for 17 Florida counties, as well as disaster declarations in other states that have been impacted by Helene. (Leon, where Tallahassee is located, wasnt among the Florida counties after the city avoided a direct impact.) On Saturday, the president vowed that his administration would be with the state every step of the way and make certain that no resource is spared in rebuilding. The major disaster declaration helps to provide temporary housing assistance and allows for Floridians to apply for grants and low-interest loans to help with home repairs. Criswell, the FEMA administrator, has already been at press conferences alongside DeSantis and Kevin Guthrie, Floridas emergency management director, over the weekend. DeSantis, too, has been thrust into the spotlight amid the storm recovery and spent the weekend making multiple stops to storm-torn areas across the state. On top of the humanitarian toll, storm response can determine the legacy of Florida chief executives. Helene isnt the most destructive or deadly hurricane DeSantis has responded to as governor, but its the largest since he dropped out of the presidential race. And it comes as the term-limited DeSantis enters the final two years of office, with some signs that his influence has already slipped in the state. DeSantis isnt on the ballot this November, but his response to the storm could still affect how the public views him and stall or fuel his agenda during his last two years as governor and beyond. This story first appeared in Florida Playbook. Sign up today to get the top news from the Sunshine State delivered to your inbox every weekday. How to help Cocke County, East TN with donations after Helene NEWPORT, Tenn. (WATE) Donations are being gathered at drop-off centers around East Tennessee to send to Cocke County residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which brought extreme flooding and resulted in at least two deaths over the weekend. Cocke County was among the East Tennessee counties most impacted by the tropical system on Friday, which moved through Georgia after the Category 4 hurricane hit Florida late Thursday. 6 News partners with the East Tennessee Foundation to help those impacted by flooding According to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA), FEMA authorized Public Assistance (Category B) emergency protective measures including direct federal assistance at 75 percent federal funding for Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Johnson, and Unicoi counties. Heres how to help residents with donations. This list will be updated as groups share more information. Cocke County Election Commission opens in new location after Helene, flooding Supplies Drop-off Location: Turkey Creek Regal Cinema movie theatre, 11240 Parkside Drive. Donation collections are happening this week through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Items that are being accepted include: Bottled water Powerade/Gatorade Blankets Toiletries Clothing of all sizes Flashlights Batteries Walkers/Canes Baby formula Non-perishable foods Protein bars Pet food/supplies Below is the most up-to-date list of donation centers, as stated by KEMA/TEMA on Monday. Before bringing supplies, please check the relevant social media pages to determine what the community needs are: Carter County Elizabethton Parks and Rec 300 West Mill Street, Elizabethton, TN 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Cocke County Water Donations Knox County Engineering and Public Works 205 West Baxter Avenue, Knoxville, TN 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Unicoi County Evergreen Free Will Baptist 910 Hoback Street, Erwin, TN 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Washington County Crossroads Baptist Church 1300 Suncrest Drive, Johnson City, TN 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. In addition to the established donation centers, the following organizations are accepting supplies and monetary donations, check their websites and social media pages for more details: American Red Cross of Tennessee Second Harvest of East Tennessee United Way of East TN Highlands Drop-off Location: The Monroe County Sheriffs Office along with the Monroe County Mayors Office, Monroe County Emergency Management Agency (EMA), and the Madisonville Police Department will begin accepting donations in the front parking lot of Monroe County Justice Center. Monday Saturday from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. Some items that are needed for disaster relief: Food: Non-perishable food, snacks, ready-to-eat meals, and bottled drinking water Hygiene items: Toiletries, soap, detergent, disinfectant, hand sanitizer, and feminine hygiene products Personal care items: Toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, Q-tips, combs, hairbrushes, shampoo, and conditioner Baby items: Diapers, wipes, formula, baby food, and rash cream Pet supplies: Dog food, cat food, cat litter Cleaning supplies: Rags, mops, brooms, scrub brushes, and garbage bags Utility tools: Plastic buckets, shovels, and rakes Drop-off Location: John L. Marshall Technology Park, 1756 Jack Delozier Dr, Sevierville, TN 37876. Sevier County Government is organizing a collection drive to support neighboring communities impacted by the devastating flooding caused by Hurricane Helene. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (October 7-9): 9:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m. Drop-off Location: The Loudon County Sheriffs Office will begin accepting donations in the front parking lot of the Loudon County Justice Center. Donation drop-off times will be as follows: Tuesday, October 1, 9 am-7 pm Some items that are needed for disaster relief: Food: Non-perishable food, snacks, ready-to-eat meals, and bottled drinking water Hygiene items: Toiletries, soap, detergent, disinfectant, hand sanitizer, and feminine hygiene products Personal care items: Toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, Q-tips, combs, hairbrushes, shampoo, and conditioner Baby items: Diapers, wipes, formula, baby food, and rash cream Pet supplies: Dog food, cat food, cat litter Cleaning supplies: Rags, mops, brooms, scrub brushes, and garbage bags Utility tools: Plastic buckets, shovels, and rakes Non-potable water for flushing toilets and washing clothes, etc. is desperately needed. The sheriffs office also asks anyone who can transport large quantities of non-potable water, to send them a private message and they will get you in contact with an agency that can accept it. Drop-off Location: Cocke County High School. Items that are being accepted include: Large lawn trash bags work gloves Squeegees Clorox wipes Mops/buckets Brooms Large garbage cans Rakes Scrub brushes Surface cleaners Bottle water and snacks Dog & cat food Diapers Baby wipes Drop-off Location: Knox County Engineering and Public Works, 205 West Baxter Avenue Accepting donations of bottled water to relief efforts in Cocke County. Drop-off Location: Catholic churches in the Catholic Charities of East Tennessee (CCETN) network; however, those in need are encouraged to call the CCETN. Once damage assessments in the affected areas are completed, CCETN is ready to assist with immediate needs of emergency housing, food, water, hygiene items, and cleaning supplies. Afterward, CCETNs disaster Case Management program will open for long-term needs. CCETN is working with the local Emergency Management Services of affected areas to distribute these resources to those in need. Those in need of assistance are encouraged to call CCETN at 865-684-1899. Additionally, people may go to their local Catholic church and ask to be put in touch with CCETN resources. Drop-off Location: TCAT campuses. The Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology (TCATS) statewide are collecting bottled water for flood victims. Those colleges with truck driving programs will collect and deliver those to Northeast Tennessee throughout the week. Supplies can be dropped off at: TCAT Knoxville 1100 Liberty Street Knoxville, TN 37919 TCAT Harriman 1745 Harriman Highway Harriman, TN 37748 TCAT Morristown 821 West Louise Ave Morristown, TN 37813 TCAT Athens 1635 Technology Way Athens, TN 37303 TCAT Oneida/Huntsville 355 Scott High Drive Huntsville, TN 37756 Drop-off Location: LeConte Centers front/events entrance. Donations will be accepted starting Tuesday (Oct. 1) morning at 8 a.m. at 2986 Teaster Lane. Collections continue through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Items needed include: buckets with lids, available at home improvement stores tarps shovels & rakes trash bags work gloves masks, including dust masks disinfecting wipes bottled water Baby formula, food & wipes prepackaged snacks diapers can openers first aid supplies personal hygiene items kitty litter new socks & underwear clean towels & blankets laundry detergent pet food kitty litter hand sanitizer Drop-off Location: Knoxville Wholesale Furniture Clearance Center, located at 7428 Kingston Pike. Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, Mission of Hope, and Knoxville Wholesale Furniture are holding a canned food drive on Saturday, Oct. 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m READ: More top stories on WATE.com Monetary 6 News has partnered with the East Tennessee Foundation to help raise funds for the impacted counties. This is the most effective and preferred way to give to the effort. For more information on the fund and how to donate, visit https://easttennesseefoundation.org. For monetary donations, please send those donations directly to the organizations below. Attn: Cocke County Relief Fund, c/o Cocke County Partnership, 115 Mulberry St. Ste 200, Newport, TN 37821 A.H.E.A.D. (Appalachian Highlands Economic Aid Directory), https://regionahead.com/. 6 News parent company, Nexstar, is working to support Red Cross efforts to offer critical resources. To donate, click here. This is a developing story. Download the WATE 6 News app or sign up for our email alerts 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 WATE 6 On Your Side. Helsinki Commission asks that Russia be recognised as permanent threat to global security The Helsinki Commission report suggests that Washington should reconsider its attitude towards Russia, abandon the Cold War status quo in relations with Russia and call Moscow a "persistent" threat to global security. Source: Helsinki Commission report, provided to The Hill ahead of publication Details: The report argues that Washington should reconsider its position towards Russia, as it has done with China over the past few years, and allocate resources accordingly. The priority of the report's strategy is to ensure that Ukraine wins its defensive war against Russia, calling for "massive" military and humanitarian aid to Kyiv and enabling the Armed Forces of Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with US-supplied weapons. The report's policy proposals go beyond the Biden administration's commitments to Ukraine and run counter to the position of former president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his allies in Congress. Trump himself has consistently stated that the US spends too much on European security. And he has campaigned for a deal between Ukraine and Russia through direct talks with their leaders, including Russian leader Vladimir Putin. However, Republican Joe Wilson (South Carolina), the chairman of the Helsinki Committee, rejected the possibility that Trump would cut a deal with Putin. "No question to me that Donald Trump is going to see the insincerity of war criminal Putin. Putin is not anybody that you can reach an agreement with, that would be substantive, that would hold," Wilson told The Hill in a brief conversation about the report. The Hill writes that while there is growing opposition within the Republican Party to providing military and economic support to Ukraine, GOP leaders centred on foreign policy are mostly committed to supporting Ukraine, ensuring NATO commitments and strengthening democracy in post-Soviet states. Background: Support UP or become our patron! Helsinki Commission paper calls for reconsideration of US strategy toward Russia, The Hill reports The bipartisan committee tasked with promoting democracy and human rights in post-Soviet states is urging the U.S. to abandon its post-Cold War approach to Russia and officially recognize Moscow as a "persistent" threat to global security. In a report obtained by The Hill ahead of its release, the Helsinki Commission calls for a major shift in Washington's strategy toward Russia, similar to its recent rethinking of relations with China, and recommends allocating resources accordingly. A key element of the proposed strategy is ensuring Ukraines victory in its war against Russia. The report advocates for "massive" military and humanitarian aid to Kyiv and supports allowing Ukraine's forces to strike targets deep inside Russia using U.S.-supplied weapons. These recommendations go beyond the Biden administrations current commitments to Ukraine and conflict with the views of former President Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and his congressional allies. Trump has argued that the U.S. is overspending on European security and has campaigned on negotiating a deal between Ukraine and Russia through direct talks with their leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Helsinki Commission's report recommends that Russia's nuclear threats "cannot simply be dismissed," but should instead be countered with "sound reasoning." "We cant let fear dominate how we think about this kind of stuff," a congressional aide said, explaining the reports call for a clear plan to address and respond to potential nuclear threats and attacks. The report also advocates for a shift in how Washington views Russia, urging policymakers to stop treating the country as a superpower or near-peer to the U.S. solely because of its nuclear arsenal. The report emphasizes the need for the U.S. to be fully engaged with its global allies, particularly those on the front lines of Russian aggression, manipulation, and coercion. This stance pushes back against the rising trend of isolationism, especially within the GOP. Read also: Ukraine war latest: Zelensky says Putin afraid to use nuclear weapons because he loves his life Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. TOPEKA (KSNT) Shawnee County District 2 Republican candidate Henry McClure sat down with 27 News Monday morning to talk about his political run for office. McClure is currently set to face off against Democrat candidate Kevin Cook this November for the District 2 seat in the General Election. 27 News Morning Anchor Matthew Johnstone started the interview by asking McClure why he thinks he is the best fit for the job. Well, I think its my life experiences, being a real estate developer and traveling across the country working for a shopping mall developer, McClure said. My life is dealing with the government. My life is trying to do economic development. McClure said he intends to retire his real estate license to eliminate any conflicts of interest while serving in the District 2 seat. He also wants to make sure the Shawnee County Sheriffs Office has the tools to keep us safe. Topeka child care center transfers ownership You can watch the full interview with McClure in the video above. For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. 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. (Bloomberg) -- The US antitrust regulator will allow Chevron Corp. to proceed with its $53 billion acquisition of Hess Corp. on the condition Chief Executive Officer John Hess is barred from the supermajors board, alleging he improperly communicated with OPEC. Most Read from Bloomberg The Federal Trade Commission said in a statement Monday that Hess communicated with the cartel and its allies, praising their efforts to stabilize oil production and reduce inventories, moves that typically raise prices. Chevron assented to a consent agreement with the FTC that will let the takeover advance. Mr. Hesss communications with competitors about global oil output and other dimensions of crude oil market competition disqualify him from serving on Chevrons Board of Directors, said Henry Liu, director of the FTCs Bureau of Competition. The FTC voted 3-2 in favor of the agreement. The two dissenting commissioners criticized the decision as politically motivated, saying there were no concerns over competition nor laws broken. Commissioner Melissa Holyoak called it a sequel to the fairy tale reasoning the FTC used to block Pioneer Natural Resources Co. ex-CEO Scott Sheffield from joining Exxon Mobil Corp.s board in May. Unfortunately for Mr. Hess, she wrote, the author of every fairy tale must also fabricate a villain, and todays action unjustifiably gave him that label. The FTC complaint alleged Hess frequently encouraged the cartels efforts to hold back crude supplies, citing public comments and private correspondence with OPEC Secretary-General Haitham Al-Ghais and his predecessor Mohammad Barkindo. It also cited private communications with an unnamed senior Saudi Arabian government official. Elevating Hess to Chevrons board would increase the risk of industry co-ordination, the agency said. Hess said in a statement that the concerns raised by the FTC were without merit. Separately, Chevron said John Hess will serve the company as an adviser on government relations and social investments in Guyana, where his company has a stake in a massive offshore oil field. I have the utmost respect for John, the company he has built, and the contributions he has made to our industry, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said in the statement. It is unfortunate that our Board of Directors will not get the benefit of his decades of global experience. The Hess familys stake in the company founded by John Hess father almost a century ago is worth about $5 billion under the terms of the takeover agreement announced in October. Hess, 70, stands to become one of Chevrons biggest shareholders when the deal closes. The agreement marks the second time this year the FTC has barred a senior oil executive from joining a suitor companys board. The agency reached a settlement with Exxon in May that blocked Pioneers Sheffield from obtaining a directorship, citing texts and emails that it claimed amounted to collusive activity with OPEC officials. Sheffield has denied any wrongdoing and accused the FTC of publicly and unjustifiably vilifying him. For Chevron, the end of the antitrust review clears a key hurdle for the companys biggest transaction since its 2001 acquisition of Texaco Inc. To close the Hess deal, Chevron still needs to prevail in arbitration over claims of rights of first refusal by Exxon and Cnooc Ltd. to Hess most important asset its 30% stake in the Guyanese oilfield. The FTC opened an in-depth probe into the Chevron-Hess transaction in December amid a burst of oil-industry dealmaking. Democratic lawmakers asked the agency to study the deals more closely on concerns they could increase energy prices for consumers and suppress wages for workers. The FTC conducted similar probes of Occidental Petroleum Corp.s acquisition of Texas shale driller CrownRock LP, and Diamondback Energy Inc.s purchase of Endeavor Energy Resources LP, opting in both cases against challenging the transactions. The agency also declined to challenge Chesapeake Energy Corp.s takeover of Southwestern Energy Co. (Updates with FTC complaint in sixth paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Hassan Nasrallah, seen at a rare public appearance in Beirut on August 2, 2013, was the most high profile Hezbollah leader to be killed (ANWAR AMRO) (ANWAR AMRO/AFP/AFP) Israel has killed Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah and several of its top commanders in a series of strikes targeting the Iran-backed movement's top brass, dealing a major blow to the Shiite movement. Here is what we know about the commanders slain over the past year. - Nasrallah: Hezbollah chief - On Friday, an Israeli air strike on Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold killed Hassan Nasrallah, who had led the group for 32 years. Hezbollah confirmed his death a day later. Despite years of living in hiding to evade assassination, the 64-year-old Nasrallah wielded great power in Lebanon. He had cult-like following among his Shiite Muslim supporters, despite rarely appearing in public. "The point of security measures is that movement be kept secret, but that doesn't stop me from moving around and seeing what is happening," Nasrallah told Lebanon's pro-Hezbollah Al-Akhbar newspaper in a 2004 interview. Nasrallah became Hezbollah's secretary-general in 1992, aged 32, after an Israeli helicopter gunship killed his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi. Israel said on Saturday that Nasrallah was one of its "greatest enemies", and that his death made the world "a safer place". - Shukr: right-hand man - A strike on July 30 killed Fuad Shukr, one of Hezbollah's top military commanders. Shukr, in his early 60s, played a key role in cross-border drone and rocket attacks on Israeli forces, according to a source close to Hezbollah. The two sides have traded near-daily fire across the frontier since Hezbollah ally Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7. Shukr helped found Hezbollah during Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war and became a key adviser to Nasrallah. Shukr was Hezbollah's most senior military commander, and the leader said he had been in daily contact with him since October. Israel blamed Shukr for a July rocket attack on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights that killed 12 children in a Druze Arab town. Hezbollah denied responsibility. In 2017, the US Treasury offered a $5 million reward for information on Shukr, saying he had "a central role" in the deadly 1983 bombing of the US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut. - Aqil: US bounty - A strike on September 20 killed Ibrahim Aqil, head of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force, along with 15 other commanders. Lebanese officials said the attack killed 55 people, many of them civilians. A source close to Hezbollah described Aqil as the second-in-command in the group's forces after Shukr. The Radwan Force is Hezbollah's most formidable offensive unit and its fighters are trained in cross-border infiltration, a source close to the group told AFP. The United States said Aqil was a member of Hezbollah's Jihad Council, the movement's highest military body. The US Treasury said he was a "principal member" of the Islamic Jihad Organisation -- a Hezbollah-linked group behind the 1983 bombing of the US embassy in Beirut that killed 63 people and an attack on the US Marine Corps barracks in the Lebanese capital the same year that killed 241 US soldiers. - Ali Karake - Considered Hezbollah's number three military commander, Karake was killed in the same September 27 strike that claimed Nasrallah's life, according to the group. Karake was a member of the Jihad Council, Hezbollah's supreme command, and served as the commander of the southern front. He survived several assassination attempts. The Israeli army said he was a member of Nasrallah's inner circle. - Kobeissi: missiles expert - On September 25, a strike killed Ibrahim Mohammed Kobeissi, who commanded several military units including a guided missiles unit. "Kobeissi was an important source of knowledge in the field of missiles and had close ties with senior Hezbollah military leaders," the Israeli military said. Kobeissi joined Hezbollah in 1982 and rose through its ranks. One of the units he led was tasked with manning operations in southern Lebanon, bordering Israel. - Srur: drone chief - A strike on September 26 killed Srur, the head of Hezbollah's drone unit since 2020. Srur studied mathematics and was one of several senior advisers Hezbollah sent to Yemen to train the country's Huthi rebels, who are also backed by Iran, a source close to Hezbollah said. He had also played a significant role in Hezbollah's involvement in Syria's civil war from 2013, supporting President Bashar al-Assad's government. - Nabil Qaouq - A prominent figure in Hezbollah since the 1980s, Qaouq held the position of deputy head of Hezbollah's central council when he was killed in an air strike on September 28 in a Beirut suburb. He had served as Hezbollah's military commander in southern Lebanon. - Wissam Tawil - Tawil, a commander of Hezbollah's Al-Radwan unit, was killed in an Israeli air strike in January on his vehicle in southern Lebanon, along with two other regional commanders -- Mohammed Nasser and Taleb Abdallah. burs/ach/dv Israel has claimed to have wiped out much of Hezbollahs leadership in recent airstrikes, as Lebanon said the bombing campaign has now forced a fifth of the countrys population to flee their homes. The Lebanese militant group has now confirmed the deaths of seven senior officials slain by Israel in just over a week, including its leader of 32 years, Hassan Nasrallah, in a strike Israel claimed also killed 20 other Hezbollah members in southern Beirut on Friday. Those include founding members of the group first established by Irans Revolutionary Guard in 1982, who had previously evaded death or detention at Israels hands for decades until Israels decision this month to launch its heaviest bombing campaign against Lebanon since the 2006 war. A Hezbollah flag was hung at the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in the southern suburbs of Beirut (AP) After Hezbollah confirmed the death of Nabil Kaouk who led the groups forces in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war in another strike on Saturday, the United States warned its ally Israel that an all-out war with Hezbollah, certainly with Iran, is not the way to make Israels own citizens safer. As Iran vowed to retaliate and warned that the US is complicit in all of these crimes, spokesperson John Kirby said the White House was watching to see what Hezbollah would do to try and fill its leadership vacuum, adding: Its going to be tough much of their command structure has now been wiped out. While Israel and Hezbollah had been trading frequent cross-border fire since Hamass attack on Israel on 7 October last year sparked the war in Gaza, Israel said this month that it was shifting its focus from Gaza to Lebanon, after launching two shock attacks in which it remotely detonated walkie-talkies and pagers used by Hezbollah. According to Lebanons health ministry, more than 1,000 people including 87 children and 14 medics have been killed in the ensuing bombardment, and a further 6,000 wounded, as Unicef warned that the pre-existing humanitarian crisis in Lebanon is rapidly escalating into a catastrophe. Environment minister Nasser Yassin said that around a million people amounting to a fifth of the population have fled their homes, with some 250,000 now living in shelters and three to four times as many staying with friends and relatives or camping in the streets. Rescuers at the scene of an Israeli airstrike in Beiruts suburb of Ghobeiri on Sunday (AP) Israel said on Sunday that it had hit dozens more targets in Lebanon, including key weapons-manufacturing sites. State media in Lebanon reported that at least 17 people from the same family had been killed in Israeli strikes in the Bekka Valley, with at least four others killed when two homes were hit. The health ministry said 24 people had also been killed and dozens more injured in a strike on Ain al-Delb, near to Lebanons third-largest city Sidon. And a day after the Houthis claimed to have fired a missile at Tel Aviv, the Israeli military said it had used dozens of aircraft, including fighter jets, to attack power plants and a sea port in Yemen, which it claimed were being used to transport Iranian weapons. Hostilities have continued in Gaza, where health authorities said at least 11 Palestinians were killed in strikes, including at a school sheltering displaced people in the northern city of Beit Lahia. Israel said it had hit Hamas militants, whom it accused of exploiting civilian facilities. Israels escalation of the conflict has been met with alarm and condemnation elsewhere in the region, with Iraq accusing Israel of crossing all red lines in Lebanon. Smoke rises from Israeli airstrike locations on Sunday in Beiruts southern suburbs (Getty) Israels allies, including the US, Britain, Germany and other European nations, all repeated their pleas on Sunday for a diplomatic solution and ultimately a ceasefire with Hezbollah, with France urging restraint following a report that Israeli military leaders were pushing to launch a limited ground offensive. Wreckage from the strike that killed Nasrallah and levelled six buildings in Beirut on Friday was still smouldering more than two days later, with smoke hanging over the rubble as people flocked to the site, some to check on what was left of their homes and others to pay their respects. Nasrallahs body was recovered intact from the site, and it appeared he had been killed by blunt trauma from the force of the blast, a medical source and a security source told reporters on Sunday. Iranian military commander Abbas Nilforoushan was also killed in the blast, and Tehran insisted on Sunday that this horrible crime would not go unanswered. We will not hesitate to go to any level in order to help the resistance, said Irans foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, referring to the groups the country supports, including Hamas, the Houthis, Hezbollah and various Shia groups in Iraq and Syria. Mr Araghchi also warned that the US is complicit in all of these crimes and ... has to accept the repercussions. The Pentagon said US defence secretary Lloyd Austin had authorised the military to reinforce its presence in the Middle East with defensive air-support capabilities, and to put other forces on a heightened readiness status. The US is determined to prevent Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from exploiting the situation or expanding the conflict, spokesperson Patrick Ryder said, warning those groups against targeting American personnel or interests in the region. Britain has urged its 5,000 or so citizens in Lebanon to leave the country. Cabinet minister Pat McFadden said on Sunday that the government has prepared plans for every contingency and will evacuate British nationals if necessary. Pictures of killed pro-Iranian Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah are hung on a building in an almost deserted area in Beirut southern suburb. Marwan Naamani/dpa The Islamist Hezbollah militia in Lebanon vowed on Monday to quickly choose a successor to killed leader Hassan Nasrallah, and said it would continue its decades-long fight against Israel, even as it faced a massive escalation in military pressure. Deputy head Naim Kassem, in the first televised speech by a senior Hezbollah official since Nasrallah's death, said the group would choose a successor to assume the secretary general position "as soon as possible." Kassem said that the group's structure allows it to find replacements for all senior members from among the ranks of deputies and other qualified members. The Lebanese militia, considered a terrorist organization by the US, the European Union and Israel, has been launching attacks on northern Israel since the beginning of the war in Gaza, in support of Hamas. Following almost a year of cross-border skirmishes, Israel launched a large-scale aerial campaign on targets across Lebanon last week, with the stated aim of pushing back Hezbollah to enable the return of tens of thousands of residents evacuated from northern Israel. "We know the battle could be long, and we are ready for any possibility. If Israel decides to launch a ground invasion, we are ready for a ground engagement," Kassem said. "Israel will not be able to affect our military capabilities," he said, vowing to also continue their support for the Palestinians in Gaza. Kassem's appearance on television, wearing black while sitting in a closed room, refutes rumours that he was killed in the same strike that killed Nasrallah. The escalation between Israel and Hezbollah has heightened fears that the region is on the brink of all-out war. Hundreds have been killed and tens of thousands displaced in Lebanon amid the fighting, according to Lebanese authorities. The international community is urging de-escalation amidst continued Israeli strikes and Hezbollah retaliations, but efforts for a ceasefire have so far been rejected by both sides. On Sunday, Israel struck a port city in Yemen in a large-scale operation aimed at the Iran-allied Houthi militia. Hamas leader in Lebanon, PFLP members killed Among the most high-profile figures to be killed in Israel's recent wave of airstrikes was the leader in Lebanon of the Palestinian extremist group Hamas, the group said on Monday. Fatah Sharif Abu al-Amine was killed alongside family members in his home near the coastal city of Tyre in southern Lebanon, the statement said. "Overnight the [Israeli Air Force] struck and eliminated the terrorist Fateh Sharif, head of the Lebanon Branch in the Hamas terrorist organization," the Israeli army said. Another militant group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), said meanwhile that several of its members had been killed in an airstrike on Beirut. If confirmed this would mark the first time Israel has killed members of the group since the beginning of the Gaza war and the cross-border skirmishes with Hezbollah that simultaneously broke out almost a year ago. The PFLP said three of its leaders were killed in the strike on Beirut's central neighbourhood of Kola. The Israeli army did not comment. Firing continues across Israel-Lebanon border Hezbollah has continued its rocket attacks from Lebanon into northern Israel, the Israeli military reported on Monday, with an Israeli gas platform in the Mediterranean Sea one apparent target of a drone attack. Some 35 missiles were fired from Lebanon at Galilee and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the Israeli military said, and a rocket alarm rang out in the city of Safed. The army also said that an Israeli missile boat had intercepted a drone flying over Israeli waters in the Mediterranean Sea. Army radio reported that the drone seemed to be targeting Israel's Karish gas platform. Hezbollah says it will choose Nasrallah's successor 'at the earliest opportunity' Hezbollahs second-in-command following the death of leader Hassan Nasrallah signaled Monday that the terrorist group is set to reveal its new leader soon, saying it will choose his successor "at the earliest opportunity." Naim Qassem made the remark during the first televised speech from a Hezbollah official after Nasrallah was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Lebanons capital of Beirut on Friday, according to Reuters. "We will choose a secretary-general for the party at the earliest opportunity... and we will fill the leadership and positions on a permanent basis," Qassem said while speaking in front of a trio of wooden panels from an undisclosed location. Qassem reportedly added that Hezbollah is continuing to fire rockets at Israel and that "What we are doing is the bare minimum... We know that the battle may be long." Israeli Military Says Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah Killed In Beirut Strike Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem delivers an address from an unknown location days after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was killed by an Israeli airstrike. "Israel was not able to reach our military capabilities, and what its media says about hitting most of the medium and long-range capabilities is a dream they have not achieved and will never achieve," Qassem was quoted by Reuters as saying regarding the terrorist groups rockets. Read On The Fox News App He added that Hezbollah is ready to fight back against any Israeli ground operation in Lebanon. "We will face any possibility and we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land and the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement," Qassem reportedly said. Israeli Strike Kills Hamas Commander In Lebanon, 3 Palestinian Militant Leaders Killed In Separate Strike Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem leads funeral prayers during the funeral of Hezbollah senior leader Ibrahim Aqil and Hezbollah member Mahmoud Hamad, who were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, on Sept. 22. The Israeli Defense Forces confirmed that Nasrallah died in a strike against the groups headquarters in Lebanon on Friday. "The IDF announces that yesterday (Friday), September 27th, 2024, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organization and one of its founders, was eliminated by the IDF, together with Ali Karki, the Commander of Hezbollahs Southern Front, and additional Hezbollah commanders," the IDF said in a statement. "Following precise intelligence from the IDF and Israeli security establishment, IAF fighter jets conducted a targeted strike on the Central Headquarters of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which was located underground embedded under a residential building in the area of Dahieh in Beirut," the statement added. "The strike was conducted while Hezbollahs senior chain of command were operating from the headquarters and advancing terrorist activities against the citizens of the State of Israel." Fox News Peter Aitken contributed to this report. Original article source: Hezbollah says it will choose Nasrallah's successor 'at the earliest opportunity' Hezbollah supporters: Everyone has abandoned us and now Iran has, too The Corniche in Beirut has become a refuge for families amid Israeli bombing raids - Hassan Ammar//AP A fortnight ago, there would have been no questioning the devotion felt by Lebanese Shia Muslims for Iran. As for their brethren across the Middle East, Iran has long been their political and spiritual lodestar. What the Vatican is for you Christians, Iran is for us Shia only more so, one is often told by Shias in Lebanon and elsewhere in the region. Yet with Iran shying away from direct confrontation with Israel even as Hezbollah its creation and most important proxy lurches ever deeper into crisis, there are mounting signs that, in Lebanon at least, loyalty has begun to slip. Beiruts famous Corniche, a seaside promenade where fashionable residents of the Lebanese capital have long come to take the air, has for the past few days become a refuge for many Shia Muslims fleeing Israeli bombing raids on the citys southern suburbs. Among this community of the newly homeless stretching the length of the three-mile esplanade, it is not difficult to find discontent directed at Iran, with emotions ranging from philosophical disappointment to angry accusations of betrayal and outlandish conspiracy theories. If Iran had wanted to help, they would have helped a long time ago, said Hana Mrad, a 43-year-old housewife who has been sleeping in her car with her two daughters since the air strikes that killed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollahs leader, on Friday evening. Everyone has abandoned us and now Iran has, too. Iman, a 9-year-old Lebanese girl, is living on the streets with her family after Israeli attacks forced them to flee Beiruts southern suburbs - Marwan Naamani/Avalon The remains of the buildings destroyed by an Israeli air strike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and 19 others on Friday - Reuters Other Shias, still struggling to digest the death of the man many knew simply as Sayyid or Master, hinted at deeper and darker betrayal. Echoing comments that have been made on social media, one man went so far as to say that Iran had betrayed Nasrallah, revealing his whereabouts to Israel in exchange for an undertaking that Israeli forces would not strike Irans nuclear programme. Iran sacrificed Nasrallah, that is the only explanation, the man said. Iran organised the meeting where Nasrallah was killed and told Israel where he would be. How else would Israel know where he was and what other reason can there be for Iran refusing to fight with Hezbollah? Nasrallahs death in a massive air strike on Hezbollahs secret subterranean complex in southern Beirut came as he met senior commanders of the Iran-backed group. Among the 20 people Israel says it killed at the meeting was Abbas Nilforoushan, the deputy commander of operations in Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. The suggestion that Iran and Israel would collude to kill Nasrallah is, of course, beyond far-fetched. Iranians hold anti-Israel protests at Palestine Square in Tehran after the killing of Nasrallah - Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images Police officers secure the area around a damaged building following Israeli strikes in the Cola area of Beirut on Monday - Wael Hamzeh/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Ayatollah Khamenei, Irans supreme leader, is said to have been both shaken and grief-stricken by the death of a man he regarded not merely as a close friend but as arguably the greatest individual asset the Islamic regime had in its fight against Israel. Yet the fact that such sentiments are being voiced at all shows that Iran is in danger of losing the affection of the Shia street, something that could in turn further diminish its ambitions for regional domination. For four decades, Iran has nurtured, funded, armed and trained Hezbollah, which under Nasrallahs leadership had emerged as by far the most potent of the proxy network of militias in Tehrans Axis of Resistance against Israel. But over the past fortnight, Hezbollahs once formidable reputation has been battered by Israels sustained military assault on Lebanon that killed not just Nasrallah but also most of his top commanders. With Hezbollah clearly struggling to mount an effective response despite firing hundreds of rockets across Lebanons border with Israel in the past two weeks, many Shia Lebanese had assumed that Iran would join the fray. Instead, Tehran has hung back. Having long pursued a strategy of using proxies to attack Israel on its behalf, it has been reluctant to reverse the dynamic by fighting on behalf of its proxies. Aware of Israels technological and military superiority, Iran also fears that an all-out war with the Jewish state may draw in the US and could quite possibly result in the downfall of the Islamic regime, which seized power in 1979. People displaced by Israeli air strikes have created makeshift shelters on the Corniche in Beirut - Carl Court/Getty Images A destroyed building in the Cola area of Beirut - Murat Sengul/Anadolu via Getty Images Yet such caution carries costs. Irans reticence will look like weakness to many in the Middle East. Worse, as seems to be becoming clear, there will be a whiff of betrayal as well. Hezbollah sacrificed itself for Iran, but Iran will not sacrifice for Hezbollah, said Haidar, another Shia who has fled his home in southern Beirut. Not all Shia Muslims expressed such views, with some saying they assumed that Iran was working behind the scenes and that it still had a plan to defeat Israel. Others flatly refused to believe Nasrallah was dead at all. For many Shia Lebanese he was the man who gave their historically marginalised community a political voice, a sense of pride and a position of power within Lebanese society. We have not seen a body and they keep delaying the funeral, one woman said. Maybe this is all a plan to trick the Israelis and we will see him again soon. 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. NEWARK, N.J. (PIX11) A teen taking an Uber to school was sexually assaulted Monday morning, according to Newark Public Safety Director Fritz Frage. The 16-year-old student was in a shared Uber that had just arrived at the school when the incident happened, officials said. More Local News The other passenger, a man, is accused of inappropriately touching the victim before she exited the vehicle, according to officials. Police responded to KIPP Lab High School and have launched an investigation into the incident. The students parents were notified. PIX11 News contacted the Newark Department of Public Safety but no additional information was provided. Ben Mitchell is a digital content producer from Vermont who has covered both local and international news since 2021. He joined PIX11 in 2024. See more of his work here. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. (NewsNation) Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton predicts voters will be subjected to widespread misinformation in October as the 2024 presidential election draws near. Clinton on Friday joined PBS Firing Line with Margaret Hoover, where the 2016 Democratic nominee warned, There will be concerted efforts to distort and pervert Kamala Harris, who she is, what she stands for, what shes done. Russia, Iran and China are very active in the election and could influence voters with misinformation in the coming weeks, Clinton said. Ryan Routh to appear in court in alleged Trump assassination plot I anticipate there will be a full-court press in October, she said. The digital airwaves will be filled. And why does that matter? Because the press that is pro-Trump anyway oftentimes stories are put on digitally that then are picked up by, lets say, at Fox and others. And then those stories are stories, so the mainstream press reports on them, and so that story then takes on a life of its own. Clinton referenced false allegations that spread during her 2016 presidential campaign and came to be known as Pizzagate. The baseless rumors purported Clinton and other Democrats had ties to a child sex-trafficking ring headquartered in a D.C. pizza joint. The misinformation first spread on message boards and then moved to social media in late October 2016. It then gained traction on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones media outlet InfoWars before The New York Times published the first article debunking Pizzagate about a month after the allegations first appeared on Facebook. Dont laugh, Clinton told the audience during Fridays interview. It was a huge story. And it got one young man in North Carolina to get into his car with his assault rifle and drive up to liberate these nonexistent children and shoot up a pizzeria in Washington, D.C. This is dangerous stuff. The gunman was sentenced to four years in prison in 2017 for carrying a loaded AR-15 assault rifle and a revolver into the pizza restaurant, sending employees and customers scattering and firing his assault rifle into a door, according to the Justice 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 NewsNation. A Hilton Head Island woman faces a pair of felonies after allegedly breaking into her ex-boyfriends home and admitting to police her half-baked plans to blow up the house, according to the Beaufort County Sheriffs Office. Krystal Ciera Heyward, 29, was charged early Saturday morning with first-degree burglary and possession of an explosive device. Deputies responded just after midnight on Sept. 21 to a residence on Bryant Lane, located in the Spanish Wells community in central Hilton Head. The homeowner told police her sons ex-girlfriend had removed an air conditioning unit in a window off the patio to make her way into the house. Her son saw his ex-partner breaking in and alerted his mother, according to an incident report. While being questioned by police, Heyward reportedly admitted to the break-in and removed two containers from her backpack, which she conceded were devices meant to blow up the house. Thats when officers handcuffed the woman, the report says. In all, Heyward was in possession of a bleach bottle that appeared to be highly pressurized, a sauce jar and attached canister wrapped in a wet cloth that smelled of accelerant and other chemicals, several lighters and a knife, according to the police report. The ex-boyfriends mother told deputies her son and Heyward broke up a few weeks ago and that she wasnt sure what drove the woman to do this. Heyward had never lived at the house, she said. Police called Hilton Head Island Fire Rescue to the scene, whose crews used a Blackline G7 gas detector to take air samples of Heywards homemade canisters. Authorities detected nothing in the devices that could have caused an explosion, according to sheriffs office spokesperson Sgt. Danny Allen. After poking a hole in the top of the canisters, Hilton Head fire crews analyzed their contents with a Blackline G7 gas detector. Ultimately, authorities concluded the womans homemade devices could not have produced an explosion. Although the containers contents were no more dangerous than bleach, police still charged Heyward with possession of an destructive device because she admitted her intention to use the items as explosives, Allen said. The felony is punishable by a prison sentence between two and 15 years. First-degree burglary defined under South Carolina law as breaking into a home with intent to commit a crime can result in a life sentence or a minimum of 15 years upon conviction. As of Monday afternoon, Heyward remained in custody at the Beaufort County jail. Court records did not indicate a potential bond hearing or a public defender assigned to her case. When we publish mugshots The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette publishes police booking photos, or mugshots, in the following instances: In situations where a public figure or someone in a position of public trust is arrested In cases where there is an immediate and widespread threat to public safety In cases where the arrested person is accused of a crime reporters have evidence to believe involved numerous, unknown victims Reporters will avoid using mugshots as lead images for online articles in order to limit their circulation on social media, except in cases where the public is served by the immediate identification of the accused. Reporters and editors may use discretion in situations that dont meet the criteria outlined in this policy but still present a compelling reason to publish a mugshot. A new study says Mount Everest is about 15 to 50m taller than it would otherwise be, thanks to erosion from a river network [Getty images] Mount Everest is 15-50m taller than it would otherwise be because a river is eroding rock and soil at its base, helping push it upwards, according to a new study. Loss of landmass in the Arun river basin 75km (47 miles) away is causing the worlds highest peak to rise by up to 2mm a year, University College London (UCL) researchers said. Its a bit like throwing a load of cargo off a ship, study co-author Adam Smith told the BBC. The ship becomes lighter and so floats a little higher. Similarly, when the crust becomes lighter it can float a little higher. Pressure from the collision of the Indian and the Eurasian plates 40-50 million years ago formed the Himalayas and plate tectonics remains the major reason for their continued rise. But the Arun river network is a contributing factor to the mountains rise, the UCL team said. As the Arun flows through the Himalayas it carves away material the river bed in this case - from the Earth's crust. This reduces the force on the mantle (the next layer under the crust), causing the thinned crust to flex and float upward. Its an effect called the isostatic rebound. The research, published in Nature Geoscience, adds that this upward pushing force is causing Everest and other neighbouring summits, including the worlds fourth and fifth highest peaks, Lhotse and Makalu, to move upward. Mount Everest and its neighbouring peaks are growing because the isostatic rebound is raising them up faster than erosion is wearing them down, fellow co-author of the study Dr Matthew Fox told the BBC. We can see them growing by about two millimetres a year using GPS instruments and now we have a better understanding of whats driving it. Some geologists not involved in the study said the theory was plausible but there was much in the research that was still uncertain. The Arun River flows down from Tibet into Nepal and then merges with two other rivers to become the Kosi [Getty Images] Everest stands on the border between China and Nepal, and its northern part is on the Chinese side. The Arun river flows down from Tibet into Nepal and then merges with two other rivers to become the Kosi which then enters northern India to meet the Ganges. It is a very high silt-yielding river given the steepness of the mountains it flows through and the force it has, allowing it to carve off so much rock and soil on its way. But the UCL researchers say it most likely earned its real strength when it captured another river or water body in Tibet 89,000 years ago, which in geological timescales is a recent event. A Chinese academic, Dr Xu Han of China University of Geosciences, was the lead author in the study during a scholarship visit at the UCL. The changing height of Mount Everest really highlights the dynamic nature of the Earths surface, he said. The interaction between the erosion of the Arun river and the upward pressure of the Earths mantle gives Mount Everest a boost, pushing it up higher than it would otherwise be. The UCL study says the Arun river most likely gained the capacity to carve off an extraordinary amount of rocks and other materials after it captured another river or water system in Tibet. Professor Hugh Sinclair with the School of Geosciences at University of Edinburgh, who was not involved in the study, said the underlying process identified by the UCL team was perfectly reasonable. But, he added, the exact amounts and timescales of river incision (or how the river cuts downward into its bed and deepens its channel) and the consequent surface uplift of surrounding peaks had large uncertainties. Firstly, predicting river incision of such large catchments in response to drainage capture (one river capturing another river or lake) is challenging, he said. This uncertainty is something the authors have acknowledged in the study. Secondly, said Prof Sinclair, the distance over which mountains uplift from a point of intensive localised erosion is extremely hard to predict. However, even accounting for these reservations, the possibility that some of Everests exceptional elevation is linked to the river, represents an exciting insight. BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) Buffalo's longest-serving mayor, Byron Brown, said Monday he will leave City Hall in a few weeks to lead an offtrack betting agency. After nearly two decades as mayor, I have loved serving the people of Buffalo as mayor. But Michelle and I think the time is right to transition to a new role, he said at a news conference, referencing his wife. Brown, 66, a Democrat, will be paid an annual salary of $295,000 to become president and chief executive of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. He will oversee operations at the agency's betting sites in several counties in New York and Batavia Downs, which offers live harness horse racing and a video game casino. As mayor, he is paid $178,500 a year. His term was set to end Dec. 31, 2025. Western Regional Off-Track Betting board members unanimously approved a contract with Brown last week. Board President Dennis Bassett said the mayor, a former state senator and chairman of the New York Democratic Party, would raise the agency's profile in Albany. "We think the relationship that Mayor Brown has developed over the years and his time as a legislator and his relationships in Albany and in the governors office will help us to move forward with some of the things that we would like to do, Bassett told reporters after the vote. Brown became the city's first Black mayor when he was elected in 2005. He was reelected to a fifth term in 2021, thanks to a successful write-in campaign launched after he was knocked off the ballot in a shocking loss in the Democratic primary. In announcing his early departure, Brown said he was proud of the city's progress under his leadership, citing the Rust Belt city's first population increase after decades of decline. The city on Lake Erie had a population of 278,000 in 2020, according to the U.S. Census up 7% from 2010. Our city is safer, smarter and more sustainable and Im proud to say weve hired the most diverse workforce in the history of the City of Buffalo," Brown said. Common Council President Christopher Scanlon will become acting mayor through the end of Brown's term, according to the city charter. Scanlon, also a Democrat, has served on the council since 2012 and became president in January. Im excited for the opportunities that this transition will present and feel confident that we will continue to achieve on behalf of and deliver for our businesses and our residents, Scanlon said at the news conference. GLEN LYN, VA (WVNS) There has been historic flooding in parts of southern West Virginia and into Virginia, including along the New River. Areas along the New River above the Bluestone Dam are experiencing significant flooding. It has already reached its crest and is falling. A crest is when the water flow reaches its highest point. Stacie Hanes, the lead forecaster for the National Weather Service in Blacksburg gave her predictions regarding the New River. So, what you are seeing right now is the worst that [it is] going to get. It will take a little bit of time for them to come back down, said Hanes. Breezy but quieter weather ahead for weekend The New River begins at Blowing Rock, North Carolina and flows up through West Virginia. North Carolina was one of the states impacted the most by Hurricane Helene. This flooding is a result of the rainfall they received. Haynes issued a word of warning as the water levels begin to drop. There are a lot of flooded rivers, creeks, and streams in low-lying areas and flood locations. A lot of those locations are still under water. It is still dangerous to cross any water that you cannot see the depth of, because you do not know if the road is washed out. We are just urging people to take caution and avoid driving in those locations, said Hanes. Many citizens of the Mountain State are still suffering from flooding and power outages. As the days go by, it is unknown so far what the lasting impact of these storms could 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 WVNS. How HIV/AIDS got its name the words Americans used were steeped in science, stigma, and religious language The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first used the term AIDS on Sept. 24, 1982, more than a year after the first cases appeared in medical records. Those early years of the crisis were marked by a great deal of confusion over what caused the disease, who it affected and how it spread. But the naming itself acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, which we now know is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV was a milestone. How people talked about and named the AIDS crisis shaped how it was viewed and either fostered or countered a culture of stigma. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, for instance, conservative Christian leaders such as Rev. Jerry Falwell described AIDS as Gods punishment for sexual immorality. Many AIDS activists, on the other hand, also took up the importance of naming. Instead of being called AIDS victims, they preferred phrases like people with AIDS and people living with HIV to affirm their status as people rather than merely patients or victims. As a historian of religion, sexuality and public health, I became interested in how moral and religious rhetoric shaped this global pandemic from the start. In my book After the Wrath of God, I trace how the AIDS crisis could not be separated from the broader cultural contexts in which it emerged, including the histories of LGBTQ+ people and the Christian right. In other words, from the start, this medical epidemic was also a moral epidemic. Before AIDS The naming of AIDS in 1982 came more than a year after the CDC first reported cases of young, otherwise healthy men diagnosed with rare forms of cancer, pneumonia and other infections that occur in people with weakened immune systems. CDC researchers searched for a connection and found that these men were all active homosexuals. This confirmed what many gay and bisexual men living in places such as New York City and San Francisco already knew: There was a mysterious illness affecting their community. Early news coverage described a new gay cancer or gay pneumonia. Some medical researchers called it GRID gay-related immune deficiency or acquired community immune deficiency. When CDC leaders settled on AIDS instead, they wanted to acknowledge the prevalence of cases among many other groups, including heterosexuals. Despite these efforts, however, this early association with homosexuality would stick. In fact, the history of homosexuality was crucial to the very discovery of AIDS. Scientists have now shown that HIV circulated well before 1981, especially among intravenous drug users, many of whom were homeless. But unusual illnesses and deaths within this population largely went unnoticed. Meanwhile, the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement had been picking up steam since 1969, when a police raid at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, set off a series of riots that prompted a new wave of LGBTQ+ activism. By the 1980s, queer and trans people asserted greater political and cultural influence. This visibility and increasing cultural influence were crucial to the detection of this new disease. Stirring Gods wrath The early association of AIDS with homosexuality also ensured that this public health crisis would stir moral and religious debate. In the 1970s, conservative Christian leaders had already warned the broader public about what they considered to be an epidemic of homosexuality. They argued that social acceptance of LGBTQ+ people was a sign of moral decline, and warned that if the United States did not stamp out this moral disease, the country would face the same fate as Sodom and Gomorrah, biblical cities destroyed by God. In other words, the Christian right already had its own way to talk about homosexuality as an epidemic, as a threat to society itself. The AIDS crisis seemed to only confirm their belief in Gods wrath. Medical and public health officials were not immune to this rhetoric. In the 1980s, at hospitals across New York, people readily referred to WOGS the wrath of God syndrome. A physician at the Medical College of Georgia penned an editorial for Southern Medical Journal that asked whether AIDS fulfilled a biblical pronouncement about the due penalty for sexual sins and recommended conversion therapy for homosexuals. In the White House, as historian Jennifer Brier has shown, President Ronald Reagans conservative advisers Gary Bauer and William Bennett formulated a strategy to fight AIDS that emphasized the moral righteousness of heterosexuality and abstinence outside of marriage. They were frustrated to get pushback from the Reagan-appointed Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, a pediatric surgeon who had also become one of the leaders of the evangelical pro-life movement. He insisted that national AIDS policy focus on comprehensive sex education. In 1988, Koop sent a mailer called Understanding AIDS to virtually every household in America. Conservatives balked at Koops approach, although he still prioritized abstinence for people who were unmarried as the best form of protection. Bauer and Bennett complained that the flyer included information about condoms and described the risks of contagion through oral and anal sex. Phyllis Schlafly, the conservative Catholic crusader against feminism, abortion and gay rights, accused the surgeon general of trying to teach safe sodomy to third graders. Beyond the Christian right Not all conservative Christians understood AIDS to be Gods punishment for sexual sin. Many evangelical groups and Catholic leaders even pushed against that notion yet still spoke of it in religious and moral terms. Cardinal John OConnor, the archbishop of New York, drew the ire of many AIDS activists when he spoke about AIDS at the Vatican in 1989. Good morality, he proclaimed, is good medicine. Many Christians took more progressive positions. Southern Baptist ethicist Earl Shelp and chaplain Ronald Sunderland worked as research fellows at Texas Medical Center, where they first encountered people with AIDS. Together, they started one of the earliest AIDS ministry programs, which focused on helping gay men with AIDS without judgment. And many queer and feminist Christian and Jewish leaders, including Jim Mitulski, Yvette Flunder and Yoel Kahn, forged queer-affirming and justice-oriented responses to the stigma of AIDS. They countered the idea that AIDS was a gay disease, but they also focused on how AIDS harmed populations that were often sidelined, including people of color, women and drug users. Whats in a name? Today, when I teach about the history of the HIV/AIDS crisis, my students tend to be confused by this early association with homosexuality. They associate AIDS with sub-Saharan Africa, which had become the epicenter of the pandemic by the 1990s. Nevertheless, my students have grown up in a world where AIDS is far better understood. Thanks to the work of activists and scientists, far more people now know that HIV can be blocked by using condoms and sterile needles. Antiretroviral therapy has proven very effective in treating people able to obtain and tolerate the medicines. Yet no matter how scientific or objective people hope to be, epidemics are shaped by culture. And studying that history helps us understand more about ourselves. Anthony Petro, Associate Professor of Religion and of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Boston University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. A Hollywood titan and a Bin Laden once lived in this Bel-Air mansion now scarred by graffiti A Bel-Air mansion has become the third multimillion-dollar home recently targeted by graffiti vandals. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) A famed architect to the stars designed it. A renowned Hollywood producer occupied it. A relative of a reviled international terrorist abandoned it. And now a Mediterranean villa on a hillside in genteel Bel-Air has become the latest target of mysterious graffiti vandals. Sometime late last week, spray-paint-wielding intruders turned the pink walls of this seven-bedroom mansion into a helter-skelter canvas of pop art, obscure quotations and political insinuations the third hillside home in Los Angeles to be defaced in recent days. Police detained one man at the two-acre property on Stone Canyon Road late Friday, but the real estate agent who oversees the property said a security guard believed the uninvited visitor was only taking pictures of the home. She declined to press charges. Police and the private security firm that patrols the verdant neighborhood near the Hotel Bel-Air said they had no further clues about who vandalized the house, with missives and sketches filling most of the walls both inside and outside the once-luxurious residence. Graffiti covers interior walls of the home, and on the floors are empty cans of spray paint and beer. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) On Sunday morning, emptied paint cans and beer bottles littered many of the rooms and a front patio. Windows above the front door had been shattered. Others had been rendered opaque with black and red paint. An elegant stone archway had been emblazoned with Hopes in black paint. They really completely destroyed everything. There is broken glass everywhere. Its been defamed, vandalized, said the agent who is selling the property and spoke on condition that she would not be named. Its so horrible. Horrible. Two large homes in the Hollywood Hills got a similar treatment recently. The property crimes follow the much-publicized defacing of downtown high-rises with graffiti. A guard who has patrolled the neighborhood for years said he had chased others off the property, most recently three young men who were also shooting video Saturday night. Read more: A billionaire's son and his graffiti-scarred mansions roiling Hollywood Hills They asked me, Can we stay and take pictures?'" recalled the guard. I said to them, Can I just come into your house without an invitation and then stay?'" The guard, who also requested anonymity, wondered whether the intruders wanted photos as part of some kind of competition or something. He said that, several months ago, squatters backed a moving truck up to the home, apparently ready to take up residence. He told them they had five minutes to get lost. They did. The Bel-Air mansion sits at the end of a long driveway, shielded from the street by tall stands of trees and bamboo. Three Bel-Air neighbors said they had not heard about the vandalism until a reporter told them about it Sunday. Police and private security said they had no clues about who was responsible for the vandalism. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) The vandalism marks a low point for a home born in Hollywood splendor. Architect John Elgin Woolf designed the villa, one of many he helped create for luminaries including Bob Hope, Cary Grant, Judy Garland and Errol Flynn. Producer Arthur Freed lived there for years. He made classics including "Brigadoon," "Showboat," An American in Paris, "Gigi" and Singin' in the Rain. He also co-wrote the song "Singin' in the Rain" with Nacio Herb Brown. Freed also served as an associate producer (uncredited) on The Wizard of Oz and, by one account, was among those who fought to keep the song Over the Rainbow in the film after some of the filmmakers wanted to cut it. Freed served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He died in 1973 in Los Angeles. Ibrahim bin Laden, a member of the wealthy Saudi construction dynasty, bought the Bel-Air home in the 1980s. He is the half-brother of Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks. The Bin Laden brother and his family used the Bel-Air property as a vacation home, but they have not lived there for more than 25 years, the real estate agent said. For a time, a manager lived in a guest house and tended to the property, but he fell ill and moved out several years ago. The family considered leasing the home and hired a contractor to improve the bathrooms and kitchen. But work crews only tore out walls and never completed the work, the agent said. Architect John Elgin Woolf designed the villa that sits behind tall trees on the two-acre property on Stone Canyon Road. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) The house has been listed for sale since 2021, with the asking price as high as $28 million. Its currently listed for $21.5 million. One buyer who had placed an offer is deciding what to do, after being apprised of the graffiti damage, the agent said. Among the messages scrawled on the interior walls are an expletive and Osama! Nearby, another message reads: G.W. Bush Helped You. The agent said she sent a video of the damage to her clients, who maintain several other homes around the world. They are very, very upset, she said. I mean, it is really devastating. She also pleaded for the public to understand that the owners had nothing to do with the faults of their famous relative. At one massive home nearby, a man who answered via intercom said he had not heard anything about the vandalism. At another gated mansion, a housekeeper came on the speaker phone and said she did not want to talk. One prominent Bel-Air resident had no doubt whom he blamed for the crime the citys political leaders. L.A.s woke. Its also broke, said Fred Rosen, the onetime chief executive of Ticketmaster, the computer ticketing giant. The citys broken. Theres crime, people leaving and politicians lying more than usual. Rosen, who lives not far from the graffitied mansion, blamed L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascon, in particular, for what he said was a lack of accountability for wrongdoing. We've had a basic breakdown of consequences for bad behavior, Rosen said. I dont know anybody from the Valley to the Westside to Compton whos not afraid, or isnt concerned. 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. EXCLUSIVE: (UPDATED from original 3:54 PM post) Hollywood figures made a big showing this afternoon as Vice President Kamala Harris made her first appearance at a Los Angeles fundraiser since becoming the Democratic nominee. The downtown event raised more than $28 million, according to a campaign source. More from Deadline Every four years we say this is the one. This here is the one, Harris told the crowd at the JW Marriott hotel in downtown Los Angeles. She received three standing ovations during her nearly half-hour of remarks. That came when she mentioned her debate with Donald Trump, then when she pledged to sign legislation restoring Roe vs. Wade, and then when she told the crowd, Let me be clear. We are going to win. Todays gathering was a mix of big donors willing to pay almost $1 million to be there and those shelling out just $500, with price levels sold out as of this morning. About 1,500 people were packed into a hotel ballroom for the event and seated around a simple stage with the Harris-Walz logo and a large blue curtain as the backdrop. As Deadline exclusively reported on September 28, Alanis Morissette and Halle Bailey were booked to perform at the event. As the VIPs met the VP privately for a photo line, Emmy winner and Oscar nominee Sterling K. Brown and Keegan-Michael Key were among the speakers this afternoon. This is the most important election of our lifetime, for real, Key said in remarks before Harris spoke. Other high profile attendees included campaign co-chair Jeffery Katzenberg, Universal chief Donna Langley, Stevie Wonder, Demi Lovato, Jessica Alba, Lily Tomlin and Watchmen boss and longtime Democratic donor Damon Lindelof and spouse Heidi. In a guest column for Deadline on July 3, Emmy winner Lindelof was the first major Hollywood donor to publicly call for President Joe Biden to step aside after his debate debacle with Donald Trump on June 27 on CNN. The ex-Lost showrunner was soon followed by the likes of Rob Reiner and George Clooney as donations dried up for the campaign. Harris arrived at the hotel earlier in the afternoon, to attend a reception and photo line for high-dollar donors. Also spotted in the ballroom were a smattering of agents and industry publicists, including Disneys Kristina Schake, ex-WBTV spokesperson Jeff Tobler, Alison Rou, Scott Rowe, AppleTVs Rita Cooper Lee, CAAs Michael Mand and Kelly Bush Novak, as well as attorneys including Gloria Allred. On the political side, figures such as former California Governor Gray Davis, Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-CA) and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) were there. Padilla also spoke, as did House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-CA). There also was heavy security, with attendees greeted by armed Secret Service agents amidst various checkpoints at the DTLA venue Starting just after 2 p.m. PT, todays fundraiser was always expected to be a big draw, as Harris has yet to headline an event in her adopted hometown since launching her presidential run on July 21. In fact, the event venue was just around the corner from where a clearly exhausted POTUS appeared with ex-president Barack Obama and Jimmy Kimmel on June 15 at the Peacock Theatre. That was the 81-year-old Bidens last L.A. visit before the viability of his candidacy before a crisis for the Dems. Thats a far cry from the enthusiastic campaign Harris and running mate Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota are now conducting in what remains a tight race. That said, Harris gave a bit of a warning not to get overconfident. This race is as close as it could be and we are the underdog, friends, she said, per a pool report. And Im running like the underdog. During her speech, Harris also went through her economic plans, which she outlined in a speech to the Economic Club of Pittsburgh earlier this week. I am a devout public servant, and I am a capitalist, she said. Jetting in on Air Force Two last night from San Francisco, where she also headlined a fundraiser, the VP decamped at her and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoffs Brentwood home before whipping downtown for the fundraiser. With just over 30 days left before Election Day, the vice president was scheduled to head directly to LAX and fly to Las Vegas for a rally this evening. That said, with the huge sums that have been raised by Harris campaign since she announced, there has been increasing focus among donors on down ballot races. With Democrats just a handful of seats of reclaiming the House majority, races in California and New York could determine if Hakeem Jeffries becomes the next Speaker. Congressional candidates likely will be seeking a photo or two with Harris, as she is expected to carry California by a wide margin. Harris campaign events come as Walz prepares to debate Trumps running mate Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) on Tuesday in their first and only match up. Coming off a very successful debate performance against Trump on Sept. 10, Harris has been challenging the ex-president to meet her for a second round on CNN Oct. 23. Trump has so far refused. The Los Angeles and San Francisco events raised money for the Harris Victory Fund, a joint committee of her campaign, the Democratic National Committee and state parties. Best of Deadline Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. TALLAHASSEE Nearly three dozen new state laws will take effect Oct. 1, including a contentious measure that will limit where homeless people can sleep. Other measures include creating a license plate for Parrot Heads living the life of the late singer Jimmy Buffett and requirements about flood disclosures for home buyers. In all, 34 laws that passed during the 2024 legislative session will take effect, with the homeless changes (HB 1365) drawing the most attention. Florida has chosen to reject comfortable inaction and tackle this problem head on, House bill sponsor Sam Garrison, R-Fleming Island, said in June after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of an Oregon citys ordinance cracking down on public camping. The new Florida law bars local governments from allowing people to sleep at places such as public buildings and in public rights of way. Local governments would be allowed to designate areas for homeless people to sleep. Another part of the measure will give legal standing to residents and business owners to file civil lawsuits against local governments that allow sleeping or camping on public property. That part of the law will take effect Jan. 1. Desmond Meade, executive director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, tells his story of overcoming homelessness and drug addiction during a panel discussion at the Drug Abuse Foundation in Delray Beach on Thursday, September 12, 2024. More: Panel discussion examines how crack and opioid epidemics drew starkly varied responses Communities have scrambled in recent months to try to comply with the law. Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said he hoped Gov. Ron DeSantis would delay enforcement. Were doing our best to try to address it. Weve staffed our police department, our civilian homeless outreach program, weve doubled it this past year, because we feel its a priority, Trantalis said during a Sept. 1 meeting. But the mandate from the state is an onerous burden. Miami-Dade County has considered tiny houses, managed by a homeless agency, the Homeless Trust, as emergency accommodations to limit the impact of the changes on jails. Jacksonville rolled out a $13.6 million plan to address the law that included a point person in the mayors office to address homeless issues, expanded outreach teams and an increase in beds at shelters. It's not just about keeping people off the streets. It's about making sure they can become viable members of our society, Mayor Donna Deegan said in July. Most bills passed during this years legislative session took effect July 1, including the budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. Here are some of the other measures that will take effect Oct. 1: HB 403: Creates several potential new license plates, including a Margaritaville plate in honor of Buffett to benefit the SFC Charitable Foundation, Inc. Other potential new plates include Universal Orlando Resort; Support General Aviation; Recycle Florida; Boating Capital of the World; and The Villages: May All Your Dreams Come True. HB 549: Makes it a third-degree felony to be part of a group of five or more people who overwhelm a merchant to conduct retail theft. SB 718: Makes it a second-degree felony for people who possess fentanyl or similar drugs that result in first responders suffering overdoses or serious injuries. SB 758: Makes changes to laws about using tracking devices, with exemptions provided under certain circumstances for law-enforcement officers, parents of minors, caregivers of seniors and vehicle owners. SB 764: Requires medical facilities and rape crisis centers to transfer sexual-assault evidence kits to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement within 30 days. SB 1036: Increases criminal penalties for immigrants who are arrested for felonies after illegally re-entering the U.S. following deportation for earlier crimes. HB 1049: Requires disclosing information to home buyers such as whether the properties have had flood damage and notification that homeowners insurance policies dont include coverage for flood damage. HB 1235: Makes a series of changes related to sexual offenders and sexual predators, including changing requirements about reporting to authorities at least 48 hours before moving to another state. HB 1389: Makes changes related to digital voyeurism, including increasing criminal penalties if offenders are age 19 or older and are family members or hold positions of authority over victims. SB 1628: Includes requiring local governments to complete business impact statements before adopting comprehensive plan amendments and land development regulations. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: New Florida laws taking effect Oct. 1 include limiting homeless camps As of Tuesday, sleeping or camping on public property in Florida will no longer be allowed by local governments or municipalities and homeless camping areas must be set up to accommodate homeless people. It's just one of 34 new laws going into effect on Oct. 1, including penalties for porch pirates; law enforcement training on communication with people with Alzheimer's or dementia; mandatory retention of rape kits; increased penalties for frauds against seniors, immigrants committing crimes, sexual predators and digital voyeurism; mandatory flood disclosures for home sellers, free wallet cards for people who have filed restraining orders, and new license plates, among others. Here's what's changing. SB 86: Hope Cards Currently, anyone who has received a protective order must produce paperwork to prove it to law enforcement if incidents arise. The Hope Card program requires clerks of the circuit court to provide, upon request and for free, either digital or laminated Hope Cards with information about the injunction including names and birthdates of the protected person and the person being blocked, the case number, the date the injunction was issued and the expiration date, if any. SB 92: Yacht and Ship Brokers Act This bill redefines yachts in Florida law to mean specific vessels manufactured or operated primarily for pleasure that are leased, rented or chartered to someone other than the owner. It also states brokers who primarily operate in another state don't need to have a license here if they buy a yacht from a Florida-licensed broker. HB 341: Safeguarding American Families Everywhere (SAFE) Act This allows Florida families to register their vehicle as a "SAFE vehicle," which lets first responders know a child inside has a disability or disorder: Autism ADHD Down syndrome Alzheimer's disease Traumatic brain injury PTSD Diabetes An autoimmune disorder Deafness Blindness Any other mentally or physically limiting disorder Personal or medical information would not be provided, only that a child in the vehicle may not respond as expected. HB 403: New License Plates Florida just passed a law that allows these new Margaritaville themed license plates. Jimmy Buffett is so hype right now. pic.twitter.com/aP8yZMBGeo juan p (@MrJuanPurdue) July 1, 2024 This is the one that got us the Margaritaville specialty license plate. Other specialty plates that the law authorizes include: Live the Dream: Benefits the Historic Cemeteries Program American Eagle: No benefitting organization listed Universal Orlando Resort: Benefits Give Kids The World, Inc., Clearwater Marine Aquarium: Benefits efforts to reduce, rehabilitate and release marine life, public education and other conservation strategies. General Aviation: Benefits the Aerospace Center for Excellence in Lakeland The Villages: May All Your Dreams Come True: Benefits The Villages Charter School Inc. Cure Diabetes: Benefits The Diabetes Research Institute Foundation, JDRF International Incorporated, and the University of Florida Diabetes Institute Recycle Florida: Benefits the Florida Today Foundation, Inc. Boating Capital of the World: Benefits Captain Sandy Yawn, Inc. to promote and fund maritime workforce assistance Project Addiction: Reversing the Stigma: Benefits Project Addiction program to promote and support awareness of and education about substance use disorder and mental illness. United Service Organizations (USO) HB 479: Alternative Mobility Funding Systems and Impact Fees This bill defines "mobility fee" and "mobility plan" for local government options in the state's Community Planning Act of 2011. SB 532: Securities Also known as The Invest Local Act, this bill tweaks a lot of things in the Florida Securities and Investor Protection Act to improve investor protection and help small businesses raise capital, including a variety of exemptions and some changes to bring some state provisions in line with recent federal changes. HB 549: Theft Crimes HB 549 targets "porch pirates," retail theft and organized looting of businesses by increasing penalties, despite a 30% drop in shoplifting in the state in roughly the last five years. Theft of less than $40 is a first-degree misdemeanor for the first offense, a third-degree felony for subsequent offices Theft from between $40 and $750 is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to 5 years in prison (it was $100 to $650 before) Anyone stealing from a business along with five or more people faces a third-degree felony, which becomes a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison if they used social media to solicit help Thieves face a first-degree felony and up to 30 years in prison if they have two or more previous retail theft convictions or if they use a gun while committing the theft. Multiple retail thefts can be charged as a felony if they occur within 120 days, up from the previous 30 SB 718: Fentanyl Exposure Under this bill an adult who "recklessly exposes a first responder to dangerous fentanyl or fentanyl analogs" and causes an overdose or serious bodily injury commits a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. According to national medical experts, however, first responders being exposed to fentanyl isn't a problem that needs legislation. Instead, they say, this law could discourage bystanders or family members from calling for help during an overdose. SB 758: Tracking Devices and Applications Makes it a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, if a person or business places a tracking device on someone's person or property without their consent. Exemptions are added for law enforcement officers during an investigation, parents or legal guardians of a minor, caregivers of disabled adults or elderly people, or owners of a motor vehicle (although it must be removed if the vehicle is sold). SB 764: Retention of Sexual Offense Evidence Requires that sexual offense evidence kits or other DNA evidence taken from someone who did not report a sexual offense to law enforcement during a forensic exam and did not ask for it to be tested must be kept for a minimum of 50 years after the collection date. The facility that collected the kit or evidence must send it to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement within 30 days of collection. HB 801: Alzheimers Training for Law Enforcement and Correctional Officers Requires the FDLE to establish online, continued training for law enforcement and correctional officers on: How to interact with people with Alzheimers disease and other forms of dementia How to recognize behavioral symptoms and characteristics Effective communication How to use alternatives to physical restraints How to identify signs of abuse, neglect, or exploitation The bill includes some specifics on how the training should be developed. Completion may count toward the 40 hours of instruction required for continued employment. SB 808: Treatment by a Medical Specialist First responders and correctional officers may receive medical treatment from licensed specialists for certain conditions related to tuberculosis, heart disease, or hypertension and get reimbursed at no more than 200% of the Medicare rate for such care. Unless it's an emergency situation, the person must provide written notice of the specialist selection to their compensation carrier, self-insured employer or third-party administrator for approval within five days. SB 902: Motor Vehicle Retail Financial Agreements Creates the Florida Vehicle Value Protection Agreements Act, which regulates auto dealers who use retail installment contracts with buyers and requires them to be in writing and include information such as the amount financed, any finance charges, total amount of payments, total sale price and payment details. Also regulates optional guaranteed asset protection products (GAP) to prevent excessive or duplicate charges, among other things. HB 1007: Nicotine Dispensing Devices The state has determined that some nicotine-dispensing devices (e-cigs, electronic cigars or pipes, etc) are more attractive to children than originally thought due to packaging and marketing that "uniquely appeals to minors" with bright colors, cartoon characters, or parodies of famous brand items like candy or cereal. The bill authorizes the Attorney General to create a directory listing those devices and prohibits businesses from selling them. Retailers will have 60 days to remove the devices from sale or face daily $1,000 fines. SB 1036: Criminal Penalties Increases criminal penalties for immigrants committing crimes after entering Florida illegally from other countries a second time after being deported. A third-degree felony (up to 5 years in prison) will be charged as a second-degree felony (up to 15 years in prison) for those who have previously been deported. Second-degree felonies (up to 15 years in prison) will now be charged as first-degree felonies (up to 30 years in prison). And first-degree felonies (up to 30 years in prison) will be charged as a life felonies for those individuals. Under Florida Senate Bill 1036, there will be enhanced penalties for undocumented immigrants found guilty of participating in drug cartel activities. HB 1049: Flood Disclosure in the Sale of Real Property Requires sellers of residential property to provide flood disclosure at or before a sale. Seller must notify buyers that homeowners insurance policies do not include coverage for damage resulting from floods, whether or not the seller has filed a claim relating to flood damage, and whether or not the seller has received federal assistance for flood damage to the property. HB 1171: Schemes to Defraud Makes the penalties for crimes of fraud committed against minors, people 65 years old and older, or against a person with a mental or physical disability harsher: first-degree misdemeanors become third-degree felonies, third-degree felonies become second-degree felonies, second-degree felonies become first-degree feloniesm and first-degree felonies are reclassified to a life felony. The bill also allows someone whose image or likeness was used without their consent in a scheme to defraud to sue and recover damages. HB 1235: Sexual Predators and Offenders The bill creates stricter registration guidelines for sexual offenders and predators, increases oversight of residences and requires offenders and predators to register temporary and transient housing addresses, including houseboats and cars. It also requires any international travel to be reported ahead of time and makes it more difficult to qualify for registration removal. This bill prohibits local municipalities from allowing people to camp or sleep on public property and requires them to designate a specific public space for camping and sleeping with approval from the Florida Department of Children and Families that includes security, behavioral health services and bathrooms with running water. Failure to do so will allow businesses and residents to sue local governments. Supporters say it is compassionate conservatism and puts efforts where they are needed. Critics say it creates forced internment camps with the goal of getting unhoused people out of sight. HB 1389: Digital Voyeurism This bill changes "video voyeurism" in state law to "digital voyeurism" and increases the penalties: Creation of hidden and nonconsensual images or recordings of someone privately exposing their body First-degree misdemeanor for offenders aged 18 and younger Third-degree felony for offenders 19 and older Distributing or selling such material is a third-degree felony Subsequent offenses are second-degree felonies If the offender is 19 years old or older and commits the offense against a family or household member or holds a position of authority or trust over the person, the felony charge is increased to the next highest one. HB 1415: Peer Support for First Responders House Bill 1415 amends state law to include correctional officers in peer support for first responders. HB 1545: Child Exploitation Offenses This bill creates a new offense, harmful communication to a minor, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison. It also increases penalties for child exploitation crimes, such as promoting sexual performances or possessing child sexual abuse material. SB 1628: Local Governments Senate Bill 1628 revises 2023's SB 170 and requires local governments to file a business impact estimate for any ordinances that relate to a comprehensive plan amendment or land development regulation if it's initiated by a municipality or county. The estimate must include: A summary of the proposed ordinance and how it would serve the public An estimate of the direct economic impact on private for-profit businesses, including any direct compliance costs, new fees or regulatory costs An estimate of how many businesses are likely to be affected Public Records exemptions Under the Open Government Sunset Review Act, certain public records have been exempted from Florida's public records requirements but each exemption was created to expire this year. These bills update exemptions for the following categories: HB 7001: Identifying information about people reported cases of child abuse, abandonment or neglect HB 7003 : Identifying information about preregistered voters who are minors HB 7005 : Secure login credentials and certain financial disclosures from the Commission on Ethics, an independent board that maintains financial disclosure filings for public officers, some public employees and candidates for public office SB 7006 : Security information and customer meter-derived information for municipal utilities HB 7007 : Details of campus emergency response to terrorist attacks or public safety emergencies such as evacuation plans, vulnerability reports, etc. SB 7008 : Florida Lottery security details, information about games, and identifying information from retailer or vendor background checks HB 7009 : Petitions for voluntary and involuntary admission for mental health treatment, related records, court orders and personal identifying information HB 7043: Identifying information about "agency personnel," including first responders, state attorneys and public defenders There are also local changes, like HB 509, which amends the Collier Mosquito Control District boundaries, HB 819 which does the same for the Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District. and HB 1025, which adds 12-year lifetime term limits for Municipal Service District of Ponte Vedra Beach Trustees and increases the threshold for capital projects that require voter approval. Contriuting: Tyler Vazquez, Florida Today This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: New Florida laws on Oct 1 crack down on public sleeping, theft, more (Bloomberg) -- A record fifth foreign judge will leave Hong Kongs top court this year, further thinning the ranks of overseas jurists whose presence was seen as a selling point for foreign companies looking to do business in the Asian finance hub. Most Read from Bloomberg Nicholas Phillips, a member of the UK House of Lords, wont extend his term as a non-permanent judge at the citys Court of Final Appeal when it expires Monday, according to a spokesperson for the judiciary. Phillips, 86, cited personal reasons for his decision after serving since 2012, the person said. His departure comes after a spate of judges exiting the court, with some resigning due to political reasons. Former overseas judge Jonathan Sumption sent shockwaves across the legal sector when he quit in June, citing a Beijing-imposed national security law that authorities have used to crush dissent. Hong Kong Free Press reported Phillips decision earlier Monday. Only six foreign judges will remain on the court after Phillips departure, down from 15 in 2019, a level last seen in the early years following the British colonys return to Chinese rule. An overwhelming majority of the serving and departed NPJs have publicly reiterated their continued confidence in judicial independence in Hong Kong, the judicial spokesperson said of the non-permanent judges, adding the court will continue to identify suitable local and overseas candidates for appointment. Two judges contracts are set to expire next year, including 90-year-old Leonard Hoffmann. Without new appointments or term renewals, that would leave the CFA with four overseas judges, as many as it had when the court was founded in 1997. --With assistance from Spe Chen. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that processes citizenship applications, nearly a million new citizens were officially welcomed to the United States in naturalization ceremonies last year. The process of becoming a citizen can be confusing for newcomers. However, Hope Community Center is a local organization that helps soon-to-be citizens navigate the process. The community center provides services for people who want to become American citizens, and Ely Castillo knows the process inside and out. Read: Central Florida honors Queen of Salsa Celia Cruz during Hispanic Heritage Month Castillo, a legal services manager, said, We had one student last week who was very nervous, and I shared my story with her. She calmed down, and she passed. Castillo said she took the 10-week citizenship course herself. It feels really nice to be able to help people. I went through the process, and I know how it feels like, and being able to see them that they accomplish one of their dreams and theyre able to vote is beautiful. Castillo said, The first time my coworker went with me, it was my first time, and he also printed out my ballot, and I was able to do my research before going out and voting. Read: Local realtors association advocates to improve housing for growing Hispanic population Castillos process to become an American took nine months but was shortened because she already spoke English. English. English is not their first language. I want to apply, but I dont know English. What can I do? Castillo said. It can be an intimidating process, but the Hope Community Center works to lessen the burden. Read: From language barriers to math joy: An Orange County teachers journey to empowering students You can do it no matter what. You have to prepare yourself, and we have the tools to help you prepare for this journey. And at the end of the day, you know, it might not be easy, but its worth it, " Castillo said. See more in the video above. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. I hope misery keeps you company: Slain pastors loved ones read impact statements in court I hope misery keeps you company: Slain pastors loved ones read impact statements in court MEMPHIS, Tenn. Eduard Rodriguez-Tabora had to listen to the victims loved ones impact statements on Monday, following his decision to plead guilty to second-degree murder for his involvement in the death of a Memphis pastor. May you not find any peace and rot in your cell as time moves like a snail and I hope misery keeps you company every day, every hour, every second that you breathe, Darrell Eason-Williams said. Final suspect pleads guilty in pastors death Strong words from the husband of a beloved Memphis pastor as he spoke to one of the men who pleaded guilty to his role in his wifes death. Reverend Dr. Autura Eason-Williams was killed back in 2022 after being shot multiple times and carjacked in her Whitehaven driveway. During court on Monday, her family and friends read victims impact statements. You took someone away who meant so much to me and who poured into my life, Kristin Williams said. Every single day of my 30 years, she poured into my life. Speaking through tears, Dr. Eason-Williams niece looked at Tabora and told him about her familys loss. Though I dont forgive you, I do hope and pray that you get the help that you need, Williams said. Throughout the morning, fellow United Methodist pastors, friends and family members spoke about the impact the impact Dr. Eason-Williams made, saying she knew how to love unconditionally and was a champion for all. She wouldve advocated for you and your friends, Daryl Lewis said of his second cousin. She wouldve been there for you and your friends. If she saw you hungry, she would feed you and ask if you had problems. Throughout the statements, there were moments of anger and hurt. ORIGINAL STORY: Pastor shot and killed during Whitehaven carjacking; 2 teens charged My family will never forget, Lewis said. They might forgive. The pain was palpable. Her laugh, her touch, her smile, her hugs, her guidance, her love, Reverend Tondala Hayward said. Theyre all just memories now. Rodriguez-Tabora had a listening device as he heard the statements. He declined to say anything to the reverends family but his attorney told WREG after the hearing that Tabora was going to work on having his life mean more and be a better person. Im glad we got to a resolution and Im just hoping that the City of Memphis can heal and move on and be a better place, Robert Amann said. Tabora will serve 20 years in a Tennessee prison. As of now, he is slated to be deported to his native country of Honduras following his release. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com. NEW MEXICO (KRQE) Warmer-than-normal conditions aloft continue across the Land of Enchantment, despite a few showers circulating around a Monsoon high-pressure system in the four corners. Everywhere else is starting off mostly clear of clouds. With very calm winds and relatively dry air, despite the higher humidity in the mountains, a few areas in the higher elevations are starting off around the freezing mark. Everywhere else is relatively mild with most places ranging from the 40s to the lower 60s. Forecast Continues Below Despite the slight chill in the air to start, conditions will warm up to near-record criteria for many. Temperatures will mostly rise across the region from the morning school commute on, eventually reaching into the upper 70s, 80s, and 90s by the afternoon. With just a little bit of moisture trapped beneath the high pressure, showers will be forming for most of the mountain ranges today, especially to the west, while nearly everywhere else will be mostly sunny. As the high-pressure system strengthens, that clockwise flow from the system will translate into the surface in the form of a weak cold front developing to the northeast late today. Cooler conditions will ensue tomorrow, and, while some of the western mountains will still have a shot of rain tomorrow, dry air will accompany the front, allowing for mostly clear skies with the drop in temperatures, despite remaining above-normal criteria for many tomorrow. Then, conditions will heat up once again later this week. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. SHANGHAI (Reuters) - BYD has informed the Chinese regulator it is recalling nearly 97,000 electric vehicles (EVs) for a manufacturing fault involving a steering control unit that could lead to fire risks, the market regulator said on Sunday. The Chinese automaker is recalling Dolphin and Yuan Plus EVs manufactured in China between November 2022 and December 2023, according to a statement from the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR). BYD did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company would ask its dealers to install a physical fix in the recalled cars, the SAMR statement added. It did not elaborate if any of the affected EVs were exported. Dolphin and Yuan Plus were BYD's two top-selling models in 2023, which in total accounted for 26% of its 3 million cars sold in the year, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. The recall is a rare one by BYD of its pure electric and plug-in hybrid cars as the Chinese company grew rapidly to become the world's biggest seller of such vehicles. It recalled a small batch of Tang plug-in hybrids in 2022 due to a defect in the battery pack that could cause fires. (Reporting by Shanghai and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman) PHOENIX - Howard, a Southern white rhinoceros who lived at the Brevard Zoo for more than a decade before being transferred out west to Arizona, has died, according to the Phoenix Zoo. In a post on its Facebook page on Sunday, the Phoenix Zoo said Howard was euthanized after treatment for a "protracted and progressive neurological condition" became unresponsive, calling it a "difficult decision." "Preliminary pathology revealed meningitis and sepsis and we are still waiting to receive additional information in the coming weeks with more pathology tests pending," the zoo said. "Howie" was born at White Oak Conservation Center in Florida in 2007, and joined the Brevard Zoo in 2003, before being transferred to the Phoenix Zoo in 2020, according to the Phoenix Zoo. In a blog post, "Howard's Big Move Out West," the Brevard Zoo said Howie's transfer to Arizona was recommended by the Association of Zoos and Aqariums white rhino Species Survival Plan, which routinely moves animals between various zoos for breeding and other purposes. He was moved to be a companion to LouLou, a female white rhino already at the zoo. "Howard was an easy-going rhino who always enjoyed interacting with his keepers. He was always happy to spend time near his keepers for as long as he could convince anyone to stand still and scratch him. He will be greatly missed by everyone on the Hoofstock team," his keepers said in a statement, shared by the Zoo. BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said he had had a "very frank one-on-one conversation" with his Hungarian counterpart on Monday, amid disagreements opened up by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Hungary has upset its NATO and European Union allies by keeping close economic ties with Russia, and has also refused to join other Western countries in sending arms to help its neighbour. Kyiv for its part stopped the flow of oil from Russia's Lukoil in June to refineries in Hungary and Slovakia, forcing Hungary's MOL to renegotiate the supply through Belarus and Ukraine. At a joint press conference, Sybiha thanked Budapest for supporting EU sanctions against Russia and said Kyiv was "committed to developing pragmatic and predictable good-neighbourly relations". But after Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Budapest would back any initiative that would achieve peace in Ukraine, Sybiha added pointedly that he hoped Hungary would continue to support "Ukrainian initiatives" - referring to plans advanced by Kyiv that reject any Russian territorial gains. Szijjarto said Hungary "would like Ukraine to abstain in future from those unilateral steps taken recently that posed special challenges to Hungary's energy supply", but had no plan to restrict gas flows or its substantial power exports to Ukraine. He also said Hungary wanted to take part in rebuilding Ukraine. Budapest has also clashed with Kyiv over what it says are curbs on the rights of roughly 150,000 ethnic Hungarians in western Ukraine to use their native tongue. Kyiv denies that such restrictions exist but Sybiha said both sides had "noted a positive dynamic in resolving this issue". (Reporting by Krisztina Than, Anita Komuves in Budapest and Yuliia Dysa in Gdansk; Editing by Kevin Liffey) At least 121 people have been confirmed dead across six states Florida, Georgia, South Carolina , North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. As of Monday, crews are working to clear debris, restore power, and deliver food and water to stranded residents. When did Helene arrive? A motorist passes around downed trees on the road in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Fletcher, North Carolina. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images) The Category 4 hurricane made landfall along Florida s Big Bend region late Thursday night, with winds of 140 mph and a devastating storm surge that lashed the area and left widespread destruction from the Sunshine State through Georgia into the Carolinas and Tennessee Valley as the storm traveled across the U.S. Effects of Hurricane Helene Downed trees on a home in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Rutherfordton, North Carolina. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images) Millions of people were plunged into darkness as the hurricane s effects brought down trees and utility lines and destroyed homes , businesses and infrastructure . As of Monday, those outage numbers dropped to 2.1 million a sign that the nonstop work of utility crews was paying off. While power is slowly being restored, that's only one of the obstacles first responders and residents are facing as recovery operations after the disaster continue. People desperate for help in North Carolina as death toll rises Communities in western North Carolina were hit especially hard by the effects of Hurricane Helene, with catastrophic flooding destroying hundreds of roads and bridges. Access to several areas has been cut off, preventing crews from getting much-needed supplies like food, water and fuel to residents. Dozens of people are now confirmed dead in North Carolina , and hundreds of people remain unaccounted for due to the lack of power and communication access. A majority of the deaths were reported in Buncombe County, and Sheriff Quentin Miller said the death toll may continue to rise. "People are desperate for help, and we are pushing to get it to them," North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said. "A massive effort. Many people are cut off because roads are impassible. They dont have power or communications. Please know that we are sending resources and coordinating closely with local governments, first responders, state and federal partners, and volunteer organizations to help those impacted by this tragic storm." Motorists pass under downed trees hanging on utility cables in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Fletcher, North Carolina. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images) The torrential rain that fell during the storm led to dozens of rare Flash Flood Emergencies , and officials were pleading with people to get to higher ground as the water quickly rose and flowed into communities. "This unprecedented storm dropped 10 to 29 inches of rain across the mountains, causing life-threatening floods and landslides ," Cooper said. President Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration for North Carolina over the weekend, and more than 800 Federal Emergency Management Agency staff, along with distribution centers and equipment, have been deployed across the states that were impacted by Helene. While crews are continuing to clean up in the wake of the storm, the shortage of food, water and fuel is leading to long lines at gas stations as tensions start to run high. Local media reported arguments breaking out in the long lines among residents who are no doubt exhausted and running out of options while they desperately seek help. When asked about the delay in supplies and the situation unfolding in Buncombe County, Miller said the supplies were delayed because of the destroyed roads and the Sheriffs Office was considering posting deputies at gas stations to help prevent more arguments among residents. While crews are trying to repair those roads, helicopters have been able to start dropping supplies to those who remain isolated until routes can be reopened. "There are helicopters that are very active. We saw those when we came in last night," FOX Weather Correspondent Robert Ray said. "And yet, there are still people in dire straits in need. Its a situation right now that is still very, very complicated and fluid." Storm surge causes catastrophic damage along Florida's Gulf Coast In this aerial view, people fill sandbags at Helen Howarth Park ahead of the possible arrival of Hurricane Helene on September 25, 2024 in Pinellas Park, Florida. Currently, Tropical Storm Helene is forecast to become a major hurricane, bringing the potential for deadly storm surges, flooding rain, and destructive hurricane-force winds along parts of the Florida West Coast. Helene is expected to make landfall in Florida on Thursday. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) The storm surge caused by Hurricane Helene led to catastrophic damage along Florida's Gulf Coast, with the Big Bend region seeing the highest inundation, which exceeded 15 feet. Cities such as Tampa and Clearwater Beach saw their highest storm surge level in decades. The small barrier island of Treasure Island was particularly devastated, with widespread flooding and property damage. Four people died on the barrier island because of Helene's impacts, according to Treasure Island police. Residents of Florida's Keaton Beach also experienced Helene's effects, and they are still picking up the pieces . "Seen a lot of bad storms on this river and seen people recover from a lot," Steven Hatchett told FOX Weather's Robert Ray . "But I've never seen anything this magnitude - not even the (1993) Storm of the Century or any of the hurricanes." Hatchett said buildings that had been there his whole life are gone. FOX Weather contributed to this report. Gov. Glenn Youngkin, left, assesses storm damage caused by Hurricane Helene in Fries, (Courtesy of Christian Martinez, Office of Governor Glenn Youngkin) The death toll from Hurricane Helenes impact on Southwest Virginia is up to at least two, as another storm forms off the Gulf Coast that could hit the region later this week. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Monday gave the update on deaths from the storm that hit several states in the Southeast, including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia. Over 100 are dead, the Associated Press reported. We are bringing resources to bear in an unprecedented way for Southwest Virginia, Youngkin said. I heard over, and over and over again: Ive lived here for 70, 80 years, Ive never seen anything like this. That has been clear. Youngkin gave his update at the Virginia Department of Emergency Management Emergency Operations Center Monday afternoon, a day after President Joe Biden approved an Emergency Disaster Declaration to unlock assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency to aid responses in the counties of Grayson, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise, and Wythe, as well as the city of Galax. Another thirteen counties and five cities are expected to be added, Youngkin said. According to the National Weather Service, the city of Galax saw a dumping of about 8.6 inches of rain over a 72 hour period. The town of Damascus, with a population of about 788 people in Washington County, saw 19.5 feet of flooding in the southern end of the New River Valley, which experienced high waters as far north as Radford University. They put out guidance that this would be a horrific season, with almost 30 storms, yet, here we are, were only on Helene, said Shawn Talmadge, state coordinator at VDEM, referencing how storms are named in alphabetical order. But this storm itself is unique. It rapidly intensifies, made landfall very quickly as a [Category 4] and then started interacting with this unusual environment, just huge amounts and volumes of rain. Over 70 swift water rescue operations have occurred, with Virginia National Guard members rappelling from helicopters and pulling people from cars, Youngkin said. Helicopter crews out of Abingdon helped rescue about 50 people from the roof of a hospital in Tennessee by building a makeshift platform to land on. This is a life-changing storm for many people and communities, said Tom Cormons, executive director of Appalachian Voices, an environmental non-profit with grassroots efforts throughout Appalachia. Recovery is going to be a long, difficult process. At the peak of the storm, about 282,000 Appalachian Power customers in the region were without power. That number was down to 83,000 as of 1 p.m. Monday, the company said in a news release. The CEOs of Appalachian Power Company and its parent company American Electric Power visited the region, Youngkin said. An issue responders are still dealing with is the lack of cell-phone service. The state has deployed mobile towers to provide service in the meantime, Youngkin said. If possible,residents are urged to call 211 or visit vaemergency.gov for ways to get help. Impacted residents may also stop by shelters where they can shower and get meals, which have been handed out by incarcerated members under coordination with the Department of Corrections. I know a lot of people want to stay where they are, but sometimes its just not safe, said Youngkin. The Virginia Department of Forestry had cleared 817 miles of roadways by Sunday afternoon, but road closures have added 30 minute- to hour long-detours in the region that already had minimal thoroughfares to go around mountainous terrain. Regions further east and north in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia also saw road closures, including five in Albemarle County where one road was washed out and will need to be rebuilt. In Madison County, route 670, or Old Blue Ridge Turnpike, was washed out, as Route 637, or Mutton Hollow Road, in Greene County was closed due to high water. Along with farmers having hay crops and berry farms ruined, and residents needing oxygen tanks and medication, Youngkin said dams, including the Appalachian Power Company hydroelectric power dam, were a concern going into the storm. But as the water receded, so did officials caution. The concern now is areas like Claytor Lake in the New River Valley. Were worried about whats in the water behind the dam, said Youngkin. The combination of both our surface rescue teams and hazmat teams are working to get as much stuff out of the water as we can. Propane tanks, in the water, we got to get them out. Theres floating cars, theres all kinds of stuff. On Monday, Youngkin added, the state would be submitting its request for a Major Disaster Declaration, which will release federal funds to provide post-disaster relief for families in the form of individual assistance as well as reimbursing localities for their costs through public assistance. Youngkin, nor Timothy S. Pheil, federal FEMA federal coordinating officer, knew exactly how much the state was going to request. Its going to be big, were going (through) all the thresholds. I cant begin to estimate, Youngkin said. Aggregating the personal loss, business losses we had local law enforcement offices that were flooded. All of that has got to be assessed. Its a lot. Potentially complicating the post-disaster relief, though, is that FEMA funds were left out of a congressional budget compromise reached a couple weeks ago, amid partisan disagreement, to keep the federal government running. It is my understanding that Congress would have to return in order to approve supplemental disaster funds, said Emily Steinhilber, director of climate resilient coasts and watersheds for Virginia at the Environmental Defense Fund. The National Weather Service in Blacksburg is forecasting scattered showers and a possible thunderstorm through Tuesday night at the Brookneal/Campbell County Airport, which is about 30 minutes south of Lynchburg. Another storm forming off the Gulf Coast is prompting fresh concerns, Youngkin said, as it could hit the region already inundated with water. Particularly, the New River Valley is still angry, Youngkin said. The river is angry and full, and more rain is only going to make that worse. The whole stretch up the New River Valley has real risk associated with it. Mary-Carson Stiff, executive director of the nonprofit Wetlands Watch, said its the hurricanes that heat up in the Gulfs increasingly warmer waters that are dumping unimaginable amounts of rain in rivers and creeks. Virginias communities are already experiencing roughly 20% more rainfall since 2006, so when you add more rain from a big storm into our already full water bodies and stressed infrastructure, the outcome is disastrous, Stiff said. WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) Relief efforts are underway after Hurricane Helene devastated several states. President Joe Biden said hell travel to the impacted areas, likely later this week, when his visit wont distract recovery efforts. There is widespread flooding, damaged homes and millions without power across the southeast. Im here to tell every single survivor of these impacted areas that we will be there with you for as long as it takes, said Biden. President Biden said hes directed all possible resources to the affected areas. Your nation has your back, and the Biden-Harris Administration will be there until the job is done, said Biden. So far, more than 100 people have been killed by the storm. The White House is bracing for a number that could be much higher. We know there are 600 who are either lost or unaccounted for, said Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall. Homeland Security advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall says thousands are working to rescue people, restore power and help survivors register for assistance. We send people door to door. FEMA literally goes knocking with an iPad in hand to help people register for the assistance they need, said Sherwood-Randall. Meanwhile former president Donald Trump toured storm damage in Valdosta, Georgia. He spoke in front of a furniture store destroyed by the storm. Here today to stand in complete solidarity with the people of Georgia, said Trump. Trump said he came with truckloads of supplies to hand out and thanked first responders. Throughout the region, our hearts are with you, and we are going to be with you as long as you need, said Trump. Vice President Kamala Harris cancelled campaign stops to travel to FEMA headquarters to be briefed on the hurricanes impact. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. As the number of storm-related deaths climbed past 160 across the Southeast, authorities were rushing to airdrop supplies, restore power and clear roads after massive rains from Hurricane Helene left people stranded and without shelter. President Biden said he plans to visit areas in North Carolina devastated by flooding from Helene on Wednesday, but will try to limit his disruption of ongoing recovery efforts. Mr. Biden said Monday he would travel to Raleigh for a briefing with the emergency operations center, then take an aerial tour of the damage in Asheville. Mr. Biden told reporters at the White House there were reports that 600 people were unaccounted for following the storm, which knocked out communications to affected areas. "God willing they're alive, but there's no way to contact them," Mr. Biden said. Mr. Biden's homeland security adviser, Liz Sherwood-Randall, told reporters Monday over 3,500 federal response personnel were deployed to the area and the number of urban search and rescue personnel would be up to 1,250 in the coming days. Former President Donald Trump visited Valdosta, Georgia, just north of the Florida-Georgia state line Monday afternoon. Wearing one of his red Make America Great Again campaign hats, Trump shook hands and spoke with supporters and a group from Samaritan's Purse, the charity run by evangelist Franklin Graham. Trump's rival for the presidency in November, Vice President Kamala Harris, intends to visit the region when it won't disrupt response efforts. Hurricane Helene death toll Helene has killed at least 161 people, CBS News confirmed. The storm appears to have inflicted its worst damage in the Carolinas, where officials said more than 113 people have been found dead. In the devastated city of Asheville, North Carolina, Megan Drye watched as her 7-year-old son Micah and her parents got swept away into the flood. They were stranded on a roof when it collapsed into the water. Megan Drye was rescued. In Buncombe County, which includes Asheville, 57 deaths were reported. More than 95,000 Buncombe County homes and businesses had no power Monday afternoon, according to utility tracker Find Energy. Leo Grindstaff, 12, left, helps his brother Gabe, 4, while walking to their grandparent's house to help salvage items in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Sept. 30, 2024 in Old Fort, North Carolina. / Credit: Melissa Sue Gerrits / Getty Images Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder pledged in a call with reporters Sunday that she would have food and water to the city by Monday, The Associated Press reported. World Central Kitchen, the charity founded by chef Jose Andres, said Monday that it had arrived in the city. In North Carolina, at least 77 people were killed, officials confirmed to CBS News. "This is an unprecedented tragedy that requires an unprecedented response," North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said at a news conference Sunday. He added that more deaths were expected as rescuers reach isolated areas. In South Carolina, 36 people were confirmed dead from the storm as of Tuesday morning, according to the coroner's offices in 11 affected counties. Gov. Henry McMaster had announced most of those deaths Monday. They included two firefighters and two people who were killed when trees fell on residences, officials said earlier. At least 25 people were killed in Georgia, according to a spokesperson for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. A first responder was among the dead, Gov. Brian Kemp said Friday. Downed trees on a home in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Sept. 29 in Rutherfordton, North Carolina. / Credit: Sean Rayford/Getty Images In Florida, 13 people were killed, officials confirmed to CBS News, including 10 people who died in Pinellas County. Statewide, crews have conducted thousands of rescue missions. Six weather-related fatalities were confirmed in Tennessee. In Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a Friday news conference that one person was killed. Another person was confirmed dead in Virginia on Monday. Helene knocked out power to several million customers. Over a million and a half still had no electricity Monday night, Find Energy reported. But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday night that 99% of that state's homes and businesses had their power restored. Where did Hurricane Helene hit? Helene crashed ashore in Florida's Big Bend area on Thursday night as a dangerous Category 4 hurricane. Helene was the third hurricane to hit that region in the last 13 months. .deck { color: #202022; font-family: "proxima-nova", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; padding-bottom: 12px; max-width: 785px; line-height: 17px; color: #202022; } figcaption { font-family: "proxima-nova", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; color: #828282; max-width: 785px; } figcaption a { color: #828282; text-decoration: none; } Florida before vs. after Hurricane Helene Click the bookmark icon in the upper right corner of the map to compare before and after images of Florida after Hurricane Helene. Source: Esri From there, it quickly moved through Georgia, where Kemp said Saturday it "looks like a bomb went off" after seeing splintered homes and debris-covered highways from the air. Helene then soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains, sending creeks and rivers over their banks and straining dams. The National Weather Service on Saturday reported the highest rainfall totals from Helene for each state. As of Saturday morning, the rural northwest North Carolina area of Busick had received the highest overall rainfall, with a staggering 30.78 inches. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, who traveled to Florida on Saturday to survey the damage, said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that the historic flooding in North Carolina has gone beyond what anyone could have planned for in the area. Men on a four wheeler pass a storm damaged house along Mill Creek in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Sept. 30, 2024 in Old Fort, North Carolina. / Credit: Sean Rayford/ Getty Images "I don't know that anybody could be fully prepared for the amount of flooding and landslides that they are experiencing right now," she said. Asheville was particularly hard hit as rising floodwaters damaged roads, led to power outages and cut off cellphone service. On Sunday, Cooper asked residents to avoid traveling on roadways in western North Carolina. "Many people are cut off because the roads are impassable," he said. Mr. Biden has issued emergency declarations for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, all of which free up federal resources that will go toward recovery and assistance efforts. People waiting in line for gasoline in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Sept. 29 in Fletcher, North Carolina. Millions are still without power and the White House declared major disasters in North Carolina and Florida, freeing up federal emergency management money for those areas. / Credit: Sean Rayford/Getty Images Moody's Analytics said it expects $15 billion to $26 billion in property damage. AccuWeather's preliminary estimate of the total damage and economic loss from Helene in the U.S. is between $95 billion and $110 billion. In East Tennessee, the flooding was so bad that two dams were at risk of failing. The Cocke County city of Newport was evacuated as a result, but both dams ultimately held. "Rescues have been made, attempts have been made, some people are stranded on the roofs of their homes and things like that," Cocke County Sheriff CJ Ball said. The Gulf Coast community of Keaton Beach, Florida, was still recovering from Hurricane Idalia, which hit the area last year, and August's Hurricane Debby when Helene appeared to deliver the knockout punch. Taylor County officials estimated that 90% of homes in Keaton Beach are gone. A map shows where Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Idalia and Hurricane Debby made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region. / Credit: CBS News And further south in Cedar Key, officials said it is not safe for residents or rescue workers. In the waters off Florida's Sanibel Island, a Coast Guard crew made a daring rescue, saving a man and his dog who were stranded on his 36-foot sailboat. In the Big Bend fishing village of Steinhatchee, storm-weary residents prayed Helene would miss them, but the waterside docks and restaurants that once stood there are now gone. A man crosses a storm surge flooded area on the coast of Gulfport, Florida, as Hurricane Helene passed through the Gulf of Mexico to the west on Sept. 26, 2024. / Credit: Thomas Simonetti for The Washington Post via Getty Images The storm surge shoved buildings off their foundations. Linda Wicker lost the restaurant she had owned for 20 years. She seemed more shaken by what she saw across her village, homes torn apart by the wind and the deep water. "If you let it play with your mind, you just can't go there," Wicker said. "You can't. It's horrible." On historic Davis Islands in Tampa, streets were under water and boats had washed up on land. One home was gutted by flames. Marie Terry, who lives next door, would have been in the neighborhood unless her daughter had insisted she evacuate. "I'm just in shock," Terry told CBS News. "It's just such a beautiful house, and to see it like this, it's like, what could have happened?" In Atlanta, an apartment complex flooded, and neighbors had to rescue each other. Sam Oni, 83, was one of them. "But I thought I would somehow escape it, but I did notand I owe a lot to my neighbors," Oni told CBS News. A drone view shows a flooded St. Armands Circle after the area was hit by Helene in Sarasota, Florida, Sept. 27, 2024, in this still image obtained from social media video. / Credit: Sarasota Police Department via Reuters Serena Rodriguez was asleep in bed in her Atlanta home when she started floating, but it was not dream. "It was like all around, the water, it was like an island," Rodriguez told CBS News. "A nightmare mostly. Yeah, I was it was insane. Like, I couldn't believe it. I was in shock all the time. I never experienced anything like it." CBS News senior weather and climate producer David Parkinson described Helene as a "gargantuan" storm. NASA shared video of the hurricane as seen from the International Space Station, showing the size of the storm as it churned through the Gulf of Mexico Thursday afternoon. The International Space Station flew over Hurricane Helene at 2:25 p.m. EDT Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, as it approached the Gulf Coast of Florida packing winds in excess of 120 miles an hour. pic.twitter.com/J1iU0Iztpx International Space Station (@Space_Station) September 26, 2024 Exceptionally warm Gulf water fuels hurricanes Record-warm water in the Gulf almost certainly acted like jet fuel in intensifying the storm. Brian McNoldy, senior research associate at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, recently noted that ocean heat content in the Gulf of Mexico is the highest on record. Warm water is a necessary ingredient to strengthen tropical systems. This is pretty amazing: the ocean heat content averaged over the Gulf of Mexico is obliterating previous all-time record highs. It's 126% of average for the date.https://t.co/CdrzWVvKiZ pic.twitter.com/rciwFvJ8Zx Brian McNoldy (@BMcNoldy) September 4, 2024 Sea surface temperatures in the path of Helene were as warm as 89 degrees Fahrenheit 2 to 4 degrees above normal. These record water temperatures have been made significantly more likely by human-caused climate change, according to Climate Central. The North Atlantic Ocean as a whole has seen record warm temperatures in 2024, storing 90% of the excess heat from climate change produced by greenhouse gas pollution. Helene is the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. A young autistic man's symphonic odyssey "Matlock" star Kathy Bates Sen. Mark Kelly says Americans need to know about "huge amount of misinformation" on election Hurricane Helene ravaged parts of the southeastern United States over the weekend. The category 4 storm has killed more than 100 people, leveled entire towns, and destroyed critical infrastructure. Nowhere has the devastation been more pronounced than in the Carolinas, where mudslides and widespread flooding have created apocalyptic scenes and left emergency responders scrambling to provide aid. Helenes 500-mile path of destruction includes Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee. In North Carolina, 37 fatalities have been reported, and hundreds remain missing. Buncombe County, the seat of Ashville, has become the national epicenter of the disaster. Asheville and surrounding towns in western North Carolina have lost power and cellular communications, and have been cut off from the rest of the state as the storm washed away entire roads. The citys central water system was severely damaged, cutting off residents from basic life-sustaining resources as Helene dissipated. Stunning photos from Swannanoa, NC by Travis Long for the @NewsObserver https://t.co/6Cvyou6DCB pic.twitter.com/3PCq39PTup Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 30, 2024 Many people are cut off because roads are impassable, they dont have power or communications. Please know that we are sending resources and coordinating closely with local governments, first responders, state and federal partners, and volunteer organizations to help those impacted by this tragic storm, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said on Sunday. The water receded at Biltmore Village today revealing the devastation. I have been in this area many times, and today it was not recognizable. Now that the water is gone the rebuilding process can begin #helene #ncwx #asheville pic.twitter.com/ZgMYFrZJ07 Dan Whittaker (@severeforecast) September 30, 2024 On Saturday, President Joe Biden approved Major Disaster declarations in Florida and North Carolina, as well as emergency declarations Florida, North Carolina Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and Alabama. According to the White House, more than 3,300 personnel from across the federal workforce are deployed and supporting Hurricane Helene response efforts across the impacted states. This includes a widespread response from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The destruction of major roadways surrounding the Asheville area, as well as days of flooding, presented challenges to first responders. Relief supplies have been airlifted into the area, and relief agencies are working to restore communications across the southeast. We are working hard to get as many supplies in there water obviously is a big thing, Gov. Cooper told Spectrum News over the weekend. The problem is everything is flooded. It is very difficult for them to see exactly what the problems are. The priority now is saving lives, Cooper added, because [given] the lack of communications there may be people who are still in trouble. The only available wifi in #Asheville is at the public library downtown. Here's a look at images taken by our photojournalist Maurice Griffin. pic.twitter.com/GtiQCJvlkk Meteorologist Vernon Turner (@WeathermanVern) September 29, 2024 President Biden said on Sunday that he hopes to visit areas impacted by Hurricane Helene as soon as it will not disrupt emergency response operations. As soon as it will not disrupt emergency response operations, I intend to travel to impacted communities. President Biden (@POTUS) September 30, 2024 In a Monday press conference, Kemp lauded the support hed received from lawmakers across American politics. Just know we will work in a bipartisan way on disaster relief in this state without with all partners, he told reporters. Despite the widespread federal mobilization in response to Helene, the crisis has already been weaponized by former President Donald Trump as a cudgel against Vice President Kamala Harris and the Biden administration. During a Sunday campaign rally in Pennsylvania, Trump accused Biden of sleeping through the disaster and bashed Harris for campaigning over the weekend. The Harris campaign canceled several planned events on Monday after the VP was briefed by FEMA officials on the disaster relief efforts and announced plans to visit affected communities as soon as it was prudent for the work of first responders. Trump announced a visit to Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday, where he is expected to help distribute relief supplies. Georgias Republican Governor Brian Kemp will not appear alongside the former president, and will instead be traveling to Augusta, Georgia, to help coordinate the areas emergency response. The former president drew backlash for capitalizing politically on the disaster while continuing to bash climate change as one of the great scams of all time, during a rally on Sunday, as communities devastated by Helene began to grapple with the damage and the loss of loved ones. That same day, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell told Face the Nation that the intensity and destruction of hurricanes were increasing because the warming temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico were creating more storms that are reaching this major category level than weve seen in the past. Climate scientists have warned for decades that rising global temperatures will lead to a cascading chain of disasters that will devastate communities all over the globe particularly coastal ones. Earlier this summer, Trump told Elon Musk that the only real outcome of climate change would be that youll have more oceanfront property. 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. After Hurricane Helene, new tropical threat looms for Florida, Gulf Coast. What you should know (This story was updated to add new information.) Words nobody affected by Hurricane Helene wants to hear: A tropical storm or hurricane could form over the western Caribbean. "Conditions remain ripe for tropical development in the western Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico over the next week and steering breezes would tend to guide any feature that forms in those waters toward the United States," according to AccuWeather. Those sentiments were echoed Sunday by Dr. Ryan Truchelut, chief meteorologist with WeatherTiger. Track all active storms Weather alerts via text: Sign up to get updates about current storms and weather events by location "Traumatized" Gulf Coast, Florida and the Southeast need to keep a close eye on this potential threat. Truchelut is a Florida meteorologist who works with the USA TODAY Network. In a telephone interview Friday, AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter warned residents along the Gulf Coast to not "let your guard down" as a system of low pressure could form over the western Caribbean. "Another serious threat for a tropical storm or hurricane could eventually emerge from this area of concern. It's in the same general area in the northwestern Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico where Helene got started. "Experts are identifying this as a medium risk area for a tropical storm to develop. It could find itself in the southern Gulf of Mexico ... and then be a threat to the Gulf Coast. If it tracks toward Florida, that would be extra special concern after the serious impact this week from Helene." Where is the potential tropical threat to Florida, US Gulf Coast? A large and disorganized area of low pressure located over the western and southwestern Caribbean Sea is producing some shower and thunderstorm activity. Environmental conditions could become conducive for gradual development, and a tropical depression could form in a few days while the system is over the southern Gulf of Mexico or northwestern Caribbean Sea. While residents in the northwestern Caribbean Sea and along the U.S. Gulf Coast should continue to monitor the progress of this system, the timetable for potential development has shifted later toward late week or this weekend. Formation chance through 48 hours: low, near 0 percent. Formation chance through 7 days: medium, 40 percent. Timeline: When could tropical depression or tropical storm develop? AccuWeather meteorologists said the area from the western Caribbean to the Gulf of Mexico will remain a potential tropical development zone into the first half of October. "Over the next week, one to two tropical storms could be born in this zone and possibly steered across part of the southeastern United States that was hit hard by Hurricane Helene." The National Hurricane Center updated its timeline at 8 a.m., saying "the timetable for potential development has shifted later toward late week or this weekend." "At this range and without an actual disturbance to watch, Id simply say that its perhaps a little more likely than not something eventually develops in the Caribbean in the next 4 to 8 days, though not a certainty," Truchelut said Sunday. "That is of course concerning, as a steering ridge over the western Atlantic would again mean anything that does develop is probably heading northwest into the Gulf by the end of the week." Is Florida, Gulf Coast really at risk from another tropical storm or hurricane after Helene? Downpours can be strewn anywhere from Louisiana to Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas in the U.S., according to AccuWeather. As southwesterly breezes increase, they will tend to cause moisture and any tropical feature that has formed or is trying to form to be guided to the north or east later next week into the following weekend. If those steering breezes remain weak, then a track toward Louisiana could occur, said AccuWeather. If there are strong steering breezes from the southwest occur, then a track toward Florida and perhaps the coastal areas of Georgia and the Carolinas would be more likely. Later, downpours could stretch anywhere from Louisiana to Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas in the U.S. The most likely scenario with this week's tropical feature is that it will get drawn northward to a point over the Gulf but then shunted northeastward late this week, AccuWeather said. How is this developing tropical system different from Hurricane Helene? "This week's disturbance will likely be slow to develop as it expands northward, encountering more land masses and wind shear," Anderson explained. "There will also not be any storm diving southward through the central U.S. to provide that extra energy and northward pull." Helene was a very large storm that moved into an environment that encouraged rapid intensification, including very warm water and little wind shear to tear it apart. A non-tropical storm moving south through the central U.S. provided even more energy to Helene and helped send it north into the Appalachians and mid-Mississippi Valley, AccuWeather said. A dip in the jet stream "would tend to favor anything that forms eventually angling northeast or east-northeast over the eastern Gulf, more sharply than Helenes north-northeast heading," Truchelut said, although it could also increase wind shear. This developing system also is much smaller than Helene. What impacts could Florida, Gulf Coast see? Wind shear may prevent this storm from rapidly strengthening and may even split it apart into two separate entities, the second one may follow the first one a few days later," Anderson said, A strong and more compact storm would result in a risk of strong and potentially damaging winds across parts of the Southeast from Friday through next weekend, AccuWeather said. Both scenarios one strong storm or two weaker ones can deliver excessive rainfall to part of the Southeast. Please note, until an organized center of circulation forms, there is a great deal of uncertainty on where and what this could do. Stay informed. Get weather alerts via text What's next? We will continue to update our tropical weather coverage daily. Download your local site's app to ensure you're always connected to the news. And look for our special subscription offers here. This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Tropics update: NHC tracking threat in Caribbean. See timing, impacts Cars were buried in feet of sand after Hurricane John struck Acapulco, Mexico (Francisco ROBLES) (Francisco ROBLES/AFP/AFP) The death toll from Hurricane John, which made landfall twice on Mexico's Pacific coast, has risen to at least 16, authorities said Sunday. Outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in a message on X, updated the toll in Guerrero state to 15, while a civil protection official in the neighboring state of Oaxaca told AFP another life was lost there. Some media said the toll was at least 20. John made landfall on Tuesday as a Category 3 hurricane before churning along the coast for several days and striking land again as a tropical storm. The storm left the beachside city of Acapulco submerged, causing panic in a town where memories are still fresh of Hurricane Otis -- a scale-topping Category 5 storm that left a trail of destruction and several dozen people dead in October last year. Cars were left buried in deep sand, and a bridge collapsed as a result of the storm. Some 18,000 military and rescue personnel were deployed to deal with John, according to authorities. More than 5,000 people were evacuated from high-risk areas, and about 3,800 were taken to shelters. The water level had started dropping by Sunday, and a cleanup was underway. Many people wandered the muddy streets of Acapulco over the weekend, searching for food and fuel or waiting for emergency aid. President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, due to take over from Lopez Obrador on Tuesday, said on X she will visit Guerrero state with her ministers the day after her swearing-in to assess the situation and ensure "all the necessary assistance." Hurricanes hit Mexico every year on both its Pacific and Atlantic coasts, usually between May and November. In July, Hurricane Beryl forced the evacuation of hundreds of tourists and caused at least 18 deaths in the Caribbean, Venezuela and the United States. Meanwhile rescuers battled on Sunday to reach people in need of aid in the southeastern United States following devastating Hurricane Helene, which has left dozens dead. Scientists say climate change likely plays a role in the rapid intensification of hurricanes, because there is more energy in warmer oceans for them to feed on. sem-mlr/jgc/sst Production of a British film about the life of Iceman Wim Hof has been temporarily halted after accusations of domestic violence were made against the wellness guru. The biopic was stopped after the Volkskrant newspaper reported that Mr Hof physically and verbally abused a former partner, their son and her two children from a previous marriage for about 13 years. A spokesman for the London based company told The Telegraph: Genesius Pictures can confirm that due to the severity of the allegations, this production, which was in development only and had not begun filming, is on hold. The production company had said that The Iceman, which was set to star Joseph Fiennes as the Dutch motivational speaker and extreme athlete, would be an inspiring, moving and at times extremely funny film. Promotional materials for the project were taken down from its website on Monday. Caroline, Mr Hofs ex-partner, contacted Volkskrant and spoke out about how she and her family had to endure his abusive behaviour as his fame grew. Mr Hof denies the allegations. His Wim Hof method, famous for its use of cold showers and breathing exercises, has made him famous and brought him into contact with stars such as Oprah Winfrey and Jim Carrey. In 2022, his cold exposure training of a group of celebrities was a central part of the BBC show Freeze the Fear with Wim Hof, hosted by Holly Willoughby and Lee Mack. Mr Hof is known for his use of cold showers and breathing exercises Caroline, whose last name is not given in the Volkskrant article, was in a relationship with Mr Hof for 10 years, but she and her family have not seen him for 11 years. They had a son, Noah, who is now 21 and is not in contact with his father. They, and her two other children from a previous marriage, Christiaan and Nathalie, were horrified at the prospect of a film celebrating a man she says left them traumatised. For them the name Wim Hof is synonymous with years of aggression, physical violence, humiliation, manipulation and in Carolines case also sexual abuse, Volkskrant reported. They know the Iceman, as Hof calls himself, as a mean drunk with an explosive character and delusions of grandeur. Someone of whom they had to be permanently wary. Mr Hof told the newspaper: It is obvious that shes on the warpath and now wants to make everything look different from how it was. Caroline always knew how to quickly get under my skin, he said while answering a list of 44 questions from the newspaper. He added: Because of her, I started drinking, yes. He insisted that he had never been violent. Volkskrant said that it had corroborated the story with court rulings, a report from the Child Protection Board, medical reports, emails and other evidence. Community service It reported that Mr Hof was fined 350 (291) and sentenced to 40 hours of community service in 2012 for assaulting Christiaan, Carolines oldest son. A temporary restraining order to keep him away from the family was imposed. The explanation for the order said that Mr Hof used physical violence against Caroline, Christiaan and Noah, and had made death threats. In 2015, the Dutch Child Welfare Council decided that Mr Hof had forfeited the right of parental access to Noah because he had committed so much psychological violence against the boy. Caroline said that Mr Hof attacked her for the first time in 2002 when she was a few months pregnant with Noah. He slapped my face, she told the newspaper. Then he dragged me through the room by my hair and tried to kick me in the belly. I was just about able to hide behind the couch, so his kick only grazed me. Then he left. He grabbed me by the throat, cutting off my breath. I was very close to dying. Eventually, he let go, probably because Noah was around, she said of another incident in 2006. Nathalie said that he threw hot coffee in her face and often called her a pig. Mrs Diabetes He often called us mediocre people, Caroline told Volkskrant, And when I developed diabetes, he said: You deserve this. You are Mrs Diabetes and I am the Iceman. In 2010, matters came to a head after Caroline told Mr Hof to leave the home that they shared. On May 8, after drinking all day, Mr Hof was arrested by police after threatening to break a plate over Carolines head, pushing Noah and attacking Christiaan. The restraining order was imposed after this incident. Mr Hof had fortnightly access to Noah until 2015, when that was removed. In its report removing parental access, the Child Protection Board said that Mr Hof would coerce Caroline to have sex with him either by threatening to take Noah away from her, but also for money. Caroline told Volkskrant that Mr Hof would only pay alimony if she had sex with him. Only later, in therapy, I started to realise that what he was doing was actually rape, she told the newspaper. In response, Mr Hof said: All lies. Volkskrant said that Mr Hof also sent numerous emails in which he called Caroline and the children dirty bastards and monstrous a--holes, and described himself as someone who may win the Nobel prize. 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 Insights The projected fair value for Gas Malaysia Berhad is RM4.56 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity Gas Malaysia Berhad's RM3.76 share price indicates it is trading at similar levels as its fair value estimate Our fair value estimate is 23% higher than Gas Malaysia Berhad's analyst price target of RM3.71 Does the September share price for Gas Malaysia Berhad (KLSE:GASMSIA) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by taking the forecast future cash flows of the company and discounting them back to today's value. We will take advantage of the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model for this purpose. Believe it or not, it's not too difficult to follow, as you'll see from our example! Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. If you still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model. Check out our latest analysis for Gas Malaysia Berhad What's The Estimated Valuation? We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value: 10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 Levered FCF (MYR, Millions) RM254.6m RM265.2m RM270.0m RM289.0m RM300.2m RM311.5m RM323.0m RM334.9m RM347.0m RM359.5m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x4 Analyst x3 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ 3.87% Est @ 3.77% Est @ 3.70% Est @ 3.66% Est @ 3.63% Est @ 3.60% Present Value (MYR, Millions) Discounted @ 8.0% RM236 RM227 RM214 RM212 RM204 RM196 RM188 RM181 RM173 RM166 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = RM2.0b The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after the first stage. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (3.6%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 8.0%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2034 (1 + g) (r g) = RM359m (1 + 3.6%) (8.0% 3.6%) = RM8.3b Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= RM8.3b ( 1 + 8.0%)10= RM3.9b The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is RM5.9b. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of RM3.8, the company appears about fair value at a 18% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind. dcf The Assumptions The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Gas Malaysia Berhad as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 8.0%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.800. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. SWOT Analysis for Gas Malaysia Berhad Strength Debt is not viewed as a risk. Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows. Weakness Earnings growth over the past year underperformed the Gas Utilities industry. Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Gas Utilities market. Opportunity Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value. Threat Annual earnings are forecast to decline for the next 3 years. Next Steps: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Instead the best use for a DCF model is to test certain assumptions and theories to see if they would lead to the company being undervalued or overvalued. For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. For Gas Malaysia Berhad, we've put together three further aspects you should further research: Risks: For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Gas Malaysia Berhad (1 is significant!) that you should be aware of before investing here. Future Earnings: How does GASMSIA's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Malaysian stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. More than 700 Idaho residents have applied for around a dozen positions on a citizens committee that will consider the effect of technology on big-game hunting and harvest in the Gem State. Idahos public discussion of the role of technology in the field follows decisions in other Western states in recent years that have limited the use of trail cameras, prohibited magnified or lighted sights on bows and muzzleloaders, and have placed restrictions on night-vision and thermal optics. Idahos citizens advisory committee, which is being described as a working group, is expected to discuss the various ways that technology impacts harvest, hunting opportunity, and fair-chase ethics in archery, muzzleloading, and rifle seasons. The committees recommendations will be passed on to the Fish and Game Commission and ultimately the state legislature for approval and could take effect in the 2026 big-game hunting season. Applications for the working group were solicited in August. The groups first meeting is expected to be held next month, says Ellary TuckerWilliams, legislative and community engagement coordinator for Idaho Fish and Game. We received an amazing response with 767 hunters applying to be on the working group, which frankly is a little overwhelming, so it will take some time to process these applicants, says TuckerWilliams. Were grateful so many hunters are interested in this topic and willing to participate. I think it highlights the timeliness of this effort, and that this particular topic is on a lot of peoples minds. We will inform both those who are selected and those who are not, as soon as possible so we can get started. The working group, which could number from a dozen to as many as 20 individuals representing various constituencies, demographics, and regions, will specifically consider changes to big-game rules that govern weapon types and restrictions. Those rules are detailed in Chapter 4 of Idahos big-game regulations, which are revisited periodically by the department to ensure that they remain relevant, enforceable, and appropriate. The topic came about because we are in the process of reviewing our hunting rules as part of an annual process, and the commission has had an interest in a general discussion about technologys role in our season-setting process, says TuckerWilliams. During the process of opening Chapter 4 for review, we received a petition basically asking us to look at long-range shooting and fair-chase ethics related to the harvest of big game. In order to get a wide sweep of opinions and perspective, the department created the working group to guide rule-making across weapon types and species. Id say nothing is off the table, says TuckerWilliams, though that will be up to the working group to decide. They could decide to recommend no changes, or they could recommend significant changes. I would expect discussions to center on whether there should be limits to technology and the theoretical trade-off between higher harvest success rates and hunting opportunity. Is there a line that we need to be aware of where people will be willing to give up opportunity in exchange for advanced technology? Or is there a line where people are willing to not have the latest and greatest in technology because they want more opportunity? Those are the questions that this working group is going to be discussing. Several other Western states have curtailed certain technologies in recent years. In 2022 both Arizona and Utah banned the use of trail cameras for hunting, and last year Utah restricted muzzleloaders to non-magnified sights during primitive-weapon seasons, following a similar rule change in New Mexico. In 2021, Montana joined other Western states in restricting muzzleloaders to loose powder and non-sabot projectiles in its heritage muzzleloader season. Nick Fasciano, executive director of the Idaho Wildlife Federation, welcomes the discussion of the role of technology in the states big-game seasons. (Fasciano has contributed to OL in the past.) Theres been enormous interest in this group from Idaho hunters across the state, says Fasciano. Technology in hunting has come up a lot in recent years and is on everyones mind. What kind of equipment is permissible in archery and traditional muzzleloader seasons? What are the right regulations for emerging technologies that might impact fair chase? Two bulls captured on trail cam in Idaho. In recent years other Western states have reevaluated and, in some cases, limited the use of trail cameras for hunting. Photo by IDGF Fasciano says that Idaho hunters have consistently rated opportunity as a top consideration. Hes looking forward to discussions around the intersection of technology and hunter lethality, which can ultimately reduce opportunity. Im pretty optimistic that this group will pull in a diverse subset of hunters that can both help inform that conversation as well as providing a useful data point as to where hunters stand on these issues, he says. TuckerWilliams expects to invite wider perspectives on the intersection of technology and hunting, including national experts on fair chase and other state agencies that have experience regulating technology. While our decision space is limited to Idaho, this is a discussion thats happening regionally and nationally, says TuckerWilliams. I envision the first couple meetings to be informal and informational, hopefully with input from [Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies], Boone and Crockett Club, and Pope & Young Club, and Im planning to reach out to other states agencies to ask them how they addressed technology restrictions so that when our folks start having discussions about Idaho, they have regional and national perspectives to pull from. Once working group members are finalized, meetings could begin as early as October and are expected to continue into the early spring. Weve received feedback that people think a decision has already been made, and that Fish and Game is somehow anti-technology, says TuckerWilliams. That couldnt be further from the truth. We genuinely want to engage the public in a conversation and go on a journey together rather than having the agency say this is what is or isnt going to happen without input from the public. Where does the public think is right for Idaho? What sportspeople think is fair in Montana may be different from what sportspeople think is fair in Idaho. Thats what we want to learn from this process. CHICAGO The state is on track to have moved all but a few inmates out of Stateville Correctional Center by a court-ordered deadline Monday, marking the end of an era for the dilapidated century-old facility and a moment of relief for some former inmates who say they are still haunted by memories of their time there. For more than a month, the Illinois Department of Corrections has been transferring hundreds of Stateville inmates to prisons around Illinois, leaving the storied maximum security facility in Crest Hill, near Joliet, almost deserted. A federal judge this summer ordered state prison officials to move most people incarcerated at Stateville by Sept. 30, after civil rights lawyers filed a lawsuit on behalf of inmates arguing conditions were hazardous for people housed there. The state did not contest the judges order, which came as Gov. JB Pritzkers administration is moving forward with plans to rebuild both Stateville and Logan Correctional Center, a womens prison in Lincoln that could be rebuilt on Statevilles campus. IDOC spokesperson Naomi Puzzello said Friday that all general population inmates have been transferred to other facilities. Inmates were expected to be spread out in minimum-, medium- and maximum-security facilities across the state. Puzello said factors, including programming, medical needs, staffing and security, were considered in the transfers. Its not easy. Its a relatively short period of time, but we do because we have other corrections institutions in the state that have some space, were able to do it in the period that theyre asking us to, Pritzker said at an unrelated event Wednesday. A full complement of Stateville employees represented by American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 are still reporting to work at the prison as the union bargains over the process for transferring the workers, AFSCME Council 31 spokesperson Anders Lindall said last week. All Stateville staff will continue on with their assigned duties until the bargaining process is completed, Puzzello said, without providing additional details. Stateville opened in 1925 and has an operational maximum capacity of more than 3,000 inmates, according to IDOC. Its been home to some of Illinois most well-known convicted criminals, including Gangster Disciples founder Larry Hoover and mass killers such as Richard Speck. Before Illinois abolished the death penalty, it was for years the site of state executions, including that of serial killer John Wayne Gacy. About two dozen people remained in a health care unit at Stateville as of Friday, Puzzello said. Those people will be moved when we identify placements that will properly meet their medical needs, she said. Stateville housed 568 inmates in June, according to IDOC. The process of transferring them to other prisons began in August. State officials had never revealed a clear timeline for closing Stateville before U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood issued her order on the Sept. 30 dateline, although officials had signaled they were expecting to wind down operations as soon as this month. The prison came under increased scrutiny this summer following the death of Michael Broadway, a 51-year-old who collapsed while incarcerated there during a heat wave in June. Broadway died due to asthma and heat stress, according to the Will County coroners office. The proposal to dismantle Stateville and Logan and rebuild both facilities on the Stateville site was announced by Pritzkers administration in spring. The project is expected to cost in the neighborhood of $1 billion and take three to five years. The state says the plan would save hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance costs. Prison advocates and people who have been housed at Stateville had varied reactions to the demolition plan but generally celebrated the demise of a facility where former inmates described conditions as foul to the point of being traumatizing. Once they took the cuffs off and turned on the lights, I recognized that I was in another form of hell, James Lenoir, who was incarcerated at Stateville for eight years ending in 2022, said in an interview last week. There was feces, toilet paper and mold on the wall, and roaches below, he said. Lenoir was initially placed in F House, the prisons infamous roundhouse, or panopticon. Critics of that buildings design multiple floors of cells surrounding a central watchtower said it fueled a cagelike and chaotic environment. It was thought to be the last remaining roundhouse in use in the U.S. before being shuttered in 2016. But inmates dealt with poor conditions across the campus, Lenoir said. Since coming back to Chicago on supervised release, Lenoir said hes experienced symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder stemming from his time in prison frequently checking for spider webs or holes in the wall where mice could come into his cell, and a lingering suspicion of vents or any place that could have something crawl through it. Lenoir wanted to be at Stateville as opposed to a downstate prison because it was closer to family, his lawyer and educational opportunities including the Northwestern Prison Education Program, which allows some people incarcerated at Stateville to earn a Northwestern degree. Since the state announced it would be rebuilding Stateville, some advocates for inmates and workers have raised concerns about the distance of facilities where incarcerated people could be transferred. For inmates from the Chicago area, being transferred to a facility downstate would be a big problem, Lenoir said. But it would be worse to remain at Stateville, he said. I dont know if thats worth the risk (to stay in Stateville), because of the damage that has been done to me, on hindsight, he said. Jennifer Vollen-Katz, executive director of the prison watchdog group John Howard Association, said inmates who have been transferred out of Stateville have expressed everything from relief at getting away from the horrible conditions to disappointment at the lack of programs or sense of community at their new facilities. Workers are also feeling uncertainty, Lindall of AFSCME said. Many live in Chicago or the south suburbs and are concerned about whether theyll be offered alternative employment that is similar to their jobs at Stateville and not too distant from their homes, he said. The Northern Reception and Classification Center and Minimum Security Units, located a short distance from Statevilles maximum unit facility, will remain open. IDOC has said it doesnt anticipate anyone losing state employment as a result of the Stateville rebuild process. Lindall said the union remains skeptical because it has yet to see the states plan for Stateville employees. The union is set to meet with management on Monday, Lindall said Wednesday. The governor last week reiterated that his administration plans to rebuild both Stateville and Logan in three to five years. This is a system of correctional institutions that have been I mean, theyre 70 to 100-plus years old and not really appropriate for modern-day rehabilitation, and thats what we really want in a corrections system, Pritzker said. Renovating would be cost-prohibitive and not allow for a structural redesign that would benefit our staff and individuals in custody, according to IDOC. Women incarcerated in Logan will remain there until a new facility is built, IDOC officials have said previously a plan that Vollen-Katz said the John Howard Association does not support, given poor conditions at Logan as well. A group of men who were previously students in the Northwestern Prison Education Program at Stateville questioned whether rebuilding a prison on the site remains necessary. They still got a whole bunch of prisons left, so they dont need to rebuild nothing, said Broderick Hollins Sr., who was incarcerated at Stateville until early 2022 and described it as the nastiest place Ive ever seen. If youre going to spend that type of money, you need to put it in communities, he said. James Soto, who was incarcerated for more than four decades after being wrongfully convicted, also questioned the need to rebuild Stateville. He acknowledged that while he initially celebrated hearing that Stateville would be emptied, he ultimately found it to be bittersweet. For a lack of a better comparison, that is where a lot of my growing up occurred, my maturity, Soto said. Theres not going to be any real archive or history of those moments in time, of the people and the relationships that you build there. _____ I'm an American who went to Oktoberfest for the first time. Here are 5 things that surprised me most about the famous German festival. As an American who went to Oktoberfest for the first time, I encountered lots of surprises. Chugging beer and standing on tables will get you kicked out, but dancing on the benches is OK. I was surprised to find there was a full carnival outside the tents. As a beer aficionado, I've been to my fair share of brew festivals throughout the US, several of which were "Oktoberfest" themed. So, when I booked a trip to visit Oktoberfest in Munich, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. However, after just a few steps into the roughly 100-acre festival, I realized just how special it really is. Oktoberfest was first held in 1810 to celebrate the marriage of Louis I (the crown prince of Bavaria) and Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen, and is now celebrated every year in September and October. Today, people from around the world travel to the festival to celebrate German culture and, of course, beer. In fact, last year's festival drew a record-breaking estimated 7.2 million people. Here are the five things that surprised me most when I attended Oktoberfest. The locals wear vests with their lederhosen, not suspenders Nearly everyone at Oktoberfest dresses the part wearing traditional Bavarian lederhosen outfits for men and dirndls for women. My husband was sporting the lederhosen we'd always seen with leather suspenders. However, we quickly noticed that many of the men were wearing vests with their leather shorts instead. A friendly German local later told us that while suspenders are fine to wear, they tend to signal that you're not local. The tents are actually temporary wooden structures Each Oktoberfest tent has its own theme. Emily Pogue When I hear the word "tent," I tend to think of the big tops at the circus. However, the ones I saw at Oktoberfest put those to shame. In reality, the huge tents at the festival are temporary wooden structures, some of which have two floors. In total, there are 17 "large" tents and 21 "small" ones throughout the festival, each with its own unique theme. Each tent also serves the beer of the affiliated brewery. People were snorting a mysterious white powder When our table-mate poured some white powder onto the table at 1 p.m., I have to admit, I was a little shocked by his boldness. But then, he explained that it was Wiesn Koks (aka Oktoberfest cocaine), a drugless, totally legal substance. Festivalgoers snort the powder, which is a combination of glucose and menthol, to wake up between steins. Chugging and standing on tables will get you kicked out There's a misconception that chugging is a common thing at Oktoberfest. However, this couldn't be further from the truth. Locals warned us early on that chugging is a surefire way to get kicked out of a tent. And before long, we saw a bachelor party escorted out for this very reason. Another no-no is standing on the tables. It's common and encouraged however, to stand on the benches to sing along to fan favorites like"99 Luftballons," "Sweet Caroline," and "Take Me Home, Country Roads." But getting atop the tables is a step too far and will get festivalgoers kicked out. There's a full carnival outside the tents Outside the Oktoberfest tents, there is an entire carnival. Emily Pogue "Family friendly" and "beer fest" aren't usually words you hear together. But for Oktoberfest, it's true. Children under 6 are allowed inside the beer tents before 8 p.m., and some venues even offer special kid-friendly food menus. Outside the tents, we found an entire carnival, including roller coasters, games, and the famous Devil's Wheel, where a small group tries to stay on a rotating platform for as long as possible. However, I recommend hitting the rides earlier in the day. Even if you've been pacing yourself, you never know how the glassy-eyed guy across the Tilt-A-Whirl will fare. Overall, while I knew Oktoberfest was going to be fun, I was blown away by its sheer scale and the friendliness of everyone we met. Although I'm hanging up my dirndl for now, it might be coming back out sooner rather than later. Read the original article on Business Insider Customers picking up food at Rose Goute Creole in Springfield, Ohio. The Haitian community in the city was recently the target of lies and smears from right-wing activists. (Nick Evans/Ohio Capital Journal) Im tired of the hateful nonsense directed at immigrants. Im disappointed that hardly any elected officials either in Alabama or in our federal government defend immigration as a vital, constructive force in our country. Im done with the idea that I have to treat people waving signs saying Mass Deportation Now and cheering bloody-minded attacks on peaceful communities as good-faith political actors. And I despise the fact that we allow the most paranoid people in the country to set the terms of the immigration debate. Im fed up with the stubborn delusions so many Alabamians cling to about foreign-born people, who make up just 4% of the state population. That includes the dehumanizing and misleading assertions that they commit more crimes than native-born Americans (they do not). According to the U.S. Census, immigrants in Alabama are more likely to be married than most Alabamians; are more likely to be in the workforce; are more likely to make less than native-born Alabamians and are more likely to fork over more of their income to pay rent each month. Im frustrated that none of that matters when someone lights a fire on social media and calls for panic. It comes from former President Donald Trump and slithers its way down to our state officials. Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth, in a chest-thumping letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas earlier this month, claimed participants in a federal program for immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela were increasing the HIV rate in the state (they are not). Attorney General Steve Marshall went to Sylacauga recently to meet with law enforcement amid rumors about a small number of Haitian immigrants living in the area. Our attorney general acknowledged no reports of criminal activity in Sylacauga. But he felt compelled to suggest that Haitian immigrants were leading to an uptick in crime in Marshall County (something the Marshall County sheriff said last month that hes not aware of). Demonizing Haitian immigrants is an old, ugly tradition in the United States. Haitians have been subjected to different legal standards for decades. The federal government classified Haitian immigrants fleeing the violent Duvalier regime in the late 1970s as economic migrants, not political refugees, denying them asylum. When another coup took place in that country in 1991, the federal government subjected immigrants who were HIV positive to a higher standard of asylum screening without allowing attorneys to be present then put them behind barbed wire at Guantanamo Bay. Even the government conceded that the medical facilities were inadequate to treat the people there. Its almost as old as Alabama politicians attacking small communities. According to al.com, there were about 2,500 Haitian immigrants in the state in 2022. Thats a tiny number in a state of 5.1 million people. But not so small that the endlessly cruel gaze of Alabama officials cant find them. Its obvious why they do it. Immigration fears play well in Republican primaries. But all this talk has a price. In Ohio, the Republican tickets lies about the Haitian community in Springfield led to bomb threats at schools and hospitals. Here in Alabama, the attacks have alarmed Albertvilles Haitian community. No one deserves that. We should be welcoming these men and women. Because immigration is good. Immigration is what keeps our nation going. And immigration could help address problems we see in rural Alabama. People coming to this country create jobs. Immigrants pay hundreds of billions of dollars to federal, state and local governments. Even those who dont have full citizenship status, and who cannot access federal or state services, pay $50 billion in taxes each year. Immigration creates issues, of course. Not the violent, racist fantasies anti-immigrant politicians try to sell, but the familiar problems growing communities face: making housing available and ensuring schools can accommodate children. Those are real challenges. But theyre challenges that competent, sincere public officials can address, particularly if the tax base is expanding. It may not have the political appeal of spewing despicable nonsense about pets, but its a lot more constructive. And the problems from population decline are far worse. In the Black Belt, where some areas have seen population decline since 1940, newcomers could keep schools open or bring more health care providers in, cutting the distance elderly people need to travel to see a doctor. Encouraging immigration doesnt guarantee that people will come. You need something to attract folks, particularly jobs. But areas of the state that have lagged in economic performance could only prosper by welcoming new residents. Even though Alabamas immigrant communities grew during the 2010s, the percentage of foreign-born people in the population is well below the 14% we see nationwide. Most go to other southern states, like Georgia and Florida. Thats unfortunate. Immigration is how we build strong and prosperous communities. Alabama would be better with more immigrants. And when state officials feel no hesitation in demonizing them, we are far worse. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE A dockworker strike at the East and Gulf Coast ports on 12:01 a.m. Tuesday appears inevitable, with both parties remaining at an impasse and ocean carriers and ports alike already having prepped for the expected cargo disruptions. According to a Reuters report, no negotiations between 45,000 port dockworkers at the International Longshoremens Association (ILA) and their employers, the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX), were planned for Monday ahead of the deadline. More from Sourcing Journal With neither party coming to the table, this means U.S. retailers and brands could imminently be paying up more for goods entering the country by ship. In the event of a strike, freight rates on the ocean, particularly from Asia to the East Coast, could be in for another boost after weeks of plummetingand this latest wave could linger into 2025. As recent history has proved, any form of capacity shortage borne of a disruptive event creates a platform for carriers to raise freight rates, irrespective of the underlying supply and demand fundamentals, said Philip Damas, managing director of Drewry Supply Chain Advisors. Hence, we believe the U.S. East Coast/Gulf Coast port strike will contribute to higher prices for the remainder of this year, and potentially next year too, depending on the duration. Damas and other freight analysts had predicted last month that ocean freight rates were set to soar in the event of a strike. At the time, Damas said a strike would likely increase container prices out of China and Europe by several hundred dollars. Worldwide rates have continued their descent over the past 10 weeks, with the Asia-to-East Coast rates per 40-foot container falling 37 percent during that period as demand deteriorated, according to data from Drewrys World Container Index subset for Shanghai to New York. But Damas pointed out that even as a strike looms, the trans-Atlantic rates have avoided this pitfall. Spot rates on the trans-Atlantic Rotterdam-to-New York index have held up better, actually rising 6 percent over the past 10 weeks amid some minor, up and down fluctuations, said Damas. In a Wednesday webinar, Nerijus Poskus, vice president of global ocean procurement at Flexport, called the impending ILA strike the biggest driver of any freight rate changes. If the strike happens of the East Coast, how long it lasts is going to affect everything, Poskus said. It will affect global congestion, it will affect equipment availability at originthats the No. 1 thing to watch. Compounding the wider problem is the continued flurry of goods into the West Coast ports as shippers pulled their goods forward and moved product away from the East Coast throughout the summer. Its possible that a strike of only a few days will not have a noticeable or at least very sustained impact on ocean rates, but if a strike stretches onmaybe more than a weekwe should expect a significant impact, first on West Coast rates and eventually on East Coast rates once a strike ends and the backlog reduces operational speeds and ties up capacity, Judah Levine, head of research at Freightos, told Sourcing Journal. According to Freightos Terminal data, rates from Shanghai to Long Beach and to New York & New Jersey were at about $5,300 per 40-foot container (FEU) and $6,300 per FEU respectively last week, well below their July peaks of about $8,300 and $9,600. However, Levine said these numbers are still more than double typical levels even for peak season months. Ocean rates across the market are being pushed up by significant capacity being absorbed by Red Sea diversions, said Levine. So, any rate increase is going to be from an already elevated floor. Based on the National Retail Federations projections that October import volumes will be 10 percent lower than September, Levine acknowledged that a decrease in overall cargo demand means it is not a given that the rates will skyrocket. That may be one mitigating factor of how high rates will go as there wont be as much urgency as there may normally be in October, he said. Also, the Golden Week holiday in China this week means some pause in being able to place shipments specifically for this week. If the container rates do increase, theres a higher potential for companies to pass these costs onto the consumer, said Tony Pelli, director of supply chain security and resilience at BSI Americas. It may take a couple of weeks to see an impact on the price of goods in the U.S. In some cases, companies may have increased inventory at U.S. warehouses or shifted (to the extent possible) to West Coast ports in anticipation of such an event, said Pelli. Its unlikely that stores have already raised prices, but that could happen fairly quickly following a strike, as West Coast ports do not have the capacity to handle the excess volume. After weeks of speculation, President Joe Biden told reporters on Sunday he did not intend to intervene in the strike if the ILA and USMX dont come out with a deal by Tuesday, saying its collective bargaining. I dont believe in Taft-Hartley. The White House has urged both parties to get back to the negotiation table and negotiate in good faith. A potential strike could change the tune of the Biden administration if it lasts more than a few days. One such analysis from J.P. Morgan estimated a strike could cost the U.S. economy up to $5 billion per day. The invocation of the Taft-Hartley Act would extend the contract negotiation period 80 days, thus delaying a strike and requiring the ILA to return to work. Ironically, the potential increase in freight rates would benefit the ocean carriers, which has drawn the ire of the ILA in the lead-up to the contract expiration. The union has sought out wage hikes commensurate with the record profits companies like Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and Maersk were making during the Covid-19 pandemic. The ILAs demands are largely related to two major issues: the wage concern and the use of automation across its 36 ports from Maine to Texas. The union has denied claims that it is seeking out a 77-percent increase in wages over the course of its next contract. While the union has taken the anti-automation stance for years, recent reports have indicated the ILA is seeking a total ban on automated equipment across the ports. With a deal seemingly nowhere near completion, the USMX filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Thursday to get the ILA to resume bargaining. The anticipated work stoppage has completely dwarfed the attention to other labor action in Canada, as roughly 350 dockworkers at the Port of Montreal began a three-day strike at 7 a.m. Monday. Two terminals at the port will remain closed until Thursday at 6:59 a.m. Access to these terminals is prohibited, and no rail, ship or truck services are provided. All other Port of Montreal terminals remain in service. In a statement, the Montreal Port Authority (MPA) expressed its disappointment that the Maritime Employers Association and the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 375 couldnt reach an agreement to avoid the stoppage. According to the MPA, a strike puts $90.7 million in economic activity at risk for each day of interruption, and deprives companies in Quebec and Canada of some 40 percent of container handling capacity on the St. Lawrence River. ERWIN, Tenn. (WJHL) A plastics manufacturer in Unicoi County expressed sympathy after several employees went missing or died amid catastrophic flooding. Impact Plastics issued a press release on Monday stating that the company expresses sympathy for the missing and deceased employees and one contractor during the historic and devastating floods at its facility on Friday, September 27. Families ask for updates on missing loved ones at Unicoi County press conference Impact Plastics is located in the Riverview Industrial Park in Erwin. We are devastated by the tragic loss of great employees, Impact Plastics founder Gerald OConnor said in the release. Those who are missing or deceased, and their families are in our thoughts and prayers. According to Impact Plastics, the company was monitoring weather conditions on Friday morning after intense rainfall the night before. Employees were dismissed by management to their homes when the plant lost power and water started covering the parking lot and nearby service road, according to the release. At no time were employees told that they would be fired if they left the facility, the release states. For employees who were non-English speaking, bi-lingual employees were among the group of managers who delivered the message. Impact Plastics stated that most employees left immediately, but some remained at the facility or nearby for unknown reasons. TEMA: 109 total missing in Washington, Unicoi counties Senior management and some assistants reportedly stayed at the plant to make preserve company records, assess damage to the building and oversee the departure of employees. Those employees were the last the leave the building, Impact Plastics reports. The company stated that some employees left the industrial park in a truck owned by a neighboring company and driven by a driver employed by the other company. Other Impact Plastics employees reportedly left by taking the CSX railroad track behind the plant because of high waters that had entered the front of the facility. Due to the quickly rising water, the truck tipped over and five employees and a contractor aboard the truck went missing, the release states. Five others who were also on the truck when it tipped over made it to safety and were later evacuated. Those who departed by the railroad tracks were offered assistance from employees of an adjacent company, making it to safety. According to the company, a National Guard helicopter was sent at the request of senior management to search for other employees. The helicopter airlifted five other employees to safety, the release states. Impact Plastics is working to organize a recovery center to help employees and provide more information on their benefits and job opportunities. Impact Plastics plans to reopen operations in the future but did not provide an estimated date. Impact Plastics remains committed to assisting its employees and help them connect to available resources after the devasting effects of the horrific floods that occurred on September 27, 2024, the company stated. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. During a natural disaster, it is often unknown what the best course of action will be. Many people who live on the shoreline go inland, but storms can change direction on a dime, leaving evacuees stranded far from home and with few resources. The plight of pets and other animals is always particularly fraughtthere is no guarantee shelters or hotels will take animals, leaving many to try to shelter in place in hope of staying with their pets. This man attempted to weather the storm in his sailboat in the Gulf of Mexico along with his dogbut when the boat began taking on water, both the man and his Golden Retriever needed to be rescued by the Coast Guard. Last Friday, the Coast Guard Air Station in Clearwater, Florida was called to assist an unnamed man and his dog who were stranded on a disabled boat in the Gulf of Mexico, about twenty five miles off the coast of Sanibel Island. Related: Coast Guard Rescues Dog Who Fell Off Oregon Cliff in Dramatic Video The thirty-six-foot boat was taking on water in the storm, and the man and his dog were in pretty desperate circumstances when the Coast Guard helicopter arrived. They lowered a diver into the water and you can see the man encouraging his life-jacketed dog to jump into the rescue divers arms. Together, the man and dog were loaded onto a rescue raft and raised into the helicopter, where they were transferred to a facility to assess their health. Both man and dog are currently fine. Water Safety for Pets Despite the danger of having the sailboat out in such terrible weather, its good that this man took the precaution of ensuring that his dog was equipped with a life jacket. Life jackets are a life-saving precaution for both humans and animals on the water. Good life vests for your four-legged friends should fit snugly around the chest and back, with straps around the chest and under the abdomen, and leave their legs free for paddling. Its also important that these jackets have handles on the top for people and rescuers to be able to quickly grab in case of an emergency. The jacket worn by the dog in this video appears to be the Paws Aboard brand, which retails for about forty dollars for the larger, retriever size hes wearing. The vest is neon yellow, an excellent color for wearing in the open ocean, as it remains extremely visible against both dark and light ocean water and in many weather conditions. You can see in this video how easy it is to spot the dog in his brilliant yellow life vest despite the horrid storm conditions. Pets in the Storm As more reports come in about the victims of these hurricane disasters, the plight of innocent pets serves as a reminder of what a difficult position those in the paths of these storms face when it comes to their animal companions. Its hard enough to find a way to evacuate with the usual troops of dogs and catsmore exotic animals or those which need special habitats like snakes, insects, and fish are often left behind when their people run from storms, which means they may be coming home to far more tragic circumstances than destroyed houses. Were so glad that this story, at least, has a happy ending. 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. Indicted NYC Mayor Adams turns to church as he vows to reign instead of resign but some say that prayer aint going to work Praise God especially when youre under federal indictment. Mayor Eric Adams solicited prayers from the citys faithful during back-to-back church visits Sunday, defiantly vowing not to resign and instead claiming, Im going to reign two days after he was arraigned on sweeping federal corruption charges. An animated Adams first raved about his love for Jesus while speaking to the congregation of the Emmanuel Presbyterian Reformed Church in The Bronx for about a half-hour after which he refused to answer reporters questions. An animated Mayor Eric Adams spoke at a Bronx church Sunday one of many recent faith events for him after his indictment. James Keivom God placed me in this moment and placed in my heart to continue to move this city forward, he said. And so youll hear the small number of loud people saying, But he should step down. No, Im going to step up. Im not going to resign. Im not going to resign. Im going to reign. Adams then hoofed it to Staten Island, where a group of clergy rallied with him inside Mt. Sinai United Christian Church. The group huddled and prayed for Adams, who told a small crowd of congregants there that he was warned by clergy that storms would arise along his journey. The question becomes, is how true is your faith? he said. Adams has embarked on a blitz of recent faith events. James Keivom Im asking the people of this city, let me continue to do this job, he said. Adams schedule after he was arraigned Friday also included a prayer-filled senior-center visit and stops at a Queens church where he vaunted the power of prayer and a Bronx gospel concert. But some New Yorkers werent buying Adams casting himself as a virtuous man of God wholl be vindicated against accusations he defrauded taxpayers out of $10 million in matching campaign finance funds and took bribes from Turkish officials and nationals. Shortly after Adams arraignment, he visited a birthday celebration at the ARC A. Philip Randolph Older Adult Center in Harlem, where many seniors prayed with him a display that drew skepticism from one 68-year-old woman who goes to the site. They were in there saying prayers and st, the Harlem resident said. That prayer aint going to work for a devil. I saw his face, and I did like this, she said, raising her two middle fingers. Not all people at a Harlem senior center where Adams prayed were supportive. Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office Alice Dividu, 70, who also saw Adams at the senior center, was more supportive to a point. She told him to hang in there, prompting Adams to smile, the retired daycare worker told The Post. But afterward, she expressed doubt about voting for him again. The charges are legit, she said. It sounds legit. What was he doing its a sad situation. They coming after him. He made it seem like nothing was going [on] I just saw him from the news. I said, Damn, he came straight from the court to here, she said. Adams approval rating sank to record lows for a Big Apple mayor months before the historic federal criminal charges. But he has maintained the support of many prominent faith and black leaders, who stood alongside him Thursday right before the five-count indictment against him was unsealed and continued to vocally back him in pulpits and television broadcasts afterward. The Rev. Al Sharpton, an Adams ally, urged Gov. Kathy Hochul during his National Action Network rally Saturday to not remove the mayor from office. Adams has claimed God told him 30 years ago exactly when hed become mayor. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office Adams, who has claimed God gave him a divine message roughly 30 years ago that predicted exactly when he would become mayor, has appeared only to happy to be blanketed by the faithfuls support. Im asking you to continue to move the demonic energy that has engulfed not only our city but our entire globe, he said during his Bronx gospel concert visit Saturday. I dont know who came before me, but there is a man of God that is the mayor of the city of New York this time, and there will always be. So I lift you up in prayers, and I ask you to lift me up in prayer. WASHINGTON National Guard troops airlifted families out of flooded communities in North Carolina as federal authorities raced Monday to assist those hardest hit by Helene, surging thousands of aid workers to Southeastern states. Personnel rescued 324 residents in air evacuations by Monday morning following the devasting floods in the western part of the state, according to North Carolina National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Ellis Parks. Among those helicoptered to safety: an infant, a patient with dementia and others in need of hospital care. North Carolina Guardsmen were assisted by personnel and choppers from states including Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and South Carolina, Parks said Monday. The National Guard has airlifted 100,000 pounds of water and food. NC Gov Roy Cooper greets first responders from Indiana staying at the FEMA Camp in Wilmington following Hurricane Florence Tuesday, September 18, 2018. Meanwhile the Federal Emergency Management Agency was in surge mode, deploying 3,500 workers to work with local, state and federal officials. Another 1,200 were conducting search and rescue missions targeting the hardest-hit areas of North Carolina and Tennessee, a senior FEMA official told USA TODAY. Helene reached its peak as a Category 4 storm, and then dumped massive amounts of water on the mountains bridging eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina, that carried away homes, businesses, roads and bridges. As many as 600 people were still unaccounted for on Monday, President Joe Biden said. More: Epic flooding in North Carolina's 'own Hurricane Katrina' In a statement Monday afternoon, Biden confirmed the enormity of the evolving federal effort to provide drinking water, food, power and working toilets and to reopen roads and clear downed trees and power lines. I have directed my team to provide every available federal resource as fast as possible to communities hit by Hurricane Helene, Biden said, adding that he has quickly approved every Emergency Declaration request he has received from the states and deployed FEMA and Small Business Administration teams to help residents whose homes or businesses were destroyed or damaged. The federal search and rescue teams, Biden said, were working side-by-side with state and local partners in treacherous conditions to find those who are missing. They will not rest until everybody is accounted for. In a speech at the White House, Biden added that as many as 600 people are still missing, and promised devastated communities that help is on the way and the "nation has your back." FEMA moves teams across the Southeast FEMA Deputy Associate Administrator Lucas Hitt told USA TODAY the agency sending aid to Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. We're continuing to move people and resources around between the states to where the need is, and as the need develops and evolves, Hitt said. There's a lot of damage in a number of places, there are a lot of people with a lot of needs, and were going to be at this for some time, Hitt said. We'll be at this for as long as it takes. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell was on the ground Monday in North Carolina after visiting Georgia on Sunday and was surveying damage alongside Gov. Roy Cooper. Criswell will remain on the ground in North Carolina, the state with the greatest known damage, until the situation has stabilized, FEMA said. Here are some of the FEMA-assisted efforts in North Carolina and elsewhere in the Southeast as floodwaters receded in some areas, showing the extent of damage that's estimated in the billions of dollars: The Coast Guard is providing essential search and rescue capabilities. The Department of Defense has deployed high-water trucks and airlift support, using both rotary and fixed-wing aircraft to transport personnel and supplies to western North Carolina and Tennessee. The Army Corps of Engineers is offering technical support for infrastructure repair. The Department Health and Human Services sent Disaster Medical Assistance Teams down to Asheville, N.C., to help the overloaded local healthcare capacity. NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was using its satellites to provide an aerial view of the scope of the destruction in parts of Florida, it said in post on X. It said NOAA aircraft also were providing aerial damage assessment images around the state's hardest hit locations. Hitt and other FEMA officials said Monday that federal agencies, private sector, nonprofit and faith-based organizations were responding to large disasters in five states Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Each of these states are at different stages of their response and recovery efforts. However, all states are addressing the impacts including impassable roads, communications and water systems disruptions and power outages, FEMA said in an update published on its website. FEMA disaster declarations approved by Biden By Monday, Biden had approved major disaster declarations for Florida and North Carolina, allowing survivors to immediately access funds and resources to jumpstart their recovery. People in 17 counties in Florida and 25 counties in North Carolina, including the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, can now apply for assistance with FEMA, it said on its website. People can apply in three ways: online by visiting disasterassistance.gov, calling 1-800-621-3362 or on the FEMA App. The FEMA assistance in Florida and North Carolina could also include upfront funds to help with essential items like food, water, baby formula and other emergency supplies. And money may also be available to repair storm-related damage to homes and personal property, as well as assistance to find a temporary place to stay. Emergency declarations were still in effect for Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Under an emergency declaration, FEMA can provide support for urgent disaster response activities. We've got generators, we've got ambulances, we've got trailers and distribution centers full of meals, Hitt told USA TODAY. That's what we do. That's our business. And we'll continue to support people in the impacted states as long as it takes. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Helene aftermath floods NC, as FEMA and National Guard help Throughout the past week, New Yorkers braced for traffic standstills and headaches around Midtown Manhattan as the culminating week of the United Nations General Assembly got underway. Meanwhile, members of the New York City Police Department were focused on securing the event as more than 130 world dignitaries came and went. "Its a massive operation, a massive undertaking," Tarik Sheppard, deputy commissioner of NYPDs Public Information said. "We have a lot of cops and detectives out there assigned, and it's just something that when it's over, you're just proud to be a part of because it is one of the biggest world events that we have." Sheppard gave Fox News an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the NYPD's Joint Operations Center, where officers monitor several of the citys camera systems and then deploy officers on the ground when an emergency response is needed. Biden Addresses Un General Assembly For Last Time As Dictators, Despots Come To New York The New York Police Department gave Fox News an exclusive look at its Joint Operations Center, where federal agencies joined NYPD officers to ensure the safety of more than 130 world leaders for the U.N. General Assembly. Last week, NYPD officers at the center were joined by members of the Secret Service, FBI, Homeland Security and the White House Military Office. "So we're partnered up and linked together just in case something happens [so] the messaging can be in unison," Sheppard said. Read On The Fox News App In addition to safely securing the arrival and departure of diplomats and U.S. leaders, the Joint Operations Center was also closely monitoring protest activity to ensure that everyday residents didnt have an additional hindrance to commutes already disrupted by the United Nations gathering. NYPD officers stand guard during a rally for Gaza at the Consulate General of Israel on Oct. 9, 2023, in New York City. "It's the perception of what's happening out there that we have to battle because they [protesters] are filming their videos saying,No, we're so peaceful," Sheppard said. "Theyre not showing you at times the criminal mischief, the destruction of property, the blocking in the roadways where the average citizen is just trying to get home or pick their child up them being delayed for an hour two can really be disruptive to families and cause major, major issues." NYPD officers block activists protesting outside the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the Financial District of New York City, Sept. 18, 2023. Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the NYPD has monitored upwards of 4,000 protests, according to the NYPDs Chief of Patrol John Chell, who shared some of the departments strategy for securing the United Nations during a news conference earlier this month. The conflict in Gaza arose at the U.N. last week. As speeches from both Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas got underway, protesters gathered nearby intending to disrupt the gathering without success. "The important thing is to remember to respect people's First Amendment rights; however, we're not going to allow crimes to be committed," Sheppard said. Original article source: Inside NYPD's 'massive' security operation for UN General Assembly amid protests Celeb chef slams Gavin Newsom's self-congratulatory propaganda about Californias $20 fast-food minimum wage Californias $20 minimum wage for fast-food workers took effect on Apr. 1. While the legislation has faced criticism, Gov. Gavin Newsom is celebrating its impact. Don't miss 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 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 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 Since the law was enacted, California has added 11,000 new jobs in the industry. As of July, our state boasts a historic 750,500 fast food jobs, he wrote in a recent op-ed for Fox News, citing data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to Newsom, California now has more fast food jobs than ever before. He also highlighted how the legislation has improved conditions for those working in the fast food sector, stating, Because of Californias compassion for working people, these men and women living paycheck to paycheck now enjoy better working conditions, reduced financial stress and greater opportunities for upward mobility. However, not everyone shares Newsoms enthusiasm. Celebrity chef and restaurant owner Andrew Gruel dismissed the op-ed as typical Gavin Newsom self congratulatory propaganda based on questionable data. I think it's a little early to put the book on the shelf and take the victory lap here, Gruel told Fox Business, cautioning that it may be too soon to fully assess the long-term effects of the wage hike on the industry. Analyzing the numbers Gruel raised concerns about the accuracy of Newsoms claims. These aren't even seasonally adjusted numbers, he noted, referring to the data cited by the governor. Experts have echoed Gruels concerns about the lack of seasonally adjusted data. So the governor is saying that the data shows California has the highest fast food employment its ever had. Unfortunately, hes using a preliminary data set released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Rebecca Paxton, research director at the Employment Policies Institute, told KTLA. The latest set that the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases is called seasonally adjusted, which is what economists use to measure policy impacts, The distinction is significant because seasonally adjusted data accounts for typical seasonal employment fluctuations, such as temporary hiring spikes during holidays or reduced staffing in slower months. Seasonal adjustment provides a clearer picture of underlying trends by smoothing out these predictable variations. Without this adjustment, unadjusted numbers can present a skewed perspective, potentially misleading when assessing long-term policy impacts. Story continues Gruel also questioned the timeframe of Newsoms analysis. He's using like, nine or 10 months, and really it's only been three months in this data in which the bill actually took effect, he explained. In the grand scheme of 750,000 jobs isn't a huge number. However, Newsoms breakdown did reveal some promising short-term figures. It showed that in April 2024, Californias fast food industry employed 739,500 workers. This number grew to 743,300 in May, 744,700 in June, and reached 750,500 by July. This means that between April and July a period of just three months the state added 11,000 fast food jobs Unintended consequences Gruel argued that even if Newsoms numbers are accurate, they fail to capture the full picture due to the unintended consequences of the legislation. One major consequence, according to Gruel, is the reduction in worker hours, which inflates job creation statistics without genuinely benefiting employees. The first thing that these multi-unit restaurants did when they found out about this bill was they took people who were working overtime so anything over 40 hours and they cut their hours down to 25 or 30. Those people went and got other jobs, he explained. Gruel pointed out that instead of having one person work 55 or 60 hours a week, restaurants now split that position between two employees working 30 to 32 hours each. This appears as job growth on paper. He shared insights from his own experience as a restaurant owner, observing a noticeable increase in fast food workers seeking additional employment since the law took effect. I know that because starting in at roughly April, we got flooded on the full-service side with people who were looking for a second job because they weren't allowed to work overtime anymore, and this was in our restaurants, and we still are getting flooded from fast food workers looking for another job, he recounted. Read more: Rich, young Americans are ditching the stormy stock market here are the alternative assets they're banking on instead Some restaurants have closed Gruels concerns align with classical economic theory, which suggests that setting a wage floor above the market equilibrium can lead to unintended consequences. Employers, faced with higher labor costs, may reduce hiring, cut workers' hours, or even eliminate positions altogether to maintain profitability. This is especially problematic for low-wage workers with less experience or skills, who are more vulnerable to these changes. California has seen a consistent and significant increase in its minimum wage over the past decade. In 2014, the states minimum wage was $9.00 an hour. Today, its set at $16 an hour, rising to $20 an hour for fast food workers. For some business owners, this increase has forced difficult decisions. A Fosters Freeze outlet in Lemoore shut down on April 1, leaving its workers without jobs. Its owner, Loren Wright, said in a text to KMPH that the substantial rise in minimum wage has made it challenging for small businesses to stay afloat. Lawrence Cheng, whose family owns seven Wendys locations south of Los Angeles, admitted to cutting his staffs hours due to the minimum wage increase. We kind of just cut where we can, Cheng told the Associated Press. I schedule one less person, and then I come in for that time that I didnt schedule and I work that hour. However, there are alternative economic theories, such as the efficiency wage theory, which argue that higher minimum wages can boost worker productivity and reduce turnover, as better-compensated employees may be more motivated and loyal. Additionally, increased wages can boost consumer spending, as low-income workers have more disposable income, potentially stimulating economic growth. What to read next This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. Internet demands UK fire someone who hasnt worked there in two years for ugly tweet | Opinion Sometimes we all need to step away from our keyboards and phones. But Lexington resident Betsy Packard and by extension the University of Kentucky found out just how insane our internet culture can be on Monday morning. On Sunday, Packard wrote on X Hurricane Helene: What if GOD is punishing MAGA populations for their hate and hypocrisy? Works for me! The Libs of TikTok, a right-wing troll account, quickly picked it up, noting that Packard was a University of Kentucky staffer, a graduate TA in creative writing. They sent the tweet into the stratosphere, demanding to know what UK was going to do about it. Does @UKarts_sciences condone these messages? the account asked angrily. Meet Betsy Packard, an instructor at @UKarts_sciences. She appears to celebrate Hurricane Helene destroying cities because some of those towns are Republican. Does @UKarts_sciences also believe this? Do they condone these messages? pic.twitter.com/BwHwaPAGLH Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 30, 2024 The only problem with this brilliant academic trolling is Packard doesnt work for UK. She was a graduate student between 2020 and 2022, according to spokesman Jay Blanton. But before that fact could be made clear, the Daily Mail jumped in with this headline: University of Kentucky staffer says deadly Hurricane Helene was Gods way of punishing MAGA After Blanton sent several emails to the Daily Mail, they changed it to ex-staffer. But in the meantime, UK has been painted with a very broad and damaging brush. Packard made an abhorrent and inexcusable statement; she is clearly suffering from some form of Trump Derangement Syndrome to blame the horrors that North Carolinians are undergoing on their politics. Libs of TikTok was so anxious to make an example of her that they made an even dumber misstep. This is their brand: Identify left-wingers who say or do something dumb, and then call on the entirety of the internet to pounce, facts be damned. And here we all are, madder and dumber than we needed to be on a Monday morning. And not even close to helping the people of Western North Carolina who are suffering through unimaginable suffering. As Blanton said: Such statements are abhorrent and do not reflect our values as an institution, he said. Our thoughts and concerns are with those impacted by these devastating storms. As an institution, we have many members of our community directly impacted by them and working with them to provide support and resources at this time. Meanwhile, heres a handy list of actual ways to help our friends in North Carolina. Send money, then go outside and touch some grass. Investigation uncovers major U.S. airlines trying to 'dodge accountability' for harmful environmental practices: 'Flying under the radar' U.S. airlines held a secret meeting with European regulators in an effort to limit the scope of their monitoring of long-distance flights. What's happening? According to the Guardian, the lobbying organization Airlines for America held a meeting with the European Commission that was not on any official transparency logs. The aim was to convince the Commission not to track the non-carbon dioxide pollution of flights to and from non-European countries in their data collection. The group's lobbying was "flying under the radar," as Lucca Ewbank of InfluenceMap told the Guardian. "Non-CO2 emissions may account for up to two-thirds of the climate impacts of flying, and yet U.S. airlines are trying to dodge accountability for the extra climate-warming long-haul flights may cause," they added. Why is non-carbon dioxide monitoring important? According to the Guardian, air travel generates other planet-warming gases beyond just carbon dioxide. Nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and water vapor are all produced by jet engines, and all of those gases have a negative impact on our warming planet. While it's unclear how much of an impact these gases have, the European Commission plans to address the lack of knowledge with the new monitoring regulations. According to the report, the Commission plans to monitor all flights within Europe by 2025, and all flights to and from other destinations by 2027, to figure out how much of the non-carbon dioxide gas is being released into the atmosphere by international travel. Airlines for America pushed back against the new regulations, saying they would "consider all available options" to prevent them from being implemented. The International Air Transport Association said the new regulations would raise "extraterritorial concerns" and questioned whether the regulations would do anything to improve scientific understanding. What's being done about planet-warming gases from air travel? Outside of the regulations, which are still being discussed by the European Commission, airplane manufacturers have been experimenting with new technology that could slash their production of planet-warming gases. A recent study suggested that all flights under 450 miles could be powered by hydrogen by the year 2045. Meanwhile, the world's largest electric battery maker completed a successful test of its 4-ton airplane battery, opening the door to a potential commercial use in the near future. On top of that, a jet fuel that reduces carbon dioxide pollution by 80 percent has been successfully tested in a commonly used jet engine, meaning it could see commercial use soon as well. 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. ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. A Normandy, Missouri, man is accused of fatally shooting his cousin earlier this month at a home in Jennings. According to the St. Louis County Police Departments probable cause statement, the shooting happened around 3:20 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 1 in the 9400 block of Auburn Drive. Officers found the victim, Martinez Ursery Jr., 18, had suffered a life-threatening gunshot wound to his head. Ursery was pronounced dead at the scene. Remains of missing mother Emily Strite found in Jefferson County Police said Ursery was with his cousin, Christopher Webb, at the time of the shooting. Webb had picked up a rifle and Ursery had told him the rifle was loaded with a round in the chamber. Webb was arrested on Sept. 30 and is in custody at St. Louis County Jail on a $225,000 cash-only bond. The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorneys Office charged Webb with first-degree involuntary manslaughter and failure to report a shooting. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Iowa City will consider banning kratom sales on Tuesday. What to know: Kratom sales are on the chopping block in Iowa City. The Iowa City City Council is considering an ordinance change on Tuesday that would ban the sale of kratom, the over-the-counter leaf commonly found in pill form. The council previously discussed the dangers of widespread marketing of non-FDA-approved medicine. The city has a ban on new tobacco permits extending through the end of the year to give the council time to study "the best ways to mitigate the harmful impacts of tobacco, tobacco products, alternative nicotine products, and vapor products on public health." What is kratom? Kratom is a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA website says the leaf and products derived from it are often used to "self-treat" certain pain and other conditions, including coughing, diarrhea, anxiety and depression. Kratom is also used to manage "opioid use disorder and opioid withdrawal," the FDA website said. The FDA has drawn a clear line on kratom, saying that "no drug products containing kratom or its two main chemical components that are legally on the market in the U.S." have been approved by the FDA. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency classifies it as a "drug of concern" and writes in a Drug Fact Sheet, "Kratom consumption can lead to addiction." More: Iowa City could place cap on tobacco permits, limit where products can be sold What has the Iowa City City Council said about kratom? Iowa City's new ordinance would ban the sale of kratom products across the board in an effort to "protect the health, safety and welfare of area residents." Councilors discussed and reviewed a kratom ban at two council work sessions in August, which included a discussion around the future of tobacco licenses. "I think one of the greatest concerns with kratom in a lot of communities is the fact that there is a lack of regulatory oversight from regulatory agencies within the federal government," Councilor Andrew Dunn said during a discussion on Aug. 20. Others on the council and a presentation from Johnson County Public Health echoed that same sentiment. The new city ordinance would outlaw the sale of kratom at stores within Iowa City limits. Councilor Shawn Harmsen said that the council's goal isn't to make it impossible to find kratom, given that none of the surrounding cities, like Coralville or North Liberty, have imposed similar provisions. Instead, he said, the concern is with the marketing and advertising of kratom, especially to younger populations. "To go in (to a tobacco store) and be able to see, 'Hey, you can buy it legally, so it must be safe,'" Harmsen said. "That's dangerous for something that's not regulated yet." More: From French press to fancy lattes these eight shops and cafes in Iowa City are a must-try When would the kratom ban take effect? The ordinance change will not restrict the possession or use of kratom for Iowa City residents. They simply won't be able to buy the product locally. "It is unlawful to sell, advertise for sale, offer for sale, or distribute, directly or indirectly, any kratom product, or item labeled as a kratom product, in the City," according to the draft version of the proposed ordinance change. The council may still make minor, non-substantive changes in Tuesday's meeting and other meetings before the new ordinance goes into effect. An ordinance change requires at least two votes by the council before it is active. That means kratom sales could be banned as soon Oct. 15, the council's second meeting of the month. Ordinance changes can also take up to three meetings to be implemented, which would push the ban to Nov. 4. More: After closing in June, Dodge Street Coffeehouse is planning to reopen at the S. District Market Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at rhansen@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ryanhansen01. This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Why is Iowa City considering a ban on kratom sales? Iowans to vote on changes to the constitution about voter age, citizenship. What to know: Iowans will decide this November if the legal voting age and language around citizenship should be changed in the state constitution. The proposed changes are one of two constitutional amendments that Iowans will see on their Nov. 5 ballot. Another amendment, if passed, sets a plan if an Iowa governor dies, leaves or is removed from office. In the past, some constitutional amendments in Iowa have been widely disputed, such as the 2022 vote to add the right to keep and bear arms in the state constitution. Heres what you need to know about the proposed amendment to the states voting age and citizenship language. How does the voting age amendment affect Iowans? The amendment proposes reducing the voting age from 21 to 18 years old to align with the language of the U.S. Constitution. It would replace Section 1 of Article II of the Iowa Constitution. States are already required to follow the federal voting age law of 18 years old, which was established in the 26th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in 1971. Todd Pettys, a University of Iowa law professor and constitutional law expert, said. As a practical matter, its not going to change anything, Pettys said. Since the federal Constitution says that in all the elections in this country the voting age is 18, Iowa never got the power to say otherwise. The measure also proposes changing the language at the beginning of the amendment from Every citizen of the United States to Only a citizen of the United States. Why is Iowa considering a change now? Sen. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, who leads the Committee on State Government that sponsored the amendment, said the language change will modernize the state constitution. Voting by people who are not U.S. citizens, which is illegal according to U.S. law, has been a top concern among Republican lawmakers for the upcoming election. Data shows that voting by non-citizens is a rare occurrence. "I don't think Iowans are in support of allowing illegal aliens to vote in our election, and I think they are excited about that opportunity to enshrine that in the constitution," Schultz said. The amendment also clarifies in the Iowa Constitution that 17-year-olds who will be 18 years old by the next general election can vote in the primary election. What does the constitutional amendment say? The proposed amendment states: Only a citizen of the United States of the age of eighteen years, who shall have been a resident of this state for such period of time as shall be provided by law and of the county in which the citizen claims the citizen's vote for such period of time as shall be provided by law, shall be entitled to vote at all elections which are authorized by law. However, for purposes of a primary election, a United States citizen must be at least eighteen years of age as of the next general election following the primary election. The required periods of residence shall not exceed six months in this state and sixty days in the county. How is the Iowa Constitution amended? Voters have the last say on Nov. 5 if the states constitution will be altered, but the process to amend it starts years before. A constitutional amendment must be approved by two consecutive two-year sessions of the Iowa Legislature before it is on the ballot. The notice of the amendment must also be published in Iowa newspapers to inform voters about the legislature's actions. This publication requires a way of trying to make sure that voters know that the legislature has started down this amendment path, and if you don't like it, get up and vote and say so, Pettys said. After all of these procedures, the amendment goes on the ballot to be approved with an up-or-down vote that has to meet a simple majority. Sabine Martin covers politics for the Register. She can be reached by email at sabine.martin@gannett.com or by phone at (515) 284-8132. Follow her on X at @sabinefmartin. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Constitutional amendment on voter age, citizenship on Iowa ballot Hezbollah militants and supporters attend the funeral of Ali al-Debs, one of the militant group's commanders killed by an Israeli air raid two days earlier, in Nabatiyeh, Lebanon, on Feb. 16. Israeli airstrikes that wiped out Hezbollahs top leadership and left its internal security in tatters are a devastating blow to Irans decadeslong project of wielding power in the Middle East through proxies, former U.S. intelligence officials and analysts say. In a matter of weeks, Iran and its most important proxy, Hezbollah, have suffered catastrophic security failures. Israel sabotaged the groups communications, took out multiple senior figures and killed Hezbollahs powerful and influential longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, who cannot be easily replaced. U.S. officials said the Israeli airstrikes, which continued Sunday, took out most of Hezbollahs leadership and destroyed multiple weapons depots, causing unprecedented damage, both physical and psychological, to the militia group. The Iranian regime viewed Hezbollah as a cornerstone of a strategy to outflank militarily superior adversaries with armed proxies, funded and trained by Tehrans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which Tehran dubbed the axis of resistance. Equipping Hezbollah with an arsenal of rockets and missiles, along with other groups in Gaza, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, Iran gambled that it could steadily weaken Israel and the U.S. and flex its muscle while avoiding a direct confrontation that it could not win. But Irans strategy underestimated how Israel would respond to the Hamas terrorist attack of Oct. 7 and subsequent cross-border rocket fire from Hezbollah. Tehran also overestimated the strength of its proxy network, former intelligence officers and counterterrorism analysts said. Basically, their whole calculation has been torn to shreds, said terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman, a professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. For Israel, this is a stunning turnaround from the events of almost a year ago." Hoffman was referring to Hamas' Oct. 7 attack that caught Israels intelligence agencies off-guard, killed 1,200 Israelis and resulted in 250 people being taken hostage. Israeli intelligence has restored their aura of deterrence," Hoffman said. "They lost it after the 10/7 debacle. Houthis at a tribal gathering on the outskirts of Sana'a, Yemen, on Jan. 14. Damage to other proxies Israel turned its focus to Hezbollah after it severely damaged Hamas in the Gaza Strip over the last year. Israeli military operations there are believed to have killed thousands of the groups fighters and destroyed large parts of its vast network of tunnels. However, Yahyah Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, is believed to be alive and hiding in tunnels that Israeli forces have not yet seized. Israels government also has faced international condemnation over the high civilian casualty toll from its operations in Gaza, with more than 42,000 Palestinians killed, according to Palestinian health officials. The Iranian proxy group that has avoided major damage since the Oct. 7 attack is the Houthi forces in Yemen. With support from Tehran, they have continued to attack U.S. military vessels and commercial shipping in the Red Sea and to launch missiles at Israel. On Sunday, Israels military said dozens of its aircraft bombed power plants in Yemen and a seaport at Hodeida in retaliation for a Houthi missile attack on Israel. The impact of those attacks remains unclear. Although Hezbollah has been under relentless attack in recent days, Iran has proved incapable and possibly unwilling to protect its proteges in Lebanon. That could raise questions for some fighters in Irans proxy groups about whether Tehran is a worthy patron, former intelligence and defense officials said. Tehrans network of proxies was supposed to serve as a deterrent to a direct Israeli attack on Iran itself, said Matthew Savill of the London-based Royal United Services Institute, who was a senior official in the U.K.s Defense Ministry. But Savill said recent events have exposed the weakness at the heart of Irans proxy strategy. While Iran will use its partners in defense of itself, he said, the reverse is not true, and it is unlikely to go to war with Israel to save one of those partners. Glenn Corn, a former senior CIA officer, agreed. Iran, so far, has been unable to do anything significant to back up the proxies, said Corn, now the senior director of Geopolitics and Global Threat Assessment at the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology. Members of Hamas' Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza City in 2022. Israels ability to successfully strike Hezbollah's inner circle follows years of intelligence work since 2006, when Israel tried and failed to kill Nasrallah and permanently defeat the militia, Corn and other former intelligence officers said. Long-term intelligence work is paying off, Corn added. The successful Israeli operations have also forced Iran and Hezbollah to face a vexing question: how and when to retaliate without suffering yet more setbacks? If Iran or Hezbollah chooses to unleash a barrage of rockets and missiles on Israel now, it risks massive retaliation by Israel and a full-blown war that Tehran is ill-equipped to win. There is also the risk that Israeli and U.S. forces in the region will down many of the missiles, as happened in April, when Iran fired more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel with almost no effect. For a new Iranian president who says his government is ready to revive nuclear diplomacy with the West, a spiraling conflict with Israel would torpedo any chance of negotiations or sanctions relief needed to revive Irans economy. If Tehran opts not to retaliate, though, Iran will look weak and appear to be retreating from Israel. The countrys 85-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is now in a dilemma of his own making, analyst Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said on social media. By not responding strongly, he keeps losing face. By responding too strongly, he could lose his head, Sadjadpour wrote, adding that these humiliations will fuel talk about succession in Tehran. Another option for Iran and Hezbollah would be to carry out terrorist attacks overseas, going after more vulnerable soft targets associated with Israel and the U.S. around the world, former officials said. The one concern we should have is a return to the old kind of terrorist game, soft targets such as embassies overseas, both Israeli and U.S., said Marc Polymeropoulos, a former CIA official. Certainly that would be a much more plausible scenario. Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese area of Mahmudiyah on Sunday. The dangers for Israel For Israel, flush with success against Hezbollah, there is a risk that overconfidence could lead Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order a ground invasion of Lebanon, former officials said. Israels previous military incursions into Lebanon, most recently in 2006, backfired badly, and the sight of Israeli troops on Lebanese soil could provide a shot in the arm to Hezbollahs forces and cause, former intelligence officers said. In Beirut, the disarray inside Hezbollah and the absence of a strong leader are likely to create a vacuum, Corn said. And it is unclear whether the Lebanese government will try to reassert itself after having been dominated for years by Hezbollah. Whos going to fill that vacuum? Is it going to be the Lebanese state? Is it going to be ISIS? Is it going to be some other group? Corn asked. A big question is if the Lebanese Armed Forces are ready to step in and take control of their country, which they have been unable to do up until now, because Hezbollah has been the number one military and political force in Lebanon. Irans first task will be to rebuild Hezbollah and its other proxies, said Norman Roule, who worked for 34 years at the CIA and oversaw intelligence on Iran. Despite the serious damage, the groups survive, and their hold on their respective geographies has not diminished to the point where their survival is in question, Roule said. Irans primary goal will be to assist in the survival and recovery of these groups. Israels campaign has removed a generation of Hezbollahs leadership, along with hundreds of key subordinates, added Roule, now on the advisory board of United Against Nuclear Iran, a nonprofit group that says it combats the threats posed by Iran. As long as Israeli attacks continue, Hezbollahs decision-making will be in disarray, but the militia remains a significant force. Dozens, if not hundreds, of lower- to mid-level commanders remain, Roule said, along with thousands of often armed supporters. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com A picture of Hassan Nasrallah hangs as Iranian lawmakers chant anti-Isreal slogans during a closed session of the Iranian Parliament in Tehran. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah confirmed that its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli military strike on the group's central headquarters in Beirut on 27 September 2024. Iran condemned the Israeli strikes on Lebanon. Icana News Agency/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa Following the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, pressure has been mounting on the regime in Tehran, the biggest ally of the Lebanese militia, to react. But while the government hails Nasrallah as a martyr and has ordered five days of national mourning, some Iranians have different concerns. "I don't like Hezbollah, they act like a terrorist group," Tehran resident Elnas told dpa on a rainy Monday morning in the Iranian capital. "Of course, Israel has also shown with the recent attacks (in Lebanon) that they act like terrorists," she adds. The 30-year-old says she isn't sad about Nasrallah's killing, but what she does fear is a widening of the conflict. The Islamist leader's death has further fuelled concerns over a major escalation that could draw in other regional players, including Iran. Hezbollah is allied with the regime in Tehran, which considers Israel its arch-enemy. While the Iranian leadership has strongly condemned Nasrallah's killing, it has so far not indicated that it might be willing to carry out a possible retaliatory response directly. The Lebanese militia, considered a terrorist organization by the US, the European Union and Israel, has been launching attacks on northern Israel since the beginning of the Gaza war in support of Hamas. Following almost a year of cross-border skirmishes, Israel launched a massive aerial campaign on targets across Lebanon earlier this week, with the stated aim of pushing back Hezbollah forces to enable the return of tens of thousands of residents evacuated from northern Israel amid the fighting. Hundreds of people have been killed in the bombardment so far, and tens of thousands displaced. Another Tehran resident, Saeed, 35, said that while he was indifferent to the news of Nasrallah's death, he too is gradually becoming worried about the developments in the region. "Such events have a negative impact on the country's economy. For example, the value of the rial fell after the confirmation of this news," he says. Asghar, 38, mourns the death of Nasrallah, saying as a Muslim, he is saddened by it. "Of course, Iran is trying not to react in any particular way to avoid further conflict," he adds. Mojtaba, 40, meanwhile says he was "glad to hear the news" of Nasrallah's killing. "I hope that the death of the leaders of these groups will lead to a reduction in the 40-year conflict between Iran and the world." Iranian lawmakers chant anti-Isreal slogans during a closed session of the Iranian Parliament in Tehran. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah confirmed that its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli military strike on the group's central headquarters in Beirut on 27 September 2024. Iran condemned the Israeli strikes on Lebanon. Icana News Agency/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday that the killing by Israel of an Iranian Revolutionary Guards deputy commander in Beirut was a "horrible crime" that would not go unanswered. Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan was killed in the Israeli strikes on Beirut on Friday in which Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah also died. "There is no doubt that this horrible crime committed by the Zionist regime (Israel) will not go unanswered," Araqchi said in a statement addressed to the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Major General Hossein Salami. Earlier on Sunday, Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said that Iran-alligned armed groups would carry on confronting Israel with Tehran's help following the killing of Nasrallah, Iranian state media reported. An alliance known as the Axis of Resistance, built up over decades with Iranian support, includes the Palestinian group Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Yemen's Houthis, and various Shi'ite Muslim armed groups in Iraq and Syria. "We will not hesitate to go to any level in order to help the resistance," Qalibaf said. He also issued a warning to the United States. "The U.S. is complicit in all of these crimes and...has to accept the repercussions," he said. Iran's Vice-President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif, asked about Nasrallah's assassination, told state media on Sunday Iran would react at an appropriate time of its choosing against Israel. (Reporting by Elwely Elwelly, Editing by David Goodman and Angus MacSwan) Israel said its troops are now active in southern Lebanon in what the Israel Defense Forces called "limited, localized, and targeted ground raids" targeting Hezbollah positions. Israel believes it has eliminated around 30 top Hezbollah leaders over the last several weeks, including Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, U.S. and Israeli officials said. Latest Developments Oct 1, 10:31 AM US Embassy in Jerusalem issues 'shelter in place' order The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem issued a statement directing all government employees and their family members "to shelter in place until further notice," following reports of an imminent Iranian missile attack on Israel. The embassy noted the "continued need for caution and increased personal security awareness as security incidents, including mortar and rocket fire and unmanned aircraft system," which it said "often take place without warning." "The security environment remains complex and can change quickly depending on the political situation and recent events," it added. Oct 1, 10:07 AM Netanyahu warns Israelis of 'testing days ahead' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged unity among Israelis in a video statement published Tuesday, as Israel Defense Forces operations in Lebanon expanded and amid fears of an imminent Iranian missile attack. "We are in the midst of a campaign against Iran's 'Axis of Evil,'" the prime minister said. "These are days of great achievements and great challenges." PHOTO: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, Sept. 27, 2024. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters, FILE) The "great achievements," Netanyahu said, included the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a Beirut airstrike last week, plus the defeat of an alleged Hezbollah plan to launch an infiltration attack into northern Israel. The country still faces "big challenges," he continued. "What I ask of you is two things: One -- to strictly obey the directives of the front-line command, it saves lives. And second -- to stand together. We will stand firm together in the testing days ahead." "Together we will stand, together we will fight and together we will win." -ABC News Joe Simonetti and Jordana Miller Oct 1, 10:15 AM Iran to launch ballistic missiles at Israel 'imminently,' US official says A senior White House official told ABC News on Tuesday that the U.S. "has indications that Iran is preparing to imminently launch a ballistic missile attack against Israel." "We are actively supporting defensive preparations to defend Israel against this attack," the official added. "A direct military attack from Iran against Israel will carry severe consequences for Iran." Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters, "At this moment we don't identify an aerial threat from Iran." "The U.S. informed us that Iran is preparing to fire directly on Israel," he said, asking the public to be "responsible and vigilant and I will be here to update you." A senior Israeli official told ABC News, "If Iran attacks Israel the reaction will be severe." -ABC News' Selina Wang, Joe Simonetti, Jordana Miller and Eric Avram Oct 1, 8:49 AM Israeli special ops teams active in Lebanon for almost a year, IDF says Israel special operations teams have been operating in southern Lebanon since November, an Israeli security source said Tuesday, conducting around 70 missions in groups of 20 to 40 operators. PHOTO: Israeli soldiers are pictured close to the Lebanon border in northern Israel on Oct. 1, 2024. (Jim Urquhart/Reuters) The troops spent around 200 nights inside Lebanon, making it the most intense series of special operations missions in Israel's history, the official said. The units operated between 1 and 2 miles inside Lebanese territory, the official said, blowing up and dismantling hundreds of Hezbollah facilities including tunnels. Some tunnels doubled as weapons caches and others stretched to the Israeli border. Officials said on Tuesday they believed Hezbollah was planning an imminent "Oct.7-style invasion" of northern Israel. The security source claimed that Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force was at times as little as six hours from launching such an attack. The security source claimed that Hezbollahs elite Radwan Force was at times as little as six hours from launching such an attack. ABC News was not immediately able to independently verify the official's claims. The Israeli special operations units operating in southern Lebanon encountered almost no resistance, the official said, and did not suffer any casualties. Though some 2,000 Radwan troops are believed to be present within 3 miles of Israel's border -- and between 6,000 and 8,000 in southern Lebanon in total -- they have not been fighting. "During these operations, the troops also collected valuable intelligence and methodically dismantled the weapons and compounds, including underground infrastructure and advanced weaponry of Iranian origin," the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. "Some of the weapons were recovered and taken by the soldiers back into Israeli territory." -ABC News' Matt Gutman and Anna Burd Oct 1, 8:23 AM Airstrike hits southern Beirut suburb The southern Beirut suburb of Dahiya was hit by a fresh airstrike early on Tuesday, as Israeli warplanes continued to bomb targets across Lebanon in pursuit of Hezbollah members and resources. PHOTO: A man looks at the destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike on the Bir el-Abed neighborhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, on Oct. 1, 2024. (Anwar Amro/AFP via Getty Images) Lebanon's Health Ministry said Tuesday that the previous 24 hours saw at least 95 people killed and 172 wounded by Israeli strikes in Lebanon's southern regions, the eastern Bekaa Valley and Beirut. -ABC News' Joe Simonetti Oct 1, 6:36 AM Hezbollah disputes Israel's incursion claims Israeli claims that its soldiers began ground operations inside southern Lebanon "are false," Hezbollah said in a Tuesday statement. "No direct ground clashes have yet taken place between the resistance fighters and the occupation forces," the group said, referring to Israeli troops. "The resistance fighters are ready for a direct confrontation with the enemy forces that dare or attempt to enter Lebanese territory and inflict the greatest losses on them." -ABC News' Joe Simonetti and Ghazi Balkiz Oct 1, 6:36 AM IDF orders evacuation of south Lebanese villages Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee -- the Israel Defense Forces' spokesperson for Arab media -- ordered residents of nearly two dozen villages to "immediately" evacuate their homes amid Israel's claimed ground campaign into southern Lebanon. PHOTO: Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese village of Arnoun on Oct. 1, 2024. (-/AFP via Getty Images) "The IDF does not want to harm you, and for your own safety you must evacuate your homes immediately," Adraee said in a statement posted to social media. "Anyone who is near Hezbollah members, installations and combat equipment is putting his life in danger. Any home used by Hezbollah for its military needs is expected to be targeted." Adraee ordered civilians to move north of the Awali River. "Be careful, you are not allowed to go south," he said. "Going south could put your life in danger. We will let you know when it is safe to return home." -ABC News' Ghazi Balkiz Oct 1, 6:18 AM Beirut not a target of Israeli ground incursion, official says The Israel Defense Forces' operation in southern Lebanon is occurring "right by the border" with no intention of pushing towards the capital Beirut, an Israeli security official said during a Tuesday briefing. The IDF has three goals, the official said. PHOTO: Smoke billows from the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, on Oct. 1, 2024. (Anwar Amro/AFP via Getty Images) The first is to remove the threat of cross-border fire at Israeli citizens, they said. The second is to target senior militant leaders planning such attacks, the official added. The third goal is to create a situation in which tens of thousands of displaced Israelis can return to their homes in the north of the country. "We're talking about limited, localized, targeted rates based on precise intelligence in areas near the border," the official said when asked about the scope of the operation. Beirut, they added, is not on the table. Airstrikes are supporting the ground incursion in the south and continuing elsewhere, the official said. "We're talking about Hezbollah embedding itself in the Lebanese villages, right by the border," they said. "We're operating at the moment according to the mission we received from the political echelon. We're acting in a limited area that is focusing on the villages right by the border," they explained. -ABC News' Ian Pannell and Dana Savir Oct 1, 4:17 AM IDF claims Hezbollah was planning 'invasion' of Israel Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Israeli troops were engaged in "limited and targeted raids" in southern Lebanon as of Tuesday morning, alleging that Hezbollah was planning "an Oct. 7-style invasion" into Israeli homes. PHOTO: Smoke rises from the site of Israeli artillery shelling of the southern Lebanese villages of Adeisseh and Kfar Kila on Oct. 1, 2024. (-/AFP via Getty Images) "Hezbollah turned Lebanese villages next to Israeli villages into military bases," Hagari said. "Hezbollah planned to invade Israel, attack Israeli communities and massacre innocent men, women and children." "I want to make it clear: our war is with Hezbollah, not with the people of Lebanon," Hagari continued. "We do not want to harm Lebanese civilians, and we're taking measures to prevent that." More than 700 people were killed by an intensified Israeli airstrike campaign across Lebanon last week. Lebanon's Health Ministry reported 95 people killed and 172 people by strikes on Monday. Israeli bombing continued overnight into Tuesday morning, including in the capital Beirut. -ABC News' Joe Simonetti, Somayeh Malekian and Ellie Kaufman Oct 1, 4:00 AM UK charters flight for citizens in Lebanon, urges Britons to 'leave now' The British government announced Monday that it chartered a commercial flight out of Lebanon for citizens wishing to leave the country. British nationals, their spouse or partner and children under the age of 18 are eligible, a Foreign Office press release said. "Vulnerable" citizens will be prioritized, it added. The flight is scheduled to depart Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport on Wednesday. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the situation in the country "is volatile and has potential to deteriorate quickly." "The safety of British nationals in Lebanon continues to be our utmost priority," he added. "That's why the U.K. government is chartering a flight to help those wanting to leave. It is vital that you leave now as further evacuation may not be guaranteed." -ABC News' David Brennan Click here to read the rest of the blog. (Bloomberg) -- Israel bombed the center of Beirut for the first time in almost a year of hostilities with Lebanons Hezbollah, stepping up air assaults following the killing of the Iran-backed groups chief last week. Most Read from Bloomberg The strike on a building in the heart of the Lebanese capital early Monday killed three senior members of a Palestinian group called the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Lebanons state-media reported. Hamas, still at war with Israel in Gaza, said the head of its Lebanese branch died in an attack on his home in southern Lebanon. In a hint of a ground operation, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told tank crews on the northern border that Israel would use all the capabilities it has and you are part of this effort. The assassination of Hezbollahs leader, Hassan Nasrallah, on Friday was a very important step but it is not the final one, he said. Subscribe to the Bloomberg Daybreak podcast on Apple, Spotify or anywhere you listen. Hezbollahs deputy, Naim Qassem, said the groups forces are prepared to fight the Israelis on the ground if they stage an incursion. We are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land, he said in a televised speech, his first public comments since Nasrallah died. The attacks signal no let up in Israels campaign to paralyze its enemies in Lebanon and elsewhere after the killing of Nasrallah, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the biggest-ever blow to Irans network of proxy militias spanning from Gaza to Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. Hezbollahs attacks also continued. Israel said it intercepted a drone over Mediterranean waters that Army Radio reported was probably heading for an offshore rig in the Karish natural gas field. Israel has said its preparing a potential ground incursion into southern Lebanon, a step the US and others fear would risk a drawn-out conflict pitting Tehran against Washington. Israels special forces have been carrying out small, targeted raids for months across the border in Lebanon, ahead of a possible ground operation this week, the Wall Street Journal reported. Israeli strikes on Lebanon in the past two weeks have killed at least 1,000 people, including 100 in the last 24 hours, and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes, according to local officials. While most of Hezbollahs senior leadership has been killed and much of its arsenal destroyed, officials say it retains substantial capability to inflict losses on Israeli forces and fire missiles across the border. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot was scheduled to meet Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut on Monday. Hell also see House Speaker Nabih Berri, whos a close ally of Hezbollah. Mikati said the Lebanese army is ready to deploy to the Israeli border to implement a United Nations resolution and help de-escalate the crisis. Hezbollah began cross-border rocket attacks on Oct. 8 in solidarity with Hamas, a day after the Palestinian group staged an unprecedented attack in Israel, triggering the Gaza war. Both Hezbollah and Hamas are designated as terrorist groups by the US. Another front has opened up in Yemen, where Israeli fighter jets bombed a seaport and several power stations Sunday following a string of attacks this month on central Israel by Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Netanyahu gave the order Friday to assassinate Nasrallah from his hotel room in New York, just before giving a defiant speech to the United Nations General Assembly that rejected a US-backed push for a cease-fire in Lebanon. Washington, Israels closest ally, was given only a last-minute heads up as its latest bid to stop the violence failed. Fridays massive strike against Nasrallah it leveled several buildings and killed a senior commander of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, among others was the latest in a series of dramatic attacks. They began earlier this month when thousands of pagers and walkie talkies belonging to Hezbollah members exploded. Hezbollah is now selecting Nasrallahs successor. His cousin, Hashem Safieddine, is seen as the front-runner. Iran is in no rush to retaliate, judging by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneis first reaction, in which he suggested Hezbollah and Lebanon would lead the response. Irans foreign ministry said Monday the country wont send forces to Lebanon to fight Israel. The US believes Iran is restrained by the weakening of its most important proxy, according to a person familiar with American policy. Moreover, when Iran attacked Israel directly in April, its hundreds of missiles and drones were almost all intercepted. Netanyahu called Nasrallahs death necessary to enable tens of thousands of Israelis who have fled Hezbollahs attacks over the past 11 months to return home. But in a video address, he had a warning for his people: In the coming days, we will face significant challenges. The US said its beefing up its already-substantial military presence in the region, a signal to Tehran about the dangers of reacting too aggressively. --With assistance from Dana Khraiche, Marissa Newman and Omar Tamo. (Updates with comments from Israeli defense minister. An earlier version was corrected to say Hashem Safieddine is Hassan Nasrallahs cousin and not his nephew.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. The climate crisis is no longer a distant threat. Nigar Arpadarai, the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion at COP29, made this statement at the international conference held in Baku during the Climate Change Action Week, Azernews reports. "The climate crisis is no longer a distant threat it is already here. It affects us all: from the air we breathe to the water we drink, to the food we eat, and to the homes we build. We will soon bring the climate community together in Baku at COP29. Our vision for this event is clear our goal is to increase ambitions and take concrete steps to overcome the climate crisis," he stressed. According to him, it is impossible to address these issues alone. "We need innovation, knowledge, and commitment from all stakeholders, including business, civil society, cities, and academic institutions. Baku Climate Week is a call to action, a space where dialogue turns into real strategies and those strategies lead to long-term change," he added. It should be noted that the Action Week will be held for the first time in Baku from September 30 to October 4, 2024. This event will lay the foundation for the climate agenda of COP29, which will take place in Baku in November. The Climate Action Week will bring together key stakeholders from various fields, including politics, finance, trade, investment, science, arts, culture, society, and the media. The main topics of the event will include "energy transition," "cities and urbanization," "water security," "food and agriculture," "small and medium enterprise business," and "green skills." The first half of the week (September 30 to October 2) will focus on climate solutions involving government agencies, academia, and the private sector. In the second half (October 3-4), the emphasis will shift to science, education, art, culture, and other fields. (Bloomberg) -- Chinas largest coal-mining hub is primed to spearhead the countrys energy transition with a slate of planned clean power mega-projects in the desert, according to a report released Monday. Most Read from Bloomberg Inner Mongolia, which leads China in coal production this year, already has 88 gigawatts of wind and solar capacity, with another 170 gigawatts in the pipeline. Thats a combined total that would dwarf the power fleet of Germany. With the right policy tweaks and infrastructure build-out, the region could feed Chinas coastal megacities with cheap, carbon-free electricity, researchers from WaterRock Energy Economics and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air said in a report. If done correctly, the expansion of large-scale clean energy bases in Inner Mongolia can increase wind and solar generation to meet local power consumption growth and increase the share of renewable exports, analysts including Liutong Zhang at WaterRock said in the report. Long-distance power lines have helped connect the regions coal and renewable power plants to Beijing, as well as Shandong and other densely populated coastal provinces. But the lines are underutilized and still carry mostly coal power, creating an opportunity for more wind and solar expansion to feed them. Inner Mongolias clean energy exports to coastal areas are already cheaper than existing electricity rates and coal plants, the researchers said. Increased power market liberalization and inter-provincial electricity trading could help drive further expansion, they said. The autonomous region is home to four planned mega-bases expected to comprise eight gigawatts of solar, four gigawatts of wind and four gigawatts of coal power. These should be developed in conjunction with long-distance power lines to make sure the infrastructure is properly utilized, the researchers said. The government should also re-think the plan to include coal in the projects, the researchers argue. Theyre designed to help stabilize the intermittent flows of wind and solar, but cheap batteries, improved transmission technology and existing underutilized power plants in the region can play that role at a reduced cost, they said. On the Wire Chinese stocks extended one of their most remarkable turnarounds in history, soaring for a ninth straight day as government stimulus entices investors back to one of the most beaten-down markets worldwide. Story continues Chinese property shares rallied after three of the countrys largest cities eased rules for homebuyers, following through on the central governments latest efforts to prop up the embattled real estate sector. Iron ore spiked almost 11% after three of Chinas biggest cities eased curbs on home-buying, bolstering the demand outlook in the worlds biggest consumer of the steel-making ingredient. This Weeks Diary Monday, Sept. 30: China official PMIs for September, 9:30am Caixins China factory PMI for August, 9:45am Tuesday, Oct. 1 through Monday, Oct. 7: Public Holidays Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Follow our latest live blog on Israels invasion of Lebanon Israeli troops are preparing to launch a limited ground invasion of Lebanon which could start as soon as today, senior US officials believe. Israels operation is expected to be smaller than its 2006 war against Hezbollah, which was a wider ground incursion, instead focusing on ensuring security for border communities in the north, the Washington Post reported. However, it came after intense talks between Israel and Washington over the weekend, with US officials believing they had done enough to convince Tel Aviv not to launch a major operation, the New York Times reported. Yoav Gallant, Israels defence minister, said on Monday that the next stage of the war against Hezbollah will begin soon, adding that the purpose of such operations would be to facilitate the return of displaced Israelis to their homes in the north. Israeli troops had already launched targeted operations in southern Lebanon on Monday as the army widened its campaign against Hezbollah. An Israeli official told the Telegraph that elite commandos were targeting Hezbollah infrastructure, including weapons sites and command and control centres, in a bid to push its fighters away from Israels northern border. 07:49 PM BST Were moving our coverage Thank you for following our live blog on the conflict in the Middle East today. Were moving our coverage. Click here to follow the latest from the conflict between Israel and Lebanon. 07:14 PM BST Israel declares military zone along northern border The Israeli military declared a military zone in parts of its northern border with Lebanon on Monday ahead of possible ground operations in the neighbouring country. The areas of Metula, Misgav Am, and Kfar Giladi in northern Israel have been declared a closed military zone. Entry to this area is prohibited, the military said in a statement. 06:42 PM BST US: Israel told us ground operations are limited Israel has told Washington that its operations in Lebanon are limited in their focus, targeting Hezbollah infrastructure near its border with Lebanon. They have been informing us about a number of operations, I know Ive seen reports about ground operations. Weve had some conversations with them about that, the State Department said in a briefing on Monday. They have at this time told us that those are limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border. But were in continuous conversations with them about it, Matthew Miller, the departments spokesperson, said. 06:34 PM BST Pictured: Bulgarians evacuated from Lebanon Bulgarians evacuated from Lebanon have landed in their home country as efforts continue across the world to get citizens out of the country ahead of an anticipated ground invasion by Israel. People disembark from a Bulgarian government plane following its arrival from an evacuation flight from Lebanon - REUTERS 06:16 PM BST Israeli reservists gathering at assembly points in the north Israeli reservists are gathering at assembly points near the northern border ahead of a potential invasion of Lebanon, the New York Times has reported. Soldiers are also being directed to register with military poice as they drive along northern roads. The US media outlet also reported that dozens of logistical trucks have been seen moving north. 05:57 PM BST Yemens Houthis vow to escalate attacks against Israel Yemens Iran-backed Houthi rebels have said they will escalate military operations against Israel after their military infastructure was attacked on Sunday. Israel carried out 17 air raids on Yemeni infrastructure, killing five and injuring 57, a Houthi spokesman said. Israel said the strikes were responding to Houthi attacks. 05:41 PM BST Watch: Israeli tanks massing in northern Israel 05:34 PM BST US: Israeli invasion of Lebanon could be imminent Israeli troop positioning suggests that a ground invasion of Lebanon could be imminent, a US official has told Reuters. It comes after CBS News reported that the invasion could happen within hours. 05:18 PM BST Analysis: Biden hoped Nasrallahs death would spark peace process Joe Biden believes the pending Israeli incursion into Lebanon is unnecessary because the death of Hezbollahs leader has weakened the terror group enough. When asked about the operation, which is said to be imminent, the US president called for an immediate ceasefire. Im comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now, he said when a reporter asked whether he was comfortable with Israels plans. Over the weekend, both Israel and the US confirmed that Hassan Nezrallah, Hezbollahs leader, had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. Mr Biden said his assassination was a measure of justice for the Lebanon-based terror groups victims, including Americans. But behind closed doors, the President hoped the high-profile killing would set into motion a peace process, rather than further military activity. Aides had told him that Hezbollah had been so decimated that their ability to attack Israel had been significantly limited. This meant US-led proposals for a 21-day ceasefire were still possible, despite previously being ruled out by Benjamin Netanyahu, Israels prime minister, they said. Instead, Israel appears poised to launch a ground offensive into Lebanon, which the US has previously warned could spark a wider conflict across the Middle East and cause untold amounts of casualties. 05:08 PM BST US to send thousands of troops to Middle East Washington will send a few thousand additional troops to the Middle East should Israel need defending, the Pentagon has said. Multiple fighter jet squadrons and the troops needed to support them will be sent, according to Sabrina Singh, the Pentagon spokesman. The additional personnel includes squadrons of F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16, A-10 and F-22 fighter jets. They are not in place to assist in an evacuation, Ms Singh said, before adding: They are there for the protection of US forces. 05:01 PM BST US and Israel talking about best way forward The United States and Israel are still in discussions about the best way forward, the Pentagon said on Monday, amid reports of an imminent ground invasion of Lebanon. Were continuing to engage with them, trying to learn more. We continue discussions on the best way forward, Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokesperson, said. Singh also said Israel gave US notice but did not coordinate its Sunday strikes in Yemen with the United States. 04:44 PM BST Hezbollah claims attack using ballistic missile Hezbollah said on Monday it had attacked Israel using a Nour Missile, which has been described as a ballistic missile by sources familiar with the Lebanese terror group. Hezbollah said it was the first time they had used the missile. The IDF said one projectile launched from Lebanon struck an open area near the Israeli border community of Kfar Giladi, causing no injuries. 04:38 PM BST Biden urges Israel to stop ahead of imminent invasion Joe Biden told reporters that he was aware of Israeli plans to launch a ground operation into Lebanon, and called for a ceasefire to end the fighting. In an address from the Oval Office, the US President said: Im more aware than you might know, and Im comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now. Washington had been pushing to broker a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, before an Israeli airstrike killed the terror groups leader. US officials over the weekend said Hassan Nasrallahs death made green-lighting a peace agreement easier, because it had significantly weakened Hezbollahs military capabilities. President Joe Biden said he was comfortable with Israel stopping ahead of an anticipated ground invasion of Lebanon - AP 04:37 PM BST Gallant: next phase of war to begin soon Israels defence minister has confirmed the next phase of his countrys war with Hezbollah will begin soon amid reports of an imminent ground invasion. In the meeting with the heads of the councils in the confrontation line forum I emphasized - the next phase in the war against Hezbollah will begin soon and will be a significant factor in achieving the goal of the war - returning the residents of the north to their homes, Yoav Gallant said. Yoav Gallant said the new phase of Israels war against Hezbollah will begin soon - X 04:30 PM BST Israel could launch ground invasion today Israel could launch a ground invasion of Lebanon as soon as today, CBS News reported. The report also supported previous reports (see post below) that the operation would be limited in scale. 04:26 PM BST Conflicting reports in US over ground invasion The New York Times reported that US officials believe they had persuaded Israel not to launch a major ground invasion of Lebanon. The US media outlet also reported that no decision had been made about whether or when to begin one. However, the Washington Post reported that a limited ground operation could start imminently, also quoting a US official. 04:08 PM BST Iran says it wont send troops to fight Israel Iran has said it will not send troops to Lebanon or Gaza, in a sign that Tehran does not want to immediately escalate its confrontation with Israel. There is no need to send extra or volunteer forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, a spokesman said, adding that fighters in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories have the capability and strength to defend themselves against the aggression. Irans foreign ministry said it had not received any request for assistance from Hezbollah and that the group does not need the help of our forces. The statement came amid an increase in Israeli strikes on Irans allies in Lebanon and Yemen, and as Israel prepares to expand ground operations across its northern border. Israeli commandos have carried out small-scale raids in Lebanon, gathering intelligence and targeting Hezbollah infrastructure ahead of a possible wider ground offensive. In a televised address, Naim Qassem, deputy Hezbollah chief, vowed on Monday that the group was ready to fight and win against Israeli troops. 03:51 PM BST Netanyahus thinly veiled message to Iran is clear Prime Minister Netanyahus thinly veiled message to Iran is clear; The regime shouldnt feel safe. After mentioning the enemies of Israel who have been assassinated in the past year, Netanyahu repeated his message to the Supreme Leader, that Israel can reach all of the Middle East. With every passing moment, the regime is bringing you the noble Persian people closer to the abyss, Mr Netanyahu said as he painted a picture of what a future relationship between Israel and the Iranian people could look like. The regime doesnt care about you and you deserve better, was his message to the Iranian people. In other words, if and when Israel decides to take out the head of the octopus as the regime is often referred to as, the people of Iran and the rest of the Middle East should be grateful. Mr Netanyahu wanted to bomb the Iranian nuclear programme in 2010-2011 but was stopped by the army and intelligence chiefs who feared the consequences of such an attack. Israel has not had a better opportunity to attack the nuclear programme than now. Hezbollah, which served as Irans bulldog and deterrence for years, is severely damaged, and Iran is left exposed. The speech to the Iranian people should therefore be seen as a hint of whats to come. 03:48 PM BST Iran is heading towards the abyss, Netanyahu warns Iran is heading towards the abyss, Benjamin Netanyahu has said, as he warned that there is nowhere in the Middle East that Israel cannot reach. With every passing moment, the regime is bringing you the noble Persian people closer to the abyss, Mr Netanyahu said in a televised speech addressed to the Iranian people directly. Irans puppets are being eliminated every day, the Israeli prime minister warned. Ask Mohammed Deif, ask Nasrallah, he said, referring to Israels reported assassination of Hamas military commander in July, and the air strike on Beirut that killed Hezbollahs leader on Friday. Netanyahu invited the Iranian people to imagine a future without their current government. Our two ancient peoples, the Jewish people and the Persian people, will finally be at peace. Our two countries, Israel and Iran, will be at peace. The Israeli prime minister gave the speech in English, mirroring the address he gave to the UN General Assembly on Friday moments before Israels assassination of Hassan Nasrallah. 03:07 PM BST US: World is safer after Israeli killing of Hezbollah chief Washingtons top diplomat has said that the world is safer after the Israeli assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, who had been Hezbollahs leader since 1992. The region, the world are safer without him, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. Mr Blinken however said that diplomacy remains the best and only path to achieving greater stability in the Middle East and vowed the United States would continue working urgently to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Nasrallah was killed on Friday when Israeli warplanes struck a Hezbollah command centre in Beiruts southern suburbs. The group said on Monday it would name a successor sooner [rather] than later. 02:57 PM BST Pictured: Israeli defence minister visits troops in northern Israel Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister, on a visit to troops of the 188th Armored Brigade and the Golani Infantry Brigade in northern Israel - Ariel Hermoni/Israel Mod/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock/Shutterstock 02:38 PM BST Lebanese soldier killed in Israeli drone strike, army says A Lebanese soldier was killed on Monday in an Israeli drone strike on a military checkpoint in the south of the country, according to the Lebanese army. In a statement, the army said: A soldier was martyred when an Israeli drone targeted a motorcycle while it was passing through the Lebanese armys Al-Omra-Al-Wazzani checkpoint. Lebanese media said that the soldier was initially injured by shrapnel and transported to hospital, where he later died. 02:26 PM BST Pictured: Lebanese girl flees Israeli air strikes with her cat Iman, a 9-year-old Lebanese girl, holds her cat to her chest after fleeing from Israeli air strikes on Beiruts southern suburbs. Having failed to find shelter, Iman and her family have had to stay on the side of a Beirut road. Thousands of Lebanese and Syrian nationals have fled south Lebanon, south Beirut and the eastern Bekaa valley due to an increase in Israeli strikes on Hezbollah positions in those areas. Iman, a 9-year-old Lebanese girl, holds her cat to her chest, after fleeing from Beiruts southern suburbs with her family - Marwan Naamani / Avalon/Avalon 02:18 PM BST Government finds seats on flights for Britons leaving Lebanon The Government has said it is working with airlines to secure seats for British nationals on flights leaving Lebanon. The Prime Ministers official spokesman said: Were doing everything we can to work with commercial airlines to maximise capacity because we want people to leave. I understand that there have been extra Middle East Airlines flights leaving Lebanon over the weekend, another scheduled for Tuesday and we have secured seats for British nationals on those flights. Asked why an evacuation has not started, the spokesman said that while commercial flights are still available, British nationals can and, indeed, should leave. The spokesman also pointed to the deployment of 700 troops, alongside Border Force and Foreign Office officials, to Cyprus to continue work on all contingency options and plan for a range of scenarios in the region. 01:59 PM BST Israeli troops cross into Lebanon for targeted operations Israeli troops launched targeted operations in southern Lebanon on Monday as the army widened its campaign against Hezbollah ahead of a possible ground invasion. Israels ground operation in southern Lebanon will likely expand in the coming days, a source told the Telegraph, adding that Hezbollah is weak and confused, making it the right time for Israel to launch an attack. You can read the full story here. 01:34 PM BST Your views: Israeli special forces cross into Lebanon 01:24 PM BST UK calls for ceasefire after increase in Israeli strikes Britain on Monday called for a ceasefire after an increase in Israeli strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon. Any further escalation must be avoided, a spokesman for Sir Keir Starmer said, adding that a ceasefire will provide the space necessary to find the political solution that is necessary to secure peace in the region. The spokesman also reaffirmed the UKs support for Israels right to self-defence. We are ironclad in our support for Israels right to self-defence ... but our very clear message now is, on all sides, (for) all parties to show restraint. 01:13 PM BST Lebanese PM calls for ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel Lebanons prime minister has called for a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel during a meeting with the French foreign minister in Beirut on Monday. The key to the solution is to put an end to the Israeli aggression against Lebanon and to revive the appeal launched by the United States and France... in favour of a ceasefire, Najib Mikati said. Mikati added that the priority is applying resolution 1701 of the United Nations Security Council, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. Jean-Noel Barrot, the French foreign minister, arrived in Beirut on Sunday and is the first foreign diplomat to visit Lebanon since Israel escalated its strikes on Hezbollah positions in the country. Lebanons caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot in Beirut - ANWAR AMRO/AFP 01:02 PM BST Pictured: Israeli forces mass at Lebanon border amid fears of ground incursion Israeli military vehicles gather at undisclosed location on Israel-Lebanon border, Sep 30 - ATEF SAFADI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/Shutterstock 01:00 PM BST Political boost for Netanyahu after Nasrallah killing In Tel Aviv Israels prime minister is not just on a military roll at the moment but a political one too. This morning the opposition New Hope party joined Benjamin Netanyahus fragile governing coalition, boosting the number of seats it holds in the 120 seat Knesset from 64 to 68. A gain of four may not seem much but it removes the possibility of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir collapsing the government and forcing fresh elections by walking out. Ben Gvirs extremist anti-Arab party holds six seats and has repeatedly threatened to bring down Netanyahu over proposed military and humanitarian compromises in Gaza, the West Bank and most recently Lebanon. New Hope is led by Gideon Saar, a long time critic of Netanyahu, who has seemingly buried the hatchet to join the coalition minister without portfolio. Saar said it was important to strengthen Israel, its government, and its unity and cohesion during these difficult and challenging days and was the patriotic and right thing to do now. Netanyahus poll ratings are close to an all time high and have been improving ever since he started taking the fight to Iran and its proxies in April with a strike on its consulate in Damascus. The killing at the weekend of Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah has further distracted attention from the security failures that led to the Oct 7 massacre nearly a year ago on the prime ministers watch. 12:14 PM BST Israels ground operation in Lebanon will likely expand in the coming days Israels ground operation in southern Lebanon will likely expand in the coming days, a source familiar with the matter told The Telegraph, adding that Hezbollah is weak and confused, making the timing right for Israel to launch the attack. But as Benjamin Netanyahu is under pressure from the US not to launch a major invasion, the ground incursions will likely be smaller, and more targeted so as not to drag the entire region in a full scale war. The Israeli air force has already crippled large parts of Hezbollah, including assassinating its entire senior leadership. To remove Hezbollah entirely from southern Lebanon will however demand ground troops. Tanks could also soon roll over the border to support the troops carrying out raids against Hezbollah targets, while the air force is already preparing the ground for the troops by launching major airstrikes against weapon depots and other military installations. Its highly unlikely that the IDF will conduct the same large-scale ground invasion as was done in Gaza. Special forces, such as Sayeret Matkal and Sayeret Tzanhanim (reconnaissance and paratroopers) will instead be used to push back Hezbollah forces north of the Litani river, which is Israels red line for the terror groups presence. 12:08 PM BST Germany says Nasrallah killing was an act of self-defence Berlin has said it considers Israels assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah an act of self-defence. Hezbollah is of course a terrorist organization and it was obviously a meeting of the top leadership of Hezbollah, from which one can assume, even from a distance, that they were planning their further operations, a foreign ministry spokesperson said. So in this respect, there are also reasons to believe that the right to self-defence was exercised here, the spokesman added. Nasrallah was killed in Beirut on Friday when Israeli warplanes struck a Hezbollah command centre in the citys southern suburbs. 11:57 AM BST Pictured: Israeli air strike on southern Lebanese village of Khiam Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Khiam, Sep 30 - RABIH DAHER/AFP 11:46 AM BST Israeli defence minister hints at ground incursion into Lebanon Israels defence minister has hinted that a ground operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon is being prepared. Nasrallahs elimination is an important step but it is not the end - to return the residents of the north safely to their homes we will activate all our capabilities - including you, Yoav Gallant told Israeli troops stationed in northern Israel. Israel evacuated some 60,000 citizens from its northern border regions due to near-daily Hezbollah rocket attacks that are fired from Lebanon. Returning those citizens to their homes is now an official Israeli war aim that most analysts believe will not be possible without troops on the ground in southern Lebanon. 11:25 AM BST Iran says it wont send troops to fight Israel in Lebanon or Gaza Iran has said it will not send troops to Lebanon or Gaza to confront Israel. There is no need to send extra or volunteer forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, a foreign ministry spokesman said, adding that fighters in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories have the capability and strength to defend themselves against the aggression. The statement comes amid fears that Israel is preparing to launch a ground incursion into Lebanon. 11:02 AM BST Watch: Israel strikes Houthi targets in Yemen Israel bombarded Houthi targets in Yemen on Sunday while continuing to attack Hezbollah in Lebanon. Dozens of Israeli warplanes attacked the port of Hodeidah, attacking fuel facilities, power plants and ship docking sites. Houthi media said the strikes killed four people and wounded 33. 10:49 AM BST UNRWA confirms that killed Hamas leader was one of its employees The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has confirmed that Hamas leader in Lebanon was one of its employees, but noted that he was under investigation for his political activities. Fateh Al Sherif was killed in an Israeli air strike on the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Monday and was identified by Palestinian reports as the head of the teachers union of the UNRWA (see our posts at 9.43am and 8.07am). In response to a query by the Times of Israel, the UNRWA said: Fateh Al Sherif was an UNRWA employee who was put on administrative leave without pay in March, and was undergoing an investigation following allegations that UNRWA received about his political activities. Al Sherif is understood to have been the head teacher of the UNRWA-run Deir Yassin secondary school in Tyre. Fateh Sherif Abu al-Amine, Hamas leader in Lebanon, killed in Israeli strike on Monday 10:26 AM BST Hezbollah says it will choose new leader soon Hezbollah has said it will choose a new leader sooner [rather] than later after Hassan Nasrallah, its former secretary-general, was killed in an Israeli air strike in Beirut on Friday. In a televised address, Naim Qassem, the groups deputy chief, sent his condolences to other fighters who were killed alongside Nasrallah in the Israeli attack. Qassem also vowed that Hezbollah would win in its confrontation with Israel, just as it said it had in the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah conflict. He added that Hezbollah forces would be ready to fight Israeli troops in the event of an Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon. 10:11 AM BST Israel expands war against Hezbollah to central Beirut Israel has expanded its war on Hezbollah to central Beirut for the first time since the conflict began in October 2023 in the wake of the Hamas-led attacks. An Israeli air strike hit a residential apartment building in Cola, a neighbourhood within Beiruts central city limits, at around 1am local time on Monday. According to Lebanese media, the strike killed four people, including three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. An official from Lebanons civil defence said that a member of the Al-Jamaah al-islamiyah Sunni militant group was also killed in the attack. Videos showed ambulances and a crowd gathered near the targeted building, which is next to a busy thoroughfare lined with shops. Cola is a mainly Sunni Muslim district that is located next to a large Palestinian refugee camp and is Beiruts major transport hub. Lebanese policemen secure the area after an Israeli strike on Cola, central Beirut - WAEL HAMZEH/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/Shutterstock 09:43 AM BST Pictured: Hamas leader in Lebanon that was killed in an Israeli strike Hamas commander in Lebanon was killed in an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, the terror group announced on Monday (see our post at 8.07am). Palestinian reports have identified the commander as Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin and said that he also served as the head of the teachers union of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). In August, nine staff members of the UNRWA were fired after a watchdog found that they had been involved in the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel. Head of the Teachers' Union at UNRWA in Lebanon Fateh Al-Sharif, along with his wife, son and daughter were murdered in an Israeli airstrike that struck their home in the Al-Bass refugee camp in Sour, southern Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/ehkf4DVcg4 Palestine Highlights (@PalHighlight) September 30, 2024 09:22 AM BST Iran will not leave Israels criminal acts unanswered Iran will not leave any of Israels criminal acts unanswered, its foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday, referring to the Israeli killing of Hezbollahs leader and an Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander in Lebanon. We stand strongly and we will act in a way that is regretful [for the enemy] Nasser Kanaani told a weekly news conference, adding that Iran does not seek war but is not afraid of it. Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollahs leader since 1992, and Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan, the deputy commander of operations for Irans Revolutionary Guard Corps, were killed when Israeli fighter jets struck a Hezbollah command centre in Beiruts southern suburbs on Friday. 09:06 AM BST UN: 100,000 people have fled Lebanon for Syria Around 100,000 Lebanese and Syrian nationals have fled Lebanon for Syria amid Israeli air strikes on the country, the UNs refugee chief has said. The number of people who have crossed into Syria from Lebanon fleeing Israeli airstrikes Lebanese and Syrian nationals has reached 100,000. The outflow continues. UNHCR is present at four crossing points alongside local authorities and @SYRedCrescent to support new arrivals. pic.twitter.com/7dtrghsMH4 Filippo Grandi (@FilippoGrandi) September 30, 2024 08:54 AM BST Pictured: A memorial service for Hassan Nasrallah Mourners are pictured marching with a symbolic coffin during a memorial service for Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollahs leader since 1992 who was killed in an Israeli air strike on Beirut on Friday. Men carry a symbolic coffin during a memorial service for Hassan Nasrallah, Sep 29 - AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP 08:47 AM BST What is the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine? Israel killed three leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in a strike on central Beirut on Monday morning. The group is a Marxist-Leninist faction that pioneered aircraft hijackings in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Although a rather faded force today, in its 1970s heyday, the PFLP was led by secular and Christian Palestinians and became popular with Left-wing student movements across the West. The groups armed wing, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, was reported to have taken part in the October 7 Hamas-led terror attacks on southern Israel. There are still murals of Leila Khaled, the groups most famous hijacker, in Belfast today. 08:13 AM BST Pictured: Aftermath of Israeli strike on central Beirut An Israeli air strike on Monday morning hit central Beirut for the first time since the war began. According to Lebanese media, the attack on the Cola district killed four people, including three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. A Lebanese soldier stands next to buildings damaged in an Israeli strike on central Beirut - Louisa Gouliamaki/REUTERS Firefighters search for survivors inside an apartment building hit by an Israeli air strike in Beiruts Cola district - FADEL ITANI/AFP 08:07 AM BST Hamas leader in Lebanon killed in Israeli strike Hamas commander in Lebanon was killed early this morning according to a statement from the group. Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin and his family were killed in a targeted strike on the Al-Buss refugee camp in the port city of Tyre, as Israel escalates attacks across the country. Sharif was Hamas top commander in Lebanon and a member of Hamas command outside the Palestinian territories, Hamas said. He succeeded Saleh Arouri, a Hamas commander in Lebanon who was eliminated earlier this year. 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. Ground operation has started in Lebanon, IDF says, as images showed Israeli bombardment along border (AFP via Getty Images) Israels widely-expected ground incursion inside Lebanon is underway with its military claiming troops have carried out targeted raids across the border while backed by airstrikes and artillery. In a statement issued on Tuesday morning, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was striking Hezbollah targets in areas close to its countrys northern border. The announcement came shortly after Israeli media reported that the countrys cabinet had approved the next stage of the military operation targeting the militant group. Pictures also emerged of dozens of Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles at the border with Lebanon while airstrikes intensified in southern Beirut after the IDF ordered an evacuation of three areas. UK foreign secretary David Lammy described the situation as volatile as a charter flight was ordered to evacuate Britons out of the country. Mr Lammy had joined US president Joe Biden in repeating calls for an immediate ceasefire amid fears of an escalation in the conflict. But just after midnight on Tuesday morning, and following reports of heavy shelling on border towns, the IDF confirmed that a ground operation had started. It said: In accordance with the decision of the political echelon, a few hours ago, the IDF began limited, localised, and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence against Hezbollah terrorist targets and infrastructure in southern Lebanon. These targets are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel. The IDF is operating according to a methodical plan set out by the General Staff and the Northern Command which IDF soldiers have trained and prepared for in recent months. The Israeli Air Force and IDF Artillery are supporting the ground forces with precise strikes on military targets in the area. A fire following an Israeli bombardment on an area of south Lebanon on Monday (AFP via Getty Images) Yesterday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned: There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. The Israeli military yesterday also declared three communities along Israels northern border to be a closed military zone, in a precursor to the ground operation on the Lebanon. It came as Israels defence minister Yoav Gallant told troops on the border with Lebanon that they should be ready to attack from the air, from the sea and from the land as they look to stop Iran-backed Hezbollah from continuing to fire into its northern territories. Nasrallahs elimination is an important step but it is not the end, he told Israels 188th brigade. To return the residents of the north safely to their homes we will activate all our capabilities - including you. That is what we will do, and we will deploy whatever is needed you, other forces, from the air, from the sea, and from the land. He added in a message on X, formerly Twitter, that Israels forces are ready and prepared to strike Hezbollah with force. Israeli soldiers check a Merkava tank near the border with Lebanon (EPA) Fears of an Israeli invasion of Lebanon Hezbollah forces currently control the southern half of the country, from where they have been continuously firing into northern Israel have grown since Israel launched a massive bombing campaign across the Middle East a fortnight ago. More than 1,000 people in Lebanon have been killed since, including dozens of senior Hezbollah personnel. Women and children are also among the dead, according to the Lebanese health ministry, a separate authority in the country. While Israeli forces, including the 188th brigade, are waiting in the northern territories for any orders to invade, units of special forces have already started carrying out raids into southern Lebanon. These missions have been going on for months, mainly involving small attacks in Hezbollah tunnels just across the border, but former senior military officials say these preliminary operations may well presage an all-out invasion. On Monday morning, Israel bombed a residential building in the Cola area of Beirut. In its first strike beyond the southern suburbs of the capital, it killed four people, including three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) group. Most of the apartments of the 10-story building were heavily damaged. With three of its four walls destroyed, the fifth floor that was targeted was left completely exposed. On the street lie ruins and whats left of furniture and personal belongings from the damaged apartments. Yes we were here, we saw everything this morning, says Mahmoud Kalaf Salam, a Syrian drinking coffee with some other men on the opposite side of the viaduct the targeted building faces. After the explosions, we saw rubble everywhere, there was fire, people wounded with shrapnel and debris all over their bodies. Everyone ran outside to see what happened. Lebanese policemen secure the area around a damaged building following overnight Israeli strikes in the Cola area of Beirut (EPA) In the neighbourhood of Hamra, the streets were filled with people and cars, many having fled the southern parts of the country or the capital itself amidst heavy Israeli bombardments since last week. On Monday afternoon, an Israeli surveillance drone could be heard loudly above the neighbourhood. Many pedestrians stopped for a moment to look up to the sky, searching and occasionally spotting the little white plane. Mr Gallant says the attacks are key to returning the 60,000 Israeli residents in the northern territories who have been displaced by Hezbollahs aerial assaults over the past 11 months. Israel recently added the return of those citizens to its core war aims. In his first public address since Israeli strikes killed Nasrallah in Beirut on Friday, Hezbollahs deputy chief Naim Qassem said the group was ready to fight against any possible invasion. We will face any possibility and we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land and the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement, he said in an address from an undisclosed location, adding that Hezbollah would emerge victorious. An Israeli tank moves next to soldiers as they stand atop of armoured personnel carriers (AP) The Iranian foreign ministry added that Israels criminal acts would not go unanswered. Since Hamas launched its incursion into Israel on 7 October last year, killing 1,000 people and taking 251 hostage, Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups have been attacking Israel, they say, in solidarity with those in Gaza. At least 41,500 people have been killed in the enclave since Israel launched its retaliatory ground and aerial offensive. Hours before Qassem spoke, Hamas said an Israeli airstrike killed its leader in Lebanon, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, along with his wife, son and daughter in the southern city of Tyre on Monday. The PFLP said three of its leaders died in a strike in Beiruts Kola district the first such hit inside the city limits since 2006, when Israel last invaded Lebanon. The wave of Israeli attacks on militant targets in Lebanon are part of a conflict also stretching from the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the occupied West Bank, to Yemen, Iraq, Syria and within Israel itself. The escalation has raised fears that the United States and Iran will be sucked into the conflict. Israel has told the U.S. it is planning ground operations inside Lebanon, State Department spokesperson Matt Miller told reporters on Monday. Miller cast the Israeli incursion as short of an invasion, saying the U.S. believes it will be limited and focused on infrastructure belonging to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. But U.S. officials similarly believed Israels campaign in Gaza against the Palestinian militant group Hamas would be relatively constrained as they started funneling support to it last year. Further escalation inside Lebanon, regardless of scope, would endanger millions of lives and put the Middle East and the U.S. in an incredibly precarious situation. With no end in sight to the war that started on Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian militants invaded Israel and Israel began pummeling the Palestinian territory of Gaza in response, a second major front would be open, risking a spiral of bloodshed that could implicate the U.S. in war crimes, expand into all-out regional conflict, and prove as hard to end through diplomacy as the devastating fighting in Gaza. Despite the likelihood of further violence, one course of action from President Joe Biden is extremely unlikely, sources told HuffPost: an American veto on Israels actions. Within Israel, there is still a debate over whether a full invasion makes strategic sense, analysts say. As the countrys chief military and diplomatic backer, the U.S. is the only party that could pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to prioritize reaching a deal with Israels foe in Lebanon: the armed group Hezbollah, which was led by Hassan Nasrallah until Friday, when he was assassinated by Israel. Yet Biden is currently not expected to use American leverage in that way. His reluctance to wield influence over Netanyahu to cease the war in Gaza has fueled frustration globally and inside his administration; it is widely seen as a key reason a cease-fire there has not yet been reached. Everyone internally is just shocked at the across-the-board weakness given U.S. sway over Israel, a career U.S. official working on Middle East policy told HuffPost. The official said Washington is permitting a nihilistic regional murder spree. Some government staff are just stunned and speechless about what weve become. Biden and his crew have taken the region and world to a dark place, the official added. Another U.S. official familiar with discussions about Lebanontold HuffPost they see the Israeli moves as an invasion. Asked about the suggestion the ground operation will be limited, the second official responded: It will be big. Everyone who says its going to be limited is a white man who thinks a million dead brown people is limited. White House spokespeople did not respond to a request for comment for this story. One route for addressing Israels security concerns in Lebanon is to reach a compromise in which Hezbollah withdraws from the border areas between the two countries and an Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire takes hold. The Lebanese groups heavily armed forces there have inspired fears of an Oct. 7-style assault, pushing tens of thousands of Israelis to flee the north of their country, and Hezbollah has lobbed rockets into Israel for nearly a year to protest the Israeli invasion of Gaza, fueling the increasingly intense Israeli response. Amos Hochstein, a top Biden administration official, has tried for months to craft such an agreement but has been unsuccessful, in large part because U.S.-led diplomacy has failed to end the war in Gaza, which Hezbollah casts as its chief concern. The State Departments Miller said the administration still seeks a bargain in Lebanon and believes military maneuvers could make that more likely. There is a short window of opportunity for a cease-fire deal to be negotiated over the Israel-Lebanon border but that will require a heavy diplomatic lift by the U.S. president, said Randa Slim, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute think tank. It is unlikely that we will see that materialize in the waning days of this administration. Moreover, if Israel were to decide on a ground invasion of and eventually a re-occupation of parts of south Lebanon, the potential for de-escalation and cessation of hostilities will dissipate, Slim told HuffPost. Israel previously occupied parts of Lebanon from 1982 to 2000. Lebanese children, who fled a southern suburb of Beirut with their families, sleep on pavement in Beirut after they failed to find a public school or a shelter to go to. Thousands of Lebanese and Syrians nationals have fled south Lebanon, the suburbs and Lebanon's Bekaa valley east of the country because of the daily Israeli air raids. Marwan Naamani/picture alliance via Getty Images Simultaneously, some influential voices in the U.S. are promoting the idea of significant Israeli military escalation. Having killed Nasrallah and other top Hezbollah commanders in recent weeks in attacks using U.S.-provided weapons that killed more than 1,000 people and displaced up to 1 million Israel has a chance to permanently reduce the threat it faces from the group and, by extension, its ally Iran, they say. Some Biden administration staff see the current moment as presenting a once-in-a-generation opportunity to weaken Hezbollah, per The New York Times. Such thinking is being loudly promoted by some Republicans, demonstrating how hawkish views on U.S. foreign policy often transcend partisan lines, particularly when it comes to Israel. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Saturday issued a statement urging the Biden administration to end its counter-productive calls for a cease-fire. The right move now for America would be to tell Israel to finish the job, Jared Kushner, who helped run Middle East policy during the Trump administration, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) the same day. Israel now finds itself with the threat from Gaza mostly neutralized and the opportunity to neutralize Hezbollah in the north. Its unfortunate how we got here but maybe there can be a silver lining in the end, Kushner argued, saying an Israeli offensive against Hezbollah would help the Lebanese people broadly. His comments reflected how the pro-escalation calculus largely discounts harm to civilians even of Israelis killed on Oct. 7 and the danger of inspiring further militancy. Though Hezbollah has many critics in Lebanon, the idea that much of the country is going to somehow thank and embrace Israel does not square with the grievances and anxieties in full display at present amid the prospect of a Gaza-style invasion, Emile Hokayem, a researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank, wrote on X. Kim Ghattas, a Lebanon-based analyst, highlighted in a post how Israeli leaders in the 1980s saw an opportunity to bring about a new regional order by invading Lebanon and unintentionally unleashing chaos as backlash grew, including the rise of Hezbollah. Some still believe Biden can achieve a settlement that averts a sweeping Israeli offensive. Were very concerned about further escalation and still pushing for work towards a cease-fire. The big difference is those who think a cease-fire is still worth working for and those who do not, a senior congressional aide told HuffPost. Andrew Miller, a Biden aide who left the State Department over the summer, argued for American pressure on Israel and intensified diplomacy to calm tensions in both Gaza and Lebanon in a Foreign Affairs essay on Sunday. Every U.S. president since Lyndon Johnson, with the exceptions of Clinton and Donald Trump that is, nine of the last 11 administrations has threatened to withhold, or has actually withheld, weapons systems or other aid in order to influence Israeli policy, he wrote. The administration should use every tool at its disposal. The lives of Israelis, Palestinians, Lebanese, and Americans literally depend on it. Moves by the U.S. could bolster voices inside Israel who are seeking a settlement in Lebanon. Carried upon the wave of operational successes, and what so far appears as a Hezbollah and Iran inability to react, many Israelis are almost euphoric. They feel vindicated, finally regaining a sense of national competence, Eran Etzion, the former deputy chief of Israels National Security Council, told HuffPost. However, cooler heads are advising against getting carried away, and for leveraging the current advantage into a diplomatic strategy designed to create a new set of agreements and a [United Nations Security Council] resolution. Still, even Netanyahus political opponents embrace the idea that Israel has a lot more that it can do in Lebanon, said Mairav Zonszein, an analyst at the International Crisis Group think tank. Given the fact that the U.S. really hasnt put up any kind of pushback, I think Israel really feels like this is its moment to seize as much as it can and to take out as many targets as it can, she continued. The question is what exactly is it trying to achieve and how far its going to go, whether its going to try to use this for diplomacy or not those are things that we dont really know yet. Fear over Lebanons fate has grown throughout the course of the fighting in Gaza, and many officials and experts see the tensions in both regions as inextricably linked. As Israel sought additional U.S. weapons following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and other militants from Gaza, U.S. officials last year told HuffPost they worried Israel was stockpiling American arms for eventual use in Lebanon. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas are stalled. But both that Palestinian group and Hezbollah argue a deal for Gaza is possible and the key to stability. If the Americans put an end to their collusion in this madness and use enough pressure on their allies, Netanyahu could agree to a cease-fire, argued Basem Naim, a senior Hamas leader. A Lebanon invasion can be avoided if we talk about a comprehensive approach including the different fronts, Naim told HuffPost on Monday. Actions speak louder than words, it is often said, but when Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations last Friday, he combined both, to maximum effect. As he was eloquently rebuking most member states for their cowardice and hypocrisy in the face of the terror of Hamas, Hezbollah and those groups beloved godfather, Iran, he was also waiting for the news that his countrys forces had finally blown up, at his orders, Hezbollahs leader of more than 30 years, Hassan Nasrallah, and with him a clutch of his most important lieutenants. Obviously, the extraordinary events of the past fortnight have been widely reported, but their significance has been grossly underplayed. Taken together, what with the pagers and the walkie-talkies and the killing of leader after terrorist leader, they are Israels greatest success since 1967s Six Day War. In order to understand why they matter so much, one needs to understand what revolutionaries call the propaganda of the deed. And to understand that, one needs to go back to the propaganda of the deeds of October 7 last year. Although the Hamas massacres, rapes and kidnappings were a feast of hot sadistic rage, they also had a chilling political purpose. We can do this, Hamas was saying, and no one can stop us. They calculated, and they were not wrong, that the world would be awed. Islamists, including many in the West, would be elated and further radicalised. Moderate Arab regimes would be scared. The Western democracies, after expressing some distaste, would quickly switch back to their default position of begging Israel not to do anything much about it and then, when Israel did do something, calling for an immediate ceasefire. The Biden administration played its favourite trick of supplying weapons and then trying to prevent their use. Hamas and then Hezbollah, who quickly came in behind their uneasy ally also calculated that the outside world would condemn Israels overreaction even before it had reacted militarily at all. Until recently, this propaganda worked. Although, in fact, Israel was doing fairly well in destroying Hamass operational capacity in Gaza, this was obscured by the dark cloud of world and media condemnation. The suffering of civilians which Hamas deliberately makes unavoidable by the way it controls Gaza and its chosen means of military operation, using human shields, was presented, for the ensuing year, as almost entirely the fault of Israel. This false presentation continues, of course, but Hezbollahs decision to try to drive more than 60,000 Israelis from the north of the country coincided with Israels long-planned infiltration/surveillance of its supply chains, its communications, its command structures and its key locations (reaching even into Iran as well as Lebanon). Within less than a fortnight, it hit the lot, with a precision almost unmatched in history. The consequences include: Clear exposure of the fact that Western, including British, calls for ceasefire were, at best, foolish and, at worst, designed to help Hezbollah (and Hamas and Iran). If Israel had acceded to these demands, Nasrallah and his not usually very merry men, would still be around, with fully functioning pagers, walkie-talkies and bunkers, still appearing invincible. Terror in the hearts of all the terrorists, including Iran itself, who now do not feel safe anywhere and can no longer coordinate any response. They are being laughed at. Joy among all the numerous, mainly Sunni, Arabs in the region who detest the terrorists, and among Iranian people, who detest their own fanatical and corrupt regime. Relief among moderate Arab nations, particularly in the Gulf, who hope to push back Iranian power in the region and even to return to the gradual rapprochement with Israel which had begun, before all this, with the Abraham Accords. An end to the misleading narrative that Mr Netanyahu is rejected by most Israelis and will soon be dismissed from office. He is undoubtedly a divisive figure in Israel, but in the fight for national survival, the threatened nation is almost at one, and he is by far its most experienced and wiliest defender. There is something else, too. Israels actions which culminated in the killing of Nasrallah make September 28 2024 the permanent warning in history to October 7 2023. It is a most powerful reaffirmation of what a free country can achieve because of the skill, courage and at least when it really matters unity of its people. Israels opponents now look like bloodthirsty idiots. It stands strong. The fact that Israel has had to defy the world to do this will not surprise those who have observed current attitudes to the Jewish nation, even in its greatest ally, the United States. But it should be no end of a lesson to all of us that when we unambiguously resist terror and tyranny, we will win. And when we dont, we wont. The same lesson applies to our support for Ukraine, and if we do not learn it quickly, we shall be tested closer to home. Courteous, perceptive and funny who could the FT be talking about? In an intermittently glowing obituary of Nasrallah (courteous, perceptive and funny, as if he were some twinkly old actor in the Garrick Club), todays Financial Times, informed us that his inability to pronounce his Rs was widely viewed as disarming. Luckily, he failed to disarm the Israelis. Now they have disarmed him, for good. 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 site of Israeli artillery shelling on the Lebanese villages of Adeisseh and Kfar Kila along the border with Israel [Getty Images] Israel has launched what it has described as "limited, localised and targeted ground raids" in southern Lebanon, marking an escalation in its continuing offensive against Hezbollah. Intense fighting is taking place between the Israeli army and Hezbollah in the area, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. Lebanese civilians are being warned not to use vehicles to travel south across the Litani river, which is 20 miles north of the Israel-Lebanon border. According to the IDF, the operation is aimed at the Iran-backed group's "infrastructure", which it says poses "an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel". Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant earlier implied the army was ready for a ground operation, telling troops near the Lebanese border Israel was prepared to use forces "from the air, sea and land" to target Hezbollah. Hezbollah's deputy leader said the group was prepared for any Israeli operation inside Lebanon. The group said it targeted Israeli troops with a rocket barrage on the Israeli town of Metula and the Avivim area, close to the Lebanon border. In a statement posted on X at 02:00 local time on Tuesday morning, the IDF confirmed troops had moved across the border following a build-up of tanks and other armour in northern Israel. The Lebanese army is pulling back troops stationed on its southern border to at least 5km (3 miles) north, according to Reuters news agency, which cited a Lebanese security source. On Monday, Gallant told Israeli troops at the border that Israel's military would use all "the means at our disposal" to allow displaced people to return home in the north of the country. In a short video, he said the "elimination" of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on Friday "is a very important step, but it is not everything". He added that "everything that needs to be done - will be done" and that "we will use all the forces from the air, sea and land". The Israeli government has pledged to make it safe for tens of thousands of its citizens to return to their homes after nearly a year of cross-border fighting, which began with Hezbollah firing rockets at the start of the war in Gaza. The Lebanese armed group - which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the US, UK and other countries - is known to have extensive tunnel networks as well as bunkers and other military infrastructure just over the border from Israel. Hezbollah's deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said the group - which is thought to have tens of thousands of well-trained fighters - was ready for an Israeli ground offensive. He described their attacks on Israel so far as the "minimum", adding that the battle could be long. Hezbollah - which is backed by Iran - has experienced mass casualties from exploding pagers and walkie-talkies, a wave of assassinations of its military commanders and devastating air strikes which have killed civilians, as well as the use of bunker-busting bombs in Beirut, which killed the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, on Friday. Explosions lit up the night sky on Monday as airstrikes hit Hezbollahs stronghold of Dahieh, in Beirut's southern suburbs, near the airport. The attacks came shortly after the Israeli military warned residents to evacuate buildings it said were linked to the group. In southern Lebanon, there were reports of heavy shelling in the border town of Aita al-Shaab. And near the city of Sidon, officials say a strike hit a building in a crowded Palestinian refugee camp, the first time it has been attacked in this conflict. Lebanese officials say more than 1,000 people have been killed in the past two weeks, while up to a million may now be displaced. On Monday, US President Joe Biden said "we should have a ceasefire now". "I'm more aware than you might know and I'm comfortable with them stopping," Biden told reporters when asked if he was comfortable with Israeli plans for a cross-border incursion. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy spoke to his US counterpart Antony Blinken on Monday, with the US State Department saying they discussed efforts to resolve the conflict. Both men stressed the need for a ceasefire and that the hostages taken by Hezbollah's Palestinian ally Hamas in the 7 October attack on Israel need to be returned home. The European Union's member states have called for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said "any further military intervention would dramatically aggravate the situation and it has to be avoided". Israeli tanks had been assembling close to the border with Lebanon for several days in advance of the ground incursion [EPA] Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas have both confirmed the killing of the head of Hamas in Lebanon, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon. Israel's military said Sherif was "responsible for co-ordinating Hamas's terror activities in Lebanon with Hezbollah operatives". Another Israeli strike in the central Beirut neighbourhood of Kola early on Monday killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Palestinian armed group said in a statement. The statement named those killed as military security chief Mohammad Abdel-Aal, military commander Imad Odeh and fighter Abdel Rahman Abdel-Aal. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) director of communications for Lebanon, Jinane Saad, told the BBC that we dont really know where is safe or not after the strike on the Kola neighbourhood. What is safe today might not be safe in an hour or tomorrow, she said. The previously sporadic cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalated on 8 October 2023 - the day after the unprecedented attack on Israel by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip - when Hezbollah fired at Israeli positions, in solidarity with the Palestinians. Israel's long-contentious relationship with the United Nations has since October 7 spiralled to new depths, amid insults and accusations and even a questioning of the country's continued UN membership. Addressing the UN General Assembly on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the world body of treating his country unfairly. "Until this anti-Semitic swamp is drained, the UN will be viewed by fair-minded people everywhere as nothing more than a contemptuous farce," he thundered. The past year has seen repeated accusations from within the UN system that Israel is committing "genocide" in its war in Gaza, while Israeli officials have made charges of bias and have even accused the UN chief of being "an accomplice to terror". The heat has been turned way up in a war of words that has raged between Israel and various UN bodies for decades. And temperatures have risen further in recent days amid Israel's escalating strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon. "There has been a great deterioration" in the relationship, said Cyrus Schayegh, an international history and politics professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute. "It has gone from fairly bad to really bad." - UN 'betrayal' - Since Hamas's deadly attack inside Israel nearly a year ago, UN-linked courts, councils, agencies and staff have unleashed a barrage of condemnation and criticism of Israel's devastating retaliatory operation in Gaza. "We feel the UN has betrayed Israel," the country's ambassador to the UN in Geneva Daniel Meron told AFP. Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity. Of the 251 hostages seized by militants, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 41,500 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN has described the figures as reliable. Israel has especially taken aim at UNRWA, the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, but its ire has been felt across the UN system, and up to the UN chief. Israeli calls for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to resign began just weeks after October 7, when he asserted that the attack "did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation". - 'Above international law' - Even before October 7, Israel complained of UN bias, pointing for instance to the towering number of resolutions targeting the country. Since the creation of the UN Human Rights Council in 2006, more than a third of the over 300 condemnatory resolutions have targeted Israel, Meron pointed out, describing this as "mind-boggling". Critics meanwhile highlight that from the time a General Assembly vote paved the way for Israel's establishment in 1948, the country has ignored numerous UN resolutions and international court rulings, without consequences. Israel has always snubbed resolution 194, which guarantees the Palestinians expelled in 1948 from the territory Israel conquered the right to return or to compensation. It has also ignored rulings condemning its forceful acquisition of territory and the annexation of East Jerusalem after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, and the continuing and expanding settlement policy in the West Bank, among others. By allowing Israel to remain in "non-compliance with international law, the West has been basically making the Israelis believe that they are above international law", Geneva Graduate Institute political sociology professor Riccardo Bocco told AFP. - 'Impunity reigns' - Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN rights office, also said a lack of accountability in the Middle East crisis appeared to have made "the parties to the conflict more brazen". "We rang the alarm bells multiple times and now there is the impression that impunity reigns," she told AFP, lamenting increasing attacks on UN bodies and staff expressing concern over the situation. "This is unacceptable." UNRWA has faced the harshest attacks. It saw a series of funding cuts after Israel accused more than a dozen of its 13,000 Gaza employees of involvement in the October 7 attack. Agency chief Philippe Lazzarini has accused Israel of conducting "a concerted effort to dismantle UNRWA", which has suffered dramatic human and material losses in Gaza, with more than 220 staff killed. Netanyahu demanded earlier this year that UNRWA, which he said "perpetuates the Palestinian refugee problem (and) whose schools indoctrinate Palestinian children with genocide and terror ... be replaced by responsible aid agencies". - 'Pariah' - Francesca Albanese, the UN independent rights expert on the Palestinian territories, who has faced harsh criticism and calls for her ousting from Israel amid her repeated accusation it is committing "genocide" in Gaza, recently suggested the country was becoming a "pariah". "Should there be a consideration of its membership as part of this organisation, which Israel seems to have zero respect for?" she rhetorically asked journalists last week. Meron slammed Albanese as "anti-Semitic and really an embarrassment to the UN". Other experts warned that Israel's disregard for the UN was threatening the broader respect for the organisation. Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, the UN expert on the right to drinking water, warned of the consequences when UN bodies "make decisions and nothing is respected". "We are blowing up the United Nations if we don't react." nl-bur/rlp The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have released a video showing portions of the long-range strike mission flown against Houthi targets in Yemen yesterday. The footage confirms that F-35I Adir stealth jets as well as F-15C/D fighters were involved in the attacks, part of an intensified campaign that Israel is now waging against the Iran-backed Houthis, as well as Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in Gaza. Intriguingly, the video also provides what is very likely our best (if not only) view so far of the little-known remote vision system used in the Israeli Air Forces Boeing 707 tanker, seen while topping up F-35s over the Red Sea. Footage From the Refueling Aircraft on the Way to Strike Houthi Military Targets in Yemen The Israeli Air Force's refueling aircraft have been operating in all arenas in the war, providing fighter jets with flexibility in strikes and aerial operations at any distance. Yesterday pic.twitter.com/o8TRNAtC8l Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) September 30, 2024 The video published today by the IDF shows aerial refueling operations as part of the strike against infrastructure in Yemen used by the Iran-backed Houthi militants. The footage starts with the takeoff of an IAF 707 tanker including views from the flight deck, after which the refueling jet flies in formation with F-35s. A portion of the Saudi Arabian coastline, including the city of Al Humidah can also be seen, from the perspective of the tanker. As for the F-35s, these appear to be carrying exclusively internal ordnance and they are not fitted with radar-reflective Luneburg lenses which remove the stealth jets radar-evading qualities. Of particular interest, however, is the remote vision system in the 707, used by the boom operator to see what is happening at the rear of the aircraft while connecting the boom with the receiving aircraft. We got a previous view of the screen of the remote vision system back in July of this year when the 707 supported F-35s in another long-range IAF raid on Yemen. But on that occasion, it was just video from the camera feed itself, not of the actual boomer interface that controls the system. , - : pic.twitter.com/YUul4bCMVs Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) August 25, 2024 Essentially, the equipment used on the Israeli 707 is a much earlier conceptualization of the technology now used on the U.S. Air Forces KC-46 Pegasus. In this more recent application, however, the complex Remote Vision System (RVS) has proven to be a particular source of problems. In both the Israeli 707 and the KC-46, the boom operator performs their tasks from the main cabin via an array of cameras at the back of the plane that feeds into the RVS. In both cases, a hybrid 2D/3D system is used, requiring the operators to wear special glasses. Boom operators sit at their workstations wearing their specialized glasses in the main cabin of a KC-46A. U.S. Air Force A largely unprecedented view of the Reems RVS. (IDF screencap) Perhaps the most surprising facet of this is that Israel developed and fielded a remote vision system that seems to function without any lingering difficulties, and did so many years ago, while the U.S. version used in the KC-46 is still mired in delays. We still dont know exactly how bad the teething of this older Israeli system was when it was introduced many years ago. Another modern remote vision system has meanwhile also been developed and introduced by Airbus, on the A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT). An Israeli Air Force Boeing 707 tanker demonstrates refueling hookups with F-15 fighters over Hatzerim Air Base. JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images Israel has a limited number of 707 aerial refueling jets. (JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images) As well as aerial refueling, the 707 used in the Yemen raid will likely also have served as a command and control station and communications node. The aircraft is equipped with a satellite communications suite ensuring critical, secure beyond-line-of-sight comms with appropriately equipped tactical aircraft like the F-15 and F-16 and command centers far away. This is especially important in long-range strike operations, with the 707 helping enable real-time remote command and control and enhanced situational awareness, intelligence sharing, and other functions. In this way, targeting information, for example, can be shared between all the aircraft on the active network and can be exchanged with command centers and other aircraft across considerable distances. Some Israeli Air Force 707 tankers also execute other missions, including networking and command and control functions. Tomas Del Coro/Wikicommons Some IAF 707 tankers also execute other missions, including networking and command and control functions. Tomas Del Coro wikicommons The current IAF 707 fleet started to enter service in 1979, with then-newer 707-300 airframes replacing previous 707-100s. Known by the Hebrew name Reem, meaning oryx, the aircraft were acquired from commercial airlines and then began to be adapted locally for aerial refueling. The conversion was done by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and was a long process, only finally being completed in the 2010s. Details about the current remote vision system are hard to come by and technical details have been relatively closely guarded. Reportedly, as well as the 3D glasses, the system incorporates a foot-operated communications system, meaning the boomers hands are kept free to operate the console. Otherwise, based on what we can see in the video, the boomers screen is surrounded by very dated-looking analog instruments, reflecting the overall age of the interface installation. Israels 707 tankers, thought to number roughly just seven airframes or so, are absolutely prized possessions for the IAF. They enable long-range strike capabilities that have allowed Israel to reach out over long distances to prosecute high-priority targets since the 1980s. They would be absolutely critical players in even a limited air operation against Iran, not just providing fuel, but also aforementioned networking and command and control capabilities. Ultimately, the IAF will replace its geriatric 707 fleet with KC-46s, with a deal for eight of the new tankers having been approved. We dont yet know when Israel will receive its first KC-46s, but by the time they arrive, they should have a fully functional RVS, with the 2.0 version of the system expected to be delivered starting in April 2026. Other interesting details of the latest raid on Yemen have been provided in other videos and photos from the IDF. Yesterday, another video released by the IDF revealed details of preparations by an IAF strike package consisting of F-15C/Ds, known locally as Baz, which were seen taking off from their base at Tel Nof, in central Israel, purportedly headed for Yemen. These venerable fighters, which have a dual air defense and strike role, were seen fitted with conformal fuel tanks and loaded with 2,204-pound SPICE 1000 precision-guided glide-bombs, as well as AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, and Elta 8222 self-escort electronic warfare pods. Also in the video are 2,000-pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM), although these are not seen fitted on the jets. - (F-15) pic.twitter.com/uQfk6ysDIB Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) September 29, 2024 Live 2,000-pound JDAMs lined up in front of an Israeli Air Force F-15 in its shelter. IAF screencap While the AIM-7 is an increasingly anachronistic weapon, TWZ has previously explored the continued use of this missile to arm IAF F-15s, noting that the older Sparrow has a warhead that is double the size of the one used in the AMRAAM. However, the AMRAAM still possesses far superior range, is far more flexible overall, better allows for fighters to engage multiple targets at once, and has a true fire-and-forget capability, making it sensible to carry examples of both. On the other hand, the threat posed by Houthi fighters is strictly limited, with little chance that they would risk taking on the IAF, provided they had the opportunity to do so. In certain scenarios, the Sparrow is likely also more suitable for engaging hostile drones not least due to the fact that its a cheaper option and stocks may be close to becoming time-expired. Israeli Air Force F-15D serial 986, armed with SPICE 1000, AIM-7 Sparrow, and AIM-120 AMRAAM and carrying an Elta 8222 self-escort electronic warfare pod. IAF screencap IAF screenshot Intriguingly, one of the aircraft shown taking part in the Yemen strikes is the two-seat F-15D serial 957, which was infamously involved in a mid-air collision with an A-4 Skyhawk in May 1983. Despite losing almost all its starboard wing, the fighter landed safely, was repaired, and has been in frontline IAF service ever since. F-15D IDF #957 ex-USAF #80-0133 MSN #669 Manufactured by McDonnell Douglas in 1980 for USAF. Transfered to IDF in the framework of Peace Fox. Midair collision with an A-4 on 1 May 1983. Lost virtually all of its starboard wing but landed safely. pic.twitter.com/p8XeK64bul Pascal D. Muyovu (@kirkjamestkirk) September 30, 2024 The fact that the aging F-15C/D still plays a key role within the IAF is something we have explored in the past and it has also helped influence continued interest in procuring new versions of the F-15, alongside the fifth-generation F-35. Meanwhile, these heavily modified F-15s are central to the air arms ability to conduct long-range operations as well as homeland defense and they have been used as multirole air-to-air and air-to-ground platforms for decades. According to the IDF, dozens of aircraft were involved in the Yemen airstrikes on Sunday, which the Israeli military says are its longest-range combat mission since the 1985 raid on the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) headquarters in Tunis a mission that also involved F-15s. According to the IAF, its aircraft flew upward of 1,120 miles to attack the Houthi targets yesterday. As well as one or more 707 tankers, these dozens of IAF aircraft would have included the strike and escort packages of F-35s and F-15s and a variety of intelligence-gathering assets, almost certainly including some of the airborne early warning and control and signals intelligence platforms based on the Gulfstream bizjet airframe. The latest of these is the Nachshon Oron, a multi-mission intelligence-gathering aircraft that you can read more about here. An Israeli Air Force Nachshon Oron multi-mission intelligence-gathering aircraft. Amit Agronov/Israeli Air Force www.twz.com When the Nachshon Oron was inducted into IAF service in 2021, Yoav Turgeman, vice president of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which developed the aircrafts mission systems, said that it will improve the ability of the [Israel Defense Forces] on a number of fighting fronts, principally in the air forces abilities to conduct strikes. The focus of yesterdays attacks appears to have been the ports of Hodeidah and Ras Issa, with targets including the docks as well as fuel facilities and powerplants. Israeli authorities say that the ports are being used to transfer Iranian weapons to the region, and supplies for military needs, and thus also oil. Reports of an Israeli airstrike in the Yemen coastal city of Hodeidah pic.twitter.com/mQj1aC5ede Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) September 29, 2024 Israel launched strikes at Houthi targets in Yemen on Sunday after the Houthi militants fired missiles at Israel over the past two days. In their latest attack, the Houthis said they had launched a ballistic missile Saturday toward the Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel pic.twitter.com/qpxkpxIRq2 Voice of America (@VOANews) September 29, 2024 Reports from the Houthi media claim the strikes killed four people a port official and three engineers and injured 33. Residents described power cuts across most of Hodeidah. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi released a statement after the strike: We know how to reach very far, we know how to reach even farther, and we know how to strike there with precision. This is not a message; it is an action. An action that carries a message with it, Halevi added. In an unusual move, the IDF flew a CNN journalist, Nic Robertson, aboard the 707 during yesterdays mission. During the flight, an IDF spokesperson said that the strikes were in response to the Houthis firing three long-range missiles against Israel in the past two weeks; all of those missiles were intercepted near Tel Aviv, the spokesperson said. According to the Houthis, the most recent of these attacks, on Saturday, targeted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Ben Gurion International Airport, outside Tel Aviv, as he arrived back from a visit to the United States. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 79th session of the General Assembly at the UN Headquarters. He is holding a map of the Middle East with countries hosting terrorist groups supported by Iran showing in black. Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images Pacific Press It was while in the United States that Netanyahu had approved the airstrikes on Beirut last Friday, which killed Hassan Nasrallah the veteran leader of Hezbollah. You can read our coverage of those attacks here. The United States has meanwhile confirmed suspicions that versions of the 2,000-pound GBU-31 JDAM were used to strike Beirut. Senator Mark Kelly, the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Air-Land said that U.S.-made Mark 84 bombs equipped with JDAM kits. We see more use of guided munitions, JDAMs, and we continue to provide those weapons, Kelly said on NBC. That 2,000-pound bomb that was used, that s a Mark 84 series bomb, to take out Nasrallah. The bombs used were BLU-109s, which is a penetrating bunker-buster warhead, or variant of them, also with a nominal weight of 2,000 pounds. In the wake of the raids that killed Nasrallah, the IAF released videos and photos showing at least eight F-15I strike fighters carrying 2,000-pound-class penetrator JDAMs. At least some of those aircraft carried seven of the JDAMs each. An Israeli Air Force F-15I strike fighter carrying 2,000-pound-class JDAMs. IAF An IAF F-15I assigned to 69 Squadron "The Hammers" taking off from Hatzerim Air Force Base. The strike fighter is seen armed with seven 2,000-pound class GPS-aided GBU-31(V)3/B series JDAMs. Video link:https://t.co/cBbVhFWnAAhttps://t.co/eN6H2B6AcIpic.twitter.com/oz9xNTgMGX Guy Plopsky (@GuyPlopsky) September 28, 2024 Since then, there have been more Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, while Hezbollah launched several attacks of its own yesterday. The group said that one of those targeted a group of Israeli soldiers, while others reportedly struck areas in northern Israel, according to officials there. Despite the death of Nasrallah and the vast majority of its upper echelons in recent Israeli attacks, Hezbollah says it will continue to fight Israel. Since the start of the Gaza war, almost a year ago, there have been concerns that fighting between Israel and Hezbollah could draw in Iran, and other Iran-backed proxies, sparking a larger regional conflict. It seems that yesterdays long-range strike mission against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen was not only intended to degrade the militants ability to attack Israel but was also a very clear warning to Iran not to become more deeply involved. Whatever happens next, the operations so far have revealed some fascinating and surprising aspects of Israeli capabilities, from exploding pagers on the one hand to our best look at the remote vision system on Israels veteran 707 tankers on the other. Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com An Israeli tank crosses a northern Israeli road as it makes its way to the border of Lebanon at an undisclosed location during ground operations on Tuesday. Photo by Jim Hollander/UPI Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Israel launched a limited ground incursion into Lebanon early Tuesday to drive Hezbollah forces away from the Israeli border. The ground operation follows hours of artillery fire across the border and airstrikes in southern Beirut. "The IDF began a targeted and limited ground operation in the area of southern Lebanon against terrorist targets and infrastructures of the terrorist organization Hezbollah, in a number of villages near the border, which pose an immediate and real threat to Israeli settlements on the northern border," the Israeli military said in a statement early Tuesday. While officials declined to give a timeline, they insisted there will be "no long-term occupation of southern Lebanon," adding that the operation is focused on removing "immediate threats" along the border. Over the past 24 hours, Lebanon's health ministry said nearly 100 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley and Beirut. Hezbollah's media relations announced in a statement that "there is no truth to the false claims of the Zionist enemy about the presence of weapons or weapons stores in civilian buildings, including the Al-Sirat Channel building that was targeted by shelling in the southern suburb yesterday." Israeli artillery shells hit areas near villages in southern Lebanon along the border with Israel, as seen from the Upper Galilee, northern Israel. Israel's military began a limited ground incursion early Tuesday, as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they "will continue to strike, harm, and degrade" Hezbollah's military in Lebanon. Photo by Atef Safadi/EPA-EFE Media relations official Mohammad Afif said in a statement to Al Jazeera that "there have not been any direct ground clashes yet between the resistance fighters and the occupation forces, and all the Zionist claims that the occupation forces entered Lebanon are false." He said that "the bombing of the 8200 Military Intelligence Base and the Mossad headquarters is only the beginning," stressing that "we will inflict the greatest losses on the enemy forces that are trying to enter Lebanese territory," adding, "Our fighters are ready to confront the enemy forces that dare or try to enter Lebanese territory." Israel launched a limited ground incursion into Lebanon early Tuesday, after hours of artillery fire across the border and airstrikes in southern Beirut. Israeli officials insisted there will be "no long-term occupation of southern Lebanon." Photo by Fadel Itani/ UPI For his part, member of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc, MP Hassan Fadlallah, said in a television statement that "the resistance is fully prepared for a ground engagement, and this is left to the field, the field leaders, and the alternative plans that the resistance has put in place and approved by Sayyed Nasrallah before his martyrdom." On Monday, an apartment building in central Beirut was hit, the first apparent Israeli strike on the capital outside of Hezbollah's stronghold in the southern suburbs. Three leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine group were killed by an Israeli airstrike in the Kola area of Beirut. An Israeli tank crosses a northern Israeli road as it makes its way to the border of Lebanon at an undisclosed location during ground operations on Tuesday. Photo by Jim Hollander/UPI "This is what they have informed us that they are currently conducting, which are limited operations targeting Hezbollah infrastructure near the border," U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters Monday. Lebanese media also reported heavy Israeli artillery shelling at the border village of Wazzani, close to Ghajar. An apartment building stands in partial ruins after being hit by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's, Lebanon on Monday. The Israeli military said it carried out dozens of strikes in Lebanon, including southern Beirut and the Bekaa Valley. Photo by Fadel Itani/UPI Israel Defense Forces have been urging Lebanese civilians in Beirut to evacuate immediately, to clear the area as they prepared to push Hezbollah forces away from the Israeli border. Specifically, the IDF warned Lebanese civilians to clear the area near several buildings in the Hezbollah stronghold, known as Dahiyeh. "You are in the vicinity of Hezbollah facilities and the IDF will act forcefully against them. For your safety and the safety of your family members, you must evacuate these buildings immediately and stay at least 500 meters away from them," Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF's Arabic-language spokesman, warned Monday in a post on X. Soldiers secure the area after three leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine group were killed by Israeli airstrike in the Kola area of Beirut, Lebanon on Monday. The Israeli military said it carried out dozens of strikes in Lebanon, including southern Beirut and the Bekaa Valley. Photo by Fadel Itani/UPI # : ... pic.twitter.com/N60UKlRxmV (@AvichayAdraee) September 30, 2024 Britain also chartered a flight to help British citizens leave Lebanon. The flight is scheduled to leave Beirut on Wednesday. France's Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot gives a press conference at the Pine Residence, the official residence of the French ambassador to Lebanon, in Beirut's Horsh district on Monday, urging Israel not to send ground troops into Lebanon and calling on Israel and Hezbollah to immediately agree to a cease-fire. Photo by Fadel Itani/UPI In remarks before boarding Air Force One in Delaware on Monday, President Joe Biden told reporters he would not deploy more U.S. troops to the Middle East, and plans to talk with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "Yes. I will be talking to him, and I'll tell you what I say to him when I talk to him," Biden said. An Israeli airstrike destroyed a residential apartment in the Kola area of amid Beirut, Lebanon, on Monday. Photo by Fadel Itani/UPI At the White House, Biden called for a cease-fire "right now" when asked about Israel's plan to invade Lebanon in its fight against Hezbollah. "I'm more aware than you might know and I'm comfortable with them stopping," the president told reporters. "We should have a cease-fire right now." "Israel has a right to defend itself against Hezbollah and Iran-backed groups," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday. "We're in constant discussion with the Israelis on the best way to move forward," adding, "Of course, we want to see a cease-fire." Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant on Monday to review security developments and Israeli operations before the ground operation. Austin also reaffirmed U.S. support for Israel's right to defend itself against Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and other Iran-backed terrorist organizations. On Monday, Netanyahu posted a statement to the "people of Iran" that they "deserve better." The statement comes two days after Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in southern Beirut. "There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country," Netanyahu said. "Don't let a small group of fanatic theocrats crush your hopes and your dreams," he added. "You deserve better." The people of Iran should know - Israel stands with you pic.twitter.com/MfwfNqnTgE Benjamin Netanyahu - (@netanyahu) September 30, 2024 More than 100,000 Lebanese nationals and Syrians living in Lebanon have fled the Israeli airstrikes and crossed into Syria, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Fillipo Grandi," who said Monday that "the outflow continues." The number of people who have crossed into Syria from Lebanon fleeing Israeli airstrikes - Lebanese and Syrian nationals - has reached 100,000. The outflow continues. UNHCR is present at four crossing points alongside local authorities and @SYRedCrescent to support new arrivals. pic.twitter.com/7dtrghsMH4 Filippo Grandi (@FilippoGrandi) September 30, 2024 France's Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot also spoke to reporters Monday at the Pine Residence, the official residence of the French ambassador to Lebanon, in Beirut's Horsh district, where he urged Israel not to send ground troops into Lebanon and called on Israel and Hezbollah to immediately agree to a cease-fire. "I urge Israel to refrain from any ground incursion and to cease fire," Barrot said. "I call on Hezbollah to do the same and to refrain from any action likely to lead to regional destabilization." Israel has decimated Hezbollahs leadership with strikes over the past week, while also killing hundreds of civilians and forcing nearly 1 million people from their homes. Hezbollahs longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was taken out in an Israeli attack Friday on Hezbollahs central headquarters in Beirut. The United States has said justice was served to Nasrallah, a key Iranian ally in the region. However, Washington is also urging a diplomatic solution to a conflict that is moving ever-closer to an all-out war, especially as Israel threatens a ground invasion. Israel expanded its air strikes across Lebanon over the weekend, hitting central Beirut on Monday for the first time in months. Local officials say more than 1,000 civilians have been killed across Lebanon over the past week, including 100 on Sunday. Theres no safe place guaranteed in Lebanon, Jihan Kaisi, the head of a group helping displaced people, told NBC News. Here are five pressing questions about the conflict. Will Israel launch a ground invasion? Multiple outlets reported Monday that Israel has informed the United States of plans to launch a limited ground incursion into Lebanon as soon as Monday. The Washington Post reported that Israeli forces carried out limited raids across the border Monday. Hezbollahs elite Radwan force is believed to be hiding in tunnels close to the border. The Radwan force, no matter how many times we attack, you cannot destroy that from the air, Miri Eisin, a former senior Israeli military intelligence officer, told the Post. To be able to get to that subterranean arena, which is 2-3 kilometers from Israels border, you have to go in. U.S. officials say they have been told that Israel will not conduct a full-scale invasion. They have at this time told us that those are limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border, but were in continuous conversations with them about it, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in Mondays briefing. Israel has repeatedly threatened to send troops into Lebanon to push back the threat of attacks on northern Israel, with its top commander telling troops this week and last week to prepare for a ground invasion. The goal is very clear to safely return the residents of the north, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi told troops Wednesday. To achieve that, we are preparing the process of a maneuver, which means your military boots, your maneuvering boots, will enter enemy territory, enter villages that Hezbollah has prepared as large military outposts. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant indicated to troops on Monday that a ground invasion was imminent. The elimination of Nasrallah is a very important step, but it is not the final one, Gallant said while visiting troops near Israels northern border with Lebanon. We will employ all the capabilities at our disposal, and if someone on the other side did not understand what those capabilities entail, we mean all capabilities, and you are part of this effort. A ground war could be extremely costly. Israel would have to commit a significant number of troops in a fight that would likely be worse than a 2006 war with Hezbollah, which lasted for 34 days and left both sides with significant losses and few victories. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that a ground war would not help Israel achieve its goal in the north, pressing for a diplomatic solution instead. If there were to be a full-scale war, that wouldnt solve the problem. It wouldnt get people back to their homes, Blinken told ABCs George Stephanopoulos. Who is leading Hezbollah now? On the other side of the conflict, Hezbollah is reeling from the death of its charismatic leader, but also the loss of five other commanders in the past 10 days, and upward of 20 in recent months. In his first public speech since the attack in Beirut Friday, the groups new acting head Naim Qassem pledged to keep fighting Israel and said the Lebanese militant group was ready for any ground invasion. We will face any possibility, and we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land and the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement, he said in a televised address. Qassem has served as deputy secretary general of Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, since 1991. He reportedly took part in meetings that led to the formation of Hezbollah in 1982 as a proxy of Irans Revolutionary Guards. He has been a leading face of the group internationally, speaking with foreign media for interviews. In Lebanon, hes worked as the coordinator of parliamentary election campaigns. Qassem said in his Monday speech that a permanent replacement for Nasrallah would be appointed as soon as possible, adding that the groups military capacity was not impacted by the deaths within its top ranks. How does Iran respond? Israels hits on Hezbollah, a main proxy for Iran, has dealt a significant blow to Tehran. The Israeli strikes in Lebanon, coupled with the July assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, appears to have Iran spooked, with the countrys Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei going into hiding, Reuters reported Saturday. Iran still has not made any big retaliatory moves over Haniyeh, and sources told Reuters that Iran reached out to Hezbollah and its other proxy groups in the region to decide what response to take to Nasrallahs killing. In addition to backing Hezbollah and Hamas, Iran also arms the Houthis in Yemen and numerous militias in Syria and Iraq. The fate of this region will be determined by the forces of resistance, with Hezbollah at the forefront, Khamenei said in a Saturday statement. In a separate statement he declared: The blood of the martyr shall not go unavenged. One option for revenge would be for Iran to press its proxies to increase attacks on Israel and U.S. troops and interests in the Middle East. Stepped up attacks on U.S. bases seem likely given that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has already partly blamed Washington for Nasrallahs killing, as the U.S. has been providing Israel weapons. The Americans cannot deny their complicity, he said in a statement aired on state media. Where do cease-fire talks stand? While the U.S. is urging diplomacy between Israel and Hezbollah, neither side is signaling any inclination toward peace or compromise. President Bidens efforts to steer Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu away from military escalation, in both Gaza and Lebanon, have shown few signs of success. Last week, hours after the U.S. announced an important breakthrough to pause fighting for 21 days, Netanyahu rejected the idea. Biden has largely been unwilling to use U.S. leverage to change Israels behavior, with the U.S. last week approving another $8 billion in weapons to its ally. Netanyahu says he will do whatever is necessary to allow Israelis to return to the countrys north, from which they fled when Hezbollah began firing into Israel in response to its invasion of Gaza a year ago. Israel reportedly dismissed a breakthrough in U.S.-brokered talks with Hezbollah last week. My policy, our policy, is clear: We continue to hit Hezbollah with all our might. We will not stop until we achieve all our goals, Netanyahu told reporters as he arrived in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly. Biden said Sunday that he planned to speak directly with Netanyahu soon. How will it impact the US election? The fears of a bigger war in the Middle East are refocusing attention on one of Vice President Harriss political liabilities in terms of foreign policy. Biden faced a significant protest vote in Democratic primaries over his support for Israels war on Gaza, and Israels continued aggression in the region is likely to stoke continued anger toward the administration, especially with a cease-fire elusive in Gaza too. Michigan has the largest Lebanese population in the country and is part of the blue wall seen as crucial to Harriss path to the White House. Harris said the death of Nasrallah delivered a measure of justice to his victims, but she said diplomacy was the best path to stability in the region. I have an unwavering commitment to the security of Israel. I will always support Israels right to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, she said. While former President Trump has largely avoided commenting on the situation in Lebanon, Republicans more broadly have criticized the Biden administration for pushing for a cease-fire, arguing the U.S. should back Netanyahus hard-line approach to Hezbollah. Trump has repeatedly said that the wars in Ukraine and Gaza would not have happened under his watch, though he has offered scant plans to bring them to an end if he returns to the Oval 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 The Hill. Beirut's Saint Joseph of the Jesuit Brothers church became an overnight shelter when the Israeli air strikes began (Fadel ITANI) (Fadel ITANI/AFP/AFP) In the chaos sweeping Lebanon, migrant workers from countries like Ethiopia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Sudan have emerged from the shadows as they flee Israel's aerial bombardment. The usually quiet parish of Saint Joseph of the Jesuit Brothers in Beirut now echoes with the sounds of children. Exhausted women huddle around a table while others wait for meals, under the constant hum of Israeli drones. Every day, more arrive from Lebanon's south, the east and Beirut's southern suburbs. The church, once a daytime shelter for migrants, became an overnight refuge when the Israeli air strikes began, said Brother Michael Petro of the Jesuit Refugee Service. Word of mouth spread fast among the displaced. "A family from our church arrived here (and) asked if they could stay. We said 'Yes', and the next morning 30 people arrived, and then (another) 50," said the American Jesuit. "On the first day, we called every shelter in the country. We could not find space, either because they were full or because we were told shelters will not accept migrants." Some families were eventually accommodated, and the parish now houses 52 migrants. Israeli bombing of Lebanon has displaced hundreds of thousands of people. In the capital, displaced Lebanese are being housed in schools, shelters or hotels, often in precarious conditions, with some still sleeping on the streets. - 'Invisible' - Migrants "also need help", said Dea Hage Chahine, a Lebanese activist. "They are just invisible, like third-class" citizens, she said angrily, adding that migrant workers often "don't even have their own passports" or rights. Kumiri Parara, a 48-year-old Sri Lankan, arrived days ago with her 12-year-old son, fleeing Sidon in the south under the bombs. She has been in Lebanon for 20 years, had been married to a Palestinian before divorcing, and found employment as a domestic worker, like many of her compatriots in the Mediterranean country. Her employers in Sidon also fled, but she has not heard from them. "No one cared about me," she said softly, dressed in a bright orange tunic. Her compatriot, Malani Somalatha, a 46-year-old cook, lived in south Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold heavily bombarded by Israel, where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed on Friday. "We left everything and came here," she said, breaking into tears, adding the restaurant where she worked has closed. Lebanon hosts more than 160,000 migrants, 65 percent of them women, the International Organization for Migration reported last year. There are likely even more, however, as many are undocumented or in legal limbo. Most are in Lebanon under the "kafala" system, a sponsorship process that governs the presence of foreign workers but allows for numerous abuses, rights activists say. - 'We just want to go home' - Susan Baimba came from Sierra Leone two years ago to work as a housekeeper near Sidon. When the strikes began, she fled to Beirut with her compatriots and slept on the streets before ending up at the Saint Joseph church. She tried to join other Sierra Leoneans living in apartments in the capital, but "the landlords chased us away. They say, 'Go away, go away. We don't want problems'," said the 37-year-old. "All of us, we just want to go back home because we are tired," she said. At the Saint Joseph, women and children are housed in a room on the first floor, and men on the second. Malika Joumaa, a 30-year-old Sudanese woman, left war-torn Darfur in 2014. A few days ago, she fled Arnoun in southern Lebanon with her husband and young daughter. She described a harrowing journey -- one and a half days on a motorcycle, a night under a bridge near Beirut, and finally arriving at the Saint Joseph. "I don't understand why war broke out in Sudan, and I don't understand why it broke out here," she said. cf/at/sg/dv/ami Key Insights Significant control over China Yuchai International by private companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions A total of 2 investors have a majority stake in the company with 69% ownership Using data from company's past performance alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company A look at the shareholders of China Yuchai International Limited (NYSE:CYD) can tell us which group is most powerful. We can see that private companies own the lion's share in the company with 49% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk). Public companies, on the other hand, account for 20% of the company's stockholders. In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of China Yuchai International. View our latest analysis for China Yuchai International What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About China Yuchai International? Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing. As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in China Yuchai International. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see China Yuchai International's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story. It would appear that 10% of China Yuchai International shares are controlled by hedge funds. That catches my attention because hedge funds sometimes try to influence management, or bring about changes that will create near term value for shareholders. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Hong Leong Investment Holdings Pte. Ltd. with 49% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 20% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 10% by the third-largest shareholder. To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 2 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of the company. Story continues While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage. Insider Ownership Of China Yuchai International While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves. Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group. Our data cannot confirm that board members are holding shares personally. Not all jurisdictions have the same rules around disclosing insider ownership, and it is possible we have missed something, here. So you can click here learn more about the CEO. General Public Ownership The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 15% stake in China Yuchai International. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders. Private Company Ownership We can see that Private Companies own 49%, of the shares on issue. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research. Public Company Ownership Public companies currently own 20% of China Yuchai International stock. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further. Next Steps: It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand China Yuchai International better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with China Yuchai International . But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu has launched a series of devastating attacks on Hezbollah. He has rejected or ignored a series of attempts by the US to head off a wider conflict. Biden has been criticized for trying to stop a wider war while still sending arms to Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is rapidly escalating Israel's campaign against its regional foes and trampling on US diplomatic efforts in the process. In the latest sign he's ignoring US warnings, The Wall Street Journal reported that Israeli special-operations forces were carrying out raids into southern Lebanon as the possibility of a ground incursion this week loomed. The raids were aimed at gathering intelligence and discovering Hezbollah's weaknesses, the Journal said. Amir Avivi, a retired senior Israeli military official, told the publication that a ground invasion was imminent, a major escalation that Israeli officials have been threatening for months. "The IDF has made a lot of preparations for a ground incursion," Avivi said. "Overall, this always includes special operations. This is part of the process." The raids followed an unprecedented series of strikes from Israel. In the early hours of Monday, Israel struck central Beirut for the first time since 2006. It also confirmed it had killed Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, a Hamas leader, in Lebanon. That came after the assassination of Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in a massive explosion in a suburb of Beirut on Friday, which dramatically raised the stakes of Israel's yearlong war against Iran-backed militias in the wake of the October 7 terrorist attacks. Israel's stepped-up campaign against Hezbollah could be preparations for a ground invasion of Lebanon, and it risks triggering another confrontation with Iran. US attempts to deter a wider war President Joe Biden has long been seeking to prevent Israel's campaign against Hamas in Gaza from spiraling into a bigger war, which could drag in the US and regional powers. However, some critics have claimed his approach has failed because US-supplied arms have allowed Netanyahu's embattled government to continue escalating and widening the war. "Without US support, this war would not have been possible. It's actually the joint US-Israeli war," Gilbert Achcar, a professor of international relations at SOAS University of London, told France 24. "It's not so much the Israelis who are treating him as an irrelevance," Jasmine El-Gamal, who was a Pentagon advisor during the Obama administration, told The Independent. "It's that Biden is not actually trying seriously to effect any change," she said. "He's been complaining about Netanyahu for almost a year now, but in the meantime, the US continues to send arms and funds to Israel." The US last week appeared to be on the brink of negotiating a cross-border cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah but just 24 hours later, Israel assassinated Nasrallah. It was a strike that, the Journal said, shocked US officials. The publication, citing unnamed US officials, said Israel did not tip off its most important ally about the strike before it was carried out. The White House described the killing as "a measure of justice for his many victims," though again urged against further escalation. Hezbollah was involved in the 1983 bombings of the US Embassy in Beirut and the US Marine Corps barracks in the city. Beirut after Israel's assassination of Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in September. Getty Images "We are shocked," one US official told CNN after Netanyahu rejected the cease-fire proposal before Israel launched its attacks. It's the latest instance of the Israeli leader ignoring or rejecting Biden's attempts to restrain Israeli military action in Gaza and, more recently, Lebanon. Netanyahu believes he is winning the war A former British military chief said that may be because Netanyahu believed that he's winning the war in the Middle East. Retired Gen. Richard Dannatt told Sky News on Sunday that Netanyahu thought he could "press on" with the conflict. "A ground invasion of Lebanon is increasingly threatened," he told the outlet. He said the US had been urging Israel to pull back but hadn't been doing enough to "effectively" stop Netanyahu. "It is still supplying weapons and a lot of the stuff that Israel needs," Dannatt said. "On the one hand, the US is calling for restraint, but on the other, they are not effectively stopping Netanyahu, and he believes that he is winning this war," he added. Ignoring red lines The US is by far the biggest supplier of arms to Israel. The Council on Foreign Relations said in May that since the start of Israel's war with Hamas on October 7, the US had put in place legislation providing at least $12.5 billion in military aid to Israel. Overall, since 2009, it has provided Israel with $3.4 billion in funding for missile defense, including $1.3 billion for the development of Israel's Iron Dome system, according to figures from the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. It's a big trading partner outside arms, too. US exports to Israel last year amounted to just over $14 billion, per figures from the United Nations Comtrade database on international trade. Despite this, Netanyahu has ignored a series of red lines from Biden over how Israel conducts its campaign and rejected US pressure to reach a cease-fire deal with Hamas. Sarah Leah Whitson , the executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now, said in an article for Foreign Policy in September that Biden's reluctance to hold Israel to account was undermining the rules-based international order the president claims to champion. Some say that as his time in office comes to an end, Biden is giving up. The White House has pushed back against these claims. "No, he absolutely hasn't given up," Jake Sullivan, the White House's national security advisor, told CNN last week about reaching a deal to end the war in Gaza. After the devastating blows Israel has dealt to its enemies in recent days, exposing the limits of their power and the reach of Israeli intelligence and weapons, Netanyahu likely believes that the impetus is with him. But a widening conflict would likely not come to a conclusion quickly, US officials say. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in the wake of last week's collapsed US peace effort that if Israel rejected diplomacy, it would result in "greater instability and insecurity, the ripples of which will be felt around the world." "The choices that all parties make in coming days," Blinken said, "will determine which path this region is on with profound consequences for its people now and possibly for years to come." Correction: September 30, 2024 An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of a former Pentagon advisor. It's Jasmine El-Gamal, not Jazmine El-Galal. Read the original article on Business Insider Israeli soldiers work on the maintenance of tanks deployed in the Upper Galilee region of northern Israel near the border with Lebanon on September 29, 2024. Israel said on September 29 that it was carrying out new air raids against "dozens" of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, after killing the Iran-backed group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Israel has also raised the prospect of a ground operation against Hezbollah, prompting widespread international concern. Detailed information is currently scarce, but there are now numerous reports that Israel has launched a new ground operation in Lebanon. The scale of this remains to be seen, with accounts earlier today of several small-scale raids across the border into Lebanon. For some months now, a larger Israeli operation in Lebanon had been expected, with Israeli officials apparently recently telling their U.S. counterparts that a limited ground operation was about to begin. The first shots of the IDF reconnaissance groups entering the territory of Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/Ok8U5xd5op MAKS 24 (@Maks_NAFO_FELLA) September 30, 2024 #BREAKING Israeli media now reports hundreds of Israeli tanks entering Lebanon. Clash Report (@clashreport) September 30, 2024 : : pic.twitter.com/bTv3wzJTHV N12 (@N12News) September 30, 2024 From our position, a few miles from the border in northern Israel you can hear powerful outgoing rounds and see the orange flash of impacts far off in the distance pic.twitter.com/IytitpPdqy Deborah Haynes (@haynesdeborah) September 30, 2024 Multiple U.S. media reports state that Israel has told the United States that its ground operation in Lebanon could start imminently. Meanwhile, at least one U.S. official has said that Israel appeared to be planning a major ground invasion, but that the plan now appears to have been significantly scaled down. There were also reports earlier today suggesting that Israel may not yet have made a final decision on a broader operation. Meanwhile, there are eyewitness accounts, videos, and photos posted to social media that show the rapidly ballooning deployment of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) units including tanks and armored fighting vehicles close to the border with Lebanon. Around a hundred vehicles, including Merkava tanks and Namer armored personnel carriers, are visible in visuals from this spot near Ayelet HaShahar in northern Israel, about 8km from Lebanon. Reuters, NYT, Getty all have photos from the site (credits in ALT text). https://t.co/gnTQyM00yQ pic.twitter.com/gb62Ru8X1u Christiaan Triebert (@trbrtc) September 30, 2024 The IDF has declared the areas around the communities of Metula, Misgav Am, and Kfar Giladi in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, as a closed military zone. Entry to areas around those areas is now prohibited, the IDF has said. Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said today that the next phase of the war against Hezbollah will begin soon, while in separate comments he told troops in the north of the country that we will use all of our capabilities including you. NEW: The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) is trying to help Lebanese Hezbollah recover from the severe disruption that Israel has imposed upon it. Two anonymous IRGC officials told the New York Times that Tehran is trying to help Hezbollah establish a secure pic.twitter.com/s7zSzBQ5i5 Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) September 30, 2024 The Lebanese Army appears to have made the conclusion that an Israeli ground offensive is more likely than not. There are now plenty of reports indicating that Lebanese troops are withdrawing from the border area close to Israel. Citing local residents and security sources, Reuters reports that the Lebanese military is pulling back from several positions on the southern border with Israel, although a Lebanese Army spokesperson would neither confirm nor deny such reports. A Lebanese security source told Reuters that Lebanese troops have pulled back to at least three miles north of the border, while another source talked of the troops having been pulled back to larger army bases in the area. Lebanese troops have pulled back from posts along the border with Israel, residents there and several security sources told @reuters One security source said they have pulled back at least 5km. Another said it was to larger army bases in the area. Maya Gebeily (@GebeilyM) September 30, 2024 The Lebanese Armed Forces are controlled by the central government and have not been engaged in military operations against Israel, in contrast to the Hezbollah militia, which had entered a new intensive round of fighting with Israel starting nearly a year ago. Sept 30 (Reuters) The Lebanese Army was seen withdrawing from several positions on the southern border with Israel, local residents and a security source told Reuters. Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) September 30, 2024 For its part, Hezbollah has been launching rockets into Israel from the border area in recent days, while Lebanon came under heavy Israeli aerial attack. On Friday, Israeli airstrikes on Beirut killed Hassan Nasrallah, the veteran leader of Hezbollah, and much of the groups leadership. You can read our coverage of this decapitation strike here. While Hezbollah says it will continue to fight Israel, the fighting potential of the group has been severely degraded in the past couple of weeks. Israeli decapitation operations, including exploding pagers and walkie-talkies, as well as airstrikes, have removed not only Nasrallah but also many of his associates. Key facilities housing Hezbollah weaponry and personnel have also been relentlessly struck. The success of these operations may well be reflected in the scale of the ground offensive that looks set to follow. Another key factor is Israels stated plan to return tens of thousands of Israelis who had been evacuated from towns along the northern border with Lebanon when Hezbollah stepped up its campaign of rocket attacks. With the return of these evacuees having been approved by Israeli officials, a major military operation against the militant group began to look much more likely. The U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and other senior U.S. officials have been monitoring and responding to unfolding events in the Middle East over the weekend, according to Matthew Miller, a U.S. State Department spokesperson. Miller today said he will let Israel speak to its own military operations, including the timing, purpose, tempo of those operations. Whatever shape those operations take, it now appears more likely than not that the conflict in the Middle East has reached a critical new juncture. Update, 15:00 p.m. PST: Israel appears to have launched a significant new wave of airstrikes across Lebanon, with Beirut again among the targets, as reports from Israel now suggest the countrys security cabinet has approved the next phase of the war against Hezbollah in Lebanon. There are reports of at least two airstrikes in Dahieh, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, where Hezbollah leader Nasrallah was killed last Friday. The latest raids are said to have come around 30 minutes after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for residents close to what it said were buildings housing Hezbollah installations. | Israeli airstrikes hit southern suburbs of the capital of Lebanon, Beirut. pic.twitter.com/FEuU2wg6DO Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (@Archer83Able) September 30, 2024 According to Lebanons Health Ministry, 95 people have been killed in Israeli strikes across the country today. The worsening situation in Lebanon has led to other countries launching evacuation efforts for their citizens there. The U.K. government has announced a charter evacuation flight for Britons to leave Lebanon. The U.K. Foreign Office said the flight would leave Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Britains Foreign Secretary David Lammy issued the following statement: The situation in Lebanon is volatile and has potential to deteriorate quickly. The safety of British nationals in Lebanon continues to be our utmost priority. Thats why the U.K. government is chartering a flight to help those wanting to leave. It is vital that you leave now as further evacuation may not be guaranteed. The German government has already started to fly some of its citizens home from Lebanon. Around 9:00 p.m. local time this evening, a German Air Force Airbus A321 aircraft arrived in Berlin, carrying German citizens on behalf of the Federal Foreign Office. Wir sind vor einer knappen Stunde auf dem @berlinairport gelandet. Im Auftrag des @BMVg_Bundeswehr und des @AuswaertigesAmt haben wir heute deutsche Staatsburger aus Beirut im Rahmen einer sog. diplomatischen #Luftabholung nach Deutschland gebracht. pic.twitter.com/sQIlPZBEbF Team Luftwaffe (@Team_Luftwaffe) September 30, 2024 Members of the cabinet gave their approval during a meeting of the Israeli security cabinet this evening, the Jerusalem Post reported. UPDATE: 8:00 PM EST The IDFs statement on the operation is as follows: In accordance with the decision of the political echelon, a few hours ago, the IDF began limited, localized, and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence against Hezbollah terrorist targets and infrastructure in southern Lebanon. These targets are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel. The IDF is operating according to a methodical plan set out by the General Staff and the Northern Command which IDF soldiers have trained and prepared for in recent months. The Israeli Air Force and IDF Artillery are supporting the ground forces with precise strikes on military targets in the area. These operations were approved and carried out in accordance with the decision of the political echelon. Operation Northern Arrows will continue according to the situational assessment and in parallel to combat in Gaza and in other arenas. The IDF is continuing to operate to achieve the goals of the war and is doing everything necessary to defend the citizens of Israel and return the citizens of northern Israel to their homes. A car was hit in Damascus, Syria, with unconfirmed reports that it was a targeted assassination: Additional Documentation of the Israeli Strike on a Car in the Mezzeh District of Southwestern Damascus, with several reportedly Killed and Injured. pic.twitter.com/GKvtzv89bG OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) September 30, 2024 Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com The Israeli army designated several areas in northern Israel military exclusion zones on Monday evening, as fears mount of a war between Israel and Lebanon. These areas may not be entered, according to a military spokesperson for the Northern Command of the Israeli troops, referring to areas near Metula, Misgav Am and Kfar Giladi, close to the Lebanese border. Earlier, an army spokesperson referred to exercises as part of the increased combat readiness of the troops. That came as Israel's defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said the next phase of the fight against Hezbollah would begin soon. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet also met on Monday, amid growing fears Israel is planning an incursion into Lebanon in the coming hours. Israel launched a large-scale aerial campaign on targets across Lebanon last week, with the stated aim of pushing back Hezbollah to enable the return of tens of thousands of residents evacuated from northern Israel. People inspect damages after a rocket from Lebanon hit a house in Safed. Ilia Yefimovich/dpa WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) Tensions across the Middle East only continue to escalate after Israeli strikes killed much of Hezbollahs top command in Lebanon. Israel is now conducting ground raids against the terror group as the U.S. urges both sides to accept a ceasefire plan. When asked Monday if he was aware of and comfortable with a limited ground operation by Israel, President Joe Biden responded, Im more aware than you might know, and Im comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now. The U.S. is still urging calm in the Middle East as it also strengthens its own military presence in the region to try to deescalate the conflict. Diplomacy remains the best and only path to achieving greater stability in the Middle East, said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The State Department said a U.S. and European proposal for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah is still on the table. Allows citizens on both sides of the border to return to their homes, Blinken said. The tensions are only growing though after Israel killed Hezbollahs leader and other top officials in airstrikes this weekend. Blinken said the world is safer without him. Hassan Nasrallah was a brutal terrorist, he said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains defiant that his country has a right to defend itself. There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach, Netanyahu said. Netanyahu also spoke directly to the people of Iran. I know you dont support the rapists and murderers of Hamas and Hezbollah, but your leaders do, he said. You deserve 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 Queen City News. Many families from southern Lebanon are now living on the streets of Beirut after fleeing Israeli air strikes [Reuters] Israel's continuing air strikes may have already forced as many as one million people from their homes across Lebanon, the country's prime minister has said. "It is the largest displacement movement that may have happened," Najib Mikati said. Lebanon's health ministry reported more than 50 people killed in Sunday's strikes - two days after Israel assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut. Meanwhile, Hezbollah fired more rockets into northern Israel. In a separate development, Israel said it had carried out "large-scale" air strikes on military targets of the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen. Hezbollah confirmed on Sunday that top military commander Ali Karaki and a senior cleric, Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, had also been killed in the Israeli air strikes. "We need to keep hitting Hezbollah hard," Israel's military chief of staff Herzi Halevi said. Another Israeli strike in the central Beirut neighbourhood of Kola early on Monday killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the group said in a statement. The PFLP is a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, a coalition recognised at the UN as the official representative of the Palestinians. The group is also considered a terrorist organisation by both the US and EU. The statement named those killed as military security chief Mohammad Abdel-Aal, military commander Imad Odeh, and fighter Abdel Rahman Abdel-Aal. Lebanon's Prime Minister Mikati said the wave of air strikes had forced people to flee from Beirut and other parts of the country, including the southern border areas. The local authorities are struggling to assist everyone in need, with shelters and hospitals under growing pressure, BBC correspondents in Lebanon report. Aya Ayoub, aged 25, told the BBC she had to flee her house in Beiruts southern Tahweetet al-Ghadir suburb with her family of six as it was too dangerous to stay. Around her house, she said, "all the buildings are completely destroyed", and she was currently staying with another 16 people in a house in Beirut. "We left on Friday and had no place to go. We stayed until 02:00 in the streets until a group of people helped us get into a residential building that was under construction. We are living on candles at night, and have to get water and food from outside. Sara Tohmaz, a 34-year-old journalist, told the BBC she had left her house near Beirut with her mother and two siblings last Friday. It took them almost 10 hours to reach Jordan through Syria by car, she said. I think we are lucky enough to have a place to stay in Jordan, where my mothers relatives are based. We dont know what will happen next, and dont know when we will be back," Tohmaz added. The previously sporadic cross-border fighting escalated on 8 October 2023 - the day after the unprecedented attack on Israel by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip - when Hezbollah fired at Israeli positions, in solidarity with the Palestinians. Since then hundreds of people, including many Hezbollah fighters, have been killed, while tens of thousands have also been displaced on both sides of the border. Also on Sunday, Israel said it carried out air strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, striking power plants and a port in Ras Isa and Hudaydah. Footage later emerged showing a huge explosion at the port. Israel says it targeted the sites in response to recent missile attacks from the Houthis, as well as to destroy facilities being used to transport Iranian weapons. The Houthis, a Shia group controlling large areas of Yemen, condemned the Israeli strikes as a "brutal aggression". They said four people were killed and 33 injured, vowing revenge. There are mounting international fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East. Washington warned Israel against an all-out war with Hezbollah or Iran, saying a major conflict would leave Israelis unable to return to their homes in the north. Israeli army tanks and armoured vehicles are deployed in the Upper Galilee region of northern Israel near the border with Lebanon on Sept. 29, 2024. Credit - Menahem KahanaAFP/Getty Images Hundreds of Israeli tanks are massing along the Lebanese border as fears rise of a ground invasion into the country. The Israel Defense Forces also announced that it has mobilized two reserve brigades for its operations on the Northern border. The tanks and troops were pictured after Hezbollah confirmed that its leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an airstrike on Friday in Beirut along with several other senior commanders, according to British broadcaster SkyNews. On Monday, Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Kassem promised in a TV announcement the militant group would continue to fight, saying they were prepared for further Israeli escalations, including a possible ground invasion. Israel was not able to affect our (military) capabilities, Kassem said, according to the Associated Press. There are deputy commanders and there are replacements in case a commander is wounded in any post. Over 1,000 people have been killed as a result of Israeli strikes in the last two weeks, a quarter of them women and children, according to Lebanons health ministry. The death toll is expected to climb as rescuers sift through the rubble of dozens of buildings that have been razed. As many as 1 million people in Lebanon may have been displaced amid the barrage, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said. He added that the scale of the displacement is the largest in Lebanese history. The attacks have been concentrated in Beiruts southern suburbs but an airstrike hit an apartment building within the city limits on Monday, the first such instance in nearly a year of conflict. Hezbollah has responded to Israels sharp escalation by ramping up rocket fire into Israeli territory, from dozens to several hundred daily, the IDF said. The attacks have injured several people but most of the rockets and drones were intercepted by air defenses or fell in open fields. The Biden Administration has been calling for a 21-day ceasefire following the twin pager and walkie-talkie attacks on Sept. 17 and 18 that marked the start of the escalations. Read More: Fear Grips Lebanon After Deadly Twin Pager and Radio Blasts Israels stated goal is to end Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel to ensure tens of thousands of displaced residents can return. An all-out war with Hezbollah, certainly with Iran, is not the way to do that. If you want to get those folks back home safely and sustainably, we believe that a diplomatic path is the right course, John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, told CNN on Sunday. Kirby also said Nasrallahs assassination was good for the region, good for the world. Israels Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a speech to Israeli troops on the northern border on Monday that Israels assault on Hezbollah was not yet over. The elimination of Nasrallah is a very important step, but it is not everything. We will use all the capabilities we have, Gallant said, according to the Times of Israel. If someone on the other side does not understand what these capabilities mean, it is all capabilities and you are part of this effort. Hezbollah, which boasts tens of thousands of fighters and long-range missiles capable of hitting deep into Israeli territory, is the worlds most powerful non-state actor. But its command structure has been wiped out, Kirby said. Were watching to see what they do to try to fill this leadership vacuum, he added. Contact us at letters@time.com. J.D. Vance is now offering a religious justification for the bigoted immigration policies touted by Donald Trump and himself. Vance on Saturday appeared at Christian nationalist preacher Lance Wallnaus election-season revival tour in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh, hoping to appeal to the right-wing Christian population, which has always been a key part of the Republican base. While sitting for an interview with Pastor Jason Howard, the leader of the nearby Sanctuary church, Vance defended his campaigns immigration policies while answering questions about faith, invoking a Christian idea that you owe the strongest duty to your family. It doesnt mean that you have to be mean to other people, but it means that your first duty as an American leader is to the people of your own country, said Vance. Vance said supporters of himself and Trump should not let Kamala Harris claim the high ground on compassion, saying President Biden and her immigration policies are a disgrace. Vance said he and Trumps immigration plan will maximize compassion, despite the fact that it calls for mass deportations. Vances comments seem to be defending his previous racist rhetoric against Haitian immigrants, particularly repeating a disproven story that they are capturing and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. The result has been violent threats against schools, hospitals, and government buildings in the town, for which Vance and Trump refuse to take responsibility, even after some Haitian immigrants filed charges against them. Some Republicans have echoed Trumps comments with their own racist statements. Trump has pushed more racist rhetoric against other towns that have welcomed immigrants from Haiti, including Charleroi, Pennsylvania, drawing a backlash from town officials. One would hope that the Democrats would speak out against the racism and regressive immigration policies, but their response has been lacking. Jacques de Groote, who has died aged 97, played an influential role in the global economy as Belgiums executive director to the International Monetary Fund from 1973 to 1994, and to the World Bank from 1975 to 1991. Arriving in Washington not long before Harold Wilsons government was forced to borrow from the IMF, he represented a group of countries with 5 per cent of its total votes (more than France, Britain, China or India). At the Bank, de Groote led a group that grew to 10 countries; Belgium, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria, Luxembourg, Turkey, Belarus, Hungary and Kazakhstan. He brought in Hungary while it was still under Communist rule, then assisted its transition to capitalism. He was as proud of his role in shepherding the Belgian Congo to independence, having been asked at 32 by Patrice Lumumba to manage for the Congolese side the Brussels secretariat charged with readying its economy. De Groote was seen in Washington and at home as enabling Belgium to punch above its weight on the international stage. Within the generally staid IMF, his lavish lifestyle, snappily tailored suits and bright yellow Volkswagen Beetle stood out. But his final years there were overshadowed by accusations of murky dealings with the Congo (later Zaire, today the DRC), and formerly Belgian Rwanda, which may have prevented his reaching the very top. Then, in 2013, a Swiss court convicted de Groote, along with five Czechs, of fraud in the privatisation of the second-largest Czech lignite mine. The only defendant to escape prison, he was given a suspended fine of 67,000; six years later, aged 92, he won an appeal, the court saying he had not properly assessed the people he worked with. Jacques de Groote was born on May 25 1927. He read law, economics and political science at the University of Leuven, then in 1955 took an MA at Cambridge. From 1957 to 1960 and 1963 to 1965 he was an assistant professor at Lille Catholic University, then he held a chair at the University of Namur until 1992, lecturing on credit theories, monetary mechanisms and international finance issues. In parallel, he joined Belgiums civil service, and at the start of 1960 was appointed to the panel preparing for that Junes handover of the Congo. Months later, he had his first posting to Washington as an assistant to Belgiums representative at the IMF and World Bank. In 1963 De Groote moved to the National Bank of Belgium, then in 1966 was appointed economic adviser in Kinshasa to President Mobutu and the Congos National Bank, with oversight of the mining giant Union Miniere (later Gecamines). In 1969 he returned to Belgiums central bank as its head of research. De Groote declared himself the victim of a campaign against the IMF and President Mobutu - CTK/Alamy In 1973 he moved to Washington as Belgiums executive director of the IMF and World Bank. By 1990 his power and prestige were considerable, but that December The Wall Street Journal published the results of a lengthy investigation into his involvement with Africa. The paper reported that de Groote had systematically taken advantage of his position in Washington to serve Mobutus interests as he turned his government into a kleptocracy, suggesting that he could have sold secret information to subsidise his lifestyle. De Groote had told the authorities in Zaire what an IMF mission was expecting of them before it visited the country in 1982; at stake was a $246 million loan. He had visited Mobutu in 1986 at his villa in the south of France, and written to Zaires prime minister and the president of Rwanda discussing IMF stabilisation plans that were being developed, De Groote insisted that the IMF was well aware of the advice he had given these countries, and he had received no remuneration. He declared himself the victim of a campaign against the IMF and Mobutu. He admitted that in the early 1980s Rwanda had asked him to represent it at the World Bank. He had helped to secure a devaluation of the Rwandan franc, which benefited Geomines and its owner Baron van den Branden. When the Journal reported that the Baron then encouraged a Belgian bank to give him a loan, de Groote responded: Its not my fault if I have a friend who has a mine in Rwanda. If I asked him to help me obtain this loan, its because I wanted to avoid asking the banks myself due to my very close relations with them. Leaving Washington, de Groote did not receive a high-level post in Belgium. Instead he began working with Stephen Norris, co-founder of Americas private-equity Carlyle Group, who in 1995 struck out to found the Swiss-based Appian Group. De Groote became Appians president; its advisers included the former US President George Bush Snr and Lawrence Eagleburger, briefly Bushs Secretary of State. Appian invested in companies being privatised in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly the Czech Republic, where it became a major player in 1998 after acquiring the lignite mine MUS in a hostile takeover from government. In 2004 the Financial Times questioned how Appian had been able to rise and rise from obscure origins, querying its takeover methods and lobbying power. Appian said it had funded the acquisition of MUS from a US-registered parent, but the FT noted that this company later split acrimoniously, with one side claiming that it had merely licensed the use of its name to the Czech operation. The state privatisation agency claimed that MUSs management had used its environmental reserve fund to secretly buy up shares and seize control. MUS provided Appian with a stable cash flow and the ear of the incoming Social Democrat government, whose stronghold was the north Bohemian coalfield. Appian won a reputation as a good and charitable employer and a competent manager, and when the Social Democrats went on to privatise the almost insolvent Skoda engineering group (separate from the car maker), Appian was their choice. De Groote left Appian in 2002. In the meantime, his relationship with Alain Abdourahman, a Swiss financier, had gone sour, with Abdourahman pressing de Grootes Czech partners to make him return a $533,000 loan. When this failed, Aboudarham sued de Groote in the US and Swiss courts. The Swiss attorney generals office opened an investigation, which resulted in de Groote and MUSs Czech directors being charged with misappropriating the companys assets. Prosecutors claimed he had used Appian as a screen for illegal purchases of MUS stock, disguising the true identity of the buyers the five Czechs. The five, executives of MUS or members of its supervisory committee, had gained control of nearly 97 per cent of its stock. Deposited in nearly 100 bank accounts in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, the Bahamas and elsewhere, the money they misappropriated was laundered via more than 30 intermediary companies. De Grootes co-defendants were imprisoned for between 36 and 52 months and fined for aggravated money laundering, fraud or complicity in fraud. Though not imprisoned, de Groote was probably the first former director of the IMF to be convicted of fraud. The court ordered 660 million Swiss francs in frozen assets to be paid to Czechs left out of pocket. The president of the court told de Groote that he had taken advantage of his excellent reputation, giving the Czech authorities and media information he knew was contrary to reality. The Swiss newspaper Le Temps commented: Jacques de Groote participated in this massive deceit and received about 1 million Swiss francs in return. He played a shady role backing up the idea that there were possible foreign investors. Thanks to him, the five Czech businessmen could go forward wearing a mask. De Groote declared: I will appeal this decision to show that I acted in good faith. It is crucial for me to put an end to this long chain of trials that has lasted for more than 10 years, and ruined me morally, financially, and at 86 years old physically. Though his appeal was upheld in 2019, he knew his reputation would not recover. Jacques de Grootes wife Jacqueline predeceased him by a year. His surviving family includes a daughter. Jacques de Groote, born May 25 1927, died September 21 2024 Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Fabricated evidence : Hakamada, a former professional boxer, had been accused of stabbing his former boss and his family to death before setting their house on fire in central Japan. He was initially sentenced to death in 1968, a ruling upheld by Japan's Supreme Court in 1980. Before being granted a retrial in 2014, he spent 45 years on death row, making him the world's longest-serving death row inmate. Celebrated acquittal: Key to Hakamadas eventual acquittal were DNA tests on bloodstained clothing, which proved the blood did not belong to him. A Tokyo High Court ruling last year determined that the investigators tried to frame him by fabricating and planting evidence. His sister, Hideko Hakamada, who has been a tireless advocate for her brother's exoneration, expressed her overwhelming relief and joy at the verdict, stating, "When I heard that, I was so moved and happy, I couldn't stop crying." Amnesty International also celebrated the acquittal, calling it a "pivotal moment for justice" and urging Japan to reconsider its stance on capital punishment. LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance will speak in Auburn Hills on Wednesday, the day after the vice presidential debate. He will speak at the Visioneering aerospace engineering facility located at 2055 Taylor Rd. Doors are scheduled to open at 11:00 a.m., and Vance is slated to speak at 1:30 p.m. While it is not yet confirmed what Vance will speak about, he will likely talk about the auto industry. Michiganders know the value of products Made in America. Michigan built the auto industry with American companies, American products, and American workers, wrote the Trump-Vance campaign in a press release obtained by 6 News. Whether its Michigan-made cars or supporting local small businesses, Michiganders value American-made goods. Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio speaks at a campaign event, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, in Byron Center, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) Various members of both the Trump and Harris presidential campaigns have been focusing on Michigan, as it is one of several battleground states for Novembers election. Trump was in Michigan last week, and Gwen Walz, wife of vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, stopped in Lansing. Recent polling shows that Trump and Harris continue to poll within the margin of error of each othera statistical dead heat. This embedded content is not available in your region. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. (Bloomberg) -- Chinese manufacturers sold the fewest electric cars in 18 months to customers across Europe, with registrations falling by nearly half in August from a year earlier. Most Read from Bloomberg The 48% drop led to the second straight month of declining share for Chinese brands, based on figures provided by researcher Dataforce. MG, the British nameplate thats now part of SAIC Motor Corp., lost its top spot across Europe to Chinese rival BYD Co., according to Jato Dynamics, which also tracks the automotive market. Uncertainty tied to provisional European Union tariffs on Chinese EV imports can partly explain MGs 65% tumble in August, said Felipe Munoz, a senior analyst at Jato. He said the automaker has been putting more emphasis on the mild-hybrid and plug-in hybrid segments, rather than fully battery-powered cars. MG has had the most success of any Chinese carmaker in Europe, leveraging its long-held name recognition to rebuild the brand over the past decade, while making a pivot to EVs. But its state-owned parent SAIC was hit with added EU levies of 38% on its EVs in July, the highest assessment of all. BYD Co., a Chinese heavyweight thats a relative newcomer to the European market, continued to make strides in August with a 19% year-over-year rise in registrations, according to Jato. Automakers are still weighing the potential impact of the EU tariffs, which affect all EVs imported from China, including those from non-Chinese companies BMW, Stellantis and Tesla. The added duties are set to be finalized by November, pending a member state vote, with negotiations between Beijing and Brussels taking place amid furious lobbying. There is nothing clear regarding the role of the Chinese EVs in Europe, Munoz said. Although there are many plans and announcements, there is even more uncertainty around their future and how Europe will react to the increasing competition. Bloomberg News reported on Friday that Chinas Chery Automobile Co. has pushed back a goal to start building EVs at a plant its taken over in Spain by one year to October 2025, as the company weighs the amount of work to be carried out at the Barcelona site. Electric Vehicle Sales Are Stumbling. Heres Why: QuickTake A broader slide in EV demand across Europe has added to the uncertainty for carmakers. Registrations fell 5.5% in the first eight months of the year across the region after major markets like Germany removed buyer incentives. Story continues European automakers have called on Brussels to reconsider key climate targets including 2025 fleet-emissions goals that could lead to billions of euros in fines. Sales trends for EVs imported from China have been uneven in the wake of the tariffs. In the UK and Norway, for example countries which havent followed the EUs lead EV registrations rose during August. Among Western brands, BMW, Mercedes-Benz Group and Renault all saw declines of 50% or more in August registrations across the region, according to Jato. Yet the popular Volvo EX30 helped drive a more than doubling of sales for the Swedish marks parent, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Tesla Inc., which imports some cars to Europe from China, posted a 7% rise. Neither Jato nor Dataforce count Volvo among Chinese brands. Polestar, the Swedish EV maker partly owned by Geely founder Li Shufu, isnt counted among Chinese brands by Jato, though its included in Dataforces market calculations. Dataforces market figures cover all EU and EFTA countries plus the UK, but exclude Hungary and Slovakia for August, as those markets hadnt published monthly data at the time the numbers were compiled. (Updates to add chart on EV sales by country) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. (NewsNation) Vice presidential candidates Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz are ramping up their personal and political attacks ahead of what could be the last debate of the 2024 election Vance, Republican nominee Donald Trumps running mate, has questioned Walzs military record, saying he exaggerated aspects of his service. Walz, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris running mate, meanwhile, sharply criticized his opponent for his comments after a school shooting in Georgia. Speaking at a rally in Phoenix, Vance said that school shootings are a fact of life. Both candidates have been facing scrutiny for flip-flopping on important issues and catering to their party lines. Politicians on both sides of the aisle say their candidate will be focusing on policy at Tuesday nights debate hosted by CBS News. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, said on NewsNations The Hill Sunday that Walz has to put a human face on his and Harris emphasis on small businesses, startups and innovation, as opposed to the big business orientation on the other side. Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., on the other hand, said Vance has the issues, such as the economy and border, on his side during an interview on ABC News. Vice presidential debate rules CBS anchor Norah ODonnell and Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan will moderate the debate, which begins at 9 p.m. ET. The debate will last 90 minutes, with candidates having two minutes to answer questions. Microphones will not be muted, and moderators will not be fact-checking either sides statements, so itll be up to the candidates to do that to each other. After winning a coin toss Thursday, Vance chose to give the second closing statement, giving him the final word, CBS said. NewsNation The Hill 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 NewsNation. Editors note: Ahead of the vice presidential debate on Oct. 1, the Deseret News is running articles on Tim Walz and JD Vance. The year was 2022 and JD Vance was on the campaign trail. Just a month before his election to the U.S. Senate, Vance spoke at a two-day conference in October at Franciscan University. The conference, organized by Sohrab Ahmari, featured a slate of conservative Catholic public intellectuals prepared to discuss the question, Has Americas liberal consensus enriched and empowered a narrow elite but failed the nation and its people? Its not easy to be on the vanguard of a new Republican Party when so many people are getting rich off doing things the old way, Vance said. There, a local Cleveland newspaper reported, Vance mused, In some ways our task is to take the very corrupt American ruling class and replace it with something better. The conference represents one of the philosophical spaces Vance has lived in, the postliberal right where some conservatives are rethinking the role of the state. Postliberal thinkers generally want the state to have a bigger role in promoting moral values, and think the common good should sometimes outweigh individual civil liberties. Postliberalism which is sometimes called national conservatism is a philosophy and not a comprehensive list of policies. And it is different from classical liberalism, which emphasizes free markets and holds individual, civil liberties as paramount. Classical liberalism is a political theory that can be found among Republicans and Democrats. Postliberalism has caused something of a rift in the conservative movement, particularly among religious conservatives. Evangelical Christian and New York Times columnist David French has critiqued postliberalism for multiple reasons, while defending classical liberalism as protecting the rights of all members of society. When post-liberals magnify the power of the state, they risk degrading the dignity of the individual, French wrote in The Dispatch. When they trust the wisdom of rulers, they neglect their own fallen nature. He argues classical liberalism both recognizes human dignity and mortal fallenness. Vances changing ideas about politics Postliberal thinkers frequently write for publications like Compact Magagzine and First Things. Ahmari and Matthew Schmitz founded Compact Magazine the place where critics of liberalism from the left and the right meet. First Things is edited by R.R. Reno and is an ecumenical publishing home for religious conservatives. Not all writers for First Things fall under the postliberal umbrella, but some do. Then theres also the Postliberal Order a group newsletter run by a couple of professors who say the liberal ordering of the world is exhausting us. What is needed ... is regime change the peaceful but vigorous overthrow of a corrupt and corrupting liberal ruling class and the creation of a postliberal order, wrote University of Notre Dame professor Patrick Deneen in his 2023 book Regime Change. Deneen, arguably the foremost intellectual advocate of this populist-oriented movement, calls it common good conservatism. Fiscally, this is not the Republican Party of 2012. Less inspired by the father of capitalism, Adam Smith, and taking a page more from Ahmari and Oren Cass, postliberal economic policy focuses on workers. It is pro-union, decidedly against monopolies and open to tariffs. The movement focuses on increasing jobs in American manufacturing and limiting immigration. The vision Deneen embraces includes policies that encourage couples having more children. Rather than advocating for limited government, this vision supports a government that advances socially conservative positions in law. Vincent Phillip Munoz, a political science professor at Norte Dame, has disagreed with Deneens worldview in the conservative magazine The National Review. The principles that animated the American Founding human equality, natural rights, government by consent, religious freedom do not stand opposed to orthodox religious beliefs and practices, wrote Munoz. He said attempts by the government to make people pious or pure will lead to oppression. Instead of postliberalism, Munoz said there should be more efforts to look toward Americas founding documents and see limited government as a solution. It would be an overstatement to suggest Vance follows in lock step with Deneen, but it is clear Deneen has had some influence on him. Fellow Republican Sens. Josh Hawley and Marco Rubio have also found Deneen intriguing. Vance said he saw himself as explicitly anti-elitist, explicitly anti-regime in a conversation with columnist Christine Emba and Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts about Deneens argument against liberalism. And at an event where Deneen spoke about his latest book Regime Change, Politico reported Vance made a beeline for Deneen and wrapped him in an enthusiastic hug. Vances intellectual development With Rust Belt roots and a rags-to-riches backstory, Vance did not follow the typical journey from college student to venture capitalist. He almost failed high school, before joining the U.S. Marines and going to a state school. Then, he got into Yale Law School and eventually wrote his memoir Hillbilly Elegy. The memoir was something of a window into the rural support for former President Donald Trump. At the time, Vance was a critic of Trump, something that would shift later on. But Vances memoir also offers insight into his intellectual development. He talks about how the Marines taught him life skills and also how he would look toward his fathers church to understand the impact of religion on communities. When he got to Ohio State University in 2007, he said he called himself an atheist, according to an article he wrote in the Catholic journal The Lamp. He said much of his atheism was because he wanted to fit in. Vance said he had a brief flirtation with libertarianism and had a dogged commitment to neoliberal economic orthodoxy. But over time, Vance changed the first crack in my proverbial armor, he said, was reading St. Augustine on Genesis. After meeting venture capitalist Peter Thiel and thinking about the problems of the modern age, Vance said it led him to write his memoir Hillbilly Elegy. Later, he again returned to St. Augustine and read his words about the debauchery of Romes ruling class, as Vance put it. He thought it was the best criticism of our modern age. Soon after he read a book by Cass published in 2018 and had the insight that the American focus on consumption was misguided. And indeed it was this insight, more than any other, that ultimately led not just to Christianity, but to Catholicism, said Vance, adding the idea of virtue he saw in Catholicism that situated virtue in the context of a broader community attracted him. But his conversion was not all intellectual it also stemmed from how he saw Catholicism helping him become a good father and husband. In 2019, the same year he converted to Catholicism, Vance spoke at the National Conservatism Conference. There he drew distinctions between conservative politics and libertarian politics, and said he believed political power needs to be used to solve societal ills. We live in an environment thats shaped by our laws and public policy, and we cannot hide from that fact anymore. I think the question conservatives confront at this key moment is this: Whom do we serve? Do we serve pure, unfettered commercial freedom? Do we serve commerce at the expense of the public good? Or do we serve something higher? And are we willing to use political power to actually accomplish those things? Vance said it was a time for choosing, quoting Ronald Reagan. And he said he chooses his children and the civic constitution necessary to support and sustain a good life form. Vance and National Conservatism Vance would return to the National Conservatism conference in 2021 and deliver a speech entitled The Universities are the Enemy. His political career was burgeoning and he expressed more strongly some of the same core ideas about the use of political power he did in his 2019 speech. So much of what we want to do in this movement and in this country, I think, are fundamentally dependent on going through a set of very hostile institutions, specifically the universities, which control the knowledge in our society, which control what we call truth and what we call falsity, that provides research that gives credibility to some of the most ridiculous ideas that exist in our country, Vance said. If any of us want to do the things that we want to do for our country, and for the people who live in it, we have to honestly and aggressively attack the universities in this country. Describing his public policy views as aligned with Catholic social teaching, Vance said social conservatism needs to see itself as larger than issues like abortion it has to have a broader vision of political economy, and the common good. He suggested the relationship between social conservatives and market libertarians in the Republican Party has not had many upsides for social conservatives. Vance would continue to appear in this orbit of thinkers skeptical of warmed-over Reaganism, favorable toward tighter borders and committed to advancing social conservatism through policy and culture. As this evolution was ongoing, Vance walked back some of his earlier comments about Trump. He told Fox News he regretted being wrong about Trump and thought he was a good president. Trump ended up endorsing Vance ahead of the Ohio Republican primary for U.S. Senate in 2022. During his 2022 Senate run, Vance was vocal about who influenced him. There was Rene Girard, a Catholic philosopher, and he also spoke about Yoram Hazony, a prominent advocate for national conservatism. He made his pitch to Ohio voters that he would champion the working class, drawing on his own background. And he won his race, after first winning Trumps endorsement. He became one of Trumps closest allies in Congress. He also found friends and allies in Sens. Rubio, Hawley, Mike Lee and Tom Cotton, and then became a contender for vice president. This metamorphosis was captured in a 2024 profile Schmitz published of Vance in First Things. Schmitz noticed some religious conservatives shifted their approach to politics and described Vance as perhaps the most eloquent champion of a new Christian approach to politics one that is less conventionally conservative, and more populist. The two influences on his populism were his Mamaw and his understanding of a Christian moral and economic worldview, Vance told Schmitz. When we think about Christian conservatism, we think of sanctity of marriage, sanctity of life, said Vance. Of course these things are important and I certainly believe the churchs teachings on all of these things. And yet, theres an entire Christian moral and economic worldview that is completely cut out of modern American politics, and I think its important to try to bring that back. While there are those like Vance who believe embracing postliberalism will yield better conditions for the working class (and also think its a better pitch to those voters), there are others like Andrew T. Walker, associate dean in the School of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who think its necessary to resist the tide of postliberalism. Political regimes cannot subsist on different flavors of authoritarianism, wrote Walker for The National Review. They need a combination of reliable legal procedure, magnanimous restrain, moral virtue, and the freedom to assemble governing majorities that keep the rot in check. We can still do all of that. This is an adapted excerpt from the Sept. 29 episode of "Inside with Jen Psaki." On Tuesday night, vice presidential candidates Tim Walz and JD Vance will meet for their first and only scheduled debate ahead of Election Day. Now, normally there is only one vice presidential debate but what is abnormal about this years is that it will likely be the last time voters will see the contrast between the two tickets on a national debate stage. Thats because it appears that former President Donald Trump will not accept Vice President Kamala Harris offer for another debate. Follow live updates covering the 2024 vice presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz. So, for me, this years vice presidential debate is worth paying attention to more than usual. Heres some of what Ill be keeping an eye out for on Tuesday night: Lets start with the obvious, we know Vance is not Trump. He clearly doesnt have the same charisma as the former president. But he is committed to Trumps MAGA mission ... no matter the cost. Vance has shown that, like Trump, he is willing to push whatever story fits their narrative regardless of the truth. But while he may still push the same Trump lies, he probably wont fall for the same traps at the debate that Trump did. If the past is any guide, Vance is not a bad debater. Unlike the former president, hes a bit more disciplined and a bit more on message. Just take it from the guy who was on the other side of Vances last debate in 2022, former Rep. Tim Ryan. The former congressman said the senator is able to semi-articulate some kind of intellectual underpinnings of Donald Trumps rants. Hes very smart. I dont think theres any doubt about that. I would never call him dumb by any means, Ryan told The Columbus Dispatch. So if you are expecting a repeat of Harris commanding performance from the last debate, I have some bad news for you. While Trump rambles and lashes out and veers from one topic to another, Vance has the ability to actually stay focused and discuss policy. He has a deep and comprehensive understanding of how government works. And when you add that to his devotion to Trump and the ideas of the MAGA movement things he once called cultural heroin its going to make for a different kind of debate. Vance may be less bombastic on stage than Trump, he may sound more thoughtful, he may be a little drier, a little more policy-focused but that doesnt mean that he is any less dangerous and less extreme than his boss. So as you watch the debate on Tuesday, dont just measure Vance for basic coherence and self-control. The bar is low given his running mate and Vance will probably exceed that bar. Instead, listen closely to what he says, that will tell you more than anything else. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com New Jersey rescue crews save 2 from disabled sailboat off popular beach Emergency crews in Ocean City, New Jersey, jumped into action to rescue two people who were stranded on a disabled sailboat that ultimately grounded on a sandbar close to the beach on Saturday afternoon. The Ocean City Firefighters Association said that at about 2 p.m. on Saturday, emergency personnel, Ocean City police and beach patrol members responded to the area near 22nd Street and the beach for a water rescue. When they arrived, rescuers saw that a nearly 40-foot sailboat was disabled and in distress with two people on board. The sailboat was quickly approaching a sandbar as rough surf tossed the vessel around. Down The Shore: New Jersey Lawmakers Seek To Undo Sunscreen Prohibition For Kids Crews in Ocean City, New Jersey, responded to a vessel in distress and rescued two people as the nearly 40-foot sailboat grounded on a sandbar. The firefighters performed a water rescue and first contacted the two individuals on the sailboat. Read On The Fox News App Trump Organization Flames Reports Nj Might Pull Liquor Licenses After Conviction Then, as the boat grounded on the sandbar, firefighters rescued the two people on board. One of the individuals was taken to a nearby hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries. On Facebook, the association credited "a fast response and team effort" for leading to a positive outcome for all individuals involved in the incident. Original article source: New Jersey rescue crews save 2 from disabled sailboat off popular beach JetBlue plane struck at gate at Bostons Logan Airport A JetBlue plane is being inspected after being struck at Bostons Logan Airport on Monday morning. Flight 1585 was readying to fly from Boston to Pittsburgh when a piece of pushback equipment struck the plane, a JetBlue spokesperson said in a statement. Maintenance crews removed the aircraft from service and are evaluating the damage. JetBlue said the flight would operate on another aircraft. There were no reported injuries. 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 NEW YORK More than 25 years after a Bronx man was charged with killing a retired NYPD cop during a robbery, his conviction was vacated Monday with the help of updated DNA testing. Jon-Adrian JJ Velazquez, 48, walked into Manhattan Supreme Criminal Court already a free man, his sentence having been commuted in 2021. But after the hearing concluded, with supporters applauding, he pumped his fist, later wearing a hat emblazoned with the words End of an Error. Before the exoneration, Velazquez told Variety he would finally have the scarlet letter removed from his chest. Its a lot deeper than discrimination, he said. It comes down to diminishing a persons human dignity. Im getting a part of my dignity back. Outside the courtroom, Velazquezs mother recounted the years of holidays spent visiting her son in prison with his two young children in tow, placing a lit match in a cupcake for each birthday instead of a candle. It was important for them to know who their father was because he was an innocent man who had been wrongfully incarcerated, said Maria Velazquez This is what they did to us they tortured us, they made us suffer. But its over today. Velazquez greeted his supporters after walking outside court holding hands with both his mother and his girlfriend. Who am I? Im a very lucky man. Im lucky that so many people believed in me, Velasquez told ABC 7 News. The most precious commodity in this world is not gold or platinum or even cash, its time, because peoples lives are measured by the time that we have on this earth. On January 27, 1998, two men robbing a Harlem betting parlor got into a shootout with retired NYPD detective Albert Ward, 59, killing him. A man identifying himself as Tee was said to be the triggerman. Velazquez, then 22, was quickly arrested along with an alleged accomplice, 34-year-old Derry Daniels. In 1999 Velazquez was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 25 years. In 2017, Velazquezs lawyer Robert Gottlieb demanded a new trial, saying the Manhattan District Attorney deliberately kept from his clients trial attorneys a document of an interview with Daniels father, who saw the real killer shortly before the attack. The record provided a definite description of a third party culprit, not Jon-Adrian Velazquez, whom the father observed with his son, Derry, just hours before the murder and who matched the exact description of the shooter that had been given by eyewitnesses, the 2017 filing said. The Manhattan District Attorneys Office opposed motions from Velazquez to vacate his conviction in both 2014 and 2018 both motions were denied by judges. Daniels, who was allowed to plead down to robbery, was sentenced to just 12 years behind bars for his role. Velazquez says Daniels was a stranger to him. Velazquezs case became a cause celebre for believers in his innocence, including actors Martin Sheen, Nick Cannon and Alfre Woodard, who stood with Gottlieb as he announced the new filing in 2017. In 2021 Velazquez had his sentence commuted by then-Gov. Cuomo. A press release from Cuomos office at the time outlined Velazquezs achievements behind bars, including obtaining a bachelors degree, helping to run the college program at Sing Sing prison, and working as a teaching fellow for a professor at Columbia University. But it was newly-discovered DNA evidence that finally gave Velazquez his life back. In 2022 the case was opened for reinvestigation by the Post-Conviction Justice Unit, which used new methods to test DNA found on a betting slip handled by Tee. It was determined that Velazquezs DNA was not found on the slip of paper, said the Manhattan District Attorneys Office. Since being released from prison, Velazquez has been busy. He portrayed himself in a 2023 movie called Sing Sing about a Shakespearean production at the infamous Ossining, NY prison and has been working as an activist, even meeting with President Biden for a discussion on legal reform of the justice system. JJ Velazquez has lived in the shadow of his conviction for more than 25 years, and I hope that today brings with it a new chapter for him, said District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who added that the DAs Post-Conviction Justice Unit has vacated 10 convictions through reinvestigation since being established in 2022. During the hearing on Monday, Judge Abraham Clott noted that a celebration was in order. Velazquez, while grateful to be exonerated, said there are many others like him still locked up, posting on social media that it wasnt just his victory. Lets ensure that this story inspires change and prevents other wrongful convictions from occurring, he said. Together, we can shine a light on the importance of truth and the strength of the human spirit. _____ Joe Biden Says He Will Visit North Carolina On Wednesday, Angrily Says Donald Trump Is Lying About White House Response Update UPDATE: President Joe Biden said that the recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene will be long and costly, as the White House outlined the resources being directed to the hard-hit areas devastated by the storm and torrential rains. Its not going to be one hit and its over. This is going to take a hell of a long time. Its going to cost a helluva a lot of money, Biden said from the Oval Office. This is the United States of America, and weve got to do it. More from Deadline Biden was on a video conference with Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) and emergency response officials. The president also responded to Donald Trumps claim that the White House was ignoring Republican strongholds. Before a reporter even finished a question on the topic, Biden said, Hes lying. Let me get this straight. Hes lying. Biden was right. Trump falsely claimed that Governor Brian Kemp (R-GA) was having a hard time getting Biden on the phone. But hours earlier, Kemp told reporters that he had spoken to Biden on Sunday, and the president offered him any assistance that they needed. Biden said, I have spoken to the governor (Kemp), and spent time with him, and he told me hes lying. I dont know why he does this. And the reason I get so angry about it I dont care what he says about me, but I care what he communicates to the people that are in need. He implies that we are not doing everything possible. Trump visited Georgia today to assess damage from the hurricane, while his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, was briefed at FEMA headquarters this afternoon. Biden said that water and other goods would need to be brought in to devastated areas for weeks. He said that the water system in Asheville was completely down. Getting water in here on a sustained basis is going to be critical, Biden said. We are discussing the strategies to continue those efforts and to surge those efforts. PREVIOUSLY: Joe Biden pledged U.S. aid to assist in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which has devastated parts of the southeast, including areas in and around Asheville, NC. In remarks from the Roosevelt Room carried across cable networks, Biden cited reports of more than 100 people dead and 600 people unaccounted for, although many have been difficult to reach because of the lack of power and cell service. This is an historic storm. Its devastating. Theyve never seen anything like this before, Biden said. The president said that he planned to visit the region later this week, but cautioned that he did not want to cause a disruption if his security needs divert resources from recovery efforts. His focus on the hurricanes impact this week likely will focus media attention on the tragic scenes. Networks dispatched reporters to Florida to cover the hurricane as it made landfall last week, but the further impact of the storm appears to have caught many by surprise. Local media, like the Asheville Citizen Times, has had continuous coverage, while through the weekend, national network attention was to a series of stories, including the Israeli attacks on Hezbollah and the presidential race. Some outlets have relied on images from social media of flooded streets and collapsed buildings, and entire portions of communities wiped away. Biden said that he may have to request that Congress come back into session for an emergency supplemental request for relief and rebuilding efforts. Im here to tell every single survivor in these impacted areas that will be with you as long as it takes, Biden said. Kamala Harris was briefed on recovery efforts last night, and plans to attend a briefing later this afternoon. Her presidential rival, Donald Trump, is visiting Valdosta, GA today, and said that he had planned to visit North Carolina but was advised that communication is now restricted. Best of Deadline Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. John Swinney says that he has no intention of launching an investigation into Mr Yousaf - Andrew Milligan/PA John Swinney has refused to order an investigation into Humza Yousafs dealings with the Foreign Office to secure the release of his parents-in-law when they were trapped in Gaza. The First Minister said that he would not trigger an inquiry into whether his predecessor had broken the ministerial code of conduct with his attempts to free his wifes mother and father. Mr Swinney described Mr Yousafs actions in October last year, when he was first minister, as the normal routine business of government. Mr Yousaf also took to social media, arguing that any suggestions of impropriety were smears and stating that not a single request was ever made by me for preferential treatment for my in-laws. Elizabeth and Maged El-Nakla, Humza Yousafs parents-in-law, were offered safe passage out of Gaza via the Rafah crossing - PA Last October, the former first ministers parents-in-law were among hundreds of Britons trapped in Gaza when controls were imposed on the Rafah crossing due to the Israel-Hamas war. A tranche of documents, obtained by The Telegraph under freedom of information (FOI) laws, disclosed the extent to which his private office lobbied senior Foreign Office officials, as well as ministers, over his relatives release. Mr Yousaf secured a personal phone call with the then foreign secretary on Nov 1 in which he was told that his parents-in-law had been added to the priority list of British nationals trying to flee Gaza, according to the documents. Two days after the call, Mr Yousafs mother-in-law and father-in-law were given safe passage out of Gaza via the Rafah crossing. Elizabeth and Maged El-Nakla reuinted with their family in Scotland - @HumzaYousaf/X The cache of correspondence disclosed the extent to which members of Mr Yousafs private office assisted him in lobbying for his relatives release. Their efforts resulted in Mr Yousaf securing an urgent call with Lord Ahmed, the then Middle East minister, on Oct 10 to discuss the ongoing situation in Israel/Gaza, specifically with regards to his parents-in-law, the documents show. Four days later, on Oct 10, Mr Yousaf spoke to the consular director, one of the most senior Foreign Office officials in charge of co-ordinating the evacuation of British nationals from Gaza. One of his officials also sent him a message over WhatsApp that the most senior consular officer on duty has offered to support him in his efforts to secure the release of his relatives. A Foreign Office spokesman said: No preferential treatment was given to the former first minister or his family. He said ministers discussed with Mr Yousaf his familys personal circumstances as part of wider updates given to him on the conflict. Stephen Kerr, a Tory MSP, expressed sympathy for Mr Yousafs predicament but argued that questions had to be answered about the former first ministers methods. Routine business of government Asked if he would order an investigation, Mr Swinney said: I have no intention of doing so. He compared Mr Yousafs actions to those of his Government in response to the ongoing hostilities in Lebanon. So this is the normal routine business of government, where your citizens are held in a difficult situation of conflict that you do your best to get them out, he said. Mr Yousaf tweeted: They can try all the smears they want, but they wont stop me from talking about the atrocities facing the people of Gaza and Lebanon. As the FOIs show, not a single request was ever made by me for preferential treatment for my in-laws. They left alongside other British nationals. 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. For the past 96 years, Johnson County voters have elected an uninterrupted line of Republican sheriffs. But that may soon change. Prairie Village Police Chief Byron Roberson is running as a Democrat against Republican Doug Bedford, a former Johnson County undersheriff, in the Nov. 5 general election the first time in 20 years that a Democrat has been on the ballot. The contest appears competitive, with both men waging full-throated campaigns. Johnson County, an affluent and largely suburban area, is undergoing a political transformation from Republican stronghold to solidly Democratic that began more than a decade ago. Voters backed President Joe Biden in 2020, the first time in a century a Democratic presidential candidate won the county, and have helped elect Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids and Gov. Laura Kelly. Controversy surrounds current Sheriff Calvin Hayden, who conducted a years-long opaque investigation into the countys elections that led to no criminal charges. The inquiry, which Hayden promoted in front of hard-right audiences, helped fuel false conspiracy theories about elections and turned a wide swath of residents against him. Hayden lost the Republican primary in August to Bedford by 12 points. Hayden may soon exit the political scene, but the pitched fight between him and Bedford sharply raised the profile of the race putting the race for sheriff on the minds of voters in a way that local offices typically dont. Democrats hope all of that adds up to give Roberson an edge. That momentum, I dont see anything on sort of a macro political scale that has been slowing that down, Cole Robinson, executive director of the Johnson County Democratic Party, said of the county trending toward his party. If anything, Robinson said, Vice President Kamala Harris replacing Biden at the top of the ticket has energized core Democratic voters. I think if Im Doug Bedford or if Im just kind of a Republican with a really close race in Johnson County, Im looking at a Democratic base thats disproportionately female and very much energized, kind of like 2022 again, Robinson said, alluding to an election in which Kelly dominated Johnson County. And its kind of like at your peril standing in front of that as a Republican. The sheriffs race has been drained of some of its excitement since Haydens loss. Bedford and Roberson have expressed respect for one another and while they have tried to distinguish themselves from each other, they have also in public avoided direct attacks. Bedford has the endorsement of longtime former Republican Sheriff Frank Denning and former Garnder Police Chief Jay Belcher, among others. Roberson is endorsed by former Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass and former Lenexa Police Chief Ellen Hanson and others. The two candidates share somewhat similar biographical elements. Roberson spent eight years in the Marines, including a year of active deployment during the first Gulf War. Bedford spent eight years in the Navy and was a SEAL, including a deployment during the war. Roberson and Bedford have both had extensive careers in law enforcement. Bedford was previously an undersheriff who had worked with Hayden. Roberson has spent decades in the Prairie Village Police Department before becoming chief in 2021. Prairie Village Police Chief Byron Roberson is running for Johnson County sheriff. For their part, Republicans are bullish on Bedford. Mike Kuckelman, a Johnson County attorney and a former chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, acknowledged the race would potentially be closer than in the past. But he predicted Bedford will build an advantage as voters examine the records of the two candidates. On day one, Doug Bedford will know where everything is, from the keys to the jail to all the weapons they would need for whatever could happen he knows from day one he has a good, strong handle on that, Kuckelman said. Doug Bedford, Republican candidate for Johnson County Sheriff, left talked with Ed Eilert, retired chairman of the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners, who was on hand to support Bedford at a watch party at J.T.s Grill on Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in De Soto, Kansas. A fresh perspective In fundamental ways, Bedford and Roberson have staked out similar approaches to how they would handle the job. Both promise to take politics out of the job after Hayden cultivated a higher profile and both have stressed the need to restore sound leadership over the department, a sprawling agency that includes hundreds of deputies and civilian employees. But they are divided on who would best deliver that change. In a recent interview with The Stars editorial board, Bedford contrasted his past experience in the Johnson County Sheriffs Office at one point the No. 2 leader in the department with the much smaller Prairie Village Police Department. Prairie Village has dozens of officers compared to hundreds in the sheriffs office, he noted. The budget pales in comparison. Bedford, who emphasized that he had nothing disparaging to say about his opponent, said that given the differences in size and complexity between the two agencies, taking over the sheriffs office would prove almost an overwhelming task coming from Prairie Village. The sheriffs office, its a different beast, Bedford said. Roberson, in an interview with a reporter, cast his outside vantage point as an asset. He said he would bring aboard a leadership team that included individuals with internal knowledge of the department as well as others from the outside. The department is probably the biggest culprit of alienating themselves from outside law enforcement agencies, he said. I believe the organization is dying to have a new perspective, a fresh perspective and a perspective that is not necessarily from inside the organization, Roberson said. Roberson is leaning into mental health as a campaign issue, an emphasis that comes after Hayden earlier this year took one of the most divisive decisions of his time as sheriff and removed Johnson County Mental Health Center from county jails. Johnson County Mental Health Center for the past few years provided behavioral health services at the two adult detention centers, ensuring prisoners have access to psychiatric evaluations, medications, suicide assessments and other interventions. The center also offers ongoing support as people leave jail in an effort to continue treatment and decrease recidivism. Hayden this spring dropped Johnson County Mental Health Center in favor of VitalCore Health Strategies, a private, for-profit organization that was already providing medical services for prisoners. The decision was described as primarily financially-based but sparked strong opposition from some county leaders. Roberson has confronted the role of mental health in law enforcement in a deeply personal way. In 2010 as a Prairie Village officer, he shot and killed Susan Stuckey, a 47-year-old mentally ill woman who had clashed with police and said she wanted police to kill her. Prosecutors cleared Roberson in the shooting and a federal lawsuit over the death was settled out of court. Mental health is crucially important to me, its not just a campaign slogan, Roberson said. Bedford has also voiced concern with the sheriffs office dropping Johnson County Mental Health Center. The most effective part of having the center working in the jails was the centers ability to maintain contact with individuals after theyre released preventing interruptions in medications and other help. Now, I dont know what that case is, Bedford said, adding that he has heard communication has worsened. He expressed fear that delays will lead to recidivism. Its a huge issue, its a hot-button issue, as well as it should be. But that being the case, I think we need to revisit that, make sure its the most effective thing to do, Bedford said. Johnson County Commissioner Becky Fast, who was critical of the decision to stop using the mental health center, said shes hopeful about what a new sheriff will mean for mental health services at the jails. Ive said all along that I dont feel like our most vulnerable people should be the subject of a for-profit company, said Fast, who isnt endorsing in the race. Johnson County Sheriff Calvin Hayden Johnson County shifting While the sheriffs office is partisan, it typically isnt run in an overtly partisan manner a norm Hayden broke as he promoted the election investigation to Republican audiences while simultaneously refusing to release many details to the public. If Hayden had won the GOP primary, it would have set up a strong contrast between him and Roberson. The contest between Roberson and Bedford is more muddled; the differences between them are often not as sharp. Matthew Harris, a political science professor at Park University, said the political fundamentals in Johnson County have been shifting in Democrats favor and he expects the race to be fairly competitive. Republicans still hold a sizable advantage in registered voters in Johnson County. As of August, 41% of voters were Republican, compared to 32.4% for Democrats and 25.2% unaffiliated. But those figures are less favorable to Republicans than a dozen years ago. Republicans in 2012 accounted for 46.4% of registered voters compared to just under 23% for Democrats. Many of those Republicans are also more moderate. At least some fraction has been willing to vote for Democrats, given recent election results. In 2020, Biden beat former President Donald Trump by 8 points and Kelly won by 20 points in 2022. All those fundamentals it seems like its shifting toward the Democrats, Harris said. At the same time, I think if you talk to Democrats whether theyll admit this publicly or not it would have been a much more winnable race if it was Hayden against Roberson. Speaker Mike Johnson needed to convince former President Donald Trump that a shutdown could hurt their party on Election Day even as the Republican presidential nominee was itching for a fight with Democrats over cracking down on non-citizens voting in elections. So in a recent sit-down at Mar-a-Lago, Johnson showed Trump polling warning a shutdown could zap the GOPs House majority, two sources close to the speaker said. Then, to drive home the point, Johnson pulled out a set of photographs of the GOP incumbents many of whom Trump liked who could lose. Its a testament to just how hard Johnson had to fight to avoid a colossal political firestorm on the eve of an election that will determine not just who controls the House, but Johnsons own place in leadership. Getting out of town as quickly as possible was the right thing to do. Im very supportive of what the speaker did, said the House GOPs spending chief, Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, who was among many Republicans privately urging Johnson to ignore Trump and avoid a shutdown at all costs just weeks from Election Day. But behind the scenes, Johnson was also working with conservatives on a Trump-approved funding strategy: Even as it was clear the speaker would need to pass a bill with Democrats, Johnson was privately trying to add partisan immigration language though GOP centrists ultimately objected, according to two Republicans familiar with the discussions. He was phoning his members about that plan even hours before the bipartisan vote. Johnsons success in defusing Trumps shutdown threat while protecting dozens of vulnerable Republicans saved his gavel but only for now. For Johnson, the next three months will either unlock his future as a second-term speaker or could see an end to his brief tenure atop the GOP conference. And with his future on the line, Johnson will spend every day until November 5 trying to protect, and possibly even grow, his partys majority. He and other GOP leaders plan to barnstorm swing districts across the country, from the New York suburbs to Californias Central Coast, as they stump for endangered incumbents and raise cash to counter Vice President Kamala Harris enormous fundraising machine. Johnson will kick off the month with fundraisers in Manhattan on Monday before a nation-wide swing that will include about one-third of his time in either New York or California, according to his political team. Political fights for the end of the year The next time House Republicans are together, the election will be over and it will be time for their own internal leadership race. If Republicans keep the House and especially if they grow their majority, Johnson will have a compelling case to make to keep his job. But regardless of the election, Johnson is staring down a slew of political landmines immediately after the election that could make it impossible to actually win the job come January We are going to be right back in the same pickle. It is going to get a lot worse the next thing around depending on how the election goes, one Republican member said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss the speakers future. There are a lot of things that are going to get piled up. Johnson and his leadership team will need to keep the government open and deal with an early 2025 debt limit deadline. Congress is also facing deadlines on the farm bill, a massive five-year package of funding for agriculture and nutrition programs, and the National Defense Authorization Act, a landmark defense policy bill, and will likely need to supply additional funding for natural disasters. Johnson, who was a little-known figure for many in the conference before he catapulted into leadership, has built a strong rapport with rank-and-file members and gained respect from even some early skeptics by the way he has weathered fight after fight. I think hes done a good job of basically not throwing his hands up in the air and not flipping somebody the bird, Rep. Mark Amodei, a Republican from Nevada, told CNN. But if Republicans lose the House, many members acknowledge that Johnson would struggle to win a party-wide contest to remain GOP leader. Instead, many Republicans are eying Johnsons deputies like House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, as well as Trump ally Jim Jordan of Ohio. Then theres the wildcard of House Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican congresswoman whose name is frequently discussed for a position in a potential Trump Cabinet but would likely stay in the House if Trump doesnt win. Then you look around, if not him and then who? Then it gets even more muddled and difficult, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Republican from Tennessee, said. I think he will be in a very optimal position if we retain and add to our margins in the House. A need for new rules As lawmakers return home to campaign, many Republicans are privately frustrated they have little to tout from their GOP majority. Instead of passing legislation addressing party priorities, the House has careened from one funding crisis to another, as members of the far right wing set their sights on ousting House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and then, in subsequent months, Johnson after he worked with Democrats to pass billions in aid for besieged Ukraine. Key committees failed to make a compelling-enough case to members after months of investigations and hearings to move ahead with impeaching President Joe Biden, a gambit that lost relevance after Biden announced in July he was stepping out of the presidential race. It seems like for the last year, Mikes speakership has been about buying time til the next milestone, whatever that milestone is, one GOP member told CNN. There is a sigh of relief, we can go home and campaign. We dont have to defend a shutdown. We can resume our campaigns and get past that but eventually you kind of sober up and figure out once the election is over you gotta go get something done. Many Republicans have already begun plotting how to avoid a repeat of the last two years of dysfunction and drama. House GOP lawmakers are privately starting to discuss major changes to their internal rules to make it easier for future Republican leaders. A top target for many members: nuking the rule that allows just a single member to oust a speaker. We have to have a strong leader and you have to have someone in place who short of committing a crime or loss of mental faculties is not held to this motion to vacate as political theater, said Rep. David Joyce, a Republican from Ohio. Republicans also want to prevent a repeat of the dramatic 15-round speaker fight on the House floor last year, which led to major delays in establishing committees and getting Congress to work. Several members are discussing a way to lock in a speaker by forcing any candidate to prove they can win the 218 votes needed to win on the floor in January, and not just a simple majority of their own conference. Others are seriously talking about how to exact revenge against ultraconservative Freedom Caucus members who have been blocking the GOPs agenda on the floor or in the speaker-controlled Rules Committee. Lawmakers who vote against party priorities, they argue, should be stripped of plum committee spots. But for Johnson, any push to change the GOP rules could jeopardize his ability to win votes in the conference especially if the majority is as slim as the one hes contending with now. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com (Bloomberg) -- Ken Griffins Citadel Securities has opted to establish its own brokerage operation in China after failing in its bid for Credit Suisses onshore business and seeing no viable alternative takeover targets, people familiar with the matter said. Most Read from Bloomberg The US firm, part of Griffins sprawling hedge fund and trading empire, is preparing an application to the China Securities Regulatory Commission for brokerage, asset management and proprietary trading licenses, the people said, asking not to be named as plans have not been made public. After failing to buy the Credit Suisse unit, Citadel Securities views building an operation from the ground up as the best option since most brokerages in China are fully licensed, which is less compatible with its own approach. The firm regarded Credit Suisses China platform primarily focused on brokerage services and investment banking as a better fit for its expansion, one of the people said. Citadel Securities is going against the grain as most foreign banks have scaled back in China as business has cratered along with a sluggish economy, rising geopolitical risks and a crackdown on bankers and private enterprise. Still, the move comes at an opportune time, just a week after China unveiled a bundle of stimulus measures, causing stock markets to soar. A media representative at Citadel Securities declined to comment. The decision to build a business from scratch will take significantly longer than through an acquisition given infrastructure needs and hiring challenges. Gaining a license approval in China is also a protracted endeavor, typically taking at least 12 to 18 months. Though setting up its own shop will give Citadel Securities the flexibility to tailor its business for the Chinese markets instead of inheriting a business built by another firm, the people said. In China, its seeking to add brokerage, trading and asset management under the new securities platform, one of the people said. The firm is bolstering its footprint globally, recently adding to its presence in Europe to take on Wall Street firms. Its also broadly expanding Asia, opening a Tokyo office in 2022 and expanding across regional offices. Tony Tang, BlackRock Inc.s former China head, was hired in September last year to navigate the increasingly complex regulatory landscape. Story continues Citadel Securities has been participating in the China so-called A-share market from Hong Kong where it handles cash equities, futures, options trading and exchange-traded funds. It has an office in Shanghai with a small team supporting the firms offshore China business. Earlier this year, Griffin and Peng Zhao, the CEO of Citadel Securities, were among the lead donors to help the San Diego Zoo prepare for the arrival of two giant pandas that were loaned from China. Closely-held Citadel Securities generated $2.3 billion of net trading revenue in the first three months of 2024, setting the market-making firm up for a potentially record year as it expands in new assets classes and geographies. --With assistance from Lulu Yilun Chen. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. BAY COUNTY, Fla (WMBB) The Bay County Public Library invites the community to their 3rd annual Bay County Writers Fest. The event is happening on Saturday, Oct. 5 from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. It will be located at 898 W. 11th Street. There will be over 30 authors, books for sale, and free workshops for those who are interested in writing. PCFD invites community for night of family fun Inside of our Youth Services Programming room, we are going to have 2 of the Gulf Coast State College professors teaching mini-workshops, said Sarah Burris, the librarian. And then you can also meet all the local authors here as well. The workshops will occur from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. Admission is free and is first come first serve. After the Writers Fest will be another event at Thistle and Thorne located at 304 Harrison Avenue from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. for those that are interested in a poetry reading. For more information about the event, click here for their Facebook page. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to mypanhandle.com. SPRINGFIELD, Mo. A Joplin man is sentenced for stealing mail from residents as part of a conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, according to a release from the Department of Justice. Aaron Blake, 28, was sentenced to three years and seven months in federal prison without parole and also ordered to pay over $12,000 in restitution to victims. Blake pleaded guilty to multiple bank and wire fraud charges in February. His codefendant, Emily Sturgis, pleaded guilty in July. It stems from a conspiracy from December 2022 lasting to January 2023, when Blake and Sturgis were stealing mail out of mailboxes, including credit cards, checks and more. In one instance, they were able to steal Pandora jewelry from a victim. The duo used the stolen credit cards to run up unlawful purchases. Additionally, the two used the identifying documents they stole to open accounts under the stolen names. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSNF/KODE | FourStatesHomepage.com. A New Mexico judge has declined to release Hannah Gutierrez, the armorer in the fatal "Rust" movie shooting. (Luis Sanchez Saturno / Associated Press) A New Mexico judge has ruled that Hannah Gutierrez, the weapons handler in the ill-fated western movie "Rust," must remain in prison for her role in the fatal shooting of the film's cinematographer. New Mexico 1st Judicial District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer on Monday denied a request to free Gutierrez from prison or schedule a new trial to weigh the evidence after revelations of alleged missteps by a special prosecutor. Gutierrez's attorney Jason Bowles said he would appeal the decision. Gutierrez has served nearly seven months of her 18-month prison sentence for her involuntary manslaughter conviction in the accidental 2021 shooting death of Halyna Hutchins. Gutierrez has acknowledged loading actor Alec Baldwin's prop gun. In March, a 12-member Santa Fe County jury found Gutierrez guilty of the felony charge after a two-week trial that delved into on-set safety issues and lingering trauma for those who witnessed the shooting. Read more: New Mexico judge to weigh whether 'Rust' armorer Hannah Gutierrez should be freed Special prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey argued that Gutierrez brought live rounds of ammunition to the set from her home in Arizona, an allegation Gutierrez denied. Baldwin was pointing the weapon at Hutchins while preparing for a scene when the revolver discharged. Hutchins died from her wound; the film's director, Joel Souza, also was shot but recovered. The judge took another look at Gutierrez's conviction after New Mexico's prosecution of Baldwin collapsed over the summer amid allegations of misconduct by Morrissey and Santa Fe County sheriff's deputies. Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin, who was facing an involuntary manslaughter charge, after a dramatic daylong hearing in July. The judge was furious with Morrissey and other county officials after learning that evidence, which could have been helpful to Baldwin's defense, had been concealed from the actor's attorneys. The disputed evidence included a bag of ammunition, some of which matched the fatal bullet in the shooting. Morrissey argued that the ammunition was not relevant to Baldwin's case. Read more: It was supposed to be their big break. Now two 24-year-olds are at the center of the 'Rust' shooting investigation After Baldwin was cleared, Bowles argued that his client was entitled to a new trial or a dismissal of her case due to such "prosecutorial misconduct." Last week, Bowles presented his reasoning to the judge, saying additional evidence including a supplemental report from the state's ballistics expert and an interview with the weapons and ammunition provider was not provided to the defense team as it prepared for Gutierrez's trial. The failure to disclose such materials deprived Gutierrez of her rights, Bowles argued. Read more: Full coverage: The fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the Rust set The judge was not swayed. "Defendant has been convicted of a felony involving a firearm and resulting in the death of Ms. Halyna Hutchins," Marlowe Sommer wrote in Monday's order, adding that Gutierrez had acted in a reckless manner that "allowed a fatal gunshot to occur." Sign up for our Wide Shot newsletter to get the latest entertainment business news, analysis and insights. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) A Superior Court Judge has struck down Georgias six-week abortion ban, in effect since 2022. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Fulton County Superior Judge Robert McBurney issued the order Monday saying abortion regulation must return to Georgias pre-2019 law, which allows the procedure up until about 22 weeks of pregnancy. A review of our higher courts interpretations of liberty demonstrates that liberty in Georgia includes in its meaning, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her health care choices, McBurney ruled. That power is not, however, unlimited. When a fetus growing inside a woman reaches viability, when society can assume care and responsibility for that separate life, then and only then may society intervene. Every life is precious: Kemps Office releases statement on abortion in Georgia The six-week heartbeat bill has seen multiple legal challenges since first being passed in 2019. It was deemed unconstitutional in 2020, but the 2022 Supreme Court Decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization allowed the state to enforce the act. Once again, the will of Georgians and their representatives have been overruled by the personal beliefs of one judge, said a spokesperson for Gov. Brian Kemp. Protecting the lives of the most vulnerable among us is one of our most sacred responsibilities, and Georgia will continue to be a place where we fight for the lives of the unborn. The past two years have seen scores of protests against the law. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WSAV-TV. Judge strikes down Georgia ban on abortions, allowing them to resume beyond 6 weeks into pregnancy FILE - Abortion rights protesters rally near the Georgia state Capitol in Atlanta, on May 14, (Ben Gray/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) ATLANTA (AP) A Georgia judge on Monday struck down the state's abortion law, which took effect in 2022 and effectively prohibited abortions beyond about six weeks of pregnancy. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote in his order that the law violates Georgia's Constitution, finding that liberty in Georgia includes in its meaning, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices. When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and ended a national right to abortion, it opened the door for state bans. Thirteen states now bar abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions. Georgia was one of four where bans begin after about the first six weeks of pregnancy often before women realize theyre pregnant. McBurney's ruling would allow abortions through at least 20 weeks of pregnancy. Kara Murray, a spokesperson for Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, said he would immediately appeal to the state supreme court. The state high court earlier reversed a separate ruling by McBurney that had struck down the law on different grounds and could put Monday's ruling on hold pending an appeal. We believe Georgia's life act is fully constitutional, Murray said. The bans have been felt deeply in the South because many people live hundreds of miles from states where abortion procedures can be obtained legally. If the Georgia ruling stands, it could open new avenues to access abortion not only in Georgia, but for people in nearby states. Georgias law was passed by state lawmakers and signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2019 but it was initially blocked from taking effect until the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which had protected the right to an abortion for nearly 50 years. Kemp has in the past tried to soften its political impact by trying to focus on the health of mothers. Monday, he attacked the ruling. Once again, the will of Georgians and their representatives has been overruled by the personal beliefs of one judge, Kemp said in a statement. Protecting the lives of the most vulnerable among us is one of our most sacred responsibilities, and Georgia will continue to be a place where we fight for the lives of the unborn. Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, called the ruling ridiculous. This judge is an activist judge who is ignoring higher court rulings to do what he wants, she said in an interview. And I dont think its going to stand. Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, celebrated the ruling. Since weve seen these direct attacks here in the South, in particular, on abortion access, we have been in a deep defensive posture for a really long time, she said. It feels like our work has not been in vain. While carafem, an abortion provider in Atlanta, plans to expand its services as permitted over the next several weeks, co-founder Melissa Grant said she fears a reversal. Staff and clients will be living with this possibility hanging over immediate change, and that can be devastating to people who are trying to plan their lives and try to take care of their health, Grant said. Kwajelyn Jackson, executive director of Feminist Women's Health Center, another Atlanta abortion provider, said they "will not be turning patients away based on the presence or absence of fetal cardiac activity, and so for as long as we are able, were hopeful that well be able to care for patients who need services from us. Georgia's law prohibited most abortions once a detectable human heartbeat was present. Cardiac activity can be detected by ultrasound in an embryo's cells that will eventually become the heart at around six weeks into a pregnancy. Before the law kicked in, there were more than 4,400 abortions each month in Georgia. That has dropped a monthly average of about 2,400 since the ban began in 2022 according to data from the Society of Family Planning. The ruling means the law in the state reverts to its prior status, allowing abortions until roughly 20 weeks into a pregnancy, McBurney wrote. The right to privacy in the Georgia Constitution includes the right to make personal healthcare decisions, he wrote. When a fetus growing inside a woman reaches viability, when society can assume care and responsibility for that separate life, then and only then may society intervene," McBurney wrote. An arbitrary six-week ban on abortions "is inconsistent with these rights and the proper balance that a viability rule establishes between a womans rights of liberty and privacy and societys interest in protecting and caring for unborn infants, the order says. Claire Bartlett, executive director of the Georgia Life Alliance, expressed confidence that the Georgia Supreme Court would again overturn McBurney, saying he wrongly attempted to create a right to abortion out of whole cloth by finding that it resides in our Constitution. Its just ironic that based on his decision on Georgias constitutional protection against a person being deprived of life, liberty or property, which is what the argument was, that he chose to focus on a womans right to liberty rather than the childs right to life," Bartlett said. In part because Georgia has no way for citizens to place initiatives on the ballot, theres no referendum on abortion rights scheduled for Georgias election this year. But Democrats have focused on abortion as they appeal to women and suburbanites. On Sept. 20, Vice President Kamala Harris visited Atlanta to cast Republican Donald Trump as a threat to womens freedom and lives, warning Trump would limit abortion access even more if reelected. Its also a key issue in state legislative races as Democrats try to cut into Republican majorities. Harris' visit came after ProPublica reported that two women in the state died after they didn't get proper medical treatment for complications from taking abortion pills to end their pregnancies. Democrats argue such deaths were a predictable outcome of restrictive laws Harris has been outspoken on abortion rights ever since the Supreme Courts decision more than two years ago. ____ Associated Press writers Charlotte Kramon in Atlanta and Geoff Mulvihill in Philadelphia contributed reporting. A judge in Georgia struck down the states six-week abortion ban on Monday afternoon. The Fulton county judge, Robert McBurney, ruled the abortion ban unconstitutional under Georgias state constitution and suggested that the six-week abortion ban treated women like collectively owned community property. A review of our higher courts interpretations of liberty demonstrates that liberty in Georgia includes in its meaning, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices, McBurney wrote. He added that society can only intervene in a persons pregnancy when the fetus reaches viability, which is generally understood to be between 22 and 24 weeks. While the States interest in protecting unborn life is compelling, until that life can be sustained by the State and not solely by the woman compelled by the Act to do the States work the balance of rights favors the woman, McBurney wrote. The six-week abortion ban was enacted in 2022, shortly after the Supreme Court repealed Roe v. Wade. Physicians in the state can now provide abortions until fetal viability, reverting to Georgias 2019 abortion law. Women are not some piece of collectively owned community property the disposition of which is decided by majority vote, McBurney wrote. Forcing a woman to carry an unwanted, not-yet-viable fetus to term violates her constitutional rights to liberty and privacy, even taking into consideration whatever bundle of rights the not-yet-viable fetus may have. The ruling is a monumental win for abortion rights advocates who have rallied against the extreme abortion ban. On Saturday, reproductive justice groups hosted a rally at the state capitol to demand a repeal of the law and commemorate the two women who died because of the states abortion ban. ProPublica recently reported that Amber Thurman and Candi Miller, two Black mothers from Georgia, died because they were denied proper medical treatment after using abortion pills. Todays win was hard-fought and is a significant step in the right direction, Monica Simpson, president of the women of color-focused reproductive justice organization SisterSong, said. [But] every day the ban has been in place has been a day too long and we have felt the consequences, especially our Black and brown communities. Read the full ruling below. Judge Strikes Down Georgia's 6-Week Abortion Ban by Alanna Vagianos on Scribd This embedded content is not available in your region. Madilyn Leavitt Cole is challenging Justice of the Peace Cynthia Dustin-Cruz. Madilyn Leavitt Cole, a prosecutor in the Clark County District Attorneys office, is defending her decision to use a political endorsement on a campaign mailer, despite a prohibition on judges and judicial candidates seeking, accepting, or using endorsements from a political organization in campaign materials. Cole, who received her undergraduate and law degrees at Brigham Young University, served as a law clerk in 2017, and joined the District Attorneys office in 2018. She is seeking to oust Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Cynthia Dustin-Cruz from the seat shes held since 2012. Dustin-Cruz attended UNLV and earned her Juris Doctorate from Boyd School of Law. The mailer, which features a photo of Cole, her husband, and baby, includes an endorsement from the Nevada Republican Club Action PAC (NRC PAC). Cole, who declined to be interviewed, said in an emailed statement to the Current the mailer-related complaints filed by Veterans in Politics with the Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission and the Nevada Bar Association, are frivolous and without merit. The endorsement referenced is not a political organization as defined in the Nevada Code of Judicial Conduct Canon 4, as its principal purpose is not to further the election or appointment of candidates for political office, Cole said in an email. The NRC PACs purpose, according to its filing with the Secretary of State, is to support, recommend and elect competent and qualified Conservative candidates for public office. Additionally, the Judicial Code defines political organization as a political party or other group sponsored by or affiliated with a political party or candidate, the principal purpose of which is to further the election or appointment of candidates for political office. Whats in a name? The Leavitt in Coles name is a new addition an homage to her mother, District Judge Michelle Leavitts maiden name, and her grandfather, former Judge Myron Leavitt as well as a reminder to voters of her judicial lineage. Coles resume lists her name as Madilyn Fitzpatrick Cole. Nevada law says a nickname of not more than 10 letters may be incorporated into the name of a candidate and must be in quotation marks. A nickname must not indicate any political, economic, social or religious view or affiliation and must not be the name of any person, living or dead, whose reputation is known on a statewide, nationwide or worldwide basis, or in any other manner deceive a voter regarding the person or principles for which he or she is voting. The statute is meant to be for people like (Clark County Commissioner) Tick Segerblom. Hes a perfect example. No one knows Tick by any other name. No one knows him by Richard, says Dustin-Cruz. I think as a judicial candidate and as a judicial officer its important to be transparent and not do anything that would be confusing or interpretive. Much ado about nothing? Cole is suggesting to news media that Dustin-Cruz recently resigned as chief judge because of opposition by Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill, District Attorney Steve Wolfson, and the Nevada Resort Association to Justice Courts decision to distribute criminal cases involving the resort corridor among eight departments rather than two, as is the current practice. I think [in large part] thats due to a strong lack in leadership, Cole told KLAS-TV. I think that is confirmed by the recent resignation. Dustin-Cruz says thats not the case, and credits her opponent for publicizing what she says is an unremarkable decision. This is not the first time, and possibly not the last time that a chief judge elects to step down early, a week before we voted to elect the next incoming chief judge, Cruz said during an interview Wednesday. I still have a significant amount on my plate, but had even more on my plate presiding over my drug treatment court, a variety of statewide and community committees that I sit on, and a full campaign, she said, adding that with the administrative duties of chief judge, she was working seven days a week. My focus is being pulled more than Im really liking it to be. Its never an easy call, but its important to know as a public servant when you have too many balls in the air. The Resort Corridor Court was designed to reduce crime on the Las Vegas Strip committed by repeat offenders ordered out of the area on trespassing charges. Civil libertarians contend the order-out provisions raise legal concerns about profiling and other rights. Dustin-Cruz says the Justices of the Peace had a lot of concerns about the Resort Corridor Court. Maybe you are unhoused and hanging out on the Strip. Thats not necessarily a crime, but these are the people that could benefit from being connected to services so they dont have to be unhoused anymore, she says, adding the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration reports 80% of homeless people have a substance abuse disorder, mental health issues, or both. Its a revolving door at the jail, and thats not solving crime. Its temporarily stopping that person for a day or a few hours. We work on the reason they keep ending up in jail. Dustin-Cruz says a letter of protest to the Justices of the Peace from McMahill, Wolfson, and the Resort Association, was a cry to come back to the table and have some more discussion, because reports from Metro indicate crime was diminishing. We want to make sure that were following the Constitution, that were not turning this into a situation where were letting one group push the court to move in a direction, she said. Even though it was intended to be a way to identify certain repeat offenders and connect them with resources, the volume was much more than anybody anticipated. Dustin-Cruz raised $61,000 in campaign contributions as of July 15 and had $22,000 on hand. She is endorsed by a variety of law enforcement agencies, unions (including SEIU and Laborers 872), the National Organization for Women, Hispanics in Politics, the Asian American Group, the African Chamber of Commerce, and the Adult Residential Care Providers of Nevada. Cole raised just over $140,000 as of July 15 and had about $82,000 on hand. She is endorsed by the Latin Chamber of Commerce, a number of unions, including Culinary Local 226, Teamsters, AFL-CIO of Nevada and Laborers 872 (which endorsed both candidates), and Clark County prosecutor and investigator associations. Early voting begins Oct. 19. Where there used to be meadows and hiking trails, the River Oder is now flooding. The situation on the Oder in Brandenburg continues to ease. This is also reflected in developments in Frankfurt (Oder). According to the city, more than 40,000 sandbags that were used for protection are being reused or disposed of. Patrick Pleul/dpa Heavy rains and subsequent flooding in June caused an estimated 4.1 billion ($4.6 billion) in damage across southern Germany, according to figures from two of the hardest-hit states and insurance companies. "Almost 1.8 billion of the uninsured damage fall to Bavaria," the state's finance minister, Albert Furacker told dpa in Munich. Insurers estimate around 2 billion of the total damage was covered, while 300 million in losses were reported in Baden-Wurttemberg. The floods, which struck between May 30 and June 11 following relentless rainfall, have prompted calls for federal support. Furacker noted that the 2013 flooding in Germany caused damage valued at around 8 billion in 11 of Germany's 16 states, while there had now been more than 4 billion thus far in 2024 in two states. He predicted the figure could rise by the end of the year. A traffic sign protrudes just a few centimetres out of the flood waters of the River Oder. The situation on the Oder in Brandenburg continues to ease. This is also shown by developments in Frankfurt (Oder). According to the city, more than 40,000 sandbags that were used for protection are being reused or disposed of. Patrick Pleul/dpa Jury: Lexington landlord got rental aid from city but didnt use it to help tenants A Lexington landlord who filed fraudulent applications for rental assistance from the city has been convicted in federal court. A jury in Lexington convicted Vonnie McDaniels, 35, on charges of wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft. Jurors also ruled he committed the offenses while still under court supervision on a prior conviction for bank fraud and identity theft, according to the court record. Federal authorities charged that McDaniels submitted false information, including a false Internal Revenue Service form, on applications for money under programs Congress approved to help businesses with the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. McDaniels received a total of of $193,231 in relief money under the programs in 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He also filed false applications for rental assistance from the city for two apartments on Hollow Creek Road in Lexington, according to the release. The city had received money from the federal government to help pay rent for people who lost jobs or had their hours cut because of the pandemic. McDaniels inflated the amount of rent to pump up the claim and posed as his tenants to fill out their portion of the application, without their knowledge, according to authorities. McDaniels received $45,000 from the city in 2021 for rent assistance, but told his tenants they werent eligible and continued charging them rent, according to the Justice Department release. Jurors convicted him on all charges on Sept. 25. Chief U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves ordered McDaniels taken into custody after the verdict. McDaniels is scheduled to be sentenced in January. He faces up to 20 years in prison on the fraud charges. NEWINGTON, Conn. (WTNH) Newington police say two juveniles were arrested Sunday after they allegedly pushed a stolen vehicle through a fence and into a commercial building. Officers were dispatched to the area of Carr Avenue and John Street for report of a motor vehicle accident around 5:21 p.m. Multiple juveniles arrested for fighting at Waterbury football game Upon arrival, they found the unoccupied vehicle and learned a group of juveniles fled the area on foot. During the investigation, someone flagged down an officer to report two juveniles on a scooter who had just tried to carjack him in New Britain. Police said the victim pointed to the juveniles, who were still visible in the area. The juveniles were taken into custody. One was charged with interfering with an officer, engaging in a police pursuit, and operating a motor vehicle without a license. 2 juveniles charged with attempted vehicle theft in West Haven The other juvenile was charged with interfering with an officer. Both juveniles were released to their legal guardians, police said. The accident is under investigation by Newington police and New Britain police are investigating the carjacking 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 WTNH.com. (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Changpeng Zhao pledged to keep investing in the blockchain sector as well as artificial intelligence and biotechnology, in the crypto moguls first public comments since his release from US custody. Most Read from Bloomberg In a post on social-media platform X over the weekend, the co-founder of the Binance Holdings Ltd. digital-asset exchange described himself as a long-term investor who cares about impact, not returns. Binance was hit with a $4.3 billion penalty in November under a plea deal to settle US charges over failures that let criminals and terror groups use the exchange. Zhao agreed to pay a $50 million personal fine and was later sentenced to four months in custody. He was released from a correctional facility in California on Sept. 27. Zhao said his new endeavor called Giggle Academy, a nonprofit online education platform, will be a big part of my life. He said he will also dedicate more time and funding to charity. Binance is the worlds largest crypto exchange, making it a linchpin of trading in digital assets and related derivatives. Under the plea deal, Zhao stepped down as chief executive officer, handing the reins to Richard Teng. The platform also faces years of compliance monitoring by the Justice Department and the US Treasurys Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Zhao has a net worth of more than $30 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index likely making him the richest ever US inmate. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Kamala Harris presidential campaign rolled into Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon, marking her first major fundraiser in the city and bringing along a starry group of supporters. The vice president hosted an afternoon event at the J.W. Marriott in downtown Los Angeles, with a lineup of celebrity speakers and guests that included Stevie Wonder, Sterling K. Brown, Lily Tomlin, Demi Lovato, Keegan-Michael Key and Jessica Alba; Alanis Morissette and Halle Bailey also performed during the fundraiser. More from The Hollywood Reporter Inside the event press was only allowed in for Harris remarks the presidential candidate took the stage to Beyonces hit song Freedom, alongside an announcer declaring, please welcome our next president of the United States to a standing ovation from the crowd. Oh, its good to be home, Harris responded to the applause; though she grew up in Oakland, she has deep ties to Los Angeles, still owning a home in Brentwood with her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff. Harris shouted out the longtime support shes gotten from the city in her long political career, noting, I look around this room and there are people who have been with me here every step of the way and later referred to herself as a proud daughter of California. The Democratic nominee began by acknowledging there are just 37 days until Election Day. I know whos here and so many of us have been involved every four years, and every four years we say, This is the one; this heres the one, she continued. This is probably the most important election in our lifetime, and its probably the most important in the life of our country. Harris also used much of her nearly 30-minute speech to speak about her opposition, saying, In many ways Donald Trump is an unserious man, but the consequences of putting him back in the White House are extremely serious. She also questioned of Project 2025, the controversial set of conservative policy proposals to be implemented by the next Republican president, Can you believe they put that thing in writing? and included a quip that while campaigning across the country, her crowds are pretty big. So much is on the line in this election, and this is not 2016 or 2020, its different for many people, she added, acknowledging the Supreme Courts ruling on presidential immunity this summer and musing, Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails. Harris wound down with repeating how close the election now is and how early voting has already begun in same states, saying, Let me be clear, we are going to win to massive applause. She continued, We also have our work cut out for us. This race is as close as it could be and we are the underdog. We are the underdog, and Im running like the underdog. The tickets to the event ranged from $500 to $250,000, with a number of Hollywood agents and publicists spotted in the crowd; Deadline reported over $28 million was raised at the fundraiser. After shaking hands and taking photos with some members of the crowd following her speech, Harris was off to her next stop, hitting a rally in Las Vegas on Sunday night. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Sign up for THR's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Kamala Harris May Be Leading Trump In The Polls, But Here's Why Her Supporters Should Be Nervous As November and the presidential election continues to get closer, Vice President Kamala Harris is still leading in the polls. According to the latest average of national pollscollated by FiveThirtyEightHarris has a 2.8-point lead over Trump. According to The Independent, Redfield & Wilton Strategies reported that as recently as September 26, Harris is at 47 percent and Trump at 44 percent among a group of 2,500 adults. Harris has been ahead in the polls for several weeks, but her supporters shouldnt celebrate just yet. The New York Timess average of national polls has revealed that even though Harris is still ahead by just three points, the race remains very close in the seven key battleground states. Still, neither candidate possesses a vital lead in states worth the 270 electoral votes needed to win. As The Root has previously reported, there remains some skepticism around the pollsespecially when it comes to Black people as election polls have a history of miscounting the Black vote. Former Harris aide and speechwriter Gevin Reynolds told The Root that we should still be concerned about the reality of the Vice President actually winning despite what the polls say. Im not sure its fair to say the Vice President is ahead in this race. Sure, shes ahead in some states in some polls. But other polls tell a different story, Reynolds said. And if the polls end up being as wrong as they were in 2020, Donald Trump is going back to the White House. The Harris campaign knows all of this. VP Harris and Gov. Walz are zig-zagging the country to make their case to voters in the states that will decide this election. Reynolds sentiments echo the current state of Democrats who have become worried that pollsters are underestimating Donald Trumps voter support, according to The Guardian. Both Hillary Clinton and President Biden were performing better against Trump in pollingboth nationally and in swing statesthan Harris is now. He is not the only one who has questioned the validity of polling. In an exclusive interview with The Root, journalist Don Lemon said Americans have to to take the polls with a grain of salt. Lemon stated that the polls said there was going to be a red wave over the last couple of elections, and that didnt happen. It was the exact opposite. Lemon also said that the polls said Hillary Clinton was going to win, and she did not. During his street interview series in cities like Philadelphia, Atlantic City, and Chicago, Lemon learned that Black folks also may be dishonest about voting for Trump because of shame. Black men also told Lemon that they were supporting Donald Trump because he gave them a $1,200 stimulus check when he was president, not seemingly understanding that it actually came from a Democratic Congress. Harris may have the momentum she needs to capture the White House, but it would foolish to use the polls as the sole barometer for her tentative success. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. (Bloomberg) -- Kamala Harris raised about $55 million in high-dollar events in California this weekend, according to an official familiar with the matter, a haul that pads her financial advantage over Republican rival Donald Trump. Most Read from Bloomberg The fundraiser Sunday at the JW Marriott in downtown Los Angeles took in about $28 million, and another one Saturday at San Franciscos Palace of Fine Arts raised about $27 million, according to the official, who requested anonymity to discuss a private matter. The Los Angeles event featured performances by Alanis Morissette and Halle Bailey. Attending were celebrities such as Sterling K. Brown, Demi Lovato and Stevie Wonder, as well as moguls such as Jeffrey Katzenberg, who is co-chair of the Harris campaign. After guests dined on appetizers such as samosas and mini lobster rolls, Harris urged them to activate their networks to help her win the November election. This race is as close as it could be, she told them. We are the underdogs. Both Harris and Trump are tapping Californias prodigious donor base with the election now just weeks away. The former president attended a Silicon Valley fundraiser earlier in September. Harris began September with $404 million in the bank, compared to $295 million for Trump, according to the latest disclosures to the Federal Election Commission. The Harris campaign spent an average of $7.5 million a day in August, compared with a $2.6 million daily average for Trump. Tickets for the California fundraisers topped out at $926,600. Those who donated at least $100,000 got a chance to get a photo taken with the vice president, while those at the $250,000 level and above were able to attend a luncheon. Harris raised $27 million in a Sept. 22 fundraiser at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. After the Los Angeles fundraiser, Harris headed to Las Vegas, where about 7,500 enthusiastic people waved signs in English and Spanish. Trump, for his part, rallied his supporters Sunday at an event in Erie, Pennsylvania, a battleground state integral to a win in November. (Adds Las Vegas rally in 10th paragraph) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. KCAU 9 is celebrating the Hispanic cultures in Siouxland and beyond with a Hispanic Heritage Month Special. Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated each year from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. It is chance for many in the U.S. to learn about and celebrate the contributions of Hispanics, the countrys fastest-growing racial or ethnic minority, according to the census. The group includes people whose ancestors come from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. Why Hispanic Heritage Month begins September 15th There are more than 65 million people identified as ethnically Hispanic in the U.S., according to the latest census estimates. Locally, about 19% of Woodbury County identifies as Hispanic/Latino. For the state of Iowa, Hispanic people make up about 7%. Meanwhile, across the river in Dakota County, 40% of the population is Hispanic. That is much higher than the 12% of the state of Nebraskas hispanic population. South Dakota has a 4% Hispanic population with Union County mirroring that percentage. Before there was National Hispanic Heritage Month, there was Hispanic Heritage Week, which was created through legislation sponsored by Mexican American U.S. Rep. Edward R. Roybal of Los Angeles and signed into law in 1968 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The weeklong commemoration was expanded to a month two decades later, with legislation signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. While Hispanic Heritage Month was officially recognized in 1988. Hispanic communities have history in Siouxland dating much further back. KCAU 9 Reporter Chase Foix spoke with a local professor trying to share Latinos stories across the area. Professor documenting lives of Hispanic communities in Siouxland No matter where people come from, folks often bring a part of their home country to where they currently live. KCAU 9 Reporter Alyssa Tatsch shares how a locally owned convenience store is bringing a taste of Hispanic culture to Siouxland. Family business brings familiar favorites to Hispanic community An organization dedicated to helping the local Latino community is just about to celebrate a decade of hard work. KCAU 9 Reporter Tyler Euchner spoke with the the organizations leader to find out what this pillar in the community means to those the organization serves. Pillar in the Latino community looks back on 10 years of service The Associated Press contributed to this story. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports. LONGVIEW, Texas (KETK) A Keep Longview Beautiful grant of $5,600 will go to the revitalization of the public librarys flower beds after harsh weather conditions led to them sitting empty for years. Theyre thriving: Longview Regional NICU celebrates annual reunion According to city officials, the Longview Public Library is a recipient of the nonprofits Community Improvement Grant. With the funds, the library will have the opportunity to fix up two large flower beds on the Eastman Plaza. The flower beds currently sit empty due to the 2021 winter storm and the harsh summer in 2022, city officials said. Keep Longview Beautiful will present a check to the library on Tuesday and work on the flower beds will reportedly begin soon after to ensure growth by spring. The library holds several annual events on the Eastman plaza each year from our Chautauqua Festival in April to the Summer Reading Club kick off party in June, Longview official said. We are very excited to hold these events with new beautiful plants in the background. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Kentuckians have until Oct. 7 to register to vote. Heres how. Voting is one of the duties and privileges of living in a democracy. You'll also get one of these stickers. The deadline to register to vote in Kentucky is Oct. 7. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony) Kentuckys deadline to register to vote ahead of the November general election is Monday, Oct. 7. Voters in the Bluegrass State will consider a ballot that includes the presidential race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, congressional races, a number of legislative races, two constitutional amendments and more. Some regional and local elections include a Supreme Court race in Central Kentucky and a Court of Appeals race in Western Kentucky. Registering can be completed online, via mail or by returning voter registration cards to your county clerks office. Registration ends at 4 p.m. local time on Monday. The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Excused in-person voting is Oct. 23-25 and Oct. 28-30. No excuse in-person voting is Oct. 31-Nov. 2. Kentuckys online absentee ballot request portal is open through Tuesday, Oct. 22. According to the State Board of Elections, the qualifications for voters to register in in Kentucky are: Be a U.S. citizen and a Kentucky resident for at least 28 days before the election. Non-U.S. citizens and U.S. nationals do not qualify. Be at least 18 years old by the general election. Cannot be a convicted felon. For some with an expungement, executive pardon or executive order, the right to vote may be restored. Cannot have been judged mentally incompetent in a court of law or have voting rights removed. Cannot claim the right to vote outside Kentucky. To complete a new or updated voter registration, request an absentee ballot or learn more information about voting in Kentucky, visit govote.ky.gov. Graves County Courthouse 1942. Courthouse at Mayfield, Graves County The Graves County Courthouse in Mayfield in 1942 photographed by George Goodman (1876-1961) from the Goodman-Paxton Photographic Collection. The Graves County Courthouse in Mayfield in 1942. Twenty years before a deputy fatally shot the sheriff and stood trial there. The building was damaged beyond repair in the December 2021 tornado outbreak. Photo by George Goodman (1876-1961) from the Goodman-Paxton Photographic Collection. (University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center) The Sept. 19 Whitesburg slaying wasnt the first time one county official was charged with killing another in a Kentucky courthouse. Letcher County Sheriff Shawn Stines, 43, is accused of first degree murder for allegedly shooting District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, in his chambers. So far, the sheriffs motive is unclear. On March 6, 1922, Deputy Sam Galloway, 29, gunned down Graves County Sheriff John T. Roach, 30, in the sheriffs office. Galloway evidently killed Roach after he heard the sheriff planned to fire him. Stines, who immediately surrendered to authorities, pleaded not guilty and remains jailed without bond. A preliminary hearing has been set for Oct. 1. The Whitesburg shooting has attracted state and national media coverage. Likewise, the Mayfield shooting grabbed newspaper headlines across Kentucky and the country. The latter ultimately led to a book, A Courthouse Tragedy: Politics, Murder and Redemption in a Small Kentucky Town, written by the late Murray attorney Sid Easley, a Graves County native. Published 10 years ago, its still available on Amazon. Easley wrote that Roach and Galloway had been friends. Both wanted to run for sheriff in the August 1921, Democratic primary. Apparently, the two men struck a deal: Galloway would bow out in favor of Roach, who would appoint him a deputy, a post that often was a stepping stone to sheriff. After he won the primary and easily defeated a Republican in the general election, Roach kept his word. But trouble brewed when Galloway found out that Roach planned to cut his pay and work hours. Worse, Galloway later learned that his days as a deputy were numbered. Galloway confronted Roach in the sheriffs office on circuit court day. Both became angry; Galloway shot Roach three times with a .45 caliber pistol, according to Easleys book. Galloway quickly handed over his weapon and submitted to arrest. Fearing mob violence against the prisoner, authorities transported him to the McCracken County jail in Paducah. On March 7, the Graves County grand jury indicted Galloway for willful murder, which carried a maximum sentence of death or life imprisonment. The case against Galloway seemed open and shut. After all, there were multiple witnesses. Roachs death resulted in a historical first for Kentucky. His widow, Lois Roach, was named to succeed him. Apparently the states first woman sheriff, she was elected in her own right in 1923 and reelected to a second two-year term in 1925. Galloways trial began on June 26. Because he and the late sheriff had many friends in Mayfield and Graves County, Circuit Judge W.H. Hester summoned a jury from adjacent Ballard County. Galloway pleaded self-defense, claiming he fired only when he saw Roach reach in his pocket for his pistol. His testimony was disputed; the prosecution characterized the deputy as a cold-blooded murderer. The jury deliberated for three days and failed to reach a verdict. Hester declared a mistrial and prepared to set a date for a second trial, Easley wrote. Hester gaveled the court into session on July 26 with jurors from Carlisle County, which also adjoined Graves. The judge stopped the trial after a juror unexpectedly died on July 28. The judge scheduled a third trial, also with Carlisle countians in the jury box, for Aug. 1. In his charge to the jury, Hester said Galloway could be found not guilty, found guilty of murder and sentenced to death or life imprisonment, or found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and imprisoned for not less than two nor more than twenty-one years, Easley wrote. On Aug. 4, the panel convicted Galloway of the lesser charge and sentenced him to seven years. Hester subsequently denied a defense motion for another trial and Galloways lawyers gave up on a fourth trial. After his release from Eddyville Penitentiary, Galloway moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, with his second wife. His first wife died soon after he was locked up. The couple had two sons; one lived to 72, the other, born while the deputy was jailed and awaiting his first trial, died at age 5. Galloway was 74 when his life ended in Tulsa in 1968. He is buried in a Tulsa cemetery. Roach and his widow, who died in 1979 at 83, are buried in Mayfields old Maplewood Cemetery. A metal plaque recognizes her as the first woman sheriff in Kentucky. Besides his spouse, Roach was survived by their 3-year-old daughter, Ruth, who lived to age 86. The 1880s vintage red brick courthouse, where Galloway violently ended Roachs life and was punished for his crime, is gone, a casualty of the deadly Dec. 10, 2021, tornado that devastated much of Mayfield. Easley ended his book by quoting the editor of the Mayfield Weekly Messenger who, three days after the shooting, urged the citizenry to be calm, collected and full of the spirit that controls sadness and tears. And yet it is also the time for wise men and those who love the integrity and honor of Mayfield to counsel peace and the law. The author concluded, The voice of that editor eloquently reminded the community that the spirit of redemption was always present, and that the wise among them should reach for the healing offered by its power of restoration. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Two weeks of public testimony concluded Friday in the U.S. Coast Guards investigation to establish what caused the Titan submersible to implode during a deep ocean dive last year, killing all five on board. Its findings will be issued in a report that may include what the panel believes caused the incident; whether there was any act of misconduct, negligence or violation of law; and safety recommendations that could prevent future calamities involving submersibles. The hearing in South Carolina included former employees and executives of OceanGate, the Washington state-based operator of the Titan, some speaking publicly for the first time, as well as industry experts who sought to piece together the culture of the company, its business plan and the run-up to the fatal dive. In June 2023, the Titan was almost two hours into its descent to view the Titanic wreckage in the North Atlantic Ocean off Canada when the vessel lost contact with its support ship, setting off a frantic search. The publics fascination only deepened with reports that banging noises were detected from the search site and amid concerns over how long its passengers could sustain themselves in a cramped tube running out of oxygen. Those on board were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, 61, who was piloting the Titan; deep sea explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, who was experienced in visiting the Titanic wreck site; British tycoon Hamish Harding, 58; and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son, Suleman, 19. Top row: Hamish Harding; Paul-Henri Nargeolet. Bottom row: Suleman and Shahzada Dawood; Stockton Rush. Almost immediately, OceanGate came under heavy scrutiny as a result of the disaster, in part because it involved civilian passengers paying $250,000 apiece to go on the expedition, but also because fatal incidents involving submersibles of which a handful are capable of diving as deep as the Titanic are nearly unheard of.Here are key revelations that emerged from the Coast Guards hearing: Debris images helped to confirm implosion At the outset of the hearing, the Coast Guard released photos and video of the Titans tail cone resting on the bottom of the Atlantic near the Titanics bow. While officials concluded in the initial investigation that the Titan was likely involved in a catastrophic implosion because the craft couldnt handle the deep-sea water pressure, the discovery of the debris was what made them confident no one survived, they said. The Coast Guard also revealed one of the last messages the Titan sent to its support ship before losing contact: All good here. Newly released video shows the Titan submersibles tail cone in full detail. This remotely operated vehicle footage expands on the exhibit image released yesterday to provide clearer context and transparency. #TitanMBI Download it here: https://t.co/lz0nunnokj pic.twitter.com/AbHtpxXfwr USCG MaritimeCommons (@maritimecommons) September 17, 2024 David Lochridge, the former marine operations director of OceanGate, testified that Rush was more concerned about profits and cost-cutting measures than in building a viable submersible. The whole idea behind the company was to make money, said Lochridge, who joined OceanGate in early 2016 and was fired from his role after about two years. There was very little in the way of science. Lochridge would go on to be locked in a legal battle with OceanGate, claiming he was fired because he complained about quality control. Another former engineering executive, Tony Nissen, said he voiced concerns to Rush after the Titans original hull made out of experimental carbon fiber, which has not been proven to repeatedly withstand deep-sea pressures was compromised after it was struck by lightning during a test mission in 2018. Nissen said he was fired after he refused to sign off on another test mission the following year and had even told Rush, Im not getting in it, referring to the Titan. Meanwhile, OceanGates former director of administration, Amber Bay, who joined the company in early 2019, testified that there were instances when the business couldnt meet payroll, so Rush had to dip into his own money. He increased his investment by making a deposit, and we were able to meet payroll, she said, adding that the financial situation was so pinched that employees were also asked to defer their paychecks. OSHA accused of failing to review safety concerns in timely manner In January 2018, following his firing at OceanGate, Lochridge said he filed a quality inspection report regarding the building of the Titan with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the federal agency that oversees workplace safety. Upon Lochridges termination, OceanGate filed a lawsuit alleging breach of contract, claiming he violated terms of his contractual employment by discussing confidential information with other employees and OSHA representatives. But instead of OSHA pressing ahead with his claims, he said the representatives only dragged their feet allowing OceanGate to go unchecked as it designed and built the Titan. I believe that if OSHA had attempted to investigate the seriousness of the concerns I raised on multiple occasions, this tragedy may have been prevented, Lochridge said. An OSHA spokesperson said in a response to NBC News that the agency did forward his safety allegations to the Coast Guard, which has the jurisdiction to investigate such claims. The agency said it could review only his claims of employment retaliation, and that the investigation followed the normal process and timeline for a retaliation case. Once Lochridge and OceanGate agreed to settle their litigation in late 2018, OSHA ended its investigation pursuant to the terms of the parties agreement, the spokesperson said. Titan never inspected by industry organization Roy Thomas, an engineer for the American Bureau of Shipping, testified that OceanGate never contacted the organization, which advises and verifies whether a marine vessel complies with industry standards. Thomas said the choice of the main material for the hull, carbon fiber, which has long been used within the aerospace industry, is susceptible to fatigue failure in deep-sea pressure settings. Submersible hulls typically use titanium; carbon fiber is also costlier. Thomas added that the organization would never have classified the Titan based on the materials used. The Coast Guard also noted at the start of the hearing that the Titan never underwent an independent review, which is standard practice in the industry. Titan malfunctioned just days before doomed final dive The Titan suffered more than 100 equipment issues in the two years before the June 2023 implosion, including losing its forward dome during a test dive in 2021 and a mechanical failure that same year during an expedition to the Titanic. That trip had to be aborted. #TitanMBI has released Exhibit CG-102, showing a photo of the forward dome that detached after Titan dive 61 on June 30, 2021an incident noted in testimony from Mr. Hagan and Ms. Rojas, and also identified on Exhibit CG-52. Find more on the hearing https://t.co/YqgDikoekr pic.twitter.com/2iZZWFJgC4 USCG MaritimeCommons (@maritimecommons) September 22, 2024 The Titan also malfunctioned days before the implosion, marine scientist Steven Ross testified.Rush was piloting a trip with Ross and others on board. At one point, an issue with the Titans buoyancy caused the platform to shift and the passengers were left to tumble about, Ross said. No one was hurt, but it took an hour to get out of the water during such a distressing incident, he added. One passenger was hanging upside down, Ross said. The others managed to wedge themselves into the bow end cap. Exact cause of implosion may be indeterminate Expert testimony from Bart Kemper of Kemper Engineering Services gave preliminary findings for what may have caused the disaster. Among the possibilities, he said, are breakage of the carbon fiber hull, a manufacturing failure related to the hull or an issue with the acrylic window. Ultimately, the root cause for the implosion is indeterminate at this time, Kemper said. Earlier in the hearing, OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein, who left the company a decade before the Titan disaster but continued to champion Rushs efforts, said a cause for the implosion may never be known.I dont know who made what decision when and based on what information, he told the hearing panel. And honestly, I dont know if any of us will ever know this, despite all of your teams investigative efforts. OceanGate CEO had cavalier attitude: No one is dying Witnesses who knew Rush painted a picture of a businessman who strove for innovation in creating a new type of submersible, but also refused to slow down. Matthew McCoy, a former OceanGate operations technician, testified about a tense meeting with Rush in 2017 about what the CEO said he would do if he came under regulatory scrutiny at a U.S. port. If the Coast Guard became a problem, then he would buy himself a congressman and make it go away, McCoy said, adding that he resigned soon after. William Kohnen, the CEO and founder of submersible maker Hydrospace Group, said he spoke to Rush in 2018 about the direction of OceanGate as peers in the industry took notice of what he was doing. Rush said the usual response that it takes too long, Kohnen testified about getting OceanGates submersible classified by the industry. Its too expensive and they dont know about this technology. I dont have time to explain my technology. That same year, Lochridge had confronted Rush about his safety concerns before he was fired. In a transcript of the conversation made public by the Coast Guard as part of the hearing, Rush denied he was going to put anyone at risk with the Titan. Everything Ive done on this project is people telling me it wont work. You cant do that, Rush said. I can come up with 50 reasons why we have to call it off and we fail as a company, he added. Im not dying. No one [is] dying under my watch period. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Kids are buying candy flavored Galaxy Gas whippets online and landing in the hospital The latest TikTok trend involves children inhaling Galaxy Gas whippets, a stainless steel cylinder containing nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas. Despite whippets being know for refilling whipped cream dispensers, teens are using it for another dark reason. Teens are on cloud high. Get a whiff of this. A company that sells flavored whippets for culinary use has found a fanbase among the Gen Z clout chasers of TikTok and theyre not baking cakes. Galaxy Gas sells food-grade nitrous oxide, aka laughing gas, to the general public, dispensed from stainless steel canisters with an aerosol nozzle for easy flavor infusion into dishes, namely whipped cream. Galaxy Gas During The Posts investigation, the company has since removed all nitrous products. In some states, including New York, customers are required to be at least 21 to purchase. But before the ostensible crackdown, there were seemingly few barriers to purchase, such as an age limit or wholesale license requirement when purchased via Amazon or Walmart. In a disclaimer on the companys site, they state that intentional misuse or inhalation of contents is prohibited and poses a serious health hazard. Galaxy Gas has not returned The Posts request for comment. Inhaling NO can cause lightheadedness, headaches, nausea, mild euphoria and hallucinations while prolonged use can lead users to develop depression, psychosis, memory loss, muscle spasms, tinnitus and numbness. Despite the harmful side effects, youngsters are attempting to go viral by uploading evidence of their dangerous substance abuse on TikTok with some claiming that huffing Galaxy Gas had put them in the hospital. Galaxy Gas In a clip online posted by @fearedbuck, an ostensible group of high school students can be seen flagrantly inhaling gas from a blue container in the middle of a classroom. In school hitting Galaxy Gas, the video text overlay read. As one young man pulls the tip from his mouth, he calls out, Yo, what the f-ck! in a cartoonishly deep voice. He then fumbles backward, ultimately losing his balance and hitting the ground. Despite his unsettling plunge, peers around him are laughing at his reaction. Many social media challenges are just outright dangerous. It is critical that parents and educators talk to teens about the risks involved, Dr. MaryAnn Amirshahi, one of our Medical Directors at National Capitol Poison Center told The Post. Tris Angel, a rapper who runs @tris..angel online, showed his followers how participating in the act allegedly sent him to the hospital. Stop taking Galaxy Gas yall look at me, he captioned the clip as hes lying down in a hospital bed. The Post reached out to Angel for comment. The trend reportedly originated with a self-proclaimed Atlanta, Georgia influencer. In a video with nearly 7 million view on X, he inhales the Galaxy Gas inside a restaurant and introduces himself as Lil-T Man and where hes from in a strangely deep voice. His introduction sparked a trend of TikTokkers reenacting the video, mocking his deep voice by inhaling the Galaxy Gas containers. Inhaling nitrous oxide outside of medical settings can be dangerous and even deadly, particularly when used heavily, per the American Addiction Centers. Repeated use of inhalants like nitrous oxide and whippets can also result in addiction. Galaxy Gas Medical critics and peers are calling out Galaxy Gas and nitrous oxide users for manipulating the youth market with splashy ads and juicy flavors, such as watermelon lemonade, tropical punch, blue raspberry, mango smoothie and strawberry cream. Marketing them in ways that are attractive or enticing for other uses is not ethical, because misuse of these products can lead to harm, Dr. Amirshahi told The Post. Need to get your kids vaccinated for COVID? Locations serving infants, small children As children continue mingling in school settings and families look ahead to holiday travel, trying not to get sick is top of mind for many with little ones. If you have tried to get your small children vaccinated for COVID-19 with no luck, or need help finding vaccination locations near you, were here to help. COVID-19 vaccinations for children in Delaware The 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine was approved on Aug. 22 by the Food and Drug Administration and is now available. While it might be easy to schedule vaccination appointments for older children and adults, it might be more difficult to find appointments for small children. The Delaware Division of Public Health shared that parents and caregivers of children under the age of 3 should contact their childs primary care provider to learn more about getting the updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccination. If the childs provider does not have the vaccine in stock or does not administer the vaccine, the Division of Public Health recommends reaching out to local pharmacies. You can also search for vaccination locations according to the childs age on Vaccines.gov. Danielle Simmonds watches her son, Michael, take off his jacket in preparation of his first dose of the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine in 2021. Before visiting any location to get the updated COVID-19 vaccine, be sure to call first to check availability and schedule an appointment if needed. CVS pharmacy representatives have promoted MinuteClinics for kids aged 5 and under, which can be found in Bear, Middletown and Dover, according to Laura Matusheski, a spokesperson for the Delaware Division of Public Health. An online locator tool can help determine which CVS stores offer pediatric shots and have appointment availability. Matusheski cites Walgreens No. 11080 at 6317 Limestone Road in Hockessin as another pharmacy location offering vaccinations for children aged 3 and below. Details on new COVID-19 variants: New XEC COVID-19 variant expected to become the dominant strain soon. What we know At its child health clinics, the Division of Public Health provides limited health services, such as immunizations or physicals, to children under age 19 who are well and do not have insurance or a doctor. No sport physicals are provided. Services are free or low-cost based on household income. Appointments can be booked at the following locations: Floyd I. Hudson State Service Center in Newark. Call for appointment availability at (302) 285-7587. James W. Williams State Service Center in Dover. Open on Mondays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thurman Adams State Service Center in Georgetown. Open on Mondays and Wednesdays. Call for appointment availability at (302) 515-3000, option 3. Anna C. Shipley State Service Center. Open on Tuesdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. For underinsured or uninsured families, community health centers and Federally Qualified Health Centers around the state offer vaccinations for infants and young children. Delawares community health centers, which also provide care to the insured, are in the following locations: Nemours Childrens Hospital, Delaware, which provides primary care services for children statewide. New Castle County Dr. Beth Karmilovich examines 11-year-old Antonio Hernandez with his mother, Hortencia Hernandez, at Westside Health in Fox Run Shopping Center in 2013. After signing up for health insurance, its time to seek a health care provider. Claymont Family Health Services, which administers child immunizations. Henrietta Johnson Medical Center, which provides care for the entire family. This also is a Federally Qualified Health Center. St. Francis Family Practice, which treats patients of all ages and includes the Center of Hope in Newark and the St. Clare Outreach Program, a mobile van. Westside Family Healthcare in Wilmington, Newark and Bear, which provides care for all ages. These also are Federally Qualified Health Centers. Kent County Westside Family Healthcare in Dover. This also is a Federally Qualified Health Center. Sussex County Diane Mitchell, a nurse practitioner, examines patient Isabel Barrveta, of Seaford, at the La Red facility in 2014. La Red Health Center in Georgetown and Seaford, which provides care for patients of all ages. These also are Federally Qualified Health Centers. Got a tip or a story idea? Contact Krys'tal Griffin at kgriffin@delawareonline.com. This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Where infants, small children can get a COVID vaccine in Delaware 'Cut Red Tape': Harris Proposes $100 Billion To Rebuild America's Industrial Base Kamala Harris proposed a $100 billion investment package to revitalize key sectors of the U.S. economy. Speaking in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, the Vice President outlined her vision for an America Forward strategy to boost domestic manufacturing, support workers and maintain U.S. tech leadership. Don't Miss: The plan, which Harris describes as "pragmatic" and worker-focused, includes tax credits for investments in biotech, clean energy, semiconductors and AI. The incentives are designed to encourage companies to invest in American facilities and create high-quality jobs, emphasizing supporting union workers and communities with long-standing manufacturing traditions. Harris spoke about the importance of prepping the American workforce for future industries, according to Politico. She pledged to eliminate unnecessary degree requirements for 500,000 federal jobs and set a goal to double the number of registered apprenticeships by the end of her first term. Trending: Teens may never need wisdom teeth removed thanks to this MedTech Company Be an early investor for just $300 for 100 shares! The vice president also promised to invest in STEM education and expand partnerships between businesses, unions and educational institutions to create new training opportunities. The proposal includes measures to streamline the building process for new industrial projects. "Building More and Faster by Cutting Red Tape" was a theme in Harris' economic plan issued Wednesday; it acknowledged the challenges of lengthy timelines and high costs associated with construction in the U.S. She committed to reforming permitting processes to accelerate project development while maintaining environmental protections and community input. Financing: Harris said the $100 billion investment would be funded through international tax reform, which aims to prevent corporate tax avoidance strategies. The vice presidents economic agenda differs from that of former President Donald Trump, who is advocating for further tax cuts and increased tariffs on imported goods. Harris criticized Trumps record on manufacturing, according to Politico, saying that nearly 200,000 manufacturing jobs were lost during his presidency before the pandemic. Story continues Trending: Beating the market through ethical real estate investing' this platform aims to give tenants equity in the homes they live in while scoring 17.17% average annual returns for investors heres how to join with just $100 While Harriss plan provides more detail than her opponents proposals, some economists and political analysts question whether voters will find her message as compelling as Trumps punchier economic promises. According to the Washington Post, recent polls show that Harris narrowed Trumps lead on economic issues but still faces challenges in convincing voters of her economic vision. The difference between Harriss policy proposals and Trumps broad economic slogans will likely remain a central theme as the election approaches. The effectiveness of Harriss strategy in winning over blue-collar voters, particularly in key swing states like Pennsylvania, could prove important in determining the outcome of the presidential race. Read Next Up Next: Transform your trading with Benzinga Edge's one-of-a-kind market trade ideas and tools. Click now to access unique insights that can set you ahead in today's competitive market. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? This article 'Cut Red Tape': Harris Proposes $100 Billion To Rebuild America's Industrial Base originally appeared on Benzinga.com 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) inspects the rehabilitation projects in the country's flood-hit area on September 29, 2024, according to the official news agency KCNA which published the image (STR) (STR/KCNA VIA KNS/KCNA via KNS) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited flood-damaged areas in the country and ordered swift action to rebuild homes, state media reported on Monday. North Korea experienced a record downpour in late July which killed an unspecified number of people, flooded homes and submerged swathes of farmland in its northern regions near China. Thousands of displaced flood victims were relocated to facilities in the capital while their homes are being rebuilt. Visiting the construction site, Kim ordered workers "to alleviate the pain of the flood victims as early as possible," according to the official KCNA news agency. Photos from KCNA showed Kim walking through the muddy site and speaking with officials in front of partially built structures. This marks his third visit to flood-hit areas, with previous appearances showing him holding children, inspecting damage from a dinghy, and driving through floodwaters in his luxury vehicle. International offers of support have poured in since news of the flooding disaster first emerged, including from South Korea which offered aid via the Korean Red Cross despite the two countries' strained relations. Russian President Vladimir Putin had also offered "immediate humanitarian support" to aid its recovery efforts. Kim has expressed thanks for the offers of help but refused to accept any foreign aid, saying that the country's recovery efforts would be "thoroughly based on self-reliance", according to KCNA. hs/rsc What we know so far about JD Vance and Tim Walzs debate styles When Tim Walz and JD Vance square off as vice-presidential picks on Tuesday, it will be the biggest debate stage for both of the politicians who are newly becoming household names. Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota, and Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, have been honing their public speaking skills and their pointed barbs at each other in TV appearances and at events around the country in the past few months. Their experiences in electoral debates havent reached the levels or notoriety that come along with a presidential campaign, but both have faced opponents in public debates in past elections. Related: 2024 US presidential polls tracker: Trump v Harris latest national averages And given the tightness of the presidential race, and how poorly the first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump went, there will probably be more people tuned in to the vice presidential debate than in past cycles. While VP debates dont usually tip the scales much, they could matter in a close race and they build profiles for lower-profile politicians who will probably stay on the national scene for years to come. Walzs debate experience To practice before Tuesdays VP debate, Walz has used Pete Buttigieg, transportation secretary and frequent TV news interviewee, as a Vance stand-in both Buttigieg and Vance are Ivy Leaguers from the midwest and roughly the same age. Walz, 60, first ran for Congress in a red-leaning district in Minnesota in 2006 and kept the seat until 2019, when he assumed the governors office. He ran for governor first in 2018 and then for re-election in 2022. USA Today watched 10 hours of Walzs debate footage from over the years, summarizing: Walzs optimism and fire is alive and well in his almost two decades of being in politics. In his first debate, during the 2006 race where he ousted a Republican incumbent, he was at turns on offense and feisty, the paper noted, including posing a climate question to opponent Gil Gutknecht, then saying: Im not sure I would get an answer on that one. Over the course of these frequent elections, he has debated his primary and general election opponents. At various points, his detractors have called his answers in debates and press appearances word salad, meaning he says a garble of words that dont quite arrive at a point. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have also seen their fair share of criticism over word salads. In his most recent election, he debated the Republican Scott Jensen in 2022, the only general election debate he did that year. In that debate, recapped recently by the Washington Examiner, Jensen attacked Walz on the states Covid-19 response, policing, taxes and energy issues. At one point, after Walz defended electric vehicle incentives, Jensen said Walzs answer was just a word salad with no substance. Walz sought to hit out at Jensen on abortion, with Jensen attempting to deflect because an abortion question wasnt on the Minnesota ballot. This August, after the VP debate was announced, Jensen posted a photo of himself and an empty podium, an image from a local public television debate that Walz had not agreed to attend. Be careful, Tim Walz knows a thing or two about not showing up to debates, Jensen wrote. Vances debate experience Vance, 40, is much newer to public office and the debate stages that often accompany it than Walz. His first run for office was in 2022, for Ohio senate. His race was closely watched nationally in part because of his fame as an author and because of the rightwing tech investor Peter Thiels huge financial investment in it. For Vances debate prep, the Minnesota congressman Tom Emmer has stood in as Walz. In 2022, Vance ran against the Democrat Tim Ryan. They debated twice, with attack lines being more nationalized and centered around their partys leaders. Politico called their second matchup so ugly that it was mildly surprising to see Republican JD Vance and Democratic Rep Tim Ryan shake hands at the end. Ryan contended that Vance was too close to Trump and said Vance kissed his ass, a reference to comments Trump made that year claiming Vance was kissing my ass he wants my support so bad. Vance tried to tie Ryan to Nancy Pelosi. Vance defended Trump during the 2022 debate something hes likely to do during Tuesdays debate as well. In reference to the ass-kissing comments, Vance said Trump told a joke. Related: Voting is under way in the 2024 US election. Heres what to know about early voting and mail-in ballots I know the president very well and he was joking about a New York Times story. Thats all he was doing. I didnt take offense to it I talked to the president before it. I talked to the president after it. Everybody there took it as a joke. Ryan told the Hill that Walz should be himself while also holding Vance accountable for lies and obfuscation. Danny OConnor, who served as the Vance stand-in for Ryans debate prep, told Politico that Vance will probably stay on message and hammer the Trump campaign line on big issues even if its untrue, but that he also has a tendency toward awkward laughter, something seen in viral clips from his campaign trail appearances. If someone were to say, Senator Vance, youve supported a national ban on abortion in the past, I guarantee hell laugh at that and say thats not true, and then say why he doesnt support it, OConnor told the publication. Generally hell laugh if something is absolutely true that he needs to defuse. What to know about the Israel-Hezbollah conflict Several buildings were levelled in the Israeli air strike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah [EPA] Israel and Hezbollah appear to be spiralling towards an all-out war that could spread to the wider region, after a week of significant escalation in their long-running conflict. After several days of air strikes against Beirut and across southern Lebanon, Israel announced its army had begun "limited, localized, and targeted ground raids" against Hezbollah. On Friday, Israel dealt a devastating blow against the Shia Islamist group by killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah in a huge air strike in Beiruts southern suburbs. Israel has gone on the offensive after almost a year of cross-border hostilities sparked by the war in Gaza, saying it wants to ensure the safe return of residents of border areas who have been displaced by Hezbollah attacks. Although Hezbollah has been weakened, it has not been defeated. The group is continuing to fire barrages of rockets into northern Israel and is still believed to possess a formidable arsenal of long-range missiles. Heres a brief guide to the many developments which have unfolded in recent days. Israel mounts ground operation in southern Lebanon In a statement posted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at 02:00 local time on Tuesday morning, Israel confirmed what had been widely expected - that it was launching a ground incursion across the border into Lebanon. The IDF said that its planned targets are "located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel". The announcement was preceded by Israeli tanks being seen close to the Lebanese border and the mobilisation of reservists. The head of the militarys Northern Command is said to favour the creation of a buffer zone inside southern Lebanon, to clear Hezbollah fighters and infrastructure away from the border, and allow Israel to return 60,000 civilians to homes evacuated almost a year ago. US media reported earlier that small teams of Israeli commandos had been mounting brief raids across the border. Lebanon incursion follows series of attacks on Hezbollah Israel has inflicted huge damage on Hezbollah in recent weeks, killing more than a dozen top commanders and apparently destroying thousands of weapons in air strikes. It was also blamed for the exploding pager and walkie-talkie attacks that left thousands of Hezbollah members maimed, blinded or killed. However, BBC International Editor Jeremy Bowen says the killing of Hassan Nasrallah is the biggest blow of all. For more than 30 years, he was the beating heart of Hezbollah. With the help of Iranian funding, training and weapons, he turned it into a military force whose attacks led Israel to end a 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000 and which fought Israel to a standstill during a month-long war in 2006. For Israel, Nasrallahs killing is a huge victory. In a defiant speech at the UN on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that Israel was winning the war against enemies who wanted to destroy it. By then, he had authorised the strike that killed Nasrallah. Bowen: West left powerless as Israel claims its biggest victory yet against Hezbollah Who was Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah? Israeli tanks have been massing close to the Lebanese border [EPA] Lebanon says hundreds have been killed and up to a million displaced The Lebanese health ministry said on Saturday that Israeli attacks had killed more than 1,000 people in the previous two weeks, including 87 children and 56 women. There was no let-up in the Israeli bombardment on Sunday, as another 100 people were killed and Prime Minister Najib Mikati warned that as many as one million people - a fifth of the population - might have fled their homes. Authorities are struggling to assist everyone, with shelters and hospitals under pressure. Israel says it is hitting Hezbollah sites, including weapons stores and ammunition dumps, and accused the group of using civilians as human shields. But BBC senior international correspondent Orla Guerin says that is disputed by residents of the central Bekaa Valley, a Hezbollah stronghold that has been bombed repeatedly in the past week. The medical director of the local Rayaq hospital also told her that all of the casualties it had treated had been civilians. Young Lebanese girl left fighting for life after Israeli strikes 'I grabbed my grandchildren and ran': Lebanon families flee Israeli strikes Lebanon's prime minister said it was seeing the largest displacement in the country's history [Reuters] Efforts to de-escalate the conflict have failed US President Joe Biden welcomed Hassan Nasrallahs killing. However, BBC state department correspondent Tom Bateman says the Israeli decision to escalate sharply the conflict with Hezbollah struck a potentially fatal blow to his entire strategy of the last 11 months - to try to stop the war in Gaza engulfing the region. Biden has said he is boosting the US defensive posture in the Middle East, while the Pentagon has warned Iran-backed militias not to try to use this moment to attack US bases. Despite the earlier US attempts to rein in the Israeli leader and coax Hezbollah to a truce, Netanyahu has signalled strongly that he will act as he sees fit, whatever the pressure from Washington. Can diplomacy bring Middle East ceasefire? Early signs don't bode well Hezbollah and Iran are considering how to respond In a speech on Monday, Hezbollahs deputy leader, Naim Qassam, described its current rocket, drone and missile attacks on Israel as the bare minimum and said it would emerge victorious after an Israeli ground offensive. The group still has thousands of fighters, many of them veterans of combat in neighbouring Syrias civil war, as well as a substantial arsenal of missiles, many of them long-range, precision-guided missiles that could reach Tel Aviv and other cities. BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner says there will be pressure within its ranks to use those missiles before they get destroyed, but that a mass attack on Israel that kills civilians could trigger a devastating response. The assassination of Nasrallah was also a huge blow to Iran, hitting at the heart of the regional network of allied, heavily armed militias known as the Axis of Resistance that is key to its deterrent strategy against Israel. On Sunday, Israeli jets struck infrastructure in Yemens Red Sea port city of Hudaydah in response to recent missile and drone attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi movement. Iran could ask the Houthis and other groups to step up their attacks on both Israel and US bases in the region. But whatever response it chooses, it will likely calibrate it to be just short of triggering a regional war that would draw in the US and which it could not win. What might Hezbollah, Israel and Iran do next? Iran warns Hezbollah leader's death 'will not go unavenged' What to know about Nueces River Authority's offer to operate Harbor Island desal plant The Nueces River Authority has proposed to lease the Port of Corpus Christis Harbor Island property to operate a seawater desalination plant, citing an impending water shortage that the city of Corpus Christis proposed desalination plant would not be able to cover alone. Port officials have been seeking to attain permits for a proposed desalination plant at its Harbor Island property, but they have said the port does not plan to own or operate a desalination plant. Instead, the permits would provide either the city or a third party the option to construct, own and operate a desalination plant, the Caller-Times has previously reported. The river authoritys proposal was unsolicited, port Chief Executive Officer Kent Britton said, but the port will consider the offer. John Byrum, executive director of the Nueces River Authority, said Friday that he has scheduled a meeting with the city of Corpus Christi to discuss the proposal. The river authority serves primarily as a regional water resource planning agency for all or parts of 22 counties in South Texas and monitors state and federal activities that could affect the Nueces Basin, according to its website. The river authority has broad authority to preserve, protect, and develop surface water resources, including water supply. A brown pelican flies over the Corpus Christi Ship Channel with Harbor Island in the background as seen from Port Aransas on Sept. 6, 2022. What does the proposal say? In a letter to Britton early this month, Byrum cited a 2022 long-term plan developed for the Texas Water Development Board that projects a water supply shortage for the Coastal Bend by 2030 that would grow by more than 50% by 2070. The city of Corpus Christis proposed desalination project planned to generate as much as 30 million gallons of processed water per day could cover the deficit by 2030, Byrum wrote, but the Coastal Bend would be in a deficit again by 2040 without further development in water supply. More water sources must be developed, he wrote, to accommodate job growth in the region driven by industry. Under the plan, the river authority and the Port of Corpus Christi would agree to a long-term lease for property on Harbor Island, and the river authority would use the permits obtained by the port to operate a desalination plant. The plan in Byrums letter lists several other steps for the design and construction of the plant, as well as reaching contracts with industrial and municipal water providers outside of the service area where the city of Corpus Christi has the exclusive right to provide water. The authority would seek funding from private sources to cover up to 35% of the costs for construction and would issue bonds for the remaining funds. Britton declined an interview with the Caller-Times but said in a written statement that the port was open to considering the river authoritys offer. The Port of Corpus Christi is in receipt of an unsolicited offer from the Nueces River Authority to lease property at Harbor Island and utilize permits the Port is trying to obtain, for the purpose of building a large-scale seawater desalination facility, Britton wrote. The Port will evaluate the offer as it would any other commercial offer to lease property. The city of Corpus Christi had not responded to the Caller-Times request for comment at press time. What does the Port Aransas Conservancy say? The Port Aransas Conservancy, an environmental advocacy group, previously appealed a permit awarded by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for the Harbor Island site, with a discharge point into the Corpus Christi Ship Channel. The case remained in a Travis County district court as of last week, conservancy President James King said. The conservancy said it opposes the Nueces River Authoritys proposal as written, in part because it would require the port to turn over its existing inshore discharge permit and its application for offshore intake, which is still under review. The conservancy has advocated for taking the discharge point offshore to avoid harming marine life in the bay. Port officials said in August that they are working on applying for a new permit that would take the plants discharge point offshore to accommodate a plant capable of producing as much as 100 million gallons of water per day a larger plant than initially proposed. Byrum told the Caller-Times on Friday that he supports taking the discharge point offshore, not only to avoid harming marine life but also to expand the plants production capacity. King said the port should only turn over permits to the city of Corpus Christi because it is the regional water supplier, whereas the Nueces River Authority serves a much broader region. The city needs to help make those decisions so that we make sure we take care of the environment and the people of the Coastal Bend, King said. The port is actually doing the right thing in applying for a permit offshore. Lets don't make that go sideways. Lets make sure that happens. King added that discussions about a plant operated by the Nueces River Authority should include the city of Port Aransas, given that Harbor Island is in Port Aransas city limits, and local scientists, including experts with the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Byrum said the Nueces River Authority would certainly be willing to work with the city of Corpus Christi to provide water if the port approves the proposal and if the city needs to purchase water from the Harbor Island plant. He also said the river authority will work with the city of Port Aransas at the appropriate time. This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Here's why Nueces River Authority wants to operate desalination plant What to know about the Walz-Vance debate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) are set to go head-to-head on Tuesday night in their first and likely only debate as vice presidential contenders. Walz and Vance have been barnstorming the country as theyve looked to woo voters in critical swing states with just weeks to go before the election. The CBS News-hosted debate will offer viewers a rare opportunity to see both men side by side as they offer competing visions. Though vice presidential debates are less likely to move the needle among voters, a major incident or gaffe could be a potential setback, particularly as early voting has already started in some states and both campaigns will need momentum to carry them into November. When and where is it? The debate is taking place at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City and will start at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Whos moderating and what are the rules? CBS News is hosting the debate, with CBS Evening News anchor Norah ODonnell and Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan serving as moderators for the event. The network released rules for the vice presidential debate on Friday; the event will last 90 minutes with candidates getting two short breaks. Walz, who will be situated on the stage to the viewers right, will be introduced first, as he represents the incumbent party, and Vance, who will be situated to the viewers left, will be introduced second. Candidates will be given two minutes each to respond to the moderators questions, with one additional minute set aside for rebuttals. The moderators may allow a minute more to each candidate at their discretion. There will be no live audience, similar to the debate between Vice President Harris and former President Trump. CBS noted that the network can turn off the candidates mics if it wants to. Both Walz and Vance will be standing up the entire time, and no props or notes will be allowed to be used during the debate, nor will the campaigns be allowed to talk with either candidate during the two breaks. Paper, a pen and water will be given to both candidates. Because Vance won an earlier coin toss, hell make his two-minute closing statement after Walz. How are both teams prepping? Vance is working with Rep. Tom Emmer on debate prep, with the Minnesota Republican playing Walz. Meanwhile, Walz is working with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who is playing Vance. Vance has participated in debate prep both online through video conferences and at his home in Cincinnati, according to The New York Times. Ive known Tim, oh, probably since he was first elected almost 20 years ago. And I worked with him directly for four years, Emmer told ABCs Martha Raddatz on Sunday. I spent the last month just going back, all of his old stuff to get his phrases down, his mannerisms, that sort of thing. My job was to be able to play Tim Walz so JD Vance knows what hes going to see. Emmer predicted Vance would perform well on Tuesday during his ABC News interview. Once he understands that Tim Walz is just going to try and deflect and go into this folksy whatever, hell hold him accountable. I think JD will do a great job, Emmer said. On a call with reporters Monday, the Trump campaign and others previewed that Vance would seek to put Democrats on defense over immigration and also attack Walz for the aftermath of protests that took place in his home state following George Floyds murder in 2020. Some of the people involved in Walzs debate prep include campaign advisers Zayn Siddique and Rob Friedlander, Harris campaign communicators director Michael Tyler, Walz chief of staff Liz Allen, his traveling chief of staff Sam Cornale and Walz aide Chris Schmitter, according to the Times. The Times also noted that Walz has been doing debate prep around his campaign schedule, in Minnesota and also in Michigan. How to watch You can watch the 90-minute debate on CBS News, CBS News 24/7 or Paramount+, according to the network. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. VINCENNES, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) The Knox County Health Department in partnership with MDWise is hosting its first Back on Track Health Fair on Monday. The Back on Track Health Fair is a community event to help support families and kids starting back into the 2024-2025 school year. It will be held Monday, September 30 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the 1st Street parking lot next to the Medical Center of Vincennes. More than 15 other organizations from around Knox County will be on hand to offer resources, giveaways, and information at the event. The fair will also feature free services and activities. Free school supplies will be available on a first-come, first-served basis as well as food truck vouchers for the first 150 participants that can be used for Food Trucks on the Wabash. There will also be activities for kids like face painting and interactive games. Other services provided at the fair include on-site immunizations and lead testing for children under the age of 6 who havent had one done. The event is free and open to the public. For more questions call the Knox County Health Department at 812-882-8700. We are excited to bring the Back on Track Health Fair to our community, said Dr. Alan Stewart, Health Officer at the Knox County Health Department. This event is a wonderful way to provide essential resources to families while creating a fun and supportive environment for kids preparing for the new school 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 MyWabashValley.com. Kremlin, asked on Iran's use of Russian comms devices after pager attacks, says trade is growing FILE PHOTO: A person is carried outside American University of Beirut Medical Center, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were wounded and killed when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon, according to a security source, in Beiru MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin, commenting on a Reuters report that Iran's Revolutionary Guards were mostly using homemade or Russian- or Chinese-made communications devices, said on Monday that Moscow's trade links with Tehran were developing. An Iranian security official told Reuters that Iran was concerned about infiltration by Israeli agents following deadly pager attacks on Lebanon's Hezbollah this month. A large-scale operation to inspect all communication devices used by the Revolutionary Guards was underway, the official added. "I do not know how reliable these sources are," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the Reuters report. "The only thing I can say is that our trade and economic relations with Iran are developing. They are developing in all areas, and in trade too. The volume of trade is growing mutually." Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin is due in Tehran on Monday for talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Aref, according to the Russian government. (Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Lucy Papachristou and Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Andrew Osborn) Following recent outrage over Russias updated nuclear doctrine, the Kremlin is now tempering fears regarding Moscow's potential use of nuclear weapons. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the ongoing conflict in Ukraine should not always be linked to a possible Russian nuclear response. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced an updated policy on the use of nuclear weapons, citing tensions with Western powers over their support for Ukraine. The new guidelines allow for a nuclear response to airstrikes on Russian territory or attacks by a non-nuclear state backed by nuclear powers. Russia reportedly fended off 125 Ukrainian drones on Sunday. In remarks to the press in Moscow on Monday, Peskov addressed the question of whether this did not constitute a massive air attack to which Russia, according to the new doctrine, could respond with nuclear weapons. "There is no need to over-interpret this document. It is an extremely important one, yes, and important decisions will be formalized accordingly," Peskov said. Western security experts have offered differing assessments of the threat while Ukraine has termed the revised Russian policy as "nuclear blackmail." Fabian Hoffmann, a German military expert, wrote on X, that so far, there are no credible signs of preparations for the use of nuclear weapons. "There is a high likelihood that Putin will never resort to nuclear use, as the risks are too great," Hoffmann wrote. "There is equally a strong chance that Russia's nuclear threats will remain non-credible, confined to the rhetorical level and not turn into action," wrote the Oslo-based military researcher. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian leader Vladimir Putin, said that Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian territory shouldnt be connected to the chance of nuclear strikes, especially following the recent change in Russia's nuclear doctrine. Source: Kremlin-aligned news agency RIA Novosti; Russian Telegram channels, citing Peskov Details: A journalist stated that "125 drones were shot down over Russia last weekend", marking one of the "largest attacks" on the country, and asked whether this would provide grounds for the use of nuclear weapons, especially in light of the change in Russia's nuclear doctrine. Quote from Peskov: "Well, to be honest, theres no need to overly refer to this document. This document is extremely important. Significant decisions have been made. They will be formalised accordingly, but the special military operation (as Russia refers to the war ed.) continues its course, and theres no need to look for connections every time." Why this is important: Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has repeatedly announced various "red lines", violations of which are said to lead to a nuclear response. These "red lines" have at different times concerned supplies of Leopard tanks, Western missiles, F-16 fighter jets, and more. Ukraine has crossed these so-called "red lines" set by the Kremlin multiple times. However, even the advance of Ukrainian troops into Russian territory and the control of hundreds of Russian settlements by the Armed Forces of Ukraine has not prompted any fundamentally new response from Russia. Initially, Russian leader Vladimir Putin chose a strategy of ignoring what was happening, later attempting to downplay the significance of the Ukrainian army's capture of Russian territories. Additionally, Russian authorities and state-controlled media have opted to overlook Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian airfields and ammunition depots. After each new attack, they only report that air defence systems allegedly shot down dozens of drones and never comment on the destruction or losses. Support UP or become our patron! For the third time in just over a month, Kroger on Monday will face off with regulators over its embattled proposed $25 billion merger with Albertsons this time against Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser's office in a state lawsuit being tried in Denver District Court. Presided over by Judge Andrew Luxen, the trial is expected to last three weeks, Weiser said in a Thursday media briefing. The trial overlaps with a similar state trial in Washington regarding the merger that began on Sept. 16. It also begins nearly two weeks after a critical hearing over the merger in U.S. District Court in Portland, Oregon wrapped up, which is being deliberated by a federal judge. The merger faces a legal gauntlet Antitrust experts say many of the arguments in the cases are similar, but together they represent a steep legal threat to the deal. Kroger needs to run the table to close the deal: If theyre blocked anywhere its hard to see how the rest of the transaction can be completed, Douglas Ross, an antitrust law professor at the University of Washington, said. While the Federal Trade Commission is seeking to kill the deal, both Attorneys General Weiser and Bob Ferguson of Washington also indicated they were seeking court orders that could jeopardize the merger. State challenges could have 'national implications' During his briefing, Weiser noted preventing the chains merging in Colorado wouldnt be enough, since the stores are supplied from some out-of-state distribution facilities and Colorado customers depend on national house brands that are part of the transaction. He said a court order could reach outside the states borders. Similarly, Ferguson told The Enquirer last week that Kroger and Albertsons had structured their deal as an all-or-nothing transaction and that a court order in Washington could have national implications. Christine Bartholomew, a law professor at the University at Buffalo, agreed: From what the companies have shared publicly, the deal is designed as a national merger - It does not allow for state specific carve outs, she said. The Kroger Albertsons deal and controversy First announced in October 2022, Cincinnati-based Kroger wants to buy all outstanding shares of Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons, adding most of its employees and stores to its supermarket operation. To reassure concerns about maintaining competition, Kroger has agreed to sell 579 stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers, a grocery supplier that also operates about two dozen retail supermarkets, including Piggly Wiggly. Upon completion, Kroger would operate more than 4,400 supermarkets (up from 2,700) generating about $208 billion in annual sales (compared to $150 billion before). If approved, Kroger would employ about 640,000 workers (up from about 414,000 currently), which could make it one of the 10 largest private employers in the world. But regulators at both federal and state levels have expressed deep concerns. They are worried C&S Wholesale Grocers' limited experience as a retailer will prevent it from being a strong competitor and that could lead to higher prices for consumers. They are also worried about the job security of the 60,000 workers that could be moved to C&S Wholesale Grocers. For the latest on Kroger, P&G, Fifth Third Bank and Cincinnati business, follow @alexcoolidge on X (formerly Twitter). This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Kroger goes to trial in Colorado over Albertsons merger NEW YORK (AP) The COVID-19 pandemic and the resetting of the economy that followed it made hourly workers more aware of their value. Some experts think employers should expect to field demands for flexible hours and other workplace incentives even as the labor market weakens. WorkJam, an online platform that was founded in 2014, has tried to be at the forefront of this shift. It provides clients such as Target, Ulta Beauty and Hilton with digital tools their non-salaried employees can use to swap shifts, complete trainings and get early access to wages. CEO & co-founder Steve Kramer recently spoke with The Associated Press about how companies can better retain hourly workers. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. Q. What was the environment like for hourly workers when you started the company? A. When we started the company in 2014, we set out to solve two issues to help with the socioeconomic issues that existed at the time. And they were large socioeconomic issues. In fact, President Obama, in his State of the Union speech in 2014, had hourly workers on stage with him because there was a lot of scheduling practices that were happening at the time that were creating unpredictability. So Obama actually put in a lot of new compliance rules to protect the hourly worker and to create more predictability in their schedules and their paychecks. The pandemic was a black swan event for WorkJam because it did empower the employees. There were a lot of social issues that were happening as well. The idea around inclusion. Q. What savings can your firm deliver for clients? A. The ability to retain employees, which was very important over the last five or six years with the labor shortage, has a big impact on the bottom line. It costs anywhere between $4,000 to $8,000 to recruit and train a new front-line employee. So if youre able to retain your employees and reduce attrition, and lets say its a company of 40,000 to 50,000 employees, it turns into millions of dollars of savings. Q. What are some hiring trends? A. Its not so difficult to hire hourly workers anymore. Many sectors have pulled back and have slowed down their hiring. Restaurant and hospitality have had modest growth. But certainly in retail, manufacturing, distribution, we are seeing a pullback. Q. What are companies approach to staffing? A. Organizations are thinking about how to do more with less simply to lower their cost of operations. Theres also more of a focus on ever-boarding, the notion of constantly training your employees on new processes or being able to do different roles within the business. Story continues Q. Why is that? A. Much of it has to do with flexible scheduling. A lot of companies are wanting to be able to move their staff around either through different locations, departments or different roles within the organization. Q. Whats the impact? A. It has a profound impact because youre able to hire less. Youre able to start hiring by district or by region and be able to share those resources across those locations. A lot of these companies were using third-party labor companies like gig workers and staff augmentation firms to fill their gaps. And the result of it is happier employees because they have more opportunity and a much more streamlined process. Q. What other ways are companies trying to hold on to workers? A. Early wage access. Thats a real benefit to the employee, to be able to get access to your wages after you do a shift and have it deposited into your bank account. The digitization of communication creates an easier environment for employees to work, particularly the younger generation. Theres going to be a lot of people looking for jobs this holiday season for the first time. And so if you think about the younger generation, they want to have a digital relationship with their employer because everything else in their life is digital. And so if you put these systems in place, it has a really big impact on retention. Q. Given the souring job market, will companies change their approach to hourly workers? A. Regardless if the economy turns and hiring slows down, how you treat your employees and the expectations of them is here to stay. I dont think its going to regress. I think in other segments, like desk workers, there will be more changes. I think that therell be a return to the office. But for front-line employees, there are so many lessons that have been learned over the last two years around how to create a better workforce and the impact that it can have on your bottom line that I think all of these notions and these strategies are here to stay, and theyre going to continue to evolve. The Erlanger Police Department shared that there have been no verified snake sightings, but officials did find tracks that a large reptile could've left Getty A stock photo of a python A town in Kentucky is getting an early Halloween scare. According to the Erlanger Police Department in Erlanger, Ky., there has been a "possible large snake sighting" in the area. The agency shared the news in a Sept. 27 police advisory. The advisory from Chief Kyle Rader of the Erlanger Police Department noted that the department is investigating "unverified snake sightings" and has received several inquiries about large snake sightings. According to the police statement, officers responded to an unverified sighting and "observed large tracks" in a grassy area of the property. A reptile expert examined these tracks and determined a large snake could have made them. In response, the police department placed game cameras around the area of the alleged sighting to try to capture images of the supposed snake. So far, "no images of the snake have been captured." Related: 'Stout' Snake Gets Collected for Nature Survey. Then It Vomits Up Two More Snakes One Living! The advisory emphasized that, with no photo evidence, there have been "no credible sightings" of an impressively sized snake in Erlanger. The police department encouraged residents to be "cautious but not alarmed" about the potential sightings in its statement, which was also shared on the department's Facebook. 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 agency also provided several precautions for residents to take to protect themselves and their pets from any possible snakes slithering around the town. The Erlanger Police Department recommended keeping pets leashed while outside at all times, staying alert while outdoors, and securing spaces with access to the outdoors. The police advisory closed with a message of support to the community and a promise to keep the snake situation under observation. "Your safety remains our top priority," the statement said. Related: 13-Foot Python Seized from N.Y. Home After Owner Admits He Wasnt Prepared for How Fast Snake Would Grow The Erlanger Police Department's Facebook post has received hundreds of comments, including a few from people who chose to poke fun at the mysterious situation. "Who opened the Jumanji board?" one commenter asked. Another added, "Watch it be a rat snake. Completely harmless, and they get very long." On Sept. 17, Virginia Wildlife Management and Control shared a close encounter a man had with a venomous snake. According to the wildlife removal company, a man in Chester, Va., was in his apartment doing his laundry in the room attached to his bedroom when he spotted a copperhead on the washer. The man narrowly avoided being bitten by the venomous snake before calling Virginia Wildlife Management and Control to help remove the reptile. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Sept. 30 after talks with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto in Budapest that both sides see "positive dynamics" in resolving issues related to national minorities, as reported by European Pravda. Budapest has repeatedly accused Kyiv of discriminating against the Hungarian ethnic minority concentrated in southwestern Ukraine, an accusation that the Ukrainian leadership denies. Hungary has been long considered the most Kremlin-friendly country within the EU, repeatedly obstructing sanctions against Russia and military aid to Kyiv. Sybiha and Szijjarto held talks in a one-on-one format and discussed "in detail a wide bilateral and international agenda," according to the Ukrainian official. Following the meeting, the Ukrainian minister mentioned opening a bilingual Ukrainian-Hungarian school for Ukrainian children in Hungary. "I am confident that this educational institution will contribute to the preservation of Ukrainian identity, help children adapt to the environment without losing their cultural roots, and will be another step towards understanding between Ukraine and Hungary," Sybiha said after his visit to the school. Sybiha added that Ukraine reaffirms its bilateral and international commitments to ensure the rights of persons belonging to the Hungarian national community. "Mr. Minister (Szijjarto) and I have noted the positive dynamics in resolving this issue (on national minorities) and agreed to cooperate further to reach an understanding on all sensitive issues," he said. The Hungarians of Ukraine are "an integral and equal part of the Ukrainian political nation and a key bridge of understanding between the two countries," Sybiha said. Many of Kyiv and Budapest's disputes over the national minority question center around Ukraine's language laws that require at least 70% of education above fifth grade to be conducted in Ukrainian. While Budapest has called this measure discriminatory toward the Hungarian minority, Kyiv retorted that it only aims to ensure that every Ukrainian citizen has sufficient knowledge of the official language. Hungary has formulated an 11-point request to Ukraine regarding the rights of national minorities, which included the restoration of the status of a national school, the ability to gain a high school diploma in Hungarian, and the ability to use Hungarian in public life. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported in mid-March that Hungary has sent a document to the EU member states criticizing Ukraine's policies on national minorities. In the document, Budapest reportedly demanded the restoration of the rights its minority had before 2015, noting that the protection of national minorities' rights is one of the priorities mentioned in the negotiating framework for Ukraine's potential accession to the EU. Hungary also called for the possibility of political representation at the regional and national levels, according to the document. Kyiv has not publicly responded to the document. In September 2023, the Ukrainian parliament approved changes to national minorities law, which was one of seven steps recommended by the European Commission in June 2022 for Ukraine's accession to the European Union. The changes were signed into law by President Volodymyr Zelensky in November. Russia, a longtime ally of Hungary and its Prime Minister Viktor Orban, claimed, among other pretexts, that it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine to "protect Russian speakers in Ukraine." There is has been no evidence to support the claim that Russian-speakers in Ukraine faced discrimination. According to the 2023 survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), 84% of Ukrainians believe there are no problems with using the Russian language in Ukraine. Read also: Orbans arguments crumble in Lukoil spat with Ukraine Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador is yet again abusing the powers of his office, this time by threatening free scientific inquiry when it reaches politically disfavored conclusions. You should be outraged about it, unless you want your doctor to phone a politician before they decide how to treat you. Last week, Labrador sent a threatening letter and a list of questions to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the largest organization representing doctors who treat children in the U.S. Along with 20 other Republican attorneys general, Labrador is trying to put pressure on a organization of medical professionals to change its guidelines for the treatment of transgender children and adolescents. Labrador and the other attorneys general claim that the AAP is subject to and potentially in breach of each of their states consumer protection laws. The implicit threat is that this medical organization could face a raft of government-backed lawsuits filed all across the country by right-wing politicians if it does not change its treatment guidelines. The threat comes down to basically one issue: The statement that puberty blockers medication sometimes given to transgender youth to pause puberty and give them more time to make decisions about their course of treatment or nontreatment are reversible, a claim the AGs say is misleading and deceptive. But the guidelines do not say give out all the puberty blockers you want, no problem or anything remotely like that. They say: The decision of whether and when to initiate gender-affirmative treatment is personal and involves careful consideration of risks, benefits, and other factors unique to each patient and family, and recommend consultation with a team of experts including the pediatric provider, a mental health provider , social and legal supports, and a pediatric endocrinologist or adolescent-medicine gender specialist, if available. And the guidelines say this team is supposed to weigh the complicated and uncertain risks and benefits: Pubertal suppression is not without risks. Delaying puberty beyond ones peers can also be stressful and can lead to lower self-esteem and increased risk taking. Some experts believe that genital underdevelopment may limit some potential reconstructive options. Research on long-term risks, particularly in terms of bone metabolism and fertility, is currently limited and provides varied results. They havent obscured the risks and uncertainties theyve emphasized them. This is why Labradors claim that the organization is misleading people wouldnt stand up for a second in court. The guidelines say what they mean by reversible: If pubertal suppression treatment is suspended, then endogenous puberty will resume. If theres any medical evidence to refute that, Labrador hasnt cited it. In fact, Labrador cites very little evidence of any real quality. For example, one of the scientific authorities Labrador points to is a blog post published by a conservative think tank with no peer review, in which a man with a Ph.D. in political science reaches conclusions about medicine. Labradors letter treats as the final word a review undertaken by the National Health Services in the U.K., which ultimately led to a decision that puberty blockers would be used to treat gender dysphoria only within clinical trials in the U.K. at present The Cass Review is a piece of serious scientific work that is taken seriously by doctors. There is also serious scientific dispute about its methodology and conclusions, including a detailed whitepaper by a group of experts published by The Integrity Project at Yale, a forthcoming critique by the British Medical Association and a detailed response by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. All of this is a normal part of the process of debate and inquiry in an emerging area of medicine. If work like that is going to take place, it has to be free from the threat of political interference, according to Dr. Hilary Cass the British physician who led the Cass Review that Labrador cites. None of this should be decided on ideological grounds from either side of the debate. It should be decided by really carefully working with young people, families, clinicians and academics to try and pick through what is the best clinical approach. Thats all that should matter here, Cass said in an interview after the findings were published. What isnt normal is the government threatening lawsuits and prosecution of scientists for publishing their research or groups of doctors for publishing clinical recommendations. And Labrador is on shaky legal ground in doing so. How can a state attorney general claim to oversee the statements of a national medical trade association? Labrador claims it can be done with state consumer protection laws, citing a 2021 case filed in a district court in Tennessee in which a group of for-profit addiction treatment centers (not a state actor) sued the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers a lawsuit which both sides agreed to dismiss before it went to trial, has never been reviewed by any appellate court, in no way deals with Idahos consumer protection laws and is under the jurisdiction of an entirely different circuit court. Thats not exactly a solid foundation for standing to file a lawsuit. But prevailing at trial isnt the only way for the government to apply pressure if those who lead it are willing to abuse their powers. The threat of having to deal with expensive litigation under 20 different sets of state consumer protection laws is something few groups of doctors would have the stomach to weather. Easier to just shut up. And that kind of censorship is the point of this shameful exercise. Bryan Clark is an opinion writer with the Idaho Statesman. LaGrange College to offer new degree program in 2025 LAGRANGE, Ga. (WRBL) LaGrange College is offering a new bachelors degree program in manufacturing engineering technology. The institution says the program concentrates on engineering roles outside of research. Students who pursue this degree will be trained to address engineering issues that are vital to keeping production flowing in the regions manufacturing facilities, says Dr. Brian Peterson, vice president for academic affairs. Dr. Peterson adds students will benefit from the program by developing an understanding of production efficiency and other manufacturing management issues. There were no other bachelor degree programs focusing on manufacturing engineering technology within LaGrange, based on a survey of area higher education institutions. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts there will be 12% more career opportunities for manufacturing engineers by 2032. Stuart Countess, CEO and Georgia President of KIA, says the program benefits the citys communities when education and manufacturing works together. LaGrange College is set to offer the program in fall 2025. Those interested can email admissions@lagrange.edu for more information. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WRBL. Land preservation project secures over 300 acres as part of essential conservation strategy: 'We've had so many willing landowners' In a massive step toward a greater goal for Massachusetts to preserve 1,000 acres of land for environmental protection in Southampton, Westhampton, and Montgomery, an initial 387 acres were acquired in August. As detailed by the Daily Hampshire Gazette, The Mountain Waters Project named for Pomeroy Mountain and the waters flowing through its forests is a collaboration between Kestrel Land Trust and several local partners. The project hopes to see all 1,000 acres successfully preserved by the summer of 2025. $1.25 million in funding for the project came from a state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Landscape Partnership Grant awarded last fall. The grant is working to designate land as open space to be conserved or used as recreational or agricultural space. The conservation effort was made to allow local forests to mature and maximize carbon storage as a means of mitigating rising global temperatures, as well as providing protection and habitat for native plants and animals. Local groups are helping find and acquire land for conservation from landowners who wish to have their land, or parcels of it, protected. Thankfully, it has proved to be fairly easy. "It is such a critical protection area for Kestrel and for protecting Massachusetts land and wildlife," Bridget Likely, conservation manager at Kestrel, told the Gazette. "We've had so many willing landowners who want to see their land protected." This is a growing global trend, too, as landowners in North Carolina, New York, Ontario, Canada, and beyond ensure their land is conserved. The benefits of conserving land go a long way in preserving important ecosystems and economies, as well as benefiting human health. Studies have shown that spending time in nature and green spaces provides mental and physical health benefits, such as a lower risk of heart disease, delayed cognitive decline, and even longer life. Those involved in the win in Massachusetts know just how lucky they are. Do you think America does a good job of protecting its natural beauty? Click your choice to see results and speak your mind "We've been so fortunate to have so many great partners that work with us," Likely said, per the Gazette. "There was a lot of collaboration and fundraising leading up to this." The conservation project and others like it go to prove that together, everyone achieves more. 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. SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO) Here are this mornings top stories with KELOLAND On the Go. Staff with Vishnu Bunny has been busy moving into a new location in Soo Square at 6th and Main. The business was forced to move because the building at its previous location, four blocks away, is under new ownership. Vishnu Bunny plans to re-open this week The new week will bring a new slate of street and lane closures that Sioux Falls drivers will want to be aware of as they return to work and school. New Sioux Falls street & lane closures Six people were injured in a two-vehicle fiery crash near Larchwood, Iowa Thursday. An off-duty police officer pulled several people to safety. 6 injured in fiery Larchwood, IA crash Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Henry County officials are investigating a large gas leak at a bank. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] According to Henry County Emergency Management and Homeland Security, the gas leak is at the Navy Federal Credit Union at 1835 Jonesboro Road. Officials said they are evacuating the credit union and may evacuate other businesses in the area. Henry County Fire Rescue has issued an urgent alert for the gas leak. TRENDING STORIES: Authorities said they are at an upper-level limit for gas, at this time. Jonesboro Road was blocked between Mount Olive Road and Mill Road but has since been re-opened to traffic. The entrance to Best Buy and the Navy Federal Credit Union will remain closed while crews continue repair work. Henry County officials ask residents and motorists to avoid the area if possible. Henry County Fire Rescue is monitoring the situation. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: Large quantity of drugs, money found during traffic stop in Harrodsburg HARRODSBURG, Ky. (FOX 56) Police said a man has been charged and further arrests may be pending after a large amount of drugs and money was found during a traffic stop in Harrodsburg in the early hours of Sunday morning. The Harrodsburg Police Department (HPD) posted on Facebook that officers were conducting a traffic stop on Saturday night for an alleged equipment violation. Lexington woman killed after being hit by vehicle on Winchester Road, coroner says During the stop, law enforcement said officers found a large quantity large quantity of suspected methamphetamine along with cash. The driver of the vehicle that was pulled over was William Taylor, 43, who was arrested and charged with: Trafficking in methamphetamine Trafficking in marijuana Possession of drug paraphernalia No tail lamps William Taylor, 43, was lodged in the Boyle County Detention Center just before 3 a.m. on Sunday. (Harrodsburg Police Department) Virginia man charged after semi crashes into Campton building with 3-year-old child inside Taylor was lodged in the Boyle County Detention Center just before 3 a.m. on Sunday. Police said in a news release that more arrests may be pending in connection with the investigation, which remains 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 FOX 56 News. Last surviving sanitation worker from 1968 strike passes away MEMPHIS, Tenn. A Memphis pastor who was the last surviving sanitation worker whose strike brought Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis in 1968 is dead. Family and friends say that Reverend Cleophus Smith passed away on Sunday. He was 82. Reverend Smith became a sanitation worker in 1967. Cleophus Smith. Cleophus Smith. Cleophus Smith. Cleophus Smith. Cleophus Smith. Cleophus Smith. Cleophus Smith. Cleophus Smith. Cleophus Smith. He and about 1,300 men began their 65-day strike in February of 1968 demanding better pay and conditions after two of their co-workers died on the job. Their peaceful demonstrations led to clashes with Memphis Police prompting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to come to Memphis in solidarity with the sanitation workers. But his visit would be a fateful one. Civil rights leader James Lawson, organizer of 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike, dies at 95 Dr. King was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. The striking sanitation workers would eventually secure new wages, showers at work and dignity. Years later, Reverend Smith was still fighting for workers. In 2021, he was standing on another picket line, showing his unwavering support for striking workers at the Kelloggs plant. If we made it happen in 1968, we can do it again today, Reverend Smith said. At the strike, Smith wore an I Am A Man t-shirt as striking Kelloggs workers held signs with those words made famous during the sanitation workers strike of the 1960s. We have to be like the stamp and the envelope, Reverend Smith said. We have to stick together. Smith also went on to become an associate minister of his congregation at Eternal Peace Missionary Baptist Church. Memphis Kelloggs workers go on strike His ministry always included fighting for the rights of workers. The stamp cant go nowhere without the envelope, Reverend Smith said. And the envelope cant go nowhere without the stamp. We have to stick together. In a statement, Memphis Mayor Paul Young said the following about Reverend Smiths impact: Our hearts are heavy for the family of Cleophus Smith. His brave actions helped to change the way the City of Memphis treated its employees, as well as influencing workplaces across the world. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com. Hurricane Helene is shifting the presidential candidates plans this week. Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is cutting short a campaign visit to Las Vegas to return to Washington for briefings. Republican candidate Donald Trump is heading to Georgia to see the storms impact. Hurricane Helenes death toll is more than 100 people and rising, with some of the worst damage caused by inland flooding in North Carolina. In addition to being humanitarian crises, natural disasters can create political tests for elected officials, particularly in the closing weeks of a presidential campaign. Presidents typically avoid racing toward disaster zones so they dont interfere with recovery efforts. The White House said Harris would visit impacted areas as soon as it is possible without disrupting emergency response operations. President Joe Biden spoke about his administrations response to Hurricane Helene and plans to visit areas affected by the storm later this week. Follow the APs Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024. Heres the latest: Trump's hurricane relief fundraiser surpasses $1 million A GoFundMe campaign launched by former president Donald Trump to help the victims of Hurricane Helene has raised more than $1 million. The website calls the effort an official response for MAGA supporters to offer their financial assistance to their fellow Americans impacted by Hurricane Helene and promises that all donations will be directed to those who have been impacted by the devastation. Trump earlier Monday paid a visit to Valdosta, Georgia, and said he had brought with him supplies, including fuel, that will be distributed by the Christian relief group Samaritans Purse. Trump slams US response to Helene. His own disaster-response record is marked by politics Former President Trump criticized the Biden administrations response to the widespread devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, even as his supporters have called for cuts to federal agencies that warn of weather disasters and deliver relief to hard-hit communities. As president, Trump delayed disaster aid for hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico and diverted money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in order to finance an effort to return undocumented migrants to Mexico. And Project 2025, backed by Trump supporters, would restructure FEMA to limit aid to states and says that the National Weather Service, which provides crucial data on hurricanes and other storms, should be broken up and downsized. Read more here. Biden responds to Trump's false statements regarding the federal hurricane response President Biden criticized Trump for lying about federal contacts with Georgia officials during the response to Hurricane Helene. Trump falsely claimed during a Monday tour of the damage that Biden hadnt been in touch with the states Republican governor. Hes lying, and the governor told him he was lying. I dont know why he does this, Biden continued. I dont care about what he says about me, but I care what he what he communicates to people that are in need. He implies that were not doing everything possible. We are. We are. North Carolina officials work to ensure those affected by Hurricane Helene have voting access State election officials in North Carolina are gathering information about options available to voters in the counties hardest hit by Hurricane Helene and plan a press conference for Tuesday. Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said during an emergency board meeting on Monday that she will be providing more information, including details on how voters could declare natural disaster as their reason for not being able to provide a photo ID. The board met Monday to approve a resolution granting counties flexibility for holding weekly meetings required under state law to review absentee ballots. These meetings are required to begin every Tuesday between now and Election Day, officials said. The resolution passed unanimously. White House pushes back against assertion by Trump that Biden has been unresponsive in aftermath of Hurricane Helene The White House on Monday pushed back against an assertion by Donald Trump that President Joe Biden has been unresponsive to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Trump earlier on Monday praised Kemp for doing a very good job but said he was having a hard time getting the president on the phone. Trump added both Biden and the federal government are not being responsive White House Karine Jean-Pierre during her daily press briefing noted that Kemp himself told reporters that he spoke to Biden on Sunday and that the president asked him what Georgia needed. The presidents homeland security adviser, Liz Sherwood-Randall, said that Biden made clear that he offered Kemp anything Georgia needed for its response to the storm and remains available to the governor. So, if the governor would like to speak to the president again, of course, the president will take his call, Sherwood-Randall said. Trump makes false claims about federal response while campaigning in area ravaged by Hurricane Helene Donald Trump repeatedly spread falsehoods Monday about the federal response to Hurricane Helene despite claiming not to be politicizing the disaster as he toured hard-hit areas in south Georgia. Trump criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for campaigning and looking for money. He also levied attacks against the federal government for being non-responsive to the disaster, claiming Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has been struggling to get President Joe Biden on the phone. This is despite the White House announcing that Biden spoke by phone on Sunday night with Kemp. And North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. Kemp, meanwhile, expressed appreciation on Monday for federal response to the storm. Valdosta representative says hurricane relief is non-political ATLANTA Dexter Sharper, a Democratic state representative whose district includes most of Valdosta, didnt journey downtown to see Trump Monday. He said he was sitting in his truck outside his powerless home, charging his cell phone while trying to coordinate ways to get hot meals to people who also lack electricity. To me, its a non-factor whether Donald Trump is here or if any of those people are here, Sharper told the Associated Press by phone. He praised both Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and U.S. Rep. Austin Scott and Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff for visiting Valdosta, saying they helped bring needed aid. Im helping ensure that theres going to be a bipartisan effort to help Georgia get all the funds we need so we can get back to normal, Sharper said. its nonpolitical with us. Georgia officials say they welcome the federal response and will work in a bipartisan way on disaster relief ATLANTA Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and U.S. Rep. Rick Allen, both Republicans, did not attack the federal response Monday morning at a news conference in hard-hit Augusta. Just know that we will work in a bipartisan way on disaster relief in this state with our federal, state and local partners, said Kemp, who has often been the subject of attacks by Trump before the former president and Kemp recently patched things up. The two-term governor said he spoke directly to Biden on Sunday evening and has been playing phone tag with Harris. The president just called me yesterday afternoon and I missed him and called him right back and he just said Hey, what do you need? And I told him, you know, weve got what we need, well work through the federal process, Kemp said. He offered if there are other things we need just to call him directly, which I appreciate that. But weve had FEMA embedded with us since a day or two before the storm hit in our state operations center in Atlanta. Weve got a great relationship with them. Kemp said the state has submitted a request for an expedited emergency declaration to get federal aid for governments and individuals. Normally, the federal government doesnt start issuing aid until state and local governments have completed damage assessments. Kemp said FEMA acknowledged the request. Allen, a five-term congressman who said a tree is resting on the roof of his home after the storm, also said storm relief would be bipartisan This is not a Democrat or Republican issue, said Allen, who represents the Augusta area. This is an American issue. This is a Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina issue. Trump says he is going to Georgia with lots of relief material Trump says is he heading to Valdosta, Georgia, and bringing along lots of relief material, including fuel, equipment, water, and other things to help those struggling in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Trump says in a post on his social media site that he will be joined by Many politicians and Law Enforcement, including evangelist Franklin Graham, whose organization, Samaritans Purse, has been helping with disaster relief, and Valdostas mayor. He adds that he was going to stop into North Carolina, and has lot of supplies ready for them, but that he is postponing that part of his trip because access and communication is now restricted and so that local emergency management is able to focus on helping the people most affected, and not being concerned with me. In typical Trump fashion, though, he also tried to exacerbate political fault lines, claiming, without evidence, that the federal government and the states Democratic governor were going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas. There is no evidence that is the case. Asheville, one of the hardest-hit parts of the state, is solidly Democratic, as is the rest of Buncombe County. Trump campaign is lowering expectations ahead of Tuesday's vice presidential debate Ahead of Tuesday nights vice presidential debate, the Trump campaign is lowering expectations that the former presidents running mate Ohio Sen. JD Vance to have a decisive performance, telling reporters in a teleconference on Monday that Walz is a seasoned politician who is nimble on the debate stage. Tim Walz is very good in debates, really good. Hes been a politician for nearly 20 years. Hell be very well prepared for tomorrow night, said Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump. He predicted the Democratic governor of Minnesota will be much more buttoned up than he is on the campaign trail and ready to defend his record, but said, thats not to say that JD Vance wont be prepared tomorrow, or that somehow he isnt up to the challenge. Miller was joined on the call by Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., who has been helping Vance prepare for the debate by playing Walz in debate prep sessions. Emmer said he has spent the last month reviewing all of Walzs past debate performances, studying his mannerisms and policies, and declared that JD Vance is prepared to wipe the floor with Tim Walz and expose him to the radical liberal he is. Harris recalls morning after President Biden told her he was leaving the presidential race Harris says that when President Biden called and told her he was leaving the presidential race in July, it left her with some trouble sleeping. Everything was in speedy, speedy motion and I was not sleeping so well, she said on an episode of the All the Smoke podcast. She laughed and added, I like to sleep. She recalled that, the morning after that phone call, Harris said she wasnt able to sleep. So she got up and started marinating a pot roast for her family. Everybody was asleep. I just got up and started cooking, she recalled. Harris tells podcast she has been clear about her racial identity and background Vice President Kamala Harris says shes been clear about her racial identity and background and doesnt listen to questions about it raised by critics, including her presidential race opponent, Republican Donald Trump. Asked about criticism about her identity on an episode of the All the Smoke podcast that was released Monday, Harris responded, I dont listen to it. Im really clear about who I am, she said. And if anybody else is not they have to go through their own level of therapy. Harris said shes happy to discuss her identity more fully, but that really doing so would require an hours-long discussion about the role of race in America. My mother was very clear. She was raising two Black girls to be two proud Black women, Harris said. And it was never a question. Harris tells podcast All the Smoke about the blind date where she met her husband Vice President Kamala Harris says of the infamous blind date where she met her husband, Doug Emhoff, I just have a really bossy best friend. Set up by especially persuasive friends, Harris told an episode of the All the Smoke podcast that was released Monday that Emhoff picked her up for the date in a BMW. He immediately divulged, Im a really bad driver, she recalled. I guess he was trying to create a little expectation, Harris said. She said the pair then went to Emhoffs favorite restaurant where people who worked there were like, Hey Doug. She didnt name the restaurant. Harris and Trump address Hurricane Helene on the campaign trail At the beginning of a rally in Las Vegas on Sunday, Harris said we will stand with these communities for as long as it takes to make sure that they are able to recover and rebuild. Trump, speaking in Erie, Pa., on Sunday, described the storm as a big monster hurricane that had hit a lot harder than anyone even thought possible. He criticized Harris for attending weekend fundraising events in California while the storm hit. She ought to be down in the area where she should be, Trump said. The White House said Harris would visit impacted areas as soon as it is possible without disrupting emergency response operations. She also spoke with Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, and she received a briefing from Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell while she was traveling. Another big media acquisition has finally been confirmed. Satellite TV provider DirecTV (T, TPG) said Monday it will buy rival Dish Network (SATS), including Dish's streaming brand Sling TV, through a debt exchange transaction. Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal, which is still subject to regulatory approval, is set to create one of the nation's largest pay-TV providers. "The combination of DirecTV and Dish will benefit US video consumers by creating a more robust competitive force in a video industry dominated by streaming services owned by large tech companies and programmers," the companies said in a joint statement. Shares in EchoStar, which owns Dish Network, fell by more than 11% on Monday following the news. The stock had surged nearly 10% on Friday after the acquisition rumors intensified. Monday's deal confirmation represents a full circle moment after both companies discussed a possible combination more than two decades ago. In 2002, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) blocked a proposal to combine the two entities, citing antitrust concerns. But it's a much different environment this time around as subscriber losses have accelerated and more consumers cut the cord in favor of less expensive streaming services. "Its hard to imagine that regulators would block a deal," MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett wrote in an email to clients prior to the deal's confirmation. But the analyst also warned that "synergies would likely be much more limited than you might imagine." He referenced the companies' vastly different satellite portfolios, which he argued would not be remotely worthwhile to reconfigure in order for them to match. "The biggest synergy would once have been to eliminate churn associated with customers moving back and forth between the two companies," he said. "But today they each capture so few gross additions that cutting them, potentially even in half, wouldnt amount to much." Satellite TV provider DirecTV said it will buy rival Dish Network, including Dish's streaming brand Sling TV, through a debt exchange transaction. (REUTERS/Mike Blake) (Mike Blake/ REUTERS / Reuters) Still, the deal will help aid EchoStar's heavy debt load while also helping cut costs for the owners of DirecTV. AT&T spun off DirecTV in 2021, moving it into a joint venture with private equity investor TPG. At the time, it was valued at about $16 billion with the telecom giant taking a $15.5 billion impairment charge in 2020 to account for subscriber losses. DirecTV was dealt yet another blow after it lost its coveted Sunday Ticket package to Alphabet's YouTube TV (GOOGL, GOOG) in late 2022. Amid those struggles, AT&T revealed on Monday that it would sell its entire 70% stake to TPG for $7.6 billion in a move that allows the telecom operator to fully exit the TV business. The company previously had agreed to hold on to its stake in DirecTV for a three-year period, which expired on July 31. Story continues The transaction, which the company said allows it to strengthen its balance sheet and focus on wireless 5G and fiber connectivity, is expected to close in the second half of next year. "We see this transaction as a modest negative for AT&T," KeyBanc analyst Brandon Nispel wrote on Monday, estimating about $3 billion of AT&T's roughly $17.5 billion of free cash flow at the midpoint in 2024 comes from DirecTV. "Without which we think AT&T begins to look more expensive to investors on a [free cash flow] basis," Nispel said. "That said, we think this is ultimately a good thing for AT&T as it brings an end to the entertainment phase and focuses AT&T's cash flow more on mobile and fiber." Ultimately, analysts are split when it comes to what the transaction could mean for the future of media. Nispel argued a combined Dish and DirecTV entity could be negative for the industry as the company would have incremental negotiating leverage over programmers during affiliate renewals. "We think that this could lead to more contentious affiliate renewals and potential blackouts while also likely limiting affiliate rate increases for the programmers," he said. Moffett, meanwhile, wrote in an updated note on Monday that "for media companies, not much will change." "Carriage agreements with both DirecTV and Dish have anticipated the likelihood of a merger for nearly two decades now," he argued. "We wouldnt expect any to allow for the kind of pick-and-choose provisions that once factored large in cable mergers. And remember that the combined company will be smaller than either DirecTV or Dish was on its own just a few years ago." All in all, Moffett said it's clear a deal between the two should happen as "consolidation during a period of secular decline is always to be expected." "But it would be a mistake to overestimate its importance. Adding a year or so to the expected life of satellite TV isnt going to change the narrative for programmers, distributors, or even for satellite TV." Alexandra is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @alliecanal8193 and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com Click here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance New law will allow cops to cite driverless vehicles for traffic violations SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) Under a new California law, cars without a human driver behind the wheel will no longer get a free pass for making traffic violations. The law, which goes into effect in the summer of 2026, will allow law enforcement officers who observe traffic violations to issue citations against the offending autonomous vehicle. AV companies, such as Waymo and Cruise, will be required to report all citations and tickets to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. With enough data from citations, the DMV can better track vehicle safety and adjust permit operations, according to Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco). If a company racks up enough citations, it could lose its DMV permit to deploy vehicles on roadways. AB 1777 was authored by Ting and signed by Governor Gavin Newsom into law on Friday. The new law also gives firefighters and police officers geofencing tools aimed at preventing AV cars from driving through yellow caution tape and into emergency scenes. Tings office wrote, AB 1777 is a direct response to issues experienced in San Francisco. In San Francisco, incidents include disrupting traffic, rolling over, then dragging a pedestrian, impeding firefighting response at multiple scenes and driving into crime scenes. The new law: Authorizes law enforcement officers to issue notices of autonomous vehicle noncompliance traffic citations upon observing a vehicle code violation or local traffic ordinance. Requires the operating company to alert the DMV about traffic citations within 72 hours. Requires a dedicated telephone line that is available for emergency response officials, and equip each vehicle with a 2-way voice communication device that enables emergency response officials that are near the vehicle to communicate with a remote human operator. Authorizes an emergency response official to issue a geofencing message would require a company to direct its fleet to leave or avoid the area identified within two minutes of receiving a message. Permitted companies recently logged a record nine million test miles during a one year period. Its clear that AVs will be soon be commonplace, and California needs to get ahead of that to ensure safety for all on our streets, Ting said. The San Francisco Fire Department is grateful for Assemblymember Tings hard work on Assembly Bill 1777 and the critical first steps it takes to improve interactions between autonomous vehicles and first responders, said Darius Luttropp, Deputy Chief of Operations for the San Francisco Fire Department. Traffic incidents involving AV vehicles have caused confusion, hazards, and injuries on city streets. Most recently, a motorcade escorting Vice President Kamala Harris around San Francisco reportedly encountered a driverless Waymo car that stopped in the middle of California Street on Friday. A police officer was eventually able to get inside the Waymo and drive it out of the motorcades path, according to reports. On Monday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ordered General Motors Cruise to pay a $1.5 million penalty after the company failed to fully report a crash involving an AV car dragging a pedestrian. The pedestrian suffered life-threatening injuries in the Oct. 2, 2023 crash, and the DMV revoked Cruises license. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Lawsuit: Those helping Ohio voters with disabilities should be able to use drop boxes A lawsuit challenges whether individuals dropping off ballots for those with disabilities can use the drop box. Relatives and friends delivering ballots for voters with disabilities should be allowed to use drop boxes, according to a lawsuit filed Friday by the Ohio Democratic Party and two voters. The lawsuit challenges a new directive from Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, which requires relatives delivering ballots to sign a form inside a county boards of elections office during operating hours. This prevents them from using drop boxes stationed outside county boards of elections. The directive came after a federal judge ruled in July that Ohio's election law violated the rights of people with disabilities by limiting who could drop off their ballots. More: Ohio election law violates rights of voters with disabilities, federal judge says Last week, LaRose's office clarified that boards of elections were "highly encouraged" to create a drive-through ballot drop-off option, especially during high turnout times. This option must be staffed by at least one Republican and one Democrat, making it unlikely that the service will be offered 24 hours a day, according to the lawsuit. Attorneys asked the Ohio Supreme Court to order LaRose to rescind his directive. That would eliminate the form required for those dropping off ballots for others and allow designated ballot deliverers to use drop boxes. They contend that LaRose's rules violate state and federal laws and make it harder to vote. "Absentee voters and their assistants face new hurdles to voting," wrote Ohio attorney Don McTigue and two lawyers with the Elias Law Group. "And all voters will be subjected to longer lines and wait times at their board of elections offices. In a social media post, LaRose said the lawsuit wasn't about enforcing the law. "This is about trying to give the Democrat Party an advantage. I will continue to enforce the law on behalf of all Ohioans, so well see you in court." His spokesman Dan Lusheck called the lawsuit a "shameless, last-minute activist effort to weaken these important protections against ballot harvesting." The two voters who filed the lawsuit are Norman Wernet and Eric Duffy. Wernet planned to deliver ballots for himself and his wife to the Franklin County Board of Elections dropbox. His wife has early-stage dementia and walking into the board of elections would be "taxing on his time and his health." Duffy is blind and was recently released from the hospital. He planned to have a friend deliver his ballot in person to the drop box. His friend has difficulty walking and standing in line for extended periods, which could make waiting to fill out the attestation form difficult. The Ohio Supreme Court is composed of four Republican and three Democratic justices. It's not yet clear when they would rule on this lawsuit. Early voting begins Oct. 8. Read the lawsuit: Ohio Democratic Party lawsuit by Jessie Balmert on Scribd This embedded content is not available in your region. Jessie Balmert covers state government and politics for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Lawsuit challenges drop box restrictions for Ohio voters with disabilities View of the apartment building on Zollvereinstrasse. 31 people were injured in several fires - two children are in mortal danger. The emergency services were deployed to three locations at the same time, according to the fire department. The suspect was arrested after presumably driving a van into a store. Thomas Banneyer/dpa A suspected arsonist behind fires over the weekend in the western German city of Essen that injured dozens of people has symptoms of delusions and other psychiatric problems, his lawyer said on Monday. Two apartment buildings in Essen were set on fire on Saturday, with a total of 31 people injured in the blazes, including two very young children who have life-threatening injuries, according to the fire brigade. The children inhaled smoke which severely damaged their lungs. A 41-year-old man remains in police custody on Monday on suspicion of aggravated arson and attempted murder. According to police, the man drove a van into two grocery stores after intentionally lighting the buildings on fire. The lawyer for the suspect said he apparently became convinced that a Lebanese family had exerted pressure on his former wife with the aim of turning her into a prostitute. According to the suspect's account, he apparently intended to direct the fires against that other family, which he believed posed a threat to himself and his ex-wife. Police, however, said initial indications were that the suspect was trying to harm his ex-wife and people that supported her after the break up. The suspect is a Syrian citizen. The lawyer, on the other hand, emphasized that the accused had continued to look after his three children after the separation and had helped the wife to furnish her new apartment. The divorce had not been initiated by the wife, the lawyer said, but the man had filed for it two years ago. View of an apartment building. 31 people were injured in several fires - two children are in mortal danger. The emergency services were deployed to three locations at the same time, according to the fire department. The suspect was arrested after allegedly driving a van into a store. Thomas Banneyer/dpa LAWRENCE COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) The Lawrence County Sheriffs Office (LCSO) says a man was arrested for breaking into a home in the Hatton community Sunday morning. According to the sheriffs office, Timothy Eric Scott, of Leighton, was charged with third-degree burglary, third-degree criminal trespass and fourth-degree theft. Body found in creek near University Drive LCSO said the home invasion happened around 7:40 a.m. on County Road 584 in the Hatton community. Authorities said the homeowner was awakened by Scott and confronted him while the crime was taking place. Officers said Scott was able to flee the scene, leaving behind his getaway car in the homeowners yard. While investigating with the help of the Investigations Division and the community, deputies were able to find Scott at a nearby residence at around 10:30 a.m. Scott is currently being held on a $10,000 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 WHNT.com. LE MARS, Iowa (KCAU) UPDATE: The Le Mars Police Department says a man died after an alleged shooting early Monday morning. According to a release, officers were called to 37 3rd Avenue NW on Monday, Sept. 30 at about 2:32 a.m for a possible disturbance. There, Miguel Martinez, 21, was reportedly found with wounds consistent of being shot. Martinez was declared dead at the residence by a medical examiner. Officials are still investigating the incident. No suspects were found at the scene, the police department said. PREVIOUS: There was a large law enforcement presence in a Le Mars community Monday morning due to an alleged gunfire report, according to the Le Mars Police Department. In a Facebook post from Monday just after 6 a.m., the police department said there were reports of gunfire and a disturbance in the area of 37 3rd Avenue NW. Sioux City police arrest suspect in credit union robbery Authorities said the scene is secure, adding that there is no active threat to the community. The Le Mars Police Department told KCAU 9 that there is an ongoing investigation of the incident. This is a developing story. KCAU 9 will update 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 SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports. Marine Le Pen said there was a Right-wing wave across Europe - Yara Nardi/Reuters Marine Le Pen has celebrated the march of hard-Right parties across Europe after the Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) won its first ever general election victory. Other Eurosceptic leaders also hailed Herbert Kickls historic triumph as a victory for national sovereignty against Brussels overreach. Ms Le Pen said there was a Right-wing wave across Europe, which had brought nationalists to power in Italy, the Netherlands and ushered in an anti-migrant government in France. After the Italian, Dutch and French elections, this groundswell which carries the defence of national interests, the safeguarding of identities and the resurrection of sovereignties, confirms everywhere the triumph of the peoples, Ms Le Pen said. The National Rally leader is allied to the FPO in the European Parliament. The FPO has Nazi roots, having been founded in the 1950s by a former SS officer. It is vehemently opposed to military support for Ukraine and is friendly towards Vladimir Putin, with its nominee for foreign minister dancing with him at her wedding in 2018. Today, the FPO continues to flirt with fascism, with its leader Mr Kickl styling himself as Austrias next Volkskanzler, the same title used by Adolf Hitler. He has also called for asylum seekers to be concentrated in the same place, remarks condemned as an allusion to Nazi concentration camps, which he denied. Prior to the election, some FPO officials were reportedly caught singing a Nazi SS loyalty song at the funeral of their colleague Walter Sucher, who died aged 90. The hard-Right partys election victory was described by the International Auschwitz Committee, which represents survivors of the Nazi Holocaust from 19 countries, as an alarming new chapter in Austrian history. Ms Le Pens own victory in this years European elections was so commanding that Emmanuel Macron called snap elections that led to a Right-wing government. Herbert Kickl (front), leader of the Freedom Party of Austria, is a controversial figure - Alex Halada/AFP via Getty Images The Patriots for Europe group wants to claw back powers taken by Brussels from national governments and reform the EU. Geert Wilders, the veteran Eurosceptic, won elections in the Netherlands in 2023. Despite leading his Party for Freedom to a convincing victory, he did not become prime minister. His calls for a Nexit referendum and for the Koran to be banned were too controversial for his eventual coalition partners. The Netherlands, Hungary, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, France, Spain, Czech Republic and today Austria! We are winning! Times are changing!, he said on X. Identity, sovereignty, freedom and no more illegal immigration/asylum is what tens of millions of Europeans long for. Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, said: Another win for the Patriots: a historic victory for FPO in Austria! Congratulations to Herbert Kickl! Friendly towards Russia Mr Orban is a veteran of many battles with Brussels over sovereignty, migration and opposition to Western sanctions on Russia for the illegal war in Ukraine. The FPO campaigned hard in the elections on a pro-Putin, Eurosceptic and anti-migrant platform. The government of the state is increasingly no longer in Vienna, but in Brussels, its manifesto said. The space of the state is being eliminated by the de facto principle of open borders.The people of the state are gradually being replaced by permanent mass immigration, it added. Led by 55-year-old Mr Kickl, the FPO won 28.8 per cent of the vote, ahead of the centre-Right OVP on 26.3 per cent, and the centre-Left Social Democrats (SPO) on 21.1 per cent according to a projection based on nearly all the votes by pollster Foresight for broadcaster ORF, a slightly bigger victory margin than final polls had indicated. Weve made Austrian history because its the first time the Freedom Party is number one in a parliamentary election, and you have to think how far weve come, Mr Kickl said after the partys record showing, which came seven decades after its foundation in the 1950s under the leadership of a former Nazi lawmaker. On Monday, the Austrian parties began the process of holding coalition talks which could prove time consuming and complex. The FPO currently lacks enough support from other parties to form a coalition. 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 Tories love a civil war. For all that our four leadership candidates may pay fealty this week to the noble cause of Party Unity, we Conservatives have a long and noble tradition of falling out with each other. This years party conference has shown that we are gearing up for yet another battle. Leaving aside the challenges created by our penchant for regicide, there are plenty of great issues over which we have fought. The Corn Laws. Tariff Reform. Wets and Dries. And, most recently, Brexit. Since getting that done was one of the few promises Boris Johnson made in 2019 that he kept, it has faded. The average Europhile is bruised but quiescent, ready to say I told you so at poor trade figures. Yet the Eurosceptic flame still burns. Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat the two ex-Remainers in the final four aim to out-compete each other in the depth of their conversions on the route to the party leadership. A healthy majority of Tory members voted to Leave. Without proving their credibility on Brexit, neither of the pair can hope to win their hearts. If it worked for Liz Truss, why not them? But the Conservative Party is gearing up for a new and separate battle over Brussels. It has many similarities with the first in terms of personalities and slogans. But this time, the target is not the EU, but the ECHR. Across conference events, in the bars and corridors, members either point to the court either as a meddling foreign imposition, or a sign our party has become institutionally anti-institution. Our membership of the court long predates our entry into the EU. With 47 members, it is also far larger, stretching from Iceland to Turkey. For Tories of a certain vintage, mentions of the court conjure up lone, manly tears at the thought of Winston Churchill laying down to the shattered states of post-war Europe the basic standards of English justice. Post Tony Blair, it is a cornerstone of our legal system. Yet plenty of Conservatives blame the court for our inability to deport rapists, murderers, terrorists, and those, more generally, who have arrived here illegally. The issue is the same as in Brexit 1.0: Brussels busybodies interfering in our domestic politics. Take Back Control, in a nutshell. Jenrick has committed to leaving it. Tom Tugendhat has suggested reform, the traditional route of the milquetoast Eurosceptic. Kemi Badenoch and James Cleverly have set themselves against it. Despite being former Brexiteers, the pair believe the ECHR is not alone to blame for our migration woes, just as Remainers once suggested our sluggish economy and sclerotic economy were not all the EUs fault. Whomever wins the leadership election, the party will not avoid a fight. If Jenrick wins, he will commit the party to leaving; if he loses, his supporters are unlikely to shut up about their chosen route to reducing illegal immigration. The Rwanda scheme casts a long shadow. Nonetheless, this is a debate the Tories must have. ConservativeHome polls suggest seven in ten party members back leaving. The number of irregular crossings into Europe have tripled since 2010, with over 23,000 having made their way to the UK via small boats in 2024. With Labour already in a muddle, the debate over dealing with our worst Channel arrivals crisis since the Normans wont go away. Even if the mood in Birmingham is surprisingly upbeat, the work of opposition will involve a lot of hard bargaining. The first Tory civil war over Europe felled leader after leader. Whatever the hopes of the final four for uniting the party around them, dont rule out the second claiming a similar scalp. 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. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Some of the hundreds of Lebanese citizens who arrived in Istanbul on Monday after fleeing Israeli airstrikes in the homeland said they were shaken but hoped to return home soon. Israel has struck targets in Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon during a two-week wave of attacks that has killed several Hezbollah commanders and also some 1,000 other people, according to the Lebanese government. Many more have fled their homes. All Middle East Airlines flights from Beirut to Istanbul were sold out on Monday, the company's website said. Turkish Airlines and Pegasus Airlines have cancelled their flights to Beirut in the coming days. "The situation in Lebanon is very bad. The war is increasing dramatically and lots of bombings happen in Beirut. We are hearing the (military) flights all night...in the sky," said Aref Arhad, 33, a Beirut resident who arrived in Istanbul on Monday on a Middle East Airlines flight. He said he hoped to be able to go back to Beirut in a few days if the situation improves. Lina Diab, a Lebanese journalist, said the area where she lives was still safe but she decided to leave as a precaution. "We don't want to live (with) the stress, so I prefer to come to Istanbul, stay for a while, watch what will happen," she said waiting for luggage. "Hopefully we go back soon to Lebanon." (Reporting by Mehmet Emin Caliskan; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Timothy Heritage) BEIRUT Fears grew across Lebanon on Monday after Israel launched a strike on a residential building in central Beirut, marking a fresh escalation in a devastating bombing campaign that local officials say has already killed more than 1,000 people. "There's no safe place guaranteed in Lebanon," said Jihan Kaisi, the executive director of the Union of Relief and Development Associations, an organization helping displaced people across the country. As many as 1 million people have been driven from their homes in the latest violence, according to Lebanon's prime minister. "The Cola area is crowded with families, with displaced families who came to this area thinking it's safe," Kaisi told NBC News after the Israeli strike hit a building in the citys densely populated district just a stones throw from downtown Beirut. "We were shocked this area was bombed," she said of the strike, which appeared to be Israel's first attack on the capitals center since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. A Palestinian militant group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said early Monday that three of its members were killed in the strike in central Beirut, where humanitarian workers said many civilians had sought shelter, believing the capital's center to be safe from Israel's bombardments. Follow live updates here The targeted building was heavily damaged across two floors, with the windows of vehicles outside smashed and rubble scattered all over the street. Residents rushed to clear debris from storefronts, some using broomsticks, while others used their bare hands. Izdihar al Fouani, 40, told NBC News she's afraid nowhere is secure for her and her family, who fled from the southern suburb of Dahieh to central Beirut. "So we are sitting and waiting," she said, adding that her family still had no mattresses or other basic supplies. "Something might happen or not, but God willing, things will get better." Meanwhile, in southern Lebanon, an Israeli official told NBC News that Israeli forces had begun launching small special forces operations ahead of a potential ground offensive. The official said the operations were designed to gather intelligence and probe Hezbollah's positions, though they cautioned that the forays have been taking place for months and do not necessarily signal an imminent ground assault. Washington continued to urge against further escalation amid efforts to avoid an all-out war in the region. People gather outside an apartment building hit by an Israeli strike in Beirut's Cola district Monday. Israel says its campaign in Lebanon is aimed at ensuring the safe return and long-term security of communities in northern Israel who have been displaced from their homes during nearly a year of mounting hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group that has vowed to continue striking Israel until it ends its war in Gaza. Thousands of families in southern Lebanon have also been displaced from their homes over the past year by the cross-border attacks. Israel's aerial campaign in Lebanon has killed more than 1,000 people, according to Lebanon's health ministry, Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli strike Friday, sending shock waves across the region, with Iran vowing revenge. Sleeping on the streets Meanwhile, as many as 1 million people have been displaced from their homes, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said, with growing numbers of families forced to create makeshift shelters on streets and beaches as images emerging from southern Lebanon show mounting destruction of areas once populated by civilians. Families rest on Beirut's corniche after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburb Monday. Fatima, 32, who delivered a baby just days ago, said she and her family had fled from the south to central Beirut over the weekend in hope of finding safety there. But after they struggled to find shelter, she said, they were forced to sleep on the street. "It was terrible," said Fatima, who asked that her last name be withheld because of concerns for her safety. "I'm unable to feed my baby. who is crying constantly," she said, adding that she was also in pain and feared that the surgical wound from her cesarean section had become infected. "I need medical help, and we're waiting to see which shelter will take us in, and maybe we will get some kind of assistance and food," she said. Nayef Fouani, who has, along with hundreds of others, been sheltering in the Azarieh commercial center in Beirut, said of having to abruptly flee from his home in the citys southern suburbs: "Look at our situation. We were having dinner. The food is still on the table." Well, eventually, were all going to die one day," he said. 'No safe place' Kaisi, the executive director of the Union of Relief and Development Associations, said humanitarian workers were "shocked" by the strike in Cola. Residents gather following an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut on Monday. Meanwhile, in southern Lebanon, where she is based, Kaisi said civilians displaced by Israeli airstrikes and sheltering in the city of Saida, or Sidon, were also terrified after a deadly airstrike in the area Sunday. The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strike Monday.Thousands of families, Kaisi said, had been sheltering in Saida under the belief that they were safe there, many taking refuge in overcrowded schools transformed into shelters while others had little choice but to sleep in the streets and in parking lots and school playgrounds. And she said she feared what might lie ahead for them if Israels bombing campaign does not end, with more people expressing fears that Lebanon could eventually become like Gaza, where more than 41,500 people have been killed during Israels nearly yearlong offensive in the enclave. Theres talk that Lebanon might face the same situation, she said. "Families are scared. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com The United Nations Security Council meets on the escalation in fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah during the United Nations General Assembly BEIRUT (Reuters) -The Lebanese government is ready to fully implement a UN resolution that had aimed to end Hezbollah's armed presence south of the Litani River as part of an agreement to stop war with Israel, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said. Mikati said Lebanon was ready to fully implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and deploy the army south of the river, which lies about 30 km (around 20 miles) from Lebanon's southern border. Mikati also said he and House Speaker Nabih Berri had agreed that electing a new president to end a near two-year vacancy at the top post would only happen after a ceasefire took hold, in comments delivered after the pair met in Beirut. Israeli forces have dealt multiple blows to Hezbollah in a two-week wave of attacks on targets in Lebanon that has eliminated several commanders. The possibility that Israel's next move might be to send ground troops and tanks over the border is on many minds. Lebanon's Health Ministry says more than 1,000 Lebanese have been killed and 6,000 wounded in the past two weeks, without specifying how many were civilians. One million people - a fifth of the population - have fled their homes, the government says. "We in Lebanon are ready to implement 1701, and immediately upon the implementation of the ceasefire, Lebanon is ready to send the Lebanese army to the area south of the Litani River and to carry out its full duties," in coordination with UN peacemakers, Mikati said. He said parliament would then convene to elect a consensus president. UNSC 1701 ended the month-long 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel and called for a full Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon and that the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers be the only armed force south of the Litani River. (Reporting by Timour AzhariEditing by Gareth Jones and Jon Boyle) KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian technology firm Dagang NeXchange Berhad (DNeX) and Google Cloud on Monday announced a multi-year deal to provide sovereign cloud services in the country. The announcement comes as the Alphabet unit expands its footprint in the Southeast Asian country. Google said in May it would invest $2 billion to develop its first data centre and Google Cloud region in Malaysia. The partnership was aimed at addressing demand for cloud solutions that meet strict data residency, security, and privacy requirements, particularly within regulated industries like public services, financial services, healthcare, and energy, the firms said in a joint statement. Under the agreement, DNeX would be authorised to operate Google Distributed Cloud, which provides "air-gapped" solutions for Malaysian organisations - meaning it can operate without connection to the Internet or a Google Cloud region, they said. The firms did not specify a value or timeframe for the deal. "Google Cloud and DNeX will empower organizations with the state-of-the-art distributed cloud infrastructure, developer tools, and AI services they need to drive digital transformation on their own terms," Vice President of Google Cloud Asia Pacific Karan Bajwa said in the statement. DNeX and Google Cloud were also exploring the creation of an AI centre of excellence, a hub for nurturing local talent in artificial intelligence, the firms said. (Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Martin Petty) Letters to the Editor: Gov. Gavin Newsom, why is Aliso Canyon still being used to store gas? Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a news conference upon signing legislation on oversight of oil and gas wells in Los Angeles on Sept. 25. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times) To the editor: Gov. Gavin Newsom's shiny new climate campaign encourages 1 million Californians to take daily action to combat global warming. It's missing one key player: the governor himself. Newsom himself can help "create a better world for our kids and grandkids," to use his words from the campaign, by keeping his promise to shut down the Aliso Canyon gas storage facility that blew out more than 100,000 tons of methane and other chemicals in the northwest San Fernando Valley nearly nine years ago. This 111-day blowout caused thousands of residents to be displaced for months. Newsom promised that he'd not only shut down Aliso Canyon, but he'd do it quickly. Despite this, the California Public Utilities Commission whose members have all been appointed by Newsom expanded the use of this dangerous facility in 2023. The governor cannot claim any kind of climate leadership or inspire others if he cant keep his own promises to impacted communities. Were looking to him for leadership. He should keep his promise and shut down Aliso Canyon. Deirdre Bolona, Simi Valley .. To the editor: The governor has asked Californians to take everyday action to combat climate change. Here's what I do. When I see flowering trees, I gather seeds and plant one or two in a small pot in my apartment. When large enough, I replant them outside my window. When they outgrow that area, they are given to friends who have yards. So far, three of "my" trees are healthy and beautiful. Suggestion to others: Look for seeds and have fun. Lynne Okon Scholnick, Long Beach .. To the editor: Climate change seems to be a bothersome topic for the average American bent on maintaining a familiar, comfortable way of living. When costs rise for conveniences such as coffee, people blame the economy. Media coverage does not help, with barely two minutes of the 105-minute presidential debate on Sept. 10 spent on climate change. Who is going to inform, even inspire, the average consumer to look beyond personal comfort and choose a needed change? Katharine Paull, Kagel Canyon This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Letters to the Editor: I live in the Palos Verdes landslide. Here's what 'you can't fight nature' gets wrong Cars make their way on a section of road affected by the Portuguese Bend landslide in Rancho Palos Verdes on Aug. 21. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) To the editor: I live in the Portuguese Bend landslide area of Rancho Palos Verdes and have for a long time. I want to object to all the popular "cannot fight Mother Nature" takes on our situation. Humans have indeed beat down Mother Nature. We have spread radiation across the globe. We have polluted the atmosphere. We even built a dam so massive that it slightly modified the planet's rotation. And yes, we have adapted to landslides. Our home is fine now. It was fine in 1970, and it will be fine because it was designed for this landslide. It has an adaptive foundation. Remember, a boat is safe and not on firm ground, and an airplane that weighs more than my home can be moved on three wheels safely with passengers on board. Homes here can and have been reclaimed after being red-tagged. We've defied Mother Nature before, but we hardly get media coverage for that. If you have the grit, this is an excellent, manageable place to live with other can-do people. We have proved this for 60-plus years. Madeleine A, McJones, Rancho Palos Verdes .. To the editor: Sadly, any California geology student remembers the textbook chapter about the Portuguese Bend landslide in Palos Verdes. Sedimentary layers of swelling clays beneath the area slope downward toward the sea. When wetter-than-normal winter rains soak into those layers, they become "slick as snot," and the overlying strata simply slide toward the Pacific Ocean under their own weight. Every affected homeowner likely knew the hazards when they bought their homes. Now, cut off from utilities while nature destroys their neighborhood, they call upon government for impossible assistance. Their plight is not unlike that of residents who move to known fire-prone areas, only to be burned out. Whether subject to wildfire, flood or landslide risk, some homes should have never been built and should not be rebuilt. David W. Kay, Playa Vista This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Letters to the Editor: I worked for Nikki Haley's campaign. Now, I am voting for Kamala Harris To the editor: I was proud to serve as a co-chair of Nikki Haley's California leadership team. I endorsed her for president because I believed that she had the experience and vision to lead the free world. I also believed our country was ready for a new generation of leadership. Now that we face a general election, I will vote for another leader with a positive vision of America's leadership in the world: Vice President Kamala Harris. Let me offer three reasons why. First and foremost, I cannot support former President Trump because he demonstrated on Jan. 6, 2021, that he will put himself before our Constitution. We must not elect someone who does not respect the peaceful transfer of power. Second, international trade underpins our prosperity. Globally, 95% of consumers live outside our borders. Trump has embraced protectionist policies, including across-the-board tariffs that will cost every U.S. taxpayer about $4,000 per year. He wants to close doors; every other Republican president in my lifetime wanted to open doors in an orderly fashion. Third, Trump appeases dictators, while Harris has rallied our allies against adversaries. Trump has made excuses for inaction against Russian aggression and even denounced Ukraine. Like the New Left in the 1960s and 70s, Trump is quick to denigrate America''s friends and to embrace its enemies. I am a lifelong conservative. I am proud to have worked for Ronald Reagan and both Bush administrations, and to have supported Republican presidential candidates from Phill Gramm to John McCain to Mitt Romney. This November, I will be casting my vote for Harris. I ask other Haley voters to do the same. Frank Lavin, San Francisco The writer was U.S. ambassador to Singapore and undersecretary of Commerce during the George W. Bush administration. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. The life that we built here is gone: Helene devastated western North Carolina. Communities are coming together to rebuild It had been 48 hours since the winds and rains from Hurricane Helene ripped through western North Carolina and Sam Perkins still had not heard from his parents. So, on Saturday morning, he got in his vehicle and started driving toward their home, nestled on a mountain between Spruce Pine and Little Switzerland, to find them. My parents live in an absolute gem of the North Carolina mountains, Perkins said in a post about about his experience. The area is about an hours drive from Asheville. Under normal circumstances, its pleasantly very isolated, he added, in a post about his experience. Little did I know that up there, Helene has demolished roads, homes and utility networks. This area is completely cut off from resources in every direction. At least 93 people are dead after Helene tore through the southeastern United States, according to CNNs tally. North Carolina was hit hard: Days of unrelenting flooding have turned roads into waterways, left many stranded without basic necessities and strained state resources. Gov. Roy Cooper called it one of the worst storms in modern history. While supplies have been deployed, at least 280 roads are still closed throughout the state, making it hard for officials to get them into areas in need, Cooper said. When he realized how many roads were cut off, Perkins said he left his vehicle near a closed highway at the bottom of the mountain and started hiking to his parents home. I tried every road route I could, but the roads, no matter where you go, are blocked by landslides or failures, Perkins explained to CNN. I cant tell you how many failing roads and deep mudslides I had to cross, how many fallen trees I had to take off my backpack for and navigate through. While hiking, Perkins said he ran into multiple people trapped due to the devastated highway. For more than three-and-half hours, Perkins said he hiked 11 miles and 2,200 feet high to finally reach his parents home. I have never been so relieved to see anyone OK, Perkins told CNN, adding his parents are in their 70s, but pretty resourceful people. I just hugged them, cried, filled them in on all the news they were missing Walked around the property, helped them decide how to approach some challenges. Perkins found his parents in decent health and their home was mostly fine, but they were effectively trapped, unable to hike down the mountain on foot, he said. They have food. They are pretty much out of water, but they have enough propane to boil once they start needing to, Perkins told CNN on Sunday, noting power restoration may take weeks for their area. After he found his parents on Saturday, fog and rain settled in and Perkins decided to head back down. I didnt want to use their supplies, so I went ahead and decided to trek back, Perkins explained, adding on the way down, he was even able to hitch a ride on an undamaged portion of a road with someone in the community. And that community is strong, he said: Everything you would expect with Southern Hospitality. His mother was able to a send him a message earlier Sunday, and it mostly focused on trying to get supplies for her neighbors. Im still processing it all. Ive never seen anything like it, Perkins said. Power is a couple weeks out. I cannot fathom how long it will take (the Department of Transportation) to repair the curvy roads that hug the steep mountainsides. The life that we built here is gone Just east of Buncombe County and the hard-hit city of Asheville lies McDowell County, which has seen at least 30 deaths due to the storm. Over 20 air rescues have been conducted in McDowell County since early Saturday morning, the countys emergency management said in a news release Saturday. The heavy rains caused the Swannanoa River to overflow its banks and flood McDowell and other counties across the region. Jim and Allie Bourdy had moved into their Beacon Village home, located next to the river, just shy of eight years ago. When the Swannanoa surged and flooded, it destroyed everything they owned. The couple and their dog were forced to climb onto their neighbors roof for safety, Jim Bourdy told CNN Sunday. We lost literally everything, Jim Bourdy said. We lost both our cars, and a small utility camper. The life that we built here is gone. They tried to evacuate Friday evening, but flooding made the roads impassable, Bourdy said. Unable to bypass the flood waters, the couple and their dog, Piper, retreated home to gather supplies and plan their next move. But soon after, the water started seeping in. We were on our front porch and the water was waist high, said Bourdy, who by this point had strapped Piper to his back. As the water continued to rise, the couple knew their only shot at survival was to climb their neighbors roof, which was lower than theirs. They were able to use two Styrofoam exercise boxes as flotation devices to make their way over. While on the roof, they called 911 but were told that no one could come to rescue them, Bourdy said. About an hour later, a neighbor came on a kayak and took them one-by-one to higher ground. The moment we reached high ground, I knew that the only two things that matter in my life are my wife and my dog, Bourdy recalled. They then went to another neighbors house to dry off and change clothes. That evening, Bourdy said, they spent a night in a shelter. The following morning, they were able to contact a close friend with whom they are now staying. Meredith Keisler during an interview in Asheville, North Carolina, on September 29. - CNN Bourdy returned to the home on Sunday to see what he could salvage. But besides some cans and camping gear, everything would end up getting tossed out, he said. Honestly, literally everything is just gone, he said. [Flood water] was up to the gutters. We have no power, no running water, no cell reception Clutching firewood in her hands, Meredith Keisler, a school nurse in Asheville, told CNN: Were collecting wood because we have a grill, to make fire, to cook food. Ive never seen anything like this before, Keisler added, noting she has no water, power or cell service. Its a sentiment echoed by many in the community. Michelle Coleman, the executive director of a religious outreach organization called Asheville Dream Center, told CNN that shes never seen Asheville in this state before. This is the most devastating thing Ive ever seen in our whole city, Coleman said. Our prayer is that people are just not losing hope because our community is coming together. Asheville is a strong community. Coleman speaks during an interview in Asheville, North Carolina, on September 29. - CNN Gary ODell, a disabled Vietnam War veteran, told CNN Sunday was the first day he could leave his East Asheville home due to the debris. But he emphasized: The neighbors have been great. We have a good neighborhood. He said hes been sharing his oxygen tank with a neighbor. My next door neighbor ran out of oxygen, hes in worse shape than I am, ODell, who has lung cancer, said. He added his daughter lost her home due to the flooding. Theres just so many people in worse shape than me and were lucky, weve got our home and were dry and safe, ODell added. Lucy Tavernier, who is part of a group helping clean up said the area looks like the bottom of a river. Its covered in litter and trees and mud, and its stinky, she said. On her front lawn, Tavernier recalled seeing what she believed were materials from a shop she used to visit near her home. She said she believes the place may have washed away in the storm. CNNs Sara Smart, Isabel Rosales, Rafael Romo, Jade Gordon, Sharif Paget, Ashley R. Williams, Raja Razek and Zoe Sottile contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Editors Note: The video above is funeral coverage of fallen firefighter Johnny Tetrick. COLUMBUS, Ohio (WJW) The State of Ohio is honoring the life and service of a lifelong firefighter and paramedic. Troy Bernhard died at the age of 49 on September 27 in Perrysburg, Ohio. Ohio minimum wage set to increase The Perrysburg Township Firefighter and Paramedic was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2021. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced Monday that flags would be flown at half-staff in his honor at all public buildings and grounds in Wood County, the Ohio State House, the Vern Riffe Center and the Rhodes State Office Tower. The flags will remain at half-staff until Bernhards funeral on October 5. He has truly won the battle because he now has seen the face of God! his obituary reads. Faced with his own mortality by his bladder cancer diagnosis, Troy lived life for others, especially for and with his beautiful family. It continued. Talented doctors, regimes, pharmaceutical cocktails, and countless prayers, and especially his loving family and friends made certain that this amazing man was never alone on this journey. Many people would have given up; however, Troy never ever surrendered. Troy is survived by his adoring wife, Rachel; his two young children: daughter, Samantha, and son, Joseph. Read the full tribute here. Vermilion man charged with reckless homicide after wife dies by suicide Visitation will be held at the Monclova Road Baptist Church, 7819 Monclova Road, Monclova, Ohio, on Friday, October 4th from 2:00 8:00 p.m. A firefighter Bell Service will start at 7:00 p.m. A full firefighters funeral service will be held on Saturday, October 5th at 10:30 a.m. at the Monclova Road Baptist Church. A funeral procession to the Roth Cemetery will follow. The family requests that any contributions in Troys name be made to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. The Foundation is a tribute to Stephen Siller, a New York firefighter who was killed in the 9/11 terror attacks. Learn more here. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW. In September 2023, California gasoline prices spiked to $6.08 per gallon, up $1.22 from their average from April to July of that year. A cause of the price spike was refinery outages that reduced the supply of gasoline to the market. Gov. Gavin Newsom proposes to prevent future price spikes by increasing gasoline inventories to avoid shortages. Hes on the right track. What happened last September was nothing short of a gut punch for millions of Californians. Families were forced to choose between busting their budgets or canceling planned Labor Day road trips. Small businesses were strained by the costs of transporting employees to worksites and products to customers. All told, prices were elevated for 105 days, and Californians paid $2.2 billion extra for gasoline. In a well-functioning market, gasoline suppliers would have prepared for such a disruption, blunting any impact on prices. In-state suppliers would have built up reserves of gasoline. Out-of-state suppliers would have rushed gasoline to market, earning a profit while also driving down the pump prices in the Golden State. Opinion However, the California gasoline market does not function properly. Out-of-state suppliers cannot quickly bring gasoline to California due to our unique blend of gasoline and limited pipeline and port capacity. In-state suppliers are highly concentrated, with five companies controlling a whopping 98 percent of the capacity to produce California-grade gas. With so much market power, the incentives to build up robust reserves are limited. Why keep an extra 100,000 barrels in storage if it prevents price spikes and high profits? As economists at Stanford University with policy experience in energy markets, we believe in markets. But at the same time, we also recognize that there are times when market failures call for well-targeted, economically-sound policy responses. The California Assembly is holding a special session to consider the governors minimum inventory requirement to address price spikes like the one we experienced in September 2023. California refiners would be required to hold a minimum amount of gasoline in reserve. When there is a disruption in production, the inventory requirement would be lifted, allowing the emergency supply to flow into the market and putting downward pressure on prices. After the crisis has abated, refiners would be required to slowly refill their inventories in a phased manner. Getting the details right matters. The proposal wisely sets up a commission of independent experts to develop and impose these requirements in consultation with key stakeholders. Decisions about when to release and refill inventories should be made in a data-driven way that is insulated from politics. Critics of this proposal bring up three concerns, none of which hold water. First, they argue that the policy will force suppliers to build new storage tanks, with the costs passed on to consumers. This is wrong. The goal of the minimum inventory requirement is to ensure that our gasoline stocks do not drop too low, not to force them to unusually high levels. A second concern is that the requirement would significantly increase gas prices in California and in neighboring Nevada and Arizona who import gas from our refineries. Again, this is incorrect. Properly implemented, the proposal would give suppliers ample time to build up their inventories. During a supply crunch, the release of these inventories would put downward pressure on prices in California. If anything, this additional supply would free up refinery capacity to serve Nevada and Arizona, also reducing prices in these markets. A third critique is that the price spikes in California are the inevitable consequences of policy choices Californians have made about the environment. We Californians care about breathing clean air, were willing to pay a little more at the pump. But Californians did not sign up to pay more because of supplier market power, which is the root cause of the problem this proposal addresses. Spikes in gasoline prices like that we experienced in September 2023 are far from inevitable. The Governors minimum inventory requirement will not address all of the issues in the California gasoline market in one fell swoop. But it is an economically sound policy that addresses an important problem in a well-targeted way. The California Legislature should pass it in the special session. Neale Mahoney is professor of economics at Stanford and the incoming director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. Ryan Cummings is an institute economist. Lincolnshire 'being told to put up with pylons' People in Lincolnshire are being told to "simply put up with" new pylons, it has been claimed. Martin Hill, leader of Lincolnshire County Council, was responding to a speech by the prime minister in which he said the country had to accept "trade-offs", including pylons to carry green energy. Under plans announced during the previous Conservative government, National Grid would build a new line of pylons through a stretch of Lincolnshire. National Grid said it considers "all technology options" but must offer value for money while meeting green energy targets. Councillor Martin Hill says cables should be put underground [BBC] National Grid wants a new line of pylons to transport electricity 87 miles (140km) between Grimsby and Walpole in Norfolk. It is part of plans to transport power from offshore wind farms around the UK. The pylons would cost about 1bn compared with 6.5bn to put them underground and 4.3bn for an offshore subsea cable, according to National Grid. In a statement, Hill agreed emissions needed to be cut but said "pylons are not the only option" and risked damaging Lincolnshire's landscape and farming industry. National Grid already plan to bring power generated in Scotland down to Lincolnshire on the seabed," he said. "This power isnt to meet the countys needs, its needed further south, so why not continue seabed cables further down the coast?" Hill also said that the new government's target of decarbonising the electricity grid by 2030 - five years earlier than the previous government - was "ridiculous". 'Value for money' In a speech at the Labour Party conference last week, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: "If we want cheaper electricity, we need new pylons overground otherwise the burden on taxpayers is too much." In a statement, National Grid said: "When we are developing new electricity infrastructure projects, we consider all technology options, and share them at public consultation. "The government and our regulator Ofgem require us to assess our proposals against a range of factors, including value for money to bill payers and impact on the community and environment to ensure they are in line with current planning policy, our licence obligations, and net zero targets. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said without pylons Government would "never deliver clean power for the British people". It added: It is important we take people with us and are considering ways to ensure communities who live near clean energy infrastructure can see the benefits of this. "We are currently considering ways that ensure communities benefit from living near new onshore electricity transmission infrastructure." Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. More on this story Related internet links Line fire flareup forces residents to flee; more than 40,000 acres burned in San Bernardino County Residents in Mentone, Calif., watch the Line fire burn on a ridge above Highway 38 on Sept. 9. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) The Line fire in San Bernardino County, after burning nearly a month, has surged once again, causing new evacuations Sunday. Residents in Seven Oaks and the Barton Flats area, including all campgrounds and cabins, were ordered to evacuate because of the immediate threat of the fire. "Emergency personnel are actively working in the area," the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said in a post on X. The fire, which has now consumed 40,219 acres, was still burning actively in Bear Creek on Sunday and producing a lot of smoky conditions because of dried-out fuels, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. The blaze was sparked Sept. 5 and, as it raged, threatened tens of thousands of structures, eventually damaging at least four and destroying one, according to Cal Fire. Four firefighters have been injured since the fire began. In early September, an awed resident said the massive cloud caused by the fire looked apocalyptic. It looked exactly like a nuclear warhead had been set off in the mountains, said Megan Vasquez. As of Sunday's flare-up, firefighters wrestling to gain control of the fire had managed 83% containment. Fallsvale Elementary School announced Sunday it would close its campus Monday because of the fire. Angelus Oaks and the Boulder Bay area of Big Bear were under an evacuation warning. The Bear Valley Unified School District, which includes Fallsvale, announced that other campuses would remain open Monday, although the district was aware of the heavy smoke from the fire and the concerns of families. School officials said they were consulting with local authorities and air quality experts and would continue to monitor the air quality. The latest update from Cal Fire noted that the fire had been challenging for firefighters because of the steep mountain terrain, and crews were working to build a heli-spot so firefighters could be flown in to access the area. With temperatures reaching triple digits later this week, Cal Fire noted that humidity had continued to drop. Luckily, forecasters were not expecting significant winds, which would make containing the fire more difficult. Relative humidity in the fire area was expected to range as low as 12%, with winds gusting to about 15 mph. Cal Fire said it had strengthened a critical containment line and had at least 10 helicopters working in the fire area. 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. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) Severe floods in the southeast have left millions of people without power, water and road access. In Tennessee, communities across the state are coming together to bring help where it is needed most through volunteer work and donations for victims. At this time, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) has asked citizens to avoid all flood-impacted areas until they are deemed safe. Officials warn these areas are unable to handle an influx of people after buildings have been toppled and major highways swept away. Middle Tennessee first responders continue to provide aid to flood victims TEMAs latest update said, Impacted counties do not have the capability to receive material donations or volunteers that have not been requested by state or local authorities. Do not self-deploy; it hinders life-safety operations in impacted counties. Some local organizations are accepting donations to be delivered to these communities when it is appropriate. Water and wastewater systems in many areas have been affected, making bottled water a top priority. Donations beyond material goods, like volunteers and financial contributions, are also being accepted to help these communities. Statewide American Red Cross of Tennessee is accepting monetary donations to help them expand efforts in these areas. Disaster volunteer sign-ups and blood donations are also encouraged. For more information visit redcross.org. East Tennessee Foundation is an official source to make monetary donations to impacted counties. Visit easttennesseefoundation.org. East Tennessee State University is collecting items to build flood buckets and hygiene kits. They are also conducting a blood drive on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. Details on how to donate can be found at www.etsu.edu. Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Tennessee asked for donations to be made so they can continue to distribute food and water where it is needed most. Donate by calling 423-279-0430 or online. The Salvation Army of Kentucky and Tennessee has already begun providing critical help to the flood-impacted areas, and now request donations as they continue their efforts. Donations can be made at helpsalvationarmy.org or by phone at 1-800-SAL-ARMY. Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology is collecting bottled water for flood victims at all of its locations this week. Individuals involved with TCATs truck driving program will be delivering the items to East Tennessee. You can find a full list of TCAT locations at www.tbr.edu. United Way of East Tennessee Highlands serves a multiple impacted counties. You can donate to their disaster relief fund at unitedwayetnh.org. To help additional United Way locations, click here. Clay County Clay County Emergency Management Agency is collecting flashlights, batteries, hygiene items, cleaning supplies and more. Donations can be brought to 143 Cordell Hull Dr. in Celina. For more information, click here. Franklin County Franklin County Sheriffs Office plans to fill a tractor trailer with donations for flood victims. It will be parked at Franklin County Annex until it is full. The address is 851 Dinah Shore Blvd. in Winchester. Hickman County Helping Hands of Hickman County is accepting bottled water donations until Oct. 5 at 10515 Ligon Love Rd. in Bon Aqua. Jackson County Jackson County EMS needs donations of cleaning supplies, flashlights, pain relievers, personal care items and much more. Items can be brought to 316 N. Murray St. in Gainesboro. To see the full list of requested donations, click here. Dodson Branch High School in Cookeville will accept non-perishable food items until Oct. 4 at 3 p.m. The school is located at 16221 Dodson Branch Hwy. Lincoln County Lincoln County is collecting supply donations for East Tennessee at four locations until Wednesday afternoon. They will accept bottled water, large trash bags, baby products, toiletries, cleaning supplies and non-perishable foods. Click here for more details. Lincoln County High School, 1233 Huntsville Hwy., Fayetteville, Tenn. Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, 353 Stewarts Chapel Rd., Flintville, Tenn. First United Methodist Church, 200 Elk Ave. N., Fayetteville, Tenn. Park City Baptist Church, 2809 Huntsville Way, Fayetteville, Tenn. Fayetteville Public Utilities will also accept donations until Wednesday, Oct. 2 at noon. Drop-offs can be made at 408 College St. W. in Fayetteville. For more information, click here. Perry County Perry County Sheriffs Office is collecting bottled water, gas cans, baby formula and plastic totes. Drop-offs will be accepted at the Perry County Sheriffs Office, Perry County Chamber of Commerce and the City of Lobelville Public Works Building. For more information and times click here. Putnam County Cookeville High School will accept donations from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 1 and 2. Donations of trash bags, non-perishable foods, cleaning supplies and more will be brought to the flood victims in Cocke County. Click here for more details. Sumner County Beech High School in Hendersonville is collecting bottles and jugs of water, travel-sized toiletries and more. Donations can be dropped off in the main lobby of the school until Oct. 4. Exit Reality Garden Gate Team in Portland will accept water and non-perishable food items until Oct. 2 at 5 p.m. Items can be dropped off at 109 Main St. Call 615-405-8830 for details. Halltown Church will be collecting toiletries, water, canned goods and more starting on Oct. 1. Donations can be dropped off in the parking lot of Halltown Church at 120 Dink Rut Rd. in Portland. The items will be taken to victims in North Carolina and Tennessee on Oct. 11. For more information click here. Sumner Co. has three additional locations to bring donations that have been organized by local residents. They are in need of baby essentials, cleaning supplies and more. More info here. Shannon Insurance Agency, 805 S. Broadway, Portland, Tenn. Donations are accepted until Oct. 3 at 4 p.m. Oak Grove General Store, 110 Fairfield Rd. Bethpage, Tenn. Oct. 1 and Oct. 3 5 to 7 p.m. Portland Nazarene Church, 409 S. Russell St., Portland, Tenn. Oct. 2 from 4-7 p.m. Oct. 5 from 9 a.m. to noon Warren County McMinnville Fire Department will hold a donation drive until Oct. 4. The fire department accepts bottled water, food items, personal hygiene items and more. Items can be dropped off at McMinnville City Fire Department Stations 1 or 2, or at Woodmont Baptist Church. Click here for more details. Wayne County Collinwood High School is accepting donations of bottled water and paper products. Drop offs can be made in the schools office at 401 N. Trojan Blvd. in Collinwood. Wilson County MJ 4 Hope out of Mt. Juliet has started to collect donations for people affected by Hurricane Helene. Click here to donate to their East Tennessee disaster relief fund. True Rescue volunteers are in North Carolina assisting with animal rescues. To help care for the animals being rescued from flooded shelters and people in the area, the shelter is accepting financial donations, pet food and supplies. Donations can be dropped off at True Rescue Shelter at 12110 Lebanon Rd. in Mt. Juliet. The Lebanon Fire Department is hosting a donation at their headquarters, located at 520 Coles Ferry Pike. Fire officials said they will receive donations from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. until further notice. For information about donations, click here. Email webstaff@wkrn.com for any donation drives you would like to see 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 WKRN News 2. Literally proposing The Purge: Trump mocked online after his solution to crime is compared to horror movie Donald Trump was mocked online after proposing a solution to crime that bore jarring similarity to horror movie franchise The Purge. At a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday the former president suggested that one way to decrease levels of criminal activity would be allowing police one rough hour to tackle the issue, during which time there would be less restraints. One rough hour and I mean real rough, the word will get out and it will end immediately, Trump said. Social media users were quick to point out that a world in which people are free to act without impunity for a short amount of time is the exact plot of The Purge. One user on X posted a reminder of the original 2013 films synopsis. At a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday the former president suggested that one way to decrease levels of criminal activity would be allowing police one rough hour (AP) In an America ravaged by crime and overcrowded prisons, the government sanctions an annual 12-hour period during which all criminal activity including murder is legal, the synopsis reads. Trump is literally proposing The Purge lmao, wrote one X user, with another suggesting that the former president had just watched the movies. The way he watched The Purge and sat there like you know what we should try this, they said. He's just describing the premise of The Purge. https://t.co/zBnd919IDa The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) September 29, 2024 Hes just describing the premise of The Purge, added conservative anti-Trump PAC The Lincoln Project, sharing a clip of Trumps remarks. Others pointed out that one of the movies multiple sequels came out in 2016 and was titled The Purge: Election Year the same year that Trump was elected as president. The films tagline - Keep America Great - received attention from the internet and media alike when it became the slogan used by Trump for his 2020 re-election campaign. The Purge Film synopsis In an America ravaged by crime and overcrowded prisons, the government sanctions an annual 12-hour period during which all criminal activity -- including murder -- is legal. https://t.co/rebl5dyvc6 Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) September 29, 2024 The Purge: Election Year came out in 2016. Trump stole its motto in 2020 and its plot in 2024, wrote a social media user. In a statement shared with The Independent a Trump campaign spokesperson said: President Trump has always been the law and order President and he continues to reiterate the importance of enforcing existing laws. Otherwise its all-out anarchy, which is what Kamala Harris has created in some of these communities across America, especially during her time as CA Attorney General when she emboldened criminals. Sir James Dyson has diversified his fortune in recent years with investments in agriculture and insurance - JinIl_KIM Dyson slashed the dividend it awarded its founders holding company last year, reducing the annual payment by 40pc. Filings in Singapore show Dyson Holdings paid a 700m dividend to Weybourne Holdings, which manages Sir James Dysons investments in areas from farming to insurance. The payment was down from a 1.2bn payout in 2022 and a 1bn dividend in 2021. It came even as the company generated record sales last year. Despite reporting a 1bn profit for 2023, Dyson recently announced plans to cut 1,000 jobs, almost a third of its UK workforce, after a review of international operations. Sir James is the UKs fifth-richest person with a 23bn fortune according to the Sunday Times Rich List. Weybourne, which is owned by the Dyson family, has taken 5bn in dividends from the gadget empire since 2018. The 700m payment last year marks the first time that Singapore-headquartered Dyson has reduced the payout in recent years. It had steadily increased dividends in recent years as profits rose and as Sir James diversified his fortune. Dyson was founded in Britain in 1991 and established an international headquarters in Singapore in 2019. Sir James returned his residency to Britain in 2021. Last year it recorded revenues of 7.1bn, up from 6.5bn the year before, and a pre-tax profit of 1.1bn, flat on the previous year. Research and development spending rose from 308m to 474m. Dyson last year announced major investments in battery manufacturing and artificial intelligence research, saying the next generation battery cells would be lighter and last longer. Sir James has invested heavily in UK farming in recent years. Accounts for Dyson Farming, published this weekend, showed that Weybourne invested 29.2m in the company last year to fund investments including land purchases. Weybourne has also set up Alpinia, an insurance business, while Sir James has invested hundreds of millions in real estate. Weybourne itself does not publish results in Singapore. Dyson has enjoyed increasing sales of its vacuum cleaners and growing line of haircare devices, although the Dyson Zone, a combination of bluetooth headphones and wearable air-purifier, has seen mixed reviews. In 2019 it scrapped a plan to build electric cars, saying the project was not commercially viable. 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. Lithuania has asked the International Criminal Court to investigate the leadership of Belarus for crimes against humanity, according to an application published by the court. The application claims Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's autocratic leadership has ordered violent deportations and persecutions. International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said on Monday the application would be examined. Belarus is not a member of the court, but Lithuania is party to the treaty and claims that some of the alleged crimes were committed on its territory, meaning the prosecutor would be authorized to investigate. The application refers to hundreds of thousands of Belarusians who were forcibly displaced and are now living in Lithuania or elsewhere in the EU. The alleged crimes began in April 2020 and continue to this day, Lithuania stated. Lukashenko is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is already under investigation by the chief prosecutor. He has issued arrest warrants for Putin, his chief of staff, the former defence minister and the children's rights commissioner. The Government of Lithuania has officially handed materials related to cross-border crimes against humanity committed against Belarusians by representatives of Alexander Lukashenko's regime over to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. Source: the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus set up by Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, as reported by European Pravda Details: The Lithuanian side has come to the conclusion that there are sufficient grounds to believe that Lukashenko and his accomplices are committing crimes against humanity. Since the crimes in question were committed both within Belarus and in countries that are signatories to the Rome Statute, the ICC potentially has jurisdiction over these cases. Quote: "Lithuania has become the first country to exercise its right under the Rome Statute and ask the International Criminal Court to investigate crimes against humanity committed by the regime in Belarus. We are grateful to the Lithuanian government for its principled decision and actions," said Tsikhanouskaya. "A historic precedent has been set," emphasised Pavel Latushka, Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus, who arrived in The Hague on Monday. "For the first time in the history of the International Criminal Court, a state party to the Rome Statute has referred a situation in a state that is not a party to the Statute to the Office of the Prosecutor for consideration. In addition, the ICC will focus on the context of large-scale international crimes in Belarus for the first time." Background: Last year, the European Parliament approved a decision calling on the ICC to issue an arrest warrant for Lukashenko for his part in the deportation of Ukrainian children. In June 2023, the Prosecutor's Office of Lithuania began to investigate the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Belarus. Support UP or become our patron! FILE - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko attends a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on May 8, 2024. (Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool Photo via AP, File) BRUSSELS (AP) Lithuania on Monday referred the hard-line president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, members of his government, security officials and military officers to the International Criminal Court, accusing them of committing crimes against humanity by forcing their own people to flee the country. Opposition groups in Belarus have faced a severe crackdown since nationwide protests erupted in 2020, after disputed election results gave Lukashenko a sixth term in office. Hundreds of thousands of people fled the country and opposition leaders were either forced into exile or sent to prison. In its referral to the ICC, Lithuania said there are reasonable grounds to believe that Lukashenkos government, police and armed forces have been involved in deportation, persecution and other inhumane acts against Belarus civilians for more than four years. It said the Belarus authorities have forcibly displaced hundreds of thousands of lawful residents of Belarus to the territories of neighboring Lithuania, and other countries that are signatories of the Rome Statute on which the court is founded. The Lithuanian government asserted that the goal of the Belarus was to rid itself, by any means, of all critics and opponents in order to consolidate the regimes authoritarian hold on power. All direct perpetrators, their commanders and superiors were clearly aware of the attack. Lithuania said this amounts to a widespread and systematic attack on the civilian population. In a statement, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan confirmed that he had received Lithuanias referral and said that he would conduct a preliminary investigation to establish whether it is worth proceeding with a case. As Lukashenko seeks a seventh term next year to extend his three-decade rule, opposition leaders in exile say he is ramping up the pressure on Belarusians who moved abroad. The aim, they say, is to quash any opposition support from overseas. Months of major demonstrations over the widely denounced balloting in 2020 saw more than 65,000 people arrested over the last four years, with many of them severely beaten, according to the Belarusian human rights group Viasna. Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has been living in Lithuania, described the ICC referral as a monumental step towards justice for Belarus. The crimes committed by this regime, from forced deportations to illegal arrests and torture, cannot go unpunished. Lithuanias courage gives us hope that the world is finally holding the regime accountable for his atrocities, she said in a statement. Tsikhanouskaya said she and her supporters will gather on Tuesday at the Lithuanian Embassy in The Hague, where the ICC is based. She called on other countries to join Lithuania in holding the Belarus authorities to account. This is not just about Belarus it is about justice for all who value democratic peace, she said. Her husband, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, is among several prominent imprisoned Belarus opposition figures whom relatives say have not been heard from in a year or more. Lithuania has formally requested the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate crimes against humanity committed by the regime of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. This appeal focuses on offenses primarily carried out since May 2020, when the Lukashenko regime started to increasingly target civilians through deportation and persecute political opponents. Lithuania's Ministry of Justice asserts that these actions represent a systematic attack on dissent in Belarus, aligned with state policy. "The request for justice - emanating from the victims themselves - must not go unanswered," said Aarif Abraham, Counsel to the Lithuanian Government before the ICC. One specific charge is the forced relocation of thousands of Belarusian citizens to neighboring countries, including Lithuania. Despite Belarus not being a party to the Rome Statute, the ICC has jurisdiction due to crimes committed on the territories of participating nations. Lithuania, which previously succeeded in bringing charges against Russian President Vladimir Putin, now seeks an arrest warrant for Lukashenko. Unrest in Belarus began in 2020 after contested presidential elections, with widespread protests and international sanctions following Lukashenkos disputed re-election. When an upswell of support made it obvious that opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was heading for victory, Lukashenko falsified the results, awarding himself over 80% of the vote. More than 1,000 political prisoners have been given decade-plus prison sentences, and 1,500 others have been jailed for protesting against the war in Ukraine, including by sabotaging railroads to impede the Russian army. Read also: Belarusian military starts checking combat capability of Air Force, Air Defense Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Through a combination of luck, lawyering and above all the mercies of the U.S. Supreme Court, Donald Trump has managed to keep voters from learning about the mountain of evidence that special counsel Jack Smith has assembled to support criminal charges related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 loss to Joe Biden. But Trump will need one more break to keep more of the case against him from being disclosed before the election, and it will require an expansion of the Supreme Courts already wildly expansive view of presidential immunity. The justices have returned the case to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who has the unenviable task of trying to apply the courts delphic opinion to the manifold allegations in Smiths indictment. Chutkan last week granted the governments motion to file an oversized brief extending to 180 pages, or four times longer than the usual maximum of 45. The government contended that it needed the space to provide the trial court with a detailed analysis of why the charges in the case are not precluded by immunity. The governments bottom-line argument is that the entire indictment passes muster under the Supreme Courts guidance. Prosecutors contend that nothing they propose to present relies on evidence that the courts newly minted immunity principles forbid. Read more: Column: Lock him up? Donald Trump's crimes present a challenge for Kamala Harris' campaign Consistent with a long-standing protective order in the case, the government filed the 180-page brief under seal last week, along with a far longer appendix of source materials. So we havent seen any of the evidence that makes up the prosecutions case. Here is where it gets interesting: The immediate task before Chutkan is to decide how much of the sealed brief should be made public. In the D.C. Circuit, as in most of the country, court filings are presumed to be publicly accessible. That presumption can be overcome and court materials may remain under seal if a party satisfies a six-factor test. The government argues that all that should remain under seal are the names and other identifying information of potential witnesses who were not identified in the indictment, who could be subject to harassment. In the governments view, that is, most of its brief should be made public. That would mean opening up a trove of inculpatory information about Trump, beginning with all the content of statements made by others, including summaries of grand jury transcripts, interview reports and material obtained through sealed search warrants. Former Vice President Mike Pences account to the grand jury of Trumps savaging him for refusing to break the law? Check. Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows statements to the special counsel? Check. Any of Trumps remarks as related by witnesses such as Cassidy Hutchinson? Check. Read more: Litman: Will Trump ever be tried for Jan. 6? Here's the answer that emerged from the latest hearing This isnt the full trial that those who hunger for accountability for the former president hoped to see. Its not even the evidentiary hearing or mini-trial that some saw as possible when the case returned to Chutkan. But it is an extremely powerful body of evidence that could harm Trumps prospects if it comes out before the election. Talk about an October surprise. Which is exactly why Trump will stop at nothing to try to keep it bottled up. He has until Tuesday to respond to the governments motion arguing that most of the brief should be public (and until Oct. 10 file a motion on the longer appendix, which the government allows should be mostly redacted). His lawyers are certain to argue that making the material public would harm him grievously in violation of the Supreme Courts guidance. But the courts immunity opinion doesnt deal with whether evidence can be made public, only whether it can serve as the basis for criminal charges. Moreover, courts routinely exclude evidence from consideration by a jury in criminal cases if it was turned up by an improper search, for example while allowing it to be disclosed to the public at large. And of course some of the damning evidence against Trump has already been publicized by the House Jan. 6 committee. Trump is nevertheless likely to try to leverage the courts opinion to argue for a far broader privilege of preventing public disclosure of any evidence that cant be used to charge him. For instance, in explaining the need for broad presidential immunity, the court reasoned that a president could be deterred from bold action by the peculiar public opprobrium that attaches to criminal proceedings. Trumps lawyers have recycled that phrase more than once in their filings and will probably try to cast it as weighing against any publication of the evidence. They could also point to the courts emphasis of the need to safeguard a presidents confidential communications with senior officials. Chutkan is unlikely to buy such arguments to recognize a new legal principle weighing against disclosure of the filing. But Trumps real goal will be to keep the judge from unsealing the brief while he appeals the matter to the D.C. Circuit Court and potentially the Supreme Court, whose bullishness on presidential immunity has proved virtually boundless so far. The pivotal question wont be whether Trump ultimately prevails in his contentions but rather whether he can manipulate the legal process enough to run out the clock, keeping Smiths damaging evidence from emerging before election day. If Trump can manage to delay the operation of law one more time, it will be a victory for him and a loss for the voters. Harry Litman is the host of the Talking Feds podcast and the Talking San Diego speaker series. @harrylitman 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. A photo provided by USDA Forest Service shows the 246-foot-long Manistee River Suspension Bridge, known locally as the "Little Mac." A bridge locally known as the Little Mac on a northern Michigan trail system will be closed for the next six weeks for maintenance. The 246-foot-long Manistee River Suspension Bridge, which connects a local trail to the interstate North Country Trail in the Huron-Manistee National Forests, will be closed from Monday, Sept. 30 to Nov. 11 for preventative work, according to a news release from the forest service. The pedestrian bridge, boasted as Lower Michigan's largest wooden suspension bridge, is a little over 30 miles east of Manistee and south of Traverse City. It completes a more than 20-mile loop, including the Manistee River Trail and a portion of the 4,800-mile North Country Trail, the longest National Scenic Trail in the country. The bridge also hasnt had serious work done in a long time, said Forest Service Civil Engineer Jon Meeks in the news release. The Manistee River Suspension Bridge is the most technical bridge on the Forests, said Meeks. Since built in 1996, no major structural work (was) done. This closure is crucial to maintaining the bridge in good repair. The effort will include new galvanized hardware, decking, railing, curbing, galvanized paint, and needle beams, which support the bridge, according to the service. The North County Trail, which is north of the bridge, will still be open and the Manistee River Trail can still be used south of the bridge, but there is no alternative to get across the river to reach the North Country Trail at that point. More: Pictured Rocks backcountry campers have nearly doubled over last decade More: Guide to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore: How to hike, stay safe, what to bring The bridge is just downstream of Hodenpyl Dam, and the rivers current and depth make wading or swimming across unsafe, the service reported. Its a temporary inconvenience expected to maintain the bridge long term, according to the service. Visitor use and weather also played a part in the scheduling. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 'Little Mac' bridge temporarily closes near North Country Trail LITTLE ROCK, Ark. A remembrance ceremony was held in honor of Marcellus Williams by the Little Rock Freedom Fund Sunday at the Arkansas State Capitol. This event was meant to commemorate Williams in a time where many believed an innocent man was put to death on Tuesday. A Missouri man has been executed for a 1998 murder. Was he guilty or innocent? Williams was on death row for the murder of Lisha Gayle, a social worker and former newspaper reporter who was repeatedly stabbed during a burglary at her home in St. Louis. Both the prosecutors office and the victims family opposed the execution. Missouri executes a man for the 1998 killing of a woman despite her familys calls to spare his life The United States Supreme Court rejected two separate appeals for a stay of execution in Williams case. During the investigation, DNA experts concluded that no DNA from Williams was found on the murder weapon; lawyers argued there was no forensic evidence connecting Williams 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 KLRT - FOX16.com. BRADENTON, Fla. (WFLA) Gov. DeSantis spoke in Bradenton on Monday afternoon to provide updates on Hurricane Helenes recovery efforts throughout the state. Manatee County has restored 100% of the power and all roads have reopened, DeSantis said. The only exceptions may be those in mobile home parks where power is restored but may be too dangerous to turn back on due to water. Officials ask residents to avoid these 2 Sarasota beaches Crews had to bulldoze 4 to 5 feet of sand off the barrier islands in Manatee and Sarasota County during their recovery efforts. Operation Blue Ridge, along with Florida Fish and Wildlife, were deployed to North Carolina and Tennessee to assist with rescues following the storm, DeSantis added. There are still a lot of people who need to be rescued, DeSantis said. That mission is ongoing. DeSantis said many Floridians go to North Carolina, and believe there are Floridians up north. You throw a dart anywhere, and youre going to hit a Floridian, he said. Those in need of assistance can fill out a form at FloridaDisaster.org/OPerationBlueRidge. Helenes death toll rises to more than 100 as supplies rushed to isolated communities Ron DeSantis was joined by Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie and Major General John D. Haas. DeSantis and Guthrie discussed the success of Tiger Dams, which are flood barriers that protect homes and structures from flooding, at Manatee Memorial Hospital in Bradenton. On Monday morning, officials spoke outside of Roys Restaurant in Steinhatchee after Floridas Big Bend was devastated by Hurricane Helene last week. Gov. DeSantis announced that 3.32 million customers in Florida have had power restored since Helene hit the state. Around 80,000 are still without power, the governor announced. Hope Florida is an available resource for Floridians, as well as federal assistance at DisasterAssistance.gov. You can watch the full conference in the video 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 WFLA. Local agencies in Greenville helping those in need of supplies in Western North Carolina GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) Several local agencies are responding to the damages left from Helene in Western NC and are doing all they can to help. Among the many counties reaching out to the Western side of the state, here in Pitt County, first responders will be making there way over as well. Partners like Greenville Fire and Rescue, as well as, the Greenville Police Department have coordinated some donation drops. Greenville Utilities has sent electric crews and ECU Health took a medical ambulance bus to assist those in need. Powerlines are down, debris has filled open areas from flooding and people are desperate for things as simple as water. The Pitt County Sheriffs Office is now planning to send members to Buncombe County Tuesday morning to help in any way they can, especially after what these counties have done in the past to help Eastern North Carolina during Hurricane Floyd. They stepped up and came from everywhere. And so, thats what we are giving back this week and next week and however long it takes, Pitt County Sheriff Paula Dance said. I previously came from City of Washington Police Department, so were used to flooding where you go into just deep water, rescuing people and things like that, Pitt County Detective Christopher Hobbs said. Members from the Pitt County Sheriffs Office will be bringing supplies from their own donation drop-off and join other law enforcement agencies from across the state who have also made there way to help. If you want to take part, there are donation drop-offs located all throughout the community for things such as toiletries, non-perishable food items and bottled water. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Tens of thousands of people had been enjoying Halloween celebrations in the popular Itaewon nightlife district when the deadly crush happened (ANTHONY WALLACE) (ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/AFP) A South Korean court handed a three year jail term Monday to a former Seoul district police chief over a crush that killed more than 150 people, the Yonhap news agency reported. Tens of thousands of people -- mostly in their 20s and 30s -- had been out on October 29, 2022, to enjoy the first post-pandemic Halloween celebrations in the popular Itaewon nightlife district. But the night turned deadly when people poured into a narrow, sloping alleyway between bars and clubs, the weight of their bodies and a lack of effective crowd control leading to scores of people being crushed to death. Former Yongsan district police chief Lee Im-jae was found guilty of failing to prevent the crush -- the first police officer to be convicted for their direct role in the disaster. "It was foreseeable that there would be a large crowd of people in the sloped alley of Itaewon that would lead to serious danger to life and physical safety on the Halloween weekend in 2022," the Seoul Western District Court said in the guilty verdict, Yonhap reported. Another former officer in charge of the Yongsan police emergency centre was sentenced Monday to two years in jail on the same charges. "This ruling, which acknowledges the responsibility of police officers in connection to the tragedy, is a rightful outcome in holding those responsible for the disaster accountable," a group of victims' families said in a statement. The Seoul court, however, found local official Park Hee-young, head of the Yongsan Ward office, not guilty on similar charges. "The direct cause of the accident in this case was the influx of a large crowd," the court said, according to the Korean news agency Newsis. "There are no existing regulations granting administrative authorities the power to control the crowd influx or disperse crowds," it said in acquitting Park and three former ward officials. - Police chief verdict - Earlier this year, two former senior police officers were jailed for destroying evidence linked to the crush, making them the first police to be sentenced in connection to the incident. The court found that in the aftermath of the disaster, they had ordered the deletion of four internal police reports that had identified in advance safety concerns over possible overcrowding in the area. Kim Kwang-ho, the former head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, has also been on trial and is awaiting a verdict on charges of professional negligence resulting in injury or death. Prosecutors are seeking a five-year term for the ex-chief, with a verdict expected next month. Kim has denied wrongdoing, telling the court in April: "Instead of seeking a scapegoat, real preventive measures should be carried out," broadcaster JTBC has reported. District-level officials have been prosecuted over the disaster, but no high-ranking members of government have resigned or faced prosecution, despite criticism from victims' families over a lack of accountability. South Korea's rapid transformation from a war-torn country to Asia's fourth-largest economy and a global cultural powerhouse is a source of national pride. But a series of preventable disasters -- such as the 2022 crush and the 2014 Sewol ferry sinking that killed 304 people -- has shaken public confidence in authorities. kjk/ceb/smw Akbar Novruz Azerbaijan has emerged as a significant player in the global defense market, driven by increased military spending, strategic partnerships, and domestic innovation in recent years. The 5th Azerbaijan International Defense Exhibition (ADEX-2024) showcased the countrys achievements, with a marked emphasis on collaboration and a path forward on military self-sufficiency. Historical Context Before delving into the event for context, I would like to brief you about the historical background of the countrys defense industry. Over the past two decades, Azerbaijan has been engaged in a massive effort to modernize and upgrade its military. War with Armenia over the breakaway Garabagh region forced Baku to drastically ramp up military spending and invest vigorously in various military technologies. The Garabagh War forced Baku to drastically ramp up military spending and invest vigorously in various military technologies. This conflict, combined with other challenges, such as establishing a centralized government post-independence and contending with external factors like the 907th amendment of the United States, significantly hindered the nation's development. These struggles made it difficult for Azerbaijan to establish national unity and pursue economic growth during its early years as an independent state. Despite these obstacles, Azerbaijan's drive to modernize its military has been a cornerstone of its national policy. Encouraged by a tremendous influx of oil revenues, Azerbaijan achieved a twentyfold increase in military spending over the past decade, laying the foundation for the development of a robust military-industrial base. The Ministry of Defense Industry (MDI), created in 2005, played a pivotal role in shaping Azerbaijan's defense capabilities. Between 2007 and 2016, Azerbaijani military production underwent a fortyfold expansion, transforming the country from a simple buyer of arms into a budding arms exporter. The Republic of Azerbaijan has successfully established such relations with most of the world's countries and continues to develop them. The defense sector now supplies products to more than 10 countries, including Turkiye, Georgia, Pakistan, Jordan, Israel, and China. This rapid growth in military production and export has also been accompanied by a shift in Azerbaijan's partnerships with key defense players. Baku has moved away from a traditional "buyer-seller" relationship and towards co-development and co-manufacturing with its partners, signaling its growing technical and industrial self-reliance. Expanding Partnerships and Strategic Cooperation ADEX-2024 provided the platform for further agreements with defense giants such as Turkiyes Aselsan, China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corporation, and Israels Elbit Systems. A notable agreement was signed between AS Holdings and Azersilah, focusing on the joint production of NATO-standard light weapons. This strategic memorandum strengthens ties between Azerbaijan and Israel, a key defense partner, and underscores Azerbaijans growing technical and manufacturing capabilities. While total domestic defense self-sufficiency might be unattainable for small and medium-sized states such as Azerbaijan, indigenous defense industrialization still has its own undeniable benefits. In this context, relations with Israel are particularly important for Azerbaijan. Additionally, Azerbaijans first locally developed laser weapon, the Fireforce, was also introduced at ADEX-2024, demonstrating the countrys shift toward high-tech military innovations. Weighing 900 kilograms and boasting a power of 30 kilowatts, the "Fireforce" is mounted on a light-armored vehicle, offering a glimpse into the future of Azerbaijan's military technology. New Generation of Armored Vehicles and UAVs Beyond collaborations, Azerbaijan has made significant strides in indigenous defense innovation. At ADEX-2024, the ITX-15 and ITX-20 armored personnel carriers, developed domestically in 2024, were unveiled. The Tufan Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle, which is preparing for serial production, further showcases the capabilities of Azerbaijans defense sector. These developments not only enhance the nations military but also position Azerbaijan as a growing arms exporter, with increasing demand for its products. In addition, the presentation of the Revival P and Revival T vehicles at ADEX 2024 reflects Improtex Industries' ambition to establish itself as a key player in the demining sector, both nationally and internationally. With their sturdy design, explosion resistance, and advanced technological features, these vehicles are expected to see increased proliferation, addressing the needs of numerous countries, particularly those affected by conflict, besides Azerbaijan. And on the second day of the event, President Ilham Aliyev was presented with JF-17C (Block-III) multirole fighter jets at Heydar Aliyev International Airport. Developed as a joint venture between Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation of China, these advanced, lightweight aircraft have been integrated into Azerbaijan's Air Force. The JF-17C is known for its air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities, high maneuverability, and effectiveness in both day and night operations. Military Power as the Main Guarantor of Security In today's world, increasing defense spending has become a global trend, driven by the need for national security amid various geopolitical challenges. If global security and the international legal system do not function effectively, nations often feel compelled to bolster their military power. Azerbaijan's military buildup is partly a response to a tradition of embargoes, particularly from Western countries, which have imposed restrictions on arms sales and military technology transfers. President Ilham Aliyev has previously emphasized the necessity of strengthening military capabilities, especially in light of the revanchist forces in Armenia. During the inaugural session of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan's VII convocation, he remarked, "The countries standing behind Armenia, their activities, their decisions, resolutions, statements - all this shows that this dirty game against us is not over yet." This indeed underscores the urgency for Azerbaijan to fortify its defense capabilities to ensure its sovereignty and security. In today's reality, the main guarantor of security is military power. So what holds for the future? By reducing dependency on foreign suppliers, Azerbaijan is positioning itself to meet the needs of its military domestically. The stage is set for Azerbaijan to further expand its defense sector, cementing its status as a key player in the region and beyond. To note, Azerbaijan has disclosed its planned defense and national security expenditures for 2025. According to the forecast, 6.66 billion manats ($3.92 billion) will be allocated for defense and national security, making up 16.8 percent of the state budget for 2025. One of Azerbaijans paths is towards building a self-reliant and collaborative defense sector. How To Earn $500 A Month From McCormick Stock Ahead Of Q3 Earnings McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) will release earnings results for its third quarter, before the opening bell on Tuesday, Oct. 1. Analysts expect the Hunt Valley, Maryland-based company to report quarterly earnings at 67 cents per share, up from 65 cents per share in the year-ago period. McCormick is projected to post quarterly revenue of $1.67 billion, according to Benzinga Pro. With the recent buzz around McCormick, some investors may be eyeing potential gains from the company's dividends. As of now, McCormick has a dividend yield of 2.02%. Thats a quarterly dividend of 42 cents a share ($1.68 a year). To earn $500 monthly from McCormick, start with the yearly target of $6,000 ($500 x 12 months). Next, we take this amount and divide it by McCormick's $1.68 dividend: $6,000 / $1.68 = 3,571 shares So, an investor would need to own approximately $297,250 worth of McCormick, or 3,571 shares to generate a monthly dividend income of $500. Assuming a more conservative goal of $100 monthly ($1,200 annually), we do the same calculation: $1,200 / $1.68 = 714 shares, or $59,433 to generate a monthly dividend income of $100. Note that dividend yield can change on a rolling basis, as the dividend payment and the stock price both fluctuate over time. View more earnings on MKC The dividend yield is calculated by dividing the annual dividend payment by the current stock price. As the stock price changes, the dividend yield will also change. For example, if a stock pays an annual dividend of $2 and its current price is $50, its dividend yield would be 4%. However, if the stock price increases to $60, the dividend yield would decrease to 3.33% ($2/$60). Conversely, if the stock price decreases to $40, the dividend yield would increase to 5% ($2/$40). Further, the dividend payment itself can also change over time, which can also impact the dividend yield. If a company increases its dividend payment, the dividend yield will increase even if the stock price remains the same. Similarly, if a company decreases its dividend payment, the dividend yield will decrease. Price Action: Shares of McCormick edged lower by 0.01% to close at $83.24 on Friday. On Sept. 17, Bank of America Securities analyst Peter Galbo maintained McCormick with a Buy rating and raised the price target from $86 to $95. Read More: UNLOCKED: 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily, plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? Story continues This article How To Earn $500 A Month From McCormick Stock Ahead Of Q3 Earnings originally appeared on Benzinga.com 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) Fall is in season and that means pumpkins are here, and one producer says its a good year for gourds. According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa ended 2023 with roughly 27 inches of precipitation and was the states third year in a row of drought. Despite that, Scarecrow Farms says 2023 was a good year for their pumpkins. We had a lot in the field, we brought a lot in, we sold a lot, so it was a decent year for pumpkins. Were fortunate that were in bottom ground here. So our water table is really high. So the drought conditions dont affect us as much as they would other places, said Todd Shumansky, with Scarecrow Farms. And so far this year is looking to be a promising year for the gourds again. Donation Depot fundraiser teams up two organizations hit hard by Big Sioux flood We just started picking pumpkins last weekend, so we went out into the field It was a little bit interesting because we had a lot of vegetation and not as many pumpkins as wed like to see. Were back out again this weekend. We found some spots where theres a lot of pumpkins so its just it can be sporadic and based on the area and based on the variety that were picking. You just never know, said Shumansky. Shumansky attributes this years yield to good rainfall. It helped us a lot having all of that rain earlier in the year because it made our herbicide work really well, so weed control was great this year, said Shumansky. Scarecrow Farms has been open for three weeks, and officials say business has been good for pumpkins. Attendance has been decent. The weathers been on our side, fortunately, so we havent had any rainouts. And yeah, weve been really lucky. Business has been good so far, said Shumansky. Shumansky told me they expect to have even more pumpkins out in the field in the coming weeks. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports. Local U.S. Marshals looking for suspect in July homicide of Jermaine Tillis YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) Members of the U.S. Marshals Northern Ohio Fugitive Task Force are looking for a man wanted for a July 11 homicide on the South Side. Read next: Charges considered in fake robbery at knifepoint David Tribble, 44, is wanted on a murder charge for the shooting death of Jermaine Tillis, 51, in the 300 block of East Judson Avenue. Tillis was found about 5 a.m. shot to death in a driveway. Police said Tillis was shot after an argument. Tribble is described as a black male and is 62, 200 pounds. Anyone with information on Tribbles whereabouts can call marshals at 1-866-4-WANTED. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Long Island Houdini slips handcuffs over head, takes cop car for joyride, police say A Long Island man was busted for driving under the influence then pulled a Houdini while left unattended in a cop car, slipping his cuffs over his head and taking the vehicle on a joyride, police say. He was eventually nabbed again in a cemetery, officials say. John Gibson, 37, of Copiague was first busted by state troopers at the scene of a crash on the Southern State Parkway around 5:25 a.m. Friday and suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, authorities say. A suspected DUI driver on Long Island swiped a cop car and took off with it last week. Christopher Sadowski He failed field sobriety tests and was cuffed and belted in the back of a patrol car. Gibson then managed to slip his handcuffs to the front, freed himself from the seat belt, climbed into the front seat of the patrol vehicle, and drove off, according to police. Troopers eventually located the stolen patrol car with the help of Suffolk County Police near a cemetery 3 miles away in West Babylon, cops said. Gibson was nabbed in the cemetery, they said. The suspect racked up several felony charges for his illicit joyride on top of being caught driving under the influence, authorities said. His additional raps involved grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, unauthorized use of a vehicle, escape, resisting arrest, obstruction of governmental administration and unlawful fleeing of a police officer, cops said. He pleaded not guilty to all charges at his arraignment in Suffolks1st District Court, according to records. BRADENTON, Fla. - Longboat Key residents were allowed to return to their homes on Sunday afternoon. Re-entry began at 1 p.m. Officials ask that residents access Longboat Key from the south entrance only since FDOT emergency road repairs are ongoing in Bradenton Beach, and Longboat Pass Bridge is still closed. A curfew will be in effect for all on the island. The curfew will be from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. and re-entry will not be granted to those after 7:00 p.m., according to officials. READ: Governor DeSantis visits Manatee County after Hurricane Helene All residents will need to present an identification card at the check point to enter the island. A boil water notice is in effect until further notice and intermittent water outages should be expected as well as times of low pressure. There are still significant power outages on the island and FPL is working to restore service. For more information, click here. STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 13 TAMPA: A look at the week ahead in our SD state government This has been updated to add the Game, Fish and Parks Commission meeting on Friday. PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) Heres a first look at meetings of our South Dakota state governments boards and commissions, as well as six hearings on proposed changes to administrative rules and one meeting of a committee of the Legislature, that are open to the public during the new week starting Monday, September 30, 2024. Click on the name (highlighted in blue) for meeting details. Please note that any could be postponed because of adverse weather or other reasons. Monday, September 30 Insurance Division, 9 a.m. CT, public hearing on proposed changes to various rules, 124 S. Euclid Avenue, first floor, Pierre. Real Estate Commission, 10 a.m. CT, teleconference. Economic Development Board, credit committee, 11 a.m. CT, teleconference and 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre. Cosmetology Commission, 12:30 p.m. CT, teleconference and 217 W. Missouri Avenue, Pierre. Tuesday, October 1 Appraiser Certification Program, 9 a.m. CT, public hearing on proposed changes to standards of practice and educational rules, teleconference. Social Services Department, 10 a.m. CT, public hearing on proposed changes to various AFDC rules, teleconference and 811 E. Tenth Street, Sioux Falls. Division of Labor and Management, 3 p.m. CT, public hearing on proposed changes to various workers compensation rules regarding dental work, teleconference. Health and Educational Facilities Authority, 3 p.m. MT / 4 p.m. CT, teleconference and Rushmore Express Inn, 320 Cemetery Road, Keystone. Wednesday, October 2 Health Department, 9 a.m. CT, public hearing on proposed changes to various rules for nursing homes and birth centers, Hayes Building, 600 E. Capitol Avenue, Pierre. Legislature, Study Committee on Artificial Intelligence and Regulation of Internet Access by Minors, 9 a.m. CT, room 414, Capitol. Regents Board, 9:30 a.m. CT, short business meeting followed by executive session, teleconference and 1421 Student Union Lane, Brookings. Water Management Board, 9:30 a.m. CT, teleconference and 523 E. Capitol Avenue, Pierre. Thursday, October 3 Accountancy Board, 9 a.m. CT, teleconference. Children With Disabilities Panel, 9 a.m. CT, 800 Governors Drive, Pierre. Regents Board, 9:30 a.m. CT, business meeting, teleconference and 1421 Student Union Lane, Brookings. Brand Board, 11 a.m. CT, public hearing on proposed changes to lifetime travel permits for horses, including raising the fee to $40 from the current $20, teleconference and 800 Governors Drive, Pierre. Brand Board, 1 p.m. CT, business meeting, teleconference and 800 Governors Drive, Pierre. Professional Teachers Commission, 1 p.m. CT, 800 Governors Drive, Pierre. Game, Fish and Parks Commission, 2 p.m. CT, public hearing on various proposed fee increases, teleconference and Huron Event Center, 100 Fourth Street SW, Huron. Friday, October 4 Game, Fish and Parks Commission, 8 a.m. CT, teleconference and Huron Event Center, 100 Fourth Street SW, Huron. Monday, October 7 No public meeting is scheduled at this time. KELOLAND Capitol Bureau Reporter Bob Mercer in Pierre assembled this information on Friday, September 27, 2024. State law requires state government boards and commissions to post public meeting notices 72 hours in advance, not counting Saturdays, Sundays and official state holidays. The Legislature isnt subject to that public notice law. *Please check boardsandcommissions.sd.gov and sdlegislature.gov for any meetings of state boards and commissions and legislative meetings that were posted after this weekly listing was assembled. Livecasts of some meetings are available at sd.net. Many meetings are available by teleconference. Check agendas and sd.net for audio availability. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. WALTHALL COUNTY, Miss (WHLT) A Louisiana man was arrested after he allegedly made a bomb threat against a Mississippi school. Walthall County deputies said the incident occurred at the Dexter Attendance Center on September 24, 2024. An explosives canine, with the State Fire Marshals Office, also responded to the scene and assisted the sheriffs office in clearing any potential active threat. One killed in crash on Highway 84 in Wayne County Walthall County investigators, with assistance from the Office of Homeland Security, identified the suspect as Joshua Allen Dawson, of Marrero, Louisiana. They said he was the suspect in a similar March threat against the Dexter Attendance Center. Dawson was arrested by the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office on September 25. He waived extradition and was transported to the Walthall County Jail. He has been charged with two counts of making of terroristic threats. Dawson is being held on a $24,500 bond. 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. MINDEN, La. (KTAL/KMSS) A Minden seafood restaurant faces a lawsuit from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. According to a press release from the U.S. EEOC, officials say that Minden Seafood, LLC, violated federal law when it allegedly failed to stop a male worker from repeatedly sexually harassing a female employee and refused to rehire her after she quit. More local news here The press release and lawsuit states that the female employee was a cashier at the restaurant. Allegedly a coworker repeatedly and persistently subjected her to unwelcome sexual advances, including making unwanted and inappropriate comments about her body, sexually propositioning her, and following her into a bathroom and exposing himself to her. [The male employee] initial harassing behavior included looking [the female employee] up and down, commenting on her buttocks, telling her she looked good in leggings, and making other unwanted and inappropriate comments about her body. EEOC v. Minden Seafood, LLC, Case No. 24-2360 excerpt According to the lawsuit, the female employee complained to the restaurant owner, who allegedly allowed the harasser to continue working with the female employee. The lawsuit states that the female employee found the conditions intolerable and she felt compelled to resign. She asked to return to work, but her request was denied. Such alleged conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1965, which prohibits sex discrimination, including sex-based harassment, constructive discharge and retaliation. Under Title VII, employers have a duty to protect their employees from sexual harassment at work, said EEOC Field Director Michael Kirkland. 1-COMPLAINT-MindenDownload The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Minden Seafood, LLC, Case No. 24-2360) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process. The EEOC will diligently investigate, and, if necessary, file suit against employers that violate the rights of their employees. Elizabeth Owen, senior trial attorney for the New Orleans Field Office, said Retaliation against harassment victims is unlawful. Protecting an individuals right to oppose discrimination by reporting it in the workplace is an important part of the laws the EEOC enforces. The KTAL NBC 6 team reached out to Minden Seafood LLC and they did not respond to our request for comment. More information will be added 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 KTALnews.com. We loved living in Austin but left after 10 years. Big businesses and tech wrecked our favorite parts of the city. After 10 years of living in Austin, my husband and I decided to move to the suburbs. It wasn't an easy decision, but we found that a lot of what we loved about Austin was disappearing. We hated that many of the city's unique small businesses were being forced out due to high rents. Ten years ago, my husband and I traded the hustle and bustle of Chicago life for the slowed-down pace of southern living in Austin. We loved that the city was less hurried, had a small-town feel, and prided itself on its motto, "Keep Austin Weird." But after a decade of living there, we grew tired of watching the city change its natural beauty has given way to apartment complexes, offices, and bars. So, earlier this year, we made the tough decision to embrace life in the suburbs and move to a smaller town just 15 minutes south of Austin. We still love the Texas capital, but here's why we believe this move was best for our family. The city became more congested over the years During our time in Austin, the city skyline grew before our eyes, with more and more buildings vying for space in a limited area. Some of this can be attributed to the growing tech sector in Austin, with major companies like Apple and Amazon expanding into the city over the past few years and employing thousands of workers. However, with more buildings, businesses, people, and apartments comes more traffic. When we first moved to Austin, our doctors, places of employment, and outings all centered on downtown. By the time we left, we avoided driving to or through downtown at all costs due to the traffic congestion. Even worse, the central expressway, I-35, was built in 1962 when the city had a population just north of 200,000. Now, with just shy of a million residents, the infrastructure doesn't support the number of people who use it daily. Although construction on I-35 is set to start this year, the projected completion date of the expansion is years away and traffic will likely get worse before it gets better. The rising number of visitors hasn't helped either millions of tourists visit Texas' capital each year, which can make Austin feel pretty crowded. We felt big businesses slowly took away from what made Austin special "Keep Austin Weird" is an ode to the eclectic mix of small businesses found throughout the city. Dmitri Kotchetov/Shutterstock The Texas capital is known for its motto, "Keep Austin Weird," an ode to the eclectic mix of small businesses found throughout the city. Slowly but surely, we've watched these small businesses disappear, taking the charmingly odd vibe of Austin and morphing it into the overpriced, polished feel of any other big city. A perfect example is South Congress, or SoCo, a popular draw for locals and tourists. The street was once lined with offbeat stores with unique Austin offerings and welcoming shop owners. Visitors could park for free and stroll the street, enjoying places like the iconic costume shop, a gallery featuring handmade bedazzled skulls, and an emporium of uncommon items. However, it's gotten harder for small-business owners to survive. Some SoCo business owners told local ABC TV station KVUE that their rent increased by as much as 500% this year. Even just walking through the neighborhood, it's easy to see how much the area has changed. Chains like Nike, Hermes, and Warby Parker now line the streets, and parking is no longer free. We've found a better sense of community in the suburbs In the past decade, the road one street away from our Austin home underwent extreme growth business-wise, and we started to hear more and more traffic from our house. The open stretch of land that once led us to hill country was replaced with an ever-growing strip of bars. Our once peaceful neighborhood became a popular spot for bar crawls, and we regularly heard a lot of loud, late-night partiers. We had a fantastic decade enjoying the city but knew it was time for us to start fresh in the suburbs. Fortunately, our tough choice of moving 15 minutes south of Austin paid off, and we've already begun building a strong community. In our new neighborhood, we go on walks where we spot wildlife like deer and foxes. Our neighbors are welcoming and inclusive they look out for each other. It feels like a stark contrast to the seemingly constant rotation of renters and Airbnbs surrounding us in Austin. Times change, and so do cities, but I wish Austin had preserved what made it so unique. Read the original article on Business Insider For many years, its been said that Le Bonheur Childrens Hospital keeps quality close to their heart. Thousands of families come to the hospital with giant stitched heart for its expertise in heart conditions, neuroscience and trauma medicine among others. In this Go Jim Go/Le Bonheur family profile, WREGs Alex Coleman tells us about nine-month-old Penny Zimmerman and why her parents say Le Bonheur is the best place for kids, always. In Collierville, chances are whether youre religious or not, you can almost sense that little Penny Zimmerman, the baby girl with the bright eyes and the big smile is what her parents call a miracle from Heaven. Kyle and Becky Zimmerman say nine-month-old Penny is a blessing and their heart, along with their other two children, Lilah and Miles. We feel blessed to even have a third kid at our ages, but also so during pregnancy, everything seemed very normal, Becky Zimmerman said. Everything did seem normal during Beckys pregnancy and a scheduled C-section. But when Penny was born at 39 weeksdoctors realized something wasnt quite right. Right when she was born, there seemed some concern with her O2 level that she just wasnt breathing quite right. However, she had also inhaled a little bit of Meconium in the womb, Becky said. So they whisked her off to the NICU. At first, the Zimmermans initially had no idea there might be any serious problems. Kyle went down to the NICU to see what was going on and when he walked in he realized there was a bigger issue going on. They were trying to figure out how to save her. They were trying to save Penny because her little heart was not carrying oxygenated blood to the rest of her body. Her doctors said she needed the specialized care that could only be found in one Memphis hospital. Before Penny was transported to Le Bonheur, the Zimmermans wanted to meet their little girl. At Le Bonheur Childrens Hospital, a team of specialists and staff were prepared for Pennys arrival and quickly diagnosed the severity of her heart problems. I just remember seeing so many different machines and cords and medications hooked up to my baby, who, you know, she didnt look like a normal baby, Becky said. Penny was put on a ventilator and she was quickly stabilized her with medications. This is the place that delivers miracles. And some of those that I researched while waiting to go see her were truly amazing, Kyle said. Two weeks later, something else amazing happened. Penny was finally strong enough to be eligible for her first open heart surgery and had a shunt installed and five months later she had a total heart repair. Her recovery went well. The Zimmermans fears diminished. Today, their baby girl is living and thriving. The Zimmermans say they relied on their faith in God and their confidence in Le Bonheur to get them through their daughters struggles. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Lucky missing in NC after car, dog thief busted in 120 mph chase and crash, Nash County deputies say ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (WNCN) A man wanted for stealing a dog in a car theft in Pennsylvania was caught after a three-county 120 mph chase ended in a crash in North Carolina on Saturday night, deputies said. Kenneth Wilson Crider, 43, was wanted after stealing a dog and car nearly a week ago in East Huntingdon, Westmoreland County in Pennsylvania, according to CBS affiliate KDKA and the Nash County Sheriffs Office. Car keys were stolen from a man at a Tractor Supply store and the suspect took off in the mans car which contained a 10-year-old Airedale-terrier mix named Lucky, according to Pennsylvania State Police via KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh. On Saturday evening, deputies received a call about a suspicious car near Octavia Drive in Dortches, near Interstate 95, Nash County Sheriffs Office said. The crashed stolen car along I-95 near Virginia on Saturday night. Photo from Nash County Sheriffs Office. Deputies arrived and tried to identify the driver of the car, but the man driving took off at one point striking at Nash County deputys car, officials said. The suspect then took off north on I-95 into Halifax and then Northampton counties. At times, the chase exceeded 120 mph, deputies said. The North Carolina State Highway Patrol assisted in the chase, eventually removing the vehicle from the roadway about a mile from the Virginia state line, deputies said. CRIME TRACKER Sign up for CBS 17s newsletter with the latest in local crime Crider, of Poolesville, Maryland, was identified as the driver but Lucky the dog was nowhere to be found, officials said. In an emotional interview with KDKA, the 87-year-old owner of the vehicle and Lucky the dog said the weekend has been hell. He could have let [Lucky] go in the parking lot [when he stole it], and I would have been happier. I would have missed the car, dont get me wrong, but cars can be replaced. Dogs cant, Willard Martz said. The reward to find Lucky, which was previously reported to be $500, has been raised to $5,000, according to deputies. Lucky, who was first taken on Sept. 23, was likely released at a rest area in North Carolina along Interstate 95 in or south of Nash County, deputies said. Lucky wears a black collar and a flea collar, which are connected with a zip tie, the TV station reported. The dog also has a microchip. Crider was charged with reckless driving, felony hit and run, assault with a deadly weapon, possession of stolen vehicle, felony flee to elude law enforcement and failure to stop for lights and sirens. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to CBS17.com. A private letter ruling from the IRS is a starting point for more employee-choice in benefits, experts said. - Getty Images/iStockphoto A new IRS ruling could ultimately give employees more power to choose how their employer match is contributed to their benefits such as adding to their 401(k), health savings accounts or helping with student-loan repayments. While the ruling currently applies to only one company, experts called it significant and expect it to open the path toward wider use in the future. Most Read from MarketWatch Under the private-letter ruling, at the beginning of each year, workers can choose where their employer contributions will be applied. Employees cant get the funds in cash, but they have a choice of where their employers money goes. This innovative program allows plan sponsors to more effectively respond to the diverse financial worries of employees by letting individuals direct employer dollars where they need them the most, said Chris West, managing director and head of the defined contribution strategy team at WTW, which helps clients manage benefits and provides insurance brokerage and advisory services. For employers, moving away from one size benefits can open a competitive advantage in their ongoing battle to attract and retain talented workers. For employees, it gives options on how best to use employer dollars based on their needs and life stage, including paying down student loans, West said. Employees can choose from these four areas for the contributions: the employees retirement plan, their health savings account, student-loan repayment or a retiree health-reimbursement arrangement. If no choice is made, funds would automatically go into the workers retirement account. Employees like control. They like to feel in control of their future. This turbocharges employee benefits, said Kevin Crain, executive director of the Institutional Retirement Income Council. This gives a sense of control for the employee and lets them determine where money goes for what stage of life they are in. The private-letter ruling only applies to the unnamed company that requested it. Other employers interested in pursuing a similar choice program would need to seek their own ruling. WTW, which served as a strategic adviser to the company that requested the IRS ruling, is talking with other clients about pursuing a flexible-choice program, West said. Story continues The narrow ruling is a start and that starts the momentum. This is a very positive evolution. Its very significant, Crain said. Crain said several other employee benefits that are now universally available started as narrow, private-letter rulings. For example, a provision in the SECURE 2.0 Act which permits employers to match any payments their employees make toward their student-loan balances with contributions to their retirement accounts started as a narrow letter ruling with Abbott Laboratories ABT in 2018, Crain said. Crain said it could take five to 10 years for the practice of employee-directed choice to become widely available among companies, but the door has now opened for more worker control and choice over benefits. This is the important, next generation of financial wellness for employees, Crain said. Most Read from MarketWatch President Joe Biden angrily hit back at Donald Trumps false accusations after the former president and Republican presidential nominee leveled a baseless claim about the federal response to Hurricane Helene on his social media platform. Earlier on Monday, Trump suggested that Biden and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper were ignoring the devastation wrought by the storm, which has killed over 100 people and left hundreds missing and unaccounted for in the Tar Heel state. In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote that he [didnt] like the reports he was allegedly getting about the federal and state governments going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas hit by the hurricane. Asked to respond as he addressed reporters after receiving a briefing from Cooper and Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Deanne Criswell in the Oval Office, Biden interjected, cutting off the question from The Independent to denounce Trumps false statements. He's lying, and the governor told him he was lying. The governor told me he was lying. I've spoken to the governor, I spent time with him, and he told me he's lying. I don't know why he does this, he said. Biden added that he doesnt care what Trump says about him, but he stressed that what he cares about is what he communicates to people that are in need when he implies that we're not doing everything possible. We are, he said. I assume you heard the Republican governor of Georgia talk about that. He was on the phone with me more than once. So that's simply not true, and it's irresponsible. Biden also told reporters he would visit North Carolina to survey damage on Wednesday. He previously said he was holding off on making the trip to the storm-ravaged state until he could be sure traveling there would not divert resources needed for the response and recovery efforts. On Monday, government officials and aid groups worked to get supplies to stranded residents in hard-hit areas. While many areas are only accessible by air, some mountainous communities would be receiving food, water, and diapers from dozens of mules. Speaking from FEMA headquarters in the nations capital on Monday afternoon, Vice President Kamala Harris said 3,300 federal personnel had been deployed to respond to devastated areas. The Democratic presidential nominee said she would travel to the region when they could do so without disrupting any emergency response operations. While Trump told a crowd in Georgia that he had spoken with SpaceX founder and billionaire Elon Musk earlier about getting Starlink high-speed internet set up in North Carolina, the White House pointed out FEMA was shipping an additional 140 satellites to assist with communications and infrastructure restoration. There are currently 40 systems available to help with responder communications. More than 1.7 million customers remained without power late Monday in South Carolina Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, and Florida. Utility Duke Energy, which services 8.4 million customers, said some could see it restored by Friday. For others, in places with infrastructure that has been destroyed, the process would be more arduous. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) Republican Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo took the stand Monday in the federal wire fraud case against now-suspended Pahrump Justice Court judge Michele Fiore in her fraud trial. Fiore is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and six counts of wire fraud. She is accused of raising money for a statue to remember slain Las Vegas Metro police officer Alyn Beck and then using the funds for personal expenses. Lombardo was the assistant sheriff when Beck and Officer Igor Soldo were killed in 2014. His campaign, Lombardo for Sheriff donated $5,000 for the statue in 2019. Lombardo recalled donating to Fiores various political campaigns. They are both Republicans. Fiores defense attorney, Michael Sanft, questioned Lombardo about his campaign funds and whether he told donors the funds would go to another cause. It appeared Sanft was trying to show that Nevada has lax campaign financing laws. I dont understand why Im being asked these questions when Im a victim and a witness, Lombardo testified. Sandra Harris, an FBI forensic accountant, testified that one day after Fiore received the donation from Lombardo for Sheriff, a $5,000 check was deposited to an account Fiores daughter, Sheena Siegel, had access to. Siegel then withdrew money to purchase money orders to pay rent for Fiores home, Harris said. Harris testified that similar transactions were made after Fiore received additional donations for the statue to pay rent, wedding expenses for her daughter and other personal expenses. Fiore adjusted campaign documents approximately two months after she learned she was the subject of an FBI investigation, according to federal prosecutors. Chris Armstrong, an executive vice president with Olympia Companies, a developer, testified that the company initially agreed to pay for half of the statue and then paid for the entire statue. Armstrong said Fiore was informed of this. Fiore previously pleaded not guilty to the original charges filed in July and subsequent charges filed earlier this month. The allegations against Fiore date back to when Fiore was a Las Vegas City councilwoman in 2019, according to a criminal indictment. Fiore most recently served on the bench in Pahrump Justice Court in Nye County. The Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline suspended her from judicial office with pay on July 24. The commission shall suspend a judge with salary while there is a pending felony indictment, per Nevada state law. Fiores term ends in January 2025. Fiore served in the Nevada Legislature and on the Las Vegas City Council as a member and then mayor pro tem. She also ran unsuccessfully for the governors seat and state treasurer. Her political career has been peppered with controversy that included support for an anti-government movement involving rancher Clive Bundy, making insensitive racial comments that resulted in an NAACP complaint, and engaging in a physical fight with another city council member. The government rested its case before noon on Monday. As of Monday, Sheena Siegel did not face charges, according to court documents. Siegel took the stand for the defense Monday afternoon. She testified that she helped her mother with charity and campaign work, she has no background in that type of work, and she researched laws for charity and campaign funds which she described as lax. Siegel is expected to continue testifying Tuesday morning. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS. When Republicans for Harris launched in early August, NBC News reported that the Democratic presidential ticket was eager to add to its list of GOP supporters and that campaign officials were especially interested in seeking endorsements from former Rep. Liz Cheney and former Sen. Jeff Flake. About a month later, Cheney raised some eyebrows with her public support for Harris, and nearly a month after the Wyoming Republicans announcement, Flake followed suit. Politico reported: I served with Kamala in the United States Senate. Ive also served with Tim in the United States House of Representatives, Flake said in a video posted on X, referencing her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. I know them. I know firsthand of their fine character and love of country. Flake, who described himself as a conservative Republican, added, I would encourage all Republicans who feel this way to do the same. After all, in times like these there is nothing more conservative than putting country over party. Flake, who recently wrapped up his tenure as the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, didnt just issue a video endorsement for the Democratic nominee, the Arizonan also appeared on ABC News This Week to elaborate on his perspective and criticize his own partys nominee. I think Republicans believe in the rule of law in particular, Flake said. And its difficult to support a candidate who, having lost an election, tries to use the powers of the presidency to overturn that election. That is anything but respect for the rule of law. So I know that a lot of conservative Republicans feel the way I do, that you just cant support a candidate like that. The Arizona Republicans endorsement came just days after former Kansas Republican Sen. Nancy Kassebaum also threw her support behind the incumbent Democratic vice president. That news came on the heels of Harris picking up support from some Republicans who worked on Nikki Haleys presidential campaign, as well as endorsements from three former chairs of the Maine Republican Party. It also follows weeks of related endorsements for Harris from former GOP governors, lawmakers, cabinet secretaries, White House staffers and even a former Republican vice president who probably never dreamed hed be backing a Democratic presidential candidate. At this point, however, readers mightve noticed that I keep using a specific word: former. Thats because, as impressive as Harris list of Republican supporters is, it doesnt include any current GOP members of Congress. The question is whether or not that will change between now and Election Day. Plenty of prominent voices are keeping the pressure on. Former Republican strategist/consultant Rick Wilson wrote on Friday, for example, Just saying you wont vote for Trump and that youll write in a third-party candidate or someone not on the ballot is morally and politically insufficient. It is not a sign of courage to merely reject Trump. It is not a sign of strength to say hes unqualified to be president and then refuse to endorse Harris. (Some of you will vote for Harris in secret; this is fine for rank-and-file folks but not for you.) The test here is only passed with a ringing, public endorsement of Kamala Harris. Nothing else suffices. Cheney made related comments earlier this month. It is crucially important for people to recognize not only is what Ive just said about the danger Trump poses something that should prevent people from voting for him, but I dont believe we have the luxury of writing in candidates names, particularly in swing states, the Wyoming Republican said. As a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this. And because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris. For now, much of the focus is on retiring Sen. Mitt Romney who has ruled out the possibility of voting for Trump but whos resisted pressure to endorse Trumps opponent. People know where I stand on Donald Trump, and thats enough, the Utah Republican told The Washington Post. There are plenty of credible voices in both parties who believe it most certainly is not enough. This post updates our related earlier coverage. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com During his 2000 presidential campaign, then-Republican Sen. John McCain told voters he had no use for the religious right movement, denouncing prominent evangelists as agents of intolerance. His partys far-right base was not impressed, and it contributed to McCain losing to George W. Bush in the GOPs primaries. Eight years later, McCain decided to forge partnerships with religious right radicals and welcomed the support of evangelists like Pastor John Hagee. It wasnt long, however, before McCain ran into a problem: The Arizona senator started facing questions about whether he agreed with Hagees record of radicalism, including the pastors arguments that the Holocaust was a divine plan from God, Hurricane Katrina was Gods punishment for Pride parades, and women are only meant to be mothers and bear children. (He also described the Catholic Church as the great whore, though he later apologized.) McCain, reluctant to be associated with such madness, felt like he had no choice but to publicly reject Hagees endorsement and repudiate the pastors views. Sixteen years later, Republicans at the national level are apparently no longer burdened by such concerns. On the contrary, right-wing evangelists with radical records can take comfort in the fact that in 2024, national GOP candidates wont make much of an effort to keep them at arms length. For example, on Saturday, Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance appeared at an event hosted by an evangelist whos argued that Vice President Kamala Harris is demonic. The Washington Post reported: The events host, Lance Wallnau, who emceed the live event and introduced Vances first town hall on the campaign trail, is a leading figure in the fast-growing New Apostolic Reformation, a movement that preaches Christian supremacy through a blend of prophecy and hard-right politics. For those unfamiliar with Wallnau, Right Wing Watch has published some excellent research on the evangelists vision, which makes clear that hes the kind of guy that GOP officials probably ought to avoid. As the Posts report summarized, Wallnau has previously cast Harris as both a demon and Jezebel, the biblical symbol of womanly wickedness. Wallnau, a self-described Christian prophet, is also on record claiming that Vice President Kamala Harris relied on witchcraft during her recent debate victory. Just as importantly, NBC News reported ahead of Saturdays event: Since 2016, Wallnau and his allies have presented former President Donald Trump as a flawed but anointed leader like the biblical figure King Cyrus who has been chosen by God to restore Christian power in America. After denying Trumps 2020 election defeat and telling followers that God had a plan to keep him in office, Wallnau joined pro-Trump protestors in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, to pray for divine intervention to stop Congress from certifying the electoral count as rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol. In recent months, Wallnau with support from the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk has hosted a series of get-out-the-vote worship rallies in swing states, where he and other evangelists have delivered a blend of pro-Trump political commentary and prophetic warnings about the coming end times, framing the 2024 election as an epic struggle between forces of good and evil. Again, it really wasnt that long ago when GOP candidates seeking a national audience wouldnt return phone calls from a guy like this. Nevertheless, Vance appeared only too pleased to attend the Wallnau-hosted event. In fairness, I should emphasize that Vances spokesperson told reporters that the Ohio senator did not actually share the stage with Wallnau, and the two reportedly have not met. Ive seen no evidence to the contrary. But when a right-wing evangelist who claims that Harris is literally demonic hosts an event, and a Republican candidate for national office accepts an invitation to attend, whether the two literally shake hands or not isnt altogether relevant. Whats more, this came on the heels of Vance sitting down with Tucker Carlson after the far-right media personality interviewed and praised a Holocaust revisionist. A New York Times report summarized soon after, Not long ago, candidates running for national office spent much of the general election distancing themselves from the fringes of their parties. But on Saturday, Senator JD Vance of Ohio will share a stage with someone on the fringes of his. Oddly enough, those identical sentences were equally applicable a week later, as the line between the Republican fringe and the Republican mainstream blurs out of existence. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com In the two months since President Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign, Republicans have pursued an incredible number of attack lines against Vice President Kamala Harris. Voters have heard criticisms covering everything from her laugh to her affection for Venn diagrams, her occasional glass of wine to her hugging people. Some GOP attacks, however, have been far more offensive. Donald Trump questioning the Democrats racial identity in deeply ugly ways, for example, was so indefensible that many in her party preferred not to talk about it. But the former presidents latest rhetoric was every bit as disgusting. The Washington Post reported: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump criticized Vice President Kamala Harriss mental capacity Saturday, falsely claiming she was born mentally impaired and comparing her actions to that of a mentally disabled person. To be sure, this isnt entirely new. In early August, the GOP nominee described his Democratic rival as a LOW I.Q. INDIVIDUAL, really DUMB, having an extremely Low IQ and lacking the mental capacity to debate him. Nearly two months later, however, Trump is leaning into this in bizarre ways. Joe Biden became mentally impaired, he said at a weekend rally. Kamala was born that way. She was born that way. While struggling to pronounce the vice presidents name, he went on to suggest Harris is a mentally disabled person, adding that he considers her a very dumb person. In case that werent quite enough, Trump said his Democratic rival is stupid and has cognitive problems. Theres no shortage of relevant angles to such rhetoric. The Republican nominee, for example, already has a dreadful record when it comes to people with disabilities, and his latest ugliness wont help. Whats more, perhaps Trump could explain, if she is so impaired, why Harris was able to humiliate him with relative ease during their recent debate. Its also worth emphasizing that as GOP officials practically beg the former president to focus on policy instead of personal attacks, Trump who has said he feels entitled to take the presidential race into the gutter clearly cant help himself. But even if we put all of those relevant angles aside, its not hard to wonder why Trump, of all people, would want to put mental acuity in the campaign spotlight. A few days before targeting Harris intellect, the former president referred to Charlottesville as Charlottestown. A few days before that, he mixed up Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. In early September, Trump urged people in New Hampshire to vote against Biden, apparently forgetting that Biden isnt running. Two weeks earlier, he seemed to forget which state he was in during a campaign rally. It came against a backdrop of weird Trump rhetoric about bacon and wind power, as well as his fear of sharks, which apparently had something to do with electric boat batteries. As MSNBCs Chris Hayes recently noted, Trump is very obviously sharply declining before our eyes, and MSNBCs Zeeshan Aleem added: Trump has been embedded in the public consciousness as a rule-breaker for so long that it can be easy to forget how far he is from fulfilling the basic requirement of a politician to speak clearly. Trumps speeches seem to be growing more discursive and difficult to comprehend by the day. Theyre not the only ones whove noticed. The New York Times recently published a related analysis noting that the Republican nominee has mixed up names, confused facts and stumbled over his points. Mr. Trumps rambling speeches, sometimes incoherent statements and extreme outbursts have raised questions about his own cognitive health. If the 2024 presidential election comes down to which candidate appears to be impaired, the GOP nominee probably ought to start lowering his expectations. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com Todays edition of quick hits. * Hurricane Helenes aftermath: There have been at least 116 deaths as a result of the storm, according to an NBC News count of confirmed fatalities. A third of them were reported in North Carolina. Western North Carolina has been hit by devastating floods, with entire communities under several feet of water. At least 35 people have died in Buncombe County, which contains the city of Asheville. * In the Middle East: Israel is planning a limited ground operation into southern Lebanon that could begin imminently, according to a U.S. official, a Biden administration official and a source familiar with the planning. The operation would aim to push Hezbollah forces further away from the Israeli border. * On a related note, Israel has expanded its attacks on Iran-backed militant groups across the region after the killing of powerful Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. * Closely watched Austrian elections: Austrian voters handed the Freedom Party of Austria a solid win in national elections on Sunday, rebuking establishment parties and notching another victory for a xenophobic party in Europe as the tide of far-right populism rises on the continent. But despite the nearly 30 percent who voted for the far-right Freedom Party and its pugilistic leader, Herbert Kickl, the victory in national parliamentary elections could turn out to be merely symbolic, as mainstream parties have promised to form a coalition government without him. * Im planning to have more on this in the morning: A judge in Georgias Fulton County struck down the states six-week abortion ban Monday, allowing the procedure to resume and making it legal up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. The state law was signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2019 but didnt take effect until July 2022 after it faced a legal challenge and the Supreme Courts reversal of Roe v. Wade. * To match Trumps total, Senate Democrats have to confirm 21 judicial nominees during the lame-duck session: With the 213th federal judge of the Biden era confirmed by the Senate this week, Democrats are now hoping to take advantage of a post-election lame duck session to finish putting their own stamp on the judiciary and match the number of judges appointed during the Trump administration. * Readers probably wont remember this, but back in 2021, I had an item about a Republican congressional candidate in Florida who threatened to kill a primary rival with a hit squad. Im mentioning this because that former candidate has now been indicted: A former Republican candidate for Congress in Florida has been charged with threatening to send a hit squad to kill an opponent in the race, federal authorities said Friday. William Braddock claimed in a recorded call with a local activist that he would send a Russian and Ukrainian hit squad to kill Anna Paulina Luna during the 2022 primary for a seat in the Clearwater area, the Department of Justice said. See you tomorrow. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com Its not uncommon for Donald Trumps campaign to describe the former president as a law and order candidate, his criminal background notwithstanding. But in practical terms, what exactly is the Republicans vision for implementing a law and order agenda? As it turns out, the GOP nominee shed some fresh light on this during his latest rally in Pennsylvania. Politico reported: Former President Donald Trump on Sunday called for one real rough, nasty and violent day of police retaliation in order to eradicate crime immediately. ... One rough hour and I mean real rough the word will get out and it will end immediately, you know? It will end immediately, Trump said. After the event, a Trump campaign spokesperson said, in reference to the radical idea, the former president was clearly just floating it in jest. Perhaps, though theres reason to believe otherwise. For one thing, hes made comments like these before: It was exactly one year ago this week, for example, when Trump suggested combatting shoplifting by having the police shoot shoplifters. This would, he put it at the time, immediately stop all of the pillaging and theft. For another, watching a video clip of the comments, he did not appear to be kidding. Trump on theft: If you had one really violent day.. .. One rough hour. And I mean real rough. The word will get out and it will end immediately. pic.twitter.com/DkOdULcV32 Acyn (@Acyn) September 29, 2024 In fact, during the same event, the Republican also endorsed the idea of police departments becoming extraordinarily rough as a way of combatting crime. Why should voters care? Right off the bat, theres no evidence to suggest extraordinarily rough police officers, engaging in nasty and violent behavior, will actually reduce crime. Just as notably, as the Politico report noted, Trump has a long history of endorsing police violence. It adds necessary context to the GOP candidates campaign recently claiming that Democrats are the party of violence. But lets also not lose sight of the broader conversation: As Election Day draws closer, Republican officials are practically begging the former president to focus less on personal attacks, and more on public policy. The candidates comments about one really violent day served as a timely reminder: Trump cant talk about public policy, and when he tries, the results are ridiculous. There are a variety of explanations for this, but at its root is an unfortunate assumption: As I argued in my first book, Trump genuinely seems to believe that every challenge can and should be addressed through unexamined, overly simplified answers that appeal to his version of common sense. The immigration system is broken? Build an ineffective wall. Hurricanes are approaching American soil? Hit them with nuclear weapons. There are too many shooters killing children in schools? Put more guns in the hands of school officials who might shoot back. A virus is killing hundreds of thousands of Americans? Try injecting people with disinfectants. Russia is waging a brutal and unnecessary war in Ukraine? Slap some Chinese flags on U.S. fighter jets and point them in Moscows direction. There are social justice protesters outside the White House? Shoot them in the legs. There are drug cartels in Mexico? Launch missiles into our allied neighbor. There was a terrorist attack on U.S. soil? Impose a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our countrys representatives can figure out what the hell is going on. Drugs are ravaging communities? If we simply executed drug dealers, the problem would go away. Some businesses are struggling with shoplifters? One real rough, nasty and violent day would end such crimes immediately. Drugs are ravaging communities? If we simply executed drug dealers, the problem would go away. In Trumps mind, theres no such thing as a complex challenge requiring a complex solution. Everything is easy. Every question has a simple answer, and every problem can be solved with a simple fix. Its post-policy politics at its most obvious: Trump doesnt want to be bothered with analyses and relevant details, which only leave him confused. He wants to bark out bumper-sticker-style proposals that generate applause at rallies. The next time you hear complaints about Kamala Harris not delving deeply enough into the details of her policy proposals, keep this in mind. This post updates our related earlier coverage. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com If you're not a regular court watcher, you'd be forgiven for having no idea who or even what the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York is. But chances are, you're familiar with at least one of his recent cases. That's because United States Attorney Damian Williams has brought two of the highest-profile criminal cases in the country at the same time. In a less than two-week span, Williams charged rapper and entertainment mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs with a racketeering conspiracy centered on his alleged sexual abuse and trafficking of multiple victims over nearly 15 years, and then, just days later, he indicted New York City Mayor Eric Adams, accusing him of an almost decade-long conspiracy centered on his alleged solicitation and acceptance of illegal campaign contributions and bribes in the form of free or heavily discounted luxury trips abroad, all in exchange for favors for the Turkish government. (Both defendants have pleaded not guilty in their respective cases. Adams is seeking to have the bribery charge against him dismissed.) U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams on July 16, 2024, in New York City. That Williams' office has managed to bring two cases of this magnitude so close in time probably won't surprise anyone who's traced his "compelling biography." His resume is one of legend: Born to Jamaican parents in Brooklyn before moving to Atlanta, Williams attended Harvard, Cambridge and Yale Law School. And then he began his ascent to the tippy-top of the legal elite: clerkships for now-Attorney General Merrick Garland, who was a federal appeals court judge at the time, and for then-Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens; a stint at Paul Weiss, one of the country's most prestigious and liberal-leaning law firms; and a coveted position as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, which encompasses Manhattan and the Bronx, along with six suburban and even exurban upstate counties. SDNY, as the office is known, is also occasionally referred to as the "Sovereign District" for its historic independence, as well as its size (Williams supervises around 220 lawyers), the quality of its lawyers, and the sophistication of its cases. But even in the nation's premier U.S. attorney's office, Williams distinguished himself, focusing on "white collar cases involving corruption in financial markets and politics" before becoming the chief of the securities unit. And he was still holding that civil-service role as opposed to retreating to a cushy law firm partnership when President Joe Biden nominated him to be U.S. attorney. Upon his confirmation, he became the first Black person in SDNY's then-234-year history to lead the office. Williams left no brass ring behind during his ascent. But if his background reads like an impeccable execution of "How to Succeed In Law By Being Brilliant and Personable," he now seems determined to leave his own mark on SDNY. How? By prosecuting major political and cultural figures for yearslong alleged crimes, irrespective of their power and party and perhaps more importantly, without other defendants. Sean "Diddy" Combs in New York City on Sept. 17, 2024. Take the Combs case, for example. The whole point of a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, case is to shut down an "enterprise" which may or may not be an actual business or organization through which multiple individuals, or "members," commit multiple crimes. Put another way, there can be no RICO charge without an allegation that several people participated in the alleged wrongdoing. But Combs is the sole defendant in his RICO case. And while one or more cooperating witnesses may already have pleaded guilty under seal, Adams the literal head of the city is similarly the only defendant named in his case despite the 57-page indictment describing, by function, more than 20 others involved in his alleged scheme without using their real names (e.g., "Adams Fundraiser," the "Promoter," the "Turkish Official," etc.). That Combs and Adams are the only defendants in their cases at least for now strikes me as deliberate, clever, methodical and ambitious, all words former colleagues have used to describe Williams. What makes me say that? First, charging Combs and Adams alone reflects an understanding of each man's empire and their respective holds over their alleged co-conspirators and witnesses, albeit for different reasons. The usual order of operation locate the little guys first, flip 'em, and repeat up the chain of command doesn't apply when most everyone involved is professionally and financially dependent on the kingpin or legitimately fears for their safety and security. And in such circumstances, key individuals might not come to the table until an indictment hits and they can see not only how serious prosecutors are about putting the boss away but can more concretely assess their own criminal exposure. Second, while accumulating cooperating witness (and/or victim) testimony is almost always desirable for trial, the increasingly electronic nature of our lives has transformed prosecutions and Williams' own roots in complex financial crimes reflect that evolution. As he investigated those cases, he likely scoured trading histories, phone call records, video surveillance and the like. My guess is that Williams knows well how a case can be built on and around the data available through seized devices and third-party subpoenas. And indeed, both the Combs and Adams indictments rely heavily on the kinds of evidence found on cell phones and computer servers: copious text messages and email trails, video and voice recordings, social media posts, airline tickets and hotel reservations. One former colleague of Williams told me she expected the Combs indictment to be detailed, but was surprised and impressed by just how much hard evidence SDNY already has. Of course, not everyone sees the Combs and Adams indictments as emblematic of a change in investigative methods or prosecution strategy, or of Williams' influence alone. Another former Williams colleague told me that from his vantage point, what links the two cases most is a focus on "big scalp hunting." A third former colleague suggested that the breadth and depth of evidence cited in the indictments might reflect not just Williams' vision but the investigative resourcefulness of Andrea Griswold, his former deputy who left SDNY in June. All three former prosecutors agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity as they have or may have business before the office. Either way, Damien Williams has come for the kings. Both defendants have signed up lawyers who actually try criminal cases, rather than resolving them through plea deals. Thankfully for Williams, SDNY rarely misses. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com Maddow Blog | Why it matters that Trump now wants to prosecute Harris, too As last week got underway, Donald Trump called for the prosecution of those who criticize judges and Supreme Court justices, despite the existence of the First Amendment and his own record of condemning judges and Supreme Court justices. A few days later, the former president held a bizarre news conference at which he, among other things, called for the prosecution of House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. He was, however, just getting started. On Friday, the Republican also called for Google to be criminally prosecuted, in response to some odd new conspiracy theory. On Saturday, Trump reiterated an earlier threat to prosecute anyone who cheats in the upcoming election. In a new twist, the GOP candidate added that he also wants to go back to the 2020 race and prosecute those he thinks cheated then, too. All of that, naturally, set the stage for Trump declaring a day later that he wants to see Vice President Kamala Harris prosecuted, too. He never got around to identifying any crimes that the Democrat mightve committed, but his Pennsylvania audience nevertheless responded in predictable fashion: The Republicans followers chanted, Lock her up! Trump fans are now chanting "lock her up!" about Kamala Harris pic.twitter.com/xL6bSMilWi Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 29, 2024 While all of this is wildly at odds with how American politics is supposed to work, especially at the national level, the speed and volume of Trumps prosecutorial offensive might make it seem irrelevant, if not a little silly. Indeed, at first blush, we appear to be dealing with a White House hopeful who makes new calls for criminal charges against assorted foes on a nearly daily basis. But it would be a mistake to simply shrug off the former presidents weird rhetoric as background noise because as The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend, Trump and his team have ambitious plans for federal law enforcement. Nothing has motivated or infuriated Trump more than his relationship with the agency. He is determined to remake it in ways that excite firebrands in his base by replacing career employees with loyalists, by ordering investigations into those who have prosecuted him and by enlisting the Justice Department on the conservative side of the latest culture wars. Its not exactly a secret that Trump, during his White House tenure, went to scandalous lengths to weaponize the Justice Department, launching desperate attempts in the hopes of getting federal prosecutors to file charges against people he didnt like. But theres every reason to believe a second Trump term would be vastly worse, in large because he and his team now know how and why their weaponization efforts fell short the first time. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com During his latest event in Wisconsin, Donald Trump apparently wanted to hold an outdoor event, but for security reasons, he had to move the rally indoors. This, naturally, led the former president to whine for a while about the tens of thousands of people his estimate, not mine who wouldnt be able to see his remarks in person. As part of the Republicans complaint, he added that he saw an incredible line of people. It looked like when Lindbergh landed in New York, Trump said to laughter. Do you remember that? He had, all the way to Broadway, the way they used to do it. Trump: But outside, we have thousands and thousands of people. 40 to 50,000 people at least out there.. It looked like when Lindbergh landed in New York., Do you remember that? Thousands of people.. theyre probably leaving and walking home pic.twitter.com/gFG8T4gq6T Acyn (@Acyn) September 28, 2024 To describe throngs of people, the GOP candidate couldve chosen from countless modern examples of large American crowds. But he instead referenced aviator Charles Lindbergh landing in New York in 1927 nearly two decades before Trump was born. All things considered, perhaps he shouldve picked a better example. For those unfamiliar with Lindberghs political beliefs, consider this Washington Post report published in 2016 and again in 2017. The most prominent of [Franklin Roosevelts] opponents were the founders of the America First Committee, formed in September 1940. The committee opposed fighting Nazism and proposed a well-armed America confined largely to the Western hemisphere. It soon afterward adopted the noted aviator and enthusiast of fascism Charles Lindbergh as their favored speaker. Lindbergh accepted a medal from Herman Goering in the name of the Fuehrer during a visit to Germany in 1938, and proudly wore the decoration. Around the same time, The Los Angeles Times noted that the America First Committee was marred by anti-Semitic and pro-fascist rhetoric. Its highest profile spokesman, Charles Lindbergh, blamed American Jews for pushing the country into war. Indeed, it was in September 1941 when Lindbergh appeared in Iowa and said, [T]he three most important groups which have been pressing this country toward war, are the British, the Jewish, and the Roosevelt Administration. Perhaps, given the broader circumstances, Trump would be better off avoiding Lindbergh references? This article was originally published on MSNBC.com By Martin Coulter LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union has picked a handful of artificial intelligence experts to decide how strictly businesses will have to comply with a raft of incoming regulations governing the technology. WHY ITS IMPORTANT On Monday, the European Commission will convene the first plenary meeting of working groups -- made up of external experts -- tasked with drawing up the AI Acts code of practice, which will spell out how exactly companies can comply with the wide-ranging set of laws. There are four working groups, focused on issues such as copyright and risk mitigation. Experts selected to oversee the groups include Canadian scientist and AI godfather Yoshua Bengio, former UK government policy adviser Nitarshan Rajkumar, and Marietje Schaake, a fellow at Stanford Universitys Cyber Policy Center. Big tech companies such as Google and Microsoft will be represented at the working groups, as will a number of nonprofit organisations and academic experts. While the code of practice will not be legally binding when it takes effect in 2024, it will provide firms with a checklist they can use to demonstrate their compliance. Any company claiming to follow the law while ignoring the code could face a legal challenge. CONTEXT AI companies are highly resistant to revealing the content their models have been trained on, describing the information as a trade secret that could give competitors an unfair advantage were it made public. While the AI Act's text says some companies will be obliged to provide detailed summaries of the data used to train their AI models, the code of practice is expected to make clearer just how detailed these summaries will need to be. One of the EUs four working groups will focus specifically on issues around transparency and copyright, and possibly result in companies effectively being forced to publish comprehensive datasets, leaving them vulnerable to untested legal challenges. In recent months, a number of prominent tech companies, including Google and OpenAI have faced lawsuits from creators claiming their content was improperly used to train their models. WHATS NEXT After Monday, the working groups will convene three more times before a final meeting in April, when they are expected to present the code of practice to the Commission. If accepted, companies compliance efforts will be measured against the code of practice from August 2025. (Reporting by Martin Coulter) (WKBN) Its time to hit the coffee trail once again. The Mahoning Valley Rescue Missions Coffee Trail kicked off on Monday for its third year. For just $25, you can buy a trail guide, which gets you a free coffee at the 23 participating locations across the Valley. The funds raised from this support the Rescue Missions efforts make a difference here in the Valley. At last check,119 trail guides were still available. President and CEO of the Rescue Mission John Muckridge says all the proceeds go toward helping those who stay at the mission, but most importantly, holding them accountable. We want people who come to the rescue mission to grow and stay when they move out and stay out of the Rescue Mission, so the money that is raised will help us with the operation of holding folks accountable to certain expectations where you cant be high, you cant be drunk if youre staying at the Rescue Mission, Muckridge said. If youre able to work and youre at the mission, were going to hold you accountable to go out and look for work. If you have a job and you have money coming in, were going to hold you accountable to saving your money. Muckridge also said the partnership between the mission and the coffee shops is what makes this event so great. The coffee shops are the ones who are donating all of this free coffee and some of the other things they offer on this trail guide; its just a great partnership, Muckridge said. Were trying to help drive business to them, and theyre clearly servants of those in the Valley here, the homeless population. Theyre willing to give of their hard-earned money to help the homeless population here. The Mocha House in downtown Youngstown and Trek Coffee House on the West Side are a couple of the shops taking part in the trail. First News spoke with Kalli Georgalos, part-owner of The Mocha House in the video above, and Levi Smith, owner of Trek Coffeehouse, in the video below. Austintowns Grizzly Bean Coffee House owner Matt Savon also spoke with First News on the shops participation in the trail. Owners of Juny Cafe in Austintown Danielle Putt and Mickael Sopel discussed their participation in the trail with First News. The coffee trail runs until November 27, the day before Thanksgiving. Get a trail guide 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 WKBN.com. Sen. Mattie Daughtry (D-Cumberland) and Rep. Kristen Cloutier (D-Lewiston) cheer supporters of paid family and medical leave who rallied at the Maine State House in May 2023. The bill was signed into law a month later. (Courtesy of Maine Paid Family Leave campaign) With public input on the rules for the states Paid Family and Medical Leave wrapping up this week, the Maine Department of Labor is hosting a series of webinars to inform workers and employers about the new benefit. Slated to begin in May 2026, paid family and medical leave will allow eligible public and private sector workers to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave for reasons such as illness, to care for a loved one or the birth of a new child. However, to fund the new program, employers and employees will begin contributing a portion of wages on Jan. 1, 2025. To prepare for those impending changes, the state is hosting four webinars throughout October to give an overview of the new law and discuss eligibility, premium amounts, wage reporting, job protections and more. The one-hour sessions will include time for attendees to ask questions. By ensuring everyone understands the timing, benefits and responsibilities of the law, we can make the transition smoother for all, creating a stronger, more resilient workforce and economy for our state, said Maine Department of Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman. Two of the webinars will be tailored for employees. They will be at 5 p.m. on Oct. 15 and Oct. 22. People interested in attending can register for the specific date theyd like to attend on Zoom. The other two will be specific to employers and take place at noon on Oct. 16 and Oct. 23. It is vital that employers with at least one employee become familiar with key dates, responsibilities, and rights under this very impactful law, said David Clough, Maine state director for the National Federation of Independent Business. The department is partnering with four statewide organizations to help host the meetings the Maine Immigrants Rights Coalition, the Maine Paid Leave Coalition, the National Federation of Independent Business and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce. The info sessions are part of a larger education campaign about the new program that will also include radio, television and social media advertisements. Launched Monday, the campaign called Its How We Care. Its Who We Are is designed to guide and support the 680,000 workers and 40,000 small employers that could be affected by the new program, the department said in a news release Monday. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Brooksville Elementary School is on a national list, along with four others schools in Maine, where enrollment declines coincide with underachievement. (Photo via Brooksville Elementary School) Brooksville Elementary School, a small school serving just 42 students on the Blue Hill peninsula, has faced enrollment challenges for years. Because of achievement and attendance metrics, the school has been designated by the Maine Department of Education to need the highest level of support, since its students seem to be struggling. And its on a national list, along with four others schools in Maine, where enrollment declines coincide with underachievement. The report by the national education nonprofit Thomas B. Fordham Institute identified 500 underperforming, under enrolled schools across the country, suggesting that school closure may be unavoidable if district administrators fail to address these intersectional challenges of declining enrollment and poor academic performance. Ultimately, waiting to close a school doesnt make pulling the Band-Aid off any less painful, the report states. It just means more wasted resources, less to go around, and more kids in desolate schools. But in Maine, where most schools that have struggling students are in remote, poor areas, the schools are considered essential service centers since students dont have other options if they were to close, according to Dawn McLaughlin, assistant superintendent of the school union that oversees Brooksville Elementary along with five other schools. In addition to Brooksville, the Maine schools highlighted by the report are Valley Rivers Middle School in Fort Kent, Walker Elementary School in Liberty, Dresden Elementary School and Mt. Vernon Elementary School. In small towns like ours, if they lose their school, they lose their sense. Its their community, you know, and its their identity, and its used for a lot of different community events, McLaughlin said. Its important to these small towns to keep their schools open. Its a part of their history and if they close, they risk losing their identity as a community. Despite enrollment and achievement challenges, the school union is not considering closing Brooksville Elementary. If they do, McLaughlin said, students dont have any other high-quality educational options to turn to. How enrollment and achievement are tied together Chronically low-performing schools, many of which may be grappling with systemic challenges and resource constraints, have been disproportionately affected by enrollment declines, according to the national report. These schools were more than twice as likely to experience enrollment declines exceeding 20%. The Maine Department of Education said it has not found any evidence of this correlation in Maine. Enrollment declines across the country have been common since the pandemic, with more than 5,100 schools losing students that they never recovered. Many of the 500 schools the report identified as both under enrolled and underperforming are also in poorer neighborhoods, the report found. The prevalence of middle and elementary schools that fall in this category is in line with other national reports that suggest younger students are struggling to make up for learning losses from the pandemic. All five such schools in Maine that the report identified are elementary or middle schools in rural parts of the state, located far from population centers. All of them have an enrollment of 100 students or fewer, and have experienced more than 20% decline between the 2019-20 and 2022-23 school years. We hope it can serve as a wake up call for superintendents, so they can know where to direct resources to help them improve, said report author Sofoklis Goulas, a fellow with the Brookings Institute, who analyzed data to compile the list of 500 schools. Because even a bad school serves some students, we do not know what the alternatives would be for the kids if a school closes. This is not an easy thing to do in most districts. A key recommendation of the report is that these schools need more attention within and from outside the district since theyre facing dual disadvantages, and it can prove hard for a school to address both enrollment and learning losses at the same time without extensive support, Goulas said. Improving academic performance is an economic challenge This year, students returned to schools as pandemic-era emergency funds expired, leaving them without some essential services that districts were using to aid academic recovery, McLaughlin said. Now, these schools are faced with an uphill battle of making up for learning losses with declining resources. The school union governing Brooksville had hired several long term substitute teachers and education technicians who were available to assist students that needed help in classrooms. But this year, those positions cant be funded without emergency assistance from the federal government, McLaughlin said. The schools also cant afford supplemental resources such as subscriptions to online learning tools and access to school nurses, she said. We were able to provide all of those things. And it was really nice, McLaughlin said. And now weve gone back to bare bones, basic programming. The report found that nationwide, low-performing schools also were more likely to be in high-poverty areas. How Maine determines underperforming schools Each state has different performance measures for determining tiers of support that schools neede, which they are federally required to do under the Every Student Succeeds Act, know as ESSA. To determine underperforming schools, the report picked all schools listed as needing Comprehensive Support & Intervention (CSI), which is the highest level of support for schools experiencing the most significant challenges. Maine Department of Educations criteria for determining tiers of support include factors such as chronic absenteeism, academic progress in English Language Arts and math, progress in English language proficiency for multilingual learners, and graduation rates. According to the ESSA dashboard, there are more than 100 schools across the country currently designated CSI schools, including the five the report mentioned. Maine is one of three states that identified the most schools as CSI along with Louisiana and West Virginia according to the Fordham report. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Kim Wyman, senior fellow with the Bipartisan Policy Center Elections Project, poses a question to attendees during a lecture titled Maintaining Ethics in Contentious Elections as part of the Dalmas H. Nelson Lecture Series held at the Hinckley Institute of Politics on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News Why do ethics in elections matter? Because if you dont believe in the institutions of our elections, you dont believe our elected officials are legitimate, and that undermines our countrys very foundation, said Kim Wyman speaking to students at the University of Utah. Wyman is a former Republican Secretary of State for the state of Washington, where she served from 2013 to 2021. Before that, she was a county elections officer for 12 years. She is currently a senior fellow with the Bipartisan Policy Center, the same center where former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt co-chairs the Prevention Initiative. The event, co-sponsored by the University of Utahs Division of Public Affairs and the Hinckley Institute of Politics, was part of the Dalmas H. Nelson lecture series. Wyman shared that, as an elections officer before the 2020 election, what she and other elections officers were most worried about was Russian hacking and election interference. That concern was not unjustified. According to Congressional testimony in late 2017, given by Sean Edgett, then Twitters acting general counsel, a total of 36,746 Russian accounts produced approximately 1.4 million tweets in connection to the 2016 U.S. elections, seeking to sow discord and division. But then, 2020 happened and it was so much more than just Russian interference. Wyman detailed five elections she believed changed everything, beginning in 2000. That was the year that, on election night, Al Gore was believed to have won the presidential election. But it all came down to Florida. Remember hanging chads? One of the results of the 2000 election was the 2002 passage of the Help America Vote Act or HAVA, which did away with punchcards and lever-based voting systems, created the Election Assistance Commission and established minimum election administration standards. The next election that shook up the electoral landscape was the 2004 governors race in Washington, between Democrat Christine Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi, the closest governors race in U.S. history. Election Day was Nov. 2, 2004, but the race wouldnt truly be over until June 7, after a judge ruled in Gregoires favor for the position. On Election Day, Rossi was ahead by 261 votes. A machine recount put him ahead by 42 votes. The Democratic party paid $730,000 for a hand recount, which first had Gregoire up by eight. She held on to the lead, and the final, official decision had her up by 129 votes. Wyman said that election was part of the impetus behind Washington becoming a vote-by-mail state. Then we have 2016, with its claims of election rigging, cybersecurity threats, voter suppression allegations, Russia trying to influence our elections, and faithless electors, or members of the Electoral College who cast their vote for someone other than their states winner. There were seven in 2016. In 2018, the Georgia gubernatorial election between Brian Kemp and Stacey Abrams was also an election that changed elections going forward. There were accusations of voter suppression, including through the use of an exact-match policy which required citizens names on their government ID to exactly match their names on the voter rolls. The exact match system placed more than 53,000 voter registrations disproportionately those of voters of color on hold before the 2018 elections because of discrepancies between government records, according to the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law. The law was repealed during the next legislative session. Abrams never did concede. And then we have 2020: the COVID-19 pandemic, a flood of misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation, voter suppression fears, postal service issues, election fraud allegations, refusal to accept the results of the election and of course, the Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021. A student asked what is making current elections so contentious and Wyman answered that it used to be when elections were very close. Now, however, contention arises from candidates refusing to accept the results of an election, even when its not close at all. Kim Wyman, senior fellow with the Bipartisan Policy Center Elections Project, speaks during a lecture titled Maintaining Ethics in Contentious Elections as part of the Dalmas H. Nelson Lecture Series held at the Hinckley Institute of Politics on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News Perhaps not surprisingly, Wyman had high praise for elections officers, running elections across nearly 9,000 jurisdictions nationwide. In spite of an increasing amount of hostility and threats, threats like the recent letter containing white powder sent to Lt. Gov. Deidre Hendersons office, signed by the United States Traitor Elimination Army, elections offices continue to do their jobs. She listed three countries specifically trying not only to disrupt our elections, but to make us hate each other: Russia, China and Iran. No matter who wins (in November), we are going to see ugliness and it will be exacerbated by our foreign adversaries, she said. Whether the disruptions come from overseas, from people who just want to be disruptors, or from cyber criminals, all of the churn is amplified by artificial intelligence. What should we do? Wyman did offer hope, as well as concrete suggestions, to the students in the room: First, she reminded them to verify the information on their voter registration, and to update, if necessary. Did they move or change their name? Double check that the voter registration reflects those changes. Become a poll worker by signing up with your county clerk. Use trusted sources for information about voting, like vote.utah.gov. Call out false information when you hear it. Tour an election office. Finally, dont forget to vote. Utah ballots have already been mailed to overseas voters. The rest will be mailed Oct. 15. A school year is 180 days, with no two days and no two schools exactly alike. The students differ, the teachers differ, school cultures differ. Here, our photographers find what makes our school days anything but ordinary, the people and programs and events that make a difference, school day in and school day out. Check back to lohud.com for our lohud in our schools feature each Monday. Civics education took on real-world meaning for seniors at Mamaroneck High School recently as students in Joe Libertis Original Civic Research and Action class used National Voter Registration Day, which falls on Sept. 17, as an opportunity to register to vote. New York state law allows citizens 16 and older to pre-register, making them automatically registered to vote when they turn 18 and are legally allowed to cast ballots. Beginning the previous day, students in social studies classes were given the opportunity to fill out voter registration forms, which were sent to the Westchester County Board of Elections, with the help of the League of Womens Voters. Sitting in a classroom decorated with reminders of the importance of civic engagement, senior Max Szuchman filled out his registration form, saying I think registering to vote is important because its a way to use your voice to make positive change. Voting is super important and can really have a huge difference in the country. Both Szuchman and his classmate Emma Post were among those in Libertis class who were actively encouraging their fellow seniors to register. Studies have shown that if you get involved in the election process earlier, then youll continue with it for the rest of your life, Post said. Liberti, who teaches the four-year-long civics program in which students begin in ninth grade and continue in though their senior year, expects that up to 300 students will fill out registration forms. He said that the course gives students the opportunity to not only learn about the roles and responsibilities of being a citizen, but to also go deeper than that. While today theyre registering to vote, which is an important component to being an active citizen, what were seeing here is the first step towards long-term engagement, where students get a chance to explore issues that are important to them. Its really an opportunity to do deep authentic civic education. This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Voter pre-registration available to eligible high school seniors in NY An Ohio man accused of attacking a band on stage last month has been indicted. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Joshua Baitt was indicted on charges of vandalism and assault, WOIO reported. Members of the Kings of Revelry band were on stage in Roaming Shores when Baitt rushed the stage, according to Ashtabula County Sheriffs deputies. TRENDING STORIES: Two band members were injured during the incident, WOIO reported. The band and audience members held down Baitt until deputies arrived. Baitt was taken to the hospital and then was released and arrested the next day. A GoFundMe page has been set up by friends of the band to help replace broken instruments and equipment. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] Man accused of shooting 2 Jewish men in Los Angeles pleads not guilty to hate crime and firearms charges Editors Note: Since this story was published, Jaime Tran was sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of hate crimes with intent to kill and two counts of using, carrying and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a violent crime. A man accused of shooting two Jewish men in Los Angeles in February pleaded not guilty Thursday to four federal charges against him in the case, a US attorneys office said. Jaime Tran, 28, was indicted by a federal grand jury last week on the charges two hate crime counts accusing him of willfully causing bodily injury and attempting to kill, and two counts of discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence. CNN has sought comment from Trans attorney. His trial is set for April 11, according to the US Attorneys Office for the Central District of California. Tran is accused of targeting and shooting two Jewish men as they were leaving religious services at separate Los Angeles synagogues in the same predominantly Jewish neighborhood on February 15 and 16. Both men were taken to hospitals after the shootings. According to a news release from federal prosecutors, Tran had a history of antisemitic statements, which escalated and (he) used increasingly violent language between August 2022 to December 2022. In one case, he repeatedly called and texted a former classmate with hateful messages, one of which said, Someone is going to kill you, Jew, prosecutors allege. It is unclear whether Tran had been charged previously for the alleged messages. Prosecutors also stated that if Tran is convicted, they will seek forfeiture of his firearms a Kahr Arms pistol and an AK-style Zastava rifle as part of his sentence, court documents show. According to prosecutors, if Tran is convicted he would face a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison for each hate crime count. A firearms conviction would bring a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years with a possible maximum sentence of life in prison. Tran was taken into federal custody after being arrested by police February 17 in Riverside County, about an hours drive east of Los Angeles, where he previously resided, authorities said. Detectives found several pieces of evidence, including guns, the Los Angeles Police Department said. Prosecutors did not identify the two victims in the indictment. At the time of the shootings, both were dressed in a manner that visibly identified their Jewish faith as they wore black coats and head coverings, US Attorney Martin Estrada said previously. The shootings came amid a rise in antisemitic violence nationwide. According to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitic attacks reached a record high in the US in 2021 up 34% from 2020. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Widespread disorder broke out in Bristol on 3 August [Getty Images] A man has admitted assaulting an emergency worker during unrest in Bristol. Terrell Morris, 31, of Horfield, appeared at Bristol Magistrates' Court on Friday where he pleaded guilty to affray and the assault. Avon and Somerset Police said 51 people have been arrested and 42 charged in connection with the disorder, which happened when two groups of protesters gathered near Castle Park on 3 August. Morris will be sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on 18 October. Follow BBC Bristol on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630. Related Internet Links EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) A 28-year-old man was arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on a revocation warrant on an active personal recognizance bond on Aug. 30 in East El Paso, according to the El Paso County Constables Office Precinct Three. Michael Lewis Morton, 28, was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon with a $100,000 bond, according to the Constables Office. The Constables Office said Morton was taken into custody at the 10100 block of Palmetto and booked into the El Paso County Jail with no further 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 KTSM 9 News. By Danilo Masoni MILAN (Reuters) - European auto stocks tumbled almost 4% on Monday after a warning from Stellantis, Volkswagen and Aston rekindled concerns over the sector's earnings outlook in a year marred by slowing demand and aggressive Chinese competition. The rout wiped off nearly $10 billion from the market value of the STOXX Auto & Parts index with Stellantis, listed in Paris and Milan, falling 14% after slashing forecasts and saying it would burn more cash than initially expected. Stellantis, Europe's No. 5 carmaker by market value and owner of the Chrysler, Jeep, Fiat, Citroen and Peugeot brands, cited worsening industry trends, higher costs to overhaul its U.S. business and Chinese competition on electric vehicles. Citi expected sector weakness to persist over the coming weeks, and said a recovery in Stellantis looked unlikely until 2025, when the European-American carmaker resets its inventory, leading to more favourable comparisons. "We think current absolute and relative... weakness continues into October before the annual Nov-Jan cyclical rally, likely supported by global rate cuts accelerating," Citi analyst Harald Hendrikse said in a note. Analysts forecast a near 14% earnings drop in 2024, marking a reversal from the years following the pandemic, when supply chain disruptions allowed carmakers to raise prices. Separately on Friday, Germany's Volkswagen, which is clashing with trade unions over unprecedented plans to shut factories on its home turf, cut its annual outlook for the second time in less than three months. Also, Aston Martin on Monday warned of lower annual core profit and cut its forecast for production volumes on supply chain disruptions and weakness in China. By 0928 GMT, Volkswagen shares were down 2.6% in Frankfurt, while Aston Martin in London sank 20%. In Paris, Renault was down around 6%, while the broader STOXX 600 eased by just 0.6%. China stocks surged on Monday as investors welcomed the latest raft of economic stimulus measures from Beijing, but those steps failed to bolster sentiment towards European auto shares. Earlier this month, Mercedes-Benz and BMW both downgraded their forecasts as a result of weakening demand in China, the world's biggest car market. Concerns over falling earnings have increased pressure on valuations, with the sector now trading at a near-record discount of 60% to the market based on a price-to-earning metric, according to LSEG Datastream estimates. Despite rock-bottom valuations, autos are the most underweighted sector among regional fund managers overseeing $284 billion, a BofA survey this month showed. (Reporting by Danilo Masoni; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe) BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) A Buffalo man is facing charges after he allegedly made a threat against Canisius High School on Friday, police said Monday. Adam Hovey, 54, is accused of calling the school and leaving a threatening message. He was arrested on the same day he made the call after a risk protection order was granted. Albion student faces felony charge after school threat via Snapchat Police also said Monday that an investigation determined that he also left a threatening message at the school on Aug. 29. He is charged with making a terroristic threat, a felony, and making a threat of mass harm, a misdemeanor. Latest Local News Aidan Joly joined the News 4 staff in 2022. He is a graduate of Canisius College. You can 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 News 4 Buffalo. ST. LOUIS One man is in custody following an overnight shooting in south St. Louis. According to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Departments probable cause statement, the shooting happened just before 3 a.m. in the 2800 block of Ohio Avenue in the citys Benton Park West neighborhood. Officers arrived to find a male victim whod been shot multiple times. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said investigators reviewed surveillance footage of the shooting. The video shows the victim hunched over in pain, holding his arm. After approximately 15 seconds, the victim is then shot in the head. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News Police said Roger D. Huddleston, 69, can be seen walking over to the victim and kicking their body. Huddleston allegedly admitted to the shooting and said the victim had no longer posed a threat to him prior to the fatal shot. Police have not yet provided additional information about what led up to the shooting. The St. Louis Circuit Attorneys Office charged Huddleston with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. Huddleston was jailed without bond until hes arraigned in court. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. A mans clothes caught on fire after he was hit by a car during a sideshow on Sunday in Vallejo, California, a video shows. The video shows him screaming in pain on the ground. Vallejo police were investigating several sideshows over the weekend, according to news reports. The driver of a yellow Mustang spun in circles before crashing into pedestrians at Sonoma Boulevard and Lemon Street, Fox KTVU reported. Another sideshow at BW Williams and Lewis Brown drives is where a man was seen running away with his clothes on fire after he was hit by a car, the Bay Area television station reported. A hospital reported that a man was being treated for an injury sustained during a sideshow, according to KTVU. Meanwhile, ABC7 News reported that neighbors are fed up with the chaos of sideshows near their homes. Had I known they were doing sideshows, I would have never moved here, Patricia Williams told the news station. The home of Patricia and Paul Williams was damaged when spectators at the sideshow started to climb onto their roof to see the car stunts, according to photos sent to ABC7 News. Governor Gavin Newsom signs bills enhancing penalties for sideshows Did an Amazon truck join a Sacramento sideshow? Video goes viral after citys deadly weekend Man critically injured after crashing into pole in East Providence EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) A man is in critical condition after crashing into a pole in East Providence Sunday evening. Police said this happened around 5:05 p.m. on Bullocks Point Avenue. The man may have had a medical episode before the crash, according to police. He was brought to Rhode Island Hospital. NEXT: Two injured after boating accident in North Kingstown 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 Florida sailor and his beloved Golden Retriever were rescued from certain doom after the boat on which they were living sank amidst Hurricane Helenes squall. Earl Barcome, 64, moved onto the 36-foot sailboat with his 10-year-old companion, Gunn, about a year ago after he ended a 30-year relationship on land, NBC affiliate WBBH reported. It was the perfect boat to start a new chapter, Barcome's sister, Shirley, said on a GoFundMe page, even if he had to overload his credit cards to complete the purchase. It was the culmination of a lifelong dream, offering him solace and purpose after a difficult chapter in his life, Shirley explained. As Helene loomed over Florida, Barcome planned to head for a protected section of Sanibel Island. Unfortunately, his boats motor failed during the journey. Shortly thereafter, the bilge pump exploded and the vessel began filling with water which quickly rose to his chest. It was moving mountains of water. Every which way you turn. And these waves were just everywhere you look, Barcome told WBBH. But he was determined to make it out of the calamity alive. I said, Gunn, this isnt the day were going to die, he recalled. Im calling the Coast Guard. The U.S. Coast Guard dispatched rescue swimmers from the USCG Air Station post in Clearwater, who were able to locate Barcome and his companion. Dramatic footage of the rescue shows the swimmers rappelling into the water as waves crash around them. He falls into the water and just power swims to my boat, Barcome recalled. And hes like, I need you guys [off the boat] now.' Though he and Gunn were rescued without injury, Barcome tragically had to watch his beloved home sink into the ocean. Earl has lost everything, his sister wrote. With no funds and his dream shattered, rebuilding from this tragedy feels impossible without help. But Barcome isn't wasting anytime focusing on what he lost. I have a new understanding. And thats a beautiful thing, he said. The realization that life is a little more important was ... it was a new day. And, what do I got to complain about? I got a shirt and pants. So what, what comes next? he reflected. Time will tell, you know. Man Fearing the Worst Hikes 11 Miles to Parents' Home After Hurricane Helene, and Finds Them Alive: 'So Relieved' I'm still processing it all, Sam Perkins wrote on Facebook Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Residents make phone calls in their neighborhood after heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on Sept. 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina Sam Perkins of Charlotte, N.C., hadn't heard from his parents, who are in their 70s, for 48 hours in the wake of Hurricane Helene Due to the flooding damage. Perkins got to a point where he had to park his car and walked 11 miles and 2,200 feet high to his parents' home I just hugged them, cried, filled them in on all the news they were missing," he told CNN Concerned about the welfare of his parents amid the deadly devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, a North Carolina man hiked 11 miles and hundreds of feet high to their home to make sure they were okay. In a Facebook post shared on Sunday, Sept. 29, Sam Perkins, of Charlotte, wrote about not having heard from his parents in 48 hours as Helene wreaked havoc on his state so far claiming at least 35 lives in Buncombe County, per ABC affiliate WLOS. I was drowning in worry, Perkins wrote. My parents live in an absolute gem of the NC mountains the Little Switzerland, Spruce Pine, Burnsville area halfway between Asheville [part of Buncombe County] and Boone. Under normal circumstances, it's pleasantly very isolated. Related: Hurricane Ian Brought Couple Together. Now Engaged, They Just Weathered Hurricane Helene Side by Side (Exclusive) Perkins said he discovered that the storm damaged roads, homes and utility networks, resulting in the area being cut off from resources at all points. I tried multiple routes to drive up but had to settle on parking in Marion at the base of a closed road (Hwys 221/226), he added, and hiking 11 miles and 2,200 feet to find my parents thankfully ok but surrounded by devastation. Despite his folks being completely trapped in their home, he wrote, I have never been so relieved to see anyone ok. Related: Over 50 People Trapped on Tennessee Hospital Roof by Hurricane Helene Floodwaters Rescued Perkins also described the harrowing scenes he witnessed, including failing roads, fallen trees, rising waters and people who were trapped in both directions of the highway. I'm still processing it all, Perkins continued on Facebook. I've never seen anything like it. Power is a couple weeks out. I cannot fathom how long it will take DOT [Department of Transportation] to repair the curvy roads that hug steep mountainsides with the most amazing views. 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. Most of all, I want my parents to have the same basic needs they always provided me food, water, shelter (house is mostly ok) and the ability to explore! he added. But they can't even leave their home right now. The steep part of their gravel road has braided channels only 18" wide but up to 5' deep from rushing water. Related: 4-Year-Old Girl and a Firefighter Among Hurricane Helene Victims Identified, as Death Toll Continues to Rise Most of all, I want my parents to have the same basic needs they always provided me food, water, shelter (house is mostly ok) and the ability to explore! he added. But they can't even leave their home right now. The steep part of their gravel road has braided channels only 18" wide but up to 5' deep from rushing water. It's just a waiting game now, Perkins said on Facebook. If you are or you have family in the mountains, I feel for you. Know that crews are chipping away. He opened up about finding his parents, who are in their 70s, in an interview with CNN. I just hugged them, cried, filled them in on all the news they were missing, he told the outlet. Walked around the property, helped them decide how to approach some challenges. Not wanting to use up his parents supplies, Perkins told the outlet that he headed back down and trekked back. He later found a ride from someone in the area on an unaffected road. PEOPLE contacted Perkins for additional comment on Monday, Sept. 30. North Carolina is just one of several states in the southeastern United States including Florida, South Carolina and Georgia that experienced Helenes wrath last week. As of Monday, Sept. 30, the death toll from the storm has reached at least 107 people, per an Associated Press tally. Related: Florida Student, 21, Goes Viral Documenting How She Sheltered on Campus from Hurricane Helene Throughout Western North Carolina, hundreds of residents are still without water and power, ABC affiliate WLOS. At least 35 people have died in Buncombe County, per the report. Additionally, about 600 people in the county remain missing, as reported by the AP and ABC News. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has been sharing updates on X about the rescue and recovery efforts in his state. North Carolina is strong and our first responders are the best in the nation, Cooper said in a Sunday, Sept. 29, statement. I am thankful for their hard work and for risking their lives to protect all North Carolinians. This is an unprecedented tragedy that requires an unprecedented response. President Joe Biden approved disaster declarations for a number of the affected states, including North Carolina, that will make federal funding available. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Man hits wolf with snowmobile, tapes its mouth shut and takes it to bar and none of it is illegal Wolves may be killed without limit in many regions - Richard Hamilton Smith/Corbis Documentary RF A man struck a wolf with a snowmobile, taped the injured animals mouth shut and brought it into a bar, prompting moves to tighten Wyomings animal cruelty laws. Wyomings animal cruelty law does not currently apply to predators such as wolves. Under draft legislation that will be put in front of a legislative committee on Monday, people would still be able to intentionally run over wolves, but only if they use all reasonable efforts to kill it, either on impact or shortly afterwards. The bill does not specify how a surviving wolf is to be killed after it is intentionally struck. The fate of the wolf struck last winter in western Wyoming prompted scrutiny of the states policies. The animal was pictured lying on a bar floor in Sublette County and led to calls to boycott Wyomings $4.8 billion-a-year (3.6 million) tourism industry centred on Yellowstone and Grand Teton national park prime wolf habitats. This has had little effect, with Yellowstone on track for one of its busiest summer seasons on record. Yellowstone National Park is a major tourist attraction for Wyoming - Jacob W Frank/National Park Service via AP, File Wildlife campaigners have pushed back against reluctance in the ranching state to change laws written after long negotiations to remove federal protection for the species. Further changes to the draft bill may be in the works, but the proposal being discussed on Monday would not change much, according to Kristin Combs, the executive director of Wyoming Wildlife Advocates. Everybody is against torturing animals. There is not a person Ive come across so far that has said: Yes, I want to continue to do that, Ms Combs said on Friday. The man who hit the wolf and killed it after showing it off paid a $250 fine for illegal possession of wildlife, but did not face tougher charges. Investigators in Sublette County said their inquiries into the wolf incident have stalled because witnesses refuse to talk. On Friday, Clayton Melinkovich, the county attorney, said by email that the case remained under investigation and he could not comment on its details. Killings unreported How often wolves in Wyoming are intentionally run over for a quick death or otherwise is unknown. Such killings do not have to be reported and recorded cases such as the Sublette County incident are rare. The case brought fresh attention to Wyomings policies for killing wolves, which are the least restrictive of any state where the animals roam. Wolves kill sheep, cattle and game animals, making them unpopular throughout the rural country of ranchers and hunters. Across the region, state laws seek to keep the predators from proliferating outside of the mountainous Yellowstone ecosystem and into other areas where ranchers run cattle and sheep. In most of the US, wolves are federally protected as an endangered or threatened species, but not in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, where they are hunted and trapped under state laws and regulations. In Wyoming, wolves may be killed without limit in 85 per cent of the state outside the Yellowstone region. Though few people in Wyoming have spoken out in favour of what happened to the wolf, officials have been reluctant to change the law to discourage mistreatment. Jim Magagna with the Wyoming Stock Growers Association condemned what happened, but called it an isolated incident unrelated to the states wolf management laws. 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. YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) A man arrested in December with three guns by Warren police has been indicted on a federal firearm charge. Read next: YPD: Man found outside South Side bar with gun said he was waiting to get someone An indictment was unsealed today in the U.S. Northern District Court of Ohio charging Christopher Scott, 35, of Warren, with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The indictment was issued Sept. 19 and unsealed Monday following Scotts arrest. He is expected to be arraigned Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Carmen E, Henderson, according to court records. The charge stems from a Dec. 20 arrest by Warren police who were answering a suspicious vehicle call at Parkman Road SE and Oak Street. Scott was wearing an ankle monitor when police took him into custody. Inside the car he was driving, police said they found three semiautomatic handguns, crack cocaine, heroin and $250 cash. Scott is not allowed to have a gun because of 2012 convictions of aggravated burglary and felonious assault in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 man has been sentenced to four-and-half years in prison, after being convicted of killing Paul Carter, who died after being punched at a folk club. Gary John Selwood punched Mr Carter, 69, in an attack at Whitchurch Folk House in East Dundry Road, Bristol, on the evening of 27 February 2022. Mr Carter fell backwards and hit his head on the corner of some furniture, suffered a bleed to the brain and died on 16 April at Southmead Hospital. Judge Julian Lambert told Bristol Crown Court Selwood had shown no remorse for his actions and jailed him for manslaughter. 'Vicious attack' Selwood was arrested the day after the incident in Bedminster, Bristol on suspicion of assault, before being released under investigation. He later moved to France, where he was arrested in Aulnay in March 2024 and extradited back to the UK by specialist officers. Det Insp Mark Newbury, of the Major Crime Investigation Team, said: This has been an extremely distressing time for Pauls family and they remain firmly in our thoughts. Well continue to give them any support they need through a specialist family liaison officer. Gary Selwood carried out a vicious attack on Paul at Whitchurch Folk House in 2022. Just one punch was enough to cause horrific injuries, resulting in Paul spending almost two months in hospital before needlessly losing his life. Those who engage in violent acts need to take heed - the potential consequences of this behaviour can be devastating and life-changing. Follow BBC Bristol on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630. SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) One man is dead after a fiery crash on Highway 75 Friday night. According to an email from the Woodbury County Sheriffs Office, the crash happened at around 10:50 p.m. on the 2800 block of Highway 75. According to the release, a juvenile male was heading south on Highway 75 when David Narciso crossed the center line and hit the juvenile head-on. Officials said that the juvenile was able to get out of their vehicle and had minor injuries. They were taken to a local hospital for treatment. 4 juveniles, 1 adult hospitalized after Dixon County crash Narciso was trapped in his vehicle which had caught fire. Narciso sustained severe injuries and was taken to a local hospital for treatment where he later died. The incident is still under investigation and officials believe alcohol may have been a factor in the crash. The Woodbury County Sheriffs Office was assisted by the Iowa State Patrol and Salix EMS. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Image source: Getty Images Now that it's officially fall, it's time for a few annual traditions, like Thanksgiving, the pumpkin spice latte, and, of course, flu shots. If you're a Costco member, you have one more option for your flu and COVID-19 vaccine this year: Costco. The pharmacy offers a wide range of vaccines all year round, as well as discounts for members who need to pay cash. But should you get your flu vaccine at Costco? I don't see why not! What vaccines does Costco offer? This time of year you have a lot of options for vaccinations, ranging from clinics at work to community clinics and, of course, other commercial pharmacies. But the nice thing about getting your flu vaccine at Costco is that you can also get other vaccines there, saving you both time and money. Costco offers a pretty wide range of vaccines and really decent cash prices if your insurance isn't prepared to cover a particular vaccination you need, or you don't have adequate insurance coverage to begin with. Costco discloses prices on its website, so you can budget for them ahead of time. You will need a Costco Member Prescription Discount card to get the best value. Here's a list of some of the most common vaccines people are looking for right now, and Costco's price per dose: Seasonal flu: The standard three-strain flu shot is available for $19.99 and the shot formulated for seniors and those with compromised immune systems is $59.99. COVID-19: Costco offers all three COVID boosters. So, whether you're team Pfizer, Moderna, or Novovax, you're covered for $139.99. Pneumonia: Are you looking for Vaxneuvance, Pneumovax23, or Prevnar 20 to help prevent pneumonia this winter? Costco offers Vaxneuvance for $225.79, Pneumovax23 for $118.99, and Prevnar20 for $258.99. Tetanus, Diphtheria, Whooping cough (Tdap): One shot, three preventatives, for just $53.49. RSV: RSV is yet another respiratory illness that's no fun at all. Costco will protect you with Abrysvo or Arexvy vaccines for $319.99. Shingles: Adults over 50 years of age or those with compromised immune systems are at risk for shingles if they've had chicken pox in their lives. You can protect yourself for $202.99. HPV: You can get the Gardasil 9 vaccine at Costco for just $269.99, if you're eligible. What you need to get your vaccines at Costco Costco makes it super easy to get your vaccines at its pharmacy during flu season, or any time of the year. Simply download the Costco mobile app and search for the pharmacy. There, you'll find the immunization consent form that you'll need to bring with you, as well as an online scheduler so you can book your appointment right away. Your local Costco may allow walk-in appointments if the pharmacy isn't busy, but you shouldn't count on that. Costco is a hopping place, and betting against it being busy is never a good idea. You'll also need your insurance card, if you have one, a form of payment, and identification. Remember, Costco can't bill your insurance without your insurance information, so it's really important to bring that. Lastly, bring a book or at least a fully charged smartphone, because you'll be asked to wait after your vaccinations to ensure that you don't have any serious allergic reactions. It's important to wait during the whole window so you have help available in case something were to go wrong. Why choose Costco for your vaccines? With COVID-19 and flu in the air, vaccines are more important than ever, and it's lovely that Costco has so many on offer. While you're at the store picking up your groceries or shopping for a new ladder, you can pop into the pharmacy and get the coverage you need for the whole winter season and beyond. If you have insurance, your shots are likely to be free, and Costco will file all the necessary paperwork for you, making it easy, too. With over 1 million vaccines already given to Costco members, your local Costco pharmacy combines experience with convenience, every single day of the week. Top credit card to use at Costco (and everywhere else!) We love versatile credit cards that offer huge rewards everywhere, including Costco! This card is a standout among America's favorite credit cards because it offers perhaps the easiest $200 cash bonus you could ever earn and an unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases, even when you shop at Costco. Add on the competitive 0% interest period and it's no wonder we awarded this card Best No Annual Fee Credit Card. Click here to read our full review for free and apply before the $200 welcome bonus offer ends! We're firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Kristi Waterworth has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Should You Get Your Flu Vaccine at Costco? was originally published by The Motley Fool ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) The Winnebago County Coroner has identified 30-year-old Randy Johnson, of Rockford, as the man killed in a shooting at the MaxMart convenience store on Friday night. According to the Rockford Police Department, officials responded to the MaxMart, at 922 Kilburn Avenue, around 10:08 p.m. and found two men suffering from gunshot wounds. Witnesses told authorities an argument was taking place between the suspect and a group of people. Police said Murphy Doss, 51, opened fire at the two victims and then fled the scene. Photo: Winnebago County Jail He was arrested a short time later at the Belvidere Oasis by the Illinois State Police. The coroner said Johnson died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds. The condition of the other victim, 30, is unknown. Doss is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 has to pay back $2,000 combined to Charlotte Dicks, Nordstrom Rack from larce conviction: DA CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) The Mecklenburg District Attorneys Office convicted 27 defendants during the week of Sept. 16. These were part of the offices Felony Crimes Team. Among the most prominent charges were guilty pleas for: Travis Cuthbertson, 34, of Harrisburg pled guilty to: 10 counts of felony larceny and Habitual larceny. He was sentenced to two concurrent sentences of 15-27 months in prison. The defendant was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,074.24 to Nordstrom Rack and $929.46 to DICKs Sporting Goods. Charlotte Hornets Foundation to donate $1M to Hurricane Helene disaster relief Walter Lee, 48, of Huntersville, pled guilty to: Level I trafficking in opium or heroin and Misdemeanor fleeing to elude arrest. He was sentenced to 70-93 months in prison. Darisha McClendon, 34, of Carson, California, pled guilty to: Level II trafficking in methamphetamine and Level II trafficking in opium or heroin. She was sentenced to 90-120 months in prison. Zion Wright, 19, of Charlotte, pled guilty to: Attempted level I trafficking in fentanyl Possession with the intent to sell or deliver cocaine, and Assault on a company or campus police officer. He was sentenced to 25-49 months in prison for the first two charges. For the third charge, he was sentenced to 75 days in jail; that sentence was suspended pending his successful completion of 18 months of supervised probation. Jacari Campbell, 22, of Charlotte, pled guilty to: Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon He was sentenced to 15-27 months in prison. Campbell also admitted to violating the terms of his probation for a previous conviction. The judge revoked that probation and activated his suspended sentence of 12-24 months. That sentence will run concurrent to the new one. The proceedings were held before Hon. Carla N. Archie, Superior Court Judge. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. CLEVELAND (WJW) A man found guilty of killing four people in a Cleveland home will spend the rest of his life in prison. Terrell Silver, 35, was convicted earlier this month in the murders that took place in 2019. List: 47 more Big Lots stores to close, including in NE Ohio Silver was found guilty of seven counts of aggravated murder, four counts of murder, five counts of felonious assault, one count of attempted murder and one count of attempted burglary. FOX 8 photo FOX 8 photo Terrell Silver Prosecutors said Silver was in a home with the four victims near East 144th St. and Kinsman Rd. in Cleveland sometime between Sept. 7, 2019, and Sept. 21, 2019. The decomposing bodies of the victims were discovered by officers with the Cleveland Division of Police on Sept. 21, 2019. Dirty soda: Regularly consuming the trendy drink is risky, dietitian says The victims were identified as 20-year-old Dejuan Damar Willis, 19-year-old Aiyanna Quitman, 23-year-old Christopher Monroe and 18-year-old Jazmyne Lawson. Aiyannas mother, Tammy Quitman, was one of several people who gave a victim impact statement ahead of the sentencing. This has been the most difficult 5 years of my life, Tammy Quitman said. I will never be the same, she said about the loss. I will never have the honor of taking my daughter to a bridal shop for a wedding dress, Quitman told the court. Vermilion man charged with reckless homicide after wife dies by suicide You have destroyed four families and five lives and for what? she said in an emotional statement. Silver also addressed the court. I sincerely send my condolencesI am not responsible for these crimes, Silver said. Silver continued to declare his innocence in a lengthy statement. He later argued with the judge about witnesses in the case. That killer was you. That was what the jury found, and that is what I am sentencing you on, the judge told Silver. The judge said she had sentenced him in two other cases in the past. You killed four people and an unborn baby, the judge said. She sentenced Silver to five terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole on the murders. He was also sentenced to more than two decades on other charges. Consecutive prison terms are necessary to punish you and protect the public, the judge told Silver. Consecutive terms mean each sentence is served one after the other. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Gunman who shot 2 Jewish men in hate-motivated reign of terror gets 35 years in prison A man who shot two Jewish men in a series of hate-motivated crimes that gripped the city of Los Angeles and the Pico-Robertson neighborhood has been sentenced to 35 years in prison. Jaime Tran, 30, previously of Riverside, pleaded guilty in June to two counts of hate crimes with the intent to kill and two counts of using a firearm in a violent crime. On Monday, the United States Department of Justice announced he would serve the next three decades in federal prison. Tran shot and wounded two Jewish men in February 2023 as they left religious services in the Pico-Robertson area, a historic neighborhood with among the highest density of Jewish citizens in the country. Pico-Robertson Shooting Victim The first shooting happened on the morning of Feb. 13, 2023, when Tran searched the internet to locate a Kosher market, hoping to find a Jewish person to shoot and kill. He drove to Pico-Robertson and approached a man wearing a yarmulke who was leaving a synagogue. From close range, Tran shot the man, narrowly missing his spine, and then fled the scene, the DOJ said. The following morning, Tran returned to the same neighborhood where he shot another man wearing a yarmulke as he also left a synagogue. Tran shot that man at close range as he crossed the street. The shootings caused widespread fear and concern within the Los Angeles Jewish community, prompting cautionary messages from Jewish leaders and criticism of social medias role in spreading rising antisemitic sentiment. Positively, religious leaders from various faiths voiced their support for those affected and living in fear during Trans two-day crime spree. Police increased patrols in Pico-Robertson and other historically Jewish neighborhoods, and Los Angeles officials called for calm and vowed that the perpetrator would be apprehended. Both of Trans victims were able to get a look at their assailant and witnesses were able to provide authorities with a description of the getaway vehicle used. Using those witness statements and security footage from the scene, authorities positively identified the vehicle used in both shootings and were able to trace the registration to Tran, who was eventually tracked down to the Palm Springs. Police in Cathedral City responded to reports of shots fired and located Tran with an AK-style firearm and a handgun near the wanted vehicle. Tran told arresting officers he was practicing shooting his gun. In sentencing documents, prosecutors argued that Trans campaign of terror likely wouldve continued had he not been apprehended the evening of the second shooting. Following his arrest, the extent of Trans obsession with Judaism and antisemitism came into view. In 2018, Tran left graduate school after making antisemitic comments about other students. Those verbal attacks became increasingly violent, officials said, with him eventually email former classmates he suspected of being Jewish and wishing them harm. Messages included threats including, I want you dead, Jew, and Someone is going to kill you, Jew. In dozens of emails sent in 2022, Tran emailed former classmates antisemitic literature and described Jews as primitive and blamed them for lost revenue from the COVID-19 pandemic. A self-described ticking time bomb, Tran also maintained social media accounts with the handle k1llalljews, the DOJ said. Days prior to the first shooting, Tran posted a message online that read: its time to kill all Jews. Due to previous mental health holds, Tran was prohibited from purchasing any firearms but in January 2023, he asked another person in Phoenix to buy two guns for him, paying them approximately $1,500, officials said. That unidentified person was eventually identified and has pleaded guilty in Arizona for illegally selling the firearms used in the shootings. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland called Trans actions vile and decried antisemitic hatred as endangering the safety of individuals and of entire communities. Allowing such crimes to go unchecked endangers the foundation of our democracy itself, Garland said. No Jewish person in America should have to fear that any sign of their identity will make them the victim of a hate crime. Martin Estrada, U.S. Attorney for the Central Division of California, said he hoped the sentence handed down Monday sends a strong message to the community regarding antisemitism and hate. Targeting people for death based solely on their religious and ethnic background brings back memories of the darkest chapters in human history, Estrada said. For those who engage in hate crimes, the punishment will be severe. The violent shooting spree was investigated by both the FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department, with substantial assistance from local law enforcement partners, the DOJ said. Following the news of Trans sentencing, Jeffrey I. Abrams, regional director of Anti-Defamation League Los Angeles, released a statement Monday that reads in part, The Jewish community can rest a bit easier knowing that the perpetrator is being held accountable for his hateful actions. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. LOS ANGELES, CA A man who shot two Jewish men as they were leaving synagogues in Los Angeles less than 24 hours apart last year was sentenced Monday to 35 years in federal prison. Jaime Tran, 30, pleaded guilty in June to two counts of hate crimes with intent to kill and two counts of using, carrying and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. "After years of spewing antisemitic vitriol, the defendant planned and carried out a two-day attack attempting to murder Jews leaving synagogue in Los Angeles," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. On the morning of Feb. 15, 2023, Tran admitted he used the internet to research areas with a kosher market and planned to shoot someone near such a market because he believed there would be Jewish people in the area, according to prosecutors. He later drove to LA's Pico-Robertson neighborhood and shot a Jewish man who was wearing a yarmulke as he was leaving services at a synagogue. He shot the man at close range in the back, intending to kill him, before driving away, prosecutors said. The next morning Tran returned to Pico-Robertson and shot a second Jewish man, who was also wearing a yarmulke and leaving a synagogue. He shot the man at close range, intending to kill him, as he crossed the street. He then left the scene, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Tran was arrested the following day and has remained in custody since. Both victims survived the shootings. Jewish Federation Los Angeles issued a statement declaring it is "pleased that justice will be served in the horrific antisemitic hate crime committed against two local Jewish community members a violent act which shook our community." Tran admitted to a history of espousing antisemitic beliefs and making violent threats toward Jewish people. In 2018, he left dental school after making hate-filled statements about other students whom he perceived to be Jewish, prosecutors said. His antisemitic statements escalated in 2022. He repeatedly called and texted a former classmate with messages such as "I want you dead, Jew. Someone is going to kill you, Jew" and "Burn in an oven chamber," prosecutors said. Late that year he emailed two dozen former classmates a flyer containing antisemitic statements, including a statement blaming the COVID-19 pandemic on a Jewish conspiracy, prosecutors said. Tran was prohibited from purchasing firearms as of last year due to previous mental health holds. Tran asked someone in January 2023 to buy two guns for him in Phoenix. He selected the firearms and paid $1,500 in cash to the person, who purchased the guns, prosecutors said. City News Service contributed to this report. Man Who Shot 2 Outside LA Synagogues Gets 35 Years In Prison originally appeared on the Los Angeles Patch ST. LOUIS Two people are in custody following a weekend shooting on North Grand Boulevard in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood. According to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Departments probable cause statement, officers responded to a shooting in the 2400 block of N. Grand just after 6 p.m. on Sept. 28. The victim, a 19-year-old man, told officers he was driving north on N. Grand when he got into a crash with a silver SUV. Both vehicles pulled over after the crash, and the 19-year-old got out of his car to approach the SUV. Police said the victim went to the passenger side of the SUV when a man in the passenger seat pulled out a gun and shot the 19-year-old in the upper body. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News The victim was taken to the hospital and was listed in stable condition. Police used real time crime cameras to locate the suspects SUV. Around 9:45 p.m., officers pulled the SUV over in the 4000 block of St. Louis Avenue in the Greater Ville neighborhood. Police took the passenger, 57-year-old Charles G. Singleton, and the 46-year-old female driver into custody. Investigators said the woman was in possession of suspected narcotics. Officers discovered a gun near the front passenger seat. The St. Louis Circuit Attorneys Office charged Singleton with first-degree assault, armed criminal action, and unlawful possession of a firearm. Singleton has a prior conviction in 1999 for knowingly burning or exploding in St. Louis Circuit Court. He served a suspended sentence, less than 30 days in jail, and probation. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. A man who went on the run after repeatedly stabbing his roommate has been jailed. Alfid Kalid, 25, stabbed the man he shared a room with at their home in Laverstoke Court, Derby, in September 2023. After fleeing, he was arrested and told Derbyshire Police he stabbed the man out of revenge for a reported assault - claims the force said were never corroborated. Kalid, of Peet Street, Derby, was found guilty of attempted murder and on Wednesday, he was jailed for 19 years at Derby Crown Court. Police said Kalid stabbed his victim so hard it left the weapon buried in his back. Det Ch Insp Greg McGill said: "That Kalids victim did not die that day is down to sheer good fortune, as well as the fast actions of the emergency responders who first attended the scene. "The excuse Kalid gave, that he was assaulted, was investigated and no evidence was found to back up his claim. "Even if he had been a victim himself, his actions were wrong and very nearly led to a young man nearly losing his life." Follow BBC Derby on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210. More on this story Related Internet Links Man Who Traveled to Los Angeles with 'Sinister Plan' to 'Kill All Jews' Sentenced to 35 Years Jaime Tran, who came to Los Angeles, federal prosecutors say, with a "sinister plan" to "Kill All Jews" was sentenced to A homeless man who shot and wounded two Jewish men last year as they left religious services in the Pico-Robertson area of Los Angeles was sentenced today to 35 years in prison. Jaime Tran, 30, pleaded guilty earlier this year to two counts of hate crimes with intent to kill and two counts of using, carrying, and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. On Monday morning he was sentenced for his admitted "attempt to murder two strangers leaving religious services on consecutive days in 2023, terrorizing a community and forever altering the lives of his victims and their families," according to a Department of Justice statement. For years Tran has terrorized and stalked Jewish individuals, including during his years at graduate school, federal prosecutors say. In 2018, Tran left graduate school after making antisemitic comments about other students. His antiSemitic behavior intensified in recent years, according to a sentencing memorandum by the government, and was targeted at former classmates with threats including: I want you dead, Jew, and Someone is going to kill you, Jew. Tran described himself as a ticking time bomb and maintained social media accounts with the handle k1llalljews. Last February, Tran shot a man leaving a Shenandoah Street synagogue, choosing the victim because he "was dressed in a manner that visibly identified his Jewish faith, specifically, a black jacket and a head covering," according to a federal criminal complaint. The victim was about to enter his car when he noticed the Honda approach. He turned to look and heard a loud bang and felt sudden pain on the right side of his back, according to the federal complaint. Realizing he had been shot, he watched as the alleged gunman sped off. The next day, Tran allegedly shot a second victim leaving a South Bedford Street synagogue roughly a block away from the site of the first attack, targeting him because he was also "dressed in clothing that visibly identified his Jewish faith, again a black jacket and a head covering." Both victims survived the attacks. Tran was arrested on February 17, 2023, after a witness called the LAPD saying someone was shooting a firearm behind a motel. When he was arrested, Tran told law enforcement that he was practicing with his assault weapon, leading prosecutors to believe that if the LAPD had nor mobilized so quickly, "his campaign of terror would likely have continued. DOJ exhibits show Tran's escalating hate in the weeks before he came to L.A. with a "sinister plan," prosecutors say, to "Kill All Jews." DOJ Sentencing Memorandum Tran's defense attorney argued in a sentencing memorandum that his client had been an aspiring dentist accepted to UCLA Dental School, but his dreams were dashed by mental illness. His lawyer Katherine Corrigan described in her filing "a young man who was on the path of being a dentist but whose mental health issues caused him to spiral into delusional behavior." She said "his mental health issues and his resulting behavior towards others resulted in him no longer being welcome at the UCLA dental school." As a result, Corrigan argued, "his connections with family and friends also suffered, and he suffered periods of homelessness." Federal prosecutors dismissed that argument in their sentencing memo, writing: "Defendants conduct was not an isolated bout of mental illness, but a premeditated plan following years of vile antisemitic rhetoric and escalating threats. His preparation included researching Jewish communities and the deliberate out-of-state straw purchase of firearms in cash to avoid detection by law enforcement." Federal prosecutors had argued for a 40 year sentence, but United States District Judge George H. Wu sentenced him to 35 years and said a date for a restitution hearing in December. Editors Note: The video above is previous coverage on this story. SUMMIT COUNTY, Ohio (WJW) The trial is underway for a Copley man charged in the gruesome murders of three men from Youngstown. A jury was seated on Monday in the trial of Elias Gudino, 58. Ohio minimum wage set to increase He faces 18 charges, including aggravated murder and kidnapping. Authorities believe Gudino kidnapped the men in Youngstown before their murders. The bodies of Inmer Reyes, 25, Victor Varela-Rodriguez, 31, and Domingo Castillo-Reyes were found on March 9, 2023. Vermilion man charged with reckless homicide after wife dies by suicide A fourth victim who survived told police he was also kidnapped from the Youngstown area along with the three other men. He said he pretended to be dead until his kidnappers drove away. That surviving witness is expected to take the stand on Tuesday. Police believe other suspects were involved in the killings but have made no other arrests. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Man tried to light vehicle on fire with kids inside in Warner Robins, deputies say A man was arrested after allegedly attempting to light a vehicle on fire with kids inside Friday, according to the Bibb County Sheriffs Office. Napoleon Gray, the suspect, tried to light a vehicle on fire with two children inside on North Houston Road, in Warner Robins, deputies said on Instagram. Gray then fled a traffic stop, leading deputies and Georgia State Patrol troopers on a vehicle pursuit into Macon. They chased Grays car until arriving at the sheriffs office on Oglethorpe and 1st streets in Macon, where he was arrested around 1:30 p.m., according to Sgt. Christopher Williams. Officers of the Warner Robins Police Department took him back to Houston County. The suspect faces charges of aggravated assault and attempted arson, according to the sheriffs office. This story will be updated as more information becomes available. We recently published a list of 7 Cheap Small-Cap Stocks To Buy Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) stands against the other cheap small-cap stocks to buy now. At the September Fed meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decided to lower its policy interest rate by 50 basis points to support the economy. Chairman Jerome Powell stated that this move is aimed at maintaining labor market strength while reducing inflation. He also noted that future rate adjustments will depend on incoming economic data. The Feds economic projections indicate a federal funds rate of 4.4% by year-end, with further rate cuts expected as inflation falls and unemployment edges up slightly. The market seems quite happy with the current cut cycle and expects more to come. According to CMEs Fed-watch tool, the market is expecting another 25 to 50 bps cut at the November meeting. As of September 27, 53.3% interest rate traders expect a 50 bps cut while the rest are anticipating a 25 bps cut. While the market had gotten used to the high rates and was still thriving, the lower fed funds rates have given a much-needed boost as the broader market reached new highs. Fed Easing Cycle Boosts Optimism for Small Cap Stocks Greg Tuorto, a portfolio manager at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, recently joined Catalysts on Yahoo Finance and discussed the outlook for small-cap stocks in light of recent Federal Reserve rate cuts and broader economic conditions. He highlighted several supportive factors for small caps, including a stable U.S. economy and opportunities in sectors like technology, healthcare, and consumer industries. Despite recent underperformance, he believes small caps are positioned for a rebound, driven by strong earnings growth rather than multiple expansions. Tuorto also emphasized the potential for small caps to outperform large caps in 2025, given that their earnings outlook appears more favorable. He sees the ongoing Fed easing cycle as a tailwind and suggests that businesses have adapted well to the higher rate environment and could benefit significantly from any further rate cuts. While Tuorto isnt focused on the exact number of cuts, he sees the broader trajectory as a positive catalyst. The portfolio manager is especially bullish on software stocks and noted that lower rates make this sector more attractive, and he expects more IPO activity in the space in the coming months. For the future, Greg Tuorto also believes that there will be another cut probably in the near future.7 Cheap Small-Cap Stocks To Buy Story continues Our Methodology For this article, we used the Finviz stock screener to identify nearly 150 small-cap stocks with positive forward price-to-earnings ratios. Our definition for small-cap stocks was stocks between $1 billion to $10 billion. Next, we narrowed our list to stocks whose earnings are expected to grow this year according to analysts, compared to the prior year, and have forward PE ratios below 15. Finally, we chose 7 stocks that were most widely held by institutional investors. The 7 cheap small-cap stocks to buy are listed in ascending order of their hedge fund sentiment, 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). Is The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) A Cheap Small-Cap Stock To Buy Now? Is The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) A Cheap Small-Cap Stock To Buy Now? The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) PE Ratio (FWD): 11.45 Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 39 The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GAP) is an American retailer known for its clothing and accessories. The company operates several notable brands including its namesake Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, and Athleta. It takes the 5th spot on our list of cheap small cap stocks to buy now. The company offers a wide range of casual and trendy clothing and its retail approach combines physical stores with online shopping, making it easier for customers to shop. They provide convenient services like curbside pickup and the option to buy online and pick up in-store. On September 24, Gap (NYSE:GAP) announced that it is expanding its partnership with Disney with new apparel collaborations that feature classic Gap styles combined with popular Disney characters. These limited-edition collections will be seasonal and offer stylish designs that differ from the usual Gap Disney products. The first release called the Gap Disney Collegiate collection, draws inspiration from 90s varsity styles and includes clothing and accessories featuring Mickey & Friends alongside Gaps logo. The collection has patchwork varsity prints in preppy colors and collegiate fonts, with items like the Gap Disney Denim Big Shirt displaying Mickey & Friends on the back. It also features matching fleece sets and unique denim styles with Mickey designs, available for adults, kids, toddlers, and babies, priced between $14 and $149. In Q2, Gap (NYSE:GAP) reported strong financial results, marking its sixth consecutive quarter of market share growth. The company generated net sales of $3.7 billion, up 5% from the previous year, with comparable sales increasing by 3%. Store sales rose by 4%, and the company operated 3,568 stores in around 40 countries by the end of the quarter, with 2,541 being company-operated locations. Online sales also grew by 7%, accounting for 33% of total net sales. In addition, it reported a net income of $206 million, with diluted earnings per share of $0.54. The company closed the quarter with $2.1 billion in cash and short-term investments, a 59% increase from last year. Net cash from operating activities reached $579 million, while free cash flow was $397 million. For 2024, analysts expect a nearly 31% year-over-year increase in its EPS. As of September 27, Gap (NYSE:GAP) is trading at a forward PE multiple of 11.45x, nearly 34% below its sector median of 17.34. Overall, GAP ranks 5th on our list of cheap small-cap stocks to buy now. While we acknowledge the potential of GAP 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 GAP 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. Marine Le Pen claims she and her party have not violated any political and regulatory rules - JULIEN MATTIA/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Marine Le Pen faces a possible 10 years in prison as she goes on trial alongside dozens of members of her party over an alleged fake jobs scheme that took money from the European Union (EU) and channelled it into the National Rally (RN). The RN leader, 24 members and the party itself stand accused of using money meant to fund EU parliamentary work to instead pay staff who were working for the party, which was known as the National Front at the time. In the Paris dock on Monday were nine former MEPs including Ms Le Pen and Louis Aliot, the party vice-president, Julien Odoul, a party spokesman and one of nine former parliamentary assistants, and four RN staff. Jean-Marie Le Pen, 96, Ms Le Pens father and co-founder of RNs predecessor, the National Front, is being tried in absentia due to his waning mental and physical health. As she arrived at the court in Paris, Ms Le Pen, who will plead not guilty alongside her colleagues, said: We have not violated any political and regulatory rules of the European Parliament. As well as a maximum 10-year prison term and 1 million (830,000) fine, the misuse of public funds also carries a potential five-year ban from public office, which could torpedo Ms Le Pens hopes of claiming the French presidency at her fourth attempt in 2027. The two-month trial, which Ms Le Pen has blasted as politically motivated, has threatened to cast a shadow over the RNs record victory in Julys snap election, when the party won 126 seats and claimed a kingmaker role over Michel Barniers fragile minority government. EU lawmakers are allocated funds to cover expenses, including salaries for their assistants, but are not meant to use them to cross-fund party activities. However, the RNs alleged fake jobs system, which was first flagged in 2015, allegedly involved workers being paid and listed as assistants while carrying out unrelated roles within the National Front party system. Prosecutors claim the assistants worked exclusively for the party outside parliament under a system of fraud managed by successive leaders that saw almost 7 million in EU funds misappropriated. 3.2m allegedly embezzled The trial covers a period in which 3.2 million was allegedly embezzled, a third of which has already been reimbursed, notably by withholding MEPs salaries to claw back the money. Many of the RN assistants were allegedly incapable of describing their day-to-day work and some never met their supposed MEP boss or set foot in the parliament building. A bodyguard, secretary, Ms Le Pens chief of staff and a graphic designer were all allegedly hired under false pretences. Isnt it a bit risky that Marine takes me on for her? Yann Le Pen, Marines older sister, asked in an email in 2012. She later told investigators she had never set foot in the European Parliament or worked on a European political dossier. I dont have the skills and it was never asked of me, she conceded. Four months after his parliamentary assistant contract began in 2015, Mr Odoul asked Ms Le Pen: Could I come to Strasburg tomorrow to see how a session works and get to know Mylene Troszczynski who Im under? Yes, of course, she replied. According to Le Canard Enchaine, he had two phone calls with Ms Troszczynski in two years. Several people have testified about a 2014 meeting that one said discussed a clear fake jobs structure. One message from Wallerand de Saint-Just, the party treasurer, warned about the partys disastrous finances at one point, it was 20 million in debt writing: We wont get out of this without making significant savings thanks to the European Parliament. In 2014, Jean-Luc Schaffhauser, another former National Front MEP, expressed his concern to the party treasurer in explicit terms. What Marine is asking us to do is the equivalent of us signing up for fictitious jobs ... were going to get caught out, he said. I think Marine is fully aware of this, came the reply. Jean-Marie Le Pen is being tried in absentia due to his waning mental and physical health - Philippe Wojazer/Reuters Last week, Laurent Jacobelli, an RN MP and party spokesman, insisted that Ms Le Pen was not worried about the trial. She knows that what we are accused of is having a different understanding, as a French party, of what an assistant role is, compared with the European Parliaments understanding, he told Reuters. Her entourage pointed to the recent acquittal of Francois Bayrou, the leader of the French centrist MoDem party, in a similar case. Eight people, including five former MEPs, as well as the MoDem party itself, received suspended prison sentences and a ban from holding public office. However, judges chose to afford Mr Bayrou the benefit of the doubt that he was not the principal decision-maker in a fraudulent system involving parliamentary assistants. Prosecutors in the current trial argue that there is ample evidence that Ms Le Pen was indeed the main decision-maker. Analysts differ over whether the trial will have any lasting negative effects on a party with the wind in its sails after Julys election. The current Barnier government could be toppled at any moment if the Left NFP alliance and the RN join forces in a confidence vote, once again putting Ms Le Pen in a kingmaker role. Every time the party or its leaders are attacked, it lets them cast themselves as the victim, Nonna Mayer, a political scientist at Pariss Sciences Po university, told AFP. But Brice Teinturier, the deputy director general of the Ipsos institute, said that it could be harmful to a party seeking to bolster its credibility. Of course, part of the RNs voter base will be galvanised by the trial. But [a trial] is never a good thing, [such support] can only limit the negative effects, he told Le Monde. A trial doesnt have an immediate and powerful effect, but it creates a negative halo that always ends up causing damage. 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. Marine Le Pen, long-time leader of Frances far-right National Rally and presidential hopeful, goes on trial in Paris on Monday accused of misusing European parliamentary funds. More than 20 other senior figures in the party are also facing the same charges. They are accused of hiring assistants who worked on party affairs rather than for the European parliament which paid them. If Le Pen is found guilty, she could face fines and imprisonment and potentially be declared ineligible to run for office for up to 10 years, hitting her presidential ambitions. She has denied wrongdoing, and party spokesman Laurent Jacobelli said "we are going to prove that there is no system to embezzle money from the EU". "We are going to prove that it is possible to be an assistant to a European parliamentarian and get involved in the life of the RN (National Rally)," the spokesman told French media on Monday. Le Pen's father Jean-Marie Le Pen, 96, who founded the National Front, which became the RN, also faces charges, but will not attend the trial because of poor health. The system of alleged fake jobs was first flagged in 2015 and covered contracts for parliamentary assistants between 2004 and 2016. Le Pen faces trial as a long-time party leader and former EU lawmaker. Prosecutors allege that one of the people hired as a parliamentary assistant was actually working as a bodyguard for Le Pen and her father. Prosecutors are seeking to recover more than 3m euros (2.5m). The RN already paid back 1m euros (834,000) - which it said was not an admission of guilt. The trial is expected to last for nearly two months. Le Pen stepped down as president of the then-National Front in 2017. She ran in presidential elections in 2012, 2017 and 2022, and is gearing up for another possible presidential run in 2027. Her party has promoted policies against immigration - such as restricting social welfare to French citizens - and pushing for law and order and tax cuts. She was re-elected to parliament during the first round of France's parliamentary election in June. Her party unexpectedly came third, despite having achieved a decisive victory in the European Parliament elections just weeks before. The left ended up winning the most legislative seats. Following the elections, President Emmanuel Macron appointed a right-wing government. Marines to receive new system for zapping drone swarms out of the sky A defense company making high-powered microwave systems that melt drones announced a new iteration of its product last week. Developed by Eprius, the long-pulse, high-power microwave technology known as Leonidas Expeditionary can drop swarms of drones with massive and pointed walls of electromagnetic energy. Epirus has already delivered high-powered microwave systems to the Army as part of a $66 million contract last year. It developed its latest Leonidas capability in partnership with the Office of Naval Research, Joint Counter-Small UAS Office, the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Lab and the Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office (JCO). The company unveiled the system on Sept. 23 and is expected to deliver the completed system to the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab by the end of this year. So far there are four iterations of the Leonidas system including the newest, which is formally known as the Expeditionary Directed Energy Counter-Swarm, or ExDECS. Earlier Leonidas offerings have included systems that can be attached to vehicles or air drones. Army gets first high-power microwave prototype to counter drone swarms Leonidas ExDECS is another systems entry on the smaller side, capable of swarm defeat, with a transportable profile thats highly mobile and provides a low physical signature, according to Andrew Wargofchik, a spokesperson for Epirus. The crown jewel of the Epirus system, aside from its microwave system, is a technology called Line Replaceable Amplifier Module, or LRAM. Its an architecture that allows the company to scale systems up or down. We like to think of them as sort of very scalable Lego blocks, Wargofchik said. The announcement of the Leonidas Expeditionary comes on the heels of the Air & Space Forces Associations Air, Space & Cyber Conference, where AIs role in the defense industry was the talk of the town. But as the future of warfare arrives, Wargofchik said Epirus doesnt buy into the concept that killer robots are on the horizon. He noted projects like the Air Forces Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or unmanned fighter jets, as a better embodiment of what lies ahead. Half-man, half-AI is the defense landscape the company envisioned - manned systems existing harmoniously alongside unmanned ones. Our CEO, Andy Lowery, likes to call it centaur warfare, Wargofchik said. While some in the industry criticize the Defense Department for not adopting existing and emerging AI and machine learning technologies quickly enough, Epirus is more optimistic. Epirus directed energy to face off against vessels in US Navy testing One of the main challenges involves bridging the gap between research and development to mass production, Wargofchik said. Though the company began with the explicit goal of providing high-powered microwave systems for counter-drone missions, its expanding the development of the same systems as a counter for any-and-all electronics. In April, Epirus demonstrated its capability to effectively take out certain vessel motors at sea during a Navy event. Were kind of arriving at the shores of a whole new beach of maritime applications, Wargofchik said. On the morning of Sept. 13, Brendon Baillod and Bob Jaeck set out on a three-day mission to find the John Evenson in the depths of Lake Michigan. The wood steam tug sank in 1895, and its whereabouts have eluded people ever since. Decades ago, a local dive club even offered a $500 reward to find it. For years before their mission, the two maritime historians from the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association had collected historical documents on the steam tug, as well as the wreck report by the Evenson's captain. The accounts helped them narrow their search to a few miles northeast of Algoma, Wisconsin. When Baillod and Jaeck got to the search site that morning, Lake Michigan's waves were rough almost too rough to use their sonar equipment. And they realized that the water was about 15 feet deeper than they thought it would be. The pair turned to the south, pointing the stern to the waves, and went below deck to rethink their search grid. Five minutes later, and roughly a quarter-mile from the search grid, a huge steam boiler showed up on screen. The boiler from the John Evenson steam tug now lies on the bottom of Lake Michigan. The 54-foot steam tug sank on June 5, 1895, and was finally discovered by two Wisconsin maritime historians on Sept. 13, 2024. Baillod and Jaeck turned to each other, both "gobsmacked." "It was almost like the wreck wanted to be found," Baillod said. The remains of the John Evenson, a wooden steam tug built in Milwaukee, were 5 miles northeast of Algoma, 50 feet underwater. After they spotted the boat, the maritime historians deployed a remote operated vehicle, which revealed the tug's giant propeller, the steam engine and the hull bed containing most of the ship's machinery, offering a look at the steam technology used the late 1800s. It shines light on a moment in Milwaukee's history, as well as Door County's, Baillod said. Divers from the Wisconsin Historical Society investigated the remains of the John Evenson steam tug shortly after it was discovered. The remains of the tug now lie under 50 feet of water roughly five miles northeast of Algoma, Wisconsin. A piece of Milwaukee history hidden for 130 years The steam tug and the man it honored had been on Baillod's mind for decades. John Evenson was an important man in the Milwaukee maritime community in the late 1800s, Baillod explained. He was the captain of the U.S. Life-Saving Service Station in the 1870s and '80s. He died when he was 40, leaving behind a wife and three children. The tug, built by Evenson in Milwaukee in 1884, was sold to George Spear, who moved it to Door County so it could be used in the lumber trade to tow log rafts. It was purchased in 1890 by brothers John and Alexander Laurie to tow vessels and barges, or scows filled with stone from nearby quarries, in Green Bay and Sturgeon Bay. John Laurie was the captain when the Evenson sank. The giant propellor from the John Evenson steam tug now lies on the bottom of Lake Michigan. The 54-foot steam tug sank on June 5, 1895, and was finally discovered by two Wisconsin maritime historians on Sept. 13, 2024, after remaining unseen for nearly 130 years. In the afternoon of June 5, 1895, while helping the steam barge I.W. Stephenson enter the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal, the John Evenson got too close while attaching a line and was struck by the Stephenson. The tug capsized and sank immediately. Four members of the crew were rescued. Martin Boswell, the tug's fireman, was below deck and went down with the vessel. 'It never gets old' This is not the first time Baillod and Jaeck have made significant discoveries. In 2023, they located the intact remains of the 138-foot canal schooner Trinidad off Algoma. The schooner sank on May 5, 1881, after it sprung a leak heading south to Milwaukee. No lives were lost, except for the ship's mascot a Newfoundland dog that had been asleep in a cabin. After Wisconsin maritime historians Brandon Baillod and Bob Jaeck found the John Evenson tug, divers from the Wisconsin Historical Society investigated the wreck and created a 3D model of its remains. The model was created from more than 2,000 high resolution images. The Evenson sank on June 5, 1895, and its remains now lie under 50 feet of water roughly five miles northeast of Algoma, Wisconsin. The Trinidad was one of 13 shipwrecks discovered in Wisconsin's Lake Michigan waters last year, smashing previous years' records. Earlier this year, the pair discovered the Margaret A. Muir. The 130-foot three-masted schooner sank on Sept. 30, 1893, after taking on water from a massive wave. The remains lie off Algoma as well. Even after three decades, finding a new shipwreck like the John Evenson is special. "It never gets old," Baillod said. "It's always exciting." Caitlin Looby is a Report for America corps member who writes about the environment and the Great Lakes. Reach her at clooby@gannett.com or follow her on X @caitlooby. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Lake Michigan historians discover steam tug that sank in 1895 Elon Musk on Sunday embraced a racist and wildly conspiratorial election theory only to get fact-checked by fellow billionaire Mark Cuban, who used Musks own AI chatbot to do the job. Musk, whos endorsed Donald Trump and was once rumored to be donating $45 million a month to a pro-Trump super PAC, claimed Sunday that the former president is the only way to save democracy from immigrants. Very few Americans realize that, if Trump is NOT elected, this will be the last election, Musk wrote on X, the social media platform thats lost nearly 80% of its value since he took over. He then asserted, without any evidence, that Democrats are flying immigrants directly into swing states who are then fast-tracked to citizenship for the purpose of altering the outcome of the election. The claim is false. Noncitizens must first spend at least five years as a lawful permanent resident before theyre typically eligible for naturalization, meaning Musks conspiracy would have had to begin during the Trump administration to bear any meaningful fruit. (The median number of years in the U.S. for citizens naturalized in 2023 was actually longer: seven years.) And according to the Department of Homeland Security, the top 10 states where people who were naturalized last year reside are: California (not a swing state), Texas (not a swing state), Florida (not really), New York (absolutely not), New Jersey (also solidly blue), Illinois (nuh-uh), Washington (try again), Pennsylvania (the only one), Massachusetts (blue) and Virginia (debatable). Nine-tenths of those are not swing states. Pennsylvania, the lone exception, only accounted for 2.8% of those naturalized in 2023. More than 50% live in California, Texas, Florida and New York. Undeterred by facts, Musk predicted that, if Trump loses, there will be no more swing states and Democracy is over. (Relatedly, Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden both separately deported more people than Donald Trump.) Musks rant also caught the eye of Mark Cuban, who fact-checked Musk using Twitters own anti-woke AI chatbot Grok, which Musk concocted after finding competitors were too politically liberal. Hey [Elon Musk], truly appreciate the work you have done with [Grok]. Cuban wrote to Musk in a public message. Its a great way to factcheck you. Cuban then shared a link to Groks lengthy analysis of Musks claim. The chatbot concluded that Musks xenophobic theory contains exaggerated claims and speculative fears rather than factual analysis, and was presented in an alarmist and overly deterministic manner. Hey @elonmusk , truly appreciate the work you have done with @grok. Its a great way to factcheck you https://t.co/OTAh08tHLR Mark Cuban (@mcuban) September 29, 2024 Earlier, Cuban also publicly called out Musks servility to Trump and warned it would never be repaid. Elon, there will come a time when you need something from Donald Trump, he wrote. You will think you will have earned the right to ask and receive. You have been a loyal, faithful soldier for him. You have supported him politically with 10s of millions of dollars. Then, at the point you need him the most, you will find out what so many before you have learned, his loyalty is only to himself. Elon, there will come a time when you need something from Donald Trump. You will think you will have earned the right to ask and receive. You have been a loyal, faithful soldier for him. You have supported him politically with 10s of millions of dollars. Then, at the point https://t.co/70dQZFtVQm Mark Cuban (@mcuban) September 29, 2024 Related... MARYLAND (DC News Now) Crews from Maryland have been aiding communities in North Carolina impacted by Hurricane Helenes landfall. First responders from Maryland have already made several rescues. The Maryland Helicopter Aquatic Response Team (MD-HART) team executed 17 rescue missions on Saturday. Of the 17 rescued, two were children, and one was an infant. Crews also rescued two dogs. According to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson Pete Piringer, the rescues were completed through hoist operations. Crews use a hoist to make rescues in areas impacted by Hurricane Helene. (Courtesy: @mcfrsPIO) These rescues come after Maryland Governor Wes Moore authorized the mobilization of soldiers from the Maryland Army National Guard, two helicopters and firefighters from the MD-HART team to assist in North Carolina. On Sunday, Maryland Task Force 1 (MD-TF1) is en route to the Asheville area, while Md-HART is flying more missions in the greater Asheville area in Western North Carolina. MD-HART crews completed a mass evacuation of residents and dogs cut off by landslides, overflowing rivers and damaged bridges, according to Piringer. (Courtesy: Maryland Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team) (Courtesy: Maryland Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team) Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. BOSTON (WWLP) The Healey Administrations top budget official says Massachusetts recent trend of slow revenue growth is likely to continue over the next year. Seven years later, hope remains for cannabis cafes The top budget official, Matthew Gorzkowicz, met with some of the states top business leaders on Thursday. The fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30, and Gorzkowicz says the state will have some unavoidable deficiencies they will have to address later in the year. During fiscal year 2024, non-surtax tax revenue was hundreds of millions of dollars less than expected. At the event, Gorzkowicz said the state is preparing for this trend to continue. While that non-surtax revenue was down last fiscal year, surtax revenuealso known as the Millionaires Taxwas higher than expected. The Healey administration is pushing to redirect some of the surtax revenue to strategically plug last years shortfall. This method of catching up on money shortages is intended to prevent money designated for initiatives like education and transportation from having to be used to bail the state out. The administration is also looking to revive a state savings account, which is currently running low due to huge expenditures on the emergency shelter system. Keeping this fund full helps ensure that Massachusetts bond rating is high, which in turn allows the state to finance our school systems, roads, transportation system, and more. Despite the predicted underperformance of tax collection, the top budget official says Massachusetts has reason to be cautiously optimistic about where we are going. 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. [Source] U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) was honored on Saturday for supporting Tibetans and their religious autonomy. At the Thank You, Jim McGovern: A Gratitude Event hosted by the Regional Tibetan Association of Massachusetts, McGovern was celebrated for his efforts to protect Tibetan Buddhism. The Tibetan community is forever grateful for (his) unwavering support, said Tenzin Kunsang, president of the association. McGovern, who co-sponsored the bipartisan Resolve Tibet Act of 2024 to strengthen U.S. backing for Tibet, was sanctioned by China in July for frequently interfering in its domestic affairs, a move he dismissed as absurd and a badge of honor. In his keynote address, McGovern reiterated the importance of human rights, saying, This isnt just a political issue; its a struggle for the fundamental human rights of the Tibetan people, plain and simple. McGovern was given a replica of a 1,400-year-old treaty between the Tibetan Empire and Chinas Tang Dynasty, which symbolized Tibets status as being historically independent. Aside from Tibet, the official has also condemned Beijings actions in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. Trending on NextShark: Yale to offer Tagalog language course in Fall 2025 Download the NextShark App: Want to keep up to date on Asian American News? Download the NextShark App today! PITTSFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) As fall continues, more and more colors are showing in the trees, but where can you get the best view of fall foliage? When will fall foliage peak in western Massachusetts According to USA Today, its that time of year when Mother Nature is gearing up for her annual spectacle of fall color, and leaf peepers are searching for the best viewing spot. Leaf peeping, according to Wikipedia, is a term in the United States and Canada for the activity in which people travel to view and photograph the fall foliage in areas where leaves change colors. USA Today has created a list of the top 10 best places to see fall colors in the United States, and a county in Massachusetts has made the list. The Berkshires The Berkshires has made the ninth spot on USA Todays list, as they celebrate the change with a fall foliage parade that has been running for almost seven decades. The Berkshires is a rural region in western Massachusetts thats a popular vacation destination. Its known for its outdoor activities, fall foliage viewing, a farm-to-table food destination, and arts institutions. Routes to view the best foliage According to Visit The Berkshires, several routes are especially dramatic and well worth the trip, such as starting on the Mohawk Trail along Route 2 near Clarksburg, which includes the famous Hairpin Turn and a magnificent view of vibrant foliage. You can also drive through Williamstown and turn on Route 7 or head south on Route 8 from North Adams to Mount Greylock at 3,491 feet, the highest peak in Massachusetts. There are several more fall foliage routes that visitors can choose from, which is why the Berkshires have claimed a spot on USA Todays list. 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. TOLLAND, Conn. (WTNH) A Massachusetts man was arrested on Monday in Tolland in relation to a sexual assault in a hot tub, according to police. 21-year-old charged with sexual assault after restraining a woman while walking her dog in Shelton The arrest warrant said that the incident happened over the weekend at a birthday party. The accused, 42-year-old Luis Alberto Elicier, of Springfield, Massachusetts, was arrested and charged with sexual assault in the 1st degree and unlawful restraint in the 1st degree, according to police. He is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WTNH.com. (Bloomberg) -- California Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed what would have become one of the most comprehensive policies governing the safety of artificial intelligence in the US. Most Read from Bloomberg The bill wouldve been among the first to hold AI developers accountable for any severe harm caused by their technologies. It drew fierce criticism from some prominent Democrats and major tech firms, including ChatGPT creator OpenAI and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, who warned it could stall innovation in the state. Newsom described the legislation as well-intentioned but said in a statement that it wouldve applied stringent standards to even the most basic functions. Regulation should be based on empirical evidence and science, he said, pointing to his own executive order on AI and other bills hes signed that regulate the technology around known risks such as deepfakes. The debate around Californias SB 1047 bill highlights the challenge that lawmakers around the world are facing in controlling the risks of AI while also supporting the emerging technology. US policymakers have yet to pass any comprehensive legislation around the technology since the release of ChatGPT two years ago touched off a global generative AI boom. Democratic California Senator Scott Wiener, who introduced the bill, called Newsoms veto a setback for everyone who believes in oversight of massive corporations. In a statement posted on X, Wiener said, We are all less safe as a result. Reasonable Care SB 1047 wouldve mandated that companies developing powerful AI models take reasonable care to ensure that their technologies wouldnt cause severe harm such as mass casualties or property damage above $500 million. Companies wouldve had to take specific precautions, including maintaining a kill switch that could turn off their technology. AI models wouldve also been subject to third-party testing to ensure they minimized grave risk. The bill wouldve also created whistleblower protections for employees at AI companies that want to share safety concerns. Companies that werent in compliance with the bill could have been sued by the California attorney general. Supporters of the legislation said it wouldve created common-sense legal standards. But VC investors, startup leaders and companies like OpenAI warned that it would slow innovation and drive AI companies out of the state. Story continues The AI revolution is only just beginning, and Californias unique status as the global leader in AI is fueling the states economic dynamism, Jason Kwon, chief strategy officer at OpenAI, wrote in a letter last month opposing the legislation. SB 1047 would threaten that growth, slow the pace of innovation, and lead Californias world-class engineers and entrepreneurs to leave the state in search of greater opportunity elsewhere. Lawmakers Opposed Lawmakers including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Representative Ro Khanna and San Francisco Mayor London Breed also voiced their opposition, echoing concerns from the tech industry that the bill could impede upon Californias leadership in AI innovation. Newsom recently said he was concerned the bill might have a chilling effect on AI development. The bill had earned backing from some notable names in tech late last month in the days leading up to its passage by Californias legislature. Elon Musk unexpectedly voiced his support, even though he said its a tough call and will make some people upset. OpenAI rival Anthropic, which has a reputation for being safety-oriented, said the bills benefits likely outweigh its costs, though the company said some aspects remained concerning or ambiguous to us. Wiener had defended the bill, stressing that its provisions only apply to companies that spend more than $100 million on training large models or $10 million fine-tuning models, limits that would exempt most smaller startups. The lawmaker had also noted that Congress has been historically slow to regulate tech itself. In announcing his veto, Newsom said he will consult with outside experts, including AI scholar and entrepreneur Fei-Fei Li, to develop workable guardrails on the technology and continue working with state legislature on the topic. The governor also signed a bill on Sunday, SB 896, that regulates how state agencies use AI. (Updates with Wieners statement in fifth paragraph) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Massachusetts task force, volunteers, aiding victims of Hurricane Helene In the mountains of North Carolina, the last place youd expect to see damage from any hurricane, what Hurricane Helene left behind is shocking. Muddy flood waters and high winds have practically obliterated communities here. The call for help was answered in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Task Force 1 was activated by FEMA last week while Helene gained power as it swept through the Gulf of Mexico. The storm slammed into Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia, and now the Task Force 1 is actively looking for survivors. The teams are primarily doing water search and rescue operations clearing homes, clearing structures, making sure that if people are still within their dwelling that they are safe, that they are ok, said MA FEMA Task Force 1 spokesman Tom Gatzunis. At Logan Airport, a Salvation Army team from Lynn is headed for Savanah, Georgia. Volunteers are not sure what to expect, but they are ready to make a difference. There are people whose power has not been restored yet and so Im sure with all of that happening it will take a little bit. So hopefully With the next two weeks we can see a different picture, said Captain Enmanuel Villegas of the Lynn, MA Salvation Army. In Florida, from Tampa-St. Pete to the panhandle, Helene hit hard. Massachusetts Red Cross volunteers are on the ground, providing the basics for people who suddenly have nothing. We do have shelters up and running so that people who cant stay in their homes do have a dry place to stay, said Kelly Isenor of the Massachusetts Red Cross. We are working on feeding, getting hot meals to people or at the very least, getting nonperishable food if they dont have a way to prepare it. On the state Level, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) is monitoring calls for help through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. Currently, one MEMA team of six from Northwest MA is in McDowell County, NC where it is supporting incident command, operations, planning, and logistics. Hurricane Helene recovery: How you can help 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 SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) The Salvation Army sent four people from Massachusetts to assist in Hurricane Helene relief efforts. How to help victims of Hurricane Helene These volunteers landed Monday afternoon in Georgia and Florida, where millions are without power and thousands are stranded. Hurricane Helene is the second hurricane to reach Category 4 status this year. The death toll as of now is at 116 with one third of those in North Carolina. The Salvation Army staff members include: Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services volunteers Pam Houghton, Luz Caban, and Cindy Kennedy at Logan Airport on Monday, September 30, 2024. The team is deploying to assist with Hurricane Helene relief efforts in Florida. (Courtesy: The Salvation Army) Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services volunteers Pam Houghton and Cindy Kennedy at Logan Airport on Monday, September 30, 2024. The team is deploying to assist with Hurricane Helene relief efforts in Florida. (Courtesy: The Salvation Army) Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services volunteers Pam Houghton and Cindy Kennedy at Logan Airport on Monday, September 30, 2024. The team is deploying to assist with Hurricane Helene relief efforts in Florida. (Courtesy: The Salvation Army) Captain Enmanuel Villegas The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services (Greater Boston/Lynn Team) Georgia Luz Caban, The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services (New Bedford Team) Florida Pam Houghton, The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services (Newburyport Team) Florida Cindy Kennedy, The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services (Athol Team) Florida While the Coast Guard and other authorities are working around the clock, Emily Mew with The Salvation Army says these states need more help, Down south they are pretty stretched thin as far as personnel. I mean this is the first time in a long time that theyve requested so many personnel which really speaks to the devastation that theyre seeing and the extent of the damage and the trauma that people are experiencing. In the coming days and weeks, The Salvation Army will deploy additional mobile feeding units to provide meals and drinks, along with Emotional and Spiritual Care officers, a listening ear, and community resources to people affected by the storm. These dedicated teams will bring not only physical nourishment but also love, comfort, and compassionate care, surrounding individuals and families with support as they journey through this difficult time, said Emily Mew, Director of The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services in Massachusetts. With the continued generosity of the public, we will remain on the frontlines of this disaster, serving those affected by the storm for however long we are needed. While The Salvation Army is not looking for volunteers, Mew says the best way to help is with monetary donations. To make a financial gift to support Hurricane Helene relief: Donate online: www.HelpSalvationArmy.org Donate by phone: 1-800-SAL-ARMY (1-800-725-2769) Donate by mail: The Salvation Army P.O. BOX 1959 Atlanta, GA 30301 (Please designate Disaster Relief Hurricane Helene on all checks.) Weather News Jack Wu joined the 22News Storm Team in July 2023. Follow Jack on X @the_jackwu and view his bio to see more of his work. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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 masseuse has been arrested after he was accused of sexually assaulting a woman during a massage at a spa located at DFW Airport, according to police and court records. The alleged assault took place at the SpaHere location in the Dallas-Fort Worth Airports Terminal C. According to a series of TikTok videos recorded and publicly posted by the woman, who identified herself as Sadie Kolves of Florida, she went to the spa on Aug. 11 while on a layover. The massage therapist, identified in a criminal complaint as 33-year old Zantana Zuniga, groped Kolves so aggressively that she could not walk, according to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by WFAA-TV. The affidavit includes photos of bruises on her upper thigh. Zuniga was charged last week with indecent assault, according to the complaint filed by the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorneys Office. The affidavit also states that there have been five investigations by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation into alleged inappropriate conduct by Zuniga, WFAA reported. Four of those investigations are pending, officials with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation confirmed. More top stories from our newsroom: Fort Worth ISD preschoolers are going to school at community centers Homeowner shoots man he says was trespassing Former Fort Worth police chief fired from Denver transportation district [Get our breaking news alerts.] According to the departments online databases, Zunigas massage therapy license is still active and no disciplinary action has been taken against him by the state. An assistant manager for the SpaHere location confirmed that Zuniga is no longer employed by the business but declined further comment. Attorneys for Zuniga declined comment on Tuesday. NEWPORT, Tenn. (WATE) Cocke County Mayor Rob Mathis has shared that two people are dead after flooding in the county in the aftermath of Helene. On Monday, Cocke County Sheriff CJ Ball confirmed that Jean and Mike Obrist are the two people who died in the flood. Mathis shared about the two deaths during a live update on social media Sunday evening, adding that the county has no more missing persons. He said the county is still working to assess the damage, get the power back on and restore water service to everyone. In addition, Cocke County Schools are closed through October 4. Volunteers flock to Newport to bring supplies and hope to residents in need We still have people from Highway Patrol, other counties, all kinds of folks from all over the region are here to help us and were here to help you. And again, just as we did not rest until every single person was rescued, we will still not rest until every one of you gets the help that you need and this was resolved and God bless you all, said Mathis. Newport Utilities declared a state of emergency on Sunday for all water operations and asked customers to observe critical water conservation protocols. Saturday morning FEMA announced that federal disaster assistance was available to Tennessee after President Joe Biden approved an Emergency Declaration for Tennessee. On Friday, Mathis ordered downtown Newport to evacuate and declared a State of Emergency for Cocke County due to flooding. Flooding, storm damage assessed in East TN communities Three additional deaths have been confirmed in Tennessee by TEMA, one in Unioci County and one in Johnson 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 WATE 6 On Your Side. Mayor Adams moved to dismiss a bribery count against him in his federal corruption indictment Monday, describing the allegations as extraordinarily vague and claiming the sweeping case brought by Manhattan prosecutors is based largely on the word of a disgruntled ex-staffer. The request came four days after the feds announced a five-count indictment against Adams that alleges he put a price tag on his political influence for almost a decade. The indictment alleges Adams, both as mayor and Brooklyn borough president, solicited and accepted more than $100,000 in worldwide trips, other lavish perks and illegal campaign contributions from Turkish nationals in exchange for doing political favors for the Turkish government. In the motion filed Monday morning and later at a press conference, defense attorney Alex Spiro said prosecutors had demonstrated no proof Adams agreed to do anything in exchange for benefits. This is just a mayor who went to the outer boroughs and met with people in this city that more people should meet with and had donations from lots of different members of the community across lots of different ethnic groups, Spiro said at the press conference. And so there is no scheme, there is no foreign interference. This is all nonsense that is spun into this to try to turn a conflict-of-interest question or disclosure question into a federal criminal case. Asked why the mayor declined to report freebies he allegedly got from Turkish nationals on his annual ethics disclosure forms, Spiro said Adams wasnt required to, though later acknowledged he wasnt an expert in Conflicts of Interest Board law. In his legal arguments, Spiro leaned on a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that made winning convictions in public corruption cases far more difficult. In a 6-3 ruling, the courts conservative supermajority on June 24 differentiated between bribes and gratuities finding it was not illegal for local and state officials to accept the latter after an official act, which may be given as a token of appreciation. The bribery count against Adams, a Democrat, Spiro argued, alleges only that while serving as Brooklyn borough president not mayor, or even mayor-elect he agreed generally to assist with the operation or regulation of a Turkish Consulate building in Manhattan, where he had no authority whatsoever, in exchange for travel benefits. That extraordinarily vague allegation encompasses a wide array of normal and perfectly lawful acts that many city officials would undertake for the consulate of an important foreign nation, Spiro wrote. The feds allege Adams, in September 2021, pressured Fire Department brass to open the building despite identifying multiple safety violations. Spiro said the three text messages cited in the indictment, filed Thursday, that the mayor sent to former FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro, in which he said the consulate needed to be opened in time for the Turkish presidents visit, do not remotely convey pressure or threat. Adams lawyer said any benefits he allegedly received from Turkish powerbrokers after the permit matter was resolved, like business class flights to Ghana, could at most amount to gratuities, which fall outside the compass of the Supreme Court ruling. He said there was no evidence Adams knew, as the indictment alleges, that high-ranking FDNY brass threatened staffers jobs. The indictment contains no allegation that Adams was even aware of that threat, let alone that he himself threatened anyone or directed the FDNY commissioner to do so. If the governments implication is that the officials were worried that Adams would be elected mayor and then decline to retain them, that is not enough to show that Adams exerted pressure, Spiro wrote. At the press conference, Spiro accused the Manhattan U.S. attorneys office of leaking details of the indictment before it was unsealed. Multiple outlets, including the Daily News, reported late Wednesday that charges were imminent ahead of the indictment being unsealed Thursday morning. He also reiterated an argument he made in Mondays filing, where he wrote that the indictments remaining claims wire fraud, conspiracy and soliciting donations from foreign nationals rely on a host of false claims evidently attributable to a self-interested staffer with an ax to grind. The thinly veiled reference concerned Adams former longtime aide and Turkish community liaison, Rana Abbasova, whos cooperating in the investigation. Spiro pointed to part of the indictment where Abbasova is described as going to the bathroom during a meeting with FBI agents to delete encrypted messaging apps she used to communicate with Adams and his alleged benefactors. Theres another even bigger lie that they havent told you about, Spiro said, declining to go into detail. And then theres more lies. A lawyer for Abbasova declined to comment on the defense attorneys allegations. She is one of several Adams staffers, current and former, entangled in multiple ongoing investigations by state and federal authorities. Adams, 64, the first New York City mayor in the modern era to face criminal charges, has rebuffed calls to step down. He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Friday and is expected to appear for the first time before the judge assigned to the case, Manhattan Federal Judge Dale Ho, on Wednesday, when Spiro said he expected to file a full dismissal motion. The charges against Adams carry up to 45 years in prison, though he would unlikely face such a severe sentence. Still, a conviction on any count could likely result in some prison time, said Michael Weinstein, a former Justice Department trial attorney in Washington, D.C., with extensive experience prosecuting white-collar criminal cases. Especially since he is in a position of public trust, oversight and length and scope of alleged activity, Weinstein said. Corruption and public officials are an ugly spectacle to witness, and possibly Mayor Adams has genuine explanations for his actions, but at present, hes in a deep hole with limited chances to get out. A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. attorneys office did not respond to a request for comment. Prosecutors are expected to respond to Spiros motion in court filings. NEW YORK Mayor Eric Adams filed a motion to dismiss the bribery count in his federal corruption indictment Monday, calling the feds allegations extraordinarily vague and saying they lacked proof he broke the law. The mayors attorney, Alex Spiro, said the bribery allegations against him lack evidence of Adams agreeing to perform any official act when he received a benefit. The bribery count alleges only that while serving as Brooklyn Borough President not Mayor, or even Mayor-elect he agreed generally to assist with the operation or regulation of a Turkish Consulate building in Manhattan, where he had no authority whatsoever, in exchange for travel benefits, Spiro wrote. That extraordinarily vague allegation encompasses a wide array of normal and perfectly lawful acts that many City officials would undertake for the consulate of an important foreign nation. Spiro said the three text messages cited in the indictment, filed Thursday, that the mayor sent to former Fire Department Commissioner Daniel Nigro, in which he said the consulate needed to be opened in time for the Turkish presidents visit, conspicuously does not allege that he agreed to take specific actions in exchange and do not meet the federal standard for bribery. He said there was no evidence Adams knew FDNY staffers faced threats of losing their jobs. The indictment contains no allegation that Adams was even aware of that threat, let alone that he himself threatened anyone or directed the FDNY Commissioner to do so. If the governments implication is that the officials were worried that Adams would be elected Mayor and then decline to retain them, that is not enough to show that Adams exerted pressure. Spiro, expected to hold a press conference later Monday, did not return a call. Adams, 64, became the first New York City mayor in the modern era to face criminal charges last week and has refused to step down. Hes pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment alleging he traded his influence for luxury trips around the world, illegal campaign contributions from overseas donors, and other gifts for nearly a decade. Spiro indicated how he plans to attack the other charges in the motion. To be sure, the remaining counts in the indictmentwhich all relate to so-called straw campaign donations on behalf of foreign nationalsare equally meritless because they rest on a host of false claims evidently attributable to a self-interested staffer with an axe to grind, which will be revealed in the course of litigation, Spiro wrote, in a thinly-veiled reference to Rana Abbasova. Abbasova, Adamss former longtime aide and former Turkish community liaison is cooperating in the case. Her attorney declined to comment on her description in the defense motion. _____ NEW YORK (PIX11) Mayor Eric Adams lawyer, Alex Spiro, painted the prosecutions lone witness in the federal indictment as a liar with an axe to grind as he seeks to dismiss the case against the mayor. This entire case relies on one witness, Sprio said at a press conference Monday afternoon. One staffer who has already lied, destroyed evidence . and they (the prosecution) know shes lying now. Theyve hidden that from you. More Local News The attorneys claim that in addition to the bribery charges the mayor solicited and accepted foreign donations and manipulated the citys matching funds program are equally meritless. Those allegations, they wrote, would be revealed through litigation as the false claims of a self-interested staffer with an axe to grind. Spiro hinted there is a bigger lie the government hasnt disclosed without elaborating on the details. Im wanting them to tell you, Spiro said. Then theres more lies as this case unfolds youll see. Adams, a Democrat, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that he accepted lavish travel benefits and illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and other foreign nationals in exchange for political favors that included pushing through the opening of a Turkish consulate building. In a motion filed Monday, the mayors attorneys described the bribery charge one of five counts he faces as meritless, arguing that zealous prosecutors had failed to show an explicit quid pro quo between Adams and Turkish officials. Rather, defense attorneys wrote, Adams was simply helping an important foreign nation cut through the citys red tape. According to the indictment, Adams sent three messages to the fire commissioner in September 2021 urging him to expedite the opening of the 36-story Manhattan consulate building, which fire safety inspectors said was not safe to occupy, ahead of an important state visit by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Those messages came after Adams had accepted flight upgrades and luxury hotel stays worth tens of thousands of dollars, according to prosecutors. Before requesting Adams help with the consulate, the Turkish official allegedly told an Adams staffer that it was his turn to help Turkey. At the time, Adams was still serving as Brooklyn borough president but had already won the mayoral primary and was widely expected to become mayor. Even if the Turkish officials were seeking to curry favor with Adams, his conduct would not amount to a violation of federal bribery laws, according to defense attorneys. There is no contemporary exchange of this for that, Spiro said. Gratuities are not federal crimes. Courtesies to politicians are not federal crimes, he added, referring to the travel upgrades. Adams is due back in court Wednesday for a conference. 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. Nine victims of modern slavery were forced to work at a McDonald's branch in Cambridgeshire [BBC] Signs that modern slavery victims were being forced to work at a McDonalds branch and a factory supplying bread products to major supermarkets were missed for years, the BBC has found. A gang forced 16 victims to work at either the fast-food restaurant or the factory - which supplied Asda, Co-op, M&S, Sainsburys, Tesco and Waitrose. Well-established signs of slavery, including paying the wages of four men into one bank account, were missed while the victims from the Czech Republic were exploited over more than four years. McDonalds UK said it had improved systems for spotting potential risks, while the British Retail Consortium said its members would learn from the case. Six members of a family-run human trafficking network from the Czech Republic have been convicted in two criminal trials, which were delayed by the Covid pandemic. Reporting restrictions have prevented coverage of much of the case, but BBC England can now reveal the full scale of the gangs crimes - and the missed opportunities to stop them. Nine victims were forced to work at the McDonalds branch in Caxton, Cambridgeshire. Nine worked at the pitta bread company, with factories in Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire and Tottenham in north London, which made supermarket own-brand products. There were 16 victims in total across both sites, as two worked at both McDonalds and the factory. Pavel, left, and Roman waived their anonymity to share their stories of being trafficked to the UK and forced to work in a McDonald's branch [Facebook] The victims - who were all vulnerable, most having experienced homelessness or addiction - earned at least the legal minimum wage, but nearly all of their pay was stolen by the gang. While they lived on a few pounds a day in cramped accommodation - including a leaking shed and an unheated caravan - police discovered their work was funding luxury cars, gold jewellery and a property in the Czech Republic for the gang. On several occasions, victims escaped and fled home only to be tracked down and trafficked back to the UK. The exploitation ended in October 2019 after victims contacted police in the Czech Republic, who then tipped off their British counterparts. But warning signs had been missed for at least four years, the BBC has discovered by reviewing legal documents from the gangs trial and interviewing three victims. The undetected red flags include: Victims wages were paid into bank accounts in other peoples names. At the McDonalds, at least four victims wages - totalling 215,000 - were being paid into one account, controlled by the gang Victims were unable to speak English, and job applications were completed by a gang member, who was even able to sit-in on job interviews as a translator Victims worked extreme hours at the McDonalds - up to 70 to 100 a week. One victim worked a 30-hour shift. The UNs International Labour Organization says excessive overtime is an indicator of forced labour Multiple employees had the same registered address. Nine victims lived in the same terraced home in Enfield in north London while working at the bakery It really concerns me that so many red flags were missed, and that maybe the companies didnt do enough to protect vulnerable workers, said Dame Sara Thornton, the former independent anti-slavery commissioner, who reviewed the BBCs findings. Det Sgt Chris Acourt, who led the Cambridgeshire Police investigation, said there were massive opportunities that were missed to detect the slavery and alert authorities sooner. Ultimately, we could have been in a situation to end that exploitation much earlier had we been made aware, he said. [BBC] Slavery on the High Street For seven years, vulnerable victims of trafficking were forced to make food for major high street chains. How did their exploitation go undetected for so long? Watch now on BBC iPlayer (UK Only) Like many of the victims, Pavel - who has waived his legal right to anonymity - was homeless in the Czech Republic when he was approached by the gang in 2016. He says he was lured in with the false promise of a well-paid job in the UK, where he could at the time work legally. But the reality of what he experienced has left lasting scars, he said. You cant undo the damage to my mental health, it will always live with me. He was given just a few pounds a day in cash by his exploiters, despite working 70-hour weeks at the McDonalds branch, he said. The gang - led by brothers Ernest and Zdenek Drevenak - confiscated the passports of all their victims and controlled them through fear and violence, police found. We were afraid, Pavel said. If we were to escape and go home, [Ernest Drevenak] has a lot of friends in our town, half the town were his mates. Pavel was targeted by the gang while homeless in the Czech Republic [BBC] The gang treated their victims like livestock feeding them just enough to keep them going, according to the Mets Det Insp Melanie Lillywhite. She said victims were controlled by invisible handcuffs - monitored by CCTV, prevented from using phones or the internet and unable to speak English. They really were cut off from the outside world, she said. While the gang has been convicted in court, Pavel believes McDonalds also shares some responsibility. I do feel partially exploited by McDonalds because they didnt act, he said. I thought if I was working for McDonalds, that they would be a little bit more cautious, that they will notice it. Two former colleagues told the BBC the extreme hours the men worked - and the impact it had on them - was plain to see. Gang leaders Zdenek Drevenak, left, and his brother Ernest controlled their victims with fear and violence [Facebook] Like most McDonalds, the Caxton outlet - on the A428 - is a franchise, which means an independent business pays the fast-food giant to allow it to run the restaurant. While victims worked there between 2015 and 2019, it was run by two different franchise-holders. We contacted both, but they did not respond. McDonalds UK declined our offer of an interview, but provided a statement on behalf of the corporation and its franchisees. It said the current franchisee - Ahmet Mustafa - had only been exposed to the full depth of these horrific, complex and sophisticated crimes in the course of his co-operating with police and the prosecution. The company said it cares deeply about all employees and promised that - working with franchisees - it would play our part alongside government, NGOs [Non-governmental organisations] and wider society to help combat the evils of modern slavery. It also said it commissioned an independent review in October 2023 and had taken action to improve its ability to detect and deter potential risks, such as: shared bank accounts, excessive working hours, and reviewing the use of interpreters in interviews. The gang used their victims' wages to finance luxury cars and a three-storey house in the Czech Republic [Met Police] The bakery company - Speciality Flatbread Ltd - ceased trading and went into administration in 2022. None of the supermarkets detected the slavery while victims worked at the factory between 2012 and 2019. Dame Sara said she would have expected the retailers to be doing pretty thorough due diligence, adding that they normally take much greater care about their own brand products because thats their reputation thats on the line. Sainsburys said it stopped using the company as an own-brand supplier in 2016. The others only stopped sometime after police rescued the victims in 2019. Asda told the BBC it was disappointed that a historic case has been found in our supply chain, adding that it would review every case identified and act upon the learnings. It said it had made three site visits, but focused solely on food safety, and had stopped using the factory in 2020. Tesco said inspections - supported by information from anti-slavery charity Unseen - revealed concerning working practices and the company ceased all orders from the supplier in 2020. Waitrose said it pulled out in 2021 after its audits led to concerns about factory standards and working conditions. The Co-op said it made a number of unannounced inspections, including worker interviews, but found no signs of modern slavery, adding that the company actively work to tackle the shocking issue both in the UK and abroad. M&S said it suspended and delisted the company in 2020 after it became aware of potential breaches of ethical labour standards via the modern slavery helpline. The British Retail Consortium said workers welfare was fundamental to retailers, who it said acted quickly when concerns are raised. Nonetheless, it is important that the retail industry learns from cases like this to continually strengthen due diligence, it said. Nine victims lived in a house in north London; some were forced to sleep in an outbuilding in the garden [Met Police] Speciality Flatbreads director Andrew Charalambous did not respond to written requests for comment, but in a phone call from the BBC said he had supported the police and prosecution, adding that the company had been thoroughly audited by top law firms and everything we were doing was legal. He added: From our perspective we didnt break the law in any way, having said that, yes, maybe youre right in that maybe there were certain telltale signs or things like that, but that would have been for the HR department who were dealing with it on the front line. The Modern Slavery Act requires larger companies - including McDonalds and the supermarkets, but not the factory - to publish annual statements outlining what they will do to tackle the issue. Former Prime Minister Baroness Theresa May, who introduced the act as home secretary in 2015, accepted the law failed to protect victims in this case, and believes it needs to be beefed up. The former PM - who now leads the Global Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking - said the case was frankly shocking and shows large companies not properly looking into their supply chains. She said the global commission was reviewing what new laws are needed to ensure action is being taken by companies. Responding to the case, the government said it would set out next steps on the issue of modern slavery in due course. It said it was committed to tackling all forms of modern slavery and would pursue gangs and employers with every lever at our disposal while ensuring that victims are provided with the support they need. Additional reporting by Mary O'Reilly and Maria Jevstafjeva Details of organisations offering support for victims of modern slavery are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline A man who targeted the same McDonald's restaurant he had robbed five years previously to steal more money has been sent back to jail. Cameron Woodhead, who was armed with a knife, took about 1,400 from a Bradford outlet's tills and safe in July and also threatened staff, who used a chip frying basket to fend him off. The 27-year-old was jailed for 10 and a half years in 2019 after robbing the same branch of the fast food chain, but was released on licence in March. Woodhead, of Idle Road, Bradford, has been recalled to jail until 2029 and was sentenced to a further five years and four months at Bradford Crown Court earlier. 'Dangerous offender' The dangerous offender has also been banned from every McDonald's site in the Bradford district, the court heard. Woodhead denied holding a knife to the female staff member's neck, but after watching CCTV footage Recorder Paul Reid said he had grabbed her and the knife was close enough to her body and neck for it to cause "considerable consternation" to her and others. One of the female employees also suffered a cut to the hand during the incident and Woodhead himself had to be treated in hospital later for a head injury after he was struck with the chip frying basket. He pleaded guilty to the robbery and possession of a bladed article at an earlier court hearing. Andrew Stranex, defending Woodhead, said it was a "desperately sad case" involving a defendant who had a complex history. He said the crimes were seen as a win, win situation by his client because he either got the money to spend on drugs or he would go back to jail, which he saw as a safe place. Woodhead will also have to comply with an extended licence period of five years following any release. The judge said the criminal behaviour order, which bans Woodhead from going into any McDonalds in the area, would be an indefinite order until further notice. Recorder Reid added: It is in my view the case that you are dangerous. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here. More on this story Related internet links A Md. Mom Was Fatally Shot While Holding Her Baby. The Suspect Is the Baby's Father Tequia Nails, 32, was remembered in her obituary as a "devoted mother" of four Precious Memories Funeral Home, LLC Taquia Monea Nails A Maryland mother was fatally shot by her ex-boyfriend who later turned the gun on himself, authorities said. Tequia Nails, 32, was found with gunshot wounds inside her Fairmount Heights, Md., home, where officers responded around 11 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 24, according to a press release from the Prince Georges County Police Department. She was pronounced dead at the scene, per the release. At about 10 a.m. the next day, police said they were notified that 26-year-old Quindell Mercer, whom they identified as Nails ex-boyfriend, was found dead in Washington, D.C., according to the release. Police said they believe Mercer shot Nails before fleeing the scene, calling the apparent murder-suicide a domestic-related fatal shooting. According to her obituary, Nails was remembered as a devoted mother of four children: an 8-year-old son, a 3-year-old daughter, and two-month-old twins. Sources told WJLA that Mercer was the father of her twins, one of whom they claim she was holding when she was shot. Fox 5 DC also reported, citing family members, that Mercer was the father of the twins. However, police did not specify the relationship between the two children, other than saying they were in a previous relationship." The release didn't state whether there was anyone else present at the time of the shooting. Getty According to Fox 5 DC, family members said Mercer opened fire after Nails repeatedly asked him to leave and that she had previously expressed no longer wanting to be in a relationship with him. 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. "Its traumatic, a neighbor who wished to stay anonymous told WJLA of the circumstances surrounding the shooting. I wouldnt imagine no child growing up like that -- like its bad you wouldnt want to see no child grow up like that for a person to be holding her newborn child. Similarly, Nails family is reeling from the loss. We're falling apart, her father told Fox 5 DC. "Everybody can't believe it. It's Kiki." For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Following the continued response to Hurricane Helene, the US BSEE has estimated that 3.35% of GOM oil activities are now shut-in, down from 30% reported on 26 September. The BSEE has also confirmed that only 0.91% of natural gas production in the offshore region is closed, decreasing from a reported 17% on 26 September. On 24 September, major oil companies including Chevron, Shell and Equinor began evacuating staff from their offshore facilities. As of 29 September, a total of three production platforms have been evacuated, or 0.81% of the total 371 manned platforms in the area. Additionally, one non-dynamically positioned (DP) rig has been moved from Hurricane Helenes path, representing 4.76% of the 21 DP rigs currently operating in the Gulf. The BSEE stated that personnel will remain on board and return to the original location once the storm has completely passed. The organisation, which oversees improving safety and ensuring environmental protection relating to the offshore energy industry, said: Now that the storm has passed, facilities will be inspected. Once all standard checks have been completed, production from undamaged facilities will be brought back online immediately. Facilities sustaining damage may take longer to bring back online. It is currently unclear how Hurricane Helene has impacted the GOMs overall output, as it produces 97% of the US offshore oil and gas. The region was also marked by Hurricane Francine in early September, which took almost a fifth of its oil production out of action. The US Energy Information Administrations most recent forecast for GOMs oil and gas production showed 1.8 million barrels per day of crude oil and 1.8 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas in 2024. Decreasing oil and gas prices in US have also stalled production this year as companies turn their focus to efficient drilling operations. "Gulf of Mexicos oil and gas operations recover as Hurricane Helene moves north " was originally created and published by Offshore Technology, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. An Arkansas marijuana group is proposing a constitutional amendment to expand patient access to the drug. (Getty Images) Supporters of a proposed ballot measure that would make changes to the states medical marijuana industry vowed to pursue legal action Monday after Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston deemed their petition insufficient. Ballot question committee Arkansans for Patient Access in July submitted more than 108,000 signatures in support of the proposal, 77,000 of which were deemed valid. Proposed constitutional amendments require 90,704 signatures from 50 counties to qualify for the ballot. Because Arkansans for Patient Access collected more than 75% of the required minimum by the July 5 deadline, the group qualified for a cure period and had until Aug. 30 to collect additional signatures. Supporters submitted nearly 39,000 more signatures last month, and Monday was the deadline for Thurston to certify or reject the proposal for the ballot. Medical Marijuana - Letter 9-30-2024 In a letter issued Monday, Thurston said his office had completed its review of the signatures collected during the 30-day cure period and determined 10,521 signatures were valid, bringing the total number of signatures to 88,040. For a proposed constitutional amendment, the required number of overall signatures in 2024 is 90,704, Thurston wrote. Therefore I am obligated to deem your petition insufficient. Arkansans for Patient Access argued in a press release Monday that it submitted more than 150,000 signatures from all 75 counties, demonstrating clear support for the proposal. The group said excluding 20,000 signatures collected during the cure period due to an arbitrary, last-minute clerical rule change is unfair and contrary to the democratic process. It appears that the certification of the Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2024 has been blocked for reasons unrelated to the proposals merits, with political motives influencing the decision, the statement reads. We are deeply disappointed by this outcome and will pursue legal action tomorrow against the Secretary of State to ensure the voices of Arkansans are heard. The overwhelming support shown through the petition process proves that Arkansans want the opportunity to vote on expanded medical marijuana access. Arkansans for Patient Access will continue to fight for their right to make that decision at the ballot box this November. Out-of-the-ether Thurston told the committee on Aug. 8 that his office would not count signatures collected during the cure period by paid canvassers because a company that hired paid canvassers had signed legally required paperwork instead of the sponsor of the amendment. Thurston used this same argument against a proposed constitutional amendment that would have created a limited right to abortion. Supporters of the abortion amendment challenged Thurstons decision, but the Arkansas Supreme Court agreed with his decision to reject proposal, ruling on Aug. 22 that supporters of the amendment did not submit the correct paperwork to Thurstons office at the right time. The high courts decision kept the abortion measure off this years ballot. APA intervened in the case and criticized Thurston in court documents for making the same eleventh-hour about-face with an erroneous and out-of-the-ether interpretation of the law regarding paid canvassers. APA strongly disputes that it failed to comply with this statute and, if necessary, will challenge your position in the appropriate forum, wrote attorney Stephen Lancaster of the Wright Lindsey Jennings law firm in a letter to Thurston submitted with the additional signatures on Aug. 30. The Family Council Action Committee, a ballot question committee opposing the proposed measure, issued a statement Monday praising Thurstons decision and vowing to continue fighting against the measure if its appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court. Every effort to amend the states most important governing document, our constitution, must go through a rigorous and thorough process, executive director Jerry Cox said. The bar should be high, and any effort that doesnt meet it shouldnt make the ballot. Secretary of State Thurston made the right call. Easing cannabis access Arkansans voted to legalize cannabis for medical use in 2016. The first products were sold in 2019 and the state now has 37 licensed dispensaries and a billion-dollar medical cannabis industry. If approved, the proposed amendment would include physician assistants, nurse practitioners and pharmacists as medical professionals who can certify patients for medical marijuana cards. Health care providers also would be allowed to conduct patient assessment via telemedicine, and providers would be permitted to qualify patients based on medical need, rather than the existing 18 qualifying conditions outlined by the state. The amendment would also allow patients and designated caregivers older than 21 to grow up to seven mature marijuana plants and seven young plants. The measure also would eliminate application fees for patient cards and extend the term of the card to three years. Supporters have said the proposed amendment would be particularly helpful for low-income Arkansans and people living in rural areas where access to primary care physicians is limited. Regardless of legal action, the medical marijuana measure will appear on the ballot as Issue 3 because the signature verification process was still ongoing on Aug. 22, the deadline for when all candidates and sufficient ballot issues had to be certified to the counties for the ballot. If Thurstons decision stands, votes for and against the measure wont be counted. If his decision is overturned by the court, the votes would be counted. Editors note: This story was updated at 6:32 p.m. on Sept. 30, 2024 to clarify the Arkansas Supreme Courts ruling on the proposed abortion amendment. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Changemakers and advocates play a vital role in uplifting the military community by addressing challenges and driving meaningful change. These dedicated individuals leverage their voices, experiences and expertise to raise awareness about the unique needs of service members, veterans and their families. By championing policy reforms, providing resources and fostering connections, they create an environment where our community can thrive. Their commitment not only inspires others to take action but also cultivates a sense of solidarity and support within the community; empowering those who have served to navigate transitions and overcome obstacles. Through their relentless advocacy, the MIGHTY 25 of 2024 are transforming the narrative and ensuring that the sacrifices of our community are recognized and valued. From military kid to enlisted leader of the Air Force, she has spent over 30 years serving this country and those in uniform. Though she was the first female and Asian American to rise to the ranks of Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, Bass knows she wont be the last. Crediting mentors and advocates who came before her; she is on a path to continue serving this nation by championing ending veteran homelessness. The granddaughter of a World War I veteran, she went from military spouse to advocate. Through her efforts with the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, she spearheaded programming to support mental health, wellness and eradicating veteran homelessness. Her efforts continue to inspire, encourage and ensure that America recognizes the importance of those in uniform. Army veteran and tireless advocate for female veterans, Boothe turned her hardship into advocacy for a whole new generation of women. Her passion to ensure female veterans are heard, seen and receive equal support after service has radically transformed care. Boothe is a tireless champion of speaking your truth and leaning in to challenges. As the daughter of an Air Force officer, her passion for our nations warriors only grew when she became a military spouse. After her service member tragically took his own life, her passion for ensuring Americas military and veterans had a crisis line led to the formation of 988 a decade later. Her work in suicide prevention has saved hundreds of lives and shes just getting started. After being thrust into military life as a spouse, she discovered the harsh realities of finding quality childcare. Rather than making do or accepting the issue, Corbitt chose to use her knowledge and expertise with data to pursue meaningful change within the DoD. Barrier after barrier she persisted, making what John Lewis called good trouble. After forming Operation Childcare Project to create resources for military families, she continues to pursue making childcare a mission readiness issue. Image from "Empowering Hidden Heroes: Pathways to InnoVAtion, " sponsored by the Eilzabeth Dole Foundation, Wednesday, September 28, 2016 at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C. As a child she watched her oldest brother go off to fight in World War II and her passion for Americas warriors was cemented. She broke through barriers at Harvard Law School, in the White House and then used her role as a senator to champion the military community. Over a decade ago she founded the Elizabeth Dole Foundation to honor and serve the caregivers of our nations veterans. Dole is a living legacy of hope, encouragement and relentless advocacy. When she saw veterans returning home from the Iraq War struggling and recovering from wounds sustained in combat, she brought back morale in a big way. Elise created Pin-Ups for Vets and began a nationwide tour of military medical hospitals to visit and support healing service members. Almost 20 calendars later she has visited all 50 states and created an undeniable impact on our nations ill, injured and wounded. As the granddaughter of veterans, the aftermath of 9/11 would create a relentless patriotism and her marriage to a quiet professional would solidify her efforts to serve those who serve. After founding nonprofits dedicated to the military community, Gomolka would face her own battle with a cancer diagnosis. She used her extensive platform to advocate for health and wellness while undergoing treatment leading to an internationally seen TED Talk on the importance of kindness. A heart for filmmaking and a desire to follow in his grandfathers footsteps would take this Wisconsin native to the Army. After a stop loss into combat changed the trajectory of his life, he chose to devote it to telling the stories of our Armed Forces. As he worked through the ranks building content and film for the VA and other clients, he wrote and directed his first feature film. Starring Morgan Freeman, Hausmann-Stokes will use the big screen to tell the story of redemption and healing after the war through his film, My Best Friend, Zoe. Governor Kemp of Georgia is ensuring the military community in his state receives vital resources, support, and recognition for their service. As a deeply patriotic American, he made it his mission to secure legislation targeting pain points for military spouses, child care and becoming a force multiplier for military retention. His devotion makes him more than MIGHTY. As a mental health professional and fierce advocate for military families, Murphy has used her voice to lead efforts to improve quality of life for the community. Everywhere the Navy has sent her husband, she has made it her mission to encourage connection, advocacy and community. With her new role at the Travis Manion Foundation, Murphy has focused her efforts of honoring the families of the fallen while continuing to create space for military families to share their stories. His family sought refuge in America from the communism and human rights abuse experienced in the Soviet Union. Wishing to pay back the life America afforded his family, Palanker enlisted in the Army to serve and protect. He took his skills and language abilities into the ranks of the special forces for the last decade of his career. When he struggled with suicide, Palanker looked for every resource. When exercise became a haven and healing emerged, he chose to use his voice to save and encourage other veterans. Knowing hed be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, this son of a famous actor chose to become a Marine ahead of his number being called. His year in combat shaped and changed everything. Though he pursued documentary filmmaking, a project on homelessness enlightened him to the plight of veterans. From hitting the streets for the VA as a case manager to leading U.S. Vets in eradicating veteran homelessness, he is all that is MIGHTY. And more. As she watched her friends returning home to Chicago from the Iraq War, Pletcher made the decision to devote her life and career to serving the military community. From her work at Military OneSource to General Dynamics Information Technology as a social worker, she has championed providing resources to veterans with traumatic brain injuries. When an injury ended Reeses Army career before he was ready, he decided to champion the issues faced by disabled veterans. As a leader for Disabled American Veterans, his work to serve this population and develop resources for their needs has been extraordinary. He continues to use his voice to advocate and support the wounded, will and injured of our nations forces. The Arkansas native followed the sage wisdom of his mother into not only serving in the Navy but pursuing equality for all. This leader of American Airlines DEI initiatives worked his way from the bottom to leadership positions within AA and is committed to bringing other veterans up with him. From hosting ERGs to encouraging service, his patriotism and infectious desire to serve others shines through. Familia is everything to this retired Green Beret. Though he dedicated over 20 years to defending and protecting this nation, his efforts to erect and dedicate space to the Global War on Terror Memorial has been nothing short of inspiring. Rodriguez tirelessly worked to secure the memorial on the National Mall, a feat he was told would never be accomplished. But for this New Mexico native, impossible was a word his family wouldnt allow him to embrace. From foster homes to leading in Americas Navy, Lieutenant Commander Salters used his experience and knowledge to build resources for his sailors for years. Knowing the need, he founded Act Now Education to ensure all service members could transition from the military with the education, skills and job opportunities they deserve. His work has radically transformed the accessibility of resources for those who serve. The daughter of an Indian Air Force Veteran, Sandal gave up her citizenship in India to be able to work for the VA and serve our nations heroes. Her transformative work in veteran services has led to cost savings and extraordinary impact to veterans. From developing a project to give access to Uber so veterans can access their appointments to ensuring the experience continues to improve, Sandal has been an integral part of improving the lives of our warriors. These retired Marine Corps veterans have 47 years of combined service to this nation. Following their transition, both devoted their civilian careers to endeavors supporting the military community. Seeing a gap in the connection of corporations, stakeholders and seeing the need for a thriving community, they founded ZeroMils to stand in the gap. Smallwood credits his faith for everything but its his heart for serving our veterans through his work with the VA which we recognize as extraordinary. As a Marine veteran, he honorably served multiple combat tours and returned to work with the nations ill and injured. His work through PFS has been revolutionary for our nations veterans and as he says theyre just getting started. The award winning late-night host of the Daily Show, award winning author and extraordinarily funny stand-up comedian could have used his voice for anything but chose Americas first responders and front-line defenders. From championing the 9/11 responders on Capitol Hill for benefits to shaming Congress into taking care of veterans, his work has been profound. Stewarts tireless support has led to unimaginable impact for those who serve and sacrifice. An an injury during combat led to this veteran Army medic to dedicate the rest of his life to those in uniform. After healing, Turner made it his mission to grow, learn and create more opportunity for the military community. His efforts at Warrior Alliance led to not only improving the lives of veterans but saving many in the process. As he turns his efforts to building capital ethically and bringing veterans into tech, we remain grateful for his inspiring and encouraging service to this nation. Van Camp has shown tireless devotion to serving others, from two-year mission trips through his West Point experience to his time as a Green Beret. After illness ended his time as a special operator, Van Camp devoted his life to uplifting the voices of Americas warriors through storytelling. When he saw the need for resources for veterans in the entrepreneurship space, he built Warrior Rising to stand in the gap. Almost 10 years and $5 million later, hes just getting started. From idolizing Wonder Woman to becoming everything she embodied for military families, Weathers has devoted her professional career and life to serving those who serve. As a clinician, she spent 20 years studying the impacts of service and providing vital resources to those in need. As she watched the tumultuous withdrawal from Afghanistan, she was called to write her second book, Military Culture Shift an unbiased and direct look at the generational divides and pitfalls of the military. Her work has led to extraordinary impact for the military community. Congratulations to our 2024 MIGHTY 25! Members of Mass.-based task force assisting with rescue missions in flood-stricken North Carolina Members of an elite task force from Massachusetts are in North Carolina assisting with rescue missions after Hurricane Helene soaked the region with torrential rain, causing unprecedented flooding and landslides. Beverly-based Massachusetts Task Force 1, which is comprised of firefighters, technical rescue technicians, medical professionals, canine handlers, engineers, and civilians from all six New England states, shared photos of crew members navigating a swollen river. MA-TF1, one of FEMAs 28 urban search-and-rescue teams, has been on the ground in North Carolina since Thursday evening. Hurricane Helene unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina, dousing some communities with over two feet of rain. In the mountain city of Asheville, 30 people were reportedly killed and the death toll across the Southeast was nearing 100. Emergency workers are trying to reach areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure, and widespread flooding. Officials warned that rebuilding from the widespread loss of homes and property would be lengthy and difficult. President Joe Biden described the impact of the storm as stunning. Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over Lake Lure and the Chimney Rock area on the evening of Sept. 27, 2024 Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over Lake Lure and the Chimney Rock area on the evening of Sept. 27, 2024 Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over Lake Lure and the Chimney Rock area on the evening of Sept. 27, 2024 Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over Lake Lure and the Chimney Rock area on the evening of Sept. 27, 2024 Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over Lake Lure and the Chimney Rock area on the evening of Sept. 27, 2024 Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over Lake Lure and the Chimney Rock area on the evening of Sept. 27, 2024 Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over Lake Lure and the Chimney Rock area on the evening of Sept. 27, 2024 Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over Lake Lure and the Chimney Rock area on the evening of Sept. 27, 2024 Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over Lake Lure and the Chimney Rock area on the evening of Sept. 27, 2024 Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over Lake Lure and the Chimney Rock area on the evening of Sept. 27, 2024 Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over Lake Lure and the Chimney Rock area on the evening of Sept. 27, 2024 Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over Lake Lure and the Chimney Rock area on the evening of Sept. 27, 2024 Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over Lake Lure and the Chimney Rock area on the evening of Sept. 27, 2024 Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over Lake Lure and the Chimney Rock area on the evening of Sept. 27, 2024 Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over Lake Lure and the Chimney Rock area on the evening of Sept. 27, 2024 Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over Lake Lure and the Chimney Rock area on the evening of Sept. 27, 2024 Crews work to clean up the tons of sand and debris pushed onto Gulf Boulevard from Hurricane Helene storm surge, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Madeira Beach, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP) The sun shines through a hole in a building after storm surge from Hurricane Helene sent tons of sand into homes, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Madeira Beach, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP) A home completely destroyed by fire due to Hurricane Helene is pictured on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Madeira Beach, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP) This aerial drone view shows damaged homes and a vehicle collapsed into water after storm surge from Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Madeira Beach, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP) A vehicle sits outside of its garage after storm surge from Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Madeira Beach, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP) A passerby checks the water depth of a flooded road, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Morganton, N.C. Torrential rain from Hurricane Helene left many area streets flooded. In addition, traffic lights are inoperable due to no power, with downed power lines and trees. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek) An uprooted tree landed on a pickup truck in front of a home on East Main Street after Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Glen Alpine, N.C. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek) A barrier blocks a flooded Carbon City Road due to the torrential rain from Hurricane Helene , Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 in downtown Morganton, N.C. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek) The Riverside RV park was flooded from the overflowing Catawba River after torrential rain from Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Morganton, N.C. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek) A stop sign can be barely seen above a flooded parking lot after torrential rain from Hurricane Helene caused severe flooding, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Morganton, N.C. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek) Daniel Dickert plants an American flag on his property were his boat shed was destroyed and his home damaged in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Jena, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Workers clean and gut a property that was flooded from the storm surge, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Steinhatchee, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) An aerial view of flood damage along the Pigeon River left by Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Newport, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) An aerial view of flood damage left by Hurricane Helene along the Nolichucky River, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Greene County, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) Residents discard items from their homes which filled with floodwaters from Hurricane Helene in the Shore Acres neighborhood on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson) An aerial view of flood-damaged Unicoi County Hospital in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Erwin, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) Pam Keen cleans up after their house took on water and piles of seaweed from the storm surge, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Steinhatchee, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) An aerial view of flood damage along the Pigeon River left by Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Newport, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) An aerial view a damaged bridge and flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene is seen along the Nolichucky River, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Greene County, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV) This is the view from NewsChopper 2 on Saturday a day after Tropical Storm Helene caused significant flooding across metro Atlanta. This is the view from NewsChopper 2 on Saturday a day after Tropical Storm Helene caused significant flooding across metro Atlanta. This is the view from NewsChopper 2 on Saturday a day after Tropical Storm Helene caused significant flooding across metro Atlanta. Frankie Johnson, left, talks with fellow resident Charlene Huggins, whose home was destroyed, amid the destruction in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Frankie Johnson, left, and her husband, Mark Johnson, talk with fellow resident Charlene Huggins, right, amid the destruction in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) An American flag flies over the destroyed city hall in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephen Smith) Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW On Wednesday evening, physicians and executives at Memorial Healthcare System watched closely as the board of commissioners went through their regular monthly agenda. An air of tension permeated the room as the audience eagerly awaited what the new interim CEO of Memorial had to say. Shane Strum took the podium, and people listened, hanging on his every word. Memorial Healthcare System had landed in an unthinkable position, and its employees wanted to know what would happen next. I think we have a strong team in place. I think we have a lot of opportunities. I am going to make sure we take the time to address everything, Strum told the crowd. I want to make this clear. I am still the president and CEO of Broward Health and I am the interim CEO for Memorial Healthcare System, but this couldnt be a better opportunity for all of us to get together. Memorial Healthcare System, a publicly funded network of hospitals, outpatient clinics, and urgent care centers in southern Broward County, sits at a crossroads and in a position no one would have imagined. Its strategic vision for the future will be set, at least in part, by the CEO of Broward Health, a competing public hospital system with a recent history of financial instability and leadership turnover. Just three years ago, Strum took the helm at Broward Health, straight off a job as chief of staff to Gov. Ron DeSantis. He has navigated the hospital district back to financial stability, installed a hand-picked management team, and boosted public perception. While Strum transformed Broward Health, however, Memorial, considered more stable and financially secure, sputtered under the leadership of Scott Wester, a healthcare executive from Louisiana who took the CEO job two years ago. Memorials board said Wester failed to articulate a strategic vision and allowed competitors to enter Memorials South Broward territory for the first time. Two privately held hospital chains, Baptist Health and HCA Health Florida, now own properties in Pembroke Pines, where they are seeking approval to build free-standing emergency rooms. The recent death of Frank Sacco, Memorials longtime leader and visionary, highlighted that the system still clings to the culture he instilled but needs a leader who can set its future path, which is expected to include a major expansion of its flagship Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood. On Sept. 11, events at Memorial came to a head, setting in motion a trajectory that has seemed politically impossible for more than seven decades a collaboration of two giant healthcare districts within Broward County. Memorials board severed ties with Wester at its Sept. 11 meeting with a year left on his contract. Eight days later, the boards of both hospital systems held emergency meetings and signed off on Strum filling Westers spot, on an interim basis. Strum is now both CEO of Broward Health and interim CEO of Memorial. Many doctors in both systems refer to the action as a merger, non-merger. Strum himself described it as a baby step. When asked if this should be considered a merger, he responded: I dont think thats the plan now. I think what the bigger goal would be is, can we collaborate more? This gives us a real opportunity to work together for the first time. How Strum moved in Liz Justen, chair of Memorials board, said after severing ties with its CEO, the board initially wanted only to know how the two systems could work together and why an earlier attempt to do so had stalled. I called Shane and asked him to come to our regularly scheduled meeting on the 16th and talk to us, Justen said. He came in and was telling us about all the collaborations he was doing in the north and how he was building relationships with the local, the state and the feds and how they were giving him appropriations and he was able to secure money and how he was partnering with everybody, and we were sitting there going, These are all the things we had been asking our CEO to do.' Justen said the rest happened organically. We asked him if he could find time to do a top-down assessment. And then we said Why not be our interim CEO and tell us how we can work together better?' Strum is no stranger to Memorial or the politics of healthcare. Although he jettisoned in three years ago to revive Broward Health, years earlier, he had worked as senior vice president of the South Broward Hospital District. He also served eight years as a Memorial board member. Broward Health Commissioner Paul Tanner said that when an emergency meeting was called, his organizations governing group had no hesitation in signing off on Strums interim position at Memorial. Broward Health pays Strum $1.3 million a year, and he has declined a salary from Memorial. They were in a bind, and the concept is not logistically impossible, Tanner said. There are single CEOs for much larger hospital districts than this in the private sector. Tanner said both health system boards want to collaborate more, to find operating efficiencies, create partnerships and seek ways to work together. They had begun that effort just before Wester came on board, and are building a freestanding Emergency Department to operate jointly in Sunrise. This is an opportunity that has not presented itself in decades and may not present itself again, Tanner said. Shane is intimately familiar with both hospital systems. It allows our organizations to advance on joint enterprises that should have been moving faster anyway. Its all about healthcare for all The origins of the North and South Broward Hospital Districts go back more than 70 years when power players in Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood went to Tallahassee to help find a way to pay for hospital care for indigent patients. The state Legislature created the two special taxing districtsfirst the South in 1947 and then the North in 1951to provide healthcare to residents regardless of their ability to pay. They are funded through insurance reimbursement and property taxes and have the mission to serve everyone in the county needing healthcare. The line between the north and south districts is roughly Griffin Road. Over the decades, both hospital systems have become huge employers and deliverers of healthcare services, and board positions are coveted governor appointments. Memorial Healthcare System has 17,000 employees and includes Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Joe DiMaggio Childrens Hospital in Hollywood, Memorial Regional Hospital South in Hollywood, Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines, Memorial Hospital Miramar, Memorial Hospital Pembroke, and numerous ancillary facilities, including a nursing home and urgent care centers. Broward Health has 11,000 employees and includes Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, Broward Health North in Pompano Beach, Broward Health Imperial Point in Fort Lauderdale, Broward Health Coral Springs, Salah Foundation Childrens Hospital at Broward Health in Fort Lauderdale, outpatient patient centers and an urgent care.. Merging the South Broward and North Broward hospital districts would be a complex and lengthy process requiring buy-in from the Florida Legislature. State Sen. Gary Farmer proposed a bill to do so in 2017. Throwing two districts together with the complexity of the IT contracts, the managed care contracts, the position contracts, the myriad issues of debt is simply not something you can do without a long and deliberative look, lobbyist Ron Book said at the time. Earlier this week, the South Florida Sun Sentinel asked Strum, Why not merge the two districts? I think both hospitals would have to be comfortable coming together, Strum said. I think its a big step. Look, no one has ever done this before, he said, referring to his new position of being CEO of both. This is an opportunity we can look under each others hood and see if we are compatible. Do we want to work together? Do we see potential growth? he said. And if everyone thinks there is some good growth potential, they will probably allow us to do a few more bigger projects, and well get a few wins on the board. I think if we can prove to the community that weve been successful and a value-add, it opens an opportunity for more I think everything is baby steps. A lot of power in one persons hands It became clear at Memorial Healthcare Systems board meeting Wednesday night that Strum would soon become involved in every aspect of operations. Board members directed him to review building plans, critique contracts and seek new opportunities. Strum is known for his high energy and long work schedule, traits that will be mandatory to operate two large and growing health systems. When asked if operating both systems is too big a role for one person, Strum told the Sun Sentinel: I would think it would depend on the person. I think youve seen massive changes in Broward Health. I think I have built a strong enough team to dedicate time to Memorial at their time of need. He certainly has the ability and the energy, said Christoper Ure, wealth manager and former commissioner for the North Broward Hospital District said of Strum. Naturally, some physicians and politicians expressed concern publicly and privately over putting so much power over healthcare in Broward County in one persons hands. Over the decades, both systems have had their share of infighting, lawsuits, and even Sunshine Law violations. They compete for talent, corporation donations, and patients with private insurance whose reimbursements can help fund those without insurance. I see a lot of value in both working more efficiently together. However, when you put more power and control in any one individual, there are pitfalls, Ure said. It is important for both boards to have the right training wheels in place. There are going to be a lot of eyes on both boards to make sure the interests of their constituents are properly front and center. Attorney Bill Scherer, former general counsel for the North Broward Hospital District for 20 years, said Strum could now wield power to benefit all Broward residents if he negotiated on behalf of both systems. Each is a strong health system, but working together gives them great buying power and borrowing power, Scherer said. At a time when more for-profit hospitals want to expand in Broward County, this collaboration becomes even more critical, Scherer notes. Scherer believes a full merger should be on the table. There are complexities there and they would have to figure out how to do it, but I think Shane is up to the task. The future for Memorial can take varied paths For decades, Frank Sacco led Memorial with a strong vision and a long-term plan. Well past Saccos retirement, the system continued to expand and improve. It opened a new free-standing cancer center in Pembroke Pines earlier this year and completed a four-story expansion at Joe DiMaggio Childrens Hospital in November 2022. Memorial also announced in 2023 that it would invest $88 million in Memorial Regional Hospital to upgrade its infrastructure, including renovating its Emergency Department and creating a family birthplace. Now, the hospital system faces whats next? How does it continue to serve residents in South Broward and keep new competition from luring its paying customers? Mark Greenspan, Memorials vice president of construction and property management, said Memorial has two free-standing Emergency Departments in the works one in Miramar and one in Pembroke Pines. Memorial also purchased a building in Pembroke Pines for urgent care, directly across from the property HCA bought in Pembroke Pines. HCA wants to build a free-standing Emergency Department, its first foray in South Broward. Most significantly, Greenspan said he has been working on designs for what could be a $750 million expansion at the flagship hospital in Hollywood. He calls it a five-year project that would add a new tower with modern medical technology to Memorial Regional, which opened in 1953. I have been asked to work with Mr. Strum and bring him up to speed, Greenspan said. Justen, the board chair, said Memorial is financially strong. However, as the board considers further expansion, it wants a strategic growth plan that includes how to finance new buildings. Shane has turned around the north district. We dont need that kind of a turnaround, but we do need a plan going forward. Justen said the board will not conduct a CEO search for now, although she recognizes they still need to flesh out any language concerning conflict of interests that may arise between the two districts. In the interim, I am pretty confident Shane is going to be able to lead us, she said. He knows both systems now. He knows the Memorial family experience. I have no doubt there will be challenges and opportunities, but I feel like we can navigate it together. Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at cgoodman@sunsentinel.com. Attendees cheer during a Missourians for Constitutional Freedom rally on May 3, after the campaign turned in 380,000 signatures for its initiative petition (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent). One of my 6-year-olds was on the swings when a man approached and handed me a flier from Missouri Right to Life PAC titled 10 Reasons to Oppose the Pro-Abortion Initiative Petition. The man told me that if Amendment 3, the ballot initiative that would end Missouris current abortion ban, passes in November, women will be having abortions at nine months, there will be no safety regulations, and women harmed wont be able to sue for malpractice. Sir, this isnt true, I told him. I was breaking the rule of dont engage when approached by an abortion opponent that had been drilled into me when I volunteered collecting signatures to get the initiative on the ballot. I didnt tell him that I was familiar with his flier and had written a point-by-point debunking of it. I did try to explain that Amendment 3 only protects abortion up until viability or when the patient is endangered, but that even the restrictions Amendment 3 allows on later abortion are unnecessary. Women who dont want to be pregnant want to have abortions as early as possible, while would-be parents who have complications far into wanted pregnancies need time to figure out what to do. I told him my story that an abortion restriction had almost resulted in my kid on the swings not having a twin brother. When I was pregnant in New York in 2017, there was an inflexible 24-week cutoff in place that nearly forced us to terminate one fetus to save the other before the severity of an anomaly could be known. We fought through that and today have two healthy kids, but other aspiring parents were not so fortunate before New York reformed its law in 2019. Im glad you didnt kill your baby, the man said. I was stunned. I know how proponents of abortion criminalization see women like me, but its different to have someone tell you to your face. When hed first come up to me, Id asked him the question I always wish I had the opportunity to ask of reasonable conservatives who think criminalizing abortion is reasonable: if abortion is wrong, why cant you convince women of that? Why do you need to use the law to force a woman to carry a pregnancy to term against her will? I think about this question even more than I used to since the news that abortions have increased since the fall of Roe. Someone who does not want to be pregnant will walk over hot coals to end her pregnancy. A ban can punish her with having to travel out of state for a later abortion that is more invasive, medically involved, and expensive. It can make her stay pregnant, which for some of us means very ill, for weeks. A ban can take her away from her kids, job, school. Or force her to have a legally gray self-managed medication abortion without local medical support. The Amendment 3 opponents have to know that they are making life more difficult and dangerous for women who need abortions without stopping them for the most part. Yet, they march on, vilifying women who need later abortions in the quest to keep it impossible to have an early one in this state. The man answered my question as to why we should be forced to continue pregnancies unwillingly, no matter how early, with an honesty that I havent heard from the anti-Amendment 3 campaign: Because its a human being. This is something Right to Life, Jay Ashcroft, Andrew Bailey, Mary Elizabeth Coleman, Mike Kehoe et al prefer not to state so plainly in defense of Missouris current abortion ban. Instead, they keep coming up with new ridiculous interpretations of Amendment 3 in an attempt to portray it as extreme, no matter how many times the courts explain these claims are unfounded. They tweet, write up fliers, and file lawsuits alleging dental hygienists will be performing abortions, human cloning will be legal and malpractice laws wont apply. Horrible women will stay pregnant for nine months only to demand abortions the very last second that the last toenail leaves the birth canal, as Ashcroft put it in an evocative encapsulation of their contempt for women who have abortions. I am telling you now: they dont believe the things they are saying about Amendment 3 and this will be proven as soon as it becomes law. They will flip flop completely (just like their compatriots in Ohio did) in order to argue that Amendment 3 actually does next to nothing to bar them from enacting and enforcing the kind of endless obstacles that made it nearly impossible to have an abortion in Missouri even before the Dobbs decision. They make up these wild stories about what Amendment 3 will do in order to obscure what they do believe but dont say as straightforwardly as the man on the playground: from the moment of conception the state of Missouri must be able to dictate what happens to a potential life rather than its potential mother. Once an egg is fertilized I am just a birth canal. I am a container that cannot be trusted to decide whether or not to bring a child into the world, and must be forced to do so. And if the law causes harm or even death to the container, that is unfortunate but justifiable in service to the higher purpose of protecting potential life. After the man walked away, my son got off the swing and asked, Mom, why were you talking to that man for so long? Good question, kiddo. It was foolish to think I might convince him that I am a human being, too. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX David Carrick was a PC with the Metropolitan Police before he was sacked [Hertfordshire Police] Four Metropolitan Police officers and a member of police staff will face disciplinary proceedings for their handling of allegations against the serial rapist police officer David Carrick, the police watchdog has said. Carrick, of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, was jailed for at least 30 years in February 2023 after he admitted dozens of rapes and sexual offences against 12 women. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said a det sgt, three officers and a police staff member allegedly breached "police standards of professional behaviour". Four reports of serious offending were made against Carrick between 2002 and 2021, while he served as a Met officer, the IOPC added. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Related internet links (NewsNation) Two Mexican drug cartels are primarily responsible for flooding the United States with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 80 times stronger than morphine thats killing over 200 Americans daily, authorities say. The Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels have established a sophisticated supply chain, sourcing precursor chemicals from China and manufacturing fentanyl in clandestine Mexican labs before smuggling it across the U.S. border, according to Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reports. No substance comes close to the death toll caused by fentanyl. It claims over 200 lives every day thats the equivalent of a full airplane crashing daily. Fact-checking claims Harris and Trump have made about the border DEA seizures highlight the escalating crisis. In 2021, authorities confiscated 23 million fentanyl pills and nearly 7,000 pounds of powder. By 2023, those numbers surged to over 80 million pills and about 12,000 pounds of powder. In 2024 alone, 37.7 million pills and more than 5,400 pounds of fentanyl powder have been seized enough to produce 269 million lethal doses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported fentanyl-related overdose deaths increased from 70,000 in 2021 to over 74,000 in 2023, surpassing deaths from other drugs like methamphetamine and cocaine. Behind the statistics are tragic personal stories. Stefanie Turner of Texas lost her son Tucker to fentanyl poisoning after he purchased a single pill online while struggling with sleep and anxiety. ICE released 435,000 migrants with criminal convictions: Data Fentanyl is taking a whole generation of brilliant minds, Turner said. If you dont receive medication from a pharmacy, count that it has fentanyl. One pill does kill. Government efforts to combat the crisis are intensifying. Californias task force seized 8.8 million fentanyl pills this year, while Texas now prosecutes fentanyl-related deaths as murders. The Biden administration has partnered with China to disrupt the supply of precursor chemicals. Despite these efforts, including high-profile arrests like that of Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael El Mayo Zambada in July, the cartels have proven adaptable. They employ various tactics to evade detection, including mislabeled packages, encrypted messaging and cryptocurrency payments. The cartels have proven resilient and adaptable, shifting their strategies to maintain control over a billion-dollar fentanyl trade thats ripping through communities and lives. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NewsNation. MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - In his last morning press conference as Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador raffled off his watch on Monday to attending journalists in the kind of popular stunt that came to define his presidency. Lopez Obrador's successor and protege Claudia Sheinbaum, who will be sworn into office on Tuesday, has promised to continue the now iconic daily press conference known as the mananera despite having a very different, more rehearsed style. "We are not going to have time for questions and answers.. But we are going to have time for what I offered you.. because we are going to raffle the watch," Lopez Obrador said as he removed the timepiece which he has said is worth between 2,000 and 2,500 pesos (about $100 to $125). Local media reported the brand as Momentum. Spotting what presidents and ministers are wearing on their wrists is a longtime political sport in Latin America, with several leaders getting into hot water for flaunting expensive time pieces that appear out of touch with their political ideals. For example, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte faced calls to step down amid questions about the provenance of her collection of Rolex watches earlier this year while Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has also been criticized for allegedly owning luxury watches. Cuba's Fidel Castro famously wore two Rolex watches on the same wrist, one - legend has it - was set to local time and the other to Moscow. Lopez Obrador himself, as mayor of Mexico City in 2005, was slammed by reporters for wearing a pricey Tiffany timepiece. But since winning the presidency in 2018 he has been careful to maintain an image consistent with his Morena party, which appeals to Mexico's poorest and vows to end corruption among the political elite. For the raffle, aides brought out a table and Lopez Obrador selected a journalist to draw a name at random from a bingo-style raffle drum. A reporter from local video outlet Sin Puntos Ni Comas was selected as the winner, joining Lopez Obrador on stage and warmly embracing him before posing for photos with the watch. The mananera closed with the premiere of a music video paying tribute to the president, featuring his wife, as well as live music and a traditional dance performance, as an emotional Lopez Obrador was joined on stage by cabinet members. ($1 = 19.6990 Mexican pesos) (Reporting by Cassandra Garrison; editing by Stephen Eisenhammer) GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) A 19-member team of first responders from Michigan continue to assist with water rescues and cleanup in the state of North Carolina following Hurricane Helene. The state deployed its Michigan Task Force 1 Swiftwater Team last week. Since they arrived in the Chimney Rock area of North Carolina, team member and retired Sterling Heights fire chief Chris Martin told News 8 they have assisted in helping hundreds of individuals through rescues, retrievals and supply runs. Yesterday we did at least 12 people from the other side of this river over here that theres no access to. So things like that is a little more complex than just the house checking and things like that, Martin said. Michigan State Polices Task Force 1 Swiftwater Team continues to help with water rescues and cleanup in the Chimney Rock area near Asheville in North Carolina, following heavy flooding due to Hurricane Helene. (Courtesy Michigan State Police) Michigan State Polices Task Force 1 Swiftwater Team continues to help with water rescues and cleanup in the Chimney Rock area near Asheville in North Carolina, following heavy flooding due to Hurricane Helene. (Courtesy Michigan State Police) Michigan State Polices Task Force 1 Swiftwater Team continues to help with water rescues and cleanup in the Chimney Rock area near Asheville in North Carolina, following heavy flooding due to Hurricane Helene. (Courtesy Michigan State Police) Their team is part of Michigan State Police Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division. Their deployment was upon request by the North Carolina state government for out-of-state support through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. Michigan rescue team sent to North Carolina amid flooding Martin said since their arrival, flood waters have receded but the team is still navigating washed away roads and fields of debris. Clearly infrastructure. Roads, bridges. All the trees that are down, the power lines that are down. Theres no electricity for miles and miles so thats clearly the biggest problem, he said. Nobody has got refrigerators. Even the people who are on generator power are stating theyre running out of propane. Michigan State Polices Task Force 1 Swiftwater Team continues to help with water rescues and cleanup in the Chimney Rock area near Asheville in North Carolina, following heavy flooding due to Hurricane Helene. (Courtesy Michigan State Police) Michigan State Polices Task Force 1 Swiftwater Team continues to help with water rescues and cleanup in the Chimney Rock area near Asheville in North Carolina, following heavy flooding due to Hurricane Helene. (Courtesy Michigan State Police) Michigan State Polices Task Force 1 Swiftwater Team continues to help with water rescues and cleanup in the Chimney Rock area near Asheville in North Carolina, following heavy flooding due to Hurricane Helene. (Courtesy Michigan State Police) The team is slated to stay in North Carolina through the week. Their mission has now shifted toward logistics and accounting for those individuals who stayed in their homes and neighborhoods despite warnings. Making sure theres not somebody, somewhere thats trapped and in need, Martin said. There are hundreds of hundreds of structures in this area that theres no roads or access to it. And it will take days or weeks to get all the roads redone and open, but we need to find a way to get to those. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Getty Images In a party-line vote last week, the Democratic-controlled Michigan House voted to advance part of an ethics and transparency package, allowing the secretary of state to take action against alleged campaign finance violations. House Bill 5583 is one of seven bills introduced as part of the Bringing Reforms in Integrity, Transparency and Ethics (BRITE) Act introduced earlier this year. The package is intended to prevent abuses of campaign finances and shed a light on Michigans government. The legislation which has won support from Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, both Democrats would allow the Michigan secretary of state to apply for a court to intervene if a campaign finance complaint is filed, and the Secretary believes a violation has or is continuing to occur. Todays passage of an important component of the BRITE Act will strengthen Michigans standards of good governance. With real-time campaign finance enforcement authority, the Bureau of Elections could ask the court to immediately stop criminal behavior, rather than wait for a months-long process to play out, Benson said in a statement released after the bills passage on Wednesday. I will proudly continue my work with Attorney General Nessel and our partners in the Legislature to pass the other provisions of the BRITE Act to further improve the ethics and transparency laws in our state. State Rep. Erin Byrnes (D-Dearborn), chair of the House Ethics and Oversight Committee and sponsor of House Bill 5583, also issued a statement saying she hopes the remainder of the package will receive a vote and promised to continue to advocate for the passage of the remaining pieces of the BRITE Act. So far only two bills in the package have received testimony in the House Ethics and Oversight Committee. None of the bills were put to a vote within the committee with the House approving a motion to discharge House Bill 5583 back to the House Floor. When asked about the Republican opposition to the bills, Rep. Tom Kunse (R-Clare), minority vice chair for the House Ethics and Oversight Committee, criticized Democrats arguing that the move to discharge the bill from committee was not transparent I dont like things being rammed through. This is not how it should be, Kunse said. He also accused Democrats of trying to weaponize the secretary of state, as the bill places the Ingham County Circuit Court in charge of taking action against potential campaign finance violations. They pick a liberal, you know, hard-left court. They didnt even try and be neutral. They wanted to pick a court that fits their partisan view of the world and thats not a good thing, Kunse said. According to the National Association of Attorneys General, Michigan law states: Any action at law brought by the attorney general in the name of the state or of the people of the state, for the use and benefit thereof, may be begun in the circuit court in and for the county of Ingham, with another statute providing Ingham County is a proper county for the attorney general which represents the state and its departments to bring action in the name of the state or the people of the state. House Republicans introduced their own transparency efforts in 2023, though the efforts which include reforms to Michigans Freedom of Information Act have not received a hearing in committee. A bipartisan FOIA reform package was passed by the Senate earlier this year and is currently in a House committee. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX With the Truecaller Verified Business Caller ID solution, Halan provides its users with a trusted, safe, and efficient experience. CAIRO, September 30, 2024--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Halan, Egypt's leading financial super app, has announced a strategic partnership with Truecaller, the premier global platform for verifying contacts and blocking unwanted communication. This collaboration enables Halan customers to verify calls, enhancing safety and streamlining communication through with Truecallers Verified Business Caller ID solution suite. As a transformative financial ecosystem serving millions, Halan delivers seamless, cost-effective financial solutions. Recognizing the growing challenge of unsolicited calls for smartphone users, Halan is committed to providing a secure, efficient, and trustworthy communication experience for its customers and partners. By integrating Truecaller's Verified Business Caller ID solution, Halan strengthens phone-based communication, establishing a strong, authentic brand identity that instills trust and ensures safety. This empowers users to easily identify genuine business calls, significantly improving their overall communication experience. With Truecallers Verified Business Caller ID solution, Halan is taking a significant step forward in the financial services ecosystem. This integration not only enriches the customer experience through verified and contextual business communication but also highlights Halans leadership in providing secure, innovative digital services. The inclusion of key elements such as the brand name, logo, category name, verification tick, and distinctive green badge further strengthens Halan's presence as a consumer-centric brand in the market. The partnership leverages Truecaller's Business Profile feature, enabling Halan to share authentic business information with Truecaller users. This includes showcasing the brands personality, social links, business details, and selected brand imagery, all of which contribute to bolstering customer trust and engagement. Commenting on this exciting development, Nahla El Maghraby, Customer Experience Director, Halan, said: "Our partnership with Truecaller for Business ensures our customers can easily verify our calls, enhancing their safety and experience. This reinforces our commitment to secure and trustworthy service for every Halan customer." Speaking about the partnership, Priyam Bose, Global Head GTM & Developer Products, Truecaller, said: "At Truecaller, our mission is to create a communication environment that people can trust, especially in a rapidly evolving digital world. Partnering with Halan, a pioneer in financial technology, allows us to extend our commitment to safety and efficiency. By integrating our Verified Business Caller ID solution, we are not just helping businesses protect their brand integrity, but also empowering millions of customers to engage with confidence. This partnership marks a significant step towards building a more secure and seamless communication ecosystem in the financial services sector." Story continues Truecallers Verified Business Solution empowers business calls with brand identity and context, fostering reliable customer communication. Over 2,500 active businesses worldwide have benefited from the Verified Business Caller ID and other advanced communication capabilities. This solution enhances business call efficiency and significantly reduces phone call-related frauds and scams, promoting heightened customer safety in business communications. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240926514771/en/ Contacts Media Contact: press@truecaller.com NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) Several law enforcement and emergency response agencies in Middle Tennessee are continuing to help flood victims in East Tennessee following Hurricane Helene. At least four weather-related deaths have been reported in that region, including one in Johnson County, one in Unicoi County, and two in Cocke County. In addition, more than 150 people are unaccounted for across multiple counties as of 3:50 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 29, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA). Even though Middle Tennessee experienced localized flooding and downed trees, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) described the damage in East Tennessee as vast. As of midday Sunday, the damage statistics on state roadways are as follows: 27 state roadway sections closed 14 state bridges closed Five state bridges destroyed By late Sunday afternoon, the department reported its crews had inspected more than 100 bridges in the previous 36 hours, with hundreds more to go. WATCH: TDOT updates storm damage to East Tennessee roads after widespread flooding According to the Sumner County Sheriffs Office, the biggest requests so far have been for bottled water and ambulances. Lt. Chris Vines and three Sumner County detectives traveled to affected areas to hand out water. (Courtesy: Sumner County Interim Sheriff Eric Craddock) (Courtesy: Sumner County Interim Sheriff Eric Craddock) (Courtesy: Sumner County EMS) The Dickson County Sheriffs Office also collected bottled water, filling an entire semi-truck and two mid-sized trailers. Sheriff Tim Eads said his deputies plan to make stops in Cocke, Greene, and Unicoi counties starting Monday, Sept. 30. We have all seen the flood damage in East Tennessee from the hurricane. Our brothers and sisters from the affected areas have reached out for help and we plan on doing just that, said Eads. Helene death toll rises while supplies are rushed to North Carolina; Florida digs out Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis and another deputy have also rendered aid in the region. According to Davis, Unicoi County officials have asked for more cadaver dogs since they only have four on the ground, which can only work for two hours at a time without rest. Drone footage from Unicoi County (Courtesy: Humphreys County Chief Deputy Rob Edwards) Drone footage from Unicoi County (Courtesy: Humphreys County Chief Deputy Rob Edwards) Drone footage from Unicoi County (Courtesy: Humphreys County Chief Deputy Rob Edwards) Drone footage from Unicoi County (Courtesy: Humphreys County Chief Deputy Rob Edwards) Drone footage from Unicoi County (Courtesy: Humphreys County Chief Deputy Rob Edwards) Drone footage from Unicoi County (Courtesy: Humphreys County Chief Deputy Rob Edwards) Drone footage from Unicoi County (Courtesy: Humphreys County Chief Deputy Rob Edwards) Drone footage from Unicoi County (Courtesy: Humphreys County Chief Deputy Rob Edwards) As our people are being rescued, we will rejoice with them for their safety. As we locate our dead, we will mourn with their loved ones and show true love and compassion, Glen White, mayor of Erwin, told reporters on Sunday. Six Metro Nashville Police Department officers have also been deployed to East Tennessee, officials told News 2. Middle TN agencies aid rescue missions in East TN after devastating floods The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) has been involved in rescuing multiple people and animals from submerged buildings in the aftermath of the flooding, saying, We are incredibly grateful for the outpouring of love and support our officers have been receiving. Tennesseans have the best volunteer spirit and sense of community in the nation. We are proud to call Tennessee home. The agency urges community members not to deploy their own boats into the water since debris and swift water make navigation difficult. (Courtesy: TWRA) (Courtesy: TWRA) (Courtesy: TWRA) (Courtesy: TWRA) (Courtesy: TWRA) (Courtesy: TWRA) (Courtesy: TWRA) (Courtesy: TWRA) (Courtesy: TWRA) As for the Middle Tennessee fire departments getting involved in relief efforts, Lawrence County Fire and Rescue and the Lawrenceburg Fire Department said their personnel have responded to a variety of incidents in East Tennessee Sunday, including the rescue of a wheelchair-ridden man who was in an area where roads had washed out, as well as search efforts that were impeded by heavy showers, eroded roads, and even a landslide that blocked a departure route. In addition, while trying to get teams across a heavily-eroded road, a volunteer firefighters 16-year-old son reportedly sustained deep lacerations to his left arm from a chainsaw accident, so he had to be brought to the nearest hospital. (Courtesy: Lawrence County Fire and Rescue) (Courtesy: Lawrence County Fire and Rescue) Over in Maury County, the Maury County Fire Department said a team consisting of its personnel, along with personnel from Spring Hill, Columbia, Mt. Pleasant, and Lawrence County, left Sunday night for Unicoi County, where they plan to help with the foot search for more than 30 missing people. (Courtesy: Columbia Fire and Rescue) The McMinnville Fire Department said it is taking donations to help those impacted by the storm damage in Helene. Community members are encouraged to drop off bottled water, packaged food items, personal care items, household cleaning items, tarps, flashlights, batteries, garbage bags, etc. at Station 1 or Station 2 by Friday, Oct. 4. While its not an emergency response agency, Mt. Juliet 4 Hope is still compiling donations for the East TN Disaster Relief Fund. If you want to contribute, click here. A fund with the East Tennessee Foundation has also been established to collect monetary donations for impacted counties, according to TEMA. How to help victims of Hurricane Helene TEMA advised civilians on Saturday, Sept. 28 to avoid visiting disaster areas until conditions become safer. The agency asked those who want to get involved with cleanup efforts to wait until local officials offer guidance. To read TEMAs latest report outlining the status of power and utilities issues, missing persons totals, shelter locations, and responses from various state agencies, click here. Meanwhile, the Tennessee National Guard said it is working with TEMA, providing 24-hour, ground and aerial rescue support to those in need. On Friday, Sept. 27, officials said three UH-60L Blackhawk helicopters performed nearly 60 aerial rescues of Tennesseans trapped by floodwaters, including hospital staff and patients at Unicoi County Hospital. Maj. Gen. Warner Ross, Tennessees Adjutant General, is being briefed by a pilot from the Tennessee National Guards 1-230th Assault Helicopter Battalion, at the Huntington Tri-State Airport, before departing on an area assessment of the devastated area in East Tennessee (Courtesy: Capt. Kealy Moriarty via Tennessee National Guard) The next day, seven Blackhawk helicopters from Knoxville and Nashvilles Berry Field continued rescue missions in East Tennessee. According to the Tennessee National Guard, not only did they save nearly 15 citizens, but they also performed critical missions like dam and bridge assessments, damaged area surveys, and transporting critical supplies. They are also working with Nashville Fire Department as part of Tennessees Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team to help those in need. These aviators continued rescue and relief operations throughout the affected areas on Sunday. In addition, members of Smyrnas 45th Civil Support Team who are certified swift water rescue technicians deployed to East Tennessee to help with rescue operations, authorities said. These missions are all being coordinated through the Tennessee Military Departments Joint Emergency Operations CenterToday, they deployed a debris removal team, comprised of more than 50 engineering specialists from Trentons 230th Engineer Battalion and Knoxvilles 134th Air Refueling Wing, to East Tennessee to assist restoring critical infrastructure, the Tennessee National Guard said in a statement Sunday afternoon. The Tennessee National Guard is continuing rescue and relief efforts and will continue as long as needed. If someone needs assistance, please contact your local authorities. Read todays top stories on wkrn.com The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) has opened a hotline to report those who may be missing in the aftermath of the floods. Callers should be prepared to share as much information in their report as possible, including names, phone numbers, vehicle identification and last known location. However, callers are asked to refrain from inquiring about personal properties that may have gone missing in the area. To make a missing person report, call 1-800-TBI-FIND. As of Monday, Sept. 30, at 1 p.m., the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has received more than 500 calls regarding missing individuals, a flash report from TEMA reads, in part. Of those 500 calls, roughly 100 are still active leads that the TBI is working with area law enforcement to find: 60 in Carter County 2 in Johnson County 10 in Unicoi County 30 in Washington County On Monday, Sept. 30, governor Bill Lee requested that FEMA expedite the states major disaster declaration. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Middletown police make arrests for iPhone theft. They say it's part of a broader probe. Middletown police have charged two alleged porch pirates with stealing a new iPhone off a front porch less than 15 minutes after it was delivered Thursday. The home in the 170 block of Bateman Drive was one of multiple locations where Apple electronic products were scheduled to be delivered in Middletown Thursday, and police were waiting and watching, according to a probable cause affidavit. The department is working with AT&T, FedEx and other law enforcement agencies as part of an investigation into what's described as a rash of cellphone thefts statewide as a result of delivery tracking information being intercepted and compromised, Middletown police Lt. Steve Forman said. Two Philadelphia men are accused of stealing a new iPhone shortly after it was delivered to a Middletown home. Montco man admits voter fraud Huntingdon Valley, PA man admits voting five times in two elections. How he did it AT&T provided tracking numbers for the Thursday deliveries and police set up surveillance on the properties to see if anyone attempted to steal items after FedEx delivered them, according to a probable cause affidavit. At the Bateman Drive address, FedEx left a package containing an Apple iPhone 16 Pro shortly after 1 p.m., the affidavit said. The iPhone model sells for between $999 and $1,499 in the U.S., according to techradar.com. Shortly after 1:15 p.m., a gold Honda sedan was seen driving toward the home. A rear seat passenger, identified as Elvi Duran-Vargas, 20, of Philadelphia, exited the car, walked to the porch and picked up the phone, then went back into the car. Detectives stopped the vehicle at the intersection of Bateman and Apple Valley Drive. Duran-Vargas and the driver, identified as Elias Gomez-Rodriguez, 22, of Philadelphia, were taken into custody. Inside the car, officers saw a cardboard box ripped open with numerous new iPhone boxes, the affidavit said. In an interview Gomez-Rodriguez told police that Duran-Vargas called him earlier Thursday to drive around and pick up boxes, the affidavit said. Gomez-Rodriguez alleged that Duran-Vargas provided him the addresses based on tracking numbers provided by an unknown person, the affidavit said. Authorities believe multiple porch pirate crews are operating throughout eastern Pennsylvania, Forman said in an email. "The investigation is ongoing, very fluid, involving numerous agencies and these thefts we anticipate will continue for a bit," he added. Authorities seized the cell phones for both men, and search warrants will be obtained next week, police said. The Honda was impounded and a search warrant is to be obtained next week. A check of area license plate readers showed the vehicle was active in the Hatboro and Willow Grove area prior to traveling to Middletown, police said. Both men were arraigned on misdemeanor theft charges and incarcerated at Bucks County Corrections Center in lieu of $75,000 bail. Neither defendant had an attorney listed on the docket as of Friday. Reporter Jo Ciavaglia can be reached at jciavaglia@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Elvi Duran Vargas, Elias Gomez Rodriguez of Philadelphia arrested As a self-described Gen X and latchkey kid, Corie Weathers idolized Wonder Woman growing up. What started in childhood with defending her older brother and herself fiercely from bullies eventually morphed into a career as a clinician to help with unseen wounds. When Weathers husband completed seminary and entered the Army Chaplain Corps, her focus shifted, but her mission of helping others only grew. Her work led to her being named the Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year in 2015. (Courtesy photo) For nearly 20 years, Weathers has devoted her time and energy to serving those in need as a licensed counselor. She also challenged things she knew were wrong, like confronting TRICARE policy with a video that went viral in 2019. Though Weathers is no stranger to writing (she penned Sacred Spaces, published in 2016) she became convicted to research and write something different, especially after she watched the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in 2021 and her heart broke for the families who dedicated so much to the region. This time, she tackled the Military Culture Shift and addressed the generational issues and disconnect without holding back. Military leadership took notice. (Courtesy photo) When I really heard all of the issues and the number of people those issues affected, I started to see them from a clinical perspective, an organizational psychology perspective, and applying family systems to the institution, Weathers explained. In family systems, you can tug on one part of the system to change the entire system. That inspired me to tackle some of the bigger issues in the institution. This [the military] is very much like a big familya family set of problems with conflict and multi-generational differences in values and communication. I thought, what would happen if instead of just addressing one family at a time, we actually talked about the bigger issues in the whole system? I just wanted to maximize the message. Weathers did that and more. Military Culture Shift: The Impact of War, Money, and Generational Perspective on Morale, Retention, and Leadership was released in Fall 2023. It provoked deep conversation around issues like retention, recruitment and the future of Americas Armed Forces. She was interviewed on all major news networks and asked to expand upon her research and perspective on the very real issues facing the military. (Courtesy photo) Being a professional, a female and a military spouse has been challenging at times to navigate. Entering into this space where I can teach military leaders and work with policy leaders as well as be seen as a cultural expert has allowed me to break through a ceiling. This is something I feel has been really challenging for many military spouses, Weathers shared. Now I have spouses come up to me and say, You are showing what is possible, and I cant tell you how special that is to hear. Since the books successful release, Weathers has traveled across the country teaching NCOs and senior leadership alike. She taught leaders at the National Defense University and her book now is included in curriculum at The Army War College and the Air Command and Staff College. The big reason why I wrote the book was that all of the stories coming out about the recruiting crisis were very much about Gen Z being to blame or the DoD to blame. There were a lot of pointing fingers, and I felt like it wasnt going to get us anywhere when the problems we have are so complicated, Weathers explained. So I thought, what if I could get everybody to the table and lets actually talk about the complexity of the issues? Maybe we would stop pointing fingers and instead understand the problem better and then figure out each of our individual parts in providing solutions. There isnt just one solution. We cant just say Gen Z needs to straighten up and we cant just say the DoD needs to clean up its mess. Its much more complicated than that. Each of us has a part to play, and I wanted to get everybody at the table. (Courtesy photo) What set Weathers work apart from others is the clinical perspective she brought to the issues facing the military community. Her goal was to utilize an organizational psychology framework to help leaders gain the insight they need to make measurable improvements and impact. Like any heros journey, it was an effort that didnt come without some roadblocks. Ive had too many situations where I sat at a table and was unable to participate in the conversation because people assumed I didnt know what they were talking about when I actually had an incredible amount to offer, she added. Weathers said her husband gave her one piece of advice going into the work of writing this book: be all in. And she was. I think to hear from senior leaders and their spouses whove read the book, to have the opportunity to go into DoD Family Policy and teach about cultural change on the family and community policy perspective has been incredible, she said. Gaining peoples trust and feedback regarding the generations in conflict as well as validating that leadership wants to get it right has been the most rewarding. As for what shed say to the military community to encourage them as they continue to build the worlds strongest fighting force, it was simple: Success is not rewarding if you get there and youre alone, Weathers said. It can be deeply lonely to turn around and feel like nobody was with you. Know your mission, your why, and lift others up to cross the finish line with you. Now more than ever, loyalty is won or lost in how we care for our most valuable asset: people. You can learn more about Military Culture Shift here. Long before she raised her hand to become a senator to preserve the constitution and serve America, and even before she established her well-known foundation, Elizabeth Dole was devoted to the military community. I have spent most of my life in Washington, DC, but Salisbury, North Carolina, will always be my home, Dole told WATM. My family and my community instilled values in me that guide me to this very day. I especially idolized my older brother, John. I was his shadow growing up. When America entered World War II, I was still only a young girl, but John was 13 years my senior and eligible to serve. When he was sent off to the Pacific aboard the Windom Bay, my mother constantly interrupted my radio programs to turn on the news in hopes of being reassured, in some way, about John. She made so many trips to the mailbox that I did my best to flood her with postcards when I went away to summer camp. (Courtesy photo) She further explained how this experience left her with a personal understanding of how war impacts the families left behind. Dole also remembers when service to country wasnt confined to a small percentage of Americans but was widely commonplace. After graduating from Duke University, she made her way to Harvard Law School, where she wasnt exactly welcomed with open arms. There was the time that a fellow student at Harvard Law School brashly confronted me, asking, Elizabeth, what are you doing here? What are you doing in this law school? Dont you realize youre taking the place of a man, a man who would use his legal education? It wasnt something that stopped at school either, Dole shared. 11/20/1986 Meeting to receive the first payment to the federal government associated with the Conrail sale with Elizabeth Dole in oval office. Courtesy photo. In the early 1960s, Doles career took off as she entered the political arena, initially working as a legislative assistant and then as a key figure in various public service roles. Her early career included working with the Federal Trade Commission and later serving as a staff member for the United States Senate. These experiences laid the groundwork for her future roles in public service and politics. Even when I worked for the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, I was turned away from a meeting at a mens-only club in Washington. When I told the doorman that I was Elizabeth Hanford, sent by the White House, he said I could have been Queen Elizabeth and he still wouldnt let me in, she recalled. However, I have persevered, believing that while things are often harder than they should be for women, we still must do all that we can to lead the changes that we believe in. And change things she did. I imagine my academic and professional ambitions surprised my parents at every turn, but their examples gave my life direction. My father was thorough, analytical, and industrious, with a compassionate heart for others. My mother, like many women of her time, never collected a paycheck, but she supported and participated in an endless list of civic causes, Dole explained. Through those values and our closely held faith, I was always driven to dedicate my energy to making a positive difference in the lives of others. Her time in the White House had her working for President Ford as the Director of the Federal Trade Commission and eventually as the Secretary of Transportation for President Reagan. In between working, she met and married the love of her life, Senator Bob Dole. I met Bob long after his military service; however, I saw how his wounds continued to shape his life, even years after separating from the Army. In 2011, when his health challenges led to an 11-month hospitalization at Walter Reed, my eyes were opened to the crisis facing millions of military caregiversthe young spouses, parents, and other loved ones caring for wounded, ill, and injured service members and veterans, she said. The caregivers I met at Walter Reed opened up about the emotional shock of their veterans injuries, their confusion about the medical decisions now in their hands, their frustration with the bureaucracy of our health system, and, in too many cases, a hopelessness about the future. Those conversations inspired me to take on their cause. During her tenure as a U.S. Senator for North Carolina (2003-2009), Dole made significant contributions to the military community. She was a staunch advocate for military personnel, veterans and their families, leveraging her position to support various initiatives and legislation. She played a key role in securing funding for military bases and programs, and she championed efforts to improve healthcare and benefits for veterans. Her work included supporting legislation to enhance the readiness and modernization of the armed forces. She was also instrumental in addressing the needs of military families, particularly in advocating for better support systems and resources. Dole established the Elizabeth Dole Foundation in 2012. The foundation focuses on supporting and advocating for military and veteran caregivers, recognizing the critical role they play in the well-being of service members and veterans. Its mission includes raising awareness, providing resources, and influencing policy to improve the lives of those who care for military personnel and their families. After Bob was released from the hospital, I established the Elizabeth Dole Foundation to learn more about the challenges facing military caregivers, she shared. We commissioned the RAND Corporation to conduct the first nationwide, comprehensive, evidence-based research on those caring for the wounded at home, and it confirmed the critical lack of support offered to these hidden heroes and their tremendous personal sacrifices. The findings made it abundantly clear: Our nation had to respond. Image from Empowering Hidden Heroes: Pathways to InnoVAtion, sponsored by the Eilzabeth Dole Foundation, Wednesday, September 28, 2016 at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C. Courtesy photo. When she reflects on her time in service to the military population, Dole said shes humbled by what they were able to do but knows theres still work to be done. Our nation puts so much on the shoulders of caregivers that we must always remember that these incredible Americans were not trained for this role, and we have done relatively little to ensure they are prepared, she outlined. These caregivers were once wives and husbands, moms and dads, siblings and friends, with their own priorities and dreams for life. Then, with little warning, they were thrust into this caregiving role and expected to make hard medical decisions, navigate complex bureaucracies, manage at-home care, and juggle all the responsibilities of the household. If America is going to count on these hidden heroes to voluntarily provide so much critical care to our veterans, then we must give them the support and guidance they need. The foundation has worked diligently to ensure that its work remains apolitical in what could be a tumultuous political climate. I am proud that caregivers have always received support from leaders on both sides of the aisle. We have been very intentional in making this a bipartisan issue. Elected officials of every stripe have found common ground around caregiving, which gives me hope that we can continue making progress on addressing caregivers challenges in the future, she added. Lastly, she had a special message for the caregivers. I understand the hesitancy to think of yourself as a caregiver when you are caring for someone you love, especially a spouse. However, there are practical reasons for recognizing that you hold this special role, such as qualifying for benefits and support programs and having more control over your loved ones care, she implored. Acknowledging that you are a caregiver also connects you to others who share your experience and can offer words of advice or an empathetic ear. If you care for a service member or veteran, regardless of when they served or the nature of their wounds or illnesses, please visit ElizabethDoleFoundation.org. We will help you find the resources you need and welcome you to an active online community of peers traveling the same caregiving journey. You can learn more about the mission of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation here. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is on a mission to make Georgia the most military and veteran-friendly state to live in. Its working. I grew up in Athens, Georgia, where my grandfather served as a state senator for years. Coming from a family that was so involved in our community, it was instilled in me early to be grateful for the servicemen and first responders, without whose sacrifices we could not enjoy the freedoms we do, he explained. I learned that we could not accomplish anything we do, in politics or business, without the bravery of those who protect our freedoms overseas, and Ive carried that belief with me throughout my life and always tried to remain grateful for their sacrifices no matter where I find myself. (Courtesy photo) Kemp took a different path, choosing to pursue business after attending college. When he began to get frustrated with the government and the red tape it caused, he decided to pursue making a change from within. Marty and I built our first business, Kemp Development and Construction Company, from the ground up with a pickup truck and a shovel. While we felt the struggles of those Friday nights when we werent sure if we could pay our employees, I grew fed up with the government standing in the way of its citizens success and ignoring their concerns, Kemp shared. Thats why I ran for and served in the Georgia State Senate in the 2000s, then as Secretary of State: to cut red tape and streamline government. (Courtesy photo) Kemp took office as the Governor of Georgia in 2019 and just this year spearheaded efforts to expand opportunities for its military community. HB 880 allows spouses of military service members to start work under a license they hold in another state under the supervision of an existing Georgia entity after applying for expedited licensure by endorsement. SB 449 creates a 12-month provisional practice allowance for military medical personnel while a license application is pending, establishes a new Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) license and sets up a new licensing system for APRN licenses. HB 995 clarifies that K-12 educational institutions are able to administer the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) during school hours, but are not required to do so. Lastly, SB 389 removes a requirement to annually print and distribute the military code to save taxpayer dollars and protect the identities of military officers. We wanted to ensure our veterans and their families have the resources they need to thrive in Georgia. One of our proudest accomplishments is implementing the states first military retirement tax exemption. Alongside our partners in the legislature, weve also worked to cut red tape and make it easier for veterans and their families to join the workforce in our state. For example, weve passed legislation providing incentives and an expedited pathway for veterans and transitioning military to become teachers, providing for a 90-day expedited process for professional licenses for military spouses and reimbursing tuition costs for basic law enforcement training for former military members, Kemp added. Weve also worked to strengthen a critically important aspect of caring for our veterans: mental healthcare. This years budget included more funding for mental health than ever before, including an additional $1 million for the Veterans Mental Health Service Program administered by our Department of Veterans Service. Theres certainly more I could touch on, but I hope these convey the holistic approach we are taking to supporting our military and veteran communities in Georgia. Though politics is certainly much different than being a business owner, Kemp was adamant about remaining true to why he ran for office in the first place. I told people that whether they agreed or disagreed with me, they could trust me to do what I told them I would. There have certainly been some tough decisions we have faced during my time as governor, but I hope when people look at everything Ive done, they cant say Im not exactly who I told them I would be, he shared. When I said I was going to pursue specific policies, I made sure we accomplished that. When facing challenges, Ive prioritized the safety of our people and following the law, as I swore I would. I didnt run to be just another politician who says one thing and does another, so Ive tried every day to live up to the promises I made to the people of this state, and that is something I take great pride in. Another point of pride for Kemp is ensuring policies and the state of Georgia remain a beacon for military families, whether they stay temporarily on assignment or forever. We owe a great debt of gratitude to the men and women who have put on a uniform and served our nation in our Armed Forces. Though we know nothing we can do will ever fully repay that debt, we must do all we can to ensure these everyday heroes and their families have all the tools they need to lead successful, fulfilling lives in our state, Kemp said. With dozens of military installations throughout Georgia, we have a long history as both a major base of operations for our armed services and a home to military families and veterans. These arent just veterans; these are our neighbors, our coworkers and our friends. We want them to feel welcomed no matter where they are in our state and will always work to make that a reality. When asked if he had a message for the military community, Kemp had a lot to say. This year, Georgias military community faced an incredible tragedy. Three of our soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice while serving abroad: William Rivers, Kennedy Sanders and Breonna Moffet. That was a dark time as we traveled the state to honor those three heroes, but it left us with a message we must always carry with us: freedom isnt free. Men and women like those three brave Georgians put on a uniform every day and put themselves in harms way so that we can enjoy the lives we do in the greatest nation on Earth, Kemp said. Were blessed to be Americans, but we must never take that blessing for granted. Thats why we pray for the safety of our military every day and work to support our veterans who have given us so much. Retired Chief Master Sergeant JoAnne Bass made history as the first female enlisted leader of the Air Force, breaking barriers and paving the way for future generations of women in the militaryand shes just getting started. Im the daughter of the military, honestly. My dad was a warrant officer in the Army and met my mom in Korea when he was stationed there, she explained. Whats pretty fascinating about both of them is they were both immigrants to our country and came here to make such a wonderful life. Inspired by her parents, Bass was unsure of what she wanted to pursue after high school. Because I grew up all over the place as a military brat, I never really felt like I had a home. I thought I would go to college until I realized I just wasnt mature enough yet, Bass said. My dad told me that four years in the military never hurt anyone and I decided to take him at his word. I thought I would do four years, build some maturity, and then use the G.I. Bill to go to college when I was ready. But then my enlistment was up. (Courtesy photo) Ultimately, the reenlistment bonus and, she laughingly shared, the need to pay off her Honda Civic were motivations to keep going in the Air Force. It was probably right after that I really joined the Air Force. I was able to go on some incredible deployments and truly understand what it meant to wear our nations cloth and uniform, Bass added. Basss commitment to mentorship and professional development helped empower countless individuals, fostering a more inclusive and resilient force. As she continued to rise through the ranks, she was quick to pull others up with her. Probably the most rewarding thing about service in the military is that you inherit another family. I look back and its those relationships that have made my life so much richer, she explained. I would also say that you cant talk about service and the goodness of service without knowing that youre doing something that helps ensure that our nation is safe, free and prosperous, too. It is what I think every service member, at some point in their career, will realize. What theyre doing is a worthy cause. (Courtesy photo) One of her focus areas as she began to earn leadership positions was Air Force families. Though she had a faraway hope of being the most senior leader in the Air Force, it was one that was quickly buried under the work. Fast forward into year eight, and Im a non-commissioned officer. Im just trying to survive, right? Youre trying to be an NCO, youre trying to be a spouse and youre trying to be a mom. Its a lot, she laughed. There was never a real thought of being a Chief Master Sergeant in the Air Force. Youre just in survival mode and doing your job and doing it well. Then I became a Chief in the Air Force as an E9 and not too much longer after, I was selected to Chief Master Sergeant. When Bass got the news, she remembered her mothers sage advice: do your job and do it well. It was something she always told her and the words followed Bass throughout her life. When I asked what I wanted to do in the new position, I just told people I was going to do what I had always done, which was take care of the people around me and do my best, she explained. Our Airmen were counting on me to do my job and do it well and if I did it well, then there will be a second female Chief Master in the Air Force or a third. And one daywell quit counting. As Bass reflects back on the moment she was named Chief, theres some laughter in recalling how she told a crowd of Airmen she felt sorry for the next one. This was attributed to the position being a rough one, open to endless criticism and, at times, thankless. But it was worth it. I felt like it was the best job in the world. I got to advocate and fight the fight behind closed doors to make sure that our Airmen and their families are thought of and taken care of and advocated for at the most senior levels of our nation, Bass shared. We did everything that we could within our realm of influence and then you pass the baton to the next person and you tell them, run hard. Our nations counting on you. In retirement, Bass continues to advocate for military families but is thoroughly enjoying sleeping past her usual 0430 wake-up alarm. Transitioning for her was successful, which she credits to recognizing she had an identity outside of her uniform. I now have an opportunity and a platform where I can focus on this rising generation, which is our youth who deeply matter to national security. I can also use my voice to advocate for veterans who have served their country; whether its four years or 28 years. Weve got to make sure that we take care of the 1% of Americans who serve, Bass implored. As she lends her efforts to initiatives focusing on future generations for national security, Bass is also deeply passionate about ending homelessness. As a board member of Mighty Hero Homes, shes proud to lend her voice to championing this issue. And though she may be known for her speeches, Bass admits it isnt something she looks forward toat least initially. Knowing the value of connecting is a motivator, along with listening to DMX and Run-DMC, she added. Her last message to aspiring leaders was simple. I got in enough trouble as a teenager in Hawaii that I was banned from every military installation in Hawaii. If somebody like me could become the Chief Master Sergeant in the Air Force, then anybody could do it, Bass said. You can learn more about Mighty Hero Homes here. Michael Rodriguez is a retired Green Beret. He has faced danger, endless injuries and worked through unimaginable invisible wounds. Now, hes on a mission to memorialize an entire generation of warfighters and give back to the community he loves. My first hero was my father, who was a Vietnam War Veteran. I have a grandfather who served in World War II and uncles who were part of the D-Day invasion, he shared. I grew up in southern New Mexico, which was part of Mexico before becoming part of the United States. Though I didnt grow up in a typical military community, everyone around me had served and fought. (Courtesy photo) As a kid, he played Army and loved looking at the pictures of his grandfathers in uniform. Though Rodriguez would ask them questions, they never really talked about their time at war. What struck me, looking back, is that when they talked about their experiences, it was never about them. They always wanted to tell me about their friends, he added. When they spoke about the men who never came home, it was with reverence and love. He recalled being inspired to serve based on those stories and recognizing the value of taking care of your familia, a lesson instilled at a young age. Though Rodriguez graduated high school at 16 and wanted to go right into the fight during the Gulf War, he had to wait. It was a struggle to get his parents to sign off on allowing him to enlist at 17. (Courtesy photo) I always knew I wanted to be a Green Beret, but I knew there was a process to get to that point, and one of those steps was being Airborne. So I signed up, even though I had never flown in my life. I was sitting on the plane with those recruiters and threw up on myself, he laughed. The next time he was on a plane, Rodriguez was jumping out of it. After finishing Airborne school, he was sent to the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum. Before long, Somalia was heating up. (Courtesy photo) I wasnt even in the Army for eight months before I deployed in 1993 to Somalia. This is where my vision of what the military does expanded. We fought bad guys, but we also had a humanitarian mission. Operation Restore Hope was all of that, he explained. My job, outside of fighting in skirmishes, was to secure food in Mogadishu and bring it back to the camps where these children were. We helped NGOs serve these people because warlords kept trying to hijack and steal all of the aid. You see these kids, all their parents are dead, with extended bellies, no teeth and malnourished. We would show up, and theyd have the most beautiful smiles youd ever seen. Thats true oppression and survival. A year later, Rodriguez deployed to Haiti during the coup attempt and spent eight months assisting in securing democracy for its people. By 1997, he was finally put in for selection and secured his spot at the qualification course. Two years later, he became an 18 Delta Green Beret and wore the title until he was medically retired due to numerous combat injuries in 2013. I squeezed out 21 years, but in the end, it was time, he added. Rodriguez was open in sharing that during his 10 deployments, he had hidden brain injuries. He recalled self-treating a head and face fracture during a rollover in Afghanistan. One of the IED explosions led to blindness in one eye for five months, necessitating a special lens for vision. As a sniper instructor during his last assignment, he began having seizures. (Courtesy photo) There were also invisible wounds, the kind that led to chemical dependency and months of treatment. During his time at Walter Reed Medical Center, Rodriguez discovered art therapy, which was transformative for him. I had to figure out what my identity was outside of being a special operator or a soldier. I also started questioning my worth and whether Id be able to provide for my three sons, he shared. After I completed treatment, the mother of my children went on a 15-month deployment of her own with the Army, and I was left in charge of our kids. It was eye-opening and gave me another lens to view service. A year later, he met former President George W. Bush and, from 2015 to 2018, served as a member of his Military Service Initiative Advisory Council. The two formed a close relationship, and Bush painted him for his Portraits of Courage collection and released them in a book. In 2016, he was approached by the Global War on Terror Memorial Foundation. I didnt know anything about building a memorial, but I said I would help, and in 2017 we introduced the bill to get it built. It was signed by President Trump after passing the House and the Senate. Then it was time to collect the data to make it happen, Rodriguez explained. Everyone involved wanted it on the National Mall, but nothing had been approved to be built there since 2003. I was told in 2019 that it would be impossible, but that impossible bill was signed by President Biden two years later. Now, eight and a half years later, the GWOT memorial is in the final design phases, and Rodriguez is proud to be at the helm as the organizations CEO. One of the things he implemented early on was ensuring there was input from all veterans. (Courtesy photo) We surveyed 20,000 veterans from World War II to now to get their thoughts on what should be included in the memorial, he shared. As Rodriguez reflects on all the pivotal moments that shaped his service and life afterward, it all connects to advice his father once gave him before he shipped off to boot camp. He warned me that I would be put into situations to do things I would think about for the rest of my life and be put in situations that I didnt always understand. He encouraged me never to be ashamed of it, which was really insightful of him, he said. But then he said the thing that Ive always carried with me: People would assume I wouldnt be able to do a number of things, and whatever was asked of medo more. And he has, every moment since. To learn more about the GWOT Memorial Foundation, click here. Army veteran Randy Reese has a long family legacy of service and patriotism. When an injury ended his career, he chose to devote his life to serving those who serve. Im from Bristol, Virginia, a small border town along the state line between Virginia and Tennessee. My family proudly flew an American flag 24/7 and engaged in virtually all patriotic observances and events, from moments of silence to parades and Fourth of July celebrations, he said with a smile. My father served in the Army as a tank operator, and his stories were commonplace in our house. There were always photos on display that illustrated his pride in military service. He also taught us that the Pledge of Allegiance was a sacred obligation and that our nations wars were to be borne by all, and the lives lost should be honored by all. During my childhood, you could likely find me with camouflage mud smeared on my face, crawling through bushes, playing Army hide-and-seek with my friends. From the earliest age, I was inspired by my fathers military service, which he always credited with making him a better man. As high school was drawing to a close, Reese knew his family didnt have the financial means to pay for him to attend college. With both parents consenting, he proudly enlisted at his schools career fair in mid-1984. His father encouraged him to view it as an adventure and to use the opportunity to see the world, not just the United States. Taking his advice, I ultimately signed a three-tier contract, volunteering for Basic, Infantry, and Airborne training as part of a new style of unit called COHORT (Cohesion, Operational Readiness, and Training), which kept units together from basic training to advanced training and combat deployments. I was part of the famed 82nd Airborne Division and was off on an adventure of a lifetime, Reese recalled. Over the next decade, I had the opportunity to train throughout the U.S., Panama, Egypt, Italy, England, France, Germany, Austria, Spain, former Czechoslovakia, and Turkey. I was part of Operation Desert Shield in Saudi Arabia and Operation Desert Storm in Iraq. Following the war, I served as an elite Black Hat instructor at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. It was there that an earlier parachute accident, which had caused a disabling back injury, worsened over the years and ultimately led to the end of my Army career. It was a hard season, he admitted. Unbeknownst to him, Reese found his new purpose while navigating the challenges of transitioning from soldier to civilian before he was ready. During a routine physical prior to reenlistment, the back injury I sustained earlier in my service had worsened to the extent that I would no longer be authorized to remain on Airborne status. I knew that remaining on active duty would mean a desk job for me, and I made the hard and painful decision to leave military service in January 1995, he explained. During a transition briefing as part of the Armys Career Alumni Program [now known as TAPS], I first learned about Disabled American Veterans through its local counselor at Fort Bragg. A couple of weeks later, I visited the DAV Service Office, co-located within the Fayetteville VA Medical Center, to review my service treatment records and file a VA claim for disability benefits. I didnt know it at the time, but that would be a major turning point in my lifes journey. As Reese transitioned, he felt his life was dull and without purpose compared to his time as a soldier. He frequently questioned his decision to forgo the desk job, which would have allowed him to stay in uniform. During my visit to the DAV, I was offered an opportunity to apply and interview for a job as a National Service Officer. This was a great relief, as I thought it could be a chance to stay connected with the military community I loved and to serve others like myself who had their careers cut short by injuries, Reese explained. My new adventure began in March 1995 when I was hired by the DAV. I felt reinvigorated and excited to invest myself completely in this new mission and have never looked back. Although it has now been over 29 years since I joined DAV, it feels like only yesterday when I couldnt imagine any life other than in the Army. Though Reese remains proud of all the work hes done at DAV, its the personal connections and support he provided to transitioning troops that mean the most to him. He has loved being part of the DAV Night Out Program. It provides dinner excursions for our injured troops, their families, and caregivers from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and Fort Belvoir Hospital. It may seem small compared to the enormous benefits the VA provides veterans, but bringing these men and women together to share meals with others in similar circumstances and letting them know they are not alone in their journeys never fails to inspire and energize me, Reese added. I truly feel that my career with the DAV was Gods will, and Im a proud servant of this mission. Im grateful every day for the opportunities afforded to me to deliver for our nations military and veterans. He attributes all of his work to the team and mission at DAV. As Reese reflected on a lifetime of service to our nation and its heroes, he mentioned one of his favorite quotes. In war, there are no unwounded soldiers. Jose Narosky. He also had a moving message for any struggling service member or veteran reading his story. You are not alone. There are millions of other veterans who have traveled the same path before you, and they have laid the foundation that can support you not just to survive, but to thrive. I would say, if they would let me, welcome to the DAV, Reese said. Simply put, the brave service and sacrifices of our military and veteran communities can and should be honored with your thanks, time, skills, and expertise as gifts in kind. They stood tall in defense of this nation throughout its history; now we need to stand up for them. As the second son to one of the most popular film stars of the 20th century beginning with the hit Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn, Stephen Peck was born into what he termed a wealthy family but one that was also deeply entrenched in public service and philanthropy. It led him to work towards eradicating homelessness. No one in my family had served, my dad had a back injury that kept him from serving during World War II. I graduated from high school in 1964 and a year later the Vietnam War kicked off. I got a deferment because I was in college at Northwestern but that meant that when I finished Id be owned by Uncle Sam, he explained. To gain control of his future, Peck chose to join the PLC program for the Marine Corps. I went to boot camp after my junior year, came back to my senior year 10 pounds heavier, all muscle and no hair and everyone wondered what I did over the summer, he laughed. The day I graduated, I was also commissioned a second lieutenant. I went to the basic school after that, then artillery school and went to Vietnam in the spring of 69. He was a forward observer for India Company of the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, stationed about 15 miles west of Da Nang. Our job was to keep the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese Army out of Da Nang, so we were west of the bank, so we continually patrol the mountains there, making sure that they didnt, you know, sweep down the valley. Everyones experience in Vietnam was a little bit different, depending upon where you were. Our experience was a lot of ambushes and a lot of booby traps, Peck recalled. It would be the year that changed his entire life. I really wanted to put that experience behind me. I did not want to be defined by my military experience but certainly when I came back, I felt unmoored. I just didnt know what to do, where to turn it. You know, it is such an intense experience and such a purposeful experience, right? Youre every minute youre providing service and safety for your fellow Marines and theres a mission, he explained. Every second coming back, youre kind of disconnected from it and its like being unplugged. I didnt know what I was going to do next, so I bounced around for a few years. He dug into his roots and went all in on filmmaking, specifically documentaries. When he got the opportunity to do a film on the homeless in the Venice Beach area of California, Peck said he was captured. It is a huge societal issue, and theres so many things that we need to do and would need to do in order to solve that problem. So it was a real challenge. I felt really angry that there are people on the street without help, he said. Then I learned that 30% of the men on the street are veterans. It was something that I felt that I could do something about. So I did a film, a short film about homeless veterans. I did another film documentary about the Vietnam War combat experience and became an advocate, particularly for homeless veterans. He started with tackling the issue by working to establish a program in LA and spent time volunteering and running it, in between film projects. But in 1993 he realized he didnt want to direct any longer. I switched careers and worked for the VA for a while in their homeless program, just an outreach worker. I would go out on the streets and in the soup kitchens and shelters to talk to people and help. I found that it was something that I was really pretty good at and felt good doing it, Peck explained. I worked for the VA homeless program for a little over three years and during that period of time is when US vets were just getting started and I was a VA outreach worker. I was assigned as the liaison to a brand new homeless program and got along with the guys who started it. I knew the board members and it was formed by a guy named Judge Harry Pregerson, an amazing guy. World War II Marine who got wounded in the South Pacific. It would be Pregersons passion and commitment which would inspire Peck to want to do every more for his fellow brothers and sisters. And a supervisor, who encouraged him to go back to school for his masters degree in social work. In 1996 I jumped over to this new nonprofit as its Community Development Director and started our Long Beach program which is our largest homeless program for veterans in the country still to this day, he shared. That new nonprofit was U.S. Vets. Over time, the organization broadened its offerings from solely providing emergency housing to encompass a wide range of support programs. These include case management, mental health services, job training and placement, substance abuse treatment and financial literacy education. By 2005, Peck took on the role of CEO. What started as a program in the LA area morphed into 12 sites in multiple states. We house about 1000 veterans every night, reach out to another 2500 in the communities and provide homeless prevention services. We want to solve this problem by preventing veterans from becoming homeless in the first place, Peck said. About five years ago we were awarded the opportunity to build permanent housing for homeless veterans on the West Los Angeles, VA campus. Its 80 acres of housing for buildings that have been largely deserted for many, many years. U.S. Vets has been providing services since 1993 and since then, veteran homelessness has been reduced by 83%. But for Peck, its not enough. The VA has really stepped up to fund a lot of these programs and what were doing is working. We just have to keep doing it, he explained. Theres still more than 30,000 veterans who are homeless. We have to keep doing what were doing and do more of it. In a year, hell hand the reins over to a new leader while remaining on the board as an advisor and plans to enjoy more hiking and camping with his wife. I have to stay busy or Ill go stir crazy. Ill stay on the coalition board and do work here locally for veterans in Bishop, Peck shared. I couldnt have asked for anything better in my life; to be able to do this work and see the impact that weve made. But theres still work to be done. To learn more about U.S. Vets and their work, click here. As a highly successful comedian, actor, best-selling author and famed late-night show host, Jon Stewart could have used his immensely far-reaching platform for anything. He chose the frontline warriors of America, and its his role as a tireless advocate that we here at WATM admire the most. My family was very much the ultimate immigrant story, and there was always this sense of what America had allowed them to achieve. My grandfather drove a taxi and my other grandfather ran a dry cleaners, he shared. At the turn of the 20th century, Stewarts Jewish grandparents immigrated to the United States from Europe and a Jewish community in what is now part of China. Stewart recalled how service was always part of life. It seemed like everyone around me had served in World War II or in Korea. My parents had just gotten married when the Army sent them to Fort Bliss in El Paso to serve during the Korean War. They were two New York kids who couldnt even drive, and it had to have been a culture shock, he laughed. His parents divorced when he was just 11 years old. Born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, Stewart has been outspoken in interviews over the years about his complicated relationship with his father and his decision to change his last name. (Courtesy photo) Growing up in New York and New Jersey, Stewart had a longstanding reputation for being funny. In earlier interviews, his mother recalled being concerned about his choice to pursue comedy after graduating from college. He started hitting the New York City comedy circuit in the late 1980s, and by 1993 he developed and hosted The Jon Stewart Show for MTV for two years. He had numerous big-screen appearances throughout the 1990s, but in 1998, when The Daily Show hit Comedy Central, Stewart was officially a household name. Though he recalled always having a deep appreciation for those in uniform, the terrorist attacks on 9/11 would amplify it to a new level. (Courtesy photo) Living in New York City and downtown at the time, watching the residents, first responders and volunteers respond to such a catastrophe with such courage, grace and tenacity was indescribable. Their presence stabilized not just the city but really the whole country. It felt almost like there was this vertigo, but they righted it, he explained. Then, years later, to know that they were all struggling, it didnt sit well. In 2002 and 2003, I was not a big fan of the Iraq War. In fact, I know I talked a lot of trash about it. But I wanted to talk to people whod been there, so I started to go down to Walter Reed Medical Center in 2003. I was familiar with the fire and police work, but it was that experience that also informed me about the military community. Stewart began touring with the USO to Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as visiting the wounded troops healing from GWOT war injuries. He recalled visiting one gentleman at Walter Reed Medical Center and how hilarious he was, so they became friendly. Later, he watched him be awarded the Medal of Honor. It was familiarizing myself with the power of human capital that made me really respect what this country is sacrificing when they dont treat that human capital for the gift that it is. When I started seeing 9/11 first responders were getting sick or veterans being exposed to burn pits, it made me angrier about governmental decisions because it made me realize those decisions were even more grave than I had anticipated, he shared. That anger translated to criticism of Americas leaders and began his path to advocacy on The Daily Show. In 2009, he spoke against a White House plan to drop veterans from VA coverage if they also had private health insurance; the plan was nixed the next day. But the real work began when he joined the ongoing fight for the first responders left behind, sick and dying. (Courtesy photo) Right after 9/11, the EPA came in and said everything is air safe because they wanted to get Wall Street back open again. Now these guys were all down on the piles for months-on-end, either searching for their brothers and sisters or clearing the area and bringing remains, Stewart said. It was the aerosolized remains of everyone and everything that had collapsed. Breathing that in long-term can quite literally bring some real issues, but in this case, the state was denying it. When first responders began seeking treatment for breathing illnesses, they were denied and brushed aside. As the science became indisputable, the state and federal government began their own fight over whos fiscally responsible for those left sick, without treatment and mounting debt. The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act was named in honor of a NYC police officer whose death was linked to exposure while working at Ground Zero, though the state initially tried to say it was drug use when he sought care and compensation. When he finally passed and they did an autopsy, they looked at his lungs. It basically read like the ingredient list of a buildingfrom mercury to asbestos to human remains to whatever else he breathed in down there, Stewart said. Congress, in their ever-loving wisdom, was about to recess for Christmas, and we knew if we didnt get this bill passed before they left, we were done; we had this one shot. We invited four first responders on the show who had been sickened. They were so powerful that evening that it shamed them enough that they felt there were going to be enough eyes on them that if they didnt do the right thing, there would be consequences. Though introduced in 2006, the bill ultimately failed. It was reintroduced in 2009 and stalled when Stewart eventually got wind of it before Christmas in 2010. When he had four first responders of 9/11 on his show, he also replayed all the congressional representatives comments on social media regarding 9/11 and never forgetting. (Courtesy photo) The reason I had even found out about this bill and met John Feal was because the Capitol Police kept getting called on all of these firefighters and cops going down to Congress, and it made the news, he laughed. The bill was voted into law three days later and signed by then-President Barack Obama, but the caveat was that it was only good for five years. When he left The Daily Show in 2015, Stewart went right back into the fray as the bill was set to expire. This time, he was on the ground with them. Once again into the breach, only this time I was able to be there with them physically. I was partnered up with a gentleman by the name of Ray Pfeiffer, who was a firefighter and a hell of a guy. He was the cooler head to my lunacy, he recalled with a smile. Stewart told stories of how he would roam the halls of Congress berating members and sometimes yelling at them. Pfeiffer would come up on his scooter (his cancer had metastasized to his bones, leaving him less mobile) and smooth things over, a fire chief to the end. Between the two of them and the other tireless advocates, they were able to get the bill extended again, but without proper funding. Pfeiffer was an FDNY firefighter from 1987 to 2014 and a responder to Ground Zero, assigned to Engine 40/Ladder 35 in Manhattan. He was diagnosed with renal carcinoma with metastases to bones, lungs and brain in 2009 as a direct result of exposure to toxins from the piles. He died in 2017, and when Stewart went before Congress and gave his now-infamous address in June 2019, he had Pfeiffers jacket with him. Next to him was Luis Alvarez, a decorated NYPD detective and Marine veteran who responded on 9/11. He gave powerful testimony blasting Congress on their continued delays in taking care of 9/11 first responders and shamed them about the need for him to address them once again for coverage the day before his 69th chemo treatment. Alvarez died a week later. Thats the kind of sacrifice that you were seeing from those folks who were choosing to spend their last time on Earth fighting for these other people who werent going to get the benefits they needed without it, Stewart said. How can you not be like, Whatever wall you need me to run throughI will? On July 12, 2019, the House approved the bill, and when it came to the Senate floor, it passed through 2092, virtually funding health care for 9/11 victims and first responders for life. While first responders were battling Congress for permanent 9/11 health care and compensation for 20 years, veterans were getting sicker and sicker. It wasnt anything new, however, as veterans had been suffering from ailments related to service going back to the Vietnam War and still fighting for coverage from the VA decades later. But the GWOT veterans entered the arena. From 2007 through 2020, the VA denied 78% of veterans claims of toxic exposure to burn pits while serving in combat. Stewart debuted his Apple+ show with a discussion on the impacts of burn pits on veterans in 2021 after meeting with Leroy and Rosie Tores, founders of Burn Pits 360. The VSOs had been so burned by the Washington system that when we all got into a room to start writing the bill, they almost started negotiating against themselves by pointing out the things theyd never be able to get on the bill, Stewart shared. Our attitude, maybe born of some hubris, was: Fk that. Lets write the bill that fixes this. They went to work and wrote the bill together. Though initially passed by the House in March 2022 and the Senate in June, it was reintroduced by the Senate for changes and stalled largely due to Republican opposition. Imagine that the payoff for your sacrifice and your selflessness is to have to go to war with the very government that you signed up to protect in the first place, Stewart said. Why in Gods name would the VA be an adversarial organization to the health and safety of its veterans? Why would you set up a system where youre removed from your unit, wounded or youre hurt, sick or youre struggling and now you have to be your own advocate, doctor, lawyer and caregiver? Once again, Stewart dove back into the fight, this time holding a week-long sit-in outside the U.S. Capitol and blasting Congress on Twitter (now X) as well as every news media outlet. His address on the Hill went viral. Below is part of the powerful testimony that pushed lawmakers into action. Im used to the lies, Im used to the hypocrisy. The Senate is where accountability goes to die. Im used to all of it. But I am not used to cruelty. Two weeks later, the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022, known as the Honoring our PACT Act of 2022, passed. Stewart was instrumental in not only advocating for the bill but uniting all veteran service organizations in a way that hadnt been done before. (Editors note: Sgt. First Class Heath Robinsons surviving spouse, Danielle Robinson, was part of the 2022 MIGHTY 25 for her incredible advocacy. Read more about Danielle here.) The PACT Act is perhaps the largest health care and benefit expansion for veterans in history. When asked what kept him going even in the face of what felt like continuous barriers, he had a one-word answer: Them. I had made a promise to Rosie and Leroy on the phone in 2019 when he was going through a hard time. I said, Brother, Ive got you and we wont stop. I wanted to keep him going so we didnt lose him, Stewart recalled. Theyre all in the trenches for years and years. Im basically just air support. I always consider that one of my main jobs is to rally them [first responders and veterans] and always create an atmosphere where they dont feel hopeless or helpless. The Hong Kong market has seen a significant boost following China's robust stimulus measures, with the Hang Seng Index gaining 13% recently. This positive momentum makes it an opportune time to explore high-growth tech stocks in the region, especially those poised to benefit from increased economic activity and technological advancements. Identifying promising stocks involves looking for companies that demonstrate strong innovation capabilities and are well-positioned to capitalize on favorable market conditions. Top 10 High Growth Tech Companies In Hong Kong Name Revenue Growth Earnings Growth Growth Rating Wasion Holdings 22.37% 25.47% MedSci Healthcare Holdings 48.74% 48.78% Inspur Digital Enterprise Technology 25.31% 39.04% Cowell e Holdings 31.82% 35.43% RemeGen 26.30% 52.19% Akeso 32.58% 54.53% Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals (Beijing) 21.53% 109.17% Innovent Biologics 22.24% 59.39% Sichuan Kelun-Biotech Biopharmaceutical 24.70% 8.53% Beijing Airdoc Technology 37.47% 93.35% Click here to see the full list of 46 stocks from our SEHK High Growth Tech and AI Stocks screener. Let's explore several standout options from the results in the screener. Simply Wall St Growth Rating: Overview: Kuaishou Technology, an investment holding company, offers live streaming, online marketing, and other services in the Peoples Republic of China with a market cap of HK$236.48 billion. Operations: Kuaishou Technology generates revenue primarily from domestic operations, totaling CN117.32 billion, with a smaller contribution of CN3.57 billion from overseas markets. The company's key offerings include live streaming and online marketing services in the Peoples Republic of China. Kuaishou Technology, a player in Hong Kong's tech scene, has shown remarkable financial and operational growth, particularly in its AI-driven platforms. In the recent quarter ending June 2024, sales surged to CNY 30.98 billion from CNY 27.74 billion year-over-year, with net income escalating significantly to CNY 3.98 billion from CNY 1.48 billion. This performance is underpinned by its aggressive investment in R&D which is pivotal for maintaining technological edge and fueling future growth; however, specific figures on R&D expenses were not disclosed. The firm recently enhanced its Kling AI modelindicative of its commitment to evolving within the high-growth tech sectorand expects this will drive further engagement and monetization as it rolls out internationally. With revenue projected to climb at 9% annually and earnings expected to grow by approximately 18.7% per year, Kuaishou seems poised for sustained upward trajectory albeit challenges remain in scaling innovations globally amidst fierce competition. SEHK:1024 Revenue and Expenses Breakdown as at Sep 2024 Simply Wall St Growth Rating: Overview: China Ruyi Holdings Limited is an investment holding company involved in content production and online streaming across China, Hong Kong, Europe, and internationally, with a market cap of HK$28.26 billion. Operations: The company generates revenue primarily from its content production business (CN1.63 billion) and online streaming and gaming businesses (CN3.01 billion). China Ruyi Holdings, navigating through Hong Kong's competitive tech landscape, has demonstrated a notable rebound in its financial performance. For the half-year ending June 2024, the firm doubled its sales to CNY 1.84 billion from CNY 804 million in the previous year, significantly reducing its net loss to CNY 114.65 million from CNY 262.25 million. This recovery is underpinned by a strategic focus on R&D, committing substantial resources that are essential for innovation and competitiveness in the tech sector; however, specific R&D expenditure figures were not disclosed. Despite these gains, challenges persist as evidenced by a diluted earnings per share of CNY -0.0098, reflecting ongoing pressures in operational scalability and market penetration. Looking ahead, China Ruyi's commitment to enhancing technological capabilities and improving financial health could position it more favorably within the high-growth tech arena. SEHK:136 Revenue and Expenses Breakdown as at Sep 2024 Simply Wall St Growth Rating: Overview: Tencent Holdings Limited, an investment holding company, provides a range of services including value-added services (VAS), online advertising, fintech, and business services both in China and internationally, with a market cap of HK$4.09 trillion. Operations: Tencent Holdings generates revenue primarily through value-added services (CN302.28 billion), fintech and business services (CN209.17 billion), and online advertising (CN111.89 billion). The company operates both in China and internationally, leveraging its diverse service offerings to drive growth. Tencent Holdings, amidst a robust tech environment in Hong Kong, reported a significant uptick in its financial metrics for the first half of 2024, with revenues surging to CNY 320.62 billion from CNY 299.19 billion year-over-year. This growth is complemented by an impressive increase in net income to CNY 89.52 billion, up from CNY 52.01 billion, reflecting a strong earnings per share growth to CNY 9.59 from CNY 5.49 previously. At the heart of Tencent's strategic operations is its commitment to R&D which has been pivotal in maintaining its competitive edge; the company dedicated {8%} of its substantial revenue towards R&D initiatives focused on enhancing their offerings and securing technological advancements within the interactive media and services sector where it operates. Recent presentations at industry forums underscore Tencents proactive strategy in navigating market dynamics and leveraging opportunities for expansion and innovation within high-growth sectors like AI and software developmentsectors that are increasingly vital as digital transformations accelerate globally. The company's forward-looking approach is evident not just in their financial success but also in their operational strategies which are geared towards sustaining long-term growth with projected annual earnings growth at {12.8%}, indicating robust future prospects despite some market volatility observed over the past year. SEHK:700 Revenue and Expenses Breakdown as at Sep 2024 Make It Happen Click this link to deep-dive into the 46 companies within our SEHK High Growth Tech and AI Stocks screener. Are you invested in these stocks already? Keep abreast of every twist and turn by setting up a portfolio with Simply Wall St, where we make it simple for investors like you to stay informed and proactive. Invest smarter with the free Simply Wall St app providing detailed insights into every stock market around the globe. Looking For Alternative Opportunities? 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. Companies discussed in this article include SEHK:1024 SEHK:136 and SEHK:700. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com Millennials who don't want kids explain their choice to be child-free, prioritize travel, and pursue their 'dream life' Erin Hynes and Lucas Amormino work in tech-related fields in Canada. The couple, who are both in their 30s, quit their jobs last year to go on a six-month trip. They've gotten side-eye from parents but have no plans to have kids so they can keep traveling. When Erin Hynes and Lucas Amormino quit their jobs in Canada to travel around the world for six months, most of their loved ones were supportive. But it did raise a few eyebrows. "You definitely get questions like, 'Well, what about having kids?'" Hynes, 34, told Business Insider. "A lot of people around us, they're at the stage where they're having kids, they're buying houses, and we're doing not that. So you get some side eye." Hynes and her husband Amormino, 33, are what are commonly known as DINKS dual income, no kids. And they have zero plans to change that, as Hynes said they've consciously decided not to expand their family beyond themselves and their beloved pet cat. "Major respect for people who choose to be parents, but it's just not the path that we think is right for us," she said. Hynes and Amormino quit their jobs in tech to spend 6 months traveling through 7 countries. Courtesy of Erin Hynes The Canadian couple are not the only people in their generation eschewing parenthood. As BI reported in July, an HSBC global economist estimated that birth rates in the US are steadily dropping each year, which could have negative repercussions for the economy. The estimates are in line with how, in 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the national birth rate had plunged 53% from its 1960 level. For young professionals like Hynes and Amormino, taking kids out of the equation sets them "up to have a life that continues to involve a lot of travel" without sacrifice. As Hynes put it, it's their "dream life." Not having kids has allowed the couple to travel freely Hynes described the first half of 2024 as a fever dream. After quitting their jobs in December 2023, which earned them a combined salary of 196,000 Canadian dollars, or around $143,800, they spent months traveling through Tanzania, Nepal, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Japan, Georgia, and Italy. In the spring, realizing their savings for the trip were running low, they started applying for jobs and eventually landed new roles they started in July. Hynes and Amormino immersed themselves in local cultures by taking cooking courses and booking homestays. Courtesy of Erin Hynes Now that they're home, the couple is already planning new adventures, which Hynes said wouldn't be as straightforward if they had kids. "We both have our moments or days where one of us is feeling more down about it than the other," Hynes said. So, she added, they've done what "every seasoned traveler does" and booked another trip to combat the blues this time to Iceland. In the future, Hynes said they plan to find ways to travel and work simultaneously. "We're actually talking more about doing a remote working trip where we settle down in one place for a month at a time and continue working," she said, adding that the strategy means they'll get to explore "while also earning an income and being able to save at the same time." Read the original article on Business Insider Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman took responsibility for local officers not accompanying out-of-state police during the Republican National Convention on Monday. The police chief faced questions regarding the policing of the political event and the prior communication of how it would be handled at a meeting of the Common Council's Steering and Rules Committee. Alders pointed to past comments made during the lead-up to the event, where they said police officials indicated out-of-town officers would be accompanied by local officers, if in certain situations. The through line in the meeting was the death of Sam Sharpe Jr., who was shot and killed by Columbus, Ohio, police officers during the convention. Sharpe was seen on bodycam footage wielding two knives and moving toward another man when the officers shot him on July 16. Alderwoman Milele Coggs said on Monday the shooting was the feared outcome of activists and others ahead of the convention. Part of the reason the questions were asked about the zones was because of fear of this exact thing occurring, Coggs said. The fact that this was a question asked so much by so many different people, it seemed like that it should have been a priority of the department. The convention's security plan involved various security zones or perimeters, with the shooting of Sharpe raising the question of if the officers should be there. Following the shooting, the department said in a statement the Columbus officers were in their assigned zone, which included portions of the soft perimeter and extended into the area immediately surrounding it. Sharpes sister, Angelique, previously spoke at a Fire and Police Commission meeting, the oversight body for the citys police and fire departments, on Sept. 5. She's said her brother was defending himself. My brothers life will not be in vain. People are going to be held accountable, Sharpe said at that meeting. "This whole situation needs to be properly investigated and looked at holistically and systemic change needs to happen. Angelique Sharpe, sister of Samuel Sharpe Jr., holds her brothers Bible as she speaks to the press after a protest at Red Arrow Park on July 18 in Milwaukee. At the FPC meeting, Norman previously conceded local officers should have been with the Columbus officers something he enacted following Sharpe's shooting. On Monday, he reiterated that and said the department didnt think about it when asked why they were not accompanied. Norman said much of his attention was on protest zones during the convention and possible issues that could arise there. Sharpe was shot near King Park, an area just west of downtown Milwaukee. With all the things that we had going on, (accompanying the officers) was something that was an oversight on our part, he said. Ultimately, I have the responsibility of looking at the particular resources. Norman said the convention was the department's first time handling an event of that scale and requiring that level of security. He noted the Democratic National Convention in 2020 didn't match the scale since it was held largely virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Police Chief Jeffrey Norman in June 2022 with Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson. In a period of brief back-and-forth questioning between Norman and Alderman Scott Spiker, the politician asked the chief to detail how out-of-town officers were to be accompanied. Norman said the Columbus officers should have been accompanied by local officers, calling it an oversight. Some departments did not fulfill their commitment to send officers and described them having to be malleable in terms of how they handled staffing, he said. However, Spiker's concern was with losing trust in the departments truthfulness when speaking to city committees. He said he could accept it being a policy error but was concerned if there was subtlety not being shared in the meetings leading up to the event. Because then how do we have faith in the department that, when we're drilling down answers to questions, theyre not being evaded? Spiker asked. Understood, Norman replied. The Milwaukee Area Investigative Team, led by the Greenfield Police Department, is investigating the fatal shooting of Sharpe. The investigation results will be sent to the Milwaukee County District Attorney for consideration of charges. David Clarey can be reached at dclarey@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee alders question police chief over RNC policing, lead up Stormonts infrastructure minister has defended his department following complaints of roadworks causing traffic congestion in Belfast city centre. John ODowd acknowledged there have been issues resulting from work on the Sydenham bypass and the new Grand Central Station public transport hub. But he said people in rural areas would be aghast that people are complaining about multi-million-pound investments. The Sinn Fein minister said the issues were being reviewed, but added that we cannot completely plan out inconvenience". Belfasts 340m Grand Central Station opened earlier this month for bus journeys, with rail services due to begin later this year. Major roadworks also began last week on a resurfacing scheme on the Sydenham Bypass in the east of the city. The works are to take place over the next five months. In the Stormont assembly on Monday, some members described the congestion in Belfast as "traffic chaos". O'Dowd told members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) that issues over the weekend were as a result of a 3.2m road improvement scheme. I suspect people in rural Fermanagh and rural Tyrone are going to be aghast that people are complaining that they are getting 3.2m spent in their area, he said. 'We are reviewing it' In response to another MLA, he added: "I'm looking at your rural colleagues as they look in envy upon Belfast receiving its 3.2m roads improvement, its 340m bus and rail station." Your rural colleagues are going: What are you complaining about? But O'Dowd accepted there have been traffic congestion issues in Belfast, adding: We are reviewing it. The minister said a major artery into Belfast was being resurfaced and we cannot completely plan out inconvenience". O'Dowd said he has asked his officials to monitor the Belfast situation closely and consider interim measures at Grand Central Station, such as changes to traffic light operations. He said he accepted there are always circumstances where public transport is not suitable, but he added that when you are sitting in traffic, perhaps one question we need to ask ourselves is could we use public transport?. Because when you are sitting in traffic, you are the traffic, he added. Health Minister Mike Nesbitt is set to outline plans to revamp the hospital network in Northern Ireland. The reconfiguration plans are contained in a new document, Hospitals - Creating a Network for Better Outcomes, which is due to be published on Tuesday. In a letter to Northern Ireland Assembly Members (MLAs), the minister said it was part of a roadmap "aimed at setting health and social care services on a clear path to recovery". He also plans to announce a three-year strategy for health to cover the remainder of the assembly mandate. Mr Nesbitt was ratified as the UUP party leader on Saturday [PA Media] "Reconfiguration is an ongoing reality in our health service as evidenced, for example, by the development of a network of elective care hubs and last year's decision to consolidate in-patient maternity services at Antrim Hospital," said Mr Nesbitt. "Forthcoming reconfiguration decisions for me will include the outcome of the Northern HSC Trust public consultation on emergency general surgery and proposals from the review of breast cancer services I announced in recent days." The new document will not pinpoint where any new medical specialty hubs will be located. The minister said his department would need executive and assembly support for the plans and that current public finances would make progress difficult. "I will continue to make the case for significantly more funding for health," he said. Meanwhile, an independent review into maternity services here will be published next month. UPDATED (3 p.m.) An Iowa man, accused of sexually abusing a 15-year-old Iowa girl who had run away from her parents and was found in Peoria, was ordered held in custody pending the outcome of his case. Shawn M. Carrell, 31, of Keokuk, Iowa, appeared in Peoria County Circuit Court on the charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and the misdemeanor count of harboring a runaway. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison. Peoria County prosecutors sought to have Carrell held in custody, noting he was a threat to the community because he brought a minor across the state line and engaged in sexual conduct with her. His attorney with the countys public defenders office argued for pretrial release, saying he had little in the way of criminal history and that hes on disability. There was nothing in his history, she argued, that would indicate he would not listen to the courts orders. Judge Mark Gilles granted the states request, saying that there was nothing he could do to protect the girl in question. Also, the judge noted, that Carrell noted that he was probation in Iowa for the charge of harboring a runaway. The person in that earlier case was the same girl, the judge noted. Measures were taken in the past to protect the girl, including an order of protection, but nothing worked, the judge said. Carrell will next appear in court on Oct. 24 for his arraignment though it is likely a grand jury will hear the case before then. Also charged was Ian Fifer, 19, with the misdemeanor charge of harboring a runaway. __________________________________________________________________- Missing Iowa girl found in Peoria County; two men in custody for harboring a runaway PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) Two men are in custody on sexual assault and child porn charges after being caught Saturday with a 15-year-old runaway from Iowa. Shawn M. Carrell, 28, and Ian J. Fifer, 19, were arrested at a gas station in the 3000 block of West Lincoln Street which is on the citys western edge. The girl was found with them, and she has since been returned to her parents in Lee County, Iowa which is located in the states southeastern corner. Sheriff Chris Watkins said his office was notified by officials there of the missing girl who had been listed as an endangered runaway. The girls phone, Watkins said, was pinging within Peoria County which is why his office was notified. Alleged car thief who sparked manhunt near Princeville still on the loose Iowa officials said the girl was likely in a White Dodge Ram with a man. The truck was later found at the gas station and both Carrell and Fifer were found there. However, the license plates had been switched by one of the men to avoid detection, Watkins said. Carell was booked into the county jail on charges of criminal sexual assault, violating an order of protection and harboring a runaway. It is alleged that he sexually assaulted the girl and also the juvenile had an order of protection against Carrell. Fifer was booked on charges of harboring a runaway and child porn During the investigation, Peoria County investigators allegedly found pictures of a nude underage female on his cell phone. As of 9:45 a.m. Monday, both men were still in jail. It was not immediately clear if they would be formally charged in Peoria County Circuit Court. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) This weekend, Mission BBQ had a fallen solider ceremony to honor a local hometown hero that served our country. Corporal Ryan Russell was a combat medic in the U.S. Army, and his services and sacrifices were honored by putting his picture up on Mission BBQs Gold Star Wall. This is a way in which just average residents that are coming in and out, theyll be able to see and just reflect upon Ryans service as a combat medic, Congressman Don Davis said. He actually took care of people helping save lives, and he did it until his own life was given for our country. Click the video above for more information. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WNCT. ST. LOUIS Staff at Lyon Academy in St. Louis sent an anonymous letter to the teachers union this week after they say a gun was found outside of the school. In this case, the district has done everything they were supposed to do. They followed policy, Local 420 teachers union spokesperson Byron Clemens said. If theres any fault that all of us had, its communicating more about what these threats are. As area schools see an increase in threats lately, the union says it visited with Lyon Academy to address communication concerns. But it is also trying to take a proactive approach. We have been doing training in conjunction with the district. We call it AVERT training. We have a national expert from Washington, D.C., Clemens said. It is just one of many threats in the area so far this school year. The Missouri State Highway Patrol has been tracking threats that come in through its Courage2Report hotline. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News We really have noticed an increase in the amount of tips that are coming in, especially after the unfortunate events in georgia. We typically do see an increase after an actual act of school violence occurs, MSHP Lt. Eric Brown said. The hotline handles any kind of public safety concerns at school. It has received 615 tips since July 1, 2024. 135 of those tips were considered duplicates. But. Lt. Brown says the numbers are likely higher because these only include threats reported to the MSHP. He says in a typical year, Courage2Report gets between 1,400 and 1,500 reports. Were also seeing an increase in the number of tips each year as well just because of public awareness and usage by schools in the program has increased significantly over the last 2-3 years as well, Lt. Brown said. 102 of the tips to Courage 2 Report were school shooting threats. That is the same number of school shooting threats the state knows about in all of 2023. The teachers union says that if you see one of these threats online, be sure to report it the right way. Dont spread these messages yourself. Dont be part of the problem. Report it. Take a screen shot and report it, but dont share it, Clemens said. You can contact Courage2Report by calling 1-866-748-7047 or text C2R to 738477. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Rochelle Watts, 35, was last seen with her family near Goulburn, Australia on Friday, Sept. 27 NSW Police Force Rochelle Watts A mother is missing in Australia with her four children including a two-week-old baby girl. Rochelle Watts, 35, has not been seen since Friday, Sept. 27, along with her two sons aged 15 and 10, a daughter aged 8, and a newborn, New South Wales stated in a release. According to police, Watts was last seen at around 2:30 p.m. in the town of Goulburn, which is approximately 120 miles southwest of Sydney. Police and family hold serious concerns for her welfare, police said, per the release.[Watts] is believed to be with her four children. NSW Police Force Rochelle Watts and her four children are missing in Australia Related: Missing Woman, 24, Found Severely Dehydrated and Emaciated After Surviving Nearly 2 Weeks in Wilderness Watts is described as being around 5 feet, 4 inches tall with "a large build, red/ginger hair, and hazel eyes," according to the authorities. The familys German Shepherd, Elsa, is also believed to be with them, police said. Authorities stated, per the release, that Watts is known to frequent the Goulburn and Tirrannaville areas near the Australian capital, Canberra. Police are also following a tip-off that the mom of four may be in the town of Murgon in Queensland, which has a population of 2000 people and lies around 160 miles northwest of Brisbane and is roughly 750 miles from where the family was last seen. Police are now urging for public assistance in the search for Watts and her children. Steve Christo/Corbis via Getty Sydney Opera House A spokeswoman for the NSW police said that ACT Policing and other interstate agencies had been notified about the mother and children, the Australian outlet, The Canberra Times, reported. "Police are still making inquiries," she said, per the outlet. 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. Police are calling upon anyone with any knowledge of Watts and her familys whereabouts to contact Goulburn Police Station or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Mom power on Smith Hill has doubled. But theres still a long way to go. Cranston City Council Vice President Lammis Vargas, a mother of two, won the five-way primary for State Senate District 28, and is unopposed in November. (Michael Salerno/Rhode Island Current) Jennifer Boylan didnt plan on running for office until her two sons became adults. But an unexpected opening in the Rhode Island House of Representatives two years ago made Boylan rethink her timeline.The Barrington Democrat cruised to victory in November 2022, defeating independent Samuel Read by 15 percentage points. The battle between legislative responsibilities and being there to support her two sons the younger of which was still in high school was not so easy. Making sure my kids are taken care of, its a top priority, said Boylan, a passionate advocate for stricter gun laws and improving school safety. Its not like I head to the State House and just forget about it. Boylan is among a growing contingent of mothers with children under 18 who serve in state legislatures: 582 of them nationwide as of February, according to a new report published by Vote Mama Foundation. The Sept. 23 report touts a 48.6% increase in the number of mom legislators from September 2022, when the study was last conducted. In Rhode Island, the number of mothers with minor children on Smith Hill increased 100% from five in 2022 to 10 as of February 2024. Rhode Island ranked 21st among states based on the 8.84% of moms in its legislature, according to the report. The increase stems largely from results of the November 2022 elections, when most state legislative seats, including all 113 in Rhode Island, were last decided. That the 2022 election cycle came months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade is no coincidence, said Sarah Hague, chief program officer for Vote Mama Foundation. That jump reflects a momentous change in the conversations surrounding the role of mothers in America and the needs of American families, Hague said in an interview. There are more and more conversations in the limelight about how American policies are failing women, children, and families. More and more, we are seeing moms step up to the plate when they are seeing a problem they know they can solve. Long hours, low pay Yet the power comes often at great personal sacrifice for mom lawmakers, whose ability to win and remain in office is undercut by low pay and lack of support both personal and systemic to offset caregiving responsibilities at home. Just ask Rep. Megan Cotter. The Exeter Democrat is in the midst of a tough reelection campaign against former seatholder, Republican Justin Price. Cotter ousted Price by just 32 votes in November 2022. I am so tired, Cotter said in a recent interview. Having kids is definitely a contributing factor. Its hard to find the time. Your canvassing schedule has to be in line with whats going on at home. It helps that Cotters kids are now teens ages 18, 16 and 14 with the oldest now living on campus at the University of Rhode Island. The flip side? Big kids, bigger problems, Cotter said. Moms with children under age 6 are especially scarce in state legislatures, comprising just 1.7% of lawmakers nationwide, according to the report. While Rhode Island is among 32 states that let candidates use campaign funds for child care, no parent man or woman has taken advantage since the 2021 state law was passed. When Rep. Teresa Tanzi, a South Kingstown Democrat, first ran for office in 2010, her daughter Delia was 3. Tanzi, then a stay-at-home-mom, towed Delia to campaign stops, and, after winning election, legislative hearings at the State House. Tanzi relished the opportunity to expose her daughter to the legislative process, with Delia firmly attached to Tanzis leg as she spoke on the House floor. But her colleagues were not always understanding. I have to admit, I was criticized by folks I never thought a criticism would come from, Tanzi said. Now 18 and a first-year student at the University of Rhode Island, Delia is no longer Tanzis State House sidekick. But a crop of new women lawmakers with children, and grandchildren, have given Tanzi a chance to pay forward the help she did not receive when Delia was young. The more moms that are there, the more support there is, Tanzi said. They were my motivation For Lammis Vargas, having more women, and moms, serve alongside her on the Cranston City Council fostered a similar sense of kinship and support. We understand when someone sends a text saying coming from a doctors appointment, running late, Vargas, a Democrat and council vice president, said. Vargas kids, Nevari and Christian, were 12 and 5 when she first ran for the council in 2016, while battling a cancer diagnosis she received after she launched her campaign. She refused to drop out, crediting the support of her husband and her children. They were my motivation from the very beginning, she said. Eight years later, Vargas is a proud cancer survivor and on a path to becoming the elected representative for Rhode Island States Senate District 28, having won a five-way Democratic primary on Sept. 10. She is unopposed in the general election. Nevari and Christian are now 20 and 13. But Vargas dad, 73, had a stroke at the end of 2023 which left him temporarily immobile on one side of his body. Vargas, the eldest of two children and the only one living in Rhode Island, found herself now tasked with driving her parents to doctors appointments, picking up groceries and acting as translator for her parents, who are immigrants from Colombia. During my Senate campaign, I would hit the grocery store at 9:30 p.m. and they would be closing at 10, so I was just running through the aisles, Vargas recalled. The Vote Mama report does not account for other types of caregiving challenges women lawmakers face, a criteria which Hague said they hope to incorporate in future data collection. Caregiving, work and family obligations were the third-most cited reason why women leave state office, behind running for higher office, or retirement, according to the Vote Mama report. Its hard enough to be a mom as a candidate, but being a mom in the state legislature brings on a whole different set of barriers, Hague said. Neither system was built for women, much less moms of minors. Demanding legislative schedule Boylan found her first term in office much more difficult than the actual campaign. The long hours and opposite schedule to her teenage son left little time to spend together. Not that it stopped her from seeking a second term this year. I didnt really hesitate to run for reelection, because theres still much work to do, Boylan said. The pay for that mountain of work is not considered commensurate. Rhode Island lawmakers made $19,000 a year in 2024 for the part-time job, though most lawmakers say they log as many hours as a full-time position, especially without dedicated staff to help them. During my Senate campaign, I would hit the grocery store at 9:30 p.m. and they would be closing at 10, so I was just running through the aisles. Lammis Vargas, Cranston City Council Vice President and unopposed Democratic candidate for Senate District 28 seat Rhode Islands legislative pay is higher than nine states excluding those that offer daily or weekly rates, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Massachusetts lawmakers earn over $73,600, while those in Connecticut are paid $40,000. Only four states Pennsylvania, Michigan, California and New York pay lawmakers a livable salary as of 2024, according to the Vote Mama report. California and Michigan rank first and fourth for highest representation of moms in their legislatures. In both states, being a lawmaker is recognized as a full-time job, versus the hybrid or part-time model used in Rhode Island. Tanzi has a real estate license and sells homemade focaccia through a state cottage food license. But she has struggled to find a full-time job that doesnt conflict with afternoon and evening hearings at the State House, along with daytime meetings for her role chairing the Human Services Subcommittee. It felt impossible to me, Tanzi said. Meanwhile, pressure to bring in more money is growing under the weight of her daughters college tuition bill. While Vote Mama in its report argues for higher pay as a way to usher in more moms to state legislatures, that isnt a practical reality for most states, said Emily Lynch, associate teaching professor of political science at the University of Rhode Island. New Hampshire pays its state lawmakers $100 a year. Its a paltry sum, yes, but given its size 425 members, smaller only than Congress a big salary hike would be very costly. I dont think its as easy as just raise the pay, Lynch said. Its more complex. A less pricey, but helpful way Rhode Island could support its part-time lawmakers would be to hire more staff to help legislators with research, bill drafting and responding to constituents, Lynch said. Half of states offer paid, personal staff to their legislatures, according to the Vote Mama report. The report also recommends paid family and medical leave, child care reimbursements, and ability to attend and participate in legislative duties remotely as ways to remove barriers to moms running for and serving in office. Not mentioned in the report was recruitment of more moms to run for state office. The big thing thats not being discussed is the confidence gap, Lynch said. Research shows that when women run, women win. But theres a lack of women being encouraged to run for office. Vargas hoped seeing moms like her in office would plant the seed for future lawmakers. I love when we have kids come to the council chambers, Vargas said. I tell them, you could be my boss one day. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX More Than 100 Dead After Hurricane Helene Ravages the South and 600 Remain Missing in 1 N.C. County: Officials "This storm literally spared no one," Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said in a press briefing on Monday, Sept. 30 Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. More than 100 people are dead and hundreds of others remain missing, including 600 in one North Carolina county alone, as southeastern portions of the United States recover from the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene, officials and news reports said. The death toll from the storm that made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on Thursday, Sept. 26, reached at least 107 as of Monday, Sept. 30, according to the Associated Press. However, some news outlets are reporting more deaths have been confirmed. CNN reported a death toll of 115, while CBS News tally sits at 116. "This storm literally spared no one," Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said in a press briefing Monday, where he announced 25 storm-related deaths in the state. Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Heavy rains from Hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida's Big Bend on Thursday night with winds up to 140 mph and storm surges that killed at least 42 people in several states Related: Hurricane Ian Brought Couple Together. Now Engaged, They Just Weathered Hurricane Helene Side by Side (Exclusive) Helene is one of the deadliest hurricanes to hit the mainland United States in the past 50 years, according to CNN. Buncombe County in North Carolina is one of the areas hit hardest by Helene. At least 35 people have been found dead in the one county, according to NBC News, and an estimated 600 people are still missing, according to the AP and ABC News. Devastation does not even begin to describe how we feel, but my teams will be continuing to help in recovery," Sheriff Quentin E. Miller said. Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. Related: How to Help with Hurricane Helene Relief Efforts Another 153 people remain missing in northeast Tennessee, where at least two people have died after the storm triggered flash flooding throughout Appalachia, according to NBC News. 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. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper predicted the death toll will continue to rise as rescue and recovery efforts continue, per the AP. More than 50 search teams have been deployed in the region. County officials said crews will be going door-to-door to check on the individuals who were reported missing, according to ABC News. Sean Rayford/Getty People wait in line for gasoline in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29, 2024 in Fletcher, North Carolina. Related: 4-Year-Old Girl and a Firefighter Among Hurricane Helene Victims Identified, as Death Toll Continues to Rise As of the morning of Monday, Sept. 30, more than 1.5 million people remain without power, including more than 760,000 in South Carolina, 573,000 in Georgia and 458,000 in North Carolina, according to PowerOutage.us. Many people are still seeking rescue or aid. Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder said food and water would be brought to Asheville, one of the areas hit hardest by the storm, by Monday. We hear you, she said Sunday, Sept. 29, on a call with reporters. Both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are planning to visit areas affected by Helene, per the reports. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. By Leyla Tarverdiyeva, Day.az On the eve of the anniversary of the outbreak of the Second Karabakh War, Nikol Pashinyan addressed the session of the UN General Assembly with calls for peace and beautiful phrases about territorial integrity. Returning to Yerevan a day later, he first went to Yerablur and laid flowers at the graves of the occupiers under the shadow of separatist tetris rags. They will say: he had no choice. Why wasn't there. There is always a way out. Nicol is an inventive guy. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is an amazing politician. He has seven Fridays a week. In the morning, he can declare one thing, at lunch - the exact opposite, and by dinner, the flow of thoughts generally begins to zigzag. At the UN General Assembly, he delivered a touching speech full of humanistic messages and beautiful phrases. It's not that we don't believe that he, Nikol Pashinyan, wants peace and an end to problems with his neighbors. We want to believe that. But here's the thing - such issues cannot be solved by will alone. These are very difficult issues, and to solve them, it is not enough just to put on angel wings and fly around the United Nations meeting room. Such problems require real action and real effort. If there are none, then there are no honest intentions. In the absence of honest intentions, even the most correct words mean nothing. In his speech at the GA, Pashinyan did not seem to go beyond the bounds of decency as usual, but there are completely different motives behind his beautiful words. And this is clearly felt in every phrase. Nikol Pashinyan is very fond of appearing at events that the President of Azerbaijan did not attend. In the absence of the Azerbaijani leader, he feels relaxed. He can calmly pretend to be a peacemaker or throw accusations without fear of getting slapped on the lips. This time, he spoke at the UN only about how Armenia wants peace, how it dreams of hugging its neighbors, opening all roads to them and dancing around them. On the advice of the guardians, Yerevan changed its tactics. Earlier, Armenia's patrons needed the peace treaty not to be signed, now they needed it to be concluded as soon as possible. They believe that they decide this when the "final stage of negotiations" comes. This is how the recent meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the presence of the US Secretary of State was announced. Before the elections in the States, the ruling party wants to show its ability to influence issues of war and peace. It was not possible to do this in the Russian-Ukrainian and Palestinian-Israeli conflicts. And the settlement between Baku and Yerevan seems to be a simple matter for the state. But this is a misconception. Who said that the negotiations are nearing the end? No one in Baku thinks so. If 80 percent of the issues are agreed upon, this does not mean that it remains to cross the threshold. One of a hundred problems can slow down the process for years. In our case, this is exactly what happens. Armenia, patronized by the powers, has been stalling for four years instead of fulfilling Azerbaijan's conditions. And these conditions are very mild and sparing, considering how many crimes have been committed by Armenians against the Azerbaijani people. If there were no external guardianship, Yerevan would not be able to resist. Instead of making sweet speeches at the UN General Assembly, Nikol Pashinyan should have started removing obstacles to the peace treaty two years ago. He did everything to do nothing, and today he speaks of Armenia's readiness to change the Constitution for the sake of peace. They say that the Armenian Constitution is impeccable, but if Baku asks for it, after signing the peace treaty, it will think about it. From the rostrum of the United Nations, he is doing a favor to Azerbaijan, and these words of his with caramel-honey comments are spreading in the Western media. And the following picture is drawn: small, aggrieved Armenia is ready for peace, but big and evil Azerbaijan is not. That's the whole point. The main reason why there is still no peace is that Armenia and all those who try to interfere are trying to present the process as negotiations between equal parties. Not as between the former occupier and the country that defeated him, but as between two schoolchildren who fought, each of whom is guilty in his own way. There is no other example where the world has approached such issues so hypocritically. Armenians were considered victims when the eyes of Azerbaijani babies were burned out, when Azerbaijani cemeteries were destroyed, and when Azerbaijani cities were razed to the ground. It is not necessary to say how much the image of the victim has strengthened behind them after the Second Karabakh War and the September ATO. Let's not argue - the image of the victim suits our neighbors, but the image of the winner is a problem. All the years of occupation, Armenia, having seemingly won the war, looked pitiful and lost, cowardly tucked its tail like a fox caught in a chicken coop, and clung to someone else's hem. Unlike her, Azerbaijan, having lost its lands, behaved with dignity and pride, did not seek support and help, did not cry, did not try to profitably sell its citizens deprived by the Armenian aggression. With his head held high, he solved problems that a major power would not have been able to cope with. But this does not mean that the roles have been reversed. The pathetic aggressor and thief has not acquired the status of a victim. A thief, after taking the loot from him, remains a thief and is punished for this. The loss in the Second Karabakh War did not lift the burden of responsibility for the thirty-year occupation, ethnic cleansing, genocide and vandalism from the Armenian neck. These crimes remain with Armenia, and there can be no equation of the status of the parties in the negotiations. And that's exactly what all the negotiators are trying to do. Armenian handouts are so sweet and Armenians are so helpful that world actors continue to sin against truth and justice, betting on Armenia. Let's pay attention - no one remembers today about the First Karabakh War and the years of the Armenian occupation of the territories of Azerbaijan, as if the conflict between the two countries began on September 27, 2020. Everything that happened before and that led to the 44-day war has been diligently erased from the agenda of the international community, which is terribly concerned about peace in the Caucasus. There was no occupation, there were not a million refugees and internally displaced persons, there were not tens of thousands of Azerbaijani civilians killed by Armenians, there were not numerous terrorist attacks carried out by neighbors. When the Western media talks about restoration work in Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur, they do not talk about where such destruction comes from, but focus on concern about the environment due to the construction of power plants and roads by the Azerbaijani side (!). A year ago, after the anti-terrorist operation in Karabakh, Azerbaijani bloggers posted two articles from the influential The Economist as an example of the hypocrisy of the Western media. One of them was published in September 1996, the other in September 2023. In the first one we read: "Nowhere have Armenians shown such energy and steadfastness as in "Nagorno-Karabakh" (our quotes-ed.) ... Now Karabakh is actually part of Armenia, its population of about 130 thousand people is completely liberated from Azerbaijanis (Azeri-free)... Armenians are actively settling former Azerbaijani districts (especially villages along the most important road through Lachin). These are tough and determined people who have shown themselves to be much better fighters than the Azerbaijanis today... The real leader is Samvel Babayan, a 30-year-old defense minister, petite but ruthless and charismatic. Samvel Babayan is a proponent of expansion, who believes that Karabakh should extend even further north." In last year's article on the anti-terrorist operation of the Azerbaijani army, there are completely different emotions: "Azerbaijan is guilty of ethnic cleansing, having decided to attack the enclave instead of concluding a Western-backed agreement guaranteeing the civil rights of the Armenian minority." As they say, there are two big differences... All this, of course, inspires the Armenians, gives them hope that peace can wait. With the real world, and not the one offered to Azerbaijan by Pashinyan and his support group. A rendering shows a new $30 million building that is planned for Komatsu's Adams Street campus in Peoria. Komatsu hopes to move into the building by Christmas of 2025. (This story was updated to add new information and a photo.) Komatsu broke ground on a new $30 million building at its Adams Street campus in Peoria on Monday. Local politicians, including U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, a Democrat from the 17th District, were in Peoria to champion the investment they said will be big for the future of manufacturing in the area. "One of the things that makes our nation's heartland so great is that this is where we build the machines that do the hard work, not just here but around the world," Sorensen said. "This is where we develop the products that keep nations' economies going, not just our own." More: Peoria-based healthcare system named one of the best employers in Illinois Chris Setti, the CEO of the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council, said this new investment shows the Peoria area is still the "heart of manufacturing" in America. The new building will house engineers and other support staff who help build Komatsu's 400-ton trucks, one of which they now have displayed prominently on Adams Street. Komatsu employees around 850 people in the Peoria-area, according the GPEDC's Greater Peoria data hub. Dan Funcannon, a senior vice president at Komatsu, said they hope to move into the new building before Christmas 2025. After the new building is complete and employees are moved in, the old building that sits to the north of the new one will be torn down. The old building was built in the 1970s. "It's awesome. I am just super excited for the employees, really, it's an investment in the employees who live and work, raise families here in Peoria," Funcannon said. "This really is about investing back into the employee base here in Peoria." The new building will be one of the most significant investments seen in Peoria's North Valley in years. City councilmember Tim Riggenbach, whose 3rd District is home to the project, said Komatsu has been a "stalwart" in the area for a long time. "When you look at the roots of what Komatsu's predecessors were, this location has a lot of history to it, so to respect that and build upon that, it's very satisfying," Riggenbach said. Peoria Mayor Rita Ali said in a released statement: "Komatsu's commitment to Peoria is a partnership we greatly value," Ali said. "The new facility represents a step forward in sustainable manufacturing and strengthening Peoria's economy and community. We're excited to see Komatsu's continued investment in our city, creating opportunities for the next generation of workers." More: Liberty Steel temporarily reducing production at Peoria plant, furloughing workers This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria manufacturer breaks ground on new $30 million building More than 20 Iowa communities will benefit from rural small business grant Perry is one of several cities selected as part of a rural small business pilot project (Photo by Brooklyn Draisey/Iowa Capital Dispatch) Minden, Perry, West Branch and a collection of towns in southeast Iowa have been selected as pilot projects for the Rural Business Initiative, a project from Iowa Rural Development Council. The project will support existing small businesses in rural Iowa as they build back from disasters, forge regional collaboration and spiff up business districts. The selected cities will also have support at their local Wells Fargo branches, because the program is funded by a $200,000 grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation. These four pilot places have creative concepts to address existing needs and ultimately impact the viability of local businesses and economies, said Mark Reinig, the councils board president. A press release about the project detailed each citys plan for the funds. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Minden: The 600-person city in west-central Iowa, plans to launch Forward With Strength, a community program to revitalize its central business district. Many of the businesses in the Minden Triangle have been inoperable since the tornadoes hit the area last spring. Perry: Community leaders in Perry felt area businesses had struggled for a while, even before the 1200-employee Tyson Foods pork processing plant closed in June 2024. The Chamber of Commerce plans to revive a pandemic-era program to help small businesses with capital for product, marketing, or improvements. West Branch: The citys Main Street is launching the Rising Tide Initiative to help update facades, street appeal, signage and optimize inventory, while construction on Interstate 80 exits and renovation on the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library affect travel to the town. Pathfinders Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Twenty-one cities in Mahaska, Keokuk, Jefferson, Davis and Van Buren counties will take part in the Leveraging Access for Underserved Networks and Capital for Hope, or LAUNCH, program developed by Pathfinders RC&D. The program provides custom support for small businesses, and promotes regional collaboration between smaller and larger communities to increase job creation, revenue and economic prosperity. The Iowa Small Business Development Centers and the Iowa Center for Economic Success will offer support to the projects in addition to resources, training and developmental resources from Iowa Rural Development Council and local Wells Fargo banks. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Supplies rushed to communities isolated by Helene as death toll rises to at least 107 ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) A crisis unfolded in western North Carolina as officials rushed to get more water, food and other supplies to flood-stricken areas without power and cellular service Monday, three days after Hurricane Helene ripped across the U.S. Southeast. The death toll from the storm reached the triple digits. At least 107 people in six states were killed. A North Carolina county that includes the mountain city of Asheville reported 30 people killed. Georgias death count was raised Monday from 17 to 25. North Carolinas governor, Roy Cooper, predicted the toll would rise as rescuers and other emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding. Supplies were being airlifted to the region around the isolated city of Asheville. Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder pledged that she would have food and water to the city by Monday. We hear you. We need food and we need water, Pinder said on a Sunday call with reporters. My staff has been making every request possible to the state for support and weve been working with every single organization that has reached out. What I promise you is that we are very close. Ashevilles water system was severely damaged. Residents walked with buckets to a creek to get water to flush toilets, carefully watching their steps where a wall of water three days before ripped away all of the trees and ground, leaving only mud. Neighbors shared food and water and comforted each other. Thats the blessing so far in this, Sommerville Johnston said outside her home. Officials warned that rebuilding from the widespread loss of homes and property would be lengthy and difficult. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast. Georgias governor, Brian Kemp, raised that states death toll Monday to 25, telling reporters that the storm literally spared no one. Most people in and around Augusta, a city of about 200,000 people near the South Carolina border, were still without power Monday, and Kemp and other officials tried to reassure residents that they felt their misery. Deaths also were reported in Florida, South Carolina and Virginia. Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said Monday that hundreds of roads were closed across western North Carolina and that shelters across the area were housing more than 1,000 people. Cooper implored residents in western North Carolina to avoid travel, both for their own safety and to keep roads clear for emergency vehicles. More than 50 search teams spread throughout the region in search of stranded people. One rescue effort involved saving 41 people north of Asheville. Another mission focused on saving a single infant. The teams found people through both 911 calls and social media messages, North Carolina National Guard Adjutant General Todd Hunt said. Video showed a mass of debris, including overturned pontoon boats and splintered wooden docks, covering the surface of Lake Lure, a picturesque spot tucked between the mountains outside Asheville. President Joe Biden described the impact of the storm as stunning and said he would visit the area this week as long as it does not disrupt rescues or recovery work. In a brief exchange with reporters, he said the administration is giving states everything we have to help with their response to the storm. Hurricane Helene roared ashore late Thursday in Floridas Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph (225 kph) winds. A weakened Helene quickly moved through Georgia, then soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains that flooded creeks and rivers and strained dams. There have been hundreds of water rescues, including in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from a hospital rooftop Friday. More than 2 million homeowners and other utility customers were still without power Sunday night. South Carolina had the most outages and Gov. Henry McMaster asked for patience as crews dealt with widespread snapped power poles. We want people to remain calm. Help is on the way, it is just going to take time, McMaster told reporters outside the airport in Aiken County. Begging for help in North Carolina as that help is slow to arrive The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. One community, Spruce Pine, was doused with over 2 feet (61 centimeters) of rain from Tuesday through Saturday. Jessica Drye Turner in Texas had begged for someone to rescue her family members stranded on their rooftop in Asheville amid rising floodwaters. They are watching 18-wheelers and cars floating by, Turner wrote in an urgent Facebook post on Friday. But in a follow-up message Saturday, Turner said help had not arrived in time to save her parents, both in their 70s, and her 6-year-old nephew. The roof collapsed and the three drowned. I cannot convey in words the sorrow, heartbreak and devastation my sisters and I are going through, she wrote. The state was sending water supplies and other items toward Buncombe County and Asheville, but mudslides blocking Interstate 40 and other highways prevented supplies from making it. The countys own water supplies were on the other side of the Swannanoa River, away from where most of the 270,000 people in Buncombe County live, officials said. Law enforcement was making plans to send officers to places that still had water, food or gas because of reports of arguments and threats of violence, the county sheriff said. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell toured south Georgia on Sunday and planned to be in North Carolina Monday. Its still very much an active search and rescue mission in western North Carolina, Criswell said. And we know that theres many communities that are cut off just because of the geography of the mountains, where damage to roads and bridges have cut off certain areas. Biden on Saturday pledged federal government help for Helenes overwhelming devastation. He also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina, making federal funding available for affected individuals. Storm-battered Florida digs out, residents gather for church In Floridas Big Bend, some lost nearly everything they own. Some churches canceled regular services Sunday while others like Faith Baptist Church in Perry opted to worship outside. Standing water and tree debris still covers the grounds of Faith Baptist Church. The church called on parishioners to come pray for our community in a message posted to the congregations Facebook page. We have power. We dont have electricity, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church parishioner Marie Ruttinger said. Our God has power. Thats for sure. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday that it looked like a bomb went off after viewing splintered homes and debris-covered highways from the air. In eastern Georgia near the border with South Carolina, officials notified Augusta residents on Sunday morning that water service would be shut off for 24 to 48 hours because trash and debris blocked the ability to pump water. With at least 25 killed in South Carolina, Helene was the deadliest tropical cyclone for the state since Hurricane Hugo made landfall north of Charleston in 1989, killing 35 people. Moodys Analytics said it expects $15 billion to $26 billion in property damage. Climate change has exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones sometimes within hours. Tropical Storm Kirk forms in the Atlantic and could become a powerful hurricane Tropical Storm Kirk formed Monday in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and is expected to become a large and powerful hurricane by Tuesday night or Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm was located about 700 miles (1,125 kilometers) west of the Cabo Verde Islands with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (70 kph). There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect, and the storm system was not a threat to land. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Fishermen were given free dental checks as part of the pop-up services [BBC] More dental and health support has been offered to fishing communities in the Channel Islands. The Fishermens Mission helped to provide free dental checks and treatment, blood pressure checks and offered advice on accessing health and wellbeing services. The service is run by SeaFIT, which is a joint initiative by the Fishermen's Mission and the Seafarers Hospital Society. It is the second time the service has visited Guernsey and Jersey to carry out this work and several fishermen said it was "wonderful" and "brilliant" for the pop-up health checks to return. Fisherman Chris Casey praised the service [BBC] Jersey fishermen Chris Casey had his cholesterol levels checked as part of his visit to the service. He said it was "almost impossible" for people in his industry to book health appointments because it had to be done "weeks and weeks ahead" which was not practical for the fishing community as they would not know if they had to be out at sea at that time. "This is the first time I've been because last year the weather was half decent so I was out fishing so them having that regular and annual visits makes a big difference," Mr Cassey added. The sessions were held in St Peter Port Guernsey on Tuesday and in St Helier in Jersey on Thursday and Friday. Carol Elliott from SeaFIT wants more people in the fishing community to know about the service [BBC] Carol Elliott, from SeaFIT, has helped organise the visits and wants them to continue. She said "we would love to be here again" and "we are hoping that we can bring more services to Guernsey" but "it all depends on funding". Ms Elliott added: "Very often the fishermen will say to us they have not seen a dentist in years so just for us to be down here makes all the difference." Follow BBC Guernsey on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook. Follow BBC Jersey on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk. More on this story Related internet links A 30-year-old man convicted in a fatal shooting at a southeast Wichita duplex in 2019 has been ordered to serve at least 54 years in prison for first-degree premeditated murder and other charges. Sedgwick County District Judge David Dahl sentenced Chevy Omar Jones on Friday to life in prison, plus 31 months, for the Dec. 31, 2019, shooting death of 31-year-old Robert Junior of Wichita, for ramming into an unmarked police car when law enforcement tried to arrest him a few days later, and for assaulting and strangling his childs mother in October 2019. A jury found Jones guilty of the murder, misdemeanor battery, criminal damage to property, criminal possession of a firearm by a felon, aggravated domestic battery and misdemeanor domestic battery after a weeklong trial in April. The life sentence carries parole eligibility after 51.5 years. At whatever point Jones is granted parole, he will start serving the 31-month sentence. Prosecutors have said Jones gunned down Junior in a fit of anger after finding out his childs mother had an intimate relationship with him the previous summer. According to statements in court, Jones used another womans login information to access her social media accounts, pretended to be her in messages to Junior asking to meet up and then shot him in the doorway of his home in the 8500 block of East Parkmont, near Pawnee and Rock. Junior died at a Wichita hospital after a neighbor found him near the driveway. Robert Junior Jones claims hes innocent that another man murdered Junior and that police conducted a poor investigation where evidence, including a cellphone, wasnt properly secured, that search warrants for social media accounts werent sought and that a key prosecution witness had lied. Defense lawyer David Miller argued Friday that the blunders, coupled with other information jurors never heard, warranted a new trial because there is considerable doubt about his guilt. But the judge disagreed, saying the jurys guilty verdict reflected what the evidence showed and that there had been enough to connect the dots. Friday in court, family members said Junior, an aircraft worker who helped organize a 2019 event to unite the community after a rappers death, was a loving father and contributor to society who Jones killed to prove a point. What he did was more than just murder. ... My childrens lives have never been the same, the mother of Juniors children, Precious Lipps, said as other relatives called for Jones to receive the maximum punishment available. No matter how many years you give him, (it) aint enough, Juniors stepfather said. Jones, who had to be removed briefly from the courtroom for having an outburst during the familys comments, told the judge that he is a decent human being who at times blindly followed the wrong crowd. He said he felt bad for the family but insisted he didnt kill Junior and would have never taken things with him that far. I didnt murder Robert Junior, he said. Prosecutors asked Dahl to make Jones serve a full prison term for each victim back-to-back, plus up the parole eligibility on Jones life sentence from 50 to 51.5 years under a provision of Kansas law that allows the increase for defendants with significant criminal histories. Jones has more than 20 prior convictions. The sentence is the right thing to do, the fair thing to do, Dahl said. He ordered Jones to serve the sentences for the rest of the crimes concurrently. The defense lawyer wanted all of the sentences to be served simultaneously and have Jones eligible for parole sooner, in 50 years. He told the judge Jones is not a violent man and that on that timeline hell be 80 years old before he ever sees the parole board. Jones plans to appeal. A mugshot of Chevy Jones from February 2019. Anger over new romance led Wichita man to strangle his childs mother and kill a man Wichita man rams squad car, runs before being arrested on murder charge, police say Man dies after being found shot outside duplex in southeast Wichita MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) The Morgantown Municipal Airport (MGW) is getting a new airline partner and with it, a new nonstop flight. Starting in December, MGW will offer flights to Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Chicago OHare International Airport (ORD) through SkyWest Airlines, operating as United Express, the City of Morgantown announced Monday morning. Currently, Morgantown flights are serviced by Southern Airways Express, which offers nonstop flights to IAD and Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT). The release from the city said that United Express will offer five weekly round trips to Dulles and seven weekly round trips to Chicago. The partnership will provide essential air service for the next three years. WATCH: Bald eagle sighting interrupts interview during Raptor Watch event at Coopers Rock It is also the first time that MGW has offered a jet service, and Director Jonathon Vrabel said he expects to see an increase in usage of the airport in 2025. These new flights serve as a gateway to some of the most sought-after traveling experiences, Vrabel explained. Theres no need to drive all the way to Pittsburgh when you can start your journey closer to home, with a hassle-free experience, free parking, and shorter TSA security lines. Information about pricing was not included in the release, but current flights from Morgantown start at $29 to PIT and $39 to IAD. SkyWest previously offered services at the North Central West Virginia Airport in Harrison 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 WBOY.com. MSNBC host Joe Scarborough has some questions for Donald Trump after his latest attacks on Kamala Harris. Mondays edition of Morning Joe aired a series of comments the former president made at a campaign rallies in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania over the weekend in which he variously described Harris as mentally impaired, mentally disabled, and a stupid person. Joe Biden became mentally impairedKamala was born that way, Trump said to laughter and applause from his supporters at the Wisconsin event. Kevin McCarthy Gets Defensive Addressing Trump Calling Harris Mentally Disabled Reacting to the insults, Scarborough noted that Republicans had been concerned by Trumps remarks for good reason and sarcastically called the rally attendees who applauded Trumps comments a nice crowd. The question answers itself, I guess, Scarborough said later. If [Harris] were so quote stupid, if she were so quote mentally impaired, if she were quote so mentally disabled, why did she destroy him in a debate for 90 minutes, humiliate him, and beat him so badly that he refuses to even debate her on Fox News? Thats question number one, he continued. And if shes had this mental condition from birth, then why did he give her thousands of dollars in 2014 for her political campaign when she was running for the United States Senate? He appeared to be referring to donations totaling $6,000 Trump gave to Harris campaign between 2011 and 2013 when she became Californias attorney general. Trumps daughter Ivanka separately made a $2,000 donation to Harris in 2014, according to The Sacramento Bee. Scarborough also said Trumps comments had got Republicans doing something Republicans never do, namely being openly critical of the MAGA leader. The host read from a New York Times article that quoted some of the GOP pushback to their nominees words, including the damning assessment of Marylands ex-Republican governor Larry Hogan. I think thats insulting not only to the vice president, but to people that actually do have mental disabilities, Hogan, a current Senate candidate, told CBS News. Ive said for years that Trumps divisive rhetoric is something we can do without. Hogan also described Trumps comments outrageous and unacceptable and confirmed that, despite receiving Trumps endorsement in his own senate race this year, he will not be voting for the former president in November. Scarborough also highlighted criticism from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who on CNN urged Trump to focus instead on Harris crazy liberal policies, and Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), who similarly said during an ABC News interview that his party should stick to the issues. Emmer is reportedly involved in helping JD Vance, Trumps running mate, prepare for his Tuesday night debate with Harris VP pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. 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. A shocking new study shows a dramatic difference between what Americans publicly claim they believe on key issues compared to how they really feel when discussing polarizing political topics in private. Populace, a Massachusetts-based think tank focused on understanding people's private views and values rather than what they'll say publicly, recently unveiled its first Social Pressure Index. The findings indicate that Americans dont trust the government or the media and are hesitant to publicly admit their true feelings on a variety of key issues. This could be critical with the presidential election looming, as many Americans feel pressure to support a specific candidate or issues publicly but wouldnt necessarily vote that way in private. "I think it's going to be really fascinating to see what happens on election night. I will also say I think people are going to be surprised not just about presidential elections, but about some of the ballot initiatives and things like that are going to play out very different than public opinion might suggest," Populace CEO Todd Rose told Fox News Digital. 'He Has A Way Of Connecting With Our People': Southside Chicago Resident Believes Trump Is Gaining Support Many Americans feel pressure to support a specific candidate or issue publicly, but wouldnt necessarily vote that way in private, according to Populace CEO Todd Rose. Rose said polling "isnt bad," but its flawed because Americans arent honest about their personal views. "Polling assumes you're telling the truth, and we're not," Rose said, noting that he began private opinion research after former President Trumps 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton stunned pollsters. Read On The Fox News App A staggering 61% of Americans admitted to self-silencing their true beliefs, and 58% of Americans believe most people cannot share their honest opinions about sensitive topics even if they believe they are correct, according to the study. Rose said the Social Pressure Index was the largest private opinion study ever conducted, and it both acknowledges societal pressures to have the "right" opinion and also where that pressure impacts what Americans are willing to say out loud. He said the study spanned 64 of the most controversial issues in American society and included a massive sample of over 19,000 respondents and upwards of two dozen demographic groups. "Across these 64 issues, every single demographic group in the country, every one of them, is outright lying about multiple issues to the point where what they say publicly is not what they believe privately, as a group," Rose said. Rose called it "frightening" that some of the public dishonesty can lead to policy implications. For example, he noted that the study found that for a while, the "Defund the Police" appeared to be supported by the majority of Democrats, but only 3% of Democrats supported it in private. "I don't think we would have gone down the road of some of the stuff in Seattle and other things had we known it was just 3%. And we're seeing similar things like that right now. For example, Americans writ large publicly say they think unions are good for the economy. In private they don't believe it," Rose said. Former President Trumps 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton stunned many pollsters. "The good news is this -- when you get past what we're saying publicly, to what we privately believe. I was shocked at the extent of the common ground we have as Americans," Rose continued. "On two thirds of those issues, almost every single demographic in the country agrees -- is on the same side of it." Rose found it "wild" that so many Americans agreed on significant issues, at least privately, when the nation feels so divided. "What I'm most excited about is not just that we agree, but it's what we agree on. There is an incredible private preference for meritocracy in America, whether we're talking about college admissions, hiring decisions, promotion decisions, who gets to be in the C-suite, to the way we treat different groups," Rose said. "Three fourths of Americans across all demographics prefer to live in a meritocracy than the things we've been doing recently," he continued. "And I think that's really good news for the future of the country." However, it wasnt all sunshine and rainbows as many respondents are deeply concerned about the economy. "One of the things that we found that cut across a bunch of different issues was deep-seeded pessimism about the economy and the direction of the country," Rose said. The study found that Democrats are the most likely to privately suggest the economy is flourishing. "Consistently, upwards of three out of four Americans say the economy is not good. And we asked a lot of different ways. We asked about their personal finances as they are now. We asked about the state of the economy as it is now. We asked it about whether the economy was better now or worse now than it was five years ago. We asked whether their personal finances were better or worse. We asked in a bunch of ways," Rise said. "Without fail, what you see is that most people recognize in private that the economy's not doing very well. Not surprisingly, the only group that privately will say something different are registered Democrats," he continued. "They pretty consistently are like, I think the economy's great." Cnn Study Finds Democrat-leaning Kids 5 Times More Likely To Say They Wouldnt Visit Pro-trump Family's House The Social Pressure Index found "deep seeded pessimism about the economy and the direction of the country," Populace CEO Todd Rose said. Rose said that many of the Democrats who insist the economy is thriving under the Biden-Harris administration admit their personal finances are "not so good." "When we asked about the country headed in the wrong direction, you're getting an overwhelming super majority of Americans, across all demographics, acknowledging that things aren't good for the country," Rose said. The other thing that surprised Rose is how Americans feel about institutions overall. "So, we all know when it comes to the government, that even in public opinion there's lot there's a lot of distrust of the government, even publicly. We asked the statement about whether you trusted the government to tell you the truth. And that's a kind of low bar, right? Not like, to do everything right, just to tell me the truth. In private, only 4% of Americans trust the government to tell them the truth," Rose said. "What's really funny about that is, Democrats in public have the highest rate of saying they trust the government, 36%. In private, it's only 5%. Even they don't trust the government to tell the truth," Rose continued. "When you extend that to the media, we see something similar. Only 7% of the public privately trusts the media to tell the truth." The Social Pressure Index can be seen here. As to how the data was determined, the abstract for the study explains: "The primary methodology of the study was a list experiment (also known as the item count technique), a survey technique designed to maximize respondents privacy. Rather than directly asking respondents their opinion on a series of sensitive topics, list experiments conceal respondents answers as part of the methodological design by aggregating responses to sensitive items with other items, minimizing the biases introduced by social desirability and nonresponse." "If tolerance of dissenting views and the courage to participate in the open, free exchange of ideas are markers of a healthy democracy, then Americas epidemic of self-silencing should be seen as a five-alarm fire engulfing the key pillars of representative governance. Most Americans are hesitant to share their honest opinions, not because they're afraid of disagreement, but because they're afraid of judgment," Rose said in a statement prior to his Fox News Digital interview. "When nearly two in three Americans admit that they dont feel comfortable sharing their opinions, that collective silence can create a dangerous illusion of a country more fractured and polarized than it truly is," Rose added. "The truth is we are not as divided as we seem. We're increasingly just too afraid to speak up." According to Populace, "The survey was conducted from May 16, 2024, to June 24, 2024, and was fielded by YouGov." Original article source: Most Americans are hesitant to share their honest opinions on key political issues, Social Pressure Index says Ahead of this Novembers presidential election, Donald Trump has revived his infamous Stop the Steal campaign, warning that fraud and interference are primed to warp the results, upend the Constitution, and thwart democracy. Its a familiar treasonous playbook that he first used in 2020, when he and his MAGA cohorts sought to overturn his decisive loss to President Joe Biden, culminating in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the nations Capital. As the new documentary film 64 Days demonstrates with harrowing up-close-and-personal insightfulness, that scheme was far from a spontaneous expression of outrage. On the contrary, it was planned and orchestrated by Trump and his political and white-nationalist allies. Documentarian Nick Quested was embedded with the Proud Boys and its leader, Enrique Tarrio, in the months leading up to Jan. 6, and 64 Dayspremiering September 30 in New York Cityis a bracing recap of the two month period between the 2020 election and the attempted coup that rocked America. On June 9, 2022, Quested testified before the United States House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 Attack, and his latest film is an extension of his comments at that hearing, detailing his experiences among far-right activists who were committed to subverting the election. A chronological road map of the coordinated efforts to commit the very theft to which they ostensibly objected, its a chilling reminder that there are nefarious forces at play in this country, determined to seize power and undermine the rule of law by any means necessary. 64 Days is the story of a conspiracy carried out by Stop the Steal organizers and partners (including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers), Trumps legal team (led by Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell), and White House players to delegitimize the election, have it thrown out by the courts, reverse it through threats and intimidation, andwhen those maneuvers came up shortprevent its certification via Capital carnage. Enrique Tarrio in 64 Days. Nick Quested Questeds film begins with Fox News calling Arizona for Biden on election night, thereby instigating a rally outside Maricopa Countys tabulation center. From the get-go, Alex Jones was one of the chief firebrands of this movement, claiming that the 2020 contest was as important as 1776a revolutionary year that would be endlessly invoked in the ensuing weeksand that if they wanna fight, they better believe theyve got one! Before long, similar protests were taking place in Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. The nominal creator of Stop the Steal was alt-right influencer Ali Alexander, and throughout 64 Days, he promotesin online videos and in front of rabid crowdsthe theory that Biden won by perpetrating widespread voter fraud. As has been categorically proven in the years since, this was a lie, but it didnt stop Alexander from parroting it whenever and wherever possible. Any election I dont like is stolen, confesses Alexander in an archival clip, and during these crucial 64 days, he spoke at forty rallies, recorded 120 hours of video, and posted over 6,300 tweets, all of it aimed at stoking the flames of conservative ire and disappointment via disinformation. Within days, social media and online forums were awash in coded incitements to violence, and Roger Stone was starting to formulate a structured plan of attack in an encrypted group chat that included Alexander and Tarrio, who took control of the Proud Boys following an October 2018 NYC brawl. Tarrio states that his anti-communist stance stems from his familys experiences in their native Cuba, but he mostly comes across in 64 Days as a tough-guy extremist who wants to scuffle alongside his street-brawling gang, as theyre described by Sandeep Prasanna, an investigative counsel on the Jan. 6 committee. Empowered by Trumps October 2022 debate order that the Proud Boys stand back and stand by, Tarrio and his crew became newly energized and eager to take direct action. This was exactly what the commander-in-chief wanted, and he was soon repeating Stop the Steal arguments to create an environment of distrust and anger. Tarrio describes the Proud Boys as a regular group of men that are just tired of being trampled on, yet Questeds footage of them beating up outnumbered protestors (whom they invariably dub antifa, their catch-all pejorative for their enemies) indicates that theyre furious individuals desperate for a fight. Witness British film producer Nick Quested speaks during a House Select Committee hearing to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol, in the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on June 9, 2022. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images 64 Days documents the step-by-step attempts by Trump and his cronies to achieve their ends: harassing Georgias Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers (the latter of whom sits for a new interview) into finding 11,700 imaginary votes; filing 62 unsuccessful lawsuits in order to halt certification; and pushing the boundaries of civil unrest by occupying the Georgia Capitalan event that, in hindsight, resembles a trial run for Jan. 6s mayhem. What emerges is a portrait of a gradually escalating plot that was inflamed by hostile rhetoric, as when Tarrio proclaims, the day before December 12s Million MAGA March II, that You want a war, well, you got one! Tarrio wasnt present at the Capital on Jan. 6, since hed just been released from jaila situation that Quested suggests was meant to provide him with an alibi. Nonetheless, the director and his colleagues were present alongside the Proud Boys on that fateful day, and 64 Days features a wealth of in-your-face footage of the rioters, many of whom outright state their intentions before all hell breaks loose. Much of this chaos has been played and replayed ad nauseam during the past three-plus years. Yet it still packs a terrifying punch, as crowds begin breaking into treacherous chants, storm through barriers and overwhelm police officers, and run through the Capitals hallways, their fury only matched by their giddiness at having temporarily succeeded in their aims. Pro-Trump protesters clash with Capitol police during a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by Congress at the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, on Jan. 6, 2021. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters Also telling its tale through social media posts, digital communications, and news headlineshas an immediacy and volatility that echoes this infamous incident. It convincingly contends that Trump knew what he was doing in motivating MAGA acolytes to go all-out to keep him in power, and if that mission ultimately failed, Questeds concluding clips of Trump and JD Vance revealing their new Stop the Steal machinations imply that a new battle may be on the imminent horizon. I Had a Front-Row Seat When Stop the Steal Became a Riot 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. FILE - Laila Soueif, mother of jailed pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in front of his picture at her home in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File) LONDON (AP) The mother of a prominent Egyptian rights activist said Monday that she started a hunger strike to pressure authorities to release her son Alaa Abdel-Fattah, who rose to prominence with the 2011 pro-democracy uprisings that swept the Middle East and in Egypt toppled long-time President Hosni Mubarak. Laila Soueif, mother of the imprisoned rights activist, said in a statement that her son, who is 42, should have walked free after completing a 5-year prison sentence as of September 29. Abdel-Fattah, an outspoken dissident, spent most of the past decade behind bars and his detention has become a symbol of Egypts return to autocratic rule under President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. He was first sentenced in 2014 after being convicted of taking part in an unauthorized protest and allegedly assaulting a police officer. He was released in 2019 after serving a five-year term but was rearrested later that year in a crackdown that followed rare anti-government protests. In late 2021, Abdel-Fattah was sentenced to five years after being convicted of spreading false news. His family says his pre-trial detention should count towards his current sentence, according to the country's penal code. Once again the Egyptian authorities have violated their own laws to persecute my son, his mother said in her statement. At this stage, I consider this a kidnapping as well as unlawful detention. Abdel-Fattah still faces other charges in Egypt, including allegations of misusing social media and joining a terrorist group a reference to the banned Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group that authorities declared a terrorist organization in 2013. This month, 59 Egyptian and international rights groups signed the appeal, expressing concern that Abdel-Fattah, who obtained a U.K. passport in 2022, could not be released until 2027. An Egyptian government media officer did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Abdel-Fattah's continued detention. His family has campaigned for his release for years and called on the U.K. government to help secure his freedom. In 2022, Abdel-Fattah intensified a hunger strike in prison and halted all calories and water to coincide with the start of the U.N. climate conference, known as COP27, in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Concerns for his health grew as the family was barred from seeing him. They stepped up their campaign to draw attention to his case and those of other political prisoners in Egypt. He stopped the strike after a matter of days, after he collapsed and fell unconscious, describing it later in a letter to his family. The hunger strike drew attention to Egypts heavy suppression of speech and political activity. Since 2013, el-Sissis government has cracked down on dissidents and critics, jailing thousands, virtually banning protests and monitoring social media. Human Rights Watch estimated in 2019 that as many as 60,000 political prisoners are incarcerated in Egyptian prisons. CHULA VISTA, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) A Chula Vista resident died in a motorcycle crash early Sunday morning, authorities said. According to Chula Vista Police, the collision happened in the area of Olympic and Hunte parkways around 2:42 a.m. Sunday. SDFD task force members injured in crash on way to NC for Hurricane Helene relief efforts When officers arrived on scene, they discovered a person riding a motorcycle had broadsided a vehicle in the intersection, according to authorities. Despite first aid having been rendered, the motorcyclist, a 45-year-old Chula Vista resident, was pronounced deceased. The driver of the vehicle involved, a 27-year-old San Diego resident, remained at the scene and cooperated with the investigation, police said. The names of both people involved in the crash are not being released. The cause of the collision has yet to be determined by authorities. The Chula Vista Police Traffic Bureau is currently investigating the incident. Anyone with more information is asked to call the department at 619-840-2796. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. (Bloomberg) -- Iron ore spiked more than 11% and base metals rose after three of Chinas biggest cities eased curbs on home buying, bolstering the demand outlook as the central government adds stimulus. Most Read from Bloomberg Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen loosened rules, following through on Beijings latest efforts to prop up the embattled property sector. Futures surged in Singapore to hit the highest since July, while copper and zinc rose on the London Metal Exchange as traders gathered for a major industry meeting. Iron ore which had been one of the years worst performing major commodities as Chinas economy slowed has been revived as Beijing moved more aggressively to shore up the economy. Central to that effort have been initiatives to drag the real estate market out of a years-long slump thats damaged activity and confidence. Chinas stimulus measures are much stronger than anticipated, plus theres expectations for more fiscal measures, said Steven Yu, a researcher at Mysteel. The ferrous market is in the middle of traditional peak season, and rebar has seen fast destocking, he said, referring to reinforcing bar, one of the most common steel products. Guangzhou became the first tier-one city to remove all restrictions on homebuyers. Shanghai, Chinas financial hub, and Shenzhen, the southern city known for its tech industry, announced they were lowering minimum downpayment ratios for first and second homes to 15% and 20%, respectively. Chinas central bank also announced on Sunday that it would allow refinancing of mortgages. Iron ore traded 8.9% higher at $111.20 a ton at 9:29 a.m. in London after surging more than 11% earlier, the biggest intraday spike since September 2021. That jump followed an 11% rally last week. The slowdown in Chinas property market has been a major challenge for steelmakers given that its traditionally been a mainstay of demand. Leading mills have been slashing production, and have warned that industry conditions are worse than major traumas in 2008 and 2015. On the supply side, iron ore production is likely to remain abundant. Miners in Brazil and Australia home to the worlds four largest exporters have been raising output. Base metals extended last weeks gains on the London Metal Exchange, with copper rallying to as much as $10,158 a ton, the highest since June. Traders, producers and investors are set to gather in London for LME Week, a big industry event. Story continues Chinas recent stimulus U-turn has clearly been supportive, Citigroup Inc. analysts including Wenyu Yao wrote in a note. Bullish momentum could persist into LME Week. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. WASHINGTON (DC News Now) The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) is investigating a homicide after a 1-year-old child died in Northwest D.C. over the weekend. According to MPD, on Saturday, Sept. 28, just before 11 p.m., officers responded to a home in the 3700 block of Connecticut Ave. for the report of a child in cardiac arrest. Responders took the child to the hospital. However, despite lifesaving measures, the child, identified as 1-year-old Journee Moore, of Upper Marlboro, Md., died. DC police identify man killed in shooting near Nats Park during game On Sunday, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the District of Columbia determined that Moore had suffered from multiple blunt force injuries, ruling her death as a homicide. Its horrifying. I dont understand how anything like that could happen. Period, said neighbor Jessica Haines. Neighbors told DC News Now that police had a meeting with them a few weeks ago about community safety. Drug use and drug deals are a concern, as are issues of domestic violence. Police have been very visible in that area since weve moved in. So its not unlikely to have the police here multiple times a month and to see them on the floor, Haines said. Neighbors want crime cleaned up and justice for Moore. Whoever did this I hope they get whats coming for em, what they deserve. Because the babys only one. Theres no reason, said neighbor Rachelle Artis. Police are asking anyone with information to call them at (202) 727-9099 or text a tip to 50411. MPD currently offers a reward of up to $25,000 to anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest and conviction. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers found seven children and four adults in the cargo compartment of a U-Haul van on Sunday evening, according to a MSHP Troop D spokesperson. Sgt. Michael McClure, public information officer for MSHP Troop D, said in an email there was no evidence of human trafficking or smuggling. According to McClure, a trooper stopped a U-Haul van that was driving east on Interstate 44 in Webster County following a moving violation around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. During the investigation, the trooper discovered three adults in the driver's compartment and an unknown number of people in the cargo area of the van. According to McClure, a trooper drove the van to the Webster County Sheriff's Office, where they found seven minors from ages 2 to 13 and four additional adults riding in the cargo compartment. More: HHS funding will enable Jordan Valley Community Health to expand mental health services The MSHP online arrest report indicates that six adults from Buffalo, New York, and one from Glendale, Arizona, were arrested in connection with first-degree child endangerment. All of the adults are legal residents of the United States, McClure said, and the children were placed in protective custody with Family Services Division. This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri troopers find 7 kids, 4 adults in cargo area of U-Haul van MSNBC guest claims Latinos 'want to be White' while discussing their shift toward GOP MSNBC guest Maria Hinojosa, founder of Futoro Media, claimed on Sunday that Latino voters want to be White while discussing the voting bloc's shift towards the Republican Party over the last few years. "She has a 14-point lead but it has been shrinking after each consecutive presidential election from 2016. Why is that? Why is the Democratic share of the Latino vote shrinking?" MSNBC's Jonathan Capehart asked of Vice President Kamala Harris' lead among Latino voters. A NBC-Telemundo poll released Sunday found that while Harris was leading Trump among Latino voters, the Democratic advantage has sunk to its lowest level in the past four election cycles. "And what I said to you when we asked a question was, Latinos want to be White. They want to be with the cool kids," she said, adding that Latinos she's spoken with say Trump is a good businessman, in a clip flagged by NewsBusters. Fox News Poll: Voters Cite High Prices As Biggest Motivator To Vote "No he's not, he had bankruptcies," she added. "But they don't want to be identified with all of those other immigrants that Donald Trump speaks so badly of, including me as a Mexican immigrant." Read On The Fox News App Hinojosa went on to say that those voters could cost Harris the election. "But those numbers? They could cost Kamala Harris the election. Everything that Ive been saying that Latinos could push her over the top, these are the numbers that could also take her down," she said. According to the NBC poll, Harris had 54% support among Latino voters, compared to Trump, who had 40%. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump Click Here For More Coverage Of Media And Culture Another 6% said they weren't sure or would not vote, according to the poll. CNN's Harry Enten recently warned that Harris was struggling among voters of color. "Hispanic voters, four years ago, Joe Biden won that vote 66% in the Sun Belt," he said. "Look at where we are now, Kamala Harris at just 52%, so Kamala Harris struggling among Hispanic voters. Donald Trump doing considerably better than he did four years ago." Click Here To Get The Fox News Ap Enten said on Tuesday that Harris was getting 82% of the Black vote, but that it was down from President Biden, who had gotten 92%. "So the bottom line is, in the Sun Belt, which is much more diverse than the northern battleground states up in the Great Lakes, Kamala Harris is struggling among voters of color," he added. Original article source: MSNBC guest claims Latinos 'want to be White' while discussing their shift toward GOP SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) The Metropolitan Transit Systems brand-new Copper Trolley line welcomed riders for its first day up and running on Sunday. The new alignment opened to the public two months after it was unanimously approved by the transit agencys Board of Directors, starting trips between the four stations it services bright and early at 5:12 a.m. MTS officials pitched the Copper Line earlier this year in an effort to address longstanding issues of reliability tied to a stretch of track from the Gillespie Airport to Santee stops. Only one track exists for both directions of travel in this corridor, MTS officials said, contributing to frequent delays which ripple through the entire Trolley network. To offset these holdups, MTS added service on the Green and Orange lines were often abruptly stopped before the last stop. High-speed train project chugs ahead as $3 billion in Nevada funding gets OK The Copper Line hopes to mark the end to this variability with the Trolleys East County-bound lines and the system at large by taking over the responsibility of shuttling passengers from Santee to El Cajon, allowing the Orange and Green Lines to avoid the one-lane track all together. MTS wants to make taking transit more reliable not only for East County residents, but for riders across the entire system. With the Copper Line, we are doing just that, MTS Board Chair and San Diego City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn said in a release ahead of its debut. The new segment will run every 15 minutes every day for most of the day, hitting the four stations between the El Cajon Transit Center and Santee Trolley Station. The transit agency also anticipates the new Copper Line will allow the Green Lines schedule to extend later at night, and open it up to service stations beyond the College Area on Sundays. Drivers should also see benefits of shorter wait times and less traffic in Santee at Cuyamaca Streets intersections with the train track. A map of the change to MTS Trolley service can be found below. This weekend marks a significant milestone in East Countys efforts to improve our ability to connect riders to their destinations, Ronn Hall, MTS Board Member and city of Santee councilmember said Sunday. It is [a] collaborative effort that brings this to fruition with MTS and regional leaders all supporting a common goal a better transit system for everyone. The Copper Line is not just a service enhancement; its also a system efficiency that saves taxpayer dollars at the same time, Hall continued. Overall, thats a win-win for transit and taxpayers. To celebrate the new alignments kickoff, Copper Line riders Monday can grab a free donut, coffee and a collectors pin or coffee mug from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. at the El Cajon Transit 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 FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News. Here's the latest news from Middle Tennessee State University. Sarah Bleiler-Baxter, mathematical sciences professor, Gregory Rushton, Tennessee STEM Education Center director and chemistry professor, and Grant Gardner, biology professor, are heading the research project. A trio of Middle Tennessee State University professors has been awarded a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to advance research in improving the teaching of the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math. Sarah Bleiler-Baxter, mathematical sciences professor, Gregory Rushton, Tennessee STEM Education Center director and chemistry professor, and Grant Gardner, biology professor, are heading the research project. The program may start at MTSU, but the grant allows for the initiative to spread nationally and even internationally, through the dissemination of research-based models. This was a 10-year initiative of practicing, piloting, making modifications and finally got to the point where it's a big project at the federal level, Bleiler-Baxter said. Sometimes as academics we become impatient, or we think that our work is not good enough because it's not immediately being funded, or it's not immediately being recognized. But this goes to show that you can start really small from a single department or a single committee and then build all the way up to one of these big projects. MTSU professors are required to evaluate their peers. Bleiler-Baxter and her colleagues aim to develop a program for peer evaluation that will lead to growth in the teaching culture of STEM departments within the College of Basic and Applied Sciences. In particular, they aim to support STEM faculty in developing a greater sense of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in their teaching practice. What we want to do is go into one another's classroom and really look for the strengths that the other person is bringing to their instruction and then debrief afterwards and try to learn from and unpack those strengths, Bleiler-Baxter said. For the first year of the grant, the trio will be focusing on two main goals first building relationships with professors in STEM departments on MTSUs campus. They didnt want to limit themselves to only the departments theyre familiar with, Bleiler-Baxter said. We want to get into those departments, meet the faculty, build relationships, talk with the chairs in those departments and really find out what it is that they have as goals for their local context or their department, Bleiler-Baxter said. Their second goal is to better understand the teaching culture within STEM departments on campus by working with graduate students and postdoctoral scholars to collect baseline data. Then, in fall of 2025, the three professors will begin implementing the teaching initiative within six different departments in the college. They plan to scale up the process by working towards engaging up to half of the STEM teaching faculty within the college, Bleiler-Baxter said. Read more about the initiative at mtsunews.com. State housing market a mix of progress, emerging challenges With continued rising home prices and an emerging trend of fewer closings in some areas of the state during the second quarter of the year, Tennessees housing market presents mixed signals heading into the fall, according to the latest statewide report from Middle Tennessee State University. The housing market across Tennessee presents a complex and evolving landscape marked by regional disparities and mixed signals," said Murat Arik, director of the MTSU Business and Economic Research Center in the Jones College of Business and report author. While the state exhibits stronger house price growth than the national average with a 5.6% annual increase dynamics vary significantly among its metropolitan areas. As an example, Arik cited rising inventory levels across key Metropolitan Statistical Areas, or MSAs, such as Nashville and Memphis, suggesting a cooling in some markets, while Knoxville sees strong growth in both closings and available inventory. Mortgage delinquency rates are climbing statewide and nationally, although foreclosure rates remain stable, indicating financial strains that have yet to translate into significant foreclosures, Arik noted. See the full report and more detailed breakdowns at https://www.mtsu.edu/berc/housing/. Other report highlights include: Permits mixed: There was a quarterly decline in single-family permits across all regions of the state, with single-family permits decreasing by 3% statewide; but single-family permits showed year-over-year growth across all regions, with a 1.4% increase statewide. Meanwhile, multifamily permits saw a significant quarterly increase of 25.6% statewide but was down 12.7% annually to indicate a more challenging picture in that sector. Strong price growth: Several MSAs exhibit robust home price increases, the report shows, with the Jackson MSA (5.5% quarterly and 12.7% annually) and Kingsport-Bristol MSA (6% quarterly and 13.4% annually) showing the highest growth rates. The Johnson City MSA (5.2% quarterly and 9.7% annually) and Clarksville MSA (2.3% quarterly and 9.4% annually) also demonstrate significant annual gains. MTSU Mondays content is provided by submissions from MTSU News and Media Relations. This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: MTSU faculty improving STEM teaching; state housing market mixed The U.S. Army has awarded a contract worth nearly $15 million to U.S. Ordnance for an unspecified number of 7.62x51mm M60E6 and M60E4 machine guns, and/or kits to convert older M60s into either of those configurations, as well as ancillary items and training. The service announced its interest in buying these guns, which the U.S. military largely stopped using decades ago, earlier this year, but was curiously tight-lipped about for whom and why. The weapons could be intended for a foreign ally or partner, such as Ukraine, or to support some other operational, test and evaluation, or training requirements. The Pentagon included the new deal with U.S. Ordnance for M60E4 and M60E6 machine guns, spare parts and accessories, conversion kits, and training, which is valued at $14,960,325 and came via the Armys Contracting Command-New Jersey (CCNJ), in its daily contracting announcement last Monday. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 21, 2029, the Pentagons notice adds without elaborating on who might be the intended recipient of the guns. Neither the M60E4 nor the M60E6 are known to be in any kind of widespread Army service currently. A member of the Danish armed forces with an M60E6 machine gun. US Army In January, CCNJ posted a sources sought notice about an essentially identical potential purchase of M60E4/E6s and/or conversion kits, as well as associated items and services. That notice also asked prospective contractors to describe your maximum deliverable quantity of all the above M60 systems and conversion kits within 60 days and indicated a desire for up to 500 guns, at least within that timeline. The notice added that the requirement for the guns came from the office of the Program Manager for Soldier Lethality (PM SL) and the Combat Capabilities Development Command-Armaments Center (CCDC-AC), but did not provide more specific details about who would be receiving the weapons or why they were needed. PM SL is prohibited from releasing details that may violate operational security, a spokesperson for that office told The War Zone in January when asked about the purpose of the then-proposed acquisition and who might be set to get the M60s. Please contact OSD(PA) [Office of the Secretary of Defense Public Affairs] for announcements of DoD support activities and force posture changes related to Ukraine, that same individual said when asked about whether the M60s might be part of a future military assistance package for that country. OSD(PA) retains release authority for announcements of DoD support activities and force posture changes related to Ukraine. Beyond the information reflected in the contract notice, we do not have any additional details to release at this time, a spokesperson for the Office of the Secretary of Defense also told The War Zone in January. The War Zone has reached back out to PM SL and OSD for more information now that a contract has been awarded. A member of the US Army fires an M60E6 machine gun during training with Danish and other NATO allied forces in Estonia in 2018. US Army The Army started development of the original M60 in-house in the late 1940s, leveraging design elements from Nazi Germanys FG-42 automatic rifle and MG-42 machine gun. The service adopted the M60 in the 1950s, fielding it as a weapon that could be used by dismounted infantry, as well as mounted on various platforms. More specific subvariants intended for internal and external use on vehicles, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, and ships and boats were subsequently developed. These early Cold War variants of the M60 were widely exported. Decades-long efforts to lighten and otherwise improve the core design resulted in the M60E3 variant in the 1980s. Empty with a standard 22-inch barrel, the E3 weighed just under 19 pounds compared to the nearly 23-pound standard infantry model of the M60. Even lighter and more compact E3s fitted with short 16.6-inch assault length barrels became particularly associated with the U.S. Navy SEALs, as well as a fixture in popular media like 1985s Rambo: First Blood Part II. A US Navy SEAL with a short-barrelled M60E3. DOD However, the changes to the E3 resulted in reliability and other issues. The M60E4 was designed to rectify those problems and further improve the design, and had a weight of around 23 pounds like the original infantry variant when fitted with a standard-length barrel. This version competed against and lost to what became the Armys now-standard M240B machine gun in the 1990s. The SEALs, as well as other Navy units, subsequently adopted a subvariant of the E4 with a short 17.3-inch barrel, which was designated the Mk 43 Mod 0. Another variant with rails for mounting optics, aiming lasers, and other accessories on the guns top cover and handguard was developed and became the Mk 43 Mod 1. The Mk 48 machine gun, a 7.62x51mm cousin of the 5.56x45mm M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), has since supplanted the Mk 43 series. U.S. Ordnance, the main manufacturer of M60 variants today, treats the M60E4 and the Mk 43 series as functionally identical. A member of a US Navy Naval Mobile Construction Battalion, or Seabee, mans a Mk 43 Mod 0 machine gun mounted on a Humvee in Iraq in 2003. DOD Though they have not enjoyed the same success export-wise as the original M60, M60E4/Mk 43-series guns, as well as E3 variants, have also made their way into service with military and security forces outside of the United States. The Philippines Marine Corps and that countrys Naval Special Operations Command are particularly prominent examples. In the early 2010s, U.S. Ordnance introduced the M60E6 with further improvements and reduced weight (around 20 and a half pounds with a standard-length barrel) over the M60E4/Mk 43. The Danish Army became the first customer for this new M60 variant in 2014. M60E6s are also now in service in the Philippines and Indonesia. A Philippine Naval Special Operations Command with what appears to be an M60E6 during an exercise with US forces in 2024. USN Petty Officer 1st Class Joseph Rolfe It remains possible the Armys new M60 purchases are part of a forthcoming military aid package for Ukraine. The U.S. military likely has substantial numbers of older M60s in storage readily available for conversion into E4/E6 types, as well, which could then be transferred to the Ukrainian armed forces. After the U.S. government said last year that it had run out of funds for more military aid for Ukraine, the Excess Defense Articles (EDA) program was raised as one option for keep assistance flowing. Under EDA, materiel that meets certain stipulations to be deemed excess to U.S. military requirements can be sold very cheaply or transferred via a grant to foreign allies and partners. Other current and former operators around the world, including many NATO members, could be sources for older M60s for conversion to newer variants, as well. The Armys new M60 contract could have nothing to do with Ukraine, as well. The guns could be for an entity within the Army or elsewhere inside the U.S. government, or some other foreign ally or partner. As previously discussed, M60E4/E6 types are already in service elsewhere outside of the United States. It is worth noting that the Army was able to respond without issue to questions about a similarly unusual potential purchase of Soviet-designed 5.45x39mm AK-74 assault rifles, or certain variations thereof, last year. As it turned out, the service was interested in acquiring those guns to meet an internal training-related requirement. With the contract for the M60E4/E6s now awarded, more details about where they are headed and how they will be used might begin to emerge. Contact the author: joe@twz.com Damaged roadways, mudslides and unstable ground have made it difficult to get supplies to those in Western North Carolina. The above photo is a section of I-40 near Black Mountain. (Photo by NCDOT) RALEIGH N.C. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and the states top emergency management officials provided an update Sunday to the ongoing, massive response to Tropical Storm Helene. Helene dropped from 10 to 29 inches of rain across the mountains on Friday, causing life-threatening floods and landslides. The storm has claimed 11 lives in North Carolina, and officials expect that number will rise. Gov. Cooper said the state is aware that people are desperate for help, and multiple agencies are actively pushing to get it to them. Many people are cut off because roads are impassable, they dont have power or communications. Please know that we are sending resources and coordinating closely with local governments, first responders, state and federal partners, and volunteer organizations to help those impacted by this tragic storm, said Gov. Cooper. Because its difficult to trucks in the needed supplies over closed and damaged roads, the state has begun airlifting food and water into the region. A 20-bed state medical support center is opening in Caldwell County later today, and the state will be setting up more. Nearly 464,000 customers remain without power. Thats down from a peak of more than a million customers at the height of the storm. More than 500 North Carolina National Guard members have been deployed to work with local emergency responders conducting search and rescue missions, delivering needed supplies, and working to restore infrastructure. President Biden granted Coopers request for a federal major disaster declaration providing immediate federal help for 25 North Carolina counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Cell phone providers are working to fix the damage and get stopgap solutions in place. NC Emergency Management Director Will Ray said conditions on the ground remain extremely dangerous. We ask people not to venture into storm-affected areas, whether to check on property, loved ones, or just to sight see. Besides endangering yourself, you could also be interfering with emergency responders or repair crews, cautioned Ray. Please let the professionals do their jobs. The state has over 730 responders conducting search and rescue efforts. Telecommunications companies are working around the clock to restore cell phone service and mobile data to the mountains. Ray said for those in western North Carolina, its recommended you turn your phones off and turn them back on periodically to allow the phone to connect to a network. On Friday, North Carolinas telecommunications partners activated disaster roaming on all networks. This means that any phone on any carrier can access any network to place calls. As of midday Sunday, 280 roads remained closed in Western North Carolina because of Helene. The majority of those are in Henderson, Ash, Buncombe, Lincoln, Cleveland, Jackson, Transylvania and Yancey counties. Many of the closures are due to high water where the roadway is impassable or flooded. We also have several land and rockslides down power lines, pipe failures and fallen trees, said NC Department of Transportation Secretary Joey Hopkins. One piece of good news, according to Hopkins, a previously closed section of I-26 south of Asheville has reopened allowing responders their first major route into and out of the city. Crews have also opened up a path through the slide near Old Fort on I-40 to allow some stranded vehicles and also emergency responders to pass through with assistance from the state highway patrol. Hopkins said unnecessary travel is hindering NCDOT crews from doing the work to get the roads reopened. Our main message is simple, consider all roads in western North Carolina to be closed until further notice, said the NCDOT Secretary. One of the biggest concerns right now is the availability of clean water. Ray said there are 93 systems that are on a boil water advisory with 33 awaiting test results to clear that advisory. Loss of power is one contributing factor, but we also know that theres significant infrastructure damage from the amount of water that impacted a number of these communities, thats going to have significant rebuild impacts for these water systems to come online, Ray explained. In the days ahead they will determine which water systems need simple repairs or whether an extensive overhaul of a jurisdictions water system is required. Because those are significant lifts and challenges, we are preparing our operation to continue to move commodities into those impacted areas, particularly food and water for an extended duration of time, said Ray. Those in need of shelter can find a list of open shelters here. As of Sunday afternoon, the one shelter is McDowell County at Glenwood Baptist Church was at full capacity. For those who wish to donate to recovery efforts, the state will be activating North Carolinas Disaster Relief Fund, managed by the United Way of North Carolina. NC Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. NC Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Rob Schofield for questions: info@ncnewsline.com. Follow NC Newsline on Facebook and X. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Rhonda Griswold, a Cades Schutte law firm partner, joins producer/host Coralie Chun Matayoshi to discuss your fiduciary duties as an Executor or Trustee, things you need to do, notice and accounting to the beneficiaries, and compensation for your efforts. Q. Yikes one of your parents passes away and names you in their will or trust as the person in charge of settling their estate. What are your duties and how are you expected to perform them? Run for the hills (it is not an easy job!) Whether you are an Executor or Personal Representative for a Will or Trustee for Trust, you are a fiduciary.The job of Personal Representative and Trustee are very similar, but there are required court filings in the case of a probate and Personal Representative. For both, the main duties include gathering the assets, paying the debts and death taxes, keeping property insured, deciding what should be sold, investing cash, obtaining appraisals, filing income tax returns, and accounting for and making distributions to beneficiaries. Q. What are some of the first things you should do? Secure all assets (e.g. change locks; put valuables in a safe), arrange to have mail forwarded to you, review prior tax returns and bank/brokerage statements, create an inventory of all trust and non-trust assets with date of death values, file a death benefit claim with life insurance company if decedent has a policy, contact companies paying pensions and annuities, notify the Social Security Administration, contact banks and credit card companies, cancel auto insurance, phone, and utilities, give notice to creditors and make sure all creditors and taxes are paid, notify beneficiaries and keep them apprised, and hire an attorney and accountant to help you through this process. Q. What if real property is involved, like a family home? Within 30 days of death, need to notify real property tax office of death because that may affect tax exemptions. Q. What if you are an executor or personal representative under the Will? You will need to initiate a probate and be appointed by the court. If you are the successor trustee, you will need to sign an acceptance of trusteeship document. In either case, you will need to obtain a tax id number for the estate/trust and will use that number to open bank/investment accounts. Q. How do beneficiaries receive notice and what are their rights? Within 60 days of appointment, you need to notify all qualified beneficiaries of your appointment and give them a copy of the trust. This gets the statute of limitations running. Claims to invalidate the trust must be brought within 90 days of the sending of the trust document. Be transparent with beneficiaries. Provide them with copies of the inventory and status of major events (such as proposed sale of property and listing price). Keep an accounting of all receipts and disbursements. At trust termination, you will provide a complete accounting to the beneficiaries and ask for their approval. If they do not approve the accounting, then it will be necessary to file a petition for court approval. Q. Are you entitled to compensation for your efforts? Yes. The job is not easy. Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 607-18 sets forth a statutory percentage fee schedule for trustees. Generally, there is a 1% inception fee based on the value of the original trust assets, a 1% termination fee, and a .5% annual fee. The trustee is also entitled to reasonable hourly rates for special services, such as handling the sale of real property or litigation matters. But this fee schedule can be modified in the trust document. A Personal Representative does not have a statutory fee schedule but is entitled to reasonable compensation. A Personal Representative should determine how he or she intends to charge (e.g. hourly rate or other percentage or flat fee) and inform the heirs/beneficiaries under the Will to make sure that there are no issues as to reasonableness. To learn more about this subject, tune into this video podcast and other on this subject. 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. MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. (WHNT) The Muscle Shoals Police Department (MSPD) says a Nashville woman was killed in a hit-and-run Saturday night. According to MSPD, Jamya B. Shanes, 25, of Nashville, Tennessee, was struck by a truck on Geroge Wallace Blvd between Patriots Dr and 6th St. around 7:35 p.m. Police say Shanes was pronounced dead at the scene by the Colbert County Coroners Office. Download the WHNT News 19 App to stay updated on the go. Sign up for WHNT News 19 newsletters to have news sent to your inbox. According to authorities, witnesses told police they were walking with Shanes when a dark-colored truck hit Shanes and fled the scene. MSPD, with the assistance of the Tuscumbia Police Department, began searching the area for a truck matching the description given by the witnesses. During the investigation, officers said that after getting a better description of the truck and license plate number, they went to an address in Tuscumbia where they found a vehicle that had heavy damage on the front passenger side and hood. Authorities said they also found what looked to be human hair on the vehicle. Officers arrested Ronald Alfred Fontaine, 74, of Tuscumbia, and took him to the MSPD. Fontaine is currently being held pending a warrant of arrest for charges related to leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident resulting in death. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. TEL AVIV, IsraelSince news of the killing of longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah began spreading across the Middle East, spontaneous celebrations broke out in places like the rebel-held city of Idlib, Syrialocales where the terror group had fought and built its reputation for ruthlessness. Ive never seen Syrians celebrating in such a way. I saw women and men in their cars celebrating, distributing candy, and calling for freedom, Sara Kassim, an Idlib-based journalist who has reported on Hezbollahs atrocities in cities across Syria, told The Dispatch. The Syrians here in northern Syria suffered greatly because of Hezbollah and because of Hassan Nasrallah. Nasrallah died on Friday in massive Israeli airstrikes on the terrorist groups underground headquarters in Beirut. The operation followed a series of increasingly bold Israeli maneuvers to decimate the command structure and degrade the military capabilities of Hezbollah, which began firing on Israel on October 8 in solidarity with Hamas. With Nasrallahs death, both the future of Hezbollahs war against Israel and its position within its base in Lebanon are now in flux. At the time of his assassination, the 64-year-old Shiite cleric had led the Iranian-backed organization for more than three decades, overseeing its growth from a fringe extremist faction into a well-trained terrorist army with an arsenal of between 150,000 to 200,000 missiles, rockets, and drones. Under Nasrallahs reign, Hezbollah carried out a series of lethal terrorist attacks and fought in various wars in the Middle East and beyond, often on behalf of the Iranian regime. His death marks a major blow for Tehran, which views Hezbollah as its best insurance policy against a direct attack by Israel and the crown jewel in its network of regional proxies. Nasrallah joined Hezbollah in 1982, the year that it was founded with the backing of Iran amid the 15-year Lebanese Civil War. One of the groups first major operations was the suicide bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in April 1983, which killed 63 peopleincluding 17 Americansand injured 120 others. Later that year, Hezbollah plotted the truck bombing of a U.S. Marine barracks near Beirut, killing 299 American and French troops. A passionate speaker with close ties to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Nasrallah took the helm of Hezbollah in 1992 following Israels assassination of his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi. In 1994, Hezbollah ordered the suicide bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in an attack that killed 85 people. In 1996, it detonated explosives in an apartment building in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, murdering 19 U.S. military personnel and injuring more than 400 people. Throughout his tenure, Nasrallah built out Hezbollah as a state within a state, with the group assuming control over things like social welfare and security to consolidate power and support, particularly in Shiite-majority southern Lebanon. He also systematically targeted his organizations political rivals in the Lebanese government and, with Irans help, made Hezbollah into a formidable paramilitary force. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah addresses thousands of supporters who took to the streets of southern Beirut to denounce a film mocking Islam on September 17, 2012. (Photo by JOSEPH EID/AFP/GettyImages) As the largest and most capable arm of Irans axis of resistance in the Middle East, the militants not only fight for Tehran but also recruit other proxies to its cause. Lebanese Hezbollah has always led the charge. Whenever the Iranians needed to send out forces to help build up a resistance in the Middle East, theyd go to Lebanese Hezbollah, said Phillip Smyth, an analyst whose research focuses on Shiite militias. They have always been Irans proxy. Theyve always been not just its proxy, but a directly roped-in element of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). After the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, Nasrallah intervened on behalf of the brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad, ordering the mass deployment of Hezbollahs fighters across Syria at Irans direction. There, the Shiite militia helped Syrian government forces lay siege to and recapture rebel-held cities and towns, often committing atrocities against the local populations with impunity. The U.S. added Nasrallah to its list of specially designated global terrorists in large part due to his support for the Assad regime. Hezbollah under his leadership also forged its large transnational crime network, which includes enterprises such as arms smuggling, drug dealing, and human trafficking. Its among the wealthiest terrorist groups in the world, bringing in well in excess of $1 billion a year. Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist group he led, Hezbollah, were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade reign of terror. His death from an Israeli airstrike is a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians, President Joe Biden said in a statement on Saturday, reiterating U.S. support for Israels self-defense. Just days earlier Biden had called for Israel and Hezbollah to come to a ceasefire agreement. Like Hamas and Iran, Hezbollah under Nasrallah committed itself to the cause of ridding the Middle East of Israel. A virulent antisemite, the cleric often made fiery speeches in which he called for the end of the Zionist entity. If [the Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide, he said in 2005. If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak, and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology, and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew. Notice, I do not say the Israeli, he was quoted as saying on a separate occasion. In 2006, Israel and Hezbollah went to war after the murder of eight Israeli soldiers and the kidnapping of twoa cross-border attack Nasrallah later said he regretted after a destructive month-long war. The conflict ended with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which mandated Hezbollahs demilitarization in southern Lebanon but was never enforced by the Lebanese government or the international community. In the years that followed, Nasrallah further embedded his group in the communities of southern Lebanon and built out its arsenal in preparation for the next conflict, which began on October 8 when Hezbollah began firing on Israel following Hamas invasion and massacre in southern Israel. In theory, the ongoing low-grade attacks would have shown Hezbollahs support for another member of Irans axis while slowly degrading Israels defenses and will to fight through a war of attrition. But Nasrallah appears to have underestimated Israels resolve. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has slowly escalated its strikes throughout the conflict but particularly so in the last month, as it turned its attention to the north with Hamas effectively destroyed as a military body in Gaza. In just weeks, a series of covert and military operations by Israel has decimated Hezbollahs high command, culminating in the strike on the groups subterranean headquarters on Saturday. In addition to assassinating Nasrallah, the operationwhich involved tightly coordinated strikes using more than 80 tons of munitions to penetrate the bunkerkilled other top figures in the terrorist organization, including Ibrahim Aqil, a senior commander of the elite Radwan forces, and southern front commander Ali Karaki, who had survived an Israeli airstrike earlier in the week. And Israels attacks have persisted in the days since. The IDF said an airstrike in Beirut on Saturday killed Nabil Kaouk, deputy head of Hezbollahs executive council. The military has also hit weapons smuggling routes in Lebanon and Syria and threatened to target Beiruts international airport if Iran uses it for arms transfers. Israeli officials continue to signal that a ground incursion into southern Lebanon could be on the table to restore security to the border region. What comes next remains unclear. As Hezbollah attempts to regroup, Iranian officials have vowed to respond to the attack, which also killed a senior IRGC official. The Iranian-backed Houthis have sought to attack Israel in recent days, including by firing a ballistic missile toward Tel Aviv on Saturday that was intercepted by air defenses. But Israels increasingly aggressive approach complicates the picture. The assassination of Nasrallah demonstrated its pinpoint intelligence and willingness to escalate, while massive airstrikes on the Yemeni ports of Hudaydah and Ras Isa on Sunday night in retaliation for the Houthi attacks demonstrated its long reach. We know how to reach very far, we know how to reach even farther, and we know how to strike there accurately, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said after the attacks in a thinly veiled threat to Tehran. Given Nasrallahs central role in shaping Hezbollah over the years and the elimination of most of its leadership, the direction the terror group may take now is uncertain. Some fear Israel lost the devil you know in killing the longtime leader. But to the victims of Nasrallahs terrorist army, his death felt like justice served. I am one of those people who has suffered because of Hezbollah and because of Hassan Nasrallah, said Kassim, who was expelled from her home city of Homs, Syria, after Hezbollahs military intervention during the civil war. Were just happy because the person who is the reason behind all of this has gotten what he deserves. 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. Sign up for The Agenda Them's news and politics newsletter, delivered to your inbox every Thursday. Natasha Reddington-Romanov, a transgender woman described as a Soho icon, was found dead in the River Thames after going missing over a week ago. She was 55. Reddington-Romanov was last seen in Londons Soho at around 2 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21, according to Pink News. She had gotten dinner with the owner of Trishas, a bar in the neighborhood, then went out for drinks with friends, and was last seen walking to the bus after saying goodbye to them at Soho bar Raincall. After she failed to turn up for work on Monday, which her friend Tracy Kawalik told Pink News was out of character, Reddington-Romanov was reported missing on Sept. 24. Her body was found on the banks of the River Thames on Saturday morning near Vauxhall Bridge, according to the Evening Standard. Police told the Standard that work was undertaken to confirm the identity of this person, and that Reddington-Romanovs next of kin had been notified. Authorities also said that her death was considered unexpected, but not suspicious, and that a file would be prepared for the coroner. Tributes to Reddington-Romanov poured out on social media following the news of her death. The Guinness Partnership, described as one of Englands largest affordable housing and care providers, posted to Facebook saying, Natasha was a wonderful woman whose kindness and warmth lit up every room and she was much loved by everyone who knew her, the post reads. Tracy Kawalik, Reddington-Romanovs friend of 10 years, described her as the most beautiful person in the entire world to The Sun. She was so caring, vivacious and a force to be reckoned with. A beautiful force of nature. She was so protective, Kawalik said. She was very protective of all of her female friends. She was just an absolutely vibrant human being. She added that you wouldn't have come across her and not remembered her, and that she was incredibly funny without trying very hard. Kawalik also told The Standard that Reddington-Romanov had previously danced at Madame Jojos, a cabaret, burlesque, and drag venue that closed in 2014. She also worked behind the bar at Trishas before transitioning to an office job, and Kawalik told the Standard that Reddington-Romanov was Trishas best friend. On the Instagram page for Trishas, Kawalik posted two photos of Reddington-Romanov holding a cigarette and smiling widely. Our Natasha Reddington-Romanov. Soho Icon, Showgirl, Forever and Always in our Hearts, the Instagram caption read. There will never been another one like you & the streets of Soho forever less glamorous. We love you so very very much Get the best of whats queer. Sign up for Thems weekly newsletter here. Originally Appeared on them. Wunneanatsu Lamb-Cason (Photo/Brown University) Wunneanatsu Lamb-Cason, an educator at Riverbend High School in Fredericksburg, Virginia, has been named the 2024 National History Teacher of the Year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Lamb-Cason, a member of the Schaghticoke Nation, was recognized for her innovative contributions to history education and her commitment to advancing Indigenous studies in the classroom. Lamb-Cason will be honored on October 15, 2024, at a special ceremony at the Harvard Club in New York City. The event will feature a $10,000 prize awarded to Lamb-Cason by Janai Nelson, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. In her decade-long career, Lamb-Cason has made a lasting impact on her students and the educational community. She is known for crafting engaging lesson plans that emphasize accurate representation of Indigenous voices in American history. Through her leadership, she has advanced history education at local, state, and national levels. Currently serving as the Assistant Director of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative at Brown University, Lamb-Cason remains a tireless advocate for Indigenous representation and the respectful inclusion of Indigenous histories in educational resources. Native News Online spoke with Lamb-Cason where she shared her approach to engaging students, connecting with local communities, and promoting Indigenous knowledge in education. Lamb-Cason also mentioned her upcoming children's book and new role at Brown University. Congratulations on being named the 2024 National History Teacher of the Year! What does receiving this award mean to you personally, and how will it impact your work moving forward? Its been a humbling experience. There are so many amazing teachers out there, so I didnt expect it. This award allows me to shine a light on the importance of diverse perspectives, especially Indigenous histories, and the need for us to tell our own stories. Indigenous knowledge systems, like oral histories, arent always valued in the same way as written histories, so Im pushing for that recognition. My goal is to see more Indigenous students, educators, and scholars in leadership roles, where Indigenous knowledge is valued and celebrated. Can you share a specific lesson or project that has had a big impact on your students? One impactful project was when I taught African American history at the high school. I surveyed my students at the beginning of the year to find out what they were interested in. One student wanted to learn more about Black hairstyles, so I brought in a local Black salon owner to speak to them about the history and significance of Black hair. One particularly moving project was the Middle Passage Memorial. Students researched and created their own memorials to honor those lost during the Middle Passage. The creativity and thoughtfulness they put into it were amazing. I also incorporated music, film studies, and local history into my teaching, which helped students connect to both national and local histories. How do you make these topics interesting and meaningful for students from all backgrounds? Providing diverse perspectives helps students see their place in history. Even if we dont know every students background, learning from others experiences can foster a deeper understanding of how we fit into American history. I use Socratic seminars to model respectful discussions, especially around controversial topics like land back or water rights. Its important to teach students that Indigenous peoples are still here and that our histories arent monolithicwe have diverse cultures, languages, and experiences. What do you think are the biggest challenges in teaching history today, and how can educators overcome them? The current political climate is challenging, especially with debates around DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and CRT (Critical Race Theory). Many teachers are afraid to step over certain lines, and there are limitations on what they can teach due to state curriculums. For example, in Virginia, Indigenous peoples are only mentioned in relation to South America or Australiatheres no mention of U.S. or Canadian Indigenous peoples. Despite these challenges, I know many teachers are finding creative ways to provide students with opportunities to explore diverse histories. What advice would you give to teachers who want to include more Indigenous history in their lessons but arent sure where to start? Start locally. Is there a local tribe or cultural institution you can connect with? Learn about the people whose land youre on first. There are also Indigenous content creators on platforms like Instagram and TikTok who share valuable resources. The key is to find those Indigenous educators and resources, and make sure youre teaching accurately and inclusively. Do you involve the local community in your teaching? How do you make sure to include the Indigenous communities in Virginia? Yes, Ive connected with the local tribes here in Virginia . Ive visited their museums and spoken with their leaders to understand how they want to be represented. Im not from Virginia, so its important to me that I dont speak for or about these communities without their input. Networking and building those connections are key to ensuring accurate representation. What upcoming projects or initiatives do you have coming up in the future? I have a childrens book coming out next year. Itll be out next fall. Its called Grandmother Moon, and it started as a project with my oldest daughter, who was an illustration major in college. She asked me to write a book she could illustrate for her senior project to highlight the need for Indigenous children's books. The story is based on my grandma, who was an anthropologist and our tribal historian. Im really excited about it. Im also stepping into a new role at Brown University, where Im focusing on helping expand our Native American and Indigenous Studies department. Brown recently launched a critical Native American Indigenous Studies concentration, and we just graduated our first cohort. My focus is on growing the department, supporting research, and developing the curriculum. About the Author: "Kaili Berg (Aleut) is a member of the Alutiiq\/Sugpiaq Nation, and a shareholder of Koniag, Inc. She is a staff reporter for Native News Online and Tribal Business News. Berg, who is based in Wisconsin, previously reported for the Ho-Chunk Nation newspaper, Hocak Worak. She went to school originally for nursing, but changed her major after finding her passion in communications at Western Technical College in Lacrosse, Wisconsin. " Contact: kberg@indiancountrymedia.com FILE - An abandoned farm is shown on the Fort Peck Reservation, March 19, 2007, near Poplar, Montana. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown) BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) Native Americans living on a remote Montana reservation filed a lawsuit against state and county officials Monday saying they dont have enough places to vote in person the latest chapter in a decades-long struggle by tribes in the United States over equal voting opportunities. The six members of the Fort Peck Reservation want satellite voting offices in their communities for late registration and to vote before Election Day without making long drives to a county courthouse. The legal challenge, filed in state court, comes five weeks before the presidential election in a state with a a pivotal U.S. Senate race where the Republican candidate has made derogatory comments about Native Americans. Native Americans were granted U.S. citizenship a century ago. Advocates say the right still doesn't always bring equal access to the ballot. Many tribal members in rural western states live in far-flung communities with limited resources and transportation. That can make it hard to reach election offices, which in some cases are located off-reservation. The plaintiffs in the Montana lawsuit reside in two small communities near the Canada border on the Fort Peck Reservation, home to the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes. Plaintiffs' attorney Cher Old Elk grew up in one of those communities, Frazer, Montana, where more than a third of people live below the poverty line and the per capita income is about $12,000, according to census data. It's a 60-mile round trip from Frazer to the election office at the courthouse in Glasgow. Old Elk says that can force prospective voters into difficult choices. It's not just the gas money; it's actually having a vehicle that runs, she said. "Is it food on my table, or is it the gas money to find a vehicle, to find a ride, to go to Glasgow to vote?" The lawsuit asks a state judge for an order forcing Valley and Roosevelt counties and Republican Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen to create satellite election offices in Frazer and Poplar, Montana. The offices would be open during the same hours and on the same days as the county courthouses. The plaintiffs requested satellite election offices from the counties earlier this year, the lawsuit says. Roosevelt County officials allegedly refused, while Valley County officials said budget constraints limited them to opening a satellite voting center for just one day. Valley County Attorney Dylan Jensen said there were only two full-time employees in the Clerk and Recorder's Office that oversees elections, so staffing a satellite office would be problematic. To do that for an extended period of time and still keep regular business going, it would be difficult, he said. A spokesperson said Jacobsen's office had encouraged tribes and counties to work together to establish satellite offices as needed by Jan. 31, under a 2015 state elections directive. These types of conversations, as indicated by the directive, need to have occurred months ago, said Jacobsen's communications director Richie Melby. Melby added that Jacobsen's office served all Montana voters and said the dispute had been stirred by political activists. Roosevelt County Clerk and Recorder Tracy Miranda did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Prior efforts to secure Native American voting rights helped drive changes in recent years that expanded electoral access for tribal members in South Dakota and Nevada. A 2012 federal lawsuit in Montana sought to establish satellite election offices on the Crow, Northern Cheyenne and Fort Belknap reservations. It was rejected by a judge, but the ruling was later set aside by an appeals court. In 2014, tribal members in the case reached a settlement with officials in several counties. Monday's lawsuit said inequities continue on the Fort Peck Reservation, and that tribal members have never fully achieved equal voting since Montana was first organized as a territory in 1864 and Native Americans were excluded from its elections. Native voters in subsequent years continued to face barriers to registering and were sometimes stricken from voter rolls. Equal means equal, said Bret Healy, an expert witness for the plaintiffs who was also involved in the 2012 Montana case. It is substantively, mathematically and logically not equal if there's not a satellite office on the Indian Reservation. The U.S. Navy is gearing up for a major war in the South China Sea by the end of the decade, reshaping military posture and structure as it aims to catch up to a larger Chinese naval force. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti released a highly anticipated report this month that outlines seven strategies the Navy will follow to ensure the U.S. is prepared for a potential conflict with China by 2027. Thats the date Chinese leader Xi Jinping has told his forces to be ready for a potential invasion of the self-governing island nation of Taiwan, which Beijing sees as historically part of the mainland. The 2027 date does not mean a war will happen that year, but the Navy wants to ensure it is ready if an enhanced U.S. force does not deter Xi from an invasion. Franchettis strategic plan zeroes in on how the Navy, the key military branch in the event of a South China Sea conflict, can best prepare itself given multiple constraints, including a troubled shipbuilding industry and historically low recruitment. In a September event with the Center for Strategic and International Studies this month, Franchetti said her plan, which follows strategic guidelines called Project 33, addresses a changing geopolitical environment driven by China, domestic challenges and the shift in modern warfare. These are areas that I can put my thumb on a scale. We can make a difference in those areas, and will make meaningful contribution to our ability to be more ready by 2027, she said. The strategy, focused on speeding up maintenance to retain a larger combat-ready force and deploying new technologies like autonomous drones, has won support from lawmakers on Capitol Hill who oversee the Navy and have been concerned about the U.S. falling behind China. Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), ranking member of the seapower subcommittee under the House Armed Services Committee, said Franchetti was right on target with her strategy, pointing to efforts to increase maintenance work at shipyards. The Navy is not just talking about this, [and] I actually think theres really been some really encouraging progress, he said. This is her document [that is] talking about 2027, which is really right around the corner. In my opinion, its being released in tandem with some really good work thats being done to speed up the turnaround. Through the strategy, the Navy is aiming to address one of its most troubling problems: Chinese militarys mass. China is expected to have 395 ships by 2025 and 435 ships by 2030, while the U.S. Navy operates 296 ships, and will likely have 294 by the end of fiscal 2030, according to the Congressional Research Service. Naval ships deployed by both China and the U.S. include large aircraft carriers, submarines, combat-built destroyer ships and agile amphibious assault ships, among others. While the disparity is concerning for the U.S., Franchetti lays out a plan for overcoming these numbers through joint warfighting, or the ability to connect all aspects of the U.S. armed forces under a coordinated military structure. Joshua Tallis, a senior research scientist at the Center for Naval Analyses, said it would be wrong to simply count Chinese ships and U.S. ships and then assume that one country had the advantage over the other. The correct way to understand the U.S. Navys ability to counter that threat is to understand the U.S. Navy in the context of this much bigger joint warfighting ecosystem, he said, adding the Navy strategy is a strong step in the right direction. Still, ship numbers do matter in Washington, which is actively trying to solve the problem ahead of a potential Chinese conflict. The U.S. shipbuilding industry is facing major challenges. In the 1980s, the U.S. had some 300 shipyards, and today, it has around 20. The U.S. has also shrunk its capacity for maintenance with fewer floating docks, called tenders, for destroyer ships and submarines. The decline is attributable to the end of the Cold War and the global war on terrorism, which saw less of a need for shipyards. But it means the U.S. is decommissioning ships faster than it is building them, shrinking the size of the fleet. The Navy has a five-year shipbuilding plan that would increase the fleet to a goal of 381 total ships over 35 years. But the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in an August post that the Navy and Coast Guard shipbuilding efforts are both behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget, with design and construction processes taking so long it sometimes delivers ships built with outdated systems. Some experts have called for the U.S. to increase subsidization of a shipbuilding industry that is now handled almost exclusively by private contractors that are struggling with staff or other hurdles. And lawmakers are now making efforts to address the shipbuilding crisis. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) plan to soon introduce a bill to help restore shipbuilding capacity and make it more cost-effective, the lawmakers said at a Wednesday Center for Strategic and International Studies event. The Chinese navy is growing and rapidly expanding, said Waltz at the event, warning of a deeper issue if a war breaks out with China. Why does this matter to everyday Americans? 50 percent of global [economic output] is sitting in that area, and if China manages to control or coerce that area, thats a huge step toward Xis stated goal of replacing the United States as a global leader. Courtney, the seapower committees top Democrat, said the committee is going to be pushing really hard on shipyard modernization, citing Congress backing more submarine industrial investment as an example. We need to get these yards to a place where they can really turn around and prepare us as fast as possible, Courtney said. I think youre probably going to see a push to extend the scope of this policy into the full maritime industrial base. But Franchetti hopes to work around the issue of shipbuilding by speeding up maintenance work on ships, aiming for an 80 percent surge in naval assets available for deployment. Steven Wills, a navalist at the Center for Maritime Strategy, questioned if the surging of ships was feasible, noting that more ships are already deploying much longer than during the Cold War. Thats a big lift, he said. Im not sure how we get there, considering that we have less than 300 ships, and we keep one-third of them always deployed. So thats going to be a challenge, he added. Im not sure how the Navy fully overcomes that. Franchetti, in her strategy, also outlined how the Black Sea has been dominated by Ukraine in the war with Russia through a savvy use of drones. With artificial intelligence (AI) drones now a major initiative at the Pentagon, the Navy is also looking to harness that technology to counter Chinese mass in the event of a South China Sea conflict. The drones are part of a strategy the Navy is looking to use for sea denial, or ensuring China cant control the maritime domain. Cheap clusters of such autonomous weapons could change Chinese dominance by mass in the sea. Wills, from the Center for Maritime Strategy, said Franchetti was aiming to make uncrewed ships a force multiplier against China. What the Navys going for here is you give each ship its own flotilla of uncrewed ships that come along with it, that have more missiles, maybe some self-defense weapons, maybe some electronic warfare gear, and that makes your individual Arleigh Burke-class destroyer a lot more powerful, he said. The autonomous systems have been deployed for training purposes but have not been deployed or even purchased at scale, and there is no significant budget for the weapons yet. Analysts say the Navy may have to divert funding sources for the AI weapons in the future if the Pentagon budget is constrained. Other aspects of the Franchetti strategy call for increasing investment in infrastructure that the Navy uses, particularly in the Pacific, and modernizing maritime operation centers that act as headquarter stations for fleet commanders. But a key part of her strategy is recruitment and retention, because the Navys ships need sailors to operate them. The Navy is struggling to meet its recruitment numbers, as fewer people enlist into the armed forces more broadly. In her strategic plan, Franchetti calls for a 100 percent rating fill for the Navy active and reserve components. The Navy is expected to meet its goal of 40,600 active-duty sailor recruits for this fiscal year, but it would be the first time in two years it met the target. Franchetti also wants to enhance the quality of life for sailors, which could boost retention. The plan is to eliminate involuntary living requirements for sailors at homeport and to invest in quality housing. Tallis, from the Center for Naval Analyses, said the Navy will have to keep up the pressure on recruitment, but added that it was valuable to think about recruitment and retention as two sides of the same coin. Just from a retention standpoint, I think a decent amount of that stems from some of these quality-of-service initiatives that have taken place over the last few years to try and balance the quality of life and quality of work, to make it easier for people to stay in the Navy, he said. The U.S., however, is playing catchup to China, which boasts a relatively strong defense industrial base and a much larger military. Beijing heavily invests in its shipbuilding industry and is the worlds largest builder in that industry. China is likely prepared for what could be one of the more likely scenarios playing out in a Taiwan event: a Chinese blockade of the island nation. Andrew Erickson, a professor of strategy at the U.S. Naval War Colleges China Maritime Studies Institute, said a blockade scenario makes Chinas sea forces all the more important to analyze. They are among the most relevant forces for operationalizing and implementing such a campaign, he said. But Erickson added that China is also building out a robust anti-navy force that includes anti-ship ballistic missiles and drones, and that Xi has confidence in the military industrial base to produce his weapons. We can see a marked contrast right now: China is building large numbers of the same systems, he said. Theyre doing a lot of stuff at once. While the world is hyper-focused on a potential conflict in 2027, Robert Murrett, a retired vice admiral, said the primary goal of the Navy is to deter a war. The goal is to deter China and the biggest foreign policy challenge we will have for this generation is to make sure [Beijing understands] any conflict in Asia is not in their interest , he said. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. NC got VinFast. But how close was Chatham County to landing a Hyundai factory? For three decades, North Carolina kept striking out on a major car factory. Mercedes-Benz spurned the Tar Heel State for Alabama in 1993, and in subsequent years, fellow foreign manufacturers Volkswagen, Audi, Volvo, Toyota and Mazda bypassed North Carolina to open factories in nearby Southeastern states. But in the winter of 2022, North Carolina was presented with two chances to end this losing streak. Early that January, a pair of national site selection firms contacted the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, the states main business recruitment organization, about building electric vehicle plants. One firm, JLL, represented the new Vietnamese startup VinFast. The other, KPMG, represented the more established South Korean brand Hyundai. On history and sales, the two Asian car companies diverged. In 2021, Hyundai sold around 740,000 vehicles in the United States alone. Founded in 2017, VinFast had never previously sold cars outside its native Vietnam. JLL was first to reach out to North Carolina; the firm had had periodic communication with state officials regarding a VinFast factory since October 2021. Yet public records obtained this month by The News & Observer show North Carolina economic leaders actually had more contact with Hyundais representatives for stretches of that pivotal winter. The first Hyundai correspondence came on Jan. 5, 2022, when KPMG requested information from the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina about the states most suitable sites. Working on a five-day deadline, EDPNC provided specifications on four sites: two in Chatham County, one in Person County and another in Brunswick County. The next day, EDPNC looped in the North Carolina Department of Commerce about the Hyundai opportunity, which the company had code-named Project EA. In an email, EDPNCs director of business recruitment, Austin Rouse, informed Commerce officials that KPMG had already spoken with Duke Energy about their search for a Hyundai site in North Carolina. Then on Jan. 26, the president and CEO of Hyundai Motor North America and Hyundai Motor America visited the two Chatham County megasites. One was on the western edge of the county near Siler City. The other sat about 30 miles from downtown Raleigh in Chathams southeastern corner, near the unincorporated town of Moncure. During this tour, the Hyundai team informed EDPNC that the Chatham sites were among its five to six finalists for a factory. This project is moving extremely fast, Rouse told Commerce officials on Jan 31. He relayed Hyundais interest in the two Chatham sites and advised that both Commerce Department leaders and Gov. Roy Cooper keep a week open in late February for a potential visit from Hyundais executive team in South Korea. The Triangle Innovation Point megasite in southeastern Chatham County is one of two North Carolina locations the South Korean carmaker Hyundai considered in the winter of 2022 for a future electric vehicle factory. Later that day, EDPNC CEO Christopher Chung emailed North Carolina Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders and Cooper economic adviser Lee Lilley with specifics on Project EA. Chung said Hyundai intended to build a new electric vehicle assembly and battery factory that would create at least 2,000 jobs and draw an investment of at least $1.5 billion. KPMG gave the state until Feb. 2 to respond to a second request for information, in which the site selection firm asked North Carolina to prioritize details related to the site development timeline, specifically grading, site preparation, and wetland impacts. That was the last correspondence from KPMG in the public records. The discussed February visit from Hyundais top executive team never occurred. Were not expecting a visit, Rouse told Lilley on Feb. 17. Waiting to hear back from the consultant about next steps with Project EA. Ten days later, Rouse delivered the final message on Hyundais prospects in Chatham County, or anywhere in the state, telling Secretary Sanders, To clarify, Project EA is no longer considering North Carolina. On May 20, 2022, Hyundai Motor Group joined Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to announce the company would open an assembly and battery megaplant outside Savannah. This factory, in partnership with the battery maker LG Energy Solution, promised to create 8,500 jobs and spark around $7.6 billion in regional investment. Georgia and local governments combined to give Hyundai $1.8 billion in economic incentives, including tax breaks. VinFast reenages North Carolina By late February 2022, North Carolina had lost Hyundai and another car company had lost Georgia. Right around the time North Carolina officials learned the state was no longer a candidate for Hyundais Project EA, consultants for the Vietnamese automaker VinFast intensified discussions about building a massive electric vehicle factory in Chatham County. In a Feb. 28 email, then Senior Assistant Secretary of Finance David Spratley informed Lilley that Project Blue, which was the code name for the VinFast factory, had reengaged with us in a big way over the weekend. The timing was likely no coincidence. VinFast had also been looking at the Savannah site, so when that land was taken, the company needed a new location. In an interview this week with The News & Observer, Spratley said my understanding is the carpet was pulled out of (VinFast) in Georgia. When Hyundai communicated to some degree to Georgia that they had a preference for that (Savannah) site over other sites, Georgia shut down all other conversations, said Spratley, who is now a director of economic development at the law firm Maynard Nexsen. Georgia sent a number of clients that were considering that site packing. VinFast wanted to secure an alternative site rapidly. If the Hyundai project was described as moving extremely fast, factory talks from the five-year-old Vietnamese carmaker were progressing at hyperspeed. The site selection firm JLL gave North Carolina a week to present a deal to VinFast, and Commerce Department staff hurried to condense months of work, including drafting an incentive package, outlining permit requirements and coordinating future job training options. To say this is a daunting challenge is a gross understatement, Spratley told colleagues in an email on Feb. 26. It is unlike anything I have ever seen. VinFast CEO Le Thi Thu Thuy and Gov. Roy Cooper participate in a a groundbreaking ceremony Friday, July 28, 2003 at the future site of a Vinfast plant in Moncure. On March 29, 2022, North Carolina leaders gathered at the eastern Chatham site near Moncure to celebrate what promised to be the states first car manufacturing factory: A 7,500-worker, $2 billion electric vehicle and battery assembly plant from VinFast. When announcing VinFasts arrival, North Carolina officials shared that the car company had narrowed its final site search to two locations: Chatham and a site near Savannah, Georgia. Two projects, two disparate timelines In a sense, both North Carolina and Georgia sought a major automotive project and got one. But in the two and a half years since the VinFast and Hyandai factory announcements, progress toward opening the plants has not been equal. VinFasts promised North Carolina plant has been plagued by delays and shifts in corporate strategy. No significant construction has occurred at the Chatham site. During a Sept. 20 earnings call, leaders for the loss-making car company explained they had decided to postpone the Moncure plant until 2028 in order to reserve money to build factories in Indonesia and India. VinFast chairwoman Le Thi Thu Thuy told investors these markets, in contrast to North America, have policies and the culture a lot closer to us (in Vietnam). On the other hand, the Hyundai megaplant in Georgia has actually moved up its opening date; instead of beginning production in early 2025, Hyundai now plans to start manufacturing cars near Savannah by the end of this year. The company has said the first model it will manufacturer at the Georgia plant will be its Ioniq 5 electric crossover. In July, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Hyundai had already hired more than 900 workers for the incoming factory. 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 Enjoy Triangle tech news? Subscribe to Open Source, The News & Observer's weekly newsletter, and look for it in your inbox every Friday morning. Sign up here. Damaged roadways, mudslides and unstable ground have made it difficult to get supplies to those in Western North Carolina. The above photo is a section of Interstate 40 near Black Mountain. (Photo: North Carolina Department of Transportation) Gov. Roy Cooper and the states top emergency management officials provided an update Sunday to the ongoing, massive response to Tropical Storm Helene. Helene dropped from 10 to 29 inches of rain across the mountains on Friday, causing life-threatening floods and landslides. The storm initially claimed 11 lives in North Carolina, and officials said that number would likely rise. By Sunday evening, Buncombe Countys sheriff said they had confirmed 30 death in the county. Cooper said the state is aware that people are desperate for help, and multiple agencies are actively pushing to get it to them. Many people are cut off because roads are impassable, they dont have power or communications. Please know that we are sending resources and coordinating closely with local governments, first responders, state and federal partners, and volunteer organizations to help those impacted by this tragic storm, Cooper said. Because its difficult to truck in the needed supplies over closed and damaged roads, the state has begun airlifting food and water into the region. A 20-bed state medical support center is opening in Caldwell County on Sunday, and the state will be setting up more. Nearly 464,000 customers remain without power. Thats down from a peak of more than a million customers at the height of the storm. More than 500 North Carolina National Guard members have been deployed to work with local emergency responders conducting search and rescue missions, delivering needed supplies, and working to restore infrastructure. President Joe Biden granted Coopers request for a federal major disaster declaration providing immediate federal help for 25 North Carolina counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Cell phone providers are working to fix the damage and get stopgap solutions in place. N.C. Emergency Management Director Will Ray said conditions on the ground remain extremely dangerous. We ask people not to venture into storm-affected areas, whether to check on property, loved ones, or just to sight see. Besides endangering yourself, you could also be interfering with emergency responders or repair crews, cautioned Ray. Please let the professionals do their jobs. The state has more than 730 responders conducting search-and-rescue efforts. Telecommunications companies are working around the clock to restore cell phone service and mobile data to the mountains. Ray said for those in western North Carolina, its recommended you turn your phones off and turn them back on periodically to allow the phone to connect to a network. On Friday, North Carolinas telecommunications partners activated disaster roaming on all networks. This means that any phone on any carrier can access any network to place calls. As of midday Sunday, 280 roads remained closed in Western North Carolina because of Helene. The majority of those are in Henderson, Ash, Buncombe, Lincoln, Cleveland, Jackson, Transylvania and Yancey counties. Many of the closures are due to high water where the roadway is impassable or flooded. We also have several land and rockslides down power lines, pipe failures and fallen trees, said N.C. Department of Transportation Secretary Joey Hopkins. One piece of good news, according to Hopkins, a previously closed section of Interstate 26 south of Asheville has reopened allowing responders their first major route into and out of the city. Crews have also opened up a path through the slide near Old Fort on I-40 to allow some stranded vehicles and also emergency responders to pass through with assistance from the state highway patrol. Hopkins said unnecessary travel is hindering NCDOT crews from doing the work to get the roads reopened. Our main message is simple, consider all roads in western North Carolina to be closed until further notice, said the NCDOT Secretary. One of the biggest concerns right now is the availability of clean water. Ray said there are 93 systems that are on a boil water advisory with 33 awaiting test results to clear that advisory. Loss of power is one contributing factor, but we also know that theres significant infrastructure damage from the amount of water that impacted a number of these communities, thats going to have significant rebuild impacts for these water systems to come online, Ray explained. In the days ahead they will determine which water systems need simple repairs or whether an extensive overhaul of a jurisdictions water system is required. Because those are significant lifts and challenges, we are preparing our operation to continue to move commodities into those impacted areas, particularly food and water for an extended duration of time, said Ray. Those in need of shelter can find a list of open shelters here. As of Sunday afternoon, the one shelter is McDowell County at Glenwood Baptist Church was at full capacity. For those who wish to donate to recovery efforts, the state will be activating North Carolinas Disaster Relief Fund, managed by the United Way of North Carolina. This story was originally produced by NC Newsline which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. NEW YORK (PIX11) The 23rd annual Tunnel to Towers 5K Run & Walk took place in New York City on Sunday, September 29, 2024, drawing tens of thousands of participants to honor the heroes lost on 9/11. The event, which has grown from just 1,500 participants in its first year, saw runners, walkers, first responders, and veterans retrace the final footsteps of FDNY Firefighter Stephen Siller. More Local News Participants began their journey in Red Hook, Brooklyn, passed through the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, and finished in Lower Manhattan. The route symbolizes the path taken by Stephen Siller, who strapped 60 pounds of gear to his back and ran through the tunnel to save others on September 11, 2001. Frank Siller, Stephens brother and CEO of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, emphasized the events significance: We made a promise that we will never forget the sacrifice that was made 23 years ago. The event brought together people of all ages, including 17-year-old junior firefighter Madison Lambertz, who participated with her father. Despite not being alive during 9/11, Lambertz recognized the importance of honoring its legacy, stating, What were able to do now is just something beautiful out of something that was so terrible. This years event paid special tribute to families of fallen first responders who have received mortgage-free homes through the Tunnel to Towers Fallen First Responder Home Program. The run honored not only the 343 firefighters and law enforcement officers who died on 9/11 but also those who have lost their lives due to related illnesses and the over 7,000 service members killed in the Global War on Terror. The Tunnel to Towers 5K Run & Walk continues to be a powerful reminder of the sacrifices made on 9/11 and in its aftermath, uniting thousands in a spirit of remembrance and support for those who serve. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Entire neighbourhoods in Kathmandu were inundated after the heaviest rains in more than two decades (PRAKASH MATHEMA) (PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP/AFP) Search and rescue teams in Nepal's capital picked through wrecked homes on Monday after waters receded from monsoon floods that killed at least 209 people around the Himalayan republic. Deadly floods and landslides are common across South Asia during the monsoon season from June to September but experts say climate change is making them worse. Entire neighbourhoods in Kathmandu were inundated after the heaviest rains in more than two decades, with the capital temporarily cut off from the rest of Nepal after landslides blocked highways. Nepal's Home Ministry said 209 people had been killed across the country with another 29 still missing. "We intensified aerial rescue for people who are sick or still need to be brought to safety," home ministry spokesman Rishi Ram Tiwari told AFP. Police said at least 35 of those killed were buried alive when earth from a landslide careened into vehicles on a highway south of Kathmandu. Bulldozers were being used to clear nearly two dozen sections of major roads leading into Kathmandu that had been blocked by debris. The home ministry said it was working to rescue numerous people who had been stranded on the highways. More than 400 people were rescued from various districts on Monday. Rescuers in knee-high rubber boots were using shovels to clear mud from the worst-hit riverside neighbourhoods around Kathmandu, many of them unauthorised slum settlements. The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), a Nepal-based think tank, said the disaster had been made worse by unplanned urban encroachment around the Bagmati River, which flows through the capital. Nepal's army said more than 4,000 people had been rescued, with helicopters, motorboats and rafts bringing stranded people to safety. Nilkantha Pandey of the humanitarian organisation CARE Nepal said many of those affected by the floods needed safe drinking water and temporary housing. "Mostly informal settlements have been affected," Pandey said. "It is time to respond and not delay." - 'An extreme event' - Merchants in Kathmandu said damage to intercity roads had drastically cut the supply of fresh fruit and vegetables into the capital. "The farmers have their produce ready but with the highways blocked, all of it is stuck," Binay Shrestha, who works at one of the city's main produce markets, told AFP. Nepal's weather bureau said their preliminary data measured record-breaking rain in the 24 hours to Saturday morning. A monitoring station at Kathmandu airport recorded about 240 millimetres (9.4 inches) of rain, the highest figure since 2002. Climate expert Arun Bhakta Shrestha of ICIMOD told AFP that rainfall should be decreasing by late September with the end of the annual monsoon. "Rainfall of this kind has to be described as abnormal," he said. "It is an extreme event... I see the possibility of the role of climate change to some extent." But he added that unplanned urban development had also worsened the impact of the disaster. The summer monsoon from July to September brings South Asia 70-80 percent of its annual rainfall and is vital for agriculture and food production in a region home to around two billion people. However, monsoon rains also bring widespread death and destruction in the form of floods and landslides. Experts say climate change has worsened their frequency and intensity. More than 300 people have been killed in rain-related disasters in Nepal this year. pm/gle/sn When floodwaters submerged large swathes of Nepal's capital, Indra Prasad Timilsina was able to save the three cows that keep his family fed -- but everything else was claimed by the river. The slum he calls home in Kathmandu is one of several neighbourhoods devastated by pounding weekend rains that disproportionately hit the city's poorest and vulnerable inhabitants. The Bagmati river and its tributaries which criss-cross the Kathmandu valley, broke their banks during the downpour, pummelling flimsy wood and sheet metal shacks that house thousands of people along their shorelines. "This is like a nightmare. I have never seen such an extreme flood in my life," the 65-year-old told AFP. "Everything is gone," he added. "If you are dead, you don't have to worry about anything. But if you survive, you have to face these problems." Timilsina makes a modest living by the river in Tripureshwor selling milk from his cows, including to his neighbours -- many of whom left poverty-stricken villages in rural Nepal to eke out a precarious livelihood on the city's margins. He and his wife fled their homes shortly after midnight on Saturday as the river lapped at their feet -- enough time to lead the cattle to higher ground, but not to gather the rest of their meagre possessions. The couple returned to what was left of their homes alongside hundreds of others cleaning mud-caked walls, scooping buckets of water off the floor and salvaging whatever bags of food had not been spoiled. Timilsina said the waters had spoiled the nine bags of animal feed he had stockpiled for his cows. "We can survive," he said, "but if I don't feed them soon, they'll die." - 'Wrecked by rising waters' - Nearly 200 people across the capital and elsewhere in Nepal were killed in the weekend's floods, with nearly three dozen more still missing. Army search and rescue teams carried more than 4,000 people to safety and relief crews are working frantically to clear highways around the capital blocked by debris from landslides. Entire neighbourhoods around Kathmandu were inundated, damaging schools and medical clinics including many servicing the city of nearly one million people's poorest residents. Not far from Timilsina's home, more than two dozen computers at a community-run school were wrecked by the rising waters. "They are of no use now," teacher Shyam Bihari Mishra told AFP. "Our students will be deprived of education." Deadly rain-related floods and landslides are common across South Asia during the monsoon season between June and September. Experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity. Parts of Kathmandu saw about 240 millimetres (9.4 inches) of rain in the 24 hours to Saturday morning, the most intense downpour in more than two decades. Even without the record rainfall, monsoon floods are a regular fact of life for the estimated 29,000 squatters among Kathmandu's urban poor, who build by riverbanks for lack of affordable shelter elsewhere. "This year alone we've run up to our roof several times," Bishnu Maya Shrestha, 62, told AFP. "But we didn't expect the flood to swell to swallow all our houses this time." str-pm/gle/sn JERUSALEM (Reuters) -For Israel, the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been a moment to savour, lifting the spirits of a nation still grappling with the trauma of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and a year of war, and boosting once-embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After Nasrallah's death in an Israeli air strike in Beirut was confirmed on Saturday, Netanyahu delivered a televised statement, saying the assassination was a "turning point" in the war. "One year later, blow after blow ... their hopes have been dashed. Israel has momentum, we are winning," he said. On Tuesday, the military announced that after weeks of intensifying air strikes, commandos had crossed into Lebanon to conduct targeted raids in areas close to the border. Hours later, it confirmed that special forces units had been operating in Lebanon for months. A survey for the Israel Democracy Institute published on Tuesday found that 80% of Israelis, including 90% of Jewish Israelis, supported the decision to start the offensive against Hezbollah even while the war was continuing in Gaza. Netanyahu, who has been gradually recovering ground since the start of the war when he was widely blamed for the security failures that allowed the Oct 7 attack to occur, may benefit from it too. Lifted by the success of the attack on Nasrallah and the assassination a few weeks earlier of the then Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, he has strengthened his grip on his sometimes fractious coalition by bringing former ally-turned-rival Gideon Saar into his government, increasing his majority to a comfortable 68 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. "Netanyahu's claim has always been 'Mr Security' and now finally, after Oct 7, he's managed to regain the title with these operations in the north," said Aviv Bushinsky, a political commentator and former aide to Netanyahu. A survey published on Sunday by Israel's N12 News showed a continuing trend of Netanyahu's Likud party slowly recovering in the polls, though still losing an election. Asked how they would rate Netanyahu's conduct of the war, 43% respondents said 'good', up from 35% in the last poll, 10 days earlier. The Channel 12 poll showed Likud still short of a winning margin but with 25 seats, it would be the largest party in the 120-seat parliament, well up from the position earlier in the war, when surveys regularly gave it no more than 16-18 seats. Israelis were crushed by the Oct. 7 attack and Netanyahu's security credentials were shattered. The Palestinian Islamist Hamas militant group humiliated one of the Middle East's most powerful militaries, when Israeli intelligence failed to warn of an imminent attack and forces were slow to repel it. MILITARY CONFIDENCE The result was the deadliest single day in Israel's history and the worst security failure since the Yom Kippur war, almost 50 years to the day, with 1,200 dead and more than 250 hostages taken, many of them civilians seized from their homes. In northern Israel, tens of thousands have been uprooted from their homes since October, when Hezbollah started firing rockets in support of Hamas. Almost a year on, Israel is still pressing its war against Hamas and Netanyahu has yet to declare victory, with 101 hostages still in Gaza and Hamas, though weakened, still standing. But the campaign against Hezbollah is different. Nasrallah had led the group to become a regional force, and it is viewed by Israel as a far more serious threat, better organised and far better armed than its ally Hamas. Now it has been hammered, most of its senior leadership has been killed and a significant portion of its arsenal of missiles have been destroyed in two weeks of intense bombardment that have restored Israel's sense of its own military potency. The unprecedented attack on Hezbollah's pagers and walkie-talkies, while not confirmed by Israel, has generally been ascribed to its Mossad intelligence service. Israeli officials say they are sure Nasrallah's death will not create the lasting diplomatic problems brought by the war in Gaza, where Netanyahu's often repeated aim of "total victory" over Hamas has proved stubbornly difficult to achieve. Instead, Israel is using as its yardstick United Nations Resolution 1701, which specifies that Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon should be pushed back over the Litani River, some 30 km (18 miles) from the border. RELIEF "Israel now has greater diplomatic leverage, enabling it to advocate for its interests in any agreement, rather than accepting the status quo proposed by the Americans and the French," said Orna Mizrahi, a researcher at the INSS think tank in Tel Aviv. She said there would be a short window of opportunity for Israel to press ahead with its campaign against Hezbollah before the civilian casualties from the campaign drew international pressure to end its operations. On the streets of Nahariya, in northern Israel, a sense of security was somewhat restored. "I'm very happy that the Israelis killed Hassan Nasrallah. I feel relief. I hope that now will be better, here in Israel. We had to do it before, and we have the best army in the world," said Ofra Elbaz, a teacher. However, Israelis may emerge from their mood of exultation when the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks comes around next week, the political commentator Bushinsky said. The architect of the attack, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar remains elusive, the hostages are still in Gaza, and despite the spectacular strikes against Hezbollah, the tens of thousands of residents evacuated from the north during months of cross-border fire, have still not returned home. "We are so intrigued by the last two weeks, the beepers and the walkie-talkie operation, up until taking down all the senior leadership of Hezbollah. But I think that next week, we're going to wake up to reality again," Bushinsky said. "And people will start asking, "Ok what's now? When is this thing over?" (Reporting by Maayan Lubell and James Mackenzie, Editing by William Maclean and Gareth Jones) We recently published a list of Jim Cramer Stock Portfolio for Q4: Top 11 Stocks to Buy and Sell. Since IBM Common Stock (NYSE:IBM) ranks 6th on the list, it deserves a deeper look. Jim Cramer in a latest program on CNBC talked about the importance of using short-term rallies to your advantage. He said that investors should know when to take the chips off the table. The idea that you should buy and hold through both the best of times and worst of times is probably incredibly foolish, with only very few exceptions, Cramer said. Cramer said that if the stock you bought is going higher and higher and you keep resisting the urge to take some profits, you wont make any actual money from these gains if the stock comes down later paring all these profits. This seems straightforward but the idea of buying low and selling high is easier said than done, Cramer said. Dont get carried away by the optimism. Instead, keep your head on straight, check your emotions, focus on long term and think about ringing the register, especially on stocks that might be getting too high, Cramer added. For this article we watched several latest programs of Jim Cramer aired on CNBC and picked 10 stocks hes talking about. We also picked an interesting prediction Cramer made back in 2021 about a stock and saw how it turned out. With each company we have mentioned the number of hedge fund investors. 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). Is IBM Common Stock (NYSE:IBM) Top Stock to Buy and Sell According to Jim Cramer? Credit: IBM IBM Common Stock (NYSE:IBM) Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 54 When asked about IBM Common Stock (NYSE:IBM), Jim Cramer said the company is doing quite well. Cramer said that he gets more and more impressed with IBM. Arvind Krishna (IBM CEO) has really re-invented the company, hes doing a terrific job, Cramer added. Can IBM Common Stock (NYSE:IBM) become a top AI stock and compete with peers like Oracle, Salesforce and Microsoft? The company recently released its Telum II Processor and Spyre Accelerator at Hot Chips 2024, designed to boost the next-gen IBM Z mainframe system. Telum II offers 8 cores at 5.5GHz with 36MB L2 cache per core and a 40% increase in total on-chip cache. Spyre adds AI capabilities with 32 compute cores and 1TB memory. Both chips, built by Samsung on a 5nm process, will launch in 2025, supporting IBMs AI initiatives. IBM Common Stock (NYSE:IBM) also acquired Accelalpha to strengthen its Oracle consulting expertise, further enhancing its cloud and AI capabilities for enterprise clients. Story continues IBMs latest quarterly results were driven by software, consulting, and infrastructure, boosted by accelerated enterprise AI adoption. Revenue grew 4% year-over-year, and free cash flow rose 24%, reflecting the companys strong financial health. IBM Common Stock (NYSE:IBM) is well-positioned to capitalize on AI trends with its watsonx AI platform and Granite models, offering secure and transparent solutions that address data privacy concerns, critical for enterprise AI implementation. Their unique blend of consulting, software, and AI solutions supports large-scale AI projects. Diamond Hill Capital Long-Short Fund stated the following regarding International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter: Among our bottom Q1 contributors short positions in Dicks Sporting Goods, International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) and Palomar Holdings. Though we believe the quality and durability of IBMs free cash flow-generating capabilities remain questionable, investor sentiment has improved amid optimism for the companys still-nascent AI product suite. Overall, IBM Common Stock (NYSE:IBM) ranks 6th on Insider Monkeys list titled Jim Cramer Stock Portfolio for Q4: Top 11 Stocks to Buy and Sell. While we acknowledge the potential of IBM Common Stock (NYSE:IBM), 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 IBM but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: Analyst Sees a New $25 Billion Opportunity for NVIDIA and Jim Cramer is Recommending These Stocks. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Netanyahu's party is favoured by voters following a string of military successes against Hezbollah [EPA] Benjamin Netanyahus popularity, which was battered after the Hamas attacks on 7 October, has been boosted by his countrys military successes against Hezbollah, a new opinion poll suggests. A picture has been widely shared of the Israeli PM in New York giving the order for the biggest of these - the assassination of the Lebanese armed groups long-time chief, Hassan Nasrallah. A poll for Israels Channel 12, released on Sunday night, indicates the Israeli PM's Likud party would win more seats than any other if a general election was held. However, it did not project a win for him overall, instead suggesting the current opposition parties would have more MPs, enabling them to form a coalition. Fortunately for Netanyahu, his former political rival, Gideon Saar, also joined his fractious coalition government on Sunday, a step that should strengthen the prime minister. We will work together, shoulder to shoulder, and I intend to seek his assistance in the forums that influence the conduct of the war, Netanyahu said. Saar will serve as a minister without portfolio with a seat in the Security Cabinet, the body overseeing the management of the war against Israels regional enemies. By joining the government with his four-seat party, Netanyahu has a much more solid majority of 68 in the 120-seat parliament. Rumours had swirled in recent weeks that the position of defence minister currently held by the popular, seasoned, former military general Yoav Gallant would go to the relatively less experienced Saar. However, that move seemed to be abandoned as Israel began its series of major strikes against Hezbollah. For Netanyahu, the new composition of the government weakens the power of his National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir. The far-right winger has repeatedly threatened to topple the coalition if it goes ahead with a reckless deal to end the war in Gaza and bring home hostages or agrees to a permanent ceasefire with Hezbollah. The coalition could now survive without Ben Gvirs Jewish Power partys six seats, giving Netanyahu more room for manoeuvre. Once seen as a rising star of Likud, Saar left the party and became one of the most vocal critics of the prime minister arguing that Netanyahu should not continue to serve while battling corruption charges. He has framed his decision to join the government as an act of patriotism, fostering unity. However, he has been sharply criticised by some Israeli commentators who describe him as acting cynically in his own self-interest. Saars decision to join the government is certainly a painful blow to a large number of Israelis who think that Netanyahu needs to go, and not just because he is being tried on criminal charges, and not just because he is the most corrupt, hedonistic and lying prime minister Israel has ever had, said Yedioth Ahronoth columnist, Sima Kadmon. She sees that his action will stabilise and boost the worst government ever to have served in Israel, so much so that the original date of the next elections, October 2026, now appears to be a realistic date". Certainly, the extra seats could also help solve another challenge facing Israels most far-right ever government. At this sensitive time of war, when the military has a pressing need to expand its ranks, divisions have opened over the passage of a new military conscription law. The Israeli Supreme Court ruled in June that the state must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students into the army. They have historically been exempted, and such a move is vehemently opposed by two ultra-Orthodox parties upon which the coalition depends. Deepening his personal rift with the prime minister, in July, Yoav Gallant approved a plan to begin sending out draft notices to 1,000 18-26-year-olds from the ultra-Orthodox community. Israel is hinting at a ground invasion of Lebanon after killing Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah [Getty Images] A slick political strategist, Netanyahu - Israels longest serving leader - did see a big drop in the support for his party in polls at the end of last year. His personal image as Mr Security was badly damaged after the 7 October attacks - the deadliest day in Israeli history, when Hamas surprised one of the worlds best intelligence services and the best resourced military in the region took hours to respond. However, by August, opinion polls suggested the prime minister had begun to bounce back. That was despite the invasion of Gaza turning into Israels longest ever war with no sign of its objectives being met: the complete destruction of Hamas and bringing home Israels remaining hostages. The latest poll gives Likud as many as 25 seats. Altogether coalition parties would be expected to take 49 seats, while opposition parties would win 66. According to the research for Channel 12, Netanyahu also remains the favourite candidate for prime minister over the centrist opposition leader, Yair Lapid - with 38% favouring him over his rival who has 27% support. Much in Israeli politics depends on what happens next as Israels multi-front war reaches a critical moment. As Israel hints at a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, tens of thousands of Israeli citizens in the north of the country still do not know when they will return to their homes - an official goal for Israel. If Hezbollahs main ally Iran decides to attack, the consequences are unpredictable. On the international stage, Israel looks increasingly isolated. International courts are considering whether to put Israel on trial for genocide and have requested an arrest warrant for the prime minister and his defence minister on allegations of crimes against humanity. The ultimate test of Netanyahus resilience could be yet to come. On October 7, Israeli Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahus self-styled image as Mister Security seemed irrevocably shattered by the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. The Jewish homeland and its leader had failed to protect the people. How could he possibly survive? The polls told us as much. He had formed an extremist coalition government in November 2022 on the back of the 32 seats his Likud party secured in the 120-seat Knesset. After Hamas attack, a string of opinion polls suggested that were elections held, Likud would get just 17 seats, putting the governments long-term survival in jeopardy. Nearly a year later, Netanyahu has staged a remarkable turnaround. Though Likud would still struggle to form a government were elections held today, a brutal campaign of airstrikes in Lebanon and assassinations across the Middle East in recent weeks have buoyed the prime minister to heights unimaginable in the immediate aftermath of Hamas attacks almost a year ago. A poll released Sunday by Israels Channel 12 showed that Likud would win 25 seats were elections to be held today, making it the largest party. Netanyahu enjoys 38% support, according to the survey. The regional confrontations are good for Netanyahu, veteran pollster and analyst Dahlia Scheindlin told CNN. They seem quite clearly to be the contributing factor to his recovery. Israels aggressive military maneuvers against its enemies, she said, have helped restored a sense of agency and strength destroyed by Hamas October 7 attack. The war in Gaza is popular in Israel, but it brings with it complex questions around long-term occupation, relations with the Palestinians, and most importantly for Israelis, the fact that 101 hostages are still held there. People attend a protest against the government and to show support for the remaining hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel on September 21. - Amir Cohen/Reuters Israels military attacks elsewhere are seen at home as more black and white. Its clear enemies of Israel, she said, referring to those whom Israel says it is targeting. Theres no ambiguity around this question of occupation, et cetera. The aggressive military campaign began in April, when an airstrike on Irans embassy complex in Syria killed a top commander in Irans elite Revolutionary Guards. Israel did not comment but was widely understood to be responsible. That was followed by a July airstrike on Beirut that killed Hezbollahs most senior military official, Fuad Shukr. The next day, an explosion in a Tehran government guest house killed Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh. Relentless bombing campaign Earlier this month pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah in Lebanon exploded across the country, killing dozens and maiming thousands marking a new phase in that conflict, which began when Hezbollah attacked Israel on October 8, in solidarity with Hamas and the Palestinians in Gaza. Around 60,000 civilians have since been forced from their northern Israeli homes by Hezbollahs rocket attacks. Israel has for weeks now operated a relentless bombing campaign across Lebanon against Hezbollahs infrastructure and leadership. Massive airstrikes in southern Beirut have killed a string of Hezbollah leaders, including its elusive and powerful secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, as well as more than 1,000 people in Lebanon. It has also forced about 20% of the population about 1 million people from their homes, according to aid agencies and the Lebanese government. The families of hostages in Gaza, meanwhile, lead the charge in accusing Netanyahu of prioritizing his political survival over the national interest an accusation he strenuously denies. And yet it is undeniable that at a time when Israel is waging war in Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen, the prime minister continues to devote significant attention to domestic political machinations. On Sunday he brought a former rival, Gideon Saar, into his government as a minister without portfolio. The fact that Saar has no ministerial responsibilities underlines the fact that his appointment was largely political. When I ordered the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, we all knew that an entire nation was behind this decision, Netanyahu said Sunday evening alongside Saar. The cohesion of the ranks is a necessary condition for us to stand firm in these testing days, and for us to achieve the goals we have set. Netanyahu had for weeks been intending to fire his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, in favor of Saar. But that scheme drew withering criticism from national security veterans and was finally quashed when Israel escalated the war in Lebanon. Chairman of Israel's New Hope party Gideon Sa'ar pictured outside a polling station in the coastal city of Tel Aviv on March 23, 2021. - Jalaa Marey/AFP/Getty Images Broader political support Nadav Shtrauchler, a political strategist who has worked closely with Netanyahu, told CNN that bringing Saar into government was intended to have three effects. First, he said, bringing in Saar a veteran right-wing politician would give Netanyahu leverage over far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was previously convicted for inciting terrorism. Ben-Gvir is not Netanyahus cup of tea, and hes not reliable, Shtrauchler said. Second, Saar could help protect Netanyahu from the ultra-Orthodox parties who have the power to bring down the government. Those parties with whom Saar is said to be close want to pass a law exempting ultra-Orthodox men from mandatory military service, a change that would threaten Netanyahus coalition. The defense minister opposes the move, but Netanyahu thinks that Gideon Saar can be with him and soften Gallant, Shtrauchler said. Finally, he told CNN, broader political support is important as the war with Hezbollah escalates, and the possibility of a ground invasion looms. It is of course impossible to say to what degree political considerations are playing into Netanyahus decision to escalate the war in Lebanon, though returning the Israeli civilians to their homes in the north is a real policy imperative. It wouldnt surprise me if part of one of his considerations was so that Israelis feel like after a year of having been through this horrible shock and trauma and surprise that they have responded, Scheindlin, the pollster and analyst, said. That makes Israelis feel that they have a kind of catharsis, a sort of closure. Netanyahus most viable rival has long been Benny Gantz, a military heavyweight who for years served as Israel Defense Forces chief of the general staff, with his party polling second in recent opinion polls. His backing for Israels escalating attacks around the region underlines the degree to which Netanyahu has neutered his opposition. I would like to congratulate the political echelon, led by the prime minister and the minister of defense, who made the decision on the action in Lebanon, Gantz said on Sunday. Better late than never. Netanyahu is the beneficiary. But it is undeniable that a deep depression affects this country, despite a wave of euphoria in the wake of Nasrallahs assassination that saw TV reporters toasting his death on national television. Theres no real joy in Israel now, Scheindlin said. Even a sense of satisfaction for the moment or even a momentary euphoria nothings going to take away the reality that this is a very somber time, especially because of the hostages. Eugenia Yosef and Dana Karni contributed reporting. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Netanyahu warns Iran: There is nowhere we cannot strike Benjamin Netanyahu told Iranians: There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country Israels prime minister has warned Iran there was nowhere in the Middle East that Israel could not strike after troops were ordered to prepare for an invasion of Lebanon. In a speech in English directed at citizens in the Islamic Republic, Benjamin Netanyahu said that Iran was heading towards the abyss in a possible prelude to a direct war with the regime. The speech came as Israeli tanks continued to mass on Israels northern border with Lebanon on Monday, with early reports of tanks beginning to shell villages. Meeting troops on the border, Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence secretary, said the next stage of the war against Hezbollah in Lebanon would begin soon. Mr Netanyahu raised the prospect of expanding the war yet further, telling Iranians: There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country. Irans puppets were being eliminated every day, the Israeli prime minister warned. Mr Netanyhu gave a similar speech directed at the Lebanese people before ordering air strikes that killed the Hezbollah leader in Beirut. He also threatened Iran at the UN last week. On Monday night, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) imposed a closed military zone around the northern communities of Metula, Misgav Am and Kfar Giladi. Smoke from an Israeli air strike billows from the southern Lebanese border town of Khiam - Avalon The IDF said it was preparing for the next steps in the fighting and that tactical battle plans had been approved by the head of its Northern Command. I said here a month ago [that] we will shift the centre of gravity [to the north], this is what I say now: We will change the situation and return the residents home, Mr Gallant added. Despite Israel having eliminated Hezbollahs senior leadership and destroyed much of its military capacity in recent days, rockets continued to be fired into northern Israel from Lebanon on Monday. An estimated 63,000 residents of the north of Israel have had to abandon their homes since Oct 7 because of Hezbollah rocket fire, leaving a string of ghost towns along the 75-mile border. Israeli tanks and troop carriers gather near the Lebanese border - Erik Marmor/Getty Images Europe An Israeli artillery unit fires towards Lebanon from a position near the border - Baz Ratner As tensions mounted, US officials briefed that a few thousand additional troops were being sent to the region. The increased US presence would come from multiple fighter jet squadrons, Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters. Britain said it was buying seats on commercial airlines to help people evacuate Lebanon. On Monday, Iran continued to signal that it wanted to avoid further regional escalation, saying that it would not not send troops to Lebanon or Gaza. Irans foreign ministry said that it had not received any request for assistance from Hezbollah and the group did not need the help of our forces. The comments sparked frustration on the streets of Beirut, where some Shia Muslims told The Telegraph that Iran had abandoned them. On Monday night, Israel told Washington that its operations into Lebanon would be limited, targeting only Hezbollah infrastructure near its border. US and Israeli media reported that the scale of Israels planned ground operation had already been reduced at the request of the US. Unlike the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war, in which Israel became bogged down, the new plan was designed only to destroy military targets rather than to conquer territory, it said. Even at the final hour the UK, US and others continued to push for a ceasefire covering both Lebanon and Gaza. Protesters in Tel Aviv gather to condemn the actions of Mr Netanyahu in failing to agree a ceasefire in Gaza - Anadolu Joe Biden, the US president, told reporters that he was aware of Israeli plans to launch a ground operation but called for a ceasefire. On Monday, Britain also called for a ceasefire. Any further escalation must be avoided, a spokesman for Sir Keir Starmer said, adding that a ceasefire will provide the space necessary to find the political solution that is necessary to secure peace in the region. We are ironclad in our support for Israels right to self-defence ... but our very clear message now is, on all sides, [for] all parties to show restraint, they added. 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. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a warning to Tehran on Monday that there was nowhere in the Middle East that Israel could not reach and called on Iranians to work together with Israelis for peace. Netanyahu pointed to Mohammed Deif, a Hamas military leader Israel claims to have killed in the Gaza Strip in July, and Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader killed in Beirut last week, in his video message. "Ask Mohammed Deif. Ask Nasrallah. There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country," he said. The current government was bringing the Iranian people "closer to the abyss," he said. "When Iran is finally free, and that moment will come a lot sooner than people think, everything will be different. Our two ancient peoples, the Jewish people and the Persian people, will finally be at peace," Netanyahu said. He predicted that Iran would thrive as never before. "May we together know a future of prosperity and peace," Netanyahu concluded. Netanyahu was speaking as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continued air strikes on Lebanon and appeared to be preparing a ground invasion of the country. Netflix has failed in its attempt to persuade a judge to throw out a defamation lawsuit brought by the woman who inspired the stalker character in hit series Baby Reindeer. Fiona Harvey claims the streaming giant told "brutal lies" about her to more than 50 million viewers around the world. The show, created by Richard Gadd, is billed as "a true story", but certain key events, like the conviction for stalking, did not happen in real life, the judge concluded. Netflix said: "We intend to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd's right to tell his story." In his ruling, Judge Gary Klausner wrote: "There is a major difference between stalking and being convicted of stalking in a court of law." There were other substantial disparities between what really happened and what was shown on screen, he noted. Ms Harvey says also she did not stalk a police officer, sexually assault Gadd, violently attack him in a pub by smashing a bottle over his head and gouging his eyes, or wait outside his home for up to 16 hours a day. Netflix argued those things should be viewed as "substantially true" because she did arguably similar things in real life. However, the judge wrote: "There are major differences between inappropriate touching and sexual assault, as well as between shoving and gouging another's eyes." Gunning recently won an Emmy for acting, while Gadd won three, for acting, writing and producing [Getty Images] Gadd's original stage play was billed slightly differently - as being "based on a true story" - which suggests "certain details were likely false", the judge wrote. A Sunday Times article from June quoted TV industry sources as saying Gadd "expressed concerns" with Netflix about presenting it as simply "a true story". The fact the company went ahead "suggests a reckless disregard of whether statements in the series were false", Judge Klausner wrote. Netflix argued that most viewers would understand the claims made in the show to be "not factual" because it was shot in the style of a drama. However, the judge disagreed, writing: "While the statements were made in a series that largely has the trappings of a black comedy-drama, the very first episode states unequivocally that 'this is a true story', thereby inviting the audience to accept the statements as fact." Netflix also said the similarities between the real and fictionalised people were so broad that average viewers would not have been able to identify Ms Harvey as Martha. "The court disagrees," the judge wrote. "This is not the typical case where a plaintiff happens to be one of hundreds of people that match a fictional characters broad characteristics. "Rather, Martha and Plaintiff [Ms Harvey] have specific similarities that few others could claim to share." However, the judge did side with Netflix in some parts of Ms Harvey's case, dismissing her negligence and gross negligence claims, and her request for punitive damages. Baby Reindeer has been one of the biggest TV hits of the past year, and recently won six Emmy Awards in the US. Netflix sees spike in cancelations after founder endorsed Harris for president Netflix has seen the single worst day for cancelations this year after its co-founder Reed Hastings endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president and revealed that he had donated millions to her campaign. July already marked the month with the highest rate of users ditching subscriptions with the streaming service in 2024, with a cancelation rate of 2.8 percent. This was due in part to the streaming giant culling its basic tier the cheapest ad-free plan on offer, costing $11.99 per month on July 13. But 10 days later, Netflix saw a five-day surge in users boycotting the platform an exodus that came after the companys executive chair threw his support behind Harris, according to Bloomberg. Congrats to Kamala Harris now it is time to win, Hastings tweeted in the early hours of July 23, two days after Harris announced her presidential campaign. Later that day, the tech mogul revealed to The Information that he had donated $7m to The Republican Accountability PAC a staunchly anti-Donald Trump super-political action committee that describes itself as Republicans and conservatives who hate what the former president has done to the GOP. A swarm of furious MAGA supporters took to X that day to post screenshots of their canceled subscriptions. Cancelled my Netflix subscription, one person wrote with another teasing: I have a feeling you cost Netflix way more than $7 million with this one. Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings endorsed Kamala Harris on July 23 just two days after Joe Biden stepped off the Democratic ticket (AFP via Getty Images) A third added: I think its time to boycott Netflix. Theyre overcharging Americans anyway. Three days later on July 26, Netflix recorded the single worst day of cancelations this year. Its not clear whether Hastingss endorsement of Harris impacted the streaming service beyond the five-day spike of cancellations. The Independent has contacted Hastings and Netflix for comment. While Hastings has long been a Democratic donor, splurging more $5.3m including $1.4m in support of President Joe Biden in 2020, he hasnt been vocal about his election views until more recently. June 3 marked the first time the party mega-donor publicly called for Biden to step off the Democratic ticket during an interview with The New York Times. X users were quick to share their frustrations following Hastings endorsement of Kamala Harris (Reed Hastings/X) One day later, Hastings shared an article from The Economist titled Why Biden must withdraw. On July 21, the day Biden abandoned his re-election campaign, the entrepreneur wrote on X that: Dem delegates need to pick a swing state winner, to which fellow Silicon Valley stalwart Elon Musk replied: Trump/Vance LFG [lets f***ing go]! Like much of Silicon valley, several of Netflixs high-profile employees are left-leaning. Its co-CEO, Ted Sarandos, is married to Nicole Avant, a former ambassador under the Obama administration. In the 2020 election, Netflix employees who donated to one of the major parties sent 98 percent of their political contributions to Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics OpenSecrets website. Elon Musk took to X on Sunday evening to slam Netflix for its lopsided donations to the Democrats. He shared a graphic which alleged Netflix employees have donated $4.4m to the party this election cycle, along with the caption: Donations by Netflix employees could not be more lopsided in favor of the Democratic Party. Quiver Quantitative, a stock market data analytics tool which created the graphic, later wrote on X that most of Netflix employee donations come from the co-founder and executive chairman of the company. Netflix shouldn't have called 'Baby Reindeer' a true story, judge says, opening the way for defamation lawsuit Netflix shouldn't have called 'Baby Reindeer' a true story, judge says, opening the way for defamation lawsuit A judge has allowed a defamation lawsuit against Netflix's 'Baby Reindeer' to move forward. Fiona Harvey, who claims "Martha" is based on her, is suing for defamation. A judge says Netflix used untrue details, and should have known viewers would identify Harvey. A judge has said that "Baby Reindeer" was wrongly labeled as a "true story," opening the way for a defamation lawsuit from the real-life "Martha" portrayed in the show to proceed. The woman, Fiona Harvey, says that the hit Netflix show intentionally caused her emotional distress by falsely depicting her in several ways including that she sexually assaulted and gouged the eyes of Richard Gadd, the show's creator. "Baby Reindeer" a massive hit for Netflix was first released in April. Gadd says it's based on his real-life experiences of being stalked. In the show, Gadd plays a character named Donny Dunn who is based on himself and who is stalked by a woman named Martha Scott. As the show gathered steam, viewers began to piece together who the real Martha might be, matching details from the show with real-life information. Jessica Gunning as Martha Scott in "Baby Reindeer" and Fiona Harvey on "Piers Morgan Uncensored." Netflix/Piers Morgan/Uncensored/YouTube Since then, Harvey has come forward and, in June, launched a $170 million defamation lawsuit against the streamer. Netflix filed a motion to dismiss. But on Friday, Judge Gary Klausner denied the motion, saying that Netflix had been wrong to call the show a "true story." "Less than two minutes into the first show, the text 'this is a true story' appears on screen," Klausner's ruling stated. "Believing the series to be true, viewers immediately got to work trying to identify the real Martha," it added. In June, The Sunday Times cited unnamed industry sources as saying Gadd had had reservations about the "true story" billing, but that Netflix went ahead anyway. Pointing to the article, the judge said this could amount to "actual malice" a standard of proof needed for defamation cases involving public figures in which Netflix knew it was not true but went ahead and said so anyway. The judge also noted that the end credits of each episode also included a disclaimer saying that some elements had been fictionalized "for dramatic purposes." Richard Gadd as Donny Dunn and Jessica Gunning as Martha Scott in "Baby Reindeer." Ed Miller/Netflix The judge wrote that there were enough matching details between the show's portrayal of Martha and the real-life Harvey for viewers to assume that other fictional parts of the show were true. But there were "major differences" between what Harvey allegedly did in real life and how it was portrayed in the show, the judge wrote. For example, the show says that Martha was a twice-convicted stalker, that she sexually assaulted Dunn in an alley, that she smashed a bottle over his head, and that she spent up to 16 hours a day waiting outside his home. But none of this is true of Harvey, the judge wrote. In July, Gadd shared in court abusive and explicit communications that he claimed Harvey sent him over a three-year period, which he said demonstrated how she had harassed him. Pointing to several serious allegations about Harvey including that she had "shoved" Gadd, followed him, and "got 'handsy'" with him Netflix argued that the show's portrayal is still "substantially true," according to Friday's ruling. But the judge said that while the real-life allegations against Harvey are "reprehensible," Netflix still showed Martha to a "worse degree" that could have a "different effect" on a viewer. Richard Gadd plays a fictionalized version of himself in Netflix's "Baby Reindeer." Ed Miller/Netflix The ruling stated that Netflix also argued that a viewer would not assume the story told in "Baby Reindeer" was true because the show uses a number of surreal cinematic effects. Klausner disagreed with that, too. These effects "are not so absurd or surreal that as to neutralize the audience's expectations that they are watching a 'true story,'" he wrote. Netflix should also have known that viewers would seek Harvey out, and made no effort to further hide her identity, he added. While Netflix's motion to throw out the case was denied, claims from Harvey related to negligence, violation of her publicity rights, and for punitive damages were also denied. But her claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress will go ahead, which applies to "extreme and outrageous" false statements. In September, "Baby Reindeer" won four Emmys, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series and acting nods for both Gadd and Jessica Gunning, who played Martha. At a press conference after the award ceremony, Gadd emphasized the good the show had done in highlighting sexual violence against men, saying: "It's touched the lives of so many people." Read the original article on Business Insider Nevada GOP Candidate Says He's Not Worried About Black People In His Bid For Congress Republican congressional candidate John Lee (left) and Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.). Associated Press WASHINGTON Republican congressional candidate John Lee said in a new audio obtained by HuffPost that hes not worried about Black people and mocked his Democratic opponent in Nevada, Rep. Steven Horsford, for being chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. They made him chair of the Black Caucus. Whoop-de-doo, Lee said last Monday at a campaign meet-and-greet. Im from North Las Vegas. Im not worried about Black people. You know? Lee, who is white, went on to attack the Congressional Black Caucus for only having Democratic members. The caucus is officially nonpartisan but has only had a handful of GOP lawmakers as members since it formed in 1971. It currently has 60 members, all of whom are Democrats, and it does not include five Black Republicans, Lee said. So theyre the most racist people in the world, the GOP congressional hopeful said. They have one objective, and that is for self-domination in Congress. Heres a link to the full audio of Lees remarks. His comments about Black people and the Congressional Black Caucus begin around the 8-minute mark. Beyond being offensive, Lees remarks about not being concerned about Black people cant be helpful electorally, either. Hes running for a seat in Nevadas 4th Congressional District, which is 15% Black. HuffPost attempted to contact Lee for comment. Weirdly, Lee, the former mayor of North Las Vegas and a former state legislator, does not provide any contact information on his campaign site, and a Google search yielded no information about a campaign manager or any other point of contact. HuffPost left messages for Lee via social media and with the treasurer listed on his Federal Election Commission form when he filed to run in this race. The Nevada Republican has made other offensive comments about the Congressional Black Caucus. He called the group stupid in November, and in August he compared it to having a blond-haired caucus. A spokesperson for the Congressional Black Caucus did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Lees remarks about the caucus. A Horsford campaign spokesperson did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The five Black Republicans currently in Congress are Reps. Byron Donalds (Fla.), Wesley Hunt (Texas), John James (Mich.) and Burgess Owens (Utah) and Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.). Former Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah) joined the Black caucus in 2015 after previously vowing to try to take it down. In 2021, Donalds said the caucus snubbed him when he tried to join it, but a caucus spokesperson suggested it was because he didnt share the groups values, though he wasnt mentioned by name. The Congressional Black Caucus remains committed to fighting for issues that support Black communities, including the police accountability bill, protecting voting rights and a jobs bill that helps our communities, the spokesperson said at the time. We will work with those who share our values and priorities for the constituents we serve. The Cook Political Report rates this seat, which Horsford has held since 2019, as likely Democrat. Polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight only lists one poll on this race, and it shows Horsford leading Lee by 10 percentage points. Related... Newberry is one of the worst-hit SC counties from Helene. Most homes remain without power One of the worst-hit parts of the Midlands was still digging out from the devastation left by Hurricane Helene three days after the storm blew through the western half of the state. Power outage maps on Monday showed a stark split down the middle of South Carolina between powered-up blue counties in the east and often dark red in the west including Newberry County, where 76% of the residents still were without power Monday afternoon. Bethany Green is one of them. On Monday, she was using a generator at the house she and her father were staying in on the east side of Newberry, after a large tree was blown over during the storm and pulled down power lines, poles all up and down her block, and narrowly missing the front of her truck parked in the street. Theres a dent in the hood, but thats it, Green said. If the truck had been parked a few feet forward, there would be no car to go to work. At the time that tree came down early Friday morning, Newberry was losing all incoming power, said City Manager Jason Taylor, leaving 100% of the citys homes and businesses without electricity. There remained more than 740,000 power outages in South Carolina, as of the morning of Sept. 30, following the devastation of Hurricane Helene. At the same time, Taylor estimated that about 80% of roadways in the city had some kind of obstruction, making it harder for the city to respond to the emergency. Newberry County Memorial Hospital had lost power, as had the citys water and sewer system. Weve got to get those up and going, Taylor remembers thinking. Weve got to get the road open, or we couldnt get our emergency vehicles out. After a methodical push to get back up and running, by Monday the city manager said some three-quarters of the power customers in town had service restored. Outside Greens house, a North Carolina-based crew was working to hang a tangle of downed power lines back up on a new pole part of a 16-hour shift crew members were working to restore power in Newberry and other areas affected by Helene. Utility lineman work to replace power poles and lines in Newberry after strong winds and rain blew through from Hurricane Helene on Monday, Sept 30, 2024. Statewide, some 740,000 people were without power on Monday, with some estimated to be without power until Thursday, a week after Helene made landfall in Florida and quickly wrecked much of the Southeast. Green and her neighbors managed to avoid any structural damage to their homes, other than a branch that fell in her backyard and put a hole in the roof of her shed. The home still has water and, and after some concern when the town initially lost power, food is still available at local stores. Were pretty self-sufficient, she said. A few blocks away, Chris Dunn wasnt as lucky. Winds that reached 80 mph pushed over his neighbors pecan tree and sent it crashing through his roof shortly before 6 a.m. Friday, sending water pouring into an unused bedroom. But even hes grateful it wasnt worse. He and his partner have continued to live comfortably in the rest of the 140-year-old rental since the tree came down, and he expects the damage to the roof can be fairly easily fixed. Its a really well-built house, Dunn said. Theres heavy timbers in it. Menda Shelton and her children, Xavier Shelton, 14, and India Shelton, 1, rest and work at the Old Newberry Fire Sation on Monday, Sept 30, 2024 where they could use the internet and charge their phones. The Sheltons live in the community of Joanna and had no power after strong winds and rain blew through from Hurricane Helene. There are people worse off than we are Dunns house only lost power for 12 hours Friday, he said, a quicker turnaround than many of his neighbors and something he credits to being on the same circuit as the hospital. For those who werent so lucky, a temporary shelter was opened at Newberry High School, and the city opened a charging station in the old firehouse where residents could plug in their devices and get online. Coffee and water were provided to a couple dozen people on Monday in front of a big flatscreen TV with the latest weather news. Menda Shelton left her still powerless home in Joanna to take advantage of the charging station along with her 14-year-old son, Xavier, and 4-year-old daughter, India. Xavier used the internet access to complete remote school work while his mother considered taking advantage of the showers opened to the public at the YMCA. Taylor estimates hundreds of people came through the charging station over the weekend, especially as Newberry College was without power until midday Sunday. College students were laid out on the floor to get charged, he said. Even as he saw people stopping on the street to take photos of the fallen pecan tree, Dunns thoughts were with other people in his community. I joked that we should put out a table with a collection jar and then take it downtown, he said. There are people worse off than we are. Everyone in our community, whether I know them or not, has asked if we need anything, he said. That says a lot. Workers remove a large Pecan tree from the roof of the house Chris Dunn and Lori Griffin rent in Newberry on Monday, Sept 30, 2024. It sounded like a gravel truck, Dunn said. As strong winds from Hurricane Helene knocked the tree down. Utility lineman work to replace power poles and lines in Newberry after strong winds and rain blew through from Hurricane Helene on Monday, Sept 30, 2024. Newlywed Adams officials David Banks, Sheena Wright may not get pillow talk privilege in fed probe: experts Newlywed Adams officials David Banks, Sheena Wright may not get pillow talk privilege in fed probe: experts The pillow talk of a city power couple could be fair game in a federal investigation of alleged corruption in the Adams administration, legal experts said Sunday. Saturdays Marthas Vineyard wedding of embattled Big Apple schools Chancellor David Banks and First Deputy Mayor Sheena may appear to give the pair cover in a potential federal criminal case but experts say the marriage doesnt completely shield them. The longtime loves nuptials which occurred the day after Mayor Eric Adams appeared in Manhattan federal court on sweeping corruption charges prompted murmurs that the pair married to claim legal spousal privilege, or the right of a wedded couple to decline to testify against each other. But experts said the privilege designed to protect pillow talk is unlikely to help Banks and Wright and could even backfire, opening them up to an obstruction-of-justice charge if the feds find evidence they wed to avoid testifying. New York City schools Chancellor David Banks and First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright got married over the weekend. James Keivom Spouses generally have the right to refuse to testify against one another in federal cases, but that privilege disappears when both are co-defendants in the same criminal matter, said Duncan Levin, a defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor. Levin noted that married couples cant claim spousal privilege if the feds ask them to divulge communications that they had before they were married, which Banks and Wright werent until this weekend. The most likely scenario is that Banks and Wrights marriage is highly unlikely to change anything whatsoever, he said of the pair whose Harlem home was raided by the feds earlier this month, when both their phones were also seized, as part of a murky probe. If this is some grand Machiavellian scheme, its very likely not to work, Levin said. Banks and Wright were together for more than a decade before the feds raided their Harlem home Sept. 4. @sheenawrightnyc Banks and Wright have been in a relationship for more than a decade, with rumors swirling that they planned a wedding last summer but never quite got to the I dos. Their relationship status came under renewed public scrutiny Sept. 4, when federal agents raided their Harlem home, seizing their phones. The raid unfolded nearly simultaneously with others across the city that swept up former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban and Banks brother Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks, among other top Adams officials and allies. Sources have detailed tantalizing but still vague details about potential multiple corruption investigations into Adams inner circle and with an uncertain connection with the probe that ultimately led to the mayors historic federal criminal charges. Banks and Wright are among several top Adams officials apparently under federal scrutiny. James Keivom The timing of David Banks and Wrights wedding not even a month later raised eyebrows among legal watchers, with criminal defense lawyer Jeff Greco telling The Post that the marriage appeared to be a bid to frustrate the sweeping federal probe. But other lawyers warned that spousal privilege isnt a cure-all for Banks and Wrights potential problems. Generally speaking, the spousal privilege only protects communications within the marriage, tweeted Andrew Fleischman, a defense lawyer. You cant just marry everybody you rob a bank with and hope they dont snitch. Anna Cominsky, managing attorney of New York Law School Legal Services, said the privilege only stands if the marriage is legitimate. You can imagine that here, the government might try and allege that the parties entered into a fraudulent marriage, a marriage whose sole purpose was to invoke the privilege and not for legitimate reasons, and therefore, the parties can be compelled to testify against each other, she told The Post. Experts said to expect that the Manhattan US Attorneys Office, which is behind much of the federal investigations into Adams and his top officials, is well-versed in navigating such spousal privilege issues. The issue came up in the feds recent successful prosecution of former New Jersey Sen. Gold Bar Bob Menendez, who tried to blame his wife Nadine for the gold bars found in their home. Menendezs lawyers attempted to cite spousal privilege in a bid to have the husband and wife tried separately, arguing that the senator had the right not to testify against his wife in their case. The judge ended up using other criteria to split the case up. Menendez was convicted on all counts in July, and Nadines case is pending. By Nupur Anand NEW YORK (Reuters) - Questions hang over who will succeed JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and when, but analysts and investors say one thing is almost certain: the bank's stock will slump when the powerful bank chief eventually departs. JPMorgan shares reflect a so-called "Jamie premium" of 10% to 15% that could evaporate when the longest-running chief of a major Wall Street bank decides to leave, according to estimates from four investors and three analysts. A 15% figure translates to almost $90 billion in market capitalization as of Friday's closing price. JPMorgan declined to comment. "The premium will also depend on how the succession happens," said Walter Todd, chief investment officer at Greenwood Capital Associates, which manages $1.7 billion in assets, including JPMorgan shares. "If it is unexpectedly, then it could be the tune of 10% or more... If it is a more well-thought out, gradual plan, then the premium could be lower." Analysts and investors say the "Jamie premium" has grown in recent years, helped by the bank's steady performance and its lack of major regulatory problems. It is also believed to be higher than those commanded by his peers, three investors said. Earlier this year, Dimon announced that his timeline for stepping down is no longer five years and could be as soon as two-and-a-half years, putting the spotlight on succession. Focus on the issue has also grown after Dimon had cancer in 2014 and emergency heart surgery in 2020. JPMorgan Chase's board and CEO are focused on succession planning, spending a lot of time thinking about what happens after he retires. "We'll do the right thing," Dimon told investors at a conference this month. "It's the last and most important thing I'll ever deal with, and we all want to get that exactly right." Dimon has run JPMorgan for 18 years and is one of the most influential figures in corporate America. The 68-year-old is seen as a key force behind its record profits, market share gains and performance that consistently beats rivals. Under his leadership, JPMorgan became the largest bank in the U.S. by assets in 2008 when it bought Washington Mutual, once the nation's largest savings and loan institution, during the global financial crisis. Dimon is also the only bank CEO among the six largest U.S. lenders to have been at the helm during that crisis. When last year's regional banking turmoil threatened to destabilize the industry, Dimon acquired First Republic and made the nation's biggest lender even bigger. Story continues 'AVOID SUCH DRAMA' Born to a Greek family in the New York borough of Queens, Dimon earned his bachelors degree from Tufts University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Under the tutelage of former Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill, Dimon cemented his reputation as a savvy operator and strict cost-cutter while working at various institutions. Weill later ousted his protege from Citi after the men clashed, and Dimon struck out on his own. He later became the CEO of Bank One. Dimon often warns JPMorgan executives against the dangers of complacency and pushes them to excel, five executives said privately. He has also emphasized the importance of succession planning. "Poor CEO succession has destroyed many a company," Dimon wrote in a letter to shareholders published in 2010. "CEO and management succession often seems more like a psychological drama or a Shakespearean tragedy than the reasoned and mature process it should be," he wrote at the time. "It is in our best interest to avoid such drama." As the Nov. 5 presidential election nears, Dimon has been floated for senior positions on U.S. economic policy, such as Treasury secretary. He was praised by former president Donald Trump and spoke with Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this month. Despite opining on what qualities the next president should possess, Dimon has not publicly endorsed either candidate. JPMorgan plans to split the CEO and chairman jobs, currently held by Dimon, after he eventually steps down, according to its proxy statement. The board could line up an executive chairman role for Dimon, echoing a move by Morgan Stanley to retain former chief James Gorman during Ted Pick's first year as CEO. Some analysts expect Dimon to stay at the helm until 2026, when he stands to gain a retention award of 1.5 million options in the form of stock appreciation rights. After a two-decade run as "probably the most well-regarded bank chief... (2026) could be seen as a reasonable time to pass the baton," said Brian Mulberry, client portfolio manager at Zacks Investment Management. 'DEEP BENCH' Dimon has cited a cadre of "extremely qualified" executives who are prepared to run the lender once he leaves. Directors have identified Jennifer Piepszak and Troy Rohrbaugh, co-CEOs of its commercial and investment bank, and Marianne Lake, CEO of consumer and community banking as potential contenders for the top job. Mary Erdoes, who heads the asset and wealth management businesses, is also in the running. The bank's president, Daniel Pinto, "could run the bank tomorrow," Dimon has also said. "The market has often touted Lake and Piepszak as frontrunners and they are both very well regarded by the investment community," HSBC analyst Saul Martinez said. Both women have served as finance chief at the bank. Indeed, JPMorgan could be the next major U.S. bank to have a woman CEO after Citigroup in 2021 became the first to do so when it appointed CEO Jane Fraser. JPMorgan has sought to build diversity in its ranks for decades, even though it says gender has not been a specific factor in CEO selection. "The bank has a deep bench and the potential CEOs are all very competent" because they have run its businesses, said Macrae Sykes, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, which owns JPMorgan stock. "But it is possible that the board could consider an outsider." Still, Dimon's departure will cast a long shadow. Sykes cited Apple co-founder Steve Jobs as an example of a company whose success is closely tied to a key figure. Apple's stock fell after Jobs' death because he was seen as instrumental to its success. "Investors knew that Jobs was unwell and the stock did react... but since then, and under the new management, it has been on an upward trajectory as the upheaval settled," he added. Analysts have also compared Dimon's leadership to that of Warren Buffett, the 94-year-old billionaire chief of Berkshire Hathaway, because both leaders are so closely identified with the success of their companies. Indeed JPMorgan's fortunes have surged under his leadership - its profit jumped to a record in the second quarter after it brought in its highest-ever annual earnings last year. The stock has climbed almost 24% so far in 2024, outperforming an index of broader U.S. bank shares that rose nearly 19%. The lender raised its outlook for net interest income -- or the difference between what it earns on loans and pays out on deposits -- this year, and also boosted its dividend. It will report third-quarter earnings on Oct. 11. (Reporting by Nupur Anand in New York, additional reporting from Suzanne McGee, Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Ross Kerber, editing by Lananh Nguyen and Deepa Babington) Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference in Sacramento in May. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law on Monday that will ban the sale of tampons and other menstrual products in California that contain certain levels of potentially toxic chemicals. The law would prohibit by 2025 the manufacture and sale of menstrual products that contain intentionally added perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS. If such products have PFAS added unintentionally, the law requires that by 2027 manufacturers must keep them below a level to be determined by the Department of Toxic Substances Control. The law also allows for fines to be imposed against those who violate the prohibition. These chemicals can help make the material in tampons and pads more absorbent, but advocates argue they can be replaced by safer substances. Read more: Risk of tap water exposure to toxic PFAS chemicals higher in Southern California Assemblymember Diane Papan (D-San Mateo), who authored the bill, called the legislation a "bright step forward for women's health." PFAS have been present in various consumer products, including cosmetics, cleaning products, nonstick cookware, drinking water and artificial turf, for decades. "This particular use because it's so intimate and affects 50% of the population for a very significant part of their lives had a lot of urgency to it," Papan said. "These are very dangerous chemicals. Can you believe that women in 2024 have to sit here and fight for this? It blows my mind." Exposure to PFAS, which are often called "forever chemicals" because of their persistence in the environment, has been tied to kidney and testicular cancer, increases in cholesterol, changes in liver function and hypertension and preeclampsia during pregnancy, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This isn't the first time the issue has been raised in California. A similar bill also authored by Papan garnered bipartisan support in the Legislature but was vetoed by Newsom last year. The governor at the time said he "strongly supported" the bill's intent. In his veto message, he directed the Department of Toxic Substances Control to work with Papan. "Previously enacted single-product chemical bans, which also lack oversight, are proving challenging to implement, with inconsistent interpretations and confusion among manufacturers about how to comply with the restrictions," he wrote in his veto message. Read more: After Newsom veto, California lawmakers try again to ban tampons with 'forever chemicals' California's law comes amid heightened concerns across the country about the contents of feminine hygiene products. A consumer study published in 2022 by the watchdog group Mamavation in partnership with Environmental Health News found that 22% of the 23 lab-tested tampon brands contained indications of PFAS. Out of the 46 sanitary pads and panty liners tested, 48% had indications of PFAS, according to the study. In June, Vermont became the first state to ban such chemicals from tampons and sanitary pads. Alexandra Scranton, the director of science and research at Womens Voices for the Earth, said California's new law is another "nail in the coffin" for PFAS. California has recently banned the use of the forever chemicals in cosmetics, clothing, food packaging, cribs and firefighting foam. "We think it's especially inappropriate in menstrual products because these are products used in some of the most sensitive and absorptive parts of the body," she said. Still, concerns about other ingredients persist. In July, a study by researchers at Columbia University, UC Berkeley and Michigan State University, found the presence of 16 potentially harmful metals in tampons sold by more than a dozen brands. In response, four members of the Democratic Womens Caucus wrote a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this month calling for the agency to address safety concerns over the materials in tampons and their potential health effects. "Women use about 7,400 tampons over the course of their reproductive years, so the presence of potentially harmful metals and chemicals in these products is incredibly concerning," the lawmakers wrote. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed an artificial intelligence safety bill on Sunday that aimed to curtail the rapidly growing AI industry. The bill, proposed by Democratic state Sen. Scott Weiner, mentioned safety 42 times and outlined several guardrails it looked to put in place. That included implementing the capability to promptly enact a full shutdown of any AI model, as well as have developers implement a written and separate safety and security protocol that would be publicly available. SB 1047 would also require AI developers advance the development and deployment of artificial intelligence that is safe, ethical, equitable, and sustainable. This would be accomplished by, among other measures, expanding access to computational resources although the bill doesnt say to whom in particular. Newsom had already hinted he would veto SB 1047 before Sunday. The Democratic governor, while speaking at Salesforces Dreamforce conference earlier this month, said California needs to be at the forefront of regulating AI. But SB 1047, he said, wasnt the right way to go about it, because it would have a chilling effect on the industry. Following his veto on Sunday, Newsom said the bill was well-intentioned but otherwise insufficient. SB 1047 does not take into account whether an AI system is deployed in high-risk environments, involves critical decision-making or the use of sensitive data, Newsom said in a statement. Instead, the bill applies stringent standards to even the most basic functions so long as a large system deploys it. I do not believe this is the best approach to protecting the public from real threats posed by the technology. Besides Newsom, OpenAI and Metas chief AI scientist Yann LeCun also recently came out against the bill. The bill said that if AI is not properly subject to human controls there could be significant public safety risks. That would include rogue AI models enabling the creation and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as well as leading cyber attacks. On Sunday, Weiner said the veto was a a setback for everyone who believes in oversight of massive corporations that are making critical decisions that affect the safety and the welfare of the public and the future of the planet. The post Newsom Vetoes Artificial Intelligence Safety Bill appeared first on TheWrap. NHC tracking system near Gulf of Mexico with 40% chance of formation. Will it impact Texas? There is a high risk of another tropical storm or hurricane forming in the Gulf of Mexico this week, forecasters say. The U.S. could see impacts from the development. "Conditions remain ripe for tropical development in the western Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico over the next week and steering breezes would tend to guide any feature that forms in those waters toward the United States," according to AccuWeather. Those sentiments were echoed Sunday by Dr. Ryan Truchelut, chief meteorologist with WeatherTiger. "Traumatized" Gulf Coast, Florida and the Southeast need to keep a close eye on this potential threat. Truchelut is a Florida meteorologist who works with the USA TODAY Network. In a telephone interview Friday, AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter warned residents along the Gulf Coast to not "let your guard down" as a system of low pressure could form over the western Caribbean. Track all active storms Weather alerts via text: Sign up to get updates about current storms and weather events by location Here's what we know from the National Hurricane Center's latest advisory. NHC tracking tropical disturbance moving towards Gulf of Mexico Tropical conditions 8 a.m. Sept. 30, 2024. A broad area of low pressure located over the western Caribbean Sea is producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms. Environmental conditions appear conducive for gradual development, and a tropical depression could form around the middle part of this week while the disturbance moves slowly west-northwest. This system is then expected to move northwestward into the Gulf of Mexico during the latter portion of this week. Residents in the northwestern Caribbean Sea and along the U.S. Gulf Coast should monitor the progress of this system. Formation chance through 48 hours: Low, near 0 percent. Formation chance through 7 days: Medium, 40 percent. TIMELINE: When could a tropical depression or storm develop? Potential for tropical development in the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico Oct. 1-5, 2024. AccuWeather meteorologists said the area from the western Caribbean to the Gulf of Mexico will remain a potential tropical development zone into the first half of October. "Over the next week, one to two tropical storms could be born in this zone and possibly steered across part of the southeastern United States that was hit hard by Hurricane Helene." The National Hurricane Center said a tropical depression could form around the middle part of this week. "At this range and without an actual disturbance to watch, Id simply say that its perhaps a little more likely than not something eventually develops in the Caribbean in the next 4 to 8 days, though not a certainty," Truchelut said Sunday. "That is of course concerning, as a steering ridge over the western Atlantic would again mean anything that does develop is probably heading northwest into the Gulf by the end of the week." Tropics update: Will Texas be impacted? Tropical concerns between Sept. 30 and Oct. 5, 2024. Downpours can be strewn anywhere from Louisiana to Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas in the U.S., according to AccuWeather. As southwesterly breezes increase, they will tend to cause moisture, and any tropical feature that has formed or is trying to form will be guided to the north or east later next week into the following weekend. If those steering breezes remain weak, then a track toward Louisiana could occur, said AccuWeather. If there are strong steering breezes from the southwest occur, then a track toward Florida and perhaps the coastal areas of Georgia and the Carolinas would be more likely. The most likely scenario with this week's tropical feature is that it will get drawn northward to a point over the Gulf but then shunted northeastward late this week, AccuWeather said. Hurricane tracker: NHC tracking 3 active storms, 1 tropical disturbance in the Atlantic In addition to the system developing over the western Caribbean Sea, the NHC is watching a trio of active storms in the Atlantic: Tropical Storm Isaac : Several hundred miles north of the Azores. Tropical Depression Joyce : Central Atlantic Ocean. Tropical Depression Twelve: Eastern Tropical Ocean. What do the colored areas on the NOAA map mean? The hatched areas on a tropical outlook map indicate "areas where a tropical cyclone which could be a tropical depression, tropical storm or hurricane could develop," said National Hurricane Center Deputy Director Jamie Rhome. The colors make it visibly clear how likely a system could develop with yellow being low, orange medium and red high. The National Hurricane Center generally doesn't issue tropical advisories until there is a named storm, but there is an exception. "If a system is near land and there is potential for development, the National Hurricane Center won't wait before it issues advisories, even if the system hasn't become an actual storm. This gives residents time to prepare," Rhome said. It's too early at this time to determine if there will be any impact to Texas or the U.S. from the other disturbances out there. Forecasters urge all residents to continue monitoring the tropics and to always be prepared. That advice is particularly important for what is expected to be a very active hurricane season. Texas weather watches and warnings Stay informed. Get weather alerts via text Interactive map: Hurricanes, tropical storms that have passed near your city USA TODAY reporter Cheryl McCloud contributed to this report. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: NHC still tracking system near Gulf of Mexico. Will it impact Texas? Nighttime closures coming to I-5 lanes and ramps north of Thurston County this week Drivers should prepare for nighttime slowdowns, congestion and construction on I-5 between Joint Base Lewis McChord and DuPont this week. Night work is planned for the beginning of October for the I-5 Mounts Road to Steilacoom-DuPont Road Corridor Improvements project, according to a news release from the Washington state Department of Transportation. Lane and ramp closures on southbound I-5 in Lakewood will last from Sept. 30 to Oct. 3. Lane closures near Thorne Lane/Berkeley Street will begin at 8 p.m. Monday. I-5 will be reduced to one lane by 9:30 p.m. All lanes will be reopened by 6 a.m. the following day. The southbound I-5 exit to Berkeley Street will be closed from 8 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday. Northbound I-5 from Mounts Road to JBLM will have single lane closures starting at 7:30 p.m. Monday. Double lane closures will begin at 10:30 p.m. All lanes will be reopened by 4:30 a.m. each following day. According to the release, crews will close I-5 exits to Berkeley Street, Mounts Road, Center Drive, Steilacoom-DuPont Road, and 41st Division Drive every night from Monday through Friday. They will close no earlier than 7 p.m. and reopen the next day by 4:30 a.m. There will be no more than two ramps closed at a time, according to the release. Signs have been posted around the construction to help detour drivers. No arrests in South Africa mass shootings as death toll rises to 18 This photo supplied by the South Africa Police Services (SAPS) shows the scene where seventeen people were killed in two mass shootings that took place in close proximity to each other Friday night in Lusikisiki, South Africa, police said Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (South African Police Services via AP) JOHANNESBURG (AP) One more person has died from mass shootings at two houses on the same street in a South African village over the weekend, bringing the death toll to 18, officials said Monday. Police are still searching for the assailants who opened fire Saturday on people who had reportedly gathered for a family event in Lusikisiki village in Eastern Cape province. The shootings, which took place in two separate houses on the same street, fueled outrage over a recent spate of mass shootings in the country. The motive for the killings remains unknown and police said on Monday that the investigation is continuing and no arrests have been made. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa condemned the killings and promised that the government would deploy all needed resources in the investigation. He said Monday that 38 people had been killed in previous mass shootings in the past two years and 25 suspects have been arrested. I feel deeply for all the families and members of the broader community affected by this attack, and on behalf of all of us as South Africans, I offer you our deepest sympathies," he said. While we are united in our grief, we are also united in our outrage and condemnation of this excessive criminal assault which will not go unpunished," he said. The shootings follow a mass killing in KwaZulu-Natal province in April 2023. Ten members of the same family, including seven women and a 13-year-old boy, were killed at their home. Sixteen people were fatally shot in a bar in the Johannesburg township of Soweto in 2022, the worst mass shooting in South Africa in decades before the latest killings in Lusikisiki. South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. It recorded 12,734 homicides in the first six months of this year, according to police. ___ AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa No mail delivery for dozens of Wichita residents after postal worker assaulted by two men Several dozen residents in a west Wichita neighborhood saw their mail delivery halted after a United States Postal Service worker was assaulted by two people earlier this month, a USPS official said. The incident occurred on Sept. 21 in the 800 block of S. Millwood Street. The neighborhood lies south of West Kellogg and the Delano neighborhood. USPS Postal Inspector and Public Information Officer Paul Shade said 41 addresses were affected by the halt of mail delivery. It is unclear exactly when mail delivery stopped. Shade said he was notified of it on Sept. 27. Residents who were affected should have received a card notifying them to pick up their mail at the nearest postal office. It is unclear when mail delivery will resume for these residents. As to how long thats going to be in place [mail halt], I dont have an answer to that, Shade said in a phone call on Monday. Thats a determination that the postal office makes whenever they feel that everything has been resolved to the point where they can resume. Attack on Wichita postal worker Wichita police responded at 2:50 p.m. on Sept. 21 to a battery call. A 48-year-old Wichita postal worker had facial injuries, WPD police spokesperson Juan Rebolledo said Monday. The worker said he did not need EMS services. Thankfully, our carrier is going to be OK, Shade said. The postal carrier had been delivering mail in the area when two large dogs chased him. He used pepper spray in self defense and ran back to his vehicle, both Shade and Rebolledo said. He was followed for multiple blocks by two men who physically assaulted him, Shade added. Police are looking for those men. No arrests have been made. The USPS asks all customers to keep their dogs within confined spaces to protect mail carriers. One of the primary missions of the Postal Inspection Service is the protection and security of the postal employees, and we take very seriously these incidents where our carriers are assaulted by members of the public, Shade said. Anyone with information on the case is encouraged to call WPD detectives at 316-268-4407 or Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111. The actions of the residents in response to this is unacceptable and will be followed up on by local law-enforcement and federal authorities, Shade said. JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. (WJHL) Jonesboroughs Water Treatment Facility sustained no major damage and is running at full capacity, officials announced on Monday. The system sustained infrastructure damage on the south side of the Nolichuckey River as a result of Hurricane Helene, the Town of Jonesborough said in a news release. Some of these [affected] areas will be out of water for an extended period of time. Crews are working diligently to assess and repair the damaged infrastructure to those areas. The Town of Jonesborough announced that as of Monday afternoon, water is being turned back on in the Limestone/Conklin area. After water is restored and stabilized there, crews will move to Bowmantown/Oakland area. The last section to have water restored will be the 81 North/Fall Branch area. The Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation (TDEC) requires a boil water advisory for the next 48 hours for those who lost water service due to flooding. Families ask for updates on missing loved ones at Unicoi County press conference Customers who never lost water service are not under the advisory, the Town of Jonesborough stated in a news release. If your service was cut off by utility officials at the meter for conservation purposes you do not need to boil, the town said. Residents under the boil water advisory are asked to bring all water to a boil, letting it boil for three minutes and cooling it before use. Boiled or bottled water should be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes and food preparation until further notice. Tap water is safe for bathing and showering but try to avoid getting it in your mouth. For more information, click here. The Town refers to areas south of the Nolichucky River as the southside of the system. Those include Highway 107, all connecting roads on Highway 107 and 81 South from Taylor Bridge heading towards Erwin, which also encompasses Bumpus Cove and Little Germany. The southside of the system is being asses for infrastructure needs and damages. Anyone with questions is asked to call the utility office at 423-753-1005. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. No one will be prosecuted for being forced to get Russian passports in occupied territories Ukraine's Ministry of Justice The Ministry of Justice has stated that Ukrainian citizens who have been forced to obtain Russian passports in the occupied territories will not be prosecuted. Source: press service for the Ministry of Justice Quote: "The practice of depriving a person of the possibility of choice is often used by the Russian occupation authorities to influence a person's behaviour so that the latter acts not of their own free will, but under pressure from circumstances due to fear of repression or the imposition of illegal restrictions. One example is the forced passportisation in the temporarily occupied territories (TOT) of Ukraine, which is one of the numerous proofs of the violation of citizens' rights." Details: Those who have obtained Russian passports to avoid ill-treatment will not be prosecuted. The ministry stated that Article 40 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, provided there is evidence of mental coercion, grants full legal protection in court. The Ministry of Justice said that among the measures taken by Russia in the territories under its control is the forced Russification of citizens holding Ukrainian passports. The ministry stated that Russia is inflicting the greatest suffering on civilians, as holding a Ukrainian passport is regarded as an act of protest. Therefore, under the extremely difficult conditions of living under occupation, local residents are forced to take Russian citizenship. The Ministry of Justice also said such documents have no legal force and are not recognised anywhere except in the occupied territories. "Forced passportisation is illegal and is not recognised in Ukraine or in the world, as it contradicts the principles and norms of international law and is a violation of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War," the press service said. Support UP or become our patron! (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) As a Wake County high school graduate, I can tell you what the U.S. Constitution is. I can tell you about the Nineteenth Amendment and how it guarantees my right to vote as a woman. I learned all of this in my required Civics course during my freshman year. What I didnt learn was how to vote. I can tell you who the U.S. President is and how I learned about the electoral college system that got him there. What I didnt learn was who my local legislators are and what role they play in passing laws that, arguably, impact me more than any federal public official does. This is the unfortunate reality of civics education across North Carolina and really, across the nation that is leaving my generation uneducated and unprepared on how to be civically engaged. Currently, students are heavily educated on the historical foundations of our country and on the major public figures they hear so frequently about in the news. What they arent taught are how to practically exercise their right to vote, engage with their local legislators, and advocate for concrete local change. We see the negative impacts of this in our communities, but we also see it in the numbers. In the 2022 General Election, less than a quarter of registered voters ages 18-25 in North Carolina voted, with only a 24.1% turnout rate. With youth voters having the lowest voter turnout rate of any age group across the state, it is more crucial now than ever that efforts to register and turn out young voters become more equitable and effective. This starts with civics education in high school by ensuring that students are taught more than just history. Being taught how to register to vote is critical for high school juniors and seniors as many are eligible for voter pre-registration. In North Carolina, pre-registration allows 16- and 17-year-olds to fill out the registration form and become automatically registered when they turn 18. When I was a junior, many of my friends didnt even know what voter pre-registration was. The ones that did had already pre-registered through the Division of Motor Vehicles when they got their drivers license. This pathway to voter pre-registration, while helpful, often disproportionality favors higher socioeconomic status students due to the economic barriers of getting a drivers license, such as being able to afford gas or a car. By implementing this education into high schools, students across the state will be more equitably reached. Already, schools commonly host voter registration drives during lunch periods or between classes, but with students busy schedules these options are not convenient or motivating enough for most students. A more effective option would be to give students time in class to pre-register after being taught about the process. Moreover, this lesson could be followed up with an in-class voting demonstration to make the in-person polling process more familiar and comfortable for students. Beyond these simple changes, however, students still oftentimes lack basic knowledge of the importance of local governments and elections. Its not enough for students to simply know how to vote. They must know what theyre voting for, nationally and locally. In many ways, an uneducated vote can be just as harmful as no vote at all. Instead, schools should push for students to be educated about offices down the ballot. They might know who the presidential candidates are and what power theyll have in office, but do they know about the role of the District Attorney and who the candidates are? What about the State Superintendent and their impact on local education? As we look to the 2024 Presidential election this November, were sure to see the youth vote become more consequential than ever before. Regardless of political views, every young voter deserves to exercise this fundamental right because in a thriving democracy, every single voice should be heard not just the voices of those who already have the resources to make themselves heard. By educating and empowering students to vote, our electoral process becomes more equitable, and the power of democracy rightfully falls back to the people. In North Carolina, the future of abortion could come down to a few hundred votes Protesters march in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. The future of abortion access in North Carolina remains uncertain as lawmakers consider further restrictions following the state's 12-week abortion ban. Protesters march in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. The future of abortion access in North Carolina remains uncertain as lawmakers consider further restrictions following the state's 12-week abortion ban. (Allison Joyce/Getty Images) HUNTERSVILLE, NC Beth Helfrich had locked herself in the bathroom to watch the legislature vote. It was the only room in the house where the mother of five would be able to hear anything. It was late one night in May 2023, and North Carolina lawmakers were voting on whether to institute a 12-week abortion ban, which would override the veto of their Democratic governor. Helfrich couldnt stop watching and hoping. Shed spent the past several weeks begging neighbors and friends to call their Republican state representative, at one point making phone calls from the school bus while chaperoning a field trip. All they needed was one person to break ranks. The stakes felt tangible. Helfrich had experienced two miscarriages. For each, she had been given the option of medical management, including a dilation and curettage procedure, which is also used for abortions. In the wake of state bans, dilation and cutterage has become harder to obtain. Thats part of why it feels so personal, she said. Yes, I have chosen to have five children and I have always had the autonomy and fundamental right to make decisions about my care every step of the way. That night, she watched as one by one, the states GOP lawmakers, including her own representative, voted in favor of the 12-week ban. It was a moment of such powerlessness and feeling ignored, and I dont think it was that we werent heard, she said. It was that we were heard, and it didnt matter. The next day, Helfrich, who had never run for office beyond her colleges student government and the parent-teacher association at her childrens school (she was president), called her state Democratic party. That October, she became a candidate for the North Carolina House of Representatives. Shes part of a growing Democratic effort to turn North Carolinas Republican-dominated statehouse just a tinge more purple one that has gotten a jolt of energy from Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris campaign. The vice president has made repeated visits to the state, campaigning alongside popular Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper to turn North Carolina blue for the first time since Barack Obamas landslide 2008 victory. Polls suggest a tight race between Harris and former President Donald Trump, who won North Carolina in the past two elections. Beth Helfrich, a mother of five and first-time political candidate, stands with her family outside Summit Coffee Co. in Huntersville, North Carolina. (Courtesy of Beth Helfrich) Democrats hope the enthusiasm for Harris will translate into down-ballot victories. State Attorney General Josh Stein, the partys candidate for governor, is favored to win, especially after an explosive CNN story unearthing lewd, racist and antisemitic comments his Republican opponent Mark Robinson made on an internet forum. In the legislature, Republicans currently hold a one-vote supermajority enough to override the governors veto. If that split remains, North Carolina is likely to enact new abortion restrictions next year. That reality is driving Democrats to work toward a modest yet consequential goal: gaining at least one seat to break the GOP supermajority, which could come down to just a few hundred votes in the right state district. It could come down to races like Helfrichs. Abortion has energized voters nationally, becoming a staple of Harris stump speech. And while polling consistently shows that the economy remains voters top issue, abortion ranks high as a concern, especially for women voters. In North Carolina, polling from the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute shows that close to two-thirds of voters think abortion should be legal in most or all cases. Stein has emphasized the issue in his gubernatorial campaign. Further restrictions in North Carolina could have profound implications for health care access well beyond its borders. With its 12-week cutoff and just over a dozen clinics, North Carolina is one of only two states in the South to allow abortion beyond six weeks of pregnancy. Some providers say a stricter ban could force them to halt services altogether. If the state passed a ban at six weeks, which is before many people know theyre pregnant, it could cut their patient volume so much that they wouldnt make enough money to stay open. That would mean imminent failure, said Calla Halle, who operates A Preferred Womens Health Center, a network of abortion clinics with two outposts in North Carolina and two more in Georgia, where abortion is outlawed after six weeks. Soon after North Carolina enacted the 12-week ban last year which also mandated that patients getting abortions make two visits to a clinic, separated by 72 hours then-House Speaker Tim Moore expressed openness to pursuing tighter restrictions in 2025, including possibly a six-week ban. (Moore is now running for Congress.) North Carolinas 72-hour in-person waiting period has prevented the state from becoming a regional destination for abortion access, said Caitlin Myers, an economist at Middlebury College who studies abortion-seeking patterns. People from nearby Southern states are more likely to travel to Virginia, which has fewer restrictions on the procedure and is now seeing more patients from as far south as Florida. Still, a tighter North Carolina ban could further strain a fragile medical ecosystem, she said. If North Carolina amps up the restrictions, even more people will go past North Carolina, and North residents will leave. Virginia will become even more important, Myers said. Virginias providers are probably ready to absorb that surge but only to an extent, she said. North Carolina does seem like the big looming state to me, Myers added. Its the one I think of when I think, Where could there be a big shock? Helfrich has been endorsed by national abortion rights groups, including Emilys List and Reproductive Freedom for All, formerly known as NARAL. Elections analysts believe that hers is one of the seats that could flip. Her Republican opponent, Melinda Bales, did not respond to multiple requests for an interview and has been quiet about abortion on the campaign trail. If candidates like Helfrich make inroads, abortion and reproductive rights will be a major reason why. At a voter meet-and-greet hosted in a home in Huntersville, just a few miles from Charlotte, woman after woman kept returning to the topic one that Helfrich has emphasized in speeches and is the focus of her campaigns first issue-specific advertisement. Multiple women said the fall of Roe v. Wade has made abortion a key issue for them. My biggest concern is choice, Christine Somers, a local precinct chair for the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party and host of the gathering, said over wine and cookies. Theyre encroaching on your choice on when you have children. They really seem to be coming after women. Deanna Wolfe, a 58-year-old single mother of two adult children who attended the gathering, is canvassing for the first time this election, going door to door to encourage voters to turn out for Democrats up and down the ballot, including Helfrich. She was initially scared of the prospect of knocking on peoples doors. But ever since Roes overturn, Wolfe said, shes become deeply worried about the future of abortion rights in North Carolina. Now, her fear that the state legislature could pass more restrictions outweighs any hesitation she had about asking strangers to talk about politics. As a single mom who has done everything for myself independently in the last 19 years, including raising two independent daughters, its really important to me that they not be restricted. I trust them to make decisions about their own bodies, Wolfe said. Im incredibly concerned. Im concerned for my daughters especially and not just my daughters, everyones daughters, everyones children. I think its a really dangerous, dangerous time, and I think that women are going to die as a result of this. At Halles clinic in Charlotte, the stakes are obvious. The health center provides abortions six days a week, caring for hundreds of patients each month. Because its so close to the states southern border, about two-thirds of the patients it sees come from another state, traveling from South Carolina and Georgia, where abortion is illegal after six weeks of pregnancy. The clinics walls and doors are plastered with signs reminding patients to vote and listing registration deadlines for all three states. Discharge papers now include a sheet with voting information in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, along with a link to a voter registration website and a warning to patients about candidates at all levels who are aiming to take away our personal freedoms. The sheet specifically singles out Robinson, who has in the past said he supported a six-week abortion ban. At the front desk, staff are equipped with a thick stack of voter registration forms and pre-stamped envelopes that patients can use to mail the forms. Halle said she is working on a list of North Carolina candidates from the top of the ticket down to the local level who support abortion rights, in case patients find the information useful. Its one seat that has to change. But also how many votes have to go to that? Halle asked. She then sighed. I just have to do what I can live with. The margins are slim, and in some of the tightest races, talking about abortion requires a particular level of delicacy. In the eastern end of Huntersville, Diamond Staton-Williams, a state legislator, is one of a few Democrats fighting to hold on to her seat, which she won by 629 votes in 2022. A registered nurse, Staton-Williams spoke on the legislature floor last year about having an abortion in 2002, when she was a student and she and her husband already had two children. North Carolina state legislator Diamond Staton-Williams has shared her personal story of having an abortion and continues to advocate for reproductive rights. (Courtesy of Diamond Staton-Williams) I knew that in order for my family to prosper and to continue with the opportunities we had in front of us, this was the best decision for us, Staton-Williams said at the time. Staton-Williams district is different this cycle, thanks to a broader Republican-led redistricting project that took effect after the 2022 election. In her previous race, the seat tilted slightly Democratic. Now, its a redder seat, one that is Whiter and more rural, and where Trump is favored to win. This cycle, shes campaigned alongside abortion rights advocates, including local providers and patients. Her opponent, Jonathan Almond, has been endorsed by the anti-abortion group Students for Life and openly opposes abortion rights, arguing on his campaign website, We must do more to protect the lives of unborn children in North Carolina. Almond, who has publicly appeared alongside Robinson, also did not respond to repeated requests for an interview. Between Harris candidacy and the abortion-related stakes, Staton-Williams has seen an increase in support, like more donations and more volunteers willing to go door-to-door. Shes met people largely women who recognize her because of the time she shared her own experience with abortion. If Democrats do make gains in the state house, she said, it will be in large part because of abortion. Still, Staton-Williams district is very different from one like Helfrichs and as a result, so is the race shes running. Abortion almost never comes up when she is talking to the voters who will determine whether she holds her seat, she said. These are voters who will likely vote for Trump but who she believes could be convinced to cross party lines at the legislative level. More often, they want to talk about housing costs or the economy. The literature her campaign leaves behind alludes to abortion, but never mentions the word, referring only to her intention to support reproductive health care. We are in the Bible belt, right? she said. That requires a level of reframing talking less about abortion and instead alluding to it in the context of expanding access to health care. Its talking about care for people like this is care for people, care for women, she said. We care about women, we care about kids, we care about families, this is care that you need. The post In North Carolina, the future of abortion could come down to a few hundred votes appeared first on The 19th. News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday. Subscribe to our free, daily newsletter. Local Kitchens, a multi-brand restaurant in the US, has teamed up with celebrity chef Alvin Cailan to introduce the Sweet Onion Burger in Northern California. This marks Cailan's first culinary venture in the region, with this innovative take on the Oklahoma Onion Burger. The new burger option is now available across all 13 Local Kitchens outlets in the Bay Area and Sacramento. Chef Cailan is known for establishing the renowned Eggslut restaurant. The Sweet Onion Burger features Angus beef, which is seared with thinly shaved onions, then complemented with American cheese, and dill pickles, served on a toasted bun. Cailan's twist on the regional classic includes savoury sauces such as bacon jam and the signature SOB sauce. Cailan said: Being a part of a company that envisions the future of food as I do feels auspicious. Ive spent over 15 years perfecting my craft, but Ive never brought this burger style to market. Many are now trying, but few are doing it right. Im so glad I found the perfect partner in Local Kitchens to bring this vision to life. Since its inception in 2020, Local Kitchens has established a presence in the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento, with plans to extend its footprint to Los Angeles by early 2025. Local Kitchens CEO Jon Goldsmith said: At Local Kitchens, our vision is to break down borders by connecting communities with flavours and stories from around the world. Alvin Cailans Sweet Onion Burger celebrates an Oklahoma tradition, and we're thrilled to bring this exceptional brand to our guests across Northern California. Last month, The Bay Club Company teamed up with Local Kitchens to enhance its members' dining experience by introducing a variety of chef-crafted menus. "Local Kitchens partners with celebrity chef to launch Sweet Onion Burger" was originally created and published by Verdict Food Service, 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. Damaged roadways, mudslides and unstable ground have made it difficult to get supplies to those in Western North Carolina. The above photo is a section of I-40 near Black Mountain. (Photo: NCDOT) North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and the states top emergency management officials provided an update Sunday to the ongoing, massive response to Tropical Storm Helene. Helene dropped from 10 to 29 inches of rain across the mountains on Friday, causing life-threatening floods and landslides. The storm has claimed 11 lives in North Carolina, and officials expect that number will rise. Gov. Cooper said the state is aware that people are desperate for help, and multiple agencies are actively pushing to get it to them. Many people are cut off because roads are impassable, they dont have power or communications. Please know that we are sending resources and coordinating closely with local governments, first responders, state and federal partners, and volunteer organizations to help those impacted by this tragic storm, said Gov. Cooper. Because its difficult to trucks in the needed supplies over closed and damaged roads, the state has begun airlifting food and water into the region. A 20-bed state medical support center is opening in Caldwell County later today, and the state will be setting up more. Nearly 464,000 customers remain without power. Thats down from a peak of more than a million customers at the height of the storm. More than 500 North Carolina National Guard members have been deployed to work with local emergency responders conducting search and rescue missions, delivering needed supplies, and working to restore infrastructure. President Biden granted Coopers request for a federal major disaster declaration providing immediate federal help for 25 North Carolina counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Cell phone providers are working to fix the damage and get stopgap solutions in place. NC Emergency Management Director Will Ray said conditions on the ground remain extremely dangerous. We ask people not to venture into storm-affected areas, whether to check on property, loved ones, or just to sight see. Besides endangering yourself, you could also be interfering with emergency responders or repair crews, cautioned Ray. Please let the professionals do their jobs. The state has over 730 responders conducting search and rescue efforts. Telecommunications companies are working around the clock to restore cell phone service and mobile data to the mountains. Ray said for those in western North Carolina, its recommended you turn your phones off and turn them back on periodically to allow the phone to connect to a network. On Friday, North Carolinas telecommunications partners activated disaster roaming on all networks. This means that any phone on any carrier can access any network to place calls. As of midday Sunday, 280 roads remained closed in Western North Carolina because of Helene. The majority of those are in Henderson, Ash, Buncombe, Lincoln, Cleveland, Jackson, Transylvania and Yancey counties. Many of the closures are due to high water where the roadway is impassable or flooded. We also have several land and rockslides down power lines, pipe failures and fallen trees, said NC Department of Transportation Secretary Joey Hopkins. One piece of good news, according to Hopkins, a previously closed section of I-26 south of Asheville has reopened allowing responders their first major route into and out of the city. Crews have also opened up a path through the slide near Old Fort on I-40 to allow some stranded vehicles and also emergency responders to pass through with assistance from the state highway patrol. Hopkins said unnecessary travel is hindering NCDOT crews from doing the work to get the roads reopened. Our main message is simple, consider all roads in western North Carolina to be closed until further notice, said the NCDOT Secretary. One of the biggest concerns right now is the availability of clean water. Ray said there are 93 systems that are on a boil water advisory with 33 awaiting test results to clear that advisory. Loss of power is one contributing factor, but we also know that theres significant infrastructure damage from the amount of water that impacted a number of these communities, thats going to have significant rebuild impacts for these water systems to come online, Ray explained. In the days ahead they will determine which water systems need simple repairs or whether an extensive overhaul of a jurisdictions water system is required. Because those are significant lifts and challenges, we are preparing our operation to continue to move commodities into those impacted areas, particularly food and water for an extended duration of time, said Ray. Those in need of shelter can find a list of open shelters here. As of Sunday afternoon, the one shelter is McDowell County at Glenwood Baptist Church was at full capacity. For those who wish to donate to recovery efforts, the state will be activating North Carolinas Disaster Relief Fund, managed by the United Way of North Carolina. NC Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. NC Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Rob Schofield for questions: info@ncnewsline.com. Follow NC Newsline on Facebook and X. What to do if you have tickets and how to help Sean Rayford/Stringer/Getty Images One of Western North Carolinas most popular tourist attractions and historic sites, Biltmore, has closed its doors to assess damage to the property from Tropical Storm Helene. Biltmore has not released images or updates on specific damage, but a September 30 statement on the estates website reads: Due to significant flooding, impassable roads, and widespread power outages in our region from Tropical Storm Helene, Biltmore is temporarily closed. Biltmore recommends checking its weather page for more updates as information becomes available. This is a heartbreaking situation for our community and region. The safety of our guests and employees is our top priority, and we appreciate your patience as we assess the damage of last weekend's storm and work to repair communication channels. Biltmore Estate (@BiltmoreEstate) September 30, 2024 "This is a heartbreaking situation for our community and region," the estate said in a statement shared to Twitter. "The safety of our guests and employees is our top priority, and we appreciate your patience as we assess the damage of last weekend's storm and work to repair communication channels." Ticket holders are asked to reschedule their visit, although that may not be possible at this time, due to a lack of internet and cellular service in the area. Refunds can also be requested online. Reservations will be automatically canceled for overnight guests with planned arrival Friday Sept. 27 through Thursday Oct. 3, according to Biltmore. The Asheville area has experienced unprecedented damage from the storm, primarily from river flooding. According to the Asheville Citizen Times, the Swannanoa River at Biltmore crested at 26.1 feet on Friday. The previous record for that location was 20.7 feet. The National Water Prediction Service reports that this is the worst flooding in the area since measurements were first recorded in 1920. Sean Rayford/Stringer/Getty Images Nearby Historic Biltmore Village, a walkable mixed-use community with shops, restaurants, and residences, has suffered catastrophic damage. Images show that much of the area was underwater, with downed trees, overturned vehicles, and impassable roads. Related: Hurricane Helene Leaves Catastrophic Damage Across Several States: Heres How To Help How To Help The American Red Cross, Mercy Chefs, North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund, World Central Kitchen, and many other organizations are seeking donations to assist impacted areas. Click here for more information and how to donate. For more Southern Living news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on Southern Living. Hurricane Helene ravaged western North Carolina over the weekend, leaving behind a trail of death and devastation. At least 44 people were killed across the state, most in a mountainous county where monstrous floodwaters engulfed homes, demolished businesses and cut off power to thousands. North Carolina emergency crews were racing Monday to deliver food and other essential supplies to areas hit hard by Helene. In interviews and social media posts, residents said they urgently needed diapers, baby formula, gas and drinking water. Hundreds of people remain unaccounted for and hundreds of thousands of customers were without power in the state Monday evening, according to the website Poweroutage.us. This is an unprecedented tragedy that requires an unprecedented response, Gov. Roy Cooper said at a news briefing Sunday, adding that some areas were drenched by as much as 29 inches of rainfall. Follow here for live coverage. At least 40 people were dead in Buncombe County, home of the thriving mountain city of Asheville, according to law enforcement officials. Asheville, a mecca for artists and a popular tourist destination, found itself isolated by the storms effect: electricity and cell service cut off; roads and bridges in ruins; cars and trucks submerged. Asheville resident Will Overfelt told NBC News that there was very little drinking water, other than what people already had in stock. We are all rationing, he said. There is no water to boil. Taps are totally dry. He said some people are using pond water to flush toilets in an effort to maintain some level of sanitation. John Finley lives 15 miles outside Asheville and said his biggest concern is getting power back. You cant have water without power, he said. While he has access to well water, we have no power to run pumps. Many in the area were turning to shelters, which were providing food, drinking water and a safe and dry place to sleep. Karol Chase, a Red Cross disaster program manager, said community organizations have been able to provide them with the essentials. The shelter is still in need of more water, clothing and toiletries, she said. Mobile medical units from other parts of the state were flying to hard-hit areas equipped with bottled water and Gatorade, said Jonathan Collier, vice president of mobile medicine at Atrium Health in Charlotte. Those units were returning with the most fragile patients, including premature babies, heart attack and stroke victims, and people with traumatic injuries. Were doing a trade as we drop off the water and supplies, he said, and picking up their patients and getting them back to where they can receive the care they need. Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller, describing the storms chaotic aftermath as a historic event, acknowledged that some officials were blindsided by the sheer intensity of Helene, which also slammed into parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. I dont know that we can ever properly prepare for everything. This was new to all of us. This is stretching us in places that we didnt know, Miller said. To say this caught us off guard would be an understatement. Helene struck Florida with massive force, leaving many in that area once again picking up the pieces after another devastating hurricane. Far less common is for a weather event like Helene to hit the mountains of Appalachia an area hours from the coast where residents are unaccustomed to calamitous hurricane-related weather. Photos and videos from Asheville, home to 95,000 people, captured harrowing scenes and showed neighborhoods rendered unrecognizable by Helenes impact. Homes swept away. Refrigerators and other appliances floating in muck. Restaurants and coffee shops pummeled to pieces. Dazed locals wandering through streets lined with debris. Residents surveying damage as they paddled in kayaks in murky brown floodwaters alongside inundated rooftops. Parts of Boone, N.C., were completely washed out. The historic village of Biltmore, a popular attraction at the entrance to the Biltmore mansion, was plunged underwater. The estate, built during the first Gilded Age, regularly draws throngs of visitors. In an interview on NBCs TODAY show Monday, Buncombe Countys director of communications described the shock of returning to her own home the previous evening. I went home last night for the first time since the storm hit and I live in Black Mountain, and to say its decimated would be an understatement, Lillian Govus said. Roads are so impassable so were having to actually fly materials in, take other routes. Mark Goldthwaite, the owner of the Asheville Guitar Bar, said he feared his business was effectively destroyed. Its not only months of recovery, he told NBC affiliate WRAL of Raleigh. Its years. President Joe Biden, calling the effect of the storm stunning, pledged to visit the area this week as long as he does not get in the way of recovery and rescue efforts. Your nation has your back and the Biden-Harris administration will be there until the job is done, he said from the White House on Monday. Biden added that he may call a special session of Congress to address the hurricanes devastation, but that no decisions have been made yet. Helene made landfall late Thursday in Floridas Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph winds. The storm, weakened but still fearsome, ripped through Georgia and then doused the Carolinas and Tennessee with heavy rains. Weather-related deaths totaled more than 100 people across the Southeast, according to an NBC News tally based on figures from local officials. The approximately 44 people dead in North Carolina represent a third of all fatalities from the storm. Jessica Drye Turner took to Facebook on Friday, begging for someone to rescue four of her family members stranded on the roof of their home in Asheville. They are watching 18-wheelers and cars floating by, she wrote. But before help could arrive, the roof collapsed. Turner said in a subsequent Facebook post Saturday that her elderly parents and 6-year-old nephew had drowned. I have never felt this kind of loss, devastation and aching of my spirit, she wrote. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) The North Charleston Police Department is scheduled to host a community block party for National Night Out on Tuesday. The event was initially postponed due to Tropical Storm Debby, which impacted the area in August. Officers say the event will take place at the New Park Circle on Tuesday, October 1 from 6 8 p.m. Attendants can enjoy free food, K-9 demonstrations, vendors, and a chance to meet the officers in their community. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WCBD News 2. Should North Korea and South Korea even bother trying to reunify? A fence near the border between South and North Korea is decorated with messages wishing for reunification. While Seoul is pro-reunification, younger South Koreans are increasingly dismissing the idea. (Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press) It is a dream that has been sacrosanct in South Korea for seven decades: reunification with North Korea. Which is why one politicians comments this month were so jarring. Reunification? Lets not do it, said Im Jong-seok, who was chief of staff to President Moon Jae-in, who left office in 2022. Let us abandon the compulsive idea that we absolutely must reunify. Let us acknowledge the objective reality and accept the two separate countries, he continued in a speech commemorating the anniversary of the historic 2018 summit between Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Political opponents and allies alike quickly shot back. Read more: Kim Jong Un 'polite' and Trump 'practical'? Former South Korean leader says so in new memoir Conservative newspapers ran editorials suggesting that Im is legitimizing the North Korean dictator. President Yoon Suk-yeol criticized the idea as unconstitutional. Lawmakers from Ims liberal party made it clear that the comments do not reflect its official stance, which advocates peaceful reunification. Im later clarified that he was emphasizing the need to peacefully coexist with a hostile neighbor. But his comments and the blowback they caused speak to a changing political reality in which a growing number of South Koreans are in fact asking the very same question: At this point, is reunification with North Korea possible, or even desirable? The Korean War ended in 1953 with a cease-fire, but not a peace treaty. Reunification was central to the founding mission of the South Korean government, said Kim In-han, a political scientist at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. The official view has always been that South Koreas territory extends to what is currently North Korea. Read more: One nation's plan for success: Work less and make more babies It is enshrined in South Koreas constitution, which states that the president is duty-bound to work toward peaceful reunification. A special government ministry the Ministry of Unification exists to oversee this mission. If we give up reunification, the conflict between North and South Korea will grow even more bitter and the security threat on the peninsula will only grow, President Yoon said in response to Ims comments. Despite periods of hostility and military clashes with South Korea, North Korea has also long operated on the principle that the two countries, akin to temporarily estranged siblings, should one day be reunited. The two sides will reconnect the blood relations of the nation and bring forward the future of co-prosperity and independent reunification, read the joint declaration issued after the summit between the countries leaders in 2018. In recent years, however, the prospect has grown ever more remote. North Korea's Kim, for one, has officially abandoned the idea. The two countries no longer share any kinship. Their relationship has now completely settled into that of two hostile countries, two belligerents at war, North Korean media reported him saying in January. Reunification will never be possible with South Korea. And although Seouls official position remains pro-reunification, younger South Koreans are also increasingly dismissing the idea, viewing it as a costly undertaking that will simply invite in a mass of impoverished refugees who will struggle to adjust in a capitalist democracy. Read more: Korea's army of senior citizens ready for battle. 'I dont remember the rifles being so heavy' The proportion of South Koreans between the ages of 19 and 29 who believe reunification is necessary fell from 54% in 2018 to 28% last year, according to a survey by Seoul National Universitys Institute for Peace and Unification Studies. But Kim In-han, the political scientist, said he believes that many of them will change their mind when faced with the real-life implications. North Koreas economy is struggling from years of sanctions because of their missile and nuclear tests, and other than a few loyal elites in Pyongyang, ordinary North Koreans are left to fend for themselves, he said. If the government were to collapse, whether triggered by a coup or some other internal breakdown, violence and chaos would fill the political vacuum, spilling over to South Koreas borders. China might try to muscle in to restore order. A massive refugee crisis would need to be contained. Then the question becomes: Do you want to live next to a failed state ruled by gangs like Haiti, or do you want South Korea to take the initiative, steer the region toward stability and eventually democratize and reunify with the North? said Kim, the political scientist. I think even most young people would choose the latter. 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. Norway is considering building fencing along the country's border with Russia amid ongoing concerns over migrant crossings, Norway's Justice Minister Emily Anger Mel said in an interview with Norway's NRK media outlet. Mel said that the country is looking at "several measures" to increase security along the nearly 200 km northern border with Russia, including building fences. "A border fence is very interesting, not only because it can act as a deterrent but also because it contains sensors and technology that allow you to detect if people are moving close to the border" Mel told NRK in an interview published late on Sept. 28 No details have yet to be provided about a potential plan and it is unclear as to whether the whole 200 km border would be fenced off. The consideration follows neighboring Finland's construction of a border fence after Finland accused Russia of weaponizing migration by encouraging migrants from countries like Syria and Somalia to cross the border. Finland closed its land borders with Russia late last year after more than 1,300 asylum seekers crossed over from Russia. Pointing to concerns over a lack of security at the Norway-Russia border, Mel cited a 2015 example of approximately 5,000 asylum seekers who arrived at the Sturskug border in northeastern Norway - the only legal land border crossing between the two countries. No data was immediately available as to how many Russian migrants crossed the border since the start of the full-scale invasion. In November 2023, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said that the country may follow the example of Finland and close its land border crossing with Russia "if necessary" - although it has yet to do so. Reports of Moscow-orchestrated migrant crisis echo the strategy used by Belarus against its NATO neighbors. Minsk has been facilitating flows of third-country migrants to the Baltic countries and Poland since 2021. Read also: Ukraine war latest: Zelensky says Putin afraid to use nuclear weapons because he loves his life Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Beef sold at Wegmans Supermarket in Fredericksburg, Virginia on Sept. 1, 2009 displays the required Country of Origin Label (COOL). COOL is a labeling law that requires retailer, such as full-line grocery stores, supermarkets, and club warehouse stores to notify their customers with information regarding the source of certain foods. (USDA photo by Bob Nichols via Flickr | Public domain) Recently I listened to a radio interview with Tim Sheehy on Working Ranch radio show that is very concerning. When Tim Sheehy was asked about MCOOL (mandatory country of origin label) his answer sided with the packers. He said they should have the ability to mix foreign beef with U.S. beef without being penalized. To be clear the only penalty that the packers now have is to not to dishonestly label their products. He said that mixing in foreign beef doesnt impact the product. He also said that COOL should be addressed at the state level therefore, he doesnt support federal MCOOL. Montana beef producers and the Montana Legislature would disagree. The Montana state legislature passed a resolution encouraging the federal government to pass MCOOL. Every agricultural group supported the resolution, the vote was nearly unanimous. Did you know that when the Olympics were held in Mexico, Brazil and China the Olympic committee advised athletes to not eat local beef because it could cause them to fail the drug tests? Examples like this (and many more) are why MCOOL is supported by more than 80% of consumers. Recently consumers and ranchers had a couple of big wins. The Biden administration signed executive orders requiring that products voluntarily labeled with Product of USA had to be born, raised and processed in the United States and required that any products purchased by the USDA be Product of USA. It used to be packers could bring in foreign meat repackage it and label it Product of USA. Much of the beef fed to our children in schools used to be mixed with foreign beef. All foods except beef and pork require MCOOL. Farmers Union worked with congress to pass MCOOL in 2002. MCOOL was the law of the land until the four largest packers in Mexico, Canada and USA encouraged Mexico and Canada to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization on MCOOL for all foods. They argued that MCOOL was discriminatory because American consumers if allowed the choice would buy U.S. products over foreign products. They eventually scaled back their complaint to just all meats. The basis of their argument was Mexican cattle were being discriminated against and got less money than northern plains cattle. The WTO commission made up of a majority Mexican and Canadian representative sided with the packers and allowed retaliatory tariffs if the USA continued to require their meats with COOL but have not. In 2014 Congress voted to repeal MCOOL on just beef and pork. We still have MCOOL on all other foods including other meats like lamb, poultry and seafood so they could still exercise their right to retaliatory tariffs. After COOL was repealed for beef, the price didnt change in the grocery store, but the producers received 50% less for their livestock. It has been 10 years since MCOOL has been repealed and Mexican cattle still bring less money than northern plains cattle. It is not because of COOL. Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Mexican cattle are different than northern plains cattle therefore are worth less money. That is why Sen. Jon Tester is working across the aisle with Sens. John Thune, Mike Rounds, John Hoeven, and Cynthia Lummis to introduce a MCOOL bill. Their bill would require the USDA to revisit the World Trade Organization ruling based on discriminatory pricing and to pass a WTO compliant MCOOL. KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. (WAVY) National Transportation Safety Board investigators are still trying to figure out what caused a deadly plane crash that killed five, including a child, on Saturday in North Carolina. The airplane crashed into a wooded area at Wright Brothers National Memorials First Flight Airport. Its a real tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of those who perished in the crash, said Superintendent of National Parks of Eastern North Carolina David Hallac. 5 people, including a child, killed in OBX plane crash The airplane made an initial approach in subsequent takeoff where it remained in the pattern and made a second approach and landing attempt, NTSB Aviation Accident Investigator Ryan Enders said. During the second attempt, the aircraft made a left turn and impacted trees adjacent to the left side of the runway. According to Enders, the identities of the five victims in this plane crash arent being released yet. The cause of the crash also remains under investigation. He shared that the plane was on a multi-leg flight and was flying from Dare County Regional Airport when the aircraft was trying to land at the Wright Brothers National Memorials First Flight Airport. Hallac said hes never seen a crash like this happen at the airport. Due to the investigation, the Wright Brothers National Memorial was closed Sunday. We plan to reopen on Tuesday morning. We want to give the investigators time to do their job safely, Hallac said. Its an investigation that will take time. Enders said a preliminary report will be released in approximately 10 days, and a factual report will be released in approximately nine to 12 months, with a probable cause being released shortly after. Were going to be here for the next several days collecting any perishable evidence, such as photographs, video evidence and any data from the airplane that we can extract and send back to Washington, DC for analysis, Enders said. NTSB investigators are asking for the publics help. If you have any photos/videos, or saw or heard the crash, they ask that you email that information to witness@ntsb.gov. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com. (Photo courtesy of the Iowa Board of Nursing) An Iowa nurse convicted of multiple criminal offenses related to her use of alcohol will be allowed to retain her license to practice, the Iowa Board of Nursing has ruled. The decision allows Taylor James Gill, 31, of Bondurant, to continue practicing in Iowa as a registered nurse, subject to certain requirements for monitoring and treatment. Earlier this year, the board charged Gill with violating regulations pertaining to the excessive use of alcohol in a manner that might impair her ability to practice with reasonable skill and safety. The board has not publicly disclosed any of the circumstances that led to the filing of the disciplinary charge and has opted not to disclose where or when the offending conduct took place. To resolve the matter, the board agreed last month to place Gills license on probation for one year. During that time, she will be required to enroll in a chemical screening program and provide random urine, blood, or hair specimens when requested, and comply with any recommendations for treatment. Gill declined to comment on the matter when contacted Monday by the Iowa Capital Dispatch. Court records document arrest history Court records show that in March 2018, Gill was arrested and later convicted of public intoxication and interference with officials acts. According to the Board of Nursing, those charges stemmed from Gill showing up for work at an unspecified nursing home with slurred speech, bloodshot eyes and an odor of alcohol. Three months later, Gill faced the same two criminal charges, and an open-container violation, after police said a bottle of vodka was found in her car during a roadside arrest. The open-container violation was dismissed, and the remaining charges resulted in convictions. The court records indicate Gill was then working for Trinity Center at Luther Park, a Des Moines nursing home. In December 2018, Gill was again convicted of an open-container violation. In 2021, the Board of Nursing alleged that Gill, while working at an unspecified care facility, delegated to unauthorized individuals the task of administering medications to patients and failed to ensure a witness was present when she discarded unused controlled substances. The board ultimately opted to let Gill keep her license, subject to one year of probation and 16 hours of educational training on medication safety and documentation. In February 2022, Gill was charged with another open-container violation, as well as first-offense drunken driving. Police alleged she had been found passed out in her vehicle with an open can of beer in the center console and several empty containers scattered about the cars interior. She was later convicted of the drunken-driving charge and the open-container violation was dismissed. Two more drunken-driving arrests A few days after the drunken-driving arrest, Gill was arrested for public intoxication a charge that was later dismissed. In August 2022, while working at the Rehabilitation Center of Des Moines, she was charged with driving with a revoked license. The charge was later dismissed. In May 2023, Gill was arrested at Broadlawns Medical Center. She was charged with, and later convicted of, assaulting a female health care worker by spitting on the womans neck and legs. In July 2023, while still on probation for the 2022 drunken-driving conviction, Gill was arrested for second-offense drunken driving. One month later, Gill was arrested and charged again with second-offense drunken driving. Each of the two cases resulted in a second-offense conviction for drunken driving. At the time, Gill was working for Genesis Health Systems, according to court records. In March 2024, while working for Azria Health Park Place, a Des Moines nursing home, Gill was arrested for driving while barred. Court records indicate prosecutors later made a motion to dismiss the charge, although no such motion is in the publicly accessible portion of the court file. The case was dismissed in May. NWS: 4 tornadoes touched down in Charleston, Colleton, and Georgetown counties during Helenes outer rain bands CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) At least four tornadoes touched down between Charleston, Colleton, and Georgetown counties last week as outer rainbands from Hurricane Helen lashed the area. The National Weather Service in Charleston confirmed two tornadoes in Charleston County, and another in Colleton County, while the office in Wilmington confirmed one tornado in Georgetown County. An EF-1 with maximum winds of 90 mph struck near Gabriel Road in the northern portion of Colleton County just before 1 p.m. The short-lived tornado traveled about 7 miles near Ashton and crossed into Bamberg County, causing damage to numerous trees in its path. Survey teams said a tornado touched down in the Red Top community around 4 a.m. as a rain band moved through the area. The EF-0 had maximum winds of 80 mph and hit near Savannah Highway just west of Bonanza Road and traveled about two miles, causing tree damage. The tornado then slightly lifted off of the ground as it crossed Bees Ferry Road and ended at Saint Hubert Way, where a few more small branches were noted. Snapped trees damaged two units at the Bluewater Apartment complex. An EF-0 also touched down in Rantowles around 4:20 a.m. and traveled 1.96 miles near Savannah Highway and Davidson Road. A tree was uprooted, and several limbs were knocked down. Survey teams out of the NWS Wilmington office found an EF-0 with 65 mph winds hit near Saints Delight Road around 6 a.m. Additional tornadoes could be confirmed in the coming days. No injuries or deaths were reported as a result of these tornadoes. John Quagliariello with the National Weather Service said 63 tornado warnings were issued in South Carolina during the storm. During a briefing after the storm, he said it would be difficult for survey teams to become tornadoes overlapped in some areas, and teams needed to determine whether strong tropical storm-force wind gusts or an actual tornado caused damage. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Emmanuel Macron held multiple in-person meetings with Newcleos boss about investing in France - Leon Neal/Getty Images An advanced nuclear startup is moving its headquarters from London to Paris after complaining about a lack of support from the British Government. Newcleo, an Anglo-Italian company developing a type of mini reactor that can be fuelled with reprocessed nuclear waste, announced its relocation on Monday. The companys switch comes after Stefano Buono, the chief executive, revealed he was personally lobbied by Emmanuel Macron, the French president, unlike the British Government which showed comparatively little interest in his business. As a result, Newcleo has ditched plans to spread investment across the UK and France, and instead redoubled its efforts on the latter. This will include investing billions of euros in a fuel factory in the south of France, as well as building a prototype mini reactor by the end of this decade. On Monday, the company said the headquarters move reflected an unwavering focus on growing its European presence and delivering its ambitious timelines and strategic projects. The decision is a blow to the Government as it prepares to host an International Investment Summit on Oct 14. Mr Buono said: Relocating our headquarters to Paris is a strategic milestone in accelerating our mission to deliver the next generation of sustainable nuclear energy. We are now better positioned to deepen our European partnerships and tap into funding resources from institutional and industrial investors. This move aligns with our commitment to making a global impact by closing the nuclear fuel cycle and providing a clean, safe and reliable energy source. Newcleo said its backers included a growing number of European investors, such as the Italian National Pension and Security Fund for Engineers and Architects (Inarcassa), the Italian nuclear engineering company Walter Tosto and French nuclear company Ingerop, as well as family offices and individual investors. Originally, the company had hoped to spread investment across the UK and France. In the UK, it had set out proposals to tap into a vast stockpile of nuclear waste at Sellafield, where it wanted to invest 2bn in a reprocessing factory and advanced modular reactor that would have created around 500 jobs. Stefano Buono, Newcleo chief executive, says he was personally lobbied by Emmanuel Macron - Marco Destefanis/Alamy Stock Photo But Mr Buono said the company had dropped the UK plans after the Government ruled out giving private companies access to the Sellafield stockpile. The Telegraph revealed this month that the Government is preparing to announce what it will do with the plutonium stockpile the largest of its kind in the world. Newcleo was also blocked from participating in a design competition for small modular reactors (SMRs). Story continues Speaking to The Telegraph in January, Mr Buono compared the UK approach to the way France has eagerly courted Newcleo. The chief executive was lobbied repeatedly for investment by President Macron in face-to-face meetings and invited to last years Choose France business summit at the Palace of Versailles. By contrast, he was never offered an in-person meeting with a British prime minister. It is understood that since their election victory in July, Labour ministers have held meetings with Newcleo executives. A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman said: This move by Newcleo is a solely commercial decision made by the company in January this year. It has been made clear to Newcleo they were free to enter the SMR competition, but it was quickly established their designs were incompatible with the schemes criteria. Thanks to our decisive action, there are now four companies shortlisted in this competition, which forms part of our efforts to reverse a legacy of no new nuclear power being delivered, ensuring the long-term security of the sector while securing thousands of good, skilled jobs. 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. Legacy media outlets in the United States raised eyebrows over the weekend with glowing coverage of terror leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was praised as a "father figure" with a "propensity to crack jokes." The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the Hezbollah terror organizations leader died in its strike Friday against the groups headquarters in Lebanon. The IDF said Nasrallah was responsible for the murder of many Israeli civilians and soldiers, as well as the planning and execution of thousands of terrorist activities around the world. "He was responsible for hundreds of Americans deaths, yet the media here in America is making him look like hes a good guy," Ainsley Earhardt said Monday on "FOX & Friends" as favorable mainstream headlines appeared on screen. Israeli Military Says Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah Killed In Beirut Strike Legacy media outlets in the United States raised eyebrows over the weekend with glowing coverage of terror leader Hassan Nasrallah. The Associated Press, The New York Times and The Washington Post were all criticized for coverage of the terror leaders death. Steve Doocy called it "kind of curious" that the press would describe Nasrallah in such glowing terms. The New York Times faced significant backlash for suggesting Nasrallah "maintained that there should be one Palestine with equality for Muslims, Jews and Christians" in a piece that didnt feature any sort of byline. Read On The Fox News App Popular X personality Comfortably Smug responded, "Insane New York Times piece with no byline. Literally NO MENTION of terrorism and talks him up like a humanitarian." Indeed, the word "terror" did not appear in the Times piece. New York Times Report Admits 'Interviews Are A Weakness' For Kamala Harris A separate Times piece noted that the terrorist had "a propensity to crack jokes" and "never pushed hard-line Islamic rules, like veils for women in the neighborhoods that Hezbollah controls." "No more pretenses. The New York Times isn't even putting names on the bylines of their pro-Hezbollah stories any more. It's just the paper, anonymously as an institution, selecting and framing its version of the news: that Israel killed a globally beloved saintly father figure," one reader responded on X. The Associated Press was also roasted for calling Nasrallah a "potent regional force" and insisting "he was also considered a pragmatist compared with the firebrand militants who dominated Hezbollah after its founding in 1982," noting he was considered an "extremist in the United States and much of the West." "Wearing spectacles and sporting a bushy gray beard like many religious Shiite men, Nasrallahs image was far from that of a militant who commanded thousands of heavily armed, well-trained and battle-hardened followers," the AP added about Nasrallah. "He often paused in his speeches to make jokes or break into local dialect." Ny Times Endorses Kamala Harris, Chooses Democrat In 17Th Straight Presidential Election AN IDF veteran responded on X, "He was a terrorist and was evil. You missed that part." Another user teased that the AP should send flowers, while another added that the AP is "disgusting." The Washington Post wrote that Nasrallah was "seen as a father figure" in a piece that said he was "condemned by his foes as a terrorist." "Among his followers, Mr. Nasrallah was seen as a father figure, a moral compass and a political guide. He was lauded as the man who empowered Lebanons once downtrodden and impoverished Shiite community and protected it from Israeli incursions by turning Hezbollah into a formidable deterrent force," Post global affairs correspondent Liz Sly wrote. The Columbia Journalism Review published a piece headlined, "The life and death of Hassan Nasrallah," that only mentioned the words "terror" or "terrorist" once, when quoting a State Department official who referred to Hezbollah as "maybe the A-team of terrorists." Fox News Digitals Peter Aitken, Lorraine Taylor and Landon Mion contributed to this report. Original article source: NY Times, AP, Washington Post raise eyebrows with glowing coverage of terror leader Hassan Nasrallah NYC to control rat population with birth-control pills instead of poison: Saving lots of precious little lives If the traps a-rockin, dont come a-knockin. New York Citys fight against rats has entered the furry beasts bedrooms, with the City Council approving a measure to lace rat traps with rodent birth control. The bill, which passed Thursday, green-lighted a program that will put a contraceptive pellet called ContraPest in special rat-accessible containers across parts of the city, according to PIX 11. Mitigating New York Citys rat population has become an administration priority for Mayor Eric Adams Christopher Sadowski If all goes well with the plan, rats will ingest the contraceptive and become sterilized thus preventing them from filling city streets with successive generations of scamperers. The bill was dubbed Flacos Law after the famed owl of the same name who escaped from the Central Park Zoo in 2023, captured the hearts of New Yorkers and was then tragically found dead after consuming rat poison. Flacos Law seeks to find a way to mitigate the citys rate population through means that would prevent other animals from being harmed by accident, backers say. We cant poison our way out of this, we cannot kill our way out of this, Council member Shaun Abreu said while first introducing the bill in April. New York Citys rats will be dosed with contraceptives to prevent them from procreating in the latest city plan Christopher Sadowski The pilot program will run for at least 12 months, with inspectors making monthly checks to see how many pellets have been consumed across different neighborhoods. During such monthly inspections of the pilot program areas, the department shall track the amount of rat contraceptive in each rat contraceptive dispenser, the bill said. Its only the citys latest shot at curbing its rats prolific procreation with contraceptives. Back in 1967, then-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller rolled out a program that dosed rats with estrogen-laced food but their numbers evidently persevered. And a decade ago, a joint program with the MTA tried controlling the rat population in Bryant Park with contraceptives. The contraceptives, ContraPest, will be delivered through rat-appetizing pellets left in traps across the city Christopher Sadowski But the problem has persisted, so much so that Mayor Adams famously declared war on rats and crowned a city rat czar Kathleen Corradi who was given a full-time job to address the problem. Abreu has said other efforts to use contraceptives fell short because the city was not persistent enough and that the bait used was ineffective at attracting rats. ContraPest, he hopes, will make the difference. Its salty, its sweet, and it has fatty materials within it that attract rats. Theyll bring that back to their burrow for other rats to eat, he said. The plan was also a hit with PETA, which expressed hope in a statement that the city was a whisker away from resolving its rat issue in a humane way. Hats off to the council for taking this big step to save lots of precious little lives. PETA pushed the city and its self-described bloodthirsty rat czar to prioritize effective control methods like trash mitigation and birth control over cruel, lethal methods such as poison and suffocation, the animal-rights group said. NYCs Eric Adams Show heads for a final curtain, with echoes of another New Yorker more focused on style than policy As the Democratic primary for mayor in New York approached in the spring of 2021, most of my friends and colleagues were supporting one of three candidates. My lefty friends were all rallying around progressive standard-bearer Maya Wiley. My more middle-of-the-road friends were supporting Kathryn Garcia, who ran on a platform that promised excellent management while deemphasizing ideology. A fair number of my friends, particularly insiders who regularly did business with the city, were hoping Eric Adams would be the next mayor. When I asked the Adams supporters why he was their choice, almost all of them said a version of We know we can do business with him. Well, that is certainly one way to put it. Adams is now facing a five-count indictment that could lead to the end of his political career, or perhaps more dire consequences, in large part because of the people with whom he chose to do business. Mayoral candidate Eric Adams delivers his victory speech in Brooklyn after defeating his Republican opponent to become the 110th mayor of New York City on Nov. 2, 2021. Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images Who is Eric Adams? Adams has crafted a political persona that may help explain how he found himself in this position. Adams, New York Citys second Black mayor, won the hotly contested Democratic primary in 2021 by building a coalition that began with consolidating the Black vote. He then pivoted right to win support from more religious Jews and other conservative white voters, primarily outside the borough of Manhattan. You might call this the coalition of those who dont care what the reliably liberal and sometimes preachy editorial page of The New York Times says. During the primary, Adams, a former captain in the New York Police Department, exaggerated the crime problem in New York to help deliver the kind of tough-on-crime message that always resonates with conservative white voters, even in a Democratic primary in New York. In the spring of 2021, when educated liberals fretted about issues such as climate change, threats to democracy and expanding LGBTQ rights, Adams ignored these Democratic Party donor-class concerns and ran what was essentially a law-and-order campaign. What wasnt part of the Adams pitch: issues of smart budget management, police reform, innovative solutions to problems, climate change and the academic resumes of the candidates, the kind of topics that a significant chunk of New York primary voters care a lot about. Adams began his term with some impressive political assets. New York is made up of five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island, representing a variety of political identities. Adams was an African American who, unlike almost any other African American citywide candidate before, appealed to white voters outside of Manhattan who had previously supported more conservative candidates. Adams had a great personal story that included growing up at times one step ahead of homelessness and then becoming a New York City police officer who, early in his career, helped combat police brutality. The new mayor was a handsome man with a great smile, and he was a vegan, sort of, to boot. As a political scientist and longtime political analyst of contemporary politics, I believe Adams could have carved out a meaningful anti-elite mayoralty by prioritizing the needs of his voters and marrying support for the police with programs to help lower-income and working New Yorkers. But from the beginning of his term in office, Adams moved in another direction. The Eric Adams Show Early in his term, Adams boasted of returning swagger, a quality not generally seen as pertinent to the daunting task of governing New York City, to the mayors office. When a mayor has swagger, the city has swagger, he said. Adams also claimed to be the face of the future of the Democratic Party while making no secret of hopes of running for president. There is nothing wrong with a mayor being ambitious or having a little swagger. Willie Brown was a transformative mayor of San Francisco who at 90 still has a bit of swagger. But swagger alone is not enough to be an effective mayor. As mayor, Adams failed to address any of the major problems facing the city, while taking extremely hawkish positions on everything from mental illness to protesters at Columbia University, where I teach. Ultimately, Adams disdain for the Manhattan elites led him to a place where, just recently, he continued to defend police officers who shot their guns at a suspect in a crowded subway station and badly injured innocent bystanders. There is something about Adams that is reminiscent of another prominent politician who grew up in Queens and is not unfamiliar with indictments. Adams anti-elitist messaging and constant overstating of the crime problem for political gain are right out of the MAGA and Trump playbook. In addition, it has always seemed as if Adams attention has not been focused on governing, but rather with the idea that he is the star of the Eric Adams Show. His mayoralty seemed to be more focused on where he ate and clubs he visited rather than how he addressed policy challenges. Adams has argued that by going to nightclubs he is providing important help to the local economy, telling the New York Post, My nightlife is a multi-bilion dollar industry. He held court at La Bala, a tony restaurant hed frequent, sometimes more than 20 nights a month. Adams comments such as, I am mayor because God gave me the authority to be mayor, or Thirty-something years ago I woke up, out of my sleep in a cold sweat. God spoke to my heart and said, You are going to be the mayor January 1, 2022 are not simply strange, they suggest a view of himself as a divine messenger rather than a public servant. It also suggests that he views himself as accountable only to a higher power rather than the people he represents and to the laws that apply to all. Donald Trump is a cult-like leader of a much larger and more dangerous scale, but the similarity is there. New Yorks mayor is facing pressure to resign from many within his own party, but he has made it clear he has no intention of doing that, at least for now. If he manages to stay in office, Adams will face tough opposition in his bid for reelection next year. Of his many potential opponents, the strongest is probably Brad Lander, New York Citys comptroller, who has a reputation as a smart progressive who has never had even the whiff of corruption around him. New Yorkers have seen almost three full years of the Eric Adams Show, and the latest plot twist may not have been a surprise. But it sure looks like it could lead to the end of the shows run. 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: Lincoln Mitchell, Columbia University Read more: Lincoln Mitchell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. NYC hiring for over 600 architecture and engineering jobs NYC hiring for over 600 architecture and engineering jobs NEW YORK (PIX11) City departments in New York City are hiring for hundreds of open jobs in architecture, engineering, and planning. The jobs are listed online on JobsNYC, the official careers website for the City of New York. More Local News The JobsNYC website allows people to search for jobs at different governmental departments and agencies in New York City. Most jobs are full-time and are described as experienced roles, but some part-time and entry-level positions are available. The departments with the most openings are the Department of Design and Construction and the Department of Environmental Protection. NYC is hiring for hundreds of jobs in finance and accounting For more information about the jobs and how to apply on the JobsNYC website, click here. Ben Mitchell is a digital content producer from Vermont who has covered both local and international news since 2021. He joined PIX11 in 2024. See more of his work here. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. NYC Jewish voters ready to rally for Andrew Cuomo for mayor, advocates say: Eric Adams is toast Many mainstream and conservative Jews are ready to rally around Andrew Cuomo if he runs for mayor, prominent Jewish activists told The Post. Cuomo is a moderate with a deep history with the Jewish community and a long record of fighting for issues we care about combating antisemitism and strong support of Israel, a source said just days after embattled Mayor Eric Adams appeared in Manhattan court Friday on sweeping corruption charges. The Jewish community is very anxious for Cuomo to jump into the race. A lot of us will jump in for him, said Jewish organizer who requested anonymity, adding he has discussed a candidacy with Cuomo. According to Jewish activists, New York City mainstream and conservative Jewish voters will support former Gov. Andrew Cuomo if he runs for mayor. Andrew Cuomo/YouTube Another Jewish advocate said, Cuomo will immediately be the top candidate in the Jewish community. The development comes as even some of Adams supporters have expressed serious doubts that he can survive politically and win re-election, regardless of the outcome of his criminal case. Im skeptical that Eric can survive and make it to next years election, said Michael Nussbaum, former president of the Queens Jewish Council and a board member of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. I would support Andrew Cuomo. We know he can manage and govern, said Nussbaum, adding that he spoke to the ex-gov last week. Another Jewish leader said Adams is toast in terms of trying to win re-election. A source told The Post that Cuomo has a history of supporting causes Jewish New Yorkers care about. ZUMAPRESS.com The citys Jewish population was listed at 960,000 out of a total city population of about 8.3 million, according to a recent report. Jews could account for 20% to 25% of a Democratic primary vote, said Jerry Skurnik, a voter data analyst who runs Engage Voters US. That large voting bloc was a major reason why Adams was successful in his 2021 campaign. Jewish leaders have praised Adams for being a strong advocate and fighting rising antisemitism in the wake of Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Stay updated with the New York Posts coverage of Mayor Eric Adams indictment This embedded content is not available in your region. View this document on Scribd As for Adams possible successor, Middle-class Jews in the city are looking for someone who can govern from the center, said David Pollock, a former official with the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. The Adams campaign insisted that Hizzoner still has rock-solid support in the Jewish community, and some leaders Sunday said they remain in the mayors corner. An organizer told The Post the community is very anxious for Cuomo to potentially join the mayoral race. AFP via Getty Images Im sticking with the mayor right now. Adams has done a yeomans job, said Rabbi Mendy Miroznik, president of the Staten Island Council of Jewish Organizations. He deserves due process under the law. Youre innocent until proven guilty, Miroznik said. Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, said, We are grateful for his steadfast support to the Jewish community. His loyalty did not begin when he became mayor. Jewish activists said the other Democratic candidates who have announced their bids for mayor are too far to the left for many Jewish voters. One Jewish leader claimed that Mayor Adams is toast for his re-election bid after the corruption charges. James Keivom That group of mayoral hopefuls includes the citys highest-ranking Jewish elected official, city Comptroller Brad Lander, sources said. One source noted that Lander endorsed the failed re-election of lefty firebrand Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a major foe of Israel. Lander, a self-described progressive Zionist, even attended rallies against Israels military actions in Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 attack. His positions have made him popular with left-leaning Jews but put him out of the mainstream, some observers said. He has a Jewish problem, Democratic political consultant Ken Frydman told The Post last month. Cuomo won his three terms as governor with strong Jewish support, and his connections with Jewish groups go back to the era of his father, Mario Cuomo, who served three terms as governor, from 1983 to 1994. As governor, Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order barring state agencies from doing business with firms that supported the boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel a policy kept in place by his successor, Gov. Kathy Hochul. Cuomo on Friday did not rule out a mayoral run but also did not urge Adams to resign. Governor Cuomo has spent a lifetime in public service fighting and delivering for the people of New York and will do whatever he can to help that said, the speculation is premature as Governor Cuomo believes Mayor Adams is entitled to due process, Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi said in a statement. If he runs for mayor, Cuomo would be making a comeback from his own tarnished legacy that will be a challenge to overcome. Even his fans say it would be no cakewalk. He resigned in disgrace in August of 2021 after a scathing investigative report commissioned by state Attorney General Letitia James office substantiated claims from female workers that he sexually harassed them. A pro-Israel protest at a synagouge in Cedarhurst, New York on Sept. 15, 2024. Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images Cuomo, under the threat of impeachment, resigned though denied wrongdoing. Cuomo was never charged with a crime, though hes fought civil suits filed by his alleged victims. The ex-governor has also come under withering criticism for a controversial March 25, 2020, edict during the pandemic that prodded nursing homes to accept recovering COVID-19 patients, which some analysts claimed contributed to the deaths of nursing-home residents. He also was accused of lowballing the public reporting of pandemic-related nursing-home deaths. In addition, the ex-governor came under fire from nursing-home families for signing a $5 million profit-making book about New Yorks response to the COVID-19 outbreak while the pandemic was still raging. If Adams resigns and city Public Advocate Jumaane Williams temporarily takes over, according to the law, a special election for mayor would be set if the resignation occurs 90 days before the upcoming primary election, which is in June. Anyone can vote in such a special election, so a moderate candidate such as Cuomo would have a better shot at winning than in a strictly Democratic primary. NEW YORK Mayor Adams moved to dismiss a bribery count against him in his federal corruption indictment Monday, describing the allegations as extraordinarily vague and claiming the sweeping case brought by Manhattan prosecutors is based largely on the word of a disgruntled ex-staffer. The request came four days after the feds announced a five-count indictment against Adams that alleges he put a price on his political influence for almost a decade, abusing his power for wealthy businessmen and at least one Turkish government official in exchange for worldwide trips, illegal campaign contributions and other lavish perks collectively valued at more than $100,000. In the motion filed Monday morning and later at a press conference, defense attorney Alex Spiro said prosecutors had demonstrated no proof Adams agreed to do anything in exchange for benefits. This is just a mayor who went to the outer boroughs and met with people in this city that more people should meet with and had donations from lots of different members of the community across lots of different ethnic groups, Spiro said at the press conference. And so there is no scheme, there is no foreign interference. This is all nonsense that is spun into this to try to turn a conflict of interest question or disclosure question into a federal criminal case. In his legal arguments, Spiro leaned on a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that made winning convictions in public corruption cases far more difficult. In a 6-3 ruling, the courts conservative supermajority on June 24 differentiated between bribes and gratuities finding it was not illegal for local and state officials to accept the latter after an official act, which may be given as a token of appreciation. The bribery count against Adams, a Democrat, Spiro argued, alleges only that while serving as Brooklyn Borough President not Mayor, or even Mayor-elect he agreed generally to assist with theoperation or regulation of a Turkish Consulate building in Manhattan, where he had no authority whatsoever, in exchange for travel benefits. That extraordinarily vague allegation encompasses a wide array of normal and perfectly lawful acts that many City officials would undertake for the consulate of an important foreign nation, Spiro wrote. The feds allege Adams pressured Fire Department brass to open the building despite identifying multiple safety violations. Spiro said the three text messages cited in the indictment, filed Thursday, that the mayor sent to former FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro, in which he said the consulate needed to be opened in time for the Turkish presidents visit, do not show him agreeing to take specific actions, nor meet the federal standard for bribery. Adamss lawyer said any benefits he allegedly received after the permit matter was resolved, like flight upgrades to business class, could at most amount to gratuities, which fall outside the compass of the Supreme Court ruling. He said there was no evidence Adams knew, as the indictment alleges, that high-ranking FDNY brass threatened staffers jobs. The indictment contains no allegation that Adams was even aware of that threat, let alone that he himself threatened anyone or directed the FDNY Commissioner to do so. If the governments implication is that the officials were worried that Adams would be elected Mayor and then decline to retain them, that is not enough to show that Adams exerted pressure, Spiro wrote. At the press conference, Spiro accused the Manhattan U.S. attorneys office of leaking details of the indictment before it was unsealed. It was widely reported last Wednesday that charges were imminent ahead of the indictment being unsealed Thursday morning. He also reiterated an argument he made in Mondays filing, where he wrote that the indictments remaining claims wire fraud, conspiracy, and soliciting donations from foreign nationals rely on a host of false claims evidently attributable to a self-interested staffer with an axe to grind. The thinly veiled reference concerned Adamss former longtime aide and Turkish community liaison, Rana Abbasova, whos cooperating in the investigation. Spiro pointed to part of the indictment where Abbasova is described as going to the bathroom during a meeting with FBI agents to delete encrypted messaging apps she used to communicate with Adams and his alleged benefactors. Theres another even bigger lie that they havent told you about, Spiro said, declining to go into detail. And then theres more lies. A lawyer for Abbasova declined to comment on the defense attorneys allegations. Asked why the mayor declined to report freebies he allegedly got from Turkish nationals on his annual ethics disclosure forms, Spiro said Adams wasnt required to, though later acknowledged he wasnt an expert in Conflicts of Interest Board law. Adams, 64, the first New York City mayor in the modern era to face criminal charges, has rebuffed calls to step down. He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Friday and is expected to appear for the first time before the judge assigned to the case, Manhattan Federal Judge Dale Ho, on Wednesday, when Spiro said he expected to file a full dismissal motion. The charges against Adams carry up to 45 years in prison, though he would be unlikely to face such a severe sentence. Still, a conviction on any count could likely result in some prison time, said Michael Weinstein, a former Justice Department trial attorney in Washington, D.C., with extensive experience prosecuting white-collar criminal cases. Especially since he is in a position of public trust, oversight and length and scope of alleged activity, Weinstein said. Corruption and public officials are an ugly spectacle to witness, and possibly Mayor Adams has genuine explanations for his actions, but at present, hes in a deep hole with limited chances to get out. A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. attorneys office, which is handling the case, did not respond to a request for comment. Prosecutors are expected to respond to Spiros motion in court filings. _____ One of the closest aides to New York City Mayor Eric Adams resigned Monday night after federal agents seized his phone as part of a federal corruption investigation. The aide, Timothy Pearson, a former NYPD inspector, oversaw city contracts for migrant shelters among other duties in a broad public safety portfolio. "Tim has had a long career in both the public and private sectors, where he has spent over 30 years keeping New Yorkers safe," Adams said in a statement Monday. "We appreciate Tim's decades of service to this city and wish him well." Pearson's resignation comes the same day Adams' attorney filed to dismiss the charge accusing the mayor of accepting bribes from Turkish officials. Federal prosecutors accused Adams of accepting more than $100,000 in airline upgrades and luxury hotel stays from Turkey and, in 2021, when a Turkish official told Adams it was "his turn," Adams allegedly pressured the New York City Fire Department to rush a safety inspection of the new Turkish consulate in Manhattan. PHOTO: New York City Mayor Eric Adams sits in federal court beside his lawyer Alex Spiro after he was charged with bribery and illegally soliciting a campaign contribution from a foreign national, on Sept. 27, 2024 in this courtroom sketch. (Jane Rosenberg/Reuters) MORE: New York City Mayor Eric Adams' federal probe: A timeline of corruption investigation Adams was arraigned on the charges on Friday. He pleaded not guilty one day after the indictment was unsealed. The mayor's attorney, Alex Spiro, argued on Monday that the alleged scheme "does not meet the definition of bribery" because the indictment does not say Adams agreed to perform any official act in exchange for the travel perks. PHOTO: Who's who in the Eric Adams federal investigation (ABC News) "Rather, it alleges only that while serving as Brooklyn Borough President -- not Mayor or even Mayor-elect -- he agreed generally to assist with the 'operation' or 'regulation' of a Turkish Consulate building in Manhattan, where he had no authority whatsoever," Spiro wrote in a motion to dismiss the bribery count. The defense suggested what Adams is accused of doing is routine, not criminal. PHOTO: New York City Mayor Eric Adams looks on outside federal court, on the day of his arraignment after he was charged with bribery and illegally soliciting a campaign contribution from a foreign national, in New York City, Sept. 27, 2024. (Caitlin Ochs/Reuters) MORE: New York City Mayor Eric Adams charged with fraud, accepting $10 million in improper campaign contributions "That extraordinarily vague allegation encompasses a wide array of normal and perfectly lawful acts that any City official would undertake for the consulate of important foreign nation," the motion said. "The three innocuous messages Adams allegedly sent to the Fire Commissioner here fall far short of the kind official act necessary for bribery." In a press conference Monday after filing the motion, Spiro defended that Adams' behavior had not crossed a line. "Gratuities are not federal crimes. Courtesies to politicians are not federal crimes," Spiro said. "That's just what happens." Spiro compared the airline upgrades to a politician getting a better table at a restaurant or "his iced tea refilled" and said airline upgrades do not need to be disclosed. "Personal travel is not required to be disclosed. The other thing not required to be disclosed are upgrades and things of that nature," Spiro said. Spiro also faulted the rest of the case against Adams, insisting there is no evidence of fraud or conspiracy and saying of the prosecutors, "they have lots of law books and very little real word experience." "This isn't a real case. Never was," Spiro said. Adams has pleaded not guilty to all five counts he faces. He is due back in court on Wednesday. Spiro said the other four counts should also be dismissed. NYC Mayor Eric Adams' aide resigns as federal corruption investigation continues originally appeared on abcnews.go.com KIPS BAY, Manhattan (PIX11) A man allegedly punched an NYPD traffic agent in the face on a Manhattan street Monday morning, police said. Gilbert Nelson, 62, is accused of attacking the traffic agent for writing him a summons near East 30th Street and Second Avenue in Kips Bay at around 7:20 a.m., according to the NYPD. The NYPD employee was hospitalized with facial injuries. More Local News Nelson was apprehended near the scene and charges were pending, police said. The incident occurred in the neighborhood patrolled by the 19th Precinct, where there has been a 13% increase in misdemeanor assaults this year compared to 2023, according to NYPD stats. 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. Clarkson Universitys Student with Borders program will be hosting a haunted infirmary on Friday, October 25 and Saturday, October 26. The event will be held at the Clarkson Physician Assistant Building 59 Main St in Potsdam. The haunted infirmary will run from 6:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. each night. For the October 25 event, click on this link. For the October 26 event, click on the link provided. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WWTI - InformNNY.com. For those of us who have passed the autumnal equinox, the days are getting shorter and cooler, but the night sky will still be pretty hot. It will be particularly warm if you are in the path of a ring of fire eclipse on October 2. There are also two chances to spot meteor showers this month and Venus will return as an early evening star as the temperatures and humidity drop. There may be the potential to see a bright comet, but its not really set in stone. Heres what to look for this October. Early-Mid October Comet of the Century? First discovered in January 2023, Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) has received a lot of buzz lately. As with many celestial events there are still some ifs with the comet. Comet C/2023 A3 is currently visible with the naked eye in the morning sky in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, with its best yet to come in the next few weeks, University of Southern Queensland astrophysicist Jonti Horner writes in The Conversation. And it does look promising. Its unlikely to be the comet of the decade (never mind the comet of the century), but it will almost certainly become the best comet of the year. [Related: Oumuamua isnt an alien probe, but it might be the freakiest comet weve ever seen.] For those in the Northern Hemisphere, the first few days of October could provide the best chances to see the comment. Horner recommends using binoculars and looking towards the eastern sky in the morning to try and catch a glimpse of this space rock. However, as some scientists say, comets are like cats. They have tails and will often surprise us with their behavior, so predictions can change. Keep an eye on The Sky Live for more. October 5 Venus Returns as an Early Evening Star Venus will be the brightest planet in the sky this month. It will also be the early evening star again. On October 5, the second planet from the sun will be visible with a waxing crescent moon towards the east. In the morning, it will set west-southwest. October 7-8 Draconid Meteor Shower Predicted Peak This meteor shower is a bit of an oddball. According to EarthSky, its radiant point stands highest in the sky as darkness falls. This means that you will see more Draconids during the evening hours in the early morning hours after midnight. After 9 p.m local time on October 7 through the wee small hours of the morning on October 8 is the best time to try and catch this first of two meteor showers this month. With a dark and moonless sky, you may see about 10 Draconid meteors per hour. However, in some rare instances, the fiery constellation Draco the Dragon can release hundreds of meteors in a single hour. The radiant point for this meteor shower is near the stars Eltanin and Rastaban, in the head of the constellation Draco. Since Draco is in the northern sky, the Draconids are typically best viewed from the Northern Hemisphere. [Related: We finally know why Venus is absolutely radiant.] October 17 Full Hunter Supermoon The third of four consecutive supermoons will reach peak illumination at 7:26 a.m. EDT on October 17. The Hunters Moon will be below the horizon, so you can watch it rise into the night sky. Just like Septembers Harvest Moon, Octobers full moon rises at about the same time for several nights, bringing early light to aid harvesting and hunting. You can use this moonrise and moonset calculator to determine when it will rise where you live. According to the Farmers Almanac, the name originates as a signal for hunters to prepare for the upcoming winter to ensure that they have enough food. It is also when animals like the stars of Fat Bear Week are beginning to bulk up for a long winters hibernation. Animals also may be easier to spot this time of year, as fields are cleared and leaves fall. Other names for Octobers full moon include the Harvest Moon (gather) or Atkuwa Nuti in the Catawba Language of the Catawba Indian Nation, South Carolina and the Hunting Moon or Ganohdokah in Seneca. October 20-21 Oronid Meteor Shower Predicted Peak The annual Orionid meteor shower is expected to reach its peak on October 20. The Orionids can produce a maximum of about 10 to 20 meteors per hour, but only under a dark sky with no moon. The best time to try and spot them is just after midnight into the early morning hours. The Orionid meteors that we can see come from Halleys Comet. It orbits the sun about every 76 years or so and its dust particles are expelled from the comets nucleus as it travels. The particles are left behind in its path and Earth intercepts its path during late October every year. In December 2023. Halleys comet began its journey back towards Earth and will be visible during the 2060s. The same skygazing rules that apply to pretty much all space-watching activities are key this month: Go to a dark spot away from the lights of a city or town and let your eyes adjust to the darkness for about a half an hour. "We have to save the country. To my mind... the major problem is poor governance and endemic corruption, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim bluntly said about the obstacles his country faces in a CNBC interview. He is confident that addressing these issues will help attract foreign investment. Without that trust [and] confidence, nobody will invest in a big way, he continued. Transparent processes and a commitment to end corruption will feed that trust in Ibrahims view. One of the most famous corruption cases in the country was the 1Malaysia Development Behard scandal where former PM Najib Razak was found guilty of embezzling millions of dollars. Between 2018 and 2023, Malaysia lost an estimated 277 billion ringgit ($67b) of economic output to corruption. I would just go after them without mercy, Ibrahim said about those who steal funds. The government has launched an anti-corruption initiative to boost Malaysia into the top 25 countries in Transparency Internationals Corruption Perception Index (it currently sits at 57). Foreign investment in Malaysia Malaysia received $9.7b of FDI inflows in 2023, a slip from the $11.6b it received in 2021. It has been working on two special economic zones to attract FDI. One of them is in the financial zone of Forest City and the other is the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone, which the PM said is likely to be finalized by the end of 2024. Ibrahim said some companies have expressed interest in the SEZ with Singapore, although he did not specify which ones. Malaysia's Economic Minister Rafizi Ramli said that the zone would become a gateway for Western and Eastern investors, including those from China, in the region. Chips incoming? Amid the ongoing chip war between the US and China, Malaysia may be well positioned to benefit. Micron and Intel are already expanding operations into Penang, a beachy part of the country that has proven popular with tech investments. European companies such as AMS Osram and Infineon also have shown interest in the area. In the past, Malaysia has contributed to the semiconductor supply chain through packaging, assembling and testing chips. However, it wants to invest in more value-added production processes such as wafer fabrication and integrated circuit design. A major factor for Penangs FDI uptick is the move of Chinese companies to Malaysia. According to Invest Penang chief executive Loo Lee Lian, the heightened interest coincided with Bidens tightening of trade restrictions on Chinese technology. Some Chinese companies are partnering with Malaysian firms to produce chips as a precautionary measure against further restrictions. Story continues Gautem Puntambekar, a country executive for Bank of America, said that "when you talk about semiconductors, Malaysia is invariably part of the conversation." Malaysia may not have started the chip war, but it could be well-positioned to win it. "Malaysias PM cracks down on corruption" was originally created and published by Investment Monitor, 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. A frog species so rare that the International Union for Conservation of Nature listed it as "possibly extinct" has been rediscovered in Ecuador, National Geographic reported. Before being found by biologist Juan Sanchez-Nivicela during a 2022 rare amphibian-searching expedition, the Pristimantis ruidus frog was last seen in 1922 by famed zoologist George Tate. The rediscovery of the incredibly rare species is being hailed as a win for conservationists, who, having now confirmed that the Pristimantis ruidus is not extinct, can better protect its future survival. "This discovery fills us with hope," biologist Maria del Carmen Vizcaino, director of conservation group Alianza Jambato, told National Geographic. As the P. ruidus is only known to exist in one region of the southern Andes in Ecuador, conservationists hope to use that fact to fight against further degradation of that ecosystem by the mining and illegal logging industries. Vizcaino called the frog a potential "flag of resistance" in the ongoing legal battles over environmental conservation in the region. Diego Armijos Ojeda, a herpetologist at Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja, called the discovery "a second chance to conserve what may potentially be the only locality where you can find [the frog], not only in Ecuador but in the world." That means that not only is it good news on its own that the P. ruidus hasn't gone extinct, but the fact that it has managed to survive may indirectly help to ensure the survival of other threatened and endangered species as well. Ecuador is the country with the most endangered endemic species in the world, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. These include the brown-headed spider monkey, the Pichincha giant glass frog, and many, many more. Other recently rediscovered species that were once thought to be extinct include the large tortoiseshell butterfly in England and the Louisiade pitta in Papua New Guinea. These rediscoveries show that it is not too late to protect many of Earth's most threatened and vulnerable species, which need conservation help now more than ever. 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. Officials see no shortages from likely US port strike New York officials said on Monday they were prepared for a likely US dockworkers strike, reassuring consumers that they would not lose access to food and other essential goods. "We don't anticipate shortages of essential goods anytime soon," said state Governor Kathy Hochul. "People do not need to rush out to the grocery store and stockpile goods like they did during the pandemic." Hochul was joined by officials of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, one of 14 large US ports on the East and Gulf Coasts whose workers are poised to walk off the job after midnight at the expiration of a six-year contract. The two sides have blamed each other for the impasse. The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), which represents the workers, said the business group United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) had refused "a fair and decent contract," according to a statement Monday. Shipping interests are engaging in a "disgraceful" effort "to make their billion-dollar profits at United States ports, and off the backs of American ILA longshore workers," the ILA said. USMX has blamed the ILA, saying the union has refused to meaningfully negotiate. Last week, the group filed a complaint with US labor regulators to compel talks. The stalemate has deepened expectations for a walkout after midnight from a group of large facilities, including in Boston, Philadelphia, Savannah, New Orleans and Houston. "While we have encouraged both sides to reach an amicable agreement at the bargaining table, all signs are that there will be a strike," said Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton. Hochul noted that pharmaceutical products will not be affected because they are typically flown in and not sent by ship. State officials are monitoring other medical supplies, but stockpiles are adequate for the foreseeable future, she said. But Hochul cited automobiles and semiconductors as items that could be affected more quickly. She also said a lengthy strike could limit availability of fresh foods such as bananas. "The wholesale food supply is resilient here in New York," Hochul said. "We're not concerned at all about any shortages of foods overall, maybe individual products." jmb/aha DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) Members of the Ohio National Guard are headed to North Carolina after Hurricane Helene tore through the state. Gov. Mike DeWine confirmed six soldiers from the Ohio National Guard and one CH47 helicopter were initially being sent to North Carolina. Ten additional members from the Homeland Response Forces have also been sent for search and recovery to support first responders. Guard members will assist with moving equipment, personnel and supplies by air. In the aftermath of this storm, many roads are blocked or completely washed away, so this aerial support will be crucial in getting resources where theyre needed the most, said DeWine. Late last week, Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc on parts of the southeastern U.S., including North Carolina. A stop sign can be barely seen above a flooded parking lot after torrential rain from Hurricane Helene caused severe flooding, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Morganton, N.C. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek) Rescue workers from the Pamlico County rescue team are shown working in the aftermath of Helene the area of Chimney Rock, N.C., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (Pamlico County Special Operations via AP) Rescue workers from the Pamlico County rescue team are shown working in the aftermath of Helene the area of Chimney Rock, N.C., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (Pamlico County Special Operations via AP) Rescue workers from the Pamlico County rescue team are shown working in the aftermath of Helene the area of Chimney Rock, N.C., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (Pamlico County Special Operations via AP) The Riverside RV park was flooded from the overflowing Catawba River after torrential rain from Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Morganton, N.C. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek) North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper speaks with FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell on Monday, Sept. 30, at the Asheville Regional Airport in Fletcher, N.C. (AP Photo/Gary Robertson) A passerby checks the water depth of a flooded road, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Morganton, N.C. Torrential rain from Hurricane Helene left many area streets flooded. In addition, traffic lights are inoperable due to no power, with downed power lines and trees. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek) People wait to gather water at Mountain Valley Water in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in West Asheville, N.C., Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins) Rescue workers from the Pamlico County rescue team are shown working in the aftermath of Helene the area of Chimney Rock, N.C., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (Pamlico County Special Operations via AP) An uprooted tree landed on a pickup truck in front of a home on East Main Street after Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Glen Alpine, N.C. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek) The members en-route were requested by North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Attendees sit in overflow seating in a hallway connecting to the Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting room in August 2023 in Oklahoma City. (Photo by Brent Fuchs/For Oklahoma Voice) For several months now, Ive felt like weve been forced to witness a petty middle school break up between two popular kids and a teenage-angst debate about who can sit at the cool kids lunch table. The problem is were not in middle school any more, and were all watching a group of dunces who weve entrusted with a great deal of power throw a very public temper tantrum, weaponize our Open Meeting Act and attempt to make unilateral decisions over who should be classified as media. And nobody is showing an iota of leadership. (Im looking at you, high-ranking Republicans: Attorney General Gentner Drummond, Gov. Kevin Stitt, state Superintendent Ryan Walters, Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat and House Speaker Charles McCall and every other elected lawmaker who has any shred of influence.) The latest drama surrounding state Board of Education meeting access hinges around who should be seated in an overflow room that Ive secretly nicknamed the loser lounge or reject room depending on the occasion. Why? Because in case youve forgotten, this illustrious board has chosen to meet in the equivalent of a matchbox while dozens of their constituents camp out overnight to try to enter that room and witness what their government is doing, and maybe to give their elected leaders a piece of their mind. They sit in chairs in the dark or sleep in their cars because they know not everyone will be allowed in the official meeting room. This GOP-created circus has persisted for over a year. A couple of months ago, I received the patented loser lounge treatment. Having just covered a protest outside a monthly board meeting, I strolled into the Oliver Hodge Building unfashionably late. A security guard took one look at my clothes, sneakers and face flushed from the heat, and pointed me to the overflow room, saying the main meeting room was at capacity. I was deeply unhappy, but it wasnt surprising that the main meeting room was at capacity. More people have been showing up for meetings than there have been seats for months. For reference, the reject room is a small makeshift overflow meeting room that has chairs crammed inside along with a large TV that plays a live-stream of the meeting. Winding up in the overflow room was one-off for Oklahoma Voice. But KFOR has been consigned to the loser lounge for months now. Taking a page from Donald Trumps playbook, our state education officials have dubbed Oklahoma Citys NBC affiliate fake news. Last week, KFOR sued in federal court seeking to force education officials to admit them into the main meeting room. Among other things, they argued that state leaders are discriminating by randomly deciding which media outlets can attend public meetings. During arguments, The Oklahoman reports, education officials blamed security and space issues for why KFOR was barred, but also mentioned false reporting and a lack of journalism ethics. A federal judge agreed that KFOR shouldnt be relegated to the loser lounge at least temporarily. I cant believe were wasting court resources and taxpayer money fighting over whether this television station is legitimate media. Spoiler alert: they are legitimate. And many of the people who watch their coverage, from Oklahomas metros to the rural residents who elected Walters, depend on them to know what their state superintendent is doing. Yeah, sometimes more broadly a media outlets reporting might have as many holes as OUs offensive line, but that doesnt make a news outlet illegitimate. Almost immediately after the ruling, word spread among the remaining media outlets that typically attend these meetings that there would be no guaranteed media access to Thursdays meeting. The media should plan to wait in line like everyone else. Our reporter arrived to get in line for the meeting at 7 a.m. When I stopped by at 8:30 an hour before the scheduled start time there were already several dozen people awaiting entry. Ironically, KFOR was already in the building, but the other news outlets were not. Oklahoma Voice did ultimately receive a seat in the meeting room. This isnt about giving the media special treatment. This is about ensuring that were making public meetings accessible to everybody. Nothing replaces being there. Its interesting being able to watch the body language, whispered conversations and confrontations. And nobody should have to line up for a public meeting. We are a government of the people, for the people. Not a government for some of the people or even one that caters to those that have the luxury to wait for hours in line. Our public officials have been on notice for more than a year now that theres more demand to attend these meetings than there is space. Yet nobody is taking the initiative to move them or force them to be moved. There is at least one room in the state Capitol building that can hold over 100 people. Our 101-member state House held a session in one of those spaces while their chambers were being renovated. Why arent our legislative leaders urging Walters to move them there and offering free access to the space? Why arent our state Board of Education members pressing Walters to make the meetings more accessible? Who is finally going to show some leadership? Bueller? Bueller?? Yeah. The silence is deafening. Now, were facing a lawsuit over meeting room access. Maybe one good thing will come of it? State education officials have acknowledged in court that they know their meeting room size isnt sufficient. They should consider themselves on notice. Its time for someone to gird their loins and show that they know how to lead. Public meetings should be about what happens inside, not whats happening before they begin. Lets hope next months meeting agenda reflects a plan to meet in a larger venue, making this juvenile fight over access to the loser lounge moot. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE While traveling near Erwin, Tennessee, on Thursday, Oklahoma Task Force One encountered significant flooding on the Nolichucky River and rescued four people. The team is pictured rescuing a man from flood waters. The department redacted the victim's face. (Photo courtesy of Oklahoma City Fire Department) OKLAHOMA CITY An Oklahoma swift water rescue team found itself in the right place at the right time and saved four Tennessee residents from flood waters last week, fire officials said. The team was headed to North Carolina on Thursday to help with Hurricane Helene response efforts when law enforcement and bystanders near Erwin, Tennessee, flagged them down to let them know an elderly man was clinging to a porch as flood waters surged around him, said John Chenoweth, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma City Fire Department on Monday. After the team rescued the man and his dog, it saved another two people and two more dogs trapped by flood waters, Chenoweth said. The task force also responded to a woman trapped in a home that had been swept downstream. As the team approached, the woman jumped from a window into the water and was rescued, officials said. The task force is among two swift water rescue teams that Oklahoma sent to the region. The teams were deployed in response to requests from North Carolina and Florida through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, a state-to-state mutual aid system, said Keli Cain, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. Up to 29 inches of rain fell across the Appalachian Mountains as Hurricane Helene moved through the region last week, leading to life-threatening flooding and landslides. As many as 30 people have been reported dead in North Carolina while others are still missing. Officials said at least 121 died in six states as the storm moved through Floridas Gulf Coast and up into Virginia. Hundreds have been reported missing. The second task force from Oklahoma, which includes Tulsa Fire Department personnel, was initially dispatched to Florida, but as of Monday was en route to North Carolina to help with ongoing search and rescue efforts, Cain said. The state has also sent a Tulsa incident management team to the hurricane-impacted region. The Oklahoma City task force team is no longer conducting swift water rescues. It has now switched to search and rescue. Each task force has 16 people. The Oklahoma Task Force is composed of 10 Oklahoma City firefighters, two Oklahoma City police officers, one IT technician, one Norman firefighter, one Tinker Air Force Base firefighter and one Yukon firefighter, Chenoweth said. The teams are expected to remain in the region for up to 14 days, though the deployment could be shortened or extended as needed, officials said. Oklahomans will always answer the call to help those in need, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said in a statement announcing the deployment. Im grateful for our elite first responders in Tulsa and Oklahoma City for their willingness to step up and help our neighbors once again, he said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE STROUD, Okla. (KFOR) A man from Stroud and his wife, who now live in North Carolina, are bringing back a pickup truck full of supplies after their city was hit hard by Hurricane Helene. They told News 4 it wouldnt have been possible without the help of some Oklahomans. We just came up with the idea on a whim on Saturday, said Nick Migues. Migues and his wife Kristen spoke to News 4 in their truck on their way home to Asheville, North Carolina. They didnt have time to stop. Were loaded up right now and we have a bunch of stuff in the bed, said Kristin Migues. When theyre not driving monster trucks in North Carolina, theyre mobile mechanics. The couple told News 4 they had been planning a trip to visit family in Stroud, Oklahoma. They left the day Helene hit their community. That was a blessing for us because we missed the bulk of it, said Kristen Migues. Theres a lot of chaos going on in Asheville right now. Death toll rises from Helene while supplies are rushed to North Carolina and Florida digs out The Associated Press is reporting 120 people across six states have lost their lives to the hurricane, with 35 in the county that includes Asheville. Survivors are left without electricity. The couple decided to offer help and told Nicks grandparents, who told their church, First Christian Church of Stroud. They came back and their cars were full. Their church went above and beyond really, said Nick Migues. They worked to give us $600 dollars in cash to help in Asheville which is great because everything is cash only right now, said Kristen Migues. Now, theyre loaded up on food, water and gas on their long trip back home. Several interstates and highways are closed, so now theyre driving from Stroud, through Atlanta, up through South Carolina, then the Asheville, NC. Were looking at a 17 hour drive, said Kristen Migues. No matter the distance or the disaster, Oklahomans showing the red-dirt response is at the ready. Its just amazing. It blows us away, Nick Migues. Thankfully, the Migues home is okay. The couple has since exceeded their GoFundMe goal. They said if they have any leftover funds, they will go towards churches and other non-profits. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) A person has died after a shooting at The North Side Deli in Binghamton. On September 28, at approximately 4:30 a.m., the Binghamton Police Department was dispatched to 511 Chenango Street, The North Side Deli, for a report of shots fired. Upon arrival, officers determined that a shooting had occurred based on evidence as well as reports from several witnesses at the scene. While investigating the incident, officers were made aware that a male had arrived at a nearby hospital with gunshot wounds. He received emergency surgery. Later that same day, at approximately 3 p.m., after several hours of life saving measures, the victim of the shooting was pronounced dead as a result of his injuries. The identity of the victim is not being released at this time. The Binghamton Police Detective Bureau is continuing to investigate the shooting as a homicide. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Binghamton Police Detective Bureau at (607)772-7080. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. One killed, two seriously injured in two-vehicle crash in Independence One person was killed and two others seriously injured when two vehicles crashed into each other Sunday night in Independence, a police spokesman said. The crash occurred around 10:45 p.m. at the intersection of East Salisbury Road and South Downey Avenue, a residential area a few blocks east of Missouri 291 in Independence, said Sgt. Jeff Buck with the Independence Police Departments traffic safety unit. The driver of a 2019 Nissan Altima pulled out from Downey into the path of a 2013 Kia Sorento headed east on Salisbury. Buck said the two vehicles collided. The driver of the Altima was killed in the crash and was pronounced dead at the scene. A passenger in the Altima and the driver of the Sorento were taken to hospitals with serious injuries. The name of the person killed in the crash was not released until the family could be notified. Buck said the crash remains under investigation. KAHUKU, Hawaii (KHON2) Honolulu Fire Department responded to a residential building fire in Kahuku late Sunday afternoon, which left one man injured and 13 college students displaced. Check out whats going on around the nation on our National News page The 911 call came in at 4:33 p.m. after a building fire was reported on Lanihuli Street. Multiple fire units responded to the scene just before 4:45 p.m. and found smoke coming from three sides of a single-story, single-family home. 2 men shot at for unknown reasons in Kalihi Firefighters located the main fire in the bedroom. Officials said they were able to secure a water supply and initiate an aggressive fire attack. Lets talk about the rice: Eating (at) House 1849 After conducting primary and secondary searches, it was confirmed that no occupants were found inside the structure. HFD reported one male to have suffered moderate burns to his hands and feet. He was transferred to EMS shortly before 5 p.m. Dont forget to wear orange today. Heres why Officials said the fire was under control at 5:04 p.m. and was later extinguished. The 13 college students who lived in the home are currently being assisted by the American Red Cross. Check out more news from around Hawaii No injuries were reported for HFD personnel. An investigation has been initiated to determine the fires origin and cause. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. One storm, 95 dead and a 500-mile path of destruction. Now comes the hard work of recovering from Helene Short on supplies, short on power and short on patience, the people who saw the power of a massive storm upend their lives have emerged to a new week, facing the daunting challenge of rebuilding. Some of the roads and bridges they need to do the job arent there anymore. Electricity could be a week away or longer. Emergency services are stretched. And neighbors, some of whose own homes are gone, are helping neighbors. At least 95 people have died across six states and officials believe there could be more. So far, state and county officials said 36 people died in North Carolina, 25 in South Carolina, 17 in Georgia, 11 in Florida, four in Tennessee and two in Virginia. Many more remain missing, perhaps unable to leave their location or unable to contact family where communications infrastructure is in shreds. Hundreds of roads remain closed, especially in the Carolinas, hampering the delivery of badly-needed supplies. And more than 2 million customers remain without power, according to PowerOutage.us. Power companies are dealing with damaged and blocked roads as they work to restore power to homes and businesses. President Joe Biden will visit some of the affected communities later this week, as soon as it will not disrupt emergency response operations, the White House said Sunday evening. He will speak Monday morning at the White House about federal efforts underway to speed resources to where they are needed. The president approved disaster relief and has been in contact with the governors where the damage was most severe. My heart is broken for our people here Amid cleanup efforts, a Buncombe County resident told CNN she has no power, running water or cell phone reception. Clutching firewood in her hands, Meredith Keisler, a school nurse, said: Were collecting wood because we have a grill to make fire, to cook food, she said. While Keisler says she considers herself lucky with resources at her home, she plans to work at a shelter to help others. Its incredible the destruction. Its really sad, she noted when asked about her surroundings. About 20 miles east of Asheville, Krista Cortright said her boyfriends grandmother had no way of getting out of Black Mountain due to flooding. Cortright told CNN the couple had to get to her since she had limited supplies and she is diabetic. It typically takes the couple 25 minutes to travel from Marion to the grandmothers house. On Sunday, due to road closures, it took them 2.5 hours. Things are even more devastating in person, Cortright said. (Western North Carolina) is going to take a very long time to recover, but I am so grateful that we are here and doing OK. My heart is broken for our people here. unknown content item - Before power can be restored, infrastructure needs a fix Michael Callahan, president of Duke Energys utility operations in South Carolina, said infrastructure repairs need to precede power restoration efforts. The poles and wires that make up our transmission system have experienced unprecedented damage. Callahan said at a news conference. Still, the utility hoped to have most of its customers in the state back up by Friday, he said. And with the exception of areas that are inaccessible or unable to take service, that doesnt mean your power will be out until Friday, he clarified. As of Sunday night, about 760,000 homes and businesses were without electricity in South Carolina, according to PowerOutage.us. In Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia, more than 1.2 million customers were without power. With communications down, hundreds of people still unaccounted for Officials in Buncombe County, North Carolina where at least 30 people have died have received about 600 missing persons reports through an online form, County Manager Avril Pinder said Sunday. Former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate encouraged people not to lose hope. Communications being out and loved ones being unreachable doesnt necessarily mean the worst has happened, he told CNN on Sunday, adding people will be reunited once cell phone reception and internet are restored. The states telecommunications partners activated disaster roaming on all networks, meaning any phone on any carrier can access any network to place calls, state Emergency Management Director William Ray said. Although we know we have lost lives, we generally see more people that are missing or unaccounted for because of communication, Fugate said. The governor addressed earlier reports of 1,000 people having gone unaccounted for. There have been about 1,000 calls. We dont know the results of all of those calls, he said, adding most people are likely safe but do not yet have phone or internet service. He added, however, the official death toll could rise. We also know that there are going to be a lot of fatalities from this tragedy, Cooper said. We dont know how many because search and rescue operations are still going on. President Biden to visit after promising help from Washington The President will visit impacted communities from the storm later this week, the White House said Sunday evening. On Sunday, Biden spoke with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper as well as other officials across North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida and South Carolina. He was briefed Sunday by Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell and Homeland Security Adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall on recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene. Criswell visited Georgia on Sunday and is set to go to North Carolina on Monday. The White House said Biden monitored recovery efforts while in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, this weekend, after approving pre-landfall emergency declarations for Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Alabama. He subsequently issued declarations for Tennessee and Virginia. Heavy rains from hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage on September 28 in Asheville, North Carolina. - Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images Former President Donald Trump on Sunday sent his condolences to those affected by Helene, which was the strongest hurricane on record to slam into Floridas Big Bend region. Before we begin, Id like to send my love and prayers to the families of those who have died - a lot of death and all of those who are displaced and suffering in the wake of the hurricanes destruction in the South, especially in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and in particular, western North Carolina took a tremendous hit, Trump said at a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania. Its been absolutely devastated, and God be with you all. Its been a rough, its been a rough one. That was a big monster hurricane and was a lot, hit a lot harder than anyone even thought possible. So we want to just extend our best wishes to everybody. More rain possible for storm-damaged areas The remnants of Helene continue to bring rainfall to parts of the mid-Atlantic. The heaviest rainfall is possible for parts of central Virginia and eastern West Virginia, where flood watches in place through the overnight hours and are expected to expire Monday at 6 a.m. ET. Rainfall rates of 1-2 inches per hour and rainfall totals of 1-3 inches are possible, according to the Weather Prediction Center. An upper-level low pressure system will remain nearly stationary over eastern Kentucky Monday, bringing potentially heavy showers to much of the region, including Virginia and West Virginia, the National Weather Service office in Baltimore said. Much of the area affected by Helene could see showers Monday. The majority of the showers expected across the area are light, but any new rainfall is not a boon to those attempting to rebuild and clean up after the devastation of Helene. Around 90 river gauges across Helenes path are still at some sort of flood stage, with around 20 gauges at moderate or major flood stage. It will be days for some river gauges to drop below flood stage, regardless of rainfall. Some river gauges downstream of the heaviest rainfall are still set to peak later this week and even into the weekend. Helene dumped staggering amounts of rain, including 12 to 14 inches in South Carolina, 12 to 16 inches in Florida and 12 to 14 inches in Georgia, said Ken Graham, the director of the National Weather Service. Workers clear Cane Creek Road in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 29 in Fairview, North Carolina. - Sean Rayford/Getty Images People are coping by sharing resources, even air to breathe In many communities, including Asheville, North Carolina, one of the big issues is fresh water. One of the citys water plants is out of commission and many of the pipes used to bring water to customers have been damaged, leaving Mayor Esther Manheimer to ask for patience. We dont want people to assume thats going to happen quickly; we need to make sure people understand that this is something they should plan for long term. They need to keep water for drinking, for flushing toilets, for things like that Dont assume this is going to end anytime soon, Manheimer told CNN affiliate WLOS. Michelle Coleman, the executive director of the Asheville Dream Center told CNN shes never seen her community like this before. This is the most devastating thing Ive ever seen in our whole city, she said. Coleman described how groups have been mobilizing to deliver water, diapers and other essentials to community members, including giving supplies to a family with a five-day-old infant. Our prayer is that people are just not losing hope because our community is coming together. Asheville is a strong community, Coleman said. Gary ODell, a disabled Vietnam War veteran, said hes been sharing his oxygen tank with a neighbor. My next-door neighbor ran out of oxygen. Hes in worse shape than I am, he said. Thats my problem. Ive got lung cancer now, too. You dont realize, oxygen is very important. CNNs Robert Shackelford, Sarah Dewberry, Rafael Romo, Jade Gordon, Ashley R. Williams, DJ Judd, Sunlen Serfaty, Lauren Mascarenhas, Eric Levenson, Isabel Rosales, Taylor Galgano, Sara Smart, Conor Powell, Caroll Alvarado, Caroline Jaime, Emma Tucker, Artemis Moshtaghian, Paradise Afshar and Raja Razek contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Kubrak78 / Getty Images In many cases, the definition of middle class remains somewhat subjective in the eyes of the paycheck holders. However, this notion of income-defining status is on that is deeply rooted in the American identity. To fulfill the promise of the capitalistic dream, in an ideal world mobility would be upward, the economy would be stable and opportunities would be abundant. Read More: How Much Money Is Needed To Be Considered Middle Class in Every State? Check Out: How To Get Rich in Real Estate Starting With Just $1,000 However, in recent years, especially in the Midwest, that definition has shifted dramatically from what was once considered the heart and driving force of American prosperity. The post-World War II economic boom fostered a strong manufacturing sector, where steady, well-paying jobs allowed families to buy homes, send their children to college and save for retirement. Incomes in the Midwest were often sufficient to sustain a comfortable lifestyle in places like Detroit, Milwaukee and Cleveland, where housing costs were relatively low compared to coastal cities. GOBankingRates recently conducted a study to discover just how much the definition of middle class has changed throughout the United States. Specifically, here is how much that definition has changed in the 12 states considered to be Midwestern. You can also find out how much the definition of middle class changed in the New England region. Earning passive income doesn't need to be difficult. You can start this week. Is the Middle Class Shrinking in The Midwest? Over the past few decades, several economic pressures have eroded the stability of the Midwests middle class. The decline of manufacturing jobs due to globalization, automation and outsourcing has left many without the steady employment that once sustained the region. This shift has produced an expanding range of income that includes the middle class, but fewer people not living paycheck to paycheck. North Dakota 2022 middle-class income range: $49,306 to $147,918 2012 middle-class income range: $34,427 to $103,282 10-year change in middle-class income: 43.2% Trending Now: Heres the Income Needed To Be in the Top 1% in All 50 States Minnesota 2022 middle-class income range: $56,209 to $168,626 2012 middle-class income range: $39,417 to $118,252 10-year change in middle-class income: 42.6% South Dakota 2022 middle-class income range: $46,305 to $138,914 2012 middle-class income range: $32,727 to $98,182 10-year change in middle-class income: 41.5% Michigan 2022 middle-class income range: $45,670 to $137,010 2012 middle-class income range: $32,314 to $96,942 10-year change in middle-class income: 41.3% Story continues Middle-Class Income vs. Midwestern Prices Incomes have become more polarized throughout the country, with high-income earners capturing more of the nations wealth, while those in the middle class face increasing financial insecurity. The gap between rural and urban areas in the Midwest also plays a significant role, and rural parts of the Midwest continue to struggle with job losses and population decline, leading to a wider disparity in what constitutes middle-class living depending on where one lives such as in the following states: Kansas 2022 middle-class income range: $46,498 to $139,494 2012 middle-class income range: $34,182 to $102,546 10-year change in middle-class income: 36% Nebraska 2022 middle-class income range: $47,815 to $143,444 2012 middle-class income range: $34,254 to $102,762 10-year change in middle-class income: 39.6% Iowa 2022 middle-class income range: $47,047 to $141,142 2012 middle-class income range: $34,086 to $102,258 10-year change in middle-class income: 38% Missouri 2022 middle-class income range: $43,947 to $131,840 2012 middle-class income range: $31,555 to $94,666 10-year change in middle-class income: 39.3% The New Midwestern Middle Class To survive economic shifts, everyone has to evolve and adapt, and Midwesterners are no exception. New industries, such as renewable energy, advanced manufacturing and healthcare, could offer hope for economic revitalization in the region. Many Midwestern cities are investing in infrastructure, education and innovation to attract new businesses and create opportunities for a modern middle class. Indiana 2022 middle-class income range: $44,782 to $134,346 2012 middle-class income range: $32,249 to $96,748 10-year change in middle-class income: 38.9% Ohio 2022 middle-class income range: $44,660 to $133,980 2012 middle-class income range: $32,164 to $96,492 10-year change in middle-class income: 38.9% Illinois 2022 middle-class income range: $52,289 to $156,866 2012 middle-class income range: $37,902 to $113,706 10-year change in middle-class income: 38% Wisconsin 2022 middle-class income range: $48,305 to $144,916 2012 middle-class income range: $35,085 to $105,254 10-year change in middle-class income: 37.7% Final Take To GO The bottom line is that the middle class in the Midwest has undergone a significant transformation over the past few decades. What was once defined by stable manufacturing jobs and affordable living now grapples with economic volatility. As the region continues to evolve, so too will the definition of the middle class as well as adaptations that must be made to maintain that status. Methodology: For this piece, GOBankingRates first sourced the 2012, 2017 and 2022 household median income of every state, as sourced from the 2012, 2017 and 2022 American Community Surveys as conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. With these median household incomes isolated, GOBankingRates was able to find middle-class income ranges for each respective year with the following definition: those with an annual household income that was two-thirds to double the national median income. For each state, GOBaningRates found 2022 middle-class income range, 2017 middle-class income range, 2012 middle-class income range, 10-year change in middle-class income range, and 10-year percent change in middle-class income. All data was collected and up to date as of Apr. 8, 2024 . More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Heres How Much the Definition of Middle Class Has Changed in the Midwest At least 30 people have died in just one North Carolina county after a weekend of historic flooding from Hurricane Helene devastated the southeastern states. Helene made landfall on Thursday night as a Category 4 storm, striking Floridas Big Bend region and moving north through the American South. The death toll across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia rose to 91 by Sunday evening, the Associated Press reported. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said he expected the death toll in the Tar Heel State to continue rising in the foreseeable future. Tragically, we know there will be more, Cooper said at a press conference earlier on Sunday. Heavy rains inundated Buncombe County in the Appalachian Mountains with floodwaters over the weekend. Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty The majority of North Carolinas deaths have been reported in and around the states western city of Asheville. Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller confirmed at least 30 people in the county died as a result of the storm, and Buncombe County Manager Avril Pender told reporters on Sunday that the county is still conducting search and rescue operations for missing persons. Sheriff Miller told reporters the 30 deaths in the region were spread out throughout Buncombe County. We know that we have areas in Fairview, Black Mountain, Swannanoa, and Barnardsville where the devastation is unthinkable, Pender said in a press briefing. Those communities no longer resemble what they were a week ago, and our loved ones are still trapped. Trucks lie scattered in the parking lot of a North Carolina Lowe's after Hurricane Helene. Marco Bello/Reuters The County manager also said that residents of Asheville and its surrounding towns were struggling to find food and fresh water. The citys water system suffered significant damage that will require extensive repairs to the citys treatment facilities, underground and aboveground water pipes, and to roads that have washed away which are preventing water personnel from accessing parts of the system, the city government announced. The city remains under a boil water advisory for residents who still have functioning running water. We hear you, Pender told Buncombe County residents. We need food and we need water. My staff has been making every request possible to the state for support and weve been working with every single organization that has reached out. What I promise you is that we are very close. The remains of a Walgreens in Asheville captured by a drone on Sunday morning. Marco Bello/Reuters Pender said that authorities were working to set up food and water distribution sites across Buncombe County, and the county would announce the locations later on Sunday. The area is still under a state of emergency, which authorities said would continue until further notice. Pender told Buncombe County residents that there was a remaining danger of more landslides, and warned residents who still havent evacuated to seek shelter. Over 98,000 customers in Buncombe County were still out of power by Sunday night, according to online tracker poweroutage.us. Cell service in western North Carolina was also disrupted, and Pender told reporters the city of Asheville will set up a temporary satellite cell tower with the help of Verizon to provide temporary reception to the struggling city. The White House said FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell visited Florida over the weekend to assess damage to the state where Helene made landfall on Thursday evening. She also visited parts of Georgia and will continue on to North Carolina on Monday, the White House said, in order to determine what more can be done to accelerate support to those who need it most in isolated communities. President Joe Biden told reporters on Sunday he would visit areas affected by Helene as soon as possible without disrupting rescue operations. 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. DENVER (KDVR) An online shop owner who was found guilty earlier this year by a federal jury of defrauding federal COVID-19 relief programs was sentenced Thursday to serve 90 months in prison. According to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Colorado, Shambrica Washington, 39, now a resident of Parker, Texas, and previously a resident of Colorado Springs, was sentenced to serve seven and a half years, or 90 months, in prison followed by three years of supervised release and paying restitution of over $542,900, or the amount she purportedly obtained through unlawful measures. Washington was found guilty by a federal jury in June of 31 charges, which were: Three counts of wire fraud Two counts of bank fraud 22 counts of money laundering Four counts of making false claims Court records show Washington obtained two Small Business Administration loans under the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and two Paycheck Protection Program loans, intended for small businesses struggling with COVID-19 restrictions and economic impacts, for $485,749 between March and July 2020. Billions in pandemic fraud: DOJ looking to recover every penny of COVID relief fraud The loans were provided to Washington under two business names: Tiny Toes and Tiaras, an online luxury baby boutique, and Trueloves Daughters Inc., a mentorship nonprofit based in Colorado Springs. According to the U.S. Attorneys Office, Washington misrepresented the number of employees at her businesses, in addition to the businesses wages, revenues and costs of operations. When she received the money, the U.S. Attorneys Office said she used the funds to buy a car, a custom-built home, elective surgery and pay for credit card debt and other bills. The office said Washington then applied for millions more in additional loans, grants and tax credits. Washington allegedly applied for advance tax credits from the Internal Revenue Service, plus a $6 million grant through a Small Business Administration program intended for shuttered concert venues. People who steal taxpayer dollars for personal benefit can and will pay the price, said Acting United States Attorney for the District of Colorado Matt Kirsch in a release. Our office has and will continue to find people who have abused COVID-19 funds and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. Washington is one of many investigated by one of five national COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force Teams. One of those teams is led by the U.S. Attorneys Office based in Denver to combat COVID-19 fraud. As of April, the U.S. Justice Department had filed federal criminal charges against over 3,500 defendants and had also seized over $1.4 billion in COVID-19 relief funds that were fraudulently obtained. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. The current Russian government is confidently and purposefully turning Russia into the USSR 2.0. Total censorship, elimination of Russian opposition leaders, persecution of human rights activists, free journalists and public figures, prohibition of criticism of the government, especially the war of aggression in Ukraine all this makes democratic ways of changing the government in the Kremlin virtually impossible. They are already working on a possible successor who would satisfy all groups of influence, so even in the event of Putins sudden death, without other additional factors and changes within Russia, we should not expect a change in this regime. At the same time, Russian political opposition forces are not consolidated, do not have a single strong leader, and have no influence on changing the situation in the country. The Kremlin is well aware of this, having agreed to a prisoner exchange with the United States on 1 August 2024. In addition, Moscow is behaving extremely aggressively not only in the war with Kyiv but also threatens the West: analysts and defense ministries of Nato member states are increasingly talking about Russias readiness for new wars in the coming years. Under these circumstances, the activities of partisans inside the Russian Federation, the recruitment of law enforcement officers and the activities of Russian volunteer formations fighting for Ukraine are not just demonstrative processes. They have real results that contribute both to the reduction of Russias military potential (and thus to the victory of Ukraine and peace in Europe) and to laying the groundwork for further changes in Russia itself. For it is the army and other security agencies (Rosgvardia and FSB, etc.) that form the backbone of the Russian authoritarian regime. It appears that the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine also relies on these processes. Information about repeated sabotage and special operations in various parts of Russia suggests that the DIU has a network of agents in the armed forces and other security and government agencies of the Russian Federation. For example, in 2023 it became known that a career Russian military officer, Danil Alfyorov, was recruited by the Ukrainian intelligence service and convinced 11 Russian military personnel to surrender to the armed forces of Ukraine. And in August 2024, as a result of a successful operation called Reeds, the headquarters of enemy officers was blown up, and the perpetrator of the operation, a Russian military officer, later defected to the side of Ukraine. The media also reported various sabotage activities in Russia, including railroad sabotage and the blowing up of bridges used to transport military cargo. On April 8, 2024, the DIU announced sabotage on board the Russian small missile ship Serpukhov of project 21631 Buyan-M, which destroyed communications and automation equipment. The ship, a carrier of Kinzhal and Oniks cruise missiles, was at the Russian naval base in Baltiysk, Kaliningrad region, and, according to the DIU, could have been redeployed to reinforce the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The details of the operation were kept secret for several months, and only in July, during a press conference, were the details revealed. The explosion on the ship was carried out by a former Russian sailor of the Russian Baltic Fleet, pseudonym Goga, who had access to state secrets. Goga has Ukrainian roots. After the start of the full-scale invasion, he tried to terminate his contract with the Russian army, including through the courts but was not released. In 2023, the sailor contacted the Ukrainian project I Want to Live, which offered him cooperation. During this time, Goga collected and transmitted important information to Ukraine, and being threatened with exposure, the sailor set off a bomb on the ship and escaped from it with secret data on the state of the Russian naval complex. The DIU managed to smuggle the man across the border into Ukraine, where he joined the volunteer unit Freedom of Russia Legion (FRL) and plans to continue fighting Putins regime with weapons in hand. In addition to the FRL, two other volunteer units formed by Russians are fighting on the Ukrainian side the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) and the Siberian Battalion. All of them have become known for raids on Russian territory. Moscow is trying to position them as traitors to the motherland, demanding punishment and calling them terrorists. Still, the Kremlin also speaks of the Ukrainian armed forces in this way. The Russian volunteers seem to see no other effective way to fight, calling it Russias special liberation operation against Putin and calling on other Russians to join them. The DIU stated that the intelligence services support these volunteer formations because they are helping Ukraine in its struggle, and a source in the agency called the Russian volunteers the only real Russian opposition. In general, the facts of the presence of Russians in the DFU and the recruitment of Russian military personnel by Ukrainian intelligence not only undermine the Russian propaganda thesis of Nazism in Ukraine, but also set an example for other Russian military personnel who disagree with the Kremlins actions. These factors, as well as the commission of war crimes on the territory of Ukraine, despite Moscows attempts to absolve itself of responsibility on the one hand and to show that the killing of Ukrainian civilians was not an accident on the other, have already had consequences. Thus, after the Russian missile attack on the Okhmatdyt Childrens Hospital in Kyiv on July 8, 2024, one of the pilots of the 22nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Division, the 06987th military unit based at the Engels airfield (Saratov region, Russia), contacted the DIU chatbot. The pilot was shocked by another attack on civilians, so he handed over documents from the personal files of senior officers of the division and valuable sealed materials to the Ukrainian side. Perhaps, there will be more such cases, and more Russians fighting on the side of Ukraine. For now, it is precisely this kind of opposition to the Kremlin that is producing real, measurable results that affect Russias military potential and the course of the biggest war since World War II. It is on this opposition that Ukraines partners should rely. Serhii Kuzan is a former adviser to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. The assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is not only the most significant targeted killing in Israels history but also the first chapter in what could be a new, more hopeful future for Lebanon, its long-suffering northern neighbor. Here are six implications of Nasrallahs death. First, after wiping out virtually the entire Hezbollah political and military command, from its spectacular exploding pager and walkie-talkie operation to its killing of Nasrallah, Israel is unlikely to suspend its military operations in Lebanon. To the contrary, Israel is likely to take advantage of Hezbollahs disarray to do everything it can to destroy the groups offensive capabilities, including its entire arsenal of precision-guided missiles and whats left of its infrastructure for cross-border attacks in southern Lebanon. Hopefully, Israel will achieve its objectives swiftly and avoid the fatal attraction of the long-term reoccupation of Lebanese territory. Second, some of the third-level leaders who will inherit control of Hezbollah are likely to argue that Nasrallah and his comrades were vulnerable because they lacked an asset that Hamas had in Gaza since Oct. 7 hostages. This could lead to reckless plots to kidnap foreigners inside Lebanon; efforts to launch cross-border raids into Israel through underground tunnels; and perhaps even activation of Hezbollah terrorist cells around the world, including in America. Third, Iran Hezbollahs patron, funder and supplier has so far shown that it wants to stay out of this fight, but its inactivity could become an acute embarrassment and difficult to sustain. As an Arab, Nasrallah was not as important to Tehran as Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani, whose killing in a 2020 U.S. drone strike prompted a retaliatory attack against American troops in northern Iraq. But he was closer to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei than any non-Iranian, and his death will be viewed as a personal blow. In this context, it would not be surprising for Iran to unleash its proxies from Yemens Houthis to Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria against American, allied and Israeli targets. Iran-backed terrorism against soft targets in the West cannot be ruled out. Given that Iran relied on Hezbollah as a deterrent against U.S. or Israeli direct attack, the groups weakness means Iran is less likely to launch its own revenge assault against Israel, along the lines of its April 13 volley of missiles and drones. A key unknown is whether Irans sense of vulnerability triggers a rethinking of nuclear strategy, with its leaders now more determined to acquire a weapons capability as quickly as possible to compensate for the loss of Hezbollah. Fourth, Lebanon is in shock at the sudden change in Hezbollahs status. Just days ago, Hezbollah was the unquestioned power in the country, behind the mere facade of a Potemkin government. Now, there is a moment of opportunity for the disparate, often disputatious elements of an anti-Hezbollah coalition to organize itself before the remnants of Hezbollah find their footing and try to reimpose control. One key variable is whether the Lebanese Armed Forces now believes it is relatively powerful enough to assert authority in the name of the state and has the cohesion and leadership to take that fateful step. Another question is whether external actors from Washington to Paris to Riyadh will coordinate effectively to empower local allies to fill the void left by Hezbollahs disarray. Israel may have set the table, but it cannot deliver the meal of a new Lebanese political architecture. Only the Lebanese themselves with the help of their foreign friends can do that. But the possibility is more real today than it has been at any moment in recent memory. Fifth, as the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack approaches, the heady Israeli success in Lebanon will have its own impact on Gaza. The most obvious implication is the likely hardening of opposition by Hamas Yahya Sinwar to giving up hostages in a cease-fire deal, as he probably concludes that keeping that asset has kept him alive after nearly a year of war. The result is likely to be the freezing of an unsatisfying status quo in Gaza, in which Israels main battle operations are effectively complete but the situation stays in limbo. In this stalemate, Hamas cannot mount a serious military threat to Israel, but the rag-tag remnants of its fighting force remain enough to terrorize the local population and to prevent anyone else from governing the Gaza Strip. In this situation, the real losers are local Palestinians, who will likely remain caught between the roving street gangs of Hamass diminished but still potent brigades and the targeted operations of Israels counter-terror missions in Gaza. Sixth, the killing of Nasrallah should be a moment for the U.S. to cheer that justice has been done, given the blood of hundreds of Americans that are on Hezbollahs hands. But this is also a moment for the Biden administration to shift focus from its Sisyphean pursuit of a Gaza cease-fire to taking advantage of the opportunities presented by Israels seismic shock to Hezbollah. With assertive, engaged diplomacy, the Biden administration can help engineer a new security regime that allows civilians to return to their homes along the Israel-Lebanon border and work with local and international partners to help build a new political architecture for Lebanon. This isnt the Saudi-Israel peace and normalization accord that the Biden administration hoped to leave as a legacy though there might be one last bite at this apple during the presidential transition nor even the Gaza cease-fire for which the White House has labored for months. But after a year of tragedy and sadness, this would be real progress. At the same time, it is essential for Washington to warn Tehran about the high price it will suffer if it decides to make a dash for a nuclear-weapons capability. By building on Israels killing of Nasrallah, President Biden has the opportunity to leave the Middle East better today than it was on Oct. 8, which is no small achievement. Robert Satloff is Segal executive director of the Washington 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. The debate over Amendment D has often sacrificed important constitutional considerations in favor of a focus on less weighty, more headline-grabbing political questions. The Utah Supreme Courts ruling on Amendment D should let us turn the page and focus on the highest priorities. A state supreme court that seems to be walking away from judicial restraint is one such priority issue. Another is ensuring that ballot initiatives fulfill their proper role in a representative democracy. In an August ruling on abortion and a separate decision in July on ballot initiatives, the Utah Supreme Court showed a concerning tendency in its legal thinking: Identify a principle absent from the text of the state constitution and use it to redefine the meaning of constitutional language. A natural outcome of this approach has been to place the court in the role of resolving policy disputes placing the court in a concerning conflict with the constitutions principle of the separation of powers. Utah judges have historically restrained themselves when asked to overturn legislative action by those who failed to defeat it in the Legislature. But in the abortion and ballot initiative rulings, political activists have a pattern for how to use the courts to overcome their failures in representative democracy: The Utah Supreme Court is willing to snatch policy victory from legislative failure, if the argument is right. The experience of the U.S. Supreme Court should offer a cautionary tale to state courts tempted to leave behind judicial restraint for the siren song of the activist approach. The U.S. Supreme Court has been strongly criticized in recent years, with voter trust in the judiciary hitting all-time lows. As a majority of the justices have restrained themselves to a role carefully circumscribed by the constitutional text, it has upset some who have become accustomed to the court resolving hot-button policy disputes like abortion in prior decades. Many have struggled to leave a politicized view of the court behind and instead have attacked the court for its return to judicial restraint, highlighting why the judicial activism of the past was such a serious mistake. The obvious solution for the Utah Supreme Court is a course correction before judicial activism becomes the norm: Acknowledge policy disagreements masquerading as constitutional disputes for what they are, and leave them to voters and their elected representatives to decide. Leaders of the representative branches of government have signaled they are willing to use their own constitutional authority to check the direction of the court, which is a path the court should avoid. The question on the role of ballot initiatives in representative democracy is equally important. The courts July ruling enshrined a theory that voters policy decisions in ballot initiatives must be protected from the policy decisions of the elected representatives chosen by voters. This court-manufactured conflict between these two constitutional rights of the people is an unnecessary confusion of the constitution. The July ruling, on its face, seems to limit the impact of its decision to ballot initiatives that alter or reform the government, referencing language in the Utah Constitution. But this theoretical limit is not much of a limit at all in practice. Any policy reform, be it legislative or ballot initiative, alters or reforms some aspect of government in some way that is the very purpose of policy reform. The court may not believe that every ballot initiative implicates that specific language of the Utah Constitution, but what it does and does not apply to is a matter of significant debate. So, by relying on it as the limit of protection for ballot initiatives, they have just guaranteed that every political activist in the future will draft their ballot initiative to credibly argue that it merits this heightened legal protection from legislative repeal. In other words, the primary impact of this limit in the courts July ruling is to make the court the final word on the fate of every policy reform enacted by voters and significantly reformed by lawmakers placing themselves squarely between voters direct legislative power and the voters power to legislate via those they elect to legislate. The court also did an admirable job attempting to discern the original historical meaning of the Utah Constitutions ballot initiative provision. However, that historical development happened in the context of our national constitutional history. The Utah Constitutions primary purpose, like its national counterpart, is to establish representative democracy through the governments elected branches. This is why most of the constitutions text is dedicated to articulating and limiting the powers of the Legislature and governor, and relatively little is spent on outlining the ballot initiative power and process. In following this model, springing from the federal constitution, the framers of the Utah Constitution incorporated the intent of the framers of the U.S. Constitution, who held distinct skepticism toward the concept of direct democracy (embodied by ballot initiatives) and saw elections as the ultimate check available to the people on the power of government. With this system and natural protection in place, it is dubious to conclude that the original intent of the Utah Constitutions ballot initiative provision demands court-ordered protection against actions undertaken by the peoples elected representatives. Given all of this, it should come as no surprise then that states which have empowered ballot initiatives at the expense of representative democracy are criticized across the spectrum for the form of governance they have inflicted upon citizens and voters. Presuming that the July ruling is not challenged in federal court as a violation of the U.S. Constitutions guarantee of representative democracy in the states, policymakers should consider improvements to the lawmaking process of ballot initiatives. If Utahns are forced to live under ballot initiatives that are difficult to repeal, then the vetting process for such proposals ought to be thorough and deliberative, similar in nature to the heightened deliberation inherent in representative democracy. Judicial restraint, in keeping with the constitutional separation of powers, has helped make Utah an example of good governance to the nation. Utah judges, policymakers and voters ought to carefully consider the ramifications of moving away from that bedrock legal principle. If we keep important considerations like this top of mind, we can continue to make Utah the best place to live, work and raise a family regardless of the outcome of any one piece of legislation or court decision. William C. Duncan and Derek Monson are colleagues at Sutherland Institute, a nonprofit public policy think tank that seeks to advance principled public policy that promotes the constitutional values of faith, family and freedom. NewsNation Chief Washington Anchor and On Balance host Leland Vittert was a foreign correspondent for four years in Jerusalem. He gives you an early look at tonights 7 p.m. ET show. Subscribe to War Notes here. The Gibberish Factor Watch tonight: Bill OReilly joins to talk about Donald Trumps unwillingness to help himself. His new column focuses on the gibberish factor, highlighting Kamala Harris holistic approach to things which we explained last week. Republicans biggest problem remains Trump: Republicans have an advantage, but the dislike for Trump is so large the race is tied. Politically speaking Millions are without power, and thousands need rescue There are numerous new conflicts in the Middle East Americans are still being held hostage in the Middle East A sitting Democrat president does not have the capacity to serve A port strike is imminent The economy does not work for most working-class Americans The Democratic administration admits thousands of criminals and some convicted murderers are in country illegally and wandering our streets As we pointed out last week, the joyful warrior of Vice President Kamala Harris wants holistic approaches to problems, which translates to things that never work: More government mandates More government spending More taxes More government planning And shes either tied or ahead in the polls. Rather than talk about the issues above, Trump has ramped up rhetoric over the weekend: He called Harris mentally impaired Said immigrants will slit your throat And advocated for a day where cops could be extraordinarily rough When forced to choose between a holistic approach and extraordinarily rough and mental impairment, they will choose holistic. Are Hispanics Racist? The anti-Trump intellectual crowd tells us racists support former President Donald Trump that must be news to the record number of Latinos now supporting him. Steve Kornacki goes through their poll on NBC its worth watching by clicking here. From our data guru Steven Joachim, linking to an NBC article: Possibly important poll released yesterday by The NBC News/Telemundo/CNBC. Harris leads among Latinos but if it holds, not by the amount (+14) she needs to (probably) win. Consider Dems won this group by +44 pts in 2012, +38 pts in 2016 and +33 pts in 2020 (according to exit polls). This also shows you the trends Latino support (again if this holds) for Democrats down 30 pts since 2012. The New York Post has a few ideas about why Latinos are abandoning a party that took them for granted. Maria Hinojosa claims on MSNBC that Hispanics are supporting Trump because they want to be white. Thought bubble: Can you imagine the outcry if someone on Fox said whites supporting Harris just want to be Black?!?!?! You dont know whats good for you let us tell you: Retired General Stanley McChrystal: Dont vote based on politics. New York Times Editorial Board: Harris is the only patriotic choice for president. The real problem: Leave it to Americas most out-of-touch politician, John Kerry, to explain why the First Amendment must go to fix all our problems. Flood damage is seen along Mill Creek in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on September 30, 2024 in Old Fort, North Carolina. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) Care about People Like Me Pollsters tell you a key predictor of presidential victory comes from who gets the higher score in the question (insert candidates name here) cares about people like me. Be honest: Its hard to see either Trump or Harris caring about anybody but themselves, but thats besides the point. Unthinkable devastation: Water, power and communications are three things we wake up and take for granted theyre all knocked out and might be for months. Over the next month, Western North Carolina and Eastern Georgia will become ground zero for the presidential race. Not only are they swing areas in swing states, but they give the candidates a chance to show they care. Figure it a casting call for comforter in chief: Trump is visiting parts of Georgia today will he throw paper towels again? Harris says she is leaving the campaign trail to visit FEMA headquarters to do what exactly, who knows. Greg Price points out the picture of Harris working on Air Force Two leaves a lot to be desired. Biden spent the weekend on the beach and said the hardest hit areas didnt need more aid or help, which will only fuel the debate on aid for Ukraine versus Ashville and Augusta. Brutal: The Tennessee National Guard deployed 700 people to the Middle East on Sunday if only they were available to help in their own state. The entrance to the CBS Broadcast Center undergoes repairs the day before the television network will host the vice presidential debate on September 30, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Too Liberal vs. Too Weird The VP debate tomorrow will come down to Vance pushing Walz as too liberal and Walz pushing Vance as too weird. Low expectations : A slew of stories try to set the expectations low for Gov. Walz From CNN : Hows debate prep going? one person at an exclusive high-dollar fundraiser asked Walz as he stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows in mega donor Alex Soros penthouse living room in Manhattan on Monday. As teachers, we are trained to answer the question, and we train our students to answer the questions, the person recalled Walz saying. Thats not how this goes. Look back : Tim Walz wont directly answer any question he walked away when asked about Hamas executing an American hostage. Thought bubble : Hes had a lot of practice over the past six weeks ignoring questions why is this a problem for him? The leaks saying Walz worries he will disappoint Harris are pretty transparent. Reality check : You want to be vice president of the United States and you cant spend 90 minutes defending your record? Bed you make: Walzs lack of media interaction makes President Biden look accessible will the basement strategy backfire for lack of practice? This overview from Lebanons southern city of Tyre shows a cloud of smoke erupting after an Israeli air strike on the village of Qlayleh on September 30, 2024. (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU/AFP via Getty Images) Ground War Is Irans axis of resistance collapsing under Israeli attacks? writes a stunning NBC News article laying out Israels incredible military successes over the past few months. Fact check: This happened because Israel defied the Biden administration. Look back: One year ago, Jake Sullivan said the Middle East was the quietest it had been in 20 years Hes still the guy running American foreign policy so no surprise they keep getting it wrong. Today, the Biden administration warned against an Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon. If you read one thing: Eli Lake thoroughly explains and then debunks the absurdity of the Biden foreign policy that encourages deescalation to prop up Iran. The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board writes, Mr. Biden has undermined the U.S. ability to deter adversaries because he fears any escalation, ceding the advantage to Iran, Russia and China. Israel cant afford such indulgence. Its survival is at stake. Like sheep: Fears grow of an all-out regional war as Israel escalates attacks on Iran-backed proxies, CNNs banner wrote this morning. Try this Iranian proxies decimated by Israeli airstrikes look for a way out of conflict Israel airstrikes decimate and befuddle Iranian proxies Iran looks for a way to save face and regime as Israel saves the Middle East Iran abandons both Hamas and Hezbollah as Israel embarrassed the ayatollah From The Atlantic: Tehrans strategy of relying on Hezbollah and other militant groups to provide an Arab-forward defense against Israeli or American attacks on Irans homeland or nuclear facilities appears to be failing, potentially decisively. Yet, the Biden administration and their supporters keep blaming Israel I wonder why. Hundreds of people holding banners and flags, gather at Palestine Square to stage a demonstration against Israeli attacks in Lebanon and to commemorate the victims of the attacks, including Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah in Tehran, Iran on September 30, 2024. (Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images) Nasrallah Remembered By any objective measure, Hassan Nasrallah earned himself a one-way ticket to hell, and his demise leaves the world a better place. His army butchered tens of thousands of Syrians fighting against the Assad regime Hezbollahs terrorist attacks both in Lebanon and abroad killed hundreds of Americans and dozens of Israelis Hezbollahs attacks on Israel targeted civilians Hezbollah turned Beirut from the Paris of the Middle East to mini-Tehran His vile hatred of Israel, Jews and America inspired terrorists around the world We could go on and on But The Associated Press, New York Times and Washington Post lionized him as the freedom fighter of our time. The Associated Press headlines, Charismatic and shrewd: A look at longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. They continue, Idolized by his Lebanese Shiite followers and respected by millions of others across the Arab and Islamic world, Nasrallah held the title of sayyid, an honorific meant to signify the Shiite clerics lineage dating back to the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam. The New York Times: Mr. Nasrallah did not know about Hamass plans for the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people, U.S. officials said, and almost certainly would have objected to them. While he did have Hezbollah conduct cross-border rocket strikes, driving Israelis from their homes in northern Israel, he did not let the conflict escalate further. They also write, Mr. Nasrallah was opposed to Israel, which he called the Zionist entity, and maintained that there should be one Palestine with equality for Muslims, Jews and Christians. Funny that they leave out Hezbollahs sworn destruction of the state of Israel. The Washington Post: Among his followers, Mr. Nasrallah was seen as a father figure, a moral compass and a political guide. Tune into On Balance with Leland Vittert weeknights at 7/6C on NewsNation. Find your channel here. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of NewsNation. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NewsNation. Most Michigan residents believe that the government should work for us and publicly report what happens in the hallowed halls of government. But Michigan is one of just two states in which the Legislature and the governors office arent subject to open records laws that give citizens the right to request documents and reports produced with our tax dollars. And the state Legislature's efforts over the past two years to improve transparency have not lived up to the promises made to the people even after a 2022 ballot referendum required lawmakers to do just that. Michigan State Capitol building in Lansing, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020. Sure, the challenges in the first few months Democrats held power in Lansing could be attributed to the fact that it was new for them. The party has not held total control for 40 years. But after nearly two years of a Democratic majority, there should be no excuses for why legislation isn't aligning with the desires of Michigan residents. To be sure, the Democrat Legislature fulfilled most of its most liberal and progressive goals. But in undoing and repealing many of the key job growth policies installed under former Gov. Rick Snyder, they have turned a moderate Republican Snyder who endorsed Biden in 2020 into a Chief Fundraiser for the House Republicans Campaign Committee. The House Republican caucus is far to the right of the former governor - with a majority of the caucus in support of former President Donald Trump - and a freedom caucus that prides itself on voting no to every bill no matter the topic. In 2022, Michigan voters said they wanted more transparency, when over 66% said yes to Proposal 1, which modified Michigans legislative term limits and increased financial disclosure requirements for various elected officials. However, when it came time for the Legislature to enact the successful proposal into law, putting in place the transparency voters asked for, the bills lawmakers introduced and signed into law barely scratched the surface. Annual financial disclosure reports detailing their income, assets and positions are required from lawmakers, the governor, attorney general, lieutenant governor, and secretary of state. However, Proposal 1 did not explicitly mandate reporting requirements for spouses or candidates running for office. As noted in the Free Press in December of 2023, Transparency advocates argue politicians could transfer assets to their spouses, making opaque the full picture of their household finances. This isnt just a Republican bashing Democrats; even Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said the Legislatures implementation met the minimum requirements of Proposal 1 and hoped that more would come. It hasnt. A Democrat-introduced bill package called the BRITE Act that is designed to increase reporting and disclosure requirements and improve the publics understanding of who is influencing their elected officials has stalled out. Languishing in the House, and with limited session days left this year, it is unlikely to see a vote of the full House and Senate this year. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel testified in favor of the legislation in the House Ethics and Oversight Committee, saying, You didnt break our system or the publics trust in government. But you now have the chance to repair it. They havent. Every time a piece of legislation is introduced in Lansing, there are intended and unintended consequences. Is this lack of transparency in so many areas intentional, or unintentional? My question to the Legislature is this: Whats the sticking point on expanded transparency? Is it Gov. Gretchen Whitmer? She vowed in her first gubernatorial campaign to expand the Freedom of Information Act to include the governors office and Legislature but after the Senate passed the bi-partisan bills that would do so, the bills have been referred to the Houses Committee on Government Operations, known among insiders as the committee where legislation goes to die. (To be fair, FOIA expansion didn't get done under Snyder either.) As of this writing, Michigan and Massachusetts remain the only states where the governor and Legislature are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. Right now, members of our Legislature are out campaigning for re-election for themselves or their colleagues. Democratic House members are doing everything they can to just hold on to their one-vote majority. When a member of the Legislature knocks on your door this fall, Id encourage you to take the time to ask where they stand on transparency. Maybe our combined efforts can finally move the needle. Andrea Bitely Andrea Bitely is the founder and principal of Bitely Communications, a Lansing-based public affairs firm specializing in political, corporate and crisis communications. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters, and we may publish it online or in print. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Opinion: Michiganders aren't getting the transparency they've demanded The District of Columbia courts recently disbarred disgraced lawyer Rudy Giuliani for his making repeated false statements in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the courts. This followed a decision from July of this year disbarring him in New York as well. These after-the-fact actions have come nearly four years after the events that justify this punishment. Some might hope that such discipline might deter other lawyers from seeking to take similarly improper actions to challenge the results of the 2024 election. But our legal system does not have to just wait around for similar events to unfold and only punish such actions afterwards. Courts can and should take preemptive measures to avoid the same sort of improper behavior from repeating itself after the polls close in November. It is said that a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on, but judges can start to insurrection-proof their courtrooms now in order to prevent history from repeating itself. Giuliani Takes Another L in Court as Judge Tosses His Suit Against Biden In the wake of the 2020 election, lawyers in dozens of courtrooms across the country, including Giuliani, sought to overturn the results of the vote and attempted to use the legal system to derail the peaceful transition of power by making wild and baseless claims about voter fraud. And, no, those cases were not dismissed on a technicality, as Donald Trump claimed in his debate with Vice President Harris earlier in the month. Most were thrown out simply for the failure of the lawyers to present any evidence of fraud in the election. With no proof of fraud, they chose instead to make specious and fantastical claims about home security systems switching votes and dead Venezuelan political leaders somehow changing the results of the election from the grave. When those efforts in the courts failed, as they should have, some of those same lawyers spoke to the crowd on Jan. 6 and encouraged them to take action, including one of them, Giuliani again, demanding trial by combat. He, like some of the other lawyers who participated in this campaign, have been disbarred, or will soon likely be disbarred, with Giuliani having that occur in his home state of New York and now the District of Columbia. Giuliani and these other lawyers failed to uphold their obligations to act in accordance with the rule of law and professional ethics. Such punishments only occurred after the fact though. As we enter another national election season, courts need not stand by and rely solely on the ability to punish lawyers for misconduct after it happens. Our legal system can take steps now to insurrection-proof its courtrooms in a way that discourages other lawyers from engaging in such behavior before it unfolds. Giuliani exits U.S. District Court after attending a hearing in a defamation suit related to the 2020 election results, May 19, 2023. Leah Millis/Reuters The disciplinary machinery that presently permits courts and other regulators to punish lawyers for misconduct usually only gets up and running after lawyers engage in misbehavior. And when lawyers file frivolous cases, the courts presiding over such cases can issue sanctions against lawyers after the fact. Our criminal and civil justice systems generally work this way. We are not in a world like that envisioned in Minority Report, where precogs can predict crime before it happens. And thats a good thing. But our system of justice also works slowly, and even efforts to address actions designed to influence prior elections are still grinding their way through the courts today. Over the last month, judges in two different courtrooms faced the challenge of managing litigation after the fact, involving prior elections, even as another election looms large. Justice Juan Merchan, the judge handling the hush money/election interference case in New York, which is awaiting a sentencing hearing while Trumps legal team appeals Trumps conviction on 34 felony counts, delayed that sentencing until after the election. In another courtroom, this one in Washington, D.C., federal judge Tanya Chutkan, presiding over the criminal prosecution of the former president for his alleged hand in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, had a very different response to the fact that the calendar is turning the final stretch of the presidential election of 2024. Although that case will not go to trial, if it does at all, until after the election, Judge Chutkan saw no reason to delay the matter and allowed it to proceed apace. Giuliani and Donald Trump attend a ceremony marking the 23rd anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S., September 11, 2024. Mike Segar/Reuters Someone like Giuliani, now disbarred, will be unable to appear in court as an advocate with respect to the 2024 election should the Trump team lose once again. That does not mean there wont be other lawyers who might consider stepping into the breach and filing similarly desperate and far-fetched claims. But in at least some states, Republican legislatures and election officials have created systems that will be easier to manipulate to cause post-election mischief. However, courts should not stand still and wait for cases to emerge and misconduct to take place for them to take any actions to deter such behavior. Indeed, court officials can issue directives to the judges within their systems to make it clear that those judges have the authority to take swift and significant actions should lawyers present baseless claims before them. Courts certainly have specific practice rules that enable them to punish lawyers for misconduct after the fact, but also have the inherent authority to make sure litigants before themespecially lawyersare not using the courts for nefarious ends. Judges can remind lawyers of that power even before they file a lawsuit. In addition, judges control their dockets and court calendars. When cases come before them that seek to undermine faith in the results of the election, those judges can schedule hearings on those claims immediately and require that the lawyers making those claims present any evidence they may have. Without real evidence, courts should not hesitate to dismiss those cases and make it clear that lawyers who bring them will face serious professional consequences, as they should. In these ways, courts can harden themselves as targets, making it more difficult for those who might use them to sow division, prevent the peaceful transfer of power, and generally strive to undermine our democracy. Of course, we can look at the Supreme Courts immunity ruling from the end of its last turn for evidence that that court at least, may have become an enabler of insurrection. It is important to note, however, that the federal judiciary, even judges nominated by Donald Trump when he was president, refused to take part in post-election chicanery last time around. When the Supreme Court, which included his three appointments to it at the time, had the chance to get involved in several cases that sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election, it chose not to do so. Will it do the same in 2024 if given the chance? If lower courts make clear that they will not be the instruments of election interference and establish clear factual records that support their decisions, should the Supreme Court wish to involve itself in such litigation, it will have a hard time finding any basis for doing so. In the early 19th century, French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville visited the United States and observed that any political question that arose in the new nation tended to end up in its courts. It is highly likely that, should Vice President Harris defeat former President Trump in November, we can expect to see another raft of litigation that seeks to ignore the will of the voters. But courts are not powerless to merely await such an assault on our institutions and democracy itself. They can and should take steps now to remind judges of the power they have to address such mischief quickly, and with confidence and authority; to dispatch such cases with speed; and perhaps even force some lawyers to think twice before they engage in attempts to undermine our democracy. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. The value of Bible teaching is immeasurable, guest columnist writes, but it belongs in the hands of the church, family and other non-governmental institutions. In June, state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters issued a memo requiring the Bible be taught in Oklahoma public schools, citing its value for historical context and moral virtue. As a Christian and conservative, I believe this approach is misguided for three reasons: It uses state power to promote religious texts, mislabels Christianitys byproduct as its core value and seeks secular power for Christian ends. First, Walters mandate flirts with First Amendment violations by edging too close to government endorsement of a religion, a cavalier treatment of the Establishment Clause to say the least. The separation of church and state, championed by figures like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, is vital to ensure religious freedom for all. Promoting one religion risks alienating fellow Oklahomans of other faiths and creates a climate of preference that undermines religious liberty. But legal concerns aside, theres a deeper irony here: The Bible itself doesnt support the superintendents actions. In his memo, while denying the desire to convert students, Walters states the Bible will teach moral virtue. America has a long history of using Christian teachings to encourage harmonious conduct in attempts to maintain civil order. But it's difficult to overstate how much this sole objective misunderstands the core truth of Christianity. While moral virtue is a result of Christianity, the Bibles core message is about a transformative relationship with God offered through faith in Jesus death and resurrection (Ephesians 2:8-9). Moral virtue is a byproduct of this spiritual transformation that changes our conduct from the inside out, not vice versa. To elevate the byproduct of Christianity, yet give it the same name, tragically misconstrues its significance by implying that good behavior is the ultimate aim of the religion rather than a result of it. If Walters aim is simply to promote moral virtue, other historical figures, such as Confucius, Socrates and Nelson Mandela would suffice. These men taught moral values conducive to a flourishing civil society without conflating a spiritual authority with secular norms. More: Ryan Walters is hell-bent on ruining the teaching profession | Guest opinion Finally, if Walters true goal is to promote Christianity through government channels, his mandate is a nod to Christian nationalism a growing but dangerous movement whereby Christians inappropriately intertwine the mission of the church with political power. Christian nationalism is not grounded in any New Covenant biblical standard and directly contradicts the teachings of Jesus who said, My kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). Comingling Christian aims with the practical powers of secular government is a profound misunderstanding of Christs mission for his church. The church grows through heart transformation, not compelled obedience or state mandates. Jesus own ministry was compassionate and gentle with unbelievers, focused on inner change but not forcing obedience for its own sake (John 4:4-42). In contrast, Jesus harshest words were reserved for those within the church who used the law self-righteously to strongarm others. Alternatively, if the superintendent is not motivated by Christian nationalism, he'll also need to include the teachings of other influential philosophies and religious views from our nations history, such as deism and enlightenment thinking, which were embraced by many of the Founding Fathers. The value of Bible teaching is immeasurable, but it belongs in the hands of the church, family and other non-governmental institutions. Mandating its teaching in public schools distorts both Christianity and democracy. Lets leave religious instruction where it belongs outside of the realm of state control. Clay Lightfoot Clay Lightfoot lives in Oklahoma City and works in the oil & gas industry. He previously worked for the late U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK). This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Opinion: Ryan Walters' Bible mandate violates constitutional barriers The last big spectacle of the 2024 presidential campaign is on the horizon. On Tuesday, vice presidential nominees Tim Walz and JD Vance will face off in New York in a live debate that is likely to be the final time the two opposing campaigns will meet on stage. Once an undercard event, this cycles VP debate has taken on unusual importance for the dwindling number of undecided voters. Its also the Trump campaigns last, best opportunity to correct a month of serious political fumbles even if it was Vance who caused many of Donald Trumps worst headline headaches. The Harris and Trump campaigns are employing vastly different strategies on Tuesday because each side has very different goals. Heres a sense of what you should expect tomorrow night, and how to know whether Walz and Vance are hitting their benchmarks as the night progresses. Walz: The man with the plans After leading campaigns that won him six terms in the House of Representatives and two terms as governor of Minnesota, Walz understands how debates work. Weve also seen his ability to craft viral, sound-byte moments that resonate with the broader public, like his successful branding of Republicans as weird. Expect Walz to spend a lot of time talking right past his opponent and directly to viewers. Democrats hope to define the final weeks of the 2024 campaign as a referendum on competence. Expect Walz to drive that message home on Tuesday by talking directly to the American people about Kamala Harriss plans while reminding them that Republicans still have no plan at all. Walzs success will depend on his discipline in ignoring attacks meant to drag him into cul-de-sac personal fights. Sidestepping Vances attempts to bait him into small skirmishes about his military service or other micro-scandals will be critical for Walz. The Harris campaign has proven most effective with voters when it moves beyond anti-Trump and anti-Vance attacks to tell a broader, positive story about Americas future. Harris employed the same strategy to great effect against Trump in their debate, where she repeatedly told viewers at home that Trump has no plan for you. Its also a strategy the Trump campaign has no response to, thanks in large part to its complete lack of forward-looking plans for a second term. Trump admitted as much on the debate stage when he confessed to having only the concepts of a plan for health care despite a decade of big promises. Walz will be following the same strategy, baiting Vance into explaining how Trumps nonexistent plans contrast with Harriss. Good luck with that. Vance: Which JD shows up? Trump campaign insiders are rattled. This month saw scandal after scandal, from Trump spreading online hoaxes about Haitian immigrants in Ohio eating cats to the former president palling around with white nationalist and controversy-magnet Laura Loomer. Now many Republicans are privately hoping that Vances debate can serve as a reset for the Trump campaign refocusing the American public on Harriss weaknesses. That will depend entirely on which Vance takes the stage on Tuesday night. Will Americans see the Vance who was once willing to question and criticize Trumps excesses? Or will they see the Vance who has crusaded against childless women and who keeps advancing his many-times-debunked lie that Haitians in Ohio are eating peoples pets? One of those people appeals to the swing voters Trump needs to win. The other is now the most unpopular vice presidential nominee in history. Unlike Trump, who filled his debate prep sessions with right-wing Twitter trolls and conspiracy theorists, Vances team cuts a more mainstream profile. Trump stalwart Jason Miller has been overseeing the process, but the actual messaging work is being handled by one of Vances most trusted allies, Jacob Reses. That suggests viewers will see a less Trumpy version of Vance than the red-faced Trump impersonator we see at rallies. Still, Vance will be in the tough position of trying to sound reasonable while defending the GOPs most extreme positions. Vance wants voters to view him as an author and intellectual with something real to add to the national conversation. Thats a tough sell when Vance will also need to defend his passion for spreading dangerous online hoaxes. Of the two, Walz has the easier job. Its tough business to change voters perception of you once theyve decided who you are, and Vance has staked out plenty of polarizing positions over the past few months. This years presidential debates have been historic by any measure. On Tuesday night, Walz and Vance will finally get their own shot at shaping history. Max Burns is a veteran Democratic strategist and founder of Third Degree Strategies. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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) Nio Inc. (NIO, NIO.SI) jumped the most in nearly five months Monday after unveiling a cash injection worth 13.3 billion yuan ($1.9 billion) from existing shareholders. Most Read from Bloomberg The Singapore-listed shares of the loss-making Chinese electric vehicle maker gained almost 16% on the financial reinforcement of its China unit through a mix of its own cash and strategic investors funds. A group of strategic investors - including Hefei Jianheng New Energy Automobile Investment Fund Partnership, Anhui Provincial Emerging Industry Investment Co., and CS Capital Co. has definitive agreements to invest 3.3 billion yuan in cash for newly issued shares of Nio Holding Co., also known as Nio China, according to a company statement Sunday. Nio Inc. will directly invest an additional 10 billion yuan of cash into new shares of the unit. The transactions from all the parties will reduce the parents holding to an 88.3% stake, down from 92.1%. The strategic investors along with other stakeholders will hold the remaining 11.7%, the company said. We believe this new investment will resolve the companys fundraising debate and enhance near-term cash flow, Morgan Stanley said in a research note on Sunday. The investment from existing shareholders of Nio China should further enhance Nios balance sheet. The Onvo L60 SUV, the first vehicle of Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Nio's new lower-priced brand, at its unveiling in Shanghai in May. REUTERS/Zoey Zhang (REUTERS / Reuters) While China has invested heavily in EVs, intense domestic competition and overseas tariffs have muddied the sectors outlook. Nio has sought to gain a competitive edge with its charging network and R&D spending on battery-swapping technology and even on non-auto areas like semiconductors. The cash injections will be done in two installments and be completed by the end of the year, its statement said. Nio Inc. will have the right to invest an additional 20 billion yuan to subscribe for more shares in Nio China by the end of next year, based on the same price and terms. With its cash burn triggering analysts concerns, the company, which has never been profitable, reported a 4.5 billion yuan loss for the second quarter. But its quarterly sales surged to 17.5 billion yuan, defying weakening demand and slightly higher than analysts expected. Hefei Jianheng and Anhui Provincial Emerging Industry Investment are affiliated with the municipal government of Anhui province. The investors in the region are familiar with Nio, having done a deal for a $1 billion investment in 2020, which at the time alleviated concerns that the company was running out of cash. Story continues In December, Nio also struck a deal to receive $2.2 billion from Abu Dhabi-backed CYVN Holdings LLC. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Jens Stoltenberg, who is soon to step down as NATO Secretary General, believes that NATO member states should support the Ukrainian peace formula rather than alternative proposals from other countries. Source: Stoltenberg in an interview for Politico, as reported by European Pravda Details: Asked about Turkiyes participation in the Sino-Brazilian "Friends of Peace" initiative, which is promoting their "peace initiative", Stoltenberg replied that the Alliance "should support the Ukrainian initiative". "The Ukrainian peace initiative is an initiative that ensures that we have a process that can lead to a lasting peace. And of course, it has to be the Ukrainians that, at the end of the day, decide what are acceptable conditions. They are the victim of a full-scale invasion," Stoltenberg said. Background: Earlier Hungary and Switzerland expressed their support for the Sino-Brazilian "peace initiative". This initiative, announced in May 2024, is a list of six points, none of which mentions the UN Statute or Ukraines territorial integrity. Instead, there is a call for "combat action to be stopped, non-escalation of the conflict and non-proliferation of it to new territories". A group of 17 countries has joined the Sino-Brazilian "Friends of Peace" initiative, and so far Turkiye is the only NATO member among them. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described the Sino-Brazilian proposal to end the Russo-Ukrainian war as "destructive", since it is a mere political statement that has not been discussed with Ukraine. Support UP or become our patron! CONWAY, Ark. This weekend, 645 combat boots rested on display at Pompe Parks Veteran Plaza in Conway. Each one has a name tied to the laces to honor a life lost while serving the country. Sharri Brileys husband has a pair of combat boots in the front and center. Arkansas Capitol display honors families of fallen veterans He was a pilot who served in the battle of Mogadishu in Somalia. For her, this memorial has a lasting effect. Its very powerful to see the over 600 boots here, Briley said. Briley is also the executive director of Hearts of our Heroes, the nonprofit that sets up this display every year. Arkansas family honors fallen hero on National Purple Heart Day The founder of the organization has been working closely with families who have lost loved ones since 2013. They just want to make sure that their hero is not forgotten. And so, this is one way we can help them do that, founder of Hearts of Our Heroes, Andrea Fisher, said, By saying their names, sharing their pictures, and really continuing to share their legacy with everybody. Some of these men and women died while serving as far back as 2001. Families and veterans came to honor these heroes. One of them is Jack Votava, a Vietnam veteran. This is just the tip of the iceberg. There was how many more? Theyre just gone. And as I look at some of them, I wonder how many of them couldve been something more, Votava said. Fallen Vietnam War veterans honored in Saline County ceremony Votava said hes thankful for memorials like this one that honor those fallen, but he believes there should be more of them. I like to see anything that honors the veterans because so many times people take advantage of it, you know. They take it for granted, Votava said. Sunday was the last day this memorial was displayed, but Hearts of Our Heroes does this on Gold Star Family Day every 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 KLRT - FOX16.com. VT overdose deaths are declining. Top health official says were not out of the woods This story has been updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy. Correction: Overdose deaths in Vermont in 2024 are on track to decline for a second consecutive year. The trend was mischaracterized in an earlier version of this story. Vermont overdose deaths are on track to decline for the second year in a row, but Vermont Commissioner of Health Mark Levine isnt yet convinced the Green Mountain State is over the hump of the drug crisis that has claimed hundreds of lives since 2019. Were not out of the woods, Levine told the Burlington Free Press in an email. The crisis is always evolving. After five years of drastic increases, Vermont saw overdose deaths decline 5% year-over-year in 2023. This year, Vermont overdose fatalities that occurred in January through June fell a whopping 22% when compared to the same period in 2023, according to recent national data from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Narcan, an opioid overdose reversal medication. It takes time to confirm a trend While Levine said he is cautiously optimistic about what were seeing, he noted it takes a minimum of three years for the Vermont Department of Health to discern whether a trend such as a decrease in overdose deaths is truly occurring in public health data. This is partially because deaths fluctuate month-to-month. For instance, Vermont reported 24 known opioid-related deaths in June 2024, which is a significant jump from the three-year average of 18 during that month. This is an important reminder that these numbers are dynamic and subject to many factors, Levine said. For a more accurate short-term picture, the Department of Health compares an individual years number of deaths to the three-year average. In this case, overdose deaths declined 16% this year in Vermont, less than the year-over-year rate of 22%. Levine emphasized that even though deaths have decreased over the past two years, twice as many Vermonters are still dying from overdoses than before the pandemic. The decline were seeing now, which we all hope our work will help continue, is coming down from a peak that nobody had imagined. Jesusa Krag of Shelburne holds a photo album on June 25, 2021, filled with pictures of her son, Peter Krag, 34, who died from an accidental opioid overdose in May 2020 after years of struggling with substance use disorder. Why are overdose deaths trending downwards? Levine said its too early to know for sure why overdose fatalities are seeming to decline, but he listed a few theories, such as societys budding recovery from the pandemic. The pandemic years had long-lasting effects such as disruptions to usual drug supply chains, increased social isolation, and increased rates of using alone, Levine wrote. Levine also pointed to several actions Vermont has taken as potential reasons for the decrease. The Green Mountain State, for instance, boasts the highest per capita rate of people receiving treatment for opioid use disorder. Levine also lauded Vermonts application of harm reduction strategies, such as identifying and supplying at-risk populations, like construction industry employees, with Narcan to reverse overdoses. To increase public access to the life-saving medicine, the state is considering adopting Narcan vending machines as a strategy. We are regularly reviewing data to see where we need to focus efforts and follow evidence-based approaches in our work, Levine wrote. Megan Stewart is a government accountability reporter for the Burlington Free Press. Contact her at mstewartyounger@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont drug overdose deaths remain above pre-COVID levels The electrical effects of a thunderstorm are not confined just to high up in the atmosphere. Close to the ground, Earth's atmosphere hums with intense electric fields that accelerate particles, flinging electrons in ways that force atoms to glow with gamma rays. From atop a mountain in Armenia, scientists have taken a close look at this mysterious meteorological phenomenon. At the Alikhanyan National Science Laboratory's cosmic ray facility on Mount Aragats, physicist Ashot Chilingarian and his colleagues have been working to understand Thunderstorm Ground Enhancements, or TGEs. This electromagnetic enhancement, Chilingarian says, has been overlooked in thunderstorm research but it could be a piece of the puzzle in our understanding of the physical Universe, from thunderstorms here on Earth, to the cosmic rays that travel vast distances across space. "Each day, 40,000 thunderstorms occur. Numerous networks detecting atmospheric discharges and satellites with precise optical instruments are monitoring lightning flashes. Still, when we started TGE research, nobody monitored the huge flux of mega-electronvolt (MeV) electrons bombarding our planet and space above it," he told ScienceAlert. "We established the SEVAN particle detector network ten years ago to monitor TGEs in Eastern Europe, Germany, and Armenia. Electron accelerators with energies of tens of MeV cover vast volumes in the atmosphere and many square kilometers on the Earth's surface. "This huge flux is accompanied by life on Earth through its billion years of evolution and surely influences all aspects of the geospace and biosphere." TGEs consist of electric fields in the atmosphere, generated by thunderstorms. Within these electric fields, electrons are accelerated to high speeds speeds approaching that of light in a vacuum, or relativistic speeds. These are known as relativistic runaway electron avalanches, propelled by the electric field both towards the ground and upward into the atmosphere. It's these electrons that produce the radiation. When they decelerate suddenly, deflected by a collision with an atomic nucleus in the atmosphere, the loss of energy manifests as gamma rays a form of radiation known as bremsstrahlung radiation. Using their network of detectors, Chilingarian and his colleagues collected data on thunderstorms across Europe in 2023, performing detailed measurements of the electrons and the gamma radiation that occurred during the 56 intense TGEs they recorded. The most intense TGEs mostly took place from May to July, and the most powerful was recorded on Mount Lomnicky stit in Slovakia in May. For this one event, the particle flux was 100 times the normal, fair-weather level. In total, there were seven events that exceeded the fair weather flux by more than 75 percent. "We measure the stable electron flux on Earth's surface, covering a hundred thousand square meters. Some mechanism provides this stability for a minute or more," Chilingarian explained. "A huge electron beam emerges in the thundercloud, where the charge structure changes on the second-time scale. Atmospheric discharges kill the potential difference, but the flux is stable. It was exciting to measure!" Surprisingly, the researchers also found that the electric field is much closer to the ground than they expected to find. They measured a strong electric field strength down to 50 meters (164 feet) above ground. "This discovery was astonishing to meteorologists, who didn't believe it until we presented exhaustive proof," Chilingarian noted. The consistency of the acceleration, able to maintain particle flux for up to several minutes, as well as the low height of the electric field, reveals new details about the structure of atmospheric electric fields, and thunderstorms, that we didn't know before. For example, TGEs might provide a pathway whereby lightning strikes can reach the ground. And their role in geophysics needs to be investigated. The researchers have made an open-access TGE database available for the scientific community to explore and analyze. Their thunderstorm research is only part of the work performed on Aragats. This year, the Sun has reached a frenzy as it approaches solar maximum, the peak of its activity cycle, sending particles spewing into space powered by coronal mass ejections. Chilingarian and his colleagues have also detected solar events with the mountaintop equipment, publishing three papers with a fourth on the way. "Violent explosions in our galaxy also send ultra-high energy particles to the solar system. Recently, Pevatrons, sources of 1015 eV gamma rays, were discovered. We critically analyzed this discovery based on our knowledge of atmospheric physics," Chilingarian told ScienceAlert. "The synergy of atmospheric, space, and solar accelerators is important for understanding nature!" The findings are due to be published in Physical Review D. Related News Five of the most interesting words in Donald Trumps rhetorical repertoire are, I shouldnt say this, but... While its obviously impossible to read the former presidents mind, whenever the Republican uses the phrase, its an apparent acknowledgement that he knows the rest of the sentence will be politically problematic, but hes simply unable to help himself. As his first year in the White House came to an end, for example, Trump declared, I shouldnt say this, but we essentially repealed Obamacare. He was, of course, lying, but the comments served as a reminder of his anti-health care vision. About a year later, campaigning in Montana, the then-president publicly praised Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte for physically assaulting a journalist who asked a question the governor didnt like. I shouldnt say this [but] theres nothing to be embarrassed about, Trump said in reference to the violence. Six years later, the Republican is still stumbling into inadvertent moments of candor. HuffPost reported: Former president and current GOP nominee Donald Trump on Sunday admitted he hated to pay his staff overtime and would instead replace them with other workers to avoid doing so. Trumps confession came during a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, after promising to deliver gigantic tax cuts via his pledge to end tax on tips, on overtime and on social security benefits for seniors. I know a lot about overtime, the Republican candidate boasted. I hated to give overtime. I hated it. Id get other people, I shouldnt say this, but Id get other people in. I wouldnt pay. Trump: "I hated to give overtime. I hated it. I shouldn't say this, but I'd get other people in. I wouldn't pay." pic.twitter.com/S5uVQw9V3b Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 29, 2024 The public comments stood out for a few reasons. Right off the bat, there are still some political observers who like to pretend that the former president is some kind of ally to working-class Americans. Its against that backdrop that Trump thought itd be a good idea to admit that he, as a boss, deliberately took steps to deny his own employees overtime compensation to which they would have been entitled. Whats more, lets not forget that the GOP nominee recently endorsed ending taxes on overtime pay, as a way of bolstering his ostensible populist bona fides. But the gambit only served as a reminder that Trump, while in office, was needlessly regressive on overtime compensation. His I wouldnt pay comment only reinforced the obvious fact that his faux populism is a sham. But just as notably, a variety of analysts have explained that the far-right Project 2025 agenda, written in large part by members of Trumps own team, would also limit workers access to overtime compensation. With all of this in mind, Vice President Kamala Harris campaign wasted little time in pouncing on the Republican for accidentally speaking his mind. Donald Trump is finally owning up to it: Hes built an entire career on screwing over workers, Harris-Walz spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a written statement. Its exactly what he did in the White House trying to rip away tips and overtime pay for millions of workers and exactly what he plans to do in a second term. Trump is a scab, plain and simple. He is selling snake oil lies in a desperate attempt to trick voters. He cant be trusted workers know it, and voters know it. Theyll elect a champion who has their back by voting for Vice President Harris this November. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com The owner of two Hollywood Hills mansions that had been overrun by squatters and taggers said there has been "significant progress" made in the cleanup efforts. "Im pleased to report significant progress: The crews I hired have cleaned up all of the graffiti at both of my houses," John Powers Middleton said in a statement sent to Fox News Digital. "I have also been speaking to City Councilmember Ramans office and other City officials to update them on the progress. I thank them for their efforts. We are also in contact with LAPD to ensure the neighborhoods remain safe," Middleton continued. John P. Middleton, a film producer and son of Philadelphia Phillies owner John S. Middleton, faced previous backlash as the two Hollywood Hills mansions became eyesores in the ritzy Los Angeles neighborhood. California Owner Of Squatter-infested Hollywood Hills Mansion Apologizes, Offers To Repay Taxpayer Funds John P. Middleton, film producer and son of Philadelphia Phillies owner John S. Middleton, issued an apology for his abandoned Hollywood Hills mansions that had been taken over by squatters. "I will continue to do everything I can to fix these houses and keep them free from graffiti. Its tough to do given the crime problems in Los Angeles, but Im determined to do the right thing here. The 24/7 armed security teams I hired will remain in place," Middleton said. Read On The Fox News App Middleton added that he hopes the trespassers and vandals who did this will be held accountable. "There is a sense of invincibility amongst the vandals as many times the very same people arrested previously are returning and threatening our guards and the police. If something isnt done, they will return to do it again, not only at my house but anywhere they choose," Middleton said. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) previously told Fox News Digital that the Hollywood Hills area has received and responded to 17 calls for service in the 1700 block of Sunset Plaza Drive so far this year. Squatters Turn Hollywood Hills Mansion Into 'Eyesore' With Graffiti: Video Taggers and squatters have targeted another abandoned mansion on Sunset Boulevard. Police said they have received eight calls for prowler suspects, six calls for possible burglary suspects and three calls for service for vandalism. "Im doing my best to make the houses secure and fix them up, with the intent to sell each as soon as possible. Im disappointed to note that even as I have worked this week to paint over the graffiti, vandals still managed to break in and paint over the newly cleaned walls. Given the persistence of the numerous trespassers, its a struggle," Middleton said in a previous statement. "Whats happened to my property is criminal, and I hope everyone caught will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. No one in Los Angeles should have to put up with squatters and vandalism that are out of control," Middleton continued. L.A. City Councilwoman Nithya Raman told Fox News Digital that Middleton's attorney has been in touch, and they have been painting the property. "I am pleased to report that earlier this week after two years attempting to make contact an attorney representing the property owner reached out to our office to notify us that he will be taking accountability for the two abandoned Hollywood Hills mansions and taking responsibility for all payments the City has incurred thus far," Raman said in a statement. "The owner has since issued a letter of apology to neighbors and is working to secure both properties and clean them up, with the intent to sell as quickly as possible. The owner has also hired contractors to repaint both properties, which should be completed within the next few days, and is funding 24/7 security at both sites," Raman continued. Raman said that neither situation is being taken lightly and that the city is working to combat the issue at both properties located at 7571 Mulholland Drive and 1754 N Sunset Plaza Drive. 'Squatter Hunter' Warns Worst Intruders In America Are Those Who Have 'Nothing To Lose' The abandoned mansion is legally owned by film producer John Powers Middleton, known for his work on "The Lego Movie." "Unfortunately, this is not a unique case: abandoned buildings are a pervasive issue for the city. While the Department of Building and Safety has the authority to secure vacant properties if an owner fails to do so, it simply does not have the resources to keep up with enforcement," Raman said. Raman added that the city also has the authority to demolish vacant or abandoned properties if they are found to constitute a public nuisance, but he said the protocols currently in use rely on procedures and legal guidance that are more than 20 years old and are not responsive to the current needs on the ground, where they have so many abandoned properties and so few city staff to follow up on problem properties. "My office will continue to be in close contact with DBS and LAPD to monitor the Hollywood Hills properties in the coming days and weeks, and we will work to ensure that the property owner continues to take full responsibility for properly securing these sites," Raman said. John Powers Middleton is best known for his work on the films "Oldboy" (2013) and "Manchester by the Sea" (2016). Original article source: Owner of abandoned Hollywood Hills mansions provides update on cleanup efforts: 'Significant progress' Owner of Miami County sanctuary found guilty on six counts of animal cruelty DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) The director of Our Farm Sanctuary in Tipp City was found guilty of animal cruelty on Monday. After Sophia Kartsonis entered a no-contest plea on six counts of cruelty to a companion animal, a judge found Kartsonis guilty on all counts. Bill to pay taxes with cryptocurrency introduced at the Statehouse In July, Miami County Animal Control searched the facility and removed 43 cats due to poor living conditions. The attorney for the shelter described the search, saying what the officers found was horrendous. The condition of the cottage was visually appalling. It was nothing compared to the smell from the cat urine and feces. That the ammonia smell was so bad that all the officers noted that their eyes watered, eyes and throats burned. And that it was difficult to breathe, said Prosecuting Attorney J. Andrew Wannemacher. He also noted little food and no water available to the animals. Kartsonsis is scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 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 WDTN.com. (NewsNation) Weight-loss drugs, including the ones originally invented to treat Type 2 diabetes, have become victims of their own success. But the actual victims may be those who have depended on the expensive forever drugs and now cant find them for any price. Is this going to be my life? asked Maez Waibel. The 29-year-old Pennsylvania woman said she lost more than 30 pounds in nine months using Wegovy. But then her local pharmacy ran out as did every other pharmacy within a few hours drive, she told The Washington Post. Without Wegovy for three months, Waibel said she put the weight back on. Once she did find a new source, it was at a lower dose but better than nothing, she said. Waibels story is being repeated across the country, as shortages of Wegovy persist due to massive demand fueled by a barrage of TV commercials. 1 in 3 teens cant get period products: Study Novo Nordisk, the maker of Wegovy and Ozempic, told the Post it is trying to manage shipments in the face of the skyrocketing number of prescriptions doctors are writing for the drugs. Some people have turned to compound pharmacies to not only replace drugs in short supply but also to save money. But medical professionals warn of a new level of danger. Its an unnecessary risk to use compounded versions of these medications. We strongly recommend against it, said Dr. Cecilia Low Wang, an expert on endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at UC Health in Colorado. Compound pharmacies make small batches of prescription drugs to order, as opposed to mass production. But, compounded drugs are not FDA-approved, and regulators cant vouch for their safety or quality. Saving a Generation: The Fentanyl Crisis If a compounding pharmacy tells you that theres a certain amount of the active drug in an injection, that cant be verified independently, said Low Wang, a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. UC Health offers some tips for dealing with shortages of the popular drugs: Start early. Halfway through this months doses, start calling around to pharmacies to find a source of next months doses. Be flexible. You may need to call multiple pharmacies and tell your doctor to send a new prescription to a new pharmacy every month. Try getting on a waiting list. With an active prescription, pharmacy workers will try every day to get the medication and will call if they happen to get an extra dose or two. Consider switching to a different medication. Youll probably want to stick with the same drug if its working and there are no significant side effects. But switching to a different brand may be better than going without anything. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NewsNation. Pennsylvania's Capitol building in Harrisburg. (Photo by Amanda Berg for the Capital-Star) The state House Labor & Industry Committee advanced two bills on Monday, even as the majority and minority chairs argued over partisanship. House Bill 2548, would guarantee that all workers employed in the state would earn one hour of paid leave for every 40 hours worked and could use up to 40 hours of leave per year. It passed along party lines. This earned leave could be used for any reason, an illness of the worker or their family member, an important appointment, or a personal reason, said state Rep. Jen OMara (D-Delaware), sponsor of the legislation. Having the ability to earn and use paid leave means a person doesnt have to choose between a paycheck and going to work or caring for a sick loved one. It means a parent can afford to take a day off work to chaperone their childs field trip. OMara added that the bill creates a small business grant program to help employers implement its provisions and argued that nearly 20 other states already have enacted similar legislation, along with some local municipalities. Multiple Republicans spoke out in opposition, questioning the impact it would have on small businesses in the state. I dont believe that the state should be telling businesses how to run their business, state Rep. Barb Gleim (R-Cumberland) said. We continue under this majority in the House to create a nanny state, and businesses have their own HR handbooks already in place that best fit their businesses. Gleim added that she believes that they should be encouraging nonprofits to expand their help in this area and leave it to the people and not the state. State Rep. Joe DOrsie (R-York) said he viewed the grant program for small businesses that was approved as an amendment for the legislation as an admission that it will be extremely difficult for small businesses to comply with, and described it as a heavy-handed mandate. State Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Lehigh), who is the Minority Chair of the House Labor & Industry Committee, said he received a number of letters from a variety of stakeholder groups that opposed the legislation and questioned if anybody is in favor of this legislation? I am a part of a coalition of stakeholders here in the state that have been working on this, including organizations in labor and organizations that advocate for workers, OMara responded. And to be clear, someone mentioned the job of the state, I would argue that it is the job of the state to protect Pennsylvania workers and ensure that they are not being taken advantage of by anyone, and that they have dignity and access to paid leave when they need it, she added. Mackenzie offered an amendment to the legislation that would insert language to require employers to use the E-Verify system to ensure the employees authorized to legally work in the U.S. State Rep. Jason Dawkins (D-Philadelphia), majority chairperson of the committee, spoke out against Mackenzies proposed amendment, saying that E-Verify is already part of the structure. That amendment failed along party lines. Before final passage of the bill as amended in the committee, Dawkins and Mackenzie traded jabs over how the committee has been run during the current legislative session. It seems to me that for the most part, this committee has run very partisan legislation this legislative session, with no input from the minority committee, no input from a broad array of stakeholders across the spectrum that would be impacted by this legislation, Mackenzie said. Mackenzie said he thinks the issue of paid leave is something that they should be discussing, but claimed voting down his E-Verify amendment was akin to putting illegal immigrants above Pennsylvania workers. They are going to be taking Pennsylvania jobs away from American citizens, Mackenzie said. The use of E-Verify has divided unions and immigration advocates in Pennsylvania in previous sessions. Dawkins accused Mackenzie of blatantly lying about partisanship on the committee, noting that it had run bills introduced by Republicans this session. He also refuted Mackenzies claims about undocumented immigrants being prioritized over Pennsylvania workers when the Republicans amendment on E-Verify failed. We believe in the idea of ideas when they make sense, [what] we do not tolerate is the rhetoric and the racist tropes of immigrants taking jobs from Americans. Were gonna stop that, and were going to stop that now, Dawkins said. Theres no low wage job anyones fighting over. Let me make that very clear, when we talk about the immigration or immigrant population, the jobs that are being filled by immigrants are not jobs that any one of us are looking to take, or any other American are looking to take. Dawkins argued that those jobs are normally bottom paid jobs in our economy and accused the opposing party of creating a boogeyman, in the immigrant population, saying it is beneath you to even mention that in this committee. We should try really hard to live up to our oath and be the best kind of individuals in this commonwealth, Dawkins said. We should not stoop low to those degrading comments in this committee or in this building, you are better than that. So we should stop doing that. The committee also approved House Bill 2566 on Monday, which would modernize the Sign Language Interpreter and Transliterator State Registration Act, to ensure that all interpreting and transliteration services used certified workers. Unfortunately, Pennsylvanians who are deaf, hard of hearing and blind deaf are facing severe shortages of qualified interpreters, said state Rep. Jim Haddock (D-Luzerne), sponsor of the legislation. Two bills passed by the Pennsylvania House Consumer Protection, Technology and Utilities Committee would make it easier for consumers to cancel online subscriptions. (Photo by Mayur Kakade/Getty Images) Pennsylvania residents who purchase or sign up for free trials of online services would be able to more easily manage and cancel their subscriptions under legislation passed by the state House Consumer Protection, Technology and Utilities Committee on Monday. State Rep. Lisa Borowski (D-Delaware) said the legislation has been developed in cooperation with the Pennsylvania attorney generals office to strengthen protections for consumers who may find themselves being charged for a service they dont want or unable to simply unsubscribe. Borowski said the legislation would help protect seniors, who are especially vulnerable to deliberately unclear agreements with automatic renewals and methods for ending subscriptions that are hidden on websites or require a phone call. My father is 85 years old. These things come to him quite a bit in emails and things like that. And then all of a sudden he gets a charge on his credit card. And hes not sure how that happened, Borowski said. Borowski is the prime sponsor of House Bill 2557, which would update the state Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law to prohibit online merchants from requiring consumers to opt out of automatic renewals without clearly providing notice and instructions on how to cancel. Rep. Joe Cerisi (D-Montgomery) is the prime sponsor of a companion bill, H.B. 116, that would amend the consumer protection law to require online merchants to clearly provide notice of automatic renewal agreements and instructions for ending subscriptions or recurring services and charges. Borowski said the legislation was developed with input from major online businesses to ensure that the requirements are not at odds with similar laws in other states. Both would make violators subject to penalties under the consumer protection law which allows the attorney generals office to investigate and pursue claims on behalf of consumers. Individuals can also file lawsuits against merchants under the law, which allows courts to award damages up to three times the actual loss. Both bills passed with strong bipartisan support, but Rep. Brett Miller (R-Lancaster) said he supported the intent of the bills but objected to an amendment to H.B. 116 that exempts health clubs, which are covered by a 1989 law governing health club contracts. Miller voted in opposition to both bills, saying the carve out created an unfair standard. By Farman Aydin, AzerNEWS Although the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) operates as a parliamentary branch of the Council of Europe, an international organisation of 46 states engaged in the protection of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law, certain inadequacies are evident, especially in terms of its relations with Azerbaijan. It should be recalled that this inadequacy resulted in the indefinite suspension of the cooperation of the Azerbaijani delegation with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and its participation in the organisation. It was on January 24 of this year that the Azerbaijani delegation made a statement in this regard, and since that time, Azerbaijan is not represented in PACE. Well, based on the statement of the Azerbaijani side, it can be noted that since the period when Azerbaijan regained its independence after 1991, it has rendered great services in ensuring human rights and the rule of law. However, the biassed action of PACE against Azerbaijan, the calls of the European MPs about not accepting the credentials of the members of the Azerbaijani delegation, as well as the baseless statements made in a row, made the "Assembly, which is a defender of human rights" unreliable in the eyes of the official Baku. The claim put forward by the Assembly was that official Baku did not fulfil its "main obligations". However, double standards and biassed claims of pro-Armenian politicians against Azerbaijan were clearly reflected behind the resolution put forward by PACE regarding the demand. After September 2023, the European Parliament and PACE, as well as a number of Western institutions, started a number of biassed activities against Azerbaijan, such as black PR and smearing campaigns. Among the activists of such campaigns, the head of the German delegation to the PACE, German MP Frank Schwabe, was at the forefront with his anti-Turkish and anti-Azerbaijani position. Schwabe, who was declared persona non grata by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, further damaged the reputation of the human rights organisation he represented by defending Armenians. The German politician, who tried to unjustly blame Azerbaijan, which has restored its territorial integrity and sovereignty, interfered in Azerbaijan's internal affairs in a manner inconsistent with its authority and grossly violated the rules of law. Azerbaijan's historic victory over Armenian separatism created a severe trauma for biassed politicians like Schwabe. In fact, PACE, as an institution acting as a defender of human rights, instead of discussing the 30-year occupation of Armenia and the vandalism and human crimes it committed in Garabagh, discussed trivial issues related to the arrest of criminals and created useless arguments. Certainly, the anti-Azerbaijani politicians represented in the organisation made ground for this. From today, PACE starts the autumn session for five days, but Azerbaijan is not represented in that session. PACE still cannot get out of the influence of Armenian separatism, which committed crimes in Garabagh for 30 years. This undermines the trust of the organisation day by day. It is clear that PACE wants to restore Azerbaijan's mandate in the assembly and is trying to take steps in this regard, albeit in a timid form. However, the pressure exerted by the organizations under the influence of the Armenian lobby neutralises the determination of PACE. As an example, let us note that the recent meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York between the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Alain Berset and Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov was followed by a petition from a dozen international human rights organizations addressed to Berset demanding that he set clear requirements for Baku. It is clear that the petition emphasises the possibility of restoring Azerbaijan's relations with PACE if the so-called conditions are met. Azerbaijan is unambiguously unchanging in its position. Official Baku, unlike some organisations, does not change its colour as a result of external influences. PACE knows that Azerbaijan is right in its position and therefore envisages the January 2025 session as the date for the restoration of relations. NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) has entered into a strategic partnership with the Ministry of Digital Transformation (MDT) of Trinidad and Tobago, to develop a real-time payments platform similar to India's 'Unified Payments Interface' (UPI). This collaboration marks a significant milestone, making Trinidad and Tobago the first Caribbean nation to adopt the UPI. This builds on the strong, longstanding bilateral ties between the two countries. This strategic partnership aims to empower Trinidad and Tobago to establish a reliable and efficient real-time payments platform for both person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions, expanding digital payments in the country and fostering financial inclusion. By leveraging technology and experiences from India's UPI, the partnership seeks to assist Trinidad and Tobago in modernising its financial ecosystem This involves enhancing accessibility, affordability and connectivity with domestic and international payment networks in the times to come and ensuring interoperability. UPI has emerged as a transformative force in India's financial landscape, registering nearly 15 billion transactions in August 2024, with an estimated value of $245bn. Through strategic collaborations with foreign central banks and governments, NIPL is committed to advancing India's digital public goods across the globe. Ritesh Shukla, CEO, NPCI International, commented: "Trinidad and Tobago is taking significant steps towards advancing its financial infrastructure, and we are proud to support them in building a secure, sovereign, and scalable payments platform. Our experience with UPI in India has demonstrated how real-time payments can transform economies, by improving access to essential financial services and reducing reliance on cash. We look forward to working closely with the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Central Bank in Trinidad and Tobago." A spokesperson of the Ministry of Digital Transformation, Trinidad and Tobago, said: "It is with great anticipation that the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Ministry of Finance embark on this significant engagement with NIPL to implement a digital payment system for Trinidad and Tobago. Fashioned on India's UPI, the digital payment platform will facilitate innovation in the Fintech sector, enhance the technical resiliency of the current payment infrastructure by providing a complementary, non-competing digital payments platform with increased security through the reduced use of cash." Story continues "NPCI International to develop real-time payments platform in Trinidad and Tobago" was originally created and published by Electronic Payments International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Several members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a militant group hostile to Israel, have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut, the PFLP said on Monday. If confirmed this would mark the first time Israel has killed members of the group since the beginning of the Gaza war and the cross-border skirmishes with Lebanese militia Hezbollah that simultaneously broke out almost a year ago. The PFLP said three of its leaders were killed in the strike on Beirut's central neighbourhood of Kola. The PFLP's military commander responsible for Lebanon is said to be among those killed. Israel has not commented on the strike. The PFLP is considered a terrorist organization by the EU, the US and Israel. The group previously mainly operated from the Gaza Strip, but also has members based in the occupied West Bank, Syria and Lebanon. In the 1970s, they carried out attacks together with other militant groups and joined the second Intifada, a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation between 2000 and 2005. Parents, students get ready, school is out for one day only. Palm Beach County public school students have Thursday, Oct. 3 off in observance of Rosh Hashanah, which begins at sunset on Wednesday, Oct. 2 and ends at nightfall on Oct. 4. Rosh Hashanah, literally means "head of the year," and is exactly that the Jewish New Year and its one of the holiest days in Judaism. It marks the beginning of the Hebrew calendar year. The exact date of the Jewish High Holy Day varies each year, with this year's holiday falling on Oct. 3. In Palm Beach County, students will return to school on Friday, Oct. 4. Students will get an additional weekday off in October on Monday, Oct. 14. That day is observed as Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples Day. School calendar: Holidays for 2024-25 in Palm Beach County Palm Beach County students off school for holidays in 2024 Here are other key dates students have off school between now and the end of the year: Thursday, Oct. 3: Rosh Hashanah Tuesday, Nov. 5: Election Day Monday, Nov. 25 - Friday, Nov. 29: Thanksgiving Monday, Dec. 23 - Friday, Jan. 3, 2025: Winter break; Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County schools out Thursday Oct 3 for Jewish holiday PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WMBB) A Panama City man is facing child sex charges after authorities say he molested a minor in Bay County. According to Panama City Police, the victim claimed that on at least three different occasions she would wake up to find 40-year-old Samuel Figuero-Rivera lying in her bed, touching her inappropriately in or around 2023. 10-year-old Bay District Schools student arrested after sending disturbing text messages At the time of the alleged incidents, she was between 12 and 16 years old. The victim revealed this to her mother on Saturday, officials said. Police were called, and they arrested Figueroa-Rivera on Sunday. Hes charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of a child between 12 and 16 years old and is currently being held on a $200,000 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. What you need to know about the Sept. 30 education relief deadline The White House is touting its American Rescue Plan (ARP) COVID emergency funding program as a win for public education with nearly 90% of its funds exhausted by Monday's deadline, according to senior Department of Education officials. The final $122 billion phase of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief fund (ESSER), a part of the ARP law signed by President Joe Biden in March 2021, was distributed to state and local education agencies to reopen schools and promote physical health, safety and mental health and well-being. In total, that funding and two prior installments of ESSER during the 2020 pandemic is roughly $190 billion. It has been obligated or used on school recovery projects that are wrapped up. Senior Department of Education officials said about 12% of ARP projects that are still underway are expected to be finished by the end of a January, 2025, liquidation extension window. The ESSER package that was doled out to states as discretionary funding sparked controversy over how the funds were being spent. Many conservatives speculated whether it was being utilized at all, blaming the federal Education Department for a lack of academic recovery and low test scores on national assessments coming out of the pandemic. PHOTO: President Joe Biden speaks about the American Rescue Plan and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for small businesses in response to coronavirus, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, February 22, 2021. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images) MORE: Public school educators are calling for a post-pandemic reset. Can it be done? Education finance expert Jess Gartner, who has been tracking school spending projects, told ABC News that school districts had planned for the window closing on ESSER funding. "The reality is, the vast majority of school districts turned the page on Fiscal Year 25 on July 1: that means budgets for the year are done and dusted. They were approved in May or June," Gartner said, adding, "It's not like September 30 is going to catch CFOs by surprise. You know, they've been planning for this deadline for three, four years, and they have a budget for the whole year that's already in motion and fully approved." What is ESSER? ESSER was granted by the Department of Education's Education Stabilization Fund. It was meant to meet the challenges of the pandemic and academic recovery, according to the COVID relief data website. In ESSER I, Congress allotted about $13 billion through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act when the pandemic first closed schools for in-person learning in March 2020. In ESSER II, the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act provided an additional $54 billion in December 2020. The final installment of nearly $122 billion, or ESSER III, came under the American Rescue Plan Act -- the fund enabled states to reopen schools and for students to recover from the pandemic. ARP provided additional FY 2021 funding for the Department of Education to assist states with addressing the impacts of COVID-19 on elementary and secondary schools. ESSER III brought the total to about $190 billion in emergency funding for state and local education departments. PHOTO: Empty classroom at Walnut Street Elementary in Uniondale, NY, Apr. 3, 2024. (Howard Schnapp/Newsday RM via Getty Images) How is ESSER III being used? That $122 billion was tacked onto the roughly $68 billion in money in ESSER I and ESSER II the previous year. As discretionary funding, states could distribute the allotment however they chose. In the last 3 1/2 years, school districts have used it on infrastructure projects, school enrichment and summer programs, and staff positions where needed. Baltimore City Superintendent Dr. Sonja Santelises said her district's large projects -- critical in supporting an urban school population -- included building bathrooms, expanding summer programs and providing tutoring sessions. "We didn't want to leave money on the table," Santelises said. "There was an intentional decision [in some urban school districts] to invest one-time money in building back what was already an under-resourced infrastructure in the school district -- these are the districts that are least likely to have the funding to do the capital projects," she added. Despite critics ridiculing the spending practices in some states -- leading to tense debates about learning loss -- education experts told ABC News the summer programming and high-impact tutoring proved to be vital in academic recovery. Students who were socially isolated and fell behind used robust tutoring programs to not only catch up, but to also return to school if they were showing attendance issues, according to FutureEd Director Thomas Toch. "Tutoring creates connections between students and adults and one of the things that we've learned in the wake of the pandemic is that kids are feeling more alienated, more isolated, than ever," he said. "An important sort of antidote to these high levels of chronic absenteeism is connecting kids to adults more fully than they have in the past." A recent Pew Research Center survey of public K-12 teachers found more than 90% of teachers said their students are chronically absent. Of the teachers surveyed, about half of them said in five years the American education system will be worse than it is now. Despite gains from the academic recovery programs ESSER provided during the pandemic, Harvard's Center for Education Policy Research Faculty Director Tom Kane said students are potentially facing permanent damage from the closures if learning loss ceases to improve. What happens to ESSER now? The obligation deadline for the last portion of ESSER funding is today -- Sept. 30 -- more than four years after the start of the pandemic and three years after ARP became law. New emergency funding will not be granted to aid in the effort to help school communities recover from COVID. As U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona fights attacks on public education writ-large, he told ABC News "the recovery dollars were intended to prevent further exacerbation." Jess Gartner believes school districts, by and large, handled the lump sum money well. With FY 2025's budget already in the books, school district leaders shouldn't panic and should be prepared to rely on the funds they would have typically received before COVID, Gartner said. "These budgets are planned years in advance," Garner told ABC News. "It's kind of like if you were planning to buy a house, right? You don't show up at the closing, like, 'Oh man, how am I gonna pay for this?'" she quipped. Now school districts have to make due with the chunk of funding they annually receive from the federal government, which is on average about 10%. Similar to before the pandemic, they will be supported by state and local governments, which make up roughly 90% of public school funding. But the COVID-19 emergency exposed infrastructure and workforce problems that public schools were dealing with before the pandemic and were exacerbated on a large scale during it, education experts said. Some leaders like Santelises are calling for more help as the pandemic's impact on students continues. "It's the federal government's responsibility to champion looking at the long term impact and to not take the posture that somehow three years you wave a wand and all the kids are back, " Santelises said. "The kids are not all back." What you need to know about the Sept. 30 education relief deadline originally appeared on abcnews.go.com A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency on November 22, 2023, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un overseeing the launch of a new-type carrier rocket 'Chollima-1' carrying the reconnaissance satellite 'Malligyong-1' at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in Cholsan County, North Phyongan Province, North Korea. A panel of experts in Seoul on Friday said the path to a denuclearized North Korea is through reunification. File KCNA/EPA-EFE Sept. 27 (UPI) -- The path to a denuclearized North Korea is through unification, according to a panel of peninsula policy experts. Meeting in Seoul on Friday for the three-day International Forum on One Korea in Seoul, hosted by the Global Peace Foundation, a group of international experts discussed the potential for achieving a unified Korea. David Maxwell, retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel and Northeast Asian Security Affairs expert, began his speech by saying that the next U.S. president needs to adopt "a radical new North Korean policy," calling for a shift from focusing on denuclearization to reunification of the Korean Peninsula. "The only way to achieve a denuclearized Korean Peninsula," Maxwell, the vice president of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy and a senior fellow at the Global Peace Foundation, said, "is through unification -- a unification that is led by the Korean people and supported by the international community." In Seoul for the three-day event, he added that though the previous approach over the last several decades of seeking denuclearization has produced little to no results while essentially ignoring the ultimate goal of reunification. "For too long, our policies have focused on military deterrence, sanctions and diplomatic engagement. These are important, but they overlook a crucial element: a human rights upfront approach and the pursuit of a free and unified Korea," he said. Maxwell was quick to reaffirm his support of deterrence, pointing out that there have been recent successes in this regard, including the August 2023 security pacts signed by the leaders of the United States, South Korea and Japan, which express their countries' support of "a unified Korean Peninsula that is free and at peace." Maxwell, a former military planner, said: "I would take those words of our presidents as something we should accomplish." And he added that though the task before them is daunting the current moment presents an opportunity to pursue unification from a human rights perspective. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's abandonment this summer of unification as the nation's goal, and turning ultimate blame on South Korea for its citizens' suffering, has removed hope from those living in the North. Now, Maxwell said, is the time for the United States and Japan, as well as civil society, to support South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol's so-called 8.15 Unification Doctrine, he said. "Our approach must prioritize human rights," he said, stating that it is through Kim's deprivation of human rights that he controls the North Korean people. "This is why our strategy must be built on exposing these abuses, on educating the Korean people in the North on their universal and unalienable human rights and empowering them to seek change." Kim Baek-san, president of the Global Peace Institute, similarly declared that the route to a denuclearized North Korea is a unified peninsula. He said the previous decades-long pursuit of denuclearization has not worked and they cannot continue to make the same mistakes of its past. Regime change in the North is needed, he said. "Unless we change the regime itself, we cannot deal with the nuclear issue of North Korea. It's about the system. It's about human rights. It's about freedom. It's about the economy," he said. "So we have to take a comprehensive approach to deal with all that matters; that should be our approach toward the nuclear issue in North Korea." A consensus on what reunification means needs to be established, he said, while suggesting Global Peace Foundation founder and chairman Hyun Jin Preston Moon's vision for unification, known as the Korean Dream. "The vision is first and foremost," he said. "If we have a consensus on the vision ... and then it will lead to unification itself." Lee Sung-yoon, a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, added that the goal of unification is not simply about fulfilling a philosophical idea, but needed to save lives. North Korea was richer than South Korea until the early 1970s and is the only urbanized, industrialized country to experience famine in peacetime, he said, referring to the famine of the early 1990s that killed millions of North Koreans. Seoul, he said, has the "moral obligation" to inform its own people as well as the North Koreans and the people of the wider world of this "inhuman policy of mass starvation," he said. They need to educate the North Korean people on the root cause of their prolonged hunger and that once unification is affected, overnight they will have the basic, universal rights to food, housing and life. "Lives will be saved," he added. He said those on the left of the political spectrum have been preaching the right to express and freedom of speech, but Lee was frank when he said during the panel that these are not important. They need to be given food, he said. "Liberation and unification are not just esoteric dreams," he said. "They will save lives." LISBON, Ohio (WKBN) The Columbiana County Park District is going back to the ballot, looking for the publics support in a levy to help cover operating costs. This marks the fourth time the park district has put a levy on the ballot. This time, theyve scaled back how much theyre asking. The levy is one-tenth of a mill for five years, generating about $250,000. It would cost homeowners about $3.50 per year for a $100,000 home. We dropped our millage to zero point one hoping that will be more appealing to our population. We know nobody likes new taxes. We get that, well be paying for it, too. But if were going to keep our parks going, weve got to have a little revenue coming in, said Eileen Dray-Bardon, board chair of the Columbiana County Park District. The Columbiana County Park District oversees three parks across the county. Previously, the county used money from oil and gas leases to fund the parks, but the revenue from those leases is running out. That is what prompted officials to explore putting a levy on the ballot. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. How you can participate in Domestic Violence Awareness Month in the Southern Tier SOUTHERN TIER, N.Y. (WETM) Catholic Charities is hosting a variety of events throughout the month of October as a part of its campaign to spread awareness of domestic violence in the Southern Tier. October is acknowledged as Domestic Violence Awareness Month to bring to light the prevalence of domestic violence in each community, as well as be a voice for those who have fallen victim to it. This years campaign theme is #Every1KnowsSome1, which seeks to showcase how common domestic violence is and how it includes more than just physical violence. Newtown Battlefield State Park to expand thanks to grant If youre a resident or a business owner in the Southern Tier and are interested in participating in the campaign, there are a variety of ways that you can get involved this month. These events and initiatives can be found below. Shine the Light on Domestic Violence Catholic Charities First Step Victim Services Program is encouraging local businesses, organizations, churches and members of the community to Shine the Light on domestic violence by placing purple ribbons, yard signs or purple lights in their yards throughout the month to support the campaign. Photo of Catholic Charities members hanging up purple ribbons on Church Street in Elmira to raise awareness for domestic violence on Monday, Sept. 30. Shine the Light on Domestic Violence yard signs are available at the Catholic Charities offices and can be picked up Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. You can call 607-734-9784 to schedule a pickup. Remembrance events in Chemung & Schuyler counties Two events will be held locally to remember those lost to domestic violence and honor those who have survived or are currently suffering from domestic violence in the community. The first event will be held on Thursday, Oct. 10, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. in LaFayette Park in Watkins Glen. The second event will be held on Thursday, Oct. 17, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Wisner Park in Elmira. Those who attend the events are encouraged to wear purple and visit the Catholic Charities tables to receive information about services available in the community. Safe to Say campaign The Safe to Say campaign is a partnership with local businesses and organizations that offers domestic violence victims a safe place to speak up about what has/is happening to them so that they can get the help that they need. The campaign was put in place for the many victims of domestic violence in the area who dont have someone to talk to or are unaware of the resources that are available to help them. Training is offered to participating businesses to ensure that workers are prepared with the right resources to assist victims. If your business or organization is interested in becoming a Safe to Say location, you can sign up under the Events tab on the Catholic Charities website. Stacys Soap Drive Stacys Soap Drive is an initiative that collects personal care items for local domestic violence victims who may be leaving an abusive situation with nothing. From now until Oct. 19, items will be collected in purple bins at several area organizations and businesses to be given directly to Catholic Charities First Step Victim Services. Items needed for the drive include new bars of soap, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrushes, hair brushes, deodorant and other toiletries. A list of drop-off locations for the items can be found below. New York Sport & Fitness Healthy Souls Body Spirit Elmira Elks Lodge Horseheads Elks Lodge Watkins Glen Elks Lodge Hinman, Howard & Kattell, LLP Elite Therapy (Elmira & HHDS) Pickle Ball NYSF at the Arnot Mall Junior League of Greater Elmira/Corning Lighthouse Liquor & Wine The Yard FLX Hilliards Corporation Wallin Insurance Meals on Wheels Ancient Order of Hibernians Ritas Italian Ice Southport Dixie Lanes Horseheads Moose Lodge Montour Moose Lodge Purple Out Stacys Soap Drive Domestic Violence Awareness Event In addition to the soap drive, Catholic Charities is hosting an event that will provide a variety of ways to support survivors of domestic violence. The Purple Out Stacys Soap Drive Domestic Violence Awareness Event will be held on Friday, Oct. 4, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at The Yard FLX in Watkins Glen. Throughout the night, attendees can enjoy food, specialty drinks, a donut wall, cookies, vendors and live music by Houston Bryce. Survivor testimonials will also take place at the event to raise awareness for domestic violence. Purple flowers will be available for purchase for $2 each and will go towards the purchase of items for the drive. Extras will be sold as needed after the event. Attendees are reminded to wear purple to show their support. Resources if youre experiencing domestic violence If you or someone you know is suffering from domestic violence currently, there are free and confidential services available for 24/7 help. You can receive help at any time by contacting one of the following resources: National Domestic Violence Hotline thehotline.org 1-800-799-SAFE (800-799-7233) First Step Victim Services Hotline 607-742-9629 (call or text) Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WETM - MyTwinTiers.com. AUSTIN (KXAN) Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Travis County, accusing the county of violating the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA) when it approved taxpayer money for security services for Travis County District Attorney Jose Garzas office. A news release from Paxtons office Monday said the Travis County Commissioners Court discussed security issues in executive session on March 19. After the executive session, commissioners voted to use $115,000 in general funds to pay for security related to DA Garza, the release said. Travis County sues Paxton to avoid releasing records about DA security Travis County violated TOMA when it went into executive session, depriving the public of the opportunity to comment on the proposal, the release said. The Travis County Commissioners Court remains focused on representing the Travis County community. We will always defend the role of local government in supporting Travis County residents, our employees, and our elected and appointed officials despite the deliberate attacks by state leadership, Travis County said in a statement to KXAN. KXAN reached out to the DAs office for a response to the lawsuit. This story will be updated when we receive a response. These actions violated the Texas Open Meetings Act by failing to give adequate notice of the topics that would be discussed during the executive session. Further, State law only permits governing bodies to enter into an executive session to discuss certain issues. The purpose of this session called by Travis County leaders was to divert taxpayer money for enhanced security at the District Attorneys personal residence. That topic is not eligible for an executive session under the Texas Open Meetings Act, the release said. Travis County has illegally abused procedure to conceal self-serving decision-making, to hide from scrutiny, and to prevent citizens from knowing exactly what is being done with their money, Paxton said in the release. Through the Travis County Financial Transparency Portal, KXAN learned two payments were made on March 4 and March 29 in the amounts of $16,120 and $10,660 for Security Services for Garzas office. KXAN submitted an open records request to Travis County on March 7, requesting documents about the security. On March 25, we received a letter from the DAs office saying it sent the request to the Office of the Attorney General and requested that the information be withheld because its release would subject a Travis County official to a substantial threat of physical harm. Earlier this month, after the AGs office denied the countys request to withhold the information, the Travis County Auditor sued Paxtons office over the public information request KXAN made. Dalton Huey 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 KXAN Austin. PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WMBB) The Panama City Fire Department is hosting an open house later this week. This gives citizens a chance to meet their firefighters, tour the fire station, and give kids the opportunity to test their skills in a kids-friendly agility course. Their annual open house is set for Friday, Oct. 4 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Station 2, located at Beck Ave. Seagrove Village Market Cafe celebrated 75th anniversary with a taste of deep fry There will also be a live burn demonstration and free 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 mypanhandle.com. Peak time rail fares have returned to train services in Scotland after the end of a pilot scheme that scrapped higher prices. An anytime return ticket between Glasgow and Edinburgh now costs 31.40 instead of 16.20. It affects tickets bought before 09:15 on weekdays and certain services between 16:42 and 18:30. The Scottish government had carried out the pilot scheme to encourage people to use the railway rather than their cars. However, it said that due to the costs it could not justify continuing as passenger levels had not increased to the levels hoped for. Robert Samson [BBC] Robert Samson, of the passenger watchdog Transport Focus, said that a number of initiatives on season tickets could help with the cost train passengers face. He told BBC Scotland News: "Passengers will obviously be disappointed, but there are products in place that will hopefully mitigate that. "It will hit passengers hard in the pocket but passengers who travel regularly will hopefully be able to take advantage of season tickets, or flexible season tickets." Mr Samson said that if Scotrail was able to "focus on their core product" then passenger numbers could increase due to an improved service. The rail operator has had a reduced timetable in place since the summer as a result of a dispute with unions regarding pay - an issue that ended last week when drivers accepted a new deal. Mr Samson said: "Scotrail can [now] focus on the main issues that drive passenger satisfaction - delivering a punctual railway, one with improved frequency of service and one where youre able to get a seat on the train. "If they deliver that with a full timetable then passenger numbers should hopefully grow. Kevin and Lorraine Gallagher [BBC] The Aslef union called the decision "a tax on workers" and said the government should "think again" regarding the move. The union's Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay said people would be "forced back into their cars" by the "short-sighted" decision. A 12-month discount on ScotRail season tickets and new flexipasses - allowing commuters to book 12 single journeys for the price of 10 - are among the packages being offered by Scotrail to coincide with the fare changes. Passengers at Glasgow Queen Street had mixed views on the move. Kevin and Lorraine Gallagher told BBC Scotland News they'd "quite enjoyed" being able to travel earlier in the day if they wanted, but that they understood the reasons behind not continuing the scheme. Mrs Gallagher said: "Maybe the rail network need the money - I don't mind paying [extra]. Katie Moody [BBC] Katie Moody said that she was a fairly regular train traveller between Glasgow and Edinburgh, and that she would be trying to avoid peak-time travel now that fares had increased again. Other passengers expressed concern about the effect the prices could have on people during the cost of living crisis and in the run-up to Christmas. Opposition parties and campaign groups have urged the Scottish government to think again regarding the scheme. Scottish Labour's net zero spokeswoman Sarah Boyack said the decision was "senseless". She added: This scheme has been sabotaged by SNP incompetence at every turn... Now thousands of Scots are at risk of once again being priced out of their daily commute, forced back into cars and stuck in traffic jams." The Scottish Greens, who introduced the initiative while part of the government, said peak fares were "fundamentally unfair." Transport spokesman Mark Ruskell said: "They disproportionately impact people who have no say over when they need to travel for work or study. "Bringing them back will do nothing to help workers or students or to encourage people out of their cars. Many regular commuters have saved hundreds of pounds on their fares over the last year, and some of the rises they will now face are staggering." The Scottish Liberal Democrats the SNP were "completely out of touch" with the public regarding transport, while the Scottish Conservatives previously said a permanent end to peak rail fares would "ease the burden on hard working Scots". Passengers travelling between Edinburgh and Glasgow will be among the most affected [PA Media] However, the Scottish government previously stated the pilot had only found limited success. Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop said while there had been an increase in passenger levels of about 6.8% during the pilot, it would have required a 10% jump in order for the policy to become self-financing. Transport Scotland said the initiative could return, depending on budget allocations in the future. A spokeswoman said: "The Scottish government would be open to consider future subsidy to remove peak fares should UK budget allocations improve in future years." Around 40m has been spent on the scheme, which started in October last year. By Nicole Jao NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil prices were little changed on Monday, but posted a 17% loss for the third quarter as fears that a widening conflict in the Middle East could curtail crude supply were overshadowed by waning global demand concerns. Brent crude futures for November delivery, which expired on Monday, fell 21 cents to settle at $71.77 a barrel. Meanwhile, the more actively traded Brent contract for December delivery gained 27 cents to $71.81. The global benchmark posted a 9% drop in September, its biggest monthly decline since November 2022, and after falling a third consecutive month, it slumped 17% in the third quarter, its biggest quarterly loss in a year. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures fell a cent to settle at $68.17. The U.S. benchmark tumbled 7% in September in its biggest monthly decline since October 2023, and slumped 16% in its biggest quarterly drop since the third quarter 2023. On Monday, prices were supported by the possibility that Iran, a key producer and member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, may be directly drawn into a widening Middle East conflict. Since last week, Israel has escalated attacks, conducting strikes which have killed Hezbollah and Hamas leaders in Lebanon and hit Houthi targets in Yemen. The three groups are backed by Iran. The market is weighing whether the Middle East conflict will spread in the region, said Tim Snyder, economist at Matador Economics. Oil prices had a muted response to Beijing's announcement last week of fiscal stimulus measures in the world's second-biggest economy and top oil importer. Traders question whether the measures will be enough to boost China's weaker-than-expected demand so far this year. Concerns about rising global crude supplies are also weighing on prices for the month. Oil prices slid last week on a report that Saudi Arabia, which is the de facto leader of OPEC, was preparing to abandon its unofficial price target of $100 a barrel for crude as it prepares to increase output. "We are proceeding on the premise that last week's Saudi decision to ramp up production in December will be an overriding bearish consideration to this market for weeks to come," said Jim Ritterbusch of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates. Data on Monday was not encouraging for demand, showing China's manufacturing activity shrank for a fifth straight month and the services sector slowed sharply in September. The prospect of Libyan oil output recovering also weighed on the market. Libya's eastern-based parliament agreed on Monday to approve the nomination of a new central bank governor, a move that could help end the crisis that slashed the country's oil output. (Reporting by Nicole Jao and Laila Kearney in New York, Paul Carsten in London, Gabrielle Ng and Katya Golubkova; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Leslie Adler) Pedestrian hit, killed on Hwy 9 in Spartanburg Co. SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) A pedestrian was killed when they were hit by two vehicles Sunday night in Spartanburg County. According to the South Carolina Highway Patrol, a 2015 Mercedes and a 2019 Ford ambulance were traveling north on Highway 9 near Overhill Circle at 9:54 p.m. Sunday. A pedestrian in the roadway was struck by the Mercedes and again by the Ford. They were pronounced dead on the scene. The identity of the victim has not been released at this time. The drivers of the Mercedes and the Ford were 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 WSPA 7NEWS. Pentagon plans to shrink US 'footprint' in Iraq, but declines to say by how much Pentagon plans to shrink US 'footprint' in Iraq, but declines to say by how much The Pentagon has finalized plans to wrap up the U.S.-led mission to fight ISIS by next year, with many U.S. troops leaving the bases they have occupied for much of the past two decades. The Biden administration insists their plan is not to fully pull out of the nation but declined to say how many of the 2,500 troops currently stationed in Iraq will remain. "I think its fair to say that, you know, our footprint is going to be changing within the country," Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters Friday. The Iraqi government announced earlier this month it had reached a deal with the Biden administration to remove most U.S. troops from its nation over the next two years. Some 2,500 U.S. troops are currently stationed in Iraq. U.S. officials disputed characterizations of the plan as a withdrawal, prompting confusion about what the American presence there would look like over the coming months. "Id like to emphasize that this is an evolution of the military mission in Iraq," a senior Biden administration official said. Read On The Fox News App The current mission is now set to end by September 2025. The notion of pulling troops out of Iraq has prompted concerns about a lack of support for the 900 troops currently stationed in Syria. Us, Iraq Team Up To Kill 15 Isis Operatives "Not only will it undercut the fight against ISIS, but more importantly, in the effort to restrain Iran, forces in Iraq particularly in the Kurdish north are very important. We need Iraq forces in order to support our troops in northeast Syria," Ambassador James Jeffrey, former presidential envoy to the coalition to combat ISIS in Iraq, told Fox News Digital. "We have a very effective ally there, the Kurds, the Syrian Kurds, that we want to not abandon," he went on, adding that a U.S. withdrawal would allow space for Russia and Iran to tighten their grip on the nation. "At the end of the day, it's a decision of the Iraqi Government, and if the Iraqi government is being pressured by the Iranians, just as they were in 2011, and want us out, then we have no choice." U.S. Army soldiers train at al-Asad air base in western Iraq. Tehran and its influence have infiltrated the Iraqi government in a way that some say means a U.S. presence indirectly benefits Iran. "With the current Iraqi government heavily influenced by Iranian-backed Shia factions, including the Popular Mobilization Front, maintaining U.S. troops doesn't effectively counterbalance Iran. In fact, our resources end up indirectly benefiting those aligned with Iranian interests, making this a misguided strategy," director of Concerned Veterans for America and Iraq War veteran Jason Beardsley told Fox News Digital. "ISIS may be a challenge, but its a challenge that the government of Iraq should be handling themselves." Harrowing Footage Shows Us Troops Being Fired At Baghdad and Washington have "reached an understanding" that U.S. forces in Syria will be supported from a presence on the Iraqi side of the border through at least September 2026. U.S. Central Command announced over the weekend that forces in Syria had conducted two targeted strikes in Syria that killed 37 terrorists, including leaders of ISIS and Huras al-Din, an al Qaeda affiliate. Service members supporting Operation Inherent Resolve stand in formation and salute the United States flag during a Memorial Day ceremony at Union III in Baghdad, Iraq, on May 27, 2024. U.S. forces in Iraq, Syria and Jordan have come under increased attacks since the eruption of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza nearly a year ago. Three U.S. troops were killed by a drone attack in January at a U.S. base in Jordan supporting operations in Syria. American forces have responded with periodic airstrikes in response, such as in July near Baghdad, which have drawn sharp rebuke from the Iraqi public. Last month, seven U.S. troops were wounded in an operation to target ISIS in western Iraq. At the same time, troops are planning to depart Iraq, elsewhere in the Middle East the U.S. military presence is growing. U.S. officials announced Monday a "few thousand" more troops would be added to the roughly 40,000 service members deployed in the region. Original article source: Pentagon plans to shrink US 'footprint' in Iraq, but declines to say by how much People across metro Atlanta seeing show tickets being stolen out of their Ticketmaster accounts Ticketmaster customers say their tickets for concerts and events are being stolen from their Ticketmaster accounts after the company suffered a data breach earlier this year. One of those people was Eric Rein, of Canton. Poof. Gone, Rein said is what happened to the tickets he bought his daughter for Christmas as a present. They were transferred right out of her Ticketmaster account last week. She hadnt initiated anything. Someone just accessed the account, and transferred the tickets, Rein told Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray. Gwinnett County resident Annie Wells had the same thing happen last week to her tickets to Disney on Ice and Post Malone. I opened my Ticketmaster app to see four of our tickets for the event on Sunday had been claimed by this random name and they were gone, Wells said. Ticketmaster customers all across the country have reported similar issues in recent days. Seattle resident Virginia Lasky saw 14 tickets disappear. When I clicked on the tickets one by one, it showed they had all been transferred and claimed, Lasky said. TRENDING STORIES: In an SEC filing in the spring, Ticketmaster acknowledged a data breach of a third-party cloud database. The hackers claimed to have stolen information of up to 500 million Ticketmaster customers. Ticketmaster told Channel 2 Action News that customer passwords were not exposed in the data incident. Ticketmaster says in a statement, Overall, our digital ticketing innovations have greatly reduced fraud compared to the days of paper tickets and duplicated PDFs. Having that digital history is also how we are able to investigate and successfully return tickets for fans. But Ticketmaster customers who spoke to Channel 2 Action News wondered why no two-factor authentication is required to transfer tickets that can be worth hundreds of dollars each. Once you purchase them, theyre really an asset. And you need to do everything you can personally to protect your assets, but youre also relying on that company to help you with that, Rein said. Wells got her Disney on Ice tickets returned about 30 minutes before Sunday nights show. Shes still waiting on the Post Malone tickets. The Reins also got their tickets returned just in time for Monday nights show. Ticketmaster says customer emails are likely the place where passwords are being compromised. But both Wells and Rein say they cannot see how that is possible in their cases. Someone had to have had my exact password because I dont typically have passwords that are the same for every platform or website. So, they know this exact password and I didnt have to authenticate an unusual login from another location or anything like that, Wells said. IN OTHER NEWS: On Monday, Mayor Patrick Fitzsimmons found himself at the epicentre of a disaster zone. His town of Weaverville, North Carolina, had no electricity and no power. Only one grocery store was operational, utility poles had gone down, the towns water plant had flooded and people had been without safe drinking water for four days, he told the BBC. In the larger Buncombe County, where Weaverville is located, at least 35 people are dead and 600 are unaccounted for, a local CBS News affiliate reported. Mr Fitzsimmons said the county set up a website where people can inquire about missing persons. Officials have so far received 11,000 requests. Across the US south-east, millions of residents were thrown into chaos by storm Helene. It slammed into Florida as a category 4 hurricane on Thursday before barrelling across the states of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee, leaving flooding, power loss and death in its wake. In the days since, the true scale of the destruction is coming into sharper relief as residents begin to return home to survey the damage. At least 116 people have died nationwide, officials have said. One of those people was Madison Shaws mother. Her last words to me were 'I love you, be safe. I'll see you later, the resident of Anderson, South Carolina told CBS News. And I said, 'I love you. I'll see you later as well.' I can't even describe it, Ms Shaw told CBS News. My mom was my best friend. A White House spokeswoman said on Monday that two million people are currently without power. President Joe Biden called the storm "history-making." Some of the most dire reports are coming from North Carolina, where the state's governor Roy Cooper said that communities had been wiped off the map and that dozens of rescue teams had been deployed. Buncombe County and the western corner of North Carolina endured some of the worst of Helenes wrath. The county includes Asheville, a city located in the Blue Ridge Mountains famed for its arts and music scene. Helene inundated the city with flood waters, drove people from their homes and left residents scrambling for basic resources. Trucks and trees smashed into buildings while downed power and telephone lines hung dangerously over the streets. "Homes have been destroyed, flattened," said 21-year-old Josh Griffith who lives just outside of Asheville in the town of Leicester. "When it hit, we watched semi-trucks and storage crates and dumpsters and propane tanks floating down the river just rushing through parking lots, destroying everything in its path, he told the BBC. The apartment he shares with his fiancee sits high up on a hill and was safe from any serious damage. But on Saturday afternoon, by then without power or food, they decided to make their escape, taking rain-drenched roads out to north-east Georgia. At one point, Mr Griffith and his partner were forced to drive straight through flood water, six inches deep of running water on top of six inches deep of mud. Emergency officials generally caution people against driving into flood waters of any depth during a storm. "It was really scary," he said. "Any time youre driving over rushing water like that, theres a fear your tires might slide out from underneath you." They made it out, stopping overnight in Georgia before driving back North Carolina, armed with food, water and supplies for their neighbours in Buncombe. "People are just scrambling to get any resources they can," he said. Buncombe County officials opened four water distribution sites throughout the county on Monday. Flood damage inside a building in the Biltmore Village, in Asheville, North Carolina [Getty Images] Last week, before Helene arrived, 28-year-old Jesse Ross wondered whether the storm would be as destructive as some had forecasted. It turned out to be massive, he said. Mr Ross witnessed a torrent of water tear through his town of Waynesville, North Carolina, on Friday. The bridges were uncrossable. He couldnt get in touch with anyone. His family is safe, he told the BBC, but they spent several days under a boil water advisory. As residents begin to pick up the pieces, their futures remain uncertain. Grayson Barnette, a lifelong resident who grew up in Lenoir, North Carolina, and now lives nearby, said a lot of the residents have spent their entire lives in these storm-ravaged communities. "Some people are just poor and have lived in the same places for generations," he said. "This was just unconscionable for a lot of people." Mr Barnette feared that residents' deep ties to their communities may have led some to stay and weather the storm despite warnings. "Entire communities have just been wiped off," Mr Barnette said. "And people may or may not come back." Additional reporting by Holly Honderich Men survey the destruction from Helene in Asheville, North Carolina [Getty Images] People slashed in Chinatown after refusing to pay for beer: Sources People slashed in Chinatown after refusing to pay for beer: Sources CHINATOWN, Manhattan (PIX11) Two people were slashed in Chinatown after refusing to give a group money for beer, sources tell PIX11 News. Two young men, ages 24 and 27, were slashed in the arm and stomach around 3:12 a.m. near Canal and Mott Streets Monday morning, police said. Both men were taken to an area hospital in stable condition. NYC first responders help with Hurricane Helene rescue efforts in NC A group approached the two men and asked them for beer money, but the 24- and 27-year-old refused, according to sources. The refusal sparked a fight that ended in the slashings, sources said. Police are now searching for three people they believe were involved in the attack, according to the NYPD. It was not immediately clear whether the men knew their suspected attackers. Emily Rahhal is a digital reporter from Los Angeles who has covered New York City since 2023. She joined PIX11 in 2024. See more of her work here and follow her on Twitter 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. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) A person was rescued and transported with minor injuries late Sunday night, Sept. 29, from the canal in El Pasos Lower Valley, according to the El Paso Fire Department. The Fire Department says its water rescue team responded just before 11 p.m. to reports of a possible individual in the canal on the Border Highway at the Yarbrough Exit. One person was rescued and transported to medical care with minor injuries. The scene was turned over to law enforcement, the Fire Department said. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News. SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) A state employee who worked at a school for visually impaired students is facing child pornography charges following an investigation by the Illinois State Police. ISP officials said Shane Guernsey, 51 of Petersburg, was arrested on Thursday following an investigation that lasted throughout the summer. Gabe Grosboll, the Menard County States Attorney, confirmed that Guernsey was employed by the Illinois Department of Human Services and worked as a security guard at a school for the visually impaired. Clifton teacher resigns, denied bail on child porn charges The Illinois State Police said the investigation into Guernsey started in June, when investigators learned he had and was distributing child sex abuse material. Agents assigned to the Illinois Attorney General Internet Crimes against Children Task Force gathered evidence against him that led to a search warrant at his Petersburg home last week. On Thursday, Guernsey was arrested and charged with dissemination and possession of child pornography, Class X and 2 felonies, respectively. Trial begins for Decatur couple accused of possessing child pornography Guernsey made an initial court appearance on Friday, which Grosboll said was both a preliminary hearing and a detention hearing. Probable cause was established at the hearing and the judge granted the states request that Guernsey remain behind bars. He is being held at the Menard County Jail. Grosboll said Guernsey has not been arraigned yet and as a result, he has not entered a plea. He will be in court again on Tuesday, which will only be to confirm whether he has hired his own counsel. Grosboll said Guernsey indicated on Friday he would do that. Anyone who suspects child sex abuse or sexual exploitation can report their suspicions to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Childrens (NCMEC) cyber tip line. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. SALINA, Kan. (KSNW) An effort to lift a dog breed-specific ban in Salina has hit a roadblock. Salinans Against BSL (Breed Specific Language) has been working for years to lift the breed-specific ban. Last week, a petition containing 1,814 signatures requiring the city to either repeal or modify the ban was delivered to the Saline County Election Office. Under Kansas Law, petitions must have the signatures of at least 25% of registered voters who voted in the last municipal election. The city says that of 1,814 signatures, only 1,369 were accepted by the Saline County Election Office, which fell below the 25% requirement. Bridge to airport, portion of Kellogg now closed The city says the election office found that 445 of the petition signatures were from unregistered voters, names that didnt match signatures, signatures of people with canceled voter registrations, and those who live in the wrong districts. The final tally left the petition just 22 signatures short of passing. Under state law, the petitioner cant submit additional signatures to make up for the shortfall. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Phillip Schofield returns to TV with Cast Away for the first time since resigning from This Morning Cast Away with Phillip Schofield was jaw-dropping, with the star addressing the scandal that almost ended his TV career for good as he returned to the limelight in the Channel 5 three-part series. Left with only cameras to document his raw experience, the ITV star seized the chance to tell his story in his own way while marooned on an island off the coast of Madagascar. Over 10 days, Schofield had to draw on his survival skills while living on a deserted island cut off from the rest of the world. And what better time for him to reflect on what has gone on in the past year? Largely the 62-year-old presenter has kept a low-profile and remained out of the celebrity spotlight since the scandal broke that he resigned from This Morning after it emerged he had an "unwise but not illegal" affair with a younger male colleague at ITV. Shortly after, Schofield did do interviews with The Sun and the BBC detailing some of what went on behind the scenes but Cast Away has given the presenter one shot to tell his story after a little more than a year to see if the dust has settled and whether he will be able to redeem himself in the eyes of the public. Read more Sat by the camp fire, the presenter said he didn't care about the reaction because he wanted to tell his story. He said: "I'll probably be slammed as Phillip Schofield mad rant but the thing is I don't care anymore. I don't care. This is me having my say as bow out." In eye-opening scenes airing this week, Schofield spoke out about the scandal and leaving the showbiz world behind as well as the impact it has had on his family. To catch you up, here is everything you need to know about what Schofield said on Cast Away. Cast Away with Phillip Schofield. (Channel 5) Phillip Schofield addresses affair scandal While marooned on an island totally alone, Schofield tackled the affair headlines head on in the documentary style series. The TV star said being gay made the fallout from the This Morning scandal worse. He told the camera: "People say, ah the publicity machine [is] back in full swing. Hes working his way back in. Shamed, disgraced Phillip Schofield who had an affair." He added: "Strangely, I think another TV presenter or two might have done exactly the same thing. Difference is [theyre] heterosexual." Schofield addressed the age-gap saying "that's not an unusual thing in the straight world". He added: "But if that had been the case with me and it had been a woman. Pat on the back. Well done mate." Read more: Phillip Schofield claims his homosexuality intensified This Morning affair backlash (The Independent, 2-min read) Phillip Schofield is stranded for 10 days. (Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited/Burning Bright Productions/PA Wire) Phillip Schofield had everything in place for a suicide attempt In devastating scenes, Schofield said he had planned to take his own life when it took a dark turn. He said: "In the last eighteen months, it got as dark as it is possible to get. A year ago I got so, so close. I had everything in place, everything was set up and everything was ready and it was Molly that was looking after me." But it was the heartbreaking plea from his eldest daughter Molly that changed his mind and by his own admission "step back from the edge". He added: "Molly and Ruby both looking after me at the time, and Molly said: 'Do you imagine what this would do to us if you actually managed to pull this off? Can you imagine what would happen and can you imagine what it would do to me if you did this on my watch?' "That was just enough, just enough to take a step back from the edge. I could have been hospitalised, I just raced to the family home and shut the gates and I was in there." Read more: Phillip Schofield breaks down as he reveals he nearly attempted suicide (Daily Record, 4-min read) Appearing to mock Holly Willoughby's 'Are you ok?' Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby attend the Pride of Britain Awards 2018. (Getty) One of the most-talked about moments that followed Schofield's exit from This Morning was Holly Willoughby asking herself on live TV, "Are you OK?" When Willoughby presented This Morning alone, she told the camera: "Hello, firstly, are you okay? I hope so. It feels very strange sat here without Phil." In telling scenes, Schofield appeared to mock the viral TV moment while enjoying a family BBQ with his wife Steph as well as their two daughters Molly and Ruby. In the filmed scenes for Cast Away, he said: "If youre ok, then were ok, and Im ok. Are you ok?" The question is followed by laughter. Read more: Phillip Schofield and his family appear to mock Holly Willoughby as he makes TV return (Evening Standard, 2-min read) Phillip Schofield spoke about his exit from This Morning. (Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited/Burning Bright Productions/PA Wire) Phillip Schofield hits out at 'betrayal' over This Morning Additionally Schofield seized the opportunity to hit out at three people who he referred to as "s**ts" in the TV world. The three individuals went unnamed. The TV presenter also addressed the infamous queue-gate scandal, where Schofield and Willoughby were accused of cutting the queue to see the Queen lying in state. Speaking in a piece to camera, he said: "People can be fake. They can be so fake with you when its all going well, and suddenly utter, utter betrayal. There are a lot of amazing people in morning television. I think there are only three s**ts. One of them is a coward who never stepped up in queue-gate. "One is a coward, because they never stepped up when I was being battered And the other is just brand-orientated. Not what you expect, not what you think youre going to get." Cast Away with Phillip Schofield (Channel 5) Read more: Phillip Schofield blames 'three s**** of showbiz' for ITV departure as he hits out at 'utter betrayal' (Evening Standard, 3-min read) Phillip Schofield's Cast Away will air on Channel 5 from 9pm on Monday, September 30. For confidential emotional support contact The Samaritans at any time by calling 116 123 or emailing jo@samaritans.org Butler County voters were told to be aware of a phone scam spreading voting misinformation. A phone scam is targeting Butler County Democrats. The Butler County Board of Elections received complaints from two voters who said they received phone calls about their absentee ballots, board director Nicole Unzicker told The Enquirer. The mysterious caller told the voters there was an error on their absentee ballot envelopes, and that they would need to return them to an address other than the Board of Elections, which turned out to be the county's Democratic Party headquarters in West Chester. Butler County Democratic Party Chair Kathy Wyenandt, who was notified about the calls from the Board of Elections, said one of the voters tried to call the person back, but the phone number was disconnected. Political party offices cannot accept absentee ballots. Absentee ballots must be mailed or delivered in person to the Board of Elections office to be counted. Unzicker said the board alerted the Ohio Secretary of State's office, which is investigating the calls. Reminder Voters MUST return their completed absentee ballots to the county board of elections office. Any complaints of election-related scam calls should be reported here: https://t.co/XmDRt7yGpD https://t.co/9kUY59cGFK Verify Ohio by Ohio Secretary of State (@VerifyOhio) September 25, 2024 How to vote with absentee ballot Butler County voters can mail their absentee ballot to Butler County Board of Elections, 1802 Princeton Road, Suite 600, Hamilton, Ohio, 45011-6099. Voters can also return them to the Board of Elections office in person at 1802 Princeton Road. Absentee ballots can also be deposited in the ballot drop box in the office's parking lot. Early voting starts Oct. 8 in Ohio. Absentee ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 4 and returned to the Board of Elections office by 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 5 in order to be counted. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Democrats in Ohio county targeted by phone scam (Bloomberg) -- Oil closed little changed after a day of choppy trading as investors assessed the risks that Israels recent strikes against Hezbollah will widen the conflict in the Middle East. Most Read from Bloomberg West Texas Intermediate settled near $68 a barrel after swinging in a range of about $1.75 a barrel, largely tracking moves in equities. US stocks retreated after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled he was in no hurry to cut interest rates. Israel bombed the center of Beirut for the first time in almost a year of hostilities with Lebanons Hezbollah, days after the killing of the Iran-backed groups chief last week. According to a US official, the Biden administration persuaded Israel to conduct limited, targeted attacks focused on clearing Hezbollahs infrastructure from the Lebanon-Israel border. Still, the recent escalations in the conflict in the Middle East a region that supplies about a third of the worlds oil have done little to shake crude from its recent slump. Crude slumped about 16% this quarter, driven by the prospect of tepid demand and production increases from both OPEC and non-member nations. Between last weeks OPEC news about potentially abandoning its price goals and the geopolitical conflict in the Middle East, theres a difficulty in assessing direction to price at the moment, said Rohan Reddy, head of international business development & corporate strategy at Global X Management. Global production remains ample, with OPEC+ planning to relax output curbs. The producer group will meet to assess global markets this week, with several delegates saying there are currently no plans to make changes to policy. Meanwhile, Libyan oil fields that were were halted or curtailed by an eastern government ban are expected to start restoring output on Tuesday, people with knowledge of the matter said. Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza almost a year ago, oil traders have been been on alert for actual disruptions to supply, especially at times of heightened friction between Israel and Iran. While Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have forced some tankers to go around southern Africa lengthening voyages crude output from the region has been largely unscathed. Some oil market participants will look past this escalation given that there still has not been a major physical supply disruption and Iran has not demonstrated any appetite to enter this nearly yearlong conflict, RBC Capital Markets LLC analysts including Helima Croft said in a note. And yet, it is extremely difficult to see where this regional conflict is headed, and whether this is the beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning. Story continues To get Bloombergs Energy Daily newsletter into your inbox, click here. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Phones down at Old Hickory lock, visitor's center in Middle Tennessee. How to reach them Phone service to the Old Hickory Lock and the Lake Office and Visitor Center has been temporarily disconnected and a planned service interruption could last into October as contractors work to relocate underground utilities, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District said in a release. The primary phone numbers were unhooked around noon on Sept. 20 and are expected to be out of service for up to two weeks, the release notes. Folks can reach the lock at (615) 417-4942 and the Lake Office and Visitor Center at (615) 475-7161 if they need to connect with someone. The Visitor Center remains closed to the public due to extensive damage from the December 2023 tornado, but some business can be conducted by appointment only, officials said. We anticipate having a contractor onsite in the coming weeks to begin clearing Rockland Recreation Area of the hundreds of downed trees and debris scattered throughout the area, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District Operations Area Manager Freddie Bell said in the release. Power Plant Road and Rockland Recreation Area also remain closed along the lake's shoreline for public safety reasons. For more information, news and updates, visit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District online at lrd.usace.army.mil/About/Districts/Nashville-District/, facebook.com/nashvillecorps or x.com/nashvillecorps. Katie Nixon can be reached at knixon@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Middle Tennessee Old Hickory Lake phone disconnections: What to know Pillar in the Latino community looks back on 10 years of service SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Nebraska (KCAU) Ten years ago many folks in the Latino Community were unaware of the resources in South Sioux City. There was a lot of misinformation, a lot of questions about where to go for help. Whether it was for interpretation and translation services, Immigration Legal Counsel. And so there were certain issues in the community that our Latino and immigrant community needed guidance on, said Olga Guevera, the executive director of Unity in Action. Family business brings familiar favorites to Hispanic community It wasnt until 2014 that a group of community organizers saw this need and formed a non-profit. Unity in Action has done a great job and really reaching out to community members and connecting them to area resources, and thats really what our focus has been. And along with also providing direct services like citizenship classes and education around worker health and safety, said Guevera. Alongside helping folks connect with the right resources, Unity in Action also celebrates Hispanic culture through events like Celebrando Siouxland. We wanna create activities that promote a sense of belonging, and so with this, we hope to build our community and just really celebrate Siouxland, right, our diversity, said Guevera. With these resources, Unity in Action has become a pillar for the Latino Community. I think over the last decade weve built a reputation of the agency that can connect the community to these resources. But also we are known for just really paying attention to whats needed and continuing to evaluate and reassess so that we can continue to be that support for the community, said Guevera. Check out the full Hispanic Heritage special here This year marked 10 years since the organization was first started, and officials have big plans for the future. We definitely want to expand our programs. We want to add more staff, and we hope to have a cultural center someday where we can just really connect and engage with more folks, said Guevera. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) The spirit of Pittsford was positively pink Sunday, as the community walked together in an effort to raise money for breast cancer survivors and those still fighting the deadly disease. The walk started at Pittsford High School. Participants strolled along the Erie Canal for the effort, which also emphasized the importance of prevention. I probably had breast cancer for a few months before I actually knew, admitted Jessica Locey, a breast cancer survivor. Just continuing to get scanned, and do your mammograms routinely, yearly. The event was organized by the group Embrace Your Sisters, an organization that helps women and families struggling financially in the face of medical debt from treatment. I hope that I can just build a stronger community and know that these women who have survived are supported and those who are still fighting are supported, said Lillian Dinning, a volunteer. Embrace your Sisters serves 13 counties across New York 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 RochesterFirst. September 30, 2024, New York, NY PIX11 News today announced it will host a live debate for New Yorks 18th Congressional District. Democratic incumbent Congressman Pat Ryan, a retired military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army, will face off against Republican challenger Alison Esposito, a retired NYPD deputy inspector and precinct commanding officer. The 60-minute debate, moderated by PIX11s Henry Rosoff, will air live on WPIX 11.1, PIX11.com and the PIX11+ app on Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. More News: NY Elections The race for NY-18, which spans the mid-Hudson Valley and includes Orange County and most of Dutchess and Ulster Counties, is among the most closely watched in the nation. Congressman Ryan was first elected in a 2022 special election. The outcome of this election could impact the balance of power in the House of Representatives, with New York emerging as a crucial battleground in 2024. PIX11 continues its tradition of hosting substantive debates and forums, including for NY-3, NY-10, NY-12, and NY-16. The debate will be followed exclusively on PIX11+ by a 30-minute post-debate program, which will feature an analysis of the candidates answers and the state of the race. More News: PIX on Politics PIX11+ is available on the following platforms: Roku, Amazon FireTV, Apple TV and Samsung Smart TVs. For more information, click here. For more information, contact: Nicole Tindiglia / News Director PIX11 nicole.tindiglia@pix11.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 PIX11. Former President Jimmy Carter turns 100 years old on Tuesday and his hometown celebrated his centennial birthday early. On Saturday, Georgians gathered in the downtown area of his hometown of Plains, Georgia to celebrate the two things that the town is best known for: peanuts and and the former president. Carter wasnt able to attend the festivities, but his admirers sent their birthday wishes to him during the celebration. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Jimmy Carter means a lot to the U.S. and Georgia and Plains. Hes just a great guy. Ive gotten to know him over the years. Seen him dance in the street, right over there. Hes a good guy and was a fine president, Bill McGowan, former mayor of Americus, Georgia said. Fortunately, Hurricane Helene did not interfere with the celebration. The 2024 Plains Peanut Festival began at 8 a.m. with a 5K race. TRENDING STORIES: A few hours later, a parade honoring President Carter made its way through downtown Plains. The parade was one of the biggest weve ever had. We had some good units and we are honoring President Carter. We all sang happy birthday to him, gonna be 100 years old, and that is great. He says if you eat peanuts and peanut butter, youre gonna live to be just like he is today, Tyron Spearman, Executive Director of the National Peanut Buying Points Association said. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] Plunging gas cylinder in water will not stop a leak, say experts Submerging a leaking gas cylinder in water will have "no effect" on the leak, a spokesperson for Indonesia's state energy firm Pertamina told AFP, contradicting social media posts that claimed this stops the gas from spreading into the air. Pertamina tests their cylinders for leaks by dunking them in water, but this would neither prevent gas from dissipating nor lower the risk of an explosion. "No need to panic, if the gas cylinder starts to leak, grab it and submerge it in a bucket of water so gas will not spread into the air," reads Indonesian-language text on a SnackVideo clip uploaded on September 17, 2024. The clip, which was viewed more than 12,000 times, shows an upside-down gas cylinder partially submerged in a bucket as the water bubbles and fizzes around it. Screenshot of the false SnackVideo post, taken on September 26, 2024 The video circulated after a woman was injured when a liquified petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder exploded in a house in Jakarta in June 2024 (archived link). Similar clips were shared in Facebook and TikTok posts that also claimed submerging gas tanks in water would stop leaks. Comments on the posts suggested some users believed the claim. "Thank you for the information," one wrote, while another called the advice "very useful". But LPG does not dissolve in water and submerging a gas cylinder in water would not mitigate the risk of an explosion, experts told AFP. 'No effect' Heppy Wulansari, a corporate secretary at Pertamina Patra Niaga, the sole distributor of LPG cylinders in Indonesia, told AFP that dunking a cylinder in water "has no effect" on a gas leak. She said Pertamina submerges its LPG cylinders in water to ensure there are no holes or tears before filling them with gas. A cylinder that is leaking gas, however, should be moved to an open space and kept away from any ignition sources, she said on September 23. Pertamina offers the same advice on its official website (archived link). Joko Winanto, head of Gadjah Mada University's Natural Oil, Gas and Coal Technology laboratory in Yogyakarta, added that the LPG used in gas cylinders cannot dissolve in water. "Soaking cannot stop the spread of gas... so even if it is soaked in water, it will still spread into the air," he told AFP on September 26. "It is very dangerous if there is a source of fire near the bucket, an explosion could occur," he said. AFP has debunked other misleading claims that spread in Indonesia about the safety of LPG tanks here and here. October 1, 2024 This article was updated in the 13th paragraph to correct the spelling of 'Yogyakarta'. The Plymouth Fire Department responded to a single-vehicle crash on Sunday night off Route 3. The crash happened at approximately 8:11 p.m., Plymouth fire and police responded to the scene to find the vehicle had veered off of the southbound lanes into the woods. There were two individuals inside the vehicle, the driver and one passenger. The driver of the vehicle was trapped but was freed with hydraulic which took firefighters about 20 minutes. Both individuals had sustained serious injuries. The driver was taken to be Medflighted to a Rhode Island trauma center while the passenger was transported by Brewster ambulance to South Shore Hospital. Massachusetts State Police announced that they will be investigating the crash. 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 Polands Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that the exhumation of victims of the Volyn tragedy will be considered in the first stage of Ukraines EU membership negotiations. [The Volyn (Volhynia) tragedy was a series of events that led to the ethnic cleansing of the Polish and Ukrainian populations in 1943 during World War II. It was part of a long-standing rivalry between Ukrainians and Poles in what is now Ukraine's west. Poland considers the Volyn tragedy a genocide of Poles ed.] Source: Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Teofil Bartoszewski in a comment for Polsat News, as reported by European Pravda Details: Bartoszewski mentioned a recent remark by Polish President Andrzej Duda, who said that Poland should not link Ukraines EU accession with Ukraines consent to the exhumation of victims of the Volyn tragedy. "The first stage of Ukraines EU accession talks will concern the rule of law and the justice system. The issue of exhumation will certainly be discussed in this context," Bartoszewski said. "If this chapter is not closed, Ukraine will not take any step forward during the next stages," he added. Bartoszewski noted that the possibility of exhuming the remains of Polish citizens and their proper burial is "something totally obvious in our cultural circle". "Were not blackmailing Ukraine, we are just saying that they [the Ukrainians ed.] must behave in accordance with what European principles require. I think we will eventually reach an agreement on this issue. We dont want revenge, we dont require punishment, we just want to give our ancestors a decent burial," Bartoszewski explained. Background: Polish President Andrzej Duda has said he believes that anyone who says that they are going to block Ukraine's EU accession is fitting into Vladimir Putin's policy. It was recently reported that the Polish Foreign Ministry is apparently planning to use Ukraine's European integration aspirations as a tool to put pressure on Kyiv in the coming months, particularly regarding the issue of exhumations of victims of the Volyn tragedy. Support UP or become our patron! SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) Sioux Falls Police had a heavy police presence around Washington High School Monday after originally receiving a call to check on the well-being of a person. Sioux Falls Police say a call came in around noon that the person may be in the area of East 3rd Street and North Bahnson Avenue. Through their investigation, authorities learned the person may have a weapon. Police were in contact with the Sioux Falls School District, who then decided to place Washington High and Anne Sullivan Elementary in shelter-in-place status. Brookings company now sole owner of facility in China At around 1:30, with the school the schools still in a shelter-in-place status, a separate report was received that there was an active shooter in Washington High School. Authorities who arrived at the school determined the threat was not credible. In a email, the Sioux Falls School District said schools continue with learning during a shelter-in-place but traffic in and out of the building is limited. As noted by law enforcement, during that time, someone from inside Washington placed a phone call to 911 with a false report of an active shooter in the building. This was quickly determined to be a hoax, as students were safe inside the building, Sioux Falls School District spokesperson DeeAnn Konrad said in an email. As always, our number one goal is student and staff safety and we take the necessary precautions with that priority in mind, Konrad said. Sioux Falls Police say theyre still looking for the person who potentially could be in the area. Police provided no description of the person that potentially could be in the area. At 4:25 p.m., police said they had located the well-being person and theres no danger to the 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 KELOLAND.com. WASHINGTON (DC News Now) Police have arrested a 14-year-old boy in connection to a shooting that happened in Northeast on Sunday, Sept. 22. According to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), around 1:20 p.m., officers responded to the 1600 block of Benning Road for the report of a shooting. Once on scene, they found a teenage boy suffering from a gunshot wound. Responders took him to the hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. MPD investigates homicide of 1-year-old girl in Northwest DC An investigation revealed that two people were involved in an altercation with the boy inside an establishment. One of the suspects shot the boy as he tried to flee, according to MPD. On Monday, Sept. 30, authorities arrested the 14-year-old in connection with the shooting, charging them with Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (Gun). The investigation is ongoing. Police encourage anyone with information to call them at (202) 727-9099 or text a tip to 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. Authorities on Monday night ended a shelter-in-place order for more than 90,000 people east of Atlanta following a weekend chemical plant fire that sent a massive plume of dark smoke into the Georgia sky and led to complaints about a strong chemical smell and haze. The smell had spread to Atlanta by Monday, prompting firefighters to use detectors to check the air quality in various parts of the city, Mayor Andre Dickens said. The Rockdale County Emergency Management Agency lifted the shelter-in-place order and the evacuation zone after Environmental Protection Agency readings for the area showed things were safe. It said businesses could operate as normal on Tuesday. Northeast of Atlanta, Arynne Johnson took her Great Danes outside in Suwanee on Monday morning when she encountered a foggy air that slapped you in the face, she recalled. I used to work at a water park, and it felt like walking into a pool house, she said. Closer to the source of the fire, officials said chlorine, a harmful irritant, had been detected in the air from the fire at the BioLab plant in Conyers, Georgia, the Rockdale County government said in a statement Monday. The plant is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of downtown Atlanta. Who had to evacuate? People in the northern part of Rockdale County, north of Interstate 20, were ordered to evacuate on Sunday, and others were told to shelter in place. Sheriffs office spokesperson Christine Nesbitt didn't know the number of people evacuated, though it covered a large portion of the community of Conyers. Media reports said the number was about 17,000. What should you do if you're told to shelter in place? The best practice for sheltering in place is to "turn the air conditioning off and keep windows and doors shut, Rockdale County officials said. Emergency management officials in Fulton County, which encompasses much of Atlanta, said people concerned about the haze or smell should follow the same advice: stay indoors, close their windows and doors and turn off the air conditioning. Where else are people reporting concerns? Residents of at least three large metro Atlanta counties Fulton, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties on Monday reported seeing a haze or the strong smell of chlorine. In Atlanta, officials believe the hazy conditions and chemical smell is related to the BioLab fire, the Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management Agency said in a statement. Employees were testing the air on Monday for chemicals including chlorine, hydrogen sulfide and carbon monoxide. By early Monday afternoon, no immediate life safety issues have been identified, Atlanta Fire Rescue reported. Further testing was ongoing. Story continues In Suwanee, Johnson said she got a headache, shes been coughing and my upper chest and throat have been tight all day." How are schools affected? Georgia's largest school system Gwinnett County Public Schools initially canceled all outdoor activities and events on Monday. School officials added that they've also taken steps to stop outside air from coming into its buildings. Monday afternoon, the school system reversed course, and said that after-school activities could be held. The DeKalb County School District also announced that no after-school outdoor activities or athletics would take place Monday. Closer to the fire, students in Rockdale County Public Schools were already out of the school for a fall break. In nearby Newton County, schools closed Monday, partly because of the large size of the evacuation zone. What caused the fire? The fire ignited when a sprinkler head malfunctioned around 5 a.m. Sunday at the BioLab plant in Conyers, Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel told reporters. The malfunction caused water to mix with a water-reactive chemical, producing a plume of chemicals. McDaniel said there were employees inside the plant, but no injuries were reported, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The fire was brought under control around 4 p.m. Sunday, officials said. What type of manufacturing plant is involved? BioLabs website says it is the swimming pool and spa water care division of Lawrenceville, Georgia-based KIK Consumer Products. The Conyers facility opened in 1973. In May 2004, a huge fire in a warehouse at the Conyers complex set off multiple explosions and prompted the evacuation of 300 people as a chlorine-laden cloud rolled through the area, the Associated Press reported at the time. The plume of green, gray and white smoke stretched 10 miles (16 kilometers) long. At least nine people went to hospitals with complaints of burning eyes and lungs. In June 2015, six Rockdale County firefighters were hurt in a fire at the complex, but none of the injuries were life-threatening, the Rockdale Citizen reported at the time. Another fire the following year prompted some voluntary evacuations near the plant, the newspaper reported. In September 2020, a chemical fire at the same plant in Conyers prompted authorities to shut down both directions of Interstate 20 during morning rush hour. Inside the plant, BioLab workers used forklifts to try and move chemicals away from decomposing chemicals to prevent the catastrophe, but their forklifts were sliding on the wet floor and fumes of chemicals were forming. Firefighters' access to the situation was hindered by poorly stacked pallets of materials, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board later determined. Nine firefighters were evaluated at hospitals after inhaling hazardous vapors. Police assist in high-angle rescue after crash on Transmountain Police assist in high-angle rescue after crash on Transmountain UPDATE: All lanes were opened back up just before 9 a.m. Monday, according to TxDOT. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) El Paso Police are assisting in a high-angle rescue Monday morning, Sept. 30, after a crash closed all lanes on Loop 375 East at Tom Mays Trail. TxDOT says an overturned vehicle is currently blocking the area and clearing time is until further notice. Police sent out an alert to media at around 7 a.m. Monday, saying their Combined Search and Rescue team was responding to Transmountain near the summit to assist in a high-angle rescue. Police say they are investigating the single-vehicle crash. No further information has been released. This story will be updated once 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 KTSM 9 News. BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) Police are asking the community to keep a lookout for a missing juvenile last seen near Fairfax Road and Edison Highway. Aiden Michael Yniguez, 14, was last seen in the 5900 block of Fairfax Road Sept. 29, at approximately 10:38 a.m., according to Bakersfield police. Police say Yniguez is considered at-risk, due to no history of running away. 17th annual Walk for Peace honors Wendale Davis Yniguez is described to be 5 feet, 1 inch tall and weighing about 110 pounds. He has brown hair, brown eyes and was last seen wearing a black shirt. Yniguez also had on blue jeans, black shoes and a black backpack when he was last seen. Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Yniguez is encouraged to contact the Bakersfield Police Department, at 661-327-7111. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Police: Bellingham officers smash window of car trying to get OUI operator to stop Police say they had to resort to drastic measures to get a drunk driver to safely stop his car on Friday afternoon. Officers responding to a call for an erratic operator on South Main Street around 4:30 p.m. found a Chevrolet Silverado unable to maintain lanes or appropriate speeds, according to authorities. Bellingham Police say while en route to the scene, they received word the Chevrolet was involved in a crash on Mechanic Street. After locating the driver, a 64-year-old New Hampshire man, he allegedly appeared to be under the influence and refused to roll his window down or exit the Chevrolet. Investigators say at one point he tried driving away from the scene. Officers then broke the window to gain access inside to prevent the man from driving off and being a danger to the public, according to police. At this point, the man still reportedly refused to leave the vehicle and officers had to physically remove him. He was taken into custody and transported to an area hospital for further evaluation. The New Hampshire man, who police did not identify, is charged with operating to endanger, operating under the influence of drugs, resisting arrest, and having an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle. Authorities expect more charges will be filed. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW Red triangles, a Hamas sign, and other anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian slogans have been spray-painted on numerous houses in Emser Strasse in Neukoelln, including the Bajszel meeting place. In connection with the Middle East conflict, the police searched apartments belonging to the pro-Palestinian scene in Berlin in the early morning. Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa Police in the German capital Berlin raided the homes of five pro-Palestinian activists on Monday morning, including a man believed to have thrown a microphone stand toward a local politician. Police and public prosecutors in Berlin said the five men are suspected of having committed criminal offences "through allegedly pro-Palestinian motivated activities." The men, aged between 18 and 40, are suspected of breach of the peace, incitement of the people and using symbols of unconstitutional organizations. No arrests have been made. Around 125 police officers were involved in the raids on flats in the districts of Friedrichshain, Britz, Gropiusstadt, Tegel and Schoneberg in Berlin. The 18-year-old man allegedly threw a microphone stand at Berlin's culture minister, Joe Chialo, during an opening of a local arts centre in mid-September. Chialo has pushed for public funding to be stripped from arts groups that condemn Israel, including by participating in calls to boycott the country over the war in Gaza and policies toward Palestinians in the occupied territories. At the event, a group of around 40 people chanted various slogans and allegedly insulted Chialo by calling him a "racist." The young man is reportedly suspected of breach of the peace with attempted grievous bodily harm. Another 25-year-old whose flat was searched is suspected of having posted a video in April in which a group of people can be heard chanting the line "from the river to the sea," and then repeated the phrase in a comment on the Instagram post. Prosecutors in Berlin allege that the frequently invoked phrase is a slogan of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, and that it advocates for the annihilation of the state of Israel. A 31-year-old is also being investigated on suspicion of incitement of the people over two comments made on Instagram. The man allegedly wrote under a post on the Instagram platform "with the wish for the return of Adolf Hitler, and another post with the wish for a new Holocaust," according to prosecutors. A 40-year-old man is suspected of having praised the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7 in comments online, while a 20-year-old man is believed to have taken part in a protest march in which demonstrators set fire to several objects in the Berlin district of Neukolln. Authorities seized mobile phones, computers, hard disks and other items during the early morning raids on Monday. Pro-Palestinian protests in Germany, and in particular in Berlin, have been a major flashpoint since the October 7 terror attacks on Israel and the start of Israel's war in the Gaza Strip. German authorities have sought to crack down on protests that they contend have been marred by anti-Semitic comments and slogans as well as incidents of violence. Critics, however, have accused the German police of suppressing free speech. Police in a cartel-dominated Mexican city are pulled off the streets after army takes their guns A Mexican National Guardsman stands guard next to a body found lying on the side of a road in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) MEXICO CITY (AP) Local police in the cartel-dominated city of Culiacan, Mexico have been pulled off the streets after the army seized their guns, officials announced Monday. The move came just one day after about 1,500 residents of Culiacan, the capital of the northern state of Sinaloa, held a march Sunday though the city's downtown to demand peace after weeks in which cartel gunfights have killed dozens of people in and around the city. But rather than announcing a stepped-up police presence, Ruben Rocha, the states governor, said Monday the entire 1,000-member municipal police force would not return to duty until they get their weapons back. Soldiers, state police and National Guard will take over patrolling until then. Rocha said the seizure of the weapons for inspection of their permits and serial numbers was not a routine check, but rather was exceptional, and said we hope it will end soon. Historically, the Mexican army has seized the weapons of local police forces they distrust, either because they suspect some local cops are working for drug gangs or because they suspect they are carrying unregistered, private sidearms that would make abuses harder to trace. In 2018, the army seized the weapons from the municipal police in another state capital, Cuernavaca, to conduct a similar inspection. It said at the time the measure was aimed at ensuring trustworthy security forces. Hundreds of army troops have been flown into Culiacan since fighting broke out between factions of the Sinaloa cartel after drug lords Ismael El Mayo Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez were apprehended in the United States after they flew there in a small plane on July 25. Zambada later claimed he was kidnapped and forced aboard the plane by Guzman Lopez, causing a violent battle between Zambada's faction and the Chapitos group lead by the sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. Sunday's protest was the first such march residents have dared to hold since factional fighting broke out following the events of July 25. Gunbattles have broken out even in downtown areas and upscale neighborhoods of Culiacan, and parents have been loathe to send their children to school since early September. Schools in Culiacan have largely turned to holding classes online to avoid the near-daily shootings. On Monday, gunmen shot to death the leader of the local cattle rancher's union, Faustino Hernandez, in broad daylight on a downtown street. The civic group Culiacan Valiente, or Brave Culiacan, organized residents to dress in white Sunday as they carried banners reading Take back our streets! We want a return to in-class learning, but only if the safety of the schoolchildren is guaranteed, the march organizers wrote in statement. Rocha acknowledged the battle is between two cartel factions he called them the Chapitos and the Mayitos" and pledged to fight both equally. There are two groups that are confronting each other here, Rocha said of his state. The authorities are here to face them down equally, both of them without exceptions. The two groups have taken to leaving strange factional markers on the dead bodies of their rivals: The Chapitos leave pizzas (derived from their group's collective moniker in Spanish, La ChaPIZA), while Zambada's supporters leave their trademark cowboy hats on dead bodies. The cowboy hats reflect the belief that Zambada's faction is more old-school than the young Guzmans. But the situation has gotten so out of control that cartel gunmen have taken to hijacking buses and trucks and burning them to block highways leading in and out of Culiacan. Rocha acknowledged that he himself got caught for hours in traffic Friday after one such cartel blockade, after he went to the nearby resort city of Mazatlan to meet with outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Rochas said he had to drive past the burning remains of one vehicle that had been torched. On Monday, the governor promised to set up five anti-blockade squads with state police and soldiers on highways near Culiacan. But in acknowledgement that the squads wouldn't be able to stop the hijackings, he said they would at least be equipped with tanker trucks to puts out the flames and tow away the wreckage. Even the local army commander, Gen. Francisco Leana Ojeda, acknowledged recently that We want this to be over as soon as possible, but it doesnt depend on us, its up to the warring groups to stop confronting each other. HOLLAND, Mich. (WOOD) Holland police have released the names of the two men who were killed when an early Sunday morning police chase ended in a crash. The driver of the vehicle has been identified as 26-year-old Alfredo Mojica Majin of Holland. The passenger was identified as 21-year-old Bryan Mojica of Holland. The Holland Department of Public Safety said they were brothers. Holland police: 2 dead when chase ends in crash Around 2:25 a.m., an officer was sent to the speedway gas station at 800 Washington Ave. after receiving reports about a fight. While the officer was walking to the scene, he saw a silver-colored vehicle speed off westbound on 33rd Street without its headlights on. At the same time, multiple gunshots were heard, which the officer believed came from the vehicle. The officer chased the vehicle, still with its headlights off, until it crashed into a tree west of the city limits where 32nd Street becomes South Shore Drive. Holland DPS said Majin and Mojica died at the scene. Driving with no headlights and at a high speed were factors in the crash, the Ottawa County Sheriffs Department said. In an email to News 8 Monday, Holland DPS Capt. Robert Buursma said that based on the information available so far, the officers chase appears to clearly fall within our department Policy on Police Pursuits. New MSP policy limits chases to violent crime suspects Officers found a pistol in the vehicle after the crash and four spent casings in the grass just off the road on 33rd Street, west of Speedway, HDPS said. No shooting victims were found and its not clear what the suspects were shooting at, police said. There is a long-running debate in law enforcement about the risks of high-speed chases. Michigan State Police amended its policy earlier this year to only allow pursuits if there is probable cause that the driver or occupant of the pursued vehicle has committed a life-threatening or violent felony. The policy change was partially informed by a national study that determined 30% of pursuits end in crashes and between 5% and 17% end with someone injured or dead. Chases beginning with gunfire are rare. More than 90%, in fact, begin because of simple traffic violations. More than 37% end with charges related to a stolen vehicle, suspended or unlicensed driving and drunken driving, while only about half a percent of result in attempted murder charges. The Ottawa County Sheriffs Office is handling the crash investigation, while Holland DPS is investigating the shooting. Anyone with information was asked to call HDPS at 616.355.1150, email policetips@cityofholland.com or call Silent Observer at 1.877.887.4536. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com. HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) Madisonville Police arrested a man who they say caused an accident with injuries on Friday while he was under the influence. According to documents, officers were dispatched to a report of an accident with injuries on west Noel Avenue just before 6:30 p.m.. Eyewitnesses at the scene told officers Ernesto Vasquez Rodriguez, 33, had been driving eastbound on Noel Avenue without headlights in the rain and swerving in and out of his lane, causing other vehicles to swerve to avoid collisions. Police say Rodriguez crossed into the opposite traffic lane and hit another vehicle traveling westbound. The driver of the other vehicle was taken to a hospital with a leg injury. Police say Rodriguez said the other vehicle hit his vehicle and then fled the scene, despite officers telling him the other vehicle was only a couple hundred feet away. Police say he admitted to drinking three to four beers earlier that morning. Officers asked Rodriguez to submit to a breathalyzer test, but according to authorities, Rodriguez would avoid blowing out during the test. After being placed in handcuffs, officers say he asked to take the test again. Police say his initial test had a reading of 0.23% BAC, but a later test was listed as 0.211% BAC. Rodriguez was charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence and operating a motor vehicle with an expired operators license. He was booked into the Hopkins County Jail, but has since been 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 Eyewitness News (WEHT/WTVW). (FOX40.COM) A man was killed in an early morning crash on Sunday, according to the Sacramento Police Department. Around 5 a.m., SPD responded to the 4200 Block of Auburn Boulevard about a single-vehicle crash. Upon arrival at the scene, officers said they found a man, the driver, and an adult passenger. Despite life-saving measures, the driver was pronounced dead at the scene. SPD said the passenger was transported to a local hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. Fatal Sutter County crash kills three people on Highway 99, possible DUI The identity of the deceased will be released after the next of kin has been notified. The cause of the crash is under investigation. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX40. THREE RIVERS, Mich. (WOOD) Police are investigating what theyre calling malicious destruction of property after a bookstores glass door was shattered recently in downtown Three Rivers. The stores owner and the founder for the citys Pride festival said they are worried theres more to the case. On the morning of Sept. 20, Tom Lowry and his bookstore staff say they found that one of the side doors was left shattered. Our very first customer, after she checked out said, Im sorry about your window, and so we all walked outside to look at it, said Lowry. The splintered glass obscured the poster for the Netflix show Heartstopper, a comedy drama with a gay teen couple as a major part of the plot. A photo of a shattered window at Lowrys Books in Three Rivers. (Courtesy Andrew George, founder of Three Rivers Pride). Lowry said the team then posted about the incident on their Facebook page. We at Lowrys are very sad to see our store damaged due to hatred. We as a bookstore spread love and diversity and will not stop doing such, the post read. The support flooded in online and in person. Ive had people actually walk into the store for the last 10 days, not only had they posted but also they wanted to hear it personally from them. Some of them Ive never knew before. So they have driven here from Kalamazoo or somewhere just to state that to me. So I am overwhelmed by the support we have received, said Lowry. The Three Rivers police Department told News 8 the case is being investigated as a malicious destruction of property. They add that pride flags near the business were left undamaged. Police say because Lowry is the citys mayor, the act could have been from a citizen with issues with local government. But both Lowry and the founder of Three Rivers Pride believes the motive was anti-gay. To me, its demonstrative of the hatred that simmers out there. Theres a certain amount of anti-gay feelings here and there is anywhere. Its our gut feeling that its anti-gay. Andrew George, the Founder of Three Rivers Pride and chairman for the Downtown Three Rivers Board, echoes Lowry. This type of stuff doesnt happen hardly ever. So it does seems very targeted. So thats a little bit alarming. Overall, I feel that we have a very safe downtown, said George. Last week, the glass was replaced with the poster back up. This time, accompanied with pride flags. George said its a message of support for the LGBTQ+ community in Three Rivers. We are going to continue to fight against these types of issues. We are going to continue to hold Three Rivers Pride Festival as long as we can, said George. Three Rivers Police are asking anyone with information that could aid the investigation to reach out to the department at 269.278.1235. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. A 19-year-old man was killed, and another person was wounded in a shooting in Canoga Park on Saturday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Police said officers responded to the 11:50 p.m. call about a shooting in the 8300 block of Northgate Avenue. When responders arrived, they found two victims suffering from gunshot wounds and transported them to a hospital. LAPD said one of the victims, the 19-year-old, succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at the hospital. The second victim was treated and is in stable condition. Detectives are asking anyone who may have information that may further aid in this investigation to contact Operations-Valley Bureau Homicide at 818-374-9550. To remain anonymous, call the L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477) or go directly to 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. Key Insights Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, Secure Trust Bank's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions The top 9 shareholders own 55% of the company Insiders have bought recently Every investor in Secure Trust Bank PLC (LON:STB) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 78% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk). Because institutional owners have a huge pool of resources and liquidity, their investing decisions tend to carry a great deal of weight, especially with individual investors. As a result, a sizeable amount of institutional money invested in a firm is generally viewed as a positive attribute. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Secure Trust Bank, beginning with the chart below. View our latest analysis for Secure Trust Bank What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Secure Trust Bank? Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index. We can see that Secure Trust Bank does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Secure Trust Bank's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story. Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. It would appear that 7.9% of Secure Trust Bank shares are controlled by hedge funds. That's interesting, because hedge funds can be quite active and activist. Many look for medium term catalysts that will drive the share price higher. Fidelity International Ltd is currently the company's largest shareholder with 9.7% of shares outstanding. With 7.9% and 6.3% of the shares outstanding respectively, Point72 Asset Management, L.P. and Ennismore Fund Management Limited are the second and third largest shareholders. On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 9 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones. While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily. Insider Ownership Of Secure Trust Bank While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it. I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions. Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Secure Trust Bank PLC in their own names. It has a market capitalization of just UK156m, and the board has only UK769k worth of shares in their own names. Many tend to prefer to see a board with bigger shareholdings. A good next step might be to take a look at this free summary of insider buying and selling. General Public Ownership With a 12% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Secure Trust Bank. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders. Next Steps: It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Secure Trust Bank better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Secure Trust Bank that you should be aware of. Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Greater Manchester Police task force was originally set up to crack down on gun crime but is now grappling with knives [GMP] Police officers who are targeting knife crime have said watching drill music videos posted on YouTube by local gangs has become an increasingly important part of the job. The Xcalibre task force was originally set up in 2004 by Greater Manchester Police to stop gun crime but has shifted focus to deal with teenagers carrying knives. Figures from the force show more than 400 people under the age of 25 were hurt by knives in a 12-month period between 2023 and 2024, though the figure has fallen compared to previous years. Det Insp Kat McKeown said many teenagers carried weapons to show "they are not to be messed with". Those in the Xcalibur team have been trying to build relationships with gang members [GMP ] The task force was set up in response to an infamous period in Manchester's history when the city earned the name Gunchester due to the prevalence of the weapons among gangs. The unit's work focuses on the hotspot areas of Trafford and the south of Manchester. Xcalibre is now well known in those communities, and has even been referenced in the drill music videos officers are using to gather intelligence. "Theyll say Xcals got the block on lockdown," Det Insp McKeown said. She said the unit's profile had led some young people in gangs to say they would only speak to Xcalibre officers. "Their main need and what theyre wanting from a group is that they are seen within their gangs and opposing gangs as someone not to be messed with," she told BBC Radio Manchester. "And, that they are not being dissed on music tracks." 'Shocked' Videos of drill music, which can include lyrics describing acts of violence and recent attacks, are being used by the unit to monitor young people. Det Insp McKeown said: "Certain gangs in our areas wear different colour bandanas - some of those groups are really talented, and will put out music videos like drill." "So theyll be talking about a recent child thats been murdered, and that in itself can raise tensions within a community," she said. "Twenty years ago we wouldnt be looking at Youtube to monitor our local gangs but now a five minute video could tell you more than a whole ten hours walking on the street and trying to speak to be people." In Greater Manchester, 44 in every 100,000 young people under 25 were affected by knife crime, according to police data. The unit has used the information on the videos to work out which gangs are in conflict with each other, but the supply of knives is another problem. "The majority of knives my people get are from online," Det Insp McKeown said, adding they were "pretty much legal". Those taken off the street are "a fraction of what is really out there", she added. Her task force has also found some local shops were selling knives to teenagers. Two days after 17-year-old Prince Walker was fatally stabbed in Moss Sid in April, police sent 15-year-old cadets into shops to buy knives, and many were successful. "I was shocked," Det Insp McKeown said. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk More on this story Related internet links Police identified the last of the three swimmers who went missing the night of Sept. 21 in Virginia Beach, all of whom have died. The three men were swept into the ocean while swimming at the beach near 16th Street at about 8:24 p.m. One of the men, who police announced Monday was 24-year-old Santos Olcot Ajbal, was recovered a short time after officers arrived on the scene and was taken to a hospital. He died on Sept. 25. The bodies of the other two men were found earlier in the week. Sergio Olcot Ajbal, 22, was found on the Oceanfront at 17th Street at about 7:29 on Sept. 23 and 22-year-old Sergio Xinico was found on the Oceanfront near 30th Street at about 4:24 a.m. on Sept. 24. All three men were from Chesapeake. Police do not suspect foul play. Gavin Stone, 757-712-4806, gavin.stone@virginiamedia.com Irasburg, VT. Police are asking the public for assistance after a camper trailer was stolen near Vermont Route 58 on Sunday. Officials believe the camper was stolen sometime between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Police have confirmed that the model of this trailer is a white 2008 Dutchmen Manufacturing Adirondack camper. Anyone with additional information on can contact VSP at 802-334-8881. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. PEORIA, Ill (WMBD) One woman was transported to a local hospital after she sustained a non-life-threatening stab wound near Oregon Street and Trewyn Avenue at 4:30 a.m. on Monday. According to Peoria police spokeswoman Semone Roth, when police arrived at the scene, they found a woman with a stab wound in her side and canvassed the area where they located the crime scene. Man sent to hospital after Sunday shooting in Peoria Police located the suspect, who was identified as 37-year-old Michael J. Childs. Childs resisted officers as they attempted to apprehend him. He was then arrested without further incidents on crimes of aggravated domestic battery and resisting police, according to the police. He was taken to the Peoria 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 CIProud.com. Police seek help identifying 4 people in Boston assault that caused serious injuries Police in Boston are turning to the public for help identifying four people wanted in connection with an investigation into an assault earlier this month that caused serious injuries. The assault and battery in question occurred at the intersection of North and Union streets near Faneuil Hall just before 11 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 13, according to the Boston Police Department. This embedded content is not available in your region. Investigators on Monday released images of four people who they say were involved in the assault. Anyone who recognizes the quartet is urged to contact detectives at 617-343-4571. Those who wish to assist in this investigation anonymously can do so by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1-800-494-TIPS or by texting the word TIP to CRIME (27463). Additional details on the investigation werent immediately available. 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 Authorities are urging residents to remain vigilant after a reported uptick in contractor scams. Scituate Police say in recent days theyve been alerted to several traveling door to door contractors in town and that many times, these contractors are an organized group of criminals looking to scam you. According to officials, many of these scammers have ties to either Ireland or The United Kingdom. They typically pose as masonry experts or asphalt driveway contractors, offering great savings on home repairs and renovations. After the victim agrees, the contractors will begin work, sometimes intentionally damaging your home or asking for large deposits to finish work, and then disappear. Residents across the state have fallen victim, sometimes being scammed out of tens of thousands of dollars, according to law enforcement officials. We are urging residents to use extreme caution when dealing with contractors that randomly knock on your door, Scituate Police wrote in a social media post. Be sure that any contractor you hire is reputable, licensed, and insured. Contact The Scituate Police immediately if you suspect these individuals are in your neighborhood. 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 cat sits on a porch on a tree-lined street in Springfield, Ohio, this month. The area has attracted national scrutiny after conservative leaders, including former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, spread debunked claims that Haitians in the community were stealing and eating peoples pets Sign on to social media these days, and youll soon find posts warning about the threat posed by immigrants to your familys and your pets safety. Immigrants are eating the dogs, cats and geese in Springfield, Ohio, some posts have claimed. (Theyre wrong.) Theyre also taking over apartment complexes in Colorado and Chicago, or hijacking school buses in California, others have said. (No, theyre not.) Much of the rhetoric about a purported immigrant crime wave has stemmed from or was amplified by former President Donald Trump, his supporters and other high-profile conservatives on social media, such as X owner Elon Musk. Trump has said immigrants "are poisoning the blood" of our country. He said in a Wednesday campaign rally in Mint Hill, N.C., that if Vice President Kamala Harris had closed the border years ago, "we wouldnt have hostile takeovers of Springfield, Ohio, (and) Aurora, Colo., where theyre actually going in with massive machine-gun type equipment. Theyre going in with guns that are beyond even military scope." Violent crimes in which immigrants are suspects have fueled the rhetoric, such as the slaying of Georgia college student Laken Riley, whose death came up in President Joe Bidens State of the Union speech in March. There are also real concerns about a growing presence of Venezuelan gangs in the U.S., according to federal and local law enforcement. But experts told PolitiFact and crime statistics and studies show that the rhetoric about immigrants and crime is often exaggerated or false. Such rhetoric is nothing new, especially during a political campaign, experts said. "Ever since the U.S. has had migrants, a subset of them have been vilified," said Alex Piquero, a University of Miami criminology professor and former director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The same thing is happening elsewhere, including the United Kingdom and Sweden, he added. Migrants walk along the wall at the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso in March. What does the data show? Studies have historically shown that immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than U.S. citizens. No available data backs claims that there is a migrant crime wave happening in the U.S., despite the online and political rhetoric. There is no national data that tracks and correlates immigrants coming into the country with crime, and any research studies on the topic tend to lag behind releases of FBI crime statistics, experts told PolitiFact. "If we pay attention to what the last 80 years of studies have told us, we would see, in general, that there's likely to be no significant impact on crime" because of increased immigration, said Charis Kubrin, a University of California, Irvine criminology, law and society professor and member of the Council on Criminal Justice. Several studies compared U.S. citizens and immigrants in Texas, the only state that keeps immigration status records on people arrested and convicted of state crimes. They overwhelmingly found that noncitizens are less likely than citizens to be convicted or incarcerated. FBI data released Sept. 23, though not specific to immigration status, also dampens any claims of increased crime because of immigrants. Thats because U.S. crime was down significantly in 2023, the most recent data available violent crimes were down 3% from 2022, and property crimes were down 2.4%. Murder dropped 11.6%, the data shows. The FBI data "is inconsistent with the idea that an influx of migrants is driving up crime across the U.S.," said Graham Ousey, a College of William & Mary sociology professor. "If a recent surge of migrants was creating a crime wave, we'd expect the recent data to show this. It really does not." Ousey pointed us to more recent data from the Real-Time Crime Index which has tracked data through June 2024 that also shows a drop in violent crime this year, including in big cities. A July Council on Criminal Justice analysis showed violent crimes in U.S. cities through June 2024 have dropped to or slightly below prepandemic levels. A July 2023 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research looked at incarceration rates nationally for immigrants and U.S.-born citizens over a 150-year period (1870 to 2020) and found that immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated. A study of Texas data from 2012 to 2018 showed undocumented immigrants are arrested at less than half the rate of native-born U.S. citizens for violent and drug crimes. Two other studies out of Texas showed similar results. One published in 2000 showed immigrants with lower incarceration rates for homicide than U.S.-born offenders. Another in 2021 comparing people incarcerated for homicide in Texas showed that U.S. citizens had higher crime rates than immigrants over the course of their criminal careers. A Cato Institute analysis comparing Texas homicide conviction rates among immigrants legally and illegally in the U.S. and U.S. citizens from 2013 to 2022 showed native-born Americans had the highest rate. The Marshall Project examined crime data in cities such as New York and Chicago after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began busing migrants to what he called sanctuary cities. No link was found between crime and the recent migrant influx. Another data point that dispels the notion of a rise in immigrant violent crime is a 30% spike in U.S. homicides in 2020, the same year immigration dropped sharply because of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Michael Light, a sociology professor at the University of Wisconsin. "In 2020 border crossings and apprehensions dropped dramatically, and yet, it was that year that the U.S. saw the largest increase in homicide on record," Light wrote in an email. "These homicide increases disproportionately involved young Black men, which again, suggest that they had little to do with immigration flows." Why are these false claims proliferating? Experts told us a false narrative about immigrants and crime has proliferated for decades and is often heightened by politics. Kubrin, who co-authored the book "Immigration and Crime: Taking Stock" with Ousey, said these claims pop up during election cycles, or when crime rates are higher or immigration is proliferating. "There's this kind of response to treat immigrants as the scapegoats for problems in American society," Kubrin said, adding that social media has made the spread of such fears easier. "There's always these kind of moral panics about immigration," Kubrin said. Kubrin, who teaches a college class where students examine immigration in different time periods, cited the false claims out of Springfield, Ohio, as an example of a historical trope demonizing immigrants as the "other" or as savages. "It really taps into the xenophobia that many people have around otherness and foreign bornness," Kubrin said. "On the one hand, it's laughable and silly and ridiculous. On the other hand, it's very dangerous." Ousey said the narrative about immigrant crime is an attempt to aid political objectives. "When politicians amplify fears in the population and then claim they (the politician) are the only ones capable of providing protection and security from whatever threat creates the fear, the politician derives an electoral benefit," Ousey said. "That's the goal, and that's why they keep hammering on the narrative." Piquero said its rooted in a "long-standing theory called minority threat, which holds that as a minority group grows and gains power, "the majority group becomes threatened, and then they are vilified." There are real crimes committed by immigrants, Kubrin said, that shouldnt be dismissed. But to extrapolate isolated cases and use language such as "migrant crime wave" is problematic. Our sources This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Whats behind recent false claims about immigrants and crime? Elon Musk says a social media post he made was an attempt at a joke, not a call for people to try to assassinate President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris. Minutes after former President Donald Trump survived a July 13 assassination attempt, entrepreneur and X owner Elon Musk, endorsed Trumps presidential campaign in a post on his social media platform. On Sept. 15, hours after news broke that Trump had survived another apparent attempt on his life, Musk made another attention-grabbing X post. Responding to another X user whod asked, "Why they want to kill Donald Trump?" Musk wrote: "And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala." Musk deleted the post, but based on quotes and replies on X, he shared it around 9 p.m. EDT. The post prompted immediate backlash. Some X users shared screenshots showing they had reported Musks post for "coded incitement of violence" or for "glorification of violence." Several X users tagged official accounts for the U.S. Secret Service and FBI. "This is a dangerous and disturbing provocation," wrote Marc Lamont Hill, a podcast host and professor at the City University of New York. Others critiques focused on Musks role as a government contractor. "I had a security clearance for most of my adult life," wrote Tom Nichols, a staff writer at The Atlantic magazine. "If I had said something like this, I wouldve lost it instantly. And yet this guy is still a major government contractor." Bloomberg News journalist Dana Hull shared Musks post around 11:20 p.m., saying it was, "Incredible from the man who has @NASA and national security contracts, and is also deeply worried about his own security." Early on Sept. 16, Musk shared two posts characterizing his earlier post as a joke: "Well, one lesson Ive learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesnt mean its going to be all that hilarious as a post on X," he wrote at 2:58 a.m. At 3 a.m., Musk added: "Turns out that jokes are WAY less funny if people dont know the context and the delivery is plain text." By around noon Sept. 16, the hashtag "#DeportElonMusk" was trending on X, with more than 65,000 posts. Musk is an immigrant from South Africa. PolitiFact set out to answer the question people posed on X: Could Musks assassination post even if shared in jest jeopardize his government contracts or potential security clearance? Although posting such a comment online might reflect poorly on Musks personal judgment one criterion considered when security clearance is granted neither expert we contacted said they expected Musk would lose clearance over the post. James Andrew Lewis, strategic technologies program director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank, said that although some people might find Musks post objectionable, it probably wouldnt meet the threshold. An SF-86 form a security request form Musk has submitted before asks primarily about whether a person has advocated overthrowing the U.S. government; engaged in violence against the U.S. government or belonged to a group that has; or been arrested, he said. "So no matter how objectionable his statements have been, he hasnt (yet) crossed the line," Lewis said. Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on September 18, 2024 in Uniondale, New York. Trump held his first rally after an apparent assassination attempt, the second one in two months after being injured at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Musks companies, including his commercial spaceflight company SpaceX and its subsidiary Starlink, a satellite internet provider, have about a $4 billion contract with NASA and multimillion-dollar contracts with the Defense Department. We found multiple news reports since 2019 that say Musk has had security clearance, but his eligibility has been reviewed at least once because of drug use. In 2019, after Musk smoked marijuana on camera when filming an episode of Joe Rogans podcast, the U.S. government reviewed his security clearance, Bloomberg News reported. The report said Musk then had "a secret-level clearance because of his role as founder and CEO" of SpaceX. The results of the adjudication were unknown as of 2022, Bloomberg News reported. In January, The Wall Street Journal reported on his associates concerns about Musks illicit drug use. "In his role as CEO and founder of SpaceX, Musk has a security clearance that gives him access to classified information," said the report. After that report, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and White House adviser John Kirby declined to answer questions about whether Musks drug use might compromise his security clearance. Defense Department spokesperson Sue Gough said the department does not "comment on any individuals security clearance or status," citing the Privacy Act of 1974. John Cook, law professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rocks William H. Bowen School of Law, said, "The federal government uses a series of adjudicative guidelines for whether to deny or withdraw a security clearance." Gough confirmed this, saying that security adjudications for Defense Department contractors follow established federal investigative standards. Adjudication involves examining a "sufficient period" of a persons life to affirmatively determine that the person qualifies for security clearance based on factors including allegiance to the United States; personal conduct; criminal conduct; financial considerations; drug involvement; and emotional, mental and personality disorders. Cook, who has written about obtaining national security clearance, said any effect of Musks X post on his security clearance would depend on how his post was interpreted. Each case is "judged on its own merits," according to information from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency said "trained adjudicators" apply its "standard set of guidelines" to evaluate a persons "loyalty, trustworthiness and reliability" and decide whether that person should have access to classified information. The X post could be read as Musk arguing that no one has tried to assassinate Biden or Harris because they arent "significant enough to bother attempting to assassinate," Cook said. In that case, "his post might not have been in very good taste, but it doesn't seem to rise to the level of something that would question Musk's allegiance to the United States or amount to calling for a senior government official to be assassinated, although the comment might not reflect wonderfully on his personal judgment, especially since he posted it online," Cook said. Alternatively, Cook said someone could read the X post as Musk arguing that it was odd someone tried to assassinate Trump "when Biden and Harris are inferior to Trump in Musks view," and therefore are potentially "more worthy of being assassinated in Musks mind." That interpretation would be "more problematic" for an agency evaluating Musks allegiance to the United States, criminal conduct and personal conduct, Cook said. "Musk was very wise to delete his initial X post," he said. Cook also said the subsequent posts signaling that Musk was joking might not fully resolve clearance concerns. "Taking a substantially stronger approach clearly emphasizing that he was in no way calling for political violence and denouncing political violence in all forms would likely have been much more effective in mitigating the problem," he said. Our sources This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Could Elon Musks assassination tweets compromise security clearance? Pollsters caution against assuming that the polls this cycle are susceptible to the same errors as previous ones that underestimated support for former President Trump, arguing that every election is different and that this years polls are an accurate reflection of the competitiveness of the race. Polls now show Vice President Harris leading Trump by about 4 points, according to the average from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ. But the race in the roughly half dozen battleground states is even closer, and a polling error like the ones in the past could mean Trump is in a stronger position to prevail than the data says. But polling analysts say its not that simple. We dont always see the misses in the same direction, said Chris Jackson, the senior vice president of public affairs for Ipsos. I can tell you that the polling industry has done substantial changes to how we do our surveys to try to account for what we think was driving those errors in 2020. So while there undoubtedly will be errors in the future, theyre probably going to be driven by different things and go in different directions. Pollsters have had a rough couple of presidential cycles in the Trump era, and its led to widespread skepticism of just how accurate their measurements are, even as news story after news story details the latest polling findings. In both 2016 and 2020, Trump was the underdog, first to Hillary Clinton and then to Joe Biden. In both cases, he outperformed most of his polls. The first time, it was enough to win the Electoral College. The second time, Biden won, but it was a very tight race in a number of battleground states. Pollsters acknowledge Trumps rise has posed a new challenge for the industry trying to accurately track voters preferences, but they say methodologies have adjusted. Jackson said the polling industry in 2020 and before looked to reliable benchmarks for sampling and weighting surveys, usually based on census data, to ensure pollsters had a representative sample. But pollsters now realize that trends were happening that demographics were not accounting for. This led to a significant adoption of other factors such as party registration and past voting history for added political criteria for weighing results. Theres a bunch of different ways of doing it that are currently being used in the field, but that has been a relatively widespread shift in the last four years, Jackson said. I think the methodological changes are significant enough that we shouldnt necessarily take the 2016 and 2020 results as certain, he added. The trouble with turnout Turnout has been a problem for pollsters when it comes to Trump. Democratic pollster Celinda Lake noted that pollsters have tried a number of techniques to avoid the inaccuracies of measuring Trumps support in the key states, but calculating turnout remains difficult. Figuring out the turnout is the hardest thing out there. And this cycle there may be a surprise Trump vote and a surprise Harris vote. You may have some younger, some people of color who dont look like theyre turning out either, she said. Lake said while Democrats are gaining an edge with newly registered voters, many of whom are young women concerned about access to reproductive health care, more voters who are already registered and planning to vote for the first time this election favor Trump. What were doing in our polling at this close [to the election] date is were often giving [multiple] turnout models. This is where were at. If its like this, this is where were at, she said, explaining that different turnout models for Election Day can produce significantly different outcomes. Perception vs. reality Some pollsters also argued that the publics interpretations of the polls and forecast models are more responsible for the perception that Trump outperforms the polls rather than the numbers themselves. Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, noted that the final national polling for the 2016 election was close to the result, with Clinton winning the popular vote by about 2 points. FiveThirtyEights average had her up 4 points, while RealClearPolitics had her ahead by about 2 points. The average in the key states that ultimately gave Trump victory were a bit more favorable to Clinton, but the forecast models still had her as the overwhelming favorite. The forecasting and polling doesnt necessarily get separated for the different measurements that they really are, Miringoff said. He also argued that the polls for the states did not have time to capture last-minute developments in the race, like former FBI Director James Comeys letter reopening the investigation into Clintons email server in 2016. The shy Trump voter Experts also rejected the idea of the reason for past polling difficulties being the shy Trump voter, the idea that certain voters were uncomfortable with telling pollsters in the lead-up to the 2016 and 2020 elections that they planned to vote for Trump. Ive talked to Trump voters. They dont seem shy to me, Jackson said. The American Association for Public Opinion Research released a report following the 2020 election evaluating preelection polling, which overstated Bidens support compared to Trump by an even larger margin than in 2016. Jackson, who was involved in crafting the report, said it found no real data to support the idea of shy Trump voters. Instead, it found some evidence, among other conclusions, that the issue was a struggle in reaching these voters who were more likely backing Trump. Its not that they answer the phone and lie, its just that they dont answer the phone, he said, but he added that pollsters have been working to address this as fewer people use landlines. Miringoff said most pollsters have changed their methodologies since 2016 because reaching people by landline is no longer feasible. Some have adopted hybrid models to reach voters through different methods. Statistically, its not enough to warrant the conclusions that things are really broken because Donald Trump is on the ballot, he said. I think we can have problems as a polling community with and without [him]. Polls today consistently show a tight race, and those in the polling profession say now theyll be under the microscope. Were understandably requiring more precision because the stakes seem so high, Miringoff said. People want to know whos going to win this thing. Alexander Bolton 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. As response rates drop, pollsters are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to determine what voters are thinking ahead of Election Day, not only asking the questions but sometimes to help answer them. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images Days after President Joe Biden announced he would not be seeking re-election, and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, polling organization Siena College Research Institute sought to learn how persuadable voters were feeling about Harris. In their survey, a 37-year-old Republican explained that they generally favored Trump for his ability to get [things] done one way or another. Who do you think cares about people like you? How do they compare in terms of caring about people like you? the pollster asked. Thats where I think Harris wins, I lost a lot of faith in Trump when he didnt even contact the family of the supporter who died at his rally, the 37-year-old said. Pollsters pressed this participant and others across the political spectrum to further explain their stances, and examine the nuance behind choosing a candidate. The researchers saw in real time how voters may sway depending on the issue, and asked follow-up questions about their belief systems. But the persuadable voters werent talking to a human pollster. They were conversing with an AI chatbot called Engage. The speed in which election cycles move, coupled with a steep drop of people participating in regular phone or door-to-door polls, have caused pollsters to turn to artificial intelligence for insights, both asking the questions and sometimes even answering them Why do we poll? The history of polling voters in presidential races goes back 200 years, to the 1824 race which ultimately landed John Quincy Adams in the White House. White men began polling each other at events leading up to the election, and newspapers began reporting the results, though they didnt frame the results as predictive of the outcome of the election. In modern times, polling for public opinion has become a business. Research centers, academic institutions and news conglomerates themselves have been conducting polls during election season for decades. Though their accuracy has limitations, the practice is one of the only ways to gauge how Americans may be thinking before they vote. Polling plays a different role for different groups, said Rachel Cobb, an assistant professor of political science and legal studies at Suffolk University. For campaign workers, polling groups of voters helps provide insight into the issues people care about the most right now, and informs how candidates talk about those issues. Its why questions at a presidential debate usually arent a surprise to candidates moderators tend to ask questions about the highest-polling topics that week. For news outlets, polls help give context to current events and give anchors numbers to illustrate a story. Constant polling also helps keep a 24-hour news cycle going. And for regular Americans, poll results help them gauge where the race is, and either activate or calm their nerves, depending on if their candidate is polling favorably. But Cobb said she, like many of her political science colleagues, has observed a drop in responses to more traditional style of polling. Its much harder and more expensive for pollsters to do their job, because people arent answering their phones or their front doors. The time invested in getting the appropriate kind of balance of people that you need in order to determine accuracy has gotten greater and so and theyve had to come up with more creative ways to get them, Cobb said. At the same time, our technological capacity has increased. How AI is assisting in polling? The speed of information has increased exponentially with social media and 24-hour news cycles, and polls have had to keep up, too. Though they bring value in showing insights for a certain group of people, their validity is fleeting because of that speed, Cobb said. Results are truly only representative of that moment in time, because one breaking news story could quickly change public opinion. That means pollsters have to work quickly, or train artificial intelligence to keep up. Leib Litman, co-CEO and chief research officer of CloudResearch, which created the chatbot tool Engage, said AI has allowed them to collect answers so much faster than before. Were able to interview thousands of people within a matter of a couple hours, and then all of that data that we get, all those conversations, were also able to analyze it, and derive the insights very, very quickly, he said. Engage was developed about a year ago and can be used in any industry where you need to conduct market research via interviews. But its become especially useful in this election cycle as campaigns attempt to learn how Americans are feeling at any given moment. The goal isnt to replace human responses with AI, rather to use AI to reach more people, Litman said. But some polling companies are skipping interviewing and instead relying on something called sentiment analysis AI to analyze publicly available data and opinions. Think tank Heartland Forward recently worked with AI-powered polling group Aaru to determine the public perception of artificial intelligence. The prediction AI company uses geographical and demographic data of an area and scrapes publicly available information, like tweets or voting records, to simulate respondents of a poll. The algorithm uses all this information to make assertions about how a certain demographic group may vote or how they may answer questions about political issues. This type of poll was a first for Heartland Forward, and its executive vice president Angie Cooper said they paired the AI-conducted poll with in-person gatherings where they conducted more traditional polls. When we commissioned the poll, we didnt know what the results were going to yield, she said. What we heard in person closely mirrored the poll results. Sentiment Analysis The Aaru poll is an example of sentiment analysis AI, which uses machine learning and large language models to analyze the meaning and tone behind text. It includes training an algorithm to not just understand literally whats in a body of text, but also to seek out hidden messaging or context, like humans do in conversation. The general public started interacting with this type of AI in about 2010, said Zohaib Ahmed, founder of Resemble AI, which specializes in voice generation AI. Sentiment analysis AI is the foundation behind search engines that can read a request and make recommendations, or to get your Alexa device to fulfill a command. Between 2010 and 2020, though, the amount of information collected on the internet has increased exponentially. Theres so much more data for AI models to process and learn from, and technologists have taught it to process contextual, between-the-lines information. The concept behind sentiment analysis is already well understood by pollsters, says Bruce Schneier, a security technologist and lecturer at Harvard Universitys Kennedy School. In June, Schneier and other researchers published a look into how AI was playing a role in political polling. Most people think polling is just asking people questions and recording their answers, Schneier said, but theres a lot of math between the questions people answer and the poll results. All of the work in polling is turning the answers that humans give into usable data, Schneier said. You have to account for a few things: people lie to pollsters, certain groups may have been left out of a poll, and response rates are overall low. Youre also applying polling statistics to the answers to come up with consumable data. All of this is work that humans have had to do themselves before technology and computing helped speed up the process. In the Harvard research, Schneier and the other authors say they believe AI will get better at anticipating human responses, and knowing when it needs human intervention for more accurate context. Currently, they said, humans are our primary respondents to polls, and computers fill in the gaps. In the future, though, well likely see AI filling out surveys and humans filling in the gaps. I think AI should be another tool in the pollsters mathematical toolbox, which has been getting more complex for the past several decades, Schneier said. Pros and cons of AI-assisted polling AI polling methods bring pollsters more access and opportunity to gauge public reaction. Those who have begun using it in their methodology said that theyve struggled to get responses from humans organically, or they dont have the time and resources to conduct in-person or telephone polling. Being interviewed by an anonymous chatbot may also provide more transparent answers for controversial political topics. Litman said personal, private issues such as health care or abortion access are where their chatbot really shines. Women, in particular, have reported that they feel more comfortable sharing their true feelings about these topics when talking to a chatbot, he said. But, like all methodology around polling, its possible to build flaws into AI-assisted polling. The Harvard researchers ran their own experiment asking ChatGPT 3.5 questions about the political climate, and found shortcomings when it asked about U.S. intervention in the Ukraine war. Because the AI model only had access to data up through 2021, the answers missed all of the current context about Russias invasion beginning in 2022. Sentiment analysis AI may also struggle with text thats ambiguous, and it cant be counted on for reviewing developing information, Ahmed said. For example, the X timeline following one of the two assassination attempts of Trump probably included favorable or supportive messages from politicians across the aisle. An AI algorithm might read the situation and conclude that all of those people are very pro-Trump. But it doesnt necessarily mean theyre navigating towards Donald Trump, Ahmed said. It just means, you know, theres sympathy towards an event thats happened, right? But that event is completely missed by the AI. It has no context of that event occurring, per se. Just like phone-call polling, AI-assisted polling can also potentially leave whole groups of people out of surveys, Cobb said. Those who arent comfortable using a chatbot, or arent very active online will be excluded from public opinion polls if pollsters move most of their methods online. Its very nuanced, Ahmed said of AI polling. I think it can give you a pretty decent, high-level look at whats happening, and I guarantee that its being used by election teams to understand their position in the race, but we have to remember we exist in bubbles, and it can be misleading. Both the political and technology experts agreed that as with most other facets of our lives, AI has found its way into polling and we likely wont look back. Technologists should aim to further train AI models to understand human sentiment, they say, and pollsters should continue to pair it with human responses for a fuller scope of public opinion. Science of polling is huge and complicated, Schneier said. And adding AI to the mix is another tiny step down a pathway weve been walking for a long time using, you know, fancy math combined with human data. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Stellantis has struggled to get rid of inventory in the United States (SCOTT OLSON) Shares in Jeep-maker Stellantis and Britain's Aston Martin tumbled on Monday after both companies joined European rivals in cutting their profit forecasts. European auto giant Stellantis, whose other top brands include Peugeot, Ram and Fiat, cited efforts to improve its US business as well as competition from Chinese automakers. The company, which also makes Maserati, Dodge and Chrysler cars, said it now expected an adjusted operating income margin of 5.5 to 7.0 percent. It had previously expected double-digit growth. Stellantis shares sank by almost 14.7 percent to close at 12.40 euros ($13.82) on the Paris stock exchange. "While this is a highly anticipated profit warning ... the magnitude surprises," UBS bank analysts said in a note. For analysts at French brokerage Oddo BHF, the alert "raises major questions about the vision and direction for the company... and its credibility among investors". In a statement, the company said efforts to improve its business in North America accounted for about two-thirds of the revision of its financial guidance for the year. Stellantis said it had brought forward to the end of this year plans to reduce its dealer inventory levels to 330,000 units in the United States. Stellantis offered promotional deals as US dealerships have struggled to reduce their inventories. The company, which previously expected a positive cash flow, also said it now forecasts negative cash flow ranging from five billion to 10 billion euros. "Deterioration in the global industry backdrop reflects a lower 2024 market forecast than at the beginning of the period, while competitive dynamics have intensified due to both rising industry supply, as well as increased Chinese competition," it said. European car companies have struggled to keep up with competition from Chinese electric vehicles. German auto giants Volkswagen, Mercedes and BMW have also cut their guidance in recent weeks, all partly due to weakness in China. - China effect - Aston Martin also cited the Chinese market as it trimmed its financial guidance for 2024, saying its core profit is now expected to be "slightly below" the previous year's. The company's shares plunged 24.5 percent to 1.20 ($1.61) in late morning deals in London. Aston Martin, famous for being James Bond's favourite car, said in a statement that it would cut production by 1,000 units this year "to address disruption in its supply chain and continued macroeconomic weakness in China". Delays in receiving components from suppliers has hit the car maker's output and postponed deliveries. Story continues The company, however, said its "fully reinvigorated portfolio of ultra-luxury high performance models" would support future growth. tsz/kd/lth/js/bc The porridge has been recalled from all stores (file photo) [AFP] An instant porridge has been withdrawn from sale in South Africa after three young children died reportedly after eating it. Police spokesperson Lt Col Siphokazi Mawisa told local newspaper the Daily Maverick the children, aged 18 months to four years, had complained of stomach aches after eating Top Score Instant Porridge, before they died on Friday. Supermarket Spar, where the porridge was purchased, has instructed all stores to remove the product from its shelves. The Namibian company which made the porridge, Namib Mills, said although, there is currently no evidence linking our product to this unfortunate event, we are taking the matter very seriously". It extended its condolences to the families who have been affected and said their product would be removed while investigations continue. "We are cooperating fully with all relevant authorities and have also initiated our own internal investigation to ensure complete transparency," it said. The three children were from two families in the Eastern Cape province. A fourth child aged seven also reportedly fell ill after eating the porridge but was discharged from the hospital over the weekend. The children were said to have eaten the vanilla-flavoured porridge, but all flavours have been removed. It is unclear what exactly caused the death of the three children. Buffalo City Municipal spokeswoman Bongani Fuzile told the Daily Maverick that samples of the porridge have been taken to the National Health Laboratory Services for testing and analysis. More South Africa stories from the BBC: [Getty Images/BBC] Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica BBC Africa podcasts On Monday the last blast furnace was shut down in Port Talbot [Getty Images] Eleven years ago a senior Tata manager claimed investment in Port Talbot would secure steelmaking for the next 100 years. That was the day the 185m blast furnace number four was switched on. This week it has been turned off. None of us knew it would be shut after just half its production life, or that it would mark the end of more than 100 years of traditional steel making at the UK's biggest plant. There may still be many years of steelmaking left at Port Talbot. But it will be done differently. The change has been dramatic and painful for those losing well-paid jobs. No steel will be made from scratch for at least the next five years. Slabs will be shipped from the Netherlands or India to be rolled and treated in Port Talbot before being sent to customers. When a new electric arc furnace is completed, with 500m of taxpayers' cash, and production returns, it will be without coal, iron ore or limestone. There has not been change like this at the works since the 1980s. Louise Miskell grew up in the town and said the town was shaped around the steelworks [BBC] Swansea University history expert Prof Louise Miskell, from Port Talbot, said: "Blast furnace steelmaking dates right back to the industrial revolution and the Victorian period, and the whole reason steelmaking and metal smelting takes place in Wales is because of coal. "If that comes to an end, it raises much more fundamental questions over the future, and whether it can become a centre for green technology and green production in future. "Steel is everything to Port Talbot. The entire town has been shaped around the needs of the steel industry." She added that there were grounds for optimism. "Port Talbot has such good infrastructure which has all been built up around the steel industry," she said. "It's a very well connected place, it has got the big docks, it has a skilled population, there are lots of reasons why this would be a good place to invest in the future." The Welsh steel industry has faced a stream of challenges and existential questions for more than 20 years. The final plume of steam on Monday signalled the end of virgin steelmaking in Port Talbot [BBC] On Monday, as the blast furnaces were being shut down for the last time, Tata steelworker Cassius Walker-Hunt labelled the moment as the "the dragon's final breath". "Let's remember the legacy it leaves behind," he said. Fellow worker Adam Beechey said he hoped there was a future for steel work in Port Talbot. "Its not nice. When I took this job it was a job for life in my head," said Mr Beechey, whose family - going back to his great-grandfather - worked in steelmaking. However, not everyone in Port Talbot was unhappy to see the steelworks close. One woman, who did not want her name used, told BBC Wales she is "glad" to see the site close because of "all the dust weve been living with". Another woman, Charlotte Rodgerson, said the "terrible" dust has meant to her kids have been in and out of hospital with chest problems since moving to the town. "Its just awful and the smell is disgusting," she added. Hundreds of people took the streets to protest at the proposed loss of thousands of steel jobs in February [Getty Images] In 2002, the Ebbw Vale plant was shut by then owners Corus. Then in 2012 nearly 600 jobs were lost, mostly in Port Talbot, in what at the time was the biggest round of cutbacks in 20 years. The size of the site, workforce and losses during tough times was unlike other workplaces. This year the company claimed it was haemorrhaging almost 2m a day. Alan Coombs, a Community union representative, is in no doubt responsibility for the plant's state lies with Tata. He said: "They have not put the effort and what is needed into this plant to make it a success. "At the moment I cannot get past the anger of it. "I talk to a lot of people on site and they are very angry at the way things have been dealt with. Alan Coombs said people were angry at the how things had been handled [BBC] Mr Coombs added: "You can say about your parents working here and the history of it all, but at the end of the day it should not be happening and nobody can understand why it is happening. People cannot get their heads around it." Tata has always defended its record on investment in Port Talbot. Earlier this year Tata boss TV Narendran said the company had invested about 5bn over the last 15 years to keep the site going. He claimed it was time to switch off the blast furnaces and build an electric arc furnace if there was to be a future for steel in Port Talbot. Can Port Talbot bounce back? TechCrunch The U.S. Department of Justice says bankrupt EV startup Fisker's plan to make owners pay for labor costs related to multiple recalls is illegal, according to a new filing. The DOJ, writing on behalf of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), said in a filing submitted to Fisker's bankruptcy docket Monday that the "scheme" violates the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act in multiple ways. The agency told the court that it therefore objects to Fisker's proposed settlement plan, which lays out steps to liquidate the remainder of the company. MIDWAY, Ky. (FOX 56) Monday brought a new feeling for the city of Midway since the storm had passed. Now, the next step begins. Residents of Midway will see everything from small branches blown everywhere to very large trees downing powerlines. City workers and linemen were hard at work during the storm, and better weather is expected to help the recovery process. Midway Mayor Grayson Vandegrift wanted to share his thanks to everyone who played a part. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: They were amazing, and they were spending the weekend on emergency stuff like clearing roads, putting out signage, and making things safe. Now that weve gotten through this and have gotten power back to everyone in town, its time for the cleanup part, Vandegrift said. While theres still work to do, residents of the city do have their power back thanks to the effort of these workers. Holli Berman was visiting family during the intense moments of the storm, but thankfully, she had a plan. We were visiting my sister, and they absolutely did lose power. There was some scrambling to figure out charging of cell phones and important equipment. We have a generator in the vehicle we brought here, so we were able to use it as a source of power and bring comfort and safety to our family, Berman said. In the meantime, the work of city crews didnt go unnoticed. We saw so many linemen, and so many people fixing electricity and standing up trees. A huge tree had fallen on a couple of cars three houses down, so were extremely grateful for the first responders, for the people that make it their lifes work to ensure safety, security, and quality of life for everyone else, Berman said. LATEST KENTUCKY LISTS AND RANKINGS: While the cleanup continues, residents are told to let these experts work while they enjoy having their power back after a dark weekend. Some estimates were that it wouldnt be till Tuesday at 11 p.m., but for everybody in Midway, we got power back by the middle of the day Sunday. Some folks started getting it back late Saturday night, so were still very fortunate. I know people are very fortunate of the KU linemen and all those folks that were out here, those men and women helping us get power back. Its a good feeling. Its something that you really take for granted. You dont realize it until its gone, Vandegrift 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. A row of firefighters' helmets, coats, and boots in suspendered pants hang at the ready at a fire station. A row of firefighters helmets, coats, and boots in suspendered pants hang at the ready at a fire station. A prefiled bill in the Alabama Legislature would extend death benefits to survivors of volunteer firefighters who die of cancer that develops while they perform their duties. (Getty Images) An Alabama legislator is sponsoring legislation to compensate the families of volunteer firefighters stricken with cancer while performing their duties. HB 35, sponsored by Rep. Russell Bedsole, R-Alabaster, would make survivors of volunteer firefighters eligible to receive the death benefits awarded by the State Board of Adjustment for first responders who perish in the line of duty. Homes in todays world have so many more carcinogens in them, just the basic materials that are inside the homes, whether it is construction-related materials or the personal possessions we all love, electronics and things of that nature, that could potentially, if they are exposed to that much heat, put off harmful toxins, Bedsole said in an interview Tuesday. Firefighters are at an extreme risk, and we know this. Legislators approved the same benefit for career firefighters several years ago, but did not include firefighters who volunteer for the post for smaller municipal areas. The legislation passed the Alabama House of Representatives in last springs session but failed to advance out of the Senate. Our volunteer firefighters are facing the same challenges in their communities, Bedsole said. They are going into the same homes. They are just serving as volunteers. Under the bill, the volunteer firefighter must be an active member of a volunteer fire department recognized by the Alabama Forestry Commission and served at least six years before getting diagnosed with cancer. It also states that the fire department must keep records that indicate the volunteer was exposed to a known carcinogen. The volunteer firefighters must also undergo a physical exam before their loved ones are eligible to receive the benefit. The reason I say that it is a benefit is that one of the hopes through this is maybe there are some volunteers out there who have not gotten a physical in some time, and perhaps they can go in and get a clean bill of health, or, in getting their doctor to do a physical, they might discover that they have something they didnt know. Professional firefighters also undergo physical exams, be that when they attend training to become certified as firefighters or as they work for fire departments throughout the state. This is a fully funded annuity that, unless we have some sort of crisis where we have a lot of claims made, the annuity will pay off any claims as we go, Bedsole said. We are not asking for any additional tax dollars out of this. The Alabama Association of Volunteer Fire Departments did not respond to a request for comment last week. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE (WSPA) President Biden has approved a major disaster declaration for South Carolina following a weekend of historical flooding and damage caused by Tropical Storm Helenes trek across the state. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster requested an expedited major disaster declaration Friday. With the declaration, the federal government will be able to more readily provide funding for areas heavily impacted by the storm. The Presidents action makes federal funding available to affected individuals in Aiken, Anderson, Bamberg, Barnwell, Cherokee, Greenville, Greenwood, Lexington, Newberry, Oconee, Pickens, Saluda and Spartanburg counties. Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster. Federal funding is also available to state, tribal and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work in Aiken, Anderson, Bamberg, Barnwell, Cherokee, Greenville, Greenwood, Newberry, Oconee, Pickens, Saluda and Spartanburg counties. Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide. Brett H. Howard has been named the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected areas. Additional designations may be made later if warranted by the results of damage assessments. Individuals and business owners who sustained losses in the designated areas can begin applying for assistance by registering online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov, by calling 1-800-621- 3362 or by using the FEMA App. If you use a relay service, such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others, give FEMA the number for that 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 WSPA 7NEWS. Probe over river 'polluted with dead fish and blood' An investigation has been launched following reports of dead fish, blood and scales polluting a river in Fort William. Locals spotted the emission - which they said smelled like "rotting fish" - coming from a waste pipe at the Lochyside flood defences into the River Lochy on Sunday. Scottish Water and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) are looking into the matter. Seafood provider Mowi Scotland, which has a fish processing plant in the nearby Blar Mhor industrial estate, said it had carried out its own investigation and that the contaminants did not come from its facility. Several dead fish were seen coming out of the pipe [BBC] Activist Jamie Moyes, who campaigns with the group Abolish Salmon Farming, said the incident was "nothing new" and locals see blood in the river "all the time". Mr Moyes, who lives in Lochcarron, told BBC News locals had seen blood-tainted water coming from the outflow pipe on Kilmallie road, near Caol beach, and shared pictures to social media. He said they reported the incident to Sepa. He said: "Its an absolute horror-show out there. Its stinking, smelling like rotten fish. "There were so many scales very heavily concentrated around the area of the outpipe but the blood went the full length of the river. "Locals have seen blood here before. Things like this happen all the time." Following a visit to the site of the incident, Mr Moyes believes the dead fish in the water to be wrasse. Wrasse fish are used to keep farmed species such as salmon free from sea lice and helps minimise the use of chemical treatments. Mowi Scotland is the UK's largest supplier of farm-raised salmon with 48 farms producing 68,000 tonnes of salmon annually. A spokesperson said: "Mowi has undertaken its own investigation into the incident at the River Lochy where local people reported a red discharge. "Mowi is confident that the discharge did not come from its facility at the Blar Mhor Industrial Estate." The company said it had checked all of its operating procedures, its effluent system and CCTV. It said effluent is only released to the Scottish Water treatment works at Caol Point, less than two miles down the river from the plant. The company added: "Mowi is not the only business which processes this type of material on the Blar Mhor Industrial Estate but is the only one regulated by Sepa under IPPC regulations." A spokesperson for Scottish Water who run the waste treatment at Caol Point said the water company are working with Sepa to investigate the incident. Sepa ask members of the public with concerns about a potential pollution incident to contact the 24-hour pollution line. Prominent prison legal advocate Mark Wilson was freed after 37 years in prison. Illustration: Damon Dahlen/HuffPost; Photos: Getty/AP/Oregon Justice Resource Center The Oregon Board of Parole granted a release date of Jan. 9 to prominent incarcerated legal expert Mark Wilson, whose litigation efforts inside prison have helped thousands of other prisoners. Wilson was previously the subject of a HuffPost investigation, which detailed the state Department of Corrections pattern of retaliation against him. Wilsons upcoming release date is only possible because of his recent lawsuit against the corrections department, which ended in a settlement earlier this year. That lawsuit was the second time the department agreed to settle with Wilson over retaliation claims. In 1987, when Wilson was 18 and addicted to methamphetamine, he participated in a double homicide during a home burglary. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two life sentences with the possibility of parole in exchange for testifying in his codefendants trials. The family members of the victims, Rod and Lois Houser, opposed Wilsons release. Wilson started working as an incarcerated legal assistant shortly after he entered prison as a teenager, because he saw it as a way he could make a positive contribution even if he spent the rest of his life behind bars. The Supreme Court held in 1977 that people in prison have a constitutional right of access to the courts, requiring prisons to provide law libraries or assistance from people with legal training. Wilson quickly developed a reputation among prisoners and lawyers on the outside as a talented and fearless legal assistant, taking on complex cases that came with significant risk of retaliation. In 2001, Wilson spearheaded a class-action lawsuit against the DOC on behalf of a group of prisoners who were being denied treatment for hepatitis C, an infection that affected about 30% of Oregons prison population at the time. The lawsuit ended in a settlement, which led to improvements in the departments evaluation and treatment policies and forced the department to spend millions on hepatitis C medication. That lawsuit and the resulting settlement of it has saved thousands of lives and I attribute that to Marks dedication, civil rights attorney Michelle Burrows, who helped Wilson file the hepatitis C lawsuit, said in Wilsons first parole hearing in 2009. Mark taught me everything I know, I truly believe, about prisoner litigation, Burrows said. Soon after the settlement, DOC transferred Wilson to a remote, more dangerous prison, and blocked him from working as a legal assistant. He sued the corrections department for retaliation in 2006 and eventually reached a settlement that transferred him back to Salem in the Oregon State Correctional Institution, where he resumed work as a legal assistant. Oregon has a complicated three-part parole process. Generally, after an individual has served their minimum sentence, they have a hearing where the parole board assesses their rehabilitation. If the board determines the individual is likely to be rehabilitated within a reasonable period of time, there is a second hearing to set a tentative release date. Ahead of that tentative release date, there is an exit interview hearing to assess the individuals release plan, their mental and emotional health, and their disciplinary record in prison. If the board rules in favor of the individual, it sets an actual release date. In practice, at each step, the hearings typically focus extensively on the crime committed. The process is so convoluted that Wilson wrote an 88-page guide to help others prepare for their rehabilitation hearing. Wilsons first parole hearing was in 2009. By then, he had completed years of drug treatment, volunteered in the prisons hospice, earned his GED and associates degree, facilitated victim empathy groups, and raised thousands of dollars for the children of a woman who was murdered, in addition to his legal work. His only disciplinary violation was from 1991 when he and 20 other people protested prison wages by declining to return to work for an afternoon. Asked by board members what led to his crimes, Wilson described how he coped with childhood sexual abuse through drugs and alcohol, and became addicted to meth by his senior year of high school. The board ruled against Wilson, citing his descriptions of his childhood as attempts to deflect blame and minimize his actual accountability. The board accused him of being able to recite the right words about guilt, empathy and responsibility without experiencing genuine humility and contrition. Wilson did not request another hearing until years later. In his 2017 hearing, he said that he did not want to cause his victims family members additional pain, but he also recognized his own familys need to see him try to come home. Again, the board ruled against him, this time accusing him of shifting the burden and harm to the victims from these hearings off of himself and on to his family. Wilson finally received a finding of rehabilitation in 2019. By then, he had earned his Bachelors degree from the University of Oregon, served as a teaching assistant, completed a 200-hour yoga instructor training program, and became the first incarcerated person to be part of an Oregon state legislature working group. The board set a projected release date of Jan. 9, 2027, with the possibility of release as soon as August 2022 if he received time reductions for good behavior. But in 2021, Wilson feared his chances of ever leaving prison had been dashed by a baseless disciplinary finding. Several years prior, top Oregon Department of Corrections officials traveled to Norway to tour their comparatively humane prisons. When they returned, they unveiled the so-called Oregon Way, a philosophical approach to corrections rooted in humanizing and normalizing the prison environment. DOC library coordinator Pam McKinney, Wilsons boss in the law library, believed in the Oregon Way, hanging pictures and motivational quotes on the walls of the library. It was in this spirit that McKinney placed a plastic childrens toy phone on Wilsons desk in early 2020, a joking reference to the number of phone calls he received at work. Library coordinator Pam McKinney gave incarcerated legal assistant Mark Wilson a toy phone that looked like this one a joking reference to the number of calls he received at work. Oregon's Department of Corrections later cited the toy as evidence that Wilson had "compromised" McKinney. Wilson v. Plante complaint When Wilson saw the toy phone on his desk, he laughed politely and moved it to a nearby shelf, where it remained for nearly a year. But in January 2021, prison officials confiscated the toy phone, removed Wilson from his job as a legal assistant, and told him he was under investigation. At the time, Wilson was working on several high-stakes cases that had significant financial implications for DOC, including a class-action lawsuit on behalf of prisoners whose medical records were breached. Later that year, prison officials formally accused Wilson of violating several prison rules, most significantly, compromising McKinney, a prison employee. They cited the toy phone as evidence of an unauthorized personal relationship, despite providing no evidence of such a relationship. The corrections department held a disciplinary hearing during which Wilson was handcuffed and locked in a cage without a lawyer or access to documents he planned to use in his defense. Wilson was found guilty of the misconduct allegations and punished with four months in solitary confinement, one of the harshest punishments available within Oregons prison system. Barred from doing legal work, many of his cases languished. Most critically, the misconduct finding shattered Wilsons chance of release. During the exit interview, the third stage of the parole process, the board reviews the individuals disciplinary record and can cite misconduct as a reason to defer release for up to 10 years at a time, indefinitely. Essentially, Wilson told HuffPost in 2022, they could keep me in prison the rest of my life based on this misconduct report. In late 2021, Wilson sued prison officials, again alleging retaliation. His 2022 potential early release date came and went as the litigation moved forward. In April 2024, Wilson agreed to settle the case in exchange for DOC vacating the disciplinary findings, processing his request for good-time credit, and paying him $50,000. As a result, Wilson headed into his exit interview last week with no disciplinary record since his 1991 wage protest action. Wilson has three job offers to continue his legal work, including one from the Oregon Justice Resource Center, the nonprofit that represented him in the recent retaliation lawsuit and employs formerly incarcerated people Wilson used to work with in the law library. At Wilsons final parole hearing earlier this month, family members of the victims restated their opposition to his release, saying they did not believe he was remorseful about the crime. Deschutes County District Attorney Steve Gunnels said in a letter to the board that Wilsons efforts to seek release demonstrated an ongoing pattern of self-entitlement and callousness toward his victims. Wilsons parole packet included support letters from former Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel and state Sen. Michael Dembrow (D), who attended Wilsons college graduation ceremony and invited him to participate in a legislative workgroup on prison education. Shirley Fishbaugh, Wilsons 93-year-old grandmother, wrote it was her greatest wish to see him sitting once again next to me in my home. Several people who were incarcerated with Wilson wrote of the transformative impact he had on their time in prison. I honestly received more help from Mark in my first couple months than I have ever received from DOC in general, wrote Cayce French, who described how Wilson looked out for him when he was transferred out of juvenile custody into adult prison. Wilsons dedication as a legal assistant was unparalleled, wrote Matthew Sexton. He was always approachable whether he was on the clock or not, to answer questions, concerns or simply just provide an ear for someone in emotional distress. Countless [adults in custody], myself included, greatly benefited from his generosity of his time, wisdom, and support. Related... LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) Michigan State University officially has a new president. The community gathered Sunday afternoon to celebrate the appointment of Kevin Guskiewicz, MSUs 22nd president. However, the ceremony was interrupted by protesters. The formal investiture was for Guskiewicz to lay out his plan for the future of the university, but right outside, the Hurriya coalition demanded a different plan divestment and institutional support for ending genocide. We are out here to protest, to let him know we are not happy with him, we are not happy with the board, said Jaime Saliba, a member of the Hurriya coalition. We are not happy with what he is doing with the college. Dozens of students picketed outside of the event in front of the building, in the parking garage, and in the entryway. They are asking the university and the new president to stop investments into the state of Israel and they say after months of asking, it isnt happening. Theyre handing over power to a man whos not moving on divestment, said Jesse Estrada White, a member of the Hurriya Coalition. They not only want him to divest but they want them to disclose. They say on their investment website that theyll disclose every year, said White. The last disclosement was June 20th, 2023 and I want to make it clear hes not the sole decision maker here. In fact the decision has to come from the board of trustees, but he can do a lot in terms of supporting divestment and he chooses not to. While President Guskiewicz addressed the audience, protesters went inside the ceremony, chanting Kevin Kevin you cant hide, you are funding genocide, causing the program to be temporarily paused. Kevin is picking a side and its clear what side hes on, said White. At the investiture, Guskiewicz laid out his plans and highlighted several initiatives, focusing on a student-centered campus, inclusivity, accessibility, and global impact. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Rhyker Earls family says he had been living with seizures for more than seven years. They happened so often that family members developed a routine to care for him after an episode: Theyd help him get comfortable, offer him water or Gatorade and, in some cases, theyd call 911. On September 8, after Earl had multiple seizures, his grandmother says she did just that, requesting assistance for a medical emergency at his home near DeMotte, Indiana. But what began as a routine encounter with Jasper County Sheriffs deputies and EMTs from nearby Keener Township that evening ended in tragedy. The sheriffs office released a compilation of bodycam footage Friday from deputies at the scene that shows them handcuffing Earl and pinning him down for more than 20 minutes as he struggles and repeatedly shouts for help. In the video, members of Earls family can be heard urging him to calm down and explaining to deputies that the 26-year-old had recently suffered a seizure and was confused. His family later grew panicked after Earl was given multiple shots of what appear to be sedatives and he became unresponsive. Less than 30 minutes after deputies arrived at his home, video shows Earl stopped breathing and had to be resuscitated. The father of two was transported to a hospital and placed on life support. He died two days later. Indiana State Police have opened an investigation into Earls death and declined to comment about an ongoing investigation. The Jasper County Sheriffs office noted they released the bodycam footage with permission from state police. The results of Earls autopsy and toxicology screening are pending, his familys lawyers said. In a statement announcing the release of the video, the Jasper County Sheriffs office said it is not drawing any conclusions about the actions of anyone involved in this incident. We feel it is critical that our community have as much information as possible and evaluate the incident independently of outside influences, the statement said. Mr. Earl was suffering a medical emergency and demonstrating mental difficulties and significant physical resistance to the medical personnel on the scene. The responsibility of the deputies was to prevent Mr. Earl from harming himself or the EMT personnel while they provided medical aid. Though Earl is White, his death casts a renewed spotlight on fatal police encounters with civilians, an issue that has gained national attention and sparked calls for police reform following the deaths of several unarmed Black men in recent years. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the Earl family, stood alongside his relatives and friends at a news conference Monday as some watched the bodycam footage for the first time. Although the family has not filed a lawsuit, Crump vowed to explore every legal avenue to get full justice for Rhyker. Either this is going to be a George Floyd situation where the lack of oxygen to the brain killed him, or its going to be an Elijah McClain situation where EMTs administering drugs killed him. We dont know, Crump said. Any time a person is complaining about breathing and saying I cant breathe, I vow that we will get to the truth of what happened if they die in police custody, Crump said. Attorney Ben Crump holds a press conference with the family of Rhyker Earl on Monday, September 23. - WBBM Take his pulse, hes blue At a news conference last week before bodycam footage was released, Connie Widner, Earls grandmother, told reporters she called 911 thinking they would help her grandson. I will regret it until the day I die that I ever called anybody. Because I am sure I could have took care of him better than he was treated when they got there, she said. Earls encounter with first responders began earlier that day, when he had a seizure at his sisters home. The paramedics were called there, some of the same ones that was at his house later that night, Widner said at last weeks news conference. Her husband, Chuck, told reporters a deputy sheriff was also present that morning and they had no problems. Widner told reporters Earl often appeared confused after he had a seizure and insisted he was never violent. She said she brought Earl back home later that afternoon so he could take his medication for epilepsy and sleep using a breathing machine. But once they were home, Widner said Earl had two more seizures, and she decided to call 911. Bodycam footage shows a deputy arrived as Earl was getting dressed to go to the hospital. In the video, he appears unsteady and confused as he makes his way from the living room to the kitchen. The footage does not clearly show what prompted a deputy to rush into the kitchen and wrestle Earl to the ground, harshly admonishing him for touching a medic while placing him in handcuffs. Earl begged for his life for more than 20 minutes and struggled against the deputies and EMTs leaning on his arms and legs as they administered at least four shots of what appears to be sedatives. The footage shows first responders discussed whether Earl had taken illicit drugs because the sedatives were not working. In the video, EMTs discussed giving Earl shots of ketamine. Before administering one shot, an EMT asks if someone could call the hospital and just like give them a heads-up of whats coming in and make sure theyre cool with it because were about to give him this much. An EMT later says, were going to need oxygen, probably have an intubation ready. Minutes later, Earl falls silent and his aunt, Miracle Gawlinski, asks if hed been given medication, according to the video. Gawlinski told reporters during the news conference last week she arrived to find her nephew was face down. I had to beg and plead for anybody, whether it was the EMTs, police, I didnt care. Do something, hes blue. Take his pulse, hes blue! Please do something, before an EMT acted and finally took his pulse and realized there wasnt one, Gawlinski recalled. We trusted the professionals that evening. We had no doubt in our mind until it was too late, she said. Footage shows first responders worked for more than 10 minutes to resuscitate Earl. In a statement, the Jasper County Sheriffs Office said Earl became unresponsive, was taken to the hospital, and later passed away. The statement did not address the administration of possible sedatives. The sheriffs statement also said a lawyer for Earls family was spreading gross falsehoods concerning the actions of our deputies. At the news conference last week, Crump and his co-counsel, Stephen Wagner, alleged that deputies responded inappropriately to someone in a post-seizure state and used excessive force. Until first responders understand that you dont treat a seizure patient or an autistic patient or someone in a mental health crisis as a criminal until they understand that and respond appropriately there will be more press conferences like this, Wagner said. A photo of Rhyker Earl is displayed at a press conference held by his family. - Family photo/WBBM A post-seizure state Seizures occur when there is a sudden, uncontrollable burst of electrical activity in the brain, according to the Mayo Clinic. After having a seizure, a person may experience symptoms including confusion, fatigue, anxiety and frustration. This period is known as the postictal phase and, according to the Mayo Clinic, recovery can take hours for some. In 2023, the Epilepsy Foundations Jeanne A. Carpenter Epilepsy Legal Defense Fund partnered with the Morehouse College of Medicine to train law enforcement officers on how to respond to someone who has recently experienced a seizure. This kind of training of law enforcement and first responders should be a matter of routine, said Allison Nichol, senior director of legal advocacy at the Fund. While she could not comment on the specifics of the Earl case, Nichol said law enforcement can and often does confuse what theyre seeing as overuse of a substance or overuse of alcohol that happens when they come upon an accident. What they dont think about is that this person is in a post-seizure state. Nichol said she takes multiple calls a week from lawyers and people living with epilepsy who have had an adverse interaction with law enforcement following a seizure. Simply knowing that a person has epilepsy or is having a seizure doesnt guarantee a correct response to that situation. That really requires some training, she said. At the news conference Monday, Cassie Paris, the mother of Earls children, told reporters over the years she witnessed Earl have more than 50 seizures and after an episode hes never been aggressive, only lost, scared and confused. I have to remind him who I am and whats going on multiple times before he understands, she said. The last message I received from him said, I had a seizure, but Im fine. The next thing I knew he was on life support. The family also told reporters Paris has a nerve condition called MG, or Myasthenia Gravis, and that the symptoms can sometimes be mistaken for intoxication. If Im ever in a medical emergency, I hope and pray Im not in the same situation as Rhyker, Paris said. His children deserve to have both of their parents and now the whole family is worried and concerned about calling for help. CNNs Virginia Langmaid and Whitney Wild contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Key Insights The projected fair value for SLP Resources Berhad is RM1.19 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity SLP Resources Berhad's RM0.93 share price signals that it might be 22% undervalued Our fair value estimate is 30% higher than SLP Resources Berhad's analyst price target of RM0.91 Does the September share price for SLP Resources Berhad (KLSE:SLP) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to today's value. One way to achieve this is by employing the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Before you think you won't be able to understand it, just read on! It's actually much less complex than you'd imagine. Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. For those who are keen learners of equity analysis, the Simply Wall St analysis model here may be something of interest to you. See our latest analysis for SLP Resources Berhad Crunching The Numbers We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Seeing as no analyst estimates of free cash flow are available to us, we have extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the company's last reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars: 10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 Levered FCF (MYR, Millions) RM17.3m RM17.7m RM18.3m RM18.8m RM19.4m RM20.1m RM20.8m RM21.5m RM22.2m RM23.0m Growth Rate Estimate Source Est @ 2.21% Est @ 2.61% Est @ 2.89% Est @ 3.09% Est @ 3.23% Est @ 3.32% Est @ 3.39% Est @ 3.44% Est @ 3.47% Est @ 3.50% Present Value (MYR, Millions) Discounted @ 8.0% RM16.0 RM15.2 RM14.5 RM13.8 RM13.2 RM12.6 RM12.1 RM11.6 RM11.1 RM10.6 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = RM131m The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after the first stage. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (3.6%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 8.0%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2034 (1 + g) (r g) = RM23m (1 + 3.6%) (8.0% 3.6%) = RM533m Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= RM533m ( 1 + 8.0%)10= RM247m The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is RM377m. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of RM0.9, the company appears a touch undervalued at a 22% discount to where the stock price trades currently. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent. dcf Important Assumptions Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. You don't have to agree with these inputs, I recommend redoing the calculations yourself and playing with them. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at SLP Resources Berhad as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 8.0%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.800. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. SWOT Analysis for SLP Resources Berhad Strength Currently debt free. Dividend is in the top 25% of dividend payers in the market. Weakness Earnings declined over the past year. Opportunity Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the Malaysian market. Trading below our estimate of fair value by more than 20%. Threat Dividends are not covered by earnings and cashflows. Annual revenue is forecast to grow slower than the Malaysian market. Looking Ahead: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. Can we work out why the company is trading at a discount to intrinsic value? For SLP Resources Berhad, there are three relevant items you should explore: Risks: Take risks, for example - SLP Resources Berhad has 2 warning signs (and 1 which makes us a bit uncomfortable) we think you should know about. Future Earnings: How does SLP's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! PS. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the KLSE every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the conscription of 133,000 new servicemen in Russia's autumn draft that starts Oct. 1 and goes until the end of the year, according to a Kremlin decree published on Monday. The decree, published in Russian state-run newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, calls to carry out the draft of citizens "aged 18 to 30 years, who are not in the reserve and are subject to conscription in accordance with the Federal Law ... in the amount of 133,000 people." The head of Russia's conscription office, Vice-Admiral Vladimir Tsimlyansky said that the terms for the conscript remain the same: 12-month service in military units in Russia. "I would like to note that conscripts will not be called up to participate in the special military operation in the new regions," Rossiyskaya Gazeta cited Tsimlyansky as saying. Russia calls its war in Ukraine, which it started with a full-scale invasion in February 2022, a special military operation. Kyiv and its allies call it an unprovoked, imperialistic attempt to grab land. In a move condemned by most of the Western world, Russia annexed parts of southeastern Ukraine in late 2022, calling the land 'new regions.' Citing growing threats on Russia's western borders, Putin in September ordered the Russian army to be increased by 180,000 troops to 1.5 million active servicemen, a move that would make it the second largest in the world after China's. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, U.S. President Joe Biden and other NATO leaders have blamed Putin for being the sole aggressor in the conflict in Ukraine and posing threats to other of its neighbours. (Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Bill Berkrot) Putin says 'all intended goals will be achieved' in Ukraine on 2nd anniversary of major failed achievement Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sept. 30 vowed that "all the intended goals will be achieved" in Ukraine, in a speech marking the second anniversary of something the Kremlin has yet to achieve. In a video message to the Russian public, Putin said he was addressing his people to "celebrate the Day of Reunification with Russia of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, Zaporizhia and Kherson Regions." Putin declared the illegal annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts in September 2022, despite only partially occupying the southern and eastern areas of Ukraine in question. A Ukrainian counteroffensive just weeks later liberated great swathes of the Kherson Oblast territory, including the provincial capital, claimed by Russia. The regional capitals of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia remain under Ukrainian control, while Luhansk and Donetsk have been occupied by Russia since 2014. "I cordially congratulate all citizens of our country on this truly fateful event," Putin said. The Russian president also took aim at Ukraine's Western allies, who he claimed have "turned Ukraine into their colony, into a military base aimed at Russia." "They systematically instilled hatred and radical nationalism, incited hostility towards everything Russian, supplied weapons, sent mercenaries and advisers, prepared the Ukrainian army for a new war, so that again, as in the spring and summer of 2014, they could carry out a punitive action in the southeast," he added. "I thank all citizens of the country for this unity and patriotic spirit. The truth is on our side. All the intended goals will be achieved." Putin's original goals in his full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in early 2022 were to liberate the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, "demilitarize and denazify" the country which in the Kremlin's eyes, envisioned the removal of its Jewish president, and the occupation of its capital city Kyiv. After swiftly failing to achieve these goals, with the exception of Russian forces occupying all of Luhansk Oblast, Putin was forced to lower his ambitions and earlier this month said Russia's "main goal" was to capture all of Ukraine's eastern Donbas area that also includes the adjacent Donetsk Oblast. Read also: As Russian losses in Ukraine surge, some military bloggers turn on Kremlin, military command Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Russian leader Vladimir Putin has signed a decree regarding an autumn conscription campaign to be held from 1 October to 31 December. It is planned to call up 133,000 people for military service. Source: Interfax, a Kremlin-aligned Russian news outlet; Vladimir Tsymlyansky, Deputy Head of the Organisational and Mobilisation Department of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces; a decree signed by Putin Details: Putins decree states that 133,000 people are to be called up for military service, and this conscription must be held from 1 October to 31 December. This refers to Russian citizens aged 18 to 30 who are not reservists and are subject to military service, according to Russian law. In addition, soldiers, sailors, sergeants and sergeant majors whose conscripted military service has expired must be discharged from military service. Quote from Tsymlyansky: "The term of military service under conscription will not change and will be 12 months, and the dispatch of conscripts from the military enlistment offices is planned from 15 October 2024." Details: Tsymlyansky said that "all conscripts would be sent for military service to the permanent deployment points of military units on the territory of the Russian Federation". Tsymlyansky said that conscription for military service would be carried out from 1 October to 31 December 2024. "The exception will be citizens living in certain areas of the Far North and certain areas equivalent to them, where conscription will be carried out from 1 November to 31 December. This is due to the climatic characteristics of these areas," he said. Tsymlyansky noted that about a third of the recruits would be assigned to training units and military units. Quote from Tsymlyansky: "After completing their training, they will be allocated to army units according to their skills." For reference: Russia usually conducts conscription campaigns twice a year in the spring and in the autumn. Background: UK intelligence believes that Russia will continue to force conscripts to sign contracts after completing their service in order to send them to war against Ukraine. Bloomberg reported, citing sources, that the Russians were facing a shortage of soldiers to wage war against Ukraine, which could force Russia to launch a new conscription campaign by the end of 2024. In September 2022, Putin announced a partial mobilisation of Russian citizens in an address to the nation. The autumn conscription campaign in Russia was postponed to 1 November, and Putin signed a decree that 120,000 people would be called up for military service. Support UP or become our patron! Russian defence spending is reaching levels not seen since the Soviet Union (Alexander NEMENOV) (Alexander NEMENOV/AFP/AFP) Russia plans to boost its defence budget by almost 30 percent next year as it diverts resources to its Ukraine offensive, spending more on the military than welfare and education combined, a draft budget showed on Monday. Moscow had already ramped up military spending to levels not seen since the Soviet Union era, pumping out missiles and drones to fire on Ukraine and paying lucrative salaries to its hundreds of thousands of soldiers fighting on the front lines. The latest planned increase in spending will take Russia's defence budget to 13.5 trillion rubles ($145 billion) in 2025, a document published on the parliamentary website showed, up from 10.4 trillion in 2024. That figure does not include some other resources being directed to the military campaign, such as spending that Russia labels as "domestic security" and some outlays classified as top secret. Combined spending on defence and security will account for around 40 percent of Russia's total government spending, seen at 41.5 trillion rubles in 2025. Before sending the draft budget to the Russian parliament, Moscow trumpeted an increase in investment and social welfare alongside higher military outlays. The "top priority" of the budget was to be "social support for citizens", Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told a televised government meeting on September 24. "The second is the provision of expenditures on defence and security, providing the resources for the special military operation and support for families of those participating in the special military operation," he added, using Russia's official language for its Ukraine offensive. But the draft budget suggest that military spending has crowded out spending on other areas of the economy. Planned spending on "national defence" is more than twice that allocated to areas Moscow labels as "social policy". Ukraine has also been forced to accelerate its own military spending as it battles the Russian offensive. Kyiv will allocate more than 60 percent of the country's entire budget to defence and security next year. But Russia's $145-billion defence budget dwarfs Ukraine's at $54 billion, with Kyiv reliant on Western military and financial aid to continue fighting. - 'Truth is on our side' - The budget announcement came as Russian President Vladimir Putin marked what he calls "Reunification Day" -- the moment when Moscow annexed four southern and eastern Ukrainian regions in 2022. "The truth is on our side. All goals set will be achieved," Putin said in a combative address on the second anniversary. Russia claimed to annex the Ukrainian regions of Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in September 2022 but it does not fully control any of them. On Monday evening, three journalists for independent Russian media were arrested outside a concert on Red Square in Moscow to mark the occasion, rights group OVD-info said -- the latest move in a crackdown on critical voices since the beginning of the offensive in Ukraine. In recent months the Kremlin has pursued a relentless assault on its neighbour's east, pressing its advantage as Kyiv's soldiers grapple with exhaustion and continuous bombardment. On Monday, the Russian army said its troops had "liberated" the Ukrainian village of Nelipivka, which had a population of around 1,000 before the conflict began in February 2022. The village is one of several dozen that Russia claims to have captured in recent months, pressing forward even as Kyiv mounts a cross-border counteroffensive into Russian territory. Nelipivka lies just north of the Ukrainian town of New York, where Kyiv claimed to have made rare gains earlier in September. Ukrainian shelling in areas under Russian control killed a teenager and wounded eight other people including three children, said the Moscow-installed Donetsk regional governor Denis Pushilin. bur/sbk/rlp (Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin unwittingly became the largest catalyst for European Union expansion after his 2022 invasion of Ukraine pushed more countries toward the bloc, Croatias prime minister said. Most Read from Bloomberg Over the past two and a half years, we have seen a strategic shift in the European capitals being more open toward the enlargement, Andrej Plenkovic, 54, told Bloomberg TV in an interview in New York late Friday. I believe that Vladimir Putin was the biggest promoter of enlargement. Listen to the Heres Why podcast on Apple, Spotify or anywhere you listen. The EU in June agreed to open negotiations with Ukraine and its smaller neighbor, Moldova, over membership in the bloc, an important step in a process thats likely going to take years. Earlier this year, EU leaders also agreed to start talks with Bosnia-Herzegovina, seeking to pull the divided country closer to Europe and counter growing Russian influence. Another five nations in the Western Balkans are at various stages of the accession process. In the next five years, especially in the mandate of the new Commission, it will be interesting to see how every one of them will make progress and fulfill the criteria, said Plenkovic. We are always ready to support the progress of our neighbors. A former European diplomat, Plenkovic is currently serving a third consecutive term as prime minister after his center-right Croatian Democratic Union won parliamentary elections in April. He was in New York last week for the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly. A staunch supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russian invasion, Plenkovic plans to host a summit in early October in Dubrovnik with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and leaders from Southeast Europe. The idea is to demonstrate solidarity and support to Ukraine from the group of countries with a lot of historic connections with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, he said. Leaders will support the government in Kyiv in their endeavor for freedom, for territorial integrity, but also on how to ensure that Ukrainian economy functions well in the difficult circumstances. Commenting on growing tensions between Kosovo and Serbia, Croatias former foe, Plenkovic told Bloomberg TV that their only path to the EU is to continue an EU-facilitated dialog. US involvement in the process is crucially important as well, he added. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. By Andrew Gray BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO members should not be deterred from giving more military aid to Ukraine by Vladimir Putin's "reckless Russian nuclear rhetoric", outgoing NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg told Reuters in an interview on Monday. Stoltenberg was reacting to a declaration from Putin last week that Russia could use nuclear weapons if it was struck with conventional missiles, and that Moscow would consider any assault on it supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack. Putin's warning came as the United States and its allies deliberate over whether to let Ukraine fire conventional Western missiles deep into Russia. Kyiv says it wants permission to hit targets that are part of Russia's war effort. "What we have seen is a pattern of reckless Russian nuclear rhetoric and messaging, and this fits into that pattern," Stoltenberg, who hands over the NATO leadership to Dutch ex-prime minister Mark Rutte on Tuesday after a decade in charge. "Every time we have stepped up our support with new types of weapons - battle tanks, long-range fires or F-16s - the Russians have tried to prevent us," Stoltenberg told Reuters at NATO headquarters on the outskirts of Brussels. "They have not succeeded and also this latest example should not prevent NATO allies from supporting Ukraine." He said NATO had not detected any change in Russia's nuclear posture "that requires any changes from our side". 'NO RISK-FREE OPTIONS' Stoltenberg, a former prime minister of Norway, said the biggest risk to NATO would be if Putin wins in Ukraine. "Then the message will be that when he used military force, but also when he threatened NATO allies, then he gets what he wants and that will make us all more vulnerable," he said. "In a war, there are no risk-free options." The U.S. administration has so far been reluctant to give Ukraine permission to strike deep inside Russia with weapons such as long-range ATACMS missiles due to fears of higher tensions with Moscow and potential retaliation. Some Western officials have also questioned how effective such strikes would be in changing the balance of the war. Stoltenberg said there was "no silver bullet" that would change everything on the battlefield. But deep strikes inside Russia could make a difference as part of the broader Western effort to help Ukraine repel Russia's invasion, he said. Stoltenberg also said any negotiated end to the war would have to include security guarantees for Ukraine from Western powers, above all the United States. Otherwise, he said, Russia would not respect any lines drawn on a map that it was not meant to go beyond. "When some kind of line is agreed - be it the internationally recognised border or another ceasefire line, we have to be absolutely sure that the war ends there," he said. "So far we have seen Russia attacking, waiting and then attacking again," he said, citing previous deals meant to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine that began in 2014. "I don't think we can change President Putin's mind (about Ukraine) but I think we can change his calculus by demonstrating that the cost of continuing the war is so high that it's better for him to sit down and accept Ukraine as a sovereign independent nation." (Reporting by Andrew Gray; Editing by Peter Graff) Jens Stoltenberg, who is about to step down as NATO Secretary General, has urged Alliance members not to be dissuaded from providing further military assistance to Ukraine because of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's "reckless Russian nuclear rhetoric". Source: Stoltenberg in an interview with Reuters, as reported by European Pravda Details: The current NATO Secretary General was commenting on Putin's statement last week that Russia might resort to using nuclear weapons if its territory were struck by long-range missiles. "What we have seen is a pattern of reckless Russian nuclear rhetoric and messaging, and this [Putin's statement] fits into that pattern," Stoltenberg said. Stoltenberg pointed out that each time NATO has increased its support for Ukraine with new types of weaponry whether it be main battle tanks, long-range systems, or F-16 fighter jets the Russians have attempted to prevent this from happening. "They have not succeeded and also this latest example should not prevent NATO allies from supporting Ukraine," the secretary general added. Background: Commenting on Putin's nuclear threats, the EU stressed that they are further evidence of his irresponsible behaviour and would not change Brussels' stance on continuing to support Ukraine. Putin's warning comes as the United States and its allies are considering whether to authorise Ukraine to use Western-supplied weapons to carry out long-range strikes deep into Russia. Support UP or become our patron! Sitting diligently in a South Carolina elementary school classroom, Brian Rashad Fuller felt awash with pride, confusion and fear. School was becoming the place he poured all his energy into, on the heels of his fathers incarceration and uncles murder. But simultaneously, from as young as four years old, disgusted looks from educators taught him schools were a place where he would be treated differently because he was Black. Being your authentic self, raw emotions and all, seemed to only be okay for white children. He watched Eric, a Black classmate frequently isolated and paddled for disruptions or difficulty focusing, be expelled in first grade after bringing a water gun to school. From an early age, aunts and uncles imparting wisdom shared their experiences, told that they would be lucky if they graduated. Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Marrying autobiography with research and analysis of education reform movements, Fuller recounts his educational life in devastating detail in Being Black in Americas Schools, an American story that I honestly believe is begging to be told. From managing suicidal thoughts at eight to becoming desensitized to students humanity in pursuit of higher test scores working for a network charter, perpetuating the educational violence he thought he never would, Fuller verbalizes how policies landed in the mind of a Black child and educator. Amid debates of how and where Black history will be taught and a youth mental health crisis that is disproportionately felt by Black children, Fullers work has been described as a beacon that showcases what keeps us captive while giving keen insights on what can free us, by Abdul Tubman, activist and descendant of Harriet Tubman. Revealing the humans behind data and educational movements, Fuller shows the dehumanization happening in ways big and small in classrooms across the country. Tracked into advanced work in high school, for instance, he remembered how it felt to be isolated from his Black peers, then to see counselors write them, and their futures, off before theyd even graduated. In the same way that the inherent racism in our criminal justice system is killing Black and brown people all the time, the inherent racism in our education system is killing the dreams of Black and brown children in the classroom, Fuller, now an associate provost at The New School in New York City, told The 74. Released in late July by Dafina, an imprint of Kensington Publishing, Fullers story exposes hundreds of anecdotes and presents models for transformative change in the education system. Uplifting models that champion childrens emotional wellbeing and cultures, like community schools and the freedom schools of the 1960s, he imagines a future where all children grow up learning Black history, critical thinking, and financial and emotional literacy in order to lead and dream their way out of a dreamless land. Drawing from time as an educator and administrator in and around Philadelphia, Boston and New York Citys schools, Fuller has also released a workbook companion for educators about how to concretely apply these concepts to the classroom at grade level. I would have loved for them to tell me that I was worthy, to see me as their child, their nephew, a younger version of who they were, to see me the way I witnessed teachers often see my white classmates. To see me as just a good kid. To attempt to understand me rather than punish me. I would have loved for them to ask me about my hopes and dreams and then cultivate them in me. I would have loved for them to have fun with me and show me the joy they felt from being around me, he writes. In conversation with The 74, Fuller reflects on the importance of transforming schools to teach Black children to love themselves and whats at stake when kids arent taught how to interrogate the world around them. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Jelani Cobb, writer and dean of Columbias journalism school, calls this a book we needed yesterday. Why write this now? What does it mean at this moment? Being Black in American Schools really came from a deep commitment of mine to marginalized children, all children, but specifically Black and brown children. And to liberatory education and powerful storytelling. I think this book is so important now in our current climate, given the attack on education thats happening. The rhetoric in the conversation is pretty horrible. Its so important for us to have stories like this one to cut through a lot of the noise of the pundits, the politics because under all of that are the lived experiences of our students in our classrooms. This book has been a four year journey really for me. In 2020 I was working for the New York City Department of Education. That was a summer where we had the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor all over our television screens. What pundits now call the racial reckoning was happening. For me as an educator, I was looking at the world and our society and seeing that we were calling to the carpet our criminal justice system in a way that I felt was very valid starting to interrogate its inherent racism and its inherent flaws. I wanted us to have that same conversation about another major American institution, which is our educational system. In the same way that the inherent racism in our criminal justice system is killing Black and brown people all the time, the inherent racism in our education system is killing the dreams of Black and brown children in the classroom. I imagine that coming to that realization also shaped the storytelling form you chose for this, weaving in and out of your own personal narrative, research, and historical moments in education reform. How did you decide to do that, and why are those lived experiences so necessary for people to hear and hold? It was really important for me to craft the book in the way that I did and I actually fought really hard for it. [Powerful storytelling] is whats needed to really inspire action and change. Storytelling is what connects us, its the human aspect. Over the years, through false narratives, through so many things, things get so politicized and so up in the air. Theres not enough of hearing the stories and the real lived experiences of people underneath all of the theories, underneath all of the data. It was really powerful to use my own story one that is uniquely mine but is not unique, right? I talk about being a child of an incarcerated parent growing up. There are millions of children right now who are living that experience. I talk about being one of a few or sometimes the only a Black child or student of color in my classroom as I was being tracked in school [into advanced coursework]. There are hundreds of thousands of children that are experiencing that right now. My own story was authentic to me, I knew I could tell it well and analyze it now from my lens as an educator, but also, I felt like it was one that so many people could connect to. I weave in the research and the history and keep it greater than the story because I think it helps people connect to the point that Im trying to get across This is what happened, and this is what this means, and this is how it looks. That comes across in moments like when you describe working in youth development in Philadelphia, seeing the distrust in the community, both for strangers coming to their door and for education after one of the largest school district closures in history. You feel it, the lived impact of those moments. And at so many points, you describe having to advocate for yourself, against the bias of white educators who assumed you cheated or wanted to discipline you or your friends more harshly than your white peers. You show why believing a phrase you repeated often, I deserve to be here, was necessary. How do you instill or encourage that in youth who are systemically underserved, and how might we get to a point where youth dont have to be such fierce advocates? I am a strong believer in advocating for yourself, especially as a marginalized person in this world and in our society. In schools, I think how you encourage it is through developing their critical consciousness, developing their own empowering concept of self. We come from a legacy of being marginalized, being pushed to the side and being told that we are less-than in society. Because of that, were not necessarily the first to advocate for ourselves, especially where we feel discredited or feel like we are seen as second-class citizens. I always encourage students that I work with and parents that they deserve to have quality education, they deserve to have a quality experience, and their voice deserves to be heard. That advocacy is so important and as you see in the book, my advocacy saved me in many ways. That was something that was really important in my household; my mom taught me to be an advocate for myself because she was an advocate for me. I had that, but not every student is gonna have that because parents come with their lived experiences as well. To your other question, how do we get to a point where we dont need to I think at some level, we will always have to advocate for more for ourselves. Thats not trying to be bleak, but I just think thats reality. How we get to a point where theres not much as much advocacy needed is really, the point in the book: to first acknowledge that our educational system was, in its current designs and its original intention, not designed to properly educate Black and brown people well. And then start to interrogate the designs how we restructure an education system so that it serves all students. You also explore why early childhood education is particularly important for forming a sense of self. Reports keep coming out revealing how many millions of young children for some states like New Mexico, one in two are experiencing parental incarceration, abuse, death or other ACEs [adverse childhood experiences]. How can educators better support the earliest learners with these lived traumas? And also RST or racial stress trauma, which is still severely underreported. I believe that every child born outside of the nucleus of what American society is, whiteness, experiences some racial stress trauma. We know that from the age 0 to 5, so much of your childs development takes place. Their mental development, their identity of self. When that is compounded with trauma, we have to address that in our early childhood centers, our Head Start centers, and as soon as theyre entering into school. I normally break it down at the earliest stages, our children have to love who they are. So what does that mean? However they identify needs to be honored, uplifted and they need to be seen, empowered and know that they have a place in our society. Theyre not second class in society, theyre not other in society. They are front and center and important in society. You do that through building authentic relationships, and in curriculum. Liberatory curriculum is age appropriate, but also brings in the identities of those youngest learners in ways that are normalized, uplifting to their identities. The reality we need to face in America is what you just mentioned, most of our students are coming into the classroom with some form of trauma. We are creating an education system that is just ignoring it. Early childhood is also extremely underfunded. We need more mental health counselors and specialists in our early childhood centers to think about the designs of your classrooms, schools and how you are addressing the needs of your students. People will probably read this and be like, well, we dont even have them in our middle or high schools. But that just tells you how much mental health childrens mental health is put on the back burner. We see it in the numbers. Especially among Black children, suicide rates are on the rise. We have to start putting our resources behind these things. Thats a part of liberatory education too, providing them with the tools and trained individuals to help them cope with the traumas that are the reality of living in America. You go through some models that try to do this very thing and put a huge emphasis on building up Black children like community schools, the freedom schools, and in Detroits African American studies curriculum. That emphasis on love, grace and empathy, its not something thats necessarily taught to teachers in preparation programs. How do you remind educators or leaders who are currently in positions of power of that, to champion kids humanity? It is not taught in our teacher professional development programs as much as it needs to be. There are programs out there I mention one, Glenn Singletons Courageous Conversations work which does great educator professional development around race but theres not a lot. Im not saying that children shouldnt learn in your classrooms, but they wont be able to learn if theyre in your classroom where they dont feel safe or loved or like they are seen. I always say what moves people is storytelling. But also theres research and data out there that actually shows the more a child feels included in the curriculum, the more the child feels safe, or the better relationship the child has with their teacher, the better theyre going to do academically. Theres so much talk on disparities and how do we close the gaps [We need more] access to that data showing that we need to have an emphasis on identity development and affirming curriculum. We need to have an emphasis on building authentic relationships. We need to have an emphasis on deconstructing bias in your practice. When I finished this book, we werent in the present day, of course. Now Im thinking about the potential of what could happen with current policies, like book banning and the banning of diversity and inclusion, and what could come with Project 2025. I think where we need to focus is really on the grassroots. At the end of the day, regardless of whats happening from a legislative standpoint, we still have millions of kids in the classroom that we are responsible for and cant let fall through the cracks. If they ban diversity, equity and inclusion, so you cant say those words, then dont say those words, but still affirm your students in the classroom. Still honor their identity in the classroom. Those are the conversations that we need to be having with our teachers. We get caught up on, this is banned now so we cant do this, or now we cant teach AP African American studies. No, you can still honor your students and, and you dont have to call it that, but you can still do it in the classroom on the ground. Our kids are suffering and we cant continue to allow them to suffer at the hands of a small minority of people. Related Q&A: Civil Rights Lawyer Erika Wilson on How to Reignite Desegregation Efforts Particularly as youre mentioning the hyper emphasis, especially after the pandemic, on learning losses and academic performance. I keep hearing from educators that we cannot lose the person in all of that, because its going to make it that much harder to do anything else. I hear sometimes this distinction that, oh, well, if we honor our students identity or if we really have a focus on what people like to call soft skills, theyll lose the focus on the academic outcomes. Those two things are not separate, they go hand in hand. Children do better when their lived experiences are brought into the classroom, when you tie in real world current events and their lived experience, when youre able to connect that to what youre trying to teach them. They feel they feel more connected to what theyre trying to learn and therefore have better outcomes. Speaking of censorship and fear culture, in your writing, you express exactly why learning Black history, accurate history, is important for all children at every stage of education. Referencing the first ethnic studies course you took as a college student at Emory, you said it enabled you to finally put theory and evidence behind many of mine and my familys experiences. It was as if up until this point, I had been in a battle without armor. Can you speak more on this, which alludes to a James Baldwin quote, about what you found in that course that you wished you had gotten earlier or that you think youth need exposure to today? My dad was a part of the mass incarceration of nonviolent criminals who faced very long sentencing for drug related charges. I had experienced that act of violence by my society. Then growing up in South Carolina and experiencing on the ground discriminatory comments I experienced all of that, that legacy of slavery, of racism that was passed down from generation to generation in our American society. When I got to Emory, I learned about redlining. I learned about mass incarceration. I learned about Jim Crow laws, I learned about all of these things and it was like, wow, no, I get it now. This isnt just something that is happening. This is very intentional and its by design. It almost was an empowering thing because, as much as I had my family trying to let me know the great contributions of Black people in our society, your lived experiences are telling you a lot of different things counter to that. Without having the knowledge of, oh wow, our American society was designed to have these outcomes for this group of people, Black people. Its not that were not as smart, or were just not as successful or were just not as capable. Now I understand the corrupt designs behind that lived experience, why my family and those around me have that experience. Now I understand it and I can go forward and combat it. I think thats so important for our students to experience. The Baldwin quote came from a talk that he did with teachers where he also said, children see everything, they are like a sponge. Theyre observing everything but they cant articulate necessarily what it is that theyre observing. But they know that something is off. They know that theres some terrible weight on their parents shoulders that menaces them. That terrible weight is racism, is white supremacy. Were experiencing that every day. Our children are experiencing it every day and they cant necessarily articulate it. But if theyre not being taught the true history, theyre not being taught how to interrogate society, be civically engaged, and understand those individuals that were critical thinkers of our society individuals like Baldwin, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King. If theyre not taught the designs of our American society, then that is still a very disempowering curriculum that perpetuates racial propaganda and a social caste system in America. Its so important at the earliest stage I got a little bit of it at home. My first [classroom] experience of it was when I got to college, but children need to be experiencing that at the earliest ages of early stages of their educational experience that is developmentally appropriate. Related Bringing 1619 Project, Black History to Life for Young Readers I just want to emphasize that perspective and name that it runs counter to the narrative that I often hear used to minimize the importance of teaching Black history or systemic racism: this is going to teach kids to hate America, that they will feel depression, not pride. I hear those same things that youre talking about, we dont want to feel bad, or sometimes, we dont want kids to feel guilty for things that they had nothing to do with. But to teach truth and to learn truth is empowering for everybody. It puts everyone on the same playing field. Its so empowering for a Black child to know, hey, its not just because of who I am innately. Its because of the legacies of how this country was designed and policies and practices that took place that impacted my ancestors and now have impacted me. Then, what can I do now to change those things so that my legacy can be different? Or my children, grandchildren, whoevers can be different? Thats empowering for a white child too, like, oh, this is, this is where we messed up in the past. Now what can I do to make sure that we dont repeat that in the future? This book is also referred to as a call to action. To whom and for what are you calling out for? There are three things I hope people get from this book. One is first just the knowledge and the acknowledgment that our educational system and in its original intention and current designs was to perpetuate a racial and social hierarchy within our American society. Then, lets look at the designs of our educational system and figure out, in what ways is this design perpetuating that hierarchy so we can start to redesign, reimagine, make necessary change. So that those in power who are able to make the change from a legislative perspective, do that. Those in power who are able to make the change from a school design perspective, do that. Those in power who are able to make the change from interactions with students in the classroom, do that. And then those who maybe are not a parent or educator per se but are interested in the ways that we educate children in this country, they can then start to advocate for those for changes within their local communities and school systems. My hope is that this book really inspires us all to action. All of us play a part in that. You dont have to be senator or work for the federal Department of Education. I hope that this book really makes everyone feel like they all have a part in it and they all can be actors agents of change. U.S. Rep. Garret Graves says he will not run for reelection to Congress.(Nathan Howard/Getty Images) In his final months in office, Republican U.S. Rep. Garret Graves is making a push to repeal two provisions that have reduced monthly Social Security benefits for hundreds of thousands of public agency retirees. More than 200 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have joined the Baton Rouge-area congressman in his petition to have his Social Security Fairness Act discharged. The bill, which would eliminate the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision, did not make it out of committee but has broad bipartisan support on the House floor. The Windfall Elimination Provision reduces Social Security benefits of an individual who receives a public pension from a job not covered by Social Security. The Government Pension Offset reduces by two-thirds the spousal benefits of people who work in public jobs not covered by security. In a press release, Graves said the Windfall Elimination Provision impacts approximately 2 million Social Security beneficiaries, and the Government Pension Offset affects nearly 800,000 retirees. Public school teachers, professors at state colleges and other federal, state and local workers would see an increase in their Social Security benefits if the provisions are eliminated. Graves aims to have the bill discharged from the House Ways and Means Committee when Congress returns in November with the hope of passing the bill through both chambers by the end of his term in January. Graves announced he would not running for reelection shortly after his 6th Congressional District was redistricted to become Louisianas second majority-minority seat to account for the one-third of the states voters who are Black Graves sat down recently with the Illuminator to discuss his long-shot bid to pass his landmark Social Security legislation. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Illuminator: Why is it so important for the Social Security Fairness Act to pass this year? Graves: For over 40 years, you have folks in our community that are some of the most important careers like teachers that have a profound influence on the next generation and so youre talking about penalizing folks or disincentivizing good people to join those occupations, because, what happens under current law is there, theyre penalized, theyre discriminated against. They literally have a reduction in retirement compared to anyone else who just has private sector experience. So thats number one. Number two, because for 40 years now, these folks have had money stolen from them, and theres no other word to describe it. You can use stolen, you can use embezzled. They have had their due retirement stolen from them. Illuminator: Why didnt the bill make it through committee? Graves: The Social Security trust fund is projected to become insolvent by 2034-2035. And so what our bill does is, candidly, it will cause an increase in expenditures because youre removing this penalty to public workers or to their spouses or widows. And so it does draw down the trust fund faster. But relative to the insolvency of the trust fund, were not talking about taking it from 2034 to, you know, 2030 or anything like that. Its a minor shift compared to the larger insolvency problem or reform that is needed for Social Security. It has to go through the House Ways and Means Committee, and thats the tax committee. That committee has jurisdiction over Social Security, and the chairman of the committee (Rep. Jason Smith, R-Missouri) is a good friend of mine. I told him, Look, Im telling you right now this Congress is going to be the one, so you can either work with us or you can have tire tracks on you. We sat there and negotiated for months trying to get to a spot. He actually offered several different offers to us and we were kind of going back and forth. So there was never an adversary. Illuminator: Do you know how much this would increase expenditures? Graves: It will be billions of (dollars in) additional payments per year but Ive got to emphasize this: People have had their money stolen or diverted for over 40 years now. Were not asking to go back to those people that retired 20 years ago and say, Give them all their back pay. I think this was a real sacrifice that we made, showing good faith, our bill only addresses things prospectively. Illuminator: You have a lot of higher education employees in your district. Have they reached out over this bill? Graves: We have had regular dialogue. Theres a group of teachers that literally call our office every single week asking for updates: How many co-sponsors? Any updated negotiations? If we were going to file a discharge petition on this. Illuminator: What do you think your odds are? Graves: You dont become the second most co-sponsored bill in Congress on a whim. You dont. I think that our chances of getting this bill out of the house are very good. Ill remind you, both the speaker (Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana) and the majority leader (Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana) co-sponsored this bill. Were going to get this thing to the presidents desk. Illuminator: You mentioned that this bill is purely prospective. Is there more you wouldve liked to have done on Social Security reform that you compromised on? Graves: I think the fair thing to do would be to make sure everyone is treated equally. Meaning, if I retired 20 years ago, and based upon that historic 20 years, the governments taken $50,000 from me, then I think what is fair is that the government actually pays that back. I think thats whats fair. So we have already compromised in regard to how weve drafted that bill. Illuminator: Had you considered taking up other issues related to Social Security and public pensions? For example, a lot of faculty dont consider the optional retirement plan offered by the Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana meets the requirements to be exempted from Social Security. Graves: I wanted to focus on the legislation in the Social Security realm that I think will have the biggest impact. Are there other things that could be done to perfect Social Security? Absolutely, theres no doubt about it. I think that issue is more so of a state issue than it is a federal one. And I think that the legislation were working on will be more impactful in regard to benefiting more people, lifting them out of the tough situations that theyre in. I think part of the overall solution is that there needs to be more forthrightness in regard to making clear to some of these potential hires on the potential penalty theyll experience at retirement. Illuminator: This is kind of your last fight before the end of your term. How are you feeling about it? Graves: I got plenty of fight left in me! We have some real goals related to the restoration of coastal Louisiana, some issues on flood insurance, issues on energy policy. So we have got a number of other things that were working on right now. But look, whether we were coming back in January or we were going to be leaving office in January, this is one of those things thats just wrong and it needs to be fixed. We found the things that were just wrong and gone through and tried to fix them. This ones a big deal because it implicates a lot of money, and it implicates a lot of people. But in many cases, in fact, lets say in 95% of the cases, these arent rich people that are going to be making millions of dollars off of this, and they sure as heck cant afford a lobbyist. Louisiana is one of the most impacted states in the country. I did have the pleasure of working side by side with a lot of these people, whether they were sheriffs deputies, whether they were teachers, state employees, and I will tell you that the far majority of them do not deserve to be treated this way. Being in a position like this, we have the rare opportunity and the honor of actually being able to try to fix it, and thats what were going to do, because thats what we got hired to do. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Queen Elizabeth Had 'A Form of Bone Cancer' Before Her Death, Boris Johnson Writes in New Memoir "Her doctors were worried that at any time she could enter a sharp decline," the former prime minister writes about the late Queen in his memoir 'Unleashed' Jack Hill/WPA Pool/Getty Images Boris Johnson and Queen Elizabeth during the G7 Summit in Cornwall, England on June 11, 2021. Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson claims that Queen Elizabeth had "a form of bone cancer" in the last years of her life. Johnson, 60, makes the claim in his upcoming memoir Unleashed, which will be published in the U.K. on Oct. 10 and released in the U.S. on Oct. 22. In an excerpt serialized in the Daily Mail on Sept. 28, Johnson reflected on his final meeting with the Queen at Balmoral Castle in September 2022, two days before she died at age 96. "I had known for a year or more that she had a form of bone cancer, and her doctors were worried that at any time she could enter a sharp decline," Johnson writes in Unleashed. The former mayor of London adds that the Queen's private secretary, Sir Edward Young, said, "'She's gone down quite a bit over the summer,' " before Johnson entered his outgoing audience as prime minister with her. Buckingham Palace has declined to comment. ANDREW MILLIGAN/POOL/AFP via Getty (From left) Lt. Col. Tom White, Sir Edward Young and then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on Sept. 6, 2022. Related: King Charles Says Queen Elizabeth 'Chose to Spend Her Final Days' in Scotland: 'Most Beloved of Places' The politician was prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022 and the 14th prime minister of Queen Elizabeth's record-breaking reign. On Sept. 6, 2022, he traveled to Balmoral Castle in Scotland, the royal family's summer sanctuary, to formally resign from his post as the Queen appointed Liz Truss as the U.K.'s new prime minister. Truss made history in the move, becoming the first prime minister appointed in Scotland instead of England. At the time, a source told PEOPLE the decision was made to have the audience at Balmoral to provide certainty for schedules amid the Queen's ongoing mobility issues. While Johnson and his wife, Carrie, were photographed shaking hands with Young and Queen Elizabeths equerry Lt. Col. Tom White (who now works for Kate Middleton) as they arrived for his audience at the castle, no photos of him with the sovereign on Sept. 6 were released to the public. Jane Barlow - WPA Pool/Getty Queen Elizabeth greets Liz Truss, then the newly elected British Prime Minister, at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on Sept. 6, 2022. Related: Boris Johnson's Wife Shares Note She Received from Queen Elizabeth's Team to Avoid Fashion Clash Johnson writes in Unleashed that the Queen greeted him with, "'Good morning, Prime Minister' " and as they sat on opposite couches, "I could see at once what Edward meant." "She seemed pale and more stooped, and she had dark bruising on her hands and wrists, probably from drips or injections," he writes. He adds that the monarch's mind was "completely unimpaired by her illness" and she flashed several bright smiles during their conversation. Johnson said that the weekly audience meetings he had with the Queen during his years as prime minister a time period that included Brexit, the COVID pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine were "more than a privilege." "It was a balm, a form of free psychotherapy. It was like being at school and being taken out to tea by a much-loved grandmother," he writes. Jonathan Brady - WPA Pool/Getty Images Queen Elizabeth at Trooping the Colour on June 2, 2022. Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more! On Sept. 8, 2022, the palace announced that Queen Elizabeth's doctors were "concerned" for her health. Hours later, Buckingham Palace announced her death. When the Queen's death certificate was released a few weeks later, the document listed her cause of death as "old age." Johnson and his wife were among the 2,000 guests at Queen Elizabeth's state funeral at Westminster Abbey in London on Sept. 19, 2022. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images Boris Johnson and Carrie Johnson arrive at Westminster Abbey for Queen Elizabeth's state funeral on Sept. 19, 2022. The former prime minister is not the first to claim that the late sovereign had bone cancer before she died. In Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait, published in 2023, royal biographer Gyles Brandreth wrote about rumors that Her Majesty had a rare form of myeloma, a bone marrow cancer, "which would explain her tiredness and weight loss and those 'mobility issues' we were often told about during the last year or so of her life." For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. PARIS (Reuters) - Stellantis (STLA, STLAM.MI) cut its 2024 profit forecast on Monday and warned it will burn through more cash than expected as Europe's No. 2 carmaker pledged to reduce output and offer big discounts to revive its U.S. business, wiping billions off its market value. The world's fourth-biggest automaker by sales said it was facing weakening global demand and stiff competition from China, echoing similar comments from rivals including Volkswagen (VOW3.DE, VWAGY), which cut its annual profit outlook on Friday. "Competitive dynamics have intensified due to both rising industry supply, as well as increased Chinese competition," Stellantis said in its guidance. US-listed Stellantis shares fell almost 14% in early Monday morning trading. It said instead of positive cash flow, it now expects negative cash flow of between 5 billion and 10 billion euros ($5.58-$11.17 billion). Italian brokers Equita and Akros said that puts the automaker's dividend and share buyback programmes at risk. Stellantis said it would make no further comment beyond its guidance on Monday. The company also said it now expects an adjusted operating profit margin of between 5.5% and 7% this year, down from the double-digit forecast that investors have come to expect from the automaker because of its lucrative U.S. business. "This warning confirms just how difficult the situation is at the company," Bernstein analysts wrote in a client note. "The scale of the hit to margins far exceeds our already reduced expectations." Its Milan-listed shares were down as much as 14% in European morning trading, wiping about 6 billion euros ($6.7 billion) off the company's market value and hitting their lowest level since October 2022. They have fallen about 40% this year, the worst performer among Europe's carmakers. BMW and Mercedes have also warned about lower than expected profits. BIG INVENTORY Stellantis' current problems are centred on the United States, where selling costly Jeeps and pickup trucks has until now been the company's profit engine. But as demand softened, it has been stuck with high inventory, forcing it to lower prices. That cut its operating profit 40% in the first half of the year. The owner of the Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Fiat, Citroen and Peugeot brands said on Monday it would increase consumer discounts in the United States to speed up dealer inventory reductions and slash production more than previously announced. Stellantis launched the production of Fiat Panda in Kragujevac, Serbia, in July. REUTERS/Zorana Jevtic (Reuters / Reuters) Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares visited Detroit last month to develop a strategy to fix its struggling North American operations. Story continues The warning on Monday revealing the scale of problems in the U.S. business is expected to increase pressure on Tavares. The company announced in August it was laying off up to 2,450 factory workers from an assembly plant outside Detroit as it ends production of its Ram 1500 Classic truck. The United Auto Workers union has accused Stellantis of breaking contract promises and has asked U.S. workers to authorise a strike. (Reporting by Makini Brice, Tassilo Hummel and Valentina Za; Editing by Jan Harvey, Louise Heavens and Emelia Sithole-Matarise) "Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." In the months before Queen Elizabeth II died, Buckingham Palace said virtually nothing about her health challenges other than that she was suffering from mobility issues. Her death certificate said that she died only of old age aged 96. However, a new tell-all memoir by former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has claimed that the late Queen was suffering from bone cancer for around a year before her death. Shop Now Unleashed amazon.com $40.00 Unleashed by Boris Johnson is being serialized in the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday ahead of its release in October. It has created waves in the U.K with revelations about politics and the royal family. The suggestion that Queen Elizabeth had a form of bone cancer has been written before but, as Prime Minister at the time, Johnsons claims give the information a new level of authority. I had known for a year or more that she had a form of bone cancer, and her doctors were worried that at any time she could enter a sharp decline, Johnson wrote of his last meeting with the Queen at Balmoral on September 6 when he formally tendered his resignation. He went on the describe the encounter, which took place two days before the Queen's death, saying that he was told before entering that she had gone downhill over the summer. She seemed pale and more stooped, Johnsons extract in the Mail on Sunday read . But her mindwas completely unimpaired by her illness. The late Queen is not the only royal on the receiving end of Johnsons indiscretion in his memoir. He also wrote that he was tasked with talking Prince Harry out of leaving the UK in 2020, an encounter he described as totally hopeless. Buckingham Palace has declined to comment on any of the claims in the book. You Might Also Like The statue has been installed in Riverside Park, Andover [Test Valley Borough Council] The first of two life-size bronze sculptures of Queen Elizabeth II has been unveiled. The statue in Riverside Park in Andover, Hampshire, was commissioned by Test Valley Borough Council to mark the Platinum Jubilee in 2022. Its "sister" statue is due to be placed in Romsey next year. Sculptor Amy Goodman said she had wanted to capture the late Queen's "warmth and humility". The sculpture depicts the monarch in her later years, wearing a robe adorned with pictures inspired by the community. Ms Goodman worked with community groups and schools to capture memories of the Queen and her links to the town and used these to add detail to the artwork. The late Queen, who died in September 2022, visited the town in 1993. Ms Goodman said: It has been such an honour and privilege to sculpt our late Queen. "I wanted to capture her warmth and humility; she did have such a radiant smile." The community artwork that inspired the designs on the robe has gone on display in the former O2 unit in the Chantry Centre. The statue was originally commissioned to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee in 2022. [Test Valley Borough Council] The statue was unveiled by Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire Nigel Atkinson. Leader of Test Valley Borough Council, Councillor Phil North, said the Platinum Jubilee in June 2022 was a "unique moment" in British history. The artwork stands as a tribute to Her Majestys exceptional reign and legacy, as well as the Andover community that helped to shape the final piece, he said. A second piece - depicting a young Queen at her coronation - will be installed in Romsey next year. You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. See also Related Links EASTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) Dozens of people gathered in Easthampton to stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Yet Another Pop-Up Market and a concert was held to benefit the Palestine Childrens Relief Fund. More than 130 tickets were sold for Saturdays concert. Concert-goers came in from all over western Massachusetts to listen to local bands and support the Queer community. Proceeds made from the event will be donated to the Palestine Childrens Relief Fund. The Relief Fund is a U.S.-based non-political humanitarian organization. Eversource volunteers assist in Connecticut River cleanup They bring medical supplies and support to Palestine, and the surrounding area, expressed QueerCore Collaborative Organizer, Ben Delozier. The concert went on until 9:00 p.m. A total of seven bands took the stage on Saturday night. The market was free to check out, while tickets were needed for the concert. 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. Find 22News on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram; send your news tips to reportit@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 man who raped a teenage girl and two women before going on the run for a quarter of a century has been jailed for 24 years. Maboob Bostan fled the UK after being charged with attacking the girl in Batley in 1997 and a woman in her 20s, also in Batley, in 1998, West Yorkshire Police said. A breakthrough in DNA evidence years later also linked Bostan to the rape of a woman in her 30s in Lister Park, Bradford, in 1997. At Leeds Crown Court on Friday, Bostan, 54, formerly of Purlwell Hall Road, Batley, was told he would also serve an extended licence period of six years. The court heard Bostan used a false passport to leave the country while on bail after being charged with sex offences in 1998. Attempts were made to extradite him from Pakistan, but he was not arrested until January 2024 at Manchester Airport after flying back to the UK on his own accord. Bostan was then charged with the Bradford offence and admitted all three rape offences at the start of his trial in July. Speaking after sentencing, Det Insp Stephen King, from West Yorkshire Police, said: I have no doubt that Bostan is a dangerous individual and a risk to females wherever he is. "Im pleased that justice has finally been done and he has been given a lengthy jail sentence." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here. Related internet links KANSAS CITY, Mo. The Raytown Police Department issued an Endangered SILVER Advisory for a missing man at 11:39 p.m. yesterday, September 28. Police say that Wolff was released from Jackson County jail and left on foot. He was last seen on West 14th Street heading towards T-Mobile Center. Lees Summit attempted homicide suspect caught after chase with 4 agencies According to Raytown Police, the missing man is 66-year-old Thomas Charles Wolff. Wolff is a white male, stands 511 at 170 pounds and was last seen wearing a polo shirt with a geometric pattern. He has gray hair and blue eyes. Police are also saying that Wolff has been diagnosed with dementia and a traumatic brain injury and is without his required medication. Anyone who has seen the missing person or has any information about Wolff is asked to call 911 to contact the nearest law enforcement agency or to call Raytown PD at 816-737-6020. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: Dominik Maschek/LEIZA A city razed by the Romans more than 2,000 years ago after its people rebelled was destroyed so badly that it "remained uninhabited for over 170 years," until it was repurposed into an ancient landfill, according to archaeologists who excavated the ancient site in Italy. The ruins at Fregellae, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) southeast of Rome, date from the siege and destruction of the city by Roman armies in 125 B.C. The reason for the rebellion isn't known, but archaeologists think it was because the people of Fregellae had demanded full Roman citizenship, instead of the "second-rate" citizenship with fewer legal rights, especially regarding the ownership of public lands that they had been granted by the Roman Republic . This long-running dispute culminated in the Social War roughly a generation later, from 91 to 87 B.C., when many of Romes allies in Italy demanded and received full Roman citizenship. But there are few surviving historical records from the time of the Fregellae revolt, so archaeological studies are the best bet for determining what happened there, said Dominik Maschek , a professor of Roman archaeology at the Leibniz Centre for Archaeology and Trier University, both in Germany. "It is only mentioned in two or three sources," Maschek told Live Science. "We hear about the siege, they tell us these people rebelled against the Romans, but we don't know why." Related: 'Sensational discovery' of 2,000-year-old Roman military camp found hidden in the Swiss Alps Image 1 of 2 A person crouches down to excavate pottery in a dirt trench. Image 2 of 2 Shattered pottery on the dirt in a trench Roman villa Maschek explained that Italian archaeologists first excavated the site in the 1980s and discovered the remains of murals, floor mosaics, houses and public baths. He and a team of researchers from Germany, Italy, and Switzerland have been excavating a villa on the edge of the ancient city for the past three years; and last year they also found the remains of a nearby Roman military camp, which was protected by a fortified wall and a moat. Among the artifacts found at the villa site are large pottery vessels for storing farm produce. These and ancient seeds unearthed at the site indicate the villa was an agricultural center that produced wine, fruit and grain, probably for export to other regions and maybe overseas, Maschek said. Records of similarly sized Roman villas suggest that up to 50 people may have worked there, many of them enslaved. But a layer of fire damage shows the villa and the crops in its fields were destroyed at the same time as the neighboring city, he said a determination supported by the "smoking gun" of pottery fragments from the time of the revolt. Image 1 of 2 A man looks at pottery fragments on a foil sheet. Image 2 of 2 Seeds are examined in a glass petri dish with a paintbrush and scissors. Ancient allies Fregellae was founded as a colony city of Rome, but it seems to have included many people descended from the Samnites, a non-Roman people who originally lived in the region and were initially enemies of the Roman Republic. Maschek noted that the issue of Samnites relocating to Fregellae had been discussed by the Roman Senate about 60 years before the revolt, but the Senate decided that the city of Fregellae should deal with the influx itself. "The [Samnite] families who moved to Fregellae obviously thought that they would be better to live in the city with second-rate Roman citizenship, because at least they then had some sort of relationship with Rome," he said. RELATED STORIES Roman coin trove discovered on Mediterranean island may have been hidden during ancient pirate attack Did Roman gladiators really fight to the death? Possible 'mega' fort found in Wales hints at tension between Romans and Celtics The few historical records from the time describe how Fregellae was besieged and destroyed by a Roman army commanded by Lucius Opimius, a praetor of the Roman Republic. This position was an elected magistrate but below the two elected consuls who headed the state. It seems that the people of Fregellae had waited until Rome's two consuls were commanding Roman armies overseas before they started their rebellion, Maschek said, perhaps hoping the Romans would find it difficult to send yet another army. "They were not stupid. They had been fighting alongside the Romans for a long time, so they knew how Roman campaigning worked," he said. "But they probably hadn't reckoned with the fact that the Romans would still have praetors." The moment Kannan Udayarajan decided to become politically active is seared into his memory. It was four years ago when Republican Sen. David Perdue struck a mocking tone at a Donald Trump rally as he repeatedly mispronounced Kamala Harris name. The Middle Georgia crowd laughed right along as he stretched out his words: Ka-MAL-a or what, Kamala or Ka-MAL-a, Ka-MAL-a, -mala, -mala, I dont know, whatever. That remark became a call to action for Udayarajan, 42, who now leads the Forsyth County Democratic Party and is part of the changing face of Georgia. I saw some people rationalizing that mispronunciation, and I felt there was a need to stand up, to speak up, because we should not be normalizing this kind of behavior, said Udayarajan, who moved to the US in 2007 after growing up in India. Thats what initially triggered me to mobilize myself and my friends. That mobilization is on full display here in Forsyth County, about 30 miles northeast of Atlanta, where the Asian American population has more than doubled in the past two decades, as it has in neighboring counties. Those voters are a critical piece of Harris game plan in her race against Trump. In 2020, when Joe Biden won Georgia by 11,780 votes, Forsyth County delivered 16,000 brand new Democratic votes, Udayarajan said. Now, four years have passed since then, and the demographics of the county have shifted considerably. Those shifts could hold critical clues for the outcome of Novembers election. With voter registration deadlines quickly approaching in many states and early voting already underway in several others, the Trump and Harris campaigns are scrambling to maximize their strengths among the nations various demographic groups in hopes of finding an advantage in their bitterly close duel. Kannan Udayarajan works at the Forsyth County Democratic Party office in Georgia on September 24, 2024. - CNN Fastest-growing segment of voters Both sides see opportunity among Asian American voters, the fastest-growing segment of the eligible electorate of any major racial and ethnic group, with rising populations in Georgia, North Carolina and other battlegrounds. Far from a monolith, the voters hail from more than 20 national origins, each with their own view of politics. Our numbers are still small, but we could be the deciding factor in terms of margin of victory, said James Woo of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, an Atlanta nonpartisan group that helps register voters of all parties and encourages participation in elections. We always mention that to our community members who see the difference every single vote can make. The razor-thin results of the last presidential election in Georgia Biden won by less than a quarter of a percentage point, out of nearly 5 million ballots cast bring to life the adage that every vote counts. Woo said there may be far less allegiance to political parties among many Asian Americans, yet peoples backgrounds often help inform voting decisions. The economy is a huge issue, Woo said. A lot of community members we work with are small-business owners. They are working seven days a week at mom-and-pop shops, so the economy really impacts them directly. Woo has witnessed the remarkable change in the Atlanta suburbs over the past two decades, where one Asian supermarket of his childhood has given way to bustling shopping malls, bakeries, shops, churches and countless restaurants. A diverse tapestry of backgrounds opens the door to very different politics, he said, with South Asians from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh often holding different views than members of the Korean, Vietnamese or Chinese communities. An elderly man walking to his car in an upscale strip mall one morning last week said he was voting for Trump. A woman working at a nearby coffee shop said she supported Harris. They, along with several others here, declined to give their names to CNN to discuss politics. Its not absolutely like black and white, about how immigrants vote one way or another, Woo said. We also have to look into a lot of issues and specific areas they are concerned about. National surveys show that Asian America voters tend to lean Democratic. A poll released last week from AAPI Data, a data analytics firm that focuses on Asian Americans, found that 66% of Asian American voters plan to support Harris and 28% intend to back Trump. The same survey found that 62% of Asian American voters say they have a favorable opinion of Harris, compared with 35% who hold an unfavorable view. About 15 million Asian Americans are projected to be eligible to vote in 2024, according to the Pew Research Center, which is up 15% from the 2020 election. Georgia has about 328,000 Asian American and Pacific Islander eligible voters, according to AAPI Data, a significant number given the expected tight margins of the presidential race. It offers opportunities for both political parties, Woo said, even though he has seen markedly different outreach efforts from Democrats and Republicans. I definitely see the Democratic Party do AAPI specific outreach and events, Woo said. From the Trump campaign, I havent seen as much. A Republican Asian American community center that opened in 2021 and served as a backdrop for campaign events during the 2022 midterm elections is now closed. A novelty sex shop has moved into the space in Norcross, a city in Gwinnett County, which is home to the largest Asian American population in Georgia. Republican officials declined to elaborate on efforts to win over Asian American voters. The 2024 campaign is poised to build upon the strength and successes of Asian Americans during President Trumps first term to propel him to a historic second term victory, Steven Cheung, a senior campaign adviser, said in a statement. The Harris campaign has three full-time staffers at the national headquarters dedicated to engaging Asian American voters, a spokeswoman said, with additional staff being deployed to Georgia and other battleground states. Harris, who would be the first Black and South Asian woman elected president, is also leaning into her Indian American roots through paid television advertising. Her latest ad is a biographical spot featuring images of her mother, whom Harris described as a brilliant, 5-foot tall, brown woman with an accent. Down-ballot candidates Georgias Forsyth County is deep-red, which Trump carried in 2020 by more than 30 points. But that was down from his nearly 50-point win there four years earlier and for the first time in years, Democrats are fielding candidates up and down the ballot, including Ashwin Ramaswami, who grew up in the area. Ramaswami is challenging Georgia state Sen. Shawn Still, a Republican who was indicted last year with Trump for allegedly trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. As he knocked on doors one day last week, Ramaswami said the excitement with Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket will reverberate among Asian American voters and beyond. The suburbs and the exurbs of Georgia have been the traditional power base for Republicans for such a long time, he said. Its not a question of if Georgia will become blue, its a question of when. For the next five weeks, Sonjui Kumar and her South Asians for Harris group are working day and night to try to elect Harris and the rest of the Democratic ticket in Georgia. As she presided over a virtual phone bank from her kitchen one night last week, she said she believed Asian American voters could make the difference in her Southern battleground state. Our community is not that big its 4% of the states population, Kumar said. But in some counties, its 122,000, its 60,000. Its enough to absolutely make a difference when youre talking in those numbers. With an October 7 deadline looming to register new voters in Georgia and early voting two weeks away, Udayarajan splits his time between his information technology company and the Forsyth County Democratic headquarters, where organizers from the Harris campaign have descended upon. Forsyth County presents a huge opportunity for Democrats, Udayarajan said. Its of strategic importance, just looking at the data. Beyond the data, the mocking of Harris name that first drew him into politics four years ago has only intensified since she ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket. He said it serves as a motivating force for him and so many other Indian Americans. A lot of people here, their aunts or their grandmothers or mothers might have that name, Udayarajan said. The mispronunciation of the name kind of triggered community involvement in the political process. More and more people just started showing up. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com ASHEVILLE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) Queen City News is traveling with the North Carolina Air National Guard on Monday as critical supplies are starting to reach Western North Carolina communities hit hard by devastating Hurricane Helene. Countless emergency crews continue to make progress this week toward restoring power, providing cell phone service, and repairing area roads. Food, water, and other needs are arriving in Asheville Monday and also being airlifted by the North Carolina National Guard into counties across Western North Carolina. How to donate and assist Helene victims and survivors across the Carolinas Cellphone providers are working to fix the damage and get stopgap solutions in place and rapid progress is being made. Across the region, more than 500,000 customers remain without power, down from a peak of more than one million on Friday. People are desperate for help and we are pushing to get it to them. Please know that we are sending resources, and coordinating closely with local governments, first responders, state and federal partners, and volunteer organizations to help those impacted by this tragic storm, Governor Cooper said over the weekend. This is an unprecedented tragedy. Photos: Queen City News Photos: Queen City News Photos: Queen City News Photos: Queen City News NC National Guard members are working alongside local emergency responders conducting search and rescue missions, delivering needed supplies, and helping to restore infrastructure. Approximately 550 North Carolina National Guard personnel have been deployed in response to the storm, along with more than 100 vehicles and 11 aircraft. Twenty-four emergency shelters have opened, providing capacity for 942 residents. Shelter information can be found here. First responders have received hundreds of calls for rescue and more than 1,000 requests for welfare checks. State search and rescue teams have conducted hundreds of rescues and are being assisted by teams from more than a dozen other states. MORE: 30 storm deaths confirmed in this North Carolina county More than 1,600 North Carolina Department of Transportation employees and contract crews are working to clear roads and get them open again, but 280 state-maintained roads remain closed including parts of Interstate 40 and Interstate 26. NCDOT is getting food and water supply trucks, power and cellphone utility trucks, and other vehicles through damaged roads and into Western North Carolina. People are urged to stay off Western North Carolina roads so that emergency responders, utility crews, and desperately needed supplies can get through. Real-time road conditions are available here. Federal Major Disaster Declaration The federal government granted Gov. Coopers request for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration, providing immediate help for 25 NC counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. This disaster declaration will provide both individual assistance for people living in those counties and public assistance to reimburse local governments, state agencies, and non-profits for funds spent repairing facilities and infrastructure. Additional information about these resources can be found here or by calling 1-800-621-3362. MORE FROM QCNEWS.COM Helene Aftermath Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. ASHEVILLE, N.C. As Helene battered western North Carolina, residents in Asheville were heartbroken after seeing floodwaters lift cars, trucks, billboards, and homes. Syd Yatteau, with her family members Erik and Lana Maystruk, were sheltering in place when the Swannanoa River reached about 26 feet at Biltmore Village on Friday. The next day, Yatteau walked through the mud and debris on South Tunnel Road, where the asphalt had upturned and a massive sinkhole had formed along the washed-out road. Yattaeu recalled the rapidly rising river as it became a "giant moat" in front of their home, wiping away several houses in their subdivision. Even as the flood waters rose, creeping up the side of a hill and onto their driveway, she said they did not receive an evacuation order. The breadth of damage was unexpected. "It was really surreal," Yattaeu said of the rapid rise of the Swannanoa River. "Like, at the beginning it was all fun and games. Just watching the water be where it was." "And then it just kept going up," she said. Around 4 p.m. Friday, the Swannanoa River hit its peak at 26.1 feet, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That's five feet above the record set during the 1916 floods, which killed numerous people and demolished most of Asheville including Biltmore Village. The waters didn't flood Yatteau's home, but they reached a neighbor's home just down the hill. Their neighbors came up and stayed with their family, Erik Maystruk said, then helped them sort through the ruins of their house the day after. "We tried to go over to their house earlier in the morning today. Tried to salvage as much as we can," Yatteau said. Hurricanes on repeat: Natural disasters 'don't feel natural anymore' River brings cars, groceries, houses past local road Living just down the road from the grocery store Aldi, Yatteau, and the Maystruks watched as the water swept away food from the grocery store. Nearly a half-mile down the road, bags of chips, Snickers, and produce could be found pressed up against the side of the Wood Avenue Bridge. Near that bridge, the emptied businesses were being picked over by families as they sought to find anything among the wreckage. Drone footage taken by Erik Maystruk showed more of the destructive flooding, including semi-trucks piling up as the river dragged them closer to Biltmore Village. The day after the catastrophe, the trio made their way up Swannanoa River Road, past a destroyed Walgreens, Lowes Home Improvement, Goodwill, and U-Haul. Trekking through the mud, it took them about 20 to 30 minutes to make it the half mile to South Tunnel Road. While they were supplied with food, water supplies seemed uncertain. "I don't know about water, but we have a few freezers, so we might be okay," Lana Maystruk said, noting that they did have a backup generator running at their house. "We don't expect to get power anytime soon," Yatteau said. Local businesses 'completely destroyed' Helene wiped out large parts of Asheville, including businesses in the beloved River Arts District. Overlooking the district, the Riverlink Bridge, a central gateway between downtown and West Asheville, has become a sort of hub for gathering as residents reel from the historic damage caused by Helene. The French Broad River crested at a record 24.67 feet on Friday and was still well above its banks at 12.68 feet on Sunday around noon, according to NOAA. Bystanders continued to flock to the bridge and were overcome with a sense of serious awe, grief, and horror. Along Depot Street, a car sat empty in the middle of the road with its window open and child seats full of mud had been dragged away. Just a little bit further down the road, Erin Quevedo, the owner of Balm Salon on Depot Street, was ankle-deep in mud attempting to salvage what she could of her business. "The salon was completely destroyed. It looks like the water came up to about five feet inside," Quevedo said. Five hair stylists worked at the salon along with her. "Right now, all we're doing is we're trying to salvage what we can," she said, noting that only a few things, such as hairstyle tools, were salvageable. "A lot of it was underwater." Inside the salon, the flooding had caused parts of the walls to flake off, as her husband, Ted, bagged hair products and supplies while standing in a thick veil of mud. "It's really heartbreaking. I'm not really sure what we're gonna do. I think it's just kind of one step at a time," Quevedo said. "I would like to rebuild if I can, but, I mean, it's really hard to say. Like this might be just like a devastating blow to my business, my livelihood." Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen-Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Got a tip? Email him at WHofmann@citizentimes.com. Consider supporting this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen-Times This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Helene aftermath: North Carolina residents saw homes, cars float away The recall was issued after a customer found mold in their fudge. onepony / Getty Images There's nothing better than enjoying a nice piece of fudge for dessert. If you have some stashed away in your pantry you'll want to check the labelchocolate fudge products sold nationwide have been recalled due to potential mold growth contamination, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced. The recall was initiated by Authentik Fudge of Sainte-Julie, Quebec, Canada, and includes 840 units of the Montreal Fudge brand Chocolate Fudge with Nuts. The issue was discovered after a consumer complained of finding mold pieces inside their box of fudge. Following the complaint, the FDA found additional fudge products with beginning signs of mold. Related: Lactaid Milk Recalled in 27 States Due to Potential Almond Exposure The product is packaged in 5.6-ounce containers. It's marked with the lot number 0241500805, 0241690105, or 0241690205 and expiration date of 2025/MR/01, 2025/MR/17, or 2025/MR/17 on the back of the box. The recalled fudge was distributed on May 19, 2024 and May 20, 2024, through Marshalls and sold in the retail chains in the following states: TJ Maxx: Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Marshalls: California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Mold can present in various ways: Gray and furry, fuzzy green dots, white dust, and coin-size velvety circles. When consumed, mold can cause an allergic reaction and respiratory problems. In the right conditions, mold can produce "mycotoxins," which can make you sick, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). While no illnesses have been reported yet, the company urges consumers who have purchased the affected products to destroy them or return them to the place of purchase for a full refund. If you have any questions about this recall, contact the company at info@authentikfudge.com. Read the original article on Martha Stewart. (Reuters) -AT&T said on Monday it would sell its entire 70% stake in satellite TV provider DirecTV to private equity firm TPG for $7.6 billion, exiting a business marked by declining distributions for the telecom operator. AT&T, which acquired DirecTV in 2015, signed a joint-venture agreement with TPG in 2021, in which the private equity firm contributed about $1.8 billion in cash in exchange for a 30% stake in DirecTV that was valued at about $16 billion at the time. The telecom company had agreed not to sell its stake in DirecTV for a three-year period, which expired on July 31. The stake sale comes as a much-needed exit for AT&T, which has been seeing dwindling distributions from DirecTV over the past several years. For the year ended Dec. 31, distributions stood at $2.04 billion, down from $2.65 billion a year earlier. For 2024, AT&T said it expects DirecTV distribution payments to be about $3 billion in aggregate. The sale would also allow AT&T to focus on its core wireless and fiber connectivity operations and help improve its balance sheet. Shares of AT&T were marginally up in premarket trading. AT&T would receive an initial payment of $2 billion in 2025, and additional payments through 2029, the company said in a filing on Monday. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2025. Upon closing, DirecTV will continue to be led by its current management team, including CEO Bill Morrow, TPG said on Monday. (Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli) (NewsNation) Florida may brand itself a free state on signs welcoming motorists across its border, but for residents seeking to legally use or possess marijuana recreationally, that freedom has remained elusive. However, that may change in November. If 60% of voting Floridians approve Amendment 3 during the general election, the state will join 24 other states and the District of Columbia where recreational cannabis is legal. If adopted, the state constitution would be amended to allow for residents ages 21 and older to possess up to 3 ounces of marijuana or walk into a dispensary and purchase cannabis and other pot-related items. Floridas legislature will also have to add language for implementation, while lawsuits could tie the issue up in courts for months or years. Abortion measures on ballots in record number of states Yet reaching the supermajority threshold could prove to be a challenge. In addition to more than half of voters required to cast yes votes, turnout and the age of those casting ballots could all prove to be determining factors in whether recreational marijuana becomes legally acceptable. Its the most balls in the air in terms of predicting turnout that Ive seen, Susan MacManus, a political analyst and a professor emeritus of political science at the University of South Florida, told NewsNation. That makes it very difficult when youve got these polls basically showing it could go in either direction, and the direction it goes is 100% contingent on who shows up, she added. Amendment 3s record ad spending A record $105.8 million has already been spent on the Amendment 3 ad campaigns, according to Ballotpedia. Before this year, the most spent on a similar measure was in 2016, when $27.14 million was spent on the effort to legalize recreational pot use in California. Those supporting the Florida measure have contributed $90.4 million, while $14.6 million of which $12 million came from billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin has been donated to try to prevent the measure from passing. A decision on a major policy shift on marijuana wont come until after the presidential election By comparison, Ballotpedia shows that $56.7 million has been spent on ads for Amendment 4 in Florida, which legalizes abortion before viability or when it is necessary to protect the patients health. While the spending differences are staggering, so too is the approach the two sides of the legalized marijuana issue are taking in trying to reach voters. Cannabis legalization advocates have not only flooded the airwaves by a 10-to-1 margin, MacManus said, but have also reached everyday voters with more common-sense language. In a Florida electorate where millennials and Gen Z-aged voters make up 35%, TV ads opposing the measure have been too high-brow, she said, which is ineffective in reaching everyday voters. In terms of younger voters, MacManus said that demographic voting patterns are driven by issues rather than political parties, making the approach critical. For most Floridians, its really about freedom, Morgan Hill, the spokesperson for Smart and Safe Florida, the organization behind getting Amendment 3 on the ballot, told NewsNation. I dont think theres this stigma around marijuana in the way that there was 20 years ago. Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump on opposite sides of cannabis issue Since the Florida Supreme Court approved the abortion and marijuana measures appearing on the ballot, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has pushed hard to keep recreational cannabis use illegal. Its basically a license to have it anywhere you want, DeSantis said, adding, This state will start to smell like marijuana in our cities and towns. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference in the aftermath of the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, supports Amendment 3, calling legalized marijuana inevitable but adding that if it is going to happen, it needs to happen correctly. MacManus said that the divide comes down to Trump being in the middle of an active campaign while DeSantis is not. By voting in favor of the measure, Trump is appealing to a younger base of voters, she said. With young voters expected to play a determining factor in which way the state sways politically on Election Day, MacManus said results up and down the ballot could be closer than some predict. What issues about legalized marijuana could affect voting Amendment 3 appears on the ballot eight years after 71% of Florida voters approved the use of medical marijuana. Those, including older Florida residents suffering from chronic health issues, have trumpeted medical marijuanas benefits. That attitude, along with claims by Smart and Safe Florida that the passage of the ballot measure would allow for the sale and use of safer cannabis, could help sway voters. Vance, Walz face potential game-changing moment with VP debate The group claims 1.8 million Floridians currently buy marijuana on the illicit market and that the amendment would allow for regulated products free of dangerous substances such as fentanyl, heroin and pesticides, Hill said. The pot legalization advocate group also estimates that $431 million in projected new tax revenue would be generated if Amendment 3 passes, meaning more money for transportation, schools and other public services along with the 31,000 jobs the group says stems from the states marijuana industry. However, opponents worry legal marijuana would lead to government-subsidized addiction issues and open up the market to children who would have more access to the substance if made legal. Others have expressed concern that the measure creates a monopoly for cannabis companies like Trulieve, which funded the initiative. Opponents also say a marijuana monopoly would destroy the states burgeoning hemp industry and run growers and producers out of business. Yet, even with all of the pros and cons, the final result of voting remains anyones guess with just more than a month before Election Day. Hill says her group likes the direction polling is trending but insists plenty of work remains to get the initiative to the finish line. MacManus says regardless of what polls show currently, everything remains up in the air in ways like never before Right now, everything looks tight, she said. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NewsNation. Editors note: Ahead of the vice presidential debate on Oct. 1, the Deseret News is running articles on Tim Walz and JD Vance. When Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz hit the campaign trail with Vice President Kamala Harris in August, the two made a campaign stop in Glendale, Arizona. The Arizona stop was just three days after Harris picked Walz as her Democratic Party running mate and America was beginning to see the kind of pitch Walz would be making to voters. Walz spoke about a golden rule he said people learn in Minnesota, Arizona and other places: Mind your own damn business. I dont need you telling me what books to read, said Walz. I dont need you telling me about what religion we worship. And I sure the heck dont need you to tell me about my family. The reference to faith was fleeting, but in keeping with Walzs past behavior. Aside from a handful of references to him being what he calls a Minnesota Lutheran, Walz does not say much about faith in media appearances. Walz has said on social media he attends Pilgrim Lutheran Church, which is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The denomination Walz belongs to as well as the church he said he attends are more theologically liberal compared to other mainline Lutheran denominations. Speaking about the role of religion in the public square is not something Walz has done much of, but throughout his political career, he has made decisions that may indicate what he thinks. Walz faced criticism from churches during the COVID-19 pandemic when he allowed businesses to reopen to 50% capacity, but at places of worship people could only gather in groups of 10. But he has also connected with faith groups, too. Religion News Service reported Walz has attended iftar dinners and Eid al-Fitr celebrations to connect with the Minnesota Muslim and Islamic communities. Walz and churches during COVID-19 An executive order Walz issued on May 13, 2020, put him at odds with some people of faith, including more conservative Lutherans. A couple of months into the pandemic, Walz signed an executive order allowing malls, retail stores and main street businesses to open if they had social distancing protocols and kept occupancy to no more than 50%. The Mall of America was allowed to open back up on June 1. But gatherings of friends and family including church services were limited to no more than 10 people. Minnesota churches that are part of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod told Walz in a letter they were disappointed that retail stores, bars and restaurants had a more robust plan for reopening. In the absence of a timeline or any other assurances that churches will soon be able to reopen, we find that we must move forward with our religious exercise in a safe manner, said the letter. The Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis and Catholic Bishops of Minnesota each also issued letters saying they would be reopening their churches. The letter from the Catholic Bishops of Minnesota expressed disappointment not only on the restrictions of religious gatherings, but remarks Walz made. The governors remarks today further underscored a failure to appreciate the role of our church and other faith groups in serving the community, said the letter. The Catholic Bishops of Minnesota said they have worked with the Walz administration and felt like public health officials listened to their concerns. But they also did not receive a concrete timeline for reopening churches. We cannot allow an indefinite suspension of the public celebration of the Mass, they said. At the time, Walzs office responded to some of the criticism they had received. As the governor has said, this is a challenging situation for him personally and a challenging situation for him as a public official charged with protecting the health and safety of Minnesotans, said a statement from Walzs office, per Reason. He remains in routine communication with faith leader(s) across the state and understands the toll this pandemic is taking on the spiritual health of Minnesotans. After the announcement came that several churches in the state were planning on resuming worship services despite the executive order, Walz came back to the negotiating table with the churches, according to a press release from Becket. The law firm had sent a letter to Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on behalf of the Minnesota Catholic Conference and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod saying the treatment of churches violated federal and state law. Gov. Walz returned to the negotiating table after the churches acted in defense of their free exercise, announcing on May 23 that he would clear the way for houses of worship of all faith traditions to open to larger groups starting May 27, 2020, said the release. Walz then allowed places of worship to open at 25% occupancy, according to a release from his office. He said since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allows places of worship to reopen, he worked with faith leaders on reopening with public health guidelines. Each step we take brings risk and responsibility for all, said Walz. My family will continue to practice our faith via video at home. Loe v. Jett A group of Christian parents, Crown College and University of Northwestern-St. Paul filed a lawsuit in 2023 naming Walz, Willie Jett (Minnesota commissioner of education) and the Minnesota Department of Education. Walz was later dismissed from the suit. Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed the suit on behalf of the parents and schools. The suit concerned the Postsecondary Enrollment Options program which gives high school students free access to college credits at public and private universities and colleges in Minnesota. Schools can apply almost any admissions criteria and still accept PSEO students, said the suit. But under the new law, if they have a faith statement for students or select students based on religion, they are barred from the PSEO program. The text of the law, which Walz signed, reads, An eligible institution must not require a faith statement from a secondary student seeking to enroll in a postsecondary course under this section during the application process or base any part of the admission decision on a students race, creed, ethnicity, disability, gender, or sexual orientation or religious beliefs or affiliations. The suit argues excluding the two schools from the program is unconstitutional. In the last six years, the Supreme Court has three times held that once a state opens funding to private institutions, the First Amendments Free Exercise Clause forbids excluding participants based on their religion or their religious use of the funds. Diana Thomson, senior counsel at Becket, said in a release, Minnesota politicians just slammed the door on thousands of kids in their state who want to get a head start on college, all because the schools they want to attend share their religious beliefs. That decision is not only patently anti-religious; it is also against the law, said Thomson. We are confident this ban will not stand for long. U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel issued a preliminary injunction blocking Minnesota from enforcing the law. The defendants Walz, Jett and the Minnesota Department of Education denied every allegation made by the plaintiffs in a court document filed on June 16, 2023. Parties entered into a agreement around a month later to dismiss Walz from the lawsuit. Minnesota Human Rights Act Several faith organizations, including the Minnesota Catholic Conference of Bishops, the Islamic Center of Minnesota and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, began advocating for the addition of a religious exemption in the Missouri Human Rights Act in 2024, during the Walz administration. This exemption, which pertains to employment, membership, admissions, and governance practices within religious congregations and schools, has been in place since 1993, said a release from the Minnesota Catholic Conference. But the exemption was inexplicably removed last year, leaving religious organizations and schools vulnerable to civil rights complaints and legal penalties simply for upholding their values regarding matters of faith, reason and sexual identity. Republican state Rep. Harry Niska explained during the Minnesota legislative session that the Minnesota Human Rights Act historically has maintained religious exemptions for groups. Niska said in 2023, the Minnesota Legislature added a definition of gender identity into the text of the law, but there was no corresponding text for a religious exemption. During the 2024 session, Walz signed a bill into law that included a religious exemption. According to the Minnesota Reformer, the vote on the bill was unanimous. Walz and local religious communities Walz has spent time with local Muslim communities during their worship services. Eid Mubarak, Minnesota! I was grateful to join the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community for an Eid-al-Fitr celebration this morning, wrote Walz in a social media post. Gwen and I are wishing all who observe a peaceful, blessed end to Ramadan. The Minnesota governor also spoke at an event in 2019 hosted at Metropolitan State University in collaboration CAIR-Minnesota, a group seeking to end bias against Muslims. Walz has also spent time with local Jewish communities. After the Tree of Life synagogue mass shooting in Pennsylvania, Walz issued a proclamation on combatting antisemitism. We are committed to confronting hate and bias crimes, and recognize that anti-Semitism represents a unique and millennia-old enduring hatred of Jewish people, said the proclamation. Two days after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Walz went to a Jewish community gathering and condemned the terror attack, per the Forward. If you did not find moral clarity on Saturday morning, Walz said, and you find yourself waiting to think about what you needed to say, you need to reevaluate where youre at. Walz has called for a cease-fire and told Minnesota Public Radio, You can hold competing things: That Israel has the right to defend itself, and the atrocities of October 7 are unacceptable, but Palestinian civilians being caught in this ... has got to end. CENTRAL NEW YORK (WSYR-TV) The death toll from Hurricane Helene is continuing to rise, with more than 100 people already reported dead from the powerful storm that swept through several states last week. What were seeing here is just devastating, said Lisa Smith, executive director for the American Red Cross of Central & Northern New York. How you can help those affected by the hurricane The aftermath has been described as catastrophic. Hurricane Helene wiped entire communities off the map. I was down for Ian and went through Fort Myers. This doesnt even compare to that. This is worse because its affected so many people and its gone inland so far, said Smith. From Florida to the Carolinas, the American Red Cross has sent nearly 1400 volunteers from across the country, including Central New York, to the hardest hit areas. Were feeding people across four states, two meals a day, with hot meals. We give them cleanup kits, blankets, and comfort kits, giving them toothbrushes and toothpaste, Smith said. Smith has been in Tallahassee, Florida since Monday, Sept. 23. She arrived just before Helene came ashore. What the Red Cross really does is offer people hope, and thats why were here. To give them hope that they are going to recover and were going to help them do that, said Smith. The Red Cross is asking for your help. Whether its making a donation, becoming a volunteer or donating blood, a little help can go a long way. Click here to learn how to help. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) More than 1,400 Red Cross volunteers from around the country are already deployed to the five states damaged by Hurricane Helene, a big, strong, fast, near-perfect storm that brought widespread death and destruction to the American South. Of those volunteers, 17 of them are from the Pacific Northwest, said Darrell Fuller, a volunteer disaster responder for the Cascades region of the Red Cross. The volunteers are on the ground helping to provide food, shelter and family reunification across the region. One of the effects of the Helene disaster is that more than 1,000 blood drives along the East Coast were canceled, Fuller said. That means the need for blood is greater than ever. Area blood drives are ongoing, and those who can are encouraged to donate blood as soon as they can. Volunteers are still needed, Fuller said, but so are financial donations. The easiest way to donate $10, he said, is to text Helene to 90999. Other ways to donate include going to the Red Cross website to learn about all the ways to financially help. The widespread damage from Hurricane Helene means Red Cross volunteers will be on the ground for weeks, possibly months, Fuller said. Cascades Region Volunteer Disaster Responder Darrell Fuller, September 29, 2024 (KOIN) The fast-moving Category 4 storm killed at least 64 people and potentially left thousands homeless throughout the southeastern United States as it hammered its way north. Florida, Georgia and both Carolinas all suffered multiple deaths. In Florida, most drownings were caused by storm surge. In Georgia and South Carolina, falling trees were the primary killers. In North Carolina, massive flooding has cut off Asheville and the surrounding communities. Tampa Bay was inundated with a massive storm surge that sent water up to peoples attics. Atlanta got more than 11 inches of rain, more than any 48-hour period in recorded history. So many trees were toppled in South Carolina that, at one point, more than 40 percent of the state lost electricity. In North Carolina, dams were in jeopardy of failing and entire communities are cut off by floods. Floodwaters submerged a hospital in Tennessee so quickly that more than 50 patients had to be rescued from the roof via helicopter. 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. Whats it like to be a refugee in this election cycle? Pulitzer winner shares thoughts at SLCC Novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen speaks with students at Salt Lake Community College on Sept. 25, 2024 (Courtesy of Salt Lake Community College) In a highly polarizing election year, migration and displacement has been one of the most hotly debated points among candidates and voters. The result is often a whirlwind of attacks to certain groups that could be labeled as other. But this isnt new. Its a pattern, said Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen in his visit to Salt Lake Community College. Depending on the times, he said, generations find ways to demonize marginalized groups every presidential cycle. Its often a racial population, outsiders, or sexual minorities. That for some part of the American population, demonization and demagoguery will always be, unfortunately, effective political strategies, Nguyen said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX A predominant case this year is centered in Springfield, Ohio, a city that has drawn the attention of the nation after unsubstantiated claims from former President Donald Trump and his running mate Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance about the Haitian community there eating domestic animals. As the group waits for the national attention to erode, some feel threatened, and some even hope to leave the city, according to Ohio Capital Journal. However, some have spoken about their heritage and their identity, an action that could potentially lead to change. Nguyen visited the college in Salt Lake City to speak on contested spaces, or to speak without apology, which means contesting other peoples assumptions, and about how important it is for refugees and other marginalized populations to assert themselves and to take control of their own narratives and stories. If we dont control our own narratives and our own stories, narratives and stories will be made up about us, and we will always, always, always be, at worst, negative, and at best, patronizing, Nguyen said. In the case of Haitian immigrants in the country, while Nguyen understands how sometimes leaving may be the best policy for some who find hostilities in their new homes, retreating from the conversation is a very limited strategy. Let us know what you think... Some Haitian Americans, immigrants or refugees are staying and defending themselves, he said, which is also an effective and necessary strategy. If we look at our American society, any kind of civil rights and protection that we have, if we belong to some kind of marginalized or minoritized population, has never come about from retreat, he said. It has always come about from political and social struggles that some other group and some other generation has done, from which we benefit. Nguyen, who was born in Vietnam and wrote the novel The Sympathizer, has based much of his work on the experience of those who have been displaced. Its a topic he knows well. He arrived in the U.S. as a refugee in 1975 with his family, according to his website. I do think of myself in the past and present tense as a refugee, he said. I think for a lot of refugees, even if were no longer technically, legally refugees, the harshness of the refugee experience has never left many of us. Nguyens visit also comes almost three months after a new law took effect restricting diversity, equity and inclusion programs in Utah public institutions including Salt Lake Community College, where about 39% of students in the fall of 2023 reported they were non-white, according to data from the Utah System of Higher Education. Issues related to DEI are going to be important not only for the education of students of color, but for their existence, Nguyen said. Though the sponsors of the bill that made the DEI restrictions possible said their intent is to provide equal opportunities to all students, the concern against diversity programs fits into the culture wars category, something that Nguyen said has been witnessed since the beginnings of American society. The attacks against DEI are rhetorically being configured as intellectual attacks, he said. But in fact, they are a part of a long tradition of racist suppression of anybody who doesnt appear to be white and male and straight and Christian. Students lined up for about an hour after the author spoke. Many talked with him about being first-generation students and their relationships with their families as he signed their books. Ana Belen Gonzalez Sosa, who is studying biochemistry at SLCC, read about Nguyen as part of her American identity class. As a daughter of Mexican immigrants, she often feels like both an insider and an outsider in the U.S. and in her visits to Mexico, so the authors message resonated with her. I love how, throughout his readings and his writings he always says to create your own home, your own identity, your own community, Gonzalez Sosa said, and the ways that youre not alone, because you are yourself, and you can always find your resources in your community. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Tonia Holmes- Sutton, chair of the Nevada State Public Charter School Authority, faces Aaron Bautista, a Clark County School District special education teacher in a race for a seat on the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents. The responsibilities of the Board of Regents include overseeing the Nevada System of Higher Educations more than $2 billion budget, setting tuition prices, and hiring a chancellor and school presidents. They oversee four community colleges, two universities, one research institute, and one state college. Currently, the board consists of 13 elected nonpartisan regents serving six-year terms. However, state lawmakers passed a bill last year that will reduce the board to nine regents serving four-year terms starting 2028. Voters in District 4, which includes part of east Las Vegas and the City of North Las Vegas, can choose between Aaron Bautista, a Clark County School District special education teacher, and Tonia Holmes-Sutton, chair of the Nevada State Public Charter School Authority. Both candidates vying for the position said they are not sold on Nevadas ballot Question 1, which would remove from the Nevada State Constitution provisions that establish the Board of Regents as the governing body of NSHE. If approved, the ballot question would give the state Legislature the ability to review and change the governing organization of public universities. Bautista said he believes removing the Board of Regents would give the legislature too much say over the direction of higher education. Im not for it, said Bautista. In Florida, they removed the Board of Regents and what ended up happening is that the Republican legislature got rid of some of the African American Studies classes because the Board of Regents wasnt there. It prevents academic freedom, depending on whos in office. Holmes-Sutton told the Nevada Faculty Alliance in April this year that she was against the proposed constitutional amendment. However, in an interview with the Nevada Current last week, Holmes-Sutton said she is currently still processing her position. Im still making a decision myself as to what my position will be, Holmes-Sutton said. I definitely believe that it is of importance to continue to research and engage with colleagues around the intentions and also opportunities that exist as the Legislature seeks to reform the Board of Regions governance. Holmes-Sutton noted that she wasnt certain about Question 1s chances of passing this election, after a similar ballot measure was narrowly defeated in 2020. Affodability & accessibility Bautista, who teaches at the Ellen Stewart Special School, received a bachelors degree in public administration from Nevada State College, and a masters degree in special education from Grand Canyon University. His campaign reported raising nearly $3,000 during the first six months of his campaign. In financial fillings, Bautista listed his party affiliation as the Democratic Party. Hes been endorsed by a number of unions, including AFL-CIO, the Clark County Education Association, SEIU Nevada, Laborers Local 872, IBEW, and Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Service Technicians, Local 525. He was also endorsed by Hispanics in Politics and Make the Road Nevada Action. Bautista said he would like to see NSHE address the states teacher shortage by establishing a state loan forgiveness program for educators working in the state, similar to programs offered in California and Alabama. In Nevada, where we have this big shortage, we dont have programs like that at all, Bautisa said. Both candidates said they plan to approach their regent duties with college affordability and accessibility in mind, and emphasized the importance of college readiness to prepare students for the pressures of higher education. Bautista advocated for reexamining enrollment requirements under the Nevada Promise Scholarship, which requires students to sign up for a minimum of 12 credits to qualify. Bautista said many students are too intimidated by the required course load to apply for the scholarship and give higher education a try. Safety & equity Holmes-Sutton advocated for expanding dual credit programs, which allow high school students to earn college credits while in high school. Not all students in Nevada have equal access to dual credit programs, especially rural students where less resources are available, she said. Holmes-Sutton has a masters and doctorate of education from UNLV. In addition to chairing the state Charter School Board, she serves the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Board of Directors and the WestEd Board of Directors. She previously served on the Nevada State Board of Education. She reported raising about $5,500 during the first six months of her campaign, and spending about $2,500. In financial fillings, Holmes-Sutton listed her party affiliation as nonpartisan. Holmes-Sutton has received endorsements from a number of military-focused groups, including the Nevada Democratic Veterans and Military Families Caucus, and the Nevada Veterans Association. She also received endorsements from the Nevada Faculty Alliance and Ironworkers Local Union 416. Both candidates said they would prioritize improving student safety and mental health services. Holmes-Sutton recounted how she herself has faced gun violence at four distinct periods in her life. Her daughter also faced gun violence as a student at UNLV who was attending classes when the Dec. 6 shooting at UNLV took place. You cannot focus on learning and teaching if you are fearful for your safety, Holmes-Sutton said. Well being, safety, and mental health are intrinsically linked in such a way that we must attend to them in a comprehensive manner. Newly elected regents will have no shortage of issues to address, including dealing with the fallout of higher education budgets devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In December, the board voted to raise tuition and fees by 5% to help pay for 11% raises for NSHE professional employees. Bautista said he believes equity should be top of mind when considering the budget and how best to allocate resources. When it comes to spending Id like to look at equity. What institutions are at a disadvantage? Resources need to be distributed so students and faculty are not at a disadvantage when going to a certain university, Bautista said. We have to look at the budget and where its being spent and where it could be spent better. Holmes-Sutton said balancing funding needs and college affordability is one of the most significant responsibilities of the board, and requires expertise and research. We can examine how other states have addressed some of the challenges that they experience around funding. We can learn by way of research and experience from others to be able to inform the decisions that we make, Holmes-Sutton said. Its important to engage in a way that is transparent and that seeks the expertise and experience of others in making the decisions that are best for our community. How to register or update your voter registration for this Novembers election COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) Voters in Ohio wishing to cast a ballot in this Novembers election have one week left to register or update their voter registration. Ohioans must register or update their voter registration no later than 30 days before an election, meaning those who plan on voting in the Nov. 5 election must register by Oct. 7. Voters can update their registration online here and will need to provide information like their Ohio drivers license number, the last four digits of their social security number and their address. Fact checking both sides of Issue 1 redistricting initiative Once the registration is processed, Ohioans have several options for voting: mail-in voting via an absentee ballot, voting in person early at the county board of elections, or in-person voting on election day. How to vote via an absentee ballot Those in Ohio wishing to use mail-in voting must first submit a request form for an absentee ballot, available here, and return it by mail or in person to their county board of elections. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRoses office will begin mailing absentee ballots on Oct. 8 to those who submitted a request, but the deadline to request a ballot is seven days before the election on Oct. 29. After receiving and completing their ballot, Ohioans must ensure their ballot is postmarked by the day before the election, Nov. 4, in order to be counted. Voters can also return their absentee ballot in person to their county board of elections before the polls close at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 5. How Ohios Supreme Court could change parental rights for same-sex couples Ohio voters can request their ballot for each election 90 days before the date of an election, but must complete a separate application for each they want to vote in. Voting by mail reduces the chances of lines at the polls and absentee ballots are the first votes counted on election night, LaRoses website states, which also has a map of county elections boards. How to vote early in-person Early in-person voting starts on Oct. 8 in the November election. Voters can cast ballots at county boards of elections most days leading up to the weekend before Election Day, so long as they come with photo identification. Heres when you can vote early: Oct. 8-11: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct.14-18: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 21-25: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 26: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 27: 1 to 5 p.m. Oct. 28: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 29: 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 30 Nov. 1: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 3: 1 to 5 p.m. Ohio requires in-person voters to have a form of photo identification in order to vote. That includes an Ohio drivers license, an Ohio ID card, a U.S. passport or passport card, a U.S. military ID, a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ID, or an Ohio National Guard ID. All identification must have an expiration date that has not passed, a photograph of the voter, and the voters name, which must substantially conform to the voters name as it appears in the poll list. An unexpired Ohio drivers license, Ohio ID card, or interim documentation with your former address is an acceptable form of ID when your current address is in the pollbook, Secretary of State Frank LaRoses site states. Ohio lawmaker aims to eliminate all lead pipes in the state over 15-year period If voters do not have any of the above forms of identification, they may cast a provisional ballot. However, for that ballot to be counted, voters must return to the board of elections no later than four days after Election Day to provide a qualifying form of identification. Out-of-state drivers licenses are not valid IDs when voting. Ohio will also not accept a social security card, birth certificate, insurance card, utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, or any other government document. There are many resources on the Secretary of States website, that will make your trip to the polls easier: View your sample ballot, once completed, here. Find your Nov. 5 polling location 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. Its a relief: Stuck NASA astronauts welcome SpaceX capsule thatll bring them home next year The two astronauts stuck at the International Space Station since June welcomed their new ride home with Sundays arrival of a SpaceX capsule. SpaceX launched the rescue mission on Saturday with a downsized crew of two astronauts and two empty seats reserved for Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who will return next year. The Dragon capsule docked in darkness as the two craft soared 265 miles (426 kilometers) above Botswana. NASA switched Wilmore and Williams to SpaceX following concerns over the safety of their Boeing Starliner capsule. It was the first Starliner test flight with a crew, and NASA decided the thruster failures and helium leaks that cropped up after liftoff were too serious and poorly understood to risk the test pilots return. So Starliner returned to Earth empty earlier this month. The Dragon carrying NASAs Nick Hague and the Russian Space Agencys Alexander Gorbunov will remain at the space station until February, turning what should have been a weeklong trip for Wilmore and Williams into a mission lasting more than eight months. Two NASA astronauts were pulled from the mission to make room for Wilmore and Williams on the return leg. I just want to say welcome to our new compadres, Williams, the space station commander, said once Hague and Gorbunov floated inside and were embraced by the nine astronauts awaiting them. Hague said it was a smooth flight up. Coming through the hatch and seeing all the smiles, and as much as Ive laughed and cried in the last 10 minutes, I know its going to be an amazing expedition, he said. NASA likes to replace its station crews every six months or so. SpaceX has provided the taxi service since the companys first astronaut flight in 2020. NASA also hired Boeing for ferry flights after the space shuttles were retired, but flawed software and other Starliner issues led to years of delays and more than $1 billion in repairs. Starliner inspections are underway at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, with post-flight reviews of data set to begin this week. Were a long way from saying, Hey, were writing off Boeing, NASAs associate administrator Jim Free said at a pre-launch briefing. The arrival of two fresh astronauts means the four who have been up there since March can now return to Earth in their own SpaceX capsule in just over a week, bringing the stations crew size back down to the normal seven. Their stay was extended a month because of the Starliner turmoil. Although Saturdays liftoff went well, SpaceX said the rockets spent upper stage ended up outside its targeted impact zone in the Pacific because of a bad engine firing. The company has halted all Falcon launches until it figures out what went wrong.was extended a month because of the Starliner turmoil. Professor Olivier de Weck oversees the astronautics and aeronautics program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has been following the rescue mission closely. It is a relief, he told Boston 25 over the weekend. All it takes to get home is to open the hatch, get in, close the hatch, and come back. Hague is an alum of de Wecks program at MIT. De Weck added, Whenever one of them goes up, its a special occasion. We try to connect with them live while up there. Hague is a Kansas native who graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1998. He received a masters degree in astronautic and aeronautic engineering from MIT in 2000. He joined NASA in 2013. He traveled once before to the International Space Station in 2019. MIT students Sunday were keeping tabs on the rescue mission by one of their own. One added, If anyone can get it done, its the MIT astronauts. Another finished, It makes you even see your own friends in a new light Are you one day going to be in space looking down? Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW US President Joe Biden meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (Not Pictured) at the White House. -/Ukrainian Presidency/dpa Israel has told the US it plans to launch a limited ground offensive that could begin shortly in Lebanon, according to US media reports. The operation could begin in the coming hours, according to the reports by CBS and the Washington Post, citing a US government official. US President Joe Biden did not directly confirm the reports in an exchange with journalists. When asked whether he was aware of Israeli plans to launch a "limited operation" in Lebanon and whether he approved, Biden replied, "I'm more aware than you might know, and I'm comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now." Signs hoisted by the audience for an Amendment 2 debate at the Fancy Farm Picnic express conflicting views on the school funding amendment that Kentucky voters will decide in November, Aug. 3, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony) Kentucky Attorney General Russell Colemans office has denied a Republican political strategists open records request and sided with Pulaski County Schools regarding communications about a proposed constitutional amendment that could affect school funding. In the decision issued Friday, the attorney generals office said the school district did not violate the states Open Records Act when it denied the request as unreasonably burdensome according to state law. Blake Gober, a GOP political strategist, had submitted a request for internal and external communications between school district board members and staff with references to Education Opportunities Constitutional Amendment (Ballot Question 2); Amendment 2; Question 2; Yes on 2 or No on 2. A public agency may deny open records requests if producing the records would impose an unreasonable burden or if the records custodian has reason to believe that repeated requests are intended to disrupt other essential functions of the public agency, under Kentucky state law. However, the agency must provide evidence to demonstrate that. The District explained that, as written, the request sought 18,473 emails from 2,123 District employees, the open records decision said. The District also stated that the requested records would need to be reviewed and redacted for exempt information before they could be produced. Finally, the District invited the Appellant to narrow the parameters of his request, stating it would work with him to fulfill such a subsequent request. This appeal followed. TJ Roberts, an attorney representing Gober in the appeal, said the opinion was a narrow ruling on the broad nature of the request. Roberts said Gober plans to narrow his request. Roberts is a Republican candidate for the 66th House District in Northern Kentucky. Gober said in a Monday afternoon statement that while he was disappointed in the Attorney Generals office ruling, he was more disappointed by the school district. He said he would file a new request rather than seek an appeal in court to continue seeking the answers the public deserves while seeking to alleviate the supposed unreasonable burden that (the school district) claimed they were facing. Their sole job is to educate but they have chosen to use their publicly funded resources to spread disinformation and lies about Amendment 2, Gober said. Rather than put students first, they have chosen to fight for the status quo that is failing so many students across our great Commonwealth. Last month, Republicans supporting Amendment 2 criticized Pulaski County Schools for posting messages on its websites and Facebook account advocating against the ballot measure. If it passes this November, the amendment gives the General Assembly the ability to fund nonpublic schools. The Attorney Generals office later published an advisory that warned school districts to not use tax dollars to advocate for or against a constitutional amendment. Amid the initial backlash, Pulaski County Schools said in a statement that school board members had received open records requests for their private cell phone and devices for texts or emails discussing this issue. Around that time, the Kentucky Lantern submitted an open records request to Pulaski County Schools for recent requests regarding Amendment 2. Gobers request was disclosed in response, as well as a request from the Kentucky chapter of Americans for Prosperity for communications with specific search terms, including Amendment 2, and a defined timeframe. The AFP requester told the Lantern the school district provided documents Monday. AFP is a libertarian conservative advocacy group that is campaigning for Amendment 2 in Kentucky. Pulaski County Superintendent Patrick Richardson did not immediately return a request for comment Monday morning. This story was updated with additional comments Monday afternoon. BANGKOK (AP) A new investigation focused on three of the worlds largest producers of shrimp released on Monday claims that as big Western supermarkets make windfall profits, their aggressive pursuit of ever-lower wholesale prices is causing misery for people at the bottom end of the supply chain. The regional analysis of the industry in Vietnam, Indonesia and India, which provide about half the shrimp in the worlds top four markets the United States, European Union, United Kingdom and Japan is based on research done by an alliance of NGOs. It found a 20%-60% drop in earnings from pre-pandemic levels as producers struggle to meet pricing demands by cutting labor costs. In many places this has meant unpaid and underpaid work through longer hours, wage insecurity as rates fluctuate, and many workers not even making low minimum wages. Supermarkets linked to facilities where exploited labor was reported by workers include Target, Walmart and Costco in the United States, Britains Sainsburys and Tesco, and Aldi and Co-op in Europe. The regional report brought together more than 500 interviews conducted in-person with workers in their native languages, in India, Indonesia and Vietnam published separately as country-specific reports supplemented with secondary data and interviews from Thailand, Bangladesh and Ecuador. What did the researchers find? In Vietnam, Hawaii-based Sustainability Incubator investigators found that the workers who peel, gut and devein shrimp typically work six or seven days a week, often in rooms kept extremely cold to keep the product fresh. Some 80% of those involved in processing shrimp are women, many of whom rise at 4 a.m. and return home at 6 p.m. Pregnant women and new mothers can stop one hour earlier, the report found. In India, researchers from the Corporate Accountability Lab found that workers face dangerous and abusive conditions. Highly salinated water from newly dug hatcheries and ponds, tainted with chemicals and toxic algae, also contaminate surrounding water and soil. Unpaid labor prevails, including salaries below minimum wage, unpaid overtime, wage deductions for costs of work and significant debt bondage, the report found. Child labor was also found, with girls aged 14 and 15 being recruited for peeling work. In Indonesia, three non-profit research organizations found that wages have fallen since the COVID-19 pandemic and today average $160 per month for shrimp workers, below Indonesias minimum wage in most of the biggest shrimp-producing provinces. Shrimp peelers routinely are required to work at least 12 hours per day to meet minimum targets. Story continues What do the supermarkets say? Switzerlands Co-op said it had a zero tolerance policy for labor law violations and that its producers receive fair and market-driven prices. Germanys Aldi did not specifically address the issue of pricing, but said it uses independent certification schemes to ensure responsibly sourcing for farmed shrimp products, and would continue to monitor the allegations. We are committed to fulfilling our responsibility to respect human rights, Aldi said. Sainsburys referred to a comment from the British Retail Consortium industry group, which said its members were committed to sourcing products at a fair, sustainable price and that the welfare of people and communities in supply chains is fundamental to their purchasing practices. The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers issued a statement calling the allegations in the report unfounded, misleading and detrimental to the reputation of Vietnams shrimp exports, citing government labor policies. The NGO's report stresses that using middlemen to buy the shrimp obfuscates the true sources of shrimp that appear in western supermarkets, so many retailers may not be following ethical commitments theyve made about procuring shrimp. Only about 2,000 of the 2 million shrimp farms in the major producing countries are certified by either the Aquaculture Stewardship Council or the Best Aquaculture Practices ecolabel, making it "mathematically impossible for certified farms to produce enough shrimp per month to supply all of the supermarkets that boast commitments to purchasing certified shrimp, the report says. What can be done? U.S. policymakers could use antitrust and other laws already in place to establish oversight to ensure fair pricing from western retailers, rather than imposing punishing tariffs on suppliers, says Katrina Nakamura of Sustainability Incubator, who wrote the regional report. In July, the European Union adopted a new directive requiring companies to identify and address adverse human rights and environmental impacts of their actions inside and outside Europe. Officials from Indonesia and Vietnam have met with the report's authors to discuss their findings and look for solutions. Given the current disparity in retail and wholesale prices, paying more to farmers would not have to mean higher prices for consumers, the Sustainability Incubator report said, but it would mean lower profits for the supermarkets. Labor exploitation in shrimp aquaculture industries is not company, sector, or country-specific, the report concludes. Instead, it is the result of a hidden business model that exploits people for profit. ___ This version has corrected the spelling of a researcher's name to Katrina not Katrin. ___ This story was supported by funding from the Walton Family Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Some battleground state Republicans say they're worried they see little evidence of Donald Trumps ground game and fear it could cost him the election in an exceedingly close race. In interviews, more than a dozen Republican strategists and operatives in presidential battlegrounds voiced serious concerns about what they described as a paltry get-out-the-vote effort by the Trump campaign, an untested strategy of leaning on outside groups to help do field work and a top-of-the-ticket strategy thats disjointed from the one Republicans down the ballot are running. After years of attempts to mimic Democrats Barack Obama-era grassroots organizing model, the GOP is still trying to develop a ground game strategy that can rival their opponents. And as Harris continues to pour money into her door-to-door efforts, some of the strategists and operatives fear the partys efforts this year will fall short potentially hampering Trump in key battlegrounds. The question in my mind is, are they all singing from the same sheet of music, and is there that strong, extensive, well-funded machine at the top of the ticket? said Stephen Lawson, a Republican operative in Georgia. I think thats a central question heading into early voting next month. A Michigan-based GOP strategist, granted anonymity to speak candidly, described the partys challenge bluntly: "They are out-matching us in money, in enthusiasm and in the ground game. Campaign ground games which include door-knocking and ballot-chasing efforts organized by the campaign and outside groups can be make-or-break in close elections. And its not as though the Trump campaign is doing nothing. To help milk votes in competitive states, his campaign has marshaled a volunteer army of door-knockers and phone-callers its referring to as Trump Force 47, made up of 30,000 specially trained area captains and hundreds of thousands of other volunteers focused on getting out the vote, a Trump campaign official, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the campaigns plans, told POLITICO. And aided by a Federal Election Commission decision earlier this year allowing super PACs and other outside groups to coordinate with campaigns on voter turnout strategy, Trumps campaign is also relying on the work of outside groups to reach a goal of knocking on at least 15 million doors, the Trump campaign official said. While Trumps team is receiving help from a number of conservative groups carrying out get-out-the-vote operations, organizations like Elon Musks America PAC, Turnout for America, America First Works, Turning Point Action and Pennsylvania Chase are among the groups theyre working particularly closely with. But several Republican operatives said they arent seeing the same kind of presence either from the Trump campaign itself or from those outside groups that they did during his previous presidential runs, in 2016 and 2020. Down-ballot candidates for state legislature in some battleground states arent running into Trump canvassers at the doors or seeing the campaigns literature left behind the way they used to, they added. One GOP operative in a battleground state, who like others was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the state of the race, cast doubt on whether the Trump Force 47 program is actually putting its recruits to work. It's almost like a timeshare scheme. You have to go in and do the training, and you get the swag and the hat and the yard sign. Thats what you have to do to go get it, the operative said. It doesnt seem like people are really being activated, and the campaigns not very forthcoming on whether theyve been activated. Both the Trump campaign and outside groups say it makes sense that battleground Republicans may not be seeing their work because they are trying to reach low- and mid-propensity voters. That means spending less time than before in the dense, high-turnout suburban areas where the swing voters need more persuasion attention and less turnout attention, said James Blair, Trumps political director. We've really worked hard to mobilize the infrequent or occasional Trump-inclined or anti-Harris voter that's pretty disconnected from politics, a little bit off the grid, not contacted by campaigns regularly, Blair told POLITICO. And that often means they skew more rural or exurban, live in less dense areas, lower income areas, are newer to voting. And sometimes that means theres less frequency and less visibility in areas that plugged-in politicos who talk to media are used to. A person familiar with the outside effort, granted anonymity to speak candidly about their work, put it this way: For those not seeing canvassers in traditional places the answer is, No duh, we're not running a traditional program. Outside groups also say their work with the Trump campaign is more effective than past Republican National Committee get-out-the-vote efforts, allowing the campaign to focus dollars on things like ads and candidate travel. Some of the groups, like America PAC, are blanketing the country, while others, like Turning Point, are zeroing on particular states in their case, focusing on Arizona and Wisconsin. The preliminary data that we have shows that our efforts are massively successful. I totally disagree with the premise that something is wrong, said Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for Turning Point Action. Turning Point, affiliated with the influential and controversial activist and commentator Charlie Kirk, has been the most vocal of the outside groups on the right about its ground program, which is targeting low-propensity conservative voters: those who support Trump but didnt participate in one or both of the last two presidential elections. Kolvet declined to say how many full-time staff the group employs but said it has added more than 200 new full-time staff in Arizona and Wisconsin in the last couple weeks and is covering hotel costs for volunteers who relocate to help door knock during early voting. Ralph Reed, founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition focused on reaching evangelical voters a quarter of whom infrequently vote said they will have 10,000 people working on their door-knocking and phone-calling program, roughly half of which will be paid. He said the coalition, in addition to efforts in other states, has 238 paid staff in Pennsylvania, 181 in Georgia, and hundreds more volunteers in each. Nor are Democrats without their challenges. They are still rebuilding their on-the-ground operation after the Covid-19 pandemic wiped out much of the partys infrastructure in 2020 and President Joe Bidens campaign failed to invigorate volunteers earlier in this election cycle. The Harris campaign, in the first five days after she took over the ticket, saw more than 170,000 new volunteers sign up and held more than 2,300 events in battleground states. "Nobody wanted to talk about Joe Biden at the doors, so now, theyre trying to do this quickly and thats hard, going from zero to one hundred, said one national Democratic strategist, granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly. The campaign is making up for lost time, and so much money was slower to get into the field because of Biden, so everyones still catching up. Another Democratic operative who works in field operations also raised concerns that advocacy groups not tied to campaigns are still very underfunded. Across the board, groups are feeling the pinch, the operative continued. The amount you would pay for a canvasser is much higher than it was four years ago. Everything costs more than it did four years ago. But the Harris campaign, for its part, has the money it needs to pour into any remaining infrastructure needs. A campaign aide, granted anonymity to speak about internal campaign dynamics, said the campaign had 238 offices and roughly 1,750 staff in battleground states as of Wednesday. And the record fundraising hauls Harris has brought in raising $310 million in July, including $200 million in the first week after she replaced Biden has allowed the campaign to pour additional resources into its ground game, including 418 staff and 30 offices in the last month. In the state with its smallest operation, Nevada, the Harris campaign has 142 staffers; a Republican operative who claimed to be familiar with the Trump teams staffing level said there were only 16 campaign staff in Nevada, a figure a Trump official disputed, saying the number was significantly higher while declining to share specifics. The Trump official also did not say how many full-time staff are involved in their largely volunteer-driven Trump Force 47 program, but said there are hundreds of paid staff in more than 300 offices across the battleground states. And the outside groups aiming to help Trump have their own challenges. Elon Musks group, which is in all seven battleground states, has twice this summer cut ties with canvassing firms it had hired to knock hundreds of thousands of doors, according to the New York Times. (The PAC declined to share how many doors it has knocked, but reports from the FEC show that it had poured more than $72 million into independent expenditures, including nearly $46 million into canvassing and field operations, as of Wednesday.) And some veteran political operatives have been critical of the overall focus on low-propensity voters. I just don't think there's a lot of juice in those oranges. It's not a good place to go, said Chuck Coughlin, a political consultant in Arizona who left the Republican Party under Trump. But it's logical, given the fact that they're not giving the other segments of the electorate any place for buy in. In Nevada, where Republicans have long envied Democrats storied Reid machine, GOP operatives are particularly frustrated. They laud the work that GOP Gov. Joe Lombardo is doing through his super PAC to help down-ballot legislative candidates, but say its disconnected from the Trump-focused efforts. There's really no organization, a Republican operative in Nevada said. He comes out, they scramble to do a rally but after that, theres just really nothing else. Meridith McGraw and Lisa Kashinsky contributed to this report. Residents take it upon selves to help reopen bridge SOUTH WASHINGTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) The sound of chainsaws filled the air as volunteers unsolicited and unauthorized removed detritus from the deck of Jackson Bridge Saturday morning. They were men and women from south of the Nolichucky River, and their neighbors for miles were stranded after massive flooding from Hurricane Helene had wiped out some bridges and made others, including Jackson, impassable. Volunteers work to clear the Jackson Bridge over the Nolichucky River in Washington County, Tenn., Sept. 28, 2024. (Photo: WJHL) Volunteers drove tractors, skid steers, and other personal equipment up and down Jackson Bridge Road for more than a half-mile behind them. Weve been here all morning pushing mud, cutting trees and moving things out, nearby resident Steven Beckett told News Channel 11. The volunteers knew people in communities stretching for miles from Embreeville and South Central in Washington County were stranded down into Greene County. Many had no power or water. The Kinser Bridge, also known as the 107 Bridge, has collapsed, Staci Crum, who, with her husband and daughter, had driven east from Greene County to the former Taylor Bridge crossing. Its completely gone. And then the other bridge for us to get out, we call it Massengill Bridge or Ernest Bridge; its underwater and impassable as well. The Crums were without power and water. Right now, we know nothing. We know were landlocked, Staci Crum said as her husband looked at the wide stretch of river where Taylor Bridge had been pummeled into oblivion by the raging waters less than 18 hours earlier. Local resident Steven Beckett was among those helping clear the bridge. (Photo: WJHL) Im a diabetic, Im low on pen needles, Tracy Penley, who lives near Taylor Bridge, said. Thats the biggest reason, to be honest with you, Im even out. Ive got like half a box left, which is about a weeks worth. It was for people like Penley that Beckett and others were getting sweaty and dirty as water continued to rise at the edges of Jackson Bridge Road. The community got together and decided were gonna clear the bridge because we didnt see any activity real early, Beckett said. Later in the morning, those volunteer teams spotted Washington County Highway Department workers across the river, working to clear the road on the other side. Were all working to meet in the middle, if you will, Beckett said as a Cat with a claw tool grabbed a massive log, crawled to the edge of the bridge, and dropped it into the water below. I believe a lot of the trees and things that were floating were floating above the bridge and actually saved it, Beckett said. Its one of the ones that made it. By 1:30, crews had the bridge deck clear and roads on both sides, making it relatively passable. Foot traffic and high-priority vehicle traffic were allowed. The community effort didnt escape Washington County Mayor Joe Grandys notice. A log heads toward the waters of the Nolichucky after being plucked from the bridges deck. (Photo: WJHL) I just want to say how impressed everyone has been with the support from the community trying to help the people that were stranded on the other side of the Nolichucky River, Grandy said at a Sunday morning news conference. He later told News Channel 11 that another group had cleared an even longer stretch of Snapp Bridge Road from the rivers south side. By mid-afternoon Sunday, two-way traffic was allowed on both of the small bridges. Fewer than a third of the 13 bridges spanning the Nolichucky between Taylor Bridge and Poplar Bridge southwest of Greeneville were passable as of Sunday afternoon. Several had been completely destroyed. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather. CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) The Charleston County Sheriffs Office will host a ribbon cutting for a Restoration Unit at the Al Cannon Detention Center on Monday. Officials say the Restoration Unit is designed to medically stabilize incarcerated individuals who have been declared incompetent to stand trial. The Sheriffs Office says once stabilization has been achieved, the individual will receive education on the criminal justice system. This will help with their cases adjudication, bringing justice to themselves or their victims, and relieve the backlog of court cases, said Charleston County Sheriffs Office officials. The Sheriffs Office is partnering with the South Carolina Department of Mental Health, VitalCore Health Strategies, and the Medical University of South Carolina to develop the Restoration Unit. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Results in from Austintown OVI checkpoint AUSTINTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) The results are in for a checkpoint conducted in Austintown Friday night into early Saturday morning. Read next: YPD: Man found outside South Side bar with gun said he was waiting to get someone The checkpoint ran from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m. in the 400 block of North Canfield Niles Road, near Hollywood Gaming. The following enforcement activity was a result: 1 OVI arrest 1 summons for driving under suspension 1 citation for adult restraint 1 summons for an open container of alcohol A total of 628 vehicles passed through the checkpoint. The Mahoning County OVI Task Force is funded by a federal grant, which is administered through the Ohio Department of Public Safety. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. (Bloomberg) -- When an Iranian consulate building was destroyed in Syria in April, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to punish Israel. What followed was a huge, yet telegraphed assault and no all-out war. Most Read from Bloomberg Three months later, the military chief of Iran-backed Hezbollah and Hamass political head were killed within hours of each other. The wider regional conflict seen by some as imminent didnt end up erupting. Israels assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday in Beirut dealt an even bigger blow. But its still unlikely to trigger a direct war with the Islamic Republic, according to current and former US and Middle East government officials and regional experts. Instead, Iran will focus on rebuilding the militant group in Lebanon and keeping its network of proxies in action for as long as possible, they said. For all the saber rattling, what Iran calls its powerful axis of resistance in reality has seen its soft underbelly exposed again. Both Hezbollah, the most important asset in that axis, and Iran itself have been weakened and have few options, making it unlikely they will escalate the conflict, according to a person familiar with USs thinking. More of a wildcard is whether Israel pursues further targets to hurt Hezbollah while the US is focused on the presidential election campaign, one Arab official said. Already, the killing of Nasrallah followed an attack on the groups nerve system by exploding pagers and walkie talkies they used for communication. Iran will be cornered into responding, with a bigger chorus of people demanding revenge, said Dina Esfandiary, senior adviser on the Middle East and North Africa at the International Crisis Group. But this administration doesn't want to embroil themselves in a conflict they cant win. So they will have to measure their response. There were early signs from officials that the Islamic Republic will exercise the kind of restraint it showed after Israels other recent provocations. Thats not least because Israel is superior militarily and the US has moved more forces into the region to deter a major attack on its ally. Mohammad Javad Zarif, a top aide to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and a former foreign minister, told state television on Sunday: We will respond at a time thats appropriate and our own choosing. Khameneis first statement a day earlier, meanwhile, emphasized the fact that Hezbollah has enough people who can replace Nasrallah and that the axis of resistance will decide the fate of the region. The rhetoric from Tehran reflects the desire of the clerical and military establishment to keep war at arms length. In the immediate term, the task will be to recoup the strength of the militant groups it backs in the region and ensure it isnt baited into a full-blown war. In Lebanon, the priority is to preserve whats left of Hezbollah, according to Vali Nasr, a former senior adviser to the US State Department and professor of Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University. The group, like Hamas, is considered a terrorist organization by the US and many of its allies. The priority for Iran is deterrence it does not want a larger war right now and it suspects that Israel wants one, said Nasr. Its not about avenging Nasrallah, its about rebuilding their position. Theres no disguising Irans vulnerability of late. Amid the string of major attacks targeting Iranian allies and personnel, former President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash, leading to an election that ushered in reformist leader Pezeshkian in July. Yet the weakness goes back further. The demise of the Hezbollah chief has echoes of the USs taking out of Qassem Soleimani, Irans most prominent general and a national hero, in early 2020. That was during the presidency of Donald Trump, a hawk on Iran who one of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus key coalition partners has endorsed for a return to the White House. Its a huge body blow after Soleimani was killed and in many ways his successor was Nasrallah, said Nasr. He was an iconic figure and a linchpin and he cant be easily replaced and neither can Hezbollah be rebuilt this quickly. Allies Syria and Iraq will become key conduits for the transfer of Hezbollahs resources, according to a source with direct knowledge of military movements in northeast Syria and Iranian militias operating in both countries. Iran will now try to move thousands of fighters to border areas of Lebanon and Syria, the source said, adding that for the past two months several thousand fighters have gone from Iraq to Syria, suggesting that Tehran has been preparing to reinforce its deterrence. Since its involvement in Syria in 2012 to defend Bashar al-Assads regime alongside other Iran-backed militias, Hezbollah has built bases and an elaborate network of tunnels in areas in Syria close to the Lebanese border. Many Hezbollah field commanders have also been fleeing to Syria from Lebanon with their families, according to a person familiar with the situation. Iran doesnt fight for its proxies, its proxies fight for it, said Jonathan Lord, a former Pentagon official and director of the Middle East Security program at the Center for a New American Security. The regime is most interested in self-preservation and wont knowingly put itself at risk. Israels massive strike on southern Beirut to take out Nasrallah also killed a commander of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. That raised the tally of assassinations of senior IRGC officers and personnel and top-ranking members of proxy groups to at least a dozen since last years Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas. While the loss of Nasrallah and depletion of Hezbollahs top ranks is a major loss for both the organization and Iran, it likely wont prompt a change or rethinking in Irans foreign and regional policy. Pezeshkian has gained Khameneis tacit support to pursue a policy of cautious engagement with the West in order to secure relief from economic sanctions. That requires ensuring relations with the US and Europe dont deteriorate further even as Israel keeps pressuring Iran militarily. As Miri Eisen, a retired Israeli intelligence colonel and former prime ministerial spokesperson, put it: the hit on Beirut and assassination of Nasrallah isnt check mate. This does not eliminate Hezbollah, she said. Hezbollahs arsenal is 10 times what Hamas ever had. Hezbollah still has the backing of and open road to the Islamic regime in Iran. Indeed, bombardment of Hezbollahs leadership and members has again exposed the Islamic Republics limits when it comes to hitting back at Israel. The missile attack by Tehran in April, thwarted by Israel with the help of its allies, has been the extent of Irans response to Israel so far, despite its generals often warning of a crushing or severe retaliation. It raised questions of whether Iran actually had the capability to follow through on the threats. Its very clear that Iran is also somewhat stunned by all of this and needs time to regroup, said Barbara Slavin, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center, a foreign affairs think tank in the US. Iranians are going to remain cautious, they understand that Israel is still in a mood to escalate and strike. They will go back to guerilla tactics and strategic patience. --With assistance from Iain Marlow, Augusta Saraiva, Natalia Drozdiak and Dan Williams. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was able to get off the ballot in North Carolina, but he has now failed to do so in another battleground state: Wisconsin. The rejection from the latter states top court came the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Kennedys bid to be on the ballot in New York. Michigans top court earlier this month likewise said hell be on the swing states ballot. These rulings follow the suspension of Kennedys independent presidential campaign last month and his endorsement of Republican nominee Donald Trump. Since dropping out of the race, he has fought to stay off the ballot in swing states, where he could hurt Trump, while trying to get on them elsewhere, such as New York in the attempt that failed Friday. The Wisconsin rejection also came Friday. Upholding a lower courts ruling against Kennedy, the state's top court noted that the lower court had pointed to the fact Kennedy had simultaneously claimed harm in some states from not being removed from the ballot and harm in other states from not being placed on the ballot. The court also cited ... the harm that would be inflicted on the public if the requested injunction were granted, including the high cost of reprinting ballots or the logistical problems in conducting an election with ballots on which stickers were placed to obscure Kennedys name, as he requested. The Wisconsin high court also called out the quality of Kennedys lawyering, writing that his briefs failed to develop arguments to even a minimal standard sufficient for us to consider their merits. While emphasizing that it wasnt necessarily in agreement with the lower courts legal conclusions, the top court said it was simply unable to make such determinations, given the inadequate briefing presented to us. The Deadline: Legal Newsletter returns Oct. 4. Subscribe for expert analysis on the top legal stories of the week, including updates from the new Supreme Court term and developments in Donald Trumps legal cases. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com Delegate Mary E. Batastini of Providence, in yellow blazer, addresses her fellow delegates on May 1, 1986, during proceedings of the Rhode Island Constitutional Convention, the last year the state held one. Batastini was the chairwoman of the Committee on Citizen Rights. (Screenshot from Plenary Session video/Rhode Island State Archives) The mild debate over whether Rhode Island should hold a constitutional convention is unsurprising. And not because the political world has become recently polarized. In fact, Rhode Island has always been very particular about the language in its governing documents and has found it difficult to come to consensus. Once we manage to adopt something, we become pretty invested in not changing it. Consider Rhode Islands original European settlers, who were free thinkers who had trouble aggregating. They settled in Providence, Warwick and in two places on Aquidneck Island establishing separate communities with their own governing authorities. But pressure from adjoining colonies, which both rejected notions of religious tolerance and wanted Rhode Islands resource-rich landscape, encouraged the groups to come together and to get from King Charles II a document which codified the ways they had chosen to live, most particularly, with freedom from governmental stipulations about religion. The resulting charter took a trip to England and 17 years to get right before it was adopted in 1663. It created the unified colony of Rhode Island and was our central governing document through the Revolution and Independence. The charter includes both standard boilerplate for such documents in the 17th century, and very specific language about religious freedom, written by Rhode Islanders. We liked our charter so much that we were reluctant to endorse the new, U.S. Constitution, and were the last new state to do so in 1790. Of course, that was not the end of it. Rhode Island historians love to tell the story of the Dorr Rebellion, so I will keep it short. In the 19th century, the State of Rhode Island was still using the ancient charter as its state constitution. Thomas Wilson Dorr, a lawyer and politician, wanted to expand voting rights. He gathered followers, wrote a new constitution and ultimately provoked an armed rebellion against the state. This effort failed to replace the government, but it did force a constitutional convention, and a new state constitution, in 1842. It took a big push to make a change. We have made amendments to our constitution since, and regularly tweak the laws it oversees, but the last real rewrite was during a constitutional convention in 1986. Once every 100+ years or so, it seems, we become willing to come together to manage big change. We are not even halfway through that timeline this year. So it does not surprise me at all that while the citizens of Rhode Island have the right to call for a convention, many oppose it. There is something legitimately concerning about making significant changes to our foundational legal documents. If, as I often argue, our shared culture in this very diverse nation is based in large part on our laws, large-scale changes to how we manage and create them, even at the state level, seems fraught. Once every 100+ years or so, it seems, we become willing to come together to manage big change. We are not even halfway through that timeline this year. There are arguments to make that redrafting our foundational documents for the 21st century is an exercise that would have value, if it involved the whole public, and worked towards establishing the kind of aspirational goals that our national constitution, which has served us very well, contains. Big, culture-changing issues led Dorr to foment his rebellion: removing limitations on who was allowed to vote, and the legality of slavery. And some of the proposed changes that might be considered if we were to hold a constitutional convention now could address things like the way we conduct our elections. These are potentially important to examine. But many of the issues under consideration today seem small. Should the governor have a line-item veto on the budget? Should we have an office of inspector general? These are things that could be solved legislatively, if there was consensus. And since it appears there is not consensus yet, will a constitutional convention change that? Or will it simply allow some factions to try to force changes into place, setting up a contested election on the results? The level of time, care and organization required to develop meaningful small-d democratic consensus on big issues is not easy to imagine in the moment in which we live. If we are fighting our historic reticence as well, I have some real concern that we cant do it right. In which case, we should not do it at all. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX RI landlords need to register apartments by Tuesday. Here's what happens if they don't. Landlords have until Tuesday to register their apartments with the state and, if the homes are in older buildings, produce proof that they are lead-free. The state Department of Health has been working to build Rhode Island's first statewide rental registry, a priority for tenants' advocates and Attorney General Peter Neronha, since it was approved by the General Assembly in summer 2023. All rented living spaces, including short-term rentals, are supposed to be registered under the law, with $50-per-month penalties for landlords who fail to do so. Apartments in buildings constructed before lead was banned in 1978 also have to provide a "lead certificate," proof that they were deemed safe by a certified lead inspector. The state, however, is not going to be issuing any fines for failure to register at this time. The Department of Health "is currently focused on educating landlords about this new requirement and allowing landlords enough time to schedule [and receive] an inspection from a licensed lead inspector," agency spokeswoman Annemarie Beardsworth wrote in an email that explains why fines are not being issued. Is there any consequence of not registering? While landlords, for now, won't be cited for ignoring the registration deadline, they could still be fined eventually. The law requires properties to be registered and in lead compliance for their owners to evict a tenant for not paying rent. The Department of Health has not given any indication of when it might start issuing fines for noncompliance. How many landlords have registered so far? As of Sept. 26, 2,923 properties had been registered and another 3,648 had begun the process but had not completed it, Beardsworth said. There is no fee to register but obtaining a lead certificate for a building built before 1978 isn't always easy. Although the Department of Health won't state it publicly, the delay in issuing fines appears to stem in large part from a shortage of personnel to do the required inspections and lead remediation. At a meeting of the state House study commission on housing affordability, commission chairwoman June Speakman relayed information a Department of Health official gave to a webinar, which suggested professional licensing requirements are getting in the way of lead remediation. "It is a solvable problem, but we impose a requirement and there aren't enough lead inspectors," Speakman said. "To get a a lead inspectors' license, you need not only 40 hours of training, but you need to be an apprentice and the lead inspectors are too busy doing all these lead inspections that we have required them to do that they can't be mentoring new lead inspectors. "So, it is an impossible situation, which is why they are not imposing fines on the Oct. 1 deadline." Last year, Gov. Dan McKee proposed delaying the registration deadline until fall 2025 but lawmakers didn't go for it. McKee also wanted to remove requirements that landlords provide a current address, email address and telephone number on the registry but that didn't happen. What is next? The owners of rental properties have been required to remediate lead and obtain lead certificates since 2002, but without knowing where all apartments are and who is renting them, enforcement has been lax. In Rhode Island, lead is estimated to harm as many as 1,000 children per year and the registry is seen as a key tool for pushing landlords toward cleaning up old units. But, when the registry bill was passed, opponents and proponents noted that having a database of all apartments could also be used in the future to enforce other tenant protections. This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI rental registry deadline Tuesday; no fines for noncompliance yet BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) Attorneys are expected to present arguments Monday and a judge rule on whether a criminal case will proceed against a protester who at an April meeting told the Bakersfield City Council, Well see you at your house, well murder you. 17 News will live blog the proceedings. Riddhi Patel, 28, is charged with 21 felony threat-related counts. Shes free on $500,000 bail. Judge Brian M. McNamara could dismiss some or all of the counts, or find theres sufficient evidence for her to stand trial on all counts. Patel and several family members have attended the hearing, now in its third day. Patel was criticizing security measures at an April 10 city council meeting claiming the measures were retaliation against protesters who demanded the council pass a resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza when she made the statement during public comment. She was arrested immediately afterward. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Ridgeland police arrest man wanted in Florida on sexual assault charges RIDGELAND, Miss. (WJTV) Ridgeland police arrested a man who was wanted in Florida on sexual assault charges. Police said they conducted a traffic stop on Saturday, September 21 in the area of Old Canton Road and William Boulevard. Four teens arrested after Madison County chase They said the driver was identified as 37-year-old Ladarrius Rasheed Martin, of Ridgeland. They discovered Martin had active arrests warrants through the Escambia County Sheriffs Office for four counts of felony sexual assault of a minor. Martin was arrested and transported to the Madison County Detention Center pending extradition to Escambia County, Florida. 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. Today, Prosecutor General Kamran Aliyev met with a delegation led by the Prosecutor General of Georgia, Giorgi Gabitashvili, Azernews reports. Kamran Aliyev emphasised that the meetings held during the 27th Annual Conference and General Meeting of the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) in Tbilisi had a positive impact on the development of cooperation between the prosecutorial bodies of both countries. He also noted that the 29th Annual Conference and General Meeting of the IAP, to be held in Baku, would further strengthen the existing relations. The Prosecutor General highlighted the historic significance of hosting the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Azerbaijan, noting that COP29 would contribute greatly to the protection of the planet and the discussion and resolution of global challenges. Georgia's Prosecutor General, Giorgi Gabitashvili, praised the reforms implemented within the prosecutorial bodies and the strong cooperation between the two countries' prosecution services. At the end of the meeting, Kamran Aliyev invited the Georgian Prosecutor General to a high-level plenary session to be held in Baku on November 15, in cooperation with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The delegation's official visit to Azerbaijan is ongoing. (Bloomberg) -- Toronto-Dominion Bank will pay more than $20 million as part of a deal with US prosecutors and regulators to resolve investigations over a former traders alleged placement of spoof orders to manipulate the US Treasuries market. Most Read from Bloomberg The US Department of Justice on Monday said in a New Jersey federal court filing that the Canadian bank entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement to end criminal and civil probes into hundreds of fraudulent spoof orders amounting to tens of billions of dollars of false supply and demand for US Treasury securities. A spokesperson for Toronto-Dominion didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. The deal comes as Toronto-Dominion is facing separate allegations that it failed to catch money laundering and other financial crimes at several US branches, with prosecutors having filed at least four cases in New York, New Jersey and Florida. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the bank is nearing a guilty plea in the anti-money-laundering probe within the next two weeks, citing people familiar with the matter. The spoofing case stems from conduct allegedly committed by a former trader Jeyakumar Nadarajah, who was charged in November with 16 counts of fraud and securities manipulation based on alleged spoofing between 2018 and 2019. Nadarajah has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go to trial in February. Toronto-Dominion on Monday agreed to pay a criminal penalty of more than $9 million and $12.5 million to end civil investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The bank will also pay $4.7 million in compensation to victims and forfeit $1.4 million. Under the deal, the bank must strengthen its compliance regime and avoid further violations of US law. If Toronto-Dominion meets those terms, the case will be dropped after three years. The case is US v TD Securities (USA) LLC, 24-cr-623, US District Court, District of New Jersey. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. The talent behind the sewing machine at Kanvas by Katin for decades, Hughes was an unlikely matriarch in a blossoming surf industry. In 1961, Walter Katin hired a young Japanese immigrant named Sato Hughes to help him meet the demand for his emerging boardshort company, Kanvas by Katin. Having only moved to America six months prior, Hughes had been applying her sewing skills at a dry-cleaning shop in Seal Beach when fate intervened. Shed spend most of the next 70 years of her life making durable, trustworthy boardshorts and running the company. And after a life well live, Hughes quietly passed away over the weekend at the age of 95. It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Katins very first seamstress, Sato Hughes, on Katins Instagram account. She leaves behind a legacy of hard work, creativity, and community spirit that helped revolutionized the surf industry. Beyond her contributions to surf culture, Sato was a cherished mother to her son, Glenn and daughter-in-law Kim, and adored grandmother to Marshall. Her handmade trunks and beautiful spirit, will continue to be celebrated by the surfing community and fans alike. Rest in peace Sato." Walter Katin, Claude Codgen and Sato Hughes. Kanvas By Katin Born in Kawasaki, Japan, in 1928, Hughes moved to Southern California in the early 1960s, where she quickly found work hemming and tailoring clothes at the dry-cleaning shop in the surf hamlet that is Seal Beach. Walter and Nancy Katin, whod created their first pair of boardshorts in nearby Surfside in 1957, were regulars at the dry-cleaning shop and eventually offered Hughes a job in 1961. Perhaps better than any other person at the time, Hughes understood what was required to make long-lasting, tough-as-nails trunks and almost immediately developed a loyal following of surfers around the world, including the days top surf stars such as Shaun Tomson, Peter Townsend, Reno Abillero, Gerry Lopez and Eddie Aikau. Walter Katin passed away in 1967, leaving his wife, Nancy, and Hughes to helm the business. In the early 80s, Katin was suffering from health issues and told Hughes that she was going to bequeath the business to her. I said, No, no, no, Hughes told Orange Coast Magazine when she turned 90 in 2018. Im sorry, I cant do all this. I dont want it. And Nancy said, I never met anybody who works so good, so fast. I want to give it to you. And once again I said, No! No! I cant speak enough English. I cant speak good to the customers. Surfer Magazine circa 1977. Katin passed away in 1986, and like it or not, she left the business to Hughes. Bringing her son, Glenn, onboard to help, in that first year in charge the sales at Katin grew an eye-popping 25 percent. We call her the Machine, Glenn joked in 2018. What am I supposed to do, stay home and watch TV? I was born to work, replied Hughes. The outpouring of love and remembrances for Hughes has reverberated around the surf world since news of her passing broke. "The Godmother of Surfwear - Sato Hughes. Sato was kind and always gracious. The last pair of custom trunks she made me have a white side pocket which I asked her to sign for me. She signed her name in English and in Japanese Kanji characters. I will forever cherish them," shared Benji Severson of Severson Designs. The crew at SURFER sends their deeps condolences to the Hughes and Katin families at this time. Related: Surf World Says Good-Bye To Walter Hoffman, the Fabric of Surf Culture HENRIETTA, N.Y. (WROC) Rochester Institute of Technology has received $1.5 million in federal funding to get more semiconductor and microelectronics workers out into the world. This new initiative is called BRIDGE (the Broadening Research and Inter-Disciplinary Graduate Education for Microelectronics program), from the US Department of Commerce by way of the CHIPS Act of 2022, and it looks to increase RITs semiconductor program graduates from 90 a year to 555 in the next two years. BRIDGE which is designed to be a model program for other universities creates new pipelines for students and workers. (It provides) pathways to students from peripheral STEM fields, so if you are a student studying mechanical engineering, chemistry Were providing four new programs that allow them to access these new and exciting well-paying jobs, says RIT associate professor Parsian Mohseni. Mohseni adds that an RIT graduates starting salary right out of college is typically $90,000, with a signing bonus. A spokesperson for RIT added its semiconductor program has a 100% placement rate. There is still a global shortage of workers in this field. In New York alone, Microns 9,000 jobs are looming, and foreign companies like Tokyo Electron Limited have strong stateside positions they need to fill. (RIT is) one of the few universities where people come out with that practical experience, hands-on, understanding semiconductor manufacturing, says Andrew Seward, a marking manager from TEL. One of TELs biggest facilities is in Albany. students learn the science and technology behind what makes a computer chip work, but they learn the manufacturing process. RIT also has several programs in connection with local community colleges. Seward says that TEL and others are also hiring for many positions that dont require a bachelors or masters. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) Rochester Institute of Technology was chosen to lead research for the United States Space Force. RIT was given over $9 million for the United States Space Force University Consortium/Space Strategic Technology Institute 3 research. This is regarding advanced space power and propulsion. Were trying to look at innovative new materials, said Seth Hubbard, professor of the School of Physics and Astronomy and director of the SSTI research center. Its very important to find materials that are scalable, manufacturable, but can also withstand the extreme environments in space. The University of Michigan will also be a leading institution, which includes advancements in solar technology, thrusters, and novel power approaches. RIT says it will work with partners to develop lower-cost, sustainable solar cells for power systems. The research is in partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory. The technology will transition to the Department of 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 RochesterFirst. Sign up for CNNs Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Thousands of years ago in the Himalayas, a river ate a smaller river and gave an unexpected boost to Everests height, scientists have discovered. Mount Everest, or Chomolungma (Goddess Mother of the World in the Tibetan language), is one of Earths tallest mountains, standing 29,031.69 feet (8,848.86 meters) above sea level. Everests origin story began about 40 million to 50 million years ago, when landmasses on two slabs of Earths crust the India Plate and the Eurasian Plate collided in slow motion and crumpled the terrain, raising rocky peaks that over millions of years became the Himalayan mountain range. Everest is the highest of those peaks by about 820 feet (250 meters). That ancient collision is still lifting the Himalayas. However, recent GPS measurements showed that Everest was growing at a rate of about 0.08 inches (2 millimeters) per year, rather than the expected 0.04 inches (1 millimeter) per year; according to new research, this extra lift results from a more recent geological incident an act of piracy. Around 89,000 years ago, the Kosi River in the Himalayas captured part of a tributary: the Arun River. This process, known as river piracy, set in motion a chain of geological events that reshaped the landscape, scientists reported Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience. With a downstream flow strengthened by piracy, the Kosi system began eroding more rock from the valleys below Everest, the researchers wrote. As rocky mass crumbled away, other parts of the Himalayas shifted upward to compensate for the loss. This balancing act, known as isostatic rebound, lifted Everest and two other nearby peaks Lhotse and Makalu boosting their height by at least 49 feet (15 meters) and perhaps by as much as 164 feet (50 meters), the study authors estimated using computer models. Our study shows how sudden changes in river systems can have far-reaching effects on landscapes, said coauthor Jin-Gen Dai, a professor of geology at China University of Geosciences in Beijing. The main driver of Everests height remains the plate collision, but our discovery adds a new piece to this complex puzzle. Landscape limbo That puzzle piece highlights a mechanism of mountain formation that has long been overlooked, Dai said in an email. As the river system eroded rock, the surrounding peaks were actually rising due to the elastic rebound of the Earths crust, he added. Its like the landscape was doing the limbo lower in some places, higher in others. The connection between river erosion and peak uplift is well-documented and has been studied in places such as the Alps, Antarctica and the Colorado Plateau, Dai said. Usually, rivers and mountains reach a kind of equilibrium, where erosion and uplift balance each other out, Dai said. But when a river suddenly changes course, it can shake things up dramatically. This sudden change can kick-start rapid erosion, which in turn triggers mountain uplift through isostatic rebound. The findings address two anomalies in the Himalayas: the unusual heights of Everest, Lhotse and Makalu compared with neighboring peaks, and the unique path the Arun River takes from southern Tibet towards the Kosi River in Nepal, said Dr. Devon A. Orme, an associate professor in the department of Earth sciences at Montana State University, who was not involved in the research. This paper convincingly highlights the interplay of surface and deeper tectonic processes in shaping high topography on Earth, Orme said in an email. While some instances of river capture and landscape remodeling began millions of years ago, others are happening today, she added. Evidence of one ancient example still exists around the edges of the Himalayas, where long-ago river capture eroded deep gorges. This caused two regions Namche Barwa in the east, and Nanga Parbat in the west to rise about 0.2 to 0.4 inches (5 to 10 millimeters) per year, over millions of years, according to Orme. And today, in the Amazon drainage basin, ongoing river capture is documented and is thought to play a part in shaping the regions steep topography. While the new studys computer models build a promising argument for river piracy causing extra elevation in Everest, future boots-on-the-ground fieldwork within the drainage to test the timing of the river capture will be crucial for testing the ideas proposed, Orme said. Flipping a switch For the researchers, uncovering Everests growth spurt began with questions about the unusual course of the Arun. It currently flows from east to west along the northern Himalayas, draining a large area to the north of Everest, but then turns sharply to the south. In an expedition to the region, the scientists also found ancient lake sediments in the Arun River Basin, hinting at differences in water distribution millions of years ago. These features suggested that the upper and lower sections of the river may not have always been part of the same system, Dai said. This hinted at a past river capture event. A breakthrough came when lead study author Xu Han, a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Earth Sciences and Resources at China University of Geosciences, modeled landscape changes over time. Hans simulations suggested that river capture would have dramatically increased the flow of water in the Kosis lower segments. In the models, the supercharged river carved deeper into the rocky landscape, and the subsequent rebound effect pushed Everest and nearby peaks higher. Everest and its neighbors, which werent directly eroded by the river, got a free ride upwards, Dai said. River capture, or piracy, can be very rapid in geological terms, like flipping a switch, Dai added. The phenomenon can happen in just a few years or decades. In 2017, another team of scientists reported a case of river piracy in Canadas Yukon Territory; the formation of a canyon near the foot of Kaskawulsh Glacier had rerouted meltwater that previously fed the Slims River, diverting it into the Alsek River. When the researchers previously visited the glacier in 2013, the Slims River appeared unaffected. Four years later, it had all but vanished. Compared with river piracy, erosion and uplift unspool over a much longer time span and are still happening with Everest, Lhotse and Makalu. Calculating the exact duration of this rebound is challenging, Dai said. Theres still a lot of uncertainty in these calculations, especially regarding how long the isostatic rebound will continue. However, growth is just one part of Everests story. Even as the lingering effects of tectonic collision and the later rebound continue to push Everest upward, extreme weather and glacier movement are wearing the mountain down. For now, the researchers expect that Everests upward momentum will continue. But the mountain stands tall metaphorically, too as a global icon and as a testament to the forces that shape our planet, Dai said. Understanding how it formed helps us grasp the bigger picture of Earths dynamic evolution, he added. As we face a future with changing climates and shifting weather patterns, understanding these processes could help us predict how our planets iconic landscapes might evolve in the future. Mindy Weisberger is a science writer and media producer whose work has appeared in Live Science, Scientific American and How It Works magazine. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com LOS ANGELES, CA A Riverside County man who last year shot and wounded two Jewish men as they left religious services in the Pico-Robertson area of Los Angeles was sentenced Monday to 35 years in federal prison. Jaime Tran, 30, of Riverside was sentenced by United States District Judge George H. Wu, who set a restitution hearing for Dec. 2. Tran pleaded guilty on June 3 to two counts of hate crimes with intent to kill and two counts of using, carrying, and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. According to the government, Tran obsessed over his antisemitic hatred for years leading up to the 2023 attacks. In 2018, he left graduate school after making antisemitic comments about other students. From August 2022 to December 2022, Trans antisemitic statements escalated and included increasingly violent language, including messages to former classmates such as "I want you dead, Jew," and "Someone is going to kill you, Jew," federal prosecutors said. Tran described himself as a "ticking time bomb" and maintained social media accounts with the handle k1llalljews, prosecutors alleged. In November 2022, Tran emailed two dozen former classmates a flyer containing antisemitic propaganda, including the statement, "EVERY SINGLE ASPECT OF THE COVID AGENDA IS JEWISH." The following month, Tran emailed his former classmates excerpts from an antisemitic website further denigrating Jewish people, according to the government. As a result of previous mental health holds, as of 2023, Tran was prohibited from purchasing firearms. But in January of that year, Tran asked a person in Arizona to buy two firearms for him. Tran selected the weapons he wanted and paid approximately $1,500 in cash to the third party, who then purchased them, according to prosecutors. Law enforcement identified the third party, who pleaded guilty in Arizona to illegally selling Tran the firearm used in the shootings. Phone messages showed Tran asked multiple people to purchase firearms for him and offered to pay more if no background check was performed, prosecutors said. In early February 2023, Tran sent an online message that read: "its time to kill all Jews." On the morning of Feb. 15, he used the internet to search out kosher markets, "planning to shoot someone" because he believed there would be Jewish people in the area, according to the government's narrative. Tran drove to Pico-Robertson and shot a Jewish victim wearing a yarmulke as he was leaving religious services at a synagogue. "Tran, believing the victim was Jewish, shot him at close range centimeters from his spine, intending to kill him. Tran then fled the scene in his car," according to prosecutors. The next morning, Feb. 16, Tran returned to the Pico-Robertson area, intending to shoot another Jewish person. "Tran shot a second Jewish victim, also wearing a yarmulke and leaving a synagogue after attending religious services," according to the government. "Tran shot the victim at close range, intending to kill him, as the victim crossed the street. Tran again fled the scene." The victims in both attacks survived the shootings. Tran was arrested Feb. 17 after a witness reported seeing someone shooting a firearm behind a motel. At the time, Tran told law enforcement that he was "practicing" with his assault weapon. In its sentencing position, the government argued that had Tran not been caught, "his campaign of terror would likely have continued." One of the survivors, told the court that he still fears for his safety. Identified in court Monday only as "Mr. H," the victim said he could have easily been killed if the bullet Tran fired hit "less than an inch" in another direction, according to reporting from the Los Angeles Times. Tran's second victim did not address the court, the Times reported. United States Attorney Martin Estrada said Monday that "Targeting people for death based solely on their religious and ethnic background brings back memories of the darkest chapters in human history. Such hate-fueled violence has no place in America. We hope the sentence imposed today sends a strong message to all in our community that we will not tolerate antisemitism and hate of any sort. For those who engage in hate crimes, the punishment will be severe." Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said, "After years of spewing antisemitic vitriol, the defendant planned and carried out a two-day attack attempting to murder Jews leaving synagogue in Los Angeles. Vile acts of antisemitic hatred endanger the safety of individuals and entire communities, and allowing such crimes to go unchecked endangers the foundation of our democracy itself. As millions of Jewish Americans prepare to observe the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Justice Department reaffirms its commitment to aggressively confronting, disrupting, and prosecuting criminal acts motivated by antisemitism, or by hatred of any kind. No Jewish person in America should have to fear that any sign of their identity will make them the victim of a hate crime." Riverside Antisemite Who Shot 2 Jewish People Sentenced To 35 Years originally appeared on the Temecula Patch Road rage over lane change led to shooting on I-465, arrest report says INDIANAPOLIS Tempers flaring over a lane change led to a road rage shooting that injured a man on I-465 earlier this month, according to newly filed court documents. On Sept. 3, Indianapolis police responded to reports about shots fired on the interstate near Michigan Road on the north side of the city. Responding officers found an injured man, who drove himself to a restaurant along 96th Street, with gunshot wounds to both legs. The man told detectives he was driving east when a maroon vehicle cut him off. The driver said he passed the maroon car, which caught up to him on his right side. Thats when he heard several pops, he told police, and realized he was struck. One bullet traveled through his right leg and lodged in his left leg, below his knee. The vehicle had a bulldog sticker on the back, he noted. On Friday, Indianapolis police arrested a 19-year-old in connection with the shooting. The man faces preliminary charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery, criminal recklessness and marijuana possession. Think before you honk: Indy road rage shootings keep climbing IndyStar is not naming the accused because he has not been formally charged. Detectives arrested the 19-year-old after using license plate cameras that captured the maroon vehicle, investigators wrote in the affidavit. Police said the man requested an attorney when asked about the investigation. Witnesses to the road rage told police they saw the shooter slow down and almost stop on the interstate, then abruptly change lanes. Another driver pulled up next to them, which is when the gunshots began. The Marion County Prosecutors Office will determine final charges. The shooting is one of many examples of driving behavior that escalated into gun violence on Indianapolis interstates this year. As of Sept. 11, state troopers had investigated 53 shootings on the city's interstates and 213 cases of road rage in which a person pulls or displays a firearm, but does not fire. The cases have been sparked by seemingly trivial occurrences, such as stray trash blowing onto the roadway, lane changes or a man driving home from church when a driver in a Jeep yelled and then shot at him. Contact IndyStar reporter Sarah Nelson at sarah.nelson@indystar.com This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Lane change escalated to road rage shooting on I-465, report says Fall semester is in full swing, as local college students have returned to lives filled with homework assignments, lectures and exams. But who said you can't have a little fun while learning? We rounded up 10 unique and/or unusual courses offered at colleges and universities around Greater Cincinnati. From rock climbing to beer, the list has classes for everyone. Take a look below. 10 unique classes offered at Cincinnati-area colleges University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati has unique classes for students, including the Introduction to Beer. HORT 4080: Hops and History: Introduction to Beer This 400-level horticulture course offers an introduction to all things beer. Students go on brewery tours to learn about the science of beer making. With field trips to the Brewery District in Over-the-Rhine, they'll see first-hand how the drink is woven into the culture and history of Cincinnati. And yes, there is a tasting component: Students have the chance to taste beers from around the world, each representing a range of styles, ingredients and cultural preferences. Students will master the vocabulary of the most seasoned beer-drinkers, learning how to describe a brew's appearance, aroma and flavor. Everyone must be 21 years or older to take this course (duh). MUHS 5185 - 001: World Music Lab, Himalayan Drumming Put down your textbooks and re-center yourself with this course on Himalayan drumming. This music history class gives students the opportunity to learn how to play the cultural art form in an ensemble setting with the appropriate instruments. PHIL 3095 - 001: Dinosaurs, Dragons, & Dogma This 300-level course for university honors students looks at how fossils affirm self-constructed myths in different areas of the world, from dinosaurs and mammoths to ancient seashells. While fossils have contributed to scientific revelations, this course looks at how they've also been dangerous sources of knowledge that fuel various cultural norms. Students get the chance to consider how fossils demonstrate the challenges new knowledge must overcome to be accepted. Examining the big picture, students discuss the polarization of information in history and in a contemporary context, such as misinformation in social media. Xavier University Xavier is a private Catholic university located in Evanston. THTR 220: Improvisation for the Actor Fans of Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Amy Poehler and other popular Second City alumni will be delighted to know Xavier offers a course teaching the very same exercises used in Chicago's oldest improvisational troupe. In addition to teaching students traditional improv games, this 200-level course covers the historical origins of the unscripted art form. Students learn to distinguish long form from short form improv and create their very own monologues, scenes and performances with the skills developed in class. DANCE 162: Dance Sport Whether you're looking to sharpen up your moves or prepare for the first dance at your wedding, this introductory ballroom dance class might be for you. The course studies five classic ballroom dances practiced around the world: modern waltz, tango, Viennese waltz, slow foxtrot and quickstep. In addition to cutting a rug, students in this course study the history of couples dancing, which emerged in 15th century Europe. Northern Kentucky University Northern Kentucky University has unique classes for students, including the Psychology of Money. PSY 201: Psychology of Money Big-spenders and frugal folks alike are invited to learn about the psychology of finances in this 200-level course. In this course, students explore how emotions and psychological biases influence the way we spend money. Topics concerning financial anxiety and interpersonal conflict are also covered. Students study the distinction between personal and career financial choices and discuss the impact of wealth inequality on society. REL 371: Death and the Afterlife It's an age-old question: What happens after we die? This religion course explores the various understandings of an afterlife, including disembodied existence, reincarnation and resurrection. Students study the meaning and evidence behind various afterlife ideologies. Topics including personal identity, near-death experiences and the nature of consciousness are discussed. Miami University Shideler Hall on Miami Universitys campus. SLM 150C: Beginning Rock Climbing Calling all climbers! This entry-level course offers students the skills to become a rock climber, as they climb during class time and put topics learned in lecture into practice. Beginner climbers become well-versed in climbing terminology, equipment use, and technical and movement skills. There's a fee of $180 for students participating in the course. MUS 385: The Roots of Black Music This course offers a deep dive into three music genres developed by Black artists that have had a profound impact on the American music industry: blues, gospel and soul. Students conduct an in-depth analysis of stylistic differences between the three genres and explore their cultural influences. BIO 244: Wine Tasting Class Viticulture This course, commonly called the "wine-tasting class," is for ages 21 and older and comes with a $175 fee. During this class, students learn about the process of growing grapes, making wine and tasting some fancy vinos. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 10 unique college classes offered around Cincinnati in 2024 Rockdale County chemical fire: Business owners shut down over fire. I dont want to inhale it Business owners near Biolab, which caught fire Sunday morning causing evacuations in the area, couldnt believe what they were seeing throughout the day. Flames reignited sending thick plumes of black smoke through the north side of the county and triggering business closures. The owner of Transmission King, Derrick Gibson, decided to shut down his business and go home as soon as he saw the flames. Its very scary to see something like that, said Gibson. The smoke was visible for miles, hovering over the north side of Rockdale County. Drivers passing by noticed another fire at the Biolab and voiced their concerns. Its not healthy, its been burning for a minute. Its not healthy, said Derrick Wattenberger, who saw the smoke. Channel 2 Action News was on the scene just as flames began peeking through the smoke, turning much of it orange as firefighters battled the blaze. TRENDING STORIES: This prompted Gibson to act fast. Im about to leave, get away from here. I dont want to inhale it, Wattenberger said. Gibson shared his experience upon spotting the smoke while driving. I was driving about four miles away, I saw a billow of smoke. I was like, wow, it seems like thats where our business is, he said. Once Gibson arrived at his shop, he quickly realized the smoke was coming from the Biolab located just across the interstate. He made the decision to shut down early. Shutting down today. It will stay shut down until they give us the green light that its OK. The air quality, Gibson said. He was uncertain about the situation as he drove to his shop but took immediate action upon arrival, recognizing the seriousness of the fire and smoke from the lab. RELATED NEWS: In response to the potential impacts of the chemical plume from the Biolab fire in Rockdale County, the Newton County School District said their schools would be closed on Monday. A statement released by the school district said theyve been in close contact with Newton County Emergency Management and other agencies to determine the impacts on Newton County due to the situation. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Due to the large evacuation area in Rockdale County and the closure of Interstate 20, weve been made aware that many of our staff members have been directly affected. Additionally, while we do not yet know how, or to what extent this incident will impact Newton County, out of an abundance of caution for the safety, health, and well-being of all students and staff, we have determined that the best course of action is to close all schools tomorrow, Monday, September 30, the district said in the statement. Officials from Newton County said the decision was not made lightly and that they were working to figure out how to make up for recently missed days of school. TRENDING STORIES: For now, school officials say theyll continue to monitor the situation. While Newton County Schools will remain closed on Monday, Rockdale County Schools did not have to be closed as the county was already on a break from classes. We are on fall break this week. Our 12-month employees will work remotely tomorrow and our buildings will be closed, a spokeswoman for Rockdale County Schools told Channel 2 Action News in a statement. As of 7:45 p.m., county leaders said all of Rockdale County was told they should shelter-in-place until midnight. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: Rockets fired at US military base in likely Iran-linked attack A Hezbollah fighter manning a multi-rocket launcher for Katyusha missiles in a file picture. The weapon is believed to have been used in the latest attack - Rawan / Rex Features A military base hosting US forces in Baghdad was hit by a rocket attack on Monday evening. At least two rockets were fired at the Victoria military base, which hosts American forces near Baghdad International Airport, according to the Reuters news agency, citing two Iraqi military officials. It was reported that the base had activated its air defences, intercepting the rockets. All military personnel are accounted for and military forces were not targeted as had been reported, a US defence official said. Two security sources told the AFP news agency that the base was targeted with three rockets, including two that were shot down by the bases special defences. The third fell near the headquarters of the Counter Terrorism Service Command, one source said. A second source confirmed the report, the agency said, and noted that there were no casualties and that the rockets did not affect air traffic. In a video posted on X, explosions and sirens could be heard at the base. The Victoria military base is a compound at Baghdad International Airport, used as the headquarters of US forces in Iraq from 2003 until 2011, when it was handed over to the Iraqi government. It still hosts US forces, and has previously been a target of Islamist forces in Iraq. Following the attack, the next scheduled flight to leave Baghdad airport, a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul, has been cancelled. The munitions used in the attack were reportedly Katyusha rockets, a weapon first fielded by the Soviet Union that has recently been used in the Middle East by Hezbollah and other Iranian-linked groups in Iraq. Several US military installations have been targeted by a loose alliance of Islamist groups backed by Tehran since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in October. In January, three US troops were killed at a base in northern Jordan, prompting a US retaliation. The attack came amid heightened tension in the region ahead of an expected Israeli invasion of Lebanon, after months of conflict between the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk on Monday won the dismissal of a lawsuit accusing them of defrauding shareholders by overstating the effectiveness and safety of the automaker's self-driving technology in order to boost its stock price. U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin in San Francisco said shareholders failed to show Tesla and Musk should be liable for falsely promising they were close to delivering technology that would drive safer than humans, but that was actually "plagued with safety issues" and encouraged inattentiveness. Tesla vehicles have included "Autopilot" software designed to enhance self-driving capabilities, and the company has sold "Full Self Driving" software upgrades. Martinez-Olguin said some of Tesla's and Musk's challenged statements were not necessarily false, while others could be excused because they addressed future expectations for the technology. She said Musk's "hands-on" management did not mean he knew more than he let on, while his nearly $34 billion profit from selling Tesla shares in the February 2019 to February 2023 class period did not show he was cashing out at other shareholders' expense. Shareholders said Musk, the world's richest person, received about $39.4 billion of proceeds from those stock sales, approximately the same as Vermont's gross domestic product. Lawyers for the shareholders did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Tesla did not immediately respond to similar requests. The judge dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice, meaning that shareholders can amend it. Tesla still faces probes by the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as a case by the California Department of Motor Vehicles, into its self-driving claims. The case is Lamontagne v Tesla Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 23-00869. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Jamie Freed) Rudolph Giulianis daughter, Caroline Rose Giuliani, endorsed Kamala Harris Monday, writing for Vanity Fair about how she has watched her fathers life crumble since he joined forces with [Donald] Trump. Caroline Giuliani wrote an article for the magazine warning of the dangers of another Trump presidency, saying his first term was the worst thing that ever happened to my dad, to my family, and to our nations modern history. The consequences will only be more severeand irreversiblea second time around. Thanks to the extremist Supreme Court he stacked, Trump would take office with full immunity: no checks on his power whatsoever, Giuliani said. If the president isnt going to be subject to the law like every other citizen, which remains incomprehensible to me, then our president had better have a moral compass. The article carries the headline Trump Took My Dad From Me. Please Dont Let Him Take Our Country, Too, and Giuliani not only mentions the danger that Trump presents to the country, but also how her fathers work for the former president and convicted felon has brought him down and hurt their relationship. I spent a lot of my life wishing my father had less power. But I never wanted it to happen like this. And selfishly, the deeper my dad gets stuck in the quicksand of his problems, the more fleeting our opportunities to connect as father and daughter become, Giuliani said, alluding to her fathers financial and legal difficulties. After months of feeling the type of sorrow that comes from the death of a loved one, it dawned on me that Ive been grieving the loss of my dad to Trump. I cannot bear to lose our country to him too, Giuliani wrote. Giuliani also praised Harris for her understanding of the climate crisis and her support for reproductive rights, calling the vice president a life-long public servant who has spent her career upholding justice and fighting for those who cannot fight for themselves. Endorsing Harris is a big step for the daughter of a close confidant of Trump who also served as his lawyer. But as she wrote, Rudy Giulianis work for Trump has indeed imploded his life. He has been disbarred in Washington, D.C., and New York state. Hes on the verge of losing his assets thanks to a defamation lawsuit from Georgia poll workers and is facing criminal charges in Georgia and Arizona for election interference, as well as a pending sexual harassment lawsuit from one of his former assistants. Now, his daughter is openly expressing her sadness and shame over his support for Trump and where it has taken him. Will he listen to her? A pay dispute involving merchant seamen has delayed vital work on a ship that has been playing a key role in relief efforts in Gaza. The Cardigan Bay, part of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA), has been stuck in Portland harbour for three weeks after crew members began a work-to-rule following failed negotiations with the Ministry of Defence. One of three Bay Class amphibious vessels capable of carrying 700 soldiers or civilians, the Cardigan Bay has been deployed around the world for the past two-and-a-half years and requires a major refit. However, after the ship returned home to Portland in early September, crew members owed shore leave after four months at sea declined to move her 140 nautical miles (160 miles) for repairs and maintenance at the Falmouth yard of A&P Group. RFA personnel are merchant navy sailors rather than members of the armed forces, meaning they are permitted to take industrial action when not at sea. The Nautilus union, which represents about 600 RFA officers, said it resorted to the action after the MoD imposed a 4.5pc pay settlement for the year that began in July 2023, despite the sum having been rejected twice. The union is seeking a bigger increase following what it claims is a 30pc decline in RFA wages versus the commercial merchant navy equivalent since 2009. The Royal Navys military personnel have seen pay increase by 13pc more over the same period, it says. Martyn Gray, organisational director at Nautilus, said: RFA sailors are chronically underpaid, especially when you consider their skill set and the training required, as well as the operational conditions that they face. The biggest impact has been on their families. Theyre away from home for eight months of the year but are still struggling to provide for their families. Our objective is not to cause difficulties to the Royal Navy but to show how much the RFA has been depending on the goodwill of our members, which has now expired. Nautilus has also staged several days of strikes the first in the 119-year history of the RFA though the work-to-rule has proved more disruptive as staff shortages leave the service heavily reliant on crew volunteering to complete even day-to-day tasks. Headcount in the RFA has plunged in recent years, with many vessels operating with the minimum level of crew possible, in some cases leaving them 30pc under strength. Union bosses say staffing issues at the RFA mean it could only fully crew five or six of its dozen or so vessels in an emergency - LPhot Paul Hall Entry-level officers in the RFA, who include engineers and logistics personnel, are paid around 30,000, while captains earn more than 70,000. The RMT, which represents around 1,000 workers in the service, is also in dispute with the MoD and has staged its own strikes. The Cardigan Bay sailed for Bahrain in 2022 to assist Royal Navy minesweepers in the Persian Gulf. She was redeployed to Cyprus in April to support the US Army in delivering 8,800 tonnes of food and other humanitarian supplies into Gaza via a floating pier. Sister ship RFA Mounts Bay has now taken over her role in Cyprus, where around 700 British troops are being sent to aid in any emergency evacuation of Lebanon as the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah continues to escalate. While it is not known if the MoD intends to send the Cardigan Bay back to the Middle East, the delayed refit will hold up its operational readiness. Bay Class vessels can also carry up to 24 Challenger tanks or 150 light trucks, as well as Chinook helicopters. The RFAs only other ship in the class, the Lyme Bay, is currently on active service. A fourth, the Largs Bay, was sold to the Royal Australian Navy in 2011. Another RFA vessel, the refuelling tanker Tidespring, is also tied up in Portland and lacking sufficient crew to set sail, according to a report on the Navy Lookout website, which provides news and analysis of Royal Navy operations. Mr Gray said that the RFA is so under-resourced that it could probably only fully crew five or six of its dozen or so vessels in an emergency. He said that Nautiluss mandate for industrial action closes on Oct 4, after which crews can be required to move the Cardigan Bay, though individuals could still opt to carry on working according to the terms of their contract. A second strike ballot is underway but the result wont be known until November. The Royal Navy said it doesnt comment on ship movements for security reasons, but that it constantly monitors programmes to ensure that the UKs operational commitments are met. A spokesman for the MoD said it was working to minimise the impact of industrial action at the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and will maintain a dialogue to address the issues raised by the unions. While the 5pc pay increase stands, he said the RFA was consulting with members on recruitment and retention initiatives and options for more flexible working. 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. Thousands of runners took to the streets of Pittsburgh for an annual race. The Richard S. Caliguiri City of Pittsburgh Great Race was held in gloomy weather this year but that did not keep runners at bay. Rain? Its Pittsburgh, you know. Its a little drizzly here this morning but when youre doing endurance events, being a little cool and a little bit of misty rain isnt a bad thing, said Events Manager Brian Katze. Organizers say Pittsburgh natives return home from all over the country for the event. This is the 47th year the event was held. Each year The Great Race donates to the Richard S. Caliguiri Amyloidosis Fund which is dedicated to supporting medical research. Click here to learn more about the Pittsburgh Great Race. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW TRENDING NOW: Primanti Bros. customers left disappointed after JD Vance seemingly was initially denied entry Overnight fire seriously damages Westmoreland County pizza shop A Pennsylvania bakery known for its election cookie poll is swamped with orders VIDEO: Primanti Bros. customers left disappointed after JD Vance initially denied entry DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts The News Russia is set to drastically increase its military spending for 2025, according to new draft budget documents. The Kremlin plans to increase its defense budget by 23% to $145 billion, making up 6.2% of the countrys GDP. The spending would be more than the total funding for education, healthcare, social policies, and the economy combined. SIGNALS Budget cements war economy status Sources: The Bell, Reuters, Bloomberg The spending hike confirms that Moscow has now switched to a war footing, and that the Kremlin will make the military sector a top funding priority going forward, independent Russian outlet The Bell wrote, regardless of when the war in Ukraine ends. Earlier this month, President Vladimir Putin ordered the army to add 180,000 troops, bringing its total force to 1.5 million, which would make Russias military the worlds second largest after China. The budget increase can help pay for those recruits while also avoiding the need for another conscription push, Bloomberg reported. Russian war economy is precarious, analyst says Sources: Le Monde, The Spectator Despite Western sanctions, Russias economy is growing this year, largely due to public spending. But that growth is likely to slow next year, with the sanctions having more of a long-term impact, an exiled Russian economist told Le Monde. Moscow plans to finance the new spending in part through higher taxes, so the budget on its face doesnt seem precarious, Russia economy expert Alexander Kolyandr wrote in The Spectator. But the countrys new war economy is still growing beyond its means, with investment only thriving in war-related industries, he noted. It will not collapse tomorrow, but it cant continue to flourish for long. Russia intensifies attacks on recaptured Vovchansk plant, uses 'maximum range of weapons,' military says Russian troops are using "the maximum range of weapons" to attack the recently recaptured aggregate plant in the town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast, Kharkiv Group of Forces spokesperson Vitalii Sarantsev said on Sept. 30. Describing the situation as "difficult," Sarantsev said Russian forces were continuously assaulting in the Kharkiv sector, and had made the Vovchansk plant its "number one goal." Russian troops had been in control of the facility for several months before it was recaptured by Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) special forces. on Sept. 24., HUR previously reported. "(The plant) is not a tactical target as such for (Russia). But at the same time, the loss of this facility was a very powerful blow to its image," the spokesperson said. Speaking on national television, Sarantsev said that Russian forces are carrying out attacks against the plant with guided aerial bombs and "Solntsepek" multiple rocket launchers. "In other words, (Russia) is following its standard practice of destroying what it could not capture," he added. Ukrainian forces captured around 20 Russian soldiers and killed "several dozen" others during an operation to recapture an aggregate plant in the town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast, a member of Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) claimed last week. The Kyiv Independent could not verify these reports. Vovchansk is an embattled town some 60 kilometers (37 miles) northeast of Kharkiv that has seen heavy battles since Russia launched a new offensive in the area in May. While initially gaining ground, the Russian offensive in northern Kharkiv Oblast has quickly bogged down, with Russian troops reportedly suffering heavy losses. The intensity of fighting has decreased somewhat compared to other sectors in Ukraine's east near Pokrovsk, Vuhledar and Toretsk. Read also: As Russian losses in Ukraine surge, some military bloggers turn on Kremlin, military command Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Russia plans to increase defence spending by US$30 billion next year, but hides it ISW The Russian government is planning a further increase in defence spending in 2025, although Kremlin officials seem to be emphasising planned social spending, avoiding discussion of the increase in defence spending. Source: Institute for the Study of War (ISW) Details: The Russian Cabinet of Ministers approved a draft federal budget for 2025-2027 on 29 September, which will be submitted to the State Duma by October 1. The budget projects a nearly 12% increase in federal revenue for 2025 compared to 2024, with non-oil and gas revenue expected to account for 73% of the total. Bloomberg reported on 23 September that it had seen proposals for the three-year budget, revealing plans for Russia to spend RUB 13.2 trillion (around US$140 billion) on defence in 2025, up from the projected RUB 10.4 trillion (around US$110 billion) for 2024. It stated that in 2025, approximately 40% of Russia's spending will be allocated to national defence and domestic security, surpassing the combined spending on education, healthcare, social policies, and the federal economy. The Kremlin is also expected to increase spending on classified items from 11.1 trillion roubles (around US$117 billion) in 2024 to 12.9 trillion roubles (around US$136 billion) in 2025. On 24 September, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin stated that the government would meet "all social obligations to citizens" while emphasising planned investments in healthcare, pensions, and national projects. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov acknowledged the substantial allocation of resources to Russia's "special military operation" [as Russian propaganda terms the war against Ukraine], but stressed that RUB 40 trillion (around US$424 billion) would be spent on 19 national projects over six years, double the amount allocated between 2019 and 2024. He also noted plans to allocate 180 billion roubles (about US$1.9 billion) to modernise public utility infrastructure and support preferential mortgage programmes. According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Kremlin officials are likely aware of potential war fatigue among the Russian population and are focusing on social projects to maintain public support for the war. To quote the ISWs Key Takeaways on 29 September: Western countries continue to invest in the growth of Ukraine's defence industrial base (DIB). Ukrainian forces reportedly struck a Russian ammunition depot and missile storage facility near Kotluban, Volgograd Oblast, on 29 September. The Russian government is reportedly planning to further increase defence spending in 2025, although Kremlin officials appear to be highlighting planned social spending while avoiding discussions of increased defence spending. Ukrainian forces recently advanced in Glushkovsky district, west of the Ukrainian salient in Kursk Oblast. Russian forces recently advanced on the Toretsk and Pokrovsk fronts. Support UP or become our patron! Russia says risk of big regional war very high after killing of Hezbollah leader People walk on the rubble at the site of the Israeli airstrike that killed Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday, in Beirut's southern suburbs MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Monday condemned the killing of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli air attack last week and said it assessed the risk of a major Middle East war as "extremely high". "The Russian side condemns such actions, we believe that they have led to a significant destabilisation of the situation in the region," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "The main thing is that such indiscriminate bombing of residential areas in Lebanon leads to a huge number of human casualties, which will inevitably bring on a humanitarian catastrophe like the one we are seeing in Gaza," he added, expressing Moscow's "deepest concern". Israel's intensifying assault on Hezbollah has deepened international concerns about the risk of a wider Middle East war involving Iran, which backs Hezbollah and Hamas. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the killing of Nasrallah at the weekend as a political assassination and the Russian foreign ministry in a statement called on Israel to immediately stop hostilities in Lebanon. (Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Lucy Papachristou and Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Andrew Osborn) Russia proposes record defense spending as it pursues victory in the Ukraine war Ukrainian serviceman of 56th brigade fire by self-propelled artillery towards Russian positions at the frontline on Chasiv Yar direction, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) KYIV, Ukraine (AP) The Russian government wants to earmark 32.5% of its spending next year for defense, a record amount and up from a reported 28.3% this year, as Moscow seeks to prevail in the war in Ukraine. The governments draft budget released Monday proposes spending just under 13.5 trillion rubles (over $145 billion) on national defense. That is about 3 trillion rubles ($32 billion) more than was set aside for defense this year and was the previous record. The Ukraine war is Europes biggest conflict since World War II and has drained the resources of both sides, with Ukraine getting billions of dollars in help from its Western allies. Russias forces are bigger and better-equipped than Ukraines, and in recent months the Russian army has gradually been pushing Ukrainian troops backward in eastern areas. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the United States last week in pursuit of continuing financial and military support as the war approaches its three-year milestone next February. Russian President Vladimir Putin is also looking how to sustain his war effort as military spending has placed a huge strain on the Russian economy. Earlier this month, Russias central bank raised its key interest rate by a full percentage point to 19% to combat high inflation. It held out the prospect of more rate increases to return inflation from the current 9.1% to the banks target of 4% in 2025. According to the draft budget, spending on defense should decline in 2026. The proposed budget could still change as it goes through three readings in the State Duma, Russias lower parliament house, and then goes to the Federation Council, the upper house, before Russian President Vladimir Putin signs it into law. Meanwhile, Putin on Monday signed a call-up order for 133,000 conscripts in the autumn military draft, which is a routine number for seasonal conscription campaigns. In September, he ordered the countrys military to increase Russia's number of troops by 180,000 to a total of 1.5 million. Overall military personnel would be about 2.4 million. Overnight, Russia fired missiles and drones at 11 regions of Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said Monday, in a 33rd consecutive night of aerial attacks behind the front line and set a new monthly record of drone barrages. It was the first time Russians launched more than 1,000 Shahed drones in a month. It was also the first time the Iranian-made drones were used in every aerial attack on each day of the month. In Kyiv, multiple explosions and machine gun fire could be heard throughout the night as the Ukrainian capitals air defenses fought off a drone attack for five hours. No casualties were reported in Kyiv or elsewhere, though a critical infrastructure object caught fire in the southern Mykolaiv region, Gov. Vitalii Kim said, without elaborating. Russia has increasingly deployed Shahed drones, rather than more expensive missiles, in its aerial bombardment of Ukrainian cities since its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022. It launched more than 1,300 Shahed drones at Ukraine in September alone the highest number of drone attacks in a single month since the war began. Ukraine, too, has developed a new generation of drones for the battlefield and for long-range strikes deep inside Russia. More than 100 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russia on Sunday, Russian officials said. Also Monday, Putin released a video marking the second anniversary of the annexation of four Ukrainian territories and again accused the West of turning Ukraine into a military base aimed at Russia. Putin was speaking to mark the annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine after a referendum held in 2022 which was denounced by the West as a sham. Russia also illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. Since 2022, Putin said, businesses in the occupied areas are being actively restored and hospitals and schools are being rebuilt. Thousands of Ukrainians fled from the four regions as a result of Russias invasion, but Putin said Russias military operation in the country was to defend residents well-being and the future for our children and grandchildren. ___ Litvinova contributed from Tallinn, Estonia. ___ Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Russia is now training its troops to use helicopters to launch first-person view (FPV) drones to counter Ukraines uncrewed surface vessels (USVs). New video released by the Russian Tactical_13 Telegram channel is the first time we have seen Russians using a helicopter this way. The video shows one Russian donning the FPV goggles while another grabs an FPV drone, opens the door, and lets it out over the water. The operators view shows the drone flying low over the surface, but no USV in sight. Because, why not: Special Forces of the Russian Black Sea Fleet training to destroy kamikaze USVs from helicopter using FPV drones. pic.twitter.com/Y34I8jFtP6 Clash Report (@clashreport) September 30, 2024 Using a helicopter as a FPV drone mothership in this way makes a lot of sense. You can greatly expand the reach of FPV drones by delivering them forward via a mothership aircraft. Generally, the FPV drones have a maximum range of about a dozen miles, but operationally usually its much less than that. They require continuous line-of-sight communications with their controllers. However, their range can be maximized by avoiding terrain that can interfere with their signal. Elevated antennas and relays installed on balloons or placed on unmanned or manned aircraft, like a helicopter, can extend their connectivity much further with more consistent connectivity. You can read all about this in our previous piece here. FPV drone mothership/relay concept of operations. (Tyler Rogoway) In this case, the helicopter is both the delivery system and the control node. Operating over water and having the controller well above the surface in a helicopter means that the absolute maximum range and flexibility can be squeezed out of these drones. This also fits with a broader move to more advanced air launched effects drones that are launched by a mothership aircraft, but this cruder version of the concept makes realizing even a basic capability like this much more attainable. FPV drones are capable of hunting for USVs, popularly known as drone boats, while also acting as precision-guided munitions nimble enough to chase them down and destroy them, although its always harder than it looks. Using helicopters to launch FPVs is another iteration in the development of drone combat in this war, where FPV drones have dominated the battlefield. Aerial suicide drones have been used to attack boats before, so it makes sense that Russia has moved to the maritime interdiction environment focusing on countering Ukrainian long-range drone boat attacks. Launching FPV drones from helicopters would allow Russia to cover wide swaths of the Black Sea. Being able to strike Ukrainian sea drones before they can get close to a port or ships is far preferable to relying on close-in weapons from a vessel or shore defenses, booms, and other impediments in a port. The following video shows Ukrainian drone boats being blown up in Sevastopol harbor. #war Another video of the breakthrough of drones on Sevastopol harbor in the early morning of March 22. One of them was stopped by a booms at the entrance to the harbor and exploded. Two others managed to jump over the booms and they were destroyed already in the harbor. pic.twitter.com/3bWHShWwEx Capt(N) (@Capt_Navy) March 23, 2023 Russia has used FPV drones to attack Ukrainian sea drones before. What was purported to be the first recorded instance of that emerged in May, which you can read more about here. It was unclear whether video from the time showed an attack on an operational or captured Ukrainian USV. However, the head of Ukraines Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR), Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, told us at the time that Russia had been using FPV drones to attack Ukrainian drone boats for several months. You can see video of that encounter below. Launching and controlling them via helicopter will allow for responding faster to these threats much farther out then using FPV drones launched from land or vessels. Unfortunately, Russians are using FPV drones to destroy Ukrainian naval drones It is unclear when and where the encounter happened, pic.twitter.com/HyTVaJOnxH PS01 (@PStyle0ne1) May 29, 2024 The use of helicopters to defend against Ukrainian drone boats is a well established tactic. The War Zone first reported in May that the Russian Defense Ministry (MoD) released video it said was an R-73-equipped Ukrainian USV coming under attack from a Russian Navy Ka-29 Helix-B assault helicopter. The USV performed some hard maneuvers to try and escape the Ka-29 but was eventually destroyed, apparently by gunfire. At major suspected target areas, including ports and infrastructure, helicopters are used by the Russians to spot and engage marauding drone boats. Ukraines sea drones have caused widespread havoc on Russias Black Sea Fleet, with attacks on ports in Crimea and ships. They have been so devastating that Russia has moved the bulk of its BSF from Crimea to Novorossysk in Russia. Ukrainian Sea Baby drones were used to attack the Kerch Bridge in July 2023. These attacks have served as a lesson in asymmetrical warfare, where one side with an extremely limited navy can pin down a much larger force with numerous surface and subsurface combatants. It is natural that Russia would seek to change this equation by doing for the Black Sea what FPV drones have done for ground warfare in Ukraine and Russia. Launching FPVs and controlling them from a helicopter overhead is also likely to quickly migrate far beyond the conflict in Ukraine, with special operations aircrews are already using and perusing similar concepts but with higher-end weapons, many of which offer less flexibility than the FPV drone does, at least over short distances, and cost far more per round. But in the meantime, we will have to watch to see if Russia finds success with this new FPV drone application. Considering how this war has progressed, we will likely find out sooner rather than later. Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com If you want to compound wealth in the stock market, you can do so by buying an index fund. But if you pick the right individual stocks, you could make more than that. To wit, the Mohawk Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MHK) share price is 88% higher than it was a year ago, much better than the market return of around 32% (not including dividends) in the same period. That's a solid performance by our standards! Zooming out, the stock is actually down 11% in the last three years. So let's investigate and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress. View our latest analysis for Mohawk Industries In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS). During the last year, Mohawk Industries actually saw its earnings per share drop 14%. This was, in part, due to extraordinary items impacting earning in the last twelve months. This means it's unlikely the market is judging the company based on earnings growth. Therefore, it seems likely that investors are putting more weight on metrics other than EPS, at the moment. Mohawk Industries' revenue actually dropped 4.2% over last year. So the fundamental metrics don't provide an obvious explanation for the share price gain. The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers). It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. But while CEO remuneration is always worth checking, the really important question is whether the company can grow earnings going forward. If you are thinking of buying or selling Mohawk Industries stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts. A Different Perspective We're pleased to report that Mohawk Industries shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 88% over one year. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 5% per year), it would seem that the stock's performance has improved in recent times. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Mohawk Industries better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with Mohawk Industries , and understanding them should be part of your investment process. Story continues We will like Mohawk Industries better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued stocks (mostly small caps) with considerable, recent, insider buying. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on American exchanges. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Russian attacks against Ukraine killed three people and injured at least 45 others over the past day, regional authorities said on Sept. 30. Ukrainian forces downed 67 out of 73 Shahed-type drones as well as one Iskander-M ballistic missile, Kh-59/69 cruise missile and a Kh-31P missile launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force reported. Another drone entered Belarusian airspace and three more drones were "lost," it added. A Russian air strike on the city of Zaporizhzhia injured at least 16 people, including two boys aged 17, and eight, according to Governor Ivan Fedorov. The attack damaged residential buildings and a railway. Two people were killed in the villages of Lysivka and Shevchenko in Donetsk Oblast, Governor Vadym Filashkin said. Three more people were injured in the region over the past day. Ten peopled were injured in several communities in Sumy Oblast as a result of guided aerial bomb and FPV drone attacks, local authorities reported. Russian attacks on the villages of Bohuslavka and Odnorobivka in Kharkiv Oblast injured three men and a woman, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. In Kherson Oblast, Russian forces targeted 17 settlements, including the regional center of Kherson. One person was killed and 12 were injured, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported. Read also: As Russian losses in Ukraine surge, some military bloggers turn on Kremlin, military command Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has posted a video of an 18th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (18th FIS) F-16C executing an intercept on a pair of Russian Tu-95MS Bear-Hs and their fighter escorts off Alaska. The video in question shows a Su-35S Flanker executing a very close-range headbutting maneuver, cutting in front of and across the Vipers path. Its the most dramatic video we have seen of such a close encounter since a B-52 crew experienced a similar incident over the Black Sea a few years ago. The video posted by NORAD, taken by a 360-degree action cam placed in the F-16s cockpit, shows how alarmed the Viper pilot was with the Su-35s maneuver: On Sept 23, 2024, NORAD aircraft flew a safe and disciplined intercept of Russian Military Aircraft in the Alaska ADIZ. The conduct of one Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional, and endangered all not what youd see in a professional air force. Gen. Gregory Guillot pic.twitter.com/gXZj3Ndkag North American Aerospace Defense Command (@NORADCommand) September 30, 2024 The original press release from September 23 about the intercept noted four Russian aircraft were involved: The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) detected and tracked four Russian military aircraft operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on September 23, 2024. The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace. This Russian activity in the Alaska ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat. An ADIZ begins where sovereign airspace ends and is a defined stretch of international airspace that requires the ready identification of all aircraft in the interest of national security. NORAD employs a layered defense network of satellites, ground-based and airborne radars and fighter aircraft to track aircraft and inform appropriate actions. NORAD remains ready to employ a number of response options in defense of North America. Unprofessional & dangerous conduct by a VKS Su-35S (B/N "24" Blue / RF-95493) assigned to the 22nd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (based at Tsentralnaya Uglovaya, Primorsky Krai). https://t.co/BZDMIY3X1S Guy Plopsky (@GuyPlopsky) September 30, 2024 Its worth noting that the 18th Fighter Interceptor Squadron is unique in the U.S. Air Force. As we previously reported, the unit was previously designated the 18th Aggressor Squadron (18th AGRS) but was redesigned the 18th FIS earlier this year. This occurred after performing the alert air sovereignty mission to backfill F-22 Raptors based out of Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage for some time. The growing demand for F-22 taskings around the globe resulted in the aggressors based to the north at Eielson AFB increasingly standing in for the Raptors in an alert augmentation role. This led to some very interesting situations where F-16s wearing Russian-like camouflage would be intercepting real Russian aircraft, usually over the Bering Sea. While some of the units F-16s now wear a standard scheme, others do not and still partake in the alert missions. As it sits now, the 18th FIS performs both aggressor missions and alert taskings on a regular basis, making it unlike any other unit in the force. A NORAD F-16 intercepts a Russian Il-38 in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone in September 2024 under Operation Noble Eagle. NORAD employs a layered defense network of satellites, ground-based and airborne radars and fighter aircraft in seamless interoperability to detect and track aircraft and inform appropriate actions. NORAD remains ready to employ a number of response options in defense of North America. NORAD Alaskan NORAD Region/Alaskan Com A NORAD F-16 intercepts a Russian Tu-142 Bear-F in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone in September 2024 under Operation Noble Eagle. NORAD employs a layered defense network of satellites, ground-based and airborne radars and fighter aircraft in seamless interoperability to detect and track aircraft and inform appropriate actions. NORAD remains ready to employ a number of response options in defense of North America. NORAD Alaskan NORAD Region/Alaskan Com North American Aerospace Defense Command F-16 pilots conduct final checks on September 11, 2024 before departing Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. The F-16s supported OPERATION POLAR VORTEX and provided integration training with Navy assets in the Alaska Theater of Operations. Continuing our presence in the Arctic through training and operations demonstrates how NORAD and U.S. Northern Command campaign daily in coordination with mission partners to deter aggression; enhance deterrence, stability and resilience; advance capabilities and posture; and detect and respond to threats in support of the layered defense of our nations. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Carson Jeney Airman 1st Class Carson Jeney As for the headbutt maneuver, as we have reported on for many years, while deemed unprofessional at very close ranges, these types of antics have gone on for decades, being wholly commonplace during the depths of the Cold War. They have taken on new meaning and become more prolific in recent years as the global security situation shifted for the worse, with Russia and the United States, as well as many of its allies, being directly opposed to one another over the war in Ukraine. China is also notorious for executing similar stunts that have also included actually dumping radar-reflecting chaff into the path of the targeted aircraft, which raises major safety concerns. That being said, the USAF uses the headbutt maneuver to gain the attention of wayward aircraft as well, but not in such an aggressive manner. As for Russias activity near Alaska, it has spiked in recent months alongside that of China, which is now extending its power-projection capabilities in the air and at sea, with Alaska being a major focus. This included the first flight of Chinese H-6 cruise missile carriers off Alaskan shores and an increased Russian-Chinese naval presence in the area. This has prompted the U.S. Defense Department to allocate more resources to the highly strategic area, including sending naval assets there to keep a close eye on and deter Russian and Chinese air and naval operations, which are spiking as of late. With the Arctic being of increasingly great importance, tensions between Russia and the United States climbing, and China becoming more comfortable with long-range military operations, the 18th FIS and their F-22s partners are likely to be busier than ever in the coming months and years. Contact the author: Tyler@twz.com Five civilians have been injured by explosives dropped from drones by the Russian army in the suburbs of Kherson in Ukraines south. Source: Kherson Oblast Military Administration; Roman Mrochko, Head of Kherson City Military Administration, on Telegram Details: On the morning of 30 September, Russian troops launched a drone attack on Antonivka, a suburb of Kherson. The Oblast Military Administration reported that the Russians dropped explosives from a drone on civilians who were travelling on public transport. Three people were injured: two women, aged about 33 and 58, and a man of about 23. All three suffered blast injuries and shrapnel wounds, and the older woman has a fractured rib. Earlier, Roman Mrochko reported that two women, aged about 72 and 53, had been injured. They were diagnosed with blast injuries and shrapnel wounds. Quote from Mrochko: "Every day [in Kherson Oblast] people are injured and houses, cars and public transport are damaged and destroyed. As of now, we already know of five people injured there [in this attack]." Background: On 30 September, five people were injured in Russian attacks on the settlement of Velyka Oleksandrivka and the city of Kherson. On the morning of 27 September, Russian forces attacked Kherson and the village of Inhulets, injuring five residents, including two children aged 4 and 15. On 26 September, the Russians attacked Beryslav with drones, injuring two people. Two women aged 58 and 53 suffered contusions and blast injuries. Support UP or become our patron! Russian troops are using the entire variety of weapons at their disposal to strike at the Vovchansk Aggregate Plant, which was recently liberated by units of Ukraines Defence Intelligence. Source: Colonel Vitalii Sarantsev, spokesperson for the Kharkiv Operational and Tactical Group, on air during the 24/7 national joint newscast Details: Sarantsev said that the situation on the Kharkiv front remains difficult, as the Russians continue to assault the positions of the Ukrainian defence forces. The town of Vovchansk remains the hottest spot. In particular, the situation on the territory of the Vovchansk Aggregate Plant after its liberation and the mop-up operation by Ukraines Defence Intelligence is the most difficult and tense, as the plant has become the Russians number one target. Sarantsev noted that the plant was not a tactical target for the Russians, but its loss was a powerful blow to their image as a prevailing force. Quote: "The enemy is currently trying to use the maximum variety of their weapons in that location. They are using a TOS-1A heavy flamethrower system and launching aerial bombs. In other words, they are following their standard practice of destroying what they have not managed to capture." Support UP or become our patron! Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, now serving an 18-month sentence for her role in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, requested a new trial in July Jim Weber - Pool/Getty; ROSS D. FRANKLIN/POOL/AFP via Getty; Ramsay de Give-Pool/Getty Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer and Alec Baldwin. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the Rust armorer convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison for her role in the accidental on-set shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021, had her motion for a new trial dismissed Monday, Sept. 30. Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, who presided over Gutierrez-Reeds trial at New Mexicos First Judicial Court earlier this year, issued her ruling in court papers filed obtained by PEOPLE. Jason Bowles, an attorney for Gutierrez-Reed, filed an expedited motion for a new trial or a dismissal on July 16, four days after Sommer, who also presided over Alec Baldwins involuntary manslaughter trial, dismissed with prejudice the case against the actor. Related: The Convicted Rust Armorer Whom Prosecutors Want to Testify at Alec Baldwins Trial Said She Wants to See Him In Jail In the motion, Bowles cited the severe and ongoing discovery violations by the State, which came to light during Baldwins trial, including allegedly suppressed evidence. Bowles argued at a Sept. 26 hearing on the matter that the State had failed to turn over an interview with Seth Kenney, the prop supplier but Sommer ultimately ruled against him and Gutierrez-Reed. Defendant has not established that there is a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been available to Defendant, the evidence would have produced a different verdict, wrote Sommer, who also disagreed with other arguments Bowles made during the hearing. In July, Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin, 66, who was holding the gun on the set of Rust when it discharged, killing Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza. He insisted he did not pull the trigger or know why the gun accidentally contained live ammunition, but was indicted in January and stood trial over the summer Eddie Moore-Pool/Getty Hannah Gutierrez Reed (center) at her April 15 sentencing. During the third day of the proceedings, lawyers for Baldwin asked Sommer to dismiss the case, arguing that the prosecution buried evidence. On March 6, a man named Troy Teske, a friend of Thell Reed, the father of Gutierrez-Reed, turned over to authorities ammunition that he thought was connected to the case. Related: Alec Baldwin's Rust 'Cut the Church Scene' Where Fatal Shooting Happened: 'It's a Beautiful Film' (Exclusive Source) Sommer heard testimony from witnesses including Corporal Alexandria Hancock of the Santa Fe Sheriff's Office. Hancock works in the office where Teske allegedly dropped off the ammunition, and she admitted that the ammunition Teske handed over was filed separately from the other Rust evidence. As such, it was not turned over to the defense. Hancock also said Morrissey the same prosecutor who tried Gutierrez-Reed, 27, in March was involved in talks to file them separately. Morrissey then testified why she did not believe they were relevant to the Rust case. ROSS D. FRANKLIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer on July 8. Sommer agreed with the defense and dismissed the case against Baldwin, saying, in part, The late discovery of this evidence during trial has impeded the effective use of evidence in such a way that it has impacted the fundamental fairness of the proceedings. Bowles referenced that ruling in his own motion: This Court stated on July 12 that the integrity of the judicial system demanded that the Court dismiss Mr. Baldwins case with prejudice. How can it be any different with Ms Gutierrez Reeds case, with this proven litany of abuses? On Sept. 4, Gutierrez-Reed reached a tentative plea deal on a separate charge of unlawful carrying of a firearm in a licensed liquor establishment on Oct. 1, 2021. She has agreed to receive 18 months of probation, according to Bowles. A hearing on the matter is Oct. 7 in the First Judicial District Court of New Mexico. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. A judge denied a new trial for Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed on Monday, ruling that withheld evidence would not have changed her guilty verdict for manslaughter. Defense attorneys had claimed the prosecution failed to turn over a forensic report and an interview with weapons supplier Seth Kenney. But Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, who oversaw the case as well as Alec Baldwins, wrote that Gutierrez-Reed has not established that there is a reasonable probability that the evidence would have produced a different verdict. Gutierrez-Reed was sentenced in April to 18 months for involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Prosecutors argued at the February trial in Santa Fe that she failed to detect a live bullet before loading it into Baldwins replica Colt .45. Baldwin was also charged with involuntary manslaughter, but when his defense team brought to light that prosecutors failed to turn over bullets that were turned over as evidence, Marlowe Sommer immediately dismissed the case, concluding the July trial. Gutierrez-Reeds defense made a similar argument, saying prosecutor Kari Morrissey withheld an experts report that showed unexplained toolmarks on Baldwins gun. The judge wrote that the expert noted the toolmarks would not affect the weapons operation. The armorer is now pursuing an appeal on separate grounds, while Morrissey is seeking to revive manslaughter charges against Baldwin, arguing that the bullet cache was similarly irrelevant to the actor/producers case. The post Rust Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed Denied New Trial appeared first on TheWrap. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed at her trial in Santa Fe, N.M., on March 6. Rust movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will remain behind bars, the judge overseeing the case ruled Monday. With respect to the Defendants arguments concerning her request for release pending appeal, the Court finds that Defendant has not established by clear and convincing evidence that Defendant is not likely to flee or pose a danger to the safety of any other person or the community if released, said the decision, New Mexico District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said in her decision, which was obtained by NBC News. Sommer ruled that Reeds conviction still holds even though the judge previously determined that the prosecution suppressed evidence in the involuntary manslaughter case against Rust star and producer Alec Baldwin. Reeds attorney Jason Bowles told NBC News: We will appeal. Gutierrez-Reed already has a separate appeal of her conviction pending in a higher court. Reed, who was the armorer on the set of the movie Rust in 2021, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March and sentenced to 18 months in prison for the killing of the films cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins. Reeds attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the charge after the stunning midtrial dismissal of Baldwins charges in July. During Baldwin's trial, it was revealed that a friend of Reeds stepfather, Troy Teske, a former police officer, turned in Colt .45 rounds to the Santa Fe County Sheriffs Office that allegedly came from the Western film set. But instead of being filed by the sheriff's office with its existing evidence or alerting Baldwins legal team, it was cataloged separately with a go-ahead from New Mexico special prosecutor Kari Morrissey. For that reason, Sommer dismissed Baldwin's case, saying New Mexico prosecutors failed to disclose the evidence a violation of the Brady Law. There is no way for the court to right this wrong. The sanction of dismissal is the only warranted remedy, Sommer said at the time. Morrissey has since asked Sommer to reconsider dismissing the case against Baldwin. New Mexico prosecutors did not immediately respond to a request for comment. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com A bid from Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed to overturn her conviction for involuntary manslaughter over the accidental shooting death of the films cinematographer has been denied. Santa Fe Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer on Monday upheld the guilty verdict, finding that charges shouldnt be dismissed and that Gutierrez-Reed isnt entitled to a new trial. The court rebuffed arguments that prosecutors suppressed evidence of a batch of ammunition, some of which matched the bullets found on the set of the production. More from The Hollywood Reporter The armorers legal maneuvering revolved around the dismissal of Alec Baldwins case by the judge, who denounced the prosecution for misconduct after concluding that it intentionally and deliberately withheld evidence from the defense. Lead special prosecutor Kari Morrissey, it found, not only repeatedly failed to fulfill discovery obligations but also gave inconsistent testimony related to the ammunition handed over by retired Arizona police officer Troy Teske. It was revealed that the rounds he provided had Starline brass casings with silver primers that matched the live bullet that killed Hutchins. In Mondays ruling, Sommer said that prosecutors didnt hide evidence of the ammunition since it was available to a lawyer for Gutierrez-Reed in advance of and during trial. Rather Teske and the ammunition in his possession were available to defendant, and yet defendant opted not to call Mr. Teske as a witness or seek to introduce the ammunition. Gutierrez-Reeds lawyer Jason Bowles has said that he didnt want to be in the chain of custody for the evidence nor did I want there to be any allegation that I had anything to do with something nefarious with regard to those rounds. If he was aware of the rounds, he said he wouldve advanced the theory that Seth Kenney, owner of a props and arms supplier that furnished the Rust production with ammunition and weapons, introduced the bullets onto the set. Special prosecutor Morrissey has denied keeping the evidence from defense lawyers, maintaining that the first time she learned that the Teske-supplied ammunition looked similar to the rounds uncovered on the Rust set was in open court the day Baldwins case was dismissed. She questioned the integrity of the evidence Teske, a longtime friend of Reed, provided, explaining that the rounds in his possession were ruled out as the source of those found on the production after the ex-police officer sent Kenney a picture of the rounds he was holding for Reed. That photograph, she said, showed that the ammunition wasnt a match. A month before Gutierrez-Reeds trial, Bowles similarly concluded the rounds Teske had werent a match and chose not to test them. The court also found that the late disclosure of a supplemental report concerning the functionality of the firearm that discharged doesnt warrant dismissal of the charges or a new trial. While prosecutors failed to in a timely manner inform the defense of the report, which was favorable to Gutierrez-Reed, it likely wouldnt have changed the jurys verdict, Sommer found. In April, the court sentenced Gutierrez-Reed, who loaded the live round into the gun Baldwin was holding when it fired and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, to 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter. She was issued the maximum sentence by Sommer, who underscored the lack of remorse Gutierrez-Reed expressed from phone calls that were monitored while she awaited sentencing. In her own words, shes said she didnt need to be shaking dummies all the time, Sommer said. She stressed, You were the armorer, the one that stood between a safe weapon and a weapon that could kill someone. You alone turned a safe weapon into a lethal weapon. But for you, Ms. Hutchins would be alive, a husband would have his partner and a little boy would have his mother. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Sign up for THR's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. A judge in New Mexico has upheld the conviction of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on Rust who in April was sentenced to 18 months in prison for the involuntary manslaughter of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ruled on Monday, September 30 that Gutierrez-Reed will serve out the remainder of her 18-month sentence, and her attorneys bid for a new trial was denied after it was found there was evidence suppressed in the involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin. More from IndieWire Defendant has not established that there is a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been available to Defendant, the evidence would have produced a different verdict, said Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer wrote in a ruling. Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter on March 6 and has been in custody ever since. She was acquitted on a charge of evidence tampering. She was sentenced to the maximum penalty of 18 months under New Mexico law. In July, Gutierrez-Reeds attorney, Jason Bowles, made a motion for a new trial in light of the Baldwin outcome, citing egregious prosecutorial misconduct and allegations of severe and ongoing discovery violations by the state. Bowles did not immediately respond to IndieWires request for comment on Mondays decision. At her trial in March, a jury found Gutierrez-Reed was responsible for the weapons on the film and that she loaded a live round into the gun that was handed to Baldwin and discharged, killing Hutchins and injuring the films director Joel Souza. The case centered around how a live round made its way to set, and the jury was presented with evidence that Gutierrez-Reed brought a bag of loose rounds with her to set from a prior film. The jury also heard testimony that she was unprofessional on set and was allegedly hungover on the job. Her conviction was called into question after Baldwins trial on the same charge was thrown out. He, too, faced 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter, but it was revealed that new evidence was uncovered and not shared with the defense, with prosecutor Kari Morrissey admitting on the stand that she felt the evidence of new ballistics was immaterial to the case. The ruling comes almost three years after Hutchins was shot on the Rust set back on October 21, 2021. More to come Best of IndieWire Sign up for Indiewire's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Marburg virus can bring on symptoms such as diarrhoea, vomiting and, in some cases, death through extreme blood loss [Getty Images] Rwandan authorities have restricted funeral sizes for victims of Marburg virus in an effort to curb an outbreak of the highly contagious disease. Eight people have died during Rwanda's first outbreak of the virus, which was confirmed on Friday by the nation's health ministry. Marburg, with a fatality rate of up to 88%, is from the same virus family as Ebola. It spreads to humans from fruit bats and then through contact with bodily fluids of infected individuals. In new guidelines to halt the spread of Marburg, the health ministry said no more than 50 people should attend the funeral of a person who died from the disease. "Normal business and other activities" can continue in the East African country, said the advisory, published on Sunday evening. However, it also urged the public to avoid close contact with "symptomatic individuals". The ministry listed symptoms such as fever, headaches, muscle aches, vomiting and diarrhoea. The virus can cause death through extreme blood loss. The health ministry's guidelines said hospital patients would not be permitted visitors for the next 14 days. Patients will also only be allowed one caregiver at a time, the guidelines said. In numerous developing countries, patients' loved ones perform basic care tasks - such as washing and feeding - that are typically performed by a nurse in other countries. On Saturday, when the official death toll was six, Rwanda's health minister said most of the victims were healthcare workers in a hospital intensive care unit. Dr Nahid Bhadelia, director of the Boston University Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases, told the BBC's Newsday programme that curbing the virus's spread might be challenging as most reported cases had been in the densely populated capital city, Kigali, while previous outbreaks had often been in remote rural areas where they were easier to contain. However, she added that there was hope as Rwanda had "a lot better infrastructure and history of public health coordination that many other countries". Rwanda said it was intensifying contact tracing, surveillance and testing to help contain the spread. The country's health minister said on Sunday that officials were tracking about 300 people who had come into contact with individuals affected by the Marburg virus. The authorities have urged the public to practise good hygiene, such as frequent hand-washing. This is the first time Marburg has been confirmed in Rwanda. Neighbouring Tanzania reported an outbreak in 2023, while three people died in Uganda in 2017. More BBC stories from Rwanda: [Getty Images/BBC] Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica BBC Africa podcasts In the wake of the US Federal Reserve's unexpected 50 bps rate cut and its shift in policy, emerging markets are experiencing a boost, with India seeing an influx of FII inflows despite lagging behind its Asian counterparts in performance. Domestic benchmarks have reached new highs, driven primarily by large-cap stocks, while mid-and small-cap stocks show a negative bias. In this environment, identifying high-growth companies with significant insider ownership can be particularly rewarding. Such companies often exhibit strong alignment between management and shareholder interests, which is crucial for navigating market fluctuations and capitalizing on growth opportunities. Top 10 Growth Companies With High Insider Ownership In India Name Insider Ownership Earnings Growth Archean Chemical Industries (NSEI:ACI) 22.9% 33.7% Kirloskar Pneumatic (BSE:505283) 30.3% 30.1% Jupiter Wagons (NSEI:JWL) 10.8% 27.4% Dixon Technologies (India) (NSEI:DIXON) 24.6% 31.2% Happiest Minds Technologies (NSEI:HAPPSTMNDS) 32.5% 22.2% Paisalo Digital (BSE:532900) 16.3% 24.8% Rajratan Global Wire (BSE:517522) 19.8% 35.8% Pricol (NSEI:PRICOLLTD) 25.5% 24% KEI Industries (BSE:517569) 18.7% 22.4% Aether Industries (NSEI:AETHER) 31.1% 45.9% Click here to see the full list of 94 stocks from our Fast Growing Indian Companies With High Insider Ownership screener. We're going to check out a few of the best picks from our screener tool. Simply Wall St Growth Rating: Overview: Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited, along with its subsidiaries, provides healthcare services in India and internationally and has a market cap of 1.04 trillion. Operations: Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited generates revenue from three primary segments: Healthcare Services (102.83 billion), Retail Health & Diagnostics (14.12 billion), and Digital Health & Pharmacy Distribution (81.04 billion). Insider Ownership: 10.4% Apollo Hospitals Enterprise has demonstrated significant growth, with earnings increasing by 55.2% over the past year and revenue growing to 51.23 billion in Q1 2024 from 44.46 billion a year ago. Earnings are forecast to grow at an impressive 32.3% per year, outpacing the Indian market's average of 17.2%. Despite a high level of debt, the company maintains strong insider ownership and is expected to achieve a return on equity of 22% within three years. Story continues NSEI:APOLLOHOSP Earnings and Revenue Growth as at Sep 2024 Simply Wall St Growth Rating: Overview: NIIT Learning Systems Limited provides managed training services across India, America, Europe, and internationally with a market cap of 69.97 billion. Operations: The company's revenue from Education & Training Services is 15.78 billion. Insider Ownership: 39.2% NIIT Learning Systems has shown steady growth, with Q1 2024 earnings rising to 600.19 million from 551.72 million a year ago. Despite slower revenue growth (13.9% per year) compared to peers, the company maintains strong insider ownership and is trading at a good value with a P/E ratio of 32.1x below the Indian market average of 34.1x. Recent strategic partnerships and consistent earnings forecast growth at 18.3% annually highlight its potential in the education technology sector. NSEI:NIITMTS Ownership Breakdown as at Sep 2024 Simply Wall St Growth Rating: Overview: Titagarh Rail Systems Limited manufactures and sells freight and passenger rail systems in India and internationally, with a market cap of 165.22 billion. Operations: Revenue segments for Titagarh Rail Systems Limited include 3.32 billion from Passenger Rail Systems and 35.14 billion from Freight Rail Systems (including Shipbuilding, Bridges, and Defence). Insider Ownership: 22.2% Titagarh Rail Systems has demonstrated substantial growth, with earnings increasing by 65.4% over the past year and forecasted to grow significantly faster than the Indian market at 30.1% annually. Revenue is expected to rise by 25.7% per year, outpacing market growth. Despite trading at 43% below its estimated fair value, shareholders experienced dilution in the past year. Recent events include a final dividend declaration of 0.80 per share for FY2024 and consistent quarterly earnings performance. NSEI:TITAGARH Earnings and Revenue Growth as at Sep 2024 Key Takeaways Delve into our full catalog of 94 Fast Growing Indian Companies With High Insider Ownership here. Already own these companies? Link your portfolio to Simply Wall St and get alerts on any new warning signs to your stocks. Invest smarter with the free Simply Wall St app providing detailed insights into every stock market around the globe. Interested In Other Possibilities? This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.The analysis only considers stock directly held by insiders. It does not include indirectly owned stock through other vehicles such as corporate and/or trust entities. All forecast revenue and earnings growth rates quoted are in terms of annualised (per annum) growth rates over 1-3 years. Companies discussed in this article include NSEI:APOLLOHOSP NSEI:NIITMTS and NSEI:TITAGARH. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com FILE - In this Oct. 8, 2014 photo, a medical worker from the Infection Prevention and Control unit wearing full protective equipment carries a meal to an isolation tent housing a man being quarantined after coming into contact in Uganda with a carrier of the Marburg Virus, at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File) Kigali, RWANDA (AP) Rwanda says eight people have died so far from the Ebola-like and highly contagious Marburg virus, just days after the country declared an outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic fever that has no authorized vaccine or treatment. Like Ebola, the Marburg virus originates in fruit bats and spreads between people through close contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals or with surfaces, such as contaminated bed sheets. Without treatment, Marburg can be fatal in up to 88% of people who fall ill with the disease. Rwanda, a landlocked country in central Africa, declared an outbreak on Friday and a day later the first six deaths were reported. So far 26 cases have been confirmed, and eight of the sickened people have died, Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana said on Sunday night. The public has been urged to avoid physical contact to help curb the spread. Some 300 people who came into contact with those confirmed to have the virus have also been identified, and an unspecified number of them have been put in isolation facilities. Most of the affected are healthcare workers across six out of 30 districts in the country. Marburg is a rare disease," Nsanzimana told journalists. We are intensifying contact tracing and testing to help stop the spread. The minister said the source of the disease has not been determined yet. A person infected with the virus can take between three days and three weeks to show symptoms, he added. Symptoms include fever, muscle pains, diarrhea, vomiting and, in some cases, death through extreme blood loss. The World Health Organization was scaling up its support and will work with Rwandan authorities to help stop the spread, WHOs Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Saturday on the social media platform X. The U.S Embassy in Rwanda's capital of Kigali has urged its staff to work remotely and avoid visiting offices. Marburg outbreaks and individual cases have in the past been recorded in Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Congo, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Ghana, according to the WHO. The rare virus was first identified in 1967 after it caused simultaneous outbreaks of disease in laboratories in Marburg, Germany, and Belgrade, Serbia. Seven people died who were exposed to the virus while conducting research on monkeys. Separately, Rwanda has so far reported six cases of mpox, a disease caused by a virus related to smallpox but that typically causes milder symptoms. Mpox, previously known as monkeypox because it was first seen in research monkeys, has also affected several other African countries in what the WHO has called a global health emergency. Rwanda launched an mpox vaccination campaign earlier this month, and more vaccines are expected to arrive in the country. Neighboring Congo has so far reported most of the cases of mpox, the epicenter of the emergency. Sabrina Carpenter Jokes She 'Got the Mayor Indicted' amid Eric Adams Scandal Which Has Unexpected Link to the Pop Star A Brooklyn priest who was demoted after the singer filmed a risque music video in his church is in the news once more and the pop star has weighed in Getty(2) Sabrina Carpenter, Eric Adams A Brooklyn priest who was demoted after Sabrina Carpenter filmed a risque music video in his church last year is in the news once more and the pop star has weighed in. Jamie Gigantiello was reportedly relieved of his administrative duties at the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in November 2023 after Carpenter, 25, filmed a raunchy music video for her song Feather at his church. And in light of New York City Mayor Eric Adams' indictment, questions have arisen over Gigantiello's alleged entanglement with one of Adams closest associates. At her concert in New York City's Madison Square on Sunday, Sept. 29, Carpenter dipped her toe into the discourse. "What should we talk about... how I got the mayor indicted?" she quipped from the stage. In recent weeks, federal investigators have issued a subpoena to the church seeking information about financial or business dealings between Gigantiello and Frank Carone, Adams former chief of staff, according to the New York Post and NBC New York. Related: N.Y.C. Mayor Eric Adams Indicted amid Federal Corruption Investigation Sabrina Carpenter/Youtube Sabrina Carpenter's 'Feather' music video Adams was charged on Sept. 25. with five criminal counts relating to his alleged ties with foreign businessmen and a Turkish official who sought to influence his decision-making. Carone resigned as the mayors chief of staff in 2022 to run a consulting firm, but is now chairing Adams reelection campaign, the Post reported. The Diocese is fully committed to cooperating with law enforcement in all investigations, including conduct at individual parishes or involving any priests, a spokeswoman for the Brooklyn Diocese told the outlets. Outlets including Politico have suggested that the latter part of the Brooklyn Diocese's statement refers to the "Feather" video causing a domino effect that ultimately led to an investigation into Gigantiello, described as having a taste for flashy accessories such as a large Rolex, and then into Adams' ultimate indictment. Meanwhile, defense attorney Arthur Aidala told the Post that Gigantiello is not the target of any federal, state or city investigation. Related: Priest Disciplined for Allowing Sabrina Carpenter to Film Music Video Inside Catholic Church The monsignor first made headlines last year after Carpenter filmed her Feather music video, a horror-inspired clip that sees the star on a killing spree to off boys who have wronged her, in his Williamsburg church (The star has said her team got permission to film). At the time, the music video ruffled feathers, with the Diocese of Brooklyn reportedly saying in a statement he was appalled at what was filmed. In response, the parish said that the production company that made the video failed to accurately represent the video content. Gigantiello was demoted in the aftermath, and at the time, he said in a statement that hed allowed the video because he wanted to strengthen the bonds between the young creative artists who make up a large part of this community and the parish. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Eric Adams in New York City in July 2023 Related: Sabrina Carpenter Reacts as Music Video Filmed in Catholic Church Sparks Controversy: 'Jesus Was a Carpenter' He said he and the parish staff were not aware that anything provocative was occurring in the church. Adams, meanwhile, pleaded not guilty in court on Sept. 27, according to the Associated Press. He is charged with conspiring to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery and receiving campaign contributions by foreign nationals; as well as one count of bribery, one count of wire fraud, and two counts of soliciting a contribution by a foreign national. The conduct alleged in the indictment the foreign money, the corporate money, the bribery, the years of concealment is a grave breach of public trust, said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams after the charges were revealed on Thursday, Sept. 26. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. How sailors say they were tricked into smuggling cocaine by a British man For Daniel Guerra, an aspiring Brazilian sailor keen to travel the world, the job ad was a dream come true. A British yacht owner was seeking two deck-hands to help sail his boat from Brazil across the Atlantic, one of the great ocean journeys. There would be no salary, but all expenses paid - and, crucially, Mr Guerra would gain some of the sailing experience he needed to qualify as a sea captain. "My dream was to become a captain and go work in Europe," remembers the 43-year-old, who saw the advert from an online sailing recruitment agency. "So I was super happy, knowing that my path to my dream was beginning." Things looked even better when Mr Guerra and his fellow recruit, Rodrigo Dantas, 32, met their new British employer. They had feared he might be some snobbish yachtie or posing Instagrammer, who would make sure they knew who was boss. But no. George Saul was a smiling, friendly figure, who did not insist on formalities. The sailors, he said, could even call him by his nickname - "Fox". "I used to work on some boats and the owners were old, super demanding, super rude and talked down to me," adds Mr Dantas. "He was like, very cool, very friendly." George Saul (C) asked the sailors - Daniel Guerra (L) and Rodrigo Dantas (R) - to call him by his nickname "Fox" and they were impressed by his friendliness [Daniel Guerra] Fox even passed the approval test of Mr Dantass parents, who were worried about their son doing such a long journey on a yacht owned by a total stranger, and asked to meet him for themselves. To borrow the old sailing expression, they liked the cut of his jib. They learned that Fox had brought the Rich Harvest over to Brazil for renovations, and wanted a competent crew to sail it back to Europe on his behalf. As well as the rookies, Mr Dantas and Mr Guerra, there would be two others, including a qualified captain. "I said: 'Look, watch out for my son'," remembers Mr Dantass father, Joao. "He said: 'Don't worry, I'll take care of Rodrigo.' As it turned out, his parents were not the only ones who wanted to check that all was well on board the Rich Harvest. Before the departure from Brazil, local police spent around six hours searching the yacht for drugs, with the help of a sniffer dog. They did not find what they were looking for, though, and the sailors assumed it was just a routine check. They had heard stories about cocaine being planted on boats, and now at least knew they were in the clear. "When you travel through an airport... your bags go through the X-ray machine," says Mr Dantas. "So I thought, well, it's an international trip and they're coming to inspect the boat." The Rich Harvest was searched by police for six hours before leaving Brazil [Brazil police] Such worries were far from their mind when they eventually embarked on their epic journey on 4 August 2017, the Brazilian coastline slowly receding behind them. With them were an additional crew member from Brazil and the yacht's newly hired French captain, a replacement for a previous British captain whose sailing skills had not proved up to scratch. Fox, meanwhile, had made his way back to Europe by plane two days before. "It was a beautiful day, perfect weather, sun," recalls Mr Guerra, who posted a message of thanks to Fox on his Facebook page. It read: "I'm really grateful, Fox, for this... chance to learn and for our bond that has made me stronger. Thanks mate." After two weeks of sailing, the yacht developed engine problems, forcing it to stop in Cape Verde, an archipelago off the coast of West Africa. Once more, Mr Guerra and Mr Dantas found reasons to look on the bright side. The islands are a tourist paradise, and Fox said he would wire them money to enjoy themselves while repairs were done at a local marina. And when yet more police came to search the vessel, Mr Guerra was not worried. "They didn't find anything in Brazil," he thought to himself. "They won't find anything in Cape Verde either." The Cape Verdean police were even more thorough than their Brazilian counterparts, using specialist cutting equipment to open up the yacht's innards. Hidden inside below false floors, they found nearly 1.2 tonnes of cocaine - worth an estimated 100m ($134m) if sold on Europes streets. "I felt that all my freedom was going down the drain, said Mr Guerra. "I was furious, couldn't accept what was happening, you know? Id been really fooled. [BBC] Finding Mr Fox - a BBC investigation into a plot to smuggle cocaine valued at more than $100m to Europe. Find it on iPlayer (UK only) or on the BBC Africa YouTube channel (outside the UK) [BBC] In March 2018, the crew went on trial in Cape Verde, protesting their innocence. They had never even heard of Rich Harvest or its owner until they answered the job advert, they insisted. They were sentenced, however, to 10 years in jail each - in what was hailed as one of the country's biggest busts. But while the haul was impressive, the man Brazilian police regarded as the big catch got away. They believed that the mastermind of the operation was Fox, whose yacht was first drawn to their attention by a tip-off from the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA). Brazilian police believe he was the leader of the operation to smuggle the drugs. These are just a few of the cocaine packets officers in Cape Verde discovered hidden under the Rich Harvest's fake floors and in fake water tanks [Cape Verde police] In August 2018, Fox was arrested in Italy, where Brazilian police filed extradition proceedings. They wanted him to be returned to Brazil to answer the allegations against him. But the paperwork arrived too late, and he was freed - much to the frustration of Brazilian police inspector Andre Goncalves. He feared that Fox had subsequently gone into hiding. "We were left with that feeling that after all our work, wed never get to the bottom of it," he told the BBC. "It was very, very frustrating." Mr Goncalves said his team had kept both Fox and the yacht under surveillance in Brazil. They believe the "renovations" on the boat were partly to fit it with secret compartments, and that the drugs were loaded on to the vessel before the sailors were hired. Mr Goncalves admits that at first, he presumed the four sailors were involved too. "If someone is on a boat that's full of drugs, you think that person must have something to do with it," he said. But as he dug into their backgrounds, he could find nothing previously linking them to the drug world or to Fox. "The deeper I went I still couldn't find a connection but at the same time it strengthened the evidence we had against Fox." The sailors' pleas of innocence also got backing from an unlikely source - fellow Briton Robert Delbos, a man who was alleged to be an accomplice of Fox. "Instead of paying the crew properly and getting himself a professional, bloody smuggling crew - he hired four innocent guys"", Source: Robert Delbos, who worked on the first stage of renovations of Foxs boat, Source description: , Image: Robert Delbos Delbos, 71, is a convicted drug trafficker, having been jailed for 12 years in 1988 for attempting to smuggle 1.5 tonnes of cannabis into the UK. Before the Rich Harvest left Brazil, Mr Goncalves's team observed Delbos supervising the first stages of the yacht's renovations. They initially suspected he was fitting secret compartments, and filed successful extradition proceedings for him around the same time as those against Fox. Delbos spent months in a Brazilian supermax prison awaiting trial, but he too said the drugs were later planted without his knowledge. He was acquitted after the judge in his case ruled it could not be proved that he knew about the smuggling plan. In an interview with the BBC, he claimed that even drug traffickers had codes of ethics, and that Fox had violated them by using innocent sailors as mules rather than hiring professional smugglers. "This is completely beyond the pale. I mean, you don't do this," he said. "He was a stupid man who was greedy. Instead of paying the crew properly and getting himself a professional, bloody smuggling crew - he hired four innocent guys." As doubts about the sailors' guilt grew, their families began a campaign on their behalf, which became a cause celebre in Brazil. In 2019 their convictions in Cape Verde were overturned, and they were allowed to go home. Fox, meanwhile, has never faced trial, and returned to the UK. A selfie of George Saul, AKA Fox, posted to his Instagram [George Saul] The 41-year-old lives in Norwich in eastern England where he grew up, attended college locally, and was an accomplished amateur yachtsman - sailing off the nearby Norfolk coast. Today, he resides in a Norwich suburb and runs a property firm. He belonged to a local business networking association, and on his social media feed last March, posted photos of himself with the city's then Lord Mayor, James Wright. There is no suggestion that Mr Wright was aware of the accusations against Fox. The BBC tracked Fox down as he arrived at one of his networking association's weekly business breakfasts, at a Norwich hotel. He declined to comment on the Rich Harvest and the sailors' ordeal. Asked about the allegations that he was a drug trafficker, he replied: "I'm not." An NCA spokesperson said if Brazilian police still wished to pursue the case, they would have to file an extradition request. Brazil's ministry of justice said it did not comment on individual cases. Meanwhile, Rodrigo Dantas and Daniel Guerra are trying to rebuild their lives in Brazil, their dreams of becoming yacht captains abandoned. The dreams Daniel Guerra (L) and Rodrigo Dantas (R) toasted to in 2017 are long gone [Brazil police] Mr Dantas says he struggled to find sailing work on his return home, with some employers assuming he must have been guilty after all. Mr Guerras round-the-world sailing ambitions "stayed locked up in Cape Verde". He says he lost his ability to trust people, vital during the challenges on any long yacht voyage. Even now, he still wonders who Fox really was - that "cool" British guy he once felt so grateful to, whose job advert then turned his life upside down. He says that he would "really like to see justice done", but has no wish to meet Fox ever again. "If I meet him, it wont be me whos going to talk. It will be another Daniel. All the bad feelings I had in jail will come up and I wont be able to be a civilised person." [BBC] Coming in October World of Secrets, Season 5: Finding Mr Fox. A joint BBC Africa Eye, BBC Brasil and World of Secrets podcast investigation into a plot to smuggle cocaine valued at more $100m to Europe. [BBC] More from BBC Africa Eye: [Getty Images/BBC] Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica BBC Africa podcasts Salvation Army of Western Pa. sends supplies, disaster relief personnel to areas hit by Helene The Salvation Army of Western Pennsylvania is mobilizing its national Emergency Disaster Services (EDS) network to provide support to areas hit by Hurricane Helene. The organization is sending supplies to provide mass feeding, sheltering, clean-up support, personal hygiene kits, and emotional and spiritual care to survivors and first responders impacted by the storm. >> Pittsburgh-area first responders, non-profit send aide for Hurricane Helene The Salvation Army of Western Pennsylvania also sent eight pallets of flood kits to Philadelphia, which were then combined with other emergency supplies and dispatched to areas impacted across the southeast United States. >> Brothers Brother Foundation in Pittsburgh prepares to provide support to Hurricane Helene victims If you would like to donate to support Hurricane Helene relief: Donate online: HelpSalvationArmy.org Donate by phone: 1-800-SAL-ARMY (1-800-725-2769) Donate by mail: The Salvation Army, P.O. BOX 1959, Atlanta, GA 30301 (Please designate Disaster Relief Hurricane Helene on all checks) Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW TRENDING NOW: Hurricane Helene makes landfall in Florida Rachael DelTondos ex-fiance charged with allegedly beating girlfriend 2 former local nurses accused of taking, sharing inappropriate patient photos turn themselves in VIDEO: Man who saved pastor from gunman in North Braddock receives international award DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts Samantha Mitchell is our Educator of the Week! Samantha Mitchell is our Educator of the Week! ASHEBORO, N.C. (WGHP) FOX8 honors Samantha Mitchell of Madison Elementary School. Congrats, Ms. Mitchell! If you know of an educator who is worthy of this nomination please fill out the nomination form here. Educator of the Week is sponsored by the North Carolina Education Lottery. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX8 WGHP. What happened: Around 250 community members reportedly attended the town hall hosted by the Asian Pacific Islander Council at the Hilton across from Portsmouth Square. Candidates included incumbent Mayor London Breed, former Mayor Mark Farrell, nonprofit founder Daniel Lurie, Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin and Supervisor Ahsha Safai. The mayoral hopefuls highlighted the importance of representation and discussed critical issues affecting the community, including public safety, housing, poverty and food insecurity. Farrell, for one, criticized Breeds administration on public safety, saying it is unfortunately the number one issue in San Francisco right now and called for a new chief and funding for the police department. On supporting low-income families, Safai an Iranian American immigrant representing a majority Asian American district cited his efforts in helping build more affordable housing and establishing Free City College, which allows the public to take classes at City College of San Francisco for free. Why this matters: The town hall underscores the increasing importance of the Asian American community in San Francisco, especially given their pivotal role in past elections. A recent KRON4/Emerson College poll shows a tight race that could hinge on undecided voters. Peskin, who has represented Chinatown for 17 years and is currently backing three Asian American candidates for the Board of Supervisors, said Asian American representation is essential in a city where their voices must be amplified. Meanwhile, Lurie said the community has been underinvested in for far too long, and that changes on Day 1 with my administration. Breed, who recently regained some support among Asian Americans after low approval ratings, lauded all candidates for supporting Proposition B, a public health bond that aims to restore infrastructure and improve services for residents. Even though we have a disagreement in the mayor's race, we are all united behind Proposition B as a way to move our city forward for our economic recovery, for the health and the safety and the wellness of the people of San Francisco, she said. 'Scary' Chemical Plant Fire Sends Chlorine Into Air, Forcing More Than 90,000 Georgia Residents to Shelter in Place "If you have concerns, stay inside, close windows and doors, and turn off ventilation systems, Atlanta's mayor advised Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Smoke rises after a chemical fire broke out on the roof of a BioLab plant in Conyers, Ga., on Sept. 29, 2024 A fire broke out at the BioLab plant in Conyers, Ga., on Sept. 29 About 17,000 people have evacuated in Rockdale County, with businesses being asked to close until the shelter-in-place is lifted Haze and a strong chemical smell have been reported across Fulton County, said the Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management Agency A fire at a chemical plant in Conyers, Ga., has officials advising residents in the area to shelter in place, as people have reported the smell of chlorine in the air, the Associated Press reported. In a press release issued Monday, Sept. 30, Rockdale County, which includes Conyers, called on residents to remain sheltered in place and advised businesses to stay closed until the shelter-in-place is lifted, following the Sept. 29 fire at a BioLab plant. The information is based on air quality surveys conducted by EPA and EPD, which revealed the harmful irritant chlorine, which was detected in the air emitting from the incident at BioLab, the countys statement read. For everyone sheltering in place, the best practice is to turn the air conditioning off and keep the windows and door shut. Related: 151-Year-Old Banyan Tree Scorched by Maui Wildfires Is Healing Well See the Remarkable Photos About 17,000 people in Rockdale County have evacuated, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported. Overall, more than 90,000 residents east of Atlanta have been urged to stay indoors, per the AP. Video footage from local news outlets NBC affiliate KARE and Fox affiliate WAGA as well as images on social media showed large and thick plumes of smoke emanating from the plant fire, which was eventually contained in the late afternoon of Sept. 29, said authorities per the AP. Its very scary to see something like that, Transmission King owner Derrick Gibson, who closed his business and headed home upon witnessing the flames, told ABC affiliate WSB. In a series of posts shared on X, the Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management Agency also noted the situation and provided safety tips. We are investigating the numerous reports of a haze and strong chemical smell across Fulton County, Likely related to the BioLab fire, the agency wrote. We are awaiting additional information from EPD and EPA and will pass along any and all information we receive. 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. As we await additional information from EPD and EPA, continued the agencys statement, if you have concerns or have a respiratory issue, STAY INSIDE, CLOSE windows and doors, TURN OFF air conditioning & other ventilation systems. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens shared in a social media post on Sept. 30 that his administration is working diligently to ensure the safety of those in and around Atlanta. The Atlanta Fire Rescue Department and the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport are conducting air quality control checks." "At this time, no warnings or advisories have been issued," the mayor added. "We will continue to coordinate with the EPA and EPD, and all updates will be posted on our social channels. If you have concerns, stay inside, close windows and doors, and turn off ventilation systems. Related: Dramatic Pipeline Fire Burns in Texas as Residents Say They Saw the Car Crash That Started It: 'Like a Bomb' The air quality situation has also prompted Gwinnett County Public Schools to shut down its outdoor activities and events on Sept. 30. Due to our proximity to Rockdale County, the air quality in parts of Gwinnett County is also being negatively impacted, Gwinnett County Public Schools wrote in a statement on its website. We have stopped outside air from coming into our buildingsUntil the air quality improves, we encourage all families and staff to limit time outside, and keep windows and doors shut. BioLab shared a statement on Sept. 30: Our top priority is ensuring the communitys safety, and our teams are working around-the-clock to respond to the ongoing situation at our facility in Conyers, Georgia. We continue to work collaboratively with first responders and local authorities and have deployed specialized teams from out of state to the site to bolster and support their efforts. We are all focused on remediating the situation as rapidly as possible. Related: 'Catastrophic' Explosion Possible After 150-Car Train Carrying Chemicals Derails in Ohio The company also said in an earlier update on Sept. 29 that all of its employees were accounted for and there were no reported injuries. PEOPLE reached out to BioLab for comment but did not hear back. Per The New York Times, Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel said it is uncertain what type of chemicals caused the fire at BioLab. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. This embedded content is not available in your region. Massive storm Helene has left a trail of devastation across six states in the south-east US, destroying communities and claiming more than 116 lives. The mountainous region of western North Carolina has seen homes and bridges washed away, villages flattened and the tourist city of Asheville cut off. Rescuers are focusing their efforts on reaching those communities on Monday but recovery is proving difficult with so many roads impassable. The death toll is expected to rise as dozens of search teams continue recovery efforts and relatives search for missing loved ones. Many communities were completely cut off, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper told CNN on Monday, attributing the difficulty to the region's rugged terrain. The rescues are further complicated by the isolated nature of the mountain cities in North Carolina, where many roads remain closed from damage and flooding. Governor Cooper has warned that Helene has brought damage of "historic proportions" and urged people to stay off the roads. Mobile phone and and internet service is still down for many residents. Weaverville Mayor Patrick Fitzsimmons represents a town in the hard-hit Bumcombe County, where 35 people are reported to have died so far. He told BBC News that all of the town's residents survived the storm, but much of its infrastructure didnt. There is no electricity, and with power cables and utility poles down, it could take at least a week to restore. Weavervilles water plant was flooded and citizens have been without drinking water for four days. The mayor says he is frustrated its taken so long for federal aid to arrive. As of today, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is distributing drinking water and military-style ready meals (MREs). Only one grocery store is currently operational. Buncombe appears to be the epicentre of the disaster in North Carolina, with the highest death toll of any county. Many fear that number could rise. The county has set up a website where people can ask about missing persons, Fitzsimmons says. It has received 11,000 requests so far. Around 1,000 people are still unaccounted for in Buncombe County alone, officials said on Sunday night. The popular tourist destination of Biltmore Village in Asheville, North Carolina, has been wrecked by the storm [Getty Images] Helene began as a hurricane - the most powerful on record to hit Florida's Big Bend, before moving toward Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee. The majority of deaths have been confirmed in North and South Carolina where Helene travelled through as a tropical storm. The state of North Carolina has recorded at least 46 deaths, while the storm has claimed at least 27 lives in neighbouring South Carolina, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News. The North Carolina National Guard has rescued more than 119 people, including one infant, according to Major General Todd Hunt. The largest rescue involved 41 people north of Asheville, he said. As of Monday morning, 500,000 people remained without power in both North Carolina and Georgia as well as 750,000 in South Carolina, according to poweroutage.us. The American Red Cross has opened more than 140 shelters for those in south-eastern states who evacuated their homes. More than 2,000 people are currently using the shelters, the organisation said on Sunday. Recovery from the storm is estimated to cost between $95bn and $110bn (71bn-82bn) nationwide. The remnants of Hurricane Helene are expected to move into the mid-Atlantic on Monday. But more storms could be on the horizon, officials have warned, as the official end of hurricane season is not until 30 November. FILE PHOTO: Mount Everest (top), highest peak in the world, is seen in this aerial view FILE PHOTO: Mount Everest (top), highest peak in the world, is seen in this aerial view By Will Dunham (Reuters) - Mount Everest is Earth's tallest mountain - towering 5.5 miles (8.85 km) above sea level - and is actually still growing. While it and the rest of the Himalayas are continuing an inexorable uplift that dates back to their birth roughly 50 million years ago when the Indian subcontinent collided with Eurasia, Everest is growing more than expected from this alone. Scientists now think they know the reason why, and it has to do with the monumental merger of two nearby river systems. Everest has gained roughly 49-164 feet (15-50 meters) in height due to this change in the regional river system, with the Kosi river merging with the Arun river approximately 89,000 years ago, the researchers estimated. That translates to an uplift rate of roughly 0.01-0.02 inches (0.2-0.5 millimeters) per year. The geological process at work, they said, is called isostatic rebound. It involves the rise of land masses on Earth's crust when the weight of the surface diminishes. The crust, Earth's outermost layer, essentially floats atop a mantle layer made of hot, semi-liquid rock. In this case, the merger of the rivers - more like a hostile takeover, with the Kosi subjugating the Arun as the rivers changed course over time - resulted in accelerated erosion that has carried off huge amounts of rock and soil, reducing the weight of the region near Everest. "Isostatic rebound can be likened to a floating object adjusting its position when weight is removed," said geoscientist Jin-Gen Dai of China University of Geosciences in Beijing, one of the leaders of the study published on Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience. "When a heavy load, such as ice or eroded rock, is removed from the Earth's crust, the land beneath slowly rises in response, much like a boat rising in water when cargo is unloaded," Dai added. The main gorge of the merged river system is located approximately 28 miles (45 km) east of Everest. The researchers, who used numerical models to simulate the evolution of the river system, estimated that isostatic rebound accounts for about 10% of Everest's annual uplift rate. This geological process is not unique to the Himalayas. "A classic example is in Scandinavia, where the land is still rising in response to the melting of thick ice sheets that covered the region during the last Ice Age. This process continues today, affecting coastlines and landscapes, thousands of years after the ice retreated," Dai said. Study co-author Adam Smith, a University College London doctoral student in Earth sciences, said GPS measurements reveal the continued rising of Everest and the rest of the Himalayas. This uplift outpaces the continued surface erosion caused by factors such as wind, rain and river flow. As this erosion continues, Everest's uplift rate from isostatic rebound may increase, Smith said. Neighboring peaks including Lhotse, the world's fourth highest, and Makalu, the fifth highest, also get a boost from the same process. Lhotse is experiencing an uplift rate similar to Everest. Makalu, situated closer to the Arun, has a slightly higher uplift rate. "This research underscores our planet's dynamic nature. Even a seemingly immutable feature like Mount Everest is subject to ongoing geological processes, reminding us that Earth is constantly changing, often in ways imperceptible in our daily lives," Dai said. Earth's rigid outer part is divided into colossal plates that move gradually over time in a process called plate tectonics, with the Himalayas rising following a collision between two plates. Everest, also called Sagarmatha in Nepali and Chomolungma in Tibetan, is situated on the border between Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It was named for George Everest, a 19th century British surveyor in India. "Mount Everest occupies a unique place in human consciousness," Dai said. "Physically, it represents Earth's highest point, giving it immense significance simply by virtue of its stature," Dai added. "Culturally, Everest is sacred to local Sherpa and Tibetan communities. Globally, it symbolizes the ultimate challenge, embodying human endurance and our drive to surpass perceived limits." (Reporting by Will Dunham in Washington; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien) Scientists race to investigate possible human transmission of H5N1 in US outbreak Seven people fell ill with flu-like symptoms after contact with someone infected with H5N1, raising fears that the virus has spread between humans for the first time in the United States. Health authorities are rushing to investigate the possibility of human-to-human transmission, with the cluster of potential cases centred around a patient who was confirmed to have H5N1 last month and was later sent to hospital. Among those affected are several healthcare workers and one of their household contacts, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement. Health officials in Missouri said six healthcare workers developed mild respiratory symptoms resembling avian influenza after treating the patient. Of those, only one was tested for influenza using PCR, and the results came back negative. The remaining five healthcare workers symptoms resolved before testing could be conducted. They have since provided blood samples to the CDC to check for H5N1 antibodies, which would indicate prior infection with the virus. Overall, at least 94 healthcare workers had some contact with the sick patient, Missouri state officials said. Although there have been reports of human-human transmission of H5N1 in the past, its extremely rare and has caused alarm among those monitoring the US outbreak. Its definitely concerning H5N1 a highly infectious form of bird flu with a death rate of up to 55 per cent has been spreading in US dairy cattle since December of last year. Usually found in birds, the virus has infected more than 200 cattle herds across the country, indicating it is becoming better at infecting mammals. Scientists have been urging the US government to get the spread of H5N1 under control quickly so that it does not have the opportunity to jump to humans and adapt to spread between them. If it does, it could trigger a pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has repeatedly warned. If H5N1 bird flu continues to expand to human transmission, as the cases in Missouri are indicating, the history books will not look kindly upon the USs early efforts when we could have taken much more aggressive and clear action, Dr Michael Mina, Chief Science Officer at eMed Digital Healthcare said on X. There have been 13 other confirmed cases of bird flu in people in the US this year, all of which were acquired from interactions with infected dairy cattle or poultry. Missouri has no infected cattle herds, however, and the hospitalised patient had no known contact with animals. The case was detected through the states seasonal flu surveillance system, indicating there could be more flying under the radar. Its definitely concerning, said Dr Krutika Kuppalli, a spokesperson for the Infectious Disease Society of America and former WHO medical officer. We need to understand possible sources of exposure in the index case, and what has been done to investigate it, especially since Missouri has no confirmed dairy herds. We also need to be stepping up surveillance and testing around the country, not just in Missouri, Dr Kuppalli added. Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. In this article, we will discuss the top 15 skilled migration visa countries in the world. You can skip our detailed discussion and see the Top 5 Skilled Migration Visa Countries in the World. Skilled workers leave their home countries primarily for better economic opportunities, career advancement, and improved quality of life. Developing regions often suffer from limited job prospects, lower wages, and economic instability, pushing professionals to seek higher salaries and job security in developed countries. Additionally, advanced economies offer superior career development resources such as cutting-edge technology, state-of-the-art infrastructure, and ample opportunities for further education and training, which are often scarce in their home countries. Visa programs targeting skilled professionals further facilitate this migration. Consequently, skilled workers are drawn to environments where they can achieve financial stability, professional growth, and a better lifestyle for themselves and their families. According to a recent survey conducted by Robert Half, more than 62% of the global workforce is open to relocating to another country for better job opportunities. READ ALSO: 12 Countries Millionaires Are Moving To and 30 Least Peaceful Countries in the World. Skilled Workers Transforming Labor Markets in the West Developed economies are enthusiastic about welcoming skilled professionals; they see it as a strategic move to boost population growth, address pressing labor shortages, and benefit from a pool of pre-trained, highly capable workers. In a 2023 statistics, European Commission reported that immigrants make up an increasing percentage of the total population in European countries with Germany, France, and Italy hosting to over 6 million immigrants, especially skilled workers. This cultural exchange is a win-win, as both parties stand to gain immensely from this flow of talent. This significant migration of skilled workers from developing nations to Western markets has been driven primarily by the superior quality of life. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), around 272 million people migrated internationally in 2019, many of whom were drawn to these nations due to their excellent healthcare, advanced education systems, and comprehensive social services. These factors are highly attractive destinations for individuals seeking improved living standards. According to the World Economic Forum's report, Asian developing nations are leading the current migration trend. Remarkably, over 40% of the world's international migrants hail from Asia, and 20% of these migrants come from six countries: India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Afghanistan. This migration trend highlights the eagerness of people from these countries to find improved opportunities abroad. Moreover, the allure of Western markets is not limited to financial gains alone. The prospect of living in a politically stable environment, enjoying personal safety, and achieving a healthier work-life balance are equally compelling reasons for skilled workers to migrate. These factors collectively contribute to the growing trend of professionals from developing nations seeking better prospects in Western countries, driving a significant global workforce shift. Online job portals and social platforms play an imperative role in augmenting this strategic shift. LinkedIn owned by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) sits at the center of this movement. The online job portal assists people from developing countries in finding well-paying jobs outside of this country. The platform also assists recruiters and organizations hire from a global talent pool, reaching out to more people over time. On June 19, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and LinkedIn released the 2024 Work Trend Index, titled AI at Work is Here. Now Comes the Hard Part. Based on a survey of 31,000 people across 31 countries, LinkedIns labor and hiring data, Microsoft 365 signals, and research from Fortune 500 clients, the report highlights AIs growing impact on work, leadership, and hiring. Echoing these findings, Dhanawat Suthumpun, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Thailand's Managing Director, stated: Generative AI tools have found widespread acceptance in the workplace, and we can see that most employees have placed their trust in AI to help with their daily workloads without waiting to see if their organization will provide AI tools, services, or directions and guidelines for usage. It is critical that business leaders respond to this emerging trend in order to help both the organization and employees make the most beneficial impact from AI from increased productivity and new capabilities to greater security from well-defined guidance around AI use. While we acknowledge the potential of MSFT 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 MSFT but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. With this backdrop, lets proceed to our list of top 15 skilled migration visa countries in the world. Top 15 Skilled Migration Visa Countries in the World Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com Methodology To compile the list of the top 15 skilled migration visa countries in the world, we began by identifying countries offering skilled migration visas through an assessment of individual visa records. Next, we gathered data on the inflow of skilled migrants into these countries from the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). We also accessed Manpower Groups 2024 Global Talent Shortage ratings. We grouped countries with active skilled visa programs and normalized the data for the inflow of skilled migrants and the talent shortage in each country. For both metrics, the country with the highest score received a rating of 1. The total ratings for both metrics were then summed to achieve a composite score. Finally, we ranked the countries in descending order based on their composite scores to determine the top 15 skilled migration visa countries in the world. Note: We omitted Israel from our list due to ongoing geopolitical tensions and instability in the region, which could significantly impact the businesses and living conditions for expats. 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). Now, let's explore our list of the 15 best skilled migration visa countries in the world. Top 15 Skilled Migration Visa Countries in the World 15. Switzerland Inflow of Skilled Labor Score: 0.12 Skilled Labor Shortage Score: 0.85 Composite Score: 0.98 Renowned for its high quality of life and stable economy Switzerland welcomed 141,500 skilled workers in 2021. With a 73% labor shortage, Switzerland presents numerous opportunities in finance, technology, pharmaceuticals, and engineering. Professionals moving to Switzerland benefit from excellent healthcare, education, and a well-balanced work-life environment, making it an ideal place to advance their careers. 14. Ireland Inflow of Skilled Labor Score: 0.03 Skilled Labor Shortage Score: 0.95 Composite Score: 0.98 Ireland is an attractive destination for skilled migrants, offering a robust economy and numerous job opportunities in technology, pharmaceuticals, and finance. In 2021, Ireland saw an inflow of 35,000 skilled workers, reflecting its growing appeal. With an 81% labor shortage, professionals in various sectors are in high demand, ensuring ample opportunities for career growth and development. 13. Greece Inflow of Skilled Labor Score: 0.02 Skilled Labor Shortage Score: 0.96 Composite Score: 0.98 Greece, with its rich history and emerging economy, is increasingly attracting skilled workers. In 2021, it saw an influx of 28,700 skilled migrants. The country's 82% labor shortage highlights the need for professionals in sectors like tourism, technology, and healthcare. Greece offers a unique blend of professional opportunities and cultural experiences. 12. Netherlands Inflow of Skilled Labor Score: 0.18 Skilled Labor Shortage Score: 0.83 Composite Score: 1.01 The Netherlands is renowned for its quality of life and progressive work environment. In 2021, it attracted 208,100 skilled workers, thanks to its strong tech and engineering sectors. With a 71% labor shortage, the country provides ample opportunities for professionals seeking to make a mark in Europe while enjoying a high standard of living. 11. Austria Inflow of Skilled Labor Score: 0.12 Skilled Labor Shortage Score: 0.91 Composite Score: 1.04 Austria is a prime destination for skilled migrants, particularly in engineering, healthcare, and IT. The country welcomed 139,500 skilled workers in 2021, driven by its robust economy and excellent living standards. With a 78% labor shortage, Austria offers a stable and prosperous environment for professionals to thrive and grow. 10. Portugal Inflow of Skilled Labor Score: 0.09 Skilled Labor Shortage Score: 0.95 Composite Score: 1.05 Portugal has become a popular destination for skilled migrants due to its favorable climate, rich culture, and expanding tech industry. In 2021, the country saw an inflow of 111,300 skilled workers. With an 81% labor shortage, there are vast opportunities for professionals in technology, finance, and healthcare sectors. 9. Australia Inflow of Skilled Labor Score: 0.13 Skilled Labor Shortage Score: 0.91 Composite Score: 1.05 Australia continues to attract skilled migrants with its high quality of life and strong job market. In 2021, it welcomed 153,800 skilled workers. The country faces a 78% labor shortage, creating numerous opportunities in fields like healthcare, engineering, and information technology. Australia's vibrant economy and lifestyle make it an ideal destination for professionals. 8. Japan Inflow of Skilled Labor Score: 0.07 Skilled Labor Shortage Score: 1 Composite Score: 1.07 Japan is a leading destination for skilled professionals, particularly in technology and engineering. The country welcomed 80,000 skilled migrants in 2021, driven by its advanced economy and innovative industries. With an 85% labor shortage, Japan offers significant opportunities for those looking to advance their careers in a highly developed and dynamic environment. 7. Italy Inflow of Skilled Labor Score: 0.21 Skilled Labor Shortage Score: 0.88 Composite Score: 1.09 Italy is increasingly attracting skilled professionals, especially in sectors like fashion, design, and technology. In 2021, it saw an inflow of 243,600 skilled workers. The country's 75% labor shortage indicates a high demand for talent, providing excellent opportunities for career growth in a culturally rich and vibrant setting. 6. France Inflow of Skilled Labor Score: 0.21 Skilled Labor Shortage Score: 0.94 Composite Score: 1.16 France is a top choice for skilled migrants, offering a robust economy and numerous job opportunities in various sectors. In 2021, the country attracted 250,400 skilled workers. With an 80% labor shortage, France provides a fertile ground for professionals looking to advance their careers while enjoying a high quality of life and rich cultural heritage. 5. United Kingdom Inflow of Skilled Labor Score: 0.33 Skilled Labor Shortage Score: 0.94 Composite Score: 1.27 The United Kingdom remains a prime destination for skilled migrants, especially in finance, technology, and healthcare. In 2021, it welcomed 385,800 skilled workers. The country's 80% labor shortage underscores the high demand for talent, making it an excellent place for professionals to pursue their career aspirations in a diverse and dynamic environment. 4. Canada Inflow of Skilled Labor Score: 0.35 Skilled Labor Shortage Score: 0.94 Composite Score: 1.29 Canada is renowned for its welcoming stance towards skilled migrants, offering ample opportunities in technology, healthcare, and engineering. In 2021, it saw an inflow of 405,800 skilled workers. With an 80% labor shortage, Canada provides a supportive and prosperous environment for professionals seeking to build a successful career and a high quality of life. 3. Spain Inflow of Skilled Labor Score: 0.40 Skilled Labor Shortage Score: 0.91 Composite Score: 1.31 Spain is an attractive destination for skilled migrants, particularly in sectors like tourism, healthcare, and technology. The country welcomed 456,600 skilled workers in 2021. With a 78% labor shortage, Spain offers abundant opportunities for professionals to advance their careers while enjoying a rich cultural experience and a favorable climate. 2. Turkey Inflow of Skilled Labor Score: 0.53 Skilled Labor Shortage Score: 0.89 Composite Score: 1.43 Turkey is becoming a significant hub for skilled migrants, especially in engineering, technology, and healthcare. In 2021, it attracted 615,100 skilled workers. The country's 76% labor shortage highlights the high demand for professionals, offering numerous opportunities for career growth in a country known for its strategic location and dynamic economy. 1. Germany Inflow of Skilled Labor Score: 1 Skilled Labor Shortage Score: 0.96 Composite Score: 1.96 Germany stands out as the top destination for skilled migrants, driven by its robust economy and advanced industries. In 2021, it saw an impressive inflow of 1,139,800 skilled workers. With an 82% labor shortage, Germany offers unparalleled opportunities for professionals across various sectors, ensuring a bright future for those looking to build their careers in a leading global economy. 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. Top 15 Skilled Migration Visa Countries in the World is originally published on Insider Monkey. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) Flags will be flown at half-staff Monday at the South Dakota State Capitol to honor a late state legislator Gov. Kristi Noem ordered flags to be flown half-staff at the State Capitol Monday to honor Dr. Donald Van Etten. Bittersweet goodbye for priest heading to deployment Van Etten represented Pennington County in the South Dakota State House of Representatives from 2001-2008. Flags will be flown at half-staff from sunrise to sunset on Tuesday. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KELOLAND.com. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. A Sioux Falls native was involved with a chief pinning ceremony for the U.S. Navy on the Philippine Sea last week U.S. Navy Chief Mass Communication Specialist Chris Williamson sang Anchors Aweigh, the Naval Academy fight song, with the other officers during the pinning ceremony aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt on Friday, September 27. Bittersweet goodbye for priest heading to deployment During the pinning ceremony, military personnel are appointed to Chief Petty Officers where they take on additional leadership roles. U.S. Navy Chief Mass Communication Specialist Chris Williamson sang Anchors Aweigh, the Naval Academy fight song during the ceremony 2024 Theodore Roosevelt Pinning Ceremony. Photo by U.S. Navy Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Pimpaka Kruthun 2024 Theodore Roosevelt Pinning Ceremony. Photo by U.S. Navy Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Pimpaka Kruthun The USS Theodore Roosevelt is a flagship of Carrier Strike Group 9 for the Navy and is currently operating in the 7th Fleet area of operations, which includes the Philippine Sea. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. UPDATE: Biden on SDFD crew injured en route to NC for Helene aid: It was a bad accident SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) Members of a San Diego search and rescue task force were involved in a serious accident while heading to North Carolina to help with Hurricane Helene relief efforts, the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department confirmed Sunday. The San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments US&R Task Force 8 team was deployed Friday to Charlotte, North Carolina to help in the aftermath of the hurricane that has killed nearly 100 people, left millions without power and trapped families in floodwaters. SDFD Assistant Chief James Gaboury and City of San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria in a press conference Sunday morning said three SDFD members were seriously injured in a two-vehicle crash at 2:45 a.m. (CST) Sunday on East Highway 20 near the border of Texas and Louisiana. All three task force members a battalion chief and two captains were flown by air ambulance to Louisiana State University Hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana. The SDFD assistant chief Sunday morning said their conditions range from moderate to critical. San Diego Fire-Rescue sends water rescue team to NC for Hurricane Helene The fire-rescue department has not yet identified the victims, pending family notifications. The Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8 Type III water rescue team includes 32 team members from SDFD, with the others from Carlsbad, Chula Vista, El Cajon, La Mesa, Rancho Santa Fe, San Marcos and Santee fire departments, also an emergency room doctor, two firefighters from Riverside Fire Department (members of USAR CA-TF6), one civilian structural engineer and one City of San Diego Fleet Services mechanic. After the early morning crash, the rest of the task force are now in Waskom, Texas, awaiting orders as the fire-rescue department works with FEMA to determine if their help is still needed. SDFD Fire Chief Robert Logan and Deputy Chief Steve Lozano are heading to Shreveport, Louisiana to be with the injured firefighters and the rest of the task force. The news of this crash is devastating. We are doing everything we can to offer support to our department and those team members and their families who were part of this deployment, said Assistant Chief Gaboury. During the press conference, Assistant Chief Gaboury on Sunday said Task Force 8 has been deployed to many natural disasters over the years and this is the first time task force members have been involved in a serious accident. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said, in part, Its times like these that I ask San Diegans to remember the tremendous sacrifices that we ask of our first responders. These are individuals who will go toward danger while the rest of us step away. They put themselves in harms way to protect us, we appreciate them all the time, but particularly when tragedies like this happen. Supplies, emergency workers rush to North Carolina as Southeast digs out from Helene Assistant Chief Gaboury and Mayor Gloria said they will continue to keep the public informed on the condition of the firefighters. Governor Gavin Newsom and California Governors Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) Director Nancy Ward offered their condolences to the injured firefighters and their families. Jennifer and I want to personally extend our deepest condolences to our injured firefighters and their families during this challenging time. Their bravery and selflessness are a testament to the extraordinary commitment they have to protecting all Americans. We are incredibly proud of them and will do everything in our power to support them through their recovery, Governor Gavin Newsom said. Cal OES says it is working with FEMA and the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department to make sure the firefighters are receiving the best care possible. Their unwavering courage and dedication to protecting lives do not go unnoticed, and we are profoundly grateful for their sacrifice. Cal OES Director Nancy Ward said. In the meantime, our thoughts are with their families and loved ones, and we are reminded of the risks our first responders face every day to keep our communities safe. This story is developing. 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 FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News. Seafood joint featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives to open in Stillwater A Minnesota couple is bringing an iconic Florida Keys seafood joint to the Twin Cities this fall. DJs Clam Shack, famously located on Duval Street in Key West, is set to open mid-October in downtown Stillwater next to No Neck Tonys bar. Stillwater couple Tony Misenor and Jessica Junker, who co-own No Neck Tonys, are behind the chain's arrival in Minnesota. Junker and Misenor, who split their time between the Florida Keys where Junker grew up and Stillwater, are among the seafood joint's regular customers. Weve been going there for many, many years, Junker said. Its just always kind of been one of our favorite spots. Courtesy of DJ's Clam Shack. DJs Clam Shack, founded in 2009 and featured on the Food Networks Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, currently has three locations in Florida and four in New York. Stillwater customers can expect the new location to emulate the laid-back atmosphere the spot is famous for on the island. The menu will focus on New England-style, cold water seafood favorites such as Maine lobster rolls with warm butter, conch and, of course, tender steamed clams. The quick-service restaurant model will allow diners to grab their food and take it over to No Neck Tony's, where it can be enjoyed with a drink from the bar. DJs Clam Shack in Stillwater will begin serving customers during its soft opening Oct. 11-13 from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. This embedded content is not available in your region. Sean Combs is appealing a prior ruling ordering that he be detained while he awaits trial. Combs, in a notice filed on Monday, appealed a federal courts order denying him bail. The two-page filing didnt specify arguments. More from The Hollywood Reporter The legal maneuvering seeks to overturn a ruling from U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter, who found that Combs poses a safety risk to the community and witnesses in the case. This came after the government unsealed a three-count indictment accusing Combs, also known as Diddy, of crimes related to an alleged decades-long pattern of physical and sexual violence against people in his orbit. Federal prosecutors charged him with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy for directing a vast criminal enterprise through which he assaulted and trafficked women with the help of his various business associates since at least 2008. He was also charged with transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs had sought release on a $50 million bond, secured by equity in his Miami residence and that of his mother. He further proposed restricting visitors to his adjoining Florida homes to family, property caretakers and friends who are not considered co-conspirators to the alleged criminal enterprise. The only female visitors to his own home would be family or the mothers of his children, according to the bail package. Combs also pledged not to contact grand jury witnesses, to undergo weekly drug testing and to provide a visitors log. If convicted, Combs, 54, faces a mandatory minimum term of 15 years in prison and maximum sentence of imprisonment for life. Hes currently staying at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, a facility known for dangerous and squalid conditions. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Sign up for THR's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. NEW YORK Sean Diddy Combs has been removed from suicide watch at Brooklyns notorious Metropolitan Detention Center, according to multiple reports. Combs, 54, was placed on suicide watch at the jail shortly after he was arrested on Sept. 16 at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Midtown. His attorney, Marc Agnifilo, said at the time it was simply a routine precautionary measure for famous prisoners. He described Combs as not at all suicidal. Combs has also been visited by several of his family members in the past two weeks, sources told People magazine. The family members have not been identified. Previously, Combs seven kids were reportedly in shock and only briefly spoke with him in jail. The Bad Boy Records founders defense team attempted to put together a convincing bail package to get him out of jail, including a $50 million payment and electronic monitoring. However, two judges denied Combs bail requests and ordered him held until trial. The government has proven a danger of obstruction and witness tampering and a danger to the community in general, Judge Andrew Carter said in denying Combs appeal. The feds argued that Combs was accused of witness intimidation and tampering in multiple instances. He allegedly took videos of raucous sexual encounters dubbed freak offs and used them as leverage to keep people from speaking with police. Separate from the federal charges one count each of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution Combs has been accused in several civil suits of physically and sexually abusing women. The civil suits started in November 2023, when Combs ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura sued him, and the two settled 24 hours later. That sparked several more suits, the federal investigation, the release of a video showing Combs attacking Ventura in a hotel hallway and eventually Combs arrest in New York. Combs pleaded not guilty at his arraignment, and Agnifilo claimed Combs wants to testify in his own defense at trial, saying he would have a hard time keeping his client off the stand. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) Since October 2022, more than 100 of Nashvilles Most Wanted fugitives have been taken off the streets. Whether it be due to tips, investigative work, or in some cases, the suspects turning themselves in, Metro Nashville police have touted a high success rate when it comes to arrests from the program. Next month, it will have been two years since the first list was put out on Oct. 19. Nashvilles Most Wanted fugitives: Rape, kidnapping suspect sought by police Several of the cases listed have been those in which detectives hit a dead end after years of searching for a suspect. But with new tips constantly funneling in with each new list posted every Wednesday, officials have said the program has been helpful in tracking down many of those suspects who are considered to be some of the citys most violent offenders. Often the crimes theyre accused of committing range from homicide to various sex crimes. Very few of the people who were listed when the program first began almost two years ago are still at large. However, there are a handful of suspects on the Most Wanted list who have been on the run for nearly a year, or close to two years in some cases. More than 100 of Nashvilles Most Wanted fugitives arrested since 2022 As Nashvilles Most Wanted program nears its two-year anniversary, below are some of the faces who have repeatedly appeared on the list and who authorities still need help tracking down. Anyone who recognizes them or who might have more information related to any of their cases is asked to contact the MNPD at 615-862-8600 or Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463. 1. Montavious J. Bass Montavious J. Bass (Courtesy: Metro Nashville Police Department) Montavious Bass, 24, was among some of the first people ever to be featured on the police departments Most Wanted list. He first appeared on the list on Oct. 26, 2022, and has been featured many times since then. Records show his last court appearance was scheduled for March 2023. However, he has remained at large since being indicted by a grand jury on several felony charges, as well as charges for failure to appear and probation violation. Suspected gunman arrested 2 years after shooting at South Nashville hotel The other charges against Bass include two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery and felon in possession of a weapon, according to Metro Nashville police. Court records show those charges stem from an Oct. 25, 2021, incident, in which Bass is one of two suspects. A co-defendant in the case was found guilty of aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery. Efforts to locate Bass have so far been unsuccessful. His last location remains unknown. 2. Adrian Abernathy Adrian Abernathy (Courtesy: Metro Nashville Police Department) Adrian Abernathy, 31, is believed to have been behind the wheel of a stolen car in a deadly October 2022 crash on the Rosa L. Parks Boulevard exit ramp from I-65 North. Abernathy has outstanding warrants for vehicular homicide, three counts of aggravated assault, felon in possession of a weapon, theft of a motor vehicle, theft of a firearm, reckless endangerment and making a false report. RELATED: Man wanted after allegedly lying about driving stolen car involved in deadly crash According to detectives, Abernathy initially said he was a backseat passenger in the stolen Lincoln Navigator SUV. However, over the course of the investigation, officers determined the seating positions were reversed, and Abernathy was the one driving the car. Authorities said he was traveling over 100 mph shortly before the crash, which killed 29-year-old Todd Bryant of Antioch. Abernathy has been featured on the Most Wanted list several times since February 2023. One of his last known locations was in Hermitage. However, Abernathy remains at large. 3. Lagarrion Blacksmith Lagarrion Blacksmith (Courtesy: Metro Nashville Police Department) Lagarrion Blacksmith, 35, has been near the top of Nashvilles Most Wanted list for nearly a year as police continue to try to track him down. He was initially added to the list on Nov. 29, 2023, after investigators said they were able to connect him to a deadly shooting that took place outside a Dickerson Pike bar last year. Officers found 35-year-old Chancellor Eddins lying on the ground just outside of Trvth Lounge on Feb. 18, 2023. He had been shot and later died at the scene. Another man who had also been hit by the gunfire was able to give officers an account of what happened. SEE ALSO: Man wanted for homicide, other charges following fatal February shooting on Dickerson Pike According to police, the injured man told them he and Eddins had gotten into an argument with the suspect inside of the bar. Then, shots were fired as they left the location. At the time, the identity of the alleged shooter was unclear. Months later, investigators announced Blacksmith had been identified as a suspect. On Nov. 22, 2023, officials said arrest warrants had been issued against Blacksmith for criminal homicide, attempted homicide and felon in possession of a handgun. However, efforts to locate him have also reportedly been unsuccessful. His last location is unknown. 4. Diego Camaja-Santiago Diego Camaja-Santiago (Courtesy: Metro Nashville Police Department) Diego Camaja-Santiago, 24, first appeared among Nashvilles Most Wanted fugitives over a year ago on Aug. 16, 2023. Despite repeat appearances on the list, records show he still has not been taken into custody for a set of felony charges. CRIME TRACKER | Read the latest crime-related reports from across Middle Tennessee Police said Camaja-Santiago is wanted on outstanding warrants for two counts of aggravated rape with bodily injury, two counts of statutory rape and probation violation. He was reportedly indicted by a grand jury earlier this year. However, his last location remains unknown. To view the most recent list of wanted fugitives out of Nashville, click here. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. A measure looking to further open medical marijuana access in Arkansas looks to now be off the November 2024 ballot. Officials with Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurstons office sent a notice to Arkansans for Patient Access on Monday stating that the qualified signatures submitted during the extra curing period following the original deadline were not enough to place the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment in front of voters. Arkansas medical marijuana sales broke all records for 2023 The letter from Thurstons office stated that 10,521 of the new submissions were deemed valid and would be combined to the earlier total. However, the letter continued, that combined amount would only be 88,040, which falls below the threshold set for the November ballot of 90,704. Leaders with Arkansans for Patient Access claim that the group had far surpassed the ballot threshold, saying they had submitted more than 150,000 signatures that came from every county in Arkansas. Arkansas medical marijuana amendment supporters turn in nearly 40,000 new signatures to secretary of state The group also claimed that the disqualification was for political reasons, saying that excluding 20,000 signatures collected during the cure period, because of what the group said was an arbitrary, last-minute clerical rule change, was contrary to the democratic process. Thurstons letter to the group did not specify why certain signatures were disqualified in this case. A spokesperson for the secretary of states office said disqualification could happen for several reasons, including coming from someone who is not a registered voter, signed the petition in a county in which they dont reside or the petition form being illegible. Arkansans for Patient Access went on to promise that they would continue to pursue legal action against Thurstons office regarding this decision. Group behind proposed Arkansas medical marijuana amendment granted more time to gather signatures This is the third time a ballot measure has faced challenges related to disqualified signatures during this election year. Organizers of a measure to put an Arkansas abortion amendment in front of voters fought back and forth with Thurstons office only to see the state supreme court rule against them in August. Arkansas Supreme Court rules abortion amendment supporters did not meet signature requirements, wont be on ballot Just a week ago, a brief was filed on behalf of Thurstons office to seek that votes cast on the Amendment 2 ballot question not be counted. That effort looks to repeal the decision to grant a casino license in Pope Couty, among other rule changes. Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston files with court to not count casino amendment votes Arkansans for Patient Access said they plan to file their lawsuit on Tuesday. Election Day in Arkansas is Tuesday, Nov. 5, 36 days from now. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. See which legislative candidates raised the most money ahead of November general election Piles of U.S. dollar bills are reflected in glass. The next round of campaign finance reports for the upcoming election with hundreds of legislative candidates in New Mexico are due Oct. 15. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. (Photo by Phil Ashley / Getty Images) People running to represent their communities in the New Mexico Legislature reported raising nearly $5.8 million over the last several months as they look toward the November general election. All 42 Senate seats are on the ballot this November, though quite a few races are already done and dusted: Just 16 of the seats are contested in November. The rest have only one candidate. Gabriel Ramos, a Republican, raised more than $112,000 since late May, according to the latest fundraising figures filed by Senate candidates on Sept. 9. Thats the most any Senate candidate pulled in during that period. Ramos policy positions include a focus on violent crime, which he said he intends to address with bipartisan legislation that holds violent criminals accountable, supports keeping law enforcement officers in jobs, and compassionate mental health and drug prevention programs that cut recidivism rates, according to his website. Hes facing off against Democrat Chris Ponce for the district representing parts of Grant, Socorro and Catron counties. He joined the race when incumbent Sen. Correah Hemphill dropped out in June. Ponce reported raising about $36,000 since hes jumped into the race. Ponces policy goals include expanding access to health care in rural areas; improving roads; and supporting veterans, farmers and educators, according to his website. Candidates can retain money from previous election cycles, and that money can roll over to their next race in four years. Four senators, all of them incumbents, have more than $250,000 in cash on hand heading into the general election: Sens. Crystal Diamond Brantley (R-Elephant Butte), George Munoz (D-Gallup), Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces) and Martin Hickey (D-Albuquerque). All but Hickey are unopposed. In the state House of Representatives, 65 races are contested, while 85 candidates are running unopposed. Incumbent Democrat Ambrose Castellano raised more than $63,000 since late May, a bigger haul than any other House candidate in that period. Incumbent Democrat Meredith Dixon raised the next highest amount in that same time period, totaling nearly $61,000. Dixons pitch to voters for her reelection is focused on her work as vice chair of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, where she plays a role in building the state governments budget. Dixon has two challengers. Republican candidate Tracy Major has raised more than $15,000 since late May. Libertarian candidate John McDivitt did not raise any money in that same time period. Majors website indicates if elected, she would oppose any tax increases, protect parental rights, and end the violent crime epidemic, putting away dangerous criminals once and for all. McDivitt, for his part, told the Santa Fe New Mexican that his priority which he shared with his fellow Libertarian candidate for another seat and wife Catherine Ann McDivitt is to do more to recruit and retain health care professionals in the state and fight crime. The next financial reports are due Oct. 15. The election is Nov. 5. Scope the charts below for a sense where things stand with the New Mexico Senate and House races. September was first month of daily Shahed drone attacks on Ukraine According to military journalists, September 2024 was the first month in which Ukraine suffered attacks by Russian kamikaze drones on a daily basis. Source: Armiia Inform, a Ukrainian media outlet focused on military affairs Details: In total, the Russians launched 1,339 Shahed-type attack UAVs on Ukraine, 1,107 of which were shot down. Others were jammed by electronic warfare devices. This is evidenced by Armiia Inform's analysis of Ukrainian Air Force data. The Russians launched an average of 44 Shaheds on Ukraine every day. The largest number of attack UAVs 72 was launched on 14 September. Not a single day in September went by without kamikaze drones being launched on Ukrainian territory. Support UP or become our patron! (Bloomberg) -- Malaysias consumer stocks are set for a bounce thanks to tailwinds from a stronger ringgit, according to the countrys top-performing fund. Most Read from Bloomberg Companies are likely to see better margins as import of raw inputs become cheaper, said Kok Lin Teoh, the founder and chief investment officer of Singular Asset Management. We expect valuations of consumer companies to increase, driven by higher earnings growth over the next two to three years. Teoh, who manages about $400 million across Asia-focused funds, is turning to domestic consumption-related shares to position the Malaysia-based Singular Value Fund for its next leg of gains. We are doing a bit more adjustment in reducing export oriented industry holdings because the ringgit has strengthened, he said in an interview in September. We are moving back into more domestic-oriented sectors, including banks and consumer stocks. After falling to a 26-year low early this year, the Malaysian ringgit is outperforming its emerging market peers with a 14% increase in the three months through September. The stronger currency, coupled with a rise in civil servants wages and higher disposable incomes, may spur consumer spending. The consumer sector is also likely to benefit from higher economic expansion, Teoh said. A subgauge of local consumer stocks has only risen 2.6% this year, lagging the 14% climb in the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index. Teohs 387 million ringgit ($93.6 million) Singular Value Fund has beaten 95% of peers this year with returns of 31%, Bloomberg-compiled data show. While the asset management firm doesnt reveal details on its holdings, Teoh said it is repositioning into financial stocks and firms that will benefit from growing investments into Malaysia. The government has stabilized the political situation and its attracting a lot of direct investment in the country, said Teoh. We are positioned for many of these investment themes. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WKBN) A member of the class action lawsuit in the East Palestine Train Derailment has filed an appeal against the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. According to the attorneys representing the members of the class action lawsuit, this appeal could delay settlement payments as long as two years. Plaintiffs court-appointed Class Counsel Seth A. Katz of Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh & Jardine, P.C., Elizabeth Graham of Grant & Eisenhofer P.A., and Jayne Conroy of Simmons Hanly Conroy led a team of more than 40 law firms that worked on behalf of the community for more than a year, which ultimately led to this historic settlement. We are deeply disappointed by this appeal, which will prevent the swift payment of direct household and business loss claims to this community which voted overwhelmingly in support of the settlement. We will do everything in our power to quickly resolve this appeal and prevent any further burdens on the residents and local businesses that want to move forward and rebuild their lives. It is tragic that one person is substituting their judgment for the entire community who wants this settlement, and instead of opting out they have gone this route. But ultimately, only the objector who appealed can decide whether he should continue making arguments that have been rejected by the District Court, and now delay recovery and further burden this community which was counting on the settlements benefits to be delivered swiftly. Counsel for East Palestine Train Derailment Class Action Lawsuit Members After three hours spent in a courtroom examining the fairness of the $600 million class action lawsuit settlement, Judge Benita Pearson approved the agreement last week. The plaintiffs attorneys said only 22 of the nearly 2,000 households in East Palestine opted out of the settlement In total, 173 of the 190,000 households in the 20-mile radius decided not to accept either. Overall, roughly 55,000 claims have been filed in this lawsuit. Residents, property owners and businesses within 20 miles of the derailment site could file for settlement payments. Hanna Erdmann and Jon Rudder 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. Arkansas senators convene for a special legislative session on June 18, 2024. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate) Half of the 35 members of the Arkansas Senate are up for election this November, seven of them in contested races. The Senate is the upper branch of the states bicameral legislature, known formally as the General Assembly. The other branch is the House of Representatives. Each senator represents about 86,000 residents in their respective districts. [2024 Voter Guide: The candidates, the ballot measures, and the tools you need to cast your vote.] State senators are elected by residents in their districts, and they mostly serve four-year terms. Every 10 years, however, the redistricting process ensures seats are staggered for the next decade by requiring half of the senators to serve a two-year term through a random draw. The most recent redistricting occurred in 2020. All senators were up for reelection in 2022 because some members four-year terms were sunsetting, while others were completing two-year terms. This process is repeated every 10 years. All positions up for a vote this November are for four-year terms. Per an initiative voters approved in 2020, lawmakers can serve 12 consecutive years with the opportunity to return after a four-year break. Term limits were previously capped at 16 years over ones lifetime. The constitutional amendment was referred to voters by the Arkansas Legislature. The lawmakers earn an annual salary of $44,356 with a per diem of either $59 or $155 a day, based on how far they reside from the Capitol. They also receive 65.5 cents per mile they travel. Senators convene in the south chamber of the Capitol and work alongside the governor to create laws and establish a state budget. Senators also hold seats on various committees, which handle topic-specific matters including agriculture, education, public health and ethics. They can join task forces and serve on joint committees with members from the Arkansas House of Representatives. The Senate is led by a president pro tempore, a Latin term meaning for the time being. Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, was elected by his fellow senators to hold the position in 2023. Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs Hester has served in the Senate since 2013 and is up for reelection this November. He does not have an opponent. In addition to presiding over the Senate, the president pro tempore is second in line to be the acting governor after the lieutenant governor, if the chief executive is unable to perform their official duties. As of the most recent legislative session, 30 Arkansas state senators were men and five were women. All but four senators were white. The Arkansas Senate along with the House of Representatives and the states executive branch has Republican leadership. In 2023, the Senate operated with an 83% Republican majority with Sen. Blake Johnson of Corning as their majority leader. Six senators were Democrats, and Sen. Greg Leding of Fayetteville was their minority leader. The parties also had separate whip leaders, who were primarily responsible for counting heads and rounding up members for votes. They will occasionally stand in for the majority or minority leaders when they are absent. Sen. Ricky Hill, a Republican from Cabot, fulfilled the whip role for his party in the most recent legislative session while Linda Chesterfield, a Democrat from Little Rock, served her party. Of the 18 positions up for a vote this November, 10 incumbents are running without opposition. Republican incumbents include Steve Crowell, Terry Rice, Matt McKee, Jonathan Dismang, Dave Wallace, Scott Flippo, Gary Stubblefield, Jim Petty and Hester. Crowell and Wallace won their partys primary election in the spring and face no opposition in November. The remaining incumbents were the sole candidates to file for their seats. Stephanie Flowers is the only Democratic incumbent up for reelection. Seven Republican senators face opponents this November: Ben Gilmore, Jimmy Hickey, Mark Johnson, Dan Sullivan, John Payton, Breanne Davis and Jim Dotson. Gilmore and Hickey will face Libertarian opponents Asher Williams and Lonny Mack Goodwin, respectively. Johnson, Sullivan, Payton, Davis and Dotson will face Democratic opponents Maureen Skinner, Erika Askeland, Sandy Maier, Michelle Justice and Kaylee Wedgeworth, respectively. Rep. Jamie Scott, D-North Little Rock, is running unopposed to fill Chesterfields position upon her retirement from the Legislature. Early voting begins Oct. 21, and Election Day is Nov. 5. The Legislature will convene at noon on Jan. 13, 2025 for the start of the 95th General Assembly. Learn more about Arkansas general election with the Advocates 2024 Voter Guide. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Some victims of the shooting in Samborondon had as many as 40 gunshot wounds, according to police (Gerardo MENOSCAL) (Gerardo MENOSCAL/AFP/AFP) Seven people were killed when gunmen opened fire at an illegal cockfighting venue in gang violence-stricken Ecuador, police said. Some of the victims in Sunday's shooting had as many as 40 bullet wounds, police in the western Samborondon municipality reported on X. It did not specify who the victims were or the motive for the shooting. Local media reported dozens of people injured. Samborondon is in Guayas province on Ecuador's Pacific coast, where drug gangs with ties to international cartels have left a trail of blood as they vie for control of trafficking routes. The province is home to the port city of Guayaquil, the main exit point for drugs bound for the United States and Europe. The once peaceful country of 17 million inhabitants has seen its homicide rate increase eightfold in five years. sp/das/mar/mlr/dw SF temps could reach 90s this week as officials issue Heat Advisory, possible power shutoffs SF temps could reach 90s this week as officials issue Heat Advisory, possible power shutoffs SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) Although summer officially ended last week, temperatures in the Bay Area dont exactly suggest it is the fall season. The region is set to face another heat wave as residents in the inland cities could experience temperatures as high as 105 degrees, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). NWS issued a Heat Advisory for the beginning of the week for most of the Bay Area, the weather agency announced Sunday on X. The advisory is issued from Monday at 11 a.m. until Wednesday at 11 p.m. Coastal high temperatures, which include San Francisco, could reach 93 degrees, according to NWS. Temperatures are expected to peak on Tuesday. The heat wave has prompted PG&E to announce possible power shutoffs in four Bay Area counties. Approximately 1,000 customers across Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa and Sonoma counties could experience those power shutoffs. The potential shutoffs are expected to last until Tuesday. No animal neglect in heat stroke death of dog at Pleasanton apartment balcony, police say A heat advisory has gone out for the Bay Area and Central Coast from Sept. 30 to Oct 2, 2024. (NWS via BCN) A Spare the Air Alert for smog has been issued for Monday, Sept. 30, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) announced in a news release. The alerts are issued when ozone pollution is forecast to reach unhealthy levels. The high inland temperatures will create elevated concentrations of ozone or smog, officials said. More information about the Spare the Air Alert can be viewed on BAAQMDs website. NWS gave the following tips on how to stay safe during the heat wave: Never leave people or pets in vehicles Limit outdoor activities during the afternoon and evening Stay hydrated and take cooling breaks College GameDay makes first-ever appearance at Berkeley Bay City News contributed to this report. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4. 'Shazam!' star Zachary Levi endorses Donald Trump for president: 'We are going to take back this country' A Hollywood actor is throwing his support behind former President Trump as Election Day is a little more than five weeks away. "Shazam!" star Zachary Levi revealed his pick for president while moderating an event with former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democrat congresswoman from Hawaii, in Michigan on Saturday. Levi opened the event by explaining that he initially was backing RFK Jr. in the 2024 presidential election, and when Kennedy suspended his campaign, Levi knew to whom he was sending his support. "In a perfect world, in whatever that would look like, perhaps I would have voted for Bobby," Levi said. "But we don't live in a perfect world. In fact, we live in a very broken one. We live in a country that has been hijacked by a lot of people who want to take this place way off the cliff, and we're here to stop that." Rfk Jr Joins Trump On Stage In Battleground Arizona Rally Following Endorsement Hollywood superhero Zachary Levi endorses Donald Trump for president at an event in Michigan. Levi added that he grew up in a Christian conservative family and his parents taught him to "have a healthy level of distrust of the government," adding that Kennedy is the "real deal" and the kind of politician he wanted to support for president. Read On The Fox News App "We are going to take back this country. We are going to make it great again, we're going to make it healthy again. And so I stand with Bobby and I stand with everyone else who is standing with President Trump. ... Of the two choices that we have, and we only have two, President Trump is the man that can get us there," Levi said. Trump Accepts Largest Police Union Endorsement, Blasts Harris As A 'Defunder': 'Kamala's Crime Wave' During an event in Michigan on Saturday, actor Zachary Levi endorsed Donald Trump for president. Levi starred as the superhero Shazam in two DC movies in 2019 and 2023. The movies are about a young boy who transforms into an adult man after saying the catchphrase. He also starred in the TV series "Chuck" and voiced Flynn Rider in the animated Disney movie "Tangled." The actor also brewed a social media storm after expressing his distrust of the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer in a post on X in 2023. 'Shazam' Star Zachary Levi Rips Hollywood For Making 'Garbage' Movies: 'They Don't Care Enough' "Shazam!" star Zachary Levi ripped a large portion of Hollywood movies made today as "garbage." The controversy began when Levi retweeted a question from Moorhouse Group founder Lyndon Wood, who questioned his followers, "Do you agree or not, that Pfizer is a real danger to the world?" Levi replied to the question, "Hardcore agree." The brief comment stirred intense backlash from left-leaning X accounts, attacking the actor for "disappointing" them after supporting "antivax propaganda." Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump campaign and Levi for comment on the endorsement and did not immediately receive a response. Fox News Digital's Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report. Original article source: 'Shazam!' star Zachary Levi endorses Donald Trump for president: 'We are going to take back this country' (Bloomberg) -- Israels currency jumped most among emerging-market peers on Monday amid bets that the nations gains against Hezbollah could shorten the war. Most Read from Bloomberg The shekel rose as much as 0.9% to 3.6928 against the US dollar, defying a credit-rating downgrade by Moodys Ratings. The gains put the exchange rate on course for an 1.6% advance in the July-September period, which would be the best quarter this year against the globally weaker dollar. Israel stepped up its offensive against Hezbollah in past days, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah and bombing central Beirut. While the shekel is gaining, emerging market assets as a whole lost ground on Monday as investors weighed the impact of Middle East tensions on global growth. Traders are waiting to see if cease-fire deals will be struck with Hamas and Hezbollah, or if the countrys military gains will shorten the war as the first yearly observance of the Oct. 7 terror attacks against Israel near. The shekel is primarily a geopolitical trade at this point, said Daniel Hass, the head of shekel fixed-income strategy at Bank Hapoalim in Tel Aviv. I agree with a lot of people who say we are coming to the end game, or at least the beginning of the end. The developments since Friday night are seen as positive steps with potential to shorten the war. The shekel been resilient to the ongoing regional conflict as well as concerns around the need for an expansive fiscal policy to fund the war. While the recent offensive has led to a triumphant mood over the pummeling their military is giving the Iran-backed group, it has also raised concern of a wider conflict that might trigger further reaction from Tehran. Irans retaliation is always a risk and we cant afford to be complacent, Hass said. But some say it could be muted. The overall market sentiment, of course, is wait-and-watch. The shekel was 0.4% stronger at 3.712 per dollar at 4:25 p.m. in Tel Aviv. Already Priced In? Over the weekend, Moodys downgraded Israel for the second time this year as it cited the economic costs of war. The company lowered the nations credit rating by two notches to Baa1 from A2, and kept the outlook negative. Israeli sovereign bonds had already priced in a reduction of the countrys sovereign rating by at least two steps, and there was little for them to react on Monday to Moodys move, according to Guillaume Tresca, a global EM strategist at Generali Asset Management. The Moodys downgrade is not a surprise, he said. All agencies said at that time that an extension of the conflict or a protracted conflict would be credit negative. But analysts at Citigroup Inc. were surprised by the two-step ratings cut. We are somewhat surprised by the magnitude of the downgrade, Michel Nies, an economist at Citigroup Global Markets, wrote in a note. A much more intense conflict with Hezbollah should lead to considerably wider deficits in the short term, though the additional medium-term impact beyond what is already assumed might not move proportionally higher with the short-term costs. In the equities market, war and fiscal concerns played a lesser part than idiosyncratic corporate news. The benchmark Tel Aviv Stock Exchange 35 Index halted a six-day rally and posted a 0.5% loss. The main contributor to the decline was oil-and-gas company Energean Plc, whose shares were cut to hold from buy at Jefferies International. Sentiment on the stock was also soured by a report that the defense forces had intercepted an unmanned aerial vehicle that crossed into the countrys offshore economic zone. (An earlier version of this story was corrected to fix the name of the Hezbollah leader) (Updates with comments from Citi, latest shekel moves from paragraph 8.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Sheriffs office in Wisconsin makes 12th & 13th child porn arrest of the year RACINE, Wis. (WFRV) A sheriffs office in Wisconsin made its 12th and 13th child pornography arrest after cyber tips led to the apprehension of a 54- and 36-year-old. In July of 2024, investigators with the Racine County Sheriffs Offices Internet Crimes Against Children Unit received a cyber-tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of someone in Racine uploading child pornography. Marinette County man dies in ATV crash, alcohol and speed appear to be factors The investigators were able to develop a suspect, 56-year-old Tony Radunz. On Sept. 25, 2024, investigators executed a search warrant in the 700 block of Aurthur Ave. While investigators located and seized many electronic devices, Radunz was interviewed and allegedly confessed to possessing child pornography. He was transported to the Racine County Jail. Wisconsin Circuit Court records show that Radunz is facing 14 counts of possessing child pornography. He made his initial court appearance on Sept. 26, where a cash bond was set at $100,000. In August of 2024, investigators received another cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about an individual possessing child pornography. During the investigation, 36-year-old Dimas De Leon was identified as a person of interest. On Sept. 26, authorities served a search warrant in the 3600 block of Pierce Blvd., during which investigators seized numerous electronic devices. The initial forensic examination uncovered numerous images of child pornography, and eventually, De Leon allegedly admitted to owning multiple Google accounts containing child pornography. Wisconsin Circuit Court records show that De Leon made his initial court appearance on Sept. 27, and a cash bond of $50,000 was set. Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling commented on the two arrests, saying his deputies will stop at nothing to protect children. I am astounded by the number of perverts in our own community that choose to collect and view child pornography, fueling the victimization of children, stated Sheriff Schmaling. The Sheriffs Office remains committed to conducting these investigations, putting pedophiles in jail, and protecting our children. Oshkosh Police Department identifies two suspects in connection to vandalism incident at South Park Radunz is scheduled to return to court for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 2, while De Leon will return for his preliminary hearing on Oct. 3. No additional details were provided. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton. He shot two Jewish men last year. One victim doesn't think a 35-year sentence is long enough United States Attorney Martin Estrada, center, with other law enforcement officials outside the Los Angeles Federal Courthouse, where he issued a statement on the sentencing of Jaime Tran. (Al Seib/For The Times) A federal judge on Monday sentenced a former Riverside resident to 35 years in prison for shooting and wounding two Jewish men as they left synagogues in Pico-Robertson last year. U.S. District Judge George Wu cited Jaime Tran's mental health issues as his reason for not imposing the 40 years sought by prosecutors. The shooting by Tran, who had a history of making antisemitic remarks, left L.A's Jewish community on edge in early 2023. One of the survivors, who still feared for his safety and was identified in court Monday only as "Mr. H," said he could have easily been killed if the bullet Tran fired hit "less than an inch" in another direction. "I believe that without being a victim of a crime like this yourself it's difficult to really understand when you've been traumatized, when you've been shot, when someone makes an attempt at your life," he said. "I think 40 years is very lenient for an attempt on two people's lives." Read more: Crypto mogul known as 'The Godfather' used L.A. deputies for extortion, feds allege Assistant U.S. Atty. Kathrynne Seiden said both of the victims were left "feeling sad, scared, traumatized, disillusioned." Tran's second victim did not address the court. Seiden said one of the victims was afraid of being targeted again. Social media posts entered as evidence in the case against Jaime Tran, who was sentenced Monday to 35 years in federal prison for charges related to the 2023 shootings of two Jewish men in Los Angeles. (U.S. Attorney's Office) "He doesn't feel represented in this country," she said. "He feels like he lives in a country where wrongdoers are not punished and the community is really looking to the court here and the justice system to condemn this kind of intolerance." Tran, 30, pleaded guilty in June to two counts of hate crimes with intent to kill and two counts of using, carrying and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. Tran, whose shoulder-length hair fell in a curtain over his face, did not react during the hearing. His attorney, Katherine T. Corrigan, said he did well in high school and college before his mental health issues kicked in. Read more: California woman behind 'Terrorgram Collective' indicted for urging extremist violence Corrigan said there's "no doubt" that the antisemitism is very serious, but added that "it appears that that has not continued." In an emailed statement after the hearing, Corrigan praised Wu for the sentence, which she said is "significant but incorporates mental health treatment." "This case is a stark reminder of the tragic impact that mental illness can have on the life of the ill person, and the terrible consequences it can cause to the victims of mental health-driven conduct," Corrigan said. Tran's plea agreement detailed a history of antisemitism that escalated in the years prior to the shooting. Tran left dental school in 2018, after making hateful statements about other students whom he perceived to be Jewish, according to the agreement. His antisemitic statements between August 2022 and December 2022 increasingly included violent language, according to the agreement. Over that period, prosecutors said, Tran texted a former classmate that someone was going to kill them, that they should kill themselves and to Burn in an oven chamber you b Jew. Tran also admitted to emailing around two dozen of his former classmates a flier containing antisemitic propaganda, including the statement: Every single aspect of the COVID agenda is Jewish. Because of previous mental health episodes, Tran was prohibited from buying guns. He admitted to paying a third party roughly $1,500 to buy him a .380 pistol and an AK-47-style semiautomatic rifle. In the year before the shootings, Tran had been charged with carrying a loaded firearm. The plea agreement also detailed Tran researching locations with a kosher market, planning to shoot someone in that area. On Feb. 15, 2023, he drove to the Pico-Robertson neighborhood, where he spotted a Jewish man wearing a yarmulke the Mr. H who spoke at Monday's hearing. Tran admitted that as the man opened the door to his own car after leaving religious services, he shot him at close range in the back. The next morning, Tran returned to the same area and saw another victim, who prosecutors identified by the initials G.T. The man was leaving religious services and also wearing a yarmulke. Tran admitted that he shot G.T. as he was crossing the street, intending to kill him. Read more: Alleged white supremacist leader agrees to plead guilty to conspiracy to riot Both men survived the attacks. Law enforcement arrested Tran on Feb. 17 and hes been in custody since. Targeting people for death based solely on their religious and ethnic background brings back memories of the darkest chapters in human history, U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada for the Central District of California said in a statement. Such hate-fueled violence has no place in America. In a news conference after the hearing, Jewish leaders referenced the fact that Rosh Hashana begins Wednesday and the Oct. 7 anniversary of the attack is nearing. "We hope the message goes forth that this is a city of love and of diversity and there is no room for hate, said Dr. Irving Lebovics, chairman of Agudath Israel of California. 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. Would you have certified the 2020 election results? Its a simple question that moderators can ask at Tuesdays vice presidential debate between Democrat Tim Walz and Republican JD Vance. Indeed, it shouldnt be a matter of debate. But here we are, thanks to Vances comments seeking to cast doubt on former Vice President Mike Pences certification of the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden. Q: Would you have certified the 2020 election? Vance: I would have asked the states to submit alternative slates of electors pic.twitter.com/dTDbUTEj3X Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) September 10, 2024 Following the failed Trump-backed effort to subvert the 2020 election, Congress strengthened federal law to make a future coup attempt less likely to succeed. And the current vice president is Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, who, like her GOP predecessor, acknowledges the VPs ceremonial role in the certification process. Follow live updates covering the 2024 vice presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz. But while the potential for legal mischief in this election has thankfully lessened (though its ever present), it would still be worth asking Vance and Walz whether they wouldve done their straightforward duty like Pence, who understandably is not endorsing his former boss, who basically left him for dead on Jan. 6, 2021. It could help clarify not only their positions on this specific important issue but also how the VP hopefuls view the rule of law more broadly. On that note, Vances comments about election certification fueled by debunked voter fraud claims arent the only area in which he has shown a willingness to cast the law aside in pursuit of Republican partisan interests. For example, he has pushed for Trump to fire every single midlevel bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state and replace them with our people. And when the courts cause you will get taken to court and when the courts stop you, stand before the country like Andrew Jackson did and say, The chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it. Putting aside the dubious sourcing of the quote popularly attributed to then-President Jackson as he defied an 1832 Supreme Court ruling favoring Native American authority, Vances stance aligns with a Trumpian view of the law. That is, a view that calls for strict enforcement of the law when applied to others but optional compliance when that same law is turned toward Trump and his supporters. To the extent that Vance would seek to defend his comments by arguing that the executive branch wouldnt have to abide by illegitimate court rulings, one could raise the same objection to the Supreme Courts recent ruling granting broad criminal immunity to Trump. So another debate question for the candidates could be: Does an administration have to abide by the immunity ruling if it runs afoul of that administrations legal view? Presumably, both Vance and Walz would say yes. For Vance, saying otherwise would theoretically leave Trump open to fuller prosecution. As for Walz, who will take the stage as a standard-bearer for his party, the mainstream Democratic Party response to the immunity ruling has been to press for a constitutional amendment to overturn it (i.e., going through a legal process to achieve a different result). At any rate, the candidates answers to that question, too, could help to educate any viewers who need more information about where the parties stand. The Deadline: Legal Newsletter returns Oct. 4. Subscribe for expert analysis on the top legal stories of the week, including updates from the new Supreme Court term and developments in Donald Trumps legal cases. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com After a series of controversial active-shooter drills at California schools involving a masked man using a fake gun, Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill into law to restrict how these drills are carried out across the state. Assembly Bill 1858, also known as the Safe and Prepared Schools Act, will standardize school active-shooter drills and direct the states Department of Education to update its guidance. Newsom signed the bill into law last week; it will go into effect Jan. 1. The Safe and Prepared Schools Act will ensure that we are not doing more harm than good in training our students to be ready in the event of these unfortunate tragedies, Assemblyman Christopher M. Ward (D-San Diego), the bill's author, said in a news release. At the same time, school staff will have clear guidance on how to implement these drills in a responsible and professional way so were not creating more anxiety and traumatizing our students. Earlier this year, a principal at a San Gabriel elementary school made headlines after allegedly using her fingers to mime holding a gun and pretending to shoot kids, telling them, Boom. Youre dead. Police officers also planned to fire blanks at San Marino High School to mimic the sound of gunfire, but the drill was canceled over fears of traumatizing students. Read more: California orders schools to restrict cellphone use amid student distractions, anxiety AB 1858 requires schools to notify parents about any active-shooter drill no more than a week before it will take place and right after it occurs. The measure also requires schools to make a school-wide announcement that a drill is about to start, make drills age-appropriate for students and provide resources after the drill to address any potential issues raised by students and parents, while also prohibiting the use of simulated gunfire. Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun violence prevention organization, recommends against active-shooter drills, saying theyre associated with an increase in depression, stress, anxiety and physiological health problems among students, teachers and parents. The organization notes that although only 0.2% of gun deaths occur at school sites, at least 40 states require active-shooter drills at their schools. 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 UKs North Sea oil and gas companies are failing to switch their investments to renewable energy, shows a recent analysis by climate campaign group Uplift. According to the organisation, most offshore oil and gas companies operating in the UK are not redirecting their investments away from fossil fuels, despite the industry's assertions that it is leading the country's energy transition. Only seven of the 87 offshore oil and gas companies are projected to invest in renewable energy by 2030, Uplift states. Additionally, just two of those seven companies will shift more than half of their investment portfolios to renewable energy projects by the specified date. One of the seven intends to invest in wind energy to support further oil and gas production. The UK Government has pledged to ban the issuance of new licences for oil and gas fields in the North Sea, although existing fields will be permitted to continue operating. No pending licences would be revoked, so several potential fields in the early stages of licensing could still proceed. Before the election, Kier Starmers Labour Party also announced its plans to implement a new windfall tax on oil and gas companies. The Effective Petroleum Tax Rate (EPL) will raise taxes for these companies by 3% on 1 November. This increase will result in the headline tax rate for oil and gas operations reaching 78% one of the highest in the world. The windfall tax on oil and gas profits is not the main reason for the UK's lack of investment in renewable energy. Only six offshore oil and gas companies have invested in UK renewable energy projects since 2015, according to Uplift. By 2030, renewable energy is predicted to make up almost two-thirds (63%) of investment in the UKs energy transition, with oil and gas operators contributing only 10% of this spending, it adds. The North Sea's declining production is expected to reduce oil and gas investment to 19% of total energy transition project investment in the UK. This lack of investment seriously affects the supply chain, industry workers, and communities reliant on the oil and gas industry. During the UK election campaign, Starmer reassured voters about job security in transitioning to a greener economy, but concerns remain about potential employment challenges for industry workers due to Labour's oil licensing pledges. According to Uplift, policymakers must recognise that the industry's lack of investment in the transition reduces its role to a minor player in the UK's future energy system. The industry is failing to deliver on its promises to transition, with most companies only interested in profiting from oil and gas for as long as the North Sea's reserves allow, the organisation claims. Story continues The government needs to take responsibility for managing the transition out of the hands of the oil and gas industry and instead come up with a coherent plan for the basin that recognises the climate imperative of phasing out oil and gas, and crucially prioritises the needs of workers, communities and supply chain companies in the North Seas transition, the report reads. "UK North Sea oil and gas industry failing to shift investments to renewable energy " was originally created and published by Offshore Technology, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. A "Sing Sing" actor has ushered in the "end of an error" after New York prosecutors decided he was wrongfully convicted of murdering a retired police officer in the 1990s. Manhattan Dist. Atty. Alvin Bragg announced Monday that his office would vacate actor Jon-Adrian "JJ" Velazquez's murder conviction, citing "newly discovered DNA evidence" that prosecutors said proved his innocence. "JJ Velazquez has lived in the shadow of his conviction for more than 25 years, and I hope that today brings with it a new chapter for him," Bragg said. Velazquez, 48, was convicted in 1999 of shooting retired police officer Albert Ward. Ward was shot and killed in 1998 when he tried to thwart an armed robbery and fired at two suspects, including the shooter, in an underground betting parlor in Harlem. Velazquez, who said he was in the Bronx and on the phone with his mom at the time of the shooting, was sentenced to 25 years to life in the Sing Sing Correctional Facility. He was granted early release and clemency in 2021 by then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Read more: Review: In 'Sing Sing,' the stage is bound by prison walls, but imagination and dignity roam free The district attorney's office, which said it had rejected motions to vacate Velazquez's conviction in 2014 and 2018, said Monday that it had finally revisited the actor's case, prompting the chief medical examiner to compare the actor's DNA with DNA on a betting slip that belonged to the shooter. "The testing found that Velazquez's DNA was excluded or not found from a mixture of the DNA on the betting slip handled by the shooter," Monday's release said, adding that "this type of DNA comparison was not available" at the time of the actor's trial in the 90s. The district attorney's move to clear his name this week "isn't a celebration," Velaquez told members of the media outside a courthouse. Surrounded by loved ones and wearing a black cap that read "End of an error," Velazquez told reporters that this moment was "an indictment of the system." Read more: How the prison-set 'Sing Sing' captures the magic of acting Velazquez shares the screen with Colman Domingo and Paul Raci in Greg Kwedar's drama "Sing Sing." The film spotlights the Rehabilitation Through the Arts theater program for men incarcerated at the New York prison. "Sing Sing" also stars former incarcerated actors Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin, Sean "Dino" Johnson, David "Dap" Giraudy and Patrick "Preme" Griffin as themselves. In her review for the L.A. Times, critic Katie Walsh praised their "damn good performances." "'Sing Sing' is a powerful argument for the existence of humanity within a space designed to dehumanize," Walsh wrote. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Sign up for Indie Focus, a weekly newsletter about movies and whats going on in the wild world of cinema. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. After serving nearly 24 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, Sing Sing actor Jon-Adrian JJ Velazquez has been exonerated of his wrongful murder conviction. The 48-year-old Velazquez held back tears, pounded his chest and pumped his fist as he hugged friends and family after he was officially cleared by the judge in a downtown Manhattan courthouse Monday morning. He hugged his mother as she wept and cried out, 27 years! in reference to how long it has almost been since Velazquez was first convicted. More from Variety Velazquez co-stars with Colman Domingo in the A24 prison drama that follows a group of incarcerated men who find purpose in acting in theater productions. Featuring an ensemble cast of formerly incarcerated actors, Sing Sing takes place at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility, which is where Velazquez was falsely imprisoned. Among those at the court showing support for Velazquez were Sing Sing star Clarence Maclin, director Greg Kwedar and Brent Buell, the playwright and theater instructor who is played by Paul Raci in the film. Several A24 staffers were also in attendance. As Velazquez made his way to the elevators, the crowd cheered for him, waved Puerto Rican flags and chanted, Si se puede! Leaving the courthouse, Velazquez, wearing a hat that reads, End of an Error, was swarmed by press. After making brief remarks, he sat down at a nearby park for an interview with NBCs Lester Holt. Velazquez lamented not being able to be an active father in his childrens lives. I was kidnapped by this country and enslaved, he said, detailing some of the horrors of being imprisoned. He added, This is not a celebration. This is an indictment of the system. In 1998, Velazquez was wrongfully convicted of the murder of a retired New York police officer. He was sentenced to 25 years to life, despite the fact that he did not match the suspect description and had an alibi corroborated by phone records. Dateline NBC conducted an investigation into Velazquezs case that started in 2002 and lasted more than a decade. The resulting 2012 broadcast introduced new evidence in Velazquezs favor and sparked a review by the Manhattan District Attorneys Conviction Integrity Unit, which ultimately decided to let the conviction stand. Nearly a decade later, on Aug. 17, 2021, Velazquez was granted executive clemency by then New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. On Sept. 9, 2021, Velazquez was released from the Sing Sing prison after 23 years, eight months and seven days of imprisonment. In October 2022, during a criminal legal reform forum, Joe Biden apologized to Velazquez on behalf of all society for his wrongful conviction. But at the time, Velazquez still needed to obtain a travel pass from a parole officer to sit down with the president. Velazquez told Variety ahead of the exoneration that it will finally remove the scarlet letter that was put on his chest. Its a lot deeper than discrimination. It comes down to diminishing a persons human dignity. Im getting a part of my dignity back, Velazquez said. Still, he added, Theres nothing that they can do to give me back the 24 years I lost, and all of the tribulations to incur as a result. Theres a spirit of vindication, but theres still a lot of trauma thats unaddressed that the system refuses to address. Velazquez said that while Bidens apology didnt change my lifestyle, even a simple sorry from the government after a wrongful conviction is extremely rare. Velazquez is a criminal legal reform activist who is a founding member of Voices From Within, an education initiative that addresses the epidemic of crime and incarceration directly through the voices of incarcerated people. He began filming Sing Sing less than a year after he was released from the titular prison, calling the project one of the most important things Ive done in my life. Based on a true story, the film follows John Divine G Whitfield (played by Domingo), a man who is imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he did not commit. He finds purpose, along with a group of other incarcerated men, through the prisons Rehabilitation Through the Arts program. Sing Sing operated on a community-based financial model, meaning each member of the cast and crew were paid the same rate, and they have all shared in the upside of the films success. In a joint statement to Variety, Sing Sing producers Kwedar, Monique Walton and Clint Bentley said Velazquezs exoneration is yet another step in his powerful journey. A moment he will no doubt use for the betterment of others, and to advocate for those still behind the walls. Because thats just who he is. In addition to his activism, Velazquez said he hopes to do more acting. To know that you can make money and still have fun, and be surrounded by great people, Velazquez said, Im doing what Im passionate about. What I always said I was going to do when I was inside, Im actually doing now. Best of Variety Sign up for Variety's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Colman Domingos Sing Sing co-star Jon-Adrian JJ Velazquez has been officially exonerated after serving nearly 24 years in prison for a wrongful murder conviction. On Monday (September 30), Velazquez, 48, who was convicted of murdering a retired New York police officer in 1998, was formally cleared of charges by a Manhattan judge. Following the judges ruling, a teary-eyed Velazquez was seen hugging friends and family as he pounded his chest and pumped his fist in the air, according to Variety. I was kidnapped by this country and enslaved, he told the press as he left the courthouse. This is not a celebration. This is an indictment of the system. Velazquez appeared as himself in A24s 2023 drama about a man (Domingo) imprisoned for a crime he didnt commit. While there, he joins the prisons theater group and finds community alongside other incarcerated men. Sing Sing is based on the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at New York States Sing Sing Maximum Security Prison, where Velazquez was falsely imprisoned. In 1998, Velazquez was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison despite not matching the suspects description. At the time, witnesses described the shooter as being a light-skinned Black man. Velazquez is Latino. He also had an alibi that was corroborated by phone records. JJ Velazquez was wrongfully convicted of murdering a retired New York police officer in 1998 (Getty Images) NBCs Dateline began an investigation into Velazquezs case in 2002. A decade later, the news program aired a broadcast that introduced new physical evidence in Velazquezs favor. The episode led the Manhattan District Attorneys Conviction Integrity Unit to reinvestigate the case, but the DA eventually said it did not find sufficient evidence to demonstrate Velazquez was innocent. JJ Velazquez (far right) and the cast of Sing Sing at the 2023 Toronto Internation Film Festival (Getty Images) Another revinstigation was launched years later. It was found that Velazquezs DNA did not match the DNA discovered on a betting slip that the shooter handled before killing the police officer. It wasnt until August 2021 that Velazquez was granted executive clemency by then-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. The next month, he was released from prison after serving 23 years, eight months and seven days. During a criminal legal reform forum in October 2022, President Joe Biden issued an apology to Velazquez on behalf of all society. Speaking to Variety ahead of his exoneration, Velazquez said: Its a lot deeper than discrimination. It comes down to diminishing a persons human dignity. Im getting a part of my dignity back. Theres nothing that they can do to give me back the 24 years I lost, and all of the tribulations to incur as a result. Theres a spirit of vindication, but theres still a lot of trauma thats unaddressed that the system refuses to address. While in prison, Velazquez obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Behavioral Science from Mercy College. He now works as a criminal legal reform activist. MSNBC has announced a new docuseries titled The Sing Sing Chronicles, a four-episode investigative piece that will tell the story of Jon-Adrian JJ Velazquez, an actor from A24s Sing Sing who was exonerated of his wrongful murder conviction on Monday after serving nearly 24 years in prison. The docuseries, directed by Dawn Porter and built on more than 20 years of investigative reporting by NBC News Dan Slepian, will also look into the wrongful convictions of five other men who served time at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. The Sing Sing Chronicles will debut on MSNBC on Nov. 23 and Nov. 24 at 9 p.m. ET. The four-part series will have its world premiere at DOC NYC earlier in November. More from Variety With unprecedented access to one of Americas most well-known prisons, the series sheds light on the criminal justice system by following a journalist and a man convicted of murder and the connection they formed within the walls of Sing Sing Correctional Facility, according to NBCUniversal. The docuseries taps into more than 1,000 hours of original footage filmed between 2002 and 2024, centering on Velazquez, who was wrongfully convicted of the murder of a retired New York police officer in 1998. He was sentenced to 25 years to life, despite the fact that he did not match the suspect description and had an alibi corroborated by phone records. The reporting on the case, which began with a Dateline NBC investigation starting in 2002, unearthed critical new evidence that questioned the prosecutions case against Velazquez. During Slepians investigation, Velazquez introduced him to several other men who said they were innocent in unrelated homicide cases. Slepians reporting on those cases helped lead to those mens exonerations, but Velazquez remained in prison until he was granted clemency and released on parole in 2021. The series expands on Slepians reporting featured in NBC News podcast Letters From Sing Sing, which was recognized as a Pulitzer Prize finalist. I began my film career documenting public defenders working in the criminal legal system. During that time I saw firsthand how difficult it is for anyone accused of a crime to truly get justice, said Porter in a statement. But I could never have imagined the scope and scale of injustice captured by Dan Slepians cameras over the course of 20 years. This series allowed me to highlight the work of legal advocates, journalists and the remarkable men who let us tell their stories. We owe the greatest debt to reporters like Dan Slepian who do not turn away when they see injustice unfolding before them. It is an honor to help tell their story. Velazquez is a criminal legal reform activist who is a founding member of Voices From Within, an education initiative that addresses the epidemic of crime and incarceration directly through the voices of incarcerated people. He played himself in A24s Sing Sing less than a year after he was released from the titular prison. He told Variety the project is one of the most important things Ive done in my life. Best of Variety Sign up for Variety's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. JJ Velazquez was falsely convicted of the 1998 murder of a retired police detective Samantha Burkardt/SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty Jon-Adrian "JJ" Velazquez A New York judge vacated the conviction of a man who served over 20 years in prison for a murder he did not commit before becoming a criminal justice reform activist. Jon-Adrian JJ Velazquez was falsely convicted of the 1998 murder of Albert Ward, a retired police detective, in New York City. Prosecutors said newly found DNA evidence eventually pointed to another person as the killer. At a hearing on Monday, Sept. 30, Judge Abraham Clott granted a motion filed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to vacate Velazquezs conviction and dismiss the original indictment. Velazquez served 23 years in prison before his sentence was commuted in 2021 by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Velazquez, who was incarcerated at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, received high-profile support from Martin Sheen and Alfre Woodard, among others, and eventually received a presidential apology from Joe Biden. Following his release from prison, Velazquez appeared as himself in the film Sing Sing, a story based on the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts, a theater program offered at the eponymous prison. On hand at Mondays hearing were Sing Sing star Clarence Maclin, director Greg Kwedar, and Brent Buell, a playwright and theater instructor who is played by Paul Raci in the movie. Velazquez held back tears during the hearing. Related: The True Story Behind Sing Sing: Inside Colman Domingo and Formerly Incarcerated Costars Powerful New Movie (Exclusive) Colman Domingo, Velazquez's co-star in the A24 film, tells PEOPLE: This moves me to tears. It is his commitment to his own justice that justice was finally served. It came late but it came and JJ can lovingly, joyfully, purposefully live again. JJ is such an extraordinary human that advocates for others passionately and lovingly, Domingos statement continued. It was my hope with our film Sing Sing that we humanize these incarcerated men and women and tell their stories and hopefully we change the hearts of people to see them as people. There are many JJs still fighting for their liberation of being wrongfully convicted and serving time. Phyllis Kwedar 'Sing Sing' Director/Writer/Producer Greg Kwedar with cast JJ Velazquez and Sean San Jose 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. On Jan. 27, 1998, two armed suspects robbed a gambling parlor in Harlem. Ward, the retired detective, pulled a gun and struggled with one of the armed robbers. Authorities said the suspected robber, who identified himself as Tee, shot and killed Ward. After the Manhattan D.A.s Post-Conviction Justice Unit reopened an investigation into the murder in 2022, the medical examiners office found that Velazquezs DNA was not found on a betting slip that had been handled by Tee. JJ Velazquez has lived in the shadow of his conviction for more than 25 years, and I hope that today brings with it a new chapter for him, Bragg said. I am grateful to our Post-Conviction Justice Unit for its commitment to impartially uncovering the facts and evidence in this case. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. (Bloomberg) -- The estranged brother of former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he has paid two senior ministers who sued him for defamation. Most Read from Bloomberg Lee Hsien Yang paid a total of S$619,335.53 ($483,610) to Law Minister K. Shanmugam and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, according to a Facebook post on Sunday. The amount included damages, costs and disbursements related to a Singapore High Court order in May, Lee told Bloomberg News. The ministers had sued Lee last year, demanding he withdraw allegations made in a Facebook post for claims they received preferential treatment for renting colonial black-and-white state bungalows. They also sought damages, which would be donated to charity. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) The League of Women Voters Sioux City and Siouxland GO announced that they are sponsoring local candidate forums to inform the public about candidates ahead of the general election. According to a release, the organizations are joining Western Iowa Tech to produce YouTube Live candidate forums on Monday, October 7, and Tuesday, October 8 at 7 p.m. Donation Depot fundraiser teams up two organizations hit hard by Big Sioux flood Mondays event will focus on the Woodbury County Supervisor District 1, District 3, and District 5 along with the Woodbury County Auditor and Recorder. Tuesday will focus on Iowa State Representative State District 1, District 2, and District 14. Panelists will be from the League of Women Voters, Siouxland GO, local media, and the WITCC Journalism program. Siouxland workers, employers invited to virtual hiring event The release states that the public is invited to attend the event in person at the WITCC Rocklin Center, using Parking Lot 2 and Entrance 6. The live stream can be watched right here on Siouxlandproud.com or WITCCs YouTube channel. Public questions can be submitted through email at LWVSiouxCity@gmail.com no later than October 4. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. The second iteration of the Pentagons Replicator rapid-fielding initiative will focus on countering small drones, with plans to request funds for the initiative in the fiscal 2026 budget, according to Defense Department leaders. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced counter small uncrewed aerial systems, or C-SUAS, as the Replicator 2 focus area in a memo last week to senior Pentagon leaders. His decision follows a monthslong review that considered what capability gaps could be best addressed through the rapid fielding initiative. Replicator 2 will tackle the warfighter priority of countering the threat posed by small uncrewed aerial systems to our most critical installations and force concentrations, he said in the memo, which was released publicly on Monday. My expectation is that Replicator 2 will field meaningfully improved C-sUAS protection to critical assets within 24 months of Congress approving funding. Championed by Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, Replicators goal is to create a new pathway for the Pentagon to buy and scale high-need capabilities on faster timelines. The first test of that pathway, Replicator 1, centers on delivering thousands of low-cost drones by next summer. The department plans to spend a total of $1 billion on the effort in fiscal years 2024 and 2025, with funds drawn from various sources including prior-year appropriations, a reprogramming request, a national security supplemental approved in August, and the Pentagons yet-to-be approved FY25 budget proposal. As DOD leaders began deliberating this summer on what to pursue in Replicator 2, they focused on capabilities that would address a near-term operational imperative and would benefit from senior leader backing, Hicks told Defense News in June. According to Austins memo, the need to protect against growing threats posed by enemy drones fits the bill. Hostile drones pose a major challenge to the U.S. and its allies and have featured heavily in conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. Since last fall, Iran-backed groups have used drones, uncrewed surface vessels and anti-ship ballistic vehicles to launch dozens of attacks on U.S., allied and commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea. The incidents have disrupted global trade in key waterways and killed three merchant sailors. According to a June 13 report from the Defense Intelligence Agency, 65 countries and 29 major energy and shipping companies have been affected or have had to alter their routes in response to these aggressions. DOD officials have said the department is taking a layered approach to defending against enemy drones, meaning the U.S. will pursue a range of capabilities to disable these systems, from electronic warfare to kinetic weapons. The military services have a number of ongoing programs to develop these systems. Led by the Defense Innovation Unit, Replicator 2 will leverage those existing efforts to help the services field counter-UAS capabilities more quickly and in larger numbers. According to Austin, DIU will work closely with the military services, the Counter Uncrewed Systems Warfighter Senior Integration Group and Pentagon acquisition chief Bill LaPlante, who serves as DODs C-sUAS principal staff assistant. I am confident the Replicator initiative will complement and advance the significant C-sUAS work already underway in the DOD, Austin said. The expectation is that Replicator 2 will assist with overcoming challenges we face in the areas of production capacity, technology innovation, authorities, policies, open system architecture and system integration, and force structure. The Smyrna/Rutherford County Airport Authority announced this week the appointment of Evan Lester to the position of Executive Director of Smyrna Airport. Evan Lester Lester is a graduate of the Middle Tennessee State University Aerospace program with a Bachelor of Science degree and a Masters Degree in Aeronautical Science. He joined the Tennessee Aeronautics Division in September, 2017 and currently serves as the Manager of Airport Planning and Environment. His role includes developing and budgeting the statewide five-year 500 million dollar capital improvement program for 72 airports across the state of Tennessee. He also led the Airport Economic Impact Study and has worked closely with local communities to assist in the planning and development of Tennessee airports. He resides in the Town of Smyrna with his wife Ashley and two children. Evan Lester is the perfect fit for Smyrna Airport and possesses the knowledge and community relations to take Smyrna Airport into the future," stated Mike Woods, Airport Authority Chairman. "We look forward to his leadership and dedication to our efforts going forward. His transition will take place until the end of 2024 and will assume his full responsibilities on January 1, 2025." This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: Rutherford County Airport Authority announces new executive director VESTAL, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) The presidential candidate for the Party of Socialism and Liberation is coming to Binghamton University on Monday. Claudia De la Cruz is campaigning at BU to urge voters to reject both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump on the ballot in November. She will be speaking, answering questions, and meeting with supporters as she discusses her views and calls for action. People deserve a choice outside of the two-party system, De la Cruz said, Our campaign is not just about getting elected to office we want to build a movement. We are putting forward a real alternative where the economy and the government are in the hands of working people, not millionaires and billionaires. It will take all of us to bring down this unjust system and build a better world. The tour highlights what De la Cruz claims socialism could do for students the United States. The Vote Socialist Campaign says it will discuss the following points: The immediate cancellation of all student debt Free college education as a constitutionally-guaranteed right An end to repression of students who protest against the U.S.-Israeli genocide in Gaza Universities to be at the service of the communities where they are located, not a driver of destructive policies like gentrification and over-policing Comprehensive programs to address racist and sexist discrimination and violence on campus De la Cruz will be running alongside Karina Garcia. The Vote Socialist 2024 campaign will be on the ballot in over 20 states, constituting more than half of the electoral college. In New York, voters can write-in De le Cruz for president and Garcia for vice president. According to the campaign, it is running on an eight-point program that includes seizing the 100 largest corporations and turning them into public property, ending the war on Black America, defending womens rights, establishing full equality for all LGBTQ people, and saving the planet from capitalism. The college tour event will take place at 6 p.m. at Binghamton University in Lecture Hall 7. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. By Richa Naidu and Chandini Monnappa LONDON (Reuters) - Unilever is working on sustainability deals with its top 10 retail customers, including Walmart, aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions and minimising waste in its supply chain, the consumer giant's CEO said on Monday. Unilever, which makes Dove soap, Knorr stock cubes and Ben & Jerry's ice cream, was in the wake of the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change the consumer industry's poster child for setting tough sustainability targets. About two years ago, however, the company came under pressure from some investors concerned that Unilever's climate strategy was distracting it from growing profits. CEO Hein Schumacher in April changed some of the company's years-old sustainability goals, leading to both praise from some investors and criticism from climate activists. "What's new and what's coming, and what I expect a lot from in the years to come, is (our) collaboration on sustainability agreements with (retail) customers," Schumacher said in an interview at the Reuters IMPACT conference in London on Monday. "We have a sustainability collaboration agreement... with Walmart, for example...(The agreement) is about greenhouse gas emission reduction, and we are their scope three." Scope 3 emissions are those a company is indirectly responsible for across its supply and distribution chain, according to a classification development by non-profit thinktank the World Resources Institute. A company's in-house operations and energy use make up what is called Scope 1 and 2 emissions. Walmart has said previously it was working with suppliers to avoid a 'gigaton' of greenhouse gas emissions from the global value chain by 2030. Since it launched the initiative in 2017, suppliers have reported that a total of 574 million metric tons of emissions had been reduced or avoided, according to the retailer's website. Schumacher said Unilever also has a deal with health and beauty retailer A.S. Watson's to create sustainable products like body wash and toothpaste. He added that Unilever was using climate-modelling to cut supply chain emissions and make operations more resilient to adverse events like drought. "(Because of drought) we've completely changed our mustard seed supply chain. We're changing our tomato supply chain, and they do become a bit more resilient," he said. (This story has been corrected to clarify that Unilever is working on deals with its top 10 retailers, not that it has agreed to deals with all 10 retailers, in paragraph 1) (Reporting by Richa Naidu; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise) The Last Dinner Party cancelled their Lincoln gig at the last-minute, after their support acts had already performed [Getty Images] The Last Dinner Party say they're "appalled and disappointed" after a venue enforced a security policy which audience members say discriminated against men, especially those who were alone. Some fans claim they were taken aside by door staff at The Engine Shed in Lincoln on Saturday and asked what they were doing at the show and whether they were real fans. The venue has apologised, saying the policy was in response to information they'd received about "incidents" at a previous gig, but they acknowledged it resulted in "the unacceptable treatment of some guests". The Last Dinner Party pulled out of the gig at the last minute, because one of the band was unwell. Kam Zaki, 46, was at the show on Saturday and says he was pulled aside by security and told that if he didn't consent to being searched, he'd have to leave. Speaking to BBC Newsbeat, he describes the search as "thorough". "They took everything out of my pockets, they went through my wallet including the coin pouch, they searched my shoes," he says. He says he was also asked questions including: "How long have you liked the band? What's your favourite song? How many times have you seen them before?" Statement regarding The Engine Shed searching on condition of entry at The Last Dinner Party event on the 28th of September pic.twitter.com/odaXrtOvwm The Engine Shed (@engineshed) September 29, 2024 'Over the top' Kam, who lives in Brighton, had travelled to Lincoln for the gig as it was the only date he could see the band without having to take time off work. He says he was "fuming" when the search and questioning finally finished after 5-10 minutes. "I appreciate they're trying to create a safe space," he says. "But it was over-the-top and definitely discriminatory against men who come alone." Other fans on social media reported similar experiences. One user on X said the questions made him feel "like he was on Mastermind" while another said he felt "sick" after being "interrogated". The Last Dinner Party's upcoming UK shows are all sold out [Getty Images] The Last Dinner Party said fans were "understandably" left "feeling uncomfortable and disrespected". "Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend our shows," they said. "We are appalled and disappointed that anyone was made to feel otherwise. "We want to make it very clear that those policies were created and enforced by the venue at their own discretion and were not made in consultation with us." The band also apologised for cancelling the show at short notice due to "sudden illness". The Engine Shed didn't provide any more details about what had happened at the previous gig they referenced in their statement and BBC Newsbeat has contacted them for further information. The band had previously played in Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield and Norwich, but police forces in all of those areas told Newsbeat theyd had no reports linked to any of the venues. 'Ad hoc' The Engine Shed, which is based at The University of Lincoln, says it will review all the reports of what happened and encouraged anyone who felt discriminated against to get in touch. In a statement, a spokesperson for the venue said its door policy "requires all attendees to be treated equally and subject to the same entry requirements". They said they carried out an "urgent preliminary investigation" on Sunday which suggested the door policy had been changed "ad hoc". "Although the policy was changed with the right intentions, this change resulted in the unacceptable treatment of some guests and The Engine Shed would like to fully apologise". The Last Dinner Party said it had not been informed of the changes to door policy, saying they do "not reflect our beliefs and would not have been implemented had we been made aware of them in advance". They welcomed the venue's apology and investigation as well as "further staff training to ensure this doesn't happen again". The Last Dinner Party, who won BBC Radio 1's Sound of 2024, cancelled their Lincoln gig at the last minute after their support acts had already played their sets. They also had to cancel a gig in Cardiff on Sunday. Kam says even if the Lincoln gig is rescheduled, he'll be asking for a refund because of how he was treated. [BBC] Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here. More on this story Voter ID Over many years I have worked at several different voting precincts here on the Gulf Coast. I have never nor have I ever witnessed any other poll worker request to see additional proof of citizenship. Where are you getting your information about requiring additional information on citizenship to be able to vote? Other states may do it, but we definitely do not Improving The Biloxi police apprehended two suspects who fled from them in a car. Thank goodness they didnt shoot into the car with the children inside. I know some of you say its the suspects fault if they had; but really? Catching a criminal at all costs is worth their life? Homelessness The homeless population in our city is due to lack of resources for the mentally ill, post-incarcerated who cant find jobs, and the poor without family to take them in. WWJD? The Bible says there will always be the poor. But Jesus teachings say we must care for them. Like some of yall care for your pets. Reagan I have just come out of the movie Reagan. My God. When would you send us a statesman like that again? Paint over it Everything Vice PresidentHarris said she would do at the border is already codified in current immigration law. All that was ever needed over the past four years was for President Biden and her to enforce it. He gave her total rein to do something as border czar but this is her first trip there. Instead they intentionally did the exact opposite, resulting in millions more unlawful immigrants. Rules of the road Your story Sept. 28 on rat-running (taking shortcuts to avoid stopped traffic) was right on. The fact that Mississippi doesnt have a specific law against this practice is astounding. Our do-nothing Legislature should be able to agree on this non-controversial law and easily pass it. Please continue to print articles about driving rules of the road which should seem like common sense to some but are oblivious to others. If you run out of stories, I have a whole list of driving violations that not only annoy me but are unsafe. Happy 100th Happy 100th birthday, President Jimmy Carter. He may not have been our most outstanding president, but I believe he was one of the most outstanding human beings to ever hold the office. His life has been a living example of service to others. Send your Sound Offs to soundoff@sunherald.com. Like a toddler, Phoebe Plummer (left) needs to start using her words starting with explaining why flinging soup at masterpieces illustrates your cause - Getty Images Watching footage of three Just Stop Oil activists throwing soup over Van Goghs Sunflowers at the National Gallery on Friday afternoon, I was reminded of a food tantrum my daughter threw at around 20 months old. I cant remember exactly what had upset her. It may have been the existence of peas or being forcibly removed from the ladybird springy at the playground just an hour earlier. Or maybe the fact that I wouldnt let DooDoo, her plushie toy, sit on the highchair with her. Either way, she decided to make a stand against the injustices of the world in the only way she could by upturning a bowl of spaghetti Bolognese onto her own head. As I mopped up the last of the drips and splatters, I started, despite myself, to feel a degree of sympathy for this tiny mutineer. Toddlers only throw food because they dont know how to ask for what they want or need, and to have chosen such a pathetic, embarrassing, and above all ineffective method of protest seemed to me most tragic of all. I dont feel any sympathy for the fully grown infants who targeted two of Van Goghs most famous paintings last week, although I am still smarting with embarrassment for them and their families. Use your words, sweetie. Youre old enough to vote, adopt a child and drive a heavy-duty vehicle. Can you at least try and use your words? My heart doesnt bleed, either, for Just Stop Oils poster girl, Phoebe Plummer (276-months-old), and her accomplice, Anna Holland (264-months-old), who committed the same stunt, you may remember, in October 2022, and were sentenced just hours before Fridays attack. Unfortunately for them, they got Judge Christopher Hehir. Hehir made history in July when he gave the JSO activists who coordinated direct action protests on the M25 in November 2022 the longest sentences ever given to non-violent protestors, and on Friday, Plummer and Holland were handed two-year and 20-month sentences, respectively, for causing up to 10,000 worth of damage. The judgment was considered so severe by German activists from another direct-action group in Berlin, Last Generation, that on Saturday it took to the streets with more cans of tomato soup throwing them all over the walls of the British embassy. Meanwhile, at the British missions in Amsterdam, Paris and Rome, similar protests took place. Far from being deterred by these harsh sentencings and this (belated) crackdown, its clear that the eco-infants are determined to keep throwing their soup. Why? Because radicals and zealots are unshakeable. Because God knows its more fun than holding down a nine-to-five like their less lofty-minded contemporaries. But crucially because, as the brilliant American writer Robert Tracinski pointed out years ago in the online magazine Quillette: We have fostered and indulged a sort of moral toddlerhood. Moral toddlers dont have to do anything more than shout, I dont want this. They dont have to engage the frontal lobe or explain why, because our indulgent society with its indulgent parents has taught them that feelings are all that matter that they should rightfully eclipse reason. If youve ever heard anyone from Just Stop Oil speak, youll know that although their mouths appear to be moving, these people are not actually using their words. Brain burps dont count. A point Judge Hehir made a little more elegantly in his sentencing remarks to Phoebe Plummer last week: You think your beliefs entitle you to do anything. I was treated to a lengthy exposition to your political views. The suggestion that you and others like you in a democracy are political prisoners is ludicrous, offensive and idiotic. You have to be making sense, Phoebe. And that means being able to explain why flinging soup at masterpieces illustrates your cause. It means answering basic questions such as: So what is your oil-free energy plan? and Will you be giving up your emotional support iPhone, then? You know, given that 70 per cent of Apples carbon emissions come from the manufacturing of them, alone? Apparently, nobody either at school or the dinner table has ever forced them to funnel their emotions into a coherent argument, as was routinely the case when I was growing up. Certainly, our social media-infused culture doesnt get stuck down in the weeds with things like solutions. Its wonderful that you care! Its enough that you care! Wonderful, yes. Enough? Nope, sorry. The key difference between the morality of children and adults, Tracinski concludes, is that whereas a moral adult identifies the goal, and figures out how to talk to other people, make a case, and convince them, a moral child well, they just throw food. 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. SOUTH CAROLINA (QUEEN CITY NEWS) South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster says the storm has dealt a major blow to the state. McMaster says one of the biggest challenges cleanup crews are dealing with is downed power lines wrapped in all the debris. The governor says at the height of the storm, there were 1.3 million power outages. Today, they are down to less than 900,000. OTHER: Hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians without power following Helene We havent seen anything quite like this before, particularly in this part of the state. But its a devastating blow, but we can make it through. All we have to do when we get that debris cleared is then we can get in and the filling stations and all the stores without electricity, including some of the cell towers that arent working, we are really in the dark in some places, but its going to take patience but were getting there were making steady progress, Governor McMaster said. He also discussed that the death toll now stands at 25. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News. The former head of a local police station in Seoul has been sentenced to three years in jail over a deadly 2022 Halloween crowd crush, making him the highest-ranking law enforcement official to be held criminally liable over the disaster. Almost 160 people died in the crowd crush at the trendy Itaewon nightlife district on October 29 that year, in what was one of South Koreas deadliest disasters that left the nation reeling. Lee Im-jae, former chief of the Yongsan police station, which oversees safety in Itaewon, is one of multiple officers to be prosecuted for failing to adequately prepare for the huge Halloween crowds. Seoul Western District Court said Monday it found Lee and two other former Yongsan police officers guilty of neglecting their duties, which resulted in deaths and injuries, despite signs that the danger of large-scale casualties was foreseeable. Lee was also found guilty of failing to put in place sufficient crowd control and dispatch intelligence officials to the site. The court also found Lee delayed in reacting to the disaster. He was cleared of perjury. He is the most senior police officer to be convicted, after a court sentenced an intelligence officer to 18 months jail while imposing shorter, suspended sentences on his two subordinates on charges of destroying evidence earlier this year. In January, Seouls former police chief was indicted for negligence in connection with the tragedy. He has also been on trial and is awaiting a verdict. Itaewon, home to some of Seouls popular restaurants and bars, had hosted Halloween celebrations for years. According to police emergency call logs on the day of the incident, multiple calls from members of the public were made about overcrowding as early as four hours before the situation gravely worsened. Four police dispatches were sent out to Itaewon. But crowds had already swelled and the streets became so packed that partygoers were unable to move. Some slipped below the feet of others, unable to breathe. Most who died that night were young South Koreans largely in their teens and early 20s. Public outrage turned toward South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and his government at the time, with critics decrying the lack of accountability. Last year, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced a slew of new measures to ensure a safe Halloween including a new CCTV system to monitor crowd numbers. Other places in Asia also scrambled to learn from Seouls mistake and took measures to avoid the repeat of the tragedy. In Japan, authorities are encouraged young people last year to avoid popular areas in the nightlife district of Shibuya, a popular gathering spot on Halloween night. In the city of Guangzhou in southeastern China, operators of an underground metro service banned scary makeup and dressing on trains to prevent any potential panic. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Lebanese civilians and civil defence personnel search for survivors under rubble of flattened two residential buildings in the southern Lebanese village of Ain al-Delb, after they were hit by Israeli airstrikes. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, at least 32 people were killed in two strikes near the southern city of Sidon. Stringer/dpa The area south of the Lebanese capital Beirut, where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli air raid, now resembles a ghost town, according to a dpa reporter. Tens of thousands of families have fled the country to escape the attacks, including from Dahiyeh, where the Israeli military is attacking targets of the Shiite militia Hezbollah. A dpa reporter described "massive destruction" with debris from destroyed buildings everywhere while drones sound overhead. Anger is palpable among locals of the suburb who supported Nasrallah. Men wearing black stood surrounded by rubble as they recited verses from the Quran. Many were downcast and unwilling to talk. Of the few residents who have not yet fled the suburb, some said they felt abandoned by Iran. "They stabbed us in the back," said a man dressed in black, sitting on the floor with other Hezbollah members. A woman named Fatima held a photo of Nasrallah and said through tears that the spies are in our ranks. Another woman listened to verses from the Quran and said she hoped the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip knew that Nasrallah had died for their struggle. Lebanese search for survivors under rubble of flattened two residential buildings in the southern Lebanese village of Ain al-Delb, after they were hit by Israeli airstrikes. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, at least 32 people were killed in two strikes near the southern city of Sidon. Stringer/dpa Lebanese search for survivors under rubble of flattened two residential buildings in the southern Lebanese village of Ain al-Delb, after they were hit by Israeli airstrikes. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, at least 32 people were killed in two strikes near the southern city of Sidon. Stringer/dpa Rare SpaceX L SpaceX has successfully delivered the Crew Dragon capsule slated to rescue stranded NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore early next year. The pair recently watched as their original ride, Boeing's issues-laden Starliner, returned to Earth without them on board. But shortly after dropping off NASA astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov over the weekend, the upper stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket also experienced a rare mishap. During its return from orbit, the rocket "experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn," according to a statement posted to X-formerly-Twitter by the Elon Musk-led company. The stage was always meant to be "disposed" in the South Pacific Ocean. But as a result of the anomaly, the rocket landed just east of New Zealand, which was "outside of the targeted area," according to the company. While that may not sound like a big deal on the face of it, having a massive metal structure careen out of control while plummeting back down to Earth can pose some very real risks. SpaceX has voluntarily put any future Falcon 9 launches on hold. "We will resume launching after we better understand root cause," the company wrote. Ground Control It's not the first issue with a Falcon 9 that SpaceX has encountered lately. In July, the rocket sprung a liquid oxygen leak during a Starlink internet satellite launch, causing it to explode. The extremely rare event at the time, the company had launched 344 Falcon 9 rockets in a row without incident led to the Federal Aviation Administration grounding all Falcon 9 rockets. And last month, the rocket was grounded yet again after a first-stage booster caught fire and toppled over while attempting to land on a floating barge. We'll have to wait until SpaceX releases more info about the latest issue. It's unclear if the incident is in any way related to the previous mishaps. We still don't know how long Falcon 9 will be grounded this time. Following the July incident, the company paused launches for a mere 15 days. Fortunately, considering it was always designed to drop into the ocean, it doesn't seem like anybody was ever at risk of getting hurt. The FAA has yet to comment on the latest "off-nominal deorbit burn," but it's confidence-inducing that the company is willing to hold itself accountable in the meantime. More on SpaceX: NASA Almost Gave All Its Crew Funding to Boeing's Disastrous Starliner, Leaving SpaceX Out in the Cold SpaceX has temporarily grounded its Falcon 9 rockets after it suffered a malfunction during the launch of a rescue mission for two astronauts stranded aboard the International Space Station. The launch from Cape Canaveral Space Center in Florida on Saturday delivered a Crew Dragon spacecraft to the ISS, where Nasa astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams have been stranded since their Boeing Starliner craft malfunctioned and was forced to return to Earth empty earlier this month. After sending the Crew Dragon into orbit, SpaceX said its Falcon 9s second stage encountered an issue while coming back to Earth. After todays successful launch of Crew-9, Falcon 9s second stage was disposed in the ocean as planned, but experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn, the company posted on X after the launch. As a result, the second stage safely landed in the ocean, but outside of the targeted area. We will resume launching after we better understand root cause. The Dragon capsule successfully docked with the ISS and is expected to return the astronauts to Earth in February. The latest Falcon 9 launch was the 90th this year, with SpaceX completing 96 orbital launches so far in 2024 equalling its previous record set in 2023. The next Falcon 9 launch was due to take place on Sunday, delivering Starlink satellites to space, however the mission remains grounded until the issue is sorted. SpaceXs next-generation Starship rocket, which is the biggest rocket ever built, has also been grounded until regulators complete safety and environmental checks. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said that it had postponed the latest Starship launch until late November due to SpaceX changing the profile of the mission. SpaceXs current licence authorising the Starship Flight 4 launch also allows for multiple flights of the same vehicle configuration and mission profile. SpaceX chose to modify both for its proposed Starship Flight 5 launch which triggered a more in-depth review, a spokesperson for the FAA told The Independent. In addition, SpaceX submitted new information in mid-August detailing how the environmental impact of Flight 5 will cover a larger area than previously reviewed. This requires the FAA to consult with other agencies. SpaceX must meet all safety, environmental and other licencing requirements prior to FAA launch authorisation. The FAA also issued a fine of $633,009 (480,000) in civil penalties for alleged safety violations for two SpaceX launches last year. SpaceX boss Elon Musk has accused the FAA of regulatory overreach, claiming that he was filing a lawsuit against the regulator. SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) Officials in Spartanburg County provided an update Monday on Helene recovery. The worst storm in probably the history of Spartanburg County, county councilmember David Britt described. It just did damage that we werent even expecting. Multiple counties around the state have provided resources to assist Spartanburg County. Cleanup of county roadways is continuing. Residents are asked to move vegetative debris to the right of way along the road, keeping clear of obstacles like utility poles and mailboxes. The county said they will be picking up from every county road, regardless of whether you are in a private or HOA community. They will make multiple passes though the county to pick up debris. Residents should not bag any of the debris. The countys main landfill in Wellford is open for household waste and bagged waste. A shelter for special medical needs is open at the Hodge Center at USC Upstate. A pet-friendly general shelter will open at Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium. Sheriff Chuck Wright said they have received 911 calls for citizens clearing roads to help other people. If somebody is not stealing or hurting somebody, please do not dial 911, were overloaded, said Wright. Wright also reiterated that drivers have to stop at traffic lights if they are not working. They should be treated as four-way stops. The county also announced it will be distributing bottled waters and MREs beginning at 5 p.m. Monday at SCCs Tyger River Campus at 1875 E. Main Street in Duncan and at 9070 Highway 11 in Campobello. Lyman First Baptist, located at 80 Groce Road, is opening its gym for those needing a warm shower. They are asking community members to bring their own towels and soap. They will be open Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A list of open locations throughout the county can be found below: Pharmacies: ReGenesis Family Pharmacy 460 Langdon St., Spartanburg (864) 285 9867 9:00am 6:00pm ReGenesis Community Family Pharmacy E. Main St., Duncan (864) 416 7933 9:00am 7:00pm ReGenesis Community Family Pharmacy S. Church St., Spartanburg (864) 699 3283 10:30am 6:00pm Walgreens N. Pine Street, Spartanburg 10 a.m. 7 p.m. Grocery Stores: Publix E. Main Street, Spartanburg 7 a.m. 9 p.m. Fresh Market E. Main Street, Spartanburg 8 a.m. 9 p.m. Walmart E. Main Street, Spartanburg Walmart Neighborhood Market Cedar Springs Costco W. Blackstock Rd, Spartanburg open until 6 p.m Sams Club west side of Spartanburg Publix Hwy 9 in Boiling Springs 9 a.m. 7 p.m. Target Hwy 9 in Boiling Springs Big Lots N. Pine St, Spartanburg 9 a.m. 9 p.m. Lidl E. Main Street, Spartanburg 8 a.m. 9 p.m. Lowes Foods E. Suber Road, Greer 6 a.m. 11 p.m. Ingles Duncan Publix Duncan (Hwy 290 and 296) Food Lion Chesnee Food Lion Woodruff KJs Lyman Gas Stations: Club Corner Hwy 56 near Carolina Country Club Road, Spartanburg Whites Exxon S. Pine Street, Spartanburg Valero New Cut Road, Spartanburg Swift Fairforest (near Business 85), Spartanburg Circle K E. Main Street, Spartanburg Circle K Asheville Hwy and Springfield Road, Spartanburg QuikTrip Boiling Springs (near Target) QuikTrip Spartangreen Blvd, Duncan Spinx Boiling Springs Road, Spartanburg Freeman Gas California Avenue & Howard Street Ice: Harman Brothers Ice 646 Buffington Road, Spartanburg Whitney Road Ice House 367 Whitney Road, Spartanburg Boiling Springs Ice House 3515 Boiling Springs Road at Cantrell Plaza Restaurants: Gerhards Cafe E. Main Street in Spartanburg Green Olive Asheville Hwy, Spartanburg Chick-fil-a Asheville Hwy (near Hearon Circle), Spartanburg Applebees E. Main Street, Spartanburg Fujis E. Main Street, Spartanburg Tropical Grill E. Main Street, Spartanburg Taco Dog E. Main Street, Spartanburg Chipotle E. Main Street, Spartanburg Cookout E. Main Street, Spartanburg 10:30 a.m. 3:30 a.m. Jersey Mikes E. Main Street, Spartanburg 10 a.m. 9 p.m. Sullys Steamers N. Church Street, Spartanburg 7 a.m. midnight Subway N. Pine St, Spartanburg 8 a.m. 9:30 p.m. Knowledge Perk Coffee Company N. Church Street, Spartanburg 6 a.m. -7 p.m. El Chingon Mexican Restaurant Bar & Grill Battleground Road, Cowpens 11 a.m. 9 p.m. Saki Sushi and Hibachi E. Main Street, Spartanburg 11 a.m 10 p.m Zaxbys E. Main Street, Spartanburg 10 a.m. 10 p.m. Hardees E. Main Street, Spartanburg 5 a.m. 9 p.m. Moes Original BBQ N. Church Street, Spartanburg 11 a.m. 8:30 p.m. El Chinchorro Boricua E. Main Street, Spartanburg 11 a.m. 8 p.m. Eat Street Grill Dawn Redwood Drive, Spartanburg 11 a.m. 9 p.m. Dennys E. Broad Street, Spartanburg Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) Hurricane Helene left a path of destruction across the Upstate, hitting the area harder than people anticipated. Residents of Spartanburg County told 7NEWS they were trapped in their neighborhood but worked together to get out. Jane Wiley of Mill Hill Village was getting ready for work on Friday morning, right before disaster struck. We got up and we had TV, we had cable until about 7:30 and then we heard two big booms, Wiley said. When you heard the boom, you could hear the trees cracking. As the sun rose, it shed light on the disaster that surrounded Wileys home. It was devastating. We had at least nine trees in this little community alone, huge oak trees falling, Wiley explained. Two entrances, both had huge oak trees down, and I take care of the elderly so I had to get to work so my husband calls a neighbor. Wileys neighbor, Stoney Byrnside, had just the right solution. I got a phone call and asked me if I had a chainsaw. Next thing you know, we start cutting trees up and a lot of us pitched in, Byrnside said. It wasnt long until the whole community was helping clear the roads. They start cutting, then another person comes up, then another person comes up. Within 30 minutes, the whole neighborhood is cutting up limbs, Wiley said. Some people I didnt even know that lived in the neighborhood were there. It really brought us together as a community. Byrnside told 7NEWS he has lived in the neighborhood all of his life and has never seen this kind of devastation. He also said that hes never been more proud of his community. We just worked together as a team as a community. Thats something we really needed, I like that, I loved it, I wish we could do it again, Byrnside said. I would just like to say thank you to everyone in the community who pitched in and helped, you guys are really great, really awesome and I am really glad you are in our community. Residents of Mill Hill Village told 7NEWS they are without power as of Sunday 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 WSPA 7NEWS. By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -T-Mobile has reached a $31.5 million settlement to resolve a probe by the Federal Communications Commission into significant data breaches over three years that impacted tens of millions of U.S. consumers, the agency said on Monday. T-Mobile will pay a $15.75 million civil penalty and has agreed to spend another $15.75 million over two years to strengthen its cybersecurity program. The FCC said T-Mobile suffered data breaches in 2021, 2022 and 2023 that impacted millions of current, former or prospective T-Mobile customers. The 2021 breach alone impacted 76.6 million U.S. consumers while a 2023 breach impacted 37 million, the FCC said. The FCC said T-Mobile, the nation's third largest wireless carrier with 119.7 million customers, will address "foundational security flaws, work to improve cyber hygiene, and adopt robust modern architectures, like zero trust and phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication." "Todays mobile networks are top targets for cybercriminals," said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. "We will continue to send a strong message to providers entrusted with this delicate information that they need to beef up their systems or there will be consequences." T-Mobile said Monday it takes "our responsibility to protect our customers information very seriously" and added it has "made significant investments in strengthening and advancing our cybersecurity program and will continue to do so." Earlier this month, the FCC said AT&T had agreed to pay $13 million to resolve an investigation over a data breach of a cloud vendor in January 2023 that impacted 8.9 million AT&T wireless customers. AT&T disclosed in July a separate massive hacking incident in April that resulted in the illegal downloading of about 109 million customer accounts that is under FCC investigation. In July, the FCC said Verizon's TracFone Wireless agreed to pay $16 million over data breaches and implement reforms. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler and Edward Tobin) TOWN OF PRESTON, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) Spectrum launched its gigabit broadband services in Chenango County on Thursday. Charter Communications announced the launch of Spectrum Internet services to 100 homes and small businesses in the Town of Preston. The multi-year initiative is thanks to an investment of approximately $9 billion, with over $2 billion in government support funding. It aims to connect approximately 1.75 million new homes and small businesses across the country. Spectrum is bringing gigabit broadband to unserved communities in New York and across America, said John Connor, Area Vice President, Field Operations. Our investment is making it possible to deliver the high-value broadband services now available in the Town of Preston. We are providing local residents and small businesses superior connectivity at highly competitive prices, backed by a team of skilled local technicians and 100% U.S.-based customer service. According to Spectrum Internet, it delivers speeds up to 1 Gbps and Advanced WiFi for residential and small business customers, featuring starting speeds of 500 Mbps, with no modem fees, data caps or contracts. This new broadband and cable service is a significant milestone for our community, said Zachary Meseck, Town of Preston Supervisor. Preston residents have been asking for access to cable and additional options for high-speed internet for years, and we are happy that this partnership will make it happen. Thank you, Assemblyman Angelino, and your team, for connecting us with the right representatives, along with Senators Griffos Office for providing guidance throughout this process. Local residents and business owners are advised to visit spectrumruralexpansion.com to learn more about when their home or business may be able to receive Spectrum 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 WIVT - News 34. Residents of Springfield, OH voice their concerns during a town hall about the 2024 presidential election DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images A businessman in Springfield, Ohio has received death threats and been labeled a traitor after defending his Haitian employees, The New York Times reported. Jamie McGregor, a fifth-generation Springfield resident and the owner of McGregor Metal, first hired Haitian workers after a large population of Haitian immigrants settled in the Ohio town in 2020. They now make up 10% of McGregors team of over 300 employees. Chaos and violence descended on Springfield after a false rumor that Haitian immigrants in the town were eating local pets was spread nationally by Republican nominee Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio. Amid that campaign, McGregor felt the need to speak up and defend the Haitian employees who are crucial to his business success. They come to work every day. They dont cause drama. Theyre on time, he told The New York Times earlier this month. He also defended his employees on PBS NewsHour, noting that his Haitian employees are also his most reliable. Since then, McGregor has faced a number of death threats, including posters around town with his face printed alongside the word, "traitor," forcing him to increase security at his business. Why are you importing Third World savages who eat animals and giving them jobs over United States citizens? a voicemail left for McGregor said. McGregor, who is a lifelong Republican and two-time Trump voter, has since purchased a gun, something he had previously vowed never to do. But that step was advised by the FBI, whose agents visited McGregors family home on Sept. 12 and told him to take the threats seriously, saying they had found several to be "credible." They told him to keep his blinds shut, vary his driving routes, lock his business doors and wear gloves when opening his mail. In the last month, schools, hospitals and government buildings have received over 30 bomb threats. You know, things are just different now, McGregor told The Times. Sri Lankan trade union leader denies tea company urged him not to stage staff strike A Sri Lankan trade union leader and member of the island nation's new Marxist-leaning president's party has denied receiving a purported letter circulated online from a leading tea exporting company about a threatened strike. Tea company Dilmah separately told AFP the letter was not genuine. The posts circulated shortly before 55-year-old Anura Kumara Dissanayake won the South Asian country's presidential election in a landslide victory. The letter -- dated May 14, 2021 -- appeared to have been signed by Merrill J. Fernando, Dilmah's founder who passed away in 2023 (archived links here and here). It was addressed to Wasantha Samarasinghe, a former member of parliament from the People's Liberation Party (JVP), led by president-elect Anura Kumara Dissanayake. As of September 2024, Samarasinghe was a central committee member of the JVP and an executive committee member of the National People's Power (NPP) (archived links here and here). He was also the convenor of the National Trade Union Coordination Centre and the president of the Inter-Company Employees' Union (archived links here and here). "Dilmah's old files are leaked. Here are the letters sent to Wasantha Samarasinghe, when Merrill Fernando was there, asking them not to strike," read a Sinhala-language Facebook post sharing the purported letter on September 13, 2024. "Will the JVPs build the country? They took ransom from a person who took our country to the world," the caption continued. The post circulated weeks before 55-year-old JVP leader Dissanayake won the presidential vote in a landslide promising to reverse steep tax hikes, raise public servant salaries and renegotiate the International Monetary Fund rescue package secured by his predecessor (archived link). The false post's caption implied that the JVP could not be trusted to rebuild the debt-stricken country as it had a history of staging strikes and protests. The same caption was also added below the image of the letter, as shown in the screenshot below: Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on September 24, 2024 The letter read in part: "As requested by you earlier, we are happy to inform you that we have paid Sri Lankan rupee 15 million as the second instalment of the annual contribution fee. "However a person said to be from your organisation threatened us, saying they will start a strike." Similar false claims were shared on Facebook here and here; and on social media site X (formerly Twitter). The purported letter was also shared on WhatsApp, as shown below: Screenshot of the letter shared on WhatsApp In posts on his official Facebook page here and here, Samarasinghe said he never received the purported letter, saying it was "fake". "The Dilmah letter written by Ranil-Sajith mud force is completely false," one post read, referring to supporters of ex-president Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa. Tea company Dilmah also refuted the false posts circulating online in an official note sent to AFP in September 2024. "We categorically deny the authenticity of this circulating letter and its contents," read the note signed by company secretary Jayanga Wegodapola (archived links here and here). The style of the official note's heading, footer and logos differed from the presentation of the false letter shared online. Below is a screenshot comparison of the letter shared in false posts (left) and Dilmah's letter to AFP (right): Image comparison of the false letter (left) and the letter sent to AFP (right) Huge tributaries that feed the mighty Amazon River the largest on the planet have plunged to record-low levels, upending lives, stranding boats, and threatening endangered dolphins as drought grips Brazil. The country is currently enduring its worst drought since records began in 1950, according to Cemaden, the countrys natural disaster monitoring center. Its Brazils second straight year of extreme drought. Nearly 60% of the country is affected, with some cities, including the capital Brasilia, enduring more than 140 consecutive days without rain. In the heart of the Amazon rainforest, the impact on rivers is shocking and experts are sounding the alarm on what this means for the region, a biodiversity hot spot and crucial climate change buffer. The Rio Negro, one of the Amazon Rivers biggest tributaries, is at record lows for this time of year near the city of Manaus in Amazonas state. Its water levels are falling at around 7 inches a day, according to Brazils geological service. The rivers characteristic jet-black waters usually course through its thick maze of channels, but satellite images now show it drastically shrunken with huge swaths of riverbed exposed. Part of the Rio Negro in Manaus on June 19, 2024. - Edmar Barros/AP The same part of the Rio Negro on September 25, 2024. - Edmar Barros/AP The Rio Negro is seeing extreme reductions as temperatures soar and the region struggles with a dearth of rainfall, said Lincoln Alves, a research scientist Brazils National Institute for Space Research. So too is the Solimoes River, whose muddy-colored waters converge with the Rio Negro at Manaus to form the Amazon River. This month, the Solimoes fell to its lowest level on record for this time of year in Tabatinga, a Brazilian city on the border with Colombia and Peru. Ships have been left stranded and vast expanses of sand are visible where water once flowed. A hopper barge stranded on a sandbank at the Solimoes River, near Tefe, Amazonas state, Brazil on September 17, 2024. - Jorge Silva/Reuters Lake Tefe, on the northern bank of the Solimoes River, is also heavily depleted. Photos of the lake last month show it dramatically shrunken compared to the same time last year and it has continued to decline. Its contributing to critical water shortages and impacting local ecosystems, said Alves. Last year, more than 200 dolphins were found dead in the lake during a historic drought and record-high water temperatures, and experts fear a repeat this year. Dolphin deaths are already happening. Last week, we found one a day on average, Miriam Marmontel, head of the dolphin project at the Mamiraua Institute for Sustainable Development, told Reuters earlier this month. Researchers believe as the lake shrinks, there is less room for dolphins, putting them at greater risk of collision with boats and ferries. Researcher Miriam Marmontel, from Mamiraua Institute for Sustainable Development, after finding a dead dolphin on Lake Tefe on September 18, 2024. - Leonardo Benassatto/Reuters In many regions of the Amazon the drought is already more intense today than it was at the worst point last year, said Romulo Batista, a biologist and spokesperson for Greenpeace Brazil. The minimums in these rivers are usually at the end of October, said Adriana Cuartas, a researcher at Cemaden. This year they have happened earlier and water levels will continue to decline, she told CNN. The consequences are stark for local people who rely on the rivers for food, medicine, livelihoods and transport, said Andre Guimaraes, executive director of the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, a nonprofit organization. We are suffering a situation that has never happened before, he told CNN, adding, the reduction of the river flows is absolutely enormous. Part of the Educandos that connects to the Rio Negro in Manaus, Brazil, Tuesday, June 17, 2024. - Edmar Barros/AP The same part of the river on Sept. 25, 2024. - Edmar Barros/AP Brazils severe and prolonged drought has been fueled by a knot of factors. An intense El Nino, a natural climate pattern, brought warmer and drier weather to the region last year and into 2024. El Nino has now ended but heat and drought are being influenced by an unusually hot Atlantic Ocean, said Cemadens Cuartas. Deforestation is also a factor, said Alves, helping raise temperatures and change rainfall patterns. Ongoing ecosystem degradation (is) pushing the region toward a potential tipping point, he said. Then there is climate change, driven by burning planet-heating fossil fuels, which is bringing warmer temperatures and longer periods without rain. Last years devastating drought in the Amazon Basin was made 30 times more likely by climate change, according to a report from World Weather Attribution, a network of scientists that analyze extreme weather events. Whats happening in Brazil is a tragic example of a local impact of global climate change, Guimaraes said, referring to the fact that its often poorer, less-developed countries that feel the brunt of climate change impacts disproportionately caused by richer countries. Earlier this month, the environmental group Greenpeace unveiled a huge banner reading, Who Pays? on the newly exposed sandy banks of the Solimoes. A message by Greenpeace activists on sandbanks of the Solimoes River on September 20, 2024. - Jorge Silva/Reuters The drought has also set the stage for devastating wildfires in Brazil that have destroyed huge swaths of the Amazon as well as the Pantanal, the worlds largest tropical wetlands, and choked cities in thick smoke. There is little relief in sight. Rainfall at levels that could start to replenish rivers is not expected for weeks yet and river levels are projected to keep on falling. Until November the situation will continue to worsen, Cuartas said. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) With telephone and fiber optic lines cut and most cellphone service out in the North Carolina mountains following Hurricane Helene flooding, areas are turning to other technologies to help with communication. Asheville has been described by many on social media as a blackout zone for making calls, texting or accessing the internet. Other communities in many western North Carolina are also without reliable communications after fiber optic lines buried beside roads were damaged or cell towers were knocked offline. In Asheville, some people have brought in Starlink satellite internet access and are allowing people to connect for free. Elsewhere, such as Enka-Candler Fire Department Station 10 in Buncombe County, crews set up a Compact Rapid Deployable cell tower and internet access point. The mini cellphone towers with a generator allow for cellphone coverage up to 2 miles and Wi-Fi range of up to 500 feet. The small towers use a high-speed Ka-Band satellite terminal to access the internet after the cell towers connect with end-user phones or computers. Compact Rapid Deployable cell tower (left) in a photo from HQ Mabas. (Right) A Starlink system in Avery County (photo from Susan Hawkins) An Illinois team set up the small cell tower at the Candler fire station on Friday. This gave internet and cell signals back to the local first responders, the team from Illinois called HQ Mabas said. A Satellite Cells on Light Truck (SatCOLT) in a photo from FirstNet.gov. Meanwhile, several people have set up Starlink systems, a small device that accesses the internet from a constellation of satellites owned by SpaceX. At least two Starlinks are up in Asheville with one at the shelter at the Ferguson Building on Victoria Road and another at the DoubleTree Hilton on Haywood Street in downtown Asheville. Several fire departments have also set up Starlink systems, including one at the Linville Volunteer Fire Department, on N.C. 105 just north of Linville in Avery County. Another Starlink was set up in Fletcher in Henderson County at the Fletcher Academy. A retirement community at Lake Lure in Rutherford County also set up a Starlink with residents using Facetime to communicate with distant families, The Landings of Lake Lure said. Larger cell systems, called SatCOLTs, are set up in several counties. These systems are Satellite Cells on Light Trucks and have a larger satellite dish and larger, taller cell connection antennas. Verizon reported it has a SatCOLT in Hendersonville, another at the Tractor Supply in Asheville and plan others at the Mission Hospital in Asheville and the Cherokee County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in Murphy. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. DENVER (KDVR) An out-of-state driver received a court summons for going nearly double over the speed limit on their way into Boulder. On Monday morning, the Boulder Police Department shared one drivers speedy mistake on X to warn others about the consequences of breaking the speed limit. According to the Boulder Police Department, officers caught an out-of-state driver going 113 mph in a 60 mph zone down U.S. 36 before entering the city near Baseline Road. See the latest traffic conditions in Denver on FOX31 Those who have traveled to Boulder before know that after leaving downtown Superior, U.S. 36 crests into a hill. Drivers are then greeted by the stunning view of the Flatirons and the Boulder city limits below before descending the steep hill. The speed down the road is 60 mph, but some drivers are caught flying down the road. Boulder police said the driver received 12 points on their license for speeding. The driver was also cited for careless driving, which is four points. Boulder speeding ticket While its unclear what this driver was doing in Boulder, they will have to return for their court summons this time they will be traveling by plane. CU Boulder space instrument going to Jupiters moon looking for conditions that support life Under Colorado law, driving 25 mph or more over the speed limit could result in a $300 fine and a maximum time of 90 days in jail. If the driver is caught going that fast in a construction zone, the fine goes up to a maximum of $1,000 and one year in jail. Boulder police used this driver as an example and a reminder to slow down and obey the posted limits. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. BOSTON (WWLP) Between three major bill signings and a celebration, it was a week of festivities at the State House. DPH identifies 13th human case of West Nile Virus On Monday, a signing ceremony for a bill that protects victims of sexual assault by a medical professional. One District Attorney says this change is common sense. Once that trust is violated and then they came to us, who they have a right to trust as well, we said sorry, were not able to help you. And this bill changes this, said Marian Ryan, the Middlesex County District Attorney. On Tuesday, the governor signed a bill that help Massachusetts compete for federal funding. We viewed it as our responsibility and our opportunity to go out there and maximize Massachusetts ability to bring home these dollars working with partners, said Governor Healey. On Wednesday, the governor joined her council of Latino Empowerment to celebrate Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month with food, art, music, and even a capoeira demonstration. On Thursday, a long-time House priority bill was signed that deals with reforming the long-term care industry. A western Massachusetts advocate told 22News that his part of the state played a major role in this reform. I think one of the things, just for a long, long time, western Mass. has always been the center for major disability reform, said Chris Palames, the founder of the Stavros Center for Independent Living in Amherst. Western Mass. all the way! This flurry of activity is coming before legislators buckle down on campaigning for the November elections. 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. AIKEN COUNTY, S.C. (WJBF) South Carolina leaders made a trip to Aiken County to discuss Hurricane Helene on Sunday, September 29. We have 1,355 off system resources. These linemen that dont work here in South Carolina and theyre here. We add that to the 800 that we have that are here every day serving you. And weve got an army, Dominion Energy South Carolina President Keller Kissam said. Kissam, Governor Henry McMaster, and several local and state leaders, giving an update on Hurricane Helene. The storm caused 25 deaths in the state. Residents are asked to stay away from down power lines. Dont go out and try to cut a tree away from a power line. Usually, the lines are under tension if theyre there on that tree. And when you cut those lungs off and it lifts up the weight and its gonna spring back. if it spring back, it can take your head off, he shared. Also, medical personnel had a number of visits of folks with carbon monoxide poisoning to some of the various hospitals around South Carolina., he added. Do not run a generator inside. Dont have a grill inside. Thats something you need to do outside in that regard. The storm, compared to Hugo, knocked out power for more than a million customers. Hugo was a category four when it hit Charleston. This was a category four when it hit Tallahassee, he said. All the damage that you saw from McClellanville to up to Charlotte after Hugo. This is what you see from Barnwell all the way up to McCormick and then up to Greenville, Spartanburg. More than 300 thousand customers power has been restored. Trees tangled in power lines are making it tricky to restore service. We have deployed people from all over the state, from our coastal areas into the Midlands, into the upstate. And well continue that along with all of our state law enforcement partners, and DNR, Transportation Secretary Justin Powell said. Kissam shared that a helicopter equipped with a saw is used to clear trees from transmission lines. The restoration work is prioritized: first, restoring transmission lines, then the substations that supply power to neighborhoods. Then well focus on the main feeders and well get the filling stations, the restaurants, the grocery stores back to return peoples lives back to normal, he said. Aiken Electric Cooperative, Inc. Chief Executive Officer Gary Stooksbury said that the company has 29 substations, but 27 lost transmission service due to the storm. Only two substations near Orangeburg were less affected and remained powered. The company has set up a command and storm restoration center, housing personnel from out of state to assist with restoration efforts. Weve got a small army working. We have people sleeping in our offices. My administrative assistant is sleeping in her office this week. Our objective is We are going to get your lights back on., he said. Crews from various agencies, including National Guard, Department of Transportation, Highway Patrol, DNR, Dominion Energy and Aiken Electric Cooperative, have been working around the clock since the Hurricane. Theyll be working closely with the states law enforcement, division chiefs, Governor McMaster added. They went into 24-hour operations on Thursday, staying through the storm and starting to clear once the winds died down. We have been augmenting and adding in resources from eastern half of the state, as well as contractors in the counties like Aiken, Edgefield, and the upstate as well, Powell said. Were now focusing on our primary routes. Thats a SC 19, thats a US one. We focus on those roads, which carry about half of the states traffic. Agencies are pooling resources with personnel deployed from across the state to assist in recovery efforts. Information about road conditions, open gas stations, and power restoration will be passed along soon. Its just going to take some time. Were working to have a system up where you can go online, the Governor added. Leaders addressed rumors circulating on social media about assistance sent to Florida and the status of linemen. They clarified that before Hurricane Helena hit, a mutual assistance call was made to request linemen for South Carolina. So maybe people saw bucket trucks going to Florida, but they were coming from other northern states that had nothing to be in the path of this, Kissam added. Meanwhile, officials are asking for patience as recovery efforts continue. For information on road conditions and closures after Hurricane Helene, call 1-855-GO-SCDOT. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. LaDonna Sidney, 48, enters her pod at the new state-sponsored "microshelter community," located at 548 S. 700 West in Salt Lake City, on Sept. 30, 2024. (Katie McKellar / Utah News Dispatch) With winter around the corner, state officials this weekend officially relocated and opened a new state-sponsored microshelter community on a parcel of publicly-owned land nestled beneath freeway overpasses in Salt Lake City. The microshelters or hard-shell pods built by the company Foldum that feature lockable doors, power outlets, and heating and air conditioning can house up to 50 people experiencing homelessness, with two one-bed units in each of the 25 pods. Last winter, Salt Lake City and state officials partnered to open the first microshelter community as a pilot project near 300 South and 600 West in downtown Salt Lake City. About two months ago, that location shut down in anticipation of the new microshelter location, and its homeless residents have stayed in either hotels or at a West Valley City winter overflow shelter while they waited for the new community to get up and running. Utahs new state-sponsored microshelter community is pictured on its opening day on Sept. 28, 2029. The new community is located at 548 S. 700 West in Salt Lake City. (Courtesy of the Utah Department of Workforce Services) On Saturday, the Utah Office of Homeless Services and the new communitys operator, the homeless provider Switchpoint, began moving residents to the new community, located on a property owned by the Utah Department of Transportation at 548 S. 700 West in Salt Lake City. The property is fully enclosed with privacy fencing and is staffed 24/7 by Switchpoint providers, who supervise who goes in and out. The community also has restrooms and showers, paved pathways to all of the pods, and sidewalk lighting. LaDonna Sidney, 48, who moved into one of the pods Saturday, said she didnt mind the dull roar from the freeway overpasses overhead; she was just grateful to have a space of her own. It may be small just enough room for her twin bed and her belongings but she said she was happy to be in a secure, gated community. Theres nothing more perfect, she said while sitting on her bed in her pod. Im very grateful for this opportunity. Utah News Dispatch toured the microshelter community Monday, the day state officials announced the move in a news release. During the Dispatchs visit, Sidney said she was previously staying in the West Valley City shelter before moving into the pod. That shelter, she said, was not the worst place in the world, but she was grateful to have her own room for privacys sake. You have your own space and you dont have to share anybodys germs, she said. LaDonna Sidney, 48, sits on her bed in her pod at the new state-sponsored microshelter community, located at 548 S. 700 West in Salt Lake City, on Sept. 30, 2024. (Katie McKellar / Utah News Dispatch) Sidney said she first came to Utah several months ago from Illinois, which she said she left in search of more work opportunities after she lost her housing. After arriving, she said she got in touch with the Utah Department of Workforce Services. Shes since got two jobs, she said, one as a part-time manager at the beauty accessories store Claires and another full-time job as a package handler at FedEx. But Sidney doesnt make enough to afford housing, so she applied for housing assistance in Davis County. While she waits for housing to open up, shes been staying in shelters while she saves up enough money to afford a place of her own. My hopes are I can just continue working and continue saving money and I can end up being able to live in society, she said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Three different subpopulations are eligible to stay in the microshelters, according to Switchpoint staff. Those who are actively working but dont have a place to live while theyre waiting for housing assistance; those who would be vulnerable living on the streets but can carry out daily tasks without assistance; and those who were living on the streets that dont thrive in group settings or they refuse to go into congregate shelters. The aim with all these different populations is to include a mix of people from different backgrounds in the community, said Cody Sanders, Switchpoints Salt Lake regional director. We want it to be as effective as it can, and try to reach those that it will help the most, Sanders said. The first 25 people who moved in Saturday were former residents at the previous microshelter location, while the remaining 25 will be referred through the Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness coordinated entry process, which will refer people from throughout Salt Lake County. Utahs new state-sponsored microshelter community is pictured on its opening day on Sept. 28, 2029. The new community is located at 548 S. 700 West in Salt Lake City. (Courtesy of the Utah Department of Workforce Services) The microshelter community does have rules for its residents. Sanders said theyre given a handbook, which makes clear they cant engage in illegal activities while theyre there. No illegal drugs, he said. We also have a curfew. They need to be back here by 10 p.m., unless theyre working. Other than that, he added, the basics is just respect other people here, respect staff, clean up after yourself. The new microshelter community has cost the state roughly $1.8 million in site improvements, plus monthly operating costs. Its operating budget has been funded at nearly $1.5 million, which is slated to last from this month to June 30, 2025, according to the Office of Homeless Services. The property itself, owned by UDOT, is being leased at $1 a year for 20 years. The 2025 Utah Legislature funded the project as part of the roughly $25 million it set aside for low barrier (or more easily accessible) shelter. In the meantime, state officials have to announce a site for a new 600- to 800-bed emergency shelter, which is still in the works. Utahs new state-sponsored microshelter community is pictured on its opening day on Sept. 28, 2029. The new community is located at 548 S. 700 West in Salt Lake City. (Courtesy of the Utah Department of Workforce Services) We are deeply thankful for the Utah legislatures support, which has made this project possible, said state homeless coordinator Wayne Niederhauser in a statement. The successful microshelter pilot, with its notable exits to housing and low calls for enforcement, demonstrates that this model works. This second phase represents a crucial step toward greater stabilization and long-term solutions for those in need. State officials also expressed gratitude for other companies that made the project possible, including the Utah-based construction firm Landmark Companies, Rocky Mountain Power, Foldum, Sunrise Engineering, and the Utah Division of Facilities Construction. The opening of the microshelter program, along with the planned expansion for Salt Lake Countys winter response in 2024, represents significant efforts to prepare for winter weather earlier than ever before, state officials said in the release. Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall also applauded the project, calling it a landmark moment. The pilot program demonstrated that this is a shelter model that serves a hard-to-reach segment of the unsheltered population and brings them much-needed stability, Mendenhall said. Its a testament to our commitment to exploring and deploying compassionate and effective solutions for those in need. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE INDIANA COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) Troopers were shot at over the weekend while responding to a domestic dispute, state police report. Troopers were called Saturday, Sept. 28, just before 10 p.m. to an apartment building on Lucerne Road in White Township. The caller stated his 22-year-old son, Henry Divinskiy, of New York was armed with a semi-automatic weapon. Immediately upon arriving at the scene, Troopers said Divinskiy was in an upstairs bedroom and began firing shots down upon the parking lot area. They said several rounds struck a marked patrol vehicle and nearly struck a trooper and the mans father who was tackled to the ground as a trooper tried to protect him from the gunfire. State police said that troopers did not return fire. Pennsylvania State Police Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) was called in. SERT was unable to make contact with Divinskiy and ultimately found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound when they entered the residence. 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. Assisting agencies included the Indiana County Emergency Management Agency/Indiana County 911, the Indiana County Coroners Office, the Indiana Fire Association, and the Homer City Volunteer 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 WTAJ - www.wtaj.com. By Harshita Mary Varghese, David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Verizon has fully restored a network disruption that impacted thousands of customers in the U.S. The Federal Communications Commission said earlier on Monday it was investigating the company's network outage across the U.S. after thousands of users reported outages. Verizon said in a statement later on Monday that the service has returned to normal levels. Chicago and Seattle were among the hardest-hit cities and some iPhone users were stuck in "SOS" mode. According to the tracking website Downdetector.com, the outage began at around 9:30 a.m. ET and there were 28,842 reports as of 5:02 p.m. ET, with regions including Minneapolis, Phoenix, Omaha and Denver among the most reported areas being affected. Verizon Communications said earlier in the day that its engineers were making progress on the network issue and service has started to be restored. "We apologize for any inconvenience some of our customers experienced today," Verizon said, without providing further details on the reason behind the outage. There were about 105,000 reports around 11:19 a.m. ET, at the peak of the outage, according to Downdetector.com. The FCC said it was "working to determine the cause and extent of these service disruptions." Some Verizon users said on social media platform X that their phones were stuck in "SOS" mode. "SOS" appears in the status bars of iPhones if the device is not connected to a cellular network but can still make emergency calls through other carriers, according to Apple's website. The outage tracking website also showed 448 incident reports by AT&T users as of 5:15 p.m ET, but the carrier said it was not experiencing a nationwide outage and the network was operating normally. "Downdetector is likely reflecting challenges our customers are having attempting to connect to users on another network," AT&T said. Sector rival AT&T faced nationwide wireless outages in February that lasted over 12 hours and impacted more than 70,000 customers. The FCC is investigating the AT&T outage, which blocked more than 92 million voice calls and prevented more than 25,000 attempts to reach 911, the agency said. News of the Verizon outage came hours after the company announced a deal to give infrastructure firm Vertical Bridge rights to lease, operate and manage 6,339 mobile towers across the U.S. for $3.3 billion. (Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese and Aditya Soni in Bengaluru and David Shepardson in Washington; Additional reporting by Gursimran Kaur, Editing by Anil D'Silva, Tasim Zahid, Devika Syamnath, Mark Porter and Alan Barona) Stay out of the water: Georgia Riverkeepers share warning after Hurricane Helene A warning from Georgia Riverkeepers after Hurricane Helene: stay out of the water. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The states waterways are littered with debris and sewage after Hurricane Helene. Channel 2s investigative reporter Sophia Choi saw that first hand when she went to the South River in DeKalb County with Riverkeeper James Tingley who says all the garbage, chemicals and sewage from overwhelmed treatment plants end up in our rivers after storms. And thats not all. Tingley told Choi, Ill find dogs, goats, cats on the sides of the rivers, like up in the trees where they were trying to rescue themselves. And, they just died. The riverkeeper spent the last couple of days, checking North Georgia waterways. At the Annistown Bridge over the Yellow River in Gwinnett County, he found trees still halfway underwater and rushing water at the Stone Mountain Dam in DeKalb County. TRENDING STORIES: At Gwinnett Countys Norris Lake in Snellville, Tingley found caution tape with the area closed. At Jackson Lake in Newton County, Tingley found a bunch of trash and brown water flowing down the lakes dam. Tingley says he needs help cleaning up, so the rivers can heal. Id love for the county to come down and get volunteers, the inmates, or whatever. If they want to come down and help us, lets clean it up, Tingley said. In the meantime, Tingley says you should stay out of the water, or you could get sick. He says its just too contaminated with E.coli and other nasty bacteria. If you got a cut on yourself, you can get it right away. Straight into your system, Tingley told Choi. The riverkeeper says it could take two months for the waterways to return to normal, as long as there are no other big storms. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] RELATED NEWS: Steve Wright, shown in a court sketch from a previous hearing, is next due in court in December [Elizabeth Cook/PA Media] Steve Wright has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and murdering a teenage girl in Suffolk more than 20 years ago. The 66-year-old is charged with the kidnap and murder of Victoria Hall, 17, who disappeared while on her way home from a nightclub in Felixstowe in 1999. Her body was found 25 miles (40km) away by a dog walker in a water-filled ditch in Creeting St Peter, near Stowmarket, five days later on 24 September. Appearing via video link at Ipswich Crown Court, Wright, formerly of London Road, Ipswich, was told his trial would start on 2 February 2026 at the Old Bailey in London. Victoria Hall was yards away from her house near Felixstowe when she was last seen in 1999 [Suffolk Police] Victoria had been on a night out with a friend at the Bandbox nightclub on the evening of 18 September 1999 and left the venue at about 01:00 BST the next morning. They parted ways at about 02:20 BST, which is the last time Victoria was seen alive, near her home in Trimley St Mary. Police launched a mission persons investigation after Victorias parents, Lorinda and Graham Hall, awoke in the morning to discover their daughter had not returned home. At Ipswich Crown Court today, Wright pleaded not guilty to one count of unlawful kidnap by force or fraud and one count of murder. Wright, 66, appeared at Ipswich Crown Court via video link [George King/BBC] The defendant did not enter a plea for the charge of the attempted kidnap of a 22-year-old woman on 18 September 1999 because it is now subject to dismissal. The trial of Wright, who will remain in custody until 7 March 2026, is expected to last four weeks, and a further case management hearing will be held on 2 December. Judge Martyn Levett said: [The trial date] may seem some distance away but it will require an extraordinary amount of work between now and then. Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. (Bloomberg) -- Ralph de la Torre, the embattled chief executive officer of bankrupt Steward Health Care System, sued a US Senate committee that subpoenaed him to testify about his role in the hospital chains financial collapse. Most Read from Bloomberg De la Torre alleges that the Senate has violated his Fifth Amendment constitutional protections against government overreach and self-incrimination. The lawsuit names the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions as a defendant, as well as 20 senators on the panel. The Senate voted last week to hold de la Torre in criminal contempt for declining to testify. The bipartisan vote means his failure to comply with the committees first subpoena since 1981 will be referred for criminal prosecution to the US Attorney for the District of Columbia. The senators are undertaking a concerted effort to punish Dr. de la Torre for invoking his Fifth Amendment right not to be compelled to be a witness against himself, according to the lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Washington. In the suit, de la Torre asks the court to declare the subpoena invalid and the contempt finding unconstitutional. Holding de la Torre in contempt is an abuse of power and a flagrant constitutional violation, Bill Burck, a lawyer at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP who is representing de la Torre, said in a statement. Democrats and Republicans on the HELP Committee came together and unanimously voted to hold Dr. de la Torre in contempt of Congress, as did the entire U.S. Senate. His suit has no merit, Anna Bahr, director of communications for Senator Bernie Sanders, the committee chair, said in an emailed statement. De la Torre told senators he wouldnt participate in the hearing into the hospital operators failure until after its bankruptcy had concluded. Being forced to testify now could jeopardize a settlement with the companys landlord, Medical Properties Trust Inc., intended to keep most of Stewards hospitals open under new managers, de la Torres lawyers said in a letter this month to Sanders. His lawyers say his refusal to honor the subpoena is different from other high-profile cases, such as those of former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro and chief strategist Steve Bannon. Both Bannon and Navarro were convicted on contempt charges for defying congressional subpoenas in the investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol. Its a completely different scenario, Burck said in an interview. While Bannon and Navarro claimed they were relying on Donald Trumps assertion of executive privilege, de la Torre is asserting his own Fifth Amendment right, which is not subject to executive authority or congressional authority or even judicial authority, Burck said. The lawsuit comes shortly after Steward announced that company founder de la Torre will no longer serve as the hospital operators CEO and chairman. He will officially step down on Tuesday. The case is De la Torre v. Sanders, 24-cv-02776, US District Court, District of Columbia (Washington). --With assistance from Jonathan Randles. (Updates with comment from Sanders spokesperson in fifth paragraph) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Stoltenberg reveals whether NATO can accept Ukraine while its territories are occupied Jens Stoltenberg, who is soon to step down as NATO Secretary General, has explained that it is for NATO member states to decide whether to invite Ukraine to join the Alliance while part of its territory is occupied. Source: Stoltenberg in an interview for the Interfax-Ukraine agency, as reported by European Pravda Details: Stoltenberg stated that NATO allies should be the ones to decide "how membership should be applied or work for Ukraine, but we all are aware of that". "Of course, if we say that the only way for Ukraine to become a member is for the war to end and Ukraine is in full control over the whole Ukrainian territory, then we give [Russian leader] Putin all the incentives to just find a way to continue the war," Stoltenberg said. "But my main message is that NATO security guarantees is the way to ensure a lasting and just peace for Ukraine," he added. Asked whether Ukraine could become a member of NATO with partially occupied territories, Stoltenberg replied that "that's for NATO allies to decide". He added, however, that there must be a guarantee of prevention of future aggression from Russias side. "And of course, it's for NATO allies to decide whether Article 5 guarantees can apply for parts of the Ukrainian territory," Stoltenberg stressed. Background: The idea of Ukraine being invited to join NATO "in parts" (with partially occupied territories) was discussed in 2023 amid preparations for the Vilnius Summit. Czech President Petr Pavel said last week that Ukraine should accept that some of its territories could be "temporarily" under Russias control after the end of the war. Ukraines Foreign Ministry described this scenario as "temporary decisions which will only postpone the war". Support UP or become our patron! In storms like Hurricane Helene, flooded industrial sites and toxic chemical releases are a silent and growing threat Hundreds of industrial facilities with toxic pollutants were in Hurricane Helenes path as the powerful storm flooded communities across the Southeast in late September 2024. Near the coast and into Georgia, Helene swept over paper mills, fertilizer factories and oil and gas storage facilities. Paper mills are among the most polluting industries on the planet some with thousands of pounds of lead on-site from prior production practices. Florida officials reported that a retired nuclear power plant just south of Cedar Key experienced a storm surge of as much as 12 feet that inundated buildings and an industrial wastewater pond. Spent nuclear fuel stored at the site, which also flooded during Hurricane Idalia in 2023, was believed to be secure, Bloomberg reported. Further inland, the storm dumped more than a foot of rain on industrial sites in the Carolinas and Tennessee, some near waterways that quickly flooded with runoff from the mountains. In disasters like these, the industrial damage can unfold over days, and residents may not hear about releases of toxic chemicals into water or the air until days or weeks later, if they find out at all. Yet pollution releases are common. After Hurricane Ian broadsided Floridas western coast in 2022, runoff that included hazardous materials from damaged storage tanks and local fertilizer mining facilities, in addition to millions of gallons of wastewater, was visible from space, spilling across the coastal wetlands into the Gulf of Mexico. A year earlier, Hurricane Ida triggered more than 2,000 reported chemical spills. During Hurricane Harvey in 2017, floodwater surrounded chemical facilities near Houston. Some caught fire as cooling systems failed, releasing huge volumes or pollutants into the air. Emergency responders and residents, who didnt know what risks they might face, blamed the chemicals for causing respiratory illnesses. Many types of toxic material can spread, settle and change the long-term health and environmental safety of surrounding communities often with little notice to residents. Our team of environmental sociologists and anthropologists has mapped hazardous industrial sites across the country and paired them with hurricanes projected impact maps to help communities hold nearby facilities accountable. Petrochemical complexes on the Gulf at high risk The risks from industrial facilities are most obvious along the U.S. Gulf Coast, where many major petrochemical complexes are clustered in harms way. These refineries, factories and storage facilities are often built along rivers or bays for easy shipping access. But those rivers can also bring storm surge flooding that can raise the ocean by several feet during hurricanes. The storm surge from Helene was over 10 feet above ground level in Floridas Big Bend and over 6 feet high in Tampa Bay. A boom surrounds flooded railcars to try to contain leaks at a chemical plant in Braithwaite, La., after Hurricane Isaac in 2012. AP Photo/David J. Phillip A recent study found evidence of two to three times more pollution releases during hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico than during normal weather from 2005 to 2020. The effects of these pollution releases fall disproportionately on low-income communities and people of color, further exacerbating environmental health risks. Why residents may not hear about toxic releases The statistics are disconcerting, yet they get little attention. That is because hazardous releases remain largely invisible due to limited disclosure requirements and scant public information. Even emergency responders often dont know exactly which hazardous chemicals they are facing in emergency situations. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires major polluters to file only very general information about chemicals and on-site risks in their risk management plans. Some large-scale fuel storage facilities, such as those holding liquefied natural gas, are not even required to do that. These risk management plans outline worst-case scenarios and are supposed to be publicly accessible. But, in reality, we and others have found them difficult to access, heavily redacted and housed in federal reading rooms with limited access. The reason local officials and national scientific review panels often give for the secrecy is to protect the facilities from terrorist attack. Oil storage tanks and industrial facilities line the Houston Ship Channel, which is vulnerable to storm surge from Gulf of Mexico hurricanes. AP Photo/David J. Phillip Adding to this opacity is the fact that many states including those along the Gulf suspend restrictions on pollution releases during emergency declarations. Meanwhile, real-time incident notifications from the National Response Center the federal governments repository for all chemical discharges into the environment typically lag by a week or more, We believe this limited public information on rising chemical threats from our changing climate should be front-page news every hurricane season. Communities should be aware of the risks of hosting vulnerable industrial infrastructure, particularly as rising global temperatures increase the risk of extreme downpours and powerful hurricanes. Mapping the risks nationwide to raise awareness To help communities understand their risks, our team at Rice Universitys new Center for Coastal Futures and Adaptive Resilience investigates how industrial communities in flood-prone areas nationwide can better adapt to such threats, socially as well as technologically. Our interactive map shows where elevated future flood risks threaten to inundate major polluters that we identify using the EPAs Toxic Release Inventory. Three of the biggest hot spots, where large numbers of industrial facilities with toxic materials face elevated future flood risks, are in the Northeast, the northwestern Gulf Coast and the southern end of the Great Lakes. Rice University Center for Coastal Futures and Adaptive Resilience, CC BY-ND The U.S. has several hot spots with clusters of flood-prone polluters. Houstons Ship Channel, Chicagos waterfront steel industries and the harbors at Los Angeles and New York/New Jersey are among the biggest. But, as Helene revealed, there can also be great concern in less obvious spots. Inland, particularly in the mountains, runoff can quickly turn normally tame rivers into fast-rising torrents. The French Broad River at Asheville, North Carolina, rose about 12 feet in 12 hours during Helene and set a new flood stage record. Circles indicate facilities in EPAs 2022 Toxic Release Inventory within Helenes impact zone. Those in red are the zones largest in terms of total annual hazardous materials that they release. For the interactive map, go to cfar.rice.edu. Rice University Center for Coastal Futures and Adaptive Resilience, CC BY-ND When hurricanes and tropical storms are headed for the U.S., our interactive maps now show where major polluters are located in the storms projected cone of impact. The maps identify hazardous flood-prone facilities down to the address, anywhere in the country. Knowledge is the first step Knowing where these sites are located is only the first step. Often, its up to communities themselves, many of them already overexposed and historically underserved, to raise concerns and demand strategies for mitigating the health, economic and environmental risks that industrial sites at risk of flooding and other damage can pose. These discussions cant wait until a disaster is on the way. By knowing where these risks may be, communities can take steps now to build a safer future. James R. Elliott receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Renewable Energy Lab. Dominic Boyer receives funding from the National Science Foundation, NOAA and Texas Sea Grant. Phylicia Lee Brown has nothing to disclose. JERUSALEM (AP) Israeli ground forces crossed into southern Lebanon early Tuesday, marking a significant escalation of an offensive against Hezbollah militants and opening a new front in a yearlong war against its Iranian-backed adversaries. The incursion follows weeks of heavy blows by Israel against Hezbollah including an airstrike that killed its longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah and seeks to step up the pressure on the group, which began firing rockets into northern Israel after the start of the war in Gaza. The last time Israel and Hezbollah engaged in ground combat was a monthlong war in 2006. The Israeli military said in a brief statement that it began limited, localized and targeted ground raids against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. These targets are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel, it said. There was no word on how long the operation would last, but the army said soldiers had been training and preparing for the mission in recent months. Israel has said it will continue to strike the group until it is safe for displaced Israelis from border communities to return to their homes. Ahead of the Israeli announcement, United States officials said Israel launched small ground raids inside Lebanon, and Israel declared three small border communities to be a closed military zone, restricting access only to army personnel. There were no reports of direct clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants. But throughout the evening, Israeli artillery units pounded targets in southern Lebanon and the sounds of airstrikes were heard throughout Beirut. Smoke rose from the capitals southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence, shortly after Israel ordered residents of three buildings to evacuate. Israel launches risky phase of fighting Israel has been emboldened by its recent battlefield gains against Hezbollah and appears intent on delivering a knockout blow to its archenemy. But a ground operation marks a new and potentially risky phase of fighting. It also threatens to unleash further devastation on Lebanon, where hundreds have been killed in recent Israeli strikes and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. Hezbollah is a well-trained militia, believed to have tens of thousands of fighters and an arsenal of 150,000 rockets and missiles. The last round of fighting in 2006 ended in a stalemate. Both sides have spent the past two decades preparing for their next showdown. While Hezbollah has built up a formidable arsenal, Israel has invested great sums into training and intelligence gathering. Recent airstrikes wiping out most of Hezbollahs top leadership and the explosions of hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah indicate that Israel has infiltrated deep inside the group's upper echelons. Hezbollah vowed Monday to keep fighting even after its recent losses. The groups acting leader, Naim Kassem, said in a televised statement that Hezbollah would be ready for a ground operation. He said commanders killed in recent weeks have already been replaced. The man widely expected to take over the top post from Kassem is Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah who oversees Hezbollahs political affairs. Israel shifts attention from Gaza to Lebanon Israeli strikes in recent weeks have hit what the military says are thousands of militant targets across large parts of Lebanon. Over 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry. Early Monday, an airstrike hit a residential building in central Beirut, killing three Palestinian militants, as Israel appeared to send a message that no part of Lebanon is out of bounds. Israel declared war against the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip after Hamas cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials. Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on Oct. 8 in solidarity with the Palestinian militant group. Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire almost every day since then, coming close to a full-fledged war on several occasions but stepping back from the brink. In recent weeks, Israels war against against Hamas has scaled back and it turned its focus northward toward Lebanon, stepping up the attacks on Hezbollah. Israeli leaders say they want Hezbollah to implement the U.S. resolution that ended the 2006 war, which required the group to withdraw some 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the Israeli border. Key setbacks for Hezbollah Hezbollah has suffered key setbacks in recent weeks. Before Nasrallahs assassination, a series of mysterious explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies blamed on Israel killed or wounded hundreds of people, many of them Hezbollah members. And Israeli airstrikes have killed most of the groups senior commanders. But Hezbollah continued to launch rockets and missiles into Israel and is still believed to have thousands of fighters near the Israeli border. Israeli leaders for years have accused Hezbollah of hiding weapons and fighters inside homes and other civilian structures in border villages. Tens of thousands of Lebanese civilians have fled southern Lebanon in recent weeks fearing an Israeli military onslaught. Hezbollah has few air defenses, giving the Israeli air force freedom of action over Lebanons skies. But a ground operation will be much more challenging, with Hezbollah forces embedded and hiding in local communities and familiar with the local terrain. Still, Hezbollahs capabilities are unclear. Its possible Hezbollah is holding back to save resources for a bigger battle. But the militant group might also be in disarray after Israeli intelligence apparently penetrated its highest levels. Some European countries began pulling their diplomats and citizens out of Lebanon on Monday. Germany sent a military plane to evacuate diplomats relatives and others. Bulgaria sent a government jet to get the first group of its citizens out. Israel has a long and bloody history in Lebanon. It briefly invaded in 1978 in a strike against Palestinian militants. It invaded again in 1982 in an operation that turned into an 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon. The stepped-up action against Hezbollah also could raise the risk of a broader region-wide war as Israel confronts a series of foes backed by archenemy Iran. Israel carried out an airstrike in Yemen against the Houthi militia in response to a series of missile strikes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also threatened Iran, warning the Tehran government that Israel is capable of striking anywhere in the Middle East. The United States and its allies including France, which has close ties to Lebanon have called for a cease-fire, hoping to avoid further escalation that could draw in Iran and set off a wider war. But Netanyahu has shown little interest, as his country racks up military achievements against a longtime foe. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, visiting Beirut on Monday, urged Israel to refrain from a ground offensive. He also called on Hezbollah to stop firing on Israel, saying the group bears heavy responsibility in the current situation, given its choice to enter the conflict. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, speaking after meeting with Barrot, said the country is committed to an immediate cease-fire followed by the deployment of Lebanese troops in the south, in keeping with a United Nations Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war but was never fully implemented. ___ Sewell reported from Beirut and Lee reported from Washington. Boeing factory workers in Puget Sound have been on strike for 18 days after rejecting a tentative contract offer from the company. And nowthey are at risk of losing their company-paid health benefits. According to the companys website, union members who return to work during the strike on or after October 1, active health and insurance coverage will be reinstated. Boeing said employees who lose coverage can continue benefits at their own expense through COBRA. Workers will receive a COBRA notice within 14 days of their loss of coverage. On Friday, union leaders announced that contract talks broke off with the company after their latest bargaining session. In an update posted on social media, a regional district of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said that Boeing would not engage substantively on key issues important to members such as higher pay and refused to budge on restoring a defined-benefit pension that was dissolved about a decade ago. IAM District 751 says that no further negotiation dates have been scheduled following Fridays session with mediators. However, the union says it remains open to talks with the company, either direct or mediated. One week ago, Boeing issued what it is calling its best and final offer. The deal included pay raises of 30% over a four-year period, which is up 5% from the deal that union members rejected when they voted to strike. The unions original demand was for 40% over three years. A school bus crosses over the Rio Ruidoso on Tuesday, Aug. 20. Educators feared the Ruidoso Municipal Schools District would lose a significant number of students at the start of the school year after natural disasters this summer. (Photo by Danielle Prokop / Source NM) RUIDOSO When Michelle Thurston was preparing for the school year to start in August, she said she and her fellow teachers were apprehensive about the number of students who would actually show up in their classrooms on the first day. Natural disasters over the summer left many Ruidoso families without homes or in precarious living situations, and Thurston said educators worried this might mean the district would lose a significant number of students. She said she was pleasantly surprised that only one student was removed from her roster. I thought those were pretty good numbers, she said. The South Fork and Salt fires that burned through thousands of acres of Lincoln National Forest land and destroyed over 900 Ruidoso area homes displaced many New Mexicans. The severe flooding that followed took out over 200 more homes. The village was still in the midst of monsoon season and frequent rainfall when school started for most Ruidoso Municipal Schools students in mid-August. During the summer, we were very apprehensive about what the student count was going to be when we came back in August, and we really didnt know until the first day, said Becca Ferguson, superintendent of the district. We had called parents during the summer to see if we could get ahold of them, but phone numbers change and things like that. So there were a number of parents that we were not able to contact. Ferguson said enrollment was down by 15 students for the 2024-2025 school year compared with the same time the previous year. Between the four schools in the district, there is a total enrollment of 1,805 students. Charred trees line the roads between Ruidoso and Alto. Fifteen students, of course in a district our size, is a significant financial impact, but it is not to the extreme concern that we had over the summer, where it could have been 200 or even more than that due to the fires and the flooding, Ferguson said. But, she added, kindergarten enrollment in the district is up. Ferguson said the enrollment numbers indicate that not as many families moved out of the Ruidoso area as educators originally predicted. That shows, to me, that we have a very resilient community that is going to stay and rebuild, and that Ruidoso is going to recover from this, Ferguson said. Candice Castillo, deputy secretary of Identity, Equity and Transformation at the states Public Education Department, said officials there have been in close contact with Ruidoso district leaders this semester. Backpacks and some school supplies were offered to students recently when Castillo visited the schools and at the Cabinet in Your Community event hosted this month by the governors office in Ruidoso. We understand that after the two natural disasters that they had to deal with, families are really focused on ensuring that they can rebuild, Castillo said. She said most, if not all, questions directed to state government representatives from residents involved updates on federal and state financial assistance not necessarily school. The Public Education Department is promoting its Be Here NM campaign to combat absenteeism throughout the state. Castillo said Ruidoso is one community the department is checking in with in particular, because of the summer upheaval. Castillo said the district seems to be operating relatively normally this semester with few major impacts to attendance. However, as data is reviewed from this and future semesters, Castillo said the department will be looking for any trends that require additional state assistance to address. At least right now, based on what we have seen, the district has a pretty good system in place on moving along the school year. And just as anything in education, well just have to wait to see what the data will show, Castillo said. School district implements weather protocols Before students returned to the classroom, the district announced its weather protocols, which involved three levels of preparedness and action. Level 1 is Flood Watch, meaning weather conditions are favorable for flooding. Level 2 is Flood Warning, meaning flooding is occurring and schools are placed in shelter-in-place protocol. Level 3 is Flood Emergency where there is active flooding compromising roads and bridges. Shelter-in-place orders continue in Level 3. Ruidoso Municipal Schools flood protocols Level 1 Watch: Weather conditions could create floods Level 2 Warning: Flooding is occurring. Shelter in place. Level 3 Emergency: Flooding is compromising roads and bridges. Shelter in place. Ferguson said she was in contact with the National Weather Service daily and released warnings as needed. This continues to be a standing call the district and other entities have each morning. Ferguson said the district collaborated with the Village of Ruidoso, Ruidoso Police Department and the bus transportation contractor to develop the plans for flooding. In the few weeks since school started, the district put schools on a shelter-in-place order four times because of possible flooding, and released students from school early three times because of active or imminent flooding. The bus transportation contractor also had to identify alternate routes in case roads were impassable and safe areas where buses could park and wait for water levels to recede. Weve never had to do this before, so all of this was brand new to all of us here in Ruidoso, Ferguson said. She said the schools have been very fortunate because the most damage their buildings experienced was mud seeping into the parking lots. So actually the best and safest place for students has been the schools, Ferguson said. She acknowledged that shelter-in-place orders, early dismissals and cancellations of extracurricular activities are always going to be a disruption, but the safety of everyone in the district takes precedence over convenience. And attendance so far this semester is on par with typical attendance rates, Ferguson said. Disruptions in the classroom Michelle Thurston has taught in the district for over 10 years. She said the spring 2022 McBride Fire was kind of when the trauma started for students. We definitely had some kids that had some PTSD after that. But this is different because it was a little more devastating, Thurston said. She said she thinks early dismissal is better in some cases because everyone involved knows the plan for the day. When the school is sheltering in place or weather is being watched, teachers lose the attention of their students and quality instruction time. Once those clouds start rolling in many of those kids start getting a little bit of anxiety anyways, she said. Parents also start experiencing some anxiety when storms roll into the area, Thurston said, and they check on their kids or pull them out of school early, despite there not being an official early dismissal. Thurston said in those cases, teachers turn on their radios to communicate with the front office, further interrupting class time. At least with the early dismissal, we know its happening, and you can just teach up until that time. And the kids usually stay in the classroom up until that time, she said. Lindsey Salas daughter is 15 and a sophomore at Ruidoso High School now, but she was in middle school during the McBride Fire. Salas said there has been some disappointment in extracurricular events being canceled because of weather, but the goal is mostly to get back into a normal routine as quickly as possible. She said she hasnt felt the need to keep her daughter home because of possible flood danger. Salas family was one of the first to be evacuated over the summer because of the looming wildfires. She said their neighborhood survived, but surrounding areas were burned. And because they live on top of a hill they have only run into issues with flooding when trying to get home. She said each time school is released early, she has to make arrangements for pickup, as her daughter is not quite driving by herself yet. I think were all just, again, trying to stay a community and work together and live through it, Salas said. Thurston said that following the erratic summer events, she thinks parents want kids to be in school and experience that normalcy. We need to give all of these families a little bit of grace, she said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) According to Whetstone High School students, using the bathroom has become a difficult feat. Freshman Nora Hardesty said the bathrooms at the Columbus City Schools (CCS) high school are dirty, mirrorless and frequently locked. She said those that are open require students to wait in long lines under teacher supervision, and students are fed up. Ohio files emergency motion against Columbus City Schools over busing issue Today, I had to use the bathroom so bad and my teacher gave me permission to go run there real quick and all of them were locked, Hardesty said. I had to wait 10 whole minutes to use the bathroom, I was on the verge of peeing myself. Thats a basic human right, like, you cant not let me go to the bathroom, especially when its an emergency. This embedded content is not available in your region. CCS maintains the policy is for student safety, citing reports of fights at Whetstone last year in the restrooms. CCS Media Relations Coordinator Tyler Carter said there are still options for students, explaining one primary bathroom is closed for repairs, but students have access to another main restroom during breaks. And if they need to use the restroom during class, they can get a hall pass from their teacher to use an individual bathroom, which can be unlocked by a school staff member, Carter said. Carter said the single-use restrooms are locked for student safety and because they were previously not used for all students. But Whetstone students reported this requires tracking down staff to unlock them or standing in lines, sometimes stretching over a dozen students long. Former county commissioner accused of having affair with prosecutor sentenced in fraud case Nearly a dozen Whetstone students reached out to NBC4 about the policy, which they called unhygienic and detrimental to learning. Students said the handful of stalls were not enough for the schools enrollment, which the Ohio Department of Education lists at 1,027. One said some teachers limit how many times a student can ask to use the restroom per month or quarter, so if they are still waiting when class ends, they have wasted an opportunity. Another said students who get periods often bleed through their clothing because they are unable to access the restrooms when they need to. As a female student, Ive had to leave school because of bleeding through my clothes and have had issues with having to use the restroom and being told no or having to stand in a very long line, sophomore Tegan Arthur said. Arthurs mother, Kimberlyn Brantingham, said shes reached out to school administrators and the school board without a response. Brantingham said students are told to go to the nurse but are then given menstrual products they cannot use given a lack of access. Arrest made after threat against Noble County homecoming dance My main concern as a parent is access to clean restrooms and access to education. It seems that we cant have both, Brantingham said. Having to come to the school to take her to a fast-food restaurant to use the restroom and then returning her to school for the remainder of the day is not appropriate. Junior Natty Van Bibber said the time between class periods was extended from three minutes to four this year to allow students to use the restroom, but when he tried, he often was unable to get into the facilities. I dont bring water or any liquid because if I drink it, I know I will have to use the bathroom and the chances are it will be locked, Van Bibber said. Junior Saphir Mwamba Mukendi said the issue is so prevalent for students, it is entering classrooms. We are currently doing a group project tackling an issue in the community, Mwamba Mukendi said. My group chose the restroom policy and how it often takes away educational class time from students. This central Ohio elementary school is now nationally recognized Both Mwamba Mukendi and Hardesty said the current policy bars students from using the bathroom in the first or last 10 minutes of their 45-minute class periods. Each classroom has only one hall pass to distribute and, with wait times, Hardesty said only two students per period are typically able to go. They said those who could go missed sizable chunks of class time, and explained waiting for lunch or the larger facility is no better. Theres three stalls in them but theres no air circulation whatsoever in there, so its always so hot and the smell is radioactive, Hardesty said. Its always so crowded and during lunch the lines are crazy, like not even kidding over 15 girls waiting in a line. Its horrible. Carter said the policy has been in place for more than 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 NBC4 WCMH-TV. BALTIMORE Mary Lawal was 8 years old the first time she tried to take her own life. Time has blurred the details for Lawal, now a 22-year-old psychology student at Prince Georges Community College. She doesnt remember the circumstances that led up to her attempt Did she have a fight with her parents? An argument with her siblings? or how, as a child, she even knew suicide was possible. She has only a vague memory of feeling lonely and unlovable. I dont think I had a full understanding of what I was doing, she said. In the last two decades, overall suicide rates in the U.S. have risen by more than a third. They are also up for children ages 8 to 12 especially among young girls. Nearly 1 in 10 Maryland high school students reported having attempted suicide at least once in the year leading up to fall of 2022, according to results from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey. But there are reasons to be hopeful. For two years, in Maryland and across the country, the 988 suicide and crisis hotline has made it easier to ask for help. And earlier this month, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, introduced legislation that would create a federal grant program to support evidence-based models for stabilizing people with serious thoughts of suicide. Raskin lost his son to suicide in December 2020. While suicidal ideation thinking about or formulating plans for suicide can be terrifying and isolating, research shows it also is treatable through psychotherapy, medication, family and social support, and other treatments. Nine out of 10 people who attempt to take their own lives do not die during that acute period of crisis, and do not go on to die of suicide in the future. Research shows that most people who make one attempt do not try to end their own lives again. But Lawal did try again. After her first attempt as a child, she tried to take her own life four more times, most recently in 2021. Lawal survived. And today, after several years of intensive treatment, hospital stays, medication and therapy, she considers herself to be in recovery from suicidal ideation and self-harm. Shes now an outspoken mental health advocate who shares her story with thousands of people on her Instagram, as well as with lawmakers, mental health workers and educators as a volunteer and youth adviser for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. She wants to bring people in crisis the message she so desperately needed when she was younger that there is hope of getting better. Im living proof that recovery is possible, Lawal said. Mental illness does not have to be a death sentence. Lawal remembers struggling with her mental health from the time she was little. She spent her childhood moving between Bowie and Nigeria, where her dad grew up and ran a business. She switched schools four or five times while growing up, sometimes in the middle of the school year. Ezekiel Adegbola met Lawal while they were both in high school in Nigeria. He remembers her as someone who quickly adapted to the Nigerian way of life and was very bright and funny. They quickly became friends, Adegbola said, and stayed close even after Mary returned to Maryland. But inside, Lawal felt like she didnt belong anywhere like nobody truly understood her. At 13, she began to self-harm. She knew she needed help, but she didnt know how to put what she was feeling into words. Mental health wasnt something her teachers or classmates talked about at school. I felt as though I was just in this cycle of doom, she said. When it comes to preventing suicide and most other public health crises its key to implement upstream interventions, said Holly Wilcox, a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. That means tackling the first seeds of the problem before it becomes a crisis, and teaching people about how to recognize those seeds and what to do when they spot them. Suicide may seem like too big and scary of a topic to broach with children, but there are age-appropriate and effective ways of doing so, Wilcox said. She and other researchers are currently testing out programs in Maryland schools, where kids are given tools for approaching sensitive situations and conversations with their friends, and taught when to involve a responsible adult. One thing weve been noticing is that students, even as young as middle school, really like having the space and time to talk about mental health, said Wilcox, who has spent her career advancing public health approaches to suicide prevention. By allowing them to talk about it, our hope is that it addresses mental health stigma, Wilcox said. They can learn practical skills and learn about different mental health conditions. That should help them when they or someone else in their lives are facing any type of mental health problem or crisis; theyll have something to draw from to be able to work toward a solution. Without a similar program in her school, Lawal turned to YouTube and social media to learn about mental health. Hearing others share experiences similar to her own was helpful, but she still wasnt sure how to get better. While living in Nigeria, she considered walking to a nearby pharmacy to ask for help. I wanted to ask the pharmacist, she recalled, Do you guys have something for depression or suicidal ideation? Something to help? When she got up the nerve to tell her parents how much she was hurting, they didnt understand. They were a family of faith Why couldnt she trust that God would take care of her? Lawals father, Wasiu Lawal, said he initially attributed his daughters mental health struggles to her youth. But things got worse, not better, as she got older, he said. Eventually, even though he didnt understand therapy mental health was never something people talked about when he was growing up in Nigeria he knew his daughter needed serious intervention. I was willing to do anything that would help her, Lawal said. Toward the end of Lawals high school years, her mental health got even worse. In her lowest moments, she would scream and cry to her mother, asking her why she had brought her into the world. But when Lawal was 19, after years of suicide attempts and terrifying intrusive thoughts regularly sending her to the hospital, a doctor suggested a partial hospitalization program to her family. For several weeks, Lawal spent hours each day participating in group and individual therapy. A few months later, she did the program again. This time, even though it was virtual, Lawal felt more prepared to be open with others in the program to share her experiences and add her input during group therapy. After several years of treatment and learning about mental health, it felt like everything clicked, Lawal said. She left the program with a deeper understanding of herself that became even deeper as she explored her relationship with her faith. She came to believe that everything she had gone through had a purpose to help her understand others who were struggling and help them feel less alone. God, he had me then. He has me now, she said. In my darkest moments, in my darkest times, where I felt lonely, I felt like I had no one, he was still there with me and the reason why Im still alive today. Rolly Orebote, a preacher and spiritual mentor based in London, remembers meeting Lawal through Instagram about four years ago. She could tell how much the young girl was struggling, she said, but over the past few years, she has been amazed at the person she has become. When I first met Sister Mary, she was a totally different person. Someone that was not understood, someone that didnt have confidence in herself, Orebote said. I cant really say how impressed and how proud of her that I am, because shes grown so much in such a short space of time. Now, Lawal is well-practiced at sharing her story. In 2023, she addressed lawmakers in the Maryland General Assembly to ask them to fully fund the 988 hotline. Shes also helped facilitate support groups for NAMI and regularly volunteers to speak with journalists about mental health issues. As a psychology student at Prince Georges Community College, shes not quite sure yet whether she wants to continue her studies and become a therapist or stay in advocacy. Whatever Lawal decides to do, her father said, she is going to help many people. Shes taught him a lot about mental health, he said. Now, when he meets a parent whose child is struggling with their mental health, he knows how to talk to them about it and helps them figure out how to support their child. She is amazing. Amazing, he said of his daughter. She can tell her story anywhere. She is not ashamed. Shes bold. Im really proud of her. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has congratulated the Jewish community of Azerbaijan on the New Year - Rosh Hashanah, Azernews reports. The address reads: "Dear fellow compatriots, I cordially congratulate you on the New Year Holiday of the Jewish people - Rosh Hashanah - and extend my sincerest wishes to each of you. Azerbaijan, which plays the role of a bridge between the East and the West, is one of the unique places, where friendly and fraternal relations have existed between peoples, and ethnic and cultural diversity and high multicultural values have been preserved for centuries. Throughout history, representatives of different cultures and faiths have always lived here in peace, good neighbourliness, mutual trust and respect as one family without facing discrimination. Even today, in our country, where the atmosphere of exemplary tolerance prevails, there are ample opportunities for ethnic and religious minorities, including the Jewish community, to keep their traditions, language and culture alive by taking advantage of their national and spiritual values. I would like to particularly emphasize that as an integral part and equal member of our society, our citizens of Jewish origin contribute to conveying the realities about Azerbaijan to the world community, and are closely involved in the public and political life of our country, which is currently experiencing a great progress and rapid development. Dear friends, On the occasion of Rosh Hashanah, which epitomizes renewal, spiritual purity, solidarity and kindness, I once again extend my congratulations to all of you and wish happiness to your families and abundance to your homes. Happy holiday! Ilham Aliyev President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Baku, 30 September 2024" CORAL GABLES, Fla., September 30, 2024--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Viamericas, a leading provider of remittance and international money transfer services, has partnered with JMMB Money Transfer to expand its services into Jamaica. This partnership simplifies how customers send money to Jamaica for cash pickup and direct bank deposits through Viamericas thousands of locations and industry-leading customer service. Through the collaboration with JMMB Money Transfer, Viamericas will provide access to over 100 agent payout locations throughout the island, and at an additional 465 JMMB Bank branches, where clients can securely receive money. This partnership strengthens the financial bridge between loved ones in the United States and Canada, and Jamaica, and expands Viamericas services for customers throughout the island. By adding cash payout locations in these areas, customers can provide support to their families without having to travel long distances to receive remittances. "Partnering with JMMB allows us to leverage our thousands of locations and industry-leading customer service, bringing accessible financial services to the heart of the communities that need it most," said Joseph Argilagos, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Viamericas. "This collaboration underscores our commitment to providing reliable and convenient financial solutions to the Jamaican community, helping them stay connected with their loved ones abroad." Through Viamericas, Jamaicans can receive remittances from the United States and Canada. "We are delighted to partner with Viamericas in expanding remittance services across Jamaica," said Sharon Gibson, Chief Executive Officer of JMMB. "This collaboration enhances financial inclusion by providing more accessible and convenient options for Jamaicans. Our shared commitment to serving the community will enable families to receive vital financial support with greater ease and security." About JMMB JMMB (Jamaica Money Market Brokers) is a financial services company headquartered in Jamaica. It was founded in 1992 and has since expanded its operations across the Caribbean, particularly in Trinidad and Tobago and the Dominican Republic. The company provides a wide range of financial products and services. JMMB has earned a reputation for customer-centric service and it is listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) About Viamericas Corporation Viamericas is a leading licensed money transmitter providing international money transfer, bill payment, check processing and top-up services at thousands of agent locations across the United States. Individuals can send money to more than 285,000 locations in 95 countries. Story continues Founded in 1999, Viamericas helps families achieve their financial goals by providing international payment services at a great value. Headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida, the company has a West Coast office in Los Angeles and operational centers in Mexico, Colombia, and the Philippines. Viamericas recently won Fintech Futures Paytech Award for the category "Best Business Payments System - Cross-Border & Remittances". For more information, see https://corporate.viamericas.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240930666518/en/ Contacts Frankie Keck press@viamericas.com 678-781-7228 The Yamanashi regional government has deployed drones to carry out sweeps of the 14-square-mile Aokigahara Forest - BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP Drone patrols have been launched over a sprawling forest on the slopes of Japans Mount Fuji that has become notorious for suicides. Alarmed at a resurgence in people taking their lives in Aokigahara Forest, also known as the sea of trees, the Yamanashi regional government has deployed unmanned aerial vehicles to carry out sweeps of the 14-square-mile forest. Made by Tokyo-based company JDrone, larger models are equipped with cameras and infrared sensors to detect people beneath the dense canopy and share that data with teams on the ground. Smaller handheld units are then guided to the location of the heat signal and the search teams, through a camera and speaker, are able to communicate with anyone they find. Working in unison, the large and small drones are then able to lead the search teams to the location of the individual. According to the Yamanashi government, 182 bodies were discovered in the forest in both 2019 and 2020, rising to 192 in 2021 and 199 in 2022. The total rose to 215 deaths in 2023, the Mainichi newspaper reported. The first recorded suicide in Aokigahara was in the 1920s, when the son of a wealthy couple wanted to marry a waitress. The mans parents opposed the union, so the couple travelled to the forest to die together. The case attracted media attention and there were reports of similar suicide pacts over the following decades. Things took a darker turn in 1970 after a popular romantic novel described the double suicide of lovers in the forest. The drones are equipped with cameras and infrared sensors to detect people beneath the dense forest canopy - Carl Court/Getty Images AsiaPac Japans economic problems of the 1990s saw another surge in deaths which coincided with the release of another book that described it as a peaceful place to die. Many of the dead were businessmen who had lived well during the financial bubble years but who lost everything in the crash. Failure in business is considered a mark of shame in Japan. With suicides increasing again, the regional government hopes the drone technology will enable them to intervene in some suicide attempts and convince others not to try to take their own lives in the forest. Keiko Chiken, a spokesman for the local authority, told the Mainichi: We want to dispel the image of Aokigahara as a famous suicide spot. 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. PARK TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) A group of property owners in Park Township are suing for the right to continue renting out their homes on platforms like Airbnb and VRBO. Nancy VanEenenaam and her husband have owned a cottage across from the Ottawa Beach General Store in Park Township for 12 years after inheriting it from his mom, who owned it for about two decades. They have put a lot of money into fixing the property up and VanEenenaam said she has become emotionally invested in the guests who stay there every summer. We also really love hosting the families, it is so much fun, she said. We have families from all over come and stay. Most of them are repeat, so they come year after year. Their kids have grown up going to our cottage, going to the beach, heading to the General Store every morning for doughnuts. Saugatuck votes to limit short-term rentals A short-term rental in Park Township. She also uses the cottage as a vacation spot with her husband and family, getting a chance to enjoy the lakeshore community while keeping their city farm with horses in Holland. Its a different lifestyle and we feel very blessed to be able to have both, she said. But a potential ban on short-term rentals in residential zoning districts in Park Township, which is located west of Holland along the lakeshore and includes Holland State Park, could put a stop to that. Park Township Neighbors, a nonprofit made up mostly of STR owners in the area, is suing the township to be exempted from the ban, saying they should be grandfathered in under state law. For now, a judge has put an injunction in place to allow the property owners to continue renting out the homes on a short-term basis. HOW DID WE GET HERE? Around 2021, the township began having conversations about short-term rentals, homes typically rented out on platforms like Airbnb or VRBO. The issue of Short-Term Rentals continues to be a topic of conversation, Township Manager Howard Fink wrote in an update posted to the website on Feb. 26, 2021. Many residents have expressed various differing opinions and nuanced perspectives on how best to address Short Term Rentals whether to permit and if so how to regulate them, or prohibit them entirely. The township wasnt alone in dealing with the topic. Communities like Spring Lake, which updated its STR ordinance last year, and Saugatuck, which placed a 20% cap on STR licenses in the citys R1 residential districts in July, have had similar conversations. There were a number of meetings on the issue, including one in September 2022 at which nearly 100 residents spoke about STRs, with some voicing concerns about things like noise, trash and parking issues. The township board ultimately made the decision in November 2022 to ban short-term rentals in residential zoning districts. The township defined short-term rentals as a place where people were staying for under 28 days. Rebuilt Ottawa Beach General Store opens The Park Township Neighbors lawsuit says the township later passed a similar ban, this time as an amendment to the general code. The ban went into effect in October 2023, until a judge issued an injunction in December 2023. In March of this year, the township passed a third iteration of the ban in order to stop new STRs from opening in residential areas while the injunction is in place. A short-term rental in Park Township. UNLAWFUL OPERATIONS MUST CEASE The township argues short-term rentals have actually been illegal in residential areas since 1974, when the township adopted its current zoning ordinance. STRs have not been lawfully allowed within the Township (except in the C-2 commercial/business zoning district) since the current zoning regulations were enacted by the Township in 1974, language in the ordinance passed this year says. The STR use of such unlawful operations must cease. It says because of the 1974 ordinance, the around 250 existing STRs in the area have been operating illegally and cannot be grandfathered in under the recent ordinance changes. Grandfathering is a term thats used to describe a use that was permitted at one time, and then regulations changed so the use is no longer permitted, the township explained on its website. Grandfathering allows these previously permitted uses to continue under certain conditions. In the case of short-term rentals, this was never a permitted use in Park Township so grandfathering isnt applicable. But Park Township Neighbors, a nonprofit made up mostly of STR owners in the area, argue they should be grandfathered in and that the township repeatedly told owners STRs are legal. The group posted several emails on its website that it says show township officials telling STR owners that there were no regulations in place and that if regulations were to be added, they would be grandfathered in. Spring Lake amends, approves short-term rental ordinance Until 2020, (2021) they were always legal, said Park Township Neighbors Board President Jeremy Allen, who owns a STR in Park Township and also owns short- and long-term rentals in Seattle and Chicago. Weve got emails and documents from current employees that said they were legal. So where they shifted and can now say that they were always illegal thats a weird revision of history. He said several property owners would never have bought the STRs if the township hadnt told them the operations were illegal and that he and his wife, who bought their STR near Mount Pisgah in 2015, would not have extensively remodeled it in 2017 if they knew the ban was coming. NOISE, TRAFFIC, PARKING CONCERNS The township declined to comment for this report, citing the lawsuit filed by Park Township Neighbors. As we are in active litigation on the subject, we have no comment, the township manager said in an email to News 8. For clarification, using the word Ban is misleading. STR are permitted in commercial zoned districts. They are not permitted in residential zoned districts. Saugatuck to launch hotline for short-term rental complaints The zoning ordinance amendment walks through the problems the township has with STRs, saying they are incompatible with neighborhood areas. They can increase noise, traffic levels and parking scarcity in the summer, and can increase the number of vacant homes in the winter. The township argues STRs can devalue nearby single-family homes and that two or more families often stay in the rental units, even in zoning areas that only allow single-family use. There is constant coming and going of new renters, the zoning ordinance amendment says, and short-term renters dont take as good care of the property as an owner-occupied home. Short-term renters dont have a relationship with the neighbors, arent familiar with the area and dont know the local customs or local ordinances, the document says. Park Township doesnt have the resources to enact and enforce ordinances on concerns like noise and parking, it says, and they can drive up housing prices. In general, STR uses are more intensive, transitory, and problematic than conventional single-family and other residential uses, the ordinance amendment says. It ends the list of concerns by comparing STRs to other types of housing. Many of the problems associated with STRs can also occur in duplex and multi-family residential areas and neighborhoods, the ordinance amendment says. OWNER: RENTERS LEAVE THE PLACE IMMACULATE Short-term rental owners who News 8 talked to disagree with several of those concerns. Vicki Rosendahl, a retired nurse who has lived in Park Township all her life, bought a property with her husband 15 years ago, renting it out on VRBO as part of their retirement plan. It just kind of dumbfounds us, she said of the ordinance change. How can this be happening, that the township with a group of people can just make that decision that, OK, youve been able to do this for 15 years, and now youre done. I dont understand how that can even happen. A short-term rental in Park Township. A short-term rental in Park Township. People often book the Rosendahls rental for Tulip Time, Hope Colleges graduation or just to enjoy the beach. They just absolutely love staying at our home. It creates wonderful memories for them, she said. We have that beautiful bike path that goes all the way down to the beach Theyre dumbfounded how gorgeous it is here. The rental unit is right across the street from their home, which sits on the lakeshore. South Haven launches short-term rental complaint hotline It works really nice. I manage it, I rent it, I clean it, she said. We have developed some wonderful friendships with people over the last 15 years with this rental. She said she runs a tight ship, keeping the property spotless and stopping by immediately if theres ever any type of problem. Rosendahl said she vets everyone who stays there, not allowing groups like bachelor or bachelorette parties. I want to be very respectful of my neighbors on either side, she said. I dont want to cause any problems and I do believe that there should be some rules that are in place. Fellow STR owner VanEenenaam said in her experience, theres less wear and tear from short-term renters than long-term renters. Short-term renters want to come back, they want you to let them come back for next year, she explained. They go above and beyond. The last few renters weve had, the place was immaculate. One woman went as far as scrubbing down the cottages outdoor chairs, she said. Shes like, We just want to come back next year. We want to make sure that youll let us come back next year,' VanEenenaam said. Jeremey Allen, the Park Township Neighbors board president, and his wife bought their STR in 2015 when they were living in Seattle. The vision we had when we lived in Seattle is coming back, being close to family, letting the grandparents watch their grandkids grow up, he said. And then when were not visiting ourselves, renting it out, letting the property serve for other families. A short-term rental in Park Township. He said a cohort from Western Theological Seminary in Holland often stays in the unit to work on theses, enjoying fellowship like a morning coffee and prayer time together while also spending time outdoors writing. A family that has been traveling in an RV and homeschooling their kids is booked to stay there from October through April so their daughter can go to a traditional high school for her senior year, Allen said. He and his wife loved the area so much they moved here in 2019. That wouldnt have happened had we not had a place to come stay and experience the beautiful West Michigan hospitality and culture and all that it has to offer here, he said. BREAKING DOWN THE NUMBERS Several other STR owners in Park Township use their properties as their own summer cottage, renting it out when theyre not staying there. Park Township Neighbors commissioned an economic impact study from the Hope College Frost Research Center. The study was paid for with a grant from the National Association of Realtors, the center told News 8. The center has done economic impact reports in the past, like a study on the impact of Tulip Time, and often works with community partners for its study. The report found 41% of STR owners in view the property as a secondary residence and 12% say the it is their primary residence. It found that 66% of STR owners in the township use the property for personal use, but use it for less than a quarter of the year. Fourteen percent use it for personal use between 25% to 50% of the year, while 11% dont use it for personal use at all. Nine percent use it for between 50% to 100% of the year. A short-term rental in Park Township. The Frost Center conducted the study by contacting 128 STR owners in the area using a list provided by Park Township Neighbors. Eighty-four property owners responded. There are about 248 STRs throughout Park Township, though Allen said that number is likely smaller now, as some sold their property instead of deal with the ban and lawsuit. The study from the Frost Center found that most STR owners, 86%, have only one rental property. A total of 12% own between two to five properties, while only 1% own more than five properties. There are some misconceptions about Park Township short-term rental landlords as being corporations, LLCs, VanEenenaam said. Thats not us, and most of the neighborhood rentals are not LLC, not corporations. Theyre just family, mom-and-pop kind of things. Most, 76%, have owned their STR for 10 years or less. The study found that 58% of STR owners are making between $10,000 to $50,000 from their rental property each year. SHORT-TERM RENTALS AND LOCAL BUSINESSES STR owners argue their renters help support local businesses. We love the fact that we can help the community financially, Rosendahl said. The minute people come, theyre like, Well, what restaurants do we want to go to?' A short-term rental in Park Township. She said her renters often visit downtown Holland and shops in surrounding areas and joked that when she empties the garbage, theres often lots of packages and shoe boxes from shops on Hollands 8th Street. The Frost Centers study, which also sent a survey to 186 local businesses and received 38 responses, found that 66% of local business owners perceive a positive impact from local STRs. The study surveyed a variety of businesses, including retail, services like cleaning and HVAC, and restaurants. Twenty-two percent are in Park Township, while 53% are in the city of Holland. The rest are in municipalities like Holland Township, Saugatuck and Zeeland. A total of 41% estimated that less than 10% of their average annual sales came from tourism. Most who reported less than 10% of sales coming from tourism were service businesses, while most of the 23% of businesses that reported more than half of their sales came from tourism were in the restaurant industry. Sixty-three percent of the business owners had concerns that a STR ban could have a negative impact on their business. THE IMPACT ON HOUSING STRs can have an impact on local housing prices, the study says. However, the extent to which this upward pressure results in significant housing price increase depends on local housing market conditions, the study notes. Inside WOODTV.com: Housing crisis in West Michigan Areas with a higher rates of owner-occupied homes will not see as big of an impact from STRs, the study says. Park Townships zip code, 49424, has a 74.59% owner-occupancy rate, the study found. The owner-occupancy rate at four other zip codes throughout the Holland area ranged between 72.67% and 100%. Thats higher than the U.S. overall rate, which is 65.20%. This means the impact of STRs on housing and rental prices may be lower than it would on other areas, the study says. The researchers estimated that banning STRs would have a -1.7% impact on rental prices and a -2.4% Allen estimated that STRs make up around 3% of homes in Park Township. Its just not an issue that is taking away affordable housing. Its not an issue where were bringing tens of thousands of people barreling into our town and changing the dynamic or fabric of it, he said. Lakeshore Habitat for Humanity to use $1.2M grant to build, fix homes WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? If Park Township Neighbors loses its lawsuit, around a third of the properties would be sold, the study found. In the survey, property owners could pick multiple options on what they would do if a ban was put in place, as some own more than one property. Around half said they would wait and see, while 40% would rent the property to long-term renters. A third would keep the property for personal use. Rosendahl said if a ban is put into place, her and her husband would be forced to sell their STR. Because the property is so expensive, she doesnt expect it would be bought by someone planning on using it as a primary residence. It would probably be somebody wealthy who would do a second home and just come here when they would feel like, she said. And then it would sit empty and thered be no revenue for the community, because theyd only be here a short period of time. Allen said since discussions of STRs started in Park Township, some have already been sold and turned into second homes. Theyre not turning into normal residential homes for a firefighter or a nurse or a family, because theyre not starter homes, he said. (Our STR) is walking distance to the state park. Its an expensive property. If we were forced to sell it, someone wealthy enough to buy this and then use it as their own vacation home, where they dont have to rent it out, thats what will happen to this home. Allen said Park Township Neighbors doesnt want to see a big increase in STRs in the area. We dont want unfettered growth of short term rentals in Park Township. We would love to see three out of every hundred or four out of every hundred and have a cap, he said. For now, the properties can remain STRs with the injunction put in place by a judge. A hearing on the case is set for late October, Allen said. We hope that we win and that we can continue to have the multiple uses of our property that we have, rather than be dictated by the local government that it has to be a long-term rental or we have to sell, he said. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com. Local counties to provide a free meal for students on Monday TRI-CITIES (WJHL)The Sullivan County Department of Education and Kingsport City Schools (KCS) posted on social media that they will provide a free meal for all its students on Monday. SULLIVAN COUNTY SCHOOLS LIST: Local places accepting donations, volunteers for flood victims in the Tri-Cities Sullivan County Schools students can pick up a free, sit-down meal on Monday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at East High School and West Ridge High School cafeterias. Sullivan County Schools will be closed on Monday due to road closures and power outage concerns. KINGSPORT CITY SCHOOLS Kingsport City students can pick up breakfast from 8-9 a.m. and lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in KCS cafeterias. Kingsport City Schools will be closed on Monday due to power outage concerns and technology issues throughout the district. WASHINGTON COUNTY SCHOOLS Washington County Schools will provide curbside meal pickup on these days from 12 to 2 p.m. at the following locations: Locations Boones Creek Elementary School Daniel Boone High School Jonesborough Elementary School David Crockett High School Dates and Times Monday, September 20 Thursday, October 3 Monday, October 7 Thursday, October 10 Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather. Sunrise Movement activists in Tampa on September 30, 2024. (Photo by Mitch Perry/ Florida Phoenix). A dozen climate change activists held a protest in front of Florida U.S. Sen. Rick Scotts district office in Tampa on Monday, highlighting his public stance on climate change as well as his ties to the fossil fuel industry. The demonstration came days after Hurricane Helene devastated parts of the Southeastern United States, including the west coast and Big Bend of Florida, and killed more than 100 people in six states, according to the Associated Press. Scott told CNN on Friday after visiting parts of Florida destroyed by the Category 4 storm that the climate is clearly changing, adding, Who knows what the reason is, but something is changing. No sir, it is climate change, said Nicole Victoria Gazo, 22, during the protest. That is whats changing. Gazo and her cohorts were with the Sunrise Movement, the youth-led climate organization that emerged during the first year of the Trump administration. Members came from around the state to the Tampa Bay area over the weekend to observe first-hand destruction that the storm brought due to the unprecedented storm surge in Pinellas County. As part of their demonstration, they took some of the debris they found over the weekend and placed it on Florida Avenue in front of the federal courthouse (which also houses a district office for Scott) to make their point. We cant survive this anymore We cant keep doing this. We cant survive this anymore, said Manuel Guerrero, 18, a freshman at the University of Central Florida who visited his aunt in Tarpon Springs in Pinellas County on Sunday. He said she didnt evacuate on Thursday because she didnt have a place to go to. She called us as soon as she could get a signal, shaking and crying, he recounted. She thought she was going to lose her life, and certainly that she was going to lose her roof. She didnt, he said, but other neighbors werent as lucky. Several of her neighbors have lost their roofs and have lost their lands, and honestly thats not the worst of it, he said. Yesterday I went to South Pasadena and I spoke with a woman who had to be rescued by a Coast Guard. She had flooding up to the middle of her chest. She was shaking telling us her story. More complicated The link between climate change and hurricanes is more complicated than most people realize, a paper from the MIT Technology Review stated last year. The report noted that climate change is causing sea levels to rise, making storm surges even more severe and coastal flooding more likely and damaging. In addition, as air gets warmer it can hold more water, meaning here will be more rain from storms as climate change pushes global temperatures higher. This could all add up more flooding during hurricanes. A lot of people dont know one of the main fuels the gasoline for stronger hurricanes is warmer waters, Gazo said. Why are hurricanes getting stronger? Why are they accelerating more quickly? Because the oceans are warming, she continued. You can deny science as much as you want, but even your pockets will attest that climate change is happening, and will continue to happen, if we do not divest from fossil fuels and switch to more renewable sources of energy that are longer lasting, more sustainable, she added, referring to solar and wind power. It was revealed during a Florida Public Service Commission meeting that Florida relies on natural gas for 75% of its energy portfolio, more than any state in the nation. The state receives about 7% of its net generation from solar energy in, according to the U.S Energy Information Administration. Florida has never used wind energy, and a bill passed by the state Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this year bans offshore wind development within a mile of the coastline (that was the same bill that stripped the term climate change from much of state law). Tenny-Ann Dandy, 23, graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania a year ago and now lives in Broward County. She said she all she could do was laugh when Scott said last week that something had changed when it came to the weather. Hes an intelligent man, she said. He knows whats going on. Im sure he knows what science is. Scott and fossil fuel The young climate activists also targeted Scott because of support hes gathered over the years from the fossil fuel industry. According to Open Secrets, Scott has received more than $486,000 from oil and gas since he first ran for the U.S. Senate in 2018. The New York Times reported that year that he and his wife, Ann, had invested in companies with ownership interests in Floridas three natural gas pipelines, permitted and regulated by the state. Although Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Scotts Democratic opponent, was not at all involved in the protest, the Scott campaign took aim at her when learning about the protest. Senator Scott has been consistently clear that taking care of the planet and pursuing economic prosperity are objectives that can and must be pursued simultaneously, said Scott campaign spokesperson Will Hampson. Protecting Floridas environmental treasures is one of the few areas where theres bipartisan agreement in our state, so its sad to see Debbie and the Democrats try to politicize this in the midst of a crisis in our state. Its one of the many reasons voters will reject her in November, he continued. The climate is changing, and thats why Senator Scott made important investments to take care of the environment and address rising sea levels and other impacts as Governor. Both parties need to work together to build a stronger economy and invest in priorities like protecting our environment and natural treasures. Future at stake The climate change activists say that its their generations future at stake. Its inevitable that the climates only going to get worse, and more homes are going to be lost, said Chris Arrieza, 17, a senior at Coral Gables High School in Miami-Dade County. He said he had a direct question to post to Scott had he been in his Tampa office. Whats it going to take? Is it going to take his grandchildren and future generations for him to realize that the title of senator has no weight and nature has no remorse? he said. As Sunrise Movement members gathered in front of the federal building, a security guard asked them why they were holding their protest in that location. They told him it was because the senator had an office in the building. The guard responded that he didnt believe that he had ever seen Scott visit the office. Former Democratic U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, the man Scott defeated in 2018, frequently did hold press conferences in that same office whenever he was in Tampa. As former Fort Worth Independent School District Superintendent Angelica Ramsey leaves her post, school board members have yet to say what theyre looking for in a replacement, how theyll conduct a search for one, or whos running the district in the meantime. Monday was Ramseys last day as superintendent after the board approved a resignation agreement last week. Under the agreement, Ramsey remains on the districts payroll until August, but district leaders havent explained what capacity shell be working in. The Star-Telegram reached out to all nine Fort Worth ISD school board members about their priorities for the upcoming search for a superintendent. Only one of the nine offered comment District 6 Trustee Anne Darr, who said it was too early in the process to discuss priorities. The process of finding a new superintendent for FWISD must include the community, and the process to solicit the communitys feedback has not begun, she said. It hasnt even had time to begin. But although the board doesnt yet have a defined set of priorities, Fort Worth leaders and education advocates say they want a new superintendent who has experience turning other troubled districts around. Fort Worth ISD is leaderless after Ramseys departure Ramseys departure leaves Fort Worth ISD without a top administrator in place. The school board is expected to appoint an interim superintendent, but the board isnt scheduled to meet until Oct. 8. In a statement, a Fort Worth ISD spokesperson said the district is finalizing next steps for the districts leadership transition. In the meantime, the districts leadership team will continue to manage day-to-day operations in accordance with established procedures, the statement said. Even if the search process isnt officially under way, parents and community leaders are making their priorities known. Trenace Dorsey-Hollins, director of the advocacy group Parent Shield Fort Worth, said she wants to see the board select a new superintendent who has a track record of making change and listening to parent voices. Parents and other community members need to be heavily involved in the search process, Dorsey-Hollins said something she didnt see enough of during the last search process. The board needs to take the issue of community trust seriously, she said, since many parents have found it hard to have faith in a board thats almost entirely made up of the same people who hired Ramsey two years ago Dorsey-Hollins said shed like to see school board members organize community listening sessions in neighborhoods around the city. Those meetings need to happen multiple times in each part of the city to make sure as many parents as possible get a chance to offer input, she said. Online surveys can also help for parents and others whose schedules dont allow them to attend the listening sessions, she said, but she wants to see the biggest emphasis placed on in-person conversations. Advocates, leaders want academic progress to take top priority Brent Beasley, CEO of the nonprofit Fort Worth Education Partnership, said he hopes to see the board find a candidate who has experience moving school systems forward academically, high expectations for students and teachers, and a belief that all students should be able to learn. The districts academic performance isnt the only issue its new leader will have to contend with enrollment declines and possible school closures are also a major area of concern but Beasley said he hopes the new superintendent will keep academic achievement at the center of every decision. Beasley said he wants to see the board involve the broader community in the search process. The selection of a new superintendent is an important step for the city at large, so city leaders need to be involved in the decision, he said. We have to get this right, he said. Ramseys resignation came almost exactly a month after Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker spoke at a Fort Worth ISD school board meeting, calling for the board and district leaders to do more to improve academic progress. Although she stopped short of calling for Ramsey to be replaced, Parker said leadership is missing in the district after more than a decade of stagnant student growth. On the day after the board approved Ramseys resignation agreement, Parker acknowledged that the move was a difficult one for the district. Once the search process begins in earnest, she said, shed like to see the board select a new superintendent who has a track record of turning low-performing districts around elsewhere. In the weeks since she spoke to the board, Parker has talked to several experienced teachers who have told her that bureaucratic requirements from the district keep them from giving students the help they need, or from showing less experienced educators how to do the job. She wants to see district administrators do better at getting teachers the support they need and letting them do their jobs. Although mayors in Texas have no formal role in their cities education systems, Parker said she hopes to continue to partner with Fort Worth ISD leaders to help students in the district grow academically. This is a long-term commitment to help Fort Worth ISD be one of the highest-performing urban districts not just in the state of Texas, but, really, in the country, Parker said. I believe our students deserve that. Five suppliers have been selected in the first phase of an initiative to tackle blue-green algae in Lough Neagh. They have each been awarded a share of 450,000 to develop proof of concepts to treat, reduce and suppress algal growth. Up to three will proceed into a second pilot solution phase next year. Any proposed solutions must not have a negative impact on the natural environment of Lough Neagh or its associated waterways. Blue-green algae is a big problem in Lough Neagh - last year saw the worst bloom since the mid-1970s. Blue-green algae, technically known as cyanobacteria, is a collection of microscopic organisms that are naturally present in lakes and streams. Under certain conditions, blue-green algae can become abundant in warm, shallow, undisturbed, nutrient-rich surface waters that receive a lot of sunlight. When this occurs, blue-green algae can form blooms that discolour the water, or produce floating mats or scums on the waters surface. Who are the five suppliers? The suppliers have each been awarded a share of 450,000 [Daera] Clear Water Systems Ltd a Belfast-based company carrying out research and experimental development on biotechnology Helix8 Ltd a management consultancy and software development firm in Larne Queens University Belfast academic institution with scientific research interests Varicon Aqua Solutions Ltd a Worcester-based company specialising in aquaculture Wholeschool Software Ltd (Biild) a Belfast education technology company More than 50 applications were received in the Lough Neagh: Blue-Green Algae Small Business Research Initiative competition (SBRI), run by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) and the Department for the Economy. Daera said the bidders cover several areas, including the use of ultrasonics, mechanical treatment and biological treatment. Environment Minister Andrew Muir welcomed the successful applicants but said the SBRI initiative was just one of 37 elements in the Lough Neagh Action Plan. Andrew Muir said water quality issues at Lough Neagh and elsewhere "were decades in the making" [PA Media] "There is a significant amount of work to do to restore the lough and enhance water quality throughout Northern Ireland," he said. "This will take both time and resources. "Water quality issues at Lough Neagh and elsewhere were decades in the making and will take decades to fix." Mr Muir said it was his vision to have a "healthy, resilient environment with high water quality status". "I am firmly committed to take the necessary action to make a difference to our waterways," he added. The announcement of the successful bidders was also welcomed by Economy Minister Conor Murphy. The next phase of the competition is expected to open in summer 2025. What is blue-green algae and is it harmful? [PA Media] Blue-green algae, technically known as cyanobacteria, is a collection of microscopic organisms that are naturally present in lakes and streams. Under certain conditions, blue-green algae can become abundant in warm, shallow, undisturbed, nutrient-rich surface waters that receive a lot of sunlight. When this occurs, blue-green algae can form blooms that discolour the water, or produce floating mats or scums on the waters surface. Exposure to high levels of any blue-green algae blooms - whether by contact with water blooms, swallowing that water or inhaling airborne droplets - can cause health effects in people and animals. You can learn more about blue-green algae by reading our explainer here. Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) Widespread devastation left behind by Hurricane Helene came to light Monday across the South, revealing a wasteland of splintered houses, crushed cargo containers and mud-covered highways in one of the worst storms in U.S. history. The death toll topped 130. A crisis was unfolding in western North Carolina, where residents stranded by washed-out roads and by a lack of power and cellular service lined up for fresh water and a chance to message loved ones days after the storm that they were alive. At least 133 deaths in six Southeastern states have been attributed to the storm that inflicted damage from Florida's Gulf Coast to the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia. The toll steadily rose as emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding. During a briefing Monday, White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall suggested as many as 600 people hadnt been accounted for as of Monday afternoon, saying some might be dead. President Joe Biden said he will travel to North Carolina on Wednesday to meet with officials and take an aerial tour of Asheville. He said earlier that the federal government would be with affected residents in the nations southeast as long as it takes. Government officials and aid groups worked to deliver supplies by air, truck and even mule to the hard-hit tourism hub of Asheville and its surrounding mountain towns. At least 40 people died in the county that includes Asheville. The destruction and desperation were overwhelming. A flattened cargo container sat atop a bridge crossing a river with muddy brown water. A mass of debris, including overturned pontoon boats and splintered wooden docks and tree trunks covered the surface of Lake Lure, a picturesque spot tucked between the mountains outside Asheville. A woman cradled her child while people around her gathered on a hillside where they found cellphone service, many sending a simple text: I'm OK. The North Carolina death toll included one horrific story after another of people who were trapped by floodwaters in their homes and vehicles or were killed by falling trees. A courthouse security officer died after being submerged inside his truck. A couple and a 6-year-old boy waiting to be rescued on a rooftop drowned when part of their home collapsed. Rescuers did manage to save dozens, including an infant and two others stuck on the top of a car in Atlanta. More than 50 hospital patients and staff in Tennessee were plucked by helicopter from the hospital rooftop in a daring rescue operation. How some of the worst-hit areas are coping Several main routes into Asheville were washed away or blocked by mudslides, including a 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) section of Interstate 40, and the citys water system was severely damaged, forcing residents to scoop creek water into buckets so they could flush toilets. People shared food and water and comforted one another in one neighborhood where a wall of water ripped away all of the trees, leaving a muddy mess nearby. Thats the blessing so far in this, Sommerville Johnston said outside her home, which has been without power since Friday. She planned on treating the neighborhood to venison stew from her powerless freezer before it goes bad. Just bring your bowl and spoon, she said. Others waited in a line for more than a block at Mountain Valley Water, a water seller, to fill up milk jugs and whatever other containers they could find. Derek Farmer, who brought three gallon-sized apple juice containers, said he had been prepared for the storm but now was nervous after three days without water. I just didnt know how bad it was going to be, Farmer said. Officials warned that rebuilding would be lengthy and difficult. Helene roared ashore in northern Florida late Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane and quickly moved through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast, where deaths were also reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said Monday that shelters were housing more than 1,000 people. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper took an aerial tour of the Asheville area and later met with workers distributing meals. This has been an unprecedented storm that has hit western North Carolina, he said afterward. Its requiring an unprecedented response. Officials implored travelers from coming into the region to keep the roads clear for emergency vehicles. More than 50 search teams spread throughout the region in search of stranded people. Waiting for help and searching for a signal in North Carolina Several dozen people gathered on high ground in Asheville, where they found one of the city's hottest commodities a cell signal. Is this day three or day four? Colleen Burnet asked. Its all been a blur. The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. Rainfall estimates in some areas topped more than 2 feet (61 centimeters) since Wednesday. Ten federal search and rescue teams were on the ground and another nine were on their way, while trucks and cargo planes were arriving with food and water, FEMA said. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell surveyed damage with Cooper Monday. Volunteers were showing up, too. Mike Toberer decided to bring a dozen of his mules to deliver food, water and diapers to hard-to-reach mountainous areas. Well take our chainsaws, and well push those mules through, he said, noting that each one can carry about 200 pounds (90 kilograms) of supplies. Why western North Carolina was hit so hard Western North Carolina suffered relatively more devastation because thats where the remnants of Helene encountered the higher elevations and cooler air of the Appalachian Mountains, causing even more rain to fall. Asheville and many surrounding mountain towns were built in valleys, leaving them especially vulnerable to devastating rain and flooding. Plus, the ground already was saturated before Helene arrived, said Christiaan Patterson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. By the time Helene came into the Carolinas, we already had that rain on top of more rain, Patterson said. Climate change has exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones, sometimes within hours. Destruction from Florida to Virginia Along Florida's Gulf Coast, several feet of water swamped the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, forcing workers to move two manatees and sea turtles. All of the animals were safe but much of the aquariums vital equipment was damaged or destroyed, said James Powell, the aquariums executive director. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said the storm literally spared no one. Most people in and around Augusta, a city of about 200,000 near the South Carolina border, were still without power Monday. With at least 30 killed in South Carolina, Helene was the deadliest tropical cyclone to hit the state since Hurricane Hugo made landfall north of Charleston in 1989, killing 35 people. Tropical Storm Kirk forms and could become a powerful hurricane Tropical Storm Kirk formed Monday in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and is expected to become a large and powerful hurricane by Tuesday night or Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm was located about 800 miles (1,285 kilometers) west of the Cabo Verde Islands with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph). There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect, and the storm system was not a threat to land. ___ Associated Press reporters Gary D. Robertson in Asheville; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; Beatrice Dupuy in New York City; Zeke Miller and Aamer Madhani in Washington; and Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed. Next week, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Garland v. VanDerStok, a case with life-and-death implications for gun violence in the United States. The justices will consider a rule issued by the Biden administration cracking down on ghost gunsfully functioning firearms that are disproportionately used to commit murder, domestic abuse, and terrorism. For years, ghost gun companies sold kits online to consumers that contained the parts necessary to build a handgun or AR-15style rifle. Customers could purchase the kit without a background check, then build the weapon in as little as 20 minutes with the help of a YouTube video. These guns had no serial number, making them nearly impossible for law enforcement to trace when used in crimes. The Supreme Court allowed new restrictions on the sale of ghost guns to take effect in August 2023, albeit by a 54 vote, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining the liberals. Now the court will decide whether to uphold the rule on the merits. On a new episode of Amicus, Mark Joseph Stern discussed the high-stakes case with Eric Tirschwell, executive director and chief litigation counsel of Everytown Law, the litigation arm of Everytown for Gun Safety. Below is an excerpt of their conversation, edited and condensed for clarity. Mark Joseph Stern: Just to get one thing straight: The rule were talking about here doesnt ban ghost guns outright, correct? It just says that if youre going to sell ghost guns, you have to follow all the rules that other gun dealers follow. Eric Tirschwell: Thats right. The rule requires that anyone whos selling kits that can be readily made into an operable firearm has to follow the most important regulations under the Gun Control Act, including putting serial numbers on every gun and doing background checks on every purchaser. Last year, a federal report revealed that the use of ghost guns in crimes has risen more than 1,000 percent in recent years. Can you talk about the sudden proliferation of these guns and their impact on violent crime? Back in 2017 and 2018, law enforcement was recovering 1,000 or maybe 2,000 of these ghost guns nationwide. We saw the number of recoveries start to jump around 2019, and by 2021, the number had risen to 19,000. By 2022, law enforcement was recovering something like 25,000 of these ghost guns at crime scenes across the nation. The industrys business model is fundamentally premised on circumventing gun laws, selling to people who otherwise could not purchase firearms. Were talking about violent felons, minors, and domestic abusers, who can go online and buy a pistol in a box, which is the term the industry used to describe these kits. Not surprisingly, these became the weapon of choice for people who couldnt get their hands on a firearm legally and wanted to put them to ill use. It seems like the sellers frequently boasted about the fact that they were skirting the law or exploiting a loophole. The briefs in this case feature websites that told consumers: Normally you might not be able to buy a gun, but from us, youre in the clear. Absolutely. A large number of sellers online were promoting the fact that theres no background check, no paper trail. One ghost gun seller actually put an image on the receiverthe core component of an AR-15that had an image of a hand with a middle finger up. It said: Heres your serial number. I think that says it all about what the industry thinks about whether it should be subject to regulation. Lower courts initially blocked the ghost gun rule, but the Supreme Court allowed it to take effect last year. Its been enforced for some time now. What has the impact been on the ground? The early data that has emerged just over the past six to nine months shows that the number of recoveries of ghost guns has started to come down, sometimes in significant ways. It clearly shows that this new rulealong with other pressure on the industry, including some lawsuits that my firm filed against some of the biggest players in the industryis working. These things have basically shut down this industry right now. The question in front of the Supreme Court is: Are they going to keep it shut down and keep use of ghost guns in crimes on a downward trajectory? Or are they going to open that box up? If they do reopen that box, it will have really tragic public-safety implications. I feel like most gun cases reach the Supreme Court with primarily theoretical implications. Nobody knows exactly what will happen if the court strikes down this or that law. But here, we have a real-world experiment where there is a rule that has taken effect and it had an immediate and meaningful impact on reducing violent crime. It is reducing crime in cities that had seen a surge of murders and other violent offenses committed with ghost guns. Now the stakes for the Supreme Court are, or should be, very clear and concrete. We have very clear evidence that if the court strikes down this rule, it will essentially revive some of the companies that have been basically put out of business. It will allow these companies to keep flooding the streets with ghost gun kits and will all but ensure that people will needlessly die being shot by weapons that should have remained illegal if SCOTUS had done its job right. Thats absolutely right. We are talking about tens of thousands of these guns per year recovered at crime scenes at their peak. They have a heavy impact on teenagers in particular because a teenager can go online from the comfort of their bedroom and, with just a credit card or even a gift card, they can get a gun-building kit delivered to their doorstep. They can put it together without much skill at all, and suddenly they have a functioning pistol that they could not walk into a gun store and purchase because theyre too young. Predictably, before the rule, we saw teenagers doing terrible things with these weapons. We represented two families who each lost a son to a ghost gun shooting; another teenager showed up to what was supposed to be a fistfight to settle a beef, but he showed up with a ghost gun that he ordered online and murdered two teens. Weve also seen law enforcement being targeted by criminals with ghost guns. We had a case in California where two Los Angeles deputy sheriffs were ambushed while sitting in their patrol car by someone with a long criminal record. Yet he was able to get a ghost gun and inflict grievous injuries on these officers. This is really a law-and-order issue. You know, when the Biden administration announced the new rule in 2022, the NRA claimed it would do nothing to address violent crime. That was a preposterous assertionit was absolutely wrong. All the evidence shows that this rule has helped reduce violent crime and will continue to do so if the Supreme Court lets it. A surgeon who sexually harassed a junior staff member while at work has been suspended following a tribunal. Rajesh Shah was found to have twice touched the female colleague inappropriately in a coffee room and outside an operating theatre while a consultant at Wythenshawe Hospital. The "unwanted and inappropriate" touching was judged to be "serious misconduct" by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service. It found Mr Shah's actions were a "serious breach" of professional standards and suspended him for 12 months. Mr Shah was dismissed from his role as a consultant in 2022 [DaveDixon/Geograph] His suspension followed a number of allegations of inappropriate behaviour by two female colleagues between 2005 and 2021 while he worked as a consultant at the hospital, the tribunal was told. The lung surgeon had been dismissed in 2022 by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust after an investigation. Mr Shah was also interviewed by police after the allegations were reported to Greater Manchester Police. 'Apology letter' The tribunal heard Mr Shah steered the woman, referred to as Colleague B, to a coffee room before hugging her and squeezing her buttocks in 2014. The woman described in evidence as feeling "upset and shocked" by his actions. In 2019, Mr Shah was found to have inappropriately touched her outside an operating theatre. She formally complained and later received an apology letter from Mr Shah. "I got the impression that he knew what he did was wrong, the conversation was very quick," she said in evidence heard at the tribunal. Mr Shah was also reported to have used the words "good girl" and "bird" to describe another female colleague and asked staff members to complete his mandatory training for him. Though not judged to be serious misconduct, the panel said the language used was "unprofessional", adding the training incident set a "poor example". He was suspended for sexual misconduct which "fell far short of the standards of conduct reasonably expected of a doctor," the tribunal ruled. It acknowledged that Mr Shah had apologised for his actions, adding the suspension and findings would have a "grave impact impact on his professional reputation". Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.ukand via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230. Related links ASHEVILLE, N.C. The rushing water rose five feet higher in the Swannanoa River than anyone had ever seen. The ground disappeared on South Tunnel Road, leaving a giant sinkhole full of asphalt soup. Houses floated away from subdivisions. Bridges crumbled. The flood waters flipped semi-trucks into mangled piles. Mud and tree branches and food from local grocery stores flowed into the streets. Survivors traipsed through muck to find drinking water, power, wifi and cell service. Gov. Roy Cooper called Tropical Storm Helene a "catastrophic" and "historic" event with "life-threatening floods and landslides." The storm stretched from Florida across the southern United States, pounding the South with heavy rainfall and flash floods. But it was in Asheville and across western North Carolina where the storm brought some of the greatest damage. "Even as the rain and winds have subsided, the challenge for people there increases," Cooper said. "People are desperate for help, and we are pushing to get it to them." What the news means for you: Sign up for USA TODAY's Daily Briefing newsletter. Helene updates: 'People desperate for help' in NC More than 30 dead in western North Carolina There were only estimates Sunday evening about the extent of the destruction. Reports came that 30 people had died in Buncombe County, and another five had died in Henderson County. But those early numbers are likely to rise as the full scope of the tragedy becomes clearer. "Without more phone and internet access, we cannot share those names without being absolutely certain that we have given their loved ones this information," Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller said. "Our hearts are broken with this news and we ask that folks give our community the space and time to grieve this incredible loss." Recovery efforts still underway As of Sunday morning, more than 6,000 calls had been made to first responders pleading with them to find people who have not been accounted for. The majority of those calls came from Buncombe County (3,900) where flash flood warnings remained in effect until Sunday afternoon. President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in the state of North Carolina. The presidents action makes federal funding available to affected individuals in 25 counties and on the Qualla Boundary, home to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Asheville residents line up outside the emergency room at Mission Health Saturday afternoon in downtown Asheville. People waited outside the emergency room at HCA Healthcares Mission Hospital in Asheville, checking the conditions of relatives who were admitted. Shawn Hensley, 47, of Black Mountain, told the Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network, his 65-year-old mother arrived at the hospital the night before because she was running low on oxygen. Hensley and neighbors had to chainsaw a tree blocking his car so he could get out of his neighborhood. It looks like Mother Nature just stomped all over that little town, Hensley said. Its just destruction everywhere you look. Getting help to those in need Getting help to the people who need it has proved to be difficult as at least 200 roads were closed in North Carolina as of Sunday morning, including Interstate 40 and Interstate 26 at the Tennessee-North Carolina border, according to the state's road closures map. The I-40 closure near the state line is termed long-term. I-40 also is closed at Old Fort Mountain. The North Carolina Department of Transportation estimates it will reopen there by noon Tuesday, Oct. 1. Asheville City and Buncombe County schools will be closed for at least Monday and Tuesday. Henderson County's schools are closed until further notice. Progress has been made to restore some power to the region. Cooper said nearly 464,000 residents were without power (with a previous high of more than a million) during a news conference Sunday. Scenes near Swannanoa River Road in East Asheville. The Biltmore Estate, built between 1889 and 1895, is closed for now, partially because some of the roads leading to the popular tourist attraction are too treacherous. "Due to significant flooding, impassable roads and widespread power outages in our region from Tropical Storm Helene, Biltmore is temporarily closed," read a statement Saturday on the social media account for the historic house and museum. The nearby Biltmore Village was so filled with water, the tops of trees and the upper windows of houses and roofs were visible. A portion of the village was turned mud brown. Western North Carolina residents who sheltered from the storm watched in horror as the flood waters ripped billboards from their roots, tore apart businesses and cut a swath as wide as a "giant moat" through a housing subdivision, said Syd Yatteau, who lives near the Swannanoa River. Even as the flood waters rose, creeping up the side of a hill and onto their driveway, she said they did not receive an evacuation order. The breadth of damage was unexpected. "It was really surreal," she said of the rapid rise of the Swannanoa River. "Like, at the beginning it was all fun and games. Just watching the water be where it was." "And then it just kept going up," she said. This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville floods leave at least 30 dead in western NC PETALUMA, Calif. (AP) In a stretch of Northern California known for scenic shorelines and celebrated vineyards, hundreds of brown-bodied hens waddle around a large barn at Weber Family Farms. You provide them a stress-free environment with water, with food, with fresh air at all times, make them free of illness and theyre going to reward you whether theyre going to give you milk, eggs or meat, owner Mike Weber said, proudly showing off his business that has hundreds of thousands of chickens. But some animal rights advocates say such large farms like Weber's are a problem. Kristina Garfinkel said she doesnt believe in confining tens of thousands of chickens in facilities that provide no access to the outdoors, and she argues that these massive operations are actually crowding out small egg and dairy farms and making it hard for them to stay in business. Garfinkel, lead organizer of the Coalition to End Factory Farming, has been campaigning for a ballot measure aimed at putting an end to large-scale confined animal agriculture in Sonoma County. Proponents say the move is about the humane treatment of animals. But critics contend it is a misguided effort that could harm local egg farming and dairies. Residents in Sonoma County, which is home to half a million people north of San Francisco, will vote this fall on the measure. The proposal would require the county to phase out what federal authorities call concentrated animal feeding operations, or farms where large numbers of animals are kept in a confined setting. The measure is supported by animal rights activists. But it has also stoked a tremendous backlash, with residents posting massive numbers of signs along roadways, in front yards and on farmland opposing Measure J. Weber said California already has strict rules about how animals must be treated, with farmers required to keep records, have annual inspections and provide space for livestock. He believes the measure would put his family's more than century-old farm one of a series of county farms that were walloped last year by avian influenza out of business. His commercial egg farm produces organic and conventional eggs as well as organic fertilizers. To come out with a blanket statement that all animal agriculture is bad, therefore its our mission to get rid of it, is absolutely unreasonable, and its not American at all," he said. Garfinkel said 21 large-scale farms would be affected by the measure and would be given time to downsize their operations. It just impacts the largest, most destructive farms, she said of the measure. Story continues In 2018, Californians overwhelmingly voted for a statewide ballot measure requiring that all eggs in the state come from cage-free hens. The nation's most populous state had already previously voted for another measure to enhance the standards for raising such animals. Kathy Cullen, who runs a farm animal sanctuary, said she opposes confining animals for any reason. But Cullen said proponents aren't trying to shut down all farms, but rather asking them to change, and that the measure has helped create more awareness about farm animal welfare. Farmers feel the measure has created awareness, too, about the challenges they face, said Dayna Ghirardelli, executive director of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau. Many local communities oppose the measure in a county that has a long agricultural history and had more than 3,000 farms in 2022, according to national agricultural statistics. The county is especially known for wine-grape growing, but it also has dairies and poultry farms, as well as farms that grow vegetables and apples. If we can find a silver lining, to a certain degree, it's bringing the community together, Ghirardelli said. KANSAS CITY, Mo. A man who investigators say shot another man multiple times and held two people at gunpoint for hours at a time on Saturday was caught after a chase involving four different agencies. Lees Summit man Kody M. Holmes, 33, was charged in Jackson County with first-degree assault, two counts of kidnapping and three counts of armed criminal action in an alleged crime spree that began in Lees Summit and ended near the Jackson/Johnson County line. According to Lees Summit police, officers were sent to an apartment complex at NE Town Centre Boulevard, just southeast of the Lees Summit Municipal Airport, for reports of a shooting around 5:30 p.m. Saturday. 1 dead, 2 in the hospital after crash east of 291 Highway They located a victim inside an apartment who was suffering from several gunshot wounds. The victim, a 43-year-old man, was taken to a hospital where he remains in the ICU with critical injuries, including a shattered vertebrae that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Officers worked with the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department to identify a 33-year-old woman who was also a victim and had been kidnapped from the shooting scene along with a child. The victim told officers Holmes arrived to their apartment between 4 and 5 in the morning Saturday with a child. Court documents say Holmes argued, fought with, then shot the 43-year-old man in the leg, who retreated into a bedroom bathroom. According to court papers, the victim said Holmes followed the man and shot at him through a closed bathroom door. She then said Holmes told her and another child to go into a bedroom and wouldnt allow them to help the man who was shot. She said they were held at gunpoint for hours, at times with the gun held directly to their heads, and he fired shots past each of their heads. Community reacts to UMKC student death. It was heartbreaking Court documents say the victim said Holmes shot the man again multiple times before forcing her and both children into a car and driving away from the apartment just before 11 a.m. The victim said they were driven around for hours without any real destination, at times highway signs showed they were headed toward the Warrensburg area, before he let her and one of the children go just before 5 p.m. in Kansas City, Missouri. The victim called police, who then responded to the apartment, where they found the man who was shot in the bathroom with wounds to his leg and neck. An alert for Holmes and his vehicle was issued, and around 10:30p.m., Missouri State Highway Patrol spotted his car and tried to stop him. Investigators say Holmes didnt stop and troopers pursued him with the assistance of the Johnson County, Missouri, Sheriffs Office, Warrensburg Police Department and Cass County Sheriffs Office. After police say he hit stop sticks near Warrensburg, hit patrol vehicles, and turned around to drive back toward Jackson County, a Cass County sheriffs deputy used a Grappler device that brought Holmes to a stop as he was driving on rims. 18-year-old dies, three teens injured in Johnson County, Missouri crash The other child got out of his car unharmed, and Holmes was arrested. He declined to do an interview with detectives twice, and asked for a lawyer after the second request. FOX4 went to the apartment complex and spoke with neighbors about what happened. We are all the way in Lees Summit. We come out here to feel safe. We cant even come out here and feel safe anymore, a 10-year-resident of the complex shared with FOX4. Remnants of a crime scene still linger from the investigation. It was like 10 police cars outside. It was a lot going on, she said. Now we gotta keep our kids in the house. We cant even sit outside and chill anymore because we never know whats going to happen. My kids could have been outside while he was shooting, she added. We cant even trust our kids to be outside to run around play like kids because we gotta think who is in someones house? Who is arguing? Who has a gun? Holmes is currently in the Jackson County Jail and his bond is set at $500,000. He made his first court appearance on Monday afternoon and was referred to the public defenders office for screening. Hes due back court for a bond review on October 9, and will have a preliminary hearing on October 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 FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. A suspect in a Lees Summit kidnapping and shooting was arrested late Saturday after a multi-county chase in Missouri, the Johnson County, Missouri, Sheriffs Office announced on Facebook. Lees Summit police responded to the shooting at about 5:20 p.m. Saturday at the Crossroads of Lees Summit apartments in the 2200 block of Northeast Town Center Boulevard, Sgt. Chris Depue, a spokesman for the Lees Summit Police, said in a news release. Arriving officers found a back door unlocked and entered the home. Inside, they found a 43-year-old man who had been shot several times. The victim was taken to a hospital, where he remains in critical condition in the intensive care unit Monday morning, Depue said. The shooting has left the victim paralyzed from the neck down, according to court documents. Working with Kansas City police, officers identified a 33-year-old woman who had been kidnapped from the shooting scene along with a child, under the age of 18. According to court documents, the events unfolded over more than 19 hours Saturday, culminating with the suspects arrest. Dont be a hero Police first learned of the shooting and kidnappings after the woman and child were dropped off on Holiday Drive in Kansas City and contacted Kansas City police. She told them that a homicide had occurred in her apartment, and she had been kidnapped afterward. Lees Summit detectives soon met with the victim, who told them she was at home with the shooting victim and a child when she said 33-year-old Kody Michael Holmes arrived with another person, identified as victim 4 in court documents. The age of victim 4 was not stated in the court documents. The shooting victim and Holmes began to argue after 4 a.m., which led to a physical fight, she said. The woman told police the shooting victim told her Holmes had pulled out a gun. At one point, Holmes allegedly fired two shots, striking the victim in the leg. The woman helped the victim retreat into a bedroom. Holmes allegedly followed and fired another shot. The shooting victim fled into the bedrooms bathroom, and Holmes allegedly fired a shot through the bathrooms door, according to court documents. Holmes allegedly turned to the woman and said, Dont be a hero, or he would kill the child. The woman left the bedroom and heard another shot and screams of the shooting victim. She also heard Holmes allegedly tell the victim he was going to die slowly. Holmes then ordered the woman, the child and victim 4 into the bedroom. Although the shooting victim yelled for help from the bathroom, Holmes allegedly wouldnt allow the woman to speak to or help him. Over the next few hours, Holmes held the woman and child at gunpoint. At times, he allegedly held a gun to their heads. He also fired a shot past the womans head before doing the same to the child. After becoming paranoid that police might be outside, Holmes allegedly fired two more shots through the closed bathroom door. When the woman went to help the victim, Holmes allegedly pushed her away, cracked the door open and fired another round. Holmes allegedly told the woman: Hes gone, that was a face shot. He then ordered the woman, the child and victim 4 into his black Dodge Challenger, and they drove away. The woman noticed his clock said it was 10:40 a.m. Holmes allegedly drove around, stopping at a Phillips 66 at an unknown location when the child and victim 4 became thirsty. As Holmes drove around, the woman asked him to drop her and the child off. After several hours, Holmes stopped and allowed he woman and the child to leave. The woman contacted the shooting victims family and then the police at about 4:50 p.m. Chase after suspect spotted on U.S. 50 Around 11 p.m., a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper spotted the suspects vehicle headed east on U.S. 50 highway from Jackson County into Johnson County, the sheriffs office said. The suspect was allegedly armed and had a child under the age of 18 with him. With the help of sheriffs deputies, the trooper attempted to pull over the vehicle, but the driver failed to stop. Deputies used a device to try to deflate the vehicles tires. As the chase entered Warrensburg, police also used additional devices to deflate the tires, the sheriffs office said. The car didnt stop, and the suspect headed back west on U.S. 50 highway on deflated tires. During the pursuit, the suspect rammed a deputys patrol vehicle, the sheriffs office said. Cass County Sheriff deputies responded to the pursuit and used a grappling device to help stop the fleeing vehicle, which was then being driven on the tires rims. The suspect lost control of the vehicle and stopped in the 1800 block of Northwest U.S. 50 highway, about seven miles east of Lone Jack. The sheriffs office said the suspect, a 33-year-old man, surrendered to law enforcement and was arrested. They also found the child passenger, who was unharmed. The Jackson County Prosecutors Office charged Kody Michael Holmes of Lees Summit Sunday evening with one count of first-degree assault, two counts of first-degree kidnapping and three counts of armed criminal action, all felonies. A woman is dead after she was struck by an SUV near Spanaway early Monday morning. A 74-year-old man was driving his 2003 Chevrolet Trailblazer north on state Route 7 near 208th Street East when he struck a pedestrian who was in the roadway at around 4:19 a.m. The Eatonville man reported the incident to 911, according to a Washington State Patrol news release. The woman died at the scene, the release said. Traffic on northbound state Route 7 was blocked for the investigation. It cleared as of 7:44 a.m., the Washington State Department of Transportation reported on X. The Eatonville man was uninjured and is not facing charges, the release said. The Matterhorn mountain sits on the border between Italy and Switzerland, near the area that will be changed [Getty Images] Switzerland and Italy have redrawn part of their border in the Alps due to melting glaciers, caused by climate change. Part of the area affected will be beneath the Matterhorn, one of Europe's tallest mountains, and close to a number of popular ski resorts. Large sections of the Swiss-Italian border are determined by glacier ridgelines or areas of perpetual snow, but melting glaciers have caused these natural boundaries to shift, leading to both countries seeking to rectify the border. Switzerland officially approved the agreement on the change on Friday, but Italy is yet to do the same. This follows a draft agreement by a joint Swiss-Italian commission back in May 2023. Statistics published last September showed that Switzerland's glaciers lost 4% of their volume in 2023, the second biggest loss ever after 2022's record melt of 6%. An annual report is issued each year by the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (Glamos), which attributed the record losses to consecutive very warm summers, and 2022 winter's very low snowfall. Researchers say that if these weather patterns continue, the thaw will only accelerate. On Friday, Switzerland said that the redefined borders had been drawn up in accordance with the economic interests of both parties. It is thought that clarifying the borders will help both countries determine which is responsible for the upkeep of specific natural areas. Swiss-Italian boundaries will be changed in the region of Plateau Rosa, the Carrel refuge and Gobba di Rollin - all are near the Matterhorn and popular ski resorts including Zermatt. The exact border changes will be implemented and the agreement published once both countries have signed it. Switzerland says that the approval process for signing the agreement is under way in Italy. Part of the glacier beneath the Matterhorn [Getty Images] Last year, Glamos warned that some Swiss glaciers are shrinking so fast that it is unlikely they can be saved, even if global temperatures are kept within the Paris climate agreement's 1.5C target rise. Experts say that without a reduction in greenhouse gases linked to global warning, bigger glaciers like the Aletsch - which is not on the border - could disappear within a generation. A number of discoveries have been made on Swiss glaciers in recent years due to their melting and rapid shrinking. Last July, human remains found close to Matterhorn were confirmed to be those of a German climber missing since 1986. Climbers crossing the Theodul glacier above Zermatt noticed a hiking boot and crampons emerging from the ice. In 2022, the wreckage of a plane that crashed in 1968 emerged from the Aletsch glacier. And the body of missing British climber Jonathan Conville was discovered in 2014 by a helicopter pilot who spotted something unusual while delivering supplies to a mountain refuge on the Matterhorn. Signs reading "School is not a boxing ring" and "Children free from violence" are pictured during a demonstration under the motto "Children need safety - school without racism" in front of the Cottbus education authority. Physical and psychological bullying at German schools have risen in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a representative survey by the country's statutory accident insurance association (DGUV). Frank Hammerschmidt/dpa A court in Afghanistans northern province of Faryab publicly administered lashes to a woman for having an illegitimate relationship and running away from home, the Talibans Supreme Court announced on Monday. In a statement, the court said the woman received a punishment of 30 lashes and was sentenced to six months in prison. In Afghanistan, any kind of sexual relationship outside marriage is illegal. Girls running away from home in most cases face severe punishment by the family. In a separate case over the weekend, two individuals in the southern Kandahar province were publicly whipped for committing sodomy, the court said. Both received 30 lashes and one-year prison sentences. The Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan has seen the reintroduction of corporal punishment, including executions and public flogging, for crimes such as murder, robbery and adultery. The United Nations has criticized the Taliban's use of corporal punishment, saying it violates the UN Convention against Torture and has called for an end to the practice. The Taliban authorities have rejected the criticism, saying this form of punishment is in line with the country's law and necessary to ensure security and safety for the public. How the Talibans new vice and virtue law erases women by justifying violence against them Since returning to power three years ago, the Taliban have been enforcing oppressive laws that violate peoples freedoms and human rights, especially those of women and girls. But a newly passed vice and virtue law goes further. It is among the most repressive and discriminatory measures ever enacted by the Islamist fundamentalist group. As a human rights activist from Afghanistan, and as a scholar working on Afghanistan since 2002, we have been documenting the Talibans attacks against women for decades. The new law seeks to completely silence women in public. They are prohibited from speaking, singing or praying aloud. The law also attempts to literally erase them from view, ordering women to cover every part of their body and face in public. The edict suppresses most of womens political, civil and human rights guaranteed under international law. And if women resist, it orders the use of violence to repress them. A return to power Generations of women who grew up in Afghanistan over the past 20 years, and who are now living in Afghanistan and abroad, have responded to the vice and virtue law with disbelief and horror. After 2001, when the Taliban were removed from power, millions of Afghan women and girls went to school. They became professionals lawyers, artists, athletes, engineers and human rights leaders. They voted in large numbers and served in all areas of government. But the Taliban returned to power in August 2021 after waging a violent war against the United States and Afghanistans NATO-backed government. And they have aggressively rolled back two decades of advancements in womens rights. Since then, the Taliban have issued over 100 decrees and directives that violate womens and girls rights under international law and Afghan national law. They include more than 20 increasingly restrictive directives. Among other things, they ban women and girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade, denying 1.5 million girls and young women access to education. Afghanistan is now the only country in the world to ban girls from both secondary school and university. The mandates have also barred women and girls from employment in the United Nations and other nongovernmental organizations. This has made it exceptionally difficult for humanitarian aid agencies to reach Afghan women and children in dire need of assistance, particularly in public health. The fundamentalist group, additionally, prohibits women and girls from traveling, going to parks or being in public without a male relative accompanying them. And it bars women and girls from gathering to protest this treatment. Punishments include torture and rape To enforce these violations, the Taliban dissolved the Ministry of Womens Affairs just weeks after assuming power and replaced it with the Ministry of Virtue and Vice, whose morality police violently enforce the measures. Punishments for those who protest the laws include beatings, detention, torture, rape and death. Women protesters have reported being beaten and tortured with electric shocks. The Taliban have reportedly raped girls and women in jail, including filming the gang rape of an Afghan woman activist jailed for protesting. Women, simultaneously, have no means of seeking justice. The Taliban have abolished the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. The commission investigated and reported about alleged extrajudicial killings, rape, torture, illegal detention and inhuman treatment and violence against women, among other rights violations. The Taliban, additionally, have eliminated other mechanisms for protecting women, including by shuttering all womens shelters and domestic violence centers. Women wait to receive food aid from a nongovernmental organization in Kabul on Jan. 17, 2023. Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images Duty-bound to hide her voice The new vice and virtue law further breaches womens rights. Article 13, for example, dictates that if a woman leaves her home, she is duty-bound to hide her voice, face and body. It orders womens voices to be completely silenced. They are not to speak, sing, laugh, cry, pray or recite the Quran in public. The measure instructs enforcers to prevent the sound of a womans voice or any music emanating from any gathering or from the home. The measure also defines the hijab, a head covering worn in public by some Muslim women, in the most restrictive terms possible. No longer just a head covering, the hijab is extended to a full body covering and veiling of the face. Women are also prohibited from making eye contact with men. This runs against Afghan tradition. Traditional Afghan attire for women is brilliantly colored, elaborately decorated, with long sleeves, full skirts and pants underneath. Wider restrictions The vice and virtue measure also takes aim at the general population. It censors peoples access to media and dictates punishments for broadcasting music, videos, photographs or films of humans or animals. Article 22 forbids Afghan women and men from befriending non-Muslims or assisting them in any way. The law gives overwhelming power to religious inspectors, called enforcers. Enforcers can act based on observation and hearsay, or the testimony of two people. And there is a list of punishments that enforcers can apply. They include intimidation, verbal punishment and the confiscation and destruction of property. Repeated violations by individuals or groups can lead to prosecution before a court. Based on the Talibans erroneous interpretation of Sharia criminal law, the vice and virtue law allows for long-term imprisonment, stoning, flogging, execution and being thrown from a mountain. Shortly after the measure was enacted, for example, enforcers severely assaulted two women for going to the city market. The vice and virtue mandate has dashed many Afghans hope of real change in the Talibans repressive policies. And it has cast serious doubt on how successful the international community has been in its efforts to improve the status of Afghan women. In recent high-level talks with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, U.N. and U.S. officials caved on the Talibans demands for the complete exclusion of Afghan women from the talks. Just weeks later, the Taliban, seemingly emboldened, announced their new virtue and vice law. These human rights violations run counter to religion and culture in Afghanistan, where women have a long history of fighting for their rights. Today, there is perhaps no other country in the world that uniformly violates the human rights of women and girls to the level of the Taliban. But its not only the problem for the women and girls in Afghanistan. The protection of human rights and human dignity is a responsibility that falls to each one of us. 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: Dyan Mazurana, Tufts University and Sima Samar, Tufts University Read more: Dyan Mazurana receives funding from a number of governments, United Nations agencies, international organizations and private foundations to support her research. Sima Samar is affiliated with Afghanistan Human Rights Center, which received funding from Counterpart for establishing the office. Tallahassee hemp store owner says fatal shooting was 'out of self defense' during robbery The Tallahassee Police Department investigates a homicide at a hemp store in the wake of Hurricane Helene, Sept. 27, 2024. An owner of the Florida Hemp Distribution store, which became the scene of a homicide investigation Friday, says the fatal shooting was "out of self defense" during an attempted robbery. In the hours after Hurricane Helene passed through, the Tallahassee Police Department responded to a shooting at the hemp store located at 220 West Tennessee Street just before 6 p.m. Co-owner Alex Petrick said two men entered the store and approached the only employee working at the time, forcing the employee to pull out his firearm. The employee ordered the men to leave. "Leave, leave. Don't make me do this," the employee told the would-be robbers, according to Petrick. Petrick said the suspect continued to advance toward him until the employee's back was against the wall and he fired. Petrick said no other customers or employees were present, and the other man who entered with the suspect fled as soon as he saw the gun. TPD questioned the employee but released him after several hours, according to Petrick. No charges were brought, he said. TPD couldn't confirm the details Petrick provided to the Tallahassee Democrat, but TPD spokesperson Heather Merritt said interviews are still being conducted with all involved parties and it's still an open and active investigation. Breaking & trending news reporter Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee hemp store homicide: Owner says shooting was self-defense TAMPA From a distance, it looked for a moment like another community yard sale was unfolding Monday morning in the tight-knit neighborhood of Culbreath Bayou. Couches and tables were stacked curbside, alongside paintings and toys. Draw closer and the abstract gave way to reality: Hurricane Helenes surge swallowed this pocket of South Tampa, ushering in what longtime residents described as never-before-seen flooding. Now, they were filling their driveways with waterlogged heirlooms and carting away storm-ruined furniture. Culbreath Bayou sits squarely in evacuation Zone A, near Sunset Park, Beach Park and other enclaves becoming increasingly vulnerable to flooding. Still, residents of the neighborhood, sandwiched between West Shore Boulevard and Manhattan Avenue, say Helene dealt an unexpected blow. Judy Whitson has lived in her home for 26 years and never flooded. Now, the contaminated contents of her garage and first floor were stacked in her yard, including the little bicycles her grandchildren rode down the street. Her front door was inoperable, warped by water. The power was out. The pool was filled with lime-green sludge. Crews were on their way to rip out her floors and drywall. I just didnt think damage like this was possible here, said Whitson, 60. In her cul-de-sac, three out of four homes flooded. Down the street, Bonnie and Josh Saterbo paused from their cleanup mission. They moved into the neighborhood about five years ago and renovated their dream home during the pandemic. Work finished in January. Now we have to start all over again, said Bonnie Saterbo, 36. Helene churned for hours off Tampa Bay, destroying thousands of homes, businesses and boats along Floridas Gulf Coast. At least 11 people in the area died. More than 1,000 had to be rescued. Here, in this community without a single sidewalk, known for its Easter egg hunts and Halloween decorations, residents knew they were fortunate. The households could generally afford renovations and furniture replacements. Still, the mucky aftermath had stirred so many questions: Renovate? Raise the house higher above ground? Move? We are so lucky. But you have to wonder: Is this the 100-year-flood? Or is this the new normal? Bonnie Saterbo said. Few answers were immediately apparent but at least, they said, neighbors were locking arms and moving forward together. Those with power were washing clothes for those without. One house hosted coffee and donuts. Local businesses were handing out kids clothes and food bags. Thats why we dont want to leave, said Josh, 36. This is our community. On Monday, the smell of mildew drifted through tree-lined streets. Trucks and utilities vehicles grumbled by, dodging oak tree limbs and palm fronds outside waiting for pick up. Piles of muddied mattresses and cabinetry, books and treadmills, too. Paula Hall, 69, stood outside her home of more than two decades and sighed. While some Culbreath Bayou residents heeded evacuation orders, she did not. This was the first time I didnt feel the need to leave, she said, adding that she checked the forecasts and didnt think the winds looked too bad. Plus, her home had never flooded. From her second story window, she watched her street fill with water late Thursday night. It happened so fast, she said. It only took about 15 minutes. Soon it was coming up her driveway. Then, into her home. Just think, it wasnt even a direct hit, she said, shouting over the loud clinking of crews ripping up her ruined cypress wood floors, original from the 1960s. She lost brand new appliances and heirloom rugs. Her daughter, four blocks away, lost everything, too. Across the street, Allen Banks was discarding a soggy box of family photos. Ive never been through anything like this, he said. With that, he disappeared into his home to gather more storm-swamped belongings to set by the curb. Tampa Bay Times hurricane coverage 2024 5 things to know about the 2024 hurricane season, according to forecasters. Forecasters predict extremely active 2024 hurricane season. Heres why. Could Tampa Bay flood insurance rise after a hurricane? A warning from Hurricane Ian Want to know what areas are flooding in Tampa Bay? Heres where to look. Checklists for building all kinds of storm kits. With many 2017 tax cuts expiring and cost of living a major challenge for Americans, tax policy has become a central issue in the 2024 presidential campaign. Photo by Phillip Rubino/Getty Images. This is one in a series of States Newsroom reports on the major policy issues in the presidential race. WASHINGTON With the clock ticking on former President Donald Trumps signature 2017 tax law, and high housing, food and child care costs darkening Americans mood, tax cuts have become the star of the 2024 presidential contest between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump wants to overall extend his tax provisions beyond the 2025 expiration date and then some, promising to lower the corporate tax rate even further and lift the cap on the state and local taxes deduction. He argues the loss in federal revenue will be made up by imposing steep tariffs on imported goods. Tariff is a beautiful word, he told a crowd in Savannah, Georgia, Tuesday night, one of the most beautiful words Ive ever heard. We will take in hundreds of billions of dollars into our treasury and use that money to benefit the American citizens, he said. Harris is running on an opportunity economy platform that keeps the Biden administrations promises to not raise taxes on those making less than $400,000 and enact a billionaire tax. The vice president has also vowed to give tax deductions and credits to budding entrepreneurs and first-time homebuyers, and permanently expand the Child Tax Credit. Under my plan, more than 100 million Americans will get a middle-class tax break that includes $6,000 for new parents during the first year of their childs life, Harris said Wednesday at a campaign speech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Whoever wins the Oval Office will need a cooperative Congress to enact these policies with the exception of tariffs, over which the president enjoys wide latitude. What would it cost? The barrage of proposals has kept economists busy with near-constant and evolving analyses of how much the tax cut promises would add to the nations ballooning federal deficit and change the economy. Both candidates plans come with a price tag in the trillions of dollars, though Trumps is the more expensive of the two. Models released in late August by the Penn Wharton Budget Model project Trumps plan would add up to $5.8 trillion to the deficit over 10 years, while Harris plan would increase the deficit by up to $2 trillion over the same time period. I think that both candidates are missing the mark when it comes to fiscal responsibility and economic responsibility, the Tax Foundations Erica York told States Newsroom in an interview Monday. Neither of them have really outlined a plan that would get us on a sustainable path in terms of debt and deficits, nor that would boost growth and opportunity in the economy. Both are likely to have a negative impact on the economy, said York, senior economist and research director for the foundation, which generally favors lower taxes. Promise: No taxes on tips, overtime Trump, followed by Harris, has proposed to nix taxes on tipped workers though Harris has suggested limiting the benefit to workers in the service and hospitality industries who earn less than $75,000. She has also said the tax break would not apply to payroll taxes, meaning the contribution workers pay toward Social Security and Medicare. Trump has not detailed any limits on his proposal for tipped workers. Economists across the board warn Trumps plan could incentivize more tipped work. They also question whether Trump and Harris proposals would actually benefit low-income workers. After all, tax benefits for lower income workers who have children phase in as the person earns income. Reporting less income means those taxpayers could ultimately see less help from the Child Tax Credit or the Earned Income Tax Credit. If you work and you report income, you get these provisions. But if you dont, you dont get these provisions. Well, you add exemptions into the tax code that reduces the amount of earned income that you report to the IRS, you could potentially reduce the value of these credits for very low-income households, Kyle Pomerleau, senior fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, told States Newsroom in an interview Monday. For instance, a tipped worker who has one child and earns $24,000 annually, half of which comes from tips, could see a $300 decrease in refundable tax credits under this policy, Pomerleau and senior AEI fellows Alex Brill and Stan Veuger wrote in August. The same principle for lower income taxpayers applies to Trumps recent promise to eliminate taxes on overtime. There could be a negative effect there, depending on how this is structured, Pomerleau said Monday. The nonpartisan watchdog Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates an elimination of taxes on all overtime would cost the country $1.7 trillion in lost revenue over 10 years. With no guardrails preventing workers switching from salaried to hourly, the price tag could reach up to $6 trillion in the most extreme case, CRFB estimates. Promise: No taxes on Social Security Economists monitoring the nations Social Security coffers continue to sound alarm bells on the programs solvency with little reaction on the campaign trail. The fund that provides money to senior citizens and people with disabilities is on track to be depleted by 2035, and recipients would face an immediate 17% cut in benefits, as the Tax Foundations Alex Durante wrote Tuesday. Trump has mentioned Social Security during campaign rallies and on his social media platform, but in the context of eliminating taxes on the benefit payments. While low-income recipients do not pay taxes on their benefits, others do and are projected to contribute $94 billion this year back into the fund. Nixing those taxes could speed up Social Securitys insolvency by one year, according to an analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Promise: New corporate tax rates and tariffs Trumps 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which cleared Congress strictly along party lines, permanently lowered the top corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%. Harris has vowed, if elected, she will bump the rate up to 28%. Analyses from the CFRB, the Tax Foundation, Penn Wharton and the Yale Budget Lab estimate the increase would raise roughly $1 trillion to $1.2 trillion in federal revenue over the next decade. The former president wants to cut the rate even further to 15%, a level not seen in the U.S. since the 1930s. Economists estimate the cut would reduce revenue anywhere from $460 billion to $673 billion over 10 years. Here is the deal that I will be offering to every major company and manufacturer on Earth: I will give you the lowest taxes, the lowest energy costs, the lowest regulatory burden and free access to the best and biggest market on the planet, but only if you make your product here in America, Trump said in Georgia Tuesday. Trump has big plans for products imported into the U.S. Hes planning to impose up to 20% tariffs on most imports, reaching as high as 60% on Chinese goods and 100% on countries that turn away from the U.S. dollar. That could cost the typical American household about $2,600 a year as costs on consumer goods would shift to the customer, particularly affecting those with lower incomes, according to economists Kimberly Clausing and Mary Lovely at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Speaking at a farming roundtable in Pennsylvania Monday, Trump publicly warned John Deere that if the company moves manufacturing to Mexico, hell impose a 200% tariff on tractors coming back over the border. Experts warn another downside is that the policy invites foreign retaliation. So if we are, say, exporting Kentucky bourbon to China, China may say, well, to retaliate for the 60% tax on imports, were going to place taxes on this export, and thats going to have a direct impact on the incomes of Americans and make us poorer, Pomerleau said. Promise: A billionaire tax A familiar refrain from Harris and the Biden administration is that billionaires and wealthy corporations should pay their fair share. The U.S. individual tax rate already progresses with an earners income, meaning that the higher your income, the higher your tax rate. Both Harris and Trump want to keep individual tax rates that were lowered across the board in the 2017 law, but Harris is seeking to increase taxes on long-term capital gains, and levy a minimum tax on unrealized capital gains for very high earners. For those earning upwards of $1 million a year, Harris proposed raising taxes to 28%, up from 20%, on profits made from the sale of an asset, like stocks, bonds, or real estate, that have been held by the owner for more than a year. The vice president also proposes quadrupling the stock buyback tax to 4%, up from 1%. For ultra-wealthy households that have more than $100 million in assets, Harris follows Biden in proposing a 25% tax rate sometimes referred to as the billionaire tax. Those high-wealth individuals would need to calculate their regular income tax liability and compare it to their total net worth, meaning income plus unrealized capital gains, multiplied by 25%. Whichever is greater you pay, Pomerleau explains. So if you are in a situation where you have a low effective tax rate relative to this broader definition of income, the minimum tax will kick in and youll start paying increments. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates the plan could raise $750 billion in revenue over ten years. Promise: No SALT cap Ahead of a mid-September campaign rally on Long Island, New York, Trump pledged to abandon the cap in his 2017 law on the state and local tax deduction simply known in tax parlance as SALT. As the law stands now, taxpayers can only deduct up to $10,000 of their state and local tax bill from their federal tax liability. A full SALT deduction is more valuable for higher income taxpayers, and prior to the 2017 cap, 91% of taxpayers who claimed it lived in California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas and Pennsylvania, according to an analysis by the Tax Foundation. Eliminating the cap would cut taxes by an average of more than $140,000 for the highest earning 0.1% of households, according to modeling by the Tax Policy Center, a collaboration between the left-leaning Urban Institute and Brookings Institution. The Committee for a Responsible Budget estimates the move could cost $1.2 trillion over a ten-year budget window. WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) The largest fundraiser for Big Brother Big Sisters of Wichita County is officially underway and wont stop until February. The long road to Valentines Day 2025 starts now. Over the coming months, teams will be learning dances and fundraising simultaneously. For the tenth annual Dancing for the Stars, Big Brothers Big Sisters organizers hope this coming competition will top the previous years version. Burn Shop Block Party burns the house down in downtown WF Familiar faces such as WFPDs Charlie Eipper and KFDXs own Jalen Wells will compete in this coming iteration, dancing under the theme of Cocktails and Kisses. Having so many local celebrities under the same roof, all trying to dance their best and raise the most money, is what Market President Jean Hall says makes Dancing for the Stars such a special event. Our local celebrities represent so many different parts of the Wichita Falls community. We draw from all different social circles, business circles, from just all over the community, Hall said. So, my favorite part is just bringing so many people together who would not normally cross paths and watching them all join together for the same cause. Of course, the biggest part of the competition is the fundraising, but those who wish to attend the show can see all kinds of dance, from traditional ballroom styles to belly dancing. Tickets go on sale on October 1, and the fundraising sites for each team are up and running. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Science Exchange Poised for Transformative Growth with Backing from Leading Private Equity Firm CHICAGO, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Waud Capital Partners ("Waud Capital"), a growth-oriented middle-market private equity firm specializing in the software & technology and healthcare sectors, today announced the acquisition of Science Exchange, a leading provider of life sciences procurement and supplier management SaaS solutions. This acquisition marks a significant milestone in Science Exchange's journey and will compound the company's impressive performance, growth trajectory, and software capabilities. Waud Capital's partnership will enable the company to accelerate its mission to transform the purchasing and supplier orchestration landscape for life sciences organizations. Waud Capital Partners (PRNewsfoto/Waud Capital Partners) Waud Capital's strategic acquisition comes after a thorough evaluation of the life sciences procurement technology market, during which Science Exchange separated itself as a standout leader. The company is distinguished by its innovative, modern cloud supplier orchestration platform, delivered through a transparent SaaS subscription model. The platform digitizes procurement workflows including initial supplier and product discovery, contracting and compliance management, RFP management, purchase and change orders, internal approvals, spend and pricing intelligence, and invoicing and payment. The solution has rapidly gained traction among the scientists and procurement teams of top global pharmaceutical companies and biotech organizations as it drives substantial cost savings, streamlines supplier collaboration, and accelerates project execution. "With Waud Capital's support, we are poised to further solidify our position as the premier SaaS supplier orchestration platform in the life sciences industry," said Elizabeth Iorns, Ph.D., CEO & Co-Founder of Science Exchange. "Our platform has already transformed how life sciences companies work with their suppliers, and this partnership will enable us to accelerate our product innovation, drive even faster growth, and expand our impact across the industry. Waud's proven track record in scaling technology companies, combined with their deep experience in healthcare and life sciences, make them the ideal partner to help us unlock the next phase of Science Exchange's evolution. I am excited to work closely with the Waud team to broaden our offerings, deliver unparalleled value to our customers, and ultimately, help bring therapeutics to market more efficiently and effectively." Story continues "Waud Capital's acquisition of Science Exchange is a testament to the strength of their technology and the leadership team's vision," said Matthew Clary, Partner at Waud Capital. "This partnership combines our experience investing in software, HCIT and pharma services, and aligns perfectly with our strategy of investing behind strong leaders with differentiated solutions in attractive end markets." Paul Sutphin, Principal at Waud Capital, added "It's rare to find procurement software that customers rave about, and that's what impressed us the most. Forward-thinking procurement leaders are leveraging Science Exchange's subscription model and extensible cloud platform into increasingly complex parts of their organizations, driving significant time and cost savings which they can re-invest into R&D and drug development." Under Waud Capital's ownership, Science Exchange plans to expand its product portfolio, invest in innovative technologies, and elevate its market presence to reinforce its standing as the premier SaaS supplier orchestration platform in the life sciences sector. Elizabeth Iorns, Ph.D CEO & Co-Founder, along with Dan Knox, COO & Co-Founder, and Tzlil Hadass, Chief Revenue Officer, will retain their leadership roles, ensuring continuity for customers and stakeholders. Mark Layden, Operating Partner at Waud Capital, will join the company as Executive Chairman. "I am incredibly excited to join Science Exchange at this pivotal moment in its growth journey," said Mark. "Elizabeth and Dan have built an exceptional business with a truly innovative platform that is already transforming the life sciences sector. With Waud's backing and the strength of this talented leadership team, I am confident that Science Exchange will continue to set the standard for supplier orchestration, driving even greater value for its customers and unlocking new opportunities for growth and innovation across the industry." Houlihan Lokey acted as financial advisor to Waud Capital. Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as legal counsel to Waud Capital. Union Square Advisors acted as financial advisor to Science Exchange. Fenwick & West LLP acted as legal counsel to Science Exchange. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. About Science Exchange Science Exchange is the first procurement and supplier orchestration cloud software platform for life sciences companies. The platform digitizes and streamlines complex procurement workflows spanning the entire purchasing lifecycle, from vendor and product discovery through purchasing and payment. Many of the world's top pharma and biotech organizations rely on Science Exchange to help accelerate their research, automate manual processes, and advance their programs faster. For additional information on Science Exchange, please visit www.scienceexchange.com. About Waud Capital Partners Based in Chicago, Waud Capital Partners is a growth-oriented private equity firm with over 30 years of investing experience. Waud Capital seeks to partner with experienced management teams to build market-leading companies within two industries: software & technology and healthcare. Since its founding in 1993, Waud Capital has completed more than 460 investments, including platform companies and follow-on opportunities. For additional information on Waud Capital, please visit www.waudcapital.com. Contact Jessica Schmitt Head of Investor Relations jschmitt@waudcapital.com Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/waud-capital-partners-acquires-science-exchange-to-fuel-innovation-in-life-sciences-supplier-orchestration-technology-302261977.html SOURCE Waud Capital Partners Ted Cruz, seen at the RNC in July, is polling at a statistical tie against his Democratic rival Colin Allred in the race for his Texas Senate seat. (AP) Ted Cruzs chances of winning reelection to the Senate are narrowing, with a pair of recent polls showing that his Democratic challenger Colin Allred holds a chance of defeating the Republican incumbent in a tighter-than-expected race. A recent survey of Texas voters, from Public Policy Polling/Clean and Prosperous America, shows Allred leading with 47 percent to Cruzs 46 percent, after an August poll showed Cruz leading Allred by two points. Those results have a margin of error of 3.5 percent, putting the candidates in a virtual tie. Another recent poll from Emerson College/The Hill shows that 49 percent of voters support the GOP candidate, with 45 percent backing Allred. Six percent remain undecided. The results fall within the polls margin of error. The latest results follow a Morning Consult poll that showed Allred ahead of Cruz by one percentage point - up 45 percent to 44 percent for the first time. No Democrat has won election to statewide office in Texas in 30 years, but the tight race is now drawing multi-million dollar spending from Democratic fundraising arms to send Allred to the Senate. Its a shakeup that could reshape Texas politics and the upper chamber of Congress as Democrats fight to hold onto their majority in November. Ted Cruz, seen at the RNC in July, is polling at a statistical tie against his Democratic rival Colin Allred in the race for his Texas Senate seat. (AP) The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is boosting its advertising in the state by $79m. Senate Democrats are expanding the map and going on offense, group chair Senator Gary Peters said in a statement announcing investments in Texas and Florida, where Democrats also hope to oust Republican Senator Rick Scott. All cycle long the DSCC has been preparing to take advantage of Sens. Cruz and Scotts damaged standings in their states and now our efforts in Texas and Florida are accelerating, Peters said. Allred and his joint fundraising committee had raised more than $41m at the end of June with another $10m in cash on hand. Third-quarter figures, due at the end of September, are likely to reflect a surge in fundraising. Colin Allred has earned broad support from Texans, and our campaign has clear momentum, Allred campaign manager Paige Hutchinson said in a statement. Ted Cruz is weaker and more vulnerable than ever because of his failure to secure the border, his extreme abortion ban that has put women in danger, his efforts to cut Social Security and Medicare and his record of only looking out for himself. US Rep. Colin Allred is polling at a statistical tie against Republican Senator Ted Cruz as the GOP candidate fights for his re-election in Texas. (AP) Cruz also appears to be taking the fight seriously, with campaign messages urging financial support as Democrats outspend him. The race is already shaping up to be among the most expensive in state history, with Cruzs campaign on track to spend $100m-$150m. Were being outspent badly, which is why the polls are showing this is a one or a two or three point race, Cruz recently told Fox News radio host Guy Benson. This race in Texas is a real race. It is a serious fight. Another recent poll from the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation shows Cruz leading Allred by only three percentage points, 48 percent to 45 percent, nearly within the 2.83 percent margin of error. Among Texas Hispanics, Allred has a commanding lead 50 percent to Cruzs 39. President Joe Bidens departure from the White House race and the ascent of Kamala Harris to the top of the Democratic ticket has clearly shaped the contours of the race across the country even in red states like Texas, according to Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation board member Regina Montoya. The dynamism of the Harris campaign has had an obvious down ballot impact in the Allred vs. Cruz race, where Colin is now effectively tied with Cruz going into the final days of the campaign. Cruz and Allred have agreed to their first and only debate on October 15, less than three weeks before Election Day. DENVER (KDVR) Lakewood police reported Sunday that a teen is in custody after numerous Safe2Tell reports were received on Saturday regarding a possible bomb threat at Green Mountain High School. The state has seen a wealth of reports regarding threats to schools during the past few weeks, including at Lakewood schools. One such threat led to an Englewood school campus going on lockdown earlier this month. FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up to get breaking news sent to your inbox According to the Lakewood Police Department, the threat mentioned not to go to school on Monday unless you wanted to die. The agency reported that the threat was received through an anonymous submission to a Google Docs form and made available on an Instagram page that the department said was used by students at Green Mountain High School to vent. The Lakewood Police Department, Jefferson County Sheriffs Office, Adams County Sheriffs Office and the Colorado State Patrol immediately conducted several searches of the Green Mountain High School campus and were not able to substantiate a threat. A juvenile was arrested after Lakewood police officers were able to track down where the message came from. The teen is under investigation for harassment and interference with school credible threat. Safe2Tell reports can be made around the clock by calling 1-877-542-7233, on the website Safe2Tell.org, or by texting S2TCO to 738477. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. A mother's fight for answers about the death of her daughter paid off as her resilience led to a confession from her daughter's husband about her murder that was initially ruled a suicide. "There were things that led me to believe I just knew it wasn't suicide, it was like she just had plans for a future. People, you know, don't usually say, 'I'll meet you at church the next morning.' I was putting all these pieces together, and I'm like, It's just none of it made sense," Jamie Dickerson, mother to 29-year-old April Holt, told Fox News Digital. April Holt was a young mother of two and the wife of 33-year-old Donovan Holt. The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) said April was found almost lifeless at their apartment in Antioch with a plastic bag taped tightly around her neck in July 2023. Dickerson said she hosted a lockout with kids from her church on July 28, 2023, and her daughter was supposed to come over and help chaperone, but had to cancel and take her son to his football game. Massachusetts Man Arrested In 36-Year-old Cold Case After Spit On Sidewalk Links Him To Murder Of Woman April Holt's death was ruled a suicide, until her mother and police gained a confession from her husband, Donovan Holt. "So I did the lockout and got up. The next morning, I cleaned, I jumped in the shower and I just laid down, and I saw that she had texted me, and it just said, How did the lockup go? I can't make it to the Barbie movie today because Donovan had to work' and so she was just telling me that she would meet me at church the next day. And so I laid down, and I didn't reply to her," Dickerson said. "It was the last text I ever got from her." Read On The Fox News App Dickerson said she went back to sleep and an hour later, Donovan Holt called and said he found April unresponsive in the shower and that he was on his way to the hospital with her as she was not breathing. "So I jumped in my car, but even right when I got the first phone call, I was like, 'Something's not right. April's in perfectly good health.' An hour and a half ago or so, she texted me perfectly fine. So something's not right. Like I thought maybe she had passed out. Maybe she hit her head because she passed out. I didn't know. I mean, like, why would she just not be breathing? I didn't know anything about it," Dickerson said. Upon arrival at the hospital, Dickerson said she looked into her daughter's eyes and knew she was not there anymore, she knew she was gone. Cigarette Butt Helps Washington Police Hunt 1980 Murder Suspect Across Country: I Was Hooked In This Case Jamie Dickerson said she knew her daughter April Holt didn't kill herself after making plans and getting a text from her the night of her death. Dickerson said she immediately noticed that April's husband, Donovan Holt, was acting strangely. "From that second on, when I got into the room at the hospital, he was just like rocking, like pacing. And I'm curled up in a ball on a bench next to him, just hysterically crying and just calling out to God to save my child. Even though I knew in my gut that she was gone," Dickerson said. "So he's sitting there and he's holding his head, and he just acts real weird, and he's like, 'Her throat was hurting this morning. She wasn't acting like herself.' He was doing the weirdest things. And I was like, Why are you even saying this right now? And then he hands me her phone and was like, 'Well, you can make all medical decisions for her and here's her phone,'" Dickerson continued. Dickerson said she did not find out until later that April had a bag over her head. She said Donovan claimed to tell the doctors, who said they were not aware. The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) told Fox News Digital that April's case was an unclassified death that had been under investigation for months. Police said no evidence was developed to counter Donovan Holts explanation given during interviews in that time period, and the police department was in consultation with the Medical Examiners Office and the District Attorneys Office, who initially ruled her death as a suicide. Serial Killer Confesses To 1986 Murder Of Teen Mom In Southern California Jamie Dickerson says her daughter April Holt did not commit suicide and her mother's intuition was proven right. Dickerson said even though the death of her daughter was first ruled a suicide, she found a 47-page cold case supplement report with evidence proving her daughter did not kill herself, and she was determined to get her son-in-law to confess that he killed her. The key piece of evidence in the police investigation report was that only Donovan Holts fingerprints were found on the bag and tape, not Aprils, Dickerson said. "That is when I confronted him (Donovan) and he confessed to me and so that is when I went to the police," said Dickerson. "I wasn't shocked. And I know that sounds very strange, especially when he gave me the confession, because I had already known for years. I've been processing these emotions. The harder part is, I didn't allow myself to really grieve or heal yet. So I'm just now entering that season of that," Dickerson said. Detectives reopened the case once Dickerson reported Donovan Holt's confession. "A fresh set of eyes even went over the investigative file. After the victims mother reported a conversation she had with Mr. Holt, the death investigation was immediately reopened, and MNPD detectives traveled to Texas to reinterview him, during which he implicated himself in April Holts death," police told Fox News Digital in a statement. Donovan Holt was arrested in San Antonio, Texas, and returned to Nashville on Friday afternoon. He was charged with reckless homicide, false reporting and tampering with evidence after an indictment by the grand jury. Investigators Hunt Melissa Witt's Arkansas Killer 30 Years After Mysterious Trail Of Blood Jamie Dickerson's instincts led to a murder confession in a Nashville cold case that Nashville police initially ruled a suicide. When asked if she ever thought her son-in-law could do this, Dickerson said she was not surprised at all. "He had an obsession with April. So the weird part is, is like you see these movies, and they love somebody so much that they're willing to do literally anything. I think that was him because she'd left him before, and he would sleep outside of her apartment. He would sleep in her car if it was unlocked," Dickerson recalled. "And it's heartbreaking. It's absolutely heartbreaking. And so I'm just, I'm not shocked. I think that when she said that this time she was very serious. She said, I'm getting a divorce and two weeks later she was dead," Dickerson continued. Dickerson added that she has so much relief knowing that Donovan is behind bars and that her grandson is safe with her after the trauma he was put through that day. "The person you were supposed to love, you killed, and then you put a trash bag over her head and ate lunch? Like she wasn't in the other room dead? And then you sent your son in there to be traumatized for the rest of his life. It's just bizarre," Dickerson said. Despite being angry at Donovan for taking April away from her, Dickerson said she does not want harm to him and hopes he finds peace because April would not want her harboring hate. "As a Christian woman, I pray that his heart gets right. That's what I would want for him. I know it's what April would want. And even after killing my daughter, that is what I'd want for him. And I would want anybody to be able to have everlasting life," Dickerson said. Original article source: Tennessee mom skeptical of daughter's 'suicide' vindicated by husband's confession Part of the state law Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton invoked to defend raids on Democrats and activists in the state is unconstitutional, a federal judge has ruled. The legal provision struck down Saturday by U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez is contained in S.B. 1, a controversial and sprawling Texas Senate omnibus bill first enacted in 2021. Among a variety of the bills features, it imposed restrictions and criminal penalties for canvassing methods used commonly by outreach groups and volunteers alike trying to assist voters with the completion or submission of their ballots, including absentee or mail-in ballots. Paxton did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday. When Texas enacted S.B. 1, the state deemed that vote harvesting methods would be considered a third-degree felony going forward and that convicted violators could face up to 10 years in prison and be forced to pay a fine of up to $10,000. The notion of vote harvesting, however, was ill-defined in the legislation. Paxton and Republicans in Texas championed the canvassing restrictions as a tool to fight voter fraud. In recent weeks, Texas law enforcement has raided the homes of a Democratic candidate for the Texas state house, a local mayor and Latino voting rights activists. But Rodriguez said the canvassing language was confusing and overly vague, and that enforcement of the provision could infringe on the First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights of people and entities who long before S.B. 1 was ever enacted engaged in common practices like hosting in-person candidate forums, giving voting machine demonstrations or providing language assistance to voters on how to complete ballots. The judge noted, for example, that it was commonplace for bilingual volunteers to knock on doors in Texas and find that the person at home may need help translating something. Canvassers for groups such as plaintiff OCA-Houston, for example, a network representing Asian American and Pacific Islanders in Texas, may also provide prospective voters with things like Gatorade or water if they are out in the elements. This, according to Paxton, is an illicit benefit. S.B. 1 as a whole was challenged in court for the first time in September 2021 when voting rights group La Union del Pueblo Entero brought a lawsuit on behalf of numerous voting and civil rights groups, Texas election officials and individual voters. The groups lawsuit was consolidated with a series of other similarly situated claims, including those from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. A bench trial was held over several weeks and ended in October 2023. The court weighed allegations that S.B. 1 chilled the plaintiffs rights and imposed hurdles on groups that have already experienced disproportionate discrimination in Texas. Notably, S.B. 1 banned 24-hour drive-thru voting in Texas, something made popular after the COVID-19 pandemic. S.B. 1 also made it a crime for poll workers to take any action that may make a poll watchers observation not reasonably effective, one of the plaintiffs attorneys, Leah Tulin, said during closing arguments, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. During the states last election, this factor alone, Tulin said, led several county election officials in Texas to report that they witnessed poll watchers behave in ways that made both election workers and voters feel uncomfortable, harassed, and intimidated. Even poll watchers who acted in good faith now feel intimidated by the threat of criminal liability for merely doing their jobs, Tulin argued. Rodriguezs order only addresses the canvassing restrictions. The decision means that Paxton is now stopped from conducting probes into alleged vote harvesting. The County DAs are permanently enjoined from deputizing the Attorney General, appointing him pro tem, or seeking his appointment pro tem from or by a district judge to prosecute alleged violations of TEC 276.015 that occur within their jurisdictions, the 78-page order states. As HuffPost previously reported, an 87-year-old volunteer for the League of United Latin American Citizens said she was questioned for hours by armed police officers gripping riot shields. She wasnt the only one. Dozens of volunteers were confronted by authorities, and some said they had guns pointed in their faces and their phones seized. Two of the volunteers allegedly targeted by Paxtons investigators for so-called vote harvesting were a 73-year-old and 80-year-old LULAC member. A Texas state director for LULAC said the raids were an intimidation tactic used on Texass Latino community. The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas celebrated Rodriguezs ruling, saying on X, formerly Twitter, that it was a win for voting rights in the state and the organizations that help keep elections accessible. Related... Texas DPS trooper and US army veteran dies after being struck by vehicle A Texas state trooper died over the weekend after being involved in a vehicle crash two weeks ago. Highway Patrol trooper Kevin Alexis Ramirez Vasquez, 25, was a recent graduate of the Texas Department of Public Safety Academy. He was also a U.S. Army veteran, local news outlets report. The department announced the trooper's death Sunday. Trooper Kevin Alexis Ramirez Vasquez, 25, was a recent graduate of the DPS Academy and a U.S. Army veteran. Ramirez Vasquez responded to a traffic crash along Texas 302 in Ector County on the morning of Sept. 16 and was struck by a vehicle about 9 a.m. He was taken to Medical Center Hospital in Odessa with serious injuries before being airlifted to Covenant Medical Center in Lubbock. Ramirez Vasquez died of his injuries Sept. 28, the department said. "There are no words to ease the loss of one of our brothers in uniform," DPS Director Steven McCraw said in the statement. "Texas Highway Patrol Trooper Kevin Alexis Ramirez Vasquez served this state honorably to his very last breath. His commitment to keeping the roads safe, protecting the people of Texas and the sacrifice he made will never be forgotten. Today, I ask that you keep his family, friends and colleagues in your prayers during the difficult days ahead." The DPS West Texas regional office told Fox Houston in a statement about Ramirez Vasquez's commitment to serving others, in life and death. "Trooper Ramirez Vasquez is a man of valor, honor, purpose, and a true servant leader, he will never be forgotten," the statement said. "Today, in his final lifesaving act, Trooper Ramirez Vasquez organs were donated to save others." Ramirez Vasquez is survived by his parents and three siblings. DPS reported that he is the 241st officer to die in the line of duty since 1823. Information about funeral services had not yet been released Monday morning. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas DPS trooper dies of injuries after being struck by vehicle ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. A Houston, Texas, man appeared in St. Louis County Circuit Court on Monday morning to face robbery and kidnapping charges. According to the St. Louis County Police Departments probable cause statement, the robbery took place short after 4:50 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 26, at a business in the 4200 block of Bayless Avenue. Police said Anthony Naceanceno, 26, entered a business and told the staff he had a firearm. Naceanceno ordered staff members to another room and then stole more than $2,000 in U.S. currency, surveillance equipment, and the employees cell phones. Cardinals seek reset over rebuild for 2025 and beyond. Whats ahead? Naceanceno was taken into the custody the following day. Police said they recovered the victims phones and large amount of the stolen cash. The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorneys Office charged Naceanceno with one count of first-degree robbery and three counts of kidnapping. Naceanceno remains jailed without bond. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 2. Texas state trooper dies after being hit by vehicle: 'Lived a life of service' Texas state trooper dies after being hit by vehicle: 'Lived a life of service' A young Texas Highway Patrol trooper died over the weekend after he was wounded while investigating a car crash. The Texas Department of Public Safety (TXDPS) announced the death of Trooper Kevin Alexis Ramirez Vasquez, 25, in a press release on Sunday. Ramirez Vasquez was responding to an accident when he was "struck by a vehicle" on Tuesday morning. "Trooper Ramirez Vasquez suffered serious injuries and was taken to Medical Center Hospital in Odessa," the department said. "He was then airlifted to a Lubbock-area hospital where he succumbed to his injuries on Sept. 28." The trooper, who is survived by his parents and three siblings, joined the TXDPS in 2023 and was stationed in Odessa. He had also served in the U.S. military, both before and during his time as a trooper. Charlotte Shooting: 4 Law Enforcement Officers Killed, 4 Injured As Us Marshals Task Force Served Warrant Trooper Kevin Alexis Ramirez Vasquez, 25, died after responding to a car accident. "Trooper Ramirez Vasquez lived a life of service, serving in the United States Army prior to joining the department, and he was currently serving in the National Guard," the press release stated. Read On The Fox News App "He is the 241st DPS officer to die in the line of duty since 1823." In a statement, TXDPS Director Steven McCraw said there are "no words to ease the loss of one of our brothers in uniform." 95-Year-old Veteran Killed In Car Crash While On His Way To Meet Friends: 'Man Of Integrity' "Texas Highway Patrol Trooper Kevin Alexis Ramirez Vasquez served this state honorably to his very last breath," McGraw said. "His commitment to keeping the roads safe, protecting the people of Texas and the sacrifice he made will never be forgotten." Trooper Kevin Alexis Ramirez Vasquez, 25, had also served in the Army and National Guard. "Today, I ask that you keep his family, friends and colleagues in your prayers during the difficult days ahead." Fox News Digital reached out to TXDPS for additional comment. Original article source: Texas state trooper dies after being hit by vehicle: 'Lived a life of service' Not wavering to the insistence and fresh reassurances of Texas water planners, opposition to the construction of the Marvin Nichols Reservoir remains deep and firm. Critics of the prospective 66,000-acre lake took turns sounding off on the projects potential environmental and economic costs during a public Texas Water Development Board meeting in Arlington Monday afternoon. The agency, tasked with managing the states water supply, convened the discussion to share the findings of its feasibility review for the project, hoping to hammer home its necessity and allay concerns about its consequences. As a community leader and elected official, I understand the importance of casting a long term vision and helping prepare our communities for the future, state Rep. Gary VanDeaver, a New Boston Republican, wrote in a statement read aloud by another attendee. In addition to being costly, it is unnecessary. There are countless solutions to the DFW areas water needs. North Texas water planners first conceived of Marvin Nichols in the late 1960s. Tensions surrounding its future intensified in the 2000s, as Dallas-Fort Worths surging population laid bare the long-term inadequacies of its water supply. State officials extol the project slated for completion by 2050 in Red River, Titus and Franklin counties, as a sensible and formidable solution to future supply shortages. The Texas Legislature in 2007 deemed it a site of unique value for the construction of a reservoir, given the ample surface water provided by the Sulfur River basin and the comparatively low estimated costs of shipping the water to consumers. Completing the $7 billion undertaking would require damming the Sulfur River river and flooding more than 100 square miles of forest, pasture, and wetland near Cuthand, a ranching community of roughly 300 about 35 miles southeast of Paris. An unlikely coalition of wildlife conservationists, loggers, and generational ranchers, united under the banner Preserve Northeast Texas, views Marvin Nichols as a needlessly destructive boondoggle, designed not to meet the regions basic needs but to feed the gluttony of water-hungry lawns in sprawling suburban subdivisions. Any potential benefits, they reason, wouldnt be worth the costs: seizing tens of thousands of acres of private land, drowning a diverse and vibrant ecosystem, and disrupting the livelihoods of locals. Its too damaging, and there are too many other ways to do it, said Jim Thompson, the chair of the Region D planning group, which compasses the site and its surrounding localities. It may be less lucrative to improve infrastructure, but by the same token, its far less costly on our region. Thompson and his team superintend water supplies across 19 counties in northeast Texas, including Red River, Titus, and Franklin. Theyve long resisted the reservoir, putting them at odds with Region Cs planning body, the subgroup responsible overseeing the Metroplexs aquatic resources. The opposition compelled state lawmakers last fall to require the Texas Water Development Board to conduct a feasibility review of the project before pushing it forward. The agency published its preliminary findings this month and painted an unequivocal picture: North Texas needs Marvin Nichols, and there are no insurmountable barriers financial, logistical, or ecological that make its completion infeasible. Simone Kiel, a representative of civil engineering firm Freese & Nichols whose early 20th century partner is the reservoirs namesake presented the reviews core findings Monday. She flooded development board officials and a skeptical audience of landowners, businessowners and preservationists with maps and tables forecasting the projects impact. Newly constructed reservoirs Marvin Nichols among them will make up just under 20% of northeast Texas water supply by 2070, she explained. The agencys latest analyses of the project estimate that its adverse economic and environmental effects would be minimal. The lake would submerge only 0.031% of the regions prime farmland, Kiel said, eliciting scoffs from the crowd; it would swallow 7.7% of timber resources in the three counties. The decades of construction would pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the economy, she continued. The agency has yet to fully assess the reservoirs cultural or ecological impacts. Of the 13% it has surveyed for cultural artifacts, it identified 63 archaeological sites and one cemetery. The three counties straddled by the lake also house at least a handful of endangered animals. A long roster of Marvin Nichols critics and cynics took to the microphone next. They cast doubt on the agencys new statistics, and laid into its officials for not taking the time or care to register the concerns of citizens. Reservoirs are an archaic and outdated practice, said Evan Purviance, a fifth generation Cuthand rancher who made the roughly 2.5 hour drive to Arlington to share his two cents. While mine are being emptied, whose pockets are being lined? Purviance and his allies stressed the Metroplex could do much more to conserve its existing water supplies instead of pouring billions more into securing new ones. The wider environment is the commons of the people and the loss of diversity, deforestation and habitat affects us all, said Anne Tindell, a resident of Nacogdoches, a city three hours south of Cuthand. The easiest way to have more water is not to waste it in the first place. Water policies of the past are not the solutions for our future. For many, the sentimental cost of Marvin Nichols would also be too much to bear. This will take my fathers side of the familys land, my mothers side of the land. We will lose every acre that has been in both families for generations, said David Eldrige, a man with a hefty drawl and jean overalls whose family has owned property near the banks of the Sulfur River for seven generations. There is no price that you could put on this land. Thai court orders extradition of Vietnam activist who rights groups say will be at risk if returned BANGKOK (AP) A Thai court on Monday ordered the extradition of a 32-year-old Vietnamese activist detained in Bangkok, despite fears among rights groups he could be at risk if sent home. The Bangkok Criminal Court granted Vietnam's request for the extradition of Y Quynh Bdap, who was detained in the Thai capital in June. The co-founder of the Montagnards Stand for Justice group was convicted in absentia in Vietnam in January of terrorism and sentenced to 10 years in prison on allegations that he was involved in organizing anti-government riots in Vietnams central highland province of Dak Lak last June. Bdap's attorney, Nadthasiri Bergman, said she was already working on an appeal, which has to be filed within the next 30 days. Regardless of the outcome, the Thai government could also decide diplomatically not to enforce the extradition order as well. The prime minister has the right, if they want to protect human rights, they can do it," she told reporters outside the court. If he goes back to his country there will be a threat to his life, so the government should respect that evidence. Bdap has been seeking asylum in Canada and had a meeting with Canadian Embassy officials in Bangkok the day before he was taken into custody. Canadian officials have refused to comment on the case. Bdap was in Thailand at the time of the Dak Lak riots at two district government offices in which nine people were killed, including four police officers and two government officials. Overall, about 100 people have been tried for alleged involvement in the riots, and 53 have been convicted on terrorism charges. Days after the verdicts, Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang rejected criticism that Vietnam had used the trial as an opportunity to crack down on ethnic minorities. Vietnam has long been criticized by rights groups and others for its treatment of the countrys Montagnard minority, a term loosely used to refer to many predominantly Christian ethnic groups that live in the central highlands and neighboring Cambodia. Human Rights Watch has said many have been driven to seek asylum in Cambodia and Thailand as Vietnamese authorities have subjected their communities to intimidation, arbitrary arrests and mistreatment in custody. Y Quynh Bdap would be at real risk if returned to Vietnam, said Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, at the time the activist was apprehended. Thai authorities should immediately release this prominent religious freedom advocate and refugee. Returning him to Vietnam would be a violation of Thailands obligations under Thai and international law, Lau said. Human Rights Watch has criticized Thailand for sending home dissidents from Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and China to uncertain fates, in what it said in a recent report was a quid-pro-quo form of transnational repression, in which those countries sent home dissidents wanted by Thailand. 'They're everywhere': Who to call in Milwaukee about rats, and answers to other questions about rodent control Rats are likely Milwaukeeans least favorite neighbor. It's tricky to know exactly how many rats are scurrying around Milwaukee, said Lorie Gallup, residential code enforcement manager for the Department of Neighborhood Services. "They're everywhere," Gallup said. For every single rat you see, there are likely 10 other rats nearby, exterminators say. There's plenty Milwaukeeans can learn to help keep rats out of their home and neighborhood. The Journal Sentinel spoke with Brittni Vermiglio-Kaplanek, the director of Wisconsin Humane Society, and Gallup to answer common questions about rats. Who can I call about a rat infestation in Milwaukee? The Department of Neighborhood Services responds to only complaints about rat burrows at residential properties. Renters and owners can contact the city for assistance with rat burrows. The department uses poison to kill rats in their burrows, Gallup said. But it treats only rat burrows that are at least 10 feet away from structure, and the property can't have any pets. If you're a renter with a rat infestation in your rental unit, you can contact the Department of Neighborhood Services if your landlord isn't addressing the issue. Gallup recommends hiring a professional to handle your mice and rat problems rather than purchasing rodenticide from the store and applying it yourself. Is rat poison, rodenticide, harmful to wildlife? It can be. Rodenticides, or what some people call rat poison or rat bait, are chemicals used to kill rodents. Every year, the Wisconsin Humane Society treats wildlife it suspects were poisoned from rodenticide, Vermiglio-Kaplanek said. When a rat or mouse consumes poison, it doesn't die immediately. Predators, like foxes, bald eagles and coyotes, can be poisoned from eating that mouse or rat, Vermiglio-Kaplanek said. Releasing carbon monoxide directly into the burrows is one way around potentially harming wildlife. It would kill the rats quickly, but it's pricey, Gallup said. Do bird feeders attract rats? It depends. If the bird food regularly spills onto the ground underneath the bird feeder, you could be inviting rats to a free buffet. Rats can climb, too. It's a good idea to keep the bird feeder off of fences and use smaller bird feeders because they're harder for rats to climb and stand on. Are rats a health hazard to humans? Yes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rodents carry diseases that can spread directly or indirectly to humans. Rodents can also damage property, such as by chewing through wires, which could be a fire hazard. Are rats important to the ecosystem? Rats can serve a purpose in the environment. They are a food source for some predators, but on the flipside, rats can damage important habitats, crops and native plants, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. How can I keep rats out of my neighborhood? The first step is to stop feeding them, Gallup said. Make sure to dispose of any food, feces and garbage outside, and keep garbage bins closed. Rats drink water, too, so remove any stagnate water and water bowls, too. Do rats eat dog feces? Absolutely. And the smell of your pet's feces attracts them, too. Feces isn't rats preferred food, but the undigested food is intriguing enough for them. Gallup advises cleaning up after your pet immediately. What is a rat burrow? A rat burrow is a hole in the ground where rats hibernate, store food and rest outdoors. The burrow connects to tunnels near the rat's food source and can have multiple exists. It can be hard to tell the difference between a rat burrow and another animal's burrow, Gallup said. Typically, a rat burrow has a 2-to-4-inch hole and a mound of dirt at the entrance, Gallup said. How can I humanely remove rats? Vermiglio-Kaplanek says rodenticide causes a painful death. There are a couple of things you can do to humanely remove rats from your yard and home. For your yard, remove any potential food and water sources for rats. Inside the home, she recommends using a trap with food to capture rats and mice in your home, then filling the holes they came from and releasing them outside. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What to know about rodents, rats in Milwaukee Mauritius may be best known for its alluring island lifestyle, mild tropical climate, and breathtaking scenery, but it is also one of Africas biggest success stories. Since the islands independence in 1968, the government has leveraged its strategic location in the Indian Ocean between Asia, Europe and Africa, to grow and diversify its economy, with a focus on developing a robust financial centre of excellence that has punched above its weight for years. In 2024, Mauritius was ranked as one of the preferred destinations for millionaires worldwide, with more than 5,000 millionaires calling Mauritius home. The 2024 report on global wealth migration by investment advisers Henley & Partners proclaims the island as a sovereign state with high levels of safety and security that remains largely shielded from the worlds political and economic problems. A beacon of political, social, and economic stability, which is increasingly rare in the world today, Henley & Partners anticipates Mauritius to continue catching the eye of the worlds ultrawealthy in the future, expecting its millionaire demographic to almost double over the next decade. Henley & Partners say, apart from high levels of security, safety and high living standards, the islands world-leading governance and sophisticated financial ecosystem are some of the key reasons high-net worth individuals are moving to Mauritius. For similar reasons the worlds wealth management community are also starting to look to the jurisdiction as a platform to preserve and grow their assets in a more challenging environment of escalating geopolitical tensions, economic uncertainty and less friendly tax policies in traditional markets. Business-friendly Tom Hopgood, an economist at GlobalData, says Mauritius is one of the most business-friendly destinations in Africa, underpinned by a robust legal system which combines the French Code Civil and the British Common Law, an independent judiciary and solid democratic institutions that have a long history. It is also noteworthy that in case of commercial litigation, the investors highest court of appeal is the judicial committee of the Privy Council in UK. The countrys regulatory framework is recognised by global institutions such as the World Bank, Moodys Rating, the OECD, the EU and The Financial Action Task Force (FATF). In the latest World Bank Ease of Doing Business report, Mauritius ranked 13th globally. Its competitive tax system has certainly contributed to this reputation, with no capital gains tax, dividend and interest withholding tax, he says, adding. A non-resident - subject to a deed of non-residence for settlor and/or beneficiaries is exempt from income tax and repatriation of profits, dividends and capital is tax free. With no estate duty or inheritance tax and double tax treaties with numerous countries around the world, Mauritius is now gaining traction from the worlds wealth management community, keen to use the jurisdiction for structuring their investments into some of the fastest growing, but riskier, markets in Africa and Asia. Today, the financial services sector in Mauritius contributes some 14% to its gross domestic product (GDP). Private banking and family offices have been identified by the Mauritius International Financial Centre (IFC) and the Economic Development Board (EDB) as a pivotal axle of growth. To this end, the EDB, the regulatory body, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and representatives of the Ministry of Financial Services and Good Governance will be leading a strong private sector delegation to the 2024 Africa Financial Services Investment Conference (AFSIC) to showcase the panoply of investment vehicles offered by the Mauritius IFC to global investors looking to explore business opportunities in Africa as well as globally. These include trusts, special purpose funds and Variable Capital Company (VCC) structures, family office and treasury services, along with innovative digital finance opportunities through the VAITOS Act framework. Mauritius offers a number of attractive residency programmes for HNWIs to live, work and retire on the island that will also be on show. During their business trip to UK, The EDB representatives will be conducting meetings and roundtables sessions with international investors and professionals in the financial services sphere, notably, law firms, fund managers, private portfolio managers, tax advisors, and accountancy firms, among others. Meet the EDB Mauritius team at AFSIC to be held between 7-9 October at the Park Plaza in London. Find the agenda here: 2024 Agenda - AFSIC 2024 - Investing in Africa Download the whitepaper below to explore the strategic advantage of Mauritius for financial services and wealth management. "Why the worlds ultrawealthy are investing in Mauritius" was originally created and published by Private Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Thousands of dockworkers across U.S. about to strike. What we know about MS Coast ports Thousands of longshoremen demanding better salaries are likely to strike Tuesday at ports along the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico. But on Monday, whether picket lines would form on the Mississippi Coast was still largely unclear. The International Longshoremens Association has said it will strike just after midnight on Monday after bitter contract negotiations with port managers collapsed this summer. It is unclear how many of the groups members work on the Mississippi Coast. International Longshoremens Association representatives from Gulfport and Mobile did not immediately return messages left Monday. The group also said it would not grant interviews on Monday as it prepared to strike. It is also unclear if workers in Gulfport will strike. But in a Facebook post on Monday, the longshoremens group said the United States Maritime Alliance, which represents port managers, had rejected the groups demands for a fair and decent contract and seems intent on causing a strike at all ports from Maine to Texas. The Port of Gulfport is not party to contract negotiations between the longshoremen and the United States Maritime Alliance, the Mississippi State Port Authority said in a statement. But the Port Authority said it has great respect for its workers and hopes the groups will come to a mutually beneficial agreement to alleviate a negative economic impact. In Pascagoula, the port remains well-positioned to continue business as usual because it uses union and non-union labor, Port Director Bo Ethridge said in a statement. The port was unable to say Monday how many workers belong to the International Longshoremens Association. We anticipate minimal to no impact on our day-to-day activities, Ethridge said. We remain fully committed to providing uninterrupted service to all our customers and ensuring smooth flow of commerce through our port. Dockworker strike looms The dockworkers current contract expires at midnight on Monday. A strike could impact anything shipped in containers at up to 36 ports from Maine to Texas. Port managers have seen the strike coming and been preparing for months, but it could still disrupt imports and exports. The standoff would also be the first time dockworkers at East and Gulf Coast ports go on strike since 1977. The International Longshoremens Association has said it expects its 85,000 members to hit picket lines on Tuesday. The union is demanding raises and guarantees that artificial intelligence will not replace human workers. In a statement last week, Dennis A. Daggett, the International Longshoremans Association executive vice president, framed the strike as one of the toughest battles our union has faced in decades. Corporations that profited from longshoremens work during the COVID-19 pandemic refuse to share those profits with the workers who make them possible, he said in the statement. We will not accept automation replacing the men and women who built this industry with their blood, sweat, and sacrifice. The U.S. Maritime Alliance said last week said it was unable to schedule a meeting to continue negotiations despite its efforts. We want to bargain and avoid a strike, the groups statement said, but time is running out if the ILA is unwilling to return to the table. The International Longshoremens Association covers 14 major ports. None listed on its map are on the Mississippi Coast. The nearest major ports covered are in New Orleans and Mobile. The group has also said it will keep moving military cargo and cruise ships throughout the strike. Thousands in funds allocated to Dale County for road projects DALE COUNTY, Ala (WDHN) The City of Ariton will receive state funds for a resurfacing project encompassing three streets. According to the Governors office, Ariton received $250,000 for a resurfacing project on Creel Richardson Street, Pea River Road, and Atlantic Road, which covers approximately 4.85 miles. The funding is available under the Alabama Department of Transportations Annual Grant Program, which was created by the Rebuild Alabama Act. From day one of the Ivey Administration, I have made clear to the people of our state that improving Alabamas roads and bridges is a top priority, and I am proud we continue delivering on that promise, said Governor Ivey. Our work is not done, and we will continue delivering results in all 67 of our counties. Governor Iveys office said she will visit Dale County sometime in October on tour. A total of $3,095,215 was granted to 11 counties across Alabama for road and bridge projects. RALG-Round-3-FY24Download Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WDHN - wdhn.com. Nearly 6,000 National Guard members have deployed to the Southeastern United States in response to the devastation of Hurricane Helene, rescuing flood victims, clearing debris from roads and providing vital supplies to areas decimated by the hurricane. Guardsmen mobilized in Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, with assistance from the Maryland, Pennsylvania, Mississippi and Connecticut National Guards, according to the Army. Its pretty devastating to look at a lot of homes that have been wiped off the foundations and a lot of people that are probably going to be having to restart their lives pretty shortly, Army Brig. Gen. Alex Harlamor of the Florida National Guard told CNN on Saturday. The hurricane, which touched down in Florida on Thursday evening, caused devastating floods, significant infrastructure damage and power outages across the Southeastern United States and has so far claimed the lives of at least 100 people, according to The Associated Press. In Florida, 3,900 National Guard members, along with 18 Mississippi Guardsmen, maneuvered 13 helicopters and Zodiac boots to rescue over 150 people and 50 animals. They also cleared more than 1,180 miles of roads and set up 30 locations to provide supplies to those affected by the natural disaster. MacDill Air Force Base without power after Hurricane Helene In Georgia, where The Associated Press reports 25 people have died as a result of the storm, roughly 900 Georgia Guardsmen chainsawed through clogged roads and helped first responders with their rescue efforts. Tennessee mobilized 120 Guardsmen to save 54 people stranded by flooding and the Virginia National Guard mobilized 48 Guardsmen to rescue six people. Nearly 500 South Carolina Guardsmen also contributed to the national cleanup and rescue efforts. Our National Guardsmen are trained and ready to support the citizens of South Carolina, U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Robin B. Stilwell, South Carolina National Guard director of the joint staff, said in a release. More than 400 Guard members responded to the crisis in North Carolina along with 30 Guardsmen from Maryland, Connecticut and Pennsylvania clearing roads and carrying out search-and-rescue missions. North Carolina was hit particularly hard by the hurricane, with one county that includes Asheville reporting 30 dead, according to The Associates Press. Picture of the Verizon sign on their headquarters for Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Credit - Getty Images Verizon customers were not happy at the outages reported across Chicago, Phoenix, Denver, and other cities Monday morning. Verizon users took to social media to share their concerns, with some saying their phone was stuck in SOS modea mode that indicates that your phone isnt connected to cellular network preventing them from being able to make any calls or send any texts. Downdetector, a website which tracks network outages, tracked more than 100,000 reports of Verizon outages across the U.S. as of 11:15 a.m. E.T., with the biggest issues being with their mobile phone, lack of signal, or a total blackout in some cases. We are aware of an issue impacting service for some customers. Our engineers are engaged and we are working quickly to identify and solve the issue, Verizon told TIME in an emailed statement. The company did not share when service was expected to resume. While the locations with the most reports were in the Midwest, the Downdetector map shows that customers in the greater New York City area and Atlanta, were also reporting issues. The current outage across other regions of the U.S. comes amid restoration efforts in the Southeast, where Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday night, bringing destruction and widespread fiber damage, according to a Verizon press release last updated on Sunday. The Monday Verizon outages don't appear to be connected to Hurricane Helene, however. Contact us at letters@time.com. DUPAGE COUNTY, Ill. - Three men accused of robbing a Downers Grove man at gunpoint have been denied pre-trial release. According to the DuPage County State's Attorney, Javari Williams, 18; Tremaine Nelson, 18; and Tyray Hemphill, 22, appeared in court Sunday morning on the following charges, all Class X felonies: One count of armed robbery with a firearm One count of aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm One count of aggravated vehicular hijacking - victim over 60 Their charges stem from an incident that happened at 6:50 p.m., Sept. 27, at 36th and Fairview Avenue in unincorporated Downers Grove. Authorities received a report of an armed robbery of a motor vehicle. After speaking with the victim, a man over 60 years old, police learned that the suspect's vehicle was a black 2006 Dodge Charger. A short time later, Downers Grove police located the victim's stolen vehicle, a 2006 silver Chrysler 300 SRT, as well as the Dodge Charger. While pursuing both vehicles, police said the Charger crashed at Route 83 in Hinsdale. Four people inside the Charger exited and began walking north along the shoulder of Route 83. A Hinsdale officer approached the group, and three of them climbed over a wooden fence and fled. The fourth person claimed he was the victim of a robbery and evaded law enforcement, officials said. All three suspects were taken into custody after a brief search. (From left) Tyray Hemphill, Tremaine Nelson and Javari Williams. (DuPage County State's Attorney) Nelson was later found in a window well in the 500 block of N. Quincy Avenue in Hinsdale, authorities said. Officers discovered a loaded Glock 23 semi-automatic .40 caliber handgun with one bullet chambered in the same window well. Williams and Hemphill were found on the same property, along with two handguns, the State's Attorney added. Further investigation revealed that the victim had arranged to sell his car to an individual named "Reyes" on the platform OfferUp. Reyes and the victim met at the victim's home for a test drive, which escalated into the robbery. After the test drive, authorities said Reyes convinced the victim to walk down the street to meet a friend with a tow truck. As they walked, the victim turned around to return to his car. The suspects, who had pulled up in the Charger, got out and confronted the victim with guns, according to the State's Attorney. They pointed guns at the victim's head, back, and groin while searching his pockets, stealing his wallet, car keys, cell phone, watch, and a gold chain, authorities said. The suspects allegedly pushed the victim to the ground, ordered him not to move, and sped away in his car and the Charger. Authorities discovered the Charger had been reported stolen out of Chicago on Sept. 23. "The allegations that Javari Williams, Tremain Nelson and Tyray Hemphill violently robbed an innocent man of his car, pointing three guns at him, and tried to hide in a residential neighborhood, are frightening," Berlin said. "We are all thankful that the victim in this case was not physically harmed. The quick apprehension of the defendants in this case demonstrates DuPage County law enforcements commitment to public safety and willingness to work together to ensure the safety and security of all our residents. I commend Sheriff Mendrick and his office as well as the Downers Grove and Hinsdale Police Departments for their outstanding efforts that led to the apprehension of the defendants in this case. I also thank Assistant States Attorneys Michael Pingaj and Philip Ungar for their efforts in securing charges against the men allegedly responsible for this violent robbery." The investigation into the incident is ongoing. Anyone with more information is urged to contact the DuPage County Sheriff's Office at (630) 407-2400. All three suspects are expected in court again on Oct. 28 for arraignment. 'It's time for him to pay': Families of Texas serial killer's victims welcome execution Two of Garcia Glenn White's victims were identical twin sisters who had just celebrated their sweet 16th birthdays the day before they were killed. Another victim was a hard-working dad with big dreams who had just moved his family to the U.S. from Vietnam and left behind seven children. In all, White confessed to murdering five people in a six-year period and will be executed for his crimes on Tuesday. He will be the sixth man executed in the U.S. in 10 days and the fifth inmate put to death in Texas so far this year. The families of most of his victims have waited 35 years for White's execution day, which has been delayed repeatedly despite his confession. He was even scheduled for execution in 2015 but won a reprieve with less than 24 hours to spare. "He has lived longer in prison than my sister lived on this Earth," said Dewanta Washington, a 60-year-old schoolteacher in Houston whose beloved sister, Greta Williams, was beaten to death by White in 1989. "If you know he did it, he admitted to it, why have all these appeals?" she questioned, saying that her parents died waiting for the execution to happen. "It's time for him to pay the piper. He just needs to go meet his maker." Now that White's execution appears to be moving forward, USA TODAY spoke with family members of his victims to learn more about their loved ones. These are their stories. Greta Williams is pictured in her younger years before her 1989 beating death in Houston. Greta Williams: A pint-sized free spirit who dreamed of being a mom White's first victim was Greta Williams, a 27-year-old who grew up in Chicago and had only lived in Houston for a few months when she was beaten so "beyond recognition" that the family couldn't have an open casket, her sister told USA TODAY. Dewanta Washington said she and Williams were only two years apart and looked so much alike, people thought they were twins. The girls loved their two brothers, dancing to Michael Jackson songs, playing house with baby dolls and riding bikes. "Greta, she was my best friend," Washington said. "We shared a room, and we talked about when we got bras, what we were gonna do, and, 'When I get married I'm gonna have this many kids. I'm gonna have a husband,' that kind of stuff." As they got older, Washington said she was the boring one while her sister was a "free spirit" and "party girl," who was just an acquaintance of White's. The sisters were living together again in Houston when Williams decided to go out one night. Washington said she had a bad feeling. "The night that she left I told her, 'Don't leave, we're going to find you dead,'" Washington said. "Her last words were, 'I'll be fine, I love you.'" Washington said that she still has her sister's ashes and has been waiting for the day White is put to death in order to spread her ashes back in Chicago. "My sister wont be truly free until he's executed, until he pays his debt," Williams said. Garcia Glen White is pictured recently at the Texas prison where he has been housed ahead of his execution scheduled for Oct. 1, 2024, for the murders of identical twin 16-year-old sisters. Bonita, Annette and Bernette Edwards: Killed in triple murder Identical twin sisters Annette and Bernette Edwards knew they were living in a dangerous situation with their mother, who used crack cocaine and would allow questionable people into their apartment, according to court records. The day before they were all killed, the girls had turned 16 and begged their grandmother to let them come live with her, Harris County prosecutor Josh Reiss told USA TODAY. It's unclear why the girls were still in their mother's home the next day when White came over. He later told police in a confession that he and Bonita Edwards were using crack cocaine while the girls were in their room. He said he and Edwards got into a fight. "She reached for a knife, and I took the knife and stabbed her," White said, according to court records. "Some kids come out. I went into the bedroom after them ... I stabbed one in the bedroom and one in the living room The Edwards' bodies were found just a few weeks before Christmas. They were riddled with stab wounds in various states of undress, and strong evidence showed that Bernette had been sexually assaulted, court records show. Among the many disturbing details at the crime scene: A bloody sock was found under the Christmas tree. On top of White's eventual confession, his DNA was a 99.9999 % match to semen found on Bernette, who had a pink shirt wrapped around the back of her neck and through her mouth as a gag, court records show. USA TODAY was unable to find out more about the girls or their mother. The court records are 35 years old and limited, and the Edwards' family members haven't responded to requests for comment. But prosecutor Reiss said about their case: "Two dead 16-year-old girls kind of speak for themselves in terms of the savageness of these crimes." Bonita Edwards (center) is pictured with her identical twin daughters, Annette and Bernette Edwards. They were killed in a triple murder in their home in Houston in 1989. Hai Pham: A hard-working Vietnamese immigrant with a dream Hai Pham moved his wife and his four youngest children to the U.S. in September 1994. Nine months later, White killed him in the middle of the day in the convenience store where he worked while his 14-year-old son napped nearby, according to one of Pham's other sons, Hiep Pham. Hiep Pham told USA TODAY that his father had been teaching his children English even before they left Vietnam, and that his big dream was for his other grown children to eventually reunite with the family in the U.S., and for everyone to have successful careers. "My dad believed we would have a better life in the states," said Hiep Pham, who was just 17 when his father was killed and is now a 47-year-old Houston salesman with a daughter of his own. "But that whole dream was just went down the drain." Hai Pham is pictured behind the bulletproof glass of the convenience store where he was working when he was beaten to death in 1995. As Hiep Pham grew up in Houston without his dad, struggling to learn English, dropping out of school to work two jobs and help put food on the table, he said he eventually realized how big of a deal Father's Day is here. It made him miss his own dad that much more. "I feel angry still," said Pham, fighting tears. "We never celebrated Father's Day for my dad. And I always dreamed of that, having a beer with my dad." If Hai Pham had lived, he would have been a grandfather of 12. His three oldest children remain in Vietnam while his four youngest have carved out their lives in the U.S. His wife no longer has a memory after a debilitating cancer fight. Like Williams, Pham plans to witness White's execution. "When I got the call (about the execution) I felt relief. I went back home and told my family during dinner that night: 'I don't know about y'all, but I'm going,'" he said. "It's hard to see somebody die, but I think its justice for my dad." This story was updated to correct the spelling of Garcia Glenn White. He is listed in prison and court records as Garcia Glen White but his attorney says that is incorrect, and USA TODAY obtained a handwritten letter in which White spelled his name as Glenn. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Families of Garcia Glenn White's 5 killings welcome Texas execution What time is the vice presidential debate on Tuesday? How to watch JD Vance and Tim Walz The two vice presidential nominees, Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, are set to square off on the debate stage for the first time tomorrow evening, Tuesday, Oct. 1. The VP debate comes weeks after multiple threats in Springfield, OH stemming from false rumors mentioned by former President Donald Trump at the Sept. 10 debate. This is likely to be the last debate before election day on Nov. 5. Here's how to watch the debate: What time does the VP debate start? The vice presidential debate is slate to begin at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Oct. 1. What channel is the the VP debate on? CBS News will be hosting the debate, broadcasting on CBS channels as well as livestreaming on all platforms where CBS News 24/7 and Paramount+ are available. The debate will also be made available to simulcast, CBS announced. VP debate: 6 important things to watch as Tim Walz, JD Vance square off Where will the Oct. 1 vice presidential debate be held? The debate is scheduled to take place at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City. Who's moderating the Oct. 1 vice president debate? The debate will be moderated by "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell and "Face the Nation" moderator and CBS News foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan, the network announced. Will there be another presidential debate? Former President Donald Trump declined a CNN invitation to debate Vice President Kamala Harris for a second time on Oct. 23, less than two weeks before Election Day. This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: VP debate date, time, channel: What you need to know to watch live U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, now the GOP nominee for vice president, speaks to reporters in the spin room following the CNN Presidential Debate. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) I find no need to defend my wife from J.D. Vances gasbaggery. Shes plenty capable of that herself. Truth be told, with an MBA, careers in network television and banking and 31 years of motherhood under her belt, Vance would be overmatched. In Vances view, for the first 23 years of our marriage, my wife was a second-class citizen as a childless woman. Whether her inferiority was a matter of an unoccupied uterus or the fact she actually has one to date remains unclear in the ramblings of the Ohio senator and vice presidential candidate. So I wonder, when our adopted son arrived one glorious March morning, did my wifes status change in Vances eyes and the eyes of those who believe an increased birth rate (currently decreasing) is necessary for the nations salvation? Did she then become a full-fledged citizen? Was that enough? I ask only because, while extolling the virtues of motherhood, Vance does not include stepmothers, which makes one wonder if he also declines to recognize adoptive ones. Others have taken up the same cudgel, such as Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders as she berated Vice President Kamala Harris, a stepmother, apparently in lieu of any substantive discussion of political issues. (Pro tip for Sanders and others mispronouncing Harris name: That may be part of your playbook, but, outside your own echo chamber, disrespect, immaturity or ignorance come to mind.) Finally, as a male without a medical degree in gynecology or obstetrics, obviously I have no frame of reference nor the appropriate plumbing to speak for a woman when reproduction is the subject, or any subject for that matter. They can speak for themselves. None of which has deterred legions of men in the U.S. Congress, state legislatures, governors offices and campaign headquarters from making the female body their purview. Case in point: A Senate vote on Sept. 17 to invoke cloture and proceed to a measure that would have created a national law ensuring mothers-hoping-to-be access to in vitro fertilization treatments. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., eliminated an earlier provision and asked only whether treatments should be available nationally. Vance conveniently missed the vote. Nebraskas Pete Ricketts and Deb Fischer were among the 44 nays in the Senate, essentially blocking the bill, which required 60 votes. The percentage in the U.S. of couples using IVF is now at 2.5. That math works out to millions of Americans walking around whose births depended on IVF treatments. In Nebraska, where the latest data comes from 2021, the percentage was 1.7, or 409 children. Wait, we have irony: How important is the we-need-to-increase-the-birth-rate argument to you if youre voting against (or not bothering to vote on) access to IVF? However the 44 Senate nos want to spin their vote (or Vances no-show reasoning), asking us to believe they support IVF, but continue to vote against its access, tests the limits of incredulity. For some context, Vance has argued the following: That the country is being run by childless cat ladies. That the votes of couples with children should count more than those of couples without. That childless couples should pay more in taxes. That a solution to the rising costs of child care is grandparents. That we should make it easier for state law enforcement agencies to surveil pregnant women to determine if they are planning to leave the state for an abortion. His positions are selling like Edsels, prompting an attempt at political recalibration. Candidates backtracking when their chops get busted is de rigueur for political campaigns, the calculus falling somewhere between I was misquoted and You dont understand. Vance has recently thrown himself on the court of comedic opinion, pleading sarcasm, quipping and an insistence that he really doesnt hate childless cat ladies. Too late. Besides, dissing single, childless women, childless couples, stepmothers or anyone outside the narrow view of Vances sphere of reproductive acceptability is a swipe at all women. Until we start singling out unmarried men (with or without pets) without offspring the way we do their female counterparts, J.D. Vance, et al., have little standing and dubious credibility among women and men. So, no, I need not defend my wife nor any women whether they be single, married, childless, mothers, stepmothers, adoptive mothers, grandmothers or any combination thereof. They are capable of fiercely defending themselves and, Im sensing, tired of having others make decisions for them from mansplainers to lawmakers. Im also thinking that whatever patooty kicking and name taking they need to do now will just be a start. The real takedown happens in November. FILE- Supporters assemble to welcome top Kashmiri separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, center, as he arrives to offer Friday prayers outside the Jamia Masjid or Grand Mosque in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Sept. 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan, File) SRINAGAR, India (AP) Ahead of the final phase of a local election in Indian-controlled Kashmir, a key resistance leader says the regional polls to choose a local government will not resolve the decades-old conflict that is at the heart of a dispute between New Delhi and Pakistan. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who has spent most of the last five years under house detention, said the polls are being held as political voices contesting Indias sovereignty over the region remain silenced after Prime Minister Narendra Modis Hindu nationalist government stripped the region of its long-held semi-autonomy in 2019. The detained leader said in a phone interview with The Associated Press that the election, touted by the Modi government as a festival of democracy in the region, cannot be an alternative to resolving the dispute. These elections cannot be the means to address the larger Kashmir issue, said Mirwaiz, who is also an influential Muslim cleric and custodian of the six-century-old grand mosque in the regions main Srinagar city, the urban heartland of anti-India sentiment. The multistage election, the last phase of which is being held Tuesday, will allow Kashmir to have its own truncated government and a regional legislature with limited powers. It is the first such vote in a decade and the first since 2019, when New Delhi downgraded and divided the former state into two centrally governed union territories Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir both ruled directly by New Delhi through unelected bureaucrats. Authorities have said the election will bring democracy to the region after more than three decades of strife, but many locals see the vote as an opportunity not only to elect their own representatives but also to register their protest against the 2019 changes they fear could dilute the regions demographics. Indias clampdown following the 2019 move has silenced people in the region who feel dispossessed and disempowered, Mirwaiz said. You may not see active turmoil like before 2019 but there is a strong, latent public resistance to all this, he said. We have been forcibly silenced, but silence is not agreement. Indias sudden move, which largely resonated in India and among Modi supporters, was mostly opposed in Kashmir as an assault on its identity and autonomy. Fearing unrest, authorities detained Mirwaiz and thousands of other political activists, including Kashmiri pro-India leaders who objected to Indias move, amid an unprecedented security clampdown and a total communication blackout in the region. The region has since been on edge, with civil liberties curbed and media gagged. Mirwaiz heads the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella grouping that espouses the right to self-determination for the entire region, which is divided between India and Pakistan. According to Mirwaiz, the crackdown has restricted his groups access to people and shrunk its space and scope for proactive involvement like before. The massive assault has considerably weakened the organizational strength of the Hurriyat, but not its resolve, he said. India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, and both countries control parts of the Himalayan territory divided by a heavily militarized frontier. After their first war in 1947, a United Nations referendum a year later gave Kashmir the choice of joining either Pakistan or India, but it never happened. The part of Kashmir controlled by India was granted semi-autonomy and special privileges in exchange for accepting Indian rule. However, Kashmiri discontent with India soon began taking root as successive Indian governments started chipping away at that pact. Local governments were toppled and largely peaceful anti-India movements were harshly suppressed. In the mid-1980s, an election that was widely believed to have been rigged led to public backlash and an armed uprising. Since then, rebels have been fighting in the Indian-controlled part for a united Kashmir, either under Pakistani rule or independent of both. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels goal. India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict. Mirwaiz's group believes only talks between India, Pakistan and the regions people can end the conflict. In the past, he has held several rounds of talks with both New Delhi and Islamabad leaders, including their heads of government. However, under Modi, India has shifted its Kashmir policy and stopped engaging with the regions pro-freedom leaders, including Mirwaiz. Previous elections in the region have been marred by violence, boycotts and vote-rigging, even though India called them a victory over separatism. This time, the pro-freedom groups, largely incapacitated with most of their leaders jailed, have issued no calls for boycotts. They also did not boycott Indias recent general election. Instead, some lower-ranking activists, who in the past dismissed voting as illegitimate under military occupation, are running for office as independent candidates. Boycott was the democratic means to express anger, reject this projection and draw attention towards the unsolved issue (of Kashmir), Mirwaiz said. But Indias crackdown has left people powerless and disempowered and in such a scenario a poll boycott cannot work anymore." Mirwaiz has distanced himself from the election, but said it had been engineered in favor of Modis Hindu nationalist politics before it started on Sept. 18. He cited the governments July amendment to legislation that gives sweeping executive powers to the federally appointed administrator even after a new local government comes to power in the region. He also referred to the redrawing of assembly districts in 2022 as electoral gerrymandering, an act that gave more electoral representation to the Hindu-dominated Jammu areas over the regions overwhelmingly Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley. Mirwaiz, however, hoped Kashmiri groups, including pro-India parties, would jointly seek a resolution of the conflict. He expressed his willingness to engage in talks with India but warned that the election should not be seen as public acceptance of New Delhis changes in the region. Public participation in the election, Mirwaiz said, is a release of their pent-up emotions and a means to oppose these disempowering and dispossessing measures, besides hoping to get some relief and redressal for their bread and butter issues. WABAUNSEE COUNTY (KSNT) A 64-year-old Topeka woman was seriously injured after a crash on I-70 on Sunday. At 7:34 p.m., the 61-year-old womans 2011 Honda CR-V was disabled with no power and was partially in the road. An 18-year-old man from Chester, NE was driving a Ford Fusion east on I-70 and didnt see the disabled vehicle. The 18-year-old crashed into the Honda CR-V, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol crash log. The 64-year-old was taken to an area hospital for treatment of serious injuries. The 18-year-old had suspected minor injuries. Both drivers were wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash, according to the KHP. How to get a Kansas wildlife license plate For more Kansas Outdoors, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Conservative MP Alex Burghart said it was his partys job to champion the four UK nations [Getty Images] The shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland has accused Labour of being nervous when it comes to advocating for the union. Last week, the Labour government said a border poll was not a priority for it. But on Sunday, the Conservative MP Alex Burghart said it was his partys job to champion the four UK nations. If we give the separatists an inch, they will take a mile, he told party members during a panel debate on the future of the union at the Conservative party conference. This is the partys first conference since the general election, which saw them suffer major electoral defeats and fall to 121 seats in the Commons. 'Soft touch' Burghart was appointed shadow secretary of state in July by the outgoing Conservative leader Rishi Sunak. He referenced Sinn Feins recent ard fheis (annual conference) on Saturday, where party President Mary Lou McDonald said she would appoint a minister for reunification if Sinn Fein gets into government in the Republic of Ireland. And Burghart pointed to comments by former Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Leo Varadkar last week, who said that Irish unity must be an "objective", not an "aspiration" for whoever is in charge after the next Irish election. This is obviously the nationalist parties thinking Labour might be a soft touch, Burghart said on Sunday. The truth is Labour is much more nervous of being an open advocate for the union. Toxic chemicals from Ohio train derailment lingered in buildings for months heres what our investigation found in East Palestine On Feb. 3, 2023, a train carrying chemicals jumped the tracks in East Palestine, Ohio, rupturing railcars filled with hazardous materials and fueling chemical fires at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. The disaster drew global attention as the governors of Ohio and Pennsylvania urged evacuations for a mile around the site. Flames and smoke billowed from burning chemicals, and an acrid odor radiated from the derailment area as chemicals entered the air and spilled into a nearby creek. Three days later, at the urging of the rail company, Norfolk Southern, about 1 million pounds of vinyl chloride, a chemical that can be toxic to humans at high doses, was released from the damaged train cars and set aflame. Federal investigators later concluded that the open burn and the black mushroom cloud it produced were unnecessary, but it was too late. Railcar chemicals spread into Ohio and Pennsylvania. The scene after a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3, 2023. AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar As an environmental engineers, I and my colleagues are often asked to assist with public health decisions after disasters by government agencies and communities. After the evacuation order was lifted, community members asked for help. In a new study, we describe the contamination we found, along with problems with the response and cleanup that, in some cases, increased the chances that people would be exposed to hazardous chemicals. It offers important lessons to better protect communities in the future. How chemicals get into homes and water When large amounts of chemicals are released into the environment, the air can become toxic. Chemicals can also wash into waterways and seep into the ground, contaminating groundwater and wells. Some chemicals can travel below ground into nearby buildings and make the indoor air unsafe. A computer model shows how chemicals from the train may have spread, given wind patterns. The star on the Ohio-Pennsylvania line is the site of the derailment. Click the image for a larger version. Andrew Whelton/Purdue University, CC BY-ND Air pollution can find its way into buildings through cracks, windows, doors and other portals. Once inside, the chemicals can penetrate home items like carpets, drapes, furniture, counters and clothing. When the air is stirred up, those chemicals can be released again. Evacuation order lifted, but buildings were contaminated Three weeks after the derailment, we began investigating the safety of the area near 17 buildings in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The highest concentration of air pollution occurred in the 1-mile evacuation zone and a shelter-in-place band another mile beyond that. But the chemical plume also traveled outside these areas. In and outside East Palestine, evidence indicated that chemicals from the railcars had entered buildings. Many residents complained about headaches, rashes and other health symptoms after reentering the buildings. A rail company contractor air testing report dated 11 days after the derailment noted a strong odor but said the handheld air testing device did not detect chemicals. Andrew Whelton/Purdue University, CC BY-ND At one building 0.2 miles away from the derailment site, the indoor air was still contaminated more than four months later. Nine days after the derailment, sophisticated air testing by a business owner showed the buildings indoor air was contaminated with butyl acrylate and other chemicals carried by the railcars. Butyl acrylate was found above the two-week exposure level, a level at which measures should be taken to protect human health. When rail company contractors visited the building 11 days after the wreck, their team left after just 10 minutes. They reported an overwhelming/unpleasent odor even though their government-approved handheld air pollution detectors detected no chemicals. This building was located directly above Sulphur Run creek, which had been heavily contaminated by the spill. Chemicals likely entered from the initial smoke plumes and also rose from the creek into the building. Our tests weeks later revealed that railcar chemicals had even penetrated the businesss silicone wristband products on its shelves. We also detected several other chemicals that may have been associated with the spill. Weeks after the derailment, government officials discovered that air in the East Palestine Municipal Building, about 0.7 miles away from the derailment site, was also contaminated. Airborne chemicals had entered that building through an open drain pipe from Sulphur Run. More than a month after the evacuation order was lifted, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged that multiple buildings in East Palestine were being contaminated as contractors cleaned contaminated culverts under and alongside buildings. Chemicals were entering the buildings. Contaminated water can cause contaminated air The creek that flowed through town became heavily contaminated by the spill. More than 43,000 fish died downstream, and chemicals traveled 270 miles (435 kilometers) down the Ohio River. As tainted water flowed downstream, light chemicals like butyl acrylate naturally left the creek and entered the air by a process called volatilization. Equipment installed at various points along contaminated creeks to aerate the water ended up releasing chemicals into the air. Andrew Whelton/Purdue University, CC BY-ND Unnaturally however, the equipment used for cleaning the creeks also transferred chemicals from the water into the air. Residents near aeration equipment, which injects air into water, in part to help fish survive, complained of odors entering their homes and experiencing health problems. Our study shows the chemicals in the air may have been up to 2 to 25 times higher near these aerators. Over the four-month study period, rain and the actions of contractors increasing and decreasing water flow also stirred up the creeks, releasing more chemicals into the air. Steps to protect public health in future disasters As with past disasters, what happened in East Palestine offers many lessons for communities. One of the most important is for communities to demand an exposure pathway diagram immediately after a chemical incident occurs. An illustration can help the community recognize potential threats, whether from the air or from culverts beneath their buildings, and see where testing and guidance are needed. A diagram illustrates chemical exposure pathways in East Palestine. Visualizing these risks can help residents and communities figure out how to respond. Click image to expand. Andrew Whelton/Purdue University, CC BY-ND Monitoring the health of people exposed to the chemicals is also crucial. Because so many people became ill in and around East Palestine, and because testing overseen by government agencies did not pinpoint the exact conditions responsible for the illnesses, we recommend long-term medical monitoring for those affected. People closest to the disaster site those who lived in, worked in or visited buildings that became contaminated likely experienced the greatest exposures. Railroad workers, government workers, cleanup workers, visitors and residents in Ohio and Pennsylvania were among those reporting health problems. Norfolk Southern and one contractor were cited for failing to protect workers from exposure. Indoor building contamination can be a long-term problem. Just like with wildfire smoke, affected buildings need to be professionally cleaned because the chemicals can remain for months. Building exteriors also need to be decontaminated. Chemicals may continue to release from surfaces into the air. A sheen from the chemical spill was still evident on a creek in East Palestine on March 24, 2023, more than a month after the derailment. Andrew Whelton/Purdue University, CC BY-ND There is also a need for better methods and evidence-based policies to rapidly identify chemical exposures. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, months after approving the use of handheld air testing devices to screen homes, determined that those chemical detectors could not have reliably alerted to butyl acrylate at all levels that can cause health problems. Not all the chemicals spilled were monitored for in buildings. For complex disasters, we recommend calling in experts from outside the responding agencies and companies involved to provide the needed specialized expertise. 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: Andrew J. Whelton, Purdue University Read more: Andrew J. Whelton receives funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, City of Louisville, Paradise Irrigation District, Paradise Rotary Foundation, the Water Research Foundation, the Open Collective, and crowdfunding. Republican State Auditor Josh Gallion, left, and Democrat Tim Lamb will face off in the state auditor race in November. (Photos provided) For North Dakotas two state auditor candidates, this race is all about transparency and accessibility. The State Auditors Office is in charge of providing auditing, accounting and financial services to state agencies and local governments. Its main job is to see whether the government is complying with financial regulations. Incumbent Josh Gallion, a Republican, and Democratic-NPL challenger Tim Lamb will face off on the ballot Nov. 5. More North Dakota Monitor election coverage Gallion was first elected to the office in 2016. He ran against Libertarian Roland Riemers in the general election, and came away with about 77% of the vote. He was reelected in 2020, winning roughly 68% of the vote against Democratic-NPL candidate Patrick Hart. Before becoming auditor, Gallion spent five years in the Air Force. His job was to coordinate deployments, he said which involved, among other things, making sure people had the proper qualifications and all the necessary documentation on file for wherever they were going. I love the structure, I love the discipline, the organization, he said. He also previously worked for the North Dakota Public Service Commission and the Department of Transportation. The State Auditors Office has modernized under his leadership, Gallion said including digitizing state records that previously only existed on paper, updating technology and making it easier for employees to work remotely. His office has also focused on making audit reports more digestible to the general public, said Gallion. I want to make sure that we are putting out audit reports that when people pick them up, they can understand what it is that we found, he said. Another priority has been relaxing audit requirements for small local governments. During the 2023 session, his office supported a bill that allowed local governments with less than $2 million in annual revenues to no longer pay for an audit every two years. Instead, they undergo a simpler financial review. Previously, that annual revenue ceiling was $750,000. Lamb, an attorney from Grand Forks, said North Dakotas Republican-dominated government stands in the way of the state truly being transparent and accountable to its people. Everythings governed by one party, and its kind of led to a lot of corruption in government, he said. Lamb formerly ran as the Democratic-NPL candidate for attorney general in 2022. He received about 29% of the vote, losing to Republican Drew Wrigley. Like Gallion, Lamb also has a military background, serving in the U.S. Army for more than 20 years and retiring at the rank of major. He said his experience in the military has made him an effective leader with strong attention to detail. In my experience in the Army being a major, and particularly being a captain overseas, and being in staff positions, I understand how organizations work, he said. Lamb formed a nonprofit consulting business to help the Grand Forks community recover in the wake of the Red River flood of 1997. One of the organizations accomplishments was helping to develop a $20 million housing project, according to Lambs resume. He went on to earn his law degree from the University of North Dakota and is now a private practice attorney. Lamb argued his opponent does not have the trust of North Dakota residents. He pointed to concerns about local government audit costs that spurred the Legislature in 2023 to order a performance audit of the State Auditors Office. Gallion has called the performance audit unnecessary, and said his office is already routinely evaluated on both its performance and its financial statements. He said his administration has also worked hard to correct concerns voiced by local governments. The Auditors Office now provides cost estimates before any client signs onto an assessment. The proposals also include not-to-exceed clauses, meaning clients must agree before any costs change. Lamb also drew attention to a video posted to Facebook which showed Gallion in his office announcing his endorsement of three Republican District 30 candidates ahead of the primary election. I wouldnt use the office to endorse other candidates, Lamb said. Gallion said that the video was erroneously posted by the District 30 candidates campaigns and quickly removed. That should have never been put online, he said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX As troops mass, Hezbollah says it's ready for any Israeli invasion of Lebanon BEIRUT Hezbollah fighters are primed to confront any Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon, the group's deputy leader, Naim Qassem, said on Monday in his first public remarks since Israeli airstrikes killed its veteran chief Hassan Nasrallah last week. "We will face any possibility and we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land, and the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement," he said in an address from an undisclosed location. He was speaking as Israeli airstrikes on targets in Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon continued, extending a two-week-long wave of attacks that has eliminated several Hezbollah commanders but also killed about 1,000 Lebanese and forced 1 million people to flee their homes, according to the Lebanese government. Nasrallah's killing, along with the series of blows against the organization's communications devices and assassination of other senior commanders, constitute the biggest blow to the organization since Iran created it in 1982 to fight Israel. More: Hezbollah leader Nasrallah dies in Israeli strike, upending region He had built it up into Lebanon's most powerful military and political force, with wide sway across the Middle East. Now Hezbollah faces the challenge of replacing a charismatic, towering leader who was a hero to supporters because he stood up to Israel even though the West branded him a terrorist mastermind. "We will choose a secretary-general for the party at the earliest opportunity ... and we will fill the leadership and positions on a permanent basis," Qassem said. Qassem said Hezbollah's fighters had continued to fire rockets as deep as 93 miles into Israeli territory. More: President Biden says Hassan Nasrallah's death 'measure of justice' for the victims "What we are doing is the bare minimum. ... We know that the battle may be long," he said. "We will win as we won in the liberation of 2006 in the face of the Israeli enemy," he added, referring to the last big conflict between the two foes. Israel says it will do whatever it takes to return its citizens to evacuated communities on its northern border safely. It has not ruled out a ground invasion, and its troops have been training for it. The elimination of Nasrallah is an important step, but it is not the final one. In order to ensure the return of Israels northern communities, we will employ all of our capabilities, and this includes you," Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops deployed to the country's northern border. More: Israeli charged in Iranian plot to kill Benjamin Netanyahu, officials say Ghada Fawaz, who is hosting displaced people who fled from southern Lebanon, stands next to one of the displaced residing in the building, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Aramoun, Lebanon September 27, 2024. Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Monday that his government was ready to fully implement a U.N. resolution that had aimed to end Hezbollah's armed presence south of the Litani River as part of an agreement to stop the war with Israel. Mikati said the Lebanese army could deploy south of the river, which lies less than 20 miles from the country's southern border. Other militants hit Hours before Hezbollah's Qassem spoke, the Palestinian militant group Hamas said an Israeli airstrike killed its leader in Lebanon, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, along with his wife, son and daughter, in the southern city of Tyre. Another Palestinian organisation said three of its leaders died in a strike in central Beirut, the first such hit inside the capital's limits. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said its leaders were killed in a strike on Beirut's Kola district. Reuters witnesses said the strike hit the upper floor of an apartment building. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. The wave of Israeli attacks on militant targets in Lebanon are part of a conflict also stretching from the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the occupied West Bank, to Yemen, Iraq and within Israel itself. Multiple fronts The latest actions indicated Israel has no intention of slowing down its offensive even after eliminating Nasrallah, who was Iran's most powerful ally in its "Axis of Resistance" against Israeli and U.S. influence in the region. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said Tehran would not let any of Israel's "criminal acts" go unanswered. He was referring to the killing of Nasrallah and an Iranian Revolutionary Guard deputy commander, Brig. Gen. Abbas Nilforoushan, who died in the same strikes Friday. Russia said Nasrallah's death had led to a serious destabilisation in the broader region. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the bombing of residential areas in Lebanon had caused heavy casualties and would create a humanitarian catastrophe akin to the one in Gaza, where tens of thousands of people have died in the war between Israel and Hezbollah's ally Hamas. The death toll from an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese town of Ain Deleb has risen to 45, Lebanon's health ministry said Monday. Twelve people were killed and 20 wounded in an Israeli strike on the northeastern town of Hermel, it said. Six medics were killed in an Israeli strike on the Bekaa town of Sohmor. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hezbollah braces for possible Israeli invasion of Lebanon Donald Trump is seemingly setting the stage to contest a potential loss in November by blustering about the elections legitimacy and portraying the other party as a bunch of cheaters on the campaign trail. Ranting loudly and incoherently about stolen elections is not a new tactic for the former presidentfamously, he did it so much in 2020 that it triggered an attempted insurrection by his supporters. Nor has it been absent from the 2024 campaign trail, with Trump repeatedly refusing to commit to accepting the election result. If we dont win, you know, it depends, he replied when prodded by Time in April. It always depends on the fairness of the election. He has only escalated his feints at questioning the integrity of the election in recent weeks. On Sunday, with 36 days to go until Nov. 5, Trump dedicated part of a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, to mouthing off about Democratic officials and election workers in the area. If they didnt cheat I wouldnt even be here todayyou know why? I wouldnt have to campaign. Im here only because they cheat, he told a whistling crowd. And they cheat in this state. Especially in Philadelphia Philadelphia is out of control. Detroit is out of control. Atlanta is out of control. Places are out of control. Out of control. A sign highlights efforts to sign up voters at the Bayfront Convention Center before a campaign rally for Donald Trump in Erie, Pennsylvania. Jeff Swensen/Getty Images If God came down from on high and said, Im going to be your vote tabulator for this election, I would leave this podium right now because I wouldnt have to speak, he added. We wouldnt have any problem. We have to have a landslide because they cheat so damn much. Election officials from both parties, academic experts, and a voter data expert hired by the Trump campaign have all unequivocally agreed that there is no evidence to support the claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, nor that the few fraudulent votes cast overhauled the race for Democratic candidates. That hasnt kept Trumps allies from worrying. Republicans have already filed more than 100 lawsuits challenging various aspects of the electoral system, the Associated Press reported earlier this month. The Republican National Convention, which is now led by Michael Whatley, a close ally, and Lara Trump, the former presidents daughter-in-law, has stoked fears surrounding the election by announcing earlier this year that it was building the most extensive and monumental election integrity program in the nation's history. Supporters celebrate the arrival of Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania. Jeff Swensen/Getty Images But the churning heart of the Republican Partys election-denial engine has always been Trump himself. Speaking in Michigan on Friday, he regurgitated a favorite talking point about the Biden administration busing in criminals from Venezuela to cast votes. The baseless claim went thusly: Like in Caracas, Venezuela, the criminals have all been brought to the United States. Their crime rate is down in Caracas. In fact, I suggest if I loseIll tell you what, its possible because they cheat. Thats the only way were gonna lose, because they cheat. They cheat like hell. Cue crowd cheers. A few days earlier, hed logged onto Truth Social to once again raise the alarm. The Democrats are talking about how theyre working os [sic] hard to get millions of votes from Americans living overseas, he blared. Actually, they are getting ready to CHEAT! Trump went on in the post to criticize voting by mail, a medium hes long despised. He then shook a finger at the ghostly apparition of the fraudulent voter who apparently stands in the corner of his Mar-a-Lago bedroom at night. Remember, IF YOU VOTE ILLEGALLY, YOURE GOING TO JAIL. Earlier this month, he warned an audience of North Carolina police officers to remain vigilant for signs of voter fraud this fall. Watch for the voter fraud, because we win without voter fraud, Trump said, according to Mediaite. Former President Donald Trump poses for a picture with a supporter during a town hall event in Warren, Michigan. JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images We win so easily. Hopefully, were going to win anyway. But we want to keep it down. And you can keep it down just by watching because, believe it or not, theyre afraid of that badge. Theyre afraid of you people. From the campaign trail, his paranoia has wafted back to Washington, D.C., pervading the far reaches of Capitol Hill. Earlier this week, Congress passed a short-term spending package to avert a government shutdown only after Republicans removed their proposal that Americans be required to show proof of citizenship to register to vote. Voting by non-citizens is already illegal in the United States, and studies have shown that the practice is exceedingly rare, according to Reuters. But the SAVE Act, as it was known, was a measure born of Trumps demands. If Republicans in the House, and Senate, don't get absolute assurances on Election Security, THEY SHOULD, IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, GO FORWARD WITH A CONTINUING RESOLUTION, he wrote on Truth Social in the days before the vote. After bringing the funding bill sans SAVE Act to the floor, House Speaker Mike Johnson bent over backwards to explain how he had taken Trumps feelings into account. Im not defying President Trump, he insisted, according to NBC News. Ive spoken with him at great length, and he is very frustrated about the situation. His concern is election security, and it is mine, as well. It is all of ours. 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. Trump calls for Harris to be 'impeached and prosecuted' at Pennsylvania rally With less than 40 days left until November's election, former President Donald Trump continues to escalate his personal attacks against Kamala Harris, calling for the vice president to be "impeached and prosecuted." Throughout his campaign rally speech in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, Trump said Harris should be disqualified from running for president, resign from office and be investigated at the highest level. "She should be disqualified. She should resign the vice presidency and go home to California," Trump told the cheering crowd while discussing the "invasion" at the U.S.-Mexico border. While criticizing the Biden-Harris administration's immigration policies, Trump baselessly called for the Vice President to be impeached. "She should be impeached and prosecuted for her actions," he said. MORE: Harris to criticize Trump in her 1st visit to border in more than 3 years Trump has a long history of threatening legal action against his political rivals, including President Joe Biden, and Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the 2016 election. Now, as he faces his own set of legal battles, the former president is again calling for investigations into his new opponent, Vice President Harris, over policies he disagrees with, attempting to blame her for the deaths of people killed by undocumented immigrants. Harris visited the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday, her first trip there in more than three years. Delivering a speech in Douglas, Arizona, a border town in the critical battleground state, Harris called for tougher security measures and criticized Trump for his role earlier this year in tanking a bipartisan bill that was the result of months of negotiations. PHOTO: Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives to speak at a rally at 1st Summit Arena at the Cambria County War Memorial in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Aug. 30, 2024. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images) Harris' trip and Trump's continued comments on border security come as immigration continues to be a top issue for many voters ahead of the election. A recent ABC News/Ipsos poll found that 70% viewed immigration at the southern border as an "important" issue for them, and Trump led Harris by 10 points on who voters thought was best suited to handle it. However, as his Republican allies push for Trump to focus on the issues rather than attacking Harris, Trumps rhetoric in recent days has become more extreme. Trump's personal attacks on Harris Sunday echoed similar remarks from his rally on Saturday, where he called the vice president "mentally disabled." MORE: Harris, in first interview, addresses policy shifts, border and Trump's attacks "Crooked Joe became mentally impaired. Sad. But lying Kamala Harris, honestly, I believe she was born that way. There's something wrong with Kamala, and I just don't know what it is, but there is definitely something missing," Trump said. Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who is helping Sen. JD Vance with debate the vice presidential debate preparations, didnt go as far as to rebuke Trumps comments when pressed by ABC Newss Martha Raddatz; however, he did ultimately concede, "I think we should stick to the issues. Editor's note: This story has been updated. Trump calls for Harris to be 'impeached and prosecuted' at Pennsylvania rally originally appeared on abcnews.go.com An irate, bumbling former president Donald Trump posted an indignant broadside Sunday asserting that Vice President Kamala Harris should be impeached, prosecuted, or both over U.S. immigration policy. But his withering attack made reference to data released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which, according to the Department of Homeland Security, is being misinterpreted. Trump Floats a Plan to End Crime Which Is Basically The Purge The oft-misleading, oft-misinformed Republican nominee for president, taking to his Truth Social site, also blamed the Fake News Media for supposedly not covering the issue, which isnt true. What Comrade Kamala Harris has done to our Country at the Border by allowing 13,099 murderers to roam openly, and be free to kill, is The Crime of the Century, he wrote in his post. They have already killed many people, and this is just the beginning. She should be IMPEACHED, PROSECUTED, or BOTH. The all-caps fury contrasted against a seemingly much lower-energy Trump, who used essentially the same talking pointShe should be impeached and prosecuted for her actionsat a rally in Pennsylvania Sunday evening. He claimed, with no basis, that murderous migrants are killing people and then wake up the next morning with no memory of doing so. Its just like a routine part of life, Trump said of his imagined scenario of killers who forget their killings. Meanwhile, the basis for Trumps screed and rambling are misconstrued falsehoods. Trumps claim that Harris allowed 13,099 murderers to roam openly, and be free to kill references data released by ICE in a letter to a GOP congressman last week that said there were over 400,000 convicted criminals on the non-detained docket in the U.S. as of July, including 13,099 with homicide convictions. That data, however, covers the last 40 years and includes the time when Trump was president. The data in this letter is being misinterpreted, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which is in charge of ICE, told CNN. The data goes back decades; it includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more, the vast majority of whose custody determination was made long before this Administration. It also includes many who are under the jurisdiction or currently incarcerated by federal, state or local law enforcement partners. In other words, many of those in the data may have entered the U.S. decades ago, some may be in prison, and some may have entered while Trump was in charge. Trumps claim that the media isnt covering the issue is also falsein addition to CNN, the Associated Press, NBC News, and The Washington Post were among the outlets that covered the data, each noting ICEs clarification that it covers decades. 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. Hurricane Helene has devastated much of the American Southeast, and yet Donald Trump thinks its a good time to push a new conspiracy theory against Democrats. The former president posted a long message on Truth Social Monday that he was headed to Georgia to pay my respects and bring lots of relief material, including fuel, equipment, water, and other things, to the State. But he added an unproven accusation to the end of that message, claiming that he received reports of the Federal Government, and the Democrat Governor of [North Carolina], going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas. Trump didnt elaborate on where these reports were coming from, which dont seem to have any factual basis. Much of North Carolina votes Republican, so it would be near impossible for any relief efforts to occur that would neglect conservatives. Roy Cooper, the states Democratic governor since 2017, has deployed the National Guard and undertaken statewide efforts to help those affected by the hurricane, which has hit his state hardest, killing nearly 50 people and leaving hundreds of thousands of homes without power. President Biden has pledged every available resource, as fast as possible, to your communities, to rescue, recover, and to begin rebuilding, and even plans to visit communities affected by the hurricane later this week. On Sunday, Biden approved disaster declarations for both Florida and North Carolina, which allows immediate access to emergency funds for recovery efforts. Trump is clearly attempting to play politics with a natural disaster in a state where Kamala Harris is polling neck and neck with him. Its a disturbing and familiar move for the former president, who, while in office, sought to withhold federal help from areas where people didnt support him. As president, Trump deliberately downplayed the damage from wildfires in Oregon and California, and said he didnt want another single dollar going to [Puerto Rico], even as the U.S. territory struggled to recover from Hurricane Maria. Perhaps he doesnt think the public remembers how he handled those disasters and thinks projecting his old actions onto Biden, Harris, and the rest of the Democrats is a winning strategy. In any case, it does nothing to help people trying to recover from Hurricane Helene. Former President Donald Trump is making Hurricane Helene into a campaign issue, planning a stop in storm-ravaged, battleground Georgia on Monday and criticizing the Biden administrations response with just weeks left until the November election. During a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, Trump accused President Joe Biden of sleeping at his beach house in Delaware and dragged Vice President Kamala Harris for holding fundraising events in California over the weekend when big parts of our country have been devastated by that massive hurricane. At least 84 people have been killed from Hurricane Helene, according to The Associated Press. The storm made landfall in Florida late Thursday, then moved into the interior Southeast, across the Southern Appalachians and into the Tennessee Valley. It caused millions of power outages and billions of dollars in property damage, with two electoral swing states Georgia and North Carolina among the most affected. The Trump campaign announced shortly after he left the stage at his rally that the former president planned to receive a briefing about Helene in Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday, and then distribute relief supplies and speak with reporters. Onstage, the Republican nominee said that Harris ought to be down in the area where the storm hit. Later Sunday, Biden told Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell that he planned to visit impacted communities this week, as soon as it will not disrupt emergency response operations. And a White House official added that Harris, too, will go "as soon as it is possible" to do so without being disruptive. Harris has been briefed by Criswell, according to the White House, and Biden has approved disaster declarations for numerous states and major disaster declarations for certain counties that will help provide temporary housing assistance, as well as grants and low-interest loans to help people with home repairs. Both urged the public to take the storm seriously ahead of landfall. Harris released a statement expressing her condolences on Saturday and said she and the president remain committed to ensuring that no community or state has to respond to this disaster alone. Biden released a similar statement and cautioned that the road to recovery will be long but vowed to be with you every step of the way and to make certain that no resource is spared in rebuilding. Harris opened her own Sunday night campaign rally in Las Vegas with an acknowledgment of the disaster. I know that everyone here sends their thoughts and prayers for the folks who have been so devastated by that hurricane and the ensuing events, in Florida, in Georgia, the Carolinas, and other impacted states," she said. Biden was at his beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, over the weekend, where he received briefings about Helenes devastation from Criswell and Homeland Security Adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall, according to the White House pool report. He urged the agencies to speed up the deployment of search and rescue teams into North Carolina, where people are stranded without cell service or electricity. Biden returned to the White House Sunday afternoon. How elected officials respond to natural disasters and other similar crises can make or break their political futures as well as give them opportunities to show leadership or unity. A post-election autopsy from Trumps 2020 campaign pollster, for instance, blamed his handling of the Covid pandemic as key in his loss to Biden. In the wake of Hurricane Maria in 2017, Trump received backlash as president following a visit to Puerto Rico, when he threw paper towels into a crowd of people at a relief center. The island territory struggled to get access to power for weeks, and Trump got in a high-profile fight with the mayor of San Juan whod criticized the federal response. Trump first built up his trip to the Helene-affected areas in a post on Truth Social on Sunday by wondering aloud why Harris was attending fundraisers in San Francisco and Los Angeles when big parts of our country are devastated and under water with many people dead. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris running mate, posted on X shortly after Trumps rally that hurricane victims were on my mind and praised first responders. He added that my heart breaks to see the devastation in Asheville, North Carolina where hed been campaigning a week earlier and across the south. Officials in Buncombe County, home to Asheville, said Sunday at least 30 people had died there. During Sundays rally Trump revisited many of his favorite criticisms against his adversaries, including invoking deeply personal attacks toward Biden and Harris, calling them both mentally impaired. He said Democrats would have been better off with Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee, even though she though she is running significantly stronger in the polls against Trump, and played a video at his rally that mocked Harris laughter and revisited her past positions on illegal immigration. The comments came even as many Republicans have urged Trump to focus on key issues in the final weeks before Election Day and with early voting underway in some states. Biden has previously appeared with political adversaries following natural disasters, including touring the devastation alongside Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after Hurricane Ian struck the state in 2022. The following year, after Idalia hit and DeSantis was running for the Republican nomination for president, he told the public that security measures for a presidential visit would be too disruptive to the recovery efforts. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) took the meeting with Biden instead. Scott, who is up for reelection in November and has been heavily involved in the storm response in Florida, on Friday criticized Harris for not being on the ground, before Trump had announced any plans to tour storm-torn areas. Harris campaign also hit Trump over the hurricane on social media, highlighting a clip from Sundays rally in which he mocked climate change. Criswell has been at press conferences alongside DeSantis in Florida over the weekend. She was in Georgia on Sunday and is scheduled to be in North Carolina on Monday. Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 The death toll after Hurricane Helene left a trail of destruction across the U.S. Southeast has reached at least 133 Donald Trump on Sunday called for one really violent day to address crime in America. Speaking at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, the former president falsely claimed that crime has gone through the roof and that the phenomenon was largely because of migrant crime. He then proposed a solution which sounded disturbingly similar to The Purgethe dystopian 2013 movie in which violence is legalized for a brief window as a means of addressing crimein which law enforcement would be temporarily permitted to get real rough. Trump Is Already Providing Clues to How He May Contest 2024 Election Trumpwho was convicted of 34 felony counts this yearsaid it wasnt just migrants contributing to the purported crimewave; he also complained about thieves targeting New York City drug stores, causing retailers to secure their products in glass cases. See, we have to let the police do their job, and if they have to be extraordinarily rough he said to applause. In explaining his thinking, Trump claimed that thieves feel safe committing crimes because law enforcement is being unduly restrained. You see these guys walking out with air conditioners, with refrigerators on their back, the craziest thing, and the police arent allowed to do their job, Trump said. Theyre told: If you do anything, youre gonna lose your pension, your gonna lose your family, your house, your car. The police want to do it, he continued. The Border Patrol wants to do itBorder Patrol, theyre incredible. They want to do it. Theyre not allowed to do it because the liberal left wont let them do it. The liberal left wants to destroy them and they want to destroy our country. It was at that point that the Republican nominee proposed a novel and terrifying way of cracking down on crime, which he characterized as one real rough nasty day. If you had one really violent day, Trump said. Like a guy like Mike Kelly, put him in charge, he said, gesturing to the Republican Pennsylvania congressman. Would you say, Mike, that if you were in charge, you would say, Oh, please dont touch them, dont touch them, let them rob your store? All these stores go out of business, right? They dont pay rent, the city doesnt haveits a chain of events. Its so bad, Trump added. One rough hourand I mean real roughthe word will get out, and it will end immediately. End immediately. 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 spoke at a furniture store in Hurricane Helene-ravaged Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday where he said the day wasn't about politics -- only to use the moment to continue to slam President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for what he claimed was a poor response. "As you know, our country is in the final weeks of a hard-fought national election. But in a time like this, when a crisis hits, when our fellow citizens cry out in need, none of that matters. We're not talking about politics now. We have to all get together and get this solved. We need a lot of help. They have to have a lot of help down here," Trump said of the Georgia community hit by the hurricane. But at the same time Trump suggested Biden and Harris weren't doing enough in the aftermath of the hurricane, which hit several states including Georgia and North Carolina -- two battlegrounds in the upcoming election. PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, speaks with press as he visits Chez What Furniture store which was damaged during Hurricane Helene, Sept. 30, 2024, in Valdosta, Ga. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) "They're being very nonresponsive," he said, claiming that they had failed to speak to Georgia's GOP Gov. Brian Kemp when Kemp said they had. MORE: Hundreds of miles from landfall, Hurricane Helene's 'apocalyptic' devastation unfolds "Let me get this straight -- hes lying," Biden shot back at a late afternoon storm briefing in the Oval Office when reporters asked about Trump's claim about the response. "I don't know why he does this, and the reason I get so angry about it -- I don't care about what he says about me, I care what he communicates to the people that are in need. He implies that we're not doing everything possible. We are. We are. PHOTO: President Joe Biden speaks about the Biden administration's efforts to aid in recovery from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene from the Oval Office of the White House, Sept. 30, 2024. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP) "So, it's simply not true. It's irresponsible," Biden said. The Trump campaign said it partnered with humanitarian aid nonprofit Samaritan's Purse to bring relief supplies to Georgia. A campaign official claimed it brought one gas tanker and two trucks full of supplies to Valdosta. During his remarks, the former president said, "We have a lot of truckloads of different items, from oil to water to all sorts of equipment that's going to help them." However, in a carefully curated statement, the campaign later said it had "partnered" with Samaritan's Purse, suggesting Trump didn't independently bring supplies, only partnered with the nonprofit already at the scene. "President Trump partnered with Samaritans Purse to provide truckloads of critical, much needed resources for the people of Georgia including fuel and construction supplies," Karoline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokesperson, said. The campaign did not respond to multiple questions asking to clarify what it meant by "partnered." Earlier Monday, Biden said he has directed his team to "provide every, every available resource as fast as possible" to the affected communities to help them rescue, recover and begin to rebuild. Then on Monday afternoon, Harris spoke at Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington, where she'd gone to get a briefing after canceling campaign events and flying back from Las Vegas. "I have received regular briefings on the impact of Hurricane Helene, including from Administrator Criswell," she told FEMA workers. "And over the past 24 hours, I have spoken with Governor Kemp of Georgia, Governor Cooper of North Carolina, and many local officials." She said she would visit when she wouldn't disrupt the response. "I have shared with them that we will do everything in our power to help communities respond and recover, and I have shared with them that I plan to be on the ground as soon as possible. But as soon as possible without disrupting any emergency response operations, because that must be the highest priority, and the first order of business," she said. Homeland Security Adviser Liz Sherwood Randall on Monday said there are currently 3,500 federal response personnel deployed and supporting response efforts across the region, and additional personnel is expected to arrive in the coming days. "Search and rescue efforts by state, local, and federal partners are ongoing, and nearly 600 additional personnel will arrive in the region in the coming days, increasing the total number of urban search and rescue personnel to over 1,250," she told reporters. PHOTO: An unidentified man paddles a canoe to rescue residents and their belongings at a flooded apartment complex after Hurricane Helene passed the area on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (Ron Harris/AP) FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are also getting generators ready to be deployed to states that request them. While communication remains a major challenge for the impacted area, Sherwood-Randall said, "FEMA will install 30 Starlink receivers in western North Carolina to provide immediate connectivity for those in greatest need." Biden, while returning home from the beach on Sunday, was adamant that his administration was doing everything possible to help the affected communities. Asked by ABC News is there are more resources the federal government could be giving, Biden responded, "no, we've given them." "We have pre-planned a significant amount, even though they didn't ask for it yet -- hadn't asked for it yet," Biden said Sunday. PHOTO: Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris takes part in a briefing on damage to North Carolina from Hurricane Helene, at Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) headquarters, in Washington, D.C., Sept. 30, 2024. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) "We are deploying food, water and generators, and working to restore state and local leaders, we will provide whatever help they need in the days and weeks ahead," Harris said Sunday while rallying in Las Vegas. MORE: Hurricane Helene live updates: 35 dead, hundreds unaccounted for in Asheville area On Monday, Biden said called Hurricane Helene "not just a catastrophic storm, it's historic, history, making storm," and pledged to visit the impacted area once he can do so without being "disruptive," hopefully later this week. "I also want you to know I'm committed to traveling to impacted areas as soon as possible. But, I've been told that it'd be disruptive if I did it right now, we will not do that at the risk of diverting or delaying any, any of the response assets needed to deal with this crisis," Biden said Monday. "My first responsibility is to get all the help needed to those impacted areas." PHOTO: An aerial picture shows storm damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Valdosta, Ga., Sept. 28, 2024. (John Falchetto/AFP via Getty Images) Asked if Trump's visit to Georgia Monday was causing a disruption, Biden replied "I don't have any idea." White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that Biden was "taking caution to avoid using critical resources that is needed right now, on the road, that, on the ground that people need," and added that "should be everyone's top consideration right now." Asked if there requests for the Trump to delay his visit, Jean-Pierre didn't engage directly, repeating Biden's desire to not take away from resources, but adding "he believes everybody should adhere-adhere to that." Hurricane Helene's storm surge, wind damage, and inland flooding caused deviation and casualties in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee, flooding neighborhoods, stranding residents, demolishing homes and toppling trees. The storm has killed at least 107 people and left dozens missing. ABC News' Molly Nagle, Cheyenne Haslett, Fritz Farrow, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Will McDuffie and Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report. Trump, in Georgia, attacks Biden and Harris on Helene response, Biden says he's 'lying' originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Donald Trump flailed Monday when asked to produce any evidence to support his claim that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were purposefully withholding aid from people affected by Hurricane Helene. Trump suggested in a Truth Social post earlier Monday that hed received reports from North Carolina claiming that the Biden administration and Democratic Governor Roy Cooper were going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. The western region of North Carolina is currently experiencing severe flooding. MSNBC reporter Garrett Haake attempted to press Trump during a stop in Valdosta, Georgia, asking him what, if any, evidence he had to back up his outlandish claim. Take a look, Trump responded, walking away. Haake translated the flippant response to mean, essentially, Ive got nothing to show you right now, why dont you go find it yourself. So in short, Trump has absolutely no evidence, and these so-called reports seem even less legitimate than the debunked ones claiming that Haitian immigrants were eating their neighbors pets. In a second post about hurricane relief, Trump claimed that Biden and Harris had left Americans to drown in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and elsewhere in the South. Trump also claimed that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, with whom he has his own uneasy alliance, had a hard time reaching Biden to discuss disaster relief, and that the president had been very non-responsive. That was also a lie. Kemp said that hed already spoken to Biden. The president just called me yesterday afternoon. I missed him, and called him right back, Kemp said Monday. And he just said, What do you need? Its taken the Republican nominee no time at all to pull focus away from disaster relief, trying instead to enrage voters in two key battleground states responding to a deadly natural disaster. If Trump is re-elected, Rutte will need all his diplomatic skills to ward off any weakening of Washington's role (KENZO TRIBOUILLARD) (KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP/AFP) Dutch former prime minister Mark Rutte will take the reins as NATO's new secretary general on Tuesday at a perilous time for the Western military alliance. With Russia's war in Ukraine raging through a third year, its leading power the United States set for a crunch election, and China rising, NATO is grappling with major challenges. Here are the key issues set to fill Rutte's in-tray as he enters office: - Trump 2.0? - Looming over the 32-nation alliance is the potential return of former US president Donald Trump to the White House after November elections. The volatile ex-reality TV star reportedly mulled withdrawing the United States from NATO during his first term -- and threatened not to protect allies that do not spend enough on defence. Outgoing NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg was credited with averting a major crisis that could have seen the magnate blow a hole in the alliance. Should Trump be re-elected, Rutte will need all the diplomatic skill he acquired during more than 13 years in charge of the Netherlands to ward off any weakening of Washington's role. European allies will be informally war-gaming options to try to steward Trump and have already been showcasing their increased spending to keep him on board. A victory for Democrat Kamala Harris would reassure NATO in the short term. But diplomats say they expect a gradual US disengagement from Europe as Washington pivots to Asia, whoever is in charge. - Keep Ukraine going - While the threat from Trump may not come to pass, one inescapable reality will be the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine. NATO countries -- spearheaded by the United States -- have provided 99 percent of the foreign military aid that has helped keep Kyiv's forces in the fight since 2022. As the war drags on towards its fourth year, Rutte will have a key role in rallying Kyiv's backers to make sure support does not dry up. Meanwhile, calls for a negotiated settlement are growing louder. NATO at its summit in Washington this summer took over a greater role in coordinating arms deliveries -- but failed to lock-in long-term commitments of support. Kyiv at the same time is also pushing for membership of NATO. The United States and Germany have so far blocked any concrete progress on that front -- but pressure is likely to increase again. Balancing the expectations from Ukraine against the caution of leading allies will be a major task. - Fit to fight Russia? - Regardless of how the war in Ukraine pans out, NATO allies say they are likely to face a threat from Russia for decades to come. Last year the alliance signed off on its most comprehensive defence plans since the end of the Cold War, aimed at stopping any potential attack by Moscow. While officials insist the combined might of NATO could currently defeat a Russian military weakened by the Ukraine war, the Kremlin is already looking to rebuild its forces. Rutte's core task will be to try to make sure NATO is ready while ensuring that tensions do not spill over into a possible nuclear conflict with Russia. Some allies estimate Russia could be prepping for a potential war with the alliance within a decade. That gives NATO countries a shrinking window of opportunity to plug the gaps in key weaponry and personnel they need to put the new plans into action. On top of the list are air defences, longer-range missiles, and making sure there are ample stocks of staples like artillery shells. Western firms were ill-prepared to meet the demands of the full-scale war in Ukraine after decades of underinvestment. Countries have begun ramping up production but Rutte will have to keep the pressure on to make sure industry is fit for purpose -- and allies keep buying what is required. - Money matters - All that will take cash -- and lots of it. A decade after NATO set a target for allies to spend two percent of their gross domestic product on defence, only 23 hit that bar this year. The new NATO boss will have to corral the laggards to make good on the target and make sure others do not slip back. And there are already calls for the alliance to go even further and considerably ratchet up spending beyond the current two percent floor. For notoriously frugal Dutchman Rutte -- who only pushed the Netherlands to the target in his last year in office -- that could be a hard sell. - China threat - Further afield, NATO eyes are also increasingly drawn to another potent rival: China. While the alliance is bound in its founding treaty to the Euro-Atlantic area, Washington has increasingly been pushing allies to pay more attention to the risks posed by Beijing. China's burgeoning partnership with Russia has propelled the threat in the minds of many European allies and seen NATO build up ties with allies such as Japan, South Korea and Australia. But some -- notably France -- remain wary of diverting NATO's attention away from its principal theatre and Rutte will have to perform a careful balancing act. del/ec/yad Donald Trump called for police to be allowed "one real tough, nasty" and "violent day" to eradicate crime "immediately" at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Sunday. The remarks are the latest from the former president in a long line of statements endorsing police violence. In 2020, for example, he urged governors to use more force against Black Lives Matter protesters. In 2017, he suggested that when police throw "thugs into the back of a paddy wagon," they shouldn't "be too nice." Speaking Sunday, Trump reiterated his call for police to do as they wish. One rough hour and I mean real rough the word will get out and it will end immediately, you know? It will end immediately, he said. When asked by Politico what exactly Trump meant by that, a campaign official claimed that he was clearly just floating it in jest. Trump, who was convicted this summer on 34 felony counts for covering up hush-money payments to an adult film actress, also falsely claimed in his speech that people can steal up to $950 worth of merchandise without facing criminal penalties in California. That was a reference to Proposition 47, which re-classified some theft from felonies to misdemeanors. While Harris was the state's attorney general when voters approved the ballot measure, she remained neutral on the issue. Many Republican officials and some Democrats, including Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City indicted on corruption charges, have justified their support of relatively unfettered police action by invoking the specter of rampant crime and disorder. While social media and right-wing outlets have helped fuel public perception that the streets are as dangerous as ever, FBI statistics show that crime has actually decreased nationally by 2.4%, falling to well below the level of violence seen in decades past. Trump says Biden, Harris forced him to hold rally in 750 seat theater due to lack of Secret Service protection Donald Trump is claiming that he could only campaign in a 750-seat theatre because Vice President Kamala Harris and Joe Biden are using Secret Service assets to protect the President of Iran, who he claims is doing everything possible to kill me. In a Truth Social post Trump made on Monday, he claimed that Harris and Biden were going out of their way to make it difficult for me to Campaign. We had one of the biggest crowds Ive ever seen on Saturday, in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, where a terrible migrant crime was recently committed, and we ended up having to use a 750 seat theater, having to send away more than 50,000 people, he wrote. He said the reason they had to use such a small venue was due to a lack of Secret Service protection. They were unable to give us Secret Service protection commensurate with the crowd, because they had to protect the President of Iran, who is doing everything possible to kill me, at the United Nations event, he said. Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers remarks at the Prairie du Chien Area Arts Center in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, on September 28, 2024 (AFP via Getty Images) Last week Trumps campaign said that US intelligence officials briefed him on real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in an effort to destabilize and sow chaos in the United States. The campaign did not elaborate on the claims, and it is unclear if the threats are new or are referencing past incidents. The Iranian government has not commented on the claims, but has previously denied any claims that it was attempting to interfere in US affairs. The Secret Service did confirm that its assets were pushed to their limit securing the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, according to CBS News. There is no indication that any of their agents were intentionally denied to Trump at the behest of Harris or Biden. A Secret Service official, who spoke anonymously to CBS News, said the agency was responsible for the safety and security of over 140 world leaders amid a challenged global threat level. Trump said in his Truth Social post that we complained like hell, but there was nothing we could do. The campaign rally was originally scheduled to take place outdoors at an airport on Saturday, but was ultimately moved to the smaller, indoor venue. Make sense of the US election with The Independents experts in our exclusive virtual event Harris vs. Trump: who will make history? Reserve your space here. Former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has stated that he likes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Source: Trump in an interview for The Washington Post, as reported by European Pravda Details: Many anti-Ukrainian right-wing politicians believe that Donald Trump shares their hostility towards Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. However, Trump noted that he liked Zelenskyy. "I had a good relationship with ZelenskyyI like him. Because during the impeachment hoax he could have said he didnt know the [conversation] was taped. But instead of grandstanding and saying, Yes, I felt threatened, he said, He [Trump] did absolutely nothing wrong," Trump noted. At a press conference on 27 September during a meeting in New York, Trump was fulsome in his praise of Zelenskyy, saying that the Ukrainian president was like "a piece of steel" during the attempted impeachment of Trump. Trump stated that thanks to Zelenskyy, "the impeachment hoax died right there". After their meeting, Trump said: "I learned a lot. We both want to see this [war] end, and we both want to see a fair deal made, and its going to be fair." When Trump was asked whether he would keep his word, he replied: "I did say that, so I can say it to you. But I did say that and nobody picked it up. They dont because it makes so much sense." Background: After his meeting with Zelenskyy in New York, Trump claimed that if he loses the election, the war in Ukraine will turn into World War III. Support UP or become our patron! Former President Donald Trump openly admitted that he hated to pay his workers overtime at the Trump organization and would even replace those who spoke out about itcomments the Harris campaign immediately seized upon. Speaking at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, Trump, who has used a proposal to end taxes on tips as a key talking point to bolster his pro-worker bona fides on the campaign trail, confessed that he would be better off if he didnt make his thoughts on overtime publicly known. I shouldnt say this, he said, but continued on anyway. I know a lot about overtime. I hated to give overtime, I hated it. Id get otherI shouldnt say thisbut Id get other people in. I wouldnt pay, Trump said, adding: This is going to lead to a lot more. I think its going to be economically positive, but Im not even doing it for that reason. Im doing it because, like the tax on overtime, its something so good. Republican presidential nominee former U.S. President Donald Trump gestures during a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania. Brian Snyder/Reuters Harris-Walz 2024 spokesperson Sarafina Chitika latched onto the comments from Trumps latest rally, saying in a statement emailed to the Daily Beast: Donald Trump is finally owning up to it: Hes built an entire career on screwing over workers. Its exactly what he did in the White Housetrying to rip away tips and overtime pay for millions of workersand exactly what he plans to do in a second term. The campaign added: Trump is a scab, plain and simple. He is selling snake oil lies in a desperate attempt to trick voters. He cant be trustedworkers know it, and voters know it. Theyll elect a champion who has their back by voting for Vice President Harris this November. It was only one of Trumps disjointed comments during the rallyhe also blamed the Biden administration for his small crowd size in Wisconsin just a day prior, during which he called his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris mentally disabled. The attacks saw some notable Republicans pushing back, including Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. I just think the better course to take is to prosecute the case that her policies are destroying the country, Graham told CNN. Im not saying shes crazy, her policies are crazy. Minnesota Republican and House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer, also a member of JD Vances debate preparation team, told ABC News: I think we should stick on the issues. The issues are, Donald Trump fixed it once. They broke it. Hes going to fix it again. Thatthose are the issues. He doubled down on the line of attack Sunday, questioning his rivals mental acuity once again. Joe Biden became mentally impaired, sad, but lyin Kamala Harris, honestly, I believe she was born that way. Theres something wrong with Kamala and I just dont know what it is but there is definitely something missing, and you know what, everybody knows it, he said, as the campaign played video of Harris laughing overhead. Shes a stupid person, stupid person. I dont care, Trump said at another moment, as supporters chanted Lock her up! Trump revealed he was switching from calling his opponent a Marxist to a communist, because unfortunately nobody knows what that is. He repeated calls for her impeachment and prosecution. In addition, the former president repeated his baseless attacks against Harris over her summer McDonalds job decades ago, claiming she never worked there and it was a total lie. Similar repeated attacks were thrown at ABC News pretty boy David Muir over his presidential debate fact-checking. I still won, by a lot, Trump claimed. 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. Donald Trump has sparked controversy for declaring that climate change is one of the great scams after Hurricane Helene left a trail of destruction, killing more than 100 people, across the southeast US. Speaking at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Sunday afternoon, the former president pushed a conspiracy theory that man-made climate change is a myth. Do you ever notice, this was such a big deal, the environmental stuff, he told rallygoers in a rambling address. I havent heard the environmental stuff mentioned in six months. I was saying the other night: What the hell happened to the environment? Calling out to David McCormick, the Pennsylvania GOP Senate challenger, Trump added: David, will you figure this out? No but think about this, Trump continued. They never talk about the environment anymore. You know why? He concluded: Its one of the greatest scams of all time people arent buying it any more. I dont want to use bad language, my wife said, Please dont use bad language. At least 116 people have so far been killed and hundreds more remain missing after the devastating hurricane made landfall in Florida last week, bringing catastrophic flooding to communities and plunging thousands into darkness. Trump at a campaign event in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Sunday where he turned Hurricane Helene into a campaign issue (AP) On Sunday, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Deanne Criswell told CBS Newss Face The Nation that the severe flooding and subsequent devastation caused by Hurricane Helene is linked to the climate emergency. Scientific evidence has also long revealed that global warming enables hurricanes to rapidly intensify. Despite claiming that climate change is a scam, Trump is planning to make a campaign stop in Georgia on Monday, one of the states hardest-hit by Hurricane Helene. He has also tried to turn the disaster into a campaign issue, condemning both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harriss response. The Harris campaign, meanwhile, has accused Trump of being insensitive when he said those impacted by Helene will be okay during a campaign rally in Walker, Michigan, on Friday despite the mounting death toll. Resident in Keaton Beach tries to recover their belongings on Sunday after Hurricane Helene passed through the Florida panhandle (REUTERS) Were with you all the way, and if we were there wed be helping you, he said. Youll be okay. Resharing the clip on X, the Harris campaign repeated the three-word phrase, with an addition: (Dozens of deaths have already been reported). Democratic critics also tied Trumps comments to Project 2025, the 900-page Heritage Foundation manifesto for a prospective Republican administration. The document contains proposals to slash funding for hurricane monitoring and relief agencies and privatize weather forecasts by federal agencies. In response, Trumps campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told The Washington Post that as President Trump has repeatedly said, Project 2025 has nothing to do with him or his campaign. Donald Trump held a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, at the Bayfront Convention Center on Sunday. It was his second consecutive appearance in a crucial battleground state this weekend, following Saturdays speech in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, where he called Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris mentally disabled while delivering an anti-migrant speech. This time around, Trump continued to make the border and migrants the bogeymen, adding that their presence in this country requires appointed officials who give police the right to be really violent versus the liberal left who want to destroy our country. He has also claimed crime has been up in cities across the United States, which is not the case, per a report from the Council on Criminal Justice. See, we have to let the police do their job, and if they have to be extraordinarily rough. And you know, the funny thing with all of that stuff, look at the department store, same thing You see these guys walking out with air conditioners, with refrigerators on their back, the craziest thing, and the police arent allowed to do their job, Trump said. Theyre told, if you do anything, youre going to lose your pension youre going to lose your family, your house, your car. The police want to do it. The border patrol wants to do it Theyre not allowed to do it because the liberal left wont let him do it. The liberal left wants to destroy them, and they want to destroy our country. Trump then fantasized about giving police one really violent day to crack down on crime. Now, if you had one really violent day, Trump said. Like a guy like Mike Kelly, put him in charge, he continued, gesturing to Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Mike Kelly. Congressman Kelly, put him in charge for one day. Mike, hes a great Congressman. Would you say, Mike, that if you were in charge, you would say, Oh, please dont touch them. Dont touch them. Let them rob your store? Trump said. Let all these stores go out of business, right? They dont pay rent that the city doesnt. The whole its a chain of events. Its so bad. One rough hour, and I mean real rough, and the word will get out and it will end immediately. End immediately. On Tuesday, Trump will return to the battleground state of Wisconsin, where he will speak at two different events in Waunakee and Milwaukee. 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. The Colorado Department of Agriculture and the Colorado State Fair Board of Authority on Monday announced the selection of Andrea Wiesenmeyer as the fairs new general manager, according to a news release. A unanimous choice by the interview committee after a national search, Wiesenmeyer steps into the leadership role left vacant by Scott Stoller, who stepped down after serving for six years, officials said. During his tenure, Stoller helped lead the State Fair through the COVID-19 pandemic, spearheaded the development of a 30-year master plan, and oversaw the continued growth of one of the Centennial States keystone annual events, the release stated. Wiesenmeyer brings nearly a decade of experience in fair leadership, according to the news release. A graduate of the Institute of Fair Management and certified fair executive, she served as the marketing and partnership director for the Clay County Fair in Iowa for five years. She spent the past three years at the helm of the Jerome County Fair and Rodeo in Idaho. The unanimous decision by the hiring committee to bring on Andrea Wiesenmeyer as the next GM of the Colorado State Fair says it all, said Commissioner Kate Greenberg in a statement. Andrea has the skills, experience, and leadership qualities to do the job. She is ready to lead the Colorado State Fair into its next chapter. Sign up for free: Gazette Business Receive a weekly roundup of business news around El Paso County. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. Featured Local Savings Wiesenmeyer will serve the first few weeks of her tenure, which officially begins Oct. 14, working from Idaho as she and her family prepare for the move to Pueblo, officials said. Joining the Colorado State Fair staff is a true honor, she said. Im excited to help celebrate the State Fair's rich traditions, bring families together to create new memories, and showcase the best of Colorados agriculture community. Wiesenmeyer assumes leadership of one of Pueblos biggest economic drivers, according to Department of Agriculture officials. A recent Economic Impact Study showed that the 2021 State Fair generated either directly or indirectly more than $19 million in earnings in Pueblo County, and supported more than 600 jobs. As Kamala Harris traveled back to Washington to be briefed on the Hurricane Helene aftermath, Donald Trump on Monday descended on a swing-state community ravaged by the storm and couldnt resist his impulse to make the trip political. Standing before piles of bricks blown off a furniture store in Valdosta, Georgia, Trump repeated his false claim that President Joe Biden wouldnt get on the phone with the states Republican governor despite Gov. Brian Kemp saying he had spoken to the president a day earlier and appreciated the federal help his state has received. And addressing reporters who assembled in Georgia ahead of his Monday afternoon stop, Trump predicted that Biden was sleeping, criticized Harris for having been out somewhere campaigning, looking for money a day earlier when Trump himself was rallying in Pennsylvania and referred to her running mate as Tampon Tim. Even Trump seemed to acknowledge at least when reading from prewritten remarks that it wasnt the time or place. As you know, our country is in the final weeks of a hard-fought national election. At a time like this when a crisis hits, when our fellow citizens cry out in need, none of that matters, Trump said as he read from sheets of notes. Were not talking about politics now. We have to all get together and get this solved. But he refused to stick to that statesmans tone on Monday. And for all the political benefits Trump has seemed to reap for being the first to show up at disaster sites such as his visit to East Palestine, Ohio, early last year, when Biden had failed to go his penchant for using any opportunity to smear his rivals was also on full display. Indirectly, so, too, in the aftermath of a hurricane affecting the swing states of North Carolina and Georgia, was the more measured persona Harris is seeking to project in a neck-and-neck race. As Trump spoke in Georgia and criticized her absence in the disaster zone, Harris was on her way back to the East Coast following a three-day swing out West. She canceled several informal campaign events in Las Vegas on Monday to return to Washington early to attend a meeting with federal emergency management officials Monday evening. We will do everything in our power to help communities recover, she said at FEMAs headquarters. While she received a briefing on Sunday from FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, she wont visit the areas impacted by Helene until she is told doing so wont impact emergency response operations, said a White House official granted anonymity to speak freely about the vice presidents plans. On Monday, she promised to be on the ground as soon as possible. Biden said he would visit North Carolina on Wednesday. Asked whether he thought it was disruptive to have Trump in Georgia on Monday, he said that he had no idea. But he also said that traveling to the disaster site too soon would have been a distraction. We are giving them everything we have, he told reporters. Were working hard. Though Trump suggested Sunday night that Harris ought to be down in the area where the storm hit, two former FEMA directors in interviews Monday said it was better to wait to visit North Carolina. The president wants to get in there as soon as they can, said Craig Fugate, former FEMA administrator under Barack Obama. We were, in many cases, having to make that judgment call: Yeah, were at a point where its stable enough that them coming in is not going to be a disruption. People showing up during disasters, it ought to be about the people were helping and the survivors, not about them. I see a lot of disaster tourism, its both sides of the aisle, its private sector and other celebrity types, he added. You should always put this in context, is the visit contributing to the survivors recovery, or is it about you? Trump, who said he was also going to stop into North Carolina as he planned the Georgia visit, acknowledged that emergency services there were already strained helping victims of the historic flooding. In a Truth Social post earlier Monday amid a flurry of posts criticizing Harris for a STAGED photo of her receiving a FEMA briefing, and bashing the Witch Hunt against him by New York Attorney General Letitia James Trump again tried to stoke partisan flames by falsely claiming the Biden administration and North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper were going out of their way not to help people in Republican areas. Flanked by Franklin Graham, the son of the Rev. Billy Graham and president of the Christian aid group Samaritans Purse, Trump on Monday touted the supplies he had brought to Valdosta, including water, gas and other materials. "I brought a lot with us, many, many wagons of resources, Trump said as he shook hands with a small crowd gathered outside the remains of Chez What Furniture Store. Just about everything you can think of, and Franklin Graham is here and he's helping us to distribute everything. It was unclear whether the products were all provided by Samaritans Purse, or if Trump or his campaign purchased any. Spokespeople for both the Trump campaign and Grahams organization did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Other elected officials, including the mayor of Valdosta, stood with Trump during his appearance there. Trumps visit to Valdosta was far from his usual rally-style campaign stops. He spoke in front of what appeared to be a small crowd of supporters and reporters, though there were obvious signs that the Secret Service had already spent time at the site before his arrival: Some of the fallen bricks had been arranged in a small, knee-high wall in front of him, similar to the small, black-curtain-draped walls Secret Service have put up in front of him at other recent events following the July shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania. Still, David Paulison, who ran FEMA under former President George W. Bush, questioned the utility of Trump traveling to Georgia. President Trump coming, Im not sure how that helps because he has no power right now. But if people are very supportive of him, then maybe its good for him to be there also and talk to people that support him, he said. Thats not bad. But it does eat up resources on the ground. Youve got to be judicious with it. Donald Trump spoke in front of a furniture store gutted by Hurricane Helene in Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday, claiming falsely that Georgias governor had not been able to reach Joe Biden. Upon landing in Valdosta, Trump claimed to reporters the president had been sleeping and that Brian Kemp, the governor, had been calling the president and hasnt been able to get him. He repeated the false claim when speaking in front of the store. Kemp refuted the allegation earlier in the day. He said he had been playing phone tag with Kamala Harris but also said: The president just called me yesterday afternoon and he just said: Hey, what do you need? He offered that if theres other things we need, just to call him directly, which, I appreciate that. During the White House press briefing on Monday, the homeland security adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall said Biden had offered Kemp anything Georgia needed in terms of storm response. Related: Over 120 dead and a million without power after historic Hurricane Helene So, if the governor would like to speak to the president again, of course, the president will take his call, Sherwood-Randall said. When a pool reporter on Monday evening questioned Biden on the former presidents comments, Biden angrily interjected before the question was finished. Hes lying and the governor told him he was lying. The governor told him hes lying. Ive spoken to the governor, spent time with him, and he told him hes lying. I dont know why he does it thats simply not true, and its irresponsible. Trump traveled to the area with evangelist Franklin Graham, CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and truckloads of relief supplies in tow. We brought many, many wagons of resources, he said, without really describing what those resources were beyond a tanker of gasoline and some water. In an emailed statement, Grahams relief organization, Samaritans Purse, declined to share information about the resources provided. We are also grateful to President Donald Trump for his concern for those who are hurting and his steadfast support of the work we do in Jesus Name, the organization said. We do not generally share detailed information about contributions. We refer you to President Donald Trumps team for further information. The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for information. Were here today to stand with complete solidarity with the people of Georgia and all those suffering in the terrible aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Trump said in front of the collapsing brick storefront of Chez What, a furniture and fashion collective in Valdosta. Trump was flanked by Lt Gov Burt Jones and local elected officials. Related: Over 120 dead and a million without power after historic Hurricane Helene Valdosta is in south Georgia and still digging out from Hurricane Helene. At least 25 people died in the state as a result of the storm. At the peak of Helenes destruction, about 1.3 million Georgians lost power, Kemp said Monday at a briefing in Augusta, a few hours before Trump arrived. Nearly 500,000 still were without electricity as of Monday morning, Kemp said. There has, at least so far, been no repeat of a scene from a disaster photo op seven years ago in San Juan, Puerto Rico, when the former president threw paper towels into a crowd two weeks after Hurricane Maria left 93% of the island without power. Harris canceled events Monday and took a briefing from Fema in Washington DC. President Biden and I remain committed to ensuring that no community or state has to respond to this disaster alone, she said. Federal personnel are on the ground to support families that have been impacted so that critical resources like food, water and generators are available. We have also approved emergency declarations for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee making resources and funding available to maximize our coordinated response efforts at the local, state and federal levels. Donald Trump tried to blame Joe Biden for the small crowd size at one of his rallies this weekend. A Trump rally in Wisconsin on Saturday was moved to an indoor location at the last minute, after the Secret Service said it could not properly staff an outdoor event, given that many of its agents were in New York providing security to dignitaries at the U.N. General Assembly. Trump provided his own spin on the proceedings during a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Sunday. The Republican nominee claimed that plans for a large rally the day before had been scrapped because the Biden administration would not let us have the people necessary to guard the event. The former president claimed hed been prevented from holding an outdoor rally in front of the 50,000 people who allegedly showed up, and instead had to settle for a smaller 1,000-person rally inside. So 49,000 people had just gone home, then? (The average size of a Trump rally is 5,600 people.) But we had 50,000 people that showed up, but they didnt want me to be outside. They said they couldnt get us enough people because they were guarding the United Nations, and Iran, the president of Iran is here, Trump said, as the crowd booed. Trump in Pennsylvania blames Biden for his small crowd yesterday in Wisconsin pic.twitter.com/HK0At4iZPy Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 29, 2024 During the presidential debate earlier this month, Kamala Harris urged viewers to attend a Trump rally and see for themselves that Trumps crowds were smaller and attendees often left early due to exhaustion and boredom. This line of attack seemed to get under Trumps skin, to the point that hes now trying to explain away the phenomenon. Trump claimed that people dont ever leave his events, and that when they do, he finishes his speeches quickly. Many of Trumps speeches, regardless of how late they start, can stretch on for upward of an hour. Even in Erie, however, rallygoers standing behind Trump could be seen leaving the event early. people can be seen bouncing from the rally behind Trump as he goes on and on and on and on pic.twitter.com/DM5Tc1fj3I Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 29, 2024 Conservative leadership hopeful Tom Tugendhat has warned against his party becoming Reform UK, as he made his pitch to party members. Speaking from the main stage at the Conservative conference in Birmingham, Tugendhat said the Tories needed to "rebuild trust" with the public, after the party's historic election defeat in July. Rival leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch said she was prepared to work with Nigel Farage's party in Parliament but ruled out an electoral pact. Tugendhat and Badenoch were the first contenders to speak in the main hall, with Robert Jenrick and James Cleverly getting their chance on Tuesday. Both candidates were interviewed by GB News political editor Christopher Hope, before taking questions from party members. Elsewhere, Cleverly told a fringe meeting Rishi Sunak's "stop the boats" slogan was an "error". The slogan referred to the Conservative governments efforts to curb the number of people trying to reach the UK by crossing the English Channel in small boats. Cleverly, who later used the phrase numerous times when he was home secretary, said it "distilled a very, very complicated and challenging problem into a soundbite". When even one boat crossing could be deemed "a failure", it was "an unachievable target", he added. In July the Tories suffered their worst general election defeat in the party's parliamentary history, losing votes to both the Liberal Democrats on the left and Reform UK on the right. Asked whether the Lib Dems or Reform were the biggest enemy, Tugendhat, who is from the centrist One Nation wing of the party, said: "The enemy is trust. We have eroded trust in ourselves and we need to rebuild trust in the Conservative Party." He argued people did not vote for Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey or Reform UK leader Nigel Farage to become prime minister. "They voted against us. People woke up in the morning and they wanted to get us out," he added. Asked whether he would do a deal with Mr Farage, he said: "My job is to reform the Conservative Party not to become Reform." When the same questions were put to Badenoch, she said "anyone who's not a Conservative has got to be defeated". She argued Reform politicians were not "real Conservatives" and "not serious people" but that Reform voters "are our people". Pressed over whether she would do a deal with Farage's party, she said: "I am always prepared to work with any other party that wants to help us deliver our agenda. I think that's fine in Parliament, but in an election, no." She added: "At the next election we have to be the centre-right option. If we split that vote, we are going to be out of power for another five years and Labour will destroy this country." At a fringe event later, Badenoch accused Reform of "squatting" on Tory territory and "parking their tanks on our lawn" - and pledged to fight the party along with Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens. She promised to defend Conservatism and to renew her party by offering change and "telling people the truth in a compelling way". Service During the session Tugendhat, a former officer in the Territorial Army who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, repeatedly highlighted his military background, saying "my entire life has been about public service". However, he was challenged over whether he was the most inexperienced candidate, given the only government role he has previously held is security minister. Tugendhat shrugged off the question with a dig at his rivals lack of military record, saying: "I'm not going to hold against anybody their inexperience in combat or their inexperience in foreign affairs. "I won't hold against them the areas where they didn't serve their country and put their lives on the line. They have served in other ways and I think we should respect that." Meanwhile, Badenoch faced questions about her suggestion on Sunday that maternity pay had "gone too far". The shadow housing secretary insisted she had been answering a different question and that "maternity pay is quite important". She added that her comments were part of a "long discussion about the role of the state in deciding what businesses should do". Turkey's Erdogan says UN should recommend use of force if Israel not stopped ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that the United Nations General Assembly should recommend the use of force, in line with a resolution it passed in 1950, if the U.N. Security Council fails to stop Israel's attacks in Gaza and Lebanon. NATO member Turkey has denounced Israel's devastating attack in Gaza against Palestinian militant group Hamas, and condemned its recent attacks in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah militants. It has halted all trade with Israel and applied to join a genocide case against Israel at the World Court, which Israel rejects. "The U.N. General Assembly should rapidly implement the authority to recommend the use of force, as it did with the 1950 Uniting for Peace resolution, if the Security Council can't show the necessary will," Erdogan said after a cabinet meeting in Ankara. The resolution says the U.N. General Assembly can step in if disagreements among the Security Council's five permanent veto-wielding powers - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - mean they fail to maintain international peace. The Security Council is the only U.N. body that can normally make legally binding decisions, such as authorising use of force and imposing sanctions. Erdogan also said he was sad to see Muslim countries failing to take a more active stance against Israel, urging them to take economic, diplomatic, and political measures against Israel to pressure it into accepting a ceasefire. "For the peace of everyone in our region, from Muslim to Jew to Christian, we call on the international community and Muslim world to mobilise," Erdogan said, adding Israel's attacks would target Muslim countries too if it is not stopped soon. (Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Toby Chopra) As schools struggled to overcome the chaos and academic harm inflicted by COVID, many turned to tutoring as a simple, if sometimes costly, solution. By the end of 2023, the vast majority of states were funding tutoring programs, and by one estimate, at least $7.5 billion of federal relief funds were being directed to new offerings. The flood of resources was backed by an extensive body of evidence. Dozens of studies conducted before the pandemic showed that the positive effects of tutoring were among the largest ever seen in education policy. To help a generation of young learners return to their pre-COVID trajectory, advocates argued, there appeared to be no strategy more effective than recruiting thousands of tutors to provide regular supplemental instruction. Related With $8.5M Investment, New Mexico Tries Once Again to Get Tutoring Right But a report shared exclusively with The 74 raises doubts about whether the remarkable learning gains measured in prior studies can actually be produced by the kinds of large-scale initiatives that have been launched since 2020. Released Monday, the wide-ranging overview of over 250 high-quality studies finds that as tutoring programs grow, their impact steadily shrinks. The findings, which are predominantly drawn from pre-COVID papers, dovetail with disappointing results of some local efforts that have been undertaken in the pandemics wake. They also reflect the well-acknowledged reality observed throughout education research and the social sciences more generally that the enormous benefits sometimes seen in highly controlled settings are seldom if ever carried over to larger populations. Study author Matthew Kraft, an economist at Brown University who has enthusiastically supported the spread of tutoring, said that the promise of the approach should not be eclipsed by the high, and sometimes outsized, expectations attached to it. We have to be realistic about how hard it is to do anything well in education out of the gate, let alone make fundamental changes to the core structures of teaching and learning, he said. Prior estimates of the boost stemming from high-impact tutoring, which emphasizes one-on-one or small-group instruction in large doses, have been sizable about as much as an entire year of reading growth for elementary schoolers, and twice that seen by high school freshmen, as quantified through standardized test scores. By comparison, the advantages conferred to students in larger interventions ranged from one-third to one-half that magnitude. University of Virginia Professor Beth Schueler, Krafts co-author, argued that those outcomes remained pretty impressive, if not the equal of what had been measured previously. We have to be realistic about how hard it is to do anything well in education out of the gate. Matthew Kraft, Brown University Even though the large-scale programs werent replicating the enormous effects that you find with small-scale trials, the size of the impact that we find for these more policy-relevant studies are still quite meaningful. Notably, the 265 studies included in Schueler and Krafts analysis are all built around randomized control trials, seen as the empirical gold standard in quantitative research. They were all conducted in the countries making up the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, a group of wealthy, industrialized nations whose education systems are often compared against one another. Across the entire sample of studies, average effects from tutoring were roughly equivalent to those found in earlier research reviews. But improvements to test scores shrank substantially when the authors looked only at programs enrolling between 400 and 999 pupils; they grew smaller still when restricted to those enrolling more than 1,000. Related For the Sake of Americas School Children, Congress Must Keep AmeriCorps Going Robert Balfanz, a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Education, observed that the early hype promoting tutoring as a silver bullet for COVID-related learning loss was destined to be deflated when school districts began leveraging them to reach thousands of struggling students. Still, he added, even high-enrollment efforts delivered important growth to children. This study just shows the reality that [tutoring] is a very effective intervention, but its going to take a lot of time and patience and learning to get it to work at scale, said Balfanz, who has contributed to the U.S. Department of Educations effort to recruit 250,000 tutors and mentors to work in schools. Even then, scale is always going to diminish what you can do for a smaller group. An issue of scale Emerging research on COVID-era tutoring initiatives has attested to the complexities facing state and district leadership. Kraft himself released a study last month of Nashvilles program, which was established in 2021 and has grown to incorporate about 10 percent of the districts total students. Over its first two years in operation, students reading performance has improved only modestly, with no corresponding gains in math. Another low-touch experiment, targeting middle schoolers in suburban Chicago, detected only a slight upturn in standardized test scores from a handful of tutoring sessions offered over Zoom. Related Stalled Funding for High-Dosage Tutoring Wreaks Havoc for New Jersey Students But some advocates caution that it may be premature to measure the influence of tutoring systems that only got underway during a public health emergency. Buffeted by school closures and an uncertain budgetary picture, the initial transition to tutoring was rocky in many areas. Districts found it challenging to coordinate with families who had disengaged from schools, and an ultra-hot labor market made tutoring recruitment especially difficult. Ashley Bencan is the chief operating officer of the New Jersey Tutoring Corps, which launched as a pilot in the summer of 2021. Since then, the organization has grown to partner with 10 district and charter school partners in over 30 locations. But even buoyed by federal and state funding, Bencan said, local schools have struggled to build up tutoring systems on top of their typical organizational demands. This study just shows the reality that (tutoring) is a very effective intervention, but it's going to take a lot of time and patience and learning to get it to work at scale. Robert Balfanz, Johns Hopkins University Even collecting data on which students participate in tutoring a vital step in determining whether the efforts actually work, Bencan said can test the capacity of both school districts and state education agencies. If youre juggling all the different things you have to work on to kick off the school year reviewing data, grouping kids, filling positions they have to meet those basic needs first, and only then think of what else they can do, she said. Tutoring isnt designed to meet those basic needs, and we need to think about how we make it part of a schools model. Related Studies: Pandemic Aid Lifted Scores, But Not Enough To Make Up for Lost Learning The logistical challenges of shoehorning tutoring into already-packed school schedules, finding sites where sessions can occur, and connecting families with tutors, can be considerable. Though Kraft and Schueler write that the design of successful tutoring programs can be effectively duplicated at a larger scale, they also find that implementation quality sometimes suffers in the course of expansion. Polls of district leaders have revealed that larger schools consistently saw lower participation rates from students, and only about one-sixth of principals in one survey reported that they had faced no barriers in providing tutoring. Encouragingly, Kraft and Schuelers analysis suggests that some program structures can withstand the pressures of scale. If the programs conducted in-person tutoring during school hours, featuring a student-tutor ratio of no more than 3:1, and met at least three times each week (along with other conditions), their effects were more robust with larger numbers of students. While the average impact for a program serving 100399 pupils was 42 percent smaller than one serving less than 100, those employing the high-quality practices listed above saw their effects diminished by just 18 percent. We are finding suggestive evidence that those implementation challenges are real, and policymakers need to think about how to get that stuff right. Beth Schueler, University of Virginia Schueler said the diminished, though still significant, effects of scaled-up tutoring may simply suggest that policymakers have underestimated both the scale of learning loss and the hurdles to manufacturing new learning assets from scratch. We are finding suggestive evidence that those implementation challenges are real, and policymakers need to think about how to get that stuff right. Two dead as wildfire rages near Greek holiday resort Residents watch as the wildfire burns in the village of Kallithea - Vassilis Psomas/Reuters Two people have died after a large wildfire burned through forestland near a popular holiday resort in Greece. About 350 firefighters and eight water-dropping aircraft brought the blaze under control near Xylokastro in the southern region of Peloponnese, about 93 miles south-west of Athens. Villages near the seaside town were evacuated overnight after the fire broke out on Sunday. Reports suggested that the two men who died rode into danger on a motorbike to help a friend protect his flock of sheep from the wildfire. Constantina Dimoglidou, a Greek police spokesman, said that the recovered bodies were severely burnt and laboratory tests were necessary for their identification. The wildfire burns behind Kallithea - Vassilis Psomas/Reuters The fire service has launched an investigation, the Greek Citizens Protection Ministry said. Strong winds blew through woodland left tinder-dry by a warm spring and hot summer. As summer temperatures continue to rise across Europe, wildfires are an annual blight to Greece. In the past few months, authorities have had to cope with more than 4,500 wildfires. A helicopter drops water on singed grassland near the village of Helidori - Nikos Christofakis/Reuters Buildings in the suburbs of Athens were left gutted after deadly flames reached the capital in August. Firefighters in Attica, central and western Greece and Peloponnese have been placed on red alert. The Foreign Office has issued a warning to British holidaymakers in Greece to beware of wildfires. 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. Two Georgia men arrested on drug charges after traffic stop on I-65 PRICEVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) Two men from Georgia were arrested after a traffic stop led to officers finding drugs in a vehicle on Sunday. According to the Priceville Police Department (PPD), officers pulled a vehicle over along I-65 near exit 334 for driving without taillights at night around 8:50 p.m. Once officers made contact with the the men inside the vehicle, a drug field investigation began. Download the WHNT News 19 App to stay updated on the go. Sign up for WHNT News 19 newsletters to have news sent to your inbox. As a result of the investigation, officers located a quantity of fentanyl pills, marijuana, and drug paraphernalia inside the vehicle. According to PPD, Brandon Bernard Williams, 40, of Ellenwood, Georgia was arrested and charged with trafficking fentanyl, unlawful possession of marijuana- 2nd degree, and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. He was issued a $11,000 bond. Priceville Police said that Kenyon Allen Banks, 39, of Stone Mountain, Georgia was also arrested and charged with unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. He was issued a $500 bond and has since be released. Both men were booked into the Morgan County Jail early Monday 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 WHNT.com. Two North Lenoir Fire and Rescue members head to Transylvania County for rescue and recovery after Hurricane Helene KINSTON, N.C. (WNCT) More people from the east are heading out to the western part of North Carolina that was so deeply affected by Hurricane Helene. North Lenoirs Fire and Rescue Assistant Chief Brandon Ward and Firefighter McKinnon Wade left on Monday morning to head out to Transylvania County, an over six-hour drive from the east to assist those who need it. On the North Lenoir Fire and Rescue Facebook, they say these two are going there to assist their brothers and sisters with response and recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. SPRINGFIELD, Mo. A federal court has sentenced an Ozark man and a Springfield co-conspirator in connection to a methamphetamine distribution operation. On Monday, Sept. 30, 48-year-old Robert Jason Smith of Ozark was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison without parole. He was sentenced as a career criminal because of his 13 previous felony convictions, six of which were for selling drugs. Court documents state he is responsible for distributing more than 12 kilograms of methamphetamine. The federal court also sentenced 41-year-old Aaron A. Keltner of Springfield to 21 years and 10 months in federal prison without parole in a separate but related case on Thursday, Sept. 26. He was previously convicted in relation to the distribution, delivery and manufacture of a controlled substance. Final day for Greene County seniors to apply for tax credit Smith pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. He admitted to selling 25.17 grams of methamphetamine to an informant in 2021. The day after he sold the meth, Smith was stopped by law enforcement in a black GMC pickup truck. Officers found two backpacks in the truck that contained almost 218 grams of methamphetamine, several rounds of ammunition and $4,000. Law enforcement also searched Smiths residence that day and found nearly 54 grams of methamphetamine and a pistol. Smith told investigators that he would pay $5,000 for one pound of meth each week from a co-defendant working with Keltner and a separate pound of meth every two to three weeks from a different supplier. Smith is the first defendant to be sentenced in this case. Two co-defendants have pleaded guilty and await sentencing, while two other co-defendants are scheduled to go to trial. Keltner pleaded guilty in March on separate charges for his role in the drug-trafficking conspiracy and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Court documents state that he would have women who work for him obtain 14 to 16 kilograms of methamphetamine from Oklahoma per trip, and Keltner would then redistribute 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 KOLR - OzarksFirst.com. Members of the Colorado Supreme Court on Monday gave an unenthusiastic reception to the idea that defendants currently serving life without the possibility of parole for felony murder are subject to cruel and unusual or "grossly disproportionate" sentences. Typhoon Krathon live: Four dead as slow-moving storm makes landfall in Taiwan Typhoon Krathon live: Four dead as slow-moving storm makes landfall in Taiwan Residents in Taiwan were told to seek shelter as Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taiwan, with the island fully shut for the second day. Krathon, a slow moving storm which has been lashing Taiwan since Monday, slammed into the major port city Kaohsiung as a much weaker Category 1 typhoon around midday. Early this morning residents in the city of some 2.7 million people received texted warnings telling them to seek shelter from gusts of more than 160 kmph (100 mph). At least two people have died in Taiwan from extreme weather caused by Krathon, both elderly men. Earlier, two people were killed in the Philippines when the storm lashed the northern islands of the archipelago. All domestic flights were cancelled for a second day, as well as 236 international ones. The north-south high speed rail line suspended services and Taiwans financial markets also closed for a second day. The typhoon is forecast to slowly work its way up Taiwans flat western plain and weaken further into a tropical depression by late Friday before reaching the capital Taipei. Key Points Typhoon Krathon makes landfall with Taiwan brought to standstill Millions warned to take shelter Taiwan shuts down for another day Two dead in Taiwan from Typhoon Krathon Hundreds of flights cancelled in Taiwan Typhoon Krathon tracker: Path and forecast Why is Typhoon Krathon's landfall rare? Wednesday 2 October 2024 07:50 , Stuti Mishra Typhoon Krathon is set to make an unprecedented landfall on Taiwans heavily populated west coast near Kaohsiung, bringing flooding and disruption to the regions industrial and semiconductor sectors. Normally, typhoons in the western Pacific (especially in a place like Taiwan) track from east to west across this area, Jon Davis, chief meteorologist at Everstream Analytics, said. This is partly why Taiwan's population is densely concentrated on its west coast and very few people live on the Pacific east coast which receives the brunt of most storms. "Typhoon Krathon is going to take a track and make landfall on the west coast of Taiwan near Kaohsiung based on the latest data, he said. Krathons west coast track is rare, with no major typhoon (Category 3 or higher) making landfall near Kaohsiung in the past 34 years, Mr Davis said. This will be an unprecedented event for the southwest portion of Taiwan," he told The Independent. Typhoon Krathon warning expanded to 13 cities and counties Wednesday 2 October 2024 08:10 , Stuti Mishra Taiwans Central Weather Administration (CWA) expanded typhoon warnings to cover 13 cities and counties, stretching from the southern tip of the island up to Miaoli in the north. As of 1.15pm local time (5.15am GMT), Typhoon Krathon was located 130 kilometres southwest of Kaohsiung, moving north-northeast at 8 kilometres per hour. The outer rim of the storm has already engulfed Taitung and extended up the west coast as far as Yunlin, with bands of heavy rain and strong winds posing a significant threat to areas further north. The cities and counties under the warning include Nantou, Chiayi County, Chiayi City, Pingtung, Changhua, Penghu, Taichung, Tainan, Taitung, Hualien, Miaoli, Yunlin, and Kaohsiung. Authorities are asking residents across these regions to prepare for potential flooding, landslides, and storm surges as Typhoon Krathon makes its slow approach towards southwestern Taiwan, with landfall possible either tonight or tomorrow morning. Will Typhoon Krathon impact Taipei? Wednesday 2 October 2024 08:30 , Stuti Mishra Krathon is forecast to make landfall near Kaohsiung or Tainan city either tonight or tomorrow morning local time, and from there it is projected to move northeast toward Taipei over the next day or so. While the storm is expected to weaken as it moves inland, it could still cause significant damage, particularly due to heavy rain, flooding, and strong winds. Authorities have issued extreme rain and wind warnings for multiple regions, with storm surge risks persisting along the coast. Offices, schools, and businesses across Taiwan, including the financial market in Taipei is already shut as a precaution. People walk in the rain with a backdrop of the rainbow in the sky as Typhoon Krathon approaches to Taiwan in Taipei (AP) Video: Wind gusts and waves in Donggang Wednesday 2 October 2024 09:00 , Stuti Mishra A video shared by storm chaser Jason H on X shows heavy winds and high tides in Donggang town in southwestern Taiwan. "Fairly rough conditions going on outside our hotel in Donggang," he wrote. Fairly rough conditions going on outside our hotel in Donggang, #Taiwan this morning as we enjoy a traditional breakfast before hitting the road. I suspect this storm might turn out quite the over-producer relative to forecast intensity, just has that feel to it #Krathon pic.twitter.com/8TzIqMmn85 Jason H (AU) (@OreboundImages) October 2, 2024 Mapped: Typhoon Krathon path Wednesday 2 October 2024 09:30 , Stuti Mishra Typhoon Krathon continues its slow approach toward Taiwan. The map from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) shows the storms path and projected wind intensities. Krathon is expected to make landfall near Kaohsiung tomorrow early morning. The forecast places Krathons maximum sustained wind speeds at 100 knots (185 kmph) near landfall, with the outer bands already affecting southern Taiwan. Wind speeds of up to 90 knots (167 kmph) are expected as the storm progresses inland, affecting areas as far north as Tainan and Taichung. The storms effects will also be felt across Taipei as it moves northward after landfall. Map shows Typhoon Krathons projected path and wind intensities (Joint Typhoon Warning Centre) Photos: Rain drenches Kaohsiung overnight Wednesday 2 October 2024 10:00 , Stuti Mishra Residents walk through the rain brought by Typhoon Krathon in Kaohsiung city, Taiwan (EPA) Motorists drive through the rain brought by Typhoon Krathon in Kaohsiung city, Taiwan (EPA) Motorists drive through the rain brought by Typhoon Krathon in Kaohsiung city, Taiwan (EPA) Typhoon Krathon in process of weakening, Taiwanese forecaster says Wednesday 2 October 2024 10:30 , Stuti Mishra The Central Weather Administration (CWA) has forecast that Typhoon Krathon is gradually weakening as it nears Taiwan's southwest coast. The storm is expected to make landfall tomorrow morning, either as a weak typhoon or potentially downgraded to a tropical storm, CWA said. It will further weaken as it passes over Taiwan, possibly "dissolving" into a tropical depression, the CWA said, while cautioning that the storm could still bring heavy rains for an extended period of time. Typhoon Krathon was located 130 kilometres southwest of Kaohsiung, moving north-northeast at 8 kilometres per hour at 1.15pm local time (5.15am GMT). Nearly 10,000 evacuated in Taiwan ahead of Typhoon Krothan Wednesday 2 October 2024 11:15 , Stuti Mishra Nearly 10,000 people have been evacuated from vulnerable areas across Taiwan, particularly in regions prone to flooding and landslides. Most of the evacuations are concentrated in southern Taiwan, including cities like Kaohsiung and Pingtung, where the storm is expected to make landfall early morning tomorrow. Taiwan's interior ministry has coordinated the evacuations, while local governments have been distributing sandbags and mobilising emergency services. Taiwan has shut down schools, offices, and its financial markets. Flights and ferry services have been widely cancelled as the storm brings torrential rain and strong winds, with authorities urging the public to remain vigilant and stay indoors. One dead in Taiwan from Typhoon Krathon Wednesday 2 October 2024 11:31 , Stuti Mishra One person has died in Taiwan amid extreme weather caused by Typhoon Krathon, the fire department has confirmed. An elderly man in the eastern county of Hualien fell from a tree, the department said. At least two others are missing and 70 injuries have been reported so far. Krathon has been lashing the island with heavy rain and wind gusts since Monday. Photos: Waves crash on the coastline in Kaohsiung Wednesday 2 October 2024 12:15 , Stuti Mishra Strong waves batter the Sizihwan Bay, as Typhoon Krathon (Julien) brings rains and winds to the island, in the port city of Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Anadolu via Getty Images) Sea waves brought by Typhoon Krathon fall on a breakwater in a coastal area in Kaohsiung city, Taiwan (EPA) Sea waves brought by Typhoon Krathon fall on a coastal area in Kaohsiung city, Taiwan (EPA) Why slow-moving typhoons like Krathon can be more devastating Wednesday 2 October 2024 13:00 , Stuti Mishra Typhoon Krathon's slow movement has raised concerns about its potential impact on Taiwan. The storm was travelling at a speed of just 2-8 kmph, with its outer bands lashing Taiwan since Monday, and its landfall is now expected tomorrow morning. Krathon is expected to continue impacting Taiwan until Friday now as it slowly moves over the island, eventually weakening, a day later than earlier expected. While fast-moving typhoons cause significant damage, slow-moving storms often prove to be even more devastating. Slow-moving typhoons tend to linger over an area for longer periods, leading to exceptional volumes of rainfall. In Krathon's case, regions like Pingtung and Taitung already accumulated 300 mm of rain, with totals potentially exceeding 600 mm in some areas by yesterday. This extended rainfall dramatically increases the risk of flooding and landslides, particularly in mountainous regions, where the saturated soil becomes unstable. The affected regions are also subjected to the storm's intense winds for a longer duration, increasing the likelihood of structural damage and power outages. Photos: Taiwanese coastguard patrols Sizihwan Bay Wednesday 2 October 2024 13:45 , Stuti Mishra Taiwanese Coast Guards patrol the Sizihwan Bay as strong waves batter the coast, while Typhoon Krathon (Julien) brings rains and winds to the island, in the port city of Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Anadolu via Getty Images) Taiwanese Coast Guards patrol the Sizihwan Bay as strong waves batter the coast, while Typhoon Krathon (Julien) brings rains and winds to the island, in the port city of Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Anadolu via Getty Images) Taiwans president warns of 'catastrophic damage' from Typhon Krathon Wednesday 2 October 2024 14:30 , Stuti Mishra Taiwans president warned that the storm could impose catastrophic damage on the island and warned everyone must be particularly vigilant. Typhoon Krathon has intensified into a strong typhoon with strong wind, heavy rain and high storm surge, and it is set to bring catastrophic damage, Taiwan president Lai Ching-te said yesterday during a visit to the Central Emergency Operations Centre, which was set up over the weekend to coordinate response measures to the typhoon. Video: Typhoon Krathon's formation and march over Philippines and Taiwan Wednesday 2 October 2024 15:30 , Stuti Mishra Let us see #typhoon #krathon from invest to super typhoon and then fight with cold front. pic.twitter.com/0L0daBU5Pm weatherson (@112babyboy) October 1, 2024 Photos: Trees are blown down by strong winds Wednesday 2 October 2024 16:30 , Stuti Mishra Several trees are blown down by strong winds, as Typhoon Krathon (Julien) brings rains and winds to the island, in the port city of Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Anadolu via Getty Images) A tree is blown down by strong winds, as Typhoon Krathon (Julien) brings rains and winds to the island, in the port city of Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Anadolu via Getty Images) Mayor warns Krathon could be as devastating as 1977s Typhoon Thelma Wednesday 2 October 2024 17:30 , Stuti Mishra As Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan's southwest coast, Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chi-mai compared the storms potential devastation to Typhoon Thelma in 1977, which left Kaohsiung without water and electricity and caused the deaths of 37 people. "After the typhoon, the whole of Kaohsiung was without water and electricity, just like a war," Mr Chen said, urging residents to stay indoors. "As much as possible, limit going out." According to Li Meng-hsiang, a forecaster from the Central Weather Administration (CWA), Krathon has reached its peak intensity yesterday but the storm began to weaken slightly before landfall. "The storm surge might bring tides inland," Li warned. "If it's raining heavily, it will make it difficult to discharge waters, and as a result, coastal areas will be subject to flooding." Typhoon Krathon brings back memories of Thelma Wednesday 2 October 2024 18:30 , Stuti Mishra Residents in Taiwan were collecting sandbags, taping glass windows and stocking groceries as authorities urged people to stay at home. "Because of Typhoon Gaemi being quite severe earlier this year, everyone is more cautious and prepared this time around," sales representative Yu Ren-yu, 35, told Reuters, picking up sandbags at a government office, referring to July's storm that killed 11 people. "First be prepared, then we can face this typhoon." People are very prepared this time, said Chou Yi-tang, a government official working in the Siaogang district home to the airport. For many older residents, the storm brought back memories of the devastation caused by Typhoon Thelma five decades ago. "We were hit directly by the eyewall," he added, describing events of Typhoon Thelma. "Power was out for two weeks and no water for almost a month. It was disastrous." More than 700 sandbags have been distributed in his district, a record for a typhoon, while authorities are making more to meet demand, he told the agency. Typhoon Krathon warning expanded to 13 cities and counties Wednesday 2 October 2024 19:29 , Stuti Mishra Taiwans Central Weather Administration (CWA) expanded typhoon warnings to cover 13 cities and counties, stretching from the southern tip of the island up to Miaoli in the north. As of 1.15pm local time (5.15am GMT), Typhoon Krathon was located 130 kilometres southwest of Kaohsiung, moving north-northeast at 8 kilometres per hour. The outer rim of the storm has already engulfed Taitung and extended up the west coast as far as Yunlin, with bands of heavy rain and strong winds posing a significant threat to areas further north. The cities and counties under the warning include Nantou, Chiayi County, Chiayi City, Pingtung, Changhua, Penghu, Taichung, Tainan, Taitung, Hualien, Miaoli, Yunlin, and Kaohsiung. Authorities are asking residents across these regions to prepare for potential flooding, landslides, and storm surges as Typhoon Krathon makes its slow approach towards southwestern Taiwan, with landfall possible either tonight or tomorrow morning. Why is Typhoon Krathons landfall rare? Wednesday 2 October 2024 20:30 , Stuti Mishra Typhoon Krathon is set to make an unprecedented landfall on Taiwans heavily populated west coast near Kaohsiung, bringing flooding and disruption to the regions industrial and semiconductor sectors. Normally, typhoons in the western Pacific (especially in a place like Taiwan) track from east to west across this area, Jon Davis, chief meteorologist at Everstream Analytics, said. This is partly why Taiwans population is densely concentrated on its west coast and very few people live on the Pacific east coast which receives the brunt of most storms. Typhoon Krathon is going to take a track and make landfall on the west coast of Taiwan near Kaohsiung based on the latest data, he said. Krathons west coast track is rare, with no major typhoon (Category 3 or higher) making landfall near Kaohsiung in the past 34 years, Mr Davis said. This will be an unprecedented event for the southwest portion of Taiwan, he told The Independent. No major impact from Typhoon Krathon, chip maker says Wednesday 2 October 2024 21:30 , Stuti Mishra TSMC, the worlds largest contract chipmaker and a major Apple and Nvidia supplier, said it did not expect the typhoon would have a significant impact on operations. TSMCs factories are along the west coast, where the typhoon is set to make a rare landfall, some in the city of Tainan. Most typhoons impact the southeastern parts of Taiwan and the western parts, which house some of the biggest companies and millions of people, remain safe from impacts. However, experts have expressed concerns that Krathons path could cause disruption to Taiwans financial hubs. Typhoon Krathon leaves two dead and over 77,000 afftected in the Philippines Wednesday 2 October 2024 22:30 , Stuti Mishra At least two people are confirmed dead and over 77,000 people were affected in the Philippines after Typhoon Krathon caused significant devastation in the northern part of the archipelago. One person was electrocuted in Cagayan province, and another fatality was reported in Ilocos Sur, according to Xinhua news agency. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council confirmed that Krathon, which intensified into a super typhoon earlier this week, brought winds of 195 kmph and gusts reaching 240 kmph. The storms impact has left widespread damage across three regions as it continues to slowly moves north-northwestward towards Taiwans highly populated industrial hub, maintaining its strength. Mapped: Typhoon Krathon path and rainfall forecast Wednesday 2 October 2024 23:30 , Stuti Mishra Mapped: Typhoon Krathon heads to Taiwan after lashing Philippines Will Typhoon Krathon impact Taipei? Thursday 3 October 2024 00:30 , Stuti Mishra Krathon is forecast to make landfall near Kaohsiung or Tainan city either tonight or tomorrow morning local time, and from there it is projected to move northeast toward Taipei over the next day or so. While the storm is expected to weaken as it moves inland, it could still cause significant damage, particularly due to heavy rain, flooding, and strong winds. Authorities have issued extreme rain and wind warnings for multiple regions, with storm surge risks persisting along the coast. Offices, schools, and businesses across Taiwan, including the financial market in Taipei is already shut as a precaution. Video: Typhoon Krathon's formation and march over Philippines and Taiwan 02:30 , Stuti Mishra Let us see #typhoon #krathon from invest to super typhoon and then fight with cold front. pic.twitter.com/0L0daBU5Pm weatherson (@112babyboy) October 1, 2024 Taiwan shuts down for another day as Typhoon Krathon nears 04:04 , Stuti Mishra Taiwan remains shut for a second day as Typhoon Krathon continues to batter the island before its landfall. Schools, offices and financial institution were shut across the island yesterday and remain shut today. This is the second time in a year when Taiwan has had to shut its financial market for two days. The typhoon is expected to make landfall around noon. Two dead in Taiwan 04:15 , Stuti Mishra The death toll from extreme weather caused by Typhoon Krathon is now at two, officials confirmed. Another elderly man lost his life after a boulder fell on his car. Earlier, a 70 year old man died after falling from a tree. The storm has already killed two people in the Philippines. Hundreds of international flights disrupted for third day 05:22 , Stuti Mishra This is the third day of travel disruptions in Taiwan as Typhoon Krathon brought the city to a full closure again. Since Tuesday, flights have been getting delayed and cancelled and Taiwan has been on a full shut down since yesterday. Today again, all domestic flights were cancelled as well as 236 international ones. The north-south high speed rail line suspended services from central to southern Taiwan until early evening. Taiwan's financial markets also closed for a second day. When is Typhoon Krathon making landfall in Taiwan? 05:40 , Stuti Mishra Krathon is forecast to make landfall as a much weaker Category 2 typhoon around midday at the major southwestern port city of Kaohsiung. It is now slightly weakened but still a powerful Category 3-equivalent storm with sustained wind speeds of 173kmph and gusts of up to 209kmph. The typhoon is forecast to slowly work its way up Taiwans flat western plain and weaken further into a tropical depression by late Friday before reaching the capital Taipei. Millions warned to take shelter 06:00 , Stuti Mishra This morning, residents in Kaohsiung, a city of some 2.7 million people, received texted warnings telling them to seek shelter from gusts of more than 160 kmph (100 mph). "It's so windy now that I do not dare to go out and inspect my neighbourhood," Lin Tsai-wang, a resident of the downtown Sanmin district, told Reuters. Typhoons often hit Taiwan's east coast facing the Pacific, but Krathon is unusual in that it will directly hit the west coast. The Kaohsiung government has been particularly cautious in its preparations given that the last time it was struck by such a storm in 1977, Typhoon Thelma killed 37 people and devastated the city. Typhoon Krathon makes landfall with Taiwan brought to standstill 06:19 , Stuti Mishra Typhoon Krathon has made landfall in Taiwans Kaohsiung city at around midday local time, arriving as a weaker Category 1 typhoon. The slow-moving Typhoon has been lashing Taiwan since Monday with its outer bands causing heavy rains and wind gusts. The storm earlier intensified to an equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane but then lost some of its strength before landfall. Despite its weakened state, the storm has caused significant disruption across Taiwan, forcing the country to remain shut down for a second day. So far, two people have died, and hundreds of flights have been grounded. Financial markets also remain closed. The Taiwanese government urged residents to remain indoors due to torrential rain, strong winds, and the threat of storm surges. Why Typhoon Krathon's landfall was 'weird' 06:40 , Stuti Mishra Typhoon Krathon's landfall has been labelled "weird" by Taiwanese media as the storm brought the island to a halt. Typhoons often hit Taiwan's east coast facing the Pacific, but Krathon is unusual in that it directly hit the populated west coast. The storm also hovered along the coast for an unusually long period, lashing the island with rainfall and wind gusts since Monday. Despite intensifying dramatically on its approach to Taiwan, the storm eventually made landfall at midday today as a weaker typhoon with windspeeds equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane. Photos: Trees blown down, houses damaged as Typhoon Krathon makes landfall 07:00 , Stuti Mishra A security guard inspects a guard house after Typhoon Krathon makes landfall (Anadolu via Getty Images) Motorbikes and potted flowers are blown down by powerful winds, as Typhoon Krathon (Anadolu via Getty Images) A car is parked next to a fallen tree as Typhoon Krathon nears Kaohsiung (AFP via Getty Images) Krathon becomes first typhoon in almost three decades to make landfall in southwestern Taiwan 07:20 , Stuti Mishra BREAKING: TY #Krathon (PH : #JulianPH) is now making landfall in the city of Kaoshiung in the southwestern Taiwan this Thursday afternoon local time the first typhoon to do in 28 years. It is the only third typhoon to make landfall in the city since 1945, according to the pic.twitter.com/oyYeCh5mNV Matthew Cuyugan (@mscuyugan) October 3, 2024 Multiple heavy rain advisories to last until Friday 07:40 , Stuti Mishra Taiwan's Central Weather Administration (CWA) has issued a series of Heavy Rain Advisories across Taiwan, with torrential rainfall expected to continue. The advisories are in effect from Thursday morning through Friday morning. Rainfall is affecting key areas like Keelung, Kaohsiung, Tainan, Taipei, Pingtung, and Hualien. Typhoon Krathon made landfall near Kaohsiung earlier today, after lingering along the coast for two days and lashing the island throughout. Although weakened, the storm continues to bring significant rainfall across Taiwan. Map shows the intensity of rainfall across Taiwan, with areas in purple to experience extremely torrential rain, red for torrential rain, orange extremely heavy rain, and yellow heavy rain (Taiwan Central Weather Agency (CWA)) Video: Heavy rain in Kaohsiung where Typhoon Krathon made landfall 08:00 , Stuti Mishra Atrocious conditions out here now south of Kaohsiung in eyewall of #typhoon #Krathon in #Taiwan pic.twitter.com/cGq6HWvFR8 James Reynolds (@EarthUncutTV) October 3, 2024 Satellite image shows Typhoon Krathon over Taiwan 08:30 , Stuti Mishra A satellite image captured by the Himawari-8 weather satellite today shows Typhoon Krathon as it makes landfall in southern Taiwan. The storm hit near Kaohsiung earlier in the day as a weakened system, but it continues to bring torrential rain and powerful winds across the region. The image illustrates the storm's spiral structure as it moves northward, with bands of clouds spreading across the island and surrounding regions, causing significant weather disturbances. Taiwan's Central Weather Administration (CWA) has issued multiple advisories for heavy rain, especially in southern and eastern parts of the island. Even though the typhoon has weakened, it remains a serious concern due to the heavy rainfall and risk of flooding and landslides across Taiwan. Satellite image shows Typhoon Krathon hitting southern Taiwan, bringing torrential rain and powerful winds, as its cloud bands stretch across the region (CWA/Himawari-8) Hospital fire kills 9 in Taiwan amid extreme weather from Typhoon Krathon 09:00 , Stuti Mishra A fire at a hospital in southern Taiwan killed at least nine people today as the island was being battered by a typhoon. The fire occurred in Pingtung county, which has been hit hard by Typhoon Krathon, which made landfall in the afternoon with torrential rains and heavy winds and has brought parts of the island to a standstill. Those who died inhaled smoke from the fire, the source of which was still under investigation. Soldiers from a nearby base were mobilised to help medical workers and firefighters in the evacuation of patients and putting out the flames. Reports said 176 patients were rushed to the front entrance and transferred to ambulances in the pouring rain. They were moved to shelters nearby. Associated Press Up to 5.5ft of rain batters Taiwan's mountain regions with more to come 09:30 , Stuti Mishra Mountainous areas in the island's south have seen up to 169cm (5.5 feet) of rain over the past five days. Thousands were evacuated from areas vulnerable to mudslides and landslides. China's weather agency said some eastern and southern parts of Taiwan are still set to see more extremely heavy rain, with up to 40cm (1.3 feet) falling over the next 24 hours. Tens of thousands left without power in Taiwan 10:00 , Stuti Mishra Around 51,000 households in Taiwan are without electricity following the landfall of Typhoon Krathon, according to Taiwan Power Company (Taipower). At its peak the storm caused outages for over 176,000 households, but power has been restored to approximately 70 per cent of the affected areas. The worst-hit regions include Kaohsiung with 23,556 households still waiting for power restoration and Pingtung County where 23,210 households remain in the dark. Other affected regions include Taipei, Yunlin, Taitung, and Chiayi, where teams are working to restore electricity amid ongoing heavy rains and challenging conditions. Photos: Typhoon Krathon's severe winds and rain 10:30 , Stuti Mishra A person crosses the street through strong winds and heavy rain brought on by Typhoon Krathon in Kaohsiung city, Taiwan (EPA) A person crosses the street through strong winds and heavy rain brought on by Typhoon Krathon in Kaohsiung city, Taiwan (EPA) Typhoon Krathon to impact Japan 11:32 , Stuti Mishra Typhoon Krathon is expected to increase rainfall to parts of Okinawa, Japan, with the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issuing advisories for the affected regions. The storm, which made landfall earlier in Taiwan, is now bringing strong winds and heavy rainfall to Okinawa. The JMA has issued warnings for high waves, with heights expected to reach up to 5 metres, as well as for strong winds that could cause localised damage. Why Typhoon Krathon's slow movement matters 12:15 , Stuti Mishra Typhoon Krathon turned out to be an unusually slow moving storm, with its outer bands lingering over Taiwan for much of this week. The slow movement of storms is becoming a troubling trend in recent years as it leads to longer period of rainfall and more destruction. Scientists have earlier linked this kind of pattern to the climate crisis. Rising global temperatures are heating ocean surfaces, providing more energy to the atmosphere and supercharging storms. These intensified storms carry more moisture and, combined with weakened atmospheric steering currents like jet streams, they are moving more slowly. This stalling effect leads to extended periods of heavy rainfall and destructive winds, as seen with Krathon again. Recent studies show that tropical storms are now moving more slowly than in previous decades, leading to higher rainfall totals and prolonged damage. This trend has been observed globally with other significant storms, such as Hurricane Harvey and Typhoon Hagibis. A coast guard member keeps watch for people nearing the coast in Taiwan's Keelung as Typhoon Krathon nears (YAN ZHAO) (YAN ZHAO/AFP/AFP) Typhoon Krathon pounded a remote group of tiny Philippine islands near Taiwan on Monday, cutting power and communication services, the state weather service and officials said. The typhoon passed near the island of Sabtang in the Batanes group late in the morning with maximum sustained winds of 170 kilometres (106 miles) an hour and gusts of up to 215 kilometres (134 miles) an hour. Krathon was expected to head towards Taiwan, where authorities closed schools and evacuated more than 800 people in the south and east as a precaution. The Philippines' weather service said in its latest bulletin that "significant to severe impacts from typhoon-force winds are possible" in Batanes, a province of some 20,000 people. Batanes governor Marilou Cayco, reached by satellite phone by the DZBB radio station in Manila, said the typhoon began to hit the islands last night and that 27 families had been evacuated. "The wind is so strong, it is like an earthquake," she said. Cayco said "many" houses were damaged, with roofing sheets flying through the air. "People are asking for help but we cannot go out" because it was too dangerous, she said. There were no reports of casualties before electricity and telephone contact were cut by the strong winds, said a senior Batanes police official, who was on the main island of Luzon further south and asked not to be identified. The police official also told AFP "pre-emptive evacuations" were undertaken shortly before the typhoon struck. Police and rescue officials in Batanes province could not be reached by normal phone service. Photos and video clips posted on social media showed coconut trees swaying violently in a white blanket of rain and fog on Batan and Sabtang, two of the islands that make up Batanes province. - 'Be vigilant' - In Taiwan, rain had started to batter Taipei as well as the eastern side of the island on Monday afternoon, although Krathon was not expected to make landfall until Wednesday. Fishermen in the northern port city of Keelung tied down their boats, while authorities said schools and offices from southern Pingtung to eastern Hualien were already closed. "People in the east half (of the island), northern mountainous areas, and southern areas should pay special attention," President Lai Ching-te said in a Facebook post, adding that the weather patterns of Krathon "are complex". Krathon is currently categorised as a medium-strength typhoon but there is potential for its "intensity to increase when it passes the South China Sea", said Lu Kuo-chen, Taiwan's Central Weather Administration's deputy chief. Premier Cho Jung-tai said: "We must not take it lightly and we must be vigilant." "The typhoon is expected to bring strong winds and heavy rain, posing a great threat to all of Taiwan," Cho said. Typhoons are common around the region at this time of year. However, a recent study showed that they are increasingly forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change. burs-dhc/pbt MEMPHIS, Tenn. The three former officers facing federal charges in the beating death of Tyre Nichols rested their cases on Monday. Defense attorneys announced on Monday morning that Tadarrius Bean and Demetrius Haley rest their cases. Later in the afternoon, Justin Smith also rested his case. Closing arguments will begin on Tuesday morning. Witnesses testify force used on Tyre Nichols was justified Justin Smiths attorney, Martin Zummach, asked additional witnesses to the stand as he continued to build Smiths case on Monday. Jared Zwickey, a California-based use of force trainer, testified on Monday that Justin Smiths actions as seen on body camera footage, are within national and Memphis Police Department policy. Zummach questioned Zwickey about the dangers officers may face if a suspect resists and has not been searched. Zwickey said he would classify the situation as very high risk, and described officers as typically being very fearful in such situations. Zwickey informed the jury that Smith was the officer who called for medical help after the beating. Zwickey agreed that if an officer were to tell EMTs on the scene of an arrest that the suspects oxygen is low, he is absolutely assisting in providing medical care to the wounded suspect. National and MPD standards were heavily discussed, with Zwickey agreeing that open-hand and closed-hand strikes to the face are consistent with both policies. Tyre Nichols trial: Prosecution rests, defense begins its case Zummach also made the argument that someone who is under the influence of drugs or alcohol will have a higher pain tolerance, which could explain how a suspect could continue resisting after being pepper sprayed or tased. Zwickey agreed with the statements. After Zwickey was dismissed, Mark Wojcicki took the stand. While questioned by Zummach, Wojcicki, a retired lieutenant, called Justin Smith a high-level officer, a good and honest man and someone who exercises good, diligent police work. If it was my kid that had done something to be arrested, I would want Justin being the man arresting him, Wojcicki said. Upon redirect, the prosecutor asked Wojcicki if a good police officer would use excessive force, laugh about using excessive force, or laugh or brag about injuring someone. He responded No to all of them. The final witness was Brian Nemec, a former MPD Organized Crime Unit lieutenant. Nemec described Smith as a shy and timid person at first. I trusted him, Nemec said. He was good. Nemec told Zummach that Smith had never let him down. He also added that hed never seen Smith lose his temper. Upon cross-examination, Nemec said hed only supervised Smith for four months. Prosecutor Kathryn Gilbert asked Nemec if a good officer would report excessive force and try to stop it, and the latter agreed. Gilbert asked if a good officer would try to help an injured arrestee and Nemec agreed with that too. See more breaking news, local news and weather from WREG.com for Memphis and the Mid-South. Sign up for WREG newsletters and have the latest top stories sent right to your inbox. Nemec said he was not aware that Smith didnt inform supervisors about the use of force he used until he saw it on the news. He also said that he is now aware that Smith failed to report his use of force and the other officers use of force. Gilbert asked Nemec if he thought Smith was a good officer. He responded, When I had him, yes he was. Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, and Justin Smith are facing charges of federal civil rights violations, conspiracy, and obstruction in connection to Tyre Nichols death in 2023. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com. The front of Hugo L Black Courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama on August 15, 2023. The Department of Justice filed suit against the state last week over the removal of about 3,200 voters from state rolls, saying it violated the National Voter Registration Act. (Jemma Stephenson/Alabama Reflector) The U.S. Department of Justice said late last week it was suing Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen over a program removing voters from voter rolls. The right to vote is one of the most sacred rights in our democracy, wrote Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division in a Friday news release. As Election Day approaches, it is critical that Alabama redress voter confusion resulting from its list maintenance mailings sent in violation of federal law. The DOJ lawsuit follows a lawsuit filed on Sept. 13, which alleged that Allens move to remove non-citizens from the voter rolls breached several portions of the National Voter Registration Act, the Voting Rights Act and the 14th Amendment. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco Saturday wrote she would consolidate the two lawsuits, barring an objection from either side. Allen said in a statement Monday that it was his constitutional duty to ensure that only American citizens vote in our elections, but declined further comment, citing the ongoing litigation. The move affected about 3,200 voters, and the plaintiffs in the earlier lawsuit include naturalized citizens who were wrongfully removed. The DOJ filing said that 717 affected voters had been restored to active status as of Sept. 19. A message was left with the Attorney Generals Office Monday morning. DOJ attorneys wrote that the announced plan to remove noncitizens came 84 days before the election, which included both naturalized and native-born U.S. citizens. That, they said, violated the Quiet Period Provision of the National Voter Registration Act, which requires states to complete systematic programs to remove names of ineligible voters from registration lists no later than 90 days before federal elections. DOJ attorneys asked the court to enjoin the state from future non-compliance with the section and to ensure that voters impacted by the policy are restored to the rolls or can register again. They also asked the court to direct the state to send a remedial mailing to voters who did not ask to be removed from the rolls telling them they have been restored to active status; can cast a regular ballot on election day; advising U.S. citizens that their inclusion doesnt meet they are ineligible to vote or subject them to criminal prosecution and advising non U.S. citizens that they remain ineligible. DOJ also wants the state to to provide prompt and clear information to the public about the halting and reversing of the program and that impacted eligible voters can vote on Election Day, and to take all reasonable and practicable efforts to educate county officials and poll workers concerning the cessation of the Program, the restoration of impacted voters to active status, and the ability of impacted voters to cast a regular ballot without submitting supplemental paperwork or documentation; and ordering additional relief as the interests of justice may require. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE The Biden administration is dropping its push to have the Kenya-led security mission in Haiti transformed into a formal United Nations peacekeeping operation at least for now. Language about any possible transformation of the struggling mission into a United Nations peacekeeping operation has been dropped from the latest draft resolution after the U.S. and Ecuador could not get support from China and Russia. Instead, both countries will seek just the one-year renewal of the mandate of the Multinational Security Support mission, which will go to a U.N. Security Council vote on Monday. If approved the multinational force would be extended until October 2025. During negotiations that started earlier this month, both Russia and China repeatedly opposed the inclusion of any language asking the Security Council to begin planning to transition the security mission into a U.N. peacekeeping operation or to consider the move. The latest negotiated language, seen by the Miami Herald, instead asks that missions mandate, which expires on Wednesday, be extended for a year. It also encourages the mission to accelerate deployment of police officers and for the international community to step up its voluntary contributions. The lack of financial support for the mission has contributed to the delay in the deployment of up to 2,500 security personnel, and affected its ability to help the Haiti National Police combat armed gangs. Almost four months after the first contingent of Kenyan police officers deployed to Haiti, there are just over 400 foreign security staffers in Haiti, including a small contingent of Jamaican soldiers. The funding problem led the Biden administration earlier this year to pursue the peacekeeping route, because it would guarantee funding for the ill-equipped and underfunded mission. But throughout the negotiations, supporters of the move were blocked by Russia and China, permanent members of the Security Council with veto powers. The countries, which have not contributed to the current mission, argued that conditions on the ground in Haiti are not conducive for a formal U.N. peacekeeping operation and the current mission needs to first reach its full strength. The support of the two countries has always been in doubt. Both countries have opposed past U.N. interventions in Haiti and have used the current crisis to publicly criticize the U.S. policies in the Caribbean nation. Also, while China is the second largest financial contributor to the U.N., it has not shown interest in helping to pay for various causes around the globe. Russia, meanwhile, has repeatedly demonstrated its lack of interest in helping the U.S. deal with international problems, and Haiti is no exception. The U.S. remains the biggest contributor to the multinational security mission, providing over $300 million, and is struggling to get other countries to contribute to a U.N. trust fund that is supposed to help finance the operations. Kenya has said the operation costs $600 million a year. Should the current draft resolution be approved, Russia and China will be able to show support for Haiti by extending the struggling Kenya-led mission but stopping short of helping the U.S., which could once more get stuck with carrying the bulk of the financial burden for another year. The U.K.'s last coal-fired power plant was to close permanently on Monday bringing an end to 140 years of reliance on the fossil fuel to generate electricity in Britain. The move will make the U.K. the first major global economy to completely phase out coal as an energy source. The Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station, located near a small village in southern England, was to close its doors for the last time at midnight local time. The power station has been generating electricity since 1967 and "played a key role in keeping the nation's lights on," its parent company Uniper said in a statement Monday. "Since commissioning it has produced enough energy to make more than 21 trillion cups of tea and its 2GW capacity is enough to power two million homes," the company said. A freight train is seen delivering coal to the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station in southern England, in a file photo provided by the power plant's parent company Uniper. / Credit: UNIPER/Handout Peter O'Grady, the plant's manager, told CBS News it was "an emotional day." "When I started my career 36 years ago, none of us imagined a future without coal generation in our lifetimes. I am incredibly proud of what we've achieved together over the years and to be part of this energy milestone as the country focuses on a cleaner energy future," he said. The move sees the U.K. make good on one of the environmental pledges made by the government as part of a wider strategy to combat climate change and achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Coal is considered the single most damaging fossil fuel for the environment, according to Greenpeace, as it releases more carbon dioxide than oil or gas. Coal also produces mercury and arsenic, and small particles of soot which contribute to air pollution. Thirteen countries have already phased out coal as a source of energy, according to independent climate think tank Ember, but Britain will be the only member of the G7 group of economically advanced, democratic nations to do so thus far. In the G7's largest economy by a significant margin, the U.S., the Department of Energy acknowledges that coal is still "used to generate a significant chunk of our nation's electricity" about 16% of the total share in 2023, according to the Energy Information Administration. U.K. Energy Minister Michael Shanks said in a statement sent Monday to CBS News that the closure of the Ratcliffe power station "marks the end of an era, and coal workers can be rightly proud of their work powering our country for over 140 years." "The era of coal might be ending, but a new age of good energy jobs for our country is just beginning," Shanks said. A bulldozer moves coal outside the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station in southern England, in a file photo provided by the plant's parent company Uniper. / Credit: UNIPER/Handout The first coal plant in Britain went online in 1882, when Thomas Edison's Holborn Viaduct coal plant started generating electricity for public use. It was a first-of-its-kind station, and it burned enough coal to provide energy to light 1,000 lamps in the City of London. Despite efforts to make the industry cleaner, the fundamentals of coal-fired electricity generation have remained largely unchanged since Edison's company fired up its boilers. The process involves burning the fossil fuel to heat water to create steam, which spins a turbine to produce electricity. Caitlin Clark, Napheesa Collier on WNBA's success in watershed season | 60 Minutes In Finland, classes in recognizing fake news, disinformation Ina Garten: Recipe for success What do U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins racist remarks say about his resounding support in Louisiana? Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Louisiana, on Wednesday posted to X, and later deleted, a comment that invoked racist stereotypes about Haitians. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) By the time Republican U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins faces a censure vote in the House of Representatives, its highly likely that voters of Louisianas 3rd Congressional District will have resoundingly elected him to a fourth term. Its a sad reflection on the large section of Cajun Country that Higgins represents, especially because his constituents would be hard pressed to cite specific legislation hes sponsored to benefit the district through six years in office. Higgins drew quick condemnation, especially from members of the Congressional Black Caucus, for regurgitating misinformation about Haitian immigrants living and working in Springfield, Ohio and doing as legally admitted residents to the United States. In case you missed Higgins since-deleted post, it went like this: Lol. These Haitians are wild, Higgins wrote. Eating pets, vudu [sic], nastiest country in the western hemisphere, cults, slapstick gangsters but damned if they dont feel all sophisticated now, filing charges against our President and VP. If you didnt know, immigration paperwork is lengthy and expensive, which some might also describe as sophisticated. Higgins continued: All these thugs better get their mind right and their ass out of our country before January 20th, Higgins concluded, noting the day the next U.S. president will be sworn into office. The congressman wrote his post Wednesday on X, formerly Twitter, after an activist group called for the arrest of the GOP ticket former President Donald Trump and his pick for vice president, Sen. J.D. Vance, who represents the people of Springfield and the rest of Ohio. The Republican nominees tickets continued repetition of claims that have widely and officially debunked rises to a criminal offense, according to the Haitian Bridge Alliance. In a subsequent interview with The Hill after deleting his post, he dialed back his diatribe, suggesting it was directed at Haitian gangs and not the country itself. Yet in a statement to CNNs Anderson Cooper, the congressman doubled down on his original statement. Its all true, Higgins said. I can put up another controversial post tomorrow if you want me to. I mean, we do have freedom of speech. Ill say what I want. Its not a big deal to me, the congressman added. Its like something stuck to the bottom of my boot. Just scrape it off and move on with my life. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Perhaps if anyone else, anywhere else, had posted the same hate-filled, racist rant, the outrage would have made an appreciable dent in their approval ratings. But thanks to deflection and defense from his fellow GOP members from Louisiana, Higgins online braying was chalked up as just Clay being Clay. His comments were incendiary, but its unclear if hell pay any price whatsoever, University of Louisiana at Monroe political scientist Pearson Cross told Louisiana Radio Network. Republican leadership is not going to be looking to censure one of their own members when, in fact, the vice president (nominee) from their party is kind of on record as saying similar statements about Haitians, at least in regard to how they treat their dogs and cats. Reaction from GOP leaders in the Louisiana delegation lends credence to Cross opinion. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson steered well clear of condemning Higgins, calling him a dear friend and very principled man when reporters asked for his response to the X post. He said he went to the back and he prayed about it, and he regretted it, and he pulled the post down, Johnson told reporters. Thats what you want the gentleman to do. Im sure he probably regrets some of the language he used. But, you know, we move forward. We believe in redemption. The speakers reluctance to bash his colleague is not surprising, but its disappointing he made no effort to condemn the message. Johnson has his own track record for attacking the marginalized, including his actions to oppose to same-sex marriage and laws intended to protect the LGBTQ+ community. In this light, its understandable that he gave Higgins a free pass for his excessive display of racism. Another of Louisianas own, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, also rushed to Higgins defense, objecting on the House floor Wednesday when Congressional Black Caucus leader, Rep. Steven Horsford, R-Nevada, offered a motion for a censure vote. Keep in mind a congressional censure is merely a statement of disapproval, without any real punitive consequences. I object to the motion, and if we want to go through every comment from the other side, well be happy to do it, Scalise told the presiding speaker, Rep. Jay Olbernote, R-California. Again, there was no rebuke from Scalise, not even the slightest mention that Higgins X post was baseless or in poor taste. The majority leader instead played the what about card, promising to find some Democratic transgression that apparently would offset Higgins blatant indiscretion. Just a week earlier, Scalise called out Vice President Kamala Harris for incendiary language that he said inspired assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump. Kamala needs to stop saying President Trump is a threat to democracy, Scalise said. There are unhinged people that are taking that as a call to go and try to eliminate President Trump. President Joe Biden also drew Scalises scorn for saying, Its time to put Trump in a bulls-eye. The president of the United States said that, and now two different people have taken it as a call to action, Scalise said. If were going to engage Scalise in his game of what about, then you would think he would reprimand Higgins in no uncertain terms for his quite blatant directive that Haitians get their ass out of our country before January 20th. A list of Trumps comparable verbal grenades that merit similar denouncement would take more space than this commentary allows. Just for starters, some Jan. 6 rioters have since testified in court that they believed they were following Trumps instructions when they breached the Capitol perimeter that day. With a potential censure vote on hold until Congress returns in mid-November, it wouldnt be surprising if Higgins, fresh off a big reelection win, were to turn the entire situation into a badge of honor one that certainly would receive plaudits from his supporters back home. Until conservatives in Louisianas 3rd District and beyond decide racism, xenophobia and threats arent among their core values, Higgins and others who share his myopic worldview can expect a long tenure in Washington. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE It's becoming a common problem. You see the ads for semaglutide medications such as Wegovy. You decide to talk to your doctor about using the medication for weight loss. Your doctor decides, yes, this would be a good medication for you, but either your insurance won't cover it or your pharmacy can't find a supply of it. You have to decide if you are going to pay the $1,000 or more a month for the medication and find a pharmacy that supplies it, or go to a compounding pharmacy that's not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or just skip the medication altogether. Last week U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra asking him to allow for generic licenses for semaglutide medications, sold under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy by pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk. The letter stated: "By utilizing your competitive licensing authority to permit generic competitors to Wegovy and Ozempic, you can stabilize supplies at a time of enormous demand and lower outrageous prices that have severely limited access to these life-changing drugs." U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, at the Austin Community College Highland campus in August, has sent a letter asking that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services allow for generic medications for Wegovy and Ozempic. The politicians estimate that if half of Americans with obesity used these drugs, it would cost $411 billion a year. They also estimate that those medications cost up to 15 times more in the United States than in countries such as Canada, Japan, Great Britain, Germany and Denmark. "The federal government has failed to restrain Big Pharma price gouging to ensure patients can afford the newest treatments," the letter said. Typically, pharmaceutical companies have five to seven years to hold the license for their proprietary product before it can be offered as a generic. This encourages companies to invest in research and development of new medications, but the Warren and Doggett letter estimates that the manufacturer has made $38 billion in revenue from these medications. Wegovy, which is specifically for weight loss, was approved by the FDA in 2021. Ozempic was approved, but only for diabetes, in 2017. Are there benefits to semaglutides? We asked Dr. Manish Naik, the chief medical officer at Austin Regional Clinic, about how these drugs should be used and their availability. While they were originally developed for people with diabetes, "it's turning out that these drugs have a lot more metabolic benefits," Naik said. He said that's why studies have shown they also help with fatty liver disease and cardiac disease. "They are extremely expensive, but there are quite a lot of folks who would benefit from this," he said. In general, Naik has not had trouble getting his patients who have diabetes these medications and having their insurance pay for it. Sometimes they have to call around to different pharmacies to find it. Patients run into trouble if they are using it for weight loss, prediabetes or fatty liver disease, he said. "It's very difficult to get the drugs approved" by insurance when not for diabetes, he said. Are compounded semaglutides safe? Patients then make that choice: Pay $1,000-plus, do without or try a compounding pharmacy. Telehealth companies such as Ro, ReflexMD and LifeMD offer compounded versions of the semaglutide for hundreds of dollars less a month. The FDA has issued warnings about these compounded semaglutides because you have to draw up the prescribed amount using a syringe instead of having a prefilled injectable pen. The FDA has warned against injecting a compounded semaglutide because of dosing errors. But it is much cheaper than the brand-name, approved medications. There have been cases of people misdosing themselves with too much medication. That can cause dehydration, fainting, nausea and vomiting, and it can require hospitalization. The other issue with the compounded semaglutide medications, Naik said, is they are not FDA-approved. "They have not been formally evaluated for safety and effectiveness," he said. Some of the compounded semaglutides use different salt forms of the semaglutides that the FDA has warned against because of safety and effectiveness concerns. "Patients are accepting some level of risk," Naik said, when they choose the compounded semaglutides. Why would a generic be different from a compounded semaglutide? If generic semaglutide medications were offered, they would be regulated by the FDA, and in theory the price would go down with the increase in supply. More insurance companies would be willing to cover it for obesity, prediabetes and fatty liver disease. Some of the already FDA-approved semaglutide manufacturers also are looking at offering their medications directly to patients in vials instead of prefilled injectables to reduce the cost. "We need more solutions to lower the cost," Naik said. "There is, from a medical treatment perspective, opportunity to benefit." This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Rep. Lloyd Doggett pushes for generic Wegovy, Ozempic to lessen costs CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) U.S. Senator Tim Scott has called on port workers to delay their impending strike after Hurricane Helene brought widespread destruction to much of the southeast. A union representing U.S. dockworkers said about 45,000 members will walk off the job at midnight if demands in a contract renegotiation including increased pay and no automation are not met by the Sept. 30 deadline. It would kick off a massive strike that could shut down ports along the east and gulf coast and it come as much of the southeast reels from major damages caused by Hurricane Helene. At least 100 Americans have died, millions have been without power, and flooding continues to devastate homes and communities in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. I urge the members of the International Longshoremens Association to temporarily continue working under their current contract until the suffering from the storm has eased, said U.S. Senator Tim Scott in a statement Monday afternoon. As Americans, it is our duty to help those in need access shelter, food, water, and electricity. A strike would greatly disrupt our supply chain and economy, only worsening the pain of those who have already lost everything. The six-year master contract between the ILA and the United States Maritime Alliance expires at midnight. ILA members in Charleston are expected to join the strike beginning at 12:01 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 WCBD News 2. This U.S. Senate program is offering two Idaho highschoolers a trip to D.C., college scholarship The White House South Lawn in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images) Two Idaho high school juniors or seniors have the chance to spend a week in Washington, D.C., to learn about public service careers through the U.S. Senate Youth Program. The program is accepting two student leaders from each state, the District of Columbia and the Department of Defense Education Activity to visit Washington, D.C., in March 2025 and hear from senators, cabinet members, officials from the departments of State and Defense and directors of other federal agencies, according to a press release from the Idaho Department of Education. They could also participate in meetings with the president and a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court if time allows. All transportation, hotel and meal expenses will be provided by the Hearst Foundations, and students will receive a $10,000 college scholarship. Watching Idahos young people transform into the leaders of tomorrow is always a privilege, and I hope that civics-minded high schoolers will take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield said in the press release. Im eager to see what this years applicants have to offer. Last year, Idaho selected high school senior Alyson Reed from North Gem High School in Bancroft and junior AnnMarie Wolfley from Snake River High School in Blackfoot for the honor. To be eligible, students must be actively involved in qualified leadership positions, enrolled in high school and living in the state that they will represent for the entire 2024-25 academic year. The deadline to apply is Oct. 11. To learn more about the program and how to qualify, visit the U.S. Senate Youth Program website. To apply, visit the Idaho Department of Educations application form. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) A University of Illinois student filed a sexual assault report that they say occurred on campus over the weekend. According to U of I Police, they received a report that the student was sexually assaulted at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday in a residence hall. 19-year-old killed in Coles County crash University Police also say the student and the offender met at a party before the assault. They also offered some tips to help keep the campus community safe. They say its important to intervene if it seems safe to do so, report a crime if you feel comfortable, avoid walking alone at night and trust your instincts. U of I Police say campus resources include the Student Assistance Center (SAC) or the Emergency Dean Program. They can be reached at 217-333-0050. For resources available 24/7, visit Rape Advocacy, Counseling, and Education Services (RACES), or call the hotline at 217-384-4444. For more information about campus resources, 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 WCIA.com. (Bloomberg) -- The United Arab Emirates said a Sudanese military aircraft struck the residence of its ambassador to the war-torn African nation, further stoking tensions between the Gulf country and the Sudanese authorities. Most Read from Bloomberg The building in the capital, Khartoum, was badly damaged in the attack that the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs described in a statement as cowardly. It didnt say whether Head of Mission Hamad Mohammed AlJneibi was present or hurt in the attack. The OPEC nation said it will file a complaint to the Arab League, the African Union and the United Nations over the strike. Sudans army denied it bombed the residence, noting in a statement that it only targets areas where the RSF militia is present, referring to the Rapid Support Forces, which has been at war with the military since April 2023. The army has repeatedly accused the UAE of supporting the RSF, though the UAE denies any involvement in the conflict. The UAE has supplied the RSF with guns and heavy weaponry through an airstrip under its control in the Chadian city of Amdjarass, according to UN investigators and Western officials. Both Iran and Russia have backed the army, in what has become a proxy war that risks splitting the country in two. In recent days, Sudans army launched an offensive into parts of Khartoum that were previously under RSF control. The push came as the armys leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, accused foreign proxies of fueling the violence in a speech at the UN General Assembly last week. Germany, France, the United States and the European Union convened a ministerial meeting on Sudan last week in New York, where they said the fighting was causing devastating suffering across the country. The countries also called on the warring parties to implement localized humanitarian pauses to ensure access to parts of the country most in need of aid. The RSF has focused its military efforts on the city of El-Fasher in North Darfur, the last remaining city in the west of the country thats still controlled by the army. (Updates with comment by Sudanese army in fourth paragraph) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. People watched from a distance new Israeli air strikes on Beirut in the early hours of Tuesday [Getty Images] The UK government has chartered a commercial flight out of Lebanon to assist British nationals trying to flee the fighting, the foreign secretary has announced. The situation was "volatile" and had the potential to "deteriorate quickly", David Lammy said, just hours before Israel announced the start of a "localised and targeted" ground operation in southern Lebanon. British nationals and their spouse or partner, and children under the age of 18 are eligible to take the flight, with vulnerable people a priority. The plane is scheduled to leave on Wednesday from Beirut, which was hit by fresh Israeli air strikes overnight. Live updates: 'Ground raids' under way against Hezbollah What is Hezbollah and why is Israel attacking Lebanon? Israel tells US it plans to launch limited ground incursion into Lebanon What to know about the Israel-Hezbollah conflict The UK government will pay to charter the flight, which will depart from Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport, but British nationals will be expected to pay a fee of 350 per seat. British nationals and dependants will be eligible to request a space on the flight. Any non-British dependants boarding the flight will require a visa, granted for at least six months, to enter the UK. Any further flights in the coming days will depend on demand and the security situation on the ground, the Foreign Office said. As of last week, there were thought to be between 4,000 and 6,000 UK nationals including dependents in Lebanon. The safety of British nationals in Lebanon continues to be our utmost priority," Lammy stressed. Speaking to reporters, he added: "I urge them to leave because the situation on the ground is fast-moving and of course whilst we will do everything we can to protect British nationals, and those plans are in place to do so, we cannot anticipate the circumstances and the speed with we can do that if things escalate in a major way over the coming hours and days." A few hours later the Israeli military said a "limited, localised and targeted" ground operation was under way against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group which dominates the country. Air strikes hit a southern suburb of Beirut, after the Israeli military warned residents there to evacuate. The Israeli government says the aim of its military operation is to enable 60,000 displaced Israelis to return to their homes. Hezbollah says its fighters are ready to confront an Israeli invasion. According to officials in Lebanon, more than 1,000 people have been killed in the past two weeks, while up to a million may now be displaced. Lammy and his US counterpart Antony Blinken spoke by phone on Monday. He said they had seen the media reports and were both urging "de-escalation". He added the UK would be keeping in touch with Iran, and reiterated the call for a 21-day ceasefire to enhance the prospect of a political solution. His comments come after Sir Keir Starmer last week told British nationals in Lebanon to "leave immediately" as fighting intensified between Israel and Hezbollah. Britons had previously been advised to book flights out of the country - but there were limited options available, with most airlines except the national carrier having cancelled flights. The Ministry of Defence has sent nearly 700 troops to nearby Cyprus to prepare for the possible evacuation of British nationals from Lebanon and the government "continues to advise against all travel to Lebanon". Tensions have been growing across the Middle East since Hamas gunmen attacked Israel on 7 October last year, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others as hostages. The Israel military campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas attack has killed more than 41,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Previously sporadic fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalated on 8 October - the day after Hamas's unprecedented attack. Hezbollah fired at Israeli positions, in solidarity with Hamas. Hezbollah has launched more than 8,000 rockets at northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. It has also fired anti-tank missiles at armoured vehicles and attacked military targets with explosive drones. Families of hostages in Gaza held a news conference in London, along with the relatives of other British-Israelis killed on 7 October, following a memorial event at Downing Street. They said they felt let down and called on the government to do more to free their relatives. Earlier, they met Sir Keir and Lammy. (Bloomberg) -- Britains Conservatives have struggled to fill out the corporate day event at their annual conference this year, in stark contrast to their self-branding as the UKs party of business. Most Read from Bloomberg Attendees in the room on Monday at the Birmingham conventions Business Day described a sparsely attended fixture, with only around 100 guests sitting in on the morning panels. While more were expected to arrive for the evening dinner, it was a stark contrast to the 500-plus who attended the Labour conference business day a week earlier. The depleted attendance is a marker of the Tories decline in the eyes of British business after they crashed to their worst ever defeat in the July 4 election. After returning just 121 Members of Parliament out of 650, theres little prospect the party that had been in power for 14 years will have any significant influence over policy-making for the foreseeable future. Two business attendees said they were allowed in for free, suggesting the Tories were trying to pad out the numbers. A Conservative official involved in the organizing of the event denied the Tories had been giving away free tickets, while a party spokesman said there had been significant interest in the gathering, with high demand for tickets and partnerships and a full exhibition hall. Tickets for business day had been on sale for 3,500 ($4,700) more than the 3,000 price of entry to Labours event last week, which sold out within 24 hours. Labour has a parliamentary majority of more than 160. In an indication of the limited interest from the City of London, during a morning panel discussion Richard Harpin, the chief executive of Homeserve Plc and a Tory donor, asked the audience whether there was anyone from the private equity industry present. No one raised their hand. Harpin suggested they must have still been at breakfast. To be sure, recent Tory governments had already damaged the partys relationship with business. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson once dismissed business with a four-letter expletive, while his successor Liz Truss roiled the markets with a huge package of unfunded tax cuts. Truss was nevertheless the biggest draw at the Tory conference on Monday if not at the business day event holding a question-and-answer session in which she repeatedly bashed Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey. Weve got to recognize that were not in government anymore, James Cleverly, one of the candidates to be the partys next leader, told Bloomberg Radio on Tuesday. People want to influence the party of government and because we dropped the ball, thats not us, he said, arguing he was the contender best placed to win back the ear of British business. Cleverly said he was not in favor of accepting more migrant workers in areas like house-building and childcare, instead basing his pitch on skills, lower taxes and regulation for business and individuals. Speakers at Business Day which was partially sponsored by Bloomberg used the opportunity to take a potshot at Britains new governing party. The day opened with Dominic Johnson, a Tory peer and former investment minister, asking the room if they had buyers remorse following a dip in business confidence since Labour took over. Business chiefs are the most pessimistic they have been about Britains economy since the wake of Trusss premiership in late 2022, according to a survey published Tuesday by the the Institute of Directors, which said the fear of looming tax hikes and workplace regulations contributed to the decline in sentiment. Representatives from companies including HSBC, Barclays, Sainsburys, JP Morgan and Jaguar Land Rover were in attendance, although people at the event said most companies had not sent their top representatives. Business groups including the Confederation of British Industry, the Federation of Small Businesses and Tech UK were also in the room. For us its about underlining our independence, said Craig Beaumont, chief of external affairs at the FSB, who didnt attend himself. Even when its deeply unfashionable, we build relationships with those in opposition to underline that. Company leaders who have traveled to the conference in Birmingham were also hoping to ingratiate themselves with the remaining Tory leadership hopefuls Cleverly, Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat. However anyone hoping to get some one-on-one time with the contenders at the evening drinks reception for business day attendees was likely to be disappointed. Instead of a speech from one of them or even a shadow cabinet member they were treated to Alan Mak, the shadow City minister who is not a household name. The leadership race has been dominating the agenda at the conference, as the four candidates will be whittled down to two by Tory MPs next week before being put to the party membership for a final vote. Badenoch, Cleverly and Tugendhat all gave addresses at various points during business day, with Tugendhat a known China skeptic warning against fostering closer economic ties with the nation, which he said would come with strings attached. Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, meanwhile, warned that the party needed not to go down a cul-de-sac by pursuing a solely right-wing agenda chasing the votes of Nigel Farages Reform UK party. Because of the recent changeover in government, business was not expecting the opposition to adopt big policies but rather to play its part in good scrutiny of government policy and holding ministers to account, according to Beaumont at the FSB. The ideal is to have all the parties competing over who is the party of business, he said. --With assistance from Lizzy Burden and James Woolcock. (Adds Cleverly remarks starting in eighth paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2024 Bloomberg L.P. Sharone Lifschitz's father is still being held in Gaza (BENJAMIN CREMEL) (BENJAMIN CREMEL/AFP/AFP) Families of hostages with British links held by Hamas in Gaza on Monday warned that Israel's escalation of hostilities with Hezbollah could distract from their loved ones being freed. Sharone Lifschitz, whose parents were taken hostage during Hamas's attack on Israel last year, warned that an Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon would "take away" the focus from the remaining hostages. Her mother, Yocheved, was released, but father Oded, 84, remains in captivity. Next week marks one year since Hamas's attack resulted in 1,205 deaths and 251 people taken hostage, with 97 still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,615 people, most of them civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. Israel has now turned its attention to Lebanon, launching deadly air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds across the country. However, for Steve Brisley, whose brother-in-law Eli Sharabi is still being held captive in Gaza, that "takes focus away from what is the most important thing, which is the release of the hostages." He said there had been an "abject failure of international diplomacy" in securing a hostage return deal and felt as though the hostages had "been forgotten". Brisley called for the UK government, which has called for a ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages, to find a "new and innovative" approach to end the crisis. Lifschitz said there was a lack "of will from both sides", referring to Israel and Hamas. Meeting UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy earlier in the day, the family members pushed for the government to prioritise bringing their relatives back home. "I hold the prime minister responsible for the life of these hostages", said Lifschitz, adding she was feeling "encouraged" by the meeting. Starmer told the families that "we need to see the hostages returned immediately and unconditionally". The relatives also received a message from Britain's head of state King Charles III and his wife Queen Camilla, who said they "continue to keep them and all hostage families in our special thoughts". aks/phz/cw The United Nations Security Council meets on the escalation in fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah during the United Nations General Assembly LONDON (Reuters) -British foreign minister David Lammy repeated calls for an immediate ceasefire amid reports of a potential escalation in the Israel-Lebanon conflict, after discussing the matter with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the phone on Monday. "We've both seen the reports in the media about a next phase for Israel in Lebanon," Lammy told Sky News, amid growing indications that Israel was on the verge of sending ground troops into Lebanon. "We both agreed the position that we had at the U.N. last week that the best way forward is an immediate ceasefire and to get back to a political solution." Earlier in the day a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged "all parties to show restraint". Lammy also reiterated the government's advice that British citizens leave Lebanon. "We have secured places on commercial flights that are flying tomorrow so that UK nationals can get out. I urge them to leave, because the situation on the ground is fast moving," he said. "Whilst we will do everything we can to protect British nationals and those plans are in place to do so, we cannot anticipate the circumstances and the speed with which we could do that if things escalate in a major way over the coming hours and days." In a statement, the government said it has also chartered a flight to help meet any additional demand from British nationals and their dependants wanting to leave the Middle Eastern country. That flight is due to leave Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport on Wednesday. (Reporting by Muvija M; editing by Jonathan Oatis) UK insists it will not recognise Russian sham referendums in occupied territories of Ukraine On the second anniversary of the sham referendums organised by Russia in the occupied southern and eastern territories of Ukraine, the UK has stressed that it does not recognise the results of these "referendums". Source: European Pravda; the statement was published on X (Twitter) Details: The UK recalled that two years ago, Russia blatantly violated the UN Charter and tried to "legalise" annexation of the occupied territories of Ukraine's east and south through sham referendums, just as it did in Crimea in 2014. Two years ago, Russia breached the UN Charter by orchestrating another illegal "annexation" of Ukraines sovereign territory, just as it did in Crimea in 2014. The UK's position is clear: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Crimea are Ukraine.#StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/gDKDoUQdS7 Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (@FCDOGovUK) September 30, 2024 "The UK's position is clear: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Crimea are Ukraine," the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said. Background: On the night of 30 September 2022, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin signed decrees on the "recognition of independence" of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, which Russia partially occupied. After that, Russia vetoed a resolution condemning the sham referendums in the UN Security Council. A little over a month after that, the Russians were driven out from the right bank of Kherson Oblast. The EU prepared another package of sanctions against Russia in response to the annexation. Support UP or become our patron! Ukraine-Russia latest: Five things you need to know today Smoke billows from windows of a hospital in Sumy after a Russian attack - Reuters Russians surround Ukraines frontline fortress Russian forces have now surrounded the Ukrainian frontline fortress of Vuheldar in Ukraines eastern Donbas region, which they are trying to capture for the first time in the war. Russian military bloggers have been celebrating the advance of Russias army towards the town. On Sunday, Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukraines military, dismissed the commander of Ukraines 72nd Brigade defending the town. Colonel Ivan Vinnik is said to have been earmarked for promotion within the Ukrainian army. 10 die in hospital attack At least 10 people were killed in a drone attack on a hospital in the Ukrainian town of Sumy, near the border with Russia, on Saturday. The destruction seen inside the hospital - Fermin Torrano/Anadolu Videos showed rescue workers picking through rubble looking for survivors. There were also Russian glide bomb attacks on Zaporizhzhia, a city in southern Ukraine, over the weekend. A missile strike on a village in the Kherson region also killed three people. Ukrainian Supreme Court judge killed A Ukrainian Supreme Court judge was killed on Saturday on an aid mission near Kharkiv. A Russian drone struck the car that Leonid Loboyko was driving in. Ukraines Air Force said that it shot down all 73 Russian drones fired at Kyiv on Monday morning. The aftermath of the attack - Shutterstock The Mitsubishi Lancer in which the judge was driving - Telegram Russian forces said that at least one man was killed in the Belgorod region by a Ukrainian drone. Ammunition depot storing Iranian missiles hit Ukrainian forces claim to have hit another Russian military ammunition depot inside Russia. A spokesman said that Ukrainian drones had struck the depot in the Volgograd region, in south-central Russia. He said that the depot had been used to store ballistic missiles from Iran. Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev a training area near Volgograd over the weekend - Shutterstock/Ekaterina Shtukina Russia has denied that its arms depot in the region was hit by Ukrainian drones, although eyewitness accounts reported a large fire. The British Ministry of Defence has said that Ukrainian drone attacks have slowed Russias momentum on the battlefield. The strikes will almost certainly cause, at a minimum, short-term disruption to Russian artillery and small-arms munition supplies, it said. Zelenskys Victory plan not a winner in the US Volodymyr Zelensky returned to Ukraine after a week in the US presenting his Victory plan to Joe Biden, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. US officials were said to have been unimpressed with the plan, which focused on trying to persuade the US to give it more weapons, but Mr Zelensky appeared unfazed. October is the time for decisions, he said this weekend. After being ignored by Mr Trump earlier in the week, Mr Zelensky held a meeting with the Republican Presidential Nominee on Friday at Trump Tower in New York City. Zelensky and Trump after their meeting in New York - Getty/Alex Kent Mr Trump has said that he could speak to Vladimir Putin and end the war on his first day as US President if he wins the election in November. After meeting with Mr Zelensky on Friday, Mr Trump said that he wanted a fair deal made to end the war. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Ukraine said it struck a Russian ammo depot with long-range drones right after Iranian missiles arrived there Ukraine said it struck a Russian ammo depot with long-range drones right after Iranian missiles arrived there Ukraine said it carried out a drone attack on a Russian ammunition depot over the weekend. It said Iranian missiles had arrived at the site shortly before the attack. Russia received several short-range ballistic missiles from Iran earlier this month. Ukraine has said it used long-range drones to strike an ammunition depot inside Russia shortly after a shipment of Iranian missiles arrived at the facility. The Ukrainian military said Sunday that its drone attack caused damage at an arsenal in Kotluban, a small settlement in Russia's southeastern Volgograd region, in what appears to be Kyiv's latest long-range strike on a key weapons storage facility. "According to available information, on the eve of the attack, an echelon with Iranian missiles arrived at the arsenal," the Ukrainian military said in a statement shared to the Telegram messaging platform. Russia received shipments of short-range ballistic missiles from Iran earlier this month, causing alarm among the US and its European allies, which have repeatedly expressed concern over deepening military cooperation between Moscow and Tehran. US officials warned at the time that Russia would probably use its new Iranian missiles to attack Ukraine within weeks, so the weapons may have been high-priority targets for Kyiv. The Ukrainian military said that though electronic warfare capabilities and antiaircraft defenses protected the Russian arsenal in Kotluban, its units "successfully completed the combat mission." Kyiv added that the attack caused a fire and that ammunition detonated at the site. It's unclear exactly how many Ukrainian drones were used in the attack. Russia's defense ministry said on Sunday that it intercepted 125 unmanned systems overnight, including 67 over the Volgograd region. "Defense forces continue to undermine the enemy's military potential," the Ukrainian military said in its statement. The Sunday operation appears to mark the latest in a string of successful Ukrainian attacks on Russian ammunition depots. Kyiv struck multiple sites across the country earlier in September, causing extensive damage to the facilities and destroying an immense amount of weaponry. Britain's defense ministry said in a Sunday intelligence update that strikes on Russian ammunition depots "will almost certainly cause, at a minimum, short-term disruption" to Moscow's supply of weaponry such as artillery and small-arms munitions. The ammunition-depot attacks underscore Ukraine's ability to hit key military facilities deep inside Russia consistently. Kyiv has relied on homemade long-range drones for this campaign because it's restricted from using its inventory of Western-provided missiles to strike Russian territory. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly pushed for the West to drop these restrictions, arguing that it interferes with Kyiv's ability to fight Russia effectively. Read the original article on Business Insider Ukraine knocks Putin drones out of Kyiv night sky with electronic warfare weapons in five-hour battle Drones explode as they are being destroyed by Ukrainian air defence during mass night strikes on Kyiv (AFP via Getty Images) Ukraine zapped or shot down a wave of drones unleashed by Vladimir Putins military on Kyiv. Russia launched multiple drone strikes targeting the Ukrainian capital early on Monday. Air defence units successfully defending the city during the attack which lasted over five hours, Ukraines military said. Numerous blasts were heard over the Ukrainian capital in what sounded like air defence systems in operation and objects were seen being hit in the air. All the drones that Russia launched at Kyiv were either destroyed by defence systems or neutralised by electronic warfare, said Serhiy Popko, head of Kyivs military administration. Ukrainian service personnel use searchlights as they search for drones in the sky over the city centre during Russian drone strikes (REUTERS) According to preliminary information, there were no casualties and no damage reported, he added. The UK has provided hundreds of counter-drone electronic warfare systems to Ukraine but it was not clear if any of them are being used to defend Kyiv. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said drone debris fell by a residential building with emergency services working on site. The Ukrainian air force said on Monday that it shot down 67 out of 73 drones and one of three missiles launched by Russia during the attack. Governor Ruslan Kravchenko reported no damage to critical or residential infrastructure in the region surrounding the capital. He said that the attack caused fires in five districts of the region, but there were no casualties. Mykolaiv governor Vitaliy Kim said the attack caused a fire at a critical infrastructure facility in the southern region. Russia has launched multiple air attacks on Kyiv and Ukraine throughout September, targeting Ukraines energy, military and transport infrastructure in attacks which have killed dozens of civilians. Britain has developed weapons to counter drones and is seeking to modernise them given the spiralling use of unmanned aircraft during conflicts. Ukraine and Russia are unleashing waves of drone attacks, including some than can fly more than 900 miles. Iran also launched a mass drone attack on Israel earlier this year, which failed, after the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus was targeted in an air strike which killed senior military commanders. Drones are cheap to manufacture, in warfare terms, so one of the key attributes of defensive systems is that they must also not be costly. The UK is developing the Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapon (RFDEW) which beams radio waves to disrupt or damage the critical electronic components inside drones. It has an estimated cost of 10p per radio wave shot. With multiple judges reaching different conclusions and hazarding guesses about what the Colorado Supreme Court might say, the state's justices on Tuesday attempted to answer a question at the center of several recent lawsuits: When an employee is driving on the job and another motorist injures them, can they pursue both workers' compensation and an insurance payout? Or are they entitled to only one? Ukraine war latest: Russia aims to draft 133,000 men during new round of fall conscription Key developments on Sept. 30: Russia aims to draft 133,000 Russians during new round of fall conscription Russia intensifies attacks on recaptured Vovchansk plant, uses 'maximum range of weapons,' military says Commander of Ukraine's 72nd Brigade transferred amid battle for Vuhledar Some details of Ukraine's victory plan will remain secret, Yermak says Hours of explosions heard in Kyiv as capital fends off waves of Russian attack drones Russia is planning to draft 133,000 Russians between October and January, according to a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin on Sept. 30. Men aged from 18 to 30 will be drafted as part of the regularly occurring fall conscription campaign. The decree applies to Russians who are not in the reserve and are subject to military service. Those soldiers whose service has already expired are to be dismissed. The fall 2023 conscription included the illegally annexed areas of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. The U.K. Defense Ministry said in March that Russia is likely recruiting around 30,000 people a month to help bolster its war effort. Ukraine also adopted a law on mobilization in April as part of an effort to replenish the ranks of the Armed Forces. The need to increase the number of troops persists as Russia continues to advance in Donetsk Oblast and Ukraine after opened a new front in Russia's Kursk Oblast. Recent legislation reforms pertaining to mobilization also included a law lowering the minimum age of compulsory military service from 27 to 25. After the law came into force in Ukraine on May 18, military-aged men were given 60 days to update their personal data so that the state could locate them. Between May 18 and the mid-July deadline, over 4.6 million military-aged men had done so, the country's Defense Ministry said. Read also: Putin delays new mobilization, despite Kursk incursion exposing troop shortages Russia intensifies attacks on recaptured Vovchansk plant, uses 'maximum range of weapons,' military says Russian troops are using "the maximum range of weapons" to attack the recently recaptured aggregate plant in the town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast, Kharkiv Group of Forces spokesperson Vitalii Sarantsev said on Sept. 30. Describing the situation as "difficult," Sarantsev said Russian forces were continuously assaulting in the Kharkiv sector, and had made the Vovchansk plant its "number one goal." Russian troops had been in control of the facility for several months before it was recaptured by Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) special forces on Sept. 24, HUR previously reported. "(The plant) is not a tactical target as such for (Russia). But at the same time, the loss of this facility was a very powerful blow to its image," the spokesperson said. Speaking on national television, Sarantsev said that Russian forces are carrying out attacks against the plant with guided aerial bombs and "Solntsepek" multiple rocket launchers. "In other words, (Russia) is following its standard practice of destroying what it could not capture," he added. Ukrainian forces captured around 20 Russian soldiers and killed "several dozen" others during an operation to recapture an aggregate plant in the town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast, a member of Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) claimed last week. The Kyiv Independent could not verify these reports. Vovchansk is an embattled town some 60 kilometers (37 miles) northeast of Kharkiv that has seen heavy battles since Russia launched a new offensive in the area in May. While initially gaining ground, the Russian offensive in northern Kharkiv Oblast has quickly bogged down, with Russian troops reportedly suffering heavy losses. The intensity of fighting has decreased somewhat compared to other sectors in Ukraine's east near Pokrovsk, Vuhledar, and Toretsk. Read also: Russias move on Kharkiv has bogged down. But was it a failure? Commander of Ukraine's 72nd Brigade transferred amid battle for Vuhledar Colonel Ivan Vinnik, commander of Ukraine's 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade currently defending the embattled town of Vuhledar in Donetsk Oblast, has been transferred, the brigade confirmed on Sept. 29. According to Operational Command "North," Vinnik was transferred "for the purpose of promotion and to transfer combat experience." It was not announced who would replace him. Vinnik was appointed commander of the 72nd Brigade in August 2022. Under his command, the brigade has defended Vuhledar for more than two years. Russian forces have been trying to capture the town since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. "Since the summer of 2022 till today, I have had a long and difficult journey. But it was not difficult, because I did not overcome it alone. I had a loyal and motivated team by my side," Vinnik said in a post on Facebook. "I thank each and every one of you for your patience, willpower and strength. Thank you for listening, hearing, talking and offering suggestions. Thank you for our joint struggle. "Thank you for being by my side. I really appreciate it! I am honoured to be a part of the Black Cossacks, and the bond that has been formed between us will remain forever." The reshuffle comes at a time when fierce fighting for Vuhledar is still ongoing. The front-line town lies about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of occupied Donetsk and roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of the administrative border with Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Russian troops had not reached the outskirts of Vuhledar as of Sept. 25, Donetsk Oblast Governor Vadym Filashkin. A day later, the brigade refuted reports that it was retreating from the town and released a video from the town. The crowd-sourced monitoring website DeepState claimed on Sept. 29 that Russian troops trying to gain a foothold in high-rise buildings on the outskirts of Vuhledar. The Kyiv Independent could not verify these reports. "The loss of Vuhledar would be not only a morale blow for Ukraine since this city has resisted plenty of assaults since 2022, but also a very serious development that can potentially threaten the security of the entire southwestern portion of Donetsk Oblast not yet occupied, along with the threat to Pokrovsk's southern flank," Federico Borsari, a fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), told the Kyiv Independent earlier this month. Read also: What the fall of Vuhledar would mean for Russias war in Ukraine Some details of Ukraine's victory plan will remain secret, Yermak says President Volodymyr Zelensky's victory plan will be made public but some parts will remain secret, the head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak said on Sept. 29. Zelensky presented the five-point victory plan to his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden at the White House on Sept. 26. He also discussed it with presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris and members of Congress. The plan includes military and diplomatic components, including Ukraine's invitation to join NATO, but the full details of the peace framework have not yet been publicized. The goal of the plan is to strengthen Ukraine's future negotiating position and push Russia to make a just peace, Kyiv has said. Speaking on national TV, Yermak said the plan will be presented to Ukrainians without some "sensitive" details to prevent information from leaking to Russia. "Everything that becomes public is heard not only in our country, but also by the enemy. That is why some details of this plan are classified. But it is important to see the implementation of this plan on enemy territory," he added. While Zelensky was in the U.S. last week, reports emerged that the White House was concerned the plan lacks a clear strategy to win against Russia. Following the visit to the U.S., presidential spokesperson Serhii Nykyforov said that Washington took the plan "constructively." Read also: What we know about the victory plan Zelensky presented to Biden Hours of explosions heard in Kyiv as capital fends off waves of Russian attack drones Kyiv was targeted by several waves of Russian attack drones overnight, city authorities said on Sept. 30. Air raid sirens sounded in the capital just after 1 a.m., with the all clear not being given until just after 6 a.m. As air defenses engaged the drones, Kyiv Independent correspondents heard multiple explosions, anti-aircraft fire, and the sound of unmanned aerial vehicles flying overhead in at least one district of the city. Shortly before 5 a.m., Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said several drones were "over and near the capital," adding: "Stay in shelters!" No damage or casualties were reported, though Klitschko said the wreckage of one drone was found near a residential building in Kyiv's Obolon district. "All Russian attack drones that threatened Kyiv were neutralized," Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said in a post on Telegram, adding several waves had attacked the city from different directions. Ukraine's Air Force later said Russian forces had launched 73 Shahed-type drones against cities across Ukraine overnight, 67 of which were intercepted. It did not specify how many had attacked Kyiv. Russian drone attacks on Kyiv have stepped up in recent weeks overnight on Sept. 26, more than 15 drones were spotted near the capital, with around 10 of them downed by air defenses, the Kyiv City Military Administration said. Read also: As Russian losses in Ukraine surge, some military bloggers turn on Kremlin, military command Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. The aftermath of a Russian strike on a substation. The transformer was not damaged thanks to the protection. Photo: Nashi Hroshi Energoatom, the Ukrainian state-owned nuclear power company, has only just signed an agreement worth UAH 509 million (roughly US$12.3 million) for the design and construction of a protective structure at the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) on 25 September 2024. Source: Nashi Hroshi, a Ukrainian news outlet focused on finance, citing Prozorro, Ukraine's public state procurement system Details: "That is, Zelenskyy had to announce at the UN that the power equipment near Ukrainian NPPs is unprotected and is about to become a target for Russian missiles in order to make nuclear engineers start designing second-level protection," the outlet says. This refers to U-shaped reinforced concrete structures designed to shield large transformers from Shahed loitering munitions and shrapnel damage in the event of an indirect missile strike. The outlet highlights that the effectiveness of these structures has already been proven at substations operated by Ukrenergo, Ukraine's electricity transmission system operator. Alongside the State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development, they began securing these substations last year, although progress has been slow. However, even partially completed structures are already providing protection against strikes. Nashi Hroshi reports that the UAH 509 million contract for the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant is entirely classified, with no available details regarding the size or specifics of the protective structure being erected. "Additionally, there has been a notable increase in activity from Ukrhydroenergo (Ukraine's largest hydropower generating company). In September, the company initiated procurement procedures for both the protection of undamaged hydroelectric power plants and the repair of those damaged, with a total contract value of UAH 1.11 billion [approximately US$26 billion]. Half of this sum UAH 0.54 billion [about US$13 billion] was allocated to a single contract with Ukrstal Konstruktsiia, a firm owned by former oligarch Vitalii Haiduk, previously a co-owner of the Industrial Union of Donbas. The contract details, including the cost of building materials, remain undisclosed on the Prozorro platform," the outlet said. Background: On the night of 24-25 September, a Russian loitering munition was spotted flying at a critically low altitude near the industrial site of the Rivne NPP. Support UP or become our patron! Ukraine's Foreign Minister goes to Hungary for talks with his counterpart Ukraines Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha will visit Budapest for a working visit on 30 September at the request of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and will hold talks with his Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijjarto. Source: European Pravda with reference to Ukraines Foreign Ministry press service Quote: "Key topics for discussion will include the development of good neighbourly relations, the implementation of joint projects, particularly in the areas of economy and border infrastructure, the protection of national minorities' rights, advancing Ukraine's accession to the EU and NATO and the Peace Formula as a path to a just end to Russian aggression." Details: Ukraines Foreign Ministry noted that this visit is a continuation of Sybiha's regional tour, which he began in Romania shortly after his appointment. Following the talks, the ministers are planning to issue statements to the press. Earlier, it was reported that the Victory Plan that the President of Ukraine presented in the United States includes an invitation to Ukraine to join NATO and a commitment by the United States to steadily supply Ukraine with modern weapons. Background: Peter Szijjarto held talks at the end of last week with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, along with Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar. Hungary also joined the discussion initiated by China and Brazil regarding a "peace plan" to end the war, despite criticism from Ukraine that it had not even been discussed with Kyiv. At the beginning of Hungary's six-month presidency of the EU, Prime Minister Viktor Orban embarked on a "peacekeeping tour" to Moscow and China, which caused anger in many EU capitals. The EU distanced itself from Orban's visits, emphasising that he was only representing his own country on these trips. Support UP or become our patron! Ukrainian defence forces shoot down one missile and 67 Shahed UAVs, one drone is still in airspace Photo: Facebook of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine The Russians attacked Ukraine with three missiles of various types and 73 Shaheds on the night of 29-30 September. The defence forces managed to destroy one missile and 67 drones, one Shahed flew towards Belarus, three more disappeared from radar in the north of the country, and one UAV remains in Ukrainian airspace. Source: Ukrainian Air Force on Telegram Quote: "As a result of the work of the air defence forces, one Kh-59/69 guided missile and 67 enemy attack UAVs of the Shahed type were shot down in Kyiv, Cherkasy, Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad, Zhytomyr, Poltava, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv oblasts." Details: One drone flew towards Belarus, while three more had disappeared from radar in the northern oblasts of Ukraine as a result of countering electronic warfare. "One UAV remains in the airspace of Ukraine, and combat operations are underway," the Air Force reported. The Russians reportedly launched the Shahed UAVs from the Russian cities of Kursk, Yeysk, and Orel, an Iskander-M ballistic missile from occupied Crimea, a Kh-59/69 air-to-surface missile from the airspace of temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and a Kh-31P anti-aircraft missile from the airspace over the Black Sea. The air attack was repelled by aircraft, anti-aircraft missile troops, electronic warfare units and mobile fire groups of the Ukrainian Air Force and defence forces. Background: On the evening of 29 September, Russian forces launched a group of attack drones towards Ukraine. An air-raid warning was issued in Kyiv Oblast and several others. In the morning, Kyiv City Military Administration reported that all Shahed drones flying toward Kyiv were successfully destroyed. Ukraines defence forces downed eight Russian Shahed drones over Sumy Oblast. A fire broke out at a critical infrastructure facility in the Bashtanka district in Mykolaiv Oblast as a result of a Russian drone attack. All the relevant services have been working at the scene. Support UP or become our patron! After talks with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto in Budapest, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that he and his Hungarian counterpart noted "positive dynamics" in resolving the issue of national minorities. Source: Sybiha in a press statement after a meeting with Szijjarto, as reported by European Pravda Details: Sybiha welcomed the opening of the first bilingual Ukrainian-Hungarian school for Ukrainian children in Hungary. Quote: "I visited this school this morning. I left with extremely positive impressions. I am confident that this educational institution will contribute to the preservation of Ukrainian identity, help children adapt to the environment without losing their cultural roots, and will be another step towards understanding between Ukraine and Hungary." More details: Sybiha stressed that Ukraine once again reaffirmed its bilateral and international commitments to ensure the rights of persons belonging to the Hungarian national community. "Minister [Szijjarto] and I have noted the positive dynamics in resolving this issue and agreed to further cooperate in order to reach an understanding on all sensitive issues," Sybiha said. He added that the Ukrainian Hungarians are an integral and equal part of the Ukrainian political nation and a key bridge of understanding between the two countries. Read more on the topic: How Hungary crossed red lines again in blackmailing Ukraine on its path to the EU Background: In an interview with European Pravda this summer, Andrii Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, spoke about a "frank conversation" with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto during the latter's visit to Uzhhorod in January 2024, which resulted in Budapest's demands for the rights of the Hungarian minority. These demands were included in the negotiation framework for Ukraine's accession to the EU. Support UP or become our patron! President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will share his Victory Plan with Ukrainians after presenting it to the US president and other partners, though some sensitive and classified parts will not be made public to avoid revealing information to the Russians. Source: Andrii Yermak, Head of the Presidents Office of Ukraine, on air during the national joint 24/7 newscast Quote: "This is the presidents Plan, and as he promised, after presenting it to the US president and our partners, I believe it will be presented to Ukrainians. However, there are parts that are very sensitive and closed to the public eye. And its not because there are secrets. Our country is like a united family today, especially during the war, where there can be no secrets. But once something becomes public, its not only heard here in Ukraine; its heard by the enemy as well." Details: Yermak emphasised the importance of seeing the plan implemented on Russian territory and observing its results through the victories of Ukraines Armed Forces. He expressed confidence that citizens would understand the need to withhold certain details: "Our people are very smart, and they understand everything and assess the situation well." Background: Serhii Nykyforov, the president's spokesperson, recently said that during the Ukrainian delegation's visit to the US, the American side showed "great interest" in the Victory Plan, in spite of media reports. Bloomberg reported that some Western officials have tried to lower expectations of the Victory Plan, saying that they do not see it as a breakthrough. The Wall Street Journal reported that US President Joe Biden's administration is concerned that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy's plan to win the war against Russia lacks a comprehensive strategy. According to the media, in the Victory Plan, which has not been publicly disclosed, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy envisages an invitation for Kyiv to join NATO and a commitment from the US to provide constant supplies of modern weapons. Support UP or become our patron! By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will hold informal talks with Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders in New York in October "to have an exchange on the way forward on the Cyprus issue," U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday. Dujarric said both leaders had accepted Guterres' invitation. Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides told the U.N. General Assembly last week that he was ready to immediately resume reunification talks. Cyprus was split decades ago in a Turkish invasion after a brief Greek-inspired coup, preceded by years of sporadic violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Reunification talks collapsed in mid-2017 and have been at a stalemate since. A Turkish Cypriot breakaway state in northern Cyprus, backed only by Turkey, wants a two-state deal where its sovereignty is recognized. Greek Cypriots say the only framework available is that defined by U.N. resolutions calling for reunification under a bizonal, bicommunal federation. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Jonathan Oatis) The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously Monday to extend for another year the mandate of the armed security mission helping Haiti fight armed gangs. The 15-0 vote guarantees the presence of the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission in Haiti until October 2, 2025. But it doesnt address a fundamental problem of the struggling effort: money. The mission, which currently only has 410 foreign officers on the ground in Port-au-Prince, needs substantial resources for its deployment and sustained operations, said Kenyas new envoy to the U.N, Erastus Ekitela Lokaale. He welcomed the vote, but appealed to U.N. member nations to make voluntary contributions to hasten the full deployment and delivery of its mandate. I must also emphasize that while the... mission is a crucial and innovative intervention, it is only a part of the solution, he said. Haitis stability will only be accomplished through a multi-pronged approach that addresses the root causes of its challenges. Ahead of the vote, the U.N. Sanctions Committee imposed sanctions on its first Haitian politician, and on a gang leader. Prophane Victor, a former member of Haitis Lower House of Deputies, was sanctioned on Friday for weapons trafficking and promoting political violence in Haitis Artibonite region along with Luckson Elan, the leader of the Gran Grif gang. Both men were sanctioned earlier in the week by the U.S. Treasury Department. U.N. sanctions are the toughest designations globally and blacklisted individuals are banned from visiting most countries, including the neighboring Dominican Republic. The U.N. also released a report on Monday showing that hunger is worsening in Haiti. The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report said 5.4 million Haitians are suffering from deepening hunger, with 2 million 18% of the population experiencing severe hunger. Of this group, the report said, 6,000 people are facing catastrophic levels of lack of food. Washington is so far the largest contributor to the mission, providing over $300 million that has gone toward the construction of a base of operations near the Port-au-Prince international and domestic airports, armored vehicles, communications equipment and other assistance. A U.N. trust fund set up for contributions has six nations providing $85.3 million far less than the estimated $600 million a year Kenya has said is required. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said the renewed mandate would put the country on the path to peace and prosperity and sends a strong message to the people of Haiti: The world is standing with you. But she acknowledged the mission faces funding challenges. Additional financial contributions are urgently needed to support this mission in the near-term, and we strongly urge other donors to consider making contributions, she said. The funding shortfall has led to a slow deployment of the 2,500 security personnel the mission is expected to have, and affected the effectiveness of the ill-equipped force in a country where armed gangs control all major roads out of the capital and have recently begun attacks at sea. As part of the extension, Haiti and the leadership of the mission must regularly update the Security Council and the U.N. Secretary-General of the progress of deployment. To address the money issues, the U.S. had pushed to have the operation upgraded into a formal U.N. peacekeeping mission, which would guarantee U.N. funding. But during negotiations ahead of Mondays vote both China and Russia opposed the move. Chinas envoy to the U.N. told the council Monday that Beijing opposed transforming the operation into a peacekeeping mission, saying discussion of other options would only interfere with the implementation of the missions mandate. The U.N. has sent multiple peacekeeping operations in Haiti, but the results have never been satisfactory, and the lessons learned have been extremely profound, the Chinese diplomat said. Still, Beijing encouraged other countries to help pay for the existing mission. The second largest contributor to the U.N., China has not yet made a contribution to the mission, nor has Russia, according to the trust funds data. We note that the mission still has a rather big gap in funding, and that a large portion of the pledged funds has not yet been realized, the envoy added. China calls on the relevant contributing countries to fulfill their commitments as soon as possible and to provide the mission with stable financial resources. A Russian diplomat told the council that Moscow opposes any new structure for the mission, saying that military assistance alone would not fix the countrys problems and pointedly noting the American weapons that have flooded into Haiti. The current mission to Haiti, the Russian envoy said, has only been on the ground for three months and needs more time to expand. Until this happens we believe it is premature to plan any transformations in the international presence, or any changes. Senior Biden administration officials said Monday they have heard strong support within the council for the peacekeeping conversion, which the president of Haitis transitional ruling council, Edgard Leblanc Fils, asked the U.N. to approve last week. Any nation that opposes the move needs to explain why they would be opposing a very clear call from the host, which is typically the trigger for a peacekeeping operation, U.S. officials said. The U.S. said it removed the language requesting the transition to a peacekeeping operation from Mondays draft resolution. It will now begin the more formalized process of seeking such a mission. This is typically how it has worked in the past with peacekeeping operations; the host country issues the call... and the Security Council works from there, an official said. We look to what the host country wants, what the citizens of that country need and in this case, both are very clear. The host country has made an explicit call for a peacekeeping operation. There is no indication that Leblanc who is facing a fight to remain in the leadership role after Sunday and did not share his U.N. speech with fellow council members before addressing the general assembly last week consulted with the rest of the council before speaking. Start your week in North Carolina politics with our latest Under the Dome podcast, for the week of Sept. 30, 2024. Dawn Vaughan here, your podcast host and The News & Observers Capitol bureau chief. On this episode, Im joined by Jason Husser of the Elon University Poll. He is assistant provost for academic excellence and integrity at Elon University, as well as a professor of political science and policy studies and longtime director of the Elon University Poll. We talk about the latest polls in North Carolina on the governors race and presidential race, plus what issues are important to people being polled. And we also break down what is involved in doing a serious poll. Some polls can take months, especially face-to-face polling, Husser said, which are the highest quality polls. What were in the cycle of right now is horse-race polling, because thats where consumer demand is. I have a lot of reservations about horse race polling, in terms of its intellectual value and its value to society, but people want a sense of whats happening, Husser said. He said about 20 polls have been done in the past six weeks in North Carolina. North Carolina is a very heavily polled state, he said, similar to Pennsylvania. Husser notes that the Elon Poll does surveys year round, especially in the off-cycle about issues at the General Assembly and other topics. Husser said right now the key issue for most voters across the country is the economy. The economy is perpetually that big issue. Because society is so polarized, he said, conversations have moved from issues to personality. Listen to the podcast to hear about shifts in how people talk about policy and politics. Headliner of the Week Stay tuned to the end for our picks for Headliner of the Week. Both are timely: Hurricane Helene, which was approaching as we recorded the podcast, and the last year the World of Bluegrass festival is in Raleigh. Listen to our latest episode below and catch up on previous episodes. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Audible, iHeart, Pandora, Amazon Music and Stitcher. WRENTHAM, Mass. (WPRI) Among the polished granite headstones at Central Cemetery lies a meager circular marker bearing only a number. Number 18s marker includes no name or epitaph like the others interred at the Wrentham cemetery. Thats because the marker belongs to an unidentified man who died more than five decades ago. Number 18 is one of several bodies buried in a portion of the cemetery called Potters Field where unknown remains and those without families have been laid to rest. Raymond Rose, the towns cemetery parks manager, told 12 News he was rummaging through his filing cabinets when he came across something peculiar. Under U for unidentified was a card for an unidentified skeleton, Rose recalled. So, being as naturally curious as I am, I took that to the next step. Rose feverishly researched the skeletons potential origin and eventually uncovered newspaper clippings dating back to April 1974. The headline immediately caught his eye: Hikers find skeleton in Wrentham woods. Naif Rojee and his friend made the grisly discovery while wandering through the woods off of Route 140 near the Eagle Brook pumping station. I saw the skull first, Rojee said. But then there were black sneakers near it and there were foot bones in them. Fred True, who served as the Wrentham Police Departments photographer at the time, remembers responding to that call. There was a noose hanging from a tree and some sneakers, the former patrolman said, adding that a pair of gym shorts, American and Canadian coins and an empty wallet were also found nearby. Detectives believed the bones had been there for a couple of years, and the skeletal remains left behind little to no identifying clues. The unidentified remains spent two years at the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab in Boston before being laid to rest. Rose noticed the record card for the remains was marked with an X, which typically means a vault was buried alongside the body. What Im assuming is theres a miniature vault down there, Rose said. [The grave] hasnt been touched since 1976. That all changed Monday, when the Massachusetts State Police exhumed the remains in an attempt to identify them. Rose, who has spearheaded the effort alongside the Wrentham Historic Commission, hopes to one day replace the Number 18 marker with a proper headstone bearing the mans name and an epitaph. I think we owe it to this individual and his family to try and solve this mystery, Rose said. The state medical examiner will test the bones and attempt to create a DNA profile. Rose said hes pretty confident that the medical examiner will come up with a viable DNA sequence. But whether there is a match is anybodys guess, he added. The mans remains will be returned to the cemetery once DNA testing is complete, according to Rose. Rojee, meanwhile, went on to become an officer in the neighboring town of Franklin. He believes an abandoned vehicle, which was found parked nearby a few years prior, may offer a vital clue. If [the detectives] find the log item from when that car was towed, they might be able to find out who it is, Rojee suggested. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Special Coverage & Notices Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Mayman Aerospace has completed a series of flight tests of a testbed platform designed to surrogate the RAZOR P100. These tests validated the platforms avionics, propulsion, and control systems using the same propulsion, engine gimballing, thrust vectoring, and flight control systems. With projected speeds exceeding 450 knots (approximately 500 mph), the RAZOR offers capabilities far beyond rotor-based propulsion, enabling it to intercept drones and precisely deliver payloads. As a multi-mission aerial platform, the RAZOR demonstrated its ability to transition from hover mode to high-speed winged flight, a critical feature for rapid deployment in Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) operations. The aircraft will be able to support Air-to-Air and Air-to-Surface missions, carrying Brimstone, Hellfire, and Sidewinder guided missiles, with a range exceeding 300 kilometers (200 miles). During the tests, the RAZOR flew seven autonomous mission sets. According to Dr. Manu Sharma, Chief Engineer at Mayman Aerospace, the primary goal was to validate recent software and control-law updates, particularly the transition from hover mode, where the engines are canted outwards, to winged flight mode, where all engines are aligned in the same direction. This transition is crucial for achieving high-speed flight. The tests also increased autonomous flight time, particularly for takeoff and landing, enhancing confidence in the systems reliability. These flight tests were conducted under the Other Transaction Authority (OTA) contract that Mayman Aerospace holds with the U.S. Department of Defense. Since 2016, the company has built four full-scale prototypes and is preparing for additional tests. Production of the P100 model is scheduled to begin by 2025. The SkyField mesh system is designed to respond intelligently to command and control decisions, whether operated by Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) oversight or autonomously in GPS-denied or compromised environments. Commanders can confidently deploy assets through real-time decision support powered by actionable AI recommendations, with human operators retaining final decision-making authority. David Mayman, CEO of Mayman Aerospace, foresees VTOL aircraft playing a vital role in future conflicts, particularly in contested environments where traditional airfields may not be viable. The RAZOR platforms versatility and speed are expected to be crucial in these scenarios. The RAZOR aircraft is fully scalable, and the team plans to develop P100, P500 and P1000 variants. Mayman Aerospace continues integrating AI-driven technologies, including its SkyField navigation and control system, which provides dynamic battlefield awareness to enhance operational efficiency. The companys dual-use approach extends beyond military applications, targeting civilian sectors for disaster recovery, rescue operations, and rapid cargo delivery. After achieving military certification and completing extensive flight testing, Mayman Aerospace aims to supply the civilian market with RAZOR. Humanitarian demining efforts in Azerbaijan and NATO's support for these activities have been discussed, Azernews reports, citing Samir Poladov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA), as he told during an official visit to Luxembourg. As part of the visit, the Azerbaijani delegation held bilateral meetings with Orkhan Muradli, Director of the Operations Support Division of NATOs Support and Procurement Agency, and other officials. During the meetings, there was an exchange of views on Azerbaijan's mine problem, NATO's support, the implementation of new technologies and advanced practices, and prospects for future cooperation in the field of humanitarian demining. Note that despite attempts at formally requesting information about the location of those mines, Armenia repeatedly denied that it possessed the relevant information and refused to engage on the issue. Finally, in February this year, Armenia submitted 8 minefield maps of territories located in the liberated lands to Azerbaijan. These maps cover some of the areas along the former contact line. However, the maps covering part of the former contact line passing through Khojavand, Tartar, and Goranboy districts, as well as the areas mined by Armenian military units when they retreated in November 2020, have not been submitted yet. Many have suspicions about these maps because previous minefield maps submitted by Armenia were inaccurate. Only 25 percent of these maps were correct. Especially submitting minefield maps of the height where civilians do not live increases this suspicion. It is also worth noting that more than 55% of recent landmine cases have occurred outside the areas covered by the information provided. The behaviour that Armenia displayed in relation to the landmine threat is indeed another setback to the peace and confidence-building measures taken during the post-conflict period in the region. It is worth noting that because of Azerbaijan's liberated territories remain contaminated with mine, the new infrastructure and green energy projects remain a risky and problematic goal. These obstacles to a legal peace are part of the challenges facing the repopulation, development, and integration of the liberated territories on the path to a full peace. The Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action, known as ANAMA, has grown from a fledgling organisation to one fully equipped to clear mines, provide risk education, and assist survivors of accidents. Today, ANAMA's efforts are aimed at continuing the increase and expansion of mine action capacity to provide the clearance of all liberated areas of Azerbaijan. An uninterrupted drive up California's Highway 1 won't be possible until 2025 at the earliest The drive up or down California's Highway 1 through Big Sur features unparalleled ocean views from a roadway carved through multiple coastline cliffs a precarious geography that has made it challenging to keep open the entire stretch of scenic highway. Since January 2023, several rockfalls and landslides have forced closures along sections of the highway. And despite the efforts of transportation officials, driving the full stretch of the roughly 100-mile roadway between Carmel and Cambria will not be possible until sometime in 2025. Repairs to one section of Highway 1 near the community of Lucia have been delayed because of new landslide movement, pushing back plans that would have allowed for uninterrupted travel across Highway 1, according to the California Department of Transportation. The 6.8-mile segment beginning just south of the Esalen Institute and ending just north of Lucia remains closed around the remnants of Regent's slide, which on Feb. 9 sent an estimated 300,000 cubic yards of dirt, rock and other debris over the roadway during one of the year's intense atmospheric river storms. Caltrans officials emphasized that much of the Big Sur coast is "accessible and open" outside of that challenging stretch, a news release said. Big Sur views, restaurants and amenities can be accessed either from the north or south, and no businesses or communities have been completely cut off by Regent's slide, said Kevin Drabinski, a spokesperson for Caltrans. Read more: A man took an illegal bike ride across an active landslide in Big Sur. He fell but survived In mid-August, crews working on Regent's slide discovered new cracks in the slope where excavation and construction were underway, halting repairs, an August update from Caltrans said. "In the weeks since that update, continued land movement and slope cracking were observed during intensive project monitoring and investigation," Caltrans officials recently said. To resume repair work, Caltrans teams plan to do further monitoring of the area until "crews and equipment can be positioned on stable ground." Drabinski said in August that repairs on Regents slide were expected to be completed in late fall. However, the recent update from Caltrans said that repairs would no longer be completed this year, and that the agency would provide a new estimate and updates "on a regular basis." Regent's slide originated about 450 feet above the roadway, with debris burying the roadway and extending down to the ocean. Caltrans teams have been working to clear and stabilize the area for months, but Drabinski said it has been particularly challenging because of the slope's height and steepness. When the slide is eventually repaired, Highway 1 will be clear for a direct trip between Cambria and Carmel something that hasnt been possible for almost two years. The vast majority of the scenic highway has reopened after damage during back-to-back years of extremely heavy rainfall, including two other landslides around Regent's slide and a rockslide near the Rocky Creek Bridge. 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 United Nations warned Israel against a possible ground offensive in Lebanon on Monday as fears grew that an attack could be imminent. "We do not want to see any sort of ground invasion," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. "We all know what devastation that all out war, ground war in Lebanon would bring to the people of Israel and the people of Lebanon," he said in comments that followed US media reports suggesting an invasion could start in the coming hours. Almost 10,000 UN troops are stationed on the border between the two countries and in the south of Lebanon as part of the UN Blue Helmet Mission UNIFIL. They remain in position, but are restricted in their freedom of movement due to the ongoing shelling from both sides and are unable to carry out their work of monitoring the ceasefire that is actually in place, Dujarric said. Humanitarian aid was being prepared in case of an invasion and the UN is urgently requesting additional funds from member states "to meet the needs of about 1 million people impacted by the growing crisis," he said. ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. Authorities say a man driving without a license and under the influence of alcohol caused a crash that killed a mother and injured her young daughter in Orange on Sunday night. The crash occurred at the intersection of Tustin Street and Collins Avenue, where the 18-year-old driver ran a red light in a Chevrolet Equinox and slammed into a red Toyota RAV4 carrying four people, according to the Orange Police Department. A woman in the passenger seat of the RAV4, identified by family members as Maria Arroyo, sustained fatal injuries. Her 13-year-old daughter, who was sitting behind her, was taken to a hospital in critical condition, police said. Orange Fatal Crash Another 13-year-old girl, a friend of Arroyos daughter, and the man driving the Toyota, Arroyos boyfriend, were transported to local hospitals in serious but stable condition. Police identified the driver of the Equinox as Roberto Noe Monfil Xitlama, 18, who was taken to a hospital but did not suffer serious injuries. During a preliminary alcohol breath test, the suspects blood alcohol level was more than double the legal limit, police said in a statement. Security guard killed during armed robbery attempt at cannabis dispensary Xitlama was arrested for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and booked into the Orange County Jail. Police told KTLAs Chip Yost that he was unlicensed and identified only through a Mexican passport. A GoFundMe campaign for Arroyo, a mother of three, has been organized to help her family with the cost of laying her to rest. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) Construction of one Urbana school is coming right along. Last October, the Board of Elementary approved reopening Wiley School. Itll serve as a 6th grade school starting next school year. It means a lot, Paxton community walks for Down Syndrome awareness Wiley construction photos, Sept. 2024. Photos courtesy of Urbana School District Demolition and construction efforts have been ongoing, but so far, the interior walls and framing are complete. Foundations for the building addition should be finished next month. Urbana also says outer wall construction will begin soon, and roofing and structural steel are expected to begin in December. The school said the space, once finished, will help students better transition from elementary to middle school. A 6th-grade center will help improve the overall culture and climate at both middle school campuses, according to Urbana 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 WCIA.com. US to announce over $300 million in aid for Palestinians in Gaza, West Bank By Daphne Psaledakis WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Monday will announce nearly $336 million in additional humanitarian assistance for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, according to a U.S. Agency for International Development statement seen by Reuters. The funding, first reported by Reuters, will enable USAID's partners to continue to provide humanitarian aid, including food assistance, healthcare, nutrition and other services, according to the statement. The funding will also support emergency shelter assistance to displaced Gazans ahead of winter, the statement said. "Over the last year, this conflict has cost the lives of innocent Palestinians and Israelis and has left Gaza and the West Bank in a state of humanitarian crisis and dire humanitarian need," the statement said. "The United States continues to call on all parties to agree to a ceasefire deal and an immediate release of hostages, and to allow for the immediate scale-up of humanitarian aid moving into and throughout Gaza." The war began last Oct. 7 when Hamas gunmen stormed Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel's military has leveled swaths of the besieged Palestinian enclave, driving nearly all of its 2.3 million people from their homes, giving rise to deadly hunger and disease and killing more than 41,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities. The United States, Qatar and Egypt have been trying unsuccessfully to broker a ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas. A USAID spokesperson said that agency partners have continued to reach people in Gaza with aid, but added that "barriers to access and insecurity prevent the necessary scaling of assistance to adequately meet the needs of the 2.3 million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in Gaza." The agency is continuing to work with partners to resolve issues impacting the ability for assistance to reach communities in need, the spokesperson said. The U.N. has long complained of obstacles to getting aid into Gaza during the war and distributing it amid "total lawlessness" in the besieged enclave. Nearly 300 humanitarian aid workers, more than two-thirds of them U.N. staff, have been killed. (Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis; editing by Jonathan Oatis) US election dates: When is polling and results? Donald Trump will face Kamala Harris in the 2024 race for the White House after an eventful start to the campaign. Joe Biden pulled out of the race after intense pressure following his disastrous first debate with Trump. When is the US election? The US election will be held on Tuesday, Nov 5 2024. The winner will serve four years in the White House starting from their inauguration on Jan 20 2025. Voters will be electing not just a president, but Congressional candidates for seats in the House of Representatives and the US Senate. What are the key battleground states ? The road to the White House effectively runs through a few critical battleground states, which play an outsized role on election day. The states are typically divided, and flip between Democrat and Republican with a narrow margin of victory. Pennsylvania, and its 19 electoral college votes, has proved to be a critical state in the last few presidential elections, and 2024 will be no different. Trump will also have to flip Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin and Nevada, which Mr Biden narrowly carried in 2020 to win the presidency. Florida and Ohio, once considered marginal, have been safe Republican territory in recent elections. However, nothing is set in stone. When does early voting start? Alabama was the first state to send its mail votes on September 11. Heres a timeline for early in-person and mail voting: September 11 Alabama September 19 Wisconsin September 20 Minnesota, South Dakota and Virginia September 21 North Carolina, and Military and overseas ballots September 23 Mississippi September 26 Michigan September 30 Nebraska October 7 Georgia October 9 Arizona October 15 Georgia October 16 Nevada October 17 North Carolina October 19 Nevada October 21 Texas October 22 Wisconsin October 26 Michigan What happens on election day ? The majority of voters go to the polls and ballots are counted. Many people may have already cast their vote ahead of time using the postal voting system or early voting. What time does polling end? Votes are counted in each state after their respective polls close. Poll close times vary from state to state but generally begin from around 7pm local time. The range of time zones across the US means that on the east coast, ballots will have been tabulated while voters in states like Alaska and Hawaii are still making their way to the polls. When do we get the election results ? The winner of the election will likely not be projected for days. Even then, the results are not properly finalised for months. However, states and the whole election result are typically called long before final votes are counted. This article is kept updated with the latest information for the 2024 election. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. The US is sending a few thousand more troops to the Middle East to boost security FILE - The seal of the Department of Defense is seen on the podium at the Pentagon, Sept. 27, 2022, in Washington. The Pentagon says the U.S. is sending an additional few thousand troops to the Middle East to bolster security and to be prepared to defend Israel if necessary. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. is sending a few thousand troops to the Middle East to bolster security and to defend Israel if necessary, the Pentagon said Monday. The announcement follows word that Israel has already launched limited raids across the border into Lebanon. The additional forces would raise the total number of troops in the region to as many as 43,000. The increased presence will involve multiple fighter jet and attack aircraft squadrons, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters. U.S. officials said the total includes small numbers of other troops to augment the presence as well. It follows recent strikes in Lebanon and the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, a significant escalation in the war in the Middle East, this time between Israel and Hezbollah. The additional personnel includes squadrons of F-15E, F-16, and F-22 fighter jets and A-10 attack aircraft, and the personnel needed to support them. The jets were supposed to rotate in and replace the squadrons already there. Instead, both the existing and new squadrons will remain in place to double the airpower on hand. On Sunday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that he was temporarily extending the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and its embarked air wing in the region. A U.S. official said the extension will be for about a month. A second carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman, departed Virginia last week and is enroute to Europe. It will head to the Mediterranean Sea and will again provide a two-carrier presence in the broader region. It's not expected to arrive for at least another week. At the White House, President Joe Biden said Monday that Im more aware than you might know about reports that Israel is planning a limited ground incursion into Lebanon after nearly a year of fighting with Hezbollah, and said he wants a cease-fire immediately. Asked about the reports, Biden said, Im more aware than you might know, and Im comfortable with them stopping. We should have a cease-fire now. ___ Zeke Miller contributed from Washington. How the US government can stop churches from getting treated like real churches by the IRS Uniformed members of Trail Life USA present the colors at the Family Research Councils 2018 Values Voter Summit. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) The Family Research Council is a conservative advocacy group with a biblical worldview. While it has a church ministries department that works with churches from several evangelical Christian denominations that share its perspectives, it does not represent a single denomination. Although its activities are primarily focused on policy, advocacy, government lobbying and public communication, the Internal Revenue Service granted the councils application to be treated as an association of churches in 2020. Concerned that the IRS had erred in allowing the council and similar groups to be designated churches or associations of churches, Democratic members of the House of Representatives sent the Treasury secretary and the IRS commissioner letters in 2022 and 2024 expressing alarm. The House Democrats pointed to what appeared to be abuse of the tax code and asked the IRS to determine whether existing guidance is sufficient to prevent abuse and what resources or Congressional actions are needed. As a professor of nonprofit law, I believe some groups that arent churches or associations of churches want to be designated that way to avoid the scrutiny being a charitable organization otherwise requires. At the same time, some other groups that should qualify as churches may have difficulty doing so because of the IRS outdated test for that status. Together with my colleague Ellen P. Aprill, I recently published a paper outlining two main arguments in favor of revising the federal governments definitions of churches as they pertain to tax law. No 990s means less scrutiny All charitable nonprofits, including churches, get the same basic benefits under federal tax law. This means they dont have to pay taxes on their revenue and that donors can deduct the value of their gifts from their taxable income as long as they itemize deductions on their tax return. Unlike other tax-exempt charities, churches dont have to file 990 forms. That means the public does not have access to churches staff pay, board membership and funding details, which are in this publicly available tax form that all other charities must complete every year. The availability of 990 forms enhances the transparency and accountability of the nonprofit sector. And churches and associations of churches are unlikely to get audited by the IRS. Federal law requires that a senior IRS official reasonably believes the church or association has violated federal tax rules before beginning an investigation. This means that an official must have reason to believe the organization has violated federal tax law before obtaining any information from the organization. This standard is higher than whats needed before an audit can begin for all other tax-exempt organizations and indeed all taxpayers. For everyone else, the IRS is free to begin an examination based only on a suspicion of a violation or even based on random selection. Also, unlike other tax-exempt charities, churches and church associations are automatically eligible for their tax-exempt status. They dont have to apply for it. Why churches get special treatment Congress has passed laws granting churches and what it calls integrated auxiliaries and conventions or associations of churches special protections because the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects religious freedom. Churches include houses of worship ranging in size from a handful of parishioners to megachurches with 10,000 or more people attending weekly services. Houses of worship of all faiths, including synagogues, mosques and temples, count as churches, according to the IRS. Integrated auxiliaries are church schools and other organizations affiliated with churches or conventions and primarily supported by internal church sources, as opposed to by the public or government. Conventions or associations of churches are organizations that have houses of worship from either a single denomination or from multiple denominations as their members. Most denominational bodies, such as the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, are likely conventions or associations of churches, although the IRS does not publish a list of such entities. Not every religious nonprofit belongs in one of these categories. For example, the University of Notre Dame, where I teach law students and conduct legal research, and World Vision, a global humanitarian group, are both religious organizations that do not fall into any of these categories. This makes sense, because Notre Dame and World Vision are primarily engaged in activities other than fostering a religious congregation or coordinating the activities of churches within a single denomination. The IRS has long relied on a 14-factor test to distinguish churches from the other religious nonprofits. Examples of those factors include having ordained ministers, a formal doctrine, a distinct membership and a regular congregation attending religious services. Its not necessary for all the factors to apply to pass this test. Yet for almost as long, courts have been uncomfortable with this test because it draws heavily on the traditional characteristics of Protestant Christian churches, as the U.S. Court of Federal Claims explained in a 2009 ruling. This system therefore may be a poor fit for houses of worship of other faiths, especially given the increasing diversity of faith communities. These courts have instead adopted an associational test. It focuses on whether the organizations congregants hold religious services on a regular basis and gather in person on other occasions. With the growth of virtual and televised religious services, an update of this test is overdue. Proposed solutions Aprill and I recommend that the IRS change its definition for churches to the associational one adopted by some courts in rulings as early as 1980. As the U.S. Court of Federal Claims explained in that 2009 ruling, this test focuses on whether a body of believers assembles regularly to worship. Given technological advances, the IRS should also make it clear that this test can be satisfied through remote participation in religious services using interactive, teleconferencing apps such as Zoom. This definition would be also better suited for congregations of all faiths because some faiths do not prioritize many of the factors included in the IRS test, such as having a formal code of doctrine or requiring members to not be associated with other houses of worship or faiths. And it would better reflect how some Americans participate in religious services today. We recommend that the IRS revisit its test for being a church and that Congress pass a law that would change the definition of church associations. The new law could limit associations of churches to organizations that represent a single denomination, as Congress likely initially intended. This latter change would make it harder for religious organizations that are primarily involved in bringing churches from multiple faiths together to engage in advocacy or other activities to obtain this status and the lack of transparency and accountability that come with it. We believe Congress, not the IRS, should make this change because of the potential political tensions that narrowing the definition could create. We dont think the changes would impinge upon the special role that churches have in our society. Indeed, the revised test for qualifying as a church would better fit with both the increasing variety of faiths in our country and technological advancements. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. WASHINGTON (AP) The Biden administration has decided not to seek a second consecutive term on the much-maligned U.N. Human Rights Council, the State Department said Monday. The administration had made U.S. membership on the Geneva-based council a priority when it took office in 2021 after former President Donald Trump had withdrawn from the body, citing anti-Israel bias. Since returning to the council, the administration has frequently taken issue with its votes on the Middle East and other issues. We decided not to seek another (term) on the Human Rights Council at this time because we are engaged with our allies about the best way to move forward," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters. Elections for the 47-member council are held by the U.N. General Assembly with candidate countries coming from various geographic groups. The three other candidates Iceland, Spain and Switzerland from the U.S. geographic group known as Western Hemisphere and Others, or WEOG, would be able to represent American interests and values, Miller said. All of them are countries with a very strong record of support for human rights, he said. We thought they would carry the flag forward, but we will continue to remain engaged on human rights issues. The council was created in 2006 to replace a human rights commission discredited because of some members poor rights records. But the new council soon came to face similar criticism, including that rights abusers sought seats to protect themselves and their allies. The U.S. has criticized the selection of candidates with poor rights records on uncontested slates. The U.S. has been the most vocal defender of Israel and has repeatedly joined it in denouncing alleged anti-Israel bias in the U.N. rights body. Spain, meanwhile, was one of three European countries to announce they would recognize a Palestinian state a move Israel criticized. What the U.S. saw as the council's excessive criticism of Israel culminated in the Trump administrations withdrawal from it in June 2018. In announcing the Biden administration would reverse Trump's decision, Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized the withdrawal, saying it did nothing to encourage meaningful change, but instead created a vacuum of U.S. leadership, which countries with authoritarian agendas have used to their advantage." Wanted Pikes Peak Area Crime Stoppers is asking for the publics help finding the following people for whom felony arrest warrants have been issued. Victor Theodore Carson age 49, 6 feet tall, 227 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, sought on suspicion of murder 1, possession of a weapon by a previous offender, violation of protection order, possession of controlled substance, carrying concealed weapon, obstructing a peace office and driving after revocation. Jackie Devere Allen Cole age 47, 5 feet, 10 inches tall, 175 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes, sought on suspicion of failure to register as sex offender, witness/victim intimidation, violation of protection order, possession of controlled substance-fentanyl, kidnapping and false imprisonment. Solomon Simone Gardner age 38, 6 feet, 1 inch tall, 180 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes, sought on suspicion of assault 2-strangulation, assault 3 and harassment. Maurice Anthony Litchfield age 33, 6 feet tall, 205 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, sought on suspicion of unauthorized absence, harassment, assault 2strangulation and assault 3. Journey Jatayvian McClinton age 22, 6 feet, 2 inches tall, 290 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, sought on suspicion of harassment, violation of protection order, child abuse, resisting arrest, criminal mischief, stalking and obstruction. Brandon Kennard Price age 33, 6 feet, 2 inches tall, 200 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, sought on suspicion of kidnapping 2, felony menacing, stalking and assault 3. Featured Local Savings Daniel Orlando Quintana age 33, 5 feet, 6 inches tall, 165 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes, sought on suspicion of assault 2-strangulation, burglary 1, trespass 1, criminal mischief and violation of protection order. Krystal Marie Ronnau age 41, 5 feet, 11 inches tall, 185 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. She is sought on suspicion of aggravated robbery, motor vehicle theft, possession of weapon by previous offender, ID theft, driving under restraint, no insurance and unlawful display-plates. Remain anonymous If you have information about these fugitives or a serious crime, call Crime Stoppers at 719-634-7867. You do not have to give your name, and you could earn a reward of as much as $1,000 for information given to Crime Stoppers. A list of featured fugitives wanted in the Pikes Peak region is on the Crime Stoppers website: crimestop.net. The people with the following Crime Stoppers numbers need to call 719-444-7866: 277-M26521, 277-W26601, 277-M26524, 277-M26602, 277-M26948. Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas go on strike, a standoff risking new shortages Hundreds of longshoremen strike together outside of the Virginia International Gateway in Portsmouth, Va., Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (Billy Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot via AP) PHILADELPHIA (AP) Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas began walking picket lines early Tuesday in a strike over wages and automation that could reignite inflation and cause shortages of goods if it goes on more than a few weeks. The contract between the ports and about 45,000 members of the International Longshoremens Association expired at midnight, and even though progress was reported in talks on Monday, the workers went on strike. The strike affecting 36 ports is the first by the union since 1977. Workers began picketing at the Port of Philadelphia shortly after midnight, walking in a circle at a rail crossing outside the port and chanting No work without a fair contract. The union had message boards on the side of a truck reading: Automation Hurts Families: ILA Stands For Job Protection. Local ILA president Boise Butler said workers want a fair contract that doesnt allow automation of their jobs. Shipping companies made billions during the pandemic by charging high prices, he said. Now we want them to pay back. Theyre going to pay back, Butler said. He said the union will strike for as long as it needs to get a fair deal, and it has leverage over the companies. This is not something that you start and you stop, he said. We're not weak, he added, pointing to the union's importance to the nation's economy At Port Houston, at least 50 workers started picketing around midnight local time carrying signs saying No Work Without a Fair Contract." The U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents the ports, said Monday evening that both sides had moved off of their previous wage offers. But no deal was reached. The unions opening offer in the talks was for a 77% pay raise over the six-year life of the contract, with President Harold Daggett saying its necessary to make up for inflation and years of small raises. ILA members make a base salary of about $81,000 per year, but some can pull in over $200,000 annually with large amounts of overtime. But Monday evening, the alliance said it had increased its offer to 50% raises over six years, and it pledged to keep limits on automation in place from the old contract. The union wants a complete ban on automation. It wasnt clear just how far apart both sides are. We are hopeful that this could allow us to fully resume collective bargaining around the other outstanding issues in an effort to reach an agreement, the alliance statement said. In a statement early Tuesday, the union said it rejected the alliance's latest proposal because it fell far short of what ILA rank-and-file members are demanding in wages and protections against automation. The two sides had not held formal negotiations since June. We are prepared to fight as long as necessary, to stay out on strike for whatever period of time it takes, to get the wages and protections against automation our ILA members deserve, Daggett said in the statement. They must now meet our demands for this strike to end. The alliance said its offer tripled employer contributions to retirement plans and strengthened health care options. Supply chain experts say consumers wont see an immediate impact from the strike because most retailers stocked up on goods, moving ahead shipments of holiday gift items. But if it goes more than a few weeks, a work stoppage would significantly snarl the nations supply chain, potentially leading to higher prices and delays in goods reaching households and businesses. If drawn out, the strike will force businesses to pay shippers for delays and cause some goods to arrive late for peak holiday shopping season potentially impacting delivery of anything from toys or artificial Christmas trees to cars, coffee and fruit. The strike will likely have an almost immediate impact on supplies of perishable imports like bananas, for example. The ports affected by the strike handle 3.8 million metric tons of bananas each year, or 75% of the nations supply, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. It also could snarl exports from East Coast ports and create traffic jams at ports on the West Coast, where workers are represented by a different union. Railroads say they can ramp up to carry more freight from the West Coast, but analysts say they cant move enough to make up for the closed Eastern ports. If the strikes go ahead, they will cause enormous delays across the supply chain, a ripple effect which will no doubt roll into 2025 and cause chaos across the industry, noted Jay Dhokia, founder of supply chain management and logistics firm Pro3PL. J.P. Morgan estimated that a strike that shuts down East and Gulf coast ports could cost the economy $3.8 billion to $4.5 billion per day, with some of that recovered over time after normal operations resume. The strike comes just weeks before the presidential election and could become a factor if there are shortages. Retailers, auto parts suppliers and produce importers had hoped for a settlement or that President Joe Biden would intervene and end the strike using the Taft-Hartley Act, which allows him to seek an 80-day cooling off period. But during an exchange with reporters on Sunday, Biden, who has worked to court union votes for Democrats, said no when asked if he planned to intervene in the potential work stoppage. A White House official said Monday that at Bidens direction, the administration has been in regular communication with the ILA and the alliance to keep the negotiations moving forward. The president directed Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard to convene the alliances board members Monday afternoon and urge them to resolve the dispute fairly and quickly in a way that accounts for the success of shipping companies in recent years and contributions of union workers. ___ Krisher in reported from Detroit. Associated Press journalists Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia, Mae Anderson and Wyatte Grantham-Philips in New York, Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit, Josh Boak in Washington, and Annie Mulligan in Houston contributed to this report. US scientist and family on kill list after working with Chinese scientists Dr Peter Daszak appears during a US House of Representatives select subcommittee hearing on the Coronavirus pandemic on Capitol Hill on May 1, 2024 - Andrew Harnik/Getty Images A leading British zoologist has said he faced death threats and his family appeared in an online kill list during a sustained wave of harassment over his work with Chinese scientists on virus research. Dr Peter Daszak, head of the US-based EcoHealth Alliance (EHA), told the South China Morning Post that he had experienced a medieval witch hunt from critics of the non-profits decades-long scientific partnership with the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) before the Covid-19 pandemic. The scientist described a series of relentless attacks, including an envelope containing white powder that had been sent to his home address in the US. He said the names of his children and his wife were also posted on a kill list on 4chan, an anonymous online forum. That is not appropriate or normal for a scientist to be put through. And you get zero sympathy for this, Dr Daszak told the Post. No one has come and punched me in the face yet or shot me. But I am certainly expecting that which is weird as a scientist, he said. The alliances association with the WIV became controversial after the outbreak of Covid-19 as the Wuhan laboratory was thrust into the centre of unproven claims that it was the source of a virus leak that triggered the deadly pandemic at the end of 2019. The WIV is located just eight miles from where the first known cases of Covid emerged and it reportedly had a history of practising gain-of-function experiments which use the technique of increasing the potency of viruses. Last year, the WIV was stripped of US government funding for ten years over accusations it had conducted dangerous experiments that increased the potency of coronaviruses before the pandemic. The US Department of Human Health and Services (HHS) said it was debarring the Chinese laboratory after documents reportedly showed scientists had inserted new spike proteins into four bat coronaviruses, increasing viral activity more than tenfold. The EHA had been working with Chinese scientists at the WIV since 2005 shortly after the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) to try to identify the wildlife source of the virus with a view to preventing a similar coronavirus causing a global outbreak. Its partnership with the WIV was carried out with approval from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the State Department. But since 2020, it has faced tough questions over whether its US-funded research in China followed grant protocols in place to block risky research. The EHA said in a recent report that many of the claims levelled against it stem from the false assumption of a lab leak. There is not a scintilla of verifiable scientific evidence for this, it said. In previous correspondence with The Telegraph, Dr Daszak said that the EHAs work with the WIV did not fall under restricted gain-of-function research. The precise source of the pandemic has never been identified although many investigations have focused on the Wuhan wet market linked to the earliest known human cases. Earlier this month, vital data based on 800 genetic swabs taken from the market just days after Covid-19 was first detected were published in Cell, one of the worlds most prestigious scientific journals. It shows that the two earliest known strains of Sars-Cov-2 were present in the market and that wild animals known to catch and spread the virus, including racoon dogs and civets, were present. The researchers were unable to show the animals were themselves infected and caused the outbreak, but they argued it was a strong signal that the pandemic had natural origins. The World Health Organisation has concluded that a lab leak was extremely unlikely. NIH funding to the EHA was terminated in 2020. The alliance faces the threat of debarment by the HHS, which would cut off its federal funding. Dr Daszak is not the only scientist involved in discussions about Covid origins who has faced online hate. The Telegraph is aware of other leading academics who have been harassed on social media. Dr Daszak told the SCMP that the EHAs work had been hampered by geopolitics and the publics view that the scientific partnership with Chinese scientists was inappropriate and wrong. He said the politicisation of the issue had caused reputational damage and threatened to hinder important work to prevent future virus outbreaks. We have got scientists in the countries that are most at risk of the next pandemic now out of work and unable to help prevent the next one, 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. The US military is bracing for a fight with warships and more aircraft as further violence grips the Middle East Israel's killing of the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has put the Middle East even more on edge. Amid heightened tensions, the US has been adjusting its force posture in the region. A powerful force of American warships and fighter aircraft are already on station, with more to come. The US military has a substantial force of warships and fighter aircraft, among other assets, stationed across the Middle East and is moving even more firepower into the region as it braces for an increase in conflict. The Middle East, already in turmoil after almost a year of non-stop fighting, has been further rocked by attacks on Hezbollah via communications devices and Israel's killing of Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime leader of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, in a massive airstrike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Friday. The assassination of Nasrallah marked a major escalation in the yearlong conflict between Israel and the group and came amid increased Israeli military pressure on Hezbollah, raising concerns that the two bitter enemies could be heading toward an all-out war that could draw in US forces and perhaps even Iran. On Tuesday, just hours after the start of Israeli ground operations in Lebanon, a senior White House official said the US has indications that Iran is preparing "to imminently launch a ballistic missile attack against Israel." The US has publicly said that it's ready to defend Israel and protect its forces in the Middle East from any attack by Iran or its regional proxies. American warships and fighter aircraft defended Israel from a massive Iranian attack in April. The US now has more assets positioned in the region than it did at that time. An F/A-18F Super Hornet launching from the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in August. US Navy Amid recent increases in the intensity of the fighting, the US was already bracing for further violence. In a statement on Nasrallah's death, President Joe Biden said Saturday that he had directed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin the day before to "further enhance the defense posture of US military forces in the Middle East region to deter aggression and reduce the risk of a broader regional war." The Pentagon's press secretary, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, then said on Sunday that the US "retains the capability to deploy forces on short notice." He added that the military maintained a "significant" presence in the region and could adjust its force posture "based on the evolving security situation." As part of these efforts, Ryder said Austin directed the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to remain in the Middle East region, where it has been operating for several weeks. The strike group consists of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and several destroyers. Austin also ordered the Wasp Amphibious Ready Group to stay in the Eastern Mediterranean, where it has been for several months. A US Navy officer standing watch on the bridge of the guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance while sailing behind the USS Abraham Lincoln in late August. US Navy This assortment includes the multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Wasp and its embarked 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which can be deployed to evacuate Americans. Additionally, the group has a dock landing ship and an amphibious-transport-dock vessel. Beyond the carrier strike group and amphibious ready group, the US Navy also has destroyers operating in the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean. The American warships are complemented by land-based aircraft, including F-22s, F-15s, F-16s, and A-10s delivering fifth-generation stealth and fourth-generation combat capabilities, as well as proven ground-attack options. Ryder said the US would "further reinforce our defensive air-support capabilities in the coming days." "The Secretary has also increased the readiness of additional US forces to deploy, elevating our preparedness to respond to various contingencies," Ryder said. The dock landing ship USS Oak Hill in Cyprus in September. US Navy photo The Pentagon disclosed on Monday that it was sending more forces, including fighter squadrons, to the region. US Central Command said on Tuesday that three additional aircraft squadrons comprised of F-15s, F-16s, and A-10s are arriving in the region. One squadron had already arrived, it said. The changes to US force posture in the region followed a massive uptick in Israeli military pressure on Hezbollah, which began earlier in the month after a sophisticated pager attack that Israel is suspected of carrying out. It has since launched several rounds of devastating airstrikes targeting militant assets. Scores of civilians have also been killed and wounded. The Israeli strikes have dealt a serious blow to Hezbollah, including eliminating its leadership, but the heavily armed militant group has suggested that it is still ready for war. The Israeli military said early on Tuesday that it had begun a "limited" ground offensive against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, marking Israel's first such operation since 2006 and signaling another major escalation in the conflict. Israeli soldiers and armored vehicles in northern Israel in September. REUTERS/Ayal Margolin "The elimination of Nasrallah is a very important step, but it is not the final one," Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops near the northern border with Lebanon on Monday. "Our goal is to ensure the [safe] return of Israel's northern communities to their homes. We are prepared to make every effort necessary to accomplish this mission," Gallant said. "We will use all the means that may be required your forces, other forces, from the air, from the sea, and on land." Read the original article on Business Insider For decades, Springfield, a small city in Ohio, adjacent to a highway that runs from Maryland thousands of miles west to Utah, was a place where no one especially felt the need to visit. But not today. Today, random strangers with shotguns and bullets strapped around their torsos walk the citys streets. In squares and on streets across Springfield, portable security cameras have sprung up. Police officers and state troopers are deployed, sometimes in large numbers, to church services and city commission meetings that now draw lines of journalists, white supremacists and even a satirical JD Vance supporter. As the former US president Donald Trump and others continue their demonization of immigrants, Springfield has become a metaphor for the mistruths some politicians are pushing five weeks out from Americas presidential election. Related: Haitian immigrant group calls for arrest warrants for Trump and Vance in Ohio Adding to the growing sense of spectacle, Vivek Ramaswamy, the former Republican presidential candidate and close Donald Trump ally, came to Springfield on 19 September to hold a town hall, despite not holding or running for political office. I wanted to come see with my own eyes, the known conspiracy theorist told a room of several hundred people, without specifying what that was, before adding: We should have the largest mass deportation of immigrants in history because thats what it means to stand for the rule of law. As soon as Ramaswamy was done talking to the people of Springfield, he was seated in front of a camera for an interview with Fox News. Ramaswamy, who would like a cabinet position should Trump return to the White House, and is promoting a new book, isnt the only politician appearing to use the Springfield story to grow their profile. Kyle Koehler, a local Republican party member whos running for a seat in Ohios senate in November, has found a national platform on rightwing media outlets by falsely claiming that an entire wing of our regional hospital has nothing but Haitian patients being treated for HIV. Clark county recorded just 13 new cases of HIV in 2022, out of a general population of about 138,000 people, while the number of sexually transmitted diseases has been falling since 2018. Im terrified. If Im at home, I should be at peace. If were not safe at home, where else are we going to be safe? Jacob Payen Other Springfield residents who have criticized immigrants, the citys leadership and Democrats have also seen their national profiles take off. Amid all this, on Saturday, a group of Haitian children playing in their own family garage had a gun pointed at them by a neighbor who entered their home. Already too afraid of their neighbors to play in their yard outside, the children thought they would be safe indoors. Local media reported that the family does not want to press charges against the alleged attacker, who also swore at the children, due to fears of reprisals. Im terrified. If Im at home, I should be at peace. If were not safe at home, where else are we going to be safe? says Jacob Payen, who moved from Florida to Springfield three years ago. Born and raised in Port-au-Prince, Haitis capital, Payen says that when he and other Haitians met recently with representatives from the office of Mike DeWine, the Ohio governor, they were told to put together a security group within the community. The city has changed over the past month, he says. Its not about Trump talking about pets any more. Now you have white supremacists declaring a war. He says his six-year-old son has been asking him if they eat cats and dogs because children at school have been asking him that. Springfield is definitely being used as a pawn, says Staci Rhine, a professor of political science at Wittenberg University in Springfield. The students are traumatized by the attention; they dont want this. Its painting an ugly picture that Springfield doesnt need that we dont think is representative. Springfield is an ideal target for those pushing the narrative that todays political class is responsible for the countrys ills. Its former leading employers International Harvester, Crowell-Collier Publishing and other manufacturers are long gone. Its poverty rate is twice the national average while the number of Springfield residents with a college degree is 14% one-third the US average. Springfields household income is about 56% the national average. A 2016 Pew Research Center study found that between 2000 and 2014, no other metropolitan area in the United States lost more of its middle class than Springfield. The people blame the federal government and Bill Clinton for bringing in Nafta, which completely destroyed Springfield, says Laura Rosenberger, the chair of the Clark county Republican party. The net effect of Nafta on the US economy has been hotly contested, but one 2005 study suggested it cost Ohio about 50,000 blue-collar jobs. So, when thousands of Haitian immigrants began moving to Springfield, opening businesses and reviving neighborhoods as well as fueling significant concerns about their driving abilities many longtime Springfield residents were retraumatized all over again as immigrants appeared to prosper while they were faced with rising housing costs and longer waiting times at local medical facilities. At Ramaswamys town hall, one speaker complained that Haitians even have nicer cars than us. Rosenberger says she doesnt blame Haitians for whats happening in Springfield. I hold the federal government, the Biden-Harris administration, responsible for abusing not only the American people, but the Haitians, she says. Its not doing the Haitians any favor for the federal government to be doing this to them. They are as much of a victim. They are doing it on purpose. We are being used as a target and now we have racist groups attacking us Jacob Payen Rosenberger is glad that rumors on Facebook that antifa may be coming to Springfield this weekend may be false, as antifa is classified as a terrorist organization, and we dont want any terrorist organization in our city. Antifa is not a designated domestic terrorist organization nor even an actual single organized group. However, Rosenberger said, she didnt know whether far-right groups such as the Proud Boys, which have been in Springfield for weeks, were using the unrest for their own gain. Regardless, the impact of the national spotlight is pulling the community apart. A US navy veteran, Payen has lived in the US for more than two decades but came to Springfield, where he runs a store with his wife, because like many Haitians, he saw opportunities to work. Several weeks ago, he says, two Black men walked into his store and told him to go home because they believed Haitians were taking food stamps and other support away from others. Payen says he believes thats a direct consequence of the rhetoric thats out there. The mayor is being supportive. The governor of Ohio is being very supportive, but JD Vance and former president Trump are still going on national TV pushing their agenda, he says. Its a political agenda. Its the electoral situation. They are doing it on purpose. We are being used as a target and now we have racist groups attacking us. But he and other leaders in Springfields Haitian community havent given up. On Tuesday evening, Payen was one of the first speakers at the city commission meeting, telling of his experiences serving in the US military in the Persian Gulf and pleading for Springfielders to unite. We dont want any problem with any other community, he says. We just came here to work, to have a better life. The 21-year-old victim, Brooklyn Barrett, was remembered by loved ones as a vibrant and promising young woman" Amy Mills/GoFundMe Brooklyn Barrett A Utah woman accused of murdering her friend in a botched suicide pact earlier this year has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter, authorities confirmed. Heavenly Faith Garfield pleaded guilty to manslaughter, a second-degree felony, on Tuesday, Sept. 24 and will be sentenced on Nov. 6, Timothy L. Taylor, Deputy Utah County Attorney, said in an emailed statement to PEOPLE on Friday, Sept. 27. She faces up to 15 years in prison, per the statement. Garfield was arrested in April and charged with murder and felony discharge of a firearm after the shooting death of her 21-year-old friend, who was identified by family on a GoFundMe campaign and obituary as Brooklyn Michelle Barrett. Related: 21-Year-Old Utah Woman Arrested on Murder Charge After Shooting Friend Dead amid Suicide Pact On April 30, Garfield's father called 911 to report the shooting, in which authorities said his daughter shot the victim in a Saratoga Springs, Utah, home, per an affidavit of probable cause cited by KUTV, the Associated Press and CBS News. Officers who responded to the scene said the victim had a gunshot wound to the head and that her body had been covered with a blanket and there were flowers on a bed, Court TV reported. courttv Heavenly Faith Garfield "Investigators determined that Garfield and [her] friend had entered into a suicide pact and Garfield admitted to shooting [her] friend in the head," Taylor said in the statement to PEOPLE. "After shooting [her] friend, Garfield did not go through with the suicide pact." According to the affidavit, the friends had reportedly been discussing the suicide pact for several weeks, family members said, the AP reported. The affidavit states a friend of the victim showed police text messages in which she said she wanted to die, but was too scared to kill herself. The friend also confirmed Garfield's suicide pact with the victim to police, per the AP. As part of her plea, Taylor said Garfield admitted to the following facts: On or about April 30, 2024, in Utah County, Utah, I knew [friend] intended to end her life by suicide and I aided [friend] to commit suicide." Barrett was remembered on the GoFundMe campaign created to support her parents in the wake of her death as a vibrant and promising young woman. 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. Her unexpected departure has left her loved ones grappling with the immense pain and burden, preferring to focus on honoring her memory and celebrating the beautiful life she lived, the fundraiser continued. According to her obituary, Barrett was a 2021 graduate of Herriman High School and worked at a daycare prior to her death. She also enjoyed traveling and spending time outdoors, the obituary states. Taylor said the victims family "supported the resolution." If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. UTICA, NY (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY) A Utica woman is facing robbery charges after holding up the Genesee Street GPO Federal Credit Union on Friday. Officers were called to the GPO Federal Credit Union at approximately 8:50 am on Friday, September 27. Upon their arrival, it was learned an individual later identified as 64-year-old Cheryl Nortz of Utica threatened employees with a weapon and demanded money. Employees gave Nortz an unknown sum of money, after which Nortz fled the scene. After a check of surveillance video, the Utica Police Departments Criminal Investigations Division along with the Mohawk Valley Crime Analysis Center began a search of the area for vehicles similar to Nortz vehicle. The two agencies were able to identify the car and subsequently, Nortz based on additional video. Nortz was located and arrested by Utica Police later Friday evening without any other reported incidents. She was subsequently transported to the Utica Police Department. The Major Crimes Unit charged Nortz with: Third-degree Robbery, a Class D Felony. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. At least a dozen staffers at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs improperly accessed the medical records of both vice presidential nominees, Republican Sen. JD Vance, of Ohio, and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, over the summer, according to a report. Those employees are under criminal investigation for potentially violating federal health privacy laws, The Washington Post reported. The unauthorized views came from staffers within the Veterans Health Administration and were uncovered by Veterans Affairs investigators, who notified the Vance and Walz campaigns, sources familiar with the probe told the Post. It's the first time veterans were both parties' vice presidential nominees since Democrat Al Gore and Republican Jack Kemp during the 1996 election. Law enforcement officials told the Post that VA Inspector General Michael Missals office shared evidence with federal prosecutors related to several health system employees, including a physician and a contractor who "spent extended time" viewing the medical files of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris running mates. Fox News Media Will Present Special Live Programming Of Vance-walz Debate The potential motive for accessing the medical records is under investigation, and investigators are still trying to determine if Vance and Walz's information was shared as a result of the breaches, the Post reported. Read On The Fox News App Veterans Affairs staff reportedly improperly accessed records of vice presidential candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz. "We reported to law enforcement allegations that VA personnel may have improperly accessed Veteran records," VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes said in a statement to Fox News Digital, regarding the report. "We take the privacy of the Veterans we serve very seriously and have strict policies in place to protect their records. Any attempt to improperly access Veteran records by VA personnel is unacceptable and will not be tolerated." Hayes referred Fox News Digital to the Department of Justice for further queries. The VA employees under investigation, including the physician and contractor, accessed the medical records using their VA computers and did so mostly from their government offices, the Post reported. Some of the staffers in question reportedly told investigators they were simply curious to see the files of Vance and Walz given both candidates have defended their military records on the campaign trail. Jd Vance Accuses Tim Walz Of 'Lying' About Military Service: 'Stolen Valor Garbage' Walz in particular faced criticism for ending his 24-year career in the Army National Guard to run for Congress months before his unit would deploy to Iraq. Department of Veterans Affairs building in Washington, D.C., on July 22, 2019. Vance, who served four years in the U.S. Marines and deployed to Iraq for about six months in 2005, has accused Walz of being "dishonest" about having served in combat zones. Law enforcement officials told the Post that the VA staffers under investigation did not access any disability compensation records, which have more security protocols than health information. A source at VA shared with Fox News Digital an internal memo sent out Aug. 30, 2024, by VA Secretary Denis McDonough "upholding our commitment to protect privacy." The message reminded VA staffers that veteran information "should only be accessed when necessary to accomplish officially authorized and assigned duties as an employee, contractor, volunteer, or other personnel." The secretary said "viewing a Veterans records out of curiosity or concern or for any purpose that is not directly related to officially authorized and assigned duties is strictly prohibited." The memo also warned VA employees that "failure to comply with these requirements may result in disciplinary action, including removal, as well as referral to law enforcement for civil penalties and criminal prosecution." Original article source: VA employees improperly accessed JD Vance, Tim Walz's medical records, prompting criminal probe: report Veterans Affairs leaders removed two senior officials from their posts at a New York hospital late last week after a damning inspector general report accused them of delaying radiation therapy and neurosurgery appointments, which resulted in excess pain and injury to multiple patients. Republican lawmakers decried the findings as abhorrent and evidence that department planners are still improperly preventing veterans from getting quick medical care outside of the VA healthcare system. But senior VA leaders said they are committed to providing patients with the best care possible, and promised a full review of the incidents to correct the mistakes and potentially punish the administrators involved. The report, released Friday afternoon, focused on veterans receiving care through the VA Western New York Healthcare System over the last two years. Investigators found that local leaders failed to resolve significant community care scheduling delays for patients with serious health conditions, despite providers and community care staffs efforts to advocate on the behalf of patients. Changes to VAs community care program raise concerns about vets health care access Community care where veterans can receive medical appointments and treatments at private-sector clinics but have the expenses covered by VA has been a controversial topic in recent years, with conservatives claiming that department bureaucrats unnecessary limit those outside options. In the New York investigation, the inspector general found that at least 42 patients had significant delays in accessing that care, despite facing serious health conditions that mandated fast action. For three of the 42 patients, the scheduling delay affected the providers management of the patients condition, and for 9 of the 42, the delay affected the patients clinical status or condition, the report states. In one case, a veteran with esophageal cancer had radiation therapy incorrectly denied for several months before dying from the illness. Investigators said the treatments would not likely have saved the individual, but a faster response would likely have decreased the level of pain and improved the quality of life in the patients final months. In another case, a young veteran experiencing seizures waited more than 300 days for a consult to be scheduled, even as the patient was hospitalized several times a month for related health issues. Leaders failed to consistently focus on patients, respond to staff concerns, get to the root cause of concerns regarding delayed scheduling of urgent consults, and predict and eliminate risks before causing patient harm, the report stated. In response to the findings, VA immediately transferred the medical center director and the chief of staff out of clinical- and veteran-facing positions pending the results of an investigation, VA press secretary Terrence Hayes said in a statement. It is unacceptable for any veteran to have their care delayed, which is why we are taking immediate corrective actions to prevent this from happening again. Republican lawmakers demanded a full detailing of what that promise means. Community care is VA care, and I wont let VA bureaucrats restrict it, House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill., said in a statement. It is unacceptable that VA is allowing its own leadership and failures to yet again lead to patient harm. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee ranking member Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, expressed similar concerns. The lapses in care described in this report cannot be ignored, he said in a statement. VA must answer to Congress, veterans and the American people by acting without delay to hold leadership and staff accountable through conducting an immediate national review of backlogged consults everywhere. In fiscal 2023, VA approved more than 7.8 million community care appointments, totaling more than $31 billion. That was up about 17% from the previous year, and represented nearly one in every six medical appointments covered by VA that year. But Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have sparred in recent years over whether VA is doing enough to ensure that veterans are presented with non-department medical options when facing delays in care. The inspector general said in the New York cases they reviewed, the delays occurred because the community care team lacked a process to address time-sensitive, high-risk consults and had no standard operating procedures. They also said officials were unfamiliar with community care basic processes and were not following all national standards for approving such care. The report recommends a full review of system leaders decisions regarding the delays, as well as overhauling procedures for approving such requests in the future. The full report is available on the inspector generals website. (WKBN) Supplies are being rushed to communities that were impacted by Hurricane Helene, and a Valley native is now in one of the areas most impacted by the storm. Water is high in Asheville, North Carolina. The city received 14 inches of rain, and roads sustained significant damage. Debris is stacked up against bridges. Kerri Cunningham grew up in New Middletown and has only lived in Asheville since the end of June. I mean its scary. I work with people that are related to firefighters and they said they are actually seeing casualties, between the flooding and people breaking into businesses, she said. Cunningham sees the devastation. The French Broad River has flooded one of the citys main features, the River Arts District. Getting supplies in has been tough and so is trying to buy them. Its pretty difficult. Theres resources somewhat available. Theres gas across the street, but they only take cash. And trying to get that cash has been difficult, so she can get food and water. Cell service is spotty, and even cut out during this interview. Power is limited in some places. Cunningham is concerned about today and this week. Honestly long-term security. My work place is also closed right now, so we dont even have work to go to. Cunningham is registered veterinary technician, a nurse for animals as she calls it. The state is trying to send clean water, but mudslides are blocking some roads. Airlifts may be needed to get the supplies to Asheville. So, Im just basically holding out hope. Thats all I can do at this point. Cunninghams apartment is OK. She has a place to stay and hopes supplies get to town soon. The city says restoring water might take weeks. A team from the Ohio National Guard has been deployed to North Carolina to help. The American Red Cross is working to get help to the victims of Hurricane Helene. The organization is working to provide shelter, meals, and supplies to people. If you would like to help hurricane victims, a donation can be made to the Red Cross at redcross.org, by calling 1-800-RED-CROSS, or text Helene to 90999. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) The Virginia Beach Fire Department responded to a residential fire late Sunday night. According to officials, crews were dispatched to the 1000 block of Smoke Tree Lane, near Holland Road, just after 9:30 p.m. Crews arrived to the scene and found heavy smoke coming from a two-story townhome. The fire was considered under control by 10:03 p.m., according to VBFD. No injuries were reported during the incident, but one adult and two children were displaced. The Red Cross has been called to assist the family displaced. The origin of the fire was found to be in the kitchen, but the cause remains under investigation. 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. The Colorado Trail celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2024, creating a great opportunity for The Denver Gazette and The Gazette staffers to get an intimate view of the trail via thru-hiking and day-mountain biking. What we found were stories about environmental issues, perseverance in the wilderness, new friends, and grand vistas from the roughly 500-mile long trail from Denver to Durango. VBPD: Man recovered from water at VB Oceanfront dies at hospital; all 3 men identified VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) The man pulled out of the water at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront in critical condition on Sept. 21 has died, Virginia Beach police said. According to officials, just before 8:30 p.m., officers were dispatched to the Boardwalk at 16th Street for reports of a drowning. Body recovered from water at VB Oceanfront identified; another body recovered Police said three people, later identified as 22-year-old Sergio Olcot Ajbal, 22-year-old Sergio Xinico and 24-year-old Santos Olcot Ajbal, were swept out to sea while swimming at night. Santos was recovered that same night and transferred to a local hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries. Recovery crews attempted to search for the two other missing men, with Virginia Beach Police, Marine Police, United States Coast Guard and United States Navy crews working alongside each other Sunday morning. Around noon on Sunday, the search had to be halted due to rough seas, but the search continued the following day. On Sept. 23, just before 7:30 p.m., officers were dispatched to 17th Street for reports of a body in the ocean. The individual was later identified as Sergio Olcot Ajbal. VBPD: Recovery efforts for two missing swimmers resumes The following morning, around 4:30 a.m., officers recovered another body from the water around 30th Street, who was later identified as Sergio Xinico. Police said no foul play is suspected in this incident. Guilmer Olcot Ajbal created a GoFundMe account for the victims families. Guilmer identified himself as the brother of two of the men who died. He said he was at the beach with them enjoying the evening sunset. He explained that his brothers and their friend were in knee-deep water when a large wave swept them out into the ocean. He created the GoFundMe to assist with funeral expenses. Click here if you are interested in donating. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Youve been hit by a tornado or hurricane. What steps should you take next? Youve been hit by a tornado or hurricane. What steps should you take next? DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) While its important to be as prepared as possible for an extreme weather event, its also important to consider steps to take after a major storm hits. With thousands of Miami Valley residents dealing with power outages, finding information on what to do to navigate food loss, unsafe water conditions and more is vital. According to a report from Food Safety.gov, perishable foods like meat, poultry and eggs (among others) will be safe inside of a refrigerator for 4 hours during a power outage. If said food is exposed to temperatures at or above 40 degrees Fahrenheit for more than 2 hours though, it should be thrown out, as seen in the table below. Food-Safety-During-Power-OutageDownload According to the Food Safety and Inspection Service, food that is stored in a full freezer, with its doors closed, will keep for 48 hours, food stored in a half-full freezer, doors closed, will be edible for 24 hours. If you see ice crystals on your frozen food, it can be refrozen but its quality may decrease according to the report from Food Safety.gov. Food-Safety-During-Power-Outage-2Download SNAP beneficiaries with food loss due to power outage can apply for replacement To mitigate the potential loss of food due to a power outage, you can transfer foods to a cooler and fill it with ice or frozen gel packs. The goal is to keep food at or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Add more ice to the cooler as needed. Some quick tips to know from Ready.gov in the case of an outage includes: Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed. Avoid using a gas stove or oven to heat the home. Unplug electronics to avoid electrical surges. Have nonperishable food items available. If using a generator, only use it outdoors and away from windows. American Red Cross advises that you use flashlights, not candles, during a power outage. If your home becomes either too hot or too cold, there will likely be places to shelter at or charge your phone. A school in New Paris held a community outreach event Sunday night for those in need. Members of the community provided hot meals for residents. The district also shared that St. Paul United Methodist Church will be providing hot meals Monday from 5-6 p.m. The Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Community Support Center hosts a food pantry that is available to the public. The center is actively requesting donations (food and cash) to maintain food and supplies for those in need. We will update this story as we learn of more community centers such as the ones above. Another concern with strong winds spurred by severe weather, what if a tree falls on your property? A report from Forbes says that you should take precautions, assess the damage making sure to document every thing, cover any openings that the damage causes to your property (ex: broken windows) and rest assured that damage of this caliber is covered by your insurance policy. In fact, you are advised to call your insurance agent before calling a technician to remove the tree. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Anyone driving on Interstate 25 into Colorado from Wyoming will encounter a large billboard saying, "Venezuela ahead, BE PREPARED!" Colorado nor Wyoming are anywhere near close to the South American country of Venezuela, but the billboard seemingly references rumors supported by former President Donald Trump. The 2024 Republican presidential nominee shared reports that a Venezuelan gang was "taking over" an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado. "We have millions of people pouring into our country from prisons and jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums," Trump said Sept. 10 during the ABC debate. " You see what's happening with towns throughout the United States. You look at Springfield, Ohio. You look at Aurora in Colorado. They are taking over the towns. They're taking over buildings. They're going in violently. These are the people that (Vice President Kamala Harris) and (President Joe Biden) let into our country. And they're destroying our country. They're dangerous. They're at the highest level of criminality." Following Trump's comments, Aurora police announced the arrest of 10 alleged members of the gang and booked them on various charges, including assault, shootings and a hit-and-run crash. Before announcing the arrests, police denied rumors that the gang was taking over the apartment and making tenants pay them rent. Here is what USA TODAY knows about the billboard, including who owns it and how long it will remain up. A Wyoming billionaire placed a billboard resembling the Venezuela flag on the Wyoming-Colorado border that reads "Venezuela Ahead - Be Prepared" referencing the Venezuelan gangs in Colorado. pic.twitter.com/lXxQmF7tbQ MAGA Marie (@galacticaactual) September 30, 2024 Who bought the 'Venezuela ahead' billboard? In addition to the "Venezuela ahead" message, the billboard reads, "Paid for by Clipper Properties LLC, Tim Mellon, Member." Business records show that Clipper Properties LLC is a limited liability company organized by Kermit C. Brown, former Wyoming Speaker of the House. Brown, a partner for the law firm Brown & Hiser, created the company in June 2018, according to Wyoming Secretary of State records. USA TODAY contacted Brown and his law firm on Monday but did not receive a response. While Brown may be an unfamiliar name to many, Mellon likely is not: The American businessman is heir to the Mellon banking fortune, estimated to be worth $14.1 billion, Forbes reported, and he is among Trump's biggest backers, the New York Times and Forbes reported. Who is Tim Mellon? Mellon has given $227 million in contributions to federal candidates and political committees since 2020, nearly all to Republicans, according to the New York Times. In 2024, he contributed $75 million to Trump's campaign and $25 million to assist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s independent presidential run, the outlet reported. Mellon's political and social views have received criticism, particularly comments he made in his memoir "panam.captain." In the book, the businessman said in the 1980s he began resenting "citizens dependent upon government largess, who he called slaves of a new Master, Uncle Sam. Black people, in spite of heroic efforts by the Establishment to right the wrongs of the past, became even more belligerent and unwilling to pitch in to improve their situations, he wrote. USA TODAY attempted to contact Mellon on Monday but did not receive a response. A billboard launched by the Democratic National Committee highlights how former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy's Super PAC allegedly received millions from Donald Trump's largest donor, Timothy Mellon on February 9, 2024 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. How long will the billboard stay up? Wyoming's Republican Secretary of State Chuck Gray told Denver TV station KUSA that the Venezuela Ahead billboard is one of one and is scheduled to remain up through the week of Election Day in November. "It is disturbing, but not surprising, that leftwing media outlets are demanding that government action should be taken against Tim Mellon for taking a stand and bringing awareness to the devastating effects of illegal immigration," Gray told the Colorado-based TV station in a statement. Aurora police officers talking to residents at The Edge at Lowry Apartments in Aurora, Colorado. Is a Venezuelan gang taking over Aurora, CO? Trump's comments during the debate prompted Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman and Council Member and Public Safety Chair Danielle Jurinsky to release a statement as a rebuttal. "We would like to clear the record about the widely reported presence of Tren de Aragua (TdA) in Aurora and across the metro area," the statement reads. "... The citys duty is to make sure it gathers and presents factual, accurate, and comprehensive information about any issue affecting the community. We reiterate that the safety, security, and well-being of community members and visitors is of paramount concern to us and the city." Coffman's and Jurinsky's statement further explains how the issues in their city have been "experienced at a select few properties (and) do not apply to the city as a whole or large portions of it." "TdA has not 'taken over' the city," the statement continued. "The overstated claims fueled by social media and through select news organizations are simply not true. Again, TdAs presence in Aurora is limited to specific properties, all of which the city has been addressing in various ways for months." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tren de Aragua rumors in Colorado prompts 'Venezuela ahead' billboard Verizon outage affects some Modesto-area customers. Can they still make emergency calls? A widespread Verizon outage hit mobile phone customers across California and the U.S. on Monday, limiting some residents to emergency phone calls, so-called SOS mode. Downdetector, a website that crowd-sources reports of such disruptions, showed hundreds of customers in the Sacramento area began reporting outages around 7 a.m. The Modesto area also had some reports, but the total was not available as of noon. Juan Montes emailed The Modesto Bee to report a crowd of people looking for help at the Verizon store on Pelandale Avenue. He said his mother had lost service over the weekend and was told that a cellphone tower was out of service. The New York-based telecommunications company acknowledged the nationwide problem, and said its engineers were trying to identify and solve it. AT&T suffered a similar outage in February, when tens of thousands of customers temporarily lost service. Verizon, the largest wireless carrier in the U.S., has 114.2 million wireless retail customers. Revenues surpassed $24 billion in the second quarter of 2024, according to the company. SOS mode is a fallback The SOS mode is a fail-safe for iPhones and other smartphone devices when cellphone networks are unavailable, according to Apple. The phones automatically switch to SOS when the connection fails but allows cellphones to place emergency calls, such as 911, by utilizing other cellphone carrier networks. Some customers expressed frustration on social media over the outage because it was preventing them from using two-factor authentication. This security measure typically involves sending a verification code to a users cellphone when logging into a website. As a result, these users are unable to access their accounts, including essential services like banking and work emails, as well as their Verizon accounts. Also how can I log into my Verizon account if I cant verify who I am by getting a text because of an outage? one user wrote on X. TOPEKA (KSNT) Verizon users nationwide have lost access to phone services Monday in an apparent outage. Thousands of reports are being made to Downdetector starting at around 9 a.m. on Sept. 30 regarding a large Verizon service outage. The number of outages hit its peak around 11 a.m. with more than 100,000 being reported. However, by 3 p.m. the outages count had lessened to just under 50,000. Users making reports to Downdetector regarding the apparent Verizon outage are saying they are experiencing no signal or a total blackout. Most of these reports are coming in from mobile phone users. Comet on 81,000-year trip becomes a new light in the night sky Downdetectors map shows outages are being reported along the east and west coasts with larger outages appearing in Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. A Verizon spokeswoman told 27 News the company is aware of problems impacting service for some of its customers. She said Verizons engineers are working to identify the issue and fix it. Verizon engineers are making progress on our network issue and service has started to be restored. We know how much people rely on Verizon and apologize for any inconvenience some of our customers experienced today. We continue to work around the clock to fully resolve this issue. Verizon statement on X at 4:40 p.m. on Sept. 30. For possible solutions to get your phone out of SOS mode, click here. What are sovereign citizen license plates and are they legal? For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. (NEXSTAR) While multiple cellphone and internet providers were working to restore services Monday after Hurricane Helene struck the Southeast, one company was struck by a nationwide outage. User reports for problems with Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile initially spiked on Downdetector, a site that tracks outages across platforms and services, at around 10 a.m. ET. None saw a higher outage spike than Verizon, which surpassed 100,000 outage reports around 11 a.m. ET. In an email to Nexstar at 11:30 a.m. ET, a spokesperson for Verizon said the company was aware of an issue impacting service for some customers. Our engineers are engaged and we are working quickly to identify and solve the issue, the statement continued. The spokesperson did not provide any additional details, including when services may be restored or whether customers will be compensated for the downtime. What is SOS mode? What to do when you lose phone service In a post on X, a Verizon Support member said the company was experiencing a nationwide outage affecting several cities. Shortly after 4 p.m. ET, some customers reported they were able to send text messages again, a service that had been unavailable since Monday morning. In an update just after 7:15 p.m. ET, Verizon said its engineers had fully restored todays network disruption. Service has returned to normal levels, the update continued. If you are still having issues, we recommend restarting your device. We know how much people rely on Verizon and apologize for any inconvenience. We appreciate your patience. What happened during the outage? While Verizon has not said what sparked the issue, Verizon users reported having problems making and receiving calls and texts, as well as slow internet speeds on their Verizon internet. That included customers who found themselves in the dreaded SOS mode, a problem AT&T users reported in August during a widespread outage and a signal that the phone was unable to connect to the cellular providers network. The Federal Communications Commission acknowledged the outage Monday afternoon, but only said it was working to determine the cause and extent of these service disruptions. Will you be compensated for the Verizon outage? When AT&T customers experienced an hours-long, widespread outage in February, the company offered customers a $5 bill credit per account. While that outage and Mondays outage share similarities, Verizon customers may not be so lucky. On its website, Verizon says it does not offer credits for network outages. As Americas most awarded network, keeping you connected is our highest priority, the company says. Network disruptions are unexpected and were always committed to restoring service as quickly as possible. Phone stuck on SOS mode? Heres what to do If youre among those Verizon customers whose phone is stuck on SOS mode, you arent entirely out of luck. Most iPhones and Android devices do have built-in Wi-Fi calling, or it can be turned on in your settings menu. Your phone should also still be able to make emergency calls by using other carrier networks. For iPhone users, Apple recommends turning on Airplane Mode or restarting your device to see if that allows you to reconnect with the cellular network. In the case of the nationwide Verizon outage, however, those steps likely wont work until your service has been restored. Companies work to restore services after storm damage Heat maps provided by Downdetector showed many of the Monday morning user outage reports for Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile were focused across parts of Florida, northern Georgia, and into Tennessee, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Virginia all areas that were in the path of Hurricane Helenes deadly march last week. For AT&T users, the top complaints were regarding mobile phones, landline internet, and mobile internet. T-Mobile users reported problems with mobile phones, 5G home internet, and no signal. In an update Monday, AT&T said it had restored cell service to more than 60% of the impacted region. The company warned that customers may still have issues with their home phone and internet service until power is back on and repairs are completed. Your old iPhone could be worth big bucks. Heres what to look for T-Mobile said Sunday that it had completely or nearly restored services in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and in most of Florida. Work was continuing throughout Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia. It was also offering locations in North Carolina and South Carolina for customers to charge their devices and connect to Wi-Fi. Verizon is also continuing to work to restore its services, the company said in a Sunday update. According to the update, some customers in central north Florida may experience scattered service degradation. Restoration work continues in western North Carolina, upstate South Carolina, and in eastern Georgia. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. eft: Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance of Ohio speaks at a campaign rally on July 30 in Reno, Nevada. Right: Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a campaign rally with his running mate, Vice President Harris, at the University of Las Vegas Thomas & Mack Center on August 10 in Las Vegas. (Photo/NPR) Native Vote 2024. Vice Presidential candidates, Sen. J.D. Vance (D-OH) and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D), will meet for the first and only, 90-minute debate between the two on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. The debate is hosted by CBS at the CBS Broadcast Center, on the West Side of Manhattan, and will be moderated by CBS Evening News anchor Nora ODonnell and Face the Nations Margaret Brennan. Its the first time either have moderated a presidential or vice-presidential debate. Never miss Indian Countrys biggest stories and breaking news. Click here to sign up to get our reporting sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. The debate will air at 9 pm - EDT on CBS, CBS News 24/7, streaming on Paramount, and on all cable news channels. There will be two 4-minute commercial breaks during the debate, which will not have a live audience. Unlike the Sept. 10 presidential debate, the microphones will stay on during the debate, but CBS reserves the right to turn them off. Other than that, the rules are pretty much the same. Vance won the Sept. 26 virtual coin toss and elected to give the final 2-minute closing remarks, like former President Trump did during his debate. Each candidate will be given 2 minutes to answer a question, the other candidate will be given 2 minutes for a response, then another 1-minute rebuttal time per question. CBS is not to give their questions to neither the candidates nor their campaigns prior to the debate. No pre-written notes are allowed. Nearly two months ago, Trump spoke at the National Association of Black Journalists convention, where he said, the choice of a vice president makes no difference, on a bid to the White House. But this years presidential election is so tight, that many pundits and voters are paying close attention to the performance of these two candidates. Just like the presidential debate, the vice-presidential debate is an opportunity for both campaigns to highlight their policy positions, make their cases, and introduce themselves to American voters. In a New York Times/Siena College poll, Gov. Walz is viewed more favorably than Sen. Vance by 44 percent of likely voters in midwestern states of Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Walz is viewed unfavorably by 41 percent of voters in those same states. Vance is viewed favorably by 42 percent, while 48 percent of voters view Vance unfavorably in those states. Both candidates are said to appeal to working class voters. Walz is described as having Minnesota dad vibes, while Vances rural roots are written about in his book, Hillbilly Elegy. Debate prep for Walz includes Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg standing in place of Vance, while Vance works with Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) in place of Walz. Walz is a two-term governor, who garnered passage of clean energy mandates, universal free school lunch, family/medical leave, and abortion protection in Minnesota. Vance has separated from Republican leadership on key issues like abortion, immigration, election integrity. He was once a Never Trump Republican and has since converted to a Trump loyalist. The Washington Post recently, within the last few days, obtained a Twitter direct message from Feb. 2020, where Vance wrote, Trump has just so thoroughly failed to deliver, on his economic agenda. Pundits and voters alike will be watching for criticisms both candidates may confront during the debate. Vance could face couch jokes, criticisms over saying the country is run by childless cat ladies, and that legally Haitian immigrants in Ohio are eating pets. Walz has been criticized for his handling of riots after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and saying he used weapons in war, when he never saw combat action, during a speaking event. CBS, as well as many other news organizations, will be fact checking statements made during the debate. Native News Online will be hosting a post-debate discussion on YouTube and Facebook, with a fact-checking segment. Vice President Kamala Harris has challenged former President Trump to a second presidential debate to be hosted by CNN on Oct. 23, but Trump has not accepted it, because its too late. This vice-presidential debate could be the deciding factor for voters, if no other debates are scheduled. Tune in to Native News Onlines post-debate discussion at 10:30 pm - EDT tomorrow night. 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 When is the vice presidential debate? How to watch Vance v Walz Mr Walz is taking part in his own mock rehearsals for the debate - RONDA CHURCHILL Tim Walz and JD Vance will face off in the first vice-presidential debate of the campaign season. It comes after the head-to-head between their running mates, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, earlier in September, which the Democrat was widely perceived to have won. The debate provides an opportunity for Mr Vance, the Ohio senator, to reverse negative public perceptions, having faced months of damaging headlines since he was unveiled at the Republican National Convention in July. He is reported to be preparing with practice sessions where Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer is attempting to replicate Mr Walzs folksy demeanour. Mr Vance, the Ohio senator, is trying to reverse negative public perceptions during the face off - Karl B DeBlaker Mr Walz, the Minnesota governor, is taking part in his own mock rehearsals, where transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg is facing off against him as Mr Vance. In a break from tradition, the prospective vice presidents will debate standing up the first time this has happened since 2008. When is the vice presidential debate? The vice presidential debate will take place on Oct 1 in New York City at CBS Broadcast Centre and is expected to last 90 minutes. It will be moderated by Norah ODonnell, the host of CBS Evening News, and Margaret Brennan, the CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent. What time is the vice presidential debate? The vice presidential debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance will be at 9pm EST. Where can you watch the debate? The debate will be broadcast on all platforms where CBS News 24/7 and Paramount+ are available. Other television networks will carry a simulcast of the event. Who is leading in the election polls? Tim Walz has consistently enjoyed higher favourability ratings over JD Vance since his Republican rival was engulfed in controversy after referring to senior Democrats as childless cat ladies. According to ratings from polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight, the Minnesota governor has a rating of 40.1 per cent favourable and 36.3 per cent unfavourable. His polls are significantly higher than those of his running mate, Ms Harris. Mr Vance, by contrast, has just a 34.4 per cent favourable rating, which is dwarfed by the 45.7 per cent of Americans who view him unfavourably. Will there be a second vice presidential debate? A second vice presidential debate has not yet been announced. Just one vice-presidential debate took place in the 2020 election, although that occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic. A man was awarded $33 million by a jury in San Bernardino County for failure to report neglect of a child by several deputy sheriffs and a welfare fraud investigator, which the jury found was a substantial factor in the child being sexually abused by a former deputy sheriff from the time he was 14-17 years old, according to an announcement late last week. The unidentified child abuse survivor was taken in by former San Bernardino County Deputy Sheriff Jeremie Cox, a 25-year veteran of the department, when the child was around 13 or 14. Cox, according to a news release from the victims attorneys, first met the boy around 2012. Over the next year and a half, the deputy reportedly befriended the boy, allowing him to eat, play video games and watch shows at his house. He even began taking the teen on camping trips and hikes. During that time, the victims attorneys say Deputy Cox learned that the childs mother was neglecting him and leaving him alone for long bouts and not feeding him proper food, as well as likely abusing drugs. Jeremie Cox Deputy Cox considered, but decided against, filing a child neglect report because he did not want the child to go into foster care, the release stated. Instead of reporting the neglect of the child by his mother to CPS, Deputy Cox chose to communicate with the childs mother directly and arranged to have the child move into Deputy Coxs home. Over the next three years, lawyers say Cox sexually abused the teen. The deputy also began involving the victim in the San Bernardino County Sheriffs community, bringing him to department workspaces, the courthouse, arranging for ride-alongs with other deputies. Eventually, the teen reported his mother to the countys welfare fraud investigation unit because she continued to receive welfare funds to care for him but had not done so in three years. His mother was later charged, convicted and jailed for welfare fraud. After finally being able to move out of the deputys home, the victim, who was around 21 years old at the time reported the sexual abuse to authorities. Cox, who was 50 at the time of his arrest, living in Yucca Valley, was taken into custody on Sept. 17, 2021, while he was on duty. He later entered a plea and was sentenced to prison in California. The victims civil trial against San Bernardino County began on Aug. 26 of this year and lasted four weeks, with the verdict returned on Sept. 23. Even though he reportedly suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and agoraphobia, the victim testified at the trial. This is believed to be the largest reported verdict for failure to report child neglect by mandated reporters, and is also believed to be the largest reported verdict related to failure of a law enforcement agency employees to report child neglect that resulted in subsequent child sexual abuse by a member of the same law enforcement agency whose employees failed to report the preceding child neglect, the release stated. In response to KTLAs request for comment, San Bernardino County Public Information Officer Gloria Huerta said, We are not providing statements at this time as appeals may be filed. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Andrii Yermak, Head of the Presidents Office of Ukraine, has explained that the Victory Plan is designed to create the conditions for implementing the Peace Formula: "So that our peace is achieved through strength." Source: Andrii Yermak, Head of the Presidents Office of Ukraine, on air during the national joint 24/7 newscast Details: Yermak said that following the visit to the US, it has become clear that Ukraines partners understand Ukraine's actions, the critical importance of the operation in Kursk, the countrys strategy, its needs and how the Victory Plan differs from the Peace Formula. He emphasised that the Victory Plan lays the groundwork for the Peace Formula to be implemented. The aim is to stop focusing on what goes on in the minds of the Kremlin's "mad rulers" and ensure that peace in Ukraine is achieved through strength. This would make Ukraine strong enough to secure a just peace. Quote: "We felt complete understanding of this position. Of course, there are difficult issues that need to be worked on. This doesnt happen overnight." Background: Recently, Serhii Nykyforov, the president's spokesperson, said that during the Ukrainian delegation's visit to the US, the American side showed "great interest" in the Victory Plan, in spite of media reports. Bloomberg reported that some Western officials have tried to lower expectations of the Victory Plan, saying that they do not see it as a breakthrough. The Wall Street Journal reported that US President Joe Biden's administration is concerned that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy's plan to win the war against Russia lacks a comprehensive strategy. According to the media, in the Victory Plan, which has not been publicly disclosed, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy envisages an invitation for Kyiv to join NATO and a commitment from the US to provide constant supplies of modern weapons. Support UP or become our patron! High among the alpine forests around Sargents Mesa north of Saguache in the Colorado Rockies stand acres upon acres of beetle-killed pine trees gray relics of insect infestations dating back to the early 2000s. Cutting a path between the seemingly endless wrecked and dead trees are Segments 16 and 17 of the Colorado Trail. Not unique to only these two segments, beetle-kill trees line large swaths of forest surrounding the seven trail segments Segments 15-21 between U.S. Highway 50 and U.S. Highway 149. Unfortunately this degradation along with other environmental impacts like wildfires and soil erosion to the forest and trail system has larger ramifications than just an eye sore on the landscape. Beetle Kill According to an article from History Colorado on Coloradoencyclopedia.org, in the early 2000s, several mountain pine beetle species ravaged large expanses of pine forests in Colorado due to a "perfect storm" of conditions, one being several years of warmer-than-average winter temperatures and two, drought, allowing for the rice-sized insects to invade pine forests state wide. The Colorado State Forest Service estimates 834 million trees have been killed by mountain pine beetles, resulting in 3.4 million acres or 5,312 square miles of some degree of tree mortality since the epidemic began, roughly comparable in size to the state of Connecticut (5,543 square miles). The authors Kristen Pelz, a U.S. Forest Service forester, and Tony Cheng, director at the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute at Colorado State University, said the pine beetle epidemic happened because, "large expanses of lodgepole and other pine trees across North America were reaching an age ripe for beetle infestation." "Because many forests were cleared or burned during the early days of European American settlement in the late 1800s, (with) these forests all roughly (being) 100150 years old," they also said. Because of those factors the pine beetles were able to infest the forests more easily, leading to what trail users see when trekking through affected segments of Colorado, including on the Colorado Trail. As Pelz and Cheng point out, however, Colorado's affected forests are recovering, albeit with a different look. They are full of life. The trees that survived grow faster than ever due to the expanse of new light-space available, extra water absorption and augmented nutrients in the soil. "The forest conditions created by beetle-caused mortality provide excellent habitat for many wildlife species, such as woodpeckers, pine martens, and snowshoe hare," Pelz and Cheng said. Forests near Salida, Monarch Pass and Saguache were hit particularly hard by pine beetles. Paul Talley, the Colorado Trail Foundation's new executive director, echoed similar sentiment to Pelz and Cheng's. "We deal with everything from avalanche, rock slide, tree fall and beetle kill (which) has been an issue on some of the sections," he said. "And, of course, with beetle kill, you have a quickening erosion, trees falling quicker, which poses a larger challenge for the organization to maintaining the trail more frequently throughout the unique environments." Talley also said one of the challenges the organization faces is maintaining the trail in all these (eight) unique environments along the Colorado Trail. Because the beetle-kill forests are recovering, the Colorado Trail system running through the affected areas thrives too, especially due to the work of the partnership between the CTF and Forest Service. The Colorado Trail Foundation works with 12 Forest Service ranger districts state-wide. "We work closely with our Forest Service partners and lean heavily into their expertise and processes on what they feel like is needed, and then after we're working with those Forest Service partners, we'll identify the best way to build a sustainable trail or maintain a sustainable trail in that environment," Talley said. Talley also said Forest Service experts speak specifically about "what we feel is needed here" and that CTF has people on staff who know how to build and make trails sustainable. "Every year, we have to go into it with a fresh set of eyes because the trail is ever evolving, ever changing, whether it is a forest fire that takes out a section or whether it's an avalanche that causes us to reroute, we have to be very aware that every year the trail is going to evolve and we have to stay on top of that," he said. Wildfires Pine beetles kills in vast swaths of Colorado's forests set up a subsequent forest degradation issue large-scale wildfires. The beetles gave the forest ample fresh fuel for ignition if and when the wildfire's time came, and come they did. According to records from Wikipedia, from 2000 to 2023, over 50 wildfires greater than 9,000 acres burned in Colorado's forests from the Front Range to the Western Slope. Not all of those fires burned in beetle-kill forests, but the ones that did acted differently than in non-beetle kills forests. A 2015 study from the University of Colorado Boulder found western United States forests decimated by beetle kill are not more likely to burn than healthy forests. "We found that alterations in the forest infested by the mountain pine beetle are not as important in fires as overriding drivers like climate and topography," CU Boulder postdoctoral researcher and lead author Sarah Hart said in the study. "The bottom line is that forests infested by the mountain pine beetle are not more likely to burn at a regional scale," Hart said. Pelz and Cheng echoed similar facts about beetle-kill forests, saying, "Once the needles fall (three to seven years after outbreak), beetle-killed trees do not change or may actually lower the risk of fire ignition because fire is less able to spread from crown to crown." Pelz and Cheng said, however, beetle-caused mortality affects the way the fire burns. Featured Local Savings "The forest structure created after dead trees fall, usually within 10-to-20 years, is likely to burn with high intensity. Huge amounts of dead wood lay on the ground surrounded by foliage, twigs, and branches that easily catch fire and act as kindling to ignite the large tree trunks," Pelz and Cheng said. Because the trees burn with higher intensity, the forest around the trail system can become more susceptible to closures. The fires also create a hotter environment along the trail due to a lack of canopy shade, and the trail is more prone to soil erosion due to lack of vegetation on the ground. Human impact Certain segments of the trail close to large population densities see heavy usage whether it is from hikers, bikers or equestrians. Those areas include metro Denver, as well as Breckenridge, Leadville, Buena Vista, Salida and Durango. However, Mother Nature plays an even larger role in shaping and modifying the trail significantly, with erosion being the largest factor impacting the longevity of the Colorado Trail. For example, the soils and rocks in the San Juan Mountains are softer in composition, due in part to their make-up of volcanic materials, than in other parts of the state. Erosion occurs easier and quicker among volcanic rock than among other rocks like granite or gneiss. The segments mostly after Monarch Pass (Segment 15-28) travel on top of, and over, a lot of these volcanic rocks, which affect the trail for a number of reasons. One, the soil's K erodibility factor, plays a large role in erosion along certain sections of the trail. The larger the soil K factor number the more erosion happens. Soils high in clay have low K factor numbers between 0.05 to 0.15, as measured under the standard unit plot condition and are resistant to detachment from the slope. Silty soils, like those found in the San Juans, have larger K factors numbers (between 0.25 to 0.4) leading to easier detachment and more erosion. Two, both slope aspect and elevation play their own parts in erosion, too, especially in the steep San Juan Mountains. Heading south along Segment 14 from the Chalk Creek Trailhead, erosion on the trail is noticeable in the first 1-to-1.5 miles of the trail. However, water bars and large rocks are in place in several spots along the trail, channeling water away from the segment and into a natural drainage gully. Further southwest along Segment 25 (Molas Pass), from approximately mile 4 to 10, the Colorado Trail travels across nine avalanche paths running downhill into Lime Creek. These steep slide paths can pull rock and debris over the trail yearly, creating hazards to hikers and the trail alike. Luckily, the trail has a small army of volunteers fighting, building and purveying erosion on all 28 segments routinely in order to keep the trail sustainable. Using data collected from the three key factors, trail maintenance crews can establish game plans to fix and maintain more susceptible-to-erosion areas of the trail, with sections that cross streams or rivers a high priority to maintain minimal sedimentation and runoff. According to Talley, every section of the Colorado Trail has adopters, who are volunteers that agreed to take on a section and do routine maintenance on the trail. "In 2023, the CTF had over 700 volunteers do about 20,000 hours of trail maintenance," Talley said. The adopters also fill out reports on a regular basis when they are working on their trail. "We comb through the adopter reports and can usually see a pattern of quickening erosion or if people are cutting across fields, doing things where we need to get in," Talley said. "Many times the ranger districts will reach out to us and say, 'We're getting concerned about erosion' or access or whatever issues they see, and they'll be the first ones to alert us about a section needing to be rerouted or worked on," Talley said of how the CTF helps maintain sections suffering environmental impacts. Feedback from hikers, bikers and equestrians is also crucial in allowing the CTF to follow up with any issues the trail-system is experiencing. Talley said the CTF will get emails with photos from users on the trail showing an issue at a certain location, making his team aware of a problem at X location on Y segment. "We have some projects that we know we can knock out in a day with some volunteers and we have some projects that are maybe a five to 10-year process by the time we get involved with our Forest Service partners and environmental groups to understand the impact and the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) studies that go along with that," Talley said. "If you see a bridge that was built, it was probably built by volunteers. If you see rock work where steps are built to combat erosion, that was done by volunteers by hand." Talley said between 500 and 600 people annually will register with the CTF and claim they did the whole trail either as a thru-hike or thru-bike, with usually about 90% thru-hiking compared to 10% thru-biking. However, the actual number of undocumented users per year is in the thousands, either for the day or some version of 'an extended amount.' "The amazing thing about the trail system is you will see all the ecosystems that are part of the Colorado landscape and you will get to experience everything from that Rocky Mountain high altitude to being able to be in some of the areas like Lost Creek Wilderness that have a more rugged appeal to them and a little drier or hotter, but have a different feel to them," Talley said. Because organized work from the Colorado Trail Foundation and its legions of volunteers, segment adopters and U.S. Forest Service crews maintain the Colorado Trail, it makes the user experience possible yearly. Stewardship also falls on the shoulders of each type of user group, too, however. Trail advocates said Mother Nature will continue to evolve the Colorado Trail, presenting new environmental issues to tackle each year, but the outdoor community simply needs to remember to practice steps like "Leave No Trace," respect wildlife, practice fire safety along the trail and be considerate to others. A Virginia man is in custody after a carjacking in Moline, according to a news release and court records. At 1:37 p.m. Sunday, Moline Police responded to Rock River Plaza in the 3900 block of 44th Avenue for a report of a robbery. The caller reported that a man had forced a driver out of a a 2008 Suzuki SUV in a parking lot and stole the car. Brandon Burrows (Moline Police Department) A Moline Police detective assigned to the Crime Prevention Unit that works this area, was at 41st Street and John Deere Road and attempted to stop the vehicle. The vehicle fled westbound on John Deere Road and onto Interstate 74. Numerous Moline Police officers chased the vehicle, which ran over police department spike strips near 69th Avenue and 27th Street. Court records show Burrows failed to stop for police and disregarded two or more traffic control devices the stop light at 27th Street and Airport Road and the stop light at 27th Street and 36th Avenue. The vehicle eventually stopped at 16th Street and 36th Avenue, where the driver, 42-year-old Brandon M. Burrows, of Portsmouth, Virginia, was arrested. During the incident, Burrows indicated that he had a gun, although he did not. The Rock Island County States Attorney filed the following charges against him: Vehicular hijacking, a Class 1 felony Aggravated robbery, a Class 1 felony Possession of a stolen vehicle, a Class 2 felony Aggravated fleeing a police officer, a Class 4 felony. Burrows was arrested and held in the Rock Island County Jail pending further court proceedings under the Pretrial Fairness Act. The States Attorney filed a petition to deny pretrial release and Burrows is being held in jail until a detention hearing. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHBF - OurQuadCities.com. YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) Youngstown State University showed off what the city has to offer to a group of representatives from several different Vietnamese companies. Its all a part of a trade mission that started in 2019. It gives the U.S. and Vietnam a chance to provide partnerships to buy and sell local products. This weeks visit comes after a group of delegates from the Youngstown area visited Vietnam and Thailand in 2019. As an example also for a great success story, Rickenbacker Airport, which was one of the delegates that came with us to Vietnam at the time, now they do more business with Vietnam than they do with China, said Mousa Kassis, YSU export assistance network director. Leaders of the summit say having a direct relationship between Vietnam and the Youngstown area is beneficial as trade between Ohio and Vietnam and between the U.S. and Vietnam hit record highs last year. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKBN.com. ST LOUIS Missouri voters, your chance to shape the upcoming U.S. Senate debate is here. Incumbent Republican Senator Josh Hawley and Democratic challenger Lucas Kunce have agreed to a live televised debate on October 31, 2024, and we want your input. How to Participate Were inviting viewers to submit questions for this high-stakes political meeting. This is your opportunity to address the issues that matter most to you and your community. Fill out this form to send our producers your question. Submit a form. Why Your Questions Matter This debate comes at a crucial time, with recent polls showing Hawley leading Kunce by 11 points. However, with reproductive rights also on the ballot this November, the race could be tighter than it appears. Your questions can help clarify the candidates positions on key issues and give you the information you need to make an informed decision at the polls. How to watch Date: October 31, 2024 at 7 p.m. Where to Watch: The debate will air on Missouri Nexstar stations, including KTVI/KPLR-St. Louis, WDAF-Kansas City, KRBK-Springfield, and KSN-Joplin, as well as their digital platforms. Dont miss this chance to have your voice heard in one of the most high-profile races in the country. Submit your questions today and tune in on October 31st to see if yours is selected. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Voters without kids aren't all the same, have different political priorities In the 2024 election cycle, "childless cat ladies" and other voters without children are under the microscope. Photo by Yaroslav Shuraev/Pexels In the 2024 election cycle, voters without children are under the microscope. Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance has said that "childless cat ladies" and older adults without kids are "sociopaths" who "don't have a direct stake in this country." So it was notable that when pop star Taylor Swift endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, she didn't simply express her support and leave it at that. She also called herself a "childless cat lady." Politicians and others often use the word "childless" as an umbrella term for people who do not have children. But as social scientists who study people without children, we know that this doesn't capture some important nuances. Using large-scale demographic data, we've found that there are many types of nonparents -- and each has its own set of political priorities. The range of nonparents Only about 3% of Americans are truly childless, or what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls "involuntarily childless." Most Americans who do not have children are not childless. They are some other type of nonparent. Social scientists often distinguish several types of nonparents: Childless people want children but cannot have them due to circumstances such as infertility. Not yet parents are people who do not have children yet, but plan to in the future. They tend to be younger. Undecided individuals aren't sure whether they want to have children. Child-free people have decided they do not want children now or in the future. These distinctions matter. When nonparents are combined into a single group, they seem demographically and politically similar to everyone else. But each type of nonparent is affected by political issues differently. And some issues are especially consequential for child-free people. The ramifications of Dobbs Take abortion rights. The U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson ended a constitutional right to an abortion. The ruling limited access to reproductive health care in several states and created uncertainty in others. Some politicians have expressed concerns about the fallout of the Dobbs decision. They've pointed to the inability for some not-yet-parents to access reproductive care if complications arise during pregnancy. They've also raised the alarm that Dobbs will lead to limits on access to in vitro fertilization for childless couples. But these concerns are relevant only for people who want to have children. There is usually little talk among politicians and pundits about the importance of reproductive rights for child-free people who do not want to have children. The share of Michigan adults identifying as child-free rose from 21% before Dobbs to nearly 26% immediately afterward. This increase occurred during a time when there was significant confusion about access to abortion in Michigan because state laws were ambiguous and being challenged in the courts. Since Dobbs, there has also been a dramatic increase in vasectomies and tubal ligations nationwide. Some of this increase is the result of child-free people now turning to surgery to avoid having children. Child-free people are overlooked in other areas, too, such as tax policy and in the workplace. Child-free people pay federal income taxes alongside parents. But both Republican and Democratic presidential platforms have placed a heavy emphasis on expanding the child tax credit, which directly benefits only people who have or will have children. Child-free people work alongside parents. But parental status isn't a protected category, which could be why child-free people tend to work longer hours and have less leeway to take time off. Will a new bloc emerge? Nonetheless, child-free people are primed to play an important role in American politics for several reasons. First, there are a lot of them. How many Americans are child-free depends on how you ask them. Data from nationwide face-to-face interviews suggest that around 10% of Americans are child-free. But data from anonymous surveys in Michigan and nationwide peg it at closer to 20% to 25%. If that's the case, it could mean as many as 50 million to 60 million Americans are child-free. Second, their numbers are growing. A range of studies suggest that every year, more Americans are reporting that they simply never want to have children. Third, politicians' derogatory comments about "childless" people have gotten the attention of child-free people. And they're starting to organize. For example, Shannon Coulter, the influential activist behind the nonprofit group GrabYourWallet, is bringing them together through the nonpartisan Alliance of Childfree Voters. It's too soon to know whether child-free people can be thought of as a distinct voting bloc. But in our research, we found that child-free people in the swing state of Michigan lean liberal. While there are similar numbers of liberal and conservative parents in the state, child-free people who identify as liberal outnumber conservatives 2 to 1. Given their size, growth, organization and liberal leanings, it may be time for American politicians to think more carefully about how child-free people fit in. Jennifer Watling Neal is a professor of psychology at Michigan State University. Zachary P. Neal is an associate professor of psychology at Michigan State University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. Voters without kids are in the political spotlight but theyre not all the same In the 2024 election cycle, voters without children are under the microscope. Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance has said that childless cat ladies and older adults without kids are sociopaths who dont have a direct stake in this country. So it was notable that when pop star Taylor Swift endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, she didnt simply express her support and leave it at that. She also called herself a childless cat lady. Politicians and others often use the word childless as an umbrella term for people who do not have children. But as social scientists who study people without children, we know that this doesnt capture some important nuances. Using large-scale demographic data, weve found that there are many types of nonparents and each has its own set of political priorities. The range of nonparents Only about 3% of Americans are truly childless, or what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls involuntarily childless. Most Americans who do not have children are not childless. They are some other type of nonparent. Social scientists often distinguish several types of nonparents: Childless people want children but cannot have them due to circumstances such as infertility. Not yet parents are people who do not have children yet, but plan to in the future. They tend to be younger. Undecided individuals arent sure whether they want to have children. Child-free people have decided they do not want children now or in the future. These distinctions matter. When nonparents are combined into a single group, they seem demographically and politically similar to everyone else. But each type of nonparent is affected by political issues differently. And some issues are especially consequential for child-free people. The ramifications of Dobbs Take abortion rights. The U.S. Supreme Courts 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson ended a constitutional right to an abortion. The ruling limited access to reproductive health care in several states and created uncertainty in others. Some politicians have expressed concerns about the fallout of the Dobbs decision. Theyve pointed to the inability for some not-yet-parents to access reproductive care if complications arise during pregnancy. Theyve also raised the alarm that Dobbs will lead to limits on access to in vitro fertilization for childless couples. But these concerns are relevant only for people who want to have children. There is usually little talk among politicians and pundits about the importance of reproductive rights for child-free people who do not want to have children. The share of Michigan adults identifying as child-free rose from 21% before Dobbs to nearly 26% immediately afterward. This increase occurred during a time when there was significant confusion about access to abortion in Michigan because state laws were ambiguous and being challenged in the courts. Since Dobbs, there has also been a dramatic increase in vasectomies and tubal ligations nationwide. Some of this increase is the result of child-free people now turning to surgery to avoid having children. Child-free people are overlooked in other areas, too, such as tax policy and in the workplace. Child-free people pay federal income taxes alongside parents. But both Republican and Democratic presidential platforms have placed a heavy emphasis on expanding the child tax credit, which directly benefits only people who have or will have children. Child-free people work alongside parents. But parental status isnt a protected category, which could be why child-free people tend to work longer hours and have less leeway to take time off. Will a new bloc emerge? Nonetheless, child-free people are primed to play an important role in American politics for several reasons. First, there are a lot of them. How many Americans are child-free depends on how you ask them. Data from nationwide face-to-face interviews suggest that around 10% of Americans are child-free. But data from anonymous surveys in Michigan and nationwide peg it at closer to 20% to 25%. If thats the case, it could mean as many as 50 million to 60 million Americans are child-free. Second, their numbers are growing. A range of studies suggest that every year, more Americans are reporting that they simply never want to have children. Third, politicians derogatory comments about childless people have gotten the attention of child-free people. And theyre starting to organize. For example, Shannon Coulter, the influential activist behind the nonprofit group GrabYourWallet, is bringing them together through the nonpartisan Alliance of Childfree Voters. Its too soon to know whether child-free people can be thought of as a distinct voting bloc. But in our research, we found that child-free people in the swing state of Michigan lean liberal. While there are similar numbers of liberal and conservative parents in the state, child-free people who identify as liberal outnumber conservatives 2 to 1. Given their size, growth, organization and liberal leanings, it may be time for American politicians to think more carefully about how child-free people fit in. 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: Jennifer Watling Neal, Michigan State University and Zachary P. Neal, Michigan State University Read more: Jennifer Watling Neal receives funding from the National Institutes of Health, Institute of Education Sciences, Templeton World Charity Foundation, and the Wallace Foundation. Zachary P. Neal receives funding from the National Science Foundation. Voters without kids are in the political spotlight but theyre not all the same (Mario Tama/Getty Images) By Jennifer Watling Neal and Zachary P. Neal, Michigan State University In the 2024 election cycle, voters without children are under the microscope. Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance has said that childless cat ladies and older adults without kids are sociopaths who dont have a direct stake in this country. So it was notable that when pop star Taylor Swift endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, she didnt simply express her support and leave it at that. She also called herself a childless cat lady. Politicians and others often use the word childless as an umbrella term for people who do not have children. But as social scientists who study people without children, we know that this doesnt capture some important nuances. Using large-scale demographic data, weve found that there are many types of nonparents and each has its own set of political priorities. The range of nonparents Only about 3% of Americans are truly childless, or what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls involuntarily childless. Most Americans who do not have children are not childless. They are some other type of nonparent. Social scientists often distinguish several types of nonparents: Childless people want children but cannot have them due to circumstances such as infertility. Not yet parents are people who do not have children yet, but plan to in the future. They tend to be younger. Undecided individuals arent sure whether they want to have children. Child-free people have decided they do not want children now or in the future. These distinctions matter. When nonparents are combined into a single group, they seem demographically and politically similar to everyone else. But each type of nonparent is affected by political issues differently. And some issues are especially consequential for child-free people. The ramifications of Dobbs Take abortion rights. The U.S. Supreme Courts 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson ended a constitutional right to an abortion. The ruling limited access to reproductive health care in several states and created uncertainty in others. Some politicians have expressed concerns about the fallout of the Dobbs decision. Theyve pointed to the inability for some not-yet-parents to access reproductive care if complications arise during pregnancy. Theyve also raised the alarm that Dobbs will lead to limits on access to in vitro fertilization for childless couples. But these concerns are relevant only for people who want to have children. There is usually little talk among politicians and pundits about the importance of reproductive rights for child-free people who do not want to have children. The share of Michigan adults identifying as child-free rose from 21% before Dobbs to nearly 26% immediately afterward. This increase occurred during a time when there was significant confusion about access to abortion in Michigan because state laws were ambiguous and being challenged in the courts. Since Dobbs, there has also been a dramatic increase in vasectomies and tubal ligations nationwide. Some of this increase is the result of child-free people now turning to surgery to avoid having children. Child-free people are overlooked in other areas, too, such as tax policy and in the workplace. Child-free people pay federal income taxes alongside parents. But both Republican and Democratic presidential platforms have placed a heavy emphasis on expanding the child tax credit, which directly benefits only people who have or will have children. Child-free people work alongside parents. But parental status isnt a protected category, which could be why child-free people tend to work longer hours and have less leeway to take time off. Will a new bloc emerge? Nonetheless, child-free people are primed to play an important role in American politics for several reasons. First, there are a lot of them. How many Americans are child-free depends on how you ask them. Data from nationwide face-to-face interviews suggest that around 10% of Americans are child-free. But data from anonymous surveys in Michigan and nationwide peg it at closer to 20% to 25%. If thats the case, it could mean as many as 50 million to 60 million Americans are child-free. Second, their numbers are growing. A range of studies suggest that every year, more Americans are reporting that they simply never want to have children. Third, politicians derogatory comments about childless people have gotten the attention of child-free people. And theyre starting to organize. For example, Shannon Coulter, the influential activist behind the nonprofit group GrabYourWallet, is bringing them together through the nonpartisan Alliance of Childfree Voters. Its too soon to know whether child-free people can be thought of as a distinct voting bloc. But in our research, we found that child-free people in the swing state of Michigan lean liberal. While there are similar numbers of liberal and conservative parents in the state, child-free people who identify as liberal outnumber conservatives 2 to 1. Given their size, growth, organization and liberal leanings, it may be time for American politicians to think more carefully about how child-free people fit in. Jennifer Watling Neal, Professor of Psychology, Michigan State University and Zachary P. Neal, Associate Professor of Psychology, Michigan State University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. In the first and final vice presidential debate between Ohios Sen. J.D. Vance and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, expect fireworks that dont matter. The debate at 8 p.m. Central will be boisterous but inconsequential. Here are five things to look for. There will be a chest-thumping comparison of military credentials. Walz has the years of service and the rank master seargent to Corporal but Vance has time in an actual war zone as a Marine combat correspondent. Neither man saw real fighting, but a time or two Walz has admitted misspeaking in ways that embellished his record. Both men will accuse the other of being extreme. Vance will attack Walzs record as governor, where he performed a flip-flop from being a congressional friend of the National Rifle Association to advocate of an assault weapons ban. Walz will hold Vance to account for the Heritage Foundations governing plan called Project 2025 and Donald Trumps myriad bizarre policy-related ruminations. The VP duo will both deliver some whoppers. Walz will accuse Trump and Vance of planning to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits even though Trump says he would never touch the entitlements. Vance will stick by his discredited accusations of animal mistreatment by Haitian immigrants in small-town Ohio. The two ovary-free, estrogen-lite former military men will have a lot to say about abortion. Walz will remind viewers that Trumps Supreme Court picks overturned Roe v. Wade, while Vance will embrace giving voters democratic choices at the state level. CBS has said that it will be up to Vance and Walz to fact-check each other during the debate because the moderators wont be performing that thankless task. Expect a lot of hand wringing from commentators on other networks about any falsehoods that go by unimpeded, at least those by Trumps running mate. And once youve invested 90 minutes in watching this debate, remember that veeps, for all their record of being the combative partner on the partisan team, really dont matter. Voters care about those at the top of the ticket far more than they do the men who face off Tuesday night. David Mastio, a former editor and columnist for USA Today, is a regional editor for The Center Square and a regular Star Opinion correspondent. Follow him on X: @DavidMastio or email him at dmastio1@yahoo.com The annual Vulture Festival will make a triumphant return this year, with a lineup of talent and events worthy of the ten-year anniversary it is celebrating. The festival, which will take place on November 16 and 17, will feature appearances from Abbott Elementarys Quinta Brunson, the cast of Sex Lives of College Girls, as well as reunions of beloved shows such as The Skeleton Twins with Kristin Wiig and Bill Hader and Youre The Worst. This year, Vulture will also present its first-ever Roomy Award, meant specifically to recognize and honor the talented writers rooms that create the shows people love. Abbott Elementary will be awarded the Roomy Award, followed by a discussion with showrunner Quinta Brunson and her lineup of skilled writers. In addition, the festival will also feature a pajama party brunch celebrating The Sex Lives of College Girls, hosted by creator Justin Noble and cast members Pauline Chalamet, Alyah Chanelle Scott, Ilia Paulino, and Renika Williams. Pajamas are encouraged at this event where fans can cozy up with their favorite stars for a conversation about the Max hit series. Other events include a discussion with comedian Julio Torres about his favorite colors, a comedy show hosted by Joel Kim Booster and starring the likes of Beth Stelling and Chris Flemming, as well as a sneak peak at festival sponsor Paramounts newest original series Landman, starring the Oscar-winning Billy Bob Thornton. The Emmy-winning actor and best-selling author Henry Winkler will return to once again teach The Winkler Method, an acting class that covers all hes learned in his fifty years in the industry. In 2014, nearly a decade after the website was founded, Vulture hosted its first ever Vulture Festival in New York. Tickets to the tenth Vulture Festival cost $25 and are available for purchase here. Its well established that Viking explorers made it to North America hundreds of years before Christopher Columbus. Recently discovered evidence, however, indicates Norse sailors werent only the first Europeans to likely meet Indigenous societiesgenetic analysis of walrus DNA indicates their ivory trade routes may have been complex, expansive, and on a tight deadline. To further bolster their claims, some of the researchers even set sail in traditional Norwegian ships to showcase technology of the time. Ivory was a major luxury commodity used to make a variety of products such as jewelry and tools across Europe during the medieval era. Norse cultures were integral for sourcing the material given their northern geographic locations, a demand that likely drove hunting parties to expand their search range. But this hunting territory appears even greater than previously believed, thanks to a study published September 27 in Science Advances from an international team led by researchers at Swedens Lund University. Using genetic fingerprinting, the experts identified the origins of 31 ivory artifacts recovered from Greenland Norse settlements and other major European trading hubs. Their findings revealed the ivory fragments came from Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus), a species that lives across vast ranges of the North Atlantic Arctic. What really surprised us was that much of the walrus ivory exported back to Europe was originating in very remote hunting grounds located deep into the High Arctic, Peter Jordan, study co-author and Lund University professor of archeology, said in a statement on September 30. The new information, however, immediately begged a follow-up question: given the ivory was sourced as far away as North Water Polynya and the interior Canadian Arctic, was it truly possible for Norse traders to reach these walrus populations? Walrus ivory artifacts and hunting routes strongly suggest the two societies interacted. Credit: igure: E.J.R.-P. and coauthors. Instead of just computer modeling or archeological inferences, Lund University doctoral researcher Greer Jarrett decided to find out for himself firsthand. He and colleagues tested two types of traditional Norwegian boats in open waters similar to those used during the Viking Agea smaller fyring vessel, as well as the larger version called a fembring. Through these experiences, the team was able to better estimate the cargo capacity and crew needs for each ship, as well as their possible distances. The combined results indicate that the smaller six-oared boats could have been rowed from the Western Settlement as far as the Qeqertarsuup Tunua (Disko Bay), Jarrett and study co-authors concluded, while adding that it was also clear longer-range trips were possible using the larger ships. Norse transported packages of ivory back to Europe (with tusks attached to skull). Credit: Mikkel Hegh-Post Based on their expeditions and subsequent calculations, the team believes trips towards areas populated by North American Indigenous communities like the Thule Inuit could take between a few weeks to months, depending on the distance and conditions. That latter factor was particularly important, explained Jarrett. Walrus hunters probably departed from the Norse settlements as soon as the sea ice retreated, he said. Those aiming for the far north had a very tight seasonal window within which to travel up the coast, hunt walrus, process and store the hides and ivory onboard their vessels, and return home before the seas froze again. [Related: Even Vikings had to pay fines.] These new discoveries, Jordan added, have major implications for the relationship between the two entirely different cultural worlds separated by thousands of miles of ocean. He explained that Greenland Norse visitors would have had European physical features and beards, dressed in woolen clothes, and sailed in plank-built ships stocked with iron-tipped lances for walrus hunting. The more Asiatic-featured Thule Inuit, meanwhile, utilized advanced toggling harpoons, insulated fur clothing, as well as kayaks and larger umiak boats built with stretched animal skins. Although the researchers study does not present direct evidence of contact between Norse and Thule Inuit communities, they stressed that the hunting areas were no empty polar wilderness. Instead, they were populated by multiple Indigenous societies, all of whom relied on the same walrus populations as the Vikings. In Mondays announcement, Jordan stated that much more work is needed to understand these potential interactions, especially from an Indigenous as well as more Eurocentric Norse perspective. Want to donate to people in NC affected by Helene? Heres how to help Days after Hurricane Helene swept through the Southeast, many in North Carolina are struggling in the aftermath of the deadly storm that damaged homes, destroyed communities, flooded and washed away roads and left many stranded without food and water. Officials expect a long road to recovery for those affected. This is going to be a tremendous effort in the short run but looking at it in the long run with the hundreds of roads that are destroyed, communities that were wiped off the map we have to make sure that we get in there, are smart about rebuilding, doing it in a more resilient way but right now, were saving lives and getting supplies to people who desperately, desperately need them, Governor Roy Cooper said in an on-air interview with CNN Monday. Sept. 30. Here are ways to help and donate, along with a list of things not to do. This is an unprecedented storm that requires an unprecedented response. We are all working together to support western North Carolina. pic.twitter.com/X9iXu8Avtf Governor Roy Cooper (@NC_Governor) September 30, 2024 NC Disaster Relief Fund In partnership with United Way of North Carolina, Governor Coopers office is managing the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund, which will go towards supporting nonprofits working on collecting food and water, cleaning supplies and other emergency supplies for victims. The North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund is live. If youre able to give, please consider a donation to help North Carolinians as they clean up and recover from Helene. You can donate at https://t.co/yjrg796nrJ. pic.twitter.com/3dilvyWxax Governor Roy Cooper (@NC_Governor) September 30, 2024 You can make an online donation at nc.gov/donate. You can also make a contribution to the disaster fund by mailing donations to the following addresses: NC Disaster Relief Fund , 20312 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-0312. NC Disaster Relief Fund, c/o United Way of NC, 1130 Kildaire Farm Road, Suite 100, Cary NC 27511. Photos: Search for victims of apocalyptic flooding in NC continues with many still cut off from help Organizations collecting donations, supplies for storm Helene In addition to the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund, heres a list of other organizations collecting donations and supplies to help those in need: How to donate online: Visit my.americares.org. How to donate online: Visit redcross.org/donate How to donate by mail: Send a check donation form and check to: American Red Cross, PO Box 37839, Boone, IA 50037-0839. To send via FedEx or UPS, send check and donation form to American Red Cross, c/o CDS Global, 2005 Lakewood Drive, Boone, IA 50036. How to donate by phone: Text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate to American Red Cross Disaster Relief or call 1-800-HELP NOW (1-800-435-7669). You can find more information about how to help, including blood donations and being a volunteer, online at redcross.org. How to donate online: Visit boonechamber.com/foundation. How to donate online: my.care.org. How to donate by mail: Send the donation form with check or credit card information to: CARE, Gift Center, P.O. Box 1870, Merrifield VA 22116-8070 How to donate by phone: Call 1-800-422-7385. You can find more information about how to make a donation, including how to wire transfer contributions, online at care.org. How to donate online: Visit cfwnc.fcsuite.com. How to donate online: Visit give.helpsalvationarmy.org. How to donate by mail: Send checks with the name of the disaster relief effort you wish to support to: The Salvation Army - Disaster Relief, PO BOX 1959, Atlanta, GA 30301. How to donate by phone: Call 1-800-SAL-ARMY (1-800-725-2769). You can also find more information and search for your local Salvation Army location online at southernusa.salvationarmy.org/north-south-carolina/. How to donate online: Visit samaritanspurse.org. You can also find more information about how to volunteer in Watauga and Buncombe counties online at spvolunteer.org. How to donate online: Visit unitedway.org/hurricane-helene. You can find specific chapters in counties around North Carolina to donate to online at unitedway.org/local/united-states/north-carolina. How to help people and volunteer in NC in Hurricane Helene aftermath More Helene disaster relief organizations in NC Heres a list of more vetted disaster relief organizations to make donations to online at ncdps.gov. What items not to donate, what not to do When supporting victims impacted by a storm, financial contributions are best to provide important and immediate services to provide help in need, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Financial contributions to recognized disaster relief organizations are the fastest, most flexible and most effective method of donating, the agencys website says. Organizations on the ground know what items and quantities are needed, often buy in bulk with discounts and, if possible, purchase through businesses local to the disaster, which supports economic recovery. Though it may seem helpful, FEMA says used clothing is never needed and recommends connecting with organizations about what may be needed before contributing supplies. At this time, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety is also discouraging anyone from sending physical donations or volunteers to western NC. Ask the North Carolina Service Journalism Team Have a question about your community youd like answered? Or maybe a tip or story idea youd like to share? The service journalism teams at The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer want to hear from you. If you have a question about the Charlotte area , send The Charlotte Observer team a question by submitting questions to this form . If you have a question about Raleigh or a Triangle area community, send The News & Observer team a question by submitting questions to this form. By Lucy Papachristou LONDON (Reuters) -Stephen James Hubbard, a 72-year-old U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty in a Moscow court on Monday to charges of serving as a mercenary against Russia in the Ukraine war, Russia's RIA news agency reported. Hubbard's sister and another relative quickly cast doubt on his reported confession, telling Reuters he held pro-Russian views and was unlikely to have taken up arms at his age. RIA said Hubbard had admitted in a hearing at the Moscow City Court that he had received money to fight for Ukraine against Russia. "Yes, I agree with the indictment," RIA quoted him as saying. Hubbard was placed in pre-trial detention last week for six months. He faces a sentence of seven to 15 years if convicted. RIA, citing a prosecutor in court, said Hubbard had signed a contract with a Ukrainian territorial defence unit in the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum at the start of the war in February 2022. The prosecution said he was promised $1,000 a month and was provided with training, weapons and ammunition. RIA quoted the prosecutor as saying Hubbard was detained by Russian soldiers on April 2 of that year, just weeks after the war began. Reuters was unable to confirm how Hubbard was detained. His lawyer could not immediately be reached. The Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry did not immediately reply to messages seeking comment. Hubbard's sister, Patricia Fox, last spoke with him in September 2021, via Skype. She questioned his reported confession. "He is so non-military," she told Reuters by phone. "He never had a gun, owned a gun, done any of that...He's more of a pacifist." PRO-RUSSIAN VIEWS Hubbard is one of at least 10 Americans behind bars in Russia, nearly two months after a prisoner swap on Aug. 1 between Moscow and the West freed three Americans and dozens of others. A spokesperson for the U.S. embassy in Moscow said last week it was aware of the detention of an American citizen, but declined further comment. A native of the small town of Big Rapids, Michigan, Hubbard worked for decades as an English teacher abroad, including in Japan and Cyprus, his sister said. Fox said Hubbard moved to Ukraine in 2014 and lived there for a time with a Ukrainian woman, surviving off a small pension. When she last spoke to him, he had split from his girlfriend and was living alone in Izyum, she said. Fox said she had received little information about her brother's status for months until a video surfaced online. The video, posted to YouTube in May 2022 by an account with just over 100 followers, shows a bearded man in a brown sweater sitting facing the camera and answering questions from an off-camera interviewer, who speaks with accented English. It is unclear where and when it was filmed, but Fox identified the man as her brother. In the video, the man says he understands why Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine and expresses hope that the war will end soon. (Reporting and writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Timothy Heritage) Wanted Dubois County man arrested after four years on the run HENDERSON, Ky (WEHT) A wanted Dubois County man is in custody after allegedly evading authorities for four years. According to the Dubois County Sheriffs Office, Nathan Rhodes, 39, was arrested for violating the Sex and Violent Offender Registry. Officials state during the week of September 16, authorities received a tip regarding Rhodes whereabouts, and the U.S. Marshal Service was contacted. He was later taken into custody by Marshals in Louisville, Kentucky. Officials say Rhodes was also wanted out of Crawford County, Indiana for a similar offense. Rhodes is being held in the Dubois County Security Center without 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 Eyewitness News (WEHT/WTVW). Wanted man out of Pennsylvania arrested after high-speed chase in Nash County ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (WNCT) Nash County deputies arrived and tried to identify the driver of a suspicious vehicle when he sped away and struck a Nash County deputys vehicle. A chase ensued on Interstate 95 and deputies continued to chase the driver into Halifax County and then Northampton County at speeds in excess of 120 miles per hour. Troopers with the North Carolina State Highway Patrol assisted in the chase, eventually getting the vehicle off the road near the N.C/Virginia state line. Once the vehicle came to a stop, the driver, Kenneth Wilson Crider, of Poolesville, MD was taken into custody. The vehicle was found to had been stolen out of Pennsylvania. Crider was also wanted out of Pennsylvania due to his involvement in the theft of a vehicle and a dog. Crider was charged with: Warrant for a fugitive Reckless driving Driving with a fictitious registration Felony hit-and-run Possession of a stolen vehicle Assault with a deadly weapon Felony fleeing to elude law enforcement Failure to stop for lights and sirens Crider was jailed without bond in the Nash 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. Police are praising the work of alert bank employees who they say stopped a robbery before it happened on Monday. Wareham authorities say they were dispatched to the Rockland Trust Bank and Santander Bank at the Cranberry Plaza for a suspicious man wearing a mask and wig. His demeanor reportedly caused great concern among bank employees and customers alike. According to police, bank employees provided a detailed description of the man and the color of the bike he was riding. Officers quickly located him about a mile away from the plaza. The suspect, identified as 33-year-old James Morrison of East Wareham, was arrested and charged with two counts of attempt to commit a crime (unarmed robbery) and two counts of disturbing the peace. He will be arraigned in Wareham District Court on Tuesday. Chief Walter Correia gave his kudos to the employees who made the call and said they prevented a serious crime from occurring. Wareham Police always encourage the general public to contact the police regarding any suspicious activity, a department spokesperson wrote in a press release. 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 AUSTIN (KXAN) It seems like its always been the Gulf Coast, particularly the Florida Gulf Coast, that takes the brunt of the major hurricanes that have hit the United States since 2017. Hurricane Helene added to that number when it made landfall at 11:10 p.m. EDT Thursday, Sept. 26. Winds were measured at 140 mph when the storm landed 10 miles west of Perry, Florida, approximately 50+ miles southeast of Tallahassee. This hurricane is the 8th Category 4 or 5 storm to make landfall since 2017. Eight Cat 4 or 5 hurricanes are the same number as the previous 57 years. Helene becomes the fourth hurricane to make landfall this year, joining Beryl (7/8 in Texas), Debby (8/15 in South Carolina), and Francine 9/11 in Louisiana). The recent past shows eight other major hurricanes plague the Gulf Coast, the majority of which made landfall in Florida. We start with the only one to hit Texas in the past seven years, Harvey. The hurricane came ashore around 10 p.m. on the night of August 25, 2017. It was a Category 3 with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph when it struck San Jose Island and then near Rockport. The system would eventually claim 107 lives. Its the wettest Atlantic hurricane with more than 27 trillion gallons of rain over the state. The storm surge was 6 to 10 feet above normal tide. Total damage was estimated to be $125 billion. Hurricane Irma struck the Florida Keys at 9:10 a.m. on September 10, 2017. It made landfall at Cudjoe Key, Florida, as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 130 mph. The hurricane caused an estimated $50 billion in damages. The storm claimed 92 lives in the United States with another 42 across the Carribean. Hurricane Michael was the strongest of the storms. Its winds were 160 miles per hour (Category 5) when it made landfall on October 18, 2018, at Mexico Beach, Florida on Floridas western Gulf Coast. There were 59 deaths and an estimated $25.5 billion in damage. The first hurricane to strike in southwest Louisiana happened at 1 a.m. on August 27, 2020. KXAN covered Hurricane Laura live. It made landfall in Cameron, Louisiana. It took the lives of 81 people and caused more than $23.3 billion in damage. You will recall that 2020 was so busy that the Greek alphabet was used for nine named storms. The sixth of those was Zeta. It was a Cat 3 with winds of 115 mph when it made its United States on October 28, 2020 landfall in Cocodrie, LA. There were six fatalities in the U.S. Damage was estimated at $3.9 billion. In 2021, Hurricane Ida struck the Louisiana city of Port Fourchon. It was a Category 4 storm with winds of 150 mph when landfall happened at 11:55 a.m. on Aug. 29. This storm took the lives of 91 and caused an estimated $3.6 billion in damage. Next up, one of the four storms to start with the letter I. Hurricane Ian was a Category 4 storm with winds of 150 mph when it made landfall on September 28, 2022. The hurricane hit at 2:05 p.m. at Cayo Costa, Florida. It was the first Cat 4 hurricane to impact southwest Florida since Charley in 2004. Charley made landfall in the same location as Ian. Ian was responsible for 150 deaths directly or indirectly along with an estimated $112 billion in damage. The fourth I-named storm was Idalia. This was a Category 3 hurricane when it struck near Keaton Beach at 7:45 a.m. Aug. 30, 2023. Winds were 125 mph. There were ten fatalities. Damage was estimated at $3.6 billion. It is still too early to assess all the damage and dollar amount that former Hurricane Helene caused. KXAN meteorologists are monitoring the next potential tropical cyclone over the western Caribbean. This may become a tropical depression by mid-week when over the Gulf. Could this ultimately become Tropical Storm/Hurricane Kirk? Will it go towards the Texas coast or will it take that same turn Helene did and head to Florida? Time will tell. Stay tuned. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. WARREN, Ohio (WKBN) Warren police are investigating a reported robbery that took place Thursday night. According to a police report, officers responded to a burglary on McKinley Street NE shortly after 10 p.m. The victim said he heard a knock at the front door and was greeted by two apparent males with ski masks on each holding a black handgun, reports state. The victim said they hit his head and beat him on the ground with the handguns. Reports then say the burglars asked the victim where the money was, and the victim said it was under his pillow on his bed. The victim further stated that one burglar held him at gunpoint while the other assaulted him before they grabbed the money. The victim said $9,000 was taken. He was transported to St. Joseph Hospital for his injuries. No arrests have been made, and police are currently investigating. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Pictures of killed pro-Iranian Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah are hung on a building in an almost deserted area in Beirut southern suburb. Marwan Naamani/dpa Israel has informed Washington it is planning to carry out "limited operations" on the Lebanese border, according to the US government on Monday, as indications gathered of a possible ground incursion and the international community urged de-escalation. Israel said these were "limited operations" focused on "Hezbollah infrastructure near the border," said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, while refusing to comment on details. His comments came after some US media reported that Israel is planning a limited ground offensive in Lebanon that could begin in the coming hours. US President Joe Biden did not directly confirm the reports during an exchange with journalists. Asked whether he was aware of Israeli plans to launch a "limited operation" in Lebanon and whether he approved, Biden replied, "I'm more aware than you might know, and I'm comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now." The two countries appear to be on the brink of war, after Israel launched a large-scale aerial campaign on targets across Lebanon last week, with the stated aim of pushing back Hezbollah to enable the return of tens of thousands of residents evacuated from northern Israel. Parts of northern Israel prohibited areas The Israeli army designated several areas in northern Israel a closed military zone on Monday evening. These areas may not be entered, according to a military spokesperson for the Northern Command of the Israeli troops, referring to areas near Metula, Misgav Am and Kfar Giladi, close to the Lebanese border. Earlier, an army spokesperson referred to exercises as part of troops' increased combat readiness. That came as Israel's defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said the next phase of the fight against Hezbollah would begin soon. UN, EU call oppose incursion The United Nations warned Israel against further escalation. "We do not want to see any sort of ground invasion," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. "We all know what devastation that all out war, ground war in Lebanon would bring to the people of Israel and the people of Lebanon," he said. Almost 10,000 UN troops are stationed on the border between the two countries and in the south of Lebanon as part of the UN's UNIFIL mission. They remain in position, but are restricted in their freedom of movement due to the ongoing shelling from both sides and are unable to carry out their work of monitoring the ceasefire that is actually in place, Dujarric said. In Brussels, an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss the worsening situation ended with an appeal for calm and for international humanitarian law to be upheld. "Any further military intervention would dramatically aggravate the situation and has to be avoided," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said, speaking via videolink. "The European Union renews its call for an immediate ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel," Borrell said. Massive destruction in Beirut's southern suburbs After days of Israeli bombardment, the area south of the Lebanese capital Beirut, where the leader of the Hezbollah militia, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an airstrike, has been reduced to a ghost town, according to a dpa reporter on site. Tens of thousands of families have fled the country to escape the attacks including from Dahijeh, where the Israeli military is attacking targets of the Shiite militia. A dpa reporter described "massive destruction" with debris from destroyed buildings everywhere while drones sound overhead. Anger was palpable among locals who supported Nasrallah, who was killed on Friday. Men wearing black stood surrounded by rubble as they recited verses from the Quran. Many were downcast and unwilling to talk. One woman listened to Quran verses and said she hoped Palestinians in the Gaza Strip knew that Nasrallah had died for their struggle. At least 125 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli attacks since Sunday morning, according to official figures. Some 45 people were killed and 70 injured in attacks on Ain al-Dilb in the south of Beirut, officials said. Hezbollah said on Monday that it had once again attacked an Israeli military base and the city of Safed in the north with missiles. Hezbollah choosing successor The Islamist militia vowed to quickly choose a successor to slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, and said it would continue its decades-long fight against Israel, even as it faced a massive escalation in military pressure. Deputy head Naim Kassem, in the first televised speech by a senior Hezbollah official since Nasrallah's death, said the group would choose a successor to assume the secretary general position "as soon as possible." Kassem said that the group's structure allows it to find replacements for all senior members from among the ranks of deputies and other qualified members. The Lebanese militia, considered a terrorist organization by the US, the European Union and Israel, has been launching attacks on northern Israel since the beginning of the war in Gaza, in support of Hamas. "We know the battle could be long, and we are ready for any possibility. If Israel decides to launch a ground invasion, we are ready for a ground engagement," Kassem said. "Israel will not be able to affect our military capabilities," he said, vowing to also continue their support for the Palestinians in Gaza. Pictures of killed pro-Iranian Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah are hung on a building in an almost deserted area in Beirut southern suburb. Marwan Naamani/dpa Israel informed Washington it is planning to carry out "limited operations" on the Lebanese border, according to the US government on Monday, amid fears a ground incursion was looming and as the international community called for de-escalation. Israel said these were "limited operations" focused on "Hezbollah infrastructure near the border," said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, who did not provide further details. His comments came after some US media reported that Israel is planning a limited ground offensive in Lebanon that could begin in the coming hours. US President Joe Biden did not directly confirm the reports during an exchange with journalists. Asked whether he was aware of Israeli plans to launch a "limited operation" in Lebanon and whether he approved, Biden replied, "I'm more aware than you might know, and I'm comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now." The two countries appeared to be on the brink of war, after Israel launched a large-scale aerial campaign on targets across Lebanon last week, with the stated aim of pushing back Hezbollah to enable the return of tens of thousands of residents evacuated from northern Israel. But by late in the evening, Lebanese security sources said there were no Israeli tanks near the common border at least for the time being. Israeli tanks have not approached the Blue Line, dpa learned from security sources in Lebanon. However, there were reports of heavy aerial attacks by the Israeli military near the Litani River, which is about 30 kilometres north of the border. Israeli fighter jets were heard in southern Lebanon. Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari warned people not to spread "irresponsible rumours" in a statement on social media platform X. He said there were numerous reports and rumours about army activities on the Lebanese border and asked people not to spread reports about troop movements and to stick to official communications for security reasons. Parts of northern Israel prohibited areas The Israeli army designated several areas in northern Israel a closed military zone on Monday evening. These areas may not be entered, according to a military spokesperson for the Northern Command of the Israeli troops, referring to areas near Metula, Misgav Am and Kfar Giladi, close to the Lebanese border. Earlier, an army spokesperson referred to exercises as part of troops' increased combat readiness. That came as Israel's defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said the next phase of the fight against Hezbollah would begin soon. Residents of the southern suburbs of Beirut were told to leave their homes by a spokesman for the Israeli army in a call issued late on Monday on social media. Those living in buildings marked on a map distributed in these posts were located near Hezbollah facilities, the army said. The Israeli military will take forceful action against these facilities, the post said. Residents within a 500-metre radius were called upon to leave their homes immediately for security reasons, the post said. UN, EU call oppose incursion The United Nations warned Israel against further escalation. "We do not want to see any sort of ground invasion," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. "We all know what devastation that all out war, ground war in Lebanon would bring to the people of Israel and the people of Lebanon," he said. Almost 10,000 UN troops are stationed on the border between the two countries and in the south of Lebanon as part of the UN's UNIFIL mission. They remain in position, but are restricted in their freedom of movement due to the ongoing shelling from both sides and are unable to carry out their work of monitoring the ceasefire that is actually in place, Dujarric said. In Brussels, an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss the worsening situation ended with an appeal for calm and for international humanitarian law to be upheld. "Any further military intervention would dramatically aggravate the situation and has to be avoided," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said. "The European Union renews its call for an immediate ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel," Borrell said. Massive destruction in Beirut's southern suburbs After days of Israeli bombardment, the area south of the Lebanese capital Beirut, where the leader of the Hezbollah militia, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an airstrike, has been reduced to a ghost town, according to a dpa reporter on site. Tens of thousands of families have fled the country to escape the attacks including from Dahiyeh, where the Israeli military is attacking targets of the Shiite militia. A dpa reporter described "massive destruction" with debris from destroyed buildings everywhere while drones sound overhead. Anger was palpable among locals who supported Nasrallah, who was killed on Friday. Men wearing black stood surrounded by rubble as they recited verses from the Quran. Many were downcast and unwilling to talk. One woman listened to Quran verses and said she hoped Palestinians in the Gaza Strip knew that Nasrallah had died for their struggle. At least 125 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli attacks since Sunday morning, according to official figures. Some 45 people were killed and 70 injured in attacks on Ain al-Dilb in the south of Beirut, officials said. Hezbollah said on Monday that it had once again attacked an Israeli military base and the city of Safed in the north with missiles. Pictures of killed pro-Iranian Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah are hung on a building in an almost deserted area in Beirut southern suburb. Marwan Naamani/dpa Israel informed Washington it is planning to carry out "limited operations" on the Lebanese border, according to the US government on Monday, amid fears a ground incursion was looming and as the international community called for de-escalation. Israel said these were "limited operations" focused on "Hezbollah infrastructure near the border," said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, who did not provide further details. His comments came after some US media reported that Israel is planning a limited ground offensive in Lebanon that could begin in the coming hours. US President Joe Biden did not directly confirm the reports during an exchange with journalists. Asked whether he was aware of Israeli plans to launch a "limited operation" in Lebanon and whether he approved, Biden replied, "I'm more aware than you might know, and I'm comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now." The two countries appeared to be on the brink of war, after Israel launched a large-scale aerial campaign on targets across Lebanon last week, with the stated aim of pushing back Hezbollah to enable the return of tens of thousands of residents evacuated from northern Israel. But by late in the evening, Lebanese security sources said there were no Israeli tanks near the common border at least for the time being. Israeli tanks have not approached the Blue Line, dpa learned from security sources in Lebanon. However, there were reports of heavy aerial attacks by the Israeli military near the Litani River, which is about 30 kilometres north of the border. Israeli fighter jets were heard in southern Lebanon. Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari warned people not to spread "irresponsible rumours" in a statement on social media platform X. He said there were numerous reports and rumours about army activities on the Lebanese border and asked people not to spread reports about troop movements and to stick to official communications for security reasons. Parts of northern Israel prohibited areas The Israeli army designated several areas in northern Israel a closed military zone on Monday evening. These areas may not be entered, according to a military spokesperson for the Northern Command of the Israeli troops, referring to areas near Metula, Misgav Am and Kfar Giladi, close to the Lebanese border. Earlier, an army spokesperson referred to exercises as part of troops' increased combat readiness. That came as Israel's defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said the next phase of the fight against Hezbollah would begin soon. Residents of the southern suburbs of Beirut were told to leave their homes by a spokesman for the Israeli army in a call issued late on Monday on social media. Those living in buildings marked on a map distributed in these posts were located near Hezbollah facilities, the army said. The Israeli military will take forceful action against these facilities, the post said. Residents within a 500-metre radius were called upon to leave their homes immediately for security reasons, the post said. Shortly afterwards, at least seven explosions were heard in the area, a dpa reporter said. Black clouds of smoke rose above the area near the international airport. UN, EU call oppose incursion The United Nations warned Israel against further escalation. "We do not want to see any sort of ground invasion," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. "We all know what devastation that all out war, ground war in Lebanon would bring to the people of Israel and the people of Lebanon," he said. Almost 10,000 UN troops are stationed on the border between the two countries and in the south of Lebanon as part of the UN's UNIFIL mission. They remain in position, but are restricted in their freedom of movement due to the ongoing shelling from both sides and are unable to carry out their work of monitoring the ceasefire that is actually in place, Dujarric said. In Brussels, an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss the worsening situation ended with an appeal for calm and for international humanitarian law to be upheld. "Any further military intervention would dramatically aggravate the situation and has to be avoided," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said. "The European Union renews its call for an immediate ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel," Borrell said. Massive destruction in Beirut's southern suburbs After days of Israeli bombardment, the area south of the Lebanese capital Beirut, where the leader of the Hezbollah militia, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an airstrike, has been reduced to a ghost town, according to a dpa reporter on site. Tens of thousands of families have fled the country to escape the attacks including from Dahiyeh, where the Israeli military is attacking targets of the Shiite militia. A dpa reporter described "massive destruction" with debris from destroyed buildings everywhere while drones sound overhead. Anger was palpable among locals who supported Nasrallah, who was killed on Friday. Men wearing black stood surrounded by rubble as they recited verses from the Quran. Many were downcast and unwilling to talk. One woman listened to Quran verses and said she hoped Palestinians in the Gaza Strip knew that Nasrallah had died for their struggle. Almost 100 people had been killed in Lebanon by Israeli attacks within 24 hours, according to official figures. The Lebanese Ministry of Health said more than 170 others had been injured on Monday. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and members of Hezbollah. Hezbollah said on Monday that it had once again attacked an Israeli military base and the city of Safed in the north with missiles. BRUCETON MILLS, W.Va. (WBOY) A 12 News reporter was in the middle of an interview with a professional bird trainer when an adult bald eagle was spotted gliding over the main overlook at Coopers Rock. The voice you hear in the video above belongs to Katie Fallon, Executive Director of the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia and Field Trip Coordinator for Mountaineer Audubon, which hosted a raptor watch event at Coopers Rock Sunday afternoon. A 12 News reporter was only seconds into an interview with Fallon when one of the birdwatchers attending the event spotted the eagle in the distance. Unique looking birds you can find in West Virginia Bald eagles were added to the endangered species list in 1978 but were eventually taken off in 2007 thanks to nationwide conservation efforts. (File: Getty) We have a lot of birds here in West Virginia right around where we live, and getting to know the local bird species and getting to know your human neighbors who also like birds, you know, its a great reason to get involved with Mountaineer Audobon, Fallon said, after the eagle flew out of sight. During the interview, Fallon also said that a study from a few years ago pointed out that many interior forest songbird and grassland bird species are in decline. However, there are ways ordinary people can help these populations, like by adding native plant species to a yard or by adding decals to windows, which helps birds avoid flying into them. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WBOY.com. On The Hill with April Ryan, Nana Gyamfi, executive director at Black Alliance for Just Immigration, said advocates want a complete flipping of the frame on how leaders address the issue of immigration. The head of a leading Black immigrant rights group has tough words for both the Trump-Vance and Harris-Walz campaigns. On this weeks The Hill with April Ryan, Nana Gyamfi, executive director at Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), calls out the racist conspiracies and policy positions pushed about Haitian immigrants by Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees Donald Trump and JD Vance. The ordeal has led to a criminal complaint filed by the advocacy group Haitian Bridge Alliance. Gyamfi equally had stern words for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, whose campaign she criticized for being too focused on an enforcement frame. She said Harriss rhetoric and policies are simply not welcoming. On Friday, Harris traveled to the Arizona-Mexico border to focus on the issues of illegal immigration there and the trafficking of illicit drugs. Harris walked the stretch of wall built during the administration of former President Barack Obama. While in Arizona, the sitting vice president delivered a speech blasting Trump for what she said was a lack of effort to address the immigration crisis, including his reported efforts to get Republicans in Congress to block bipartisan legislation to better enforce the border. DOUGLAS, ARIZONA SEPTEMBER 27: Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, speaks during a campaign event at Cochise College Douglas Campus on September 27, 2024 in Douglas, Arizona. With 38 days until the election, Vice President Kamala Harris is campaigning over the weekend in Arizona, California and Nevada. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Gyamfi told theGrio that BAJI wants to see a complete flipping of the frame on how political leaders address the issue of immigration, particularly as it relates to Black migrants. She dismissed the Harris-Walz campaigns call for more surveillance and border agents. What the United States tells the rest of the worldand its done so for decadesis you can come here for that opportunity to flourish, to live that sweet life, right, to have your best life, declared Gyamfi. That is not what immigration policies look like right now. She said of Vice President Harris: She knows what her parents were hoping for. She knows who she has become as a result of the capacity, the opportunity for her parents to have that. Gymafi continued, Its a shame that has been denied to others, including folks from her [fathers] home country of Jamaica. The immigrant community, she said, is expecting and wanting Harris to remember how her people came. Gyamfi added, And because they came, shes able to be in that position right now. That door should be opened even further, not closed. As for the criminal complaint filed against Trump and Vance in Springfield, Ohio, the advocate said no one is immune from accountability. I think it is important for people, including political candidateseven if theyre running for president or vice president of the United Statesto understand that they dont get to act with complete and absolute immunity, said Gyamfi. Lifestyle More must-reads: WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand has set the world record for the most people to perform a haka, a traditional dance of the country's indigenous Maori, reclaiming the title from France. A statement by Aucklands Eden Park, which hosted the record attempt on Sunday, said 6,531 people had performed Ka Mate, the haka, which surpassed the current record of 4,028 people, held by France since 2014. "Haka is an important part of our culture and returning the mana (prestige) of this world record away from the French and back to the land of its origins and ensuring it was performed correctly and with integrity was vital, Hinewehi Mohi, cultural ambassador for HAKA and co-founder of the Raukatauri Music Therapy Trust, told New Zealands 1News. The haka, a customary dance by Maori, was traditionally a way to welcome visiting tribes or to invigorate warriors ahead of battle. It is now performed at important events and is the most well-known as part of the New Zealand rugby teams pre-game ritual. There are many haka but the one performed at the world record attempt is the most well-known and was composed around 1920 by Te Rauparaha, chief of Ngati Toa iwi or tribe. Event organisers had hoped at least 10,000 participants would attend the event, which was also fundraising for Raukatauri Music Therapy Trust. Nick Sautner, Eden Park chief executive, said watching thousands of passionate New Zealanders from young children to elders perform Ka Mate at the stadium was a truly memorable moment. Its more than just numbers its about honouring our cultural legacy on a global stage, Sautner said in a statement released late Sunday. Almost 1 million of New Zealand's 5.2 million population have Maori ancestry. (Reporting by Lucy Craymer; Editing by Lincoln Feast.) LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Members of the Arkansas Senate Judiciary Committee are holding a hearing Monday to review the raid by federal officials on the home of the former head of the Little Rock airport that ended with the man being shot and killed. Bryan Malinowski was killed after a shootout with ATF agents who were serving a 6 a.m. search warrant at his Little Rock home. Malinowski, executive director of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport, died of his injuries on March 21. Arkansas State Police turn over findings of investigation into ATF shooting of Little Rock airport executive The raid was based on accusations that Malinowski was selling guns without a license, a point the family attorney disputes. When ASP Col. Mike Hagar was asked if state police would have done anything differently compared to how ATF agents issued the search warrant, he responded, Weve read and Im sure youve all read the affidavit that led to the judge signing the search warrant. What we are not privy to is all the information the ATF knew when they decided upon this method of executing that warrant. Malinowskis family and lawyer, Bud Cummins, have long questioned the tactics used in the raid, with other state and federal lawmakers echoing those concerns. Attorney for family of Malinowski says Its far from over after prosecutor declines to charge agents Cummins said after the meeting When asked if ATF should have done X, Y, and Z; he (Hagar) said you would have to ask ATF. My question is why didnt he ask ATF? Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KARK. An American aircraft was forced to take evasive action when a Russian fighter jet swooped dangerously close by, footage released by the US military reveals. The US Air Force had been tracking a Russian nuclear-capable TU-95 bomber flying through Alaskas air defence identification zone (Adiz) at the time of the aerial altercation. The video shows the American monitoring the Russian bomber from a distance as it was flying in international airspace off the Alaskan coast last week. Suddenly, a Russian Su-35 Flanker fighter jet flies between the two aircraft on its side. The F-16 fighter jet from the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) was forced to dodge the manoeuvre by diving out of the way of the Russian aircraft. On Sept 23 2024, Norad aircraft flew a safe and disciplined intercept of Russian military aircraft in the Alaska Adiz. The conduct of one Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional, and endangered all not what youd see in a professional air force, General Gregory Guillot, Norads top commander, said. Dangerous manoeuvres Norad reported last week that four Russian aircraft two bombers and two fighter jets had passed through Alaskas air defence zone on Sept 23. All four aircraft remained in international airspace and did not cross into either American or Canadian sovereign airspace, a statement said at the time. Last weeks detection was the fifth such incident this month, according to publicly available reports. However, accusations of dangerous manoeuvres by Russia are rare. Incursions of the Alaska Adiz by Russian military aircraft occur regularly and are not seen as a threat, a Norad spokeswoman said last week. Since Russia resumed long-range aviation activities in 2007, the number of incursions fluctuates annually, but we have seen as many as 15 in one year to as low as zero. The latest incident happened in the Bering Sea, which separates Russias most eastern coastline from Alaska. The American military presence has been bolstered in the area in recent weeks in response to a series of joint Russian-Chinese exercises. 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. Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Employees at a Florida auto shop came to the rescue of a dog who was struck by a car and became trapped inside the bumper for several hours. Lenny Cruz, store manager at St. Lucie Battery & Tire, said a woman was driving late at night when she saw a dog dart out in front of her vehicle. The woman was sure her car had struck the dog, but when she got out to the find the animal it had seemingly disappeared. It wasn't until 12 hours later that the woman heard the dog making sounds and discovered the canine was inside her bumper. "The dog came in front of the car, hit here, snapped it open. It snapped back and the dog was actually trapped in there," Cruz told WPTV. The woman carefully drove her car to St. Lucie Battery & Tire, where a St. Lucie Animal Care and Control worker was summoned to help with the rescue. Cruz posted a video to Facebook showing his team extracting the canine from its hiding place. The dog, named Barbas, didn't have any apparent injuries and was walking normally, Cruz said. Juan Rangel, Barbas' owner, said the canine has been his normal, playful self ever since arriving back home. "It's crazy and then just seeing the videos. I mean, it's unbelievable. I mean, he really is a miracle," Rangel said. How to Watch the Vice Presidential Debate Between Tim Walz and J.D. Vance The 2024 vice presidential candidates will face off in New York City in what is expected to be to be their only debate before the Nov. 5 election Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Just three weeks after Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump went head-to-head at the presidential debate, their running mates Tim Walz and J.D. Vance are getting a rare moment in the spotlight. Minnesota Gov. Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, is debating Ohio Sen. Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, in New York City on Tuesday, Oct. 1. This is set to be their only matchup before the Nov. 5 election. The two politicians joined their parties' tickets in the midst of what was already a turbulent election, with Vance, 40, being chosen as Trumps vice presidential pick on July 15, just days after the former president was wounded in an assassination attempt. Walz, 60, was brought onto the ballot as Harris last-minute running mate pick on Aug. 6 after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed his vice president. Related: SNL Casts Its Tim Walz, J.D. Vance, Doug Emhoff and Other Election Figures: Meet the 2024 Candidates Walz and Vance have been tasked with appealing to working-class voters in the "Blue Wall" states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin during the 2024 election. Several other states including North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada will also help determine which party heads to the White House in January. Heres what to know about CBS News' vice presidential debate between Walz and Vance on Oct. 1. Related: Presidential Debate Full Recap: Harris Calls for Second Face-Off After Holding Firm Against Trump's Attacks How to Watch Live and Where to Stream Hosted by CBS News, the debate will take place from 9 to 10:30 p.m. ET and can be viewed in full on the CBS News television network. It will also be available for streaming on CBS News 24/7 and Paramount+. Additionally, the debate will be simulcast on most other networks and streaming platforms, including PBS News, C-SPAN, and Fox News. Who Is Moderating the Vice Presidential Debate? Cindy Ord/Getty; Jemal Countess/Getty CBS News Norah ODonnell and Margaret Brennan have been tasked with moderating the debate. ODonnell, 50, is the CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor, as well as a 60 Minutes contributing correspondent. In July, ODonnell announced that she would be leaving her role at the Evening News anchor desk after the 2024 election and taking on a new position at the network. Brennan, 44, serves as the moderator for CBS News' Face the Nation and is the network's chief foreign affairs correspondent. Every Sunday she invites political newsmakers on her show for pointed discussion about hot-button issues, and she has previously interviewed former President Trump during his presidency and President Biden while he was campaigning in 2020. Related: How Face the Nation Host Margaret Brennan Became the Star of Sunday Mornings: 'I Didn't Ever Imagine It' What Are the VP Debate Rules? Both campaigns have agreed to a 90-minute debate featuring two four-minute commercial breaks, during which campaign staffers are prohibited from interacting with the candidates. There will be no opening statements and no audience, following the format of the two previous presidential debates. Each candidate will have two minutes to answer a question and two minutes for their response, with only one minute allowed for rebuttals; however, moderators may grant an extra minute for further discussion at their discretion. Unlike the presidential debates, candidates' microphones will remain active when their opponent is speaking, although CBS News reserves the right to mute the microphones if necessary. Vance won a virtual coin toss on Thursday and will deliver his closing statement second, with each candidate allotted two minutes for their closing remarks. No topics or questions will be provided to the campaigns in advance. Related: Tim Walz and J.D. Vance Found the Perfect Stand-Ins to Play Their Opponents During VP Debate Prep How Are the VP Candidates Preparing? Sources familiar tell PEOPLE that, to prepare for the debate and anticipate potential attacks, the VP candidates rehearsed with high-profile stand-ins to play their opponents. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has been in character as Vance during Walz's debate prep, while Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer has taken on the role of Walz in Vance's rehearsals. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. FILE - This undated file photo provided in 2005 by Naval Air Station Brunswick shows the now-closed military air base in Brunswick, Maine. (Naval Air Station Brunswick via AP, File) BRUNSWICK, Maine (AP) Maine environmental officials said all water samples analyzed so far in the wake of the state's largest recorded accidental spill of firefighting foam are below its guidelines for potentially dangerous chemicals. A fire suppression system at a hangar at Brunswick Executive Airport discharged more than 1,400 gallons (5,300 liters) of the foam concentrate mixed with 50,000 gallons (190,000 liters) of water at the former Navy base on Aug. 19. The discharge triggered an investigation and also prompted a warning from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to limit consumption of freshwater fish from nearby bodies of water. The foam contained chemicals known as PFAS that are associated with health problems including cancer. The foam was removed after the accident. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection sampled 34 water supplies in the area of the spill and has contacted property owners to discuss the results, the agency said Thursday. The water supplies will be tested every three months for a year, the agency said. The department has also evaluated eight rounds of surface water results from the nearby watershed and found concentrations are continuing to decline, the agency said in a statement. PFAS levels in the watershed have not yet returned to pre-spill concentrations and testing of surface water will continue to track the trends, the department's statement said. Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are found in everything from food packaging to clothing. The Environmental Protection Agency last year proposed limits on the chemicals in drinking water. Some fire departments have also started to phase out using foam that contains PFAS because of concerns the chemicals leach into groundwater and can put firefighters at risk. PFAS are often described as forever chemicals because some dont degrade naturally and are believed capable of lingering indefinitely in the environment. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection said soil results have also been received from four areas identified as either most likely to be impacted by the foam release or having the greatest risk of potential exposure to recreational users. A preliminary review of the results shows some PFAS detected in all the soils tested, the department said. Comprehensive evaluation of the soil testing is still ongoing, the department said. The department said fish and shellfish tissue samples will take longer to process. The advisories against consuming freshwater fish from nearby waterbodies remained on the Maine CDC website on Monday. Maine CDC said it is advising residents to abstain from recreational activities such as swimming and boating that could result in contact with foam or affected waters until the effects of the foam release on bodies of water in the area have been thoroughly evaluated. J.D. Vance went into his Saturday afternoon campaign stop in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, well aware of the potential for controversy. The event had been organized by a far-right evangelical preacher, Lance Wallnau, who was active in the Stop the Steal movement that culminated in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Wallnau also periodically makes headlines for incendiary proclamations, most recently that Kamala Harris performed well at the debate because of witchcraft. Vances willingness to campaign with Wallnauwho preaches that Trump is prophesied by God to be president so that Christians can take over American government and societydid not go unnoticed by the press. It was, many analysts concluded, an indicator of Vances growing ties to Christian nationalism. It might have been for that reason that on this drizzly afternoon, when a smiling Vance strolled onto the stage, it was not Wallnau he shook hands with. Instead, he sat down with a local Pittsburgh pastor named Jason Howard, an earnest and round-faced man whose soft voice and claims of political ignorance formed a perfect counterbalance to Wallnaus slick, openly right-wing televangelism. The theme of the town hall was substance abuse and addictiona topic that played to Vances strengths and kept sound bites about Harris Jezebel spirit at bay. It was a markedly tame addition to the days schedule. The campaign stop was part of the Courage Tour, a series of multiday religious revivals organized by Wallnau meant to electrify the evangelical vote in swing states. At these weekend events, Pentecostal worship and reactionary politics intermingle: Theres plenty of praise-singing, faith healing, and speaking in tongues. This is a kind of Christianity that is boomingand that Vance has some familiarity with. His mostly absent biological father exposed Vance to his conservative Pentecostal church in Ohio when Vance was a teenager, according to his memoir Hillbilly Elegy. In the book, Vance writes that for a time he was a devoted convert of his fathers church, rejecting the scientific concept of evolution and believing that the world would end in 2007. But he eventually settled into an uneasy agnosticism, spent some time as an angry atheist, then, many years later, in 2019, converted to Catholicism. He said five years ago, at the time he was baptized as a Roman Catholic, that he had spent a lot of his life buying into the lie that you had to be stupid to be a Christian but that when he started to feel the pull of faith, the Catholic Church appealed most to him intellectually. That has not stopped Trump-supporting evangelicals from embracing Vance as part of the Republican ticket. Wallnaua celebrity in the world of MAGA Christianitymust have been particularly excited to see him, as he once predicted that Vance would be Trumps vice presidential pick. But Wallnau also seemed aware that he could be a liability to Vance and that both men were being closely scrutinized. Before the vice presidential candidates appearance, Wallnau explained at length, with a whiteboard, how he was not a dangerous Christian nationalist in the way the secular media has implied he is. Ever since the Jan. 6 insurrection, Wallnau has preached that Trump is Gods chosen candidate and that an electoral loss would have to result from the works of forces of eviland therefore all Trumps enemies should be treated as agents of the devil. But to hear him explain it at the event, he was merely trying to make sure the millions of Christians in America were properly represented in government. At one point, when one of Wallnaus speakersthe founder of an organization called Patriot Academyplayed a video of students learning to shoot guns in a constitutional defense course, Wallnau seemed genuinely flustered. I didnt vet that video before it went out, he said. Later, following a slightly awkward moment while introducing another speaker, Wallnau said, After Ricks shooting thing, I lost my focus. That didnt stop him from ranting about the dangers posed by the CIA and teachers unions. Vance was astute enough to never be spotted with Wallnau or any of the other inflammatory speakers. Everyone at the event was a guaranteed Trump voter already, so Vance could afford to bore his audience. The spacious concrete hall, abutting a vast campus of big-box stores, was built for pragmatism, not spiritual fervor; unlike other Courage Tour events, which were held under tents to evoke past revival movements, Vances Pennsylvania stop seemed like a nondescript conference. There was no fire and brimstone. Vance, confusingly, seemed to describe the campaign appearance as an addiction and recovery event. He took vetted questions from the audience and, in perhaps his strongest moment, celebrated the 41 months of sobriety of a veteran who asked the first question. Vance brought his mother, a woman who isas he proudly announces when he canmore than a decade sober from a drug addiction. He portrayed a crackdown on the border as key to saving addicts from fentanyl-related deaths, allowing them to have second chances. (Mexican cartels are the largest suppliers of fentanyl, but U.S. citizens, rather than immigrants lacking legal status, do most of the smuggling.) He argued that funds that could go toward addiction treatment and mental health care facilities are instead going to people that dont belong in our country. As much as he kept blaming immigrants for addiction (and housing shortages and unemployment), he continued to emphasize that his driving impulse was a kind of Christian humanitarianism. I think the TrumpVance approach to the border is the way to maximize compassion, he insisted. To make his case, Vance invoked anodyne expressions of faith. Asked about his own religion, Vance shared one of the most popular verses of the Bible, John 3:16, a noncontroversial passage about Gods love, to emphasize that addicts who feel worthless are still deserving of love and respect. To this crowd, Vance spoke of his grandmothers personal, eclectic version of evangelical Christianity and omitted any mention of his own Roman Catholicism. He spoke of Christianitys social teaching (a phrase more commonly associated with Catholic doctrine than evangelism) and of the inherent dignity of human life (a universal Christian idea, but one of particular prominence in that same Catholic social teaching). Vance may come from hillbilly evangelicals, as he puts it, but as a candidate, he embodied his newer, more somber faith tradition. On one point, though, he evoked Wallnaus fearmongering and religious fervor. The federal government, he said, was seeking to destroy churches and their place in their communities. Its a disgrace, he said. Lets hope that we can take this country back and make our country better. Then Vance was off to spread the good word elsewhere. MEMPHIS, Tenn. A West Memphis firefighter who was arrested in connection to two rapes in the Memphis area earlier this year appeared in court on Monday after being indicted by a grand jury. Quinton Wilson, 35, pleaded not guilty in court to several charges including aggravated rape and aggravated kidnapping. ORIGINAL STORY: AR firefighter suspected in two rapes I hate the fact he was put into a position or put himself in the position to be accused of something like this, but the fact that he may have put himself in that position does not support the fact that necessarily or allow you jump to conclusions of what these people are claiming happened, said Alexander Wharton, Wilsons attorney. This case is going to come down to the large part of the credibility of the allegations. And the credibility of the people who are making those allegations. Wharton says they are still waiting on the discovery from the states prosecutor but he believes his client is innocent. He is a young man, just recently married, like I stated before, Wharton said. His wife just gave birth to their first child back in May, shortly after he was arrested for these offenses. He had never been in trouble in his life whatsoever. Rob Steele, Special Victim Unit Prosecutor, says there may be more than two victims. Your Honor, there may be a third. At least when I intentionally talked with detectives there was a third. Rather or not if that case is coming forward, I would need to double-check, Steele said. Ex-Hernando school resource officer arrested on rape, battery charges According to reports, two rape victims came forward and gave the same testimony to police just four days apart from each other. One victim said she was walking in the Binghampton area when Wilson drove up to her and offered her a ride. After she accepted, Wilson allegedly put a gun to her head, drove to an abandoned house nearby, and sexually assaulted her at gunpoint. Four days later, police got a report with a suspect matching the same description as Wilson. Both victims were also able to provide investigators with the same license plate number, which led back to Wilson. See more breaking news, local news and weather from WREG.com for Memphis and the Mid-South. Sign up for WREG newsletters and have the latest top stories sent right to your inbox. People in the neighborhood say things like this happen way too often. They dont put the person out there. They dont call the police. Police wont do nothing to a lot of them even if they do find out, one nearby resident said. Its a good thing he got picked up because he gone be doing it to someone else. Since April, Wilson has been held in jail on a $1,150,000 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 WREG.com. When your enemies publicly declare that they want to kill you, it might be a good idea to listen. There is one regime in particular which has done the work of identifying itself as such an enemy. The Islamic Republic of Iran and its terrorist proxies have unequivocally declared themselves devoted to the destruction of the West. Again and again, their intentions have been clearly stated: first to destroy Israel and then to move against their true enemy, America, and the rest of the West. There is no need to accept our claims about the worldview and plans of this regime; their own people and members of the Iranian diaspora speak to that bravely and with moral clarity. The Islamic Republic is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, distributing massive sums of money to Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and more. Their neighbouring Arab and Muslim states have for years been moving to strengthen relations with Israel, concerned as they are about the influence of the Iranian regimes radical and oppressive views. Hezbollah fighters attend the funeral of two commanders killed in an Israeli strike - WAEL HAMZEH/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock This move towards normalisation and cooperation culminated in recent years in the Abraham Accords, the transformative peace agreement which establishes an influential and productive bloc of economic partnership in the Middle East and serves to stabilise regional and world security. Why world security? Because the ambitions of the Islamic Republic are by no means limited to their corner of the world. Americans along with other inhabitants of the free democracies need to understand what Arab and Muslim nations have been trying to tell us for years: the Islamic Republic will stop at nothing to attain their goals of disruption, subversion, and domination. To this end, we have seen global coordination on the propaganda front at a shocking level between the foreign actors whose interests are currently aligned in a fundamentally anti-Western manner. The Islamic Republic is directly coordinating with Russia and China to back Hamas. They are also working with Russia to evade American sanctions, provide support to the Houthis, and deliver military equipment to Hezbollah. In concert with such activity, the Islamic Republic is actively and effectively sowing chaos and discord in America and elsewhere. If Israel is a thorn in the side of the mad mullahs of Tehran, America is a gigantic redwood whose rootedness in the tradition of human rights and freedoms remains the greatest obstacle to the dominion of radical Islamist ideology. Iran does not have the military prowess or might to wage war directly with America and her allies. Their goal, instead, is to destabilise us from within, and they make clever use of the technologies and freedoms that typify the West to do so. Aiming for maximum chaos, they fuel the flames on both sides. On the right, they hack the Republican presidential campaign. On the Left, they fund protestors and influencers who shout, Death to America and We Are Hamas, all too often without understanding whose interests they are genuinely furthering. Islamic Republic operatives have attacked Western infrastructure, seeking to destroy our energy, water, and healthcare systems using the novel tactics of cyberwarfare. They collaborate with domestic criminal networks to threaten their critics on American and European soil. Far and away their most effective strategy, however, is the PSYOPs campaigns waged through our ubiquitous social media platforms. Their manipulations are deployed covertly, aided by social media anonymity and weaponised through secret algorithms that profit off outrage, hate, and polarisation. The Islamic Republics plan to radicalise the West on social media has enjoyed particularly stunning success with more youthful citizens. Young people who get their news primarily through TikTok hold opinions far outside the norm when it comes to America, Israel, and Jews. American women between the ages of 18-34 have an unfavourable view of America of more than 50% above the norm. Their ideas about Israel and Jews follow suit. Members of this demographic rely on TikTok to a much more extreme degree than others. The dire effects this produces are no mere accident: Iran, partnering with Russia, and China, has been waging a covert war through platforms such as TikTok to weaponise antisemitism and to destabilise America and the West not least through promulgation of the victim/oppressor narrative which holds that every human and institutional relationship is governed by power alone. Protesters burn an American flag and a U.S. one-hundred dollar bill during a demonstration on the anniversary of the U.S. embassy seizure, in Tehran, Iran There is always a place for peaceful protest and criticism of any nation or leader. However, it is clear that the Western pro-Palestinian movements messaging apparatus and much of its momentum has been fomented, supported and echoed by the Islamic Republic, not least through cyberwarfare, funding, and PSYOPs campaigns such as those led by the Singham network. If a glowing neon arrow is required to connect the dots, here is Ayatollah Khamenei himself directly tweeting his support of American protestors. There is virtually nothing more damning that could be said about such campus activity. The slogans being shouted by those who barricade and blockade universities, bridges and streets are those of the Islamic Republic and its terror proxies. When buildings, monuments, and homes are defaced, the cliches spray-painted so enthusiastically and self-righteously are those of the Islamic Republic and its terror proxies. Mass rape and hostage torture are alternately denied and celebrated, acts of self-immolation and revolutionary suicide depathologised and glorified as political tactics, and cries of Intifada, intifada, coming to America and Gas the Jews ring through encampments and marches. Violent revolutionary rhetoric such as, You dont get to choose how we resist, or, By any means necessary, does not square with American values, rules of engagement, or the admirable, courageous, and time-honoured traditions of the American Civil Rights movement. The strategies and objectives that accompany and underlie the Islamic Republics propaganda and covert actions could not be more incompatible with those of any culture that truly values the rights of women and minorities, free expression and vigorous debate, and liberty of faith. Unlike everyone under the Islamic Republic of Iran, Americans and those in the West are entitled to free speech even entitled to hate who they wish to hate. One of the most profound manifestations of such rights is the opportunity and responsibility to evaluate and criticise the ideas and actions of others including self-declared enemies and identify those offensives designed to undermine the very rights that allow us to think and speak freely in the first place. No foreign nation should be granted the opportunity to infiltrate the West through nefarious means to destabilise and destroy us. Nonetheless: the Islamic Republic continues to do precisely that. Such strains of subversive and toxic influence must be identified, repudiated, and eliminated. Here are three concrete suggestions toward such an end: Westerners who further the aims of the Islamic Republic by breaking the law making true threats, defacing property, or assaulting citizens or law enforcement should be arrested with minimal possible force and prosecuted. Face coverings should be illegal when worn to intimidate, menace, or terrorise. They allow agitators to hide in order to indulge their worst instincts. And in anonymising their wearers, face coverings insulate them from any consequences in the public square and preclude legitimate engagement within the free marketplace of ideas. Masks are a hallmark of the KKK, not of peaceful protestors. Post-partisan legislation like Americas PATA which calls for increased transparency in our social media platforms while still protecting freedom of speech must be formulated and passed. Masks are worn at pro-Palestinian protests demonstrating against the current Israeli military operation in Gaza - Heathcliff O'Malley We have entered a time of massively accelerating change, hurtling headlong through the unknown. We are exploring new and old modes of thinking some courageous, some horrifying, some promising. Despite broad consensus in the West on many issues, we have been entranced into believing that we simply cannot agree on anything. A great number of our systems, institutions, organisations, and corporations profit off this very polarisation. Distrust is high. With so much hate and paranoia, many find it difficult to determine who the Wests real enemies are. And we have been enticed and encouraged by bad foreign actors and hate-profiteers to believe its one another. However, we have unassailable evidence of the truth right in front of us: the Islamic Regime has declared itself an enemy of the West. It is high time we take them at their word. Jordan B. Peterson is professor emeritus at the University of Toronto and author of Maps of Meaning, 12 Rules for Life and Beyond Order. A collection of his writings for the Telegraph can be found here. Gregg Andrew Hurwitz is a best-selling American novelist and screenwriter. 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. FILE - A general view of the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston on May 4, 2023 in Charleston, W.Va. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean, file) CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) West Virginia lawmakers speedily approved funding for the state veterans home, a program to help kids at risk of dropping out of school and other proposals on Monday after gaveling in for a special session called by Republican Gov. Jim Justice. The GOP-controlled Legislature deferred action on proposals for an income tax cut and a child-dependent tax credit until Sunday, when lawmakers were already scheduled to return for interim meetings. Both the House and Senate voted to bypass a rule requiring bills to be read three times on three separate days to greenlight the funding proposals, which now head to the governor's desk. The funding approved includes $1.2 million for the West Virginia Veterans Home in Barboursville and $10 million for Communities In Schools, a program that helps support students from low-income families to graduate high school. Lawmakers also approved $2 million for West Virginia University's Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute in Morgantown. The money will support research on using ultrasound technology as a treatment for addiction and Alzheimers disease. Among the proposals lawmakers delayed taking up was a measure from Justice to further cut the state income tax. Justice, who is in his second term and is running for Senate, has been pushing for lawmakers to slash the states personal income tax by an additional 5%, after signing a 21.25% tax cut into effect last year. The income tax is already expected to drop a further 4% in the new year, per a trigger in the 2023 law that allows for further tax cuts if the state meets higher-than-anticipated revenue collections. A massive fire at a chemical plant in Georgia prompted the evacuation of 17,000 people, as well as a shelter-in-place order for many others. The shelter-in-place order for Rockdale County was extended indefinitely, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The chemical reaction resulting from a fire consumed a BioLab facility, with pictures and videos showing a massive plume of smoke billowing out of the site. In the best interest and safety of the public and all citizens, it is recommended that businesses close operations until shelter-in-place is lifted, county officials said in a news release. The order was given after air-quality surveys were taken by the Environmental Protection Agency and Georgia Environmental Protection Division. The surveys revealed the harmful irritant chlorine, which was detected in the air emitting from the incident location of BioLab. For everyone sheltering in place, the best practice is to turn the air conditioning off and keep windows and doors shut, officials said. The National Institutes of Health lists symptoms of chlorine poisoning as "violent cough, nausea, vomiting, lightheadedness, headache, chest pain, abdominal discomfort, and corneal burns." The Rockdale County Sheriffs Office echoed the urge to stay indoors. "Our team is on the scene, working with first responders and local authorities to assess and contain the situation," a BioLab spokesman told 11Alive. Featured Local Savings Though the explosion is the worst to have occurred at the plant, the fire that caused it is the third such instance in seven years. The last fire, in 2020, was the result of heavy wind and rain from Hurricane Laura causing rainwater to seep into the warehouse, reacting with a chemical and causing a fire. BioLab's website describes itself as the "swimming pool and spa water care division of KIK Consumer Products." Local TJ Lamar, speaking with 11Alive, said the effects of the fire were quickly felt. "My eyes were burning, and like, you could smell the chlorine," she said. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Lamar said she took a day trip to Atlanta hoping to wait out the fire, but upon returning, "it was worse." The Red Cross was mobilized to provide food and shelter for evacuees. A long stretch of Swannanoa is no more. Businesses and homes along the Swannanoa River were destroyed by Helene, which hit Florida as a Category 4 hurricane before it dumped historic rain totals in western North Carolina as a tropical storm. At least 30 people have died in Buncombe County alone, Sheriff Quentin Miller announced in an afternoon press briefing. People in Swannanoa, a community east of Asheville along Interstate 40, scrambled for water, gas and other basic supplies this weekend. Help began arriving this weekend from the National Guard and others traveling from across the region. Meanwhile, North Carolina received a major disaster declaration for 25 counties that will provide quicker help to those who need it. The federal government also says it will reimburse local governments, state agencies and nonprofits for repairs. Swannanoa residents share rolls of toilet paper on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. The remnants of Hurricane Helene caused widespread flooding, downed trees, and power outages in western North Carolina. Rescue workers will navigate their way through a maze of impassible roads and debris caused by Helene. Roads became rivers. Lakes filled with debris. And in many communities, theres just nothing left. The situation is dire. Many of North Carolina communities havent had fresh water, internet or cell service for multiple days. It seems like there would be more people here by now, said Dustin Ebert, whose home is about 200 yards away from the main stretch of road that got destroyed in Swannanoa. His floors got flooded, and he has three kids in the house. Around him, the roads were covered in dirt and dark mud. Old U.S. Highway 70 was fragmented and broken apart, much of it landing in the ravine below. But you know: What else can you do? he asked. More help wasnt coming, he was certain. Where is FEMA at when we need it? Angela McGee asked as she walked along that road while searching for her mobile home that wound up far from its usual spot. A rescue team paddles down the Swannanoa River on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. The remnants of Hurricane Helene caused widespread flooding, downed trees, and power outages in western North Carolina. McGee said she heard about a mandatory evacuation late, and shes currently living with her kids in her car. We are down here in a disaster and no one is helping us out, she said. She wants more than a federal agency to show up. She needs water, cell service, shelters and food. Everything shes learned has been through word of mouth, and shes infuriated, she said. For about a year Shemsuddin Millard prepped to open Black Mountain Improvisational Theater next door to Swannanoa. In another two months, he couldve started lessons and workshops for people who want to do unscripted theater. The question for him as he stood by his destroyed hopes: whats next? Maybe the hard part is hoping that theres some sort of lifeline and wondering if thats there, but then kind of being faced with the reality that: No, there is not, he said. Might as well just fing laugh about it. Because, you know, what else is there? I already cried. NC National Guard A search and rescue team out of Atlantic Beach, N.C. examines a van swept into the river in Swannanoa, N.C. by flooding from Helene. They were assisting in the community, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. National Guard humvees rolled through Black Mountain and Swannanoa on Sunday. Helicopters buzzed by every so often. A slew of law enforcement agencies and the National Guard handed out water bottles at an Ingles in Black Mountain. The grocery stores lot was filled. Atlantic Beach Fire Department Deputy Chief Casey Arthur was clearing a van that had fallen into the river with some National Guardsmen in Swannanoa early Sunday afternoon, making sure nothings inside. Theyd finish that job and keep moving down the river, he said. Searches started to taper off as cellphone service returned in spurts in corners of the county. These guys in Swannanoa have been running constantly, he said. Western NC cell phone service An aerial view of flood damage in Swannanoa on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. The remnants of Hurricane Helene caused widespread flooding, downed trees, and power outages in western North Carolina. Not being able to call others has been among the biggest problems for survivors. Panicked family members cant reach their loved ones in communities devastated by the storm. Families wondered: Are they alive? Karen Morris worried about a relative in the county who needed to be cared for at home. She got a text Sunday morning: that relative had no power, no water and her oxygen was no longer working. We tried to get (family) to get ahold of 911, Morris said. We dont know yet whether they were able to do that. Gov. Roy Cooper said during an interview on CNN Sunday that families who cant reach their loved ones can contact North Carolinas 211 service to ask for a welfare check. The United Way, which operated the service, also has a form on its website to request one. Western Reserve Ramp temporarily closed on I-680 after tanker truck catches fire BOARDMAN, Ohio (WKBN) A tanker truck caught fire early Monday morning, blocking the ramp from Western Reserve Road to Interstate 680. According to Boardman dispatch, crews responded to the scene shortly before 5 a.m. No injuries were reported, and the fire has since been put out. The ramp has since reopened. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (WTNH) A Wethersfield man pleaded guilty Monday to drug charges connected to an overdose death in 2023, according to the office of the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut. 40-year-old Jimmy Lassus pleaded guilty in Bridgeport to distribution of fentanyl and oxycodone. Wethersfield man charged with narcotic distribution after overdose investigation The district attorneys office said court documents and statements made in court revealed Meriden police responded to a residence for a report of a suspected overdose on the morning of Oct. 6, 2023. On scene, they found a 27-year-old woman unresponsive in a bedroom. She was pronounced deceased after being transported to a hospital. An investigation showed the victim had several text conversations about drugs in the months before the victims death, which revealed Lassus had supplied the victim fentanyl, which she ingested hours before her death. Meriden man accused of possessing cocaine, fentanyl, stolen pistol & $35K after drug deal According to the attorneys office, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined the victims death was caused by acute intoxication due to the combined effects of fentanyl, benzodiazepines, xylazine, and oxycodone. Lassus is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 23. He faces up to 20 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 WTNH.com. TechCrunch California's newest law could land social media users who post, or repost, AI deepfakes that deceive voters about upcoming elections in legal trouble. Governor Gavin Newsom suggests that AB 2839, which went into effect immediately after he signed it on Tuesday, could be used to reel in the retweets of Elon Musk, among others who spread deceptive content. "I just signed a bill to make this illegal in the state of California," said Newsom in a tweet, referencing an AI deepfake Musk reposted earlier this year that made it appear Kamala Harris called herself an incompetent candidate and a diversity hire (she did not). GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) The family of a White Cloud High School student who was sexually abused by a teacher is suing, alleging the school district and employees failed to take the appropriate action to prevent it. The lawsuit filed in federal court Monday names former teacher George Lambright, White Cloud Public Schools, the superintendent, the high school principal, a classroom aide and another employee as defendants. Defendants and other District employees knew and/or recklessly ignored obvious signs, red flags, and evidence of sexual abuse and/or highlight inappropriate conduct by defendant Lambright, the suit alleges. The 56-page court filing listed a number of those red flags, including inappropriate conversations and contact that it alleges happened in the classroom. It also says the abuse, dating back to 2022, included instances in the school building and off campus during school hours. The suit claims the defendants violated the students Title IX, Fourth and 14th Amendment rights, and rights under the Michigans Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, among other laws. It alleges the district didnt properly train its employees to identify the risk of abuse and that defendants failed to properly report or stop the abuse. The suit seeks more than $1 million. Lambright, 62, previously pleaded no contest to a count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a student and was sentenced in June to between 2 years, 8 months and 15 years in prison. Online records show hes being held in a state prison in St. Louis, Michigan. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) White Sands School, located at White Sands Missile Range, garnered a prestigious national honor this past week being named a 2024 National Blue Ribbon School. The school was among 356 schools across the nation and just three in New Mexico to make the list, according to Las Cruces Public Schools. This prestigious recognition highlights schools that excel in academic performance or make significant strides in closing achievement gaps among different student groups, LCPS said in a news release. The National Blue Ribbon School program is administered by the U.S. Department of Education to recognize exemplary public and non-public schools on an annual basis. Being recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our students, staff and community, LCPS Superintendent Ignacio Ruiz said. This honor reflects our commitment to educational excellence and our shared goal of ensuring that every student has the opportunity to thrive. We are incredibly proud of what this school has accomplished and look forward to continuing our mission of fostering a supportive and enriching learning environment for all, Ruiz said. White Sands School Principal James Dickerson said: Receiving this recognition is a direct reflection of our dedication to district initiatives, our curriculum and the Las Cruces Public Schools strategic plan to be a place where all learners thrive. The school serves 279 students in pre-K through 8th grade, with the majority of students attending elementary school. In the 2022-2023 school year, White Sands School had a 93% daily attendance rate, according to LCPS. In total, there are 38 school staff members at White Sands School, including 20 classroom teachers. White Sands School is located on White Sands Missile Range outside of Las Cruces. White Sands Missile Range is one of three Army posts that are designated as remote by the Department of the Army. Approximately 950 people live on post, including military retirees. The student population at White Sands School consists of approximately 35 percent active-duty military students who live on post. The other 65 percent of students commute from Las Cruces with their parents, who are contractors at White Sands Missile Range. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Protesters stand around a placard reading "free legal abortion" during a mass demonstration against New York state abortion laws, in the Manhattan borough of New York City, March 28, 1970. Graphic House/Hulton Archive/Getty Images When most people in the U.S. think of the history of abortion, they think about white women like Margaret Sanger, a nurse who opened Americas first birth control clinic and founded an organization that later became Planned Parenthood. Fewer people think about Mildred Campbell, a Black midwife from Washington, D.C., who provided abortions in the late 1800s. Or Marie Leaner and Sakinah Ahad Shannon, two Black members of the Jane Collective, a group that provided abortions to women in the late 1960s and early 1970s before federal abortion protections existed. Or Toni Bond, one of 12 founding mothers who created the framework of reproductive justice in the 1990s. Renee Bracey Sherman and Regina Mahone are hoping to change that with their new book, Liberating Abortion: Claiming Our History, Sharing Our Stories, and Building the Reproductive Future We Deserve. Bracey Sherman and Mahone offer a more complete history of abortion in the book, which includes many of the women of color who were so critical to the movement but whose names were erased by whitewashed media tropes and racist arbiters of history. In so many ways, the media has this history of cosigning the racist, sexist, misogynistic tropes about Black women and other people of color, Mahone told HuffPost. This book is our platform to right those wrongs. Were writing our experiences back into the history of abortion. Bracey Sherman, a biracial Black woman, and Mahone, a Black woman, have both had abortions and understand how isolating it can be to not see oneself reflected in the abortion stories that media and history choose to tell. Bracey Sherman has been working toward writing this book throughout her long career in reproductive justice, during which she founded the abortion storytelling organization We Testify. And Mahone, a journalist who has covered the intersections between race, class and reproductive rights, is keenly aware of who typically gets to tell abortion stories. To tell the story of abortion, you have to tell the story of Black women in America. Anything less than that is incomplete. Something our book agent said to us that really stuck with us throughout the writing of the book was: To tell the story of abortion, you have to tell the story of Black women in America. Anything less than that is incomplete, Bracey Sherman said. And that is the position that we have taken, that youve actually never heard the full story of abortion. HuffPost spoke with Bracey Sherman and Mahone about the women of color who built the reproductive justice movement of today, why police and abortion can never coexist and how the criminalization of reproductive health is killing women. Why did you write this book? Renee Bracey Sherman: I wanted to rewrite history to make sure that we gave flowers to the people who have come before us. I wanted to make sure that people of color are heard and seen. The reason I started doing abortion storytelling work was because I was floored that the majority of people who have abortions are people of color, and yet that was not who we were seeing on television and film or in leadership within the abortion-rights movement or the abortion stories that were being elevated. But what became challenging is that I would read lots of books on the history of abortion, and race was never part of the conversation. Or the conversation always focused on certain people in history, like Margaret Sanger or [19th century abortion provider] Madame Restell. While we do talk about them in our book, we point out that those two white women are not the only people who were doing abortions at that time. We wanted to say, look, heres a whole cast of characters that you didnt know because your history book is incomplete. In your introduction, you write that the post-Roe v. Wade moment were in right now feels uniquely complicated for people of color. For us, access to most things has always been disparate and challenging. People of color are the canaries in the coal mines; whatever bad happens, happens to us first. I cant stop thinking about the ProPublica reporting that found two women from Georgia were the first known people to die from abortion bans after Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization. Abortion-rights advocates warned for years that women would die from abortion restrictions, and now its happened to Amber Thurman and Candi Miller, two Black mothers. Regina Mahone: This is history playing on repeat. The similarities to their stories and what we include in our book are astounding. Candi Miller was afraid to go to the doctor because she was afraid she could be charged with a crime under Georgias abortion ban after self-managing her abortion. Now her three children are left without a mother. Amber Thurman took abortion medication at a clinic out of state, and Georgia doctors later delayed her lifesaving care when she had complications. She left behind a 6-year-old son. Rosie Jimenezs 4-year-old daughter was left without a mother after she died in 1977 because of the Hyde Amendment. Rosie died after seeking an illegal abortion because the clinic where she got her previous abortion turned her away, because she couldnt afford to pay for the procedure. Under the Hyde Amendment [enacted in 1977], Medicaid no longer covered the procedure. So she went to an illegal provider and died from septic shock. One of the parallels in these stories is how, on their deathbeds, Amber and Rosie told their relatives, Make sure to take care of my child. That is the reality that weve been living and not since 2022, but for decades. And its because, in part, we havent dismantled the health care system, because we do not prioritize people over profits, people over policies that dont make sense for peoples health care. Together, we wrote LIBERATING ABORTION over five years, researching from hundred year old documents, interviewing 50 people of color who had abortions, and sharing our own experiences to bring you the story of abortion that we wish wed learned. pic.twitter.com/ieXBGiPQNQ Renee Bracey Sherman (@RBraceySherman) August 5, 2024 It was recently reported by the group Pregnancy Justice that at least 210 pregnant people faced criminal charges for pregnancy-related conduct from mid-2022 to mid-2023 the highest number of pregnancy-related prosecutions documented in a single year. What role does criminalization play in the history of abortion and moving forward? Bracey Sherman: We need to abolish the police in order to liberate abortion, and these cases prove why. People are afraid to get health care or ask questions because theyre afraid of being arrested. Theres just no way abortion and policing can coexist. So long as you have people who have the authority to arrest you for the outcomes of your pregnancy, no one is safe. One of the things that feels important is understanding this history of criminalization and why its here. Its not just oh, well, we want to make abortion a crime because we dont like it, and we want people to stop getting abortions. Sure, thats a piece of it. But when you get deeper into it, its about this desire to control populations of people that you do not believe should have or be in power. When we look at early criminalization, it is because they wanted to make sure that Black and brown people did not have the ability to be midwives and earn a living. For Indigenous folks and formerly enslaved people, they didnt want them to be able to practice medicine and care for themselves and their communities, to be able to own their own bodies and decide if, when and how to have children. The only way they could control them was through criminalization. Its this way of keeping people down and unsafe and unable to feel like they can build community. Theres a lot of antidotes to abortion stigma, but one of the big ones is community. When you look at the larger history of criminalization and the history of abortion, and the ways in which we lost our ancient methods and our ancestors traditions, the goal of the people trying to break that up was to destroy communities. And whats hard and frustrating is that in the last couple thousand years, not much has changed. You discuss the flattening of abortion stories to make them more media-friendly. You write: Those who died deserve not to have their death their stories exploited and mangled for political gain. They deserve to have their memories live on with those who loved them, not flattened to make a point about the barriers to abortion that we already know about. I think ProPublica did an amazing job telling Thurmans and Millers stories, but Id love to talk about why holistic abortion storytelling is so important especially now, during such a critical election year when abortion is at the forefront. Bracey Sherman: Its complicated, right? Im so excited to see that abortion is being given the platform that it is within this election cycle, which is something abortion should have had rightfully 10, 15 years ago. But because of stigma, it didnt. Its wild that we had to lose abortion rights in order for people to pay attention. I also think that Amber and Candi deserve to be remembered not solely based on how they died, but also how they lived. I had held off on posting about them because I wanted to make sure that people in our movement had made contact with the families. Because that quote you read is from a section about Gerri Santoro [a woman who died from an unsafe abortion in 1964; Ms. Magazine later published a graphic police photo of her dead body without identifying her]. The Ms. Magazine leaders were sort of like, Well, she was an anonymous person, as if that was the reasoning to post a photo of her naked body. Using people as martyrs for a cause while not respecting who they actually were, that flattens their stories. You take out how they lived. You sanitize them. I think its really important that we dont do that this time around. We need to engage with the whole story. Amber and Candi deserve to be remembered not solely based on how they died, but also how they lived.Renee Bracey Sherman To your point, even though Jimenez is a relatively well-known figure in the reproductive justice world, I still learned a lot about her story that I hadnt known before. I did not know she had had multiple abortions, that she was one of 12 siblings, or that she was saving up to go to college before she died from an unsafe abortion. I really didnt know much about her as a person outside of how she died. Mahone: When abortion stories are flattened, we often then miss the underlying point. We retold Rosies story because we need to dismantle health care. Thats the only way that we give Rosie and her death justice. We should not be denying people health care coverage because they had an abortion or a miscarriage. Bracey Sherman: Political circles are not highlighting stories of people who just wanted abortions, either because their family is complete or because they dont want children or they dont want children yet, whatever their reasons are. That feels like extremely unfinished business, and its so apparent during this election cycle. You both shared your abortion stories in the book. But Regina, you also shared your experience with parenting. Why was it important to you to include parenting in a book about abortion? Mahone: The majority of people who have abortions already have a child or children. Im a parent whos had an abortion. I also had a miscarriage and Ive given birth to two children, including one child who has a disability. For a lot of people, the child care crisis was apparent during COVID, but parents are dealing with this crisis on a daily basis. Its one of many systemic failures that we write about, and I am currently experiencing the direct failures of these systems. One example I always talk about is school hours, which make no sense because they dont correspond with the workday. My kids in school from 9 to 3, but I have to work from 10 to 6. How do we make that make sense? In the book, I talk about my son being denied being in a day care because he wasnt walking. This was not a thing that I knew existed. My husband and I made changes in our life to be able to afford day care because that was our plan for child care, and then were told, Oh, you cant send your son to day care. And were like, Well, what are we supposed to do now? These systems simply do not work for working parents. Toward the end of the book, Renee, you wrote about an interaction with your mom where you discovered she had had an abortion something you two had never discussed despite your work in abortion care. What was that like? Bracey Sherman: It was kind of wild that I was walking around saying, Everyone loves someone whos had an abortion, and I did not realize that one of the people that had abortions in my life, that I loved, was my own mother. What she and I talked about that day, and then in the subsequent interview in the book, is the power of being able to talk about your experiences and turn to people in your family for support. I think we might make assumptions about the people in our lives; I certainly did. When I testified before Congress, I said that I didnt realize that abortion made my life possible not just in a figurative way of this life that I have because I had an abortion, but literally my life because my mother was able to decide if, when and how to become a parent. Same as Regina. Its really upsetting to realize that this stigma was thriving in my family. I didnt even realize how much of a hold it had on us until then. I thought I grew up in a pro-choice family that was supportive of abortion until I needed one and didnt feel like I had anyone to go to. My hope in including that story and ending the book with it is to show that weve lived through this ourselves and talking about abortion can bring generational healing. What do you want readers to take away from your book? Bracey Sherman: Im going to borrow a quote from Laura Kaplan, who was the author of The Story of Jane, and we interviewed her for our book. She was so clear that she doesnt like when the women of Jane [Collective] are talked about as if theyre heroes. She said it feels like it makes people feel like you have to be a hero in order to make change, but they were just regular people who wanted to make a difference. When we looked back in history for research for this book, there were people like Mildred Campbell. She wasnt this, like, extraordinary person. She was just a woman who quote-unquote ran an inn that women stayed at, and she made a difference in peoples lives. My hope is that people will read our book and be inspired by the long generations of people who were not some huge superheroes who made change. Mahone: I really hope that people read the book and come away with an understanding that it does take all of us not one candidate, not one elected official to change how we see abortion. We cant rely on whoever becomes president to show up or not show up for us; we have to continue to do that work collectively. This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Liberating Abortion: Claiming Our History, Sharing Our Stories, and Building the Reproductive Future We Deserve is available for purchase Tuesday. Related... CBS News will host Tuesdays vice presidential debate, marking the first and likely only time Americans will see Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance of Ohio face off prior to Election Day. Stakes are high for the moderators, Norah ODonnell and Margaret Brennan, both of CBS News, after former President Donald Trump and other conservatives accused ABC News moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, of being biased in their live fact-checking of the presidential debate on Sept. 10. Vice President Kamala Harris saw a slight bump in the polls after her performance in that debate. CBS News has announced that its moderators will not do live fact-checking, as did David Muir and Linsey Davis, the CNN moderators who worked the presidential debate in June. Heres what to know about O'Donnell and Brennan ahead of tomorrows debate. Who is Norah ODonnell? ODonnell, 50, is the anchor and managing editor of CBS Evening News and a 60 Minutes contributing correspondent. In July, ODonnell announced she would step down as CBS Evening News host after the election, the seventh election cycle shes covered as a journalist. She plans to take on a new senior correspondent role for the network. ODonnell has been with CBS News since 2011 when she was hired as a chief White House correspondent. She has been nominated for 10 Emmy awards for her work with CBS, winning one in 2018 for outstanding investigative report in a newscast for a CBS This Morning story on sexual assault within the U.S. Air Force Academy. Who is Margaret Brennan? Brennan, 44, is the current moderator for CBS News Face the Nation and serves as the chief foreign affairs correspondent for the network, having joined its Washington bureau in 2012. A lot of her reporting has been focused on national security and foreign policy. Some of her past political coverage includes an interview with Trump in 2019 and with then-presidential candidate Joe Biden while he was campaigning in 2020. Brennan also won an Emmy Award in 2018 for her interview with a father of a student killed in the Parkland, Fla., school shooting. Where you can watch the debate The debate on Tuesday will start at 9 p.m. ET and last for 90 minutes, with two four-minute breaks. Campaign staff are not allowed to interact with the candidates during breaks and neither Walz nor Vance will have muted mics, unlike the last two presidential debates. CBS also announced there will be no live fact-checking. The debate, which is taking place in New York City, will be broadcast on CBS and livestreamed on CBS News 24/7 and Paramount+. Read more from Yahoo News: The Vance-Walz vice presidential debate: How to watch live as candidates face off on Oct. 1 WAYNESBORO With early voting underway and the general election set for Tuesday, Nov. 5, Waynesboro has three people on the ballot for three open school board seats. Erika Smith and Diana Williams will be seeking reelection to the Waynesboro School Board this November. Smith is currently the Ward B representative while Williams holds the school board seat in Ward A. The at-large school board member, Rick Wheeler, chose not to run again this fall. Nigel Stewart will be seeking that seat as a newcomer to the school board. The News Leader asked each candidate to provide a few sentences about themselves, then asked them a series of questions. Their responses, minimally edited, are below: Diana Williams, Ward A Diana Williams No bio provided What will be your top priorities if elected? I don't think my priorities have changed. If they can be tied with a neat bow, that bow would be called resources. We need to be able to continue to attract and retain talent, inside and outside of the classroom. Teachers, aides, counselors, bus drivers, administrators the list goes on. Our business is people and it's the people in our buildings who make WPS great. I know this is mentioned a lot, but mental health remains of great concern. Believe it or not we're still recovering from COVID academically and emotionally. All of this requires monetary resources. The study commissioned by our very own legislators proved what we've been saying for years we are grossly underfunded and frequently under fire (mostly for political gain). Ironically, the Commonwealth of Virginia has kind of become a deadbeat parent always has something to say, but doesn't contribute their fair share. How long have you been on the board? Since February 2017 Do you have a background in education? If yes, what is the background? No What additional qualifications do you think make you a good school board candidate? At this point, my years of experience. I listen, I learn from those around me and I prioritize my professional development. My career is also in communications so I know how to deliver a message clearly and concisely when needed. I think really understanding what my role is and isn't along with knowing how to communicate makes me an effective board member. What are the main issue(s) facing Waynesboro Public Schools and/or public education in general? Why? Is this when I pull out my disaster capitalism soapbox? Seriously, there are those who want to dismantle education for financial gain vouchers and charters but there are others who want to spread ignorance. If you can't critically think and form opinions for yourself, you're easier to control. This is why enslaved people were forbidden to read and write knowledge is power. This is also why it's important that a free, quality education remains a right of all. Frankly, it's harder for those who seek to oppress us and almost all of us, regardless of race or finances are being oppressed at this point to get away with it if we're all well-educated. Do you believe the current school board does a good job communicating with the public? If not, how would you improve it? Maybe? I'm not really sure how to answer this. We're responsive to emails. We're responsive to the press see, I'm talking to you. We do presentations when asked several of us are presenting to Waynesboro Rotary in a few days. As for me, if you approach me in public, I'm happy to chat. In fact I love when people recognize me and ask me questions. I will say I havent been very active on social media for about 18 months and that was really for my mental health. I'll direct this one back to my constituents would you like to hear from me more and if so, how? I'm open to suggestions. What do you see as the boards role and responsibilities? I know lately it seems like this is up for debate, but it's not. The Commonwealth has been pretty clear about our roles and responsibilities. They are: 1. We are policymakers. 2. We approve the budget. 3. We supervise the superintendent. And notice that I said "we." I can share my thoughts and opinions and I should, but we are a governance team and when we act, we act as a unit and not as individuals. Do you believe Waynesboro Public Schools does a good job promoting diversity, equity and inclusion? If not, how can it improve? I think WPS does an excellent job implementing our values. You can call it what you want, but our division excels at meeting our students and families where they are, being adaptive and innovative and addressing the needs of the whole child. There's always room for improvement, but that's why being adaptive is important. We know best practices can change over time, and being flexible enough to make changes as needed keeps us at the forefront of educational justice. More: Petco Love Lost database a crucial tool for pet owners in the Valley. How it works Erika Smith, Ward B Erika Smith I am a proud native of Waynesboro and Stuarts Draft High School graduate. I am the married mother of eight children (one daughter, seven boys). My children keep me active at their schools (all four levels), in youth sports, and other family activities. What will be your top priorities if elected? I have three top priorities that I would like to work with the rest of the Board and (Superintendent) Dr. (Jeff) Cassell. They are continuing student achievement since the pandemic; retaining good teachers and staff by providing competitive compensation; and completing the Waynesboro High School renovation. In fact, the second two priorities are closely related to my first priority. To facilitate the learning of our students, we need to ensure they have the best educators in the area and schools that are not just modern, but ready for the future. How long have you been on the board? I have been on the Waynesboro School Board for seven years. Do you have a background in education? If yes, what is the background? I do have a background in education, especially education in Waynesboro Public Schools. I have been a parent of Waynesboro school students for 19 years and I will be for many years to come. I am at the pre-school, elementary schools, middle school, and high school every week as a parent, volunteer (PTO), crossing guard, and board member. What additional qualifications do you think make you a good school board candidate? As mentioned, I am an active parent in Waynesboro Public Schools. I am the mother of eight children who have been, are currently attending, or will attend Waynesboro Public Schools. I am also active in the community with youth activities. Also, I have forged strong relationships with many Waynesboro City Council members. What are the main issue(s) facing Waynesboro Public Schools and/or public education in general? Why? Definitely, overcoming student learning loss and the other incidental consequences of the pandemic. In the time that schools were shut down or conducting virtual learning, student performance has struggled to get back to the successful level we saw in the years leading up to March 2020. Also, chronic absenteeism has exponentially increased across Virginia. Teachers can't educate students if they are not making it to school. The pandemic has also had an impact on the affordable housing situation and food security in our area. We are seeing many more homeless students in the years after the pandemic ended. Hungry and homeless students struggle to stay focused in the classroom, even with our staff doing their best to get them basic necessities. Do you believe the current school board does a good job communicating with the public? If not, how would you improve it? I believe we do but we can always do better. Waynesboro Public Schools has a growing presence on social media. School board meetings are advertised with dates, times, and agenda weeks ahead of time. We also started live streaming our meetings this year. Personally, I never miss an opportunity to meet and speak with my constituents at school activities, sporting events, or just out in public. The word "transparency" is a common buzzword in local politics. The school board does not hide the people's business from them or students' issues, either. We encourage anyone from the community to come to our monthly meetings or budget work sessions to listen and/or speak to us. What do you see as the boards role and responsibilities? The role is to lead. That does not mean school boards steamroll ahead without the input of students, parents, and educators or expertise of Dr. Cassell. We need to listen, study, digest and then act in a way that is best for our students to prepare them to be ready for life after graduation. In order to lead, we have to develop an annual budget that will get our students what they need to be ready. We need to establish policies so that schools operate smoothly, safely, and efficiently. Finally, we need to evaluate the performance of the school superintendent every year so that we have the best leadership. Those are the responsibilities. Do you believe Waynesboro Public Schools does a good job promoting diversity, equity and inclusion? If not, how can it improve? Yes, we have a Director of DEI who has been in her position for nearly five years now. The DEI Director disseminates weekly emails to teachers with activities and curricula that can be used in the classroom. September is Hispanic Heritage Month. Waynesboro has a diverse population and we want our students of Hispanic ethnicity to feel that they can learn about their contributions to our country and feel respected. Also, Dr. Cassell and Dr. Barber continue to recruit administrators and teachers of different backgrounds so that students can see people who look like them in the schools. Are there any other issues you feel are important that these questions didnt cover? No questions. I just wanted to close by saying how proud I am to serve on the Waynesboro School Board. I believe that there is so much more to be done helping our students get to a time when we can settle into the "new normal" of post-pandemic learning. I am ready for the challenge. More: Hub model for Augusta Fire/Rescue moved forward by supervisors Nigel Stewart, at-large Nigel Stewart No bio provided What will be your top priorities if elected? My main priorities will be to support our teachers and students, even if it means being physically present in classrooms. I aim to create transparency in our schools so that parents and the community are always aware of our school system's academic standing, performance, and staff hires. Additionally, I plan to expand our trade school partnerships and career opportunities for graduating seniors. Overall, I am committed to achieving stronger academic performance to ensure that we are competitive statewide, not just locally.How long have you been on the board? This would be my first term serving on the school board. With that, I am extremely grateful for the support and confidence the community has expressed toward me. Do you have a background in education? If yes, what is the background? Although my background is in banking rather than education, this provides me with a unique perspective. As a recent graduate of Virginia State University and a former student of Waynesboro Public Schools, I am confident that my firsthand experiences will be invaluable in my position. What additional qualifications do you think make you a good school board candidate? With a degree in Accounting and finance, I bring fiscal expertise to the table. My long-standing community involvement, ability to relate to students, and passion for change are key qualifications that make me an excellent candidate for the school board. What is the main issue(s) facing Waynesboro Public Schools and/or public education in general? Why? Its more effective to approach things as opportunities for improvement. With that, generally speaking, classroom resources have to be more cutting-edge to allow for higher productivity and innovation. In public education, weve seen how controversial topics can shift the focus from a strong academic foundation to disharmonious environments. As a result, this can in some instances reduce the quality of education for our students unnecessarily. Do you believe the current school board does a good job communicating with the public? If not, how would you improve it? I believe our communication has great potential for improvement. By leveraging social media more effectively, organizing casual meet-and-greets with families, and fostering direct communication, we can create a more connected community. What do you see as the boards role and responsibilities? The three main functions of the school board are establishing the budget, setting policies, and review of the superintendent. However, there are opportunities for us to be more directly involved in our school system that, while potentially beyond the primary scope of our role, remain within reason. Do you believe Waynesboro Public Schools does a good job promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion? If not, how can it improve? We do a commendable job promoting DEI, but theres always room for growth and new opportunities. To enhance our efforts, we should add more need-based programs for students and parents, establish relationships with HBCUs, and actively understand and support local diverse communities to help them excel along with maintaining their history. Are there any other issues you feel are important that these questions didnt cover? We must maintain the trust and faith of the community to make the best possible decisions for our school system. It's equally as important that we focus on internal and external growth in ways that push us past our norms in a positive way. Becoming stagnant will not be sustainable for any future growth or development. Its also important that we tap into local resources and individuals to invest back into our school system. One way is by having people guest teach in our classrooms and provide internships/careers. Id also like to enhance our CTE department, specifically financial literacy. Creating a more rigorous curriculum that sets our students up for success immediately after graduating. Additionally, I would like to begin exposing our students to financial literacy at a much earlier age, allowing for proper matriculation into more complex topics. Patrick Hite is a reporter at The News Leader. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Connect with Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@newsleader.com and on Instagram @hitepatrick. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com. This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Who's running for Waynesboro School Board? Find out more about the candidates. Why Will Ferrell and Harper Steele Lobbied Netflix to Release Will & Harper Before the Election Getty Images Sign up for The Agenda Them's news and politics newsletter, delivered to your inbox every Thursday. Netflixs Will & Harper, a new documentary about friends Will Ferrell and former Saturday Night Live head writer Harper Steele road-tripping across the U.S. after Steele came out as a trans woman, is primed to start conversations among viewers. And according to Ferrell, the fact that a film with this goal is coming out mere weeks before the presidential election is no coincidence. When [Harper and I] sat down with Netflix, we made it clear that we wanted this out before the election, Ferrell told Variety during Will & Harpers Los Angeles premiere. We wanted it to have enough runway for people to see it and hopefully start having important discussions in their living rooms. In the film, the duo embark on their trip together in order to become reacquainted amid Steeles transition. But as Them editor Samantha Allen p Will Ferrell and Harper Steele on Their Life-Changing Cross-Country Road Trip The stars of the Netflix documentary *Will & Harper* talk with *Them* about their stranger than fiction journey. ut it in her review Ferrell is also there to be a cisgender battering ram should his friend face harassment and transphobia at one of the rural American locales shes loved her entire life. They do deal with some hurdles along the way, from social media abuse after getting spotted at a Texas steakhouse to running into Indianas Republican governor Eric Holcomb, who has signed anti-trans legislation, at an Indiana Pacers game. But Steele also finds plenty of unexpected sources of connection, whether shes bonding with fellow trans women in small-town Illinois or being told to not be afraid to attend events at one of countless Midwestern racetracks shes frequented over the years. Given how much politically-motivated fearmongering anti-trans pundits, including candidates and elected officials, have fostered around trans Americans recently, its no surprise that the Will & Harper team hopes that the documentary will spark much-needed conversations. The Trans Legislation Tracker has monitored more than 650 anti-trans bills across the country in 2024 alone the most of any year on record and the Trump campaign has fully embraced anti-trans rhetoric while right-wingers champion the deeply unpopular, deeply anti-LGBTQ+ policy platform Project 2025. If a star-studded yet frank look at one older trans womans experience reckoning with her relationship with America helps to foster some basic empathy among voters, all the better. Speaking to Them, Steele said that although she acknowledges that going across the country with Ferrell and a camera crew is not a normal trans experience, making the film helped reaffirm her faith in non-coastal Americas attitudes toward queer and trans people. Ive already gone back alone twice, she said. [...] I have gone back with more confidence, across [the country] back and forth, and find similarly that a lot of my projected fears are wrong and misguided. Thats not to say its not still fearful I dont want to paint a picture that what we saw in America was completely normal because I was with Will. Get the best of whats queer. Sign up for Thems weekly newsletter here. Originally Appeared on them. Donald Trump Jr. contended Iran may be unintentionally helping his fathers 2024 presidential bid, as the countrys recent interference in the election could be looked at as an endorsement for his father. Former President Donald Trumps campaign was hacked by Iranian hackers over the summer, with the FBI stating the information was passed to President Joe Bidens team in an attempt to interfere with the 2024 election. The former presidents son deemed Iran the worlds leading state sponsor of terror, and claimed the country was colluding with the Biden-Harris administration in attempting to share campaign information. "Think about that, I can't tell if it's terrible or if it's perhaps the greatest endorsement of my father's campaign, Trump said on Fox Newss Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo. Iran does not want him to be president. Russia does not want him to be president. Our enemies do not want my father to be president 'cause they understand that bringing back strength and resolve to America is really bad for their global ambitions. I can't think of a better endorsement, Maria." Trump Jr. also addressed the vice presidential debate between Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), saying he has felt totally vindicated in encouraging his father to select the Ohio senator as his running mate. He praised Vances performance on the 2024 campaign trail, and predicted it will be a lot of fun to see him debate Walz. Featured Local Savings The vice presidential debate will be held on Tuesday night in New York City, hosted by CBS News. Trump Jr. also dismissed polling data indicating the 2024 election between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will be close, suggesting most of them are nonsense. He then called for Trump supporters to vote early rather than wait until Election Day. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER The most recent polling data from the Meredith Poll found that Harris and Trump are tied at 48%. The data sampled 802 likely voters from Sept. 17-20, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5%. Early voting is already underway in states such as Virginia, South Dakota, and Mississippi, and will further expand to other states come October. Why Putin is the real winner of Austrias election Karin Kneissl invited the Russian president to her wedding in southern Austria in 2018 - Roland Schlager/Reuters Austrias foreign minister performed a long, deep curtsy before the star guest at her wedding, a smiling Vladimir Putin. It was 2018, four years before Putin was to invade Ukraine, and Karin Kneissl is no longer foreign minister. But the party that appointed her, the Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), has now won a general election for the first time. Herbert Kickl, its leader, is savouring his triumph, but the real winner is Russias pariah president. The FPO has a friendship pact with Putins United Russia party. When Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the Austrian parliament in March last year, FPO MPs walked out in protest. They claimed that Austrias constitutional neutrality was violated by the speech, but there is no question whose side Mr Kickl is on. Why Austria never joined Nato Viennas relations with Moscow have historically been closer than most European countries. Austrias permanent neutrality was the Soviet Unions pre-condition for talks that ultimately led to the withdrawal of Allied troops in 1955. It is why Austria never joined Nato. Neutrality remained popular even as Sweden and Finland ditched it to join the Alliance after the invasion of Ukraine. Austria is part of the European Union. It stops short of donating weapons to Kyiv, but does send financial aid and supports the blocs sanctions against the Kremlin. It has also taken in almost 80,000 Ukrainian refugees. Even that qualified support will now come into question. The FPO has already attacked the outgoing government, accusing it of an anti-neutrality policy for supporting EU sanctions against Moscow. The risk of future measures being blocked or watered down has increased if Mr Kickl can form a coalition government. Herbert Kickls FPO has a friendship pact with Putins United Russia party - David Rose for the Telegraph EU sanctions require the unanimous support of all 27 member states to be imposed. Other measures helping Kyiv could also be slowed down by an obstructive Vienna. The expectation is the FPO will form a new government with the centre-Right OVP. It wont be the first time the conservative establishment has joined forces with the more extreme FPO, which was founded by former Nazis in the 1950s, but the first time that the FPO is the senior partner. Some predict that the coalition negotiations will sideline Mr Kickl and defang his more extreme policies. But the FPO will drag the government farther to the Right on issues such as immigration and potentially Ukraine. The success of the hard and far-Right in recent elections in France, Germany and the Netherlands has led directly to crackdowns in migration in those countries. Hard-Right in European mainstream The hard-Right is firmly in the European mainstream. Now the far-Right is on the march. The difference between Mr Kickl and his friends Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders is that the French and Dutch politicians have tried to disown their former admiration for Putin. The FPO, like the far-Right AFD in Germany, never has. Ms Le Pen has worked hard to detoxify her party, but the FPO makes no such compromises. It calls for Fortress Austria against migrants, a war on political Islam, a ban on trans-friendly language and a refund on fines for breaking Covid regulations. Its success now risks emboldening other pro-Putin parties in Europe to break cover, preach their distrust of Nato and call for appeasement of Russia. Austria on its own is not influential enough to move the dial on EU support for Ukraine. However, a chancellor in an FPO-led government will be welcomed at the European Council with open arms by Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary. Mr Orban has long railed against EU sanctions, met with Putin since the invasion and been a thorn in Mr Zelenskys side. He was thrilled with the FPO victory, which bolsters the ranks of an anti-Ukraine bloc, which includes the pro-Putin Robert Fico, the prime minister of Slovakia. Andrej Babis, the former Czech prime minister and another Putin apologist, also looks like he could return to power next year after his party won the most seats in senate elections this week. All three preach appeasement, refuse to send weapons to Ukraine, oppose sanctions and want immediate peace talks that will favour Russia. Hungary was long Europes soft underbelly, but it is now growing over central and Eastern states as the war drags on and the cost of living crisis bites. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIMEs politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox. Tuesday nights likely lone debate between the vice presidential nominees might seem like a Midwest-Off for the ages, with the junior Senator from Ohio offering his antagonistic vision for a new conservatism against the aw-shucks earnestness of Minnesotas Governor. But in reality, the evening stands to be a high-stakes distillation of the culture wars largely defining this national contest, with nasty digs referencing childless cat ladies, tampons in boys bathrooms, and pet-hunting Haitians flying across the stage from the start. With voting already underway in some statesincluding Minnesotaand no more made-for-television events on the books before Nov. 5s Election Day, this undercard debate takes on an importance unseen in the modern era. Both Vance and Walz remain blank slates to much of America; as much as a quarter of the electorate recently told pollsters they have literally not heard of Trumps and Harris running mates, according to surveys from the Pew Research Center. Vance was slightly better known than Walz, although Vance carried higher unfavorable numbers among those with an opinion. Tuesdays eventhosted by CBS News with the other networks planning to simulcast itstands to be the rare game-changing VP debate. Polling heading into the 90-minute session shows a race that seems relatively stable. Vice President Kamala Harris, looking for an unexpected promotion after President Joe Biden decided to skip his in-progress re-election, seems to have stabilized the so-called Blue Wall of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Former President Donald Trump, looking for an almost unprecedented return to power, appears to have settled into the slightest of advantages in Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina, while Nevadalike all seven battleground states, if were being honestremains anyones to snag. Which is why both VP picks have been scrutinized in ways that havent seemed needed since Sarah Palins selection in 2008. Vance, elected to the Senate in 2022, has a relatively short dossier in public life; no one expects a first-term lawmaker in the minority party to have much of an impact. Walz, a former House member who moved home to run his state, has a bit more of a track record, but one not well known beyond the Upper Midwest. Sure, Vance can point to his erstwhile populism and his advocacy for East Palestine, Ohio, after an epic train derailment just days into his arrival in Washington. His work in the tech sector has drawn impressed nods from Silicon Valley, although the child-online-safety legislation he co-sponsored passed the Senate with him missing the vote. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a campaign rally at the Highmark Amphitheater on Sept. 5, 2024, in Erie, Penn. Jeff SwensenGetty Images And Walz can cite his states universal free meals program for students and his success in passing universal background checks for guns and enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution. But he has yet to fully bat away attacks over his decision last year to sign into law a measure that all students from the fourth grade on must have access to menstrual products in school bathrooms. The bill drew little public objection at the time but conservatives pounced on it as soon as Harris tapped Walz, calling the Governor Tampon Tim and falsely arguing he had required public schools to put menstrual products in every boys bathroom. Thats why, in keeping with the running mates tried role as attack machine, Vance and Walz each have been studying up on the rivals record. For Vance, that means a whole lot of time mastering Walzs voting history in the House and his time leading Minnesota, including the stretch that saw the confluence of the Covid-19 pandemic and the unrest in Minneapolis after George Floyds death at the hands of police. Audiences should expect Vance to accuse Walz of waiting too long to dispatch the National Guard to restore order. To help him get ready, Vance has deputized House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, a Minnesota Republican, to play the role of Walz during debate prep sessions. And Walz has at the ready plenty of Vances previous comments, including many from before he was in office. Some of those were highly, highly critical of Trump, as TIME brought up during an interview with Vance back in 2021, prompting the most under-appreciated mea culpa in some time: Im not just a flip-flopper, Im a flip-flop-flipper on Trump. Vance has questioned why people without children get a say in schools, and his childless cat ladies dismissal has become a stand-in for the perceived disrespect for voters who havent given birthHarris included. For his part, Walz has been practicing against Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a former Mayor of South Bend, Ind. Watch: 'Our country is in a very delicate place. It's almost scary.' Election Officials in Battleground States Open Up About 2024 The policy positions, the authenticity, the vibes even matter in this race. But the real reason debate prep sessions have been centering on this caliber of critique is because both campaigns see an opportunity to turn the other side into a parody of itself, a down-the-rabbit-hole example of a toxic culture war that neither side can truly win. Vance will rail against wokeness; Walz found the sweet spot as he was running the shadow campaign for Harris rose ceremony when he called the GOP ticket weird. In a way, Vance and Walz are on a similar mission: make the other guy unpalatable. Its not elegant. Its far from high-minded or even approximating wonky. But it is what the strategists prepping them think is the most lethal play at this moment when voters are just starting to tune into the rest of the ticket. With five weeks until Election Day, this is not the time for petit niceties but rather petty needling. Voters say they hate the negativitythe ads, the rhetoric, the innuendo and its stronger cousin slander. But heres the thing: it usually works. The culture wars spark fear, and fear puts people at voting centers. Both campaigns get it, and voters are just going to have to strap in for this final push. Make sense of what matters in Washington. Sign up for the D.C. Brief newsletter. Write to Philip Elliott at philip.elliott@time.com. In this picture, Jesus Christ is shown in conversation with Pharisees about whether it is lawful to pay taxes to the Roman emperor. In the Bible, the Pharisees are often shown as having legalistic arguments with Jesus. Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Jesus only loses his cool a handful of times in the New Testament (just ask the moneychangers in the Temple), but he unleashes one of his fiercest tirades in Matthew 23 against the Pharisees and other "teachers of the law." In What Verses Does Jesus Criticize the Pharisees? In verses 13-39, known as "the seven woes," Jesus calls the Pharisees "hypocrites" six times. He also calls them "blind" (five times), "children of hell," "a brood of vipers" and compares the false piety and posturing of the Pharisees to "whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean." The Pharisees of the New Testament are clearly cast as the bad guys, the perfect ideological and spiritual foils to Jesus and his followers. The Pharisees are portrayed as nitpicky enforcers of Jewish scriptures who are focused so intently on the letter of the law that they miss the spirit entirely. As Jesus says: "You give a tenth of your spices mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel." But does this picture of the Pharisees as legalistic hypocrites jibe with what historians and religious scholars know about the actual Pharisaic movement, which gained prominence during the Second Temple period of Judaism? We spoke with Bruce Chilton, a religion professor at Bard College and co-editor of "In Quest of the Historical Pharisees," to better understand what the Pharisees really believed and why they clashed with the early Christians. Who Were the Pharisees and the Sadducees? During the first century C.E., when Jesus lived, the Pharisees emerged as a religious movement within Judaism, not a separate sect. The Temple still stood in Jerusalem and it was the center of Jewish life. One of the greatest concerns of Temple rites was purity: that both the people who entered the Temple and the animals sacrificed there, were "pure" enough to satisfy God. The Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, starting with Genesis) contains written commandments that explain the proper way to conduct Temple sacrifices, but the Pharisees believed they had additional divine instructions that had been passed down through centuries of oral tradition. "The Pharisees believed that they had a special reserve of knowledge for determining purity," says Chilton. "They taught that their oral tradition went all the way back to Moses at Sinai, so not only was there a written Torah, which anyone could have access to, but there was also an oral Torah which was inside the Pharisaic movement." What was distinctive about the oral law of the Pharisees was that it expanded the question of purity to life outside of the Temple. Even if a Jewish person lived far away from Jerusalem (in Galilee, for example) and wasn't planning to make a pilgrimage to the Temple, they could conduct their lives in such a way as to be pure enough to enter the Temple. "In that sense, the Pharisees became a movement for the purity of the Jewish people," says Chilton. The Pharisees were not, however, the powerful elite of first-century Judaism. Those were another Jewish sect: the Sadducees, the priestly class that controlled Temple worship and held the most political influence with the Roman Empire, which ruled over Palestine. The Sadducees rejected the oral law in favor of the written law established in the Torah. The Pharisees were a working-class movement concerned with establishing a clear and consistent Jewish identity in everyday life. Interestingly, it was the Pharisees who believed in an afterlife and resurrection of the dead, both of which were rejected by the Sadducees as they were not mentioned in the Torah. Another way Pharisees differed from Jewish tradition is believing that a messiah would come and bring peace to the world, though most of them did not think that messiah was Jesus. Jesus Christ Had Friends (and Followers) Who Were Pharisees The Pharisees are portrayed as a monolithic block in the New Testament, but Chilton says that while all Pharisees were concerned with purity, there was fierce debate among the Pharisees about how best to achieve it. There were certainly Pharisees who believed that purity was obtained from the outside in, and who taught that ritual baths (mikvahs) and the ritual purification of cups and cooking implements was the only way to achieve purity. In Matthew 23, Jesus lambastes the pharisaic tradition of purifying the outside of cups and dishes while "inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence." "Because Jesus himself was engaged in the issue of purity but wasn't a Pharisee his conflict with some Pharisees of his time was inevitable," says Chilton. "If you accuse somebody as impure, you're not saying purity doesn't matter; you're saying the opposite there's a better way to achieve it." But Chilton says there were other Pharisees who would have agreed with Jesus, that the true work of purification starts with a pure heart and faith in God. If you read the New Testament closely, in fact, you'll see that Jesus won sympathetic supporters and even followers from the ranks of the supposedly hated Pharisees. Nicodemus, who visited Jesus at night to ask him questions, and then provided money and spices to give Jesus a proper Jewish burial after the crucifixion, was a Pharisee (see John 3). And in Luke 13:31, a Pharisee comes to warn Jesus that Herod wanted him killed. In this 1889 painting, Jesus confronts Nicodemus, a Pharisee who later became one of his followers. Found in the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images But perhaps the most interesting and consequential mention of "friendly" Pharisees comes in the book of Acts, when a group of Pharisees is listed among the early followers of Jesus who remained faithful after his death. As Chilton explains, though, those Pharisees took an ideological stance in opposition to influential apostles like Paul and Peter, which may explain why the Pharisees got such a bad rap in the New Testament. The Meeting That Doomed the Pharisees In Acts 15, there is a meeting or "council" in Jerusalem attended by Paul, Peter, James, Barnabas and other apostles and followers of Jesus. The agenda of the meeting was to settle an important question among the early church: Did non-Jewish men need to be circumcised in order to be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit? The Pharisees in attendance were the first to chime in. In Acts 15:5, it says: "Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, 'The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.'" Notice that it says the Pharisees were among the "believers," further proof some Pharisees, too, were early followers of Jesus. Disagreements in Jewish Law But here's where things go south. The apostles are in stark disagreement with the Pharisees and say that everyone, circumcised or uncircumcised, can have their hearts purified through faith in Christ. Peter, acknowledging the physical pain and danger of circumcising an adult, rebukes the Pharisees in verses 10 and 11: "Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are." "By the time you get to this meeting in 46 C.E., now the Pharisees are on the other side of this extraordinarily consequential decision," says Chilton. "Paul attacks anyone who supports the widespread use of circumcision as being a hypocrite, a legalist and being cut off from Christ. And that's pretty much the take of the New Testament on the Pharisees. It seems that it was this internal dispute among Jesus' followers that produced this stark line of demarcation between Christians and Pharisees." Ancient Jewish Sects vs. Early Christian Believers What's important to understand is that the four gospels of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were written starting in the year 70 C.E., decades after the meeting in Jerusalem. So it's very possible that Jesus himself wouldn't have harbored such distaste for the Pharisees during his lifetime, but that the authors of the New Testament wrote the gospels with a chip on their shoulder following their ugly divorce with the Pharisees over circumcision. "The gospels are written from the point of view of a breach that hadn't occurred at the time of Jesus," says Chilton. What Happened to the Pharisees? After the Second Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E., Chilton says that the power structure of Jewish religious life was toppled with it. The Sadducees, who had been the most influential force during the Second Temple period, were scattered, while the underdog Pharisees, "who had been very much on the outs," says Chilton, "really emerged as the last authority standing in Jewish history." Over the ensuing centuries, the oral traditions of the Pharisees were committed to writing in the Mishnah and then commented upon in the Babylonian Talmud, becoming the basis for Rabbinic Judaism. The Pharisaic "sages" who had transmitted the oral tradition from the time of Moses were replaced by learned rabbis who studied the Torah and the complex commentaries found in the Talmud. Modern Judaism is, in a sense, a continuation of the Hebrew word first championed by the Pharisees. Now That's Cool Archeologists in Israel have discovered ancient stone workshops from the Second Temple period where Jews fashioned drinking vessels out of stone instead of ceramic. Stone jars like the six mentioned at the wedding at Cana, where Jesus turns water into wine were approved by the Pharisees as ritually pure. Original article: Why Were the Pharisees the 'Bad Guys' in the Bible? Copyright 2024 HowStuffWorks, a division of InfoSpace Holdings, LLC, a System1 Company SOMERSET COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) A Windber man is facing felony charges after he was accused of stealing nearly $60,000 from the Slovak Educational Club in Somerset County. John Gerula, 40, is accused of taking money from the clubs machines for six months when he was the vice president of the Slovak Educational Club, according to the criminal complaint. On June 6, officers from the Windber Borough Police Department received a complaint from the other club members that Gerula allegedly had been pocketing money from different machines that the club had. The president, the trustee, and the bar manager of the club reported to the police that shortly after when Gerula became vice president they started to have money issues, according to the affidavit. At the time of the report, they believed that there was roughly $56,000 missing. Officers advised the club to have an audit done by their CPA. Altoona man accused of trying to run over pedestrian at 3 a.m. On June 4, Gerula resigned from his position in the club. On that same day, officers arrived at the club and heard two males arguing in the parking lot. They identified themselves as Gerula and another man. The other man told officers that he was confronting Gerula about the missing money and allegedly said there was a video of him pocketing the money. During the confrontation, Gerula allegedly admitted that he took $500 that was owed to him and another $500 that didnt belong to him. Gerula then told officers he did not know of any other incidents of stolen money, according to the complaint. On June 7, officers learned that Gerula had taken all of his belongings out of his residence and police did not know of his whereabouts. On June 28, the other club members dropped off a report of the alleged missing money. Heres what they said went missing each month: January: $139 February: $7,117 March: $22,103.75 April: $10,894 May: $16,928 June: $2,061 In total, the club said that $59,242.75 was unaccounted for. Gerula was arraigned in court on Sept. 25. He is in the Somerset County Prison with bail set at $200,000. Gerula is facing felony charges of theft by failing to make required deposits for funds, receiving stolen property, criminal attempt of theft by failing to make required deposits for funds and other related charges. Get the latest news, weather forecasts and sports stories delivered straight to your inbox! Sign up for our newsletters. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Oct. 9. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Two months before wintry weather could start affecting Western Washington, Whatcom County still needs a building where it can run a severe weather shelter, one that can be activated when extreme cold or other adverse conditions are in the forecast. Officials with the Whatcom County Department of Health and Community Services discussed the situation recently in a County Council committee meeting. Ann Beck, community health and human services manager, told the councils Public Works and Health Committee that several locations that have been used in the past the Civic Stadium locker rooms, the former Drop-in Center on West Holly Street and the State Street location used last winter are not available this winter. Base Camp wont be available and the Lighthouse Mission, which is opening in October, wont have the staff to take the 100 people its designed for this winter. We would definitely like to talk with anybody who space to offer. Were just going to keep asking, Beck told the committee. Health Department officials are working with a real estate agent and are in talks with faith-based facility in Bellingham. But nothing is certain, she said. (The faith-based organization) are still talking through what this would look like for them. As of now, thats our only possible glimmer of a space, Beck said. Theyre looking for a safe, dry, warm location with running water, locking doors and restrooms, Beck said. Chris DOnofrio, the Health Departments housing program supervisor, said that the Lighthouse Mission is focused on getting its new shelter open at Holly and F streets. They feel uncomfortable having a lot of new activity in that neighborhood right as theyre opening their new shelter. They are yet to bring on enough staff to provide the supervision there. Theyre leaning toward 20 beds this winter and doing what they can to bring on additional staff and volunteers, DOnofrio told the committee. As with last year, no civic organization came forward to operate the severe weather shelter, so the Health Department is looking to hire about 20 temporary on-call employees and add volunteers. Officials are partnering with the Volunteer Center for about 14 hours of training that includes CPR, and narcan use and de-escalation techniques. The shelter likely would operate from November and continue through February or mid-March. Last year, the severe weather shelter operated for 20 nights when temperatures dipped below 28 degrees, giving an average of 47 people each night a warm place to sleep. The cost to operate was $404,000, according to an after action report on the 2023-24 season presented to the County Council in May. Meanwhile, about 100 households will get motel stays, mostly families with children, through Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services of Whatcom County, Lydia Place, the YWCA, the Opportunity Council and Ferndale Community Services, Beck said. For the first time in six years, Milwaukee County is seeing a decline in overdose deaths. It's modest compared to the statewide decline the county saw a decline of nearly 4% versus the state's decline of 9.69% but Ben Weston, chief health policy adviser for Milwaukee County, expressed cautionary optimism. "I'm hopeful that it's the start of a trend, and when we see it nationally, when we see it across just about every state, I think it's hopeful that this is a true change in the trajectory of overdose deaths, specifically opioid overdose deaths," Weston said. Ben Weston, Milwaukee County chief health policy adviser, speaks during a press conference at a West Allis firehouse in July 2023 about a new program to treat opioid use, reducing cravings and withdrawal symptoms. Many public health leaders and user advocates across the state who spoke with the Journal Sentinel shared Weston's sense of hope, even as they hedged. Fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opioid responsible for more overdose deaths than heroin since 2017, has "completely taken over the illicit drug supply" in Milwaukee County, and continues to make its way into other drugs, including stimulants like cocaine and methamphetamines, Weston said. Michelle Haese, the director of substance use initiatives at the state Department of Health Services, said she's also painfully aware of the shift from the opioid epidemic to a polysubstance epidemic. It's a shift that many, including Weston, view as the fourth wave of the opioid crisis. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines the first three waves as: Beginning in the 1990s, a wave of deaths due to a rise in overdoses involving prescription opioids. From 2010 to 2013, a second wave driven by a spike in heroin-involved deaths. Beginning in 2013, a third wave marked by a rapid increase in deaths due to synthetic opioids. Whether we're now still in the third wave or into a fourth, the national overdose death decline of 10%, reported in a provisional count by the CDC, is the first sign that harm reduction efforts and fentanyl awareness campaigns are, potentially, working. "While we cannot definitively state why this trend is being seen in Wisconsin or across the nation, we do know the data is real," Haese said. Many of those efforts were bolstered by the first batch of Wisconsin's opioid settlement funds, of which the state was awarded a total of more than $750 million to be received through 2038. For the 2024 fiscal year, Wisconsin invested its $8 million into the following strategies: $5 million into Narcan and fentanyl test strips. $2.5 million into covering room and board costs for Medicaid members at residential substance use disorder treatment programs. $2 million into medication-assisted treatment, often referred to as MAT, for people with an opioid use disorder. $300,000 into a substance use disorder treatment directory called Atlas. $300,000 to train surgeons on best practices to prevent opioid misuse following surgery through a program operated by Surgical Collaborative of Wisconsin. The state is expected to receive another $36 million in fiscal year 2025, which includes targeted funding aimed at Wisconsin's K-12 students and its 11 federally recognized tribal nations. Indigenous people across Wisconsin's tribal nations are dying from overdoses at nearly three times the state rate, according to recent data. Haese said the Department of Health Services is investing in the Tribal Nation Opioid Abatement Efforts to address conditions, doing so in a manner that builds the strengths of local tribal culture, tradition, and practices. Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe Tribal President John Johnson talks at Menominee Casino Resort earlier this year about the need to talk to young people about opioid prevention. He said Indigenous children as young as fifth grade are using opioids The opioid settlement fund was the result of a national litigation against the pharmaceutical industry, of which Wisconsin was a part. The fund was set up as part of a $26 billion deal between the plaintiffs and opioid manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson. The settlement was reached in 2021. Distributors have 18 years to pay up to $21 billion while Johnson & Johnson will pay up to $5 billion over no more than nine years. Overdose breakdowns across Milwaukee, Dane and Brown counties It wasn't until 2017 that the opioid epidemic reached a turning point. That's when fentanyl edged out heroin as the most deadly opioid in the illicit drug supply. Today, fentanyl is responsible for 96% of overdose deaths in Milwaukee County, Weston said. In 2018, 305 people died from overdoses in Milwaukee County. That number continued to climb until it peaked in 2022, with 565 deaths an 85% jump. In 2023, the latest comprehensive year of data, there were 21 fewer narcotic deaths, signaling what Weston hopes is the beginning of a downward trend. The landscape in Dane County, meanwhile, looked a bit different. Overdose deaths peaked in 2021 at 166. The number declined 11% to 147 in 2022. And while Dane County's 2023 numbers are still being analyzed, Morgan Finke, the communications coordinator for Public Health Madison & Dane County, told the Journal Sentinel 142 deaths so far have been confirmed. Brown County Public Health Officer Anna Nick notes trends in overdose deaths over a six-year period in Brown County during an event in April in Green Bay. Wisconsin's largest northern county saw a dramatic decline, and more up-to-date data. Brown County reported a 73% decline in overdose deaths and a 77% drop in fentanyl-related deaths through mid-September this year, compared to 2023. "There's always the next thing that could come down the road. Right now, it's fentanyl, and it could be something else tomorrow," said Anna Nick, the public health officer and administrator of Brown County Public Health. "But I'm holding on to hope. The efforts over the past few years are having an impact, and there's been considerable work in raising awareness in our community." Drug users are integral to policy discussions The caution that health officials express is not just because there's a long way to go. It's also because a decline in a geographic area may mask an uptick in a particular demographic group. For example, Weston is particularly concerned about Black adults aged 55 and older in Milwaukee County. From 2020 to 2021, narcotic deaths among older Black adults jumped more than 50%, he said. It went up another 13% in 2022. Weston said the department is putting together more comprehensive data for 2023 that it plans to release soon. Anecdotally, Weston said, these specific deaths appear to be the result of drug users not being aware that the stimulants they're using are laced with fentanyl. Going forward, Haese said, it's important to listen to those with "lived and living experiences with drugs." Mat Hazelberg strongly agreed. He's co-founder of P.U.L.S.E., an organization that tries to have drug users included in policy-making discussions. "We need to engage people, give them education and materials to stay safe and alive, and have a better awareness about the substances they're ingesting," Hazelberg said. He noted the Wisconsin Good Samaritan Law was amended in 2017 to protect from prosecution "aiders" who helped an overdosing person, but that provision sunset in 2020. "People shouldn't be afraid to call, to ask for help, especially when they're in that critical moment and seconds matter," Hazelberg said. That includes protecting people on probation or parole, Hazelberg said. He's talked to too many people who have been sent back to prison "merely for doing the right thing" calling 911, doing rescue breathing and administering naloxone. Hazelberg also wants to see the state improve how it distributes methadone, a medication-assisted treatment used to help people safely quit opioids by reversing withdrawal symptoms. As it stands, people attempting to quit sometimes have to drive multiple counties daily to receive medication. Wisconsin is one of seven states and territories in the United States that don't have flexibility around take-home treatment, which would allow people to receive up to 28 days of take-home doses for medication-assisted treatment. Weston, from Milwaukee County, said there need to be more opportunities for education on medication-assisted treatment like methadone and buprenorphine following an overdose. Often, after the paramedics arrive and lifesaving interventions are done, that's the end of it, he said. Not only may users feel shame and embarrassment, but they may not be able to afford going to a hospital for medication-assisted treatment. Natalie Eilbert covers mental health issues for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She welcomes story tips and feedback. You can reach her at neilbert@gannett.com or view her X (Twitter) profile at @natalie_eilbert. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin counties have fewer overdose deaths, in step with nation Woman hit, killed by car in Spanaway A pedestrian is dead after they were hit by a car in Spanaway Monday morning. Washington State Department of Transportation said the crash happened at State Route 7/Mountain Highway East near 208th Street East. All northbound lanes were blocked at 4:29 a.m. Washington State Patrol Trooper John Dattilo said traffic was getting by in the center lane. Shortly after, he reported the grim news. I am saddened to announce that the pedestrian involved in this crash has died, said Dattilo. Please be patient with the closure while we conduct our investigation. By 6:30 a.m., only the right lane was blocked. Washington State Patrol said that at 4:19 a.m., a 74-year-old man driving a Chevrolet Trailblazer was heading north on SR 7 in the first of two lanes. A woman was in the same lane when she was hit by the SUV. She died at the scene. The driver called 911 to report the crash. No charges will be filed against the driver. DES MOINES, Iowa A woman was injured Monday morning after police said she was backed into by a U-Haul truck. It happened around 9:30 a.m. at the U-Haul in the 2500 block of Hubbell Avenue in Des Moines. Sgt. Paul Parizek of the Des Moines Police Department said the woman was hit when the truck backed into her. 1 dead, 1 injured in north Iowa two-vehicle crash A witness to the incident told WHO 13 he saw the truck run the woman over and it appeared the driver did not know what they were doing. The woman was transported to the hospital by ambulance. Sgt. Parizek said her injuries were not life-threatening. Information about the driver of the truck was not immediately released. The investigation into the incident continues. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) Police rushed to Arcadia Beach Friday evening after a woman was hit by a projectile, authorities said. According to Oregon State Police, officers responded after receiving a call from a woman who said she had been shot. Upon arrival, officers said they found the woman on the beach and she was taken back to the nearby recreation area, where she declined medical transport, instead taking herself to Providence Seaside Hospital later. Officer shoots suspect during Milwaukie investigation Officers said they searched the shoreline as well as the nearby parking lot along Highway 101, talking with numerous beachgoers and drivers, but they didnt learn anything about the shooting. Later in the evening, authorities said they confirmed that the woman had been hit by a projectile, which caused a minor injury and it was not removed and has not been identified. Police said it is unknown what caused the injury and it is still under investigation. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Oregon 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 KOIN.com. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) A 24-year-old woman has died after a rollover crash that happened on Sunday evening, Sept. 29 at Red Sands, according to the El Paso County Sheriffs Office. Photo credit: Jaz Ruiz Dianelys Crespo Gonzalez, 24, died from her injuries sustained in the rollover crash, according to the Sheriffs Office. The Sheriffs Office says deputies and first responders were dispatched just before 11 p.m. to a single-vehicle crash at the popular off-roading site. Special Traffic Investigators were also requested at the scene. KTSM is working to gather more information and update this story. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News. Vice President Kamala Harris sat down with All the Smoke podcast hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson to discuss her presidential campaign agenda and her plans for growing opportunity in local communities, the latest sign the vice president is looking to amp up her outreach to voters with fewer than 40 days until the 2024 election. In one of her longest interviews since becoming the Democratic nominee for president, which aired on Monday, Harris signaled her support for legalizing marijuana one of her many flip-flops since she, as a district attorney and later attorney general of California, ascended to becoming a U.S. senator. Her policy swaps have been noted by the media and voters as she runs a competitive campaign against former President Donald Trump, who has also changed his tune on marijuana legalization and other policy areas. Harris also spoke about her blended family and role in breaking barriers as the first black woman to secure a major-party nomination for president, as well as her plans for an opportunity economy to build up small business owners and minority families. I think we have a system that fails people, if only the exceptional can get out, Harris told Barnes and Jackson. Thats a failure of a system. Harris and Trump have utilized podcasts this cycle as a way to reach young voters, minority voters, casual voters, and independents ahead of a contentious presidential contest. The longer format of the interview allowed Harris to get personal, sharing her love of cooking and nacho-flavored Doritos as a guilty pleasure, as well as her routine of working out every day and emphasizing the importance of mental health. 1. Harris advocates legalizing marijuana despite her history of prosecutions in California Harris reaffirmed her support for legalizing marijuana during the interview, an initiative that is on the ballot in states like Nebraska and Florida. "We have come to a point where we have to understand that we need to legalize it," Harris said, adding that it's "not a new position for me. I have felt for a long time we need to legalize it." As a senator and as a 2020 presidential candidate, Harris supported legalizing marijuana nationwide and expunging nonviolent marijuana-related criminal offenses. However, up until Monday, her campaign had been relatively silent on whether Harris maintained that position. She and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), have ignored or sidestepped the issue. I just feel strongly that people shouldnt be going to jail for smoking weed, and we know historically what that has meant and who has gone to jail," Harris argued in the interview. As district attorney in San Francisco, however, she had enforced cannabis laws and opposed legalized use for adults. She defended its usage for medicinal purposes, but her prosecutors convicted over 1,900 people on cannabis-related charges. When she was running for reelection as attorney general, she opposed legalizing marijuana for recreational use, which was supported by her GOP opponent. By 2019, her first campaign for president, she reversed course and joked that she did inhale in her college days. 2. Harris touts blended families after being criticized for having no biological children The vice president spoke warmly about her two stepchildren with second gentleman Doug Emhoff, saying she was very intentional when developing a relationship with Emhoffs children and made it a priority to have a very close and respectful relationship with their mother, Kerstin Emhoff, who has been vocally supportive of Harriss campaign. The question came after Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR) received backlash from Democrats and even some Republicans after she alluded that Harris doesnt have anything keeping her humble because she doesnt have biological children. The governors team has pushed back on those claims. Harris said conversations on blended families have become more prevalent for her as she is running for president. The people who dont get it arent understanding theres a whole lot more of these kinds of relationships than people realize, Harris said. This is not the 1950s. She added that young people, especially, are better at understanding that there is the family you are born into, and then theres the family you choose. And its on you to make a decision about what you want and how you define your family, and you have the right to do that, Harris said. 3. Harris says she has been raised black from birth Harris said her mother raised two proud black women, and to her, her identity was never a question. The vice presidents race has been a focus for Trump and his supporters, with the former president drawing ire and having to defend himself on the debate stage after he questioned whether Harris was really black. She also spoke about breaking barriers, noting that her mother told her, Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure youre not the last. Featured Local Savings And I take that so very seriously, Harris said, adding that she stands on the shoulders of mentors and those who broke barriers before her. I feel so strongly that, you know, each one, pull one, the vice president said. You gotta leave that door open more than it was when you walked in. And thats what it means for me. I feel a great sense of responsibility. She said she wants to remind people that you should never hear no. I eat no for breakfast, Harris said. 4. Harris emphasizes plans for an opportunity economy Harris did not offer any new information on her economic plans should she enter the White House in 2025, but she reemphasized her plans to build an opportunity economy with small businesses as the focal point. Most people have ambition, they have aspirations, they have dreams, Harris added. If we give people the opportunity to meet those goals, they jump for it every time. She noted her work as a senator funneling billions into community banks to help small businesses access capital when they first start up. As part of her economic agenda, she proposed giving small businesses a tax deduction of $50,000 to start up, as opposed to the current deduction of $5,000. Theyre in the community, and then they know whos in the community, and where the talent is, and whos doing good in the community and what the community wants, the vice president said of the banks. The thing we know is that most of our small businesses, our entrepreneurs, who want to start a small business, got a great idea, have incredible work ethic, but they werent handed a bunch of money on a silver tray, Harris added. And they just need to get their foot in the door. Harris also spoke to her housing plan, pushing for the construction of 3 million new housing units and a tax incentive for builders who construct homes for first-time buyers, as well as a $40 billion fund to help local governments find solutions to the problem of supply. She added that she wants to expand the child tax credit to $6,000 in the childs first year. I start from the perspective that the vast majority of parents want to raise their children well. They love their children, but they dont necessarily have the resources they need, Harris said. And if we understand that the children of a community are the children of the community, well understand that an investment in something like the first year of a childs life benefits all of us. 5. Harris says march for civil rights must continue in every generation and that Project 2025 is threat to advancement Harris signaled support for mass peaceful protests regarding racial justice, arguing there is no significant progress without the people often taking to the streets. In the wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis that kick-started a fresh wave of Black Lives Matter protests, Harris signaled support for the Minnesota Freedom Fund in a 2020 post urging people to chip in to help post bail for those arrested during protests after Floyds death. Trump has incorrectly stated that Harris directly bailed people out of jail as recently as June at a rally in North Carolina. The Minnesota Freedom Fund issued a statement that Harris did not donate to the organization. Harris also slammed Project 2025, a hard-right planning agenda that Trump has worked to distance himself from as both sides of the aisle have blasted its proposals as too extreme. My opponent in this race, look up Project 2025, Harris said. Nasty work, Barnes interjected. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER They are literally talking about what they would do to arrest people and deport them because they want to suppress, Harris said. Were seeing a full-on intent to restrict rights. I strongly believe we have to always be vigilant, meaning whatever gains weve made, they will not be permanent unless we stay on it. Thats about having those conversations when everybody gets together, whether it would be at the barber shop or around the kitchen table, to remind ourselves whats happening and what we need to do about it, the vice president continued. A woman was injured Sunday afternoon in a shooting behind the National Hills Shopping Center. Just after 6:30 p.m., Richmond County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to the 1000 block of River Ridge Drive for a shooting, according to a news release. Deputies found a woman who was shot at least once, according to the release. She was taken to the hospital for treatment. "Due to the active investigation, no further information is available," according to the sheriff's office. The shooting is the second in Augusta since Tropical Storm Helene devastated the area Friday morning. Live Helene updates: Authorities warn of phony gas sellers, 'widespread' looting This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: One injured in second Augusta shooting since Helene Woodlands School, a K-8 public charter school in Milwaukee, looks to open in West Allis A K-8 elementary school is being proposed for West Allis, according to city Plan Commission documents. Woodlands School would be located at 1526 S. 72nd St., the former home of Holy Assumption School, which closed in 2000. Woodlands, a Wisconsin public charter school, currently has two locations in Milwaukee, one at 5510 W. Blue Mound Road and the other at 3121 W. State St. The West Allis Plan Commission approved the plan by a 5-0 vote with two abstentions on Sept. 25. Here's what to know: The planned location for Woodlands School is at 1526 S. 72nd St. in West Allis. It was the former site of Holy Assumption School, which was open from 1957 to 2000. Where will Woodlands School be located? The proposed location is at 1526 S. 72nd St. in West Allis. Woodlands is planning to merge its two existing campuses into the single West Allis location, the site of the former Holy Assumption School, which operated from 1957 until closing in 2000. During a Sept. 24 neighborhood meeting in West Allis, Woodlands School Executive Director Vickie Brown-Gurley said the school is planning to remain at this location for at least 20 years. What is Woodlands School? Founded in 1936 as the Alverno Campus Elementary School, Woodlands School has been around for over 80 years. It is a Wisconsin public charter school that runs under the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee school system. The school will not be a part of the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District, according to Brown-Gurley. The existing schools serve students from 4-year-old kindergarten to eighth grade. Enrollment is around 500 students. What will Woodlands School in West Allis look like? The two-story school building is located in a residential district and is approximately 25,448 square feet. Plans call for remodeling the basement to add a third level. The site plan for the proposed Woodlands School in West Allis. The plans will also create a new outside playground area for the students, with new fencing provided for safety. What will be the school's hours of operation? The school's hours of operation will be from 7:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Monday to Friday. In addition, the school will be used for Sunday school sessions and could be used by the community for various events. What educational structure does Woodlands School follow? Woodlands will follow all of the guidelines from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, according to Brown-Gurley. Despite not being in DPI's education guidelines, the school currently has handwriting and typing in its educational curriculum. When does enrollment open? Enrollment for the school will begin in November and December for the 2025-26 school year. Brown-Gurley said students enrolled at their other campuses will have first priority for enrollment. When will Woodlands School in West Allis open? Woodlands School is expected to be open to students for the 2025-26 school year. When will construction begin? Construction is planned to begin in the fall or winter of 2024 with an anticipated end date by May 2025. Contact Adrienne Davis at amdavis@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @AdriReportss. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Woodlands School in Milwaukee looks to consolidate, move to West Allis Hideyo Ogawa, lawyer for Iwao Hakamada, who was recently acquitted by a district court after a retrial for a 1966 quadruple murder, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae) TOKYO (AP) A lawyer for the worlds longest-serving death row inmate who was acquitted in a Japan ese retrial last week of a 1966 quadruple murder said Tuesday that the defense team is considering filing a damage suit against the government over the fabrication of evidence that ruined the mans life and his mental health by keeping him in prison for 48 years. Iwao Hakamada, an 88-year-old former boxer, was found not guilty last Thursday by the Shizuoka District Court which concluded that police and prosecutors collaborated in fabricating and planting evidence against him. The court said he was forced into confession by violent, hours-long closed interrogations. The acquittal made him the fifth death row inmate to be found not guilty in a retrial in postwar Japan, where prosecutors have a more than 99% conviction rate and retrials are extremely rare. Hakamada was convicted of murder in the 1966 killing of an executive and three of his family members, and setting fire to their home in central Japan. He was sentenced to death in 1968 but was not executed, due to the lengthy appeal and retrial process in Japans notoriously slow-paced criminal justice system. He spent more than 45 years on death row making him the worlds longest-serving death row inmate, according to Amnesty International. Hakamada is entitled to receive compensation of up to about 200 million yen ($1.4 million) when prosecutors accept the ruling, making the acquittal final. His lawyer Hideyo Ogawa told reporters that the defense team is also considering filing a damage suit against the government because investigators and the police collaborated in fabricating evidence, despite knowing fully well that it could send the man to the gallows and that would be totally unforgivable. Ogawa also demanded that a recording of the investigation process should be made mandatory in the future. Hakamadas 91-year-old sister Hideko Hakamada said she has been trying to explain the victory to her brother but he seems still not convinced that he is now a free man. The sister, who devoted nearly half of her life to winning her brothers innocence, said when she told him about his acquittal, as soon as she returned home, he was silent. The next morning, she showed him newspaper stories about him. I told him, You see, its true, what you kept telling us really came true, but he seemed still skeptical, she said, citing his mental issue and deep suspicion due to his years-long solitary confinement for the crime he was wrongfully accused. I will keep reminding him of his acquittal every day until he can finally believe it. On Sunday, Hakamada, accompanied by his sister, joined his cheering supporters in a meeting in Shizuoka near his hometown of Hamamatsu, in his rare public appearance, and even made a short comment. Finally, I have won full and complete victory. Thank you, Hakamada said. His sister said it was a big surprise as she thought if he could say thank you that was good enough. She says she thinks he is still not fully convinced. It took 27 years for the top court to deny his first appeal for retrial. His second appeal for a retrial was filed in 2008 by his sister, and that request was granted in 2014, when a court ruled there was evidence suggesting he was wrongfully accused. The court did not clear his conviction but released him from his solitary death-row cell, allowing him to await retrial at home because his poor health and age made him a low risk for escape. The case has since bounced along several courts until Thursday. Since his release, he seemed to be in his own imaginary world, and I never expected him to say such a thing, Hideko Hakamada said, referring to his remark Sunday. I imagine he must have rehearsed the phrase while in prison for 48 years so he can say it when he wins acquittal one day. The case is not fully closed for them yet because prosecutors can still technically appeal the decision, while his lawyers and human rights activists are condemning such a move and have started a petition drive. It also sparked calls from law associations and rights groups to demand a legal revision to lower hurdles for retrials. Japan and the United States are the only two countries in the Group of Seven advanced nations that retain capital punishment. In Japan, executions are carried out in secrecy and prisoners are not informed of their fate until the morning they are hanged. SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) A Springfield resident and World War II Marine veteran was honored on Saturday, receiving the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously. Local, state and Springfield City Officials recognized Corporal Joseph Anthony Budd with the oldest and highest civilian award one can receive in this country, a Congressional Gold Medal. South Hadley American Legion honors POW/MIA service members Corporal Budd is a former Springfield resident and World War II Marine veteran who served in the 1930s and 1940s during the segregated Marine Corps. Corporal Budd paved the way for future African-American leaders. After serving the country for nearly 20 years he became the first Black officer to rise to the ranks of Sergeant, Lieutenant, and Captain in 1976. His son, Wayne Budd reflects on the impact his dad had not only on his family, but the community as well, A very tough guy, but very fair person. He would love to see people do well in life and his police work he tried to make that happen. The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest honor one can receive as a civilian in the United States alongside the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Mayor Sarno, State Representative Bud Williams, Congressman Richard Neil, and former Chief Justice Roderick Ireland were all at Saturdays ceremony honoring Corporal Budds legacy. Corporal Budd will continue to be remembered for his contributions for a long time. Just a few years ago, the Springfield Police Department named their future headquarters after him, and today his name is displayed on the Springfield Police Departments assessment center. 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. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden joined KOIN 6 News at 5 for a live interview about the state of the presidential race, response for Hurricane Helene and the tough calls surrounding Israel and the ongoing war in the Middle East. Wyden first addressed the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene and laid out the case that disaster response is clearly a role the federal government should play. He also said there are tough calls to be made about how to respond to the wars in the Middle East, including the incursion by Israel into Lebanon and the continued destruction in Gaza. He said President Biden is still working to arrange a cease fire before his term in office is over in January. And Oregons senior senator said the Vice Presidential Debate on Tuesday between Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. JD Vance isnt going to be dull. CBS News will host that debate, beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, televised on KOIN 6. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com. The Wyoming Legislature's Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee discusses changes to how the state allows predators such as wolves to be killed with vehicles Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Cheyenne. (AP Photo/Mead Gruver) CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) People outraged by how a man ran down a wolf with a snowmobile, taped the injured animals mouth shut and brought it into a bar last winter failed to persuade Wyoming lawmakers on Monday to outlaw killing predators with vehicles as ranching industry representatives stood by the practice as a useful way to keep predator numbers in check. After public comments almost entirely opposed the practice, a legislative committee voted unanimously to move ahead with a bill that for the first time would impose penalties for running down predators but only under specific circumstances. The bill that passed 10-0 would charge the driver with animal cruelty if the animal survives impact and isn't killed right away. The bill doesn't specify how the creature should be killed but not doing so could mean up to a $1,000 fine and loss of state hunting and fishing privileges for up to three years. Beyond that, running down predators would remain legal under the measure now headed for possible discussion by the Wyoming Legislature this winter. Wyoming, with its vast populations of cattle and sheep, has a long history of trying to limit predators that kill livestock, Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, told the state Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee. What weve seen in recent years after decades of managing predators is, little by little, were seeing attacks on the tools that we use, Magagna said. We simply cant afford as an industry to lose more of the tools that we may need." The bill also had the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation's support, Brett Moline, the organization's director of public and governmental affairs, told the committee. A dozen others spoke in person and by live video against the bill in public testimony limited to half an hour. Most were from Wyoming but others have been following from elsewhere. Do you want to be known as the state that legalized running down animals for sport? Denver-area wildlife photographer Bill Masure asked the committee. The bill misses the point with the whole issue of running down predators, Glenda Meyer, of Carlsbad, California, told the committee by video. This bill should read, Do not run over anything, in any way, for any reason. Arguing over whether its humane or the timeline or whether you should do it or shouldnt do it, the fact that you are running over anything with any vehicle is in itself inhumane, Meyer said. Its incredibly disturbing. The fate of the wolf struck last winter in western Wyoming has prompted a fresh look at state policies toward wolves. Wildlife advocates have pushed back against reluctance in the ranching state to change laws written after long negotiations to remove federal protection for the species. Caught on camera, the wolf seen lying on a bar floor in Sublette County led to calls to boycott Wyomings $4.8 billion-a-year tourism industry centered on Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, which comprise a prime wolf habitat not far from where the wolf was struck. The organizing has had little effect, with Yellowstone on track for one of its busiest summer seasons on record. Meanwhile, the man who hit the wolf and killed it after showing it off paid a $250 ticket for illegal possession of wildlife but did not face tougher charges. Investigators in Sublette County said their investigation into the wolf incident has stalled because witnesses refuse to talk. County Attorney Clayton Melinkovich said by email Friday the case remained under investigation and he couldn't comment on its details. How often wolves in Wyoming are intentionally run over for a quick death or otherwise is unknown. Such killings don't have to be reported and recorded cases like the Sublette County incident are rare. The case drew attention to Wyoming's policies for killing wolves, which are the least restrictive of any state where the animals roam. Wolves kill sheep, cattle and game animals, making them unpopular throughout the rural country of ranchers and hunters. Across the region, state laws seek to keep the predators from proliferating out of the mountainous Yellowstone ecosystem and into other areas where ranchers run cattle and sheep. In most of the U.S., wolves are federally protected as an endangered or threatened species, but not in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, where they are hunted and trapped under state laws and regulations. In Wyoming, wolves may be killed without limit in 85% of the state outside the Yellowstone region. Though few in Wyoming have spoken out in favor of what happened to the wolf, officials have been reluctant to change the law to discourage maltreatment. As xylazine surges, some lawmakers want jail time for dealers and people who use the drug The drug xylazine is used under several brand names and is used as an anesthetic for animal tranquilization, but has been increasingly found in street drugs, causing alarm in the law enforcement community (Photo by Zexmer via Wikimedia Commons | CC-BY-SA 4.0). Legislators in a handful of states are offering bills to address the rise in the misuse of xylazine, a cheap animal sedative not intended for human consumption. Xylazine, or tranq, can induce blackouts and cause lesions that sometimes result in severe infections or amputations, and it can even lead to death. The opioid overdose-reversal drug naloxone does not work on xylazine, which drug dealers often find through the dark web and other illicit channels, rather than getting it from veterinary offices. Although xylazine isnt classified by the federal government as a controlled substance, it also isnt approved for human use. Several states including Indiana, New York, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia and Wisconsin are considering bills. The legislation ranges from classifying xylazine as a controlled substance to stiffening criminal penalties for possession and distribution, as well as legalizing testing strips so people who intend to take drugs can make sure they arent tainted by xylazine. Other states Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia have already added xylazine to their lists of controlled substances, which adds tighter controls to the storage and movement of the drug for veterinary use. The accessibility and affordability of xylazine, which can be bought online from Chinese suppliers for $6 to $20 per kilogram, make it an attractive option for drug traffickers, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. Xylazine is frequently used as an adulterant to enhance the psychoactive effects of other drugs, such as fentanyl. Yet many people who use such drugs dont realize that xylazine has been mixed in. Public health experts and harm reduction advocates, who work with people who use drugs to help them avoid the worst outcomes, warn that criminalizing xylazine or categorizing it as a controlled substance will just exacerbate the fear and stigma associated with the drug, isolating people who use it and discouraging them from seeking treatment. Scheduling drugs and making things illegal has never had any meaningful effect on people actually ingesting drugs or the amount of drugs showing up in the drug supply, said Colin Miller, the community liaison and social/clinical research specialist at the University of North Carolina Street Drug Analysis Lab. Xylazine is just like the latest in a long line of these examples. Danielle German, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, agreed that ratcheting up penalties will do more harm than good, even if the legislation is coming from a place of good and wanting to help. That increased perception of penalty weve seen over and over and over again that thats what pushes people away from the resources that we most want them to be able to access, German said. State action Nevertheless, several states are embracing a get-tough approach. In South Dakota, Republican Gov. Kristi Noem in February signed legislation classifying xylazine as a controlled substance, with fines and penalties of up to two years in prison for using, manufacturing and distributing the drug, while still allowing for veterinary use. A similar bill is pending in South Carolina, where manufacturing or distributing the drug for other than veterinary use would bring a felony charge and up to 10 years imprisonment. Virginia lawmakers are considering legislation with similar penalties. In New York state, legislation would place xylazine in the category of the most dangerous controlled substances, which would carry stiffer criminal penalties for both possession and distribution. In Indiana, a bill making its way through the legislature would criminalize the possession and distribution of xylazine, with potential punishment of jail time. It would add steeper penalties for repeat offenders. The bill exempts use and distribution for veterinary purposes. I fully support other harm reduction avenues, such as (the opioid overdose-reversal drug) Narcan and test strips, said Indiana Republican state Rep. Jennifer Meltzer, the bills author. I just believe that we also need to go after the bad actors. Having a criminal effect will hopefully deter individuals that are dealing or maybe even individuals who are now only seeking out xylazine, to get the help that they need. Another bill in Indiana would have legalized testing strips for all controlled substances, including xylazine, but it died in the Senate. Meltzer, one of the bills co-authors, plans to work with the Democratic lead author of that bill to get it passed during the next legislative session. But in Wisconsin, legislation to legalize xylazine testing strips is awaiting the governors signature. Xylazines spread Xylazine was first detected in other drugs in Puerto Rico in the early 2000s, according to the DEA. Now, the drug can be found across the states, though available research suggests that xylazine-involved overdose deaths are primarily concentrated in the eastern United States, especially in the Northeast. The University of North Carolina Street Drug Analysis Lab tests drug samples sent by more than 150 harm reduction and syringe exchange programs across 35 states and publishes those results publicly. Between January 2021 and February 2024, the lab found xylazine in lab-confirmed fentanyl samples from 15 states. Some of the samples analyzed were submitted to the lab because people suspected the presence of xylazine, Miller wrote in an email to Stateline. The states with the highest number of fentanyl samples that tested positive for xylazine are North Carolina, 148; New York, 148; Michigan, 66; Pennsylvania, 38; and Washington, 20. You cant say that you want people to stop using drugs and then every time I call for a detox bed, theres not a bed. Alixe Dittmore, housing and shelter capacity building coordinator with the National Harm Reduction Coalition But some harm reduction advocates and public health experts argue that focusing too heavily on xylazine could inadvertently facilitate the entry of other, potentially stronger and more harmful drugs into the illicit drug supply. They warn that what states are doing now to curb xylazine use repeats a strategy that has had limited success with substances such as fentanyl. Because we hyper-focused on fentanyl for so long, the criminal drug market responded with a more lethal and potent substance to adulterate and then dominate the supply, said Sarah Laurel, the founder and executive director of Savage Sisters Recovery, a Philadelphia nonprofit that offers free services to people experiencing homelessness and substance use. Philadelphia is one of the cities that has been hit hardest by the surge in xylazine use. In 2022, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health found that xylazine was involved in 480, or more than a third, of the 1,413 unintentional overdose deaths. Almost every death in which xylazine was found also involved fentanyl, according to the agency. The same thing will happen if we have a new focus on xylazine. They are just going to find a new substance that is going to satisfy the demand, Laurel said. Instead, some advocates say states should focus more on expanding access to substance use treatment services and mobile drug-checking equipment, such as mass spectrometers that can analyze ingredients within a drug mixture. You cant say that you want people to stop using drugs and then every time I call for a detox bed, theres not a bed, said Alixe Dittmore, the housing and shelter capacity building coordinator with the National Harm Reduction Coalition. We have incredibly punitive and prohibitive services, Dittmore said. You really have to holistically look at it when youre worried about how many folks are passing away. 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. Years of work ahead for Oregon to address its lack of behavioral health beds Oregon has years of work ahead to eliminate its shortage of beds that provide residential care and treatment for people with behavioral health needs. (Getty Images) Oregonians can face waits as long as six months to enter the residential facilities they need for mental health or addiction care. During that time, they might overdose or lose their desire to get help and end up deteriorating on the streets. It will take Oregon years to fully address this problem, according to a legislative hearing last week. We know how critical facility-based care is, Ebony Clarke, behavioral health director for the Oregon Health Authority, told lawmakers in the Senate Health Care Committee last Monday. We are navigating and trying to climb out of the hole that was created during the pandemic and even pre-pandemic. Across the whole system, Oregon needs to almost double its number of staffed beds to treat people in residential care. The current capacity is 4,033 beds, which includes inpatient psychiatric facilities like Oregon State Hospital, mental health residential treatment facilities, secure treatment facilities and residential facilities for alcohol and drug addiction treatment. Another 356 beds are expected to come online by the end of 2025. But even with those factored in, a state-commissioned report shows that Oregon still needs 3,714 more beds or slightly more than 8,100 total. That means the private sector needs to get involved. The Oregon Health Authority is not responsible for building or operating the facilities, with the exception of the Oregon State Hospital. Residential facilities are usually operated by nonprofits, health care providers and others. But the agency is responsible for awarding state funding to projects, approving applications and prioritizing projects. In the past year, the agency has come under fire for not getting money out the door in a timely fashion, even after lawmakers approved the funding for so-called shovel-ready projects. Even then, it can take a year or longer for projects to come online. Five-year plan The health authority has a five-year plan to add the needed residential beds for addiction and mental health treatment. The plan would cost $850 million total, or about $170 million a year, Jon Collins, the authoritys deputy director of operations and strategy, told lawmakers. He said there is a lot of interest in launching new facilities. In response to a recent request about projects that need money, the health authority received 63 submissions from across 19 counties that, if funded, would total about $400 million. Collins said the authority will use that information while working with Gov. Tina Koteks office on budget proposals for the upcoming session. After the presentation, Clarke said shes optimistic that the issue will remain a priority. This seems like its a priority for everyone from the governors office to the Legislature to OHA, Clarke said. So I feel like were aligned and looking forward to the long session so we can continue to bring forward resources and policy to better meet the needs of everyone. Needs vary across sectors The challenges and needs vary across different parts of the behavioral health system. The number of mental health residential facility beds, for example, needs to increase by 10% or 100 beds. But secure treatment facilities need to increase by 34%, or nearly 200 beds. The needs are much higher for residential drug addiction treatment centers. The state needs 2,357 more beds, on top of the 1,418 already in the system or in the pipeline to open. That means the state has less than half the beds it needs for residential drug addiction treatment. About 1,400 people died of fentanyl overdoses in 2023 in Oregon, state data show. With deaths continuing to add up, counties statewide are changing their approach to drug possession, with a new misdemeanor penalty going into effect Sept. 1. From eastern Oregon to the south and coast, counties are launching deflection programs to steer people toward treatment instead of the criminal justice system. But advocates and critics have warned that without an adequate addiction treatment system in place, the new programs will fall short of the desired outcome. Lawmakers allocated nearly $21 million million for the deflection programs, which county officials say isnt enough. This year, legislators also approved $121 million for beds in addiction treatment centers, recovery housing, crisis stabilization centers and primary care clinics. But that money wont solve the big challenge that providers face: finding enough workers to run facilities and treat patients. Its more than just building, Clarke said. We equally have to consider the workforce. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed Monday they shot down another American-made MQ-9 Reaper drone over the country, with videos purportedly showing a surface-to-air missile striking it. The U.S. military acknowledged losing a drone. The claimed attack comes as the one-year anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip approaches. The Houthis have targeted ships traveling through the Red Sea over the war as U.S.-led airstrikes pound their positions in Yemen. Thats imperiled a waterway that typically sees $1 trillion of trade pass through it, as well as crucial shipments of aid to war-torn Sudan and Yemen. The Houthis also continue to launch missiles targeting Israel, drawing retaliatory airstrikes from the Israelis this weekend on the port city of Hodeida. Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a military spokesman, claimed the rebels shot down the MQ-9 in a prerecorded message aired Monday night, hours after video footage circulated online showing the purported missile striking the aircraft over Yemen's Saada province. A single image online also appeared to show wreckage of the drone, with pieces resembling that of an MQ-9. Later footage released by the Houthis showed rebels had piled up the drone's electronics, likely to see what they can exploit from the wreckage. One piece appeared to be from an MK-82 bomb, which can be armed on a Reaper. Responding to queries from The Associated Press, the U.S. military acknowledged an MQ-9 was downed but we have nothing additional to provide. General Atomics Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land. The aircraft have been flown by both the U.S. military and the CIA over Yemen for years. Since Houthis seized the countrys north and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the U.S. military has seen Reapers shot down in Yemen in 2017, 2019, 2023 and 2024. The U.S. military acknowledged the Houthis shot down two MQ-9s in September. Houthis have targeted more than 80 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels as well. The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israels campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran. Those attacks include a barrage that struck the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion in the Red Sea. Salvagers have towed away the burning oil tanker, hoping to avoid a catastrophic leak of its 1 million barrels of oil on board. Firefighting efforts onboard the Sounion began last week and the operation has proceeded with promising results as some fires are extinguished and other under control, the Joint Maritime Information Center reported Monday. The center, overseen by the U.S. Navy, also acknowledged the last attack on a merchant ship by the Houthis came on Sept. 2, but the rebels remain a threat. Despite a drop in attacks against merchant vessels over the last two weeks, the Houthis have shown ability and willingness to target U.S. Navy assets and coalition partners, the center said. The Houthis claimed an attack targeted American warships last week. The rebels fired more than a half dozen ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles and two drones at three U.S. ships that were traveling through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but all were intercepted by the Navy destroyers, a U.S. official said Friday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet publicly released. ___ Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report. NYC Mayor Eric Adams gets a refill of NYC tap water while speaking to reporters at a news conference about repairs occurring to the water supply infrastructure in New York, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) New York City officials assured residents that water flowing from their faucets will continue to be perfectly safe even if it might taste a bit different as they announced plans Monday to address massive leaks in the supply system by shutting down part of a main aqueduct for the winter. The temporary shutdown this week of a stretch of the Delaware Aqueduct in upstate New York, which carries water from the Catskill region, means the city will be more reliant on reservoirs in the northern suburbs. And that could mean people with more sensitive palates could notice changes in the famously crisp taste of New York City water. New Yorkers should know that your water is going to taste a little, slightly different. Some of you are not going to pick it up, Mayor Eric Adams said before sipping a bit of water at a news conference announcing the work. Adams called it "perfectly safe, good water. A section of the Delaware Aqueduct is being drained as part of a $2 billion project to address profuse leaks beneath the Hudson River. The temporary cutoff has been in the works for years, with officials steadily boosting capacity from other parts of the citys sprawling 19-reservoir system. The aqueduct is the longest tunnel in the world and carries water for 85 miles (137 kilometers) from four reservoirs in the Catskill region to other reservoirs in the northern suburbs. Operating since 1944, it provides roughly half the 1.1 billion gallons (4.2 billion liters) a day used by more than 8 million New York City residents. The system also serves some upstate municipalities. But the aqueduct leaks up to 35 million gallons (132 million liters) of water a day, nearly all of it from a section far below the Hudson. The profuse leakage has been known about for decades, but city officials faced a quandary: They could not take the critical aqueduct offline for years to repair the tunnel. So instead, they began constructing a parallel 2.5-mile (4-kilometer) bypass tunnel under the river about a decade ago. Its taken us 20 years to plan for this project because the scale of this project is so massive, said environmental Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala. The new tunnel will be connected during the shutdown, which is expected to last up to eight months. More than 40 miles (64 kilometers) of the aqueduct running down from the four upstate reservoirs will be out of service during that time, though a section closer to the city will remain in use. Other leaks farther north in the aqueduct also will be repaired in the coming months. Deputy Commissioner Paul Rush said the work was timed to avoid summer months, when demand is higher. The city also has spent years making improvements to other parts of the system, some of which are more than 100 years old. Capacity has been increased for the complementary Catskill Aqueduct, and more drinking water will come from the dozen reservoirs and three lakes of the Croton Watershed in the northern suburbs. The heavier reliance on those suburban reservoirs could affect the taste of water due to a higher presence of minerals and algae in the Croton system, according to city officials. Just as different brands of bottled water taste a bit different, so do our different reservoirs, Aggarwala said. City water, he said, remains a safe and healthy choice. I dont know that that many people will actually notice a difference in taste. It is just possible, he said. And so we want to make clear to you all why and whats going on, in case people do have concern." Israeli forces have conducted small raids into southern Lebanon ahead of what could be a much larger ground invasion. Israeli commando units have sneaked across the border into Lebanon in recent days to gather intelligence about Hezbollah's positions, tunnels, and military infrastructure, according to the New York Times. The raids are meant to provide necessary intelligence for a possible wider ground invasion. Israel has told the U.S. that the operations are limited operations focused on Hezbollah infrastructure near the border, according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. While the U.S. still opposes an all-out war, a U.S. official told CNN that the administration thinks Israel could expand its ground operations in southern Lebanon sooner than originally planned. "The next phase in the war against Hezbollah will begin soon and will be a significant factor in achieving the goal of the war returning the residents of the north to their homes," Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said. Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in a limited war since last October, but Israeli forces have significantly escalated the scope of their attacks since the beginning of September in an attempt to force Hezbollah to stop its attacks on northern Israel. Israeli forces have largely decapitated Hezbollah's senior ranks, including Hassan Nasrallah, but Hezbollah has still been able to launch rockets and missiles into Israel. Israel's intensified strikes have targeted Hezbollah's infrastructure, arsenal, and leadership, but as many as a million Lebanese civilians have been displaced from the south, according to Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Featured Local Savings Israeli leaders have said their goal in their military efforts against Hezbollah is to allow for the more than 50,000 people who evacuated from northern Israel to return to their homes. They were evacuated after Hezbollah started launching projectiles into northern Israel on Oct. 8 in the aftermath of Hamas's massive terrorist attack a day earlier in southern Israel. The U.S. and several other governments have pushed for Israel and Hezbollah to agree to a three-week-long ceasefire to allow diplomatic efforts time to work, but neither side has appeared interested in such a move. President Joe Biden and his administration have desperately sought to avoid a wider conflict that could draw U.S. forces into it. The administration does not believe an Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon is the most effective way to get those families back into their homes. Despite that, Biden called Nasrallah's assassination a "measure of justice for his many victims." Israeli forces carried out the airstrikes that killed Nasrallah last Friday, which marked a pivotal moment in the conflict, given his more than three decades leading Iran's most impressive militant group. His killing has raised the tension in the region even more, with eyes on Iran to see how and if it responds militarily to Israel. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Israel has sought to prevent Iran from coming to Hezbollah's aid with strikes in Syria, as the war-torn country sits between Lebanon and Iran. Lebanon's transport ministry told an aircraft from Iran not to enter its airspace after Israel's military warned air traffic control that it would use "force" against the plane if it landed, according to Reuters. Israel last militarily occupied southern Lebanon in 2006, during a monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah. Hassan Nasrallah was a vicious, murderous terrorist with the blood of many thousands on his hands, in Israel, across the Middle East and around the world. But you may not have known that had you read the New York Times hero-worshipping eulogy of the dead Hezbollah leader, in which they labelled him a beloved and powerful orator, who supposedly championed equality among Muslims, Christians and Jews. Associated Press joined in the applause, calling him charismatic and shrewd, an astute strategist, idolised by his Lebanese Shiite followers, and respected by millions across the Arab and Islamic world. All this is reminiscent of the Washington Posts infamous 2019 headline that described Islamic State leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi as an austere religious scholar after he was killed during a raid by US special forces. This insanity illustrates just how dangerous the Left-leaning medias shift away from moral clarity on such issues has become. We saw the effects of such distortion last year when Bin Ladens Letter to America, published on the Guardian website, went viral on social media. The letter, which called for assault against Americans and Jews, was widely praised by many TikTokers. That was a reaction by pro-Palestinian activists to the war in Gaza, and may well have been orchestrated by the well-funded anti-Israel propaganda campaign that has been gaining immense traction in the West since Hamas terrorists, along with hundreds of Gazan civilians, invaded Israel in an orgy of murder, rape, torture and kidnap on October 7. That abomination was quickly forgotten and even wilfully denied by swathes of the progressive Left amid Israels defensive campaign in Gaza. Despite unprecedented Israeli efforts to minimise civilian casualties and enable aid delivery, both of which I have personally witnessed, the Israel Defense Forces have been widely vilified as war criminals, while Jerusalems opponents have been given the sort of treatment Nasrallah enjoyed from the New York Times. The bias is shamefully blatant. These distortions dont just influence the activists who have taken to our streets and have been intimidating pro-Israel students on university campuses. I have spoken to political leaders and government officials calling for an arms embargo on Israel whose evidence is exclusively from what they have seen in the progressive media. At the very moment when there is a need more than ever to stand up for Western values, decades of indoctrination in moral relativism, where no-one is objectively right or wrong, have weakened our resolve to the extent that a notorious terrorist leader can effectively be exalted by the progressive media. Too many political leaders reacted to the killing of Nasrallah by calling on Israel to de-escalate its defensive war in a situation where de-escalation can lead only to defeat. The Guardian concluded its obituary of Nasrallah by branding him a political leader rather than an arch-terrorist. He was indeed a politician, but he was one who succeeded in bringing Lebanon to its knees. His political agenda was not prosperity for his country or, as the New York Times preposterously suggested, religious equality for all. It was the destruction of Israel, the ejection of the US from the Middle East and the fight for supremacy of Shia over Sunni Islam, at the behest of his masters in Tehran. There was no place for negotiation for a fanatical jihadist who knew only bloodshed and declared his determination to go after Jews worldwide. Hezbollahs violence cannot be ended by de-escalation and negotiation, but only by military defeat. We in the West dont any longer understand that, believing that there is a reasonable political solution to every problem. Fortunately Israel does understand it and should be fully supported by us in its war to eradicate the enemies that are set on its own annihilation. 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. Young child among 5 killed in NC plane crash near Wright Brothers Memorial at Outer Banks KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. (WNCN) Officials said Sunday that a plane crash at the Outer Banks Saturday afternoon killed five people including a young child. The National Transportation and Safety Board said the crash near the Wright Brothers National Memorial killed all of those aboard a Cirrus SR22, according to the Virginian Pilot. The crash happened near the airstrip for the First Flight Airport beside the Wright Brothers National Memorial near Kill Devil Hills, the National Park Service said. The single-engine plane hit trees just before 5:20 p.m. Saturday and then crashed into woods and burst into flames, according to CBS affiliate WTKR. PREVIOUS: 2+ dead in NC plane crash near Wright Brothers National Memorial at Outer Banks Smoke after a plane crashed near the Wright Brothers Memorial at the North Carolina Outer Banks on Saturday. Courtesy: Janice Strausburg Witnesses told the National Park Service that the plane was on its second approach to the runway when the crash happened. Video and images from woods near the runway Sunday showed a pile of mangled metal and broken glass, according to the TV station. The plane was on a multi-leg flight and had most recently departed from Dare County Regional Airport, less than 10 miles away, before its approach at First Flight. A file photo of First Flight Airport to the left of the Wright Brothers National Memorial. Photo courtesy: Ke7dlt CC BY-SA 4.0 Smoke was visible for miles as the plane burned following the crash. Weather conditions at the airport Saturday evening were clear skies and winds out of the south at around 10 mph. After the crash, the airport was closed Saturday night and should reopen Tuesday. The Wright Brothers National Memorial was closed on Sunday. CBS Newspath 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 CBS17.com. WASHINGTON COUNTY, Va. (WJHL) Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin was in Southwest Virginia on Saturday to survey the damage wrought by Hurricane Helene. Youngkin saw firsthand the wreckage left by floodwaters in Damascus. Congressman Morgan Griffith, State Senator Todd Pillion and Delegate Israel OQuinn accompanied the governor. Parts of Marion, VA under water, emergency shelters open Governor Glenn Youngkin assesses storm damage caused by Hurricane Helene in Damascus, Virginia on September 28, 2024. Official Photo by Christian Martinez, Office of Governor Glenn Youngkin. Courtesy of the governors office. We are heartbroken for all Virginians and Americans who have suffered in the wake of Hurricane Helene, Youngkin stated in a news release. Were incredibly proud of our brave first responders from around the Commonwealth who have saved countless lives, and we are deeply grateful to those working tirelessly to restore electricity, communication, and food supplies. Youngkins visit coincided with Tennessee Governor Bill Lees in Northeast Tennessee. On Sunday, Youngkins office announced that Virginias request for a federal emergency declaration for Public Assistance, Emergency Protective Measures and Direct Federal Assistance had been approved. President Joe Bidens approval of the emergency declaration translates to support for the following counties: Grayson Smyth Tazewell Washington Wise Wythe The City of Galax will also receive support. According to the White House, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will coordinate all disaster relief efforts to help the local populations. Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency, the White House stated in a press release. Emergency protective measures, limited to direct federal assistance, will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding. Youngkins office said the Commonwealth will continue to work with FEMA and local assistance programs. Hurricane Helenes impacts were felt across Southwest Virginia and the impacts are heart-wrenching, Youngkin said on Sunday. Immediately, we went to work to request additional federal assistance on top of the state and local assistance that we are already providing. Thank you to President Biden, Senator Warner, Senator Kaine and Congressman Griffith for their support and continued coordination to provide assistance to Virginians in need. Photo: Flood damage in Damascus, Virginia. Courtesy of Todd Pillion and the United Way of Southwest Virginia. Dad walks nearly 30 miles through flood debris to walk daughter down the aisle According to the governors office, Virginia State Police troopers are in the Town of Damascus to prevent looting and provide additional law enforcement. Soldiers and first responders have also conducted several rescue operations in the town. The Town of Damascus has a curfew starting at 7 p.m. and lasting through Wednesday. Washington County, Virginia, county offices will be closed on Monday due to a lack of power. The United Way of Southwest Virginia is working to raise money for the emergency response and long-term recovery of the region. Our hearts go out to the families and individuals who have suffered unimaginable loss, Megan Parks, United Way of Southwest Virginia Executive Director, said in a Sunday news release. At a time like this, its critical that we come together as a community to offer material support, compassion, and hope for the future. Every donation, no matter how small, will help rebuild lives. The United Way of Southwest Virginia initiated the 2024 SWVA Regional Disaster Relief Fund and seeded the first $25,000. All proceeds will go straight to flood relief and recovery. To donate to the relief fund, click here. Biden has also approved an emergency declaration for public assistance in Tennessee for Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Johnson and Unicoi counties. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. YPD: Man found outside South Side bar with gun said he was waiting to get someone YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) Reports said a man found early Sunday morning who was crouching outside a South Side bar with a gun told police he was waiting for someone to come outside so he could get them. Read next: Man reports assault on South Side in Youngstown Christopher Gordon, 35, was booked into the Mahoning County jail on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, a third-degree felony and carrying concealed weapons, a fourth-degree felony. He is expected to be arraigned later Monday in municipal court. Reports said a city police officer working security at about 3:05 a.m. Sunday at a 3229 South Ave. bar when someone told him they saw a man jump over a fence behind the bar and he was crouching down and hiding. The officer and two other officers went to where the witness said the man was and saw Gordon, who started to walk away very quickly, reports said. Reports said the man was told to stop, which he did, and told police he had a weapon when asked. Police searched the man and found a loaded semiautomatic handgun on him, reports said. Reports said Gordon told police he was waiting for someone to come out of the bar so he could get them, but he would not say who he was waiting for. Witnesses told police Gordon was earlier accompanying a man who threatened a person he had argued with, reports said. Reports said a records check found the gun Gordon had was reported stolen in June from New Castle, Pa., and that Gordon is not allowed to have a gun because of a previous conviction for improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle. Gordon is also wanted on a warrant from Campbell police, reports 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 WKBN.com. On a visit to the U.S. last week, Volodymyr Zelensky gave the hard sell to his Victory Plan for Ukraine. In meetings with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and an awkward encounter with former President Donald Trump, the Ukrainian leader insisted his country could stillwith Western helpemerge victorious in its long-running war with Russia. Zelensky is yet to share details of the plan with the Ukrainian people, although he is promising to do that in the near future, but on the front lines of the conflictwhere Kyivs forces have been drawn into a costly war of attrition against the numerically superior Russian forcesvictory seems to be a distant hope. After two and a half years of war, soldiers are tired. The same soldiers who gave Vladimir Putins forces a bloody nose after the February 2022 invasion, and pushed the invaders from Kyiv and Kharkiv, say they are under-equipped and complain that they are being ordered to carry out impossible missions as Kyiv struggles to supply the military with new recruits and acquire more Western weapons to ward off Russian advances. With little training and battleground conditions far removed from what they signed up for at the beginning of the war, the men are sent on what they describe as suicide missions: They are told to get behind enemy lines to launch attacks, yet are not given the weaponry to do so successfully. The unrealistic tactics have led some entire battalions to refuse orders from their higher-ups, creating an internal conflict that makes it increasingly difficult for Ukraine to hold off Russias summer offensive. Soldiers who spoke to the Daily Beast, on condition of anonymity, said that if Ukraine does not change its methods, it is Russia that will end up victorious. In the frontline chaos, they say, Ukrainian soldiers are accidentally shooting at one another; some commanders are members of organized crime groups, using the war for their own business gains. In the aftermath of Ukraines incursion into Russias Kursk region last month, one soldier with whom the Daily Beast has been in contact over the course of the summer said that the opening of the new front had drawn attention away to corruption scandals faced by Kyivs military. Additionally, some soldiers feel that they would rather accept defeat and return home rather than continue fighting in a never-ending war that they cannot escape. The soldier, who asked to be referred to only as Eddie and who has fought across key battlegrounds with the 206th Territorial Defense battalion, said it was important the Daily Beast tell his story, believing it could help save lives, and possibly ignite change in the war. Ukraines military has fought gallantly against an enemy far larger than itself since the Russian invasion of February 2022; many of its soldiers have been on the front lines since the beginning. However, they have been met with frequent setbacks over the last few months, which have many of them nervous that Kyiv faces longer-term defeat. Late last year, the U.S. Congress essentially cut off all new military aid to Ukraine after right-wing Republicans, backed by Trump, decided to make political capital from the multi-billion flow of aid and weaponry. The lack of aid carried on well into 2024, and Ukraines military felt it starkly. Its virtually impossible to calculate with any degree of accuracy how many Ukrainian soldiers have been been killed in Ukraine since the Russian invasion of February 2022, although losses on the Russian side are thought to have been at least four times higher. Zelensky said in February that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed so far, a figure that even Kyivs closest allies reckon to be an understatement. As far back as August 2023, U.S. officials put the likely death toll on the Ukrainian side at 70,000, with 120,000 injured (although the likely Russian casualty figures are much higher still). In the last few months, says Eddie, his battalion has had 40 soldiers killed, but he says there are almost no healthy people left in the battalion out of more than 320 men. Eddie, 34, is from Kyiv, and took up arms with the territorial defense shortly after Russias invasion began. Kyiv was the focal point of the Kremlins war plans: Putins generals believed they could capture the capital city in a matter of days, and the rest of the country would simply crumble. Eddie did not have military training when he joined the territorial defense. Still, he viewed joining it as a heroic and patriotic act that he could perform for his country, risking his life for the greater good of all Ukrainians. As a member of territorial defense, Eddie thought his work would be solely tied to pushing Russian forces out of the Kyiv region. It was supposed to be a less intense position in the war than the men fighting in the eastern Donbas region or the southern front. Eddie was given no military training beforehand. Instead, he was sent directly to the Kyiv front and aided in the push to get Russians out of the Kyiv area. When Russia was pushed out of Kyiv at the end of March 2022, Eddie felt a sense of accomplishment. I felt great, he recalls. It was the first good news after the invasion. It was a light of hope that we will finally be able to [be] free from the shackles of Russian oppression after centuries. After Kyiv was secured, Eddie and his battalion were shuffled around various hotspots of the war, fighting in the eventual liberation of the southern city of Kherson and Lyman and Izium in the East. He has seen some of Ukraines greatest accomplishments but also its most significant losses. While witnessing the liberation and fall of Ukrainian territory, Eddie said that he feels he needs to have adequate training to carry out some of his assignments and, at times, that his work is different from what he initially signed up for. As the war dragged on, Eddie said that he and his battalion had been overworked and exhaustedthey were supposed to be pulled out of rotation every 30 to 45 days and have a rest and recuperation before returning to the front. But Eddie said they were stuck without rotation for eight months with no break as Ukraine struggled to find new recruits and ample weapons supplies. Ukraine has been so desperate for new soldiers this year that it has lowered the enlistment age from 27 to 25, allowed prisoners to join the ranks, and stopped fighting-age men on the streets to check their military papers before sending them to the recruitment center. For the first nearly two years of war, Ukraines military was led by commander-in-chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, whose leadership was much admired by the soldiers under his command. After falling out with Zelensky on the future course of the war, Zaluzhnyi was replaced in February by Oleksandr Syrskyi, whom Eddie and his comrades blame for much of the difficulties faced by his battalion and others over the past six months. Eddie complains that most men still do not receive adequate military training before they are sent to the front lines. Two and a half years into being a soldier, Eddie said that he does not feel that he does not have the skills that his commanders are now demanding from him. For eight and a half months, Eddie and his battalion shifted around various front lines in Donetsk, where, the soldier said, We manageddespite harsh conditions. In March, they were granted rest and recuperation because of the amount of killed and wounded they had. We thought finally we would have some rest, that we will be able to repair our vehicles, deal with health issues of personnel, and go on vacations. But R&R lasted only for one and a half months. Not everybody was able to go on vacation, he said. Eddie managed to take a vacation, but a fellow soldier in his battalion who asked to be referred to as Bruce told the Daily Beast he had no relaxation and recovery as such because we were also fulfilling the tasks assigned to protect the border in [Kyiv] area. I still conducted a number of training sessions. The problem is more that we were supposed to get more people for the unit, but we did not. There is a catastrophic shortage of people, which overloads the soldiers, said Bruce, adding that the lack of people is not solely the problem of his battalion but of Ukraines entire military. After returning to Donbas, Eddies battalion joined a new brigade for his current deployment, and he said, Since day one, weve noticed a total mess in the organization of defense management and communications. There was a case when guys from [brigade] just shot at other guys from [brigade]. Eddie added that his brigades commander started issuing almost suicidal tasks to our battalions, sending people for assaults without any artillery, aerial, armor, or any kind of support. Nine months of intense fighting and then a ridiculous six weeks of R&R and then back to the front line in one of the hottest directions is too much for a small battalion. Our vehicles are in bad shape, and not to mention that dealing with health issues, recruiting new guys and training wasnt even a thing. Weve had zero [new] training, said Eddie. When Eddie spoke to the Beast this summer, he said, Just right now, three guys died, and one sustained heavy wounds because they never got the promised artillery support during an assault. They tasked four people with AK-47s and nothing else, to fight at one position. According to Eddie, his battalions motor battery complains of receiving about 15 artillery shells a day, while the Russians are shooting hundreds or even thousands. Now weve lost more men [in two months] than weve lost since the beginning: the defense of Kyiv, Kherson campaign, Vovchansk, Bakhmut, Siversk-Soledar, and Maryinka combined. Officers (company commanders, platoon commanders), sergeants (combat medics, squad commanders), and soldiers are dead or heavily wounded and fighting for their lives in a hospital. In early July, an outspoken commander in Eddies battalion, Roman Kulyk, posted on X about the overwhelming situation on the front lines, saying that his soldiers had refused to carry out a global suicidal task that they were given and did another route instead. It is a simple axiom of war that senior commanders are generally unable [or] refuse to objectively assess the capabilities of their subordinate personnelThe fact that these people have been physically and psychologically worn out by the years of the Great War, where there is a total lack of means and ammunition to support the infantryall this is stupidly ignored. The commander said that when he and other high-ups voice their concerns about the war, they are being ignored. How many soldiers have died because of such stupidity, hypocrisy, unwillingness to exert effort to improve the chances of our people to survive? he said. However, Eddie said that the commander was discharged due to corruption in a city in western Ukraine before the war. Eddie says the new brigade his battalion have been assigned to, the 41st, lack professionalism and do not care about the well-being of their soldiers. In one instance, Eddie said that he was listening to his new brigades radio when medics were evacuating wounded soldiers. At some point, I hear a voice of one of the companys commanders Turn that f---ing truck with wounded back and drop them near positions If I find this guy, I will kill him. No questions asked, said Eddie. During the attack, Bruce said, I saw the enemy moving freely in the direction of the likely offensive precisely because our brigade did not organize a defense in the direction of the offensive. They did not even mine it. It was close to our [line of defense], so the enemy eventually got the opportunity to surround some of our positions. At the end of July, Eddie and Bruce updated the Daily Beast on their battalions conditions. They had been pulled out of their work with the 41st and had moved to the front lines of Donbas, where Russians have ground out victories to capture towns such as Niu York. In his latest location, he shared that there is a total incompetence of higher command, inability to see the situation, therefore idiotic inefficiency of their orders, tragic and senseless losses from our side, and advancement of the enemy. When asked about the future of the war and whether Ukraine will lose, Eddie said, In general, if this trend continues, we will lose, of course. It is a really high probability. 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. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, held a meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief on 30 September, where the staffing of military brigades and the supply of armament and military equipment were discussed. Source: evening address by Zelenskyy Quote: "I held a meeting of the Staff today. Several key issues were discussed. The first is manning the brigades. The second is weapons and equipment for our warriors procurement and supply. Additionally, I had a separate discussion with Ukraine's Defence Minister Umerov regarding the fulfilment of contracts and the functioning of institutions within the Ministry of Defence. All real reform measures must be fully implemented." Details: Zelenskyy also had a long conversation with Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and Anatolii Barhylevych, the head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Quote: "[I received ed.] reports on each of our frontline areas, our further capabilities, and our specific tasks. The situation is very challenging. The most important thing is to put pressure on Russia using all available means and tools to achieve our goal of a real and just peace for Ukraine and all our people as soon as possible. Everything that can be done this fall, everything we can achieve, we must achieve." Support UP or become our patron! When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: Shutterstock An industry analyst recently revealed that China has developed a single generative AI (GAI) model across multiple data centers a massive feat considering the complexity of using different GPUs in a single data center, let alone using servers in multiple geographic locations. Patrick Moorhead, Chief Analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, said on X (formerly Twitter) that China was the first country to manage this achievement and that he discovered it during a conversation about a presumably unrelated NDA meeting. This technique of training GAIs across different locations/architectures is essential for China to keep its AI dreams moving forward, especially as American sanctions have stopped it from acquiring the latest, most powerful chips to drive its research and development. Since Nvidia does not want to lose the Chinese market, it created the less powerful H20 AI chips that fall within Washingtons restrictive performance parameters. However, there are rumors that even these down-tuned chips might be banned soon, highlighting the uncertainty Chinese tech companies face in the current political climate. Because of this uncertainty, Chinese researchers have been working on melding GPUs from different brands into one training cluster. By doing so, the institutions could combine their limited stocks of sanctioned high-end, high-performance chips, like the Nvidia A100, with less powerful but readily available GPUs, like Huaweis Ascend 910B or the aforementioned Nvidia H20. This technique could help them combat the high-end GPU shortage within China, although it has historically come with large drops in efficiency. However, it seems that China has found ways to solve this issue, especially with the news of the single GAI development across multiple data centers. Although we dont have any information on this GAI yet, it shows the lengths that Chinese researchers will go to, to ensure that they can continue driving Chinas AI ambitions forward. As Huawei said, China would find ways to continue moving its AI development despite American sanctions. After all, necessity is the mother of invention. BEIJING (Reuters) -China's CATL said a "relatively small" number of products were affected by a fire at its battery factory in southeastern Fujian province and the impact on production and operations was expected to be limited. CATL said there were no casualties in the incident, which occurred in the city of Ningde at noon on Sunday and was still under investigation, in a reply to Reuters. "The product volume affected is relatively small, and the impact to CATL's overall production operation is relatively small," the company said. CATL is the world's largest battery maker and counts Tesla as its biggest client. It has been known for a high product reliability and production yield with its unique manufacturing techniques and management. The plant, which local media said is situated in one of CATL's core battery production bases called "Z base", is among the firm's newer and more advanced production lines just 10 minutes away from its headquarters. Local media reported that the fire was put out at 10:20 p.m. In June, a fire at South Korean lithium battery maker Aricell's plant killed 23 people, which police blamed on a rush to produce batteries to meet a deadline without addressing signs of quality failures. (Reporting by Zoey Zhang, Liz Lee and Shanghai newsroom; Editing by Kim Coghill) US sets new rule that could spur AI chip shipments to the Middle East By Karen Freifeld WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Commerce Department on Monday unveiled a rule that could ease shipments of artificial intelligence chips like those from Nvidia Corp to data centers in the Middle East. Since October 2023, U.S. exporters have been required to obtain licenses before shipping advanced chips to parts of the Middle East and Central Asia. Under the new rule, data centers will be able to apply for Validated End User status that will allow them to receive chips under a general authorization, rather than requiring their U.S. suppliers to obtain individual licenses to ship to them. The United States will work with foreign data centers that apply for the Validated End User program as well as host governments to ensure the safety and security of the technology, a U.S. official said. Santa Clara, California-based Nvidia, the world's leading AI chip supplier, declined to comment. The move comes amid growing concerns in Washington that the Middle East could become a conduit for China to obtain advanced American chips that are barred from being shipped directly to China. G42, a UAE-based AI company with historic ties to China, has been a focus of those concerns. In April, Microsoft Corp. announced that it would invest $1.5 billion in the company, with plans to provide G42 with chips and model weights, sophisticated data that improves an AI model's ability to emulate human reasoning. The deal drew scrutiny from China hardliners in Congress, even though G42 said in February that it had divested from China and was accepting constraints imposed on it by the United States to work with American companies. G42, which owns data centers, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Data centers that apply for the program will undergo a rigorous review process to make sure safeguards are in place to keep U.S. technology from being diverted or used in ways contrary to national security, the Commerce Department said in a statement. The vetting process include information about current and potential customers, business activities, access restrictions and cybersecurity, according to the rule. Applicants also must agree to reporting requirements and on-site reviews by U.S. government representatives, and host countries may need to provide assurances regarding the safe and secure use of the technology, the rule says. Authorizations will limit the quantities and types of technology that can be exported to a given data center, according to the official. The agency's Bureau of Industry and Security "is committed to facilitating international AI development while mitigating risks to U.S. and global security," Commerce official Alan Estevez said in the statement. (Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Additional reporting by Alexandra Alper in Washington; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Mark Porter and Jonathan Oatis) Russian President Vladimir Putin has awarded Polad Bulbulo?lu, Azerbaijan's former ambassador to Russia, with the "Order of Alexander Nevsky" for his contributions to strengthening cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan, Azernews reports. Note that Polad Bulbulo?lu is a prominent Azerbaijani figure, known for his multifaceted career as a musician, composer, actor, and diplomat. Since 2006, Polad Bulbulo?lu has served as Azerbaijans Ambassador to Russia, an important role given Azerbaijan's significant geopolitical relationship with its northern neighbor. His diplomatic work involves fostering Azerbaijan's political, cultural, and economic relations with Russia. It is worth noting that the Order of Alexander Nevsky is one of Russias highest state decorations, named after the legendary Russian medieval prince and military hero, Alexander Nevsky. It is awarded to Russian and foreign citizens for outstanding service to the country, particularly in strengthening international relations and fostering economic, political, or cultural cooperation with Russia. EXCLUSIVE The Department of Labor has landed itself back in the crosshairs of House Republicans over accusations it sought to boost Democrats in the 2024 elections by hosting a pro-union event on the taxpayers dime. In correspondence first seen by the Washington Examiner, the House Education and Workforce Committee is demanding that acting Labor Department Secretary Julie Su provide the panel with a litany of information on an event earlier this month inducting labor unions into its hall of fame and a panel discussion on the labor movements future. The timing and apparent one-sided nature of this event are highly suspect, occurring 49 days before election day and seeming to involve only union leaders as speakers, Education and Workforce Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) wrote in a letter to Su. The Committee is concerned the event and panel discussion is another example of a pro-union pep rally held at DOLs national headquarters at taxpayer expense. The Labor Department did not immediately provide comment. 2024 VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: VANCE AND WALZ TO GO TOE-TO-TOE IN CBS CONTEST The department originally billed the event as a tribute to nine labor unions inducted into its Century of Service Honor Roll of American Labor Organizations. The panel discussion that succeeded the occasion spotlighted commitments unions have made at the national and local levels to foster a diverse workforce, including pledging to increase the percentage of women in the building trades and establish committees for underrepresented workers to involve them in their local unions work. Panelists were from some of the nations largest unions, including the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union. SEIU was one of the nine inductees. Foxx stated her committee has long been concerned about DOLs lapses in judgment involving holding one-sided events near an election. Featured Local Savings As evidence, she cited a 2022 Workers Voice Summit held by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that occurred 43 days before that years elections. Foxx accused the Biden administration of stonewalling their attempts at the time for more information despite issuing subpoenas. DOL never provided complete responses, leaving many aspects of this event a mystery, Foxx wrote. On the campaign trail, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are heavily courting union voters, an influential bloc of the electorate that has historically aligned more with Democrats and is largely supporting Harris. But in a blow to the Democratic nominee, the Teamsters union, comprised of transportation and public works employees, became one of the only major labor groups to opt against endorsing Harris. It marked the first time since the 1996 election that Teamsters wont endorse any candidate for president, even as a majority of its polled members said they preferred Trump. The union was left with few commitments on top Teamsters issues from either former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris and found no definitive support among members for either partys nominee, Teamsters said of its decision this month. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Foxx demanded that Su provide a list of information by Oct. 15 regarding the pro-union event, including planning communications between the White House and the Labor Department, the attendee list, and an explanation of why the department felt its proximity to the election was appropriate. The Committee is confounded by the Biden-Harris administrations gall in hosting yet another one-sided event near an election, Foxx wrote to Su. Prosecutors are warning the Washington state Supreme Court that reducing public defender caseloads could lead to filing of fewer criminal charges and people seeking retribution on their own. This is a social contract. People give up vigilante justice in exchange for the government to administer justice, Okanogan County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Teddy Chow told justices. Vigilantism will not only be limited to revenge or retribution to a particular offender but may also endanger those who work in public and criminal justice, he said. Chow wasnt the only one making a dire prediction to justices in a hearing Wednesday on a request to amend the Supreme Courts standards for indigent defense by trimming the number of cases public defense attorneys handle each year by up to two-thirds. The state has a shortage of public defenders. Prosecutors say reducing defenders workloads will lead to filing of fewer cases to ensure no ones rights to counsel are violated. And if the public defender ranks grow, cities and counties will need to amp up hiring of staff and prosecutors to keep pace and that will be exorbitantly expensive. Without sufficient attorneys or without sufficient resources, it would lead to a de facto decriminalization and an increase in vigilantism, said Russell Brown, executive director of the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys. He added that way too many people have had their cases dismissed or not filed because of a lack of public defenders. Supporters of reducing caseloads say the change is needed to stabilize the system. They contend that large caseloads and low pay are driving people out of public defense and deterring new lawyers from entering this line of legal work. And they, too, pointed to the problem in some counties where those accused of crimes, but unable to afford a lawyer, can wait long periods of time before they receive counsel they are constitutionally guaranteed. Public defense is in a downward spiral. We can fix this, said Jason Schwarz, director of the Snohomish County Office of Public Defense and chair of the Washington State Bar Associations Council on Public Defense. This will be expensive. Justice is not cheap. Larry Jefferson, director of the states Office of Public Defense, urged the justices to make the change and heaped praise on public defenders for their efforts amid rising caseloads, growing trial backlogs and increasing departures through retirements and resignations of those seeking higher-paying, less stressful jobs. Theyre giving up their lives for this state right now, he said. Crisis of attrition Caseloads of public defenders have been a topic of conversations the past two years. Under standards adopted by the state Supreme Court in 2012, a full-time public defense attorney or assigned counsel should have no more than 150 felony cases a year. Last year, the American Bar Association, the National Center for State Courts and the RAND Justice Policy Program released the National Public Defense Workload Study that concluded public defenders should handle far fewer. Washingtons high court asked the Washington State Bar Association to weigh in on whether the cap needs adjusting. The association responded in March with the recommendation now under public review for new maximums of 47 felony or 120 misdemeanor cases in a year, depending on the severity. The reduction would be phased in over three years. Under the proposal, crimes are assigned a number of credits based on seriousness and complexity of providing a legal defense. A motor vehicle theft is assigned one credit and a murder seven, for example. That means a lawyer could theoretically be assigned 47 vehicle theft or seven homicide cases in a year before hitting their limit. In addition, the bar association wants the court to increase minimum support staff requirements and revise attorney qualifications to enable lawyers to handle a variety of cases faster. Attorneys are resigning from the public defense profession in droves because they cannot continue the work given the volume of cases, bar association members wrote in the summary of the requested amendments to the Courts Standards for Indigent Defense Services. Justices will hold a second public hearing about the standards on Nov. 13 in the Temple of Justice and comments can also be submitted to the court until Oct. 31. They can accept, reject or modify any or all of the proposals. There is no deadline to act. Any decision will be handled similar to a court case where they confer behind closed doors then issue a decision and explanation. Critical issue It will be expensive to reduce caseloads. On that point everyone agreed. But cost is not a concern for the court, justices noted. Jefferson, with the Office of Public Defense, told justices hes requesting $137 million in the next two-year state budget of which $40 million would be specifically to help defray costs of public defense at the local level. The current budget provides $5.8 million to counties and roughly $1 million to cities. He also acknowledged the challenge of complying with the change will vary by county. Reducing caseloads by roughly 60% will require hiring many attorneys. Local government leaders are concerned they wont be able to find them and, if they do, will lack money to pay them. And if the Supreme Court sets new minimum staffing levels for paralegal and other support staff, it will compound the challenge. Candice Bock, government relations director for the Association of Washington Cities, and Derek Young, interim executive director for the Washington State Association of Counties, said during a briefing for state lawmakers on the issue earlier in the week that collective costs could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Even if the state managed to come up with money, a reduced caseload standard will not result in three times as many individuals being interested in pursuing a career in public defense in such a short amount of time. If these standards are enacted and if these standards are required, well need help from the Legislature, Young said. If you are sending a Letter To the Editor, please be sure to follow these rules: Letters have a firm 200-word limit and will be edited for grammar, clarity and accuracy. The person who signs the letter must be the author. Anonymous letters will not be considered. Letters must address the editor, not a third party. We will not print form letters, libelous letters, business promotions or personal disputes, poetry, open letters, letters espousing religious views without reference to a current issue, or letters considered in poor taste. Letters reflect the opinion of the writer. The Yakima Herald-Republic cannot verify the accuracy of all statements made in letters. Writers are limited to one published letter per calendar month. New York Mayor Eric Adams, who faces corruption charges, filed a motion on Monday challenging the bribery charge against him as extraordinarily vague and unsupported by substantial evidence. Federal prosecutors accuse Adams, in part, of accepting over $100,000 in luxury travel from Turkish officials and, in 2021, pressuring the New York City Fire Department to expedite a safety inspection of a new Turkish Consulate. Adams asked U.S. District Judge Dale Ho, an appointee of President Joe Biden, to dismiss "Count V of the Indictment." Defense attorney Alex Spiro argued that the indictment against the mayor fails to prove Adams performed any official act in exchange for the perks, as is required for a bribery charge. It alleges only that while serving as Brooklyn Borough President, he agreed generally to assist with the operation or regulation of the Turkish Consulate, where he had no authority, Spiro, a celebrity lawyer who helped Alec Baldwin get his manslaughter charges dropped, wrote in the filing. The defense also contended that Adamss actions, such as sending three messages to the fire commissioner, fall within the normal and lawful activities that any city official might undertake for a foreign consulate. Overall, the defense filing argued that federal law necessitates a clear promise to perform an official act in exchange for a benefit for the conduct to qualify as bribery. In Adamss case, the allegations are too vague, according to Spiro, who said the indictment doesnt directly link the benefits, such as travel perks, to any specific government action. Instead, the defense said the actions described, such as offering general help to foreign diplomats, are routine for public officials and dont meet the legal standard for bribery. Featured Local Savings Adams was arraigned on Friday and pleaded not guilty to five charges, which include bribery and soliciting illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals. Spiro is seeking to dismiss all five counts, arguing they do not meet the legal standards for criminal activity. Republicans and Democrats are calling for Adams to resign, although some conservatives have raised questions about the timing of the federal investigation coming so soon after the mayor's aggressive tone against Biden's immigration policies. The mayor spent his Sunday speaking to a congregation of the Emmanuel Presbyterian Reformed Church in the borough of the Bronx, according to the New York Post, where he reiterated his vows to remain in office. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER "God placed me in this moment and placed in my heart to continue to move this city forward," Adams said. "Im not going to resign. Im going to reign." Adams is expected to return to court on Wednesday, where he will appear before the district judge for the first time since the indictment came down last week. Based on more than 17,000 European student reviews, Budapest is the fourth best student city on the continent according to the latest summary of the international higher education information platform The Campus Advisor. According to a press release by Corvinus University, in the publication 50 Best Student Cities in Europe 2024, published recently, the ranking was determined solely on the basis of real-world experiences and opinions gathered from students on the organizations website. To determine the cities with the best student experience, the list took into account the proportion of students in the population, academic environment, student-friendliness of the city, cost of living, cultural diversity, nightlife, public transport, amenities and safety, among others. A spokesperson for The Campus Advisor said these rankings serve as an important resource for students seeking the ideal educational environment and help them better prepare for the next chapter of their lives to find the educational path that best suits their academic and personal needs. At the top of the list are Czech, German and Irish cities Prague, Heidelberg and Galway and Budapest missed the podium by just a hairs breadth. Another Hungarian city is included in the overall list, Pecs, in 14th place. Budapest and the universities operating here are in a living, close relationship, actively influencing each other. Corvinus plays a decisive role in the student experience provided by the city, as it acts as the countrys university flagship of economic and social sciences, as a vibrant and inspiring scientific-educational hub, said Peter Feher, Corvinus head of International Relations. In addition, the domestic and international citizens of Corvinus, similarly to other universities, form an important intellectual consumer stratum, who buy from the diverse intellectual, cultural and gastronomic offer of the capital, generating considerable demand. This interaction is particularly strong in the case of Corvinus operating in the heart of the city, on the banks of the Danube in downtown Pest and on the Budapest-panoramic Buda campus, where the proportion of foreign students and teachers is close to 20%, he added. ********************************* 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! Newly elected local independent politician Zsolt Petrik is launching a petition to abolish the recently built musical road on Route 21 between Hatvan and Lorinci, HVG reports. The road, which plays the song Nelkuled by Ismeros Arcok when vehicles use it, has been disturbing local residents with excessive noise. The petition highlights complaints from residents of nearby villages such as Zagyva-szanto and Lorinci, where noise has become unbearable, disrupting daily life and sleep. The unpredictable sound, depending on vehicle speed, has been especially harmful to young children. Environmental concerns have also been raised, with ornithologists warning that the noise disturbs birds and wildlife. Residents are calling for the removal of the music road or the construction of noise barriers to mitigate the disturbance. Prime Minister Viktor Orban asked the well-known AI platform ChatGPT for help in writing a speech on the European Competitiveness, Hungarian Economic Neutrality conference, delivered on Wednesday. In his speech, Mr. Orban confessed that while ChatGPT offered some insights, there is no substitute for genuine intelligence yet. Viktor Orban, during his speech on economic neutrality, humorously recounted his experience using ChatGPT to craft his remarks. He instructed the AI to write a speech on economic neutrality in a belligerent, determined style on his behalf. Within minutes, ChatGPT produced a speech that the Prime Minister rated 4 out of 5. It read: From all corners of the world, there is the sound of clashes. Economic powers are straining against each other But we Hungarians cannot drift blindly in this tumultuous process. While he acknowledged the AI speechs quality, Mr. Orban cautioned that the words felt somewhat empty and emphasized that reliance on AI alone is insufficient. He remarked, I note in parentheses that the jobs of the copywriters are in danger, as can be seen from this, and I think that those of journalists are even more so. This reflection highlights his belief that human depth and understanding are crucial for fully grasping economic concepts. He further challenged the audience, questioning whether Hungary could achieve economic neutrality in a world of economic divisions, implying that AI could provide insight when uncertainty arises. He quoted ChatGPTs assertive statements about Hungarys independence and determination, concluding that while the machines words are compelling, they lack the human touch: well, if that is what a machine with no imagination, no soul and no heart says, then it is up to us, who have imagination, heart and soul, to say at least that much. ********************************* 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! New Delhi: Online money transaction platform BharatPe on Monday announced that it has arrived at a definitive agreement with its former co-founder Ashneer Grover. The Fintech company said that as part of the settlement, Grover will not be associated with BharatPe in any capacity nor be a part of the shareholding of the company. Certain shares of Grover shall be transferred to the Resilient Growth Trust for the benefit of the Company and his remaining shares will be managed by his family trust. "Both parties have decided not to pursue the cases filed. We wish Mr. Grover well. BharatPe continues to focus on delivering industry leading solutions to its merchants and customers driving growth with profitability," a BharatPe spokesperson said in a statement. In August, the Delhi High Court referred a dispute between BharatPe, and its former managing director Ashneer Grover to a sole arbitrator. In its plea filed before the Delhi High Court, the fintech company alleged that Grover disclosed confidential information relating to BharatPe on social media platforms, in violation of the employment agreement. In an earlier round of litigation, the Delhi High Court imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh on Grover over blatant violation of earlier orders and assurances made by him to not post on social media defamatory posts against BharatPe. Ashneer and his wife allegedly committed financial irregularities when they were at the helm of the fintech platform. BharatPe terminated the services of Madhuri Jain, head of controls, after an internal probe found misappropriation of funds that ran into crores during her tenure. The fintech platform claimed that Grover, his wife, and their relatives were engaged in extensive misappropriation of company funds and grossly abused company money to fund their lavish lifestyles. Grover had already moved an arbitration plea with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre pleading that the investigation launched against him was illegal because it violated the shareholder agreement and articles of association. Among the most exciting developments for tech enthusiasts is the advent of AI code generators, tools that are making coding easier, faster, and more accessible. Platforms like Zencoder are at the forefront of this transformation, offering next-gen developers in India unprecedented opportunities to harness the power of AI in their coding processes. For Indian students aiming to build successful careers in software development, understanding and adopting AI-driven tools is no longer optional. According to a recent report by Nasscom, India has the potential to be a global leader in AI by 2030, with the AI sector contributing up to $957 billion to Indias economy. This growth will create a demand for professionals who can use AI tools, such as AI coding agents, to write, debug, and optimise code with increased efficiency. The Role of AI in Software Development AI is revolutionising how developers write and manage code. Traditional coding requires a deep understanding of programming languages, algorithms, and syntax. However, AI code generators are changing this by automating significant parts of the coding process. These AI tools analyse the developers instructions and generate code snippets, entire functions, or even full programs, based on those inputs. This dramatically reduces the time needed to complete projects and minimizes the chance of human error. Zencoder, for example, offers AI-powered solutions that streamline code development by integrating AI algorithms into everyday coding tasks. Whether it's code completion, error detection, or suggesting more efficient solutions, AI coding agents are becoming indispensable to developers, especially students who are just starting in the field. Why Indian Students Should Pay Attention India is home to one of the largest populations of aspiring developers. With approximately 1.5 million engineering graduates every year, competition in the tech sector is fierce. To stand out, students need to adopt cutting-edge technologies that enhance their skills and improve their employability. AI coding tools are one such technology that can give Indian students a competitive edge. According to a report by the World Economic Forum, AI and machine learning are expected to create 97 million new jobs globally by 2025. For Indian students, mastering these tools can unlock a myriad of opportunities, from landing prestigious jobs in multinational corporations to launching their own tech startups. Tools like Zencoder's AI code generator can be particularly helpful for students by automating complex coding tasks, thus allowing them to focus on creativity and problem-solving. AI Coding Agents In Education Several Indian educational institutions are already recognizing the potential of AI in software development. AI-focused curriculums and coding boot camps are emerging to teach students how to leverage AI coding agents. For example, prestigious institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have already incorporated AI tools into their programming courses to help students write cleaner, more efficient code. However, beyond the classroom, students can take advantage of platforms like Zencoder to further develop their skills. Zencoders AI coding agent can help students learn faster by providing real-time feedback, suggesting optimised code, and even detecting bugs as they write code. This AI-enabled learning allows students to experiment, iterate, and improve their coding skills more effectively than through traditional methods alone. Real-Life Applications And Case Studies AI tools are not only reshaping how coding is done but are also influencing the broader IT ecosystem. According to a report by Gartner, by 2024, AI will be responsible for nearly 70% of all software development tasks. Some Indian tech companies have already started integrating AI code generators into their workflows to boost productivity. For instance, TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) is experimenting with AI-driven coding solutions to reduce development time and improve the overall quality of their codebase. Similarly, Infosys is also using AI-powered tools to assist its developers in writing optimized, error-free code. These early adopters of AI in coding are setting the stage for a future where AI becomes a standard tool in every developers toolkit. The Future of AI in Indian Software Development As AI becomes more integrated into software development, the next generation of Indian developers must be prepared. By mastering AI code generators and tools like Zencoder, students can position themselves as leaders in this space. The future of software development will likely involve a hybrid approach, where human creativity and problem-solving work alongside AI's speed and accuracy. In this new paradigm, developers will play more of a supervisory role, guiding AI coding agents to produce highly efficient code that meets business needs. Conclusion The integration of AI code generators and AI coding agents is transforming the way software is developed, making coding more efficient, less prone to error, and accessible to a broader audience. Platforms like Zencoder are making these technologies available to Indian students, giving them the tools they need to excel in an increasingly competitive global tech market. For aspiring Indian developers, learning to work alongside AI is crucial for career success. By adopting AI-driven coding tools, students can unlock new opportunities, stay ahead of the competition, and be part of the next wave of technological innovation. As AI continues to advance, the role of AI coding agents in education and industry will only become more pronounced, and Indian students who embrace this change will be at the forefront of the software development revolution. (This article is part of IndiaDotCom Pvt Lts sponsored feature, a paid publication programme. IDPL claims no editorial involvement and assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions in the content of the article.) Gold Coast Electricals by SNRG India recently hosted a grand annual event at Jim Corbett celebrating a year of unprecedented growth. The annual event was organized by the company to celebrate the contributions of over hundred channel partners from across the country. The expert minds and leaders from the electrical industry gathered at this event showcased the strength and unity of Gold Coast Electricals. During this event held in Jim Corbett, Gold Coast Electricals proudly announced an impressive 45 per cent growth in the channel partners and shared their transformation journey during the past year. The company is looking forward to expanding its footprint through strong market presence. The annual event by SNRG India has laid the foundation stone for achieving transformational heights year after year. In this grand annual event, attendees also got the opportunity to network, share insights, and witness the companys inevitable success. Nikhil Goel, the Founder of SNRG India Private Limited company was also thrilled to announce the inauguration of a bigger factory and a corporate office (headquarters) in Noida during this event. In the coming times, this state-of-the-art facility that boasts 5x capacity will position the company in the right element and prepare a future-proof foundation for meeting the increasing market demand and needs of the growing customer base. Over hundreds of electrical industry partners, including dealers, distributors, and super stockists across India, were honoured with awards and certificates for their invaluable contributions at the annual event. During Gold Coast Electricals annual event, Goel highlighted how this occasion would serve not only as a platform but also as an outline for their ambitious vision of the future. He also shared the companys aspirations to become a market leader in the electrical industry with a laser focus on innovation and product development. There was also a discussion on how their team will be leveraging its advanced infrastructure and support from channel partners to set new benchmarks and better tackle the challenges with quality products, service, and technological advancements. Goel believes in promoting the all-round development of his company and his channel partners. The latest annual event by the company has been hosted to reaffirm Gold Coast Electricals commitment to its partners, customers, and the electrical industry as a whole. The host of the event is dedicated to influencing the electrical industry of India so it can progress on global scale. Gold Coast Electricals event organised by SNRG India Private Limited stated how the company looks forward to a future of innovation. In this event, attendees had a chance to collaborate with one another and share their thoughts. The annual event was an initiative that fell in line with their efforts to bring positive change in the electrical industry. The company invites all stakeholders to be a part of its successful route towards market leadership. It looks forward to bridging the communication gap in the electrical industry with more networking events in the future. The event was successfully held in the presence of distinguished business leaders, fostering valuable connections and innovative discussions, paving the way for a brighter future in the industry. Learn more at https://www.instagram.com/goldcoastelectricals (This article is part of IndiaDotCom Pvt Lts sponsored feature, a paid publication programme. IDPL claims no editorial involvement and assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions in the content of the article.) India and China recently agreed to pull back their forces from some points. However, the political-level talks and the military-level talks appear to be the two sides of a coin. According to a report, the Indian Army has decided to continue its forward post-deployment against China on key LAC points in Sikkim, eastern Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh for the fifth successive winter. India has so far avoided falling into China's trap of the waiting game and maintaining its strategic troops deployment has deprived the PLA from making any further unjust advancements. A Time of India report said that the Indian Army will go full-throttle with its troop deployment along the harsh LAC terrains as the 'trust deficit' on the border with PLA leadership remains high. The report said that while there are signs of narrowing differences at the political level, but the same is yet to have a trickle-down effect at the military levels. Why The Trust Deficit According to various recent reports and satellite images, China has continued to build permanent military infrastructure as well as bridges on its side of the LAC including in the Indian areas in its occupancy since 1962 and before. This has sent alarm bells ringing into the rank and files of the Indian defence establishment. The reports also claimed that China continues to deploy more forces on its forward military positions along the 3,488-km LAC. It shows that despite the political level talks, the PLA is not returning to its peacetime locations. According to the report, Indian Army General Upendra Dwivedi and the commanders-in-chief of the seven army commands will review the operational situation and preparedness along the LAC in the second week of October. What India Wants India is keeping a close eye on every development taking place on the Chinese side of the LAC. India feels that the first step of de-escalation will begin only if China disengages from the Depsang and Demchok points. Due to confrontations at Depsang and Demchok and the creation of buffer zones at Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso-Kailash Range and Gogra-Hot Springs have resulted in a situation where Indian troops are not able to access 26 of their 65 patrolling points between Karakoram Pass in the north and Chumar in eastern Ladakh, reported TOI. Jamaat-e-Islami-backed independent candidate Sikandar Malik campaigned wearing GPS tracking anklets on his feet. Sikandar says that after the 2024 parliamentary elections, they were confident that the election process in Jammu and Kashmir was being conducted in a free and fair manner, which motivated him to contest the Jammu and kashmir elections. Jamaat-e-Islami, banned by the Home Ministry under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in 2019 for alleged anti-national activities and links with terrorism, decided to participate in the electoral process this time. However, the Home Ministry did not lift the ban, leading many of its members to contest the elections as independent candidates. Sikandar Malik, a former district president (Amir District), was arrested several times since 2019 by the National Investigation Agency under UAPA. He was kept in Court Boulevard Jail and Haryana and then District Jail Bandipora but was released on bail just two months before the elections, wearing a GPS tracker. Sikandar Malik said, "I have been continuously arrested since 2019, first sent to Kot Bullard Jail, then to Haryana. Every day I had to report to the police station, and then, about two months before the Lok Sabha elections, I was kept in Bandipora Jail. I was told that a GPS tracker would be installed on me, and then I could move freely, so I accepted it." Sikandar says that he has met people from all sections in Bandipora and urged them to vote for him for a better future for themselves and the region. He also expressed that the government should lift the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami, emphasizing that the party has never been against elections. He recalled that in 1987, elections were rigged, leading to their disillusionment, but after witnessing fair elections in the last parliamentary polls and the improved situation, he decided to contest. He added, "All our responsible leaders have stated that we were disappointed after the 1987 elections, but the situation improved, especially after seeing the clear turnaround in the last elections. I am now contesting as an independent candidate." Sikandar Malik is a candidate for the third phase of voting, and the outcome of his candidacy will be decided in this round. Following the controversial assembly elections of 1987, Jamaat supported separatist movements and adopted a stance of election boycotts. In 2019, after the abrogation of Article 370, the government took strict action against Jamaat and other separatist organizations by banning them, arresting their leaders, and confiscating their properties. Former President Jimmy Carter will reach an unprecedented milestone Tuesday becoming the first president to reach age 100. The event will be an even bigger deal in Carter's 600-resident hometown of Plains, Georgia, where he has lived since leaving the White House in early 1981. The Carters have a lot of milestones, said Jill Stuckey, a Plains resident and superintendent of the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park. They were the longest-married presidential couple at 77 1/2 years, and now he is the longest-living U.S. president." Carter is also the last surviving member of his graduating class at Plains High School, from which he graduated in 11th grade in 1941 as there was no 12th-grade curriculum at the time. He was married to Rosalynn Carter from 1946 until her death last year at age 96. The park Stuckey oversees includes Carter's boyhood farm, the now-closed high school, the railroad depot that served as his 1976 campaign headquarters, and the home where he still resides. "Everybody is really excited," Stuckey said. "President Carter has been in hospice now for a year and seven months. In February, it will be two years that he has been in hospice. Most of us thought that when he went to hospice it would be a matter of days or maybe weeks. But the one thing that Jimmy Carter has failed at in his life is hospice, and were pretty happy about that." Carter's hometown will go all-out for the occasion. Festivities will begin Saturday with a road race in the morning, followed by the Plains Peanut Festival parade at 11 a.m., then a street dance in the evening. Plains is part of the Georgia peanut belt, and Carter was a peanut farmer before entering politics. Wayne Johnson will be one of the parade participants. A longtime friend of Carter, he is running for Congress in Georgia's geographically massive 2nd Congressional District. I first met him between 20 and 25 years ago, Johnson said. Knowing President Carter has been an important part of my development from the standpoint of making me want to be in public service. Johnson is running against longtime incumbent Sanford Bishop (D-GA) with a message of "stop the stupid in Washington." Though he is a Republican, he says he has always gotten along well with Carter, in part because they usually do not talk politics. The Washington Examiner has contacted Bishop's office seeking comment. Carter's actual birthday is not until Tuesday, which will come with its own slate of events. The first will be the naturalization of 100 new U.S. citizens, a military flyover with four F-18 Navy jets, and then a host of World War II-era planes that will fly over downtown Plains. At 4:30 p.m., the city will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for new statues dedicated to the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and legislation signed during the Civil Rights era. The final event will be a concert at the old high school. Featured Local Savings Another concert was filmed at Atlanta's Fox Theatre on Sept. 17. Featuring Georgia-based acts such as the Drive-By Truckers, India Arie, the B-52's, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, it will air on local public television that night. Carter has led one of the most active postpresidency lives since returning home following his 1980 defeat to Ronald Reagan. He was 56 at the time, and he spent the next decades building charities such as Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Center, the latter of which helped him win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. For decades, Carter also taught an adult Sunday school class at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains. Nelle Ariail, wife of the late Maranatha pastor Dan Ariail, has known Carter since 1982 and watched his class grow from the church's fellowship hall into the sanctuary. "I remember one Sunday, Dan just about had to step over people at the pulpit to preach," she said. Visitors came from all over the world to see him, sometimes from as many as 15 different countries in a single week. Ariail got to travel with Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter on Habitat for Humanity "work weeks" to places such as New York and Chicago, and to farther places such as Tijuana, Mexico. On the Mexico trip, they all slept in tents, and she could hear the Carters reading one chapter of the Bible every night in Spanish to practice the language. "The last night, when we presented the keys to the people who were getting the houses, we had a big closing-out ceremony, President Carter delivered his speech in Spanish," she said. "That was quite a feat." Carter has been much less active in recent years. He entered hospice in early 2023 and his wife, Rosalynn, died in November of that year. While Carter is no longer awake every day, according to his grandson Jason Carter, his family members still cherish their time with him. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Not only that, Jimmy Carter is hoping to hang on long enough to cast a vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in this fall's election. Early voting in Georgia, a state President Joe Biden won over former President Donald Trump by about 12,000 votes in 2020, starts on Oct. 15. BJP leader Sangeet Som is known for his vocal remarks and sparks stirs quite often with his controversial remarks. The former Meerut MP has admitted to having threatened government officials from a public platform saying that he would make the public beat them if they don't work as per the law. Sangeet Som made the remarks while addressing a gathering on Sunday. During his speech, Som said that many journalists asked him whether he threatened an officer or not. "They asked me if I threatened an officer. They asked me if the video was going viral. Any other leader would have refused to admit that it was their video or their voice, but I said yes I was the one who threatened," he said, asking if he should have threatened them more. The Meerut MP was addressing an audio clip that went viral a few days ago, in which he was allegedly heard threatening a government official. The incident is connected to the elections of the 'Ganna Samiti' or sugarcane corporation. Sangeet Som told the official that if any minor wrongdoing happens in the Sakoti Ganna Samiti election, he will make the officials pay a price for it. Som threatened the officials and said, "Mr. AR, keep this in mind. Dont make me open my third eye. Understand what I'm telling you. You dont know whom you're talking to." Sharing the audio on X, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav said, "Do we need to say what inspired the threatening and abusive language of the UP BJP leader? The person's speech is based on the type of friend he has." The Supreme Court on Monday directed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to submit a detailed report on the progress of the National Task Force (NTF) set up to ensure the safety of healthcare professionals. The hearing regarding this urgent matter has been rescheduled for October 14. CJI Chandrachud expressed concern over the West Bengal governments progress on infrastructure improvements, including the installation of CCTVs and the construction of toilets and separate resting rooms at government-run medical facilities. Although the state has indicated that remaining work will likely be completed by October 31, it assured the court it would make every effort to finish by October 15, 2024. During the hearing, the Supreme Court also probed the status of individuals still employed at R.G. Kar Hospital who are under investigation for alleged financial irregularities. Who are the people under probe still employed in R.G. Kar Hospital? the bench asked the CBI counsel. Senior advocate Indira Jaising, representing resident doctors, informed the court that these doctors continue to perform essential and emergency services despite the ongoing turmoil. The Supreme Court reiterated its previous order banning the publication of the victims name and photo in the rape-murder case linked to R.G. Kar Hospital. Advocate Vrinda Grover raised concerns about the deceased victims parents, who are troubled by social media clips revealing their daughters identity. The court emphasized that it had already passed an order regarding this issue and that it is the responsibility of law enforcement to enforce it, clarifying that the ban applies to all intermediaries. As the investigation unfolds, the bench noted that substantial leads have emerged from the CBIs inquiry, addressing both the alleged rape and murder as well as financial irregularities at the hospital. In a previous update on September 21, junior doctors partially resumed their duties after a 42-day work stoppage, protesting the horrific rape and murder of a fellow doctor while on duty at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital. The Supreme Court had previously expressed its alarm over findings in a status report from the CBI, stating on September 17 that it was disturbed by the revelations but refrained from disclosing specifics to protect the ongoing investigation. Additionally, on September 9, the court had voiced its concern regarding the absence of the challan, a key document needed for the postmortem of the victim, from the records submitted by the West Bengal government. The apex court had also criticized the Kolkata Police for delays in registering the unnatural death of the junior doctor, calling the situation extremely disturbing and questioning the procedural delays. Following the tragic incident, which has sparked nationwide protests, the Supreme Court established the 10-member National Task Force to create protocols aimed at ensuring the safety of doctors and healthcare professionals. The investigation into the case continues, with a civic volunteer arrested shortly after the victims body was found on August 9. As the case unfolds, the pressure is on the West Bengal government to act swiftly in ensuring the safety and security of healthcare workers in the state. Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024 Live: Former Haryana minister Ranjit Singh Chautala and seven others were expelled from the BJP for six years on Sunday after announcing their candidacy as independents in the upcoming October 5 Assembly elections. Haryana BJP chief Mohan Lal Badoli confirmed the expulsion, stating that it was enforced with immediate effect. In addition to Chautala, the BJP has expelled Sandeep Garg (Ladwa), Zile Ram Sharma (Assandh), Devender Kadian (Ganaur), Bachan Singh Arya (Safidon), Radha Ahlawat (Meham), Naveen Goel (Gurugram), and Kehar Singh Rawat (Hathin), all of whom are contesting the polls independently. The BJP's decision comes as Haryana prepares for its 90-member Assembly elections on October 5, with vote counting set for October 8. The party is aiming for a third consecutive term in power in the state. Meanwhile, Assembly elections are happening in Jammu and Kashmir for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370. On Friday, National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah criticised the BJP, citing recent terror attacks in the previously peaceful Jammu region as evidence of the party's alleged failure. Abdullah asserted that the BJP should apologise to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Omar Abdullah accused the BJP of giving a clean chit to Pakistan by blaming the National Conference, Congress, and PDP for terrorism in the Union Territory. The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections will be conducted in three phases. In a significant decision regarding indigenous cows, the Maharashtra government on Monday granted them the status of Rajmata-Gomata. The announcement came via a Government Resolution signed by Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan, who noted, "Cows have been an important part of human life since ancient times. The cow has long been referred to as 'Kamarrenu' in recognition of its historical, scientific, and spiritual significance." He further highlighted that while different breeds exist across the country, the numbers of indigenous cows are dwindling at an alarming rate. Maharashtra is home to a variety of indigenous breeds, such as Devri and Lalkanari in Marathwada and Dangi and Shavdabhat in northern Maharashtra. However, the state has been facing concerns over the rapid decline in these native cows. #WATCH | Mumbai: Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde says, "Government has made several decisions in the cabinet meeting. This also includes declaring 'Gau Mata' (indigenous cows) the 'Rajya Mata'. This was demanded by several people and seers. We have finally declared this today. Now pic.twitter.com/7cexZh4Q1j ANI (@ANI) September 30, 2024 To address this issue, the government hopes that the new designation will motivate farmers to raise and care for indigenous breeds, which are integral to Ayurvedic practices like Panchagavya and traditional farming methods. "The decline in the number of Indigenous cows is a matter of concern," the Government Resolution stated, urging livestock farmers to prioritize the rearing of these culturally significant animals. As the current government completes its first 100 days, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has demonstrated a robust commitment to expanding Indias global outreach and strengthening diplomatic ties across multiple continents. Through high-level visits, participation in multilateral forums, and the signing of key agreements, India continues to assert its presence on the international stage. Intensified Bilateral Visits: Several high-profile state visits have marked this period, with the President embarking on significant visits to Fiji, New Zealand, and Timor-Leste. The Prime Ministers engagements have been equally global, including visits to Italy (for the G7), Russia, Austria, Poland, Ukraine, Singapore, and Brunei, underscoring Indias focus on strengthening ties with both traditional allies and emerging partners. Meanwhile, the External Affairs Minister (EAM) has undertaken visits to key countries like the UAE, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan, and Mauritius, reflecting Indias strategic interest in the Indian Ocean and Gulf regions. In addition, India has hosted critical state visits, including those of the Prime Ministers of Vietnam and Malaysia, enhancing diplomatic relations with Southeast Asia. Multilateral and Plurilateral Engagements: Indias leadership in multilateral forums has also been a focal point of these 100 days. The Prime Ministers participation in the G7 Leaders Outreach Meeting in Italy highlighted Indias growing role in addressing global challenges. Meanwhile, the EAMs participation in key multilateral summits, such as the SCO Summit in Kazakhstan, ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers Meeting in Lao PDR, and the Quad Foreign Ministers Meeting in Japan, reflects Indias active engagement in regional and global partnerships. A significant milestone was Indias hosting of the 3rd Voice of Global South Summit (VOGSS), a major diplomatic event that saw the participation of 173 dignitaries from 122 countries, including 21 heads of state and government. Strengthening Diplomatic Presence: The MEA has further expanded Indias global footprint by opening five new diplomatic missions in Albania, Gabon, Georgia, Latvia, and Timor-Leste, alongside two Indian consulates in Auckland and Barcelona. This is part of Indias broader strategy to enhance its presence and influence across regions. Maritime Cooperation and SAGAR Vision: Indias maritime diplomacy, in line with the Prime Ministers SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) vision, has seen significant advancements. Key projects include the establishment of a Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Sri Lanka and the re-launching of the ferry service between India and Sri Lanka. Additionally, India has contributed to regional maritime security by handing over the PS Zoroaster vessel to Seychelles after refitting it in India. Maritime Security Dialogues with Australia and Vietnam have further bolstered cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. Renewable Energy and Health Cooperation: In the renewable energy sector, India continues its leadership in the International Solar Alliance (ISA) with the signing of the ISA Framework Agreement with Bolivia, Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica. This aligns with Indias global commitment to clean energy. Indias health diplomacy has been strengthened through the signing of MoUs for cooperation at the Drug Regulator Level with Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, and other nations. Additionally, MoUs with Nicaragua and Suriname on the recognition of the Indian Pharmacopeia signal Indias growing influence in global health standards. Digital Payments and UPI Expansion: Indias digital infrastructure is making global strides, with the signing of the INDIA STACK MoU with countries like Colombia, Cuba, and Trinidad & Tobago. The expansion of UPI and digital payments infrastructure reflects Indias technological expertise. Licensing agreements and NDAs with countries such as Peru and Nicaragua have further solidified Indias role in shaping digital payments in developing economies. Development Partnership and Cultural Diplomacy: Indias development partnership initiatives have gained momentum, with projects like the upgradation of the Deka Pumping Station in Zimbabwe and the supply of haemodialysis units to Pacific Island nations. The completion of a 20MW Hydroelectric Project in Burundi underscores Indias commitment to supporting infrastructure development in Africa. Cultural diplomacy also saw notable achievements with the Prime Minister inaugurating the 46th World Heritage Committee Session in India, where Indias nomination of the Charaideo Moidam in Assam was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list. The International Yoga Conference in Durban and the renewal of an MoU on Sanskrit and Indian Philosophy in Mauritius reflect Indias soft power and cultural ties. Diaspora Engagement: Engagement with the Indian diaspora remains a priority, with continued expansion of services like the e-passport pilot project in Bhubaneswar and Nagpur. The operationalisation of the e-Migrate mobile app, and the signing of a Labour Mobility Agreement with Malaysia, further highlight Indias commitment to its global citizens. The MEAs proactive diplomacy in the first 100 days of the government highlights Indias growing global footprint, strategic partnerships, and leadership on key global issues. Through intensified engagements, multilateral participation, and development cooperation, India is laying the groundwork for deeper collaborations in the coming years. Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh bypolls, the Samajwadi Party leaders are touring the state. While Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is countering the ruling BJP government led by Yogi Adityanath every other day on topics related to unemployment, paperleaks, crime and bulldozer action, SP leader Mehboob Ali has landed his party into soup with his controversial remark. Mehboob Ali, an MLA from Amroha, made this statement while addressing a public rally in Bijnor, where his controversial remarks emerged. Samajwadi Party MLA Mehboob Ali made a bold claim that the increasing Muslim population in Uttar Pradesh will lead to the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) ouster from power by 2027. The former cabinet minister in the Uttar Pradesh government used the growing Muslim population to issue a warning to the Yogi Adityanath administration. During the rally, Ali stated that the Muslim population in the state has increased, and as a result, the BJP's rule will come to an end. He further referenced the Mughal rule over India, which lasted 800 years, saying that if the Mughal rule ceased to exist, how long the BJP remain in power in Uttar Pradesh? The MLA then predicted that by 2027, Yogi Adityanath would be out of power in Uttar Pradesh. While addressing the 'Samvidhan Samman Sabha' in Bijnor, Mehboob Ali also criticised at the Modi government. He accused the government of selling everything, including railways, telecommunication, LIC, and airports. The MLA added that the public has now realized the truth and that the BJP will not return to power. Ali further accused the BJP of being against the Constitution, claiming that the party opposes reservations. He asserted that the Samajwadi Party upholds the principles of the Constitution. The SP leader also alleged that under the BJP government, the rule of law no longer exists. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud today admonished a lawyer for using informal language during court proceedings. The lawyer, while addressing the Supreme Court, used the term yeah, prompting a sharp response from the Chief Justice. The CJI said that he is allergic to this expression. This is not a coffee shop, Chandrachud remarked, adding the need for maintaining decorum in the courtroom. The incident occurred during a hearing on a 2018 petition, where the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud raised concerns over the inclusion of former Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi as a respondent. The Chief Justice questioned the appropriateness of the petition, pointing out potential issues with its compatibility with Article 32 of the Constitution, which provides citizens the right to seek legal remedies for violations of their fundamental rights. As the proceeding progressed, The lawyer began to say, "Yeah, yeah, the then CJI Ranjan Gogoi... I was asked to file a curative..." but was abruptly interrupted by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud. The lawyers informal expression seemed to detracted from the seriousness of his arguments, prompting Chief Justice DY Chandrachud to issue a firm rebuke. This is not a coffee shop! What is this yeah yeah? remarked Chief Justice Chandrachud. The lawyer argued that his plea was dismissed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi based on a statement he had contested as illegal. He claimed to have requested then-CJI Thakur to assign his review plea to a bench familiar with labor laws, but it was still dismissed. Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, addressing the lawyer in Marathi, advised him that a judge cannot be impugned when challenging a high court judgment. The Chief Justice further directed the court registry to review the petition and instructed the lawyer to remove Justice Gogois name, who is now a Rajya Sabha MP, from the case. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BJP leader Yogi Adityanath today hit back at the Congress party and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi over the latter's Ayodhya remark. Addressing a rally in Haryana for the assembly polls, CM Yogi Adityanath said that there are differences between those raised in Ram's culture and Rome's culture. "In Ayodhya, the wait of 500 years is over. On 22 January 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the consecration ceremony of Lord Ram in Ayodhya. The whole nation and the whole world are happy but the Congress leaders have a problem with this as well. This is the difference between Ram's culture and Rome's culture," said CM Adityanath. The BJP leader further said that those who were raised in Ram's culture kept fighting for 500 years and sacrificed themselves for the Ram temple. "On the one side, Lord Ram's consecration has been done in Ayodhya and on the other side are those who were raised in Rome's culture and call themselves 'accidental Hindus', how can they tolerate this? They say when the Lord Ram's temple was inaugurated in Ayodhya, singing and dancing was taking place there. Listen, your family kept doing this their whole lives. That's why, by insulting Hindus and Sanatan culture as well as defaming the constitution and institutions abroad, these Congress put a question mark on themselves," said CM Adityanath. The BJP leader was responding to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's statement that when Ram temple in Ayodhya was inaugurated, 'naach-gaana' (singing and dancing) took place there but not a single farmer was present. A Pakistani national and his family were arrested by Bengaluru police for allegedly living illegally in the city for the past six years. The couple, who reportedly used fake identities, were detained along with two others during a raid in Jigani on the outskirts of the city on Sunday. According to preliminary investigations, the man, originally from Pakistan, married his wife in Dhaka, Bangladesh, before moving to Delhi in 2014. They later shifted to Bengaluru in 2018. The two others arrested are the man's in-laws, who were also living with them under fraudulent documents. Our Jigani Inspector investigated a matter and registered a case. Four people of a family were residing here illegally with the help of fraudulent documents, a senior police officer stated. He added, Now, a case has been registered and those four people are being interrogated. Based on the outcome of the interrogation, we will take further action. The family had been living in a rented house in Jigani and allegedly managed to secure identity documents using fake names. Police are currently probing the mans network and activities, particularly focusing on his connections and whether he was involved in any illegal businesses. "We have collected details about them and are investigating the case. They were supplying materials to a garage, but that needs to be investigated further," the officer explained. When pressed for details about any seizures made during the raid, the officer simply stated, "It is part of the investigation." Home Minister G. Parameshwara also addressed the situation, emphasizing the need for thorough investigation. How did they come? Why did they all come? All these will be investigated. If they had been in India for the past 10 years... if this is true, why didnt the Intelligence Agencies track them? They even went to the extent of getting an Indian passport; obtaining Aadhaar is nothing for them. They changed their names and were running a restaurant as well, Parameshwara remarked. As the investigation unfolds, authorities are keen to uncover how this family managed to evade detection for so long and what further actions will be taken against them. Thousands took to the streets in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam and Srinagar districts for third straight day, predominantly in Shia-dominated areas, to condemn the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday. Prominent Shia leaders, including Aga Syed Ruhulla, a member of Parliament from Srinagar, and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, halted their political campaigns to join the demonstrations and pay tribute to Nasrallah. Ruhulla took to social media, stating that Nasrallah was a staunch supporter of Muslims and a fighter against Israeli oppression. This is about how far hearts are from each other, he said while speaking to Zee News. People of Jammu and Kashmir have always stood with Palestine, and I felt it was appropriate to call off my campaign. The MP criticized the current Indian government, saying, India has one stand, but unfortunately the BJP has a different one. Indias foreign policy has historically favored Palestine, but under the Modi regime, it seems to align with Israel. Ruhulla also expressed disappointment over global inaction, noting that while the UN has labeled the situation a genocide, world powers have remained largely silent. Several other leaders joined Ruhulla in condemning Nasrallahs killing. Mehbooba Mufti, speaking to PTI, condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declaring him a criminal responsible for the deaths of thousands. What will the BJP tell me? They supported the rapists in the Kathua case, she added, referring to a notorious incident involving child sexual assault in 2018. The protests extended beyond Budgam, with demonstrations reported in areas like Zadibal and Pattan, where Shia communities also took to the streets, chanting anti-Israeli and anti-American slogans. Protesters carried images of Nasrallah, honoring him as a defender of Muslim rights. The Shia community has declared a four-day mourning period, which will conclude tomorrow. Local sentiment echoed throughout the protests, with many attendees voicing their belief that Nasrallah was a champion for the Palestinian cause and a victim of Israeli aggression. Former President Donald Trump repeated an attack directed at Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign rally on Sunday. Speaking to supporters in Erie, Pennsylvania, Trump echoed a remark he made at a rally in Wisconsin the day before, saying that "there's definitely something missing" in relation to Harris and "everybody knows it." "Crooked Joe Biden became mentally impaired sad. But lyin' Kamala Harris, honestly, I believe she was born that way. There's something wrong with Kamala, and I just don't know what it is but there is definitely something missing. And you know what, everybody knows it," he said. On Saturday, in remarks that focused on the southern border and immigration, Trump also said Harris "was born that way," adding that "only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country." The attack was quickly denounced by various disability advocacy groups, including the American Association of People with Disabilities. Former Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan also slammed earlier remark from Trump, saying the former president's "divisive rhetoric is something we could do without." Featured Local Savings "I think all of that is outrageous and unacceptable. And Ive already called him out when he had the one interview where he was questioning her racial identity, and now hes questioning her mental competence. And I think thats insulting, not only to the vice president but to people that actually do have mental disabilities," he said. Trump has ramped up his attacks on Harris, specifically on the border after she visited the southern border on Friday. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump said, "What Comrade Kamala Harris has done to our Country at the Border by allowing 13,099 murderers to roam openly, and be free to kill, is The Crime of the Century. They have already killed many people, and this is just the beginning. She should be IMPEACHED, PROSECUTED, or BOTH!" Trump was referencing a report from Immigration and Customs Enforcement that revealed that more than 13,000 immigrants convicted of homicide are living outside of ICE detention facilities in the United States. A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security said the data in the report goes back 40 years, long before the Trump and Biden administrations. A day after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that he won't die until he overthrows the Modi government, Union Home Minister and senior BJO leader Amit Shah criticised the opposition leader saying that their hate for the Prime Minister is evident. Amit Shah sharply criticized Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday, accusing him of surpassing both his party and its leaders in being 'distasteful and disgraceful' during his speech on the final day of campaigning for the third and final phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections. "Yesterday, the Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji has outperformed himself, his leaders and his party in being absolutely distasteful and disgraceful in his speech. In a bitter display of spite, he unnecessarily dragged PM Modi into his personal health matters by saying that he would die only after removing PM Modi from power," said Shah narrating the incident. Shah further said, "It just shows how much hate and fear these Congress people have of PM Modi, that they are thinking of him constantly. As for the health of Mr. Kharge Ji, Modi Ji prays, I pray and we all pray that he lives a long, healthy life. May he continue to live for many years and may he live to see the creation of a Viksit Bharat by 2047." Yesterday, the Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji has outperformed himself, his leaders and his party in being absolutely distasteful and disgraceful in his speech. In a bitter display of spite, he unnecessarily dragged PM Modi into his personal health matters by September 30, 2024 This came following Kharge's speech, where he said that he would stay alive until Prime Minister Narendra Modi was removed from power after he felt unwell while addressing a rally in the Jasrota area of Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district on Sunday. Earlier on Sunday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge felt unwell while addressing a rally in the Jasrota area of Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district. Congress leader Thakur Balbir Singh said that the Congress President felt suffocated due to the extreme heat. After resting for a while, Kharge resumed his speech, reassuring the crowd that his health was fine and saying that he was not going to die so early. New Delhi: This news has come as a shocker for Adnaan Shaikhs fans. The Bigg Boss OTT 3 fame Adnaan Shaikh is making headlines as there are reports that claim his sister has lodged a complaint against him and accused of him beating her. A video of Adnaans sister is going viral from Bangur police station where she is seen accusing her brother of beating her. Adnaans sister claims that when she visited her parents it was then he attacked her. Adnaan Shaikh Beats his Sister She claims that he beats her when she came to meet her parents. #AdnaanShaikh pic.twitter.com/OcpvjQzD9P September 30, 2024 Watch the video of Adnaan Shaikhs sister accused of getting beaten by her brother Adnaan Shaikh reportedly beat his sister due to she apparently revealed the face of his wife and leaked pictures of her. Adnaan Shaikh recently got married to Ayesha Shaikh where she hid her face and even insisted the media to not click her pictures. **Adnaan Shaikh is tying the knot!** The Bigg Boss OTT star is marrying his long-time girlfriend, Ayesha Shaikh, with celebrations from September 20 to 25. Adnaan, 30, values marrying young for personal growth. Exciting times ahead! #AdnaanShaikh #WeddingSeason #BiggBoss pic.twitter.com/2pz32MPhqg True Scoop (@TrueScoopNews) September 24, 2024 Adnaan Shaikh had appeared on Bigg Boss OTT 3 as a wildcard contestant and got evicted within a week. Kartik Aaryan has made waves with the release of 'Chandu Champion, where he portrayed real-life hero Murlikant Petkar, India's first Paralympic gold medalist. His powerful performance won the hearts of audiences and critics alike, serving as a tribute to the indomitable spirit of Indias Paralympic athletes. Since the release, Kartik has continued to honor and celebrate these inspiring champions. Recently, he joined a special event hosted by Nita Ambani, bringing together 140 Olympians and Paralympians under one roof for the first time. This unified celebration of Olympism took place on Sunday, September 29th, marking a momentous occasion for Indian sports. Kartik shared his excitement on social media, posting a video with Paralympic champions Navdeep Singh and Preethi Pal, where they enthusiastically cheered the famous line from 'Chandu Champion': "Chandu nahi Champion hai mai!" Kartik captioned the post with a heartfelt message: "Kisi ko kabhi kam mat samajhna Chandu Nahi Champion hai With the Real champions." In addition to 'Chandu Champion, Kartik Aaryan is set to star in 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, which is slated for a Diwali release, followed by Anurag Basus upcoming musical love story. Fans are eagerly anticipating his upcoming roles as he continues to deliver stellar performances on the big screen. Mumbai: Shah Rukh Khan showed off his courage and valour during the time of his son Aryan Khan's drug case. It is so claimed by many apart that Shah Rukh Khan was extremely upset with the media during that phase and to date, he hasn't forgiven them. While for the first time ever Shah Rukh Khan addressed the toughest phase of his life and how the entire family dealt with it. While receiving the best actor award for Jawan at IIFA Awards 2024, SRK in his speech said, "I want to thank all other nominees Ranveer Singh, Ranbir Kapoor, Vikrant Massey he was great in the film Vicky Kaushal, Sunny Paji. I think all of them were great, but I got an edge because people were happy that I worked after so long. He further went on the speak about the tough phase of his life while shooting the film referring to his son Aryan Khans arrest, "Somebody reminded me that money needs to be put into a film. So I want to thank Gauri. She may be the only wife whos spending more on the husband than the other way around. We were going through a tough time while making Jawan". Aryan was arrested in October 2021and last year in May the superstar's son got the clean chit on the drug case claiming he wasn't involved in it. Shah Rukh Khan won millions of hearts with his performance at the IIFA Awards show as he was co-hosting with Vicky Kaushal. Vicky too posted a heartfelt note after hosting the show along with King Khan. New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Monday released a Consultation Paper (CP) on Formulating a Digital Radio Broadcast Policy for private Radio broadcasters. At present, analogue terrestrial radio broadcast in India is carried out in Medium Wave (MW) (5261606 KHz), Short Wave (SW) (622 MHz), and VHF-II (88108 MHz) spectrum bands. VHF-II band is popularly known as FM band due to deployment of Frequency Modulation (FM) technology in this band. All India Radio (AIR) - the public service broadcaster - provides radio broadcasting services in MW, SW and FM bands. Private sector radio broadcasters are licensed to transmit programs in FM frequency band (88-108 MHz) only. Digital Radio broadcasting will provide a number of advantages over analogue radio broadcasting. The major advantage of Digital Radio broadcasting is capability of broadcasting three to four channels on a single frequency carrier, while ensuring excellent quality of audio for all the channels, whereas in the analogue mode only one channel broadcasting is possible on a frequency carrier. In a competitive environment, digital radio broadcasting can provide exciting new opportunities to radio broadcasters as well as a host of value-added-services to the listeners. All India Radio (AIR) has initiated digitization of its analogue MW and SW radio broadcast network and replaced its existing 38 analogue transmitters with digital transmitters. AIR has conducted trials for digital radio technologies in FM band also. However, any initiative in digitization of FM band by private FM radio broadcasters is still awaited. In order to develop an eco-system, which can facilitate deployment of digital radio broadcasting, TRAI suo-motu gave its recommendations on Issues related to Digital Radio Broadcasting in India on 1st February 2018. In its recommendations, the Authority recognized that there was a need to bring all the stakeholders - radio broadcasters, transmission equipment manufacturers, and digital radio receiver manufacturers - on one platform and to encourage them to work collectively for developing the ecosystem for digital radio broadcasting. The Authority also emphasized that the government should come out with a detailed policy framework for Digital Radio Broadcasting in India, which should provide detailed roadmap for rollout of digital radio broadcasting services in a time bound manner. Now, MIB vide its reference dated 23rd April 2024 has sought recommendations of TRAI on formulating a digital radio broadcast policy for private Radio broadcasters. MIB has mentioned that in order to cater to technology shift, some existing provisions under FM Phase-III policy may require a relook. MIB has also highlighted certain issues that may be considered while formulating recommendations for digital radio broadcast policy. Accordingly, TRAI has initiated this consultation process in order to seek stakeholders comments on various issues relating to formulation of digital radio broadcast policy for private Radio broadcasters. Written comments on the consultation paper are invited from the stakeholders by 28th October 2024. Counter comments, if any, may be submitted by 11th November 2024. The Myntra Big Fashion Festival is back, and it's bigger than ever. Get ready to pack your bags for an adventure with incredible deals on suitcases. 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Israel Air Force (IAF) carried out targeted airstrikes on Houthi positions in Yemen on Sunday, with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant asserting that no place is too far for Israeli forces. The attacks have taken lives of four while injured 29 others, said the Houthi-run health ministry. This comes as Israel has successfully neutralised Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah in Bierut, Lebanon. The fresh ambush specifically targeted Houthi-controlled sites including power plants and seaport crippling dozens of aircrafts and fighter jets at the Ras Issa and Hodeidah ports of Yemen, according to a statement by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). Sharing a post on X, IDF said, "The IAF struck military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime in Yemen in response to their recent attacks against Israel." It added, "The targets included power plants and a seaport, which were used by the Houthis to transfer Iranian weapons to the region, in addition to military supplies and oil." 'No Place Is Too Far Following Israeli airstrikes on Yemen, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant stated, "I visited the IAF command and control center, where I followed the strike conducted today against the Houthi terrorist organization. Our message is clear for us, no place is too far." The strikes mark a significant escalation in Israels military operations in the region. Meanwhile, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi reaffirmed Israel's ability to target enemies at farther distances by saying, "This isn't a message, it's an action, reported Times of Israel. He added, "We know how to reach very far, we know how to reach even farther, and we know how to strike there accurately. Who Are The Houthis The Houthis are an armed and politically charged religious group that allies itself with Yemens Shia Muslim minority called the Zaidis. According to a BBC report, They claim to be part of an Iranian-backed group that opposes Israel, the US, and Western countries, along with other armed groups like Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Aa per the IDF, Houthis have been operating under the direction and funding of Iran, and in cooperation with Iraqi militias to attack the State of Israel and undermine regional stability. Hezbollahs Retaliation As Israels Beirut bombing of Friday costed Hezbollah its top leader, the organisation launched missile strikes targeting Haifa and northern Israel. After Nasrallah's death, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a stern warning to Iran's Ayatollah regime, stating that anyone who targets Israel will face consequences. He further stated that no location in Iran or the Middle East is beyond Israel's reach. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a crucial conversation on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Modi emphasized India's commitment to global peace, saying, "Terrorism has no place in our world. It is crucial to prevent regional escalation and ensure the safe release of all hostages." In a post on X (formerly Twitter), PM Modi shared, Spoke to Prime Minister @netanyahu about recent developments in West Asia. Terrorism has no place in our world. It is crucial to prevent regional escalation and ensure the safe release of all hostages. India is committed to supporting efforts for an early restoration of peace and stability. The call comes as Israel intensifies its military actions, launching relentless airstrikes in Lebanon. Recent reports indicate that these strikes have resulted in the elimination of seven high-ranking officials from the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. The situation remains tense, with concerns mounting over the potential for further regional escalation. Rajnath Singh on Pakistan IMF Package: Indias Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has made a significant offer to Pakistan, stating that India would have given a larger bailout package to Pakistan than sought by Islamabad from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had the neighbouring nation maintained friendly relations with New Delhi. Rajnath Singh made these remarks while addressing an election rally in the Gurez constituency of Bandipora district in Jammu and Kashmir. Rajnath's Big Offer To Pakistan During the rally, Rajnath Singh referred to the Prime Ministers Development Package for Jammu and Kashmir, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014-15. "Modi ji in 2014-15 announced a special package for development of Jammu and Kashmir which has now reached Rs 90,000 crore. The amount is much bigger than what Pakistan was seeking from the IMF (as bailout package)," the senior BJP leader said. Singh also referenced former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayees famous statement that "we can change friends, but we cannot change our neighbors." He added, "I said to my Pakistani friends, why are our relations strained? We are neighbors. If our relations were good, we would have given more money than the IMF." Pakistan Seeks Aid to Run Terror Factories Rajnath Singh criticised Pakistan for misusing financial aid and said that while the Indian government provides funds for the development of Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan has long been misusing financial assistance to run terror factories on its soil. He said, "They ask other countries for funds to operate terrorist factories on their land." Pakistan's Involvement In Terrorism As per Rajnath Singh, the neighbouring country, Pakistan uses terrorism as a weapon against India. He said, "Whenever we investigate acts of terrorism, we find Pakistans involvement. Our governments have tried to convince Pakistan to shut down its terror camps, but to no avail. After the abrogation of Article 370, Pakistan is desperate and is trying to revive terrorism. They do not want the roots of democracy to strengthen here. (But) India is strong enough to confront Pakistan on its own soil. If someone attacks India from Pakistan, we can cross the border and retaliate." Gurez Assembly Seat Defence Minister Rajnath Singh highlighted ongoing development efforts in Gurez, addressing the long-standing demand for a tunnel through the Razdan Pass to enable all-weather connectivity. Singh confirmed that 24/7 electricity is now available in the region, internet towers have been installed, and road infrastructure has seen significant improvement, with further upgrades planned. He pledged that, post-elections, he would bring the relevant minister to address the issue, ensuring continued progress. A North Iowa man was charged with methamphetamine dealing and operating while under the influence following a traffic stop early Sunday near the Mason City Municipal Airport. Dustin Travis Burkhardt, 35, Rockwell, is being held in the Cerro Gordo County Jail on $26,000 cash bond. Burkhardt was pulled over for traffic violations at 12:15 a.m. at the intersection of Highway 122 and Jonquil Avenue. He appeared to be under the influence, had bloodshot eyes, and made erratic movements, according to an Iowa State Patrol report. A meth pipe was located in the center console of the vehicle, and meth was located in a backpack, the report states. A knife with a blade more than 8 inches long also was located in the vehicle, according to the Iowa State Patrol. Burkhardt was charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, a Class B felony, as well as misdemeanor charges of operating while under the influence and possession of drug paraphernalia. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Oct. 9 in Cerro Gordo County District Court. The Second Garabagh War in 2020 triggered many changes in the South Caucasus. Following Azerbaijan's decisive victory, Armenia's shift towards the West and attempts to become a clear French colony, particularly the arrival of the European Union's observation mission in the region, brought numerous issues with it. Although the EU's observation mission in Armenia promised to bring peace and tranquillity during its initial arrival, its activities in the South Caucasus have revealed that these promises were false. The mission, which was supposed to conclude in 2022, is still ongoing and has remained silent in the face of numerous provocations by Armenia against Azerbaijan. The mission currently has nearly 1,500 observers, yet no one knows what they are doing. Considering that Azerbaijan's position has not been taken into account regarding the commencement of long-term activities, it would be misleading to claim that this mission is impartial. So, what is the EU's observation mission doing in the South Caucasus? In a comment on the issue for Azernews, political scientist Turab Rzayev stated that the fact that the mission is not causing problems at the moment does not mean it wont cause issues in the future. This observation mission does not currently pose a specific problem for us, but that does not mean it wont create problems for us in the future. Additionally, we cannot fully ascertain what this mission is currently engaged in. It is likely conducting some documentation processes. However, we do not see the direction of these documents. We may witness documentation being conducted against Azerbaijan over the years. The expert noted that the reports might distort information and reflect false narratives. For example, Azerbaijan could be depicted as the aggressor in reports, and there could be documentation against Azerbaijan in ceasefire violations, which the international community and the Western public might try to exploit against Azerbaijan in the future. Turab Rzayev touched on the missions illegal activities since its inception in the South Caucasus. A mission that was initially two months long and comprised only 40 people has now been unlawfully extended for more than two years. At the same time, the number of members keeps increasing. There are observation and meeting points, and offices there. Among these objects are both retired and active military personnel. For instance, it is known that 70-80 members of the French Gendarmerie are present here. The Gendarmerie is related to the French Ministry of Defense, meaning it is part of the military. If this is a civilian mission, what are police or military personnel doing there? The expert particularly deemed it absurd that representatives from Canada are part of the European mission. We see individuals representing Canada here. We know that Canada is not an EU country. So, what are individuals from Canada or the US doing here? The political scientist discussed the unnecessary extension of the mission's duration. Another issue is the extension of the missions timeline. The mission, which has more than a thousand active individuals, has even exceeded its two-year period. Yet, we still witness the preservation of the missions existence. This raises the question: What are you doing there? The mission must provide precise reports to the Azerbaijani side and present its findings. Just because these individuals are not currently engaged in military activities does not mean they will not participate in any provocations or military operations in the future or take on roles such as advisors or military engineers. No one can guarantee that. This mission has shown enough disrespect to the Azerbaijani side. At the very least, it should fulfil the demands of the Azerbaijani government and share information with us, T. Rzayev concluded. WATERLOO A sex offender who fled from a halfway house has been arrested for allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl while he was at large. Waterloo police arrested Lance Christopher Craig Taylor, 28, of Waterloo, on Thursday for one count of second-degree sexual abuse. He was also charged with escape and a parole violation. According to court records, Taylor, formerly of Fredericksburg, had been serving time at the Waterloo Residential Facility for a Chickasaw County sex offense when his GPS tracker lost power during a furlough to go shopping and visit a park on Sept. 14. Corrections staff found Taylor sitting in a parked car at Meyers Lake in Evansdale with a small child identified as his son in the back seat. Taylor, who was prohibited from having contact with children, was taken back to the residential facility. He ran out without permission about 20 minutes later. Then on Wednesday, Taylor allegedly attacked a 13-year-old girl at a Waterloo home where he had been staying. Court records indicate the girl told officials at the Child Protection Center that Taylor hit and strangled her while forcing her to have sex. Authorities saw marks on her neck and found other evidence consistent with a sexual assault. Taylor is on the state sex offender registry for having sexual contact with a 15-year-old girl in October 2019 and for allegedly grabbing a 16-year-old girls groin area on Oct. 20, 2019. Both crimes happened at his Fredericksburg home. Always prioritizing patient safety, Dr Yash makes sure to use only the latest & best-in-class equipment for all his surgical procedures Unlike other individuals who jump right onto treating the teeth or jaw of the patient, Dr Yash follows a unique approach, wherein he treats his patients from a holistic viewpoint by first trying to understand the root cause or etiology of the problem and then accordingly come-up with a permanent solution for it rather than just treat the symptoms. Some of the primary areas that Dr Yash specializes include head & neck cancer surgeries, tumor removal from the mouth, temporomandibular joint or jaw joint disorders, mucocutaneous lesions, spots and patches in the mouth, and diseases related to salivary glands, to name a few.The numerous training programs and multiple fellowships that I have taken-up under different mentors in various geographies have enabled to get a broader perspective on how each patient can be treated. Apart from these treatment procedures, I also specialize in facial aesthetic or cosmetic surgeries like rhinoplasty, facelifts and other surgical and non-surgical interventions to help improve the appearance of a person, adds Dr Yash.Always prioritizing patient safety and experience, Dr Yash makes sure to use only the latest and best-in-class equipment for all his surgical procedures. Thus, he only uses plates that have a very thin profile so that the patients don't feel it in their jaws or faces after undergoing surgery. Owing to his extensive training in diverse surgical areas, Dr Yash employs advanced techniques such as navigation surgery, CT guided surgery and the Da Vinci intuitive surgical robot in his practice to perform procedures with minimal scarring or through inconspicuous scars.Explaining a case study, Dr Yash says, We recently got a young metro worker as our patient who had fallen from a height and fractured every bone in his face. Despite having fractures on other parts of his body as well, he was only concerned about his facial appearance. By using his teeth as a template, we started setting right his face and jaw under general anesthesia. Most importantly, we made sure to not leave any scars on his face due to the incisions and performed most of the surgery from the access through his mouth. Seeing him get discharged and walk out of the hospital after three months to be rehabilitated has been one of the most rewarding moments of my career so far!.Always hungry to acquire more knowledge, Dr Yash is a part of numerous study groups such as AOCMF that facilitate free exchange of information. Additionally, he also spends two hours every Sunday reading recent literature from high impact journals and publications that help him immensely in carrying-out evidence-based surgeries. Furthermore, Dr Yash has been fascinated about tissue engineering right from his UG days and currently involved in research to develop grafts and tissues that can be generated in the labs and used on the patients with reliability and safety. This way, he aspires to eliminate free flap transfer and restore patients with minimal donor site mobility.Advising youngsters aspiring to be futureDr Yash says, Keep in mind that a surgeons life starts only after age 40, and enter into this field only if you are passionate about it. Also, despite still being a grey area in India, if you are ready to spend a few extra years on taking-up super-specialization post your PG, maxillofacial surgery is truly a very rewarding speciality. A mural has gone up in downtown Helena, giving a new face to a longtime building and paying homage to those who came before. Andrew Gordon, who along with John Hoofman is a principal partner in the ownership group Livery Square LLC, said the mural is part of a renovation and upgrade of the building. The group has owned the building at 27 Neill Ave. at the intersection of South Last Chance Gulch since late 2022, Gordon said, adding they repaved the parking lot and received a TIF grant from the city to improve windows and doors. It had a few years on it, he said of the two-story structure. He said they restored some of the brick, but saw there was legacy white paint on one of the walls that would be difficult to remove. Gordon suggested a mural and it really struck a chord and everybody loved it. He said artist Trinity Rivard was selected from among those who responded to painting a mural on the Lyndale Avenue tunnel over the summer. That mural commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Mann Gulch fire. Gordon describes the Livery Square mural as a collage of sorts. He said he pulled together a Helena history file and some photos from the early 1900s. He said the building once served as an auto shop and then was a longtime Dodge dealership. Kennon Baird of the website Helena As She Was found a July 29, 1917, newspaper clip saying a fireproof garage owned by Frank Wise opened on the site. We wanted a design that spoke to the history of the building, Gordon said. He said the portrait on the wall is of Reginald Bob Stanley, known as one of the Four Georgians who discovered gold in 1864. Rivard said he used the historical photographs provided by Gordon for reference, which he used to create something vivid and colorful, helping the mural to come to life. He said he started Sept. 23 and would spend seven days on it. I want the viewer to look at it and see what they want to see, Rivard, who is based in Florida, said. I am not trying to impose or make my art to be so obvious. I like a lot of movement, clean lines and I incorporate shapes. It will tell a story when its done and I am happy how it is turning out so far, he said Saturday night. His resume lists other projects in Las Vegas; Palm Desert, California; Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and Florida. Gordon, who said the mural was completed over the weekend, was happy with the finished product. I think it looks fantastic, he said, noting they would add an anti-graffiti seal coat to it. He said it has generated excitement from some people in the community who have seen it. Lots of people are curious about it, he said. For more on Rivards artwork, go to: www.trinityrivard.com. HAYS, MONTANA Inside a double tipi lodge on the Fort Belknap Reservation one September morning, four children huddled together, each with a lollipop in hand. Youre going to learn about dehydration in science class when youre in my grade, 13-year-old LeCass Camel told the others. Jeremiah Camel, LeCass 12-year-old brother, recited the numbers of pi. Youll learn that in math, he proudly told the younger kids, who were more focused on their candy. Just feet away from Jeremiah and LeCass sat three small caskets containing the remains of children not much older than themselves a stark reminder that life for the Aaniiih people didnt always look this way. While LeCass and Jeremiah live with their family members and attend school in their community, the children in the caskets were sent thousands of miles from home to Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Located in Pennsylvania, Carlisle opened in 1879 and was the first government-run boarding school for Native Americans. The explicit mission of the campus which later served as a model for others was cultural genocide. Native American children who attended were forbidden from speaking their languages or practicing culture. They were emotionally, physically and sexually abused. The historical trauma created there persists in tribal communities. Some children died at these schools. Some are still unaccounted for. Many never came home until now. For the last seven years, Native American tribes have worked with the Office of Army Cemeteries to exhume and return ancestral remains. While the process is painful, tribal leaders say it is an important step toward healing. Recovering from centuries of harmful U.S. policy, the Fort Belknap Aaniiih and Nakoda Tribes like hundreds of tribes nationwide are charting a new path forward, one that acknowledges the tragedies of the past while celebrating the opportunity for a better future. George Horse Capture Jr., a cultural leader, put it simply: Were trying to learn to be Aaniiih and Nakoda again. A lethal system Bishop L. Shield, John Bull and Almeda Heavy Hair each arrived and died at Carlisle in the 1890s. Around that time, the U.S. government was acquiring tribal land, legally and illegally. Settlers and U.S. soldiers killed millions of bison to devastate tribal communities. Tribal populations began to plummet, as people faced malnutrition, infertility and disease. Responding to these conditions, some tribal leaders believed off-reservation schools, like Carlisle, would provide opportunity for children, according to Blackfeet historian Rosalyn LaPier. She said the federal government also used coercion to ensure Indigenous people would comply with federal policy. Indian agents, for example, could withhold rations from parents who did not send their children to schools like Carlisle. Because school records are limited, inconsistent and poorly translated, not much is known about the three Aaniiih children who died at Carlisle. Shield (whose Indian name was Sleeps High) died of pneumonia at 17, just three months after arriving at the school in 1890. Bull (The Dwarf) died at 15 in 1891 of consumption, a term often used to describe tuberculosis or some kind of lung infection. And Heavy Hair (Heavy Hair on Side of Head) died at 16 in 1894, also of consumption. Preston McBride, assistant professor of history at Pomona College, said diseases like tuberculosis, typhoid fever and pneumonia thrived at Indian boarding schools. School leaders, he said, often didnt enforce vaccination requirements. And the schools, which received funding based on student population, were overcrowded. It wasnt uncommon for students to share beds, clothing, toothbrushes and towels. McBride has studied the spread of disease in four major Indian boarding schools Carlisle in Pennsylvania, Chemawa in Oregon, Haskell in Kansas and Sherman in California. From 1810 to 1920, he said students in these four schools were up to 20 times more likely to die than their white counterparts in the U.S. Because school officials failed to keep records on many sick or dying students, McBride said, the full extent of the systems lethality is unknown. Indian student deaths in federal custody were considered acceptable collateral damage for the governments larger push to eradicate Native American cultures and life ways, he said. A heavy sense of sadness visiting Carlisle At the urging of tribal members nationwide, the Office of Army Cemeteries has exhumed and returned the remains of dozens of children who died at Carlisle. Shield, Bull and Heavy Hair were exhumed in the seventh disinterment operation since 2017. About a dozen Fort Belknap cultural leaders, council members, elders and youth traveled to Pennsylvania to receive the remains and bring them home. On campus, Emma Filesteel, the deputy tribal historic preservation officer for the Fort Belknap Aaniiih and Nakoda Tribes, couldnt bring herself to enter the schools old infirmary. I felt a heavy sense of sadness when I was there, she said. William Granados, 19, noticed former school buildings had been turned into hotels. Its like if they turned a concentration camp in Germany into a hotel, he said, shaking his head. Blackfeet cultural leaders who visited Carlisle last fall said the school was eerie. William Gladstone, who works for the Blackfeet Tribal Historic Preservation Office, said he noticed childlike doodles on the walls of what looked to be jail cells. When remains of a Blackfeet child were exhumed last fall, Gladstone said there were pig, cow and deer bones inside the childs casket. He learned the childrens cemetery was also used as a dump for animal scraps they used in the kitchen. They were careless, he told Lee Montana last fall. That negligence also meant that a fourth Nakoda child buried in an unmarked grave at Carlisle was left behind because it was too difficult to exhume his remains. It was one of the worst feelings having to leave him behind, Filesteel said. We need to come up with a solution to get him home. Enduring consequences Past boarding school-era policies have long-term, present-day consequences in tribal communities. Ekoo Beck (LaPiers child), works for the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, an organization gathering first-person survivor narratives for an oral history collection. Beck said there arent a lot of elders from the boarding school period who are still alive. Those who are say their classmates died young. People died at an early age of addiction, Beck said. Alcohol abuse has roots in boarding schools. Traumatic deaths and the low life expectancy rate in Montana can be attributed to the trauma of boarding schools. Samuel Torres, deputy chief executive officer of NABS, said boarding school survivors werent able to learn traditional ways of parenting. Having grown up in an institutional and abusive environment, some survivors say they dont trust themselves to discipline their children. Now, we have new generations of Native youth who are subject to conditions provoked by the boarding school era, even if those children never went to boarding schools themselves, Torres said. This pattern of intergenerational trauma continues as a living legacy. Indigenous languages also suffered. When Filesteels grandfather was a student at St. Pauls Mission School near Hays, he was beaten for speaking Aaniiih. He didnt speak Aaniiih after that, she said. We never heard him speak it. Today, there are 30 fluent Aaniiih speakers, according to a 2023 Native Language Community Coordination report. This is what we do Atop a hill on the Fort Belknap Reservation, community members placed Heavy Hairs casket in a grave at the Lame Bull Cemetery, where her relatives are buried. This is difficult, said Randall Werk, one of Heavy Hairs relatives. But this is what we do. This is who we are. She is our relative, and we are going to put her back in this Earth today. Its a beautiful day. LeCass and his brother Jeremiah beat their drums as cultural leaders sang in Aaniiih. Community members tossed handfuls of dirt into Heavy Hairs grave, as children gave each other piggyback rides in the cemetery. Back at the high school, community members grabbed plates of food and embraced each other in comfort. As people sat down to eat, LeCass, Jeremiah and their younger cousins chased each other through the empty school hallways. You cant catch me! one of the children yelled as he ran around a lunch table. The others screamed with joy as they chased him, their long braids bouncing up and down with each stride. Pinned to a bulletin board, a flyer swayed as the children ran past. It advertised an Aaniiih language class. Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect that the Office of Army Cemeteries oversees and directs the Carlisle Barracks Disinterment Program. By Alimat Aliyeva Turkmenistan and the United States, based on many years of experience in cooperation, are aimed at strengthening cooperation in the energy sector within the framework of the C5+1, Azernews reports. Special attention was paid to energy issues at the meeting. It was noted that Turkmenistan and the United States are currently following the path of considering international contacts in the field of international energy. In addition, issues of strengthening cooperation in the field of security, as well as the development of trade and economic ties, where the Turkmen-American Business Council continues to play an important role, were discussed. Prospects in the field of education and scientific exchange were also discussed, where both sides noted the positive experience of long-term cooperation within the framework of academic exchange programs of the US government. It should be noted that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov also held separate talks with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, during which strategic issues of bilateral relations were discussed. Recall that the C5+1 diplomatic platform is a comprehensive approach of the US government to Central Asia, involving interaction with the governments of five countries in the region. DAMASCUS, Va. Residents in the outskirts of Damascus, Virginia, could do nothing but wait for the water to subside Friday afternoon before they could assess the havoc left behind by Hurricane Helene. Allen Shope watched as a never-ending stream of water and debris flowed in and out of his auction house on Blossom Road on the outskirts of town. There was a barn, a small barn went floating down there, hit the side of our building, Shope said. This is beyond devastating. Shope described how everything went from raining one moment to ferocious flooding in an instant. Where this water came so fast after the rain quit, thats whats amazing to me, Shope said. It didnt take 20 minutes, did it? It was absolutely instant. Its just absolutely amazing how violent that water is. I mean, its almost evil, added Shope. Looking out at the continuing stream, Shope shared his concern over what it must be like in Damascus proper. If this is any indication, I dread seeing what Damascus actually looks like, Shope said. There could be nothing left. Just up Jeb Stewart Highway on Blossom Road, Corey Forrester, who has two bed and breakfast homes right off Laurel Creek, was walking through his property assessing damage and emphasized that they have dealt with flooding in the past, but nothing like this. Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 The death toll after Hurricane Helene left a trail of destruction across the U.S. Southeast has reached at least 133. A crisis is unfolding in the mountains of western North Carolina, where water, food and other supplies are being airlifted into places cut off by mudslides and washed-out roads. Officials worry the death toll will rise further as searchers reach isolated areas. Nearly three dozen people have died in the county that includes the tourism hub of Asheville. The citys water system has been severely damaged. Forecasters are keeping a close eye on Tropical Storm Kirk, which is expected to become a powerful Atlantic hurricane this week. Weve lived here since 08, and weve never even seen it close to this road, and it was up to my fence there. You can see the debris line, Forrester said. I had this camper under that tree, and it was floating. We barely got it pulled out of the way. Forrester lamented the loss of his deck, which he saw float away in slow motion. We really loved this deck, man. It went out over the water. It was about 12 feet, Forrester said. Well get it rebuilt, but it was like slow motion when it left, man. Forrester explained that although it will take some time to assess all the damage to his property, especially with the downed power lines, his primary concern is for the rest of Damascus. The water is pretty wicked, Forrester said. I can only imagine what kind of damage once it goes down that were going to see. Gallery: Floodwaters cause extensive damage in Damascus Aaron Cain: I'm Aaron Cain for WFIU Arts. The IU Jacobs School of Music is hosting a sesquicentennial celebration of American composer Charles Ives, exploring his place in American history and culture. I asked one of the festival curators, eminent Ives Scholar Peter Burkholder, about what he's looking forward to in this ambitious festival. Peter Burkholder: It's been over a year in planning, of course. So I'm also looking forward to when it's over [laughter] so I can get a week of sleep. So, it started as a long weekend and somehow it grew to be nine days long, as people volunteered. We have so many groups in the School of Music doing performances. This includes two of Ivess Symphonies, all three of his piano sonatas, all four of his violin sonatas, both of his string quartets, innumerable songs, multiple piano music beyond that. So, just an enormous amount of an opportunity to hear Ives's music live. Some of these pieces are not played live all that often. Others are quite common. And the other thing that we wanted to do from the beginning was to integrate performance with the humanities more generally. So, we have the cooperation of scholars and departments across campus: comparative literature, art history. American studies, history, and English are all contributing scholars. And also, of course, we have many guests coming from other places. So the conversations are going to be really fun, I think, as well as the concerts. Aaron Cain: What does this mean to you? You are an Ives scholar. I could be forgiven for calling you the Ives scholar. And this seems to be the ultimate one-stop shopping for anyone who wants to know anything, or indeed everything, about Charles Ives. So, what does this mean to you personally? That this has come together? Peter Burkholder: That's a great question. First of all, I've always wanted to attend a festival like this. So it's the opportunity to put something together that I'd really like to be at. And I hope I get to go to some of it. I hope that there aren't so many last minute snafus and things to take care of that I'm off doing something instead of sitting there and listening. Hearing his music live is a wonderful, wonderful opportunity. And most of his music I've grown accustomed to in recordings. I don't know how many hours of music this is either, but it's an enormous amount. And it's music for a variety of media. Some of it is very much in romantic style. Some of it is kind of experimental. Much of it is immediately accessible. Some of it will be a littleOh? I never thought music could be like that. [laughter] Aaron Cain: This is a technical term, of course. Peter Burkholder: And I like that variety. That's one of the things I really like about Ives. If you tell me what you like, I can find several Ives pieces that you will like. So he had very, very diverse tastes, and it's wonderful just to experience all of that back-to-back. And then we're inviting interesting people to come and give talks, because they're likely to say things that would never have occurred to me. For instance, during the Violin Sonata concert, Jeremy Denk is going to be offering some commentary. And every time I hear Jeremy Denk talk about music, I learned something that is new. The same is true of our historians Alan Lessoff and Allen Guelzo, on the Gilded Age and on the Civil War, respectively. Our art historian Tim Barringer and the other visitors, everybody is bringing perspectives that are new and different. And when we get going in conversations, I think it's going to be fascinating. So I think that's what it means to me, is that it's an opportunity to have a big party, listen to a lot of music. I've been at a couple Ives festivals before. I helped organize one at Bard College several years ago, and something happened to me in the middle of a concert that just made my entire life. Somebody came up to me and said, Professor Burkholder, do you mind if I ask you a question about Charles Ives? And it was like, OK, this is what heaven must feel like. So I'm hoping that lots and lots of people come up to me and say, can I ask you a question about Ives? Aaron Cain: You've certainly created a good opportunity for folks to do so. Well, this sounds like a tremendous event, and congratulations on bringing it all together, and thanks for speaking with me today. Peter Burkholder: It's a pleasure. I hope everybody who hears this comes and hears something. Aaron Cain: Peter Burkholder, scholar and curator of Charles Ives at 150, taking place from September 30th through October 8th at the Jacobs School and including over two dozen concerts, panels and discussions. More information at music.indiana.edu. For WFIU Arts, I'm Aaron Cain. The Australian Cyber Collaboration Centres (Aus3C) Annual Cybersecurity Attitudes and Behaviours Report (Oh Behave! 2024) revealed a pressing need to address growing concerns about attitudes towards online safety alongside worrying trends evident among younger Australians. Over 6,500 individuals across Australia, New Zealand, the USA, the UK, Canada, Germany, France, and India were polled to coincide with the report being released ahead of the crucial twentieth Cybersecurity Awareness Month in October. This month serves as a reminder of the importance of online safety and the need for collective action. The findings show that Australians are increasingly frustrated by online security measures. In Australia, 52% of respondents reported that online security is frustrating, with 44% admitting they feel intimidated by the complexities of staying safe online. Even more concerning is the significant decline in the perceived value of online security, with only 60% of Australians believing it is worth the efforta drop of 9% since last year. The report underscores the urgent need to address the generational disparities regarding attitudes to cybersecurity. Gen Z and Millennials, in particular, are becoming increasingly pessimistic about their ability to stay safe online. Most younger respondents no longer believe that the effort to remain secure is worthwhile, with many reducing their online activities due to these concerns. A staggering 43% of all participants assumed their devices were automatically secure, indicating widespread complacency, especially among younger generations. "Complacency and frustration are dangerous combinations in the fight against cybercrime in Australia," said Aus3C CEO Matthew Salier. "Vulnerability to cyber-attacks is of particular concern across younger generations because they're not taking adequate precautions, relying too heavily on others or assuming their devices are secure." The report highlights an over-reliance on others for protection, with 39% of Gen Z and Millennial respondents relying on family members to ensure online security. In addition, 90% of participants across all age groups believe that apps and platforms should be responsible for protecting their personal information. Poor cybersecurity behaviours According to the report, cybersecurity hygiene is still a significant concern, with poor password practices persisting despite the issue being widely publicised. The use of personal information like pet names in passwords has increased across all generations, with Gen Z having the highest percentage at 52%. Additionally, 66% of the Silent Generation (born between 1928 and 1946) and 60% of Baby Boomers have never used a password manager. While numerous younger participants have used a password manager before, many have since stopped. Inconsistent adoption of MFA and ignoring software updates Although 81% of participants are aware of multi-factor authentication (MFA), adoption is inconsistent, particularly among Millennials and Gen Z. While older generations report more consistent use, many younger users have tried MFA in the past but have since abandoned it. Additionally, only 45% of Gen Z respondents have not enabled automatic software updates despite this feature's convenience in most applications. AI adds a new layer of concern The report also highlights concerns surrounding artificial intelligence (AI). More than half of employed participants (52%) and students (58%) have not received any training on safe AI use. Millennials are worried that AI will make detecting scams even more challenging. Trust in companies responsibly implementing AI is also low, with Australians expressing the lowest confidence at 35%, compared to 71% of participants from India. "As the threat landscape evolves with the introduction of AI, we must equip individuals and organisations in Australia with the tools they need to navigate this complex environment," added Salier. "Our goal is to drive education and resources that empower Australian organisations to take control of their online security." Aus3C is launching a new awareness campaign for Cybersecurity Awareness Month to address the complacency and pessimism surrounding cybersecurity. The campaign will educate individuals and organisations about the importance of personal responsibility for online security and encourage the adoption of simple but effective cybersecurity practices. Oh Behave! was conducted by CybSafe and is supported in the USA by Aus3C's American counterpart, the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA), a non-profit organisation with a mission to create a more secure, interconnected world. Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools is asking parents and other stakeholders to vote on two choices for the 2025-26 academic calendar. Both choices have Aug. 13 as the first day of school, an earlier start than the state of North Carolina allows. Under a state law, driven mostly by the tourism industrys desire to extend the summer vacation season, public schools are supposed to start in late August. However, the school board voted last winter to join several other districts across the state and defy the law for this school year. The 2024-25 school year for the local district started on Aug. 12, about two weeks earlier than usual. The last day of school is May 20. In the new calendar options, the last day of school would be May 21. The biggest difference between the two possible calendars for 2025-26 is spring break, with one option in March and the other in April. Lauren Richards, the school districts chief operations officer, said that she would present the results of the survey to the school board in late October. A vote is likely to be taken at that meeting. Board member Leah Crowley said she was glad to see the projected first day of school be on a Wednesday. Ive heard over and over that starting the school year with five days in a row is too big of a transition, she said. Asked by board member Richard Watts about whether there have been any implications from this years early calendar, Superintendent Tricia McManus said that the school district received a letter from the general counsel of the N.C. State Board of Education in June telling the school board of its legal obligations to obey state and federal laws. But she said there has been no follow-up. No school districts have been punished for starting before state law. About 30 of the states 115 school districts started early this year. When the local school board decided to go that route in January, several board members talked about the need to end the first semester before the two-week holiday break so that students could fit in final exams. It also allows the school districts calendar to line up with Forsyth Technical Community Colleges academic calendar, making it easier for high-school students to take classes at the community college. First semester ends this year on Dec. 19. The academic calendar survey is on the school districts website, www.wsfcs.k12.nc.us/article/1784400. The Lincoln Police Department arrested a 30-year-old man Sunday night being sought in Colorado in connection with a homicide investigation, police say. According to LPD, officers were sent to the area of 17th and Washington streets at about 8:15 p.m. on reports of a disturbance involving a private property accident. Police approached multiple people. One man provided a fake name. Officers questioned the man, who eventually told police his real name, Zachary Rice, police say. After checking his name, police discovered Rice was being sought on an outstanding warrant related to a homicide in Denver. According to the arrest warrant affidavit by the Denver Police Department, Rice is being charged with first-degree murder. In March, a man was shot five times in his vehicle and died. Investigators received tips from accusing Rice of being the shooter in the homicide, according to the affidavit. Fingerprints taken from the car where the shooting occurred did not match Rice. Eventually, investigators discovered Rice's cellphone was in the area of the shooting at the approximate time it happened. As police were trying to take Rice into custody, he pushed away and reportedly tried to flee on foot. Rice was captured with assistance from the Nebraska State Patrol helicopter and taken into custody near South 20th and A streets. He is being held at the Lancaster County jail. Top Journal Star photos for September 2024 By Alimat Aliyeva Chinese scientists have made a breakthrough in the treatment of type 1 diabetes using stem cells and an innovative method, Azernews reports. The results of this revolutionary study indicate that type 1 diabetes is characterized not only by insulin deficiency, but also by aggressive destruction of beta cells of the pancreas, which are responsible for the production of insulin. This hormone is produced by the immune system. In June 2023, a patient from the Tianjin region underwent a unique operation to transplant reprogrammed stem cells into abdominal muscles. The procedure took less than 30 minutes. After just ten weeks, the woman's body regained the ability to independently produce the necessary amount of insulin. This effect has been maintained for more than a year. During this time, the patient stopped dangerous fluctuations in blood glucose levels and now feels normal 98 percent of the day. The patient himself notes that he now buys sweets and eats various foods. Two more patients are currently undergoing similar treatment, and doctors say the initial results are very positive. The monitoring of these patients will continue until November. The head of research, Deng Hongkui, plans to expand the program to 10-20 participants. Prior to this study, a Shanghai-based research team reported in April a successful cell transplant using stem cells into the liver of a 59-year-old man with type 2 diabetes. Despite the promising results, experts urge caution. Jay Schuyler, an endocrinologist at the University of Miami, offers a five-year program to fully evaluate the effectiveness of treatment, emphasizing the need for long-term patient monitoring. A former Omaha teacher has pleaded no contest in Douglas County District Court to taking $76,000 from the Nebraska High School Press Association. Angela Wolfe, who was a journalism teacher at Burke High School, entered her plea Thursday and was then found guilty of embezzlement over a five-year period. Prosecutors dismissed a felony charge of second-degree forgery. The Nebraska Department of Education standards require a teaching certificate to be revoked for a variety of crimes, including felonies. Wolfe will be sentenced in November. An investigator from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office said in an April arrest warrant that Wolfe was the treasurer of the association when the funds went missing. The NHSPA is a nonprofit organization headquartered at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The investigator stated in the warrant the majority of the unauthorized transactions took place in Douglas County. Wolfe, 43, is the only person with a debit card for the account, he said. Michelle Hassler, the executive director of the NHSPA, began looking into the association's finances in January. Hassler determined about $76,000 was missing from the account, the investigator said. Wolfe was removed from her role after the discrepancies were found, Hassler said. "Hassler ultimately determined that (financial) statements provided by Wolfe had been significantly edited to show an inflated account balance and to remove references to the unauthorized activity," the investigator wrote. One example of the alterations occurred on a financial statement from Nov. 30, 2022, that was obtained by Hassler. The statement showed a balance of $24,840 when in reality there was only $1,777 in the account. The unauthorized transactions include $11,805 in forged checks and $21,736 in debit card transactions. The transactions were for a variety of goods and services, including ATM cash withdrawals, grocery stores, restaurants, veterinarian bills, online shopping and streaming service subscriptions. The press association said in a statement the executive board has taken action to safeguard its financial viability. The mission of the NHSPA, which has been in operation for more than 90 years, is to foster a close and caring community of Nebraska journalism teachers. The press association "plans to continue to offer, without interruption, the activities and opportunities that benefit journalism students and teachers in Nebraska, including its summer camp, fall convention and publication critique service." Top Journal Star photos for September 2024 UNION GROVE The beer could be flowing by next spring at a new brewpub being built by home-brewing hobbyists on a vacant lot in Downtown Union Grove. Rick and Carolyn McNabb broke ground Wednesday on their Tailwinds Brewing Co. development, which they have been planning for three years at 1035 Main St. Village leaders and other local officials joined the groundbreaking ceremony and cheered the new brewpub as a valuable addition that will draw crowds to Union Grove. Village President Steve Wicklund called the emergence of Tailwinds Brewing the beginning of a new chapter. Its a testament to the entrepreneurial spirit in our community, Wicklund said. Lets celebrate. I look forward to a bright future ahead. A state economic development agency has contributed $250,000 to the projected $1.3 million project, calling Tailwinds Brewing a new anchor for Downtown Union Grove. The McNabbs, who live in Union Grove, purchased the vacant lot at Main and 11th Avenue three years ago. Rick McNabb is a retired executive chef for a commercial airline, and Carolyn McNabb has a background in inventory management and other business skills. The couple has long dreamed of opening a brewpub. Rick McNabb told those gathered for the groundbreaking that he wants to create a comfortable spot where people can relax and enjoy a craft beer and food that is a step above typical bar grub. Were excited to get moving with this, he said. Were thrilled to be a part of the community. The 2,700-square-foot brewpub will produce 500 to 600 barrels of beer annually both classical and seasonal brews. It will include indoor seating around a fireplace and outdoor seating as well. No grand opening date has been announced, but McNabb said he hopes to open next spring. Construction is being led by Bowers Design & Construction of Union Grove. As a local contractor, company President Christopher Bower said he is particularly pleased to be working on Tailwinds Brewing, knowing the impact it will have on the village. Bower also extended thanks to the villages staff and elected leaders for supporting the project and helping to keep progress moving on the development. Were really proud and excited, Bower said. Were looking forward to having some beers. Places of the past: Heileman Brewery 1957: Old Style newspaper advertisement 1985: Beer spill 1969: Strike 1972: Brewery expansion 1977: 6 million barrels 1994: Heileman's free water 1999: City Brewery Theyve been critical for stabilizing our lakefront in terms of the storms that weve dealt with, but also critical in the investments in the private and public sector, he said. Its creating jobs, its allowing us to reinvest in our downtown and most importantly, its letting us tell our kids and the next generation that we take this problem seriously, and theyre going to inherit a world thats still got a future for them. A Mt. Sterling woman was injured in a two-vehicle crash in the village of Genoa, Thursday, Sept. 26. At about 5:30 p.m., the Vernon County Sheriffs Office was notified of the two-vehicle crash on State Highway 35 at the intersection of Otter Street in the village of Genoa, according to a press release from the sheriffs office. Katie Lynn Foley, 32, was traveling southbound on State Highway 35 and struck the rear of a southbound vehicle driven by Anthony Boardman, 24, of Genoa while Boardman was attempting to turn left onto Otter Street. Significant injuries were reported and Foley was taken to Gundersen Health System in La Crosse by Gundersen Tri-State Ambulance. The Wisconsin State Patrol, Genoa-Harmony Fire Department & First Responders, and Gundersen Tristate Ambulance assisted at the scene. Azerbaijan's diverse tourism potential was highlighted at the "Tourism Expo Japan 2024," held in Tokyo from September 26-29. According to Azernews, the State Tourism Agency organized Azerbaijan's participation to foster knowledge exchange and collaboration with international tourism experts. The expo aimed to promote Azerbaijans cultural, natural, health, and business tourism, alongside its winemaking traditions and gastronomy. Representatives from the Azerbaijan Tourism Bureau met with the Association of Japan Travel Agencies and key tourism agencies, discussing future cooperation. Azerbaijan's Ambassador to Japan, Gursel Ismayilzade, also visited the national stand at the expo. In the first eight months of this year, visitors from Japan to Azerbaijan increased by more than 60% compared to the same period last year. On 28 September the leader of Mexicos ruling left-wing Movimiento Regeneracion Nacional (Morena) in the lower chamber of congress,, said that deputies would discuss energy reform in the first few days after the inauguration ofas president on 1 October. End of preview - This article contains approximately 348 words. Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article Not a Subscriber? Choose from one of the following options A new study suggests sources of water on the moon are more widespread than previously thought. The study was based on new examinations of data collected by Indias Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. It launched in October 2008 and collected data while orbiting the moon for about a year. Chandrayaan-1 has already provided evidence of water on the moon. In September 2009, scientists published a study based on data from the Indian space mission. The data showed the presence of molecules linked to water, as well as the substance hydroxyl. The American space agency NASA describes hydroxyl (OH) as a molecule made up of one hydrogen atom and one oxygen atom with a free (unpaired) electron. It notes it is one of the most reactive gases in the atmosphere and can help break down other gases in the air. The 2009 study suggested the water molecules identified by Chandrayaan-1 data were mainly found in the moons extreme northern and southern areas, known as the poles. Scientists said the data from that study showed most of the water probably existed in large craters near the poles where sunlight is blocked. But new examinations of the data show that water and hydroxyl molecules likely exist over much wider areas of the moon. In addition, the research suggests water is even present in areas of the moon receiving direct sunlight. The instrument aboard Chandrayaan-1 that captured the molecule data is called the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3). NASA built and operated the instrument. The space agency describes M3 as an imaging spectrometer. A spectrometer is an instrument used to study the chemical composition and structures of substances. On the Chandrayaan-1 mission, the spectrometer aimed to map the mineral composition of materials on the moons surface. Researchers examined this data and centered their search on areas outside the lunar poles. They found that the sources of water and hydroxyl are believed to be contained in minerals on or just below the moons surface. Scientists involved in the research recently reported their results in a study published in the Planetary Science Journal. The research was led by Roger Clark, a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute. In a press release announcing the findings, the researchers noted their discovery was made possible by data that the M3 instrument collected. They explained the instrument provides highly detailed data using imaging and infrared technologies. The M3 instrument, for example, can identify 85 different colors in its examinations of mineral compositions. This compares to normal digital cameras, which generally only record three colors. The researchers said, Just like we see different colors from different materials, the infrared spectrometer can see many (infrared) colors to better determine the composition, including the water and hydroxyl." The team noted the water might have resulted from heating of rocks and soil or from chemical reactions that combined different hydroxyls to produce water, as well as oxygen. Clark, from the Planetary Science Institute, said both cratering and volcanic activity can bring water-rich materials to the surface. He noted that both are observed in the newly examined data. We see a lunar surface with complex geology with significant water in the sub-surface and a surface layer of hydroxyl. The discovery, Clark said, can be helpful to future exploration efforts on the moon. Future astronauts may be able to find water even near the equator by exploiting these water-rich areas. He added, Knowing where water is located not only helps to understand lunar geologic history, but also where astronauts may find water in the future. Im Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from the Planetary Science Institute and NASA. Quiz - Study: Water Sources on Moon More Widespread than Thought Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz ___________________________________ Words in This Story crater n. a hole left in the ground by an object that hits it with a huge force composition n. the parts, substances, etc. that something is made up of geology v. the study of rocks and soil and the physical structure of Earth exploit v. to use or develop something for your advantage Sri Lankas new president faces many choices as he tries to balance ties between the countrys two huge partners: India and China. Anura Kumara Dissanayake is the leader of a coalition headed by a Marxist political party. The same party unsuccessfully launched rebellions in the 1970s and 1980s. Marxism is a set of political beliefs linked to Karl Marx, one of the writers of the Communist Manifesto. Dissanayake is the leader of the National Peoples Power alliance. His party is the Peoples Liberation Front, which is known as the JVP. Parliamentary politics Dissanayake entered public politics in 1993. He aimed to rebuild the JVP party after the failed rebellions of earlier years. The party gained its first seat in Parliament in 1994. In 1997, he became an organizer of the Socialist Students Union and joined the Central Committee of the JVP. One year later, he joined the partys politburo. Dissanayake was first elected to Parliament in 2000. At the time, the party entered an alliance with President Chandrika Kumaratunga. Dissanayake served for a short time as agriculture and irrigation minister. Later, the JVP supported President Mahinda Rajapaksa to defeat the Tamil Tiger rebel group. The ethnic minority separatist group carried out a civil war that lasted 26 years. The Tamil Tigers were finally crushed in 2009. By 2014, the JVP elected Dissanayake as its leader. A new coalition The new JVP leader realized that his party alone could never gain enough support to rule. So in 2019, he formed an alliance of parties called the NPP. It brought together 21 groups including political parties, youth groups, womens groups, trade unions and other civil society groups. Since the formation of the coalition, Dissanayake has moved away from publicly supporting traditional socialist ideas such as banning private property and one-party rule. Although he is head of a Marxist party, he says he supports a free market economy. He ran for president of the NPP coalition for the first time in 2019. But he lost to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country two years later because of the countrys deep financial crisis. Promises to end economic controls and corruption Dissanayake enters office with promises to raise the standard of living and to clean up government corruption. He promised that politicians and officials would be held responsible for their actions. He also said he would end privileges for politicians and former presidents. His supporters expect him to ease austerity measures put in place so the country could receive loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Last year, Sri Lanka reached a deal with the IMF for a $3 billion loan because it could not pay its foreign debts. Dissanayake has promised to continue that deal. He also said he will support local businesses instead of depending only on foreign investors. But for the countrys Tamil minority, the future is not hopeful. Dissanayake has rejected giving more power to the northern and eastern areas where most Tamils live. He has also rejected investigating incidents during the civil war that United Nations investigators have described as possible war crimes. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the final months before the Tamil Tiger rebels defeat. Im Mario Ritter, Jr.. Bharatha Mallawarachi reported this story for the Associated Press. Mario Ritter, Jr. adapted it for VOA Learning English. _______________________________________________ Words in This Story politburo n. the most powerful committee of a communist party standard of living n. a level of material wealth available to individuals and families in a nation usually linked with quality of life privilege n. something that one person is permitted to do while others cannot austerity n. a condition where no big or very unnecessary spending takes place and where people accept less in the present in the hope that they are making financial progress We want to hear from you. Our comment policy is here. There has been a shocked and angry reaction around the world to TV pictures showing the death of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy caught in Israeli-Palestinian cross-fire on the Gaza Strip. The footage shows the boy, Muhammad al-Durrah, shot in the arms of his father who was trying to shield him. His terrifying last moments were captured by French television. The shocking images, played repeatedly on television, show Muhammad and his father, Jamal, cowering behind a small metal barrel as bullets rain around them. Jamal can be seen waving desperately at the Israeli soldiers on the other side of the road, as his son screams, obviously terrified, by his side. Eventually both were hit Muhammad four times. His father survived but was also critically wounded. An ambulance driver who came to their aid 45 minutes later was also reported to have been shot and killed. Flashpoint The tragedy happened at Netzarim junction, one of the worst flashpoints on the Gaza Strip, on the intersection between a Palestinian-controlled main road and a route controlled by the Israeli army leading to a Jewish settlement. The father and his son were unarmed, and appear not to have been part of the rioting. Relatives say they were returning from Gazas popular used-car market and were trying to get home to the Buriej refugee camp where they live. The boys death came at the height of clashes between Palestinian and Israeli police in Jerusalem and throughout the occupied territories. Courtesy BBC News In context Images of the killing of Muhammad al-Durrah caused an international outcry. Israel expressed sorrow at the death but accused the Palestinians of making cynical use of children in clashes with Israeli troops. The Israeli Defence Forces subsequent investigation into the killing found that Mohammad and his father could not have been within range of the Israeli soldiers. There have been other investigations since which have looked at claims the shooting was faked and even that the boy was never killed. The incident is still the subject of great controversy. In the following five days of bloodshed, two more Palestinian children, one 10 years old, the other just two, were killed. On October 12 two Israeli reservists were beaten to death and their bodies mutilated by a Palestinian mob in Ramallah. In revenge Israel sent in helicopter gunships to attack the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It was the beginning of a wave of violence which became known as the second Palestinian intifada (uprising), or by some as the Al Aqsa intifada. By the end of the first year of the intifada, more than 800 people had died. The Israeli strike that killed Hezbollahs Hassan Nasrallah was a measure of justice for victims of a four-decade reign of terror, President Joe Biden said yesterday (local time). The comments came after Lebanons Hezbollah group confirmed Saturday that Nasrallah, one of the groups founders, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut the previous day. Biden noted that the operation to take out Nasrallah took place in the broader context of the conflict that began with Hamas massacre of Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023. Nasrallah, the next day, made the fateful decision to join hands with Hamas and open what he called a northern front against Israel, Biden said in a statement. He also noted that Hezbollah under Nasrallahs watch has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans, Israelis and Lebanese. Hezbollah attacks against U.S. interests include the truck bombing of the U.S. Embassy and multinational force barracks in Beirut in 1983 and the kidnapping of the Central Intelligence Agency chief of station in Beirut, who died while held captive. The U.S. said Hezbollah leaders armed and trained militias that carried out attacks on American forces during the war in Iraq. The White House sees the death of Nasrallah as a huge blow to the group. At the same time, the administration has sought to tread carefully as it has tried to contain Israel s war with Hamas, which, like Hezbollah, is backed by Iran, from exploding into an all-out regional conflict. The White House and Pentagon were quick on Friday, shortly after the strike, to say publicly that Israel offered it no forewarning of the operation. President Biden and I do not want to see conflict in the Middle East escalate into a broader regional war, Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement that echoed Bidens description of a measure of justice. She added, Diplomacy remains the best path forward to protect civilians and achieve lasting stability in the region. The confirmation of Nasrallahs death comes during a week that began with Bidens top national security aides working on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly to build support for a 21-day Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire that they hoped might also breathe new life into stalled efforts to secure a truce in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a defiant speech Friday to the United Nations, vowing to keep up operations against Hezbollah until tens of thousands of Israeli citizens displaced by rocket attacks can return home. Shortly after, Israel carried out the strike killing Nasrallah. Biden reiterated that he wants to see cease-fires both in Gaza and between Israel and Hezbollah. It is time for these deals to close, for the threats to Israel to be removed, and for the broader Middle East region to gain greater stability, Biden said. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian accused the United States of supporting the killing that took out Nasrallah and dozens of others. The world community will not forget that the order of the terrorist strike was issued from New York and the Americans cannot absolve themselves from complicity with the Zionists, Pezeshkian was quoted as saying in a statement read on Iranian state television. The State Department yesterday ordered the departure of the families of U.S. diplomats who are not employed by the embassy in Beirut and authorized the departure of those who are, as well as nonessential employees because of the volatile and unpredictable security situation in Lebanons capital. The U.S. embassy in Beirut also posted a link to an online form that Americans in Lebanon can complete if they are interested in possible assistance leaving the country. The embassy stressed that it was not organizing evacuations and that there are still commercial means to leave, but the request for information appeared to suggest that such plans may be in the works. The State Department has previously advised American citizens to consider leaving Lebanon and reiterated its warning against all travel to the country. Due to the increased volatility following airstrikes within Beirut and the volatile and unpredictable security situation throughout Lebanon, the U.S. Embassy urges U.S. citizens to depart Lebanon while commercial options still remain available, the department said in a statement yesterday. The State Department routinely orders or authorizes the departure of nonessential embassy staffers and the families of diplomats when security conditions deteriorate in the country where they are posted. An ordered departure is not technically an evacuation but does require those affected to leave. An authorized departure allows those affected to leave the country voluntarily at government expense. Biden, who was spending the weekend at his vacation home in Delaware, and Harris, who was campaigning in California, held a call with national security aides to discuss the situation in the Middle East. In a brief exchange with reporters as he left church yesterday, Biden did not directly respond to questions about the conflict potentially escalating further. Its time for a cease-fire, he said. The president on Friday directed the Pentagon to assess and adjust as necessary the U.S. force posture in the region to enhance deterrence, ensure force protection and support the full range of U.S. objectives. He called for the assessment after the Pentagon earlier in the week announced it was sending an unspecified number of additional U.S. troops to the region because of rising tensions. AAMER MADHANI & MATTHEW LEE, REHOBOTH BEACH, MDT/AP Baku Museum Center has presented an exhibition titled "Abstract Art Experience of the Azerbaijani Artists, Azernews reports. The art project is co-organized by the Azerbaijan Artists' Union with the support of the Azerbaijan Culture Ministry and the Baku Museum Center. The opening ceremony was attended by prominent art and cultural figures. Azerbaijan Deputy Culture Minister, People's Artist Murad Huseynov, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Artists' Union Farhad Khalilov, Member of the Azerbaijani Parliament, People's Artist Polad Bulbuloglu, and Doctor of Philosophy in Art Studies Elchin Shamilli addressed the event. This exhibition launches the "Caspian" Biennale Platform program, organized by Azerbaijan Artists' Union, the International Artists Club, and the United Club of Artists of Azerbaijan, which promises to be a major cultural event for the entire region. The "Caspian" Platform will take place from September 28 to October 1, bringing together artists, curators, and experts from Caspian countries to foster cultural exchange, dialogue, and collaboration through art. Within the framework of the platform, there will be exhibitions, roundtables, and discussions focusing on contemporary art in the region and its interaction with global artistic processes. Contemporary art in Azerbaijan from the 20th and 21st centuries is characterized by several major directions. These include, first and foremost, socialist realism, embodied in the work of Tahir Salahov, Mikayil Abdullayev, and many other masters. Another direction is the "Absheron School," represented in the work of artists such as Tofig Javadov, Rasim Babayev, and their like-minded colleagues. The third direction, underground (unofficial art), is manifested in the work of Gorkhmaz Afandiyev, Ashraf Murad, Javad Mirjavadi, and other nonconformists. These directions have found their reflection in the works of art historians and experts. A significant aspect of culture and a large direction of contemporary art in Azerbaijan remains unexplored: modern abstract art. The Azerbaijan Artists' Union has decided to initiate a series of exhibitions of national abstract art (as exemplified by the presented exhibition) and also to encourage research by art historians in this direction. Contemporary abstraction in Azerbaijan is an avant-garde phenomenon. It has deep roots in Azerbaijani traditional culture, particularly the ancient carpet, which features abstract geometric elements and ornaments. The very structure of carpets, palas, and kilims relies on abstract geometry. In this sense, the Azerbaijani people carry abstract thinking and the experience of abstract visual forms in their cultural consciousness. Interestingly, in addition to artists who primarily work in abstraction (Mir-Nadir Zeynalov and Huseyn Hagvardi), there are several authors who, while working in other directions, have made individual experiments in abstraction. Such works are represented in the exhibition through the examples of Kamal Ahmad, Gennady Brijatyuk, and Ujjal Hagvardi. Elchin Aslanov and Ramiz Aslanov have created a synthesis of carpet forms and traditional miniatures in a contemporary interpretation. This exhibition serves as an impetus for further development, both for the practices of artists and for new theories by art historians in the field of abstract art and the expansion of its scope. Visitors can expect new discoveries and upcoming exhibitions of Azerbaijani abstract art. Exhibition hours: September 27 30 from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM (free admission) Address: Baku, Neftchilar Ave. 49, Baku Museum Center (4th floor) Phone: +99412 493 58 83, +99450 273 21 80 Exhibition hours: September 27-30 from 10:00 to 18:00 (free entry) Address: Baku, Neftchilar Avenue, 49, Museum Center (4th floor) Media partners of the event are Azernews.Az, Trend.Az, Day.Az, and Milli.Az. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China. For the past 75 years, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has united and led the Chinese nation in successfully finding the Chinese path to modernization, and in creating the two major miracles of fast economic development and long-term social stability. China has seen a substantial rise in its composite national strength, becoming a pivotal player in the global economic landscape while achieving a historic leap towards a moderately prosperous society in all respects for its people. China has successfully accomplished the daunting task of eliminating absolute poverty, contributing to over 70% of poverty reduced globally. Infrastructure construction has expanded rapidly, with significant advancements in transportation. Remarkable progress have been made in scientific and technological development, and high-tech innovation has yielded fruitful results. Cultural undertakings have also flourished, with the countrys soft power substantially enhanced. A range of green-development initiatives has been successfully implemented, promoting harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature. Chinas contribution to global economic growth has exceeded 30% for multiple years in a row. These onstitute not only Chinas major achievements, but also great contributions to the world. Over the past 75 years, China has unswervingly pursued peaceful development and made important contributions to world peace and development. Committed to its foreign policy goal of safeguarding world peace and promoting common development, China has actively advanced world multipolarity and democracy in international relations, unequivocally opposed hegemonism and power politics, and worked to make the international order more just and equitable. Our external environment has been historically improved, our core interests strongly safeguarded, our cooperation with other countries greatly expanded and our international status and influence remarkably enhanced. In the new era, under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core and the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy, Chinais diplomacy has upheld fundamental principles while breaking new ground and forged ahead. We have created a favorable environment for building a great modern socialist country and advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and made new contribution to maintaining world peace and promoting common development. In pursuit of building a community with a shared future for mankind and lending new impetus to the building of a brighter future for humanity. Faced with intertwined traditional and non-traditional security issues and sluggish world economic recovery, China has given its answerbuilding a community with a shared future for mankind. Since the vision put forth by President Xi Jinping in 2013, building a community with a shared future for mankind has developed from a conceptual proposition to a scientific system, from a Chinese initiative to an international consensus, and from a promising vision to substantive actions. It has been included in resolutions of the U.N. General Assembly for 7 consecutive years. Extending to various regions and covering various areas, it has served as a glorious banner leading the progress of the times. Staying committed to dialogue and cooperation and setting an example of healthy interactions between major countries. Relations among major countries bear on the stability of the world. China has continued to deepen its comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era with Russia, with a view to boosting our respective development and revitalization, and promoting world multipolarity and greater democracy in international relations. China-US relations have weathered winds and rains but mainstream public opinion has not changed. The meeting between President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden last November shaped the San Francisco vision and stabilized the bilateral relationship, which met the shared expectations of the world. China and Europe have been deepening dialogue and cooperation and reached consensus on jointly safeguarding multilateralism. Being dedicated to building a new type of international relations and consolidating and expanding the global network of partnerships. President Xi Jinping has pointed out: Solidarity brings strength, and confidence is more precious than gold. China stands firmly against small circles that seek geopolitical purposes and small blocs that undermine stability. Over the 75 years, the number of the countries which has established diplomatic relations with China has grown to 183. China has acted on the principle of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness and proven a reliable partner in jointly building the Asian home. China-ASEAN cooperation has made solid progress. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization has continued to grow. China has also pursued progress for all and stayed a steadfast member of the Global South. We have been working for the historic expansion of the BRICS mechanism. The FOCAC Beijing Summit was successfully held this year and China-African cooperation is getting new fruits year by year. China has established collective cooperation mechanism with all developing countries having diplomatic ties with China. We are making every efforts to give a strong boost to the representation and voice of developing countries. Working to promote multilateralism and being a strong supporter for global governance. From the first day of the establishment of the PRC, China firmly upholds the UN-centered international system and the basic norms of international relations underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. China holds that global governance is the way to surmount global challenges and put forward the Global Development Initiative (GDI), the Global Security Initiative (GSI), and the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI). Over 80 countries have joined the Group of Friends of the GDI. The GSI has garnered support from over 100 countries and international and regional organizations, and is written into a host of bilateral and multilateral documents. The GCI has turned from vision to practice and the increased communication, mutual learning and appreciation between the Chinese and other civilizations have added new splendor to world civilizations. Focusing on open development and serving as a powerful engine of global recovery. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has produced fruitful outcomes and become the most popular global public goods and the largest platform for international cooperation. Over 150 countries and more than 40 international organizations jointly ushered in another golden decade of Belt and Road cooperation. The China International Import Expo, the China International Fair for Trade in Services, the China International Consumer Products Expo, and the China International Supply Chain Expo were held in succession. It has become an established consensus of the global business community that the next China is still China. This year, China rolled out a series of major steps to expand high-standard opening up and promote high-quality development, including streamlining visa procedures and granting unilateral visa exemption to citizens of a number of foreign countries, which are set to bring more benefits to investors and partners from across the world. It has been proven that openness brings progress and cooperation creates a bigger pie. Remaining devoted to justice and fairness and acting as a critical force for world peace. Over the past 75 years, China, as a responsible major country, has always upheld justice and stood up for fairness. We have resolutely opposed hegemonism and power politics and pushed back against a handful of countries attempt to dominate international affairs. At the same time, China has been actively exploring and applying a Chinese approach to addressing hotspot issues, and played a constructive role in upholding international peace and security. We have been working hard for the cessation of hostilities and for peace talks in the Ukraine crisis, made unremitting efforts for the de-escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and played a constructive role in addressing regional issues such as Afghanistan and Myanmar. Defending justice in defiance of hegemonic power is certainly also about safeguarding Chinas sovereignty, national dignity and territorial integrity. In the face of external interference and provocation, we fought back resolutely and forcefully. In response to various acts of unjustified suppression, we took legitimate and reasonable countermeasures. The international communitys commitment to the one-China principle has been further cemented and the 1.4 billion Chinese peoples resolution to advance national reunification remains rock-solid. The CPC held successfully in July the Third Plenary Session of its 20th Central Committee, laying out systematic plans for further deepening reform comprehensively to advance Chinese modernization. This will profoundly further transform China. Standing at this new start point, China is going all out to build a great modern socialist country in all respects and pursue national rejuvenation through a Chinese path to modernization. This will create new opportunities for world peace and development. China will work hand in hand with countries around the world to advance the building of a community with a shared future for mankind and create a more peaceful and better tomorrow. This year also marks the 25th anniversary of Macaos return to the motherland. Macao has been an important node city of the Maritime Silk Road since ancient times. During the past 25 years, with its special geographic location and the great advantage of One Country, Two Systems, as well as its close links with the Portuguese-speaking countries in language, regulations, laws and culture, Macao has played an irreplaceable role in Chinas diplomatic undertaking and made impressive achievements in its external relations. Going forward, Macao will be able to derive more opportunities from the countrys new development strategy, the Belt and Road Initiative, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and Hengqin In-depth Cooperation Zone, and continue to strengthen its role as a world center of tourism and leisure, a commercial and trade cooperation service platform for China and Portuguese-speaking countries and an exchange and cooperation base with Chinese culture as its mainstream and co-existence of different cultures. I believe that with our joint efforts, Chinas major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics will continue to pursue progress in the new era and bring about a brighter future of peace, security, prosperity and progress for the whole world! *Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Peoples Republic of China in the Macau Special Administrative Region The government has promoted inclusivity by supporting individuals with disabilities in the Walk to celebrate the Opening of the Macau Bridge. Held yesterday, this event commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Peoples Republic of China and the 25th anniversary of Macaus return to China. Around 80 participants from eight disability groups took part, encouraging social interaction and mass sports. The Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) collaborated with various organizations to facilitate registration, allowing families to join in the celebration. This initiative highlights the governments commitment to integrating disabled individuals into community life and creating equal and inclusive opportunities for all. Related North Korea has likely enriched enough uranium to build a double-digit number of bombs and is making progress in its efforts to develop more powerful and accurate missiles targeting rival South Korea, Seouls spy agency told lawmakers last week. The closed-door parliamentary briefing by the National Intelligence Service came after North Korea offered a rare glimpse into a secretive facility to produce weapons-grade uranium earlier this month as leader Kim Jong Un reiterated his goal to exponentially increase his stock of nuclear weapons. The South Korean agency assessed that Kims disclosure of the facility was likely a statement of defiance toward Washington ahead of the U.S. presidential election and meant to domestically showcase his military accomplishments amid deepening economic struggles, according to Lee Seong-kweun, one of the lawmakers who attended the briefing. When asked about North Koreas bomb fuel capacity, the agency said North Korea likely has about 70 kilograms (154 pounds) of plutonium and an unspecified but considerable amount of weapons-grade uranium that would be enough to build at least a double-digit number of weapons, Lee said. While North Korean state media did not disclose the location of the uranium enrichment facility that Kim visited on Sept. 13, the South Korean agency said it was likely to be a site in Kangson, near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, said Park Sun-won, another lawmaker who attended the briefing. Along with the Norths main nuclear complex in the town of Yongbyon, the Kangson plant is one of two known sites in North Korea that has been linked to uranium enrichment activities. Some analysts say North Korea likely has other hidden sites for enriching uranium. Kims visit to the uranium enrichment site was followed by a North Korean missile test days later, as the country continues to flaunt its weapons capabilities in the face of deepening confrontations with Washington and Seoul. North Korean state media said the test launches on Sept. 18 involved two types of new missiles one designed to deliver super-large conventional warheads and the other a strategic cruise missile, a term that implies it was developed for nuclear strikes. North Korean state media reports on the tests suggested that North Korea was improving the capabilities of the weapons, which are designed for delivering precision strikes on South Korean targets, the lawmakers paraphrased the South Korean spy agency as saying. Some analysts speculate that North Korea could attempt to dial up pressure on Washington by conducting a nuclear test ahead of the U.S. presidential election. But the South Korean spy agency assessed that North Korea could wait on a nuclear test until after the election since there are other steps it may want to try first, such as test-firing a long-range missile targeting the U.S. mainland or launching a military reconnaissance satellite, Lee said. KIM TONG-HYUNG, SEOUL, MDT/AP A prominent general in Irans paramilitary Revolutionary Guard died in an Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Iranian media reported Saturday. The killing of Gen. Abbas Nilforushan marks the latest casualty suffered by Iran as the nearly yearlong Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip teeters on the edge of becoming a regional conflict. His death further ratchets up pressure on Iran to respond, even as Tehran has signaled in recent months that it wants to negotiate with the West over sanctions crushing its economy. Nilforushan, 58, was killed Friday in the strike in Lebanon in which Nasrallah died, the state-owned newspaper Tehran Times reported. Ahmad Reza Pour Khaghan, the deputy head of Irans judiciary, also confirmed Nilforushans death, describing him as a guest to the people of Lebanon, the state-run IRNA news agency said. Khaghan also reportedly said that Iran had the right to retaliate under international law. Nilforushan served as the deputy commander for operations in the Guard, a role overseeing its ground forces. What he was doing in Lebanon on Friday wasnt immediately clear. The Guards expeditionary Quds Force for decades has armed, trained and relied on Hezbollah as part of its strategy to rely on regional militias as a counterbalance to Israel and the United States. MDT/AP The soon to be inaugurated Macau Bridge has advanced safety features, including over 200 monitoring systems to ensure driver safety and efficiency, according to the Transport Bureaus (DSAT) Kelvin Lam Hin San. There are almost no blind spots, Lam said during yesterday bridge fun walk, urging drivers to adhere strictly to traffic regulations once the bridge opens. The Macau Bridge is expected to alleviate congestion at the Rotunda da Amizade by providing a direct route for vehicles traveling from Taipa to Macau. Lam was optimistic this new route will significantly ease traffic flow. He mentioned ongoing infrastructure projects, such as the A2 and A3 flyovers, which aim to further enhance connectivity between the Peninsula and the New Urban Reclamation Zone A. In response to rising traffic volumes at Rotunda da Amizade, authorities are exploring adjustments to improve traffic management. Proposed changes may include eliminating certain overpass ramps and optimizing traffic light deployment during peak hours. The highly anticipated Macau Bridge will officially open Oct. 1. This new infrastructure marks the fourth road link between the Macau Peninsula and Taipa Island, offering a significant improvement in connectivity. Scheduled for inauguration at 11 a.m. on Chinas National Day, the bridge will allow vehicles to cross from 2 p.m., as reported by local media outlets. DSAT has confirmed the bridge has multiple entrances and exits, facilitating smoother travel between key areas, including Urban Zone A and the Macau Port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. Growing taxi problem Additionally, Lam addressed the growing number of taxis in Macau, currently about 1,500. Plans are underway for an additional 500 taxis, with one company set to invest in 50 new vehicles soon. As discussions continue regarding amendments to the Road Traffic Law, Lam reaffirmed the governments commitment to engaging with community feedback. Chief Executive candidate Sam Hou Fai said addressing traffic issues will be a priority for the incoming administration. Taking a cab in Macau is a struggle, Sam said during his policy presentation for Saturdays Chief Executive election. We have residents here who work, who live, who want to take a cab, which is a legitimate right, but its very difficult. Im completely willing to listen to opinions from different sectors to offer good suggestions to solve this problem, he said. We are a small territory, not like our neighboring region, Hong Kong. [] We cant copy their measures, because they have different cab systems depending on different zones, but thats not replicated here, he added. Nadia Shaw Analysis Carrying mostly Tsinoy tourists and some Philippine-based journalists, the chartered bus has traversed about 17 kilometers of the newly opened sea bridge across the foggy Pearl River estuary. And then the mist parted to reveal the diamond-shaped island in the middle of the water ahead, recalls a Philippine Daily Inquirers reporter in a detailed account of the tour here abbreviated. Named as West Artificial Island, it is shaped like the body of a kite, with the bridge representing its lengthy tail. The island serves as the mouth of a 6.8-kilometer undersea tunnel, the other end of which emerges onto Shenzhen. This is the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, tagged at more than $6 billion and opened to traffic last June 30. The Pearl River Delta region in China, home to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), is emerging as a formidable global economic powerhouse, surpassing even renowned metropolitan hubs like Tokyo and the San Francisco Bay Area. During the tour organized for Filipino-Chinese tourists and journalists, the visitors crossed the newly opened Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, a sea bridge and tunnel system stretching across 17 kilometers. The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link connects two key cities in Guangdong province. The tollway complements the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, a similar bridge-tunnel complex completed in 2018. Together, these projects symbolize the economic might of the Pearl River Delta, often called the factory of the world for its massive industrial output. Situated just a short flight away from the increasingly contested South China Sea, the GBA encompasses nine cities, including Guangzhou and Shenzhen, along with the two special autonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau. This region plays a significant role in Chinas economy, accounting for about 11% of the nations $17.8 trillion GDP. In comparison, the GBAs economic output of $2 trillion in 2023 surpassed that of both the Tokyo Bay Area ($1.8 trillion) and the San Francisco Bay Area ($1.3 trillion), according to DBS Bank. The regions economic clout, driven by infrastructure, high-tech manufacturing, trade, finance, and resilient property markets, positions it as a top global player alongside Americas Silicon Valley. During the tour this month, which covered five of the GBAs nine cities, visitors witnessed firsthand the scale of development and modernization. Shenzhen, in particular, stands out as a city that has rapidly evolved from a small fishing village in the 1980s to a bustling metropolis with a skyline dominated by skyscrapers. The city boasts more high-rise buildings than any other in the world, including the Ping An Finance Centre, one of the tallest structures globally at 599 meters. Meanwhile, Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong province and a historical trading hub, blends its rich past with a modern skyline. The iconic Canton Tower, standing at 604 meters, is the second-tallest tower in the world, only behind Japans Tokyo Skytree. The city is also home to some of the worlds tallest buildings, such as the Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre, which ranks eighth globally at 530 meters. The sheer scale of ongoing development across the GBA is hard to miss. The tours participants, including some who had visited Shenzhen in the 1980s, marveled at the transformation. Back then, the city was a modest fishing village, far removed from the industrial juggernaut it is today. Shenzhen has since become a global hub for manufacturing and innovation, producing a wide array of goods, from electronics to appliances. The transformation is particularly striking for those who, like Robin Tan, witnessed Shenzhens humble beginnings firsthand. Tan recounted how, during his visit in the 1980s, Shenzhen locals prized goods imported from nearby Hong Kong, then still under British rule. Today, however, the GBA, particularly Shenzhen, manufactures much of what the world needs and wants. The biannual Canton Fair, held in Guangzhou, remains a key event for showcasing the regions manufacturing prowess, attracting buyers and businesses from across the globe. The rapid development of the GBA is supported by a growing population, now approaching 90 millionaround four-fifths of the Philippines population. The sight of construction cranes scattered across the region underscores its continued growth, with new infrastructure and residential developments rising at a brisk pace. The ongoing urbanization and economic expansion of the GBA signal Chinas ascent as a global economic player, further solidifying its influence on the world stage. For tourists, the GBA offers a unique blend of historical significance and modernity. While Chinas other cities like Beijing and Shanghai are renowned for their historical and cultural attractions, the Pearl River Delta region is emblematic of Chinas contemporary rise as an economic superpower. As China continues to develop, the GBA stands as a key driver of this growth, offering a glimpse into the future of global commerce and industry. MDT/Philippine Daily Inquirer Macaus sole candidate for Chief Executive, Sam Hou Fai, unveiled a comprehensive policy agenda Saturday morning aimed at regulating the gaming sector while fostering development in other industries. Speaking at his policy platform presentation, he emphasized the importance of strict enforcement of the law to ensure orderly growth in the city. Sam, the former head of the Court of Final Appeal, stated that the implementation of a new gaming law will be crucial for maintaining a healthy and regulated industry. He expressed a commitment to combat illegal activities and prioritize the development of non-gaming elements in Macaus economy. We will strictly implement a new gaming law to regulate the industry and ensure its healthy, orderly development, said Sam, poised to be the next city leader. In addition to regulating gaming, Sam aims to broaden the citys appeal to international tourists. He highlighted the potential of attracting middle-class visitors from Southeast Asia and South America, describing them as a market of one billion potential spenders who typically enjoy extended stays and contribute to cultural exchange. Currently, visitors from outside mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan make up only 7% of the 16.7 million tourists who visited Macau in the first half of this year. To enhance this, Sam proposed that Macaus gaming operatorswho have committed around USD 13 billion to non-gaming investmentsshould establish tourism promotion offices in key markets, including Brazil and other Southeast Asian countries. These gaming firms, including global players like MGM, Wynn, and Sands China, have extensive networks. We need to leverage these connections to encourage them to invest in tourism promotion alongside the Macau government, said Sam. During his inaugural press briefing last month, he stated that the wild expansion of casino resorts had depleted Macaus resources. Sam said that just relying on the gaming industry is not enough. Otherwise, how could we handle it if big disasters arise? he asked. Sam, 62, is widely expected to secure the leadership in next months vote, during which a 400-member committeemostly dominated by establishment figureswill pick the leader. In late August, Sam articulated his vision for a balanced economic future, stating that having only the gaming industry dominate is detrimental to Macaus development. He highlighted the necessity of integrating into the national development blueprint, asserting that the Special Administrative Region (SAR) must capitalize on its unique advantages as the One Centre, One Platform, and One Base. He underscored that economic diversification is a critical issue that cannot be ignored, adding that there is no turning back and emphasizing the importance of developing in a diversified manner. Sam reiterated that his vision seeks not only to regulate the gaming industry but also to position Macau as a vibrant hub for international tourism and trade, particularly in promoting exports from the Greater Bay Area to Portuguese-speaking nations. Multidimensional economic system Laying out an ambitious agenda to transform the regions economic landscape, with a central focus on cultivating a multidimensional economic system Sam believes the system is a strategic move that will safeguard both personal interests and long-term stability. With the slogan Entrepreneurship and Solidarity, Persistence and Innovation, Sam emphasized the importance of taking active measures to confront national development strategies. He stressed the need to implement a comprehensive economic development plan for the region. His proposed plan aims to boost support for small and medium-sized (SMEs) businesses, seen as an important part of the local economy. The plan would also enhance the areas tourism industry, another sector considered vital for revitalizing economic growth. These two areas are priority pillars in Sams strategy to strengthen the regional economic performance. Recognizing the catalytic role of SMEs, Sam vowed to support SMEs to innovate and develop. By nurturing these businesses, he aims to create new opportunities and foster a more vibrant, diversified market. Sams vision for Macaus tourism industry is equally comprehensive. He plans to provide a rich supply of tourism products and improve the quality of tourism services to attract a larger influx of international visitors. This, he believes, will not only boost the regions economic prowess but also strengthen its global presence. Alongside these efforts, Sam intends to promote 1+4 industrial multidimensional development, focusing on sectors such as Chinese pharmaceuticals, finance and high-tech industries. This targeted approach seeks to cultivate a well-rounded economic foundation, reducing Macaus historical reliance on the gaming and hospitality sectors. Governance and collaboration Sam described his transparent public service system to be achieved through the importance of legislative cooperation and modernizing Macaus legal system. His aim is to promote the modernization of the legal system and establish a mechanism for cooperation between the government and the Legislative Assembly. Sam also pledged to strengthen the authority of civil servants as part of his plan to improve governance efficiency. This includes clarifying the rights and obligations of leaders and enhancing the qualifications of public sector employees. Sam said developing strong dispute-resolution processes would be important for enhancing future governance. He expressed a desire to bolster the role of civil servants, stating that a key priority is to improve the qualifications of civil servants to enhance governance efficiency. Quality of life improvements The candidate underscored the necessity of strengthening and improving peoples lives, describing this as a foundational component of his governments policy. Proposed initiatives include optimizing social security systems, enhancing employment services, and improving healthcare access through collaboration with mainland institutions. Sam plans to build a strong social security system and optimize the system of social assistance, ensuring residents have access to necessary support. Additionally, he aims to perfect the system of training and employment services for professional skills to create better job opportunities for locals. Sam also envisions deepening cooperation with high-level medical institutions in mainland China and enhancing the medical insurance system to improve public health services. Strengthening and improving peoples lives, he said, is essential for fostering a harmonious and prosperous Macau. Community and environmental well-being For the candidate, promoting community harmony and environmental protection are also key priorities. Regarding community well-being, Sam acknowledged the need to optimize the ecological environment and improve the ability of comprehensive environmental governance. When addressing the diverse territorys racial harmony, the candidate vowed to promote racial harmony among all cultural groups. He specifically mentioned safeguarding the rights of Portuguese descendants in Macau, acknowledging the regions colonial history. Turning to environmental protection, a critical issue as the SAR continues to develop, the candidate outlined plans to strengthen the protection of the ecological environment. He stated improving resources for urban environmental governance will be crucial. Lynzy Valles & Victoria Chan Q&A session with the public Oct. 5 Sam Hou Fai will host a public session this Saturday, Oct. 5, to engage with citizens and gather their opinions and suggestions. According to a statement, he aims to discuss his governance ideas with the community. There are 400 free seats available for the event. Registration is open to Macau residents aged 18 and older who wish to attend. Interested participants can sign up on the website (https://www.macauticket.com/enrollment). Attendees will be selected via a lottery system, and those chosen will receive a notification to collect their tickets at the specified time. Sands China Ltd. has officially opened the remodeled Londoner Grand Casino, formerly known as the Pacifica, at The Londoner Macao resort. The grand unveiling occurred late last week, marking a significant milestone for the casino operator amid a competitive gaming landscape. A spokesperson for Sands China expressed excitement about the Sept. 26 opening, stating, We are pleased to confirm The Londoner Grand Casino opened to the public at noon today, as cited in a GGR Asia report. This revitalization aligns with the concessionaires gearing up for the upcoming Golden Week holidays from Oct. 1 7, a peak period for tourism and gaming revenue. The renovation of the casino space was anticipated by industry analysts, including in a recent note from Goldman Sachs (Asia) Ltd., which suggested the revamped area might open just in time for Golden Week. The report indicated the former Pacifica gaming area had been closed while preparations were underway to enhance its offerings. The Londoner Grand Casino said it will cater to both premium and mass-market customers, incorporating over 20 gaming tables previously relocated to a temporary premium mass area during renovations. This strategic shift is part of Sands Chinas broader USD1.2 billion (MOP9.6 billion) investment plan to transform the Londoner Macao as part of its ongoing capital reinvestment program. In addition to the casino, the hotel component of The Londoner Macao is undergoing significant changes. Approximately 2,500 to 3,000 rooms from the former Sheraton hotel are being renovated and rebranded as part of The Luxury Collection Hotels & Resorts by Marriott International Inc. This rebranding effort will increase the number of suites from 360 to 1,500. This extraordinary hotel will serve as a gateway to Macaus fascinating cultural heritage, said Grant Chum, CEO and president of Sands China Ltd. Sands China said its accommodation will feature an elegant townhouse atmosphere inspired by the prestigious Mayfair district of London. Certain suites will include private terraces, dedicated childrens rooms, state-of-the-art media rooms, and exclusive private plunge pools, according to the announcement. Nadia Shaw In 2006, after a bruising monthlong war between Israel and Lebanons powerful Hezbollah militant group, the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted for a resolution to end the conflict and pave the way for lasting security along the border. But while there was relative calm for nearly two decades, Resolution 1701s terms were never fully enforced. And now, after nearly a year of low-level clashes, Israel and Hezbollah appear on the verge of another all-out war. As Israeli jets pound deep inside Lebanon and Hezbollah fires rockets deeper into northern Israel, U.N. and diplomatic officials have again turned to the 2006 resolution in a bid to end the conflict. Years of deeply divided politics and regionwide geopolitical hostilities have halted substantial progress on its implementation, yet Resolution 1701 is still considered the brightest prospect for long-term stability between Israel and Lebanon. What is UNSC Resolution 1701? In 2000, Israel withdrew its forces from most of southern Lebanon along a U.N.-demarcated Blue Line that separated the two countries and the annexed Golan Heights. U.N. peacekeeping forces in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, increased their presence along the line of withdrawal. Resolution 1701 was supposed to finish the incomplete work from 2000 and end the 2006 war; Israeli forces would fully withdraw while the Lebanese army and UNIFIL Hezbollah excluded would be the exclusive armed presence south of Lebanons Litani River. The Lebanese state was to have full sovereignty over its south. Meanwhile, up to 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers would help to maintain calm, return displaced Lebanese and secure the area alongside the Lebanese military. The goal was long-term security, with land borders eventually demarcated to resolve territorial disputes. It was made for a certain situation and context, Elias Hanna, a retired Lebanese army general, told The Associated Press. But as time goes on, the essence of the resolution begins to hollow. Has it been implemented? For years, Lebanon and Israel blamed each other for countless violations along the tense frontier. Israel says Hezbollahs elite Radwan Force and growing arsenal remain, and accuses the group of using a local environmental organization to spy on troops. Lebanon complains about military jets and naval ships entering Lebanese territory even when there is no active conflict. You had a role of the UNIFIL that slowly eroded like any other peacekeeping with time that has no clear mandate, said Joseph Bahout, the director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy at the American University of Beirut. They dont have permission to inspect the area without coordinating with the Lebanese army. UNIFIL for years has urged Israel to withdraw from some territory north of the frontier, but to no avail. Hezbollahs power has meanwhile grown, both in its arsenal and as a political influence in parliament. The Iran-backed group was essential in keeping Syrian President Bashar Assad in power when armed opposition groups tried to topple him, and it supports Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Yemen. It has an estimated 150,000 rockets and missiles, including precision-guided missiles pointed at Israel, and has introduced drones into its arsenal. Hanna says Hezbollah is something never seen before as a non-state actor with political and military influence. How relevant is 1701 to ending the current hostilities? Efforts led by the U.S. and France for a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah have underscored that they still view the resolution as key. For almost a year, Washington has promoted various versions of a deal that would gradually lead to its full implementation. But the circumstances now are far more complicated than in 2006. Israel says its aerial bombardments aim to push Hezbollah back and allow its northern residents to return home safely. Hezbollah says it will stop firing rockets only once there is a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, where Israel continues to battle Hezbollahs key ally Hamas. Negotiations for a ceasefire there are gridlocked. Youre tying 1701 with a hundred things, Bahout said. A resolution is the reflection of a balance of power and political context. So while the Security Council resolutions goals are still relevant, new issues have emerged that have sidelined its implementation. Between the warring parties, you have to make each party feel that they achieved something, Hanna said. Otherwise, you wont come to the table unless you are defeated or annihilated. KAREEM CHEHAYEB, BEIRUT, MDT/AP Azerbaijan National Library has held a meeting with the participation of the Culture Ministry's representatives and heads of publishing houses regarding the preparations for the 10th Baku International Book Fair, Azernews reports. The Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Baku International Book Fair, Deputy Minister Farid Jafarov, stated that this year the exhibition celebrates its 10th anniversary, and the duration of the fair has been extended compared to previous years. For the first time this year, the fair will last for 7 days. More than 320 events of various formats will be organized as part of the Book Festival, which is the highest number recorded in the history of the Baku International Book Fair. The Deputy Minister noted that 56 foreign organizations from 19 countries and 110 entities of the book industry will participate in the fair, with the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) being the honorary guest this year. During the meeting, a wide discussion was held regarding the overall program of the fair, the schedule, and routes for bus transportation organized to the Baku Expo Center, as well as other organizational matters, collaboration efforts to promote the fair, and the possibility of publishers offering significant discounts on books. At the conclusion, issues related to the ministry's support for local publishers' participation in international book fairs, organization of book exhibitions in regions, and implementation of joint projects aimed at fostering a reading culture were also discussed. To develop the book industry and promote a reading culture in our country, regular meetings are held between representatives of the Culture Ministry and entities in the book industry. The 10th Baku International Book Fair is scheduled for October 2-8. Organized by the Culture Ministry, the event is timed to the 530th anniversary of the birth of the brilliant Azerbaijani poet and thinker Muhammad Fuzuli (14941556). So far, 47 organizations from 19 foreign countries representing four continents have registered to participate in the book fair, as well as over 100 domestic publishing and printing houses and book enterprises. Renowned writers and poets, scholars, and young authors from Azerbaijan, Turkiye, Ireland, Germany, Venezuela, and other countries will participate in the upcoming event. Over 270 events of various formats are planned within the book fair. Baku International Book Fair 2024 promises a wide range of activities for its visitors, including workshops for children and adults, book presentations on inclusivity and other relevant topics, autograph sessions, conferences, symposiums, contests, reading and music hours, as well as the 16th meeting of the Asian Committee on "Narrative Art". The book fair will be open for visits every day from 10:00 until 20:00. Admission is free. Special buses will take visitors to the Baku Expo Center from the "Academy of Sciences," "28 May," and "Koroglu" metro stations. The National Security Council (NSC) yesterday said it was validating the claim of a self-confessed Chinese spy that former mayor Alice Guo is also a Chinese operative. In an Al Jazeera documentary shown at the House quad committee hearing on Friday, tycoon She Zhijiang claimed to be a former spy for Chinas Ministry of State Security. - Advertisement - He said he and Guo Hua Ping the alleged Chinese name of Alice Guo dedicated their lives to Chinas intelligence agency and urged the dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor to tell the world the truth if she does not want to be eliminated. We will have to consult with our partner agencies abroad to find out the truth and the real personality of Alice Guo, if she is really an agent of the PRC (Peoples Republic of China), said NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya. We have to validate the information disclosed by She Zhijiang because he is a wanted criminal of China, he told state television PTV. Malaya noted that the Chinese-Cambodian man is wanted in China for his involvement in gambling operations. He is fighting extradition charges to China, the NSC spokesperson said. Malaya described Shes story as something fresh from the pages of a spy novel. Despite this, the Philippines is looking into Shes allegations as Guos possible involvement in the espionage would have big implications in the countrys national security, he said. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. yesterday called on Congress to amend the espionage law. We should punish espionage in times of peace because the espionage law in the Philippines is effective only in times of war, Teodoro told reporters in a chance interview at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City. So its also a call to action, our legislators know that they can immediately amend the espionage law so the government can act and punish them, he said. While Guo has not been proven to be a spy, Teodoro noted that her role as an active co-conspirator in a massive illegal criminal enterprise was damaging to the country. It is curious that a 32-building complex was operating within two minutes flying time away from the Tradoc and the Light Armor division. And you know, all the authorities should have been aware of this at that time, particularly the local authorities, he said. Teodoro urged local government units to be cautious in approving the establishment of businesses and to watch for certain red flags, such as the large employment of foreigners. TBPeople Philippines was honored to be invited to the official launch of Fujifilms FDR Xair Portable X-ray System, held at Makati City Hall. This landmark event, organized by Makati City Mayor Abby Binay and Congressman Luis Campos, represents a significant leap forward in the fight against tuberculosis (TB) in the Philippines. The introduction of the Fujifilms FDR Xair Portable X-ray System unit marks a key advancement in TB detection and diagnosis, particularly for underserved communities that have historically faced barriers to accessing high-quality healthcare. Led by President Louie Zepeda-Teng, TBPeople Philippines expressed its pride in being part of this groundbreaking initiative. As an organization composed of TB survivors and advocates, TBPeople Philippines recognizes the critical importance of early detection and diagnosis in effectively managing and ultimately eradicating TB. The new Fujifilms FDR Xair Portable X-ray System brings much-needed diagnostic technology closer to the most vulnerable populations, allowing for quicker, more accurate TB screenings in remote and underserved areas where access to healthcare is limited. - Advertisement - Mayor Abby Binay and Congressman Luis Campos, who have been key advocates for healthcare innovations in Makati, emphasized the importance of this initiative. Fujifilms FDR Xair Portable X-ray System portability allows healthcare professionals to reach patients in communities that would otherwise be difficult to serve, ensuring that no one is left behind in the fight against TB. This effort is especially crucial in the Philippines, where TB remains a leading public health concern, and timely diagnosis is essential for successful treatment outcomes. For TBPeople Philippines, this collaboration represents an opportunity to strengthen its mission of empowering TB survivors and raising awareness about the disease. With the launch of the Fujifilms FDR Xair Portable X-ray System, they are hopeful that more individuals will receive the early diagnosis and treatment they need, ultimately reducing the spread of tuberculosis and improving public health across the nation. Senegalese MP Guy Marius Sagna is currently in Lome, Togo, participating in activities organized by the ECOWAS Parliament. He was scheduled to attend a public meeting with the opposition platform, Dynamique pour la Majorite du Peuple (DMP), on Sunday afternoon. However, the event was interrupted and did not conclude as planned. The opposition initially intended to hold the meeting at a parish hall, but it was abruptly canceled, reportedly due to pressure from authorities. The gathering was then relocated to the headquarters of the African Peoples Democratic Convention (CDPA). MP Brigitte Kafui Adjamagbo-Johnson opened the meeting, but it was soon disrupted and cut short. As Guy Marius Sagna began speaking, chaos erupted when chairs were thrown from the center of the room toward the head table. The situation quickly escalated, with protestors damaging property, stealing journalists phones, and throwing sound equipment and recorders into a well. Outside, attackers smashed car windows with concrete blocks. Sagna was particularly targeted, suffering injuries to his head and arm. He was taken to a local clinic for treatment, where he recounted the attack, saying: They asked me, Are you Togolese? as if to challenge my support for the Togolese people. Today, I am more Togolese than ever, and I will continue to stand with the brave people of Togo until their leaders respect them. At least seven people were injured in the violence, including Brigitte Adjamagbo-Johnson and her driver, and a local journalist. The attackers, who did not conceal their identities, fled through the streets of the Be district. So far, the authorities of both countries have not yet reacted. Renamo held a funeral on Saturday, September 28, for its founder and first commander, Andre Matade Matsangaisse, in central Mozambique. His remains were transferred from Gorongosa, where he died 45 years ago, with renewed calls for his recognition as a national hero. Today, we pay a long-overdue tribute, said Renamo president Ossufo Momade at the ceremony in Xinhambuse, Manica province, the birthplace of Matsangaisse. While he is hailed as a hero by many in central Mozambique, particularly among Renamo supporters, others, especially in the southern regions, view him more controversially. A former member of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), Matsangaisse played a pivotal role in the outbreak of the Mozambican civil war in 1977, leading Renamos armed resistance against the post-independence socialist government, initially backed by Rhodesia. He continued to command Renamo forces until his death in combat in Gorongosa in 1979, Renamos first base. Renamo sees Matsangaisse as a champion of democracy and freedom, demanding that he be declared a national hero. We call on the Mozambican state once again to recognize Matsangaisse as a national hero, urged Momade, emphasizing his opposition to the communist regime and his contributions to the countrys democratic movement. After his death, Matsangaisse was succeeded by Afonso Dhlakama, who led Renamo until 2018. The remains of Matsangaisse were exhumed from a cemetery in the former village of Paiva, Gorongosa, on September 26 and transferred to the family cemetery in Manica district, where he was laid to rest in his birthplace. In a devastating incident, 17 people, including 15 women, were killed in two separate mass shootings on the same street in Lusikisiki, a rural town in South Africas Eastern Cape province. The shootings occurred late Friday night or early Saturday morning, leaving the community in shock. National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe reported that one additional person is in critical condition at a hospital. Four women, a man, and a 2-month-old baby survived one of the shootings. The first attack claimed the lives of three women and one man, with no survivors. Shortly after, a second shooting at a nearby home resulted in the deaths of 12 women and one man. Authorities have launched a manhunt for the suspects, with a specialist team of detectives deployed from Pretoria to assist with the investigation. Police Minister Senzo Mchunu expressed confidence in the teams ability to apprehend the perpetrators. This incident highlights South Africas ongoing struggle with high homicide rates. In the first six months of this year, the country recorded 12,734 homicides, averaging over 70 deaths per day. Mass shootings have become increasingly common in South Africa, with previous incidents including the killing of 10 family members in KwaZulu-Natal province in April 2023 and 16 fatalities in a Soweto bar shooting in 2022. Authorities point to the prevalence of illegal, unregistered firearms as a major contributing factor to the violence, despite relatively strict gun laws in the country. At least six people were killed and ten others injured in separate bomb explosions in Somalia on Saturday. The attacks occurred in the capital Mogadishu and the town of Jowhar in the Middle Shabelle region. In Mogadishu, a car rigged with explosives detonated near the National Theatre, approximately one kilometer from the presidents office. The blast claimed five lives and left seven people injured, according to local police sources. Concurrently, a bomb planted in a livestock market in Jowhar city resulted in one fatality and three civilian injuries. Jowhar police commander Bashir Hassan confirmed these casualties during a press conference. While no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, the Islamist militant group al Shabaab is known for orchestrating similar bombings and gun attacks throughout Somalia. The group has been engaged in a long-standing conflict with the central government, aiming to establish its own rule based on a strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law. These incidents underscore the ongoing security challenges faced by Somalia, as authorities continue their efforts to combat insurgent activities and maintain stability in the Horn of Africa nation. The attacks serve as a stark reminder of the persistent threat posed by militant groups in the region, highlighting the need for continued vigilance and enhanced security measures to protect civilian populations. Azerbaijan has rapidly positioned itself as a must-see destination for travel enthusiasts, reflecting substantial growth in its tourism sector. This surge was visible during the recent Formula 1 race, and with the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) slated for November, the country is set to further solidify its reputation as a global tourism hub. Azerbaijan has rapidly established a highly developed tourism industry, emerging as a frontrunner in the Caspian region. The country proudly hosts a multitude of five-star hotels, high-class recreation areas and restaurants, mountain and balneological resorts, and modern airports in various regions. With a robust recreational infrastructure, streamlined visa procedures, and affordable travel options, Azerbaijan achieved a historic milestone in 2019 by welcoming a record 3.2 million foreign tourists, setting an all-time high for the country. Historically known for its oil production, Azerbaijan has shifted its focus towards tourism as a key component of its non-oil economy, recognising its long-term potential as a significant source of foreign exchange earnings. Notably, this year, the development of new tourist destinations, the liberalisation of visa procedures with several countries, and the initial steps in tapping into the recreational potential of the Garabagh region. According to the State Statistics Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan, in the first seven months of 2024, the growth in inbound tourism accelerated further, with a 31.4% increase compared to the same period last year. Russia continues to dominate the incoming segment, with over 630,000 Russian tourists visiting Azerbaijan in 2023 and 360,000 in the first half of 2024a 20% increase year-on-year. Turkiye holds the second spot, accounting for 16.5% of total inbound tourism, followed by India, which saw a 2.5-fold increase in travellers. Iran and Saudi Arabia round out the top five, contributing 8.3% and 4.2% to the total, respectively. The current tourist season has proven exceptionally favourable for expanding Azerbaijan's tourism ties with various countries, including distant regions. According to the State Statistics Committee, from January to July, the number of visitors from Persian Gulf countries reached 258.8 thousand, marking a 39.6% increase. Meanwhile, arrivals from European Union countries grew by 28%, and from CIS countries by 20.5%. In addition, for information, the "Socio-Economic Development Strategy of Azerbaijan for 2022-2026" formulates the task to increase the share of tourism in the country's non-oil GDP by 1.5 times compared to 2019, increasing the share of industry revenues by an additional 20 percent over the next four years. According to the calculations of the State Tourism Agency of Azerbaijan, in the medium term, the inbound tourist flow in the country is planned to reach 4 million people, and domestic tourism indicators - up to 6 million people. An exciting initiative supporting this growth is the launch of the "Tourist Village" project. In cooperation with the State Tourism Agency and the State Employment Agency, this project seeks to support tourism activities in rural villages with high tourism potential. The goal is to create alternative accommodation for both local and foreign tourists while improving the well-being of local communities and family farms involved in tourism. Initially, 20 guest houses in the Laza village of the Gusar region, as well as Ilisu and Saribash villages of the Gakh region, will be equipped as part of the "Agrotourism" initiative. This project also aligns with the broader goals outlined in the "2022-2026 Socio-Economic Development Strategy." So given this context, as mentioned above, with the upcoming COP29 event in November bringing an anticipated 80,000 foreign visitors, a record-breaking milestone is indeed on the horizon. Of course, the anticipated numbers might raise questions such as, How ready is the country? Well, in order to enhance the quality of service within the hospitality sector, recent efforts have focused on expediting the certification process and awarding stars to hotels, alongside initiatives to improve the qualifications of hotel staff. A key strategic direction has been the attraction of global hotel brands and the encouragement of local hoteliers to invest in the country's regions. In that regard, the Azerbaijan State Tourism Agency (ASTA) has been focused on showcasing the countrys diverse tourism opportunities in many countries, such as Kyrgyzstan, Japan, the UAE, Turkiye, the USA, and so on. Its also important to note that, the country's hotel infrastructure has seen an impressive eightfold increase in the number of hotels and hotel-like facilities for the first time in almost a decade. Now the total numbers are approximately 757 establishments with 56,562 beds. As COP29 hosts, there is another objective ahead, which is the enhancement of green tourism. So, to bolster "green" tourism, Azerbaijan has established a network of national parks, with plans for more and offers equestrian, hiking, and mountaineering routes in the scenic mountain forests of the Greater Caucasus. Notably, Azerbaijan is home to 350 active mud volcanoes, a rare natural phenomenon. As a record-breaking achievement on the horizon, we can assure, that this hidden gem of a travel destination is yet to prove and rise even more! Rwanda is grappling with an outbreak of Marburg virus disease, with over 20 confirmed cases and multiple fatalities reported across several districts. Health authorities are intensifying efforts to control the spread of the highly fatal virus. Infected individuals are currently in isolation receiving treatment, while dozens of contacts have been identified and are under monitoring. Authorities are working diligently to trace the origin of the infection. The World Health Organization (WHO) has pledged support to Rwandas response efforts. Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, emphasized the organizations commitment to collaborating with national authorities to enhance ongoing initiatives. Plans are underway to dispatch medical supplies from Kenya to Kigali in the coming days. Additionally, the WHO is coordinating efforts to strengthen cross-border measures to prevent the disease from spreading to neighboring countries. Marburg virus disease, belonging to the same family as Ebola, causes hemorrhagic fever and has a high fatality rate of up to 88%. The virus is transmitted to humans from fruit bats and spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids of infected individuals. The outbreak presents a significant public health challenge for Rwanda, necessitating a robust and coordinated response to contain the virus and protect the population. International support and vigilance will be crucial in managing this health crisis effectively. The United Arab Emirates has strongly condemned the violent attack carried out against the residence of the Emirati head of mission in Khartoum, claiminng that the attack was orchestrated by a Sudanese army aircraft and caused serious damage to the building. Emirati authorities described the attack as cowardly and called on the Sudanese army to take full responsibility for the incident. The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared, in an official statement, its intention to submit a formal complaint to the League of Arab States, the African Union, and the United Nations. The Ministry stressed that this act constitutes a flagrant violation of the fundamental principle of the inviolability of diplomatic premises, a pillar of international law. This principle, enshrined in the conventions governing diplomatic relations, requires the absolute protection of diplomatic buildings and embassy staff residences. The Ministry also expressed its firm condemnation of these criminal acts, and reiterated its total rejection of all forms of violence and terrorism aimed at destabilizing security and stability, practices which are contrary to international law. This position reaffirms the Emirates commitment to defending regional stability and protecting diplomatic personnel in an increasingly volatile climate in Sudan. The United Arab Emirates, while maintaining a diplomatic line, insisted on the need to respect international treaties, and highlighted the urgency of an international response to this crisis. Sudans military government has however refuted the UAE accusations that its forces have bombed the ambassadors residence in Khartoum, pointing instead the finger at the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The government in Khartoum, which is in the midst of a new push to retake the capital, had previously accused the UAE of supporting the RSF, with which it has been entangled in war for more than a year. 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 The American Academy of Pediatrics has published its first clinical guideline for pediatricians on prescribing opioids, including explicit instructions on how and when to prescribe these medications for pain while reducing the long-term risk of addiction. The "Clinical Practice Guideline: Opioid Prescribing for Acute Pain Management in Children and Adolescents in Outpatient Settings" marks a shift in clinical practice by also recommending a routine prescription for naloxonea medication used to reverse overdosesalongside every opioid prescription. The guideline and an accompanying technical report is published in Pediatrics online Sept. 30, during the American Academy of Pediatrics 2024 National Conference & Exhibition in Orlando, FL. from Sept. 27Oct. 1, 2024. Clinical practice guidelines created by AAP are written by medical experts, reflect the latest evidence in the field, and go through several rounds of peer review before being approved by the AAP Board of Directors and published in Pediatrics. "There's been a big pendulum swing in the practice of medicine over the last two decadesfirst with opioid-overprescribing, then with a huge cutback in opioid prescribing, likely leaving some children's pain undertreated," said Scott Hadland, MD MPH MS, FAAP, lead author of the guideline. "We want pediatricians to prescribe opioids when they're needed because untreated pain can lead to distress and psychological harm. At the same time, physicians need to take steps that reduce the long-term risk for addiction." In 2018, 8.9% of adolescents 15 to 19 years old had at least one new prescription for opioid medication in the preceding year. Most who receive an opioid prescription do not develop an opioid use disorder ("addiction") or have an overdose. One-year prevalence rates for developing an opioid use disorder or experiencing an overdose after a prescription range from 0.3% to 5.8%. Since 2000, rates of opioid use disorder have increased dramatically among children and teens. Meanwhile, rates of prescribing of opioids have decreased since the 2010s. However, this decline likely represents a decrease in not only inappropriate use, but also potentially appropriate use, according to the AAP, leaving some children's pain undertreated. The AAP clinical practice guideline recommends: Pediatricians can and should prescribe opioids. However, they should do so in conjunction with other non-pharmacological approaches, such as physical therapy, to reduce pain and improve function. They should also be prescribed alongside other non-opioid medications, including acetaminophen and ibuprofen. Every prescription for opioids should also include a prescription for naloxone, an overdose reversal medication. This is key to treating overdose in anyone in the household who takes too much opioid medicationnot only the child to whom the medication is prescribed, but other family members, including younger children in the house. All children and teens should have equitable access to effective pain treatment. Black, Hispanic, and American Indian and Alaska Native individuals are less likely than white individuals to receive timely and effective pain management (including with opioids), even after accounting for the level of pain across a range of pain conditionsmany of which result in severe acute pain. Patients and caregivers should be given educational materials on pain control therapies, opioids, and safe storage and disposal of medications. They should also receive teaching on how to recognize the signs of an opioid overdose and how to intervene. AAP outlines several restrictions around prescription of codeine and tramadol, which are only FDA-approved for use in adults. They should not be prescribed in children younger than 12; in patients ages 12-18 with certain chronic conditions; in patients younger than 18 after tonsillectomy or adenoidectomy; or in patients who are breastfeeding. The clinical guideline contains 12 key action statements based on evidence from randomized controlled trials, high-quality observational studies, and, when studies were lacking or could not feasibly or ethically be conducted, from expert opinion. Each key action statement includes a level of evidence, the benefit-harm relationship, and the strength of recommendation. AAP urges additional research into ideal dosing and duration of treatment with opioids in pediatric populations. "For a patient with mild to moderate pain, doctors should always start nonopioid medications and treatment," said Rita Agarwal, MD, FAAP, FASA, an author of the guideline. "Opioids do remain an important tool for acute pain relief. But there are times when acetaminophen and ibuprofen may be equally effective with fewer side effects, such as in procedures such as tonsillectomy, wisdom teeth removal, and fractures. We recommend that families talk with their pediatrician about options on how to best manage a child's pain." More information: Authors of the clinical practice guideline will present "The New AAP Clinical Practice Guideline on Acute Pain Management and Use of Opioids in Outpatient Settings," in a session from 2-3 p.m. Sept. 30 at the Orange County Convention Center, West Building, W312. Journal information: Pediatrics 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: Significant correlations between sustained attention and substance use across timepoints. Credit: eLife (2024). DOI: 10.7554/eLife.97150.3 Lower attention ability in adolescence can predict cigarette and cannabis use in young adulthood, according to new research from Trinity College Dublin. Sustained attention, the ability to maintain focus on a task over time, is an important cognitive ability. Substance use, particularly cigarettes and cannabis, has previously been linked to impairments in sustained attention. But it was unclear if poor sustained attention preceded substance use or was a consequence of substance use. The research, published in the peer-reviewed journal eLife, found for the first time that lower sustained attention and related brain network activity at age 14 predicted a larger increase in cigarette and cannabis use by age 23. The study, undertaken by researchers in Trinity's School of Psychology and School of Medicine, suggests that sustained attention and associated brain activity could be used as early biomarkers for vulnerability to substance use. The research involved the analysis of brain imaging data from more than 1,000 participants in the IMAGEN study, obtained at ages 14, 19, and 23 years. Robert Whelan, Professor in Psychology, who led the research team, explained, "The widespread use of cigarettes and cannabis among adolescents and young adults in Ireland and elsewhere is a significant public health concern, with major long-term health implications." "By identifying lower sustained attention as a predictor of substance use, our findings can potentially guide the development of targeted educational programs and cognitive training interventions to improve attention in adolescents identified as vulnerable to substance use. This proactive approach could reduce substance abuse risks, improve individual lives, and lessen societal burdens related to addiction." More information: Yihe Weng et al, A robust brain network for sustained attention from adolescence to adulthood that predicts later substance use, eLife (2024). DOI: 10.7554/eLife.97150.3 Journal information: eLife 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: Caltech and USC have developed a new laser-based headset device that can noninvasively measure blood flow and volume. Caltech postdoctoral scholar Simon Mahler, a co-lead author of the paper describing the work, is shown here wearing the device. Credit: Caltech When physicians want to know more about a patient's risk of cardiovascular disease, they can order a cardiac stress test. But when it comes to risk of stroke, there is no equivalent scalable and cost-effective test of the brain's function to help physicians counsel patients on their potential risk. A questionnaire that asks patients about contributing risk factors is currently the best tool for estimating such risk. Now a team of engineers and scientists from Caltech and the Keck School of Medicine of USC has developed a headset-based device that can be used to noninvasively assess a patient's stroke risk by monitoring changes in blood flow and volume while a participant holds their breath. The device incorporates a laser-based system and has shown promising results in terms of differentiating between individuals at low and high risk of stroke. Stroke affects nearly 800,000 Americans each year and is the leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States. It is caused by the blockage or rupture of an artery in the brain, which results in a reduction in blood flow. Starved of oxygen, the brain's cells die rapidlyabout 2 million every minute during a stroke. "With this device, for the first time, we are going to have a way of knowing if the risk of someone having a stroke in the future is significant or not based on a physiological measurement," says Simon Mahler, a co-lead author of a paper describing the new technique and device, and a postdoctoral scholar in the lab of Changhuei Yang, the Thomas G. Myers Professor of Electrical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Medical Engineering at Caltech and a Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator. "We think this can really revolutionize the way stroke risk is assessed and will eventually help doctors determine if a patient's risk is stable or worsening." "Our optical technology to noninvasively measure blood flow is expected to be useful for a number of brain disease applications," says Yang, who is also the executive officer for electrical engineering at Caltech. He noted that this project is part of a larger collaboration effort with Dr. Charles Liu, professor of clinical neurological surgery, surgery, psychiatry and the behavioral sciences and biomedical engineering at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, and his team. The paper, titled "Correlating stroke risk with non-invasive cerebrovascular perfusion dynamics using a portable speckle contrast optical spectroscopy laser device," appears in Biomedical Optics Express. Speckle contrast optical spectroscopy for stroke-risk assessment In general, blood vessels become stiffer as a person ages, meaning they have a harder time dilating to allow blood through. This, in turn, means the person is more prone to stroke. The Caltech team developed a compact device that shines infrared laser light through the skull and into the brain in one location and then uses a special camera nearby to collect the light that bounces back after it is scattered by blood flowing within the blood vessels. The approach, called speckle contrast optical spectroscopy (SCOS), measures the decrease in the light's intensity from the spot where it enters the skull to the place where the bounced-back light is collected to determine the volume of blood in the brain's blood vessels; it also looks at the way light scatters and creates speckles in the camera's field of view. The speckles fluctuate in images depending on the rate of blood flow in the blood vessels. The faster the blood is flowing, the more rapidly the speckle field changes. The researchers can use those measurements to calculate a ratio of the flow over the volume of blood streaming through the vessel to get an idea of that patient's stroke risk. In the new study, researchers from Caltech and the Keck School of Medicine of USC tested the new device on 50 volunteers who were split between high- and low-stroke risk. After one minute, the participants were asked to hold their breath, causing blood to rush to the brain. The headset device used speckle contrast optical spectroscopy (SCOS) to measure changes in blood flow and volume. Based on those measurements, the device was able to successful differentiate between low- and high-risk participants. Credit: Huang et al., Biomedical Optics Express, Sept. 2024. The team conducted a study of 50 participants. They used the currently used stroke risk questionnaire, the Cleveland Stroke Risk Calculator, to divide the participants into two groups: one low risk and one high risk. They then measured blood flow in each volunteer for three minutes, quantifying the flow rate and volume of blood reaching the brain. After one minute, they asked the participants to hold their breath. Holding your breath stresses your brain as it begins to notice that it is taking in too much carbon dioxide and not enough oxygen. It goes into what Mahler refers to as "panic mode," and starts to pump oxygen from the rest of the body to itself. This greatly increases blood flow in the brain. Once you stop holding your breath, oxygen levels return to baseline. While this happens in both people at low and high risk of stroke, the researchers found that there were differences between the groups in terms of how the blood moved through the vessels. The SCOS technique allows the researchers to measure how much the blood vessels expand while the subject holds their breath and how much faster blood flows through the vessels in response. "These reactive measurements are indicative of vessel stiffness," Yang says. "Our technology makes it possible to make these type of measurements noninvasively for the first time." "What we found is clear, striking evidence of a different reaction of blood flow and blood volume between the two groups," says Yu Xi Huang, a co-lead author of the new paper and a graduate student in Yang's lab. In the low-stroke-risk group, the researchers observed a smaller increase in blood flow during the breath-holding exercise compared to the high-stroke-risk group, but a greater increase in blood volumean indication that more blood is able to flow through the widened blood vessels. "We can clearly see that the higher risk group has a higher flow-to-volume ratio, where they have faster flow but a lower volume of blood during breath holding," Mahler says. This is caused by the stiffness of the blood vessels and indicates a higher chance of rupture. "If someone came in with an extremely high flow-to-volume ratio value, we might suspect that this person will have a stroke in the near future." A promising future The team is conducting additional research using the current prototype of the imaging device on patients at a hospital in Visalia, California, to gather additional data from a larger, more diverse population. The researchers also plan to incorporate machine learning into the device's data collection process and to conduct a clinical trial that would involve patient tracking over more than two years to enhance the technology. They hope the device might eventually be used broadly not only for stroke risk prescreening but also to help detect where exactly in the brain a stroke might have already occurred. More information: Correlating stroke risk with non-invasive cerebrovascular perfusion dynamics using a portable speckle contrast optical spectroscopy laser device. Biomedical Optics Express (2024). DOI: 10.1364/BOE.534796 , opg.optica.org/boe/fulltext.cf 15-10-6083&id=560941 Journal information: Biomedical Optics Express 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: ATR expression and the antitumor effect of ATRi in SCLC. Credit: Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ado4618 Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have made a promising breakthrough in the treatment of small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Their study, published in Science Advances and titled "ATR Inhibition Activates Cancer Cell cGAS/STING-Interferon Signaling and Promotes Anti-Tumor Immunity in Small Cell Lung Cancer," presents an exciting new approach that offers hope to patients with this challenging disease. Small cell lung cancer is one of the most aggressive types of cancer. It represents about 10 to 15% of all lung cancer cases in the United States, with roughly 30,000 to 35,000 new cases each year. Unfortunately, by the time most patients are diagnosed, the cancer has often spread, making it difficult to treat. Current treatments, such as chemotherapy and immunotherapy, offer only temporary relief, and the five-year survival rate is less than 10%. "We've concentrated on ATR (ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related protein), which plays a key role in repairing DNA in cancer cells. By inhibiting ATR, we make these cancer cells more vulnerable to treatments and enhance the immune system's ability to target them," said Triparna Sen, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Oncological Sciences, and the Director of the Lung Cancer PDX Platform, at Icahn Mount Sinai. New treatment strategy: One-two punch The study explored the effects of a new drug called berzosertib (M6620/VX970) combined with another drug, topotecan, to treat SCLC patients who have relapsed. "Our findings suggest that this combination could be very effective, especially for patients whose cancer has returned," Dr. Sen noted. The research also suggests that using ATR inhibitors along with anti-PD-L1 antibodies, a type of targeted immunotherapy called an immune checkpoint inhibitor that helps the immune system recognize and attack cancer cells, might improve outcomes even further. The study showed that inhibiting ATR activates a part of the immune system known as the cGAS-STING pathway. This leads to an increase in immune signals like interferons and chemokines, which help the immune system detect and attack cancer cells more effectively. "We have previously established that DNA damage response proteins are effective targets for small cell lung cancer and this research, co-led by postdocs Hirokazu Taniguchi, MD, Ph.D. and Subhamoy Chakraborty, Ph.D., is a significant advancement in treating small cell lung cancer. By targeting ATR and enhancing the immune response, we are opening up new possibilities for better treatment options," Dr. Sen explained. The Mount Sinai team plans to propose a clinical trial to test these new treatments by 2025. They hope this research will also benefit other hard-to-treat cancers. More information: Hirokazu Taniguchi et al, ATR inhibition activates cancer cell cGAS/STING-interferon signaling and promotes antitumor immunity in small-cell lung cancer, Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ado4618 Journal information: Science Advances 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: Journal of Hazardous Materials (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.135053 Microplastics that have been used in leave-on cosmetic and personal care products are being overlooked by research and regulators, according to a new critical review conducted by scientists at the University of Birmingham. The paper, "Beyond microbeads: Examining the role of cosmetics in microplastic pollution and spotlighting unanswered questions," is published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials and reveals a concerning lack of testing on leave-on products such as sunscreens, moisturizers, hand-sanitizers, deodorants and lipsticks, which could contain ingredients that carry both environmental and health implications. Dr. Anna Kukkola from the University of Birmingham said, "We have conducted a comprehensive systematic review of the current state of knowledge regarding microplastics in cosmetic and personal care products. Our analysis reveals a significant oversight in current research and global regulatory frameworks that predominantly concentrate on rinse-off products. "The contribution of 'leave-on' cosmetics to microplastic pollution is a critical yet underexplored aspect of environmental contamination. These particles will eventually end up in wastewater treatment plants or landfills, from which they can reach aquatic environments. What's more, despite the likely extensive skin exposure to microplastics through such products, there is a surprising lack of research to investigate the associated health effects, with no studies found on microplastic exposure identified in this review." The research found that of 2,381 products studied, only two were leave-on products. Possible reasons for this gap include difficulties in extracting microplastics from complex oil-based formulations, or lack of public pressure born of various bans on microplastics in rinse-off products, making it appear to the public as though this area is being adequately dealt with by regulatory bodies and authorities. Dr. Kukkola continues, "Overall, the quantities and characteristics of microplastics in cosmetic and personal care products outside the group of rinse-off products such as facial scrubs and toothpastes are largely unknown. This could be down to the fact that it is much more complex to test leave-on formulas for the presence of these harmful particles than testing of their rinse-off counterparts. Alternatively, the lack of research into leave-on products could be due to the public perception, driven by industry advertising that the microplastic issue in such items has been adequately handled, when this is in fact far from the case. "The only regulatory measure adequately handling leave-on cosmetics is the new European Union microplastic ban, which comes into effect in stagesfrom 2027 for rinse-off cosmetics, in 2029 for leave-on cosmetics, and not until 2035 for lip, nail and makeup products, as all others focus only on rinse-off products. "From a health perspective, the reality is that there is very little knowledge about what happens to these products after they are applied to the skin. There are several possible routes through which these ingredients can be taken up by our bodies, depending on the mode of application of the product. Lip balms can be swallowed, for example, while it is possible that smaller sized plastic particles could penetrate through the skin and into the body, via hair follicles and sweat ducts (called the transappendageal route). Given how much of these formulas our bodies can and do absorb, it is concerning that little to no research has taken place to investigate the associated health effects, something that needs to be rectified." The paper suggests that the term "microbead," which specifically applies to rinse-off products, has been misused as a catch-all phrase for all microplastics in cosmetics and personal care products in the literature related to product testing, and argues that this has resulted in shortfalls in microplastic regulations globally, which have been skewed towards the rinse-off products. Thus, a potentially significant part of the microplastic contamination from leave-on products is being unintentionally missed within global legislation. Dr. Kukkola concludes, "This research effectively demonstrates that leave-on products are chronically understudied, leading to a major knowledge gap, and highlights the importance of developing new analytical methodologies to aid future regulatory enforcement efforts." More information: Anna Kukkola et al, Beyond microbeads: Examining the role of cosmetics in microplastic pollution and spotlighting unanswered questions, Journal of Hazardous Materials (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.135053 Journal information: Journal of Hazardous Materials 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 Medicaid and health systems are playing a growing role in providing housing and other services to people experiencing homelessness, investments that could bolsteror eventually overtakeexisting governance structures, new Cornell research finds. As of August 2023, nearly one-third of states had Medicaid waivers targeting homelessness, and more than half of the 100 largest health systems had homeless mitigation programs, according to the researchthe first to document the scope of their involvement in solutions to homelessness. Most states with Medicaid waivers have partnered with longstanding nonprofit networks known as Continuums of Carefunded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)to provide services. But many health systems say they are taking action due to the failure of local governments and the chronically underfunded Continuums of Care to address rising homelessness, which affects millions of Americans annually and worsened during the pandemic. "Health care actors are making significant investments that could help prop up the existing homeless policy system, which has an enormous amount of expertise," said Charley Willison, assistant professor in the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health, in the College of Veterinary Medicine. "On the flip side, if this trend continues, it could lead to more spending cuts by HUD for housing and homelessness, which would not be helpful." Willison is the lead author of "Entrenched Opportunity: Medicaid, Health Systems, and Solutions to Homelessness," published Sept. 27 in the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, in a special issue focused on Medicaid's 60th anniversary in 2025. Co-authors are Naquia Unwala, a research associate in the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health (CVM) and a member of Willison's Public Health Governance Lab; and Kasia Klasa, a doctoral student at the University of Michigan. Since the Affordable Care Act's passage in 2010, some health care policymakers have viewed expansions of Medicaidthe primary insurer for low-income Americans and those experiencing homelessnessas a potential "silver bullet" for ending homelessness. But a lack of coordination between local governments, the Continuum of Care program and state governments has limited progress, Willison reported in her 2021 book, "Ungoverned and Out of Sight: Public Health and the Political Crisis of Homelessness in the United States." More recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for the first time allowed states to use up to 3% of their Medicaid budgets for direct housing costs, further recognizing housing as a key social determinant of health. The extent to which states have implemented related programs was unknown, as was the level of interventions led by health systems whose bed capacity, staffing and costs are challenged by homelessness. To investigate those questions, the research team conducted a national survey of more than 200 Continuums of Care. Nearly half said Medicaid expansion had helped people experiencing homelessness, but more than half also reported administrative burdens and challenges accessing housing resources. The scholars also collected approved Medicaid waivers (called 1115 and 1915 waivers) with at least one provision targeting homelessness. They found 14 states have adopted them, including 11 with among the highest rates of homelessness and twoFlorida and North Carolinathat had not expanded Medicaid at the time the study was conducted in 2023 (but North Carolina since has). Most of the waivers assigned Continuums of Care as implementing entities, with the rest engaging health systems. Reviewing the websites of the 100 largest health systems, the team identified 54 with formal programs to address high-risk homeless populationsciting as drivers, like Medicaid, health equity and costs. But surprisingly, Willison said, they also directly blamed the existing governance system's failure to address the problem. "American cities have been struggling with chronic homelessness for decades," one health system's housing director wrote. "I share others' frustration when I constantly see city leaders pledge to eliminate homelessness, but the problem continues to get worse." Given those sentiments, Willison said, it is notable that a majority of states with waivers are looking to Continuums of Care to implement Medicaid waiver programs. Despite their expertise, Willison said, Continuums of Care lack governing authority, except in some big cities that have partnered with them, and resources. Health care institutions including Medicaid and health systems, by comparison, are longstanding, entrenched actors that wield considerable political power in shaping U.S. health and social policy. Growing involvement by Medicaid and health systems could help Continuums of Care fill gaps, Willison said, or ultimately reshape the entire governance system, potentially causing HUD to continue pulling back. "Because U.S. policy is structured around health care institutions, they're the ones that have political power to make big changes in social policy, and while not ideal, it's at least a way to get something done," Willison said. "In the best case, their involvement would help raise awareness that boosts HUD funding, but there is potential for retrenchment." 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: Glioblastoma (histology slide). Credit: Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 3.0 A new study shows the potential power of imaging paired with radiation to shape treatment for glioblastoma patients in real time. The study, led by researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, is the first to quantify tumor changes in glioblastoma patients receiving MRI-guided radiation therapy. This novel technique, also known as MRI-linear accelerator or MRI-linac, pairs daily imaging with radiation. Sylvester was the first to use this technology for patients with glioblastoma and remains one of the few cancer centers to offer it for the disease. The Sylvester researchers found that this daily imaging can serve as an important monitoring system to signal tumor growth during treatment earlier than standard imaging, providing evidence that the method could one day be used to guide rapid treatment adaptation during radiation therapy. The study was published Sept. 30 in the International Journal of Radiation OncologyBiologyPhysics and simultaneously presented at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) meeting by the study's first author, Kaylie Cullison, Ph.D., an M.D./Ph.D. student in the Miller School's Medical Scientist Training Program. "Our study shows that these daily scans can serve as an early warning sign for potential tumor growth," Cullison said. In the study, which was led by Eric A. Mellon, M.D., Ph.D., a radiation oncologist and co-leader of Sylvester's Neurologic Cancer Site Disease Group, the researchers followed 36 glioblastoma patients over a six-week course of daily radiation and MRI scans using MRI-linac. They then compared the data from these daily scans to standard-of-care imaging to measure tumor size, namely, a single MRI image with contrast performed one week before radiation treatment and another a month after the radiation course is completed. Although MRI-linac could be paired with a contrast agent, some patients are concerned about frequent use of these heavy metals, so the study was conducted without contrast for the daily scans. Typically, brain radiation is guided by X-ray or CT scan to position the patient correctly under the radiation beam. But these kinds of imaging only reveal the position of the skull. "Any machine that does not include MRI, which is 99% of radiation-delivery equipment out there, cannot see what's going on inside of the brain," Mellon said. "MRI-linac allows you to see what's going on in the brain, for the first time." The researchers found that for 74% of the trial participants, their MRI-linac imaging matched the information found in the typical, contrast MRI performed before and after treatment. That is, both modalities agreed on whether the patients' tumors grew, shrank, or remained the same size during the course of radiation therapy. For the other 26% of patients, the MRI-linac imaging predicted tumor growth while the pre- and post-treatment imaging showed that the tumor shrank. Although the daily MRI did not agree with the contrast imaging 100% of the time, the fact that it did not miss any cases of true tumor growth suggests that it could be used to signal possible tumor growth during radiation therapy, the researchers said. That signal could then be confirmed with contrast imaging and, ultimately, could be used to adapt the patient's treatment to more quickly address the tumor growth. The daily imaging could also be useful in other cases besides tumor growth. If a tumor is shrinking, the radiation field could be narrowed to ensure only cancerous tissue is targeted. Additionally, most glioblastoma patients undergo surgery before radiation therapy, and the site where the tumor was removed, the surgical resection cavity, often shrinks as the brain heals. Following that shrinkage over time and changing the radiation therapy accordingly could be critical to spare healthy tissue from irradiation. In their current study, the Sylvester researchers traced changes in both the tumor size and surgical cavity size. Mellon and his team plan to conduct future studies to test MRI-linac's ability to guide treatment decisions for glioblastoma patients during the course of radiation therapy as well as to test the method in other types of brain cancer. Because so few clinics use the technology to treat brain cancers, it was not realized prior to Mellon's studies that glioblastomas change significantly during radiation. The research team hopes to use that knowledge to improve outcomes for patients with this all-too-often deadly form of cancer. More information: Dynamics of Daily Glioblastoma Evolution During Chemoradiotherapy on the 0.35T MRI-Linear Accelerator, International Journal of Radiation OncologyBiologyPhysics (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2024.09.028 Journal information: International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain One evening in May, nursing assistant Debra Ragoonanan's vision blurred during her shift at a state-run Massachusetts veterans' home. As her head spun, she said, she called her husband. He picked her up and drove her to the emergency room, where she was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm. It was the latest in a drumbeat of health issues that she traces to the first months of 2020, when dozens of veterans died at the Soldiers' Home in Holyoke, in one of the country's deadliest COVID-19 outbreaks at a long-term nursing facility. Ragoonanan has worked at the home for nearly 30 years. Now, she said, the sights, sounds, and smells there trigger her trauma. Among her ailments, she lists panic attacks, brain fog, and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition linked to aneurysms and strokes. Scrutiny of the outbreak prompted the state to change the facility's name to the Massachusetts Veterans Home at Holyoke, replace its leadership, sponsor a $480 million renovation of the premises, and agree to a $56 million settlement for veterans and families. But the front-line caregivers have received little relief as they grapple with the outbreak's toll. "I am retraumatized all the time," Ragoonanan said, sitting on her back porch before her evening shift. "How am I supposed to move forward?" COVID killed more than 3,600 U.S. health care workers in the first year of the pandemic. It left many more with physical and mental illnessesand a gutting sense of abandonment. What workers experienced has been detailed in state investigations, surveys of nurses, and published studies. These found that many health care workers weren't given masks in 2020. Many got COVID and worked while sick. More than a dozen lawsuits filed on behalf of residents or workers at nursing facilities detail such experiences. And others allege that accommodations weren't made for workers facing depression and PTSD triggered by their pandemic duties. Some of the lawsuits have been dismissed, and others are pending. Health care workers and unions reported risky conditions to state and federal agencies. But the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration had fewer inspectors in 2020 to investigate complaints than at any point in a half-century. It investigated only about one in five COVID-related complaints that were filed officially, and just 4% of more than 16,000 informal reports made by phone or email. Nursing assistants, health aides, and other lower-wage health care workers were particularly vulnerable during outbreaks, and many remain burdened now. About 80% of lower-wage workers who provide long-term care are women, and these workers are more likely to be immigrants, to be people of color, and to live in poverty than doctors or nurses. Some of these factors increased a person's COVID risk. They also help explain why these workers had limited power to avoid or protest hazardous conditions, said Eric Frumin, formerly the safety and health director for the Strategic Organizing Center, a coalition of labor unions. He also cited decreasing membership in unions, which negotiate for higher wages and safer workplaces. One-third of the U.S. labor force was unionized in the 1950s, but the level has fallen to 10% in recent years. Like essential workers in meatpacking plants and warehouses, nursing assistants were at risk because of their status, Frumin said, "The powerlessness of workers in this country condemns them to be treated as disposable." In interviews, essential workers in various industries told KFF Health News they felt duped by a system that asked them to risk their lives in the nation's moment of need but that now offers little assistance for harm incurred in the line of duty. "The state doesn't care. The justice system doesn't care. Nobody cares," Ragoonanan said. "All of us have to go right back to work where this started, so that's a double whammy." 'A war zone' The plight of health care workers is a problem for the United States as the population ages and the threat of future pandemics looms. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called their burnout "an urgent public health issue" leading to diminished care for patients. That's on top of a predicted shortage of more than 3.2 million lower-wage health care workers by 2026, according to the Mercer consulting firm. The veterans home in Holyoke illustrates how labor conditions can jeopardize the health of employees. The facility is not unique, but its situation has been vividly described in a state investigative report and in a report from a joint oversight committee of the Massachusetts Legislature. The Soldiers' Home made headlines in March 2020 when The Boston Globe got a tip about refrigerator trucks packed with the bodies of dead veterans outside the facility. About 80 residents died within a few months. The state investigation placed blame on the home's leadership, starting with Superintendent Bennett Walsh. "Mr. Walsh and his team created close to an optimal environment for the spread of COVID-19," the report said. He resigned under pressure at the end of 2020. Investigators said that "at least 80 staff members" tested positive for COVID, citing "at least in part" the management's "failure to provide and require the use of proper protective equipment," even restricting the use of masks. They included a disciplinary letter sent to one nursing assistant who had donned a mask as he cared for a sick veteran overnight in March. "Your actions are disruptive, extremely inappropriate," it said. To avoid hiring more caretakers, the home's leadership combined infected and uninfected veterans in the same unit, fueling the spread of the virus, the report found. It said veterans didn't receive sufficient hydration or pain-relief drugs as they approached death, and it included testimonies from employees who described the situation as "total pandemonium," "a nightmare," and "a war zone." Because his wife was immunocompromised, Walsh didn't enter the care units during this period, according to his lawyer's statement in a deposition obtained by KFF Health News. "He never observed the merged unit," it said. In contrast, nursing assistants told KFF Health News that they worked overtime, even with COVID, because they were afraid of being fired if they stayed home. "I kept telling my supervisor, "I am very, very sick,'" said Sophia Darkowaa, a nursing assistant who said she now suffers from PTSD and symptoms of long COVID. "I had like four people die in my arms while I was sick." Nursing assistants recounted how overwhelmed and devastated they felt by the pace of death among veterans whom they had known for yearsyears of helping them dress, shave, and shower, and of listening to their memories of war. "They were in pain. They were hollering. They were calling on God for help," Ragoonanan said. "They were vomiting, their teeth showing. They're pooping on themselves, pooping on your shoes." Nursing assistant Kwesi Ablordeppey said the veterans were like family to him. "One night I put five of them in body bags," he said. "That will never leave my mind." Four years have passed, but he said he still has trouble sleeping and sometimes cries in his bedroom after work. "I wipe the tears away so that my kids don't know." High demands, low autonomy A third of health care workers reported symptoms of PTSD related to the pandemic, according to surveys between January 2020 and May 2022 covering 24,000 workers worldwide. The disorder predisposes people to dementia and Alzheimer's. It can lead to substance use and self-harm. Since COVID began, Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, director of the Trauma Stewardship Institute, has been inundated by emails from health care workers considering suicide. "More than I have ever received in my career," she said. Their cries for help have not diminished, she said, because trauma often creeps up long after the acute emergency has quieted. Another factor contributing to these workers' trauma is "moral injury," a term first applied to soldiers who experienced intense guilt after carrying out orders that betrayed their values. It became common among health care workers in the pandemic who weren't given ample resources to provide care. "Folks who don't make as much money in health care deal with high job demands and low autonomy at work, both of which make their positions even more stressful," said Rachel Hoopsick, a public health researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "They also have fewer resources to cope with that stress," she added. People in lower income brackets have less access to mental health treatment. And health care workers with less education and financial security are less able to take extended time off, to relocate for jobs elsewhere, or to shift careers to avoid retriggering their traumas. Such memories can feel as intense as the original event. "If there's not a change in circumstances, it can be really, really, really hard for the brain and nervous system to recalibrate," van Dernoot Lipsky said. Rather than focusing on self-care alone, she pushes for policies to ensure adequate staffing at health facilities and accommodations for mental health issues. In 2021, Massachusetts legislators acknowledged the plight of the Soldiers' Home residents and staff in a joint committee report saying the events would "impact their well-being for many years." But only veterans have received compensation. "Their sacrifices for our freedom should never be forgotten or taken for granted," the state's veterans services director, Jon Santiago, said at an event announcing a memorial for veterans who died in the Soldiers' Home outbreak. The state's $56 million settlement followed a class-action lawsuit brought by about 80 veterans who were sickened by COVID and a roughly equal number of families of veterans who died. The state's attorney general also brought criminal charges against Walsh and the home's former medical director, David Clinton, in connection with their handling of the crisis. The two averted a trial and possible jail time this March by changing their not-guilty pleas, instead acknowledging that the facts of the case were sufficient to warrant a guilty finding. An attorney representing Walsh and Clinton, Michael Jennings, declined to comment on queries from KFF Health News. He instead referred to legal proceedings in March, in which Jennings argued that "many nursing homes proved inadequate in the nascent days of the pandemic" and that "criminalizing blame will do nothing to prevent further tragedy." Nursing assistants sued the home's leadership, too. The lawsuit alleged that, in addition to their symptoms of long COVID, what the aides witnessed "left them emotionally traumatized, and they continue to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder." The case was dismissed before trial, with courts ruling that the caretakers could have simply left their jobs. "Plaintiff could have resigned his employment at any time," Judge Mark Mastroianni wrote, referring to Ablordeppey, the nursing assistants' named representative in the case. But the choice was never that simple, said Erica Brody, a lawyer who represented the nursing assistants. "What makes this so heartbreaking is that they couldn't have quit, because they needed this job to provide for their families." 'Help us to retire' Brody didn't know of any cases in which staff at long-term nursing facilities successfully held their employers accountable for labor conditions in COVID outbreaks that left them with mental and physical ailments. KFF Health News pored through lawsuits and called about a dozen lawyers but could not identify any such cases in which workers prevailed. A Massachusetts chapter of the Service Employees International Union, SEIU Local 888, is looking outside the justice system for help. It has pushed for a billproposed last year by Judith Garcia, a Democratic state representativeto allow workers at the state veterans home in Holyoke, along with its sister facility in Chelsea, to receive their retirement benefits five to 10 years earlier than usual. The bill's fate will be decided in December. Retirement benefits for Massachusetts state employees amount to 80% of a person's salary. Workers qualify at different times, depending on the job. Police officers get theirs at age 55. Nursing assistants qualify once the sum of their time working at a government facility and their age comes to around 100 years. The state stalls the clock if these workers take off more than their allotted days for sickness or vacation. Several nursing assistants at the Holyoke veterans home exceeded their allotments because of long-lasting COVID symptoms, post-traumatic stress, and, in Ragoonanan's case, a brain aneurysm. Even five years would make a difference, Ragoonanan said, because, at age 56, she fears her life is being shortened. "Help us to retire," she said, staring at the slippers covering her swollen feet. "We have bad PTSD. We're crying, contemplating suicide." I got my funeral dress out because the way everybody was dying, I knew I was going to die. Certain careers are linked with shorter life spans. Similarly, economists have shown that, on average, people with lower incomes in the United States die earlier than those with more. Nearly 60% of long-term care workers are among the bottom earners in the country, paid less than $30,000or about $15 per hourin 2018, according to analyses by the Department of Health and Human Services and KFF, a health policy research, polling, and news organization that includes KFF Health News. Fair pay was among the solutions listed in the surgeon general's report on burnout. Another was "hazard compensation during public health emergencies." If employers offer disability benefits, that generally entails a pay cut. Nursing assistants at the Holyoke veterans home said it would halve their wages, a loss they couldn't afford. "Low-wage workers are in an impossible position, because they're scraping by with their full salaries," said John Magner, SEIU Local 888's legal director. Despite some public displays of gratitude to health care workers early in the pandemic, essential workers haven't received the financial support given to veterans or to emergency personnel who risked their lives to save others in the aftermath of 9/11. Talk show host Jon Stewart, for example, has lobbied for this group for over a decade, successfully pushing Congress to compensate them for their sacrifices. "People need to understand how high the stakes are," van Dernoot Lipsky said. "It's so important that society doesn't put this on individual workers and then walk away." 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: Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Some areas of the U.S. are experiencing a recent uptick in cases of a fungal lung infection called valley fever. Dr. Jesse Bracamonte, a Mayo Clinic family medicine physician, explains what you need to know about valley fever, how it's spread and how to avoid becoming infected. "Valley fever is a fungus. It lives in the soil, and it's endemic, or known to be in regions in the Southwest, such as Arizona, lower California, New Mexico and parts of Mexico," explains Dr. Bracamonte. Valley fever is transmitted via inhalation of spores from the soil, especially during dusty months or high-dust exposure, such as in construction zones. "Initial symptoms of valley fever can be cough, difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, sometimes a rash and joint aches, and also associated fatigue," says Dr. Bracamonte. He mentions that most people with a healthy immune system can fight off valley fever naturally, but those with immune problems or on certain medications may be at higher risk. "The people getting really significant illness are those that have immune problems, or if you have diabetes or if you're on immune-suppressing medications can really put you at risk," says Dr. Bracamonte. The best way to prevent valley fever is to avoid high-dust exposure. "If at all possible, if it's really dusty outside and you can really see the dust in the air, try to stay indoors and try to avoid that inhalation of that high-dust exposure," he says. 2024 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: In this Oct. 8, 2014 photo, a medical worker from the Infection Prevention and Control unit wearing full protective equipment carries a meal to an isolation tent housing a man being quarantined after coming into contact in Uganda with a carrier of the Marburg Virus, at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. Credit: AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File Rwanda says eight people have died so far from the Ebola-like and highly contagious Marburg virus, just days after the country declared an outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic fever that has no authorized vaccine or treatment. Like Ebola, the Marburg virus originates in fruit bats and spreads between people through close contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals or with surfaces, such as contaminated bed sheets. Without treatment, Marburg can be fatal in up to 88% of people who fall ill with the disease. Rwanda, a landlocked country in central Africa, declared an outbreak on Friday and a day later the first six deaths were reported. So far 26 cases have been confirmed, and eight of the sickened people have died, Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana said on Sunday night. The public has been urged to avoid physical contact to help curb the spread. Some 300 people who came into contact with those confirmed to have the virus have also been identified, and an unspecified number of them have been put in isolation facilities. Most of the affected are health care workers across six out of 30 districts in the country. "Marburg is a rare disease," Nsanzimana told journalists. "We are intensifying contact tracing and testing to help stop the spread." The minister said the source of the disease has not been determined yet. A person infected with the virus can take between three days and three weeks to show symptoms, he added. Symptoms include fever, muscle pains, diarrhea, vomiting and, in some cases, death through extreme blood loss. The World Health Organization was scaling up its support and will work with Rwandan authorities to help stop the spread, WHO's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Saturday on the social media platform X. The U.S Embassy in Rwanda's capital of Kigali has urged its staff to work remotely and avoid visiting offices. Marburg outbreaks and individual cases have in the past been recorded in Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Congo, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Ghana, according to the WHO. The rare virus was first identified in 1967 after it caused simultaneous outbreaks of disease in laboratories in Marburg, Germany, and Belgrade, Serbia. Seven people died who were exposed to the virus while conducting research on monkeys. Separately, Rwanda has so far reported six cases of mpox, a disease caused by a virus related to smallpox but that typically causes milder symptoms. Mpox, previously known as monkeypox because it was first seen in research monkeys, has also affected several other African countries in what the WHO has called a global health emergency. Rwanda launched an mpox vaccination campaign earlier this month, and more vaccines are expected to arrive in the country. Neighboring Congo has so far reported most of the cases of mpox, the epicenter of the emergency. 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: SOX10 driven genetic switch is activated in SCOs and enables lineage tracing. SOX10 driven genetic switch is activated in SCOs and enables lineage tracing. Credit: Molecular Psychiatry (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41380-024-02732-0 University of Queensland researchers have made a significant step towards enabling women with epilepsy safer access to a common and highly effective anti-seizure medication. Sodium valproate or valproic acid is widely prescribed for epilepsy and certain mental health conditions, but is considered harmful to use during pregnancy because of links to spinal cord defects and other complications for newborns. Dr. Giovanni Pietrogrande and Professor Ernst Wolvetang from UQ's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) led a team of organoid experts who have identified a drug that could nullify the dangerous side effects. The research is published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. "We first set out to understand why valproate causes spinal cord malformations in fetuses," Dr. Pietrogrande said. "To do this we created organoidshuman mini-spinal cords in a dishthat closely mimic the spinal cord of a fetus in the early weeks of gestation. When these mini-spinal cords were exposed to valproate, the team discovered that the drug changes the cells that normally form the spinal cord, leading to malformations." Professor Wolvetang said the AIBN team then treated the organoids with the clinically approved drug rapamycin, and found it prevented the negative effects of valproic acid. "Therefore, co-treatment with rapamycin could be the thing that opens safe access to an extremely effective treatment for women with epilepsy," Professor Wolvetang said. Study co-author Professor Terence O'Brien, Head of the School of Translational Medicine at Monash University and program director and deputy director of research at Alfred Brain, said the findings could help health care providers and patients navigate the complex challenges around the treatment of epilepsy. "It may also provide a pathway to enabling women to continue to take this lifesaving medication while having healthy children," Professor O'Brien said. Professor Wolvetang said the research highlights the potential of new technologies like human stem cell derived organoids to explore the molecular and cellular impacts of drugs. "Organoids are a tool that allow us to develop new treatments, and also to uncover new ways to improve the safety and efficacy of existing ones," he said. "We hope this research is another step towards fostering regulatory change in the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to establish organoids as a powerful tool for drug screening and discovery." More information: Giovanni Pietrogrande et al, Valproic acid-induced teratogenicity is driven by senescence and prevented by Rapamycin in human spinal cord and animal models, Molecular Psychiatry (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41380-024-02732-0 Journal information: Molecular Psychiatry Provided by Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) 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 images show a large atherosclerotic plaque in a carotid artery. The top panels show an axial view (left) and a longitudinal view (right). The 3D volumetric representation (bottom) provides a detailed and accurate visualization of the plaque, allowing a thorough assessment of the disease. Credit: CNIC A study carried out at Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital in New York in collaboration with the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) in Madrid provides important new information about atherosclerosis, a disease in which lipids (cholesterol) and other substances accumulate in plaques on the arterial wall, causing the vessels to harden and narrow, and increasing the risk of severe cardiovascular conditions. The study, published in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), was led by Dr. Valentin Fuster, Director of the Cardiovascular Institute and Physician-in-Chief at Mount Sinai Medical Center and General Director of the CNIC. The study shows that both the burden of atherosclerosis and its progression (growth of plaques or the spread of the disease to new arteries) in asymptomatic individuals is independently associated with the risk of death from any cause. Despite advances in cardiovascular research, it has remained unclear if the risk of death from all causes in asymptomatic individuals can be predicted by monitoring the extent and progression of atherosclerosis, especially in the carotid arteries, which supply blood to the brain. The goal of the new study was to determine the independent predictive value of the burden and progression of subclinical atherosclerosis above and beyond prediction based on established cardiovascular risk factors. The study included 5,716 asymptomatic adults with an average age of 69 years (56.7% women) who were examined from 2008 to 2009 as part of the BioImage project, which examined a US population to evaluate factors implicated in atherosclerosis progression. BioImage, led by Dr. Fuster, was the first study to demonstrate the value of 3D echocardiography and other advanced imaging technologies to detect atherosclerotic disease of the large vessels long before the appearance of symptoms. "The long asymptomatic phase of the disease presents a window of opportunity that has not been exploited in the younger population," said Fuster, who is the lead author on the JACC study. The study participants were examined with two imaging techniques. The burden of atherosclerotic plaques in the carotid arteries was measured with vascular ultrasound, which allows detailed visualization of the interior of blood vessels, and calcification of the coronary arteries was assessed by computed tomography. Joint first author Dr. Ana Garcia Alvarez, a CNIC group leader and head of the cardiology service at Hospital Clinic in Barcelona, explained that "Carotid plaque is an accumulation of cholesterol, calcium, and other circulating substances that are deposited in the blood vessel wall. The formation of these plaques can narrow or block the carotid arteries, reducing blood flow to the brain and increasing the risk of a cerebrovascular accident or stroke." A subset of 732 study participants additionally underwent a second vascular ultrasound scan more than eight years after the initial examination. And all participants were followed up to determine the rate of death from any cause, the main outcome measure of the study. Over the 12.4 years of follow-up, 901 (16%) of the participants died. Carotid plaque burden and coronary artery calcification measured at the start of the study were both associated with death from any cause. Moreover, progression of carotid atherosclerosis provided further prognostic information and was independently associated with all-cause mortality. "Vascular ultrasound is a noninvasive and affordable test, and the valuable prognostic information it provides can be used to improve risk stratification and to target lifestyle recommendations for the control of cardiovascular risk factors," underlined Dr. Borja Ibanez, CNIC Scientific Director, a cardiologist at Fundacion Jimenez Diaz, and a member of the Spanish cardiovascular research network (CIBERCV). The study, concluded Dr. Fuster, demonstrates that detecting subclinical atherosclerosis early and monitoring its progression can improve the prediction and prevention of death from any cause, offering a valuable tool for clinical practice. More information: Influence of subclinical atherosclerosis burden and progression on mortality Short title: Subclinical atherosclerosis and mortality, Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2024.06.045 Journal information: Journal of the American College of Cardiology Provided by Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (F.S.P.) 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 Mary Lawal was 8 years old the first time she tried to take her own life. Time has blurred the details for Lawal, now a 22-year-old psychology student at Prince George's Community College. She doesn't remember the circumstances that led up to her attemptDid she have a fight with her parents? An argument with her siblings?or how, as a child, she even knew suicide was possible. She has only a vague memory of feeling lonely and unlovable. "I don't think I had a full understanding of what I was doing," she said. In the last two decades, overall suicide rates in the U.S. have risen by more than a third. They are also up for children ages 8 to 12especially among young girls. Nearly 1 in 10 Maryland high school students reported having attempted suicide at least once in the year leading up to fall of 2022, according to results from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey. But there are reasons to be hopeful. For two years, in Maryland and across the country, the 988 suicide and crisis hotline has made it easier to ask for help. And earlier this month, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, introduced legislation that would create a federal grant program to support evidence-based models for stabilizing people with serious thoughts of suicide. Raskin lost his son to suicide in December 2020. While suicidal ideationthinking about or formulating plans for suicide can be terrifying and isolating, research shows it is also treatable through psychotherapy, medication, family and social support, and other treatments. Nine out of 10 people who attempt to take their own lives do not die during that acute period of crisis, and do not go on to die of suicide in the future. Research shows that most people who make one attempt do not try to end their own lives again. But Lawal did try again. After her first attempt as a child, she tried to take her own life four more times, most recently in 2021. Lawal survived. And today, after several years of intensive treatment, hospital stays, medication and therapy, she considers herself to be in recovery from suicidal ideation and self-harm. She's now an outspoken mental health advocate who shares her story with thousands of people on her Instagram, as well as with lawmakers, mental health workers and educators as a volunteer and youth adviser for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. She wants to bring people in crisis the message she so desperately needed when she was youngerthat there is hope of getting better. "I'm living proof that recovery is possible," Lawal said. "Mental illness does not have to be a death sentence." Lawal remembers struggling with her mental health from the time she was little. She spent her childhood moving between Bowie and Nigeria, where her dad grew up and ran a business. She switched schools four or five times while growing up, sometimes in the middle of the school year. Ezekiel Adegbola met Lawal while they were both in high school in Nigeria. He remembers her as someone who quickly adapted to the "Nigerian way of life" and was very bright and funny. They quickly became friends, Adegbola said, and stayed close even after Mary returned to Maryland. But inside, Lawal felt like she didn't belong anywherelike nobody truly understood her. At 13, she began to self-harm. She knew she needed help, but she didn't know how to put what she was feeling into words. Mental health wasn't something her teachers or classmates talked about at school. "I felt as though I was just in this cycle of doom," she said. When it comes to preventing suicideand most other public health crisesit's key to implement upstream interventions, said Holly Wilcox, a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. That means tackling the first seeds of the problem before it becomes a crisis, and teaching people about how to recognize those seeds and what to do when they spot them. Suicide may seem like too big and scary of a topic to broach with children, but there are age-appropriateand effectiveways of doing so, Wilcox said. She and other researchers are currently testing out programs in Maryland schools, where kids are given tools for approaching sensitive situations and conversations with their friends, and taught when to involve a responsible adult. "One thing we've been noticing is that students, even as young as middle school, really like having the space and time to talk about mental health," said Wilcox, who has spent her career advancing public health approaches to suicide prevention. "By allowing them to talk about it, our hope is that it addresses mental health stigma," Wilcox said. "They can learn practical skills and learn about different mental health conditions. That should help them when they or someone else in their lives are facing any type of mental health problem or crisis; they'll have something to draw from to be able to work toward a solution." Without a similar program in her school, Lawal turned to YouTube and social media to learn about mental health. Hearing others share experiences similar to her own was helpful, but she still wasn't sure how to get better. While living in Nigeria, she considered walking to a nearby pharmacy to ask for help. "I wanted to ask the pharmacist," she recalled, "Do you guys have something for depression or suicidal ideation? Something to help?" When she got up the nerve to tell her parents how much she was hurting, they didn't understand. They were a family of faithWhy couldn't she trust that God would take care of her? Lawal's father, Wasiu Lawal, said he initially attributed his daughter's mental health struggles to her youth. But things got worse, not better, as she got older, he said. Eventually, even though he didn't understand therapymental health was never something people talked about when he was growing up in Nigeriahe knew his daughter needed serious intervention. "I was willing to do anything that would help her," Lawal said. Toward the end of Lawal's high school years, her mental health got even worse. In her lowest moments, she would scream and cry to her mother, asking her why she had brought her into the world. But when Lawal was 19, after years of suicide attempts and terrifying intrusive thoughts regularly sending her to the hospital, a doctor suggested a partial hospitalization program to her family. For several weeks, Lawal spent hours each day participating in group and individual therapy. A few months later, she did the program again. This time, even though it was virtual, Lawal felt more prepared to be open with others in the programto share her experiences and add her input during group therapy. After several years of treatment and learning about mental health, it felt like everything clicked, Lawal said. She left the program with a deeper understanding of herself that became even deeper as she explored her relationship with her faith. She came to believe that everything she had gone through had a purposeto help her understand others who were struggling and help them feel less alone. "God, he had me then. He has me now," she said. "In my darkest moments, in my darkest times, where I felt lonely, I felt like I had no one, he was still there with me and the reason why I'm still alive today." Rolly Orebote, a preacher and spiritual mentor based in London, remembers meeting Lawal through Instagram about four years ago. She could tell how much the young girl was struggling, she said, but over the past few years, she has been amazed at the person she has become. "When I first met Sister Mary, she was a totally different person. Someone that was not understood, someone that didn't have confidence in herself," Orebote said. "I can't really say how impressed and how proud of her that I am, because she's grown so much in such a short space of time." Now, Lawal is well-practiced at sharing her story. In 2023, she addressed lawmakers in the Maryland General Assembly to ask them to fully fund the 988 hotline. She's also helped facilitate support groups for NAMI and regularly volunteers to speak with journalists about mental health issues. As a psychology student at Prince George's Community College, she's not quite sure yet whether she wants to continue her studies and become a therapist or stay in advocacy. Whatever Lawal decides to do, her father said, she is going to help many people. She's taught him a lot about mental health, he said. Now, when he meets a parent whose child is struggling with their mental health, he knows how to talk to them about itand helps them figure out how to support their child. 2024 The Baltimore Sun. 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: Pavel Danilyuk from Pexels Physician-scientists from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine have new insights into the role of genetic risk scores in guiding treatment for hypertension, or high blood pressure. The study, published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, examines the application of the systolic blood pressure polygenic risk score in guiding the personalization of treatment strategies for patients with elevated blood pressure or stage 1 hypertension. Hypertension remains a leading cause of cardiovascular disease. Genetic predispositions account for a significant portion of blood pressure variability. This study investigates how genetic risk scores can enhance a patient's risk assessment and tailor treatments. The research, led by Naman Shetty, M.D., and colleagues, analyzed data from more than 5,000 participants. The genetic predisposition to hypertension was quantified using a previously validated systolic blood pressure polygenic risk score. The findings revealed that the SBP PRS was instrumental in classifying patients' risks of adverse cardiovascular events, such as coronary heart disease, heart failure and stroke. Prior research led by Pankaj Arora, M.D., the senior author of the current work and physician-scientist at the UAB Cardiovascular Institute, demonstrated that coronary artery calcium scores were instrumental in guiding the initiation of antihypertensive therapy. Based on prior work with CAC scores, Arora and his team examined whether using both the SBP PRS and CAC scores would further improve risk stratification to guide initiation of treatment of hypertension. "Our study highlights the importance of a nuanced approach to hypertension management," Shetty said. "By incorporating both genetic and CAC data, we can more precisely identify those at increased risk and adjust treatment plans accordingly." "This research demonstrates how integrating genetic and imaging information enables a more personalized approach to medicine," Arora said. "By identifying high-risk patients more accurately, we can intervene earlier and more effectively to prevent serious cardiovascular complications." Arora says this study, supported by the National Institutes of Health, marks a significant step forward in personalized health care and precision medicine, underscoring the potential of combining genetic insights with imaging biomarkers to optimize hypertension treatment strategies. More information: Naman S. Shetty et al, Genetic Risk and Coronary Artery Calcium in Personalizing Antihypertensive Treatment: A Pooled Cohort Analysis, Mayo Clinic Proceedings (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2023.12.020 Journal information: Mayo Clinic Proceedings There was a big jump in the number of nights people slept at shelters in Missoula in 2023 as Montana's affordable housing crisis continues unabated. The nonprofit Poverello Center homeless shelter in Missoula served 1,455 different individual people in 2023 who stayed a combined 60,549 nights, a 19% increase over 2022. That's according to the annual report recently published by the Pov, which is the largest homeless shelter in Montana. The Pov operates its main shelter on West Broadway as well as the Johnson Street Emergency Shelter, and the two combined can serve roughly 300 people every night. They are both often at capacity, especially in the winter months. The increase in the number of nights slept in shelters was largely due to the city, county and the Poverello Center working together to fund and operate the Johnson Street Shelter in September of 2023, which is much earlier than it was opened in 2022. The shelter has been open all year so far in 2024, which means even more people had access to shelter for more months. According to the report, there are an estimated 600 people experiencing homelessness in Missoula at any given time. Jill Bonny, the executive director of the organization, said that donors, volunteers, staff and community partners are crucial to their mission. "This year has brought its share of challenges, but it has also shown us the remarkable strength and compassion within our community," Bonny said. "Every meal provided, every shelter offered, and every moment of care has demonstrated how, together, we can create meaningful change. We are not just offering services, we are helping individuals rebuild their lives and restore their sense of dignity." In 2023, the Pov spearheaded an effort to create the Montana Coalition to Solve Homelessness, which secured $5 million in state funding to support shelters across Montana. The report breaks down the shelter guests who stayed at the Pov and at the Johnson Street Shelter. White males between the ages of 25 and 64 are the majority of guests, although women are a little less than a quarter of the population. About 11% report a disability and 13% are veterans. Native Americans make up about a fifth of the shelter guest population. Of people who stay at Missoula shelters, over 60% have a chronic health condition and 65% are chronically homeless. The Pov is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Since opening in 1974 as a soup kitchen in downtown Missoula, they've served over 4 million meals. Since starting shelter services in 1981, they've provided almost 1 million nights of shelter. The Pov also operates the Homeless Outreach Team, which helps people with prescription medications, water bottles, food, identification, clothing and other needs. The kitchen at the Pov serves grab-and-go breakfast and two hot meals a day at the Broadway location, as well as a daily hot dinner at the Johnson Street Shelter. In 2023, the organization served 122,436 meals to 2,037 people. They also rescued 477,552 pounds of food from nine local grocery stores and restocked it in the food pantry for 62,400 sack lunches. Most of the organization's donors gave less than $200 each, but there were nearly 2,000 of those small donations, to go along with scores of other larger donations. "Missoula is the most generous place Ive ever called home," said Stephanie Dolan, the director of development at the Pov. "The spirit of giving in this town is inspiring. We would never be able to provide food, shelter, help and hope to our community if it wasnt for the support of the amazing people here. These dollars add up and keep our most vulnerable neighbors safe. The city and county both recently split a $1.8 million operating cost to keep the Johnson Street Shelter open for fiscal year 2025. A lightning-caused fire burning on the Bighorn National Forest about 6 miles northwest of Dayton, Wyoming, grew by at least 8 miles to the south as strong winds fanned the flames on Sunday, Sept. 29, according to the inciweb website. Farther south on the Bridger-Teton National Forest, an evacuation order was issued on Sunday afternoon as the Pack Trail fire rapidly grew to 19,600 acres as 60 mph winds blew. The fire made a 5-mile wind-driven run with crowning and spotting during the afternoon, said Jackson District Ranger Todd Stiles. The fire displayed behavior much more indicative of mid to late August prime summer fire season. The Fremont County order to leave was aimed at Brooks Lake Road, East and West Pinnacle Drive, Breccia Drive, Highway 26 on the Togwotee Pass from Mile Post 30-44, Long Creek Subdivision, Lava Mountain Subdivisions, Triangle C Ranch, old KOA, urban subdivision, including Timberline Ranch and Rawhide Ranches. Firefighting hand crews and additional fire engines were dispatched to the blaze. A complex incident management team from California, CA Team 10, is arriving over the next two-days and is expected to assume command of the fire late Wednesday or early Thursday. The Pack Trail fire is burning in remote terrain making it difficult for firefighters to access. The blaze was discovered on Sept. 15. After initial attempts to access the Pack Trail fire by our local helitack firefighters, it was determined that attempts to put a larger force on the ground would likely be unsuccessful, and could result in high likelihood of injury, Stiles said. Sundays air attack efforts had little effect as the fires put up heavy columns of smoke. Elk fire The Elk fire near Dubois is burning across 6,312 acres of rough terrain with heavy downfall between the North Fork West Pass Creek and the West Fork East Pass Creek. The fire was detected on Friday, Sept. 27. As high winds buffeted the region on Sunday, all air attack was put on hold for several hours as evacuations were issued along Pass Creek and Sheridan County Road 144. Pass Creek, Twin Creek, Smith Creek Road and Tongue River Canyon Road have been closed to all nonresident traffic. Other road and trail closures in the area include: Forest System Roads 145, 150, 114, and portions of 167 and 168 along with Forest System Trails 201, 077 and 428. Out-buildings were consumed but no homes as Sheridan County Fire crews worked to protect structures along the face of the mountain in Pass Creek, Smith Creek and the Twin Creek areas. Two cow camps and a radio repeater site are other protection priorities. A Complex Incident Management Team, designed to fight large fires, was set to take over operation control on Monday. Anyone requiring shelter for livestock or themselves should call Sheridan County Emergency Management at 307-752-2174. The fire is third large blaze to strike north-central Wyoming this year. To the south in Johnson County, the House Draw fire spread across more than 174,000 acres after igniting on Aug. 21. To the east, along the Montana-Wyoming border, the Remington fire scorched more than 196,000 acres after starting on Aug. 22. Caring Chinese grandma makes shoe insoles for new recruits for over a decade People's Daily Online) 16:34, September 29, 2024 Recently, more than 100 new recruits each received a pair of shoe insoles meticulously sewn by an 89-year-old lady, named Wang Xiaojuan, at the pre-service training base in Xixia county, Nanyang city, central China's Henan Province. "I hope that the children can stand firm and walk further with the insoles I made, better protecting our country," the old lady said. Wang is a retired doctor who grew up in a military family. Influenced by her family, she has had a deep affection for soldiers since childhood. Wang Xiaojuan, an 89-year-old lady from Xixia county, central China's Henan Province, makes shoe insoles for new recruits. (Photo/Ma Chunge) "My uncle-in-law sacrificed his life in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. The husbands of my elder sister and younger sister, my three cousins, my son-in-law, and my brother's grandson have all served in the military," Wang said. "Over the past several decades, my family has produced 15 revolutionary soldiers," she noted. In 2013, Wang happened to see a news clip on TV about the wife of a soldier giving shoe insoles to new recruits as a gift, which sparked her idea of making shoe insoles for new recruits. She soon bought materials and carefully went through the entire process, from drawing patterns to sewing every stitch, finally making shoe insoles that were both thick and delicate. Since then, she has kept making shoe insoles for new recruits every year. She once saw on TV that a group of militia soldiers injured their feet during training, which broke her heart. She worked overtime to make more than 200 pairs of shoe insoles and gave them to the militia participating in standby training. "Militia training is very hard, and it's rewarding for me to do something within my capability for them," Wang said. Today, Wang's shoe insoles are becoming more and more exquisite. Because of her shoe insoles, Wang has forged a deep bond with many soldiers. Zhao Chenbo, a soldier who had concerns about whether he could adapt to military training before being enlisted into a detachment of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region corps of the Chinese People's Armed Police Force (PAPF), was greatly inspired by Wang's loving gift. After receiving the shoe insoles from Wang, he wrote in his diary, "Grandma Wang perseveres in making shoe insoles for us despite her advanced age, every stitch filled with deep love. I will work bravely and strive for excellence to bring honor to my hometown." After joining the armed forces, Zhao worked hard in training and participated in major tasks during drills and exercises multiple times, winning the honorary title as an excellent soldier. Wang has been widely known for her warm-heartedness. Over the past decades, she has actively engaged in public welfare activities. As a retired doctor, she has voluntarily offered help to those in need since retiring from work in 1990. She often takes the lead in donating money and goods to disaster-stricken areas, and provides free medical services for patients from various corners across Xixia county. As she grows older, Wang has suffered from bronchitis, leg pain, and other illnesses, making it difficult for her to move, but she has still persevered in making shoe insoles. "With faith in my heart, there is no difficulty I cannot overcome," Wang said. "As long as my body allows, I will continue to do this." (Web editor: Chang Sha, Hongyu) After a weekend of flooding, the city of Morgantons water system could be back to normal as early as Tuesday, Oct. 1, if water safety testing goes well Monday. Jonelle Sigmon, public information officer for the city of Morganton, said repairs had been made to the citys pump station after it was flooded during Hurricane Helenes torrential downpour. Monday morning, Sigmon said the city was waiting on testing for bacteria in the water to be completed before it could call off the citys boil water advisory. The testing takes at least 24 hours, so it will be at least Tuesday before the boil water advisory in Morganton is canceled, she said. If there is too much bacteria in the water, the test will be redone until the results are good. Some areas with water supplied by Morganton were out of water Monday. Pumps at the Oakhill water tank, Lake James water tank and Grandview water tank did not have power, the city said in a Facebook post Monday. The tanks were without water. The city was working to get power to the pumps with generators. Water was expected to be restored by the end of the day on Monday, the city said. The town of Drexel's water pumps were not operational as of Monday afternoon, the town said in a Facebook post. The town is working to have power to the pumps within a day, the post said. For city of Morganton electric customers, crews from cities around North Carolina have come to the area to get power restored. By 4:30 p.m. Sunday, there were 4,500 people in the city without power, according to a press release from the city. The city asked anyone who is using a generator to turn the main breaker off in the home to make sure no linemen are electrocuted while working on power lines. The skies may have cleared, but Hurricane Helenes presence still can be seen around Burke County, including for anyone who uses city water. A boil water advisory was issued Sunday afternoon for all public water in Burke County, according to an alert from Burke County 911. Jonelle Sigmon, public information officer for the city of Morganton, said Saturday the citys pump station was underwater and would not be operable until floodwaters receded and repairs were made. In a new statement Sunday, Sigmon said some temporary repairs had been made to the pump station, and the distribution system was slowly filling with water. It is important for the system to be completely full before normal service can be restored, said the statement from Sigmon. Therefore, patience is requested during the process. Once the direction is (given) to begin gradual usage, customers are reminded that our system remains under a boil water advisory. In a separate statement Saturday, Sigmon said it could be three to five days before some Morganton residents have their power restored. Burke County 911 Assistant Director Chris White said Friday that 911 dispatchers were busy dispatching calls for swift water rescues, structural collapses, mudslides, wrecks and more. North Green Street was flooded Friday and Saturday, with the Catawba River spilling from its banks and covering the bridge at the corner of North Green and Sanford Drive. Bost Road was covered in water at the Burke County Fairgrounds on Friday afternoon and Saturday but finally cleared up Saturday night. The flooding was what several said reminded them of Hurricane Frances, which happened a little more than 20 years ago. This storm is different than Frances, said Morganton Public Safety Chief Jason Whisnant. We have widespread damage on electric, utility lines unlike anything Ive ever seen. So many roads were in states of disrepair, the North Carolina Department of Transportation said all roads in western North Carolina should be considered closed unless you are traveling for an emergency or to escape danger. Morganton saw 9.79 inches of rainfall from Wednesday through Friday, said Doug Outlaw, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Wind speeds were as high as 51 mph in Hickory. In Asheville, Outlaw said wind speeds were as high as 46 mph. This will be one of the most significant weather events that happened in the modern eras, Outlaw said. The flooding was compared to Tropical Storm Fred in August of 2021. Its certainly one of the most historically significant storm events that weve ever had. With the ground still saturated, Outlaw said the risk of trees falling in the coming days is high. He said it wouldnt take much to topple a tall tree. Burke County Public Schools Superintendent Mike Swan announced in an alert from Burke County 911 that schools would be closed in Burke County at least through Wednesday, Oct. 2. The remnants of Hurricane Helene, a tropical storm by the time it reached North Carolina, hit McDowell County on Friday. The storm brought strong wind, rain and flooding. It knocked out power, cell phone service, internet and water for most of the county The National Weather Service said portions of western McDowell County received around 9 inches of rain from Tropical Storm Helene. The storm initially left nearly all of McDowell County residents without power Saturday. On Sunday, 78% were still without power. McDowell Countys water is limited after the storm, according to emergency management officials. Marions water supply was expected to be depleted by noon Sunday, and Old Fort has limited to not water as of Saturday evening. Marions water intakes were without power or were not producing water, according to a Saturday news release from McDowell County Emergency Management. The city is working with Duke Energy to restore power to the Buck Creek water intake, but it may take time, the release said. Without power, the water supply in Marion was expected to run out, the release said. It is urgent that all city of Marion and McDowell County water customers conserve water to the greatest possible degree in order to extend the city and county water supplies, the release said. Non-essential water use was prohibited. Old Forts water system was impacted by flooding as well, leaving the city with little to no water, a Saturday emergency management update said. The county is still working to rescue people who are trapped and missing, emergency management said. Distribution centers McDowell County opened distribution centers for food and water and a third shelter on Sunday. The distribution centers are located at: Woodlawn: Hicks Chapel Church, 6008 U.S. Hwy. 221 N North Cove: North Cove Elementary, 8153 U.S. Hwy. 221 N Emergency management said this is the first of many distribution centers. Since the early morning hours, McDowell County Emergency Services has been working tirelessly to set up Points of Distribution across the county to provide critical supplies, including food and water, to every community, emergency management said in the release. Our dedicated team will not stop until all citizens have access to the resources they need for their safety and well-being. We are working around the clock, doing everything we can to bring resources into McDowell County as quickly as possible. The county has opened a third shelter at the YMCA in Marion on Sunday, emergency management said in a release. The county had three shelters as of Sunday afternoon: Glenwood Baptist Church155 Glenwood Church Rd., Marion. Senior Center in Marion100 Spaulding Rd., Marion. YMCA of Marion, 348 Grace Corpening Dr., Marion. (Opening Sunday night at 7 p.m.) There is no shelter in Old Fort, the county said. Information was limited about the impact the storm had on Old Fort. Calls for help McDowell County 911 received over 760 calls for service during this storm on Friday, according to McDowell County Emergency Management. Even in the days after, McDowell County 911 got hundreds of calls for help every hour, emergency management said. The calls involve patients who are trapped with severe trauma and running out of oxygen or essential medical supplies, the county said. It took time for emergency management to respond, because multiple areas in McDowell were inaccessible to emergency personnel in the days after the storm, emergency management said. Mutual aid agencies from all across North Carolina are assisting McDowell County respond to this disaster, the county said Friday. A mass casualty bus, multiple out-of-county ambulances, National Guard personnel, Urban Search and Rescue Teams, swift water rescue teams and state law enforcement are supporting local fire, rescue, EMS, and law enforcement. Heavy construction equipment is also being used to access several critical incidents. In some areas, responders could not reach those in help because of landslides, downed trees, power lines and flooded roads, the Saturday release said. By Sunday, water was starting to recede and some of the Catawba River was back at bank level, an alert from McDowell County Emergency Management said. But the county said there is still standing water around the county. With the water receding, rescue efforts shifted from swift water rescue to urban search and rescue, the Sunday alert said. More than 20 air rescues were conducted Saturday to extract people from isolated areas, emergency management said. The biggest challenges in emergency response were road blockages, fuel supply shortages for emergency vehicles, difficulty communicating with little to no cell and radio service and delivery of food and water, the county said. Responders worked to deliver supplies like food and water throughout McDowell County, emergency management said. The supplies were distributed to drop points by the U.S. National Guard, the county said. I-40 mudslide The North Carolina Department of Transportation reported a mudslide on Interstate 40 near Old Fort. The interstate is closed from exit 66 to exit 77, according to DriveNC.gov. The University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is honoring Muscatine's Theodore Van Winkle. Van Winkle and fellow Iowa alumnus David Conn have been named as the college's 2024-2025 Alumni Fellows. Van Winkle, a trombonist, will hold a free recital and masterclass in the Voxman Music Building on Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 7:30 p.m. During this event, he will work with university trombone students as well as perform two solo pieces. Then, on Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 7:30 p.m., also in the Voxman building, Van Winkle will be a featured soloist in that evenings Symphony Band concert. I am absolutely thrilled to receive the Alumni Fellowship through the University of Iowa's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Van Winkle said in response to the announcement. Van Winkle went on to note that he doesnt seem to be the typical recipient for the fellowship, pointing out that he's the youngest fellow to receive this award and, as such, feels his career as a musician is still in its infancy. At the same time, however, he also feels that he brings a unique perspective back to the campus at the University of Iowa which often gets ignored. In the world of professional musicians, those that go the furthest often have the most privileged upbringing, being thrust into private music lessons as soon as they are big enough to hold an instrument and attending prestigious youth orchestras while in high school, Van Winkle said. They are admitted to extremely competitive music conservatories, and during their summers off travel to music festivals across the globe. () However, when I work with young musicians who aren't afforded all these opportunities, they see themselves in my musical upbringing, and they see that hard work is the ultimate make-or-break." Van Winkle was first introduced to music through his family, he explained, namely his father, who formed the band Crusin, as well as his uncle and grandfather. Through hearing their performances and following his father to his band practices, Van Winkle began to think of music as a way to connect with the people he loved. This feeling expanded when Van Winkle began learning the trombone and started making close friends in the Muscatine High School marching band. He also felt that pursuing music taught him about passion, perseverance, and grit. To succeed as a professional musician, particularly as a classical or orchestral musician, it's less about creativity and more about unwavering dedication to perfect the most benign of details, he said. Playing the same few notes over and over again, hours a day, months at a time, just to see incremental progress that's invisible to most of the people around you. I've had to learn to love the burn, to enjoy the process of practice not because there's some reward and the end of the struggle, but because the struggle is intrinsically rewarding. Van Winkle graduated with a Bachelor of Music from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 2020. He then enrolled in the University of North Texas and, after graduating in 2022, joined the U.S. Air Force Bands. Since joining the Air Force Bands, he has performed for several high-profile events. He also served as the U.S. Air Force Bands' photographer, videographer and tour manager for the bands rock group. More than anything else, I think the fellowship is indicative of the tremendous support that I've had throughout my professional development," he said. "I am the musician that I am today because of the teachers who have supported me. Van Winkle went on to thank his father for first instilling a love of music into him; his high school music teacher Jeffery Heid, who he felt believed in his abilities before I even knew I had them;" Natalie Mannix, who helped with his transition from college to being a full-time performer; and Johnathan Allen, who submitted Van Winkle for the award. More drivers than ever are making $1,000+ auto loan payments More drivers than ever are making $1,000+ auto loan payments More Drivers Facing Four-Digit Auto Loan Payments in 2024 High Auto Loan Payments From An Earlier Era Persist Texas Leads the Nation in $1,000 or Higher Car Loans Can't Wait to Refinance? HAYS, MONTANA Inside a double tipi lodge on the Fort Belknap Reservation one September morning, four children huddled together, each with a lollipop in hand. Youre going to learn about dehydration in science class when youre in my grade, 13-year-old LeCass Camel told the others. Jeremiah Camel, LeCass 12-year-old cousin, recited the numbers of pi. Youll learn that in math, he proudly told the younger kids, who were more focused on their candy. Just feet away from Jeremiah and LeCass sat three small caskets containing the remains of children not much older than themselves a stark reminder that life for the Aaniiih people didnt always look this way. While LeCass and Jeremiah live with their family members and attend school in their community, the children in the caskets were sent thousands of miles from home to Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Located in Pennsylvania, Carlisle opened in 1879 and was the first government-run boarding school for Native Americans. The explicit mission of the campus which later served as a model for others was cultural genocide. Native American children who attended were forbidden from speaking their languages or practicing culture. They were emotionally, physically and sexually abused. The historical trauma created there persists in tribal communities. Some children died at these schools. Some are still unaccounted for. Many never came home until now. For the last seven years, Native American tribes have worked with the U.S. Army War College (which now occupies the original Carlisle site) to exhume and return ancestral remains. While the process is painful, tribal leaders say it is an important step toward healing. Recovering from centuries of harmful U.S. policy, the Fort Belknap Aaniiih and Nakoda Tribes like hundreds of tribes nationwide are charting a new path forward, one that acknowledges the tragedies of the past while celebrating the opportunity for a better future. George Horse Capture, Jr., a cultural leader, put it simply: Were trying to learn to be Aaniiih and Nakoda again, he said. A lethal system Bishop L. Shield, John Bull and Almeda Heavy Hair each arrived and died at Carlisle in the 1890s. Around that time, the U.S. government was acquiring tribal land, legally and illegally. Settlers and U.S. soldiers killed millions of bison to devastate tribal communities. Tribal populations began to plummet, as people faced malnutrition, infertility and disease. Responding to these conditions, some tribal leaders believed off-reservation schools, like Carlisle, would provide opportunity for children, according to Blackfeet historian Rosalyn LaPier. She said the federal government also used coercion to ensure Indigenous people would comply with federal policy. Indian agents, for example, could withhold rations from parents who did not send their children to schools like Carlisle. Because school records are limited, inconsistent and poorly translated, not much is known about the three Aaniiih children who died at Carlisle. Shield (whose Indian name was Sleeps High) died of pneumonia at 17, just three months after arriving at the school in 1890. Bull (The Dwarf) died at 15 in 1891 of consumption, a term often used to describe tuberculosis or some kind of lung infection. And Heavy Hair (Heavy Hair on Side of Head) died at 16 in 1894, also of consumption. Preston McBride, assistant professor of history at Pomona College in Claremont, California, said diseases like tuberculosis, typhoid fever and pneumonia thrived at Indian boarding schools. School leaders, he said, often didnt enforce vaccination requirements. And the schools, which received funding based on student population, were overcrowded. It wasnt uncommon for students to share beds, clothing, toothbrushes and towels. McBride has studied the spread of disease in four major Indian boarding schools Carlisle in Pennsylvania, Chemawa in Oregon, Haskell in Kansas and Sherman in California. From 1810 to 1920, he said students in these four schools were up to 20 times more likely to die than their white counterparts in the U.S. Because school officials failed to keep records on many sick or dying students, McBride said, the full extent of the systems lethality is unknown. Indian student deaths in federal custody were considered acceptable collateral damage for the governments larger push to eradicate Native American cultures and life ways, he said. A heavy sense of sadness visiting Carlisle At the urging of tribal members nationwide, the U.S. Army War College has exhumed and returned the remains of dozens of children who died at Carlisle. Shield, Bull and Heavy Hair were exhumed in the colleges seventh disinterment operation since 2017. About a dozen Fort Belknap cultural leaders, council members, elders and youth traveled to Pennsylvania to receive the remains and bring them home. On campus, Emma Filesteel, the deputy tribal historic preservation officer for the Fort Belknap Aaniiih and Nakoda Tribes, couldnt bring herself to enter the schools old infirmary. I felt a heavy sense of sadness when I was there, she said. William Granados, 19, noticed former school buildings had been turned into hotels. Its like if they turned a concentration camp in Germany into a hotel, he said, shaking his head. Blackfeet cultural leaders who visited Carlisle last fall said the school was eerie. William Gladstone, who works for the Blackfeet Tribal Historic Preservation Office, said he noticed childlike doodles on the walls of what looked to be jail cells. When remains of a Blackfeet child were exhumed last fall, Gladstone said there were pig, cow and deer bones inside the childs casket. He learned the childrens cemetery was also used as a dump for animal scraps they used in the kitchen. They were careless, he told Lee Montana last fall. That negligence also meant that a fourth Nakoda child buried in an unmarked grave at Carlisle was left behind because it was too difficult to exhume his remains. It was one of the worst feelings having to leave him behind, Filesteel said. We need to come up with a solution to get him home. Enduring consequences Past boarding school-era policies have long-term, present-day consequences in tribal communities. Ekoo Beck (LaPiers child), works for the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, an organization gathering first-person survivor narratives for an oral history collection. Beck said there arent a lot of elders from the boarding school period who are still alive. Those who are say their classmates died young. People died at an early age of addiction, Beck said. Alcohol abuse has roots in boarding schools. Traumatic deaths and the low life expectancy rate in Montana can be attributed to the trauma of boarding schools. Samuel Torres, deputy chief executive officer of NABS, said boarding school survivors werent able to learn traditional ways of parenting. Having grown up in an institutional and abusive environment, some survivors say they dont trust themselves to discipline their children. Now, we have new generations of Native youth who are subject to conditions provoked by the boarding school era, even if those children never went to boarding schools themselves, Torres said. This pattern of intergenerational trauma continues as a living legacy. Indigenous languages also suffered. When Filesteels grandfather was a student at St. Pauls Mission School near Hays, he was beaten for speaking Aaniiih. He didnt speak Aaniiih after that, she said. We never heard him speak it. Today, there are 30 fluent Aaniiih speakers, according to a 2023 Native Language Community Coordination report. This is what we do Atop a hill on the Fort Belknap Reservation, community members placed Heavy Hairs casket in a grave at the Lame Bull Cemetery, where her relatives are buried. This is difficult, said Randall Werk, one of Heavy Hairs relatives. But this is what we do. This is who we are. She is our relative, and we are going to put her back in this Earth today. Its a beautiful day. LeCass and his cousin Jeremiah beat their drums as cultural leaders sang in Aaniiih. Community members tossed handfuls of dirt into Heavy Hairs grave, as children gave each other piggyback rides in the cemetery. Back at the high school, community members grabbed plates of food and embraced each other in comfort. As people sat down to eat, LeCass, Jeremiah and their younger cousins chased each other through the empty school hallways. You cant catch me! one of the children yelled as he ran around a lunch table. The others screamed with joy as they chased him, their long braids bouncing up and down with each stride. Pinned to a bulletin board, a flyer swayed as the children ran past. It advertised an Aaniiih language class. The Ministry of Lands has clarified reports claiming that title deeds were stolen from the Government Printer. This clarification follows a gazette notice issued on September 26, suggesting that 367 title deeds had been stolen. The Ministry clarified that the stolen documents were 367 security papers for printing title deeds, not the deeds themselves. These papers only become title deeds after being processed by the Ministry of Lands, filled with ownership details, and stamped and signed by the Registrar, the Ministry explained. Officials believe corrupt individuals within the Government Printer were responsible for the theft, intending to use the papers to create fake title deeds. The Ministry emphasized its commitment to combating land fraud, stating it has reinforced its security protocols and is working closely with law enforcement to dismantle the criminal networks involved in these fraudulent activities. Reassuring the public, the Ministry confirmed that all valid title deeds remain secure. It also vowed to pursue those behind the theft and bring them to justice. One Government Printer employee has already been arrested and is currently aiding in the ongoing investigation. A joint team from the Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Protection Unit, along with detectives from DCI Kabete, has successfully apprehended a suspect involved in child abduction and rescued two young victims. After a meticulous investigation, the suspect, Mary Akinyi Mulamula, who had been evading authorities, was arrested in Kabete, Nairobi. The arrest was triggered by a report of a stolen child from Muchingu, Mukango Sub-Location, Virhembe Location in Kakamega County, on June 6, 2024. On that day, the suspect deceived the family, convincing a shamba boy that she was taking the child to Kakamega for registration in a sponsorship program, which promised a monthly stipend of Kes.9,000. However, Mulamula disappeared with the child, leaving the family distraught and fearing for the childs safety. After tireless efforts, investigators managed to track down and rescue the victim along with another abducted child. Mulamula was arrested during the operation and is currently in police custody. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has reaffirmed its commitment to fighting human trafficking and protecting childrens rights as they work to bring the suspect to justice. Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has labeled the planned impeachment motion against him an act of subversion, asserting that he is committed to serving his full five-year term. Speaking at a church service in Kinoru, Meru County, Gachagua urged those advocating for his removal to allow him to complete his mandate before President William Ruto considers a replacement. He argued that his impeachment would undermine the will of the people, as he and President Ruto were elected on a joint ticket. Gachagua emphasized the importance of respecting the peoples choice, calling it supreme. As we do whatever we are doing in the political space it is my prayer that we should always respect the will of the people which is supreme. Elections were done the President and I were elected on a joint ticket for 5 years and that is the will of the people, he said. Gachagua also warned of political consequences should the impeachment push proceed, urging against attempts to overturn the peoples will through other means. Let us not fall into the temptations of overturning the will of the people through other methods because the people will not be happy, he cautioned. He stressed that democracy requires leaders to uphold the will of the people, which he called sovereign. However, the Constitution does not guarantee the completion of an elected leaders term or require the simultaneous removal of leaders elected on a joint ticket. Article 150 outlines three grounds for removing the Deputy President, aligning with Articles 144 and 145, which govern the removal of the President. These provisions allow for impeachment, regardless of term length. Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka and DAPK Party leader Eugene Wamalwa have taken legal action against President William Ruto, filing a suit at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Speaking in Kitengela on Sunday, September 29, the two politicians announced that they are seeking to hold the President accountable for the alleged abduction and torture of Kenyans. Wamalwa emphasized that they are pursuing the case both locally and internationally. We are going to pursue this matter, not just locally but we are also in the process of pursuing this matter internationally. Our lawyer Paul Mwangi has initiated proceedings at the ICC, and we will continue to seek justice on all fronts, he said. Kalonzo also accused the Kenya Kwanza government of violating human rights, specifically targeting the youth who protested the Finance Bill 2024. We will go to court in November to follow up for justice for the 75 victims of police brutality of the Finance Bill 2024, Kalonzo declared. BOONVILLE Lovers of California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir have been exposed to some odd styles of wine in the last 30 years, and although the consumer generally hasnt rebelled at the occasionally puerile variabilities, the time is nigh when many people may be confused. The two wines of Frances Burgundy district best display their authentic charms when grown in cooler climes. California, which is much warmer than Burgundy, is seen by Burgundophiles as marginal for both grapes. Most of our Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays have tended to be similar to wines from Mediterranean climates and are atypical of the wines of Burgundy and its continental climates. As temperatures rise, divergence from Burgundy style will be even more evident than now. But in the last decade a small region in Northern California has quietly become a place to preserve the heritage of the Burgundian grapes here. Details follow. California has taken huge strides in crafting European-styled wines from the two grapes by focusing on cooler regions. Still, Burgundy lovers see even our best efforts as artificial when compared with the genuineness that they say only France can deliver. The one thing that can be said about Burgundys best wines is that they are pricey. Using an old analogy, it costs $1,000 to get a good bottle of red or white Burgundy. All you do is buy 10 different wines for $100 each. One of them may be pretty good. Quality, high demand, and tiny production have increased prices. Despite the fact that California Chardonnays and Pinots rarely are Burgundian, it is still possible to buy fine California wines from either varietal without selling the Bugatti. And with global climate change inevitable, temperatures are sure to rise in our coolest regions, putting even more pressure on both grapes. I adore cool-climate wines. The cooler the better. Cold protects a vine from depleting acids in grapes. Acid is vital to making excellent wines that go with food and have a chance to age. Cold also may allow some grapes to remain on the vine longer to gain beneficial flavors and aromatics. American wine lovers, especially those willing to spend a little more to get our best Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, have usually looked for wines from cool regions some of which are underrated and some are overlooked. Take Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, for example. Both are highly regarded for their cooling marine breezes, especially among serious wine buyers in those two counties as well as in the heavily populated Los Angeles basin down to the Mexican border. Few Southern Central Coast Pinots and Chardonnays are seen in the Bay Area. A reason is that from Monterey County north there are several cool areas that are home to exceptional Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Included in the cooler regions that are widely considered as great are the windy Santa Lucia Highlands in Monterey County; Santa Cruz mountains, and the highly regarded Russian River Valley, notably the cold southern third. There also is the fast-emerging, dramatic Petaluma Gap southwest of Santa Rosa as well as portions of Sonoma Coast and the new West Sonoma Coast. And there are cooler pockets in both Napa and Sonoma Carneros. Parts of this district once were highly thought of for the Burgundian grapes, but now are becoming warmer and seem perfect for grapes like Merlot and Syrah. The first serious effort to grow Pinot Noir in Napa came shortly after World War II ended when both Andre Tchelistcheff at Beaulieu Vineyard and Louis M. Martini planted Pinot Noir in a barren Carneros area that had little water. The dearth of water delayed the projects. Lack of water also limited Pinot Noir plantings in mountainous regions, but as high up as Napa mountaintops both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir were planted in exceptionally well-drained soils, which permitted the production of some phenomenal wines. The development of great Pinot Noir in California really was spurred by the late Davis Bynum, who championed the grape off Westside Road in Russian River Valley as early as 1975. Though Pinot didnt gain much recognition until about the mid 1980s, it was evident that the valley was a blessed place for the variety. In the early 1980s, Burt Williams and Ed Selyem identified an elegant style of wine that matched the southern Burgundy district of Cote de Beaune, where more graceful styles of Pinot Noir contrasted with denser, more opulent northerly Cote de Nuits. Although the western edge of the Russian River Valley doesnt have the limestone soil of Burgundy, regular persistent fog makes for a grape that may be harvested later, but Burt and Ed didnt like that style. Some California Pinot Noir producers did pursue the darker styles, but to this day, there is a kind of gracefulness in many of the better Russian River Valley Pinot Noirs. As temperatures continue to increase worldwide, some wine regions that are sensitive to subtle changes may be affected most. And even though Russian River Valley is still home to some fabulous wines, another region has developed clearly will be a major addition to the great Pinot Noir explosion. The name to remember is Anderson Valley. For at least three decades, it has displayed some stunning Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays that portend even greater contributions that have yet to been seen. For most of that time, this small, remote section of Mendocino County was known primarily for its beautiful white wines. In the mid-1990s, locals told me that about 90% of the fruit grown in Mendocino was sold to wineries outside the county. This includes some wonderful red wine grapes grown on the Ukiah side of the hill, including Cabernet, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, and Carignane. Although Anderson Valley has quietly shifted many of its wines toward Pinot Noir, it still produces exceptionally fine white wines. As you enter Anderson Valley from the south after navigating winding Highway 128, you enter the lovely town of Boonville, focal point of this wine area that is cooled from the west by Pacific Ocean breezes. Vineyards near Boonville get lower temperatures than most other parts of the greater Bay Area, with fog as well as cold marine air. Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, and Chardonnay are especially prized here, with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir providing drama for some of the nations best sparkling wines. Since exceptional-quality Pinot Noir has challenged Cabernet for preeminence among red wine lovers, prices for iconic versions of Pinot Noir have significantly increased in other areas of California to $80 per bottle with a few topping the century. For the most part, Anderson Valley Pinot Noirs are slightly less expensive due in part to the fact that fewer people know about this region. Also, there is one other slight drawback. Some people believe (incorrectly) that Pinot Noir should be very dark in color. Some dark Pinot Noirs can be interesting. But Pinot Noir, as a grape does not contain some of the naturally dark colors of other red grapes. What I find with many Anderson Valley Pinot Noir producers is that theyre less inclined to worry about color, more inclined to allow the variety to be what it wants to be. The result: more grace with structures based similar to Cote de Beaune. Now that Anderson Valley has displayed several exceptionally fine Pinot vintages, including the superb 2014, those who have discovered this area now are looking for a little more uniqueness. And they may have found it with a designation that is becoming popular with some producers. These wines come from a smaller area known as the Deep End. The phrase comes from the obscure local lingo Boontling and refers to that area thats about as cold as Pinot Noir ever wants to be. The Deep End isnt identified by precise boundaries; efforts are afoot to define it. Locals say its adjacent to the Mill Creek Watershed near Husch Vineyards, which planted the first Pinot Noir vineyard here, its famed Knoll Vineyard, in 1971 despite fog thats often so dense even walking is risky and frost is a threat. Deep End Pinots tend to be a bit darker in color and usually call for a little more aging before theyre ready to consume. Because of colder temps in the Deep End, its Pinot Noir s tend to have more grip, more tannin. Also, theres a delicate minerality. The wines are not astringent per se, but many Anderson Valley Pinot Noirs, especially Deep End versions, benefit from aeration when they are young. Also, I have found that after about 3-4 years from a vintage, some Pinot Noirs will go into a slight hibernation. Then the best thing to do is wait until they are older. Tasting two 2014 Pinot Noirs the other day proved that conclusively. Beyond the deep end, continuing past the wine area, Highway 128 winds through towering redwoods for a good 20 minutes until you reach the coast. As you drive up a slope toward a spectacular ocean view, the air displays the distinct aroma of the sea. As much as I appreciate the amazing red wines that are grown on the Ukiah side of the mountain, it is the Anderson Valley that carries with it so much potential because of the cooling influence of the Pacific Ocean. That certainly will keep most new plantings cool enough, even as other areas of the state are impacted by global climate change. Anderson Valley Pinot Noir has captivated so many people over the last decade that at least a dozen wineries from outside the area now produce an Anderson Valley Pinot Noir including Duckhorn (Goldeneye), Twomey (Silver Oak), Kosta Brown, Williams Selyem, Maggie Hawk (Jackson Family), J. Davies (Schramsberg), and Dutton Goldfield. If there is a single message about the greatness of the Pinots here, it is that lighter colors should be a sign of excellence. There is nothing wrong with dark Pinot if it is made properly, but the Anderson Valley lighter style captivates me. Wine of the Week: 2022 Foursight Pinot Noir, Charles Estate ($58) A classic example of an Anderson Valley Pinot Noir comes from this family-owned project. Winemaker Joe Webb always aims for structure and balance in his red wines and this handsome example is typically light in color, but has remarkable aromatics. It has relatively intense flavors, but the word graceful really defines it. With only 13.5% alcohol, it is as beautiful as it is definitive to the variety, and the balance is spot-on. It is relatively reasonably priced considering how many others these days are selling for $15 to $20 more. Photos: First look at JCB St. Helena UK's Nicholas Phillips steps down from top court Lord Phillips has been a non-permanent judge at the Court of Final Appeal since 2012. Photo courtesy of the UK Parliament The judiciary has confirmed that a British non-permanent judge, Nicholas Phillips, is stepping down from Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal (CFA) for "personal reasons", ending his 12 years on the bench. A spokesperson told RTHK on Monday that the departure of Phillips, 86, would not affect the operation of the top court. "He indicated recently that he did not wish to have his term of appointment extended upon its expiry on September 30, 2024 due to personal reasons. Lord Phillips has completed four terms of office totalling 12 years," the spokesperson said. "The judiciary is grateful to Lord Phillips for his valuable contributions to the work of the CFA and his support for the rule of law in Hong Kong during his tenure in the past years." Phillips is the fifth overseas non-permanent judge leaving the top court in 2024. British judges Lawrence Collins and Jonathan Sumption, as well as former Canadian top judge Beverly McLachlin, announced their departure from the CFA earlier this year. Anthony Murray Gleeson from Australia also left the bench in March. Following Phillips' exit, there are 10 non-permanent judges left sitting on the top court, six of them from overseas. "Despite the departure of some [non-permanent judges] in recent years, an overwhelming majority of the serving and departed [non-permanent judges] have publicly reiterated their continued confidence in judicial independence in Hong Kong and the commitment of the Hong Kong courts towards upholding the rule of law," the spokesperson said. "In light of its steady caseload, the operation of the CFA will not be affected by the recent change in membership of the court." Work to identify suitable local and overseas candidates to be appointed as non-permanent judges will continue, the judiciary added. Phillips was appointed to the CFA in 2012. He previously served as chief justice of England and Wales from 2005 to 2008, and held the position of the first president of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in 2009 until 2012. He was awarded a Gold Bauhinia Star in 2023. Indian stock markets opened with a decline on Monday as the upcoming US election increases volatility in equities worldwide. The Nifty 50 index opened at 26,061.30 points, down by 0.45 per cent or 117.65 points, while the BSE Sensex fell by 363 points or 0.42 per cent during the opening, settling at 85,208.76 points. According to experts, as markets enter October, volatility tends to increase due to the US Presidential election season. However, they expect the stock rally to return once the elections conclude. "India is a beneficiary of the rate cuts as a vibrant emerging market. We are entering a historically weak month for US equities, which normally weaken going into the Presidential Elections and then rally, irrespective of the result for the US Presidency, the Senate and the US House of Representatives." said Ajay Bagga, Banking and Market Expert. He further stated on US election effect on stock markets "The close contest this time around raises the specter of many days and weeks of uncertainty and recounts in close, swing states. That will lead to market volatility for sure. Fasten seatbelts for a very interesting October but stay invested. It's not going to be an easy October nor a one-way market" In the sectoral indices on the National Stock Exchange, all sectors opened in the red except Nifty Metal, Nifty FMCG, and Nifty Pharma. Nifty Metal continued to rally, with a 1.22 per cent surge during the opening session. The top gainers of the Nifty 50 include NTPC, Hindalco, BPCL, JSW Steel, and Tata Steel, while the top losers include Hero MotoCorp, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Nestle India, and ICICI Bank. In the Asian markets, Chinese and Hong Kong markets rallied on Monday due to stimulus measures unleashed on both the monetary and fiscal policy fronts. Over the last week, the Chinese market cap has risen by USD 1.3 trillion, and the Hong Kong market cap is up by USD 500 billion. The Shanghai Composite surged by more than 5 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.95 per cent. However, Japanese markets faced pressure on Monday as the Nikkei 225 index declined by around 5 per cent. Experts attribute this to the finalization of Shigeru Ishiba as Prime Minister, who supports the Bank of Japan's path toward policy normalization. (ANI) PRNewswire Kochi (Kerala) [India], September 30: UST, a leading digital transformation solutions company, announced plans to expand its presence in India by adding over 3000 new jobs at its upcoming Kochi campus in the next five years, as it gets ready to inaugurate its own campus in Kochi, Kerala, by December 2027. The company, which has set itself a target of 6,000 employees in the next five years, currently employs more than 2,800 people in its existing facility at Infopark Kochi. The foundation stone for its new Kochi campus that will come up in a sprawling 9-acre land at Infopark Kochi Phase 2, was laid, by Krishna Sudheendra, Chief Executive Officer, UST. Susanth Kurunthil, CEO, Infopark Kochi; Alexander Varghese, Chief Operating Officer, UST; Sunil Balakrishnan, Chief Values Officer & Kochi Center Head, UST; Anil Pillai, Vice President, Campus Development Team, UST, Shilpa Menon, UST Thiruvananthapuram Center Head; Sheffi Anwar, General Manager - Business Operations & Workforce Management, UST; and other leaders and employees, were present. The new UST campus in Kochi, which will be completed in three years, will be a 10-floor building and 4400 seats, with an area of over 6,00,000 sq. ft. The new building will also have a modern gym for employees, and an auditorium with a seating capacity of 1400 seats. The new UST campus building will be built incorporating the latest technology, and energy efficient measures generating green energy. When the Kochi campus goes on stream, it will become the second owned campus in India for UST after Thiruvananthapuram. UST, which already has a facility operating out of Infopark Kochi, currently caters to US, UK and APAC clients from almost all domains such as healthcare, retail, telecom, financial services/asset management, and hi-tech. Speaking after laying the foundation stone for the new campus building, Krishna Sudheendra, CEO, UST, said that the new campus will not only strengthen UST's presence in the region but also attract more clients and create new work opportunities, positioning Kochi as a dynamic hub for innovation and growth. "I congratulate and wish the best to UST in building its own campus at Infopark. The company has shown high levels of commitment and determination in setting this goal of having its own state-of-the-art space in the industrial hub of Kerala, and the results will soon show off," said Susanth Kurunthil, Chief Executive Officer, Infopark Kochi. Alexander Varghese, Chief Operating Officer, UST, spoke high of the state-of-the-art infrastructure planned for the campus and appreciated the architecture company's role in shaping its vision. "Ever since UST began its Kochi operations in 2007, we have been able to post steady growth. The strategic location of Kochi aids companies to easily connect and reach out to other IT locations in South India. This aspect, along with Kochi's development in social and physical infrastructure arenas, has helped UST attract talent from other locations. With UST's own campus coming up in Kochi, we will be able to add jobs and customers in a big way," Alexander Varghese added. Kochi has built a name as the industrial capital of Kerala. Kochi boasts of advanced infrastructure, a large and highly skilled workforce, and a supportive business environment. With the aim of having its own campus in the city, UST had started the pre-construction work before Covid-19 pandemic. Sunil Balakrishnan, Chief Values Officer & Kochi Center Head, UST, who expressed pride in the project's progress, also spoke about the challenges that had arisen, and how the company had overcome all hassles to stay firmly in track. Anil Pillai, Vice President, Campus Development Team, UST, unveiled the new campus design for Kochi Center at the event. Founded in 1999, UST, which began its India operations with its headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, has expanded its presence across India with offices in Hyderabad, Kochi, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi NCR, Ahmedabad, and Hosur. About UST Since 1999, UST has worked side by side with the world's best companies to make a powerful impact through transformation. Powered by technology, inspired by people, and led by our purpose, we partner with our clients from design to operation. Our digital solutions, proprietary platforms, engineering expertise, and innovation ecosystem turn core challenges into impactful, disruptive solutions. With deep industry knowledge and a future-ready mindset, we infuse innovation and agility into our clients' organizations--delivering measurable value and positive lasting change for them, their customers, and communities around the world. Together, with 30,000+ employees in 30+ countries, we build for boundless impact--touching billions of lives in the process. Visit us at www.UST.com Media Contacts, UST: Tinu Cherian Abraham+1 (949) 415-9857 (US)+91-7899045194 (India) Merrick Laravea+1 (949) 416-6212 Neha Misri+44-7341787926 Roshini Das K+91-7736795557media.relations@ust.com Media Contacts, India: Adfactors PRust@adfactorspr.com Media Contacts, U.S.: S&C PR+1-646.941.9139media@scprgroup.com Makovskyust@makovsky.com Media Contacts, U.K.: FTI ConsultingUST@fticonsulting.com Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1422658/UST_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) Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 30: Dr Dinesh Shahra, a distinguished industrialist, philanthropist, and author, recently visited Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva Vishwavidyalaya (MSSV), Guwahati, where he delivered an insightful talk on "Happiness & Success." Dr Shahra emphasized the importance of balancing personal happiness with professional success, encouraging students to view success as more than just wealth or status. He noted, "True success is found in living a life of purpose, compassion, and service to others." Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankaradeva University stands as a beacon of knowledge, upholding the rich cultural and philosophical legacy of Srimanta Sankaradeva. It plays a pivotal role in nurturing a society grounded in unity, inclusivity, and spiritual empowerment, making it a vital force in shaping future generations. During his visit, Dr Shahra also participated in a tree plantation ceremony on the university grounds, symbolizing his commitment to environmental sustainability. His contributions to the university included the generous donation of his Sanatan Living book series, enriching the library with valuable insights into Sanatan philosophy and values. Dr Shahra took the opportunity to commend the leadership of Vice-Chancellor Mridul Hazarika for fostering a holistic educational environment at MSSV, which aims to develop future leaders with both academic and moral strength. He expressed admiration for the university's mission of nurturing well-rounded individuals through a values-driven education system. The students and faculty of MSSV deeply appreciated Dr Shahra's thought-provoking address, as well as his interactions during the campus tour, which left a lasting impact on the entire university community. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by VMPL. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) NewsVoir Pune (Maharashtra) [India], September 30: In a profession where time is of the essence, securing a loan with minimal delays is essential. Bajaj Finance Doctor Loan is specifically tailored to meet the financial needs of medical professionals, offering competitive terms and flexible repayment options. They offer a streamlined loan application process, ensuring quick approvals and rapid disbursals, so you can focus on your practice without worrying about finances. What are the key factors that affect doctor loan eligibility? Before applying for a loan, applicants should understand the basic doctor loan eligibility criteria that can improve their chances of approval. These include: 1. Credit Score: A credit score of 685 or higher significantly enhances the likelihood of securing favourable loan terms.2. Professional Experience: Doctors with extensive experience are typically seen as lower risk, making it easier to access higher loan amounts.3. Income Stability: Consistent income from a reputable hospital or clinic demonstrates the ability to repay the loan promptly.4. Existing Debts: Maintaining a low debt-to-income ratio is crucial for increasing loan eligibility. What makes Bajaj Finance Doctor Loan a wise financing option? When you are looking at different loan options, the Bajaj Finserv Doctor Loan stands out for several reasons: Streamlined approval and disbursal Time is critical in the medical profession, making prompt access to funds crucial. The Bajaj Finance Doctor Loan provides a streamlined application process that ensures quick approvals and fast disbursals, allowing doctors to focus on their practice without unnecessary delays. Flexible repayment options Bajaj Finance recognises the importance of financial flexibility, offering convenient repayment terms ranging from 12 to 84 months. This allows doctors to choose a repayment plan that fits their financial circumstances, helping them manage cash flow effectively while pursuing their professional objectives. Substantial loan amounts Whether upgrading a clinic, investing in state-of-the-art medical equipment, or expanding a practice, the Bajaj Finance Doctor Loan offers substantial funding. Doctors can access loan amounts of up to Rs80 lakh, enabling them to take significant steps in their career development without financial constraints. Minimal documentation required A key feature of the Bajaj Finance Doctor Loan is its minimal documentation requirement. Unlike traditional loans, which often involve extensive paperwork, Bajaj Finance simplifies the process, making it more convenient for busy medical professionals. This ease of application allows doctors to focus on their patients while securing necessary funds. Borrowers just their basic Unsecured loan with no collateral needed The Bajaj Finance Doctor Loan is unsecured, meaning doctors can obtain financing without pledging collateral. This feature reduces the stress of the loan application process, particularly for those who prefer not to risk their personal or business assets. Application process for Bajaj Finance Doctor Loan The application process for a Bajaj Finance Doctor Loan is designed to be straightforward and efficient. Doctors can apply by: 1. Visiting the official Bajaj Finance website or downloading the mobile app.2. Filling out the application form with basic details, such as income and professional experience.3. Uploading necessary documents, including KYC details and income proof.4. Submitting the application for quick review and approval.5. Receiving the approved loan amount directly into their bank account. This simple process ensures that doctors can secure funding promptly, enabling them to pursue their professional goals without unnecessary delays. Conclusion To make this financial journey even more rewarding, Bajaj Finance is offering a special cashback of up to Rs5,000 on Doctor Loans, available from September to October 2024. This limited-time offer provides additional value, making it the perfect time to secure the funds needed to grow your practice. By following these steps to enhance their doctor loan eligibility, medical professionals can fully benefit from the features offered by Bajaj Finance Doctor Loan. From high loan amounts to flexible repayment options, this loan is designed to meet the unique needs of doctors. Whether expanding a clinic, investing in new medical equipment, or financing further education, now is the time for doctors to explore their options and take control of their financial future. *Terms and conditions apply. Bajaj Finance Ltd. ('BFL', 'Bajaj Finance', or 'the Company'), a subsidiary of Bajaj Finserv Ltd., is a deposit taking Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC-D) registered with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and is classified as an NBFC-Investment and Credit Company (NBFC-ICC). BFL is engaged in the business of lending and acceptance of deposits. It has a diversified lending portfolio across retail, SMEs, and commercial customers with significant presence in both urban and rural India. It accepts public and corporate deposits and offers a variety of financial services products to its customers. BFL, a thirty-five-year-old enterprise, has now become a leading player in the NBFC sector in India and on a consolidated basis, it has a franchise of 80.41 million customers. BFL has the highest domestic credit rating of AAA/Stable for long-term borrowing, A1+ for short-term borrowing, and CRISIL AAA/Stable & [ICRA]AAA(Stable) for its FD program. It has a long-term issuer credit rating of BB+/Positive and a short-term rating of B by S&P Global ratings. (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) According to an exchange filing, the decision was made during the company's Board meeting held on Monday, September 30th, following the government's decision not to allocate funds for capital support to oil marketing companies (OMCs) in the Union Budget for 2024-25. This move marks a reversal from the company's earlier announcement on July 7, 2023, where the Board had approved plans to raise capital through a rights issue, subject to necessary statutory approvals. The proposed allocation of Rs 30,000 crore for capital support to OMCs, anticipated in the Union Budget, did not materialise, with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoP&NG) confirming that no funds had been earmarked for the purpose. In light of the government's non-participation, IOCL's Board decided to withdraw the rights issue during the meeting. The company secretary, Kamal Kumar Gwalani, confirmed the withdrawal in a regulatory filing, stating, "In view of the Govt. of India's (Promoters) non-participation in the Rights Issue, the Board has decided to withdraw the proposed issue of equity shares." IOCL had initially planned to raise the funds to support its capital expenditure and expansion projects. However, the government's decision has impacted these plans, and the company is now reassessing its capital-raising strategy. The board meeting also comes in the context of IOCL's other business moves, including the formation of a joint venture with Sun Mobility Pte. Ltd. for battery-swapping services in India. The company's ambitious investment plan includes a Rs 1,800 crore infusion into this venture by FY2026-27, alongside other international investments. (ANI) NewsVoir Gurgaon (Haryana) [India], September 30: The third weekend of September saw wellness enthusiasts across the globe come together to celebrate World Wellness Weekend 2024, an international event that marks the celebration of fitness, mindfulness, and a healthier lifestyle. The event, held just before the Equinox, inspired millions to reignite their wellness journeys, offering a fresh start akin to New Year's resolutions. With 9,703 wellness venues across 2,867 cities participating worldwide, this year's World Wellness Weekend surpassed all expectations. It offered a myriad of activities that encouraged individuals, families, and friends to reconnect with their well-being, fostering a global movement towards a healthier and more balanced lifestyle. This year, from 20th to 22nd September 2024, Tattva Wellness Spa proudly joined the global initiative by hosting a series of engaging and revitalizing activities at their spa locations across India. From Outdoor Fitness Sessions to Guided Meditation and Sound Bath Healing, participants were treated to an array of experiences aimed at restoring balance and vitality. Attendees were particularly drawn to the spa kiosks offering express massage sessions where therapists performed head, foot, and shoulder massages. Global Wellness Movement Gains Momentum World Wellness Weekend 2024 saw its largest participation to date, with renowned wellness brands such as Four Seasons, Six Senses, Marriott, and Taj, among others, hosted events including special activities to mark the occasion. From immersive yoga retreats and innovative mindfulness workshops to community fitness challenges, these global leaders showcased their dedication to promoting health and well-being. The weekend is anchored around five core pillars: Sleep & Creativity, Nutrition & Immunity, Movement & Vitality, Mindfulness & Serenity, and Sense of Purpose & Solidarity. These pillars highlight the importance of a comprehensive approach to well-being, urging individuals and communities to adopt healthier lifestyle habits. Community-driven events such as wellness workshops, group fitness sessions, mindfulness activities, and charity drives emphasized the power of collective responsibility, inspiring participants to prioritize both their own health and the well-being of those around them. Aligning with these pillars, wellness venues across the globe extended their reach beyond traditional experiences. A wide variety of activities catered to all ages and fitness levels, successfully uniting communities in this global celebration of health and harmony. World Wellness Weekend 2024 set a new standard in the wellness industry, demonstrating the growing global commitment to fostering a culture of well-being and solidarity. Celebrating an Invigorating Weekend of Wellness at Tattva Wellness The weekend saw an impressive turnout across Tattva's multiple locations in Bangalore, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Pune, Delhi, Hyderabad, Goa, to name a few, with participants loving the sessions for their inclusiveness, accessibility, and holistic approach. Whether a seasoned wellness enthusiast or a curious first-timer, everyone found an activity that resonated with their wellness needs. Key highlights of the event include: Courtyard by Marriott Hebbal, BengaluruAn immersive Sound Therapy session offered by an experienced artist, paired with neck, shoulder, and head massages at the spa kiosk, to provide deep relaxation. Hotel City Park Pitampura, DelhiA dynamic day of Yoga followed by an energetic Zumba session, both coordinated by the Tattva team, promoting mindfulness and movement for holistic wellness. Radisson GurgaonA tranquil Sound Bath Healing session, led by expert sound bath therapy artist, created a soothing and deeply meditative experience. The Ananta UdaipurA comprehensive wellness day curated by the spa team, featuring Acupressure, Herbal Tea Tasting, Detox Drinks Ayurvedic insights, and Discount Spa Vouchers. Novotel Imagicaa KhopoliThe spa team led a holistic wellness program including a Five Steps Handwash initiative, Pressure Point Therapy, and Yoga & Stretching exercises for overall well-being. Radisson Resort & Spa LonavalaThe main event showcased Sound Healing, led by an expert artist, combined with Pressure Point Therapy and a Sunset View Trek, blending nature with wellness practices. Radisson Resort Goa BagaThe Tattva team facilitated Pressure Point Therapy, Aqua Zumba, and a serene Morning Beach Walk to promote physical and mental rejuvenation. Radisson Blu Mumbai AirportThe Tattva team hosted a day of Yoga & Meditation, Zumba, and a relaxing Sunbath and Walk, offering a balanced wellness experience. Radisson Mumbai GoregaonYin Yoga and Crystal Healing sessions, guided by a skilled artist, provided participants with deep relaxation and rejuvenation. The Shalimar Hotel, MumbaiA meditative Sound Healing session, led by a sound bath artist, offered a calming and immersive escape. Courtyard by Marriott Pune HinjewadiAn energizing combination of Aqua Zumba led by an expert, Stretching & Gym sessions, and Pressure Point Therapy guided by the Tattva team, revitalized participants. Courtyard by Marriott Goa ColvaYoga & Meditation, along with Stretching exercises, were led by an experienced artist to promote physical and mental vitality. Notably, guests were treated to an array of wholesome and nutritious food options, thoughtfully curated to complement the wellness theme and provide a holistic experience. The vibrant atmosphere was further elevated by the presence of influencers, whose enthusiastic participation and advocacy for well-being encouraged even more people to join the wellness movement, making the experience all the more inspiring and inclusive. For many, the weekend served as a much-needed opportunity to reconnect with their wellness routines post-summer. Attendees left feeling refreshed, grounded, and inspired to prioritize their well-being moving forward. The immersive sessions were designed to be fun, interactive, and impactful, making the World Wellness Weekend experience memorable for all. Continuing the Journey Towards Holistic Well-Being Shipra Sharma, Founder of Tattva Wellness Spa, shared her thoughts on the event, "At Tattva, we believe in making wellness a priority in everyday life, and World Wellness Weekend gave us the perfect platform to engage our community in meaningful self-care practices. Seeing our guests embrace this global movement and prioritize their well-being has been truly inspiring. We are committed to continuing such initiatives to promote wellness on an even larger scale. By organizing more of these transformative experiences, we aim to make wellness a lifestyle choice, empowering individuals to live healthier, more fulfilling lives." Adding to this, one of the talented artists, who led the Sound Bath Healing session, remarked, "Guiding participants through the Sound Bath Healing session was a truly transformative experience, not just for them but for me as well. It was incredible to witness how quickly they were able to relax, rejuvenate, and realign their energies. Sound healing has an amazing ability to balance both the body and mind, and seeing the positive impact it had on participants reinforced the power of this ancient practice. Many of them expressed how the experience helped them reconnect with their inner peace amidst the fast-paced world we live in." As India's premier wellness destination, Tattva Wellness Spa remains committed to helping guests explore and achieve a sense of "Balance" through experiences that fuse ancient Ayurvedic principles with modern wellness techniques. Their participation in World Wellness Weekend reflects their ongoing mission to empower individuals to lead healthier, more balanced lives in today's fast-paced world. With the dedication to easing stress and helping people "Live Better, Live More & Do More," Tattva aims to make wellness a priority in everyday life. Stay tuned for more wellness events and activities at Tattva Wellness Spa as they continue to lead the wellness movement in India! (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) India has initiated an anti-dumping investigation concerning imports of Cold Rolled Non-Oriented Electrical Steel originating in or exported from China, a notification from the central government said. According to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, POSCO Maharashtra Steel Pvt. Ltd. and CSCI Steel Corporation India Pvt. Ltd. filed an application before the designated authority on behalf of the domestic industry. As per the government notification, the applicants have alleged that the said commodity is being imported from China at dumped prices which they claimed are causing "material injury to the domestic industry". The applicants have also alleged that there is a further threat of material injury to the domestic industry due to dumped imports and have requested for imposition of an anti-dumping duty on such imports from China. Simply put, anti-dumping duties are taxes imposed on imported goods to compensate for the difference between their export price and their normal value, if dumping causes injury to producers of competing products in the importing country. The product under investigation is "Cold Rolled Non-Oriented Electrical Steel" (CRNO). It includes cold-rolled flat steel products of silicon-electrical steel, whether or not in coils, regardless of width and thickness. These products are widely used for iron core materials of rotating machines ranging from large-size power generators to small-size precision electric motors, which are used in a variety of applications like home appliances, large generators, and industrial motors, among others. "The applicants have claimed that the subject goods, which have been alleged to be dumped in India, are identical to the goods produced by the domestic industry. There are no known differences in the technical specifications, quality, functions and end use of the two products. The Authority notes that the two are prima facie technically and commercially substitutable. Therefore, for the purpose of the present investigation, the subject goods produced by the applicants in India are being treated as 'like article' to the subject goods being imported from the subject country," read the official notification. The parties who filed the application before the Indian authority are asked to give their comments, if any, within 15 days of date of initiation of this investigation. (ANI) Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has launched the 'Cruise Bharat Mission' from the Mumbai port on Monday. Aimed at boosting tremendous potential of cruise tourism in the country, the programme by the Ministry aims to propel the country's cruise tourism industry by doubling cruise passenger traffic within five years -- by 2029, said Sarbananda Sonowal. Sarbananda Sonowal launched the mission from onboard cruise ship 'Empress'. The initiative aims to excel India's vision to become a global hub for cruise tourism and promote the country as the leading global cruise destination. The Cruise India Mission will be implemented in three phases, beginning from October 1, 2024 up to March 31. 2029. The Phase 1will focus on conducting studies, master planning, and forming cruise alliances with neighbouring countries. It will also modernise existing cruise terminals, marinas, and destinations to enhance the potential of cruise circuits. The Phase 2 will concentrate on developing new cruise terminals, marinas, and destinations to activate high-potential cruise locations and circuits. Phase 3 will focus on integrating all cruise circuits across the Indian Subcontinent, marking the maturity of the cruise ecosystem while continuing the development of cruise terminals, marinas, and destinations. "Key performance targets across the phases include increasing sea cruise passengers from 0.5 million in Phase 1 to 1 million by Phase 3, with corresponding increases in sea cruise calls from 125 to 500. River cruise passengers will grow from 0.5 million in phase 1 to 1.5 million by Phase 3. The number of international cruise terminals will expand from 2 in Phase 1 to 10 by Phase 3, while river cruise terminals will increase from 50 to 100. Similarly, marinas will grow from 1 to 5, and employment generated will rise from 0.1 million to 0.4 million by the final phase" Ports Shipping &Waterways Ministry said Speaking on the occasion, Sarbananda Sonowal said, "The 'Cruise Bharat Mission' is a watershed moment in the revamp of the cruise sector of India. Under the visionary leadership of Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, the government is committed to harness the tremendous potential of Blue Economy of India. Cruise, with its tremendous potential in our country, has remained unexplored for long. With this visionary mission, it is aimed at transforming our maritime landscape and harness the potential of India's vast coastline and waterways through cruise tourism. Based on critical pillars of infrastructure development, amp up cruise experience for tourists and sustainability of resources, the three phased mission will develop world class infrastructure and enable growth of cruise tourism and maritime trade." A remarkable increase of 400 per cent passenger footfall in cruise was seen since 2014. The 'Cruise Bharat Mission' will further build on this as it aims to double volume of cruise calls from 254 in 2024 to 500 by 2030 and 1,100 by 2047. "We are expecting rise in passengers from 4.6 lakh in 2024 to 5 million by 2047. The mission also aims to create 4 lakhs employment in the cruise sector during this period," added Sarbananda Sonowal. The Cruise India Mission targets three key cruise segments. First, the Ocean & Harbour Cruise segment encompasses ocean cruises, including deep-sea and coastal cruises, along with harbour-based yachting and sailing cruises. Second, the River & Inland Cruise segment focuses on river and inland cruises on canals, backwaters, creeks, and lakes. Lastly, the Island Cruise segment highlights inter-island cruises, lighthouse tours, liveaboard experiences, expedition cruises, and boutique cruises to lesser-known destinations. (ANI) Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma emphasized the state's investment-friendly policies and simplified processes to foster a conducive business environment during the Delhi Roadshow of Rising Rajasthan on Monday. Organised by the Bureau of Investment Promotion, Government of Rajasthan, in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the roadshow showcased Rajasthan as a premier investment destination. Highlighting the state's proactive approach, CM Sharma said, "There are ample opportunities for investment in the State and assured support to investors, highlighting that Rajasthan is the first state in the country to have deputed senior bureaucrats to handhold investment and facilitate their on-ground implementation." He further underlined the state's commitment to simplifying processes and adopting an investment-cantered approach to attract businesses. Speaking about the unique potential of Rajasthan's districts, Sharma announced the launch of the 'One District, One Product' initiative, aimed at promoting the distinctive agricultural and cultural strengths of each district. He also revealed plans to establish a new college dedicated to teaching foreign languages, enabling the youth to access global employment and business opportunities. The Chief Minister outlined the state's ambitious infrastructure goals, noting that the government plans to construct 53,000 km of new roads and 2,650 km of greenfield expressways. In terms of energy, Rajasthan aims to expand its production capacity to 33,600 MW by 2031-32, reaffirming its position as a leading state in the green energy sector. CM Sharma also noted that the recent cabinet meeting passed MoUs worth Rs 4.5 lakh crore signed during the previous roadshow in Mumbai. These investments span sectors like cement, auto components, and battery storage, and land has already been allotted for their projects. Highlighting the government's reformative journey, Sharma mentioned the recent approval of the Rajasthan Investment Promotion Scheme 2024, which aims to attract investments in MSMEs and emerging sectors. He invited domestic and international investors to explore opportunities in Rajasthan, encouraging them to submit their investment intent via the Rajnivesh portal. The Rising Rajasthan Global Investment Summit, scheduled from December 9 to 11 in Jaipur, will serve as a platform to showcase investment opportunities in the state and discuss its reform agendas. During the Delhi roadshow, several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) were exchanged between the Government of Rajasthan and various companies, marking significant investments in the state. Col Rajyavardhan Rathore, Minister of Industry & Commerce, Youth Affairs, Skill Development, and Military Welfare, highlighted Rajasthan's vast investment opportunities across diverse sectors, including tourism, IT, agriculture, logistics, infrastructure, renewable energy, and green hydrogen. He emphasised that Rajasthan ranks among the top two states in green energy production and is strategically well-located with excellent connectivity to key business centres nationwide. Sudhansh Pant, Chief Secretary of the Government of Rajasthan, described Rajasthan as a "land of opportunities" and noted that decision-making processes have accelerated significantly. Ajitabh Sharma, Principal Secretary of Industries & Commerce, presented the state's ambitious vision of doubling Rajasthan's economy from the current Rs 15 lakh crore to Rs 30 lakh crore within the next five years, underlining its rapid growth trajectory, which outpaces the national average. CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee added that CII is committed to ensuring global participation in the Rising Rajasthan Summit. He announced plans to establish a CII IGBC Centre in Rajasthan, focusing on green products such as cement and steel. Additionally, CII will bring its Centres of Excellence on sustainability, water, agriculture, and green building to Rajasthan, further supporting the state's push toward sustainable growth and development. (ANI) VMPL New Delhi [India], September 30: Tight The Nut (TTN) is excited to announce a major leap forward with our successful seed funding round, raising a total of Rs 2 crores. The round is led by the Balmer & Lawrie, COEP's Bhau Institute and a consortium of CXOs from leading startups. The deal had a strategic backing from IIM Calcutta Innovation Park and IIM Lucknow's Entrepreneurship and Innovation Cell (EIC). "Balmer & Lawrie's leadership in this investment round underscores their confidence in TTN's vision and potential. The funds will primarily be directed towards expanding the operations and scaling the business, particularly focusing on broadening B2B SaaS and Direct-to-Mechanic commerce models into new cities across India", says the Azam who is co-founder and CEO of Tight The Nut. The collaboration with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park and IIM Lucknow EIC further strengthens our network and brings invaluable mentorship and industry expertise to our growth journey. Their support, combined with Balmer & Lawrie and Bhau Institute's investment, will empower TTN to drive innovation and solidify our presence in the market. "We have this fund in bank now and we are immediately gearing up for next round along with the market expansion", says the Gaurav who is co-founder & CFO of TTN. For more information, visit [Tight The Nut's website](https://www.tightthenut.com). Tight The Nut (TTN) Tight The Nut is at the forefront of revolutionizing the automotive aftermarket industry with innovative B2B SaaS and Direct-to-Mechanic commerce solutions. Our platforms are designed to streamline operations, enhance efficiencies, and provide superior value to mechanics and automotive businesses across India. TTN Garage is a garage management solution catering needs of garage owners across 2W,4W and EV segment. TTN Garage is being used to generate Rs. 500Cr+ business by 15,000+ verified garages present across 32 states and union territories across India. The data of more than 7 lakhs+ unique vehicle owners gives the TTN, an excellent insights of Indian automotive aftermarket. TTN Retail has 2 Dark stores in Pune and soon expanding in Nagpur, Chennai and Tier2 Cities in India. For more details, please visit [Tight The Nut's website](https://www.tightthenut.com). (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by VMPL. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) The investor meet of the upcoming 'Rising Rajasthan' Global Investment Summit 2024 was successfully held here in the national capital, under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma. The investor meet facilitated the signing of MoUs worth over Rs 8 lakh crore with Bureau of Industrial Promotion (BIP), the nodal department for organising the investment summit, for making investments in the state. Rajasthan government said that with today's signing of MoUs in Delhi, the total value of investment MoUs have swelled to over Rs 12.50 lakh crore. The investor meet that saw the congregation of top business leaders and industry groups, witnessed the signing of investment MoUs across a range of sectors such as Renewable Energy, Power Transmissions, Oil and Gas, CNG, Logistics, Cement, Agrotech among others. The companies and industrial groups with whom the MoUs were signed include MoUs signed with Tata Power, Indian Oil, Avaada Group, NHPC, Reliance Bio Energy, Torrent Power, Sterlite Power Transmission, Mahindra Susten Private Ltd, THDC India, Oil India, Jindal Renewable Power, Essar Renewables, Indraprastha Gas, Adani Logistics, JK Cement, BL Agro Industries, Titagarh Rail Systems among others. Besides, the investors and leaders of national and international business and corporate world, innovators, startups and other relevant stakeholders were also invited to make investments in the state and participate in the upcoming 'Rising Rajasthan' Global Investment Summit 2024 which is scheduled to be held in Jaipur on 9th-10th-11th December. "Rajasthan stands at the cusp of a transformative era, embracing a new vision for growth and prosperity. We are not only laying the foundation for a stronger economy, but also building a sustainable future for generations to come. Our commitment to this transformation is reflected in a comprehensive set of initiatives designed to attract investment, boost local production, and empower our people," said the CM. " Our government has set an ambitious goal of doubling Rajasthan's economy from USD 180 billion to USD 350 billion in the next five years, and we will make it happen." "The focus of the state government is to not merely to sign MoUs for investment intentions, but to realise them into the projects on the ground," Chief Minister Sharma said. Speaking about the significance of the investment summit, Sudhansh Pant, Chief Secretary, Government of Rajasthan, said, the summit is a curtain-raiser for the state becoming a 350-billion-dollar economy in the next 5 years. "This is an opportune time to invest in the state with government facilitating a confluence of synergized and simplified policies, ease of regulatory compliance, synergistic partnerships and targeted leveraging of resources, infrastructure and capital," the chief secretary added. The Rajasthan government also made a presentation on the vast opportunities available in Rajasthan and encouraged the investors to explore the strategic advantage the state has due to its proximity to Delhi. (ANI) New Delhi [India], September 30: Martin & Harris Pvt. Ltd, a leader in the pharmaceutical sector has been felicitated with the ASSOCHAM's Excellence in Supply Chain Logistics and Good Distribution Practices Award. Dr Arunish Chawla, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India presented the award while attending the ASSOCHAM Annual Pharma Summit 2024 as the Chief Guest in New Delhi. Dr Chawla highlighted that Pharmaceutical & Medtech sectors are now the fourth largest manufacturing export sectors of India. Sushma Paul Berlia, Chairman, Svran Group said, "This recognition is a testament to the commitment of Martin & Harris Pvt. Ltd to innovation, operational excellence, and maintaining the highest standards in supply chain management. This also highlights MHPL's relentless efforts in setting benchmarks for supply chain reliability and efficiency". MHPL is a part of Svran Group. As an active player in the life sciences sector, it has been serving Indian patients for over 100 years while making significant forays globally. MHPL remains dedicated to enhancing its capabilities in logistics and distribution, further strengthening its position as a trusted partner in the pharmaceutical supply chain ecosystem. The ASSOCHAM Annual Pharma Summit brought together leading industry players and other relevant stakeholders to celebrate the best practices in the pharmaceutical industry. For more information, please contact: Varun Sharma, Corporate Affairs- 9811-96-0330 (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by HT Syndication. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) SMPL New York [US], September 30: Culture OS, an innovator in HR technology, has launched REMO's highly anticipated AI-powered Exit Interview Suite, a feature designed to transform the way organizations gather and analyze employee feedback during the exit process. With this new tool, REMO can delve deeply into the underlying reasons for employee departures, uncovering insights that can help organizations rethink retention strategies, improve workplace culture, and ultimately reduce turnover. The departure of an employee is often a time when critical information can be gleaned about an organization's internal health. However, traditional exit interviews frequently fail to capture the full picture, offering little more than surface-level feedback. REMO's AI-powered Exit Interview Suite seeks to solve this by providing a richer, more nuanced view of why employees leave, using advanced natural language processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence (AI) to go beyond the typical question-and-answer format. By engaging employees in conversational, AI-driven interviews, REMO gathers not just answers, but the emotions and sentiments behind them. "Exit interviews are one of the most valuable tools in HR, but for too long, they've been underutilized," said Mohit Tripathi, Co-founder and COO/CPO of Culture OS. "REMO changes that by making exit interviews more meaningful. It enables companies to understand the real reasons employees are leaving, not just the reasons they think they should mention. And that's a game-changer when it comes to improving retention and creating a positive work culture." This new suite analyzes the conversations it conducts, looking for patterns in employee feedback that point to systemic issues within the company. Whether it's dissatisfaction with management, a lack of growth opportunities, or concerns about work-life balance, REMO's AI-powered system identifies recurring themes and delivers actionable insights to HR teams. The power of REMO lies not only in its ability to identify problems but in its capacity to predict future trends, giving companies the ability to act proactively rather than reactively when it comes to employee attrition. "At Culture OS, we believe that AI is the future of HR," said Nilanjan Maiti, Co-founder and CEO of Culture OS. "REMO's AI-Powered Exit Interview Suite is a perfect example of how AI can bring a new level of depth to employee engagement. By analyzing the emotions behind the feedback, we can help companies get a clearer picture of what's driving their turnover and guide them toward solutions that are data-driven and strategic." The launch of REMO's AI-powered Exit Interview Suite comes at a time when employee retention has become a critical issue for many industries. Companies are increasingly recognizing the high cost of turnover--not just in terms of recruitment and training expenses, but also in the loss of institutional knowledge and the potential negative impact on workplace morale. According to industry research, the average cost of replacing a departing employee is more than 50% of their annual salary, underscoring the importance of reducing turnover wherever possible. One of the standout features of REMO's new suite is its ability to capture real-time, in-depth feedback while maintaining a conversational tone with employees. Rather than relying on standard, structured questionnaires, REMO engages with employees in a way that encourages open and honest dialogue. The AI system is programmed to follow up on cues, diving deeper into areas where employees express dissatisfaction or concern. This allows for a more authentic and comprehensive understanding of the employee's experience at the company. "The conversational aspect of REMO's interviews is crucial to the quality of the insights we gather," noted Mohit Tripathi. "When employees feel like they're having a real conversation rather than just checking boxes on a form, they're more likely to share the truth about why they're leaving. That's the information that can really make a difference for HR teams and leadership." In addition to collecting qualitative feedback, REMO uses its advanced AI and NLP engine to analyze responses without the influence of human biases. The system processes vast amounts of data from exit interviews, spanning departments, locations, and periods, and converts it into real-time, actionable insights. These insights are visually presented through Culture OS's intuitive dashboard, offering a comprehensive view of key organizational trends and employee sentiments. Companies can easily identify patterns, such as recurring issues related to compensation or career growth, or pinpoint specific teams or managers associated with higher turnover rates. This unbiased, data-driven approach empowers organizations to make informed decisions and proactively address challenges in employee retention. For instance, companies can see whether certain teams or managers are consistently linked with higher turnover rates or if specific issues such as compensation or career growth are recurring concerns. This data is not only useful for understanding past exits but also for predicting future trends. REMO's predictive analytics capabilities mean that companies can identify areas of concern before they become widespread issues. By analyzing past feedback and identifying patterns, REMO can help companies predict when and where future attrition might occur, allowing them to take preventive measures. "We want to empower companies with the knowledge they need to not just react to turnover but to prevent it in the first place," said Nilanjan Maiti. "With REMO, we're giving companies the tools to stay ahead of the curve, identifying potential attrition risks before they result in employees walking out the door. It's about being proactive, not just reactive." REMO's AI-powered Exit Interview Suite is already being used in a variety of companies that belong to IT services, healthcare, and fintech spaces. In each sector, the suite has proven to be an invaluable tool for HR teams looking to improve their employee retention strategies. By providing a deeper, more data-driven understanding of why employees leave, REMO is helping companies create environments where employees want to stay, grow, and succeed. Culture OS is an AI-driven HR technology company focused on transforming employee engagement and satisfaction. With its innovative product, REMO, Culture OS empowers organizations to conduct meaningful, real-time conversations with employees, unlocking insights that drive better business decisions and foster stronger workplace cultures. With a global presence, Culture OS is committed to helping companies reduce turnover and create more engaging, supportive environments for their workforce. For more information, please visit: https://remo.cultureos.company/ (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by SMPL. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) SMPL New Delhi [India], September 30: Metropolis Healthcare Limited, one of India's leading diagnostic chains renowned for its commitment to quality and scientific excellence, today announced the launch of its new initiative, the 'Metropolis Institute of Laboratory Education and Skilling (MiLES).' This initiative aims to bridge the gap between academic education and practical skills in healthcare. Through MiLES, Metropolis Healthcare has established a strategic partnership with DY Patil (Deemed-to-be) University in Navi Mumbai to offer Fellowships courses. This collaboration with a prestigious academic institution marks a significant step towards equipping healthcare professionals with cutting-edge knowledge and expertise. In partnership with DY Patil (Deemed-to-be) University, Navi Mumbai, Metropolis is introducing a one-year Fellowship Course in Advanced Clinical Chemistry, Advanced Hematopathology, Advanced Surgical Pathology, Quality Assurance in Laboratory Medicine, and Molecular Pathology & Cytogenomics. Designed for Post-MD and DNB students, these courses integrate theoretical knowledge with practical training, focusing on the latest advancements in diagnostic technologies. Participants will develop advanced skills through laboratory immersion, real-world case studies & ancillary technologies, all under the guidance of Metropolis Healthcare's experienced subject matter experts. The legacy of DY Patil (Deemed-to-be) University as world leaders in the field of education will add immense value to the participants of these courses. The program also includes research and publication opportunities, enabling participants to contribute to the progress of medical diagnostics. "At Metropolis, we recognize the critical need for a highly skilled healthcare workforce to address the evolving challenges of the medical field," said Surendran Chemmenkotil, Chief Executive Officer, Metropolis Healthcare Limited. "The MiLES initiative is a key effort aligned with the government's focus on advancing workforce development and skilling. Our partnership with DY Patil (Deemed-to-be) University represents a significant step in bridging the healthcare skills gap through strong industry-academia collaboration. These courses are designed to equip healthcare professionals with the knowledge and practical experience required to deliver exceptional patient care and meet the dynamic demands of the healthcare system effectively." Dr Kirti Chadha, Chief Scientific and Innovation Officer, Metropolis Healthcare Limited said: "The collaboration with DY Patil (Deemed-to-be) University, through the MiLES initiative marks a new era in medical education and diagnostics. The fellowship courses are set to become benchmarks of excellence, preparing healthcare professionals to train and excel in an ever-evolving medical landscape. This partnership aims to produce a new generation of healthcare professionals who are not only well-versed in the latest diagnostic technologies but also adept at applying this knowledge in clinical settings." Dr Rajiv Rao, Dean, DY Patil University School of Medicine said: "We are proud to offer academic programs that seamlessly integrate newer medical learnings and industry expertise, fostering a dynamic learning environment. Our collaboration with Metropolis Healthcare through the MiLES initiative aligns perfectly with our mission to develop the next generation of healthcare professionals. Together, we aim to set new standards in healthcare education, equipping graduates to confidently meet the future demands of diagnostics and patient care." For more information on these courses, please visit: DY Patil (Deemed-to-be) University website at dypatil.edu/programs/medical-fellowship-programs. Metropolis Healthcare Limited: Established in 1981, Metropolis Healthcare Limited is a leading diagnostics company in India, with a widespread presence in 22 states, 3 Union Territories, and over 650 towns. Metropolis touches millions of lives each year by providing actionable health insights to patients and doctors. Metropolis offers a comprehensive range of more than 4,000 plus tests and profiles, including advanced tests for the diagnosis of cancer, neurological disorders, infectious diseases, and various genetic abnormalities. The company is empowered with a robust network of 204 labs, 4,216 service network, and over 10,000 touchpoints. Metropolis' commitment to quality and accuracy in each test is reinforced by its consistent CAP proficiency score of more than 98% over the past decade, placing it among the top 1% of laboratories worldwide for quality assurance. The Metropolis philosophy rests on the pillars of technological superiority, a warm, patient-centric approach, and reliable diagnostic reports. For more information, please visit www.metropolisindia.com or click on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn D.Y. Patil (Deemed-to-be) University: The DY Patil (Deemed-to-be) University in Navi Mumbai is one of the most recognized deemed universities in this country with best possible NAAC grade of "A++". Established in 1983, DY Patil Group in Navi Mumbai is renowned for its state-of-the-art infrastructure and a strong focus on academic excellence. Over its 40-year legacy, the university has cultivated a holistic learning environment for students and a research-driven culture for faculty, contributing to its reputation as a leading institution. With more than 55,000 global alumni in leadership roles across diverse industries, the university's impact is far-reaching. DY Patil (Deemed-to-be) University offers over 90 programs across disciplines such as Medicine, Dentistry, Allied Health Sciences, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Nursing, Engineering, Business Management, Law, Sports, Biotechnology, and Hospitality & Tourism Studies. These programs integrate the latest technological advancements and academic resources from top global institutions, creating a dynamic curriculum that fosters comprehensive student development. The university is also recognized for its specialized fellowship programs that further enhance academic and professional growth. Today, DY Patil (Deemed-to-be) University is regarded as a leader in education, healthcare, and sports, continually setting new benchmarks for excellence. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by SMPL. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) ATK New Delhi [India], September 30: As the world focuses on making strides in the digital world, Wildnet Technologies has become a game changer! Now on Times Now, Wildnet Technologies is in the news for its strong 360-degree online marketing techniques that foster client business development and resulted in a 400% enhancement of lead generation activities. Arching the Concept of a 360 Degree Solution Applying all efforts to developing and implementing business strategies for digital transformation, Wildnet Technologies' digital marketing services include SEO (search engine optimization), PPC (pay-per-click), SMM (social media marketing), content development, email marketing, web design and development, and more. While there are efforts to improve corporate reputation and overall eyeball time, the concept is to expand a brand's vision through more consumer touch points effectively using the over-the-top (OTT) approach. This wide and hand-to-mouth policy ensures companies attract the audience and enables them to grow in this competitive market over time. Success is attributed to marketing but also to upholding the principles and scrutinizing reports that guide operational strategies. Wildnet's marketing teams make use of extensive research on the market situation, including the customer segment and the competition, in creating campaigns that will appeal to niche segments. Everything is designed for the maximum degree of engagement, conversion, and ultimately leads. Our unique digital marketing model, which integrates creative storytelling with data-driven marketing, helps brands stay at the forefront of innovation. Wildnet maintains that there are no limitations when it comes to helping their clients employ the newest technologies like AI, machine learning, blockchain, and more. Establishing Relationships with Leading Companies in Their Industries Having established a track record of project efficiency, Wildnet Technologies has acquired priority partners from top-notch branding companies in different fields. These partnerships are now an up-step in the growth path of Wildnet that enables targeting overseas markets with their products and expansion of the business' offerings. Businesses across the eCommerce, education, health, IT services, finance sectors, and more are turning to Wildnet's digital marketing services for their ongoing digital transformation. Delivering 360-degree digital marketing means Wildnet focuses on an entire range of businesses offering custom approaches to help them market. Be it for retail eCommerce sales or a healthcare service where the purpose is to increase web presence, the combination of specialists, industry experience, and upliftment of digital presence with the latest technology by Wildnet, the results have been quite fruitful! From Ramp Strategy to Generating Leads by 400% Increase Notable of all the achievements in the arsenal of Wildnet, one cannot help but include the achievement of boosted lead generation. With their creative methods and constant improvement, Wildnet has managed to deliver a 400% growth in the number of qualified leads for their clients and turn potential customers into diehard patrons. It was only possible because of Wildnet's constant efforts to innovate the limits in digital marketing! The objectives are determined by how customers want to grow their business from mere sales to brand visibility or even customer loyalty. Easing the processes of SEO, PPC, content marketing, and even Social Media marketing to ensure that Wildnet's campaigns go beyond driving traffic to produce results. By leveraging cutting-edge targeting and retargeting strategies, Wildnet's clientele achieved a reduction in their customer acquisition costs without any degradation in lead quality. Higher-level targeting strategies applied across all behavioral, demographic, and target interests enabled reaching the right people at the right time for more conversions and increased sales. The Role of Technology in the Core Business Operations The distinguishing factor for Wildnet Technologies is that it is technologically advanced even in the Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence aimed at improving marketing. Through AI-enhanced tools, Wildnet can monitor customers, manage advertising budgets and ad efficiency, as well as target within the campaigns themselves, leading to better marketing returns. Further, incorporating blockchain technology into digital marketing helps to create visibility, safety, and assurance within transactions done through the internet, features, for example, that are key features in the Fintech and e-commerce industries. Aiming for a Pop with Their Core Offerings: What Wildnet Technologies Is Going to Cater in the Future? With the growth of Wildnet, the company maintains a focus on the provision of creative and effective digital marketing solutions that enable companies to succeed in modern business. Because of their newly formed global alliances, the company will undertake expansion of the business and extend the 360-degree marketing service to some regional and niche markets, as well. Moreover, in terms of additional offerings, Wildnet is extremely likely to extend itself by complementing even more sophisticated technologies including AR, VR, and customer personalization via AI. Such advanced elements shall allow clients to skimp behind the simple 'display' of the brand and engage the customers much deeper, economically stimulating the generation of leads as well as revenue. New Developments are coming to Wildnet Technologies considering how this organization continually redefines the parameters of digital marketing so that the clients can achieve more than what they had envisaged. There is little surprise in all the anticipation since every partner of Wildnet should be guaranteed nothing less than radical changes, which have been to continuously hunt for great leads, engage customers, and manage them to generate 400% lead growth! (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by ATK. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) NewsVoir Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 30: Malabar Group, a leading diversified Indian business conglomerate - the parent company of Malabar Gold & Diamonds, announced its National Scholarship Programme for 2024 at an event at Bharat Diamond Bourse, BKC, Mumbai. This announcement marks a significant milestone in the Group's flagship CSR initiative, the Malabar National Scholarship Programme, which underscores its commitment to supporting girls' education. The event was inaugurated by Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry. The Group's top leadership, including MP Ahammed, (Chairman - Malabar Group), Asher O (MD - India operations - Malabar Group, Abdul Salam K P (Vice-Chairman - Malabar Group), Nishad AK (Executive Director, Malabar Group) and Shaunak Parikh (Director, Mahendra Brothers) were also present at the event. This year, the scholarship programme has allocated Rs. 16 crore to support the education of over 21,000 girl students across India. Speaking about the initiative, MP Ahammed, Chairman, Malabar Group, said, "Education is the most powerful tool to change the world. Our scholarship programme is a direct reflection of Malabar Group's deep-rooted belief that education unlocks opportunities and transforms lives. We are committed to removing barriers for young girls so they can fulfil their educational aspirations and contribute meaningfully to society." Since its inception, Malabar Group has demonstrated a strong commitment to inclusive growth through its social welfare activities. In 1999, the Malabar Charitable Trust (MCT) was created to structure and expand these efforts. The group allocates 5% of its profits to CSR initiatives, which span education, healthcare, environmental sustainability, and poverty alleviation, with a particular focus on empowering marginalized communities. The Malabar National Scholarship Programme, launched in 2007, stands as a flagship initiative under its CSR framework. To date, over Rs. 60 crore has been invested in the programme, providing financial aid to more than 95,000 girl students across India. By focusing on girls' education, Malabar Group aims to uplift not just individuals but entire communities, ensuring future generations are equipped with the tools for social and economic progress. In addition to the scholarship program, the Malabar Group's Hunger-Free World Project provides nutritious meals to the underprivileged across the country. Supported by a strong network of volunteers and partnerships with local NGOs, the initiative is committed to eradicating hunger and ensuring food security for all. Currently, 50,000 food packets are distributed daily in 80 cities across 16 states in India. Additionally, 10,000 food packets are provided every day to school students in Zambia. Malabar Group aims to scale the project to serve 100,000 people daily at 200 centers. The Hunger-Free World Project is being implemented in collaboration with the Thanal, a voluntary organization, which is active in social service. The Malabar Group has also launched the Grandma Home project, which provides free, fully equipped accommodation for destitute women, offering them protection and care. Currently, homes are operational in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, with plans to expand to major cities in Kerala, as well as Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi, and Mumbai. The Group's CSR initiatives aimed at uplifting marginalized communities include medical aid for the underprivileged, support for housing construction, and financial assistance for the marriages of women in need. To date, the Malabar Group has invested over Rs. 263 crore in various social responsibility projects, reflecting its commitment to sustainable development. Malabar Group's continued focus on impactful initiatives such as education and hunger relief exemplifies the company's belief that sustainable growth is only possible when communities are empowered and supported in every way possible. This dedication will remain at the heart of all future endeavours as the Group continues to expand both its business and social responsibilities. Malabar Charitable Trust (MCT) founded in the year 1999 is the CSR wing of Malabar Group of Companies. The group allocates up to 5% of its profits towards CSR and philanthropic initiatives. MCT activities have been channelised through the Malabar Gold & Diamonds (MGD) Showrooms, the flagship company of Malabar Group, across the country and also with the operational support from grassroots organisations working in local communities. (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) Reserve Bank of India has found irregular practices in the grant of loans against pledges of gold ornaments and jewelry by some entities. It has thus advised all "supervised entities" to comprehensively review their policies, processes, and practices on gold loans to identify gaps. They have been asked to initiate appropriate remedial measures in a timebound manner. RBI recently reviewed loans pledged against gold ornaments and jewelry. The review, as well as the findings of the onsite examination of select supervised entities, indicate several irregular practices. The major deficiencies include shortcomings in the use of third parties for sourcing and appraisal of loans; valuation of gold without the presence of the customer; inadequate due diligence and lack of end-use monitoring of gold loans; lack of transparency during an auction of gold ornaments and jewelry on default by the customer; weaknesses in the monitoring of loan to value (LTV); and incorrect application of risk-weights. Against that backdrop, RBI said that the gold loan portfolio should be closely monitored, especially in light of significant growth in the portfolio in certain entities. "It should also be ensured that adequate controls are in place over outsourced activities and third-party service providers," RBI said. Action taken should be informed to the Senior Supervisory Manager (SSM) of the Reserve Bank within three months. Any noncompliance with regulatory guidelines will be viewed seriously and will attract, among other things, supervisory action. (ANI) PNN Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 30: Manaksia Coated Metals & Industries Limited (NSE: MANAKCOAT, BSE: 539046), Ahmedabad/ Mumbai, September 30, 2024: In a significant breakthrough for its global ambitions, Manaksia Coated Metals & Industries Limited (MCMIL | NSE: MANAKCOAT | BSE: 539046) has secured a milestone contract worth USD 24 million (approx. Rs200 crore) with a leading European client. The agreement includes the supply of 20,000 metric tonnes of premium pre-painted steel coils, Alu Zinc-coated steel coils, and galvanized steel products over the next 12 months. The agreement has the potential to transform into a recurring order, providing a steady pipeline of revenue for MCMIL over the coming years. This will also allow the company to fully utilise the additional capacity expected from its Continuous Galvanizing Line (CGL) upgrades, scheduled to be completed in Q4-FY2025, further enhancing MCMIL's production capabilities and global competitiveness. Key Strategic Insights: * Advancing European Market Leadership: MCMIL is cementing its foothold in Europe's highly competitive market, reinforcing its position as a preferred supplier to top-tier clients. * Amplifying Export Growth: MCMIL is already an established exporter of coated steel products. The deal is set to boost MCMIL's export revenue substantially, accelerating the company's strategic shift towards international markets and diversifying revenue streams. * Elevating Global Competitive Edge: The company's ongoing investment in cutting-edge production technology and capacity expansion sets MCMIL apart in a dynamic global steel industry, especially with the upcoming Continuous Galvanizing Line (CGL) upgrades to Alu Zinc Coated Steel manufacturing. * Unlocking Long-term Opportunities: This contract lays the foundation for recurring business with high-value European clients, setting the stage for MCMIL to become a key player in the region's steel supply chain. * Capitalising on Industry Demand: MCMIL is well-positioned to meet the rising demand for high-quality coated steel products in Europe, driven by industry shifts toward durable, corrosion-resistant materials. Commenting on this achievement Karan Agrawal Whole Time Director, Manaksia Coated Metals & Industries Limited said, " This contract marks a pivotal moment in MCMIL's journey toward expanding its global footprint, particularly in the competitive European market and we are honoured to have earned theconfidence of a leading European client. As we reinforce our position as a trusted supplier in the competitive European market, the deal highlights our commitment to delivering world-class quality and reliability and comes at a time when we are focused on global expansion. We look forward to leveraging this opportunity to drive further growth through innovation and operationalexcellence. We are confident that the increasing export orders, combined with a shift toward higher-margin products like Alu-Zinc and Pre-painted Alu-Zinc steel, will drive EBITDA margin growth and enhance RoE/RoCE performance. As MCMIL pushes forward with its global expansion strategy, this contract sets the tone for continued growth across key international markets. The company has steadily built a reputation for product quality, timely delivery, and client satisfaction, all of which are critical factors in its sustained success." (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) Veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty, who has essayed iconic roles like the one in 'Disco Dancer' and who has been been named as the recipient of the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award says that he "never imagined that a boy from the footpath could receive such a big honuor." The three-time National Award winning actor, who has inspired generations with his journey from humble beginnings to becoming one of Bollywood's most celebrated stars, dedicated the award to those who have supported him along the way. "I can only say that I dedicate this award to my family and all my fans around the world. Where I come from, from a blind alley in Kolkata, I never imagined that a boy from the footpath could receive such a big honor," the actor-turned politican said in an exclusive interview. "I'm literally dumbfounded, trust me. I can't smile, I can't cry with happiness because a man from literally nowhere, a nobody, made it. This also proves what I always tell my fans and those who aren't financially strong: if I can make it, then you can do it too," he told ANI. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is highest government honour accorded for contributions in the field of cinema. The announcement was made by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on his X account earlier in today. "Mithun Da's remarkable cinematic journey inspires generations! Honoured to announce that the Dadasaheb Phalke Selection Jury has decided to award legendary actor, Sh. Mithun Chakraborty Ji for his iconic contribution to Indian Cinema." https://x.com/AshwiniVaishnaw/status/1840609074041225415 The award will be presented to Chakraborty at the 70th National Film Awards ceremony on October 8, 2024, Vaishnaw said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the "cultural icon" on the honour. "Delighted that Shri Mithun Chakraborty Ji has been conferred the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award, recognizing his unparalleled contributions to Indian cinema. He is a cultural icon, admired across generations for his versatile performances. Congratulations and best wishes to him." Fondly referred to as 'Mithun Da' by his fans, he made his film debut in 1976 with 'Mrigayaa', captivating audiences with his versatile acting skills ever since. Mithun's initial portrayal of a Santhal rebel earned him the National Film Award for Best Actor in his debut film. He later received two additional National Film Awards for his performances in 'Tahader Katha' (1992) and 'Swami Vivekananda' (1998). Beyond his acting prowess, Mithun also made a significant mark in the music industry with his electrifying dance numbers, including hits like 'I Am a Disco Dancer,' 'Jimmy Jimmy,' and 'Super Dancer.' These tracks have become iconic and remain beloved by fans across generations. Most recently, Mithun Chakraborty appeared in Vivek Agnihotri's critically acclaimed film 'The Kashmir Files'. (ANI) In a post on X, PM Modi said that he was delighted by the honour given to Chakraborty and commended him as a "cultural icon." "Delighted that Mithun Chakraborty Ji has been conferred the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award, recognising his unparalleled contributions to Indian cinema. He is a cultural icon, admired across generations for his versatile performances. Congratulations and best wishes to him," PM Modi said in the post. https://x.com/narendramodi/status/1840626371409711567 Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw announced the award for Chakraborty as an honour to his remarkable contribution to Indian cinema. Chakraborty will be felicitated with the award during the 70th National Film Awards ceremony on October 8, 2024. "Mithun Da's remarkable cinematic journey inspires generations! Honoured to announce that the Dadasaheb Phalke Selection Jury has decided to award legendary actor Mithun Chakraborty Ji for his iconic contribution to Indian cinema," Minister Vaishnaw said in a post on X. Mithun Chakraborty, affectionately known as 'Mithun Da' by his fans, began his illustrious career in 1976 with the film 'Mrigayaa', captivating audiences from the very start. His portrayal of a Santhal rebel in his debut earned him the National Film Award for Best Actor. Over the years, he has garnered two additional National Film Awards for his outstanding performances in 'Tahader Katha' (1992) and 'Swami Vivekananda' (1998). In addition to his acting achievements, Chakraborty has made a significant impact in the music industry with his unforgettable dance numbers. Iconic hits like 'I Am a Disco Dancer,' 'Jimmy Jimmy,' and 'Super Dancer' have cemented his status as a beloved figure across generations. Most recently, he appeared in the critically acclaimed film 'The Kashmir Files'. (ANI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah extended his heartfelt congratulations to actor Mithun Chakraborty on Monday for being conferred with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award. In a post on X, Shah lauded Chakraborty's "illustrious career," adding that he also "set standards of excellence in acting." "Congratulations to Shri Mithun Chakraborty Ji on being conferred with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his monumental contribution to Indian cinema. Mithun Ji's illustrious career spanning several decades has not only enriched our films but has also set standards of excellence in acting. All my best wishes to him," Shah said in the post. https://x.com/AmitShah/status/1840640849870561478 Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his joy over Chakraborty being honoured with the award. In a post on X, PM Modi said that he was delighted by the honour given to Chakraborty and commended him as a "cultural icon." "Delighted that Mithun Chakraborty Ji has been conferred the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award, recognising his unparalleled contributions to Indian cinema. He is a cultural icon, admired across generations for his versatile performances. Congratulations and best wishes to him," PM Modi said. Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw announced the award for Chakraborty as an honour to his remarkable contribution to Indian cinema. Chakraborty will be felicitated with the award during the 70th National Film Awards ceremony on October 8, 2024. "Mithun Da's remarkable cinematic journey inspires generations! Honoured to announce that the Dadasaheb Phalke Selection Jury has decided to award legendary actor, Sh. Mithun Chakraborty Ji for his iconic contribution to Indian cinema," Minister Vaishnaw said in a post on X. Mithun Chakraborty, affectionately known as 'Mithun Da' by his fans, has solidified his status as a celebrated figure in Indian cinema. His career began in 1976 with the film 'Mrigayaa', where his portrayal of a Santhal rebel earned him the National Film Award for Best Actor. He subsequently won two more National Film Awards for his performances in 'Tahader Katha' (1992) and 'Swami Vivekananda' (1998). Recently, he was honoured with the Padma Bhushan, adding to his accolades. Beyond his impressive acting career, Mithun has made a significant impact in the music industry with iconic dance numbers like "I Am a Disco Dancer," "Jimmy Jimmy," and "Super Dancer," which continue to resonate with fans across generations. Most recently, he starred in Vivek Agnihotri's critically acclaimed film 'The Kashmir Files'. (ANI) Iraqi Archbishop Says Rift With Chaldean Patriarch is a 'Misunderstanding' Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil, Iraq, is seen during his visit to the U.S. offices of Aid to the Church in Need in Brooklyn, N.Y., July 18, 2022. ( CNS/Gregory A. Shemitz) Iraqi Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil said tensions between himself and Cardinal Louis Sako, the Baghdad-based Chaldean Catholic patriarch, were the result of a misunderstanding and denied accusations he was working against the patriarch. In a message sent to OSV News Sept. 24, the Iraqi archbishop said he rejected "all accusations in full," referring to allegations made by the Chaldean patriarchate on Aug. 28 that Archbishop Warda was "deceived by promises" made by political figures who were behind an attempt to have the government deny recognition of Cardinal Sako's authority as head of the Chaldean Catholic Church in 2023. Assuring that "we are proud of His Beatitude as the head of the Chaldean Church," Archbishop Warda told OSV News in a written message: "I categorically reject accusations of corruption ... and I will continue to deal with this issue through the relevant church channels," he added. In July 2023, Cardinal Sako left Baghdad after Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid revoked a decree that formally recognized the cardinal as Chaldean patriarch in the country and his authority to administer the Chaldean religious endowment. In a statement made to OSV News at the time, Archbishop Warda downplayed the significance of the decree's revocation, saying that "withdrawing the republican decree does not prejudice the religious or legal status of Cardinal Louis Sako, as he is appointed by the Apostolic See." However, the move was viewed by both Cardinal Sako and local Iraqi media as an attempt to usurp the patriarch's position as head of the Chaldean Church that was allegedly instigated by Rayan al-Kildani, head of the Babylon Brigades, a Chaldean Catholic militia that shares close ties with Iran. Many believed that al-Kildani, who was sanctioned for alleged human rights abuses by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2019, pushed for the revocation in an attempt to gain control of the Chaldean Church's assets. While in exile in Erbil for almost a year, Cardinal Sako received support from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's leading Shia religious figure, and the Association of Muslim Scholars of Iraq, the highest Sunni authority in the country. Both disapproved of the cardinal's treatment. Patriarch Louis Sako (L) and Archbishop Bashar Warda. ( AINA) Countries, including the United States, France and Germany, also expressed their disapproval of the president's move. However, in June, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al-Sudani confirmed Cardinal Sako's standing as patriarch of the Chaldeans in Iraq and the world. The cardinal promptly returned to Baghdad and the following month, he presided over the July 15-19 Synod of the Chaldean Church. The absence of five bishops -- Archbishop Warda, Bishop Paul Thabet of Alquoch, Bishop Azad Sabri Shaba of Dohuk, Chaldean Archbishop Amel Shamon Nona of Sydney, and Bishop Saad Sirop Hanna, the apostolic visitor for Chaldean Catholics in Europe, who is based in in the northern Swedish city of Sodertalje -- was noted by the patriarchate. Bishop Hanna did not respond to a request for comment by OSV News. In a statement on the Chaldean Patriarchate website titled, "The Truth About What is Happening in the Chaldean Church," published Aug. 24, Cardinal Sako said he knew "for sure that some people had a hand in withdrawing the presidential decree" to "push me to resign in order to seek succession." "Their attempts did not stop there, as they withdrew their students from the seminary," he said of the bishops, adding that "I assure them that they are delusional and their bet is losing, because the church belongs to Christ and he sends out workers to the harvest." However, just four days later, the patriarchate issued another statement warning that the "boycott of the Chaldean Synod by five bishops sets a dangerous precedent" that goes against their episcopal vows "to join hands with His Beatitude Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako in order for the church to continue its noble mission." The 2023 revocation of the decree, the patriarchate said, "suggested to some that it was the end and made their mouths water," directly accusing Archbishop Warda of gathering support from the clergy for the cardinal's removal. "It is unfortunate that the Archbishop of Erbil was deceived by the promises of that party, and accepted to become its godfather," the patriarchate wrote. "He did not only denounce the withdrawal of the decree, but he supported it and proposed an alternative: 'the argument of succession.'" The patriarchate also accused Archbishop Warda of supporting the "political party," meaning the Babylon Brigades, "despite his knowledge of its encroachment on the church, the rights of Christians, and the acquisition of their property." The statement also said that when Cardinal Sako asked Archbishop Warda to publicly denounce the decree's revocation, "he refused." "While many Muslim clerics denounced this action, how much more so our church's bishops" were expected to denounce, the patriarchate said. The Chaldean Patriarchate said the actions of Archbishop Warda and the four bishops who did not attend the synod forced "His Beatitude to settle the issue in one of two ways: by means of a public apology or by canon law," giving them until Sept. 5 to apologize. If not, the statement said, "a report will be submitted to His Holiness Pope Francis for appropriate action to be taken for each of the five bishops." The statement went on to cite what violations the bishops would be accused of, including canon 1447 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, which states that "one who incites sedition and hatred toward any hierarch whatsoever or provokes his subjects to disobedience, is to be punished with an appropriate penalty, not excluding a major excommunication, especially if the offense was committed against a patriarch or indeed against the Roman Pontiff." In a Sept. 7 reflection titled, "Come back to yourself," Cardinal Sako wrote that it was "very painful when some people turn lies into a weapon for moral assassination! Let us stay away from harming people because God will hold us accountable, especially when we are believers and pray." He concluded his reflection with a note. "This spiritual and educational thought has nothing to do with the boycotting bishops, as the case has made its way to the highest ecclesiastical court," the cardinal wrote. "Are you kidding? I was just like 19 and straddling Justin Timberlake and like whipping him in the face with my hair," said Johnson, while sharing about her preconceived notions that she had regarding him. "Hundred per cent had preconceived notions, but he was lovely and kind and really welcoming for a person that was just a stranger," she added. "I think that because this was 'The Social Network' and David Fincher we did this so many times that I'm like, I'm in it. I know it, I know all the lines. It's still there," she shared. The actress played a Stanford University student. She recalled shooting for romantic scenes in the movie, saying, "We did it so many times that I feel like I remember this and it's happening now," said Johnson, adding, "Maybe I was traumatized." The film is a 2010 American biographical drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, based on the 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich. It depicted a dramatic version of Mark Zuckerberg's founding of Facebook and the legal battles around the giant social media network, reported People. It stars Jesse Eisenberg as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, with Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin, Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker, Armie Hammer as Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and Max Minghella as Divya Narendra. (ANI) Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha congratulated veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty on being conferred with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Taking to X on Monday, Manik Saha praising actor Mithun wrote, "Proud to hear that Legendary actor Shri Mithun Chakraborty Ji is going to be awarded Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his iconic contribution to Indian Cinema! His remarkable journey inspires generations. Congratulations Mithun Da." https://x.com/DrManikSaha2/status/1840652160721178919? Earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah shared a congratulatory message for Chakrabory and said that he "set standards of excellence in acting." "Congratulations to Mithun Chakraborty Ji on being conferred with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his monumental contribution to Indian cinema," he posted. Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined the chorus of accolades, expressing his delight over the recognition, saying "Delighted that Shri Mithun Chakraborty Ji has been conferred the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award, recognising his unparalleled contributions to Indian cinema," PM Modi said in a post on X, noting Chakraborty's status as a cultural icon. Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw announced the award for Chakraborty as an honour to his remarkable contribution to Indian cinema. Chakraborty will be felicitated with the award during the 70th National Film Awards ceremony on October 8, 2024. In a post on X, Minister Vaishnaw highlighted Chakraborty's remarkable cinematic journey as an inspiration to future generations. The three-time National Award winning actor, who has inspired generations with his journey from humble beginnings to becoming one of Bollywood's most celebrated stars, dedicated the award to those who have supported him along the way. Speaking to ANI, the actor-turned politician said, "I can only say that I dedicate this award to my family and all my fans around the world. Where I come from, from a blind alley in Kolkata, I never imagined that a boy from the footpath could receive such a big honor." "I'm literally dumbfounded, trust me. I can't smile, I can't cry with happiness because a man from literally nowhere, a nobody, made it. This also proves what I always tell my fans and those who aren't financially strong: if I can make it, then you can do it too," he added. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is the highest government honour accorded for contributions in the field of cinema. Mithun Chakraborty, who recently received the Padma Bhushan, is celebrated for his versatile performances since his debut in 1976's 'Mrigayaa' that earned him the National Film Award for Best Actor. He has won two more National Film Awards for his performances in 'Tahader Katha' (1992) and 'Swami Vivekananda' (1998). Recently, he was honoured with the Padma Bhushan, adding to his accolades. His iconic roles and electrifying dance numbers, such as "I Am a Disco Dancer," have made him a beloved figure in Indian cinema. (ANI) Actor Bhumi Pednekar has completed filming for her highly anticipated web series 'Daldal'. Bhumi on Sunday took to Instagram story to share her thoughts on the year-long journey, describing the role as one of her most challenging to date. She wrote, "Hands down one of my most complex characters. Am nervous! Had the opportunity to work with such sublime actors and creators on the show. We braved the mumbai monsoons, shot in the toughest conditions and yet our spirits could never be dampened. Kudos to us all." Praising her team, Bhumi added, "Thank you Vikramix for constantly bringing me parts that challenge me & for constantly believing in me. Our third one together @abundantiaent @sureshtriveni. I just love you. This was that rare connect where I was like let's free fall. You are a genius ST. And my dearest Amritrajguptaajust so kind and sorted as a maker. Thank you for handholding me through Rita. Bahut amazing kaam karenge saath. And the entire team @primevideoin @madhoknikhil you've championed this through and through. The enthusiasm that the team has shown kept us going @eeshadanait #Alankrita." The next post shows the cake with 'Daldal' written on it. Bhumi will be seen essaying the role of a cop. Sharing what the audience can expect from the series, Bhumi said, "Daldal is a project that encapsulates all these qualities of being a woman. Rita is a super achiever, a glass-ceiling breaker, a rewriter of rules in a man's world. She is ambitious, ferociously passionate about her job and leads from the front. These are the kinds of women I idolise and I'm thrilled to headline a series like this on a global streaming platform that will help me show the strength and resilience of Indian women to the world." "Daldal is one of my most special projects for many, many reasons. I have started shooting for the project and I can already tell you that it will be one of my most challenging roles ever," she added. Amrit Raj Gupta is the director of the series. She also has 'The Royals' in her kitty. (ANI) Bharatiya Janata Party leader and actor Jaya Prada on Monday congratulated veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty on being conferred with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award. "It is a very delightful moment for us as Mithun Chakraborty is a superstar. He has worked in many languages. It is a matter of happiness for me and the whole industry as he is being honoured with such a prestigious award...," she told the media. Earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah also shared a congratulatory message for Chakraborty and said that he "set standards of excellence in acting." "Congratulations to Mithun Chakraborty Ji on being conferred with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his monumental contribution to Indian cinema," he posted. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his delight over the recognition, saying, "Delighted that Shri Mithun Chakraborty Ji has been conferred the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award, recognizing his unparalleled contributions to Indian cinema. He is a cultural icon, admired across generations for his versatile performances. Congratulations and best wishes to him," PM Modi said in the post. https://x.com/narendramodi/status/1840626371409711567 Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw announced the award for Chakraborty as an honour for his remarkable contribution to Indian cinema. Chakraborty will be felicitated with the award during the 70th National Film Awards ceremony on October 8, 2024. In a post on X, Minister Vaishnaw highlighted Chakraborty's remarkable cinematic journey as an inspiration to future generations. Mithun Chakraborty, who recently received the Padma Bhushan, is celebrated for his versatile performances since his debut in 1976's 'Mrigayaa' that earned him the National Film Award for Best Actor. He has won two more National Film Awards for his performances in 'Tahader Katha' (1992) and 'Swami Vivekananda' (1998). Recently, he was honoured with the Padma Bhushan, adding to his accolades. His iconic roles and electrifying dance numbers, such as "I Am a Disco Dancer," have made him a beloved figure in Indian cinema. (ANI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday attacked the Congress, saying that its governments in various states do not pay the minimum support price to farmers as the BJP government in Haryana does. "Rahul Gandhi talks about MSP all the time, but he doesn't even know what MSP is. He doesn't know about the crops grown in the Rabi and Kharif periods. Congress has governments in so many states, but not even one state gives MSP on 24 crops. Nayab Singh Saini is the only Chief Minister who pays MSP on 24 crops," Shah said while addressing a public rally in Kunjpura here on Sunday. Shah, while addressing another rally in Mahendragarh, took a jab at Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of being a "factory of lies" regarding the Agnipath scheme. Shah said, "Rahul Baba is saying that the youth of Haryana will become unemployed due to Agniveer. Bharosa mat karna, ye jhut bolne ki factory hai (Don't trust him; he's a factory of lies). He doesn't even understand the Agniveer scheme. Agniveer is a programme to keep our army young." Notably, Rahul Gandhi had during the 2024 Lok Sabha election opposed the Agniveer scheme and said that Congress would scrap the Agnipath scheme in case the INDIA bloc is voted to power. The Congress leader had also demanded compensation for 1.5 lakh youths who completed the Army recruitment process. In response, Shah assured that Agniveers would be provided with pensionable jobs by both the Haryana and Central governments. "I promise you today that any Agniveer who invests Rs 25-30 lakh in FD (fixed deposit) and returns will be given a pensionable job by the Haryana and Central governments," Shah stated. Targeting Congress over its stance on the One Rank, One Pension scheme, Shah questioned, "Who are you inciting? Your government was in power for 40 years, but you did not implement One Rank, One Pension." Shah also accused Congress of running a corrupt regime in Haryana, claiming that during its rule, the state was dominated by "dealers, brokers, and sons-in-law." "This Congress government is one of Dalal (brokers), dealers and damaad (sons-in-law). The Congress party has worked to give the farmers' land in Haryana at throwaway prices to their sons-in-law, and today they talk about farmers," he said. Shah further criticized the previous Congress government in Haryana, saying, "On one hand, 10 years of Congress rule meant 10 years of family and son-in-law welfare, loot, and the humiliation of Dalits and backward classes. On the other hand, 10 years of BJP rule have been 10 years of youth development, good governance, and progress for 36 communities." Haryana will go to the polls on October 5 to elect its 90-member state legislative assembly, with counting set to take place on October 8. In the 2019 elections, the BJP emerged as the single-largest party, securing 40 seats, while Congress won 30 seats. (ANI) Two people allegedly doing recce at Goshamahal BJP MLA T Raja Singh's residence at Mangalhat in Hyderabad have been caught by the locals and handed over to the local police. According to Raja Singh, on the intervening nights of September 27 and 28 at around 2 am, four people came to his home and took photos and videos. "Two people were caught and two escaped. They were sending my photos and the location of my house to someone in Mumbai. The two people were handed over to Mangalhat Police Station," Raja Singh told reporters. "It has been 24 hours and the police are not giving any information about the accused. In 2010, also my house was reconnoitred and an ISI agent was arrested," he added. (ANI) The Forum for the Protection of Minorities in Bangladesh organised a large protest march here on Sunday to condemn the continuous horrific atrocities faced by minorities in Bangladesh. The march began at the Agartala Press Club and drew participation from journalists, club members, various social and cultural organisations, and the general public. "In response to the recent incident in Bangladesh, we are organising a protest rally under the banner of the "Forum for the Protection of Minorities in Bangladesh.Journalists, club members, and representatives from various social and cultural organisations, along with the general public, have participated in this rally. This is just the first phase of our protest; we will send a memorandum to the Prime Minister through the Governor, and we will continue this movement on a larger scale," Pranav Sarkar, a senior journalist, told AN. The procession wound through the city's streets and concluded in front of the Rabindra Bhavan in Agartala. Notable attendees included Press Club President Jayanta Bhattacharya and senior journalists Subal Kumar Dey and Pranab Sarkar, along with other journalists and intellectuals who voiced their solidarity during the event. Jayanta Bhattacharjee, President of Agartala Press Club, said that there are deep concerns about the increasing attacks on minorities--Hindus, Christians, and Buddhists--following changes in the Bangladeshi government. "It seems there is a deliberate plan to undermine the Hindu community in Bangladesh. We believe that the government must take action to protect the lives and rights of minorities. We share a sense of solidarity with Bangladesh, as we speak the same language, Bengali. Personally, I believe that the current government is funded by terrorist organizations and has an anti-Hindu agenda, driven by Muslim fundamentalism. Today, we are here to protest for the protection of minorities in Bangladesh," he said. Baishnab Vakti Kamal Goswami maharaj, Gaudiya Math, Agartala, said,The purpose of our rally is to protest the attacks on minorities in Bangladesh. This rally aims to call for an immediate end to the violence against minorities." Notably, since Sheikh Hasina's abrupt resignation on August 5 that brought an end to her 15 years in power, there have been numerous reports of attacks against Hindu households, temples and businesses. Hindus are the largest minority faith in Bangladesh. The interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus assumed office on August 8, three days after the law and order situation completely broke down and there were no police personnel to protect the people. Leaders of minority communities met Yunus on August 13 and raised concerns about attacks on their homes, businesses, and temples. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called on Yunus to ensure the safety and security of minorities and also expressed concern about the security of Hindus during his Independence Day speech. (ANI) Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal has said that the Opposition can't reinstate Article 370 and accused them of misguiding the people of Jammu and Kashmir on this. "They (the opposition) can't bring it again (Article 370). They are just misguiding people; the way they did during the Lok Sabha elections by saying that we (the BJP) will finish the constitution. How can the Constitution be finished? Good governance and development--these are the two agendas, based on which we are contesting and will win this election," Meghwal told reporters here. While Congress is silent on Article 370, its alliance partner, the National Conference, promised restoration of the Article in its manifesto. Narendra Modi government abrogated Article 370, which gave special status to J-K on August 5, 2019. Meanwhile, addressing a public rally in Gurez in Bandipore area on Sunday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh slammed NC for promising the restoration of Article 370. "Only the Central Government has the authority to bring it back. After the removal of Article 370, people enthusiastically participated in the elections. This is the message of change in Jammu and Kashmir. Today, the national flag is being hoisted at Srinagar's Lal Chowk. Today, record numbers of tourists are visiting Kashmir. Kashmir is no longer a terrorist hotspot but a tourism hotspot. Here, two political families only focused on politics. They ruled here for a long time," he said. "Today, the youth here are holding computers, not stones. IIM, IIT, and National Colleges will be established here. NC-Congress and PDP have only looted here. They did nothing for the people, only secured their families," Rajnath added. The high-stakes campaigning for the third and final phase of polling in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections concluded on Sunday evening with voting set to take place for 40 constituencies in the third phase. Of the 40 constituencies, 24 fall under the Jammu division and the remaining in Kashmir. This election marks the first one in a decade and the first since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. The three-phase election is witnessing a multi-cornered fight for the 90 seats across the erstwhile state. While the National Conference and the Congress are fighting the elections in an alliance, the People's Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are the two other major players. Major political parties, especially the BJP, Congress, NC, and PDP, have been involved in heated debates over key issues including Pakistan, Article 370, terrorism, and reservation, all through the days of campaigning. High-profile leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah (BJP), Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, and former J-K chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abudullah, and Mehbooba Mufti, were on the ground for weeks. (ANI) Rajsthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma arrived at Jodhpur House in Delhi on Sunday night. He will lead the Delhi leg of the 'Rising Rajasthan Investors' meet and two-day outreach programme starting on September 30. The two-day investor roadshow and outreach will also be attended by Industry and Commerce Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, Chief Secretary Sudhansh Pant, Principal Secretary (Industries) Ajitabh Sharma, and other senior officials of the state government. The Delhi investors' meet and one-on-one meetings of the Chief Minister-led Rajasthan Government delegation with the CEOs of select business groups have been organised on day 1 of this outreach programme. The state government's delegation shall participate in 2 other programs--CPSEs Conclave and Ambassadors' Roundtable--on the second day, to network with the business leaders from the public and private sectors and seek the help of diplomats of different countries to attract foreign investment in the state. The 2-days' Delhi investors roadshow and outreach is part of the Government of Rajasthan's efforts to invite the business and investor community, the corporate world, and national and international agencies for exploring the opportunities available and making investments in the state and is part of 'Rising Rajasthan' Global Investment Summit 2024, which is scheduled for 9th-10th-11th December in capital Jaipur. During the Ambassadors' Roundtable, the Government of Rajasthan delegation members will apprise the ambassadors and diplomats of different countries about the instrumental policy changes being ushered in by the government and series of fiscal/non-fiscal incentives across sectors that are being offered to the investors. The ambassadors/diplomats of several leading countries, including the U.S.A., the UK, Germany, Japan, Italy, South Korea, Australia, the UAE, Denmark, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey, Spain, Switzerland, Brazil, Qatar, South Africa, etc have been invited to attend the event. Earlier, on the same day, CM-led delegation will partake in the Central PSEs' roundtable and interact with the Chairman and other senior officials of the Central-government owned Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) and invite them to work on new projects in the state or explore further collaboration opportunities. A large number of CPSEs such as HPCL, NHAI, NTPC, GAIL and DMRC etc. already operate across sectors in the state. The government of Rajasthan is undertaking an extensive domestic and global outreach for the 'Rising Rajasthan' Global Investment Summit 2024 scheduled to be held under the leadership of Hon'ble Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma on 9th, 10th and 11th December in Jaipur and march towards attaining the dream of 'Viksit Rajasthan'. (ANI) Fishermen from Tamil Nadu took to the streets on Sunday, staging a protest against the Sri Lankan Navy's detention of 17 Indian fishermen and seizure of two boats off Rameswaram's coast. In the visuals, protesters, comprising men and women, were sitting on the streets, raising their voices and chanting slogans. Notably, the apprehended fishermen have been identified as Markmillan (37), Milton (49), Ronald (48), Sesuraja (45), Jeevan Frisher (22), Suresh (45), Arul Dhinakaran (24), Durai (39), and Maria Sethin (26) from Thangachimadam, as well as Ardiya Nicho (26), Jebastian (38), Rajeev (36), Vivek (36), Innachie (36), Samuel (33), Brichan (31), and Bhaskaran (30).The two boats that were seized belonged to fishermen Thangachimadam Vyadaraj and Thangachimadam Selvam. According to the Rameswaram fishermen association, the apprehended fishermen were fishing in the Palk Bay area near Nedunthivu, having set out to sea with 309 boats. The fishermen had permission from the Rameswaram Fisheries Department the previous day to venture into the sea, the association stated. The fishermen were taken to Mannar port for questioning, they said. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Sunday wrote a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, requesting him to ensure the release of 17 fishermen arrested by Sri Lanka. The fishermen, who ventured for fishing from the Rameswaram fish landing centre on September 28, were apprehended near Neduntheevu on Sunday by Lankan authorities, CM Stalin said in his letter. In the letter, the Tamil Nadu CM said, "I want to bring to your attention yet another incident involving the apprehension of 17 fishermen and their fishing boats near Neduntheevu on September 29, 2024, by the Sri Lankan navy. These fishermen had ventured for fishing from the Rameswaram fish landing centre on September 28." He further said that the detention of fishermen and confiscation of their boats cause "serious distress and uncertainty" among the coastal communities." The detention of our fishermen and the confiscation of their boats cause serious distress and uncertainty among the coastal communities. I have repeatedly reiterated that concrete and proactive steps must be taken to resolve this festering issue diplomatically," he added. Earlier, Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi wrote a letter to Jaishankar requesting him to ensure the release of 37 Tamil fishermen by the Sri Lankan authorities. According to the letter, on September 21, the arrested fishermen had "attempted to rescue a Sri Lankan boat in distress." It was stated that despite contacting Sri Lankan authorities for assistance with the rescue, the fishermen were arrested on the ground of crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line. "I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to you regarding the arrest of 37 Tamil fishermen, and the seizure of their boats by Sri Lankan authorities on September 21, 2024. Adv. R. Sudha, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) from Mayiladuthurai Parliamentary Constituency, informed me that the arrested fishermen are small-scale fisherfolk operating close to the coast and that on the day of the incident, they had attempted to rescue a Sri Lankan boat in distress," Rahul Gandhi had stated in the letter. The arrests of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy have been a concerning issue for both the Tamil Nadu government as well as the BJP-led central government. (ANI) Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray has slammed Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, alleging that since he became Chief Minister, many industrial projects from the state have gone to Gujarat. "When I was the Chief Minister, did you hear even a single news that any project from here went to Gujarat? In the last two and a half years, since this Mindhe (Shinde) became Chief Minister, so many industries have gone to Gujarat. Everything is being taken to Gujarat. Mumbai's economic centre has also been taken to Gujarat. We are not just fighting for power, but our fight is against the looting of Maharashtra," Thackeray said in Ramtek, where he unveiled the statue of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. He alleged that in past two years Maharashtra failed to bag projects and industries it should have to neighbouring Gujarat. Notably, Vedanta-Foxconn had inked a pact with Gujarat in September 2022 for a Rs 1.54 lakh crore semiconductor project in Ahmedabad Thackeray also accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of wanting to "finish" him and NCP leader Sharad Pawar. "Mohan Bhagwatji (RSS chief), do you agree with the BJP's Hindutva? Goons are coming into this BJP, corrupt people are coming. Do you agree with this? Amit Shah is coming to finish me and Sharad Pawar, will you let us be finished? Only my people can finish me, not Amit Shah. If my people tell me to sit at home, I will sit at home, but if someone from Delhi tells me to sit at home, my people will make them sit at home. After our government came to power, I will stop the loot going on in Maharashtra," he said. Thackeray also slammed Chief Minister Eknath Shinde over the collapse of the Shivaji statue at the Malvan fort in Sindhudurg and termed it an embarrassment for the state. A 35-foot-tall statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Sindhudurg district collapsed on August 26. It was unveiled on December 4 last year as part of Navy Day celebrations and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The collapse of the statue of the Maratha state's iconic founder had sparked a significant political war between leaders of the state, with opposition criticising the Eknath Shinde-led government for the collapse. (ANI) The Delhi Police's Special Cell has arrested two sharpshooters from the Jitender-Gogi gang a day after shots were fired at a sweets shop in Nangloi in an extortion bid, said police. The police recovered a semi-automatic pistol with five live cartridges, a country-made pistol with four live cartridges, and a motorcycle used in the crime. According to the police, the two accused are Hari Om alias Lalla, 27, a resident of Rohini Sector 20, and Jatin, 21, from VPO Mundka. On Saturday, in a bid to extort money, the assailants fired gunshots at the counter and employee of a sweets shop in Nangloi and threw extortion slips featuring coloured photographs of deceased gangsters Jitender alias Gogi and Kuldeep Fajja on one side and names of jailed gangsters Deepak alias Boxer, Ankesh Lakra, and Vishal on another side, said police. Police used CCTV footage from the neighbourhood and manual inputs to identify the duo. Further acting on a tip-off, police arrested the duo from Rohini on Sunday. "During interrogation, it has been found that accused Jatin is associated with gangster Ankesh Lakra and both hail from the same village, Mundka. He is also an aide of gangster Deepak, alias Boxer, linked to the Gogi Gang. "Interrogation revealed that the firing at the sweets shop in Nangloi happened after Jatin received instructions from Ankesh Lakra, who is currently lodged in Tihar jail, and Vishal---- younger brother of gangster Gaurav Saharanpur, suspected to be settled abroad. Jatin persuaded Hari Om, alias Lalla, to participate in the shooting to earn easy money," said police. The duo received illegal weapons through the contacts of Ankesh Lakra and Deepak Boxer, who were presently heading the Gogi Gang and were also involved in the escape of gangster Kuldeep Fazza from police custody in 2021 from Delhi, said police. Police registered an FIR under sections 109(1)/3(5) Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and 25/27 Arms Act at Nangloi Police Station. (ANI) The Congress and National Conference have both conceded defeat even ahead of the elections in Jammu and Kashmir according to Union Minister G Kishan Reddy following the conclusion of campaigning for the third and final phase for the Assembly polls. Speaking to ANI on Sunday Reddy said that both parties were trying to "fool the people" by ending their campaign midday. "Omar Abdullah said that our party won't be there in the government...Rahul Gandhi has just visited once and said something wrong as well. Both parties have already accepted defeat before the end of the election. They are trying to fool the people by suspending the campaign when only half of the day is left," he said. The election-in-charge from Jammu and Kashmir further came down heavily on both parties over their "silence" on the attacks on Hindus and Bangladesh and said that the BJP had always supported democracy and called against "violence and bloodshed." "The BJP always says that violence and bloodshed won't get anything to anyone and hence we support democracy. All countries should be together and war shouldn't be there. PM Modi always said this; he said this even at the UN," Reddy said. On Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge being unwell during the last phase of campaigning, Reddy said, "Kahrge Ji is the president. He has to come. He has to say (during the campaign). He is the old person. Let him speak." The high-stakes campaigning for the third and final phase of polling in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections concluded on Sunday evening, with voting set to take place for 40 constituencies in the third phase. Of the 40 constituencies, 24 fall under the Jammu division and the remaining in Kashmir. This election marks the first one in a decade and the first since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. The three-phase election is witnessing a multi-cornered fight for the 90 seats across the erstwhile state. While the National Conference and the Congress are fighting the elections in an alliance, the People's Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are the two other major players. Meanwhile, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday became unwell while addressing a rally in the Jasrota area of Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district. Kharge was discharged from a hospital in Kathua after he felt slightly unwell while addressing a public meeting in Jasrota. Congress leader Thakur Balbir Singh said that the Congress President felt suffocated due to the extreme heat. After taking a rest, Kharge resumed his speech, reassuring the crowd that his health was fine and saying that he was not going to die so early. The third and final phase of polling is scheduled for October 1, while the counting of votes will take place on October 8. Voter turnouts of 61 per cent and 57.31 per cent was recorded in the first and second phases of polling respectively in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the Election Commission of India said on Friday. (ANI) Several parts of Bihar are grappling with severe flooding due to heavy discharge of water from the Kosi Barrage in Birpur, following heavy rainfall. Incessant rainfall in the catchment areas of Nepal has led to rivers touching or flowing above the danger level at several places in the bordering districts. A massive volume of water has been released from the Kosi and Gandak barrages following heavy rainfall in the catchment areas of rivers in northern Bihar and Nepal. Several parts of Sitamarhi were also affected due to floods after after a breach in the Mandar dam in Belsand block on September 29. Floodwaters have entered the Katra Bakuchi Power Grid in Muzaffarpur, leaving 45,000 homes in darkness. Following instructions from department officials, power has been cut off as a precaution. Officials said they plan to restore electricity after the decrease in water level. [{2490d7c6-380f-4994-b0ab-66fb6cdda5ff:intradmin/ANI-20240930044139.jpg}] An engineer at the power station, Sunil Kumar, said that the water has entered the control room of the power grid. "Keeping in mind the safety, the power supply can be shut down anytime in 22 panchayats in Katra block. Approximately 42,000- 43,000 consumers will have to face the problem. Power will be cut off after the instructions of the department officials..." "Administration is not active, no one has come to see the situation yet," a resident of Muzaffarpur said. The water of the river Kosi has engulfed many northeastern districts of the state; normal life is affected by floods-like situations in Supaul. Several homes and facilities in the affected areas have filled with water. [{fbc7e715-f085-499f-b475-451a08196925:intradmin/ANI-20240930044225.jpg}] "Our homes are filled with water; I have seen this kind of flooding after 1961. No one has come to meet us yet," Joginder Mehta, a resident of Supaul said. "I have been here in the village since 1980, houses have been broken, and we are also facing a loss in agriculture as well," another resident said. (ANI) Union Home Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Shah came down heavily on Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday and said that the Congress leader had outperformed himself, the party leaders and the party in being "distasteful and disgraceful" during his speech on the last day of campaigning for the third and final phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls. This came following Kharge's speech, where he said that he would stay alive until Prime Minister Narendra Modi was removed from power after he felt unwell while addressing a rally in the Jasrota area of Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district on Sunday. Taking to social media platform X, Shah said," Yesterday, the Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji has outperformed himself, his leaders, and his party in being absolutely distasteful and disgraceful in his speech. In a bitter display of spite, he unnecessarily dragged PM Modi into his personal health matters by saying that he would die only after removing PM Modi from power." Shah further stated that this shows the "hate and fear" that the Congress has for PM Modi. Additionally, the Union Minister said that PM Modi and he pray for Kharge's "long and healthy life" so that he may continue to live to see the creation of "Viksit Bharat by 2047." "It just shows how much hate and fear these Congress people have of PM Modi that they are thinking of him constantly. As for the health of Mr. Kharge Ji, Modi Ji prays; I pray and we all pray that he lives a long, healthy life. May he continue to live for many years and may he live to see the creation of a Viksit Bharat by 2047," Shah added. Earlier on Sunday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge felt unwell while addressing a rally in the Jasrota area of Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district. Congress leader Thakur Balbir Singh said that the Congress President felt suffocated due to the extreme heat. After resting for a while, Kharge resumed his speech, reassuring the crowd that his health was fine and saying that he was not going to die so early. (ANI) The Pitru Paksha fair in the city of Gaya is currently ongoing. Since September 17th, the fair has been celebrated in the city of Lord Vishnu, Gaya. Every day, a large number of devotees from all over the country and the world come to Gaya to perform Pind Daan for their ancestors. According to Hindu faith after death the soul of a human being still remains in the materialistic world. 'Pind Dan' gives the soul relief paving the way for its departure to a world of Peace. Gaya is an extremely Holy place for offering Pind. Local and foreign pilgrims from various countries have arrived in Gaya to perform Pind Daan for their ancestors. These foreign pilgrims have come to Moksha Dham Gayaji, the city of Lord Vishnu, via Varanasi, the city of Lord Shiva. They performed Pind Daan for their ancestors at Dev Ghat on Monday morning. A total of 12 pilgrims have come to Gaya from abroad, representing different countries such as Russia, Uzbekistan, Nigeria, Germany, Ghana, and Africa. Priest Acharya Loknath Gaur, who conducted the rituals, mentioned that all the foreign devotees had reached Gaya and had performed Pind Daan and Shraddha Karma for the peace of the souls of their ancestors. They expressed their wish to perform Pind Daan for their ancestors and have now fulfilled it. According to the Hindu calendar, Pitru Paksha or the 16-day lunar day period on Mahalaya is when Hindus pay homage to their ancestors (Pitras), marking the beginning of 'Devi Paksha', the day marked by the arrival of Goddess Durga. Devotees believe that 'Pind Daan' helps in attaining salvation to their ancestors and the way to heaven is paved for them. Every year, large number of devotees on Wednesday took holy dip in the river Falgu and performed 'Pind Daan' in Bihar's Gaya on the last day of Pitru Paksha, also known as Sarva Pitru Amavasya. (ANI) In the Delhi High Court, a habeas corpus petition was mentioned by a counsel concerning an alleged road rage incident in which a Delhi Police constable lost his life. The counsel informed the court that the wife of the accused has been picked up by the Delhi Police and is currently in their custody. The advocate further stated that the accused fled the scene, and instead, a family member (the wife) was detained. The bench led by Chief Justice Manmohan, also comprising Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, taking note of the matter, has scheduled it for a hearing on October 1, where the legality of the wife's alleged detention will be examined. The advocate, through Habeas Corpus plea, seeks release of illegal detention of accused wife. In the tragic road rage incident in the Nangloi area two days ago, a Delhi Police constable, identified as 30-year-old Sandeep, was killed after being dragged for about 10 meters by a speeding car. The incident occurred when constable Sandeep, noticing the driver's reckless behavior, requested the driver to slow down. However, instead of complying, the driver suddenly accelerated, striking Sandeep's motorcycle from behind. Sandeep and his bike were dragged along the road before colliding with another vehicle. The car involved in the incident has since been seized, but the driver remains absconding. CCTV footage from the area captured the moments leading up to the incident, aiding the ongoing police investigation. The incident has led to a serious investigation, with the accused reportedly fleeing the scene after the crime. (ANI) Official X handle of Chief Minister Office (CMO) posted, "British Deputy High commissioner for western India Harjinder Kang paid a courtesy visit to Chief Minister Mohan Yadav at Samatva Bhavan, CM House in Bhopal today." Meanwhile, Union Minister for Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Rural Development Shivraj Singh Chauhan also met CM Mohan Yadav at CM residence in the state capital on Monday and held discussions for welfare of farmers in the state. In a post on X, CM Mohan Yadav wrote, "Today, I met with Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan at the CM residence in Bhopal. On this occasion, a meaningful discussion was held regarding the welfare of the farmers in the state." Union minister Chouhan also posted on X about meeting CM Yadav and wrote that they had discussions on various topics related to the welfare of the public in the state. "Today I paid a courtesy visit to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav at the CM House in Bhopal. During this, we had a meaningful discussion on various topics related to the progress of the state and public welfare," Chouhan wrote. On September 28, CM Mohan Yadav held a meeting with district collectors and commissioners via video conferencing to review soybean procurement, fertiliser availability, and distribution with district collectors and commissioners at CM House on Saturday. CM Yadav directed officials to strict action should be taken against those involved in black marketing, adulteration, misbranding, and the sale of fake fertilisers. He also assured that there was an adequate supply of fertilisers in the state for Kharif 2024-25. He expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for approving soybean procurement in Madhya Pradesh under the Price Support Scheme and instructed officials to make appropriate arrangements for procurement. (ANI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi have kickstarted the business end of the Congress campaign in Haryana with several rallies and meetings scheduled. On Monday the Lok Sabha LoP arrived in Ambala to campaign for the party in Ambala and Kurukshetra ahead of the assembly elections in the state from October 5. Congress MP Kumari Shelja, said that she was sure Congress would win in Haryana. "We are doing very well. We are confident we will win the Haryana elections. Wherever Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are going, the people and the party are getting a new energy," Shelja said speaking to the media persons. On September 29, Shelja, while campaigning in Ambala for party candidate Parminder Pari, stated that the decision regarding the Chief Ministerial candidate would be made by the party's high command."The CM face will be decided by the party high command after the elections," Shelja responded when asked about the Congress candidate for the post of Chief Minister in Haryana Kumari Shelja further claimed that the party is receiving overwhelming public support. Speaking to the press in Ambala, she said, "We are receiving massive support from the people, and we are hopeful that they will vote for the party, enabling us to form the government. Ambala is my old constituency, which is why I have come here. Tomorrow, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi will visit this area. Our manifestos are always truthful, and we never make false promises." Earlier, she campaigned in support of the party's candidate from the Kalka assembly seat, Pradeep Chaudhary, expressing confidence that he would emerge victorious in the upcoming assembly elections, despite facing numerous challenges. "Congress candidate from Kalka, Pradeep Chaudhary, has faced many challenges. He has always stood by the public. The BJP has consistently conspired against Congress leaders. I am confident that people will vote for the Congress candidate in large numbers," Shelja told reporters on Sunday. (ANI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav ahead of his visit to Jharkhand on Monday, doubled down on the "misgovernance" of the Congress Party and its allies which blamed for the fact that Jharkhand was no a number one state in the country. CM Yadav also said that during his visit to Jharkhand, he would participate in Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Parivartan Yatra going on in the state. Yadav told ANI, "Today, I will participate in BJP's Parivartan Yatra in Jharkhand. Six Parivartan Yatras were started in the state which would conclude today. I am satisfied that the BJP successfully kept before the public how the CM of the state due to his misgovernance had to go to jail. What else can be more unfortunate?" The CM further remembered former Prime Minister Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee and said that he had said that Jharkhand would become a state. "Atal Bihari Vajpayee had said that Jharkhand would become a state. The state has so many resources and it could have become the number one state in the country but due to Congress, its approach and its allies, the state is in its current plight. I hope the people of Jharkhand will resolve to go with the BJP. The central government under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi and the Jharkhand government together will create a new dimension of development," Yadav said. "Elections are going to be announced and I hope everyone will adopt 'Sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas, sabka prayaas'. BJP will come to power in Jharkhand," he said. Jharkhand is expected to hold elections for its 81-member legislative assembly by December 2024, as the current government's tenure is set to end in January 2025. However, the Election Commission has yet to announce the election schedule. (ANI) Congress leader Pawan Khera on Monday came out in defence of party president Mallikarjun Kharge over his comments on Narendra Modi in a rally in Jammu and Kashmir, saying that his "party does not hate PM Modi but loves the country." This came after Union Home Minister Amit Shah attacked Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday, saying that the Congress leader had outperformed himself, the party leaders,, and the party in being "distasteful and disgraceful" during his speech on the last day of campaigning for the third and final phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls. Shah's remarks came against the backdrop of Kharge's speech, where he said that he would stay alive until Prime Minister Narendra Modi was removed from power after he felt unwell while addressing a rally in the Jasrota area of Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district on Sunday. "Yesterday, Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji has outperformed himself, his leaders, and his party in being absolutely distasteful and disgraceful in his speech. In a bitter display of spite, he unnecessarily dragged PM Modi into his personal health matters by saying that he would die only after removing PM Modi from power. "It just shows how much hate and fear these Congress people have of PM Modi that they are thinking of him constantly. As for the health of Mr. Kharge Ji, Modi Ji prays; I pray and we all pray that he lives a long, healthy life. May he continue to live for many years and may he live to see the creation of a Viksit Bharat by 2047," Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in a post on X. Following Amit Shah's remark on Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leader Pawan Khera stated that Congress wanted the nation to be free from Narendra Modi as '67% of the country did not vote in favour of him.' Speaking to ANI Khera said, "When will BJP understand that Congress does not hate PM Modi but loves the country. That's why we want the nation to be free from PM Modi and his ideology. Around 67% of the country also wants the same who did not vote in favour of him..." Earlier on Sunday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge felt unwell while addressing a rally in the Jasrota area of Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district. Congress leader Thakur Balbir Singh said that the Congress President felt suffocated due to the extreme heat. After resting for a while, Kharge resumed his speech, reassuring the crowd that his health was fine and saying that he was not going to die so early. (ANI) Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge hit back at Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday following the minister's criticism of Kharge for linking his health to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Taking a jibe at the Union Minister, Kharge took to social media platform X and said that the Shah should pay attention to serious issues like "Manipur and Caste Census." Referring to a survey conducted by the BJP-led NDA government, where he stated that 92 per cent of the urban sewers and septic tank cleaners come from SC, ST and OBC categories, Kharge slammed the BJP and stated that they are against the caste census because it would reveal what categories of people are engaged in what type of work for their livelihood. He further reaffirmed Congress's determination to conduct a caste-based census. "Home Minister Amit Shah should pay attention to serious issues like the Manipur, Census and Caste Census. A survey conducted by your own government says that 92 per cent of the workers cleaning urban sewers and septic tanks come from SC, ST, and OBC categories. BJP is against caste census because then it will be known by which work SC, ST, OBC, EWS and all other classes are earning their livelihood. What is their economic and social status? What kind of targeted benefits of government schemes should they get? The Congress party is determined to get the caste census done. We will get it done," the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said. Earlier today, Union Home Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Shah came down heavily on Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and said that the Congress leader had outperformed himself, the party leaders and the party in being "distasteful and disgraceful" during his speech on the last day of campaigning for the third and final phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls. This came following Kharge's speech, where he said that he would stay alive until Prime Minister Narendra Modi was removed from power after he felt unwell while addressing a rally in the Jasrota area of Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district on Sunday. (ANI) Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), a statutory authority of Indian Railways, invited bids for the Residential Development of Railway Land Parcel 'B' near Punjabi Bagh (West) here under the Delhi Division of Northern Railway. As per the official statement of RLDA, the approximate area of Land Parcel 'B is 46,313.39 Sqm (4.63 Ha) and has a reserve price of Rs 1100 crore. The land parcel will be leased for 99 years. The maximum permissible Floor Area Ratio (FAR) is 200 on the gross area of this land parcel. It further read that the site is bounded to the north by Shakurbasti Railway Station, to the east by vacant railway land, to the south by NH-9 (Rohtak Road) and to the west by additional railway vacant land and a parking area. All interested bidders can check RLDA website to get information about the site. Giving information about the tender, a senior official said that the site enjoys excellent connectivity from Old Rohtak Road (NH 9) and boasts a prominent frontage along this major highway. Additionally, it is accessible via Ring Road, further enhancing its strategic position. The site is located within proximity to key metro stations, ensuring easy accessibility. The site is just 350 m from Madipur Metro Station & 800 m from Shivaji Park metro station, providing excellent public transport connectivity. The official also informed that the site is located in North-West Delhi near Punjabi Bagh (West) and falls within the limits of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. It is part of Delhi Suburban Railway network and offers significant potential for both commercial and residential development due to its advantageous frontage and accessibility. Situated in a densely populated and commercially active area of West Delhi, the site benefits from its proximity to major commercial hubs. The road passing through the site is positioned below the DMRC Green Line, which connects Punjabi Bagh (West) with Madipur Station. Moreover, significant commercial areas are located within a 5-kilometre radius, making the site highly attractive for development. It is pertinent to note that Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) is a statutory authority under the Ministry of Railways for the development of Railway land. It has four key mandates as a part of its development plan, namely leasing commercial sites, colony redevelopment, station redevelopment and multi-functional complexes. (ANI) Delhi Minister Kailash Gehlot inspected the condition of the roads in South West Delhi's Najafgarh area on Monday as part of the Delhi government's road assessment and repair plan. Speaking to reporters after inspection, Minister Gehlot attributed the bad condition of the roads to unusually long monsoon this year and assured quick repair. "The condition of the roads is very bad. Inspection is going on in all roads today. One more reason is that the monsoons were quite long. We, along with the PWD workers, will try our best to repair the roads as soon as possible. If the road is bad, then a lot of commuters face problems. Our former Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, also inspected the roads along with the current CM. He too believes that the people of Delhi must not face any kind of problem," he said. Minister Gehlot said that he is scheduled to meet the Public Works Department (PWD) regarding the concerns raised by the residents. Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, Ministers Saurabh Bhardwaj, Gopal Rai and former Delhi Deputy CM and AAP MLA Manish Sisodia inspected the condition of roads in several parts of the national capital. As part of the government's road assessment and repair plan, all ministers have been assigned responsibility for different road areas in the city. CM Atishi will oversee South and South East Delhi; Saurabh Bharadwaj is in charge of East Delhi; Gopal Rai will review North East Delhi; Imran Hussain will take stock of Central and New Delhi, Kailash Gehlot is responsible for South West Delhi and Outer Delhi; and Mukesh Shehrawat will oversee North West Delhi. Former CM Kejriwal also accompanied Atishi during her inspection and urged to prepare a report of the condition of all the roads under the PWD. The AAP supremo also handed over a letter to Atishi in the state assembly urging immediate repair of the damaged roads. Speaking to reporters after inspection at the Okhla area, CM Atishi vowed to restore all roads within the next three to four months. "For two days, Arvind Kejriwal and I inspected the roads of Delhi and found that the condition of roads is very bad. Arvind Kejriwal has given a call to all the party MLAs and ministers to work towards restoring the roads of Delhi at the earliest. Every inch of the 1400 km stretched PWD roads will be inspected. In the next three to four months, all roads will be restored. We will try to give pothole-free roads to the people of Delhi by Diwali. The opposition did everything it could to stop us from working. Now that Arvind Kejriwal is out of jail, we will work under his guidance," CM Atishi said. BJP leader Harish Khurrana dubbed the inspection drive "nothing but a makeover" by the AAP to get rid of the corruption allegations. "AAP leaders, be it Arvind Kejriwal or Atishi, either think that Delhiites are fools or they think that they don't know what is happening. This is an image makeover effort to get rid of the corruption charges. But in the process, they are exposing themselves. Arvind Kejriwal is saying that he is ordering Atishi to make the roads pothole-free and repair the roads, but he forgets to mention that when he was in jail, all work in Delhi had stopped. The people of Delhi understand everything. Delhi is completely ruined, development work in Delhi has been stalled for the last 9.5 years. Certainly, the people of Delhi have made up their minds that the next government that will be formed will be of the Bharatiya Janata Party," Khurrana said. (ANI) The Supreme Court on Monday granted interim protection from arrest to Malayalam actor Siddique in connection with the ongoing investigation into a case related to the rape of a young actor. A bench of justices, Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma, granted interim protection from arrest to Siddique on the conditions set by the trial court and subject to his joining in the investigation. The top court granted the interim protection while hearing the actor's petition seeking anticipatory bail. The apex court also issued notice to the Kerala government and victim in this regard. Siddique had approached the Supreme Court seeking anticipatory bail in the case after it was dismissed by the Kerala High Court earlier this month. Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi and Advocate Ranjeeta Rohatgi represented Siddique in the apex court. Appearing for Siddique, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi said that the complaint was lodged in 2024 after 8 years of the alleged incident. The advocate also said that the actor will present himself for investigation. The court questioned what the state had been doing for eight years. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati appearing for Kerala said that Siddique has acted in 365 Malayalam movies and it is not possible to talk about such alleged perpetrators. Advocate Vrinda Grover for the victim took the court through the case and apprised that the actor approached the victim in 2014 through Facebook. Earlier, Kerala Police issued a lookout notice against actor Siddique, suspecting he may have fled the state in connection with the case. The notice has been issued to all district police chiefs in Kerala as well as the police chiefs of all states. Actor Siddique was allegedly on the run after the Kerala High Court dismissed his anticipatory bail application. The case is being investigated by a Special Investigation Team of the Kerala government. The museum police in Thiruvananthapuram registered a case against Siddique on August 27 under charges of rape and criminal intimidation, based on the complaint filed by a young actor. Siddique categorically denied the allegation. The Malayalam film industry has recently been rocked by a "Me Too" movement exposing various allegations of sexual abuse. Following the allegations, Siddique resigned from his position as general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA). Consequently, the entire 17-member executive committee of AMMA also resigned. Serious accusations have been made by several women actors against prominent figures in the industry, including director Ranjith and actors Mukesh, Jayasurya, and Edavela Babu, among others. The surge in these allegations came in the wake of the release of the Justice Hema Committee report, which exposed disturbing accounts of harassment, exploitation, and the systematic mistreatment of women in the industry. The report, made public on August 19, after redacting the names of witnesses and the accused, noted 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. (ANI) Karnataka Congress leader BK Hariprasad expressed confidence in the INDIA bloc's win in the Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana assembly elections. He said, "The INDIA bloc will sweep the J&K and Haryana assembly elections." The third and final phase of voting will take place on October 1, while the counting of votes will be held on October 8 in Jammu and Kashmir, while Haryana goes to the polls on October 5 to elect a 90-member state legislative assembly to form its next government, with the counting set to take place on October 8. Meanwhile, on the allegations faced by Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah in the MUDA scam issue, he said, "Everything is in the court of law and law will take its course. It is the court that will decide neither HD Kumaraswamy nor Mr. Yediyurappa." Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday said that he will not "back down" in the wake of the allegations regarding the alleged MUDA scam and stated that his "conscience will not be shaken" as long as he has the support of the people. As the allegations surfaced, the BJP has come out guns blazing at the Congress party, accusing it of supporting "corrupt" leaders and demanding CM Siddaramaiah's resignation. State BJP President targeted CM Siddaramiah saying, "Even though the legal noose is tightening, courts are issuing verdicts and orders against you on corruption scams, you and your Congress are 'behaving brazenly'. It will remain a permanent black mark in the country's history." Meanwhile, Lokayukta Police filed an FIR against Siddaramaiah and others in connection with the alleged Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) land allotment 'scam'. It is alleged that MUDA illegally allotted 14 sites to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wife in the prime location of Mysuru city. The FIR has been filed by the Mysuru Lokayukta under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 351, 420, 340, 09, and 120B, among others. The FIR mentions CM Siddaramaiah, his wife, brother-in-law and others as accused in the MUDA case. (ANI) Four foreign nationals who had been living in India illegally were taken into custody by Bengaluru police from the Jigani area of rural Bengaluru. According to Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara, the foreign nationals had been residing in the country for the past 10 years and had come to Bengaluru a year ago. The State Home Minister further questioned the intelligence agency for not getting any information about them. He further stated that they also possessed fake Indian passports. "As per the information I got, they have been in India for the last ten years; they came to Bengaluru a year ago. I don't know definite information about their stay from 10 years; if they have been here for 10 years, why did the intelligence agency not get the information? They went ahead with making fake passports, which will be done through a thorough inspection," Parameshwara said. He stated police had started their investigation of why they came here. Speaking on this matter, Bengaluru Rural SP CK Baba said that a case had been registered and an investigation was underway. "A case has been registered and the investigation is underway. They have fake Indian passports. We are verifying all the details," Baba said. (ANI) The Supreme Court on Monday, while hearing a batch of petitions on 'Tirupati Prasadam' row, said that "Gods should be kept away from politics" while pulling up the Adhra Pradesh government on going to the press in connection with the incident. The Supreme Court was hearing a batch of petitions seeking court-monitored investigation into the allegations of use of animal fat to make laddus served as Prasadam at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Tirumala. The apex court asked the Andhra Pradesh government's counsel that when the lab reports indicated that the ghee used in consecrated sweet was subjected to testing what was the need for them to go to the press after it ordered SIT probe into it. Till the outcome of SIT probe, what was the need to go to the press?, Supreme Court asked the Andhra Pradesh government. The government, in response, said that it is investigating the issue, When the Supreme Court asked about the ghee which was not found in conformity, it was actually used for prasadam. Supreme Court asked the Andhra Pradesh government about the proof that the contaminated ghee was used in the preparation of prasadam laddus. Senior advocate Siddhartha Luthra appearing for for Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) said that people complained that laddu did not taste right. Supreme Court said the public was not aware of this, you have only given a statement. There is no proof that said contaminated ghee was used for prasadam. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Supreme Court that this is a matter of faith. "If this ghee was used, it's unacceptable. It has to be seen who was responsible, and this needs to be examined." Further, the Supreme Court asked Solicitor General that it would like him to examine whether an investigation should be conducted by a state-constituted SIT. "Whether such a statement (by the state) should have been made that affects the sentiments of the devotees? What was the need of going to the press and making public statement when SIT was ordered?" SC asked the Andhra Pradesh government. Prima facie, there is nothing to show at this stage that the ghee used in the sample was used for laddus, said Supreme Court. Supreme Court's order says that the Solicitor General should assist it in deciding as to whether the SIT already appointed by the state government should continue or should the probe be conducted by an independent agency. (ANI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav offered prayers at Baba Baidyanath Dham, located in Jharkhand's Deoghar district, on Monday. The Baidyanath Dham, is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas in the country and is considered to be the most sacred abode of Lord Shiva. "Today, I have come to the pilgrimage spot of Baba Baidyanath Shiv Shakti, Deoghar and offered prayers here. Ahead of Jharkhand assembly polls, Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Parivartan Yatra is being carried out in Jharkhand and out of six parivartan yatras, one is going to culminate in Dumka. Before that I wished to take the blessing of Baba Baidyanath and I come from the state of Mahakal, Madhya Pradesh," Yadav said. He further expressed hope that the public will vote for the BJP for shaping all the possibilities of development in Jharkhand and that the BJP would be voted to power. "I wish all of us to walk hand in hand with the Prime Minister for the development of Jharkhand and good governance; may a double engine government be formed in Jharkhand. I hope that the public here will vote for the BJP for shaping all the possibilities of development. The BJP government will be formed here," the chief minister said. Jharkhand is expected to hold elections for its 81-member legislative assembly by December 2024, as the current government's tenure is set to end in January 2025. The Election Commission is yet to announce the election schedule. (ANI) In a stern action against cybercrime, Punjab police in a joint operation with Assam Police arrested two persons from Guwahati and recovered Rs 5.25 crore, ATM cards and mobile phones. In a post on X, Punjab Police Director General of Police, Gaurav Yadav said, "Commendable work by Ludhiana Police in cracking an inter-state cyber fraud gang. Two persons have been arrested from Guwahati, with the help of Assam police, and seven more persons have been nominated. A recovery of Rs 5.25 crore, along with ATM cards and mobile phones, marks the largest-ever recovery in India as per I4C data." "In recognition of the excellent police work, Cybercrime team of Ludhiana Commissionerate has been awarded the Director General's Commendation Disc for their unwavering dedication in ensuring public safety. This achievement sets a strong precedent and a high bar in the fight against cybercrime," the DGP added. He also thanked Assam police for their support in the operation. "I thank DGP Assam Police for the excellent support provided in our inter-state operation Punjab Police is working round-the-clock to take immediate action against New Age crimes and keep our citizen's safe as per the directions of CM Bhagwant Mann," he said. Earlier on September 10, noting that the development of any country is impossible without cyber security, Union Home Minister Amit Shah appealed to all stakeholders to come on the same platform and move forward on the same method and path to keep cyberspace secured. Shah appealed while addressing the first Foundation Day program of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) as the Chief Guest in the national capital. In his address, Shah underlined that I4C was established in 2015 under the 'Safe Cyber Space' campaign on the initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, since then it is continuously moving towards becoming a strong pillar of a cyber-secured India. He added that in the nine-year journey from 2015 to 2024, this idea turned into an initiative and then into an institution and now it is moving towards becoming a huge pillar of a cyber-secured India. Union Home Minister said that the development of any country is impossible without cyber security. He said that technology proves to be a blessing for human life and today technology is being used extensively in all new initiatives. He said that the increasing use of technology is also creating many threats and that is why cyber security is no longer limited to the digital world but has also become an important aspect of national security. (ANI) A day ahead of third and final phase of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, over 400 voters from Seemari village, home to India's "first polling booth" along Line of Control (LoC), demand basic necessities such as better road access, free electricity, immediate healthcare services, increased ration supplies and mobile network. Residents are urging political parties and local authorities to address these urgent issues to improve their quality of life. They express concern that leaders forget about them after elections, noting that the only support they receive in times of need--whether for employment, food, medicine, or other essentials--comes from the Indian Army deployed along the LoC. In Seemari village, a total of 443 voters will participate, comprising 226 men and 217 women. Mohammad Sharif, a resident of the village, said, "This is Seemari village, the last one on the India-Pakistan border, and it has India's first polling booth. We continue to vote, but we lack roads, hospitals, electricity, and stores. We have been facing many challenges. Voting is our right, and while we participate, the government needs to address our needs. Leaders come to seek our votes but often forget us after elections. Although the government support us, the funds rarely reach us; these funds seem to disappear along the way. Some leaders have visited and spoken with us, but they haven't made any commitments to meet our demands." Another local Ali Asgar said that the village lacks road facilities, and three nearby villages--Phagwan, Trutihaji, and Kadhama--also have no road connectivity. "When someone falls ill, they are carried on a cot to reach a nearby road to avail vehicle since it can't access the area. The sick person has to pay Rs 1,500 for a reserved vehicle from the nearest road to get to the Tangdhar hospital. Although there is a clinic here, it has no medicine, and the roads are in poor condition. We spend over Rs 500 on electricity (monthly), but we only receive four hours of supply each day. During elections, we exercise our right to vote, yet we see no benefits from it. Leaders promise us roads and electricity, but nothing materializes. We receive a 5 kg ration on a monthly basis, which isn't enough to last a month. This is the last remote village with over 400 voters, and we also lack a mobile network and job opportunities," he said. Another resident of the Seemari village Naseer Awan added that leaders come here to seek votes and make numerous promises, but they don't return for next five years after elections are over. "We have no way of knowing where they are in the meantime. The government does provide some support for our welfare, but we don't receive everything we need. Living on the border of India and Pakistan, our only assistance comes from the Indian Army. We owe our survival to them; they provide employment and help our people during illnesses or emergencies," he said. He asserted further that without the Army here, they would struggle to survive. "Although there is a hospital, it lacks medicine. We spend Rs 150 per person to travel to Tangdhar (19 km from Seemari) for medical treatment, which is difficult for us as we are very poor and often don't even have Rs 10. We also face electricity issues and can't pay our bills. If people in Delhi, where jobs are plentiful, can have free electricity, why can't we? I urge the government to grant us free electricity. While the central government has good intentions, local leaders fail to deliver these essential services," Nasir Awan, the resident of Seemari village said. On October 1, voters in 40 assembly constituencies across Jammu and Kashmir will participate in the third and final phase of the ongoing elections. Comprehensive arrangements have been made to ensure smooth and hassle-free voting. More than 3.9 million voters are eligible to participate in the final phase of the Assembly Elections across seven districts of the Union Territory, according to the Election Commission. In the Kashmir division, 16 assembly constituencies will vote, including Karnah, Kupwara, and Baramulla, while the Jammu division will see elections in 24 constituencies, such as Udhampur and Samba. A total of 5,060 polling stations will be set up across the districts of Kupwara, Baramulla, Bandipora, Udhampur, Samba, Kathua, and Jammu, with four election officials, including a presiding officer, assigned to each station. Over 20,000 polling staff will be deployed for this phase. Of the 3,918,220 eligible voters, there are 2,009,033 males, 1,909,130 females, and 57 voters identifying as third gender. Additionally, 194,000 youth aged 18-19, 35,860 persons with disabilities, and 32,953 elderly voters over 85 will also be casting their votes in this phase. (ANI) The Maharashtra government, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday announced several key decisions, including raising the limit of death and retirement gratuity to Rs 20 lakh and creation of 4,860 special teacher posts in the state. These decisions were taken at a Cabinet meeting here today. In a post on X, the Maharashtra Chief Minister's Office stated, "Various important decisions were taken in the State Cabinet meeting held today at Mantralaya under the chairmanship of Chief Minister @mieknathshinde . Deputy Chief Minister @Dev_Fadnavis , Deputy Chief Minister @AjitPawarSpeaks along with Cabinet members were present." In the cabinet meeting, state government approved a ten percent salary increase for Kotwals, and a compassionate policy. The state government has granted approval for interest-free secondary loan assistance to the MMRDA. The state government also announced a subsidy scheme for rearing indigenous cows was. The state government has also approved concessions on the payment of land premiums to the MMRDA. The state government has also decided to expedite housing schemes for the poor, along with an affordable rental housing scheme for ineligible slum dwellers in Dharavi. The state government has also decided to increase the financial criteria for the Krishi Swavalamban Yojana targeting Scheduled Caste and Neo-Buddhist farmers. Approval was given for the construction of the Hasala, Umbadga, Peth, and Kava Kolhapur Dams in Latur District. A decision was also made to increase the allowances of home guards in the state. The state government has also decided to establish a selection committee will be for recruitment in Ayurveda and Unani colleges. Additionally, a decision was taken to nominate 26 more ITI institutes in the state. The state government also approved a one-day technical break for most employees has been excused. The state government also approved relief in stamp duty for the rehabilitation of Metro Three project victims. The state government has also decided to reduce the rate of the government guarantee fee, although the guarantee fee itself will not be waived. The state government also decided implement a revised policy for military schools in the state. The state government has also decided to amend the Stamp Act made to enhance revenue generation. Maharashtra legislative Assembly elections will be held in 288 constituencies. The Election Commission of India has yet to announce the dates for the election. The upcoming polls 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). (ANI) The Supreme Court on Monday questioned Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for making public allegations about the use of adulterated ghee for the preparation of laddus, which were served as prasadam at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Tirumala. A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan criticised the Chief Minister, saying there is no conclusive proof yet to substantiate that contaminated ghee was used in preparation of prasadam laddus. It questioned the need to make a public statement on the issue when a probe had already been ordered by the state into the allegations. The bench also asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, to seek instructions from the Central government on whether an independent investigation is required and posted the matter to October 3 at 3.30 pm. "We are prima facie of the view that when the investigation was under process, it was not appropriate for the high constitutional authority to make a statement that can affect the sentiments of crores of people. In that view of the matter, we find that it would be appropriate if the Solicitor General assists us on whether the SIT by the state should continue or the investigation should be by an independent agency," said the bench in it's order. The apex court was hearing a batch of petitions seeking court-monitored investigation into the allegations of use of animal fat to make laddus to serve as prasadam at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh, where Lord Venkateswara is worshipped. During the hearing, the top court asked the Andhra Pradesh government whether the alleged adulterated laddus had been sent for testing. There was no prima facie evidence to show that the ghee in question was used in the process of making laddus, the bench said as it read the lab report. It asked, "Whether such a statement should have been made that affects the sentiments of the devotees? What was the need of going to the press and making a public statement when SIT was ordered?" The bench further observed that there are some disclaimers in the lab report. "It is not clear, and it is prima facie indicating that it was rejected ghee, which was subjected to test. This report, prima facie, indicates that this is not the material which was used in the preparation of the laddus. If you yourself have ordered investigation, what was the need to go to press," bench asked senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the government. Senior advocate Siddhartha Luthra, appearing for Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), said that there were complaints regarding the quality of laddus and possible contamination. He also said that the lab report of the NDDB showed contamination and the nature of contamination was under enquiry. Luthra said that there were complaints regarding the quality of laddus and possible contamination. He also said that the lab report of the NDDB showed contamination and the nature of contamination was under enquiry. At the end of the hearing, Solicitor General said that this is a matter of faith. "If this ghee was used, it's unacceptable. It has to be seen who was responsible and this needs to be examined," he added. Senior advocate Rajashekhar Rao, appearing for Dr. Subramanian Swamy, ever, said the Chief Minister's statements were controverted by the Executive Officer of the TTD, who said that such ghee was never used in prasadam. He said that when such statements are made by persons holding responsible posts without adequate material, they have far-reaching ramifications and can vitiate harmony. Rao said, "If there is a question mark on the deity's prasadam, then it has to be examined. Now with that statement made (by the Chief Minister), can they have a free and fair enquiry?" Rohatgi for the State of Andhra Pradesh said that Swamy's petition was not bona fide and was filed to espouse the cause of the previous government led by YSRCP. The top court was hearing petitions filed by Subramanium Swamy, Rajya Sabha MP and ex TTD Chairman YV Subba Reddy, Surjit Singh Yadav, President of non government organisation Hindu Sena Samiti, historian Dr. Vikram Sampath, chairman managing director (CMD) and the editor-in-chief of Sudarshan Suresh Chavhnake and others. Petitions sought court-monitored investigation into the allegations levelled by TDP-led Andhra Pradesh government regarding use of adulterated ghee in preparation of laddus at the Tirumala Tirupati Temple during the previous YSRCP regime. (ANI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has promised a reward for PSO (Personal Security Officer) of a BJP MLA Madhu Verma who gave CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) to him while he suffered a heart attack, PSO Arun Singh Bhadoria himself confirmed. Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Rau assembly constituency in Indore district, Madhu Verma suffered a heart attack on September 24. Following which PSO, police constable Arun Singh Bhadoria immediately gave CPR to Verma without any delay and took him to the hospital. Currently MLA Verma has undergone surgery and his health condition is said to be stable. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav called on Verma at the hospital in the district on last Saturday, September 28 and When he came to know about it, he patted the shoulder of PSO and spoke about giving him a reward. PSO Arun Singh Bhadoria told ANI, "Around 10 am on September 24, Madhu Verma was interacting with people at his house, during the moment he suffered a silent attack as a result of which he fainted while speaking. I was standing there and I immediately put him in the back seat of the vehicle and started giving him CPR in the car. I continued it till we reached the hospital." Upon arriving at the hospital, doctors took care of the BJP MLA and began the treatment. The MLA underwent surgery and currently his health is stable, Bhadoria said. "Meanwhile, CM Mohan Yadav also came to meet MLA Verma on Saturday. Upon getting information about the CPR activity, he patted on my shoulder and spoke about giving me a reward and promotion. I express my gratitude to CM Yadav who appreciated me and patted my shoulder," the PSO said. He further said that he learned to give CPR during the police training. Doctors' lectures were held in the training centre and CPR was a part of the training. (ANI) Another co-convict of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Prakash Jarwal in Dr. Rajender Singh suicide case has moved to the Delhi High Court. The matter has been listed on October 18 for hearing. In this case, AAP MLA Prakash Jarwal, Kapil Nagar and Harish Jarwal were convicted on February 28. During the hearing before the trial court today, the counsel for Convict Kapil Nagar sought an adjournment on the ground that Nagar has moved to the High Court. Thereafter, Special Judge Kaveri Baweja listed the matter for hearing on October 21. Justice Amit Mahajan on September 27 summoned the physical trial court record. Earlier, on August 30, Justice Amit Mahajan had quashed the order of conviction of Harish Jarwal on the grounds of settlement arrived at with the complainant on August 10. Harish Jarwal had challenged the judgement of February 28, passed by the Rouse Avenue Court. He was convicted for the offence under Section 506 (Criminal Intimidation) of the IPC and the same is compoundable at the instance of the person so intimidated. Senior counsel Ravi Sood, along with Saurabh Agarwal for the petitioner, has submitted that he petitioner has only been charged and convicted for the offence under Section 506, Part-I of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 ('IPC'). After hearing submissions of counsel and respondent, the High Court had allowed petition and set aside the judgement of conviction of February 28, to the extent of the petitioner's conviction, subject to payment of a total cost of Rs 30,000 by the petitioner, to be deposited with the Delhi Police Welfare Society within a period of eight weeks from today. The High Court had said that since the state machinery has been put to motion and the settlement has arrived at such a belated stage, ends of justice would be served if the petitioner is put to cost. An FIR was registered at Police Station Neb Sarai in 2020 in this case. (ANI) Congress MP and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Monday attacked the central government over the Agnipath scheme and said that Agniveers "should not be in misconception" as the government "intends" to "snatch away pensions from Agniveers. "Normal Jawan will be entitled to pension for all his life... but those with Agniveer tag will not get pension...which means money has been snatched from Agniveer's pocket...it has gone to Adani's pocket. Agniveer has been rolled out to help Adani. Agniveer's truth is that Narendra Modiji wants to snatch pensions," said the LoP, who led the party's "Vijay Sankalp Yatra" in Ambala. He further said that whatever Prime Minister Narendra Modi is doing is just for the rich people. "PM Modi himself said that he is non-biological and has a direct connection with God...He says that whatever God asks him to do, he does it...We don't understand how God asks him to help Adani only...Whatever Modi ji is doing is only for the rich people," he added. He also said that farmers of Haryana will be given guaranteed MSP and that women in the state will be given Rs 2000 under the Mahila Shakti Yojana. "When Congress comes to power in Haryana, the first thing that we will do is, we will give minimum support price (MSP) to the farmers...We will give Rs 2000 to every poor woman...We will work towards giving jobs to two lakh youths in Haryana Governmnet and these jobs will be given to every caste and section of society equally...We will also do a Caste Census in the state," Rahul Gandhi said. The leader of opposition said that the fight is between Congress and BJP in the Haryana elections. "In this elections, the fight is between Congress and BJP. Vote for the Congress party and make them win in the elections," he added. Haryana will go to the polls on October 5 to elect its 90-member state legislative assembly, with counting set to take place on October 8. In the 2019 elections, the BJP emerged as the single-largest party, securing 40 seats, while Congress won 30 seats. (ANI) Delhi police said they have arrested one of the accused in the case of the death of a police constable on September 29 in the National Capital's Nangloi area. The accused has been identified as Rajnish, and police said efforts are on to arrest the second accused. Tis Hazari Court in Delhi grante three-day custody remand of accused to the Police. "Police arrested one of the accused, Rajnish, in the case. The offending vehicle has been seized. Multiple teams have been formed for investigation, and several raids have been conducted in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana, as per Delhi police. "Sustained efforts are being made for the arrest of the second accused," police added. Meanwhile, in the Delhi High Court, a habeas corpus petition was mentioned by a counsel concerning an alleged road rage incident in which a Delhi Police constable lost his life. The counsel informed the court that the wife of the accused has been picked up by the Delhi Police and is currently in their custody. The advocate further stated that the accused fled the scene, and instead, a family member (the wife) was detained. The bench led by Chief Justice Manmohan, also comprising Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, taking note of the matter, has scheduled it for a hearing on October 1, where the legality of the wife's alleged detention will be examined. The advocate, through Habeas Corpus plea, seeks release of illegal detention of accused wife. In the tragic road rage incident in the Nangloi area two days ago, a Delhi Police constable, identified as 30-year-old Sandeep, was killed after being dragged for about 10 meters by a speeding car. The incident occurred when constable Sandeep, noticing the driver's reckless behavior, requested the driver to slow down. However, instead of complying, the driver suddenly accelerated, striking Sandeep's motorcycle from behind. Sandeep and his bike were dragged along the road before colliding with another vehicle. The car involved in the incident has since been seized, but the driver remains absconding. CCTV footage from the area captured the moments leading up to the incident, aiding the ongoing police investigation. The incident has led to a serious investigation, with the accused reportedly fleeing the scene after the crime. (ANI "If there is so much concern for Dalits, then declare Kumari Selja as the Chief Minister candidate, maybe Bhupinder Singh Hooda will also support her," Irani said, addressing the press conference in Rohtak. Earlier, Congress leader Kumari Selja scotched speculation of her joining the Bharatiya Janata Party and said that she owes the Congress for whatever she is today. BJP leaders had accused Congress of not giving due regard to Kumari Selja. Smriti Irani further highlighted Haryana government schemes and said that 'Lado Lakshmi Scheme', we will provide Rs 2,100 to our sisters per month. "When we are seeking votes of people of Haryana, we are reiterating the fact that through the coordination of transparent Modi government and state government, through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), Rs 74,680 crore have been sent to people of Haryana... through 'Lado Lakshmi Scheme', we will provide Rs 2,100 to our sisters per month," she added. The Lado Lakshmi Scheme is a financial assistance program aimed at providing Rs. 2,100 per month to women from Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in Haryana. Smriti Irani expressed confidence that the BJP government will be formed in the state. Haryana will go to the polls on October 5 to elect its 90-member state legislative assembly, with counting set to take place on October 8. In the 2019 elections, the BJP emerged as the single-largest party, securing 40 seats, while Congress won 30 seats. (ANI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has advocated for a national-level National Register of Citizens (NRC) and said that the illegal Bangladeshi infiltration issue has now become a national issue. "The illegal Bangladeshi infiltration has now become a national problem; it is not only the problem of Assam. There should be a detailed discussion in the parliament on the matter of national-level NRC," CM Sarma told reporters here. He further said that Assam wants an error-free NRC. "We want an error-free NRC in Assam. We should give the facility to conduct 20 percent re-verification. Like this, the NRC should happen in Jharkhand and other states also, because the foreigners can go to other states through Assam and West Bengal, and they can again come back to Assam by getting an Aadhaar card. Now this is a national problem; it is not only the problem of Assam," CM Sarma said. He also referred to the issue of the Bangladeshi nationals being held on a daily basis while infiltrating into India. "Every day we are apprehending Bangladeshis in the bordering areas. They will go to other states of the country and will stay 21 days, and they will prepare an Aadhaar card so that they can come back to Assam. There should be a detailed discussion in the parliament on the matter of national level NRC," CM Sarma added. He also said that he has been highlighting the issue of infiltration of foreigners into India on his social media platform. "I am posting regularly on Twitter (now X) about the entry of foreigners so that it can make a debate at the national level. The issue (NRC) of Assam is now in the Supreme Court, but the Jharkhand issue is in the Jharkhand High Court," CM Sarma added. It is to be mentioned that earlier the authority of Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) had approached the Supreme Court seeking a comprehensive re-verification process of the NRC list, highlighting major irregularities in the process. The Assam government has favoured 20 percent re-verification of the NRC list. The final draft of NRC, published in August 2019 had excluded 19.06 lakh out of 3.3 crore applications. (ANI) Both the accused were produced virtually from the presidency jail. Last week, both Sandip Ghosh and Abhijit Mondal, were transferred to the Presidency Jail from the Sealdah Court. On September 19, West Bengal Medical Council cancelled the medical practitioner registration of Sandip Ghosh. Ghosh was arrested in the RG Kar Medical College rape-murder case as well in connection with financial irregularities related to the college. Mondal and Ghosh were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the rape and murder of the woman trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College. The Anti-Corruption Branch of the CBI arrested Sandip Ghosh on September 2. On September 10, a CBI court remanded Ghosh and three others to judicial custody in connection with financial irregularities at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The CBI's investigation into these matters followed a directive from a single bench of the Calcutta High Court, which ordered a probe into allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement at the institution. Abhijit Mondal, was suspended by the Kolkata Police on September 18 after his arrest by the CBI on September 14. A woman trainee doctor was found dead in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9. (ANI) Experts from Guangdong help Xizang develop thriving mushroom industry People's Daily Online) 16:44, September 29, 2024 Inside an over 100 square meters greenhouse of a company in Nyingchi city, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, rows of shelves with six layers hold 20,000 packages of lingzhi mushrooms spawns, also known as Ganoderma lucidum, a medicinal fungus. This scene, once unimaginable in the autonomous region, is now a testament to the power of scientific collaboration and cross-provincial support. : Experts from the Institute of Microbiology at the Guangdong Academy of Sciences in south China's Guangdong Province and a man of the Tibetan ethnic group collect wild mushrooms in a primitive forest in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region. (Photo courtesy of the Institute of Microbiology at the Guangdong Academy of Sciences) : Hu Huiping, an expert from the Institute of Microbiology at the Guangdong Academy of Sciences in south China's Guangdong Province, collects samples of Ganoderma leucocontextum in Bome county, Nyingchi city, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region. (Photo courtesy of the Institute of Microbiology at the Guangdong Academy of Sciences) : Yang Xiaobing, an expert from the Institute of Microbiology at the Guangdong Academy of Sciences in south China's Guangdong Province, checks on the growth of black fungi in Nyingchi city, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region. (Photo courtesy of the Institute of Microbiology at the Guangdong Academy of Sciences) : Experts from the Institute of Microbiology at the Guangdong Academy of Sciences in south China's Guangdong Province teach cultivation techniques of edible mushrooms to people of the Tibetan ethnic group. (Photo courtesy of the Institute of Microbiology at the Guangdong Academy of Sciences) : Ganoderma leucocontextum is cultivated on a large scale in Nyingchi city, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region. (Photo courtesy of the Institute of Microbiology at the Guangdong Academy of Sciences) "I had never thought lingzhi mushrooms could be cultivated this way here," said Tamdrin Tsering, an official at the science and technology bureau of Nyingchi. His amazement stems from the groundbreaking work of experts from the Institute of Microbiology at the Guangdong Academy of Sciences in south China's Guangdong Province. In the 1990s, under a project to assist Xizang jointly launched by the Guangdong Academy of Sciences and the regional academy of agricultural and animal husbandry sciences, the institute sent several experts to Xizang to help build the autonomous region's first edible mushroom research laboratory and first edible mushroom cultivation base. In 2009, led by Yang Xiaobing, deputy director of the edible mushroom research and development center of the institute, a team from Guangdong launched a 10-year project to provide scientific and technological assistance to Nyingchi's mushroom industry. Two years later, Wu Qingping, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering at the institute, led a delegation to Nyingchi, further catalyzing the project's growth. Over the years, the institute has sent over 100 science and technology experts to Xizang, with their footprints stretching across Milin city, Bome county, Medog county, and Zayu county. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of experts from Guangdong, mushrooms have become a thriving industry in Xizang. The journey hasn't been without its challenges. When Yang, as a member of a research team sent by the Guangdong Academy of Sciences, arrived in Xizang in 1996 for the first time, he was responsible for guiding the building of an edible mushroom research and cultivation platform, and participated in the survey of wild macrofungi species, including edible mushrooms, in the autonomous region. Overcoming obstacles like altitude sickness and frequent landslides, the team collected over thousands of samples and identified more than 1,000 macrofungi species in three years. Xizang boasts abundant wild mushrooms, but faces issues of inconsistent quality and vulnerability to climate fluctuations and geographical conditions. "Only through artificial domestication and cultivation can we ensure stable production," said Yang. Undeterred by various obstacles, Yang and his team set about building the research laboratory and the cultivation base. Their perseverance paid off, successfully introducing edible mushroom varieties like shiitake mushrooms and oyster mushrooms to the regional capital Lhasa. More impressively, they managed to domesticate local wild edible mushroom varieties. Today, the laboratory and the cultivation base led by experts from the Institute of Microbiology have become national-level research and experimental stations for edible mushrooms, with artificially cultivated edible mushroom products ubiquitous in markets across Xizang. For locals like Tamdrin Tsering, the learning curve was steep but rewarding. "I started from zero. Experts from Guangdong imparted techniques about edible mushrooms to me with utmost dedication and in a hands-on manner," Tamdrin Tsering said. After a period of learning, he passed on his expertise to local villagers in Nyingchi. The Institute of Microbiology has nurtured a batch of local talents in the research and cultivation of edible mushrooms in Nyingchi. It has also established an edible mushroom spawn station and a cultivation demonstration platform for the city. Ganoderma leucocontextum, a new species of Ganodermataceae endemic to the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, has been domesticated, cultivated, and commercialized thanks to the combined efforts of several scientists from the institute, including Wu, Yang, Hu Huiping, and Li Taihui. At present, over 30 enterprises and farmer households in Xizang produce more than 2.7 million bags of the mushroom species annually. In Milin county, Nyingchi, grower Li Jianyang tends to his lingzhi mushrooms in three greenhouses covering 1.5 mu (0.1 hectares) of land. "Besides the greenhouses, I grow lingzhi mushrooms in 10 mu of forests. This year, I expect to harvest 150-250 kilograms of dried lingzhi mushrooms," he said. A portion of his products are sold to tourists, and more are acquired through downstream companies, including Guangdong Micro Edible Mushroom Technology Co., Ltd., for further processing. In 2020, the company signed agreements for the processing of lingzhi mushrooms with Nyingchi's edible mushroom enterprises, helping the city establish a complete edible mushroom industry chain from cultivation to deep processing and branding. "Lingzhi mushrooms can be used in health products, beverages, and skincare," Yang said, expressing optimism about the market prospects of lingzhi products in the future. (Web editor: Chang Sha, Hongyu) As several parts of Bihar are grappling with severe flooding due to heavy discharge of water from the Kosi Barrage in Birpur, Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha on Monday assured that the state government is working in coordination with the central government to mitigate the flooding situation. Speaking to the media, Sinha assured that safety measures will be taken to keep "people safe." Deputy CM Sinha said, "Such a situation has been created after half a century. 6,61,000 cusecs of water have been released. Bihar is experiencing this for the first time. But the government is alert. It will not be able to cause much damage... The Bihar government and the central government will fight this together. We will keep our people safe... We are in contact with the officials of many districts." Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Bihar's Disaster Management Minister Santosh Suman visited the State Emergency Operations Centre to review the flood situation in the state and said that emergency teams are on high alert to provide relief and support. He said, "The entire teams of the Disaster Management Authority, SDRF, and NDRF are on alert mode in all flood-affected districts. We are providing relief at all affected places. We have hired many boats and also have boat ambulances. Relief shelters are also operational, and people are being evacuated. The Centre is also on alert. We have adequate teams of SDRF and NDRF in the state. If required, we will ask for more NDRF teams from the Centre." Several parts of Bihar are struggling with severe flooding due to heavy water discharge from the Kosi Barrage in Birpur, following relentless rainfall in the catchment areas of Nepal. Rivers are at or above danger levels in many bordering districts. A massive volume of water has been released from the Kosi and Gandak barrages, affecting northern Bihar and Nepal. Floods in Sitamarhi followed a breach in the Mandar dam in the Belsand block on September 29. Floodwaters have also entered the Katra Bakuchi Power Grid in Muzaffarpur, leaving 45,000 homes without power, sources added. Officials have cut off power as a precaution and plan to restore it after water levels drop. Sunil Kumar, an engineer at the power station, said, "The water has entered the control room of the power grid. Keeping safety in mind, the power supply can be shut down anytime in 22 panchayats in Katra block. Approximately 42,000-43,000 consumers will have to face the problem. Power will be cut off after the instructions of the department officials..." Residents have expressed their frustrations with the situation. "The administration is not active; no one has come to see the situation yet," said a resident of Muzaffarpur. The Kosi River has flooded many northeastern districts, disrupting normal life in Supaul. "Our homes are filled with water; I have seen this kind of flooding since 1961. No one has come to meet us yet," shared Joginder Mehta, a resident of Supaul. Another resident added, "I have been here in the village since 1980. Houses have been broken, and we are also facing a loss in agriculture as well." (ANI) Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for neglecting farmers and said that he wants to break the 'Chakravyuh' of the Bharatiya Janata Party. "We don't want such an India where 25 people enjoy themselves, organise weddings worth thousands of crores of rupees and farmers and labourers die of hunger. To change this, we have to break the Chakravyuh of Narendra Modi and BJP. Narendra Modi's God is Adani. Whatever Adani says, Narendra Modi does it. Adani says- Mumbai airport is required, Apple business is required in Himachal Pradesh, Apple-walnut business is needed in Kashmir, thousands of acres of farmers' land is needed Narendra Modi gives them all that," Rahul Gandhi asserted while addressing a poll rally in Thanesar. He further went on to say that the loans of labourers and poor people should also be waived off. "Land acquisition, MANREGA, right to food--these are the works of Congress. The public benefitted from these works. Our aim is that if the loans of billionaires are waived off, then the loans of farmers, labourers, and poor people should also be waived off," he said. He further said, "Few days ago, I went to America and met youths from Haryana there. 20-25 youths live in a small room there... They spent Rs 30-35 lakh, someone sold his land, someone took loan from moneylender since banks won't give them money as they give money only to Adani... I asked them why they did not start a business back here rather than spending Rs 30-35 lakh. They told me they have nothing left in Haryana; small and middle-size businesses cannot run in Haryana. If youth want employment in Haryana, they will never get it. For that, there is only one way - America. And there, Narendra Modi's friend Trump is trying to block their way." Meanwhile, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi attacked the BJP government and held the Union government responsible for farmers' "miserable condition." "My farmer brothers work very hard on the fields to feed the people of the nation. Your sons are protecting the borders and us. This government (BJP) only brings black laws. They called you, the farmers, anti-nationals. Don't forget that the BJP government is responsible for your miserable condition today," Priyanka said. Rahul Gandhi, former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and MPs Kumari Selja and KC Venugopal urged voters to caste their votes in favour of Congress as they displayed a show of strength at a public rally in Ambala, earlier today. Haryana will go to the polls on October 5 to elect its 90-member state legislative assembly, with counting set to take place on October 8. In the 2019 elections, the BJP emerged as the single-largest party, securing 40 seats, while Congress won 30 seats. (ANI) Bharat Rashtra Samiti working President K T Rama Rao on Monday heavily criticised the Musi River Beautification Project, calling it 'scam' and raising objections against the demolition. KTR slammed the proposed budget for the beautification project, pointing the Central Government's budget for the rejuvenation of the Ganga River and accusing CM Revanth Reddy of 'scam'. "Instead of fulfilling your promises, you don't have money for that. But you have 1,50,000 crores for the Musi project. The central government only spend 40,000 crores for the 2400 km Ganga river. But for Musi River, which is 54 km, 1.50 lakh crores is being spent. If this is not a scam, then what is this?" KTR said. KTR further criticised the demolitions for the rejuvenation project, demanding the demolition of the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Assets Monitoring and Protection (HYDRA) Commissioner's office. "If demolitions had to be done, then first HYDRA commissioner's office should be demolished. It is on the nala. Secondly, the GHMC building should be demolished because it is also on Nala," KTR said. "When Musi victims are crying here, where are your supreme leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi? Where are they now? They did a lot of acting during the elections. Whenever you vote for Delhi leaders, this is the state in Gully," he added. "You talked about building houses for the poor. If the people knew that you would demolish houses, then people wouldn't have voted for you.When you do anything today, you are not facing the media, the officials are being put in the forefront. Why aren't the ministers coming to the media?" KTR continued his verbal tirade. "Today, people are angry against you. They are scolding you. Don't go into those places, we are not responsible for anything that happens there. Don't go there even by mistake. Today thousands of people are being made homeless. BRS won't stay silent when houses that were built with all permissions are demolished now." KTR said. CM Revanth Reddy on Saturday announced that historic buildings located along the Musi River will be developed as the famous tourist spots. The CM said that the government is committed to promoting the tourism sector along with making Telangana a welfare state. The State Tourism Department signed an agreement with CII for the restoration of several ancient Stepwells in Hyderabad. Speaking on this occasion, CM Revanth Reddy said, "The government has taken up the Musi Riverfront development project ambitiously." The CM criticised the previous government for neglecting the numerous historical buildings, which have reached dilapidated condition in the city. CM Revanth Reddy said, "The state government has taken up the renovation of the old assembly building and the state legislative council will be shifted to the renovated buildings soon. The famous Jubilee Hall, which is the house of the Legislative Council, has historical significance." (ANI) On the eve of the third phase of voting in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar urged voters to participate in greater numbers. Kumar congratulated the people of J&K for turning out in record numbers. During the first phase, the voter turnout was 61.38%, and in the second phase, it was 57.3%. Comparatively, the voter turnout during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was 58.58%. Kumar stated, "I congratulate the people of Jammu and Kashmir for participating in the celebration of democracy. We witnessed an increase in the voting percentage, the number of candidates, processions, and campaigning. In the last two phases of polling, there have been no cases of boycotts or repolling. This voter turnout is historic. We urge every section of society to cast their vote in the third phase of elections. In 17 assembly constituencies, the voting percentage of women is higher than that of men." More than 7,200 permissions were granted through the Suvidha portal for rallies and meetings. The first phase of voting took place on September 18, and the second phase concluded on September 25. Voting in the third phase will take place on Tuesday across 40 constituencies. The counting of votes is scheduled for October 8, with results expected shortly afterward, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI). More than 3.9 million voters are eligible to cast their ballots across 40 constituencies spread over seven districts. Voting will take place between 7 AM and 6 PM, with security measures in place to ensure a smooth and peaceful process. At least 415 candidates, including former deputy chief ministers Tara Chand (Congress) and Muzaffar Hussain Beig, are contesting in the third phase. (ANI) Thirty citizens who have distinguished themselves in diverse professions joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday in a membership drive held at the residence of senior BJP leader and Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. These individuals come from diverse sectors such as healthcare, industry, environment, and non-governmental organisations, showcasing the growing appeal of the BJP across varied sections of society. Speaking on the occasion, the newly inducted members commended the work done by the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the past decade. They highlighted the transformation India has undergone, particularly in infrastructure development and economic growth. Several speakers emphasised how the country has evolved from a fragile economy in 2014 to being ranked among the top five economies in the world, on course to become the 3rd largest economy soon. Expressing their faith in the Prime Minister's vision, the new members pledged their dedication to the goal of nation-building, contributing towards the realisation of Viksit Bharat by 2047. Puri welcomed the new members, stating that their experience and commitment would further strengthen the party's efforts to shape India's future. "Nation First Progress First Empowerment of people first... This is the ideology of the party family that is BJP and also an inspiration for nation-lovers. Under BJP Sadasyata 2024 many eminent people of the country took membership of the party family in the program organized at my residence today. Everyone said in one voice that PM Narendra Modi's intentions are clear, policies are clear and decisions are solid! We are all ready to fulfill his resolve of 'developed India'. All of you respected people from different fields are welcome in the party family. Undoubtedly, your joining will strengthen the party and will give new momentum to the journey towards a developed India," said Minister Hardeep Puri in his post on X. Earlier in the day, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that 53 lakh members have enrolled as BJP members in Assam. "So far we have been able to enrol 53 lakh members, and we have achieved 85 per cent of our target. As of now, Assam is the number one state across the country that achieved 85 per cent of its target. In 71 Assembly constituencies of the state, we have enrolled more than 40,000 members in each constituency," CM Sarma said on Monday. Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the BJP's 2024 membership drive by renewing his membership on September 2. The new membership drive was launched in New Delhi with PM Modi getting the certificate for the renewal of his membership from BJP president JP Nadda. (ANI) Ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections, Union Minister for Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Monday lashed out at the Congress party, saying that Congress made Muslims poor in the last 60 years. He further warned Congress not to use Muslims as their vote bank. "I want to ask our Muslims, who made you poor in the last 60 years? Congress did it. Today PM Modi opens bank accounts for you (Muslims), builds houses for you, and gives water, electricity, and loans. He treats all Indians equally. The benefit goes to everyone. So why should all Muslim votes go to Congress?... Misusing one community is a wrong thing. I warn Congress, don't make Muslims vote banks. This time we will make sure that minority votes don't go to Congress. We will go to people with a clear message," said Rijiju. Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, on Monday announced several key decisions, including raising the limit of death and retirement gratuity to Rs 20 lakh and creating 4,860 special teacher posts in the state. These decisions were taken at a Cabinet meeting here today. In a post on X, the Maharashtra Chief Minister's Office stated, "Various important decisions were taken in the State Cabinet meeting held today at Mantralaya under the chairmanship of Chief Minister @mieknathshinde . Deputy Chief Minister @Dev_Fadnavis , Deputy Chief Minister @AjitPawarSpeaks along with Cabinet members, were present." In the cabinet meeting, state government approved a ten per cent salary increase for Kotwals, and a compassionate policy. The state government has granted approval for interest-free secondary loan assistance to the MMRDA. The state government also announced a subsidy scheme for rearing indigenous cows was. Maharashtra legislative Assembly elections will be held in 288 constituencies. The Election Commission of India has yet to announce the dates for the election. The upcoming polls 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). (ANI) President Droupadi Murmu said on Monday that doctors provide the healing touch to ailing humanity and only they can make a difference between life and death. President Murmu was addressing the 10th Convocation Ceremony of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences (ABVIMS) in the presence of JP Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Dr VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, here today. "You have taken on a big responsibility. In our country, doctors are treated as gods because they take care of people's health. Please remember there should be a healing touch with the medicines you prescribe," she stated. Speaking on the cases of violence against doctors and other health functionaries, the President also highlighted the need of patients and patient carers to remain calm during difficult times, stating that no doctor wants their patients to suffer. "During the COVID pandemic, doctors and nurses performed their duties with dedication to save lives, and as a country, we will always be grateful to them," she added. President Droupadi Murmu also urged the medical fraternity and related institutions to prioritise women's health. She highlighted that the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana has assisted women in accessing healthcare services. She also noted the achievements in the healthcare sector during the last 10 years. "The number of medical institutions has increased, and the number of PG seats has doubled. New AIIMS have been established, and undergraduate courses have been introduced in these institutions," the president said. She also presented the degrees to students of ABVIMS, including 36 Super Speciality students. Speaking on the occasion, JP Nadda also congratulated all the students and emphasised that ensuring the highest standards of medical education is a top priority for the government. "The students and scholars present here are our human resource capital for building a better future," he stated. The Union Health Minister highlighted that professional education is a privilege that only a few are fortunate to receive, noting that "the government spends about 30-35 lakh rupees per medical student per year for providing such professional education." He encouraged the students to efficiently apply their talent, skills, and knowledge towards improving the healthcare system in the country. "Situation of doctors in India is entirely different from that of the western countries. The huge footfall at hospitals in India is not comparable with most of the countries across the globe. Not many can understand and comprehend the kind of patient care, research and innovations our doctors are involved in," Nadda said. Dr V K Paul reiterated the advice of the President regarding the responsibilities of medical professionals, highlighting excellence, values, and empathy as key traits to success. He also encouraged the students to become academicians so that they can share their knowledge and expertise with the next generation of medical professionals. (ANI) Karnataka Law Minister H K Patil on Monday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to react to the alleged electoral bond case against Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and others. Patil asserted that the electoral bond case is a 'scadal' as 'uttered' by the Supreme Court. "I would like the Prime Minister to react to this Rs 8000 crores scandal which has already surfaced in Karnataka. I am talking about the electoral bonds. It is a scandal which has also been uttered by the Supreme Court," HK Patil said. Earlier in the day, Karnataka High Court ordered an interim stay till October 22, 2024, on an FIR filed against Sitharaman in a case related to alleged extortion of money through electoral bonds. The petition was filed by former State BJP President Naleen Kumar Kateel, who is co-accused in the case. An Interim stay has also been issued into the FIR registered against the then Karnataka BJP Chief Naleen Kumar Kateel, who is co-accused in a case alleging that he committed extortion under the guise and garb of electoral bonds. The next hearing is scheduled for October 22. The High court said, "Permitting investigation even prima facie, till the statement of objection are filed by respondent, will be abuse of process of law. In that light, I deem it appropriate to interdict further investigation in the matter till the next date of hearing." Earlier on Friday, a Bengaluru court had ordered the filing of an FIR against Nirmala Sitharaman and others for allegedly extorting money through electoral bonds. This came in the wake of a petition filed by Adarsh Iyer of Janadhikar Sangharsh Parishad (JSP) to the Special Court of People's Representatives seeking a direction to take action against the Union Minister. Following the hearing, the court ordered the Tilak Nagar police station in Bengaluru to register an FIR for the crime of extortion through electoral bonds against the Minister. (ANI) The Supreme Court on Monday sought to place on record the report of the National Task Force in regards to safety and other issues related to professionals in the matter regarding the rape and murder of a PG trainee doctor at Kolkata-based RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and also comprising justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra direction came when it was hearing the suo motu petition relating to Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. Earlier, the top court has constituted a National Task Force to look into safety and other issue and consider to prepare action plan relating to prevent gender-based violence, dignified working space for interns, resident, non resident doctors. The top court had asked National Task Force to submit an interim report. During the course of the hearing, the Supreme Court sought to know what steps have been taken by the West Bengal government in regard to the installation of CCTV cameras, toilet construction and biometrics. The top court asked why the progress was so tardy. Senior Advocate Dwivedi for WB replied that logistical delays happened due to floods but assured that things will be completed by October 15. SC also notes the status report by West Bengal, which indicates the ongoing work. During the hearing, Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for the victim's parents, apprised the Supreme Court that a lot of social media posts disclosing names and photos of the victim are available, which is very alarming. Advocate Vrinda Grover also informed SC about a YouTube movie that will be released tomorrow, which says that the movie is based on the incident. Senior Advocate Karuna Nundy, appearing for one of the parties connected to the case, also informed SC that reels are being made using artificial intelligence and with Hindi songs. Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani submitted about a senior police officer who revealed the name of the victim. After hearing the submission, the top court again reiterated its direction to all social media intermediaries to remove all the posts that reveal the name and identity of the victim. The Supreme Court said its earlier order should not be confined to Wikipedia but for all social media intermediaries not to disclose the name and identity of the victims. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured the SC that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will appoint a nodal official to check such posts and any uploading of unauthorized publication will be taken down and necessary action will be taken. In the meantime, the top court took notes of the status report by the CBI and said that substantial leads have come from the probe agency investigation and says let Central Bureau Investigation continue its probing. SC noted the CBI probe gives information on both aspects - rape incidents in the hospital and financial irregularities in the RG Kar medical institute. The SC notes CBI's report shows that the injury was accelerated because of braces and glasses the victim was wearing. Meanwhile, Senior Advocate Indira Jaisingh said that RG kar incident is not simple rape and murder case and informed SC that he has four names who arrived at the place of crime and among them some are elected members of the council. Senior Advocate Karuna Nundy submitted before SC a lot of people mentioned in CBI in connection with financial irregularities are holding positions of power and calls it the reason behind the existing threat culture. Senior Advocate Karuna Nundy urged the SC that such people should be suspended temporarily till investigation is over. The Supreme Court asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to apprise on the next date of hearing about the people, under investigation for financial irregularities, still employed in RG Kar Hospital. Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi for West Bengal Government assured the SC that if CBI shares any information of such person, state government will take action against the people, who are under probe by the CBI in connection with RG kar case, as per law, service rules and regulations. After hearing the matter for a length, the top court adjourned it for further hearing after Dussehra vacation. The top court has taken suo motu cognisance on the rape and murder of a doctor in state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal. (ANI) Delhi Police arrested two people along with one 'child in conflict of law' (CCL) belonging to Nagaland for supplying illicit 'Ganja' from Shillong to the national capital through airways and the post office. The accused have been identified as Ato Sumi (30) and R. Kechyelo Seb (22). As per the Police, it has recovered 4.590 Kg Illicit Ganja from the room of accused person's, two parcels weighing 12 kg held in post office to be delivered to accused and their mobile phones. According to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, South West, Rohit Meena, on September 19, information was received regarding the sale of illicit Ganja by 2-3 persons at Humayunpur Village, New Delhi. "Immediately, a team of Special Staff led by SI Ashok Kumar Meena was constituted. On receiving of the information, a raid was conducted at Humayunpur village on the identity of the secret informer and apprehended three accused along with illicit Ganja of approx. 4.590 Kg from their room," DCP Meena said. "During course of investigation, they were interrogated and arrested in the present case and they disclosed that they received the illicit Ganja from Shillong, Meghalaya from one Kawi (they are not known by the original name of supplier) through post office in parcels," he said. The Delhi Police also mentioned that the accused Ato Sumi also received the amount of illicit Ganja in his bank accounts. "For the purpose of investigation regarding source and supply, accused persons were taken on 10 days PC remand and CCL was sent to judicial custody as his age proof documents were not available and he disclosed his age of year 2006 before the court. During investigation of the case, accused Ato Sumi was interrogated and as per his disclosure as well as data available in mobile phone of the accused, it was found that he received the illicit Ganja from Shillong, Meghalaya through post office in Vasant Kunj," DCP Meena added. Police also mentioned that the three bank accounts of the acuused Sumi were freezed with total amount of Rs. 37,45,502. "Further investigation of the case is under process to arrest of the source and receiver of illicit Ganja in the present case," they said. (ANI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the closing ceremony of BJP's Parivartan Yatra in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh district on October 2, as per party sources. As per party sources, during his visit to Jharkhand, PM Modi will first hold a meeting with the tribal community in Ranchi, following which he will head to Hazaribagh's Gandhi Maidan to attend the closing ceremony of the yatra. This visit will mark the second time in 17 days that PM Modi will be in Jharkhand, following his previous visit to Jamshedpur on September 15. The 'Parivartan Yatra' began on September 20 from six different locations in the state and has seen participation from central and state-level BJP leaders who have been energising the party's workers. The yatra has travelled through 200 blocks across Jharkhand, covering a distance of 5000 kilometres, and will conclude in Hazaribagh on October 2. Top BJP leaders like party president JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, along with other central ministers, have already participated in this initiative. During his visit to Jharkhand, Prime Minister Modi will also lay foundation stone, launch, and inaugurate various projects worth over Rs 83,300 crore at around 2 pm in Hazaribag on October 2. According to Prime Minister's Office, the initiative will cover approximately 63,000 villages across 549 districts and 2,740 blocks in 30 states and Union Territories, directly benefiting over 5 crore tribal people. He will also launch the Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan scheme with a total outlay of over Rs 79,150 crore. Ahead of the upcoming elections, the BJP is using this yatra as a platform to boost the morale of its workers and to promote its agenda of bringing change in Jharkhand's government. Jharkhand is expected to hold elections for its 81-member legislative assembly by December 2024, as the current government's tenure is set to end in January 2025. The Election Commission is yet to announce the election schedule. In 2020 assembly election, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha won 30 seats, Bharatiya Janta Party won 25 and Congress won 16. (ANI) Central Armed Police Forces (CRPF) and Quick Response Teams (QRTs) have been deployed across the Udhampur district that is going to polls in the third and final phase of polling, covering 40 Assembly constituencies in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Udhampur SSP Amod Ashok Nagpure said that measures have been put in place across the district to ensure a peaceful and smooth election. "As the polling is going to be held on October 1 in Udhampur, the polling parties are being dispatched today...Udhampur police is focused on ensuring a peaceful and smooth election process. Quick Response Teams (QRTs) and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel are deployed across the district. The district has 654 polling booths. Special night QRTs and night domination measures have been put in place to maintain a secure environment throughout the night. SSP Nagpure said that there has been a special deployment of security personnel in the areas of Basantgarh, Latti, and Dudu in the Udhampur district. "Basantgarh, Latti, and Dudu (areas of Udhampur district) are focus points for us. There has been a special deployment of security personnel in these areas. I appeal to the voters to participate in the election process," SSP Nagpure added. The high-stakes campaigning for the third and final phase of polling in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections concluded on Sunday evening, with voting set to take place for 40 constituencies in the third phase. Of the 40 constituencies, 24 fall under the Jammu division and the remaining in Kashmir. This election marks the first one in a decade and the first since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. The three-phase election is witnessing a multi-cornered fight for the 90 seats across the erstwhile state. While the National Conference and the Congress are fighting the elections in an alliance, the People's Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are the two other major players. The third and final phase of polling is scheduled for October 1, while the counting of votes will take place on October 8. Voter turnouts of 61 per cent and 57.31 per cent was recorded in the first and second phases of polling respectively in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the Election Commission of India said on Friday. (ANI) Union Health Minister JP Nadda Monday said that the huge footfall at hospitals in India is not comparable with most of the countries across the globe and said that the situation of doctors is entirely different from those in western countries. President Droupadi Murmu, along with Union Minister JP Nadda, on Monday attended the 10th Convocation Ceremony of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences, Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, at Bharat Mandapam in the National Capital. "...It is true that education is a right. But we must realise that professional education is a privilege which we get. Not many of us get the opportunity to pursue such professional education. The government spends about Rs 30-35 lakh per medical student per year for providing such professional education," JP Nadda said while addressing the gathering. "It is not only our calibre and talent but the entire ecosystem around you which is responsible for enabling you to avail this exceptional opportunity. It is your hardwork and the dedication complemented with the support of your parents, teachers, technicians and even the support staff working in the hostels and the canteens which has culminated you in making a doctor like you, " JP Nadda said to the students. He called on the students to give back the selfless and dedicated service to the nation. "In this moment of joy, you must look back and acknowledge the contributions of each and everyone.It is now for you to give back to society the selfless and dedicated service to the nation," he said in his address. The Union Health Minister also spoke briefly about the condition of doctors and the huge footfall (of patients) visiting the hospitals. "The situation of doctors is entirely different from those in western countries. The huge footfall at hospitals in India is not comparable with most of the countries across the globe. "Not many can understand and comprehend the kind of patient care, research, and and innovations our doctors are involved in.It is we, who have to realise and recognise the kind of work we are doing," JP Nadda said. (ANI) In a major success, Madhya Pradesh police of Dindori district rescued six tribal minor girls from national capital New Delhi who were forced into domestic work and were facing problems in returning to their home, a police officer said on Monday. The matter came to light when the family member of one of the minor girls lodged a missing complaint with the police. During investigation, police reached Delhi and they came to know about the other girls as well. Following which, the police brought back all the six girls and handed them over to their respective families. Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Jagannath Singh Markarm told ANI, "Family members of a girl lodged a missing complaint at Samnapur police station in the district. Acting on the complaint, the police registered a case under section 137 (2) (Punishment for kidnapping) of Bharatiya Nyay Sahita (BNS), 2023 against an unidentified person and constituted a team to investigate the matter." During the probe, the police came to know that the minor girl's last location was in New Delhi. Thereafter, a joint team of Dindori police and an NGO Jan Sahas reached the national capital and saved the minor girl, he said. "Meanwhile, we received information that there were other girls as well. After which, the team with help of cyber cell successfully rescued a total of six minor girls, one of them is a resident of Mandla district and the remaining are the resident of Dindori district. These girls were taken there for domestic work and were facing problems returning to their homes," the officer said. All the girls have been successfully brought to the district and handed over to their respective families, he added. (ANI) The contract for procurement of 'Generation of Quantum Secure Key (Quantum Key Distribution)' with QuNu Labs was signed, in the presence of Lt Gen NC Raja Subramani, Vice Chief of the Army Staff at South Block, New Delhi. QuNu Labs had proposed a 200 km single hop Quantum Key Distribution in Open Challenge 2.0 under iDEX. It will replace the algorithm-based encryption systems thus enabling greater security as also optimising manpower commitment. iDEX was launched by Prime Minister Modi on April 12, 2018, during Defence Expo India 2018. The aim of iDEX is to create an eco-system to foster innovations and encourage technological development in Defence and Aerospace by engaging Research & Development (R&D) Institutes, Academia, Industries including MSMEs, Start-Ups, individual innovators and provide them grants/ funding and other support to carry out R&D which has good potential for future adoption by Indian Defence and Aerospace Organisation. iDEX under Defence Innovation Organisation has emerged as a front-runner in establishing the right kind of contact with the Startups and Innovators and has gained substantial traction in the Defence Startup Community. At present, there are total of 74 Projects of IA under iDEX included as part of Acing Devp of Innovation Tech with iDEX (ADITI), Defence India Startup Challenge (DISC) & Open Challenge schemes which involve handholding of 77 Startups for development of latest state of art solutions for the Indian Army. Indian Army is already carrying out field exploitation of the four delivered equipment from various iDEX schemes. Based on the results of the field exploitation further Spiral Development of the innovative technology will be progressed with the Startups. (ANI) The meeting lasted for about half an hour in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah, Organisation General Secretary BL Santosh, Delhi State President Virendra Sachdeva, former Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri, and Pravesh Verma. According to sources, the issues of unauthorised colonies in Delhi, slums, water problemsand electricity bills were discussed. The meeting also addressed the strategic plan of the BJP to attack the Aam Aadmi Party government on corruption. According to sources, in the meeting, the high command was directed to make a road map for the preparation of Delhi Assembly elections within 7 days. Instructions have been given to bring the merits of the central government to the public and to make a strategy to win the assembly elections. Speaking further, the source said that Delhi Assembly elections are to be held in February 2025. The BJP will contest the assembly elections with full strength as it is eyeing to win the 70 assembly seats in Delhi. According to sources, strategies like exposing the shortcomings and corruption of Arvind Kejriwal in front of the public and highlighting the achievements of the central government in front of the people of Delhi as much as possible have been discussed. Congress could not win a single seat in the Delhi assembly polls held in 2020. While AAP won 62 out of the 70 seats, the BJP secured eight seats in the last assembly polls. (ANI) On September 29, 193 Battalion BSF intercepted one truck and one bus at Ranikor-Dangar T-junction, which was coming from Shillong towards the border area and was loaded with edible items worth approximately Rs 43,00,000, said the release. During the inquiry, the drivers failed to produce valid documents related to the vehicles and the loaded items, stated the release. Subsequently, the five apprehended Indian nationals, along with the vehicles and seized items, were handed over to the Dangar Police Outpost, the release stated further. Last month, in two different operations, alert troops of BSF Meghalaya successfully thwarted illegal smuggling attempts along the India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya by seizing cattle and other contraband items worth more than Rs 16 lakhs while being smuggled to Bangladesh through the international border of Meghalaya, said an official press release from BSF. Acting on specific info, BSF troops of 193 Bn BSF Meghalaya seized a huge quantity of eatable and contraband items along the Indo-Bangladesh border of the East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya. In another operation, BSF troops of the 4th Bn BSF rescued 12 buffaloes from the border area of BOP Hawaitila, while being smuggled to Bangladesh. Apart from the above operations, BSF troops of 200 Bn BSF Meghalaya seized a large quantity of clothing items while being smuggled to Bangladesh from the international border of Meghalaya. (ANI) BJP MP Lahar Singh Siroya on Monday said that the Justice Kempanna Commission, appointed by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, has confirmed that the Siddaramiah-led government (2013-2018) violated Supreme Court guidelines by illegally denotifying 325.46 acres in Arkavathy Layout, Bangalore and said that the list of the Congress government's scams is getting longer. "It has now come to light that the four-volume (1861 pages) Js. Kempanna Commission report had found that nearly 325.62 acres of land were illegally de-notified in the Arkavathy Layout, near Bangalore, in clear violation of Supreme Court guidelines. This means, it is established that it is a scam of a few thousand crores," the BJP MP stated He further said that "this de-notification happened in the first term of the Siddaramaiah government (2013-2018). Interestingly, the Js. Kempanna Commission was constituted by the then Siddaramaiah government after the Opposition had made a serious allegation that the de-notification process was heavily compromised." The BJP leader said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had maintained that "no illegality" had been committed in the de-notification process and the Supreme Court guidelines had been adhered to. "Even a few days ago, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had maintained that no illegality had been committed in the de-notification process and the Supreme Court guidelines had been adhered to. But I wonder what he would now say to the revelations in the note written by an officer serving under his own government, on a commission set up by his own government. Will he at least now honestly admit that his government did wrong? The note that exposes this finding of the commission was written in 2017 by an IAS officer of the Additional Chief Secretary level in-charge of the Government of Karnataka's Urban Development Department. It was written for the exclusive consumption of the government and has important notings on it. The Siddaramaiah government had resisted pressure to table the Js. Kempanna Commission report in the Assembly, and the reason as to why it stubbornly fought to suppress the report is now apparent," he said. He further said that the Kempanna Commission report is such a detailed and thorough one that an FIR should be filed directly without any delay. "Recently, the Hon'ble Governor of Karnataka, Thawar Chand Gehlot Ji, had asked the Chief Secretary to send across the JS Kempanna Commission report and files related to the Arkavathy Layout for his perusal. Without wasting time, the present Siddaramaiah government had instructed the Chief Secretary to not send anything across to the Governor without the permission of the cabinet. They did not care that they were committing an unconstitutional act by giving such an instruction. The files have still not reached the Governor. Was the Siddaramaiah government is afraid that yet another mega scam of the Congress government would be exposed? As mentioned earlier, the Arkavathy layout de-notification is pegged to be a scam worth a few thousand crores. Whom did this scam benefit? Where did its illegal proceeds go to? Did it fund any election? In fact, since the Js. Kempanna Commission report is such a detailed and thorough one, an FIR should be filed directly without any delay. The Congress government should trust the commission that it itself set up," Siroya stated. He further said that the MUDA scam, the Valmiki Corporation scam, the KIADB scam, the Arkavathy scam, etc, "the list of the Congress government's scams only gets longer." "We are bound to see these scams cause a political earthquake in Karnataka soon," he said. Earlier today, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in an alleged money laundering case against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, linked to the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), the sources said. Meanwhile, Congress General Secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said that Karnataka Chief Minister will be proved innocent. "It is no secret that the ED has become a tool for the non-biological Prime Minister to harass political opponents and carry out politics of vengeance and revenge. In May 2023, the people of Karnataka rejected him badly. He is unable to forget that humiliation. The Congress believes that he and his ED will soon be fully exposed. We have nothing to fear in any way. The Karnataka Chief Minister will be proved innocent," Jairam Ramesh posted on X. On September 27, the Lokayukta Police filed an FIR against Karnataka Chief Minister and others in connection with the alleged Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) land allotment 'scam'. The FIR has been filed by the Mysuru Lokayukta under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 351, 420, 340, 09, and 120B among others, they said. The FIR mentions CM Siddaramaiah, his wife, brother-in-law and others as accused in the case, they added. It is alleged that MUDA illegally allotted 14 sites to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wife in the prime location of Mysuru city. The BJP has demanded that CM Siddaramiah resign and the probe be taken over by the ED and CBI. "In the case of Karnataka Congress CM Siddaramaiah's MUDA scam, the way his family made huge wealth by misusing land and government authority in the Mysore Urban Development Authority, the court has given this decision in which CM Siddaramaiah has been made accused number one. Is the Chief Minister the first and the prime accused in this? The important thing is no central agency has investigated this and no one has filed an application on their own," RS MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said. CM Siddaramiah however has quashed all demands for his resignation. "Let them first take the resignation of HD Kumaraswamy and others; shouldn't they make them Kumaraswamy resign? Even Modi also has to resign in the electoral bond issue. They have misused the electoral bond and looted; in that issue, HD Kumarswamy, Nirmala Sitharaman and Modi resign first," Siddaramaiah said. (ANI) Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sahnawaj Hussain on Monday slammed the People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti for expressing grief over Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah's death, asking why she doesn't express similar feelings when Indian soldiers get killed in Jammu and Kashmir. Hussain also accused Mufti of doing vote bank politics to woo the 14 per cent Shia voters in Kashmir. Speaking to ANI, Shahnawaz Hussain said, "Mehbooba Mufti is playing vote bank politics, she is aware that 14 per cent of Shia voters are there (in Kashmir). But why doesn't she speak up or show grief when Indian soldiers are killed? Why doesn't she abandon her campaign then? Why doesn't she feel sorrow when Indian soldiers die, but show so much grief over the death of Hezbollah's chief? The whole country knows this." His comments came after People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday cancelled her election campaign in solidarity with "martyrs of Lebanon and Gaza" after Hezbollah leader Nasallah was killed by Israel in Beirut. In a post on X, Mehbooba Mufti said, "Cancelling my campaign tomorrow in solidarity with the martyrs of Lebanon and Gaza especially Hassan Nasarullah. We stand with the people of Palestine and Lebanon in this hour of immense grief and exemplary resistance." Meanwhile, BJP leader Nalin Kohli has questioned Mehbooba Mufti's stance on past violence in Jammu and Kashmir after her statement on the Hezbollah chief's death, saying, "On which side are they standing? Are they standing on the path of peace? Or on the path of violence?" Speaking to ANI BJP leader Kohli, "The larger question is, on which side are they standing? Are they standing on the path of peace? Or on the path of violence? ... Now when they come out with this kind of statement on an organisation or a person where globally there are concerns about the path of violence that it took to, then they will obviously, Omar Abdullah and Mufti, be seen as being on the path that supports violence and not peace. And the larger question then will come that when the violence took place in Jammu and Kashmir, when terrorism started to increase there, in which there was a genocide and the Kashmiri Pandits were moved out of it... Therefore, were they also in a way indirectly supporting that kind of thinking that led to violence? These are serious questions that they can't escape answers from." (ANI) Jan Suraaj founder and election strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor on Monday called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "weaker PM" in his third term and said that the popularity and strength of PM Modi have dropped. "PM Modi is a weaker PM in his third term, you can see that. But I had said before elections that whatever be the number of seats they get, in his third term he would prove to be weaker because people have seen his work on the ground for 10 years...People of Bihar gave more than 30 seats to the BJP in 2014. In 2019, the state gave them 39 seats. This time too, they won more than 30 seats. But what change came in the lives of people of Bihar?...If nothing happened, the number of supporters of PM Modi from 2014 and 2019 will obviously go down...Whether the allies would be with him, is something they would know," Kishor told ANI. He further said that Prime Minister Modi' popularity and strength have dropped. "But it is clear that PM Modi's popularity and strength have dropped. The longevity would depend on the elections in 9 states in the next 2-2.5 years, if results are against the BJP, questions will rise on the stability of the government. If the BJP performs well, their strength will remain the same," he added. On Congress MP and Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi, the Jan Suraaj founder said that .Rahul Gandh's leadership in Congress is fully established, adding that the Congress leader still has a long way to go in becoming a leader of the nation. "There has been a little improvement in Congress's condition...Rahul Gandhi made efforts in the last 1.5-2 years, and he has benefitted through that too. His leadership in Congress is fully established...But he is now established as the leader of Congress, not that of the country. His grandmother, Indira Gandhi faced the biggest loss of her life in 1977 - I think Congress won 154 seats at that time. This (2024 polls) is being dubbed as the biggest win of Rahul Gandhi's life and Congress has won 99 seats. So, this is the difference. It shows that Rahul Gandhi still has a long way to go in becoming a leader of the nation," he added. The declaration of results of the 18th Lok Sabha election in the 543-member Parliament saw the BJP-led NDA winning 294 seats and the INDIA bloc bagging 234 seats. (ANI) Rouse Avenue District Court in New Delhi on Monday convicted five accused, including R.S. Rungta, then Managing Director of Rungta Projects Ltd., in a case related to allegations of false claims for allocation of coal blocks in Jharkhand. CBI registered the case against the accused on April 22, 2015, which pertains to the allocation of the Hutar Sector-C and Hurilong coal blocks, located in the state of Jharkhand, to Rungta Projects Ltd. by the 36th Screening Committee of the Ministry of Coal. It was alleged that Rungta Projects Ltd. submitted an application dated December 30, 2006, to the Ministry of Coal, seeking the allocation of the Hutar Sector-C coal block in Jharkhand. The company claimed that it was an independent mining entity and had entered into an agreement with another company designated as the End-Use Company, with a firm back-to-back tie-up for the supply of coal to their sponge iron plant in Hazari Bagh, Jharkhand. It was further alleged that M/s Rungta Projects Ltd. made false claims in the feedback form regarding the existing capacity of the end-use project, the acquisition of land for the project, and the investment made thus far. Additionally, the company concealed previous coal block allocations made to its group company. During the course of the investigation, it was revealed that Rungta Projects Ltd. had indeed made false claims regarding the capacity of the end-use project, the acquisition of land, and the investments made, all of which were crucial indicators of the company's preparedness for the project. The company also deliberately concealed information about the previous coal block allocation to its group company. CBI filed a chargesheet on June 30, 2015, and a supplementary chargesheet on January 29, 2018 against the accused persons. After trial, the Court held five accused guilty and convicted them. (ANI) A meeting was called at the residence of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National President Jagat Prakash Nadda for discussing the Delhi Assembly elections. This meeting lasted for about half an hour. Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP Organisation General Secretary BL Santosh, Delhi BJP State President Virendra Sachdeva, former Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri and Pravesh Verma were also present in the meeting. A source in the BJP told ANI that putting forward the issues of unauthorised colonies in Delhi, slums, water problems, electricity bills, etc. and bringing the truth about Delhi's Aam Aadmi Party government and the corruption done by them in front of the public was also discussed in today's meeting, said sources. According to sources, in the meeting, the high command has directed to make a road map for the preparation of Delhi Assembly elections within 7 days. Instructions have been given to bring the merits of the central government to the public and to make a strategy to win the assembly elections. Speaking further, the source said that Delhi Assembly elections are to be held in February 2025. The BJP will contest the assembly elections with full strength. The people of Delhi are fed up with the corruption of Arvind Kejriwal and BJP will enter the electoral fray in Delhi with a new strategy. It will work strongly to win the 70 assembly seats in Delhi, the source said. According to sources, strategies like exposing the shortcomings and corruption of Arvind Kejriwal in front of the public and bringing the achievements of the central government in front of the people of Delhi as much as possible have been discussed. Nadda also held meetings with the BJP leaders from West Bengal and Goa. Bengal BJP State President Sukanta Majumdar and leader Surendra Adhikari were present in the meeting, while Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and State Health Minister Vishwajeet Rane were present in the meeting, regarding the state of Goa. (ANI) Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and his supporters were detained by Delhi Police at the Singhu border on Monday night. Section 163 of the BNS has been imposed at Delhi borders, said Delhi Police. Wangchuk also took to X to inform about his detention. "I AM BEING DETAINED... along with 150 padyatris at Delhi Border, by a police force of hundreds, some say 1,000. Many elderly men & women in their 80s and a few dozen Army veterans... Our fate is unknown. We were on a most peaceful march to Bapu's Samadhi... in the largest democracy in the world, the mother of democracy... Hai Ram!" the climate activist posted on X. Wangchuk and other volunteers were embarking on a foot march from Leh to New Delhi to urge the Centre to resume dialogue with Ladakh's leadership regarding their demands. One of their key demands is for Ladakh to be included in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, granting law-making powers to the local population to protect their land and cultural identity. Wangchuk and around 75 volunteers started their foot march from Leh on September 1. Earlier, Wangchuk stated that they were on a mission to remind the government to fulfil the promise it made five years ago. "We are on a mission to remind the government to fulfil the promise it made to us five years ago," he said on September 14 when the foot march reached Himachal Pradesh. Wangchuk has been advocating for statehood, inclusion under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, which grants special rights to tribal communities, and stronger ecological protections for Ladakh. Previously, Sonam Wangchuk completed a nine-day fast in Leh, which he undertook to draw the authorities' attention to the importance of safeguarding Ladakh's fragile mountain ecology and indigenous people. After the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, Jammu and Kashmir was split into two Union Territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. (ANI) Following the Supreme Court's cognisance of the photos of the RG Kar rape and murder victim circulating on social media, the victim's father expressed his confidence in the top court to deliver justice. "The Supreme Court has taken cognisance of the case and directed the state government to take action regarding my daughter's pictures, which continue to spread on social media. We trust the Supreme Court and the CBI, and we hope that justice will be served," the victim's father told reporters. During a hearing on Monday, Advocate Vrinda Grover, representing the victim's parents, informed the Supreme Court that numerous social media posts revealing the victim's name and photos were still available, describing the situation as deeply alarming. Advocate Grover also informed the court about a YouTube movie, scheduled for release on Tuesday, which claims to be based on the incident. Senior Advocate Karuna Nundy, representing another party connected to the case, informed the court that reels featuring artificial intelligence and Hindi songs were being created in relation to the case. Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani also raised concerns about a senior police officer who had revealed the victim's identity. In response, the Supreme Court reiterated its previous directive for all social media platforms to remove any posts disclosing the victim's name and identity. The Supreme Court clarified that its earlier order applies not only to Wikipedia but to all social media platforms, ensuring the protection of the victim's identity. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured the court that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology would appoint a nodal official to monitor such posts, and any unauthorised publications would be removed promptly, with appropriate action taken. Meanwhile, the court reviewed the status report submitted by the CBI and acknowledged that significant leads had emerged from the investigation. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will continue its probe, focusing on both the rape incident and financial irregularities within RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The court also noted that the CBI report highlighted how the victim's injuries were exacerbated by her braces and glasses. Senior Advocate Indira Jaisingh emphasised that the RG Kar incident was not merely a rape and murder case, revealing that four individuals were present at the crime scene, some of whom are elected council members. Advocate Karuna Nundy further stated that many individuals involved in the CBI investigation of financial irregularities held positions of power, contributing to a culture of intimidation. Nundy urged the court to temporarily suspend these individuals from their roles until the investigation was complete. The Supreme Court instructed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to provide an update at the next hearing on whether individuals under investigation for financial irregularities were still employed at RG Kar Hospital. Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the West Bengal government, assured the court that if the CBI provided information on such individuals, the state government would take appropriate action in line with the law, service rules, and regulations. After extensive deliberation, the Supreme Court adjourned the case for further hearing after the Dussehra vacation. The top court has taken suo motu cognisance of the rape and murder of a doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal. (ANI) Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is committed to advancing Haryana. At an election rally on Monday, the Chief Minister criticised the Congress, accusing them of spreading "lies" to deceive the public. "PM Modi's government has a clear vision for moving Haryana forward; for us, the party comes later and the nation first. We are dedicated to advancing the entire nation," Dhami said while supporting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Satpal Jambha from Pundri. "Meanwhile, the Congress and INDI alliance partners sometimes contest elections together in Delhi, but separately in Haryana and Punjab. You (the people) should not be misled by their falsehoods," he added. Dhami also campaigned in Faridabad for BJP candidate Dhanesh Adlakha, receiving a warm welcome upon his arrival. Elsewhere, at a rally in Haryana, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh responded to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's remark about not dying until PM Modi is "removed from power," by saying, "I pray that Mallikarjun Kharge lives for 125 years and that PM Modi remains Prime Minister for as long." During a rally in Charkhi Dadri, Singh stated, "I respect Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. Yesterday, despite feeling unwell at a rally and being assisted by security personnel, he declared his intention to live until he removes Modi Ji from office. According to our beliefs, the maximum lifespan in Kalyug is 125 years. Thus, I pray for his long life and for PM Modi's continued leadership." Notably, Kharge felt unwell during a campaign rally in Kathua, Jammu and Kashmir, but after resting, reiterated his determination to continue until PM Modi is ousted. Singh criticised the Congress's administration, citing Himachal Pradesh as an example of their inability to pay employees. He remarked, "The Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister are merely putting on a show and have declared they will not accept any salary." Haryana is set to vote on October 5 to elect its 90-member state legislative assembly, with the results to be announced on October 8. In the 2019 elections, the BJP emerged as the largest single party with 40 seats, followed by the Congress with 30 seats. The BJP is confident of securing a third term in government. (ANI) The Election Commission of India on Monday suspended the appointment of Colonel Vikrant Prasher from the Indian Army as SSP (Training) and Special (Ops) in J&K Police. The Commission has asked the Jammu and Kashmir administration to explain why such an order was issued without prior approval while the Model Code of Conduct is in effect. The poll body requested the Chief Secretary to submit a compliance report by October 1, along with an explanation for issuing the order without the Commission's prior consent. The order from the Election Commission of India's Secretariat, issued on September 30, stated: "The Commission has observed that the Model Code of Conduct is in effect in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, and as such, there is a ban on the transfer of officers connected to the election. Without delving into the rationale, process, and urgency of appointing an Army officer as SSP on the civil side during the MCC, the Commission hereby directs that the order be kept in abeyance with immediate effect. If the order has been executed, the situation prior to the issuance of the order shall be restored immediately." Furthermore, the Chief Secretary is required to send the compliance report by 11:00 AM on October 1, along with an explanation for the issuance of such an order without the Commission's approval. This development comes ahead of the third and final phase of polling in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir scheduled for October 1. The counting of votes will take place on October 8. (ANI) This significant initiative aims to identify the skills of young people and enhance their training and employment prospects. The official statement read, "The exercise will begin with 100 villages in the segment, for which the local village secretariats have already received permission to log in. A total of 675 enumerators will visit 161,421 families, comprising 135,914 in the Mangalagiri segment and 25,507 in the Thullur mandal, to collect data." A bespoke mobile application has been developed, and the enumerators have been trained on how to conduct the survey. A technical team has been established to support the field teams, and the mapping of the area has been completed. Officials from the Skill Development Headquarters will closely monitor the census. "Should any faults be discovered later in the pilot project, they will be rectified before the exercise is extended across the state," the statement added. The primary goal of this skill census is to uncover talent among the youth and provide them with essential training, ultimately leading to enhanced job opportunities. The Chief Minister, back in June, initiated the skill census in the state. This forward-looking census will serve as a valuable data resource for the government to assist in generating the promised 20 lakh jobs. (ANI) In a significant move, Gideon Saar, leader of the New Hope party, on Sunday, rejoined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, just over a week after rejecting an offer to replace Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, according to a report by Times of Israel. The decision was announced by Saar and Netanyahu in a joint press conference. Netanyahu expressed his gratitude towards Saar for joining the government and asserted that the "move contributes to the unity among us." He said, "I appreciate the fact that Gideon Saar has answered my request and agreed to join the government. This move contributes to the unity among us, and to our unity in the face of our enemies. In discussions in the security cabinet [when he was previously in the government], I was very impressed by Gideon Saar's broad vision, and his ability to bring creative solutions to complex problems. More than once, we saw eye-to-eye on what steps needed to be taken," Times of Israel reported. Meanwhile, Saar emphasised the importance of unity in Israel, stating that it's crucial to strengthen the country, its government, and its unity at present. In a rough translation of his post on Facebook, Saar said, "We are living in historic days for Israel. These are decisive days in the campaign against our enemies. At this time it is important to strengthen Israel, its government and its unity. This is the patriotic and right thing to do now. I announced this evening about my joining the government." Saar's decision to join Netanyahu's government sparked outrage among opposition. In a rough translation, opposition leader Yair Lapid on X wrote, "We have passed many tests, many more tests await us, it is difficult in the opposition and it is much more difficult to see how the worst government in our history destroys the best in the countries. It is also difficult to see Saar giving up his self-respect and the fact that he is a decent person..." Notably, Saar has not replaced Gallant for the time being, although Hebrew media reported on Sunday that he and Netanyahu were not ruling out the possibility going forward. Netanyahu is believed to be determined to fire Gallant in the near future. Saar has entered the government as a minister without portfolio and will be part of the security cabinet. He and his party will have freedom regarding how to vote on some controversial issues, but will not have a veto, Times of Israel reported. Saar's political journey took a turn when disputes with Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu led to his departure from politics in 2014. He began his political career in the Likud party, and became one of its most prominent members. However, tensions between the two leaders increased, leading Saar to take a pause from politics. (ANI) Sharing a post on X, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, "Today in Zaporizhzhia, fourteen people were injured following a Russian strike. The rubble clearing continued throughout the day, and two people were rescued. Aerial bombs were dropped on ordinary residential buildings and city infrastructure." Zelenskyy strongly condemned Russia's attacks on Ukraine, specifically targeting the regions of Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Sumy with guided bombs. He said, "Additionally, Russian forces carried out strikes with guided bombs in the Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Sumy regions." He added, "In Hlukhiv, several residential buildings were damaged. In the Kharkiv region, apartment buildings, energy infrastructure, and medical facilities were hit. This is the daily terror Ukraine faces." Reiterating Ukraine's need for long-range capabilities and air defence systems, Zelenskyy added, "Russia is using around a hundred guided bombs each day against Ukraine. This is a constant reminder to all our partners who can help--that Ukraine needs more long-range capabilities, more air defence systems, and stronger sanctions against Russia." Earlier on September 22, Russia had launched an attack on a residential building in Kharkiv, which left 21 civilians injured. Sharing a post on X, Zelenskyy had said, "Last night, Russia struck Kharkiv again, this time with aerial bombs targeting an ordinary residential building. As a result, 21 people were injured, including an 8-year-old child and two 17-year-old teenagers. Sixty residents were evacuated from the building. All are receiving the necessary assistance." The Ukrainian President had further said that over 900 guided aerial bombs, and nearly 30 missiles of various types were used throughout the week by Russia. Notably, thousands of civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia started its "full-scale invasion" of the country in February 2022. However, Moscow denies intentionally targeting civilians, according to Al Jazeera. (ANI) According to the MND, 8 aircraft of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) crossed the median line in the country's southwestern and southeastern air defence identification zone (ADIZ). "9 PLA aircraft and 4 PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 8 of the aircraft crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's southwestern ADIZ. We have monitored the situation and responded accordingly," Taiwan MND said on X. https://x.com/MoNDefense/status/1840557176546291712 This latest Chinese military activity adds to a series of similar provocations by Beijing in recent months. China has increased its military activities near Taiwan, including regular air and naval incursions into Taiwan's ADIZ and military exercises near the island. So far this month, Taiwan has tracked 407 Chinese military aircraft and 206 ships. Since September 2020, China has increased its use of gray zone tactics by incrementally increasing the number of military aircraft and naval vessels operating around Taiwan. Gray zone tactics are defined as "an effort or series of efforts beyond steady-state deterrence and assurance that attempts to achieve one's security objectives without resort to direct and sizable use of force." Taiwan has been governed independently since 1949. However, China considers Taiwan part of its territory and insists on eventual reunification, by force if necessary. Earlier in July, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te accused the Chinese government of misinterpreting a United Nations resolution to justify its military activities against Taiwan and drawing an inappropriate linkage to its "One China" principle, the Central News Agency (CNA) reported. Beijing claims that the UN resolution confirmed its one-China principle, which implies that there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is part of China. (ANI) During his recent visit to United States, EAM Jaishankar participated in eight pivotal plurilateral meetings, including those of G20, G4, India Brazil South Africa Form (IBSA), BRICS, the first-ever Joint Ministerial Meeting of L.69 and C-10 group nations, India-CARICOM (Caribbean Community and Common Market) Foreign Ministers meeting, Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) meet, India-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Foreign Ministers' Meeting. Jaishankar also attended key events, such as the Summit for Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats, the signing of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Treaty, and gatherings hosted by the Asia Society, events hosted by Observer Research Foundation (ORF), and participated in the launch of the PanIIT Alumni Foundation. EAM Jaishankar delivered India's national statement at the UNGA, addressing pressing global concerns and emphasizing India's commitment to reformed multilateralism. In his speech, he also strongly condemned Pakistan's policy on Kashmir and cross-border terrorism. https://x.com/DrSJaishankar/status/1840610399500026115 Following the conclusion of the 79th UNGA, Jaishankar shared a compelling video showcasing the vital engagements and interactions he had during the assembly and wrote, "Concluded an extremely fruitful week at #UNGA79. Interactions with 75 Foreign Ministers and representatives. Participated in 8 plurilaterals -Delivered 's statement at the 79th UNGA. Truly a Vishwabandhu Bharat, committed to reformed multilateralism." Foreign Ministers from India, Algeria, US, Itay, South Africa, Ukraine, Russia, Denmark, UAE, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Singapore, Brazil, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, and the Philippines also attended the UNGA 79. Representatives from numerous other countries around the world participated in the assembly, engaging in vital discussions and bilateral meetings. Notably, the general debate of the 79th session of the General Assembly opens on September 24 and will continue through September 28 and conclude on September 30. The theme for the general debate of the 79th session of the General Assembly is "Leaving no one behind: acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for present and future generations," according to the UN official statement. (ANI) Pakistan's Punjab Province recently tabled an Amendment Bill in its Provincial Assembly that seeks to increase the duration from two days to 90 days, the imposition of Section 144, which seeks to ban all types of gatherings, rallies and protests for a specific time. According to Geo News, the recently proposed amendment aims to increase the powers of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) to extend the ban on public gatherings for up to 30 days, whereas the Secretary of the Home Department could impose the ban for as long as 90 days. The provinicial Minister for Finance, Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman put forward the Code of Criminal Procedure (Punjab Amendment) Act 2024, which aims to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898. As of now, the present law allows the Punjab provinical government to impose Section 144 for a maximum of two days, which can be extended to up to seven days unless there is a threat to human life, health, or safety. It grants the power to impose Section 144 to the office of the Mayor, who acts upon a written recommendation from the police. The recently proposed amendments would result in the concentration of power to the deputy commissioner or the secretary of the Home Department, thereby removing the existing system that created checks and balances on the government. This would further increase the centralizing tendencies of the government thereby eroding the devolution of powers. Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Pakistan 1898 gives the district government the power to ban all types of gatherings, rallies and protests for specific time periods and dates. However, it has been noted that Section 144 has been misused in Pakistan time and again to criminalize politics and punish political opponents. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan's party Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf has been subjected to restrictions time and again under this section. According to Geo News, Minister Mujtaba, who presented the bill, justified the extension stating that asking for prior approval constantly is " neither desirable nor practicable". He argues that the proposed amendment has been tabled to "address grave and emergent situations that endanger public peace and order. They are intended to prevent imminent breaches of peace and provide a preventive jurisdiction and speedy remedy in the public interest". Geo News reported that in 2022, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan released a report titled, "Freedom of Peaceful Assembly in Pakistan", which refers to Section 144 as an "unchecked authority". As of now, the Bill has been referred to a committee of the Punjab Assembly for further scrutiny. In recent times Pakistan has seen curtailed freedom towards various issues like access to the internet and the right to peaceful assembly. The move to expand the duration of the ban on public gatherings would further erode these democratic traditions for expressing public opinion. (ANI) Around 300 lawyers from various provinces of Pakistan have urged judges of the superior judiciary not to participate in any proposed constitutional court, even if such bills are approved by the Pakistan Parliament, Dawn reported. In an open letter addressed to the judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the High Courts, the senior lawyers stated, "We urge you not to recognize this proposed court if such a bill is passed." adding that, "We urge those of you who may be hand-picked to serve on it not to do so. Complicity will offer no defence of the Constitution; it will be its defacement." Among the signatories are prominent lawyers such as Munir Ahmed Khan Kakar, Abid Saqi, Riasat Ali Azad, Abid Hassan Minto, Bilal Hassan Minto, Salahuddin Ahmed, Afzal Harifal, Abdul Moiz Jaferii, and Mohammad Jibran Nasir, among others, as per Dawn. The lawyers expressed concern that the higher judiciary has, for many decades, legitimized a sustained assault on the Constitution and democracy in Pakistan. "We remember the pen that first carved necessity on the tombstone of our first Constituent Assembly. We recall all the instances when it prevented an elected government from completing its term. We also remember the last time a PCO (Provisional Constitution Order) was upheld," they noted. The lawyers asserted that there is no distinction between a PCO court and the proposed constitutional court. "We view the proposed court as no different; it will be a PCO court, and those who take the oath to serve on it will be PCO judges. However, we also remember how you, yourselves, corrected history by overturning that same decision. Your own judgments now recount how our courts have failed us. This moment presents you with a choice. The very fact that an attempt is being made to mutilate our courts indicates that--today--you are not yet on the wrong side of history. We urge you: do not yield. When today's history is recorded in tomorrow's judgments, let it be said that you were not complicit." The letter further criticized the draft of the proposed amendments, stating that it was introduced under the cover of darkness. "An assault on our constitutional compact is being cloaked in the thin guise of arguments grounded in the supremacy of law. These arguments do not withstand the slightest intellectual scrutiny. Behind ill-considered references to foreign jurisdictions and critiques of the judicial system that this amendment cannot actually fix lies a plain proposal," the letter claimed. A week ago, the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), along with the bar councils and associations from Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan, agreed on the Parliament's authority to enact a constitutional amendment. However, they expressed concerns about any modifications to the fundamental structure of the Constitution. Previously, practicing lawyers from the apex court and other high courts voiced their worries in an open letter about the "possible infringements" on judicial independence and constitutional principles. The letter further claimed that the proposal to permit the transfer of high court judges between provinces is a malicious attempt to undermine both judicial independence and provincial autonomy. (ANI) The United States has announced the largest-ever military aid package worth USD 567 million for Taiwan issued under the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), Focus Taiwan reported citing CNA. The PDA enables the US to swiftly deliver equipment and weapons from its existing stockpile to allied nations during crises. In July 2023, US President Joe Biden's administration first employed this authority, approving USD 345 million in defense articles and services for Taiwan. According to the White House, Biden has authorised the Secretary of State Antony Blinken to manage the drawdown of up to USD 567 million in defense resources, which will include military education and training to support Taiwan. While specific details of the latest package were not provided, a report from Defense News on September 21 cited an unnamed US official suggesting that the aid will encompass training, stockpiling, anti-armor weapons, air defense, and multi-domain awareness capabilities. The package is also expected to include drones, which are vital to the asymmetric defense strategy shared by the US and Taiwan against China's much larger military. Over the past five years, US-Taiwan relations have significantly strengthened, featuring enhanced military cooperation and economic ties amid rising tensions with China. Under President Biden, the US has increased its support for Taiwan by boosting arms sales and military exchanges. In 2021, a substantial arms deal was approved, including F-16 fighter jets and anti-ship missiles, reaffirming a strong commitment to Taiwan's defense. Taiwan's defence ministry recently announced that deliveries of F-16V fighter jets purchased from the US are now expected to begin in 2026, with all production and delivery issues resolved. Moreover, the US has supported Taiwan's participation in international organisations and forums from which it has traditionally been excluded due to Chinese objections. In 2021, the US backed Taiwan's efforts to join the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). High-level meetings and dialogues between US and Taiwanese officials have further bolstered bilateral economic and technological collaboration, particularly in the semiconductor sector, where Taiwan plays a crucial role. Despite this deepening partnership, the US maintains its "One China" policy, officially recognizing Beijing's claim over Taiwan while engaging with Taipei on an unofficial basis. This growing support has provoked strong reactions from China, which has increased military activities around Taiwan and condemned U.S. actions as provocations. (ANI) The agency said on the social media platform X, that piles of waste are accumulating in central Gaza, while sewage water is leaking into the streets. "Families have no choice but to live next to this accumulated waste, exposing them to foul odours and the imminent risk of a health disaster," the UNWRA added. The UN agency called for an immediate ceasefire. (ANI/WAM) Wanted for alleged money laundering charges, controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik has arrived in Pakistan on Monday morning at the invitation of the Government of Pakistan, amid tight security for his lecture series at Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore. According to the Express Tribune, he is set to have public interactions across the country. He is accompanied by his son, Fariq Naik, who is an Islamic scholar and will tour the country with him for the lectures. Upon his arrival at the New Islamabad Airport, he was received by leaders from the top echelons of the Pakistan government, which included the Chairman of the Pakistan Prime Minister's Youth Program, Rana Mashhood and Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Syed Atta-ur-Rehman, as reported by the Tribune. Official sources note that his month-long tour will include meetings with senior government officials and involve participation in various public events. In a post on X, Zakir Naik's team announced," On the invitation of the Government of Pakistan Dr Zakir Naik & Shaikh Fariq Naik's Pakistan Tour 2024 Public Talks: Karachi - 5th & 6th Oct Lahore - 12th & 13th Oct Islamabad - 19th & 20th Oct." Earlier on August 20, while on a visit to India, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that if sufficient evidence is presented in the case related to fugitive preacher Zakir Naik then the country will 'not condone terrorism'. Addressing the 50th Sapru House Lecture the Malaysian Prime Minister said, "I am talking about sentiment of extremism, of compelling case, evidence that suggest that atrocities committed by an individual, group or factions or parties. These are of concern to us." Zakir Naik is known for his inflammatory speeches and is currently wanted by the National Investigation Agency of the Government of India under a 2016 money laundering case. He is also alleged to have incited people by his hate speech. Naik runs a channel by the name PeaceTV, which is banned across India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka due to its controversial nature and he has also been denied entry into Canada and the United Kingdom because of it. (ANI) The Operation Chivalrous Knight 3 team distributed potable water to medical points and areas where displaced people have gathered in Khan Yunis as part of a campaign aimed at alleviating the suffering of patients and supporting medical points. The Operation's volunteer teams also provided water tanks to medical points to ease the difficulties in accessing water amid the challenges faced by Gaza's residents. The UAE is addressing the water crisis in the Gaza Strip through various projects, including repairing water lines and networks in Khan Yunis and northern Gaza, supplying water tanks, and distributing potable water to displaced people in camps, in an effort to alleviate their suffering amid the difficult circumstances faced by the residents of the Gaza Strip. The people of Gaza expressed their gratitude and appreciation to the UAE for its ongoing efforts to assist displaced families and the sick in the Gaza Strip. They also commended the UAE's crucial role in delivering water and basic necessities to those affected. (ANI/WAM) Taiwan's diplomatic partners - Paraguay, the Marshall Islands, and Palau - voiced their support for Taiwan's inclusion in the United Nations during the General Debate at the 79th session of the UN General Assembly. Focus Taiwan reported, citing Central News Agency, that the top leadership of the three countries showcased their support for Taiwan's UN membership and rallied for it at the UN session. In his address, Paraguayan President Santiago Pena emphasized Paraguay's commitment to the principle of "leave no nation behind" and expressed support for including countries that are excluded from significant international forums, helping them become integral members of the global governing body. He stated that this friendship is based on "the shared values of democracy, the rule of law, and free trade," forged through the adversity of two geographically small countries living alongside great powers. According to Focus Taiwan, Pena said that Taiwan's exclusion from the international community is an "injustice" that cannot be overlooked. "Their contribution to the international community should be recognized. If there is a country that today should be a part of the United Nations and is not yet so, that is Taiwan." The Republic of Palau's Vice President Uduch Sengebau Sr reaffirmed her country's strong and enduring relationship with Taiwan and called for its meaningful participation in international organizations. She stated, "Taiwan's exclusion undermines the principles of inclusivity and cooperation that the United Nations represents. U.N. General Assembly Resolution 2758 does not preclude Taiwan's involvement in efforts related to the sustainable development goals, and we urge this assembly to support Taiwan's rightful inclusion." Resolution 2758 was passed by the 26th UN General Assembly in 1971 to address the issue of China's representation at the United Nations. As a result, Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China, lost its seat to the People's Republic of China. Since then, Taiwan has been barred from participating in the international organization and its affiliated bodies. Earlier, Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine voiced her country's support for Taiwan, stating that only Taiwan's independent democratic government can effectively represent its 23 million citizens. "The U.N. Resolution 2758 does not mention Taiwan and should not be used as a pretext to exclude Taiwan from participating meaningfully in the UN system," Heine argued, noting that this resolution has been "misused to threaten cross-strait trade, regional peace, and security." She added, "This was never its original intent. It cannot serve as a sound basis to prohibit Taiwanese citizens and journalists from the UN premises", as per Focus Taiwan. Taiwan split from China amid a civil war in 1949, however Beijing continues to regard the island as a Chinese territory and has long coveted Taiwan's technology-heavy economy, even as the island governs itself. China has regularly sent fighter jets on flights in airspace close to the island and deployed warships near Taiwanese waters, according to VoA. (ANI) The Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA) recently hosted the second edition of its Global Conference on New Sinology (GCNS) in New Delhi. The two-day event, titled "The Art of Power in Zhongnanhai," saw enthusiastic participation from scholars, government representatives, and civil society groups. The conference covered a broad spectrum of topics on China's elite party politics, military strategy, economic developments, and foreign policy, with a special focus on China-India relations. Featuring over 50 distinguished speakers from countries such as the USA, China, Taiwan, the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, Sweden, and India, the GCNS has become one of India's largest academic events focused on China studies. Among the prominent speakers were Dr Guoguang Wu (Stanford University), Prof S.D. Muni (Jawaharlal Nehru University), Dr Jagannath Panda (Institute for Security and Development Policy), Lt Gen S L Narasimhan (Centre for Contemporary China Studies), and Ambassador Ashok Kantha (Former Indian Ambassador to China). These experts engaged in critical discussions on issues such as China's military modernisation, elite political control, and economic challenges. In the session titled "How Is China's Military Defending Its Strategies?", speakers explored China's expanding military capabilities and the implications for India. Lt Gen S L Narasimhan delivered a keynote address analysing the modernisation of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) under Xi Jinping. This session also included a roundtable on China's maritime strategy in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Another pivotal session, "The Prince and His Party: Power in its Prime?" focused on the workings of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC), particularly its methods of centralising power within Zhongnanhai, China's political nerve center. Experts like Dr Guoguang Wu and Dr Wen-Hsuan Tsai delved into how senior officials shape party strategy, while Dr Joseph Torigian provided insights into Xi Jinping's leadership psychology and its potential future effects. The session "Stabilising and Sharpening: How China Safeguards Its Economic Might?"*saw participants discussing China's economic difficulties, particularly the risks arising from industrial overcapacity. Speakers evaluated China's economic strategies and their impact on India and global markets. Dr Sarah Y Tong delivered a keynote on the role of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in Xi Jinping's economic framework. "Shaping China's Diplomacy: The Who, The What and The How?" centred on China's foreign policy. Discussions covered soft power tools and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Dr Guoguang Wu highlighted the importance of academic consultants in formulating China's foreign policy, while other participants addressed the future of the BRI and Xi Jinping's concept of a "new type of international relations." Special sessions such as "The Tibet Question in China's Trans-Himalayan Aspirations" and "Identifying the Ideal Torchbearer for the Global South" discussed China's strategic objectives in the Himalayan region and its growing involvement with the Global South, drawing comparisons with India's approach. Organised by ORCA with the support of Shiv Nadar University and the Policy Perspectives Foundation (PPF), the GCNS provided a platform for deep analysis of China's political, military, and economic strategies. It facilitated discussions among scholars, policymakers, and strategists on the implications of China's rise in Asia and beyond. (ANI) The Indian Embassy in Nepal has said that the officials are in touch with the Indian nationals who have been stranded due to floods and landslides in Nepal, adding that the embassy is arranging for their safe return. An emergency helpline number has also been established to assist the stranded Indian nationals. The embassy is coordinating closely with Nepali authorities to facilitate the evacuation of Indian citizens who have been stranded due to floods. "Public Advisory 1/3 There has been widespread damage due to floods and landslides on account of record rainfall over the weekend. Our thoughts are with everyone affected. The Embassy has received intimation regarding citizens in who are stranded because of this situation," wrote Indian Embassy in Nepal on X. "2/3 The Embassy is in touch with some of these groups and arranging for their safe return. Embassy is also coordinating closely with Nepali authorities to facilitate the evacuation of Indian citizens who are stranded," it added. The Indian Embassy in Nepal has also released the emergency numbers for those who require assistance. On X, Indian Embassy in Nepal wrote, "Indian citizens in Nepal who require assistance may contact the following emergency numbers (with WhatsApp): +977-9851316807 - [Emergency Helpline] +977-9851107021- [Attache (Consular)] +977-9749833292 - [ASO (Consular)]." The death toll in Nepal's flood has reached 193 as authorities' revamp rescue and search efforts across the whole nation since the onset of the disaster on Saturday, the Home Ministry confirmed. As per the spokesperson of the Home Ministry, Rishi Ram Tiwari, 31 people still remain missing, with 4500 people rescued from various locations across the nation. Tiwari stated that food and other emergency relief materials have been provided to the victims, and the injured are being given free medical treatment. A meeting of the Disaster Risk Management Authority held on Monday morning has decided to further expedite the rescue efforts for those stranded in the highway and displaced by the floods and landslides. The meeting also decided to provide the first tranche of grants for reconstruction of houses damaged by the flood and landslide since Saturday. "It has been aimed to be completed within a week after issuance of provisions and identification of actual victims in the next three days," the meeting has decided. Influenced by water vapour from the Bay of Bengal and a low-pressure system in the region since Thursday evening, which eventually sparked humanitarian crisis all across Nepal.The National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Authority (NDRRMA) also issued issued warning for 56 out of 77 districts about possible disaster advising people to adopt caution. Home to the world's nine of the 10 highest peaks in the world, Nepal this year already had estimated more rain than average, and 1.8 million people will be affected. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) also estimated 412 thousand households to be affected by monsoon-related disasters.The monsoon season in the Himalayan nation generally begins on June 13. The exit, which was usually on September 23, has been extended to late October. This year, the clouds from the south entered Nepal from the western region on June 10, three days ahead of the usual onset date. Last year, the weather phenomenon started on June 14, a day after the normal onset day. The monsoon period, which delivers around 80 per cent of the country's total annual rainfall, generally lasts 105 days. But, in recent years, it has been taking more time to withdraw. Nepal has already recorded above-average rainfall this season. (ANI) The 14th Dalai Lama recently delivered a spiritual discourse on 'The Three Principal Aspects of the Path' (lamtso namsum), a key text by the revered Tibetan scholar Tsongkhapa. The event was organised at the request of Taiwanese devotees and took place at the Tsuglagkhang, the main Tibetan temple in Dharamshala. More than 5,000 people, including 1,200 Taiwanese devotees, foreigners, Tibetan monks, nuns, and locals, gathered for this special teaching in the northern Indian hill town. This discourse attracted people from diverse religious backgrounds, reflecting the Dalai Lama's message of universal compassion. Tien Nai-Wen, a Taoist from Taiwan, expressed how meaningful the experience was for him. "This is very important for me because I am from Taiwan, and many people in Taiwan appreciate the Dalai Lama's teachings. Even though I come from a different religion, the Dharma says all religions can come together to share these holy teachings, so I came here. I feel very happy to be part of this," Tien told ANI. Tien also emphasised how the teachings on compassion and kindness resonated with him personally, and she expressed a desire to share these lessons with his Taoist community back in Taiwan. "We have over 1,200 people from Taiwan here, but I am the only Taoist. I hope to bring these teachings back to Taoism because they, too, can benefit from it," she added. Another Taiwanese devotee, Lin Yaan Yi, echoed these sentiments, noting the spiritual enrichment gained from attending the Dalai Lama's teachings. "I'm very happy to be here, and it's been beneficial for me to develop compassion for others and *Bodhichitta* in my mind. We came to wish His Holiness a happy birthday and to gain insight from his wisdom," she said. The event, highlighted the Dalai Lama's enduring appeal across cultures and religious backgrounds, offering a moment of unity and spiritual growth for all those in attendance. (ANI) A day after former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's party, Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaaf (PTI) staged a protest in Rawalpindi which turned violent the Police have registered FIRs on hundreds of them as reported by Dawn. The police of Pakistan's Punjab province filed the FIRs after the protests turned violent, despite calls for peaceful gathering by the jailed former Prime Minister. Hundreds of protestors along with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister, Ali Amin Gandapur actively participated in the protest which was held despite Section 144 being imposed by the provincial government. According to Punjab province's Code of Criminal Procedure, Section 144 results in a ban on public gatherings, rallies and activities for a specific time duration. According to Dawn, three FIRs were found to state that Imran Khan had called for the protests to be held at the Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi. Express Tribune also noted that a senior police officer, on condition of anonymity, said that the leadership of PTI had called for protest despite being aware of the imposition of section 144. The police thus arrested more than a hundred PTI leaders and workers on various charges such as the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, violating the ban on protests, shouting slogans against the government and institutions, obstructing the police, damaging police vehicles, snatching weapons and injuring police officials. In these cases, PTI's key leaders like Shehryar Riaz, Seemabia Tahir and 107 activists and other leaders have been named. More than 450 others have been declared 'unknown suspects' and have been booked under the law. A big blow comes to Imran Khan and Gandapur as they have been charged under Section 109 of the Anti-Terrorism Act of Pakistan. Ganadapur however struck a note of defiance saying the government could not divert them from their goal. "The undemocratic government on Form 47 is destroying the constitution with constitutional amendments, where we will get an order to go for protest, we will go, they are now firing bullets with tear gas, these bullets can make us lie down. But cannot divert from the goal." Ali Amin Gandapur told reporters. The Anti-Terrorism Act of Pakistan is known to have strict provisions which increase the power of law enforcement agencies. It has the power to invade an individual's privacy and offers death penalties too under severe cases. As per Dawn, PTI alleged the police used 'expired teargas shells' to disperse the PTI protesters. However, the police termed these allegations to be baseless, stating that the shells used were recently manufactured, with a shelf life of five years. Due to the intense protests, many essential life services were disrupted in the city of Rawalpindi. From ambulances getting blocked to the people across strata unable to move out of their homes, the city saw a halt in basic activities. (ANI) India's Ambassador to Kuwait, Adarsh Swaika, held a meeting with Kuwait's Minister of Commerce Industry, Khalifa Abdullah Dhahi Al-Ajeel Al Askar, on Monday. The two sides discussed avenues to advance bilateral trade and investment cooperation through collaborative efforts. Taking to X, the Indian Embassy in Kuwait stated, "Amb @Adarshswaika1 met with H.E. Khalifa Abdullah Dhahi Al-Ajeel Al Askar, Minister of Commerce Industry of Kuwait. Discussions focused on avenues to advance bilateral trade & investment cooperation through collaborative efforts." Indian envoy Adarsh Swaika also met Kuwait's Chief of General Staff, Lieutenant General Bandar Salem Abdullah Al-Muzayan. The two officials discussed various aspects of bilateral cooperation between India and Kuwait. "Amb @AdarshSwaika1 called on Lt Gen Pilot Bandar Salem Abdullah Al Muzain, Chief of General Staff of Kuwait. They discussed various aspects of bilateral defence cooperation between India and Kuwait, including forthcoming visit of 3 Indian naval ships to #Kuwait," the Indian Embassy in Kuwait posted on X. On September 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a bilateral meeting with Kuwait's Crown Prince, Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah Al-Sabah, on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. During the meeting, the two leaders expressed commitment to deepen and diversify bilateral trade for the mutual benefit of two nations. It was the first meeting between PM Modi and the Crown Prince of Kuwait. In a press release, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated, "Prime Minister conveyed that India attaches utmost importance to its bilateral relations with Kuwait. Both leaders recalled the strong historical ties and people-to-people linkages between the two countries. They noted with satisfaction that the two countries were supporting each other with energy and food security requirements." "They expressed their firm commitment to deepen and diversify bilateral ties for the mutual benefit of both countries. Prime Minister thanked the Crown Prince for ensuring the well-being of the Indian community in Kuwait, which is the largest diaspora group in the country," it added. Earlier this month, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Kuwait's Foreign Minister Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya and discussed strengthening India-Kuwait bilateral relations. In a post on X, Jaishankar wrote, "Good to meet again Kuwaiti FM Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya. Recalled our productive meeting recently in Kuwait." "Discussed taking forward India-Kuwait bilateral ties through an early meeting of our Joint Commission," he added. Notably, India and Kuwait enjoy traditionally friendly relations, which are rooted in history and have stood the test of time, according to MEA. India has been a natural trading partner of Kuwait and until 1961, the Indian rupee was a legal tender in Kuwait. The year 2021-22 marked the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. (ANI) Tasleema Akhter, a political activist from the Kashmir Valley, has criticised Pakistan for its double standards on the Kashmir issue, highlighting that the areas under its occupation, Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan, are facing severe challenges. Akhter, who chairs the Association of Terror Victims in Kashmir (ATVK), recently returned home after attending the 57th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. She condemned Pakistan for sponsoring terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, stating, "Many innocent lives have been lost due to their actions. Organisations like Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen have inflicted immense damage on Kashmir, leaving it drenched in blood. The world must understand that the atrocities in Kashmir are solely due to Pakistani terrorism. We have endured enough; we can no longer tolerate this. We will continue to expose them on every platform; their fake drama will no longer work." Akhter pointed out Pakistan's contradictory stance: "On one hand, Pakistan claims to be the champion of Kashmir, but on the other, it is responsible for severe atrocities in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. Pakistan engages in propaganda but is itself a hub of violations. It cannot tolerate India's progress, which is why it is involved in such activities." Tasleema also shed light on the dire conditions in illegally occupied areas of Pakistan, stating, "Look at PoJK; see what Pakistan has done to it. We raise our voices for them too. They are part of us. If Pakistan cannot care for the people there, it should relinquish that region. We will never tolerate Pakistan's terrorism and atrocities against the people of PoJK. They are yearning for basic necessities like food and flour. We welcome them to prepare to join India." Addressing Pakistan's misuse of international aid, Tasleema urged global communities to stop funding Pakistan. "The billions or millions Pakistan receives disappear; they are either spent on the military or go to the ISI." Akhter highlighted the positive changes in Jammu and Kashmir. On the ongoing elections, she expressed optimism, saying, "This is a matter of great happiness; this is the beauty of India's democracy. You can see how peacefully elections are being conducted in Jammu and Kashmir. Our youth, who were once brainwashed, have completely transformed. Those given stones and guns are now walking the right path. The youth of Kashmir only desire development and peace. Today, they are ready to counter Pakistan. Our Islam teaches us to protect our land, and that is exactly what we are doing." She discussed the development in Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370, emphasising the changes in the region. She said, "The biggest change is that the youth are happy. Previously, strikes occurred, and the youth were told not to attend schools, colleges, or work; now we are free from that. Kashmir is moving toward development. Today, the youth are focusing on education, preparing to become officers, and participating in international competitions." Since the abrogation of Article 370, tourism in Kashmir has seen significant growth. On this, Tasleema Akhter noted, "In recent years, more foreigners have been visiting Kashmir. People are being provided with necessary facilities. Travel that used to take hours now takes just minutes. The Indian government has introduced initiatives like e-buses, making travel easier for tourists. Improved tourism has also boosted Kashmir's economy. Today, everyone is doing well with their shops and businesses." Women like Tasleema Akhter are emerging as new role models in Kashmir, inspiring other women. Addressing women's empowerment in the Valley, Akhter said, "I am a prime example that the voice of Kashmir is not suppressed today. Kashmiri women are now much more empowered. There is gender equality in Kashmir; today, Kashmiri girls are doing the same work as boys. On the future of Kashmir, Tasleema expressed hope, stating, "I can confidently say that with ongoing development, many industries will open up, and it seems Kashmir will become the highest tax-paying region." (ANI) This joint exercise will run from September 30 to October 13, 2024, and aims to strengthen military cooperation between the two nations, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated in an official press release. The Indian Armed Forces are represented by 120 personnel, primarily from a battalion of the KUMAON Regiment of the Indian Army. Additional personnel from other arms and services, as well as the Indian Air Force, are also participating. On the Kazakh side, the contingent mainly consists of personnel from the Kazakhstan Land Forces and Airborne Assault Troopers, underscoring their commitment to enhancing bilateral military relations. KAZIND has been an annual exercise since its inception in 2016, serving as a key platform for both nations to share tactical knowledge, improve coordination, and build stronger ties between their military forces, the press release by the MEA stated. The joint drills typically focus on a range of operations, including counter-terrorism strategies, peacekeeping efforts, and humanitarian assistance in natural disaster scenarios. The previous edition of KAZIND took place in Otar, Kazakhstan, from October 30 to November 11, 2023, further strengthening the longstanding defence partnership between the two countries. Over the years, KAZIND has evolved into a crucial exercise that enhances mutual trust and understanding between the Indian and Kazakh armed forces, allowing both sides to improve their interoperability and coordination in combat and non-combat situations. The Ministry of Defence, which announced the commencement of the exercise, emphasised that KAZIND-2024 will continue the tradition of fostering deep defence cooperation and understanding between India and Kazakhstan, the MEA stated in its press release. This year's edition will further solidify their ability to collaborate effectively in joint military operations and share best practices in the field. (ANI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a telephonic conversation with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday and discussed recent developments in West Asia. PM Modi expressed India's commitment to supporting efforts for early restoration of peace and stability. PM Narendra Modi called it crucial to prevent recent escalation and ensure the safe release of all hostages. In a post on X, PM Modi stated, "Spoke to Prime Minister @netanyahu about recent developments in West Asia. Terrorism has no place in our world. It is crucial to prevent regional escalation and ensure the safe release of all hostages. India is committed to supporting efforts for an early restoration of peace and stability." In October last year, Israel launched a counter-offensive against Hamas after hundreds of Hamas terrorists burst into Israeli borders, killing over 1200 people and taking over 250 hostages, out of which 100 continue to be in captivity. The war has spiralled into the region lately, with Houthi rebels in Yemen also targeting Israel and other countries in the Red Sea. Israel has also continued striking Hezbollah in Lebanon. As the conflict heads towards escalation, all major countries have called for a ceasefire and hostage deal, while also stressing for a two-state solution as a means to achieve durable and sustainable peace in the region. On September 27, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that the war with Hamas can end if the latter lays arms and releases the hostages, while asserting that Israel will continue its fight until it achieves "total victory." Issuing a stern warning to Iran, Netanyahu said there is "no place" in Iran, where the "long arms" of Israel cannot reach, while adding that it is true for the "entire Middle East." In his address at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Netanyahu accused Hamas of stealing humanitarian aid and selling it to people at higher rates. He said, "This too has to end, and we are working to bring it to an end."The Israeli PM said that if Hamas stays in power, it will regroup, rearm and "attack Israel again and again and again". "Hamas has got to go." Stressing that the war will end if Hamas lays down its arms, he said, "As far as hostages, I have a message for Hamas captors. Let them go, all of them. Those alive today, must be returned alive and the remains of those whom you brutally killed must be returned to their families. Those families here today and those in Israel." He also asserted the need to defeat Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. "This war can come to an end now, all that has to happen is for Hamas to surrender, lay down its arms and release all the hostages. But if they don't, we will fight until we achieve total victory. There is no substitute for it. Israel must also defeat Hezbollah in Lebanon," he added. Netanyahu said Israel has brought home 154 of these hostages, including 117 alive, and pledged to not rest until all the hostages are brought home. He pointed out the hostage families in attendance and asked them to stand up. He narrated the stories of each of the hostages represented by their families, including those whose bodies were taken to Gaza. "I can promise you, we will return your loved ones home. We will not spare that effort until that holy mission is accomplished," he said. At the start of his address, Netanyahu said that he did not intend to participate in the UNGA. However, he decided to come here as he heard the "lies and slanders levelled by many speakers at this podium." He said, "I didn't intend to come here this year. My country is in war fighting for its life. But, after I heard the lies and slanders levelled at my country by many of the speakers at this podium. I decided to come here and set the record straight. I decided to come here to speak for my people, for my country, to speak for truth and here is the truth - Israel seeks peace, Israel yearns for peace, Israel has made peace and will make peace again." "Yet, we face savage enemies who seek our annihilation and we must defend ourselves against these savage murderers. Our enemies seek not only to destroy us. They seek to destroy our common civilisation and return all of us to a dark age of tyranny and terror," he added. (ANI) Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has announced that the head of the Lebanon Branch of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Nidal Abdel-Aal and the head of the PFLP's military office in Lebanon, Imad Odeh, were killed in an intelligence-based strike. The IDF said that Hamas' Lebanon branch chief Fateh Sherif was killed in an airstrike. According to the IDF, Nidal Abdel-Aal took part in planning and carrying out terror attacks against Israel and directed terror activities in Judea and Samaria. He directed the bus bombing attack in Beitar Illit and the shooting attack from a passing vehicle at the Huwara Junction in 2023. In a post on X, the IDF stated, "Head of the Lebanon Branch of the PFLP terrorist organization, terrorist Nidal Abdel-Aal and Head of PFLP's Military Office in Lebanon, terrorist Imad Odeh, were eliminated in a joint IDF and ISA intelligence-based strike. Abdel-Aal took part in planning and carrying out terror attacks against Israel and directed terror activities in Judea and Samaria, operating to establish terror infrastructure to use in attacks on Israeli civilians. Nidal Abdel-Aal directed the bus bombing attack in Beitar Illit on March 9, 2023, and the shooting attack from a passing vehicle at the Huwara Junction on March 25, 2023, during which two IDF soldiers were injured." According to the IDF, Sherif was responsible for coordinating Hamas' terror activities in Lebanon with Hezbollah operatives, as well as Hamas' efforts in Lebanon to recruit operatives and acquire weapons. In a post on X, the IDF stated, "Fateh Sherif, Head of the Lebanon Branch in the Hamas terrorist organisation, was eliminated in a precise IAF strike. Sherif was responsible for coordinating Hamas' terror activities in Lebanon with Hezbollah operatives, as well as Hamas' efforts in Lebanon to recruit operatives and acquire weapons. Fateh Sherif was also an accredited @UNRWA member, and was the head of the UNRWA Teachers Union in Lebanon. The IDF and the ISA will to continue to operate against anyone who poses a threat to the civilians of the State of Israel." On Sunday, the Israel military said that it has eliminated another senior Hezbollah official, Nabil Qaouk, in a precise airstrike. Qaouk was a commander of Hezbollah's Preventative Security Unit and a member of their Executive Council. In a post on X, IDF wrote, "ELIMINATED: The Commander of Hezbollah's Preventative Security Unit and a member of their Executive Council, Nabil Qaouk, was eliminated in a precise IDF strike."Qaouk, notably joined Hezbollah in the 1980s and was regarded as an important source of expertise in his field." "Qaouk was close to Hezbollah's senior commanders and was directly engaged in terrorist attacks against the State of Israel and its citizens. He joined Hezbollah in the 1980s and was regarded as an important source of expertise in his field, having served as the Deputy Commander of the southern region on the Operational Council, Commander of the southern region, and Deputy Commander of the Operational Council," the IDF further stated. On Saturday, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed the killing of Hassan Nasrallah in the airstrikes carried out by the Israeli military in Beirut. In a statement, IDF said, "Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorize the world." The IDF said that alongside Nasrallah, the commander of Hezbollah's so-called Southern Front, Ali Karaki, was also killed, along with other commanders, The Times of Israel reported. Nasrallah was targeted at Hezbollah's main headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold known as the Dahiyeh on Friday. The headquarters is underground, beneath residential buildings in the Dahiyeh, according to the IDF. (ANI) Former Pakistan National Assembly federal minister Yar Muhammad Rind has called for transparent, fair, and free elections in the country, criticising the current rulers as mere puppets. In a press conference held at his Rind Qalat residence, Rind expressed concern that the existing political climate is causing many politicians who previously believed in parliamentary democracy and the struggle for people's rights to withdraw from politics. He warned that this detachment is detrimental to the nation, Dawn reported. Rind grieved that individuals who have consistently advocated for democracy, parliamentary governance, and social unity now find themselves disillusioned. He stated, "The attitude adopted by rulers and authorities concerned about Balochistan is not in the interest of the people of the province," highlighting the need for a shift in governance. He referenced public meetings organised by Mahrang Baloch, noting the significant support she received for her demands. Rind attributed this support to the disrespectful treatment that Baloch and other women from Balochistan faced in Islamabad while trying to voice their concerns about the issue of missing persons in the region, reported Dawn. He emphasised that these women were attempting to protest against injustices but were met with hostility. The former minister remarked that mothers and sisters from Balochistan travelled to Islamabad, where they encountered harsh conditions, humiliation, and disrespect. Rind condemned the actions taken by authorities against these women in cities like Turbat, Gwadar, and Quetta. Although he expressed that he could not combat the state directly, Rind vowed to advocate for the rights of the people and assured that he would not shy away from making sacrifices for this cause. He announced, "On November 4, we will decide the future course of action after consulting with leaders of Rind tribes in Shoran," Dawn reported. Rind reiterated his long-standing commitment to democracy and non-violence but remarked that it is shameful to remain silent amidst the current situation in Balochistan. (ANI) India is among 104 countries invited to attend the world's largest naval defence trade show that will be held in Paris from November 4-7. This year, there will be shows on innovative solutions to protect naval forces and maritime infrastructure against air and surface drones, next-generation anti-ship missiles, missile systems to destroy multiple hostile drones and many other latest features to strengthen naval forces around the world. The event, focusing on innovation, sovereignty and international cooperation, will bring together the key players in the Naval industry which includes shipbuilders, equipment manufacturers, institutions and experts. It offers a unique opportunity to discover the latest technological developments that will shape the navies of tomorrow. Against a backdrop of increasing challenges in maritime security and unprecedented technological competition, Euronaval 2024 will discuss the strategic and industrial challenges. Innovation, resilience and sustainability, as well as debates and conferences, will be discussed in the exhibition. Before the official launch of the show, a special tour was organised for media persons. A senior officer of the French Navy said that the conflict in Ukraine demonstrated the importance of maritime capabilities, with Ukraine effectively defending its coast against Russian ships using unmanned surface vehicles (USVs). Modern conflicts can quickly escalate from localized skirmishes to full-scale regional conflicts, highlighting the need for adaptable and versatile maritime forces. He emphasized the Need for agility in defence capabilities. The navy must be ready to quickly switch between different missions, from humanitarian aid to intense combat. Western defence systems are expensive and sophisticated, while adversaries use cheaper but effective threats. The Red Sea and Ukraine conflicts have highlighted this disparity. "Information is key in modern conflicts. Flexibility and adaptability are crucial for protecting high-value assets. Technological innovation and strategic shifts are necessary for success. Information superiority, demonstrated in the Ukraine war, is decisive in modern conflicts," the officer added. (ANI) The cabinet meeting of Nepal has decided to observe three days of national mourning in the wake of the disaster induced by heavy rains since Saturday. The cabinet meeting, chaired by Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, was held at his residence in Baluwatar. Oli has decided to give Nepali Rupees (NRs) 2 Lakhs to family of those killed in the rain-induced disaster, Prithivi Subba Gurung, Nepal's Minister for Communication and Information Technology announced. "Prime Minister and Minister's will also donate a month salary to the PM relief fund to be utilized for the aid efforts to the victims and deceased. Also, those who have gone missing for more than 10 days also will be assumed as dead and will be given 2 lakhs to next to kin," Gurung, also the government spokesperson told reporters. As many as 209 people have died in Nepal since Saturday's heavy downpour and widespread flood and landslide till Monday evening has recorded a total of 209 deaths. The latest update also reported that 142 people have been injured after being rescued from flood-affected areas. Rescue operations are ongoing, with more than 294 individuals airlifted by helicopters from severely affected districts such as Kavre, Lalitpur, and Sindhuli. In total, 4,222 people have been rescued from flood and landslide zones in Nepal. The authorities continue to coordinate efforts to provide relief and support to those affected by the disaster. (ANI) This panoramic aerial photo taken on Jan. 10, 2023 shows a view of Lujiazui area in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone in east China's Shanghai. [Photo/Xinhua] Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) among Chinese listed firms have gathered pace in recent months thanks to favorable policies to consolidate companies' competitiveness, contributing to the high-quality development of the country's capital market. The number of such M&A cases saw a marked increase from the same period last year, with 46 major asset reorganization deals disclosed between May and mid-September, according to information made public by companies listed on the A-share market. "So far this year, M&A has been particularly active among technology firms, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and securities companies, with market forces playing a bigger role in the deals," said Tian Lihui, head of the Institute of Finance and Development at Nankai University. A telling example is the acquisition of APT Medical, a manufacturer and supplier listed on Science and Technology Innovation Board (STAR) market, by Mindray, an industry leader in medical equipment development and manufacturing. The transaction was announced in January and completed in April. By combining APT Medical's advantages in the field of electrophysiology and vascular intervention medical devices and Mindray's R&D capability and overseas marketing experience, the deal improved the competitiveness of both companies. Semi-annual financial reports show that the net profits of Mindray and APT Medical increased by 17.37 percent and 33.09 percent, respectively, in the first six months of this year. In June, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) publicized a slew of measures to further reform the STAR market and pledged greater efforts to support M&A activities among companies listed in the market. The CSRC said it will support industrial chain integration among the companies, and make M&A institutions more inclusive by supporting companies to acquire high-quality tech firms that are yet to make profits. Driven by such measures, the transaction values of M&A deals of the companies on the STAR market exceeded 3 billion yuan (about 427.34 million U.S. dollars) in the first half of the year, doubling that of the same period in the previous year, data from the Shanghai Stock Exchange showed. Technology companies can accelerate innovation and industrial upgrading through M&A activities, said Tian. In addition, SOEs at both central and local levels are also leveraging M&A to drive industrial specialization and integration, enhancing industrial synergy with business partners. In September, two listed subsidiaries of China State Shipbuilding Corporation announced a plan to merge, which is expected to be one of the largest M&A transactions in the A-share market by market value in recent years. The merger is projected to propel the new entity to a leading global position in shipbuilding, characterized by comprehensive research and innovation capabilities, along with a rich product structure and production lines, according to a research note from Huatai Securities. Securities firms also saw major M&A deals this year, with Guotai Junan Securities and Haitong Securities planning to merge through a share swap. In recent years, the CSRC has continuously promoted market-oriented reform in the M&A of listed companies. This has been achieved through a slew of measures, including streamlining approval procedures and optimizing regulatory requirements. The effort was intensified this year. In the context of global industrial transformation and China's accelerated economic structural upgrade, it is "urgent" for companies to harness M&A's pivotal role in promoting industrial integration as well as enhancing industry quality and efficiency, CSRC Chairman Wu Qing said at a press conference on Tuesday. On the same day, the CSRC rolled out new measures to support Chinese listed companies in pursuing M&A activities, vowing to help channel more resources toward new quality productive forces, encourage the companies to enhance industrial consolidation and elevate their investment value through improving market value management. Tian anticipated that the regulator's latest policies will further invigorate China's M&A market and drive the transformation and upgrading of listed companies. "The M&A trend is expected to continue and play an important role in sharpening companies' competitiveness, especially in areas related to SOE reform, sci-tech innovation and financial service integration," he said. In a direct appeal to the Iranian people, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the oppressive nature of their regime, emphasising its detrimental impact on their lives. Sharing a video message on X, Netanyahu said, "I speak a lot about the leaders of Iran. Yet at this pivotal moment, I want to address you - the people of Iran. I want to do so directly, without filters, without middlemen. Every day, you see a regime that subjugates you, make fiery speeches about defending Lebanon, defending Gaza. Yet every day, that regime plunges our region deeper into darkness and deeper into war." https://x.com/netanyahu/status/1840740049299583355 Netanyahu highlighted the disconnection between the Iranian regime's priorities and the needs of its people. He noted, "The vast majority of Iranians know their regime doesn't care a whit about them. If it did care, if it cared about you, it would stop wasting billions of dollars on futile wars across the Middle East. It would start improving your lives." He urged the Iranian populace to imagine a future where resources wasted on war and nuclear ambitions are redirected toward education, healthcare, and infrastructure. "Imagine if all the vast money the regime wasted on nuclear weapons and foreign wars were invested in your children's education, in improving your healthcare, in building your nation's infrastructure, water, sewage, all the other things that you need. Imagine that." The Prime Minister asserted that a future free Iran could flourish, stating, "When Iran is finally free, and that moment will come a lot sooner than people think - everything will be different. Our two ancient peoples, the Jewish people and the Persian people, will finally be at peace." He emphasised the opportunities for global investment, tourism, and technological innovation that could arise. "Doesn't that sound better than endless poverty, repression and war?" he asked. Netanyahu concluded with a message of solidarity, saying, "The people of Iran should know - Israel stands with you. May we together know a future of prosperity and peace." His remarks came in the wake of significant tensions in the region, particularly following the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a precision strike by Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). Netanyahu described Nasrallah as "the main engine of Iran's axis of evil," stating, "If someone rises up to kill you, kill him first. Yesterday, the State of Israel eliminated the arch-murderer Hassan Nasrallah." He emphasised that the elimination of Nasrallah was crucial for ensuring Israel's security and for the safe return of hostages. In a statement, the IDF confirmed the targeting of Nasrallah during airstrikes in Beirut, stating, "Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorise the world." The Prime Minister reaffirmed Israel's determination to continue defending its citizens and addressing threats posed by Iran and its proxies, underscoring that "there is no place in Iran or the Middle East that the long arm of Israel cannot reach." (ANI) Abu Dhabi [UAE], September 30 (ANI/WAM): Under the patronage of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Emirati Talent Competitiveness Council (ETCC) has announced the launch of the third cycle of the Nafis Award for 2024-2025, under the theme "Compete and Excel." The award aims to enhance the development of Emirati talent in the private and financial sectors while promoting Emiratisation efforts across the UAE. The award, open for nominations from September 30 to December 31, 2024, invites Emiratis working in private and financial institutions, including those in non-profit organisations, free zones, and the banking and insurance sectors, to submit their applications. Categories include a range of professional roles, such as leadership, healthcare, engineering, and retail positions, with a special focus on future jobs tied to technological advancements like artificial intelligence, robotics, and renewable energy. This year's edition introduces a new subcategory for future-oriented jobs, emphasising the need to prepare young Emiratis for emerging fields. Additionally, subcategories within the financial and banking sectors have been consolidated to streamline participation. The awards for entities are divided between establishments registered under the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation and those registered under the Central Bank of the UAE. Entities supporting Emiratisation efforts or achieving exceptional results in hiring, retaining, and training Emiratis stand a chance to be recognised without the need to apply, as their performance will be evaluated through government systems like the Nafis platform. Abdulrahman Al Awar, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, highlighted the role of the Nafis Award in recognising Emirati talent and private sector contributions to the nation's economic progress. He pointed out that over 114,000 Emiratis are now employed in the private sector, with the program aiming to achieve a 10% growth in Emirati employment by 2026. Khalid Mohammed Balama, Governor of the UAE Central Bank, stressed the importance of initiatives like Nafis in bolstering the financial sector's contribution to Emiratisation. The Central Bank's Ethraa program, launched in 2022, aims to train and employ 9,375 Emiratis by 2027, with a focus on increasing the number of Emiratis in leadership roles to 45 per cent by 2026. The Nafis Award not only celebrates individual and institutional excellence but also seeks to reshape the perception of working in the private sector. By recognising outstanding contributions, it encourages more young Emiratis to choose careers in the private, financial, and banking sectors, thus driving national progress and sustainable economic growth. The awards ceremony is scheduled for the second quarter of 2025, where the achievements of Emirati talents and top-performing entities will be honoured. (ANI/WAM) During their meeting on Monday, they discussed strengthening relations between India and Turkey, particularly focusing on Telangana's role in fostering bilateral ties. The discussions highlighted areas of potential collaboration between Turkey and Telangana, with an emphasis on mutual cooperation in trade, technology, and cultural exchange. Both sides expressed optimism about expanding partnerships that could benefit both nations in various sectors. This meeting signals an increasing engagement between regional offices and international representatives, contributing to India's broader diplomatic efforts. The meeting came shortly after Turkey's increased diplomatic activity in the region, showcasing the growing importance of strengthening bilateral ties at local levels. Earlier in 2024, India's External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar met with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan during ASEAN meetings in Vientiane, Laos. Both leaders exchanged views on enhancing bilateral ties, as well as discussing key regional and global issues of common concern. Jaishankar's recent meetings underscore India's active foreign diplomacy within the ASEAN framework. He also met leaders from South Korea, Singapore, and the European Union, discussing topics such as clean energy, trade, and the trafficking of Indian nationals through cyber scam centres. This wide-ranging diplomacy emphasises India's commitment to strengthening partnerships across Southeast Asia and beyond. Jaishankar's engagements with regional players like Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos have also led to deeper discussions on combating cybercrime and trafficking issues, showcasing India's leadership role in addressing international concerns. (ANI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met with US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo on Monday. The meeting focused on sectors such as semiconductors, critical minerals, trusted partnerships, and supply chain resiliency. Sharing a post on X, Jaishankar wrote, "Great to see Commerce Secretary Secretary Gina Raimondo today in Washington DC." "We discussed semiconductors, iCET, critical minerals, trusted partnerships and supply chain resiliency. Value the strides we are making in our tech collaboration and economic partnership," the post on X added. The two leaders also discussed the US-India CEO Forum and US-India Commercial Dialogue, two Department of Commerce and Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry-led initiatives that aim to strengthen the US-India trade and investment relationship, according to a readout by US Department of Commerce. "They also commended the progress to date under the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) and reiterated their shared commitment to continuing to advance the work to operationalise the IPEF agreements," the release said. Jaishankar, who arrived in the US capital on Sunday, is slated to meet his American counterpart Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and other top officials of the department on Tuesday afternoon. During his brief visit in Washington, the external affairs minister also has a series of meetings planned, including discussions with White House officials and an engagement at a think tank. This is Jaishankar's first visit to the US since the third Modi government took office. The talks between the External Affairs Minister and the US Secretary of State Blinken come amid the fresh escalation in the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East. A State Department official told ANI that the two leaders are expected to discuss the Russia-Ukraine conflict apart from a range of bilateral issues. On Tuesday morning, Jaishankar will also participate in a conversation at The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Earlier on September 28, Jaishankar addressed the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. In his strongly-worded warning to Pakistan, Jaishankar underlined Pakistan's "decades-old policy" of terrorism, warning Islamabad that its "actions will most certainly have consequences." Jaishankar arrived in the US earlier this month, where US President Biden hosted Prime Minister Modi at his Delaware residence for a bilateral meeting on September 21. They were later joined by leaders from Australia and Japan for the QUAD Leaders' Summit in Wilmington, Delaware. (ANI) (This story was updated to accurately reflect the most current information.) Editor's note: The gender of the student who has been arrested has not yet been revealed. An earlier version of this story and headline indicated otherwise. PANAMA CITY A 10-year-old Bay County student has been arrested after authorities say the student sent threatening text messages. Bay District Schools described the messages as disturbing in a Facebook post. This is the seventh juvenile who has been arrested in Bay County this month for making or spreading threats against schools. The school district did not say which school the student attended or provide any detail on the nature of the threats. We want to remind young parents and guardians of the critical importance of monitoring their childrens devices daily, the Facebook post says. Previous coverage: Bay County Sheriff's Office announces two new arrests in relation to school threats The News Herald reached out to Bay District Schools, but it did not offer anything other than the Facebook statement. This story is still under investigation. More information will be provided when it becomes available. This article originally appeared on The News Herald: 10-year-old Bay District Schools student charged with making threats Bay County: Here's how to help those affected by Hurricane Helene, in Florida and elsewhere PANAMA CITY The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released guidance on how to best assist those impacted by Hurricane Helene. A flooded street in Callaway on Sept. 27, the day after Hurricane Helene made landfall in the Big Bend area. FEMA urges residents to reach out to their loved ones in affected areas. Wide swaths of the southeast were impacted as Helene moved as far inland as Kentucky, with deaths reported in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. More storm news: After Hurricane Helene, new tropical threat looms for Florida, Gulf Coast. What you should know The agency encourages readers to check social networking sites for updates on loved ones. The American Red Cross also offers a form on its website that can help concerned individuals contact family members. The agency advises those reaching out to text and not call, leaving lines open for emergencies. FEMA says cash donations are the best way to assist after a disaster, and encourage those looking to help to visit the volunteer and donate section of the FEMA website, FEMA.gov. For those looking to volunteer, see the below list of Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD). Alabama - Alabama VOAD (alvoad.org) Florida - FLVOAD (voadflorida.wpengine.com) Georgia - Georgia VOAD (gavoad.org) Kentucky - Kentucky Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (kentuckyvoad.org) North Carolina - North Carolina Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (ncvoad.org) South Carolina - SCemd.org/recover/volunteer-and-donate/ Tennessee - Tennessee VOAD (tnvoad.org) FEMA also urged individuals to not self-deploy to the affected areas. Readers should check community pages on Facebook and local media in the coming days for organizations doing donation runs and other ways to help. This article originally appeared on The News Herald: FEMA guidance on assisting those affected by Hurricane Helene A bloc of Trump voters in key swing states also backs Democratic Senate candidates. Here's why that matters. Donald Trump hopes to push several swing-state GOP Senate candidates over the finish line. But some of his supporters say they plan to back Democrats in those races instead. These split-ticket voters could end up having a major impact on the country. In recent presidential election cycles, the level of ticket-splitting where people vote for candidates from different parties on their ballot has plummeted. Some 20 years ago, then-Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry lost GOP-leaning states like Arkansas and North Dakota even as the incumbent Democratic senators in those states Blanche Lincoln and Byron Dorgan, respectively coasted to victory. This sort of ticket-splitting was not seen as particularly unusual. But by 2020, things were different. Maine was the only state that year where voters backed a presidential candidate from one party (Democrat Joe Biden) and a Senate candidate from another party (Republican Susan Collins). In November, a slew of incumbent Democratic senators are running for reelection in states where the race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump remains competitive. However, there's an interesting dynamic at play in pivotal swing states like Arizona, Michigan, and Pennsylvania headed into November: A relatively small but significant bloc of Trump voters are also backing Democratic Senate candidates. While many of these Trump voters have long been loyal to the former president, many of the Democrats running have more moderate political brands that are so far giving them polling advantages over their GOP counterparts. Here's a look at how pro-Trump ticket-splitters could invariably aid a Harris presidency should she win the general election or cause trouble for a Trump agenda should he emerge as the victor. Ahead of the pack Even before Biden ended his reelection bid, swing-state Democrats running in the most competitive Senate races were generally leading in the polls. While Biden struggled in his matchup against Trump, many voters earlier this year had already begun to differentiate between the presidential race and down-ballot candidates. Trump has eagerly thrown his support behind GOP Senate candidates like Kari Lake of Arizona, Mike Rogers of Michigan, Bernie Moreno of Ohio, and David McCormick of Pennsylvania and he's implored his supporters to vote for them. But Democrats in these races have largely defied the conventional political norms of today. According to the latest New York Times/Siena College survey of five competitive Senate races, an average of 7% of likely voters indicated they would back Trump while also pulling the lever for a Democratic Senate candidate. The polled states included Arizona, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Of the five states, Ohio is the most likely to vote for Trump, as he easily won it in both 2016 and 2020. And the most recent Times/Siena poll showed Trump with a six-point advantage over Harris (50% to 44%) among likely voters in the Buckeye State. Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin leads in the most recent Senate polls in Michigan, a highly competitive state on the presidential level. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images In that same poll, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown had a four-point edge over Moreno among likely voters (47% to 43%). Brown also won over 13% of Republicans in the poll, a level of crossover support that helps him in the red-trending state. The Times/Siena poll also showed Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego leading Lake by six points (49% to 43%) in Arizona. In Michigan, Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin led Rogers by five points (47% to 42%). And in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Sens. Bob Casey Jr. and Tammy Baldwin led their GOP opponents by nine and seven points, respectively, among likely voters. Why does this matter? Should Democrats run the table in the most competitive swing-state Senate races, it'll leave them on the cusp of holding on to a majority. For Democrats, winning both safe and swing-state races along with Ohio would get the party to 49 seats. Then they'd need Montana Sen. Jon Tester to win reelection to get to 50 seats. (Tester is locked in a tough reelection battle against Republican Tim Sheehy in a state that Trump is expected to win by double digits.) Democrats are now trying to expand their Senate map by investing more money in Florida and Texas, which lean Republican on the presidential level but are poised to have close Senate races. Holding a majority is the best-case scenario for Harris should she win the election, as she would need a Democratic-led Senate to not only move through most of her agenda but also approve the bulk of her judicial appointments. If Harris wins in November and Democrats win exactly 50 seats, then Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz would deliver a majority by virtue of the vice-presidential tie-breaking abilities. And Democrats would be able to thank some of Trump's voters for that. But should Trump win the election and pro-Trump ticket-splitters help Democrats keep their majority, it would pump the brakes on a conservative agenda. A Democratic Senate would serve as a check on Trump. If Democrats flip the House, that chamber would be another check on him. And even if Republicans keep the House in a potential Trump second term, they'd clash with a Democratic-led Senate on a range of issues. So ticket-splitters who are backing Trump now have the potential to become one of the most important voting blocs of the 2024 election. Read the original article on Business Insider Former prime minister Boris Johnson considered launching an aquatic raid on a warehouse in the Netherlands to retrieve Covid vaccine doses amid a row with Europe, according to an extract from his memoir. Mr Johnson convened a meeting of senior military officials in March 2021 to discuss the plans, which he admitted were nuts, according to an extract from his Unleashed book published in the Daily Mail. At the time, the AstraZeneca vaccine was at the heart of a cross-Channel row over exports, with the EU lagging behind the pace of the rollout in the UK. The extract says the deputy chief of the defence staff (military strategy and operations), Lieutenant General Doug Chalmers, told the prime minister the plan was certainly feasible, using rigid inflatable boats to navigate Dutch canals. They would then rendezvous at the target; enter; secure the hostage goods, exfiltrate using an articulated lorry, and make their way to the Channel ports, Mr Johnson wrote. But the senior officer said it would not be possible to do this undetected, with lockdowns meaning the authorities might observe the raid, meaning the UK would have to explain why we are effectively invading a long-standing Nato ally. Writing in his book, Mr Johnson said he had commissioned some work on whether it might be technically feasible to launch an aquatic raid on a warehouse in Leiden, in the Netherlands, and to take that which was legally ours and which the UK desperately needed. The former PM admitted: Of course, I knew he was right, and I secretly agreed with what they all thought but did not want to say aloud: that the whole thing was nuts. He described the Halix plant as holding millions of doses of the vaccine which AstraZeneca was trying, in vain to export to the UK. He believed the EU was treating the UK with malice and with spite due to the European rollout being slower than in the UK. They wanted to stop us getting the five million doses, and yet they showed no real sign of wanting to use the AstraZeneca doses themselves, Mr Johnson wrote. He said that around that time, out of the blue, the European Commission launched a kind of legal war against AstraZeneca, claiming that the company was failing to honour its contract with the EU. However, he said the EUs complaints were nonsense as a result of Kate Bingham, the chairwoman of the UKs vaccine taskforce, signing a bomb-proof contract with AstraZeneca. In March 2021, Mr Johnson told a Downing Street press conference: Well continue to work with European partners to deliver the vaccine rollout. All I can say is we in this country dont believe in blockades of any kind of vaccines or vaccine materials. Its not something that this country would dream of engaging in and Im encouraged in some of the things Ive heard from the continent in the same sense. Celebrations in Gadaref, Sudan, on Saturday following reports of advancement by the Sudanese army The Sudanese armys offensive across the Nile in the capital, Khartoum, was heralded by a sudden thunder of shelling and air strikes that reverberated through the darkness. Troops charged across two bridges from the sister city of Omdurman, reportedly wearing green martyrdom headbands in expectation of death as the assault was so perilous. The cacophony marked the armys largest Khartoum offensive so far against their UAE-backed paramilitary adversaries, in a city divided by front lines and where the remaining residents are unable to leave their homes. Soldiers led by the de facto president lost much of the city to the Rapid Support Force (RSF) at the start of the countrys catastrophic 18-month-long civil war, and had been on the defensive there ever since. The noise was so intense it felt as if the ground were shaking, said one resident called Tariq Ali who spoke to The Telegraph by telephone. We havent slept and have been hearing loud missile sounds and shelling and bombs that began around 2am on Thursday morning. The attack over the Medical Corps and Fatehab bridges took place in the historic heart of the city at the confluence of the Blue Nile and White Nile. It was here at the same point that 139 years ago a Mahdist army overran and killed Gen Charles Gordon after a 10-month siege. RSF defenders scrambled to deploy reinforcements and repel the armys dawn assault. Everybody was terrified and there was no way to move out of your house, unless you wanted to participate, said another resident, called Mohammed Ahmed. We saw RSF forces moving and running. No one had expected this attack. The Sudanese army had been on the defensive, but suddenly the RSF was now defending and turning houses into military strong points, forcibly evicting citizens and looting. The citys Petrodar Tower and Hilton were both in flames as the RSF tried to stop the army pushing through the Mogran neighbourhood towards the Arab market area. After the first few days of fighting, the armys bridgehead into Khartoum seemed to stretch no more than a mile, according to Sudan War Monitor, a collective of journalists and researchers tracking the war. Then on Saturday, the Sudanese army captured another Nile crossing, the Halfaya bridge a few miles north, effectively ending the siege of a military base, before turning to push south. Hours after the assault began, the two warring generals who have tipped the country into disaster sparred at the United Nations general assembly as their men fought. Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the army chief, said the RSF was seeking to take over power by force and later blamed the United Arab Emirates for backing the RSF. Abu Dhabi denies supporting the RSF. Abdel-Fattah Burhan has blamed the UAE for backing the RSF - AP Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, who leads the RSF, responded that there was no legitimate government and there is a complete constitutional collapse. The escalation in Khartoum and the failure of all diplomatic efforts to halt the fighting will worsen what is already one of the worlds worst humanitarian disasters, aid agencies fear. An estimated 150,000 are dead in the war so far and more than 10 million have fled their homes. Millions are on the brink of famine as the warring parties block aid convoys into their opponents territory. Both sides are accused of atrocities, sexual violence is rife and RSF massacres in the Darfur region have echoed the countrys genocide 20 years ago. The economy and healthcare have largely collapsed and food prices have jumped three or four-fold. The situation of the people in Khartoum is unbelievable, said Mr Ahmed. My family and I dont have any income to rely on, we depend on our extended family abroad to send us money and food donations from charity groups. He said those who remain have nowhere to go and also do not want to lose their property to the RSF. Mass displacement Waseem Ahmad, chief executive of the Islamic Relief Worldwide aid agency, said the Khartoum offensive would further escalate violence, that will trigger mass displacement. While visiting aid operations in Port Sudan on the Red Sea earlier this week, he said he had seen a stream of refugees arriving from Khartoum. He said: They say it was a ghost town where no one would dare to go out. They said it was very hard for us to leave our beloved homes and move away. This war will leave a lot of scars on the society of Sudan and on the peoples minds, what they will go through. I think the healing process will take decades. A forgotten crisis Beatrice Butsana-Sita, chief executive of the British Red Cross, who has recently returned from Chad where hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have taken refuge, said the scale of the disaster was horrific. She said she had seen large numbers cross the border, starving, exhausted and with no possessions, adding: Its just a stream, they are coming, coming, with nothing. At one point I thought, you cant fall lower than that, because the only thing they have really is their memories and their minds. Its tragic, its a forgotten crisis. The need is so big, its overwhelming. 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 story about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, seems to be stuck (for good reasons) in our news cycle. What follows is a personal story that I find eerily similar to the one we have been encountering. In 2011, the University of Texas Press published My Stone of Hope, a book by Haitian American Jean-Robert Cadet about his struggles with life in the U.S. rife with racism after he came here at age 16. Cadet (pronounced Ca-day) had been a child-slave in Haiti for those early years. I had the privilege of ghost-writing that book. More: When RI's immigrants and refugees don't know where to turn, this nonprofit lifts them up It was the classic story of a young immigrant, all but alone in a strange country, who pulled himself up by his own bootstraps. Homeless at times, Cadet made it through high school, then served honorably in the Army, then put himself through college. He went on to receive a master's degree and to become an international advocate against child slavery, even appearing on Oprah. The following episode from that book occurred when Cadet was in his late twenties, in California. He had found a decent job and moved into a middle-class apartment complex. One day, driving in the countryside, he came upon a farm selling Guinea hens. In Haiti these black and white birds were something of a dining delicacy, representing a level of wealth and comfort that he had been denied. Marlee Karissa Merzius, 10, left, her sister, Sephora Merzius, 9, and friend, Rose Anne Telusma, perform "Every Move I Make" during the homecoming service at First Baptist Church in Springfield, Ohio, earlier this month. The girls are originally from Haiti. Cadet bought one. Almost giddy with joy, he brought it feet tied to his home. The following day, he took the hen outside. Several neighbors came up to him, curious about the tethered bird. What are you going to do with it? one of the neighbors asked. Its my dinner, he said, smiling. Four other neighbors gathered around to look at the Guinea hen, all of them white people. He figured they wanted to watch. A gasp went up as he pulled a long knife from a bag and, without hesitating, decapitated the prized hen, letting the blood spill on the grass. Of course, he had seen this in Haiti dozens of times. Then he noticed a profound silence. 'Oh my God, one of the neighbors screamed, as if I had killed her family pet. He heard someone say that they should call the police. Someone did. Two cops, in dark sunglasses, came to his door. Cadet writes, I began to shake as if the Tonton Macoute had come for me. (The Macoute were Haitian dictator Papa Doc Duvaliers infamous bodyguards.) Clearly, he had not done anything that was illegal, just culturally inappropriate. From then on, he wrote, my neighbors rolled their eyes and looked away each time they saw me. There are numerous morals to Cadets story, as well as to the alleged dog-and-cat-eating story that, apparently, did not happen in Springfield or anywhere. (Wikipedia tells me that Americans eat around 2.5 million chickens a day. Clearly, none of us want to be reminded of the process that brought many of those birds to the deep fryers at Colonel Sanders. But the process involves all those birds being beheaded.) More: Patinkin: Migrants who come to RI from Texas border find plenty of help and compassion I spent three months in Haiti in 1999. I found Haitian people (the ones who had found work) to be smart, industrious, hardworking, and very friendly and open. I saw skinny dogs often and everywhere. Haiti is known as being the poorest country in our hemisphere. No doubt I would have learned if anyone had been eating dogs. Ill give Mark Twain the last word as to the realities described here, words which also reflect on those who might be prone to demonize the dark-skinned immigrant population in the U.S.: Haitians, Hispanics, Africans, East Indians, etc. (American Indians were here first). Twain: Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, and charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired in vegetating in one little corner of the earth all ones lifetime. My suggestion: Take a trip to Springfield, Ohio. Meet some Haitians. Odds are you will find them to be very fine people. Jim Luken is a retired freelance journalist and teacher. He lives in Peace Dale. This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: This Haitian immigrant's story is one of perseverance and inspiration. China is intensifying moves to channel long-term funds into its capital market as part of the efforts to boost investor confidence and enhance market stability. Central authorities recently issued guidelines to streamline the entry of medium- and long-term capital from social security funds, insurance funds and wealth management funds into the market. The main measures contained in the guidelines include fostering a favorable long-term investment ecosystem, promoting the development of public and private equity funds, and improving related policies for medium- and long-term stock investment, according to the office of the Central Financial Work Commission and the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Financial analysts have expressed widespread recognition of the value of these policies. Du Xingye, an associate professor at the University of International Business and Economics, emphasized the necessity of attracting long-term funds. Ming Ming, chief economist at CITIC Securities, believes the move will help build long-term confidence. The entry of long-term capital can help reduce market fluctuations and enhance overall market stability as such funds typically possess well-structured research teams capable of discovering a company's value and executing long-term investment strategies, said Liu Xinyu, co-general manager of the public investment department of Rivers Fund, a public equity fund. In recent years, calls for increasing long-term fund participation have intensified in China, and related measures have been introduced. However, while some progress has been made, an institutional environment friendly to long-term investment has not yet been fully established. At the end of August 2024, institutional investors, including public equity, insurance and various pension funds, collectively held 14.5 trillion yuan (about 2 trillion U.S. dollars) of circulating A-shares. Their proportion of the total market value increased from 17 percent at the beginning of 2019 to 22.2 percent by August. There is significant room for growth for long-term funds in the capital market, experts said, noting that the increasing participation of such funds, which feature higher professional standards and stability, will optimize the investor structure. The latest guidelines achieved substantial policy breakthroughs in areas such as long-cycle assessment for funds, policy synergy and the building of a supportive market ecosystem. A three-year long-cycle assessment mechanism for insurance funds and various pension funds will be established, and investment policies will also be improved for the national social security fund and basic pension insurance fund, according to the guidelines. Problems in the current short-sighted assessment approach for funds are prominent, as the undue emphasis on short-term profit targets has overshadowed the importance of long-term metrics. Wang Peng, an associate researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, said the guidelines specifically address assessment challenges, thereby helping to reduce obstacles preventing long-term funds from flowing into the stock market. Additionally, Pan Hongsheng, chief economist of the China Institute of Finance and Capital Markets, said the guidelines support institutional investors' participation in corporate governance, which will solidify the market foundation for long-term fund entry. It is crucial to create an ecosystem where long-term funds can "enter, stay and thrive," Pan added. China's central bank, top securities regulator and financial regulator Tuesday announced a raft of monetary stimulus, property market support and capital market strengthening measures to boost the country's high-quality economic development. The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee held a meeting on Thursday to analyze and study the current economic situation and make further arrangements for economic work. The meeting called for efforts to boost the capital market, vigorously guide medium- and long-term funds to enter the capital market, and clear obstacles for social security, insurance and wealth management funds to invest in the capital market. Thanks to the new measures, the investor confidence has improved significantly, with the stock market on an upward streak in recent days. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed at 3,087.53 points on Friday -- a 12.81 percent weekly gain. The Shenzhen Component Index soared 17.83 percent in the week to close at 9,514.86 points. On Friday alone, the combined turnover of the two indices neared 1.45 trillion yuan, surpassing the 1-trillion-yuan mark for a third consecutive day. Within the EU passenger rail traffic increased by 50% between 2021 and 2022, driving the development of high-speed rail networks across Europe. Photograph by Steven Granville This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK). As the sun rose over France on the day of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, there was almost unbelievable news from SNCF, the state rail company. Saboteurs had planned night-time arson attacks to hit the four high-speed rail lines that radiate from the capital. Three of the attacks were successful in their mission to close the lines. For people in Britain, where high-speed rail is both limited and a political hot potato, the news was a reminder of just how integral the network has become in countries such as France. In Europe, rail is having a bit of a moment. Across the Channel, a new line from Paris to Bordeaux slashed journey times in 2017, while six further projects are underway to expand the TGV network, with the Bordeaux-Toulouse extension expected to open first in 2032. Work will also begin this year on a high-speed line between Porto and Lisbon in Portugal. The first 89-mile phase between Porto-Campanha and Soure will be complete by 2028. In Spain where nearly 2,500 miles of high-speed track make it the second-biggest network in the world, surpassed only by China two new lines have opened over the past three years, while other projects, including the Basque Y, are underway. The number of high-speed train passengers in the country hit 23.7 million in 2022 up 76% year on year. Even further east, where rail connectivity in the past has been lacking, plans are afoot for a rail revolution. In the Czech Republic, the government has drawn up plans for new high-speed routes that will connect major cities and link into the wider European network. Construction on six new lines five from Prague, one from Brno will start in 2026. And a new route between Budapest, in Hungary, and Belgrade, the Serbian capital, is being built, with the first stretch open, as is a line linking Athens Airport and Patras in Greece. Theres been a really big focus on high-speed networks, says Christian Wolmar, a rail expert and host of the Calling All Stations podcast. Theres been huge investment in lots of European countries and with it has been a massive improvement in fast services, although the downside is that, in places, theres been some neglect of the existing networks. Officials in Brussels have drawn up bold plans to double high-speed rail use by 2030 and triple current passenger levels by 2050. In 2022, the EU agreed to pump 5.4bn (4.6bn) into 135 transport projects to help achieve these goals. In July this year, it pledged a further 7bn (6bn) in grants, with a focus on rail infrastructure for the blocs planned Trans-European transport network (TEN-T), which includes roads, rail, shipping and aviation. Wopke Hoekstra, European commissioner for climate action and transport, says: The projects will help transform Europes transport network, making cleaner transport modes more efficient and attractive for both passengers and freight while also enhancing safety. Industry leaders, as youd expect, are throwing their weight behind the plans. Demand, they say, is already there. Across the EU, passenger rail traffic jumped 50% between 2021 and 2022 as pandemic restrictions lifted and borders reopened. At 245 billion miles travelled, use of the network was just 5% shy of 2019. The numbers are expected to climb further in 2023, supported in part by initiatives such as the ban of some domestic flights in France. Routes where the same journey can be made by train in under 2h30m have been outlawed, although connecting flights are unaffected. Soaring demand Theres currently more demand than there is supply, says Alberto Mazzola, executive director of the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER), a Brussels trade body. This is especially the case when it comes to long distance, as people want to travel sustainably. But we need to improve our infrastructure and thats a challenge in some countries. While theres been a lot of investment, we need more cross-border connectivity and also more consistent maintenance. This has been a big problem in Germany. The current lack of cross-border collaboration is certainly a topic of contention. I think most people would agree that cross-border trains could link up better, says Mark Smith, founder of The Man in Seat 61, a rail travel advice website. Back in the 1980s, all the trains from Paris to northern Spain crossed the border to Irun and connected with Spanish services. Now, TGVs from Paris to Hendaye, on the French side, arent authorised to go to Spain so cant cross the one stop to Irun. The same is happening between France and Italy, says Smith, due to the lack of cooperation. Theres no longer a direct service between Nice and Milan; passengers have to change in Ventimiglia. CER also wants reforms to the way train paths a time slot and route allocated to a train for its journey are assigned, crucially agreeing timetables much earlier. At the moment, we get about four months notice, says Mazzola. Wed like to see a process where the schedule is set one year in advance. That will help the railways compete with the airlines. A desire for more sustainable travel, as well as a burgeoning network of sleeper services in Europe, is also helping drive demand across the continent. Eurostar, which operates cross-Channel services as well as Franco-Belgian services following a merger with Thalys, has ambitions to carry 30 million passengers a year by 2030. Passenger numbers on services from London during 2023 were up by 38% to Amsterdam, by 33% to Brussels and by 25% to Paris year on year. Eurostar also faces the threat of competition on the line, which will be good news for fares, says Smith. Evolyn, a new Spanish operator, announced last year it had agreed a deal with Alstom, the train manufacturer, for between 12 and 16 trains to run from London to Paris. Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in Europe, directly connecting Paris to cities such as London, Zurich, Brussels and Amsterdam. Photograph by Steve Tulley, Alamy Yann Leriche, director general of Getlink, which operates the Channel Tunnel, said the deal confirms the economic and technical attractiveness of Eurotunnel as well as the huge potential for growth in high-speed rail traffic. Tour operators are also reaping the rewards. France is by far our biggest seller by rail because its the quickest to reach and has one of the most reliable rail systems in Europe, explains Kylie Anderson, who oversees the rail programme for Inntravel. She says the three most popular routes in France are those with direct connections from Paris or Lille the Dordogne, Provence and Alsace. The frequent connection between Paris and Zurich direct in 4h5m is also popular with Brits. Some opt for an overnight stay in Zurich before taking a scenic journey down to Milan, where you can connect to high-speed services throughout Italy, she says. Sunvil reports almost 10% of holidays it sells to Spain are now to people looking to take the train. The increased promotion of no-fly holidays alongside developments on Europes high-speed network in recent years have led to heightened demand, says Rachel Jelley, the companys sales manager, adding that the Spanish programme has benefited most from the high-speed routes. Travellers can take a morning Eurostar from London, connect in Paris and catch a mid-afternoon TGV to arrive in Barcelona by 9.30pm. In the future, they may be able to take the Eurostar to Brussels and catch an overnight sleeper to the Catalonian capital. At least if European Sleeper, the newest night train operator, gets its way. It launched from the Belgian capital to Berlin in 2023 before extending to Prague in March. OBB, the Austrian operator, has expanded its sleeper routes with Nightjet trains crisscrossing Europe; they now also operate on routes such as Munich to Bologna, Salzburg to Florence and Vienna to Rome. There are also a growing number of overnight trains in France after President president Emmanuel Macron, pledged to revive services. Others have been less successful. Midnight Trains, a Paris start-up, had planned hotels on wheels from the French capital to Spain and Italy to launch from next year. However, announcing the death of a dream in June, Adrien Aumont, the co-founder, bemoaned a sector that favours legacy operators. He urged the EU to build a railway capable of welcoming new, innovative companies so that other entrepreneurs can succeed in creating new uses and improving the train travel experience. Published in the October 2024 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK). To subscribe to National Geographic Traveller (UK) magazine click here. (Available in select countries only). The News Israel targeted Tehran-backed proxies across the Middle East and reportedly sent Irans supreme leader into hiding, an offensive that analysts said presaged a wider regional offensive. On Monday, the Israeli Defense Forces declared a closed military zone near the Israel-Lebanon border. The US State Department said Israel informed it it would conduct limited ground operations targeting Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group and Lebanons strongest political party. The onslaught including killing a Hamas leader in Lebanon and striking Houthi targets in Yemen came after the weekend assassination of Hezbollahs leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in Beirut. Hezbollahs deputy chief said Monday that the group was prepared and ready to face Israel. Nasrallahs killing prompted Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to vow revenge; he was later reportedly moved to a secure location, and Tehran has so far responded cautiously to Israels escalation. SIGNALS Iran may be trying to avoid wider conflict Source: The New York Times Nasrallahs killing abruptly wiped out a singular force in Ayatollah Khameneis hierarchy of close associates, and a relationship spanning four decades, The New York Times wrote. It may leave Tehran in a strategic bind, an expert told the Times, stuck between an inclination to retaliate and preserve its credibility, and the possibility that Israel could attack the country directly. Irans strategy of relying on an axis of resistance made up of its proxies to deter Israel seems to have failed: The so-called axis of resistance from its very beginning was more or less a propaganda fiction created to enhance the prestige of the Islamic Republic, a senior fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute told the Times. Israel seems far from achieving its goals Sources: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Chatham House The damage that Israel has inflicted on Hezbollah so far may be a sign of what a full-scale conflict might look like, with Israel in control of calibrating and pacing combat operations, an expert wrote for the Carnegie Endowment think tank. Still, that control would not necessarily enable Israel to achieve its stated aims, including the return of displaced Israelis to the north of the country. [Israels] northern region is almost entirely depopulated, its international reputation is in tatters for the killing and suffering of so many civilians, its economy is in serious trouble, and its domestic politics is in turmoil, an analyst argued for UK-based think tank Chatham House. Global oil prices hold steady as regional conflict concerns grow Sources: Reuters, CNN The escalating Middle East conflict has yet to significantly affect the oil market, with the price of Brent crude continuing to fall for the third consecutive month, Reuters reported, and oil prices remaining well below a high reached in the aftermath of last years Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Ultimately, Israels strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen do not materially affect global oil supplies, an investment strategist wrote, according to CNN. Striking Iran itself, however, could lead to a response from Tehran that disrupts the flow of oil and gas from the Middle East (leading) to much higher oil prices, the strategist added. After endorsing Kamala Harris on X Sunday, former Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona praised the vice president's grasp of foreign policy and her proposal for tougher border restrictions on ABC News' "This Week." With 37 days until Election Day, Flake said he made his endorsement now since he couldn't participate in political activities in his role as ambassador to Turkey, which he stepped down from on Sept. 1. "I think Republicans believe in the rule of law in particular, and it's difficult to support a candidate who, having lost an election, tries to use the powers of the presidency to overturn that election," Flake told ABC "This Week" anchor Martha Raddatz. "That is anything but respect for the rule of law."He said that other conservative Republicans feel similarly. PHOTO: U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and former Senator Jeff Flake appears on 'This Week,' Sept. 29, 2024. (ABC News) In his endorsement, Flake wrote that he believes Harris will unite the country and "respect the will of voters." He also discussed his endorsement in an interview with the Arizona Republic. The former congressman and senator joins other prominent Republicans who have endorsed Harris, including former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming. MORE: 'It's important for people to recognize he's not a conservative': Liz Cheney on Trump Flake is one of a handful of Republicans who have served in President Joe Biden's administration, along with Cindy McCain, the widow of former Sen. John McCain of Arizona. Since leaving the Senate in 2019, Flake has been an outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump and urged Republicans to "move away from Trump-ism." Flake also endorsed Biden in 2020 on the first day of the Republican National Convention along with dozens of former GOP members of Congress. He said that Harris "ought to court all voters," particularly moderate and conservative Republicans. Asked about his interactions with Harris during his time as an ambassador, Flake said that she is ready to serve as commander in chief. MORE: Harris, standing with Zelenskyy, indirectly jabs at Trump and Vance on Ukraine views "We have to support and work with our allies," Flake said. "And she understands that." He pointed to Harris' speech at the Munich Security Conference and each candidate's approach to foreign policy during the ABC presidential debate. "It was really stark watching the debate the other day and hearing the former president not be able to even cheer for Ukraine," said Flake. "That's a big issue for me." Raddatz pressed Flake on whether his endorsement would make inroads with voters in Arizona who are a part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, of which he is a member. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah., another high-profile Mormon Republican opposed to Trump, has not endorsed Harris. Flake demurred, responding that "I can only speak for myself and where I am." Raddatz asked Flake about his thoughts on one of the vice president's biggest vulnerabilities after her visit to the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday, her first in three years. A recent ABC News/Ipsos poll found that voters thought Trump was better suited to handle the border over Harris by 10 points. Flake said that he was glad to see Harris visit the border and propose stricter asylum restrictions. He pointed to her work as a prosecutor and attorney general, saying, "She knows what it takes." Harris' campaign is looking to gain ground on an issue of high importance to voters. MORE:Harris walks fence at US-Mexico border as she works to project tougher stance on migration While in Congress, Flake backed a bipartisan immigration proposal that failed to pass. When pressed by Raddatz on the Biden-Harris administration's handling of the southern border, Flake said there needs to be stricter asylum policies. He applauded Harris for saying she would sign the immigration bill that failed in the Senate after Republican opposition led by Trump cratered the legislation. "She knows how to work on a bipartisan basis, and if we do immigration reform that endures, it's going to have to be bipartisan," said Flake. Republican Jeff Flake endorses Kamala Harris, says 'she's ready' for the job originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Kentucky sheriff facing murder charge in slaying of local judge retires from office The Kentucky sheriff charged with shooting and killing a local judge is stepping down. Letcher County Sheriff Shawn Mickey Stines decided to retire effective Monday, his attorney, Jeremy Bartley, said in a statement. Gov. Andy Beshear called on Stines to resign last week and said if he didnt, he would start the process of removing Stines. However, Stines decision to retire was not as a result of any ultimatum or in any way as a concession to any allegations made by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Bartley said. Shawn Mickey Stines was being held in the Leslie County Detention Center in Hyden. Rather, Stines wanted to make way for a successor to be appointed in order to help protect the people of Letcher County while he deals with the charge against him, according to the statement. There had been some question locally about getting property-tax bills sent out from Stines office on time with him in jail. Stines had served the community more than 22 years, Bartley said. He expresses his heartfelt appreciation and love for the support this community has given him and his family during his time in service, Bartley said. Letcher District Judge Kevin Mullins was shot to death in his courthouse office on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. Stines, 43, is charged with shooting Letcher District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54, to death in Mullins office in the county courthouse on Sept. 19. Police said the two friends argued briefly before the shooting, but have not released information on an alleged motive. Stines gave another officer his gun immediately after the shooting and has been in jail since. He has pleaded not guilty. King Charles has warned there is "much more to be done" to combat climate change as he marked the "important" 25th anniversary of the Scottish Parliament. The monarch fondly recalled his late mother's love for Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire - where she spent her final days - in his speech, and said Scotland held a "uniquely special" place in his heart. After his speech the King - who has been undergoing treatment for cancer since February - met a number of "local heroes", who were recognised for the impact they have made in their communities. MSPs also heard speeches from party leaders and musical performances from a variety of acts. 'The most Scottish of values' During his speech the King, who was joined by the Queen on his visit, told the Parliament that when it reconvened in 1999 it marked a "new dawn" for the country. He said that the values inscribed on the mace his mother had given the Parliament 25 years ago - wisdom, justice, compassion and integrity - were the "most Scottish of values". He added: "We are often told that we live in an era of polarisation and division. "If that is so, then it is perhaps even more important, not less, that in the vital areas of representation, of political debate, of policymaking and of discourse, these values - together with hope, civility, and generosity of spirit - are never far from the heart of even the most difficult of issues." However, the King later added action would be needed to handle the challenge of climate change. He said: "Today is an important milestone. As we look ahead to the next quarter of a century and beyond, there remains much more to be done, for Scotland, for the United Kingdom and, equally, in addressing the challenges we all share as inhabitants of a planet whose climate is changing dangerously and whose biodiversity is being seriously depleted." The King was greeted by well-wishers outside the Scottish Parliament [PA Media] The King attended the Scottish Parliament opening in 1999 - when he was Prince Charles, and has attended several times since then. He recalled that it was an "extraordinary occasion" 25 years ago and it was a "great, somewhat daunting" responsibility for MSPs to take on. However, he said that everyone there was "united by our love of Scotland" and praised the nation's "extraordinary diversity". He said: "From the central belt, to the North Highlands, across the islands, in Ayrshire, in the Borders, the cities, towns, and villages, or the coastal communities, who, I wonder, could not fail to be moved by this complex Caledonian kaleidoscope? "Speaking from a personal perspective, Scotland has always had a uniquely special place in the hearts of my family and myself. "My beloved grandmother was proudly Scottish, my late mother especially treasured the time spent at Balmoral, and it was there in the most beloved of places, where she chose to spend her final days." The King shares a laugh with Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone [PA Media] The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Sistema Scotland, Gaelic song chorus Coisir Alba and mandolin and guitarist Calum McIlroy - who won the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician prize this year - all performed. Following the King's speech the leaders of Scotland's political parties all spoke. First Minister and SNP leader John Swinney said the event celebrated "25 years in which the Scottish Parliament has changed lives for the better" and that it had been "at the heart of the nation" since 1999. He cited several achievements, such as marriage equality, as having helped make Scotland a fairer society. He said: "I hope Scotland will continue to shine as a beacon of enlightenment across stormy seas, a refuge for reason in the world, a wellspring of modern thought and creativity." In his first speech since becoming Scottish Tory leader on Friday, Russell Findlay called on the Parliament to "realign" with the public and said that too many people felt "detached" from the chamber. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said he believed "Scotland's best days lie ahead of us" and Alex Cole-Hamilton of the Scottish Liberal Democrats described the Parliament as a "cathedral of ideas" which had shown it could be "transformative" for people's lives. However, Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie warned that the Parliament's "journey is far from complete". Outside, a group of republicans peacefully demonstrated against the monarchy, chanting "Not My King and waving yellow and black Down with the Crown placards as the royals were driven to the Scottish Parliament. Mississippi driver dies after car crashes into two horses HOLMES COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) One person was killed after a vehicle crashed into two horses in Holmes County. The crash occurred on Highway 17 around 11:45 p.m. on Thursday, September 26. One hospitalized due to Vicksburg house fire Officials with the Mississippi Highway Patrol (MHP) said a 2005 Dodge Charger was traveling north on the highway when it collided with two horses that were standing in the middle of the highway. The vehicle overturned. The driver, 32-year-old Preston Nichelson, of Pickens, received fatal injuries and was pronounced deceased at the scene. The crash remains under investigation by MHP. 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. Moldova has blamed a recent spate of attacks on government and state buildings in the capital Chisinau on Moscow, saying Russia is trying to influence next month's election. In just four weeks time Moldova will hold both a presidential election and a referendum on EU membership - on October 20th. The government has repeatedly accused Russia of conducting a hybrid war against the country, meddling in local elections and running vast disinformation campaigns to try to topple the government and derail its path toward joining the EU. Early on Friday morning the buildings of the Supreme Court and the state-run broadcaster were both sprayed with paint, and overnight on Thursday the Ministry for Labour and Social Protection was also spray-painted. The police say they have made a number of arrests and are investigating leads that Moscow may have organised the attacks. US support for Moldova In May, US secretary of state Antony Blinken pledged 124 million in aid to Moldova for energy security and to counter Russian disinformation. That in turn will bolster the ability of Moldovans to resist Russian interference, to hold free and fair elections, to continue down the path to the European Union and Western integration, to create more economic opportunity, Blinken said during his visit to Chisinau. Moldova, with about 2.5 million people, used to be entirely dependent on Russia for its natural gas supplies. It faced an acute energy crisis after Moscow dramatically reduced supplies in the winter of 2022. Moldova's energy woes worsened that year after it suffered temporary blackouts because its Soviet-era energy systems remained connected with Ukraine's, which were being hit hard by Russia's military. Russia's influence in Transnistria Since Russia invaded Ukraine two years ago, fears have risen in neighbouring Moldova that it could also be in Moscows crosshairs. Like Ukraine, Moldova is a former Soviet republic that has aligned itself with the West and aspires to join the European Union. Moldova gained independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991 and after a short war in the early 1990s, Transnistria declared independence from Moldova. Although Transnistrias independence isnt recognised by any U.N. member countries, including Russia, the Kremlin-friendly territory has become a source of tension during the war, especially since it is wedged between Moldova and Ukraine and is home to a military base with 1,500 Russian troops. The family of an Ohio woman who died of sepsis after she developed a pressure wound at a nursing home is calling for justice for their matriarch. Lucy Garcia was 72 years old when she died on July 2. She had previously been a resident at Arbors at Oregon, a nursing home about 4 miles southeast of Toledo. Arbors at Oregon did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday but Matt Mooney, an attorney representing the Garcia family, said the family wants to file a wrongful death suit against the facility. In Ohio, wrongful death is any death that's caused by neglect, negligence, recklessness, willful conduct like an intentional homicide, that would all fall within a wrongful death case, Mooney told USA TODAY. The family has argued that the system running the nursing home set policies and procedures for their staff to abide by that led to Garcias death, Mooney said. Mooney said the family wants accountability from the Arbors of Oregon. The family feels this is not an isolated incident at the Arbors, he said. The facility is being run by management and administration and the corporate parent of the Arbors directing the staff to do the impossible, to work harder, longer hours, to take more patients, do more with less. We think that was a recipe for disaster. Lucy Garcia (center) with her family. Mooney and his team filed for records from the nursing home on Sept. 16 and are waiting for them to be delivered. Only then can the civil suit be filed. The familys case is based largely on the autopsy report after Garcias death, Mooney said. The report, obtained by USA TODAY, says that her death was the result of caretaker neglect resulting in complications of a sacral pressure wound. The coroner ruled her manner of death homicide. Mooney said this is a first for him. I've been practicing law in Ohio for nine years, primarily in medical malpractice cases and nursing home neglect cases, and I've never seen a coroner that unequivocal about the cause of a person's death being medical neglect under any circumstances, Mooney said. Elderly man dies: His dad died from listeria tied to Boars Head meat. He needed to share his story. Woman wasnt being turned or moved at nursing home, family alleges Mooney said Garcia once lived independently but had a stroke that left her with weakness in the left side of her body. She lived with her son for a bit but the 24-hour care she needed became too much for the family to handle, so she was taken to Arbors of Oregon in October 2019. The Arbors of Oregon assured the family they could provide the care Garcia needed, Mooney said. For the most part, he did not have any major concerns with her care but began to notice beginning in early 2024 that when they came to visit their mom, the facility was no longer getting her up and out of bed, Mooney said, adding that she was in bed most of the time and wasnt put in her chair or up and moving, which prevents bed sores. Her family also didnt see anyone visiting her room to help her, Mooney recalled. She soon complained about back pain and was rushed to St. Charles Hospital on June 19, where doctors learned she had a Stage 4 pressure ulcer on her backside. The nursing home hadnt told her family about the wound and kept it covered up with bandages, Mooney said, adding that Garcia died on July 2 from sepsis. Her wound had gotten infected and spread to her bloodstream, he said. Mooney said there was a similar case before Garcias at the facility where a care provider was charged with manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, and two counts of neglect and abuse. A care provider was charged and convicted of those charges of involuntary manslaughter and patient abuse related to that treatment, he said. Ohio woman was a great-grandmother who was the nucleus of her family, lawyer says Mooney said Garcia was part of a large family. She raised four sons on her own and was a motherly figure to all the kids in the neighborhood. Everyone knew they could come to the Garcia home with open arms, he said. If their friends needed a place to stay for the night or needed a meal, Lucy was glad to get that and she was very adamant about her sons being raised right and being self-sufficient, Mooney said. Lucy Garcia, a 72-year-old Ohio woman whose family says a nursing home is responsible for the pressure wound and sepsis that killed her in July 2024. Her family really viewed her as the center of their family unit, and she was included in just about every single one of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren's births, Mooney said. She leaves behind nine great-grandchildren, 17 grandchildren and four sons. Lawyer calls womans death a tragedy I think it's important to understand that certainly what happened to Lucy is a tragedy, Mooney said. We've already spoken with other folks who had loved ones at the Arbors of Oregon and have described very similar outcomes. We're going to find out why that is, and what the systems and policies and procedures were at Arbors that led to these kinds of outcomes for Lucy and other residents. Lucy Garcia, a 72-year-old Ohio woman who died due to a pressure wound and sepsis. He said Garcias family doesnt want this to happen to anyone else, and they hope the attention her case is getting will prevent it from happening to another family. No one deserves to be treated the way that Lucy was treated, Mooney said. No one deserves to suffer from a Stage 4 pressure ulcer. That's a complete tissue loss all the way down to her bone. They don't want to see that ever happen again. This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the victim's name. Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia the 757. Follow her on Twitter at @SaleenMartin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Death of Arbors at Oregon nursing home patient ruled a homicide Recent false allegations against Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, have sparked a deeper reflection on Haitis plight. Beyond the headlines, its clear that Haiti is struggling for survival, respect and dignity. The U.S. has a moral obligation to help Haitians rebuild their nation a country not only close to Americas shores but deeply intertwined with our history. A stable and thriving Haiti is not just about national security its about doing whats right. Haitians deserve the freedom, dignity and respect that comes with a secure and prosperous nation. Haitis social, political and economic breakdown offers the U.S. a chance to lead a transformative effort reminiscent of the Marshall Plan, which helped rebuild Europe after World War II. The Marshall Plan was about more than just money; it was about hope. It gave millions of Europeans the tools to rebuild their shattered lives. It also bolstered U.S. interests by stabilizing allies and opening new economic opportunities. Haiti deserves the same chance to rebuild, to thrive and to stand on its own with pride. A Marshall Plan for Haiti could unlock the nations untapped potential. Starting with a geological survey to identify natural resources, such as gold and oil, this plan would invite global investment to fuel economic growth. Haiti has an estimated $20 billion in precious minerals, yet the country has been unable to fully tap into that wealth. The neighboring Dominican Republic has shown whats possible by successfully exporting billions in minerals each year. Haiti deserves that same opportunity to rise. Haitis food insecurity is another critical piece. Chronic hunger drives unrest and political instability. By helping Haiti produce its own food, we can not only ease suffering but create jobs and restore self-reliance. Theres strong demand for American investment in Haitis agribusiness, and by fostering local production, we can ensure that Haitians can feed themselves, building a foundation for long-term stability. Beyond agriculture, American support can fuel growth in Haitis garment sector and its rich exports of coffee and cacao. Light manufacturing and tech hubs could offer new jobs, especially for the youth, breaking the cycle of poverty and creating a future of possibility. Haitis natural beauty and rich cultural heritage hold immense potential for tourism. With strategic investments in infrastructure and incentives for hotel developers, tourism could provide steady jobs and attract much-needed capital. However, to ensure this plan succeeds, the U.S. must work alongside Canada, France and the international community, investing not only in Haitis economy but in its people. This isnt just about profits or political interests its about giving Haitians a chance to live with dignity and break free from the chains of poverty and corruption. As a good neighbor, the U.S. must do more than watch from afar. Now is the time to act. We must offer our support not out of charity, but out of a shared belief that Haitians, like all people, deserve the chance to rebuild, thrive and hold their heads high. Art Estopinan served as chief of staff to the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He has extensive expertise in U.S. foreign policy, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean. Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. 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. Sales staff promote African products via livestreaming during the third Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 25, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] The third Global Digital Trade Expo (GDTE), concluding on Sunday, has been a vibrant platform for fostering global partnerships in digital commerce and thus sustainable growth. Held in Hangzhou, a city known for blending ancient charm and modern innovation, the expo featured more than 1,500 enterprises, including over 300 international companies. Attendees experienced cutting-edge innovations like AI-driven robots and hydrogen-powered drones and were presented with over 400 new products and technologies. Valuable experience Kazakh Minister of Digital Development, Innovation, and Aerospace Industry Zhaslan Madiyev highlighted China's role as a global leader in e-commerce and digital technologies, noting that China is accelerating the digital transformation of markets worldwide. In a written interview with Xinhua, Madiyev said China's experience offers valuable insights for countries in the early stages of developing their digital markets, aiding global growth and helping reduce digital inequality. He cited Kazakhstan's efforts to improve telecommunications and cybersecurity by learning from China. In addition to cutting-edge technologies, China's experience in e-commerce also set an example for countries seeking to capitalize on the rapid growth of digital trade. Kilimall, an e-commerce platform founded by Chinese entrepreneurs in Africa in 2014, has become one of the most popular shopping websites among Africans. It has generated about 10,000 local jobs in logistics, courier services, customer support and regional sales. The cooperation between China and Africa in digital economy "represents a new model of economic cooperation that creates tangible value for businesses and people on both sides" said Ugandan Ambassador to China Oliver Wonekha. Digitalization is a technological leap and a key driver of future development for countries and businesses, said Jean Louis Robinson, ambassador of Madagascar to China. "We are eager to work closely with Chinese companies to learn from China's advanced experience in digital economy and promote sustainable development in Madagascar," he added. Robots perform dance at a booth during the third Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 25, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] Vast opportunities China's advanced digital economy and vast market scale are creating immense opportunities for the world, said experts and attendees at the expo. "For us, China is not just a sales market," said Lyu Feng, division head of public relations at Yokogawa China, a Japanese electric firm. He highlighted China's vast emerging industries, strong market demand, and numerous high-tech companies. Lyu added that the company emphasizes collaborating with Chinese enterprises to explore new opportunities, particularly in digital transformation and carbon emissions management in the manufacturing sector. Zhu Lili, vice president of AstraZeneca China, expressed that the pharmaceutical giant is "highly confident" in the Chinese market and its innovation ecosystem. She emphasized the company's goal to partner with more local firms to explore the application of digital technologies in healthcare, driving sustainable and high-quality growth for both the healthcare industry and the broader economy. In the first half of 2024, China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports reached 1.22 trillion yuan (about 170 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 10.5 percent year over year, according to customs data. Kazakhstan has opened national pavilions on Chinese e-commerce platforms like Alibaba and JD.com to promote products such as powdered milk, safflower oil, and honey, boosting bilateral e-commerce ties, Serik Korzhumbayev, editor-in-chief of Delovoy Kazakhstan, told Xinhua. Yao Hongchun, vice president of the Thai Chinese New Generation Business Association, emphasized its potential for collaboration with China, mainly through advanced e-commerce technologies tailored to Thai consumers. A foreign merchant consults about a small intelligent translation device at the third Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 25, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] Cooperation platform "E-commerce can be successful and further developed in the long run if everyone can find their way in it, if it is based on close international cooperation, if it is diversified and if as many countries as possible are involved on both the manufacturer and the buyer side," Hungarian National Assembly's Deputy Speaker Lajos Olah said at the opening ceremony of the expo. By July 2024, China has signed e-commerce cooperation memorandums of understanding with 33 countries spanning five continents. Additionally, China has been involved in digital economy collaborations through multilateral frameworks like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS, the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, and the G20, according to an e-commerce development report released by China's Ministry of Commerce during the expo. Beyond exhibitions, this year's GDTE also featured multiple forums, meetings, and seminars, providing officials and industry leaders with platforms to exchange views and discuss prospects for international collaboration. Through participating in the expo, Thailand is ready to work with partners in trade, investment, research, and development to expand its digital products and services, aiming to integrate into key global supply chains, Thailand's Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Ekachat Seetavorarat told Xinhua on the sidelines of the expo. Madiyev also highlighted the GDTE as a unique opportunity to exchange experiences with leading global players in the digital economy and expand economic ties with other countries, particularly China. Science news this week: A lost Biblical tree and a memory crystal that could 'survive to the end of the universe' When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: Dr. Sarah Sallon University of Southampton From record-breaking stays in space to a " knife-wielding orca ," it has been a busy week in the world of science news. But the story that has most captured our imagination is that of what Earth could look like 8 billion years into the future . The exoplanet KMT-2020-BLG-0414, located 4,000 light-years from ours, is a rocky world that orbits a white dwarf a hot Earth-size core from a sun that has exhausted all its nuclear fuel, just as Earth's sun will in billions of years. However, before the sun shrinks to this diminutive size, it will expand into a red giant, which threatens to swallow Earth alongside Mercury and Venus. If our planet survives, then we may well resemble KMT-2020-BLG-0414. Whether humanity will be there to see it Lost Biblical tree resurrected from mystery seed A collage of two pictures showing a small tree standing in a pot in a greenhouse. Scientists have grown an ancient seed from a cave in the Judean Desert into a tree. (Image credit: Dr. Sarah Sallon) For 14 years, researchers have been growing a tree from an ancient seed that archaeologists excavated from a Judean Desert cave in the late 1980s. Now that the specimen stands at around 10 feet (3 meters) tall, the scientists believe that the tree grown from this 1,000 year old seed could belong to a long-lost lineage mentioned in the Bible . The seed of the tree, dubbed "Sheba," dates back to somewhere between A.D. 993 and 1202, and the researchers believe that the fully-grown specimen could be the source of Biblical "tsori" a resinous extract associated with healing in Genesis, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. "The identity of Biblical 'tsori' (translated in English as 'balm') has long been open to debate," the researchers wrote in the study. Now, having revived Sheba, the team thinks it has finally unraveled its mystery of this ancient plant. Discover more archaeology news 2,700-year-old shields and helmet from ancient kingdom unearthed at castle in Turkey Mysterious 'horseman' from lead coffin unearthed in Notre Dame Cathedral finally identified When was steel invented? A man pours molten metal No one knows for sure when steel was invented, but some of the earliest examples crop up in the first millennium B.C. in Central and South Asia. (Image credit: Monty Rakusen via Getty Images) Steel is the backbone of the modern world and used in houses, skyscrapers, automobiles and more. But steel isn't found in nature, so when did humans invent steel ? Near-indestructible '5D memory crystal' could survive to the end of the universe A small circular chip is held between two human fingertips. It is covered in biological diagrams. Scientists used lasers to transcribe all 3 billion letters of the human genome onto a "5D memory chip" the size of a coin. (Image credit: University of Southampton) Scientists have developed a new data storage format that, under the right conditions, could survive well beyond the destruction of Earth as it gets consumed by the sun, and possibly until the very end of the known universe. Most data storage systems degrade over time, but researchers at the University of Southampton in the U.K. made a synthetic "5D memory crystal" that mimics the properties of fused quartz, one of the most chemically and thermally stable materials there is. And what have they done with this incredible new material? They etched a copy of the entire human genome on it, in the hope that our species could be revived long after our extinction however unlikely that may be . Discover more technology stories 'The dystopian possibilities seem endless': How attempts to merge human brains with machines could go disastrously wrong What is artificial general intelligence (AGI)? Also in science news this week NASA reveals images of enormous, snowman-shaped asteroid A composite image showing different angles of the snowman-shaped asteroid 2024 ON as it flew close to Earth recently The "potentially hazardous" asteroid 2024 ON looks like a tipsy cosmic snowman in these radar images obtained by the Deep Space Network's Goldstone Solar System Radar. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) We're no strangers to " potentially hazardous " asteroids, given that as of September 2024, NASA has identified more than 2,400 known asteroids that will pass within 4.65 million miles (7.5 million kilometers) of our planet. While "potentially hazardous" sounds alarming, that's roughly 20 times the average distance between Earth and the moon, and astronomers do not believe any of them threaten our home for at least the next 100 years. However, when they do pass, it gives us an opportunity to study asteroids in greater detail than when they are farther away from us. One such asteroid flew safely past Earth at a distance of 620,000 miles (1 million km) earlier this month, and new images captured by the Goldstone Solar System Radar near Barstow, California, reveal the "snowman" shaped rock is actually two asteroids locked together by their own gravity known as a contact binary. Something for the weekend If you're looking for something a little longer to read over the weekend, here are some of the best long reads, book excerpts and interviews published this week. Science in pictures: 'Scuba-diving' lizards When danger lurks for certain semi aquatic lizards, there is one place they can hide underwater. But how can they stay there long enough to avoid predation? A clever trick, whereby they create an air bubble on their forehead to store oxygen, allowing them to breathe underwater like a scuba diver. This behavior was first discovered in 2018, but a recent study found that the bubble allowed them to stay underwater 32% longer than without it . "We know that they can stay underwater at least about 20 minutes, but probably longer," study author Lindsey Swierk, assistant research professor in biological sciences at Binghamton University in New York, told Live Science in an email. Follow Live Science on social media Want more science news? Follow our Live Science WhatsApp Channel for the latest discoveries as they happen. It's the best way to get our expert reporting on the go, but if you don't use WhatsApp we're also on Facebook , X (formerly Twitter) , Flipboard , Instagram , TikTok and LinkedIn . A Boonville, Indiana, woman who is charged with murder and other offenses for the 2022 death of her infant is scheduled to go before a jury in Warrick County this week. Warrick County Sheriff's deputies arrested Caylin Monroe, 25, alongside the infant's father in April 2022 months after first responders found the infant deceased inside a Honeysuckle Drive residence, according to Monroe's arrest affidavit. Monroe and the father, 24-year-old Jakob Scott, have both pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and two counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in death all Level 1 felonies. Scott is scheduled to stand trial in November. According to court records, Monroe confirmed to a judge on Friday that she had rejected "offers" from the Warrick County Prosecutor's Office and wished to proceed with a jury trial. The court set aside Monday and Tuesday for jury selection, writing in a docket entry that the parties could begin presenting evidence Wednesday morning, assuming the two sides succeed in seating a jury. Boonville-based attorneys Mark and Brennan Phillips represent Monroe, according to court records. Jennifer Greer and Warrick County Prosecutor Michael Perry are listed in legal filings as leading the state's case. In Monroe's arrest affidavit, the Warrick County Sheriff's Office claimed that Monroe and Scott had effectively allowed their child to starve to death in February 2022, which came after the Indiana Department of Child Services had investigated whether Monroe had previously failed to feed one of her other children. According to the affidavit, when a detective told Monroe that her childs cause of death was listed as starvation, Monroe asserted that she fed her children. After a detective informed Monroe that an autopsy report showed the babys stomach was empty, Monroe allegedly acknowledged she would sometimes miss feedings. During a separate interview, Scott began to break down emotionally, detectives wrote, when discussing the infants death. The probable cause affidavit filed in his case alleged that Scott admitted he would sometimes forget to feed his baby, saying, Id feed him if he was crying. The sheriff's office claimed that Monroe and Scott failed to take the infant to a hospital despite knowing the baby could possibly die without treatment. Houston Harwood can be contacted at houston.harwood@courierpress.com. This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Caylin Monroe of Boonville trial in Warrick County update Former President Trump ratcheted up his attacks against Vice President Harris over immigration, calling for her to be impeached over the weekend. Kamalas Illegal Migrants. Its the biggest crime story of our time. She should resign or be IMPEACHED! Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday. He reiterated a similar sentiment while campaigning in Erie, Pa., on Sunday, saying at one point hundreds of people have been murdered because of her action at the border, and thousands more will follow in rapid succession. She should be impeached and prosecuted for her actions. Both remarks were made only days after Harris visited the U.S. southern border in Arizona on Friday. Trumps attacks against the vice president on the issue of immigration are not new. Ahead of her Arizona visit, Trump said at a separate event at Trump Tower that for nearly four years, we have been living through the worst border crisis in the history of the world, and he called her the architect of this destruction. Harris has sought to position herself as tough on the border and has criticized Trump for the collapse of the bipartisan border bill. But Donald Trump doesnt want to fix this problem. He talks a big game about a lot of things, Harris said at a Nevada rally in August. But he talks a big game about border security, but he does not walk the walk. Earlier this year, we had a chance to pass the toughest bipartisan border security bill in decades, but Donald Trump tanked the bill because he thought it would help him win an election, she added, vowing to sign that legislation into law if given the chance as president. When reached for comment, the Harris campaign pointed to her remarks on immigration while in Douglas, Ariz., where she reiterated some of the same sentiment about Trump and border legislation as she did during the Nevada event. In the four years that Donald Trump was president, he did nothing to fix our broken immigration system. He did not solve the shortage of immigration judges, Harris said in Arizona. He did not solve the shortage of border agents. He did not create lawful pathways into our nation. He did nothing to address an outdated asylum system, and did not work with other governments in our hemisphere to deal with what clearly is also a regional challenge. Updated at 8:24 pm 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. US News names 9 Missouri universities among best in Midwest for 2025 SPRINGFIELD, Mo. With the 2024-25 school year underway throughout the country, US News decided to release its list of the best national universities and the best regional universities in each U.S. region for 2025. For regional universities in the Midwest, Missouri saw nine universities in the state crack the top 100, including two in the top 10. The highest-ranked university per US News was awarded to Truman State University, which placed fifth overall in the Midwest. Not far behind Truman State is Rockhurst University in Kansas City at seventh overall. US News best colleges in 2025: 4 Arkansas universities among best in south Two universities in Springfield also placed in the top 100. Drury University came in 24th place, followed by Evangel University in 91st place. The other Missouri universities that made the list include Webster University (31st), Northwest Missouri State University (tied for 67th), Stephens College (tied for 67th), Central Missouri (73rd) and Southeast Missouri State University (82nd). U.S. News says their rankings are based on graduation and student retention rates, class size, student-to-faculty ratio, SAT and ACT scores, alumni giving rate, and peer assessment. For the full rankings, visit U.S. News and World Reports 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 KOLR - OzarksFirst.com. DAMASCUS Things were fine until they werent. That was the assessment of Damascus residents Saturday morning, hours after Laurel Creek and Beaverdam Creek which frame this tiny Appalachian Trail tourist town burst from their banks midday Friday, fueled by torrential rainfall from Tropical Storm Helene. Up to seven feet of water ripped through the downtown area damaging homes and businesses, Washington County officials said. Floodwaters tossed vehicles and a military grade fire truck about like toys. On the towns eastern side, Laurel Creek virtually wiped out an entire trailer park and ripped out a bridge on Orchard Hill Road. On Saturday, the tiny Washington County community, which is nestled near the borders of Tennessee and North Carolina, was teeming with emergency responders both local and from across Virginia who started arriving at daybreak to lend a hand. Gov. Glenn Youngkin arrived just after 9 a.m. to survey the damage. No fatalities have been reported, but one person was unaccounted for Saturday following a night of rescue operations. Otherwise, the towns 700 residents are safe, Mayor Katie Lamb said. Its devastating, Lamb said. Some folks lost everything. The rescue people got some folks out of some very dangerous situations. The swift water rescue teams saved some folks who would probably not be here today. Lamb was able to get her 96-year-old mother out of her home just before floodwaters inundated that section of town. We are resilient. Our people are strong, Lamb said. Weve got some work to do and were going to need a lot of help. The town was without power Saturday. Damascus, like most of Southwest Virginia, is served by Appalachian power, which reported that more than 200,000 customers were without power in the wake of the storm. Businesses including the grocery store, pharmacy and gas stations were all closed. Pallets of drinking water, generators and other essentials were on the way, Youngkin said. Its heart-wrenching, Youngkin said. I see the pain in everyones face, but theres real relief that people are safe here. Weve had two fatalities across Southwest [Virginia], as a result of this storm. Now its time to get to work. The National Guard arrived Saturday morning to assist along with emergency responders from as far away as Arlington, Virginia Beach and Prince William County. We have ongoing recovery efforts over into Taylors Valley. The National Guard is assisting with that. We need to check on all those folks and make sure everyone is OK, County Administrator Jason Berry said. This is the worst damage Ive ever seen, Berry said. Water has destroyed this town. Your heart breaks to see the devastation. If we can get by with no loss of life, thats a victory. Looking ahead, Berry noted that fall is typically a bustling time for tourists because the community is connected to both the Appalachian and Virginia Creeper trails. The tourist economy is going to be impacted; the downtown businesses are going to be impacted, Berry said. We need everybody to help the federal government, state government and local government. Youngkin said state and federal officials will work as quickly as possible to provide necessary resources and assess the damages. Waters crested late Friday and subsided almost as quickly as they rose, leaving behind a patchwork of mud, debris and buckled asphalt. It took 30 minutes to go from a trickle to four feet of water, resident Pat McCartin said Saturday morning. McCartin and his wife Elizabeth own and operate the Dancing Bear Inn on Laurel Avenue, in the heart of downtown. At first glance the inn appeared to be relatively unscathed after floodwaters reached the elevated front porch. The backyard told a different story as a sat tilted at a severe angle after floodwaters shoved it some 10 feet off its foundation and into an adjacent structure. Beneath it, a four-wheel drive pickup and SUV were partially crushed. Until the bridge was plugged everything was fine. The water was being managed by the creek bed. The bridge plugged and the water just went up. It went halfway up the door probably four to five feet of water against the walls of those buildings. A tree took out the wall and dropped that building [cabin]. And then it pushed the wall out on the other side. A few blocks away, resident Bill Thomas surveyed the damage to his property. Im just amazed the water didnt get into the house, he said of the two-story structure located a short distance from Laurel Creek. It came up in 30 minutes. It went from were OK to bad, Thomas said, adding hed never experienced anything comparable in 37 years of living there. Thomas and his family scooped up their pets and clung to a rope to reach a nearby house on some higher ground. That water would have washed somebody away quick, Thomas said. As we were coming across, the water busted through his [neighbors] garage and blew it open. We thought it was going to get us. State Sen. Todd Pillion, R-Abingdon, accompanied the governor on the tour after spending much of Friday coordinating assistance. The circumstances over the last 24-plus hours have been challenging at best, but that has been met with the resilience and grit of our community coming together to deploy resources and provide as much relief as possible, Pillion said. Gov. Youngkin and his administration have been engaged with us since Wednesday evening to coordinate the emergency response and ensure we have what we need here on the ground. Saitama, Sep 30 (News On Japan) - A tragic accident occurred in Saitama Prefecture when an 18-year-old, allegedly driving under the influence, collided with a passenger car at high speed. The crash, which happened at around 5:30 a.m. on the 29th in Kawaguchi City, resulted in the death of Shigeru Nuinya, 51, the driver of the impacted vehicle. The force of the collision caused the car to spin, heavily damaged its rear, and destroyed a nearby residential wall. The vehicle responsible was left mangled beyond recognition. Witnesses reported hearing a loud crash and feeling the ground shake like an earthquake. The suspect, a Chinese national, admitted to drinking before the accident and was arrested for negligent driving and driving under the influence. Despite being underage, he drove at excessive speed, even going the wrong way on a one-way street. Witnesses noted that the suspect spoke fluent Japanese and did not appear intoxicated immediately after the accident. There were two other passengers in the suspect's car, but they reportedly fled the scene. The police are now planning to charge the driver with the more severe offense of dangerous driving resulting in death. Source: ANN If you are looking for what to eat in Tokyo or Where to eat in Tokyo then look no further. These shops are some of the best Japanese food rice bowls in Tokyo. These shops make some of the most insane types of Japanese rice bowls and I show you how it's all made in the food. (Paolo fromTOKYO) TOKYO, Oct 01 (NHK) - Japan is reportedly the most popular destination for Chinese travelers during a current week-long holiday. China's government predicts that travelers will make a total of over 1.9 billion trips during the National Day holiday that begins on Tuesday. This means that the per-day average for this year's holiday period is expected to be nearly 20 percent higher than it was in the pre-COVID pandemic year of 2019. Chinese travel site Ctrip has listed Japan as the most popular destination for Chinese tourists, followed by Thailand and South Korea. An airport in Shanghai was crowded with travelers on Monday. The Japanese embassy in Beijing is calling on Japanese nationals in China to take steps to ensure their safety during the period, which comes after the fatal stabbing of a Japanese schoolboy in Shenzhen weeks ago. The Chinese embassy in Tokyo has issued a similar warning to Chinese people who plan to visit Japan. A Chinese man who plans to go on a trip to Osaka with his 2-year-old child says he has no qualms about their safety in Japan, since he has visited the country many times. The man says he wants to enjoy spending their time together traveling in Japan. Source: TBS NAGOYA, Oct 01 (News On Japan) - In the trial of Mai Watanabe, also known as 'Sugar Baby Riri' or 'Itadakijoshi Riri-chan,' the Nagoya High Court has handed the defendant a sentence of 8 years and 6 months in prison, six months less than the initial trial's verdict, along with a fine. Watanabe (26) was accused of defrauding three men she met through a matching app, swindling them out of more than 1.55 billion yen. In April this year, she received a first-instance sentence of 9 years in prison and an 8-million-yen fine. In the appeal trial, where the defense challenged the severity of the sentence, Watanabe expressed remorse, stating, "I feel sorry for taking away the money that the victims worked so hard to earn." During the ruling session on Monday, Presiding Judge Mihoko Tanabe of the Nagoya High Court pointed out that "even considering the defendant's upbringing and relationship with hosts, there is no room for leniency in the motive for committing the fraud." However, the court acknowledged that Watanabe "has shown willingness to apologize to the victims," leading to the decision to reduce her sentence by six months to 8 years and 6 months in prison, while maintaining the 8-million-yen fine. Source: TBS Iwao Hakamada (C). (Photo by JIJI Press / AFP) / Japan OUT / JAPAN OUT The worlds longest-serving death row prisoner thanked his supporters for helping him achieve complete victory after a Japanese court last week overturned his decades-old murder conviction. After a long fight for justice led by his sister, 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada was on Thursday declared innocent of the quadruple murder that he spent 46 years on death row for. Finally I have won full and complete victory, the former boxer told a group of supporters on Sunday in Shizuoka, the region southwest of Tokyo where the ruling was issued. I couldnt wait any longer to hear the not-guilty verdict, said a smiling Hakamada, sporting a green hat. Thank you very much, he added, accompanied by his 91-year-old sister Hideko at the meeting, which was shown on Japanese television. Japan and the United States are the only major industrialised democracies to retain capital punishment, which has broad support among the Japanese public. Hakamada is the fifth death row inmate granted a retrial in Japans post-war history. All four previous cases also resulted in exonerations. Decades of detention mostly in solitary confinement with the threat of execution constantly looming over him have taken a toll on Hakamadas mental health. His lawyer and supporters have described him as living in a world of fantasy. Hakamada was released in 2014 pending the retrial but rarely speaks publicly. Despite the retrial verdict, his acquittal isnt finalised prosecutors reportedly have until October 10 to decide whether to appeal the Shizuoka District Courts ruling. But they may face an uphill battle, as the court delivered a sweeping rebuke of the prosecutions arguments, saying that investigators fabricated key pieces of evidence. Hakamadas initial confessions of having robbed and murdered his boss, the mans wife and their two teenage children were obtained through inhumane interrogations and mental and physical torture, making them invalid, the ruling said. Blood-stained clothes used to incriminate him were also ruled a set-up. The court said investigators had put blood on them and planted them in a tank of miso fermented soybean paste to be discovered. Once last weeks verdict is finalised, it would pave the way for Hakamada to be compensated to the tune of more than 200 million yen ($1.4 million) under the law, according to one estimate by lawyers. On top of that, the defence team is considering launching a new lawsuit against the state seeking further compensation, Hakamadas lead lawyer Hideyo Ogawa told a news conference on Monday. Given the ruling went so far as to condemn a concerted effort by prosecutors and police to make up evidence, I believe it gave us a sufficient basis to sue the state, Ogawa said. His client was absent from the news conference because of poor health. Hideko, who did attend, recounted the moment when she broke the news of the acquittal to her brother as he was relaxing after his bath time. But he was all silent I think part of him is still in doubt that this really happened, she said. When asked about the possibility that prosecutors might opt to pursue the case, a confident Hideko replied, if they want to, then go ahead and suit yourself. This aerial photo taken on June 12, 2023 shows the urban view along the Zhujiang River in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province. [Photo/Xinhua] The city of Guangzhou in south China's Guangdong Province has lifted restrictions on buying home properties, a significant step for the first-tier city to optimize the property market further. Starting on Monday, the qualification for purchasing homes will no longer be reviewed and there will be no restrictions on the number of homes purchased for families and single individuals with or without local household registration in the city, according to a circular issued by the general office of the municipal government issued on Sunday night. An ethics complaint seeking an investigation into Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks voting address may make handy campaign fodder for Democrats heading into the November election, but little may actually come of the complaint, based on history. A LeClaire resident has asked the federal Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate the GOP incumbents voting address. After the 2020 census, Miller-Meeks home in Wapello Countys Ottumwa was redistricted into Iowas 3rd District, which includes the Des Moines metro and rural south central Iowa. Miller-Meeks said at the time she would not sell her house in Ottumwa but would take up residence in Iowas newly drawn 1st District, which mostly overlapped with the district she represented before the 2020 redistricting. In her complaint, LeClaire resident Joyce Kuehl alleges Miller-Meeks has violated state law and voted illegally in multiple elections. Miller-Meeks has repeatedly registered to vote and voted in Scott County but multiple public records, including tax records and Miller-Meeks own campaign forms, indicate her primary address is in Wapello County. Miller-Meeks campaign has not publicly responded to the allegations. In August, The Gazette sent Miller-Meeks congressional office spokesperson a list of detailed questions about her voting address and where she primarily resides. Miller-Meeks spokesperson responded to The Gazette, The congresswomans residence is in Davenport but did not answer other questions. Kuehl did not return a message seeking comment. The Gazette looked into how the Office of Congressional Ethics operates and reviews alleged misconduct by House members, and how it has handled similar complaints in the past. Background In late October 2022, Miller-Meeks changed her voter registration from her longtime Ottumwa address to the address of the home of Republican state Sen. Chris Cournoyer in LeClaire. According to Scott County voting records, Miller-Meeks voted in the 2022 general election in Scott County. Just before the June 4 primary election this year, Miller-Meeks changed her registered voting address to a Davenport apartment on Jersey Ridge Road and voted in the primary. According to property records, Miller-Meeks and her husband, Curtis Meeks, have owned 33 acres in Ottumwa since March 2003 and constructed a home in 2004. The most recent property tax statement lists that Miller-Meeks and her husband received a homestead credit for the property in the past two tax periods. Miller-Meeks also reported in congressional disclosure reports in 2022 and 2023 that she has a mortgage on her personal residence in Ottumwa, and campaign contributions list her Ottumwa address as her mailing address. Federal rules don't require members of Congress to live in the district they represent, just in the same state. Iowa law, though, requires voters to register to vote at their primary address and vote in the county where they primarily reside. Kuehl alleges that if Miller-Meeks provided an incorrect address for voting purposes, she violated U.S. House rules that require members to conduct (themselves) at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditability on the House. Iowa law permits residents to bring challenges to voter registration at the county level, though no challenges had been brought forward about Miller-Meeks address, Scott County Auditor Kerri Tompkins said in an email to The Gazette. Whats happened since The complaint is being reviewed by the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent, non-partisan entity charged with investigating alleged misconduct against members, officers and employees of the House. It refers matters to the House Committee on Ethics when its eight-member board of private citizens believes it is appropriate. The board must authorize each stage of the investigative process. The board includes six voting members and two alternates. The House speaker and minority leader each appoint three members and an alternate. Office staff consists primarily of lawyers and other professionals with expertise in ethics law and investigations. It has jurisdiction to investigate any alleged violation of a law, rule, regulation, or other standard of conduct committed by House member including state law. There are two stages in the investigative review process that require board approval: a preliminary review, and a second-phase review. The preliminary review is limited to 30 days, during which the staff investigates whether a violation may have occurred. A second-phase review is limited to 45 days, with the option for the board to extend it by 14 days. At any point during the preliminary review, four members of the board may vote to terminate a review. Except in limited circumstances, the House Committee on Ethics must eventually release the report and findings. Public release is required within 45 days, unless the committee votes to extend by another 45 days. The release of the report and findings also can be delayed if the committee decides to create a subcommittee to investigate the matter. In that case, the report must still be released within a year. But if the board recommends dismissal and the committee also votes to dismiss the complaint, the report does not have to be made public. Release of a report also may be delayed if there is a related ongoing law enforcement investigation. The Office of Congressional Ethics has investigated related complaints in the past, though little has come of them. In November 2009, the office found former California U.S. Rep. Fortney Pete Stark listed his Washington, D.C.-area home as his principal residence on Maryland tax forms. By doing so, Stark received state and county homestead tax credits. And any annual increase in his home assessments were capped at 10%. In order to qualify for the tax credit, Maryland law requires the home be used as the owners principal residence where the homeowner regularly resides and is designated for voting, obtaining a drivers license and filing income tax returns. Stark, though, paid California resident taxes, had a California drivers license and was registered to vote in California. While his conduct may have violated Maryland law and the House ethics rules for misrepresenting information to obtain the tax credit, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct which the Ethic Committee was then called issued a report finding no further action was warranted. In 2018, the Office of Congressional Ethics referred allegations to the House Ethics Committee that Republican former Iowa U.S. Rep. Rod Blum violated House rules. In February, the Associated Press reported Blum failed to disclose his ownership role in a Dubuque firm. The AP reported the firm, Tin Moon, helped companies cited for federal food and drug safety violations bury their Food and Drug Administration warning letters below positive internet search results, and that Blums top congressional staffer was featured in a false video testimonial promoting the companys services. The House ethics panel launched an inquiry in July of that year and extended the inquiry in early September. In December, the office released its report and findings as well as Blums response while the House Ethics Committee announced it would further review the allegations of the lame duck congressman. Blum lost re-election in 2018 to Democrat Abby Finkenauer, and the committees jurisdiction expired when he left office. The board said there was substantial reason to believe that Rep. Blums private company utilized deceptive, false, or unsubstantiated endorsements and other marketing materials. After being questioned, the company removed Blums official House photo and testimonial from its website, and changed his title from chief executive officer to majority shareholder. Blum called the omission of his Tin Moon holdings an administrative oversight and later amended his financial disclosure report. He called the inquiry a crusade of personal destruction against him by the radical left. Because members of Congress police themselves and are loath to punish one of their own, the likelihood of anything coming about from the Miller-Meeks complaint seems remote, according to ethics experts. However, should the Office of Congressional Ethics issue a report, it could be used as ammunition by Democrats and other political challengers, should Miller-Meeks run again. Sarah Watson of the Quad-City Times contributed to this report. Cake Pop is as sweet as her name. She is a female mixed breed large dog that is about 1 year old. Cute, young Cake Pop has colors of brown and black. She is slender and long-legged with an adorable face and super-cute ears. Cake Pops ears stand out straight but off to the side. The ears giv Few days after Algeria re-introduced visa entry requirements on Moroccan passport holders, Morocco has not reacted to a decision that comes in a series of self-harming escalatory and provocative measures by a disillusioned Algerian military regime blinded by Morocco phobia. The Algerian foreign minister said the measure will have immediate effect and came following what it described as an abuse by Morocco of the visa-free entry to send in Zionist spies and set up criminal gangs engaging in all sorts of trafficking. As was the case with the accusations sugarcoating Algerias one-sided cut of diplomatic ties with Morocco in 2021, the Algerian foreign ministry failed to provide whatsoever evidence for its long list of accusations. The decision is another nail in the coffin of the Maghreb union and its freedom of movement tenet. It is also a violation of a bilateral treaty signed by the two countries in the 1960s on the freedom of movement. Morocco has not reacted to the Algerian sovereign decision which, according to Moroccan analysts, would only hurt families from mixed marriages and ordinary citizens. Algeria has banned all Moroccan aircrafts from crossing its air space, cut the flow of Algerian gas to Morocco and boycotted trade crossing Moroccan ports, to mention but a few unilateral measures that ended up hurting the Algerian economy. Context The visa imposing is seen by Algerian opposition in exile as a means to distract from the failure of the recent presidential elections. Tebboune was declared winner of a vote marred by contradictory figures that were decried by candidates themselves. While foreign observers estimate the turnout at a mere 10%, the Algerian regime has inflated the figure to 46%, despite turnout nearing zero in the breakaway Kabylia region. The Algerian escalatory move also came amid growing support for Moroccos sovereignty over the Sahara. The Algerian visa decision was declared the same day the Elysee confirmed a visit to Morocco by French president Emmanuel Macron, who backed Moroccos sovereignty over the Sahara and the autonomy plan as the only option. As the Algerian south suffers insecurity, under-development and a surge in malaria cases, the Moroccan south, or the Sahara, is witnessing a development push including Moroccos Atlantic largest port in Dakhla, renewable energy projects, and vast hydrocarbons and phosphates production expansion plans. Maltas Prime Minister, Robert Abela, has called for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Libya and urged strict enforcement of the Libyan arms embargo, in accordance with Security Council resolutions. Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Abela emphasized that assisting the Libyan people in finding a lasting solution to their prolonged institutional crisis is a top priority for Malta. He highlighted that a stable resolution would not only benefit Libyans but also have positive effects for neighboring countries and the broader region. Abela further noted that a unified Libyan government, supported by all its citizens, could play a critical role in addressing the migrant crisis endangering countless lives. The Prime Minister also underscored the importance of supporting the political process, insisting it must be led and owned by the Libyan people themselves. The Israeli military announced on Sunday November 29 that it had killed another senior Hezbollah official in an airstrike, further escalating pressure on the militant group following a series of high-profile losses, including the assassination of its top leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The military confirmed that Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollahs Central Council, was killed on Saturday. Hezbollah acknowledged his death, marking him as the seventh senior leader to be eliminated by Israeli strikes in just over a week. Among the casualties are key founding members who had evaded capture or assassination for decades. Earlier, Hezbollah confirmed the death of Ali Karaki, another senior commander, who was killed in Fridays airstrike alongside leader Hassan Nasrallah. The Israeli military reported that the strike, targeting an underground compound in Beirut, resulted in the deaths of Nasrallah and several other high-ranking officials. Additionally, Israel stated that at least 20 Hezbollah militants were killed in the operation, including two close associates of Nasrallah, one of whom was responsible for his security. Alongside these targeted killings, Israeli warplanes and drones launched strikes across Lebanon on Sunday. Lebanons health ministry reported that two consecutive airstrikes near Sidon, about 45 kilometers south of Beirut, claimed at least 24 lives. Separate strikes in the Baalbek-Hermel region resulted in 21 more fatalities and at least 47 injuries. The Israeli military confirmed another strike on Beirut later that day but did not disclose further details. With Nasrallahs death, Naim Kassem, Hezbollahs deputy leader since 1991 and one of its founding members, has become the groups most senior official. Kassem, often speculated to be a target, has been conducting interviews with local and international media during the ongoing conflict. Hezbollahs Central Council head, Hashim Safieddine, is widely considered to be Nasrallahs likely successor. Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah, is also connected to the late Iranian General Qassem Soleimani through family ties. He, like Nasrallah, has been with Hezbollah since its inception and also wears the black turban symbolizing his clerical lineage. Two remaining top commanders, Talal Hamieh and Abu Ali Reda, are still alive but are reportedly under the close watch of the Israeli military, with both believed to be next in Israels sights. Egypts total public debt fell by 2.1 percent in the final quarter of the 2023/2024 fiscal year, according to the Ministry of Finance. By the end of June, the debt had decreased to LE 12.52 trillion from LE 12.78 trillion recorded in March 2024. This reduction was primarily driven by a 2.7 percent decline in domestic debt, which dropped to LE 8.72 trillion from LE 8.96 trillion. Data from the ministry indicates that short-term domestic debt decreased by 2.9 percent to LE 7.33 trillion, while medium-term debt saw a reduction of 2.5 percent, reaching LE 276.1 billion. Long-term domestic debt experienced a slight decline of 1.1 percent, settling at LE 1.11 trillion. Concurrently, Egypts external government debt also declined modestly by 0.8 percent, amounting to LE 3.79 trillion in the second quarter, down from LE 3.82 trillion in the first quarter. Although this quarter-on-quarter decline is notable, Egypts total public debt remains elevated compared to June 2023, when it exceeded LE 10 trillion. However, as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), public debt has shown improvement, decreasing to 91 percent from around 96 percent in the previous fiscal year. This positive trend is partly due to the Ras El Hikma deal, which generated $24 billion in inflows, with half allocated to the public treasury. The Ministry of Finance utilized the substantial primary surplus recorded during the fiscal year to further decrease the debt. Egypts budget reported a primary surplus of 2.5 percent of GDP for the 2023/2024 fiscal year, which rose to 6.1 percent when including non-tax revenues from the Ras El Hikma deal. Moving forward, the Ministry of Finance aims to sustain these financial surpluses and lower public debt to below 80 percent of GDP by 2027. This goal is part of the governments structural reform strategy, which focuses on state ownership policies and improving fiscal discipline by rationalizing subsidies. Foreign Minister of Austria Alexander Schallenberg has reaffirmed his countrys steadfast support to the autonomy plan presented by Morocco in 2007, describing the plan as a very serious and credible contribution to the UN-led process engaged for reaching a lasting solution to the Sahara regional issue. Mr. Schallenberg renewed Viennas backing during a meeting held in New York with Moroccan peer Nasser Bourita on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The two ministers also discussed cooperation ties between the two countries in several sectors of mutual interests as well as latest developments on the regional and international scene. On the occasion of the UN General Assembly, the top diplomats of several countries met with Mr.Bourita and expressed their countries strong support to the autonomy plan offered by the Kingdom for the Sahara under its sovereignty, saying it is the ONLY realistic solution to the Sahara regional conflict. The supportive stands were voiced by the foreign ministers of Denmark, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Sao Tome & Principe, Sudan, Saint Kitts & Nevis and the Commonwealth of Dominica. A ceremony was held Saturday in Quzhou, eastern China's Zhejiang province, to commemorate the 2,575th anniversary of the birth of the ancient Chinese sage Confucius. A ceremony is held to commemorate the 2,575th anniversary of the birth of Confucius in Quzhou, Zhejiang province, on Sept. 28, 2024. [Photo by Xu Jun/China.org.cn] Traditional rituals, such as offering silk, cleansing the ceremonial cups, and presenting the cups, were performed during the ceremony. A ceremony is held to commemorate the 2,575th anniversary of the birth of Confucius in Quzhou, Zhejiang province, on Sept. 28, 2024. [Photo by Xu Jun/China.org.cn] Kong Lingli, the 76th direct descendant of Confucius, served as the leading master of ceremonies, as people from all walks of life participated in a series of tribute-paying rituals, such as presenting the five ceremonial grains and the Four Treasures of Study, reciting sentences from the "Analects of Confucius," and offering flower baskets. A ceremony is held to commemorate the 2,575th anniversary of the birth of Confucius in Quzhou, Zhejiang province, on Sept. 28, 2024. [Photo by Xu Jun/China.org.cn] In 1129, the descendants of Confucius moved to Quzhou along with Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) from Qufu in Shandong province, as they fled from an invading army. Quzhou has since been dubbed the "Home of South Confucius." Quzhou has held memorial ceremonies to celebrate the birth of Confucius every year since 2004. The inflow of Egyptian arms to Somalia in a context of increasing tension with its Ethiopian neighbor risks triggering a proxy war in the horn of Africa opposing Cairo to Addis Ababa. Reports mentioned a second shipment of Egyptian arms to Somalia this week, despite threats by Ethiopia that such move represents an act of aggression. Egypt has also said it was ready to send soldiers in case Somalia asks. Ethiopia has said that any Egyptian boots on the Somalian ground would be a casus-belli. The conflict between Ethiopia and Somalia worsened when Addis Ababa signed a MOU with the breakaway Somaliland to use its coastal area for the purpose of a port in exchange for recognition as a state. The deal angered Somalia. Ethiopia and Egypt are at loggerheads over the renaissance dam, opposed by Egypt as a threat to its water security. Somalia has stressed the need to scrap the deal with Somaliland promising to give access to the sea to Ethiopia but ruled out any naval base. Ethiopians also fear Egypt is intervening in the region to prevent Ethiopia from bolstering its footprint in the region by accessing the Red Sea. Spokesman for the Malian government denounced at the UN in the strongest terms Algerias destabilization role in the Sahel and Algiers interference in Malis domestic affairs. We observe a grave interference in Malis domestic affairs Mali is not an Algerian Wilaya (province), said deputy prime minister and spokesman for the Malian government Abdoulaye Maiga in a speech at the UN General Assembly. Maiga was reacting to an earlier speech in which Algeria spoke about Mali as if it was its backyard, seeking a role in the crisis in northern Mali in which it is a stakeholder. Algeria has offered a rear base for the Azwad separatists and their Alqaida allies led by Iyad Ag Ghali. Algiers also denounced what it called a targeting of civilians using drones by Malian forces in reaction to an onslaught by Azawad and terrorist fighters departing from Algeria which left dozens of deaths among the Malian army and their Wagner allies. Maiga denied Malian forces have targeted civilians but warned that if Algeria decides to violate the sovereignty of Mali to back its separatist allies it will receive a painful response. Since Mali left the Algiers-brokered agreement that put off a decades-long fight with Tuareg rebels, Malian forces have restored control on vast swathes of its restive south backed by Russia and Wagner armed men. The Azawad fighters and their Al Qaeda allies had to seek refuge in southern Algeria. Maiga deplored how Algeria turned the page on a long history of shared struggle against French colonialism when Bamako hosted the Algerian liberation movement. He called the Algerian diplomats who kept issuing threats against Mali diplomatic fanatics. The growing rift between Bamako and Algiers is reflective of the state of regional isolation suffered by Algeria under the military-civilian duo led by Tebboune and Chengriha. Moroccan foreign minister Nasser Bourita conferred Sunday in New York, on the sidelines of UN General Assembly, with UN Sahara envoy Staffan de Mistura ahead of the UN Security Council meeting on the issue in October. The meeting, attended by Moroccos Permanent Representative to the UN, Omar Hilale, was an opportunity to highlight the international momentum in support for the Kingdoms sovereignty over its Sahara and the growing backing by many countries to the Morocco-proposed Autonomy Initiative. A press release issued by Moroccos Permanent Mission to the UN said the Moroccan delegation reiterated to Mr. De Mistura the four fundamentals of the Kingdoms position on the Moroccan Sahara, as defined by King Mohammed VI. The first of these fundamentals is the support for the efforts of the Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy for a realistic, pragmatic, lasting political solution based on compromise. The second says the Autonomy, under Moroccan sovereignty, is the ONE and ONLY solution to this regional dispute; while the third insists on the round-table talks with the participation of all parties, including Algeria, as the sole framework for this process, in accordance with Security Council Resolution 2703 of October 30, 2023. Morocco also demands the scrupulous respect of the ceasefire by the other parties as a prerequisite for the continuation of the political process. At the UN General Assembly, Head of Moroccan Govt. Aziz Akhannouch has underlined Moroccos constant position on the Sahara issue, saying the growing international support for Moroccos sovereignty over its Sahara and for the autonomy initiative sends a clear message to the other parties to the conflict and to the UN that time has come to move towards a political solution on this basis, through the round table process and in accordance with Security Council resolutions. Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photos: Getty, New York Post This article was featured in One Great Story, New Yorks reading recommendation newsletter. Sign up here to get it nightly. The bar was open. The ultraviolet lights were on. The New York Posts annual holiday party was just heating up. It was December 20, 2022, and the papers staff was gathered inside a section of Slate, a cavernous, 16,000-square-foot Chelsea nightclub that features a minibowling alley, oversize Jenga, karaoke, a 20-foot-long slide, and briefly, on that night, Eric Adams. The mayor even worked the coat-check line for a moment before taking selfies with staff members. We all thought it was a little bit bizarre I mean, on the one hand, there was this feeling of, Oh, Eric Adams is here. Of course hes here. Hes at a party. But also, He really shouldnt be here, because this feels very inappropriate, says one former Postie. People wanted to get a photo just to say they did but were also being like, Wait, this is such a conflict of interest. It also shouldnt have been too much of a surprise. The connection between Adams and the paper was, at points, beyond symbiotic. In a way, Rupert Murdochs tabloid made Eric Adams mayor. From its front-page endorsement in the month before the Democratic primary in 2021 until the end of the election that year, the Post printed ten covers either boosting Adams or trashing his rivals. During that same time period, according to Nexis research results, the Post ran more than 300 items mentioning Adams. Im sure a few were wholly negative, but I couldnt find a single one. At times, the Post let his team rebut negative stories that appeared in other outlets with narratives of their own, notably when Politico broke the news that Adams did not appear to live in New York. Eric Adamss E-ZPass Records Appear to Refute New Jersey Resident Claim, the Post headline read. Even members of his campaign knew at the time it wasnt much of a defense. It would have irrevocably fucked him if they had covered it fairly, one tells me. Instead, with the Posts help, he went to City Hall and became on Thursday the citys first sitting mayor ever to be criminally indicted. Back then, the coverage was so slanted that the City Hall bureau chief left in part over disagreements with management over the fawning coverage of Adams one of a stream of key journalists who eventually departed when top editors seemed to make an exception to its take-no-prisoners policy for him. If you had a good story about the city or about a city politician doing crazy shit, youd get it in the paper even if the paper happened to like that guy, says another Post veteran, one of ten current and former staffers I interviewed for this story. That changed massively after the paper endorsed Eric Adams, to a great deal of frustration among people on the city desk, in a way that I dont know that anyone remembered happening before. (A spokesperson for the paper declined to comment other than to say, The Posts coverage speaks for itself.) The Post is, far and away, Americas most accomplished and aggressive journalistic outfit on the right. It provides fuel for sister News Corp. outlet Fox News as well as all of its imitators and also-rans, digital and broadcast alike. The Posts instincts dont always pan out, as those who remember its cover on Ron DeFuture can attest. But Ive had more than a few political operatives tell me that they believe the papers relentless portrayal of crime surging, asylum seekers going out of control, and woke DAs may have tipped the margins in a few congressional races in the suburbs, which in turn may have cost the Democrats the House of Representatives in 2022. Its shrieking coverage of the migrant crisis and Adamss even more shrill response made its way into a thousand GOP talking points the following year. But nowhere is the Post more dominant than in the city. The paper, which boasts hundreds of thousands of print readers and millions more online, functionally programs much of local-television news coverage and sets the agenda for New Yorks chattering classes. So its impact in a 2021 primary election decided by less than 7,000 votes cannot be overstated. It became the ultimate secret weapon for Eric Adams, says Chris Coffey, the veteran political operative who ran Andrew Yangs mayoral campaign. In the days leading up to the June primary, Coffeys candidate, then the front-runner, was repeatedly bashed by the paper. Things got so bad, it called him the biggest flip-flopper and Boomer-Yang in the very same story. It literally got to be, like, at four oclock, if we havent heard from the Post by then, we knew we were going to hear from the Post. Still, like many a New York politico, Coffey says he loves the Post, values its outer-borough instincts, and counts himself as a daily, voracious reader. People shouldnt underestimate how important it is. The Adams team worked long and hard to develop its relationship with the Post, especially in early 2021, when the papers endorsement appeared to be up for grabs. They pressured wealthy donors to whisper in Murdochs ear about the former Republican, former police captain fond of bashing the woke left, and the two eventually dined together. One member of the Adams camp says that they also leaked a promising poll to Politico, in part to influence the Posts decision. That gave them sort of the permission structure to say, You know that we can be all in for Eric, that source says. The Posts May 10, 2021, front page. Early that May, the top candidates for mayor were supposed to come into the newsroom to at least make the appearance of vying for the papers endorsement. It was understood by all involved that only a few candidates had a hope of getting it. But the point was to have the discussion. The point was to try to shape the conversation, says a source from a third campaign. Their candidate never got the chance. The Friday before a Monday appointment, they called me and told me, dont even bother coming. We dont even pretend this is an open process. I was like, Oh, okay. Adams came by around the same time. It was an odd scene thanks to COVID. People were seated far apart in a mostly empty conference room where questions had to be practically shouted. Adams had, in his defense, probably the most impressive performance of the editorial board meetings, says a Post veteran. And it was, like, immediately apparent that [editor-in-chief] Keith Poole was deeply enamored with him. He sort of checks a lot of the right boxes. Former cop, you know, crime was up in the city at that point. Pandemic recovery was halting at best. Adams said all the right things, and it was sort of like a strange synergy. The endorsement came a few days later. From riding the rails with a badge, to serving in state government, to his current job as Brooklyn borough president, Adams has a depth of experience that would serve him well in City Hall, the editorial board wrote. It overlooked the taint of scandal he had already acquired. His time in the State Senate was marred by ethical lapses, including taking money from and sending confidential information to lobbyists looking to secure a casino license near the Aqueduct racetrack. His many overseas trips as Brooklyn borough president became one of the foundational elements of the 57-page indictment against him on fraud and bribery charges. Both of these controversies were well-known at the Post. The paper had covered them as they were unfolding. (One headline among many: Albanys Load of Horse$#*% - Probe Rips Aqueduct Scheming.) Nevertheless, in 2021, it went all in for Adams with one story after another: Maya Wiley Wants to Defund the NYPD While Her Home Is Protected by Private Security Patrol. Maya Wiley Rails Against Billionaires Despite Big-Bucks Backing by George Soros. Eric Adams Offers Own Cash As Reward to Catch Broad-Daylight Sidewalk Shooter. Adams in Flushing: Ill Stop Asian Attacks. Eric Adams Hangs With Charli and Dixie DAmelio at NYC Hotspot. Poole would email tips sometimes to reporters, sometimes to editors. Youd fish around, and you would discover that Keith and Adams and were powwowing at some dinner hot spot, one Post veteran notes. The tips werent necessarily bad. But they were never bad for Adams. The Murdoch empire has operated this way for decades; on three continents, the baron has used his newspapers and television networks as tools to influence politics and reward his favored politicians. How naked the favoritism depended on the outlet (The Wall Street Journal would never be so openly gung ho) and the candidate, the candidates enemies, and Murdochs mood about the combination. In this case, it seems to have been all just right. Pressure came in all sorts of ways, depending on where you sat on the masthead. Some senior Posties say they were told to steer clear of Adamss mysterious personal life, despite the sort of rumor swirl that generally sends the paper into overdrive. (Who can forget the Posts coverage of Bill de Blasios post-mayoral dating life?) Lower down the organization, most others say the preferences of Murdoch and his deputies were so understood that there was no need for anything to be said. Generally implicit, explicit when it needed to be, is how one veteran describes the atmosphere at that time. Eventually, the combination got to be too much for City Hall bureau chief Julia Marsh who, after Adams was sworn in, decamped to Politico, where she now leads its California coverage. (She declined to comment.) The union of the paper and Adams was bound to have an expiration date, especially with crime immediately rising under the new law and order mayor and buses of migrants starting to arrive from Texas. His days were too full of questionable decisions. His nights were too full, period. But the papers go-go-go approach to the news also had the effect of shielding Adams from some of its most potent reporters. The bosses generally prioritized quick-turn stories over investigative pieces, which required more resources. Posties told me they had to fight to get the time and bandwidth to look into all the Adams cronies who suddenly had major government positions and all sorts of potential conflicts of interest. In July 2022, the Post had the making of an eye-popping exclusive: Adams was hiring his close friend Tim Pearson for a top government job while allowing him to keep his position running security at a Queens casino. But the story didnt publish for weeks. It was only later, when the New York Times broke the news in August, that the Post finally ran its own piece. Pearson resigned from the casino position shortly thereafter but maintained a broad portfolio in City Hall, where he is known as one of the most powerful people besides the mayor. Though Adams was still cozy with the Posts leadership (he showed up to that holiday party, after all), over time, more critical coverage began to leak out. NYC Schools Chancellor David Banks, Eric Adams Put Each Others Girlfriends in Top Posts, read one exclusive. A Crisis Cant Keep Mayor Eric Adams From the Club, noted one rather arch item in Page Six, which showed the mayor in a polka-dotted blazer and ran with the caption: Eric Adams checked out the ultra-exclusive private jazz club at the Aman after declaring the citys shelters to be at breaking point. It wasnt until federal investigators seized the mayors phones last year that the papers famously aggressive instincts fully kicked in. Feds Zero In on Texts Suggesting Adams Fast-Tracked Turkish Diplomatic Headquarters, noted one scoop that looks particularly prophetic, given last weeks indictment. Another, documenting one of the many lawsuits against Pearson, unforgettably chronicled his demand for a piece of the lucrative contracts for migrant care: I have to get mine. Where are my crumbs? (Pearsons phone was seized by federal agents earlier this month during a sweep of high-ranking city officials.) By this past March, the Post teased a scoop about the NYPD juking crime stats with a front-page featuring Adamss face Photoshopped into the This Is Fine meme. Everything worse than six years ago, one of the bullet points read, which is almost more amusing than the image. Six years ago, de Blasio was mayor, and the Post roasted him every day for his alleged incompetence. The paper had a point, if an inadvertent one. New Yorks unhinged, unrepentant tabloid probably shouldnt be friends with its chief executive. The front page on the day after Adamss indictment for his Turkish ties was classic Post: GRAND THEFT OTTOMAN. But turn to the inside of that same edition and there was a different message. It is in the best interest of fairness and the best interest of New York City that Adams be allowed to present a defense while he continues to serve his term, intoned the editorial board, the institutional voice of the paper. At least for now, the Post cant quite quit the man it was so instrumental in elevating. Photo: NDZ/Star Max/Getty Images Mayor Eric Adams flashed a jaunty thumbs-up as he strode into the federal courthouse at 500 Pearl Street to be arrested. Hours later, the signature cocky smile was gone as the mayor, booked and fingerprinted, stood quietly in the well of a courtroom listening to a public reading of the felony charges against him. I am not guilty, your honor, the defendant said to Judge Katharine Parker. The grim moment was a departure from Adamss attempt to project an air of breezy confidence about his mountain of legal and political problems. The mayor has been trying, with little success, to convince the world that his administration is not in a state of collapse. We are not surprised. We expected this, Adams said at a noisy, chaotic press conference in front of Gracie Mansion on the day the indictment was unsealed. I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense before they make any judgments. He said it with a broad smile on his face and deep denial in his heart. Youd never know that a team of federal agents had arrived at Gracie Mansion earlier that morning to seize the mayors phones. Or that Adams is the first New York City mayor in 150 years to be arrested on criminal charges. At least five probes of the administration are now underway, including investigations of possible procurement irregularities and allegations of bribery and extortion, along with evidence of a host of campaign finance violations. Adams, a desperately wounded politician, is turning to his Black working-class base for emotional and political support. Hours after his arraignment, he was laughing and dancing with seniors at a Harlem community center, and his weekend included trips to Black churches in Queens and the Bronx. You will hear the small number of loud people saying when he should step down. No, Im going to step up, he told worshippers at Emmanuel Presbyterian Reformed Church with a touch of the old bombastic flair. Im not gonna resign, Im gonna reign! But maybe not for long. Behind closed doors, many of the citys Black political leaders are quietly laying the groundwork for life after Adams. The underlying logic of these blunt, private conversations goes like this: It took generations of voter registration, street protests, civil-rights lawsuits, patient institution-building, and countless hard-fought local campaigns to grow the communitys political power to its current apex. New York currently has Black officials as mayor, public advocate, Assembly Speaker, Senate majority leader, City Council Speaker, State attorney general, lieutenant governor, chief judge of the state, and the chairs of four of the citys five Democratic county organizations, along with a congressman on track to become the next Speaker of the House. These men and women and the army of big-money donors, campaign strategists, party loyalists, and union leaders who support them are not inclined to risk the citys future and their hard-won seats at the table of power for Adams, whose self-inflicted legal and political problems may have placed him beyond the hope of rescue in any event. A close reading of their public statements shows that New Yorks Black power players are preparing to see Adams step down. The ability to govern must be the top concern of city officials, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said at a press conference. I ask the mayor to seriously and honestly consider whether full attention can be given to our deserving New Yorkers who need our government to be sound and stable. The Reverend Al Sharpton, who has been an ally of the mayors for decades Adams was one of the original incorporators of Sharptons National Action Network pointedly has not leapt to the mayors defense but instead called for Black leaders to meet privately and hold discussions. The governor should not be pressured into removing Eric Adams from being the mayor, Sharpton said at his weekly rally. The unspoken corollary was Well handle that ourselves, if necessary. I think the mayor has a duty to try to say that I have a plan, not just in a personal capacity, but in a way to regain trust, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams told me. I think that window is closing really rapidly. If Adams should resign, Williams would become mayor temporarily; a special election to fill the vacancy would be held within 80 to 90 days. Multiple sources tell me that labor leaders have been reaching out to Attorney General Letitia James, promising support if she should run in a special election. And we have yet to hear from Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie or Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, though neither has stopped a growing number of individual legislators from calling on Adams to quit. Black leaders are also publicly pushing back against Adamss accusation for which he has supplied no evidence that his arrest and prosecution are political payback for criticizing President Biden over migrant policy. Man, listen, Basil Smikle, a former executive director of the State Democratic Party said on MSNBC. When he goes and says, The migrant crisis is whats concerning everybody right now. Its retribution, he sounds like Donald Trump. Smikle and other strategists point out that attacking the Biden White House supplies talking points that can be used against Kamala Harris and other Democratic candidates a big no-no in the closing weeks of the national campaign. Back in February, I asked Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, about the accusations of prosecutorial bias. When I hear that, it always puzzles me, because Ive never communicated with anyone from the White House about cases that we do, he told me. Its just not appropriate. There are clear lines about who we can communicate with and about what. We dont take orders from the White House or Washington about cases that we charge or dont charge. That is the core of our discretion right here in the Southern District of New York. Williamss resume includes supervising the convictions of Christopher Collins, an upstate Republican congressman; Sheldon Silver, the former Speaker of the state assembly, and New Jersey senator Robert Menendez. Irish, Jewish, Latino: It seems safe to say that Williams, the first and only Black U.S. Attorney in the 235-year-old history of the Southern District, applies the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion when it comes to prosecuting public corruption. This goes back for generations. Its not about Democrat or Republican, Williams told me. There is a long, unbroken history of this office being allowed to do the work that we want to do, regardless of who is in the White House. Williamss work is clearly far from done: His office has conducted searches and seizures of Adams officials who had nothing to do with the mayors bribery case, which makes it all but certain that additional charges will be coming. Governor Kathy Hochul who legally possesses the seldom-used power to remove Adams from office if push comes to shove issued a statement that sounded unmistakably ominous. New Yorkers deserve to know that their municipal government is working effectively, ethically and in the best interests of the people, she said. While I review my options and obligations as the Governor of New York, I expect the Mayor to take the next few days to review the situation and find an appropriate path forward to ensure the people of New York City are being well-served by their leaders. Anybody whos ever been downsized from a job understands exactly what it means when the person who can give you the boot starts using phrases like take the next few days and find an appropriate path forward. Eric Adams, ignoring the hint, is instead appealing to his Black base. The problem with that strategy is that the Black allies hes beseeching for help know the chessboard of power requires thinking ahead a few moves and occasionally sacrificing a piece along the way. The mendacity, cruelty, and rage are so on brand. Photo: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images One of the central narratives of Donald Trumps presidential campaign is that America is awash in violent crime, much of it from migrants deliberately invited across the border by the Biden-Harris administration in order to harvest their illegal votes, and that a Trump restoration will put an abrupt end to all this carnage. Its quite a false narrative, to be sure, since (1) crime rates are actually dropping steadily; (2) so too are border crossings by migrants; (3) theres is virtually no evidence of noncitizen voting in any recent national election; and (4) Trump has no real plan to address this phantom menace other than bringing peace and order via his awe-inspiring strength. But he keeps saying these things and a lot of people believe them. No Trump 2024 campaign theme, however, is complete without a personal dig at Kamala Harris, and accordingly the former president has added to his American carnage rap of massive runaway crime by migrants a variation that attributes a shoplifting spike in San Francisco to Harriss tenure as district attorney, epitomizing her left liberal hatred for law enforcement and the police. Fortunately for victimized store owners, a magic Trump solution is available: a real rough, nasty day of violence by unleashed police officers would take care of the problem, as he explained at his latest rally in Erie, Pennsylvania: The problems with this rant go on and on. Yes, there was a spike in shoplifting in San Francisco in 2021, but it has subsided, and both the rise and fall of property crimes in that city occurred long after Harriss left the D.A.s office in 2011. The 2014 voter-approved law (in response to a prison-overcrowding crisis) he is apparently blaming for the shoplifting spike, Californias Prop 47, did not prevent police from arresting people for minor property crimes, much less threaten police jobs and benefits; it simply reduced the penalties from state prison to county jail time. As it happens, Kamala Harris didnt even endorse Prop 47. As for Trumps solution, its about as realistic as his earlier demand that shoplifters be shot on the spot. What does any of this law-and-order demagoguery have to do with the job of being president of the United States? Is Trump going to send the U.S. military into cities to deal with retail theft, one of the most local responsibilities imaginable? The real piece de resistance of Trumps latest pyramid of lies on crime was the reaction (per Politico) of his campaign to complaints that he was once again just making stuff up: Asked whether the former presidents idea amounted to a new proposal and how such an operation would work, a campaign official said Trump was clearly just floating it in jest. President Trump has always been the law and order President and he continues to reiterate the importance of enforcing existing laws. A day of violence by vengeful police is not, of course, authorized by existing laws anywhere. But beyond that, its striking that whenever the 45th president really goes over the line into open incitement of violence, which is often, we are told hes just, you know, being himself, with his crude sense of humor. The just kidding defense also extends to his underlings, like MAGA social-media warrior (and possible Trump 2.0 attorney general) Mike Davis, as Politico recently explained: Here is a list of things the Republican lawyer turned MAGA-media talking head Mike Davis has said: He wants to send journalists to the gulag. He wants to put migrant children in cages. He wants to rain hell on Washington. He wants the Supreme Court to dismantle most of the federal government. How much of it does he actually mean? Well, its unclear, because he often says hes trolling. What is the line between trolling and reality? Whatever you can get passed, Davis says. Journalist Salena Zito once famously said that Trumps supporters take him seriously, but not literally, an interpretation that gave him a lot of leeway to say horrible things to own the libs and titillate his followers without any accountability for untruthfulness or incitement to violence. But in this campaign, its harder than ever to separate the MAGA message from the mendacity, cruelty, and rage on which it monotonously relies. Its a problem anyone who enjoys the former presidents dangerous rhetorical habits should take seriously. What if he means every word? Over the weekend, Donald Trump began branding Vice-President Kamala Harris a criminal. She should be impeached and prosecuted for her actions, he claimed at one point. At another, he ostentatiously paused his speech while the crowd chanted, Lock her up! It is obviously unsurprising that Trump would conjure up imaginary crimes by his political opponent. In 2016, he made Lock her up! a signature campaign chant. In 2020, he branded Joe Biden a criminal. The pretext for Harriss prosecution is that, as vice-president, she presided over border-enforcement policies that Trump opposes. In 2016, the pretext was Clintons violation of State Department email protocol. In 2020, it was disproven charges that Biden profited from his sons business activity in Ukraine. Obviously, none of the particulars of these allegations in Harriss case, Trump hasnt even managed to manufacture a pretextual criminal allegation matter to Trump in the slightest. His view of the law is fully relativist. Actions taken on Trumps behalf are by inherently legal, and actions taken against him are inherently illegal. That is why Trump continuously brands his political opponents as criminals. In addition to all three of his Democratic campaign opponents, Trump has called for criminal charges to be brought against a long list of targets, including (but not limited to) Barack Obama, John Kerry, Liz Cheney, anybody who criticizes pro-Trump judges, lawyers, political operatives, donors, illegal voters, and corrupt election officials involved in the 2024 election, among many others. Just this weekend, he called for charges against Google (for allegedly showing too many negative stories about him in searches) and Nancy Pelosi (for the second time; four years ago, he called for her to be charged for tearing a copy of his speech, and this weekend, he said she should be investigated because her husband sold shares of Visa stock prior to an anti-trust investigation against the company). It is also why Trump continuously encourages criminal behavior by his allies and defends it as lawful. Paul Manafort did nothing and was the victim of a hoax. The violent coup attempt by Trump allies on January 6, 2021, was actually a riot by overzealous police officers, and the criminals who carried it out were hostages. Trump frequently promises to pardon the J6 criminals, in keeping with his first-term policy of granting mass amnesty to political allies who committed crimes. Trumps view of crime, as an activity that definitionally encompasses all political or media activity disadvantageous to him and excluding all activity by him or his allies, is so extreme that few of his allies will defend it on its own terms. Sometimes they insist his personalistic view of the justice system is not a reason to exclude him from office, since his efforts to implement failed more than they succeeded in the first term. More frequently, they deflect the issue by ignoring Trumps overt authoritarianism and focusing instead on trumped-up threats of authoritarianism by the Democrats. If you cruise over to the conservative (but still traditional Republican) Washington Examiner opinion page, you will see nothing about Trumps expanding list of political enemies to be jailed. What you will see is editorials with headlines like The ways the left is assaulting the Constitution or Bidens selective prosecution of Democrats (alleging without evidence that New York mayor Eric Adams is facing criminal charges because he questioned Bidens immigration policy) or Kamala Harris at war with the Constitution or Harris is still an authoritarian gun grabber or Harriss promise to shred our democratic norms should worry you. The purpose of these frantic charges is not so much to persuade traditional Republicans that Harris is more authoritarian than Trump as to kick up enough dust to let them call the matter a tie. Trump may be slightly over the top, but Harris is no better, so conservatives can go ahead and vote for the candidate with policies they prefer. But anybody paying even cursory attention can grasp that, contrary to the warnings of Republicans, the Biden Justice Department has revived the traditional separation of charging decisions from the president, which is why numerous Democrats including the presidents son are facing federal charges. It is impossible to predict how successful Trump would be at turning the Justice Department into an unprincipled weapon of vengeance against his rivals and protection for his allies, but that is undeniably his intent. . Per CBS News: The topics and questions will not be provided to the candidates in advance, and only the moderators are allowed to ask questions. There will be no opening statements, but each candidate will be able to give a two-minute closing statement. After winning a coin toss, Vance elected to deliver his closing statement last. The candidates will be given two minutes to answer each question, one minute for rebuttals, and, potentially, one minute each for follow-ups at the moderators discretion. The candidates will not be allowed to interact with their campaign staff during the two commercial breaks. Vance and Walz will be standing at identical lecterns with Walz on the left side of the stage and Vance on the right. Props and pre-written notes are forbidden. Each candidate will be given a blank notepad, a pen, and a bottle of water. Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Wikimedia Commons For more than a decade, Wisconsin has been at the white-hot center of American politics. After a long stretch of Republican dominance there capped off by a shock Trump win in 2016 Democrats have mounted a considerable comeback in recent years. They ousted Scott Walker in 2018, tilted the state to Joe Biden barely in 2020, and gained a majority on the state supreme court, breaking Republicans suffocating statewide gerrymander. Polls show Kamala Harris with a small but persistent edge over Donald Trump, but for two straight presidential cycles, polls have dramatically overestimated Democratic strength in Wisconsin. Nobody knows more about Wisconsin voting trends or is more aware of those polling issues than Charles Franklin. A professor of law and public policy at Marquette University, he has run the widely respected Marquette Law School survey since 2012. (FiveThirtyEight rates it as the third-best in the country.) I spoke with him about where he thinks Harris vs. Trump stands in the Badger State, how political demographics in Wisconsin have flipped over the years, and why he isnt sleeping that well right now. The New York Times recently ran a piece with the headline Harris has a polling edge in Wisconsin, but Democrats dont trust it. And you were quoted in there saying, My numbers are my numbers, but I think in terms of putting it into context, four points would be a surprisingly strong finish for Harris. That was referring to Marquettes most recent poll, which had Harris up 52 and 48 over Trump. Do you have a different sense of the race than the numbers that you actually put out? Its the paradox of polling that the polling represents the best data that Im able to produce. We do the methodology as best we can, but theres always the subjective side about whether this is a four-point race at this stage. A reason for reticence is that four of the last six elections were decided here by less than one percentage-point margins, so a four-point win for either side would be unusually large for recent years. Governor Evers was reelected in 2022 with a 3.4 percent margin, and hes the most popular politician in the state. The other reason, of course, is polling errors. We were off in 2016 by over six points, and we were off by about four points in 2020. At least in 2020 we got the winner right, which was an improvement. So those are just reasonable cautions to anyone reading polls to look at the history of races in the state and look at previous polling errors and come to your own judgment. People just always want to know whos going to win. And theres no good answer for that. Yeah, and my standard answer this year is Give me a quarter and Ill flip it for you, which is not entirely tongue-in-cheek. I think we are so close in so many battleground states that forecasts from now to November are perilous. In late 2020, as you said, you were off by four points near the end of the Biden-Trump race. That was still quite a bit better than some ABC News and the Washington Post memorably had Biden up 17 in late October. Yes. That gets repeated every time, with good reason. I think I was skeptical of that one at the time. Well, Gary Langer, who conducted it, was skeptical. Good for him. Seriously, this isnt really your focus, but within the polling community, it is a mark of some integrity that you publish your results as they stand and not hide the ones you dont believe in. So in that sense, kudos to Gary and to ABC for putting that out. But we saw a range of polling in 2020 up in the nine, 11, 17 range. Yeah, the Times had him up 11, so they were far from alone. One of the paradoxes for us is our long-term average error across all of the races weve done is 2.2 percentage points. So we were off by four in 2020, which was double our average error, but we still look pretty good compared to all the other pollsters. Its sort of cold comfort to be the least inaccurate poll, or one of the least inaccurate, but it does show that a lot of pollsters have come through Wisconsin and left with much bigger overestimates of the vote than we have. The common story told about 2016 is that Trump was reaching all these white working-class people who may have been infrequent voters, and who were undersampled in polls. But do you have as good a sense of what went amiss in 2020 as you do in 2016? And how have you tried to repair whatever problems youve found? My view of 16 and 20 is more or less the way you stated it, that Trump has done a remarkable job of activating people who hadnt participated before, who are disgruntled with the political system. And the profile of those folks are exactly the profile of folks that dont want to do polls. They distrust politics, they distrust the media, and they distrust pollsters. The net effect is not huge, but its 3 or 4 or 5 percent that were understating Trumps support in 16 and in 20. And the challenge for pollsters is: Is there any way to reach those folks who are supporting Trump and probably will go to vote this time when they are so skeptical of mainstream media and pollsters and so on? So were doing what we can, and well know in November whether weve succeeded in that or not. What weve changed is that in the past, we stratified the state into five regions: Milwaukee, the rest of the Milwaukee media market, the Madison market, the Green Bay market, and the north and western parts of the state. But now we divide the state into 90 different regions, which we stratify from the most Republican and the Trumpiest to the most Democratic and least Trumpy. We sample people in all of those 90 strata trying our best to make sure that were reaching people in the very Trumpy areas of the state, who maybe we were missing on the telephone before, when we would just say, Call into the Green Bay media market. We didnt directly control to make sure we were getting the right percentage of respondents from the more Trumpy parts of the market as opposed to the more Democratic-leaning ones. So by drilling it down into the smaller sections, youre able to get more specific in the people youre reaching? Yes. We still cant make people talk to us. But we now send an email and a text message with links to where they can complete the poll online, on their phone or whatever. Then we follow up with reminders, and if they havent responded in a couple of days, we phone them. We end up with about 20 percent of the interviews still done by phone, and about 80 percent completed online, and were monitoring how well were doing in reaching those Trumpier areas of the state. And we adjust for nonresponse from those areas. Still, youd rather that 100 percent of the people we contact would do the interview, but that never happens. The response rate is so low, its a wonder that polls are as accurate as they are. Its true. In the past, I wouldve just said Democrats and Republicans alike loathe scam marketing calls or telemarketing calls. These days, theres a little bit more of a political veneer to that. Again, the Trump supporters are more negative toward the media and pollsters than I think average Republicans in the past were. And so there is a bit of a partisan edge to nonresponse now in a way that I dont think there was in 2010 or 2012. Theres been this pattern throughout the Midwest where pollsters have been pretty accurate in elections when Donald Trump isnt on the ballot, and less so when he is. Do you think thats because theres a set of people who only vote when hes running? Thats one of the hypotheses. Theres that element, but we dont want to overstate it not all Trump voters fall into this category. But if 3 to 5 percent of Trump voters are folks that are motivated predominantly because of him, then theyre much more likely to drop out of the electorate in the midterms and even in the primaries Im talking about statewide primaries, not presidential primary. In 2018, we had the governors race within one point and the senate race by a tenth of a point. So that was sort of proof that it wasnt that polling itself was broken, but it was something about the difference between the 16 context and the 2018 context. Then in 20, we improved over where wed been in 2016, but we were still off by more than average. And then in 2022, our error was right at our long-term average, back to normal, if you will. So, yeah, thats the reason that I am not sleeping as well as I should. How nervous are you right now? Im nervous enough, but Ive done everything I can. Weve adjusted our methodology and were tracking how were doing, but Im not going to change anything between now and Election Day, and the proof will be whether were close or not. Its a fools errand to try to change what youre doing in the polling if you feel queasy about the result. Id much rather go out and say right now Harris is up by four rather than squirrel away in my office, and go, Oh, I should change this, that, and the other thing and get it down to a two-point lead. That would be grossly unethical and irresponsible. Earlier in the year, we had Trump leading by one or two points in several of our spring polls, and that was against Biden. Biden was tied with Trump just before that debate. And then in our July poll, we had Trump 50 to Harris 49 with registered voters and Harris 50 to Trump 49 with likely voters. The point Im trying to make is that our polling throughout the year may be biased, but its not a bias that has prevented us from seeing Trump ahead in several of our polls. Now, maybe he was ahead by more, but were not in the situation of having shown the Democrat up by four to six points in every poll all year. Which was true the last couple cycles, I believe. Yeah, in 16 and in 20, Clinton and Biden led pole to pole, basically. Are there particular demographics you consider especially important? The thing with these close races is that everything is key, right? Thats exactly right. You and me and 21,000 of our best friends can tip the race here. But I think the broad picture is Madison and surrounding Dane County is just an amazing turnout machine. Its the fastest-growing county in the state, as it has been for 20 years. The margins here have become phenomenal. Madisons always been a Democratic city, but 15 years ago, it was producing margins by 20 and 30 percent for the Democrat. Now theyre getting awfully close to 60-point margins. Approaching Brooklyn margins. Exactly. Dane County as a whole has just about as many registered voters as the city of Milwaukee does. But because Dane has such exceptionally high turnout and these increasingly huge margins, it is now influencing the statewide vote at least as much as Milwaukee is. Theyre both critical for Democrats to do well in, and Democratic fears about lower Black turnout or slippage with Hispanic voters in Milwaukee are well founded, but theres more going on in the state than just the Milwaukee vote. Then youve got those WOW county suburbs. Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington counties, outside Milwaukee. The slippage for Republicans there has been clear since 2010, and its true across all offices. Scott Walker, whose political base was in the WOW counties, slipped in each of his elections there. Ron Johnson has managed to win each of his elections, but by decreasing margins in the WOW counties. In 2022 for the first time, the Republican vote for governor in Waukesha County slipped under 60 percent, and that used to be in the high 60s or 70s. Ozaukee County has come to be nearly a 50/50 county they voted 50/50 in the August primary on two big referenda that were on the ballot. I would still expect them to end up being 54 or 55 percent Republican, but thats down a lot. Its only Washington County thats held on and has slipped a good deal less than the others. Those three counties together voted 36,000 fewer net Republican votes in 2020 than they had in 2012. Thirty-six thousand net in a 21,000-margin state is a lot to lose. And thats reflective, I assume, of the general broader trend of white college-educated people drifting toward the Democratic Party even in place like the Milwaukee suburbs, which has been famous for being a bastion of GOP sentiment right outside a very segregated city. Yeah, it was one of the sharpest divides in the country when you crossed the Milwaukee County border. You just either fell off a cliff or rose up a cliff depending on which way you want to look at it. Theres still big differences, but theyre not what they were. Theres a little greater racial and ethnic diversity in the WOW counties now than there used to be. The Democratic Party is really organized well in Waukesha and Ozaukee. So there has been some just simple old-fashioned hard work at organizing Democratic voters in those areas. Last year, I interviewed Ben Wikler, the states Democratic Party chair. The party infrastructure in Wisconsin is kind of famous at this point. It has helped lead to victories in the 2020 presidential election, the two governors races, and a pivotal state supreme court race. On the other side, it seems like the Republican infrastructure is a bit of a black box in Wisconsin and elsewhere. Its being outsourced, at least in part, to outside groups run by Elon Musk and others, and theres been some grumbling about that. Based on what youve seen and heard, what do you make of the GOP ground game right now? This has been a real shift in the partys strengths here. During the time that Scott Walker was governor after 2010, and especially after the recall attempt to kick him out of office in 2012, Walker developed an incredibly strong national fundraising base. And that brought massive amounts of money into the Walker coffers, some of which was redistributed to help Republican legislative races and other races in the state. At that time, the Walker/Republican organization was especially strong and the Democrats were especially weak with changing leadership and difficulty with fundraising and so on. Since Walker lost in 2018, its been the other way around. Republicans have struggled as a party organization to raise money and are woefully short on money compared to the Democrats. As you were saying, Wikler has done an amazing job of growing their fundraising and building organizational strength through the state. Now, there are some pockets of Republican strength. The legislative fundraising committees are doing bigger money donations than the state party is doing. and I think the Republican Party is relying on the volunteers in the county parties, which are quite active. Im on everybodys mailing list, so I see all of the events that theyre listing every weekend, and the Democratic events too for that matter. Theres a lot of activity going on out there, but on the Democratic side, its guided by the party. You have tons of local offices that the Dems have created and staffed with professionals, and I think its much more of a volunteer effort on the Republican side. As for the Elon Musk PAC and those kinds of things, I have no idea what theyre doing. I dont mean that pejoratively, I mean, thats my ignorance. Im not seeing obvious signs of their activity, but that doesnt mean they arent being very active. Its just not visible to me. And Republicans arent struggling everywhere in the state, either. Look at the north and west, basically from Wausau in the north central part over to the Minnesota border and from La Crosse up. Thats a region of about 26 percent of registered voters. So while its thinly populated, cumulatively, its a good share of the vote. If we go back 20 years to the 2004 election, Kerry and Bush were very close to each other throughout that region. The counties were just slightly Republican or just slightly Democratic and very competitive. In 2020, that region was overwhelmingly red. The cities within the region and theyre smaller cities like Eau Claire and La Crosse, and actually Wausau City itself those places are fairly democratic or even strongly Democratic. But the surrounding countryside is very Republican. So while those suburbs in the southeast have been moving in a less Republican direction, the northern and western part of the state is getting more and more Republican in every election. Can Trump further boost the turnout in that area, and can he profit by getting his margins throughout the rural parts of the state to be even bigger than they were in 2020? That region of Wisconsin is still less Republican than would be expected, if we look at how folks with those demographics vote nationwide. But that just may mean that theres still room for them to move further red, and that could offset most, if not all, of the Democratic gains in the southeast. And thats where infrastructure might come into play, right? I fully expect a high Republican turnout in November, as I expect a high Democratic turnout. The question is, if were a 20,000-vote margin, how much do the differential efforts and resources at that point matter? And youve got to believe it can matter for 20,000 votes statewide, but its just awfully hard to measure in any reliable way who really has the upper hand. You mentioned the races that have been good for Democrats, and the strength of the party and success rate is to believe the Democrats might have an edge this year compared to 2020. But dont forget Ron Johnson. Because the Johnson campaign started behind, more unfavorable than favorable, and strengthened throughout the campaign and then pulled out a one-point win in 2022. He had also started behind in 2016 and came back to win. So whether thats the strength of Johnson or his campaign managers I have to say, I do not understand that guys political survival over the years. Its mystifying to me. We elect both Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson not on the same ballot, but it really is a unique and somewhat puzzling combination of those two senators. Trump was never as overwhelmingly dominant with Republicans in Wisconsin as he was in other places, and I wonder how that fact has contributed to the dynamics there now. The Democrats are stunningly negative toward Donald Trump in all of our polling this year. Its not a surprise, but to see such near unanimity among Democrats in opposing Trump normally you get 5 percent of any party that crosses over for the other side, and were literally getting 98 and 99, and in some polls, 100 percent of some Democratic categories going for Harris. In fact, if you want to worry about polling errors, maybe were missing the disgruntled Democrats. I predict youre not missing anything. But it is that lopsided partisanship that helps account for why Harris is up by four, because there is a little bit of crossover not a lot but a little bit of crossover from Republicans to Harris. And independents seemed to have swung a bit toward Harris, whereas they were favoring Trump when Biden was the candidate. So there are movements there that make sense. Youve got the Nikki Haley voters who probably were Scott Walker fans, the more Establishment Republicans, and theres probably some small percentage of them saying, Ill hold my nose and vote for Kamala Harris. Thats the thing. Early in the year we were seeing 30 percent or even a shade more of Republicans who had an unfavorable view of Trump. That was the Haley base, and in the end, she was winning 80 something percent of those voters. But that percentage has now gone down to close to 20 percent or even slightly under 20 percent. And the crossover vote hasnt gotten above 6 or 7 percent. So there are Republicans who dont like him and wouldve much preferred Haley, but voting for a Democrat is just beyond the pale for them. Some may vote third party. But if Harris were able to win all of the Republicans unfavorable to Trump, shed be running away with it, and shes not able to do that. I had mentioned that pivotal state supreme court race earlier. Democrats won it and gained a majority on the court, which struck down the extremely gerrymandered state legislative maps. 2024 is the first time people can vote in the new, fairer districts. Do you see that having much effect on turnout and enthusiasm this year? Theres been some talk about bottom-up coattails there, that people might be activated because of their legislative races. Certainly Democrats are moderately enthused about new districts, and some Democrats are very enthused. The public as a whole here Im a little dubious. I dont believe were going to see more than about 10 or 12 assembly seats that are genuinely very competitive. I just dont think its going to drive people to go vote for president. Itll be top down more than bottom up, in other words. The presidential race will drive turnout. I think so. And especially without Biden in, because our data showed just how huge a drag Biden was on Democratic enthusiasm. Yet it took the debate before the party decided to think of a different alternative. When Harris jumped in, our measure of Democratic enthusiasm went up 20 percentage points and has now gone up another 10 points or so. Wow. Republican enthusiasm had been higher than Democrats all year long, but Republicans went up seven points after the assassination attempt and the Republican convention, and theyve stayed there. Democrats, who were well behind, almost caught up to Republicans in July and then in early September, exceeded Republicans by close to ten points. Were in the field now, with a new poll out Wednesday. So those numbers will change when we get new data. Ill be looking to see whether Republicans are still lagging Democrats or whether they may have caught up in enthusiasm. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Speculators have placed record bearish bets on crude, potentially exacerbating price volatility if the situation deteriorates. Despite the rising tensions, the geopolitical risk premium in oil markets remains low, overshadowed by concerns about economic slowdown in China and the US. Goldman Sachs analysts warn that further escalation in the Middle East conflict, particularly involving the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, could lead to a spike in oil prices. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the UN General Assembly in New York this morning, stating that Israel has "no choice" but to fight back against Iran-backed Hezbollah. His remarks come as tensions rise between Israeli officials and the Biden-Harris administration over the inaction this week of instituting a 21-day ceasefire-fire while Israel Defense Forces gear up for a potential ground invasion of Lebanon. "As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice, and Israel has every right, to remove this threat and return our citizens to their homes safely," Netanyahu told the General Assembly, adding, "And that's exactly what we're doing." During his speech, Netanyahu showed world leaders two maps of the Middle East, pointing out the difference between a "blessing" and a "curse." "Now look at this second map," he said, pointing out, "It's a map of a curse. It's a map of an arc of terror that Iran has created and imposed from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean." Netanyahu added: "There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach that's true for the whole of the Middle East." Even with broadening war risks in the Middle East, the geopolitical risk premium in Brent crude has all but evaporated - overshadowed by economic slowdown fear in China and the US. Not even the China stimulus story earlier this week could ignite crude prices. On Thursday, we noted the usual anonymous sources reporting by corporate media were back, and pressured Brent crude prices lower. The first report was published by Reuters earlier this month. In that report, journos cited anonymous sources that said OPEC+ was set to proceed with a production hike in October. Then an FT report on Thursday joined the anonymous-source-citing oil manipulation game with the news that the Saudis were ready to ditch the unofficial price target of $100 a barrel for crude. Also, recent headlines surrounding a possible ceasefire in the Middle East have pressured oil prices. We must ask what exactly 'the powers that be' are afraid of? Maybe Goldman analyst Lindsay Matcham's note to clients this morning shows precisely what 'the powers that be' are afraid of... "We're continuing to keep a close eye on the conflict in the Middle East amid intensifying tensions between Hezbollah and Israel." Matcham added: "We think further escalation in the conflict could have material market implications, especially if it involves a potential closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which would likely lead to a spike in oil prices here." Strait of Hormuz... In a separate note, Goldman analyst Lina Thomas outlines four positive near-term drivers for crude markets: The easing in global policy. Inventories are still drawing. Positioning and valuation remain low. Oil markets are not pricing a significant risk of geopolitical disruptions. Fast forward to noon today, Brent prices jumped to the mid-point of the $72 handle after IDF airstrikes targeted Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut. Broadening war risks come as speculators have placed record bearish bets in crude markets. Brent prices hover around $72/bbl in late morning trading in the US. The looming question for Brent traders is: When will the war risk premium return? A potential IDF invasion of Lebanon could provoke Iran, although there are currently no signs of Tehran's imminent closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Given the Israel-Hezbollah escalation in conflict to the end of the week, traders should monitor these events as traders hold record net-bearish bets on crude. By Zerohedge.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com China provides vibrant digital trade cooperation platform with int'l expo Xinhua) 08:21, September 30, 2024 HANGZHOU, China, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- The third Global Digital Trade Expo (GDTE), concluding here on Sunday, has been a vibrant platform for fostering global partnerships in digital commerce and thus sustainable growth. Held in Hangzhou, a city known for blending ancient charm and modern innovation, the expo featured more than 1,500 enterprises, including over 300 international companies. Attendees experienced cutting-edge innovations like AI-driven robots and hydrogen-powered drones and were presented with over 400 new products and technologies. Sales staff promote African products via livestreaming during the third Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 25, 2024. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi) VALUABLE EXPERIENCE Kazakh Minister of Digital Development, Innovation, and Aerospace Industry Zhaslan Madiyev highlighted China's role as a global leader in e-commerce and digital technologies, noting that China is accelerating the digital transformation of markets worldwide. In a written interview with Xinhua, Madiyev said China's experience offers valuable insights for countries in the early stages of developing their digital markets, aiding global growth and helping reduce digital inequality. He cited Kazakhstan's efforts to improve telecommunications and cybersecurity by learning from China. In addition to cutting-edge technologies, China's experience in e-commerce also set an example for countries seeking to capitalize on the rapid growth of digital trade. Kilimall, an e-commerce platform founded by Chinese entrepreneurs in Africa in 2014, has become one of the most popular shopping websites among Africans. It has generated about 10,000 local jobs in logistics, courier services, customer support and regional sales. The cooperation between China and Africa in digital economy "represents a new model of economic cooperation that creates tangible value for businesses and people on both sides" said Ugandan Ambassador to China Oliver Wonekha. Digitalization is a technological leap and a key driver of future development for countries and businesses, said Jean Louis Robinson, ambassador of Madagascar to China. "We are eager to work closely with Chinese companies to learn from China's advanced experience in digital economy and promote sustainable development in Madagascar," he added. Robots perform dance at a booth during the third Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 25, 2024. The third Global Digital Trade Expo opened in Hangzhou on Wednesday, showcasing the latest technological innovations and business development of the digital economy sector. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) VAST OPPORTUNITIES China's advanced digital economy and vast market scale are creating immense opportunities for the world, said experts and attendees at the expo. "For us, China is not just a sales market," said Lyu Feng, division head of public relations at Yokogawa China, a Japanese electric firm. He highlighted China's vast emerging industries, strong market demand, and numerous high-tech companies. Lyu added that the company emphasizes collaborating with Chinese enterprises to explore new opportunities, particularly in digital transformation and carbon emissions management in the manufacturing sector. Zhu Lili, vice president of AstraZeneca China, expressed that the pharmaceutical giant is "highly confident" in the Chinese market and its innovation ecosystem. She emphasized the company's goal to partner with more local firms to explore the application of digital technologies in healthcare, driving sustainable and high-quality growth for both the healthcare industry and the broader economy. In the first half of 2024, China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports reached 1.22 trillion yuan (about 170 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 10.5 percent year over year, according to customs data. Kazakhstan has opened national pavilions on Chinese e-commerce platforms like Alibaba and JD.com to promote products such as powdered milk, safflower oil, and honey, boosting bilateral e-commerce ties, Serik Korzhumbayev, editor-in-chief of Delovoy Kazakhstan, told Xinhua. Yao Hongchun, vice president of the Thai Chinese New Generation Business Association, emphasized its potential for collaboration with China, mainly through advanced e-commerce technologies tailored to Thai consumers. A foreign merchant consults about a small intelligent translation device at the third Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 25, 2024. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) COOPERATION PLATFORM "E-commerce can be successful and further developed in the long run if everyone can find their way in it, if it is based on close international cooperation, if it is diversified and if as many countries as possible are involved on both the manufacturer and the buyer side," Hungarian National Assembly's Deputy Speaker Lajos Olah said at the opening ceremony of the expo. By July 2024, China has signed e-commerce cooperation memorandums of understanding with 33 countries spanning five continents. Additionally, China has been involved in digital economy collaborations through multilateral frameworks like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS, the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, and the G20, according to an e-commerce development report released by China's Ministry of Commerce during the expo. Beyond exhibitions, this year's GDTE also featured multiple forums, meetings, and seminars, providing officials and industry leaders with platforms to exchange views and discuss prospects for international collaboration. Through participating in the expo, Thailand is ready to work with partners in trade, investment, research, and development to expand its digital products and services, aiming to integrate into key global supply chains, Thailand's Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Ekachat Seetavorarat told Xinhua on the sidelines of the expo. Madiyev also highlighted the GDTE as a unique opportunity to exchange experiences with leading global players in the digital economy and expand economic ties with other countries, particularly China. (Xinhua correspondents Zhang Tianlang, Yan Liang, Sun Shuo and Sun Jing in Beijing, Zhu Han and Zhang Xuan in Hangzhou, Zhang Jiye in Astana, and Gao Bo in Bangkok contributed to the story.) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Xian Jiangnan) You are here: China Passengers line up to board a train at Harbin Railway Station in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Sept. 29, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] China's railway network is expected to handle 175 million passenger trips during the upcoming 10-day National Day holiday travel rush, China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. said Sunday. The peak is expected on Tuesday, with over 21 million trips projected, according to the company. The railway travel rush from Sunday to Oct. 8 is expected to see a mix of tourists, family visits and student travels, the company said. In response to the surge in passenger demand, measures will be taken to boost transportation capacity, enhance services, and ensure safe, orderly and enjoyable trips, it said. After the 7 October murder of hundreds of Israeli citizens by Iranian proxy terrorist organisation Hamas, the escalation to a full-blown war in the Middle East has never seemed far away. Following the ramping in recent weeks of attacks between Israel and Irans terrorist proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, it appears closer still. So, what comes next for Israel, Iran and its proxies, and the Middle East, and what will happen to the oil price? The immediate danger of escalation comes more from the brewing Israel-Hezbollah conflict than from the ongoing Israel-Hamas War, according to senior energy security sources in the U.S. and European Union (E.U.) exclusively spoken to by OilPrice.com last week. The usefulness of Hamas to Iran diminished after 7 October attacks [on Israel] and has been further reduced following Israels push into Gaza and its removal of several key figures in the organisation [Hamas], so now its primary purpose [for Tehran] is photo-propaganda, said the E.U. source. But Hezbollah is still full of possibilities for Iran, and the further Israel takes the fight into Lebanon, the better for Tehran, he added. As it now stands, the stated thrust of Israels strategic intentions against Hezbollah are to return the 60,000 or so Israelis who were evacuated last year from the northern part of Israel that abuts southern Lebanon. As they were moved from the region due to ongoing missile attacks from Hezbollah, this aim can only be achieved with the neutralisation of the Iranian-backed group within a certain distance of these Israeli residents. This will require an ongoing big push over many months at minimum from troops, tanks and other support vehicles on the ground in Lebanon. Related: EUs Joint Natural Gas Purchases Scheme Fails to Gain Traction Legally, this would accord with the terms of the UN Resolution 1701 that prohibited Hezbollah from operating south of the southernmost stretch of the Litani River that runs 15 to 20 miles north of the Israeli-Lebanon border, but which Hezbollah has broadly disregarded ever since. However, the practical considerations of such a strategy are less clear cut. Rather like many invading forces have found over the centuries, getting into an area is easy enough it is what they do once there that can be tricky, and getting out again can be even more difficult. For Israel, this is extremely likely to be the case, despite the high-level battle-proven armed forces it has, supported by the best military hardware and software currently available anywhere. Israel has also considerably improved its chances of making relatively significant land gains in the short term by neutralising several key figures in Hezbollahs command structure, most notably including Hassan Nasrallah. In an open battle, there is little doubt Israel would win, but most of the military actions undertaken in Lebanon to begin with will be of the guerilla warfare model in either urban or hilly terrains that are extremely well-known to Hezbollah and well-developed for its fighting requirements. This would include heavily fortified disguised positions, hundreds of secreted ammunition and fuel resupply points, and multiple networks of tunnels. An additional complicating factor is Hezbollah itself, which is of a different military order entirely to Hamas, with around 100,000 fighters in its force, a huge arsenal of weapons including up to 200,000 rockets and missiles, and a key beneficiary of help from Iran. This includes in the training of its fighters and in the supply of 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 sustained fully-fledged assault and push by Israels military into Lebanon would be highly unlikely to be met with direct official opposition on the ground from Iran or from sustained direct attacks by it on Israel, thinks the U.S. energy security source. Its been made clear the extent of retaliation that could be meted out to it if it took certain courses of action, he said last week. However, there are several other courses of action open to Iran to ramp up the pressure on Israel and its allies in the Middle East, all of which could push the oil price much higher very quickly. One of the most effective would be to reiterate its call for an embargo on oil exports to the allies of Israel by Islamic members of OPEC. Saudi Arabia did exactly the same thing in 1973 for exactly the same reason a war between Israel and Islam as it also sought to portray it with devastating results for oil prices, as analysed in full in my latest book on the new global oil market order. Back in 1973, Egyptian military forces moved into the Sinai Peninsula, while Syrian forces moved into the Golan Heights -- two territories that had been captured by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. By attacking from multiple points on the holiest day of the Jewish faith, Yom Kippur (the same attack method and religious date as the 7 October Hamas attacks used 50 years later) the two Arab countries thought they could take Israel off guard, which they did for a while at least. Crucially, though, around the same time as this, OPEC members - plus Egypt, Syria, and Tunisia - began an embargo on oil exports to the U.S., the U.K., Japan, Canada, and the Netherlands in response to their collective supplying of arms, intelligence resources, and logistical support to Israel during the War. As global supplies of oil fell, the price of oil increased dramatically, exacerbated by incremental cuts to oil production by OPEC members over the period. Gas prices also rose, as historically around 70 percent of them are comprised of the price of oil. By the end of the embargo in March 1974, the price of oil had risen around 267 percent, from about US$3 per barrel (pb) to nearly US$11 pb. This, in turn, stoked the fire of a global economic slowdown, especially felt in the net oil importing countries of the West. A similar effect on the economies of Israels key Western allies could be effected by Iran using another of its Middle Eastern proxies, the Houthis. Broadly speaking, the net impact of the groups ongoing disruption of shipping through the key regional oil transit chokepoint in and around the Red Sea has not been as great as Iran would no doubt have wished. Partly this has been due in recent months 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. However, a much greater impact could be had if the Houthis launched attacks on major oil fields and/or refineries in any nearby countries, most particularly Saudi Arabia. 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 detailed in my latest book. Exactly what different scales of action 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 The dividend payout has long been considered a corporate policy commonly used to send signals to the market. According to signaling theory, companies tend to pay dividends to convey a positive message to investors about profits and cash flow. The O&G industry is known for maintaining a stable dividend payout, increasing dividends when companies decide they also need to boost the share price and, therefore, the company's value. Some analysts argue that an increase in dividend payments encourages pension funds to own more energy stocks. However, the industry is currently under significant pressure from both the market and society, which is pushing for divestment due to concerns over environmental impact and the energy transition. O&G companies are returning more money to investors than ever before, through both dividend payments and share buybacks, in an effort to restore investor confidence and address the uncertain future of the industry. O&G executives have indicated that profit-sharing is preferable to increased production, as investors favor immediate returns over long-term investments in mega-projects that take years to yield profits. Note: Own elaboration based on the data provided by the Eikon Refinitiv by Thomson Reuters database. Another reason why O&G companies have set record dividend payouts in recent years is because of the uncertainty in the sector due to the energy transition that causes the assets and businesses they currently have in their portfolio to lose value over time. Large oil companies are returning as much as possible to investors so that they do not leave for other sectors or companies. According to Mike Wirth, CEO of Chevron, "During a time of geopolitical turmoil and economic uncertainty, our objective remained unchanged: safely deliver higher returns and lower carbon." This position has been strongly criticised by some environmental groups, indicating that the significant amount of dividend payouts by these companies is a strategy to distract the investor and try to hide the risk of an imminent energy transition. Related: TotalEnergies Set to Make $10B Investment Decision Offshore Suriname After the invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent rise in benchmark crude oil prices, O&G companies were the main beneficiaries and raked in a combined net income of $4t. These huge results were a reason for debate, with many politicians and environmentalists pointing out that these record incomes were due to the unfortunate invasion of Ukraine, accusing oil companies of taking advantage of the situation, which resulted in extremely high utility bills for consumers. This situation of record revenues resulted in a considerable increase in profit distribution in 2022. The 5 super majors BP, Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies filed dividend payouts and share buybacks worth $104 billion. Far from ending this trend, companies such as ExxonMobil and Chevron have maintained considerable profits at the end of 2023, showing that the industry remains robust and reliable despite doubts about curbing climate change and investing in renewable energy. One of the most controversial points is the possible destinations of those record profits that the industry has presented in recent years. A so called New Energy Trilemma results from the relevance for society of the decision by these companies to invest their large profits in three different points: paying dividends, investing in O&G, or betting heavily on the energy transition and renewable energies. Despite recent years being the hottest on record, sparking concerns about climate change, the O&G industry has done relatively little to address the problem. Environmental groups have harshly criticized the industry for distributing historic profits without significantly increasing investment in renewables. Oil companies have pointed out that energy security remains one of the most important factors, and that rising demand for hydrocarbons in emerging economies warrants continued large investment new oil and gas production. Generally speaking, current investment in green technology by the O&G industry is usually related to current business activities (CO2 capture and storage, or the electrification of its offshore plants, for example). In recent years, the O&G industry has spent only 1% of its investment on renewables. According to the IEA, companies are prioritizing two lines of action of the New Energy Trilemma, dividends and O&G production. In this way, investment in clean energy is put on the back burner. Companies such as Shell and BP recently announced their commitment to fossil fuels, while cutting back on clean energy investments they had previously committed to. A decision that, for example, in the case of BP, pleased investors, resulting in higher share prices. The future of this industry and its influence on society will depend much on this New Energy Trilemma. Handing out generous dividends to investors in order to stay invested in the O&G industry may not be sustainable in the long term. Also, reduced investment in renewables signals that O&G companies remain skeptical about long and short-term profitability. Perhaps more worrisome is that without the strong involvement of this industry, the ambitious aspirations to curb climate change and decarbonise society are still a long way off. Until the industry considers clean energy investment a profitable investment, they will continue to pay big dividends and continue traditional investment in O&G. By Antonio Garcia for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com After last weeks deal on the leadership of the Central Bank, Libya is set to resume crude oil production on October 1, Italian news agency Agenzia Nova reported on Monday, citing Libyan parliamentary sources. Crude production at most Libyan oilfields has been suspended for over a month after the countrys eastern and western administrations clashed over who should be governor of the Central Bank of Libya. At the end of last week, the rival factions reached an agreement in UN-mediated talks over the election of the Central Banks leadership, paving the way to restoring oil production and exports. These have plummeted in the past month. Stephanie Koury, the acting head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), said last Thursday, commenting on the agreement, I also want to emphasize the urgent need to end the closure of oil fields and disruption of oil production and export. I appreciate the commitment made by the authorities in the East to lift the closure. Now that the agreement has been reached, oil production in Libya is set to resume on October 1, with a full return to operations scheduled for Wednesday, October 2, according to Agenzia Novas sources. Libya, which pumped about 1.2 million bpd of oil before the halt, was plunged into a deeper political crisis over the row about the leadership of the Central Bank of Libya, the only internationally recognized depository of Libyas oil revenues. The internationally recognized government in the capital city in the west, Tripoli, was 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, estimates showed that crude oil exports from Libya crumbled to around 400,000 bpd in September from 1 million bpd in August. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com This innovative approach could provide a sustainable and cost-effective solution to the increasing demand for lithium, a critical mineral for the energy transition. The race to extract lithium sustainably and efficiently has been heating up since Chinese researchers announced a new method to pull the critical mineral out of seawater using solar energy. The scientistsincluding Zhu Jia of Nanjing University and Mi Baoxia from the University of California, Berkeleypublished last week an article in the journal Science, in which they unveil the novel and, as they say, a potential pathway "toward the sustainable extraction of critical resources." Extracting lithium from brine and seawater has been attempted and made before, but due to the low concentration of the metal in seawater, it has typically required desalination before extraction. This makes the method ten times more expensive than other techniques, according to Shanghai-based news outlet The Paper cited by South China Morning Post. Now the Chinese scientists described in the Science article a new method of extracting and storing lithium from brines. They introduced a so-called solar transpirationpowered lithium extraction and storage (STLES) device that can extract and store lithium from brines using natural sunlight. The device has a hierarchically structured solar transpirational evaporator, which "allows for the extraction of lithium from brines through a membrane and its storage in a vascular storage layer," the scientists wrote in the article. "Long-term experiments, various membrane tests, and different size assessments demonstrate the stability, compatibility, and scalability of STLES," they say. The method to extract lithium with the help of solar power suggests a new sustainable technology to mine one of the most important metals critical for the energy transition. If scalability can be achieved, the method of extracting lithium from brine using a solar-powered device could address one of the most pressing issues of critical minerals miningsustainability. China is a dominant player in global lithium mining and refining. With solar-powered extraction from brines, it could extend its global lead. Even as efforts to diversify the supply chain continue, China is expected to be the world's second-largest lithium miner after Australia in 2030, according to estimates by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2024. In refining, China is set to cede part of its large market share by the end of the decade, but it will still account for 57% of lithium refining in 2030, the IEA forecasts. Chile and Argentina are set to be distant second- and third-largest lithium refining countries with 15% and 13% shares, respectively. Not only China is looking to find an efficient way of extracting lithium from seawater and brine. Earlier this year, Saudi Arabian Mining Company Ma'aden said it had successfully extracted lithium from seawater. Ma'aden chief executive officer Robert Wilt told Reuters in May that the company is "actually producing lithium from seawater now," but the quantities are not commercial and the project remains in its pilot stage for now. In the United States, researchers have estimated that wastewater produced by fracking could be another domestic source of lithium. A team of scientists from the University of Pittsburgh and the National Energy Technology Laboratory wrote in a study earlier this year that if lithium from fracking wastewater in Pennsylvania could be extracted with complete efficiency, lithium from the wastewater of the Marcellus shale gas formation could supply up to 40% of the country's demand for the critical mineral. In the study published in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers say that they found "substantial extractable lithium" mass yields from produced water (PW) in the Marcellus Shale. Yet, there could be wide variations in concentrations of extractable lithium, production volumes, and extraction efficiencies in the northeast and southwest operating zones of the shale gas formation. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com In 2020, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was dragged into the U.S. presidential election campaign. This time, just weeks before a vote that could have a massive influence on Kyiv's defense against the Russian invasion, he walked right into it. On September 22, Zelenskiy toured a munitions factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, that makes ammunition for his armed forces, thanking workers and signing one of the 155 mm shells that are crucial for Kyiv's war effort. He was joined by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and two members of the House of Representatives, all Democrats. Had Zelenskiy visited the plant during any of his four previous trips to the United States since Russia launched the full-scale invasion in February 2022, it might have been long forgotten by now. Instead, it has turned into a flashpoint for Republicans, creating controversy that marred his the nearly weeklong visit to the United States, Ukraine's biggest backer, at a time when Russia is making gains on the battlefield, decimating Ukraine's energy infrastructure as winter approaches, and counting on Western support for Kyiv to wither. Battleground Scranton is President Joe Biden's hometown. Pennsylvania is a crucial battleground state whose voters could end up deciding the November 5 election between Republican former President Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. For Zelenskiy, the factory tour was meant "to demonstrate and showthat the assistance to Ukraine is beneficial to the United States itself, because this assistance makes it possible to create new jobs," Alyona Getmanchuk, director of the Ukrainian think tank New Europe Center and a nonresident senior fellow at the U.S.-based Atlantic Council Eurasia Center, told RFE/RL in Kyiv. Trump, she said, apparently "perceived this as an attempt toinfluence the electoral balance, which is very fragile in the state of Pennsylvania. That is, he saw it exclusively in the context of the election." As Zelenskiy's U.S. trip continued with speeches at the United Nations and meetings with Biden and Harris at the White House, Republicans lashed out over the factory tour. The speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, called it "a partisan campaign event" and demanded Zelenskiy "immediately fire" his ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova. Charles Kupchan, an analyst at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, said the munitions plant visit "backfired." "It's more an indication of the polarized debate between Democrats and Republicans than it is about any missteps taken by Zelenskiy," he told RFE/RL. 'Much More Difficult' Mykola Byelyeskov, an analyst at the Ukrainian government-backed National Institute for Strategic Studies in Kyiv, suggested the U.S. election campaign makes navigating ties with Kyiv's most crucial backer particularly tricky. "Zelenskiy is doing his best" on the U.S. trip, Byelyeskov told RFE/RL. "We see some results. I'm sure that we'll see more results. And we need to deal with every single faction in U.S. politics. And we are trying to do this. And it's much more difficult during the election season." For Biden, it's also "very difficult to take radical steps that in his mind might bring the issue of escalation closer. Because all the surveys in the U.S., domestic ones, they say that the American population is indeed concerned with hypothetical nuclear escalation," he said. "That's why it makes it more difficult for Ukraine to argue for various things that we need." During the visit, Zelenskiy did not secure a public promise that the United States would permit Kyiv to strike deeper into Russia with U.S. long-range missiles. A group of Republicans in the House held up $61 billion in mostly military aid for Ukraine for six months, leading to a deficit of ammunition on the battlefield, in part on the grounds that the money could be better spent at home. The United States spends the majority of the aid money at home on restocking arms and equipment sent to Ukraine, and the trip to Scranton highlighted that fact. Johnson had been instrumental in eventually getting the package through; his public ire over the plant visit signaled goodwill over that development is gone. Kurt Volker, a Pennsylvania native who served as a special envoy to Ukraine under Trump in 2017-2019, called the timing of the factory tour "a huge mistake." "It is a very sensitive time, a sensitive issue, a sensitive state -- like, the key swing state. It is just playing with fire, and Ukraine should do everything possible to avoid being a political subject in our election," said Volker, who is now an analyst at the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington. Way Back When Lucian Kim, senior Ukraine analyst for the Crisis Group, called the visit a "misstep" on Zelenskiy's part that opened him up for criticism from opponents of aid for Ukraine within the Republican Party faction known as MAGA Republicans for their unyielding support for Trump and his policies. "Bilateral U.S. support has been one of the foundations of Ukrainian foreign policy," Kim said. "That level of bipartisan support now seems to be in question. The MAGA wing, which is unsympathetic to Ukraine, is increasingly defining the Republican party." The Pennsylvania plant visit was at last one factor raising doubts about an expected meeting between Zelenskiy and Trump -- whose relationship has been colored for years by a phone call in 2019, just months after the Ukrainian leader's election, that led to Trump's impeachment -- would take place. Trump was impeached by the then-Democratic-controlled House of Representatives in December 2019 over the phone call in which he was accused of pressuring Zelenskiy to dig up dirt on the Biden family's activities in Ukraine. He was acquitted by the Senate, then controlled by the Republicans, in February 2020. Trump took aim at Zelenskiy several times. At a campaign stop on September 25, he repeated his description of the Ukrainian president as "the greatest salesman in the world" -- a reference to the tens of billions of dollars in aid lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have approved since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion. 'Proposals For Surrender' He also repeated his argument that Kyiv should have reached an agreement with Russia to stave off or end the invasion. "Any deal -- the worst deal -- would've been better than what we have now," he asserted. "If they made a bad deal, it would've been much better. They would've given up a little bit and everybody would be living." Trump has said he would bring an end to Russia's war against Ukraine quickly if he is elected, several times saying it would happen even before the inauguration in January -- a claim he made again when he and Zelenskiy met in New York on September 27. He has not said how he would accomplish this, but his comments have raised concerns his efforts would involve exhorting Ukraine to hand territory to Russia. On the main purposes of Zelenskiy's U.S. trip was to present Biden and others with a "victory plan" for the war against the Russian invasion, though details have not been released. Trump, in his debate against Harris on September 10, declined to answer directly when asked whether he wants Ukraine to win, saying, "I want the war to stop." On September 26, Harris said suggestions that Kyiv should cede territory for the sake of peace are "dangerous and unacceptable." Such calls are "proposals for surrender," she said. A Meeting In New York In an interview with The New Yorker ahead of his U.S. visit, Zelenskiy said, "Trump doesn't really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows how." He also said JD Vance, Trump's running mate, is "too radical" and has suggested he wants Ukraine "to give up our territories." The atmosphere seemed warmer when Zelenskiy and Trump held talks at the Trump Tower in New York, with Trump praising Zelenskiy for his conduct during the impeachment process -- "he was a piece of steel" -- but there was no sign of a change in Trump's attitude toward the Russian invasion. Trump again offered no details on how he would seek an end to the war, saying he believes that "we're going to get it resolved very quickly" if he wins the presidency. "If we have a win, I think long before January 20we can work out something that's good for both sides this time," Trump said before the two sat down for the meeting. "It's a shame but this is a war that should have never happened, and we'll get it solved," Trump said after the meeting. "It is a complicated puzzle.... Too many people dead." In a Telegram post after what he called a very meaningful meeting, Zelenskiy said that he had presented his victory plan to Trump and that they discussed used many details. "We have a common view that the war in Ukraine must be stopped. Putin cannot win. The Ukrainians must win," he said. Whether Zelenskiy's visit will affect the outcome of the U.S. election is an open question. "Foreign policy issues in general don't determine [U.S.] electoral outcomes. People vote on the economy, on immigration, on crime, what's on their radar screen on a day-to-day basis," Kupchan said. And exactly how a win for Trump or for Harris might change the course of the war is also unclear. Kupchan said that despite Trump's rhetoric, he will struggle to cut a deal with Putin if elected and likely end up approving aid for Ukraine. "Trump would not want to be the American president who lost Ukraine. And so even if he gets elected and tries to negotiate an end game, he too is going to end up having to send support to Ukraine," he said. By RFE/RL More Top Reads From Oilprice.com The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Monday began hearings in a dispute between OPECs African members Equatorial Guinea and Gabon over several small islands in an area in the Gulf of Guinea thought to contain significant oil resources. The dispute, running for around 50 years, is over the 30-hectare (74-acre) island of Mbanie and two smaller islets, Cocotier and Conga. Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, two neighbors in West Africa and oil producers part of the OPEC cartel, have asked the court in The Hague to settle the dispute over the islands off the coast of Gabon. The countries have asked the court over the delimitation of their common maritime and land boundaries and sovereignty over the islands of Mbanie/Mbane, Cocotiers/Cocoteros and Conga. The dispute actually dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, when France and Spain two colonial powers that had a lot of territory in Africa back then signed a treaty to delineate the borders between the two countries. Equatorial Guinea claims this treaty from 1900 should be applied, while Gabon argues that a later treaty from 1974, a convention signed in Bata, gives it the right to have the islands. Equatorial Guinea is disputing Gabons claim of a 1974 convention, and today asked the ICJ to reject Gabons claim. Gabon's position is factually and legally untenable, Equatorial Guinea's representative at the court, Domingo Mba Esono, told the court, as quoted by Reuters. Gabon is expected to respond in the court hearings on Wednesday. The public hearings in The Hague continue until Friday, October 4. Both Equatorial Guinea and Gabon produce and export crude oil, and access to more potentially rich offshore oil areas could be a win for either nation. Equatorial Guinea, which became a full member of OPEC in 2017, produced an average of 55,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in 2023. Gabon, for its part, pumped 223,000 bpd last year. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com Indonesia on Monday asked U.S. supermajor ExxonMobil to raise its crude oil production in the country to 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2026, up from 125,000 bpd, Bahlil Lahadalia, Indonesias Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, said. Lahadalia, who visited the Cepu Block in East Java Exxons flagship upstream project in the country called on the supermajor to boost output to help the country reduce its budget deficit and dependence on imports. Indonesias current oil production is about 577,000 bpd, of which the Cepu Block contributes around 144,000 bpd, making it one of the largest nationally, Lahadalia said in a statement posted on the energy ministrys website. The minister asked Carole Gall, President of ExxonMobil in Indonesia, the U.S. firm to boost its production target from 125,000 bpd to 150,000 bpd in 2026. While Exxon is currently targeting 125,000 bpd for 2026, I am sure it can top 150,000 bpd in 2026 thanks to the management system, work ethic, and creativity of the Exxon team, the minister said. Lahadalia added that this increase would have a big impact on Indonesias revenues and foreign exchange reserves. Our country needs support from experienced companies to increase its production, the minister noted. Exxon is working to boost production at Cepu Block with the infill project at the Banyu Urip field, Exxons Gall was quoted as saying by the Indonesian energy ministry. ExxonMobil signed the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for the Cepu Block in 2005 via ExxonMobil Cepu Limited (EMCL). The contract was signed with PT Pertamina EP Cepu and four local government companies. EMCL serves as an operator for the Cepu block in East Java. Along with the partners and government support, ExxonMobils affiliate helps to strengthen Indonesias energy security by contributing around 25% of the national crude oil production, Exxon says. The Banyu Urip project is the first development under the Cepu Block contract area. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com Israel has carried out air strikes on targets in Yemen and has also killed the leader of Hamas in Lebanon in the latest escalation in the Middle East war. According to official Israeli statements, the strikes in Yemen targeted the port city of Hodeidah in response to the recent Houthi attacks on Israeli targets. Meanwhile, Hamas says Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, the group's leader in Lebanon, was killed in a strike "on his home in the Al-Bass camp in south Lebanon". In Yemen, the city of Ras Isa was also a target, the BBC reported, noting the Israeli strikes targeted power plants in the country. The Yemeni health ministry said four people had died in the Israeli strikes and 29 were wounded. Israel continues to pound Lebanon with airstrikes, after it killed the leader of Hezbollah last week, along with other senior officials in the organization, it has now killed the leader of Hamas in the country. These attacks have been seen as a possible catalyst for more direct Iranian involvement in the war, potentially leading to an oil supply disruption. On Sunday, Israel also hit an apartment building in the middle of Beirut, killing three leaders of The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Lebanese authorities say at least 105 people were killed and 359 people were injured from Israels attacks on Sunday. This latest escalation will not be the last, Israels defense minister signaled this weekend, when he said the IDF would actually expand its offensive in the north where Israel borders Lebanon. Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant is currently conducting an operational situation assessment regarding the expansion of IDF (Israel Defence Forces) activities in the northern arena, Gallants office said, as quoted by Reuters. We need to keep hitting Hezbollah hard, Israels military chief of staff said, meanwhile, suggesting there was no prospect of a speedy end to the hostilities. This means the risk of a supply disruption in oil flows remains, although it will probably also remain as muted as it has been since the end of 2023. Back then, after three months of fighting between Hamas and the IDF, oil flows remained uninterrupted, calming traders down. The calm continued this year as well as Iran chose to remain restrained despite inflamed rhetoric following Israeli strikes on Iranian territory, the most notable of them resulting in the assassination of the leader of Hamas in Tehran. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com Worry about oil supply disruption in the Middle East pushed Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate higher earlier today in Asian trade, as Israel continues to pound Lebanon after the killing of the Hezbollah leadership last week. It also struck targets in Yemen, signaling it was willing to expand the conflict. The recent escalation of attacks in the Middle East is increasing the likelihood of Iran being directly dragged into the conflict, putting a significant risk around supply disruptions at the OPEC producer, ANZ analysts said, as quoted by Reuters. Not everyone agrees, however, that its the latest in the Middle East that is feeding the rise in oil prices. The oil market has become increasingly numb to developments in the Middle East, Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, told Bloomberg. The conflict has gone on for more than a year with no impact on oil output, while OPEC continues to sit on a large amount of spare capacity. Instead, support measures coming through from China appear to be whats providing support. Last week, Chinas government said it would introduce fresh stimulus measures in order to make sure the planned GDP growth target for the year is met. As part of these measures, the Chinese central bank said yesterday it would lower mortgage rates on existing loans to reverse the real estate slowdown that has plagued the economy this year. Patterson is on alone in this take on the effect of Middle Eastern events on oil prices. RBC Capital Markets Helima Croft also recently told Bloomberg that current oil prices are not reflecting the prospect of a wider war in the Middle East. Croft said oil traders should be watching the war more closely as Iran may yet get catalyzed into entering the war directly in response to some Israeli move such as an incursion into Lebanon. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com TotalEnergies is preparing to make a $10-billion-plus final investment decision for a massive oil and gas development project offshore Suriname, as the French giant eyes Exxons success in maritime neighbor Guyana, Reuters reported on Monday, exclusively, citing unnamed sources. Earlier this month, TotalEnergies announced the launch of development studies for the project in Block 58, offshore Suriname, where the company is the operator with a 50% interest, alongside APA Corporation. The appraisal of the Sapakara South and Krabdagu main oil discoveries in Block 58 was concluded in August 2023, when TotalEnergies tested three wells and confirmed combined recoverable resources close to 700 million barrels for the two fields. These reserves, located in water depths between 100 and 1,000 meters, will be produced through a system of subsea wells connected to a FPSO (Floating Production, Storage and Offloading unit) located 150 km off the Suriname coast, with an oil production capacity of 200,000 barrels per day, TotalEnergies said in a September 13 press release, adding that the FDI was expected by the end of this year, with first production anticipated in 2028. This would be Surinames first oil and gas development project, officially putting it on the map of offshore plays. Reuters cited unnamed sources with knowledge of the project as confirming an FID on the ~$10-billion project is expected to be announced on Tuesday, though last week, the CEO of Surinames state-owned company told Reuters he expected the FID in the beginning of the New Year. Last week, the head of Surinames state-run Staatsolie said it was highly likely that the company would manage to raise the funds necessary to acquire a 20% stake in the project, Reuters reported. Suriname, which currently pumps ~16,000 barrels per day, is hoping its territorial waters possess the hydrocarbon resources to support an oil boom on the scale of that being enjoyed by Guyana. This would not only resolve Surinames economic crisis but also lift the tiny country of less than 700,000 out of poverty. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com Wang Huning, China's top political advisor, on Sunday called for greater efforts in building the community for the Chinese nation. Wang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, made these remarks while meeting with a visiting group of role models for ethnic unity and progress honored by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council this year. Hailing the role models for their remarkable contributions, Wang expressed hope that they would continue to set good examples of supporting the Party, being patriotic and loving the people. He also urged them to take the lead in forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation, promoting comprehensive and in-depth reform, and realizing common prosperity for people of all ethnic groups. A grand meeting honoring role models for ethnic unity and progress was held in Beijing this Friday, where 352 groups and 368 individuals were honored. U.S. national average prices at the pump have risen now for the second consecutive week, up 1.4 cents from a week ago, GasBuddy reported on Monday, noting a mixed bag at the gas pumps with some states seeing increases and others declines. Refinery maintenance and snags have caused some delays in price reductions in some states, while just over half of the U.S. states have seen a drop in prices, GasBuddy noted. GasBuddy data shows 18 states with sub-$3 per gallon average gas prices, a count that should certainly rise over the next few weeks, said Patrick De Haan, GasBuddys head of petroleum analysis. The national average price of gasoline in the United States as of Monday was $3.17 per gallon, up 1.4 cents from a week ago, but down 15.4 cents from a month ago and down 63.8 cents from a year ago. The national average price of diesel has fallen 1.2 cents in the last week and stands at $3.54 per gallon. While Hurricane Helene left feet of rain behind and some states are seeing challenges in getting gasoline to stations, the storm did not broadly impact fuel production, De Haan wrote. For now, with oil prices falling back below $70 per barrel, the national average may be a bit stuck in the low $3s until fall maintenance wraps up, which could help bring a sub-$3 national average later this fall. In the meantime, crude oil prices continue to struggle for gains, with rumors spreading that Saudi Arabia is preparing to restore oil output in order to recapture lost market share and balance the budget. This is being balanced only somewhat (and intermittently) by more optimistic economic news coming out of China. Despite those Saudi rumors, sources within OPEC+ have confirmed to Argus last week that there is no specific price target for crude oil, including the oft-discussed $100 per barrel. Despite the geopolitical risk premium, oil prices are set to remain under pressure, weighed down by slower-than-expected demand and uncertainty about OPEC+s unwinding of the production cuts, according to the analysts in the monthly Reuters poll who cut their price forecasts for a fifth consecutive month. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com Omahas Eppley Airfield garnered middling ratings from travelers in an annual survey of satisfaction with North American airports. But a $950 million expansion project begun earlier this year raises the prospects of better marks in the future. Eppley earned 653 out of 1,000 points in J.D. Powers yearly North America Airport Satisfaction Study, covering 62 airports across the U.S. and Canada. The study was based on 26,290 returned surveys from travelers asked to rate airports they had used within the previous 30 days. The survey was conducted between August 2023 and July 2024. The score was good enough to rank Eppley 23rd among all 62 airports rated, but just 11th of 15 in J.D. Powers medium class of airports used by between 4.5 million and 9.9 million passengers per year. In last years survey, Eppley ranked 19th of 63 airports overall, and 12th of 16 in its class. Michael Taylor, J.D. Powers managing director of travel, hospitality and retail, said smaller airports like Eppley tend to rank higher because they are less crowded and easier to navigate than larger airports. (Eppley is in) the most competitive category, Taylor said. Eppleys score would have placed it 11th among 27 Large airports (boarding 10 million to 32.9 million passengers annually) and ahead of all but one Mega airports, which board 33 million or more. Indianapolis International Airport, with 687 points, ranked first among medium-sized airports for the third straight year. It tied for the overall lead with John Wayne International Airport in Orange County, California, which led among large airports. The leading Mega airport was Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, with 671 points. Taylor said J.D. Power revamped its study this year, using a different rating scale and weighting the categories differently. Survey respondents were asked to rate their experience at each airport across seven core dimensions, listed in order of importance: Ease of travel through airport; Level of trust with airport; Terminal facilities; Airport staff; Departure/to airport experience; Food, beverage and retail; Arrival/from airport experience. Eppleys ranking held up considering the Omaha Airport Authority embarked on two major construction projects in the past year. The first is the construction of a $65 million all-weather canopy over the terminal driveway, which started in July 2023 and is expected to continue through next spring. As a result, passengers must be picked up or dropped off on the ground floor of the south parking garage, and navigate through the construction zone to get to the terminal. The second is the four-year expansion of the terminal to 646,000 square feet (a 72% boost). When the project is finished in 2028, Eppley passengers will check in at new ticket counters, pass through a new single security area into a new single concourse, with new and expanded food and shopping options. Weve got construction going on, and that will continue for the next couple of years, said Steve McCoy, the airport authoritys chief communications and development officer. These (construction) programs will not only enhance the experience of travelers for decades to come. Two weeks ago, the airport authority announced the list of vendors for the new terminal. Its heavy on local fare, including Pitch Pizzeria, Block 16, Runza and Uniquely Omaha. The really good airports with really good scores add things that you cant get anywhere else, Taylor said. He said he thinks its likely that Eppley will see a jump in customer satisfaction and in the J.D. Power survey once the new terminal is open. Indianapolis International has consistently been among the top-ranked airports since it opened a new terminal in 2008, he said. And Kansas City International Airport, which debuted a new terminal in February 2023, jumped from below average in its class in last years survey to a top-three rating this year. From what I see in the data, (Omaha) is doing all the things they need to do to have happy travelers, Taylor said. Travelers at Eppley last week told The World-Herald they liked the airport for its small size and convenience. But some found the construction daunting. The construction threw us off a little, said Les Horrell, a former Omaha resident who now lives in Cave Creek, Arizona. We fly in and out of Sky Harbor in Phoenix. This is much quieter. Maurice Jenkins was returning home to Detroit after his first trip to Omaha and was impressed with Eppley, even with the construction. I think its a great airport. Its inviting, he said. I cant wait to come back. Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of September 2024 ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) Pope Francis on Friday slammed both U.S. presidential candidates for what he called anti-life policies on abortion and migration, and he advised American Catholics to choose who they think is the lesser evil in the upcoming U.S. elections. Both are against life, be it the one who kicks out migrants, or be it the one who kills babies, Francis said. The Argentine Jesuit was asked to provide counsel to American Catholic voters during an airborne news conference while he flew back to Rome from his four-nation tour through Asia. Francis stressed that he is not an American and would not be voting. Neither Republican candidate Donald Trump nor the Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, was mentioned by name. But Francis nevertheless expressed himself in stark terms when asked to weigh in on their positions on two hot-button issues in the U.S. election abortion and migration that are also of major concern to the Catholic Church. Francis has made the plight of migrants a priority of his pontificate and speaks out emphatically and frequently about it. While strongly upholding church teaching forbidding abortion, Francis has not emphasized church doctrine as much as his predecessors. Francis said migration is a right described in Scripture and that anyone who does not follow the Biblical call to welcome the stranger is committing a grave sin. He was also blunt in speaking about abortion. To have an abortion is to kill a human being. You may like the word or not, but its killing, he said. We have to see this clearly. Asked what voters should do at the polls, Francis recalled the civic duty to vote. One should vote, and choose the lesser evil, he said. Who is the lesser evil, the woman or man? I dont know. Everyone in their conscience should think and do it, he said. The Harris and Trump campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press. U.S. President Joe Biden, an observant Catholic, shares Harris strong support for abortion rights, a stance that prompted some Catholic bishops and other conservatives to call for him to be denied access to Communion. After meeting Francis in person at the Vatican in October 2021, Biden came away saying the pope told him he was a good Catholic and should continue receiving Communion. Francis, asked on previous occasions about some U.S. bishops who want to deny Communion to Biden over his support for abortion rights, has said bishops should be pastors, not politicians. Friday's news conference was not the first time Francis has weighed in on a U.S. election. In the run-up to the 2016 election, Francis was asked about Trumps plan to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. Francis declared then that anyone who builds a wall to keep out migrants is not Christian. In responding Friday, Francis recalled that he celebrated Mass at the U.S.-Mexico border and there were so many shoes of the migrants who ended up badly there. Trump pledges massive deportations, just as he did in his first White House bid, when there was a vast gulf between his ambitions and the legal, financial and political realities of such an undertaking. The U.S. bishops conference, for its part, has called abortion the preeminent priority for American Catholics in its published voter advice. Harris has strongly defended abortion rights and has emphasized support for reinstating a federal right to abortion. In his comments, the pope added: On abortion, science says that a month from conception, all the organs of a human being are already there, all of them. Performing an abortion is killing a human being. Whether you like the word or not, this is killing. You cant say the church is closed because it does not allow abortion. The church does not allow abortion because its killing. It is murder. However, cells are only beginning the process of developing into organs in the earliest weeks of pregnancy. For example, cardiac tissue starts to form in the first two months initially a tube that only later evolves into the four chambers that define a heart. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that by 13 weeks, all major organs have formed. In other comments, Francis: denied a French media report that he would travel to Paris for the December inauguration of the restored Notre Dame Cathedral, saying flat-out he would not be there. But he confirmed he would like to go to the Canary Islands to highlight the plight of migrants. tamped down renewed speculation that he might finally return to Argentina later this year, saying he wants to go but that nothing had been decided. He added: There are various things to resolve first. Francis has not been home since before the 2013 conclave that elected him pope. declared that China was a promise and a hope for the Catholic Church and hoped to one day visit. called sexual abuse demonic and weighed on the latest revelations of assault against a legendary French priest, Abbe Pierre. AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard in Washington contributed to this report. Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has vowed to challenge yesterdays verdict of the Court of Appeal that upheld the election of Mr. Gboyega Oyetola as governor of Osun State. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Oyetola, who contested on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of the election. But the Election Petition Tribunal nullified Oyetolas election and declared Senator Ademola Adeleke of the PDP winner of the poll, consequent upon which Oyetola challenged the tribunals ruling at the appellate court. The Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, upturned the tribunals ruling and affirmed Oyetolas election in a majority of four justices to one. Reacting to the ruling, in a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP said Adeleke and the PDP will challenge the judgment. The party said: Its not in any way shaken by the judgment of the Court of Appeal, but rather stands with Nigerians in the confidence that justice and respect for the will of the people of Osun state will definitely prevail at the apex court. It insisted that the will of the people, which it claimed was given to Senator Adeleke by the people of Osun, will not be allowed to be taken away. The PDP noted that the fact the Court of Appeal had a split judgment indicated that justice was not fully served at the appellate court. It said: It is instructive to state that the Court of Appeal did not contest or invalidate the fact that Senator Adeleke won the election but only cited technicalities and speculations to arrive at its decision. The PDP has also noted that the Court of Appeal failed to act on the full and substantial import of the failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to produce the ballot papers and record of accreditation to disprove our position that INEC altered results and subverted the will of the people of Osun State. Our party and candidate are therefore confident that the Supreme Court will look at the merit of the matter and ensure that justice is served. Senator Adeleke vowed to challenge the verdict before the Supreme Court. He said, in a statement, that he was disappointed by the judgment, which reversed the judgment of the election tribunals, which upheld the petition he and his party filed against the outcome of the election. Adeleke, representing Osun West Senatorial District, said: I received with dissatisfaction the judgement of the Court of Appeal on the ruling of the election petition tribunal which had duly returned me as the validly elected governor of Osun state. I have subsequently instructed my counsel to prepare for an appeal against todays judgement at the Supreme Court immediately. Todays judgement relied on weak technical foundation.The substantive issue which formed the basis of the lower tribunal judgement was relegated to the background. We are reviewing the full ruling and action has already commenced to appeal the judgement and ensure the eventual retrieval of the stolen mandate. To the good people of Osun state, dont be downcast. The struggle for good governance and retrieval of Peoples mandate cannot be truncated by any flawed judgement. We are taking the legal battle further to the topmost court in the land. I am confident the apex court will upturn todays unsustainable ruling. To all members of PDP in Osun State and my campaign Organisation, the struggle is now at the most critical stage. We cannot waiver nor slow down. We must forge ahead in high spirit until final victory is attained. In this endeavour, I promise to provide the leadership as the genuine governorship mandate holder in Osun state. My good people of Osun state, I know the pain and suffering you are passing through. The move to reclaim your mandate is still very much alive despite the jaundiced ruling of today. We will not abandon the mandate you freely conferred on us. We will deploy all legal means to retrieve the stolen mandate. I appreciate the massive support from home and abroad. We shall triumph at last. As the court has granted their leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzakys request to travel abroad for medical treatment, members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) have demanded the release of prtotesters who are in police custody. In a statement on Wednesday, IMN demanded the release of 12 corpses, and 11 injured protesters still in custody, stating that they were detained without being charged to court. It said, the time has come for those who mischievously claimed earlier that until the court decided the fate of Sheikh Zakzaky, they couldnt do anything in spite of his deteriorating health and the incessant call for his release. Now that the court has acceded to the demand for treatment abroad, not only that we await prompt compliance but we also want to see expedition in the process of the trip. The statement which was issued by a top member of the IMN, Abdullahi Musa reads in part: We wish to inform the public about the continuous incarceration of the victims of Monday, 22nd July, 2019 police brutality. The victims had been severely injured before their being whisked away, and they are still languishing in police cruel custody. Again, police are yet to release twelve (12) corpses to their bereaved families for funeral prayers according to Islamic injunction, nine (9) of which were killed forthwith at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja and three (3) died under their detention. The families of those that were killed have made several attempts to collect the corpses, but the Police rejected their request. Now, over two weeks in the wake of the incident, the corpses are yet with the Police. Likewise, the Police continue to detain 63 protesters without taking them to Court. Out of the 63, 11 people sustained various degrees of serious injuries that required urgent medical attention. Despite their critical condition, the Police have only taken the injured ones to unknown location without given them the required medical attention. Even the families of the injured have made several attempts to provide medical treatment to them, but the Police turned down their request. Moreover, some of the injured, who returned to their families, were taken to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital by their respective families for effective treatment, but police attacked the hospital and took them away violently while receiving treatment, and they are still in their detention without medical treatment. It is pertinent to remind the Police that detaining free-zakzaky protesters, including female and minors, for more than two weeks with life-threatening injuries and denying them any medical treatment is a sinister disrespect for the laws of the land and United Nation Human Rights Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment. It is quite inhuman for the Nigeria Police to arrest hospitalized patients and detain them without treatment. Obviously, the rights of the protesters have been violated and the lives of those that are still alive under police detention are in extreme danger. Abortion doctor Ulrich Klopfer kept thousands of foetal remains at his home in Chicago A doctor who hoarded 2,400 foetal remains used to compete with another surgeon to see how many abortions he could carry out in a day. The US Mid-West is in shock after thousands of foetuses were found vacuum-packed in the Chicago home of Dr Ulrich Klopfer after his death last month aged 79. Questions are now being asked as to why the German-born physician, who performed 50,000 abortions over 40 years, would hoard so many dead babies. He was a target of weekly protests at his primary clinics in Gary, South Bend and Fort Wayne, Indiana. Last month, 2,246 sets of preserved foetal remains were discovered stacked floor to ceiling in a garage at his suburban Chicago home. Weeks later, 165 more sets were found in the trunk of a Mercedes-Benz at a business where Klopfer kept several cars. One Indiana lawmaker pronounced Klopfer a monster. MONSTER DOC There is no indication that the doctor told others about his grim collection, including his wife. Was a hoarding disorder behind the sinister collection of foetal remains? Some who knew him recall the German-born Klopfer as a lonely, enigmatic figure. Unprompted, he would often tell how he took shelter as a four-year-old when Allied planes bombed his hometown of Dresden during World War II. He would describe emerging three days later with buildings smouldering around him, bodies in the rubble. News reports about Klopfer going back decades portray him as combative, quick to give the finger to protesters. For long stretches, Klopfer was the only abortion doctor in the Indiana cities where he had clinics. Klopfer began performing abortions months after the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling legalising abortion in 1973. He was doing 3,500 annually by 1993, he told the Chicago Tribune that year. Allen County Right to Life went so far as to move its headquarters next door to Klopfers clinic in Fort Wayne to turn up the pressure on him. It was a 1978 Chicago Sun-Times story that first raised questions publicly about Klopfer, recounting the competition between him and another doctor. A nurse told the newspaper that the other doctor tallied each abortion in pencil on his pant leg. WAS HE A HOARDER? If Klopfer saw lots of marks, he would go like wildfire to catch up, she said. Klopfers career started unravelling in the 2000s with a flurry of complaints, including that he performed an abortion on a 10-year-old raped by her uncle and did not notify law enforcement. He complained that conservative state officials were in cahoots with anti-abortion groups to close him down. But citing shoddy record-keeping and substandard patient monitoring, Indiana regulators took away his license in 2016. Klopfer had been displaying signs of being a hoarder for years by then. Kevin Bolger, his widows lawyer, went to the Klopfer home after the discovery of the foetuses and said it was impossible to enter some rooms because he had packed them wall to wall with newspapers, old TVs and other appliances. But Bolger wasnt convinced hoarding accounted for the collection of foetal remains. What kind of a hoarder collects body parts? he said. Most of the remains were from abortions Klopfer did in the early 2000s. They were in airtight plastic bags, inside scores of cardboard boxes. Each bag was labelled with some information, such as the year of the abortion, but officials would not say whether other detail was included, such as the name of the woman. DID HE BREAK THE LAW? At the time Klopfer was practising, in Indiana, as in most states still, clinics routinely sent foetal remains to processors that incinerated them along with medical waste. And because disposing of a foetus in the early 2000s would have cost around $10, maybe he was trying to save on costs. Whether Klopfer committed a crime in keeping the foetuses is unclear. A 2016 Indiana law requires that foetuses be treated as human remains and buried or cremated. It also prohibits the transfer of foetuses across state lines. But the law wasnt in effect yet when Klopfer practiced. And investigators havent said if the German-born doctor may have had a financial motive. Klopfers wife is as dumbfounded as anyone about why her husband did what he did and is still getting over the shock, said Bolger. He said he doubts there will ever be a definitive answer: He took the answer to his grave. The foetuses from the garage have been returned to Indiana, where state officials promised they will receive what anti-abortion groups said they deserved all along: a proper burial. *** Source: TheSun UK The Independent National Electoral Commission, on Sunday, declared candidates of the All Progressives Congress winners of Lagos Island House of Assembly Constituencies 1 and 2 in Lagos State. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the results were declared at the INEC office in Lagos Island at about 3.40 a.m. Prof. Olaniyi Okedele of the University of Lagos, the Returning Officer for the Lagos Island House of Assembly Constituency 1, said that a total number of 21,237 votes were cast in the election, with 914 void votes and 20, 323 valid votes. Okedele said that 10 political parties were registered for the Lagos State House of Assembly by the INEC for constituency 1. He said that Wasiu Sanni of the All Progressives Congress polled 18,305 votes to beat his closest rival, Oluwaseun Dosunmu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 1,821 votes. Wasiu Olatunji Sanni of the APC having satisfied the requirements of law and scoring the highest number of votes, is hereby declared the winner and returned elected having polled 18,305 votes, he said. Also, Prof Solomon Akinboye, of University of Lagos and the Returning Officer of Lagos Island House of Assembly Constituency 2 declared Olarenwaju Afinni of APC the winner. Akinboye said that a total of 19,121 votes were cast with 868 votes rejected and 18,253 votes valid. He said that Olarenwaju Afinni polled 16,010 votes, followed by Sanni Ismail of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 2,096 votes. He said that nine political parties were recognised for the Lagos State House of Assembly by the INEC for constituency 2. The returning officer said AAP scored 12 votes, AD scored 29, ADC scored 95, DA scored 2, MAJA scored 1, MPN scored 1, while SDP polled 7 votes. Akinboye declared Mr Olarenwaju Sulaimon Afinni of the APC winner, having satisfied the requirements of law and having scored the highest number of votes. He returned Afinni elected. Olarenwaju Sulaimon Afinni of the APC having satisfied the requirements of law and scoring the highest number of votes is hereby declared the winner and returned elected having polled 16,010 votes, Akinboye said.(NAN) Around 1,600 people from various sectors in Taiwan gathered at an event Saturday, calling for a distancing from "Taiwan independence" and expressing their desire and determination for peace, dialogue and reunification. Most attendees wore coordinated jackets with the following message printed on the back: "Supporting the 1992 Consensus, caring for people's well-being, rejecting 'Taiwan independence,' and advocating cross-Strait peace and shared prosperity." The event in New Taipei City involved a number of political parties and civil organizations. The 1992 Consensus serves as the political foundation for mutual trust between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, with its core meaning being that both sides belong to one China, said Hung Hsiu-chu, former chairperson of the Chinese Kuomintang party and chair of the Taiwan-based Chinese Cyan Geese Peace Education Foundation, at the event. Hung criticized the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities for ignoring and distorting history, suppressing dissent on the island, clinging to the United States, and provoking confrontation with the mainland. Calling on the two sides of the Strait to work together toward national reunification, she urged the people of Taiwan, especially the youth, to understand and identify with Chinese history and cultural traditions, and to be aware of the historical mission they shoulder. "I am Chinese and I am proud. As Chinese people, we should not be afraid to say it openly," said Wu Cheng-tien, chairman of the New Party, at the event. For both sides of the Strait, there is no better path than peaceful reunification and people in Taiwan bear the great responsibility to strive together for the cause, Wu added. Wu Jung-yuan, chairman of the Labor Party in Taiwan, urged the people of Taiwan to be highly vigilant given the current situation where Taiwan, through the collusion of "Taiwan independence" separatists and external forces, has been tied to a war machine -- which is dragging the island toward the brink of conflict. The event, at which people stood up to voice opposition to war and "Taiwan independence" and show support for peaceful reunification, aimed to demonstrate that the "Taiwan independence" path is not supported by most people in Taiwan, said Gao An-go, a retired military officer and one of the event's organizers. "We all earnestly hope for a peaceful and stable environment, but right now, this beautiful island is rapidly slipping into a dangerous situation, and the people of Taiwan feel a deep sense of fear and helplessness about the future," said Xiong Zi-jie, president of the Hunan Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan. "This is why we must completely sweep 'Taiwan independence' separatists into the dustbin of history and restore a peaceful and prosperous Taiwan for its people. Once the scourge of 'Taiwan independence' is removed, peaceful reunification will be within reach," he said. Despite employing approximately 85% of Ghana's workforce, Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) face significant challenges in accessing finance. Many MSMEs in Ghana struggle due to their limited knowledge and understanding in key areas such as financial management, banking services, pensions and retirement planning, and risk management and insurance. These gaps hinder their ability to access financial services, limiting their business growth potential. To bridge this knowledge gab, the Support to Private and Financial Sector (PFS) Programme has launched the Access to Finance Training initiative, targeting 3000 MSMEs across five selected regions in Ghana, Accra, Bono, Bono East, Ahafo and Ashanti. Funded by the German Cooperation through the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, this initiative aims to enhance the financial and business management skills of MSME owners and managers. By improving their understanding of financial management and risk management, the programme equips them with the knowledge and tools necessary for effective enterprise management and increased ability to access financial services. The three-day training sessions will reach MSMEs from 15 selected trade associations in Ghana, with a special focus on women-led businesses and persons with disabilities. These sessions are designed to provide entrepreneurs with practical experience in financial and risk Management. The training topics were carefully chosen based on a detailed needs assessment conducted within these trade associations, ensuring that the content is tailored to address their specific challenges. At the end of the training programme, it is expected that beneficiary MSMEs will have improved their capacity to manage their business well, improved their cash flow management, and are able to secure financing from financial institutions. The training will also empower the MSMEs to make more informed financial decisions and improve their access to financial products. At GIZ, our goal is for MSMEs to make informed financial decisions that will enable them to access financial services. To complement these trainings, The PFS programme has also partnered with financial service providers to develop tailored financial products and services that will benefit these MSMEs. The training will equip them to access and effectively utilize these products and services when developed. This initiative is a significant step toward empowering MSMEs in Ghana, helping them to overcome financial barriers and achieve sustainable growth. By the end of the programme, the participating businesses are expected to not only enhance their financial literacy but also significantly improve their access to the financial resources needed to grow their businesses and create more employment opportunities. Source: Ambrose Washman/peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has indicated that water supply to the western part of Accra will return to the normal state by the end of October. This follows the company's procurement of four new pumps and four new motors for the Weija Water Treatment Plant. Speaking to the media last Thursday, a board member of GWCL, Dr Hadisu Alhassan, mentioned that residents of Achimota, Tesano, Dansoman, Kaneshie, Korle Bu, Kasoa, Weija and Accra Central would no longer experience water rationing after the new pumps and motors had been installed by the end of October. The installation of the new equipment is expected to end the water rationing in the affected areas. This will ensure that water supply to the western part of Accra returns to normal levels by the end of October," he said. Cause Dr Alhassan further revealed that the water shortage was caused by the breakdown of one of the pumps at the Weija Water Treatment Plant. He explained that this resulted in a shortfall of approximately four million gallons of water per day, representing a 20 per cent shortage in normal water supply. He also mentioned that the station was currently operating with three pumps, with one on standby. With one pump down, the remaining two pumps are forced to operate at full capacity to meet demand. "The current pumps were installed in 2002. Now they've got to a stage that we need to replace them," he added. Funding Dr Alhassan revealed that the company had used internally generated funds to procure the four pumps, the four motors and other components. "We are committed to ensuring that our customers have access to clean and safe water, and we will continue to invest in our infrastructure to meet their needs," he indicated. He then urged customers to pay their water bills promptly to help the company maintain its infrastructure and provide reliable water supply. "We rely on our customers to pay their bills on time. This is because, the revenue we generate is used to improve our services, maintenance and ensuring that we can continue to meet the growing demand for water," he indicated. Maintenance The Chief Manager of the Accra Tema Metropolitan Assembly (ATMA) production, Charles Tulashie, gave an assurance of proper maintenance of the new equipment upon installation to ensure maximum utilisation and benefit. "We are using this opportunity to assure our customers that our maintenance team will do a solid work after the installation of the new pumps to ensure that the supply situation is normalised by the end of October," he said. 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 One of the most deadly and untreatable pathogens in the world is on the rise in Rwanda, with eight dead and scores more thought to be at risk. Marburg virus, a relative of Ebola, causes people to bleed from their orifices and kills up to 9 in 10 of those infected. There are currently no vaccines or treatments available meaning medics instead focus on helping patients survive the infection. Most of the fatalities are among healthcare workers working in intensive care units, according to the country's health minister Sabin Nsanzimana. In total the country has 26 confirmed cases, though some 300 are thought to be at risk due to coming into contact with known patients. Mr Nsanzimana has urged people with early signs of the disease, which includes severe headaches, muscle aches, fever, diarrhoea, fatigue stomach pain and vomiting, to cease their usual activities like work and school and seek medical aid. Marburg virus is a viral haemorrhagic fever, the same type of disease that Ebola belongs to, but is even deadlier. Infected patients often become 'ghost-like', developing deep-set eyes and expressionless faces. This is usually accompanied by bleeding from multiple orifices including the nose, gums, eyes and vagina. Like Ebola, even dead bodies can spread the virus to people exposed to its fluids. Outbreaks typically occur in areas where people have been exposed to fruit bats, which naturally harbour the virus, via entering mines or caves where the animals live. It then goes on to spread person-to-person, and also via contaminated clothing and bedding or contact with dead bodies of those killed by the virus. Marburg virus can also spread sexually through contact with bodily fluids and from mother-to-child via breastfeeding. It can take from two days to three weeks from exposure to the first appearance of symptoms. As the early stages of Marburg virus infection resemble other conditions this gives time for the pathogen to spread before officials can raise the alarm. When infection does occur, the virus targets the body's immune system, which normally works to protect against pathogens. The infection causes the body's immune system to fail to activate correctly allowing the virus to spread unchecked. Usually, around the fifth day after infection, the disease will progress to what doctors describe as the 'early organ phase'. At this point, a patient may start suffering bleeding out of their eyes, inflammation around the body, and visible swelling around their body - usually on the legs, ankles and feet. Patients will then often die within eight or nine days of their first symptoms appearing. The current outbreak has promoted the UK Government to issue a warning to British travellers to Rwanda, especially to the capital Kigali which has direct flights to Britain. This states: 'We understand it is present in hospitals in Kigali. Investigations are being carried out to determine the origin of the infection.' The US embassy in Kigali has also taken action, telling its employees to work remotely for the next week and suspending all in-person services in a bid to avoid infections. Marburg virus is considered one of the most deadliest pathogens, with the World Health Organization stating it has a fatality rate of up to 88 percent, depending on the specifics of the outbreak and the strain involved. However, the average overall case fatality rate sits about 50 per cent, closer to Ebola, meaning about half of those infected are expected to die. While this outbreak is Rwanda's first, neighbouring Tanzania had cases of Marburg in 2023, while Uganda to the country's North, had a similar one in 2017. But these only recorded five and four fatalities respectively from a handful of cases meaning the Rwandan outbreak is already more serious. Last year fellow African nation Equatorial Guinea recorded 12 official fatalities from an outbreak of Marburg virus, though another 23 deaths are thought to be 'probable' deaths from the infection but laboratory analysis to confirm this wasn't carried out. Source: Dailymail Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Facebook's parent company, Meta, has been fined 91m by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) following an investigation into the storage of passwords. An inquiry was launched in April 2019 after Meta notified the DPC that it had inadvertently stored certain passwords of social media users on its internal systems without encryption. The DPC submitted a draft decision to other European data watchdogs in June 2024. No objections were raised by the other authorities. Meta has been found to have four breaches of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). DPC deputy commissioner Graham Doyle said: "It is widely accepted that user passwords should not be stored in 'plaintext' considering the risks of abuse that arise from persons accessing such data. "It must be borne in mind, that the passwords the subject of consideration in this case are particularly sensitive, as they would enable access to users social media accounts," he added. The decision, which was made by the commissioners for data protection, Dr Des Hogan and Dale Sunderland, and notified to Meta on 26 September, includes a reprimand and a fine. In May 2023, Meta was fined 1.2bn for mishandling data when transferring it between Europe and the United States. That fine was also issued by Ireland's DPC; the largest fine imposed under the EU's GDPR privacy law. In 2022, Meta was fined 265m after data from 533m people in 106 countries was published on a hacking forum having been "scraped" from Facebook years earlier. 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 devastating airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the result of a years-long operation by Israeli intelligence that penetrated the terror leaders entire network allowing him to be tracked to his underground command center in Beirut. The Israeli military then used 80 tons of specially designed bunker-busting bombs to blast through the heavily fortified hideout on Friday and kill the slippery Nasrallah who has survived multiple previous attempts to assassinate him. Nasrallahs death was exactly what Israel had been hoping for when it launched a bombing campaign that day, the Financial Times reports. Unbeknownst to Nasrallah, Israeli intelligence was well aware of the movements of Hezbollahs leadership following years of hacking and surveillance work on the Lebanese terror group which is one of the largest and best armed militias in the world. Read Full Story .... nypost.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 Assemblyman of the Baatsona Electoral Area in Spintex, Hon. Jeremiah Borketey Bortey, has donated hand-sewing machines to students at Abrantie College. In all, Hon. Bortey donated 10 sewing machines as part of his efforts to give back to society. Video: https://youtu.be/PoGKQYuU_gM?si=lDX8hrSQijMveqt1 His kind gesture seeks to help several students at Abrantie College - Ghana's premier fashion, cosmetology and catering institute - with their vocational training. Donating at the College recently during Abrantie College's matriculation, Hon. Bortey expressed belief that students in Ghanaian society need the support of everyone to advance their education or training. Receiving the donated sewing machines on behalf of the school, the Director of Abrantie College, Mr King David Thompson, thanked Hon. Bortey for his benevolence, saying the College which is located within the Baatsona Electoral Area shall continue to provide "the best of education to students that come to the school so the Baatsona Electoral area can improve". About Abrantie College Abrantie College is an Accra-based Fashion, Catering, Hair and Beauty Care Training Institute accredited by the Ghana Education Service (G.E.S.) and National Vocational Training Institute (N.V.T.I.). Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman/Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video China has released a set of revised regulations for commending fallen heroes ahead of the country's Martyrs' Day, which falls on Sept. 30. Premier Li Qiang signed a State Council decree to promulgate the revised regulations, which emphasize upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China, safeguarding the dignity and honor of fallen heroes, and protecting the rights and interests of their families. The revised regulations stipulate improved criteria and assessment procedures for identifying martyrs, better financial support and preferential treatment for their families, and strengthened protection and management of their memorial facilities. The revised regulations also highlight the need to strengthen the dissemination of martyrs' heroic deeds and improve the protocols when paying homage to them. The revised regulations will take effect on Jan. 1, 2025. China has been marking Martyrs' Day annually since 2014. John Dramani Mahama, the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has pledged an unwavering dedication to enhancing the quality of life for all Ghanaians if he secures the presidency in the 2024 general elections. His comprehensive vision encompasses targeted improvements in healthcare accessibility, educational advancement, job creation, and the overall economic prosperity of the nation. Mahama's resolute commitment involves tackling pressing issues and enacting policies designed to bring about tangible and positive changes for the people of Ghana. Meanwhile, he has promised to work tirelessly to improve the lives of Ghanaians. First, as President, I will work 24/7 for you. This is not just a promise but a commitment I take to heart. Your aspirations, needs, and concerns you shared during my interactions will guide my actions, and I will be there for you, always". In a Facebook post, he also promised to be honest, especially in difficult situations. Secondly, I will always tell you the truth. Transparency will be my guiding principle in good times and challenging times. When things go well, I will celebrate with you. And when we face difficulties, I will be honest about the situation, he wrote. Read his full post below I combed through four constituenciesAblekuma North, Ablekuma Central, Ablekuma West and Ablekuma Southon Friday, and the determination of the people to campaign with the NDC for change on December 7 is reassuring. I made two solemn pledges to the people: First, as President, I will work 24/7 for you. This is not just a promise but a commitment I take to heart. Your aspirations, needs, and concerns you shared during my interactions will guide my actions, and I will be there for you, always. Secondly, I will always tell you the truth. Transparency will be my guiding principle in good times and challenging times. When things go well, I will celebrate with you. And when we face difficulties, I will be honest about the situation. With the increasing unemployment challenge and rising prices of food and other essential commodities, I assure my fellow Ghanaians that I will implement the 24-hour economy policy as promised. This initiative is crucial to creating jobs, boosting growth, and tackling the rising prices of food, fuel, and other commodities that impact our daily lives. We will Reset our damaged economy and ensure that it works for all of us, not just a privileged few, as is the case with Akufo-Addo and Bawumia. Together, we will build the Ghana we want. #Choose8 #MahamaForPresident Source: Rebeca Addo Tetteh/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 Director of Elections, Planning and Coordination of the Movement for Change (M4C), Nana Ohene Ntow has urged the Electoral Commission to set up a high-level Technical Working Group to address concerns raised by stakeholders over the voters register for the December 7 elections. This is one of five recommendations made by the Movement and the Alliance for Revolutionary Change (ARC) to the Electoral Commission in a letter dated September 23. given that the integrity of the impending Elections primarily rests on the functional quality of the Voters Register, M4C proposes the following measures in support of securing universal acceptability of the Voters Register: 1. The establishment of a high-level Technical Working Group (TWG) chaired by the EC with representatives of Candidates cleared to contest the General Elections, and the Consultants responsible for the EC data management. 2 The Technical Working Group would agree on the process and procedures for a full and comprehensive audit of the current Voter Register based on the following source documents; a. the final 2020 Voters Register b. Limited Registration information since 2021 c. Voter Transfers effected since 2021. and d. Special Voters Lists since 2020 to date. 3. Each member of the Technical Working Group ought to be provided access to original copies of the listed source documents and facilitated to determine the veracity of the entries in the said documents. 4. Representatives of Candidates cleared to contest the General Elections, who have written evidence of any compromised data in respect of the current Voter Register, arc required to submit same to all members of thc Technical Working Group before the start of the audit process. 5. The final outcome of the collaborative comparative process, would be deemed to be the Final Voters Register for the conduct of the 2024 General Elections. The call by the M4C comes in the wake of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) calling for a forensic audit of the register. The NDC pressed home its demand with a nationwide protest after which it presented a petition to the EC. According to Alan Kyerematens Movement for Change, The proposed process outlined above mirrors a forensic audit being advocated for by a section of the Ghanaian public, and ought to come up with a Voters Register acceptable to all contestants and voters in the upcoming 2024 General Elections. They proposed that the exercise is held from the 30 September, 2024 to the 11 October, 2024. This would enable the EC to release a Final Voters Register by the 14 October., 2024. M4C and ARC believe that, approaching the resolution of the doubts around the Voters Register in such a joint manner, ensures transparency of intent that would settle any lingering issues around the Voters Register, and position the country for a free, fair. transparent, and credible General Elections on December 7, 2024, Nana Ohene Ntow concluded. Source: Josephine Acheampomaa/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video In a fiery press conference held at the Ghana International Press Centre on Sunday, 29th September 2024, Alan Kyerematen, presidential candidate of the Afrafranto Alliance, took a bold stance against the ongoing detention of young protesters who participated in the Democracy Hub demonstrations. The protests, which aimed to spotlight the governments failure to tackle illegal mining (Galamsey), led to the arrest of several young Ghanaians. Mr. Kyerematen condemned the authorities for what he called unlawful and unconstitutional treatment of the protesters. According to Alan Kyerematen, the youth, who were exercising their constitutional rights to protest, have been unfairly charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and unlawful assembly. He expressed his dismay at the Ghana Police Services handling of the situation, questioning how the police could supervise a three-day demonstration only to turn around and bring charges of unlawful assembly. It is beyond my wildest imagination how this happened, Mr. Kyerematen stated emphatically. The Afrafranto leader further criticized the police for their post-arrest treatment of the detained protesters, who have reportedly been denied access to legal counsel, medical care, food, and water. He lamented the unprofessional and unlawful conduct of the police in managing the detained protesters, calling it an abuse of power that undermines the constitutional rights of all Ghanaians. Mr. Kyerematens scathing remarks also extended to the judiciary. He questioned the refusal of judges to grant bail to the detained youth, stating that the charges against them are misdemeanors and do not warrant prolonged detention. He described the judiciarys decision as an abuse of judicial discretion, calling for a swift review of the bail refusal to prevent further injustice. In his speech, Alan Kyerematen noted the troubling trend of intolerance towards dissenting views under the current NPP government. He warned that the growing culture of fear and sycophancy, particularly in the lead-up to the December elections, is an ominous sign for Ghanas democracy. Let it not be said that our generation stood by unconcerned as the dark clouds of chaos and anarchy began to gather in our beloved country, he cautioned. The Afrafranto candidates address was as much a condemnation of the broader political climate as it was a defense of the youth. He slammed both the NPP and NDC for their failure to curb illegal mining and the environmental destruction it has caused, further fueling public discontent. He described the protest as a symptom of deeper systemic failures, particularly the governments inability to provide jobs and hope for the future. As the youth languish in custody, Alan Kyerematen emphasized that the responsibility to correct this injustice lies with the Attorney General. He appealed to the Attorney General, Godfred Dame, to file an application for Nolle Prosequi to discontinue the case, stressing that the future of Ghanas democracy hinges on fair treatment of its young people. In a powerful message to the youth, Mr. Kyerematen expressed solidarity, lauding them as the heroes of our time. He reassured them that their sacrifices will not be in vain, pledging to fight alongside them to restore their rights and end the Galamsey menace. Do not be dismayed; there is light at the end of the tunnel, he encouraged them. The Afrafranto Alliance leader concluded his speech with a firm commitment to seeing justice done. Together, we will win, and Ghana will rise again, he declared, his words resonating with the hope of a brighter future for the youth of Ghana. After the press conference, Alan Kyerematen visited the detained protesters at the Legon Police Station to commiserate with them. He expressed solidarity with their cause and reassured them that their voices would not go unheard. Mr. Kyerematen condemned their continued detention and pledged to advocate for their immediate release, emphasizing his commitment to upholding their constitutional rights. He also revealed that his law firm had already sent a team of lawyers to defend the arrested protesters, ensuring that they receive the legal representation they deserve. Source: Josephine Acheampomaa/[email protected] 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 Director of Elections and IT for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr. Edward Omane Boamah has reiterated the position of the NDC in wanting a live coverage of the IPAC meeting at the Headquarters of the Electoral commission in Accra. In a Facebook post on Monday, September 30, Dr Boamah said, the request for a live coverage of the IPAC meeting is in the best interest of the general public as well as the registered Ghanaian voter. In the interest of the general public and Ghanaian voters, following the contestations between the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Electoral Commission over the 2024 voters register, the EC must allow the media to provide live coverage of the proceedings at the IPAC meeting, he said. He added, The live broadcast will provide Ghanaians with real-time and unbiased information on the state of the 2024 voters register after the EC's so-called self-audit or autocorrection of their avoidable (criminal) errors and mistakes. Additionally, this live media coverage will also completely eliminate the possibility of misinformation and misrepresentation after the IPAC meeting. Dr Omane Boamah was reacting to the invitation extended to the party by the Electoral Commission, to engage the various political parties in an IPAC meeting on October 1, 2024. The NDC has questioned the credibility of the voter register following the detection of several discrepancies, including an alleged illegal vote transfers during the vote transfer exercise organized in August by the Electoral Commission as part of their constitutional electoral mandate. In light of the discrepancies discovered, the NDC has continuously called for an independent forensic audit into the register, however, the electoral commission, in series of letters have stated that, the call for a forensic audit by the NDC is a premature, explaining that, the anomalies detected during the voter exhibition exercise had already been corrected by the commission, hence, there is no need for a forensic audit. Let me emphasise that the NDC's demand for a forensic audit of the register AND its IT system cannot be comprehensively addressed at IPAC, Dr. Omane Boamah said. He further stated that, the NDC has intercepted information which shows that the EC is still struggling to resolve issues with those whose names are allegedly missing from the voter register, as of Sunday, September 29, 2024. Until the criminals who deliberately manipulated voters' data for electoral gain are identified and smoked out, the same errors can recur before December 07, 2024. Such data manipulation can lead to BVDs not being able to verify some selected voters even if their names are on hard copies of the voters' register, he revealed. 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 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. Former Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, has concluded a three-day tour across the Ahafo Region, engaging communities to rally support for Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and NPP parliamentary candidates ahead of the 2024 general elections. His tour took him to Aprakukrom, Kukuom, Nkrankrom, and Amanfrom, where he emphasised the NPPs development track record and urged locals to vote for continuity. In Aprakukrom, Agyarko highlighted key achievements of the NPP government, including increasing cocoa prices to 3,000 Cedis, constructing a 30-bed health facility at Abuom, and rehabilitating roads. He assured the people that the NPP remained the best choice to manage the countrys recovery despite recent economic challenges. In Kukuom, he addressed a gathering of elderly citizens, reminding them of the towns importance to Ghanas economy through cocoa, timber, and gold production. He cautioned against NDC propaganda and emphasised that the NPPs leadership was vital for the future of the towns youth. The tour continued in Nkrankrom, where Agyarko visited local chiefs and contributed to an ICT project. He urged voters to support Dr Bawumia and Yaw Broni for continued development. His final stop in Amanfrom saw him reiterate the NPPs commitment to improving living standards, with further promises of infrastructure projects and rural development. Agyarko concluded by assuring all communities that the NPP was dedicated to their welfare and that their votes were crucial to sustaining progress. 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 Minister for Information, Fatimatu Abubakar has taken a swipe at former President and presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, over his call for the release of the Democracy Hub protesters. The former President labeled the arrest and prosecution of these protesters as "high-handedness" and found their treatment harsh. We must balance our need to maintain law and order with protecting the rights and freedoms of our citizens. Remanding Democracy Hub demonstrators for 2 weeks is high-handed and an abuse of their rights, Mahama posted on his Facebook wall. He further wrote; The youth of Ghana have a right to engage in manifestations to protect their future, especially in respect of key issues like the destruction of the environment through illegal mining. Draconian judicial decisions such as this wont stop them from speaking out. The authorities must request the judge to review the remand decision and grant them bail immediately." Fatimatu Abubakar, in an interview on Peace FM's morning show 'Kokrokoo', expressed utter disappointment in the former President. "I've seen a statement by the former President Mahama and I was so shocked" because "he said the arrest and the remand are high-handedness," she lamented, adding "so, he had all this wisdom but allowed us to be beaten and even some people severely injured with two men ending up dead when we went on protest" under his regime. Mincing no words, the Minister condemned the unlawful acts of the protesters leading to their remand. "I believe what the protesters did was wrong. It was very bad and I was surprised that a lot of people were quiet. They only found their voices after the reaction of the Police and decision to prosecute but when all these things (by the protesters) were happening, they were looking the other way." Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Chief of Nkwantakese in the Amenfi East constituency of the Western Region, Nana Ntori-Bonkyi Akomea has appealed to Ghanaians to give Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia the chance to lead Ghana. Speaking at Asankragua in the Amenfi East constituency during a campaign visit by Dr. Bawumia, Nana Ntori-Bonkyi Akomea said the 2024 election is a battle between two Northerners, referring to Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia of the New Patriotic Party and former President John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress but believes Bawumia deserves the crown. "This election is going to be between two Northerners. We know one of them, the old one already, because he has had his chance...The other Northerner is new, who has only been a mate and is now requesting that we should hand over the steer to him. We have all seen on a few occasions when he got the opportunity to test the car that he can drive smoothly. So should we not give him a chance to also drive the car?", Nana Ntori-Bonkyi Akomea said. He stressed; "Let us all give him a chance to drive the car because he has proved that he is capable of driving considering the work he has done even as a driver's mate." Nana Ntori-Bonkyi Akomea however urged Dr. Bawumia to ensure completion of the development projects in his community saying "I am not saying if you win. I believe you have won already by the grace of God, so I am saying when you become President". 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 Residents at Amenfi Zongo community in the Western Region could not hide their appreciation to Vice President and NPP presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for his kind gesture to them. Dr. Bawumia was in Manso Amenfi in the Amenfi Central constituency as part of his campaign tour of the Western Region on Sunday and during his engagement with stakeholders, the Zongo community recalled how Dr. Bawumia responded swiftly to their request to renovate their mosque. According to a Spokesperson for the community, Dr. Bawumia visited them prior to the 2016 elections to seek their support and when the NPP won and he became Vice President, he returned to express gratitude to them in 2018. It was during this visit, the Spokesman recalled, that the then Zongo Chief made a request on behalf of the Zongo community for Bawumias support to renovate their mosque. "A few days after he left, he sent someone to get the estimates for the project and just a few weeks after submitting the estimates, he sent us the money to undertake the project and today our mosque has been fully tiled and in a better shape because of your support, the Spokesperson said. He added; "I stand here on behalf of the Zongo community in Amenfi municipal to express our immense gratitude to the Vice President for his kind gesture. It was the wish of our late Zongo Chief to meet you again to express our gratitude to you for your kind support but he is no more. That was his wish and since he is no more, we are doing that on his behalf and on our own behalf." The Zongo community, while expressing their support to Dr. Bawumia, for his Presidential bid, also prayed for God's favours. The Zongo community was well-represented at the event with community leaders including Chiefs, Imams, elders and women. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/acefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Map of geological archive locations used for the detection of anthropogenic fingerprints. Red circles denote 137 locations of geological archives, including varved marine and lake sediments, coral skeletons, ice cores, and tree ring samples. Credit: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2313098121. https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2313098121 A team of Earth scientists from the Center for Marine Environmental Studies, the University of Tokyo, The Australian National University, Matsuyama University, Kyoto University, and Shimane University, has found, via a new assessment, that the 1950s is the strongest candidate for the start of the Anthropocene. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes how they compared the three top contenders, and why they chose the 1950s, as the most likely marker. In 2002, Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen suggested that the Holocene had ended and that a new era in planetary history had begunthe Anthropocene. The new era, he suggested, was one dominated by changes to the planet that had occurred because of human behaviors. Since then, planetary scientists have debated the issue, with some suggesting that there is more than enough evidence to declare the start of a new era, and others claiming there is not yet enough. In this new study, the research team began with the belief that there is enough evidence to support the start of the Anthropocene, and because of that there must be a point at which it began. In looking at available evidence, the researchers suggest that there are three good candidates; the first being the late 1800s. It was during this period, they note, that the Industrial Revolution began. They also point out that it was a time during which levels of lead began to be spread across major land surfaces, along with stable isotope ratios and changes in the balance of nutrients. The second candidate they suggest was the early 1900s, which saw changes in pollen across the globe, major increases in black carbon and widespread changes in stable isotopes. The third candidate, the middle of last century, saw the most measurable global and permanent changes. This was when organic pollutants began showing up all over the world, along with plastics and microplastics. It was also the start of the nuclear age, with evidence of test blasts found everywhere on Earthand finally, it was the beginning of major impacts resulting from global warming. After comparing the global impact of all three candidates, the research team concluded it was the third that most likely should be considered as the true start of the Anthropocene. They suggest it shows the most easily seen and measured global changeschanges that would likely take thousands, if not millions of years to change back to Holocene levels, should humans depart the scene. 2024 Science X Network You are here: China Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Party and state leaders attended a ceremony to present flower baskets to fallen heroes at Tian'anmen Square in central Beijing on Monday. The event was held to mark Martyrs' Day. 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 Young people in Britain could be forgiven for despairing at the financial pressures they faceand feeling that previous generations enjoyed a much fairer economic environment. Then just to add to their worries about home ownership and a precarious jobs market, along comes the gloomy announcement that the UK's public debt is now 100% of GDP. That debt burden will have to be carried by tax-payers for decades to come. Paying the interestjust the interestof the country's debt currently accounts for around 7.3% of public spending. That's more than what is spent on defense (4.8%) or transport (3.8%). And while some of what's left will go to towards essential future public services, it will also go towards fixing problems caused by a historic lack of public investment (less money being spent by previous generations) in water, railways and other crucial infrastructure. In fact, in the 1980s much of that infrastructure was used by the UK government to help finance itself, with assets including British Gas sold off at a bargain price. Those baby boomers and older generations who could afford to buy shares often made a decent profit. There are other kinds of costs that today's younger generations have had to bear too. During COVID lockdowns, universities and schools were closed as the young were forced to stay at home, predominantly to protect the elderly. They have lost the freedom to live and work in the EU after 60% of retired people voted for Brexit, while most young people voted against. Leaving Europe has also made the UK less well-off. But not everyone is poorer. In the last 20 years, the average income of pensioners has increased on average by more than 50%, while that of working-age adults has risen by less than 10%. The median income of pensioner households is now higher after housing costs than that of households with children. Most of the country's wealth is now in the hands of older people. In 2018, one in four people aged over 65 was living in a household with a total wealth of over a 1 million pounds. Poverty rates of pensioners are now lower than for the rest of the population. Yet pensioners receive all sorts of unconditional discounts and benefits, such as free or discounted public transport. Their income is exempt from national insurance contributions, and there is a triple-lock on state pensions, which is guaranteed to grow faster than work income. Until recently, the winter fuel allowance meant that anyone born in 1944 or before received 300 (reduced to 200 for younger pensioners). Boomer and bust? While there is mild popular support for limiting the fuel allowance to poorer pensioners, the question of recouping money from older people remains highly sensitive. (Back in 2017, the then prime minister Theresa May had to quickly U-turn when she suggested using pensioners' wealth to finance the rising cost of care.) One reason for this reluctance to prise money from older people may be that while most pensioners are doing better (compared to the working population) this is not true of the poorest ones. Also, some pensioners do not claim the benefits they are entitled to, and the last thing a civilized society wants is to let its older people freeze. But the apparent economic divide raises a broader question about inter-generational justice. What does one generation owe the generations that follow? And it's not just about money. Global warming is another thing older people have not spent most of their lives having to pay for, with the burden for repairing environmental damage again falling mostly on the young. Perhaps a fair philosophical approach would be that it's OK to leave certain costs to be paid in the future if the next generation can generally expect to live longer and in better health, with more consumer choice and comfort, and an improved quality of life. But this does not seem to be the expectation right now. Incomes have stalled, and so has life expectancy, while housing prices have not been so expensive relative to earnings since the 19th century. In that sense, many people, however old they are, would probably sympathize with young people today. And they may even argue that it's time for the government to focus on policies that explicitly benefit the younglike house building, different forms of taxation or subjecting pension income to national insurance. There could also be a change in fiscal rules to allow for more investment in national infrastructure, higher taxes on fossil fuels to pay for the energy transition, or sharing the cost of funding higher education more evenly among all graduates, regardless of when they got their degree. Such changes would provide a dramatic shift towards an economic system which seeks to redistribute wealth not just among citizensbut between the generations. 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: Satellite images from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), showed 80 percent of Brazil affected by smoke last week. With as much as 80 percent of Brazil under a blanket of smoke from historic wild fires, face masks last used during the coronavirus pandemic are coming out again. South America's biggest country has for weeks been choking on pollution along with much of the rest of the continent battling extreme drought and record fires. Millions of hectares of forest and farmland have burnt in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru. The Amazon basin, usually one of the wettest places on Earth, is experiencing its worst fires in nearly two decades, according to the EU's Copernicus observatory. And last week, satellite images from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), showed 80 percent of Brazil affected by smoke. "I am a smoker but I've been coughing more than usual," student Luan Monteiro, 20, told AFP in the port of Rio de Janeiro. Indeed, experts say that inhaling smoke from the fires has effects comparable to smoking four or five cigarettes a day. Air pollution can worsen bronchitis and asthma, and the risk is greater the longer the exposure, according to pediatrician Renato Kfouri, vice president of the Brazilian Immunizations Society. In one of the biggest hospitals in the capital Brasilia, the number of patients treated for respiratory problems in recent days was more than 20 times higher than usual. Millions of hectares of forest and farmland have burnt in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru. 'I put on my mask' In Brasilia, which has seen 160 days without rain, homemaker Valderes Loyola said she had bought a fan she uses to blow over wet towels and buckets of water to try and add some moisture to the dry air. "When I go out, I put on my mask," the 72-year-old told AFP. Sao Paulo, Latin America's biggest metropolis, for several days last week was ranked the world's most polluted city by Swiss-based monitoring firm IQAir. At least 40 percent of residents of Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte, and 29 percent in Rio de Janeiro say their health was affected "very much" by pollution, according to pollsters Datafolha. Internet searches for "air quality" reached record levels in Brazil in recent days, according to the Google Trends tool, which also reported an increase searches for "humidifier" and "air purifier." Experts warn about outdated air quality monitoring in Brazil, and a dearth of emergency plans to deal with smoke pollution. Millions of hectares of forest and farmland have burnt in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru. Less than 2.0 percent of municipalities have air monitoring stations, Evangelina Araujo of the Instituto Ar pollution think tank told AFP. And only one in five can detect the fine particles found in smoke that should trigger health warnings. Authorities blame human activity for most of the recent fires in Brazilwhere they are often linked to land clearing for agriculture. Neighboring Bolivia on Monday declared a national disaster due to forest fires affecting most of its Santa Cruz department, where authorities said 7.2 million hectares have burned since last week. 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 Can companies do well by doing good? Research in the International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management that has looked at companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) provides a positive answer to that question. The researchers have found that there is a strong link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance. They also suggest that risk management is an important mediator of this effect. Nasrin Dadashi and Seyyed Saeb of the Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran, and Ali Mayeli of Stony Brook University explain that CSR is a rather broad term that covers a company's ethical conduct and its contributions to society. It spans three areas: economic, social, and environmental. CSR, they suggest, is no longer about box-ticking, green-washing, or rubber-stamping, and goes hand-in-hand with a company's financial health as well, reflecting investor confidence. The team demonstrated that those companies that embraced CSR saw significant improvements. This, they emphasize, is only half the story. Risk management, specifically Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), also emerged from the work as a key factor in the overall equation. ERM involves identifying, assessing, and mitigating potential threats to a company's objectives. It is nothing new, yet the study shows it to play an important part not only in enhancing CSR, but also in boosting the positive impact CSR has on financial performance. CSR is no longer merely a moral imperative. CSR is a strategic imperative. The team suggests that the integration of CSR and ERM into a company's core strategies will not only build trust and reduce the information gap between the company and its stakeholders, but also position it better for long-term success, financially speaking. From the investor perspective, these findings also carry significant weight. When money is so often the only matter arising on an investor's agenda, they could do well to consider an investment's CSR and ERM, as they emerge as good indicators of future performance. More information: Nasrin Dadashi et al, The effect of social responsibility on financial performance with emphasis on the moderating role of risk management, International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management (2024). DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2024.141493 Provided by Inderscience 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 storm left a swath of damage across at least five US states, including Georgia. The death toll from powerful storm Helene jumped to at least 93 on Sunday, with one county in North Carolina alone reporting 30 deaths, authorities said, as rescuers battled to reach people in need across the southeastern United States. The storm response took on a political tinge after President Joe Biden and the two candidates vying to replace him, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, announced plans to soon visit hard-hit areas, some of them in key battleground states in the November election. High winds and torrential rain pummeled towns and cities across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Homes were destroyed, roads flooded out and power cut off to millions. "We're hearing (of) significant infrastructure damage to water systems, communication, roads, critical transportation routes, as well as several homes that have been just destroyed by this," the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Deanne Criswell, said Sunday. At least 93 people were killed in the extreme weather37 in North Carolina, 25 in South Carolina, 17 in Georgia, 11 in Florida, two in Tennessee and one in Virginia, according to tallies from local authorities compiled by AFP. That total was expected to rise. "We have another devastating update. We now have 30 confirmed losses due to the storm," Quentin Miller, the sheriff in North Carolina's Buncombe County, which includes the tourist city of Asheville, told a briefing. Flood warnings remained in effect in parts of western North Carolina, amid fears of potential dam failures. People walk through mud-filled streets in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Old Fort, North Carolina. Conditions were expected to improve in the affected areas by around Tuesday, National Weather Service director Ken Graham said. Nearly 2.2 million households remained without power on Sunday, according to tracker poweroutage.us. US Department of Energy official Matt Targuagno said that crews were working hard to restore electricity but warned it would be "a complex, multi-day response." Thousands of people continued to seek assistance in shelters run by the American Red Cross, organization official Jennifer Pipa said. Bridges washed away Helene blew into Florida's northern Gulf shore as a huge Category Four hurricane with winds of 140 miles (225 kilometers) per hour. Even as it weakened, it wreaked havoc. North Carolina saw some of the worst of the flooding, with Governor Roy Cooper saying rescuers were being forced to airlift supplies in some areas due to damaged or flooded roads. Homes in Horseshoe Beach, Florida, were badly damaged by the storm. "I don't know that anybody could be fully prepared for the amount of flooding and landslides that they are experiencing right now," Criswell said on CBS, adding that more search and rescue teams were being deployed. William Ray, director of the state's emergency management department, warned that conditions were still extremely dangerous. Hundreds of roads across the region remained closed, with several bridges washed away by floodwaters. Four major interstate highways were closed across North Carolina and Tennessee, with "multiple" bridges still out, said Kristin White of the US Department of Transportation. Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina each had more than 100 road closures, she added. In the Georgia city of Valdosta, the storm ripped the roofs off buildings, and left road intersections a tangle of felled utility poles and trees. "The wind started really hitting, like, felt branches and pieces of the roof hitting the side of the building and hitting the windows," said Valdosta resident Steven Mauro. In Valdosta, Georgia, the storm ripped the roofs off buildings. "And then we were looking out and then literally this whole street, just everything went black." Trump, the Republican former president seeking another term, will visit Valdosta on Monday for a briefing on the disaster, his campaign said. Biden, who has approved federal aid for several states in the wake of the disaster, intends to travel to hard-hit areas this week, "as soon as it will not disrupt emergency response operations," the White House said Sunday, later adding that Harris would do the same. "We will stand with these communities for as long as it takes to make sure that they are able to recover and rebuild," Harris said Sunday evening at a campaign rally in Las Vegas. Biden was scheduled to speak about the post-storm response from the White House on Monday. 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: Excavated in Canada, this Eastern red cedar log turned out to be remarkably well-preserved for its age: 3,775 years old. Credit: Mark Sherwood, University of Maryland A new study published in the journal Science suggests that an ordinary old log could help refine strategies to tackle climate change. A team of researchers led by University of Maryland Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Professor Ning Zeng analyzed a 3,775-year-old log and the soil it was excavated from. Their analysis, published on September 27, 2024, revealed that the log had lost less than 5% carbon dioxide from its original state thanks to the low-permeability clay soil that covered it. "The wood is nice and solidyou could probably make a piece of furniture out of it," Zeng noted. Understanding the unique environmental factors that kept that ancient log in mint condition could help researchers perfect an emerging climate solution known as "wood vaulting," which involves taking wood that is not commercially viablesuch as trees destroyed by disease or wildfires, old furniture or unused construction materialsand burying it to stop its decomposition. Trees naturally sequester carbon dioxidea potent planet-warming gasfor as long as they live, making tree-planting projects a popular method of mitigating climate change. But on the flip side, when trees die and decompose, that greenhouse gas is released back into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. "People tend to think, 'Who doesn't know how to dig a hole and bury some wood?'" Zeng said. "But think about how many wooden coffins were buried in human history. How many of them survived? For a timescale of hundreds or thousands of years, we need the right conditions." In 2013, while conducting a wood vaulting pilot project in Quebec, Canada, Zeng discovered the 3,775-year-old log that became the focus of the studya chance encounter that for Zeng felt "kind of miraculous." While digging a trench to bury fresh wood, Zeng and other researchers spotted the log about 6.5 feet below the surface. University of Maryland Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Professor Ning Zeng holds the 3,775-year-old log that is the subject of a new study in Science. Credit: Mark Sherwood, University of Maryland "When the excavator pulled a log out of the ground and threw it over to us, the three ecologists that I had invited from McGill University immediately identified it as Eastern red cedar," Zeng recalled. "You could tell how well it was preserved. I remember standing there thinking, 'Wow, here's the evidence that we need.'" While past studies have analyzed old samples of preserved wood, they tended to overlook the surrounding soil conditions, according to Zeng. "There is a lot of geological and archaeological evidence of preserved wood from hundreds to millions of years ago, but the focus of those studies was not 'How can we engineer a wood vault to preserve that wood?'" Zeng said. "And the problem with designing a new experiment is that we can't wait 100 years for the results." Shortly after the Quebec dig, UMD's collaborators at MAPAQ, a government ministry in Montreal, conducted carbon dating to determine the log's age. Then, in 2021, Distinguished University Professor Liangbing Hu in UMD's Department of Materials Science and Engineering helped Zeng analyze the 3,775-year-old sample's microscopic structure, chemical composition, mechanical strength and density. They then compared those results to that of a freshly cut Eastern red cedar log, which revealed that the older sample had lost very little carbon dioxide. The type of soil covering the log was the key reason for its remarkable preservation. The clay soil in that part of Quebec had an especially low permeability, meaning that it prevented or drastically slowed oxygen from reaching the log while also keeping out fungi and insects, the decomposers typically found in soil. Because clay soil is common, wood vaulting could become a viable and low-cost option in many parts of the world. As a climate solution, Zeng noted that wood vaulting is best paired with other tactics to slow global warming, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As he and his colleagues continue to optimize wood vaulting, he looks forward to putting what they've learned into practice to help curb climate change. "It's quite an exciting discovery," Zeng said of this latest study. "The urgency of climate change has become such a prominent issue, so there was even more motivation to get this analysis going." More information: Ning Zeng et al, 3775-year-old wood burial supports "wood vaulting" as a durable carbon removal method, Science (2024). DOI: 10.1126/science.adm8133 Journal information: Science 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: Science of The Total Environment (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175657 New DNA technology promises to improve efforts to monitor marine life in the Southern Ocean, and detect the presence of non-native marine species close to Antarctica. During a 3,000 nautical mile voyage from Hobart to Davis research station in 2019, on former Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis, scientists collected 138 seawater samples and examined the "environmental DNA" (eDNA) in the samples to see which zooplankton species (tiny marine animals) had been present at the time the samples were collected. Australian Antarctic Division molecular geneticist, Dr. Leonie Suter, said they then compared the species detected using eDNA, to zooplankton collected using a continuous plankton recorder (CPR). "The CPR is an instrument towed behind the ship that captures zooplankton in between two sheets of silk," Dr. Suter said. "We can then look at the captured animals under the microscope to identify them." The findings are published in the journal Science of The Total Environment. The CPR has been used to monitor Southern Ocean zooplankton diversity since 1991, providing a valuable long-term data set that allows scientists to see changes in zooplankton communities. However, only more robust organisms, such as crustaceans, remain intact in the CPR, while many fragile and gelatinous organisms get damaged and cannot be identified. "With eDNA we can identify most things in the environment, even if it's only a tiny part of it, or feces, eggs, or larvae," Dr. Suter said. "So we wanted to compare the information eDNA can provide, with the CPR, to see if eDNA can make a useful contribution to the existing Southern Ocean zooplankton data set." The team, led by former Curtin University researcher Georgia Nester (now at Mindaroo Foundation), found that eDNA detected a wider range of species than the CPR, and could be used in sea ice, where the CPR cannot go. "We detected 68 zooplankton species using eDNA and 32 using CPR tows," Dr. Nester said. "Only 12 species were shared between the two methods and most of these were crustaceans, such as krill and copepods." Molecular geneticists Dr Leonie Suter (pictured) and Dr Georgia Nester trialled the use of eDNA to monitor zooplankton species in the Southern Ocean. Credit: Simon Payne Dr. Suter said eDNA and CPR methods had different strengths and limitations, so the combination of both methods would "widen the lens." "The two methods together provide a more holistic view of zooplankton diversity and change, and may allow us to see patterns we might otherwise miss," Dr. Suter said. "For example, some gelatinous organisms may cope better with warming ocean temperatures, but if we're only looking at crustaceans, we may miss that." During the voyage, the eDNA method also detected 16 non-native or potentially invasive species. "Most of these species were detected closer to Tasmania where they are known to occur," Dr. Nester said. "However, detections for some species increased once we entered the sea ice. "These detections were largely attributed to organisms attached to the ship's hull being abraded by the sea ice. "While hull biofouling is a recognized potential pathway for marine introductions into Antarctica, overall eDNA detections were relatively low, and we cannot rule out that they represent non-viable DNA, larvae or dead organisms." Australian Antarctic Division Environmental Manager, Kirsten Leggett, said Australia's new icebreaker, RSV Nuyina, has a biofouling management plan to minimize the risk of transporting non-native species to Antarctica, and complies with the International Maritime Organization's biofouling guidelines. "We continue to engage with relevant authorities and subject matter experts to ensure the highest standards of biosecurity are achieved across the Australian Antarctic Program," Leggett said. As well as being useful for monitoring long-term change, Dr. Suter said eDNA provides a novel means of monitoring marine biosecurity risks. "Given the vulnerability of Antarctic environments to the introduction of non-native species, future work should look at ways to increase the likelihood of detecting non-native species in Antarctica in a timely manner, and eDNA-based methods could be suitable," she said. "In addition, eDNA in combination with CPR surveys and biophysical data will provide a nuanced picture of Southern Ocean ecosystems, to better understand the impacts of changing conditions on these ecosystems." More information: Georgia M. Nester et al, Long-distance Southern Ocean environmental DNA (eDNA) transect provides insights into spatial marine biota and invasion pathways for non-native species, Science of The Total Environment (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175657 Journal information: Science of the Total Environment Provided by Australian Antarctic Program 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: European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) has released its new Earth Observation Science Strategy, Earth Science in Action for Tomorrow's World. Responding to the escalating threats from climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and extreme weather and the need to take action to address these threats, this forward-looking strategy outlines a bold vision for Earth science through to 2040. By leveraging advanced satellite-based monitoring of our planet, ESA aims to provide critical data and knowledge to guide action and policy for a more sustainable future. ESA's Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Simonetta Cheli, said, "As a space agency, it is our duty to harness the unique power of Earth observing technology to inform the critical decisions that will shape our future. "Our new Earth Observation Science Strategy underscores a science-first approach where satellite technology provides data that contributes to our collective understanding of the Earth system as a whole, so that solutions can be found to address global environmental challenges. The choices we make today help create a more sustainable world and propel the transformation towards a resilient, thriving global society." The new strategy presents a bold and ambitious vision for the future of ESA's Earth Observation Programmes. It shifts focus towards understanding the feedbacks and interconnections within the Earth system, rather than targeting specific Earth system domains. Developed through dedicated studies and over a year of extensive consultation with the Earth science community and key stakeholders, the new strategy includes six major thematic objectives: the water cycle, the carbon cycle and chemistry, energy fluxes, ecosystem health, extremes and hazards, and interfaces and coupling in the Earth system. These themes, along with a comprehensive set of Guiding Questions, provide a blueprint on where to focus future efforts aimed at understanding our planet. These questions, 23 in all, encapsulate critical Earth system science issues and knowledge gaps in which Earth observation satellite technology provides a unique contribution, by either leveraging existing or near-future data sources, or by developing new observations from space. As well as overarching science themes identified during the study period, these questions provide a clear framework for the Science Strategy, which now paves the way for shaping future activities within ESA's Earth Observation Programmes. Cheli added, "From our groundbreaking Earth Explorer research missions, which push the boundaries of observation technology to achieve scientific excellence, to our pivotal role in developing the Copernicus Sentinel satellites with the European Union, ESA continues to define the state-of-the-art for monitoring Earth's evolving environment. "The Science Strategy builds on these accomplishments, aiming to drive the next generation of satellite innovations essential for tackling the world's most pressing environmental challenges. "With this strategy now in place, we are poised to advance Earth science even further, equipping policymakers, scientists, and societies with the data and insights needed to create a more sustainable and resilient future for all." 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 After examining local, state and national databases, University of NebraskaLincoln researchers have concluded that expanding and enhancing supports for Nebraska's families is vital to ensure the "good life" for all Nebraska residents. The team's analysis found Nebraska families becoming more diverse and complex, due largely to changes in the demographic makeup of the state's population in recent decades. With an aging population, evolving immigration and an outward migration of workers seeking jobs elsewhere, keeping up with the changing needs of Nebraska families becomes crucial for promoting health and well-being among current and future generationsand to ensure the state's economic success. Lorey Wheeler, director of the Nebraska Academy for Methodology, Analytics and Psychometrics and a research associate professor in the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools, is the lead author of a new manuscript examining Nebraska families based on state priorities. Those priorities, identified by a Nebraska Extension needs assessment, include developing a skilled workforce, creating statewide economic vitality, retaining and attracting young people, enhancing health and well-being, and leveraging Nebraska's strengths for sustained success. The article, "The 2023 State of Nebraska Families: State Priorities and Key Areas of Promise," was recently published in Marriage & Family Review, a journal that focuses on research, practice, theories and applications related to marriage. The manuscript describes Nebraska's geography, demographics and government contexts and reviews where current state policy, programming and resources stand in addressing family-focused needs and issues of the state's working-age population. The Husker team concluded that crafting policy that supports accessible high-quality child care, caregiver supports, and health and well-being across the lifespan would enhance worker and family well-being throughout the state. It would also stem the outward migration of workers to other states and improve personal productivitybolstering Nebraska's economic vitality in the process. "Investing resources in the people most important in a worker's lifetheir children, parents and familiesis crucial," Wheeler said. "Addressing geographic and racial disparities in health, and access to health care, are essential issues to address in Nebraska for everyone to feel like it is the 'good life.'" Data shows that more than 70% of Nebraska's children live in households where all adults work, highlighting the need for widespread access to child care and paid medical leave policies. "The divide between rural and urban communities in infrastructure makes it challenging for people with families in the state to access the supports that they need," said Patty Kuo, assistant professor of child, youth and family studies and a co-author of the review. "Policy is behind the reality of the structure of working families. Most families in Nebraska do not have a single-earner household, thus requiring the need for paid medical leave policies and access to child care. The state wants people to work, and we want the state to help people who work." Wheeler emphasizes that state workforce retention is vital and that meeting the diverse family needs of Nebraska's working-age population would help address workers leaving the state in search of opportunities elsewhere. "Many kids go to college here at UNL and then end up moving to another state for better opportunities for their families," she said. "The goal is to retain an educated workforce, so it's necessary to ensure workers currently in Nebraska are adequately supported holistically in their responsibilities to their families." Kuo said the data shows a need for innovations in policies and programs to create a healthy environment for families. "We can't just solve these problems at an individual level," she said. "People are embedded in families, and the top reason people leave Nebraska is to find another job, or for their families. We want people to see the direct link between state economic priorities and supporting families." More information: Lorey A. Wheeler et al, The 2023 State of Nebraska Families: State Priorities and Key Areas of Promise, Marriage & Family Review (2024). DOI: 10.1080/01494929.2024.2402486 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: SEM images of sugarcane biochar (A,B) and pinewood biochar (C,D) showing rough surface features and pores (circled in red). Credit: Frontiers in Environmental Science (2024). DOI: 10.3389/fenvs.2024.1388606 Using treated plant waste as a filter reduced the presence of harmful microplastics in agricultural runoff by more than 92%, according to a new study authored by a University of Mississippi research team. Microplasticstiny plastic particles that are fewer than 5 millimeters in diameterhave been found in every ocean on earth, in food, water, and recently, in farmlands. An Ole Miss-led research group has recently published proof-of-concept data in Frontiers in Environmental Science that shows biochar to be a cost-friendly and effective method of filtering microplastics from overland water runoff. Biochar is a type of charcoal made from plant material that has been heated or burned in an oxygen-limited environment. "Microplastics in the environment stem in part from the degradation of larger plastics by natural physical, chemical and biological processes," said James Cizdziel, professor and interim chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "They pose an enormous challenge as they are widespread, persistent and can accumulate in plants and wildlife, leading to detrimental effects on certain organisms and, potentially, on humans who consume them." Microplastics have been found in human blood and the part of human brains responsible for smell. Though scientists don't yet know the effects of microplastics on the human body, many studies show that the plastics negatively affect fish and animals that ingest them. Microplastics in agriculture come from two primary sources, said Boluwatife Olubusoye, an Ole Miss doctoral student in chemistry and an author of the study. Sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants, which is used as a fertilizer, and plastic mulch and row covers, which insulate plants and promote growth, both bring measurable amounts of microplastics to agricultural areas. "When these plastic sheets break down in the field, they become very tiny and that's how you get microplastics in the agricultural fields," the Lagos, Nigeria, native said. "What happens is that when there is a heavy rainfall, there will be a wash of this agricultural field, which can lead to agricultural runoff. "And this runoff can transport microplastics, and other pollutants, from the farm into aquatic environmentssuch as rivers, lakes, and oceanswhere microplastics can pose threats to organisms like oysters and small fishes." Many animalsincluding humansfeed on such organisms, where the microplastics could be passed on. Olubusoye and collaborators from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Water Quality and Ecology Research Unit in Oxford traveled to a farm near Beasley Lake in the Mississippi Delta to collect agricultural runoff. They then tested it for microplastics in Cizdziel's microplastic research laboratory at Ole Miss, and passed the runoff through biochar to determine how effective it was at capturing the microplastics. "We also observed that in addition to agricultural runoff, urban stormwater runoff is a prominent source of microplastics pollution," Olubusoye said. "Our research is trying to reduce the influx of these contaminants from these runoff events into downstream waterbodies." Using biochar reduced the amount of microplastics in samples of runoff by between 86.6% and 92.6%. Because of the success of the initial tests, the researchers are scaling up their efforts and currently testing biochar in the field. The researchers will present their findings at three upcoming conferences, including: The University Council on Water Resources, National Institute of Water Resources and American Water Resources Association Conference. The Mississippi Water Resources Conference. The Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Conference. "Our findings underscore the potential of biochar to be a cost-effective adsorbent for the removal of microplastics from runoff," Cizdziel said. "As such, scaled-up field studies are underway and preliminary data show a marked decrease in microplastics, including tire wear particles, after the runoff passes through large filter socks filled with biochar. "Our work could result in new agricultural and stormwater management practices to mitigate microplastic pollution stemming from farms and urban runoff in order to safeguard environmental and human health." More information: Boluwatife S. Olubusoye et al, Removal of microplastics from agricultural runoff using biochar: a column feasibility study, Frontiers in Environmental Science (2024). DOI: 10.3389/fenvs.2024.1388606 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: Sofia Barragan-Montilla presented information about the GeoTraductores initiative at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2024 (EGU24). Credit: Malena Orduna Alegria English is the dominant language for communicating research and discoveries in scientific journals. The same is true for science communication outlets such as news articles, multimedia, and press releases. However, sharing this information only in English excludes large audiences, which can be particularly dangerous when it comes to Earth and space science topics. Without access to the latest science information in their native language, community members may be less equipped to manage hazards such as climate change, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes. In an effort to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Earth and space sciences, Eos, the nonprofit GeoLatinas, and the science communication collective Planeteando joined forces to communicate science news to Spanish-speaking communities. Their collaboration, GeoTraductores, began in 2020 and focused initially on translating science articles from AGU's Eos into Spanish. Over a 4-year period, approximately 40 GeoTraductores participants and several Eos staff members worked together to translate, edit, and publish more than 150 Spanish articles for Eos en Espanol. In their article published in Community Science, D. J. Navarro-Perez and colleagues examined the impact of GeoTraductores on visitor traffic to the Eos website and found a surge in traffic from Latin American countries. Readership in Colombia, Mexico, and Panama increased by more than 85%, and traffic from Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Peru grew by 20%. In Spain, readership increased 40% over the same time period. The authors point out that most GeoTraductores participants were women (85%), and almost all were early-career scientists. They add that this collaboration is an example of how bilingual science communication can help democratize scientific literature for Latin American audiencesincluding Spanish-speaking populations within the United States. More information: D. J. NavarroPerez et al, GeoTraductores: A Collaborative Initiative Democratizing Science Communication in Latin America, Community Science (2024). DOI: 10.1029/2023CSJ000070 This story is republished courtesy of Eos, hosted by the American Geophysical Union. Read the original story here. You are here: China China planned to add 1,566 trains on Monday to cope with the surge in passenger numbers ahead of the National Day holiday that begins on Oct. 1, according to the national railway operator. The China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. said that it expects 17.5 million railway passenger trips on Monday as passenger numbers rise rapidly. On Sunday, the nation's railways recorded nearly 13 million passenger trips, it said. The company said the railway travel rush for the week-long holiday will last for ten days, spanning Sept. 29 to Oct. 8, adding that tourists, family reunions and students are driving the surge in travels. Railway departments in various regions have also optimized passenger train operation plans to provide travelers with a pleasant travel experience. 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: Md Toukir Ahmed, doctoral student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, takes a photo of a sweet potato with a hyperspectral camera. Credit: College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Hyperspectral imaging is a useful technique for analyzing the chemical composition of food and agricultural products. However, it is a costly and complicated procedure, which limits its practical application. A team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers has developed a method to reconstruct hyperspectral images from standard RGB images using deep machine learning. This technique can greatly simplify the analytical process and potentially revolutionize product assessment in the agricultural industry. "Hyperspectral imaging uses expensive equipment. If we can use RGB images captured with a regular camera or smartphone, we can use a low-cost, handheld device to predict product quality," said lead author Md Toukir Ahmed. Ahmed is a doctoral student in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE), part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences and The Grainger College of Engineering at Illinois. The researchers tested their method by analyzing the chemical composition of sweet potatoes. They focused on soluble solid content in one study (published in the Journal of Food Engineering) and dry matter in a second study (published in Results in Engineering)important features that influence the taste, nutritional value, marketability, and processing suitability of sweet potatoes. Using deep learning models, they converted the information from RGB images into hyperspectral images. "With RGB images, you can only detect visible attributes like color, shape, size, and external defects; you can't detect any chemical parameters. In RGB images you have wavelengths from 400 to 700 nanometers, and three channelsred, green, and blue. "But with hyperspectral images you have many channels and wavelengths from 700 to 1,000 nm. With deep learning methods, we can map and reconstruct that range so we now can detect the chemical attributes from RGB images," said Mohammed Kamruzzaman, assistant professor in ABE and corresponding author on both papers. Hyperspectral imaging captures a detailed spectral signature at spatial locations across hundreds of narrow bands, combining to form hypercubes. Applying cutting-edge deep learning-based algorithms, Kamruzzaman and Ahmed were able to create a model to reconstruct the hypercubes from RGB images to provide the relevant information for product analysis. They calibrated the spectral model with reconstructed hyperspectral images of sweet potatoes, achieving over 70% accuracy in predicting soluble solid content and 88% accuracy in dry matter content, marking a significant improvement over previous studies. In a third paper, published in Smart Agricultural Technology, the research team applied deep learning methods to reconstruct hyperspectral images for predicting chick embryo mortality, which has applications for the egg and hatchery industry. They explored different techniques and made recommendations for the most accurate approach. "Our results show great promise for revolutionizing agricultural product quality assessment. By reconstructing detailed chemical information from simple RGB images, we're opening new possibilities for affordable, accessible analysis. "While challenges remain in scaling this technology for industrial use, the potential to transform quality control across the agricultural sector makes this a truly exciting endeavor," Kamruzzaman concluded. More information: Md Toukir Ahmed et al, Deep learning-based hyperspectral image reconstruction for quality assessment of agro-product, Journal of Food Engineering (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2024.112223 Md Toukir Ahmed et al, Comparative analysis of hyperspectral Image reconstruction using deep learning for agricultural and biological applications, Results in Engineering (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.rineng.2024.102623 Md Toukir Ahmed et al, Hyperspectral image reconstruction for predicting chick embryo mortality towards advancing egg and hatchery industry, Smart Agricultural Technology (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.atech.2024.100533 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 Farming is a notoriously hard profession with long hours spent operating dangerous equipment and performing other arduous tasks. New Rice University research finds that Indigenous farm employeesmany of whom have legal status in the U.S. after moving from Latin Americamay experience more physical pain on the job than undocumented workers. Researchers Christina Diaz, associate professor of sociology, and Erick Samayoa, a sociology graduate student, are the authors of "Away from Home, Into the Fields: Assessing the Health of Undocumented and Indigenous Farmworkers," which appears in a recent edition of Social Science & Medicine. The researchers used data from the National Agricultural Worker Survey (including more than 20,000 respondents) to learn more about the lives of farm workers in the U.S., over 60% of whom are not in the U.S. legally and potentially susceptible to worse working conditions or exploitation. Diaz and Samayoa found that undocumented workers actually reported better physical health than their Indigenous counterparts. Meanwhile, Indigenous workers were more likely than any other type of worker to report physical pain stemming from their profession. The researchers said there are different reasons that these individuals may be dealing with more physical pain. "First and foremost, individuals who migrate to the U.S.as is the case with many undocumented workersare usually in excellent health," Diaz said. "They are youthful and vigorous enough to complete an arduous migration journey and have resources to migrate." Meanwhile, Indigenous populations face what Samayoa called a "cumulative disadvantage," sometimes facing discrimination as Indigenous persons within Latin America prior to migration and once again after coming to the U.S. "This can include a language barrier, as many of these individuals speak neither English nor Spanish, and as a result, cannot advocate for themselves in the way that many undocumented workers can," Samayoa said. "We suspect that because this Indigenous population faces so much discrimination and so much socioeconomic difficulty, it may trump any of the benefits that legal status may offer them." The researchers say they hope this work sheds light on and will encourage more studies of the complexities of immigrant populations in the U.S. and how they face different challenges depending on their respective backgrounds. The study was co-authored by Sergio Chavez, an associate professor of sociology at Rice, and Victoria Bejarano, a former University of Houston student. More information: Christina J. Diaz et al, Away from home, into the fields: Assessing the health of undocumented and indigenous farmworkers, Social Science & Medicine (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117299 Journal information: Social Science & Medicine 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: Evolution of nuclear system in fusion and MNT reactions. MNT reactions encompass quasi-elastic (QE), deep inelastic (DI), and quasi-fission (QF) processes. Understanding the complex mechanisms involved in MNT reactions presents significant challenges for theoretical investigations. Credit: Minghao Zhang Researchers have introduced a model based on the Langevin equation that offers new insights into the formation of exotic nuclei. This development could enhance the ability to produce rare isotopes that are valuable for various applications in science and medicine. The study is published in the journal Nuclear Science and Techniques. A research team led by Professor Feng-Shou Zhang has developed and applied this model to study multinucleon transfer (MNT) processes in heavy-ion collisions. The model provides a more precise understanding of energy dissipation during heavy-ion collisions, which is important for predicting nuclear reaction outcomes. Simulations of nuclear reactions, such as 40Ar + 232Th, 136Xe + 238U, and 136Xe + 209Bi, have shown that the model's predictions of cross-sections and angular distributions are in good agreement with experimental results. Modeling nuclear reactions, particularly those involved in producing exotic nuclei, is challenging due to their complexity. Conventional methods like projectile fragmentation and fusion-evaporation have limitations, particularly in synthesizing new transuranium and superheavy elements. This model addresses these challenges by simplifying the process, reducing the number of adjustable parameters, and focusing on key physical processes. It successfully simulates energy and scattering angle distributions, offering insights into deep inelastic and quasi-fission processes. A simulated trajectory for the 40 Ar + 232 Th collision at E lab = 388 MeV. The trajectory and its projections of the evolution of total kinetic energy (TKE), elongation, and mass of heavier nucleus are illustrated. For each impact parameter, 500 trajectories have been simulated. Credit: Ying Zou Profile of the trajectory in Fig.2 at the indicated time. The Langevin equation model, as a phenomenological approach, simulates nuclear reactions by solving for the evolution of collective coordinates. The system's shape evolution depicted in the figure illustrates the collective coordinates during the simulation. Credit: Ying Zou Center-of-mass angular distribution of the damped cross section for events with TKE within the indicated range in the 136Xe + 209Bi reaction at E lab = 1130 MeV. Histogram is the calculation. Credit: Ying Zou The improved accuracy of MNT reaction predictions provided by this model could facilitate the production of isotopes that are difficult to generate using other methods. These isotopes are valuable for scientific research and medical applications, such as diagnostics and treatments. According to Prof. Zhang, the goal is to keep the model comprehensive yet practical for experimental use. This development represents a step forward in nuclear physics, contributing to the understanding of exotic nuclei production through MNT reactions. Further refinement of the model may enhance its utility in guiding future research and improving rare isotope production processes. This research was conducted in collaboration with Beijing Normal University, Beijing Academy of Science and Technology, and the National Laboratory of Heavy Ion Accelerator of Lanzhou. More information: Ying Zou et al, Investigation of multinucleon transfer processes in the Langevin equation model, Nuclear Science and Techniques (2024). DOI: 10.1007/s41365-024-01557-4 Provided by Nuclear Science and Techniques 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: Deviant acts never justified - 2011 and 2023 studies. Credit: Journal of Economic Criminology (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.jeconc.2024.100090 Despite soaring levels of economic crime, police forces are not fully utilizing the vast resources and expertise available in the private and not-for-profit sectors, warns a new report. The study is published in the Journal of Economic Criminology. Economic crime has reached unprecedented levels over the past decade, putting immense pressure on police resources already stretched thin by limited budgets and growing responsibilities. Experts from Perpetuity Research and the Centre for Cybercrime and Economic Crime at the University of Portsmouth say law enforcement agencies are not taking full advantage of the specialized skills, knowledge, and manpower that exist within the private and not-for-profit sectors. The private sector, particularly banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions, employ thousands of professionals dedicated to anti-fraud efforts. Similarly, not-for-profit organizations offer specialized knowledge and tools that could bolster public policing efforts. However, the report suggests this wealth of expertise remains largely invisible and untapped by police forces, representing a massive, wasted opportunity in the fight against economic crime. The authors point out that to their knowledge, no central repository of this information existed before they mapped it out as part of their research. Co-author, Professor Mark Button, Director of the Centre for Cybercrime and Economic Crime at the University of Portsmouth, said, "Although there are some great examples of collaboration between the police and these sectors, most efforts have been limited to simple data sharing. This has left much of the potential for stronger, more meaningful partnerships untapped, making it harder for law enforcement to tackle the complex and changing nature of economic crime effectively." A study released last month by the University of Portsmouth estimated that 26% of adults in the UK (14 million) commit at least one economic crime a year. The researchwhich was cited in The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) annual report (pg. 104)explored how attitudes towards certain "deviant acts" have changed over time by comparing the results of a 2011 study of 2,000 adults with the results of a 2023 study of 1,000 adults. The new report outlined a number of barriers to joint-working, which must be addressed by police to help improve the approach to tackling economic crime. Interviews with stakeholders revealed some significant hurdles, including divergent objectives, mistrust, and a general reluctance to share information due to concerns about breaching Data Protection regulations and jeopardizing competitive advantage. These challenges have prevented the development of more robust engagement at all levels that could increase the risks for a range of economic crime offenders. Dr. Janice Goldstraw-White, Lead Researcher for Economic Crime at Perpetuity Research, said, "It is clear that the police are facing an uphill battle against the rising tide of economic crime, while the private and not-for-profit sectors possess a vast reservoir of largely untapped resources. "There exists significant potential for enhanced collaboration between these sectors. By not leveraging these resources, the police are missing a critical opportunity to strengthen their response to economic crime and better protect the public." The report urges law enforcement agencies to rethink their approach and proactively engage more strategically with external partners. By doing so, they could unlock a wealth of untapped resources, including specialized knowledge, additional funding, and innovative solutions that are currently being developed outside of the public sector. This would enhance the ability of the police to combat economic crime, protect the public, and improve overall policing outcomes. More information: David Shepherd et al, The dishonest disposition and everyday economic criminality of the British public, Journal of Economic Criminology (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.jeconc.2024.100090 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: Leaf damage in different commercial organic production hybrids when treated with Ant03 strain of Beauveria bassiana in fall armyworm assays on day 4. Left, Allure; right, Xtra-Tender Natural Bright. Credit: Organic Agriculture (2024). DOI: 10.1007/s13165-024-00453-w The same defenses that help some varieties of sweet corn resist fungal diseases can also stymie the potency of a beneficial fungus used to kill hungry caterpillar pests, studies by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists suggest. The researchers detailed their findings in the journal Organic Agriculture. Entomologist Pat Dowd and Molecular Biologist Eric Johnsonboth at the ARS National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Illinoisconducted the study as a follow up to one they did in 2022 with field (dent) corn, which is grown for livestock consumption and other uses. Results from the 2022 study indicated resistance to fungi that cause Fusarium disease in some lines of field corn can diminish the effectiveness of the beneficial fungus Beauveria bassiana, which can be sprayed onto the crop as a biopesticide that kills caterpillar pests such as European corn borers and fall armyworms. However, not all of the Fusarium-resistant dent corn lines tested had a corresponding decline in the Beauveria fungus's caterpillar-killing performance. Some corn lines also withstood the insect pests' feeding damage, leaving open the possibility these lines carried the right combination of genes for benefiting from both disease resistance and compatibility with Beauveria. Follow-up studies with sweet corn reflect a similar possibility with respect to the genes they possess, according to Dowd and Johnson. In those studies, biopesticide applications of Beauveria killed 12 to 58 percent of European corn borer and fall armyworm caterpillars. However, as with dent corn, the level of insecticidal activity depended on which of 14 lines of Fusarium-resistant hybrid or inbred sweet corn had been treated. In some sweet corn lines, for example, signs of high levels of disease resistance in the form of smaller dead spots on Fusarium-infected leaves were associated with increases in the percentage of caterpillars killed by the fungus two days after application. In other types of sweet corn that were less resistant, larger dead spots corresponded to lower levels of caterpillar control. Caterpillar control also varied depending on which of two Beauveria strains were used, an observation that underscores the need for continued study on how these subtleties can translate to practical data growers can use in choosing sweet corn lines offering both Fusarium resistance and high levels of insecticidal activity using the beneficial fungus. Finding that "sweet spot" in sweet corn would be especially important to organic growers, who cannot use synthetic pesticides and have fewer options for disease and insect control than in conventional production systems. "The results of gene expression studies comparing sweet corn hybrids with more and less desirable combinations of Fusarium resistance and Beauveria efficacy were recently received," said Dowd. "These results will help identify favorable combinations of genes that will help guide the breeding of sweet corn varieties to produce ones that have good resistance to Fusarium and are more compatible with the use of Beauveria." More information: Patrick F. Dowd et al, Appropriate selection of organic hybrid sweet corn varieties can positively influence both the effectiveness of the insect biological control agent Beauveria bassiana and fungal disease resistance, Organic Agriculture (2024). DOI: 10.1007/s13165-024-00453-w 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 research team (Greer Jarrett) undertook voyages with experimental vessels to understand Greenland Norse seafaring capabilities: Sailing at night in one of the larger expeditionary vessels likely used by the Norse to harvest walrus ivory at the North Water Polynya in High Arctc Greenland. Credit: Greer Jarrett By examining ancient walrus DNA, an international research team led by Lund University in Sweden have retraced the walrus ivory trade routes of the Viking Age. They found that Norse Vikings and Arctic Indigenous peoples were probably meeting and trading ivory in remote parts of High Arctic Greenland, several centuries before Christopher Columbus "discovered" North America. The study is now published in Science Advances. In Medieval Europe, there was an enormous demand for elite products, among themwalrus ivory. With the Vikings playing a vital part in the ivory trade, this drove the Norse expansion into the north Atlantic to Iceland and then Greenland; as they looked for new sources of ivory. "What really surprised us was that much of the walrus ivory exported back to Europe was originating in very remote hunting grounds located deep into the High Arctic. Previously, it has always been assumed that the Norse simply hunted walrus close to their main settlements in southwest Greenland," says Peter Jordan, Professor of Archaeology at Lund University. The researchers used genetic "fingerprinting" to reconstruct precisely where traded walrus artifacts were coming from. "We extracted ancient DNA from walrus samples recovered from a wide range of locations across the North Atlantic Arctic. With this information in place, we could then match the genetic profiles of walrus artifacts traded by Greenland Norse into Europe back to very specific Arctic hunting grounds," explains Dr. Morten Tange Olsen, Associate Professor at the Globe Institute in Copenhagen. As the new results started to emerge, another key question arose: if ivory was being obtained from the High Arctic, did the Greenland Norse have the seafaring skills and technologies to venture so deep into ice-filled Arctic waters? Research team member Greer Jarrett sought answers to this question in a unique way: he actually reconstructed probable sailing routes, taking experimental voyages in traditional clinker-built Norwegian boats. "Walrus hunters probably departed from the Norse settlements as soon as the sea ice retreated. Those aiming for the far north had a very tight seasonal window within which to travel up the coast, hunt walrus, process and store the hides and ivory onboard their vessels, and return home before the seas froze again," says Greer Jarrett, doctoral researcher at Lund University. Walrus haul out site in Svalbard. Credit: Morten Tange Olsen After the Norse completed their perilous journeys, what might they have encountered? Importantly, these remote High Arctic hunting grounds were no empty polar wilderness; they would have been inhabited by the Thule Inuit and possibly other Indigenous Arctic peoples, who were also hunting walrus and other sea mammals. The new research provides further independent evidence for the long-debated existence of very early encounters between the European Norse and North American Indigenous peoples, it also confirms that the North Water Polynya was an important arena for these inter-cultural meetings. "This would have been the meeting of two entirely different cultural worlds. The Greenland Norse had European facial features, were probably bearded, dressed in woolen clothes, and were sailing in plank-built vessels; they harvested walrus at haul out sites with iron-tipped lances," says Jordan. Norse transported "packages" of ivory back to Europe (with tusks attached to skull) Package 1 (Natural History Museum Denmark). Credit: Mikkel Hegh-Post The research team extracted ancient DNA from museum collections (Emily Ruiz sampling at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa). Credit: Emily Ruiz Norse transported "packages" of ivory back to Europe (with tusks attached to skull) Package 2 (Natural History Museum Denmark). Credit: Mikkel Hegh-Post In contrast, the Thule Inuit were Arctic-adapted specialists, and used sophisticated toggling harpoons that enabled them to hunt walrus in open waters. They would have been wearing warm and insulated fur clothing and would have had more Asian facial features; they paddled kayaks and used open umiak boats, all made from animal skins stretched over frames. "Of course, we will never know precisely, but on a more human level these remarkable encounters, framed within the vast and intimidating landscapes of the High Arctic, would probably have involved a degree of curiosity, fascination and excitement, all encouraging social interaction, sharing and possibly exchange. "We need to do much more work to properly understand these interactions and motivations, especially from an Indigenous as well as more 'Eurocentric' Norse perspective," concludes Jordan. More information: Emily J. Ruiz-Puerta et al, Greenland Norse walrus exploitation deep into the Arctic, Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adq4127 Journal information: Science Advances 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 Lead researcher Dr. Sarah Nason, from Bangor University's School of History, Law and Social Sciences explained, "Debt, benefits, special educational needs, health care issues, these are everyday problems that many of us face, and it's only natural to turn to people you know and trust for help and advice. However, we found that having to talk to more people or support services was an indicator that the problem was more complex and difficult to resolve." The team studied four distinct areas across England and Wales: Bryngwran, a village on Anglesey in North Wales; Deeplish, a district of Rochdale in Greater Manchester; the town of Dartmouth in Devon; and three wards in the London borough of Hackney. In total, the researchers conducted individual interviews with 191 people, mapping out who they spoke to on a regular basis, such as friends, family, work colleagues or community volunteers, and who they might turn to with any problems relating to social welfare. They also asked how many of these contacts knew each other, to determine how well-connected the person's social network was. The researchers also spoke to community organizations and local authorities, identifying available sources of formal and informal advice and community support in each area. They found that individuals living in the rural communities in Devon and North Wales had larger networks with more interconnections, compared to smaller, less well-connected networks of people in the urban locations in Hackney. In Deeplish in Rochdale, social networks were comparatively small, but quite well-connected. This was linked to ethnicity, with the primarily South Asian participants in Deeplish also having networks with the highest proportion of family members. For those with white ethnicity, people who identified as English generally had smaller social networks than those identifying as British or Welsh. The most interconnected networks were among people who identified as Welsh. The researchers also found greater similarities between social networks within each case study community than between those of people with individual characteristics, such as age, gender, employment status or disability across the case study areas. Dr. Nason said, "Our research isn't intended to be statistically representative of the case study areas, as we only spoke to a relatively small group of people in each community. However, from those interviews and from our analysis, location and ethnicity appear to be important factors in understanding how people relate to their community and access support. "This highlights how important it is to provide local, community-based and culturally sensitive support and advice rather than 'one size fits all' services at a national level." Although many services are moving to 'digital by default' rather than offering face-to-face support, digital services did not meet many people's needs. In all case study areas, interviewees said that accessing help and advice locally and in-person was important to them, with local access being seen as essential to many people. Despite the differences between the four areas studied, the researchers found that the size and connectedness of social networks had a limited impact on the likelihood of people's social welfare problems being resolved. The biggest factor in resolving problems was the nature of the problem itself. Across all four areas, people with welfare benefits or financial problems were more likely to have received help from formal advice services and to have their problems resolved, than those with problems around housing, social care, special educational needs provision or mental health services. "There are well-established processes for dealing with welfare disputes or debt, and although these can be daunting, with the right support and advice these issues generally get resolved," said Dr. Nason. "However, it's noticeable that the problems which were least likely to be resolved relate to local authority services which have seen substantial budget cuts over recent decades, and where services are stretched to the point of failure. Stronger social networks and more support and advice can't completely compensate for this lack of investment in public services." Other factors impacting people's ability to get help were lack of education around rights and entitlements, limited awareness of advice services, feelings of stigma or shame in seeking help, and loss of trust in the state. However, the significance of each of these factors was different across the case study areas. For example, stigma/shame was perceived as a particular issue in rural North Wales, lack of formal education was a challenge in Rochdale, and mistrust of the state was highest among marginalized communities in Dartmouth and younger people in Hackney. The study highlights the important role played by community centers or hubs, which provide vital services to their local community, including social welfare advice. However, the researchers caution that these organizations are often under-resourced and cannot be a substitute for more formal legal advice services. "Across all the communities we studied, the local hubs or centers were really valued by people, providing day-to-day support such as food banks," explained Dr. Nason. "However, some problems that people face need specialist legal advice, and these community centers rely on being able to signpost people on to more formal services. Without proper funding for the formal advice sector, problems continue. Communities may be able to access help, but there won't be access to justice." More information: The report 'The role of communities and connections in social welfare advice' is published by Bangor University. swladviceandcommunities.com/ 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 SpaceX celebrated the first human spaceflight from its Cape Canaveral launch site on Saturday, and while the two humans aboard the Crew Dragon Freedom are safely on their way to the International Space Station, a problem arose with the rocket's second stage that prompted the company to shut down future launches for now. "After today's successful launch of Crew-9, Falcon 9's second stage was disposed in the ocean as planned, but experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn," SpaceX posted on X. "As a result, the second stage safely landed in the ocean, but outside of the targeted area. We will resume launching after we better understand [the] root cause." The first victim of the shutdown was a planned launch Sunday from California of a Falcon 9 with a plan to send up the OneWeb Launch 20 mission for EutelsatGroup. The Federal Aviation Administration still has that launch on its operations plan advisory for as early as Oct. 1, but the last two times SpaceX had an "off-nominal" issue with a Falcon 9 launch, the FAA had grounded the rocket. The most recent was a fiery landing of a Falcon 9's first-stage booster last month during a Starlink mission. "The FAA investigates commercial space incidents to determine the root cause and identify corrective actions so they won't happen again," the FAA said in a statement after that incident. After that launch, SpaceX led an investigation and submitted a final report to the FAA, which was approved. That turnaround was quick with the failed booster landing happening on Aug. 28, the report filed and submitted with a request to return to flight on Aug. 29 and approval on Aug. 30. But a third incident this year in July, which also involved the second stage, took longer to investigate. In that incident, the FAA grounded Falcon 9 for two weeks when the video feed of a launch from California on July 11 showed the second stage's engine freezing over in space. It resulted in SpaceX not being able to put its payloads into a correct orbit. Any significant delay in launches could affect the upcoming Falcon Heavy launch of NASA's Europa Clipper mission to send a massive satellite to Jupiter's icy moon Europa. That flight is slated to fly as early as Oct. 10 from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39-A. SpaceX had seen an unprecedented years-long run of launches and landings of its rockets before the July incident. SpaceX has been forthright about issues found during its launches with seeming transparency, identifying the issues found and fixes planned while working with the FAA. "Safety and reliability are at the core of SpaceX's operations. It would not have been possible to achieve our current cadence without this focus, and thanks to the pace we've been able to launch, we're able to gather unprecedented levels of flight data and are poised to rapidly return to flight, safely and with increased reliability," SpaceX had posted after the first July incident. For the year, SpaceX has launched 93 Falcon 9 rockets and one Falcon Heavy from its three facilities in Florida and California, just three shy of its annual record set in 2023, when it launched 91 Falcon 9 and five Falcon Heavy rockets. Since 2010, SpaceX has launched its Falcon 9 successfully 377 times with the only in-flight explosion happening in June 2015. It's launched its Falcon Heavy, first flown in 2018, 10 times with no issues. It's also had 351 successful booster landings that have allowed for 320 reflights of those boosters. Before August's failure, it had not lost a booster during a landing attempt since February 2021, although high winds caused another to topple over on its way back to Cape Canaveral in December 2023. 2024 Orlando Sentinel. 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: In this image made from a NASA livestream, the two astronauts stuck at the International Space Station since June 2024, Butch Wilmore, far left, and Suni Williams, far right, welcome two new residents who flew up on SpaceX, NASA's Nick Hague, front left in blue, and the Russian Space Agency's Alexander Gorbunov, front right in blue, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. Behind them, from left in black, are NASA's Jeanette Epps, Russia's Alexander Grebenkin, NASA's Mike Barratt and NASA's Matthew Dominick. From left, wearing red, are Russia's Ivan Vagner, NASA's Don Pettit and Russia's Alexei Ovchinin. Credit: NASA via AP The two astronauts stuck at the International Space Station since June welcomed their new ride home with Sunday's arrival of a SpaceX capsule. SpaceX launched the rescue mission on Saturday with a downsized crew of two astronauts and two empty seats reserved for Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who will return next year. The Dragon capsule docked in darkness as the two craft soared 265 miles (426 kilometers) above Botswana. NASA switched Wilmore and Williams to SpaceX following concerns over the safety of their Boeing Starliner capsule. It was the first Starliner test flight with a crew, and NASA decided the thruster failures and helium leaks that cropped up after liftoff were too serious and poorly understood to risk the test pilots' return. So Starliner returned to Earth empty earlier this month. The Dragon carrying NASA's Nick Hague and the Russian Space Agency's Alexander Gorbunov will remain at the space station until February, turning what should have been a weeklong trip for Wilmore and Williams into a mission lasting more than eight months. Two NASA astronauts were pulled from the mission to make room for Wilmore and Williams on the return leg. SpaceX capsule Dragon approaches the International Space Station, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. Credit: NASA via AP "I just want to say welcome to our new compadres," Williams, the space station commander, said once Hague and Gorbunov floated inside and were embraced by the nine astronauts awaiting them. Hague said it was a smooth flight up. "Coming through the hatch and seeing all the smiles, and as much as I've laughed and cried in the last 10 minutes, I know it's going to be an amazing expedition," he said. NASA likes to replace its station crews every six months or so. SpaceX has provided the taxi service since the company's first astronaut flight in 2020. NASA also hired Boeing for ferry flights after the space shuttles were retired, but flawed software and other Starliner issues led to years of delays and more than $1 billion in repairs. Starliner inspections are underway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, with post-flight reviews of data set to begin this week. In blue suits, NASAs Nick Hague, left, and the Russian Space Agencys Alexander Gorbunov enter the International Space Station from the SpaceX capsule Dragon, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. Credit: NASA via AP SpaceX capsule Dragon approaches the International Space Station, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. Credit: NASA via AP NASAs Nick Hague in blue enters the International Space Station from the SpaceX capsule Dragon, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. Credit: NASA via AP SpaceX capsule Dragon carries NASAs Nick Hague and the Russian Space Agencys Alexander Gorbunov to dock at the International Space Station, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. Credit: NASA via AP Russian Space Agencys Alexander Gorbunov enters the International Space Station from the SpaceX capsule Dragon, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. Credit: NASA via AP A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of two astronauts, lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Credit: AP Photo/Chris O'Meara A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of two astronauts, lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. Credit: AP Photo/Chris O'Meara A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a crew of two astronauts, lifts off from launch pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Credit: AP Photo/Chris O'Meara "We're a long way from saying, 'Hey, we're writing off Boeing,'" NASA's associate administrator Jim Free said at a pre-launch briefing. The arrival of two fresh astronauts means the four who have been up there since March can now return to Earth in their own SpaceX capsule in just over a week, bringing the station's crew size back down to the normal seven. Their stay was extended a month because of the Starliner turmoil. Although Saturday's liftoff went well, SpaceX said the rocket's spent upper stage ended up outside its targeted impact zone in the Pacific because of a bad engine firing. The company has halted all Falcon launches until it figures out what went wrong.was extended a month because of the Starliner turmoil. 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Derek Arnold, researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Arctic Biology, carries a male lynx weighing around 24 pounds. It was captured in a log box trap near Stuver Cabin on the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge in 2017. The lynx, in excellent condition during a population peak, was anesthetized and collared. After its release, the lynx dispersed eastward toward southern Yukon Territory. The log box trap used for its capture is visible in the background. Credit: Derek Arnold A new study by researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks's Institute of Arctic Biology provides compelling evidence that Canada lynx populations in Interior Alaska experience a "traveling population wave" affecting their reproduction, movement and survival. The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This discovery could help wildlife managers make better-informed decisions when managing one of the boreal forest's keystone predators. A traveling population wave is a common dynamic in biology, in which the number of animals in a habitat grows and shrinks, moving across a region like a ripple. Alaska's Canada lynx populations rise and fall in response to the 10- to 12-year boom-and-bust cycle of their primary prey: the snowshoe hare. During these cycles, hares reproduce rapidly, and then their population crashes when food resources become scarce. The lynx population follows this cycle, typically lagging one to two years behind. The study, which ran from 2018 to 2022, began at the peak of this cycle, according to Derek Arnold, lead investigator. Researchers tracked the reproduction, movement and survival of lynx as the population collapsed. Between 2018 and 2022, biologists live-trapped 143 lynx across five national wildlife refuges in Interior AlaskaTetlin, Yukon Flats, Kanuti and Koyukukas well as Gates of the Arctic National Park. The lynx were outfitted with GPS collars, allowing satellites to track their movements across the landscape and yielding an unprecedented body of data. Arnold explained that lynx responded to the collapse of the snowshoe hare population in three distinct stages, with changes originating in the east and moving westwardclear evidence of a traveling population wave. Reproduction decline: The first response was a sharp decline in reproduction. At the height of the cycle, when the study began, Arnold said researchers sometimes found as many as eight kittens in a single den. However, reproduction in the easternmost study site ceased first, and by the end of the study, it had dropped to zero across all study areas. Increased dispersal: After reproduction fell, lynx began to disperse, moving out of their original territories in search of better conditions. They traveled in all directions. "We thought there would be natural barriers to their movement, like the Brooks Range or Denali. But they chugged right across mountain ranges and swam across rivers," Arnold said. "That was shocking to us." One lynx traveled nearly 1,000 miles to the Alberta border. Survival decline: In the final stage, survival rates dropped. While lynx dispersed in all directions, those that traveled eastwardagainst the wavehad significantly higher mortality rates than those that moved westward or stayed within their original territories. Arnold said the study's findings won't sound surprising to anyone with real-life experience observing lynx and hares. "People like trappers have observed this pattern anecdotally for a long, long time. The data just provides evidence to support it and helps us see the big picture," he said. "We've long known that hares and lynx operate on a 10- to 12-year cycle, but we didn't fully understand how it played out across the landscape," Arnold said. "It wasn't clear if the cycle occurred simultaneously across the state or if it happened in isolated areas at different times. "Knowing that the wave usually sweeps from east to west makes lynx population trends more predictable," he said. "It will be easier for wildlife managers to make informed decisions now that we can predict how a population is going to behave on a more local scale, instead of just looking at the state as a whole." Another key takeaway is the importance of maintaining refuge populations. "The lynx that disperse during population declines don't usually survive. Most of them don't make it when they leave their home areas," Arnold said. Other UAF authors include Greg Breed, Shawn Crimmins and Knut Kielland. More information: Derek A. Arnold et al, Evidence for a survival-driven traveling wave in a keystone boreal predator population, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2414052121 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Real people with relatable stories can help public agencies counter social media disinformation campaigns and "fake news" around issues such as vaccination programs, academic researchers say. They examined how Laura Brennan, a 25-year-old woman who had been diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer, used her scientifically informed yet emotionally charged social media posts to significantly shift public perceptions of Ireland's HPV vaccination program. Her compelling personal story countered the aggressive anti-vaccine rhetoric and led to a positive turnaround in public opinion. She worked closely with the Irish Health Service Executive (IHSE), who supported her and provided her with facts and insights into both the vaccine and cervical cancer. Dr. Itziar Castello, Reader in Corporate Social Responsibility at Bayes Business School, City St George's University of London, and colleagues from ESSCA and Surrey universities, concluded that the "emotional legitimacy" provided by people with real life experience of the issue can be "transferred" to the public body involved. Laura approached the IHSE in 2015 to discuss misleading social media posts promoting scare stories claiming young people had developed serious illnesses after receiving the HPV vaccine. The vaccine is offered to adolescents in both Ireland and the UK to protect against the human papillomavirus (HPV), which can cause cervical cancer. Deploying emotional intelligence In the paper, which has been published in Business & Society, the academics note that the anti-vaxxers' misinformation campaign had driven Irish HPV vaccination rates down from 85% to 50% in less than two years. A counter-campaign by the IHSE "based on logic and facts had limited success in boosting vaccination uptake." While governments and other public bodies have worked with external partners to combat fake news, often spread by social media, this is largely confined to fact-checking or verification of official data. Previous research, the paper suggests, has not tackled misinformation aimed at attacking an organization's "legitimacy" and the role emotion plays in concert with science in responses to such attacks. Dr. Castello said, "The case study analysis shows the importance of emotional intelligenceof not just relying on facts and science but using emotions to take on and expose fake news. People remember how you make them feel and often that memory is stronger than their recall of facts and figures. "That approach could have been applied to the recent riots in the UK and should be considered as the NHS rolls out the autumn COVID and flu vaccination programs. We know that misinformation has undermined vaccination campaigns ranging from MMR to shingles, COVID and flu." Laura's involvement, initially as a patient advocate and then as the public face of the IHSE's HPV campaigns, proved a turning point in the battle against the anti-vaxxers. With extensive support from the IHSE, Laura (pictured above) raised public awareness of the vaccination program and challenged anti-vaxxer propaganda. This involved using "emotional batteries"a metaphor used to describe how "emotional energy" is generated through positive and negative emotions sparked by first-hand accounts, mostly through social media posts. She posted images and videos of both emotional moments involving her treatment and life-limiting diagnosis and 'relatable' footage of herself in the pub with friends having a normal night out. The paper says, "Her capacity to emotionally connect with the public through social and mass media was decisive in boosting Ireland's HPV vaccination rates to 74%." Co-author Dr. Marie Joachim, who teaches at the ESSCA School of Management in France, explains, "It is crucial that public institutions acknowledge emotions in their response to fake news. They need to rely on third parties like Laura to emotionally connect with the public and, in the end, regain legitimacy." However, the case study emphasizes the importance of the IHSE's close and supportive relationship with Lauraensuring she had the knowledge and confidence to forcefully rebut social media posts. More information: Marie Joachim et al, Moving Beyond "Facts Are Facts": Managing Emotions and Legitimacy After a Fake News Attack, Business & Society (2024). DOI: 10.1177/00076503241281632 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 teeth of the mower chewed through a stand of small trees and shrubs 30 miles from Mount Rainier and belched out a brown cloud of dirt and wood chips. Tom Frantz, a manager with the state Department of Natural Resources, used a joystick to control this tool remotely. DNR hopes it can help thin Washington's overcrowded forests that are primed for wildfire. The work is part of DNR's 20-year plan to improve forest health in Central and Eastern Washington and includes not only mechanical treatments like the mower but also prescribed burns. It also marks a different approach to managing forestland and wildland firefighting in the West. This is a mammoth undertaking with hundreds of thousands of acres needing help. The Legislature in 2021 budgeted $500 million over eight years to get things started and help communities prepare for wildfire. So far, groups including DNR, the U.S. Forest Service, tribes, commercial and private landowners, and other state agencies have completed nearly 800,000 acres of treatment, of its goal of 1.25 million acres by 2037. The stakes are high in a state that has seen record wildfires in recent years. Washington had its second- and third-worst fire seasons in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Wildfires in the Pacific Northwest have also destroyed hundreds of homes and structures, devalued timber sales, closed highways and foiled carbon sequestration plans. After over a century of policies that prioritized fire suppression, unhealthy and overgrown forests are widespread across Eastern Washington. When a wildfire sweeps through these forests, which historically would experience periodic fires, they burn to a crisp because of decades of accumulated leaves, pine needles, shrubs and younger trees in the understory. Nevertheless, barriers and questions remain. Prescribed fire, an essential step in making forests more resilient to wildfire, has been thwarted by workforce shortages and regulatory roadblocks. Hundreds of thousands to millions of acres still need some kind of intervention to be restored to health. Conservationists have also questioned to what degree the plan has changed operations at the massive agency and how much of DNR's own resilience work is its standard forest harvests repackaged under a new name. Wildfire season in the Pacific Northwest is expected to become longer and more intense as summers are anticipated to become hotter and drier. Forest resiliency scientists argue the treatmentsif done at scalehave the potential to fundamentally change fire behavior in the state. What does a healthy forest look like? An hour drive outside Mount Rainier National Park, the forest road tunnels through a blanket of dense, decades-old pine and fir trees. You can barely see through the understory, and tree trunks brush up against the needles of younger Douglas firs, only a few feet tall. This view might seem natural to the hikers, campers and motorcyclists who visit the area each summer, but to those who have studied these landscapes, their composition is the result of decades of Western forest management. Forest fires emerged as a natural enemy in the early days of settlement, when timber made up as much as 90% of the country's energy needs for things like heating, cooking, construction and toolmaking, said Lincoln Bramwell, the U.S. Forest Service's chief historian. Prevailing scientific understanding on forests came from countries like France or Germany, which don't experience the same type of forest fires. Settlers considered wildfire something that needed to be eliminated. Yet Indigenous people understood the necessity of wildfire for a healthy forest ecology, often lighting fires of their own to cleanse the land. When settlers moved west, they fought wildfires directly, killed Indigenous people en masse and outlawed cultural burning practices, said Sean Parks, research ecologist with the Forest Service. The number of annual wildfires had dropped sharply by 1880 and the formation of the Forest Service in 1905 created a formal agency tasked with ridding forests of wildfire, he said. By the 1950s, wildfires that used to burn around 30 million acres each year now burned close to 3 million a year, said Timothy Ingalsbee, a wildfire ecologist and the executive director of the nonprofit Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology. During these decades, forests across the American West were accumulating a fire deficit. Grasses, shrubs and trees that historically burned away collected and piled up. In Eastern Washington, around half of the forests have historically experienced low-intensity wildfires every five to 25 years, which would open up spaces for animals like deer to travel through and recycle nutrients in the soil. These forests would be dominated by fire-resistant species like Douglas fir and ponderosa pine, which rely on fires to open their cones and distribute their seeds. "For the most part in Eastern Washington, fire was just part of the system that maintained and shaped it," said Derek Churchill, a DNR forest health scientist. Many forests across Eastern Washington now lack forests with large and medium trees where less than 40% of the sky is covered by tree canopies. "We've done such an amazing job, even on the federal lands, of removing those large, old trees that we're in a deep deficit. We don't have anywhere near the number that we would have historically," said Dave Werntz, a science and conservation director at Conservation Northwest. How forests can better survive wildfire In Eastern Washington, fire has long been a natural part of the landscape. However, policies that have prioritized fire suppression have led to overgrown forests that are not able to survive wildfire when it does come through. Forest health experts say a combination of reducing the tree density with thinning and prescribed fire can help boost survival rates for the largest and oldest trees, which may already be fire-tolerant species. According to scientific research on Pacific Northwest forests, around 3 million acres of the 10 million acres of forested lands in Eastern Washington are unhealthy and need prescribed fire, thinning, time or a combination to restore the landscape to a resilient condition. However, not all of that land is accessible to humans. So far, in higher-priority lands, DNR has estimated that at least 900,000 to 1.3 million acres in Eastern Washington need thinning or fire. The need will always surpass what resources are available, especially after taking into account that treated lands require maintenance, Churchill said. Since 2017, various agencies in Washington have completed 790,790 acres of treatment like thinning and pruning, though after accounting for the fact that those treatments often happen on the same pieces of land, the actual footprint of the treatments total around 381,000 acres. As proof of the efficacy of forest treatments, the DNR likes to point out one area in the massive 2021 Schneider Springs fire near Mount Rainier National Park. On one side of a road, the U.S. Forest Service cut down trees in 2008, created slash piles a year later and did a prescribed burn in 2013. The forest on the other side of the road was untreated. After the fire, the difference between the two sides of the road was stark. On the untreated side, the trees look like spiky black toothpicks. On the treated side, the trees survived and still have green canopies, despite some scorching near their base. With less dead vegetation on the ground, fewer understory trees and more room between trees, the fire burned less intensely and wasn't able to travel up the existing trees. Naturally, fire-resistant ponderosa pines have thick bark and don't have branches low to the ground that can help a fire climb to the canopy. Barriers around fire and questions from conservationists The lack of prescribed fire threatens to be the biggest bottleneck of all in Washington's forest resiliency plans. Only around 23% of all treatments and 12% of DNR's treatments since 2017 were prescribed fires, according to data collected by DNR. Most of those treatments were when piles of branches, shrubs and "slash" were burned and only around 0.5% of all the treatments were "broadcast burns," or when an entire section of a forest floor was cleared of vegetation. DNR ignited its first prescribed burn of that kind in two decades in 2022. Other agencies, like the Forest Service and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, have been conducting prescribed burns for longer. Earlier this year, Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz wrote that the amount of prescribed fire called for by the state's scientific work is at least five times what is currently done. The lack of prescribed burning can be blamed on workforce shortages and regulatory hurdles, said DNR assistant division manager Kate Williams. She said the state has a narrow burn window in the spring and fall, and if firefighters are already out on wildfires, there may not be personnel available to perform prescribed burns. Washington's air-quality standards are also more strict than federal requirements and do not have the flexibility needed, she said. Experts have also argued that because the scale of the issue is so large, there needs to be more "managed fire," or wildfires that are allowed to burn in a larger area without harming nearby communities. While this can happen on federal land, Williams said, state laws still require immediate suppression of wildfire and DNR still aims to keep fires small to protect timber. It's unclear so far whether the current rate of treatment is fast enough to make a difference in some communities, said Katie Fields, Conservation Action's Forest and Communities program manager, but generally thinning and prescribed fire "needs to happen on a much more rapid scale." "If they meet the goal (of 1.25 million acres of treatment) and they're not really getting prescribed fire back in the landscape, it feels questionable whether those stands will be at the level of forest health that we're seeking," Fields said. Conservationists have also expressed concern over certain DNR timber harvests that are counted as forest health work. DNR reports the highest amount of these harvests counting as treatments. While there are cases when a clear-cut can help restore a landscape, Werntz, with Conservation Northwest, said he is skeptical that the amount DNR is doing is actually what the science calls for. Rachel Baker, the forest program director with Washington Conservation Action, agreed and said she would like more details about these treatments from DNR. Churchill acknowledged that these treatments are done to make money for DNR and its beneficiaries but said they "often" include forest-health benefits, like shifting the area to more resilient fire-resistant species or creating open habitat. DNR spokesperson Will Rubin added that these tree harvests are different from standard timber harvests in Western Washington, and in all of DNR's cuttings, a certain number of trees are left standing. "We know people have economic objectives. Can people meet those objectives and still meet these other broader forest-health goals? I think we can. The devil is in the details in particular landscapes," Churchill said. Regardless, DNR has been hoping to expand more of its treatments to Western Washington. While fire has been historically less frequent here, research suggests these areas could see at least twice as much fire activity in the 30 years after 2035. But the job will never be over when you consider that trees and other plants just keep on growing, said Chuck Hersey, DNR forest health environmental planner. "You gotta run faster than the treadmill and keep running faster than the treadmill or else you're gonna fall off. That's our challenge," he said. 2024 The Seattle 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: Spectrum of the quasar J1007+2115. Credit: Liu et al., 2024. An international team of astronomers has employed the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to perform spectroscopic observations of a luminous quasar known as J1007+2115. They detected a fast outflow originating from the quasar's host galaxy. The finding was reported in a paper published September 20 on the pre-print server arXiv. Quasars, or quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) are active galactic nuclei (AGN) of very high luminosity, emitting electromagnetic radiation observable in radio, infrared, visible, ultraviolet and X-ray wavelengths. They are among the brightest and most distant objects in the known universe, and serve as fundamental tools for numerous studies in astrophysics as well as cosmology. For instance, quasars have been used to investigate the large-scale structure of the universe and the era of reionization. They also improved our understanding of the dynamics of supermassive black holes and the intergalactic medium. At a redshift of 7.51, J1007+2115 is one of the highest redshift quasars known to date. It has a bolometric luminosity of about 204 quattuordecillion erg/s, and its black hole has a mass of approximately 1.43 billion solar masses. Previous observations of J1007+2115 have found that its host galaxy has abundant molecular gas and dust, with masses at a level of 22 and 0.17 billion solar masses. Moreover, this galaxy is experiencing rapid star formation as its star formation rate is estimated to be 80250 solar masses per year. Now, a group of astronomers led by Weizhe Liu of the Steward Observatory in Tucson, Arizona, report new findings regarding the host of J1007+2115. Using the NIRSpec integral field unit onboard JWST, they identified an extended emission of doubly ionized oxygen (O III). This emission is highly blueshifted and broad, and extends to about 6,500 light years away from the quasar. Further analysis has found that the emission is most likely tracing a rapid outflow in this quasar's host galaxy. Therefore, taking into account the quasar's high redshift, it is the earliest galactic-scale outflow known at present. According to the paper, the momentum outflow rate is about 3.7 undecillion dynes, which constitutes approximately 61% of the radiation pressure force provided by the quasar. Moreover, the kinetic energy outflow rate, at a level of 0.36 quattuordecillion erg/s, is about 0.2 percent of the quasar's bolometric luminosity. These results suggest that the quasar is powerful enough to easily drive the outflow. The study found that the outflow has a large velocity of about 2,100 km/s, which suggests that it may easily escape the host galaxy. The mass outflow rate was calculated to be at a level of 300 solar masses per year, while the average dynamical timescale of the outflow was estimated to be approximately 1.7 million years. More information: Weizhe Liu et al, Fast Outflow in the Host Galaxy of the Luminous z = 7.5 Quasar J1007+2115, arXiv (2024). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2409.13189 Journal information: arXiv 2024 Science X Network Investigators are asking for the publics help piecing together what happened before Saturdays deadly airplane crash at Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. Five people, including a child, were onboard when the single-engine Cirrus SR22 crashed into the trees near the monuments airstrip at 5:18 p.m. before catching fire. There were no survivors. Were here to figure out what happened, why it happened and how we can prevent it from happening again, Ryan Enders, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, told reporters Sunday. If you saw anything, heard anything, have a doorbell camera that might have captured the airplane or even the sounds of the airplane, the NTSB wants to hear from you, Enders said. Witnesses reported seeing the plane approach the runway, circle and then on second approach, crash into the trees, National Park Service spokesperson Michael Barber said. On Sunday afternoon, the charred remains sat on the floor in a thick, wooded area next to the airstrip, while a piece of the plane could be seen high in the pine trees from the runway. Enders referred questions about the identities of the victims to the state medical examiners office while NPS officials said they will likely release names in the coming days. Enders and another NTSB investigator from Washington arrived at the memorial about noon Sunday and began their on-site investigation, looking at the actions and qualifications of the pilot, the condition of the aircraft and weather and environmental conditions. At the time of the crash, conditions were clear, visibility was about 10 miles and winds were gusting about 16 mph, according to data from First Flight Airports weather station. NTSB and FAA records show the Cirrus SR22, built in 2023, belonged to Pantheon Aviation LLC with a residential address listed in Franklin, North Carolina. FlightAware.com radar shows the plane left from Pinehurst, North Carolina, at 11:16 a.m. Saturday, landing in Ocracoke about an hour later. The plane left Ocracoke for Dare County Regional Airport in Manteo at 4:22 p.m.. It arrived at 4:44 p.m., then left Manteo at 5:10 p.m. There were no mayday calls from the plane before the crash, Enders said. The NTSB expects to issue a preliminary report on the crash within 10 days, but the full investigation, including releasing a cause, will take nine months to a year. The First Flight Airstrip has been the scene of 11 aircraft crashes over the last 40 years, with the last reported fatal crash in 1984, according to the NTSB. The First Flight Airport was established in 1928 and commemorates the site where Orville and Wilbur Wright made their first powered flight on Dec. 17, 1903. Anyone with information about Saturdays crash is asked to email the NTSB at witness@ntsb.gov. You are here: World Flash Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, on Sept. 28, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] Hezbollah confirmed on Sunday that the group's senior leader Ali Karaki, head of the southern front, was killed, along with top leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in the Israeli airstrikes targeting Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday. Hezbollah said in a statement that Karaki "was martyred with a group of his jihadist brothers in the enemy's criminal raid on Haret Hreik, accompanied by ... Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah." On Friday evening, Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes on Hezbollah's main headquarters in Dahieh, the southern suburbs of Beirut, during which Nasrallah and some other commanders of the armed group were killed. The raids flattened several residential buildings, resulting in at least six deaths, 91 injuries, and significant infrastructure damage in the neighborhood, local media reported earlier. These heavy assaults mark the latest escalation of the ongoing clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, which began on Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah started launching rockets at Israel in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, prompting Israel's retaliatory artillery fire and airstrikes in southeastern Lebanon. Lopez Obrador inaugurates the Chetumal Tren Maya station as his last public event as President Chetumal, Q.R. On Saturday, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador inaugurated the Chetumal Tren Maya station. Lopez Obrador was accompanied by dignitaries during his last public event of the President of Mexico. During his Saturday speech, he recalled that the 1,554 kilometers of the Maya Train were financed with 500 billion pesos from the public treasury. He thanked the residents along the Maya Train route, construction workers, companies and executives and public servants for the accomplishment. He highlighted the work of Commander of the Felipe Angeles Engineering Group, Gustavo Ricardo Vallejo Suarez, the General Director of the Majority State Participation Company Tren Maya SA de CV, Oscar David Lozano Aguila and the Secretary of National Defense, Luis Cresencio Sandoval Gonzalez, who he said made the operation of the Maya Train possible. Photo: AMLO September 28, 2024. President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, who accompanied him, congratulated the construction workers. They are, she said, mind, body and the force of transformation. Photo: AMLO September 28, 2024. During his Chetumal speech, Lopez Obrador said the Maya Train, contrary to the smear campaign, meant the decree of the largest ecological reserve of the jungle after the Amazon, the most ambitious rescue of archaeological sites in history and the recognition of the Mayans of before and those of now as the great guardians of the southeast. During the ceremony, Governor Mara Lezama expressed her gratitude for the projects during the AMLO government. Photo: AMLO September 28, 2024. Few times in the history of the world and of Mexico are women and men born with the unbreakable will to profoundly transform an entire nation, with the solid foundations of moral principles and the strength of the noblest ideals, like you, Mr. President, like our President-elect, said Mara Lezama. Photo: AMLO September 28, 2024. Lopez Obrador thanked federal government officials for their support throughout the six years of work. Our task is nearly concluded here and in a few hours, I will hand over the mandate to the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, who for the first time in history, is a woman, he said. Single car crash sends three to PDC hospital Playa del Carmen, Q.R. Three people were reported injured over the weekend in a single vehicle highway accident outside Playa del Carmen. Emergency vehicles were at the scene around 4:30 p.m. Saturday after reports a car hit a highway sign. Police and paramedics arrived to find three people left with injuries inside a white Suzuki Artiga that slammed into highway infrastructure before coming to a stop near a CFE post. Impact was strong enough to have severed a front tire and rim from the vehicle. Traffic along the federal 307 south of Playa del Carmen was slowed due to the afternoon accident. National Guard Highways attended to traffic while paramedics transferred the three from inside the car to Playa del Carmen hospitals. There was no word on an official cause for the single-car crash. The flooding caused by Hurricane Helene is causing water quality issues in Montgomery County and a boil notice was issued Monday. The notice includes the entire county, including water customers in Blacksburg and Christiansburg. It is the first time in recent memory that a boil notice includes both of the towns. The notice will remain in effect until safe drinking water test results occur from water sampling tests conducted by the Virginia Department of Health, according to a county news release. To address the problem, the New River Valley Regional Water Authority is adjusting treatment additives, according to the boil notice and anticipates resolving the problem within the next 24 hours. All water samples collected will meet state and federal drinking water standards before the notice will be lifted, according to the release. It is unknown when the boil water notice will be lifted, according to the release. Customers should expect to plan on on boiling water for a minimum of 48 hours, according to the release. The release includes instructions for boiling water: Prior to drinking water from the PSAs water system, bring the water to a rolling boil for approximately one minute. This will help destroy bacteria that may have contaminated the drinking water. Allow the water to cool before using. Hot tap water is not a substitute for boiling water. Water from a water heater is not intended for drinking. Additionally, discard all the ice cubes from such automatic makers and turn off the icemaker until the boil notice is lifted. If water cannot be boiled: An alternative method of purification for residents who do not have gas or electricity available is to use liquid household bleach to disinfect water. The bleach product should be recently purchased, free of additives and scents, and should contain a hypochlorite solution of at least 5.25%. Public health officials recommend adding eight drops of bleach (about teaspoon) to each gallon of water. The water should be stirred and allowed to stand for at least 30 minutes before use. Water purification tablets may also be used by following the manufacturers instructions. Potable water is available at local grocery and convenience stores. For more information call 540-639-2575, according to the boil notice. Learn more at the Virginia Department of Health, vdh.virginia.gov. A Roanoke County police officer is appealing a judges decision not to dismiss a lawsuit that accuses him of fatally shooting a mentally troubled man during a standoff at his home. Shortly after attorneys for Matthew Jennings noted his appeal on Sept. 9, a two-week trial that had been scheduled to start Monday in Roanokes federal court was canceled. It likely will be next year before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determines what happens next in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by family members of Shawn Smith. Jennings shot Smith as he stood in a screened-in porch of his home in the North Lakes neighborhood the night of Nov. 26, 2021, after police were called to a reported domestic disturbance involving a man with a gun. It turned out that Smith who according to the lawsuit was in the midst of a mental health crisis did not have a gun when Jennings fired his high-powered rifle from a distance of about 50 feet away, killing the 52-year-old with two shots to the neck. Jennings maintains that his use of lethal force was justified after Smith blinded him by shining a strobe flashlight into his eyes, maintained a shooting stance, made movements toward him, and refused to drop an object that the officer feared was a gun. In asking U.S. District Judge Michael Urbanski to dismiss the lawsuit, Jennings attorney cited the legal doctrine of qualified immunity, which shields government officials from civil liability unless their actions violated the clearly established rights of another, which are defined as what a reasonable person would have known. But Urbanski ruled there were questions of fact two people who witnessed the shooting from their next-door home described it differently than Jennings that should be left for a jury to decide. The witnesses, both retired from the Roanoke County Sheriffs Office, said the flashlight was not strobing and was pointed away from Jennings when the fatal shots were fired, and that Smith was not advancing toward the officer. The jury could find that Smith did not pose an imminent threat to the safety of Jennings or others and that using deadly force in these circumstances violated Smiths clearly established Fourth Amendment right to verbally engage with police from his back porch in a non-threatening manner, Urbanski wrote in a Sept. 4 opinion that denied Jennings motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Accordingly, given the genuine issue of material fact at this stage as to whether Smith posed an imminent threat, the court cannot apply qualified immunity as a matter of law, the opinion read. Critical fact issues remain for a jury. In his appeal, Jennings will ask the Fourth Circuit to review the judges ruling on the immunity issue. Wythe Countys clerk of court may not have Prince Albert in a can, but he does have Thomas Jefferson at least his signature in a drawer. After multiple phone calls, emails and a more than 1,000-mile roundtrip journey, Moe Musser retrieved a pilfered piece of local history last week and returned it to its rightful resting place. Presently sandwiched between two clear protective sleeves and locked away for safekeeping, the single piece of weathered paper is an 1825 Wythe County court summons for the nations third president and author of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson, who died the next year at age 83, was asked to appear on behalf of Jacob King whose three slaves Robin, Polly and Henry were suing for their freedom. From age an infirmities I am unable to attend this summons, Jefferson penned on the reverse, adding his iconic signature underneath. In his correspondence and according to Monticellos website, Jefferson, in his later years, suffered from a host of maladies including chronic bowel problems, swollen legs, painful joints, fatigue, a fractured left wrist and a boil on his jaw. Originally tucked away in the courts basement with other old records, Jeffersons summons went missing at some point possibly around 1997 after a researcher rediscovered it. It recently resurfaced at University Archives, a Connecticut auction house specializing in historical autographs and artifacts. Greg Crawford, state archivist with the Library of Virginia, said someone on Monticellos staff saw the Sept. 18 auction preview and reached out to the Rockingham County court clerk, who notified Crawford. He immediately notified Musser. It was very apparent it was a court record, Crawford said, and legally belonged where it originated. Musser, in turn, called University Archives founder John Reznikoff, a world-renowned handwriting and document examiner whos been featured in the New York Times and appeared as an expert guest on Pawn Stars. He quickly removed the listing. According to Musser, the man who consigned the summons told Musser hed found it among some passed-down family papers. Copies of what appear to be the accompanying handwritten lawsuit were included in the auction lot. In the suit, Robin, Polly and Henry claimed they were the children of a yellow woman who was the daughter of an Indian woman. According to the Library of Virginia, descendants of illegally enslaved Indian women could file freedom suits in the commonwealths courts. The childrens mother also apparently sued for her freedom, and King ended up questioning Jefferson at Monticello in May 1825, according to an unofficial transcription in the National Archives. During the deposition, King asked Jefferson about a slaves bill of sale. Neither the archives nor the auction documents give the outcome of either case. Had it gone on the block, the Jefferson summons would have likely fetched $20,000 to $40,000, Reznikoff estimated. Most importantly University Archives and myself always cooperate in bringing historical items back to where they belong if they were improperly removed, Reznikoff wrote in a email. As such we have worked for decades with places like the National Archives, The FBI and Homeland Security. Musser said the consignor was upset about the loss. Accompanied by Wythe County Sheriffs Office Chief Deputy Anthony Cline, Musser collected the summons last Wednesday morning. By that evening, it was back at the courthouse with plans in the works for its future. It was a long trip, but it was trip well worth it, Musser said. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Flash Giant panda Ri Ri is loaded into a special container at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Japan, Sept. 29, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] Beloved giant pandas Ri Ri and Shin Shin left Tokyo's Ueno Zoo in the early hours of Sunday to fly back to their home country China due to age-related health concerns. Despite the pre-dawn hour, panda enthusiasts gathered outside the zoo to bid them farewell, with many shedding tears. The two pandas were scheduled to fly from Narita Airport to China, where they will be housed at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda. In the days leading up to their departure, Ueno Zoo saw an influx of visitors. On Saturday, the final public viewing day for the panda pair, more than 2,000 fans lined up before opening to say their goodbyes. Ri Ri and Shin Shin have brought warmth and joy to the Japanese during their stay in Tokyo, like a ray of light in the time of hardships, says Yasumasa Tomita, deputy director of Ueno zoo. Some fans, like Sumida from Aichi Prefecture, even camped overnight to catch a final glimpse of the pandas. "I fell in love with them at first sight and discovered how lively pandas really are," Sumida said, expressing her gratitude for the fond memories. Giant panda Shin Shin is loaded into a special container at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Japan, Sept. 29, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] The two pandas arrived in Japan in February 2011, shortly before the 9.0-magnitude earthquake. Their public appearances provided comfort and joy to the Japanese people during a difficult time. "It has been 13 years since the earthquake, and I'm grateful for the healing they've brought us," said Tokyo resident Yoshihara Mutsuko, who missed the chance to see the pandas but planned to visit them in China in the future. Giant panda Ri Ri, a male, and female giant panda Shin Shin, both from southwest China's Sichuan Province, arrived at Ueno Zoo in 2011 under a leasing agreement. They gave birth to the celebrity giant panda Xiang Xiang in 2017, which was returned to China last year, as well as twin cubs Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei in 2021. All the three pandas, born and raised at the zoo, attracted crowds of panda lovers from both home and abroad. According to Ueno Zoo, both pandas, now 19 years old, have developed health issues such as high blood pressure due to their advanced age. Visitors take photos of giant pandas Ri Ri (L) and Shin Shin at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Japan, Sept. 28, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] Japanese and Chinese experts have maintained close communication and conducted joint consultations to provide appropriate medical treatments. Upon discussions between the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the China Wildlife Conservation Association, it was decided they should be sent back to China for better care and treatment. Following their departure, Ueno Zoo will be home to two pandas, the twins Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei. Martin Rodriguez, 33, of Santa Maria, has been arrested in connection with several fires and building damage, and booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail on multiple charges including arson and vandalism, Santa Maria Police said Wednesday. Crew of Vietnamese fishing boat injured in an attack in the South China Sea, state media say In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Milius (DDG 69) conducts routine underway operations in South China Sea, Friday March 24, 2023. (Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Greg Johnson/U.S. Navy via AP) HANOI (AP) A Vietnamese fishing boat was attacked in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands, claimed by both China and Vietnam, and 10 crew members were injured, Vietnamese state media said Monday. The Vietnamese boat radioed Sunday to report the attack, saying three fishermen suffered broken limbs and seven others received other injuries, the Tien Phong newspaper quoted a local official at Binh Chau commune in Quang Ngai province as saying. It was not clear what country's boat attacked the Vietnamese vessel, and commune officials told The Associated Press they had nothing to add to the newspaper report. Vietnam's border guard is investigating the case but has not yet made any information available. The Paracel Islands are about 400 kilometers (250 miles) off Vietnam's eastern coast and about the same distance southeast from the Chinese province of Hainan. Both countries claim them, as does the self-governing island of Taiwan. The newspaper report said the attack on the boat occurred in Vietnamese waters but did not specify exactly where it was. China claims almost all of the strategically vital South China Sea as its own territory, which has caused disputes with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. Beijing has been increasingly assertive in pursuing its claims, which has brought China into direct confrontations with the Philippines and Vietnam. The United States has no claims in the South China Sea itself, but has deployed Navy and Air Force assets to patrol the waterway, through which around $5 trillion in global trade transits each year. China threatened serious consequences last year after the U.S. Navy sailed a destroyer around the Paracel Islands in a freedom of navigation operation" challenging what it called excessive maritime claims." The Paracel Islands have been under de facto Chinese control since 1974, when Beijing seized them from Vietnam in a brief naval conflict. Last year, satellite photos showed China appeared to be building an airstrip on Triton Island in the Paracel group. As it was laid out at the time, it appeared it would be big enough to accommodate turboprop aircraft and drones but not fighter jets or bombers. China has also had a small harbor and buildings on the island for years, along with a helipad and radar arrays. China has refused to provide details of its island construction work other than to say it is aimed at promoting global navigation safety. It has rejected accusations that it is militarizing the waterway, a key global and security route which is also believed to be sitting atop vast undersea deposits of gas and oil. ___ Rising reported from Bangkok. LE MARS, Iowa -- Authorities are investigating the death of a 21-year-old man who was found dead at a Le Mars residence Monday. The Le Mars Police Department identified the man as Miguel Martinez in a statement. At 2:32 a.m. Monday, officers responded to an apartment at 37 Third Avenue Northwest for a disturbance and possible shots fired. Upon arrival, they found Martinez with "wounds consistent of being shot." A medical examiner pronounced him dead at the scene. No suspects were found at the home, according to the statement. The police department was assisted by Le Mars Fire Rescue, the Plymouth County Sheriff's Office, Iowa State Patrol, Rock Valley Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. No additional information is being released at this time due to the ongoing investigation. Flash Rescuers evacuate residents trapped by flood in a neighborhood in Lalitpur, Nepal, Sept. 28, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] Nepal's hydropower plants and irrigation facilities were badly damaged in floods and landslides triggered by incessant rainfalls in recent days, with an estimated initial loss of 4.35 billion Nepali rupees (32.6 million U.S. dollars). Addressing a press meeting on Sunday, officials at Nepal's Ministry for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation said that disasters spelt by continuous rains on Friday and Saturday had caused an estimated loss of 3 billion rupees (22.5 million dollars) to hydropower and transmission projects, while river control and irrigation projects suffered an estimated loss of 1.35 billion rupees (10.1 million dollars). According to the officials, floods had damaged 11 operating hydropower plants with a combined generation capacity of 625.96MW and forced other operating plants to shut down. As a result, 1,100MW in generation capacity was halted, nearly one-third of the total capacity of the country's operating power plants. Fifteen hydropower plants under construction were damaged as well, it was noted. As power plants and transmission lines were damaged, power supply in different parts of the country has been disrupted. "Managing enough power for the country in the upcoming winter could be challenging as it takes time to maintain and repair the damaged power plants," said Kul Man Ghising, managing director of Nepal Electricity Authority. Nepal produces surplus hydropower during the monsoon season, but in the dry season it generates around one-third of the power. Meanwhile, the death toll from floods and landslides hit 170 by Sunday evening, the Home Ministry said in a statement. Furthermore, 111 were injured and 42 others missing, the ministry said, noting that about 4,000 victims had been rescued. The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement that 47 of 80 national highways in Nepal had remained obstructed. How many people did the Beryl blackout kill? Posted on 30 September 2024 by Guest Author This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler You should probably learn the term compound climate event. It refers to the occurrence of multiple weather- or climate-related hazards happening simultaneously or in close succession, leading to amplified impacts. One of the most feared compound events is a hurricane causing massive infrastructure damage followed by extreme heat. If the damage caused a blackout, it could leave a huge population without access to air conditioning, leading to heat-related illnesses and fatalities. This is far from a theoretical occurrence: It just happened in Houston when Hurricane Beryl hit the city, knocking out power for days. Various news reports put the number of deaths due to Beryl at a few dozen. A third to half of these deaths have been attributed to extreme heat associated with the blackout. So maybe a dozen or so. Is that estimate reasonable? Measuring heat-related deaths is challenging. When someone dies during a heatwave, the cause might be recorded as a heart attack, stroke, or respiratory failure, without acknowledging that heat played a role in triggering these conditions. This leads to chronic underestimations of the true toll of heat on public health. How to estimate deaths from heat Scientists have been studying mortality due to extreme heat for more than a decade and, in that time, the public health community has developed reasonably good statistical methodology for estimating how temperature affects death rates. Share The statistical relation between extreme heat and mortality is expressed as a relative risk (RR) curve. Here are the RR curves for three cities, Houston, Chicago, and Seattle: Relative risk curves, for temperatures above the MMT. Derived from Shindell 2020 parameterization. The RR curve has a value of 1 at the minimum mortality temperature (MMT) this is the optimal temperature, where the death rate is the lowest. Chicagos MMT is 23C, and lets assume there are 100 deaths at that temperature. The RR curve tells you how mortality increases with temperature, relative to the number of deaths at the MMT. For example, at 28C, Chicagos RR value is 1.2, meaning there are 120 deaths at that temperature (1.2 times 100, the number of deaths at the MMT). From this, we conclude that increasing the temperature from 23C to 28C leads to 20 temperature-related deaths (120 minus 100). We see that Houstons RR curve is the lowest, meaning it has the fewest heat-related deaths, because the city experiences high temperatures regularly, so the city is well adapted to extreme heat. Just about everything in the city is air conditioned, and this lowers the risk of heat-related mortality during a heat wave. Chicagos curve is higher than Houstons because, although it experiences hot summers, extreme heat events are less frequent, so the population is not as well-adapted to extreme heat. Seattle has the highest RR curve because it typically has a cooler climate, and extreme heat events are rare. The population is even less adapted to high temperatures than Chicago, and the infrastructure such as widespread air conditioning may not be sufficiently deployed to handle sudden heat waves. Estimating deaths during a blackout Hurricane Beryl caused a massive power outage, affecting most of the Houston metropolitan area at its peak on July 8, 2024. Over the following days, power was slowly restored. By July 10, about 2.3 million customers were still without power. On July 11, over 1 million customers were still in the dark. Hundreds of thousands remained without electricity even a week later, with about 10,000 outages persisting until July 18. Without air conditioning, people experienced higher temperatures, and this certainly led to additional deaths. To estimate how many, I will make this bold assumption: without power, Houstons RR curve will equal that of cities like Chicago or Seattle, which are not well adapted to heat. To estimate this, I will take the daily average temperature for Houston for the days after Beryl and calculate the heat-related deaths using the Houston, Chicago, and Seattle RR curves. The differences, Chicago minus Houston and Seattle minus Houston, are estimates of the mortality due to the blackout: temperature is Houstons daily average temperature in Celsius, Seattle - Houston is the number of deaths due to the blackout using the Seattle RR curve, Chicago - Houston is the number of deaths due to the blackout using the Chicago RR curve. To get a total for Beryl, I will further assume that Houston is 100% out of power for the first two days, then 50% out of power for the next three days, after which power is restored. This yields 361 and 63 deaths due to the blackout. Given the uncertainties, this should be viewed as an order-of-magnitude estimate, which is a rough calculation used to determine the general scale of the number. The goal is to figure out if heat-related mortality due to the blackout caused ones, tens, hundreds, thousands of deaths. We conclude that the number of deaths is on the order of 100 (often written as O(100)) due to the blackout. The actual number might be 50, 200, or 300, but its probably not 10 or 1,000. This is only the deaths due to heat. Total deaths will be larger because there are lots of ways the blackout can kill people other than extreme heat. For example, some people need electricity to run medical equipment (e.g., oxygen concentrators) and, when the power goes out, those people are in deep trouble. Did we luck out? Houstons temperatures after Beryl were not particularly hot; daily average temperatures ranged from the mid to upper 20s Celsius. What would happen if we had experienced a really hot period? One of the hottest 5-day periods in Texas occurred Aug. 7-11, 2011. If those temperatures had occurred after Beryl, there would have been a lot more death: same as above, but for a very hot 5-day period This yields estimates of 863 and 232 deaths due to the blackout using the two estimates. Again, this is an order-of-magnitude estimate, so take the exact numbers with a grain of salt. A more reliable conclusion is that the number of deaths would be several times higher than we estimated occurred during Beryl. Thus, we did luck out, to some extent at least, and things could certainly have been worse. What about Phoenix? There is a peer-reviewed study estimating deaths due to a blackout during a heatwave in Phoenix. They have a much more complicated way of figuring out how mortality changes, which I wont explain here; read the paper if youre interested. The Washington Post wrote about it here. The analysis estimated that a Beryl-like 5-day blackout in Phoenix could kill more than 13,000 people. Phoenix regularly experiences summer highs that can reach above 45C, and without the cooling relief of air conditioning, indoor temperatures quickly rise to dangerous levels. This makes a blackout in Phoenix far deadlier than in places with milder climates, including Houston. Using my analog-city method, I estimate that deaths would be 2,800 and 1,200 people, e.g., O(1,000) fatalities. Thus, Im getting lower fatalities than this previous estimate. Nevertheless, its clear that this would be a mass-casualty event. Conclusions Ultimately, we dont really know how many people will perish in a blackout during a heat wave. We simply dont have the data to test our various estimates. In fact, we may not know exactly how bad it will be until it happens. But one thing is clear: a lot of people will die. It is also evident that the poorest and most vulnerable will bear the greatest suffering. With few resources, no means to evacuate, and no social network to lean on in moments of crisis, they stand most vulnerable in the face of climate catastrophe. Related stuff Heres a TCB post explaining how we estimate the number of heat-related deaths. For more about why extreme heat is so deadly, check out this old TCB post. Texas is undercounting heat-related deaths Heat deaths in Texas are increasing rapidly Jeff Goodell on blackouts after hurricanes, The heatwave scenario that keeps climate scientists up at night in the NYT. How Blackouts during Heat Waves Amplify Mortality and Morbidity Risk by Stone et al. Heres the Washington Post article about it. Code to reproduce the plots and numbers Ask A.J. is Slates advice column on addiction, recovery, and how to hate yourself less. Submit a question here. Its anonymous! Dear A.J., I live in Colorado and never used cannabis until it was legal, when I began vaping it occasionally. I am 50 years old, and I find myself now addicted to it. I had thought that cannabis wasnt addictive, but there is really no other way to describe what Im going through. My use got worse during the pandemic, when I was working from home all the time. I often vape cannabis all day, every day, and I do want to stop. I have tried more times than I can count to quit and cannot seem to do it on my own. I dont know if AA would help or even what is the best way to get help. My doctor was encouraging to me and said she would support me, but when I asked what the options are, she said mainly anti-nausea meds, which Im not convinced would help. What is the standard of treatment for cannabis use disorder? What can I do to give myself the best chance of success the next time I try to quit? Stoned in Colorado Dear Stoned, Youre right that cannabis doesnt present the issues that many other substances do. My colleague Joe Schrank, who is a social worker, is a very vocal advocate for using cannabis as a part of harm reduction treatment for those with physical alcohol dependence. Heres what he told me about the drug: Alcohol kills 178,000 people a year compared to cannabis, which kills zero. An alcohol detox can be lethal if one isnt under medical supervision. The consequences of a cannabis detox are pretty much wishing you had some weed. Advertisement I know how dismissive that sounds, but I assure you Joes on the good side, even though hes a little grouchy. And to be clear, what he characterizes as wishing you had some weed can manifest in a slew of symptoms that, while not life-threatening, are rather unpleasanteverything from anxiety and anger to headaches and stomach pain, according to a paper titled Clinical Management of Cannabis Withdrawal. Still, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions most urgent concerns when it comes to cannabis and death is the possibility of an adult getting high and driving, or kids getting into a stash of edibles. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So, you were not totally wrong in your initial assumption that weed isnt the same as other drugs. But also, as you have discoveredyou were a little wrong. Advertisement I have encountered many people like you, who feel that their cannabis addiction is being scoffed at as not a real addiction, and after speaking with my own personal therapist about this, and also looking up some very Google-able scientific facts, Ive had to dismiss that notion myself. One in 10 adults who uses weed becomes real-deal addicted, same as you. That addictionthe cravings, the time spent usingcan lead to a dramatic decrease in quality of life, Christina Brezing, a psychiatrist at Columbia University, told the New York Times. And unfortunately, according to that Times article, the best your doctor can do for you in terms of medication is probably just stuff to help manage the symptoms. There is an urgent need to develop effective treatments, either behavioral or pharmacological, for cannabis use disorder, psychiatrist Deepak Cyril DSouza said in a Yale Medicine FAQ on cannabis use disorder, which also noted that various kinds of therapy can help in the meantime. Advertisement All this does not necessarily get you closer to a solutionnor contain enough of the empathic spirit Im committed to for this column. So, to serve you better, I tagged in my friend C. (an alias, obv), who has also struggled with cannabis. It can be really hard to quit, she says. So hard that I have not done it fully successfully, but I have greatly reduced my THC intake and have quit enough times to offer some advice if not expert advice. She was delighted to share what she has learned with you: Be gentle with yourself. Its easy to feel as if you did something wrong when so many people seem fine with occasional use or say that cannabis isnt addictive or harmful. You know your own body and mind. Withdrawal is real, and it can be quite unpleasant. Not Trainspotting, cold turkeyunpleasant, but still, hard. Accepting all of these things instead of beating yourself up can help. You may want to consider reduction before total abstinence, although this might be like advising someone with a drinking problem to just try moderation. But with vaping, youre not just getting the THC; youre inhaling the cartridge chemicals. I used to puff a bowl out the window in my office or bathroom several times a day (like you, I work from home). I realized I didnt want the stink in the house and was tired of keeping track of the gear, so I switched to mini prerolls. Then I noticed that friends my age (45) were starting to report strokes and blood clots, and I realized I should stop smoking. Lately, I drink Delta-9 THC beverages and dont crack them open till the day is done and my responsibilities are over. Better than where I was before. Find support networks and keep in touch. This may be a group like the Small Bow's [thats the one I, A.J., run] or Marijuana Anonymous. I think the Reddit group Leaves is very validating. A therapist may help you handle whatever feelings youre trying to suppress or enhance with cannabis or possibly suggest an antidepressant. Your MD may give you something to help you sleep your first few days. People who tell you theres nothing wrong with your habit or that youre not really addicted dont know you or what youre going through, so avoid those folks or online communities. Finally, I found Alan Carrs The Easy Way to Quit Cannabis to be beneficial in getting ready to quit. (Its not perfect, but it helps reframe the dread.) Try to pick quit date(s) when you wont be around the house or have to focus on tedious work tasks where the lethargy can really kick your ass. Stay outside. Socialize if you can. Do things that are not compatible with getting high, whether its getting in transit or volunteering somewhere where its a bad move to be high. Your appetite will be low, but it might be nice to stock up on yummies like fancy chocolate or ice cream to have some sort of treat to put in your mouth to replicate that vaping break. Even though the advice is geared toward college kids, there are some good tips in this guide, offered by Notre Dame. You see? Youre not alone here. Maybe you knew that, but I definitely want you to feel that. As for what I can personally offer you, even though our specific experiences with substances differ: I can tell you that by far fellowship and service are the two most useful concepts holding me together and giving me the freedom to grow as a human and eliminate most of the bad feelings that drove me to (mis)use alcohol and drugs for half of my life. Those are kind of Alcoholics Anonymous terms; here is what I mean: Make yourself available to others who are going through what you are, if not the exact same scenario, others who are also struggling. Sometimes, all thats required is to talk with someone in person or on the phone. Try to actually talk to themnot text. Part of what works here is letting the person recognize the vulnerability in your voice, opening up to them, and letting them open up to you. If you want to gently dip your foot further into the world of fellowship, I encourage you to come to one of our Small Bow meetings. I promise youll find more of your people there. And the best part is, after regular attendance, youll feel steadier, more qualified, and, eventually, willing to help someone else find their way out. Im excited to see you there! On this day in 1966, Bechuanaland declares its independence, and becomes the Republic of Botswana. You may use this page to discuss how great HBOs The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency was, talk about embarrassing it is that Americans are taught almost nothing about the history of European imperialism, or to pursue your own areas of off-topic discourse. Find previous discussions in the Open Thread archive. Excepting the entreaty that you remain on topic, all of Slates usual commenting policies apply. If you depend on this community and Slates journalism, please consider joining Slate Plus. We appreciate your support. Last week, the Supreme Court refused to stop Missouri from executing Marcellus Khaliifah Williams despite his strong claims of innocence and objections by the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorneys Office. Next week, the Supreme Court will hear another capital case with strikingly similar facts: Oklahoma may execute Richard Glossip despite a mountain of exculpatory evidence undermining his conviction, and objections by the state attorney general. Glossip v. Oklahoma poses a question so perverse that it serves as an indictment of the death penalty itself: Can courts force a state to kill a likely innocent man when even the state itself does not wish to kill him? On a new Slate Plus bonus episode of Amicus, Mark Joseph Stern discussed Glossip with Madiba Dennie, deputy editor at Balls and Strikes and author of The Originalism Trap. Below is an excerpt of their conversion, edited and condensed for clarity. Mark Joseph Stern: There are a lot of similarities between Williams case and the Glossip case, which the Supreme Court is about to hear. Its yet another situation where prosecutors themselves dont want to execute the defendant, and yet state courts are basically trying to force them to. Can you tell us whats going on here? Madiba Dennie: As in Williams case, there was an unreliable witness at Glossips trial who had a personal incentive to pin the crime on Glossip. Here, the witness was the person who actually committed the murder, and he faced the death penalty. Inspired by fear of the death penalty, he pinned the crime on Glossip, saying, I killed the victim because Glossip paid me to. So the actual killer got life in prison, yet Glossip is facing execution. And this witness later said he wanted to recanthe admitted he was scared and just said stuff to save his life, and wanted to take it back. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That information, the recanting, was initially hidden from Glossip, and he only found out about it a few years ago. Other information was hidden from Glossip, too, including possible exculpatory DNA evidence from the crime scene, which has since been damaged. And on top of all that, we have a prosecutorhere, the state attorney general himselfsaying, I think this guy is probably innocent, and I dont want to kill him. Yet as with Williams, the state courts have ruled that he has to be killed. Thats preposterous to me, just absolutely outrageous. There are some key differences between Williams case and Glossips case though. There are two big differences. The first is that Glossip is white while Williams was Black. And while Williams case was clearly affected by racism, Glossips was not. The second is that the Oklahoma attorney general, Gentner Drummond, is actually on Glossips side. Whereas the Missouri attorney general, Andrew Bailey, fought against Williams at every step, just going out of his way to get Williams killed. But here, Drummond, the states top attorney, is confessing error and explicitly opposed to killing Glossip. These are just ridiculous conditions under which to execute somebody. Advertisement Advertisement It seems literally unthinkable that courts could tell a states top law enforcement officer: You are obligated to kill this man even though you think he was wrongly convicted and believe his sentence should be vacated. It is truly mind-boggling. And yet, the Williams case also boggled the mind, but the Supreme Court denied the stay of execution, with all three liberals dissenting. So my question is: Reading the tea leaves, do you think theres any hope for Glossip? Could it be that hes white, so the Supreme Court wont be racist toward him? Is there any reason to think his case will turn out differently? Advertisement Related From Slate Where Did the Supreme Courts Concern for Due Process Suddenly Go? Read More Its always possible. I have some hope on principleI feel like hopelessness is self-defeating and only serves the interests of those who are going to abuse their power. Theres always some chance the Glossips whiteness will grant him some leeway where Williams Blackness did not. Advertisement Not to be too cynical, but its not a stretch to imagine that making a difference, right? Its not a stretch to imagine. And look: I wont claim theres a big chance, and I would never recommend someone put faith in the Supreme Court. But my hope is in people. And I hope these cases will make people realize that the death penalty has no place in a modern democratic society, and that the legal system is not actually serving the purposes that they likely think it should be. Ive heard some folks say that nothing will change, that if executioners were concerned about innocence, then they wouldnt be executioners in the first place. But Im not entirely certain thats correct. I think its possible that people tell themselves that these criminals committed horrible crimes, so they are participating in justice by inflicting punishment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What if they were to learn that, actually, theres no evidence that this person is guilty? What if they were to learn that theyd be doing an injustice by killing a likely innocent person? I think it is possible to break through the framing that people have in their heads. And remember, more than a million people petitioned to stop Missouri from murdering Williams. Yes, he was executed anyway. But I dont think those people are going anywhere, and I think more people will probably join them. Nothing is ever static. So if I have hope, its that this opens peoples eyes and it becomes harder to look away, and more people become committed to doing something about the injustice before us. With Israels killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, the wars in the Middle East have hit a turning pointthough its hard to say what direction theyll now take: toward some uneasy equilibrium or an escalation in the fighting. Historians and strategists disagree over whether a decapitation attackthe assassination of a leaderhas much effect on the course of a war. But Israels recent tactics have gone well beyond decapitation. As a prelude to the bombing of an apartment complex just south of Beirut, beneath which Hezbollah kept its secret headquarters, Israel detonated booby-trapped pagers held by thousands of Hezbollah military higher-ups, then did the same with their walkie-talkies and followed up with airstrikes on weapons caches and other infrastructure targets. Advertisement In other words, in the course of one week, through a combination of attacks, some of them planned over the past several years, Israel not only killed Hezbollahs leader but severely injured many of its fighters and weakened Hezbollah itself as a military forceand perhaps an effective political organization. And the operation is not over. Israeli special operations troops have reportedly crossed into Lebanon and burrowed into Hezbollahs network of tunnelssimilar to those that Hamas has built in Gaza. This in turn may be followed by a much larger incursion by regular army troops to clear out a swath of southern Lebanonand possibly occupy it, if necessary. Hezbollah militants have been firing rockets into northern Israel from this area for many yearsand increasingly so in recent months. Over the past year, the group has fired at least 8,000 rockets toward Israel, the countrys U.S. ambassador said this month. As a result, 65,000 Israelis have evacuated their homes near the Lebanese border. The main objective of Israels counterattacks has been to pacify the area so its citizens can return. One question Israeli leaders are now asking is how to keep the area safe for years to come. Do they need to wipe out Hezbollah altogetherand if so, what does that require? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Related From Slate Why the War in the Middle East Is Widening Read More In retaliation to last weeks attacks, Hezbollah fired several rockets and missiles at targets much deeper than usual into Israeli territory, hitting Haifa and Tel Aviv, though doing little damage. There has been little follow-up sinceand no response, other than rhetorical, from Hezbollahs main ally and putative protector, Iran. The big question is what they, particularly the Iranians, do next. Hezbollah has been the main spoke on Irans axis of resistance, a network of terrorist militiasincluding Hamas, the Houthis, Palestinian Islamic Jihadthat have served as Tehrans proxies in various Middle Eastern conflicts against Sunni Arab countries and especially against Israel. (These proxy wars have had the unintended effect of drawing Israel and some Sunni Arab nations, which were once enemies, into an alliance.) Advertisement Hezbollah still has tens of thousands of rockets and missiles (they had at least 100,000 before the volleys intensified this past year), but its unclear whether the group can launch coordinated attacks, given the destruction of its command-control systemsand theres also the question of whether it wants to launch large-scale attacks, given Israels demonstration of its destructive power. Which raises still more questions about Iran. Tehrans leaders have waged their battles through proxies precisely to keep their own territory and survival at a far distance from the fighting. Now they face a dilemma. On the one hand, they do not want to fight a war against Israel directlymuch less against the United States, which would probably get involved if Israel were attacked. On the other hand, they cant sit passively after the pummeling of their main ally, lest their other allies start to doubt Tehrans reliabilityin other words, lest the entire axis of resistance begin to fall apart. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Debates are reportedly raging within Tehrans ruling circles. The hard-liners urge fierce retaliation against Israel. The more moderate factions, including the new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, counsel restraint. Pezeshkian campaigned for office on a platform of reaching out to the West for much-needed investment and the lifting of sanctions; in his speech last week at the U.N. General Assembly, he said Iran wishes to play a constructive role in world affairs. He brought with him to New York a large delegation of experienced diplomats, including Mohammad Javad Zarif, who as foreign minister negotiated the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (which President Donald Trump scuttled three years later). After the pager and walkie-talkie attacks, President Joe Biden, along with some European allies, proposed a 21-day cease-fire in Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would give it serious thought, but its clear now he must have dismissed the idea out of hand. He flew to New York, gave an unabashedly hawkish speech to the General Assembly (many of whose members left the hall when he started speaking), then ordered the attack on Nasrallahs bunkeror, rather, affirmed it, as it had been planned well in advancebefore boarding the plane back to Tel Aviv. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Biden is still pushing for a diplomatic solution before the war widens to engulf the entire region, though probably to no avail. Netanyahu is ignoring these urgings for two reasons. First, he has learned, from 11 months of negotiations over Gaza, that for all of Bidens vocal pressure on Israel to adjust its war tactics, the American president has done little or nothing to compel Israels obedience. Second, and more to the point, Netanyahu seems to have concluded that its better for Israeli security, and his own political standing, to brush aside this external pressure, a stance that he tends to take anyway. He did not inform any U.S. officials of the pager operation, nor did he notify them in advance of the bunker bombing, knowing that they would probably discourage bothand yet, he must be thinking, look at what successes they have reaped! Nasrallah, one of the worlds most powerful terrorists, responsible for deaths and misery not just in Israel but also in Syria, Lebanon itself, and countries around the worldsuddenly, in one fell swoop, dead! Hezbollah: all but destroyed! Iran: seriously weakened! Advertisement Advertisement Now Netanyahu is pushing what he sees as his strength. On Monday, he even suggested he was plotting a policy of regime change in Tehran. When Iran is finally freeand that moment will come a lot sooner than people thinkeverything will be different, he said in a video directed to the Iranian people, many of whom do detest their rulers. Our two ancient peoples, the Jewish people and the Persian people, will finally be at peace. Our two countries, Israel and Iran, will be at peace. Was Netanyahu goading Tehran into wardaring it to attack Israel and thus provoke catastrophic retaliation? The prime ministerwhose ruling coalition holds the barest minority in Israels parliament and who has provoked mass protests by his failure to negotiate a cease-fire in Gaza that would free the 100-plus Israeli hostages who remain under Hamas controlhas seen a spurt in popularity since the decimation of Hezbollah. Advertisement Still, the killing of Nasrallah and his entourage does not necessarily mean the end of Hezbollah or other groups like it. As Robin Lustig, a former longtime Middle East correspondent, noted in his Substack on Monday, Nasrallah became Hezbollahs leader after his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi, was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Similarly, Yahya Sinwar became the leader of Hamas after Ismail Haniyeh was killed by an Israeli-planted bomb. Further back still, Ahmed Yassin, who founded Hamas in 1987, was killed by an Israeli missile attack in 2004, then succeeded by Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, who was killed by another Israeli missile two weeks later. Israel has a long history of assassinating its adversaries, Lustig wrote. Whether it is a policy that has diminished the threats to the countrys security is, I would argue, arguable. The prime minister is aiming for total victory in his warsto the north and the southas a way to hang on to power. The temptation is clear, but the risks are terrible. 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 Smiths Jan. 6 case against Donald Trump took a major step last week when Smith submitted a court filing that argues the Supreme Courts presidential immunity decision should not prevent the former president from facing prosecution in the case. Its Smiths first formal argument over presidential immunity since the high courts bombshell opinion. Meanwhile, Trumps attorneys hoped to erase his $450 million civil fraud judgment out of New York, arguing the case in front of an appeals court. Jack Smith Tests Trumps Presidential Immunity Smiths court filing is one of the first documented efforts across Trumps criminal cases to formally argue over presidential immunity since the Supreme Courts historic decision in July ruled that former presidents are protected by presidential immunity for certain official acts taken while in office. In the special counsels Jan. 6 case, that means Trumps discussions with his Justice Department are off-limits and cannot be used to charge Trump or be used as evidence. However, the high court carved out a second category of presidential acts that hold presumptive immunity, which lower courts have to determine and where Smiths latest court filing comes in. Advertisement It was filed under sealthat means its not viewable by the publicsince it includes materials the government considers sensitive; grand jury testimony, materials seized through search warrants, transcripts, and witness interviews. All of the evidence supports Smiths superseding indictment, a new indictment filed in light of the Supreme Courts presidential immunity decision where he raises the exact same four charges against Trump but removes any mention of Trumps efforts to use the Department of Justice to overturn the election. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Prosecutors also prepared a redacted version of the document that excludes individuals names but keeps direct quotes and summaries of sensitive materials. There are also some redactions to publicly available information, like Trumps old tweets, since some of them identify people who could serve as potential witnesses for the government and could face threats or harassment that would affect their trial testimony. Advertisement Related From Slate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Has a New Plan to Paralyze the Vote Count in a Critical Swing State Read More Smith asked Judge Tanya Chutkan to consider allowing the public to see the redacted version of this court filing, but first Trumps attorneys get to respond. Chutkan has given the defense until noon on Tuesday to dispute Smiths proposal and until Oct. 10 to dispute proposed redactions to documentary exhibits, all which will also be filed under seal. Appeals Process Begins in Trumps Civil Fraud Judgment Earlier this year, New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that Trump must pay $450 million to the state of New York for lying about the value of his real estate portfolio. The former presidents attorneys appealed that decision and last week they argued before a five-judge panel why they believe the judgment should be tossed. Advertisement This case involves a clear-cut violation of the statute of limitations, John Sauer, Trumps lawyer, said during oral arguments, since New York Attorney General Letitia James case against Trump and his namesake company focused on financial documents from 2011 to 2021. Sauer also insisted that the case had no merit because there are no victims, no complaints, no evidence of causation, materiality, Sauer said. Advertisement The AGs office disputed that, arguing Trumps fraudulent asset valuations did harm the public and the markets. By falsely inflating the value of the Trump Organizations assets, the company was able to secure loans, favorable insurance rates, and tax benefits, all things they otherwise could not have obtained, including over $360 million in illegal profits. Some of the judges on the appeals court panel questioned whether the statute James used to prosecute Trump was lawful. Particularly, Associate Justice David Friedman prodded around whether the AG had ever used the law to upset a private business transaction that was between equally sophisticated partners. The appeals court did not issue an immediate decision. J.D. Vance went into his Saturday afternoon campaign stop in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, well aware of the potential for controversy. The event had been organized by a far-right evangelical preacher, Lance Wallnau, who was active in the Stop the Steal movement that culminated in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Wallnau also periodically makes headlines for incendiary proclamations, most recently that Kamala Harris performed well at the debate because of witchcraft. Vances willingness to campaign with Wallnauwho preaches that Trump is prophesied by God to be president so that Christians can take over American government and societydid not go unnoticed by the press. It was, many analysts concluded, an indicator of Vances growing ties to Christian nationalism. Advertisement It might have been for that reason that on this drizzly afternoon, when a smiling Vance strolled onto the stage, it was not Wallnau he shook hands with. Instead, he sat down with a local Pittsburgh pastor named Jason Howard, an earnest and round-faced man whose soft voice and claims of political ignorance formed a perfect counterbalance to Wallnaus slick, openly right-wing televangelism. The theme of the town hall was substance abuse and addictiona topic that played to Vances strengths and kept sound bites about Harris Jezebel spirit at bay. It was a markedly tame addition to the days schedule. The campaign stop was part of the Courage Tour, a series of multiday religious revivals organized by Wallnau meant to electrify the evangelical vote in swing states. At these weekend events, Pentecostal worship and reactionary politics intermingle: Theres plenty of praise-singing, faith healing, and speaking in tongues. This is a kind of Christianity that is boomingand that Vance has some familiarity with. His mostly absent biological father exposed Vance to his conservative Pentecostal church in Ohio when Vance was a teenager, according to his memoir Hillbilly Elegy. In the book, Vance writes that for a time he was a devoted convert of his fathers church, rejecting the scientific concept of evolution and believing that the world would end in 2007. But he eventually settled into an uneasy agnosticism, spent some time as an angry atheist, then, many years later, in 2019, converted to Catholicism. He said five years ago, at the time he was baptized as a Roman Catholic, that he had spent a lot of his life buying into the lie that you had to be stupid to be a Christian but that when he started to feel the pull of faith, the Catholic Church appealed most to him intellectually. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That has not stopped Trump-supporting evangelicals from embracing Vance as part of the Republican ticket. Wallnaua celebrity in the world of MAGA Christianitymust have been particularly excited to see him, as he once predicted that Vance would be Trumps vice presidential pick. But Wallnau also seemed aware that he could be a liability to Vance and that both men were being closely scrutinized. Before the vice presidential candidates appearance, Wallnau explained at length, with a whiteboard, how he was not a dangerous Christian nationalist in the way the secular media has implied he is. Ever since the Jan. 6 insurrection, Wallnau has preached that Trump is Gods chosen candidate and that an electoral loss would have to result from the works of forces of eviland therefore all Trumps enemies should be treated as agents of the devil. But to hear him explain it at the event, he was merely trying to make sure the millions of Christians in America were properly represented in government. Advertisement At one point, when one of Wallnaus speakersthe founder of an organization called Patriot Academyplayed a video of students learning to shoot guns in a constitutional defense course, Wallnau seemed genuinely flustered. I didnt vet that video before it went out, he said. Later, following a slightly awkward moment while introducing another speaker, Wallnau said, After Ricks shooting thing, I lost my focus. That didnt stop him from ranting about the dangers posed by the CIA and teachers unions. Vance was astute enough to never be spotted with Wallnau or any of the other inflammatory speakers. Everyone at the event was a guaranteed Trump voter already, so Vance could afford to bore his audience. The spacious concrete hall, abutting a vast campus of big-box stores, was built for pragmatism, not spiritual fervor; unlike other Courage Tour events, which were held under tents to evoke past revival movements, Vances Pennsylvania stop seemed like a nondescript conference. There was no fire and brimstone. Advertisement Advertisement Vance, confusingly, seemed to describe the campaign appearance as an addiction and recovery event. He took vetted questions from the audience and, in perhaps his strongest moment, celebrated the 41 months of sobriety of a veteran who asked the first question. Vance brought his mother, a woman who isas he proudly announces when he canmore than a decade sober from a drug addiction. He portrayed a crackdown on the border as key to saving addicts from fentanyl-related deaths, allowing them to have second chances. (Mexican cartels are the largest suppliers of fentanyl, but U.S. citizens, rather than immigrants lacking legal status, do most of the smuggling.) He argued that funds that could go toward addiction treatment and mental health care facilities are instead going to people that dont belong in our country. As much as he kept blaming immigrants for addiction (and housing shortages and unemployment), he continued to emphasize that his driving impulse was a kind of Christian humanitarianism. I think the TrumpVance approach to the border is the way to maximize compassion, he insisted. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To make his case, Vance invoked anodyne expressions of faith. Asked about his own religion, Vance shared one of the most popular verses of the Bible, John 3:16, a noncontroversial passage about Gods love, to emphasize that addicts who feel worthless are still deserving of love and respect. To this crowd, Vance spoke of his grandmothers personal, eclectic version of evangelical Christianity and omitted any mention of his own Roman Catholicism. He spoke of Christianitys social teaching (a phrase more commonly associated with Catholic doctrine than evangelism) and of the inherent dignity of human life (a universal Christian idea, but one of particular prominence in that same Catholic social teaching). Vance may come from hillbilly evangelicals, as he puts it, but as a candidate, he embodied his newer, more somber faith tradition. On one point, though, he evoked Wallnaus fearmongering and religious fervor. The federal government, he said, was seeking to destroy churches and their place in their communities. Its a disgrace, he said. Lets hope that we can take this country back and make our country better. Then Vance was off to spread the good word elsewhere. Next week, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Garland v. VanDerStok, a case with life-and-death implications for gun violence in the United States. The justices will consider a rule issued by the Biden administration cracking down on ghost gunsfully functioning firearms that are disproportionately used to commit murder, domestic abuse, and terrorism. For years, ghost gun companies sold kits online to consumers that contained the parts necessary to build a handgun or AR-15style rifle. Customers could purchase the kit without a background check, then build the weapon in as little as 20 minutes with the help of a YouTube video. These guns had no serial number, making them nearly impossible for law enforcement to trace when used in crimes. Advertisement The Supreme Court allowed new restrictions on the sale of ghost guns to take effect in August 2023, albeit by a 54 vote, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining the liberals. Now the court will decide whether to uphold the rule on the merits. On a new episode of Amicus, Mark Joseph Stern discussed the high-stakes case with Eric Tirschwell, executive director and chief litigation counsel of Everytown Law, the litigation arm of Everytown for Gun Safety. Below is an excerpt of their conversation, edited and condensed for clarity. Mark Joseph Stern: Just to get one thing straight: The rule were talking about here doesnt ban ghost guns outright, correct? It just says that if youre going to sell ghost guns, you have to follow all the rules that other gun dealers follow. Eric Tirschwell: Thats right. The rule requires that anyone whos selling kits that can be readily made into an operable firearm has to follow the most important regulations under the Gun Control Act, including putting serial numbers on every gun and doing background checks on every purchaser. Advertisement Last year, a federal report revealed that the use of ghost guns in crimes has risen more than 1,000 percent in recent years. Can you talk about the sudden proliferation of these guns and their impact on violent crime? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Back in 2017 and 2018, law enforcement was recovering 1,000 or maybe 2,000 of these ghost guns nationwide. We saw the number of recoveries start to jump around 2019, and by 2021, the number had risen to 19,000. By 2022, law enforcement was recovering something like 25,000 of these ghost guns at crime scenes across the nation. The industrys business model is fundamentally premised on circumventing gun laws, selling to people who otherwise could not purchase firearms. Were talking about violent felons, minors, and domestic abusers, who can go online and buy a pistol in a box, which is the term the industry used to describe these kits. Not surprisingly, these became the weapon of choice for people who couldnt get their hands on a firearm legally and wanted to put them to ill use. Advertisement It seems like the sellers frequently boasted about the fact that they were skirting the law or exploiting a loophole. The briefs in this case feature websites that told consumers: Normally you might not be able to buy a gun, but from us, youre in the clear. Absolutely. A large number of sellers online were promoting the fact that theres no background check, no paper trail. One ghost gun seller actually put an image on the receiverthe core component of an AR-15that had an image of a hand with a middle finger up. It said: Heres your serial number. I think that says it all about what the industry thinks about whether it should be subject to regulation. Advertisement Lower courts initially blocked the ghost gun rule, but the Supreme Court allowed it to take effect last year. Its been enforced for some time now. What has the impact been on the ground? Advertisement The early data that has emerged just over the past six to nine months shows that the number of recoveries of ghost guns has started to come down, sometimes in significant ways. It clearly shows that this new rulealong with other pressure on the industry, including some lawsuits that my firm filed against some of the biggest players in the industryis working. These things have basically shut down this industry right now. The question in front of the Supreme Court is: Are they going to keep it shut down and keep use of ghost guns in crimes on a downward trajectory? Or are they going to open that box up? If they do reopen that box, it will have really tragic public-safety implications. Advertisement I feel like most gun cases reach the Supreme Court with primarily theoretical implications. Nobody knows exactly what will happen if the court strikes down this or that law. But here, we have a real-world experiment where there is a rule that has taken effect and it had an immediate and meaningful impact on reducing violent crime. It is reducing crime in cities that had seen a surge of murders and other violent offenses committed with ghost guns. Now the stakes for the Supreme Court are, or should be, very clear and concrete. We have very clear evidence that if the court strikes down this rule, it will essentially revive some of the companies that have been basically put out of business. It will allow these companies to keep flooding the streets with ghost gun kits and will all but ensure that people will needlessly die being shot by weapons that should have remained illegal if SCOTUS had done its job right. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thats absolutely right. We are talking about tens of thousands of these guns per year recovered at crime scenes at their peak. They have a heavy impact on teenagers in particular because a teenager can go online from the comfort of their bedroom and, with just a credit card or even a gift card, they can get a gun-building kit delivered to their doorstep. They can put it together without much skill at all, and suddenly they have a functioning pistol that they could not walk into a gun store and purchase because theyre too young. Predictably, before the rule, we saw teenagers doing terrible things with these weapons. We represented two families who each lost a son to a ghost gun shooting; another teenager showed up to what was supposed to be a fistfight to settle a beef, but he showed up with a ghost gun that he ordered online and murdered two teens. Advertisement Advertisement Weve also seen law enforcement being targeted by criminals with ghost guns. We had a case in California where two Los Angeles deputy sheriffs were ambushed while sitting in their patrol car by someone with a long criminal record. Yet he was able to get a ghost gun and inflict grievous injuries on these officers. This is really a law-and-order issue. You know, when the Biden administration announced the new rule in 2022, the NRA claimed it would do nothing to address violent crime. That was a preposterous assertionit was absolutely wrong. All the evidence shows that this rule has helped reduce violent crime and will continue to do so if the Supreme Court lets it. By age 11, Kassondra Ola had been prescribed the following psychiatric medications at one point or another: Zoloft, Concerta, Celexa, Lexapro, risperidone, Neurontin, Depakote, Seroquel, lithium, Topamax, Trileptal, Abilify, and Adderall. Its a mix of antidepressants, antipsychotics, a stimulant, and a few things for seizures. Growing up in northern Virginia, Ola was a skinny and anxious preteen. She got good grades, but she was withdrawn and easily distracted. She ate little; the textures of some foods did not seem right. Internally, she was processing the rift between her parents that would eventually lead to their divorce, as well as the aftermath of a childhood trauma. Her parents got her into mental health treatment, and when she was 10, a psychiatrist diagnosed her with bipolar disorder. Advertisement The meds he prescribed made her sleepy and caused tremors and body pains. They brought on a mental haze, and the frustration of struggling against it led to more moodiness and outbursts, Ola recalls. She once yelled at a teacher that she was in so much pain she didnt want to live anymore. The medications seemed to induce more behavioral problems than they helped, said Ola. I was always in trouble for something, and they were always adjusting the meds or sticking me in the psychiatric unit for something. She felt as if she had little self-esteem or even a sense of identity. By age 20, Ola was living with her grandmother and muddling through community college classes. At church, she met someone who was diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome, a condition that today would be considered autism spectrum disorder. He noted that, like him, she had trouble socializing and experienced sensory aversions. They even had the same slow, precise speech pattern. Advertisement After a neuropsychological test, Ola was diagnosed with Aspergers too. Her signs of maladjustment as a preteen? Maybe they were how a neuroatypical kid dealt with stress. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement By the time Ola was categorized bipolar in the early 2000s, the diagnosis was taking off. One study found that from 1994 to 2003, bipolar diagnoses doubled for American adults. Cases of pediatric bipolar, a controversial concept, went from anomalies to an estimated count of 1 million by 2010. The swell of people labeled bipolar, according to recent research, appears to be continuing. Today there are about 3.3 million Americans with a bipolar disorder diagnosis. Many experts think that this figure is an undercount of the true number of people living with the condition. As with any disorder, some diagnosable people are never seen by a clinician. And many patients who wind up with the label of bipolar disorder are initially misdiagnosed with unipolar depression. Advertisement But some psychiatrists think that the bipolar diagnosis has actually gone too farthat there is a large contingent of patients who have been slapped with a trendy label, the definition of bipolar having drifted far beyond its original meaning. Research indicates that false positives for bipolar disorder may be alarmingly common. In a landmark study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry in 2008, more than half of bipolar patients who were reevaluated were determined to have been misdiagnosed. Its possible that misdiagnosis and underdiagnosis are widespread issuesbut the field continues to be divided on whether misdiagnosis is an issue at all. Advertisement Perhaps no topic in 21st-century adolescent psychiatry has been more controversial than pediatric bipolar, a diagnosis that can be applied to kids as young as 5 who have severe problems with emotional control. Critics say the label pathologizes normal but challenging parts of growing up. Proponents say its a needed intervention for kids not helped by other means. Advertisement No matter their age, when a patient receives the diagnosis of bipolar disorder, they are usually routed toward prescription drugs and can be blocked off from other diagnosesand therefore other avenues of treatment. Borderline personality disorder, neurodivergence, and ADHD can all be misdiagnosed as bipolar but have vastly different treatment regimens. The first two are often treated without meds. Advertisement Misdiagnosed patients like Ola often look back on years of worsening symptoms and missed opportunitiesa life that would have been different, better, if only doctors hadnt misunderstood something so fundamental about them. What misdiagnosis has done is its delayed the diagnosis of important things, Ola said, delayed the grieving of important things. Further, she said, its allowed for underlying conditions to get worse. Advertisement Bipolar disorder entered the American Psychiatric Associations Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1980, replacing the depression subtype of manic depression. Advertisement Advertisement It was defined as a cycle of extremes; patients experienced recurring episodes of depression symptoms, then separate intervals of mania, which could include hyperactivity, pressure of speech, flight of ideas, inflated self-esteem, decreased need for sleep, distractibility, and excessive involvement in activities that have a high potential for painful consequences. A manic episode was intrusive, domineering, and demanding, according to the DSM-III. A patient might drive, spend, or fornicate recklessly. They might dole out candy, money, or advice to strangers. They might take on a disorganized, flamboyant, or bizarre quality, for example, dressing in colorful or strange garments, wearing excessive, poorly applied make-up. This kind of spectacle and the bouts of depressioninvolving symptoms like hopelessness, lethargy, and loss of interest in lifewere the two distinct poles of the illness. Advertisement Over time, the criteria for bipolar looseneda lot. In 1994 the DSM-IV introduced a controversial twist on the original bipolar label. Bipolar II lowered the threshold for diagnosis from mania to hypomania, a boost in mood but a milder one. The checklist for a hypomanic episode included some of the tamer symptoms of a true manic episode, like decreased sleep, greater sociability, and a zeal for new activities. But, the DSM-IV stated, such activities are usually organized, are not bizarre, and do not result in the level of impairment that is characteristic of a Manic Episode. Advertisement Advertisement On a surface level, the person might seem the opposite of mentally ill, as if they are simply seizing the day, the DSM-IV acknowledged. Although the persons mood may have an infectious quality for the uninvolved observer, it noted, it is recognized as a distinct change from the usual self by those who know the person well. Advertisement The lowering of the threshold for a bipolar diagnosis didnt stop there. Clinicians were soon talking about a bipolar spectrum and subclinical bipolar. Thats sort of the idea, that theres this invisible, less severe form of bipolar [even] less severe than bipolar II, said Paul Doyen, a clinical social worker in New Orleans who has written about what he sees as overdiagnosis. That assertion led to estimates of the prevalence of the disorder, Doyen argues, that were really pretty wild. Mania (and, later, hypomania) was once a key criterion for the disorder, says Fernando Goes, the director of the Mood Disorders Clinic at Johns Hopkins University. But along the way, psychiatrists stopped requiring that patients experience such an episode to warrant a bipolar diagnosis. Advertisement Mania is a relatively rare event in the life course of somebody with clearly established bipolar disorder, he said. What if a patient will, at some point, have a manic episode but hasnt yet? Rather than keep an eye on such patients, doctors might instead diagnose them with bipolar disorder based on other symptomsones that arent unique to bipolar. Advertisement Advertisement The bipolar spectrum became a big bucket for cases of emotional dysregulation that did not neatly fit any other category. Under some definitions, the bipolar spectrum has been stretched further to gobble up entire other conditions, like substance use disorder and bulimia. In 2003 one researcher claimed that 25 percent of the population might fall on the bipolar spectrum. And for any kind of bipolar-ish condition, drugs are the primary intention. Advertisement Advertisement Some clinicians found the spectrum idea a useful way to talk about all mood disorders that also included highs, mixed with periods of calm. But others saw it as a drift toward a quick, easy, and bendable label that rendered diagnosis meaningless. As the concept stretched, and as the range of patients considered suitable for a bipolar diagnosis expanded, more and more people got one, according to research that tried to track rates of psychiatric disorder diagnoses. One study, from 2020, used surveys from ambulance visits. The frequency of calls about people with bipolar doubled from 1997 to 2016. Another used data from hospital psychiatric units. An adult was 45 percent more likely to leave one with a bipolar diagnosis in 2010 than in 1996. For adolescents (ages 14 to 18), the increase was 123 percent. For children (ages 5 to 13), the uptick was even steeper: 326 percent. Advertisement Advertisement American psychiatrys perception of the frequency of bipolar disorder has not extended to similar regions. U.S. estimates of its bipolar population, at around 3 percent, are higher than those of Australia, where the estimate is around 2.1 percent, and Europe, where its 1.7 percent. Doyen, the New Orleans social worker, said he first noticed slapdash bipolar labeling when he volunteered at the citys St. Thomas House of Hospitality, a temporary shelter. I kept meeting all of these people that had either experienced homelessness or were in danger of experiencing homelessness and had all these various severe needs, he said. I saw a lot of them had bipolar diagnoses. Mental illness does increase the odds someone will end up homeless. But it didnt seem as if severe bipolar was pushing his clients into the streets. Few had experienced manic episodes, few were in treatment for bipolar, and, said Doyen, they didnt necessarily identify with being bipolar. Advertisement Advertisement Doyen found that most had been diagnosed during a crisis situation that put thembrieflyin front of a doctor. He reasons that a bipolar label might have been the easiest application to get them released with a diagnosis and therefore eligible for Supplemental Security Income. Advertisement Advertisement What I do know is that a lot of the diagnoses are wrong, he said. In the 2000s, as this sea change was underway, Mark Zimmerman was the director of outpatient psychiatry at Rhode Island Hospital, in Providence. When he saw patients who had been diagnosed with bipolar, he looked at their medical histories for examinations from the diagnosing clinician describing episodic highs and lows. They often werent there. We couldnt find evidence of why they were diagnosed with bipolar, he said. Advertisement Zimmerman is a stickler for by-the-books diagnostic techniques. As a resident, he said, he took longer than his colleagues with initial interviews with patients, and in my talk with him, he rarely deviated from precise, clinical language. It was during that time that Zimmerman, who was also affiliated with Brown University, set up the landmark 2008 Journal of Clinical Psychiatry study. He and a team interviewed 700 psychiatric patients, 145 of whom said they had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. But when tested using the lengthy DSM questionnaire, only 43.4 percent met the standard for it. No other study has ever tried to systemically determine the rate of bipolar misdiagnosis. The results were convincing to Zimmerman, though: bipolar is frequently misdiagnosed. He thinks a few factors wereand continue to beat play. Clinicians dont put enough time into the diagnosis. As awareness of bipolar grew, patients self-diagnosed, leading clinicians to agree. Advertisement Advertisement And theres Big Pharma. A litany of mood stabilizers, antidepressants, and antipsychotics are prescribed for bipolar disorder, usually rotated around until a regimen fits well enough. Not coincidentally, Zimmerman said, pharmaceutical companies have impressed on prescribers the idea that bipolar is underdiagnosed. Advertisement More than that, consider the adage that a man with a hammer sees every problem as a nail. Clinicians whose main tool is the prescription padlike psychiatrists or nurse practitionersare prone to make a diagnosis where you can prescribe a pill, said Zimmerman. If youre practicing mental health treatment from a psychopharmacologic perspective, under the FDA, theres no pill for borderline personality disorder. For some conditions mistaken for bipolar, psychiatric drugs are not the go-to. People on the autism spectrum make highly individualized changes to their lives to function at work and in social settings. The first line of treatment for borderline personality disorder is dialectical behavioral therapy, a talk therapy centered on examining and countering negative emotions. Advertisement There is particular risk that signs of borderline personality disorder will be lost in the rush toward a bipolar diagnosis. Like bipolar, borderline can involve seemingly sudden bursts of extreme behavior, but there is one key difference: Relationships are the trigger. People with borderline personality disorder have a pattern of intense, unstable relationships, often stemming from a fear of abandonment. Interpersonal friction can cause an emotional whirlwind of fear, anger, and depression. With an estimated prevalence of 1.5 percent of the population, borderline personality disorder is not rare. Advertisement Advertisement Marie-Paule de Valdivia, a Connecticut-based licensed clinical social worker who specializes in borderline personality disorder, explains the difference between that disorder and bipolar like this: Imagine the patient alone on an island. If they have bipolar, they still have hypomanic episodes, manic episodes, depressive episodes, she said. If they have borderline, if theyre alone on a deserted island, the borderline symptoms disappear. Advertisement In group seminars, de Valdivia asks participants to raise their hands if they have been diagnosed as bipolar. Day in, day out, two-thirds of the room raised them, she said. It is possible to be diagnosed with boththe best estimates are that 20 percent of people with borderline are also bipolar, a portion far less than what de Valdivia sees among her patients. Advertisement In a follow-up study to his 2008 look at misdiagnosis, Zimmerman and his collaborators looked for conditions that were masked by possible bipolar misdiagnoses. Patients with a bipolar diagnosis that didnt stand up to scrutiny were five times as likely as patients never dubbed bipolar to be rediagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Thats more than any other condition. Advertisement Lynette Nelson, a former casino blackjack manager in Minnesota, said that in her early 20s she was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder, a label she went with for nine years. Advertisement I just figured, Well, this doctor knows what theyre talking about; Im bipolar, she said, and I guess it makes sense, because I had been struggling with my mental health since I was about 15, and I had been on all sorts of different medications and nothing really worked. Nelson, now 40, admitted she was very non-med-compliant, or therapy-compliant, back then. She didnt stick with that doctors regimen of medication and group therapy. After an intense experience with postpartum depression, she left her job at the casino and was placed on total disability. She saw a nurse practitioner who doubted the bipolar diagnosis for a simple reason: Nelson had never had a manic episode. Instead, the NP gave her a borderline personality diagnosis. Advertisement After that, Nelson began dialectical behavioral therapy and credits it with a turnaround. My close relationships, those have been repaired, she said. I have learned that its OK to have emotions and feelings and everyone has them. She works on not exploding from feelings. Ola, too, found that her new diagnosis helped her turn things around. After unburdening herself from the bipolar diagnosis she had received as a child, she got off psych meds. I was able to start understanding some of the emotional struggles I have and start understanding myself and accepting myself, she said. She has since earned an associate degree in science and is working toward a bachelors. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She was also diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective tissue disorder, which she thinks was overlooked when her body pains were categorized as a psychosomatic outgrowth of bipolar. Advertisement You can see the appeal in a bipolar diagnosis, however counterproductive. For patients, its easier to accept that something is wrong with their mood than with their personality, said Goes, from Johns Hopkins. Clinicians will go towards the less stigmatizing diagnosis, which is bipolar disorder, he explained. When a diagnosis becomes troublesome or confusing, the American Psychiatric Association has a remedy: revise its entry in the DSM. In 2022 the committee in charge of the DSM restored the diagnosis of unspecified mood disorder for conditions that dont fully meet the standards of depression or bipolar. Related From Slate I Thought My Wealthy Roommate Had the Perfect Life. It Turns Out We Had the Same Tormentor. Read More Goes hopes that the next wholesale revision will offer some clarity about gray areas where bipolar symptoms overlap with those of other conditions. I dont think thats a panacea, he said. I dont think most clinicians follow the DSM very carefully. That may never have been the intention of DSM. Its a prototype to help provide clinical guidance, but it definitely helps you with the gray [areas], and more emphasis on the gray will be helpful. Advertisement Of all the conditions that a sloppy bipolar diagnosis might conceal, the most concerning are social, according to Doyen, whose experience inspired an article in the Columbia Social Work Review. Perhaps the most insidious result of inflating BD diagnoses, and the one which may be of most concern to social workers, is the masking of oppressive social conditions, he writes. Poverty, crime, and racial discrimination are correlated with the emotionally disruptive symptoms that may get explained away with a convenient bipolar diagnosis. But, like almost all mental disorders, bipolar is partially attributable to inborn factors, like genetics and chemical imbalances. As a result, Doyen writes, there are serious concerns that the rise in BD diagnoses, with their biological underpinnings, is concealing increasing social and environmental distress among marginalized Americans. He told me: My well-meaning colleagues may have accidentally stigmatized their clients or disguised their actual problems or contributed to the broader medicalization for this need for resources by applying diagnoses. Its a long way of saying: I dont think we have a good systematic sense of where these diagnoses are coming from. Parminder Singh Gohal is seeking asylum in Slovakia. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Share The interview was originally published in the magazine fjuzn. Parminder Singh Gohal was born in the Indian state of Punjab, but has not lived there for almost 30 years. Because of his work for a human rights organization, he was forced to leave India. He has lived in 35 countries ever since, taking on various jobs. He is currently seeking asylum in Slovakia, which he considers a safe country. Even though he is a practicing Sikh himself, he does not feel safe among other Sikhs. He has a wife and two daughters in India who cannot leave the country. What does your name mean? Parminder is my first name, Singh denotes my clan, and Gohal is my surname and indicates my caste. Is it common for people to have a special name that refers to their clan and caste? It is. In the case of a woman, her name includes the word "kaur". She can have a name like mine, but her full name would be Parminder Kaurthis tells us that she is female. The caste name is given based on religion or profession. Mine comes from the name of my native village, Gohal, which has historical significance. Does this mean that every resident of Punjab has a composed name? Every Sikh does. Where exactly are you from? I'm from Amritsar, the city of the Golden Temple. It is very important because of this shrine. It is located on the border of India and Pakistan. When did you last visit it? It's been two years now. Did you spend most of your life there? No, I left India for the first time 30 years ago and have been returning from time to time. I have lived in 35 countries. Because I worked for an international organisation, I had to travel a lot. Where do you have your roots? I feel my roots are still in my native village, Gohal, which is 18 kilometres from Amritsar. All my ancestorsmy grandparents and parentswere from this village. Within the Sikh community, it is very important. I have a strong connection to it because it is the source of my inspiration and everything I have achieved, that is my fight against corruption, cruelty, and my determination to save humanity have always been the mission of our village. Your native village and the city of Amritsar are part of the Punjab region. This region has had an irreplaceable role in the history of India. Yes, Punjab plays a very specific role because it has everything. We have rich agriculture that employs more than 75 percent of Punjab's population. We feed almost all of India because a wide variety of crops can be grown on our fields and then distribute them to everywhere in the country. Is this area a conflict zone? Yes. Ever since India declared independence, Punjab has also sought autonomy. India is home to many religions, predominantly Hinduism, Islam, and Sikhism, with Hinduism having the majority. During the struggle for independence from Great Britain, it was decided that followers of each of the three religions would have their own territory. While Muslims got Pakistan, the remaining residents, Hindus and Sikhs, stayed in India side by side. However, the independence of Punjab as the central hub for Sikhs was never recognised. Conflicts began right after independence from Britain was achieved. Many people became radicalised, and even today Punjab is home to many radicals. Conflicts, battles, and bloody clashes have shaken the region. Roughly every 10 years, something happens. What kind of radicals do you mean? The Punjabi ones. Punjab has been divided into three partsone-third lies in Pakistan, the rest in India. However, there are many people who want an independent Punjab, which they call Khalistana Sikh country. The government has tried to solve this problem many times, but to no avail. Punjab is a crucial territory for India as its enemy, Pakistan, so the former will not let it go. Regarding the residents of Punjab, what are the relationships between them? You mentioned that conflicts happen quite often. Are they caused by ordinary citizens? No, mainly by radicals. The people of Punjab are generally very progressive, they have no desire for conflicts. They believe in political organisation and fair solutions. However, radicals believe that the Indian government and its agenda are turning them into slaves. A few years after independence, the government had no control over Punjab. The radicals took power at that time and, with Pakistan's help, acquired weapons. On the other hand, the Indian political scene united the radicals because they wanted to take control of Punjab and annex it to India. Both sides have been violent. Young people have two optionseither join the government police or join the radicals. If they are interested in neither, they are either eliminated by the radicals or the government. That is why they leave Punjab in droves, and emigration to various parts of the world is significantly affecting the region. You can find Sikhs almost everywhere. People leave because they cannot withstand such intense pressure. It is better to leave than to die. Is this what forced you to leave? Yes, although there were other circumstances as well. When the conflicts between the government and the radicals began, many new NGOs emerged trying to alleviate the tension. The government mainly targeted young Sikhs because they were considered radicals, even if they had nothing to do with it. It was also meant to serve as a warning so that no one would join the radicals. My NGO identified as many as 25,000 victims who were eliminated by the government between 1988 and 1992. That was when I started working there. On the other hand, the radicals were also very strong and unstoppable. In 1984, a group of Sikhs assassinated the then Indian prime minister because they felt she had attacked the Golden Temple. When through my work I gained access to sensitive information regarding Indian police activities in Punjab, I became a persona non grata. After a while, the government accused my NGO of collaborating with the radicals. I had to leave. At first, I had trouble getting a passport. I only got it in 1999, and since then, I have been practically on the run. Not constantly, but most of the time. Where did you go first? I lived in many places. First, it was Hong Kong, then Germany, Singapore, and Malaysia. My organisation helped me every time. Then it was decided for me to get married. Is it common for an employer or organisation to decide whether and when you should get married? Not really. Usually, it's the family that makes the decision. But the organisation found a girl who was preparing to study in Australia, and since marriage visas were common at that time, she was a suitable candidate. We got married in 2006 and settled in Australia. Our two daughters were born there. In 2008, when I was finally able to apply for residency, the NGO called me back to India to work on a new project. I had to tell my wife which NGO I was working for and the risks pertaining to my job. As you can imagine, she was very upset. Over time, we built a house in India, but it was not safe for us to stay there. So in 2010, we moved to London. However, my wife wanted to provide our daughters with the best education and returned to India. I couldn't go with her; she had to go alone. In 2014, I finally moved from London to Dubai to be closer to my family. I stayed there for 9 years. Parminder Singh Gohal. (Source: Sona Maletz Nosalova) What did you do in Dubai? I owned a logistics company and occasionally visited my family in Punjab, always just for a few days, to be safe. But in 2020, my patience ran out. It was time to change the environment and take my family somewhere we could be together. I asked my organisation for help, but in the meantime, the Indian government changed, significantly disrupting my plans. I also had to leave Dubai because the leader of the separatists and his group moved there. Originally, I was supposed to move to Romania, but I chose Slovakia in the end. Was Slovakia a safer choice? Yes, I found out that there is practically no Sikh community in Slovakia. Is it dangerous for you to be among your own people? Right now, yes. I don't know who is on which side and who works for my organisation. It is really hard to live under constant surveillance. Is there any place where you feel safe? I feel safe here. I don't have to deal with any problematic situations because no one knows me. I really like it here. I'm the only foreigner at our company, and I think they respect me. They even say "Singh is king" (laughs). Are you in contact with your family? Yes. Is there any chance that they could move to Slovakia? Only if I get asylum. My application was already rejected once, despite the fact that I underwent four 7-hour interviews in 6 months. My lawyer appealed and my case was reopened. It was acknowledged that I have the right to be granted asylum. The immigration office has 6 months to decide. However, they have to reopen my case and go through the entire file, which is 350 pages long, so it may take some time. Fortunately, you can stay and work here in the meantime. What keeps you busy at the moment? I work in the warehouse of the Conrad company. In Australia, I obtained a forklift license, and in the UK, I got a permit to drive my own car. How many driving licenses have you collected like this? It's quite a collection, six licenses in total. I also have a driver's license in Dubai, Germany, India, and South Korea. Do your colleagues talk to you in English? Some of them do. But I've also learned a bit of Slovak, and I can communicate with them about work-related topics. In the refugee camp, we had Slovak language courses held by the Humanitarian Council and in particular a young lady named Janka. She knows my story, taught me Slovak, listened to me, talked to me, and helped me cope with the initial mental strain. I'm very grateful to her. Do you miss your family? I do. My daughters call me all the time. They were recently upset because we haven't celebrated New Year's together for many years. They are teenagers now and want to spend time with the family together. I promised them that we will celebrate it together soon. When did you last see them? Two years ago. What are your plans and hopes for the future? I hope that if I'm assigned a new immigration officer, they will understand my situation. If I 'm granted asylum, my organisation will help me obtain passports for my family, but it has to happen quickly so that their safety is ensured. Until that happens, I need to prepare a few things here for their arrival. I don't want to leave, I plan to stay. I believe my family will finally find peace here. I would also like to re-establish my business from Dubai herea logistics company and a small NGO. What do you think of Slovaks? No one has threatened me so far, except maybe the immigration office, though Im not sure why exactly. But generally, Ive had only good experiences in public. Have you connected with the Indian community in Slovakia? I know a few people, but they are completely new acquaintances. The Indian community here is very small. It is slowly growing, but most people who come here for work are from southern India. People from Punjab aren't interested in countries like Slovakia; I'm here for completely different reasons. I came here seeking peace and safety, not a high income. However, you can find many people from Punjab abroad, very progressive, in government, and in politics. They have a large community in countries like Italy, Germany, and Austria, with around 80,000 people there. You wore a traditional Sikh turban at the photoshoot for FJUZN magazine. What is it like to wear it in Slovakia? It's a very unique expression of identity. In India, we have a saying: if you meet a 100 people somewhere, one of them will definitely be a 'sardar'. That's the one who wears a turban. Could you explain why it is so important and what it symbolises? The turban is one of the five symbols of our religious leaders, and 'sardar' means leader. Our gurus teach that all Sikhs should be both saints and warriors. They should be politicians but also believers. They should fight against corruption. If someone needs help and sees a person with a turban, they know they will help them. That's why we have shrines all over the worldthough not yet in Slovakia. In temples, you can usually find free accommodation or food. Are you religious? Yes. Every day, without exception, I wake up at 3:46. I meditate, and at 6:00 I go to work. Does meditation help you cope with the stress you are currently experiencing? Meditation helps me a lot. Especially now, after 30 years on the run, I have found peace in Slovakia, so I feel it's time to devote myself even more to meditation. Sikhs believe in three important pillars: meditation, distribution, and family. One should meditate, share what they havethat's why we have shrines worldwideand should not be alone; they should have a family. Is Slovakia a place where you could establish roots? I think my descendants will. They are still looking for where to start a new life; mine is already in its final stage. We have a saying that life has four stages, and my age corresponds to the last one. My older daughter will study in Kosice; she wants to become a pilot. Even if I don't get asylum, I want her to study in Slovakia. My younger daughter will become a lawyer here. I chose Slovakia for their future life, even though they were born in Australia, went to school there, but Slovakia is the land where they should live. Why not Australia? There is a large Sikh community in Australia. I want my daughters to leave the past behind and start a new life, far away from everything we had to go through. [fjuzn] magazine